Daily News
$100m drought relief funds idle in Masvingo
coffers
3/3/2003 1:16:32 AM (GMT +2)
From Energy
Bara in Masvingo
MORE than $100 million meant for drought relief
under the public works
programme is lying idle in rural district council bank
accounts in Masvingo.
Masvingo Governor, Josaya Hungwe, has
appealed to war veterans and the
police to ensure that councils disburse the
money to the intended
beneficiaries, most of them villagers.
There are strong fears that the money might have been misappropriated
by the
councils, hence the delays in implementing the projects.
While
starvation continues to tighten its grip in the country, the
rural councils
have failed to pay the beneficiaries on time.
In some areas,
villagers have since abandoned the projects to look for
money elsewhere to
feed their families.
Money amounting to nearly $180 million was
given to Masvingo's seven
administrative districts by the government last
year to help ease the
current food shortages under the public works
programme.
Under the programme, starving people work on public
projects and are
paid $1 500 a month to buy food. The programme is supposed
to be run and
supervised by local
authorities.
Addressing a provincial development council meeting in Masvingo
last
Thursday, Hungwe said the money was lying idle in the local
authorities'
accounts while people were starving.
The meeting,
attended by chief executive officers, chairpersons and
councillors of rural
district councils in Masvingo province, revealed that
local authorities were
unable to carry out the activities due to lack of
resources.
Hungwe said: "Please ensure that the money is given to the people now.
We
have to accept that we are in a crisis. I appeal to you war veterans and
the
police to make sure that the money is given to the people.
"Some
people were last paid in October while the money is in your
accounts. This is
unacceptable."
Officials from most of the councils said they were
unable to carry out
the programme since there was no budget to deal with the
supervision and
implementation of the projects.
It also emerged
that the current fuel shortage has crippled the
operations of most rural
district councils in the province.
It was revealed that rural
district councils in Masvingo had no
adequate manpower, vehicles and money to
supervise the projects since this
was not budgeted for.
In Gutu
alone, the local authority had to use over $8 million from its
coffers for
the repair of vehicles which had broken down while supervising
the public
works projects.
Money allocated to councils under the public works
programme has to be
used only for paying beneficiaries so that they can use
it to buy food.
Daily News
Britain to donate $472,5m food aid to
Zimbabwe
3/3/2003 1:13:07 AM (GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
BRIAN Donnelly, the British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe,
and Kelvin
Farrell, a United Nations official, on Friday signed an agreement
for
Britain to donate £5,25 million (Z$472,5 million) to the World
Food
Programme (WFP)'s feeding schemes in the country.
The
donation is part of the British High Commission's small grants
scheme aimed
at supporting over 40 communities countrywide.
Donnelly said the
money will help WFP feed about 4,5 million hungry
Zimbabweans until June when
a new appeal is expected to be launched.
He said: "In addition, we
will also provide a meal a day to nearly 1,5
million people, mostly children,
pregnant and nursing women and the elderly,
through bilaterally funded
non-governmental organisation (NGO)s' feeding
programmes.
"In
addition to the £5,25 million, we have also contributed about £26
million
over five years to help tackle HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe," Donnelly
said.
"We have recognised there is a direct interaction between
poverty and
Aids, hence there is need to constantly boost the immune system
of those
infected. The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, will at least
get a
share from the money to be used in the procurement of essential drugs
and
contraceptives."
Farrell replied: "WFP Zimbabwe is very
grateful for this extremely
generous contribution and ongoing support from
the United Kingdom."
Donnelly said the British High Commission
donated $232 billion since
September 2001 to date in helping to address the
current humanitarian crisis
as well as for supplementary feeding programmes
through NGOs.
Daily News
Leader Page
Is this Obasanjo's idea of
normalcy?
3/3/2003 1:32:28 AM (GMT +2)
No
matter what the Obasanjos and Mbekis of this world might want
the
Commonwealth and the world at large to believe, the truth about
the
situation in Zimbabwe will remain the truth as known by
Zimbabweans
themselves, including even those in Zanu PF who are benefiting
materially
from the suffering of the rest of the populace.
And
the truth is that our social, economic and political crises are
worsening and
not improving, as the hypocritical Nigerian President,
Olusegun Obasanjo,
through his letter to John Howard, tried to mislead the
Australian Prime
Minister into believing.
According to reports in the
government-controlled media, Obasanjo's
co-conspirator in the attempt to
endorse President Mugabe's disputed claim
to legitimacy and, with it, the
right to oppress the people of this country,
South African President Thabo
Mbeki had earlier also convinced British Prime
Minister Tony Blair that the
political situation in this country had
significantly improved.
One of the main arguments both Mbeki and Obasanjo advanced as proof of
the
Mugabe regime's purported shift towards normalcy was that the government
had
signalled a willingness to address the thorny issue of the
Press-gagging
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
But neither
Mugabe himself nor his gadfly, Jonathan Moyo, has said or done
anything to
raise any hopes that such a move is afoot.
In any
case, even if there was some truth to the two African
presidents' assurances,
caution would dictate that, in the obvious absence
of specifics, those
directly affected, the people of Zimbabwe, that is,
would be well advised to
take that assurance with a pinch of salt.
Simple logic would
suggest that if there were any serious plans to
move in that direction, the
government would have signalled them by dropping
the many lawsuits instituted
against journalists practising in this country
since AIPPA came into force
which are still pending in the courts.
But then, it's not only
AIPPA which is of grave concern to the people
of this country. The Public
Order and Security Act (POSA), which has
practically taken away all the
people's political rights, is probably of
even graver concern to the people
of this country.
Under that obnoxious piece of legislation, normal
political activity
or social life is impossible as people are literally
banned from associating
in any numbers above three. It is to state the
obvious to say this law is
ridiculous and totally out of place in any
civilised society.
It is in terms of that law that pressure groups
such as the National
Constitutional Assembly are finding it impossible to
stage public
demonstrations. It is also because of POSA that the country's
main
opposition party, the MDC, is finding it impossible to call any
public
meeting or rallies.
It is POSA which is making it
impossible for students to organise and
stage peaceful demonstrations against
the government's neglect of their
basic needs and curtailment of academic
freedom.
And, even if someone might want to blame it on the
"overzealous"
police, it still remains a fact that it was in terms of POSA
that women,
including an 83-year-old nun, who marched peacefully for love and
peace on
Valentine's Day in Bulawayo and Harare were arrested.
The arrest and humiliation of Elias Mudzuri, the Mayor of Harare, as
well as
the systematic arrest, detention and torture of Members of
Parliament who
belong to the opposition MDC are all being made possible
by
POSA.
Last Friday, 23 pastors were arrested outside the
Police General
Headquarters in Harare as they, ironically, peacefully
demonstrated against
police brutality and intimidation.
Yesterday,
27 MDC supporters were arrested and detained for at least
two hours for no
other reason than that they were wearing MDC T-shirts and
singing political
songs.
Does all this constitute Obasanjo's idea of "a significant
improvement
in the political situation in Zimbabwe"? Obasanjo and Mbeki must
get real.
Only after a return to the rule of law and the repeal of both AIPPA
and POSA
can they recommend the lifting of Zimbabwe's suspension from
the
Commonwealth.
Daily News
Leader Page
Zimbabweans must stand up for what's
right
3/3/2003 1:33:04 AM (GMT +2)
By B.
Freeth
There comes a time in the life of a man where he is faced
with a
choice: Does he stand up for what he believes in; or does he
not?
My father taught me that the person who does not stand up for
what he
believes in is not a "man".
The realities in Zimbabwe
are grim. Only about 15 percent of
commercial farmers with their farm workers
are still farming, many of these
on a much-reduced scale.
As a
result of the policy that created this situation and other
similar
revolutionary policies:
- Over half the population is beginning to
starve;
- Our inflation is the highest in Africa;
- There are
shortages of almost everything;
- Unemployment is above 70
percent;
- Basic wages are plummeting;
- New laws regarding
basic freedoms are amongst the most draconian in
the world;
- The
human rights record continues to worsen with police torture
becoming more and
more commonplace;
- Our economy remains the fastest shrinking economy
in the world; and
- More farmers with their workers continue to be
given section 5,
section 8 and section 7 notices and continue to be illegally
evicted from
their farms.
The situation continues to
deteriorate.
These are indisputable facts. How should Zimbabweans and
the
international community react to these man-made crises?
In
the end it boils down to two questions:
1. What does the individual
making that decision believe?
2. Does that individual have the courage
to stand up for those
beliefs?
The most life-threatening symptom
of the man-made disaster currently
facing Zimbabwe is starvation. Starvation
has been created because
government policies dictate not to allow food
producers to produce food. Do
the food producers (farmers), the food
consumers (everyone) and the aid
suppliers (international community) believe
in the policies that have
created this massive life-threatening situation? If
they do not, why do so
few have the courage to openly say so?
The most threatening poverty creation symptom of the man-made disaster
facing
Zimbabwe is manifest in the economic policies of the government. They
are
clearly designed to collapse the economy and they are succeeding,
almost
faster than any nation in history to do this. Economists cannot, in
fact,
believe the rate at which the Zimbabwean economy is currently
contracting.
This contraction is unprecedented in a peacetime scenario. If
individuals
are being adversely affected by these policies and if the
international
community sincerely believes in poverty alleviation, why do
nothing? Few
people have the courage to openly speak out and act against
these policies
creating poverty, hardship and suffering.
Until
individuals and organisations show a bit of moral courage and
backbone to
speak out for what they believe in, survival is not on the
cards. How can it
be?
A man only achieves what he wants to achieve if he gets up and
does
something about it.
- If you believe in the law, have the
courage to stand up for it and
use it locally and internationally, otherwise
there will be no law. By not
litigating one becomes complicit to the
breakdown of the rule of law. Do not
wait for "someone else" to show the way
forward.
- If you believe in justice, have the courage to publicise
injustices
and stand up for justice, otherwise there will be no justice. Do
not wait
for "someone else" to show the way forward.
- If you
believe in poverty alleviation and development, have the
courage to stand up
against the policies of poverty creation and
disinvestment, otherwise the
economy will continue to collapse. Do not wait
for "someone else" to show the
way forward.
- If you believe in people being able to eat, have the
courage to
stand up against the policies that are throwing the farmers and
their
workers off the land, otherwise there will be no food. Do not wait
for
"someone else" to show the way forward.
- If you believe in
freedom of speech, have the courage to speak out
on this forum and in letters
to the newspapers, otherwise all we will have
is "propaganda-speak". Do not
wait for "someone else" to show the way
forward.
- If you believe in
democracy, have the courage to exercise your
democratic rights, otherwise
democracy will not take its course. Do not wait
for "someone else" to show
the way forward.
- If you believe in God and doing what is right, have
the courage to
stand up for Him, otherwise the evil one will prevail. Do not
wait for
"someone else" to show the way forward.
If what you
believe in is not stood up for and actively pursued, how
can it possibly ever
come to pass? The hard reality, however much you duck
the issue, is that if
you want to survive, you are going to have to stand up
for what is
right.
There is no other way unless you are happy to live in a
lawless,
hungry state of injustice, despondency and despair.
Daily News
WTO rejects draft document on agricultural
trade
3/3/2003 1:19:18 AM (GMT +2)
By Chris Mhike
Business Reporter
A REVIEW hearing of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) Agreement on
Agriculture in Geneva last week dismissed the Harbinson
Draft, describing
the document as inadequate in addressing the concerns of
developing nations
in international agricultural trade.
Over 100
participants drawn from civil society groups from 30
countries met over four
days last week in Geneva, Switzerland, where
discussions focussed on a draft
text of Modalities on the Agreement on
Agriculture (AoA).
The
draft, commonly known as the Harbinson Draft, had been issued on
17 February
by Stuart Harbinson, chairman of the WTO Agriculture Committee.
AoA, the subject of the Harbinson Draft is one of the Uruguay
Round
agreements that was signed by governments in 1994 at the
Marrakech
Ministerial meeting. It sets in place rules for agricultural trade
for all
WTO members.
In a statement released at the end of the
review hearing last week,
participants said: "The Harbinson Draft text
reveals the emptiness of the
Doha Ministerial Declaration's stated intention
of placing development, food
security and rural livelihoods at the heart of
the
Doha Round."
Doha is the capital of the Middle East
country, Qatar, where trade and
agriculture ministers met in November 2001
for trade negotiations under the
auspices of the WTO.
Rangarirai
Machemedze, a programme officer at the Southern and Eastern
African Trade
Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) attended the
Geneva
Review.
In an interview, Machemedze echoed the sentiments of the
post-review
statement.
He said the Harbinson Draft totally failed to
correct the existing
imbalances in world trade and agriculture.
"The document's contents would result in the continued dumping
of
agricultural products through high levels of the distortion of
domestic
support and export subsidies for at least 10 more years," Machemedze
said.
To address the issues raised at the review hearing, delegates
set up a
committee that would redraft the Harbinson text so that it would
reflect the
concerns of developing countries.
The next WTO
meeting would be the 5th Ministerial Conference,
scheduled for September this
year in Cancun, Mexico.
SEATINI has launched a campaign for
domestic policy makers to
understand the contents and implications of any new
agreements and treaties
that could be signed in Cancun.
Daily News
Judge slams ZimRights
3/3/2003 1:15:38 AM
(GMT +2)
By Fanuel Jongwe
HIGH Court judge George
Smith has rebuked Munyaradzi Bidi, the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association
(ZimRights) boss, for allegedly abusing
his office and trampling on the
rights of some people while purporting to be
unbiased campaigners for human
rights.
Justice Smith lamented ZimRights' deterioration from being
a human
rights body of international repute, in its early years, to its
current
obscure status.
ZimRights, once a respected human rights
watchdog, went bankrupt and
fizzled into obscurity two years ago when its
major donors withdrew funding
in frustration with the association's in-house
squabbles and alleged
infiltration by Central Intelligence Organisation
agents.
Responding to allegations of racism levelled against him by
Munyaradzi
Bidi, ZimRights' executive director, the judge said: "I am
disgusted that
you are prepared to draw adverse inferences against Judge
Lawrence Kamocha
and me before you have even investigated the
facts."
Justice Smith responded in a letter to Bidi on 20 January.
Bidi had
complained in a letter to Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku about
Smith's
alleged racial bias.
"At one time ZimRights had a very
good reputation and was highly
respected," Smith said. "That reputation has
been tarnished. Nowadays,
ZimRights is seldom heard of. Letters such as yours
to the Chief Justice are
not likely to help ZimRights regain the reputation
it previously enjoyed in
the legal fraternity and elsewhere. I accept that
judges are not above
criticism, but any criticism should be informed. I would
have thought
someone in your position would at least investigate the case and
then try to
reach an informed conclusion, not just leap to conclusions which
are not
soundly based."
In a letter to Justice Chidyausiku, Bidi
alleged Justice Smith "being
a white judge" could have ruled in favour of
Permasan, a company owned by
Roland Neville Craig-Smith, a businessman, in a
legal wrangle between
Permasan and Shoreline Investments, belonging to Trevor
Batezat, a black
businessman.
The letter was quoted in The
Sunday Mail's 2 February issue, headlined
"Justice Smith Caught Up in Racial
Controversy".
The story alleged Justice Smith reversed a decision
by Justice
Kamocha, a fellow High Court judge, and ruled in favour of Roland
N
Craig-Smith in what the newspaper described as unclear
circumstances.
The story also claimed that Justice Kamocha heard
the matter between
Shoreline Investments and Permasan (Pvt) Ltd on 4 December
last year and
that Kamocha ruled in favour of Shoreline
Investments.
On 11 December 2002, Justice Smith sat to hear the
same matter and
ruled in favour of Permasan, the story alleged.
Smith said there were two cases involving two different issues. The
judge
said the first case heard by Kamocha was for a spoliation order.
Batezat and
Shoreline Investments were successful and a vehicle at the
centre of the
legal wrangle was returned to them.
He said in the second case "the
order sought, and granted, was to the
effect that two vehicles should be
surrendered by Shoreline Investments and
Batezat to the Deputy Sheriff for
safekeeping while the question of
ownership was determined.
Daily News
Public demands mass action
3/3/2003 1:42:43
AM (GMT +2)
By Fanuel Jongwe and Chris Gande
RESIDENTS of Harare and Bulawayo have urged the MDC leadership to call
for
mass action against Zanu PF rule and pledged to rally behind the
opposition
party in whatever action the party would propose.
About 5 000
Harare residents made the commitment by a show of hands at
a rally addressed
by Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, at Samuriwo
shopping centre in
Mufakose yesterday.
In Bulawayo on Saturday, thousands of residents
who met Tsvangirai
during a meet-the-people tour, called on the MDC leader to
extricate the
nation from the current economic hardships by calling for
effective mass
action.
"As MDC, we know the suffering you are
going through," Tsvangirai told
the gathering in Mufakose attended by
Engineer Elias Mudzuri, the Executive
Mayor of Harare, and MDC Members of
Parliament, councillors and members of
the party's national
executive.
"People I met in Bulawayo were bitter and I told them
Tsvangirai on
his own would not bring freedom no matter how committed he may
be. Youths,
we are not doing this for ourselves. We are doing it for you who
do not have
food and jobs. You must know that change demands action and if
you want
fuel, you have to act.''
Tsvangirai challenged the
people to translate their call into action
and support.
"When we
lead, you must follow," Tsvangirai said. "We don't want to
turn behind and
find that there is no one following us. We need to overcome
fear. Some of us
are no longer scared of dying or being imprisoned."
Mudzuri
lamented that the majority of the people had resigned
everything to
fate.
"When Tsvangirai is arrested, you must follow. When the mayor
is
arrested, you must follow. There is no way the government can lock us
all
up. They don't have the space or food in the jails."
In
Bulawayo, residents who came face-to-face with Tsvangirai had one
message:
"We are behind you. We are only waiting to hear from you what
action we must
take to get rid of this government."
At Bellevue shopping centre,
the atmosphere became charged with
excitement as soon as the people
recognised Tsvangirai, accompanied by party
vice-president Gibson Sibanda.
Within minutes, the crowd swelled and, later,
the MDC leader had to be
whisked away by his security personnel.
Also in Tsvangirai's
entourage were four MPs Abedinico Bhebhe, Paul
Themba Nyathi, Esaph Mdlongwa
and Thokozane Khupe.
At Renkini bus terminus, Tsvangirai could not
emerge from his car as
residents mobbed the vehicle shouting words of
encouragement and pleading
with him to "do something".
On realising
that Tsvangirai was not going to come out, the jubilant
crowd tried to lift
the vehicle instead.
Two elderly women, who managed to talk to
Tsvangirai before he was
mobbed, told him they were forced into vending
because of the economic
hardships.
"Please, please, my son, you are
our only hope in these hard times. We
are counting on you," said one of the
women.
At Magwegwe, a man who managed to shake Tsvangirai's hand
said: "Ever
since Zimbabwe became independent have you ever seen President
Mugabe mingle
with the people like this?"
At Nketa, people
abandoned transport queues for a while and rushed to
Tsvangirai, whistling
and shouting MDC slogans.
Nkulumane shopping complex was
transformed into a rally when hundreds
gathered to meet Tsvangirai,
expressing their support for him.
Tsvangirai also visited Ascot
shopping centre, Luveve, Cowdray Park
and Bulawayo's oldest suburb,
Makokoba.
Sunday Mirror, Zimbabwe
Zim to re-engage IMF
Tawanda
Majoni
THE GOVERNMENT of Zimbabwe might be on its way to re-embrace free
market
economic policies if the current dialogue with an International
Monetary
Fund (IMF) team currently in Zimbabwe is anything to go
by.
Top officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
are
currently dialoguing with a team recently dispatched to Harare by the
IMF,
in a move intended to iron out feasible strategies of
engagement.
Economists told The Sunday Mirror that the change of heart by
the Zimbabwean
government is out of a realisation that the country could soon
collapse
without the financial help of the Bretton Woods
institution.
"There is no question that we need the help of the IMF and
any other talk
would be political popularism. There is simply no choice,"
said one leading
economist. He commended the latest efforts by the government
to talk to the
IMF, adding that he hoped that Harare would fully commit
itself to the
revival of a workable symbiosis with the United Nations
body.
Addressing the IMF team last Tuesday, the first to visit Zimbabwe
since
September 2001, the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic
Development,
Chris Kuruneri promised that Zimbabwe would its settle its
arrears with the
IMF, paying US$1,5 million per quarter.
Zimbabwe,
which owes the IMF more than US $300 million, had its vote
effectively
cancelled in 1998 when it failed to pay up.
An independent economist,
Jonathan Kadzura also welcomed the revival of
negotiations, saying discourse
between the government and the IMF would
benefit both. "It is in the interest
of both Zimbabwe and the IMF to
normalise relations," he said.
While
acknowledging that Zimbabwean businesses' viability was threatened by
foreign
currency shortage, difficulties in acquiring spare parts and
investor
confidence, Kadzura said multi-nationals were also suffering and
would be
excused to put pressure on the IMF.
"The suspension of aid to Zimbabwe
was politically motivated after lobbying
by certain western countries that
were not happy with the land reform
programme. But conglomerates like BAT,
Lever Brothers, Anglo-American, among
others, have also been feeling the
pinch," he said. He urged the IMF to
"accept the reality that the land reform
programme was through" and to work
closely with the Zimbabwean
government.
Zimbabwe recently came up with a new economic recovery
blueprint, the New
Economic Recovery Programme (NERP), which is ostensibly
meant to ensure an
economic turnaround through improvements in forex inflows,
agro-industrial
performance and investment, among other things.
The
country virtually devalued the dollar by announcing a preferential rate
for
exporters and pegging it at $800 to the greenback. The move came after a
long
time of intense opposition by the government, with President Robert
Mugabe at
one time telling off advocates of devaluation.
The former Finance
Minister, Simba Makoni was reportedly booted out during
last year's cabinet
reshuffle for repeatedly calling for the devaluation of
the local currency
and the re-engagement of the Bretton Woods institutions.
The devaluation of
the Zimbabwe dollar is seen as one of the indicators of
the government's
change of heart in its attitude towards the west.
After severing ties
with the IMF and the World Bank, particularly from 2000
when it embarked on
the controversial fast track land reform in which about
4000 white farmers
were displaced to make way for the landless black
majority, the government
looked to Asian countries, particularly Malaysia,
for economic
salvation.
However, the eastern region could not provide the panacea
Zimbabwe needed to
crawl out of its economic crisis. "Zimbabwe has failed to
obtain the
equivalent of the IMF in countries like Malaysia," said another
economist.
It is yet to be seen how the country will cope with the other
demands of the
IMF, such as cancellation of subsidies, complete devaluation
and doing away
with price controls. The government re-introduced price
controls almost two
years ago to reign in skyrocketing prices of basic
commodities. This way, it
abandoned the free market economy that it had
embraced in the 1990s. Last
year the price list of gazetted commodities was
extended to include
non-basic commodities.
Kuruneri acknowledged that
the government, through the Tripartite
Negotiating Forum consisting the
government, labour and business was working
on the issue of price controls
with a view to ensure the viability of
business and to sustain production.
Pic: Simba Makoni..booted out of cabinet
for his pro-IMF, WB stance
Sunday Mirror, Zimbabwe
Govt denies existence of land audit
report
Innocent Chofamba Sithole Assistant Editor
THE government has
denied the existence of a confidential interim report on
the national audit
carried out to probe land allocation in its land reform
and resettlement
programme.
The denial comes as a South African weekend paper - the third
foreign
publication to carry the report after London newsletter,
Africa
Confidential, and the globally circulating Financial Times - has
published a
report on the secret document, a copy of which the Sunday Mirror
is now in
possession of.
"There is no such report, and whatever report
there is, is merely an
invention of the enemies of the State," a senior
government official said.
He strongly castigated the Sunday Mirror for
having reproduced the Africa
Confidential report, which broke the story in
its February 21 issue.
"It was an act of mischief on your part to have
reproduced that story, for
there was definitely no report to leak since it
does not exist," the
official reprimanded.
However, the Sunday Times
of South Africa has also published its own story
based on the same
"confidential" report, ostensibly prepared by the Minister
of State for Land
Reform in the Vice President's Office, Flora Buka.
The report, a copy of
which the Sunday Mirror is now in possession of,
highlights violations of the
land reform and resettlement policy and gives
specific information related to
the provinces covered under the land audit.
"The audit was carried out to
identify anomalies and policy violations in
the implementation of the Land
Reform and Resettlement Programme with a view
to re-aligning the programme
implementation to the policy and the
legislative provisions," reads the
preamble to the report.
Written in the first person, the report details
serious violations of the
land programme's guiding policy by influential
personalities, including
prominent politicians and senior government and
military officials.
Controversy surrounds the issuance of certificates of
no present interest by
the Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement
Ministry, which, according to
the report, could not provide the audit
committee with information on the
farms whose certificates had been rescinded
and the farms re-gazetted. As
such, confusion and conflict arose between some
blacks who had purchased
their farms, and settlers who had occupied the same
properties.
The report also details the displacement of landless peasants
from farms
they had been allocated, following the re-planning of A1 farms to
A2 model
farms.
On Mayfield farm in Mazowe district, which was
allocated to war veterans
leaders Chris Pasipamire and Mike Moyo, 36 settlers
were displaced following
recommendation by the Mashonaland Central provincial
land committee's
withdrawal of their offer letters.
Telecel boss,
James Makamba, Zanu PF legislators Edward Chindori-Chininga
and Saviour
Kasukuwere, Airforce of Zimbabwe commander Perence Shiri and
Defence
Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, are named in the report as having
displaced A1
settlers from the properties they were allocated.
The report also
mentions the flagrant violation of the maximum farm size
policy in
Mashonaland Central province.
"All A2 Model allocations of more than 350
ha in Mashonaland Central are
done with the blessing of the governor, Cde
(Elliot) Manyika. All the farms
(in the province) mentioned (in the report)
are above 350 ha, meaning that
the honourable governor is aware of the
existing problem caused by these
allocations.
Launched in February
2000, following a wave of farm invasions by war
veterans and landless
peasants, the government's land reform programme has
so far resettled over
330 000 families under the fast-track A1 Model, while
a further 55 000 are
said to have been resettled under the A2 commercial
farming scheme. However,
contentious land allocation in some provinces has
halted agricultural
production, resulting in sharp depression in crop
output. One such area is
the Gwebi/Hunyani ICA in the Nyabira area of
Mashonaland West. According to
the report, almost 90 farms have remained
unallocated for about two years now
because the provincial governor, Peter
Chanetsa and the ruling Zanu PF
party's provincial leadership, "including
the provincial chairman, Cde
Phillip Chiyangwa and the Honourable Dr.
(Ignatius) Chombo have failed to
come to an agreement on the prospective
beneficiaries".
Chiyangwa
confirmed to the Sunday Mirror that there was, indeed, such a
dispute over
the Gwebi /Hunyani area.
"To start with, I don't want to dispute that
there are issues in
Gwebi/Hunyani that involve me. If that is Buka's report,
then it is
accurate," he said, explaining that the core of the conflict over
the farms
was that the people who had been settled there had done so
irregularly and
were not from his province.
"I don't know anyone who's
there, and I was never consulted by those who put
them there," Chiyangwa
said.
"These people came in during the "Jambanja" period, and some of
them became
looters who vandalised farm equipment. Now, we are saying because
these
people were unprocedurally allocated land, they should be removed and
the
exercise started afresh with new applicants," he added.
The audit
report recommended that the province urgently resolve the impasse
since it
was holding back production in a highly productive area that
contributes
significantly to the country's food security. It also cited the
province as
moving sluggishly on A2 allocations.
Other contentious allocations
include Fountain Farm in Insiza district,
where Minister of Small and Medium
Enterprises, Sithembiso Nyoni irregularly
took over the highly developed
poultry, citrus and livestock producing farm,
which had been designated as a
skills training centre for the National Youth
Service training
programme.
"It is disturbing to note that violence is the order of the
day on this
farm, with "hired thugs" allegedly driven in from Bulawayo by the
honourable
Minister. The violence has not spared the members of the District
Land
Committee, who threatened to resign if the relevant authorities do
not
intervene," reads the report.
The audit also found widespread
evidence of violations of the government's
one-man-one-farm policy. Several
high ranking government officials appear on
a list of people allegedly in
possession of more than one farm.
"The list is not exhaustive as the
people interviewed were scared to reveal
any information, lest they might be
victimised by the multiple farm owners
who seem to have their loyalists
within the various land committees," the
report states.
The audit
committee recommended the correction of the glaring anomalies,
particularly
where the leadership was the perpetrator, warning that the
public was restive
where such cases existed.
While the government dismisses the authenticity
of the audit report as the
work of "enemies of the State", it has not made
public findings of its own
investigation into the allocation of land under
the resettlement programme
Sunday Mirror, Zimbabwe
Fuel crisis dominates House
debates
Artwell Manyemba
FUEL price increases announced on Tuesday,
the day parliament resumed
sitting after the Christmas and New Year break,
dominated debate in the
parliament as legislators took turns to comment on
the latest price hike of
the scarce commodity and its implications on the
nation.
Soon after the Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa welcomed
the
legislators back to the House urging the honourable members to
"diligently
debate and articulate issues which are of national importance
with the
seriousness and purposefulness which these issues deserve," Zanu PF
Member
of Parliament for Murewa North, Victor Chitongo castigated government
for
failing to curb operations of the foreign currency exchange parallel
market.
Chitongo asked government to increase the price of fuel, because
Zimbabwe
had the cheapest in the southern Africa region. However, as the
legislator
addressed parliament, the Ministry of Energy and Power Development
was also
preparing to announce a fuel price increase effective from the next
day.
Government hiked fuel prices by between 80 and 90 percent, with
leaded
petrol rising by 95 percent from $74.47 a litre to $145.20 a litre,
while
the price of unleaded petrol jumped from $77.42 to $176.53 per
litre.
The price of diesel rose by 80 percent, from $66.39 per litre to
$119.43 per
litre, and paraffin went up from $50 to $59.27 a litre. Fuel had
been listed
as a controlled commodity by government following a price review
in June
2001.
Also on Tuesday, Movement for Democratic Change MP for
Kwekwe, Blessing
Chebundo moved a motion, asking parliament to give three
months of the
National Aids Council and the Ministry of Health to have the
funds disbursed
to that council audited by the Auditor-General and assisted
by independent
auditors.
The portfolio committee on Local Government,
Public Works and National
Housing also presented its report on holding camps
and housing
co-operatives. MDC Glen Norah MP, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
also
presented a report of the committee on public accounts, which she
chairs.
On the same day, the Speaker also announced six changes to
portfolio
committees. The next day Mnangagwa said he had received apologies
from six
ministers who were out of the country and could not attend
parliament.
MDC MP for Kambuzuma, Willias Madzimure told parliament that
he was alarmed
with the new prices of fuel, saying that all industries had
been grossly
affected by the acute shortages of oil
commodities.
Madzimure asked why government entered into a fuel
procurement deal with
Exor instead of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.
He asked: "Why was
Exor chosen ahead of other indigenous companies? What
criteria was used to
pick Exor? How much is the fuel going to be sold that
they will be able to
bring in fuel? The last question is: Who owns Exor?" The
MDC MP for
Dzivarasekwa, Edwin Mushoriwa supported the motion saying the fuel
problem
had an effect on the generality of the population and the performance
of the
economy.
Zanu PF chief whip and MP for Mberengwa West, Joram
Gumbo said the motion on
fuel was belated and archaic and had been
constructed from events of last
year. He said Minister Amos Midzi had
explained the problems he faced in
procuring fuel.
"The minister has
explained that we have problems but we are managing to go
ahead. The problem
is that we have a political party that wants to see its
people suffer and
that is the MDC and Chaibva is on the forefront," Gumbo
said.
Massive
corruption and gross mismanagement, shortage of foreign currency due
to
mismanagement, lack of prioritisation by government and procurement
problems
were some of the causes of the fuel crisis, Leonard Chirowamhangu,
MDC MP for
Nyanga said.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo
was not spared
in the fuel crisis debate, while he was grilled during
question time on the
availability of mealie-meal. Moyo blamed the shortages
mainly on the
transportation problems.
Moyo also notified parliament
that he would present the Presidential Pension
and Retirement Benefits Bill.
The Minister of State for Information and
Publicity in the President's
Office, Professor Jonathan Moyo indicated that
he would present the
Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill.
On Thursday, the Speaker announced
the resignation of MDC MP for Harare
Central, Michael Auret from parliament.
The Speaker said he had received a
letter from Auret, which cited medical
grounds for the resignation.
A report on the operations of the Tripartite
Negotiating Forum (TNF)
prepared by the portfolio committee on Public
Service, Labour and Social
Welfare was presented by committee chairperson,
Webster Shamu, the Zanu PF
MP for Chegutu.
The committee recommended
the creation of a legal framework to oversee the
promotion of resources for
skills development and innovation in areas of
science and technology within
an environment suitable to all three social
partners of government, labour
and business.
"This will stimulate sustainable economic recovery, growth
and development.
This will also yield implementation of policies of social
equity and
empowerment, and this will result in the promotion of social
responsibility
and poverty reduction policies," Shamu said.
Shamu also
congratulated President Robert Mugabe on turning 79 years,
bursting into a
happy birthday song. Other Zanu PF MPs joined in and danced
to the
congratulatory song, while some MDC legislators walked out.
Daily News
Feature
CFU, discard fear, secrecy to debate with
JAG
3/3/2003 1:41:53 AM (GMT +2)
By A Special
Correspondent
It is very disappointing that the Commercial Farmers'
Union (CFU) has
refused an open invitation to debate policy and the way
forward for
agriculture with Justice for Agriculture (JAG).
At a
time when disunity is the order of the day, the time has surely
come for all
those affected by the nightmare that we are now all living
through to sit
down in a civilised manner and chart our own way forward.
If a
union means unity, then surely its membership needs to unify
around a solid
policy and strategy that will benefit all Zimbabweans. The
reason for this
disunity is because the CFU's policy is nebulous
and
ineffective.
What is the CFU's policy? One might well ask in
the conspicuous
absence of anything tangible that might protect national food
security,
farmers and their interests.
To answer this, we need to
ask two other questions: What is the party
policy? And more importantly, why
is it the ruling party's policy?
The facts speak for themselves.
The "Party" intends to continue as it
has done over the last three years,
destroying commercial agriculture and
thus politically annihilating farm
workers and white commercial farmers,
thereby facilitating a political
genocide scenario.
While President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria was
being assured that
the land acquisition programme was brought to an end on
the 31 August 2002,
more acquisition lists were being compiled and published,
more Section 8
notices were being delivered, more farms were being pegged and
more farmers
and farm workers were being
illegally evicted from
their homes.
Commercial farmland owned by white farmers will
continue to be
expropriated for as long as the Party remains threatened "by
the people".
Why? The answer is again quite simple: as white people, we are
deemed to
bear witness and are seen to be the main focus of "all this fuss"
by the
international community.
Get the whites out of the way
and the political issues will be
resolved. Starve the opposition, beat up,
torture or kill dissenters as they
did during Gukurahundi, and before too
long power is absolute. Zimbabweans
cannot allow this to continue in their
country.
It appears that the CFU does not have a land policy. Farmers
were told
by the CFU to "go the LA3 route if you want to continue farming",
"to
negotiate with your District Administrator, Provincial Administrator or
Land
's Committee".
Now Agriculture Minister Joseph Made (with
the CFU in agreement!) says
the LA3 is not legal. Farmers are told to remain
"politically correct" and
that the CFU is committed to working with the
(illegitimate) government of
the day.
Dialogue and negotiations
were understandable at the very outset in
early 2000, but to
consider that they are acting on behalf of the large-scale commercial
farmers
at this stage is ludicrous and dishonest.
The CFU was mandated by
its members to refute the racial propaganda
and to insist on the return to
the rule of law. It didn't want to rock the
boat. Hence the formation of
JAG.
JAG recently sent out an e-mail regarding the Vision for
Agriculture
for the future.
Their policies enunciated in this
document are: the rule of law and
accountability; the respect and extension
of title; the need for supply and
demand market economics; organisation of
grants and concessionary finance to
rebuild commercial agriculture; and the
necessity for a responsible and
democratic government.
JAG
believes in openly and transparently promoting these policies and
challenging
anyone who is promoting otherwise.
This is why the CFU should come
to an open debate with JAG to discuss
these issues. The truth is quite clear,
evil Party politics are causing one
of the worst economic, social and
humanitarian disasters that Africa has
ever seen.
We, as
Zimbabweans of all ethnic backgrounds, need to stand for the
truth, or we
become complicit in the destruction of our nation.
"Christians are
called to speak out against evil, to speak out against
things that are wrong
and that are wicked . . .
Everyone must realise they have to make a
stand for what is right."
(Quote from Henry Olonga)
It is time
we wore our hearts on our sleeves openly.
In the light of this, we
once again invite the CFU "to attend an open
debate with JAG to dialogue
these issues. Constructive policy will never
come out of fear and
secrecy.
Now, more than ever before, Zimbabwe needs leaders who
will uphold
moral values and principles and the basic human rights enshrined
in our
Constitution.
News24
More farmers lose their land
02/03/2003 21:30 -
(SA)
Kodzevu Sithole
Harare - Farmers in the northern Karoi
district of Zimbabwe have been
ordered to pack up and leave, despite having
promising tobacco and maize
crops.
More than 40 farmers received the
so-called Section 8 notice, which means
that they have to evacuate their
farms within 90 days.
Only 44 of the nearly 170 farms in this fertile
farming district remained
after the Zimbabwean government started its land
reform programme in
February 2000.
A farmer from the Karoi district
said farmers voluntary reduced the sizes of
their farms and accepted that
small scale farmers would occupy these parts.
He said the established
farmers planted tobacco and increased their maize
harvests. However, they are
now forced to leave their farms.
The latest appropriation of farms comes
amidst renewed accusations that
prominent Zanu-PF officials are taking over
large farms that used to be the
backbone of Zimbabwe's commercial farming
industry.
Some of these officials are apparently also forcing the small
scale farmers,
who are supposed to have benefited from the land reform
process, from the
land.
A confidential audit of the government's land
reform process, in which
thousands of white farmers lost their land, showed
that president Robert
Mugabe's friends and family are not honouring the
"one-farm-one-farmer"
rule.
These include Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo and one of President Robert
Mugabe's sisters.
Business Day
Much is riding on a Mugabe exit
plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
inter-African politics of the Commonwealth saga on Zimbabwe show
some
interesting dynamics. Since SA and Nigeria parted company with Australia
on
the issue of Zimbabwe's suspension, Pretoria has emerged with
stronger
British and French backing for its efforts to resolve the crisis
in
Zimbabwe.
Kenya and perhaps Botswana, however, favour Zimbabwe's
continued suspension
pending improvements in its internal politics. In the
case of Kenya, its
foreign minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, recently stated: "We
don't want to issue
moral edicts against any of our African brothers, but
quite frankly Kenya
can speak with a little bit of authority on the crucial
matter of
democratisation on the continent. We would want our African friends
to
emulate our example in terms of democratic practice."
If taken
together with the reported confrontation between Nigerian President
Olusegun
Obasanjo and Senegalese President Aboulaye Wade at last year's
inaugural
summit of the African Union (AU) over the issue of recognising
the
electorally disputed Malagasy government of Marc Ravalomanana, there may
be
a new fissure emerging in interAfrican politics.
This could be a
new tension between elected governments emanating from the
capture of state
power by nonviolent pro-democracy movements, and elected
leaders who are
long-certified members of what might be termed "the African
establishment" of
heads-of-state and leaders of former armed liberation
movements in essence, a
clash of African political cultures.
This clash has been obscured by an
artificial solidarity protecting tyrants
like Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe. He has used this solidarity to
manipulate an international politics
of race and antiWestern sentiment in a
bid to delegitimise Africa's
democrats. Kenya's foreign minister is
challenging this
status-quo.
The verdict remains out, however, on Kenya's ruling National
Rainbow
Coalition. Yet the coalition represents a democratic renewal
following the
human rights abuses and economic impoverishment wrought by
post-colonial
authoritarianism in what was a former white settler state like
Zimbabwe.
And, given Kenya's defensiveness over SA economic penetration of
its home
market, one consequence of its democratisation could be an
additional
leadership challenge facing SA and Nigeria as Kenya reclaims its
position as
the fulcrum of a reviving East African Community.
What
more fitting opportunity for Nairobi to signal it's arrival back on
the
African leadership scene than to enter the fray over Zimbabwe's fate
within
the Commonwealth. Thus could an AbujaPretoria axis within the AU and
the New
Partnership for Africa's Development find itself balanced by a
Dakar-Nairobi
axis transcending francophone-anglophone
divisions.
Botswana's case is different. Whereas Kenya is geographically
removed from
Zimbabwe's crisis, Botswana could be consumed by it. East as
well as
southern Africa is affected. But regarding Botswana, its relations
with
Zimbabwe are at rock-bottom as a welter of the latter's woes generate
a
refugee flood threatening what has been one of the sub-region's
economic
success stories. Add to that both countries' HIV/AIDS pandemics
and
foot-and-mouth disease and Botswana is desperate.
The problem
confronting Gaborone is this: between Zimbabwe's population of
11,3-million
and SA's of more than 40million, Botswana, at 1,59-million is a
virtual
suburb that could be absorbed by either neighbour. Botswana is
deporting 1600
Zimbabweans every month while an estimated 125000 enter the
country legally
every week, many over-staying their visitor's permits. The
result is pressure
on President Festus Mogae to have an urgent meeting with
Mugabe over the
"invasion" of Botswana by illegals.
Can Botswana's stability outlast
Zimbabwe's endgame? Meanwhile, the
opposition studies Kenya's election to see
how they can unseat the
long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party. Hence,
increasingly high stakes are
riding on the search for a Mugabe "exit
strategy".
Kornegay is Programme Co-ordinator, Centre for Africa's
International
Relations, University of the Witwatersrand.
Mar 03
2003 06:45:38:000AM Business Day 1st Edition
Democratic
Space
Today it's a year since the March 2002 presidential elections in
Zimbabwe
when Mugabe ran off the field with 400 000 more votes than
Morgan
Tsvangirai. We challenged that result in the High Court (as is
our
constitutional right) and the case is scheduled to come to court in
April.
Not bad in Zimbabwe since none of the 38 challenges to the election of
Zanu
PF candidates in the 2000 elections have yet been finalized.
The
question is often asked what happened in the March 2002 election that
led to
the MDC and the major western powers (the USA, the EU and the
Commonwealth)
rejecting the result and what has happened since? The MDC case
against
Mugabe's victory in March 2002 is overwhelming but in summary the
election
result was brought into question by the following: -
- The violence used
by the State and Zanu PF against the MDC during the
campaign.
- The
failure by the State controlled media (two television stations, 4
radio
stations and 6 newspapers) to give coverage to all points of view in
the
campaign and the use of the media by Zanu PF in a propaganda campaign
against
the MDC candidate.
- The inability of the MDC to hold election rallies and to
canvas voters
because of the controls exercised by the State through the
Police.
- The use by Zanu PF of all the machinery of the State in its
campaign and
the flagrant use of State funds for the same purpose.
- The
withdrawal of voting rights for some 600 000 voters of foreign decent
in an
unlawful exercise mounted and managed by the Registrar Generals
office.
-
The denial of the right to vote for about 300 000 urban voters who had
tried
unsuccessfully to vote in their constituencies as there were
insufficient
voting stations in these areas.
- The denial of access to the voters roll and
in particular to a
supplementary voters roll containing some 400 000 new
voters which has yet
to be released in any form, to the MDC for
scrutiny.
- Ballot stuffing in many areas of the country with up to 1
million
fraudulent votes cast. This claim was subsequently supported by
official
data from the census of population carried out at the same time (mid
2002)
which clearly showed that the voters roll and the numbers of votes cast
were
substantially above any possible theoretical figures.
- Counting
discrepancies at many centers with the Electoral Commission
issuing different
figures to the Registrar General.
The Registrar Generals office and the
so-called "Independent Electoral
Commission" were taken over by the Army and
the CIO and operated under close
political supervision both before and after
the election. This supervisory
group - including such figures as the Minister
of Defense, State Security,
Information and Publicity and Munangagwa, were
responsible for a last minute
panic during which they ordered massive ballot
rigging to ensure that Mugabe
was returned. This was so blatant that for the
first time, solid evidence
has come out as to what they did and how. From
what we know now it is clear
that these strategies were all used - but to a
lessor degree, in the March
2000 referendum and the June 2000 parliamentary
elections. What finally
exposed the scam was the extent to which they were
forced to go to ensure a
Mugabe victory. Their problem with any fresh
elections is that they could
not rig any election today by enough votes to
win.
We estimate from our own data, that the March and June 2000
elections were
rigged to the extent of about 15 per cent of the poll. The
March 2003
election was rigged by at least a third of all votes cast -
estimates range
from 800 000 to 1,2 million. Too much to be hidden, no matter
what they did.
Since then, Obasanjo and Mbeki say, Mugabe and Zanu PF
have started to
correct the errors of the past and begun to behave like
democrats - the MDC
and the western world should forgive them for these
"minor misdemeanors" and
come back to the table. Join in a government of
"National Unity" and work
together to draft a new constitution, put Zimbabwe
back on its feet and
then - at a time yet to be determined, hold fresh
elections which will
finally wash away the stains of the March 2002
poll.
The Zimbabwe people, working through Zanu and Zapu, fought a long
and hard
political campaign to win the right to self-determination through
the
exercise of universal suffrage in 1980. This campaign started in the
1949
general strike and ended in 1980 when we gained independence under
a
government led by Mugabe and duly elected by universal suffrage. I was
one
of those who supervised that election, and there was no doubt in my
mind
that Mugabe was duly elected. The negation of the right of every
adult
citizen of Zimbabwe to vote according to his or hers personal
convictions
and in safety and secrecy, to my mind is one of the worst
possible
violations of our rights that a government can commit. We fought a
war to
secure these rights, thousands died in that war. We were supported by
the
rest of the world in our campaign for the right to vote and when
this
threatens the power base of those entrusted with those rights, they
abuse
and negate them in front of the whole world.
In the 12 months
since the election the following has been the trend of
events in Zimbabwe:
-
- The abuse of the media has continued and the independent media
and
international media further restricted in its freedom to report and
comment
on events here.
- The violence has continued in all respects - the
numbers of people who
have been killed for their political views has not
declined in any way, more
people are "disappearing". Torture in State custody
has intensified. The
employment of militia has intensified and is now nation
wide.
- The use of all the organs of the State in support of the Zanu PF
led
oppression of all opposition forces has continued, including the illegal
use
of State resources for Party activity.
- The use of the Police and the
Courts to control and suppress all forms of
democratic activity has
intensified.
- Most recently hotels and printing firms have been instructed
by the Police
not to offer facilities to the MDC.
- The Independent
Electoral Commission remains under military control and
the Registrar
Generals Office continues to abuse its position in the
electoral process by
denying access to voters rolls and undertaking the
illegal registration of
voters and undertaking the manipulation of voting
and vote counting
activity.
What are we supposed to do under these circumstances - accept
the views of
the Obasanjo and Mbeki duo? Lie down and play dead? Give up the
struggle as
being unequal? We, unlike opposition forces in a dozen other
African States,
will not take up arms against this regime. We prefer to
continue to struggle
using legitimate, legal, democratic actions. But what
space are we left to
operate in? We are left with the internet, the
international arena, and our
private homes. Even in our homes we are under
pressure - the use of food as
a political weapon has, if anything
intensified. In our business lives if we
espouse opposition views, we become
subjects of State coercion. If we try to
express our views in public - even
at a cricket match, we end up in jail.
Wear a black armband to protest at
what is going on and your wife has to
flee the country for fear of her life.
Democratic space - taken for granted
all over the world, fought for in
decades past, is now denied every person
who lives in Zimbabwe. I thought
Nepad was going to change all that, we now
know differently and it is a
tragedy, not just for Zimbabwe, but for all of
Africa.
Eddie
Cross
Bulawayo, 2nd March 2003.
MDC News Alert - Zimbabwe's State House Turned Into Torture
Camp
26 MDC activists, among them 3 women, who were
travelling to an MDC rally in Hatcliffe constituency in Harare today were stopped and forced-marched into State House yard where they were severely
assaulted for 4 hours by members
of President Mugabe's security. Their crime? Putting
on MDC regalia whilst driving past State House. The soldiers used logs, booted feet, the
butts of their guns and other instruments to
brutally assault the MDC activists.
The victims were then taken to Harare Central
Police Station where they were initially put in the holding cells and accused of
addressing a rally at State House. They were released after being forced to
pay fines of Zim$5 000 each.
Five of the activists who received serious injuries
have since been taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, 70 MDC activists were arrested after a
successful rally in Mufakose today. Police arrived 10 minutes after the rally
and rounded up the youths who were carrying away the benches which had been used
at the rally, forced them to lie on their
stomachs and assaulted them before taking them to Marimba Police Station.
Both the Hatcliffe and Mufakose rallies were
authorised by the police.
MDC Information
From ZWNEWS, 3
March
State House
beatings
Twenty six opposition members, including three women, were
forced into the grounds of State House on Sunday, where they were assaulted for
four hours by members of the presidential security detail, the MDC said
yesterday. The group had been travelling to a rally in Hatcliffe, and were
accused by the security officers of wearing MDC T-shirts and singing party songs
while travelling past State House. The group were kicked and beaten with sticks
and rifle-butts, said an MDC spokesman. They were then taken to Harare Central
police station, and were finally released after paying fines of Z$5000 each.
Five of the activists were later taken to hospital for treatment for their
injuries. Also on Sunday, seventy MDC members were arrested after a successful
rally in Mufakose. Police arrived ten after the rally and rounded up youths who
were carrying away the benches which had been used at the rally, forced them to
lie on their stomachs and assaulted them before taking them to Marimba Police
Station. Both the Hatcliffe and Mufakose rallies had been authorised by the
police.
ZIMBABWE: Flooding worsens recovery prospects
JOHANNESBURG, 3 March
(IRIN) - Flooding last week in the northern parts of food insecure Zimbabwe may
have worsened the prospects for recovery, Save the Children warned on
Monday.
Heavy flooding affected some 6,000 people in the Muzarabani
district, with homes swamped and crops washed away.
"While the immediate
rains have ceased in the areas, there are worries that further precipitation
could occur later this week as a result of the tropical storm that is now
sitting over Mozambique," said Chris McIvor, programme director for Save the
Children UK in Zimbabwe.
"The people in this area are extremely
vulnerable, since they traditionally plant along stream beds and flood plains in
order to maximise their harvest. Two people died in the floods last week. If the
rainfall increases, more could be affected, either through having their houses
washed away or through the health problems that arise from contaminated wells
and boreholes. The next few weeks will require careful monitoring of the
situation by all concerned, so that the plight of people in this area is not
worsened," he added.
Provincial and local authorities had contacted Save
the Children last week to appeal for assistance in responding to the
floods.
"Arising from the assistance that Save the Children had provided
in 2001 to similar floods, we were asked to contribute again in whatever way we
could. By the following morning some 60 mt of relief materials had arrived in
the area, ready for distribution the same day," the development agency said in a
statement.
Between Friday and Monday, food for 6,000 people affected by
the flooding was distributed in three affected wards in Muzarabani. This
comprised 30 mt of maize meal, 6 mt of sugar beans and 3,000 bottles of oil.
Enough to provide 75 percent of a standard ration for beneficiaries for two
weeks.
A senior manager from the Save the Children Emergency Response
Team arrived in Muzarabani last Thursday and was coordinating the agency's
response with the district administrator, civil protection unit and local
authorities in the area.
A Save the Children food security team will
also assess the impact of the floods on food security of the affected areas, in
order to suggest recovery and support strategies.
The Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported that a helicopter had been sent to the
area at the weekend with food and clothes, as bridges had been rendered
impassable by the rains.
OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prelude
text: As is to be expected, the difficult times Zimbabwe is facing
is
generally reflected in this forum, resulting in a somewhat depressing
tone at
times. Although these are vital contributions, we have decided to
counteract
this by introducing a new column at the end called "On the
lighter side".
This is a forum for sharing jokes, funnies, inspiration and
basically, as the
name suggests, anything on the lighter side of the
current state of affairs.
Please send any material for publication to
justice@telco.co.zw. The first edition
follows*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1: Irene Staunton
Hi
I am trying to find the whereabouts of Mary
Clarke, formerly of Blue
Mountains farm in Nyanga and Chloe Edwards who was
on a farm in Gwanda. I
once published them, and the publisher has asked me to
seek them out with
regard to certain royalties. If you can help, I would be
grateful.
Many thanks,
Irene
Staunton
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2: James Glass
THE FRENCH AND THE CRICKET `LOVER'S'
The heroic
stand of Henry Olonga and Andy Flower on Monday the 10th of
January, as well
as the bravery of a small, black-arm banded handful,
(some of whom ended up
in Harare Central), on that day and at subsequent
games, should give right
minded Zimbabweans and any who are concerned about
the welfare of the
country, much to be thankful for. Without their actions
and those of the
English cricket team, the Cricket World Cup in Zimbabwe
would have provided
Zanu PF with an unparalleled Public Relations coup. A
few small but
elegantly dressed windows with potentially powerful
repercussions.
The
illegal Mugabe regime lives a schizophrenic existence on either side of
a
wall. On one side is the Zimbabwe that we know - a country of starvation
and
decay set about with all the trappings of dictatorship: the motorcades
and
state thuggery on the streets, the electrodes in the cellars. On the
other
side of the wall is the Zimbabwe that Mugabe seeks to portray to the
outside
world and where two linked concepts, normality and legitimacy, are
key. For
though the President and his henchmen appear unbowed in the
knowledge that
they are an illegal regime, they cannot escape the cold
fingers of reality
and history that relate what unpleasant fate awaits
illegal regimes. They
therefore crave legitimacy as an addict craves his
fix. Thus they sweat and
strive to disrupt international condemnation by
projecting a fantastical
image of domestic harmony and the rule of law and
order. This is why
Mugabe's invitation to Paris was so very important for
him as, for the first
time, a European country was, in effect, recognising
his regime. Despite
being `short-changed on kisses, the visit was a
reward, from Chirac, for
eight months of undiluted tyranny since the
elections.
Though it is an
unpalatable concept, the fact is that Mugabe's allies,
Mbeki, Obasanjo and
Chirac, all know full well what is on the Zimbabwean
side of the wall. They
know that when Mugabe claims success, for example,
for his land reform
programme, he is lying. And he knows they know. But in
the complex world of
international relations, appearances count for a great
deal and photographic
media coverage of happy crowds watching cricket
matches in Harare and
Bulawayo, were worth a great deal to Mugabe. His
state media's delight in
these very pictures was tinged only by their being
somewhat eclipsed by
Flower and Olonga's unequivocal stand. They provided
at least a scrap of
evidence to support the claim that Zimbabwe is not
going through hell. And a
scrap is all that the likes of Obasanjo need to
brandish, as if bearing
trophies, to the international community, in order
to plead for tolerance
towards Mugabe's contemptible regime.
Thus it is that Mugabe's Zimbabwe
presents people of good will with a maze
of moral choices. The contrast
between the chosen paths and pronouncements
of Vincent Hogg and Peter
Chingoka and two of their aforementioned players,
is stark. There is the
unmistakable stamp of ambition and conveniently
tunnelled vision in the
behaviour of the ZCU in recent history. Similarly
or not, some farmers who
have defied Mugabe have lost their farms as a
result and they and their
workers are now destitute. Others have dealt and
compromised and hung on to
at least some of their land at a cost of
providing subsidy for Mugabe's
demolition of commercial agriculture. This
sector inspires no admiration but
there can at least be recognition of the
pressures that finally ground their
consciences into the dust. But those
that sat, one eye on the cricket and the
other on the weather at Harare or
Queens Sports Grounds, unadorned by any
black armband, were under no such
pressures. The truth is that these people,
navigating through Zimbabwe's
moral maze, took a wrong turning and
consciously or not, stumbled into an
abyss, selling or at best renting out
their souls to Mugabe in exchange for
a day's cricket. They, along with
Chirac, have provided some vital window
dressing for Zanu PF.
Some may
be so wrapped in wealth and privilege that they can ignore the
horrors beyond
their downtown office and Highlands townhouse. Perhaps they
are the most
culpable of all. Most will trot out the same old lame
excuses: `Nothing
makes any difference'; `It would be different if everyone
decided not to go';
`You shouldn't mix sport and politics.' `I never get
involved in such
things.' `It was only a game of cricket'. But such are
none other than
pitiful inanities in today's Zimbabwe and are the `everyman
's' equivalent to
Chirac's own inadequate responses when asked why he
invited one of the
world's most notorious dictators to what was essentially
a conference on
Human Rights. Like him, they were Mugabe's stooges for a
little while. When
it is their turn to suffer the effects of Mugabe's
oppression - a lost farm,
a lost job, a two day fuel queue, a hungry child,
a broken head - perhaps
they might be honest enough to reflect that for one
or two rainy summer's
days in Harare or Bulawayo, they too were members of
ZANU PF. At least
honest enough to reflect that they lent a hand to the
regime that plunged
Zimbabwe into a dark age rather than yield
power.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3: Joyce Bains
As a bystander, many many miles away but who is suffering
mentally with you
since it all began, I can only support all Mary Van Heerden
said about the
Zimbabwe farmers. (1-03-03) I have met many on my visits to
that beautiful
country, they are a grand bunch. Now, being as resilient as
you are, my
plea to you is to give a chance to the suggestion that Mary makes
(JAG,
CFU, ZFU, ZTA, TTA, all work together). Let the people who are watching
see
that you are standing together, put aside your differences and
your
disagreements, elect one leader who is strong enough to take the
knocks
they will surely get from time to time. The scripture tells us, "
united we
stand, divided we fall" so true.! May God Bless and protect you
all
Joyce
(UK)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON
THE LIGHTER SIDE
When God was creating the world, he figured that for
humans to prosper, he
would grant them two virtues. So he made the Swiss neat
and law-abiding,
the Ghanaians lively and musical, the Brazilians easy-going
and sexy, the
Japanese hard-working and patient, and the Italians happy and
romantic -
and so on. When Zimbabwe's turn came, God told the Helper Angel
who was
taking notes: "Zimbabweans shall be good and bright, and
Zanu-PF
supporters."
When the world was finished, the Helper Angel
reminded God: "My Lord you
have given every nation two virtues, but three to
Zimbabweans. This is not
fair."
God thought about it.
"You are
right. Divine virtues however, cannot be taken away. But there is
a way out.
They shall keep all three, but not all at the same time.
The Zimbabwean who
is good and a Zanu-PF cannot be bright.
The Zimbabwean who is bright and
Zanu-PF cannot be good.
And the Zimbabwean who is bright and good cannot be
Zanu-PF."
from Last Gasp ZimInd
21/2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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UPDATE - Anti-Hijack Trust
Dear AllThere have been yet more reports concerning the
flyover going out of town on Simon Mazarodze Rd. Please be very careful when
going under this bridge, there is a gang of thieves operating who try to stop
you and smash your car window. I have now reported this again to the Police but
will go another route to see if they will deal with this.
Also, I was in TM Borrowdale last Friday when a
woman shopper had her handbag grabbed and the thief made off with it. I then
checked other shoppers to see where their handbags were, and was appalled how
many of them leave their handbags in the trolley whilst chatting with friends in
the aisles or perusing the shelves. Some bags were even UNDONE. PLEASE ladies
wake up, there are thieves everywhere and supermarkets are ideal places to grab
handbags and cellphones. Do those handbags up and put them over your shoulder.
Do not take everything but the kitchen sink with you when you go to a
supermarket, THINK about it and leave precious documents etc at home. Remember
not to chat to anyone in carparks, pack your shopping away in the boot and get
out of there always checking to see who is following you home.
If you have a safe at home, get rid of it or at
least store whatever is in it in a bank safe deposit box or put it in a safe in
the office etc. House robbers are looking for "forex", weapons, jewellery, and
electrical goods, there were 12 house robberies in the B'Dale area last Weds
night. During the war we used to hide things somewhere else, can any of you
remember where??????? I'm not going to spell it out for obvious reasons, but
it's time to do that again.
Mary van Heerden - Anti Hijack Trust.