Business Day
Posted to the web on: 15 November 2005
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HARARE
- Zimbabwean authorities evicted scores of people who were sleeping
rough in
a poor suburb of the capital yesterday, in apparent defiance of a
court
order, a human rights lawyer said yesterday.
Otto Saki of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights said people had been loaded
onto trucks in the
early hours and taken to an unknown destination.
The eviction of the
squatters, who had been camping out in open spaces in
Harare's Mbare suburb
following the widespread demolition of shacks and
cottages by the police in
May, was in defiance of a court order obtained
last month barring their
eviction.
More than 330 people were believed to have been living rough at
the site.
"I saw the trucks leaving. They had cleared the place," Saki
said in a
telephone interview. It was not immediately clear if they were
police
trucks.
"It's in complete disregard of the decisions of our
courts and it makes a
mockery of our justice delivery system," he
said.
In October the Harare High Court barred police and municipal
authorities
from evicting the squatters until they had found alternative
accommodation
for them.
Saki said the authorities might argue they
had complied with the court order
by finding an alternative place for them
to stay. But Hopley Farm, where it
is thought they could have been taken,
was a "place where people have been
held in secrecy".
On Sunday, the
privately owned Standard newspaper reported poor hygiene
conditions at
Hopley were likely to lead to the spread of disease.
It said aid groups
had complained they were unable to reach ill people as it
had been declared
a "security area".
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is considering
contempt of court
proceedings. Sapa-DPA
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 11/15/2005 14:29:33
CONSTRUCTION of the Kunzvi Dam
is the panacea to the water problems plaguing
Harare and its dormitory
towns, Water Resources Minster Munacho Mutezo said
Monday.
"Harare
has been facing a major water shortage and implementation of Kunzvi
Dam is
the solution," he told a Chinese delegation from Jiangxi Province,
which is
on a five-day visit to the country to explore areas of possible
cooperation.
"We hope the project will be able to work shortly so
that the people in
Harare and surrounding areas do not have to
suffer."
Mutezo said time was ripe for implementation of the project,
which had been
on the cards for the past eight years.
Suburbs in
Harare have been going for weeks without water supplies with
satellite towns
such as Chitungwiza going for more than two months without
supplies.
While aging water infrastructure has been singled out as a
major contributor
to the woes, declining water levels in major supply dams
have been cited as
contributory to the problem.
According to Mutezo,
the contractors had completed projects such as the
Valley Dam and Irrigation
scheme in Kezi district, Masvingo Rural, Runde and
Mawere water
schemes.
And the Marowa Nyathi Dam in Manicaland was being implemented,
he said --
Xinhua
The Herald
By Sifelani
Tsiko
HARARE City Council's entire ambulance fleet has been grounded due to a
shortage of fuel and spares, paralysing the provision of emergency services
in the city.
This has forced the majority poor to either hire private
vehicles or use
public transport to ferry sick relatives to Zimbabwe's two
major referral
centres - Parirenyatwa Hospital and Harare Central
Hospital.
"I called for an ambulance this morning to ferry my pregnant
wife to
Parirenyatwa, but to my surprise I was told there was no fuel to
have one
dispatched," said Mr Musa Nyandoro of Mabvuku.
"My wife was
in deep pain and I had no choice but to board a commuter
omnibus with her to
the city."
He said the level of charges by private ambulance firms was
far beyond what
he could afford.
Medical and Air Rescue Services
(MARS) and Emergency Medical Rescue and
Ambulance Services (EMRAS) are the
main private operators.
Hospital sources said an increasing number of
people were now using their
own means to bring sick and injured relatives
for treatment.
Many patients who could otherwise survive, the sources
said, were now at the
risk of death because of lack of access to emergency
care from trained
ambulance medics.
MARS and EMRAS respectively
charge $7 million and around $4 million a trip,
figures well beyond the
reach of many Harare residents.
At $500 000 a trip, City of Harare
ambulances are by far the cheapest.
The Herald called the Central Fire
Station in Belvedere, the same complex
that houses the council's ambulances,
and city medics confirmed that their
fleet was grounded as there was no
fuel.
Council spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi said the council was facing fuel
shortages like all organisations and everybody else.
"We have always
had erratic fuel supplies, but when we get it, we have
always prioritised
them (ambulances). We are struggling to get fuel like
everybody else. They
(ambulances) have got something," he said.
Ambulance drivers and medics
were now being required to take days off as
they had nothing to do most of
the time because of the fuel shortage.
The City of Harare has 25
ambulances. Out of these, 10 are grounded owing to
lack of spares while the
rest have been immobilised by fuel scarcity.
The city's emergency
services - ambulance and fire services - always get top
priority in the
allocation of fuel from the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim).
However, shortages of foreign currency have forced Noczim
to cut supplies to
the city's emergency services, leaving many patients who
need urgent medical
attention stranded.
Supplies have been erratic
and at one point, Noczim gave the city 5 000
litres for its entire
fleet.
This was not adequate to cover ambulance and fire services,
including
garbage collection and other equally important services of water
and
sewerage maintenance.
Ironically, the city fathers recently blew
more than US$27 000 ($2,4
billion) on a trip to Russia which could have
enabled them to buy fuel from
filling station selling the commodity in hard
currency.
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1:
Editor,
Recently Judge Chidyasuku stated that judges are also
entitled to land, the
same as any other Zimbabwean. There is just one little
detail that seems to
have escaped the learned judge's attention.
If
the previous owners were paid any compensation then there would be no
problem
with the state giving the land to whomsoever it sees fit.
The record
unfortunately shows that the previous owners were simply
dispossessed, often
by force, without any compensation at all. In other
words, the land and
everything else on it now became stolen property, and
therefore anybody,
including the judges, that benefited, is now the
recipient of stolen
property.
If somebody tries to use the old red herring that the whites
stole the land
from the blacks, then the present government was a full
accomplice in the
theft for the following reasons:
· The majority of farms
were purchased after Independence after a
Certificate Of No Interest was
obtained from the present government.
· Funds to purchase these farms were
mainly provided by Agribank, a
government financial institution, and were
duly repaid with interest. Again
this occurred with the blessing and full
assistance of the present
government.
· After the purchase was finalised,
transfer and other government
fees were levied by the present government and
paid by the purchasers.
· Taxes were levied on any profits that the previous
owners made on
these farms. Therefore again the present government benefited
from the
activities of the former farmers.
W P
BREYTENBACH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
People's Daily
China will improve coordination with
Zimbabwe in the International
Criminal Police Organization and other
international agencies in a bid to
crack down crimes against the two
countries and the two peoples.
Chinese State Councilor Zhou
Yongkang said that in Beijing on Monday
when meeting with Zimbabwean
Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi.
Zhou said that Chinese
public security departments will enhance
cooperation and exchange with
Zimbabwean counterparts, safeguard a normal
border-crossing order and create
a better environment for people-to-people
contact, trade and economic
cooperation.
Mohadi spoke highly of the friendly cooperation
between the Zimbabwean
and Chinese security departments, saying he hopes the
two sides can further
strengthen such relations.
Mohadi started
his China tour last Saturday as guest of the Chinese
Ministry of Public
Security.
Source: Xinhua
NewsTalk New Zealand
15/11/2005
15:59:12
The already-fragile state of Zimbabwean cricket appears to
be on the point
of cracking up completely.
Contracted players are
saying there will be a strike unless senior
management resign because of
corruption.
Cricinfo managing editor Martin Williamson says as a
result one underworld
figure has threatened national skipper Tatenda Taibu
and his family with
violence. Taibu and his family have gone into
hiding.
Williamson says thugs in Zimbabwe are not to be messed with.
The man who has
threatened Taibu is alleged to have said "now we have taken
the farms we are
going to take the cricket", in a reference to the
Government policy which
has seen white farmers removed from their farms and
replaced by new, black
owners.
Williamson says the same character
was arrested on charges of attempted
murder three years ago, connected with
the repossession of a farm.
Meanwhile Board chairman Peter Chingoka
is amongst those "helping police
with their inquiries".
The ICC
cannot interfere with a country's cricketing structure unless asked
by the
board, which given the current situation, is near impossible.
http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=2842
14th/11/2005
Arbitrary
detention / Release / Judicial proceedings - ZWE 005 / 1105 / OBS
109
The Observatory has been informed by Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR) about the arbitrary detention of Mrs. Netsai
Mushonga, Coordinator of
the Women's Coalition, an umbrella body of women's
rights groups in
Zimbabwe.
The Observatory for the Protection of
Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),
requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in
Zimbabwe.
Brief description of the situation:
According to the
information received, on November 8, 2005, Mrs. Netsai
Mushonga was
arrested, allegedly for convening a meeting at a local hotel
for training
women in using non violent means as a tool for dispute
resolution under the
banner of Women Peacemakers International. Ms. Mushonga
was detained over
night as the police were still working on the charges. On
November 10, 2005,
she was charged for contravening section 24 (6) of the
Public Order and
Security Act (POSA), which criminalises organising a
political meeting
without informing a regulatory authority, the police in
this matter. On the
same day, Mrs. Netsai Mushonga was released as the
police indicated that
they will proceed by way of summons, which means that
once they have
completed their investigations, they will summon her to
appear in
court.
The Observatory expresses its grave concern about the arbitrary
detention of
Mrs. Netsai Mushonga, as it violates the provisions of the
Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on
December 9,
1998, in particular article 5(a), which states that "for the
purpose of
promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms,
everyone has
the right, individually and in association with others, at the
national and
international levels to meet or assemble peacefully". The
Observatory is all
the more worried that this arrest took place in the
context of serious
infringements the last days of the right to freedom of
expression in
Zimbabwe, and therefore urges the Zimbabwean authorities to
release
immediately and unconditionally Mrs. Netsai Mushonga.
Actions
requested:
Please write to the Zimbabwean authorities and ask them
to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and
psychological
integrity of Mrs. Netsai Mushonga, as well as all human rights
defenders in
Zimbabwe;
ii. ensure that she will be brought before an
impartial tribunal, so that
the charges against her be dropped, her
prosecution being arbitrary;
iii. end all forms of harassment and
ill-treatment of human rights defenders
in Zimbabwe, and guarantee in all
circumstances that human rights defenders
and organisations are able to
carry out their work without any hindrance;
iv. comply with the
provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
adopted by the UN
General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular
article 1, which states
that "eveyone has the right, individually or
collectively, to promote the
protection and fulfilment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms at the
national and international levels",
above-mentioned article 5(a), and
article 12.2, which states that "the State
shall take all necessary measures
to ensure the protection by the competent
authorities of everyone,
individually and in association with others,
against any violence, threats,
retaliation, de facto or de jure, adverse
discrimination, pressure or any
other arbitrary action as a consequence of
his or her legitimate exercise of
the rights referred to in the present
Declaration";
v. guarantee the
respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other
international human rights
instruments ratified by Zimbabwe.
Addresses:
President of
Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert G. Mugabe, Office of the President,
Private Bag 7700,
Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211
Mr. Khembo Mohadi,
Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs,
11th Floor Mukwati
Building, Private Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe,
Fax : +263 4 726
716
Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: + 263 4
77 29 99
Mr. Augustine Chihuri, Police Commissioner, Police
Headquarters, P.O. Box
8807, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253
212 / 728 768 / 726 084
Mr. Sobuza Gula Ndebele, Attorney-General,
Office of the Attorney, PO Box
7714, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263
4 77 32 47
Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41
19
Ambassador Mr. Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to
the
United Nations in Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy,
Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.net
Please
also write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective
country.
***
Geneva - Paris, November 14, 2005
Kindly
inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in
your
reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of
Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support
in their time
of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998
Human Rights Prize of the French
Republic.
To contact the
Observatory, call the emergency line:
Email: observatoire@iprolink.ch
Tel
and fax FIDH: 33 1 43 55 55 05 / 01 43 55 18 80 Tel and fax OMCT: + 41
(0)
22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
The Herald (Harare)
November 13,
2005
Posted to the web November 14, 2005
Makomborero
Mutimukulu
Harare
GOVERNMENT has lost billions of dollars due to the
misappropriation of funds
by companies involved in the exploration of the
Lupane Gas Project, the
largest gas fields in eastern and southern Africa,
The Sunday Mail Business
can reveal.
The State is currently in the
process of reviewing the terms under which
special grants, which were issued
through the Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development, were
awarded.
Despite heavily investing in the multi-billion-dollar project,
the
Government has over the past few years expressed concern at the
lethargic
pace at which the project has been moving.
In a booklet
released as part of the country's drive to attract investors,
the Government
says it is exploring avenues of attracting foreign investors
to the
multi-billion-dollar project, whose reserves are estimated at 500
million
cubic metres of gas.
"Current exploration ventures by some local
companies have shown that there
are elements of misappropriation of Special
Grant facilities issued and
monitored by the Mining Affairs
Board.
"The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is reviewing the
terms under
which Special Grants are awarded, and to expedite participation
of investors
who have the financial and technological resources required to
speed up the
benefits of coal-bed methane gas to the nation," said the
Government in the
booklet.
It is understood that some of the
companies accessed the special grants
under the pretext that they would be
importing exploration equipment and
hiring technical expertise but later
channelled the funds for other uses.
Information made available to The
Sunday Mail Business indicates that the
companies that misappropriated the
funds will be given a period in which to
pay back the money or risk
prosecution.
Indications are that the coal-bed methane gas to be used in
electricity
generation is one of the several alternatives that the county
intends to
pursue to guard itself against the anticipated power shortage
which will
affect the southern Africa region in 2007.
Methane gas can
be turned into natural gas, which can also be used as a
substitute for
petrol and can be used in the manufacture of fertilisers and
polythene.
The Industrial Development Corporation, which holds
exclusive rights to a
concession to massive coal- bed methane gas reserves,
is currently involved
in negotiations with investors - including some from
Iran - who have
expressed interest in investing more than US$6 million into
the project.
If successful, the Lupane gas project is expected to launch
the IDC's
venture into the fuel and energy sector.
Hwange Colliery
Company, which has also identified gas deposits, has made
significant
progress in
attracting foreign investors as well as negotiating for
offshore loans.
HCC managing director Dr Godfrey Dzinomwa recently told
this paper that the
locally listed coal mining giant was involved in
negotiations with potential
investors from China, Iran and the United Arab
Emirates.
"There has been so much interest from our partners and the
negotiations are
close to coming to fruition," he said.
Hwange
Colliery discovered the huge deposits of the methane gas late last
year in
the Lubimbi area in Binga, close to its coal mining operations in
the Hwange
area and there is a growing feeling among exploring experts that
additional
deposits will be discovered through the use of imported
equipment.
Despite the announcement of a proposed US$62 million
investment by the
Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company and two United States
investors six
years ago, the project's commencement has, however, been
delayed on several
occasions.
Apart from being financed by Government
and other investors, the Lupane Gas
Project is also set to receive major
financial assistance from the recently
launched Infrastructure Development
Bank of Zimbabwe.
Press Trust of India
New York, Nov 15 (PTI) Terming it as a
"dark year" for press with 51
journalists having lost their lives in the
line of duty so far, the World
Association of Newspapers has claimed that
Asia was the worst region in the
world for practising
journalism.
Over 500 journalists have also been arrested during 2005.
Asia remained the
worst region in the world for practising journalism,
considering the number
of news persons prosecuted, lack of independent media
outlets, and
government repression of press freedom, the Association
said.
"The suffocation of independent media continues unabated in many
countries
around the world. The governments of Nepal, China, Cuba, Belarus
and
Zimbabwe persist in their relentless onslaught against the media." Iraq
remains a deadly place for journalism. Eight journalists have been murdered
in the past six months, bringing the total number for this year to
19.
"Silence from North Korea, Eritrea, Libya and Turkmenistan sends an
explicit
message concerning the state of the media behind their fortified
walls," the
report on freedom of press sais.
The Paris-based WAN, the
global organisation for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press
freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000
newspapers. Its membership includes
72 national newspaper associations,
individual newspaper executives in 102
countries, 11 news agencies and nine
regio nal and world-wide press groups.
PTI