International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: February 29, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Longtime
ruler President Robert Mugabe vowed Friday to
defeat "sell outs, political
prostitutes, political charlatans and
two-headed political creatures" in
national polls next month, but also
acknowledged divisions in his ruling
party.
Mugabe faces former ruling party loyalist Simba Makoni, whom he
recently
likened to a prostitute seeking clients, and opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai in the March 29 presidential vote. Parliamentary and local
council races also were scheduled that day.
At his campaign launch at
the main conference center in Harare, Mugabe, 84,
told some 4,000
supporters, including other party candidates, that opponents
in Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change received support from
Britain, the former
colonial ruler, and other "enemies" in the West seeking
regime change in
Zimbabwe.
Makoni, 57, has called for reform in the ruling party and,
entering the
presidential race as an independent after his expulsion from
the party, said
the nation needed younger leaders to tackle the worst
economic crisis since
Mugabe led the nation to independence in
1980.
Mugabe said Friday divisions in the ZANU-PF party during its
internal
primary polls to select candidates for the election were
resolved.
"The struggles within the party that have taken place, and in
some cases
little wars, have been settled. At the end of the day, we have
this
congregation with me at the head," he told supporters. "This is the
official
start of our march to another electoral victory."
But he added,
gazing across the conference center auditorium: "You who are
here with us, I
hope I trust you, all of you. Some politicians are sell
outs, political
prostitutes, political charlatans and two-headed political
creatures."
All the main speakers at the unveiling of the ruling
party's election
manifesto called for unity.
"There is evidence of
hunger for power within our ranks. We have
opportunists and saboteurs who
have come into the fold. We must ensure he
wins and we must ensure he wins
resoundingly," said ZANU-PF chairman John
Nkomo.
On Friday in
neighboring Zambia, Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinge Pande said
following
recent changes to Zimbabwe's constitution, and the Mugabe
government's
acceptance of regional election guidelines, regional leaders
"strongly feel
this (election) will be free and fair."
That was in sharp contrast to
concerns expressed by a wide variety of
organizations and individuals within
and outside Zimbabwe about the March 29
vote. In an open letter released
earlier this week by the U.S. Embassy,
Ambassador James McGee cited
violence, inadequate preparation, voter
confusion and evidence of
registration irregularities.
Zambian President Levy Mwananwasa questioned
last week whether Western
countries would accept the results of the election
as free and fair unless
Mugabe lost.
African leaders have been
criticized by Western commentators and some within
the region for not doing
enough to confront Mugabe over his country's
political and economic turmoil.
Many trace Zimbabwe's crisis to the often
violent, government-ordered
seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial
farms since 2000. Mugabe,
though, argues his country is the victim of a
Western
conspiracy.
__
Associated Press writer Joseph J. Schatz in Lusaka,
Zambia contributed to
this story
SABC
February 29,
2008, 18:45
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has, for the first time,
admitted that
his government is partly to blame for the country's
downfall.
Unveiling the party's election manifesto in Harare today,
Mugabe urged his
ruling Zanu-PF party candidates to tell the electorate the
truth about his
administration's failures and successes.
Thousands
descended for the unveiling of the party's manifesto. As expected,
the
ruling party is hoping to win on the basis of its stand against western
influence and to resuscitate the ailing agricultural sector.
Mugabe
was, however, bold to take some blame for the country's crisis.
"Let's tell
the people we failed here and there. We have failed to keep up
with our
promises and one such area is that of developing of our
infrastructure..."
The veteran leader still remains defiant on his
strained relations with
Britain and America, he said: "Down with you Mr
Brown, down with you Mr Bush
when it comes to Zimbabwe."
Last week
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change set the ball
rolling,
presenting their manifesto to the electorate in Mutare, some 300km
east of
Harare. Another presidential candidate, Simba Makoni, is also set to
take
his campaign forward this weekend with two crucial rallies in Bulawayo
and
Harare.
Reuters
Fri 29 Feb
2008, 15:18 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe on Friday withdrew charges
against a group of
white farmers who faced trial for resisting eviction from
land targeted for
seizure by the government, a defence lawyer
said.
President Robert Mugabe's government embarked on a drive in 2000 to
take
commercial farms from whites to resettle landless blacks. An estimated
600
out of the previous 4,500 white farmers now remain on the
land.
Thirteen white farmers from Zimbabwe's northwestern Mashonaland
West
province, who appealed against their eviction notices, were being tried
for
failing to leave the farms after a September 30 deadline
lapsed.
Defence lawyer David Drury told Reuters on Friday the state
had dropped
charges at least for the time being.
"It's anybody's
guess what will happen next, but they can revive the case at
a later date.
If they do, they must take note of the magistrate's ruling,"
he
said.
Magistrate Tinashe Ndokera had ruled that the trial could not
proceed before
the state produced documents showing the acquisition of the
farms had been
done legally and while a related high court appeal had not
been heard. The
prosecution then immediately withdrew the
charges.
Drury said the defence would still proceed with an appeal to the
Southern
African Development Community (SADC) tribunal on the grounds that
the
government land seizures violated a regional pact safeguarding private
property rights. He said the case there had been set for March
25.
Had they been convicted, the farmers faced heavy fines or up to two
years in
jail.
Critics say Mugabe's controversial land policy has
plunged the southern
African country -- once a food exporter -- into a
severe economic crisis
marked by food shortages and the highest inflation in
the world, at above
100,000 percent.
Mugabe says his land seizure
drive was meant to correct colonial imbalances
that saw a few white farmers
owning the bulk of the country's prime
farmland.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
28
February 2008
Posted to the web 29 February
2008
Harare
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe this week intensified
government rhetoric on the
planned seizure of mining assets as he launched
his bid for a fifth term at
the helm of the country's beleaguered
government, saying the expropriations
would mark another chapter in the
empowerment of blacks.
Speaking during his 84th birthday bash in the
border town of Beitbridge,
President Mugabe said government would be
unrelenting in its plans to
transfer control of the country's mining assets
to blacks. The take-over of
mining assets is an extension of the farm
seizures that have disrupted the
country's economy, triggering a recession
now in its ninth year, and turning
a once thriving breadbasket economy into
a basket case.
"We will now go for what comes after the farms, the
minerals," President
Mugabe said amid thunderous applause from his
supporters.
"Whose are the minerals? Do they belong to the adventurers
who come, invest,
use our people, pay poor wages and say the rest is mine?
Why should we
accept that?" he said in the televised statement.
There
has been deep-seated apprehension in the mining sector ever since
parliament
passed the Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill in August last
year, which,
when signed into law allows government to forcibly expropriate
51 percent
shareholding in any foreign owned company operating in the
country.
Passage of the bill was followed with amendments to the
Mines and Minerals
Act, empowering government to take over at least 25
percent of any
foreign-owned mining assets without compensation in part
fulfilment of the
empowerment law.
Both the amendment to the Mines
and Minerals Act and the Empowerment Bill
have not yet been signed into law
as they have not yet received President's
assent. Investors in the mining
sector have suspended fresh investment for
expansion and exploration
projects due to fears of expropriation. But the
mining index, which was
expected to take a heavy battering from this
development, has instead scaled
fresh highs, crossing the key industrial
level in a record only made in the
1980s.
The planned empowerment has failed to find support from black
business
players, who charge that the law is badly timed.
"There is a
likelihood of a 30 percent drop in foreign direct investment
following
passage of the proposed act," an executive with the predominantly
black
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said last year.
A confidential
document prepared by the Chamber of Mines in 2006 indicated
that Zimbabwe's
mining industry was valued at more than US$20 billion,
giving the value of
the 51 percent indigenisation threshold across the
sector at more than US$10
billion.
"With the value of the mining industry businesses at more than
US$20 billion
it is also the perception that neither the government nor
historically
disadvantaged persons can raise the amount to purchase 50
percent
shareholding in existing mining companies," the confidential
document had
indicated.
Government could, therefore, only acquire the
foreign-owned shares through
expropriation, cession or legislated
nationalisation, the document said.
Apparently, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon Gono last year also
flatly refused to endorse "confiscation
and donations" in the empowerment
legislation, saying any empowerment
programme should help contribute to new
capital, adding value to existing
operations.
It is not clear if Gono's views had resulted in the delay by
President
Mugabe to assent to parliamentary Bills.
Gono told a
gathering of business executives last year: "As advisors (to the
government)
we are not in favour of donations... black empowerment is
necessary, but not
through expropriation," Gono told a meeting of
stakeholders this year,
insisting he had been under a mine and knew what was
involved in running a
mining project.
Monsters and Critics
Feb 29, 2008, 13:48 GMT
Harare - One of
Zimbabwe's top defence forces chiefs says he will not salute
former finance
minister Simba Makoni or opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
if either wins
the March 29 presidential poll, it was reported Friday.
In a chilling
echo of a similar threat made by service chiefs ahead of polls
in 2002,
retired Major-General Paradzayi Zimondi said he would not recognise
any
winner but President Robert Mugabe, reports the state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
And Zimondi, the Commissioner of Prisons, ordered his
officers and staff to
vote for Mugabe, who has been in power in Zimbabwe
since independence in
1980.
He told them they would 'go to hell' if
they failed to vote in the former
guerrilla leader.
'I am giving you
an order to vote for the President,' Zimondi told senior
army officers at a
ceremony in Harare on Thursday.
The opposition immediately denounced his
comments as treasonous. With two
serious challengers, Mugabe, 84, is
fighting for his political survival.
Both Tsvangirai, the head of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and former finance minister
Makoni say they are confident of winning
the polls because so many
Zimbabweans are fed up of the hardships they are
facing.
Analysts
warn that the dire state of the economy may prove Mugabes nemesis
in the
polls. Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate is the highest in the world
at more
than 100,000 per cent, and there are critical shortages of food and
fuel.
There are reports still not officially confirmed that soldiers
have been
given a pay boost ahead of the polls, a move said to have angered
other
public service workers like teachers who are still struggling on
meagre pay
packets.
Zimondi said that in the event of an opposition
win 'I will be the first one
to resign from my job and go back to defend my
piece of land.'
The army chief said that Mugabes rivals intend to hand
back land seized from
white commercial farmers under a controversial land
reform programme
launched in 2000.
'We shall not let it go. If you
let the country go, God will not help you
anymore; and when you die, you
will go to hell for failing to defend your
land against your enemies,' said
Zimondi.
'We still remember the blood and graves of our gallant sons and
daughters
who died for this country and we shall not sell them out to
imperialists
forces,' he added.
The opposition reacted angrily,
saying Zimondis comments were 'reckless and
unmeasured.'
'The MDC
believes it is a flagrant affront to the constitution of Zimbabwe
for a
service chief to tell uniformed officers to vote for a particular
candidate
in an election,' said a statement from the party's department of
information
and publicity.
'There is no shadow of doubt anymore that we have become a
banana republic
where the collective will of the people is not
respected.'
Reuters
Fri 29
Feb 2008, 8:35 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - The head of Zimbabwe's prison
service has ordered his
officers to vote for President Robert Mugabe and
said he would resign if the
opposition won next month's election, official
media reported on Friday.
The southern African country holds joint
presidential, parliamentary and
council elections on March 29 in which
Mugabe faces former ally Simba Makoni
and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.
Retired
Major General Paradzayi Zimondi, who now heads the prison service,
which is
part of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, said he would retire to his
farm if
Tsvangirai or Makoni were elected to lead the country.
"I will only
support the leadership of President Mugabe," Zimondi was quoted
by the
state-owned Herald newspaper while conferring new ranks to senior
officers.
"I am giving you an order to vote for the President," he
told the officers.
On the eve of the 2002 presidential elections, the
country's defence forces
chiefs, including Zimondi, said they would not
recognise the presidency of
anyone who did not participate in the country's
1970s war of independence.
This was taken as a reference to Tsvangirai, a
former trade unionist, who
did not fight in the liberation
war.
Zimbabwe's senior military officers fought against white minority
rule and
the opposition has in the past accused them of siding with
84-year-old
Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980 and is seeking another
five-year
term.
Mugabe has branded Makoni a political prostitute and
Tsvangirai a puppet of
former colonial power Britain and has promised a
landslide victory to shame
his Western critics.
Monsters and Critics
Feb 29, 2008, 9:58 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare -
Zimbabwean presidential candidate Simba Makoni, in an
interview aired
Friday, said if elected leader he would not stand in the way
of any future
attempt to bring President Robert Mugabe before the
International Criminal
Court (ICC) for atrocities committed under his rule.
Asked in a BBC
interview whether he would oppose the principle of sending
Mugabe to The
Hague court, former finance minister Makoni said: 'No. We will
be a full
member of the international community and we will act in
accordance with the
normal standards of international justice.'
Makoni, 57, who was ejected
from the ruling Zanu-PF earlier this month for
standing against Mugabe,
called Zimbabwe 'a country of fearful people.'
'We must work to remove
the fear that so bears on our life everyday, as
individuals, as
communities,' he said.
The spectre of a possible ICC indictment for
crimes committed under his
28-year rule is seen by many analysts as a key
reason for 84-year-old
Mugabe's reluctance to cede power.
They point
to the case against former Liberian leader Charles Taylor as
proof that
African leaders can no longer expect immunity from prosecution
for crimes
committed under their rule.
Makoni, who claims to have support from key
figures within Zanu-PF, is
standing as an independent in the election in
which Mugabe is seeking a
sixth term in power despite presiding over near
economic collapse
characterized by inflation of over 100,000 per
cent.
The other candidates are Morgan Tsvangirai of the main opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change and little-known independent candidate
Langton
Towungana.
The MDC says it believes the vote will be rigged.
The past three elections
in Zimbabwe were overshadowed by accusation of
irregularities.
But Makoni, in an another interview with Independent
Newspapers published
Friday, said he was expecting a 'free and fair
election.'
Despite being called a prostitute and a frog by Mugabe he also
declared 'I
respect our president.'
International Bar Association (London)
PRESS
RELEASE
29 February 2008
Posted to the web 29 February 2008
The
International Bar Association (IBA) is concerned at statements by Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri on 25 February stating that the Zimbabwean
police force would not hesitate to use full force, including firearms, when
confronting any incidents of politically motivated violence during the
country's election period. It would be more appropriate, in the tense
atmosphere that exists in Zimbabwe at present, for the police and security
forces to reassure voters that they will be protected and their right to
vote freely ensured. The IBA urges the Police Commissioner not to posture
over the potential use of lethal force and avoid intimidating statements
that could deter voters from participating freely in the electoral
process.
The IBA is further deeply concerned by reports of a lack of
concerted action
by all parties and authorities in Zimbabwe to prevent
violence during the
elections. The IBA supports the proposal by the
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission to establish a multi-party committee at
national, constituency
and district levels in order to respond to any
potential election related
problems. The IBA recommends these committees
be established as a matter
of urgency.
Mark Ellis, IBA Executive
Director stated "We urge all political party
leaders and independent
contenders in the upcoming elections to uphold
civility during their
broadcasts, rallies and speeches." Mr Ellis added
"Consistent reports of
partisan policing and torture by Zimbabwean police
against civilians
heightens our concern for the safety of Zimbabwean
citizens during the
election."
Richard Goldstone, Co-Chair of the IBA Human Rights Institute
stated that
"The people of Zimbabwe have the right to equal protection of
the law.
Immediate measures must be taken to ensure that police and security
forces
operate impartially and are fully accountable for their actions,
particularly at this tense time."
Background:
The Police
Commissioner for Zimbabwe, Commissioner General Chihuri made
statements to
the press on 25 February, emphasising that Zimbabwean police
would not
hesitate to use force, including firearms when confronting any
incidences of
politically motivated violence.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has
also recently stated that it will
establish multi-party liaison committees
throughout polling districts in
Zimbabwe to help combat any unrest. There
are reports that political party
leaders and independent candidates for the
presidency have failed to call
for calm and restraint during this election
period.
The IBA has consistently spoken out on human rights violations
and threats
to the rule of law in Zimbabwe. A high level delegation sent
by the IBA
visited the country in August 2007 to investigate allegations of
torture and
abuse carried out by members of the Zimbabwean police. The most
recent
report titled "Partisan Policing: An obstacle to human rights and
democracy"
was released in November 2007. The report made a number of
recommendations
to the authorities and international and regional
stakeholders based on the
domestic, regional and international obligations
of the Zimbabwean
Government to uphold and protect human rights. The main
message of the
report was that far- reaching reforms for the police force
were necessary in
order to address the impunity in which the police operate
in Zimbabwe.
The report can be downloaded from:
http://www.ibanet.org/images/downloads/11_2007_October_Report_Zimbabwe_Partisan_policing_Final.pdf
About
the International Bar Association
- the global voice of the legal
profession
The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947,
is the world's
leading organisation of international legal practitioners,
bar associations
and law societies. The IBA influences the development of
international law
reform and shapes the future of the legal profession
throughout the world.
It has a membership of 30,000 individual lawyers and
more than 195 bar
associations and law societies spanning all
continents.
Grouped into two divisions - the Legal Practice Division and
the Public and
Professional Interest Division - the IBA covers all practice
areas and
professional interests, providing members with access to leading
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up-to-date information. Through the various committees of the
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IBA enables an interchange of information and views as to
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and professional responsibilities relating to the practice
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globe. Additionally, the IBA's high-quality publications
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conferences provide unrivalled professional development and
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opportunities for international legal practitioners and
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associates.
The IBA's Bar Issues Commission provides an
invaluable forum for the IBA's
member bar associations and law societies to
discuss all matters relating to
law at an international level.
The
IBA's Human Rights Institute promotes, protects and enforces human
rights
under a just rule of law, and works to preserve the independence of
the
judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.
About the Human Rights
Institute
In 1995, the International Bar Association (IBA) established
the Human
Rights Institute (HRI) under the Honorary Presidency of Nelson
Mandela. The
HRI is now a leading voice in the promotion of the rule of law
worldwide.
The HRI works across the IBA, helping to promote, protect and
enforce human
rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the
independence of the
judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 29 February 2008 12:35
HARARE - SADC Foreign Affairs Ministers have presented
proposals for another
way out of a deepening political crisis threatening to
close down Zimbabwe's
economy and hurt its neighbours, but the question is
whether President
Robert Mugabe will take it up.
The SADC Council of
Ministers, who met in Lusaka since Thursday until
yesterday, again opposed
sanctions against Zimbabwe, in hopes that a
softly-softly approach will get
Mugabe to comply with amendments to media,
security and electoral laws
agreed in the flopped mediation. This is aimed
at ensuring free and fair
elections on March 29. The ministers from the
14-nation SADC backed Mugabe's
leadership, even though Zimbabwe was slipping
deeper into chaos, in an
attempt to soften the geriatric leader and bring
him on board, officials
said. The Zimbabwean heard that the SADC ministers
gave proposals for an
escape route through Foreign Affairs Minister
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who
represented Zimbabwe at the meeting. The
cocktail of measures was
recommended by finance experts who met in Lusaka
prior to the Council of
Ministers meeting.They include "conditional support"
for the economy in cash
support from Britain and other key Western donors if
the election is free
and fair."The ball is clearly in Mugabe's court and the
destiny of Zimbabwe
in his hands," said a SADC diplomat. "He can seize the
opportunity by
playing ball with SADC and return his country to tranquility.
"Or he can
play games with them, close the doors and push his country and
even the
whole southern African region into chaos," he said, adding:
"Zimbabwe is
contagious and it could affect its neighbours."Mbeki is due to
table the
final report on his failed mediation to Angolan President Eduardo
Dos Santos
, the chairman of the SADC troika on Politics, Defence and
Security during
the SADC heads of State and government meeting in South
Africa later this
month.The Zimbabwean heard that Mumbengegwi vigorously
defended the Zimbabwe
crisis, and blamed sanctions for the appalling state
of the economy.
Mumbengegwi also claimed that the diaspora could not vote
because of travel
restrictions imposed on top Zanu (PF) officials, which he
said precluded
them from traveling overseas to campaign. He also staunchly
denied
accusations that the opposition was being denied media
coverage.Diplomats in
the region said the regional strategy was to back
Mugabe while at the same
time employing mediation and conciliation tactics
in a last-ditch attempt to
get him to comply with regional and international
norms governing the
conduct of elections."We would not look at it as blind
support for Mugabe,
and it would be misleading if the Zimbabweans took it
that way," a SADC
diplomat said.The Zimbabwean heard that the Council also
received reports on
the status of Economic Partnership Agreement
negotiations; the SADC Job
Evaluation Exercise, floods in the region as well
as the report from the
SADC Finance Sub-Committee on the Community's
budgetary obligations for
2008.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 29 February 2008 12:38
The MDC condemns the reckless
and unmeasured utterances by the Commissioner
of Prisons, Paradzai Zimondi,
that he would not salute an elected President
other than Robert Mugabe after
the 29th March election. These utterances are
being made after the
realization that President Tsvangirai is a few inches
from State House. The
MDC is definitely set for a landslide victory against
a divided, confused
and weakened Zanu PF. Any utterances that seek to
undermine the people's
will are an assault on the fabric of democracy and
the expression of free
will.We are aware that Zimondi's statements are not
shared by the majority
of our professional uniformed forces in the country
who remain loyal to the
people's wishes and aspirations. Zimondi should
proceed to resign as an
individual rather than try and coerce the entire
disciplined force into a
rebellion on account of Mugabe's imminent and
inevitable defeat on 29
March. In his statement which has shocked the
nation, Zimondi, a retired
soldier, said he was giving "an order" to his
subordinates to vote for
Mugabe. The world over, in normal democracies, the
uniformed forces are
guided by the compass of the sovereign will of the
people. Our uniformed
forces should be loyal to the country's laws and its
people and not
individuals.Reckless utterances like the one made by Zimondi
invite a forced
exit from national service.The MDC believes it is a flagrant
affront to the
Constitution of Zimbabwe for a service chief to tell
uniformed officers to
vote for a particular candidate in an election. There
is no shadow of doubt
anymore that we have become a banana republic where
the collective will of
the people is not respected. The MDC condemns the
reckless and partisan
utterances by a serving officer. Zimondi's statements
are treasonous. His
statement is a coup on the Constitutional order. It is
intended to
intimidate the people of Zimbabwe against voting for their
preferred
candidate in this month's election. It confirms that there is no
guarantee
to a free and fair election.As a party, we believe that Zimondi's
utterances
are intended to incite our professional and loyal uniformed
forces to
disrespect the people's sovereign will in the forthcoming
election. The
people's will should be respected Zimondi is aware that the
people of
Zimbabwe have turned their back on Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF. The
red card
is imminent. He is aware that the looting honeymoon has finally
come to an
end. It is a reckless statement which confirms that even
Mugabe's henchmen
are clear on his imminent electoral defeat on 29 March
2008. The people of
Zimbabwe want to reclaim their dignity. We are tired
of Zanu PF's culture of
corruption, plunder and misgovernance. We want a
humble leadership.
President Tsvangirai and the New Zimbabwe Team are an
embodiment of that
humility. We want food and jobs. We want electricity and
clean water. We
want justice and freedom. We don't want politicization of
our uniformed
forces. We stand against incitement of violence and rebellion
in our
country. We stand for peace and loyalty to the people. A New
Zimbabwe, a new
beginning. Now is the time. Time for change; the change you
can
trust!!Department of Information and Publicity
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/29/2008 20:35:44
ZIMBABWE'S central bank has
"donated" a fleet of brand new vehicles to state
media houses, to prop them
up ahead of the March 29 elections, New
Zimbabwe.com learnt.
The Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the country's monopoly
broadcaster, received
17 vehicles. Zimpapers, publishers of the country's
only two state-run daily
newspapers - the Herald and the Chronicle - also
received several vehicles
whose number could not be ascertained.
Three brand new Toyota single
cab trucks were dispatched to Zimpapers'
Chronicle and Sunday News offices
in Bulawayo for "immediate use", sources
at the paper confirmed. The cars
are to be used for carrying reporters
around the provinces for rallies
during the day, and carrying newspapers to
districts at night.
At the
ZBC, officials confirmed that 17 vehicles arrived last week.
"They
include the latest Isuzu and Nissan Wolf double-cabs, plus all-terrain
single cabs. Some members of the management team have already snatched the
twin cabs, while the single cabs have been distributed to provinces and
stations in Gweru and Bulawayo," said a ZBC source.
According to the
source, there is controversy at ZBC's Pocket Hill
headquarters after
presidential reporters Judith Makwanya and Reuben Barwe
"grabbed" a
double-cab each, saying they were entitled to the cars in view
of their
portfolio.
However, other workers feel the two are not in management
positions, but use
their association with President Robert Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba
to "bully" their bosses at work.
Makwanya
and Barwe enjoy lavish lifestyles from benefits associated with
accompanying
Mugabe on his numerous foreign trips.
The RBZ is said to have been asked
to give the vehicles to the state media
edifice which is decaying due to
undercapitalisation, government
interference and corruption.
The bank
bought the vehicles last year for use during the abortive 'Sunrise
Two'
currency change-over. The plan was aborted after the government
deferred the
project in view of the free-fall of the local currency.
"The cars were
lying idle for months and on 24-hr guard by police details.
It was then
decided that ZBC, Zimpapers, and other arms considered essential
to
President Mugabe's re-election effort get the vehicles. It is not clear
what
the arrangement is but we have been told that the cars were donated,"
said
one official at the ZBC who cannot be named because he had no clearance
to
give media interviews.
The RBZ made a similar gesture during the first
phase of the currency
change-over programme when it "donated" more than 200
vehicles to government
departments.
However, parastatals and listed
firms such as the ZBC and Zimpapers were
excluded.
Zimbabweans vote
in general elections on March 29, and the state media is
the vehicle of
choice for spreading President Mugabe's propaganda. Mugabe is
seeking a
sixth term, but faces stiff challenge from his former finance
minister Simba
Makoni and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
New Zimbabwe
By
Lindie Whiz
Last updated: 02/29/2008 20:00:17
ZIMBABWE'S state-run
Chronicle newspaper has rejected adverts from
presidential challenger Simba
Makoni, New Zimbabwe.com can reveal.
Makoni wanted to place adverts in
the paper, advertising his election
campaign rally scheduled for Bulawayo's
White City Stadium on Saturday.
But bosses at the government propaganda
mouthpiece claimed they did not have
enough newsprint to carry adverts, and
said other advertisers had booked
space in advance.
The Chronicle
also told Makoni's campaign team that they were waiting for
guidelines from
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on how to deal with
political
adverts.
Sources at the paper said the advertising division consulted the
paper's
editor, Brezhnev Malaba, who after consulting "superiors" in Harare
told
them not to accept the adverts.
Ironically, ZEC officials two
weeks ago visited the Chronicle and Sunday
News and held a meeting with
bosses and emphasised to them to be fair and
impartial and not to refuse any
material, as long as it was not offensive.
The Chronicle even carried a
story about the deliberations of the meeting.
A source at the paper
revealed: "Makoni's advert had his picture, dates and
venue for the rally.
There was a flurry of activity as bosses consulted on
what to do, until
Malaba got an instruction from Harare not to carry it."
The Chronicle has
been carrying full page Zanu PF propaganda adverts. One
features MDC
presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai with white farmers
giving him cheques
in the run-up to the 2000 elections.
Another advert has copies of letters
from British government officials
announcing continued funding of civic
society groups in Zimbabwe. The advert
has a pay-off line which says
"Zimbabwe is not for sale".
While refusing to print Makoni's advert on
one hand, Chronicle on the other
carried a front page story on one of the
ex-finance minister's perceived
backers, Dumiso Dabengwa, "denying any
links" with him.
The Chronicle sought comment from Dabengwa, who did not
give away much.
"Yes my name has appeared before but there is no truth in
that. Those people
who are spreading those rumours should confront me
directly. I will not
respond to rumours," the ex-Home Affairs Minister
said.
Chronicle went on to say the so-called Zanu PF heavyweight backing
Makoni
were "non-existent" or "spineless", as none of them has come forward
so far.
The paper also said its approach to Dabengwa was prompted by rumours
that he
was on Saturday scheduled to "introduce" Makoni to the people at the
White
City Stadium rally. It is the same rally whose adverts the paper
refused to
carry.
Dabengwa's response has created even more anxiety
in the system, sources
said.
"It was hoped that he would crack when
confronted by the Chronicle but he
did not give away much. No-one knows
whether to believe him or not," said a
senior Zanu-PF official in
Bulawayo.
Those close to Makoni's camp say the "real deal" would be - as
expected - in
the second round of voting should President Mugabe fail to get
the required
51 percent majority in the first round of voting on March
29.
"We want to isolate Mugabe from Zanu PF. We want to prevent him from
getting
more than 50 percent in the first round so that Makoni faces him
alone,
without
Zanu PF candidates at council, parliament and senate
level. Zanu PF
supporters will see this for what it is - not a rebellion
against the party
but against Mugabe as an individual," a senior aide to
Makoni said.
He said they want to "finish him (Mugabe) off" in the second
round, implying
that Zanu PF 'heavies' backing Makoni would come out in the
open then.
Zimbabweans vote in general elections on March 29 to elect a
new President,
Members of Parliament, senators and councillors -- the first
time the
elections have been held jointly.
Zim Online
by Lizwe Sebatha Saturday 01 March
2008
BULAWAYO - Triangle Limited, one of Zimbabwe's biggest
sugar producing
companies, on Friday said sugar production fell by about 20
percent last
year due to the country's harsh operating
environment.
In a statement accompanying the company's financial results
for the year
ending 31 December 2007, Triangle Limited said production had
fallen to 193
000 tonnes last year, down from 240 000 recorded the previous
year.
Triangle Limited is owned by South Africa's sugar processing
company,
Tongaat Hulett that also owns another sugar producing company in
Zimbabwe,
Hippo Valley Estates.
"In 2007, under extremely difficult
circumstances, sugar production was 349
000 tonnes (including 156 000 tonnes
from Hippo Valley). Triangle produced
240 000 tonnes in 2006.
"The
business is presently contending, inter alia, with the extreme effects
of
hyper-inflation, a distorted low domestic sugar price, exchange rate
movements and foreign currency shortages in Zimbabwe," said Triangle
Limited.
Zimbabwe has battled severe sugar shortages over the past
eight years after
President Robert Mugabe began parceling commercial farms
to landless blacks
as part of his controversial land reforms.
The new
black farmers, some of whom were resettled at giant sugar estates in
the
southern lowveld such as Hippo Valley, failed to maintain production
because
of a lack of skills and inputs.
Zimbabwe, once regarded as the region's
breadbasket, is in the grip of a
severe economic crisis that has manifested
itself in the world's highest
inflation rate of over 100 000 percent,
massive food shortages and poverty.
The unprecedented economic crisis has
had a devastating impact on the
country's industries forcing hundreds of
local companies to scale down
production or shut down completely.
A
report last year by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said most
firms were operating at below 30 percent of capacity due to the harsh
operating environment. - ZimOnline
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
28 February 2008
Posted to the web 29 February
2008
Shame Makoshori
Harare
BRITISH property tycoon Nicholas
van Hoogstraten has vowed to maintain his
investments in the country despite
what he alleges to be persecution by his
detractors for supporting President
Robert Mugabe's government.
Van Hoogstraten, who is facing charges of
violating the Censorship Act and
foreign exchange regulations, told The
Financial Gazette that he had not
fallen out with President Mugabe but had
been caught up in the factional
fights tearing the ruling ZANU-PF
apart.
Press reports have suggested that charges against van
Hoogstraten were a
culmination of his fall-out with President Mugabe, whose
party is embroiled
in factional fighting, which recently resulted in
politburo member and
former finance minister Simba Makoni, breaking ranks to
stand against the
Zimbabwean leader as an independent candidate in elections
scheduled for
March 29.
"Oh yes, I have been involved (in the
politics of Zimbabwe) but you know
which side I am on," van Hoogstraten
said.
"I'm a friend of the President (Mugabe) and (Emmerson) Mnangagwa.
They are
my friends and I will keep supporting them," van Hoogstraten
said.
Asked to explain the reason for his arrest and consequent legal
battles, van
Hoogstraten said: "It is just that I have been caught up in the
Makoni
issue."
Makoni is linked to a ZANU-PF faction led by retired
army general Solomon
Mujuru, a sworn rival of van Hoogstraten's friend,
Mnangagwa.
Two of the five charges van Hoogstraten initially faced were
struck off the
charge sheet by a Harare magistrate last week.
Van
Hoogstraten owns more than 200 properties in Zimbabwe and holds
significant
stakes in a number of listed companies.
Giving his first Press interview
since his arrest in Harare on January 24,
van Hoogstraten expressed his love
for Zimbabwe, saying he had built a
strong relationship with President
Mugabe and could not break his ties with
him because of "political
games".
He said his current predicament would not force him out of the
country.
"I still want this country to prosper," he said.
"We want
investment in this country. I'm a businessman and not a
politician."
Van Hoogstraten was arrested after police had been
tipped by a tenant living
in one of his properties that he had been
demanding rentals in foreign
currency.
He was allegedly found in
possession of large sums o foreign currency and
pornographic material during
the police raid at his home.
Police found $20 billion, US$37 586, R92
880, 190 British pounds and 180
Botswana pulas.
After failing to have
charges related to the possession of pornographic
material struck off the
court register, van Hoogstraten last week launched a
constitutional argument
over violation of his rights with the magistrates
court.
"The police
acted like gangsters," he said in an affidavit presented in
court.
"They assaulted the maid, the garden boy and the security
guard. Then they
assaulted me on the mouth, and I was bleeding. I sustained
a cut but it has
gone now."
His lawyer, George Chikumbirike, argued
that the pornographic materials were
illegally seized from van Hoogstraten's
bedroom so they could not be used as
exhibits.
"It is common cause
that the search was done without a warrant,"
Chikumbirike said.
"The
search becomes illegal and invalid. It became an arbitrary search. If
they
had a search warrant, they should have been authorised to search only
the
foreign currency and not the pictures that they took in the accused's
bedroom.
"We seek the return of that property. It was illegally
seized and it cannot
be produced as evidence here," said
Chikumbirike.
An affidavit of security guard Patrick Mpofu said the
police had forced
their car into van Hoogstraten's premises on the day of
his arrest without
identifying themselves.
"I thought they were
robbers. The police did not identify themselves. They
accused us of hiding a
white man," Mpofu said.
swradioafrica.com
February
11th - Chitingwiza -1 MP candidate, 1
council candidate, 2 others.
14th - Zengeza 6 women arrested (illegal
gathering) out on 100 m bail each.
19th - Bindura 3 arrested. Sandra
Shirikihavu ward 7 councilor beaten and
hospitalized.
20th - Mbare
MDC activists Davison Panganayi, Tonderayi Mapiye - dist.
Fliers.
21st - Mnondoro - Francis Dhlakama plus others arrested for
trying to obtain
voter registration details.
22nd - Epworth - Alabi
Billiard, Gift Mukuwira, Kudakwashe Mukudo MDC
activists
arrested.
23rd - Hre Railway Station - Dread.. and his girl friend
arrested whilst
boarding the train for Mutare for Presidential launch -
Dread made the MDC
cd's. Released on 50 million dollars bail 26th
Feb.
24th - Marondera - Muzhambi and Tenfera arrested for allegedly
removing a
Mugabe poster/insulting the President. Released pending
court.
25th - Muzharabani - Muchemwa Chihota ward election agent and
Munyaradzi
Nyama MDC activist arrested.
26th - Bindura - Tawona
Chikona arrested on charges of allegedly tearing
down zpf
poster.
26th - Chirimanzu - Daniso Nkomo Sec for Security, Patrick
Kombayi Prov.
Sec., Tinashe Shoko Dep Org Sec arrested on charge "writing
vote Tsvangirai
on rocks".
Later released on "wrong
charge"!.
26th - Marondera - MDC Candidate Iain Kay's election agent now
detained in
police cells for allegedly insulting the President.
27th
- Kwe Kwe - Helen Nkosana Mbizo Ward 4 council candidate arrested today
for
"holding a meetng without police permission".
27th - Mutare - Pishayi
Muchauraya, MDC publicity and information for
Manicaland abducted from his
home by Zanu PF youths early in the morning.
Sms received from him late in
the afternoon saying he was at Old Mutare
Police station being interrogated.
Efforts to contact him by phone since
have been fruitless.
28th -
Pishayi Muchauraya (mentioned above), driver Michael Murapa and
security
Tendayi Kononda were on their way in the MDC Manicaland truck to
visit a
constituency. They stopped at a garage to buy some drinks. A new
tractor
with a trailer carrying about 40 Zanu PF youth saw their truck and
parked in
front of them to prevent them moving. The youth then set about the
3 MDC
officials ripping off their Morgan Tsvangirai T-shirts, and beating
them
with fists and flat hands and kicking them, saying "you are on our
territory". All their money was stolen as well as all the MDC files on
constituencies, candidates etc. The three managed to run away into nearby
bush where they hid for three hours while phoning for help and the Police.
Two of the assailants were recognized viz Misheck Masukume and Peter
Ngwarapi of Plot 20, Old Mutare. The Police RRB number 02588728 refers.
Present when report being made were D/Cst. Ngunwende, Insp. Chiyoka both of
Law and Order section and also the Officer Commanding District Chief Supt.
Gowo.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
28 February
2008
Posted to the web 29 February 2008
Kumbirai
Mafunda
Harare
ZIMBABWE is only generating 1 100MW out of a potential
output of 1 590MW at
its electricity generation plants, a sector regulator
revealed.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission (ZERC) said out
of a total
internal generation capacity of 1 590 MW, ZESA Holdings power
generation
subsidiary, the Zimbabwe Power Company, was only producing 1
100MW, far
short of national requirements amounting to over 2 000
MW.
The country has two major power plants and ZERC said Kariba Hydro
Power
Station was generating 750MW, with the Hwange Power Station, which is
currently under refurbishment, generating 350MW out of a potential output of
670MW.
The three coal-fired power stations are not operational
despite having a
potential to generate 170MW when fired to full
capacity.
Repeated efforts to revive the three thermal power stations,
namely
Bulawayo, Munyati and Harare, have failed owing to persistent coal
shortages.
Critics said revival of the thermal stations was critical
to the economic
turnaround of the country in light of the diminishing power
imports from
neighbouring countries.
ZERC said ZESA's failure to
exploit full generating capacity was due to
sub-economic power tariffs on
both industrial and domestic consumers, lack
of major overhauls at power
stations, lack of spares and routine maintenance
and a brain drain which has
left the power utility grappling with acute
staff shortages.
ZERC
commissioner-general Mavis Chidzonga said power generation investments
in
the country were being hampered by high capital costs, the shortage of
foreign currency and long lead times to plan, construct and commission
plants which takes between three to seven years.
Power imports from
Mozambique's Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), DRC's
Snel and South
Africa's Eskom have been falling as regional utilities battle
to meet
growing demand in their countries while other utilities have
suspended power
over unpaid debts.
Zimbabwe has battled with frequent power outages,
which recently plunged
most parts of the country into darkness.
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
29 February, 2008
A network of progressive South
African organisations known as the Zimbabwe
Solidarity Forum (ZSF) organised
a seminar in Johannesburg on Thursday aimed
at examining the present
situation in Zimbabwe in light of the elections due
on March 29th. Among the
groups participating were the South Africa Council
of Churches, the South
Africa Communist Party, the Congress of South African
Trade Unions and
several student and youth organisations.
Forum coordinator Sipho Theys
said the idea was to look at the legitimacy of
the March elections in
Zimbabwe in order to avoid a situation such as the
Kenya scenario, where
disputed elections led to violence. Issues relating to
the SADC talks
mediated by their President Thabo Mbeki were also discussed.
The groups
acknowledged that the atmosphere in Zimbabwe remains intimidatory
and tense,
just weeks before the elections. They expressed deep concern over
the lack
of independent media and the failure by the Zimbabwe authorities to
implement legislation agreed to at the SADC talks.
Theys said despite
comments made by their President Thabo Mbeki that all was
well in Zimbabwe
as a result of the crisis talks he mediated, the Forum was
aware that the
opposition parties were being harassed and could not campaign
freely in
Zimbabwe. Their conclusion was that the environment on the ground
is not
conducive to holding free and fair elections and opposition parties
should
not participate.
As for actions that the Forum members can take to assist in
the Zimbabwe
crisis, Theys said they resolved to put more pressure on the
government of
South Africa to change its policies on Zimbabwe. They would do
this by
arranging meetings with key government departments such as the Home
Affairs
and Foreign Affairs departments. The Forum would also meet with
officials
from South Africa's Human Rights Commission over the abuse of
Zimbabweans in
South Africa.
Theys said it was agreed that more
protest marches should be held at the
Zimbabwe Consulate in Johannesburg.
"We need to make as much noise as
possible to make sure the elections in
Zimbabwe are free and fair", he
added. The first of these protest marches
has already been scheduled for
March 7th.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
29 February 2008
Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, Simon
Khaya Moyo, on Thursday
acknowledged receipt of a petition calling on the
government to allow
Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote in the forthcoming
elections
Over 200 members of the Revolutionary Youth Movement of
Zimbabwe
demonstrated outside the embassy in Pretoria where they handed over
the
petition to South African police who acted as mediators. The police gave
the
petition to officials inside the embassy.
The leader of the
youths, Simon Mudekwa, told us Khaya-Moyo signed three
copies acknowledging
receipt and promised to look into their dgrievances.
The petition called for
the government to recognize the basic rights of
millions of Zimbabweans in
South Africa and let them vote in the elections.
'There is a deadline for
our demands and if they are not met we will storm
the embassy and take over.
This time we are not going to back down, they
have trampled over our basic
human rights for a long time,' Mudekwa said.
The 8th March has been set
as the deadline for all demands to be met. The
RYM is currently mobilizing
hundreds of its members to be on standby for the
8th if no word is received
from the government.
Mudekwa said this was the first time they had
managed to get the attention
of the ambassador and got him to sign for
receipt of a petition. 'Lets hope
he will pass on the petition to his boss
because we are waiting for an
answer,' Mudekwa
added.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Blessing-Miles Tendi
Last updated: 03/01/2008
04:47:19
"UNTIL philosophers [intellectuals] bear rule, states and
individuals will
have no rest from evil," the Greek philosopher Plato once
opined.
Plato believed that only the intellectually gifted - what he
called
'philosopher-kings' or intellectual-politicians - were sufficiently
rational
to run governments and that they were most aware of 'the
good'.
Plato's conviction in fusing politics with intellect has been
shared by some
in Zimbabwe over the years.
It was in 2000 that
Professor Jonathan Moyo declared, "The distinction
between an intellectual
and a politician is an unintelligent one.
Intellectuals and politicians go
together because politics that is not
driven by intellectuals is not
powerful."
In 2005, Robert Mugabe mocked Morgan Tsvangirai for not being
an
intellectual-politician, noting that "although he has ambition, it is
hollow
ambition which is not clothed in any greater understanding and
intellectual
appreciation".
There is a sense among some of Zimbabwe's
intellectual-politicians that they
are better suited to conducting national
politics. Indeed, since 1980, some
of the key turning points in Zimbabwean
politics have been dominated by the
involvement of so called
intellectual-politicians.
Remember the late Dr Bernard Chidzero's
championing of the ESAP agenda in
the late 1980s and early
1990s.
Recall Dr Edison Zvobgo's role, as Zanu PF's legal chief, in
drafting many
of the amendments to the former Lancaster House constitution,
which are
decried as undemocratic today.
Recall again Dr Zvobgo's
efforts in reforming Zanu PF and the state through
the Constitutional
Commission's Draft Constitution that was rejected in the
2000
referendum.
Remember Dr Chenjerai 'Hitler' Hunzvi, the war veterans'
leader during the
farm seizures and later a member of parliament for the
Chikomba
constituency.
Recall Professor Jonathan Moyo as a combative
and creative Information
Minister responsible for the powerful propaganda
blitz that legitimised the
Third Chimurenga?
In the words of Dr
Nathan Shamuyarira, another intellectual-politician,
Professor Moyo was "a
very sharp, very bright intellectual good at rebutting
the arguments of the
opposition and at articulating the party's policies".
Remember Dr Joseph
Made and Dr Patrick Chinamasa as the relevant ministers
in charge of the
decimation and corruption of Zimbabwe's agricultural sector
and justice
system respectively?
Dr Ignatius Chombo, Dr Stanislaus Mudenge, Dr Samuel
Mumbengegwi and Dr
Sydney Sekeramayi were or are hardly exemplary ministers
in their respective
ministries either. And of course, we cannot forget
Mugabe, the most eminent
intellectual-politician of all, with several
university degrees and overlord
of the most catastrophic economic decline in
recent memory.
In 2008, lo and behold, in the midst of widely felt
disillusionment and
disgruntlement with the intellectual-politician Mugabe,
up comes yet another
intellectual-politician, Dr Simba Makoni, with a grand
ambition to
'facilitate' Zimbabwe's turnaround by helping Zimbabweans to
help
themselves. And who has been the most prominent figure, in public at
least,
thus far in Dr Makoni's campaign? Yes, you guessed it - another would
be
intellectual-politician, Dr Ibbo Mandaza.
The record of
intellectual-politicians in Zimbabwe is far from admirable.
Little surprise
that the Morgan Tsvangirai MDC's treasurer, Roy Bennett, on
February 22,
2008, in a Short Wave Radio Africa broadcast, commented: "You
know there is
something about these people with degrees. They come in from
the top and
think that they can thrust leadership down to the grassroots
because they
have got a degree. Let me tell you something.Morgan Tsvangirai,
[and]
myself. we might not have degrees, but we have got degrees in
people .we
stand for the people."
I do not endorse Bennett's comments entirely
because Tsvangirai's record as
a democrat who respects party constitutions
is hotly contested by members of
the Professor Arthur Mutambara MDC, which
broke away from the Tsvangirai MDC
in 2005. Tsvangirai's handling of the
Lucia Matibenga affair in 2007 also
raised serious questions about his
leadership style.
What I do endorse is Bennett's scepticism of the
intellectual-politician
class. Dr Makoni has attempted to cast himself as a
former voice of reason
and conscience in Zanu PF, who eventually decided to
run for the presidency
outside of Zanu PF. Dr Makoni wants to "return power
to you, the people" and
"reclaim our country which is being destroyed by a
minority", as he claimed
when campaigning on February 28. Despite Dr
Makoni's passionate appeals to
the people, many - and rightly so - remain
sceptical of him.
During the Third Chimurenga, while he was still the
Editor in Chief of the
now defunct Mirror newspapers group and writing under
the pen name 'The
Scrutator', Dr Mandaza argued that white farmers were not
the "victims of
Mugabe's mad land reform" but that the real "mad land reform"
had occurred
during the colonial period when whites seized most of the
productive land
from blacks without compensation, and confined blacks to
overcrowded and
barren land.
Dr Mandaza also contended that "those
familiar with the Zimbabwean
situation, and indeed with the history of
revolutions and transitions, know
confidently well that there could have
been no resolution of the land
question - and the colonial question in
general - without the kind of war
and turmoil that has accompanied the
process so far".
Would-be intellectual-politicians such as Dr Mandaza
would now have us
believe that they are committed reform-minded rational
actors when not long
ago they used strategies of deflection to protect the
land seizures from the
label 'mad land reform', and attempted to justify the
violence, destruction
and deaths accompanying the fast track land reform as
a fait accompli.
Plato's old faith in intellectual-politicians is dubious
because one of the
most disconcerting aspects of Zimbabwe's recent political
history is that
highly educated individuals have presided over the country's
decline. They
have also legitimised state violence, persecution and a
calculated assault
on our human rights.
In 2008, should we entrust
our hopes for an authentically better Zimbabwe
with
intellectual-politicians? Do they have 'degrees in people'?
BBC
** Makoni wants to
eradicate fear **
Zimbabwe presidential candidate Simba Makoni has called
Zimbabwe "a country
of fear".
<
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7260000/newsid_7269800?redirect=7269831.stm&news=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&asb=1
>
The Times
March 1, 2008
Africa's traditional
stories are dying out - one woman set out with her tape
recorder to try to
capture them before it's too late
Lisa Grainger
There's a little
corner of my African childhood home I remember the most
clearly. Like most
properties on the outskirts of Salisbury, in the British
colony of Rhodesia
(now Harare, Zimbabwe), ours had servants' quarters: a
white, two-bedroom,
iron-roofed cottage, where our nanny, Ida, and gardener,
Lazarus, lived. In
front of their house was a fence that demarcated our
territories: our
manicured suburban garden in which we tumbled about all
day, swinging on
ropes, climbing trees, chasing dogs, collecting lizards,
insects, snakes.
And, in the corner, their little bit of Africa.
There was nothing
particularly unique about their patch - it was a wild
square of red earth,
crawling in the pumpkins they cultivated, and rows of
maize, with lines of
washing fluttering nearby - but it was my favourite
part of the garden. It
was their private space (so forbidden), it was muddy,
and, most important of
all, there was always a fire burning inside a ring of
stones on the earth:
boiling up a soot-blackened enamel kettle or pot of
sadza (maize-meal
porridge), and spewing smoke that made my skin and hair
smell of
Africa.
It was here, when my mother was at work, that my brother and I
got our first
African education. We learnt how to make a fire, to balance a
bucket on our
heads with water for the kettle. And, most importantly, it is
where we heard
our first African tales.
Stories have been told orally
for centuries in Africa - not just as
entertainment and to pass away the
evening hours in winter, when the crops
were harvested and times were good,
or to perpetuate an historical event,
but as moral lessons to teach children
right from wrong and good from bad.
There are hundreds of them all over the
continent, telling of magic and
ogres, princes and talking animals, wicked
spirits and mischievous
creatures, stories that have travelled with tribes
as they wandered through
Africa. So, throughout my life, wherever I've been
I've hunted them down: on
camping trips, safaris and, as a journalist, on
stories all over the
continent.
The older I got, though, the more
difficult it became to find them. They
were disappearing. Radios, and in
some villages televisions, had started to
replace traditional gatherings.
Western literature, and pictures of Janet
and John, rather than hyenas,
elephants and lions, were becoming commonplace
in rural classrooms. Old
women had to turn their energies to bringing up
Aids orphans, rather than
sitting round fires telling stories. At one school
I visited in Kwekwe,
Zimbabwe, there was not a single eight-year-old child
who could remember a
traditional story to tell me. Spurred on by African
friends, by old ladies
who had dreamt of their stories being preserved, by
teachers who said they
would love local publications for children to read,
by Shona historians at
the University of Zimbabwe and by the Somalian model
Iman, who told me she
had searched New York bookshops for traditional
African stories to read to
her daughter, I decided to set off on a journey
to attempt to preserve
them.
I am not the first person to attempt to do so. An afternoon in Harare's
archives - an extraordinary collection of colonial papers, books, and
photographs - unearthed documents written in the 1800s by missionaries,
describing "ungodly, Satanic myths". Aesop was inspired by them; Rudyard
Kipling adapted them. In South Africa's libraries, I discovered compendiums
written as early as 1929, gathered by early settlers, in Harare's near-empty
bookshops, I discovered a few single stories, but there were few, if any,
modern compendiums collected orally from villagers themselves.
That
was my challenge. And in 2003, I set off to Africa.
I had no real plan,
other than basing myself at my mother's house in Harare,
and certainly no
idea how I was going to manage to find the stories, but
they slowly emerged,
as I took packed local buses, hitched rides with
hunters on tiny planes, and
got lifts in cars through Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Botswana and South Africa, and
put word out, through anyone who would
listen, of what I was looking for.
Once the bush telegraph started working,
all sorts of people emerged: men
whose grandmothers were the village
storytellers, old peasant farmers who
couldn't tell me how to spell their
names because they'd never been taught
to read or write, Bushmen keen to
relate lurid sexual fables, a renowned
local poet, teachers in rural
schools, farm workers.
Because almost
everyone I met, it seemed, loved these stories and wanted
them to be
preserved for future generations, I was greeted everywhere with
the greatest
hospitality. Farmers in Zambia passed me round from farm to
farm. Game
guides put me up in huts. Jack's Camp, in the Kalahari in
Botswana, gave me
a tent and sent me out into Bushmen communities with one
of their trackers.
A former Zambian headmaster in his eighties walked from
village to village
with me, with his stick, introducing me to old women. I
didn't eat a single
meal on my own.
Naturally, often when I arrived at a village, alone, I
was treated with some
suspicion. It was my Dictaphone and cameras that
opened doors. Once I'd
found someone who spoke English to translate for me,
and let villagers hear
what I had already gathered on tape and see pictures
of other storytellers,
there would be great enthusiasm. Most had never seen
a tape recorder, so for
the first half hour or so, I'd encourage them to
talk into it, then play
their own voices back. With often dozens of jostling
children trying to get
the best view, I would show photographs on my camera,
and take shots of
them, which they'd stare at, wide-eyed.
Then we
could begin business. I would be sat down - usually round a fire on
a rock
or wooden stool, surrounded by dozens of inquisitive children and
villagers
- and for hours, be regaled with story after story, new
storytellers joining
in and volunteering their tales. Often they would leap
about, scream, mimic
animals, whistle and dance. Some would sing. Always,
though, they'd be
listened to, with awe, as men, women and children stopped
everything to hear
stories: of magic rivers, of talking crocodiles, of
thunderous gods in the
sky, of wicked animals - and of morals, morals that
often would be repeated
until everyone was clear what the lesson was.
Three months later, I had
ten 120-minute audio tapes, and about 200 stories
in 20 different languages,
in a box in my backpack. I had a digital camera
packed with portraits of
storytellers. I had a laptop brimming with
translations from villagers who
had helped me along the route, sitting with
me under trees listening to my
tape recorder and, line by line, translating
the stories I had just been
told into English, as I typed them on to my
laptop.
It was a
magical, unforgettable three months, full of moments I will never
forget.
Sitting under a full yellow moon round a fire on the sands of the
dry
Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana, surrounded by Bushmen in loincloths.
Being
hugged by lepers, who had lost their legs, fingers and their
confidence, and
had regained so much pride at being asked to tell a story.
Lying under a
star-filled sky with a 74-year-old woman who invited me to
sleep alongside
her, by a fire. Being invited into shacks by
poverty-stricken Zimbabwean
families whose possessions consisted of a few
torn blankets and utensils,
and always being offered a seat and a cup of
water. And being told by a very
thin, poor teenage girl, Maureen Chirembwe,
a born storyteller sitting on a
pavement in a shanty town, that her dream
was to learn to write.
It was
Maureen, really, who spurred me on to find a relevant African charity
to
which to give the proceeds of the book. Having taken the stories from
villages, it didn't feel right to profit myself. And having grown up in
Zimbabwe, where schooling for girls is not a priority for poor families, it
seemed logical to try to benefit girls, who would otherwise have no chance
of being educated. All profits from the book are going to the charity
Camfed, which raises funds in the UK to pay for the schooling of girls in
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Ghana. Last June I visited a rural school in
Zimbabwe and met 56 girls whose entire education will be funded by the
charity. I also met two young women who are studying social sciences at
university, in order to help their own communities. None of them had seen a
book of traditional African stories, but remembered hearing them as
children. Each begged me for a copy, and every one said that, without
Camfed, they would not have been educated.
It's a strange feeling,
seeing the book in print. When I started the
journey, the objective was
personal: to try to keep alive the stories I
loved as a child. Today,
Stories Gogo [Grandmother] Told Me has taken on
other meanings. When all we
see on our televisions and newspapers are
negative stories about Africa -
oppression in Zimbabwe, stolen elections in
Kenya, violence in South Africa,
famine in Darfur - the book, I hope, will
give a glimpse of the richness of
cultures and people there: the fun, the
imagination, the colour and the
ancient traditions. It will, I hope, educate
children around the world about
the strong link between man and animals. I
now know there are hundreds of
girls across Africa who will benefit from
education if the book sells. A
year of boarding school, with uniforms,
stationery and shoes, costs £100 per
girl. As one girl put it to me: "We are
going to ask our headmaster to buy
ten. Then my sister can come to school
too."
Iman, in the foreword to
the book, describes African story-telling as
"mothering, creative
nurturing". With any luck, its nurturing will be more
than just moral. It
will be practical, too.
.............
Stories Gogo Told Me, published by Penguin
South Africa, can be bought
through www.exclusivebooks.com (£8, plus
postage, with a delivery time of
two weeks). It will be published in the UK
in July. For information on
Camfed, go to www.camfed.org