(AFP) – 9 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwe's first post-independence army chief Solomon
Mujuru's
death in a mysterious blaze last year was not due to foul play,
according to
an inquest report cited on Saturday.
"Despite highly
held speculation and suspicion from the public and close
relatives...there
is no evidence presented to court to prove to the
contrary," the Daily News
said, citing a final inquest report not yet
released officially.
The
fire in August last year extensively damaged his farm house in Beatrice,
south of Harare.
There is speculation that Mujuru, who was widely
seen as a kingmaker in
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, was killed
by somebody within his
party, and that his death in the fire was not
accidental.
Lawmakers, including his wife Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
have queried how
he could have failed to escape from the burning house
through various
low-level windows.
The Mujuru family had called for
an independent pathologist to be allowed to
examine his remains but a
magistrate turned down the request.
Known by his war name Rex Nhongo,
Mujuru led Zimbabwe's liberation forces
during the 1970s bush war against
the whites-only Rhodesian government.
After independence in 1980, he
became the army chief. Until his death at age
62, he remained an influential
member of the ZANU-PF amid internal rivalries
and tensions after violent and
inconclusive presidential elections in 2008.
He was respected as one of
the few people able to speak frankly to Mugabe
about ending political
violence against the veteran president's opponents.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, March 17, 2012 - The
Mujuru family lawyer has described the results
of the inquest in the death
of former Army General Solomon Mujuru which has
come out ruling that the
late died of carbonation as a result of open fire
as a mockery.
“This
is a mockery to the whole process to say the least. The magistrate has
just
run through all the evidence which was given by witnesses and taken
what the
state pathologist said that the General died of carbonation.
“There is no
evidence to show how the fire started and as a result where no
better off
than from where we started at the beginning and we are not
satisfied,” the
angry Mujuru family lawyer Theokor Kewada told Radio VOP in
an exclusive
interview in Harare Friday.
The 38 page judgement which does not have any
recommendations concluded that
the late retired Army General Solomon Mujuru
died of carbonation due to open
fire.
Kewada said the judgement has
opened yet another debate adding that the
exhumation of the body of the late
retired Amy Chief is the only way the
case is going to be closed.
“At
the moment this verdict did not bring closure to the case. It has
something
which if the general public was having access to it will say we
still have
doubts. That is my feeling, there is some doubts really.
“If my clients’
application to have the body exhumed succeeds and we bring
in our
pathologist to re-examine it in the presence of a state pathologist
who
examined it, the million dollar question is, will we be allowed to
exhume
the body ?,”Kewada said.
Only the Home Affairs Minister has the powers to
grant the exhumation of
buried persons in Zimbabwe.
The presiding
magistrate Walter Chikwanha during the inquest rejected a
request by the
Mujuru family - who questioned the findings of state
pathologists – for his
remains to be exhumed to facilitate independent
forensic
tests.
General Mujuru was one of the most influential leaders in
Zimbabwe’s war of
liberation; he died in a fire that gutted his house in
August 2011.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
KHANYILE MLOTSHWA 6 hours 59 minutes ago
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono has vowed to resist moves by
government to seize majority shareholding in foreign-owned banks saying he
is ready to issue licences to locals with the capacity to start their own
institutions.
The declaration at a Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) breakfast
meeting in Bulawayo on Thursday came as Youth
Development, Indigenisation
and Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere
turned his guns on the banking
sector as part of the indigenisation drive.
Kasukuwere has set his sights on
forcing banks such as Standard Charted Bank
and Barclays Bank to cede 51% of
their shareholding to locals as part of the
indigenisation policy.
But Gono said as long as he was still the central
bank governor, the banks
would not be forced to capitulate.
“As long
as I am governor I will protect the sector from unintended
consequences,” he
said.
“Instead of sharing an existing cake, I have said those who have an
appetite
for banking please come forward. I will issue licences rather than
destroy
existing banks.I have no guilty conscience to say that, seated next
to a
member of the presidium (Vice President John Nkomo).
“The money
in the banks doesn’t belong to the shareholders but to the
people. Instead
of indigenisation, let’s support the people to start new
banks.
“Indigenising those banks will make life difficult for the
people. The
maximum shares for those banks are $40 to $50
million.
“There are some people who think that they will share amongst
themselves
that money after taking over the banks.”
Gono said he
would encourage people to start their own banks instead of
buying into
existing ones.
“We will not be happy for the people to take a share in a bank
for nothing,”
he said.
“If you have money to buy into a bank, why
would you buy into an old and
tired bank and not start your own energetic
bank?”
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has also said there is no need to
indeginise
banks.
However, Kasukuwere told an online publication
yesterday that there was
nothing sensitive about banks and vowed to press
ahead with his reforms.
“What is sensitive about banks? The law is also
sensitive,” he said.
“People should stop dreaming. We can have personal
opinions but they should
remain just that. We cannot, as leaders, be seen to
be undermining the same
laws we have enacted through Parliament.”The
indigenisation programme has
been blamed for the dampened investment climate
as foreign investors fear
losing their money in Zimbabwe - NewsDay
http://www.voanews.com/
16 March
2012
Company executives, who attended a heated meeting Thursday with
the governor
and representatives of Cabs Building Society which is
disbursing the funds,
said Gono urged them to take swift action against the
ministers saying it
was taking too long for them to access the
funds
Gibbs Dube | Washington
Zimbabwe’s central bank governor
Gideon Gono says executives of struggling
companies in the country's second
biggest city, Bulawayo, failing to access
a state-sanctioned US$40 million
financial bail-out facility, should
mobilize and raid some ministers’
offices, Occupy Wall Street style, to
force them to release the
funds.
Company executives, who attended a heated meeting Thursday with
the governor
and representatives of Cabs Building Society which is
disbursing the funds,
said Gono urged them to take swift action against the
ministers saying it
was taking too long for them to access the
funds.
Gono pledged to support them if they occupied the two ministers'
offices who
mooted the bail out package, launched amid fanfare in the city
last October.
The executives are angry at the slow progress in the
disbursement of the
funds with only three unnamed companies having benefited
so far while more
than 30 firms are facing closure due to lack of
capital.
More than 80 companies shutdown in Bulawayo in 2010 leaving
20,000 people
jobless as a result of liquidity constraints.
Bulisani
Ncube, Bulawayo branch general manager of the Zimbabwe National
Chamber of
Commerce, said politicians are derailing the disbursement of
funds.
Gono, Biti and Ncube were not reachable for
comment.
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on
September 17,
2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and
has spread to
over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500
cities
globally.
It is fighting back against what it calls the
corrosive power of major banks
and multinational corporations over the
democratic process, and the role of
Wall Street in creating an economic
collapse that has caused the greatest
recession in generations.
The
movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and
"aims to
fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the
rules of an
unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future."
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, March 17, 2012 –
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has
confronted the state controlled Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
demanding air space and a stop in biased
coverage by the public broadcaster,
which is widely viewed as a Zanu PF
mouthpiece.
Party national
spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora told Radio VOP Friday the MDC-T
on Thursday
sent a team to ZBC’s Pockets Hill Studios to engage ZBC Chief
Executive
Officer Happyson Muchechetere on the matter.
“This was to reason with the
ZBC on the very, very skewed coverage that is
done in Zimbabwe,” said
Mwonzora.
“We were trying to remonstrate with them to be fair and to be
responsible.
We have noticed that ZBC has been converted into a Zanu PF
mouthpiece when
in fact it is a national broadcaster.
“We also notice
that rarely do they cover the Prime Minister and MDC
ministers even if they
would be on government business.”
The Nyanga North legislator said the
visit to the state broadcaster was also
aimed at raising concerns over the
hate speech allegedly being churned by
Zimbabwe's sole
broadcaster.
“We remonstrated with them to get rid of hate speech. It is
still possible
to run Zanu PF programmes on television, it is still possible
to promote
President Mugabe and his Zanu PF without hate speech. We want
that
eradicated,” said Mwonzora.
The MDC-T spokesperson blamed
Information and Publicity Minister Webster
Shamu for stifling media
reforms.
"The fault is the people who design the editorial policy
especially the
Minister of Information. He is not doing this government any
good. He was
told by the principals to effect reforms in the media and he
has not moved
an inch. He is the main problem," said Mwonzora.
ZBC
CEO Muchechetere could not be reached for comment although Mwonzora said
they received a “diplomatic and nice response” from them.
According
to Mwonzora, Muchechetere promised to “improve” adding that they
also
awaited Shamu’s directive.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai has described ZBC
journalists as shallow after
they have persistently bashed him through
negative coverage.
http://www.voanews.com
16 March
2012
ZANU-PF, the MDC
says, wants parliament to rubber stamp bills coming from
the executive only,
barring lawmakers from bringing in private member bills
suggesting changes
to current laws
Blessing Zulu | Washington
Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC formation says President
Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party is trying to stall key legislative reforms by
blocking
parliament from debating bills proposing changes to current
legislation
deemed draconian by activists.
A ZANU-PF caucus Wednesday concluded that
parliament cannot debate the
proposed Urban Councils Amendment Bill,
Electoral Amendment Bill, the Human
Rights and amendments to the Public
Order and Security Bill, among others,
saying these issues fall under the
Global Political Agreement and should
therefore be negotiated by unity
government principals, a move the MDC says
is meant to stall the reform
agenda.
ZANU-PF, the MDC says, wants parliament to rubber stamp bills
coming from
the executive only, barring lawmakers from bringing in private
member bills
suggesting changes to current laws.
Mr. Mugabe's party
has tasked its legal secretary, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who's
also the defense
minister, to communicate its position to Parliament Speaker
Lovemore
Moyo.
ZANU-PF lawmaker Kudakwashe Bhasikiti tells VOA'S Blessing Zulu
that private
member bills are technically unconstitutional.
But chief
whip Innocent Gonese of the Tsvangirai MDC says the ZANU-PF's move
is
shocking, adding his party will not entertain such efforts to derail
democratic reforms.
Political analyst Belinda Chinowawa of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
says the ZANU-PF move is unconstitutional.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, March 17, 2012 -
THE Minister of State Security, Dr Sydney
Sekeramayi, has admitted for the
first time that international sanctions
against Zimbabwe are seriously
affecting the country's purchase of
technology including weapons.
A
visibly worried Dr Sekeramayi told invited guests in Harare that the
sanctions meant that Zimbabwe could not up-date its dilapidated equipment
and technology and was lagging behind other countries especially in Southern
Africa.
South Africa has a more sophisticated technology and arms
sector, while
Botswana is moving up the ladder despite the fact that the two
nations are
at peace.
Zimbabwe is also at peace but has a huge budget
for military and state
security matters.
"In terms of technology the
security sector in Zimbabwe is no different from
all other sectors of the
economy," he said.
"It is a net importer of technology. The technologies
required are not
cheap, hence large sums of money are required to import
them."
Minister Sekeramayi, who has been at the helm of the security
sector for
more than 20 yeas in Zimbabwe and trained in Sweden by the secret
service,
said the "current illegal Western sanctions against Zimbabwe add to
the
difficulties of importation of such equipment".
"This is because
companies are required to pay upfront in this depressed
economy," Sekeramayi
said in Harare.
"This is not to say Zimbabweans do not understand nor see
the need for such
technologies. Zimbabwe has one of the most educated
populations in the world
and our people understand technology. It's just
that the funds for companies
to purchase that technology are not readily
available.
"It is noteworthy that technology is usually most expensive
when it just
enters the market and gets cheaper as newer technologies come
into the
market to replace it."
He said this explained why some
Zimbabwean firms could be operating just a
step behind "cutting edge
technologies".
President Robert Mugabe, including Minister Sekeramayi,
has been put on the
sanctions list for alleged human rights abuses and
running down Zimbabwe's
vibrant economy.
The country also cannot buy
military equipment from the West due to the
sanctions which have been blamed
by virtually all politicians in Zimbabwe
especially those in the Zanu PF
camp led by President Mugabe.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Wonai Masvingise, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 17 March 2012 14:02
HARARE - The Norwegian Red
Cross has funded a $217 000 warehouse in Gweru
for storing disaster relief
materials.
The unit was commissioned by the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society
(ZRCS) last week
and has been situated in Gweru due to the city’s central
geographical
location.
According to a statement released by the ZRCS
this week; “The warehouse
which has got a life span of 50-60 years and was
funded by Norwegian Red
Cross comes as a matter of humanitarian prudence for
the organisation which
also has disaster management and preparedness as one
of its core
activities.”
ZRCS is currently involved in other
humanitarian programmes which include
Food Security and Livelihoods, Water
and Sanitation, Health and Social
Services, Restoration of Family Links as
well as other areas of interest
like First Aid and Nurse Aide Training
services.
The statement further explains; “The construction of the
warehouse is a
developmental initiative which came as a result of a
partnership between
Norwegian Red Cross and Zimbabwe Red Cross Society
dating back to the 2008
Cholera outbreak.
During the 2008 Cholera
outbreak, the Norwegian Red Cross together with
other Red Cross partners and
humanitarian agencies sent in Emergency
Response Units (ERUs) to partner
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, government and
other humanitarian players in
combating the crisis.
It is during that time that Norwegian Red Cross saw
the need for a warehouse
which could be used for stocking food and non food
relief items for disaster
management and preparedness purposes.”
The
ZRCS statement also adds that the warehouse will be leased to other
humanitarian players with operations in the province and across
Zimbabwe.
The organisation currently has other warehouses in Harare,
Mutare in
Manicaland, Gwanda in Matabeleland South and other smaller
storerooms or
storage containers in provinces like Mashonaland West,
Masvingo,
Matabeleland North and Mashonaland East.
These warehouses
and storerooms are used for storing disaster relief
materials given the Red
Cross’s mandate as a disaster relief organisation
whose sole mission is to
save lives and alleviate human suffering.
The warehouse was commissioned
by minister of Health and Child Welfare Henry
Madzorera.
Also present
at the commissioning was Norwegian Ambassador
IngerbjorgStofring, ZRCS
Acting President Mandlamakhulu Moyo, ZRCS
secretary-general Emma Kundishora
and officials from the Norwegian Red Cross
and Zimbabwean Red Cross Society.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Gift Phiri and Farai Mutsaka
Saturday, 17 March
2012 13:40
HARARE - The conspiracy to bleed state power firm Zesa by
not paying bills
running into millions ran through the President’s Office
and state
institutions to ministers, the military, MPs and Zanu PF district
offices.
A few of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube’s
people are
also in the mix.
But the impunity is shocking.
Top
ministers — some who claim to hold vast riches — and just about everyone
and
state institutions connected to the system amassed huge bills at a time
when
Zesa was enforcing a punishing load shedding schedule due to cash flow
problems.
As the Daily News investigation shows, it was a free for
all — from the
executive, the legislature and the judiciary down to party
structures in
remote places.
Multiple farms grabbed during the
often-violent land reform have been
getting electricity supplies for free,
as ordinary Zimbabweans battling to
survive the country’s struggling economy
are switched off for owing paltry
amounts.
Saviour Kasukuwere, who as
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister
is leading President Robert
Mugabe’s campaign to “spread wealth to the
people”, raked up $100 602,22 in
unpaid Zesa bills as at FROM P1
December 31, 2011.
Some of the
defaulters locked out Zesa employees and set vicious dogs on
them for trying
to disconnect power.
Legislators from across the political divide in the
ruling coalition,
judges, provincial governors, ministers and their deputies
and permanent
secretaries, make the list of defaulters.
A rundown of
district bills as at December 31, 2011 tells a story.
Among the biggest
debtors in Marondera is Zanu PF MP Simbaneuta Mudarikwa,
who owed over $12
000.
Zanu PF Mutoko North legislator Mabel Chinomona owed Zesa $5
904,98.
Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri’s four properties
owed over $13
000.
Murehwa South Zanu PF MP Joe Biggie Matiza owed
Zesa $15 710.
Paddy Zhanda, the chairman of Parliament’s Finance
committee and Zanu PF
Goromonzi North MP, owed Zesa in excess of $174
000.
Women’s Affairs minister and Zanu PF Mutoko South legislator Olivia
Nyembesi
Muchena is sitting on a $44 000 plus arrears.
Aeneas
Chigwedere, a historian and former cabinet minister whose headmanship
is
being challenged in the High Court by villagers in his Mashonaland East
home
area, owed Zesa over $8 000.
Oriah Kabayanjiri, Zanu PF Senator for UMP
Mudzi, owed $29 029.
Sydney Sekeramayi, Marondera-Wedza Zanu PF Senator,
who is also State
Security minister and a long time Mugabe loyalist, owed
$108 296.
In Chinhoyi, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo’s
estranged wife,
Marian, who is locked in a bitter divorce and property
wrangle with her rich
husband, is saddled with a staggering $175 085 Zesa
debt.
Mashonaland West provincial governor Faber Chidarikire owed $22
395.
Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Joey Bimha owed $7
967,76
Zanu PF’s Harare provincial chairman Amos Midzi owed $34
057,05.
The failure to pay runs across the entire gamut of government
bureaucracy.
Munyaradzi Kajese, the President’s protocol officer, owed
Zesa $23 483,45
Walter Chidakwa, State Enterprises and Parastatals deputy
minister and
legislator for Zvimba South, was failing to pay
$7
618,31
The President’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, Zvimba East MP’s bill ran
to $54
407,31
Zanu PF MP for Mhondoro-Ngezi Bright Matonga owed Zesa
$11 607,12.
Henry Muchena, who retired as a commander in the air force to
spearhead
Mugabe’s re-election campaign, owed $31
800,56.
Constitution Select Committee co-chairperson and Chivi Central
Zanu PF MP,
Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana, was obligated to pay $41
512,94.
The Zanu PF Mashonaland West local office owed Zesa $2
792,45.
In Bulawayo East district, Vice President John Nkomo did not care
to respond
to Zesa enquiries about his $1 402,28 debt, documents in our
possession
show.
Minister for Water Resources Development and
Management and MDC MP for
Lobengula, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, also ignored
Zesa’s inquiries on his $2
238,60.
Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, one of
Industry minister Welshman Ncube’s
lieutenants, owed Zesa $3
256,90.
High Court judge Misheck Cheda’s Khumalo property had not paid
the power
utility $5 959,78. He paid $500 on January 27 this
year.
Matabeleland Zanu PF heavy weight and Mines minister Obert Mpofu
does not
owe Zesa anything, the same applies to Deputy Prime Minister
Thokozani
Khupe.
MDC MP for Nkulumane Tamsanqa Mahlangu, who was
fired from a deputy
ministerial post by Tsvangirai before losing the party
youth wing
chairmanship to Solomon Madzore, owed Zesa $2
248,34.
Zesa’s efforts to disconnect properties belonging to co-Home
Affairs
minister Kembo Mohadi and his wife Tambudzani Budagi, who is also
Senator
for Beitbridge, hit a brick wall after Zesa messengers failed to
access the
properties. The two cumulatively owed Zesa $12 538,57.
In
Hwange, the President’s department owed Zesa $8 863,37
The late Brigadier
General and national hero Paul Gunda, whose death sparked
controversy, owed
Zesa $7 517,68 from his Tatenda Safaris property in
Hwange.
According
to investigations, Kasukuwere’s empire is spread as far as Hwange,
where
again he has not been picking up his electricity tabs.
Kasukuwere’s UTC
tour company was disconnected for a $4 857,44 debt. His
other firm V/F
Motors suffered similar fate after failing to pay $1 876,45.
In Masvingo,
Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, Mwenezi East Zanu PF MP, owed $77 828,66.
He paid $1
750 in January.
Former Zanu PF MP, Shuvai Mahofa owed $9
299,41.
Higher Education minister Stan Mudenge had run a $9 478,35 Zesa
bill by
year-end.
Former minister of Industry and Trade Samuel
Mumbengegwi owed $4 961.
Masvingo governor Titus Maluleke is one of the
highest Zesa debtors in the
province with a tab of $16 857,33.
It is
in Manicaland where some of the biggest debtors are located. It starts
right
at the top.
Manicaland governor Chris Mushowe leads the pack with an
astounding bill of
$367 606,07.
Central Intelligence Organistion boss
Happyton Bonyongwe comes a close
second with a staggering $350 989,48
bill.
Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State in the President’s Office,
who
vociferously blames sanctions for the decline of State parastatals such
as
Zesa, owed the power utility a massive $179 590,31.
He paid $1 000
in January. But he doesn’t match Zanu PF Manicaland
provincial heavyweight
Enock Porusingazi, who owed Zesa a hefty $186 525,46.
Zanu PF Women’s
League boss Oppah Muchinguri owed $53 699,69.
Housing minister and MDC
legislator for Dangamvura-Chikanga constituency,
Giles Mutsekwa, is sitting
on a $1 656,38 Zesa bill.
And this is just Zesa.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 16 March 2012
11:06
Tinashe Madava, Staff Reporter
FRESH allegations of animal
abuse and the consumption of cats and dogs by
Chinese immigrants in Zimbabwe
have resurfaced as the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(SPCA) revealed this week it is
investigating some cases involving two
Harare up-market restaurants and a
Chinese national over the
practice.
The two restaurants in the leafy suburbs of Harare (names supplied)
have
come under scrutiny after allegations that several carcasses were found
at
their premises.
While the practice of eating “non-normal” food sources
such as dogs, cats
and pythons is frowned upon in Zimbabwe, it is common
practice in the Asian
nation of China. Over the years, the government’s
“Look East Policy” has
seen thousands of Chinese nationals coming to invest
and work in the
country.
Without providing figures, the SPCA says the
flood of Chinese nationals has
corresponded well with the rise in animal
abuse cases, especially the
disappearance of dogs and cats from homes around
the city or close to where
the Chinese immigrants will be
staying.
Speaking to The Financial Gazette this week, Ed Lanca, national
chairman of
the SPCA in Zimbabwe expressed concern over the abuse of animal
rights in
the country saying there was a marked increase in such cases over
the years.
“Globally, the Chinese do not respect animal rights. A lot of the
animal
rights organisations worldwide have appealed to the Chinese and also
are
working with the Chinese in addressing this problem,” said
Lanca.
“From our perspective here in Zimbabwe, its two-fold: Although there
are no
specific laws to prohibit the consumption of certain types of non
protected
species, it is the manner in which the animals are killed that is
disturbing,” added Lanca.
The SPCA boss said his organisation receives
reports of dogs and cats being
brutally killed for consumption on a regular
basis. The dogs are hung from a
tree and beaten to death.
Lanca explained
that the Chinese believe hanging and beating the dogs
induces adrenalin and
helps to tenderize the meat.
According to Lanca, some of the animals being
consumed by the Chinese
immigrants in the country include tortoises,
donkeys, cats and pangolins. He
said the tortoises are listed as endangered
species under the Convention on
the International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES)’s Appendix II,
which bans the trade in or killing of such
animals the world over.
He charged that some of the Chinese immigrants
are coming into the country
illegally and go into the rural areas where they
entice the youths to
procure animals for them.
“We have reports that a
Chinese man has been buying a lot of dogs in
Domboshawa at US$40 each. As we
speak, there is an investigation we are
carrying out involving two up-market
restaurants in Harare’s low density
suburbs,” said Lanca.
He added that
there was a lot of pressure on endangered species as a result
of poaching to
the extent that government has to take extra-ordinary
measures to tackle the
vice.
The consumption of exotic meats is considered as a status symbol in
China.
The Minister of Enviro-nment and Natural Resources Management, Francis
Nhema
could not be reached on his cell phone for comment by the time of
going to
print.
However, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
sections 3(i)(d)
criminalises any action that "causes any unnecessary
suffering and 3 (i)(g)
deals with a person who "cruelly causes or permits
any animal to be tied up
or confined”.
Last year, four Chinese nationals
were arrested near Bikita after they were
found with 13 live Bell’s Hinged
tortoises, which were kept in steel drums
lacking water and food. The meat
and skeletal remains of a further 40
tortoises were also found at the
site.
The Bell’s Hinged Tortoise is listed as an endangered species under
CITES’
App-endix II.
Chinese engineers in West Nicholson near Gwanda
caused uproar in 2010 after
villagers there complained that their dogs were
disappearing.
At the time, two Chinese nationals were arrested after evidence
was found
that they were slaughtering dogs at their makeshift camp.
Some
of the dogs did not just go missing. The Chinese workers offered cash
for
the dogs, considered a delicacy by the Orientals. Local workers claimed
they
had seen the Chinese buying the dogs for as little as US$10 each before
brutally killing them.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 16 March 2012 11:04
Njabulo Ncube,
Assistant Editor
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma’s anticipated working
visit to Harare has
generated a lot of interests locally, regionally and
internationally.
On one hand, Zimba-bweans, tired of the shenanigans of the
seemingly
comatose coalition government, are expecting Zuma to read the riot
act to
the three partners in the coalition government that have been at each
others’
throats since the consummation of the power-sharing pact more than
three
years ago. They also see Zuma providing clarity on the staging of
fresh
polls, whose talk has sent shivers down the spines of business and the
rural
population that are weary of elections, which historically have been
accompanied by violence.
On the other hand, there is anxiety regionally
over the deepening Zimbabwe
crisis. Its explosion might affect the whole
sub-Saharan Africa through an
influx of Zimba-bweans into neighbouring
states. South Africa and Botswana
are already adopted homes to millions of
Zimbabweans, seeking gre-ener
pastures.
The crisis has also been
spotlighted internationally. It is everyone’s hope
that the situation
normalises so that Zimbabwe, currently the black sheep of
the region, could
be reintegrated back into the international community.
Zuma is therefore
needed in Harare like yesterday especially in the wake of
incessant talks
about elections despite lack of requisite electoral and
legislative reforms
required for the staging of fresh polls whose outcome
will not be
disputed.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC)-appointed
facilitator in
the Zimbabwe crisis has not helped matters with his officials
issuing
conflicting statements on when he would eventually jet into Harare
as
impatience over the troubled government of national unity
increases.
Reports last week indicated Zuma would be in Harare this week to
check
progress on the implementation of the Global Political Agre-ement
(GPA)
signed in September 2008 between President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Mi-nister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
But on Monday, Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s international relations
advisor, said
her boss would not be landing in Harare this week, claiming
President
Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Muta-mbara were
still to find time to host the South African leader.
“The
President is not coming this week as we are yet to receive a date from
Harare. But he is coming as soon as possible,” said Zulu who doubles up as
the spokesperson of the South African mediation team on Zimbabwe.
But
that Zuma is on the way is not in doubt.
Nathaniel Manheru, who is thought to
be Presidential spokesperson George
Charamba, in his weekly column in a
State-controlled daily newspaper on
Saturday, hinted as much, saying Zuma
was on a rescue mission.
But Manheru’s tongue-in-cheek suggested that Zuma
was coming to Zimbabwe to
lobby President Mugabe to support the candidature
of his former wife,
Nkosazana Zuma-Dlamini for the post of the chairperson
of the African Union
Commission.
The South African Foreign Affairs
Minister is vying for the African Union
(AU) chairperson’s post against
incumbent, Jean Ping.
Elections for the post held in Jan-uary were
inconclusive. Fresh polls have
been slated for June.
“Zuma is coming on a
rescue mission. Not to rescue Zimbabwe, which he knows
does not need any
rescuing. Or if it did, which he knows he could never
rescue
single-handedly. That is why he is the SADC facilitator, is that not
so? He
is on a mission — fairly desperate — to rescue South Africa’s
candidacy for
the AU Commission chairperson. You recall Dr Nkosazana Zuma is
South
Africa’s reluctant candidate sold to SADC. Early this year, she lost
marginally to Jean Ping who also failed to meet the two-thirds majority
re-quired for him to become or retain chairpersonship,” wrote Manheru.
Be
that as it may, Zuma’s anticipated visit remains high on the local,
regional
and international radar as the nagging stalemate in Harare remains
un-resolved with ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) maintaining their respective ent-renched
positions.
While there is a general consensus that Zuma has no locus standi
to dictate
to the three partners in the GPA, there is an agreement that it
is within
his facilitation role to superintend over the power-sharing truce
guaranteed
by SADC and the AU.
There are high expectations that Zuma
should set the record straight on
regarding number of issues raised by
ZANU-PF over his facilitation, among
them that President Mugabe can afford
to call snap polls without the
completion of a new constitution.
There
have also been unsavoury statements and remarks about Zuma and his
facilitation team from ZA-NU-PF spin-doctors, top among them former
information minister Jonathan Moyo, who has had no kind words for
Zulu.
Psychology Maziwisa, a political analyst, said the South African leader
should be open-minded in his approach adding that Zuma should first
acknowledge and appreciate whatever progress has been made since his last
visit here.
“That’s important beca-use it shows he’s coming to the table
with an open
mind and open eyes. But he must be equally be prepared to
criticise, without
fear or favour, any behaviour he might deem inimical to
the spirit of the
GPA,” he said.
“In that regard, he must stand prepared
to discourage attempts by the MDC-T
to delay the making of the new
constitution. Similarly, he must warn ZANU-PF
of the pitfalls of rushing to
hold an election that will not pass scrutiny,
domestically or
internationally. In short, Zuma needs to make sure both
parties find as much
common ground as quickly as possible,” he added.
Maziwisa also urged Zuma to
encourage Zimba-bwean parties to put aside
partisan differences and to make
sure all parties to the GPA put nation
ahead of self.
He said the South
African leader needs to forcefully drive home the point
that the time for
compromise for the people of Zimbabwe is right now. The
partisanship that
has characterised the so-called unity government just
cannot be permitted to
continue, he noted.
But in order to push that message across in an effective
way, Zuma would
need to demonstrate that he has not lost his objectivity,
that he remains a
mere mediator who is not aligned to any of the parties in
Zimbabwe and that
his singular interest in Zimbabwe lies in seeing a better
Zimbabwe.
“Personally, I have no reason to question Zuma’s mediation efforts.
If
anything, I think he has done a sterling job under considerably daunting
circumstances,” he said.
Dumisani Nkomo, a political analyst, said Zuma
must not lose focus but
remain fixated on moving towards the implementation
of outstanding issues in
the GPA, particularly media, security sector and
institutional reforms.
ZANU-PF has vehemently opposed tinkering with the
security sector, claiming
it was tantamount to regime change.
But Prime
Minister Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube of the smaller faction of
the MDC
have been adamant that there is need for wide-sweeping reforms in
the
sector, blaming the country’s State security agents, particularly the
army
and police, of being complicit in the alleged murder of more than 200
of
their supporters in 2008. “While Zuma’s tour of duty here is crucial, as
Zimbabweans we should not stack all our hopes on foreigners; we also have to
take hold of our destiny,” he said.
Okay Machisa, the national director
of ZimRights, said Zuma should attend to
the issue of elections to clear the
existing confusion.
“He needs to make clarity on what the inclusive
government should do in
order to ensure a free and fair election. He also
needs to make it clear
that the guarantors of the GPA would not support any
election, which is done
outside the SADC guidelines and that any election in
Zimbabwe has to be
non-violent. The South African leader needs to create a
discussion, which
sees that there is non-partisanship in the State
institutions, especially
the security and the State-controlled media,” said
Machisa.
It is very likely that Zuma will assess progress in the
implementation of an
election roadmap in Zimbabwe, which will ascertain the
expectations and
position of SADC and AU on the matter.
Whether he comes
next week, next month or in future, his visit to Harare is
long overdue.
Dear Family and Friends,
It might sound strange but the two most prized
possessions in homes
around Zimbabwe in 2012 are buckets and batteries.
Buckets to carry
water and batteries to produce electricity. Three years
after the
winners were forced to share power with the losers of the
2008
elections and three years after we started trading in US
dollars,
normal life is impossible as we battle to cope with
massive
electricity and water cuts. The situation is worse now than it was
at
any time in the past eleven years as now we are paying with a
first
world currency but receiving a fourth world service.
In the last
seven days we have only had water in our taps for 10 hours
of the 168 hour
week. Buckets rule our lives and are lined up in order
of priorities and of
cleanliness. Drinking water is strictly guarded;
using it for washing dishes,
clothes, bathing or flushing the toilet
is a mortal offence. The dirtier the
water is, the dirtier the job it
has to perform and clean or dirty, every
drop is so precious.
In the last seven days we have only had electricity
for 46 hours of
the 168 hour week. All of those 46 hours that the electricity
has been
on, have been in the middle of the night. Everywhere people you
meet
look exhausted, have big rings under their eyes and have had
very
little sleep. In the middle of the night people are getting up
in
order to cook a meal for the family, iron the children’s clothes
for
school, change and charge batteries and catch up on the backlog
of
work on computers. The power cuts have extended to all almost all
areas
of my home town and have included schools, hospitals, clinics
and all
residential areas. Some shops in the very centre of town have
had electricity
for a few hours in the daytime but mostly they have to
operate on generators,
doubling the costs of running their businesses.
One small scale farmer I met
recently was trying to cure a tobacco
crop and said it was costing him one
thousand US dollars a week for
diesel for the generator he was having to
use.
This week we heard the very distressing news that Mozambique have
cut
off power supplies to Zimbabwe. The Minister of Energy and
Power
development was quoted as saying: "Hydro Cahora Bassa switched
off
supplies to Zimbabwe on Thursday or Friday last week over the
money
owed which is around $75 million or $76 million." Hardly were
the
words out the Minister’s mouth when they were contradicted by a
Board
Member of the Cahora Bassa power company. Mr Rosaque Guale said:
"We would
like to inform you that we have not cut electricity to
Zimbabwe. That
information is misinformed. " Well, the information
might have been
misinformed but the fact remains that we are still in
the dark, physically
and mentally.
Then, after shamefully making ordinary members of society
suffer
because of the excesses, abuses and irresponsibility of their
leaders,
the Energy Minister finally said that they had started
‘vigorously
disconnecting defaulters.’ He was talking about our
country’s
leaders: MP’s, Governors and government officials who have run
up
massive bills, some of over a hundred thousand US dollars. Then came
a
statement in parliament made by Prime Minister Tsvangirai who said:
“ As
Government we call upon everyone to pay their bills, including
Ministers and
top officials that I have heard are not paying up.
…Personally, I have had to
pay a $5 000 bill at my residence in
Strathaven. I paid and so should
you!”
Five thousand dollars for a personal residence, people whispered
in
disbelief, how many years worth of unpaid bills did that
represent.
Most medium size family homes expect to get bills of about a
hundred
and fifty dollars a month so five thousand dollars would
represent
almost 3 years worth of unpaid electricity bills. Most depressing
of
all was the knowledge that the Prime Minister hadn’t paid his bill
in
the first place. Thousands of people lost their lives to get him
and members
of his party into office: hundreds of thousands were
brutalized, burnt,
tortured and raped; the sense of betrayal people
feel is
palpable.
Searching for something to smile about in the whole diabolical
saga, a
banging came on my gate. It was the electricity meter reader.
Well
that job wasn’t hard as the meter was completely still, the dial
and
numbers unmoving. He stood at the gate listening to loud music on
his
cell phone and when I went back with the reading I asked when
the
power might come back on. He shrugged and smiled, “nothing’s
working
anymore,” he said as he went off, singing along to Dolly
Parton. Until next
time, thanks for reading, love cathy. 17th March
2012. Copyright � Cathy
Buckle.
www.cathybuckle.com
