http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Politics
MUSANA — War veterans
in Bindura have threatened unspecified action against
people who will not
vote for Zanu PF in the forthcoming elections.
BY TAWANDA
MARWIZI
Speaking on the sidelines of the Bob89 celebrations held at
Musana Business
Centre on Wednesday, Bindura war veterans chairman, Elijah
Dondo said those
who will not vote for Zanu PF would be “dealt”
with.
“If it means going back to war again, then we can, because we can’t
let the
country get re-colonised while we are watching,” he said.
Dondo
said war veterans would soon start “teaching” the youth how to
“defend”
their country.
“We are going to have another meeting at Masembure. We
want youths to attend
because we have to teach them how to safeguard our
country,” he said.
But chief Musana, born Nyarumwa Joel Batsirai, said
there was need to adopt
a zero tolerance to violence in the
district.
“We don’t want people to fight anymore because we want to live
peacefully in
order to enhance development,” said Chief Musana.
The event
almost turned chaotic after a youth leader reprimanded the Zanu PF
district
chairman for organising the event without his knowledge.
Mashonaland
Central governor, Martin Dinha failed to turn up for the event,
despite
continuous promises by organisers that he would arrive.
The Musana
Masembura Development Association donated four wheelchairs to
disabled
people from the different wards in the district.
“We just felt it proper
for us to donate these wheelchairs and about 40
bicycles to the village
heads in this area,” said Blazio Dengu, the
co-chairperson of Musana
Masembura Development Association.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Politics
ZANU PF youths
are moving door-to-door in some of Harare’s high-density
suburbs and
Chitungwiza, claiming they are carrying out a recruitment drive.
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
In suburbs such as Kambuzuma, Mbare, Tafara and
Kuwadzana, the youths are
going around homes, writing down people’s names,
house numbers and their
national identity numbers.
Residents whose
personal information is captured are then told to go and
collect Zanu PF
cards, either at the party’s local office or at houses being
used as meeting
venues by the youths.
Residents who spoke to The Standard last week said
Zanu PF’s door-to-door
recruitment drive was not only harassment and an
intimidatory tactic, but
also an infringement of people’s private
lives.
“The youths told me that those who fail to produce a Zanu PF party
card
during the coming elections will be in big trouble,” said one resident
of
Kambuzuma.
“I agreed to give them my details, not because I
support Zanu PF, but out of
fear.”
The strategy is almost the same in
Chitungwiza.
For example, in Ward 6 in Unit J, residents are being
ordered to register
their personal details at a house belonging to a Zanu PF
official (name
withheld), which functions as the “base”.
The
residents said they were also promised the party’s cards, that they will
use
as “passports” during this year’s elections.
“Apart from that, they
[youths] also promised us free maize, fertiliser and
other favours that Zanu
PF dishes out towards and during elections,” said
one resident of Unit J in
Chitungwiza.
“They said those who don’t register, the boys will deal with
them when the
time comes.”
In some parts of the country, the party
has resuscitated bases similar to
those used in 2008, where people who did
not support Zanu PF were assaulted,
raped, tortured or killed.
The
MDC-T claims that at least 200 of its supporters were killed by Zanu PF
supporters and state security agents, a charge the former ruling party has
denied.
While no one has been tortured at the resuscitated bases,
their mere
presence is enough to frighten people because it reminds them of
the
brutality of the past elections.
MDC-T Manicaland provincial
spokesperson, Pishai Muchauraya said Zanu PF was
using traditional leaders
and soldiers to take down people’s names, IDs and
addresses.
He said
the soldiers served to remind the people of the horrors of 2008.
“Either
Zanu PF wants to use that information to rig elections or it is just
to
instill fear ahead of the elections. We are telling them to comply but
they
know where they will put their X come election day,” said Muchauraya.
“Of
course, they are instilling fear into people’s hearts by reminding them
of
the 2008 violence, but people are now cleverer.”
‘Door-to-door campaigns
are peaceful’
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo said there was nothing
wrong with the
party’s door-to-door recruitment, as it was a peaceful
exercise.
“There is nothing for people to fear because it’s peaceful. if the
people
don’t agree with their views, they have the right to refuse,” he
said.
Gumbo said the party had been conducting door-to-door recruitment and
campaign programmes for a long time.
“It absurd for anyone to suggest
that the method is intimidating,” said
Gumbo.
“We know the MDCs do their
campaigns at night, but we let them do so because
it’s their right.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Local
THE government is wary that contaminated beef products from South
Africa
could have found their way into Zimbabwe, as the country is a net
importer
of processed foods from the neighbouring country.
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
It has since moved in to secure borders and entry points to
ensure that
contaminated meat products from South Africa are not imported
into the
country.
This was after donkey and water buffalo meat traces
were found in South
African beef products, raising concern that this meat
could have found its
way into the country.
Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare officials held a meeting last week with
the Shipping and
Freight Association of Zimbabwe (SFAZ), giving them strict
guidelines on the
importation of food products.
With the new regulations, food inspectors
will be sent to South Africa,
where they will inspect any meat products
before they can be imported into
Zimbabwe.
“We had a meeting with the
SFAZ and we told them that it was international
best practice that food
should be inspected before it is imported,” Freddy
Chinyavanhu, deputy
director at the Food Standards Advisory Board (FSAB)
said.
Chinyavanhu said before any meat could be imported into
Zimbabwe, importers
needed to produce a sanitary certificate, following a
pre-shipment exercise
that would have been conducted in the country of
origin.
To be certain of the ingredients of meat, inspectors must conduct
DNA tests,
a technology, however, which Zimbabwe does not
have.
“Unfortunately, we do not have DNA testing, that is why we resort
to
pre-shipments,” Chinyavanhu said, adding that importers would meet the
costs
of sending inspectors to South Africa.
The Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) said it was happy with the measures
taken by the government
to ensure that contaminated meat did not find its
way into
Zimbabwe.
“CCZ raised the issue with the FSAB. we wanted to ensure that
it did not
trickle down into the country and we wanted to protect consumers
in
Zimbabwe,” Rosemary Mpofu, from the consumer watchdog said.
She said,
so far, they had not come up with cases where contaminated meat
had been
imported into the country.
Mpofu said she hoped the pre-shipment exercise
would ensure that
contaminated meat will not make it into
Zimbabwe.
However, she said the greatest worry were smugglers who could
bring in
uninspected foodstuffs.
“We want to urge members of the
public not to buy food from unlicensed
retail outlets,” she
advised.
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) said it has also
developed
standards for the quality of food being sold in the
country.
Sebastian Zuze from SAZ said his body was working with FSAB on
standards,
while the board was the regulator.
Health minister, Henry
Madzorera referred questions to the FSAB, saying the
body ran its affairs
independently, despite it being under his ministry.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Local
BULAWAYO —
The son of Mines and Mining Development minister, Obert Mpofu,
has been
dragged to court for failure to pay land tax to the Lupane council
in
Matabeleland North.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
The Kusile Rural District
Council (RDC) handed over Jabulani Mpofu to its
lawyers last week to try and
recover US$500 that he owes the struggling
local authority.
Jabulani
runs Dete valley Lot 1 farm in Matabeleland North province.
Jabulani is among
other top Zanu-PF officials, including Bulawayo
Metropolitan governor, Cain
Mathema, that have not been paying land tax and
have since been dragged
before the courts.
According to documents from the Kusile RDC, Jabulani,
Zanu-PF officials,
chiefs and government bureaucrats owe the local authority
close to US$60
000.
The council has invoked Section 151 and 198,
Chapter 29:14 of the Rural
District Councils Act to sue the
debtors.
Matshobane Ncube of Phulu Ncube Legal Practitioners confirmed
that Lupane
council had engaged them to recover money from Jabulani and
other
defaulters.
“We have already issued summons to those that owe
the Lupane council,” Ncube
said.
The failure by Mpofu’s son and other
government officials to pay land tax
for their respective farms is crippling
council operations, Keyani Mpofu,
the Lupane council’s finance chairperson
said.
Mpofu said Lupane council was failing to develop the Matabeleland
North
capital because of such defaulters.
“The RDC l Act is clear
that all defaulters are supposed to be taken to
court,” he said.
“The
council survives on revenue it generates from land taxes and royalties.
If
these are not paid, council operations are choked and service delivery is
greatly affected.”
Mpofu said council resorted to legal action as
debtors were ignoring notices
calling on them to make payment plans or clear
the debts altogether.
Council documents show that some of the debtors
include Zanu PF bigwigs like
politburo member, Jacob Mudenda, Jonathan
Mathuthu (husband of Matabeleland
North governor Thokozile Mathuthu), Bubi
MP and party provincial secretary
for administration, Clifford Sibanda,
provincial administrator, Latiso
Dlamini, as well as Lupane district
administrator, Christopher Chuma.
Chiefs Mabhikwa and Dingani also owe
the local authority.
Most of them are beneficiaries of the land reform
programme.
Efforts to get a comment from Jabulani and other defaulters were
not
successful.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Local
MASVINGO —
More than 100 students who sat for their o’Level and a’level
exams last year
at Ark Munaka High School in Chivi were left disappointed
when they failed
to access their results after the school head allegedly
squandered their
exam fees.
BY TATENDA CHITAGU
The school head, Roy Gondongwe, is
at large and the police are keen to
interview him in connection with the
fraud case involving US$5 100.
The affected are eight A’level students
and 100 O’level candidates.
Masvingo Provincial Education director, Clara
Dube confirmed the
development.
She said she was in a “fix” on how to
resolve the dispute which has sucked
in irate parents, as Zimsec insists on
full payment.
“We will appeal to our permanent secretary to intervene, but
the problem is
that Zimsec wants full payment first before the students can
get the
results,” she said.
“We could have taken disciplinary action,
but the school head has since
disappeared. We are working with police who
are looking for him. At the
other end, the parents are angry, saying they
cannot pay again.”
Gondongwe allegedly paid half of the money to allow
the students to sit for
their exams, and squandered US$5 100. Zimsec wants
the remainder of the fees
to be paid before releasing the results, Dube
said.
parents told The Standard they had fully paid the exam fees, but
were
surprised that their children could not get their results.
“We were
actually surprised to hear our children saying their results had
been
withheld over outstanding payment,” said a spokesperson of the
parents.
“We teamed up and went to the school to confront the school
head, but he did
not give us a satisfactory response, insisting that each
student pays an
extra US$5. We then took up the matter to the police, but
they found him
gone when we returned to his place.”
Dube said the
ministry had no money to pay Zimsec, but insisted the students
should not
suffer as they were caught in the crossfire.
“We hope our permanent secretary
will engage Zimsec on the matter,” she
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Politics
The MDC-T
is pushing for an independent probe into the death of 12-year-old
Christpowers Maisiri in an inferno in Headlands recently.
The party
warned that Zimbabwe was headed for another bloody election unless
political
violence was effectively dealt with before the watershed polls.
MDC-T
spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora said it was surprising that the police
and
Zanu PF were already ruling out foul play, yet available evidence linked
known Zanu PF supporters and officials to the suspected arson.
“The
police are now being involved in a major embarrassing cover-up,” he
said.
“If Zanu PF and the police have nothing to hide, then let’s
have an
independent probe by international investigators from other
countries.”
Mwonzora said the attack on the Maisiri family bore the signature
of Zanu
PF.
He said the only explanation about what happened was that
there was foul
play pursuant to the threats to the Maisiri family.
He
said since 2000, the family had been attacked eight times by suspected
Zanu
PF supporters.
Mwonzora said, the commitment of President Robert Mugabe
and Zanu PF to
peace must be demonstrated by ordering an independent probe
which the MDC-T
was pushing for.
“Mugabe is talking romantically
about his commitment to peace but not
ordering police to arrest perpetrators
of violence,” he said.
“On our part as MDC, we are compiling a list of all
those involved in
violence, including cabinet ministers who are fanning
violence with a view
that they will be brought to justice.”
Mwonzora
said it was surprising that suspects in the murder of Christpowers
had not
been apprehended in the same manner the police acted when they
arrested the
29 Glen View activists facing charges of murdering a police
officer.
He
said unless the international community, particularly Sadc intervened
early,
Zimbabwe’s next elections would again be bloody just like the 2008
polls.
“If Zanu PF does not take these things seriously, then
Zimbabwe is headed
for disaster, where political party leaders indicate left
but turn right,”
said the MDC-T spokesperson.
“This is why we are
calling for Sadc intervention to deal with political
violence. Zanu PF is
desperate and has no answer to Morgan Tsvangirai’s
popularity and
credibility, hence they have resorted to violence and
confiscating harmless
radios from people.”
But Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner
Charity Charamba insisted
that there were no suspects yet in the death of
Christpowers. She said
preliminary investigations had shown that there was
no foul play.
The police spokesperson said forensic experts were now busy
analysing the
evidence they collected from the scene. “Police work with
evidence,” said
Charamba.
“Fire incidents are common. People must be
patient. If anyone committed a
crime, they will be arrested but so far there
is no suggestion of foul
play.”
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo
said his party no longer took MDC-T
complaints seriously.
“This is
propaganda meant to attract their sponsors,” he said.
“There is no political
violence in the country and police cannot arrest
people without evidence.
They pointed out that Didymus Mutasa (Zanu Pf
secretary for administration)
was to blame, yet he was in Harare.”
Gumbo said his party suspected that
MDC-T staged the attack on the Maisiri
family.
“The MDC-T has done
all sorts of crooked things in the past,” he said.
MDC secretary general,
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga blamed both the MDC-T
and Zanu PF for the
current political violence saying the two parties agreed
to go for elections
before the implementation of the agreed election
roadmap.
She said
the MDC-T fell into the trap of Zanu PF and agreed to go for
elections in
July without implementing the roadmap which guarantees a free
and fair
election.
Mushonga said unless the issues of the rule of law, a partisan
police and
security forces were addressed, violence would continue and
elections would
not be free and fair.
“We warned the MDC-T that they
were falling into a trap, but because of
arrogance, they did not listen,”
she said.
“Some think that as long as Mugabe is in power they will win,
forgetting
that we are dealing with people who know nothing but beating
others.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Politics
Mutare — Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa
has said he
has nothing to do with the death of Christpowers
Maisiri.
BY CLAYTON MASEKESA
Mutasa, who is the Member of
Parliament for Headlands, has been implicated
in the death of the
12-year-old boy.
But Mutasa yesterday dismissed the allegations as a smear
campaign.
The Zanu PF official said at the launch of the Manicaland
Business Action
Group that his hands were clean.
“The MDC-T is afraid
of me,” Mutasa said. “They know that they will never
win in my constituency.
So they are working so hard to tarnish my image so
that I can lose
credibility. I never killed anyone, neither did I play a
part in killing
Christpowers.”
He said the MDC-T was aware that Zanu PF was on course to
regain all the
lost seats in the province, describing the allegations
against him as “last
kicks of a dying horse.”
“We now know that the
ground is fertile and Zanu PF is capable of winning
all the seats in
Manicaland. We only need to put our house in order and
start working hard to
win back the minds and hearts of those that had been
arm-twisted by agents
of imperialism like the MDC-T,” said the legislator.
Mutasa said he
preferred to work with the MDC formation led by Professor
Welshman Ncube
instead of the MDC-T.
“I have never chased anyone from campaigning in my
constituency. I would
rather work with the MDC-N because its leaders are
level headed, but I
cannot work with the MDC-T sellouts,” said
Mutasa.
Christpowers was the son of Shepherd Maisiri, an aspiring Member
of
Parliament for Headlands and MDC-T deputy organising secretary for the
district. Mutasa initially claimed Maisiri was a Zanu PF supporter.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Politics
President Robert Mugabe yesterday accused the MDC-T of claiming
all dead
bodies to gain cheap political mileage ahead of elections due later
this
year.
By Our Staff
Addressing thousands of Zanu PF
supporters in Bindura at his belated 89th
birthday party, Mugabe claimed the
MDC-T was running scared and had resorted
to lying to the international
community on the upsurge of violence in the
country.
“They have a
problem that they blame anyone who dies on Zanu PF,” Mugabe
said.
“This is a disease not in Zanu PF.”
Mugabe was speaking
on recent allegations that Zanu PF members had been
responsible for the
death of Christpowers Maisiri in a suspected arson
attack in Headlands last
week.
MDC-T says this illustrated that there was an upsurge in violence,
but Zanu
PF says the police are yet to complete their investigations and any
accusations are premature.
Mugabe said in light of these accusations,
Zanu PF was now being seen as a
witch, which was responsible for all the
deaths in Zimbabwe.
“Whereever there’s a funeral, even if the person has
been gored by a bull,
they say it is Zanu PF. Even if someone falls from a
vehicle, they say it is
Zanu PF,” Mugabe said, drawing laughter from the
packed stadium.
The president accused the MDC of writing to Britain and
America,
exaggerating the claims of violence and claiming that Zanu PF had
“finished
people” in Zimbabwe.
‘US ambassador biased’
Mugabe
had no kind words for US envoy, Bruce Wharton, whom he accused of
taking
sides with the MDC-T and ignoring facts about the reported attack on
the
Maisiri family.
“I heard the ambassador commenting on the Headlands
incident even before
investigations had commenced and the preliminary report
had ruled out foul
play. he comments were in line with the MDC,” he
said.
“If he wants to support the MDC on the basis of dishonesty, let him
tell us
that is what they want to do.”
Mugabe said the US thrived on
dishonesty and this led them to invade Iraq on
the basis of non-existent
weapons of mass destruction.
He said the cornerstone for the toppling of
Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi
had also been false.
Mugabe
reiterated his call for peace, saying Zanu PF was capable of winning
a
peaceful election.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Local
Police in Matabeleland South have refused to disclose the details
of a fraud
case involving the Plumtree High School officials and the
National
Employment Council (NEC) for Welfare and Education.
By SILAS
NKALA
they said they were still investigating to establish the accused
persons
after they received a report that fake receipts were discovered by
NEC
purporting that the school remitted thousands of dollars for the School
Development Committee (SDC) employees to the NEC as
subscriptions.
The receipts were allegedly bearing forged signatures of
the NEC employees
as recipients of the funds.
Reports indicate that
the school had not been remitting the workers
subscriptions due to the NEC
for the past 16 months.
Matabeleland South police acting spokesperson
sergeant, Nkosilathi Sibanda
said following a report made over the issue to
police in Plumtree, the SDC
treasurer Silethukuhle Ndlovu was summoned to
the station for questioning,
but police have not yet made any arrests as
they were still probing the
case.
“Ndlovu was just questioned and at
the moment we cannot disclose the details
of the matter as we are yet to
identify the accused persons,” said Sibanda.
“There are some issues we
want to verify with both NEC and SDC officials and
disclosing more details
of the case would jeopardise investigations.”
The amount of money
involved in the alleged fraud case has not been
established, as Sibanda said
that was part of police investigations.
On Monday, Plumtree High SDC acting
chairman, Fletcher Velempini said he was
aware of the
allegations.
“There were such allegations yes,” said Velempini. “But I
think it’s an
in-house thing at the NEC. Ndlovu was questioned by the police
after a fake
receipt with NEC signatures was discovered, but no one was
detained.”
Sibanda said Plumtree police CID was handling the case and a
breakthrough
would be made soon.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Community
News
CHIPINGE — The invasion of the Save Valley Conservancy by some war
veterans
and Zanu PF officials has led to the scaling down of the electrical
fence
bordering the conservancy, forcing wild animals to escape.
BY
CLAYTON MASEKESA
The stray animals are destroying crops and livestock
belonging to villagers
in the area.
According to the local MPs
representing the affected areas, villagers are
losing their livestock and
crops.
Chipinge West MP Sibonile Nyamudeza and Musikavanhu MP Prosper
Mutseyami,
both from the MDC-T, said stray lions, elephants and buffaloes
were wreaking
havoc in Masimbe, Musikavanhu, Gumira, Mutema, Devure and
Nyonga areas.
Mutseyami said the animals were coming from as far as
Chiredzi around the
Save Valley Conservancy to hunt for food.
He
urged the authorities to act immediately to avert disaster.
“The madness
started when some overzealous Zanu PF members invaded the game
park. They
scaled down the fence and now there is no barrier to stop lions,
elephants
and buffaloes from destroying people’s property,” said Mutseyami.
“The
situation is so bad that people are losing their livelihoods. Those who
invaded the enormous park have no knowledge of its maintenance, let alone
the upkeep of the animals,” he said.
“At the moment, there is fear in
Chipinge and villagers are not moving
around freely, as they fear attacks.
The responsible authorities should act
now,” said Mutseyami.
Arda
board chairman Basil Nyabadza, whose organisation is responsible for
the
conservancy, admitted that the stray animals had become a menace.
“We are
aware of the situation. Those crops which were destroyed last year
would be
compensated,” he said.
He added that the fence was not scaled down by the
Zanu PF members, but by
some other people. “I would like therefore to appeal
to the public to be
responsible and stop vandalising the fence. Those who
are found on the wrong
side of the law will be prosecuted,” warned
Nyabadza.
But Nyamudeza said the authorities were not doing enough to
correct the
situation.
“We have received promises about the so-called
compensation but up to now,
villagers continue to lose their livestock and
crops. It will be difficult
to recover lost property. It’s high time the
cabinet intervenes,” said
Nyamudeza.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Community News
PENHALONGA —
Scores of vulnerable children from Mutasa South constituency
are set to
benefit after a diamond and gold mining company adopted a local
orphanage,
which has been struggling due to limited resources.
BY CLAYTON
MASEKESA
DTZ-OZGEO (Pvt) limited, a diamond mining concern, recently
adopted the
Robert Mugabe Orphanage at St Augustine’s Mission School in
Penhalonga.
The company has already embarked on massive construction of
houses to
accommodate the vulnerable children, including those that are
orphaned.
The project is expected to cost in excess of US$800
000.
Already, three buildings are at roofing level and are expected to be
completed by end of this year.
Each building will comprise three
bedrooms, main en-suite, lounge, dining,
kitchen, separate toilets and
bathrooms. The company has also pledged to
provide all the furniture and
fittings required to make them
state-of-the-art houses.
The company’s
public relations manager, Clara Ngwenya last week said the
company was
touched by the plight of children at the home and decided to
adopt
it.
“We want to transform the fortunes of Robert Mugabe Orphanage to a
home with
modern facilities,” said Ngwenya. “Children are every nation’s
future
leaders and it is our aim as a company to ensure that the less
privileged
ones also lead comfortable lives.”
She said the mining
concern would continue rolling out programmes beneficial
to the local
communities.
“As a company, we have cordial relations with stakeholders
in areas where we
operate. This is part of our corporate social
responsibility programmes.”
Since 2011, DTZ-OZEGEO has been supplying the
orphanage with groceries and
US$500 cash on a monthly basis.
“We were
touched by the dilapidated state of the children’s halls of
residence and we
said we should make a difference in their lives by building
modern homes for
them,” she said.
Ngwenya assured that the home would be equipped with the
latest gadgets and
furniture in order for the children to experience the
comforts of the modern
world.
“Orphans are in their predicament not
by choice and we have found it
important and as a basic component of life
for them to enjoy life like our
own children do,” she said.
Apart
from the Robert Mugabe Orphanage project, DZT-OZGEO has provided
assistance
to the various organisations in Mutasa South as part of its
social
responsibility programme.
“We give monthly allocations of food to St
Augustine’s Orphanages. We have
purchased bed mattresses for the Star Fish
pre-school,” said Ngwenya.
The company also purchased water pipes and
installed them in Tsvingwe
Township in Penhalonga.
“We have helped
the Tsvingwe community by building a new water network in
the suburb, to
ensure that the community has a reliable supply of clean
water,” said
Ngwenya. “We have assisted the Mutasa Rural District Council
with the
opening of new roads in the Penhalonga area that we regularly
maintain.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Community News
BUSINESS is
yet to improve for scores of vendors and traders who have
flocked to Boka
Tobacco floors hoping to capitalise on the tobacco-selling
season.
By
Tawanda Marwizi
Contrary to the past seasons when business was brisk from
the onset, there
was little activity, attributed to low tobacco prices that
have forced
farmers to adopt a wait and see attitude.
Anticipating
big business, traders had ordered many scotch carts, ploughs
and other
farming inputs.
Vendors who occupy market stalls had stocked clothes,
cellphones, radio sets
and other gadgets they thought would appeal to the
farmers.
But low prices at the auction floors averaging US$3,58/kg meant
less farmers
were willing to sell their tobacco crop.
However,
traders on Friday were optimistic that the prices would improve and
more
farmers would come to the auction floors, making their business brisk.
A
recent survey by Standardcommunity at Siyaso, showed that the
manufacturing
of farming implements had grown rapidly, with tobacco farmers
in
mind.
“We have been in the business of making these scotch carts for
years, but we
have been increasing their numbers because of their demand
from tobacco
farmers who come to sell their produce at Boka,” Phillip
Mapavenyika said.
Even airtime vendors who used to ply their trade in the
city had relocated
to the auction floors, expecting better sales.
Some of
the famers who hoped for better prices could be seen milling around
the
complex.
farmers however, criticised vendors who sold food at exorbitant
prices and
some other basic commodities that could be bought cheaply in
town.
“Just imagine how one can buy sadza for US$1,50. This is too much
for some
of us who have been here since the auction floors opened last
week,” said a
Mutoko farmer, Jackson Murova.
It has become the norm
that prices of goods sold to farmers at the auction
floors are inflated, as
businesspeople seek to capitalise on the influx of
tobacco
farmers.
Another farmer said he was finding it difficult to make ends
meet.
“I have no relative in Harare. I have been pumping out money since I
came
here two weeks ago and I am now bankrupt. I sleep in night clubs,
waiting to
sell my tobacco,” said another farmer, Tafadzwa Muganga, from
Banket.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Community
News
HER eyes well up when she starts narrating how floods that hit the
Beitbridge district recently left her almost a pauper.
BY Our
Staff
Jennifer Hlongwane had cattle, goats and her crops were doing well
when
floods swept away almost everything.
“I had cattle, five beasts
in total and they all drowned,” said the
59-year-old Hlongwane “My maize
crop at the irrigation scheme had started
maturing but almost all of it was
washed away.”
For three days in January, Hlongwane and several others
from her clan were
stranded at Tshikwalakwala’s Mapowu village before they
were airlifted to
safer ground by the Civil Protection Unit.
Seven
families from the Hlongwane clan live in the flood-prone Mapowu
village, but
they have been reluctant to move to safer ground because of
their cultural
ties to the area.
It is also difficult and costly to build houses anew,
they said.
“We were born in the area and so have strong cultural ties with
it,”
Hlongwane said. “Our fathers who were also born in the area died and
were
buried here. We have experienced floods almost every five years but
they
were never as bad as this year’s.”
Another member of the clan,
Bernard Hlongwane, said the villagers were happy
to receive rain for four
continuous days in January following a long dry
spell.
Most of them,
he said, celebrated as they had already done dry planting.
But they
started getting worried when the rains became heavier with levels
rising
steeply.
“We had been warned about five days before the rain became
stronger, that
floods would soon hit our area but we thought it was the
usual thing,”
Bernard said. “Even when it finally flooded, we felt we were
safe because
although we were surrounded by water and could not come down to
the shops
and our children could not go to school, the water did not get to
our former
homesteads which are on the mountain.”
However, Bernard
lost nine donkeys which he used as draught power.
Since the evacuation at
the end of January, the Hlongwane families and five
other families from Bala
village have been living in tents at Tshikwalakwala
clinic.
A total
of 65 people were evacuated from Bala and Mapowu villages following
the
floods.
“We do not enjoy living here but there is nothing we can do since
we were
promised safer homes,” said Esnath Sithole, one of the affected
villagers.
“We are happy that the building material we were promised arrived
yesterday.”
Beitbridge district administrator Simon Muleya said 160
homesteads were
completely destroyed by the floods.
He said the
floods had increased food insecurity levels in the district.
The World
Food Programme (WFP) is currently providing food and other
material
assistance to the victims.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Community News
BEITBRIDGE —
Hunger-stricken villagers here have appealed for continued food
aid this
year, amid indications that a joint government and World Food
Programme
(WFP) food distribution scheme currently operational in the
district might
be stopped this month.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
The food aid programme is
set to be stopped at the end of this month when
people start harvesting from
their fields.
But villagers who spoke to Standardcommunity last week said
they had not had
any good harvest for the past three years and would starve
if the aid was
stopped.
Tatulani Muleya (62) from the Mtetengwe area
was at a loss as to how she
would survive with her four children if the aid
was withdrawn.
“I sell brooms for R5 each and reed baskets for between
R10 to R20 and the
money I get is not enough to save us from hunger,” said
Muleya. “In the past
two years, we would sell goats once in a while but they
were all swept away
by floods. We have nothing in the fields and no one in
the family is
working. We need help.”
Eshar Ndlovu (44) from the
Malala area said her family only ate one full
meal a day in order for the
food rations to last.
“I am a widow and none of my children are working,”
said the mother of five.
“‘I have nothing in my garden and the crops in my
fields are wilting because
of poor rains. We ask for help from across the
world.”
At least 41 504 people in Beitbridge district have been receiving
food
rations from Care International with help from WFP since November last
year.
The aid, including maize provided by government through the Grain
Marketing
Board, has covered the gap in the drought-prone district.
Each
household receives a 50kg bag of maize, while each family member is
entitled
to 1,8kg of peas and 650ml of cooking oil per month under the
scheme, known
as the targeted food assistance programme.
WFP and Care last week
distributed food rations to 989 beneficiaries in
Beitbridge’s Mtetengwe area
in Ward 6.
WFP’s public information officer, Victoria Cavanagh said over
1,4 million
people countrywide were currently benefiting under the
programme.
“The number is the highest in three years, meaning this year’s
food
insecurity is the worst in the last three years,” Cavanagh said. “WFP
is
about to undertake the next round of food assessment monitoring which
will
determine if more food assistance is required.”
She added that
250 000 of the 1,4 million food insecure Zimbabweans were
receiving cash
transfers which they used to purchase foodstuffs under a
government-WFP
joint relief programme.
All beneficiaries in Beitbridge are however
receiving foodstuffs because of
logistical challenges, including the high
cost of food in the district.
The villagers said withdrawal of the aid
would be a big blow to them as they
had not received any good yields in
three consecutive seasons.
This year a prolonged dry spell forced the
villagers to delay planting and
this was worsened when floods washed away
the crops, exposing most of them
to hunger.
Malala village head,
Manda Jaka said it was high time donors moved away from
giving people
temporary relief through food handouts and seek alternatives
to crop
farming.
“May somebody please help villagers here to drill boreholes at
their
homesteads so they can pursue other means of farming,” Jaka
said.
“While it has been proven beyond doubt that this area can hardly
benefit
much from the rains, we have a lot of groundwater here which we
could use to
mitigate hunger in our district through nutritional gardens
which we could
run all year round.”
Jaka has a garden, which is like
an oasis in the desert, which boasts of
green vegetables when other
villagers’ vegetables are wilting.
He also has fish ponds from which he said
he “grows relish” for his family.
Jaka also grows sorghum on one part of
the garden. In the previous season
that portion had beans and
wheat.
Beitbridge district administrator, Simon Muleya however, said
nutritional
gardens were not the solution to the region’s problems.
He
said bigger irrigation schemes were more suitable for the
district.
Muleya said feasibility studies to start more schemes and
expand existing
ones had been done, but the process had been held back by
lack of funds.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Business
A United
Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) official last week held
discussions with the government on the Tourism Assistance programme for
Zimbabwe.
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
Government and the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA) are presently working
towards promoting the
country’s tourism brand name, “A World of Wonders”,
after the product
suffered setbacks brought about by negative international
perceptions on
Zimbabwe.
UNWTO director of technical cooperation, Harsh Varma held an
initial closed
door meeting with the permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Tourism and
Hospitality Industry, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe, followed by
consultations with other stakeholders.
Varma arrived on Tuesday and
left on Thursday.
The Standard understands a decision was made to first
take up the complete
spatial planning for two Tourism Development Zones at
Kariba and Masvingo,
as financial resources were still being mobilised for
the Tourism Master
Plan.
The plan envisages an increase in Zimbabwe’s
tourist arrivals from 2,2
million to five million in two years’
time.
It is understood that these two projects could be developed as
quick-win
projects for showcasing before the UNWTO General Assembly
scheduled for
August this year.
Several aspects related to the
spatial planning process for the two projects
include overall physical
planning of the two tourism zones, specifying the
tourism resources,
detailed area demarcation, a comprehensive inventory of
tourism resources,
their qualitative assessment and a detailed marketing
strategy bringing out
the unique features of each zone.
Varma and ministry officials
deliberated on ideas for product development
and product diversification
based on qualitative assessment of tourism
resources, as well as a framework
for organising an Investors Forum for
attracting domestic and overseas
investments in tourism-related projects.
Planning process targets rural
tourism
Central to the spatial planning process was the development of
community-based and rural tourism in both the zones.
This would
include identification of communities, development of a programme
of
homesteads, involvement of women and youth, promotion of arts and craft,
local cuisine, festivals and other activities.
It was agreed that the
formulation of a five-year implementation action plan
for the key
performance areas, actions and outcomes was imperative.
The cost, time
frames and responsibilities for executing the action plan
would also be
clearly specified.
It was noted that the endeavour would be to initiate
implementation of the
project by the end of March and complete it by
mid-July this year.
It was also agreed that consultants at national level
with expertise in the
field of tourism would be utilised while also
deploying international
consultants in some disciplines so as to give
project outcomes an
international flavour, based on the best practices and
success stories from
other destinations.
A budget of US$210 000 was
drawn up for international consultants, while
other charges and expenses
brought the grand total to US$301 400.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Business
TREASURY and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) have agreed on a
draft bill
that will enable government to take over the central bank’s
US$1,1 billion
debt.
BY OUR STAFF
The takeover of the debt is
the last leg of reforms at RBZ that began in
2009, when the central bank was
ordered to stop engaging in quasi-fiscal
activities blamed for quickening
Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation.
Hyperinflation was halted by the use of
multi-currencies four years ago.
Finance minister Tendai Biti told
Standardbusiness last week that he would
soon take the draft Debt Assumption
Bill to Cabinet.
“The bill creates a Special Purpose Vehicle, where the RBZ
debt will be
housed,” Biti said.
RBZ owes US$80,2 million in central
bank lines of credit, has a non-resident
sovereign debt of US$452,6 million,
non-resident institutional debt (US$110
million) and domestic debt
(bank/deposits) of US$439 million.
The central bank contends that it is
also owed US$1,5 billion by government,
when it engaged in quasi-fiscal
activities to finance critical needs such as
funding elections, sustaining
parastatals and financing the farm
mechanisation exercise, among
others.
The assumption of the RBZ debt is a recommendation of the
International
Monetary Fund (IMF), which argued that the bank’s balance
sheet needed to be
freed of the debt.
In an Article IV consultation
report last year, IMF said the debt was
constraining the central bank’s
ability to undertake liquidity provision and
distracts it from focusing on
its core functions.
“Proposed modifications to the RBZ debt relief bill will
focus on
transferring the liabilities from RBZ’s balance sheet to a fund
managed by
the finance ministry,” IMF said.
“While this is a less
balanced approach than the comprehensive balance sheet
bifurcation
[splitting] recommended by Fund TA (Technical Assistance)
missions, it
remains consistent with the objective of restructuring the RBZ
balance
sheet.”
The central bank has also proposed to dispose of its non-core
assets to help
clear some of its debts. However, the process has moved at a
snail’s pace,
two years after the RBZ invited bids for the noncore
assets.
In 2010, government had to invoke the Presidential Powers
(Temporary
Measures) Act, to protect the RBZ’s assets from being attached by
various
creditors after obtaining writs of executions.
The creditors
included those that supplied implements for the farm
mechanisation
programme.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Business
A
high-powered technical committee has been appointed to finalise the
takeover
of Ziscosteel by Indian firm, Essar Holdings.
BY OUR STAFF
The
committee, chaired by chief secretary in the Office of the President,
Misheck Sibanda, constitutes permanent secretaries of Mines and Industry,
Zisco board members and senior executives from Essar.
Its mandate is
to oversee the successful conclusion of the transaction that
had taken
longer than expected, a time lag attributed to bureaucracy in
government.
Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube told
Standardbusiness last
week that the technical committee was “working on
modalities and
implementation of the agreement”.
Since announcing the
US$750 million investment in the troubled steelmaker in
2009, Essar has
failed to conclude the transaction, due to mixed signals
from government and
legal impediments.
The transaction had been held back by government’s
delay in transferring
iron ore claims to New Zim Minerals (NZM).
The
claims are at Bimco, Ripple Creek and Mwanezi.
The iron ore would be used
as raw materials at New Zim Steel (NZS).
Government ministries — Industry
and Commerce and Mines and Mining
Development — have not been singing from
the same hymn sheet.
Last year, Essar had to seek assurance from Ncube
after Mines deputy
minister Gift Chimanikire was quoted by state media
saying the ministry did
not want Essar to have a monopoly over claims and
that indigenous players
had shown an interest in the claims.
“We
don’t want to create a monopoly by giving all the claims to one company.
We
have to allow other players, for instance, indigenous players to also be
able to explore the ore,” Chimanikire was quoted as saying.
This
forced Essar to seek a reconfirmation from Ncube on the September
Cabinet
decision to transfer the iron ore claims at Mwanezi to NZM. The
deal, when
completed, would result in government having a 40% stake in NZS
with the
balance owned by Essar.
Under the NZM arrangement, Essar and government
would have 80% and 20%
shareholding respectively.
Essar won the bid
for Zisco in 2011, after its proposal was seen as
feasible, as the firm
agreed to take over the troubled steelmaker’s debt to
KfW of Germany and
another owed to a Chinese firm.
Analysts are wary the transaction has
taken longer than expected to complete
and that this would work against the
country’s efforts to attract foreign
investments.
According to the
Mid-Term Plan, government wants to see investments
contributing 20% of the
gross domestic product by 2015 from the current 4%.
The delay in
finalising the transaction means that the cost of running the
project is
increasing.
The company has to inject more than US$600 million to produce
a million
tonnes of steel per annum at NZS, double the amount the firm had
projected.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Local
One cannot
begin to describe the agony of being unemployed.
BY JAIROS
SAUNYAMA
The mind cannot rest. One can lose sleep at night thinking about
ways to put
the next meal on the table.
I experienced this when my
internship expired in 2011 at one of the local
newspapers. It was on June 30
when I was left to face the world after six
months of enjoying a regular
income as an intern.
Although I earned US$130 per month, to me the paltry
amount did not matter
much as it just felt great to wake up every morning to
go to work.
The idea of telling my neighbours that I was no longer going
to work,
haunted me and I found myself retreating to South Africa to nurse
my wounded
pride.
These are now only memories, but last week I was
shocked to come across a
group of people in situations that I cannot begin
to compare with my
joblessness.
As I walked past the National
Employment Services Division, in downtown
Harare at the corner of Mbuya
Nehanda and Rudd Street, I almost shed tears.
The scene was pitiful. A
number of youths were in deep slumber on the
concrete benches, while others
were busy playing a game of draft.
This group constituted of noisy
individuals who were verbally expressing
their prowess at playing the game.
Most of these young men had worn-out
shoes that had holes, leaving one or
two toes protruding.
Their chapped lips bore testimony to long hours
without food or water. The
other men who had not dozed off were suckling at
freezits [a cheap frozen
drink] to quench their thirst in the searing
heat.
Worn-out shirts betrayed months of leaning against the walls
waiting for the
prospective employers to pitch up.
The temperatures
were high and men wiped off sweat using their hats while
others attempted to
wipe the dripping sweat with the lower ends of their
t-shirts and
shirts.
The shed was reeking of a heavy stench from recycled socks
coupled with
sweat. Patches of sweat were evident under both women and men’s
armpits.
The young women who constituted a smaller group of the gathering
were seated
together while others were busy fiddling with their
phones.
At the other side, older women were plaiting each other’s
hair.
The job-seekers were all anticipating that one day God would answer
their
prayers and avail them with jobs.
However, there was another
part of the group that was smartly dressed. This
group comprised men on a
mission as they were dressed to impress. Their
shoes were so shiny you
wouldnt see so much as a speck of dust.
I learnt that some youths visit
the employment council for nearly a year
before getting a job at the
National Employment Services Division.
I also learnt that getting a job
is not necessarily by educational
qualifications, but by sheer luck as
people are just picked at random by
companies or individuals.
It was
all sad stories as some revealed how they missed opportunities after
a
prospective employer arrived only a minute after they had gone to the
bathroom. So if you fancy your chances, you have to be in the shed for the
better part of the day.
Most youths walk from Mbare, Mufakose and
other areas while those from as
far as Domboshava and Norton travel twice or
thrice a week.
People are recruited by manufacturing companies, public
companies and
individuals who need domestic help.
Some supermarkets
also recruit people for temporary jobs such as off-loading
groceries from
trucks and cleaning premises. The smartly dressed are
normally recruited as
messengers and other low office jobs in and around
Harare.
Departing
from the unemployed people’s rendezvous, I wished them all the
best, as I
knew they needed it.
Unemployment statistics stand at over 80% and
getting a job is as difficult
as looking for a needle in a haystack.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in
Opinion
I have read many articles by your paper in which residents and
journalists
have accused the Harare city council of mediocrity, corruption
and general
failure to provide service. I therefore take this unusual stand
to respond.
Sunday View by Herbert Gomba
I am serving a
councillor. Having seen how council was and is today, there
is need to set
the record straight. When we got into this council, we got a
shock in that
inasmuch as we were supposed to kick-start servicing the city,
the
implementing departments were empty in terms of machinery and equipment
to
use.
From this point we agreed to start the capacitation process starting
with
waste management, water, engineering and road departments. Thus we
bought 47
refuse trucks, re-trenched the city to remove rotten water and
sewer pipes
using cash provided by government.
Firle waterworks was
also rehabilitated, but along the way government policy
affected the ability
of council to deliver as expected by residents.
The Ministry of Transport
took over the collection of vehicle licence fees
from council. Although we
collected US$9 million, Zinara gave us only US$2
million yet roads alone
require US$60 million to reseal.
Due to unemployment, which currently
stands at 80%, increasing rates to
cover the gap does not make
sense.
Efforts to look for money elsewhere proved a daunting task as
well; the
image of this country as perceived by lenders, coupled with
government
involvement in local authorities didn’t help. I was part of the
team from
council that met with World Bank and IMF officials seeking money
to improve
water supply, but they would not give us.
Those who say we
have not done anything are not telling the truth.
The mayor got US$5
million and is about to get US$20 million from the Bill
and Melinda Gates
Foundation for housing. These are results of multiple
efforts to secure cash
and improve service.
People have downplayed the impact of bad central
government policy on
council; we inherited a bureaucracy which, according to
law, doesn’t
wholesomely report to us, which if fired for lack of
competence, is returned
to council by the Local Government
Board.
This means some of the workers employed by us to play implementing
roles are
not loyal to our cause of service delivery. People have accused
this council
of intermittent water supply but have failed to look at the
root cause
namely, lack of proper investment and forward planning by the
Zanu PF
government since 1980.
To improve water supply, council needs
US$1,2 billion; money which can’t be
found by government or this council,
let alone residents. The government has
also affected our ability to provide
clean water by not paying for water
supplied to its departments,
universities and army barracks, who are getting
free water.
Lastly,
people say we use lots of money for salaries; to some extent this is
true
but if all residents paid their dues, we would be within the set
threshold.
Salaries are obligatory costs; when we got into council our
workers had
running contracts which detail packages for senior staff. Local
Government
works in perpetuity; failure to honour such contracts will face
litigation.
However, previous councils are responsible for some huge
salaries and double
appointments to senior positions. To correct it would
need lots of money
which council does not have.
Let me conclude by
saying Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and his councillors have
put in measures that
ensure service delivery wheels start to move and start
moving now; it’s
unfortunate credit will be given to future councils at the
current one’s
expense yet we have sown the seed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Opinion
The word
“Bvumba” is derived from the eastern vernacular mubvumbi, meaning
persistent
light showers that come with thick mist engulfing an area and its
surroundings.
Sunday Opinion by Farai Matebvu
The favourable
climatic conditions and altitude allow a variety of animals
and different
plant species to thrive.
Yet today these mountains are in a predicament.
Unprecedented deforestation
of the virgin forests and commercial plantations
goes unchecked, threatening
ecology while decimating tourism hopes and
hampering economic prospects for
the communal people.
Bvumba also
lacks the means and mechanisms to ignite socio-eco-cultural
development.
It is naturally endowed with tourism attractions and
timber, the main
sources of revenue and employment for the local people and
hoteliers
operating in the area.
Uncontrollable deforestation
continues to fetter the growth of commercial
plantations and majestic
forests thus posing horrifying effects on the
ecosystem.
Commissioning the Old Mutual sponsored Zimunya Nursery at
Zimunya High
School last week, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources
Francis
Nhema bemoaned the disappearance of forests in
Manicaland.
“It is quite disturbing to all of us that in this time and
age, people
continue to destroy our natural resources without considering
the
after-effects on the environment.
This is the beauty that cannot
be found in Masvingo or Shurugwi and people
fail to think why international
tourists search for this beauty.
Manicaland is blessed with beautiful
mountains and is well-known for being
endowed with vast forests, but the
people have been callously chopping down
trees without considering the sixth
sense.
People continue to cut down trees, today they cut, tomorrow they
cut again,
when are you going to retire from this ferocious
act?”
Sustainable utilisation of the resources in the area will serve to
create
economic fortunes including jobs and income for the people employed
in these
industries.
The symbiotic relationship that exists between
tourism as an economic
activity as well as entertainment and nature can
never be overstated.
This is true, because tourists get value for their
money for a combination
of reasons.
This is especially so when the
area is endowed with certain environmental
traits, some mixture of
relatively rare aesthetic ecological
characteristics, social and cultural
attributes. This is called eco-tourism.
It is these rare superlative
ecological attributes that deforestation
continues to ravage and “kill” with
very little attention and effort being
put to end barbaric practices on the
environment.
Trends on the magnitude of the uncontrollable deforestation
and trail of
mass destruction are devastating. There is need for an
immediate
intervention and practical action to halt forthwith destructive
tendencies
towards natural resources.
The starting point on fighting
deforestation would be looking at lawlessness
that began in 2000 with the
land reform programme; there has been an upsurge
in deforestation on both
indigenous forests and commercial plantations in
the Bvumba area and, to
some extent, cases of uncontrolled veld fires
destroyed holiday resorts and
the beauty of the mountains.
The effects of deforestation on Bvumba
mountains have negatively impacted
the development of the area and that of
the national economy at large.
As highlighted, Bvumba provides quality
tourism based on pristine flora and
fauna which is unparalleled in the
country, which makes it an ideal tourist
destination.
One sad
scenario would be of reduced eco-tourism flow to the area, thus
wilting
tourism prospects and employment opportunities for the youth.
The
desperate and unemployed people would finish off the remaining forests
for
subsistence farming, instead of encouraging the local communities to
appreciate the value of the environment and its natural resources,
conservation and the growing opportunities in the area and their
participation in wild-based industries including tourism.
Farm
workers also lose their jobs when plantations are reduced to
ashes.
Hakuna Matata Holiday Resort which is in the heart of Bvumba and
was
surrounded by green, cosy and sumptuous vegetation is now in the open, a
thing not synonymous with resorts.
The embroidery industry thrives in
Bvumba with approximately 50 women
realising health financial earnings for
their families by selling table
cloths, aprons and some wall hangings to
tourists and travellers by
roadsides. Their families are equally vulnerable
given the unforeseen
prospects of tourists flow being curtailed.
The
need to protect precious natural resources such as forests and the
beauty
associated with mountains for tourism and entertainment purposes is
now long
overdue.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Editorial
Two athletes are
competing in the 100m dash.
From the Editor’s Desk by Nevanji
Madanhire
One is way ahead of the pack but two metres before the tape he
looks back
and sees his teammate has tripped and fallen.
Instead of
taking the few remaining steps to finish the race, he turns back
and sprints
towards his colleague, whom he lifts up and together they
continue the
race.
Needless to say they finish last. The crowd is amazed at the
incident and
puzzled to see the pair celebrate their achievement.
It
is an incident often told with dry humour, but those who witnessed it say
it
was the most touching incident of the Special Olympics of that day. Only
a
Special athlete can behave that way! What is a Special athlete?
“Special
Olympics is the world’s largest sports organisation for children
and adults
with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and
competitions to more than 4 million athletes in 170
countries.
Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around
the
world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to
more
than 53 000 events a year.”
Few people have heard or
acknowledged the presence of Special Olympics in
Zimbabwe. Even fewer have
heard about the sterling work done by that
indomitable woman named Bonny
Woodman. But this article is neither about the
organisation called Special
Olympics Zimbabwe nor about Woodman; it is about
Christpowers
Maisiri.
A local daily newspaper, reporting on the tragic death of
Christpowers in
Headlines recently said information it gathered indicated
that Christpowers
was in Grade 4 at Ruura Primary School.
He was
partially disabled and had Down syndrome. By including this piece of
information hidden towards the end of the story, the newspaper sought to
downplay the boy’s death as that of a mentally retarded lad who couldn’t
figure out how to escape an ordinary fire which four of his siblings
survived.
This is totally in bad taste.
Christpowers was a
Special child; sad even his teachers didn’t know this.
One of the teachers
who spoke to the press said the boy had not gone to
school the previous day
because there had been a sport event. Christpowers
had been excluded from
the event — even as a spectator — ostensibly because
he was a Down
child.
When the rest of the world is working hard to integrate mentally
disabled
children into mainstream society, Zimbabwean teachers are excluding
them
from events the rest of the children are participating in and — Dear
God —
politicians are burning them!
Christpowers is the kind of
individual who would run in a race and win it by
lifting up his colleague
instead of hitting the tape. It’s a special kind of
victory that obviously
goes against the kind of conventional rat-race kind
of victory expounded by
“normal” humans.
Christpowers would have found Usain Bolt’s victory sick
if it meant leaving
everyone else lying on the ground in pain. That is the
kind of victory our
politicians love. To win elections, they have to crush
everyone in their
path, even if it means burning down homes in which Special
children are
sleeping.
There is a failure here that goes beyond
imagination.
Christpowers’s death overshadowed another act of political
violence related
to his in more ways than one. Last week, across the country
from Headlands,
businessman Temba Mliswa, appeared before a Chinhoyi
magistrate facing
charges of assaulting Hurungwe East member of the House of
Assembly, Sarah
Mahoka, at a business centre the previous
week.
Mliswa is a senior member of Zanu PF and is nephew of another
senior member
of the same party, Didymus Mutasa, fingered in the Headlines
arson. Neither
Mliswa nor Mutasa have been convicted yet for the crimes they
are accused
of; the law is taking its course. But what is interesting is
that the two
are generations apart, separated by nearly 40 years.
Now
we are looking at a sad state of affairs; the mere fact the two are
fingered
in acts of political violence (they are still innocent until proven
guilty)
means violence is probably in their party’s DNA. How else can it be
explained that the younger man who is supposed to take over from the older
politician is using the same old tactics that have been the bane of their
party over the years?
When one member of a party is involved in acts
of violence, it cannot be put
beyond the other that he is also using the
same tactic. That is why the
Headlands incident has been so damaging to Zanu
PF.
The resurgence of political violence has done the country a great
disservice. When everyone in the country and abroad was beginning to see
signs of hope; when so much international goodwill had begun to be shown by
the international community, this happens.
Zimbabweans are upbeat
about the new constitution which goes to a referendum
this month and are
eagerly looking forward to the general elections later in
the year. The
European Union had begun the process of easing damaging
sanctions because
they were beginning to see progress in the resolution of
our crisis. And
this happens!
President Robert Mugabe was almost convincing in his peace
sermons, but
doubt has re-emerged. Many doubted his sincerity but many more
were
beginning to see the emergence of an Elder Statesman fighting to
sanitise
his legacy.
Whatever happened in Headlands and Hurungwe
smacks him right in the face.
President Mugabe has to act decisively in a
manner that makes an unequivocal
statement that violence will not be
tolerated from any quarter. But his
message has first to be made to sink
into the minds of the police. Arresting
one alleged perpetrator and leaving
another to roam free is hardly the best
advertisement for an unbiased police
force.
The message the world gets is that there are small fish and big
fish in the
same pond and only the small fish will be held to
account.
Mugabe’s message of peace cannot succeed without a concomitant
vow of
professionalism and impartiality on the part of the
police.
Politicians are dirty players in a dirty game; without a
professional police
force a country is doomed. It is important that the
police play their
referring role.
Unfortunately, the political game
is played in a playground full of innocent
people; and it is the innocent
children who are most vulnerable. As
Christpowers begins to decompose
underground, let’s think of the children;
they are all special.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 3, 2013 in Editorial
Over the
past few months, President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai created an impression that they had reached a deal that would
ensure the coming elections will not be disputed.
The Standard
Editorial
The two politicians even claimed that whoever lost the polls
would allow the
winner to take over without problems.
However, the
two leaders’ rhetoric was exposed by the recent killing of
12-year-old
Christpowers Maisiri in a horrific inferno in Headlands.
Whatever they
agreed on in Harare, without taking concrete steps to root out
militias and
re-establish the rule of law, has not stopped violent youths in
rural areas
from terrorising their opponents.
These militias, who are blamed for the
death of over 200 MDC supporters in
the 2008 elections, are likely to be
sharpening their pangas in anticipation
of the June elections, if Maisiri’s
killing is anything to go by.
Their aim is to stop Zimbabweans from
freely choosing leaders of their
choice. Instead of making phony deals,
Mugabe and Tsvangirai must set up an
independent probe to establish the
truth about Maisiri’s killing.
Independent investigators should take up
the case and bring perpetrators of
political violence to book. Zimbabwe’s
partisan police, who have already
ruled out foul play after making
preliminary investigations, cannot be
trusted to solve the case.
The
probe is necessary as it could go a long way in showing that the
principals
to the government of national unity are genuine in their calls
for a
peaceful election.
It would also send a message to those who thrive on
unleashing violence on
opponents that their days are numbered. Selective
application of the law has
to end if Zimbabwe is to become a mature
democracy.
No one is above the law and anyone fingered in political
violence must be
brought to book, regardless of their position or social
standing.
The time is now ripe for international observers to come to
Zimbabwe to
monitor the situation.
Sadc must also ensure that the
political parties are playing by the book if
Zimbabwe is to have an election
that will end the political uncertainty.
