http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet
Gonda
28 May 2013
At least 13 people were injured, two of them
seriously, after a group of
youths descended on a school in Midlands South
province attacking teachers
and pupils with machetes and axes.
Ezra
Sibanda, an MDC-T aspiring candidate for Vungu constituency, said
passersby
were also not spared during the brutal attack that took place at
Shagari
Primary School in Lower Gweru in the late afternoon on Monday.
He told SW
Radio Africa that the assailants went on a rampage, wielding
knobkerries,
axes, machetes, knives & bricks, for no apparent reasons.
Sibanda
said the victims had to receive medical attention with two of them,
including a teacher, being hospitalized at Gweru General
Hospital.
Sibanda said the attack started inside the school yard
resulting in teachers
and children fleeing in all directions, running away
from the youths who are
known in the community.
“They are a group of
thugs. We don’t know their motives. We don’t know who
is backing them but
with the power that they have that the police don’t do
anything we suspect
that our opponents are sponsoring them.”
The MDC-T member said the school
did not open Tuesday as teachers are afraid
to enter the premises.
We
could not reach the police or the education Minister David Coltart for
comment.
http://www.reuters.com/
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE | Tue May 28, 2013 12:10pm EDT
(Reuters) - Uncertainty
over the date of elections in Zimbabwe is pushing
the fragile economy closer
to recession just as it was pulling out of a
decade of decline, the finance
minister said on Tuesday.
Presidential and parliamentary elections should
be held this year but
political reforms and problems finding the money to
pay for the vote in the
impoverished country are holding things up and no
date has been set.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the economy could
have shrunk by up to 3
percent during the first quarter of this year due to
election uncertainty as
well as low farm output, declining tax revenues and
export earnings.
"The elephant in the living room evidently is the
election and the sooner
there is clarity on the dates from the politicians
the better for the
economy," Biti told reporters.
Zimbabwe needs $132
million to fund the election but conditions attached to
any foreign
financing have divided the already fractious unity government,
whose main
players - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC - will be rivals for power in the vote.
Any repeat of
violence that accompanied the last vote in 2008 could end
Zimbabwe's nascent
economic recovery and unleash another refugee crisis
similar to the one five
years ago when hundreds of thousands fled to
neighboring South
Africa.
The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying regional
leaders
would hold a summit to discuss how to fund the election in which the
president is seeking to extend his three-decade rule
Officials from
the SADC regional bloc of 15 southern African states were not
immediately
available for comment.
ZANU-PF is pushing for funding with as few strings
as possible. It withdrew
a United Nations request to fund the poll accusing
the U.N. of trying to
interfere in domestic issues.
The MDC is keen
to attach the money to the deployment of election observers.
It fears
ZANU-PF, whose members are under Western sanctions for suspected
rigging of
previous votes, will use the security forces to intimidate
voters.
But SADC observers could be a compromise amenable to Mugabe,
who regularly
rails against the West for imposing sanctions he blames for
ruining an
economy that critics say was wrecked by his own
policies.
ZANU-PF wants elections by June 29, when parliament will be
dissolved, but
the MDC says they should be delayed to allow for the opening
of broadcast
media - currently a state monopoly - to private players,
registration of new
voters and reform of the military to keep it out of
politics.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai displayed rare unity this year in pushing
through a
new constitution at a referendum, a critical step for the election
but which
depleted state coffers for the next vote.
The new
constitution clips the powers of the president and imposes a
two-term limit.
It does not apply retroactively so the 89-year-old Mugabe
could, in theory,
rule until he is 99.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
27/05/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE regional SADC grouping will hold a summit to examine
ways of helping
Zimbabwe fund elections expected later this year, President
Robert Mugabe
said Monday.
The regional grouping held an
extraordinary summit on the side-lines of the
African Union meeting in the
Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday to
discuss the DRC, Madagascar and
Zimbabwe.
And addressing Zanu PF supporters at the Harare International
Airport as he
returned from the meetings, Mugabe said SADC would call a
meeting to
co-ordinate efforts to raise funds for the elections.
“We
updated SADC on the conclusion of the Constitutional reform process and
appealed for help with raising funding for the elections. SADC said they
would call a meeting to discuss ways of funding the elections,” Mugabe said,
speaking in Shona.
Speaking after the meeting in Ethiopia, SADC
executive secretary, Tomaz
Salamao, said the region now expected fresh
elections to be held after the
completion of the Constitutional reform
process.
"Our position as Sadc is that the Constitution was concluded and
the next
step is the election, whether it’s held within one month, two
months, three
months or the next six months, it is up to those with the
powers to decide,”
he said.
“As Sadc we will be there to support . .
. We are basically waiting for the
announcement of the day of the election
so that we move this process
forward.”
But Zimbabwe needs about
US$132 million for the vote which will elect a
substantive government,
replacing the uneasy coalition between Mugabe and
MDC-T leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has repeatedly said the country
does not have
the resources to fund the poll.
An appeal to the United
Nations was withdrawn after Zanu PF objected to
conditions imposed by the
UNDP, an agency of the world body.
Tsvangirai, who cancelled his trip to
Ethiopia after his wife was taken ill,
recently toured the region to urge
leaders to call a summit to press for the
implementation of reforms he
insists were part of the unity deal with
Mugabe.
According to the
Herald newspaper however, the meeting proposed by South
Africa President
Jacob Zuma was not related to the MDC-T leader’s diplomatic
campaign.
Zuma has led SADC efforts to facilitate negotiations over a
so-called
election road-map between Zanu PF and the MDC parties.
South
Africa’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan recently said Zimbabwe’s
election
cash appeal was best handled through SADC following an appeal for
support by
Biti.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Irwin
Chifera
28.05.2013
HARARE — Parliament’s industry and commerce
committee heard about the
troubled Zisco-Essar deal today from Zisco board
chairman, Nyasha Makuvise.
Surprisingly, committee chairman William
Mutomba barred the media from
attending the hearing after Mr. Makuvise said
he would be sharing what he
called “sensitive information.”
The
Zisco-Essar deal was signed in 2010. Three years on, it remains
troubled.
The media was not allowed in today’s hearing but previously
the
parliamentary committee had warned that Zisco’s privatisation was in
danger
of collapse as ministers continued to row over the transaction,
fearing
Essar Africa Holdings may be forced to withdraw from the deal
because of
delays.
Workers’ representatives Benedict Moyo and Obert
Shoko Bishi, whose
statements were heard by the press, accused Industry
Minister Welshman
Ncube, the president’s office and Essar for sabotaging the
deal.
Moyo and Bishi said employees were suffering as a result of lack of
payment
and anxiety over their future.
The president’s office is now
responsible for the $750 million deal, but
implementation remains bogged
down by political bickering between the
industry and mines
ministries.
Moyo said the payments issue is dire, with some employees
facing eviction
soon.
Ziscosteel chief executive officer, Alois Gowo,
told the committee that some
service providers have started legal
proceedings against the company to
recover money owed to them.
Gowo,
who told the committee three months ago that production was set to
resume
anytime, said he is not involved in negotiations to revive the
company and
has no clue when things might fall into place at the troubled
parastatal.
The government signed the $750 million deal to revive
Ziscosteel under a new
company called new Zimbabwe Steel Limited but it has
not been finalised
because of differences between the industry and mines
ministries over its
terms, including access to iron ore
reserves.
Gowo said they are still operating as Ziscosteel, adding that
money invested
into the company appears as loans in Ziscosteel
books.
Gowo is, however, optimistic that the deal will be finalised soon
so that
production may resume.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
28 May 2013
Voting passed off peacefully in the MDC-T primary
elections in Matabeleland
South on Monday and with a general election
looming the party is already
targeting highly prized ZANU PF seats in the
province.
Watchy Sibanda, the Mat South provincial chairman, told SW
Radio Africa on
Tuesday that the peaceful nature of the internal poll can be
attributed to
the establishment of a more democratic political system in the
party.
‘The most important thing is there was no imposition of
candidates. Secondly
we had a voters roll that was agreed to by all
contesting candidates and the
process was determined by secret balloting,’
Sibanda.
The MDC-T only holds two seats in the province out of 13.
National chairman
Lovemore Moyo held the Matobo North seat before he was
elevated to speaker
of Parliament. He stood unchallenged in the primaries on
Monday.
Incumbent MP for Matobo South, Gabriel Ndebele, was confirmed
while seven
other candidates won the right to stand on an MDC-T ticket in
the harmonized
elections, following fiercely contested
primaries.
These are Bekezela Mpofu (Insiza North), Jabulani Dube (Insiza
South),
Moffat Ndou (Beitbridge West), Ekem Moyo (Gwanda South), Juliet
Nkiwane
(Gwanda Central), Morgan Ncube (Beitbridge East) and Ready Mpofu
(Bulilima
West).
Primaries in four constituencies—Mangwe, Gwanda
North, Umzingwani and
Bulilima East— were postponed to the 8th June due to
logistical problems.
Sibanda said the leadership of the party has taken
encouragement from the
primaries after certain sections of the media had
predicted the exercise
would be marred by violence.
The chairman
insisted their party had ‘never been in better shape’ as he
laid down the
gauntlet to rival ZANU PF, saying they are out to grab as many
seats in the
province as possible.
‘The first seat we’re targeting is that of Kembo
Mohadi (co-Home Affairs
Minister). If David was able to defeat Goliath, then
we can do it also in
his backyard of Beitbridge East,’ Sibanda
said.
Abednico Bhebhe, the deputy national organising secretary, said
their call
for peace during elections has paid dividends as every candidate
was placing
the nation’s interests first.
‘Our primary elections have
so far been free and fair, they’ve passed off
peacefully without major
incident. Yet ZANU PF and its state media has spent
days hunting for
instances of alleged malpractice to tie together, to
support their
preconceived theory that the election would be unfair,’ Bhebhe
said.
Bhebhe, who stood unopposed in Nkayi South in Mat North on
Tuesday, said
there is no doubt the latest claims of ‘chaos’ by the state
media will also
evaporate on close inspection of their exercise.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa | 28 May, 2013 13:03
The
African Union (AU) will establish a new military force following a
suggestion from South Africa, the international relations and co-operation
department said on Tuesday.
“On Monday... the African Union summit
[in Ethiopia] adopted a historic
decision to establish the African Capacity
for Immediate Response to Crises
(ACIR), at the initiative of South Africa,”
said spokesman Clayson Monyela
in a statement.
The proposal was made
to tackle ongoing obstacles to peace and security
which undermined
democratically elected governments.
The AU did not at the moment have an
immediate response mechanism, as the
process of implementing the African
Peace and Security structure was
ongoing, said Monyela.
The proposed
ACIR was an interim measure, pending the African Standby Force’s
(ASF)
commencement of operations and rapid deployment capability.
The ACIR was
therefore not a new concept, but built on the principles of the
ASF.
“This interim measure will further provide African countries
with the
flexibility to take concrete measures to address the challenges in
the
interim,” he said.
This would allow the process of getting the
ASF into operation to take
place.
President Jacob Zuma told the
summit that South Africa stood ready to
provide support to deal with urgent
matters of the continent.
Following South Africa’s pledge of assistance,
other countries also pledged
their support, and readiness, to contribute to
the ACIR.
Monyela said: “South Africa’s initiative has thus received
broad consensus
from member states of the African Union and has been adopted
as a decision
of the summit.” Asked by Sapa whether any troop commitments
had been made
by South Africa at this stage, Monyela said that was “running
ahead of the
process”.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga
Moyo
28 May 2013
News that South Africa’s main television station will
be airing a rare
interview with Zimbabwe’s first family has strengthened
belief that there
are attempts to spruce up Mugabe’s image .
The
interview, which will be broadcast this Sunday, was granted to South
Africa
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) talk show host Dali Tambo who joined
Mugabe
for a lavish dinner at State House last year.
According to The Sunday
Independent, the interview included footage of the
Mugabe family’s take on
various issues, including Grace gloating about
assaulting a journalist, the
President’s criticism of Nelson Mandela, and
his shenanigans with Grace
while his first wife Sally was lying on her
deathbed.
Analysts say
that while it is obvious that the interview is part of a
choreographed
campaign by Mugabe’s team to sanitise his image, it
nevertheless exposes the
man for what he really is: a dictator with serious
moral
limitations.
Zimbabweans will recall a similarly ‘rare’ opportunity
recently granted to
Ghanaian filmmaker Roy Agyemang, who has since embarked
on a global campaign
to promote Mugabe as an African statesman vilified by
the West.
Zimbabweans will also be disheartened to learn from the Tambo
interview that
the 89-year-old Mugabe has no plans of retiring anytime
soon.
“My people still need me, and when people need you to lead them it
is not
time, sir — it doesn’t matter how old you are — to say goodbye,”
Mugabe said
while accusing global icon Mandela of being ‘too good’ and ‘too
saintly’
with the whites.
Since the story of the forthcoming
broadcast emerged, Zimbabweans have taken
to social media platforms to air
their views on Mugabe’s comments.
Writing on Facebook, political analyst
Joram Nyathi said that by criticising
Mandela, Mugabe is ignoring the
predicament Mandela faced and the way he
used his charisma to manage the
handover of power from Boers to blacks.
“Whether he could have done much
after that is almost impossible to tell,
hence the decision to step down or
stay in power is immaterial. In fact it
could very well be interpreted as
trying to avoid a direct confrontation
with the brutal reality of African
poverty and the refusal by the Boers to
cede even an inch of the
soil.
“I don’t think Mandela deliberately sought to be a good boy to the
whites.
The odds were overwhelmingly against his sense of justice. He gave
up and
hoped the younger people would take up the fight for blacks in a more
vigorous way.”
In another post, Brighton Musonza said: “What Mugabe
is not able to say is,
Mandela’s name will unite South Africans for
centuries to come when he is
long gone, whereas, on the day he (Mugabe)
dies, there will be street
parties across Zimbabwe.”
Commenting on
the forthcoming SABC broadcast, senior journalist Dumisani
Muleya commended
Tambo for managing to extract information that ordinarily,
the eccentric
Zimbabwean leader would not give to local journalists.
Muleya said both
Tambo and Agyemang’s work are designed to give a context to
Mugabe’s actions
over the years “as if to say after all the fierce
criticisms that Mugabe has
faced, the historical context salvages parts of
his reputation and
image.
“Both gentlemen are trying to project Mugabe’s historical
transformation in
reverse order: from villain to hero. In fact, it would
seem that the two are
saying Mugabe was never a villain but was
misunderstood. Both interview and
documentary provide useful information,
but they are not critical at all.
They are clear attempts to whitewash
Mugabe’s battered image.
“But despite the attempts by Tambo and Agyemang
to paint this picture of
Mugabe as a humane individual, Zimbabweans will not
buy their conclusions
because they know the impact and consequences of
Mugabe’s three decades of
misrule,” Muleya said.
Muleya said that if
the forthcoming elections were to be free and fair, the
views held by
Zimbabweans on Mugabe’s legacy and leadership wouldn’t change:
“They would,
through the ballot, reject his misrule and mismanagement as
they have done
over the past decade.”
Muleya added that Mugabe’s admission that he had
an affair, while first wife
Sally, who died in 1992 was still alive, betrays
a yawning gap in the
president’s morality despite the loving, upright family
picture Dali’s
interview tried to capture.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
28/05/2013 00:00:00
by Business
Day
THE government is to restrict foreign procurement of raw
materials and other
equipment by companies to 50% as part of efforts to
enforce a statutory
instrument giving preference to local
suppliers.
It has emerged, however, that the new measures will also be
factored into
planned amendments to the indigenisation and economic
empowerment law
promulgated in 2007.
The amendments, according to
Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, will
rule out monetary compensation
for shares ceded by foreign mining companies.
Kasukuwere has now said the
government is working on measures to restrict
the procurement of raw
materials and other equipment from foreign suppliers
to 50%.
"With
greater understanding that local ownership is pivotal to our economic
growth
and prosperity, the time has now come for public and private
companies to
put in place policies and programmes that give preference to
our local
suppliers and manufacturers," Kasukuwere said at a procurement
conference
held in Harare on Monday.
He said: "Fifty percent (of all procurement by
companies in Zimbabwe) must
be procured from companies that are controlled
by indigenous Zimbabweans."
Many local manufacturers and companies remain
bogged down, however, by low
capacity use as a result of power cuts, limited
access to capital and
obsolete equipment.
"The only problem is that
we may find the local suppliers out of stock,"
independent economist Moses
Moyo said. "We must first fix our industry and
manufacturing sectors so that
we capacitate the local suppliers."
Earlier this year, government
officials criticised South African retailer
Pick n Pay - which now has two
branded stores in Zimbabwe under a
partnership with TM Supermarkets, in
which it owns a 49% stake - for picking
most of its stock from foreign
suppliers.
Government statistics say Zimbabwe imported $8.2bn worth of
goods in 2012,
compared with exports worth $5bn.
Foreign companies such
as Impala Platinum, PPC, Old Mutual and Anglo
American Platinum - which all
have operations in Zimbabwe - have already
been forced to cede 51% shares to
local groups under the empowerment policy.
Investment analysts and other
experts say the law scares away much-needed
investment.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
28 May
2013
Members of the Zimbabwean community in Johannesburg, South Africa,
are
mourning the deaths of two Zim nationals, who were shot and killed in
the
Diepsloot area on Sunday evening.
The shooting took place at what
is reported to be a Somalian owned shop in
the informal settlement. Four
other people were injured in the shooting,
which sparked a violent reaction
from other members of the community.
The two who died are an as yet
unnamed Diepsloot resident of Zimbabwean
descent, and Thuthani ‘Suppa Star’
Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean rumba musician who
was promoting his music in the
area.
Thuthani and his group, the Mlambos Express Band, have been touring
different parts of Johannesburg promoting their new album. Band manager
Thabani Ndlovu told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that they are ‘devastated’ by
the death of their band leader.
Thabani was with the late Thuthani at
the time of the shooting. He explained
how they were travelling through
Diepsloot, playing their music and selling
their new CD to Diepsloot
residents on Sunday evening.
“We decided to drive around and announce
that we had a new CD, so a lot of
people were stopping us and we’d stop on
the side of the road, sell the CD,
then keep driving,” Thabani
said.
He continued: “At the last stop, we pulled over in front of a shop,
and we
got out. The shop owner came out and confronted me and he went
haywire,
shouting and telling me to move my car. And I was shocked, and when
I asked
him why he was shouting, that is when he took out his gun and he
shot at
me.”
Thabani dropped to the ground and he admits he doesn’t
know how he survived.
The shooter however then turned his gun on the other
band members, shooting
Thuthani in the chest.
The shooter eventually
locked himself away in his shop, but Thabani
explained that members of the
community turned their anger on the shop
owner, demanding that he come out
and face the crowd.
“They were banging on the shop with fists and
shouting for him to come out.
After ten minutes he opened his shop window
and shot six times into the
crowd. People started running, and when they
dispersed there were two
bodies. One man was shot in the head,” Thabani
explained.
The incident continued to deteriorate and members of the
community are said
to have gone on the rampage, with anti-foreigner
sentiments fuelling some
people into perpetrating even more
violence.
The MDC-T chairman for Diepsloot, Innocent Jeke, told SW Radio
Africa that
19 foreign owned shops were looted, including many Zimbabwean
owned shops.
He said people were ‘terrified’, because xenophobic violence
remains a
serious problem and threat in South Africa.
“In 2008 more
than 60 people were killed, and it started just like this,
with shops being
looted. So we can’t rule out xenophobia,” Jeke said.
By Monday evening,
South African police had arrested 47 people for public
violence,
housebreaking, and possession of unlicensed firearms. Jeke said
that the
community was still tense, and people were worried about what would
happen
after dark.
“We don’t know for sure what is going to happen. But we are
waiting to see
if this gets worse,” Jeke said.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Tuesday, 28 May 2013 00:00
Cathrine Biswick Herald
Reporter
THE Harare City Library requires about US$9 million for books
and computers
to be fully functional, an official of the Culture Fund of
Zimbabwe Trust
has said. “The library needs at least US$9 million to
buy
books and advance its computer network system,” said Ms Emelda
Musariri, a
project manager of the Trust. “We need to introduce a coffee
shop area for
the parents who will be waiting for their children and another
multi-purpose
wing to cater for ATMs and internet cafés.”
Ms Musariri
said this during a ceremony to commission the US$1 million
refurbishment of
the Harare City Library. The Swedish government injected a
US$1 million
grant through the Culture Fund to help the City Library to
carry out major
refurbishment of leaking roofs, dilapidated facades,
internal ceilings,
walls, windows, floors and toilets.
Deputy Minister for Education, Sports
and Culture, Mr Lazarus Dokora, said
the refurbishment of the library should
promote a reading culture in the
city.
“Do not only say we have the
highest literacy rate in Africa, but go on to
the continent and tell them we
are building a reading culture,” he said.
Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Mr Las Ronnas said the public library should
be open to everyone, including
the disabled.
Victoria Falls, May 28
2013: The United States believes Zimbabwe and Zambia
should use the
forthcoming World Tourism Organization (WTO) General Assembly
as a
springboard for economic growth, good governance, and sustainable
wildlife
conservation. The U.S. Ambassadors to Zimbabwe and Zambia
expressed this
view during a cross-border bicycle ride to promote tourism
and environmental
conservation in the Victoria Falls-Livingstone area May
21-23rd.
“We
wanted to shine the light on both sides of the Zambezi River in advance
of
the World Tourism Organization Congress to both encourage Americans to
come
and explore this part of the world and to emphasize the connection
between
conservation and tourism…and economic development,” the U.S.
Ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton, told a press conference soon after
meeting Chief
Mvuthu and the deputy mayor of Victoria Falls at a local
hotel.
“Our
government is deeply interested in promoting strong democratic
institutions
in both countries and in supporting strong sustainable economic
development. I think tourism has got to be one of the drivers of both
Zimbabwe’s and Zambia’s economic development,” said
Wharton.
The Bike Across Borders initiative was implemented
jointly by the American
Embassies in Harare and Lusaka with the two
ambassadors, Wharton and Mark
Storella, taking the lead.
Zimbabwe and
Zambia will co-host the 20th UNWTO General-Assembly from August
24-29 in
Victoria Falls and Livingstone respectively. The event represents
the second
time that Africa will have hosted the WTO General Assembly, after
Senegal in
2005. This is the first time the UN WTO General Assembly has been
co-hosted
by neighboring countries. The diplomats were optimistic about the
success of
the impending convention.
“I see very much that on both sides of the
border you face the same kind of
challenges and the same kinds of
opportunities. I was very gratified to see
during this visit that the two
sides are cooperating to prepare for this
international congress that is
coming up,” said Ambassador Mark Storella.
“The UN WTO Congress that is
coming up is a fantastic opportunity for the
two countries to cooperate and
advance together.”
The diplomats led a delegation of cyclists,
including Zimbabwean comedian
Carl Joshua Ncube and ZiFM DJ Lorraine Bgoya.
Among the bikers were Zambian
Minister of Tourism Sylvia Masebo and beauty
queen Miss USA Nana Meriwether,
who was on a private visit to
Zambia.
Zambian youth ambassadors Humphrey Mwila (aka Cactus Agony) and
Luyando
Haangala (Lulu) bicycled and entertained the group with a new song
written
specifically for Bike Across Borders.
Among other places, the
bikers visited the Livingstone museum and the
national parks on both sides
of the border, learned about snare clearing and
endangered vultures, and met
with disabled handicraft makers and local
chiefs in Livingstone and Victoria
Falls.
For Ambassador Wharton, it was his first chance to see the Zambian
side of
the Victoria Falls.
“Livingstone is bigger than I thought it
would be; I’m very impressed with
it. The view of Victoria Falls is
different on this side of the river, and
people have been really friendly.
(We have) had tremendous support from the
Zambian police and the people,”
said Wharton, who cycled on a
Zimbabwean-assembled bicycle called the
Buffalo. “I think a lot of
Zimbabweans would call it a black horse or black
beauty. It’s a very simple
bicycle and it’s very strong and beautiful. I
am happy to ride the sort of
bicycle that the people have been riding in
Zimbabwe for decades,” said the
U.S. diplomat.
During the
trip, local officials pledged to continue efforts to preserve
natural
resources. “We have got the machinery to look for diamonds, but our
first
priority is to conserve animals because animals have made us what we
are.
Even our communities are aware that we have to conserve this God-given
gift
that we have,” said Patricia Mwale, deputy mayor of Victoria Falls
said. “We
are geared more than ever before because one thing we know after
this event
is that Victoria Falls will never be the same again.”
According
to the Zimbabwe Tourism Association, Americans make up the largest
group of
non-African international tourists to Zimbabwe. – ZimPAS © May 28,
2013.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/
28.05.13
by Edgar
Gweshe
Police allegedly used force to gain entry into a bathroom where
the wife of
an aide to Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai was using
it.
The revelations were made by the aide, Thabani Mpofu, on Monday
at the
Harare Magistrates Court while presenting his evidence.
Mpofu
is facing charges of contravening Section 4 (1) of the Firearms Act
for
allegedly failing to renew a firearm certificate.
He also faces a charge
of contravening Section 28 (2) of the Firearms Act as
well for allegedly
keeping a firearm in a non-secure place.
It is alleged during a search of
his premises on 17 March this year that
police officers confiscated a
firearm hidden under a pile of clothes at his
home.
Mpofu allegedly
failed to produce a certificate for the firearm upon request
by the
police.
Mpofu said that on 17 March this year, police details, led by
Superintendent
Luxon Mukazhi came to his Borrowdale home and told him they
were looking for
a camera which he allegedly used to take pictures of
government buildings
and officials.
“Once inside, Mukazhi changed his
attitude and became hostile. He asked me
to lead the police officers to the
bedroom. The police officers then barged
into the bathroom where my wife was
using the loo. It was very embarrassing
and I felt so embarrassed,” said
Mpofu.
He added that his wife demanded a search warrant from the police
officers
but in vain.
After the arrival of Mpofu’s lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, the police were still
reluctant to produce the search
warrant.
“When I asked Mukazhi later on about why he had refused to show
Beatrice
Mtetwa the search warrant, he told me that she was arrogant, saying
he would
show her the search warrant later,” said Mpofu.
He added
that Mukazhi misled the State by stating that the firearm in
question was
being kept in an unsecure place.
The trial was postponed to 12 June to
allow the defense counsel to have
access to documents seized by police
during their search at Mpofu’s
residence as well as for the accused to
prepare his witnesses.
Mpofu is involved in another case together with
Felix Matsinde, Warship
Dumba and Mehluli Moyo under which they are facing
charges of impersonating
a police officer, contravening the Official Secrets
Act and being in
possession of articles for criminal use.
It is
alleged Mpofu and his colleagues were in possession of dockets that
they
were privately compiling to discredit the judicial system and had names
of
top government officials.
Tuesday, 28 May2013
The MDC primary
elections continue to be held successfully across the
country. The results
for Matabeleland South held on Monday are as follows;
Insiza North –Bekezela
Mpofu
Insiza South –Jabulani Dube
Beitbridge West- Moffat Ndou
Gwanda
South -Ekem Moyo
Gwanda Central -Juliet Nkiwane
Beitbridge East- Morgan
Ncube
Matobo South –Hon. Gabriel Ndebele – confirmed
Matobo North –Hon.
Lovemore Moyo – uncontested
Bulilima West – Postponed
Mangwe
–postponed
Gwanda North –postponed
Umzingwani –postponed
Bulilima East
-postponed
The party commends its cadres in all provinces who continue to
vote
peacefully in the primary elections.
The article in the Herald
headlined, “Primaries expose factionalism in
MDC-T” therefore makes
interesting reading. Interesting in that it exposes
the fact that the ailing
party is running scared.
Initially, when the primaries were first announced
The Herald and Zanu PF
were quick to point out that they were undemocratic
and that they would
fail. Now that the primaries have been held successfully
in Harare,
Bulawayo, Chitungwiza and Matabeleland South,The Herald and Zanu
PF are
claiming that the primary elections have exposed factionalism in the
MDC.
Before the MDC primary elections and confirmation started, Zanu PF, The
Herald and the Welshman Ncube formation were claiming that the MDC primary
elections was an act by the party leadership to protect “big guns” but what
we have seen since Saturday is contrary to these assertions.
The results
have shown that the process was democratic and some of the
so-called“big
guns” will have to go for the primary elections after they
failed to get the
required two thirds confirmation majority.
There is nothing that will stop
the Party of Excellence from winning the
next elections and forming the next
government. The primaries are taking
place and will continue until all the
provinces are covered.
It is wishful thinking on the part of Zanu PF and The
Herald that certain
provinces have had their primaries postponed, these are
on course following
the set timetable.
The primaries have so far been
conducted in Harare, Bulawayo,Chitungwiza and
Matabeleland South. They will
continue with Matabeleland North,today,
Midlands South and North, the
Mashonaland provinces, Manicaland and
Masvingo.
–
MDC Information
& Publicity Department
Harvest House
44 Nelson Mandela
Ave
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel: 00263 4 770 708
http://cmchimakure.wordpress.com/
By Constantine
Chimakure
THE MDC-T may have no one, but itself to blame for the
situation it finds
itself in.
As the sun sets on the unity government
ushered in by the Global Political
Agreement (GPA), the party is hard at
work trying to hold Zanu PF to account
for reforms not implemented by the
government.
By revisiting the reforms agreed to under the GPA, and
tracing the work
delivered by the government, it lends credence to the view
that once in
power, the MDC-T relaxed and forgot to keep the heat on Zanu PF
until the
eleventh hour — and it may all be too late.
On August 4,
2010, a meeting between President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara came up with a roadmap for
implementing problem areas which has largely not been followed though,
mainly as a result of Zanu PF’s intransigence and the MDC-T’s failure to
hold it consistently to account. The principals agreed on 24 out of 27
outstanding issues.
The principals did not agree on issues related to
the appointment of Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono,
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and
the appointment and swearing-in of the
MDC-T’s Roy Bennett as Agriculture
deputy minister.
The two MDC
formations have since surrendered on the appointments, with
Tsvangirai
appointing the late Seiso Moyo to replace Bennett.
Gono and Tomana’s
cases appear to have disappeared from the MDCs’ radar.
The parties also
agreed on the appointment formula of provincial governors,
the principals
resolved that the matter be addressed simultaneously and
concurrently with
the sanctions removal strategy.
Under the formula, Tsvangirai was to
appoint five provincial governors,
Mugabe four and Mutambara
one.
Again the MDCs left this and Mugabe ended up with a huge advantage,
regaining control of provinces.
Below is the implementation roadmap
revisited:
Media reforms: The principals resolved in August 2010 that within
a month,
the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe board would be regularised,
a new
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation board would be appointed and that
the
Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust (ZMMT) would be set up.
Minister of
Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu and the
parliamentary
standing rules and orders’ committee were tasked to execute
the mandates,
but three years down the line no changes have taken place.
Shamu has now
adamantly declined to reconstitute the said boards and the
ZMMT is
non-existent.
Security institutions: Security ministers Kembo Mohadi,
Theresa Makone,
Emmerson Mnangagwa and Sydney Sekeremayi, the National
Security Council, the
principals and entire leadership of political parties
were mandated to
ensure that Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri,
Tomana and other
State security organs comply with Articles 11 and 13 of the
GPA on a
continuous basis.
The articles advocate the respect and
upholding of the Constitution and the
adherence to the principles of the
rule of law.
The articles emphasise that State institutions do not belong
to any
political party and should be impartial.
Zimbabwe’s police,
army and the Central Intelligence Organisation remain
partisan with service
chiefs openly campaigning for Mugabe.
The MDCs have only been recently
exerting pressure on Mugabe, with no
success, to force security sector
reforms.
Sanctions: The principals agreed on an immediate sanctions
removal campaign
to be executed by a committee made up of Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa
(Zanu PF), Energy minister Elton Mangoma (MDC-T) and
International
Co-operation minister Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Party leaders, executive party organs and other
lower levels of the three
political parties were also tasked to lobby for
the removal of the
embargoes.
The campaign seemed to have worked,
especially after the March 16 draft
constitution referendum that saw the
European Union and the United States
easing the sanctions on
Zimbabwe.
External radio stations: It was resolved that the Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (Jomic) and a committee should
within one month
call on foreign governments hosting and funding pirate
radio stations to
stop “interference in the internal affairs of the
country”.
No such call has been made three years down the line. The three
coalition
partners are all using these stations to get their messages to
remote areas
not serviced by the national broadcaster.
Hate speech:
On a continuous basis, the principals agreed that the late
Vice-President
John Nkomo, on behalf of government leadership, Shamu, the
media council and
Jomic should direct the media to support all agreed
government programmes
and put a stop to attacks on ministers implementing
the projects.
In
the past three years, there has been an escalating hate attack on the MDC
formations, especially against Tsvangirai, in the State-run
media.
Tsvangirai and the MDC formations have complained without success
to Mugabe.
Ministerial allocations: Principals agreed that for the
maintenance of
cohesion and progress, the status quo must be maintained, but
continuously
monitored, hence the continued
co-ministering of the
Ministry of Home Affairs.
Land audit: Lands minister Herbert Murerwa and
a Cabinet committee on
resettlement and development and the principals were
mandated to appoint an
inclusive and balanced land audit commission by the
beginning of September
2010.
That has not happened, with Murerwa last
week saying government had
abandoned the project due to lack of
funds.
Land tenure: Murerwa and a Cabinet committee were tasked with
coming up
within two months with land tenure systems with emphasis on a
leasehold
system that guarantees security of tenure and collateral value of
land,
without reversing the land reform programme.
They were also
asked to be creative and establish tenure systems that take
into account the
different circumstances of communal land.
That agreement was never
executed.
Electoral vacancies: Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed that
during the
subsistence of the inclusive government, the three parties would
not contest
against each other.
Cabinet and Council of Ministers: The
government leadership endorsed the
Cabinet and Council of Ministers’ Rules,
Guidelines and Procedures. This was
immediately
implemented.
Ministerial mandates: It was agreed that the Chief Secretary
to the
President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda and Secretary in the Prime
Minister’s
Office Ian Makone meet and submit a report on the issue to the
principals.
Some Acts of Parliament were later re-assigned with the MDC-T
crying foul
after Mugabe allocated communications legislation to Transport
minister
Nicholas Goche at the expense of Information Technology
Communication
minister Nelson Chamisa.
Principals’ transport: The
Office of the President and Cabinet was tasked
with coming up with an
administrative arrangement for Tsvangirai’s fleet.
The Premier was provided
with a “mini-motorcade” immediately.
Tsvangirai, Mutambara aides:
Sekeremayi was asked to speedily process
vetting, training and engagement of
security personnel for Tsvangirai and
Mutambara. The task was
executed.
Parallel government: The principals agreed that Jomic should
continuously
monitor and evaluate allegations that Tsvangirai was running a
parallel
government funded by donors. No report on the issue was ever made
public.
External interference: The coalition partners agreed to
continuously condemn
in unison any external interference as and when they
occur.
National Economic Council: Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed
to
expedite the establishment of the National Economic Council within a
month.
The council remains a pipedream.
Constitutional Commissions:
The government regularised the appointment of
the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission.
National
Heroes: The principals agreed to, within two months, expedite the
adoption
of non-partisan and inclusive principles and framework for
designation of
national heroes.
The agreement was never followed through with Zanu PF’s
politburo continuing
to accord hero status to who it deems
fit.
George Charamba status: The chairperson of the Public Service
Commission
Mariyawanda Nzuwah and Misheck Sibanda were tasked to ensure that
Secretary
for Media, Information and Publicity ministry and also Mugabe’s
spokesperson, George Charamba, is apolitical.
Charamba continues to
dabble in partisan politics.
Constitutional Amendment 19: Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa ensured that
Constitutional Amendment 19, which
captures the GPA, was gazetted and
assigned as directed by the
principals.
Right to freedom of association and assembly: Chihuri, Mohadi
and Makone
were tasked to immediately re-affirm the right to freely organise
political
activities. The MDCs still complain of being barred by the police
from
holding rallies.
Role, funding of NGOs: The principals resolved
that government should
determine priority areas for donor assistance through
the Cabinet aid
co-ordination committee.
No timeline was put in
place. The committee and Cabinet were also charged
with ensuring that
government improves aid co-ordination and achieve budget
support.
Amendments to the Electoral Act: Chinamasa, Cabinet and
Parliament were
mandated by the principals to ensure the Electoral Act is
amended to allow
free and fair polls.
The Act was
altered.
More than three-quarters of the agreed outstanding issues were
not
implemented. It is also highly unlikely that putting the heat on Zanu PF
at
the eleventh hour before elections will yield results as it realises that
with the status quo, it is in a stronger position than before.
http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/
By Guest contributor | 24 May 2013 | Legal Developments
By
Obert Hodzi
Over the past decade, Zimbabwe has been characterised by
political turmoil
and economic meltdown that resulted in dollarization and
abandonment of the
country’s currency in 2008. After the disputed and
violent elections of
March and June 2008, political parties in Zimbabwe
entered into a Global
Political Agreement (GPA) to address the challenges
facing the country.
Article VI of the GPA provided that the government of
national unity,
comprising of the Zimbabwe African National Union –Patriotic
Front (ZANU-PF)
and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), would set up a
Parliamentary
Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) to facilitate the
drafting of a new
constitution. The constitution drafting process that
ensued for the next
four years was dominated by inter-party political
bickering. In January
2013, after spending at least $50 million, COPAC
produced the final draft of
the constitution, leading to a constitutional
referendum held on 16 March
2013.
Despite the fact that the draft
constitution represents a compromise between
the major political parties,
more than 95% of voters approved it. Over the
first two weeks of May 2013,
the House of Assembly and the Senate
unanimously approved the draft
constitution with minor amendments. The
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
(No. 20) Bill was signed into law by the
President on 22 May
2013.
However, if the new constitution represents a small step forward
for
Zimbabwe, the voter registration process for the constitutional
referendum
was fraught with problems. As the draft constitution was
approved, civil
society activists played running battles with police due to
allegations that
they had engaged in illegal voter education. Meanwhile, the
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) struggled to implement their mobile
voter
registration campaign due to poor publicity, lack of voter education,
meagre
financial resources and logistics and personnel problems. Hundreds of
potential voters were turned away for not possessing relevant documents, in
particular proof of residence which is required to register as a voter. In
addition, aliens were denied registration even though they possessed
Zimbabwean identity documents. Meanwhile, human rights activists and other
political parties such as MDC-T complained that the Registrar General
neglected areas known to be non-ZANU-PF strongholds in an effort to
systematically disenfranchise its potential supporters from registering as
voters.
Before the election, as ZANU-PF launched and implemented its
door-to-door
voter mobilisation campaign, the Officer Commanding Harare
Sub-Urban Region
also banned all other political parties from conducting
door-to-door voter
mobilisation campaigns arguing this measure was necessary
to curb political
violence. Weeks before this pronouncement, MDC-T officials
and Election
Resource Centre voter education volunteers had been arrested
for
impersonating government officials and providing voter education without
the
approval of ZEC.
The new Constitution provides for a further
30-day voter registration
exercise, which according to the cabinet will be
undertaken before the next
elections are held. Yet, regardless of the legal
provisions of the
constitution, the politics surrounding the constitutional
approval process
are not encouraging. For example, the ban of door-to-door
voter mobilisation
was not based on any legislation but was a police decree.
In the past,
ZANU-PF has used police decrees to apply the law selectively
and persecute
non-ZANU-PF supporters. In addition, the leadership of state
security
institutions have already declared their support to ZANU-PF
contrary to the
non-partisan constitutional mandate. Constitutionalism
therefore remains a
critical challenge to Zimbabwe.
Obert Hodzi is a
governance and post-conflict development specialist working
at an
international non-governmental organisation in Zimbabwe.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Daniel
Molokele
“Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation. The notion
that in
order to have a nation it is necessary for there to be a common
language, a
common territory and common culture has failed to stand the test
of time or
the scrutiny of scientific definition of objective reality… The
community of
economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is
the economy
which holds together the people living in a territory. It is on
this basis
that the new Africans recognise themselves as potentially one
nation, whose
dominion is the entire African continent. “(Dr Kwame Nkrumah,
Ghana’s
founding President)
In January 1963 President Nkrumah wrote a
letter to all the presidents of
all independent states, proposing the Union
of African States. (In May of
that year the African leadership created the
Organization of African Unity
(OAU)).
He postulated that the economic
and social well-being of Africa depended
upon our ability to create a
Pan-African Political union. President Nkrumah
proposed the following
fundamental points:
Common foreign policy and diplomacy… we need a
process of political
socialization that would “enable us to speak with one
voice” in the fora of
the world
Common continental planning for
economic and industrial development….”building
up a common market of a
united Africa” that would bring about the material
conditions we need to
improve our collective quality of life in the global
economy
Common
currency a monetary zone and a central bank of issue…that we “need to
orientate the economy of Africa and place it beyond the reach of foreign
control” to be able to implement our social economy
Common defence
system…”one over-all (land, sea and air) Defence Command for
Africa” is
needed to defend the social economy we create.
I normally regard myself
as an eternal optimist. Indeed I have always found
it easy to see almost
everything I have come across in the most positive of
all lights. Be that as
it may, no matter how so much I try, I just cannot
bring myself to freely
invest in any form of optimism with regards to the
future of my beloved
motherland Africa.
Make no mistake about my global perspective of things.
I am as African as
they come. I do love Africa with all my heart. I am a
fully blown
pan-African bone and marrow!
However, I cannot pretend
that all is well in my beautiful continent. All is
not well at all. Africa
remains by large in a state of perpetual chaos.
Everywhere one might go, be
it north or south; east or west, anarchy and
impunity remain as the general
order of the day.
For so long viewed by the rest of the world as the
‘dark continent, it seems
Africa is still struggling to shake off its
identification with a myriad of
negative words such as war, epidemic,
pandemic, disease, risk, hunger,
famine, poverty, slums, unemployment, rape,
torture, violence, coup,
dictatorship, oppression, corruption, tribalism,
nepotism, crisis, among
others.
It is such a sad story to say the
least!
All around there is an air of despair, alarm and despondency. It
is evident
that the majority of the people in Africa have lost hope and feel
so
betrayed by the unfulfilled promises of a better life for all. Faith in
politicians or politics for that matter is at an all-time low. Trust in most
public service institutions has reached its lowest ebb.
Yet this was
not meant to be! This was not how the leaders of the liberation
movements
against the continent’s European colonial hegemony dreamt about
life in a
futuristic post-colonial Africa.
Indeed, the advocates for an end to the
colonial era envisaged a new free,
peaceful and prosperous Africa that was
meant to take its rightful seat on
the front row of the global stage. They
dreamt of an Africa that would have
worldwide honour and respect; a new
brave continent that would be worthy of
all global acclaim and
admiration.
And so it happens that as the African Union (AU) or as it was
originally
known, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) celebrates its 50
years of
institutional existence; I cannot but help myself to shade some
tears of
sorrow for my motherland. I cannot but find myself crying for my
beautiful
Africa.
A cursory glance across the continent immediately
justifies a call to
mourning instead to that of celebration. Instead of
beating the drums of
jubilation, Africa needs to slow everything down and
lapse into a period of
self-reflection. Africa needs to take a serious and
honest look as to have
far it has travelled since 25th May
1963.
Indeed Africa should use the commemoration of the 50th anniversary
as a time
to reflect on its very many lost opportunities and invest in
strategies that
will assist in the continent to finally develop its full
potential as an
enviable global leader.
It is time there be serious
attempts to reawaken the original idealism that
was associated by the
leadership generation of 1963. It is time for the
emerging young leaders of
the continent to challenge the current political
elite and also to start
laying their claim for a return to the original
vision of the continent’s
original leadership.
What Africa desperately needs right now is the rise
of a new breed of
leaders who are home-grown but having a visionary
aspiration that is of
world class in nature!
The time has come for a
complete paradigm shift in the way Africa is
governed both from a political
and socio-economic point of view. The change
process must start now than
later.
Otherwise if there is no change in the status quo, the situation
will
continue to worsen every year. The situation could be such that by the
time
that 25th May 2063 dawns, there might not even an AU to reach the
century
milestone.
Daniel Molokele is a human rights lawyer
who is based at Johannesburg in
South Africa. Please do feel free to further
engage him using Twitter
@molokele or on Facebook at ‘daniel.molokele’ or to
visit his personal
website at www.danielmolokele.com
