http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 01 May
2010
HARARE – South African facilitators monitoring Harare’s inter-party
dialogue
left Zimbabwe Thursday evening after meeting the three principals
to the
global political agreement (GPA) that set up the country’s unity
government,
saying the leaders must study a report that was submitted by
negotiators
from the coalition partners.
The talks to iron out issues
still outstanding from implementation of the
2008 power-sharing agreement
between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party
and the two MDC formations
led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara
have dragged on since the former foes agreed
to join hands in February 2009
in a coalition government.
South African President Jacob Zuma’s
facilitation team, which consists of
former South African minister Charles
Nqakula, Zuma’s political advisor
Lindiwe Zulu and Mac Maharaj, jetted into
Harare on Thursday morning and
left in the evening.
“We met with the
President, Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister,”
group spokesperson
Zulu said. “It was a good meeting, but it was agreed that
they need to
finalise and look at the report that has been given by the
negotiators. We
need them to look at the report.”
She could not be drawn into
revealing when they will be coming back.
Zuma, who controls the
region’s biggest economy is the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) mediator in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara, the
signatories to the GPA, were given the
report on the problems affecting the
GPA in February by the negotiators but
they are yet to review it
together.
The trip to Harare by the facilitators came days after
Tsvangirai last week
met with Zuma in South Africa before he proceeded to
Botswana to meet
President Ian Khama.
Zimbabwe’s unity government
has stabilised the country’s economy to improve
the lives of ordinary
citizens. But a dispute between Tsvangirai and Mugabe
over how to share
executive power, senior appointments and security sector
reforms is holding
back the administration and threatening to render it
ineffective.
The unity government’s failure to win financial
support from Western powers
and multilateral institutions has also crippled
its efforts to rebuild an
economy shattered by a decade of political strife
and acute recession. –
ZimOnline
http://www.zimtelegraph.com/?p=7137
By MIKE MAKOMO
Published: May 1,
2010
USA-Washington DC (United States) Two champions of democracy,
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and the Network of Chocó Women
of Colombia,
will be honored at the 25th anniversary celebration of the
National
Democratic Institute (NDI), which will be held in Washington DC on
Monday,
May 10.
According to a press release issued by the NDI on
Saturday, the evening will
also include the premiere of a film, "NDI's First
Quarter Century : Working
for Democracy and Making Democracy Work," that
highlights the Institute's
history of supporting the efforts of political
parties, civic groups,
parliaments, elections and women's groups in more
than 100 countries.
Tsvangirai will receive the W. Averell Harriman
Democracy Award for his
tireless efforts to restore democracy, human rights
and the rule of law to
Zimbabwe.
"His commitment to peaceful
political change has been unwavering despite
assassination attempts,
imprisonment and harassment. The award also
recognizes the democratic
aspirations of the Zimbabwean people," the release
says.
The Harriman
Award, created in 1986, is awarded to individuals and
organizations that
have demonstrated a sustained commitment to democracy and
human
rights.
The Network of Chocó Women is an umbrella group representing 52
civil
society organizations from 18 municipalities in the primarily
Afro-Colombian
region in the western part of Colombia. The region has the
nation's highest
levels of poverty and illiteracy. The organization will
receive a $25,000
grant to continue its work providing leadership training
and advocacy for
women's rights.
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=29160
April 30, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The Godfrey Majonga-led Zimbabwe Media Commission
(ZMC) has
finally called for applications from existing and prospective mass
media
players and journalists wishing to operate in Zimbabwe.
"The
Zimbabwe Media Commission wishes to announce to all concerned
stakeholders
that the 2010 fees for registration of mass media service
providers and
accreditation of journalists have been gazetted and the
Commission is now
ready to receive applications," read a statement published
Friday by the
ZMC.
"The commission is calling upon all media service providers and
journalists
to renew their registration certificates and accreditation
status in line
with Section 66 and Section 79 of the Access to Information
and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA) respectively," said the
ZMC.
According to ZMC, the process begins on Tuesday May 4 and ends June
4, 2010.
Journalists will also file their applications during the same
period.
"All applications for renewal of registration and accreditation
which are
received after this day will attract a daily penalty fee as
stipulated in
the government gazette," said the ZMC.
"All those mass
media services providers who have been publishing without
operating licences
should normalize their status by 4 June, 2010.
"All applications for
permits to operate representative offices of foreign
media services in terms
o Section 90 of AIPPA must be received by the
Commission between 4 May and 4
June 2010.
"All permits issued in terms of Section 90 are valid for a
year or any part
thereof ending on 31 December."
The announcement is
sure to end years of anxiety among Zimbabwe's reform
minded politicians and
media players on the future of Zimbabwe's troubled
media.
It would
also be a welcome relief to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
mainstream
MDC that has persistently called on the current inclusive
government to
allow new players to operate.
The ZMC, a creation of Amendment Number 19
of the Constitution, replaced the
discredited Tafataona Mahoso-led Media and
Information Commission that is
accused of closing private newspapers viewed
as critical of President Robert
Mugabe's government.
Mugabe in
February this year formally appointed the ZMC commissioners,
namely former
television news presenter Majonga (chairman), Nqobile Nyathi
(deputy), Chris
Mutsvangwa, Matthew Takaona, Chris Mhike, Henry Muradzikwa,
Lawton Hikwa,
Mirriam Madziwa and Millicent Mombeshora after the three
governing parties
agreed on the composition of the ZMC.
Newspapers such as The Daily News,
with a record number of exiled
journalists, have affirmed their readiness to
start operating in the
country.
Banned in 2003, The Daily News and
its sister weekly The Daily News on
Sunday provided stiff competition to the
state controlled Herald and Sunday
Mail newspapers.
http://news.radiovop.com
01/05/2010
10:32:00
Windhoek, May 01 2010 - The Media Institute of Southern
Africa said the 2010
World Press Freedom Day will be marked on Monday at a
time when media and
freedom of expression has taken a serious downturn in
Southern Africa.
" We mark May 3 under the shadow of a deterioration of
media freedoms
throughout the region notably in Swaziland, Zambia and
Botswana," it said.
MISA, a regional media and freedom of expression
advocacy organisation,
based in Windhoek and working through national
chapters in 11 Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) countries is
marking World Press Freedom
Day under the theme "Access to Information: The
Right to Know".
"The optimism and renewed hope that came with the
Government of Unity in
Zimbabwe did not last. All seemed so bright; a
promise of a new chapter in
the media environment of freedom and media law
reform for a country that has
known repression for too long. The Government
of Unity did not deliver. Not
yet," noted MISA.
It said access to
information remained largely a dream for the people of
southern Africa, home
to the most secretive governments in the world.
A MISA research revealed
non-transparent and overly secretive public
institutions in southern Africa,
making it nearly impossible for citizens to
exercise their right to
information.
"Using international standards and principles on Access to
Information, no
more than two of the 40 institutions surveyed qualified as
open and
transparent. With the exception of two institutions, none responded
to
written request for information including the Office of the Ombudsman in
Malawi. The Ministries of Health in Zambia and Swaziland were among the most
secretive institutions in the region.
"The most difficult country to
request for information was Zimbabwe.
Requesters in some institutions had to
sit for interviews to justify and
explain why they needed information.
Information was denied based on what
the public official suspected the
information was sort for. In all the
public institutions, information was
denied. However, the other countries
were no better than
Zimbabwe."
"We mark May 3 unsure of the future of the African media," it
said.
MISA said while it had made strides since the Windhoek Declaration
in 1991,
the last five years had witnessed a steady deterioration of media
freedom,
reminiscent of Africa's one party state era of the 70's and early
80s,
characterised by the suppression of the basic fundamental rights of
freedom
of expression, assembly and human dignity.
"The southern
Africa envisaged in the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 is a far
cry from the
arrests, beatings, torture and detention of journalists and the
general
repression of media freedom that are characteristic in the region
today.
"The continued use of laws such as the Official Secrets Acts
and penal codes
to arrest and charge journalists is a serious cause for
concern throughout
the region notably in Swaziland, Zimbabwe and
Zambia."
In the last 12 months, MISA issued 165 alerts. The alerts
document media and
freedom of expression violations and developments in
Southern Africa.
Zimbabwe for the fifth consecutive year had the highest
number of alerts at
33, with Swaziland and Zambia in tow.
In
Swaziland the King remained the law. A MISA study into censorship in
Swaziland's newsrooms singled out the monarchy as the main predator of press
freedom.
"The once vibrant, unrelenting and promising Swazi media now
resembles a
tired sleeping dog. A statutory media council is underway after
government
refused to register a voluntary self-regulatory council; the
Media
Complaints Committee," said MISA.
"Democracy in Botswana under
President Khama could easily pass for
dictatorship. After scraping the
Ministry of Communication, Science and
technology; state print and
broadcasting media are now under his bosom
through the Ministry of State
President."
However President Khama was not always having his way, his
infamous Media
Practitioners Act of 2008 had failed to take off. Intense
lobbying from MISA
had meant that publishers had refused participation while
the law society as
refused to provide a chair as required by
law.
Zambian media made international headlines. The Government in an
attempt to
clamp on the media dusted off the Penal Code, a colonial piece of
legislation to press criminal charges against a news editor for supposedly
distributing pornography and obscene material under section 177 1
(a).
The news editor had sent pictures of a woman giving birth outside a
hospital
unattended by health workers. The pictures were not printed in the
newspaper
for what the paper referred to as "disturbing" but sent them to
the highest
political, civil and religious leaders to "see the impact and
help end the
strike by health workers." When government failed to
demonstrate how a woman
in labor and in excessive pain could corrupt public
morals, the high court
threw the case out.
Like Swaziland, a
statutory media council looms in Zambia.
In September 2009, despite
opposition from the public, the Namibian
Government passed a communication
Bill popularly referred to as the 'Spy
Bill'. The act contains an
interception clause, which gives Government power
to snoop into electronic,
telecommunication and other forms of
communications of citizens.
The
Malawian Government continued to bully the media, including an
advertising
ban in the Nation Publication Limited, a publisher of several
newspapers on
accusations of anti government reporting.
The Tanzanian Government banned
Mwanahalisi newspaper for four months using
the Newspapers Act for allegedly
publishing stories aimed to incite public
hatred against the President and
provoking disorder within the President's
family.
http://news.radiovop.com
01/05/2010 15:59:00
Harare May 1, 2010
- The government has been forced to reverse its decision
to freeze salaries
for civil servants following an outcry from workers
representatives, in yet
another move exposing widening rifts in the
government of national
unity.
In a move that exposed the lack of coordination in the inclusive
government
and within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai on Saturday dismissed an announcement by Finance
Minister Tendai
Biti that the government had frozen all salaries. Biti, who
is also the
secretary general of Tsvangirai's MDC formation, recently said
civil
servants salaries had been frozen because of the government's high
wage
bill.
But Tsvangirai dismissed the announcement, saying the
government currently
did not have a policy to freeze salaries.
"The
government did not announce a wage freeze," Tsvangirai told scores of
workers who gathered at Dzivarasekwa Stadium in Harare to commemorate
Workers Day. "There is no government policy on wage freeze. If ever there is
going to be such a policy, it must also take into consideration the price
freeze. There is no government policy I know of on wage
freeze."
Workers representatives, through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions
(ZCTU), raised a chorus of complaints against Biti's announcement.
ZCTU
officials particularly lambasted the MDC for behaving like Zanu (PF)
and
forgetting that the party's roots were in the labour movement,
particularly
the ZCTU.
ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo even warned
that the move could backfire for
the MDC, which he said had "disengaged too
early from its labour roots".
Addressing the same gathering, Matombo said
the "survival of workers cannot
be separated from politics", and accused the
government of unilaterally
freezing salaries without consulting
workers.
"No one should freeze salaries. As workers we are not afraid of
anything,
we are prepared to take into the streets. Right now we have
workers who earn
less than US$30, these are people with families and
children who are
supposed to go to school," said Matombo.
Matombo
said they had given the government up to July to give workers
salaries that
are in line with the poverty datum line, which currently
stands just below
US$500.
The ZCTU leader also took a swipe at the proposed privatisation
of some
parastatals, saying the current plan would benefit only a few well
connected
individuals.
Representatives of various civil society
organisations that gave solidarity
messages to the ZCTU said the only way
forward was for the country to hold
fresh elections under international
supervision.
ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe said the inclusive
government had
not delivered on a number of crucial promises to the
workers.
http://news.radiovop.com
01/05/2010 10:27:00
Masvingo, May 01, 2010-
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has
said that nearly 1 200
teachers have left the teaching profession in the
past three weeks in
Masvingo province alone, a development which will leave
several schools
faced with servere staff shortages at the beginning of
next-term.
The
second term starts next week.
PTUZ provincial co-coordinator Munyaradzi
Chauke said teachers are beginning
to cross boarders again after discovering
that the
government is failing to meet their salary expectations.
"We
have discovered that over 1 200 teachers have left the profession in a
very
short space of time. During this holiday alone, a number of teachers
have
quit citing low salaries."
Zimbabwean teachers are getting about US$150
and their cries to have their
salaries increased to US$ 600 have been
rejected by the cash-strapped
government. Government also froze teachers'
salaries.
"Teachers are saying their salary is not enough to keep them
going to work,
more so the salary freeze announced by the Finance Minister
(Tendai Biti)
recently worsened the situation," said Chauke.
"Our
survey has it that several schools are going to be left with very few
teachers and we urge the ministry to prepare for a big problem.
Teachers
have started to leave again going to other countries to seek for
greener
pastures," said Chauke.
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou said the ministry
is going to suffer a hard
blow because instead of luring teachers to come
back, a lot are
dumping the profession."
Meanwhile Higher Education
Minister Stan Mudenge said about 90 000
Zimbabwean students failed to sit
for 'A' level exams in 2009 due to high
examination fees.
"Ninety
thousand students countrywide failed to sit for their A level exams.
They
were deterred by the high exam fees," Mudenge said.
Mudenge-who is also
Zanu (PF)'s national secretary for external affairs:
added "It is because of
the illegal sanction imposed by the West. We had to
buy expensive ink, exam
papers and others from far away markets after
Britain, United States and its
allies blocked other countries nearby from
selling us such
material."
Last year, more than 100 schools from Masvingo province
recorded a zero
percent pass rate in the A level exams.
Teachers'
unions blamed the poor showing to the teachers' strike, low
salaries as well
as the political violence that saw many teachers running
away.
Another Education minister David Coltart said Zimbabwe had
recorded the
worst O level results since independence in 1980 with a pass
rate of 19
percent.
http://www.zimdiaspora.com
Friday, 30 April 2010
23:22
Companies with a net asset value of over US$500 000 will soon
be levied to
sustain the operations of the National Indigenisation and
Economic
Empowerment Fund and finance empowerment
programmes.
NIEEF was mandated by Government to ensure full
implementation of the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act that seeks
to ensure all major
corporations are at least 51 percent owned by indigenous
Zimbabweans.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, NIEEF
chairman Mr David Chapfika
said consultations among Government stakeholders
had reached an advanced
stage.
"We want this fund to be the
largest fund in the country and various
measures are going to be undertaken
to raise the funds.
"One of these measures is payment of levies
by companies.
"We are going to collect levies from companies and
consultations are at an
advanced stage among stakeholders in Government to
introduce the levy," said
Mr Chapfika.
He said the levy would
be based on companies' percentage turnover and other
measures would be
introduced as provided for by the law.
Mr Chapfika said NIEEF
would also mobilise funding through partnerships with
the corporate
world.
"We are also going to borrow from a purely business point
of view for
empowerment projects.
"The borrowing will be in
the form of bills and bonds and we will be bonding
specific sectors to raise
the funds," he said.
To ensure full implementation of the law and
achievement of desired
objectives, Mr Chapfika said NIEEF would work hard as
prescribed in the law.
Mr Chapfika also unveiled 13
sector-specific board chairpersons in line with
Section 7 (1) of the First
Schedule of the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment
Act.
To date, over 400 companies have submitted proposals on how
they intend to
comply with the law.
Some of these have not
met Government expectations.
A Government official yesterday
said: "We have received a mixed bag of
proposals. The proposals are still
under consideration but I can tell you
that most of the submissions from the
mining sector are not pleasing.
"The companies are not explaining
clearly how they intend to comply with the
regulations in the next five
years, an indication that they are not prepared
to comply with the
regulations."
Government has extended the deadline for submission
of indigenisation
proposals to May 15 to allow all companies to make their
submissions.
The submissions should explain how companies intend
to comply with the
indigenisation regulations gazetted in February.
http://www1.voanews.com
President Jacob Zuma's facilitators were said to have expressed
disappointment following their meetings with President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambar
Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington 30 April 2010
Following
pressure from South African facilitators this week, principals in
Zimbabwe's
unity government were expected to resume discussions soon aimed
at resolving
the many issues troubling their power-sharing arrangement and
to implement
what they have agreed on, political sources said Friday.
President Jacob
Zuma's facilitators were said to have expressed
disappointment following
their meetings with President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, given
the lack of
progress on the talks agenda by the Zimbabwean leaders.
Facilitator
Lindiwe Zulu said her team will put together a report on the
stalled dialog,
which President Zuma will in turn pass on to the Southern
African
Development Community's troika or committee on politics.
Sources said
both ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change remained
firmly
entrenched in their positions on a number of the issues left
outstanding
when the government was formed in early 2009, or which have
arisen
since.
Sources said the South African facilitators asked Mr. Tsvangirai's
MDC
formation to consider a different assignment for Senator Roy Bennett,
designated deputy minister of agriculture but never sworn in by Mr. Mugabe,
but the MDC rejected the proposal. Similarly, ZANU-PF is said to have
dismissed proposals that it re-assign Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor
Gideon Gono or Attorney General Johannes Tomana as a
compromise.
Political analyst Dumisani Nkomo of the Bulawayo-based
Habakkuk Trust told
VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that Zimbabweans
are becoming
increasingly disillusioned with their leaders for failing to
move the
country forward politically in the 14 months since they launched
their
power-sharing experiment.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Caroline Mvundura Friday 30 April
2010
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on
Wednesday fired a
broadside at Finance Minister Tendai Biti for saying he
wanted labour laws
to be changed.
The ZCTU said it took exception to
the “insensitive calls” by Biti, which it
said if effected would result in
labour laws favouring business at the
expense of workers.
The main
labour body said it was surprised that Biti, who comes from the
pro-labour
MDC-M party led by veteran trade unionist and now Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai, would suddenly shift to support business.
“More shocking is
the fact that the said minister comes from a party that
has its ideals based
on labour,” said ZCTU acting secretary general Japhet
Moyo.
“With
just over a year in government, Biti is starting to sound more and
more like
those who have been in government for the past 30 years.
Retrenchment of
workers should be the last resort in any scenario but the
minister speaks
glorifying retrenchment and this makes us wonder which
planet he has sprung
from. The current laws regarding retrenchment are
inadequate hence the
proposals made by the ZCTU for the amendment of labour
laws.
“Biti is
indeed speaking like a capitalist hence we are inclined to believe
that he
might have business interests because why else would he seek to
protect
businesses so much. Biti has no right to speak on labour issues the
way he
does when we have a capable labour minister who has been progressive
since
taking office,” said the ZCTU.
The ZCTU said it was dsappointed with Biti
who also recently proposed
freezing salaries of civil servants amid
collapsed consultations with civil
service trade unions on salary
adjustments.
“We are beginning to see clearly who is pro-workers and who
is not. The ZCTU
is not taking lightly this matter and will be soon acting
on it. The ZCTU
demands that Biti retracts his ill-informed statements and
concentrate on
reviving the economy. He should be man enough to admit that
he has failed
rather than using workers as a scapegoat. We will not stand by
and allow him
to make a mockery of the workers, and maybe he should just
shut up and go
back to the courtroom,” the statement said. –
ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com
Leaders of the women's wings of Zimbabwe's three unity
government partners
signed a resolution calling for the faster
implementation of the 2008 Global
Political Agreement for power
sharing
Brenda Moyo & Blessing Zulu | Washington 30 April
2010
Delegates to an International Women's Conference concluded in
Harare late
Thursday headed home on Friday with what they said were solid
accomplishments from the gathering.
Leaders of the women's wings of
Zimbabwe's three unity government partners
signed a resolution to accelerate
the implementation of the 2008 Global
Political Agreement for power sharing,
and to work together to enshrine the
rights of women in the constitution
that the country is supposed to revise
by late this year.
VOA Studio
7 reporter Brenda Moyo caught up with Mary Robinson, former Irish
president
and leader of a delegation of African women leaders who took part
in the
conference. Robinson, founding president of Realizing Rights, The
Ethical
Globalization Initiative, said she was pleased with the achievements
of the
five-day gathering.
Elsewhere, the U.S.-based National Democratic
Institute said it is honoring
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai with an award
for his efforts to restore
democracy, human rights and the rule of law in
Zimbabwe. He is to receive
the W. Averell Harriman award along with the
network of Choco women of
Colombia.
The National Democratic
Institute, an arm of the U.S. Democratic Party,
cited Mr. Tsvangirai's
"unwavering" commitment to human rights despite
"attempted assassination,
imprisonment and harassment." Former U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright will present Mr. Tsvangirai with the
award in May.
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights Chairman Andrew Makoni tells VOA Studio 7
reporter
Blessing Zulu that the National Democratic Institute's award to Mr.
Tsvangirai is well-deserved.
http://news.radiovop.com
01/05/2010 10:24:00
Harare, May 1, 2010
- Human rights defender and journalist Jestina Mukoko,
says she went to hell
and back when she was tortured by Zimbabwe's state
agents.
Mukoko
told more than 200 women gathered in Harare for their conference on
what
they want included in the new constitution that she had been tortured
and
had been made to do inhumane things.
"I went to hell and back," an
emotional Mukoko said. "What I need and want
right now is peace. We need a
clear guideline about the constitution and
that there should be no
violence."
Mukoko is now Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Women
organisation which
fights for women issues.
She is a journalist
having work for the state broadcaster, ZBC.
Mukoko was abducted and
disappeared for about three months before being
released by the State
security agents.She came out of prison bruised,
battered and with a swollen
face but the ZRP denied that they had done
anything to her.
They said
she was fabricating stories and telling lies about President
Robert Mugabe
to the international community.
Meanwhile Women's Affairs Minister,
Olivia Muchena also told the same
meeting that she and her deputy, Evelyn
Masaiti, were being threatened by
members of parliament not to work together
because they belong to different
political parties.
"We have been
threatened by our fellow MPs," Muchena said. "We try our best
to work for
the betterment of women but some say we must just stick to our
political
parties."
She said the two were very worried about the threats and had
told President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who said
they must work
on and not worry.
Masaiti belongs to the Tsvangirai
led Movement of Democratic Change while
Muchena is a Zanu (PF) MP. The two
however, represent women on issues
dealing with the proposed new
constitution of Zimbabwe.
"This is not good at all," Muchena, flanked by
Masaiti, said in Harare. "We
are very frightened and worried."
An
international human rights campaigner and former President of Ireland,
Mary
Robinson, also told the same meeting that she had been summoned by
President
Robert Mugabe and asked her why she raised issues pertaining to
Zimbabwe's
human rights record yet she is on a goodwill trip.
Robinson, who is now
working for the United Nations, told invited guets that
she was now very
worried that Mugabe had taken the issue personally.
Robinson said: "What
I said when I addressed the meeting with women was
true. There are a lot of
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and the GPA (Global
Political Agreement) has
not been adhered to. Unless the GPA issues are
adhered to donors will be
very unwilling to help Zimbabwe."
President Mugabe took offence at the
statements and accused Robinson of
listening to IMF and World Bank officials
accompanying her on the trip.
Robinson was on a three day working visit
to Zimbabwe and left the country
on Friday. She was invited by the Women's
Coalition of Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe addressed the women on Monday and
said she supported them
all the way for a better constitution.
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=29156
April 30, 2010
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE – The mainstream MDC has accused President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF
party of sly attempts to ignite divisions within its ranks
by painting a
picture of fierce internal fights between party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and
secretary-generai Tendai Biti.
“The MDC unreservedly
condemns the continued manufacturing of malicious
documents alleging
non-existent, imaginary and concocted power struggles and
factions at the
party’s headquarters at Harvest House in Harare,” said the
MDC in a
statement posted on its official website Thursday.
The MDC claimed
Zanu-PF had authored a document that portrayed its party
leadership as one
in conflict.
This follows incidence of violence that broke out at the
party headquarters
in Harare two weeks ago during which some party youths
went on the rampage
leading to the assault of party director-general
Toendepi Shonhe and
security director Chris Dhlamini.
Media reports
linked the violence to simmering squabbles between Tsvangirai
loyalists and
supporters of Biti. Biti is the Minister of Finance and widely
regarded as
the hardest working functionary in the government of national
unity.
But the MDC denied this was a result of the two “factions”
fighting for
control of the party ahead of the MDC congress next
year.
“We note with serious concern the smear campaign by shadowy offices
in
Zanu-PF to malign President Morgan Tsvangirai and secretary-general, Hon
Tendai Biti by alleging they are involved in a non-existent power struggle,”
said the MDC statement.
“Apparently, there is only one united
leadership and one faction in the MDC;
the gigantic faction of a collective
unit of patriotic Zimbabweans fighting
to bring real change to the people;
the gigantic faction of a common,
collective idea of real
change.”
Following the violence, the MDC launched a probe and was on
Friday expected
to submit its findings.
A front page story published
in Friday’s Herald and apparently linked to MDC
sources, claimed the
violence was torched by grievances over huge
discrepancies in salaries being
paid to “factions” in the party.
The MDC says the violence was merely an
“administrative issue” which has
since been overcome through suspensions of
the culprits.
Said the MDC; “These are internal hygiene issues that a
gigantic and
mass-based party like the MDC can deal
with.
“Unfortunately, these disturbances have provided an avenue for the
traditional enemies of the people’s project to transport and relocate
factionalism from its permanent home in Zanu-PF to the MDC.
“We also
note that there are exogenously sponsored units traveling across
the
provinces to manufacture, promote and market images and impressions of a
party riven with factionalism.
“As a party, we understand the
frustrations of those who were defeated at
the last election, but defeat
should not be an excuse to indulge in shameful
smear campaigns.
“We
know that Zanu-PF would wish to export its endemic disease of
regionalism
and factionalism to the MDC. But no amount of daydreaming and
hallucinations
in the enemy’s camp will distract us from our historical
mission to deliver
real change.”
http://www.zimdiaspora.com
Friday, 30 April 2010
18:22 Editor News
Harare - The City of Harare has formally
reported Local government and Urban
development minister Ignatius Chombo to
the police, accusing the Zanu PF
politician of criminal abuse of office
following revelations that he abused
his position to fraudulently acquire
vast tracts of land in the city for a
song.
Acting Mayor Lancelot
Mudavanhu reported Chombo to the police and a docket
IR No 042074 was opened
paving the way for investigation of Chombo's dodgy
deals which have deprived
the Harare city council of millions of dollars.
A special investigations
by the Harare city council revealed that Chombo and
controversial
businessman Phillip Chiyangwa among many other Zanu PF
politicians illegally
acquired vast tracts of Harare land using their
influence.
It has
emerged that Chombo acquired 19 hectares of prime land in Borrowdale's
Helensvale for only US$2 324. Nineteen hectares of land is the size of a
small farm in Zimbabwe and a small high density residential stand in
Chitungwiza of about 300 square metres costs over US$3 000.
Chombo
also acquired several other properties for nothing among them a 2
000
square metre commercial stand in upmarket Avondale.
A letter signed by
Chombo to the Harare City Valuer demanding that he be
sold the land
reads:
" I have identified a vacant piece of land in Avondale on corner
West and
Lomagundi Road, the remainder of stand number 48. I wish
therefore to
apply for this stand to put a supermarket to service
residents in the area,"
reads the letter which was signed by
Chombo.
A Harare city councillor said the stand was transferred to
Chombo, but has
never been paid for. He said it was laughable for Chombo to
claim to have
discovered a stand as if the municipality was not aware of its
properties.
"By claiming to have discovered an unoccupied land in
Avondale, Chombo is
trying to say he is like David Livingstone who claimed
to have discovered
the Victoria Falls or Christopher Columbus who discovered
the America's,"
said the councillor who was part of the team which
investigated the land
scandal.
Chombo and Chiyangwa are now some of
the wealthiest people in Zimbabwe
owning several properties throughout the
country. however it has since
emerged that most of the properties were
corruptly acquired.
The parliament of Zimbabwe has since indicated that
it will also investigate
Chiyangwa's property deals.
http://www1.voanews.com
Sources said the move is intended to circumvent
indigenization regulations
under revision by the Office of the Attorney
General following complaints
that the regulations are discouraging foreign
investment
Gibbs Dube | Washington 30 April 2010
Zimbabwe
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu is said to be moving to amend the Mines
and
Minerals Act to allow indigenous Zimbabweans to acquire majority shares
in
mining operations along the mineral-rich Great Dyke.
Sources said the
move is intended to circumvent indigenization regulations
under revision by
the Office of the Attorney General following complaints
that the regulations
are discouraging foreign direct investment.
Sources said Mpofu has
started consulting with the Office of the Attorney
General to develop a new
set of laws intended to speed up indigenization in
the key mining
sector.
Political commentator Nkululeko Sibanda told VOA Studio 7v
reporter Gibbs
Dube that the drafting a new set of indigenization laws will
impede efforts
to revive Zimbabwe's battered economy. "If we have going to
have two laws
that are overlapping, they will become very difficult to
separate and
implement," he said.
In other economic news, Bloomberg
quoted an unidentified official in Harare
as saying the government will
block African mobile giant MTN from making a
large investment in the
Zimbabwean unit of Orascom Telecommunications in a
move that would lead to
the acquisition of a controlling stake in Telecel
Zimbabwe.
Economist
John Robertson of Harare said there will be no meaningful
investment in
Zimbabwe until laws prejudicial to international investors
have been
repealed.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 01 May
2010
HARARE - Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday
continued his
countrywide crop assessment programme touring Mashonaland
Central province,
at time when the country is facing a 200 000 metric tonne
maize deficit.
The tour saw the PM visiting Guruve South, Chiweshe,
Mount Darwin, Rushinga,
Madziwa and Shamva.
Mashonaland Central
is the seventh province that the Tsvangirai has visited
after going to
Matabeleland North and South, Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland
and Mashonaland
West provinces in the past seven weeks.
According to a joint
report by the government and United Nations agencies,
Zimbabwe has this year
recorded a three percent increase in maize production
compared to last year,
although the country will still need to import 200
000 tonnes to mitigate
the shortfall.
"After going through all the provinces, the Prime
Minister will compile and
present a report on appropriate intervention
mechanisms for adoption by
Cabinet," James Maridadi, the PM's spokesman said
yesterday.
Apart from being responsible for government policy
formulation, coordination
and implementation, the PM also chairs the Cabinet
committee on aid
coordination which has authority over drought mitigation
and social safety
nets, Maridadi said.
The PM was accompanied
by Minister of State Gorden Moyo, secretary Ian
Makone and Members of
Parliament from the respective constituencies.
Once a net food
exporter Zimbabwe has faced food shortages since President
Robert Mugabe's
controversial land reform programme that he launched in 2000
and which has
seen agricultural output plummet because the government failed
to provide
blacks resettled on former white farms with inputs and skills
training to
maintain production.
Poor performance in the mainstay
agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as hundreds of
thousands of people have lost jobs.
A unity government formed in
February after a power sharing agreement
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai in
September 2008 is pushing to revive the
economy although it has to date
failed to ensure law and order in the
mainstay agricultural sector where
mobs of supporters of Mugabe's ZANU PF
party continue harassing the few
remaining white commercial farmers. -
ZimOnline Tsvangirai continues crop
assessment tour
by Own Correspondent Saturday 01 May 2010
HARARE -
Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday continued his
countrywide
crop assessment programme touring Mashonaland Central province,
at time when
the country is facing a 200 000 metric tonne maize deficit.
The tour
saw the PM visiting Guruve South, Chiweshe, Mount Darwin, Rushinga,
Madziwa
and Shamva.
Mashonaland Central is the seventh province that the
Tsvangirai has visited
after going to Matabeleland North and South,
Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland
and Mashonaland West provinces in the past
seven weeks.
According to a joint report by the government and
United Nations agencies,
Zimbabwe has this year recorded a three percent
increase in maize production
compared to last year, although the country
will still need to import 200
000 tonnes to mitigate the
shortfall.
"After going through all the provinces, the Prime
Minister will compile and
present a report on appropriate intervention
mechanisms for adoption by
Cabinet," James Maridadi, the PM's spokesman said
yesterday.
Apart from being responsible for government policy
formulation, coordination
and implementation, the PM also chairs the Cabinet
committee on aid
coordination which has authority over drought mitigation
and social safety
nets, Maridadi said.
The PM was accompanied
by Minister of State Gorden Moyo, secretary Ian
Makone and Members of
Parliament from the respective constituencies.
Once a net food
exporter Zimbabwe has faced food shortages since President
Robert Mugabe's
controversial land reform programme that he launched in 2000
and which has
seen agricultural output plummet because the government failed
to provide
blacks resettled on former white farms with inputs and skills
training to
maintain production.
Poor performance in the mainstay
agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as hundreds of
thousands of people have lost jobs.
A unity government formed in
February after a power sharing agreement
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai in
September 2008 is pushing to revive the
economy although it has to date
failed to ensure law and order in the
mainstay agricultural sector where
mobs of supporters of Mugabe's ZANU PF
party continue harassing the few
remaining white commercial farmers. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=16748
By Thembani Gasela
Published: April
30, 2010
GWERU – Daring thieves took advantage of the
media-focus on MDC deputy
spokesman Renson Gasela’s burial arrangements to
steal an ox at the farm,
near Gweru.
The incident happened at the
Gasela farm, 15 kilometres from Gweru and the
suspected stock thieves were
caught red-handed.
Family spokesman Walter Mapfumo said the stunning
incident happened on
Wednesday at around 4am.
He said unfortunately
the suspected thieves fled from the farm when a
security guard tried to
arrest them.
The former Member of Parliament for Gweru Rural, Gasela, who
died on
Saturday in a car crash will be buried Sunday at Mtapa Cemetery in
Gweru.
A report was made at the Gweru Rural Police Station but no arrests
have yet
been made. Gasela belonged to the MDC led by Prof Arthur Mutambara
and was
the chief agri-expert of the party
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=29152
April 30, 2010
By Ray
Matikinye
BULAWAYO - A former Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial executive
member, involved
in a dispute with a Nigerian businessman over an alleged
affair with his
wife, on Thursday vanished from the court building minutes
before his trial.
Charles Masunda faces allegations of threatening to
murder Ambrose Nzewi,
his alleged lover's spouse.
Nzewi, a Nigerian
citizen, is married to Loveness Masuku, a Zimbabbwean.
Masunda and Masuku
allegedly had an affair since 2006 up to last year when
her husband
discovered the relationship.
Masunda (40) is also alleged to have tried
to break into the Nigerian's
business premises, and enlisting the support of
some Zanu-PF youths to
threaten to take over the business.
On
Thursday, Masunda disappeared from the court house although court
officials
had earlier on seen him before the start of court
proceedings.
Prosecutor, Jerry Mutsindikwa, was forced to apply to the
court for a
warrant of Masunda's arrest. Bulawayo magistrate Ntombizodwa
Mazhandu
granted the request
Allegations against the Zanu-PF
politician are that on 27 August last year,
he approached the Nigerian
businessman at his business premises along Third
Street and threatened him
with death. He is alleged to have threatened to
shoot Nzewi.
Masunda
is further alleged to have told the businessman that he was going to
make
him "disappear" since the Zanu-PF official was well-connected,
prompting
Nzewi to report the matter to the police.
The politician is alleged to
have visited the complainant's shop during his
absence armed with a bunch of
keys and tried to enter the premises. An alert
security guard confronted him
but Masunda claimed that he had been sent by
the owner to collect some
items.
However, when the guard phoned the owner to verify the claim,
Masunda fled.
In February last year, the Nigerian businessman instructed
his lawyers,
James, Moyo-Majwabu and Nyoni Legal Practitioners to write to
Masunda
expressing Nzewi's displeasure over the alleged illicit love affair
after
discovering a birthday card said to have been sent by Masunda to his
wife
Nzewi later withdrew the charges to save his marriage but Masunda
allegedly
continued with the affair to the extent of opening a nightclub
jointly with
the Nigerian businessman's spouse in Insiza.
Part of the
letter from the Nigerian businessman's lawyers which was to be
produced as
evidence reads: "In January 2009, our client discovered
notwithstanding his
magnanimity towards you, you had continued your
adulterous relationship with
his wife and had even gone to the extent of
operating a nightclub, Masc
Nightclub at Pausiku Business Centre in Insiza,
jointly with our client's
wife.
"Written proof is available.
"We have been instructed to
issue summons and claim damages against you for
adultery and summons
pertaining to that course of action will be served upon
you shortly. You are
also advised to desist from, in any way, contacting our
client's wife."
http://news.radiovop.com
01/05/2010 10:30:00
Bulawayo, May 01,
2010, Villagers in Lupane North Constituency in
Matabeleland North have
filed an application in the High Court in Bulawayo
compelling the newly
commissioned Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to
call for a by-election
in the constituency within the next 30 days.
The Lupane North
parliamentary seat fell vacant last year when the former
member of
parliament for the area, Njabuliso Mguni along side two other
members of
parliament were sacked from the Arthur Mutambara MDC party for
allegedly
denouncing the party's leadership and holding unsanctioned
political
meetings.
The other two sacked MPs were Abhedenico Bhebhe (Khayi South)
and Norman
Mpofu (Bulila North). A lawyer representing the villagers,
Charles Ncube of
Ncube and Nzirayapenga legal partners, told Radio VOP that
they filed the
application in the High Court last week.
"We have been
instructed by our clients to file the application to compel
the 1st
respondent to organise and fix dates for a by-election in Lupane
North. Our
clients have been unfairly denied representation in the house of
assembly
for a long time. Some of the decisions which have been made in the
August
house have directly or indirectly affected our clients,' said Ncube.
ZEC
has 30 working days to respond to the application.
The three sacked
former MPs have already indicated their dire need to
contest the by
elections as independent candidates. They have already
launched their
campaigns in the constituencies.
Under the GPA, Zanu (PF) and the two
Movement for Democratic Change
factions, who are signatories to the
agreement, are not supposed to contest
each other in by elections.
http://nehandaradio.com
May 1, 2010 at 11:50 am
By
Courage Shumba
When Mugabe and Tsvangirai led their respective parties
into a coalition
government a lot of people held their breaths. Many people
hoped that at
last Zimbabwe would be set on a path to recovery and
prosperity. That dream
was a lie. The continued competition between
ignorance and greed has meant
that the settlement between Zanu PF and the
various M.D.C outfits has no
practical side for the ordinary Zimbabwean
person.
It was hoped that along with the unity would come a rediscovery
of the
values that would give back to our traumatised society the full human
feeling that torture and corruption among other ills had robbed our people
of. Today, our people are still as traumatised and as desperate as they were
before Mugabe turned his back on the country and became a full fledged
dictator.
There is more to the needs of a country than suspending
selective and
retributive violence against a country's citizens by war
veterans and the
army. There is no assurance from Mugabe that we have
entered a phase of
peace and nation building. He has never said so. The
continued looting of
diamonds from Chiadzwa points to the fact that Zanu PF
lacks the mindset,
maturity and nationalism required to put Zimbabwe and its
people first.
The War Veterans are still waiting to march into villages
and towns and
terrorise the population on the say so of Mugabe and his
henchmen. What we
have is a fake peace anchored on our inability to demand
what is rightly our
share in harvesting the national cake. This situation
which can easily be
mistaken for peace, progress or stability is very much
alive today because
we dare not ask the hard questions and push for real
progress.
Silence is the only assurance for stability and peace the
Zimbabwean people
have. If the hard questions were asked or real action
demanded this
arrangement would fall into pieces because Mugabe and his
henchmen have no
vision for anything else besides continued plundering of
national assets and
wealth in the name of indigenisation.
If we have
diamonds as is the case why don't we do the decent thing and let
the stone
shine in every household. Why don't we nationalise the diamond
mines,
subcontract a mining and marketing partner, sell the diamonds and pay
our
partners on commission. That way the resources we have would come
straight
into the state coffers and help our schools, hospitals, businesses
and
finance job creation initiatives around the country. Why is it that
there is
no difference between the period before we discovered we had
diamonds and
the period in which we actually are sure of the deposits of
these precious
stones within our borders.
Zimbabwe was destroyed by the enemy within.
They are many prosperous
countries that are under sanctions of all sorts.
But what made our situation
dire is that Zimbabwe is run by its own enemies.
The enemy within is the
character that is charged with ministerial
responsibilities but runs down a
service like Zupco and leaves a country's
city dependent on scotch carts.
The enemy within is the leader who
protects corrupt ministers and refuses to
censure them instead rewarding
them at the next cabinet reshuffle with more
important ministries. The enemy
within is a cabal of well connected
political figures and army generals who
refuse to abide by the results of
elections and instead resort to fixing
electoral outcomes in the process
denying the population of a
voice.
The dimensions of the enemy within are various but it is easier to
deal with
an outside and external threat to livelihood and security of a
people than
it is to deal with an enemy that is also part of the social
complex and one
especially in a leadership role. That is what defines why
Zimbabwe is
incapable of outliving its Rhodesian mentality which ran on the
script of
selective and divisive opportunism. Zimbabwe like Rhodesia serves
the
ministers and generals and offers nothing else to anybody. Rhodesia was
a
race driven society. Zimbabwe is driven by the needs and wants of
ministers
and generals. Everyone else can go and hang.
As immoral as
this is wrong this can not be allowed to go on. The actual
outcome of this
kind of society is mass brain drain, unemployment, capital
flight, crime and
a host of the other ills that naturally breed from acute
inequality. The
case for equality need not be repeated 30 years on after a
war in which our
people lost very much and very loved ones. The memories are
still very fresh
for a reminder. Some of the fallen fighters still lie
undiscovered or
pauperised in mass graves in foreign lands. This kind of
unequal Zimbabwe we
have is an insult to their sacrifice and spirits. It is
a spit on the face
of those who gave everything.
The solution rests with us continuing with
the demands that return Zimbabwe
to the path of our aspirations and visions.
Here are some demands:
1. We need clear and intelligent use of the
diamonds at Chiadzwa for the
benefit of everyone in Zimbabwe.
2. We
need a clear and unambiguous commitment from Mugabe that coercion,
brutality
and electoral fraud is a thing of the past.
3. We need a new constitution
drafted with the input of the majority
through independent transparent
appointees and mechanisms and adopted
through a national non violent
referendum. A point must be made that whilst
the Global Political Agreement
was a thing between Zanu PF and M.D.C the
constitution must be a time proof
document authored and adopted by the
people without the interference of a
sitting government.
4. We need a review of the agricultural activities in
the country to
ensure that the production of food and related essential
products is
prioritised and more effort is made to resuscitate the
agricultural sector.
5. We need a review of government contracts to ensure
best practice and
the independence of suppliers and the impact on
costs.
6. We need to unlock thousands of jobs locked in the media industry
through state interference with freedom of expression. Zimbabweans have a
duty to free Zimbabwe from the jaws of tyranny regardless of the colour of
the oppressor.
Courage Shumba is a Human Rights Advocate