http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
19:34
ZIMBABWE will have a new constitution by April next year despite
delays in
launching the outreach programme to gather people's input into the
supreme
law, a cabinet minister said last week.
Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga who has
been answering
questions from anxious Zimbabweans on Kubatana.net, an online
platform for
civil society activists, said the outreach would finally start
later this
month.
The Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) had
said the
programme would start three weeks after the training of rapporteurs
that
ended on April 9.
However, little has happened to show that
the committee is ready for the
most important phase of the process of
drafting the country's new supreme
law.
The delays have been
partly blamed on the acute shortage of funds but a
number of donors have
chipped in with significant donations over the last
few weeks.
"I
am glad that the indications up to now are that we are on our way to
fulfil
this important requirement of the GPA, even though we are a bit
slow," said
Matinenga.
"We have also trained the rapporteurs, who are the persons
who are going to
be reporting what each and every person says during the
outreach meetings.
"It may be towards the end of May, but I am
confident that come mid-May we
will be able to roll it out."
He also
allayed fears that the process would be manipulated by political
parties.
Civil society groups have reported that Zanu PF is
re-training its militias
in rural areas to force villagers to push for
provisions made in the
so-called Kariba draft.
The draft produced
by negotiators from the three governing parties
guarantees President Robert
Mugabe of the sustenance of his sweeping powers
and does not address
concerns about the non-restriction of terms one can
serve as president of
the country.
"People must not fear," Matinenga said. "They must not
be taken in when
people say the Kariba Draft will determine the constitution
of Zimbabwe.
"Let me assure people that there is no special place for
the Kariba Draft in
the constitution-making process," said
Matinenga.
"What we have agreed as the three political parties is
that the outreach
teams should be gathering information on the basis of
talking points. . .
nobody is going to be waving the Kariba
Draft.
"So people should feel free, when they attend these outreach
meetings, they
need to contribute to the making of the constitution for
Zimbabwe."
When the draft is complete it would be taken to an all
stakeholders
conference, followed by a referendum.
He said the
constitution could be ready by April next year at the latest.
The GPA
says a new constitution must lead to fresh elections and indications
are
that this would happen next year.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:32
MASHONALAND West
governor Faber Chidarikire has reportedly ordered
non-governmental
organisations to stop supporting a clean-up campaign in
Chinhoyi because
Zanu PF supporters were excluded from the exercise.
Save the Children and
Medical Relief Lasting Healthy Care, known as Merlin
were accused of failing
to employ Zanu PF members for the exercise in the
city.
Chidarikire and a Mr Tizora, the Chinhoyi deputy district
administrator last
week met with officials from the two NGOs, ward
councillors and workers to
discuss the issue.
The clean-up
exercise was put on hold soon after the meeting.
Hunyani Councillor
Brighton Mhizha said he was told to stop the exercise in
his ward until
further notice.
"At first we were asked to come for a meeting with
the governor and the DA,
which we did," he said.
"People were
asked how they were recruited and how they came to know about
the
recruitment.
"After the meeting I asked Save the Children officials
if we could continue
with our clean-up exercise but they told me to wait
until they advised me to
start.
"Up to now they are yet to tell
me to start working."
Mhizha, an MDC-T councillor said local Zanu PF
politicians believe their
supporters were left out when workers for the
clean-up campaign were hired.
Gadzema councillor Nicholas Mutsunge
(MDC-T) said they were not happy with
Chidarikire's meddling.
He
said a similar programme run by Zanu PF councillors in Zvimba was
progressing without any hitches.
His sentiments were echoed by
Shackleton councillor Ben Rabbi who vowed that
his ward would defy the
directive.
Save the Children provided funds to pay US$25 to residents
who put in 10
days on the project.
Merlin provided cleaning
equipment and materials along with safety clothing.
Merlin Zimbabwe
director Clemens von Heimendahl refused to comment on the
suspension of the
exercise but confirmed that his organisation had to
withdraw promotional
T-shirts that had a picture of a clean pair of hands
after government raised
objections.
The open palm is MDC-T's symbol.
Save the
Children Mashonaland West co-ordinator a Mr. Mhaka declined to
comment
saying he was not authorised to do so.
Save the Children is working
in wards that were worst affected by last year's
cholera outbreak, including
Alaska, Shackleton and Hunyani.
Repeated efforts to get a comment
from Chidarikire last week were fruitless.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:30
Zanu PF official seeks
bail
THE bail application by a senior Zanu PF official who was arrested in
connection with the ZB Bank Nyanga armed robbery will be heard at the High
Court tomorrow. Nathaniel Mhiripiri (60) who is also a prominent businessman
in Rusape was arrested last month for allegedly providing the gun used in
the robbery of the bank's Juliasdale branch in March.
The robbers got
away with US$110 378 and R14 332.
In his application, Mhiripiri says he holds
an "important position" in Zanu
PF and would not abscond if given
bail.
His lawyers said although he was facing a serious offence, chances of
him
being given a long jail term were non-existent as the state's case was
weak.
"The applicant has an adventurous history which will make his chances
of
absconding minimum," the lawyers said in the application.
"Besides
being a farmer and a businessman, he is a prominent political
figure in
Manicaland.
"His political career dates back to the days of the armed
struggle in which
he actively participated."
"Since 1980 he has served
his political party Zanu PF and is currently a
member of the National
Consultative Assembly," read the application
Mhiripiri also said he was a
strong candidate for bail as he was a family
man and owned many
properties.
Mhiripiri is believed to have been paid US$5 000 for his gun
which, was used
by Tafadzwa Nindi and Bright Madanha who are in custody and
John Teremayi
who is still on the run.
The court heard that on March 18,
the suspects went to ZB Bank in Juliasdale
armed with three pistols.
They
allegedly entered the bank and produced the pistols ordering everyone
to lie
down before spraying their faces with pepper spray.
They then disarmed the
guard before stealing five cellphones and cash.
The state would seek to prove
that the robbers later gave Mhiripiri his
pistol back and US$5 000 as
payment.
Mhiripiri is denying assisting the robbers.
He said he gave his
gun to Teremayi in good faith because the former said he
wanted to protect
himself as he was a well-known businessman in
Manicaland. - Sandra
Mandizvidza
Land offer spills into the courts
A tussle between a
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative and a
Harare woman for the
control of a plot parcelled out during the land reform
programme has spilled
to the courts.
Charles Dondo, who works in the President's Office and Elina
Dzipangwe both
claim they were given offer letters for the plot at Maryville
farm in
Marlborough by former Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa.
Mutasa is
now the Minister for Presidential Affairs.
Dondo is accusing Dzipangwe of
destroying state property at the plot worth
US$400.
According to the
state, sometime in April last year Dzipangwe destroyed a
farm shed at Plot 2
Maryville Farm.
But she is denying the charges saying she removed the shed
from where it was
so that she could put it close to her house.
Dzipangwe
said the only reason why Dondo reported the matter to the police
was because
he was battling to occupy the plot where she legally stays.
The fight over
the piece of land reportedly started when Mutasa withdrew the
offer letter
he had given to Dzipangwe in August 2007.
Dzipangwe is refusing to leave the
property arguing that she is still the
legal owner of the plot and that
Mutasa had no right to withdraw her offer
letter.
The matter has been
taken to the Attorney General's office for further
verification as the two
have same offer letters for the same piece of
land. - Sandra Mandizvidza.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:27
THE
public disagreement between Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance
Minister Tendai Biti over civil servants salaries has brought to the fore
the growing discord in both the inclusive government and MDC-T with analysts
warning that the crisis will escalate if not handled
properly.
Biti, who is also MDC-T secretary-general announced that
salaries for civil
servants had been frozen because the inclusive government
was broke.
Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist used the May Day
celebrations to thrash
Biti’s position.
Three days later the
Finance Minister told journalists that he was sticking
to his position
forcing Public Service minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro to
take an
unprecedented dig on Biti in defence of the PM.
Mukonoweshuro accused
his MDC-T boss of behaving like a “super minister” and
causing unnecessary
anxiety over the civil servants’ salaries.
Tsvangirai has tried to
downplay the tension, which last month culminated in
violent incidents at
the party’s headquarters but analysts say it's time he
showed leadership for
the good of his party and the government.
“We have to realise that
policy contradictions are not uncommon in any
government,” said University
of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred
Masunungure.
“But
the ramifications for both government and the public are dire. There is
considerable discord between the two most powerful people in government and
it does not bode well for the smooth implementation of
policy.”
The unity government formed in February last year between
Zanu PF and the
two MDC formations has not performed to expectations because
of simmering
differences between the major parties.
The tension has
been blamed on the fact that the parties are already in an
election mode
with indications that an early poll could be organised next
year.
Tsvangirai and Biti’s differences have also been attributed
to a power
struggle raging in the MDC-T.
Masunungure said the
tension in the MDC-T echoed the problems in 2005 when
the then biggest
opposition party split into two.
He said Tsvangirai must “nip the
cancer in the bud” if he is to save his
party.
The split was
blamed on differences between camps supporting the former
trade unionist and
then secretary general Welshman Ncube.
“He is the leader of the
party. He must exercise his authority to nip this
cancerous disease in the
bud,” Masunungure said.
“Such bickering, especially if it is
displayed in public can be very
destructive.”
The MDC-T has tried
to draw attention away from the infighting saying the
reports of clashes
were propaganda by Zanu PF, which is desperate to see its
most formidable
opponent weakened before the next election.
Tsvangirai said: “The
secretary general (Biti) and myself have been comrades
in this struggle for
many years and have stood together throughout this
time, and we will not
allow the enemies of real change to succeed in
derailing the people’s
cause.
“The attempt to divide us has been expressed through violence
and
disturbances, dubious teams sent to provinces, preaching gospels of
division, and baseless and defamatory documents being manufactured and
distributed to the press.”
But UK-based analyst, Brilliant
Mhlanga believes the problem is that
Tsvangirai is failing to understand his
role in the new dispensation.
“It is quite unfortunate that Biti is
about to be crucified for telling what
appears to be a clear government
position,” he said.
“In government everyone, it would appear,
acknowledges that there is no
money and Biti as the holder of the purse is
speaking with that in mind and
as an informed person.”
He said
the statements Tsvangirai made on May 1 were not different from the
promises
he gave to civil servants that they would be paid salaries in
foreign
currency on the day he was sworn in.
It took the cash-strapped
government almost five months to fulfill its
promises but the public
servants were receiving $100 allownces since
February.
Although
Mhlanga and Masunungure said it was too early to speak of another
split in
the MDC-T, the discord may have serious ramifications for the party
especially if there is an election next year.
The party launched
an investigation into the assault of its national
director Toendepi Shone in
disturbances that exposed the widening divisions
and the special committee
is yet to submit its report to the leadership.
MDC-T remains the
biggest threat to Zanu PF, which has also battled
factionalism since its
formative years.
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:21
A cotton price war
has erupted in the Midlands amid reports that angry
farmers in Zhombe
recently clashed with Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco)
buyers over
prices.
Farmers said there were skirmishes at Doneni area near Kadoma
recently after
they were "provoked" by the prices offered by the company for
their crop.
Sources told The Standard they were angered by the 30
cents per kg offered
by the company for their cotton.
Sources
said farmers even boycotted delivering their cotton to the
collection
points.
This prompted Cottco employees from Sidakeni to go around the
area asking
farmers to sell their cotton.
"They resorted to go
out to farmers because people were not bringing the
crop claiming that they
had no transport to take their bales to the Sidakeni
collection point," said
one of the affected farmers.
"The Cottco buyers met hostile farmers
who attacked them with logs and
stones. The employees ran for dear
life."
But Cottco spokesperson, Mariah Pangidzwa last week said the
reports were
not true.
Pangidzwa confirmed that there were
disputes over the pricing of cotton.
"What I can only tell you is
that farmers are being concerned by the fact
that other farmers were making
large sums of money when they sold tobacco,"
she said.
"What they
forget is that as Cottco we give farmers loans in the form of
farming inputs
to enable them to have good yields.
"But some divert inputs such as
fertilisers to other crops like maize.
"This then reduces the amount
of yield that a farmer is supposed to get from
one hectare.
"We
expect a farmer to get something like 2 500 kg of cotton from one
hectare
but after diverting other inputs, farmers end up getting something
like 400
kg and at the end of the day they say it's not profitable."
Cotton
Ginners Association director-general Godfrey Buka said the prevailing
prices
were a product of negotiations between his group and the Zimbabwe
Farmers'
Union as well as the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union.
"This
marketing season we agreed on a seasonal pool price of 30 cents per kg
of
seed cotton.
"It is of interest to note that in Zambia cotton growers
are getting between
25 to 30 cents per kg while in Mozambique they are
receiving 22 to 25c per
kg," he said.
"The crop is largely for
the export market with unstable prices which local
ginners have no control
over.
"In 2009, global lint prices were very depressed and the average
opening
price of seed cotton in Zimbabwe was 15c/kg.
"However,
the season ended up at an average of 28 cents per kg."
Buka said the
30 cents per kg was only an interim seasonal pool price and
adjustments
could still be made to payments made to farmers at the end of
the
season.
"Price adjustments are not new in the cotton industry as this
is what used
to happen some years back before market liberalisation," said
Buka.
"Price adjustments are necessary because the processed seed
cotton (lint)
will only be sold after ginning," he said.
"As
prices are determined by the international market, we have to calculate
backwards to arrive at fair prices.
"It is also important to note
that the seed cotton crop is not marketed as a
whole product.
"It
has to be processed before it can be sold either on the local or
international market.
Seed cotton on average yields about 41%
lint, which is the higher value
product.
The bigger proportion of
58% constitutes the ginned seed and the balance of
1% would be the
processing waste.
In terms of producer prices, cotton is not a very
high value crop and
farmers the world over face viability
challenges.
"Most of the major producing countries outside Africa pay
their growers a
subsidy to ameliorate the situation bedevilling cotton
industry," Buka said.
"However in our case we could try and increase
profit margins by improving
on yield and quality and streamlining operations
to minimise the cost of
production in the whole value
chain".
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during a recent tour of the
Midlands urged
buyers of crops to consider farmers' plight in the face of
the high cost of
inputs and labour when negotiating prices. He said cotton
farmers were some
of the most affected by producer price
distortions.
BY BRIAN NKIWANE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:09
BULAWAYO —
The MDC-T has reacted angrily to calls by South African National
Congress
(ANC) chairperson Baleka Mbete for its leader Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai to actively call for the lifting of sanctions against
Zimbabwe.
Mbete who was speaking at newly-elected Zanu PF chairman,
Simon Khaya Moyo’s
victory celebrations in Plumtree last Saturday said for
the unity government
to survive, Tsvangirai had to be more vocal about the
removal of sanctions
imposed by the West.
Her statements
came as the ANC was moving in to take disciplinary action
against its youth
leader Julius Malema for his open support of Zanu PF and
denigrating the
MDC-T.
There were concerns that Malema’s outburst compromised South
African
President Jacob Zuma’s position as a mediator in the Zimbabwean
crisis.
But Mbete, in a move that may also expose the divisions in
the ANC seemed to
be repeating Malema’s offending statements.
Her
visit to Zimbabwe had been described as a damage control mission by
South
African newspapers.
“President Zuma has been categorically clear on
the issue of sanctions, as
has been the Sadc and the African Union,” she
told an appreciative Zanu PF
crowd. “I want to echo the sentiment from South
Africa that we believe
sanctions have had a telling effect on Zimbabwe’s
economy.
“We believe also that our dear brother, Morgan Tsvangirai,
the Zimbabwean
PM, should now play a more visible role in the campaign for
the removal of
the sanctions.
“He needs to put maximum effort on
this matter.”
But in an interview last week, Nelson Chamisa the MDC-T
spokesperson said
Mbete’s calls were misplaced.
He said the South
Africans should stay neutral if Zuma’s mediation was to be
successful.
“This is a case where one mistakes the trees for the
bushes. The issue of
sanctions is being dealt with by the three
parties.
“There is no need to laboriously place the issue of
sanctions on the Prime
Minister. We have to share the walk,” he
said.
He said there were a lot of issues that were still outstanding
from the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), which must be addressed
holistically.
“There are outstanding issues in the GPA. These are
still to be tackled,”
Chamisa said.
“These are things that have
caused the problems we have. And as leaders, the
MDC believes we have to be
cautious on our statements because they can be
very disheartening at
times.”
Zuma is expected in the country anytime soon to push Zanu PF
and the MDC-T
to conclude talks on the outstanding issues from the
GPA.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:07
CONSENSUS is
building that Zimbabwe will not be ready for fresh elections
next year
because of the slow pace of the national healing programme and the
delays in
the drafting of a new constitution.
This also follows revelations
that despite their political posturing, the
three parties in the unity
government agreed in their talks on the
implementation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) that early polls are
not a
priority.
In their report that has been handed to South
African President Jacob Zuma,
negotiators from the two MDC formations and
Zanu PF are clear that the
lifespan of the unity government would be
determined by the full
implementation of the pact.
However, two
years after the parties signed the agreement little has been
done to ensure
its full implementation.
The spectre of an early election had
re-ignited fears of a repeat of the
violence of 2008 which resulted in the
murder of at least 200 MDC-T
supporters.
A growing band of
politicians and civic groups are now saying early
elections would disturb
the recovering economy, current political stability
and plunge the country
into a crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara last week
dismissed the possibility
of an election.
“People and politicians
should be talking about economic plans that will
revive our economy and
increase levels of investment. We are not ready for
elections,” he
said.
His critics were quick to say Mutambara, who might find it
difficult to win
an election, is embarrassed by the prospect of a dismal
performance in any
future poll.
Peace advocacy group, the
Zimbabwe Movement for Peace, Reconciliation and
Unity (Zimpru), which has
embarked on a “no election before national
healing” campaign, has urged
political parties to shelve the polls until
the political environment
stabilises.
Zimpru chairman John Kanokanga said the current polarised
environment did
not favour the holding of elections as political violence
would erupt again.
“The ordinary Zimbabwean has been traumatised by
the experience of recent
elections in the country and cannot be expected to
face another election any
time soon, especially an early election that will
produce the same pain at
the end of the day,” said Kanokanga.
He
dismissed the ongoing national healing process by the inclusive
government
as a “public stunt”.
“Currently, there is no healing, only a number
of public stunts,” said
Kanokanga.
“You cannot talk of national
healing when the two sides are technically at
war.”
The Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (Zesn), an organisation that
co-ordinates
activities pertaining to elections, concurs with Kanokanga.
Zesn
national director Rindai Chipfunde-Vava said democratic elections could
only
be held after widespread electoral reforms and the writing of a new
constitution was complete.
“For us, elections are the only way
forward but they have to be held after
electoral reforms to plug the hole
for possible rigging and ensure free and
fair elections,” said
Chipfunde-Vava. “We also need a new democratic
constitution
first.”
Zesn is lobbying for zero tolerance on political violence as
well as an
overhaul of the voters’ roll.
Political commentator
Moses Mazhande said no credible election could be held
before the
restoration of civil liberties such as freedoms of the media,
expression,
assembly and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
For the past decade, said
Mazhande, elections had become an instrument of
instability, deepening
polarisation and violence.
“To hold an election in such an
environment will not help, we will have
disputed results,” said
Mazhande.
Bickering by Zanu PF and MDC-T has delayed the constitution-making
process.
It is expected that the outreach programme will commence
shortly and the
constitution will be in place by February next
year.
President Robert Mugabe has said the GPA has a two year life
span, which
means that “if the constitution-making process succeeds there
will be an
election and if it fails that, too, would lead to an
election.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has called for
fresh elections next
year but under a new constitution.
ZZZICOMP,
a coalition of civic groups, says the recent proclamation by the
principals
of the unity government that there would be elections in 2011 had
shifted
focus from the constitution-making process and set the country in an
election mode.
“Unfortunately, such statements have a negative
impact on the sincerity of
the political parties in their commitment to the
constitution-making
process,” said the coalition in a
statement.
Critics of the “no election before national healing”
campaign say those
pushing for the postponement of polls fear losing in any
election soon.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 19:04
ZIMBABWE'S
schools are using a curriculum that was last reviewed in the
1980s, a
development that has contributed to the perennial "free fall" in
education
standards and put the country out of sync with fast-changing
education
trends globally.
Government, which is battling to bring normality to an
education sector
weighed down by intermittent strikes by teachers and an
acute shortage of
textbooks says it is now treating the review of the
curriculum as a
priority.
However, the move could put the government on a
warpath with teachers'
unions who believe the authorities want to "rush to
change the engine of the
vehicle without solving the fundamental
problem".
Education Minister David Coltart told a two-day conference to
review the
first year under the inclusive government organised by the Mass
Public
Opinion Institute that the outdated curriculum was frustrating
attempts to
transform the sector.
Coltart said his ministry had since
identified experts who would lead the
curriculum reform process.
"The
last comprehensive curriculum review was done in the late 1980s," he
said.
"Our hope is that by mid-2011 we would have come up with concrete
areas for
curriculum reform."
The reforms would start right at the
Curriculum Development Unit, which
Coltart said was in a shambles.
In
September last year, the National Educational Advisory Board (NEAB)
recommended that the Ministry of Education's "structures need to be reviewed
to cope with recent changes and challenges, particularly in terms of
providing a more updated curriculum which caters for a globalised
economy".
Teachers' unions are divided on the proposals.
The Zimbabwe
Teachers Association (Zimta) said it supported the review,
while the
militant Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) argued it
was not a
priority.
Zimta chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said the state of the
current
curriculum amounted to "condemning children to poverty".
"Things
have changed, life has changed, and education should be used to
prepare
learners to face life," said Ndlovu.
"We support the revision of the
curriculum. Under the current system, we are
condemning children to
poverty.
"Time has come now for us to even adopt a different examination
system."
Among other things, Ndlovu said they wanted the review to address
the
practical needs of learners.
Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ
secretary-general warned that the proposed
reviews would not solve the main
problems facing the education sector.
"While it is correct that we need to
review the curriculum, it should not be
hurriedly done otherwise we would
have another half-baked pudding," he said.
Majongwe said most of the problems
around politicisation of schools, poor
remuneration for teachers, leaking of
examination papers, among others, had
nothing to do with the
curriculum.
"If we want a quick fix, we might be creating a problem for
ourselves. The
problem is not the curriculum, but lack of investment in the
education
sector.
"We cannot rush to say let us change the curriculum yet
there are so many
fundamentals that need to be addressed," he
said.
Coltart said the printing of 13 million textbooks was now at an
advanced
stage, a development that would see all pupils having access to
text books.
"The situation at schools is profoundly shocking, but we are
working with
our partners and local communities to rehabilitate schools,"
said Coltart.
Coltart blamed the education crisis on years of neglect by
successive Zanu
PF governments.
The NEAB report proposed that "the
curriculum and examinations (should also)
be adjusted to the needs of
children with different types of disabilities,
such as the blind and the
deaf".
It also proposed that there should be "more vocational and technical
education, so that they have a chance to be gainfully employed after leaving
school".
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 18:59
BUHERA - Along a
narrow dusty road from Muzokomba to Zangama village in
Buhera district are
patches of lifeless and sun-burnt crops in the small
fields.
Even
in the morning breeze, the dry maize leaves make a crackling sound
under the
feet while some tear-off in the blowing wind.
The crops
wilted in the scorching heat and never reached maturity.
In one of
the fields, Sosana Mhongoyo of Murairwa Village is busy harvesting
a few
roundnuts with other family members.
Like in other fields along this
strip road, her millet and sorghum crops
also withered in the scorching
heat.
"This is all that we have," she said while picking her
roundnuts.
"This millet did not do quite well but we have to survive
with what we
have."
Mhongoyo's field epitomises the situation in
the district where most
households are facing serious food shortages after
their crops wilted
because of a prolonged dry spell that hit most parts of
the country.
Although most of the families have not finished
harvesting, some are already
appealing for food assistance from charitable
organisations.
Davison Gwara (37) of Tapfaya Village in Buhera called
on non-governmental
organisations to quickly move in to avert a
disaster.
He warned that any delays in bringing food relief to the
area would lead to
mass starvation.
"There is severe hunger," he
said. "GO Zimbabwe (an NGO) is the only
organisation that used to give aid
to the old and the crippled here but the
problem is hunger does not
discriminate as it affects everybody."
Most communal farmers in
Buhera, which falls under geological region five,
grow drought-resistant
crops such as round nuts (nyimo), groundnuts, rapoko
and
sorghum.
But these succumbed to the prolonged hot weather and poor
rains.
Already some families are having one meal a day.
"A
few families managed to harvest round nuts, groundnuts and sorghum but it
will not take them far," said Gwara.
"When these groundnuts are
finished, people will starve, I tell you."
Councillor Simon Chigwidze
of ward 24 in Buhera said hunger was now forcing
villagers to sell their
livestock for a song so that they could buy food.
"People here now
sell their goats, chickens and cattle in order to raise
money for food,"
said Chigwidze. "I fear that after two or so months, people
here will starve
to death, starting with children and the elderly."
Some able-bodied
people from Chigwidze's area now travel to Chivhu to work
as domestic
workers for a few days to raise money to buy food for their
families.
Others, he said, go to Chiadzwa in Marange district
where they try their
luck in illegal diamond mining.
"As you see in that
bar, there are several people magweja drinking beer.
"They are
actually coming from Chiadzwa risking their lives in the process,"
said
Chigwidze.
Magweja is the term used to refer to illegal diamond
panners.
Among the seriously affected areas in Buhera district are
Muzokomba,
Zvekare, Matsakanure, Mabhoko, Nyadi and
Mushongwi.
Charitable organisations which used to assist the
vulnerable and
disadvantaged such as the sick, elderly and children have
since stopped.
"We used to have organisations such as GO Zimbabwe,
Batsiranayi and Rujeko
which used to assist the sick but we don't know why
they stopped when the
crisis is actually worsening," Chigwidze
said.
Equally hit by drought is Chimanimani district and villagers'
lives now
largely revolve around the small pockets of irrigations
schemes.
To them the schemes are "an oasis in the middle of a
desert".
The hardest hit areas are Gudyanga, Changazi, Tonhorai and
Hotsprings in
Chimanimani district, part of which also fall under climatic
region five.
Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland provinces are also
facing serious food
shortages.
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society
(ZRCS) has said at least 2,17 million people
in the country need food aid
and the figures are set to rise because of an
expected poor harvest this
year.
The ZRCS and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent
Societies said people living with or affected by HIV were the worst
affected
by the food crisis.
Both organisations extended their
emergency food operation from December
2009 until October this year
appealing to donors for US$33,2 million.
The World Food Programme
(WFP) website says Zimbabwe still faces a cereal
shortfall of around 677 000
tonnes during the current consumption year.
It says liberalisation of
the grain market means that commercial traders
have been able to fill some
of this gap but a substantial international
humanitarian assistance
programme is still necessary until the harvest.
In recent years, WFP
has assisted millions of people across Zimbabwe,
including over five million
in March 2009.
Agricultural experts expect the number of people
requiring food assistance
to surpass that of last year because of poor
harvests across the country.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 18:57
THE Zimbabwe
Prison Service (ZPS) is barring relatives of inmates at
Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison from bringing food from outside, sparking
fears of a repeat
of the hunger-related mass deaths that occurred in the
country's prisons
last year.
The directive by the ZPS, which came into force on May 1 has
riled relatives
of prisoners who say there is still no adequate food at the
giant complex.
ZPS spokesperson, Priscilla Mtembo said they
were only enforcing the rules
which say convicted prisoners are not allowed
to recieve food from outside.
"If one is convicted we do not allow
food from outside. We only allow them
to be given outside food when they are
sick and are in hospital," she said.
Mtembo said the rules were only
relaxed at the height of the economic crisis
that saw the ZPS failing to
provide basics to prisoners.
A documentary by the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) last year
lifted the lid on the dire
conditions in prisons which then forced the
government to beg for support
from donors to feed the prisoners.
The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food
Programme are some of the agencies that
responded to the SOS.
But Mtembo claimed that the ZPS is now able to
provide the food on its own.
"Now there is no food shortage, we are
fairly okay and prisoners are being
given three meals a day," she
said.
Over the years, hundreds of prisoners succumbed to
nutrition-related
illnesses because of the deteriorating situation in
prisons.
The ZPS is also failing to take prisoners to courts because
it does not have
adequate transport.
This has seen many cases
being postponed at the Harare Magistrate Courts and
in other cases
complainants are being requested to provide transport so that
the accused
could be tried.
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
16:29
WHEN the typhoid outbreak was first detected in February after
killing four
people from one street in Harare's Mabvuku high-density suburb
inside a
week, the superstitious were convinced it was witchcraft. Nyamuturi
Street
residents spe-culated that may be one of them had acquired a
bloodthirsty
goblin.
This is how the news of the mysterious illness
reached the council's health
department, according to Health Services
director Stanley Mungofa.
But after the local authority dispatched a
team of experts to investigate,
Mabvuku and Tafara residents were shocked to
hear that they had a typhoid
outbreak in their midst.
"When we
heard of the mysterious deaths, we began investigations and within
three to
four days after receiving reports of the little understood illness
we were
able to isolate salmonella typhi which is the causative organism for
typhoid," said Mungofa.
He said this during an address at the
handover of information, education and
communication (IEC) material to help
raise awareness on typhoid from the
National Healthcare Trust
(NHT).
The trust is a brainchild of Econet.
At least eight people
died of typhoid in Mabvuku and Tafara, while 439 cases
have also been
reported.
The two suburbs have experienced serious water shortages for
years.
Mungofa said dealing with the typhoid outbreak has been one of
the biggest
challenges his department has faced because diagnosing the
infection was a
major challenge.
"Let me tell you that isolating
this causative organism, the bacteria is not
an easy task.
"So far we
have done thousands of rectal swabs, sewer specimens, urine
specimens and
the pick up from those specimens is very low.
"It is known that you
should expect this," he said.
"Of course when you take blood and you do a
blood culture in such people
your chances of detecting the salmonella are
much higher."
But drawing blood specimens from very ill people is not
advisable because
they would have already lost valuable fluids, Mungofa
said.
"When you have the sort of presentations that we were having
it's not the
common thing that you would do because these are people who
would be very
ill," he said.
"Others had headaches, nosebleeds,
abdominal pains, a few of them would have
either constipation or diarrhoea.
. .some of them had dizziness so as you
can see these are symptoms that are
very non-specific but somehow we managed
to think of those possibilities
that could give us a diagnosis and we then
caught up with the
disease."
Mungofa said although cases were on the decline, the
department was still on
high alert because of the complex nature of
typhoid.
As of April 24, council had recorded 439 cases, which he
said were too many
because of the disease's long incubation
period.
The infection can take up to four weeks before the patients
falls ill.
He said consumption of water contaminated with human waste had
caused the
typhoid outbreak.
"When we tested the water from the wells we
found it contained human waste
so people were indeed consuming their own
waste by drinking water from these
wells," Mungofa said.
"But
interestingly two weeks before the outbreak local authorities had
restored
water to the areas and so many people were wondering why the
outbreak at
that time.
"This comes back to the issue of the long incubation
period."
Residents were urged to practice good hygiene while those
who are ill are
advised not handle water and food.
Rose Jena, NHT
director said she hoped the donated material would help raise
awareness on
typhoid.
Formed in January 2009, the NHT has been aiding efforts to restore
Zimbabwe's
battered health delivery system.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 15:51
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair Company plans to construct a
hotel on a three
hectare piece of land in Bulawayo to accommodate exhibitors
at trade fairs.
The site is located at Bulawayo Golf Club close to Bradfield
suburb and the
local authority has approved the proposal.
According to a council
report, an inter-department committee has been
established to "negotiate
with the Bulawayo Golf Club who are currently
leasing the
land".
"In the meetings with the president of the club it had
been discovered that
the land that could be released by the Golf Club was
situated along the
boundary with Bradfield suburb," reads part of the
council report.
The club, according to the report did not have any
objections "as long as it
did not affect the club's
activities".
Council said the proposal to build the hotel could only
be permitted through
a "Change of Reservations in Terms of section 49 (4) of
the Regional Town
and Country Planning Act".
After the change of
reservation process, the chamber secretary's evaluation
department would
then "suggest the lease rental and the selling price
together with the
minimum building clause."
It was not immediately clear by yesterday the
reasons why ZITF wants to
build a hotel, and the costs involved as ZITF
staff is currently on a break.
However it is believed that the
company wants to get rid of perennial
accommodation problems experienced
during the annual exhibition in the city.
Scores of exhibitors from
outside Bulawayo struggle to secure accommodation
during the fair as hotels
and accredited lodges run out of rooms.
During the just ended
exhibition the ZITF officials had to beg individuals
to accommodate some of
the exhibitors in their homes.
ZITF general manager Daniel Chigaru told
journalists during the exhibition
that finding accommodation for exhibitors
was one of the challenges that the
company was facing.
At one time 76
delegates, mostly from Iran and South Africa could not find
suitable
accommodation because all the hotels and lodges in the city were
fully
booked.
Chigaru said the ZITF had to approach people with executive houses so
that
they could host some delegates.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
15:41
THE Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) says
preparations
for the creation of a tripartite free trade area (FTA) are
underway with
negotiations commencing in July as regional blocs move towards
removing
restrictions on trade. The tripartite FTA agreement will be ready
for
signatures in July next year.
Francis Mangeni, the director of Trade,
Customs and Monetary Affairs for
Comesa told a stakeholders' workshop on
Tuesday last week that the
tripartite FTA would address multiple membership
issues aimed at creating a
larger market to attract investors and enhance
continental integration.
"Members want a member-state-driven process
so we are encouraging all
business people to come and comment on the rules
they want clarification
on," Mangeni said
The tripartite FTA
combines existing FTAs of Comesa, Southern African
Development Committee
(Sadc) and East African Community (EAC).
The main thrust is to
establish the FTA on a tariff-free, quota-free,
exemption-free basis by
simply combining the existing FTAs of Comesa, EAC
and
Sadc.
Beatrice Mutetwa, the director of International Trade in the
Ministry of
Industry and Commerce said that "preparations for the tripartite
FTA
negotiations will correspond with tripartite decisions of the Heads of
States meeting of October 2008."
The new dispensation would
provide for free trade among the 26 countries as
a way of promoting
continental integration.
In 2008, Comesa agreed to an expanded
free-trade zone including members of
two other African trade blocs, EAC and
Sadc.
The FTA agreement promotes the relaxation of restrictions on movement
of
business persons taking into account certain sensitivities,
liberalisation
of certain priority service sectors on the basis of existing
programmes of
the three organisations.
Mangeni said the main
benefit of the FTA would be a much larger market, with
a single economic
space than any one of the three regional economic
communities which will be
more attractive to investment and large-scale
production.
"Free
trade area is an opening for a larger market for investors. FTA allows
people to earn money in any area they want," he said.
The importance of
involving the private sector in the tripartite process was
highlighted at
the workshop.
The Comesa region is readying itself for the implementation of
a customs
union during a three year transition period as well as preparing
to
undertake activities in the important area of Intellectual Property
Rights.
Estimates show that exports among the 26 countries in the common
market
increased from US$7 billion in 2000 to US$27 billion in 2008, and
imports
grew from US$9 billion in 2000 to US$32 billion in
2008.
BY PERPETUA CHIKOLOLERE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 15:33
NETOne, the
third largest mobile operator, has provided the country's 10
provinces with
public viewing areas and fan parks for next month's soccer
World Cup. Reward
Kangai, NetOne's managing director said the mobile
operator felt compelled
to bring the showcase to the door steps of people
across the
country.
"NetOne was compelled to bridge the gap for many Zimbabweans
who enjoy the
world's most beautiful game to come to their respective
communities and
enjoy with their friends," Kangai said.
The public
viewing areas will be in 16 sites in both urban and rural areas.
The
public viewing areas will be in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutare,
Masvingo, Victoria Falls and Chitungwiza.
"In rural areas there
will be in Mt Darwin, Murombedzi, Murehwa,
Murambinda, Lupane, Gwanda, Gokwe
and Mpandawana.
"In all these areas we have made arrangements for
managing crowds and
facilitating for food and beverage sales for
refreshment," Kangai said.
NetOne is working closely with Events
Africa who are managing the fan parks
on behalf of the network.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
18:43
It's never easy to say anything flattering about the dung beetle;
its
dependence on other creatures' waste matter is nauseating to all decent
human beings. But in spite of that there are some fascinating facts about
it.
In ancient Egypt the scarab or dung beetle was the most important
religious
symbol. In some Indian tribes from South America a dung beetle
named Aksak
is supposed to have modelled the first man and woman. This would
explain a
lot of things about the human mind.
In 2004 the image
of the dung beetle came to me whenever I thought of the
Media and
Information Commission (MIC); always rolling away Zanu PF's manure
and
hiding it in boroughs away from public view; this the MIC did by almost
completely shutting down media space.
Zanu PF was fighting for
survival throughout the better part of the last
decade. The Zimbabwean
voting public wanted it out of office like yesterday.
This was revealed
as early as February 1999 when the public voted against it
in the
constitutional referendum.
Senior Zanu PF officials said publicly
afterwards the loss was a wake-up
call to the party which had degenerated
into a slumbering slug. It had
members only on paper, who did not work
together for the renewal of the
party.
What followed the wake-up
call was a trail of sorrow, tears and blood as the
party went marauding like
a fire across the veld on an orgy of violence
beginning with the farm
invasions in 2000 and ending with the bloodbath of
2008 in an attempt to cow
a restive public into submission.
Highlights of this period include
the farm invasions themselves, the
electoral violence of 2000, 2002 and
2005; Operation Murambatsvina and the
violence of the period leading to the
June 2008 presidential runoff.
All these events were the dung that
the MIC sought to bury in the ground and
make sure the glare of the free
press was absent.
It was with apprehension therefore that I drove to
the Media Centre at the
Harare International Conference Centre to renew my
accreditation on Thursday
last week.
A letter addressed to the editor
had just been dropped on my desk calling
for the renewal of registration and
accreditation of all mass media
services.
My anxiety was based on the
fact that Tafataona Mahoso was still in charge.
The letter bore his
signature. I had disturbing memories of him sitting
austere at the head of
the MIC boardroom table in June 2004 when he wielded
the axe at the
newspaper I worked for then, The Tribune.
A month earlier he had
written to its publisher, Africa Tribune Newspapers
(ATN), threatening to
shut down the publication for licence violations.
In it he claimed
that ATN had violated Section 67 of the Access to
Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (Aippa), which required all media
companies to notify the MIC
of changes in ownership, name, form, and
frequency of
publications.
Ownership of The Tribune had changed hands earlier in
March, when the
newspaper's management bought out the former owners.
Publication frequency
had also changed in January when ATN merged its two
weekly publications into
one.
Mahoso had given ATN seven days to
show cause why the newspaper's licence
should not be suspended. That was how
I and other members of ATN management
had found ourselves at the Media
Centre that wintry June day.
Mahoso had also alleged that the
newspaper had employed an unaccredited
journalist. Under Aippa, all
journalists must be accredited by the MIC to
work. But the so-called
unaccredited journalist was actually only a
consultant employed by The
Tribune's previous owners.
The Tribune published its last issue on
June 11 2004 after being told its
licence had been suspended for a
year.
The MIC's decision was challenged in court; on the grounds that
the MIC had
shown bias and that the year's suspension was disproportionate
to the
newspaper's alleged breaches of the law. All very simple and
straightforward
issues which could be rectfied easily.
But the High
Court denied The Tribune's appeal saying the MIC had acted
"within its
discretion".
On the day we had been summoned to face the MIC board I
had ventured to ask
why they could not just give us even a week to rectify
where they said we
had erred instead of shutting the paper down but Mahoso
had sat there at the
top table like a grandsire cut in alabaster;
unflinching, unfeeling.
So at the stroke of his pen 63 individuals
who worked for the ATN were
deprived of their only source of livelihood;
they became destitute or were
driven underground from where they worked for
foreign media houses which was
dangerous and illegal.
Earlier he
had superintended the closure of two other newspapers, The Daily
News and
The Daily News on Sunday in a similar way. Another newspaper based
in
Bulawayo faced the same fate.
So it was that on a sparkling Thursday
last week I found myself at the Media
Centre; as I walked towards the
reception I couldn't help but notice how
clean and serene the place was. I
was disarmed; that is something very
flatterning to say about this
place.
The two ladies seated at the desk were most friendly and did not
take any
time to attend to me. On a wall diagonally opposite them was a wide
screen
television tuned to SkyNews.
It was voting day in the UK. As I
accompanied one of the ladies into the
studio where my photo would be taken
and my press card processed, she said
in obvious disbelief: "Look, they're
voting in the UK."
I knew they were voting in the UK but there was
something in her voice which
was soliciting a comment. Much to her
disappointment I didn't proffer one.
As I left, press card in hand, I
thought I heard her say, "Is it possible to
have a national election and
there is no fighting?"
Yes madam, that is what the press has been
trying to impress upon the MIC
all these years; that it is the press's job
inform the public, to help them
make choices on who should govern them so
that on election day they know
exactly where they should place their
X.
To deny them this as the MIC has been doing since it was incorporated
is to
stoke the flames of violence.
But is it possible that the
new Zimbabwe Media Commission will be a complete
break from the past; or is
it going to be just another dung beetle? Let's
see when Mahoso eventually
does the right thing; that is walk away from the
Media Centre for ever
without ever looking back.
BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
18:40
According to the agreement entered into between Zanu PF, MDC-T and
MDC-M in
2008, the parties have emphasised the importance of their
commitment to
"re-orient" their attitude towards respect for the
Constitution and the rule
of law.
At an international conference on the
Rule of Law and Peace, held recently,
it was confirmed that within the
framework of the rule of law, governments
and their officials, including the
police and agents, are accountable under
the law for official misconduct,
including abuse of office for private gain,
acts that exceed their authority
and violations of fundamental rights.
The international conference
recorded, in addition, that judicial
proceedings and decisions should be
free of bias or improper influence by
public officials or private interests,
should be fair and protect
fundamental rights and the security of
property.
Judges should be impartial and accountable. Judicial
proceedings should be
efficient, accessible and effective so that judgements
are enforced without
unreasonable delay and timely and effective remedies
are given to prevent
and address lack of compliance with the
law.
The people of Zimbabwe yearn to restore the tattered reputation
of this
potentially great country so that with the intended change of
attitude and
recognition of the Constitution and the rule of law, among
other
commitments, Zimbabwe may become one of the finest, fairest, most
democratic and just, peaceful, humane and prosperous nations in the
world.
These factors are relevant for purposes of understanding what
is happening
in the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa
(Cpca).
The CPCA spans across four countries: Botswana, Malawi,
Zambia and
Zimbabwe. There are currently 15 dioceses each with a bishop, one
of whom is
the Archbishop of the CPCA.
In commercial parlance, the
CPCA is the holding company and each diocese is
its wholly-owned subsidiary.
The 15 bishops convene from time to time under
the chairmanship of the
Archbishop at what is known as the Episcopal Synod.
Each bishop is
the equivalent of a managing director of a subsidiary company
with the
Archbishop as the chairman of all the subsidiary companies (or
dioceses).
The decisions of the Episcopal Synod are binding on all 15
dioceses in the
province.
On taking office, every bishop swears a solemn oath that he
consents to be
bound by, and to govern his diocese in conformity with all
the Laws and
Canons of the CPCA. In each Diocese a Diocesan Synod,
comprising the bishop,
all clergy and lay representatives from parishes
within the Diocese meets
periodically to attend to the affairs of that
Diocese. It, like each bishop,
complies with the overriding laws of the
CPCA.
On the subject of property, the CPCA through its Provincial
Synod, frames
rules for the management of property situated in and held by
the Dioceses in
all four countries.
The CPCA has full powers and
authority over each diocese to determine in
what manner and upon what terms
such property shall be used or occupied.
CPCA Trustees hold the property in
trust. They obey and are under the
authority of the Provincial
Synod.
In turn, Diocesan trustees exercise their powers on behalf of
the Provincial
Synod and have to ensure the provisions of the CPCA
constitution and canons
concerning property and funds are complied with, not
only by the Diocesan
Trustees themselves, but by every person or body in
their Diocese dealing
with property, including the
bishop.
Finally, for any diocese to break away from the CPCA it is
necessary to
obtain the approval of every diocese in the CPCA as well as a
two-thirds
vote of approval by the Provincial Synod and also the endorsement
of the
Archbishop of Canterbury.
With these laws in mind next
week we will assess the legality or otherwise
of the events that took place
in the Anglican Church regarding church
properties.
Albert Chama is
the Dean and Acting Archbishop of The Anglican Church, The
Province of
Central Africa.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010 18:37
I
listened to a programme recently whereby some Zimbabweans living abroad
who
have failed or refused to buy into the idea of inclusivity as
represented by
the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Zimbabwe, were
making uninformed
suggestions on the subject of the lifting of sanctions on
the people of
Zimbabwe as represented by the economic embargo on Zimbabwean
companies and
government officials by the European Union and the Americans
through the
Zimbabwe Democracy Economic Recovery Act.
All major political parties on the
Zimbabwe political landscape have signed
up to have this imperialistic
nonsense removed, yet some Zimbabweans who
have other agendas that do not
include the reconstruction of Zimbabwe are
suggesting that the Americans and
the European Union should lift the
economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and
substitute them with international arrest
warrants targeted at Zanu PF
officials as a way of arming twisting them to
concede to MDC-T
demands.
The same characters who are calling for this impossible scenario
have also
gone to the extent of sighting the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in
London
under the Universal Jurisdiction principle as the modus operandi to
which
they base their unilateral dreams.
Every sane Zimbabwean
should now be calling for the repeal of all sanctions
imposed on the country
as the last 10 years have proved that their only
purpose has been to kill
millions of Zimbabweans as the country struggles to
import basic necessities
such as chemicals for water purification, HIV and
Aids medication and
supplementary food for the rural folk.
It was mindboggling to listen
to Zimbabwean nationals proposing that the
West issue international arrest
warrants on elected government officials.
To demonstrate the
shallowness of some of these foolish and desperate ideas,
those discussing
them never bothered to try and understand, let alone even
consider the
practicality or possibility of their ideas.
Zimbabwe is a sovereign
country that stands guided by international norms
and laws like any other
country. It is not possible for any country to
suddenly wake on any one day
and issue international arrest warrants on
government officials of another
country without following the jus cogens
(compelling law) under
international rules.
International arrest warrants can only be issued
by internationally
recognised legal institutions like the International
Criminal Court (ICC)
for a defined international violation. And the ICC can
only issue valid
warrants on individuals who belong to member
countries.
Zimbabwe has not ratified the Rome Statute hence the ICC has
no jurisdiction
over Zimbabwean public officials whatsoever, be they Zanu
PF, MDC or
otherwise. The only other institution that has the power to issue
such
warrants is the United Nations Security Council.
This we all
know requires the consent of all the five permanent members.
That is a
process on its own.
The purported arrest of Augusto Pinochet
following his arrival in London was
fraught with discrepancies under
international law as the basis is not a
developed norm. (That of universal
jurisdiction).
It relies heavily on domestic norms vis-a-vis
international legal
principals. It is an underdeveloped international
principal hence
practically of no use. That explains why Jack Straw the then
Justice
Secretary intervened.
As Zimbabweans we need to be
speaking positively about our country. We need
to be speaking out against
international embargos that restrict trade and
the importation of basic
commodities that make our country function.
The reality on the ground is
that Zimbabwe as a result of the sanctions
cannot import medicine for our
brothers and sisters.
Motor vehicle accidents are happening on a
daily basis because the machinery
that was used to fix the roads is
grounded, large numbers of people are
dying needlessly as a
result.
There are no ambulances to ferry the injured to hospital. If by
some fluke
one makes it to hospital there is no medicine to talk about. The
police
cannot respond to crime because they have no vehicles as they are
grounded;
they cannot import spares for the large number of Land Rover
Defender
vehicles that are of British origin.
If our leaders on
all sides of the political divide have realised that
Zimbabwe will not move
forward if we are not united, it then boggles the
mind to think why
Zimbabweans living abroad find it prudent to
intellectualise the issue of
sanctions.
Our role in the diaspora is to educate those that manufactured
these
sanctions as to what the real impact of the embargo has
been.
n Lloyd Msipa is a Lawyer based in the United Kingdom and he
can be
contacted at
lmsipalaw@googlemail.com
BY LLOYD MSIPA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 08 May 2010
18:34
The concurrent gatherings of so-called former liberation movements
and the
World Economic Forum on Africa in Dar es Salaam last week must have
raised
eyebrows among Africa watchers.
The former liberation movements,
Zanu PF of Zimbabwe, the ANC of South
Africa, Swapo of Namibia, Frelimo of
Mozambique, MPLA of Angola and the CCM
of Tanzania, met ostensibly to
preserve the heritage of the struggle for
independence because, they said,
the legacy of the liberation struggles were
integral to Africa's
future.
They said the liberation movements faced mounting challenges
caused by
external forces adding that the majority of the liberation parties
in
southern Africa were under attack from the West which wanted to replace
them
with captive reactionary outfits.
Therefore they should seek to
preserve and consolidate their parties as
authentic liberation
movements.
On the other hand the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based
foundation that
brings together business, political, and academic leaders
from around the
world, sought to discuss issues confronting the
international community.
They discussed new strategies for Africa's growth
in the aftermath of the
global financial crisis.
The theme of the
Dar meeting was "Rethinking Africa's Growth Strategy".
It is clear
the two summits contradicted each other in a big way; one looked
backwards
while the other looked forwards.
At first glance it would appear the
liberation movements had identified the
WEF forum as part of the "external
forces" that sought to destroy the legacy
of their armed struggles. But as
Tanzania, run by one of the former
liberation movements, CCM, hosted the WEF
event, it must be assumed this was
not the case.
The language of
the former liberation movements is coated in euphemisms.
They have
been ruling their respective countries ever since they attained
independence; in the case of Angola since 1979 and Zimbabwe since 1980. So
when these movements say they wish "to preserve the heritage and legacy of
the struggle for independence", they in fact mean that they wish to rule
forever.
See how they have contracted democratic space in the
countries they rule and
how they have preserved themselves as the ruling
class over the past three
decades. They have, without exception, rigged
elections and used violence to
keep themselves in power. The MPLA was
genocidal in its suppression of Unita
while Zanu PF was equally ruthless in
its suppression of Zapu in the 1980s.
For these liberation movements
anyone or anything that stands in the way of
their self-ordained right to
govern without end must be part of what they
call the "captive reactionary
movements" sponsored by the West.
What they mean is that there should
be no place for electoral democracy in
the countries they rule.
This is
what they mean when they say "the legacy of the liberation struggles
are
integral to Africa's future".
But these euphemisms sounded
valedictory in Dar.
The liberation movements are dying a natural
death; except for Tanzania's
CCM, they have not reinvented themselves, so
they have been left behind by
the times. It happened to the dodo and the
dinasaur! It will happen to any
movement that dwells in the past and wishes
to entrap its people in
amorphous past glories. There are times when history
becomes a hindrance to
innovation, a millstone around the neck of a
nation.
The liberation movements' Jurassic thinking flew in the face
of the spirit
of the meeting in Dar which was aptly encapsulated in the
words of Donald
Kaberuka, president of the African Development
Bank.
Speaking during discussions on business, Kaberuka said: "We
must attract
foreign investors to Africa," adding that it was also important
for the
continent to create its own world-class businesses which would, one
day,
compete with major multinational institutions.
This was the
appropriate attitude at a summit that brought together the
continent's
political leadership, businesspersons, investors and development
agencies.
The Zimbabwean leadership should have gone to Dar es
Salaam to endorse this
message rather than harp on tired mantras that have
left our country in its
current morass. And what sort of message does it
send when the president
attends a meeting of political dinosaurs in Dar
while his prime minister, in
the same city, is discussing ways to rescue the
continent from wounds
inflicted by misguided nationalism.