SADC supports US$8 billion plan to revive Zimbabwe's economy

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
30 March 2009

Southern African leaders meeting in Swaziland on Monday agreed to support a
US$8 billion plan to help Zimbabwe recover from a decade-long recession, but
not using their money.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told journalists at
the end of the summit that SADC member states will determine how much they
will contribute toward the plan, which was drafted jointly by Finance
Minister Tendai Biti and Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma.

The Zimbabwe delegation to the summit included Robert Mugabe and Tendai
Biti. The plan presented by the delegation included US$2-billion in short
term aid to kick-start the collapsed economy.

Mangoma told us from Johannesburg that the figure rose to US$8 billion, from
the originally discussed US$5 billion, after they produced their Short Term
Emergency Recovery Plan (STERP) that contained some additions that required
urgent attention.

 'Basically what SADC have done is to approve our plan and they will use
that plan to source the money from other quarters. But we have also
approached South Africa separately to help us with credit lines and balance
of payment support to get our economy back on track as soon as possible,'
Mangoma said.

The economic planning minister explained that they expect South Africa to
roll out the credit lines to Zimbabwe as early as next month. This will
allow companies in Zimbabwe access credit facilities to buy raw materials
and other goods that will revive industry.

'The credit line, which the South Africans are referring to as a loan of
US$1 billion, will help us create jobs when the production circle of our
industry is re-established,' Mangoma said.

He admitted though that the South African government might struggle to
extend the balance of payment support to the country. This aid, in cash,
would be channeled direct to the finance ministry and would be used to fund
various government projects - from paying the civil service to buying
stationery for schools and medicines and machinery for hospitals.

Prospective donors and the international community all insist that certain
conditions must be fulfilled by the inclusive government, if any aid is to
be injected into the country.

In the past two weeks an International Monetary Fund team and several
international development ministers from countries in the European Union,
visited the country in efforts to engage the government and see how best
they could help. They have all insisted that Zimbabwe had to do its part by
restoring democratic freedoms and the rule of law and demanded that the
recent wave of seizures of white-owned farms, blamed on Mugabe loyalists,
must stop.

Biti recently told business leaders that for the economy to turn around,
they needed to have good governance, adding 'our politics must be right.'
Mugabe meanwhile said economic recovery required foreign aid and the removal
of western economic (targeted) sanctions.

But the British, the European Union and the United States insist their
sanctions - travel and visa restrictions on Mugabe and more than 200 of his
party leaders, officials and loyalists - have little bearing on the
country's economic crisis.

In Washington, U.S. State department spokesman Robert Wood, recently said
the Obama administration was awaiting evidence that Zimbabwe was 'firmly and
irrevocably on a path to inclusive and effective governance, as well as
respect for human rights and the rule of law',  before they will consider
removing any targeted sanctions or put together an aid package.

Economist Isaac Dziya said international donors are already helping the
country cope with the humanitarian crisis. But, suspicious of Mugabe, they
have hesitated to pour in development aid until they see that Biti has real
authority in the new unity government.

'The country will struggle to get balance of payments from anywhere, as long
as we owe the IMF and world bank close to US$125 million. We may plead to
have this debt written off but this will be a tall order because of the
country's bad political record. But if we improve the country's image, maybe
the same institutions will look at us with a different eye and write off the
debt,' Dziya said.

Denmark, World Bank give Zimbabwe US$18m

http://www.afriquejet.com

Harare, Zimbabwe - In the clearest sign yet that international donors were
again loosening the purse for Zimbabwe, the World Bank and Denmark on Monday
announced a combined donation of US$18.7 mi llion to the country to help it
grapple with its social and economic challenges.

Also on Monday, the leaders of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) were meeting in Swaziland to raise a US$2 billion aid package for
Zimbabwe, to help it repair its battered economy.

After carrying out separate fact-finding missions to Zimbabwe two weeks ago,
Denmark and the World Bank said they would provide the country with US$18.7
million, much of it devoted to providing clean and safe wat er for the
capital, Harare.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it would chip in with Euro 2
million for the same purpose.

Zimbabwe was hit by a devastating cholera outbreak at the beginning of the
year, which was widely blamed on use of unclean water.

Much of the water purification and pumping infrastructure in urban areas in
Zimbabwe has broken down, leaving most households without clean water.

More than 4,000 people died in the cholera outbreak, while close to 100,000
others were infected.

Denmark and the World Bank said most of the funds would be spent on water
infrastructure in Harare, a city of more than four million people which is
hardest hit by the water shortages.

International donors are again warming up to Zimbabwe after President Robert
Mugabe agreed to form a coalition government including the opposition last
month.

This has seen a flurry of donors coming to the country, including missions
from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the AfDB and other
agencies.

Australia and Sweden were the first countries to resume aid to Zimbabwe,
each giving the southern African country US$10 million.

Harare - 30/03/2009

IMF offers assistance to improve payments system

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Nokuthula Sibanda Monday 30 March 2009

HARARE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has offered technical support
to improve Zimbabwe's payments system to enable banks to disburse foreign
currency allowances to thousands of civil servants more efficiently.

Banks have faced difficulties in making payments to public workers who
started receiving allowances in hard cash last month.

Long queues have become common at banking halls across the country on days
civil servants receive allowances.

A senior official at the Ministry of Finance said the IMF agreed to assist
Zimbabwe after noticing serious shortcomings during their two-week stay in
the country for Article IV consultations meetings.

"The IMF has offered to help us and our banks in the disbursements of
foreign currency to clients from their banks," said the official, who spoke
on condition he was not named.

"They realised that most of banks were having problems in disbursing the
civil servants allowances and it was also noticed that problems mostly arise
towards month ends when most civil servants get paid their US$ 100
allowances," he added.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti was not immediately available for comment on
the matter while it was also not possible to obtain comment from the Bankers
Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

However, our source said the BAZ and the RBZ were already reviewing the
payments system and prepared blueprints on how best to address the problems
associated with currency distribution.

Last week, the IMF completed its two-week assessment mission to Zimbabwe
although it made no commitment on future financial support its final
statement offered a glimmer of hope as it praised some of the policies that
have been adopted by Harare. - ZimOnline

Undercover programme on Zimbabwe’s prisons to be aired Tuesday night on SABC TV3 (South Africa)

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/

March 30th, 2009

Continuing farm invasions threatening future of coalition

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Violet Gonda
30 March 2009

Zimbabwe's economy has always been agriculturally based, and land tenure is
central to resuscitating the economy. The widespread farm invasions have
destroyed food production and the displacement of tens of thousands of farm
workers has created a mass humanitarian crisis.  The population of
commercial farmers has dwindled from 4 500 to 100, in just the last 10
years.

Those at the forefront of the latest wave of farm invasions include senior
ZANU PF officials, police, army officers and war veterans, all in gross
violation of the Global Political Agreement.

All farmers in the Lowveld, Zimbabwe's prime sugar growing area, are
currently in hiding after confirmation that arrest warrants had been issued
for them all. The driving force behind the problems in the Lowveld is Deputy
Police Commissioner Admore Veterai. In January 2008 he violently took over a
Lowveld farm and the owners have been held virtually hostage since that
time. Last week he looted their property when they were away. They returned
and removed his possessions so Veterai took his anger out on their innocent
employees.

Chiredzi farmer Gerry Whitehead said: "That evening Veterai returned and he
got his hired thugs to beat up the Nesbitt's remaining staff with
knobkerries shouting that Veterai was the owner of the house now and that
everybody had to leave, at the same time he (Veterai) removed the Nesbitt's
furniture again."

The Deputy Police Commissioner carries an AK assault rifle and a pistol on
his hip at all times.  Whitehead said a report was made to Chiredzi police
"but it is unlikely that they will act against the Deputy Police
Commissioner of Zimbabwe."

Farm evictions have escalated since the formation of the inclusive
government, however the Minister of Lands, Dr Herbert Murerwa, says there
are no fresh farm invasions taking place, just 'disturbances' caused by
former farm owners who are resisting occupation by new farmers with genuine
offer letters.

The state controlled Sunday Mail newspaper also quoted ZANU PF provincial
governors stating that people must not be under any illusion that because
there is a new government there will be a stoppage to the land reform
programme. There was no mention of the extreme violence that has accompanied
these illegal takeovers and the statements were made by ZANU PF governors
whose very appointments are under dispute in the coalition government.

The statements came a couple of days after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
warned the invaders to stop the illegal activities or risk imprisonment.
Tsvangirai said: "This government is aware that most of the ongoing
disruptions of agricultural production, which are being done in the name of
the land reform process, are actually acts of theft using fraudulent offer
letters. Those continuing to undertake these activities will be arrested and
face justice in the courts."
The Prime Minister was speaking at the opening of the Stakeholders Summit in
Harare on Friday, which was attended by members of the business community
and civil society.

In his closing remarks at the same function, Dr. Albrecht Conze, the German
Ambassador to Zimbabwe, said securing donor and investor confidence hinged
on the issue of respecting property rights.

He said the continued farm disruptions are sending out the wrong
signal: "This may be an internal affair as long as legislation and practice
only affect citizens of this country. But it becomes a bilateral issue for
all those countries that have concluded investment protection agreements
with Zimbabwe, and whose investors are being unlawfully molested and
disrupted in their business affairs."

"Countries far bigger than Zimbabwe have broken down in the 20th century
because their ideology had abolished respect for property rights. Such
mistakes should now be a matter of the past. At the very moment where the
donor community is taking its first steps to substantial re-engagement in
Zimbabwe, the continued farm disruptions are sending out the wrong message,"
Ambassador Conze warned.

Commercial farmer Ben Freeth said no one was taking any notice of the Prime
Minister's statements at Friday's meeting, as farm invasions continued this
past weekend. He said in Chegutu alone at least three farms were invaded by
senior ZANU PF officials. He said Chegutu lands officer, Clever Kunonga,
broke into Reydon Farm owned by Kevin Dudoil, while a ZANU PF Senator looted
property at the Meredith's Farm. Freeth asked: "Does an offer letter give
someone the right to destroy people's property?"

A return to the rule of law and secure land tenure is absolutely critical if
there is to be any real change in Zimbabwe. But when police, land officers
and senators are going around, illegally invading farms, while looting and
beating, who is going to arrest them?

Sunday Mail dismisses new invasion reports

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14248

March 30, 2009

JOMIC launches probe

Chief Sunday Mail Reporter: Emilia Zindi

THE Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee of the political agreement
between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations has been asked to investigate
cases of alleged fresh farm invasions and present its findings to
Government.

This comes at a time when Provincial Governors have denied that there are
any fresh farm invasions, although they have reported some disturbances on
some farms where former owners are resisting occupation by new farmers with
genuine offer letters.

Detractors of the inclusive Government have been playing up allegations of
fresh farm invasions, citing this as reason why Zimbabwe should not receive
financial aid to strengthen the economy.

The investigations by JOMIC, which is equally represented by senior
officials from the three parties who make up the inclusive Government, are
expected to lay the matter to rest.

The Minister of Lands, Dr Herbert Murerwa, on Friday said JOMIC had been
mandated to immediately look into the allegations of invasions and come up
with evidence of such invasions, if there are any.

Dr Murerwa said he held a meeting with all the Provincial Governors on
Thursday in Harare to find out if there were any invasions.

"We met with Governors, who revealed that they had not received any new
cases of farm invasions in their respective provinces although there have
been some disturbances,'' he said.

He said most of the disturbances had taken place on farms that were acquired
and allocated to people who had not been able to occupy their farms for
various reasons.

"It must be clear to everyone that once a farm has been acquired, it becomes
State land. It is only the State, through the Ministry of Lands, that
authorises a person to occupy that land on issuance of an offer letter,
permit for A1 or the 99-year leases,'' he said.

The Minister said there was a sudden influx of land beneficiaries who were
holding onto their offer letters issued more than three years ago who now
wanted to occupy their farms.

He said the influx was experienced soon after the formation of the inclusive
Government as beneficiaries, whose offer letters were dated as far back as
2005, gained confidence and started occupying their farms after it became
clear that the land issue was irreversible.

There was no information about any disturbances on farms that have not been
acquired.

"Actually, there are people who started moving onto their farms and exerting
pressure now to the former owners who have been resisting to vacate the
acquired properties,'' he said.

Dr Murerwa said most of the disturbances now being perceived as new farm
invasions were taking place on those farms once owned by the 77 farmers who
had refused to leave the farms pending the Sadc Tribunal ruling.

These farms were acquired long back and were now State land. The State had
issued offer letters to beneficiaries who had also failed to occupy the
farms until the recent developments.

"These beneficiaries are holders of valid offer letters. Government is now,
through JOMIC, looking at the evidence of these reported invasions if there
are any in any area,'' he said.

He said that in some cases the former owners had continued using delaying
tactics in order to remain on the farms although they knew well that the
State had acquired and resettled people on that land.

"Some continue asking for permission to harvest their current crop. They get
that permission and the next thing they plant again a new crop and it has
been going on like this, thereby creating anxiety among the offer letter
holders,'' he said.

He said the major challenge had also been to expedite the legal process of
the land reform programme. The undue delays had resulted in some holders of
A2 offer letters becoming impatient.

He said there were no fake offer letters issued by the ministry.

The former owners were refusing to recognise offer letters as legal
documents, hence, creating the impression that the beneficiaries were
holding on to fake offer letters.

Such reports had been reportedly rampant in Mashonaland West and Central
provinces simply because the majority of the farmers who took their cases to
the Sadc Tribunal were from these areas, especially in Chegutu District of
Mashonaland West, he said.

Mashonaland West Governor and Resident Minister Cde Faber Chidarikire said
he had no information on new invasions in his province.

He said the problem in Chegutu District was caused by former owners whose
farms were acquired and allocated to beneficiaries, but are resisting
occupation by new owners.

"These former owners have been resisting basing their argument on the Sadc
Tribunal. But the laws of this country are very clear on that - land
acquired becomes State land. The beneficiaries who have been holding for too
long on their offer letters have become impatient and they are moving in,
but not as new invaders,'' he said.

Cde Chidarikire said investigations had revealed that some of the farmers in
the Chegutu District were actually left as caretakers when the owners left
for other countries after the acquisition of their farms by Government.

A case in point was that of Mr Rob Taylor, who was managing two farms - The
Downs and Lot 1 of Lot 2 of the Groove - once owned by Seimens and Black
Nicole, who had all since migrated to New Zealand and South Africa
respectively.

At Stockdale Farm, the President of the Senate, Cde Edna Madzongwe, had been
trying in vain to move in since 2007, but had only managed to do so now. Her
case was also being misrepresented as a new invasion. Mashonaland Central
Governor Advocate Mike Dinha said an illusion had been created towards the
formation of the inclusive Government that the land reform programme would
be reversed.

He said it should be made clear that the land reform programme was an
on-going process. Government would continue to resettle people according to
the laws of Zimbabwe.

"People must not be under any illusion at all that because there is a new
Government, there will be a stoppage of the land reform programme.
Government will continue to settle the landless under the laws of this
country,'' said Advocate Dinha.

Mashonaland East Governor Cde Aeneas Chigwedere said he had no information
on new farm invasions. He warned Zimbabweans to be wary of some elements
that were not happy with the formation of the inclusive Government and were
out to derail it.

"As stated in the Global Political Agreement, the land reform programme is
irreversible,'' he said.

Reports say man shot as police protect ousted Bishop Kunonga's service

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
30 March 2009

The Zimbabwe Journalists website reports that a Harare man was shot and
injured by police, who were protecting a rebel service held by ousted Bishop
Nolbert Kunonga's people. Police fought running battles with parishioners in
Budiriro and Glen View, who had tried to reclaim their churches from Kunonga's
people.

Controversial Bishop Kunonga was excommunicated in 2007 from the church,
after he attempted to unilaterally withdraw the Diocese of Harare from the
Central African Province. He was replaced by Bishop Sebastian Bakare but has
since used youth militia and the police to chase away Anglican parishioners
loyal to the new bishop.

Bishop Bakare told Newsreel the formation of the coalition government has
done nothing to stop the lawlessness affecting the Anglican Church. He said
for the past 4 weeks their services have been disrupted by Kunonga's thugs,
who have no following within the parishes.

On Sunday two priests, a church warden, a youth member and another church
member, all loyal to Bishop Bakare, were arrested during the skirmishes.
Bakare said the police are openly telling them they are out in full force to
protect Kunonga and his people.

Bakare began the defiance last week in Mabvuku when he defied attempts by
riot police to remove him from the altar during a service. The riot police
however turned on the parishioners, driving them away from the church. He
told Newsreel he urged his parishioners to defy the police and reclaim their
churches.

On Sunday the members of the different parishes did exactly that, but riot
police were deployed to suppress them. Angry parishioners demanded to know
why the police were protecting Kunonga and some sang church hymns outside.

'Some started throwing stones at the police as the police used force to try
and force the parishioners out of the church yard and building. Gunshots
were subsequently fired resulting in a local who was relaxing at his home
being shot and injured in the arm,' the Zimbabwe Journalists website
reported. Bishop Bakare said he was still trying to verify the details of
the shooting, but confirmed the skirmishes, saying they were quite serious.

Kunonga triggered controversy after publicly backing Mugabe's violent land
grab and began a campaign to intimidate all opponents in the church. Many
fled the country after receiving death threats. A church trial against him
for abuse of church funds and intimidation collapsed, under very technical
circumstances. Kunonga grabbed a farm from one of his parishioners with the
blessing of the Mugabe regime, effectively confirming his alliance with
regime.

Tsvangirai and Mnangagwa Secret Meetings Riles Robert Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Monday, 30 March 2009
By Denford Magora
Tsvangirai and Mnangagwa HARARE - President Robert Mugabe "went
ballistic" on Saturday when he found out Morgan Tsvangirai and Emmerson
Mnangagwa have secretly met up to six times since the MDC leader became
Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister is said to have met with the ZANU(PF) heavyweight,
who has been confirmed already by Mugabe as his preferred choice for
President, in Harare and at a farm in the Kwekwe area.
Mugabe, told Saturday in a briefing about the meetings, is reported to
have threatened to send the Minister of Defence back into the "wilderness"
(gwenga, was the Shona word Mugabe used, apparently).
Although not immediately clear whether Mugabe was told what the
mettings were about, he immediately saw this as a threat to his continued
grip on power. Mugabe, although he has told Mnangagwa that he will most
certainly now take over as head of ZANU(PF) and eventually President of
Zimbabwe, likes things done his way.
He believes Mnagagwa and Tsvangirai may be planning to sideline him,
now that Mnangagwa is confident of taking over within ZANU(PF.)
I have previously told you about Mnangagwa's statements to ZANU(PF)
colleagues, where he half-jokingly said he would not mind having Tsvangirai
as his Prime Minister when he takes over the presidency of Zimbabwe.
It is quite likely that the Prime Minister is trying to negotiate for
the future, perhaps to cement his position within the corridors of power. It
is highly unlikely that the two could be discussing a situation in which
Tsvangirai would try to accomodate Mnangagwa in a future Tsvangirai
presidency.
This is because Mnangagwa's burning, fierce ambition for the
Presidency means he is unlikely to ever contemplate playing second fiddle to
Tsvangirai.
I just got this news today, so I will try and dig up some more to find
out just what sort of deal these two men are trying to strike.
It may well be all in vain, however, if Mugabe's mood today is
anything to go by. What it means is that Mnangagwa has not reported on these
meetings to Mugabe, which makes the dictator extremely suspicious.
As for Tsvangirai, I think he is aware that he is playing with fire.
The last time Mnangagwa was suspected of plotting against Mugabe was when
Prof. Jonathan Moyo arranged that meeting in Tsholotsho, at which support
was being drummed up for Mnangagwa to take the vice-presidency now occupied
by Joice Mujuru.
Mugabe swiftly demoted Mnangagwa, relegating him to the Ministry of
Rural Housing and Social Amenities. He was, effectively, "put in the dog
house", as he himself recognised.
He only bounced back in February as Minister of Defence in the
Inclusive Government, a very high accolade indeed to the presumptive heir.
He is trusted, and that is the message Mugabe sought to send, grateful that
The Crocodile had not sought to capitalise on Simba Makoni's defection from
the party.
Now, however, the Minister of Defence could again very quickly find
himself relegated back to the wilderness if Mugabe believes what he was told
today. It already appears that he does indeed credit the reports.
When his power is "threatened" directly like this, Mugabe is very
predictable. Action will be swift, ruthless. I dare say, on account of this,
he would indeed be willing to let the government fall to pieces, if it were
to come to that.
Or perhaps there is a good enough explanation that he will get from
Mnangagwa and all this will simply be a storm in a tea-cup?
http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/

The Zimbabwe Mail

University of Zimbabwe to Remain Closed

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, March 30 2009 - The future of Zimbabwe's students hangs in the
balance after the University of Zimbabwe this week failed to re-open amid
reports that most students failed to raise the required tuition fees.

Teachers have also threatened another strike unless their salaries are
immediately reviewed.

The once prestigious institution of higher learning closed doors on
February 6 this year following a violent riot as students demanded food and
an end to an almost yearlong strike by their lecturers.

University lecturers are still to receive the USd 100 allowances per
month, which most public servants including teachers are now getting, as
they are not regarded as direct employees of the government.

Unlike the Minister of Education, Sport and Education, David Coltart
who has successfully sourced donor funding for teachers' allowances,
President Robert Mugabe's appointed Minister of Higher Education, Dr Stan
Mudenge has done little to resuscitate higher learning.

Coltart has also introduced free primary education while students at
secondary schools pay at most USd 20 per term in school fees.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) vice president,
Nokuthula Hlabangana told RadioVOP in Bulawayo that the request by Zimbabwe's
new inclusive government for a 90-day reprieve while it sorts out the issue
of teachers' salaries will soon end with nothing having been done.

"The 90-day period lapses during the coming Easter holidays and if the
issue is not resolved during that period, teachers will not go back to
 work," he warned.

Zimbabwean teachers are demanding a salary of at least USd 500 per
month arguing that their counterparts in the region earn between USd 800 and
USd 1 000 per month, a request the inclusive government has shot down saying
it does not have or neither can it raise such large sums of money.

Victimisation of Junior Officers Continuing at ZPS

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, March 30 2009 - Three Prison Officers stationed at Harare
Central Prison have been summoned by Officer Commanding Mashonaland Region
Assistant Commissioner Nelson Chikwature, to answer to allegations of
publicly denouncing ZANU PF, celebrating the inauguration of Prime minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and the subsequent awarding of USd 100 allowances to civil
servants.

  This is despite an order to senior officials by Zimbabwe Prison
Services Chief, Paradzai Zimondi two weeks ago, to stop victimising junior
officers.

The prison officers, who spoke to RadioVOP on condition of anonymity,
said they have been summoned to the Commanding Officer's office for the
hearing on Monday.

"We have been called in connection with statements we made last week
while we were drinking at a prison bar. In fact we were celebrating having
been paid for the first time after a long time of working for nothing. We
never denounced any political party in the process as alleged," said one of
the officers.

Last week ZPS held a sports fund raising gala at Harare Central Prison
camp and it is at the venue where the three allegedly made the anti- ZANU PF
utterances.

Zimbabwe Prison Services Chief, Paradzai Zimondi, on March 20 convened
a meeting with all Officers-In-Charge and Commanding Officers as well as
other senior officers at the Harare Central Prison complex, and instructed
them to fully support the inclusive government.

"The commissioner told us that we should forget what happened in June
2008 because it was done for political reasons adding that we should inform
our subordinates that the inclusive government is the only way of
reconstructing the rundown nation and the ZPS," said a Commanding Officer
who declined to be named.

He said the commissioner noted with concern the continuous
victimization of junior officers within the organization and reminded the
senior officers that the time for such behaviour was over and that his anti
Tsvangirai statements uttered last year were no longer valid.

"He also told us that the inclusive government is a reality and
victimization should stop as it compromises development as stated in the
GPA," added the Commanding Officer.

Zimondi is on record as having said he would retire if Movement for
Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential election in
last year's March harmonized election.

"I would rather retire and go farming if Tsvangirai is elected
President because I would have difficulty saluting a person who did not go
to war," Zimondi was quoted as having said last year while addressing Prison
Officers in Harare.

Meanwhile there was free for all drama at Chesvingo Police base in
Mucheke when residents, who were walking along Yomukono Street, in front of
the police base on Sunday morning, refused to stop in respect of the raising
of the national flag by a police detail.

Residents said it was ridiculous for them to stop and respect the
raising of a tattered flag.

RadioVOP witnessed more than 20 people including children, shouting
back at a police officer who had ordered them to stop and respect the
proceedings.

"Unopenga unoda kuti timire iwe uchiturika mamvemve (You are mad, you
want us to stop walking in respect of the raising of a tattered a flag?)  We
used to respect this process but it is shameful for us to stand and honour
that eyesore flag.

"If the police were serious, they would request a new flag on time
rather than to raise such a shameful flag," said one of the men who refused
to stop.

When the police officer realised that the people who were passing by
were not scared of him, he quietly proceeded to raise both the national and
the Zimbabwe Republic Police flags while people laughed at him.

The national flag at Chesvingo police base is now just a tattered
piece of grey cloth, with the Zimbabwe bird no longer visible. It is now
very difficult, especially for children, to distinguish it from an ordinary
tattered piece of cloth.

However, a snap survey by RadioVOP in Masvingo revealed that it is not
only the flag at Chesvingo Police, which is tattered, but at most government
institutions.

Know Your Ministers: Madzorera, Mpofu

In Zimbabwe, law has a long road ahead

From The Los Angeles Times, 29 March

The new unity government has raised hopes that President Mugabe's regime
would face justice for years of political killings, arrests and torture. But
many opposition activists remain jailed.

By Robyn Dixon

Banket - The man and woman who came to the 5-year-old boy's house in October
were friendly and smiled a lot. They carried a bag of dried beans and asked
where his mother was. Alan Mutemagawu was thrilled - his mother would be
happy to get the beans. Proudly, he led them the hour's walk to the village
where she was in hiding from Zimbabwean security agents. The smiling couple
didn't say much. But his mother didn't look pleased when Alan turned up with
the visitors. "She looked sad. She didn't say goodbye. She just walked away
with them," the boy said recently at his grandmother's house, near the
village of Banket. Neighbors found him crying after the visitors - state
security agents - took away his mother, Violet Mupfuranhehwe, and his
2-year-old brother, Nigel. He found out later that they'd also taken his
father, Collen Mutemagawu. Little Nigel spent 76 days in jail before being
released to relatives. After months of legal wrangling, his mother and
father and some other jailed opposition activists - including Roy Bennett,
who has been tapped to serve as deputy agriculture minister - were finally
freed on bail early this month. But they still face trial on charges of
terrorism and plotting to oust longtime President Robert Mugabe.

Since Mugabe was forced last month to join a "unity government" with the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwean hopes for justice over
the political killings, arrests and torture by his often ruthless regime
have soared. But the MDC's struggle to get its activists released from
prison on bail suggests that there is a long, hard road ahead to reestablish
the rule of law. The security organs remain firmly in Mugabe's hands, with
his Zanu PF party likely to block prosecutions for crimes against humanity
or any meaningful truth and reconciliation process. Zanu PF hard-liners and
security chiefs, many implicated in killings and abuses going back as far as
massacres in the early 1980s, bitterly oppose the unity deal. "They're
interested in two things. One is the avoidance of any sort of
accountability. Secondly, they want to stay on the gravy train," said Tony
Reeler, director of the independent group Research and Advocacy Unit. He
says one of the most serious barriers to change is that the police and
judiciary - long used by the Mugabe regime to repress political opponents -
haven't changed. "To rein in the police obviously requires the executive to
change fundamentally," Reeler said. "I don't think it's in the interests of
Zanu PF to change the behavior of the police. The judiciary are much more
complicated. There's no easy way to get rid of them unless you can show
they're corrupt or have committed a crime, and that's enormously difficult
to prove."

The unity agreement calls for respect for the rule of law. But opposition
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, aware that the issue is sensitive enough
among the security chiefs to derail the new government, has been vague about
prosecution of those guilty of major abuses. Tsvangirai is intimately
familiar with those abuses: He was arrested and beaten by police in 2007 and
has narrowly escaped assassination several times. In 1997, security agents
tried to throw him out the window of his office in a multistory building.
Some senior MDC members favor immunity deals for the security chiefs as the
price for a peaceful transition and the move to freer elections in two
years. Zimbabwean civic activist organizations support a truth and
reconciliation commission, which would be a lengthy and unwieldy process
because of the number of crimes. The Human Rights Forum has recorded reports
of 40,000 human rights violations since 2001, when it started collecting the
information. Memories are raw for MDC activists who bore the brunt of
political violence last year, when security forces and militias beat, raped
and tortured thousands of Mugabe's opponents, leaving about 180 dead. The
appetite for justice is huge.

But the healing process outlined by Tsvangirai duplicates the awkward
compromise seen in the unity government. The three ministers for "national
healing" - one from each party in the government - will hear Zimbabweans'
complaints of abuses and decide how to respond to each case, Tsvangirai
recently told a group of businessmen. Critics question whether victims and
their families would feel safe enough to approach the ministerial group and
make accusations - knowing that the perpetrators, often their neighbors, are
at large. The ongoing trials of activists won't help people put fear behind
them. Roy Bennett, released this month from the Mutare prison after a month
in detention, said conditions there were appalling. "There are gross human
rights abuses behind those walls. Five people died while I was inside, and
it took the prison officers four to five days to remove the bodies," he
said. Violet Mupfuranhehwe's testimony about prison conditions is just as
devastating. Her lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, said that 2-year-old Nigel saw
her severely beaten in the Chikurubi maximum security prison. At one point
he started crying. Her captors shouted at him to shut up, and hit him too,
the lawyer said. There was no medicine in prison and so little food that
dozens of inmates died late last year, prison staff members said.
Decomposing bodies were piled in the room next to the cell where
Mupfuranhehwe was being held with Nigel and five other MDC women, her lawyer
said. A Chikurubi prison employee, speaking to The Times on condition of
anonymity for fear of dismissal, said 250 bodies were buried in a mass grave
at the prison late last year. The government has made no comment on the
allegations of poor prison conditions by Bennett and others.

As Alan Mutemagawu sat in the sunny doorway of his grandmother's house
remembering the day the smiling people came for his mother, his little
brother Nigel fidgeted nearby, gnawing on a cob of raw corn. When their
grandmother, Jennifer Mupfuranhehwe, playfully asked Nigel, "Where were
you?" he replied matter-of-factly, "In jail." She said her grandsons know
their parents were jailed for being members of the MDC. She sees the charges
against her daughter and son-in-law as just part of a long campaign to
harass and frighten them, and said they prove that Mugabe and Zanu PF are
still completely in control. "It's clearly showing that power is not coming
to the MDC," she said. Alan didn't care about the government and power. He
just wanted his mother. "I wish she would come back," he said. And soon his
long wait was over. Violet Mupfuranhehwe came home.

Rural areas exposed by lack of cholera knowledge

Photo: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Cholera respects no boundaries

BINDURA, 30 March 2009 (IRIN) - A lack of understanding about cholera and a failure to adapt social customs in rural Zimbabwe to curb the waterborne disease is ensuring that the death toll will keep rising.

Cholera has rampaged through Zimbabwe since August 2008, killing more than 4,000 people and infecting over 91,000, and although the World Health Organization (WHO) recently said reports of new cases were slowing, it warned that the "the risk of the outbreak restarting" was "real".

Early in March, Simplicius Mushayakarara, 49, returned to his rural home in Musana, about 85km northeast of the capital, Harare, after attending a funeral. His stepdaughter died from cholera but he and his wife were saved by the intervention of their son, who works in the nearby town of Bindura, in Mashonaland Central Province.

"We had just returned from the funeral of a relative who died in Harare when the three of us fell ill, suffering from diarrhoea. We had no reason to suspect it was cholera because we were not told the cause of the death of my relative," Mushayakarara told IRIN.

Funeral customs

"At the funeral we freely shook hands, as our custom requires, ate food without properly washing our hands, and some of us even touched the body of the deceased person as a way of bidding him farewell. To us, cholera was a disease that only occurred in towns and cities," he said.

Mushayakarara's son, Tatenda, arrived at their home by chance, after coming to the district to pay his respect to the family of a recently deceased relative, and immediately recognized the symptoms. He was too late to prevent his sister's death, but his quick thinking saved his parents.

"Tatenda gave us a salt and sugar solution and organized transport that ferried us to Bindura, where we were hospitalised and treated,” Mushayakarara said. "We came back to bury our daughter, and I will always be grateful to my son because, were it not because of him, we would all have perished without knowing what disease had hit us."

That week in Musana, six people from four different families also died, "and that is when we became aware that cholera was not only confined to urban areas but could easily spread in villages as well," Mushayakarara said.

That is when we became aware that cholera was not only confined to urban areas but could easily spread in villages as well

Before the outbreak, villagers had only received scant details of a disease killing people in urban areas and were unaware of the symptoms of the disease or how it spread.

Sekai Chapwanya, 38, a community-based HIV/AIDS caregiver in a neighbouring village, has urged health officials to ramp up cholera education campaigns. "The majority of the people living in rural communities lack knowledge on how best to prevent cholera," she told IRIN.

"Health officials seem to have been concentrating on urban areas, maybe because that is where most of the deaths have occurred. The cholera outbreak might have started in cities but it has found its way here as well."

Since cholera gained a foothold in rural areas Chapwanya has concentrated on teaching communities about preventing and curing the disease, with some tacit support from NGOs but none from government.

Cholera education

"I do my visits only when I am not tending my own crops, a situation that makes the anti-cholera fight difficult," she said.

The incidence of cholera in Musana is relatively low compared to other parts of the province, as Chapwanya recently discovered when she embarked on a 50km journey on foot to bury a friend who had died from the disease.

The spread of cholera was worsened by the rainy season she said, and rural communities depended on water from the rivers for drinking and cooking.

"Villagers also wash in the same rivers, and sometimes relieve themselves in places close to water sources used by the people. There are hardly any boreholes, as those that were sunk long back have broken down and no-one is coming to repair them," Chapwanya said.

Rural clinics hardly functioned, so the sick had to travel long distances for medical care. "That means a lot of deaths are occurring at home and on the way to the hospitals," Chapwanya said.

Innocent Makwiramiti, a Harare-based economist, told IRIN that rural populations were vulnerable to disease outbreaks because of poverty and lack of access to resources.

"Rural areas have not been spared by the economic meltdown, and that makes them particularly susceptible, because health centres are not functioning, roads are in a poor state and people in those areas suffer low literacy rates," he said.

Sinking boreholes

Tsitsi Singizi, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Zimbabwe spokesperson, told IRIN the organization had embarked on cholera education in the rural areas.

"We are also providing non-food items to promote standard hygiene in cholera-affected areas, and these include the soaps and buckets used in chlorination, while at the same time providing oral and intravenous rehydration," she said.

"As UNICEF, we are involved in response management and prevention in rural areas, in the wake of the cholera outbreak. We have been drilling boreholes in rural communities nationwide to ensure safe water for consumption, and we started this programme well before the cholera outbreak."

Daily cholera update and alerts, 28 Mar 2009

 Full_Report (pdf* format - 146.2 Kbytes)

* Please note that daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the numbers. Any change will then be explained.

** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may occasionally result

A. Highlights of the day:

- 121 Cases and 0 deaths added today (in comparison with 208 cases and 5 deaths yesterday)

- 60% of the districts affected have reported today 36 out of 60 affected districts)

- 91.9 % of districts reported to be affected (57 districts out of 62)

- Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate 1.7%

- Daily Institutional CFR = 0.0%

Daily cholera update and alerts, 29 Mar 2009

 Full_Report (pdf* format - 148.2 Kbytes)

* Please note that daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the numbers. Any change will then be explained.

** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may occasionally result

A. Highlights of the day:

- 246 Cases and 16 deaths added today (in comparison with 121 cases and 0 deaths yesterday)

- 60% of the districts affected have reported today 36 out of 60 affected districts)

- 91.9 % of districts reported to be affected (57 districts out of 62)

- Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate = 1.7%

- Daily Institutional CFR = 6.1%.

- Batch reporting from Nyanga district stretching over 13 days resulting in 99 cases and 11 deaths, an average of 8 cases per day.

- Batch reporting from Rushinga (28 cases)

Activism in the Time of Cholera

http://online.wsj.com

MARCH 29, 2009, 4:24 P.M. ET

Anti-GMO groups keep the poor from getting help.

By HENRY I. MILLER | From today's Wall Street Journal Europe.
The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has sickened more than 100,000 and killed
at least 4,500, with more cases reported daily. The disease remains all too
lethal elsewhere, too, having killed about 120,000 people in 2007, according
to the World Health Organization. But thanks to a simple innovation, those
kinds of statistics could soon be a relic of the past, like deaths from
smallpox and polio -- if not for the interference of a few influential
politicians and activist groups.

Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by contamination of food and water by
feces. For those of us who live in industrialized countries, diarrhea is
little more than a nuisance, most often involving some discomfort and
bloating. But in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America and Asia with
poor access to health care, clean water and other resources, diarrhea is the
No. 2 infectious killer of children under the age of five, accounting for
two million deaths a year.

Since the 1960s, the standard of care for childhood diarrhea in the
developing world has been a glucose-based, high-sodium liquid that is
administered orally and is known as a "rehydration solution." This low-tech
product was revolutionary. It has saved millions of lives and reduced the
need for costly -- and often unavailable -- hospital stays and sterile
intravenous fluids. However, this product has done nothing to lessen the
severity or duration of the condition, which over time leads to
malnutrition, anemia and other chronic health risks.

The answer may be an affordable innovation that combines high and low
technology. It consists of adding two human proteins, lactoferrin and
lysozyme, which are produced inexpensively in genetically modified (GM) rice
plants, to rice-based oral rehydration solution. Studies performed in Peru
show that when this is done, the duration of children's illness is cut from
more than five days to three and two-thirds. The rate of recurrence also
falls. This advance could save many of those who are dying in Zimbabwe and
elsewhere.

What made this approach feasible was a private company's invention of a
method to produce human lactoferrin and lysozyme in gene-spliced rice, a
process dubbed "biopharming." This is an inexpensive way to create the
proteins necessary to fortify millions of liters of rehydration solution.

Sounds like a great success, right? Not yet; maybe not ever. The company has
been trying for more than six years to get the product approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, which has raised no real safety concerns but
has dithered over the appropriate regulatory route for approving the
product. Because a panel of experts has already deemed the proteins safe,
the best guess is that internal FDA politics and lobbying by NGOs and the
company's competitors are causing the delays.

Virtually every biotech breakthrough brings the antitechnology, antibusiness
fabulists out of the woodwork, and this one is no exception. One radical
biotech opponent, Hope Shand, remonstrated, "The chance this will
contaminate traditionally grown crops is great. This is a very risky
business."

Nonsense. Rice is self-pollinating, so interbreeding with other rice
varieties is virtually impossible. But even in the worst case, "contaminate
traditionally grown crops" with what? With two human proteins normally
present in tears, breast milk and saliva? The only contamination here is of
public discourse, from the lies and misrepresentations of antibiotech
activists.

Another miraculous product made with gene-splicing techniques, and which has
also had to endure the slings and arrows of wrong-headed activists and
regulators, is "Golden Rice." This collection of new rice varieties is
enriched by the introduction of genes that produce beta-carotene, which the
body can convert into vitamin A.

Vitamin A deficiency is epidemic among poor people in the tropics whose diet
is dominated by rice (which contains neither beta-carotene nor vitamin A) or
similar foods. World-wide, 200 million to 300 million children of preschool
age are at risk of vitamin A deficiency, which increases susceptibility to
infections such as measles and diarrheal diseases and is the leading cause
of childhood blindness in developing countries. About 500,000 children
become blind due to vitamin A deficiency each year, and 70% of them die
within a year.

The concept is simple: Although beta-carotene is not normally found in the
seeds of rice plants because of the absence of two enzymes needed to make
the substance, rice plants do make it in the green portions of the plant.
When GM techniques are used to introduce the two missing genes, the rice
grains become capable of producing and accumulating large amounts of
beta-carotene.

Like the protein additives to the rehydration solution, Golden Rice is being
blocked from the market by regulatory delays -- both by unscientific,
draconian requirements concocted by United Nations agencies and by
regulators in several Asian countries.

Despite their vast potential to benefit humanity, and negligible likelihood
of harm to human health or the environment, the gene-spliced rice varieties
remain in regulatory limbo with no end in sight. Activists have spread wild
tales of gene-spliced crops causing illness and baldness, and of giving rise
to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. There is absolutely no evidence for such
claims.

In contrast to GM plants, those constructed with older, less precise
techniques for genetic improvement are subject to no government scrutiny or
requirements -- or opposition from activists. As a result, companies are
systematically discouraged from adopting the best technologies, and when
feasible prefer to use older, inferior techniques to achieve the desired
result.

In an April 2008 editorial in the journal Science, Nina Fedoroff, a plant
geneticist who serves as senior scientific adviser to the U.S. secretary of
state, wrote: "A new green revolution demands a global commitment to
creating a modern agricultural infrastructure everywhere, adequate
investment in training and modern laboratory facilities, and progress toward
simplified regulatory approaches that are responsive to accumulating
evidence of safety." The story of GM rice makes it clear that we do not yet
have the will and the wisdom to make that happen.

Dr. Miller, a physician and fellow at Stanford University's Hoover
Institution and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, headed the FDA's
Office of Biotechnology from 1989 to 1993.

Tsvangirai decries rate of road accidents

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14216

March 29, 2009

By Our Correspondent

BULAWAYO - Prime Minister and MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai says he is
worried by the number of accidents involving people associated with his
party.

Speaking  at  a  church service   held  in  Saursetown, Bulawayo, on  Sunday
before   the  burial   of   Deputy  Prime  Minister, Thokozani  Khupe's
mother  Catherine  Mabhiza, Tsvangirai   said   he  was troubled  by the
rate of the accidents.

Mabhiza died Thursday morning at Arcadia Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa.
She was admitted there for treatment following a fatal car accident along
the Harare-Bulawayo Road on February, 10 2009. The deputy Prime Minister's
aide, Timond Dube, perished in the accident.

Mabhiza sustained head injuries.

Susan Tsvangirai, the wife Prime Minister, died in a car crash on March 6
along the Harare-Masvingo Road. Another person was killed in an accident in
the vicinity of the Tsvangirai accident while travelling back to Harare from
Susan Tsvangirai's funeral in Buhera.

More recently, two MDC ministers Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the
Prime Minister's Office and Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, the Water Resources
Minister, both of the mainstream MDC, were involved in a minor accident when
their Mercedes Benz was struck from behind by another vehicle as they were
driven to Harare International Airport. The vehicle overturned and its three
occupants were rushed to hospital.

"I am very troubled at the fast rate at which accidents involving the
leadership of the party are happening," Tsvangirai said. "It never rains but
it now pours for us. Our loved ones are going.

"These two deaths (Mabhiza and Susan Tsvangirai's) should not weaken us but
should   strengthen us, as a party in government and as Zimbabweans.

"The most painful thing about our mother's death is that it was caused by an
accident which occurred when she was travelling to Harare to attend the
inauguration of her daughter as Deputy Prime Minister."

Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe last Tuesday from a period of rest and
recuperation in South Africa after he sustained head and neck injuries in
the accident which killed his wife.

Tsvangirai has ruled out any prospect of foul play being the cause of the
accident. The state of disrepair of Zimbabwe's road network, vehicle defects
as well as human error have been blamed for many accidents.

After the church service and body viewing Mabhiza was laid to rest at West
Park Cemetery adjacent to Mpilo Hospital where thousands of MDC supporters
were in attendance.

Also present at the burial was the Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo, who
thanked the government for providing food for the mourners. The funeral was
attended by members of the MDC national executive members and cabinet
ministers.

The ministers included Eric Matinenga (Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs), Nelson Chamisa (Information and Technology), Murisi Zvizvai
(Deputy Minister of Mines), Gordon Moyo (Minister of State in the Prime
Minister's office) and Sam Sipepa Nkomo (Water Resources).

Zanu-PF officials and ministers were also in attendance. They included party
chairman and Minister in President's Office John Nkomo, Webster Shamu
(Media, Information and Publicity Minister), Obert Mpofu (Mines) and Andrew
Langa (Deputy Minister of Tourism).

Also present were Matabeleland South governor, Angeline Masuku, Zanu-PF
politburo member Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Zimbabwe Defence Industry boss
Tshinga Dube, who stood for Zanu-PF in Makokoba Constituency in last year's
parliamentary elections.

He lost to Deputy Prime Minister Khupe.

Villains and Victims in Zimbabwe

http://www.nytimes.com/

Editorial

Published: March 29, 2009
Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government isn't ideal. Robert Mugabe remains
president, despite losing last year's election. His loyalists remain in
charge of the army, the Justice Ministry and other key posts that allow them
to arrest and intimidate opponents.

Yet respected and competent former opposition leaders now run important
ministries like health, education and finance. These reformers ran on the
promise of improving the lives of Zimbabwe's long-suffering people.
The United States and Europe can help them deliver on those promises by
providing increased financial resources. Zimbabwe's own economy has been
bled dry by decades of Mr. Mugabe's disastrous policies, which have
destroyed its currency, crippled its agriculture, mining and industry, and
blighted millions of lives through preventable famine and epidemics.

Any new resources must be packaged in ways that ensure they are used for
their intended purposes. And without continued sanctions targeted against
Mr. Mugabe and his thuggish collaborators, even the limited progress so far
achieved could easily be reversed. The challenge is to keep the pressure on
the relatively few villains committed to keeping Mr. Mugabe in power, while
providing some relief to the millions of victims of his catastrophic
misrule.

To this end, the United States and the European Union have rightly
restricted travel and frozen assets of Mr. Mugabe and his top collaborators.
They have banned trade with businesses and banks used to finance the
repressive apparatus. These targeted steps mainly discomfit a narrow,
privileged elite.

Washington has also suspended direct development aid to Zimbabwe's
government but provides considerable humanitarian aid, channeled through
private and international agencies, to pay for emergency shipments of food,
medicine and clean water. Over the last 18 months, while Zimbabwe has been
ravaged by a cholera epidemic, American aid has been more than $250 million.

That conduit should now be expanded to cover such life-sustaining items as
seed, fertilizer and water and sewage systems to help Zimbabwe stand on its
own feet.

At least for now, American aid should continue to be channeled indirectly,
not to Zimbabwe's government. But increased humanitarian aid could free up
more of Zimbabwe's own funds to pay living wages to teachers, doctors and
other essential civil servants. If Zimbabwe's government acts on that
opportunity, it might then be time to reopen discussion on resuming direct
aid.

Inside Robert Mugabe's "death camps"

From The Washington Times, 30 March

By Geoff Hill

Half-way through a 25 month sentence for theft, Brian Gumbo is literally
rotting - his skin peels from malnutrition and the muscles in his legs have
withered to the point where he can barely walk. Mr. Gumbo, believed to be in
his late 20s or early 30s, is one of several inmates portrayed in an expose
on Zimbabwe jails that will screen Monday night on "Special Assignment," a
weekly television news feature of the South African Broadcasting Corp. The
program, entitled "Hell Hole" is likely to put further pressure on Western
governments to maintain sanctions against the regime of Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe. The United States has personal sanctions in place against Mr.
Mugabe and more than 200 of his closest advisers, including prison
commissioner Paradzai Zimondi.

The executive producer of the program, Johann Abrahams, said his crew used
hidden cameras and worked with prison officers who wanted to expose the
abuse. "As an investigative journalist I've seen a lot of human misery," Mr.
Abrahams said, "but when I first viewed the Zimbabwe prison tapes it shocked
me. I was reminded of the German death camps at Dachau and Auschwitz." He
said that several inmates featured in the film had since died. In one
segment, the camera follows Mr. Gumbo as he shuffles from his cell to a hall
where he is given his daily meal: one bowl of corn porridge. Like many
prisoners, he suffers from pellagra caused by a lack of protein and one of
the B vitamins. Left untreated, the deficiency leads to a loss of teeth,
skin lesions, blindness and, ultimately, death.

Joseph Musonza, who now lives as a refugee in South Africa, was released
from jail shortly before Christmas. He said that while it was rare for
prisoners to be beaten or physically abused by warders, many died of
neglect. "It is hard to tell people my story because they accuse me of lying
or exaggerating," he told The Washington Times. "In remand, before I was
sentenced, I lived with 19 people in a cell built for maybe six. Nearly
every night, someone died and it can be days before the bodies are [taken]
away. In summer there would be maggots in the man's flesh and he is still
lying next to you." Mr. Musonza served 12 months for assault, but claims the
charge was political. He said that people were often convicted because they
belonged to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which is now in a
coalition government with Mr. Mugabe's Zanu PF "When MDC was the opposition,
if you were too active in the party, police would say you tried to assault
them and they would lock you up and bring in Zanu PF supporters to witness
against you," he said. "They use the fear of jail to silence those who speak
out. People know that, once you are inside, no one in the system cares if
you live or die."

UN agencies estimate that up to three-quarters of Zimbabwe's 12 million
population is malnourished and dependent on some form of food aid. Critics
blame this on bad governance and a land-redistribution program that began in
1999 and which has left a majority of farms lying idle. Until 2001, Zimbabwe
was a net exporter of food. But Mr. Musonza said that food was delivered to
the prison, only to be sold by warders. "There is not much to eat, but any
meat or vegetables will be grabbed by the warders and taken for their
families, or sold outside the jail. Inside you get one cup of sadza [corn
porridge] or sometimes a thick slice of bread." Cells, he said, were plagued
with fleas and there were frequent outbreaks of dysentery. "Older prisoners
used to speak of the days when there were rats, but they have all been
eaten." Efforts to obtain comment from either Mr. Zimondi or Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa for this article were fruitless.

In Johannesburg Sunday, the lobby group, Zimbabwe Democracy Now (ZDN),
called for the resignation of the prison chief and suggested he could be
tried for crimes against humanity. ZDN acting spokeswoman, Ethel Moyo, said
the SABC images showed that "a crime is taking place inside the jails."
"These people are days away from death, having been starved, and abused. It
is cases like these for which the International Criminal Court was set up at
The Hague," she said. On Thursday, the State Department called for the
release of all political prisoners and said that the U.S. would not engage
the government of Zimbabwe until there was "respect for human rights and
personal security, and full access to humanitarian assistance." President
Obama and his predecessor, President Bush, have urged rapid progress towards
a free and fair election in Zimbabwe, where Mr. Mugabe has ruled since 1980.

Getting Zimbabwe to work again

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14221

March 29, 2009

(Full text of closing remarks made by Dr. Albrecht Conze, German Ambassador
to Zimbabwe at the end of a seminar attended by representatives of the donor
community and civil society at the Harare International Conference Center on
Friday, March 27, 2009.)

WE have come to the end of a day of intensive and fruitful discussions
thanks to the generosity of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, one of the German
political foundations which have been closely linked to the empowerment of
the Zimbabwean people over the past 30 years.

Let me thank the foundation for enabling us to be together today in this
endeavour of dialogue of a new kind which augurs well for the future
cooperation between this government, the donors, and civil society.

I have the honour to address you in the name of the group of like-minded
donors which has accompanied Zimbabwe for almost two years now, and which
has held its last meeting in Washington D.C. on 20 March, last Friday.

We are an open ended group of now 17 countries particularly committed to
assisting the people of Zimbabwe during a period of serious challenges. In
the light of some criticism being addressed to us for not doing enough,
please allow me to quote two figures that you may never have heard before.

In 2008, we provided over $670 million in total assistance to the people of
Zimbabwe. To date this year, we have already channelled an additional $300
million to this country - and we are only at the end of the first quarter of
2009. I for one find it difficult to understand why we are being criticized
by some prominent voices in this region for doing too little, being unfair,
or sitting on the fence.

As a group, we met in Washington last week to discuss how best to support
the people of Zimbabwe as they work to bring back to their country internal
peace, stability, prosperity, the rule of law and democracy. Also present at
Washington were representatives of the European Commission, the African
Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and
United Nations.

Most of you may not have heard very much yet about the outcome of this
important meeting, five weeks after the formation of the inclusive
transitional government of this country. Let me therefore present you with a
summary of our discussions.

We acknowledged that this government deserves our full support. One of the
participating ambassadors - and we were nine of us having made the trip from
Harare - summed it up with the following statement: "This government is the
only game in town, and for the foreseeable future, there will be no other."

We agreed to work with the new government to achieve specific goals
identified in the Global Political Agreement, and I am mentioning the five
most important of these goals:

- the restoration of the rule of law;
- economic stabilization and growth;
-  commitment to the democratic process;
-  respect for human rights;
- and full access to humanitarian assistance.

We were positively impressed when drawing the balance of the reform efforts
undertaken by the new government in this short period of time, and by the
progress achieved to date towards these goals. And we agreed to urge the
government to continue to demonstrate its commitment to reform.

In particular, we defined the following areas of priority:

- the immediate release of all political prisoners;
- the end of farm disruptions;
- the cessation of politically motivated violence;
-  the establishment of a credible and transparent Reserve Bank team;
- an end to harassment and intimidation of the media;
-  and a commitment of all stakeholders to holding credible elections in a
timely manner.

As we see positive developments in these areas, we as the donor community
are ready to support Zimbabwe's reconstruction with development assistance.

Ladies and gentlemen, this joint assessment of the donor community is quite
different from earlier approaches. We are responding in the positive to the
needs this government has defined already, or is about to formulate. We are
doing so now with increased humanitarian aid. And we will do more in due
course, as matters evolve.

I also have the privilege to address you in the name of the European Union,
courtesy of the current Presidency, the Czech Republic. In this capacity I
would like to share with you another piece of good news. A few days ago, the
political dialogue according to the Cotonou Agreement between the European
Union and the Republic of Zimbabwe has been formally reinstated. After an
unhappy interruption of far too many years, the European Union has now been
in a position to positively respond to a request of the Prime Minister.

Details about the appropriate form which this dialogue will take are
currently being worked out. Zimbabwe and Europe are once again talking to
each other. We are happy about this development, and my European colleagues
have asked me to share our satisfaction with all of you.

However, and this is going to be my last remark, but certainly not the least
important one - however, we remain particularly concerned about one of the
points of priority which I have mentioned before. Not everybody in this new
government is committed to the respect for individual property rights. This
may be an internal affair as long as legislation and practice only affect
citizens of this country. But it becomes a bilateral issue for all those
countries that have concluded investment protection agreements with
Zimbabwe, and whose investors are being unlawfully molested and disrupted in
their business affairs. I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister reiterate
this morning his full commitment to property rights.

And I would urge all those in his government who have not yet found
themselves in a position to share his view to join all of us in our
undivided respect for the rule of law. Countries far bigger than Zimbabwe
have broken down in the 20th Century because their ideology had abolished
respect for property rights. Such mistakes should now be a matter of the
past.

At the very moment where the donor community is taking its first steps to
substantial re-engagement in Zimbabwe, the continued farm disruptions are
sending out the wrong signal. If this doesn't stop, it may stop the show.

Let me wish this new government every success - it will need a lot of it to
go through the challenging months ahead of us. And may the retreat at
Victoria Falls next week bring the parties closer together, in the interest
of the wonderful and proud nation of Zimbabwe.

Heal the beloved country

http://www.morningmirror.africanherd.com

There is such a delightful air of positivity in Zimbabwe right now.

People are working furiously to try and get the country off its knees, full
marks to everyone who is working tirelessly for the good of us all. (Are you
doing your bit ?)

Civic societies are rising up in waves to bring about very necessary
change - Zimbabwe Redevelopment Focus, Free Zimbabwe, Facebook has a
plethora of excited groups where people gather to help the Country come
right. Justice and Peace Commissions, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions,
Zimbabwe Democracy and Development Foundation, Clean up the Cities
campaigns.

The Sterp (Short term emergency recovery programme) seems to be working
well, and everyone is waiting with baited breath to see who will triumph in
the Biti/Gono standoff.....

Suddenly things are happening in the City, there are loads of goods on the
shelves again, prices are dropping steadily as more competition arrives.

In TM Supermarket in Bradfield yesterday, a wine tasting display had been
set up to promote imported wines, when did you last see a tasting
demonstration of any sort in the shops here ?

At my favourite haunt Solomons Supermarket they had a special "buy one sugar
get one salt free !!" Now when did that last happen in Zimbabwe ???

We saw an ice cream vendor yesterday, I have not seen an ice cream vendor in
years !!

Mines seem to be on the verge of opening again, factories are dusting off
the cobwebs and there is a new air of expectancy about the entire
population.

What we do need to do now is "Buy Zimbabwe" again so that our manufacturers
can start manufacturing, our suppliers can start supplying and the wheels of
our once abundant industries can start turning once again.

One can afford to get sick again as the Medical Aids have emerged from the
ashes. Of course all payments are in forex, but if you have any money in the
bank you can now draw it out and spend it. Such joy, only we folk who have
gone through the last two years of hell on earth, can appreciate such simple
pleasures.

Phone calls can now be made, even log distance calls which believe me, are a
true luxury. Power cuts are becoming less and less frequent. We still do not
receive any utility bills in the post but they are still so insanely high
that maybe thats a good thing.

Fuel can now be purchased the normal way - from a service station !! instead
of decanting it from a chigub in the garage !!

The best thing about it all is that we are now legal !! We can deal openly
and honestly in any currency without fear of prosecution. No need to write
to our friends talking in shackle, British pounds were termed "daffodils" or
"Blairs" , South African Rands were couched as "Boerevors" and a Bushes was
a pseudonym for the good old US dollar now comfortably and casually called a
"User" !!

Of course I speak frivolously here for only a few lucky folk in Zimbabwe. I
do not speak for the ninety percent of people in our country who are
unemployed, I do not speak for the sick, the poor and the elderly, I do not
speak for those who have no one overseas sending them forex.

I pray that one day all Zimbabweans will be happy, warm, well fed and secure
again under a new Government where human rights and dignity actually means
something. A Zimbabwe where democracy and a respect of all that is good and
all that is honest, and all that is right, prevails once more.

There are still many many sadly neglected areas to be sorted out, and many
billions of dollars and many years of toil will be needed to bring our
Country back to some semblance or order, but there's no stopping us now -
Please God.

"Zimbabweans working for Zimbabwe - Shandira / Sebenzela !"

Bill Watch 12 of 29th March 2009 [No Sign of ExpectedLegislative Reform]

BILL WATCH 12/2009

[29th March 2009]

Both Houses of Parliament will sit on Tuesday 31st March

Update on Bills

On Tuesday the Senate approved both the Finance Bill and the Appropriation (2009) Bill without suggesting any amendments.  The Bills were approved by the House of Assembly the week before.  The Bills have not yet been sent to the President for his signature, which is necessary before they are gazetted as Acts.  There are no other Bills presently in the Parliamentary pipeline.

Expected Legislative Reform

For some time now there has been a demand for reform of Acts which have clauses curtailing freedom of expression and association.  The Budget Review Statement and the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme [STERP] refer to the need for legislative reform.  The Budget Review Statement named the Public Order and Security Act [POSA], the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act [AIPPA] and the Criminal Code as needing amendment.  STERP also mentions a new Information Communication Technology [ICT] Bill to reform the telecommunication sector on the lines of the SADC model. 

The process of drafting a new Bill begins with the relevant Ministry’s outline of what it has in mind going to the Cabinet for approval in principle. The Bill is then crafted in the Ministry and sent to the Attorney General’s Office for legal drafting.  It must then go to the Cabinet for final approval.  Once the final version is accepted by Cabinet, a Bill must be gazetted at least two weeks before its introduction into Parliament.  There is no indication yet that any new legislation is going through any of these stages.  It will obviously be some time before these Bills reach Parliament.

Last Week in Parliament

House of Assembly

On Tuesday the House devoted its sitting of over one and a half hours to the motion regretting the death of the late Amai Susan Tsvangirai and expressing its appreciation for the role that she and other women have played behind the scenes in furthering the careers of their husbands.  The motion was passed.

On Wednesday  For an hour there were several Questions Without Notice, followed by an hour of Questions With Notice.  [see below for notes on Questions.]  Question time was followed by Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara’s maiden speech. [see below for notes on the Speech]. 

On Thursday the House spent two hours debating a motion calling for a timely and transparent distribution of agricultural inputs for the 2009-10 agricultural season, and urging the active involvement of elected councillors and members of Parliament in the distribution.  The debate will continue next week.

Senate [sat on Tuesday and Wednesday]

On Tuesday the Senate sat for nearly two hours, during which it passed the Finance Bill and the Appropriation (2009) Bill.  Standing Orders were suspended to allow the Bills to go through all stages in one day, but it was noteworthy that Senators had more questions and comments for the Minister of Finance on the Estimates of Expenditure than their colleagues in the House of Assembly.  Senator Chief Charumbira  expressed concern that the Budget focussed on recurrent expenditure and not on provisions for growth

On Wednesday it sat for just over 90 minutes, dealing first with a new motion calling for the formulation by the Government of a policy aimed at tapping the expertise and resources of Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora as part of efforts to resuscitate the economy.  The rest of the sitting was taken up by the continuing debate on the President’s speech at the opening of Parliament.

Replies to Questions

House of Assembly Standing Orders allow one hour for Questions Without Notice, followed by one hour for Questions With Notice.  Questions Without Notice must be limited to seeking information about Government policy.  Questions With Notice may seek detailed factual information on specific matters.  Some of the more significant questions were replied to as follows: 

Minister Mutsekwa [Home Affairs] said that fees for death certificates, passports, etc were being reviewed downwards,

Minister Chinamasa [Justice] said that any attempt by those illegally and forcibly dispossessed of their property in June to take back their goods without the consent of that person is illegal and will be dealt with by the police. 

Minister Murerwa [Lands] when asked about new farm invasions said that he was unaware of any but that there were some disturbances between those on the farms and those with offer letters.  “The international Community understands that and I do not think that is the reason why they are not responding.”

Minister Chombo [Local Government] in reply to a question on appointed town councillors said they were all there because of their special skills.

Minister Chinamasa [Justice] on prisoners dying of hunger and cholera in Chipinge Prison, said that there had been cases of dysentery, now under control.  He admitted that there was malnutrition due to inadequate funding but said that they were working on this with the Ministry of Health.  He rejected a proposal for amnesty/parole for all terminally ill patients.

Minister Mpofu [Mines] said in reply to a question on why it took so long to secure the Chiadzwa diamond fields, that it took some time to realise that there were diamonds in Chiadzwa.  He said that the state security agents ‘guided by the law of the land’ had been used to clear out illegal diggers.  He denied that they had been responsible for any deaths but said police had reported three deaths resulting from murders among the illegal diggers.

Deputy Minister Dokora [Education] answered a number of questions on the education system, mostly outlining what measures his Ministry was taking to try and sort out these issues.  But importantly he said that in the meantime there should be no exclusion from schools for non-payment of levies.

Question time was adjourned at 4.15 pm.  Some questions including that on the use of torture by the state were carried over to next week.

Comment – many of the questions asked were answered at a superficial level – either betokening that Ministers are not fully briefed by their Ministries or that they are glossing over situations that sparked the questions.  MPs can ask for more details in a subsequent Question Time.  They also have the opportunity in Portfolio Committees to call a Minister to answer more detailed questions, to call other stakeholders to bring matters to their attention and to call for documentary evidence on the subject from a variety of sources.  

Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara’s Maiden Speech

Points from the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech [Electronic version available on request]:

·    need to recover from the violence of the last elections and for national healing

·    need for constitutional reform

·    de-politicisation of national institutions [taking the declaration of national heroes as his example]

·    need for the Inclusive Government to remove “the sanctions we imposed on ourselves” by “corruption, misgovernance, forging elections, violence and brutality during elections”, farm invasions, defiance of court orders

·    outstanding issues of the IPA, such as appointment of provincial governors, permanent secretaries and ambassadors

·    a challenge to the international community to make the IPA work – to cease being sceptical, to accept that the change in Zimbabwe is irreversible and to provide humanitarian aid, essential budget support and investment without waiting for “signs of progress” – because without such support the Inclusive Government might collapse.

Committee on Standing Rules and Orders [CSRO]

The Committee is due to meet on Monday 30th March.  It is expected to finalise the composition of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees.  It should also set up the Parliamentary Select Committee to oversee the preparation of a new Constitution in accordance with Article 6 of the Interparty Political Agreement.

Parliamentary Agenda for This Week

House of Assembly

Tuesday – Additional Estimates of Expenditure for 2008 to validate the Government’s unbudgeted expenditure last year [see Bill Watch 10 for a note on the constitutional necessity for this]

Wednesday – Question Time [see below]

Senate

Tuesday – there are two items on the agenda: continuation of debate on last week’s new motion on using the expertise and resources of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora; and the continuing debate on the President’s speech.

Question Time

Questions With Notice on the agenda  for next Wednesday include:

·    more questions on the Chiadzwa diamond fields, including the alleged burial in mass graves of 83 diamond panners

·    Zimbabwe’s failure to sign the UN Convention on Torture and government policy on the use of the torture [carried over from last week]

·    which part of the Estimates of Expenditure for 2009 caters for the Prime Minister’s Office [there is no separate provision under the heading Prime Minister’s Office]

·    the alleged misuse by the Reserve Bank of funds from Africa University’s foreign currency account, resulting in the stalling of an important university programme.

Prime Minister Returns to Duty

The Prime Minister returned to his office on Wednesday after a short recuperative break in South Africa.  He will resume his full schedule of duties on 1st April.

Election matters

ZEC Report on 2008 Elections

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s report on the 2008 Elections was submitted to the President on Thursday 19th March.  It was due to go to the remaining statutory recipients [the Speaker, the political parties and the Minister responsible for ZEC] on Friday 27th March.  It may, therefore, be tabled in Parliament this week, and become available to the public shortly after that.

By-elections

There has still been no announcement of the dates for the now greatly overdue six pending Parliamentary by-elections [see Bill Watch 9/2009 for more detail].

SADC Summit

The SADC Summit will meet in Swaziland on Monday to consider a US$2 billion economic aid package for Zimbabwe.  Also on the Summit’s agenda is the recent  assumption of office in Madagascar by a new President without the due process of legitimate elections.

Statutory Instruments

Statutory Instruments 31, 32 and 33/2009 change the rate of interest payable on overdue income tax, customs and excise duties and capital gains tax.  Interest will now be charged at a rate 5% above LIBOR [the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate] for the month concerned. [Electronic versions available on request.]  [Comment:  This means that taxpayers will constantly have to check the LIBOR rate to ascertain the rate actually applicable to their situation.  This may not be easy to do for an ordinary member of the general tax-paying public.]