http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
03 March
2011
Germany has protested to the Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs Ministry this
week
after its ambassador, Albrecht Conze, was attacked by a suspected ZANU
PF
mob in Harare on Tuesday.
A mob attacked the ambassador’s official
vehicle while he was travelling
from the German Embassy on Tuesday night.
Conze and his driver escaped
unhurt.
“On its way from the Embassy to
the residence, at around 7.15 p.m. on 1st
March, the German ambassador's
official car, a Mercedes-Benz limousine, was
attacked and severely damaged
by unknown aggressors,” the embassy statement
said.
“The ambassador’s
driver had been forced to stop at the Churchill
Road/College Road junction
as another vehicle, coming out of College Road,
had the right of way. As the
vehicle stopped, the rear right window was
twice hit from outside with a
heavy (probably metallic) device. However, the
badly damaged window
resisted, and the aggressor - not visible from the
inside of the vehicle -
refrained from hitting a third time - something he
could have done to
finally smash the window. The driver then managed to
speed off from the
scene. Neither he nor the ambassador were injured,” the
statement
continued.
The German embassy said the incident was reported to Avondale
Police Station
and the ministry of Foreign Affairs. The police are
reportedly launching a
full investigation.
Commentators believe the
attack is linked to Conze’s recent comments about
empowerment in Zimbabwe,
which are said to have angered top ZANU PF
officials. The attack followed
the publication of Conze’s article: “Best
practices for Empowerment - a
German view.” He wrote that ZANU PF needs to
rethink its ‘empowerment’
policies, or risk further international isolation.
The ambassador said:
“The recent rattling of sabres against the ghost of
‘white supremacy’ does
carry the risk of isolating the country once again
from Africa’s dynamic
mainstream. The rhetoric used by certain ministers in
this respect are not
only ill-founded, irritating and unconstitutional, but
totally out of tune
with the rest of the continent, where race issues have
long been set aside,
with no more impact on policy decisions,” said the
ambassador.
In
response, ZANU PF’s George Charamba, writing as columnist Nathaniel
Manheru,
wrote in the state run Herald:
”Zimbabwe is no land for the archetypal
supple African of colonial lore. We
are a very proud, self-believing people,
and that he must be told in stark
language, that man. That is the language
Germans understand. They are not
well known for any aristocratic graces,
whether by deed or by tongue. You
talk to them on their rough terms, and
they understand you, respect you
even,” Manheru, aka Charamba, wrote.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
3 March 2011
Construction of the government’s secret
electronic eavesdropping complex
just outside Harare is moving at a ‘very
fast pace’ SW Radio Africa learned
on Thursday.
It’s believed the
complex will, amongst many other things, be used to
monitor internet use and
telephone calls in Zimbabwe. The ‘snooping’
project, according to a source,
is to become the government agency that
monitors communications around the
whole country.
Robert Mugabe officiated at the launch of the building
site in 2007.
He said then ‘the role of defending Zimbabwe cannot be left to
mediocre
officers incapable of comprehending and analytically evaluating the
operational environment to ensure that the sovereignty of our state is not
only preserved, but enhanced’.
It’s believed the current system used
by the CIO is able to monitor e-mails,
phone calls and internet use for only
a small number of high profile
opponents of Mugabe, like the entire
leadership of the two MDC formations.
An information analyst told us the
Chinese, who are constructing the
complex, are capable of equipping the
snooping project with a programme
called Mastering the Internet (MTI). This
program enables most security
agencies to ‘spy at will’ on emails, website
visits, social networking
sessions, and telephone calls made over the
internet on a massive scale.
Reports in the media said the complex, along
the Harare to Bindura highway,
is also an intelligence academy that will be
operated by the CIO and local
military intelligence.
SW Radio Africa
talked to multiple sources who confirmed the site is just a
kilometre away
from the Marlborough police station along the Mazowe road
before Christon
bank.
‘The actual construction began six months ago and is situated at
the old
University of Zimbabwe farm. The complex is huge and there are a lot
of
Chinese builders on the site. They first erected a massive durawall, that
anyone passing through the area will not see anything inside,’ a source
said.
An MDC councillor in one of the wards in Christon bank near the
complex said
there have been conflicting reports about the nature of work
that will be
done at the site when construction work is
completed.
‘We are told its going to be a military school, while others
say it’s going
to be a SADC intelligence academy. But whatever it is its
massive, looking
at the space used for the project,’ the councillor
said.
It has been described as the biggest spend on military
infrastructure in
Zimbabwe in decades.
While most governments have
‘spy agencies’ that are primarily used as
interceptors and decrypters of
communications, they are however subject to
rigorous scrutiny by their
lawmakers.
They operate within a legal framework where the interception
of information
is normally allowed only in cases of national security,
safeguarding
economic wellbeing and the prevention and detection of serious
crime.
But in Zimbabwe such operations are out of the radar of
parliamentarians and
normally target political opponents of the former
ruling ZANU PF party. With
the heads of the security and military services
answerable only to Mugabe,
this is unlikely to change.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
03
March, 2011
Job Sikhala, president of the MDC 99 party, was admitted to a
hospital in
Harare on Thursday, a day after being granted bail on
unspecified charges.
Sikhala was arrested last Friday by heavily armed
police and spent 5 days in
detention. The former MP for St Mary’s told SW
Radio Africa that he was
assaulted by intelligence agents while in police
custody and is not able to
walk unassisted. He said x-rays taken on Thursday
revealed that he had a
broken bone near the spine.
Sikhala explained
that although he was granted bail on Wednesday, he still
has no clear
understanding of the charges he is facing. He was initially
accused of
kidnapping but that was later changed to “organizing Egypt style
protests”.
The final charges related to “entering the Chiadzwa diamond
fields” in
Manicaland, a month ago.
“I don’t see how anyone can enter Chiadzwa under
the security that is there.
The charges kept changing and there were no
witnesses for the state with any
evidence,” explained Sikhala.
Speaking
just after being admitted to hospital, Sikhala described the prison
conditions as “pathetic” and said that he was not allowed to receive food
from outside. He claimed to have survived eating bits and pieces from other
people.
Regarding the assaults, Sikhala said he was “punched” and
“kicked” by a
group of central intelligence agents, while he was in
handcuffs. And on
another occasion he was driven in a maroon Mercedes to a
different location
where officers from the CID division assaulted him
further.
Sikhala said he got a “warned and cautioned statement” when he
was taken to
court Wednesday. The outspoken politician said he wanted the UN
Human Rights
Commission, currently meeting in Geneva, to hear of his painful
ordeal,
“courtesy of the Mugabe regime”.
The police and ZANU PF thugs
have been conducting a brutal campaign and
crackdown against political
activists and MDC officials and supporters,
which has been condemned by the
international community and civic groups in
Zimbabwe. At least 71 political
detainees are currently in custody.
Two weeks ago police in Nyanga North
arrested MDC MP Douglas Mwonzora and 23
villagers aligned to his party, on
charges relating to public violence.
Although all 24 were granted bail, the
Mugabe regime invoked controversial
legislation to suspend the bail order
and the group remain behind bars.
Also in detention is the secretary
general of the International Socialist
Organization, Munyaradzi Gwisai and
45 activists, who were arrested on the
19th February, for watching video
footage of protests in the Middle East and
North Africa.
Gwisai and
other alleged ringleaders have been tortured and denied medical
treatment,
including anti-retrovirals needed by some in the group. The
police have
defied a court order allowing them to see their own doctors.
Gwisai and
the 45 activists will remain in jail until next week as their
bail judgement
was delayed on Wedneday, after prosecutors said they needed
more time to
study treason laws that had been quoted by defense lawyers.
Some critics
have said the arrests are part of a wider campaign to destroy
the MDC ahead
of elections. Others have related the crackdown to the ongoing
protests that
have toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, saying ZANU PF is
paranoid and
attempting to block any similar unrest in Zimbabwe.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
03
March 2011
Police chief Augustine Chihuri finally showed up for a hearing
before the
Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Home Affairs and shocked
everyone by
launching into a super-charged tirade that blamed the MDC for
directing the
violence.
The police commissioner, a blue-eyed boy of
the regime, was initially
expected to appear before the committee on Monday
but postponed it to
Wednesday as he was meeting with Mugabe. On Wednesday he
requested a further
postponement so he could attend the launch of ZANU PF’s
so-called
anti-sanctions campaign.
On Thursday he finally showed up,
only to blame Deputy Prime Minister
Thokozani Khupe, co-Home Affairs
Minister Theresa Makone, Deputy Youth
Minister Tongai Matutu and MDC-T MPs
Douglas Mwonzora, Paul Madzore and
Rogers Tazviona, for leading the violence
seen around the country this year.
Wagging his finger Chihuri ranted;
“It’s wrong for you to call me before
your committee. You, the politicians
of MDC are causing all the trouble we
are having. The political party you
are leading is causing problems to the
public. The police are only reacting
to the crimes that you would have
committed and it is wrong for you to
accuse us of siding with one political
party.”
Mwonzora and Tazviona,
two of the MP’s named by Chihuri, remain locked up in
remand prison on
trumped-up public violence charges. Chihuri found it
convenient to finger
them as the perpetrators of the violence, even though
all the victims of the
violence have been MDC-T supporters and officials.
The chair of the
committee, Paul Madzore, had to intervene reminding Chihuri
that the MDC-T
were the victims.
A furious Theresa Makone told SW Radio Africa that if
Chihuri had indeed
said what was being reported then he was “not well and
needs medical
treatment.” She challenged the committee to summon the police
chief back to
another hearing, where she would also be present.
Some
of the violent chaos seen in Harare recently saw police officers loaded
in
vans escorting rampaging ZANU PF youths, who were targeting perceived
MDC-T
supporters. SW Radio Africa reported how some of the youths are
receiving 3
months military training at the Inkomo Army barracks outside
Harare before
being deployed to attack MDC-T supporters.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
03
March 2011
His ZANU PF party and spokesman might not publicly admit it,
but Robert
Mugabe’s health problems are mounting. Reports suggest the 87
year old flew
back to Asia on Thursday, a third time in 3 months, to seek
medical
treatment.
The official line is that Mugabe first went to
Singapore in January to have
an operation on an eye cataract. A follow up
trip in February was said to
have been a review of the same problem. But as
he goes back to the same
destination for treatment it seems he has a much
more serious problem than
is being admitted.
Desperate to dispel
speculation that he was no longer medically fit to run
the country Mugabe
tried to put on a show of good health at his 87th
birthday celebrations on
Saturday. He told those gathered that although his
body was ‘spent’ he still
had the political ideas of a young man.
The few viewers who still bother
to watch the stale ZBC TV news saw that his
body was indeed spent, as he
struggled to go up the stairs on a visit to the
Chiadzwa diamond fields. On
Wednesday during the so-called anti-sanctions
demonstration he spent most of
the time leaning on the podium. There would
be even fewer who thought his
rants about seizing companies would indicate
the political ideas of a young
man.
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba said his boss left for Singapore
Thursday
for another eye check-up following a cataract operation previously
done
there. "He is going for his final check-up. As you know, after a
cataract
operation, there is a period of two weeks to check up. He is using
a
commercial flight,” he said.
ZANU PF has not taken speculation over
Mugabe’s health lightly and has been
determined to dispel any suggestion his
health is affecting government
business. Responding to initial reports he
had gone to Malaysia for an
operation for prostate cancer, Mugabe in January
said these were ‘naked lies’.
But officials in government have confirmed
that Mugabe’s mounting health
problems have limited the number of times
cabinet has met to discuss
important national issues. It was reported in the
middle of February that
the executive arm of government had only met for
just two hours in two
months. It was also suggested the last full cabinet
meeting at that time had
been on the 14th December last year.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Writer
Thursday, 03 March 2011
18:46
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s rushed trip to Singapore on
Thursday for
treatment will blow thousands of dollars at a time when the
economy is on
its knees.
The money will cover Mugabe’s bills
while in Singapore and allowances for
him and his entourage which usually
accompanies the octogenarian leader on
his foreign trips. Insiders in the
banking sector told the Daily News that
“a few” millions to cater for
Mugabe’s trip had been withdrawn.
According to national budget figures,
Mugabe spends tens of millions of
United States dollars on his regular
visits outside the country every year
but finer details of his allowances
and spending culture are a closely
guarded secret. The latest trip comes two
weeks after Mugabe returned from
another medical review in
Singapore.
As revealed by Daily News on Wednesday, George Charamba
confirmed in the
international media that his boss had gone for “his final
check up.”
“He is going for his final check-up. As you know, after a
cataract
operation, there is a period of two weeks to check up. He is using
a
commercial flight,” Charamba told AFP.
Mugabe quietly slipped out
of the country and is expected back on Sunday.
While Charamba has
publicly said that Mugabe’s health problems are a result
of the cataract
operation, government insiders, local and international
media have insisted
that the veteran leader is suffering from prostate
cancer which is giving
him serious problems.
“It’s clear that the old man is in pain, and as you
have already observed,
he has been overworked. When he came back from
Singapore less than two weeks
ago, he attended lengthy meetings in
government, with Zanu PF officials and
his security people.
“After
that, he travelled to the Chiadzwa diamonds fields where he spent
time there
and was clearly struggling to climb up the stairs. He also had to
address
the anti-sanctions rally and before that he attended the football
match
between Dynamos and CAPS just after spending hours at his birthday
celebrations.
“It is clear that the old man is being overworked but
in Zanu PF they have
to do that because there is no other face of the party
except him. People
still want to use and manipulate the old man but he is
getting tired. Look
at the way he is now leaning by the podium when
speaking, look at how his
speeches are slowing down and look at his body
language,” observed one
senior government official.
Mugabe admitted
at his birthday celebrations that his body feels spent but
he still had a
young mind.
The Zimbabwean leader has of late been issuing contradictory
statements in
the media giving rise to speculation that his health problems
are
disorienting him.
In less than four months, Mugabe has
flip-flopped on elections — at times
claiming that he will unilaterally
declare elections, but after the
sanctions rally on Wednesday he changed his
stance and admitted that he has
no power to call for elections.
http://www.irinnews.org/
HARARE, 3 March 2011 (IRIN) - Thousands of Zimbabweans
attended a rally
organized by President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
on 3 March in
the capital, Harare, to mark the launch of an anti-sanctions
campaign.
The aim is to collect at least two million signatures on a
petition against
the sanctions, which Mugabe has blamed for the country's
dire economic
situation and prolonged food insecurity.
Targeted
sanctions imposed in 2001 and 2002 by the United States and the
European
Union (EU) banned travel and froze the bank accounts of individuals
and
companies linked to Mugabe and his party.
International financial
institutions, including the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank, have also restricted financial assistance to
Zimbabwe.
The
United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee has noted that "a
great
number of States and humanitarian organizations have expressed
concerns at
the possible adverse impact of sanctions on the most vulnerable
segments of
the population" and recommended that sanctions are "targeted at
specific
actors".
The EU has described the measures as targeting solely those
judged
responsible for violations of human rights and preventing the holding
of
free and fair elections. The sanctions were recently extended because of
a
lack of progress in democratic reforms despite a power-sharing agreement
between ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
which has been in effect since 2009.
Most commentators blame Mugabe's
controversial policies, including the
fast-track land reform programme, for
the steep economic decline over the
last 10 years and the hardship many
Zimbabweans have suffered, but some
argue that the sanctions have also
played a role.
Brian Tengwa, 44, from Harare, believes he was retrenched
from his job at a
car assembly company in 2005 as a result of the sanctions.
"We were told
that the company was failing to import necessary parts for the
assembling of
cars because it was linked to influential people in ZANU-PF,"
he told IRIN.
"Even though I had worked for the company for almost 15
years, the money
that I got was not enough to buy a plough to take to my
rural home."
Tengwa and his family now live in a backyard shack in
Mabvuku, a township
east of the city. He has lost hope of finding another
job "unless the
government does the right thing in order for the sanctions
to be removed"
and in the meantime struggles to make ends meet by tending
other people's
gardens.
"Many problems that Zimbabweans have suffered
and still experience are
direct and indirect offshoots of the sanctions,"
said Innocent Makwiramiti,
a Harare-based economist and former chief
executive officer of the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce
(ZNCC).
He noted that restrictions on the operations of some local
businesses and
the withholding of financial aid had contributed to the
collapse of
Zimbabwe's economy after 2001, which was followed by a collapse
in social
services and severe food insecurity.
Abertina Mutsago, a
vegetable vendor in a low-income suburb of Chitungwiza,
a satellite town
about 35km south of Harare, lost two children in a cholera
outbreak in 2008
linked to a lack of government funds to maintain sewage
systems and health
facilities.
"Mugabe and his colleagues in ZANU-PF should take all the
blame and stop
blaming others for the problems that we are having today,"
she told IRIN.
"The sanctions have caused untold suffering, but these
politicians should
see what they can do to have them removed [by meeting the
conditions]
without bothering us."
Mutsago said government militias
had forced her onto a bus that took her to
the rally on Wednesday, where she
was told to sign the anti-sanctions
petition.
Truckloads of militias
escorted by army and police trucks descended on
market stalls in the city
and forced vendors to stop doing business. Some
alleged they were beaten and
ordered onto buses that transported them to the
rally.
David
Chimhini, former president of the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust and a
member of parliament, worried that the anti-sanctions campaign would lead to
further politically motivated violence.
In recent weeks, there have
been increasing reports of political violence
following a call by Mugabe to
hold national elections in 2011.
On 19 February, 46 union leaders,
students and human rights activists were
arrested for attending a meeting to
discuss the uprisings in Egypt and
Tunisia. They have since been charged
with treason, which can carry a life
sentence or the death
penalty.
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations]
http://www.eubusiness.com/
03 March 2011, 16:10
CET
(LONDON) - Britain condemned as "irresponsible" Thursday a threat
by
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to boycott Western products and seize
companies from countries that have imposed sanctions against him.
At
a rally on Wednesday, Mugabe condemned the presence of more than 400
British
firms in Zimbabwe while London was involved in EU sanctions against
him and
his allies, and said: "We must take over."
"This action is
irresponsible," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
"It will damage
Zimbabwean livelihoods and deter much needed foreign
investment at a time
when the Zimbabwean economy is starting to recover from
the disastrous
effects of Mugabe's earlier economic policy."
He said Zimbabwe's finance
minister and "many others" in the government and
business community there
"share our concern about the effect such statements
will have in deterring
the investment needed to allow the country to
develop".
The spokesman
said Britain would "do what we can" to support British firms
that may be
forced to sign up to an anti-sanctions campaign as a way of
avoiding
nationalisations.
The US and EU sanctions include travel bans and asset
freezes on Mugabe and
members of his inner circle, who are accused of
seriously undermining
democracy, respect to human rights abuses and the rule
of law.
Mugabe has long had a tense relationship with former colonial
ruler Britain.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Thursday, 03 March
2011 16:52
HARARE – US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, has poured
cold water on
Zanu (PF)’s anti-sanctions petition, describing the move as a
desperate
“political messaging campaign” unlikely to be taken seriously by
both
Zimbabweans and outsiders.
In an open letter to the state-owned
Herald daily over full-page colour
anti-sanctions adverts placed by
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party
but which the paper passed off as
Government of Zimbabwe announcements, Ray
said the recently launched
petition was discredited because it does not
represent the aspirations of
all Zimbabweans, most
of whom desperately want to see political
change.
“Petitions are great things. On any given day, thousands of
petitions are
circulating in the US. But a petition becomes a wretched
thing when only
one section of the population is allowed the right to
express its views
publicly, while others seeking the right to assemble,
petition, and
demonstrate are arrested and tortured,” Ray noted.
Mugabe
last Wednesday launched a petition calling for the lifting of a raft
of
Western visa restrictions and asset freezes imposed on himself and more
than
100 senior Zanu (PF) officials. The party is seeking two million
signatures
and has threatened to seize foreign companies from countries that
have
imposed a travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe and his inner
circle.
Thousands of people, mainly brought from outside the capital and
Harare,
were forced to attend the campaign ceremony yesterday. Ray accused
The
Herald and the rest of the state media of misleading the nation by
claiming
that the anti-sanctions campaign was a government project.
“Zanu
(PF) is a political party, which does not speak for the Government of
this
great country. Additionally, Zanu (PF), which is part of the
Government, has
its own symbol that is quite distinct from the Zimbabwean
coat of arms,” the
ambassador. Mugabe’s partner in the coalition government,
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, boycotted the launch ceremony on
Wednesday, arguing that
it had been promoted as a Zanu (PF) event.
Zanu (PF) is hoping to use the
petition to lobby the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and the
African Union to push for the removal
of the targeted measures. Ray insisted
that the restrictive US measures are
aimed at less than 120 Zimbabwean
officials and are not hurting the rest of
the economy.
“They may not
travel to the US or do business with US companies because
Americans do not
want them to enjoy the fruits of their corruption on our
soil. This does
not hurt other Zimbabweans,” he said, adding “What hurts
the rest of the
country is the corruption, mismanagement, and lack of social
investment that
has brought development to a standstill.” Ray commended as
US President
Barak Obama extended by another year American sanctions against
Mugabe and
his cronies.
http://www.radiovop.com/
03/03/2011 09:06:00
Harare,
March 03, 2011 - The Affirmative Action Group (AAG), has targeted
five firms
including commercial banks which are foreign owned and are
operating in
Zimbabwe, showing their solidarity with 87-year-old President
Robert
Mugabe.
President Mugabe on Wednesday launched an anti-sanctions
campaign at a rally
in Harare on Wednesday. He has in the past threatened to
take over any
business enterprise that do not adhere to the country's
indigenisation
regulations forcing foreigners to cede their earnings to
local who are
supposed to have at least 51 percent ownership in the
firms.
At the fired-up rally organised by Zanu (PF) youths to sign a
petition
calling for the removal of sanctions, the AAG held huge posters
with the
names of the targeted companies written in black print.
The
list was titled "Hit List" which was written in red. Red normally stands
for
danger.
The companies that are supposed to be targeted include the South
African-based insurance firm, Old Mutual Limited (Old Mutual), BHP Biliton
(Private) Limited (BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (Rio), the mining giant,
commercial banks, Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited (Stanchart) which
is controlled from London in the United Kingdom, and Barclays Bank Zimbabwe
Limited (Barclays), also controlled from London.
Old Mutual Limited
has a market capitalisation of US$94 964 645.94 on the
Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange (ZSE). Its share price currently stands at US$1.63.
BHP Billiton
Limited is not listed on the ZSE, while Rio Zim has a market
capitalisation
of US$58 417 261.50 and a share price of US$2.02 on the
bourse right
now.
Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart) is not listed on the ZSE, but
the other
targeted bank, Barclays has a market capitalisation of US$175 435
284.34 and
a share price of US$7.50.
Stanchart is currently led by
Washington Matsaire while Barclays Bank is led
by George
Guvamatanda.
Chairperson of the Anti-Sanctions Campaign and Petition,
Vice President John
Nkomo, said all parties in the inclusive government had
agreed in the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) that sanctions should be
removed.
He said the campaign was a process and that there was "no
limited number of
signatures to be gathered".
The former ruling party
Zanu (PF)'s Information Department outlined 10
reasons why Zimbabweans
should sign the petition.
"Sanctions are an attack on our economy, our
jobs, our search for total
empowerment and they are an attack on our
business, on workers and on
consumers," they said in a
statement.
"Sanctions are an attack on our land and our land rights. They
aim to create
conditions for the reversal of land reforms."
However
in an exclusive interview, prominent economist, John Robertson,
said:
"Sanctions is just an excuse by Zanu (PF) for what they did to the
economy
which they have messed up."
"They (Zanu PF) are now using sanctions as an
excuse to try and shift blame
for what they have been doing since
Independence in 1980 when they took over
farms and put the economy in the
mess that it is in right now.
"I sincerely believe the sanctions issue is
just being used to try and shift
blame."
A journalist who refused to
be named said: "We had sanctions during the days
on Ian Smith and so there
is nothing really new about sanctions. In fact
sanctions made Rhodesia
stronger because we were able to do things on our
own."
During the
days of Rhodesia, under Prime Minister, Ian Smith, the country
had a very
vibrant economy which could export such items as tobacco, it even
had its
own motor vehicle, The Prefect.
Rhodesia actually exported more tobacco than
any other country excluding
Brazil and China during its days of glory.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Reagan Mashavave, Staff Writer
Thursday, 03 March
2011 19:04
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday said
Cabinet will
discuss the “sanctions” issue that has raised tensions in the
inclusive
government.
Tsvangirai said Cabinet has already tabled
the sanctions issue for
discussion.
The PM’s statement comes a day
after President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party stalwarts launched the
“anti-sanctions” campaign in Harare in a drive
aimed at forcing the EU and
the US to lift the targeted sanctions against
them.
“We have agreed
as Cabinet that we need a special session on this, because I
think it is
unhealthy for me when we have agreed that the issue of
sanctions is a
priority in the GPA....since we have agreed, we have to
tackle this as a
priority in the government work programme,” Tsvangirai
said.
“Let’s
have one position and one voice not two voices on that and let’s
avoid
apportioning blame, because the moment you do that, people will also
have
their reasons to be defensive and the more we move away from that, he
more
we can tackle this together as a government.”
Tsvangirai told ministers,
deputy ministers and senior government officials
who attended the 2011
government work programme that they must resist
“unwarranted policy
reversals and inconsistencies”.
He said the country must focus on
attracting Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI), which he says has not been
forthcoming due to “negative political
discourse and sentiment” mainly due
to the non implementation of the GPA.
The PM expressed concern on the
missing US$300 million diamond money that
has not been accounted
for.
He said: “I am therefore naturally disturbed by the on-going saga
regarding
the whereabouts of the proceeds from our Chiadzwa diamonds. Anyone
clean on
this matter should welcome an audit that unpacks the mystery as the
citizens
cannot continue to wait while their leaders are bickering over
process
issues.”
Tsvangirai said the 2011 government work programme
rests on “monitoring and
evaluation” frameworks in all ministries adding
that ministers will be
required to write quarterly reports to him for
evaluation.
Five key objectives for 2011 are promoting economic growth
and ensuring food
security, guarantee basic services, strengthen and ensure
the rule of law
and respect for property rights, advance and safeguard basic
freedoms
through legislative reform and constitutional process and
re-establish
international relations, Tsvangirai said.
http://www.kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=5030
Seems like Zimbabweans are starting to find their
courage.
A colleague who went along to the staged anti-sanctions petition
rally in
Harare yesterday said that he, alongs with hundreds of other
Zimbabweans,
walked out on Mugabe whilst he was mid-speech.
Here’s an
excerpt from an email received today:
Today, however gave a clear
indication of how people at present respond
to the demand to attend a rally,
but are not prepared to remain or listen to
the main speaker. Of note, many
police officers left the area before and
during the President’s speech and
one police officer was laughing with the
crowd as they left the demarcated
area (cordoned off with a single piece of
plastic cordon tape).
The
police and army are some of the largest employers in Zimbabwe. The
regime
better make sure they can settle their wage bill come the end of each
month.
This entry was posted on March 3rd, 2011 at 5:47 pm by Bev
Clark
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Lionel Saungweme
Wednesday, 02
March 2011 10:46
HARARE - Three MDC-T youths were remanded on bail until
March 10, for
allegedly possessing a cartoon of President Robert Mugabe and
Reserve Bank
Governor, Gideon Gono. Gift Mlalazi, Mpumulelo Donga and Kevin
Ncube have
been charged with contravening Section 33 (2)(a)(ii) of the
Criminal Law
Codification Act, Cap 9.23 “Causing Hatred, Contempt or
Ridicule of the
President.” The accused are represented by Lizwe Mlalazi of
the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
The state did not oppose
the defence’s bail application, which was granted
on three conditions. Bail
was set at $50 for each one of the accused.
Besides having to report to
Nkulumane Police Station every Friday between 6
am to 6pm, the youths were
ordered to reside at their respective addresses
until their case is
finalized.
At trial, the court will hear that on February 20 one of the
accused
allegedly picked up the cartoon on the street and showed it to his
friends.
While they were laughing at it, the accused were apprehended by
police and
led to the stocks. However, ZLHR lawyer, Lizwe Jamela, argues
that, “Picking
up the caricature on the tarred road does not constitute an
offence.”
http://www.radiovop.com
03/03/2011 08:43:00
HARARE, MARCH 3, 2011
- South Africa has warned that anyone calling for
fresh elections before a
new constitution in Zimbabwe will be violating the
Global Political
Agreement (GPA), in a thinly veiled rebuke of President
Robert
Mugabe.
Mugabe has been threatening to call for early elections with or
without a
new constitution saying his coalition partners are deliberately
stalling the
process to delay the process.
But South Africa’s deputy
minister of International Relations and
International Cooperation, Marius
Fransman indicated in a statement that
the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) did not expect elections
anytime soon in
Zimbabwe.
South African President Jacob Zuma was appointed by SADC to
mediate in the
Zimbabwe crisis and one of his key mandates is crafting a
road map for free
and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
“The South African
position and that of SADC is to ensure that the next
elections as envisaged
in the GPA are held under a new constitution that
would have been the
product of the constitution making process supported by
the Zimbabwean
electorate through a referendum,” Fransman said in a
statement to
journalists.
“In this regard, any calls for elections without the
finalisation of the
constitution making process are in breach of the GPA as
well as the
constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment no 19, which gives legitimacy
to the
inclusive government.”
The minister said Zuma’s facilitation
team, which was in the country last
week, was assisting the three parties in
the inclusive government to draft a
roadmap to elections.
He said the
roadmap should include the full implementation of the GPA, the
functioning
of the three important commissions namely the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
(ZEC), Zimbabwe Media Commission and the Human Rights Commission.
Mugabe
has in the past insisted that Zanu PF has met part of its bargain in
the
implementation of the GPA.
But Fransman indicated that South Africa still
considered the controversial
appointments of Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono and attorney general
Johannes Tomana to be outstanding
issues.
Fransman said MDC-T treasurer general Roy Bennett must also be
appointed
deputy agriculture minister.
He said ZEC chairman Simpson
Mtambanengwe had told Zuma’s facilitation team
that the commission had
started the process of cleaning the voters roll.
A referendum on the new
constitution would be held later this year, Fransman
said.
The South
African minister also noted that the political environment in
Zimbabwe
remained very polarised.
http://www.voanews.com/
He was at the
Harare Magistrates Court attending a hearing on treason
charges brought
against socialist Munyaradzi Gwisai when plain-clothes
police officers
served him with the summons
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington 02 March
2011
Fourteen of 21 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise arrested
Sunday and Monday
for allegedly meeting to “promote public violence” were
released Tuesday
evening without being charged
What many observers
are calling an ongoing crackdown by Zimbabwean
authorities loyal to
President Robert Mugabe, police issued a summons to
Lovemore Madhuku,
chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, to
appear in court on
March 16.
Madhuku is accused of holding an illegal rally in 2004. He was
at the Harare
Magistrates Court attending a hearing on treason charges
brought against
socialist Munyaradzi Gwisai when plain-clothes police
officers served him
with the summons.
Madhuku told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri that the government’s tactics will
not silence him or his
organization from speaking out against bad
governance.
The National
Constitutional Assembly has long demanded a "people-driven"
constitution for
Zimbabwe, but is campaigning for a "No" vote in the
referendum expected to
be held later this year once a draft revised
constitution has been produced.
The group says the revision process,
directed by a parliamentary committee,
is fatally flawed.
In Bulawayo, meanwhile, Bulawayo Central Member of
Parliament Dorcas Sibanda
of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and five others were detained on Tuesday by
police for over five
hours on allegations they supported protests
unsuccessfully called for on a
Facebook page.
Fourteen of 21 members
of Women of Zimbabwe Arise arrested Sunday and Monday
for allegedly meeting
to “promote public violence” were released Tuesday
evening without being
charged. The other seven were released Wednesday on
US$50 bail
each.
The seven were expected to appear in court on March 16, sources
said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by MDC Information & Publicity
Department
Thursday, 03 March 2011 07:14
Bulawayo is critically
running short of food shortages after Zanu PF
elements moving in trucks are
going around the city confiscating imported
food stuffs. The most looted
item is maize meal which has since run out of
stock as there is no local
maize meal product available in the city.
Supermarket owners who visited the
MDC Bulawayo provincial offices say the
Zanu PF supporters are looting any
food product especially mealie meal that
was not locally produced and
loading it into their trucks.
In Manicaland province, Mafuritse village,
in Buhera Central district, 34
families have been displaced while six MDC
members need urgent medical
attention after they were assaulted and
displaced by Zanu PF thugs. The Zanu
PF thugs have been going house to house
in search of MDC supporters and
attacking them. The Zanu PF youths are
allegedly following orders from Army
Colonel Mzilikazi and Buhera Central
losing parliamentary candidate in the
2008 election, Joseph
Chinotimba.
Lydia Nyambaya, the Ward 22 chairlady in Musikavanhu
district, Manicaland,
who was arrested on Monday on trumped – up charges of
undermining the
authority of the President, was today made to pay a fine of
US$20 at
Chipinge Police Station.
For more on these and other
stories, visit; www.realchangetimes.com. The MDC
Today - Issue 159
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Mxolisi
Ncube
Thursday, 03 March 2011 17:41
JOHANNESBURG – An international
human rights watchdog will this coming week
release a report on the state of
most victims of Zimbabwe’s political
violence, which has spanned the last
decade and is said to have returned in
some parts of the country.
Human
Rights Watch will on Tuesday morning launch a new report tilted,
“Perpetual
Fear: Impunity and Cycles of Violence in Zimbabwe”, which will be
presented
by Tiseke Kasambala, the organisation’s senior researcher and
advocate.
The international human rights watchdog, which, like several
other
pro-democracy institutions, has been very critical of Mugabe and his
heavy-handed rule in Zimbabwe, which has been punctuated by violence and
killings, said in a statement that nothing has changed in Zimbabwe since the
formation of the coalition government between Mugabe and the two MDC
formations.
“Two years since the formation of a power-sharing government,
which was
meant to end human rights violations and restore the rule of law,
politically motivated violence and the lack of accountability for abuses
remain serious problems in Zimbabwe,” read the HRW statement.
“Human
Rights Watch’s new report examines the impunity that prevails in
Zimbabwe by
providing illustrative cases of political killings, torture, and
abductions
by alleged government security forces and their allies.”
The report details
most abuses that took place during and after the botched
presidential
election run-off of 2008, which followed Mugabe’s and Zanu PF’s
defeat in
the March 29 polls by mainstream MDC leader – Morgan Tsvangirai
and his
party.
In a bid to punish the electorate and force them vote him in what was
supposed to be a subsequent run-off, Mugabe deployed soldiers, the police,
war veterans and youth militias in most rural areas, where they unleashed a
gory campaign of retribution, during which an estimated 500 civilians
perceived to be MDC supporters were killed, while thousands others were
displaced.
The unity government, according to HRW, has failed to give
closure to the
victims, while perpetrators continue to roam free and commit
more crimes
ahead of forthcoming elections, likely to be held later this or
early next
year.
“There has been little or no accountability for these
crimes. Cases of
political violence that have been filed by victims or their
relatives have
largely gone ignored by the police or have stalled in the
courts. The
prospect of new elections in the coming year raises the specter
of continued
abuses without any form of justice.”
Since assuming power in
1980, President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party
have unleashed an orgy
of violence to quash the opposition and voices of
dissent in the country, a
method that became widespread all over the country
since the formation of
the MDC in 1999.
Thousands of perceived MDC supporters have been killed
during the last
decade, while tens of thousands others have been displaced
both internally
and externally, as they flee the state-sponsored violence,
which has mostly
been unleashed on the electorate by state security agents
and paramilitary
groups.
Despite the formation of a national unity
government, which put in place the
Ministry of reconciliation, there has
been no compensation for victims of
political violence, some of which dates
back to the early 1980s, as the
culture of impunity continues.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition
Thursday, 03 March 2011 07:37
Following the unlawful arrests
of two members of Parliament and 61
pro-democracy activists and the attacks
against civilians by members of the
former ruling ZANU PF party in Harare
suburbs of Mbare and Budiriro with the
apparent acquiescence of the State,
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition contends
that the inclusive government of
Zimbabwe has re-introduced a State of
emergency which should be suspended
forthwith. The state of emergency is
further confirmed by heavy presence of
armed police on the streets.
The arrest and continued incarceration of Nyanga
North MP Douglas Mwonzora
and six villagers for allegedly inciting violence
and 14 Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA) activists, the continued incarceration
of former Highfields MP
Munyaradzi Gwisai, human rights activist, Hopewell
Gumbo and 45 others for
allegedly attempting to overthrow the Inclusive
Government as well as a
report that the Member of Parliament for Zhombe,
Roger Tazviona, is
languishing since Monday 21 February in a Kwekwe prison
for unspecified
reasons indicate that Zimbabwe is in a state of emergency
where civil and
political liberties of the opponents of ZANU PF are violated
with impunity.
When accused people are denied an opportunity to access to
their lawyers,
receive medical attention and appear before a court of law
within statutory
requirements then there is no plausible reason to suggest
that there is no
state of emergency in the country.
This spate of arrests
of pro-democracy forces and the deployment of armed
forces in Harare’s high
density suburbs over the weekend serves as a
reminder to The Coalition of
events that followed President Robert Mugabe’s
defeat in the first round of
the presidential elections in March 2008 and
the violent June 27 poll where
the country witnessed gross violations of
human rights that can only be
witnessed when the constitution is suspended.
Although there is no statutory
communication declaring a state of emergency
in Zimbabwe, events on the
ground as they relate to the general suspension
of citizens’ civil and
political liberties point to a situation where a de
facto state of emergency
exists in the country. The use of colonial style,
repressive laws such as
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the
Criminal Law and
Codification Act (particularly Section 121) points to a
government which has
suspended its citizens’ fundamental freedoms.
What is worrying to The
Coalition is that unlike in 2008, the two formations
of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) are now part of the same
oppressive system. They sit
idly while their supporters, legislators and
pro-democracy activists face
trumped up charges and remain in detention
without trial.
The arbitrary
arrests of pro-democracy activists and events on the ground
clearly show
that the Constitution of Zimbabwe has been suspended in order
to deal with
political dissent as ZANU PF prepares a violent electoral
political
onslaught against its opponents.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
03
March 2011
Protest action in support of 45 activists, detained in
Zimbabwe for watching
footage of the Egypt and Tunisia revolutions, has
spread as far as the
United States and Canada.
Pickets calling for
the release of the 45, including Munyaradzi Gwisai, got
underway in New York
and in Ottawa this week. The protest actions followed
similar solidarity
demonstrations in London, where demonstrators outside the
Zimbabwean Embassy
‘hanged’ Robert Mugabe on Tuesday. At the same time in
Cape Town, about 60
people gathered outside South Africa’s parliament,
calling on the government
there to take action in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, dozens of people in
Johannesburg on Wednesday marched to the
Gauteng Legislature, to protest
against the arrest of the 45 activists. The
demonstrators were made up of
various local civic society groups who oppose
Robert Mugabe’s
rule.
The protesters handed over a memorandum to provincial politicians,
urging
them to add their voices to calls for the release of the activists.
The
trade union activists who organised the demonstration said in a
statement
that “the Zimbabwean government has to be spoken to loudly about
its
frequent and constant return to repression and
intimidation.”
“Our government needs to get straight to the point and
criticise the naked
abuse of state power, and the human rights violations
taking place daily in
Zimbabwe by Mugabe,” the organisers said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by MDC Information
& Publicity Department
Thursday, 03 March 2011 16:00
In
Chitungwiza province, Munyaradzi Shoko, 27, the son to Chitungwiza South
MP,
Hon. Misheck Shoko was last night assaulted by six men some in army
uniform
in Unit G, Chitungwiza. A medical report, found Munyaradzi to be
suffering
from multiple head bruises, a “left eye haemorrhage, and swollen
forehead”.
The six who were driving a white pick up truck descended at
Hon. Shoko’s
house around midnight. They asked Munyaradzi who is a
university student
why he had not attended the Zanu PF restrictive measures
event held in
Harare yesterday. Munyaradzi received treatment at Chitungwiza
General
Hospital and made a report at Makoni Police Station. The police
confirmed
that there were soldiers based at the police station but it was
irregular
for them not to move in the suburb without a uniformed police
officer.
Meanwhile the MDC has dismissed, as false, the latest threats by
Zanu PF
indicating that the inclusive government plans to nationalize
foreign
businesses and hand them over to a minority section of Zimbabweans.
For the
record, it is not government policy to forcibly seize foreign owned
businesses under the guise of indigenization.
At a party marking his 87th
birthday, Robert Mugabe said the government
would target South African
backed platinum giant, Zimplats, and the Swiss
milk processor, Nestle, for
nationalization because, in his view, they were
looting the nation’s prime
resources. The MDC finds Mugabe’s statements
confused and contradictory.
Recently when he opened the “One Stop Shop” at
the Zimbabwe Investment
Authority, he appealed for increased foreign direct
investment. Today, he
has shifted his position calling for the wholesale
takeover of existing
business entities.
We in the MDC are for the creation of an enabling
environment for greater
investment, respect for private business
initiatives, encouraging
Zimbabweans to lawfully expand the economic cake,
rather than shrink it
further by plundering the few existing companies
struggling to take off
after years of politically induced economic
stagnation, hyperinflation,
economic mismanagement and endemic
corruption.
For more on these and other stories, visit; www.realchangetimes.com
Together,
united, winning, voting for real change!!
The MDC Today - Issue 160
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
3 March
2011
The race for the MDC-T provincial leadership is heating up in the UK
as
aspiring candidates jockey for positions at the external assembly’s
elections next week Saturday.
SW Radio Africa is reliably informed
the interim chairman of the UK,
Tonderai Samanyanga, will face stiff
competition in the assembly’s
leadership race. The elections are to be
overseen by national party
chairman, Lovemore Moyo in
Leeds.
Samanyanga’s challengers are Emily Madamombe, the former deputy
chief
representative to the UK, and Elliot Pfebve, the losing candidate in
the
last assembly elections won by Jonathan Chawora in February,
2008.
The new executive is expected to replace the interim team appointed
to run
the party in 2010, after the provincial executive led by Chawora was
suspended for financial irregularities. Previous executives have been
disbanded due to infighting.
The UK external assembly has been a
hotbed of factional fights that have
taken their toll, as evidenced by an
exodus of members and voters. Jeff
Sango the organising secretary told us on
Thursday that the interim
executive will meet this weekend to decide on the
nominations procedure.
The process of nominating potential leaders is
expected to open next week
Monday, in preparation for an elective
conference, where those vying for the
top posts have vowed to change the
image of the UK assembly.
Already there is a battle for the control of
the UK assembly, with at least
three groups emerging in the build-up to next
week’s elections. Contending
factions have in the last two weeks distributed
their respective lists of
leaders they want elected.
‘Vote Emily
Tsungai Madamombe for a stable, united, modernised party. Her
pledge is to
restore the good image of the party in the UK and promote the
MDC as
international political party brand,’ read one of the fliers
distributed
extensively on the internet.
The use of new media like Facebook and
twitter has been extensive in the UK.
‘Vote, Tonderai Samanyanga for the UK
chairman. My vision is to see a united
and progressive UK & Ireland
External Assembly that is accountable to its
membership, that has respect of
its structures and can contribute positively
to the building a party of
excellence,’ was one message from Facebook
Another message from twitter
read; ‘Vote Tau Chamboko for UK MDC Treasurer.
With Mhofu corruption is not
negotiable. Corruption is corrosive to members’
confidence of the leadership
and the party.’ Lobbying is taking place in all
parts of the UK as different
factions try to convince party members to vote
in their
candidates.
Pfebve, who is gunning for the chair, has made ‘forging
unity’ his top
priority to avoid the circumstances that had before led to
the disbanding of
at least three previous executives due to the
infighting.
Jaison Matewu, regarded as the king maker to the faction
supporting
Samanyanga, said their candidate if elected will work towards
building unity
in the UK and map out a clear and focused programme that will
see the MDC
romp to victory in the country’s next general
elections.
Chaita thinks the MDC is taking the political violence for
granted and he
wonders why they are not summoning SADC to demand a stop to
ZANU PF’s
brutality, or pull out of the GNU; and Nyathi says hundreds of
disabled &
visually impaired Zims who fled the country, roam the streets
of Joburg
begging for money and food as they get no help from the SA govt.
http://www.voanews.com/
The
Famine Early Warning Systems Network says basic foods are readily
available
the Zimbabwe consumer marketplace, but limited income remains a
constraint
on dietary requirements for many households
Patience Rusere | Washington
DC 02 March 2011
Basic foodstuffs are readily available in
Zimbabwe's consumer marketplace,
says a report by the US-based Famine Early
Warning Systems Network, but
limited resources especially for households in
the country's rural areas
continue to constrain access to
nutrition.
FewsNet said about 1,7 million Zimbabweans, the majority of
them in the
rural areas, are unable to obtain enough food despite decent
harvests and
general availability. But it said that number should decline to
about
600,000 as the maize harvest begins this month.
The
organization, supported by the US Agency for International Development,
identified a number of areas whose inhabitants face food insecurity,
including Beitbridge, Matabeleland South province, Mudzi, Mashonaland East
province, Mberengwa, Midlands province, and Bikita, Masvingo province,
among others.
Forbes Matonga, director of Christian Care, a leading
distributor of food
aid for international donors including the UN World Food
Program, told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that food production has
suffered as
farmers have turned to more lucrative tobacco.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha, Staff Writer
Thursday, 03 March
2011 18:21
HARARE - Incarcerated former MDC Member of Parliament for
Highfield,
Munyaradzi Gwisai has described the MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, as a
stooge of the West and a capitalist.
The
unsavoury remarks were made during the state’s outline given in court by
Edmore Nyadzamba on Tuesday.
Nyadzamba said Gwisai is alleged to
have told the 44 people charged
together with him for treason, not to
replace President Robert Mugabe with
prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai
because he was “a stooge of the west and a
capitalist”.
The trial,
in which Gwisai and the 44 others are being charged with
treason and
attempt to subvert a constitutional government, was postponed to
Monday next
week.
Gwisai, who was expelled from the MDC in 2002, told the court that
the
current government of Zimbabwe was an anomalous antithesis of
democracy.
He said the International Socialist Organisation(ISO) that he
leads in
Zimbabwe believes that socialism is better than capitalism and
wants a new
constitution that will allow free and fair elections where the
rulers will
have the mandate of the people.
“This is an anomaly, it
is not a government based on the will of the
people,” a defiant Gwisai
said.
Gwisai’s views on the MDC are in sync with those of London based
International relations professor Stephen Chan.
Chan believes that
Mugabe is still central to Zimbabwe because of the MDC ‘s
failure to exert
itself in government. He argues that Europe, which has
imposed targeted
sanctions on Zanu PF will have no option but to do business
with Zanu
PF.
“Suddenly, all of Europe needs Zimbabwe as a trading partner, as a
business
partner, as an investment partner, as a customer and as a purchaser
of
European goods and services. Europe, as a result, will start doing
business
with Zanu PF in 2011,” Chan said
Constitutional expert
Lovemore Madhuku also believes that the MDC is not
pulling in its full
weight and should do more to for the rights of the
people who voted for the
party.
“We cannot continue to blame Zanu PF. What are the other parties
in the
government doing? We should be hearing that these issues –treason
charges
and arrest of activists- are debated furiously in cabinet,” said
Madhuku.
MDC spokesperson and Minister of Information Technology Nelson
Chamisa told
Daily News that his party was the weaker partner in the unity
government.
“We are in government as a struggle; we are the easy target
in the inclusive
government and are caught in between fighting to be in
government and
fighting for human rights. Action is not for the MDC alone,”
Chamisa said.
Chamisa said his party, which won the majority votes in the
harmonised
elections of March 2008, was not threatened by other people’s
views no
matter how contrary they were.
“It has not been easy dealing
with Zanu PF. It has not been easy even for
ordinary people to deal with
Zanu PF,” Chamisa said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/03/2011 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
E mail this to a friend Printable Version
MINING
group RioZim expects to produce its first electricity from the
planned 2 400
MW Sengwa coal power plant by 2014, a senior official said on
Thursday.
The company also expects to seal a strategic partnership
deal for the
$3-billion plant in May.
"We should have the first 600
MW unit on site by 2014 with the last unit
completed by 2020. Zimbabwe is
desperate for power," MD Josphat Sachikonye
told Reuters.
Zimbabwe,
which relies heavily on its mining industry to prop up an economy
struggling
to overcome years of decline, is battling a chronic power
shortage which has
curbed output.
The national power utility, ZSEA, has resorted to
rationing supplies to both
domestic and commercial users with some major
companies such as Zimplats
opting to import directly from the region to
ensure production is not
undermined.
Domestic power generation
currently stands at around 1200MW against a
national demand of 2200 MW with
efforts to plug the gap with imports stymied
by the lack of
funds.
ZESA is said to owe regional suppliers up to US$140
million.
Rio Zim’s plant, which will exploit coal resources in the
country’s Gokwe
area, is one of a number of projects authorities expect to
help ease the
country power crisis.
Associated Press
(AP) – 56 minutes ago
CAIRO (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi is safe
for now, holed up in the Libyan capital
surrounded by his followers and
militiamen. Rebels hold a large swath of the
east and a string of towns
nearer the capital. But neither side seems
capable of dislodging the
other.
The fate of the oil-rich country may depend on how long Gadhafi
can maintain
the loyalty of troops, mercenaries and tribes that still
support him — and
on whether the West decides to take military action to end
the standoff.
Nonetheless, analysts caution, it could be months before
Libya is rid of its
leader of 41 years.
The prospect of a prolonged
conflict in the vast and mostly desert nation
could ruin Libya — breaking it
up along regional or tribal lines, destroying
its oil wealth and turn many
of its six million inhabitants into refugees
and asylum seekers in
neighboring countries or across the Mediterranean in
Europe.
Gadhafi
has given no sign to date he was willing to step down. Instead, he
has vowed
to fight on till the end.
"Gadhafi is boxed in. At best, he could hope to
be given asylum in Zimbabwe
or perhaps Chad," said Marina Ottaway, director
of the Middle East program
in the Washington-based think tank Carnegie
Endowment. "The main question is
how long he will have people willing to
defend him."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week
spoke of a Libya
embroiled in turmoil for a long time, saying the country
"could become a
peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil
war."
Foreign intervention could tip the balance. Already, there is talk
in the
West about enforcing a no-fly zone on Libya to protect rebel-held
areas from
airstrikes. The United States also has moved warships closer to
Libya's
Mediterranean coast. And some in the rebel-held areas say they would
welcome
airstrikes by western nations against pro-Gadhafi forces.
But
it could be sometime before the international community reaches a
consensus
on what to do about Libya militarily. Many analysts believe the
U.S. and
European nations — most likely to lead any military action — may
not have
the stomach for a new front given their longtime involvement in
Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Russia is likely to block the U.N. from giving its blessing to
a no-fly zone
or airstrikes. U.S. Defense Minister Robert Gates this week
noted that
carrying out strikes is not just a matter of protecting
protesters — you
have to take out Libyan air defenses first, a riskier and
more expansive
act.
But Gadhafi's threats to fight to the end could
prompt the West to intervene
sooner, said prominent defense analyst Anthony
Cordesman of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
"The problem is that whenever Gadhafi escalates, the West
will escalate
back," said Cordesman. "If he executes those threats, he will
force the West
to become more engaged."
The deadlock was illustrated
by this week's battle over the strategic oil
port of Brega, captured by the
opposition late last month 460 miles (740
kilometers) east of Tripoli. A
pro-Gadhafi force briefly succeeded in
retaking it in an attack Wednesday
morning, but rebel forces captured it
back within hours in a fierce battle
fought in part on a sandy beach.
Even when the pro-Gadhafi forces sought
this week to regain control of a
rebel-held city only 30 miles (50
kilometers) west of Tripoli, they failed,
driven back by residents armed
with weapons looted from local storehouses
and backed by army troops siding
with the uprising.
The rebels are mainly a ragtag force of volunteers,
some of whom have basic
military training, joined by mutinous army troops
whose own training and
discipline is poor.
One reason the conflict
could drag on is the Libyan armed forces
themselves — their low
professionalism, lack of manpower and tribal
rivalries among their ranks.
That means neither side has a powerful enough
force to overwhelm the
other.
Cordesman says the roughly 50,000-strong army is only about the
third of the
size needed to operate all the equipment available to it. "The
inventory is
massive."
Part of that inventory has now fallen into
rebel hands as the uprising swept
over security headquarters and bases in
the eastern half of the country.
Other equipment still in Gadhafi's hands
lies idle with not enough
fighters — or qualified fighters — to use
it.
Gadhafi deliberately weakened the army over the years, fearing that
it could
overthrow his rule in a coup — the same way he came to power in
1969.
Instead he spent lavishly on arming and training militias that are
fiercely
loyal to him. He also hired mercenaries from sub-Saharan African
nations.
Gadhafi's air force is in no better shape than the army. But it
has enough
capability to deter the rebel forces in the east from risking the
long march
to Tripoli along hundreds of miles of Mediterranean
coast.
On the other hand, if Gadhafi uses his air force against them,
that could
bring instant punishment from the West, crippling his air
capability with
airstrikes against his air bases.
In the end,
Gadhafi's fate is entirely in the hands of his defenders in
Tripoli —
hundreds of mercenaries and a brigade led by and named after one
of his
sons, Khamis, says North Africa expert Goerge Joffe.
"As long as they
remain loyal to him, he can survive," said Joffe, who
lectures at England's
Cambridge University.
Money doled out to the mercenaries could eventually
run out, given
international sanctions slapped on Libya, he said.
But
for the mercenaries, it may not only be about money.
"We foreigners don't
have much choice, we have to support Gadhafi. It is
because of him we are
here," said a mercenary from neighboring Mali, who has
the rank of a
sergeant in the Libyan army.
"If we could find a way of leaving the
country, we would," he told The
Associated Press by phone on condition of
anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"The only way Gadhafi is going to go is if
someone puts a bullet in his head
and I can't imagine that. The soldiers
close to him would never let it
happen."