Daily
News
Mugabe's nephew attacks
settlers
5/3/03 8:13:25 AM (GMT
+2)
By Takaitei
Bote
TWO settlers and two children on
Diandra Farm in Zvimba are allegedly
missing, while 10 others are in hiding
after they clashed with President
Mugabe's nephew, Patrick Zhuwau, over
occupation of the farm.
Zhuwau is Sabina
Mugabe's son.
Zhuwau has denied there were
clashes on the farm he now occupies
despite resistance from
settlers.
The leader of the settlers,
Godfrey Gova, who is also in hiding,
alleged in an interview that Zhuwau
hired a gang of about 20 youths who
attacked the settlers last Monday night
in a bid to chase them out of the
farm they occupied at the start of farm
invasions in February 2000.
Gova alleged
that Zhuwau's gang kidnapped Lazarus Maunze, 60, and
Danger Koro, 70, whose
whereabouts were still unknown.
James
Gwaze, one of the settlers in hiding, alleged two of his
children, Kizito,
13, and Valentine, 10, were abducted by the group
last
Tuesday.
Gwaze said when he last
went home on Tuesday, his wife Tendai told him
that the gang had taken the
children away.
He said he could not
establish if the children were back home as he
was living in the
bush.
Gova alleged that since last Monday,
the gang has been descending on
the settlers' homes every night, assaulting
their wives and demanding them
to to produce their
husbands.
He said trouble started last
Monday night when about 10 settlers went
to Zhuwau, who has moved into the
farmhouse, to ask him why he had occupied
the farm which belonged to
them.
Gova said: "When we got to the
farmhouse on Monday night, Zhuwau
locked us in a room where there were about
20 youths who started attacking
us in the
dark.
"We were only 12. We escaped, but
two of us were taken hostage by the
group and we do no know where they
are."
Gova said they were hiding because
they feared the gang would attack
them
again.
"We are, however, not giving up. We
will go back to the farm and fight
Zhuwau until he leaves. We are prepared to
die for that land."
Gova alleged that they
made a report to Nyabira Police Station on
Monday but were surprised the
following day when men in police gear visited
their homes in the vehicle that
was being used by the gang.
He said the
police ransacked their houses and they were hostile to
their
wives.
"We do not understand the role
being played by the police as they seem
to be on Zhuwau's side," Gova
said.
Contacted for comment, a man who
identified himself as the
Officer-in-Charge of Nyabira Police Station
confirmed a report had been made
of the clashes on Diandra
Farm.
He said: "Telephone Chief
Superintendent Gumunyu at Norton Police
Station who is handling the
issue."
The Norton Police Station
telephone was not picked up when The Daily
News called several times to speak
to Gumunyu.
Zhuwau said in a telephone
interview: "I am living peacefully with my
workers on the farm. There are no
settlers on the farm and there were no
clashes on Monday. I also do not have
a gang."
Zhuwau is alleged to have visited
the farm for the first time in
January this year and has since then bulldozed
his way slowly. He planted
crops this
year.
The settlers said they had occupied
it since 2000 and he had "no
right" to take it
over.
They said Zhuwau had ordered them to
leave yet he was not there when
they chased away farmer Peter McSporan, who
has since migrated to Zambia.
Settlers who
have occupied neighbouring farms are furious with Sabina
Mugabe's family,
which is allegedly chasing them away from the farms they
occupied since
2000.
The farms taken over by Sabina, her
sons and other relatives are
strategically situated around Lake Manyame in
Zvimba.
The properties include Diandra,
Lata Farm, Tarnagula Farm, Audleyend,
Mede Estates and Crebilly
Farm.
Daily
News
Trade fair off to a slow
start
5/3/03 8:19:37 AM (GMT
+2)
From Oscar Nkala and Ntungamili Nkomo
in Bulawayo
THE first public day of the
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair ( ZITF)
took off to a low start with very
few people trickling through the gates by
mid-afternoon on
Thursday.
Exhibitors reported an increase
in the number of general enquiries
from members of the public but these did
not result in business transactions
as during traders'
days.
Public stands were also poorly
attended.
This year's fair came at the
height of the most severe economic
downturn in the history of the country
since independence.
A crippling fuel
shortage has also forced both public and commercial
transport sectors to
ground vehicles.
The Zimbabwe Defence
Forces stand, however proved to be popular as the
few people at the fair
passed through for a close glimpse at the military
hardware on
display.
The ZBC which has always been the
most popular stand was also affected
by the low attendance as its stand,
whose crowds usually spill out of the
hall area, was not even half full by
midday.
Business for exhibitors remained
low as shown by the number of
exhibitors who were relaxing in their stands
while others would leave their
posts unattended for a long time due to the
low level of enquiries.
People interviewed
by The Daily News attributed the low public
attendance to high urban
transport costs which shot up to $300 for a single
journey following last
month's fuel price increase.
Despite the
low entry fares of $250 for adults and $100 for children,
members of the
public complained that transport costs and expensive
refreshments at the fair
no longer made it an ideal family outing.
"Five years back I could afford to bring the whole family here but
this year
I will not. I am here courtesy of my employer who is exhibiting,
but how many
people will afford to pay for transport, refreshments and the
entry fees for
the whole family in these difficult times?" asked
Elma
Nyangela.
Daily News
Families selling
assets to buy food
5/3/03 8:20:15
AM (GMT +2)
From Ntungamili Nkomo in
Bulawayo
THE Food Security Network
(FOSENET), a consortium of 24
non-governmental organisations, says thousands
of Zimbabweans have resorted
to selling property in order to buy food, as
hunger begins to take its toll.
Said the
report: "Two thirds of the districts reported that households
are selling
assets for food. These include television sets and radios, which
are vital
for communication. Livestock, household furniture and production
equipment
have also been sold for food."
Despite
repeated denials of food politicisation by the ruling Zanu PF,
FOSENET's
report, which released last month, noted that food politicisation
and
corruption were rampant in all districts.
Collective responses are reported to be hampered by lack of
transparency and
responsiveness from state structures, political intolerance
and exclusion and
lack of investment and information.
This,
said the report, highlights the need to ensure ethical and
equitable food
access in urban areas and to strengthen community mechanisms
to protect and
widen ethical approaches to food access.
The report said thousands of people across the country have resorted
to
eating grass seeds and other inedible wild fruits as starvation takes
its
toll.
"Food politicisation and the
ongoing drought have forced people to eat
a variety of wild foods, some of
which are detrimental to human lives,"
it
said.
FOSENET warned that the
situation could result in the loss of lives as
people consumed inedible
foods.
In Binga district, one of the areas
hardest-hit by the drought, some
villagers have been hospitalised after
eating poisonous cassava while a
dozen others have been treated for
constipation resulting from eating a lot
of wild
berries.
"Households are now consuming a
wide range of foods not normally
consumed. Some, such as watermelons and
grass seeds, have little nutritional
value, while others, such as wild
mushrooms and cassava, have potential
harmful effects," said
FOSENET.
Daily
News
Zimbabwe leads region in
suppressing media
5/3/03 8:21:24
AM (GMT +2)
By Columbus
Mavhunga
AS the world commemorates World
Press Freedom Day today, a regional
media organisation has revealed that
Zimbabwe leads the pack in terms of
muzzling the
media.
According to the Media Institute of
Southern Africa (Misa) director,
Luckson Chipare, Zambia trails Zimbabwe in
terms of Press freedom violations
committed last
year.
"The year 2002 did not point to an
overall worsening of attacks
against the media in Southern Africa," said
Chipare. "Zimbabwe, however,
remains the seat of more than half of the
violations recorded in 2002. This
is evidence of a large-scale crackdown on
the media by the Zimbabwean
government and ruling party supporters. This
clampdown was formalised by the
passing of the Public Order and Security Act
and the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act in early
2002."
Luke Tamborinyoka, the Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists
secretary-general, yesterday said Misa's statistics were
not a surprise to
his organisation.
"This is not a surprise given the excellent performance which our
government
has made in repressing the media," said Tamborinyoka. "The
government has
made sterling efforts in making Zimbabwe a rogue regime
especially in the
area of media freedom where 63 journalists were arrested
last year but no
convictions have been made so far.
In
March, Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for
Information and
Publicity in the President's Office, scooped an award for
his outstanding
performance in emasculating the media in Zimbabwe since he
took over the post
in 2000.
The annual Golden Raspberry Award
is given by the United Kingdom-based
media watchdog Index on
Censorship.
The Namibian-based media
watchdog Misa said despite Sadc governments
having signed a protocol which is
meant to harmonise legislation affecting
information and media in 2001, "Misa
is of the opinion that the Protocol is
not conducive to the promotion,
protection and enforcement of freedom,
freedom of the media and the free flow
of information in Southern Africa."
Last
year in the region Misa recorded several cases of Press freedom
violations
which included deportations of journalists, threats, incidences
of
censorship, passing of legislation which affects media and
arrests.
"Our governments do not seem to
be content with running the affairs of
the state and providing their people
with necessities of life," summed up
Misa. "They (Sadc governments) would
also want to run the very lives and
control the thinking of the citizens they
govern. That was the cornerstone
of colonial oppression - to smash any
deviant thinking."
On Zimbabwe, Chipare,
said: "Zimbabwe needs to be singled out not only
for leading the pack in the
number of alerts it attracted, but also because
of the nature of these
alerts.
"They deal with arrests,
detentions and imprisonment of journalists,
journalists being taken for
questioning by the police, physical attacks on
journalists by ruling and
opposition party supporters, legal action against
journalists - often based
on oppressive and archaic legislation.
Daily
News
Bid to probe Chombo sparked
Mudzuri ouster
5/3/03 8:23:06 AM
(GMT +2)
By Brian Mangwende Chief
Reporter
This week's suspension of
Harare's executive mayor, Engineer Elias
Mudzuri, which has angered many
residents, could have been triggered by an
investigation he was about to
launch into circumstances surrounding the
status of land acquired by Ignatius
Chombo, the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National
Housing.
In March 1996, Chombo reportedly
acquired the land along Highland Glen
Road in the plush suburb of Umwinsdale,
Harare, through the then Department
of Physical Planning for about $70
000.
A source said the land known as
"Subdivision K of Nthaba" and
measuring almost 2 hectares, was pegged at a
cost of about $250 000 at that
time.
"At first he occupied 1,7 hectares of that open land that has been an
open
space and free for residents for the past 20 years," the source
said.
"Later he incorporated the remaining
0,3 hectares."
Mudzuri yesterday said: "I
was in the process of investigating Chombo
on that and other various other
issues of corruption involving council
officials. I am being victimised
because I know who and the areas to
investigate. So in order to protect
corruption, Chombo says he has suspended
me, but I am not accepting
that.
"There is more to my so called
suspension and at the moment I am
gathering evidence on how he acquired that
land and other issues. I was
clamping down on serious crimes at the city
council and Chombo says he has
suspended me. As a matter of fact, it is
Chombo who should be investigated
and not the mayor. I am still the Mayor of
Harare and will only leave office
before my term expires if the residents ask
me to do so, not Chombo."
Mudzuri said he
had written several letters to Chombo complaining
about corruption and also
that the council needed a supplementary budget of
$68 billion to run the
affairs of the city properly.
Workers at
the site confirmed Chombo owned that land, but said they
did not know how he
acquired it.
Efforts to get comment from
Chombo proved fruitless yesterday as he
was said to be attending the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
He
diverted his mobile phone calls to his office in
Harare.
Although, he allegedly bought the
property in 1996, no major
developments have taken
place.
Meanwhile, Mudzuri alleged that the
police were hunting him down at
the trade fair and as a result he was forced
to flee the grounds prematurely
before the official opening
yesterday.
"I was tipped-off that the
police were looking for me," Mudzuri said.
"A number of council officials
from Harare and Bulawayo were harassed by the
police who were inquiring about
my whereabouts. I have since left the venue,
but cannot disclose my
location."
He dismissed as rubbish,
Chombo's claims that he was seen wearing the
mayoral regalia at the trade
fair in Bulawayo.
Daily
News
African leaders to confront
Mugabe, Tsvangirai
5/3/03 8:23:41
AM (GMT +2)
By Brian Mangwende Chief
Reporter
IN AN apparent move to be seen to
be resolving Africa's trouble spots
"the African way", three continental
leaders will on Monday confront
President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the
MDC leader, to find a lasting
solution to the worsening socio-economic and
political crisis in the
country.
The
three leaders, South African President Thabo Mbeki and his
counterparts
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, are
expected to
take Mugabe and Tsvangirai head-on over their political
differences at the
expense of the nation when millions are facing starvation
and rampant human
rights abuses.
Following Mugabe's
controversial re-election in March 2002, the
Commonwealth, comprising 54
countries formerly British colonies, suspended
Zimbabwe from its councils for
a year and mandated Nigeria, South Africa and
Australia to look into the
crisis.
But after the suspension expired
on 19 March this year, Australian
Prime Minister John Howard proposed that it
be extended for another nine
months, with Obasanjo and Mbeki
disagreeing.
Mugabe shot back by attacking
the white community - Britain, Australia
and New Zealand - for allegedly
having a colonial hangover over Zimbabwe.
The expected arrival of the three African leaders could have
been
precipitated by signs of no hope of an immediate solution to the
Zimbabwe
crisis with the stand-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai
continuing.
Mugabe says Tsvangirai must
recognise him as the legitimate Head of
State before he can even consider to
meet with him, while the MDC leader
argues that he will not meet the Mugabe
under such conditions.
An official from
the Malawian High Commission in Harare yesterday said
the leaders would raise
with the two the deteriorating political and
economic situation in the
country and its contagion effect, a resumption of
the Zanu PF/MDC dialogue
and possibly succession "if Mugabe so
wishes".
Asked who mandated "the African
Troika" on Zimbabwe, the official
said: "This is a joint initiative by the
leaders to come to Zimbabwe and to
find a way to resolve Zimbabwe's problems
because they are affecting
regional stability."
Daily
News
President takes a back seat
as Trade Fair opens
5/3/03
8:24:13 AM (GMT +2)
From Chris Gande in
Bulawayo
FERNANDO Da Piedade dias dos
Santos, the Prime Minister of Angola, has
called for more trade between
Zimbabwe and his country.
Officially
opening the most subdued and low-key Zimbabwe International
Trade Fair (ZITF)
since independence, Dos Santos said it was encouraging to
note that Zimbabwe
was holding the exhibition during very difficult
times.
The Zimbabwean government had
initially invited President Jose Edwardo
Dos Santos who instead sent the
prime minister to represent him under
unexplained
circumstances.
President Mugabe is
increasingly being isolated by regional leaders
following the breakdown of
the rule of law and human rights abuses in
the
country.
Mugabe, who was present
during the official opening ceremony, did not
stand on the dias with his
guest, but delegated the task to Vice-President
Joseph
Msika.
Said Dos Santos: "The ZITF is a
platform for business players to
penetrate wider
markets."
A total of 660 exhibitors, most
of them flea market holders from 20
countries, are participating at the fair
whose theme is Invest in the vision
that is taking Africa
forward.
Samuel Mumbengegwi, the Minister of
Industry and International Trade,
who introduced the guest of honour, noted
that trade between the two
countries has been declining over the
years.
He attributed the fall to the
protracted civil war in Angola.
The ZITF
is running concurrently with a tourism exhibition,
A'Sambeni
Africa.
No country from the
industrialised world is exhibiting at this
year's
fair.
Some of the stands are
empty following the failure by the exhibitors
to transport their goods owing
to a crippling fuel shortage that has hit
the
country.
Business at the fair has
been so poor with some exhibitors describing
it as a
non-event.
The fair ends
tomorrow.
Daily
News
A brief for the three
visiting presidents
5/3/03
8:13:57 AM (GMT +2)
When they meet
President Mugabe and the leader of the opposition MDC,
Morgan Tsvangirai, in
Harare next week, the presidents of South Africa,
Nigeria and Malawi, will be
expected to lay the ground for dialogue that
will bring about lasting peace
and economic stability in Zimbabwe.
President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi should be commended for initiating
the
meeting, seen as the last hope for a nation that for the last four years
has
been agonising from the heavy load of violence, repressive laws and
abject
poverty - the result of Mugabe's love for power and gross
economic
mismanagement.
Muluzi and his
colleagues, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa, are
expected to bring Mugabe and Tsvangirai to the
negotiating table where they
should honestly tackle Zimbabwe's
grave
problems.
The issue of the MDC
court case challenging Mugabe's presidential
election victory last year and
the need for Mugabe himself to step down
should be top on their
agenda.
The African leaders should chide
Mugabe for the gross human rights
violations seen through repressive laws
such as the Public Order and
Security Act and the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
They should
also make it clear to Mugabe that he and his party have
become liabilities to
the nation as they are responsible for the collapsing
economy that has
reduced many Zimbabweans to beggars.
Mugabe insists that he will only negotiate with the opposition if the
MDC
withdraws its court case, while Tsvangirai says Mugabe should give a
date
when he will step down and allow a fresh presidential election to
be
supervised by outsiders.
Mugabe is
also reported to be demanding a guarantee that there would
be no reprisals
against him for his 23 years of misrule, a guarantee that
Tsvangirai is
willing to consider after consulting the people. The three
leaders need to
work out a compromise position acceptable to both
men.
The Minister of Health, David
Parirenyatwa, does not seem to be doing
enough to put the country on full
alert in the wake of the latest scourge to
hit the world, the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
There should
be control measures in place at all official entry points
into the country to
ensure that the disease does not enter this country, or
if it does, the
situation is expertly monitored and
controlled.
Already, South Africa, one of
our major trading partners, has reported
two cases, one in which a Chinese
student studying in that country had to be
quarantined following indications
that she might have been suffering from
the disease, and the other case that
of a 61-year-old businessman who has
since succumbed to the
illness.
That means human traffic between
the two countries' borders has to be
strictly monitored. Besides official
trade, there is a lot of cross-border
informal trading between the two
countries.
Some mechanism to monitor that
the human traffic between the countries
does not spread the disease should be
urgently put in place.
Fears abound that
if an outbreak occurs in Zimbabwe, which has a
serious shortage of drugs,
doctors and other medical support staff,
thousands might
perish.
Symptoms of SARS include high
fever, cough and pneumonia, and there is
no standard treatment. It is mainly
passed by droplets through sneezing
and
coughing.
Scientists who have
sequenced all the genetic material of the SARS
virus said they were stumped
by the previously unknown organism. Nations are
struggling to contain SARS,
which started in China, but has now spread to
about 30 other countries and
has killed hundreds and infected thousands.
Daily News
Sacrifices needed from all shades to save
nation
5/3/03 8:14:41 AM (GMT
+2)
By Tawanda
waMagaisa
Commentators have commented. The
people have fought. They have been
maimed. They have died. The politicians
have lost and won power. Individuals
have lost and gained. The economy is in
ruins and the future looks very
bleak. Amid these depressing conditions, it
is difficult to see a way out.
But there
is a way out.
Today I wish to pose certain
questions that will call for the
attention of people on both sides of the
deep political divide. That is, if
we are all genuine about our concern for
the good of the country and its
people, then we must be able to respond to
these questions in a more
positive way.
When we do that we can probably see that there is common ground and we
can
sacrifice our differences if only to lay the ground for a better and
more
fruitful democracy.
At certain points in a
struggle it is necessary to take the action
that best opens the way to the
ultimate result. If it means that one has to
sacrifice certain aspects, it
must be done because after all whichever way,
the interest is the ultimate
objective - as we used to chant at the
university in the 1990s, by any means
necessary. In other words, it is the
end that justifies the means. As it is,
we are too preoccupied with the
means, at the expense of the objectives which
we aim to achieve.
Zanu PF is accused and
probably guilty of political bankruptcy. They
are accused of lacking ideas to
solve the country's problems, let alone to
drive it forward
anymore.
After more than 20 years at the
helm, they do not have much to show
for it. There is nothing to attract
capital that would be used to keep the
economy going and hence the desperate
economic conditions under which we are
living today. Zimbabwe has become
isolated from the rest of the world and is
suffering as a
result.
But the reality is that Zanu PF is
actually in power. Despite protests
that began after the parliamentary
election in 2000 and after the
presidential election in 2002, protesters have
not come any closer to
removing the Zanu PF government from
power.
We may protest at their ill-gotten
power, but the reality is that we
are actually getting closer to the next
parliamentary election before we
have even resolved the deficiencies of the
last one.
Litigation in the courts was the
trusted way, but so far the judicial
system has virtually failed to deliver
justice. Something somewhere is very
wrong. But after all the arguments,
analyses and comments, the truth is that
Zanu PF is in power. They have the
comfort and advantage of being in control
of the defence and security
forces.
On the other hand, we have the MDC
as the major political opposition
to Zanu PF. It has popular support,
particularly in the urban areas, and is
touted as the political saviour of
Zimbabwe.
The international community,
except for a few countries, seems to have
more confidence in the MDC than in
Zanu PF which explains our economic
malaise. The MDC complains that Zanu PF
has control of the political
machinery and has abused it in order to rig
elections.
As a result, despite major
gains on the political landscape, the MDC
has failed to take power in
Zimbabwe. Its attempts to use the courts have
not yielded tangible results
other than establishing itself as a potential
perennial opponent to Zanu
PF.
There are other players on the
political scene. These include major
non-governmental organisations (NGOs),
which are supposedly meant to
mobilise civil society and promote human
rights.
The list of individual NGOs and
coalitions of NGOs is growing which
shows either a rise in the consciousness
of the people or greed. The same
motivation that makes a man wake up to
announce that he has formed a
political party probably applies also to the
proliferation of NGOs.
As the major
players battle it out at the terrestrial levels, it is th
e public that has
suffered. It is they that have borne the brunt of
political and economic
decline. It is they that have been maimed, that have
died more than the
politicians or NGO personnel.
The route
probably lies in asking these players to have another look
at the values that
define and bind our society.
Respect for
life, security, the rule of law, economic prosperity and
independence,
fundamental individual and community rights, etc. Those values
that we aspire
to and that they purport to represent on our behalf are there
between them,
but they have chosen to ignore them.
Is
this impasse going to dissolve anytime soon? What will it take to
break the
impasse? Is it possible that in breaking the impasse each side
will have to
sacrifice certain interests it holds dear? Who in their
respective systems is
responsible for the failure to see sense and common
ground upon which a
common foundation can be built?
I cannot
prescribe what we must do for I am a mere mortal with a few
ideas, but I only
suggest that somewhere between the protagonists there is
common ground and
that common link can be used to provide an
avenue.
Ultimately what the MDC or Zanu PF
wants respectively - power through
democratic, legitimate means - will be
achieved, but only after the
conditions necessary and amenable to that goal
have been established.
As things stand
right now under present conditions, despite the wishes
of the people, there
is no prospect that the MDC will achieve power other
than through the
complete breakdown of the economy and some mass uprising
against the present
government. But even then do not put your money on it.
They have used all the
constitutional means, but they argue that they have
been thwarted by the
State.
Meanwhile Zanu PF clings to power
albeit desperately. Every day people
say they will be gone soon - but this
has gone for far too long, for the
real victims of this impasse are the
economy, the people and all the values
that are supposed to define us as a
people.
Some sacrifices need to be made
and very soon. Perhaps some will say
it is just sheer politics of expediency,
but that is politics nonetheless.
If it
should help, give it a chance.
Tawanda
waMagaisa is a social and political
commentator
Daily
News
Fuel crisis
deepens
5/3/03 7:56:01 AM (GMT
+2)
By Takaitei Bote and Chris
Goko
THE government is desperately trying
to put together an arrangement in
which it can use proceeds from the sale of
tobacco to pay for fuel, which
has almost run
out.
Officials at the Ministry of Energy
and Power Development and the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) have
sold the idea to a number of
fuel suppliers in a bid to give relief to local
industry.
The Jewel Bank, formerly the
Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, is
understood to be advising Noczim and the
ministry.
"Our biggest problem is that the
volumes of the tobacco crop coming
through the three auction floors has been
disappointing to say the least," a
source
said.
Noczim chief executive officer
Webster Muriritirwa referred all
questions to the
ministry.
Muriritirwa said: "Get in touch
with the Ministry of Energy and Power
Development, that is where statements
are issued."
The fuel situation remained
critical yesterday despite price increases
effected last
month.
Supplies have been erratic for the past
five years due to a crippling
shortage of foreign
currency.
Amos Midzi, the Energy and Power
Development Minister, said he was
hoping that the situation would improve
soon.
"We are expecting an improvement in
the fuel supply situation later
this week," Midzi said when contacted for
comment on Tuesday.
About 439 000 litres
of fuel arrived in the country last week. The
consignment was diverted to
Bulawayo where the Zimbabwe International Trade
Fair (ZITF) is taking
place.
The diversion followed a plea to
President Mugabe by Graham Rowe, the
ZITF general manager, and Mthuli Ncube,
the ZITF chairman. The diversion was
done to ensure that visitors to the fair
were not stranded.
Only about three
tankers carrying 35 000 litres of fuel were
dispatched to Gweru and Kwekwe
early this week, while two delivered
to
Masvingo.
Supplies that have
trickled in so far are virtually a drop in the
ocean for a country that
consumes 67 million litres of fuel a
month.
The fuel crisis has worsened
because Noczim is bankrupt and has no
funds to purchase foreign
currency.
Noczim has been labelled
uncreditworthy because it owes external
suppliers in excess of $21,6 billion.
The parastatal is on the market
seeking to raise $60 billion for importing
fuel.
Zimbabwe has of late been getting
supplies from Kuwait, South Africa,
Botswana and Nigeria. These countries
were now asking for cash up-front
before making any fuel
deliveries.
Libya has effectively stopped
supplying fuel because of non-payment.
Zimbabwe owes Libya more than US$170
million (Z$140 080 billion) for fuel
purchased at a
premium.
The fuel crisis bedevilling the
country has paralysed commerce and
industry leading to companies scaling down
operations or closing down
completely. About 350 firms have closed shop since
December, throwing more
than 350 000 workers onto the
streets.
Mail and Guardian
Harare mayor
'gone into hiding'
Harare
03 May 2003 09:40
The
popular opposition mayor of Zimbabwe's capital city, Elias Mudzuri, went
into
hiding from police Friday as authorities tried to enforce a
controversial
order to suspend him from office, lawyers said.
While the search
continued, senior police officers visited the deputy mayor
to try and force
her to take over Mudzuri's office, but she also defied
them.
"The
mayor has gone into hiding and cannot be contacted," said advocate
Edith
Mushore. "His attorney has informed police she can bring him in, but
only
after they say what charge they want him on.
"They haven't specified any
charges. They don't have anything to charge him
with," she
said.
Earlier in the day, she said, local government minister Ignatius
Chombo
abandoned an application to the high court here to force Mudzuri to
formally
leave office, shortly before the application was due to be heard,
she said.
"They thought they would be able to get an order if we didn't
contest it,
but when they heard we were opposing it, they abandoned it," she
said. "They
knew they couldn't stand it up."
A storm erupted after
Tuesday when the government delivered an order
suspending Mudzuri from office
with immediate effect, accusing him of
corruption, abuse of office and of
failing to deliver services to Harare's
residents.
Observers say the
government has been severely embarrassed in its bid to
force out the mayor
only days before the presidents of South Africa, Nigeria
and Malawi are due
to visit the capital for critical talks to try and
resolve the country's
crisis.
Since he was elected last year, Mudzuri has won the hearts of the
capital's
residents for his attempts to rehabilitate the city after decades
of decay
under the corrupt and inept administration under President Robert
Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF party.
Mudzuri overwhelmingly won the mayoral
elections as the candidate of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), but since then has suffered
constant interference from the government
which blocked his projects,
barring him from borrowing capital finance and
even refusing him foreign
currency to import water purification chemicals for
the city's water supply.
He was arrested and kept in filthy police cells
for four days in
January -for addressing a ratepayers'
meeting.
Mudzuri has defied this week's suspension order, and carried out
civic
functions during the week. The suspension order also told deputy
mayor
Sekesai Makwavarara to take over Mudzuri's role, but she also
ignored
authorities.
She confirmed she had been visited Friday by two
senior police officers who
attempted to intimidate her into moving into his
office. "They said they
wanted to know how safe I am," she said.
They
also tried to get the key to his office from the council secretary and
asked
why Makwavarara was "not operating out of the mayor's office," she
said.
"They cannot push me," she said. "I know where I stand."
Advocate Mushore
said the suspension was illegal. "The state cannot just
suspend the mayor. It
has to conduct an inquiry and hold a referendum among
the ratepayers who
elected him, to see whether or not they believe he has
failed to deliver. The
government did neither of those."
She would challenge the government's
suspension order in court on Monday,
she said. -
Sapa-DPA
Winter of discontent.
Dear Family and Friends,
It has gone deafeningly quiet in Zimbabwe this
week. The usual early morning revving of a multitude of engines as people start
their cars for work has been reduced to only one or two. The country has now
completely run out of petrol and diesel and even the recent 320% increase
in the price of fuel has done nothing at all to improve supplies. According to
the government run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe which has been riddled
with corruption scandals, no supplies at all have entered the country for the
last week and none is in the pipelines either. Zimbabwe has no foreign currency
with which to pay for imported fuel and at last our suppliers have said - no
money, no fuel. This all sounds like a bit of a predictable disaster but the
effect it is already having on our daily lives is enormous. We simply can't go
anywhere any more, twice weekly trips to the supermarket have become once a
fortnight and even that is a pretty wasted trip because, with no petrol, there
are hugely reduced deliveries and so less and less food to buy- especially in
small towns like Marondera. Something as simple as collecting post is also a
waste of time. Aside from the fact that postage went up from Z$30 to Z$100 for a
local letter last week, and aside from the fact that the government just fired
3000 postal workers for having joined in the nationwide stay away, there is no
post to collect as it's all stuck in Harare with no petrol to distribute it. All
week in our little town there have been rumours of a petrol tanker heading our
way. Suddenly a deserted petrol station looks like a huge public
occasion as literally hundreds of cars converge and park in massive lines
along the road. Six or eight hours later everything gets back to normal and
everyone disappears as it becomes clear that it was just another rumour and
there isn't any petrol. Schools re-open again
next week and Richie and I will be cycling to school. He's delighted at the
idea, which he sees as a huge adventure but I suspect he'll change his mind
fairly quickly as winter moves in and fingers and toes freeze!
Petrol is not the only topic causing rumours,
there is also much talk this week that President Mugabe is about to step
down. The Presidents of South Africa, Malawi and Nigeria are due in Harare
in the coming days and there is much speculation about the real purpose of their
visit. Certainly Zimbabwe is teetering on the edge of complete collapse now,
there is little left for the government to seize, loot or control, there is
no fuel and very little food and the population seems to have found both
its voice and its courage. After the latest hugely successful three day national
strike, people are champing at the bit for a huge push that would see
the desperately needed changes to our governance. Neither
the opposition MDC nor the trade unions are prepared to say what or
when the next call for public action will be but it seems inevitable that
it will be very soon as people have simply had enough. We've had enough of
being hungry, had enough of rocketing inflation, had enough of not being able to
afford anything, had enough of being pushed around and had enough of being
scared. I am certainly not alone in feeling that the beginning of the end is now
only weeks away.
For me the most amazing thing that happened
this last week was when the Harare Mayor was suspended from his duties by Home
Affairs Minister Chombo. The MDC Mayor, Elias Mudzuri was overwhelmingly and
democratically elected and has become the hero of Harare. He has consistently
spoken out against mis-governance, he has been harassed, intimidated and
even imprisoned for standing up for the people of Harare so his suspension
is undoubtedly a huge mistake and will make the restless population of the
capital city even more willing to stand up for themselves.
Zimbabwe had shuddered to a stop. All
eyes will be upon President's Mbeki, Obassanjo and Muluzi. We hope and pray
they do not let us down again because we have had enough. Winter is coming and
it will be a long hard winter of discontent. Until next week, with love, cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle. 3rd May 2003. http://africantears.netfirms.com
Extract from an email sent on from
Zim...
For the remnant of farmers in Zim, it's a time when the
pace slackens off on
the farm and one can take stock of the previous season
and contemplate the
next. (This is what ALL of Zimbabwe's farmers
should be doing, not just a
fortunate few.) As Dave said in
his recent "weekly" though, it is sad to
see that farmers who are operating
are sometimes the butt of snide comments
about being zpf supporters who have
bribed their way clear. This is simply
not true. Yes.
there are some who have done that, (and have found that it
doesn't work
anyway) but the vast majority still farming have been "left
alone" for a
variety of sometimes unexplained reasons and circumstances. As
for us
on M, it has been the undeniable power of prayer and God's grace.
We had
our T home for a short vac in April. A special time! She
is
working so very hard, but is being rewarded with excellent results in
her
second year of medicine. Must be a chip off the old
block! She is doing
anatomy at the moment which entails the
complete dissection of a cadaver
from head to toe and every sinew in
between. She thrives on the guts
and gore and is able to give us
graphic descriptions of the insides of the
human body,(usually during meal
times!) Much to his annoyance she has
named her cadaver after her
younger brother!
S is doing his last year at school and is in a bit of a
quandary as to what
to do. I suspect he wanted to farm, but in
Zim they say leaving your farm
to your son is classed as child
abuse! He applied to the RAF to fly for
them, but we got a
polite reply saying that they certainly do take recruits
from commonwealth
countries, but unfortunately NOT from Zimbabwe at this
present
time. Who wants to be a dastardly gay breetish pilot
anyway!
A communal farmer from the reserve who used to work for Des,
asked me to go
and see his crop last week. He had a stack
of tobacco of reasonable
quality and yield. Whilst assisting him
with tips on grading, a small
grateful crowd formed, all hanging onto my
every word, soaking in any
technical information on offer.
It reminded me so much of the days with
Hamish, and what could have been
without political interference. When
they asked me to
please ask Des to come back as he had been so helpful to
them in setting up
their tobacco project, the topic inevitably turned
to
politics. Even these guys have had a guts full and
realise they have been
hoodwinked. They are "talking" now, even reading
the Daily News that is now
available in places that it was never found
before. (ZRP especially are now
avid readers - I suppose fearing that
their names might appear in the "name
and shame" adverts)
This group had
very derogatory words for the "ma setters" farming ability
and going as far
as calling them straight thieves, as they pointed across
the Dande to N's
place where all the roofing is fast disappearing. I
left,
feeling heartened and warm realizing that despite the racist garbage
spewing
from the politico's, that the genuine goodwill that crossed the
races has not
been completely destroyed, and it is this goodwill that will
be needed in
large doses to rebuild the nation soon.
We are really feeling (at last)
the effects of the economic meltdown.
Yesterday we had a power cut and Zesa
couldn't come out to fix it cos they
had no diesel. Guard Alert
couldn't come to deliver the wages unless I
supplied petrol.
Things are seriously coming to a head now and the
government has no place to
hide. Rantings about sovereignty and
recolonisation are
just pathetic attempts to shift the blame that even the
povo (who are bearing
the brunt of the hardships) don't swallow anymore.
The stayaway was very
successful - seems people will now support anything
that is anti
govt. We are in for a scary few months, but perhaps,
an
exhilarating ride! - Hope we can hang on for the inevitable
jubilation!
Cheers
CD
Sunday
Times (SA)
Zimbabwe marks Press Freedom
Day
HARARE - Around 300 people gathered in the Zimbabwe capital
Harare today to
mark World Press Freedom Day, as a regional press watchdog
claimed the
country led the region in repressing the media.
Zimbabwe's
media has been under the spotlight since tough new press laws
were introduced
last year, which make it a crime to publish "falsehoods" and
require all
journalists to be registered.
Sixty-three journalists - almost all from
the private press - have been
arrested since the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) was passed, the Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) says.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the secretary general of the
Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists (ZUJ), told reporters and members of the public
gathered in a
sunny Harare park that the day was being marked "under a dark
cloud of media
repression".
Protest poets performed at the
gathering.
In an interview in the private Daily News MISA director
Luckson Chipare,
said Zimbabwe "remains the seat of more than half of the
(rights) violations
recorded in 2002" in the southern African
region.
The ZUJ's Tamborinyoka said AIPPA was an "obnoxious" piece of
legislation
that was the "final nail in the coffin" of Zimbabwean press
freedom.
The media law - which is being challenged in a constitutional
court - was
signed by President Robert Mugabe in March 2002.
His
government said the international media was biased against Zimbabwe and
that
new controls on the press were needed.
Andrew Meldrum, spokesman for the
Foreign Correspondents' Association of
Zimbabwe, hailed as "a victory" the
fact that none of the 63 people arrested
under AIPPA had been
convicted.
Meldrum, who reports for London's Guardian newspaper, was
arrested and
charged under the law on May 1 last year for allegedly writing a
false
story. He was later acquitted.
The American reporter is one of a
handful of non-Zimbabwean journalists left
operating in the country. At least
five foreign correspondents have been
forced to leave Zimbabwe since
2001.
Government opponents claim that the state-run press here is used to
further
the interests of the ruling party.
The Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), a local watchdog, said
Saturday the government used
state-owned newspapers and the national
broadcaster as "messengers of its own
propaganda at the expense of the
truth."
The remark came as the
official Herald newspaper quoted Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo as saying
the national radio stations should carry 100% local
content in order to
spearhead a "cultural revolution".
Under current regulations, 75% of the
music broadcast on the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has to be
composed locally. The remaining 25%
can be made up of international
music.
"Americans have 100% local content and the British also have the
same and I
think we can take the lead and others may follow," Moyo told the
Herald.
AFP
ZBC
Zimbabweans commemorate World Press Freedom
day
04 May 2003 Zimbabwean organizations on Saturday joined the
rest of the
World in commemorating World Press Freedom day at a public
meeting held in
the Harare Gardens.
The President of the National
Association of Freelance Journalists, NAFJ Joe
Kwaramba called on the media
practitioners in Zimbabwe to observe the day
with their country at
heart.
Kwaramba said it is unfortunate that some local media
organizations are
operating without any codes of conduct hence most
journalists can afford to
report on wishful thinking.
Media ethics
committee Chairman, Mr Tafataona Mahoso urged Zimbabwean media
practitioners
to commemorate World Press Freedom day bearing in mind that
they must not be
used by the west to destroy their own country.
Mr Mahoso cited examples
of Yugoslavia and Iraq where the media played a
major role in destroying the
two nations.
theday.com
U.N. Hypocrites Can't Define
Terrorism
By ROWLAND NETHAWAY
Published on 5/3/2003
In the
ancient land now called Iraq, the Bible describes how a group of
people came
together to build a city with an immense tower that would reach
to
heaven.
The descendents of those people who constructed the Tower of
Babel have
regrouped in the United Nations. They still cannot understand one
another's
speech.
That failure to communicate erodes the foundation of
the international body,
foils the war on terrorism, inhibits U.S. efforts to
build a fair and
equitable democracy in Iraq and threatens to blow up the
road map for peace
just handed to Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
In
the Alice in Wonderland world of the United Nations, the delegates
cannot
agree on the meaning of the word "terrorism."
On this side of
the United Nations rabbit hole, terrorism is the use of
terror as a means to
cause intense fear, to demoralize, to intimidate, to
subjugate or to coerce,
especially for political purposes.
In a sane world, it would be obvious
that suicide bombers who repeatedly
blow up busloads of innocent people are
practicing terrorism. The United
Nations cannot accept that
definition.
Even after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the General
Assembly of United
Nations could not agree on a complete terrorism
strategy.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Anne Bayefsky, adjunct
professor at
Columbia University Law School, professor of political science
at York
University, Toronto, and a member of the governing board of U.N.
Watch, said
attempts to arrive at a consensus on terrorism are consistently
blocked,
especially by Arab and Islamic nations.
Bayefsky reports that
Saudi Arabia recently expressed the prevailing
sentiment of many U.N. members
by arguing "we should distinguish between the
phenomenon of terrorism and the
right of peoples to achieve
self-determination."
Syria, a nation that
supports terrorism and even controls its own terrorist
incubator in Lebanon,
is a member of the Security Council where it works to
block U.N. Resolution
1373, designed to encourage states to combat
terrorism.
Defying all
reason, Syria denies any involvement with terrorism.
Another example of
the up-is-down babble coming out of the United Nations is
the fact that
Libya, a despotic rogue state and terrorist breeding ground,
now chairs the
U.N. Human Rights Commission. Other members include China,
Saudi Arabia,
Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Cuba, which has been in the news for gross
human rights violations involving
kangaroo-court executions and imprisonment
of librarians, journalists and
political dissenters, was recently re-elected
to the U.N. Human Rights
Commission.
The delegate from Cuba's
repressive regime on the commission called for
sanctions against the United
States for "massive and flagrant violations of
human rights."
Sudan, a
country that practices slavery, torture and routine mutilation of
its
citizens, recently had U.N. reports of its abuses dropped thanks to the
U.N.
Human Rights Commission.
Also recently, the same commission sanctioned
the use of "all available
means including armed struggle" against Israel. The
U.N. human rights
commission approved suicide bombings and
terrorism.
The Tower of Babel is with us still.
IOL
Is Mugabe on the way
out?
May 03 2003 at
12:26AM
By John Battersby
After
three years of political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the end of
Robert
Mugabe's rule is in sight.
Three African leaders including South African
President Thabo Mbeki are to
fly to Harare on Monday to persuade Mugabe, who
has been hinting at possible
retirement, to take the plunge.
There is
now hope for an interim political settlement in Zimbabwe which
would see the
retirement of Mugabe, the creation of a transitional
government headed by his
Zanu-PF party and a programme of economic
reconstruction heavily supported by
South Africa.
If African leaders are successful in persuading Mugabe to
bow out with
dignity, the proposed presidential election in 2008 could be
brought forward
to coincide with scheduled parliamentary elections in
2005.
There is now hope for an interim
political settlement in Zimbabwe
It is unclear whether Mugabe will stay on as
a largely ceremonial president
while a younger man takes over running
Zanu-PF.
The current favourite of a growing faction within the ruling
Zanu-PF, the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and among
African mediators
is Mugabe's former finance minister Simba
Makoni.
Mugabe fired him last year after a row over the devaluation of
the
Zimbabwean currency.
Makoni, who has praised Mbeki's handling of
the crisis in Zimbabwe and met
him towards the end of last year, is seen,
together with MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, as the only contender for the
leadership who would be able to
raise loans for Zimbabwe from the
International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank.
Mbeki's visit to
Harare on Monday is expected to re-start the long-stalled
dialogue between
Zanu-PF and the MDC.
Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, as the
next chair of the
Commonwealth, and Malawian President Bekili Muluzi, as
chair of the Southern
African Development Community task team on Zimbabwe,
will present Mugabe
with a formidable display of African unity.
The
troika will urge the beleaguered Zimbabwean president to step down and
allow
a renewal of the ruling party's leadership and the inclusion of the
MDC in a
transitional government.
The latest prospect for a political settlement
in Zimbabwe follows renewed
hints by Mugabe last weekend that he is
considering retirement, new
concessions by the opposition and growing dissent
within Zanu-PF as to who
Mugabe's successor will
be.