Zimbabwe murder hunt after bodies found at bottom of
well 12/11/2004 - 17:07:57
Two Britons were missing for over a month
in Zimbabwe before their bodies were found in a well in an exclusive Harare
suburb.
The men were named as Kenny James Froud, 39, and Simon Buckley,
40, and British High Commission spokeswoman Gillian Dare confirmed today
that both were Britons.
A nationwide manhunt is under way for two
Zimbabwean men wanted in connection with the killings, which are believed to
have taken place in an apartment near the well.
The victims' bodies
were weighted down with building blocks in 30 feet of water. One body had a
rope around the neck, said police assistant commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena.
A state radio broadcast said the public were warned not to
approach the suspects, as they could be dangerous.
Bvudzijena said
most of the victims' belongings had been stolen from the apartment they
shared.
The bodies were found when a security guard went to draw water
from the well.
Local relatives and friends in Zimbabwe had been
anxious about their whereabouts for some time, said Ms Dare, but police said
they were only contacted when newspapers reported the discovery of their
bodies, which were not identified at that stage.
Despite widespread
economic distress, with inflation exceeding 600% in the past year and two
million people dependent on food relief, Zimbabwe has a low crime rate
compared to neighbouring Zambia and South Africa.
The country retains the
death penalty for murder. More than 50 men, including two Frenchmen, have
been hanged since independence from Britain in 1980.
MISS. STEVENSON: My
question is directed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and in his absence,
perhaps the Leader of the House will answer. I wonder if it is Government
policy to mislead foreign Ambassadors. The reason I ask this is that the
Minister of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday that it would be illegal to
postpone the elections from March next year, and that is not true. I wonder
if it is now Government policy to mislead foreign Ambassadors?
THE
MINISTER OF JUSTISE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (MR. CHINAMASA): I am
not aware of the meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
the Ambassadors accredited to Zimbabwe but let me say that a decision was
taken to announce the 2005 elections and the President went on record. We
want to depart from the British tradition of ambushing the opposition and
throw a surprise on them. We did announce as far back as March this year,
that we were going to have elections in March 2005. Which basically gives
the opposition and anyone who wants to contest twelve months' notice and we
feel that is adequate. We are not going to change from March 2005
elections. As to what Hon. Mudenge said, put the question in writing, address
it to him but what is important is the policy that we will not alter the
March
2005 elections. ____________________________________________________________ FREEDOM
OF RELIGION AND WORSHIP
MISS. STEVENSON: asked the Minister of Home
Affairs to explain: (a) why the prayer meeting organised by MDC women on the
night of Thursday, 14th Friday, 15th October at NCA offices in Harare was
broken up by riot police;
(b) why the police beat the women, including
women Members of Parliament, even though they complied with the instructions
to run away;
(c) whether praying to God to serve Morgan Tsvangirai and
the nation is a political act;
(d) whether members of the police force
are competent to decide what is religious and what is political;
and
(e) whether it is now Government policy to interfere with the freedom
of religion and worship enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
THE
DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (MR CHAPANGA): (a) Mr. Speaker, there is no
report of such a nature that was recorded by the police during this
period.
(b) Like I earlier on stated, there is no record of such cases
hence, the police did not beat anyone.
(c) If people gather to pray
without any other intentions, then there will not be any interference from
any quarter. The police does not interfere as long as the prayers are done
peacefully.
(d) Mr. Speaker, allow me to stress this point that, the
police force that we have is professional and competent enough to distinguish
between political and religious matters.
(e) I would like to inform
this august House that the police force does not interfere with the freedom
of religion and worship. The force can only come in when there is an element
of criminality.
MISS. STEVENSON: In view of the fact that there has not
been any report made of this breaking up of the prayers by the riot police
which Hon. Mushonga and myself and others were subject to, is the Minister
implying that the police carry out acts which are not then reported to the
Ministry? In which case, how does he exercise his oversight role over the
police?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (MR. CHAPANGA): The answer
is that when a Member of Parliament originally asked this question, I asked
her to put the question in writing so that we can investigate and come out
with an informed answer. Here is a written answer. We have since
investigated and discovered that there was no record whatsoever in respect of
this particular incident. There is no way as the Ministry we can give answer
to an incident which was never reported and we do not know. Until we find a
record to that effect, there is no way I can give an answer.
MISS
STEVENSON: Could the Minister inform the House who is in charge of
the activities of the police and whether they do not supervise
those?
MR. CHAPANGA: The Commissioner of Police is responsible for the
day to day activities of the police in the whole country. Over and above
that, the Minister oversees the Commissioner of Police when it comes to
overall operations of the police. If one cannot find joy then one goes to
the Minister and that is how the Ministry operates. If the issue had been
reported to any police and there was a record at that particular police
station, we should have been in a clear position to give an informed answer
as to what actually happened and in this respect there was no report.
Therefore, as the Ministry we are not in a position to give an informed
answer.
Mr BHEBHE: In the Minister's answer earlier on, he indicated tht
there was no record of a meeting that was disrupted and people beaten. HOn.
Khupe was beaten on her buttocks and she came to be treated here at
Parliament. If the Minister did proper investigations on the whole issue,
why does he not pick on that instead of misleading this Hon. House?
MR
CHIPANGA: I never said in this House that nobody was beaten up. I did not
say that. I said there was no record to indicate that this
particular incident wasreported to a police station. This is what makes it
difficult for us to investigate. HOn. Khupe was beaten up - I am not in a
position to say whether shewas beaten up or not. That is what I said. If she
was beaten up in this particular incident, I do not know. The answer I gave
is that there is no record of this incident having been reported to any
police station. Perhaps they can come up with an RC number so that we can
take it further, otherwise there is no record as of now.
MRS
MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: Perhaps I am not getting you right. Are you saying
the fact that we were beaten we were supposed to go and report to a police
station that we were beaten up? This was not just a general group of people
coming to beat us, there were policemen that came and disrupted the prayer
meeting. So are you saying if any member of the public is praying and is
beaten up by the police he or she should go and report to the police?
Mr
CHIPANGA: Let me take this opportunity to enlighten the Hon member on
the hierarchy and levels of the police force. If say one is beaten up by
a policeman, one may not go to that particular policeman to report but one
has a right to go to the next level who is the Officer-in-Charge. If one
was beaten by an Officer-in-Chaarge of a particular police station, there is
a higher level until they get up to the Commissioner of Police. I am
not saying that they were beaten up; what I am advising is that if one is
beaten up by the police, one is advised to go to another police station. If
one does not get any joy, one can then say that I reported and no action
was taken. From what I seem to gather it looks like the matter was
never reported. Therefore there is no
record. _______________________________________________________________ PROVISION
OF BUSES BY ZUPCO
MISS. STEVENSON: asked the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing whether it is true that ZUPCO
is re-tendering for the provision of buses when three local companies has
already been awarded tenders and started preparing orders, and if so, to
explain the rationale and legality of this move.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (CHIEF CHARUMBIRA): I
would like to thank the Hon. Stevenson for this question.
It is true
that a tender to supply 250 buses to ZUPCO was won by three companies; Dahmer
and company, Devon Engineering and Zimbabwe Motor Distributors. It is also
true that the State Procurement Board, and not ZUPCO as stated in this
question, is retendering for some of these buses. This resulted in the fact
that, in line with Government policies to promote local industries, the State
Procurement Board specified in the tender that the buses should be locally
manufactured.
The original Cabinet decision stated that the 250 buses,
being purchased by ZUPCO, should be supplied in two forms; 150 buses on
wheels, that is complete, operational units, and 100 buses in kit form to be
locally assembled. This decision was made following the depth discussions
in Cabinet on the Urban Transport situation and taking cognisance of the
need for an urgent intervention to alleviate the transport shortfall. The
long queues and many wasted hours spent by our people at bus stops has
been caused by an increase in the commuter population and decrease in
private sector operators, both of which will be exacerbated by the onset of
the rainy season. With this pathetic scenario in mind, there is a great
sense of urgency in the need to have buses on the roads now – a notion
even members on the other side on this House would surely
support.
None of the companies who responded to the original tender were
able to supply the completed buses and as such it was agreed that the tender
would be refloated for 150 buses on wheels to meet the immediate short-term
need whilst the three companies are acquiring the remaining 100 buses in kit
form and locally assembling them. My Ministry wishes to assure this House
that the demand for buses by ZUPCO is not limited to this tender and I will
be asking you to make an allocation for additional buses when we consider the
Budget for 2005. Funds allocated in 2005 Budget, which will be available in
two months time, will ensure the local bus manufacturing industry is kept
busy.
MISS. STEVENSON: Could you assure the House that there will be no
penalty to be paid by Government, or maybe all these companies will be able
to go to court and sue Government because of the withdrawal of the
tender?
CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: This matter before the re-tendering was
discussed with the three companies involved with the State Procurement Board
and re-tendering is in agreement with the three
companies. _________________________________________________________________ FLYPAST
OF TWO MIG JETS OVER THE HIGH COURT
MISS. STEVENSON: asked Minister of
Defence: (a) To explain the purpose of the fly past by two MIG jets over the
High Court in Harare at the commencement of the reading of the judgement
of Morgan Tsvangirai on the charge of treason on Friday 15th October
2004.
(b) To inform the House of the cost of MIG to make a fly past over
Harare and
(c) To inform the House of the total cost of the three fly
past by two MIGs on Friday 15th October 2004.
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE
(DR SEKERAMAI): The Hon. Mrs Stevenson’s allegation that there was a fly past
by two MIG jets over the High Court on the 15th of October 2004 at the
commencement of the Tsvangirai is not true.
May I advise the House Mr
Speaker, that there was no MIG Aircraft that flew past the High Court, rather
it was 2xF7 aircraft that were undertaking routine training of our pilots.
Such training is not affected by events that take place at High Court or any
other location in or outside Zimbabwe. Normally fly flights past are done
over cities where national events are held for example opening of
Parliament. In this case the planes were on routine training exercise and
the flights over the High Court were fairly incidental. The training
programme for pilots and any ZDF members goes on as scheduled and the
expenses that are associated with this are not for public consumption.
However, the yearly allocation for training in both the Army and the Air
Force are clearly spelt out in the Blue Book.
FRANCISTOWN: Kutlwano police have dismissed reports that rival
Zimbabwean political operatives are fighting their wars in Botswana. The
reports said that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists and their
rivals from the ruling ZANU-PF were fighting each other in
Botswana.
The allegations surfaced recently following the
discovery of a 29-year-old Zimbabwean with a 'blown' leg in the thickets
just behind Naledi Motors, near the low-income location of Somerset
East.
Reports indicate that he was discovered by passers-by who
immediately notified the police. The man reportedly said he had been shot by
unknown people.
Of late, there have been unconfirmed reports of
ZANU-PF and MDC operatives clashing in the thickets around the border
village of Ramokgwebana. Robberies, assault, rapes and general harassment by
Shona-Ndebele speaking men wielding machetes have been reported along the
Botswana side of the border.
Dismissing the reports, detective
superintendent Mosalagae Moseki told Mmegi that there is nothing linking the
injured man to political confrontation.
"According to the man's
story, he was shot on October 28 in the early hours of the morning. He
claimed to have been seeking refuge in a residential place in Block-One as
it was raining," explained Moseki.
He indicated that the man could
have been discovered several hours after the incident as he hid in the
thickets nursing his wound.
"He has lost three of the toes on his
right foot and he is currently admitted at the Nyangabgwe Referral
Hospital," he said.
Police reported that the man has not been
helpful, as he has been giving them conflicting versions of circumstances
surrounding his injury.
Mmegi has been informed that the Zimbabwe
Police was early this month invited to Francistown, to conduct
investigations.
"The man was able to tell them exactly what
happened," he said.
Last December, a 22-year-old Zimbabwean student
and opposition activist fled into Botswana alleging that his life was in
danger. He visited Mmegi office in Francistown to tell his story.
HARARE - The Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition has condemned the passage of the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Amendment Bill by Parliament saying it violated
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) principles and guidelines
governing democratic elections.
The coalition said the
amendments to AIPPA "show a determination by Zanu PF to establish a pariah
state."
The amendments defy Section 7.5 of the SADC principles
and guidelines which compel member states to safeguard, the human and civil
liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly,
association and expression.
Forty-one ruling Zanu
legislators agreed that journalists found practising without accreditation
would be fined or sentenced to two years' imprisonment while 37 opposition
MDC MPs opposed the amendment.
The coalition condemned the use
of law to settle political scores with certain sections of the media that
are deemed critical of official policies.
"Laws are made to
serve the national interest and not parochial party political interests as
Zimbabwe has witnessed since Moyo was appointed junior minister following
the violent June 2000 parliamentary election."
Information and
Publicity Minister, Jonathan Moyo said the amendment is intended to "protect
the state from attacks by enemies of the country."
Under the
Bill only one organisation, instead of two, has to nominate members to sit
on the Media and Information Commission (MIC) the body responsible for
registering and deregistering journalists and newspapers.
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 12
Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Immigration authorities in Botswana said on Friday that
the repatriation of almost 2,500 illegal Zimbabweans each month was a drain
on resources.
Chief immigration officer Roy Sekgororoane told IRIN that
about 150,000 pula (US $32,000) was being spent every month on food for the
illegal immigrants and transporting them across the border.
Since
2002 Zimbabweans have flocked to neighbouring Botswana in search of economic
opportunities. The influx has sparked reports accusing Botswana officials of
ill-treating Zimbabweans in the country, but Sekgororoane denied the
allegations, saying, "if there are incidents of ill-treatment", these were
"isolated".
"There is no systematic attempt to mistreat the Zimbabweans.
If this is occurring, we have called for the incident to be reported
immediately, and action will be taken against the perpetrators," he
said.
He also denied that an electric fence Botswana has been
constructing on its frontier with Zimbabwe was to control the movement of
illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe.
"The fence has nothing to do with
keeping people out of the country. Neither the immigration department nor
the home affairs ministry has anything to do with its construction - this is
an initiative of the ministry of agriculture and is aimed at controlling the
movement of livestock," Sekgororoane said.
12.11.2004 Statement on the current situation in
Zimbabwe
6th MEETING OF THE UNI WORLD EXECUTIVE BOARD Nyon, 11-12
November 2004
The UNI World Executive Board meeting in Nyon on 11-12
November 2004 expresses increasing concern at the deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe.
The World Executive Board notes that:
· the people of
Zimbabwe are suffering acute shortages of basic goods and services including
money in circulation and local cash; · 80% of the Zimbabwean economically
active population is now unemployed; · 980 Zimpost workers have been
suspended and many dismissed for taking part in legal strike action; ·
despite a settlement having been agreed with Zimpost and assurance from the
management that all workers would be able to return to work, several hundred
remain suspended or dismissed; · 2,200 TelOne workers remain suspended and on
strike despite a court order in their favour and the best efforts of the
CASWUZ to resume negotiations concerning their wages and salary
payments; · despite a court order ruling in favour of the TelOne workers,
they remain suspended; · in Zimbank 250 workers have been summarily
dismissed for taking part in a legal 3 hour protest; · Sable Chemicals
workers were forced to buy Zanu PF membership cards before they were allowed
to return to work after being suspended for taking part in legal strike
action; · 24 workers have been dismissed at Carnaud Metal Box - Metal
Packaging Division (100% owned by Nampak) for participating in a lawful
industrial action; · the Hunyani Flexible and Corrugated Products (50%
owned by Nampak) dismissed the workers' committee chairman Mr. Lazarus
Chitsungo for allegedly inciting workers to take grievances to
management; · the ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo has been dismissed from
Zimpost and faces several criminal charges relating to his legitimate union
activities; · a delegation from COSATU, South Africa, in ZImbabwe to discuss
international trade union issues with Zimbabwe unions, was forcibly expelled
from the country.
The UNI World Executive Board deplores the
situation where the police and military are being used with impunity by the
Government to substitute for workers legally on strike and to harass workers
and initiate violence against those workers taking legitimate industrial
action.
This UNI World Executive Board therefore calls upon the
Government of Zimbabwe to take action to restore proper industrial relations
in the country and to uphold the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of
expression. Further it calls upon the Government to take immediate action to
guarantee that the decisions of the Courts concerning workers' rights and
industrial disputes will be upheld and implemented according to the Court's
wishes. The practice of using the police and military to harass and
violently attack workers is totally unacceptable and the World Executive
demands that the Government take urgent action to stop this violence,
harassment and the militarization of industrial disputes.
Further,
the UNI World Executive demands that:
· Zimpost immediately implement the
agreement reached between management and the CASWUZ on a salary
increase; · Zimpost immediately honour the agreement that all workers are
allowed to return to work without penalty and all suspensions and dismissal
notices be withdrawn forthwith; · TelOne immediately recommence
negotiations with the CASWUZ and implement the court order to reinstate
without penalty all workers illegally suspended during the current
strike; · Zimbank immediately reinstates the 250 workers dismissed and
immediately recommence negotiations; · Carnaud Metal Box immediately
reinstates the 24 workers dismissed for having taken part in lawful
industrial action; · Hunyani Flexible and Corrugated Products immediately
reinstates dismissed workers' committee chairman Mr. Lazarus Chitsungo; ·
All criminal charges against the ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo be
immediately dropped, that he be reinstated in his job in Zimpost and be
allowed to carry out his trade union duties without harassment or fear of
violence or arrest.
By Takunda
Maodza Last updated: 11/12/2004 21:51:10 TWO Zanu PF legislators - Jaison
Kokerai Machaya of Gokwe South and Elleck Mkandla, Gokwe North - have lost
their seats after the Supreme Court upheld the nullification of the outcome
of the 2000 parliamentary elections by the High Court.
MDC chief
whip, Innocent Gonese, this week wrote to the Speaker of Parliament,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, urging him to declare the two Gokwe seats
vacant. Machaya and Mkandla defeated opposition MDC candidates Lameck
Nkiwane Muyambi and Sibangani Mlandu in the elections.
Muyambi and
Mlandu went on to file an application in the High Court seeking the
nullification of the outcome of the election, claiming that it was marred by
violence, which they attributed to the ruling party.
On January 15, 2003,
High Court judge Justice Rita Makarau handed down a judgment in favour of
the MDC legislators. Machaya and Mkandla, through their lawyer Ngoni
Ruzengwe of Ziumbe and Mtambanengwe Legal Practitioners, appealed against
the ruling on January 31, 2003.
The Supreme Court Registrar then wrote a
letter to Ruzengwe on May 20, 2004, calling upon him to file heads of
argument with the court within 15 business days from the date of service of
the letter. Ruzengwe did not file the heads of argument as required, leading
the court to strike the appeal off its register.
However, the lawyer
claimed that he failed to file the heads of arguments because he did not
have access to some records from the High Court Registrar, which were
necessary for that process.
"We then set out to get a copy of the record
from the Registrar of the High Court but we were not availed with any, as we
were told the records could not be located," said Ruzengwe.
He said
the records were necessary, as the late Advocate Matika, who had appeared
for the ruling party legislators during trial, had not left clear records as
to what had transpired.
"Accordingly, we failed to do our heads of
argument in time. We have not received any copy of records from the High
Court Registrar," added Ruzengwe.
He said the only communication they
received from the Registrar advised them that their appeal was regarded as
abandoned.
"Accordingly, we submit that our failure to file heads of
argument was neither deliberate failure nor was it due to tardiness on our
part. Rather, it was due to administrative deficiencies at the High
Court.
"We aver that this cannot be visited on our client," added
Ruzengwe. The lawyer said his clients had bona fide cases, which if judged on
merit, could prove that Makarau had erred in her findings that the
appellants committed corrupt practices in the elections.
"Even if
assuming (but not admitting) that acting through their agents the appellants
committed corrupt practices in the election, she (Makarau) erred in finding
that such corrupt or illegal practices were in such a nature as to warrant
the invalidation of the applicants' elections as evidence adduced did not
reveal that the applicants or their agents failed and/or neglected to take
any precautions to prevent the commission of the practices at the election,"
argued Ruzengwe.
However, on October 14, 2004, the Supreme Court
Registrar wrote a letter to Machaya and Mkandla's lawyer stating that the
appeal had been deemed to have had been abandoned.
"The Supreme Court
Registrar's letter on October 14 2004 . . . advised that the appeal had been
deemed abandoned and thus dismissed and further that he was returning the
record of appeal to your office to enable respondent to execute the High
Court judgment," read a letter from Ruzengwe to the Supreme Court Registrar,
dated November 8, 2004, seeking the reinstatement of the appeal.
"As
such, we request your office to put on hold the execution of the High Court
judgment pending our client's application for reinstatement of the appeal,"
said Ruzengwe.
Gonese on Wednesday wrote a letter to speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa imploring him to declare Machaya and Mkandla's
seats vacant. Read Gonese's letter: "I refer to the appeals by the Honourable
Jaison Kokerai Machaya and Honourable Elleck Mkandla of the Supreme Court,
which have been dismissed for want of prosecution copies of the letters
written by the Registrar of the Court to the lawyers of the said Honourable
members, who were the appellants . . . It is evident that with the dismissal
of the appeals, the previous High Court judgments stand and in terms of
section 136 (3) (C) (1) of the Electoral Act, the 'seats shall forthwith
become vacant'.
"I write to you to invoke the mandatory provisions of the
said Act and declare the seats of the two Honourable members vacant,"
implored Gonese. Daily Mirror
LASHED by South
African and Zimbabwean governments - for daring to attempt a fact-finding
visit to our unhappy neighbour - the Congress of South African Trade Unions
again finds itself insulted and outraged by government action.
There is
an unfortunate parallel in the two incidents. The main beneficiaries of the
farm seizures in Zimbabwe now appear to be high-ranking associates of Robert
Mugabe's ruling Zanu(PF) party, the only ones with the capital needed to
operate farms productively.
On Monday night President Thabo Mbeki
announced one of the biggest black empowerment deals in history - a R6bn
share of the telephone monopoly Telkom, amounting to 15,1% - shares held for
the past seven years by Malaysian-US consortium Thintana. Their resale
required the approval of President Mbeki, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and
Trade and Industries Minister Alec Erwin.
But they went to a "handful
of politically connected and politically active" comrades, as Business Day
put it, including chief party spokesman and head of presidency Smuts
Ngonyama; former communications director-general Andile Ngcaba, and former
Transnet finance director Gloria Serobe. Ngcaba is also chairman of
Dimension Data, an information technology group which, conveniently, does
millions in business with Telkom.
Not that we have any objection to
anybody getting very, very rich, so long as what they get comes by dint of
hard work, imagination, innovation or enterprise. Inheritance much above R1m
is heavily taxed.
By way of scale, R6bn would build about 300000
new-model RDP houses, more-or-less buy the South African Navy, or fund all
teachers and schools in the Eastern Cape for about eight months.
All
of it going to kissing cousins of those who had to approve the deal. The
source of the wealth is a national public utility company which has a
monopoly of landline telecommunications and regularly raises its call
charges.
And it is taking place in a country where the gap between
rich and poor is among the highest in the world, calculated by the formula
of Italian mathematician Corrado Gini.
Surely this is not the reason
why good people labour long and hard to come up with laws and charters to
drive black economic empowerment, nor the reason why businesses agree to
sell off large shareholdings at bargain basement prices. Surely not what the
voters expected when they marked their crosses for the ANC in
April.
Surely not what the Kliptown delegates had in mind 49-and-a-half
years ago when they wrote: "The People Shall Share in the Country's
Wealth!
"The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South
Africans, shall be restored to the people; The mineral wealth beneath the
soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership
of the people as a whole; All other industry and trade shall be controlled
to assist the wellbeing of the people..."
Sentiments of
nationalisation may have become less popular since then, but surely not the
spirit which drove those lines.
To create billionaires from national
assets while millions do not have enough to eat is disgraceful.
Please send any
classified adverts for publication in this newsletter to: JAG Job
Opportunities jag@mango.zw --------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Advert Received 4th November 2004
We are looking to subsidise a
Pensioners pension, and have him work in our workshop as a workshop
administrator. He must be reasonably fit, have an engineering background and
be able to get himself to work in Workington Harare. Contact trudy@zol.co.zw _____________________________________________
2.
Advert Received 5th November 2004
Vacancy - School Principal/Head,
Harriston School Harrismith South Africa
Harriston is a small private
school in Harrismith, South Africa. It is a co-ed school, and has both a
junior and senior section. The vacancy falls due at the end of the first term
of 2005. Anyone interested is invited to fax a CV to 058 622
3896. ______________________________________________
3. Advert
Received 5th November 2004 (Repeat Advert)
Dear Sir /
Madam,
I was given your e-mail address by a Zimbabwean now working up
here. We are a large-scale rain-fed wheat and barley growing farming company
based on West Kilimanjaro, Northern Tanzania. We are currently looking for
two young recent Agricultural College graduates to strengthen our
management team. One should have "field" interests, whilst the other should
have machinery interests.
I would be grateful if you could let me know
if there is any possibility of advertising on your
website.
THIS
IS RADIO E-MAIL. PLEASE LIMIT MESSAGES TO 10kb. DO NOT INCLUDE ATTACHMENTS
OR ORIGINAL MESSAGES. Mountainside Farms Co. Ltd. P.O. Box
14664 Arusha TANZANIA _____________________________________________
4.
Advert Received 8th November 2004
Mature and very experienced switchboard
operator seeking position , industrial sites or Msasa or town. Received
telephonist of the year certificate for large international insurance firm.
Lovely personality an asset to any company. Please phone Brenda 496507
home after hours or business 702811 for
referral details. ______________________________________________
5.
Advert Received 8th November 2004
Looking for Computer Literate person to
do secretarial work, prepared to work out of Zimbabwe and to travel to Malawi
for extended periods. Would need to be Single to fit in with this
requirement.
Mostly E-mail correspondence, Word and Excel. Contact
011-219800 _______________________________________________
6. Advert
Received 10th November 2004
WANTED:
2 Domestic Workers - Husband
and Wife. Wife to work in the house whose duties would include housework,
washing and ironing and some cooking. Husband to work in the
garden.
To start Janaury 2005 Contact Nicky Sandeman on 011 630 803,
746045, 746408 ______________________________________________
UPMARKET SAFARI ACCESSORY BUSINESS WWW.MELVILLANDMOON.COM SEEKS
A PERSONABLE FRONT OFFICE PERSON TO RUN AN INFORMAL JOHANNESBURG SHOWROOM
AS WELL AS ASSIST WITH EXHIBITIONS AND SHOWS. STRONG SELLING SKILLS, A LOVE
OF SAFARI AND AN OUTGOING PERSONALITY ESSENTIAL. KINDLY CONTACT ROB@MELVILLANDMOON.COM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
The
judgement on the Quinnell Case was handed down in the Supreme Court yesterday
(11th November 2004), by Judges Malaba, Sandura and Ziyambi.
The case was
dismissed without the awarding of costs.
Justice Malaba made the ruling
which was concurred with by Justices Chidyausiku, Cheda and Ziyambi. Justice
Wilson Sandura disagreed with the majority judgement stating the Land
Acquisition Amendment Bill was not lawfully enacted and was
invalid.
Rather than send out the 45 page judgement in its entirety we
have asked a highly respected senior constitutional lawyer to do a legal
analysis of the judgement for distribution. For anyone wanting the
comprehensive (45 page) judgement it is available electronically on
request. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
JAG Hotlines: (091) 261 862 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- JAG
OLF
312 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY
"Plato condemned it. Aristotle, his pupil, spoke in its
defense. The debate over rhetoric has raged back and forth ever
since." Andrew B
Wilson _____________________________________________
OPEN LETTER
FORUM
Letter 1. Subject: Open Letter Forum Dear
JAG
Nationalisation of the banks
On Friday a week ago, the Reserve
Bank Governor nationalized a number of indigenous banks with effect from 1
January 2005. By allowing them access to the Troubled Banks Fund he made them
dependent on the Central Bank. He then closed them down and put them under
curatorship. Now he intends to call their loans in and convert this into
Capital in the new Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group,a new bank to be controlled
by the Reserve Bank and through them, the Government.
So once again,
what happens to our property rights?
First the white commercial farmers
had their land taken away without compensation.Then the teachers lost their
right to teach without bias. The judges lost their right to make human rights
decisions based on law. The NGO's lost their rights to help the people of our
country. The new farmers lost their right to sell their maize to their
families and friends. The politicians lost their freedom of expression in
parliament. And so the list of losses went on.
So many people have
lost their life savings in these indigenous banks. Old age pensioners. Young
people's savings Working people's salaries. Business capital. The Government
allowed the banking sector to go out of control. They allowed the indigenous
businessmen to circumvent the banking rules....until it no longer suited
them. Now they clamp down. The damage is huge. The cost to our country
immeasurable ....and the human cost intolerable.
But we all sit and
watch. What are we going to do now?
Simply
Simon _____________________________________________
Letter 2.
Subject: Parliament: Announcement of Adverse Reports,
presentation of Reports on Food Stocks and
NSSA
Dear JAG
Today the Speaker announced Adverse Reports received
from the PLC on NGO Bill, Electoral Bill and Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Bill. The House has adjourned until Tuesday, when the Reports may be
presented and debated. Meanwhile debate on the Adverse Report on the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Bill has not yet resumed.
Committee
Reports on Food Stocks and NSSA were presented this afternoon. Government is
criticising the Food Stocks report, which warns that "the country is likely
to stock out before the next harvest" and that in fact we have maize for only
3 months. Matabeleland South was forecast to produce 109 178 tons of maize,
but GMB had only received 362 tons by 10 September, ie 0.3% of the forecast.
GMB had only received 1.3% of the forecast from Masvingo, 1.4% from
Matabeleland North and 3.9% from Midlands.
Dear Jag, I have seen produce from Zim in various
Woolworths Food Shops in the Western Cape where I am now living, but have not
managed to find out if it is from stolen farms. I phoned a couple of times
to their head office but the answers were very evasive. Please see if you
can find out more and advise. I don't want to buy stolen produce. Thanks
and regards, Betty Casciati (ex
Zim) ______________________________________________
Letter 4.
Subject: Stolen Crops and European Buyers
Hi Anne,
Have you
contacted Justice for Agriculture (JAG). I know that they have been at the
forefront of data collection of losses. They should have some information or
possibly names of people who you can contact. I will BCC this mail to others
in the hope that they might contact you
with information
cheers chris ----- Original Message
----- From: "ann wayne" <annwayne14@hotmail.com> | Hello
Chris - | | My name is Anne; I got a copy of your message to Mike Clark,
who I have | worked with before. I'm a British journalist trying to track
down the | European buyers of illegally-seized Zimbabwean crops...well, I
think you've | seen the email! | | If there is a list anywhere of
farmers who have had their crops seized and | sold to European companies, it
would be extremely helpful if I could see it. | I'm eager to speak to
farmers from all sectors - flowers, tobacco, | vegetables, fruit, you name
it. We'd really like to put the story in this | Sunday's paper, if possible,
but it will take a bit of time as The Sunday | Telegraph have to be very sure
of our legal position before we nail Tesco's | et al. I'll probably also
sell the story to the South African press, and | possibly the South China
Morning Post (although I understand that the links | with China are more
industrial and financial than agricultural, there is | still a lot of
interest in Zimbabwe). Please circulate this email to anyone | you think
has been affected by this problem. | | Thank you. | | Anne
Wayne | + 44 7967 276829 or + 44 207 538
7409 ______________________________________________
Letter 5.
Subject: Thank you
Dear JAG
A big thank you to the kind person(s)
who responded so promptly to my request for help in locating Don Stotter.
Such kindness goes a long way to restoring one's faith in mankind, and I am
sure Pat & Carol in Durban are most grateful too.
Thank you, and
kind regards. John
Lawson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice for
Agriculture. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
JAG Hotlines: (091) 261 862 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Court
Throws Out Appeal
Independent Business Digest 12th November
2004-11-12
ZIMBABWE'S constitutional court threw out a challenge to land
laws under which thousands of white-owned farms have been seized under
President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme, brought by
farmer George Quinnell who lost his farm two years ago, had no
merit.
The application, which took two years to come to court, challenged
the Land Acquisition Amendment Act, signed shortly after Mugabe won a fifth
term in office in 2002.
Had the application been successful Quinnell
would have had his eviction notice overturned, had parts of the land law
declared unconstitutional, and opened the floodgates for thousands of similar
appeals by white farmers.
But Justice Luke Malaba, whose judgement was
supported by three other judges, dismissed the application.
He did not
give reasons for his ruling, but a copy of the judgement obtained by AFP said
that the application had been "unsuccessful on all the constitutional
questions referred for determination."
Quinnell's lawyers had earlier
this year argued that the law was unconstitutional because it was introduced
to parliament in violation of parliamentary procedure.
They also
criticised a provision giving farmers just 45 days, instead of 90 days in the
original law, to pack up their operations and leave farms that some had
occupied for decades.
But four out of the five judges said the amendments
to the land act could not be made invalid by "a technical violation of rules
enacted by parliament".
On the issue of the 45-day eviction notice the
judges agreed that "public interest overrides the private interests of
individual landowners".
But a fifth judge, Wilson Sandura ruled in favour
of Quinnell, saying that the land law "was not lawfully enacted and is,
therefore, invalid and of no force or effect."
The land reform
programme has been criticised by aid organisations for severely cutting
agricultural output and jeopardising food security in the southern African
country, once dubbed the region's "bread basket".
One organisation this
week estimated that more that 2,2 million rural Zimbabweans will need food
aid before the next harvest in March, but the government disputes the need
for food aid, saying the country will this year produce more food than it can
consume. ----
AFP.
JAG Hotlines: (091) 261 862 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
19 POLICE OFFICERS SUSPENDED FOR GOLD SMUGGLING Sat 13
November 2004
HARARE - Police authorities have suspended 19
officers for smuggling gold to neighbouring Mozambique.
The
officers, who were based in Chipinge town in Manicaland province, were
allegedly involved in a gold smuggling syndicate that also included about
100 illegal gold panners said to have been the source of the gold exported
by the law enforcement officers.
ZimOnline could not immediately
establish the amount of gold siphoned to Mozambique by the syndicate but
police sources said "it was a substantial quantity as the syndicate had
operated for a very long time."
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
last night confirmed the incident but said he could not give further details
as investigations were still underway. He said: "We have received such
information and we have since arrested one of the accused but investigations
are continuing."
The suspended policemen would provide protection
for their panning agents and would also warn them of all planned police
raids to arrest illegal gold panners in the area.
According to
the sources, an inspector and a sergeant headed the gold panning and
smuggling ring. Prices of gold in Zimbabwe are depressed making exports
lucrative.
Local official buyers pay $92 000 per gram while on the
"black market", a gram of the precious metal is sold for double that
amount.
Smugglers can even fetch better rates if they take the
metal to South Africa where it is said to fetch between R250 and R300 per
gram depending on quality. - ZimOnline
Bleeding workers hope for a tax break Sat 13 November
2004
HARARE - When Zimbabwe's acting Finance Minister, Herbert
Murerwa, presents the government's budget for 2005 in two weeks time, Sipho
Ndou, a salesman with a Harare advertising firm, will be glued to the
television screen.
Not that Murerwa is his favourite politician
in this politically-charged country. But, as he puts it: "Come budget day, I
will have no choice. I will have to monitor the budget presentation on
television because I am anxious to know what the minister will have in store
for me."
"I pray and hope this government will this time reduce the
current high taxation of individual workers," Ndou said, warming up to the
conversation as we cooled down the heat of the day at the The Beer Engine, a
popular club here in the capital.
He added: "If the government
has its people at heart, it should do something because we can't have nearly
half of our salaries going to the state as tax."
As I count the
few notes in my wallet to buy a "round", Ndou narrates to me that he earns
Z$3,5 million at the advertising agency, which after tax, medical aid,
pension deductions, he is left with $1.7 million as take home.
Ndou rents a one bed-roomed flat in Harare's Avenues, a mixed residential
and office area close to the town. He says he pays $1 million for the flat
and this before water and electricity charges are added.
"I am
left with nothing. I am lucky that my flat is near my workplace so I do not
incur any transport costs because I walk there. But I am pinning my hopes on
Murerwa to reduce personal tax to about 15 percent," he added.
His
story is not news to most of the patrons here as we soon
discovered.
Another regular here, Tendai Shiri, who works as a
boilermaker for a Harare foundry firm, chips into the conversation. "What I
pay in tax is more than what I take to my wife and kids," he says, adding,
"I wonder where the government is taking all this money it is depriving
us."
With taxes in some cases as high as 45 percent of gross
salary, the few Zimbabweans who are lucky to hold a job are some of the
highest taxed workers in the world.
Zimbabwean firms pay about
30 percent of gross income in tax, a situation most workers say is grossly
unfair.
"Surely how can a poor labourer pay more tax than a rich
multi-national corporation, where is the logic in that?" says Joseph
Mashanga, who works for an accounting firm just across the
street.
According to economic analysts, contribution from personal
tax has increased from 27 percent of total revenue between 1990 and 1995 to
38 percent in 2001.
In the 2004 national budget mid-term
review, Murerwa revealed that individual taxpayers contributed Z$1.2
trillion to the national fiscus for the first half of the year which is
about 39 percent of the amount collected during that period. The corporate
world contributed only 11 percent.
Summing up the anger of workers
in an interview later in the week, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
president, Lovemore Matombo, vowed the powerful union would call mass
strikes by workers if Murerwa does not reduce individual tax on November
25.
"This regime is bleeding us to death as far as taxation is
concerned," Matombo said. He added: "We have written to the government to
tax those highly paid at 30 percent and the lowly paid at 10 percent. We
hope they listen because we are going to take to the streets if Murerwa does
not deliver on budget day.
"How can companies, most of which
make super profits despite the harsh economic environment be taxed at 30
percent? This trend should be reversed because workers are failing to make
ends meet."
But political observers say there could be a
silver lining in the cloud for Matombo and his workers. They
said the government might just reduce tax as a way to win over mostly
opposition-supporting workers ahead of a crucial election in March next
year. - ZimOnline
Consumers may soon be forced to buy bread on the black
market Sat 13 November 2004
HARARE - Looking as carefree as
any child her age, 10-year old Munashe Masimba munches into a thick slice of
bread.
For her and many of her friends here in Harare's low-income
suburb of Mbare, the day never begins until she has munched at least three
slices of bread, washed down with a cup of tea.
But that may
soon change with bread likely to be in short supply in Zimbabwe in a few
months' time because the country's farmers, for the third year running, have
failed to produce enough wheat to meet national consumption.
As
with everything else in Zimbabwe, wheat production has steadily declined in
the last three years after the government launched its often chaotic land
reform programme. The decline in agriculture is also attributed to a severe
shortage of inputs.
For example, only 50 percent of the 85 000
hectares that are normally put under wheat crop every year were under
cultivation last winter. Zimbabwe produces most of its wheat under
irrigation during its dry and cool winter season.
Farm
production statistics indicate that the few remaining white commercial
farmers - once the main producers of the vital crop - planted around 15 000
hectares while blacks resettled by the government on former white-owned
farms planted about 25 000 hectares of wheat.
The total hectarage
of wheat this year will at most yield about 250 000 tonnes, almost about 50
percent less than the 450 000 to 500 000 tonnes of wheat Zimbabweans consume
annually.
The government must raise US$126 million to import the
shortfall including about 80 000 tonnes of higher grade wheat the country
normally imports to mix with local wheat for better quality
flour.
But with foreign currency shortages gripping the country,
shortages of wheat and bread are inevitable.
According to
independent agricultural experts, besides instability caused in agriculture
by government land reforms, wheat production was also affected because of
shortages of fuel and other inputs.
Delays by the government's
Grain Marketing Board in releasing seed and other inputs to black villagers
resettled on white farmland and who do not have money to buy these only
helped worsen the situation.
Traditionally the wheat planting
season ends by mid-June but most of the new black farmers only began
planting as late as July and early August because they had no
seed.
And now another crisis looms in the clouds for Zimbabwe's
wheat sector - the rains.
With the Meteorological Services
Department warning that heavy rains should be expected anytime soon, crop
scientists fear that fifty percent of the crop still on farms could be
ruined.
Bakers' Association of Zimbabwe chairman Armitage
Chikwavira said he would need to consult with the GMB first before speaking
about the impending wheat and flour shortage - a sensitive political issue
as Zimbabwe heads for a critical election next March.
"I will
need to consult other stakeholders in the baking industry and the GMB,"
Chikwavira told ZimOnline.
Private baker, Eddie Cross, who is also
a senior official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party,
said hard-cash-strapped Zimbabwe would have to double wheat imports this
year to avert shortages.
He said: "Last year's crop was better than
this year's because we did not have early rains then. We have to import
between 65 percent and 85 percent wheat and flour products if we are to
avert a serious shortage in the next few months."
According to
Cross, most bakeries were already operating at 50 percent capacity because
of the critical situation of flour supplies from major milling firms as the
country's wheat reserves dwindle.
"Most of us have scaled down
operations to reduce exposure because there is no flour owing to the
shortages of wheat," Cross said.
A similar shortage of wheat and
flour early last year gave rise to an illegal black-market for bread where
the life-saving commodity was fetching about thrice its normal retail
price.
The black-market, which already can easily supply scarce
foreign currency, fuel or even HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral drugs, will probably
in a few months' time also be supplying bread for little Masimba in the
poverty-stricken suburb of Mbare. - ZimOnline