http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Clara Smith Monday 22 March
2010
HARARE - Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has admitted that some
officials of the
two companies contracted to mine diamonds at the
controversial Marange
fields might be "crooks" but insisted during a
parliamentary probe into
irregularities in the mining sector that it was
"virtually impossible" to
get clean people in the industry.
Giving
evidence to a parliamentary committee investigating operations in
Marange
last week, Mpofu said he was aware that some of the directors of the
two
firms Canadile and Mbada Mining were involved in shady business deals
but
challenged the committee to identify any investors in the diamond
industry
who were clean.
"He said he had done his research and found that people
in the diamond
business globally are drug traffickers, smugglers or plain
crooks. He said
this was the trend worldwide and the committee was fooling
itself by
thinking that they could get a clean diamond investor," said a
source who
attended the briefing by the minister.
The hearing was
held in camera.
The government-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation (ZMDC) last
year partnered little known Grandwell of South
Africa to form Mbada
Investments which is mining diamonds at the Marange
field that is also known
as Chiadzwa.
The ZMDC also partnered another
little known South African firm Core Mining
and Minerals in a joint-venture
operation trading as Canadile Miners to
exploit the Marange
deposits.
But parliamentarians have accused some members of the boards of
two firms --
whose names they have note disclosed -- of being former
illegal drug and
diamond dealers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) and Sierra
Leone.
Under the law, Mpofu can appoint the
chairperson and deputy of the ZMDC
board but has no authority to name people
to sit on boards of joint venture
companies formed by the state mining
corporation and other entities.
One of the appointments is former
Airforce of Zimbabwe helicopter pilot
Robert Mhlanga -- who has interests in
Grandwell but was named by Mpofu to
represent the ZMDC on the Mbada board as
chairman.
According to diamond.net, Mhlanga was Zimbabwe's first black
helicopter
pilot and worked as a courier for Mugabe's late first wife,
Sally.
Mhlanga is said to have made a fortune through various projects in
Africa
and was active in the DRC's diamond trade when Zimbabwean troops
fought
there.
The Mbada chairman is known to have close ties with
Zimbabwe's military
establishment that is accused of stealing millions of
dollars worth of
diamonds from Marange and offloading them onto the foreign
black market for
precious stones.
The committee accused Mpofu of
failure to diligently vet people before
forming partnerships with them to
mine the Marange diamonds.
Mpofu admitted that he did not follow
laid-down procedures when he licenced
Canadile and Mbada to mine diamonds at
Chiadzwa.
Sources said the under-fire minister vainly sought to explain
away his
actions by arguing that the "country badly needed money that
following
procedures would have affected government efforts to get immediate
cash".
"He confirmed that proper procedures were not followed. He however
defended
his action, saying this was necessitated by the fact that Zimbabwe
is under
sanctions and needed money fast," said a source who attended the
committee
briefing by Mpofu.
Our sources said Mpofu sought to shift
blame to the ZMDC after
parliamentarians alleged that he had personally
handpicked the same people
he now described as crooks.
"He said while
he could have recommended the two firms to partner ZMDC, the
parastatal had
the responsibility to draw up agreements that benefited the
government," the
source said.
He said he was investigating the ZMDC because the parastatal
had structured
agreements that are favour the private partners instead of
the government.
But sources who attended the meeting said Mpofu, while
admitting to the
irregularities, insisted that Mbada and Canadile would
continue with
operations because Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed their
operations.
He also defended himself by stating that his ministry lacked
expertise and
financial resources to fully utilise Marange diamonds hence
the rush to
appoint people who he said "knew the business", according to the
source.
The joint ventures with Mbada and Canadile were formed as part of
measures
to bring mining of diamonds at Marange in line with standards
stipulated by
world diamond industry watchdog, the Kimberley Process
(KP).
Marange is one of the world's most controversial diamond fields
with reports
that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government
took over the
field in October 2006 from a British firm that owned the
deposits committed
gross human rights abuses against illegal miners who had
descended on the
field.
Human rights groups have been pushing for a
ban on Zimbabwean diamonds but
last November, the country escaped a KP ban
with the global body giving
Harare a June 2010 deadline to make reforms to
comply with its
regulations. - ZimOnline.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
22 March 2010
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has admitted he didn’t
follow proper procedure
when he allowed two mining firms to operate in the
controversial Chiadzwa
diamond fields, confirming reports that the mining
permits were issued
fraudulently.
Mpofu was giving evidence at a
parliamentary committee hearing set up to
investigate operations at
Chiadzwa, including exactly who gave the two
companies mining the fields
clearance to do so. Mpofu told the committee, in
a meeting held behind
closed doors, that he did not follow laid-down
procedures when he licensed
Canadile Miners and Mbada Investments to mine
diamonds at Chiadzwa. Sources
quoted by the ZimOnline news service said the
minister defended his decision
by arguing “that following procedures would
have affected government efforts
to get immediate cash.” He also voiced his
ZANU PF party’s beliefs that
international, targeted sanctions, were to
blame for his
decision.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti earlier this month called for all
mining
licences in Chiadzwa to be suspended, stating that the permits had
been
issued fraudulently. The parliamentary committee has since been trying
to
get answers, in an effort to try and establish control of the alluvial
fields where unknown quantities of gems are still being extracted. An
official from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) made the
shock admittance in parliament earlier last months that diamonds were being
airlifted from Chiadzwa to Harare without proper supervision. Biti meanwhile
acknowledged that the government was not benefiting directly from diamond
sales.
Mpofu also admitted last week that ‘crooks’ were involved in
mining the
diamonds. Mpofu said he was aware that some of the directors of
Canadile and
Mbada were involved in ‘shady business deals’ but challenged
the committee
to identify any investors in the diamond industry who were
‘clean’.
“He said he had done his research and found that people in the
diamond
business globally are drug traffickers, smugglers or plain crooks.
He said
this was the trend worldwide and the committee was fooling itself by
thinking that they could get a clean diamond investor,” said a source quoted
by ZimOnline.
Officials from Mbada and Canadile, which are joint
ventures with the
government’s Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC), have snubbed
the same parliamentary committee three times on
Minister Mpofu’s orders.
Committee members have threatened to seek ‘Contempt
of Parliament’ charges
if the directors do not attend their meetings, and a
fourth such meeting has
been scheduled for Tuesday. The two firms took over
from the UK based
African Consolidated Resources, (ACR), the mining firm
that holds the legal
title to the Chiadzwa claim. ACR was forced off the
claim at gunpoint in
2006 and has been in the middle of the protracted
ownership wrangle ever
since.
A new and very up market casino has opened at the Ascot Race Course in Bulawayo.
The race course ceased to operate several years ago and the once splendid buildings and grandstands are now the homes of various businesses and restaurants.
The new casino comprises two floors of opulent decadence featuring plush red carpeting and satin lampshades!!
The downstairs area boasts rows of brightly coloured and enticing one armed bandits and the more discreet upstairs area is tastefully decorated with fringed red satin lampshades placed artfully and subtly low over several elegant baize tables.
There is also the obligatory bar with imported beers and the finest wines.
All this owned by our diamond studded minister Obert Mpofu and his brother,
and while the Red Cross and World Vision rush around Zimbabwe in an effort to
avert massive humanitarian starvation amidst the less fortunate Zimbabwe
population, the nouveau riche and infamous will gamble the night away
happily.
Scores of croupiers have been engaged
to deftly deal cards on the black jack tables, and young men and women with
slender fingers were seen practising their sleight of hand moves with the
roulette wheels, prior to the gala opening night.
Casinos traditionally attract money and with the spate of robberies and hold ups in Bulawayo, Obert has done the wise thing and positioned two security guards day and night to protect his latest venture. The guards are both armed with rifles.
But hark, who are these guards? Are they dressed in the apparel of private security guards ?
No indeed the first cadre of security personnel were garbed in the navy and blue fatigues of the Zimbabwe Support Unit and could their rifles possibly be drawn from the government armoury? More recently the daytime security was none other than a fairly languid pair of police officers perched outside the casino.
To guard the 'honest' minister's own private gambling empire? Surely not? Indeed, the question arises that surely the taxpayer's money could be better spent on other things than safe-guarding the controversial minister's private empire. One wonders if the police are also being deployed to secure the property kingdom Prince, oh sorry, Minister Mpofu is busy building with the recent purchase of properties in Victoria Fall, houses in Bulawayo's elite suburbs and several buildings - all for cash.
Perhaps the Honourable minister will name the new casino "Nero's Palace" after the much maligned emperor who fiddled while Rome burned?
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
22 March
2010
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono's enemies in ZANU PF have moved
swiftly to
denounce him for his scathing attack against the controversial
indigenization bill and want him removed from his job.
Gono's enemies
within the powerful ZANU PF politburo are now using his
unusually strong
criticism of the bill to plot his downfall. He's already
facing accusations
that he's now being 'too friendly' to the MDC and Finance
minister, Tendai
Biti.
In an interview with the weekly Financial Gazette last week Gono
said the
new indigenization regulations would scare off badly needed foreign
investment. He said the country would be shooting itself in the foot if it
embarked on the programme.
His remarks, which have been applauded by
many Zimbabweans, have reportedly
not been welcomed in ZANU PF's corridors
of power. A highly placed source
told SW Radio Africa on Monday that the
party intends to send a delegation
to Robert Mugabe with a request to
relieve Gono of his job.
Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa says there are
reports however that suggest
Gono is ready to quit, for the sack of progress
in implementing the Global
Political Agreement. But Mugabe remains fiercely
opposed to the idea and
wants him to stay put.
The easiest and most
effective way to destroy someone with close links to
ZANU PF lately is to
label him as an MDC sympathizer or as some would say, a
ZANU PF member by
day and an MDC activist by night. Some in ZANU PF are
allegedly saying Gono
now 'smells' of MDC, hence he is the target of the
clandestine political
campaign to purge him.
His reappointment as the RBZ governor by Mugabe
was severely criticized by
the MDC and is still a source of conflict within
the inclusive government.
International donors and lenders do not have
confidence in Gono as the
custodian of their funds, and the MDC is
contesting his appointment and does
not consider it legitimate. He was also
the man who would have been behind
the funds that helped ZANU PF launch is
violent election campaign in 2008.
But unconfirmed reports suggest the
MDC may have agreed during South African
President Jacob Zuma's mediation
efforts in Harare to let Gono continue as
the RBZ governor, after the Senate
last week passed the Reserve Bank
Amendment Bill.
According to the
Bill, Gono's powers will be reduced by appointing an
independent chairperson
and board for the bank. The amendments are aimed at
ensuring the bank
reverts to its core function of price and financial sector
stability and
stops quasi-fiscal operations that saw inflation reaching
percentages in the
trillions.
A source told us Gono's opposition to the indigenization bill
have caused
much consternation within ZANU PF circles, especially in those
who have an
eye at taking over white and foreign owned firms, as they did
with the
farms.
The wealthy Gono has told friends he was ready to
walk out of the RBZ job
and run his vast business empire on a full time
basis. Meanwhile
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana has been reportedly
advised to consider
taking up a job as a High Court judge, to ensure that
contentious issues in
the GPA can be resolved, Muchemwa said.
On Roy
Bennett, Muchemwa said there are rumours that the former commercial
farmer
and the MDC treasurer-general may be offered another deputy
ministerial
post, other than that of the preferred agriculture portfolio.
Negotiators
from the three parties will meet starting Thursday to work, in
theory, on
the final implementation of the GPA. The negotiators will be
working on
guidelines drawn up during Zuma's trip to Harare last
week.
Unfortunately, despite South Africa having a free press, President
Zuma did
not seem to think Zimbabweans deserved the same and journalists
were not
allowed to ask questions at the press conference at the end of his
visit to
Zimbabwe.
http://af.reuters.com
Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:40am
GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's consumer price deflation eased
in February,
with prices falling just 0.7 percent on the year to February,
compared to a
4.8 percent drop in January.
Prices have stabilised
somewhat since a power-sharing government set up by
President Robert Mugabe
and rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai more than
a year ago adopted use
of multiple foreign currencies to replace the
Zimbabwe dollar, rendered
worthless by hyperinflation.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation
quickened to 1.0 percent in February
from 0.7 percent previously.
The
CSO started calculating price movements in United States dollars in the
same
month, and published the first set of annualised data under the system
with
the December 2009 print, when inflation stood at -7.7 percent
year-on-year.
Zimbabwe's inflation peaked at 500 billion percent --
according to the
IMF -- as a decade-long political and economic crisis
reached its height in
December 2008.
http://af.reuters.com/
Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:31pm
GMT
* Document sets target of 2010 to amend laws
* Tough
media regulations to be repealed
* Government plans audit of land
ownership
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, March 22 (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's strict security and media laws
criticised by opponents as
undemocratic will be relaxed by the end of the
year, an official document
showed on Monday.
The unity government formed last year by President
Robert Mugabe and his
rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has
stabilised the economy but has
yet to implement many of its agreed political
reforms.
The fragile coalition has been marred by policy differences
between Mugabe's
ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) but its new
programme sets a target of the end of this year to repeal
and amend
contentious security and media legislation.
Mugabe's
critics say the president, who has ruled since 1980, has used the
laws to
keep opponents in check and extend his stay in power and foreign
donors have
withheld funding until the new government implements political
reforms.
The government plans to introduce at least 17 amendments to
laws including
the Public Order and Security Act, which police have used to
ban protests by
the opposition and unions, a document seen by Reuters on
Monday shows.
The changes will also repeal the Access to Information and
Protection of
Privacy Act, used to ban foreign journalists from working
permanently in the
country.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
A Freedom of
Information Bill allowing journalists greater access to
official information
will be introduced, while a Media Practitioners' Bill
will be tabled in
Parliament to regulate the conduct of journalists.
Cabinet ministers will
now be required to make monthly reports to the
council of ministers chaired
by Tsvangirai, who is in charge of government
policy.
"The programme
sets clear targets on which the government's performance can,
and should, be
judged," Tsvangirai said in a foreword to the document.
"This document is
also intended to help members of parliament ... in their
task of holding
government ministers to account for their performance."
The government
also plans a land audit to establish cases of multiple farm
ownership.
The MDC has previously said Mugabe's land seizure drive
that started in
2000, in which white-owned commercial farms were
redistributed among blacks,
largely benefited the 86-year-old veteran
leader's allies, an allegation he
denies.
"Timely implementation of
this critical dimension (land audit) is likely to
promote accountability and
directly enhance productivity in the agricultural
sector. It is therefore
one of the critical targets under the government
work programme," the
document said.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=28160
March 21, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - A senior Bulawayo magistrate was suspended on
Friday on charges
of corruption after he allegedly secretly granted bail to
two city council
employees who had been remanded in custody by a junior
magistrate.
Magistrate Singandu Jele based at Bulawayo's Tredgold
Magistrate Courts was
suspended by Matabeleland regional senior magistrate
John Masimba for
allegedly violating Section 44 of the Public Service
Regulations 2000.
"You are hereby suspended from work with immediate
effect because your act
was inconsistent with or prejudicial to the
discharge of your official
duties and also included abuse of office," reads
part of the letter of
suspension signed by Masimba, which was shown to The
Zimbabwe Times.
Allegations against Jele are that on December 11 2009,
two Bulawayo City
council employees were convicted of fraud by a junior
magistrate Ntombizodwa
Mazhandu.
The fraud involved a 30 000 Rand
deal for a housing stand in the city
The council employees, Mandlenkosi
Ncube and Mthandazo Ndlovu, were remanded
in custody to January 6 for
sentence after pleading guilty to fraud before
Mazhandu.
The
following day the pair applied for bail pending sentence, but Mazhandu
declined to grant them bail and instructed they should be sent back to
remand prison.
However, on the evening of the same day, Jele
allegedly secretly granted the
pair US$100 bail each in exchange for a
certain amount of money.
There has been an upsurge in the number of
judicial officers involved in
corruption over recent years. Observers blame
this on poor salaries.
Magistrates currently earn salaries as low as
US$200.
Last year the country's judicial system was grounded to a halt
after
magistrates and prosecutors went on strike to demand more pay and
better
working conditions.
The strike by the magistrates came a few
months after the government gave
judges of the High and Supreme Courts
luxurious cars, computers and plasma
screen television sets as part of their
perks.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet Gonda
22
March 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has ‘spiced up’ a one
day retreat for
ministers and parliamentarians, saying talk about holding
elections next
year were misplaced. Mutambara said that if elections are
held next year
they would likely produce more people like him, who got into
government
through the backdoor, as a result of fraudulent
elections.
The Deputy Prime Minister was giving his closing remarks at a
retreat
convened by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare on Monday.
Tsvangirai
had organised the retreat to try and defuse mounting tensions
between the
ministers and the backbenchers, represented by parliamentary
portfolio
committee chairpersons and the three parties’ chief
whips.
Both ZANU PF and MDC-T have indicated that they want elections to
be held
next year. Robert Mugabe went further to say elections will be held
next
year with or without a new constitution.
But the MDC-M leader
indicated that while there is talk about elections he
doesn’t believe they
will be held next year.
Tongai Matutu, the chairperson of the Justice and
Legal Affairs
Parliamentary Committee and MDC-T Masvingo Urban MP, said
Mutambara may have
said that to protect his position, but that he raised
some important issues.
Mutambara said there cannot be talk about
elections when the constitution
making process has not kicked off and he
said problems of legitimacy would
continue to arise as a result of a
defective constitution.
The Deputy Minister also said the issue of
violence has not been dealt with
and there has been no real attempt at any
type of national healing. People
are still deeply traumatised by the 2008
violent elections.
Matutu said Mutambara’s closing remarks were frank and
honest as he pointed
out that he is a beneficiary of election
fraud.
Meanwhile, the meeting was held against a background of increasing
friction
between the frontbench and parliamentarians. In his opening remarks
Speaker
of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said ministers were not respecting the
role of
parliament and have not been bothering to respond to questions. He
said the
ministers come to parliament but as soon as they are supposed to
respond to
written questions they immediately leave the chamber, a clear
indication
that they are not prepared or interested in
responding.
Matutu said: “And clearly for last week that was very
embarrassing, whereby
48 written questions that were on the Order Paper,
none of those questions
were answered. All of them were deferred on the
basis that ministers had not
turned up.”
He said some answers from
the ministers are arrogant and don’t add value to
the debates, thereby
undermining the role of parliament. Some legislators
had posed questions
over a month ago, but have still not received a response
from
ministers.
Matutu said some of the ministers who have failed to respond
to questions
include the Minister of Transport and Communications, Local
Government
Minister and the Minister of Health. The Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee
on Mines and Energy had also clashed with the Mines Ministry over
allegations of corruption.
Ministers on the other hand said they felt the
MPs in portfolio committees
were harassing and embarrassing them.
It
is understood the meeting managed to ‘iron out’ some misunderstandings
and
tried to create a platform to explain the different roles of the
stakeholders. Surprisingly some ministers said they were not aware they had
to attend parliamentary committee meetings.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance Guma
22 March
2010
The Zimbabwe National Liberations War Veterans Association (ZNLWA)
has split
again, after deputy chairman Joseph Chinotimba and his group
boycotted a
weekend congress that re-elected Jabulani Sibanda as chairman.
In 2008 the
group had already split into two, with this faction calling
itself Mwana
Wevhu and led by Retired Colonel Basten Beta who says its
patron is Grace
Mugabe.
Two weeks ago Chinotimba, who claimed to have
the backing of 11 out of 16
executive members, said they had passed a vote
of no confidence in Sibanda,
accusing him of being over-whelmed by power and
making decisions on his own.
Sibanda, who claims to have the backing of 5
out of 10 provincial
executives, dismissed the no confidence vote as 'shadow
boxing in the dark,'
by Chinotimba and his group.
Last Thursday in
the run-up to the weekend congress Chinotimba announced he
and 11 other
executives had resigned from the executive led by Sibanda. The
move was
meant to force the placement of an interim executive as stipulated
by the
constitution. This never happened and the congress went ahead in
Bindura on
the orders of Mugabe who said "they should all be silent and go
to a meeting
and elect a leadership at congress.'
Problems within the association have
been rumbling on for some time with
several scheduled rival congresses being
postponed. In December last year
Army General Constantine Chiwenga summoned
the factions to his office and
ordered them to put their congress on hold.
Reports said ZANU PF was worried
about the 'domino effect' an acrimonious
congress would have on the ZANU PF
party congress.
Despite orders
from Mugabe to the veterans stop fighting, the animosity is
so high they are
defying even their patron. During a rare meeting with
editors of media
houses Mugabe said that the infighting in the war vets
association started
with the 2008 elections. Retired Colonel Beta approached
him and said you
cannot 'lose what we got through the bullet through the
ballot'. Mugabe
claims the war veterans defied his advice to respect the
vote and formed the
faction Mwana Wevhu.
Mugabe's explanation appears to be aimed at avoiding
blame for the murderous
Operation Mavhotera Papi (Where did you vote) which
saw the murder of
hundreds opposition activists and the assault and torture
of tens of
thousands more.
But the campaign was coordinated by the
notorious Joint Operations Command
(JOC), a grouping of all security
departments from the police, army, air
force, prisons and state security
departments and as President Mugabe would
have had to approve the
campaign.
http://news.radiovop.com
22/03/2010 16:08:00
Harare, March 22, 2010 - The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-M)
formation led by Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara has intensified its
campaign to be allocated one
of the 10 governorship positions, adding more
complexity to one of the
outstanding issues scuttling Zimbabwe's inclusive
government.
This
comes amid growing reports that Zanau PF and the bigger MDC formation
led by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai might soon seal an agreement to take
five
governorships each and ignore the rocket scientist's formation.
Initially,
it had been agreed that Zanu PF would take five governorships,
MDC-T four,
while Mutambara's formation would take one. These would be
allocated based
on the parties performance in the March 2008 harmonised
elections.
However, of late it is understood there was a new new
lobby for Zanu PF and
the MDC-T to get an equal share of the positions, and
sideline Mutambara's
formation.
On Monday, MDC-M director of
Information Maxwell Zimuto said in a statement
that the party "stands to get
one governorship position purely on the basis
of its performance at the 2008
general election".
"A run- down of how the parties performed in the 2008
election in this
(Matabeleland South) province shows that out of the 13
house of assembly
seats and 6 senatorial seats contested for," said Zimuto.
"MDC won seven
House of Assembly seats and two senatorial seats, giving them
a combined
majority representation of 9 seats in the province. If we go by
the
combined total number of seats won in both houses per province, the MDC
is
undoubtedly the most deserving party to take the governorship position
for
Matabeleland South province."
The issue of provincial
governorships was among the five outstanding issues
presented to the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) last November,
leading to the
current facilitation by South Africa President Jacob Zuma.
Following
Zuma's latest mediation, it is understood new governors would be
sworn in at
the latest in August. These will be drawn only from Zanu PF and
the MDC-T,
on the basis of their majorities in the two houses of Parliament.
The
MDC-M got a resounding majority in Mat South, winning seven seats Gwanda
Central, Gwanda North, Insiza South, Umzingwane, Bulilima East, Bulilima
West and Mangwe. The party also got two senatorial seats in Bulilima-Mangwe
and Umzingwane.
Based on the 2008 election results, Zimuto said "it
is evident that MDC
deserves and is entitled to the provincial governorship
position for
Matabeleland South".
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Corespondent Monday 22 March
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe is among 18 countries being investigated for
complicity in
a racket involving the illegal trade in traditional medicines
containing
protected wildlife products, the International Criminal Police
Organisation
(Interpol) that is coordinating the probe has
announced.
Interpol said last week that the operation - codenamed
Operation Tram - saw
national wildlife enforcement authorities, police,
customs and specialised
units from countries across five continents working
together to combat
illegal trade in traditional medicines made from animal
parts.
Countries targeted under Operation Tram are Australia, Canada, the
Czech
Republic, Ecuador, France, Georgia, India, Italy, New Zealand,
Nigeria,
Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, the
United Kingdom
and Zimbabwe.
Interpol said its investigations into
individuals and companies as well as
inspections of premises such as
seaports and wholesalers have so far
discovered a large amount of medicines
either containing or marketing the
use of illegal ingredients such as tiger,
bear and rhinoceros.
"This operation has again proved that while
environmental criminals may
cross borders and display high levels of
organisation, so too will the
international law enforcement community in its
efforts to apprehend those
criminals," said David Higgins, manager of the
Interpol Environmental Crime
Programme.
The exercise has so far
resulted in a series of arrests worldwide and the
seizure of thousands of
illegal medicines worth more than US$15 million.
Zimbabwe is also under
tight scrutiny by the wildlife and flora watchdog,
Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna (CITES),
amid allegations that high-ranking officials are
suspected to be behind the
country's unacceptable rate of rhino poaching.
Rampant poaching -
allegedly being spearheaded by senior government and army
officers - has
caused both black and white rhino populations to decline in
Zimbabwe.
A December 2009 report by TRAFFIC and the International
Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) showed that since 2006, 95
percent of the
poaching in Africa has occurred in Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
The report also showed that the conviction rate for rhino crimes
in Zimbabwe
is only three percent.
The Interpol operation,
coordinated by the organisation's Environmental
Crime Programme with support
from the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit, was
developed in response to the
increasing use of endangered and protected
wildlife products in traditional
medicines throughout the world.
Most rhino horns leaving southern Africa
are destined for medicinal markets
in southeast and east Asia, especially
Vietnam, where demand has escalated
in recent years.
The demand for
rhino horn is driven by an insatiable appetite in China and
Vietnam where
superstitions attribute medicinal properties to rhino horn.
China's
recent economic upswing has enabled an unprecedented number of
citizens to
afford "remedies" made from rhino horn, and from other
endangered
species.
Chinese pharmaceutical companies manufacture rhino horn into
"medicines",
which are sold openly in pharmacies throughout China and in
hospitals in
Vietnam.
Contrary to popular belief, rhino horn is not
used by the Chinese as an
aphrodisiac.
Primitive superstitions -
still widely believed in China and other parts of
Asia - consider rhino horn
to be a cure-all for common ailments such as
fever, pain, and even
acne.
Scientific testing has however proven that rhino horn has no
medicinal
effect on humans.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=28156
March 21, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Villagers in Zimbabwe's rural areas have now been
reduced to
engaging in barter trade in order to access health facilities due
to a
widespread lack of foreign currency, a parliamentary report presented
in the
House of Assembly on Thursday has disclosed.
The report by the
parliamentary portfolio committee on Health and Child
Welfare expressed
concern that the villagers maybe ripped off as there is no
standard
evaluation for mainly livestock which they are now tendering in
return for
receiving medical attention.
The Zimbabwe dollar ceased to be legal
tender at the formation of the
inclusive government in February last year
following the adoption of
multi-currencies - the United States dollar, the
South African Rand and the
Botswana Pula - in a bid to kill hyperinflation
which at one time stood at
231 million percent.
"Due to the economic
meltdown, the committee observed that some institutions
are now accepting
non cash payments. Patients are now settling medical bills
with non-cash
payments such as goats, maize and beans. This is most common
at district
hospitals. The committee will make further enquiries and make
appropriate
recommendations to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare,"
said the
health committee report.
"The committee was concerned that the health
delivery system is now a shadow
of the post-independence era when it was one
of the best in the region with
positive indicators such as high health per
capital, good infrastructure,
progressive, equity-oriented budgets; wide
access to other determinants of
health such as access to safe water,
immunization, family planning and other
basic interventions; low maternal,
infant and child mortality rates and
improved life expectancy."
The
report also said there should be regular reviews of medical personnel
salaries to avoid the current brain drain.
"However, it is pleasing
to note that Zimbabwe is now seeing substantial
external funders starting to
fund government programmes," the report said.
http://en.afrik.com/article17199.html
Monday 22 March 2010 / by
Alice Chimora
Finer details of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma
mediation trip to
Zimbabwe are starting to emerge. Last week, Zuma spent two
days in Harare
locked up in talks with political rivals, Mugabe’s Zanu PF
and the premier
Tvsanagirai’s MDC.
Although initial indications were
that he left Harare empty handed,
‘encouraging’ news began to filter through
over the weekend. Sources from
both MDC and Zanu PF say “landmark strides
where made’ and proposals would
be finalised by negotiators before the end
of the month.
Zuma reportedly tabled a golden handshake proposal for
controversial
Zimbabwe Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and central Bank
boss Gedeon Gono.
"Zuma told Tomana that he was illegally appointed by
Mugabe. He was told to
give up the Attorney General’s post in order to save
the country from
further political and economic decline," said the
source.
A bench in the High Court judges was dangled to him.
On
Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Zuma also offered the position of
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa. The incumbent Moyo is now Zanu PF
National Chairman and should be stationed in Harare.
"Zuma also told
Gono that he was a stumbling block to the economic revival
of the country
and was urged to sacrifice his loyalty to Zanu PF and
relinquish his post,"
said the sources.
The sources also revealed that Zuma told Roy Bennet to
consider another
ministerial portfolio other than agriculture as Zanu PF was
now willing to
have a former white farmer occupying a senior agricultural
portfolio.
"Zanu PF is not at ease with Bennet and so they want him to
occupy a less
influential ministerial post," said the source.
The MDC
has been highly critical of the two men, blaming Gono for fuelling
hyperinflation through printing money to shore up Mugabe’s past governments,
while accusing Tomana of presiding over the prosecution of rights and
opposition activists.
Mugabe has maintained that Tomana and Gono
would not go, but the issue was
referred to the regional body for
arbitration, culminating in the latest
overtures.
Some of the
measures on which Zuma, reportedly, won agreement include:
- The resignation
of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono;
- The appointment of Attorney-general
Johannes Tomana as a high court judge
and replacement by someone acceptable
to all three parties;
- The dropping of Treason charges against MDC MP Roy
Bennett, and his
appointment to a different position different to the deputy
agriculture
minister slot initially assigned to him;
- The sharing of ten
provincial governorships among the parties and;
- The involvement of all
parties in lobbying activities for the lifting of
targeted sanctions against
Mugabe and key Zanu-PF leaders.
http://news.radiovop.com
22/03/2010 08:21:00
Harare, March
22, 2010 - Cash strapped Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC) is
demanding listeners and viewers licences at road blocks.
The ZBC said it
wanted people to prove that they were holding valid
listeners and viewers
licences. It was also demanding that people who wish
to enter or participate
in any radio or television competitions such as Pick
Your Box show should
prove that they hold valid television and radio
licenses.
The sole
state broadcaster has lost viewers and listeners to satellite
television
and exiled radio stations because of its perceived biased and
poor
programming.
ZBC is demanding $50 per television set per house hold and
$40 for a radio
licence.
http://news.radiovop.com/
22/03/2010 11:43:00
Harare, March
22, 2010 - Only a few Ministers from the Inclusive Government
turned up for
the one day retreat held in Harare on Monday and addressed by
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai said this showed a lack of cohesion between
the Executive and the
Legislature.
Ministers Obert Mpofu, Nelson
Chamisa, Elias Mudzuri, Henry Dzinotyiwei,
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro and the two
deputy prime ministers Arthur Mutambara
and Thokozani Khupe were some of the
few members of cabinet who turned up
for the retreat.
Tsvangirai told
the MPs that he will soon present a Government Work Plan for
2010 in
Parliament which "clearly sets out what the government intends to do
and how
it will be done and financed."
He said over the past weeks he found
himself in an "unenviable position of
being caught between Parliament and
the Executive" as the former exercised
its oversight role.
He said he
had received complaints from Parliament relating to the
reluctance by
ministers to submit themselves to on-going enquiries conducted
by Parliament
as well as complaints from Ministers who feel that Parliament
is
overstepping its oversight role and subjecting them to "unnecessary
scrutiny
and enquiry".
"While this is not a pleasant situation, I am nonetheless
able to derive a
certain amount of comfort from it. For it shows, without a
shadow of doubt
that both MPs and the members of the Executive are actively
engaged in
fulfilling their respective mandates," he said adding that the
tensions
between the two arms of government will subside.
Among the
clashes are the ones between the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Mines
and Energy and the mines ministry over the MPs investigations into
the
controversial diamond mining by Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners at
Chiadzwa. The Mines Minister is said to have prevented the heads of the two
diamond companies to appear before the parliamentary committee to answer
allegations of corruption. The committee has again called the two heads to
appear at a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday.
Speaker of
Paraliment Lovemore Moyo appealed to cabinet ministers to take
the business
of the House seriously and avail themselves to take questions
from back
benchers during question time on Wednesday.
"I have witnessed incidences
where Ministers leave the chamber when it is
about time respond to question
on the Order Paper. As such, I am appealing
to the Prime Minister to
encourage Ministers to take the business of the
House seriously, for they
are MPs first before they are Ministers," said
Moyo adding that out of the
48 questions that were on the Order Paper last
Wednesday not even a "single
of those questions was responded to by the
Front
Benchers".
Tsvangirai also came out to support a Private Member's Bill
brought to
Parliament by Mutare South legislator Innocent Gonese arguing
that the move
was catered for in the country's laws.
Tsvangirai said
MPs should strive to come up with laws that are a "true
reflection of the
type of society that we wish to build for the good of all
our
peoples".
"Legislation is a key instrument of public policy and is
instituted either
by the Executive or through Parliament via the Private
Members' Bills. Both
routes are catered for in our laws and therefore must
be respected. Indeed,
it is the content of the bill and its impact on our
citizens that is of
prime importance, not necessarily its origin," said
Tsvangirai.
Gonese, through a private member's bill, recently introduced
a number of
amendments to the draconic Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
which did
not down well with most Zanu PF MPs. They argued the amendment
will weaken
police powers thereby creating lawlessness.
Zimbabwe
Information Centre Inc
PO
Box K824, HAYMARKET NSW 1240
Media
Release
March 22, 2010,
Two MDC Youth
activists injured in hit-and-run at Epworth, Harare
Alice
Banda and Rutendo Bvute were badly injured last Saturday when hit by a car while
walking off the roadway at Epworth, the poor urban area on the northern edge of
Harare. The two were taken to hospital by police, but the identity of the
attacker remains a mystery. Alice and Rutendo are sure that it was a punishment
attack by ZANU-PF militia.
Alice
Banda has a deep head wound, now with eight stitches, severe grazing on her
right shoulder, and extensive bruising. Rutendo Bvuke has a dislocated shoulder
and elbow.
The
pair had just distributed a suitcase full of clothes among some of the poorest
youth in Epworth – a gift from Zimbabwe democracy supporters in New
York.
Alice
Banda was badly torture din the election violence in 2008, and has been
courageous in continuing to work in Epworth. Both she and Rutendo have been
badly injured three times now in political
violence.
Initially the police stated that the driver did not have a licence
and that he had been detained at the Epworth Police Station. But when Alice and
Rutendo reported to the police after they were released from hospital, they were
told that the driver had been released, but had left his name, address and
driver’s licence.
Alice
and Rutendo allege that they can identify the driver - a well-known member of
the ZANU-PF militia – and the owner of the vehicle, a local ‘war vet’ in the
militia mould.
Both
had been injured on February 21 this year when ZANU-PF militia in four vehicles
drove into an MDC rally called to discuss the proposed new
constitution.
Local
MDC Senator and co-Minister for National Healing, Integration and
Reconciliation, Mrs Sekai Holland, is still waiting for a response from the
co-Ministers for Home Affairs to her request for an investigation of the attack
on February 21.
“These flashes of violence indicate that the work of the Organ for
National Healing needs to be speeded up. But a lack of reliable funding has
slowed it down,” said Senator Holland. “I believe that National Healing has now
the same high priority as the consultation on a new
Constitution”.
Mr
Jembere, the MDC MP for Epworth, said that community members want an urgent
consultative meeting at Epworth where the official monitoring team for the
Global Political Agreement, the two Home Affairs Ministers and the three
Ministers for National Healing can listen to the views of the Epworth residents
who are resolutely opposed to any continued political
violence.
The residents
report that the ZANU-PF militia bases that were operating in February have now
been re-opened in the guise of licenced wood-selling businesses, run by the same
people. The bases are: Donoro in Ward 2, Harare South constituency; in Epworth
constituency - Ward 7 - Garakara and Mai Mawire, Ward 6 – Makandira, Ward 5 –
Kadumbu and Solani, and Ward 4 - Reuben.
Mr
Jembere said that the presence of these thinly disguised militia bases is making
the community very uneasy.
For further comment:
Peter Murphy 0418 312 301
Photos of Alice and
Rutendo are available.
Coordinator
SEARCH
Foundation
Level 3, 110 Kippax
St,
Surry Hills NSW 2010,
Australia
Ph: +61 2 9211 4164;
Fax: +61 2 9211 1407
ABN 63 050 096
976
promoting democracy,
social justice and environmental sustainability
This email is
provided by the SEARCH Foundation as an information service. Any views expressed
are those of the author/s, and not necessarily those of the SEARCH
Foundation.
Got another number today.
This fellow has been involved with evicting
commercial farmers from their
farms. He evicted a farmer in Somabhula
last week Tuesday 16 March 2010. He
has been placed in Gweru by
Mugabe.
Only have his
surname.
Kanengoni +26311329807 (this is his mobile number,
people
should feel free to call or text him as well)
[This information
from a contact in Zimbabwe - Ed.]
145 Robert Mugabe Way,
Exploration House, Third Floor; Website: www.chra.co.zw
Contacts: Mobile: 0913 042 981,
0912 864 572, 011862012 or email info@chra.co.zw, admin@chra.co.zw, ceo@chra.co.zw
22 March 2010
The
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) will hold a meeting with The
Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZEDC) to discuss and map the way
forward on the power utility’s billing system that has raised an outcry from
residents. The meeting will be conducted tomorrow at 2.30pm at the ZEDC head
offices in Samora Machel.
CHRA is urging all residents who have queries on
their electricity bills to bring their bills to the CHRA offices tomorrow by
2pm. Other useful information that will be needed includes receipts of previous
payments, actual meter readings conducted by the residents themselves vis-à-vis
the readings indicated on electricity bills. Residents with queries are also
welcome to attend the meeting.
Please contact Loreen on 0913 042 981 for more
details.
Comment from The Cape Times (SA), 22 March
Peter
Fabricius
What are we to make of the apparent "breakthrough" deal
which President Zuma
pulled off in Zimbabwe last week? Zuma announced only
in very general terms
that Zimbabwe's three parties had agreed at last to
fully implement their
commitments under the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
which they had signed
in September, 2008, to create the framework for the
coalition government
they launched in February last year. Mugabe has not
kept his word, thereby
paralysing the government. Zuma, the official
Zimbabwe facilitator appointed
by his regional peers in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC),
went to Harare with a new determination to
sort out the problem. He put a
lot of effort into it, devoting more than two
days to wide consultations
with the leaders of the three parties in the
unity government - Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur
Mutambara - and other key players.
Most notably
he personally met the three officials whose positions have
become
contentious in the quarrel among parties. These were Reserve Bank
governor
Gideon Gono, attorney-general Johannes Tomana and Deputy
Agricultural
Minister-elect Roy Bennett, MDC treasurer-general. Mugabe had
unilaterally
re-appointed the first two in breach of at least the spirit, if
not also of
the letter, of the GPA. Conversely, Mugabe has refused to
appoint Bennett to
his government position because he has been charged with
treason for
allegedly trying to overthrow Mugabe's government by force.
Though no one
has divulged any details of what Zuma persuaded the parties to
do, leaks to
the media agree that Mugabe will now at least appoint several
MDC officials
as provincial governors.
The media leaks differ on Gono, some saying
he is on his way out, others
that the MDC has agreed he can stay because the
MDC no longer regards him as
important because most of his powers have been
transferred to MDC Finance
Minister Tendai Biti. Some leaks also suggest
that the treason charges
against Bennett will be dropped and that he will be
appointed to the
government, but in a different portfolio. And, apparently
as a sop to
Mugabe, the three parties will form a joint delegation to lobby
Western
powers directly to lift their targeted sanctions against him and his
cronies. These would all be promising developments. But of course Mugabe
reneged on countless agreements to Zuma's predecessor in the facilitation
job, former President Thabo Mbeki, not least his signature on the GPA
itself. And so a weary world is asking how many more times we have to hear
the Zimbabweans agree once again to do what they have already agreed to do
so many times before.
But power-sharing negotiations are like
that. Those conceding power, as
Mugabe ostensibly is, generally resist every
inch of the way. Perhaps there
is a difference this time because it was
Zuma, not Mbeki, facilitating.
Perhaps he did at last put the squeeze on
Mugabe. We shall see. But even if
Mugabe does fire Tomana and others, we
should not take our beady eyes off
him. He has been known to concede past
battles while he redeploys his troops
to a new front. In this regard, why
have we had no leaks about Mugabe's
unilateral transfer of substantial
powers from several MDC ministries to his
own Zanu PF ministers? These
included significant control of the electoral
machinery. Has Mugabe decided
that Gono has already fleeced the Treasury and
Tomana has also served his
purpose, and that all that counts now its to keep
control of the electoral
apparatus to ensure he wins the election due next
year, which will end the
unity government? It would be unwise to conclude,
even if he has conceded
this battle, that he has also surrendered in his
lifelong war to seize and
hold power.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Monday, 22
March 2010 16:26
The other day I was approached by an elderly member of Zanu
(PF) leadership
in Harare and asked "How did you overcome sanctions during
the Smith regime?
" We discussed his question and I discovered that this man
actually believed
the propaganda that was being peddled by the State
controlled media that the
devastation that we see all around us is the
result of western "sanctions"
on the country.
I then outlined what
sanctions against the Smith government had entailed. I
told him that in
1967, the United Nations had imposed global, mandatory
sanctions on Rhodesia
covering all commercial and financial activities.
Under these sanctions no
UN Member State was allowed to trade with or to
transact financial dealings
of any kind with Rhodesia - they were a blanket
ban on trade and finance and
had universal application. I said that the
Rhodesian government had overcome
the sanctions regime largely because a
small number of States were prepared
to circumvent the restrictions.
Nevertheless, their impact was immediate and
far reaching and the State
response to these limitations was to transform
the economy, make it more
diversified, less reliant on international trade
and finance and despite
every effort by the international community, the
Rhodesian dollar was still
worth two US dollars at independence in 1980.
Rhodesia had virtually no debt
and all the development that was evident had
been paid for from own
resources. A remarkable achievement in the light of
the fact that the State
had been fighting a civil war for a
decade.
Tatty governance
I then outlined what had happened to the
Zimbabwe government in the past
decade or so. I said that the government had
been in trouble well before
1997 - budget deficits had consistently exceeded
what is regarded as being
prudent (averaging 9 per cent of GDP for many
years), the national debt was
growing exponentially, the land reform
programme was in trouble and the
State was ignoring both the views of
stakeholders and key advisors. Zimbabwe's
reputation as a democratic state
that recognised and applied the basis rules
of good governance was looking
decidedly tatty.
It was in this context that the international community and
the multilateral
institutions reacted as they did when the Zimbabwe
government paid out to
the war veterans nearly a billion US dollars in 1997
and then committed
itself to the war in the Congo at a cost of US$1,5
million a day. Money
Zimbabwe simply did not have and within a short time
the economy started to
decline and the Zimbabwe dollar
devalue.
Initially, all that the multilaterals did was to apply their normal
rules
for States that are in default in respect to debt and basic macro
economic
fundamentals. They suspended us from the Fund and the World Bank
and
withdrew their support. Even then the international community did little
to
bring the Zimbabwe government into line with globally accepted
fundamentals.
However, when the Government continued to abuse its power and
authority at
the expense of the majority and flaunted all the norms of
democratic
practice and all basic human rights, the demand for action
against what was
called a rogue regime became ever more strident.
The
first serious measure taken was the adoption, by the United States
Congress
of legislation in 2002 that basically reinforced the actions taken
by the
multilaterals and in addition imposed restrictions on Zimbabwe until
democratic values and norms were reinstated and respected. These additional
restrictions made it illegal for American firms and agencies to engage with
the Zimbabwe government but did not impose any trade or financial
restrictions on the country.
Not sanctions
When further serious
violations of human rights and democratic practice took
place and macro
economic delinquency became more rampant, the United States
and the European
Union as well as Australia and New Zealand, began to impose
restrictions on
individuals whom they felt were responsible for the worst of
the violations
of the norms of good governance. These restrictions froze
assets (largely
ineffective) and imposed restrictions on entry to their
respective countries
on any business except those activities related to the
UN.
Such
restrictions do not constitute "sanctions" in any way from a national
perspective. They simply made it difficult for about 200 individuals to
travel and they limited what those individuals could do in the countries
that were imposing the ban. The UN cannot in any way, compare them to the
sanctions regime imposed on the Rhodesians. They affect a minority of the UN
membership and are strictly bilateral - the leadership of the implementing
organisation in each case governs them.
Even while they have been
attempting to influence the State by these
carefully considered and designed
restrictions, the States applying the
restrictions have poured US$7 billion
dollars into humanitarian and
development assistance in Zimbabwe. Half of
this aid has come from just two
countries - the United States and the United
Kingdom. Most of the balance
has emanated from the European Union and
Austral Asia. Trade with these same
countries has been maintained and even
increased as a percentage of our
national trade statistics.
Despite this
massive inflow of resources and easy access to export markets,
the Zimbabwe
economy has collapsed - GDP declining to 40 per cent and we now
have the
lowest GDP per capita in the region. Exports have fallen two thirds
and life
expectancy has crashed to 35 years from over 60 in the 80's. All
social
indicators are negative - child mortality, nutrition, literacy and
our
school and university systems are in a shambles.
The most obvious symbol of
collapse was the Zimbabwe dollar, which
eventually had to be withdrawn and
replaced by the US dollar. A final
humiliating loss of sovereignty and
ceding control of our monetary system to
the US Central Bank. The
restrictions imposed on selected individual and
organisations do not in any
way explain this collapse, it was entirely
self-grown.
I felt sorry for
the old man from Zanu (PF) because this failure is a
failure for all of them
- even if they were not directly responsible for the
decisions that gave
rise to this situation. The sense of failure is palpable
and I can see
George Nyandoro and other liberation stalwarts turning in
their graves at
what has happened to the tribe that lost its way and now
does not know the
way home.
http://www.morningmirror.africanherd.com/
Tourism in Zimbabwe and the World
Cup
I read an article recently quoting the CEO of one of
Zimbabwe's
largest tourism groups which said Zimbabwe could expect 40
000
visitors as a spin off from the World Cup Soccer in June of this
year.
In the same publication the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism has
stated
that the country's tourism sector is expected to increase
its
contribution to the Gross Domestic Product by 400 % !!
Well last
week we took a little spin up to Hwange and the Vic Falls to
see for
ourselves.
The roads were quiet, there were two tolls between Bulawayo
and the
Falls at $1.00 each and several roadblocks.
The police
officers at the road blocks were very civil in general
except for the one at
the Dete/ Kamativi crossroads.They have always
been a militant , belligerent
bunch and their commanding officer needs
to have a quiet word in their ear
!!
With tourism becoming a major player once again in the economy,
these
sweet folk need to be made aware that they need to be civil
to
ordinary people in the vehicles passing through their check point
!!
Police check points are great if they are looking after speeding
cars,
unroadworthy cars and drunken drivers but why be rude,
objectionable
and harsh to a car load of tourists for absolutely no reason
at all ?
Our first stop was that magical place Hwange Safari Lodge. Ah
....
many evocative memories were resurrected as this was one of our
prime
destinations as young marrieds, where the fabulous waterhole is
in
full view of the rooms and the gardens, and the piece de
resistance
was a visit to sundowner boma on stilts.
Sadly we comprised
three people of the six in total who were visiting
the Safari Lodge that
night ! The staff admitted to a ten percent
average occupancy for the last
ten years ! A two hundred bed hotel,
right on the edge of one of the most
glorious game parks in the
world, and we were six people in total to dinner
!!
The dinner was excellent, the service was fabulous, the rooms
were
most appealing in their decor and undoubtedly acceptable except
for
the zircon but that should not affect the World Cup visitors as
June
is a relatively "cool" month in Hwange.
The little bar on stilts
was sad as it was not being used and judging
by the smell the baboons had
obviously taken up residence !!
Solution - reintroduce the famous Flame
Lily Holidays, re-instate the
triangular flights between The Falls, Hwange
and Kariba and make
Zimbabwe one of the great tourist destinations it once
was.
Our game parks knock spots off the Kruger as there is not the
plethora
of safari companies working the park. We have more lions,
elephant,
buck and cats and we are still wild, desolate and unspoiled, the
real
and most authentic way to see nature in the wild.
Our next stop
was the Victoria Falls and here we stayed at the
Lokuthula Lodges. They too
were fabulous. Beautifully decorated, wide
open to the night sounds, well
protected by every means available for
the tourists ' safety and
comfort.
The Falls were certainly not busy, but they were spectacular.
The
water level unseasonably high, we were drenched at the end of
our
pilgrimage from the Giant Baobab tree, past Dr Livingstone and
down
past the most amazing of all the world's natural wonders, as far
as
the bungi jumping off the falls bridge.
The Vic Falls tourist
authority has the touts well curbed, there is
such peace, tranquillity, and
security, and yet once again "no
tourists"
The TIPs "Tour inclusive
Parties"as the tour operators call them were
quite well patronized. and buses
carrying passengers to and from the
hotels and the airport and to and from
their various inclusive tours,
were plentiful.
Well done to the
handful of tour operators who have taken the
initiative to try and bring
tourism back to the country, but there
is room for lots lots more
!!
The fabulous shops were empty of customers and yet full to
bursting
with excellent quality hand made crafts.
Weddings have become
quite popular at the Falls and the Vic Falls
Safari Lodge was alive with an
ebullient Irish wedding party, but
there were literally hundreds of rooms,
in several top class hotels,
at not bad prices, waiting to be occupied once
we get our good
reputation back after a lost Zimbabwean decade.
The
famous sundowner cruise was just the same and then the dash to the
Boma
restaurant was easy as no one dresses for dinner !! The staff at
the Boma
ensure you are dressed for the occasion as they doll you up
in ethnic
colorful sarongs, they wash your hands for you, and they
paint your face so
no need for make up !!
A fascinating old witchdoctor is on hand to read
fortunes, and a
traveling barman made us the most fabulous of cocktails -
the Kenyan
"dawa" made of some ferocious spirit, lemon, lime and honey
!!
Then the party started, we were taught noisy African Drum
solos,
treated to fabulous rhythmic dance routines and fed an
absolutely
delicious smorgasbord which included Eland, Warthog, Kudu,
local
fruits and berries as well as more traditional western fare.
If
you would care to get n touch with me I can send you the e mail
addresses of
several reputable and caring tour operators who can look
after your every
need for a magical, safe inexpensive tour of
Zimbabwe, far away from the
madding crowds that will be South Africa
during the World Cup in June 2010
!!
Trust the local tour operators, they know the lie of the land,
they
know where there is fuel, good food and safety, they know where
you
will not be taken for a ride price wise too.
No charge, I get
nothing from it, I just LOVE Zimbabwe and know it
deserves so much
more....
magskriel@mac.com