Opposition plans Zimbabwe rallies
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
Monday May
20, 2002
The Guardian
The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, said yesterday that his
party would lead thousands of people in
protest against President Robert
Mugabe's government within weeks, following
the collapse of its talks with
the governing party, Zanu-PF.
"Mass action
is inevitable and unavoidable," he told the Guardian. "We have
come to a
stage where non-violent action has to be taken. The assessment we
have from
consulting with the people is that they are prepared to protest
against this
illegitimate government."
The call to the streets is a new step for Mr
Tsvangirai, and is expected to
increase the tension in Zimbabwe. He said the
protests would take place
"soon".
"Even three weeks or a month is too
long."
In recent weeks Mr Tsvangirai has addressed several rallies. "I
have been
going around the country and I tell you the mood is combative and
defiant,"
he said.
"I am glad there is consensus between the rural and
urban divide about the
illegitimacy of the government.
"As a
responsible leadership we are going to channel their emotions in a
positive
way that will resolve the crisis this country is in."
Mr Tsvangirai and
his Movement for Democratic Change have refused to accept
Mr Mugabe's victory
in the March presidential election.
Mr Mugabe said in the
state-controlled Sunday Mail yesterday that his
government was prepared "to
talk peace if the MDC wants to talk peace, but
if they choose violence, then
we will deal with them effectively".
The Scotsman
Voiceless victims facing extinction in another
Zimbabwe conflict
Jacqui Goddard In Chiredzi
WILDLIFE experts believe that up to 600,000 animals have been poached
in
Zimbabwe since the launch of President Robert Mugabe's land
invasion
programme two years ago.
The ongoing slaughter, which
includes supposedly protected species
such as black rhinoceros, has wiped out
an estimated 60 per cent of wildlife
on privately owned game ranches and
conservancies.
Such areas have been overrun by thousands of
settlers, who have
stripped away game fences and used the wire to make
snares, using the meat
either for subsistence amid increasing hunger caused
by food shortages, or
for commercial sale.
"This country's
natural heritage is being decimated," said Johnny
Rodriguez, of the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force. "Unless the government
restores law and order, we
can ultimately kiss Zimbabwe's wildlife goodbye."
There is also
evidence that rural authorities in some areas have
sanctioned the shooting of
game in order to feed the youth militia set up to
terrorise political
opponents by Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party during his
campaign for
re-election.
There are two main habitats for wildlife in Zimbabwe,
commercial game
ranches, which earn their income from tourism and controlled
hunting, and
which in some cases have joined together to form larger
conservancies, and
National Parks.
Gerry Whitehead owns a game
ranch in the Mateke hills of south-east
Zimbabwe, which he bought in 1989 and
stocked with more than 1,000 animals.
"There was no wildlife, very little
grass and no surface water. It was like
a desert," he said. "I built dams,
bought in game, enticed wildlife into the
area. It was beautiful. You could
see herds of zebra, wildebeest, impala.
Now we are heading towards having no
wildlife left. Even with eight game
scouts, we are losing animals every day
to poachers." Of the 200 eland he
once had, just 25 remain; of 60 sable,
there are now nine. The giraffe, who
used to number 50, are down to around
ten.
Wally Herbst, chairman of the Wildlife Producers' Association,
said:
"Almost two-thirds of the wildlife on commercial farms has been
eliminated.
If the authorities don't start running in the poachers now,
within four to
five months the damage will be irreparable."
On
Chiredzi Conservancy, the 16 owners are struggling to get a grip on
the
crisis. "We have lost thousands of animals," said Digby Nesbitt,
the
chairman, whose Dawlish Ranch is now peppered with 200-300 settlers'
huts.
"They are chopping down mopane trees, killing the game, setting snares
and
threatening to kill game scouts."
Clem Coetsee also owns
land on the conservancy. One of the most
respected faces on southern Africa's
wildlife scene, he won plaudits for his
rescue of more than 500 elephants
from the Gonarezhou National Park during
the drought of 1992-93 and for the
movement of Zimbabwe's black rhino
population into protected areas during the
1980s, when an upsurge in
poaching in the Zambezi Valley threatened their
survival.
His 9,000-acre property, that he had lovingly stocked
with animals
including eland, duiker, reedbuck, bushbuck and wildebeest, is
now occupied
by "war veterans" and settlers. They have stolen more than ten
miles of game
fence and used it to snare wildlife, and destroyed
two-and-a-half miles of
pipes that he had laid to provide water for
buffalo.
Having done so much for the country's fauna, the
63-year-old feels
bitter. "I barely see any animals on my place now," he
said. "The president
himself said the conservancies would not be taken for
resettlement, but we
have seen otherwise. Responsibility for this lies with
him."
The poaching situation in the national parks is unclear, but
Mr
Coetsee believes that possibly hundreds of thousands of animals have
been
illegally killed there. He is especially worried about the fate of
the
rhino. On the Chiredzi Conservancy, anti-poaching patrols are doing
their
best to monitor the 21 resident black rhino, but on other
conservancies, war
veterans have created "no-go" zones, meaning nobody can
assess the rhinos'
welfare.
"If the land question is not
resolved soon, the future for the rhino
is grave," Mr Coetsee warned. Since
the land invasions began in 2000, there
have been ten confirmed rhino deaths
in Zimbabwe and 13 more animals have
required veterinary treatment after
being caught in snares.
It is feared by some land managers that
around 30 more rhinos may have
been killed in areas that can no longer be
monitored. There are around 400
black rhino in Zimbabwe, of a total of around
2,500 in Africa as a whole.
"We could go from 400-odd to nothing in a year if
they really put their
minds to it," warned Norman Crooks, a rhino
specialist.
The Bubiana Conservancy at West Nicholson is one of the
worst affected
areas. Formed in 1991 by seven commercial farmers who joined
their land to
form a 350,000 acre protected zone, it is now under partial
occupation by
war veterans and settlers. Three of the seven landowners have
been forced to
flee and the 50 game scouts who used to patrol that part of
the conservancy
have been reduced to 30 due to the threats and
intimidation.
A total area of 170,000 acres is now unpatrolled on
Bubiana. The fate
of the estimated 40 black rhino who lived within that area,
out of a total
of 104 animals on the conservancy as a whole, is unknown.
"Personally, I
fear that up to 20 of those 40 may be gone," said Mr
Crooks.
Of the four confirmed rhino deaths on Bubiana over the past
18 months,
one was a calf under two weeks old that was burned to death when
squatters
set the conservancy alight. Another was caught in a snare then
stabbed to
death.
A black rhino rehabilitation programme at
Tashinga in the Matusadona
National Park has also suffered casualties. Last
month, two semi-tame rhinos
were poisoned by poachers using agricultural
pesticide. One survived but
Chibage, aged 30 months, was killed and its horn
hacked off.
At the 50,000-acre Gourlays Ranch at Turk Mine, Richard
Pascall, the
landowner, lost an adult male called Squeeze, that was killed in
a fight
with another rhino after settlers moved on to the land, apparently
causing
Squeeze to flee into a rival's territory. Mr Pascall was forced off
his
property by armed war veterans who attacked him.
Raoul du
Toit, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature's rhino projects
in Zimbabwe,
believes there is hope if the government can be persuaded to
intervene. In
recent days, there have been moves by the police and army to
conduct sweeps
in some areas, such as the Save and Chiredzi conservancies,
although there is
concern over the long-term picture.
"It's a case of how far the
government wants to let it go," said Mr du
Toit. "The whole world knows how
black rhino were being driven to the point
of extinction and another major
setback appears to be on the cards here
unless we act fast."
From ZWNEWS, 20
May
The Grand Nationality
Steeplechase
Three visits to different offices,
an 8-hour queue, applicants beaten with sjamboks: journalist Michael Hartnack
describes the quest to renew his Zimbabwe passport.
My passport expires in September. Warned by
a colleague that his took four months to renew, I went in April to Home Affairs
in Harare Street/Herbert Chitepo Avenue to begin the process. It is so dreaded
that many whites have opted to forfeit their citizenship and their vote by
seeking the passports of foreign countries.
Step One, to get the necessary application
form, took me over an hour in an unruly scrum. I had to produce my birth
certificate, my metal national identity disk and two photographs. The form was
thrust at me with a curt order: "Go to 'Citizenship'." For Step Two I returned
another day to queue at the Citizenship Office with every conceivable document
proving it is impossible for me to claim the nationality of any other country.
My friend Judy Todd has just won a constitutional test case that she is entitled
to retain her Zimbabwe citizenship although she took no steps to renounce a
possible right to a passport from New Zealand, birthplace of her father, former
Prime Minister Sir Garfield Todd. The judge ruled she was not obliged to
renounce a supposed right she had never tried to claim. However, I mustered
every shred of evidence that I have no rights to any foreign citizenship and
before the January 6 deadline sent copies by registered post, twice, to our
controversial Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede. Robert Mugabe’s Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, in its original draft, banned any
journalist not a Zimbabwean citizen from working here. I was taking no
chances.
After a 90-minute wait in a squalid
corridor outside the Citizenship Office, I presented attested copies of all the
evidence I sent in January. An official examined this and questioned me about my
and my parents' birthplaces. He then disappeared into a back office, evidently
to check my file. When he returned he stamped my passport application form with
the words "Subject has renounced his foreign citizenship in terms of the new
law" and wrote a reference number. The third fence is this Grand Nationality
Steeplechase was by far the worst - formally submitting the application.
Exhaustive enquiries revealed it was impossible to do this without hiring
specialist help from some of the four million unemployed. Security guards at
Home Affairs do not allow people to queue outside all night, so passport seekers
have to hide themselves some streets away, then converge on the gates towards
dawn.
When I arrived at dawn on May 13 there were
three rival, disorderly queues, each about five abreast and 400 metres long, all
people hoping to lodge passport applications – mostly so they can escape to
South Africa. There were, I estimate, between 4 000 and 7 000 people there by
7:30 a.m. For his Zimbabwe $700 fee, my specialist had stationed proxies in all
three queues. I took the place of one, but his queue swiftly broke down in
pandemonium as paramilitary police with AK47s and men in plain clothes with
sjamboks and two-metre canes emerged and began whipping those at the head. I was
told, but cannot confirm, these were members of the Central Intelligence
Organisation. As terrified women fled screaming, a burly Mike Tyson lookalike
was among many knocked off his feet, his application form, precious personal
documents and passport photos trampled in the dirt. Eventually a single queue was formed, the men with whips striding
up and down swishing the air menacingly. A man who remonstrated received two
lashes. (This queue eventually extended two kilometres.) My specialist pointed
out a young man in a yellow jerkin who was our "place saver" in the surviving
queue. When things calmed down around 8:00 a.m. I asked a baton-wielding
policeman if I might substitute myself. In view of my advanced years I was
allowed to step out of the gutter and take over. The policeman then gratuitously
assaulted the man in the yellow jerkin for being on the pavement.
From the chaos down the street came what
sounded like a shot from an AK47. "Ah! Wellsi-Fargo!" quipped a humourist and we
all laughed. The amazing good nature of the people is this country's greatest
asset. More plain clothes officials made their way down the line checking
papers. A date and number - 184 of May 13 - was written on my application form.
The officials allocated only 300 people to a day. We were shepherded onto the
verandahs outside the passport office and lined up in our numbered order. As one
of only two pale faces in the queue I became a sort of landmark during my
eight-hour wait. Those going off to buy food or use the frightful toilets told
neighbours to remember they were X places ahead of or behind me. Just as I finally reached the front at 3 p.m., the doors were
closed and numbers 201-300 were told to come back next day. One official checked
in my form, another took my Zimbabwe $300 fee, a third told me to return in
November. Footnote: Mugabe's Zanu PF cronies get preferential treatment, many
being issued "diplomatic passports" although they have no link to the foreign
service.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA),
20 May
At harvest time, famine stalks
Zimbabwe
May is normally a month of plenty in Zimbabwe, as farmers
harvest their crops ahead of the austral winter. But this year, rural granaries
are as empty as the dusty urban store shelves, and the government has declared a
state of disaster because of the desperate shortage of food in most of the
southern African country. Nowhere is the crisis as severe as the already dry
provinces of southern Zimbabwe. "We didn't really get anything -- only a few
melons," said grey-haired Francis Sibanda. "The rain was not fair, so we
couldn't harvest anything. Now we go for sometimes a week without food," he
said. His wife spends the days scavenging for berries and wild fruit in the
nearby mountains. He sometimes sells a chicken alongside the highway that passes
100 meters outside his village, but that money only buys enough maize meal to
last a few days, and he is running out of chickens. "If we can find (maize
meal), we don't make the thick sadza, we just make a thin porridge so the mealie
meal can last another day," one neighbour said.
Most people in the villages in Lukosi district, about 130
kilometres east of Victoria Falls, said they were relying on relatives, friends
and neighbours to survive – hoping that some distant cousin working in a city or
overseas will send home money or food to share with the village. "Now we are
waiting for the neighbours, to see if they find some food. We are living
communally, to make sure no one is dying," said Ruth Ndlovu, who was using her
cooking pots for stools as she had nothing to put in them. Even in these rural
areas, people have heard of government plans to import maize. But everyone in
this cluster of villages thinks they know why no food is coming to them -
politics. "Those areas where the imported maize is going, is where the people
voted for the government. That is why we are not getting food," Ndlovu said.
"Last time when the maize was brought, it was said it was only for the ruling
party supporters – the war vets, the army. Sometimes if shops manage to get
mealie meal, it's only 10 bags. When the maize is disbursed, they say it is only
for Zanu PF, not for MDC supporters, and they make sure it does not come."
Voters in southern Zimbabwe turned out strongly in favour of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the March presidential
election and the 2000 parliamentary elections. Most of the people in these
provinces are from the Ndebele minority, and none of them have forgotten the
ruling Zanu PF's bloody 1980s campaign to wipe out "dissidents," which left
thousands dead or missing. During that campaign, church groups accused the
government of using the army to block food deliveries and to destroy food
supplies during the 1984 drought. The memories have left a suspicion of
President Robert Mugabe that's hard to erase in this region, especially after
the violence-wracked presidential campaign that saw thousands of people - mainly
opposition supporters - beaten, abducted or otherwise intimidated, according to
rights groups. At least 55 people have died so far this year in political
violence, rights groups say.
Aid agencies, however, are trying to respond to the crisis
without getting entangled in the political drama. The UN's World Food Program
(WFP) suspended its emergency food deliveries for the two weeks around the March
9-11 election. But the political crisis and international dissatisfaction with
Mugabe's government have overshadowed the growing humanitarian problems. UN
officials here fear the famine will act as a catalyst for other health problems,
not the least of which is HIV, the deadly virus that has infected one in four
Zimbabwean adults. Other diseases like malaria and cholera can also take hold as
malnutrition spreads. If international assistance does not come, villagers in
Lukosi have resigned themselves to scavenging and hoping they survive to see
better rains next year. "We are just waiting to see if next year there is some
rain. In the meantime, we just eat wild fruits, berries, some baobab fruit. And
we rush to the highway to see if someone is getting down with some maize,"
Ndlovu said.
"Brushing Zimbabwe under the carpet?"
*1*
Sent: 18 May 2002 11:02
SABC featured news yesterday showing the Zimbabwe Police instructing "war
vets" to remove themselves from certain properties that have not been officially
designated by the Government...laughable isn't it. Mugabe, is NOW about to
display to the rest of the world that he is actually HUMANE and considerate and
that he has restored " law and order" but only after he has achieved all his
objectives by removing 95% of the white farmers off the land, torturing, raping
and beating up literally thousands of innocent people and successfully getting
away with rigging the last election. Its amazing how the SABC are now able to
feature Mugabe's Police moving squatters off the land, whereas in the past they
(plus the international media) have failed so miserably to portray some of the
actual realities of the situation such as the brutal violence or some of the
very inhumane acts committed against the people and animals.....not only have
they kept it all at a low key but there are reports that they actually
suppressed most such news. We suspect that it will be convenient for the
International media follow suit and do likewise. It seems that its a win, win
situation all round ....except for a few white farmers and millions of poor
black Zimbabweans. Chirac of France and Mbeki of South Africa will be happy
because they will have saved their staunch ally, the Frontline states will be
happy for a similar reason, Britain will be happy (because it will save spending
millions of Dollars on compensation for land) and the European Community will be
happy because it will have prevented them from having to challenge the OAU
(Organisation of African "so called" Unity)....and nobody in the outside world
will be any the wiser about what really happened! Its so very difficult trying
to come to terms with this awful, despicab injustice.
G. Ncube.
*2*
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 9:00 AM
Dear Readers,
If convenient please read an "opinion" submitted to me by a friend...it
would appear that South Africa, Nigeria and the western world are attempting to
conveniently sweep the "whole Zimbabwe issue" right under the carpet, pretending
that all is now well and that law and order and democracy have been restored in
Zimbabwe. And they are doing so principally because everybody wants this NEPAD
(New Partnership for African Development)
financial aid package to go ahead.
It is for this reason that there has been this extensive news blackout on
Zimbabwe..... it has allowed President Mugabe the necessary time to quickly
remove all the white farmers and pulverise his people into total submission so
that everything now appears sweet and so refreshingly clean. Nothing,
absolutely nothing, could be further from the truth...believe me. I often feel
that watching events unfold in Zimbabwe and witnessing some of the key players
performing (African and Western) is like watching a "thriller/horror" movie,
only problem is that this is for real and it doesn't seem to ever end or get any
better.
G. Ncube.
*3*
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:05 PM
Dear John -
Very interesting note... This seems to concur with other stories I'm
reading in ZWNews or elsewhere, which suggest the world is busy trying to push
Zimbabwe under the carpet so that everybody is happy. That clearly is the
interest of South Africa: The more the world forgets about what happens to Zim
or believes it's no longer an issue, the higher its chances of getting funding
through Nepad, and the lower the risks of capital deserting SA...
Mbeki can
score a personal victory by showing how well his pet project Nepad has been
received by the West, without having to really get tough to Mugabe and risking
(who knows) to upset some of his grassroot ANC support!
Already the rand is
firming - coinciding with Zimbabwe fading from the news - and that probably is
luring the SA officials into believing that what they've done is enough! As for
the western leaders, well they probably feel that by giving money to Nepad and
praising it as an African success, they will score big with their own voters by
appearing like nice people who've done their bit for the third world.
So it seems that rather than trying to solve the Zim problem, the world
powers are trying to put a positive spin on it and pretend that either there is
no problem, or that it is being resolved. Great work! I'm sure Tony Blair and
Peter Mandelson, the great masters of spin, will appreciate. Once again, our
global politicians are dealing with the problem the way they're so used to: If
people don't like the policy, do not change it, but rather hire a PR consultant
in order to explain it better. In the case of Zimbabwe, of course, it is not
too difficult, as their constituents probably have little sympathy for the
victims of Mugabe. Right-wingers tend to consider all African countries as
basket-cases anyway, and many left-wingers probably still have some sympathy for
"socialist" ZANU and regard MDC as a stooge of foreign capitalists. Some people
in Britain feel sorry for the plight of the white farmers, but that feeling does
not extend to sparing two hours of their life to go and demonstrate in support
of Mugabe's victims. The last demonstration I went to - opposite Zim House in
London, organised by MDC and the Freedom of Zim campaign - we were about 35...
About the same as when some concerned South Africans tried to have a
demonstration in front of SA House to protest against the farm murders and
violence in SA in general.
And yet God knows that London is full of white
South Africans lamenting the falling apart of their country!
As for the loss of wildlife in Zimbabwe, we're facing an even greater
problem: Even those people far-sighted enough to feel about what is happening to
Zimbabwe people do not necessarily see beyond simplistic solutions. Some
(white) people who are active in the MDC in London have told me that the
priority is to concentrate on the people of Zim rather than the elephants...
That reminded me of the good souls who were shocked at the Nigerian patrols
shooting at Somali poachers back in the early 1990s to protect some rhino.
Obviously too many people, and educated people, still cannot see the importance
of an asset like wildlife for the future and the people of Africa, or do not
want to see it because of their own ideological bias. Some people have
highlighted the plight of Zim wildlife (there have been, for instance, several
articles in the SA magazine Africa Geographic and also warnings by the
Endangered Wildlife Trust) but I must admit that by and large, the outcry from
the environmental NGOs has been muted. As for Greenpeace, it seems more
interested into smashing the French boat for the America's Cup - on grounds
they're sponsored by a nuclear power agency - than in protecting
wildlife...
The fight goes on!
Best regards, Jean-Francois Mercier
Land to the politburo : article featured on 19 May 2002
CLICK here to view the list of prominent persons who appear to have been allocated farms
Statement
(On behalf of the Commercial Farmers' Union)
With reference
to an article carried in The Herald on 20 May 2002, we wish
to give facts
omitted from your report. We require a front-page rebuttal in
tomorrows
Herald. The title was 'Farmer poisons tonnes of Maize'.
In consultation
with farm owner, Basil Hulloville Brent, we submit a
response and request
that equal coverage be given. Both Brent and Jenni
Williams (CFU
spokesperson) were not contacted for comment by The Herald
leading to this
biased report, which has besmirched the good repute of Brent
and that of his
son Gary who is a member of the national cricket team.
Firstly the Norton
farm, Riverside E, is 126 hectares in extent and is the
only farm owned by
Brent and his son Gary. It remained unlisted for
acquisition until a
preliminary notice in The Herald of Friday, 17 May. The
farm has employed 100
workers in the past but 55 are currently on the books.
There are also 69 head
of cattle on the property.
The small farm normally crops 30 ha of Seed
maize and Brent is a registered
Seed Maize Grower. 3 000 pockets worth of
seed maize variety SC501 is
currently being graded for Seed
Co-op.
Brent also has 17 ha of Tobacco, and 45 000 kgs is stored in his
sheds
awaiting grading. He also grows 8 ha of maize for consumption as
green
maize. This maize for consumption is what was photographed by The
Herald and
is clearly stored indoors as it was harvested last month and is
yet to be
shelled. This is the maize that farm workers can purchase at very
subsidized
rates.
There is a heap of approx 10 tonnes seed maize lying
outdoors, which is
clearly visible. This seed maize was reaped last year and
has been lying
outdoors since then. It is unfit for livestock consumption as
it was
infected with Diplodia, it is therefore the poisoned maize in
question. Both
John Mukrayi and Mrs Nyandoro were informed of the reason this
maize was
lying out in the open. It was not photographed by your
cameraman.
For background information, there were no occupiers on the
farm until after
the September 6 Abuja Accord signed on 6th September 2001.
The first
occupier was an ex army captain by the name of John Mukrayi, a
weekend
farmer who insisted Brent plant a bean crop for him. He recently
harvested
and sold this crop having contributed nothing to its planting or
tendering.
On the 25th April 2002, someone whom I know as Mrs Nyandoro
arrived with her
husband and had a meeting with the Brent's. She was
extremely threatening
and told them to vacate the house immediately, which
they eventually did.
Loice Mugadzaweta, the person quoted in your article
is not known to me. I
have only seen and spoken to Mrs Nyandoro and John
Mukrayi.
In the article, Loice Mugadzaweta alleges that there is damage
to damage to
farm equipment. Farm staff have not reported this and if it is
the case then
Mugadzaweta and Mukrayi must give details of damage and who
caused it.
CFU Regional Executive Mashonaland West North, Ben Freeth
confirmed that
Brent had last been to his farm three weeks ago.
He
said, " Basil was not listed until last Friday but has had
numerous
difficulties on his farm which is on the Porta Road next to Gowrie
Farm
where Terry Ford was murdered. Most of Brent's belongings are still in
his
house and he is currently staying with different people because he has
got
no other home. A Mrs Nyandoro from the Porta Butchery also wants the
farm
and put up an illegal roadblock monitoring all traffic on or off the
farm.
RRB Number 4847 refers "
Freeth continued, "Last year, due to
the rain, some of his seed maize got
Diplodia and was left in a heap. It is
poisonous for animal or human
consumption."
Ends
20th May
2002
Copy to - Coghlan Welsh and Guest - Mr O. Matizanadzo
For
more information, please contact Jenni Williams
Cell +263-11 213 885 or
+263-91 300 456
Email prnews@telconet.co.zw or jennipr@mweb.co.zw
Maize Allegedly Poisoned
The Herald (Harare)
May 20,
2002
Posted to the web May 20, 2002
Herald Reporter
A WHITE
commercial farmer in Norton, irked by the designation of his farm
under the
land redistribution programme, allegedly sprayed poison on more
than 10
tonnes of maize and destroyed substantial farming equipment after
receiving
an eviction order.
According to the new owner of the farm, Mrs Loice
Mugadzaweta, the
commercial farmer, Mr Bazil Hulloville Brent, claimed to
have sprayed poison
on all the maize stockpiled in the granary.
"He
told me that he had deliberately sprayed the maize with a deadly
poison
because he was leaving the farm and could not bear the thought of
anyone
eating his harvest," said Mrs Mugadzaweta.
She said workers on the
farm were starving while the maize was rotting in
the granary.
The Grain
Marketing Board is yet to test the maize for poisoning.
The farmer is alleged
to have also destroyed some farming equipment.
Mrs Mugadzaweta said before
the commercial farmer left in March this year,
he had tried to subdivide the
farm into several plots.
Efforts to get a comment from the commercial farmer
have been fruitless.
However, the Government has in the past warned
commercial farmers against
vandalising infrastructure on farms that would
have been designated for
resettlement.
Police recently impounded large
quantities of farming equipment that had
been moved to warehouses by farmers
planning to take it out of the country.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture
and Rural Resettlement, Cde Joseph Made,
said commercial farmers who
vandalised infrastructure to frustrate the Land
Reform programme would be
arrested.
Last month the minister received reports of commercial farmers who
were
allegedly vandalising irrigation equipment, spraying sugar cane
plantations
with harmful chemicals and infecting cattle with
diseases.
"These criminal acts are going to be investigated and the culprits
will be
brought to book," said Cde Made.
Daily News
Government rounds up refugees
5/20/02
12:06:43 PM (GMT +2)
From Kelvin Jakachira in
Mutare
THE government, reportedly uneasy with the free movement of
refugees
in the country's urban centres, has decided to round up all refugees
not
employed or attending school and confine them to Tongogara camp in
Chipinge.
The move is largely seen as a security precaution by the
government
because some of the refugees are from countries perceived to be
hostile to
Zimbabwe.
The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Zimbabwe
is expanding Tongogara camp to accommodate the
refugees, should the
government go ahead with its plans.
Zimbabwe is home to 9 472 refugees from war-ravaged countries such as
Rwanda,
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo Republic,
Angola,
Liberia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and far-flung
Yugoslavia and
Afghanistan.
About 800 are staying at Tongogara camp, while others
live in the
country's urban centres.
A few of those staying in
the urban centres are either employed or are
undergoing studies.
Tapiwa Huye, the UNHCR assistant programme officer in Zimbabwe, said
20
houses had already been completed at Tongogara camp.
Huye said the
dwellings would accommodate about 40 families.
Another 30 houses
are expected to be completed soon to cater for about
60 families, Huye
said.
The water system at the camp has also been upgraded to serve
a larger
population.
"In the urban centres the cost of living is
high," Huye said. "Some of
the refugees could end up being destitute or
getting involved in illegal
activities and prostitution for
survival.
"Besides, it is government policy that only those refugees
who are
attending school or in employment will remain in the urban
centres."
Huye said there were also security concerns in allowing
refugees who
were not doing anything to stay in urban centres because some
could have
hidden agendas.
"At the moment, we do not know of any
such cases, but it can happen,"
he said. "It is also good for the UNHCR and
the government to know where the
refugees are at any given
time."
Isaac Mukaro, the commissioner for refugees in Zimbabwe,
declined to
comment.
In 1999 there were fears that countries
perceived to be hostile to
Zimbabwe, such as Rwanda and Burundi or the rebel
groups they back in the
DRC, could send their agents to masquerade as
refugees so as to gather
security and military information about the
country.
Relations between Zimbabwe and Rwanda and Burundi have hit
rock-bottom
because of the war in the DRC, which finds them fighting on
opposite sides.
Zimbabwe has deployed combat troops, heavy
artillery and jet fighters
into the DRC to defend the Kinshasa regime from a
rebel onslaught sponsored
mainly by Rwanda.
A peace initiative
being brokered by South Africa appears to be
crumbling amid reports that
Rwanda is amassing troops on the eastern
frontier of the DRC.
Three years ago Burundi accused Zimbabwe of training and
arming
anti-government Hutu rebels called Forces for the Defence of
Democracy. The
government denied this.
It was sickening in the extreme that Zimbabweans had to
hear about murderous Mugabe's attendence at the UN Congress on children in New
York! A dictator so desperate to hang on to power, that he resorts to brutally
persecuting his own people ....killing, abducting, incarcerating,raping &
torturing them! To ensure that all this is carried out with the minimum of
resistance from the already thoroughly terrified citizens, he throws in a bunch
of draconian "legislation" that totally eliminates what few civil rights there
were!! Add to all this big chief Chihuri, and the stage is set! Mugabe could
never have accomplished his very successful campaign of terror without a
partisan police force......which does not protect the citizens
of Zimbabwe.......INSTEAD it enforces lawlessness & helps to pulverise them.
THE POLICE, UNDER CHIHURI, PARTICIPATE FULLY IN THE SUPPRESSION &
TERRORIZATION OF THE ZIMBABWEAN PEOPLE OF ALL RACES!! Taxes paid by the long
suffering people of this country pay the salaries of these bullies!
These "police" who look the other way whilst people are
brutalised, tortured or even burned alive. These same "police" stand by and
allow homes to be torched, property to be vandalised & looted....& in
many cases have been reported to even orchestrate these events!! These "police"
who can't uphold the law that they took an oath to serve, because all these
events are POLITICAL , are the VERY police who arrest farmers who dare protect
themselves & their property( a basic human right!!) because the
"police"refuse to carry out their duty! Selective justice according to chihuri
and his master mugabe.
And Chihuri will continue to dance to his master's voice,
because he is WELL rewarded. How many farms has he "acquired" now? Farms STOLEN
from farmers who bought & paid for their properties after they were assured
of a future in this country by mugabe in 1980.
The man is nothing but a thug, a conman,and a criminal. In
every society in the world, theft is the taking of someone else's possessions
without their consent, or against their will. No presidential decrees, no
illegal "laws" can alter that THEFT IS THEFT, and those who do it are thieves!
Mugabe, ZANU PF, the army, and the "police" are all in this looting spree
together. Zimbabwe has become a plunderers' paradise.....particularly sickening
because of the violence, terror & death involved.
And now Chihuri, chief thug of a thug "police force" is
attending an Interpol function in Lyon????WHAT is the world coming to? WHY
hasn't he been removed from his position as vice-president of the organisation
& made an example of? Why hasn't he been exposed for the crimes perpetrated
against his own people? Why has Interpol not shown it's respect for human
rights, by forbidding his participation & publishing a strongly worded
statement to uphold one of its core values?
WHEN REASON SLEEPS IT PRODUCES MONSTERS! SAVE US FROM
HYPOCRITS AND MADMEN!
C.x.x.(sender's name omited for safety reasons)
The e-mail address for Interpol public relations is cp@interpol.int
Protest the Chief Thug's visit to France
Chief Thug, Augustine Chihuri
has been visiting Lyon, France attending an
Interpol meeting. Augustine
Chihuri is a key member of Robert Mugabe's inner
circle. As commissioner of
police he has been implicated in widespread human
rights abuses. Interpol has
refused to comment on the affair - Mr Chihuri is
still a vice-president of
the organisation which stresses respect for human
rights as one of its core
values.
So let Interpol know what you think of their hypocrisy: their
public
relations department email address is: cp@interpol.int
French Embassy in
Harare: fambass@africaonline.co.zw
zimactivism
Worshipping
a dictator is such a pain in the arse.
- Chinua Achebe
Daily News - Letter to the editor
A juicy yarn about what Jonathan
did
5/20/02 11:47:36 AM (GMT +2)
I SHALL give some juicy stuff
about Jonathan! Do not be too fast and think
that I am about to divulge some
top secret on Jonathan! I can see some of
your faces pitying my
bravado.
From the side of law, I can sense some tails in a cop shop
wagging in
anticipation of a millennium arrest.
Talking about the shop
stewards at the cop shop, I read that they are very
efficient in apprehending
those who transgress the mighty law on information
and privacy. It is not a
surprise that someone might already be sensing an
arrestable issue
here.
All the same, I shall not be deterred by the zeal and efficiency of
the guys
at the cop shop. I will stand by my promise and tell you about
Jonathan.
All I shall do is give you some interesting facts about
Jonathan without
causing any hatred, ridicule and injury towards
him.
I will not do what the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act
forbids me to do as a law-abiding citizen. I will not dig deep
into Jonathan
's unknown and safe past. All I will do is tell you what Jonah
did.
Jonathan ate honey! Many of you will wonder why Jonathan's
gastronomic
preferences are of interest to hungry Zimbabweans. Well, the main
reason is
that Jonathan broke the King's promulgation.
The King had
made a law, something akin to our Temporary Presidential
Powers, whereupon
the people of the land had been forbidden to eat anything
until sunset. This
was a temporary measure, but still Jonathan broke it.
This information is
indisputable. I would refer all those who doubt its
veracity to the most
sincere book on earth. I can also swear upon the living
God that this
happened. Jonathan ate honey!
Of course Jonathan had not heard that the
King had forbidden his people from
eating anything on that day. Maybe it
boils down to the famous issue on
ignorance with regard to the
law.
The law states that ignorance is no defence. The law is indeed an
ass for
both fools and sages to ride!
Here is how Jonathan broke the
temporary measure put by the King. I shall
ask to borrow from Samuel 1,
verses 24 to 27.
24: "Now the men of Israel were in distress that day
because Saul had banned
the people under an oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man
who eats food before
evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my
enemies!' So, none of the
troops tasted food."
25: "The entire army
entered the woods and there was honey on the ground."
26: "When they went
into the wood, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one
put his hand to his
mouth because they feared the oath."
27: "But Jonathan had not heard that
his father had bound the people with
the oath, so he reached for the end of
the staff that was in hand and dipped
it into the honeycomb. He raised his
hand to his mouth, and his eyes
brightened!"
I am sure those of you
who doubt this will lend their doubts to the Holy
Book and get the proof by
themselves in black and white.
This is not a quote from Salman Rushdie's
Satanic Verses, but a direct quote
from the Holy Bible. I am also positive
that the Bible is one book that our
country and Constitution solemnly
acknowledges as indisputable.
What the Bible says cannot be disputed by
anyone! Countrymen, this is what
Jonathan did during the long and perilous
struggle in the land of milk and
honey!
He broke Saul's temporary
order. Saul was the King of Israel and was also
the dear father of Jonathan.
I may not explain further what happened to
Jonathan after he had been exposed
as the only one who had eaten on that
day.
I do not know how the Koran
would put it, but the Holy Bible explains that
Jonathan was spared the
curse!
Many of you would wonder why this article now! The reason is
simple. As a
patriot, I could not write about the opposition donating
blankets to the
suffering folks of Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe.
That would
be setting myself a tall order to prove. I could not write about
Tony Blair
digging pit latrines in Zimbabwe, for that would be demeaning the
eminence of
a foreign premier.
I could not write about the wells of milk and honey
drying up, for I would
be putting myself liable for prosecution for causing
alarm and despondency.
So I had to write about Jonathan eating honey. I
did not have to write about
something I had no proof of.
I did not
have to consult a lawyer for advice on the immunity of my article
with regard
to the people's law on Access to Information and the Protection
of Privacy.
The access to information in the Bible is unrestrained.
It is free and
very quotable. The Kings referred to in the Bible had no
privacy to protect.
God was always watching over them.
This, my beloved countrymen, is a
straightforward article about some
biblical fellow named Jonathan.
He
mistakenly ate some honey when he was supposed to be fasting with the
rest of
the men. He had not heard of the King's proclamation, so he ate
the
honey!
Jonathan ate the honey in the hope that it was going to
replenish all his
energy that had been lost in the battle with the Amalekites
and Philistines.
He did not eat the honey out of contempt for the King or out
of greed.
Talking of honey, how many of you countrymen remember the sweet
taste of
honey? This fasting called by King Saul seems to last forever! I
thought
that Saul had called for only a single day of fasting!
I
thought by now we should be free to eat. It seems the binding oath is now
a
killing oath! Never mind the honey, it is a luxury I suppose!
Let us then
speak of milk. Where is the milk? I would be wrong to suggest
that Jonathan
sipped all the milk too. The Bible says he ate the honey.
I am sure if we
then had to conduct a thorough search, we would discover
oodles and oodles of
milk stashed somewhere in a foreign country for our
own
safety.
Meanwhile, let us lift our empty glasses and praise those
who eat the honey
and drink the milk for us in a solemn toast. This is what
Jonathan did!
Daily News
Germany, Finland respond to call for food aid to
Zimbabwe
5/20/02 11:43:47 AM (GMT +2)
By Takaitei
Bote Farming Editor
THE United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)'s
US$60 million (about
Z$3,3 billion) appeal to fund emergency food aid
operations in Zimbabwe got
a boost last week when Germany and Finland made
available food grants worth
about US$1,2 million (about Z$66
million).
The German and Finnish food grants follow the 6,5 million
euro (about
Z$325 million) food aid donation for Zimbabwe made by the
European Union
(EU), two weeks ago.
WFP Zimbabwe representative,
Kevin Farrell said in an interview that
Germany and Finland had made their
contributions to the emergency food aid
programme, releasing US$900 000
(Z$49,5 million) and US$300 000 (Z$16,5
million) respectively.
Apart from Germany and Finland, the United States of America,
Britain,
Australia, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa and the EU have so far
responded
to the appeal made for Zimbabwe last year by the WFP.
Farrell said: "The programme has so far received half of the US$60
million
which we need to feed our initial target population of 558 000
people in
Zimbabwe.
"To date, we have managed to purchase and transport about
11 500
tonnes of food items into the country and half of that has been
distributed
to people in most of the 19 districts threatened by serious food
shortages."
Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages following poor
agriculture
seasons last year and this year while a reduction in plantings in
the
commercial farming sector, caused by land invasions, has affected
production
of food crops.
The WFP began distributing food in the
country in February this year
and the current emergency programme is expected
to run until November this
year.
Farrell said: "We have been
reasonably satisfied with the pace of the
pledges made by donors. The
responses have been commendable and it is an
indication that the food
situation in Zimbabwe is understood by the
governments that have made
pledges."
Although he said the WFP appreciated the donations,
Farrell said the
food need was greater.
The German and Finnish
food contributions come at a time when the
German government had vowed last
year it would not resume its aid to
Zimbabwe, suspended in 1999 because of
the rampant lawlessness on commercial
farms.
In September last
year, head of the German mission to Zimbabwe, Werner
Koehler, said the
country was unlikely to resume aid to Zimbabwe because of
the looting on
commercial farms and the upsurge in the pre-election
violence.
Zimbabwe last received aid from Germany in the 1998-1999 period. It
was worth
about Z$815 million.
The German government has also been directly
affected by the country's
land reform through its part ownership of Border
Timbers Limited, the
country's largest timber producer.
Border
Timbers properties, which are protected by the Germany-Zimbabwe
Investment
Protection Agreement, are listed for compulsory acquisition by
the Zimbabwe
government.
The Germany-Zimbabwe agreement was signed in 1995 to
protect German
investments in Zimbabwe. Investors in Germany own 48 percent
of Border
Timbers.
Zimbabwe's relationship with the EU is also
strained because of the
expulsion from Harare of the Swedish head of the EU
election mission to
Zimbabwe, Pierre Schori, prior to the March 9-11 March
presidential
election.
Officials in the food industry have said
the slow response to the aid
appeal in Zimbabwe was a reflection of
Zimbabwe's international isolation
over its poor human rights record, the
farm seizures and President Mugabe's
contentious victory in the 9-11 March
presidential election.
Zimbabwe's relations with the US, Britain,
Australia and Switzerland
also soured because of Zimbabwe's alleged violation
of human rights.
Daily News
Four farmers arrested under Public Order and Security
Act
5/20/02 12:07:56 PM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Bulawayo
FOUR Mashonaland West farmers were
arrested on Saturday under the
Public Order and Security Act for allegedly
holding a meeting without
permission.
The Commercial Farmers'
Union (CFU), however, yesterday denied ever
holding a meeting.
One of the four, Ben de Jage, was released after signing a warned
and
cautioned statement.
The other three, Jean Simon, Buster
Peale, and Geoff Kirkman, were
still in police custody in Chinhoyi
yesterday.
Kirkman who underwent a heart bypass operation last year
needs
constant medical care.
Douglas Taylor-Freeme, the CFU
vice-president, confirmed that the
three farmers had been picked up from
Raffingora.
Taylor-Freeme said the farmers were alleged to have
held an
unauthorised meeting at Ormeston Farm, in Lion's Den.
Taylor-Freeme said the accused were adamant that no such meeting ever
took
place and that the arrests were a blatant attempt to harass
productive
members of the farming community.
He said: "The
allegations are without foundation and the arrests are
pure
harassment.
"These farmers should be busy grading their tobacco and
planting
wheat. Instead they are being held on baseless
charges."
Daily News
Striking workers clash with police
5/20/02
12:07:21 PM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent in
Masvingo
POLICE in Chiredzi fought running battles over the weekend
with cane
cutters as the pro-Zanu PF Zimbabwe Federation of Trade
Unions
(ZFTU)-organised work boycott at Triangle Limited
continued.
The clashes followed reports that the workers had
threatened to set
all the cane fields on fire and shut down the milling
plant.
At least 10 people were arrested and scores injured as the
riot police
tried to block the workers from closing the sugar
mill.
The police fired tear-gas canisters to disperse the angry
workers
gathered at the main entrance to the milling plant.
The
workers were demanding a 35 percent salary increment, better
working
conditions and payment of bonuses.
The police in Triangle yesterday
confirmed the disturbances, but said
the situation had returned to
normal.
The strike had paralysed operations at Triangle, one of the
largest
sugar-producing companies in the country.
Workers said
the ZFTU promised the workers a 35 percent salary
increment without the
consent of management.
The demonstration turned violent after
workers affiliated to the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) ignored
calls by the rival ZFTU, to
go on strike.
The ZCTU has since
described the strike as illegal.
The ZFTU, whose membership largely
comprises the cane cutters, went on
the rampage, beating up other workers who
ignored the call for strike
action.
Property worth thousands of
dollars was destroyed during the
disturbances.
On Saturday, the
workers blocked the entrance to the milling plant and
erected illegal
roadblocks.
The workers wanted to close the plant and burn all the
cane fields to
press management to effect the salary increments.
Police threw tear-gas to disperse demonstrators.
During the
commotion scores of people were injured.
Some sustained broken
limbs, while others sustained minor injuries.
By yesterday
afternoon some of the seriously injured were still
detained at Triangle
Hospital.
Hospital authorities yesterday could not specify the
number of people
still detained.
A worker who refused to be
named said: "We were promised 35 percent
salary increment by ZFTU and now
management is refusing to give us the money
because no agreement was entered
into.
"We want the money and will not go back to work until we get
what
belongs to us."
The president of ZFTU in Chiredzi, Simbarashe
Mavhaire, yesterday
refused to talk to The Daily News.
Mavhaire
said: "I do not talk to The Daily News. Do not come to my
office or even my
house. I do not even want to see the paper before my
eyes."
However, the Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Workers' Union president, Elijah
Zuva,
said:
"We did not sanction the work boycott. We are against the
strike. The
workers did not consult us and therefore the strike is
illegal."
There was no immediate comment from management at
Triangle yesterday.
Daily News
Police bar MDC rally
5/20/02 11:49:22 AM
(GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
IN what could signal a
hard-line stance towards the opposition MDC,
police yesterday barred the
party's rally at Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura,
despite an earlier
approval.
The refusal comes after Thursday's announcement by the
MDC that it
would not accept fresh demands by Zanu PF at the inter-party
talks. There
were immediate threats from Zanu PF, with President Mugabe
warning they
would not "tolerate any more nonsense and rubbish about an
uprising".
Yesterday, thousands of MDC supporters who had waited in
vain to be
addressed by their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, at Trojan Stadium,
were told
of the cancellation by Tapera Macheka, the MDC's chairman for
Mashonaland
Central province.
Under the draconian Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), the police
have to be notified of any political
gathering in advance.
But Macheka said the police were notified on
8 May of the MDC's
intention to hold the meeting. The police responded the
next day but did not
indicate whether or not the MDC could go ahead with the
rally.
When the MDC sought clarification they were told that the
rally would
not go ahead, resulting in an appeal to John Nkomo, the Minister
of Home
Affairs, last week. Nkomo reportedly gave a verbal nod for the MDC to
hold
the rally.
"But this morning, when we asked the police
whether the minister's
approval had been put on paper, we were told another
story," Macheka said.
"The minister said we could go ahead with the
rally on condition we
did not bring in our supporters from other
constituencies, a position we
agreed to."
Contacted for comment,
Nkomo said he was at a funeral and could not,
therefore, speak to The Daily
News.
Tsvangirai yesterday expressed disappointment in the
selective
application of POSA by the police. He said the MDC was going to
take legal
action against the police, as well as challenge the
constitutionality of
POSA from which the police were drawing their
discretionary powers.
Tsvangirai said his party was particularly
disappointed by the
last-minute cancellation of the Bindura rally, especially
as the police had
approved it earlier.
Back-Up Plans Made for Nairobi, Harare
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
May 20, 2002
Posted to the web May 20, 2002
Mark
Smit
Johannesburg
KENYA and Zimbabwe are still being billed as venues
for the Cricket World
Cup next year.
But organisers revealed at the
weekend that contingency arrangements are in
place, should the two countries
prove to be unsuitable.
Problems with getting Kenya's facilities up to
standard at the Gymkhana
ground in Nairobi, and the political situation in
Zimbabwe, have been
apparent for some time. The exclusion of either country,
for logistical or
political reasons, would be a major blow to the Cricket
World Cup 2003
organising committee, which has made much of this premier
event in world
cricket being an African World Cup rather than simply an SA
event.
Cup spokesman Rodney Hartman said yesterday there were contingency
plans to
hold Zimbabwe's six games, and those in Kenya, at local SA venues,
should
the need arise. "But this is premature at this stage. Ali (Bacher,
the
Cricket World Cup 2003 executive director) was quite upbeat yesterday
about
plans going ahead as envisaged and he did not see problems with
either
country's plans."
Hartman said the International Cricket Council
had let it be known they were
quite happy that telecommunications, a critical
issue for Kenya after
problems at the last ICC knockout tournament, would be
sorted out.
But he could not reveal who was footing the $1m bill for making
sure media
covering games there would get their stories through to the
outside world:
"The ICC are pretty stern taskmasters and their last comment,
after visiting
Kenya, was that they were happy systems would be adequate once
the
tournament started."
The issue of Zimbabwe is not quite as clear. The
country is scheduled to
hold six games at two venues Bulawayo and Harare.
"Both centres are well
into the upgrading of their facilities and at this
point we are optimistic
the games at each venue will go ahead as planned,"
said Hartman. "But it has
to be pointed out that World Cup organisers have no
control over political
events or their consequences."
He said the venues
would have to be finalised by July 15 when tickets go on
sale to the public.
The deadline for season ticket-holders and other
preferential booking bodies
to take up their options is Wednesday.
Protest the Chief Thug's visit to France
Chief Thug, Augustine Chihuri
has been visiting Lyon, France attending an
Interpol meeting. Augustine
Chihuri is a key member of Robert Mugabe's inner
circle. As commissioner of
police he has been implicated in widespread human
rights abuses. Interpol has
refused to comment on the affair - Mr Chihuri is
still a vice-president of
the organisation which stresses respect for human
rights as one of its core
values.
So let Interpol know what you think of their hypocrisy: their
public
relations department email address is: cp@interpol.int
French Embassy in
Harare: fambass@africaonline.co.zw
zimactivism
Worshipping
a dictator is such a pain in the arse.
- Chinua Achebe
Daily News - Leader Page
We have made our children economic
refugees
5/20/02 11:54:42 AM (GMT +2)
"Until
we are all gone, I will still be here!" Colin Cloete, president
of the
Commercial Farmers' Union on SW Radio on the 26 April 2002.
FOR
those of us who live in countries in crisis, the question of
emigration is a
painful one. We often have to say goodbye to friends and
families that we
know and watch as families are broken up and children move
away and start new
lives in distant places.
The agony deepens when grandchildren come
along and are denied the
privilege of growing up in the presence of
grandparents. But the impact of
emigration does not end there. Its tentacles
stretch far inside the working
of the countries affected by the
phenomenon.
We have lost a quarter of our total population to
emigration in the
past five years. Prior to that, almost two-thirds of the
white population
had emigrated and the process continues; it's a never-ending
drain on the
countries from which the emigrants originate - painful,
debilitating and
impoverishing.
Almost all emigrants are
economically active people. They are young
enough to pack up and move or they
have skills that other countries want.
They either cross borders illegally,
as most emigrants do when moving to
other countries, or they leave on
"holiday" and never come back. A minority
do it the "right way" and apply for
permission to settle in the new country
of their choice and go through the
long and arduous task of medical
examinations and long interviews in foreign
embassies.
Whichever way they go, they take with them the education
and other
skills and experience that they have gained in the country of their
birth.
In the case of those leaving Zimbabwe, these skills are often of
world-class
standard and the migrants are valued and easily slip into the
social and
economic life of the countries to which they go. They are often
hard-working
and make a very valuable contribution to their new host
countries. We lose
90 percent of the trained doctors we produce each year,
some 50 percent of
our trained and experienced nursing staff have emigrated
and every day we
see advertisements for such personnel in our papers. What
about teachers,
accountants, lawyers, engineers and those with a myriad of
other skills?
It costs us about Z$500 000 a year to train a
university student, the
value of a chartered accountant after years of
training and experience in a
highly competitive environment must run to
millions of dollars. Relevant
experience in any field is difficult to value,
but must also run to millions
a person in many cases.
When they
go they take with them all of that and it comes to their new
home country
with no strings attached. It's a pure grant in financial terms
from the
country of origin to the country of choice. The value of such
hidden flows of
resources must be enormous it must far exceed the combined
value of aid into
the countries affected.
Then there is the effect of these losses of
human resources on the
sociological and cultural situation in the affected
countries.
We lose not only the skills and our investment in these
people, but
also their social skills. Our artists, our musicians, our actors
and dancers
drift to those countries that can offer them recognition and
exposure, those
countries where the orchestras will give their talents a home
and
expression.
Sometimes, just to emphasise what we are
missing, a foreign embassy
will bring a group into the country to tour and
bring some "culture" back
into the country. We watch whilst a Zimbabwean
coaches the English cricket
side or becomes the hero of the rugby fraternity
in Bloemfontein.
Then there is the affect on the political
situation in the originating
country. The two million young Zimbabwean adults
that now live in the
squatter camps of South Africa are mostly well educated
and urban in origin.
These are the potential democrats of the
future.
In a squatter camp outside Johannesburg they cannot
influence events
at home except by sending money (which they do in
significant quantities)
and, in a limited way, by writing letters and
periodic visits which become
less and less frequent as they gradually find
their feet in their new home.
But on the day that matters they cannot vote or
attend the rallies or speak
into the situation.
The loss of the
self-employed and skilled affects the political
situation in other important
ways. They are the main source of funding for
the emerging political parties.
They are also generally independent-minded
people who will stand up to
tyranny.
They buy the newspapers; they communicate into society
with ideas and
issues of principle. Where would we be without Kerry Kay
talking about
HIV/Aids, Adrian de Bourbon in the legal field, Geoffrey
Nyarota at The
Daily News or Trevor Ncube at the Independent Media
Group?
President Mugabe is quite right to attack the commercial
farmers; they
are a real threat to his control over the country. They are
exactly what a
dictator fears most: independent business people with
resources and ideas
and, on top of that, citizens who have every right to be
critical and to
vote against his kind when the time comes.
Every
tyrant hates this type of person, which is why Joseph Stalin
killed the
independent peasant farmers in Russia; that is why Adolf Hitler
targeted the
Jewish businessmen and women of Germany. They fear the
independence of the
small businessperson and the free intellectual.
Which is why we
must answer the question as to why Colin Cloete and
people like myself are
still living in Zimbabwe and remain fully committed
to working here to try
and effect change for the benefit of all our people.
It's partly because we
believe strongly that we can only lift up the poor
countries of the world by
bringing our skills to bear on their problems in a
sacrificial
way.
You cannot do that by working in an office in Washington or
London, no
matter what you may think you are achieving in your own way.
Lawrence Levy
is a neurosurgeon working in Harare; he is a living legend as a
professional
and as a human being. World-renowned as a surgeon, he chooses to
work in the
local State hospitals and to teach at the University of Zimbabwe.
He could
work and live anywhere he chooses, but he chooses to live here,
amongst the
poorest people on earth. When a young African National Congress
soldier was
shot in Botswana and was completely paralysed, it was Levy who
saw him in
Harare and tended to his needs.
Levy serves the
people of central Africa and has done so for years,
selflessly and with great
skill.
I am here because of the sacrifices that have been made to
bring
myself, my family and my country through to the place where we are
today.
There are hundreds of other examples of people who have
given their
lives up for principle in the Third World; people on whom any
hope of
progress is dependent in every way. If we in our small way can make
a
difference, why not take the risk?
Risk, after all, is the
foundation stone of all progress in every
field of human
endeavour.
There is no other game worth
playing.
Daily News - Leader Page
Drop in tourism hits foreign currency
earnings
5/20/02 11:28:29 AM (GMT +2)
Business
Reporter
A SHARP decline in earnings from the services sector,
whose main
components are transport, tourism, hotels and restaurants, has
worsened the
country's foreign currency situation, says the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ).
In its latest Weekly Economic Highlights, dated
26 April 2002, the RBZ
said that a major drop in tourist arrivals and hotel
occupancies since 2000
adversely affected travel business.
The
RBZ said: "Low activity in the tourism sector, particularly from
the year
2000, has impacted negatively on travel receipts. Tourist arrivals
dropped
significantly and hotel occupancies are still low.
Reflecting this,
inflows from holiday and business travel declined
from US$239,2 million (Z$13
billion) in 1996 to US$81,4 million (Z$4,5
billion) in 2001.
The
RBZ said that a sharp decline in merchandise export performance
during the
past four years has also negatively impacted foreign exchange
receipts from
related services.
Exports fell by 35 percent, from US$2,5 billion
(Z$137,5 billion) to
around $1,7 billion (Z$93,5 billion) in
2001.
As a result freight and insurance receipts have declined from
US$50,9
million (Z$2,8 billion) in 1996 to US$35,3 million (Z$1.9 billion) in
2001.
Inflows from port services and passenger fares fell from
US$171,9
million (Z$9,5 billion) to US$131,5 million (Z$7
billion).
The RBZ said: "Against this background, the country's
foreign exchange
situation has worsened, further constraining local
industry's capacity to
procure essential raw materials and other inputs. The
land-locked nature of
Zimbabwe has made it reliant on neighbouring countries
for transportation,
shipment and port services, putting the country at a
comparative
disadvantage."
Despite these recent setbacks, the
RBZ said that the services sectors
retained the potential to generate foreign
exchange and to contribute
significantly to sustainable economic development,
aided by the country's
abundant natural resources, good transport and
communication links and a
relatively diversified banking and insurance
sector.
The RBZ said that tourism retained the capacity to boost
foreign
exchange earnings, aided by the 15 percent concessional export
finance
facility, and to revive downstream industries.
The
sectors of agriculture, mining and manufacturing are also expected
to benefit
from export incentives there by increasing the foreign exchange
earnings
capacity of the services sector.
NGO's Under Threat, EU On Mbeki's Role
UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks
May 20, 2002
Posted to the web May 20,
2002
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (Human Rights Forum) claims
its members
are under a mounting threat from the authorities, which perceive
them as
anti-government.
Human Rights Forum co-coordinator Tor-Hugne Olsen
told IRIN that "we fear at
the moment that while the main targets in the past
have been members or
alleged/perceived supporters of [opposition Movement for
Democratic Change]
MDC [now the targets] are other parts of civil
society".
He said: "The NGO that seems to be most under attack at the moment
is Amani
Trust." The trust, which focuses on highlighting incidents of
torture, had
been attacked in government-controlled media and its offices
were recently
visited by police.
Olsen said: "Strong rumours about
legislation in preparation, designed to
hamper activities of NGOs, are of
special concern to the Human Rights Forum
at the moment."
On Thursday last
week, the same day the European Parliament adopted a
resolution strengthening
their position on Zimbabwe and smart sanctions
against President Robert
Mugabe and his associates, a programme officer for
Transparency International
was called in for questioning by police in
Bulawayo under the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA).
Transparency International's Andrew Nangogo said:
"The programme officer was
not arrested, he was just called in by the police
to give them information
on a meeting we had held. [The police] wanted
information regarding
statements that were made at that meeting. He still has
to give his report
to them. But the remarks that were made [at the meeting],
as far as we are
concerned, were not in violation of the Public Order and
Security Act."
The Amani Trust's Tony Reeler told IRIN: "It's a multiple
level problem. At
the top level there have been repeated threats from the
state, that NGOs are
politically undesirable. [State controlled] press
recently carried a story
in which a minister made fairly threatening
statements that NGOs were
anti-government etc."
The Amani Trust had
received "some fairly unwelcome attention in the last
two weeks from the
Police Internal Security Unit".
Reeler said: "We have not been able to get
any explanation from them as to
why. They have been requesting that members
of my staff go to them for
meetings, they've paid a visit to our offices in
search of one of the
members of our staff who was away on leave. The next day
we got a request
for three members of staff to visit the police at their
offices, again with
no cause, and a few staff have been visited by these
people at their homes.
Fortunately they were not there."
None of the
trust's staff have yet met with police. "We are attempting to
get an
explanation from police management to find out what the problem is.
The
political statements made by ministers regarding NGOs are threatening,
we've
heard there's pending legislation to deal with NGOs. Given what's
happened to
the journalists it may be an indication of how they will move
against human
rights organisations."
Political opponents and journalists have run afoul of
the POSA and Access to
Information and Privacy Act. Eleven journalists have
been arrested in the
past month.
The European Parliament meanwhile has
singled out South African President
Thabo Mbeki's role in dealing with
Zimbabwe and the consequences for the New
Programme for African Development
(NEPAD)in a resolution adopted last week.
It stated: "The European Parliament
calls on President Mbeki to show
wholehearted and consistent support for the
principles of democracy, human
rights and the rule of law, and accordingly to
demonstrate the quality of
leadership that befits the powerful and crucial
regional position of South
Africa."
The parliamentarians also called "on
African leaders, particularly in the
SADC region, not to resume normal
diplomatic relations with the Mugabe
regime and thereby jeopardise ... NEPAD
and the prospects for the launch of
an 'African renaissance' by the G8 summit
in Canada this July".
In intensifying actions against Mugabe, the parliament
resolved that the
European Union (EU) member states and the council take
measures to extend
the EU's proscribed list of banned Mugabe associates to
include other key
figures.
These included: "The vice-presidents, all
ministers, senior military, police
and secret service commanders and leading
businessmen who have helped to
bankroll ZANU-PF or benefited from its corrupt
activities, and who play a
role in sustaining the regime and its campaign of
violence, and also include
their respective spouses and children, as they
also spend illegally acquired
money abroad."
The parliament also called
for the publication of details pertaining to
assets already identified and
frozen as a result of the policy of targeted
sanctions and the examination of
Zimbabwe's debt situation and drawing
rights in international financial
institutions.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe tops list of poor harvests
JOHANNESBURG, 20
May (IRIN) - All of Zimbabwe's rain-fed crops have failed and the country only
has a quarter of the food it will need for the next 12 months.
"I have
never seen the country so dry and it is supposed to be end of the rainy season.
I can't imagine what it will look like after the traditional dry season," UN
Development Programme (UNDP) resident co-ordinator for Zimbabwe Victor Angelo
told IRIN.
Angelo had just returned from chairing a weekend meeting of
regional UNDP country coordinators where the grim regional food security
predictions of the last few months appear to be coming true.
The latest
harvest figures show that Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho are, as feared,
going to be the worst off. Swaziland also faces serious food shortages and
Botswana and Namibia, though battling, have resources to cope. Last week a
government source said that northern Namibia's subsistence farmers could only
expect one-third of their usual crops.
Zimbabwe tops the list with the
second year in a row of poor harvests in the south and centre of the country.
The only safe crop was commercially-farmed tobacco. Besides the drought and poor
rainfall, commercial food production in Zimbabwe has also been disrupted by a
land restitution programme.
"The northern provinces are better off but
they produced barely enough for household subsistence and very little of this
will reach the market. Zimbabwe's food stocks are exhausted so there is no
stock. At least 1.5 million mt needs to be imported," Angelo said.
Malawi
only has a 65 to 75 percent crop and will need to import at least 3.5 million
mt. Last week field workers said that though the harvest had eased shortages
slightly, at least three million people are still in need of food
aid.
"South Africa, who would traditionally supply the region, only has a
little to spare over their needs and have already committed their surpluses.
There is not much left to buy so we have to get the private sector involved, and
other humanitarian assistance," Angelo said.
The shortfalls would have
to be imported from elsewhere like North and South America but some countries
don't have the foreign currency to import, Angelo said.
His concerns are
echoed in a recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) Food Security
Network report that warned that the poor regional reserves and corresponding
price increases will make it even harder to access extra food.
Angelo
said: "Lesotho is also becoming very bad although it is completely out of the
news." Lesotho has already declared a famine, while Zimbabwe and Malawi have
declared disasters.
"It is a very serious crisis. We see the writing on
the wall but that writing seems to be invisible. The key players don't seem to
be paying attention," Angelo said. "They seem to be focused on Afghanistan,
Angola, the Middle East. We need to create awareness of the
situation."
Angelo said that to survive many people were eating wild
fruit and berries and killing their livestock, confirming previous fears that
most people had exhausted all their coping mechanisms.
The resident
coordinators did find though that not all countries in Southern Africa are
facing empty larders.
"Botswana and Namibia have problems but they have
resources. Botswana is not a concern. It is a well-managed economy and can
generate foreign currency to import when it needs to. However, they must be
aware that the ports in the sub region will be under severe stress because of
the imports for other countries and they must plan ahead," a statement released
at the end of the resident coordinators meeting said.
The north of
Mozambique is "fine" but areas in the centre and south are under stress, Angelo
said. The stress in the south occurs frequently and they have traditional food
assistance to count on.
"It is because these types of crises are
predictable that they are therefore perfectly preventable," Angelo said in the
statement.
The coordinators plan to give the points raised at the meeting
to a multi-agency team currently finalising a regional food security assessment
due for release in June.
UK Warns of BSE Risk From Imported Beef
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
May 20, 2002
Posted to the web May 20, 2002
Charlotte
Mathews
Johannesburg
Polish, Zimbabwean, SA cattle named
The
Food Standards Agency of the UK warned the British public last week that
meat
from Polish, Zimbabwean and SA cattle older than 30 months may pose
a
"slightly higher BSE risk" than other imported beef sold legally.
BSE
refers to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which only affects cattle.
BSE
has been linked to a rare fatal form of dementia, variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob
(vCJD) disease, in humans who have eaten beef infected
with BSE.
By March
2001, 95 cases of vCJD had been discovered in the UK, according to
the Food
Standards Agency.
It said that, although the amount of beef imported from
Poland, Zimbabwe and
SA was low and risk controls applied, "major retailers
are already acting to
protect the public" after discussions with the agency.
It said the European
Commission had already classified Poland as likely to
present a BSE risk.
But no risk assessments had been carried out in SA or
Zimbabwe.
The UK has not imported beef from Zimbabwe since August 2001
because of
foot-and-mouth restrictions but the latest UK trade statistics for
2001
indicated that 29 tons of beef were imported to the UK from
SA.
According to the SA Meat Industry Company (Samic) website, SA was one
of
Britain's biggest beef export markets until the BSE ban. BSE and
subsequent
problems like foot-and-mouth disease have hit British farmers hard
and there
has been a strong drive in the UK to encourage British consumers to
buy from
their local producers.
The Food Standards Agency said it was
asking the European Commission to
expedite its risk assessments for Zimbabwe
and SA. The European Union (EU)
has three risk categories, ranging from
category one where it is highly
unlikely there is a BSE risk, to category
four where BSE risk is confirmed
at a high level.
Samic manager of food
standards and export market development Dr Gerrit
Bruwer said on Friday that
SA did not export to the EU countries because of
their high tariffs and
duties but it was good to be seen to be approved by
the EU for the purpose of
exporting to other markets.
SA's Directorate of Veterinary Services forwarded
a full report to the EU in
January. SA was positive it would be accepted as a
beef importer to the EU,
he said.