Reuters
Mon May 15,
2006 1:20am ET
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - There is
one bright spot amid Zimbabwe's deepening
economic chaos: the billion dollar
house. Make that the 80 billion dollar
house.
Although the southern
African country is suffering an economic meltdown
blamed by critics on
President Robert Mugabe's government, real estate is
booming as people hedge
against the world's highest inflation rate, now
above 1,000
percent.
Harare real estate listings offer everything from old colonial
houses built
among rolling hills through modern, urban apartments to
semi-detached houses
in low income townships.
"Investors delight!
8 acre estate, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and
laundry, bar and a
cottage" reads one advert. The asking price: 80 billion
Zimbabwe dollars
($806,443 on the official market and $372,000 using black
market
rates).
A "priced to sell quality and superb 5-bedroom home with a family
bath,
large living area, fitted kitchen, pool and sauna and delightful
gardens" in
the leafy suburb of Chisipite will cost 45 billion Zimbabwe
dollars, almost
twice the price asked at the start of the
year.
Analysts say the real estate craze is another sign of Zimbabwe's
upside-down
economy and a currency that is losing its value faster than any
on earth.
"The reason for this boom, if one can call it that, is a result
of demand,
but there is also an inflationary aspect as the market adjusts in
line with
the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar," Boysen Mutembwa,
managing director
at BARD Real Estate in Harare told Reuters.
RECORD
INFLATION
Once one of Africa's most promising economies, Zimbabwe has
endured more
than five years of turmoil amid charges from both Western
countries and
local opposition parties of political repression and economic
mismanagement
by Mugabe -- the country's only leader since independence from
Britain in
1980.
He denies responsibility for the ailing economy and
in turn accuses the
West, led by Britain, of sabotage in retaliation for the
seizures of land
from white commercial farmers.
The government has
admitted inflation is one of the biggest hurdles in its
efforts to reverse
the economic slide which is raising fears of popular
protest.
Annual
inflation stormed to a record 1,042.9 percent in April, surging into
four
figures for the first time. The economic crisis is also marked by
shortages
of foreign currency, fuel and food and rising unemployment.
At the
official exchange rate, house prices have risen between 30 and 80
percent
during the first quarter of 2006, depending on location, and by over
2,000
percent over a year.
In U.S. dollar terms, the picture is not so
bright.
BARD Real Estate estimated Harare house prices lost as much as 16
percent in
U.S. dollar terms over the last year as the Zimbabwe dollar
tumbled --
although this was still a better performance than almost any
other local
investment.
"In the long term, property is a better hedge
against currency depreciation
than any other asset," BARD said in a recent
report on the market.
Industry officials say the crisis has slowed
construction of new commercial
and residential properties, fuelling
demand.
Estate agents say the sector is driven by a few individuals and
companies as
well as some of the estimated 3 million Zimbabweans abroad, who
sell foreign
currency at double the official rate on a thriving black market
to buy
houses at home.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has set up the
Homelink housing scheme for
people in the diaspora who take out Zimbabwe
dollar loans to buy or build
property and repay in foreign currency at
interest rates prevailing in their
countries of residence.
It has
attracted some foreign exchange inflows but many people abroad still
offload
their hard cash on the black market.
PROPERTY INFLATION
HEDGE
Companies tend to invest in the property market for capital
appreciation
rather than rental income, while individuals do it mostly for
speculative
reasons or as a hedge against inflation, an official at estate
firm Redfern
Mullett said.
Analysts say last year's controversial
state clean-up drive, which included
the widely condemned razing of urban
slums that left thousands of people
homeless, has also helped bolster
property prices and rentals.
"Certainly the government clean-up exercise
has contributed ... not only to
the rise in rentals but in terms of demand
for houses, and in low income
areas, it has pushed up prices," said John
Robertson, a Harare-based
economist.
The Central Statistical Office
said recently rents, which estate agents now
review on a quarterly basis
instead of biannually, were a major factor
behind rising
inflation.
For Zimbabwe's urban majority, the runaway prices signal an
end to dreams of
home ownership.
"I have given up on trying to have a
house of my own, some of us will
probably just die tenants," said Joseph
Mukonori, a 41-year-old widower who
lives in the crowded Highfield
township.
A two-bedroom house in Highfield costs 3 billion Zimbabwe
dollars. Mortgage
lending firms only provide half the total cost at an
interest rate of
between 65-75 percent per year.
"I earn Z$8 million
(a month), so tell me how many years I have to work to
save for a house?"
asked Mukonori.
Zim Online
Tue 16
May 2006
BULAWAYO - Police in Zimbabwe's second largest city of
Bulawayo have
threatened prominent woman rights activist, Jenni Williams,
with death if
she dares organise any more anti-government demonstrations by
her Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group, ZimOnline has learnt.
Bulawayo lawyer Kossam Ncube, whose law firm Job Sibanda and
Associates acts
for Williams and WOZA, told ZimOnline that they had reported
the matter to
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights which is expected to
take up the issue
with police authorities.
"These are serious allegations and they
should be investigated because
these are grave allegations and we are
sending them to ZLHR so that they are
documented," Ncube said.
The threat against Williams was allegedly made by one Assistant
Inspector
Ndlovu who is in charge of the police's law and order section in
Bulawayo.
Ndlovu reportedly threatened Williams
after she and 165 other WOZA
activists were released last week from police
cells where they had been
locked up for days after being arrested for
demonstrating against a hike in
public school fees announced by the
government a fortnight ago.
The WOZA women were only released after
the Attorney General's office
refused to prosecute them.
"Jenni
Williams complained that the officer in charge of the law and
order section
Detective Assistant Inspector Ndlovu threatened her with death
should she
ever engage in similar conduct (leading demonstrations) in the
future," the
letter sent by Williams' lawyers to the ZLHR reads in part.
It was
not possible yesterday to establish from the ZLHR what action
they had taken
so far or were considering taking over Williams' complaint
against the
police.
But an officer in the police's press and public relations
office in
Bulawayo said they had not yet received Williams' complaint
against Ndlovu
either from her lawyers or the ZLHR.
The officer
said: "We have not seen the report they (Williams'
lawyers) are talking
about and the complainant has not approached the police
about the matter,
you can ask them to make a report to us."
Williams and her WOZA
colleagues have been arrested many times in the
past by the police for
holding public demonstrations without approval from
the law enforcement
agency as required by state security laws that require
Zimbabweans to first
seek police permission before staging demonstrations or
holding public
political meetings.
But the women activists have always returned to
the streets to voice
their disapproval of government policies and decisions,
much to the chagrin
of the police.
The United States, African
Commission on Human and People's Rights,
ZLHR and the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change party have long
accused the police and army for
victimising perceived opponents of the
government, a charge the security
forces deny. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 16 May 2006
MUTARE - Tariro Muchina was barely in
her teens late last year when
her father "sold" her off into an arranged
marriage in the small-scale
farming district of Nyamajura about 250
kilometres east of Harare.
Twelve months down the line, the 14-year
old Muchina, who was
literally dragged screaming all the way into
"marriage", appears to have
come to terms with her fate.
"I had
to leave school to marry this man despite his age .. My father
insisted that
I do it to save my younger brothers and sisters from hunger,"
Muchina says,
opening up to ZimOnline only after a lot of persuasion.
Muchina is
married to a balding and pot-bellied 65-yerar old man, who
has some teeth
missing but owns a grocery shop - an immensely important
factor in this
hunger and poverty-stricken community.
Showing surprisingly little
bitterness for someone robbed of her youth
in so cruel a manner, Muchina
sums up her story in just a few sentences.
She said: "I would have
preferred to continue with school. But we are
poor and there was no money
for food or anything at home. Although it (the
marriage) was arranged for
me, I had to agree to it. That is the only way my
family could survive. In
turn, my husband provides food for them."
Faced with starvation
after six years of poor harvests, Zimbabweans
are resorting to centuries-old
traditions of "forced marriages" known in the
local Shona language as
"kuzvarira" for survival.
The practice that involves a father
giving away his usually under-age
daughter (without her consent) to a richer
man in return for food and other
economic support had died over the past 100
years.
But some hungry families from rural communities, far removed
from the
glare of human rights groups and the Press, are reviving the old
custom out
of desperation to survive an unprecedented economic and food
crisis, critics
blame as much on poor weather as on mismanagement by
President Robert
Mugabe's government.
Zimbabwe is in its sixth
year of a punishing economic recession
described by the World Bank as unseen
in a country not at war. Food is in
short supply while the little that is
available in shops is priced beyond
the reach of the poor due to a rampant
inflation now beyond 1 000 percent
according to figurers released last
week.
With the economy seen worsening over Mugabe's controversial
policies
that started with the arbitrary seizure in 2000 of white-owned
commercial
farms, observers and social scientists say the old scourges:
child labour,
child prostitution - and forced marriages will
rise.
"We are seeing an increase in forced and illegal marriages of
poor
young girls to rich old men over the past few years. This is a
centuries old
tradition, which we had long forgotten," former University of
Zimbabwe
vice-chancellor and a leading social scientist, Gordon Chavhunduka
said.
He added: "Such traditions where poor families marry off
their
under-age daughters to rich old men were rife before colonialism
hundreds of
years back. They died after colonialism. But they have now been
revived in
the battle for survival."
A village elder in
Nyamajura, Kennias Mutuni says cases like that of
Muchina are being reported
with increasing frequency in the area because of
poverty. But in a very
worrying sign the village elder sees little wrong
with the old custom as
long as the bride price is paid!
"As long as the bride price is
paid, that is fine with us. People want
to survive and daughters, especially
young and well-behaved ones can be an
avenue out of starvation," said
Mutuni.
And rather cynically he added: "It is a legitimate way of
forging
relations between the rich and the poor so that they can take care
of each
other. It's better than losing the girls to
prostitution."
But the effects of forced marriages are already
being felt with
Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers' Union secretary general
Raymond Majongwe
saying there has been an increase especially in rural areas
in the number of
under-age girls dropping out of school after being forced
to marry.
"Girls are getting married at 13, because of coercion by
desperate
family members in a bid to escape poverty. This government owes
the nation
an explanation on this lost generation. Our children no longer
have a
future," said Majongwe.
Although there are efforts
including by the government to stop forced
marriages, Eunice Chipfatsura, a
pastor with a local Pentecostal church in
Nyamajura, said there would be no
easy solutions to the problem not least
because community leaders, who are
invariably men, still believe the males
have a right to determine the future
of female members of a family.
Chipfatsura said: "It is difficult
to make any headway. When we try to
talk to the community leaders or even
the children, they don't understand
us. We were chased away in one village
after encouraging the girl children
to report such cases to the
police.
"We have an uphill task because as the economy gets worse,
the abuse
of young girls sold like commodities will get worse as well. We
need to get
the message to the children, that it is abuse of their rights
and they can
report it."
But for Muchina and probably many like
her, the concern is not about
human rights and dignity. It is as the
overused cliché goes, about bread and
butter issues.
"If I
report to the police, will that bring food to my family?" she
asks, when
told about the church pastor's advice that young girls like her
should not
accept being forced to marry men old enough to be their fathers
but should
instead inform the police. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 16 May
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe election authorities last night said they
had not
accredited any single observer for a parliamentary by-election in
the
opposition stronghold of Budiriro constituency just four days
away.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission official Utoile Silaigwana said
accreditation of observers started yesterday but no one had turned up at
the commission's offices. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs that facilitates
accreditation of observers from foreign countries had also not forwarded any
names of outsiders wishing to observe the May 20 poll, he said.
"Currently no one has turned up for accreditation as an observer. We
will of
course accredit those who turn up but they (foreign observers)
should come
through the Foreign Affairs Ministry," Silaigwana told
ZimOnline.
A spokesman of the main faction of opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party Nelson Chamisa immediately
condemned the absence of
observers which he said would only make it even
easier for the ruling ZANU
PF party to "steal" the ballot in Budiriro which
is in Harare and was held
by the late MDC legislator, Gilbert
Shoko.
Chamisa said: "We will have a complete ZANU PF system
running the
election . it will be manned by ZANU PF functionaries wearing
different
hats, some as polling officers and some as observers. This is why
we are
calling for a new constitution to rid the electoral process of this
kind of
abuse."
The splintered MDC that has held the Budiriro
seat for the last six
years is fielding two candidates, Emmanuel Chisvuure
representing the main
rump of the party led by founding president Morgan
Tsvangirai and Gabriel
Chaibva representing the smaller wing of the
opposition party that is led by
former student leader, Arthur
Mutambara.
Jeremiah Bvirindi is standing for ZANU PF.
While President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF have been accused of
stealing
elections before, political analysts say this time round the ruling
might
just scrap to victory in a fortress of opposition support not because
of
fraud but because divisions in the MDC might force some of their
supporters
to stay away from the poll.
Harare has since 2002 banned Western
governments and pro-democracy
groups from observing elections in Zimbabwe
only allowing observers from
friendly African and other developing nations
as well as from Russia. -
ZimOnline
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
15 May 2006 12:03
Police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare have rounded up more
than 10 000
squatters and street children and plan to send them to rural
areas, reports
said on Monday.
Under a fresh clean-up operation codenamed
Round-Up, the police
netted 10 224 people, many of them vagrants, touts and
what the authorities
call "disorderly elements", said the state-controlled
Herald newspaper.
"We are going to relocate some of the
vagrants and street
children to their homes," said police spokesperson
Munyaradzi Musariri.
News of the new clean-up comes almost
exactly one year after
President Robert Mugabe's government launched its
controversial Operation
Murambatsvina, which saw the demolition of thousands
of shacks and cottages
in towns and cities across the
country.
The United Nations said at least 700 000 people had
been left
homeless and jobless by that campaign -- a figure disputed by the
Zimbabwe
authorities.
Despite a much-vaunted follow-up
operation called
"Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle", or "Live Well", meant to provide a
better life to
those whose homes or shops were destroyed, tens of thousands
were still
living in makeshift homes at various locations across the
country.
Mugabe said at the country's 26th independence
celebrations last
month that 3 325 houses were completed and allocated to
beneficiaries last
year under the first phase of Operation
Garikai.
He said the rebuilding project would continue with
local
authorities providing plots for people to build their own
houses.
But the majority of the victims of the demolitions
lack the
means and materials to build their own houses.
Civic groups say the reconstruction effort, launched the day a
United
Nations envoy arrived in Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian impact
of the
crackdown, was "piecemeal" and hastily embarked upon.
According to the Herald, police say street children and vagrants
are
responsible for many of the crimes committed in the Zimbabwean capital,
once
nicknamed the Sunshine City.
"As police, we will not rest
until there is sanity in the
streets and the operation is continuing,"
Musariri said.
Operation Round-Up was launched on April 12 --
just ahead of the
onset of winter. - Sapa-DPA
By
Lance Guma
15 May 2006
Zimbabwe's Information Minister
Bright Matonga told journalists
gathered in Bulawayo that there is nothing
wrong with the internationally
condemned Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Behind the government spin however are
startling revelations that ruling
party officials are being given licences
to publish local newspapers in
their constituencies. This is happening after
privately owned newspapers
like The Daily News, Daily News on Sunday, Weekly
Tribune, and Weekly Times
were closed over spurious allegations cooked up by
the Media and Information
Commission.
A journalist based in the
Midlands disclosed to Newsreel the results
of an investigation they have
carried out for months following several tip
offs. He says several ruling
party officials now own newspapers in cities
and towns across Zimbabwe.
Rural Housing Minister Emerson Mnangagwa is
alleged to be behind a Kwekwe
based paper called Network Guardian. A
journalist who writes under the name
Nyarota is said to be the front for the
paper. In Gweru the losing Zanu PF
parliamentary candidate and businessman
Enos Size has just launched his own
paper called New Day. He is said to be
gunning for the city's mayorship and
wants to use the paper as a campaign
platform. New Day has published one
issue so far and is allegedly using ZBC
journalist Moses Gumbo as a
front.
Size lost to the incumbent MP for Gweru Timothy Mukahlera in
the March
2005 parliamentary poll. 'It seems quite easy for these Zanu PF
guys to
start up their papers while those outside the system get theirs
shut,' our
source said. He was quick to praise people in the various
communities for
having a brilliant communication network and that most
people knew who owned
a particular paper. 'These new papers always seem to
attract a lot of
adverts from Zanu PF linked companies and in the end its so
easy to tell who
is who.' The only worrying thing according to our source is
that several
other businesses are being threatened into placing adverts with
these
papers. Mnangagwa's Network Guardian being a case in
point.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
15 May 2006
Morgan Tsvangirai held a
rally in Budiriro on Sunday which attracted
thousands of supporters ahead of
the by-election to be held Saturday. He
then spent the rest of the day
visiting ordinary residents to talk about the
party's programmes. Also on
Sunday, vice president Joyce Mujuru is reported
to have cancelled her
appearance in Budiriro due to poor attendance at the
ZANU-PF rally. Our
contacts say the local government minister Ignatius
Chombo and minister
without portfolio Elliott Manyika addressed a small
crowd, promising houses
under operation Garikai, phase 2 if they voted for
ZANU-PF. Tsvangirai had
told voters it would be ironic for them to vote for
the same people who
destroyed their houses and market stalls just a year
ago.
Our
Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa monitored reports from
Budiriro on state
television and radio. He confirmed that the Tsvangirai
rally had thousands
of supporters and the ZANU-PF rally appeared to have a
few hundred. Muchemwa
said Chombo and Manyika had nothing new to say. They
both promised benefits
for the people of Budiriro if they voted for the
ZANU-PF candidate. But
Muchemwa said people remember the destruction caused
by Operation
Murambatsvina and how only soldiers and the police were given
houses under
Garikai phase 1.
Muchemwa said he was not fooled by the state media
showing crowds at
the Tsvangirai rally and decampaigning the Mutambara MDC
faction. He said
this is a tactic to keep the opposition divided and swing
some votes to
ZANU-PF. Muchemwa believes the existence of 2 MDC candidates
will cause
confusion in the minds of voters. Gabriel Chaibva, the candidate
for the
Mutambara MDC was once a popular official in the Tsvangirai MDC.
Muchemwa
said people still associate him with Tsvangirai and that's why the
Tsvangirai rally this weekend was important. They needed to sell their
candidate Chisvuvure, who is new to the voters.
Violence broke
out last Friday when thugs allegedly hired by ZANU-PF
disrupted a rally for
Emmanuel Chisvuvure, the Tsvangirai MDC candidate in
the Budiriro
by-election. Several supporters were arrested and about 15 were
injured
including a 2½-year old baby. However no incidence were reported on
Sunday.
At the rally Tsvangirai urged the electorate to
come out in force to
show their displeasure with the Mugabe regime and the
current economic and
social crisis. He was accompanied by the party's deputy
president Thokozani
Khupe, the Budiriro candidate Emmanuel Chisvuvure and
other senior
officials.
Repeating earlier calls for restraint,
Tsvangirai reminded Zimbabwe's
security forces that they have a
constitutional mandate to protect the
people, not to abuse them. He referred
to them as the custodians of the
country's peace. Several students and
opposition activists have been
assaulted and harassed by state agents and
military personnel this year.
Recent reports by The Human Rights NGO Forum
indicate that incidents of
state-sponsored torture had increased drastically
since March.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Source: Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
Date: 15 May
2006
Harare (dpa) - More than 400,000 children in Zimbabwe are involved in
child
labour, mostly because of crippling financial hardships affecting
their
families, said the state-controlled Herald newspaper on
Monday.
According to the Central Statistical Office (CS0), 423,880
children are
child labourers. The figure represent 16 per cent of all
children in
Zimbabwe, says the report.
It says that most of the
children "should have been in school but were
forced out by social and
financial factors." They work in farms and in
homes, it
said.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst-ever economic crisis, with
inflation
running at 1,042.9 per cent and rising. School fees at government
schools
were recently massively increased, sometimes 10-fold, leading to
predictions
even more children will be forced to drop out of
lessons.
There have been concerns that many children now working on farms
are being
given a sub-economic wage.
According to the Herald, a
significant percentage of child labourers in the
key Mashonaland Central
province, in the middle of Zimbabwe, have never been
to school. dpa rt
ch
The East African, Kenya
By Charles Onyango-Obbo
President Yoweri
Museveni was sworn in for his fifth term (two of them
unelected) last
Friday.
Up to 30 presidents had been invited for the ceremony. By casting
the net so
wide, Kampala calculated that it would at least catch a few. And
it did.
Ceremonies like the swearing in of a president have become more
important in
Africa today than they used to be.
A guerrilla leader
who fights his way to the executive mansion needs the
presence of other
heads of state to give his ascent to power the legitimacy
that it lacks from
not having been conferred by a free vote.
In Uganda's case, a decent show
up by foreign leaders was particularly
crucial because it took a
controversial amendment of the constitution to
remove presidential term
limits, followed by what the opposition - and
courts - judged to be a rigged
election in February, for President Museveni
to get his prize.
The
number of leaders showing up would be considered an indicator of the
approval rating Museveni has among his peers about the methods he used to
keep his job.
FOR THIS reason, it can be expected that the longer a
leader stays in power,
and the more elections he has to fiddle, the longer
the invitation list to
his swearing-in will be.
But the symbolism has
now assumed an even larger dimension than that.
Presidents tend to gather in
large numbers on three occasions.
One is when there's a spectacle that's
embarrassing them, and they are
desperate for it to end. Thus, when
Liberia's diamond and timber-looting
former president Charles Taylor was
eventually forced to abdicate in 2003
and go into exile in Nigeria, an
unusually large number of African leaders
were there to see him off. It was
the political equivalent of watching the
lynching of a thief on the
street.
Another is when a president becomes important by the very act of
showing up.
This usually happens at a historic moment, like the formal end
of apartheid
and the swearing-in of Nelson Mandela as president. Equally,
when US
President George Bush, the world's most powerful man, invites a
leader from
a small country that exports a few beans of coffee, and some
fish, the
invitee's standing usually rises in the eyes of his
subjects.
Indeed, when Museveni visited the US last, State House and the
government
media kept the country updated regularly, including about each
instance when
Bush looked in Museveni's direction and waved to
him.
Death is a third important occasion for symbolism. The burial of
Mozambique's
former president Samora Machel or, closer home, Tanzania's
Julius Nyerere,
were some of those events where how close you stood to the
mouth of the
grave was seen as representative of your significance in
Africa.
IN THIS way, a fellowship has grown and leaders have built huge
political
capital out of it. You come to my swearing in at the moment when I
most need
international validation, and I will return the favour by naming a
road
after you.
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is a master of this art.
Many African leaders, for
example, are unhappy with the West, but they can't
lash out at it because
they fear donors could cut off aid. Comrade Bob is
unafraid, as he has
little left to lose. So, on their behalf, he calls Bush
and Tony Blair
names, and in exchange they oppose attempts to impose
sanctions on Mugabe.
In fact, Mugabe is unique in the world, because very
few leaders can lambast
Bush and Blair the way he does. So, while the
inflation rate has just hit
1,000 per cent in Zimbabwe, the highest in the
world, he's slowly moving
from being the mad uncle whom you lock away in the
backyard, to the
combative cousin whom you call out to confront the village
bullies.
And, sure enough, Comrade Bob was the toast of the Museveni
party.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for
convergence
and new products.
E-mail: cobbo@nation.co.ke
The East African, Kenya
By A CORRESPONDENT
The
EastAfrican
While an African Media Coun-cil conference held in Tanzania,
last week was
pleased to observe progress in East and Southern Africa
regarding the
establishment of self-regulatory Media Councils (in Tanzania
,Kenya, Zambia
and Uganda), it strongly condemned developments in Ethiopia
and Zimbabwe.
Journalists and media representatives from various African
nations,
including Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, termed the Ethiopian government's
treatment
of journalists the most shameful on the continent."
"We
find it shameful that Ethiopia is emerging as a pariah state on the
African
continent," said a hard-hitting statement signed by participants at
the
Regional Conference of Press/Media Councils at Bagamoyo, Tanzania.
The
conference, organised by the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), said that,
in
the two countries, journalists have been systematically
"criminalised".
At least 20 Ethiopian journalists have been sentenced to
long jail terms,
and many others have been forced into exile while facing
charges such as
treason for exercising their basic right to free expression,
thus ranking
Ethiopia among the worst nations in the world for use of these
methods.
MCT executive secretary Anthony Ngaiza observed that the
Ethiopian regime
has especially targeted the Ethiopian Free Press
Journalists Association
(EFJA) as an object of this repression. EFJA
president Kifle Mulat, now
living in exile in Uganda, attended the Bagamoyo
meeting and had delegates
in tears as he narrated the ordeal of his fellow
journalists in Addis Ababa.
"We find it intolerable that any nation would
employ these draconian methods
against their own population", the delegates
said, as they condemned the
Ethiopian government for jailing journalists or
any other persons for
exercising their basic human right of self expression.
They demanded the
immediate and unconditional release of all held under
these conditions.
Kifle Mulat said he was consoled when the conference
opted for a strong
condemnation of his government, which was asked to drop
all charges against
journalists and allow the return of those forced into
exile without threat
of punishment, whether through exercise of police power
or by extra-judicial
harassment or violence.
Sadly, for Zimbabwe, the
past seven years have seen freedom of expression
being downgraded from a
right to a privilege that can only be exercised at
the pleasure of the
authorities, participants noted.
Matthew Takaona, president of the
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, told the
Bagamoyo meeting that at least 100
journalists have been arrested over the
past six years for violating the
government's press laws, all of them from
the private media.
He said
four newspapers, including the country's biggest circulating daily,
the
Daily News, have been closed since 2003. And, as a result of the
restrictive
Broadcasting Services Act, independent radio stations have been
kept off the
air.
Every journalist in Zimbabwe must renew their registration every 12
months
with the Media and Information Commission; they face up to two years
in jail
for practising without a licence.
Newspaper companies are
also required to register after every two years.
Those failing to comply are
forced to close and their equipment is seized by
the state.
However,
the Bagamoyo gathering saw a ray of light at the end of the
Zimbabwean press
tunnel.
The Executive Secretary of the World Association of Press
Councils, Chris
Conybeare, who attended the Bagamoyo Conference, said there
were indications
that government officials support the establishment of a
non-statutory,
self-regulatory Media Council of Zimbabwe.
The Vigil dancers were fascinated to
see the Morris Men - English
traditional dancers who gather in Trafalgar
Square on the second Saturday of
May. A London group, the Westminster Morris
Men, wearing their distinctive
costume, performed several intricate dances in
the space next to the Vigil.
This is the fourth year that we have been
privileged to share our space with
them. They were happy to pose for a group
photo with us and many of them
signed our petitions and expressed sympathy
for our cause.
There was a sense of great excitement in London, with many
people crowding
pubs to watch the football cup final on television. The
weather was kind to
us with the threatened rain holding off. Our 4 maple
trees are now in full
leaf and look wonderful. The changing seasons here are
very marked and come
as a surprise to Zimbabweans.
We are always
humbled by the trouble people take to come and join us.
Nomuhle with her
toddler came all the way from Liverpool and Tafara from
Manchester. Hats off
to Dumi who still pitched up despite a train delay
which meant it took him
four and a half hours to come to London from
Southampton. It was sad to say
farewell to Kath O'Dea who has done so much
to raise awareness of the
situation in Zimbabwe by lobbying members of
Parliament. She is going to
Australia to be with her mother and the Vigil
wishes her bon voyage. It was
good to welcome back Kate Arnold - she is an
Zimbabwean artist who is
planning an exhibition about Murambatsvina. We
hope to display some of her
work in the future. Another creative person,
Ben Evans, joined the Vigil.
He staged the Zimbabwe show, Qabuka, in London
last year and is starting
rehearsals for a new Zimbabwean production
shortly.
This month is the
anniversary of the beginning of Murambatsvina. Next
Saturday, 20th May, the
Vigil is holding a demonstration in sympathy with
the Churches in Bulawayo,
who are having a peaceful procession on that day,
and other events in
Zimbabwe to mark this tragic anniversary. Please make
every effort to join
us as it's important to have a big presence to remind
the British public of
the appalling human rights record of Zimbabwe.
For this week's Vigil
pictures:
http://uk.msnusers.com/ZimbabweVigil/shoebox.msnw.
FOR
THE RECORD: 53 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY: Zimbabwe Forum,
Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28
John Adam Street, London WC2 (cross
the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go
down a passageway to John Adam
Street, turn right and you will see the pub).
Monday, 15th May, 7.30 pm -
another regular action planning forum:
discussion and decisions on campaigns
and demos. Monday, 22nd May, the
speaker is Explo Nani-Kofi of ALISC (Africa
Liberation Support Campaign) and
on the editorial board of Kilombo, a
magazine published by ALISC and
sympathetic to pro-democracy groups in
Zimbabwe. He will be speaking about
how we can make links with other African
groups in the UK.
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current
regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue
until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in
Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
May 15,
2006,
By Andnetwork .com
Johannesburg (AND) The
controversial Zimbabwe War Veterans are at it
again. The veterans are set to
receive hefty allowances, nine years after
their original demands led the
poor Southern African nation into economic
ruin.
A Zimbabwean
daily, The Mirror, reported today that the four member
committee set up by
President Robert Mugabe last year to restructure the
Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has
recommended hefty
allowances and benefits for the former freedom fighters.
The
four member team which was appointed by President Robert Mugabe
who is also
the patron of ZNLWA is composed of former military strongman
during the
liberation struggle. The team consists of Solomon Mujuru, Vitalis
Zvinavashe
all former army generals, former guerrilla war intelligence
supremo Dumiso
Dabengwa and the late Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai.
Dabengwa, the
ex-Home Affairs minister, yesterday told war veterans at
a meeting held in
Lupane that his committee's report had already been
approved by the Zanu PF
PF central committee, as well as the politburo.
"What is only left are
a few amendments to the War Veterans Act. Once
approved by parliament, I can
assure you that your welfare is going to
greatly improve," Dabengwa told the
former freedom fighters.
Dabengwa explained that what the
ZNLWVA members had been receiving in
the past were allowances for their
pocket money, but under the new act they
would get salaries.
"With
the new money that you are going to get you will now be able to
drink in the
officers' mess," Dabengwa said.
Although Dabengwa declined to
give details of the association's new
structure and perks, The Daily Mirror
is reliably informed the committee has
recommended that the association's
structures be incorporated into the
Zimbabwe National Army so as to restore
discipline into the war veterans'
body.
Under the proposed
arrangement, sources said, an ordinary war veteran
would now be equivalent
to an army warrant officer Class 1 and his or her
monthly allowances and
benefits would be the same.
A warrant officer Class 1 now earns
between Z$27 million and Z$35
million.
Also under the new
arrangement, every war veteran's child going for
secondary and tertiary
education would now be entitled to Z$90 million,
while those at primary
school would be entitled to Z$20 million for school
fees.
"This
money will go a long way in assisting paying school fees for our
comrades
who have been struggling to raise the fees. This is a very good
move on the
part of the government," said national executive member, Retired
Major Ben
Ncube.
During the meeting, which was also attended by members
of the former
ZIPRA high command and war veterans from Matebeleland North,
Dabengwa
expressed concern over the increasing number of bogus war veterans
in the
province. He said the government would soon embark on a re-vetting
exercise
to weed out bogus war veterans.
In 1997, the government
awarded hefty pensions and "gratuities" to the
over 40 000 war veterans for
the role they played during the 15-year-old
liberation struggle for
Zimbabwe.
The Mercury
May
15, 2006
By Basildon Peta
Chinese investors in
Zimbabwe, who have been punted by President
Robert Mugabe as the best
alternative to Western money, have abandoned major
projects for which they
had been contracted, citing non-payment of fees,
reports said.
The decision by six major Chinese companies to freeze work on key
projects
seems to have once again exposed President Mugabe's "Look East"
policy as
empty political sloganeering that won't bring any tangible
investment into a
crippled economy.
The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, which
toured some of the projects,
said the failure to honour payments for work
done could jeopardise
diplomatic ties between Zimbabwe and
China.
China's relations with Zimbabwe - which included diplomatic
support,
trade deals and close military ties - could be under strain as a
result of
the government's failure to service its debts.
zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
SIXTY-THREE members of
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) who were
arrested during a protest on
Valentines Day will appear in court at Rotten
Row for trial today.
They face charges under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. The State will
argue
the women's conduct was likely to cause a breach of peace on the day
in
question.
The women were part of the 242 women arrested on Valentine's
Day.
"They are the defiant few that managed to resist three days of police
cruelty and psychological torture and did not pay admission of guilt fines,"
WOZA spokesperson, Anne Sibanda said.
They demanded their right to
be taken to court and were granted free
bail on Friday 17th February. They
have appeared before remand court on
three occasions before being given
today's trial date.
The women will be represented by Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights.
WOZA has been at the forefront of championing the
cause of women in
Zimbabwe over the past few years. WOZA members were
recently arrested in
Bulawayo after demonstrating against the massive hike
in school fees. The
women's organisation argues the increase would see many
children failing to
go to school. In February the marched and gave people
roses and pamphlets
about WOZA and their fight for justice, peace and
equality in the country.
zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
LONG-SUFFERING Zimbabweans who can no longer afford paying the
ever-increasing burial fees to the City of Harare are now resorting to
burying their dead in the night at illegal graveyards, according to the
Herald newspaper.
With inflation now over a 1 000 percent, the cost
of living going up
everyday, school fees and related things, relatives are
being forced to
forego all the burial rituals and are dumping their loved
ones under the
cover of darkness after paying into illegal burial societies
to avoid
incurring huge costs.
Early last year, an illegal
graveside was discovered at Snake Park,
along Bulawayo road and another one
with 30 graves has been found at Hopley
and Blackfordby farms, some of the
first farms to be invaded by the war
veterans in 2000.
The farms
had now been earmarked for housing under Operation
Garikai/Hlalami Kuhle
following the devastating Operation Murambatsvina
campaign that saw
thousands losing their homes and jobs.
An unregistered burial society
is believed to be behind the burials at
the farm.
The newspaper
says most of the graves are still fresh with one epitaph
on one of the
graves indicating the deceased was buried on March 27 2006.
Council
spokesperson Madenyika Magwenjere confirmed the illegal burials and
said the
municipality was working on measures to stop them.
The illegal
graveyard is said to have been discovered a fortnight ago
when a bereaved
family at Hopley Farm failed to raise burial fees for their
daughter. Her
body lay uncollected at Kuwadzana Funeral Services in
Southerton for a week
as the family struggled to raise Zd$12 million for
burial at Granville
Cemetery. They then heard of a cheaper burial place and
ended up meeting
John Mundove, the chairman of the unregistered Tariro
Burial Society.
Mundove allegedly agreed to facilitate a night burial, which
is taboo in
Zimbabwe but with the difficulties, people are being pushed to
extreme
limits.
They were made to pay Zd$2 million joining fee and
grave-digging
expenses. They also were told to pay a monthly subscription of
Zd$100 000 to
remain members. They, however, were made to dig their own
grave but failed
to locate it when burial time came. They were caught by
police officers who
ordered them to get a refund from the burial society
resulting in the
investigations by the police and the City Council. Mundove
denies any
wrongdoing. He says the gravesite was being used legally. He,
however, could
not explain why burials were conducted at night. "We have the
permission to
use this area as a graveyard, but I am sorry I cannot tell you
why burials
are carried out at night," he said.
People from as far
as Mbare and Mabvuku were said to have buried their
relatives in the dark at
the graveside. It costs Zd$17 million to bury an
adult in a cemetery
controlled by the City of Harare and given that many
families in Zimbabwe
can hardly afford to pay their children's school fees,
let alone feed them,
proper burials have become a luxury in Zimbabwe.
The Harare City
Council increased fees for its cemeteries to between
Zd$12 million and Zd$19
million depending on the section in the cemetery one
chooses.
May 14, 2006.
By
Andnetwork .com
THE National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) faces a
potential crisis
following revelations following manoeuvres to amend the
Constitution.
The move will see current chairman, Lovemore
Madhuku, run for a third
consecutive term. This has sparked a row between
him and his deputy, Douglas
Mwonzora.
Well-placed insiders
within the new Constitution lobby group said
Mwonzora - who had been the
clear front-runner for the NCA chairmanship -
had been irked by what they
described as "underhand" moves by Madhuku to
amend the NCA
constitution.
It is understood that the constitution will be
amended at the NCA's
Annual General Meeting, (AGM) scheduled for 27 May
2006. Intentions to
change the tenure of the chairman from two consecutive
two year periods, to
two consecutive five year terms, if the sitting
chairperson secures
re-election, have not gone down well with some members
of the NCA, well-
known for their belligerent condemnation of the national
presidium's lack of
term limits.
Insiders allege that Madhuku
used his powerful post to influence the
grassroots and NCA stakeholders to
propose and back the amendments which
will allow him to stand for a third
term.
Under the latest developments, nine out of ten provinces are
said to
be backing the move to amend the constitution whilst all NCA
stakeholders
have thrown their weight behind Madhuku.
"The only
region not backing Madhuku's plans is Matabeleland North.
Eight provinces
are fully behind the plan, while one is still evaluating but
is likely to
throw its weight behind Madhuku," said a committee member who
refused to be
identified.
The committee member said Mwonzora had opted to
withdraw from the race
for the chairmanship - a situation that spells
disaster for the NCA
considering Mwonzora has a significant following within
the lobby group.
"After the AGM adopts the amendments, he (Madhuku)
will be eligible to
stand for a third term. He is not really hindering
Mwonzora intentionally.
Madhuku sincerely believes he is the right person to
lead the NCA at this
stage, and that if he is unable to become the
chairperson, then the NCA will
have lost significant negotiating
muscle.
"But at the same time he is not furthering Mwonzora's
interests
through his actions and all those hindered by Madhuku's action are
not
happy," said the committee member.
Mwonzora denied claims
of any rift between himself and Madhuku but
implied he was unhappy about the
proposed changes.
"The problem that arose was that nobody knew
whether Madhuku would
stand for a third term. For that reason, people had
worked (out) a
contingency plan on who takes what (post). I was interested
in the
chairmanship but that was before the move to effect amendments to the
NCA
constitution," said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora then added that if
the amendments sailed through, he would
not contest the NCA chairmanship
against Madhuku.
"It means I will not contest against Madhuku. I am
told that the
amendments were done after wide ranging consultations. With
who, I don't
know, but if it is true that consultations were held, my
attitude is that I
will not begrudge the views of the majority. I will
respect the
consultations," said Mwonzora.
Because Mwonzora was
unaware of Madhuku's plans to contest for a third
term until recently,
speculation is rife within the lobby group that
Mwonzora may opt to retain
his vice chairperson's seat. This has ruffled the
feathers of those who had
hoped to contest for this post.
It is alleged that National
Advocacy chairperson, George Mkwananzi,
vice Gender chairperson, Tsitsi
Mutongi, and Felix Mafa from the NCA
Bulawayo chapter would have battled it
out for the vice-chairperson's post.
At the same time, deputy
National Advocacy chairperson, Maddock
Chivasa and Kucaca Hlahla Pulu had
expressed interest in the NCA's
spokesperson post.
However, a
statement received from the NCA Bulawayo Chapter revealed
that Mkwananzi had
since withdrawn his candidature for the post of vice-
chairman, and had
opted to seek re-election as head of the Advocacy
committee.
Mutongi has also withdrawn from the race and has opted to contest the
elections for the post of Gender chairperson, left vacant after Tabitha
Khumalo was elected to the post of MDC anti-Senate deputy spokesperson over
a month ago.\
Mutongi would not admit her interest in the
vice-chairperson's post,
but said the NCA taskforce would soon meet to
discuss the elections.
"At the meeting we will declare how best we
can support each other,
only when everyone has declared their interests,"
said Mutongi.
Mkwananzi was not available for comment at the time of
going to press.
"The Bulawayo Chapter has made it clear that it is
firmly behind
Lovemore Madhuku in his bid to retain the post of National
Chairman which is
also eyed by Douglas Mwonzora," the Chapter declares in
the statement.
Madhuku confirmed that he intended to run for a third
term once the
amendments were effected.
"I am responding to
calls from the NCA grassroots and the public which
feels the NCA has a major
role to play in ensuring Zimbabwe gets a new
constitution. My re-election is
a strategy to force the (President Robert)
Mugabe administration to effect
constitutional change," said Madhuku.
Ironically, Madhuku has often
called on President Mugabe to stop
seeking re-election, and has argued that
the head of State should give
others the chance to lead Zimbabwe. In turn,
President Mugabe has said he
seeks re-election because the electorate still
wants him to do so. Madhuku
is arguing that the grassroots want him to
retain the NCA chairmanship.
Meanwhile, Madhuku blasted the
anti-Senate MDC for taking part in the
Budiriro parliamentary by- election.
Madhuku expressed his ire during an NCA
National Executive meeting held in
Harare recently.
Madhuku queried the logic of participating in the
by- election when
the Tsvangirai- led faction had tabled a resolution,
during the party's
congress, barring participation in any election until a
new national
constitution had been put in place.
In the light
of this continued shift and fickle nature in matters of
policy, Madhuku
said, the NCA would not be part and parcel of the planned
mass
demonstrations led by Tsvangirai's MDC faction.
Source: The Sunday
Mirror Online
By Violet Gonda
15 May 2006
Bulawayo
Archbishop Pius Ncube has expressed concern at the continued
partisan
distribution of much needed food in Matebeleland region especially
in Insiza
and Gwanda. The outspoken cleric alleges that the notorious Langa
family are
at the centre of this practice and have made the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB)
in the area totally disorderly.
Andrew Langa is the MP for Insiza
and Deputy Minister of Tourism. Mrs
Langa is said to be in charge of the GMB
in Insiza and people are completely
powerless. The MP is alleged to have the
chiefs on his side by mostly
threatening them.
Archbishop Ncube
said the oppression of the people in this region is
heartless and that
recently at least 200 people were denied food even though
they had the
money.
Ncube added, "The MP for Insiza is greatly immoral and
murderous and
totally deceitful. " According to the archbishop food is
readily available
for ruling ZANU PF supporters and that is made abundantly
clear.
Andrew Langa is known as the ZANU PF Warlord for the area.
The
pressure group Sokwanele wrote about him saying; "Those acquainted with
Langa in even the slightest way confirm that here is one politician who
understands no other style of politics than bullying intimidation and brutal
violence."
The Catholic Bishop confirms this saying the
situation has worsened in
the last 3 years. He said even starving orphans
and the elderly are ignored.
On the ruling elite in Insiza the Archbishop
said, "They will not listen,
they are deaf. ZANU PF has become their God and
people have to suffer for
this."
He believes Langa should have
been put behind bars a long time ago,
but inaction by the police means there
is no rule of law in Zimbabwe.
Sadly this is a situation that has
been going on for some time. A
report by the pressure group Sokwanele on the
lawlessness in Insiza last
year said; "According to villagers who were
interviewed last week, ZANU-PF
district structures operating under the
party's candidate for the area,
Andrew Langa, have given them two choices
for their survival. They must
either vote for ZANU-PF and get food relief or
support the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and go
without food . Most of the
villagers interviewed said they would rather die
of hunger than back
ZANU-PF, a party they have never supported in their
lives."
We were not able to get a comment from Andrew Langa or his
wife.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
International Journalists Network
15/05/2006
A group of African journalists
meeting in Tanzania on May 2 and 3 agreed to
establish a self-regulatory
media council in Zimbabwe.
The agreement came at the Eastern and Southern
African Media Councils
Conference. The event included media representatives
from Kenya, Lesotho,
the Netherlands, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
and the World
Association of Press Councils.
According to a press
release from the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA), the decision was
partially based on the success of the Media Council
of Tanzania. The
Zimbabwean council would be based on the same model, aiming
to raise
professional and ethical standards while also promoting press
freedom. Under
the plan, three groups in the country - the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists,
MISA, and the Media Monitoring Project - would cooperate to
create the Media
Alliance of Zimbabwe.
Independent journalists in Zimbabwe have struggled
under President Robert
Mugabe's rule. A Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) report in October
2005 found that at least 90 Zimbabwean journalists
live in exile in South
Africa, the U.K. and elsewhere. In January, Mugabe
approved a law
establishing two-year prison terms for journalists who
practice without a
government-issued license.
For more information on
the conference see:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200605100735.html
CPJ
on Zimbabwe: http://www.cpj.org/attacks05/africa05/zim_05.html.
With Dr. Stanford Mukasa
May 15,
2006.
In today's Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa analyzes the
post-Mugabe debate that took place at the launch of the Ohio branch of the
MDC last weekend
............................
On Saturday,
May 13, a group of Zimbabweans in Columbus, Ohio, met to
form a branch of
the MDC.
On the surface this was an ordinary meeting of Zimbabweans and
was not
a big deal.
The meeting itself would not have attracted
more than the usual
attention. It came after an email circulated by the
organizer inviting
people to the inaugural launch.
Yet there was
something about the meeting that brought Zimbabweans
from outside Ohio to
attend. One flew all the way from Seattle, Washington.
Others drove up to 11
hours to the meeting.
At the most, there must have been about 20
Zimbabweans who gathered at
a home of one of them.
Elections were
held. Nothing unusual about that.
What followed was perhaps a textbook
lesson for Zimbabweans.
After the elections there was a
no-holds-barred, frank, free and open
discussion on the situation at home,
plus a microscopic examination of the
leadership in the MDC. Debates often
got very heated, reflecting the
enthusiasm, energy and concern that the
Zimbabweans in Ohio have on the
ongoing situation at home.
"How can
we be assured that the present leadership in the MDC will not
become another
Mugabe once they taste power?" asked one participant who used
to be a Rixi
Taxi driver in Harare.
The same participant also asked: "It has been
six years since Morgan
Tsvangirai has been president of the MDC. Mugabe is
still in power. Does
this not reflect the failure of Tsvangirai to wrestle
power from Mugabe? And
isn't it time for a change of leadership?"
Another question was: Why is MDC aligning itself with former
Rhodesians and
other enemies of the Zimbabwean war of liberation?
These questions
stirred a hornet's nest of comments. Almost everyone
wanted to speak at the
same time. It was like the questioner had injected
some political hypodermic
needle of energy in the participants.
The message from the Ohio branch
is that Zimbabweans must safeguard
their independence fiercely.
The
participants had unconsciously adopted the Cold War dictum of the
Soviet-
backed Warsaw Pact: Trust no one. Suspect everyone!
Their message was
that after the Mugabe debacle Zimbabweans should
never take their leadership
for granted anymore but must engage the
leadership critically when they are
not satisfied at the ways things are
going.
The Ohio branch is made
up of free thinkers and members who will not
hesitate to speak out when they
are not satisfied with the way things are
going.
This kind of
democratic activism at the grassroots level is what will
sustain and
strengthen the MDC. It might have been tempting to dismiss some
of these
questions as retrogressive. But the questions were aimed at looking
for
chinks in the armor of the MDC. One of the reasons why Mugabe and ZANUPF
are
politically decomposing in their own mess is Mugabe has surrounded
himself
with hero worshippers and they tell him only what he wants, not
needs, to
hear.
And the message to the leadership was loud and clear! Don't even
think
or dream about behaving like Mugabe after the people have put you in
power.
The people will be watching you very closely. Don't take them for
granted.
When things go wrong the people will not hesitate to stage mass
protests and
even remove you from your positions.
The Ohio group
had touched on a very critical aspect of the discourse
on African politics.
African political leaders seem to take their followers
for granted. They use
the people to get them to power, only to abandon them
and renege on their
promises for a better life for all.
The Zimbabweans in Ohio were very
aware of the history of broken and
empty promises in African politics.
Mugabe and ZANUPF are a textbook case of
politicians who use people as
condoms, only to throw them away after they
have satisfied their selfish
egos.
When Mugabe came to Zimbabwe in 1980 it is estimated that half a
million people met him at the airport. He won a resounding victory at the
1980 elections. Zimbabweans gave Mugabe their full support and respect in
anticipation that he would do something to improve their lives and restore
their basic democratic rights.
At first, Mugabe appeared
conciliatory and determined to meet people's
aspirations. The first ten
years as president saw a robust growth in the
economy, earning the country
the name, breadbasket for the region. Under the
SADC shared tasks Zimbabwe
was given the responsibility for food security
for the region.
This
was even after the massacre by Mugabe's fifth brigade soldiers of
an
estimated 30,000 innocent civilians in Matabeleland and the unleashing of
the repressive machinery that saw the gradual and steady erosion of people's
basic human rights. Mugabe never abandoned the repressive laws that were
enacted by Ian Smith.
Yet Zimbabweans, except in Matabeleland,
continued to trust Mugabe by
repeatedly voting him in office.
Things, of course, changed starting in the latter half of the 1990.
Mugabe's
true colors began to show. As one Zimbabwean once remarked last
year: Mugabe
was a terrorist and will always remain a terrorist. This
statement was a
redefinition of Mugabe's credentials as a liberation war
hero.
Ian
Smith had always defined Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo as terrorists.
Zimbabwean
had always viewed them as heroes of the Zimbabwean freedom.
But
Mugabe's dictatorial acts against Zimbabweans created a crisis of
credibility of Mugabe's credentials as a liberation war hero. People asked:
How can a hero who fought to liberate the country from Ian Smith and settler
colonialism end up behaving like this?
When some Zimbabweans
started calling Mugabe a terrorist it signalled
this paradigm shift in the
public perception of Mugabe. What Zimbabweans are
now seeing in Mugabe is a
self- proclaimed liberation hero whose objectives
were not to liberate
Zimbabwe so Zimbabweans can enjoy their basic human
rights, but to install a
black dictatorship with token freedoms for the
Zimbabweans. It is these
terrorist objectives of denying people their basic
human rights that have
led to a redefinition of Mugabe in the context of
once a terrorist always a
terrorist.
Mugabe was always aware that his policies were eroding
public
confidence and support for him. He got a rude awakening when he lost
the
referendum of 2000. With the general elections barely five months away,
Mugabe knew he could not rely on people's goodwill to win the
elections.
It was at this point that Mugabe designed the Machiavellian
politics
of rule by force and deception and not to rely on people's goodwill
to win
elections. This has been the character of Mugabe's politics to this
very
day. Mugabe has abandoned the hope that Zimbabweans will someday like
him
again or vote for him. Yet the stakes are too high for him to lose
control
of political power. He knows that under a different government
Mugabe will
be hung high on the nearest tree and his supporters will be torn
to shreds
by the enraged Zimbabweans.
This nightmare keeps Mugabe
nervously holding on to power. We know for
a fact that Mugabe and ZANU PF
are nervous. Nothing is working in Zimbabwe.
With inflation soaring at 1024
percent the economy is in what some people
call a coma. The tide of mass
protest is looming in the horizon. The
protests by the WOZA and students are
just a tip of the iceberg of what
might follow.
Mugabe and ZANU PF
know that they have pushed Zimbabweans to the point
where Zimbabweans are
left with just one option - mass protests. And the
signs for a popular
revolt are now everywhere.
Mugabe is frantically trying to find a
successor who will be able to
sustain any promise of immunity for him. He
knows that simply getting a
written guarantee of immunity will not help.
Such guarantees can be broken
or ignored. He has first- hand knowledge of
this because he is very good at
breaking and reneging on promises and
agreements.
Unfortunately for him, as Mugabe looks at his ragtag band,
there is
not even one who remotely looks like he or she might step into his
shoes and
sustain ZANU PF. Mugabe's protégé, Joyce Mujuru, does not inspire
confidence
and many ZANU PF supporters have written her off as one big joke.
I heard
someone say she is like nyoka yakapfeka dhuku (a snake wearing a
headdress),
meaning Mujuru has become an albatross around Mugabe's neck, or,
simply a
political liability for her party.
But there is a broader
overarching question that goes way beyond
finding a successor to Mugabe or
removing Mugabe and ZANU PF from office.
This is what the Ohio group not
only discussed but set a model for the rest
of Zimbabweans.
The
questions raised by Zimbabweans at the beginning of this
commentary have no
easy answers. But they can be a basis for a debate that
will look at how
Zimbabweans can safeguard their freedoms in the post-
Mugabe era.
The institutions and strategies that were used in the struggle for
independence from Mugabe's tyranny must not be abandoned once the struggle
has been won. The people must sustain the women's league, youth movement,
MDC branches and other groups in the post -Mugabe era not just as empty
shells but institutions through which people can actively articulate their
concerns.
What is perhaps significant about the Ohio meeting is the
participants' demonstrated politics of free thinkers in the opposition
movement. Free thinkers can be a valuable vanguard in ensuring that the
party leadership do not renege on their promises.
After Mugabe won
the elections in 1980 there was a mistaken view that
the mission to gain
basic human and political rights for Zimbabweans had
been accomplished.
People let their guards down and left everything to
Mugabe to do whatever he
wanted to do.
Zimbabweans failed to establish and sustain the tradition
of holding
the government accountable or face the consequences of mass
protests.
It was not until the last half of the 1990s that Zimbabweans
began to
realize they had allowed the jackal Mugabe to look after their
fragile human
rights.
The Ohio meeting was significant in
addressing these crucial questions
in the post- Mugabe regime. These
questions were raised after Zimbabweans
have been cheated by Mugabe because
they did not seek iron- clad assurances
and guarantees at independence that
their basic human rights would not be
degraded.
In American
politics Ohio voters cast the deciding vote on the last
presidential
elections that brought George Bush to power.
There is also a famous TV
advertisement featuring two men sitting in a
crowded restaurant and talking
about, E.F. Hutton, a financial services
company. When one of the men says,
"Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F.
Hutton says . . ." The whole
restaurant falls silent. Everyone turns to hear
what E.F. Hutton
says.
At this point the commentator says: "When E.F. Hutton speaks,
people
listen."
In the same logic, and in the context of Ohio's
political significance
in American politics, when the Ohio group talked
about the post-Mugabe era
it is incumbent on all to listen. Hence, when Ohio
speaks we must listen. We
can learn a lesson or two from Ohio.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Sunday News, Zimbabwe
Farming Reporter
FARMER organisations have called
for a consistent supply of electricity
saying the erratic power supply poses
the greatest challenge to the winter
wheat cropping season.
They also
said announcing the pre-planting producer price of wheat could
have
motivated more farmers to plough wheat, thereby easily surpassing the
targeted 110 000 hectares of the crop this season.
The planting season
commenced at the end of last month and is set to
continue until 15
May.
Mr Wilfanos Mashingaidze, the vice-president of the Zimbabwe Farmers'
Union
said the greatest challenge that farmers are facing this season is the
erratic supply of electricity.
He called on the power utility company to
realise the critical role that
electricity plays in irrigation of wheat, as
constant interruption of the
system will have an adverse effect on the
crop.
"We call upon ZESA as the power utility to minimise power outage as
much as
possible so that irrigation of the crop is not affected.
"There
is need to realise that irrigation is the key behind a successful
winter
wheat farming season otherwise if the power cuts become excessive
this might
impact negatively on the total output," he said.
Mr Mashingaidze commended
the Government and all stakeholders for planning
in advance; a move he said
has contributed immensely to farmers being able
to get inputs like
fertilizer and seed on time.
He added that even the supply of fuel has
improved compared to last season.
Reports from across the country indicate
that most farmers were able to
access inputs like fertilizer and seed on
time.
More than 12 000 tonnes of seed have been made available for the winter
wheat.
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development, through the National
Oil
Company of Zimbabwe has also put in place measures to ensure that all
known
wheat farmers get their share of diesel without hassles.
Government
said it would monitor heavily farmers who are going to access
fuel that is
specifically meant for the winter wheat crop as it moves to
curb misuse of
fuel meant for agriculture.
The chairman of the cereals and small grains
association, Mr Denford
Chimbwanda, also said this season inputs have been
made available to farmers
on time.
He, however, urged the Government to
announce the pre-planting price early
so that farmers would not hesitate to
invest in the crop, as they will be
assured of good returns after
harvesting.
The Government has set a target of 110 000 hectares of wheat this
season and
observers have noted that given the right incentives farmers
would be able
to produce the country's wheat requirements of about 440 000
tonnes.