http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
13 November, 2010 03:21:00
Global Post
HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe's preparations for
the 2011
elections include looting Zimbabwe's state resources to fund
violent
intimidation, said a prominent economist.
Determined to
prevent Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for
Democratic Change
from winning a majority in the next parliament, Mugabe is
going to pull out
all the stops, said Zimbabwean economist and commentator
John Robertson,
speaking at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.
And the state
coffers are much fuller thanks to Zimbabwe's recent diamond
windfall. The
international sales of diamonds has brought in hundreds of
millions of
dollars.
Mugabe’s health appears to have made a ZANU-PF victory in 2011 a
more
pressing objective, Robertson said. He said that ZANU-PF's top
officials
believe that Mugabe must win reelection and then retire after
nominating a
successor who will look after the party’s
interests.
Mugabe, 86, has refused to discuss his retirement and denies
being in poor
health. But a television interview in September showed him
slumped and
distracted, mindlessly repeating his mantras of the
past.
“A sense of urgency has gripped the party in recent weeks because
of the
president’s health,” Robertson said. “Many Zimbabweans are bracing
themselves for this unknown and for an electioneering onslaught that will
follow as ZANU-PF tries to stamp its authority on the entire
population.”
The pattern of ZANU-PF's violence and coercion is already
evident.
Police have been deployed throughout the country and there have
been
recruitment drives to boost the membership of the Youth Militia. Many
rural
communities have been forced to attend ZANU-PF indoctrination
meetings. This
is all similar to 2008 when Mugabe enlisted enforcers and
unleashed violence
against the opposition.
“All the images conjured
up point to all too familiar recurrences of
collectivized violence and
intimidation, accompanied by promises of
punishment to follow if the
community dares to oppose the party,” Robertson
said.
He said Mugabe
was deliberately undermining the MDC’s efforts to improve the
country’s
economy as a way of discrediting the former opposition party ahead
of
elections.
Mugabe told ZANU-PF's Youth League last month that they should
prepare for
elections in mid-2011.
Diplomats, however, have warned
that such a date is not advisable. Credible
elections will depend upon
constitutional and electoral reforms and
international supervision,
according to former Swedish ambassador Sten
Rylander.
“It would be
better and less dangerous to lay a good and solid foundation in
the form of
a new constitution and necessary electoral reforms and then go
for
elections,” Rylander said.
He said Zimbabwe needs a revitalized private
sector before it can move
forward. Production is nowhere near where it was
10 to 15 years ago, he
said.
“The international community can do
something,” he said. “But not cover up
for this enormous loss of productive
capacity.”
Among the formidable obstacles in the way of private-sector
recovery is the
uncertainty surrounding minerals and diamonds due to lack of
transparency,
observers point out.
Mugabe called Tsvangirai’s appeal
to foreign governments not to recognize
diplomats appointed without
consultation “foolish and stupid.” Mugabe then
repeated his old slogan: “the
only good imperialist is a dead imperialist.”
“Who is Tsvangirai to tell
me to go?” Mugabe asked indignantly. He warned
the MDC against reversing
gains “brought through the barrel of a gun.”
It is precisely this kind of
incitement by Mugabe, that worries Britain and
the United States which want
to see stability in Zimbabwe before elections.
The U.S. embassy in Harare
said Zimbabwe should show that it respects the
rule of law and human rights
before the U.S. will consider lifting
sanctions.
This comes after
three leaders of neighboring southern African states
proposed visiting
Washington to persuade President Barack Obama to lift
sanctions against
Zimbabwe. The leaders suggested going as representatives
of the 15-nation
Southern African Development Community, which has
consistently supported
Mugabe. The U.S. responded that there would have to
be tangible changes
first.
“We welcome SADC’s engagement in helping to return Zimbabwe to a
democratic
path,” said a statement released by the embassy, “but as senior
U.S.
officials told members of Zimbabwe’s reengagement team on September 23,
Zimbabwe must make further progress for the removal of
sanctions.”
This appears to have stung Mugabe. He heaped scorn on the
MDC’s close ties
to the West.
“What are they to you?” he asked. “Your
thinking can only be complete when
the white men say this is right. Why do
they [the MDC] keep running to the
Europeans?”
Mugabe has long posed
as the authentic spokesman of African nationalism in
order to command
respect across the continent and to stay in power for more
than 30 years.
But a generation for whom the 1970s liberation war against
Rhodesian rule is
not even a distant memory is unlikely to fall for the
blandishments of a
widely discredited ruler. Mugabe's party won only a
single urban seat in
2008 and observers believe he will lose many more, even
in his rural
heartland, if free and fair polls are held next year.
The political
casualties littering the field of battle in 2008 resembled the
fate of the
French chivalry at Agincourt, one observer noted. Some of Mugabe’s
most
prominent ministers went down to defeat.
“Despite his recourse to threats
and violence the outcome next year is
likely to be even more devastating for
him,” the observer said. “He is
completely out of touch.”
http://news.radiovop.com
12/11/2010
16:13:00
Bulawayo, November 12, 2010 - PRIME Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai
has said his
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party will boycott planned
elections
next year if Zanu-PF supporters wage a campaign of violence and
intimidation.
Tsvangirai, addressing party supporters at Beit Hall,
Luveve in the country’s
second city on Friday, said the MDC is ready for
polls to undo a unity
government he described as not functioning
properly.
“We want elections next year to end this unhappy marriage with
Zanu-PF.
"The MDC is ready for the elections but as a party, we will not
participate
in any election if there are incidences of violence and
intimidation against
out supporters,” Tsvangirai said to a wide applause
from hundreds of party
supporters.
The MDC leader, who was
accompanied by senior party officials, is holding
consultative meetings with
party supporters countrywide ahead of planned
polls next
year.
Tsvangirai in 2008 boycotted a presidential run-off polls against
President
Robert Mugabe citing intimidation and violence that resulted in
the death of
hundreds of MDC supporters and the displacement of scores of
others.
Mugabe has reiterated that the country will for elections mid
next year with
or without a new constitution to undo a power sharing
agreement with the
former opposition MDCs.
Tsvangirai also dismissed
the ongoing constitution making process as a
failure and described it is a
transitional document which will be undone by
an MDC government once elected
into power.
But the country’s premier said the current ongoing process to
‘draft a
transitional document is necessary to lay foundations for the
holding of
violent free elections.
“We are participating in this
constitutional making process because we are
in the GPA. The constitution
that is going to come out from this process is
only transitional document to
facilitate the holding of violent free
elections.
“…once the MDC is
in power and not sharing power with Zanu-PF, a new
constitution will be
drafted because this ongoing constitution making
process is a sham…”
Tsvangirai added.
The constitution making process was marred by many
problems, many related to
financial challenges and violence.
Zanu-PF
supporters were accused of coercing to espouse the party’s views.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Pindai Dube
Saturday, 13 November 2010
18:20
BULAWAYO - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he no longer
sees eye to
eye with President Robert Mugabe during their weekly cabinet
meetings
because the Zanu PF leader, whom he described as a "crook " and a
"dishonest
person", continues to violate the GPA.
Addressing MDC
supporters at a well attended meeting at the Luveve Beit
Hallin Bulawayo on
Friday, Tsvangirai said he has given up on Mugabe in the
unity government
and that the MDC -T wants early polls to end this failed
power sharing
agreement.
“Mugabe is a crook. Mugabe is a dishonest person. We do not
see eye to eye
in cabinet. We don’t look at each other. The MDC has given up
on Mugabe
because of his continued violation of the GPA and early elections
are the
best option,” Tsvangirai said to a loud applause from hundreds of
his party
supporters.
The MDC leader, who was accompanied by senior
party officials, is holding
consultative meetings with party supporters
ahead of planned elections next
year. Mugabe stands accused of violating
terms of the GPA through his
continued unilateral appointments of
ambassadors, high court judges and
provisional governors.
Mugabe has
also refused to honour some of the terms of the GPA saying
western imposed
sanctions should be lifted first.
Tsvangirai said his party is ready for
elections, but set terms which he
said must be observed otherwise the
MDC-T will boycott the polls.
“We want elections next year to end this
unhappy marriage with Zanu PF. The
MDC is ready for the elections but as a
party, we will not participate in
any election if there are incidents of
violence and intimidation against out
supporters,” Tsvangirai
said.
Mugabe has reiterated that the country will go for elections mid
next year
with or without a new constitution to undo the ill conceived
power sharing
agreement signed with the two MDCs in September
2008.Tsvangirai dismissed
the ongoing constitution making process as a
failure and described it is a
transitional document which will be undone by
an MDC government once elected
into power.
The country’s premier said
the current ongoing process to draft a
constitution document is necessary to
lay foundation for the holding of
violence free elections.
“We are
participating in this constitutional making process because we are
in the
GPA. The constitution that is going to come out of this process is
only a
transitional document to facilitate the holding of violence free
elections.
“Once the MDC is in power and not sharing power with
Zanu-PF, a new
constitution will be drafted because the ongoing constitution
making process
is a sham” Tsvangirai added.
http://www.voanews.com/
With election fever gripping Zimbabwe following President
Robert Mugabe’s
recent call for dissolution of the unity government, many
organizations and
individuals fear the return of political violence like
that seen in the
bloody 2008 elections
Sandra Nyaira | Washington 12
November 2010
Human rights activists are describing as psychological
warfare reports that
ZANU-PF has launched a new operation targeting MDC
supporters in rural
communities.
An article published Friday on the
Radio VOP Web site quoted an unnamed
ZANU-PF official as saying the party
has launched "Operation Headless
Chicken" threatening to behead MDC
supporters in the next elections some see
coming next year following
statements to that effect by President Robert
Mugabe.
The campaign
was reportedly launched in Mount Darwin, Mashonaland Central
province, a
ZANU-PF stronghold.
ZANU-PF Mashonaland Central Chairman Dickson Mafios
says his party has not
launched any such operation.
With election
fever gripping many in Zimbabwe following President Mugabe’s
recent call for
dissolution of the unity government due to seemingly
intractable differences
among its partners, many organizations and
individuals fear the return of
political violence like that seen in the
bloody 2008 presidential run-off
election.
Activists are urging political leaders, including the unity
government
principals, to avoid loose talk that will fuel violence ahead of
any
possible election.
Democracy and Governance Manager Joy Mabenge
of the Institute for a
Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe says that if
reports about the operation
are accurate, then ZANU-PF is now in full
campaign mode and engaging in
psychological warfare to frighten potential
MDC supporters in rural areas.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Reporter
Saturday, 13
November 2010 18:29
HARARE - The MDC-T is incensed by the recent
announcement by the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Media,
Information and Publicity George
Charamba that the government has no
intention of issuing broadcasting
licences to private players.
In a
hard hitting response, the MDC-T said in a statement that the
announcement
represents a manifestation of the tentacles of the
dictatorship
beast.
“Charamba’s statements before the Media, Information and
Communication
Technology parliamentary portfolio committee are a reflection
of his party’s
dictatorial tendencies which the people of Zimbabwe will do
away with in the
next elections,” the statement said.
“By maintaining
the status quo and denying the entry of private
broadcasters, Charamba and
his masters are desperately trying to prop-up
Zanu PF’s declining grip
through the airwaves ahead of elections expected
next year,” the MDC- T
said.
The MDC-T said while Charamba admitted that there are no clear
regulations
on political advertising, ZBC is churning out Zanu PF
propaganda, bordering
on hate language hourly while advertisements of
national interests such as
the Constitution – making process are denied
space.
“The Zanu PF jingles being played for free are fanning divisions
and
peddling hate language. Whereas Charamba asserts that the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission (ZEC) regulates advertising in the election period, the
jingles
are overtly campaigning for a single political party and its leader
at a
time when there are no elections in the country. The jingles are being
played contrary to provisions of Article 19.1(e) of the GPA which clearly
stipulates that the public and private media should refrain from using
abusive language that may incite political intolerance or that unfairly
undermines political parties and other organisations,” the MDC
said.
Last week the secretary general of the smaller faction of the MDC,
Welshman
Ncube told a media workshop in Harare that it is regrettable that
the media
reforms agreed to by the three parties in the GPA have not been
implemented,
particularly in the broadcasting sector.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwe’s civil society organizations (COs) will meet
the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) executive secretary Tomaz
Augusto Salomao on 22
November in Botswana to discuss ways of resolving the
country’s long-running
political crisis, privately-run radio station "SW
Radio Africa" reported on
Saturday in Harare.
SW Radio Africa, operated by exiled Zimbabweans based
in London, quoted an
official of pressure group "Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition" as saying the CSOs
would meet Salamao and his team on 22 November
in Gaborone, Botswana.
“It will be the first of three meetings we will
have in Botswana,” the
official said.
The other two meetings are with
Botswana civil society organizations and
government officials.
The
CSOs’ regional engagement comes at a time when SADC mediator South
African
President Jacob Zuma said he would not support an election in
Zimbabwe that
is marred by violence, intimidation and a suppressed media
environment.
Zuma’s International Affairs advisor Lindiwe Zulu told
the media this week
that the mediator wanted to see a conducive environment
for free and fair
elections before the polls are held in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s CSOs, under the banner of the "Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition", in
October held “ice-breaking” consultations with Zuma’s
three-member
facilitation team in Pretoria, South Africa.
It was the
first time under South Africa’s mediation role that CSOs had been
given an
opportunity to contribute to what a roadmap to solve the Zimbabwe
crisis
should look like.
Political conditions in Zimbabwe have worsened during
the past two months
amid an escalating dispute between President Robert
Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over appointments of senior
coalition government
officials.
The dispute has prompted Mugabe to
threaten to call for elections next year
whether or not the country has
completed an ongoing process to draft a new
Constitution.
JN/ad/APA
2010-11-13
http://www.voanews.com
Lindiwe Zulu, a senior aide to South African President
Jacob Zuma, mediator
for the Southern African Development Community, said
Friday that Pretoria
will not bless an election marred by violence and
intimidation
Blessing Zulu | Washington 12 November 2010
The
South African government is downplaying talk of elections in Zimbabwe in
2011, saying it will insist that the three principals in the Harare unity
government implement a roadmap to elections as mandated by the Southern
African Development Community, a guarantor of power sharing with the African
Union.
Lindiwe Zulu, a top aide to President Jacob Zuma of South
Africa, SADC's
mediator in Harare, said Friday that Pretoria will not bless
an election
marred by violence and intimidation.
She said Mr. Zuma
will discuss the election roadmap with the three
principals - President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara, respectively head of the long-ruling
ZANU-PF and rival
formations of the Movement for Democratic Change.
A roadmap has to be
established first, that will involve [2008 Global
Political Agreement]
principals, SADC and relevant people to ensure that any
elections that will
be held will be free and fair," Zulu said.
"President Zuma is of the view
that if elections should be done there should
be no violence, no
intimidation and there should be a free media
environment,” she
said.
There have also been calls from a number of directions for the
reform of
repressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act and the
Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act which critics say
curtail freedom
of association and assembly in the case of POSA, and
restrict the media, in
the case of AIPPA.
SADC leaders are
increasingly concerned at the deteriorating political
climate in Harare and
want Mr. Zuma to be firm with Mr. Mugabe, saying the
crisis stands to have a
negative impact on the entire region, sources say.
Mr. Mugabe recently
declared that has relations in the unity government have
deteriorated so
badly that the power-sharing arrangement must end by June of
next year,
triggering a new round of elections.
But talk of elections has escalated
tensions in the country with reports of
liberation war veterans, soldiers
and ZANU-PF youth militia terrorizing
rural inhabitants in Manicaland and
Masvingo provinces.
Both MDC formations welcomed Pretoria's call for an
election roadmap.
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo referred all questions
to Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa, chief negotiator for the party in
power-sharing talks
since 2008. But Chinamasa was not immediately
available.
Zulu said Pretoria has not been officially informed on the
tension in
Harare, but is closely following developments.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Saturday 13
November 2010
HARARE – The row over provincial governors and the
subsequent early
adjournment of Zimbabwe’s Senate could hurt the MDC-T’s
legislative agenda
amid fears that ZANU PF would use the row to block
reforms pushed by the
former opposition party, analysts have
warned.
Zimbabwe’s senate has been adjourned until February 8 next year
following a
protest by lawmakers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC-T over the
unilateral appointment of provincial governors by President
Robert Mugabe.
The decision to adjourn senate sitting was taken after
MDC-T senators
disrupted proceedings in the Upper House for two days last
week in protest
at what they said was the presence of
“intruders”.
The MDC lawmakers were protesting the presence of members of
Mugabe’s ZANU
PF who were appointed provincial governors by the veteran
leader last month
without consulting his partners in a power-sharing
government formed in
2009.
Under a power-sharing pact signed by
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and the leader of a
breakaway MDC faction in 2008, the
86-year-old Zimbabwean president should
consult his coalition partners
before appointing senior regime officials.
Mugabe has refused to
implement a formula agreed by the three political
leaders last year on how
to allocate the country’s 10 provincial governor
positions among their
parties.
Under the formula, Tsvangirai’s MDC was supposed to nominate
five governors
by virtue of being the party with the largest number of
parliamentary seats.
ZANU PF would get four positions while the smaller MDC
faction led by Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara gets one
appointment.
Presently all the 10 governors are ZANU PF
members.
The MDC-T has vowed to continue disrupting senate proceedings
until the
contentious issue of the governors is addressed.
Provincial
governors are ex-officio members of the Zimbabwean senate.
Veritas, a
Harare-based non-governmental organisation that monitors Zimbabwe’s
legal
climate, said the suspension of senate business would likely delay the
passing of pending bills, which require the consent of both the Senate and
House of Assembly.
“During the adjournment of the Senate it will be
impossible for Parliament
to complete the passage of any Bills in the
ordinary way, i.e. with both
Houses assenting to them,” the group
said.
Nevertheless Schedule 4, paragraph 5, of the Constitution contains
special
provision for the enactment – without Senate approval – of a Bill
certified
by a Vice-President or Minister to be “so urgent that it is not in
the
national interest to delay its enactment”.
“But it is difficult
to see any of the Bills presently awaiting attention
qualifying for that
description,” Veritas said.
If a Bill not certified as urgent by a
Vice-President or Minister has been
passed by the House of Assembly but not
by the Senate, it may be sent to the
President for assent, but only after
the expiry of 90 days.
This means that most of the Bills may not become
law until mid-February
2011, which may be too late if Mugabe goes ahead with
his threat to dissolve
the coalition government within the next three
months.
Bills already in Parliament include the Zimbabwe National
Security Council
Amendment Bill, which was passed by the House of Assembly
last week and
transmitted to the Senate, the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA)
Amendment Bill and the Attorney General’s Office Bill.
The
POSA Amendment Bill is still awaiting the committee stage in the House
of
Assembly while the Attorney-General’s Office Bill is being perused by the
parliamentary legal committee.
Veritas said an early recall of the
Senate was possible if the issue of
provincial governors was resolved before
8 February 2011.
“Senate Standing Order 187 empowers the President of the
Senate, at the
request of President Mugabe, to recall the Senate for an
earlier meeting if
the “public interest” so requires,” the group
said.
This is unlikely to happen since Mugabe and ZANU PF have resisted
moves by
the MDC-T to push for legislative reforms seen as key to levelling
the
political playing field.
http://online.wsj.com
NOVEMBER 13,
2010
By FARAI
MUTSAKA
HARARE, Zimbabwe—For years, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe
and his
allies have sought to drive white farmers from their land, and the
farmers
have fought back through the courts.
In recent weeks, the
World Health Organization has managed to bring the two
warring camps
together by attacking one of their few shared interests:
tobacco.
The
WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control seeks to cut global
production
and demand for a crop that is the lifeblood of Zimbabwe's
economy—accounting
for 26% of gross domestic product in 2009, according to
the Ministry of
Finance. The 171 countries that are party to the convention
will meet in
Uruguay next week. Zimbabwe officials and farmers—white and
black—are
banding together to explore how to respond to a treaty that could
derail the
country's fragile recovery after a decade of economic and
political
tumult.
"We have to set aside our differences to save the country's
economy," said
Kevin Cooke, president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association,
the main tobacco
farmers' body. "There are no alternative crops that come
near tobacco."
[ZIM]
Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made, a close ally
of President Mugabe, says
the government is scrambling to save a dominant
cash crop grown by the
country's largest and smallest of farmers, of all
colors. "There are no
differences between us on this one," he says.
"Everyone is working together
and certainly we hope this togetherness can
last."
Mr. Made admits that Zimbabwe alone doesn't have much leverage,
and says it
is relying on support from other countries that also oppose
elements of the
treaty.
The show of unity is remarkable in the
current political climate. The shared
government of President Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change is nearing an end. Officials in
both parties, including Mr. Mugabe,
say they want elections next year to
replace the troubled coalition
government, but another vote risks a repeat
of the 2008 elections, in which
hundreds are believed to have died in
political violence.
Zimbabwe's
white farmers have tended to support Mr. Tsvangirai's party. The
prime
minister has spoken out about the need to resolve land disputes in a
legal
and transparent manner—a stance that appears to side with
international
court decisions, including the Southern African Development
Community
tribunal that in 2008 ruled in favor of the land rights of white
farmers.
Mr. Mugabe's government has said it won't abide by that ruling.
It isn't
clear how long the unlikely alliance can last. The killing last
month of
Kobus Joubert, a leading white tobacco farmer and former president
of the
ZTA, highlights the insecurity faced by the few remaining white
farmers.
Police have described Mr. Joubert's death has been described by
police as
occurring during a robbery, but farmer representatives say such
violence has
often been part of the farm evictions supported by Mr. Mugabe.
Today,
fewer than 300 whites remain on farms, down from 4,500 when evictions
started about a decade ago, according to Deon Theron, president of the
Commercial Farmers Union. "Our members are still being violently evicted
even when they have court orders on their side," he said.
But when it
comes to tobacco, the fighting has stopped, for now. Tobacco is
Zimbabwe's
biggest agricultural employer, providing jobs for 350,000 people;
an
additional 500,000 work in related industries, such as cigarette
manufacturing, according to the government and farmer unions. In September,
Zimbabwe's finance minister raised projections for full-year economic growth
to slightly over 8% from its July forecast of 4.5%, largely because of
resurgent tobacco sales. The industry earns much-needed foreign currency
from its overseas sales of Burley tobacco, a product blended into such
famous cigarette brands as Altria Group Inc.'s Marlboro.
The WHO
treaty would hit countries that grow Burley tobacco hard. The crop
requires
blending with other ingredients that global health authorities deem
harmful.
In the draft guidelines, the WHO urges member governments to
examine how to
restrict or ban ingredients—such as those blended with
Burley—that increase
the attractiveness of tobacco products, "as a tool to
help limit youth
initiation," said a WHO spokesman, in an email response to
questions.
The treaty is expected to spearhead a global antitobacco
campaign to reduce
consumption of tobacco products, which the WHO says kills
five million
people a year, or one person every six seconds. Most of the
deaths occur in
middle- and low-income countries, according to the
WHO.
The International Tobacco Growers' Association has accused the WHO
of
rushing ahead with regulation without fully understanding the impact on
tobacco farmers or directly consulting them. "If they are pushed to produce
something else what are they going to do? You lose millions of jobs," says
Antonio Abrunhosa, chief executive of the ITGA, which says it has 30 million
members world-wide. "Can you regulate chocolate without talking to chocolate
producers?"
A study funded by the ITGA, released Thursday, estimated
3.6 million jobs in
the tobacco-growing sector in five African countries
were at risk because of
the WHO proposals. The report warned another 12
million people would be
affected by developments in the countries' tobacco
sectors.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has also
criticized the
WHO action, arguing that its members that grow types of
tobacco that require
blending would suffer, according to a September
communiqué. The trading bloc
urged its members to lobby the WHO for a more
industry-friendly treaty.
The WHO spokesman says a number of African
countries are part of working
groups currently drafting the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control.
Zimbabwe isn't yet among them. Mr. Cooke of
the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
says it has been skeptical of the treaty's
goals of ending tobacco use
without coming up withoffering viable
alternative crops.
Recently, however, both the government and the farmer
groups have agreed
that Zimbabwe should join the WHO treaty group, in a bid
to help shape
future tobacco regulations.
Says Mr. Made, the
agriculture minister: "We cannot fight from outside and
win."
—Peter
Wonacott in Johannesburg contributed to this article.
http://news.radiovop.com
12/11/2010 15:54:00
Harare, November 12, 2010 -
Air Zimbabwe survived for another day from
having its property attached by
the Deputy Sherriff to compensate workers
who are claiming US$ 500 000 in
unpaid allowances.
The national airline on Wednesday saw its property
which included top of the
range vehicles and buses being attached by the
Deputy Sherriff.
The airline however survived the ordeal after it filed
an urgent High Court
application to stop the execution of
property.
It further survived the attachment Friday after the High Court
postponed the
matter to next Tuesday giving it more time to mobilise funds
to pay about
400 workers.
Lawyers representing the workers told Radio
VOP:“The matter has been
postponed to Tuesday next week. The writ of
execution stays because Air
Zimbabwe argued that it made some payments but
they have a grace period of
between now and Tuesday to show proof
of
payment. In the meantime property attachment remains in force,” said
Kennedy
Mucheche, a lawyers representing the workers.
“We want to determine what
was paid and what was not paid, when that happens
we will instruct the
Deputy Sherriff to attach property equivalent to the
money owed to
workers.”
Air Zimbabwe Lawyers Selby Hwacha also confirmed the
postponement. He said
the case had been postponed by consent.
"We
were arguing that we overpaid the workers by US$ 48 000 but they argued
that
they are still owed so they judge directed that we go and reconcile the
accounts and be back in court on Tuesday,” said Hwacha.
Air Zimbabwe
is facing numerous operational problems ranging from lack of
capital, an
aging fleet, a bulging workforce and general poor business as
many of its
traditional customers opt for more modern aircraft such as those
operated by
British Airways, Air link and South African Airways.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
12 November, 2010
11:26:00 Staff Reporter
HARARE – President Mugabe’s top cop Deputy
Police Commissioner General in
charge for crime in the Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP), and a close family
friend Barbara Mandizha, has died leaving a
whole string of catalogue of the
First Lady’s infidelity's stories
unanswered.
Mandizha died in China on Thursday from what State media
reported to be a
long battle with cancer.
She was one of very few
senior police officers on travel restrictions
imposed by Western countries
on President Mugabe and his loyalists.
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka
confirmed her death and said her body was
expected to arrive in the country
on Saturday next week.
She was the first woman to be promoted to the rank
of Police Deputy
Commissioner, since Independence in 1980.
Before
being promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner, Mandizha was the
officer
commanding Police Support Unit, a highly trained unit in the ZRP
which
supports other units of the police with specialist skills.
She was
married to Grain Marketing Board general manager, Albert Mandizha, a
former
Senior Assistant Commissioner and Commander of police in Bulawayo.
The
late Mrs Mandizha was one of very few people close to President Mugabe’s
family and a very close friend of the First Lady Grace Mugabe
In some
of the First Lady's reported cases of infidelity, the then Morris
Depot
Commandant, Barbara Mandizha is alleged to have warned both exiled
Zimbabwean businessman James Makamba and the First Lady that their affair
would soon be in public, when she saw Grace driving Makamba into his Telecel
offices located near the police general headquarters at the corner of
Chinamano and Seventh Street.
A few months later James Makamba was
arrested on trumped up charges and kept
in prison for months without trial.
Grace secretly arranged for him to be
granted bail so he could skip and
leave the country.
The plan worked, Makamba was granted bail and was
driven to Beitbridge
boarder post by police details handpicked by Mrs
Mandizha.
Makamba fled into South Africa where he stayed a few months
before leaving
for Egypt.
Mugabe took over James Makamba's Telecel
the second largest cellular
operator in Zimbabwe.
In another incident
Winston Changara, President Mugabe's Aide De Camp, a
senior police officer
was said to be one Grace Mugabe’s many boyfriends.
The pair was caught
making love by a police sergeant Isaac W. S. Mabhungu
who was managing
senior officer's mess at a police flat inside senior
officer's mess at ZRP's
Morris Depot.
The sergeant alerted Barbara Mandizha who was Commandant
Depot and a police
inspector, Anna Chiwetu but they warned him that the case
was
over-sensitive. The sergeant was to keep quiet forever until he was
forced
to resign in March 2006."
He was later found dead in a forest
between Warren Park and the National
Sports Stadium.
During the 2008
general elections Mrs Mandizha barred Pan African Parliament
(PAP) election
observer team from witnessing junior officers who were being
forced to vote
for President Robert Mugabe at police general headquarters in
Harare.
Deputy Police Commissioner General Barbara Mandizha was
present at general
headquarters in room 50, keeping an eye on junior
officers as they marked
their ballots for Mugabe.
It has also been
reported that Mrs Mandizha took charge of the controversial
postal votes
command Centre.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
12 November, 2010 10:45:00 Staff
Reporter
HARARE - President Mugabe has forced his corky Local
Government, Rural and
Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo's estranged
wife Marian to narrow
her claims to the family's property on divorce amid
reports of threats being
made to her life by State spy agents.
A
pre-trial conference at the High Court cleared the way on how to split
most
of the property in dispute after an intervention by President Mugabe,
sources said.
Sources said on Wednesday night, President Mugabe who
is related to Dr
Chombo, summoned the warring couples and pressured Marian
to take what was
available.
He also warned her not to use the media
in their dispute. The poor woman was
threatened of unspecified actions if
she pursued an agenda the President
said would tarnish the party and his
image ahead of crucial general
elections.
The major disagreement in
the initial summons and pleas was over just what
property did exist that had
to be split.
But many items on the list submitted by Mrs Chombo in her
reply to Dr Chombo’s
summons have now been dropped and the divisions already
agreed, or still in
dispute, are generally those on Dr Chombo’s list with a
few additions.
Both parties now agree Dr Chombo can keep a Norton stand,
one of the two
Queensdale blocks of four flats, a two-bedroomed flat on
Mutare Road, a Mica
Point stand in Kariba, a Glen View house, a Ruwa stand,
two stands in
Chinhoyi and all implements bought on hire purchase at Allan
Grange Farm.
Mrs Chombo will get, by agreement, one bus, six truck
horses, three
trailers, a tanker, an 8-tonne truck, a Land Cruiser, a green
Mercedes-Benz,
a twin-cab Hardbody, a Nissan Wolf, the Greendale matrimonial
home, the
other block of four flats in Queensdale, the other Mutare Road
two-bedroomed
flat, two Shawasha Hills stands, the other Glen View house,
the Ruwa plot
and machinery on it, and all furniture at Allan Grange and an
Alexandra Park
house.
Dr Chombo refused to surrender 20 Borrowdal
stands.
Marian will also gets half the livestock on Allan Grange
Farm.
Still to be decided by a judge is whether five other properties are
subject
to division and if so how should they be distributed.
These
are a Mount Pleasant house, which Dr Chombo says he leases but does
not own,
a flat in the Avenues and a house in Avondale West, which Dr Chombo
says
belongs to his son and a relative, a house in Alexandra Park that Dr
Chombo
wants to keep, Allan Grange Farm and its equipment, and the
Government and
parliamentary vehicles.
The judge will also have to decide if Mrs Chombo
will receive any
maintenance; she is now asking for US$500 a month, down
from her original
claim of US$2 000.
Dr Chombo sued his wife for
divorce last year, offering her a list of
property very similar to what was
finally agreed, minus the bus.
He also listed the property that he would
like to keep as his share.
Mrs Chombo replied, but appended a much longer
list of property she said had
to be divided.
Dr Chombo replied
stating that four of the vehicles on Mrs Chombo’s list
were actually
Govern-ment or party vehicles, and so could not be subject to
the divorce
settlement.
He denied owning, or even knowing about, quite a lot of the
property listed
by Mrs Chombo.
Dr and Mrs Chombo were married in 1993
under the Marriages Act, although
they had an older customary union, and
have two grown-up children. They
split up around three years ago, but had an
agreement made after their
marriage that if they divorced they would split
the property they had
acquired evenly.
Dr Chombo is represented by
Manase and Manase, while Mrs Chombo is
represented by Sinyoro and Partners.
Dear Family and Friends,
Under a
wide blue sky a warthog and her three babies ran across a red
dirt road below
a kopje. The piglets ran with tails straight up, like
aerials, as they
followed their mum into the surrounding bush. In the
sky nearby half a dozen
vultures circled low over a clearing and in
the distance, the haunting call
of a fish eagle promised water, fish
and the myriad treasures waiting
discovery in our beautiful Zimbabwe.
A couple of hundred people had
gathered at the foothills of Castle
Kopje in Wedza. A beautiful kopje, her
rocks stained orange with
lichen and balancing precariously on top of each
other. We sat under a
great Acacia tree watching a couple of young black
rhinos browsing
nearby, waiting for the proceedings to begin.
Our host
told us this was a traditional Shona burial ground, a sacred
place, and that
he’d had to get permission from the local Chief to
bury his mother here. Just
seven months ago we had been in this same
place to bury his father, Norman
Travers, here.
The service began and one after another the eulogies told
of how Gill
Travers was a loving, dedicated and endlessly creative woman. A
woman
who made her home in the African bush, raised her family there
and
then shared it all with lions, leopards, hyaenas and otters.
Gill’s
doctor said she was the only patient he had who had been bitten by
a
hyaena and then an otter; the only patient who needed a leopard’s
claw
removed from her forearm!
Alongside giraffe and elephants, rhinos and
warthogs, Gill and Norman
Travers farmed the land and created a game park
which attracted
tourists from all over the world. They began outreach
programmes with
rural schools, endlessly spreading the message of
conservation, and
they held open days for local elders, headmen and
chiefs.
Working with the Department of National Parks, they took in
black
rhinos ravaged by poaching, and embarked on a unique
programme,
rearing the calves and then and returning them to the wild. Gill
and
her catering partner Mattheus prepared milk formulas in bottles
for
rhinos and cream teas and venison casseroles for visiting guests
all
in the same farm kitchen! The perfect team creating what
Gill’s
grandson called an “oasis.” Nineteen years ago Gill Travers
was
diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but she fought on
undeterred,
always welcoming, cheerful and uncomplaining. Gill finally gave
up her
valiant struggle this week and watched by family, friends
and
elephants was laid to rest in the ground she so loved.
I write
this letter today in memory of Norman and Gill Travers who lie
side by side
under an Acacia tree beneath Castle Kopje on Imire Game
Park in Wedza. Almost
two years ago Norman and Gill invited me into
their home and week after week
we worked on a book together. They told
me the amazing story of how a piece
of virgin bush in Wedza was
farmed, nurtured and transformed. Norman spoke of
a “stream of
naughty, smelly, little animals” filling their lives and Gill of
how
much she loved them all and how proud she was of her family
continuing
with their life’s work.
*“Imire, the Life and Times of
Norman Travers,”* will be available
within the next fortnight, please contact
me for further information.
To Norman and Gill Travers: Fambai zvakanaka,
thank you for giving us
Imire, such a gem. Until next time, love cathy
Copyright � Cathy
Buckle. 13 November 2010 www.cathybuckle.com