http://www.voanews.com/
By
Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
04 May 2009
The
International Monetary Fund board on Monday examined the case of
Zimbabwe
based on a report from an IMF team that visited the country in
March for
so-called Article IV consultations on the state of the economy and
government policies.
A report issued by that team said more than 70
percent of Zimbabweans are
still in need of food aid amid an "uncertain"
economic outlook for the
country. It says Zimbabwe needs at least $200
million in budgetary support
and at least another $200 million for
humanitarian relief in the areas of
food aid, health, and
education.
A statement from the board was awaited late Monday. But the
panel seemed
likely at least to put its stamp of approval on technical
support for
Zimbabwe, proposed by the top IMF official for Africa, as the
country takes
initial steps toward recovering full
membership.
Zimbabwe's IMF voting rights were suspended in 2003 over the
non-payment of
arrears. The institution had cut off economic aid in 1999,
citing a lack of
political will to reform.
Zimbabwe owes some US$135
million in debt service arrears to the IMF.
Economist Prosper Chitambara
of the Labor and Economic Development Research
Institute of Zimbabwe told
VOA reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that he doesn't see
Zimbabwe recovering its
membership quite yet because it still has
substantial arrears to the
fund.
http://www.voanews.com/
By
Patience Rusere
Washington
04 May
2009
Zimbabwean Education Minister David Coltart on Monday
staved off a strike by
teachers on the eve of a new school term with help
from international donors
including the United Nations Children's Fund,
which promised to appeal for
funding for underpaid
instructors.
Officials of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association had
threatened to launch a
new strike if the government did not review the
monthly US$100 paid to
teachers like other civil servants.
When
introduced in March by the unity government installed in mid-February,
the
sum was intended to be a supplement to public service salaries paid in
Zimbabwean dollars. But the government has since abandoned all use of the
worthless national currency.
Coltart said UNICEF promised to launch
an appeal by month's end through the
office of U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon for funds to help increase
Zimbabwean teacher salaries.
The
meeting was attended by European Union and Swedish Development Agency
officials who said they wanted to help but as a matter of policy were
monitoring political conditions.
Coltart told told reporter Patience
Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that he has a five-point plan to
rescue the education sector, but warned the
initiative is only
short-term.
Secretary General Richard Gundani of the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association said
his members were touched by the good will demonstrated by
the education
minister and international donors and would review the
situation at a later
date.
http://www.moneyweb.co.za
Where shop shelves were virtually empty
last year, stock levels have
significantly improved.
Tawanda
Karombo
05 May 2009 03:09
Harare - Business and the economy at large
in Zimbabwe is beginning to pick
up - as evidenced by improved availability
of goods and commodities on shop
shelves and the firming in value of foreign
currency in the country.
Yet the local currency, having been suspended
for at least a year, will not
be used any time soon until industrial
capacity utilization reaches 60%.
At the moment, latest statistics show,
industrial capacity and utilization
has meagerly climbed to 20 percent as
funding for the economic turnaround is
still not yet forthcoming because of
the political stalemate.
Zimbabwe's economy, which has stagnated at a
record low over the past eight
years, has slowly come to life after
Zimbabwe's long standing President
Robert Mugabe and arch-rival Morgan
Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change formed a
coalition government.
And now, barely three months after the unity
government became functional,
the economy and business are showing
improvements.
"While people were skeptical of the unity government,
things do appear to be
falling into shape and confidence in the economic
sector of the country is
beginning to pick up," said Jeffrey Kasirori, an
economic and research
analyst with a local bank.
Where shop shelves
were virtually empty last year, stock levels have
significantly
improved.
"You will notice that all supermarkets are fully stocked at the
moment as a
result of the lifting of pricing and other controls by the
government," said
a spokesperson at the Zimbabwe Retailers Association
(ZRA).
Zimbabwe's Consumer Price Index showed inflation at 94, 6%
compared to last
year whilst prices dropped over 3% in the last month. The
South African Rand
and the United States Dollar have firmed up in value and
competition amongst
businesses is driving the downward trend in prices of
goods and commodities.
This month, the country's Central Statistics
Company (CSO) said Zimbabwe's
monthly inflation (the consumer price index)
fell to minus 3.1 percent in
February after the government allowed the use
of multiple currencies.
Economic commentators in Zimbabwe say the best is
yet to come as the country
has the potential to overtake several countries
in the Southern African
region as a leading economy.
But this, they
say, will not happen any time soon and until aid in financial
assistance
flows Zimbabwe's way.
And with the leaders in Zimbabwe's inclusive
government still dead-locked in
some aspects, the little economic gains that
have been notched up until now
might disintegrate.
Both the country's
Industrial and Mining indices rose by healthy margins.
However Stock
Exchange trading volumes are still small and investor
confidence remains low
and this is expected to continue until there are
definite signs of economic
stability.
Despite all this negativity, international investors are
waiting by the
sidelines to enter into Zimbabwe. The latest being MTN which,
as reported by
South African media yesterday is mulling plans to enter into
Zimbabwe.
South Africa's African Rainbow Minerals is also sizing up its
options for
entry into Zimbabwe; hence the Patrice Motsepe headed minerals
firm has
registered a company in Zimbabwe.
The mining sector has over
the past couple of weeks witnessed some good
developments as several mines
that had shut down resumed operations.
Businesses continue to be
constrained by the lack of cash and funding from
financial institutions
whilst fierce competition reduces profit margins.
The International
Monetary Fund (IMF's) Africa Department Director,
Antoinette Sayeh
highlighted that recent actions taken by the inclusive
government were
'encouraging'.
She said in a statement: "It's the context in which we
think there is a
window of opportunity in Zimbabwe that is worthy of support
by the
international community."
The regional Southern African
Development Community (SADC) has promised to
help neighbor Zimbabwe raise
$US2bn required to bring back the economy on
its feet trade partners SA and
Botswana pledging credit lines and budget
support of $800m and $70m
respectively.
The funding to date, which includes $200m from SADC and
another $200m from
the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is
intended to meet
urgent working capital requirements for local companies,
but is a drop in
the ocean of need.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who
has clashed with central bank governor
Gideon Gono over economic policies,
has predicted inflation will fall to 10%
by the end of 2009.
Of Late,
the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been
rocked by
scandals after a unity government probe into operations of the
central bank
unearthed startling revelations of graft at the institution,
forcing senior
management officials to flee the long arm of the law.
The probe into the
operations of the central bank in the past few years
comes at a time when
Zimbabwe's coalition government is trying to bring the
country's devastated
economy back on its feet following years of
mismanagement and ill conceived
policies of political expediency by the
Mugabe government.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Tuesday, 05 May
2009
Richard Chirombo
Malawi could this year export the
stable food, maize, to Zimbabwe
again following Ministry of Agriculture and
Food Security indications of
another bumper harvest, Malawi's Finance
Minister Goodall Gondwe has hinted.
The country has for the third
year running registered another pumper
maize harvest at 3.661 million
tonnes- representing more than 1.461 million
tonnes of excess requirement.
Malawians need 2.2 million tonnes to satisfy
their domestic maize
requirement.
Agriculture and Food Security Principal Secretary, Andrew
Daudi, has
attributed such excessive production to the subsidized fertilizer
programme
and increased use of organic fertilizers by farmers.
Gondwe said Malawi would be duty-bound to export some of the maize
excess to
domestic requirements to Zimbabwe, where he said another hunger
situation
looms this year following poor harvests.
Zimbabwe, like Malawi, is a
member state of the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc), which
compels it and other member states to be
the first line of call to fellow
members in cases of national calamities
including hunger.
"It is a
very positive thing, and shows how committed this
administration has been in
many areas including economic development and
food security. This year, we
have again produced some hamper maize harvest
part of which we may export to
Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has not harvested enough
this year," said
Gondwe.
The Finance Minister did not elaborate on the actual figures
that
could be exported.
Analysts have linked the persistent food
shortages in Zimbabwe to the
seizure of white owned farms, a development
they cite for leading to
decreased crop productivity. The situation has
prompted the World Food
Programme to initiate various interventions in the
bid to save people from
starvation.
In a related development,
Gondwe revealed that government was in the
process of establishing a public
food storage company whose main goal would
be to provide extra space for
crop storage.
Gondwe said, under the arrangement, people would be able
to deposit
their maize and other crops at the storage facilities for safe
keeping,
after which they will be getting a receipt.
"They will,
then, be able to use the receipts (as evidence of property
ownership) as
collateral with commercial banks. But we are still discussing
the
modalities, which are at an advanced stage, and will announce the
modalities
later," said Gondwe.
This follows concerns from some quarters,
including the Council for
Non-Governmental Organisation (Congoma) and the
Malawi Economic Justice
Network, who want the country to invest in food
storage mechanisms because
pumper crop yields end up rotting due to
inadequate and poor storage
facilities
Congoma's Executive
Director, Ted Nandolo, for instance, claims that
over half of last year's
bumper maize yield got lost through rotting, or
couldn't be properly stored
due to lack of space and ended up catching
moisture.
"We really
feel that we need to invest in storage facilities for us to
be able to
retain our maize crop harvests. This problem creates problems for
people and
could be responsible for the reports of hunger we get from
various
communities when government maintains we still have maize stocks,"
queried
Nandolo.
Nyasa Times/AfricaNews
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http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Andrew Moyo Tuesday 05 May 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwean civic
groups have called for an overhaul of the country's
electoral system to
minimise conflict, ensure transparency, fairness as well
as wider
participation of women and minority groups.
"There is need for a paradigm
shift and for Zimbabwe to embrace more
inclusive and participatory electoral
systems," a joint report by the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and
the Electoral Institute of
Southern African (EISA) released on Monday
said.
"These should result in a win-win situation that minimises the
occurrence of
electoral conflict and maximises the participation of women
and minority
groups, such as the Proportional Representation and the Mixed
Electoral
Systems."
The civic groups recommended that an independent
impartial body be appointed
to ensure among other things the
"professionalisation" of Zimbabwe's
security forces so that they are
restrained from taking a partial role in
the country's elections and confine
themselves to monitoring peace and
security during the election
period.
"There is need for professionalisation of security forces and
their role in
elections should be confined to the maintenance of peace,"
said the
statement, issued after a post-election review conference in
Victoria Falls
last week.
"There must be zero tolerance of political
violence from any source and law
enforcement agencies must impartially apply
the laws criminalising violence
and intimidation."
Zimbabwe's
security forces have for long been accused of supporting
President Robert
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party during elections and have
been involved in
intimidation, abductions and torture of opposition
supporters, giving the
veteran leader an unfair advantage over his
adversaries.
More than
100 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party supporters were
killed and at
least another 200 000 displaced in political violence after
last year's
presidential and parliamentary elections in which the opposition
party and
its leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe and ZANU PF.
Tsvangirai,
whose victory fell short of the margin required to take power,
pulled out of
a June 27 presidential run-off election because of political
violence blamed
on Mugabe's supporters and security forces.
EISA and ZESN called for an
end to abuse of state resources to campaign for
a political party and urged
openness in the financing of political parties.
"Abuse of state resources
for party political purposes should be prohibited.
The election management
body should undertake a comprehensive overhaul of
the voters' roll including
an independent audit of the roll. The financing
of political parties should
be revisited to ensure equity and openness and
funds should be managed by
the election management body and not government,"
the joint said.
The
two NGOs said with a view to achieving parity in decision-making
institutions in line with the 2008 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development
it was critical that women were empowered to participate fully in
elections.
This would also be achieved through the formation of an
independent,
non-partisan, transparent, accountable, credible and efficient
election
management body appointed in an open and inclusive
process.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which runs the
country's elections
was appointed by Mugabe and stands accused of bias,
manipulation of
electoral processes such as voter registration, custody and
maintenance of
the voters' roll.
ZEC has also courted controversy in
the way it makes its invitations and
accreditations of foreign and local
observers, which ZESN and EISA say
should be done by the impartial election
management body.
The NGOs also recommended that voter education should be
a comprehensive and
continuous exercise that involves the election
management body, political
parties and civic organisations without any
unreasonable restrictions.
They added that media laws should be reformed
to ensure media freedom, media
pluralism, diversity and access to
information. There must also be
unfettered and equitable access to the media
by all political parties.
"There is an immediate need to transform the
state media into a truly public
media. Special voting should be conducted in
a manner that ensures secrecy,
integrity, inclusively and transparency. The
entire results management
process should be transparent and should be
clearly defined in the relevant
legislation such as including a
constitutional provision setting a deadline
for the announcement of
results," the statement added.
They said electoral conflict management
mechanisms should be further
enhanced to make them more effective. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Nokuthula Sibanda and Patricia Mpofu Tuesday 05 May
2009
HARARE - The Anglican on Monday briefed Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai on
the chaos currently besetting the church in Zimbabwe in
which
ex-communicated Bishop Nolbert Kunonga is allegedly clinging to the
church's
financial books and properties.
The regional synod,
officially known as the Church of the Province of
Central Africa (CPCA) and
comprising Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe
dioceses, told Tsvangirai
that Kunonga was no longer a bishop or member of
the Anglican church as he
had been ex-communicated after deciding to
withdraw from the church together
with Manicaland Bishop Elson Jakazi, a
former army chaplain.
Albert
Chama, a Zambian bishop who led the delegation that held discussions
with
Tsvangirai, told journalists at a press conference that the meeting
with the
Prime Minister was also meant to convey the church's condolence
message in
the wake of the death of Susan Tsvangirai and nephew Shaun
Tsvangirai.
"We came here to pay our condolences to the Prime
Minister after the two
tragic deaths in his family," said Chama.
"We
also used the opportunity for the Prime Minister to hear from the horse's
mouth what is happening in the Anglican church in Zimbabwe where Kunonga and
Jakazi are clinging to church property."
The Anglican Church in
Zimbabwe has been embroiled in controversy over the
control of the church's
properties and finances, amid allegations that
Kunonga was illegally
occupying the properties as well having access to the
church's
funds.
"It was a good opportunity to brief him especially on our two
friends that
have left the church," he said.
Tsvangirai spokesman,
James Maridadi, confirmed the meting with the Anglican
bishops.
"They
came to pay their condolences and discussed other issues to do with
that
church in Zimbabwe," said Maridadi.
Meanwhile Bishop Sebastian Bakare who
has been running the rift-ridden
church diocese is resigning from the group,
and will be replaced by Chad
Gandiya.
An assembly of the Anglican
Church on Saturday elected Right Reverend
Gandiya to replace retired Bishop
Bakare.
Gandiya who is currently in England would be ordained the
substantive Bishop
of the Harare diocese on July 25.
Bakare, who has
been at the helm of the Harare diocese over the past two
years, was
appointed following the decision by Kunonga to pull out of the
church
claiming that the CPCA condoned homosexuality.
"As a bishop I am passing
on the responsibility," Bakare said at a press
conference.
"I was
here on a caretaker basis, I was here because of Kunonga's behaviour.
I was
a shepherd looking after its sheep."
During his tenure, Bakare
administered a divided congregation, which critics
blamed on political
interference in support of Kunonga who always had police
protection,
although he had no meaningful support.
"Kunonga doesn't even exist in
these churches, he claims to have people.
Riot police at times threw teargas
at several of our churches such St Faith,
Budiririo and others. It was so
serious that they got to the extent of
trying to use live ammunition,"
Bakare said.
Last month, Bakare and Kunonga were summoned to a meeting by
Home Affairs
co-Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutseyekwa in a futile bid
to find a
solution to the problems. - ZimOnline
http://www.hararetribune.com
Monday, 04 May 2009 20:29 George Chirikure
The
outstanding issues are those issues the last SADC Extraordinary Summit
in
South Africa acknowledged through its communiqué as key components of the
political settlement in Zimbabwe yet to be resolved.
The three
signatories to Global Political Agreement (GPA) namely President
Mugabe,
Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara fully
acknowledge as well on the existence of such outstanding issues and need to
resolve them sooner than later.
The issues include the apportionment
and appointment of governorship,
permanent secretarial and ambassadorial
posts, freeing of political
prisoners and halting what some observers
mistakenly refer to as farm
invasions instead of thuggery and criminal
activities.
These outstanding issues therefore without doubt form the
very basis of the
concept of sharing power within the context of a genuine
inclusive
government so as to normalize and stabilize Zimbabwe's political,
social and
economic situation.
Few months back there was a cartoon
depicting President Mugabe confessing to
a female reporter his ignorance
about the meaning of the word "sharing".
Probably if we are to view the
SADC leaders and Zimbabwe's three political
principals' open acknowledgement
that there are still outstanding issues
then it may be more suiting to
further portray President Mugabe's dilly
dallying as a clear confirmation
that he also does not understand or know
the meaning of the word
"inclusiveness".
During his Independence Day interview President Mugabe
tried to demonstrate
his understanding of these terms, but it was obvious to
many of us that he
is simply interested in proving to his supporters that he
is still much in
charge.
It may be somehow unfair to blame President
Mugabe for everything. Prime
Minister Tsvangirai has some responsibilities
to take the blame as well.
It is understandable to argue that after the
SADC Summit the Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to refer to
outstanding issues as work in
progress inadvertently playing into President
Mugabe's power game.
We all remember the fiasco and embarrassment
witnessed at the swearing in
ceremony of cabinet ministers in February, when
President presented a larger
than previously agreed list of Zanu PF
ministers.
Later on Prime Minister Tsvangirai was quoted as having
quickly agreed to
let Zanu PF appoint extra ministers of state in exchange
for 5 posts of
governors.
To date it is difficult to understand the
political logic of this high
propensity to make quick concessions and
nodding on the part of MDC
leadership when dealing with a person of Mugabe's
character.
Common sense would point to a hard trade off there and there,
thus ensuring
that is swearing in of governors was supposed to done
simultaneously with
ministers of state.
Three months after ministers
of state were sworn in, the MDC is still
haggling with Mugabe over things
they hurriedly agreed to.
The MDC leaders seem not to learn from
experience and now look determined to
use quiet diplomacy to protect
Mugabe's open violations of GPA.
They seem more than prepared to give
away easily on the face value of Mugabe's
manipulative hyena like
concessionary skills.
Off course Mugabe knows fully well his
responsibilities both in the context
of GPA and as an under fire Zanu PF
leader.
He clearly understands the expectations of his SADC and AU
colleagues and
that of the international community, but he seems for now
obliged to test
the intelligence and temerity of his GPA partners.
We
can not deny the painful fact that Mugabe has the political upper hand in
terms of both power and human wisdom to outwit his former foes at each
turn.
Thus for the time being, Mugabe is monitoring his watch, because he
knows
that SADC Summit set six months as the time to evaluate the viability
of the
inclusive government.
Mugabe has been good at playing patience
game with SADC leaders, making some
concessions at breaking
point.
For example the formation of the inclusive government was only
made possible
at the eleventh hour because Mugabe did not want SADC to go to
the last AU
Summit empty handed or the UN Security Council impose wholesome
sanctions.
Everything had looked like in the event there was no SADC
solution the AU
was going to take over, something Mugabe did not want to see
happen.
Having said all this there is real possibility that Mugabe shall
finally
concede on many of the outstanding issues few weeks to the end of
the six
month period.
Remember there is still the issue of the
allocation of powerful ministries
which is subject to further review as such
Mugabe will not want to see the
MDC using lack of progress on these
relatively less important issues as
enough proof of his
insincerity.
George Chirikure is a Senior Political Analyst at GMRI
CAPITAL. He can be
reached at george@gmricapital.com
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799410. If you are in
trouble or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
The latest update on Karori Farm Headlands and Charles Lock
2. TO WHOM
IT MAY CONCERN Ref. BLOOD
MANGOES:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
The latest update on Karori Farm Headlands and Charles Lock
The situation
is still tense on the farm with any number from 4 to 10
soldiers occupying
the farm under the orders of Brigadier General
Mujaji. All the papers to
have Mujaji arrested for contempt and for the
removal of the soldiers from
the farm have been served on the relevant
people including the Police Head
Quarters.
Police Head Quarters insist that they have given the order to
the PROPOL
and DISPOL to have the orders enacted however the DISPOL on the
ground
have told us they cannot enact the order unless it is given in writing
by
the PROPOL, who refuse to do this. The DISPOL phoned Brigadier
Mujaji
and told him to remove the soldiers but instead where threatened
by
Mujaji if they attempted to do so.
It is now clear the Police have
become part of the problem in not
recognising any Court order.
We have
received a number of reports from various sources that one of the
soldiers on
the ground at the farm has a directive to ensure that Lock is
killed should
he pitch up to the farm. The hit is to be made to look
like an accident such
as a bungled robbery, or car accident.
The soldiers remain armed some
with hand guns and their presence there
can only be construed as sinister as
the crops and equipment belong to
Lock who has been acquitted of unlawful
occupation and any attempt to
take these is straight theft. If the State is
attempting to acquire the
land through the Courts then how can it allow the
army to be used as the
personal instrument of Mujaji to force this issue.
Who is the law here.
The farm has already lost over US$100,000 in lost
tobacco as a result of
stoppages caused by Mujaji's soldiers on the
ground.
The land was allocated in 2004 legally and through the correct
forums of
the land programme, however Mujaji insists that his Offer letter
issued
by Mutasa in 2007 gives him the right to ignore this and take the land
by
force despite numerous High Court orders to the
contrary.
Obviously Lock is now concerned about his personal safety
especially as
the Police refuse to act on Court Orders from the Highest Court
in the
land which would effectively ensure his
safety.
Regards
Charles
Lock
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Ref. BLOOD MANGOES:
Please be advised that all
mangoes that are currently being sold around
Zimbabwe are a late variety
called Keitt and that there is only one farm
with that variety left hanging
on the trees in Southern Africa. This is
Mount Carmel Farm in Chegutu
belonging to Mike Campbell.
On the 3 April 2009 Mike Campbell's farm was
invaded by agents of Nathan
Shamuyarira. On that date, Mr. Campbell still
had approximately 170 tons
of these mangoes left to harvest. Since that date
he has been unable to
reap a single mango despite being protected by his SADC
Tribunal
Judgement and a High Court Order on the 20 April 2009. Every mango
being
sold today anywhere in Zimbabwe is consequently a stolen
mango.
Mr. Shamuyariras agents have beaten up Mr. Campbell's workers
including
fracturing one of the workers skulls. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have
been
evicted their home and can not get near any of their crops. By
buying
these mangoes you are supporting violence, lawlessness and theft.
Please
desist from doing so.
All supermarkets with mangoes should
please stop all payments to their
suppliers and contact Bruce Campbell on
0912 115485. All people see
mangoes for sale should please protest to the
sellers that they are
dealing in stolen property.
Thank
you.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16218
May 5, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Sources in the government of national unity's
corridors of power
say evidence is mounting that Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has become a
lame duck Premier, struggling to assert his
authority in Zimbabwe's troubled
three month-old inclusive
government.
They say Tsvangirai now displays signs of reluctance to
tackle an
increasingly intransigent President Mugabe head-on even behind
closed doors.
It was not possible to establish whether this was a political
strategy or
plain fear to confront the recalcitrant octogenarian
leader.
It has emerged that it is actually deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara
who is emerging as the dark horse of the coalition government,
often calling
an errant Mugabe to order, especially in behind closed door
meetings. It is
also Mutambara who is demanding finality to outstanding
issues much to the
annoyance of Mugabe.
Official sources say
Tsvangirai hardly challenges Mugabe in Cabinet or other
meetings and his
approach to molly-coddle the recalcitrant President is
increasingly causing
despondency among his top lieutenants.
Sources say Mutambara is actually
emerging as the real thorn in Mugabe's
flesh.
In the stormy April 28
cabinet meeting, it is Mutambara who charged at
Mugabe after he attempted to
throw out a motion by Finance Tendai Biti to
discuss the controversial issue
of auditing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Apparently Tsvangirai sat
through cabinet meeting quietly as Mugabe tried to
play headmaster,
according to one source. It was the bombastic intervention
of Mutambara that
forced cabinet to put the matter on the agenda.
Mutambara is said to have
confronted Mugabe, telling him that "that is your
opinion; there are many
opinions in this room; that is why it's an inclusive
government".
Sources within the MDC suggest Tsvangirai may have
returned to work too soon
after the burial of his spouse, Susan, saying he
should perhaps have taken a
longer compassionate leave to enable him to cope
with the devastating loss
of his wife of 31 years and the subsequent death
of his grandson, Sean.
Sources close to the Prime Minister claim the second
tragedy emotionally
devastated him, perhaps, even more than the death of his
wife.
"Maybe he needs more rest," said a senior MDC official requesting
anonymity.
"What we are seeing now is not the real Save we know. He has
changed and we
are wondering whether it's a strategy not to be
confrontational."
"Save" (pronounced Sah-vey with a soft "v") is
Tsvangirai's totem. He is
affectionately called by his totem in MDC
circles.
And, it would also seem Tsvangirai has also become somewhat
desperate to
convince a skeptical international community that Mugabe is no
longer a
problem in a desperate attempt to persuade the same international
community
to unlock crucially needed financial assistance. Already he has
made two
disingenuous statements that have sparked controversy, apparently
attempting
to put spin to his difficult relationship with Mugabe.
"We
respect each other, although we may disagree," Tsvangirai told bemused
supporters in Chinhoyi two Saturdays back. "There's nothing Mugabe does
without me approving and there is nothing I do without him
approving."
But there are a number of moves that Mugabe has made
apparently without any
consultation with the Prime Minister - the continuing
land seizures, the
continued incarceration of Tsvangirai's former personal
aide Gandhi
Mudzingwa, the contemptuous refusal by Mugabe to swear-in Roy
Bennett,
Tsvangirai's choice for deputy Agriculture Minister.
Mugabe
has also refused to address a host of other outstanding issues such
as his
unilateral appointment of discredited Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono and
that of politically biased Attorney General Johannes Tomana. Mugabe
is also
refusing to sign into law the National Security Council Bill, giving
his
Joint Operations Command carte blanche to continue to plot against the
MDC.
The National Security Council is expected to replace the JOC,
but has not
met since Parliament passed the law constituting it on February
10.
Mugabe has, in fact, deliberately undermined the Prime Minister at
every
turn. He has shown clear contempt and disdain for him and openly
treats him
as a junior partner.
Tsvangirai nevertheless insists he is
an equal partner in the inclusive
government.
Sources in government
say Mutambara, who is less diplomatic with Mugabe,
despite earlier
perceptions that he was a lackey of the President, has
actually asserted his
authority and Mugabe is increasingly getting alarmed
with Mutambara's
hostile attitude.
Initially Mutambara led Mugabe to believe he was his
ally.
Chris Dube is a reader in
Information Systems and Computing. He is a PhD student in ICT and E-learning in
the UK.
In the mid 90’s Zimbabwean
government prioritized education and became envy of Africa with highest
education standards in the continent.
Today, it is a nation characteristic of unending university closures and
perpetual striking teachers. Zimbabwe government of national unity together with
its educationists and academics should start moving towards an approach of
recognising, developing and rewarding talents to those who have been affected by
the previous poor education system. This
is the time to empower the talent of every member of society, regardless of
background, beliefs or education.
Empowering the talent in this case will simply mean to provide free and
fair Information and Communications Technology (ICT) opportunities to every Tom,
Dick and brother Harry. The new
government has to ensure our learners get the best ICT training possible to
fulfil employers’ requirements especially during this looming global
recession. There is currently no robust
strategy to address this issue, not that I know of, which is why our children
suffered consequences of long stay away by teachers as well as other constraints
like lack of transport. If there was plan B in place, like E-learning and ICT,
no examination was going to be postponed hence no academic year was going to be
lost. E-learning and ICT would have played a pivotal role in filling up these
skills gaps and shortages.
ICT will recognise and
develop required global technical standards and qualifications for the work
force in our ever advancing technology. This will in turn generate benefits for
employers and other stakeholders, such as giving the workforce externally
recognized credibility and esteem, responsibilities and competencies. ICT allows
people to enhance their skills or learn new ones. It would be ideal to begin
these skills at primary education to secondary up to universities and from
independent training providers to colleges, community centres and Libraries or
Learning Resource Centres. Thus it is essential and beneficial to inspire a
positive ICT attitude towards them at a younger
age.
Therefore on that note, ICT education should
not be a special kind of activity that happens from time to time, but a
ubiquitous feature of life.
A few weeks ago the
Honourable Zimbabwe ICT Minister talked of digitalizing Zimbabwean communities
by developing a country website ‘in order to put Zimbabwe back on the world
map’. Apparently, for all we know every single person in this planet has seen
Zimbabwe ‘on the world map’. Why swallow
before chewing? This article serves to remind our honourable Minister that as
far as ICT is concerned, we have some way to go before we can claim to walk the
talk.
Taking ICT qualification as
its starting point, education will be really meaningful and serving its purpose
of preparing young people with skills and knowledge for work. What they learn
for one purpose can be deployed in another. What they will learn in ICT will be
deployed in other subjects, like doing a Power Point presentation of the ‘causes
and effects of Chimurenga War’ in History.
The same power point skills will be deployed in the work place. They will be able to produce a globally
recognised Shona or Ndebele dissertation or thesis in word document. They will
integrate and interact with each other on intranets and blackboards as and when
they want to.
However, this government of
national unity will have to lead by example and exercise readiness to
change. There is an urgent need for
publicly funded ICT education and training to learners by making them more
productive and employable. The best programmes could well start at schools,
colleges, universities and training centres.
ICT specialists and consultants should be allowed partnership with the
entire education curriculum. These will
help in improving and re-skilling our schools.
Question, are there right people in the right place to nurture flexible
skills and ICT talents? In learning to
learn, there is need to train trainers and educate educators. It is the
government’s obligation to promote ICT training of staff and ensure they become
accomplished ICT practitioners. These trainers will identify urgent ICT needs on
staff development and work on those needs to provide
cohesion.
If the new government was to
set an ICT standard to every new teacher perhaps the repercussions of moves to
put the training and qualifications of teachers, tutors, lecturers, trainers and
instructors onto a more professional footing would be minimal. If every new
teacher would work towards an ICT Standard Verification endorsed qualification,
there would be no need to re-skill or provide professional development. Teachers
and trainers should undertake a minimum of 1 year continuing professional ICT
development as a prior requirement. But even then, this government has to stand
firm on ensuring that erratic power supplies, weak ICT infrastructure, poor
educational funding and an absence of experts would be things of the past.
Despite ICT’s potential to help meet Zimbabwe’s educational and manpower needs,
the above problems will continue robbing the country of a vital chance at
improving its stake in the digital economy.
If ICT is to become a key
element of Zimbabwean education, the government will need to provide a major
program for professional staff development and training. ICT skills are
necessary for implementation of ICT in education. The need towards ICT should
put special accentuation towards teacher training. This calls for an urgent
prepared professional development program to be established to support teachers
and lecturers in the effective implementation of ICT. The professional
development training required is one that facilitates and ensures that ICT is
successfully integrated into the daily routines as well as ensuring that its use
will be efficient and effective. This will only be developed with wide
consultation. These ICT consultants should be hired to work with education
sector to facilitate the adoption of ICT in
education.
Teachers and lecturers will
be offered training and support through their subject areas alongside that for
ICT skills.