13 May
2004
MDC Youth Leaders
Arrested For Addressing AIDS Forum
MDC National Youth
Chairman Nelson Chamisa, Secretary-General Bekitemba Mpofu and Deputy
Secretary-General Obert Manzunzu were arrested yesterday evening after addressing a
‘Youth
AIDS Forum’ at Unit A pre-school in Chitungwiza. The three were detained overnight at Chitungwiza Police Station, and, at the time of writing,
have been transferred to Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order
Section.
The Government of Zimbabwe
has declared HIV and AIDS a national emergency, hence
all intervention initiatives undertaken to combat the pandemic should be
encouraged and supported, irrespective of the political affiliation of persons
behind the initiatives. For a government to declare an emergency and then turn
around to arrest people who are trying to contribute solutions to the same
emergency is a classic case of hypocrisy and the selective application of the
rule of law on the part of such a government.
MDC
Information
and Publicity Department
news24
UN 'concerned' about Zim maize
13/05/2004 20:20 -
(SA)
Harare - A top UN official in Zimbabwe is concerned that the
government's
decision to scrap a mission to assess food stocks could
complicate emergency
aid deliveries that may be needed later in the
year.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Zimbabwe, Victor Angelo, said in a
statement
that the international community will not be able to move quickly
to help
Zimbabwe if it appeals for food aid.
A crop and food
assessment mission, comprising UN technical experts and
government officials,
was cancelled last week when the government recalled
its field
officers.
"We are concerned that, should food assistance need be
identified later in
the year, and were the government to issue an appeal at
that time, a very
rapid response may not be possible" read part of the
statement.
The government this week said it would not be asking for
international food
aid because it predicts a harvest of 2.4 million tons of
staple maize, much
higher than the minimum requirement of 1.8 million tons to
feed Zimbabweans
and livestock.
Donors would be hesitant to respond to
an appeal by Zimbabwe for food aid
because the UN had been unable to carry
out "an assessment of needs at the
time of harvest" Angelo warned.
Aid
agencies and independent analysts say that around five million
Zimbabweans
will this year require food aid and that the country may face a
shortfall of
900 000 tons of maize.
The government's figure of a bumper harvest
follows three years of chronic
food shortages that have affected millions of
Zimbabweans.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
dismissed the
government's food forecasts as a distortion aimed at trying to
paint the
country's four-year-old land reform programme in a positive
light.
The controversial programme, which has seen the seizure of
white-owned
commercial farms for redistribution to new black farmers, has
been cited as
one of the reasons for the food shortages.
Letter to President Mugabe
International Freedom of Expression
Exchange Clearing House (Toronto)
DOCUMENT
May 12, 2004
Posted to
the web May 13, 2004
Toronto
His Excellency President Robert
Mugabe Office of the President Causeway,
Harare Zimbabwe
Dear
President Mugabe,
The World Press Freedom Committee condemns what is
perceived to be another
impending onslaught against the independent and
"foreign" press in Zimbabwe.
With the popular government-critical Daily
News closed in September after a
series of highly questionable court hearings
and militant police action, the
government, making use of its notorious Media
and Information Council, has
now threatened to close the moderately
independent Tribune weekly newspaper
on the grounds that it has failed to
inform the council of a change in its
ownership structure.
The Media
and Information Council played a significant role in the closure
of the Daily
News -- a role that is being appealed against in the courts --
and at the
time threatened to take action against other
independent
newspapers.
Its action against the Tribune, if it
succeeds, will reduce further the
public's access to credible, independently
gathered information as distinct
from the overwhelming preponderance of
government propaganda in the
state-owned press and broadcasting
services.
At the same time, the Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and
the
government-owned Herald newspaper in the capital Harare have begun an
attack
on Zimbabwean journalists working for the foreign press, the last
remnants
of "foreign correspondents" in that country, the
non-Zimbabwean
correspondents having been deported or forced to
leave.
On April 30, Moyo told a press conference in Bulawayo there was
enough space
in Zimbabwe's prisons for journalists "caught dealing with
foreign media
houses," an expression not explained. He described them as
"terrorists of
the pen" who use their pens to lie about the country. After
dealing with
corrupt financial businesses, government would deal with the
journalists, he
threatened.
Moyo's threats followed a leading article
in the Herald under the heading,
"Time to deal with traitors." The paper
urged that "action can and should be
taken" against "Zimbabweans, most of
them known, who are being paid to
rubbish the country through foreign print
and electronic media."
"The situation in Zimbabwe has been painted in
colors so dark that, to some
sensible foreign listeners and readers, it is
nothing short of miraculous
that there are people still walking the face of
the former British colony.
It is in this light that we call upon the
government to explore ways of
dealing with Zimbabweans who are giving aid to
the enemies of the country by
deliberately portraying it in "bad
light."
This is a direct threat against the several courageous
Zimbabweans who are
correspondents for British and other foreign
media.
The irony of the Tribune announcement is that it was made on World
Press
Freedom Day which is marked on May 3 every year to foster freedom
of
information and tolerance of diverse viewpoints in the press throughout
the
world.
The World Press Freedom Committee recognizes that these new
threats against
the media in Zimbabwe are the desperate acts of government
leaders faced
with starvation among half of the population, a collapsing
economy, the
flight from the country of people with skills and the increasing
isolation
of the country's leaders.
The WPFC calls on the government
of Zimbabwe to halt these punitive acts
against the media as they will do
nothing to relieve the country of its
serious deficiencies; on the contrary
they can only add to them.
Sincerely,
E. Markham Bench Executive
Director
cc: Permanent Representative to the UN (E-mail: zimbabwe@un.int)
No free lunch, but avocados are cheap
IRINnews
Africa, Thu 13 May 2004
Times are hard in
Harare
HARARE, - Angeline Guhwa, a secretary at a legal firm in Harare,
used to
have burgers for lunch, or even a hotel meal. Now, like so many
other
Zimbabweans working in the capital, she often has no more than a couple
of
avocados: healthy, nutritious - and above all - cheap.
From
construction workers to middle managers, avocados mashed into buns are
the
new fast food. With greasy burgers and cholesterol-laden meat pies cut
from
people's diets, the University of Zimbabwe has hailed the fad.
"The
avocado pear works very well as a spread that can replace jam or
margarine.
They are very nutritious, and very good for good health," said a
lecturer at
the department of food sciences.
But for Guhwa, a mother of two, the
health benefits are secondary. "I can no
longer afford to buy decent food for
lunch, and that is why I buy the
cheaper avocados and buns - at least, for
all this I pay Zim $1,900 (US 35
cents) - a bun costs (Zim) $350 each, while
an avocado pear goes for (Zim)
$500," she told IRIN.
A standard lunch
at a decent food outlet currently costs a minimum of
$12,000 (US $2) - well
beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans struggling with
an inflation rate of
over 600 percent and 70 percent unemployment.
"The price of bread went up
last week, as did those of most basic
commodities. Life is becoming
unbearable for ordinary workers like us," said
Guhwa. "I don't know what I
will eat when the avocado pear season ends."
The Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) has criticised manufacturers for
price increases and called on
the government to reintroduce the subsidies
for basic commodities that were
removed last year as part of the recovery
programme.
Price fixing
caused the parallel market to balloon, and left producers
complaining that
the retail price cap did not take into account their
inflation-linked input
costs.
Unlicensed vendors are trying to cash in on the demand for cheaper
fast food
among urban Zimbabweans, raising disquiet in a country where
hygiene laws
were once strictly enforced.
"My main concern is to have
all my food sold out. I need money and I need to
survive. The issue of
hygiene is secondary - as long as people buy my food,"
one unregistered
vendor at Harare's Speke bus terminus told IRIN.
The Harare City
Council's department of health has now begun to tackle the
problem, closing
down unlicensed outlets and fining the vendors, but an
official said it was
an uphill struggle. "It appears as if we are fighting a
losing battle,
because you arrest them today and you see them back on the
streets the next
day."
web
© IRIN
Times are hard in
Harare
HARARE, - Angeline Guhwa, a secretary at a legal firm in Harare,
used to
have burgers for lunch, or even a hotel meal. Now, like so many
other
Zimbabweans working in the capital, she often has no more than a couple
of
avocados: healthy, nutritious - and above all - cheap.
From
construction workers to middle managers, avocados mashed into buns are
the
new fast food. With greasy burgers and cholesterol-laden meat pies cut
from
people's diets, the University of Zimbabwe has hailed the fad.
"The
avocado pear works very well as a spread that can replace jam or
margarine.
They are very nutritious, and very good for good health," said a
lecturer at
the department of food sciences.
But for Guhwa, a mother of two, the
health benefits are secondary. "I can no
longer afford to buy decent food for
lunch, and that is why I buy the
cheaper avocados and buns - at least, for
all this I pay Zim $1,900 (US 35
cents) - a bun costs (Zim) $350 each, while
an avocado pear goes for (Zim)
$500," she told IRIN.
A standard lunch
at a decent food outlet currently costs a minimum of
$12,000 (US $2) - well
beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans struggling with
an inflation rate of
over 600 percent and 70 percent unemployment.
"The price of bread went up
last week, as did those of most basic
commodities. Life is becoming
unbearable for ordinary workers like us," said
Guhwa. "I don't know what I
will eat when the avocado pear season ends."
The Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) has criticised manufacturers for
price increases and called on
the government to reintroduce the subsidies
for basic commodities that were
removed last year as part of the recovery
programme.
Price fixing
caused the parallel market to balloon, and left producers
complaining that
the retail price cap did not take into account their
inflation-linked input
costs.
Unlicensed vendors are trying to cash in on the demand for cheaper
fast food
among urban Zimbabweans, raising disquiet in a country where
hygiene laws
were once strictly enforced.
"My main concern is to have
all my food sold out. I need money and I need to
survive. The issue of
hygiene is secondary - as long as people buy my food,"
one unregistered
vendor at Harare's Speke bus terminus told IRIN.
The Harare City
Council's department of health has now begun to tackle the
problem, closing
down unlicensed outlets and fining the vendors, but an
official said it was
an uphill struggle. "It appears as if we are fighting a
losing battle,
because you arrest them today and you see them back on the
streets the next
day."
VOA
Zimbabwean Producer Reacts to Ban of Satirical Play Super Patriots
and
Morons
Tendai Maphosa
Harare
13 May 2004, 15:30
UTC
After hundreds of performances, Zimbabwean authorities have
banned a
satirical play about an unnamed country going down the drain
economically.
They gave no explanation, but for the producer of the play, the
reasons are
political. In Harare, Tendai Maphosa spoke to the producer of the
play,
"Super Patriots and Morons."
Super Patriots and Morons made its
debut in Harare in early 2003. The play
is set in an unnamed African country
beset by chronic shortages, long lines
of people waiting to buy basic
commodities and a thriving black market.
The Zimbabwe Board of Censors
gave no reason for banning the play, but many
people think the reason is that
it struck too close to home.
The producer of Super Patriots and Morons,
Daves Guzha, also plays the
president of the fictitious country. He says,
while Zimbabwe may fit the
description of the country depicted in the play,
it was never his intention
to make a political statement, or to criticize the
government.
"What we have done is, we have come up with issues that
relate to the people
and that is the artist's primary job," he said. "You go
in, and you identify
issues that you believe will make any good
production."
The play did not attract the authorities' attention, until
the annual Harare
International Festival of the Arts, held earlier this
month, when the
censors asked for its script. It was allowed to run for what
could be the
last two shows, and then it was shut down.
The notice the
Censorship Board served on Rooftop, Guzha's production
company, says the play
was being banned under Zimbabwe's entertainment
censorship law.
The
producer says the government's lack of explanation invites speculation
about
the banning.
"In terms of the act itself that they have evoked, if a play
destabilizes
peace and harmony, or if the play is, or if the play is immoral,
which I am
sure means something to do with pornography, which in this
particular case
Super Patriots and Morons is not about that; and it also
talks about alcohol
or usage of drugs," he said.
So we are a bit more
inclined to think they could have made that decision
based on peace,
destabilization of peace and harmony, which we are failing
to understand
where this destabilization should come into effect now, when
it has already
had over 500 performances.
The banning of the play, which is the first in
the country's history, is the
latest in what is widely seen as the Zimbabwe
government's growing hostility
to the freedom of expression and intolerance
of dissenting voices.
Last year, the authorities shut down the country's
biggest selling daily
newspaper, The Daily News, for failing to register with
a government
appointed commission. The newspaper was a frequent critic of
President
Robert Mugabe and his policies.
Mr. Guzha said Rooftop is
considering whether to appeal the censorship
board's decision. In the
meantime, he said, he is planning to take the show
abroad.
Media Houses Obliged to Fulfil Requirements: Moyo
The Herald
(Harare)
May 13, 2004
Posted to the web May 13,
2004
Harare
THE Minister of State for Information and Publicity in
the President's
Office, Professor Jonathan Moyo, has said all media
organisations in the
country had an obligation to fulfil the requirements of
the law.
He said this in response to a question from St Mary's MP Mr Job
Sikhala
(MDC), who had asked the Gover-nment's policy in relation to Press
freedom
in the country.
Mr Sikhala had alleged that the Government had
banned the Daily News and was
now moving to ban the Tribune. Prof Moyo said
it was common cause that the
Tribune had made a number of material changes
not just in the structure and
composition of its ownership, but also the
frequency of its publication and
the name of its publication.
"Section
67 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA)
requires that when such material changes occur, the Media and
Information
Commission should be notified in advance," he said.
"It must be notified
in advance to ensure that those changes are not in
violation of any other
provisions of the law. When you do not do that, the
agency that is empowered
to foresee and supervise that Act has an obligation
to invite you to explain
why you did not comply and to find out whether your
explanation is reasonable
and justifiable, and if not, to take necessary
action that is provided in the
Act and this is what is happening."
The minister dismissed the
allegations that Government banned the Daily
News, saying the newspaper
banned itself by not registering with MIC as
stipulated by the law.
13 May
2004
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai wishes
South
Africa success in 2010 World Cup
bid
South
Africa and three other African countries
compete to host the FIFA 2010 World Cup at the weekend. We
fully support South
Africa in this endeavour as we consider the bid
to be of utmost importance to the SADC region.
Botswana's
Ishmail Bamhjee will be among the 24 FIFA executive committee members who will
vote to determine which of the contesting African countries succeeds in hosting
the tournament. Bamhjee is one of us and we hope he will use
his vote and his influence to sway the decision in favour of the
region.
South Africa is the
leading favourite to get the nod following FIFA's technical report, which places
it at the top. If South
Africa succeeds, the entire SADC region will
get the necessary exposure for increased business, tourism and sport.
Millions of people
follow soccer, the world’s most popular sport. A competition such a the World
Cup, if it comes to the region, would boost people’s morale and provide the much
needed entertainment to our depressed area, particularly in Zimbabwe where
hunger, HIV/Aids and political instability have overwhelmed the
nation.
We wish South
Africans the best in their bid.
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President.
Comment from cricinfo (UK), 13 May
Ponting's men embark on flight of
madness
Christian Ryan
Australians with a mad passion for
cricket are pretending it's not
happening. Australians with a passing
interest in the game are shaking their
heads in disbelief. Australians who
couldn't care less about cricket are
mildly confused because, um, isn't this
the footy season? At 10.05 this
morning Ricky Ponting and his men boarded a
plane for Zimbabwe. It's as if
the world has gone completely bonkers. Half an
hour before checking in their
bags Justin Langer and Jason Gillespie endured
possibly the softest
three-minute joint interview in breakfast TV annals. It
was on Channel 9's
Today Show ; Channel 9, of course, being the network with
a fistful of
opinionated former Australian captains on its payroll. Instead
some amiable
bloke called Tim Gilbert spearheaded the interrogation. "I
understand
there's lots of turmoil there at the moment," Langer began,
dead-batting
Tim's opening gambit back to the bowler. "But it's a fantastic
country.
About 10 of us had a 13-hour train trip from Bulawayo to Victoria
Falls last
time - it was one of the great experiences of my life. So I'm
really looking
forward to getting back to that beautiful
country."
There was a bit more of this, some blokey guffawing about
poor old Murali,
then a dollop of boys-will-be-boys banter about Dizzy's
mullet. Finally Tim
wished the lads all the best - "have a great time, enjoy
your cricket over
there" - and threw back to the host Steve Liebmann. "That's
Justin Langer
and Jason Gillespie, on their way to Zimbabwe," Tim beamed.
"Fantastic!"
Steve beamed back. Fantastic indeed! Thanks Tim. Thanks Justin.
Thanks
Steve. Let's recap on exactly what all this means. The team will touch
down
in Harare tonight, fall into a deep sleep, then spend the next three
days
trying very hard neither to leave the hotel pool nor read a newspaper.
On
Monday they will commence a two-day tour match against Zimbabwe A,
roughly
equivalent in skill level to Footscray W. Then, over the following
three
weeks, they will play two Tests and three one-day games against
Footscray's
C-graders, otherwise masquerading as Zimbabwe's national XI. At
best, it
will be gruesomely one-sided. At worst, it will be truly
awfully
excruciating. Then they'll come home, maybe feeling a bit sour about
the
whole business. There will be no joy, only shame and embarrassment
and
regret.
And let's recap on exactly what's happened in the past
month. Zimbabwe's
politicians hijacked Zimbabwe's selection committee. Whites
were told to
bugger off. Heath Streak went on strike. Fourteen white
team-mates joined
him. Streak and his 14 white team-mates were sacked for not
"returning to
work". (Is there anyone left, incidentally, who can remember a
time when
cricket was called cricket and not "work" - a five-day plaything of
pay-TV
networks, soft-drink companies and the like? And isn't that part of
the
reason we're in this whole slimy mess?) Back home, meanwhile, Stuart
MacGill
announced there's no way he's setting foot in Zimbabwe. Nobody, not
one
team-mate, precisely zippo Australian cricketers, followed suit. The
players
said it was a matter for Cricket Australia. Cricket Australia said it
was a
matter for the ICC. The ICC said it was a matter for politicians.
The
politicians said it was a matter for the ICC. So nobody - except MacGill
-
did anything. And today a plane flew out from Sydney
Airport.
Australia's cricketers might be trying not to read the
newspapers right now
but that hasn't stopped them from writing for them. In
his column in The
Australian this morning, Ponting devoted his first 12
paragraphs to
discussing security issues (that old chestnut) and his fondness
for Zimbabwe
on past trips: "There was always plenty of freedom to dine out
at
restaurants or go on wildlife safaris." That kind of thing. Then
Ponting
digressed. Australian players are "not oblivious to what is happening
beyond
the hotels, cricket grounds and airports" but ultimately "we are
simply
sportsmen, not politicians, and whatever our private feelings we have
a duty
to promote and enhance the game of cricket around the world". Up to a
point,
skipper. Cricketers are entitled, should they wish, to turn a blind
eye to
rape, torture and murder: these comprise a valid but by no
means
overwhelming justification for cancelling a cricket tour of Zimbabwe.
But
Ponting has a "duty" to consider this. Had he grown up in Bulawayo
or
Harare, not Launceston, he'd have been sacked as captain last month
because
of the colour of his skin.
Too late now. The plane's gone.
All we can do is pray for Tim May -
currently in Dubai on a last-minute
fix-it mission - in a way that we
haven't prayed for May since the Adelaide
Test of 1992-93, when he and Craig
McDermott swished and scrambled 40 for the
10th wicket to put Australia
within one run of knocking off the almighty
Windies. Knocking off the
almighty Footscray 3rds promises to be less
rewarding. Every hundred, every
five-wicket haul will stand immortalised in
Wisden not as an historical
landmark but as a lasting reminder, a black
cross. The Australian public
love their cricketers for the way they play hard
and score fast; we loved
them for cleansweeping eight straight Ashes series
and 16 straight Tests.
This time around no record looks safe. This time it's
going to be damn hard
to love them.
news.com.au
We must boycott Zimbabwe, says
Chappell
14may04
TEST great Greg Chappell believes world cricket
should consider a South
African-style boycott against Zimbabwe for the
long-term good of the game.
As Ricky Ponting led his "reluctant" tourists
out of Sydney to Harare last
night, Chappell claimed the time was fast
approaching for cricket to take a
stand against Zimbabwe, whose general
society and cricket framework have
gone to ruin under the corrupt
dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.
"The international sporting community took
a stand against South Africa and
I can't see a difference between what
happened there years ago and what's
happening in Zimbabwe now," Chappell
said.
South Africa was isolated from international sport in the 1970s and
80s for
its apartheid laws which made black people second-class citizens but
it is
the white folk of Zimbabwe who are under seige.
Many thousands
of whites have fled the country while many who have stayed,
including several
cricketers, have been forced off their farms. Fifteen
white cricketers this
week had their contracts torn up following a dispute
over racial quotas in
the Zimbabwean team and other race-related
issues.
"The South African situation
impacted on the sporting careers of people at
that time but it also impacted
on the reforms that eventually happened in
that country," he
said.
"The (political) situation in Zimbabwe is in danger of destroying
cricket in
that country and having a ripple effect around the world. There is
a real
concern around the cricket community at the moment at the state of the
game.
"The situation in Zimbabwe and, to a lesser extent Bangladesh, who
received
full membership before they were ready, is causing harm to the
game.
"The long-term effects wouldn't be known until it's too late. The
issues
must be seriously debated."
Chappell believes Australia
thrashing a club-strength Zimbabwean side in two
Tests and three one-day
games on tour might, perversely, be good for the
game.
"Maybe
Australia needs to bring the whole thing to a head. Maybe it needs
Australia
to go over there and make a mockery of the competition for
individuals to
realise it's not about Australia and Zimbabwe, it's about the
game of
cricket.
"The issue is what is this type of series doing to the health of
the game.
My theory is it's having wider, negative repercussions. Sport and
politics
can't be separated because sport is an integral part of community
life
everywhere. There are no clearcut lines."
Coach John Buchanan
warned the Australians against trying to pad individual
statistics against
what is expected to be a vastly under-strength Zimbabwean
side.
"I
think there's a danger in all of that talk that they are a weak side and
we
are going to finish off the games early and players are going to fuel
their
statistics," Buchanan said.
"I think if any side goes on tour with that
state of mind, they are
vulnerable. Our job is just to go there, get
ourselves prepared to play the
best cricket we can and then the results
should always look after
themselves."
Buchanan said the tour wasn't a
waste of time and stressed it was important
partly because it would help the
development of younger players, like
newcomer spinner Cameron White, and give
veteran paceman Glenn McGrath his
return to international cricket.
FoxSports
Coach ignorant of ugly truth
By Ray Chesterton
May 14,
2004
SURELY Australia's cricket coach John Buchanan is not seriously
asking us to
believe his vacuous claim of not knowing about human rights
abuse in
Zimbabwe and that his only interest is playing Tests when the team
arrives.
If the players in his squad were as out of touch with cricket as
Buchanan
says he is with Zimbabwe, they would not be in the
team.
World communications are too compressed for such naivety about a
grotesque
pogrom to be easily accepted.
Yet Buchanan said on TV before
going on this pointless tour that he was
uncertain what was happening
there.
It must be nice living in John's myopic world where the only worry
is if the
weather is fine enough for cricket. Not for him the anguish of
contemplating
thousands of murdered men as the bloodthirsty madness of
president Robert
Mugabe pushes Zimbabwe to oblivion.
Did it occur to
Buchanan to ask someone about Zimbabwe or to turn on a radio
or TV? Was
Stuart MacGill's withdrawal a pointer?
Did it cross Buchanan's mind that
if a senior player had problems with the
tour, perhaps he should investigate
instead of working on catching drills.
MacGill had every right to withdraw
from the team for Zimbabwe just as his
teammates, including Buchanan, have
every right to tour.
What reduces Buchanan's stature is his selective
vision. His easy acceptance
of Zimbabwe as just another nation to tour. No
mention either of playing a
Zimbabwe cricket side so devastated by internal
wranglings among its own
administration and players to be rendered
impotent.
Is this the glory of sport? Is playing in a country run by a
demented and
murderous savage, who may well be a spectator at the Test
matches, the true
representation of the joyous pursuit of triumph and lofty
ideals? Instead
this may be the ugliest sporting exercise Australia has ever
undertaken.
Sport and politics are never isolated. Hitler's 1936 Olympics
proved that.
To say otherwise is to reveal an almost childish
interpretation of the
world. Players will always have the right to tour and
the right to withdraw.
But to pretend Zimbabwe is not happening and trying to
separate sport and
politics is not honest.
Neither are suggestions
sportsmen are too simple minded to comprehend
anything other than batting and
bowling.
The Australian
Cricket team gets an escort in Harare
By Cameron
Stewart
May 14, 2004
AUSTRALIA has been forced to fly a senior diplomat to
Zimbabwe to look after
the Australian cricket team after Canberra was
effectively blocked from
appointing a new ambassador to Harare in time for
the controversial tour.
President Robert Mugabe's Government has failed
to process a four-month-old
request by Australia to grant approval for a new
ambassador to Harare.
Both the Australian and Zimbabwe governments
yesterday blamed the delay on
administrative issues rather than any
deliberate diplomatic snub by Mr
Mugabe, who harbours a grudge against the
Howard Government for its role in
expelling his country from the
Commonwealth.
The row has forced the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade to send a
senior diplomat, Bruce Hunt, to oversee the cricket tour and
run the
Australian mission until a new ambassador is
approved.
However, his eleventh-hour mission has also been stymied by red
tape, with
Zimbabwe delaying Mr Hunt's visa application.
The delay
means the Australian team will arrive in Harare today 45 minutes
ahead of
their diplomatic host, Mr Hunt, who is arriving from Madrid.
Zimbabwe
denies any malice in the failure to respond to Australia's request
for
approval, which was lodged in February.
"This takes time and it is still
being processed," Joel Muzuwa, the
counsellor at the Zimbabwe embassy in
Canberra, told The Australian
yesterday.
Australia's most recent
ambassador to Zimbabwe, Jonathan Brown, left the
post last week, leaving a
charge d'affaires and two junior diplomats running
the Harare
mission.
It was initially expected the new ambassador would be in Harare
before the
cricket tour, but when it became clear this would not happen, DFAT
decided
to send Mr Hunt as interim charge d'affaires for the cricket tour and
until
an ambassador is approved.
Calls for decentralisation of ARV programmes
HARARE, 13 May 2004 (IRIN) - A
government decision to distribute anti-AIDS
drugs at two of Zimbabwe's
largest urban hospitals has been criticised
because the majority of people in
need of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs live in
rural areas.
As Zimbabwe
moves towards its third decade of the AIDS pandemic, more people
are falling
sick and there is a greater need for care and treatment in rural
areas, where
it is estimated that over 70 percent of people living with
HIV/AIDS are
located.
The lack of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) centres,
said Shadreck
Ndhlovu, coordinator of the Binga rural District AIDS Action
Committee in
Matabeleland North province, makes precise data on the HIV/AIDS
prevalence
in most rural areas extremely difficult to obtain.
There is
only one district hospital in Binga, and it provides VCT services
for
antenatal clients only. But evidence in two of the most remote and
poorest
provinces in Zimbabwe point to a rising AIDS epidemic in the
rural
areas.
Veronica Nkomo (67), a home-based care volunteer in the
Mangwe district in
Matabeleland South province, told IRIN that "in almost
every village an
average of 12 people are bedridden and need some urgent
attention, but there
is nothing we can do for them, except pray for them.
Most times our
home-based care kits do not even have painkillers to relieve
their pain".
Against this backdrop, there are rising demands that
palliative drugs, VCT
services and ARVs be rolled out urgently in rural
areas.
Although not a cure, ARVs inhibit replication of the HI virus that
leads to
AIDS, and boost the immune system's ability to fight infections.
In
countries where the anti-AIDS drugs have been widely available to
people
living with HIV/AIDS since 1996, the medication has led to a
dramatic
reduction in HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and deaths.
Edwin
Ndlela, a secondary school teacher in the Nkayi rural district, said
the
government should have given first priority to the rural areas.
"Logic
follows that a service should be given to the area that has the
greatest
need, and in Zimbabwe it is a well-known fact that the largest
number people
living with HIV/AIDS is found in the rural areas ... ARVs are
therefore
needed most in the rural areas," he said.
The Zimbabwean government has
said it would be difficult to provide ARV
therapy (ART) in rural areas
because of limited infrastructure.
However, AIDS activist Lynde Francis
was quoted in the official Sunday Mail
newspaper as saying that "it seems
they [government] are trying to roll out
free antiretroviral drugs in places
where they are gunning for political
support".
While the questions of
priority are important, the vast majority of people
living with HIV/AIDS lack
even the most basic health care and support
services. Drugs that treat
opportunistic infections are unavailable in
hospitals countrywide, due to the
country's economic problems.
Camping out by the Zambezi
13 May 2004 14:21:00 GMT
by
Solveig Olafsdottir in Caprivi
International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) -
Switzerland
Website: http://www.ifrc.org
The women and children
seem to be swept towards the tented camps by the
strong current of air caused
by the helicopter's blades. Clutching blankets
and bundles containing their
modest belongings, there is fear written all
over their face.
Happy to
have emerged unscathed from their first helicopter ride and to now
have their
feet back on solid ground, they have little idea what is waiting
for them in
the evacuation site of Lusese, in the north-eastern Caprivi
district of
Namibia.
They have been airlifted out of the deep waters of the Zambezi
River, which
has slowly but surely been swallowing their homes and fields
since it burst
its banks in mid-March.
Although the scene may seem
chaotic, the new arrivals are swiftly sorted by
Namibia Red Cross volunteers,
who immediately direct them to the
registration desk. Here they receive all
the necessary information, a tent
for accommodation and two weeks supply of
food.
They are also welcomed by the community already living in Lusese,
and
neighbours who have arrived earlier at the camp. In no time, their tent
has
been erected, a fire is going and they are settling into their new
life,
which will most likely continue for the next three months until the
flood
water recedes.
Lusese is one of four evacuation sites the
Namibian Government has
designated for some 5,000 flood victims in the Kabbe
and Katima rural
constituencies of Caprivi.
Hosting some 1,300 people,
the camps do not provide easy living conditions.
The land is sandy and
barren, and water has to be trucked in from the
nearest town, Katima Mulilo,
and stored in Red Cross bladder tanks.
But importantly, Lusese is on high
ground. Here people are safe from the
floods and the threats posed by
contaminated water.
The other sites are Kasika, where some 700 people are
hosted, and the two
islands of Schuckmansburg, hosting 600 people, and
Impalila Island, with
close to 500 evacuees.
People have either been
airlifted in with the assistance of the Zimbabwe Air
force, which provided
two helicopters for the operation, or by boats from
the Namibian government.
Given the vastness of the floods, and the shallow
waters, the evacuation
operation is not an easy task.
Establishing the camps has required a
tireless effort from the Namibia Red
Cross staff and volunteers, and the
Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT).
It took some time to convince the
affected population that it was dangerous
staying put on small isolated
islands, formed as the water engulfed the
flood plains of the
Zambezi.
Gathering them in a few places has made it much easier to
provide them with
necessary assistance such as shelter, water and sanitation
facilities,
health services and food. The Authorities have tried to keep
families,
neighbours and schoolmates together in the same evacuation sites to
make the
resettlement easier.
Josephine Kamwi waited until the last
moment to leave her home with her four
children, fearing that it would be
vandalized if she left it unattended.
"I stayed there for two weeks, in
the water," she explains. "The school had
closed down, and the children had
no playground except for going into the
water, which was full of crocodiles.
We were surrounded by water. In the
end, the house fell apart."
Only
then did she decide to leave for the camp at Impalila Island. First,
she had
to get herself and the children by canoes to Muzi, where a police
boat was
waiting to ferry her family of five together with 22 other people
from
neighbouring villages.
They had only been going for a little while, when
the engine broke down.
They paddled for two hours, but then almost got caught
by a strong current
in the river and just managed to catch the river bank
before the boat was
swept away.
"I felt so scared," says Josephine.
"We had many children in the boat and it
was getting dark. We had no torch,
no light and there was water all around."
The policemen accompanying them
fired 16 alarm shots into the air, but to no
avail. They waited for hours,
not knowing what would happen. Finally the
owner of Impalila Lodge came to
their rescue. It was almost midnight when
they arrived at the evacuation
site, where the Red Cross camp managers had
been waiting for the boat for
more than six hours.
"We thought we had lost them. We had no way of
communicating with them and
did not know what had happened," says Polly
Helmut, a member of the RDRT
members and Caprivi provincial manager of the
Namibia Red Cross. "The river
is full of crocodiles, and there are hippos
around. We did not know what to
expect,".
It had been a difficult
night for the Red Cross team. In an earlier
evacuation trip, 20 unaccompanied
minors arrived without anyone to take care
of their needs.
"There was
nothing else to do, but to cook for them, and get them sorted out
until their
parents arrived," says Polly.
The Red Cross team, consisting of four
RDRT-trained staff from the Namibia
Red Cross, one from the Baphalali
Swaziland Red Cross, and supported by the
Federation's regional disaster
response and water and sanitation officers,
has worked around the clock to
ensure that the relocated population is
provided with adequate living
conditions and sufficient access to clean
water.
"This has been very
challenging and required a lot of improvising," says an
exhausted but
satisfied Agrippah Anganile, the regional water and sanitation
officer. "We
have faced different difficulties in each and every site."
In Lusese, the
sandy soil posed a real problem when digging for latrines, as
they filled up
overnight. In Kasika, portable toilets had to be installed,
since providing
pit latrines for a big influx of people on such a small
island could easily
have contaminated the ground water table.
On Impalila Island, the soil
was too rocky and hard for any digging, so the
latrines were built above
ground, using the stones for construction. There,
the only water source is
the river water, but all evacuees are provided with
sufficient water
purification sachets and trained in using the chemicals to
avoid outbreak of
waterborne diseases.
At the onset of the emergency, Namibia Red Cross and
the Federation's
regional delegation in Harare urgently dispatched relief
items to the
affected area in response to the immediate needs of the flood
victims -
providing them with shelter, blankets and mosquito nets.
Furthermore, the
RDRT team, which was operational on the ground by 29 March,
was instrumental
in organizing the evacuation sites by erecting tents in the
camps, building
sanitary facilities and supplying clean water to the
relocated population.
Red Cross staff and volunteers have been trained in
providing health and
hygiene education, which will also be available through
the local radio in
the languages of the region.
The RDRT handed over
the operations to the Namibia Red Cross on 30 April,
which will continue with
distribution of relief items and management of
services required. The Red
Cross operation aims to provide shelter, water
and sanitation facilities,
blankets, mosquito nets and pesticides to the
evacuated population, as well
as water purification sachets to the other
15,000 people affected by the
floods.
The Zambezi has caused havoc further downstream in Zambia. There,
the Zambia
Red Cross is assisting some 20,000 people in the districts of
Sesheke,
Zambezi and Chavuma by providing them with non-food relief items and
hygiene
promotion.