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Zimbabwe
charities report new state onslaught
http://www.sacbee.com
The Associated Press
Published:
Sunday, Mar. 4, 2012 - 4:25 am
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Civic organizations
say authorities loyal to Zimbabwe's
president have launched a new onslaught
against humanitarian agencies by
demanding illegal levies and putting them
under surveillance.
President Robert Mugabe has frequently accused
charities of opposing his
rule and campaigning against his party. He has
called for fresh elections
this year.
An alliance of civic groups
said Sunday that authorities across the country
have imposed charges of up
to $1,000 to allow them to operate.
The practice is "theft and
extortion," they said, adding that many
non-governmental groups also
reported "direct surveillance" by intelligence
agents and the military that
hurt services to the needy.
Unless stopped, they say, "the ultimate loser
will be the most vulnerable
and marginalized communities and
individuals."
Typhoid cases soar in Zimbabwe
(AFP) – 9 hours ago
HARARE — Some
3,000 cases of typhoid have been reported in Zimbabwe's
capital of Harare
since the first case was detected in a working-class
suburb in January,
state media reported on Sunday.
"At the moment we have over 3,000 cases,
both suspected and confirmed," The
Sunday Mail newspaper quoted Prosper
Chonzi, the city's health services
director as saying.
More than 90
people from one of the capital's suburbs, Kuwadzana, were
admitted to
hospital in January. Health authorities banned open-air food
vending to try
to curb the spread of the disease.
"Our worry is that typhoid is now
spreading to other areas adjacent to
Kuwadzana," Chonzi said.
"We are
now moving into the unaffected areas so that we can educate people
about the
spread of typhoid. The city has found it better to concentrate on
preventive
measures rather than corrective measures."
Health Minister Henry
Madzorera said in an interview with state television
the government had no
money to deal with the typhoid outbreak which has
since spread to other
provinces.
Typhoid thrives in areas that do not have proper
sanitation.
Poor hygiene and sanitation have caused numerous disease
outbreaks in
Zimbabwe in recent years.
Some suburbs go for weeks
without running water as Zimbabwean municipalities
struggle to keep up
services.
Last October, more than 6,000 cases of diarrhoea were reported
in the
southern towns of Masvingo and Kadoma and children were the worst
affected.
Four years ago over 4,000 people died of cholera in an outbreak
which
affected nearly 100,000 people.
Black market dirties
Zimbabwe diamond fields
http://mg.co.za
JUSTINE GERARDY MUTARE, ZIMBABWE - Mar 04 2012
13:16
Just weeks before a global ban was lifted on Marange
diamonds in Zimbabwe,
an outpouring of mourners clogged the usually sleepy
streets of Mutare in
the eastern mining region.
The traffic-stopping
occasion was the burial of the area's apex gem dealer,
Bothwell Hlahla, an
ally of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, who
made his fortune in the
rough stones at the centre of a human rights storm.
"His funeral helped
to reveal that the illicit trade in diamonds had simply
gone underground but
it was alive and well," a source close to the diamond
fields told Agence
France-Presse.
Marange diamonds are now part of the formal global gem
trade, green-lighted
by the "blood diamond" Kimberley Process watchdog in
November, four years
after Mugabe's military ruthlessly forced out casual
panners to seize
control.
Diamonds are seen as key to turning around
Zimbabwe's spectacular economic
collapse with five companies licenced to
mine what is touted as the biggest
find of the last decade.
But the
black market endures.
Billions skimmed
While Zimbabwe's cash-strapped
budget expects an extra $600-million this
year, a 17% boost, a mines source
estimated that billions are being skimmed
and fears the money is propping up
Mugabe's Zanu-PF cronies.
"What trickles into the treasury is a drop in
the ocean," said the source,
who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
his safety.
The state has stakes in all mines in Chiadzwa, part of the
Marange district
60 kilometres southwest of Mutare, but secrecy clouds the
gem chain from
rough stone yields to their auctions.
CONTINUES
BELOW
"It is difficult to estimate because the whole handling of
diamonds is very
opaque," said Melanie Chiponda of the Chiadzwa Community
Development Trust
(CCDT). "We suspect the amounts could run into billions
per year."
During the initial panners' frenzy before an army crackdown,
buying a
Marange stone was as simple as stopping by a roadside seller waving
a rough
diamond, or crossing into Mozambique where an international dealers
market
had sprung up. The richest fields have since been secured, and
villagers
relocated, including Taurai Maswere who said he once sold a
12-carat rock
for $18 000. That was in the days when gems were so easily
available that a
local chief gave children bicycles for good
hauls.
"We cannot say they are scarce but it's just less than before.
Every day,
diamonds, they come out," said Maswere, who used a pseudonym for
fear of
reprisals.
Activists say the illicit networks are vast:
soldiers and illegal panners in
cahoots, buyers meeting company workers
coming off shifts, and state
security at road blocks taking $100 to $200
bribes. Even gem-smuggling
pilots are cited.
One monitor saw an
artisanal digger handing stones hidden in a shoe sole to
plainclothes
police, while foreign buyers live openly in Mutare.
The focus is now on
transparency of revenues, but abuses have not stopped
after 200 people were
killed by soldiers in 2008, according to rights
groups.
"Abuses are
still very common and we receive regular reports from CCDT local
human
rights monitors," said Chiponda.
She cited beatings by guards at
Chinese-joint venture Anjin Investment,
which claims to be the world's
biggest producer, and a South African company
contracted to Mbada Diamonds
that "still uses dogs to chase away
job-seekers".
Last month, she
said that "job-seekers were beaten five lashes each for not
dispersing
quickly when they were told that there are no jobs".
A mines source, who
declined to be named, said human rights violations
continue because jobs
require a Zanu-PF membership card, while private
guards are recruited from
security arms.
"They are recruited from terror machinery, the Zanu-PF
terror machinery, and
when you hear some of the stories of torture from
Marange, they are
reminiscent of stories of torture camps in Zimbabwe where
people are
tortured for two to three days and left to die."
Kimberley
has cleared sales from four of the five mines but Global Witness,
which quit
the watchdog in disgust after the first approvals in November,
has again
raised alarms over the security sector's grip and secrecy over
ownership.
The United States has also slapped sanctions on two firms,
and the powerful
US-based diamond trading group Rapaport has banned all
Marange gems.
Deputy Mines Minister Gift Chimanikire told AFP that
audits, revenue
monitoring, and state evaluators at auctions are still
needed -- but that
Marange was on track.
"In my view, most of the
problems have been cleared up. I believe Marange
and Chiadzwa are currently
operating at full throttle and we expect
production to go up," he
said.
With 88-year-old Mugabe seeking re-election, there are fears that
the spoils
will fund campaigns and even renewed violence.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's party has also been denounced for failing
to highlight
abuses.
Some local chiefs -- who receive cash, homes, vehicles and fuel
from the
mines -- have already pledged ballot box allegiance to
Zanu-PF.
"The fears are legitimate, given that the diamond mining is
controlled by
ZMDC which is comprised of Zanu-PF members," Chiponda told
AFP.
"The lack of transparency in the area gives further
suspicion."
Maswere, who was beaten and witnessed the army onslaught four
years ago,
thinks the situation could turn worse.
"After the
elections, maybe ... they can start a war if they lose, using the
proceeds
from the diamonds." -- AFP
Aussie
couple tells of Mugabe assasination claim
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
04/03/2012 00:00:00
by
news-mail.com.au
AN AUSTRALIAN couple is relieved to be back home after a
harrowing encounter
with Zimbabwean police who accused the pair of plotting
to assassinate
President Robert Mugabe.
Colin and Judy Smith are
safely home in Twin Waters but say they will never
forget their encounter
with the country's corrupt police force.
They were in Zimbabwe on family
business and were heading to the airport
when they became caught up in
President Mugabe's motorcade.
"At first I didn't know what was going on,
so I pulled over to the side of
the road to have motorcycles and sirens and
cars flying past us," Smith
said.
"I got out of the car and that's
when police came out of the bushes.
"A police car pulled up behind us
flashing their lights. That's when I knew
something was wrong."
A
policeman approached the couple's vehicle and told them they were under
arrest on charges of attempting to assassinate President Mugabe.
"I
told him that was ridiculous. Was I going to assassinate the president
with
my pen?" Smith said. "He then got in our small car with us and took our
passports."
The officer ordered them to drive to the nearest police
station in Harare,
to be formally charged.
The situation took another
turn about 30 minutes into the trip when the
officer asked Smith what he was
going to do to help his situation.
"After driving for about 15km the
police officer asked me what I thought the
police should do with us to sort
it all out, which is police-speak for a
bribe," Mr Smith said.
"I
told the policeman that I didn't know what we were to do and that he was
the
police officer and should do what he thought was right.
"That's when he
knew that I wasn't going to pay a bribe and began
threatening us with jail
time."
Thinking on his feet, Smith asked that he and his wife be taken to
the
Australian Embassy.
The policeman's immediate reaction was to claim
there was no Australian
Embassy in Zimbabwe.
"I told him that was
incorrect and that I had seen the embassy a few days
earlier which stumped
him a little bit," Smith said.
Frustrated by the couple's reluctance to pay a
bribe, the officer ordered Mr
Smith to stop the car.
"The officer
looked at me and my wife and we could tell he was frustrated
that we weren't
going to pay him a bribe," Mr Smith said.
"He told us that we would be
given a formal warning for our assassination
attempt, but he didn't have
paper or a pen to write the warning on.
"I had to tear some paper from
our flight itinerary that we all signed.
"Then he got out of the car and
gave us back our passports and we continued
on to the
airport."
Shaken but relieved, the Smiths boarded their flight home to
Australia.
"It was a terrifying experience," Smith said.
"On
leaving our car the policeman said that he hoped we enjoyed our stay in
Zimbabwe and that he hoped we would return soon.
"I told him that we
would not be returning to Zimbabwe again."
Key
job for Mugabe ally
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JOHN NQINDI | 04 March, 2012 00:19
Retired army
colonel Tshinga Dube is the new chairman of Marange Resources
(Pvt) Ltd -
cementing further the assertion by Global Witness that a cartel
of Zanu-PF
loyalists is in charge of the diamond industry.
Dube is a close ally of
President Robert Mugabe.
Marange Resources owns 50% of Mbada Diamonds, a
company owned by the
Zimbabwean government in partnership with investors
from Hong Kong and South
Africa. Marange Resources also represents the
government's stake in Anjin, a
partnership with the Chinese.
Dube
told the Sunday Times that his new job was a challenge that he has to
tackle
in the best interests of Zimbabwe.
"Diamonds play a big part in
Zimbabwe's economic revival and my new job is
an honour and a challenge at
the same time. I will do my best for Marange
Resources and Zimbabwe," he
said.
Tshinga has been at the helm of Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI),
a
government arm that deals with military weaponry and ammunition
supplies.
Not much is known about the Russian-trained former soldier's
social life.
However, he was the host of the late King of Pop, Michael
Jackson, when he
came to Zimbabwe in 1998.
His children, however,
have hogged the limelight. In 2009 his son Mthulisi
was arrested by police
on allegations of being in possession of diamonds.
Police acted on a
tip-off and they raided his father's Harare home in the
plush suburb of
Greendale. At the time of his arrest numerous influential
Zanu-PF members
were also taken into custody. The retired colonel did not
get involved in
the matter. His other son, Vusumizi, has been active in the
affairs of
Highlanders FC, bailing the club out financially.
Dube sits on the
Zanu-PF politburo, the central decision-making body of the
party. His
political stamina is yet to be felt after he failed in his first
attempt for
political office in the 2008 elections, vying for Bulawayo's
Makokoba
constituency.
Dube, alongside Professor Welshman Ncube, lost to the
MDC-T's Thokozani
Khupe, the Deputy Prime Minister.
His appointment
as the new chairman of Marange Resources will see him work
alongside
Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr Obert Mpofu.
The two had
differences when Mpofu was minister of industry and trade.
Tshinga accused
Mpofu of having "irresponsible" policies and said they would
prove costly
for Zanu-PF as the party approached the 2008 elections.
Fraud
probe: Biti hits back at security bosses
http://www.timeslive.co.za
JAMA MAJOLA | 04 March, 2012
00:19
Finance Minister Tendai Biti is moving to hit back at state
security service
chiefs grouped under the Joint Operations Command (JOC),
who are currently
investigating Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and him on
fraud allegations.
Information obtained this week shows Biti has decided
to probe the Reserve
Bank's $1.2-billion debt as a way of hitting back at
JOC chiefs who owe the
central bank millions of US dollars. The JOC brings
together the army,
police and intelligence services bosses.
Biti and
Tsvangirai are under investigation for alleged fraud in connection
with the
purchase of the prime minister's posh house in Harare.
State security
service chiefs have received farming equipment, vehicles and
other items
from the Reserve Bank but have failed to pay. Official sources
say they owe
the central bank "well over $100-million" which they are either
refusing or
failing to pay.
A senior government official told the Sunday Times the
central bank probe
was a reprisal by Biti against those behind the
investigation against him
and Tsvangirai.
"What is happening is that
the security services chiefs are trying to nail
the two most powerful MDC-T
officials, Tsvangirai and Biti, to paralyse the
party through these
investigations before the next elections," the official
said.
"However, Biti is now fighting back through the central bank
probe because
he knows the same people investigating him owe the Reserve
Bank millions
which they are unwilling or unable to pay. It's tit-for-tat
strategy -
equivalent retaliation."
JOC chiefs, mainly Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Commander General Constantine
Chiwenga and police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, are behind the
controversial police
investigations into allegations that Tsvangirai
misappropriated $1.5-million
he received from the Reserve Bank for the
purchase of his official residence
in 2009.
Chihuri, a senior member of JOC, is personally handling the
probe, although
the investigations officer is Chief Superintendent Alison
Nyamupaguma from
the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Biti
is also being investigated to establish if he was an accomplice,
because in
2010 he disbursed a further $1-million to Tsvangirai to buy and
renovate the
same house, in what police say was a case of "double-dipping".
The
minister is also being probed over the handling of the $500-million
which
Zimbabwe received from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.
Police
chief spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena refused to shed light on
Tsvangirai's case,
saying "we are not giving a comment on the matter".
President Robert
Mugabe, who approved the release of funds to Tsvangirai,
recently warned
police "not to just rush to make up things against the prime
minister".
While Tsvangirai has been given a reprieve by Mugabe, Biti
is fighting his
own battle.
The minister recently said he would
create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
to probe the Reserve Bank debt,
although he denies it is a "witch hunt".
Sources say Biti would use his
new powers to probe all shady financial
transactions involving security
services chiefs and the Reserve Bank.
Mpofu
buying bank
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chris Goko and Everson Mushava
Sunday, 04 March 2012
11:20
HARARE - In yet another indication that Mines minister Obert
Mpofu is a man
of significant means, the senior Zanu PF
politician-cum-businessman is
buying into one of the country’s struggling
banks.
While the Umguza legislator was unavailable for comment
yesterday, his
company Trebo & Khays (Private) Limited was on Friday
listed as part of a
consortium keen to buy the technically insolvent
Zimbabwe Allied Banking
Group (ZABG) by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ).
“ZABG which had a negative capital of $15,35 million… is currently
finalising negotiations with two potential investors namely Unicapital
Finance of Mauritius, Swiss-based AFG Global and a local company Trebo &
Khays (Private) Limited," a central bank statement said, adding that the
“transactions were due to be concluded by March 28”.
However,
insiders told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday that the
60-year-old
minister was converting a large debt — owed to his family
business — into
equity in the troubled bank.
“The minister (Mpofu) is owed significant
amounts of money and ZABG has
suggested that it converts his debt into
equity. Otherwise he has no
interest in that bank,” said the
source.
The well-placed source added that the bank was also “hoping to
use his
(Mpofu’s) vast assets”, including high-rise buildings in Bulawayo to
strengthen its capital and asset base.
With a $16 million hole,
Stephen Gwasira’s bank needs in excess of $26
million to escape mandatory
closure by the RBZ at the end of March.
According to another source, the
incoming group has pledged to inject up to
$32 million into the ailing
bank.
ZABG chief executive Gwasira declined to comment on the issues on
Saturday,
saying he was in meetings.
The bank was formed at the
height of the country’s banking troubles in the
mid-2000s and has
persistently struggled for stability due to
inadequate
capitalisation.
Its plight was worsened by the return of its three
predecessor banks’ assets
to their owners in late 2010 — Royal, Trust and
Barbican banks.
Mpofu’s other known businesses include Kanondo Safaris —
a Matabeleland
North hunting concession and tourism venture.
A
somewhat controversial figure, the rotund minister recently set tongues
wagging when he referred to himself as President Robert Mugabe’s
“ever-obedient son” — in the aftermath of Core Mining director Lovemore
Kurotwi’s untested allegations that the minister had sought a $10 million
bribe to facilitate the sustenance of the latter’s diamond mining activities
in Chiadzwa.
In recent weeks, Mpofu has not only moved to affirm his
wealth, but also
said he was never a poor man.
In December, Mpofu
told journalists at the Harare Quill Club that he was,
among other things,
one of the country’s largest cattle ranchers.
This was in response to
charges that Mpofu and his associates were
benefitting undeservedly from the
vast Marange diamonds, and that the
minister had allegedly “bought the whole
of Victoria Falls” using illicit
money.
While confirming that he had
bought a number of properties, the minister
stressed that he had acquired
many of these using a $1 million loan from CBZ
Bank
Limited.
Throughout his three-decade public sector career, Mpofu has
often hogged the
limelight, including recent claims that he was the source
of the Chronicle
newspaper’s major expose on a vehicle scam that came to be
known as the
Willowgate scandal in the 1980s.
Several of President
Robert Mugabe’s ministers were exposed in that
scandal — leading to an
abrupt end of their political careers and even death
in the case of the late
Maurice Nyagumbo.
Although nothing is known about Mpofu’s involvement in
the financial sector
prior to the planned ZABG deal, he is following in the
footsteps of party
peers such as ex-Universal Merchant Bank senior executive
David Chapfika,
Saviour Kasukuwere, who was linked to the equally-struggling
Genesis Bank
and Zimbabwe Building Society founder Francis
Nhema.
Until recently, his Zanu PF was also a major shareholder in listed
FBC
Holdings Limited.
Still, the minister’s proposed entry into a
sector which is severely
distressed — due to myriad problems — has surprised
many.
After calls to several parties, including banks registrar Norman
Mataruka
and ZABG board members yesterday, the Daily News on Sunday was
unable to
distill or establish how much Mpofu will be getting in terms of
shareholding.
Riot Police
Called To Disperse Warring Zanu PF Factions
http://www.radiovop.com
MASVINGO, March 04, 2012
– There was drama on Saturday afternoon when riot
police armed with tear
gas, dogs and batton sticks had to employ all their
intimidating tactics at
Mucheke hall where Mujuru aligned Zanu PF youths
were throwing stones at the
Mnangagwa led supporters who were having their
belated Christmas party in
ward two.
Former Zanu PF provincial chairman Daniel Shumba who is eyeing
Urban
parliamentary city was the sponsor of the disrupted party and he was
the
guest of honour at the spoiled event. Masvingo Senator Maina Mandava and
other top Mnangagwa led faction supporters were in attendance when two
busloads of drunken youths sponsored by losing Zanu PF MP Omar Jusbee
descended on them.
RadioVOP witnessed the event.
The Mujuru
aligned faction which used Jusbee’s buses had earlier in the day
tried to
hold their own party at Masvingo Poly but they got a very low
turn-out.
Daniel Shumba pleaded with his supporters not to fight back
but the youths
led by Zanu PF national youth deputy chairman Talent Majoni
made it
impossible for the party to go ahead.
“Don’t fight us, if you
have energy why don’t you go and beat up MDC
supporters who are giving us
problems here in Masvingo? Leave us alone – go
away, just leave us,” senator
Mandava pleaded.
However, the Omar sponsored side would have none of it
and continued to sing
chimurenga songs denouncing Shumba for bribing the
ordinary people.
Some youths both males and females were trading vulgar
words when the police
was called to bring order.
The even took nearly
two hours before the police managed to drive the other
faction. Shumba
however, said he was not surprised by such behavior and he
vowed to bring
dignity to Zanu PF.
“This is why these guys were losing to MDC, we should
show maturity in
politics. Even if they think I am not the best candidate
then why are they
following us? This is a shame to our party,” said
Shumba.
Shumba later splashed cash when he spent about US$ 4000 giving
people who
were able to answer some questions which he asked.
The
minimum amount that an individual was getting from either dancing or
answering the question was US$ 100.
Mugabe
takes control of constitution process
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
ZOLI MANGENA | 03 March, 2012
16:32
President Robert Mugabe, facing threats of being legislated out of
office
through the ongoing constitution-making process, has taken control of
the
exercise in a desperate bid to shape its outcome and fast-track it to
ensure
early elections this year.
Mugabe, together with the other
principals of the Global Political
Agreement - Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara - will now be in
charge of the process, which has been
hindered by infighting, chaos and
delays.
This comes after Zanu-PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
officials
tried to ban Mugabe from standing in the next polls through a
two-term and
70-year age limit in the new draft constitution.
If the
two provisions had been adopted, Mugabe would have been rendered
ineligible
to stand in the next election, which he insists should be held
this
year.
The clauses have now been abandoned after Mugabe and his loyalists
cracked
down and reined-in those involved in the plot. In the clearest sign
yet that
Mugabe has taken charge of the constitution-making process, chief
secretary
to the president and cabinet Misheck Sibanda said on Friday his
boss and the
premier wanted the new draft constitution submitted to them
within two
weeks.
"The president and the prime minister were deeply
perturbed by the slow pace
of the constitution drafting
process.
"They have now directed that the management committee of
[Constitutional
Parliamentary Committee] Copac concludes the whole process
within the next
two weeks and submits a draft to them by March 15 2012,"
Sibanda said.
Last week Mugabe said the principals would edit the draft
constitution to
remove issues they did not like. "It's a draft constitution
and we will say
this we do not want," he said.
Apart from the two
term-limit applied retrospectively and the age limit,
Mugabe does not want
gay rights included in the new constitution.
Mugabe has threatened to
mobilise his party to veto - with the help of the
Zanu-PF members of
parliament - the new draft constitution if it does not
meet his
expectations. For the draft to be adopted, a two-thirds majority is
needed
and none of the parties have that.
The Zanu-PF politburo met on Wednesday
and resolved to pressure Copac into
fast-tracking the constitution-making
process to ensure that elections are
held this year in line with the party's
conference resolution in Bulawayo
last December.
Asked last week if
he was going to force his way towards elections this
year, Mugabe said
"definitely".
"Yes, sure, this year! We just must have elections. They
just must take
place with or without a new constitution. And we will, on our
side as a
party, we made a decision last year at our conference that this
year we will
definitely have an election exercise," he said.
"If
others don't want to have an election then they are free not to
participate.
"Nobody is forced to go to an election but definitely I
will exercise my
presidential powers in accordance with the main principal
law, the
constitution of our country and announce when the election will
take place.
And I will do this," he said.
Mugabe, who turned 88 last
week, is desperate to bulldoze the elections
through to secure another
five-year term while he is still fit.
His loyalists and hardliners in
Zanu-PF also want early elections to get rid
of Tsvangirai, the MDC-T
leader, and his MDC-N counterpart, Welshman Ncube
from the government so as
to regain total control.
‘Enemies’
keep Zim going, as Mugabe, Tsvangirai squander resources on luxuries
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By
Own Correspondent
Sunday, 04 March 2012 11:06
HARARE - While
President Robert Mugabe and his allies rubbish the West as
responsible for
Zimbabwe’s economic decline, the same “enemies” have kept
critical services
such as health and education running.
With a penchant for a luxury life,
coalition government partners Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
have continued to spend little on key
sectors while blowing millions on
foreign travel and other treats.
The vilified European Union (EU), United
Kingdom (UK), Australia and the
United States (US) have since the inception
of the coalition government in
February 2009 provided millions of dollars to
save lives that have been
condemned to poverty by coalition government
partners.
Public schools and hospitals that were shut down at the height
of the
country’s economic and political tumult have been major beneficiaries
of
Western aid, giving Mugabe and Tsvangirai room to spend the little
government revenues collected from taxpayers on non-core
business.
Recently, the UK’s Department of International Development
(DFID) donated a
massive $120 million to the Ministry of Health and Child
Welfare to support
Zimbabwe’s fragile public health sector.
The EU,
which has imposed travel restrictions and financial sanctions on
Mugabe and
some of his allies, donated $6.5 million towards phase two of the
Education
Transition Fund (ETF).
The ETF was launched in 2009 to raise $50 million
to support a crumbling
public education sector.
The irony of
proliferate spending on leaders’ welfare ahead of the poor
majority is not
lost even on some ministers in the coalition government.
At the signing
ceremony of the ETF, education minister David Coltart
bemoaned the skewed
policies of the coalition government partners who spent
more than $50
million on leaders’ globetrotting while pushing almost nothing
to students
in its 3 000 schools.
“It is shameful that we spend three times more on
foreign travel than on
education. We must allocate more resources to this
sector for we will be
investing in the future,” said Coltart, one of the few
bright spots in
Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s bloated cabinet.
“Education
remains in a state of crisis. One has to go to a school and see
the
infrastructure at the schools. The just-ended strike by teachers also
revealed that the situation is still fragile,” said Coltart.
State
spending on each school kid has dropped from $6 every month in 1980 to
$0.70
now, according to Coltart.
United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), which
has been key in mobilising
donor support for Zimbabwe, says half of the 3.2
million primary school
pupils are not reaching Grade 7 mainly because of
lack of funding.
This is where the “hated” western countries have come in
handy to plug the
funding gap left by the coalition government’s skewed
priorities.
Through Western donors, most Zimbabwean primary and secondary
schools now
enjoy a healthy textbook-pupil ration after 20 million books
were
distributed countrywide through the ETF.
Not only is the West
active in reviving Zimbabwe’s education, it is also
involved in plugging
funding gaps in the health sector.
At least 100 children die daily,
mostly from preventable diseases, while one
in four children has lost one or
both parents due to HIV and other causes.
An average eight women die
daily due to pregnancy and childbirth, with the
majority of the women being
unable to access adequate health care services.
In addition, about 1,6
million children, orphans and vulnerable children
struggle to access basic
social services and are in need of urgent social
protection, according to
Unicef.
While these shocking statistics appear to have failed to move
spendthrifts
in the coalition government, they reveal the decay affecting
Zimbabwe’s
health delivery system.
Western donors, however, have
moved to support the sector.
Last week, the EU pumped $5.2 million
towards the Health Transition Fund,
again an initiative driven by Western
donors.
The fund is aimed at easing the burden of women by removing
prohibitive user
fees at public health institutions for pregnant women and
children under the
age of five.
Speaking in an interview, EU
ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell’Ariccia said
that the 27-nation bloc will
continue assisting the country.
“The EU is not the enemy but rather a
friend to the people of Zimbabwe,
sanctions are of no consequence on the
people but those who are on the
list,” he said.
DFID Permanent
Secretary Mark Lowckock said Britain will commit the $120
million to
Zimbabwe in the next four years.
“This package sums up what British
assistance is all about: helping
vulnerable people and ensuring that many
more Zimbabweans have access to
basic services such as health care,
education, clean water and sanitation.”
But this has not stopped Zanu PF
officials from attacking Western countries.
Last Wednesday, jaws dropped
and tempers flared after a councillor in Mazowe
told dignitaries gathered
for the $5,2 million health transition fund
handover ceremony that
Zimbabweans did not need the EU assistance as long as
sanctions were in
place.
“We do not need help when the help is coming at a time when there
are
sanctions. First they should remove the sanctions before they give us
aid.
As Zimbabweans we are able to fend for ourselves,” said Sydney
Chidamba, who
claimed to represent the community at the function.
In
its quarterly survey, the Zimbabwe All Media Products Survey (Zamps)
noted
that Zimbabweans in both rural and urban areas think that the US and
EU are
playing a far greater role in humanitarian assistance while they
think lowly
of the Chinese who are involved in mining deals with Mugabe and
his
allies.
Another donor programme is the Essential Medicines Support
Programme
launched in 2008.
The EU has contributed $25.5 million of
the total $52 million provided by
donors. Other contributions have come from
Canada and Australia.
Apart from making interventions in the dilapidated
education and health
sectors, Western countries such as Denmark have been
helping in the
constitution-making process.
Late last month Denmark’s
Development minister Christian Friis Bach gave
Zimbabwe’s Finance minister
Tendai Biti $7.1 million for the
constitution-making process.
For
2011-2012, the Danish government gave Zimbabwe approximately $28 million
to
maintain progress in the country and to ensure the completion of free and
fair elections.
The West has also helped in providing
water-purification chemicals.
But for government officials, it is typical
animal-farm luxury. Government
ministers from across the political divide
are swift to fly to foreign
countries for medical attention and other
personal needs.
Former US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee aptly
described the situation
when he said he was shocked by local politicians’
penchant for luxury
vehicles amidst a sea of poverty.
McGee warned
that rich nations were being put off by Zimbabwe’s “beggars in
Rolexes” and
that made them averse to spending their taxes on a country
represented by
greedy politicians.
Two is company: Morgan Tsvangirai, left, and Robert
Mugabe have continued to
spend little on key sectors while blowing millions
on foreign travel.
Ncube's MDC
Courts Support From SADC Political Parties
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, March 04,
2012-Professor Welshman Ncube’s Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) is
courting the support of political parties in Southern
Africa, in an
offensive the party said is necessary “so that its position as
an
alternative to both MDC-T and Zanu PF is understood.”
As recent as last
week, the party’s delegation comprising of Qhubani Moyo,
the secretary for
external affairs and foreign relations, Lameck Nkiwane
Muyambi, a member of
the party’s national executive, Ngqabutho Nicholas
Dube, the secretary for
recruitment and national spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube
were in South Africa
meeting with the African National Congress (ANC) and
South African Communist
Party (SACP).
“We want to get our position understood as an alternative
to both MDC-T and
Zanu PF. We also want our ideals to be understood
independent of the two
parties’ arguments,” Nhlanhla Dube, the MDC national
spokesperson told Radio
VOP.
Dube said the engagements are a result
of a resolution taken during last
year’s congress and would involve all
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) member states and the African
Union (AU).
“It is a broader programme that wants to locate us as a
political party in
SADC, African Union and the rest of the world,” said
Dube.
The MDC last week held a provincial assembly meeting in Bulawayo
where party
leader, Ncube described his formation as the future of
Zimbabwe.
Ncube said his party has gained ground against Zanu-PF and the
MDC T since
last year’s poll, adding that his formation will continue with
local and
regional offensive courting support.
The formerly united
MDC split in 2005 over whether to participate in senate
elections. Since
then relations have gradually deteriorated, with regular
sniping including
personal attacks between Ncube and Tsvangirai.
HIV
patients exposed to expired drugs
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Garikai Chaunza, Own
Corrspondent
Sunday, 04 March 2012 11:10
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare is letting crucial
HIV/Aids drugs
expire in government hospital pharmacies as thousands of
desperate patients
battle to access the life-prolonging drugs, a Daily News
on Sunday
investigation has established.
An investigation on the anti-retroviral
(ARV) drugs distribution network in
Harare and Chitungwiza has established
that many people living with HIV/Aids
were resorting to getting drugs on the
black market while tonnes of drugs
are expiring in government
pharmacies.
Minister of Health and Child Welfare Henry Madzorera admitted
that hospitals
were stocking expired drugs but said this was done for
accounting purposes.
“What I can say is that it is possible for expired
drugs to be found in
government hospital pharmacies. They can even take
years in storage until
officials from the ministry of Finance board come and
audit their value,” he
said.
“The reason is that the Finance ministry
is the one which gives us funds to
procure drugs. This may take long because
of capacity,” said Madzorera,
adding that his ministry would investigate any
cases of people diverting
such drugs.
An estimated 1,2 million adults
and children live with HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe,
according to Medicins Sans
Frontiers, which operates HIV/Aids programmes in
health clinics around the
country.
Of the 1,2 million people, 600 000 are in urgent need of ARVs
but only half
of these are receiving drugs on the government
programme.
The situation for many of these people is dire as one of the
drugs that has
been given to thousands of patients is being phased
out.
At the moment, the rights of people living with HIV/Aids are not
adequately
recognised in the country’s laws, although they are covered under
the
constitutional provision of the right to health.
However,
HIV/Aids activists have been calling for an expanded Bill of Rights
in the
new constitution with provision for non-discrimination, equal
protection
before the law, free and uninterrupted antiretroviral therapy,
adequate food
and access to qualified medical professionals.
Our investigation
discovered a skewed distribution channel which is not
user-friendly, prone
to corruption, generally slow and insensitive to the
needs of people living
with HIV/Aids.
Thousands of patients are forced to wake up early in the
morning to
congregate at the many distribution centres only to be served
late in the
afternoon.
Due to the shortage of drugs, the system is
also affected by corruption
which results in those who can pay their way
getting the drugs first.
Health workers told the Daily News on Sunday in
separate interviews that
tonnes of expired ARV drug Stavudine which the
World Health Organisation
(WHO) phased out last year, are finding their way
to the patients, most of
whom are poor and desperate.
These are often
given away to the patients by either relatives of the
patients working in
the hospitals for onward distribution or some
unscrupulous health workers
who sell them at giveaway prices.
ARVs drugs are sold for about $15 to
$20 a course in pharmacies but health
workers are selling them for between
$1 and $5.
Stavudine was phased out by WHO after it was deemed to have
serious
life-threatening side effects. It has since been replaced by
Tenofovir.
Tenofovir is used with other medications to help control HIV
infection. It
helps decrease the amount of HIV in one’s body making the
immune system work
better.
It also lowers the risk of getting HIV
disease complications (such as new
infections or cancer).
According
to organisations fighting for the rights of people living with HIV
and Aids,
the new drug is more expensive than Stavudine.
Zimbabwe started
implementing the new WHO guidelines in April last year
prescribing the
phasing out of the drug Stavudine.
Some of the most-common side effects
of Stavudine are headaches, diarrhoea
and nausea.
In most cases,
however, the side effects are minor and can easily be treated
by health care
providers although in Zimbabwe such treatment is not readily
available.
Other side effects include yellowing of the skin or eyes,
and signs of an
allergic reaction, including an unexplained rash, hives,
itching,
unexplained swelling, wheezing, or difficulty in breathing or
swallowing.
Our investigations traced down the expired drugs to hospital
staff,
especially those manning Opportunistic Infection (OI)
units.
Most of those falling victim are bed-ridden Aids patients who are
no longer
able to visit health care centres to collect their
supply.
Caregivers have also been identified as culprits in this
life-threatening
development, as they are administering expired drugs,
although some of them
say they have no option but to distribute the drugs as
they are always
inundated with desperate patients.
Various reasons
have been cited for the use of expired drugs by Aids
patients.
“I
used to collect my ARVs in Chinhoyi where I was living with my niece
before
she relocated to Chitungwiza last year,” Nyaradzo Mutandwa (not her
real
name) who tested HIV positive five years ago and went on ARVs two years
later, said.
“Unfortunately, somewhere in the relocation process, my
hospital records
were misplaced and as a result I could not access my
treatment supplies
which dried up soon after arriving here.
“As a new
person in Chitungwiza who had no treatment records, I found it
prudent to
get the drugs from another patient in the neighbourhood which I
was to
replace once I got my supply. We are both using Stavudine,” she
said.
Davison Mugandani of Glen-Norah suburb, who takes care of his HIV
positive
bed-ridden brother, said queuing for drugs at Parirenyatwa Hospital
was
“tiresome”.
He now prefers the shortcut of sourcing the
life-saving drugs from the
parallel market.
“In as much as I would
like to take care of my brother, whom I have been
looking after for the past
four years, the tough thing is queuing for the
drugs when getting
resupply.
“The problem which makes it difficult for me to access the
drugs is time. I
am a self-employed person and losing a minute means losing
a dollar in my
life, so I find it easy to just get the drugs from friends
who I know have
access to them without hassles,” he said.
A woman who
identified herself as Amai Ngorima from Chitungwiza said: “My
husband has
vowed that he would never set foot at an OI clinic again citing
the lack of
privacy and congestion at the place.
“The rudeness displayed by some
nurses, the fact that one has to wait in a
shed waiting for one’s file to be
called out and the late opening times of
the pharmacy all combined, made him
lose interest. He therefore buys the
drugs from a man in our street who has
connections.”
Chitungwiza Hospital chief executive officer Obadiah Moyo
could neither deny
nor confirm that expired ARVs were being leaked from the
hospital by some
unscrupulous health workers.
“What I can say is that
there is no shortage of the drug at our hospital and
I find no reason why
such things could happen,” Moyo said.
“Furthermore we have gone an extra
mile of even giving patients a supply of
up to three months upon request,
like say a patient wants to travel out of
town for some time and fears might
not get the drug. To answer your question
on the leakage of expired drugs I
would not know what might be happening in
clinics around Chitungwiza because
we have decentralised ARV distribution to
ease congestion,” he
said.
One street dealer in the drugs, who preferred anonymity, was clear
on his
supply source: “I get my supply from the hospital guys. I do not
manufacture
them in my back yard. Every month I get a consignment and I am
saving many
lives in the process.”
National Aids Council
Communications officer Orirando Manwere said they were
not aware of the
development and promised to investigate.
“Since we are not on the ground
when it comes to drug dispensing, we will
share this information with the
Ministry of Health to investigate,” Manwere
said.
“Patients are
always advised to adhere to proper treatments guidelines at
hospitals or
through home-based care programmes, but there are always people
who prefer
short-cuts.
“We may not be aware where these expired drugs are coming
from, but
obviously it could be from the same patients who access them from
hospitals
or from private outlets.
“We call upon people to avoid
buying drugs from the black market because
that puts their health at risk,”
he said.
He warned against sourcing ARVs from relatives or any other
sources except
from hospitals which are registered to do so.
‘Mthwakazi
concerns are genuine’
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer
Sunday, 04 March 2012
11:03
HARARE - The secessionist agenda by Mthwakazi Liberation Front
(MLF) should
be taken serious because it is a reflection of the sentiments
and
frustrations of people in Matabeleland, analysts have said.
MLF
has been demanding secession from Zimbabwe, saying the Matabeleland and
Midlands regions have been marginalised since 1893 when whites colonised the
country.
The group wants the separate country to be called
Mthwakazi.
This political inclination by the group has courted criticism
and favour
from different quarters, with some saying this is a regional
agenda
detrimental to national aspirations while others say it is a credible
argument based on evidence on the ground.
Effie Ncube, a political
analyst based in Bulawayo said the MLF stance was a
reflection of the
frustrations of the Ndebele people as the Matabeleland
region has been
marginalised for too long.
“The position of Paul Siwela (one of MLF
leaders) is a reflection of the
feeling of marginalisation that is
distributed all over Matabeleland. “The
government has not taken the matter
seriously. It does not matter who
advances the agenda but it is a sentiment
that is shared by most Ndebele
people,” Ncube told the Daily News on
Sunday.
Ncube added that the secession agenda should be openly discussed
because
thwarting the subject would not help the country move
forward.
“Whether or not the nation is split into two must be open for
debate. In a
free democracy ideas are discussed openly and solutions are
found.
“We have to begin interrogating why Siwela and others believe in
the
separation of the country. It doesn’t help to arrest them and ignore
their
agenda. The issue must be tackled head-on instead of being thrashed,”
he
said.
Playwright and political commentator Cont Mhlanga said
secession was not the
best way forward because MLF was reacting to effects
rather than causes.
“I feel splitting of the nation is not the solution.
The Mthwakazi guys are
dealing with the effects rather than causes. People
who go into government
tend to fail to decentralise thinking, visions and
missions and that is the
reason why people are clamouring for the split,”
Mhlanga said.
He added: “However, Siwela and his fellows should be taken
serious because
why are they demanding the split 32 years after
independence? Why did not
they demand it immediately after
independence?
“The people have been patient, patient and patient hoping
that their demands
will be met. The government has been carelessly
marginalising regions and
this is a seed for a future civil war. This needs
to be addressed because I
believe in tackling causes rather than the
effects.”
Siwela said the Mthwakazi issue was a preserve of people of
Midlands and
Matabeleland.
He said those outside the two provinces
were foreigners who had no business
dictating what needed to be done in
Mthwakazi.
“Zimbabweans are led by a dictator and they are coming to our
state to
dictate to us what needs to be done.
In as far as we are
concerned the Mthwakazi debate is confined to
Matabeleland and Midlands. Any
other outsider who comes with his/her own
opinion is an outcast,” Siwela
said.
It's
impossible for MDC-T to lose elections: Chamisa
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
By Admore Tshuma 6 hours
56 minutes ago
ZIMBABWE's Minister of Information, Communication
and Technologies Nelson
Chamisa has declared in Britain that no political
party in Zimbabwe can
defeat the Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai particularly.
Chamisa who is also MDC-T
national organising secretary said, said this in a
rally in Britain this
weekend during a rally at the city Birmingham.
He said the talk that
MDC-T was afraid of an early election was a figment of
ZANU-PF’s
imagination. In contrast, the powerful speaking Chamisa said MDC-T
would
like to see SADC-recommended reforms instituted to avoid the last
election
drama in which election results were with-held by ZANU-PF for more
than a
month.
He said these reforms include a fresh voter registration process
and most
importantly: “We need to demilitarise villagers so that villagers
can go and
vote without fear of ZANU-PF militias”.
“With such a clear
conducive environment, I bet no political party can beat
the MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangarai. We have a very credible who has been
fearless and
consistent. At the moment ZBC is playing ZANU-PF jingles after
jingles, but
we are saying this is our time and our time is to govern
differently and
democratically,” he said.
“Many people have been asking whether we have
been effective in the
coalition government, my answer is yes. We have
emerged stronger and sharper
and as such we now have sharpened tactics,” he
said.
We are clear, we want a new constitution in Zimbabwe. We do have an
exit
strategy,” he said.
“We are fighting to have a diaspora vote
because the diaspora has been very
instrumentally in the struggle and I urge
exiled Zimbabweans to tell our
story to the international community as it,”
he said.
Chamisa said the MDC leader was positive that the end is “nigh”
and “we are
standing the threshold of proper liberation of all
Zimbabweans.
He said exiled Zimbabweans were genuinely victims of
ZANU-PF’s gross human
rights violations in Zimbabwe, hence should not be
marginalised in terms of
the political process.
He told more than 100
MDC-UK supporters that: “You are here in Britain not
because of your liking,
but because of circumstances. I am therefore here to
tell you that we are in
the deepest hour and the deepest hour is always
before dawn”.
“To
know the truth about the changing political situation in Zimbabwe you
need
to ask Jonathan Moyo. He is panicking because he knows things have
changed
no one wants ZANU-PF and everyone want Morgan Tsvangirai to be the
next
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” he said. - Zimdiaspora
MDC
'perched on shifting sand'
http://www.timeslive.co.za
MARK SCOFIELD | 04 March, 2012 00:19
A
little more than a decade ago, Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party stepped onto Zimbabwe's political stage.
The
emergence of a new political party, with roots in workers and civic
society
organisations, was greeted by jubilation and excitement from
voters.
Expectations were high that the MDC would unseat President Robert
Mugabe and
Zanu-PF, which had increasingly slipped into an authoritarian
style of rule,
with arbitrary arrests and political intimidation on the
rise. But 13 years
later, Mugabe is still in power - albeit much older, at
88.
Mugabe's continued grip on power appears to be the only thing that
has not
changed since the MDC's formation.
At his birthday
celebrations in Mutare last weekend a defiant Mugabe vowed
not to step down
and said: "I came from the people and the people in their
wisdom, our
members of the party, will certainly select someone once I say I
am
retiring, but not yet".
And as a third election face-off against Zanu-PF
beckons for the MDC - which
would end the three year-old unity government -
the MDC increasingly appears
to be perched on shifting sand.
A lot of
changes have taken place in the MDC since the days of its dazzling
entry
into Zimbabwe's politics in 1999.
The changes have now left some in
political circles convinced that "Morgan
Tsvangirai's moment has already
passed", according to a diplomat who
requested anonymity.
Listed
under its major turning point is the infamous MDC split in 2005,
which
greatly weakened it and allowed the state spy unit, the Central
Intelligence
Organisation, to infiltrate its structures.
Internal factionalism and
violence as highlighted by the contentious rise of
Gorden Moyo to the
control of the Bulawayo provincial chairmanship last
year, and corruption
allegations in urban councils, have dented the MDC's
credibility.
Months before elections, the MDC has yet to articulate
its election
manifesto, giving rise to speculation among observers that
besides removing
Mugabe from power, the party may genuinely be bankrupt of
any ideas on how
to move the country forward from its political and economic
stalemate.
In contrast, Zanu-PF has underpinned indigenisation and
empowerment as its
central election plank, and is going all out to boost its
charm offensive
among voters.
Harare Is
51% Male - Harare City Council Survey
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, March 04, 2012 - In an
interesting turn of events Zimbabwe's capital
city, Harare, is 51 percent
male and 49 percent female, a Harare City
Council (HCC) survey has just
revealed.
"This is mainly because the males have come from the rural
areas to find
work here while their wives are left behind," said a senior
HCC official.
This is despite the fact that the nation's population is
about 52 percent
female, according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO)
now known as
Zimbabwe Statistic office (Zimstats).
The official said
this information had come out after a survey was done by
the Council on the
city's population.
He said Harare currently has a population of 2,8
million and a growth rate
of about 5,8 percent.
"The reticulation
system is out-dated and can no longer cope with the
increasing population,"
the official said.
"Most of the equipment being used was built during the
days when Ian Smith
was a child. You can, therefore, imagine just how old
the equipment is. It
cannot cope any longer and we need lots of cash to
maintain it."
Smith is the late former Prime Minister of Rhodesia which
became Zimbabwe on
April 18, 1980 after a protracted liberation
struggle.
The official said there were many "naughty citizens" who did
not put their
litter in the dust bins and thus the huge pile of dirt around
the capital
city which used to be known as the Sunshine City.
"We are
working with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) in trying to
bring
back the sunshine status of Harare," he said.
"Unfortunately we do not
have enough cash to do so and we need all your help
at home. Just pick up
the litter after yourself and do not just leave it
lying there."
Key
to economic progress
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Greg Mills | 04 March, 2012 00:19
By 1980s,
Zimbabwe was reputed to be one of the most industrialised
economies per
capita in the world, the sector accounting for one-quarter of
national
production.
Today Zimbabwe is a commodity exporter, reliant on sending
unrefined gold,
agriculture products, diamonds, platinum and people abroad
to keep itself
going.
Most, apparently, know the "story" of
Zimbabwe's decline. A bitter
liberation war, which ended in 1980, was
followed by a period of political
reconciliation and economic
progress.
In the mid-1990s, however, faced with the option of continuing
with painful
structural economic reforms or taking another route, the
government chose
the latter, easier, way out.
And so began the
seizure of land from 4000 white commercial farmers and its
redistribution,
in part, to political lackeys of President Robert Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF,
along with an attempt to force through a new constitution
cementing Zanu-PF
rule.
The rejection of the latter in a national referendum in February
2000 saw
Zanu-PF accelerate the land seizures - the economy tumbled and
politics
hardened with the emergence of a union-based opposition in the MDC.
Fast
forward a turbulent decade, and the MDC has become Zanu-PF's government
partner after a disputed election saw the creation of a unity government in
February 2009.
Under MDC stewardship, the Zimbabwe dollar was
scrapped and the economy
stabilised.
Today tobacco production has
recovered to about one-third of its previous
levels, mainly through the
efforts of small-holder farmers and the remaining
200 or so white commercial
farmers.
Gold production, which fell from 27 tons in 1999 to 3.5 tons in
2003, has
recovered on the back of higher prices, operating now at about 50%
capacity.
The MDC finance team has managed to increase monthly revenue
income from
$4-million in 2009 to $300-million in 2011.
But huge
problems remain, especially staggering rural poverty and
countrywide
joblessness. There are the same number of formal sector jobs
today (850000)
as there were in 1980, though the population has nearly
trebled since then
to 13 million.
The analysis that suggests that Mugabe and Zanu-PF are
responsible for all
of Zimbabwe's problems is incorrect, even though
together they have
undoubtedly made them far worse.
The problem is
that no Zimbabwean, white or black, at least until the advent
of the MDC,
ever believed in market forces.
White racial socialism in an isolated,
import-substitution economy, gave way
in 1980 to black
socialism.
Neither could work. As Ronald Reagan once reminded, the
problem with
socialism is that you eventually run out of someone else's
money.
There is little surprise that it all went bad in the mid-1990s.
Not only did
the Cold War end, but it coincided with the emergence of a
democratic South
Africa. Appearing the best regional non-racial example and
being able to
play the global race card for aid and sympathy suddenly lost
its currency.
So Mugabe went back to creating a feudal system, where the
elite were kept
on-side through patronage and the remainder
poverty-stricken.
In this he has adroitly used a combination of land
distribution, diamonds
and threat of indigenisation of foreign property.
This strategy has kept
Zimbabweans pitifully poor, poorer than they were, on
average, in
independence in 1980.
Male life expectancy has declined
since 1990 from 60 to 42 years. Infant
mortality rate climbed sharply from
53 to 81 deaths per 1000 live births
over the same period.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has noted that this boils down to two
socio-economic challenges: "A young population which is ill-educated and
unemployed, and an economy that has shrunk by 50% over a decade." Yet a
different future requires, he realises, changing the economic make-up and
not simply reinstating the traditional economic drivers of minerals,
tourism, and agriculture which, along with remittances and transportation
fees to the Congo and Zambia, is where most Zimbabwean business-people are
focused for future improvements.
The MDC has instead a vision of a
$100-billion economy, a return if you will
to the heyday when Supersonic
made radios.
But this will require at least three things happening:
First, moving from
short-term stabilisation and subsistence to enabling
longer-term policies to
attract all-important foreign investment, acquire
debt relief from the
$9.1-billion borrowings and arrears, and deal with the
infrastructure
backlog.
Second, it requires discarding a
protectionist mindset, one linked to the
liberation struggle, a
"them-and-us" mentality.
And third, as Finance Minister Tendai Biti
reminds, Zimbabwe has to break
out of the cyclical crises that have
characterised its economy and politics
for the past 100 years. And the
requirement for all this, he says, is to be
"liberated from politics".
Mugabe's
men who ensure he stays put
http://www.timeslive.co.za
MARK SCOFIELD | 04 March, 2012
00:19
President Robert Mugabe's party Zanu-PF may be facing its toughest
election
battle in its 32-year-old grip on power.
The party has
overtly shown that it will not back down from the fight to
dominate
Zimbabwe's political landscape just yet.
The next election is important
as it would end the three-year-old unity
government that Zanu-PF brokered
with the rival Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in February 2009, and
would give way to an elected government
to take power.
Zanu-PF has
wrested power from the MDC, which was formed in 1999 to unseat
it from
power, through a mixture of violence, intimidation and patronage. It
has
also resisted sanctions against its top brass imposed by the European
Union
in 2001 and the US in 2003.
While Mugabe has towered over the party and
reined-in factionalism that
threatened to tear it apart, Zanu-PF has mostly
relied on key figures to
marshal it forward and deliver victory at
elections.
The Sunday Times this week tracks the oscillation of power
between key
figures in Zanu-PF in presidential elections from 2002 to the
upcoming one.
2002 Presidential Election
Former i nformation and p
ublicity m inister Jonathan Moyo single-handedly
managed Zanu-PF's election
campaign in the hotly contested 2002 presidential
poll . He turned the
party's fortunes around after it had been stunned by
the emergence of the
MDC and its growing support. Moyo stepped into the
foray when Zanu-PF was
still smarting from the February 2000 rejection of a
referendum on a new
constitution, perceived to be thumbs-up to the MDC and
its links in civic
society.
A brutal Zanu-PF election campaign unfolded, hinging on farm
invasions and
sharp talk of a "Third Chimurenga" - a denotation of the
militant stance
Zanu-PF had assumed against the opposition.
The
opposition included "sell-outs" such as private and foreign media
journalists, civic society groups and MDC activists.
Moyo also
enacted a raft of media laws - whose effects are still being felt
today -
among them the draconian Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act.
He also upped the use of propaganda jingles in the state media in
support of
Mugabe.
Land reform became the centrepiece of Zanu-PF's
election campaign in 2002 as
the party sought to cast itself as being under
attack from Western
imperialists opposed to its attempt to correct the
colonial injustices of
land ownership.
2008 Presidential
Election
After Moyo's stint , the baton was passed to Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
Governor Gideon Gono. Gono had his work cut out for him - six years
after
the 2002 election, the country's economy had collapsed.
The
rhetoric of land and a "Third Chimurenga" had lost its shine, as
hyper-inflation tore into the economy, leaving a trail of empty supermarket
shelves, long queues at banks and wads of useless Zim dollars in people's
hands. Seen as Zanu-PF's "saviour" then, Gono halted the party's collapse by
printing more Zim dollars and financing Zanu-PF activities with the printed
money.
The election manifesto of land redistribution, however,
continued to be the
central plank of Zanu-PF's election campaign with
tractors, fertiliser and
farming inputs given free to rural voters as Gono
bankrolled Mugabe's
campaign efforts throughout the country.
At the
time, Gono was widely feared in the country by businesses and within
political circles, and had risen to being the de facto second-most important
person after Mugabe.
However, the shine is coming off Gono as the RBZ
strongman stands accused by
his former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke, of
"stealing millions" for his
personal use.
Next
Election
Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere is
the youngest
serving cabinet minister and has strongly emerged as Zanu-PF's
man of the
moment.
Kasukuwere is tasked with winning elections for
Zanu-PF using the
indigenisation drive and the take-over of mining companies
to ratchet up
support with voters.
His political star has, as a
result, also been rising, with talk of the
young minister being a "Young
Turk", and mooted as a likely successor to the
88-year-old
Mugabe.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said: "Kasukuwere is known
to harbour
political ambitions for higher office, but only time will tell
whether
Mugabe considers him a part of his inner circle, or like Julius
Malema was
to South African President Jacob Zuma, he will just be a useful
cog that
will be cast away as soon as he has outlived his
usefulness."
But for now the 41-year-old Kasukuwere seems bent on
focusing his energy on
implementing the 51% indigenisation law, with few
clues being given away
over his political ambitions. He has cast himself as
a firebrand youth
leader, champion of the poor and a vehement opponent of
Western imperialism,
who is bent on ensuring that Zimbabwe controls its
mineral and economic
resources.
The next election is likely to be
bloody, as foreign companies will take the
fall for Zanu-PF's desperation to
win the election and curry favour from
voters at whatever cost- regardless
of how high that might be.
Obert
Mpofu: Fact sheet
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Sunday, 04 March 2012
11:15
RARE - As the Daily News tries to unravel Mines minister Obert
Moses Mpofu's
proposed acquisition of the financially-crippled Zimbabwe
Allied Banking
Group (ZABG), we hereby present a fact sheet on
him.
Mpofu’s term as Mines minister has spawned allegations that
he has failed to
ensure transparency across the value chain of Marange
diamonds, from
extraction to the marketing of the gems, which are
contributing little to
the fiscus allegedly because of the murky manner in
which these resources
are being mined and sold.
- Mpofu, previously
the governor of Matabeleland North province, was first
appointed minister by
President Robert Mugabe in mid-April 2005 to head the
Industry and
International Trade portfolio following the March 2005
legislative
vote.
- Following the 2008 election where his party suffered a
devastating
electoral defeat, Obiza, as he is affectionately known, was
appointed Mines
minister in a new coalition government between his Zanu PF
and Prime
Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
- Tension has been mounting between Mpofu - a staunch Mugabe ally
- and
Finance minister Tendai Biti over proceeds from Marange diamonds.
Mpofu
accuses Biti and the PM of electioneering by alleging leakages in
diamond
revenue, saying his ministry contributes $30 million every month to
the
Finance ministry.
- Mpofu, born in October 1951, started off as a
civil servant in government
service until 1985. He joined Tregers Group in
Bulawayo, where he was the
managing director from 1985. Tregers Group was
one of the successful
industries in Bulawayo.
- Mpofu was forced to
resign from Tregers in 1988 and got a golden handshake
he claims he used to
start businesses. He was fired after he blew the
whistle on deep-rooted
corruption in the upper echelons of government and
the ruling party in what
came to be dubbed the “Willowgate” scandal.
Willowgate went viral after
it exploded in the Bulawayo-based Chronicle
newspaper and it forced Mugabe
to appoint a commission of inquiry — Zimbabwe’s
first judicial commission —
to probe the scandal. When the Sandura
Commission, named for its chairman,
Justice Wilson Sandura, completed its
own hearings, five senior government
ministers, including two of Mugabe’s
three most senior lieutenants and a
provincial governor, were forced to
resign.
One of them, Maurice
Nyagumbo, committed suicide.
- After getting his golden handshake from
Tregers, Mpofu starts off his
business venture as a pub owner, running the
Green Haven in Bulawayo. Goes
into cattle ranching in 1993 and amasses a
massive herd believed to the
biggest in Matabeleland North.
- A
wealthy man, Mpofu's major business is Kanondo Safaris - a massive
hunting
concession in the country's north-west. With previously unknown
involvement
in Zimbabwe's financial sector, it is his foreseen entry - at a
time banks
are majorly struggling - that has aroused major interest.
- As a major
cattle rancher, he says he has never been a poor man.
- An alleged Mugabe
informant in the Matabeleland provinces, the rotund
minister is reportedly
the whistle-blower behind the 1980s Willowgate
scandal.
- Mpofu is
also a trained journalist and owns one of Bulawayo's tallest
buildings York
House - bought from Old Mutual in the late 90s. In recent
months, he has
been on a property buying spree in Victoria Falls, including
houseboats,
supermarkets and houses (for employees).
- He graduated from the Zimbabwe
Open University last year with a policy
studies doctorate and also claims to
be a holder of two diplomas, a bachelor’s
degree and two master’s
degrees.
TIMELINE
1966-67: Member of Zapu Youth
Movement
1968: Underwent Zipra military training at Morogoro Camp in
Tanzania.
1973: Left the war to undertake academic study.
1980:
Active provincial member of Zanu in Matabeleland North.
1987-90:
Following the signing of Unity Accord between Zapu and Zanu
in 1987,
Mpofu is appointed non-constituency MP in Parliament.
1990-95: Elected MP
for Bubi-Umguza
2000: Lost Bubi-Umguza election to MDC.
1995-2005:
Served as provincial governor and resident minister for
Matabeleland
North.
2005-09: Appointed Industry minister and leads a major crackdown
on
businesses under a 'price monitoring regime' created to keep commodity
prices down.
2009 to date: Mines minister in Mugabe's coalition
government with
Tsvangirai.
In the face
of desperate Zimbabwe poverty, a Jewish woman provides hope
In what
the UN considers the poorest country in the world, life expectancy is just 47
years, and one in four children are AIDS orphans. Ruth Feigenbaum has created a
support network for the bereaved families
By Suzanne Belling March 4,
2012, 9:28 am
With the help of a physician friend, Phiri was
diagnosed: Like nearly one in seven Zimbabweans, he was infected with HIV.
Feigenbaum and her husband, Alan, were about to leave for a trip, but they left
Phiri with money and food.
It wasn’t enough. Three days later he was
dead.
“It upset me beyond belief,” Feigenbaum told JTA. “Who
would support his family and so many of the relatives and orphans of those who
died from AIDS-related illnesses?”
Ruth Feigenbaum with aids
orphan Ruth Thabini Dube. (Photo credit: JTA)
A veteran of the fight against apartheid in South Africa
— Feigenbaum was an active member of Black Sash, an advocacy organization that
Nelson Mandela once called “the conscience of white SA” — she responded to
Phiri’s death by founding a support group for families affected by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
In the years since, Feigenbaum has become a major player
in helping care for Zimbabweans affected by the disease, working her
international Jewish connections for financial and other support she uses to
alleviate suffering in a country that the United Nations considers the poorest
in the world. Life expectancy there is just 47 years, and one in four children
are AIDS orphans.
With assistance from World Jewish Relief in London,
Feigenbaum launched the Support Group of Families of the Terminally Ill, or
SGOFOTI, an apolitical, nongovernmental organization that provides emotional and
psychological support to the families of HIV/AIDS victims in Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe’s second largest city, where Feigenbaum lives.
Along with partner Patricia Tshabalala, a woman
Feigenbaum calls Zimbabwe’s Mother Theresa, Feigenbaum has built SGOFOTI into an
organization encompassing seven constituent groups serving a cross-generational
spectrum, from children orphaned by the disease to grandmothers struggling to
support families who have lost their breadwinner — all this in a country with
weak civic institutions and a culture of fear cultivated by the iron fist of
strongman President Robert Mugabe.
‘It has taught them that not all whites are racist, and
they have learned something about Jews and Judaism from
me’
“I don’t play bridge or go to tea parties, so this gives
me something to do in Bulawayo,” said Feigenbaum, who visits each group on a
weekly basis. “But I get just as much out of it as the people. It has also
taught them that not all whites are racist, and they have learned something
about Jews and Judaism from me.”
One of the SGOFOTI’s member groups is Vulindlela
Guardians, located in the Bulawayo suburb of Mpopoma. The group provides
orphaned children with school fees, clothing and a place of
refuge.
In 2009, Feigenbaum helped provide the group with a
library through her connections to several Jewish South African expatriates
living in Australia. Two women — one a former student of Feigenbaum’s from
Johannesburg — had been distributing recycled books to African children through
the Union of Jewish Women of South Africa. Feigenbaum persuaded them to donate a
shipment to establish a library for the children at Vulindlela
Guardians.
The books were delivered personally by South Africa’s
“Traveling Rabbi,” Moshe Silberhaft, for whom the library was named. At the
dedication last year, a South African television crew shot footage for a
documentary titled “Shalom the Beloved Country.”
“The library will help inculcate a culture of reading
for the children,” Bulawayo Mayor Thaba Moyo said during the ceremony, according
to text of the mayor’s remarks provided by Silberhaft. “You have equipped our
city with great ammunition, which is education. We note that education is vital
in spearheading development in our society.”
Feigenbaum and her husband are among the last Jews in
Bulawayo, a community that once numbered more than 1,000 and is now down to a
few dozen. The couple manages to keep a kosher home only with help from
Silberhalf, who sends them necessary supplies from abroad.
In her work with local Zimbabweans, Feigenbaum has
introduced some Jewish teachings. During the library dedication, she had tears
in her eyes watching the orphans sing songs in the two main indigenous
Zimbabwean languages, Shona and Ndebele, as well as in English and
Hebrew.
“They greet me on every visit with a ‘shalom’ and thank
me by saying ‘toda raba,’ ” Feigenbaum said. “At Pesach time, with the matzah
sent to us by Rabbi Moshe, I arrange a third seder so they can learn a little
about our customs.”
Feigenbaum’s efforts have helped engender warm feelings
toward the Jewish community in a desperate place where few people have any
firsthand exposure to Jews or Jewish customs. Following the library dedication,
Tshabalala wrote an earnest letter to Silberhaft thanking him for his
efforts.
“Please tell the Jewish community I thank them for their
love, care and support,” Tshabalala wrote last year to Silberhaft, “and for
making me and my people part of their family.”
France grabs
loot of Mr I’ll Take the Lot
France grabs
loot of Mr I’ll Take the Lot
Matthew
Campbell, Paris – Published: 4
March 2012
Dictators
from the developing world have long considered France a reliable bolthole. The
shopping and hospitals are good and the politicians too polite to inquire about
the origins of cash invested by the truckload in properties across
Paris.
Not any more.
The recent confiscation by French authorities of hundreds of millions of pounds
of property from the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea is a dramatic
shift away from France’s customary tolerance of cash being stashed on its
territory.
The
five-storey mansion with more than 100 rooms at No 42 Avenue Foch, one of
Paris’s most affluent streets, has been described by investigators as an “Ali
Baba’s cave” and a “palace from The 1,001 Nights” with its gold and
jewel-encrusted taps, spa room, hair salon and basement disco where Teodorin
Obiang liked to hold parties with high-class prostitutes.
Acting on the
orders of judges investigating the allegedly ill-gotten gains of African
leaders, bailiffs seized crates of treasure from the house, including
silverware, antique furniture, wine worth £2m and a Piaget watch for which
Obiang had paid £500,000. They had already removed 16 luxury cars, including
Ferraris and Maseratis, at the end of last year.
Many of the
confiscated artworks and furniture had previously belonged to Yves Saint
Laurent. Obiang spent £15m on 109 lots at the auction of the late fashion
designer’s estate, described as “the sale of the century”, in
2009.
“We’re very
happy to see the authorities taking action,” said Maud Perdriel Vaissière, head
of Sherpa, the anti-corruption group that triggered what is known as the “case
of the ill-gotten gains” by accusing three African leaders of looting their
countries to acquire luxury assets in France. “The confiscation of goods shows
that the allegations we made are real.”
The Obiang
family are said to have assets of £133m in France and the president’s son, who
earns £2,500 a month as the minister of agriculture, has acquired properties in
several other countries.
In America,
authorities have seized £42m of his assets, including a mansion in Malibu,
California, worth £30m, a private jet, luxury sports cars and a white,
crystal-encrusted glove that belonged to Michael Jackson.
Investigators
believe Obiang paid for it all with a tax he imposed on foreign logging firms in
Equatorial Guinea but Emmanuel Marsigny, his lawyer, last week denied that he
had embezzled the money.
Marsigny said
the French investigation and seizure of property violated international law,
claiming that Obiang had diplomatic immunity and that his house was a diplomatic
mission. He sued for libel last week.
From Mobutu
Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Jean-Claude “Baby Doc”
Duvalier, dictators who have fallen out of favour among their people have often
settled in France on the understanding that they will be well protected by the
authorities.
Omar Bongo,
the late Gabonese leader, is one of several African leaders said to have handed
over large sums to French politicians to help fund their
campaigns.
His family’s
39 French properties and 70 French bank accounts are now under scrutiny in the
ill-gotten gains case. So are the houses and other French assets of Denis
Sassou-Nguesso, leader of the Republic of Congo, and his
family.
The
investigation has thrown a spotlight on the extraordinary lifestyle of some
African leaders. In one 12-month period, Sassou-Nguesso is said to have paid
£550,000 to his Parisian tailor for made-to-measure suits.
Obiang’s
neighbours knew that he was about to arrive in his private jet when lorryloads
of flowers were delivered to the house. A parade of couturiers and wine
merchants would later follow: Obiang’s favourite expression was: “I’ll take the
lot.”
One of his
former employees told investigators: “He led the same lifestyle in France, in
America and in Brazil.”
Many people
in Equatorial Guinea are barely scraping a living but, according to
investigators, some of the upstairs rooms in Obiang’s pleasure palace resembled
the menswear floor of a department store, with rows of suits and piles of
pullovers.
“His
excellency”, as staff were invited to call him, spent £15m just on decorating
the home. A former employee said Obiang would always pay with cash. He kept
suitcases stuffed with banknotes at the house. “Once they were emptied, he would
send back to Equatorial Guinea for more.”
For now,
though, the shopping spree appears to be over.
A few questions . . . Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 3rd March 2012
Zimbabweans in the UK
who heard about the low-key visit by ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa were puzzled to
be told by the organisers ‘ask no questions’.
Chamisa had
accompanied Tsvangirai and Biti to a conference in Johannesburg to drum up
investment in Zimbabwe: ‘Everything’s wonderful or is going to be’ was the
message. Perhaps disappointed by the take-up, he came straight on to Birmingham
for a fundraising trip. But the vigil was puzzled at the instruction to MDC UK
members: ‘No questions for the minister responsible for information and
communications’.
MDC members might be
prevented from asking questions but here are a few from the Vigil: Does Mr
Chamisa think that any investor in his right mind will risk his money in
Zimbabwe given the lunatic indigenization proposals? (however ‘wonderful’ the
opportunities).
Here’s another
question: What did the Prime Minister mean when he told the Wall Street Journal
of his discussions with Mugabe: ‘It’s a conversation between two people who have
worked three years together for the good of their country?’ (See: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/feb29_2012.html#Z1
– Tsvangirai Says 'Unity' Government to continue).
Mugabe working for
the good of his country? ‘Murder, rape and torture’, as our banner reads – good
for the country? Poverty, starvation and disease – good for the country?
Corruption, looting and lawlessness – good for the country?
In brief, Mugabe –
Syrian slaughter supporter – good for Zimbabwe? The Vigil thinks Mr Tsvangirai
should seek advice from his information and communications people . . . or
perhaps not!
Other
points
·
About 30 people
turned up at our second Zimbabwe Action Forum. After lively discussion on how we
could make a difference, a team of 5 were tasked with bringing a proposal for
action to the next meeting.
·
During the Vigil,
Zimbabwe We Can held a well-attended meeting chaired by its President Ephraim
Tapa. It dispelled malicious propaganda that he had been deposed.
·
Deportation update:
unfortunately Thembie was sent back to Swaziland where she is now in hiding.
David Moyo was taken to Heathrow where, according to his mother, he asked to
speak to the pilot who refused to take him. Our campaign recommended contacting
pilots’ trade unions and it seems this is helping. David is back in
detention.
·
The Vigil stresses
that it’s important to get the right legal advice if you are facing deportation
and recommends seeking help from the Zimbabwe Association who have a lot of
experience and can warn you off some unsatisfactory practitioners who can do
grave disservice to their clients.
·
We are glad to
promote at the Vigil a wonderful initiative by the Globe Theatre to mark Olympic
year by putting on all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different languages in a
festival running from 21st April to 9th June. They sent us
posters for a Shona production of ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ taking place on
9th and 10th May. See Events and Notices for details. It
is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a Shona production at the
reconstructed Globe Theatre in London for only £5 (see http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/plays/the-two-gentlemen-verona/english
and http://www.twogentsproductions.com/).
FOR THE
RECORD: 50 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
ROHR North East
general meeting. Saturday
10th March from 12 noon – 3 pm. Venue: Gateshead Civic Centre, Regent
Street, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1HH. 3 mins walk from Gateshead Interchange
and Metro station before Police Station. Free parking available. For directions
please contact Hazvineyi Choto 07424524910, Susan Ndlovu 07838872435 or Tapiwa
Merrymore Semwayo 07722060246.
·
Next Swaziland
Vigil. Saturday
10th March from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi friends. Nearest
stations: St James’s Park and Victoria.
·
Zimbabwe Action
Forum. Saturday
7th April from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel (first
floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the same
road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the direction
away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the south side
of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo Bridge. The
entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its famous Indian
restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest underground:
Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn.
·
Two Gentlemen of
Verona Shona Production at the Globe
Theatre, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT. Dates /
Times: Wednesday 9
May, 2.30pm. Thursday 10 May, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 - £35 (700 £5 tickets
available) from 020 7401 9919 and www.shakespearesglobe.com. A two-man
Zimbabwean riot of love, friendship and betrayal. From Verona to Milan, via
Harare and Bulawayo, two great friends, Valentine and Proteus, vie for the love
of the same woman. In a triumphantly energetic ‘township’ style, Denton Chikura
and Tonderai Munyevu slip into all of the play’s fifteen characters – from
amorous suitors to sullen daughters, depressed servants and even a dog – in this
new, specially commissioned translation.
·
Zimbabwe Vigil
Highlights 2011 can be viewed on this
link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch other
Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
Bill Watch 8/2012 of 4th March [Revival of Electoral Amendment Bill and Human Rights Commission Bill]
BILL
WATCH 8/2012
[4th March
2012]
Both
the Senate and the House of Assembly have adjourned until Tuesday 13th
March
Highlights
for Next Sitting of Parliament
Electoral Amendment Bill and Human Rights Commission
Bill Minister of Defence Emerson
Mnangagwa, in his capacity as Acting Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, gave
notice of motions to restore both these important Bills to the Order Paper. This followed a decision to proceed with the
Bills taken by the GPA principals at their meeting on Monday 27th February. The motions are expected to be dealt with
when the House resumes on 13th March. [Veritas summarised and commented on the
Electoral Amendment Bill in Bill Watches 37 and 38 of 15th September 2011; and
covered the Human Rights Commission Bill in Bill Watches 41 and 42/2011 of 9th
October 2011.] [Copies of both Bills and these issues of Bill Watch are available
from veritas@mango.zw.]
Request for Private Members Bill to Amendment to Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act Hon Gonese of MDC-T gave
notice of a motion seeking permission to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to
amend section 121(3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. [Note:
Section 121(3) is the controversial provision under which the prosecution
can block the release of an accused person on bail while the Attorney-General decides whether or not to appeal against the grant of bail. Both the main MDC formations have long
complained that the provision has been routinely misused by the State, and a
recent High Court judgment has roundly condemned its use in a recent case. Mr Gonese’s Bill is a response to the
inclusive government’s failure to come up with a Bill – in spite of agreement
between by the GPA negotiators, and an instruction from the GPA principals to
the Minister of Justice, the Commissioner-General of Police and the
Attorney-General, that a Government Bill on the subject should be prepared. The Attorney-General has defended his office’s use of section 121(3) and said he would
not play a part in amending the provision.]
[Note: The Bill is not yet available.]
Motion to revive the Public Order and Security [POSA ]Amendment Bill This Private Member’s Bill
was introduced by Hon Gonese in 2009, passed by the House of Assembly in
December 2010 and transmitted to the Senate where it has stuck ever since. It lapsed at the end of the last session of
Parliament, and Mr Gonese’s motion to restore it to the Senate Order Paper has
been awaiting finalisation since the beginning of the present session in
September 2011. But the motion was not
debated last week, so it has been carried forward to the 13th March
In Parliament last Week
Both Houses sat on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th February
only. The main reason given for not
sitting on Thursday was the holding in Bulawayo of the Liaison and Coordination
Committee Retreat running from 1st to 4th March. [The Liaison and Coordination Committee is
the committee responsible for coordinating the scheduling of all committee
business; liaising with the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders; liaising
with the Speaker and the President of the Senate about which MPs and Senators
will attend conferences, seminars, workshops, etc; and reporting annually to the
House and the Senate. The members of the
committee are the chairpersons of the Portfolio and Thematic Committees, the
chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, the Chief Whips and the
chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Women’s Caucus.]
In the Senate
With a short agenda, the Senate sat for 23 minutes on Tuesday and 13
minutes on Wednesday. Senator Hlalo
contributed to the ongoing debate on Senator Komichi’s motion on the state of
the media and deplored the content of a ZBC TV programme on the constitution-making process. Senator Mumvuri wound up
the debate on his take note motion on the proceedings of the 2010 Conference of
the African Parliamentary Union.
Deaths Senators observed a minute’s
silence in honour of the late Senator Gladys Dube, elected MDC-T Senator for
Mabutweni, who died on 26th December.
Senator Enna Chitsa, elected MDC-T Senator for Masotsha-Ndlovu, died in
Bulawayo on 2nd March.
In the House of Assembly
Deaths Members observed a minute’s
silence in honour of two members who died during the Christmas adjournment: Hon
Ziteya, ZANU-PFMP for Shamva South, who died on 17th December, and Hon Betty
Chikava, ZANU-PF MP for Mount Darwin East, who died on 12th January.
Bills
Urban Councils Amendment Bill
Hon Matimba’s Private Member’s Bill was given its First Reading and
referred to the Parliamentary Legal
Committee for a report on the Bill’s compatibility with the
Constitution. [Bill
available from veritas@mango.zw]
Motions Only two of several motions on the Order Paper were discussed:
On the Public Service Audit Most of Tuesday afternoon
was taken up by debate on this motion, which calls for the report on the audit
to be presented to the House together with a Government “roadmap” for dealing
with the problem of unlawfully employed workers appearing on the State
payroll. Members from all parties
contributed to a lively debate, to be continued when the House resumes on 13th
March. [Note: The audit was completed in November
2010 and referred to the Cabinet last year.
Cabinet directed that it be verified by the Public Service
Commission. The Minister of Public
Service will have an opportunity to respond before the debate ends.]
On unconstitutional statements by service chiefs Winding up the debate on his
motion, Hon Chikwinya explained that he had delayed doing so because the
Minister of Defence had said he would make a statement to the House, with input
from the service chiefs, on the issues raised.
As the Minister had not kept his promise, it was now time to pass the
motion without waiting any longer. Hon
Chikwinya asked Deputy
Prime Minister Mutambara, who was present, to take note that the House was
displeased by motions it had passed being treated as merely academic and never
being put into practice. When the House
passed a motion, it expected appropriate action to be taken. The motion was then passed. [Note:
The motion condemns unconstitutional and treasonous statements that bring into disrepute the professional
institutions of the Army and the Police; requests the relevant institutions to
reaffirm their loyalty to the constitution and the laws of Zimbabwe; and directs
relevant authorities to carry out investigations into the said utterances and
make the findings public.
Prime Minister’s Question Time This was cancelled as the Prime Minister was in South Africa at a
Forum on Investment in Zimbabwe.
Questions for Ministers were dealt with instead.
Topics covered included:
Police road blocks and corruption The Deputy Prime Minister
assured the House that Cabinet had considered public disquiet over the frequency
and number of roadblocks and had directed the co-Ministers of Home Affairs to
investigate the matter. Corrupt
solicitation of bribes and the levying of spot fines at roadblocks would also be
looked into.
Typhoid and other health issues The Minister of Health and
Child Welfare said there had been only one death out of thousands of typhoid
cases treated, and that his Ministry and other Ministries were working to
eliminate the water and sanitation problems that allowed the disease to
flourish; 30 of the country’s districts had been identified as “potentially
susceptible” to typhoid outbreaks. The
Minister also dealt at length with the Ministry’s efforts to phase out user fees
at Government hospitals; and its measures to ensure achievement of Millennium
Development Goals to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV and
AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Government debts to parastatals and local authorities The Minister of Finance gave
details of the Government’s $300 million accumulated debts to entities such as
ZESA, ZINWA, telephone service providers and local authorities. Failure to pay Government’s bills was
attributed to last year’s unbudgeted $400 million pay increase for public
servants.
Committee on Privileges
The Speaker announced that Hon Gumbo has replaced Hon Mnangagwa as a
member of the Committee of Privileges appointed to investigate the case of
contempt of Parliament against SMM administrator Gwaradzimba. Mr Gwaradzimba’s lawyers had lodged an
objection to Hon Mnangagwa, citing his prior involvement in the SMM saga.
Abuse of Constituency Development Funds
Three MPs in court over alleged CDF misuse Three members of the House
of Assembly have appeared in court and been remanded on bail on allegations of
misuse of Constituency Development Funds, following investigations by the
Anti-Corruption Commission:
· Marvellous Khumalo, MDC-T MP for St Mary’s
· Franco Ndambukwa, ZANU-PF
MP for Magunje
· Albert Mhlanga, MDC-T MP for Pumula.
Pending trial the MPs retain their full rights as MPs and may
continue to sit and vote in the House and receive their salaries and
allowances. But they risk losing their
seats if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for six months or more [Constitution, section 42].
Other cases being investigated At least one other MP from
ZANU-PF has been referred to the
Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.
And more cases are possible – the Ministry of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs has so far audited only 65 constituencies out of a total
of 210. It was these audits that
resulted in the four cases referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Update
on Bills
[Copies of all these Bills available from veritas@mango.zw]
Bills passed by Parliament
awaiting Presidential assent/gazetting as Acts
Small Enterprises Development Corporation [SEDCO] Amendment Bill [sent to President’s Office by Parliament on
30th September 2011]
Deposit Protection Corporation Bill [sent to President’s Office by Parliament on
8th December 2011] [Comment: The delays over gazetting these two pieces of
legislation have not been officially explained.
Section 51(2) of the Constitution calls for the President to assent or
withhold assent to a Bill within 21 days of its presentation to
him.]
Bill awaiting Second Reading
in the House of Assembly
National Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill
Bill awaiting Report from
Parliamentary Legal Committee
Urban Councils Amendment Bill
[referred to PLC 29th February 2011]
Bill gazetted and awaiting
presentation [this can be introduced in
either House]
Older Persons Bill [gazetted
9th September 2011]
Lapsed Bills from previous
session awaiting restoration to Senate Order Paper
Public Order and Security [POSA] Amendment Bill [Private Member’s Bill]
Lapsed Bills from previous
session awaiting restoration to House of Assembly Order Paper
Electoral Amendment Bill
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill.
Statutory
Instruments and General Notices
Statutory
Instruments Only two SIs were gazetted in the Government
Gazette of 2nd March – SI 24/2012 [rents, service charges and supplementary
charges for Masvingo City Council’s incorporated areas] and SI 25/2012
[Mberengwa Rural District Council’s new traffic by-laws, dealing mainly with
parking of vehicles].
General
Notices GNs 45 to 113/2012 publish lists of suppliers
approved by the State Procurement Board for the purposes of the Procurement Act
for the period March 2012 to February 2013.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied