http://www.iol.co.za/
Mugabe arrives in Rome for food
summit
November 14 2009 at 10:20PM
Rome -
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Rome on Saturday
for a United
Nations summit on food, the ANSA agency reported.
Under sanctions
imposed in 2002, Mugabe is banned from visiting
European Union countries,
but the restriction does not apply to trips for
international
meetings.
Mugabe and his 60-strong delegation arrived at Fiumicino
airport on a
private flight to take part in the Food and Agriculture
Organisation's
three-day World Summit on Food Security, which opens on
Monday.
In 2000, the Zimbabwean leader launched land reforms which
have seen
more than 4,000 white farmers forced off their land.
Mugabe has defended the measures as a necessary redress to
colonial-era
imbalances, but the country has gone from being an exporter of
food to
depending on international aid for survival.
Around 60 heads of
state and government leaders are expected in Rome
for the summit. -
Sapa-AFP
http://www.abc.net.au
Andrew Geoghegan reported this story on Sunday, November
15, 2009 08:10:00
ELIZABETH JACKSON: After weeks of paralysis, Zimbabwe's
Government of
National Unity is functioning again.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai says he's prepared to work with President
Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party if it honours the power sharing agreement.
The ABC's Africa
Correspondent Andrew Geoghegan was in Zimbabwe recently and
he was granted a
rare interview with one of Robert Mugabe's closet allies.
Didymus Mutasa
was head of the country's feared security services and is now
the Minister
of State for Presidential Affairs.
He makes it clear that Prime Minister
Tsvangirai should be doing as
President Mugabe says.
ANDREW
GEOGHEGAN: How would you describe the relationship between Zanu-PF
and NDC?
Is it working?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: We are doing our best. We are working as
well as can be
expected. Tsvangirai takes his orders from the president and
I always feel
that members of the opposition, Tsvangirai's party should have
seen this
much earlier on and started to work with us as Africans, and not
take their
orders as they had done from Europe, Britain and the United
States.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: They say political intimidation is continuing
and there's
no respect for the rule of law, and that human rights are being
violated.
What do you say to those claims?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: Well I say
that's nonsense. There has never been
non-observation of human rights in
this country. In fact, it is our party,
Zanu-PF, which has been fighting for
human rights ever since - there were no
rights in this country at all during
the colonial period. The lot of us used
to have dogs set up on us and we had
to decide to take up arms in order to
achieve both democracy and human
rights.
We find it absolutely nonsensical that anybody could say that we
do not
observe human rights, when in fact it took us 15 years to fight for
them.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: But how then do you explain the political
violence that
has occurred in the past few years, particularly when we look
at the MDC.
Obviously Morgan Tsvangirai himself was targeted.
DIDYMUS
MUTASA: There was no political violence all along until the MDC came
into
the picture. Now who do you accuse for being violent? It was Tsvangirai
himself and that's why he was beaten up by none other than the police,
because he was ignoring their orders.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Why is it
though, that independent human rights groups,
the UN and others, says that
there has been political violence perpetrated
in Zimbabwe by the security
forces?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: In their presence, no. They are talking like,
everyone of
you journalists are talking, repeating things that you have
heard from other
journalists, things that you have not yourselves
experienced. And this is
what, in fact, has been what the - our president is
complaining about, what
he refers to as information imperialism.
And
when they were reporting about us before, they were talking a lot of
rubbish. Lies, and naturally that offended us.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Can
I ask you: what do you believe has been the cause of
Zimbabwe's economic
collapse?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: Well, one chief cause has been the sanctions
that were
imposed against us by your country, Australia, most of the white
Commonwealth countries. And I can't understand why.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN:
But those sanctions are targeted at individuals.
DIDYMUS MUTASA:
Illegally.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: But how would targeted sanctions at
individuals in a
government affect all Zimbabwe?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: Why
should they ever done? What right have other countries
to do, what right
have they got with the affairs that are going on in
Zimbabwe?
ANDREW
GEOGHEGAN: But I don't understand how those targeted sanctions would
cause
economic collapse.
DIDYMUS MUTASA: My dear, they are not targeted. It
targets the relationships
between their companies and our companies, and
those companies are not
individuals. I am one of the targeted people in
sanctions, that doesn't
affect me at all. I mean the fact that people
stopped me from going to
Australia or going to Britain, doesn't affect me at
all.
But the fact that those sanctions have on the ordinary people in
this
country is what really annoys all of us.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Are
you confident that free and fair elections will occur
next year? And if that
is the case, who do you think will win.
DIDYMUS MUTASA: My dear, free and
fair elections have been taking place all
through in Zimbabwe since 1980. We
have never cheated as a party and as a
government. Free and fair election
will continue to take place in Zimbabwe
and in this case Zanu-PF will win.
Zanu-PF will win because it is now beyond
any doubt that you Europeans, you
Australians and all you white
Commonwealth - the so-called international
community, if you behave
yourselves and do not come and interfere in the
internal affairs of
Zimbabwe, no doubt Zanu-PF will win.
ANDREW
GEOGHEGAN: Your leader, president Robert Mugabe is 85 years old. I'm
sure
he'll be the first to admit he's not going to live forever. Are there
succession plans in place?
DIDYMUS MUTASA: We are working on them.
This is still premature to discuss
them. He's not the only person who's head
of state who is that old. The
Queen of England is much older than our
President and nobody had ever
referred to her as an old lady. You all
respect her very much. You people
are racists aren't you.
ANDREW
GEOGHEGAN: But that is a monarchy. That is a separate system.
DIDYMUS
MUTASA: Absolutely, but in terms of being head of state, he sees the
head of
state the same way that our president is head of state.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN:
So he has no plans to retire.
DIDYMUS MUTASA: Well, he has no decision of
his own in our democracy. What
he does is what his people are asking him to
do. And if his people, or when
his people ask him to retire, he will do so
immediately. He is the one man
in this world who is so misunderstood and we
know that it is deliberately so
because there is not any African leader in
this world who has lead his
people as well as that.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN:
Do you ever see a day when Zanu-PF will not be in
government?
DIDYMUS
MUTASA: Never. I don't.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Didymus Mutasa, Zimbabwe's
Minister of State for
Presidential Affairs, speaking there to our African
correspondent Andrew
Geoghegan in Harare.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 22:12
A SOUTHERN
African Development Community (Sadc) ministerial team that
assessed the
implementation of Zimbabwe's troubled power-sharing arrangement
recommended
that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono should be reassigned to
save the
coalition government from collapse.
The recommendations by the
brokers of last year's Global Political
Agreement (GPA) were given to the
members of the Sadc troika on politics,
defence and security who met in
Mozambique on November 5 to deal with the
Zimbabwe crisis.
They also set the tone for the negotiations between the three
coalition
partners, Zanu PF and the two MDC formations due to start this
week as
directed by the mini Sadc summit.
The ministers from Swaziland,
Zambia and Mozambique who met separately
with President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara and
several other stakeholders between October 29
and 30 identified Gono's
continued stay at the RBZ as one of the biggest
threats to the unity
government.
The ministers said: "The governor of the Reserve
Bank should be
assigned to another position as a way of
conversion."
Zanu PF had told the assessment team that Gono's
tenure was not an
outstanding issue as claimed by the MDC-T because his post
was not included
in the GPA.
But Sadc heads of state who
met in South Africa on January 27 and
convinced Tsvangirai to join the
inclusive government the following month
said Gono and Tomana's appointments
must be reviewed by the new government.
A communiqué issued
after the Mozambique meeting said: "The parties
should fully comply with the
spirit and letter of the GPA and Sadc summit
decisions of 27 January
2009."
One of the negotiators confirmed that Gono's
reassignment would be top
on the agenda when the negotiations, which
according to a strict Sadc
timeline must be concluded by month-end,
resume.
"He is not going to be put anywhere near finance,
actually he must not
even be seen in a tuckshop," said the source. "He has
done his part, let him
give others a chance to do the job."
In a surprising turn of events, Zanu-PF spokesperson Ephraim Masawi
said the
party was not interested in what will happen to Gono who has been
defended
by Mugabe on several occasions.
"Gono is just a governor to the
RBZ. Whether he goes or stays, it does
not affect Zanu-PF," Masawi
said.
"He is not a member of the Zanu-PF central committee. I have been
in
Zanu PF for a long time and I have never seen him attending any central
committee meeting."
MDC-T spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said
he could not comment on the
latest developments.
As a way
forward, the Sadc ministers also recommended that Tsvangirai's
status as
Prime Minister should be reviewed, with suggestions that he must
have direct
access to Mugabe.
They also spoke about the need for Sadc and
the African Union to
campaign for the removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe,
for the parties to
work together to stop external influence and create an
internal mechanism to
solve problems.
It has also emerged
that Mugabe told the ministers that if "MDC-T does
not campaign vigorously
for the removal of the sanctions, Zanu PF will not
move on the issue of
governors."
This was contrary to commitments by the ageing
leader that the parties
would share the posts of governors according to
their performance in last
year's elections.
He also said
MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett would be sworn in once he is
cleared of
"criminal charges against him".
On the other hand Tsvangirai
said the removal of sanctions was a
collective responsibility and that where
the parties disagree, a facilitator
must be called in.
South African President Jacob Zuma was asked by the Sadc mini-summit
to
assess the progress towards the fulfilment of the outstanding issues
before
month-end.
MDC-T also wants the appointment of permanent
secretaries to be dealt
with while Zanu PF says it wants an end to the
regime change agenda by the
international community, the closure of pirate
radio stations and that MDC-T
must close "parallel government
structures".
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
22:08
FACTIONALISM was evident at yesterday's nominations of members
for the
Zanu PF presidium and central committee with at least four provinces
failing
to reach a consensus on the top four posts.
Tension
reached fever pitch in Mashonaland West where there were
violent scenes
leading to the arrest of at least 12 people.
In
Bulawayo there were attempts to block some members of a district
co-ordinating committee from participating in the nominations where John
Nkomo has emerged as the front-runner for the second
vice-presidency.
President Robert Mugabe was nominated
unopposed in all provinces,
while his deputy Joice Mujuru now has a fight on
her hands after Masvingo
province nominated women's league boss Oppah
Muchinguri.
Mujuru was unopposed in Matabeleland South,
Matabeleland North,
Mashonaland West, Manicaland and
Harare.
But the other contenders for the two remaining
positions in the
presidium had to keep their fingers crossed as there were a
few surprises.
The Midlands postponed the nominations to
Saturday after some members
raised concern that most people at the party's
grassroots structures had not
been given a chance to
participate.
But it is understood the delay could have been a
deliberate way of
waiting for indicators from the other
provinces.
In Matabeleland North, Mugabe was nominated
unopposed but the province
failed to agree on the choice for the second VP
and national chairman,
resulting in the submission of two names for each of
the positions.
John Nkomo and Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu's
names were submitted for
the VP, while Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and
Zimbabwe's Ambassador to South
Africa Simon Khaya Moyo were nominated for
the chairmanship.
The province also witnessed one of the many
dramatic developments: the
nomination of Jonathan Moyo into Central
Committee.
The former Minister of Information was dropped by Mugabe
during Zanu
PF's 2005 congress after he was nominated by the Tsholotsho
following
allegations that he had led a revolt against Mujuru's
elevation.
In Matabeleland South, provincial chairman Andrew Langa
confirmed they
had nominated Nkomo for VP, while Khaya Moyo was nominated
for the
chairmanship.
Nkomo garnered 69 votes, against
Ndlovu's 41. Khaya Moyo beat Home
Affairs co-Minister, Kembo Mohadi and
Mpofu.
"Everyone is happy with the outcome of the elections,
which we
conducted through a secret ballot," Langa said.
Another surprise was in Masvingo, where Muchinguri trounced Mujuru by
84
votes to 25.
The province nominated Nkomo for the other VP position
and Mohadi for
the chairmanship.
In other provinces, the
process took off late in the afternoon and the
meetings were still in
progress at the time of going to press.
Officials confirmed
they were waiting for the outcome from the
Matabeleland provinces, which
were initially given the preserve to nominate
the VP.
Harare provincial chairman Amos Midzi said they had endorsed Mugabe
and
Mujuru, but did not finalise the other two presidium positions.
"We are still waiting for indications from the Matabeleland provinces.
They
will guide our nomination," Midzi said.
The same happened in
Mashonaland West.
"We endorsed President Mugabe and VP Mujuru,
but for the other two
presidium positions we have to wait for indications
from the Matabeleland
provinces to maintain the spirit that has always been
there," said Local
Government Minister Ignatious Chombo, a politburo member
from the province.
Manicaland province endorsed Mugabe, Mujuru
and Nkomo and also
nominated Didymus Mutasa for the position of
chairman.
"All these were nominated unopposed. No one had a
different view in
Manicaland," said former legislator Enock
Porusingazi.
Zanu PF is divided into three distinct factions
led by Mugabe, Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and retired army general
Solomon Mujuru and the
infighting is set to intensify ahead of next month's
congress where the
nominations for both the central committee and the
presidium will be
endorsed.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE AND GODFREY
MUTIMBA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
22:05
THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has observed
that
the management of the Ministry of Home Affairs does not reflect the
spirit
of the inclusive government. The candid assessment will pile pressure
on
MDC-T co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa on the back of calls by
the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) for him to
resign.
It will also bolster MDC-T negotiators during talks
that start this
week as the party is charging that Zanu PF is unwilling to
see the full
implementation of their power-sharing
agreement.
Foreign ministers from Swaziland, Zambia and
Mozambique who were in
the country to assess the efficacy of the
power-sharing deal last month said
although Mutsekwa and his colleague Kembo
Mohadi (Zanu PF) were working
well, the management of the ministry was not
up to expectations.
"Management of the ministry does not
reflect the spirit of the
inclusive government because the police matters
are controlled by the Police
Service Commission," the ministers said in
their recommendations to the Sadc
troika on peace defence, and security
ahead of its meeting in Mozambique on
November 5.
"The
arrest and jailing of the MDC-T supporters undermines the
inclusive
government."
The foreign ministers observed that although the
coalition had managed
to solve some of Zimbabwe's multitude of problems, it
faced a number of
challenges.
The Sadc ministers also felt
that the Joint Monitoring Committee,
which is made up of representatives
from Zanu PF and the two MDC factions
had not been able to solve "genuine
grievances".
The failure was attributed to the "operational
weakness of the
structure because it does have legal
recognition".
"Its decisions were not legally binding therefore
it has been reduced
to a talk shop with no concrete decisions and a
non-constitutional body
could not monitor constitutionally created entities
of the state," the
ministers noted.
"Its meetings are not
regular and depend on who is chairing."
Analysts say had JOMIC
been effective, there would have been no need
for the Maputo
summit.
The ministers' recommendation on the management of the
Ministry of
Home Affairs gives ammunition to critics of the co-sharing
arrangement that
has resulted in two ministers being in charge of one
ministry.
Among these critics are the leaders of the ZCTU who
were arrested in
Victoria Falls for allegedly violating the notorious Public
Order and
Security Act (POSA).
They were released four days
later after a magistrate said they had no
case to answer.
"The ZCTU expresses its disappointment in the actions of the inclusive
government, particularly those of the co-ministers of Home Affairs Giles
Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi," said ZCTU secretary general Wellington
Chibhebhe.
"As stated in our previous statements, the two
gentlemen have failed
this nation. The best present they can offer
Zimbabweans is to resign."
Mutsekwa and Mohadi were not
available for comment yesterday.
Last month, ZCTU also called
on the two ministers to resign after
three workers were shot at the Shabani
Mine during a peaceful protest.
Mutsekwa says he is working
hard to reform the police force, a vital
tool of repression by the previous
Zanu PF government.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 19:59
LAWYERS will this Monday boycott court proceedings in protest against
the
increasing harassment of judicial officers. The action was prompted by
the
arrest of Mordecai Mahlangu of Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans.
Mahlangu was arrested a fortnight ago for allegedly obstructing the
course
of justice after he wrote to the Attorney General's office saying his
client
Peter Hitschman was not willing to testify in the Roy Bennett treason
case.
Mahlangu appeared at the Harare magistrates' Court on
November 5 and
was remanded out of custody on US$100.
He is
scheduled to appear in court tomorrow Monday (16/11/09).
According to the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) executive secretary,
Edward
Mapara all the lawyers will converge at the Harare Magistrates' Court
for
Mahlangu's court hearing in their High Court regalia.
"On the
same day all offices will be closed and no appearances will be
made in
court," said Mapara.
After the court hearing, the lawyers plan
to march to the Ministry of
Justice calling for an end to the harassment of
lawyers and human rights
defenders.
The LSZ is reportedly
planning to approach the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Justice and
Legal Affairs imploring it to investigate the
harassment of judicial
officers.
Lawyers representing human rights defenders have been
routinely
harassed by law enforcement agents who have been quick to haul
them before
the courts for petty offences.
In May this year
lawyers defied a police ban and marched through the
streets of Harare to
protest against government's harassment of lawyers and
journalists.
Although police maintained heavy presence throughout the
proceedings no one
was beaten. In May 2007 similar action by the lawyers
drew the ire of the
police who beat up several law officers including then
LSZ President
Beatrice Mtetwa.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14
November 2009 19:55
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has been dragged into the
ongoing factional
wrangles in Zanu PF's Harare province after a group of
disgruntled members
petitioned him to "urgently look" into how recent
provincial elections were
conducted. While Zanu PF has already endorsed the
re-election of Amos Midzi
as the party's provincial chairperson, supporters
of his rival Hubert
Nyanhongo have come out fighting - claiming the process
was manipulated to
decimate the camp affiliated to Nyanhono, the deputy
minister of Energy and
Power Development.
Stanford
Chisuko, a spokesperson for the District Co-ordinating
Committee 3, said
they would deliver the petition tomorrow, after failing to
do so on
Friday.
"We want the President to get the correct picture of
what is happening
in Harare because some people are lying to him," said
Chisuko.
"If President Mugabe takes these people seriously, he
will see the
results in the next election. It will be disastrous. We cannot
sit and watch
when some people are killing the party."
Among other things, Chisuko said, the election of the district
leadership
was flawed as in some cases candidates also conducted the same
election they
were contesting.
He also claims that the 13 districts from DCC
3 which participated in
the elections were a minority compared to the 23
that were left out.
Chisuko singled out Central Committee
member and losing parliamentary
candidate Sabina Thembani for fuelling the
chaos.
"We cannot allow such things going on in the party. We
have now
declared parallel structures until elections are
nullified.
"With this type of leadership, there is now a threat
to the party's
performance in future elections," he said.
Chisuko, who claims to be a war veteran, said they "are not going to
rest
until the last man is dead,"without elaborating.
"Our parallel
structure is going to remain as long as the results are
not nullified. These
people are violating the constitution for their
personal gain," he
said.
Thembani could not be reached for
comment.
But Zanu PF deputy spokesperson Ephraim Masawi
dismissed Chisuko's
claims, saying the Harare elections were conducted
properly.
Masawi also denied any knowledge of the petition and
dismissed the
possibility of it ever reaching Mugabe let alone being
considered.
"I am surprised some people are still talking about
the elections,"
Masawi said.
"I am actually shocked, very
shocked that they even want to organise
the party through your
newspaper.
"If they want to talk to the president, there is
protocol that has to
be followed.
"As far as Harare is
concerned, I do not think there is still any
issue to talk
about."
The wrangles in Harare have been going on for almost a
year.
Last December, the poll results were nullified after
violent scenes
rocked the process.
This resulted in the
province failing to participate in elections for
the Women's League and
Youth League.
The current fiasco threatens the province's
participation in the
forthcoming national congress.
BY
VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
18:31
BOTSWANA President Ian Khama on Friday lambasted Zanu PF for
failing
to adhere to provisions of the global political agreement (GPA),
saying the
failure to resolve outstanding issues was undermining the
authority of the
people.
In his State-of-the-Nation address to
parliament, Khama expressed
concern at the failure to resolve outstanding
issues of the GPA, which last
month resulted in the MDC-T partially
disengaging from Zanu PF in cabinet.
"I must here, however, express
concern at the continued failure of
Zanu PF to fully honour the spirit of
the power-sharing agreement," Khama
said.
"In the absence of
genuine partnership it would be better for all
parties to go back to the
people for they are the ultimate authority to
determine who should form the
government of Zimbabwe," said Khama, who has
over the last year emerged as
one of the most vocal critics of President
Robert Mugabe and Zanu
PF.
He said his country would "continue to strongly defend the rights
of
people everywhere to elect their own leaders".
Khama was elected
last month and saw his party, the Botswana
Democratic Party, increasing its
parliamentary majority.
Khama said Botswana will continue to work
alongside other countries
within the framework of Sadc, the African Union,
and the United Nations to
promote adherence to common and universal
values.
The former army general said free and fair elections were the
only
avenue out of the perennial crisis in Zimbabwe.
"There can be
no substitution for free, fair and credible elections,
where people in any
country should be allowed to elect representatives of
their choice, and not
have them imposed on them through rigged elections,
brutalising opponents,
military interventions, constitutional amendments to
stay longer in power,
and one-man rule that goes on for decades. Every
country has a pool of
people who have the ability to lead."
He expressed concern at what he
said was a growing trend in Africa
where negotiated settlements have become
the order of the day.
Khama said: "One thing which I fear may become a
trend in Africa if
not stopped is where an individual and/or a political
party in order to come
into power or stay in power engage in
unconstitutional and undemocratic
actions to achieve this, which as we have
already witnessed result in
power-sharing arrangements and one-man
rule.
Since assuming office in April last year, Khama has taken a hard
stance against Mugabe and Zanu PF. This stance and his open support for
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have made him unpopular with the Harare
regime.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 18:29
INSURANCE giant Old Mutual has drawn sharp criticism from rights
activists
over the company's stake in the Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers)
group, a
government-controlled publishing house. Last week the company
confirmed
ownership of a major stake in Zimpapers, which publishes the
Herald, The
Sunday Mail, The Chronicle, Sunday News, Manica Post and other
smaller
publications.
Papers in the stable have been widely criticised
for being the pillars
of Zanu PF's propaganda machinery.
The
company is the second largest shareholder in Zimpapers after the
government.
This has raised the ire of activists who have
launched the "Stop Old
Mutual's Support for Mugabe's Propaganda Machine"
petition.
Among other things, the petition to Old Mutual chief
executive Julian
Roberts seeks to "demand that Old Mutual publicly withdraw
its stake in
Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd and openly apologise for an investment
that we
sincerely hope was an accidental oversight on your
part".
"It has come to our attention that Old Mutual is the
second largest
shareholder in Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd and is thus guilty of
directly
supporting the Mugabe regime," reads the petition, written by Braam
Hanekom,
a Zimbabwean-born activist now working with the People Against
Suffering,
Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP).
By
Friday afternoon the petition had garnered some 1 000
signatures.
It describes the investment as "essentially arming
Mugabe's propaganda
machine, the equivalent to loading bullets into the guns
that kill
oppositional voices in Zimbabwe", adding that this has
implications on
ordinary people in the country and beyond.
"We are shocked and dismayed that a company with so much to lose,
considering its international profile, has chosen to include the Mugabe
regime's propaganda newspapers in its investment portfolio," adds the
petition.
Hanekom said if Old Mutual turns a deaf ear to
their plea, they "will
be forced to embark on protest actions and plan to
engage as many Old Mutual
policy holders as possible".
Old
Mutual Chairperson Muchadeyi Masunda could not be reached last
week.
However, SW Radio quoted Masunda as saying the
investment dated back
to a time when the political situation in Zimbabwe was
still stable.
He said the investments were driven by the desire
to get financial
returns for the company.
Last month,
rights activists launched a vigorous campaign that stopped
Nestle from
buying milk from Gushungo Farm, which is owned by the First
Family.
Despite earlier attempts to defend its position,
Nestle Zimbabwe
finally bowed down to pressure and stopped ordering milk
from the farm.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14
November 2009 17:18
SYLVIA Muzvidzwa is already a widow at 18. She is
also nine months
pregnant with her first child.
Recounting
events that led to the loss of her husband, Godfrey Tonde,
Muzvidzwa said he
left home in a "good mood" that day.
For her, this was
just like any other day when Tonde (23), who raised
the family income
through selling clothes outside Mupedzanhamo flea market
everyday, left with
his usual parting words: "Ndirikudzoka masikati," (I
shall return in the
afternoon).
But on Monday he didn't come back.
Instead Muzvidzwa received the worst news of her life - Tonde was
dead. It
was her brother-in-law who delivered the bad news in the
evening.
All day she had waited for her husband's return while
her unborn baby
"was kicking" in her womb.
Speaking to The
Standard in Mabvuku, where mourners had gathered, a
tearful Muzvidzwa said:
"I am expecting his child this month, I am due any
time
now."
Tonde died exactly one year after the couple got
married.
Eking a living as a vendor, Tonde was described by
relatives and
friends as a humble person.
An uncle, who
preferred to be identified only as Mr Tonde said: "He
was just a young man
trying to feed his small family. My son was not a thief
and this is a loss
to our family."
On Tuesday police reports broadcast on state
radio said Tonde was an
"illegal vendor" who slipped and fell. They said he
died after his head
struck a rock.
In a surprising move
though, police arrested 22 municipal policemen
last week in connection with
the disturbances that resulted in Tonde's
death.
Police
spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said all the
people
involved in Tonde's death would be brought to book.
"The
municipal police are not allowed to beat up vendors and it's a
criminal
offence to beat anyone," he said.
However, the Harare City
Council denies responsibility for Tonde's
death. In what is likely to anger
his relatives, a senior council official
who declined to be named insisted
Tonde had died from an asthma attack or a
related illness.
"From our preliminary investigations, the vendor was terminally ill.
He
probably had asthma or a related ailment. He died of causes that are not
remotely linked to what is being alleged. That is what the post-mortem
results also indicate."
Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said
council was not responsible for
Tonde's death."We made a humanitarian
resolution to assist the family with a
coffin, hearse and a truck to
transport mourners for the funeral in Mutoko
after we learnt of the death,"
Masunda said.
He however referred questions to city
spokesperson Leslie Gwindi who
said they were "still waiting" for the
post-mortem results.
Frozen Tonde, a brother of the deceased,
said results were already out
but they were unhappy with the
findings.
"The results from Harare Hospital point away from the
truth. They are
saying he fell on his head," Frozen said.
Frozen and other family members believe Tonde was a victim of
municipal
police brutality. They say he was viciously kicked by a municipal
official,
resulting in his death.
"One doctor at the hospital told us on
Monday that his private parts
had been severely injured," said one of the
family members.
Their accounts are corroborated by other
vendors at the market.
They said commotion started after
municipal police arrived in a blue
Mitsubishi truck and started chasing away
vendors who were selling their
wares outside the market.
A
vendor who identified herself only as "Amai Morgan" said she
witnessed the
attack on Tonde. "The municipal police officer kicked him in
his genitals;
we saw Tonde rolling three times before he died," said Amai
Morgan.
"Everyone who was at Chishawasha grounds saw him being kicked in the
crotch"
Tonde's death is a result of a turf war pitting council
against
illegal or unlicensed vendors.
Last month another
vendor at Mupedzanhamo flea market, Martha
Chitambira, died when a missile
struck her during a demonstration against
the proposed re-organisation of
the market.
There are suspicions the clashes are fuelled by
Zanu PF politicians
who are trying to use the chaos at these vending markets
to score political
points.
Local Government Minister
Ignatious Chombo moved faster than council
to meet the vendors following
Tonde's death.
Masunda said the deaths could have been avoided
had there been no
political interference hindering the implementation of
council by-laws.
"What we are seeing is a manifestation of
years and years of lack of
political will to enforce municipal by-laws,"
Masunda said.
"We are seeking a long-term solution to problems
manifesting
themselves in densely populated areas like Mbare. "This is a
national
crisis; it has to be handled appropriately.
"Zimbabwe has some of the best legislation, but what has been lacking
is the
political will to enforce them."
Loopholes in the enforcement
of by-laws, added Masunda, had resulted
in the emergence of "invisible
landlords" who have taken over the role of
council.
"For
example, at the Machipisa Hardware Market, we have only 62
registered
tenants but if you go there now, there are 800 traders.
"We
have got these invisible landlords who are sub-letting their
stalls. These
are the people who are fuelling the chaos because they thrive
on
it."
However, the death of Tonde and Chitambira has left
Masunda and his
team facing a big challenge: to convince people that council
is not fighting
them, but trying to help.
"We are doing
this to help the people of Mbare. We want them to be the
direct tenants, not
to be sub-tenants. "It is not good for us to just sit in
our ivory towers
when such things are happening. We should never be at peace
with ourselves,"
Masunda said.
But the vendors in Harare are not in a mood to
listen and have
declared a war on the municipal police.
"Next time
we see someone from the council we are going to deal with
him," threatened
one vendor who identified herself as Mai Rose.
BY SANDRA
MANDIZVIDZA & VUSUMUZI
SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
17:02
BULAWAYO - A Plumtree magistrate and prosecutors in the border
town
have recused themselves from a potentially explosive case after they
received death threats for denying bail to soldiers accused of shooting a
policeman. Seven soldiers armed with AK47 riffles led by a lieutenant in
September stormed a Dingumuzi Stadium during a soccer match and shot the
policeman they accused of snatching their colleague's
girlfriend.
Resident magistrate Mark Dziva who handled the case
reportedly
received a letter warning him that he would be killed after he
denied three
of the seven accused soldiers, Victor Mugo, Tapiwa Chigiji and
Trust Matende
bail. The letter was delivered a week after Dziva remanded
them in custody
to October 30.
Sources said the case has
since been transferred to Gwanda because
judicial officers in Plumtree now
feared for their lives.
Dziva could not be reached for comment
but the matter was reported to
the police.
The officer
commanding Matabeleland South Criminal Investigations
Department (CID) Chief
Superintendent, Abigail Dube confirmed that the
magistrate received the
death threats.
"The matter is under investigation," Dube said,
without elaborating.
The threats against the judicial officers
in Plumtree come at a time
when there are mounting concerns about the unity
government's failure to
promote the rule of law.
Last week,
human rights lawyers complained about the failure by the
Attorney General,
Johannes Tomana to protect them from harassment.
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
16:55
ZIMBABWE is set to experience the "worst ever agriculture season"
since the beginning of the chaotic land reform programme nearly a decade
ago, farmers warned last week. The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which
represents mainly white commercial farmers, said renewed farm invasions,
shortages of inputs, as well as the inaccessibility of funding from
financial institutions had thrown preparations for the summer cropping
season into disarray.
The CFU warned that the country had
to brace for a national food
crisis never experienced in the past 10
years.
The union's chief executive officer, Hendrik Olivier,
said farming
preparations had virtually stopped due to disturbances rocking
the farming
sector.
"We are possibly sitting on the worst
agricultural season since
Independence and definitely the worst since the
land invasions," Olivier
said.
At least 152 of the
estimated 400 remaining commercial farmers, who
were facing prosecution for
refusing to vacate their farms - were evicted
through the courts recently, a
situation which will have a bearing on the
national agricultural
output.
Even black resettled farmers suspected of being
anti-President Robert
Mugabe's administration are having their farms
repossessed and given to the
85-year-old leader's
loyalists.
White commercial farmers are being prevented from
planting while the
once-productive farms acquired by the government are
producing either very
little or nothing.
"The summer
cropping season is upon us and the situation is extremely
serious," CFU
president Deon Theron said.
"As commercial farmers we are being
prevented from producing crops and
the highly productive farms that have
been acquired by the government are
producing either very little or
nothing."
CFU estimates that under the prevailing conditions,
Zimbabwe will be
able to produce less than 500 tonnes of maize against a
national requirement
of 1,8 million tonnes.
Thousands of
farm workers have become destitute overnight on farms
they have lived on
their whole lives.
The farm invasions have not spared livestock
either. Cattle, goats and
other domestic animals are being stolen,
slaughtered, snared and axed,
Theron said.
"Thousands have
inhumanely been denied food and water for more than a
week at a time, with
many dying or eating their young as they desperately
try to survive," he
said.
The resettled farmers are also complaining about the
shortage of
inputs such as seed, chemicals and fertiliser.
They said most financial institutions were refusing to give farmers
loans
because they do not recognise government's offer letters and 99-year
leases
as collateral.
"Government support for the newly resettled
farmers has not been what
it is supposed to be," said Blackmore Chaduka, a
farmer in Banket in
Mashonaland Central.
"We are not
getting the seed and fertiliser we used to get from
government. We are not
yet financially sound to stand on our own."
Chaduka said if he
fails to get assistance from government he would
only plant "a few hectares"
for his family.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU),
which represents mainly
black resettled farmers, said although they were
facing "challenges" it was
too early to predict a food
crisis.
"We are likely to have a food deficit but I can't say
there will be
serious food shortages," said ZCFU president Wilson Nyabonda.
"The rains
have not yet started so we still have a little bit of
time."
He said ZCFU had made representations to treasury and
they expected
assistance in the form of inputs soon.
In the
communal areas, the situation is equally dire. Most farmers
have not been
able to plant because there is no seed and fertiliser in the
shops.
In areas where inputs are available, they are beyond
the reach of the
ordinary communal farmers most of whom have no access to
the multiple
currencies, 10 months after the dollarisation of the
economy.
The CFU said apart from the human-induced factors,
there is also a
threat of the El Nino weather phenomenon that has been
forecast for the
southern parts of the country.
Nyabonda
agrees: "We are likely to have above average rainfall in the
first half of
the season in southern parts of the country and that could
have a bearing on
national output."
The country's agricultural production has
plunged since 2000 when war
veterans started invading white-owned commercial
farms.
Last year Zimbabwe, once regarded as the breadbasket of
southern
Africa, only managed to produce a paltry 500 tonnes of maize, down
from more
than two million tonnes before the invasions.
As
a result an estimated five million people out of a population of
13,5
million were dependent on donor assistance for the greater part of this
year.
But the CFU said it would be difficult for the donor
community to
continue assisting Zimbabwe, a country whose government has
been hindering
agricultural development through land
invasions.
"Justifying massive shipments of food aid to
countries whose
governments destroy their population's ability to feed
themselves is proving
to be increasingly difficult," the CFU
said.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
16:52
THE Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare is in the process of
drafting a Social Protection (SP) Strategic Framework to improve on existing
social protection schemes whose benefits were last enjoyed a decade
ago.
SP is a set of interventions to reduce social and economic
risk and
vulnerability.
Local SP programmes include
the Basic Education Assistance Module
(BEAM) which provides tuition
assistance to Orphans and Vulnerable Children
and Cash Transfers which
provide free cash assistance to the elderly,
chronically ill and disabled
persons.
The ministry, together with the donor community under
the Zimbabwe
Multi-Donor Trust Fund last week held a one-day workshop in
Harare to
consult stakeholders on gaps that might have to be
filled.
Labour Minister Paurina Mpariwa said there was need to
adopt policies
that will equip the poor with coping mechanisms as gaps in SP
provision
continue to plunge many into the deep end of poverty despite
significant
economic improvements that have been recorded in the
country.
"Despite positive political and economic changes,
there still exist
challenges with regard to increasing levels of
vulnerability resulting from
a web of overlapping factors," Mpariwa
said.
"Limited access to cash following adoption of multiple
currencies
means that more households have been drawn into poverty with
limited coping
mechanisms."
She said SP remained important
despite the decreasing HIV and Aids
prevalence rate as the number of
children being orphaned continues to grow
exponentially.
Mpariwa said the elderly, who care for many orphans, continue to
require
assistance as their pensions have been eroded by the previously
hyper-inflationary environment.
She said equally affected
were the disabled whereby only one tenth of
them were receiving social
assistance.
Also needing help were youths who have been thrown
into poverty by the
economic crisis of the past decade which rendered them
jobless, she said.
"Before the economic crisis Zimbabwe had a
well diversified and viable
social security system administered by both the
public and private sector,"
she said.
"These systems in
terms of design are still intact, however in terms
of delivering services
they have practically collapsed."
Speakers at the workshop said
poor beneficiary selection and targeting
was among the major negative
factors to infiltrate SP provision.
A report released in May
shows that the local situation further
deteriorated following the often
violent land reform programme, which
affected mostly poor households who
were rendered unemployed and homeless
after the ownership of the farms where
they stayed changed.
John Rock, a resource person from Regional
Hunger and Vulnerability
Programme, said such SP schemes as crop packs,
price subsidy, old age
pension, free primary education and public works have
failed to alleviate
hunger and poverty in many countries.
This, he said, was because of a failure to adhere to requirements that
SP
schemes should be pro-poor, on budget and predictable.
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
16:45
GURUVE - For most communal farmers, having no cattle for draught
power
makes all the difference between timeous land preparation and a good
harvest.
But not so for many smallholder farmers in Guruve
district in
Mashonaland Central, where lack of draught power has not stopped
villagers
from trebling their harvest.
Over the
years it is farmers with draught power who used to be the
most successful.
That trend is fast changing.
The reason: the introduction of a
new inputs support scheme for
farmers who practise zero
tillage.
The programme is being implemented by the Food and
Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) under its European Union Global Food Security
Facility
Scheme, which is meant to foster a rapid response to rising hunger,
especially in developing countries.
About 10 000 farmers in
Guruve district have over the last three years
benefited from the
programme.
Giving their testimonies after receiving seed maize and
fertilizer,
farmers from Ward 5 in the district commended FAO for the
programme, saying
it had transformed them from being "beggars to suppliers"
of food.
"Over the years I always failed to benefit from the
first rains
because those with draught power would only lend me their
draught animals
and equipment after they had finished ploughing their own
fields," said
Laiza Whande, 62, one of the 775 beneficiaries from Ward
5.
As a woman, it was always difficult for Whande to access
tractors
provided by the government to assist farmers.
She
doesn't need them anymore.
"I have already dug 11 200 holes,
and I will put the fertilizer in the
holes right away because the rains may
start anytime. By the time rains
start I will be ready to
plant.
"Since I started zero tillage, my output has been
increasing year
after year and for the first time I had some surplus to
sell."
While the farmers say the programme is the best under
their
circumstances, they believe it still has some gaps that need to be
addressed
urgently.
"They should also provide top dressing
fertilizer, because most of us
still face many challenges accessing it,"
said Dorica Tsongoro, another
farmer.
"I believe yields
will improve a great deal when they also provide top
dressing
fertilizer.
"At the moment we just use Compound D and that is
it. This is not good
for the crops."
Judas Phiri, a senior
supervisor for the Sustainable Agriculture Trust
(SAT), which is
distributing the inputs on behalf of FAO, said although
there was initial
resistance by farmers to zero tillage, the scheme was now
increasingly
popular.
"We prioritised those who do not have any cattle,
followed by those
with one or two cattle.
"We felt this
would be useful to empower those farmers who do not have
anything to use for
farming," Phiri said.
Since the inception of the programme
during the 2006/2007 farming
season, SAT has carried a massive campaign to
promote conservation farming
through zero tillage.
Several
training programmes have been held for the farmers to maximize
output. "We
train the farmers on the best ways of using fertilizer. One
advantage with
conservation farming is that it minimizes the amount of
fertilizer that is
wasted.
As part of the humanitarian community's response to
growing food
insecurity in the country, 176 000 smallholder farmers
nationwide will
receive inputs for the upcoming 2009/2010 summer cropping
season from FAO
under the EU Food Facility.
Inputs support
schemes have worked in countries such as Malawi and
Mozambique, where the
government, private sector and the donor community
have partnered to assist
small-scale farmers.
Zimbabwe used to have such a scheme, but
with the onset of the
so-called "agrarian reform" it went down the
drain.
By VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
16:05
AT the peak of her "career", Jane Kanyongatise was among the most
popular women in Nyamapanda, a small town on the Zimbabwe-Mozambican border
in the northeast. The demand for her services mostly among truck drivers was
always very high.
But as she grew older, the number of
clients continued to plunge.
She would go for days and at times
weeks without getting clients.
This was not normal for someone
who had grown accustomed to sleeping
with not "less than a dozen men in one
night" and almost the same number
during the day.
"To be
honest with you, I do not even know how many men I would sleep
with in one
day," said Kanyongatise, a 55-year-old mother of four who is now
living
positively with HIV.
"I never had any other job, I got into
prostitution at a tender age
and while it lasted, I thought this was the
best way to go.
"But as I grew older, the number of my clients
started dwindling.
Things became difficult.
"It was worse
when I got tested and was diagnosed HIV-positive."
After
discovering she was HIV-positive, Kanyongatise ran out of
options.
She could not parade herself before truck drivers
anymore because she
knew that would not work.
It was then
that she collaborated with other people living with
HIV/Aids (PLWAs) in her
neighbourhood to embark on self-help projects and
they formed the Muzezuru
Tashinga Support Group.
"We have 20 members, 12 of whom are
women," Erida Mikishori said.
"We set up a nutritional garden
where we gather as PLWAs and share
ideas of positive
living.
"There is a lot we can do to improve our own lives and
the entire
community."
With the assistance of the British
Embassy and Development Aid from
People to People (DAPP), a non-governmental
organisation, PLWAs in
Nyamapanda have undertaken a number of self-help
projects.
They use the projects to fight stigma, enhance
self-sustenance and
restore hope among PLWAs.
On Tuesday,
the British Embassy commissioned two of the projects,
Zvinodakushinga
Nutrition Garden and Sewing Club.
Commissioning the projects,
the embassy's second secretary for
political affairs, Catherine Carr said
the initiative would curb growing sex
work and HIV/Aids prevalence in
Nyamapanda.
"These projects demonstrate that there are
alternative and safer means
of earning income than commercial sex and I have
no doubt that they will
lead to others coming on board with similar projects
in the future," Carr
said.
"I know that many of the
courageous women involved in these projects
have also done good community
outreach work focused on HIV and AIDS.
"This has helped to
reduce HIV rates in Nyamapanda and put a check on
the growth of commercial
sex in this border town."
Since the inception of the projects
in 2007, an estimated 900
households have benefited.
The
British Embassy contributed US$20 000 which was used to purchase
fencing
material, sewing machines and other inputs for the projects.
The projects have brought about a new lease of life for the hundreds
of
PLWAs in Nyamapanda.
But their problems are not over
yet.
"All our members are people who are living positively, so
at times it
becomes difficult for them to consistently carry out their
duties,
especially when they fall sick," said Tafirei Jongwe, the
chairperson of
Tashinga Support Group.
A number of
beneficiaries gave testimonies on how their fears of death
had suddenly
disappeared after they got involved in the projects.
"I was so
convinced I would die very fast," said Maidei Chawona, a
36-year-old member
of the sewing club.
"But now I am able to support myself, even
better than I used to when
I was still a commercial sex
worker.
"I now make my own clothes as well as my children's
school uniforms."
According to Peter Karikuimba, the founder of
Tafara Sewing Club, an
increasing number of women has expressed interest in
the project, driving
the need to look for larger premises.
Through the self-help projects, the community in Nyamapanda has
managed to
demystify the subjects of HIV, AIDS and commercial sex work, as
people now
openly talk about the issues.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
16:02
AN aid agency has warned that donor fatigue is threatening to
reverse
HIV/Aids programmes in developing countries including Zimbabwe.
Medicines
San Frontiers (MSF) in a recently released report titled Punishing
Success?
says the success in the fight against the pandemic had largely
depended on
donors.
"Over the past decade, enormous resources have
been mobilised globally
to address the HIV/Aids crisis on a large scale,"
reads part of the report.
"MSF has seen first-hand the achievements. .
. the good news is that
four million HIV-positive people are alive on
antiretroviral therapy (ART),"
reads part of the report.
"The
scale-up of ART in developing countries has allowed individuals
to live
longer and enjoy a better quality of life, leading to a restoration
of
dignity and autonomy and an ability to contribute to family and societal
life."
However, mounting evidence on the ground shows that there is
reduced
commitment to fund HIV and Aids programmes, MSF says.
Zimbabwe is one of at least 30 countries where the agency says the
effects
of donor fatigue have become evident.
The report adds: "Today, MSF
teams working to treat HIV/Aids are
witnessing worrying signs of waning
international support to combat
HIV/Aids.
"In some high-burden
countries, patients are being turned away from
clinics, and clinicians are
once again being forced into the unacceptable
position of rationing
life-saving treatment.
"At the same time, more robust and
better-tolerated treatments -
widely prescribed in wealthy countries - are
not reaching patients."
MSF said the funding deficit was a glaring sign
of lack of political
commitment to fight the scourge.
"The Global
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board is
considering a motion
to cancel the funding of Round 10 for 2010, if
accepted, no new proposals
will be considered until 2011.
"Similarly, the US President's Emergency
Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR)
plans to "flat-fund" its programmes for the
next two years, reneging on
promises made last year to support expanded
treatment access," said MSF.
The Global Fund and the US government's
HIV/Aids programme, PEPFAR,
are the two most significant supporters of Aids
programmes in developing
countries.
In March, the Global Fund
announced that it was facing an "alarming
funding gap of US$4 billion" based
on budget needs of up to 2010.
MSF says increasing calls for a
diversion of foreign aid away from
HIV/Aids to other health priorities had
also contributed to reduced donor
funding.
"Reducing funding at
this juncture would not only undermine the goal
of reducing maternal and
child mortality, but it could also lead to the
interruption of treatment for
people with HIV/Aids already on ART and leave
those still in need of access
to treatment to die premature, avoidable
deaths," the report says.
HIV/Aids is the leading cause of mortality among women of
child-bearing age
worldwide.
Zimbabwe is among the top five countries with the highest
HIV
prevalence with new estimates showing that at least 13,7% of the
population
is living with the disease.
"The crisis is not over,"
MSF said.
"In the 10 highest HIV prevalence countries, Aids is the
leading cause
of death: 80% of all deaths in Botswana and two-thirds of all
deaths in
Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe are due to Aids."
"Less
than a quarter of HIV-positive pregnant women have access to
Prevention of
Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT).
BY BERTHA
SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009
14:25
AIR Zimbabwe has failed to pay a number of its workers their
October
salaries, sparking serious discontent among trade unionists who fear
they
are being victimised. Management at the beleaguered national carrier
has
blamed the crisis on cash flow problems.
But the National
Airline Workers' Union (NAWU), which says 300 workers
have been affected by
the delays, says the move is punishment for unionists
challenging a
controversial retrenchment programme by the national carrier.
Unions
have been challenging the proposed retrenchment that will
affect 409
workers.
"The exercise is not genuine, it is meant to paralyse the
union and
undermine its existence," said one of the affected employees who
is also a
leader in the union.
"In October the company proposed
staggering salaries, but it later
turned out they were actually using that
exercise to disfranchise workers
the company wants to retrench."
On
October 28, the airline notified its employees that salaries would
not be
paid on time.
"This is to advise all members of staff that October 2009
salaries
will be delayed and staggered.
"We will start paying
salaries tomorrow beginning with the lower
grades.
"Communication
will be done through your respective managers when your
turn comes," reads
the notice, signed by the company's general manager for
finance and support
services and authorised by group chief executive, Peter
Chikumba.
The workers waited patiently for their turn for payment.
But when they
got wind of reports that their colleagues in the same
grades had been paid,
they became suspicious and approached their managers
who insisted all was
under control.
"We then noticed that only those workers who had been
listed for
retrenchment had not been paid. These workers fall within grades
A3, B1-B5,
C1-C5, EN1-EN6 as well as E grade and F grade.
"We
checked and realised that other workers in the same grades had
already been
paid," said the employee.
Since then, the workers have been shuttling
between the human
resources and finance offices in vain.
Chikumba
was not available for comment as he was said to be attending
a Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA) board meeting.
But the company's manager for
strategy and economics, Nobert
Machingauta confirmed they had of late faced
challenges paying employees.
He blamed it on the global financial
crisis which he said had led to a
decline in the troubled airline's
business. "The correct position is that we
have simply staggered the
salaries, starting with the lower grades,"
Machingauta said.
"Our
cash inflows do not come everyday. But once cash becomes
available, we pay
in batches. This situation is not peculiar to us; other
airlines also face
the same challenges because of the global financial
crisis."
Machingauta said they expected the situation to normalise next month
at the
peak of the festive season. "We are now getting into our peak season,
which
starts around December 15. After that we will be able to pay all
workers on
time," he said.
Air Zimbabwe has of late been battling with an array of
viability
problems. Surprisingly its leadership has won awards purportedly
for
management excellence.
The airline is among the least
profitable parastatals.
A few months ago, the company proposed to
retrench 409 employees, but
the plan seems to hit a brick
wall.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 14:22
BULAWAYO - A conference expected to spell out business's expectations
for
next year's keenly awaited budget was postponed last week because
government
officials "were busy". Officials said the inaugural Business
Council of
Zimbabwe (BCZ) pre-budget conference originally scheduled to run
from
November 11 to 13 in Nyanga was postponed because government officials
were
committed "elsewhere".
"We have rescheduled the BCZ conference because
the date we had set
coincided with other commitments of some of the
stakeholders and government
officials need to attend to," Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
chief executive officer Clifford Sileya said last
week.
BCZ, which is a coalition of stakeholders in the country's
economic
sectors was formed last year and comprises CZI, Zimbabwe National
Chamber of
Commerce, Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, Zimbabwe Commercial
Farmers' Union,
Chamber of Mines, Commercial Farmers' Union, Bankers'
Association of
Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Farmers' Union and the Employers'
Confederation of
Zimbabwe.
Sileya said the conference was expected
to come up with expectations
and resolutions for business in the 2010
national budget, with a view of
"re-energizing Zimbabwe's economy".
Finance Minister, Tendai Biti says his first budget is "going to be a
transitional budget which will seek to move the country from a stabilisation
budget to a growth budget and to move from a non-performance to
performance-driven budget".
However, formulation of the budget has
been delayed by the
disagreements in the unity government that forced MDC-T
to withdraw
partially from the coalition for three weeks.
Zimbabwe's economy, struggling to recover after almost a decade of
decline
due to ill- planned policies, is expected to grow by about 3% this
year,
according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A unity government
formed in February has managed to put brakes to the
country's economic slide
but failure to attract much needed aid to drive the
recovery process has
slowed the process.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November
2009 14:19
BULAWAYO - The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company is
struggling
to pay its bills, forcing it to apply to the Bulawayo City
Council for a 50
% rebate. According to a report of the council's Finance
and Development
Committee tabled at a full council meeting last week, ZITF
owes US$44 748 in
unpaid rates that include sewage and refuse removal and
says it is "very
hard-pressed to meet this obligation".
On
September 11, ZITF wrote to the municipality seeking a waiver and
council
which is also short of cash has since acceded to the request.
At the
current rate by December, the bill would escalate to US$82 435,
council
said.
Reads part of the letter from ZITF general manager Daniel
Chigaru: "I
am writing to request that the Bulawayo City Council re-consider
granting
ZITF Company a rebate on payment for owner's rates, sewerage and
refuse
removal.
"The ZITF became liable for payment of owner's
rates charges in August
1996 in terms of section 269 of the Urban Councils
Act of 1995.
"Between that date and December 2006 the Bulawayo City
Council allowed
the company rebates from time to time varying from 20%
during 1997/98 year
to 50% for the 2005-2006 period."
Basing on the
role played by ZITF in the city in attracting investment
and marketing, the
City Fathers resolved to "give a sympathetic ear" to the
request.
In their resolution they said ".that ZITF be granted a 50% rebate on
rates,
sewerage and solid waste management on the understanding that ZITF
would
reciprocate this offer and waive city of Bulawayo's space rental for
ZITF
2009 which currently amounted to US$5 353".
Chigaru revealed that by
hosting this year's trade exhibition, ZITF
posted a huge deficit of over
US$170 000. Participation was lower than in
the recent past.
Council records indicate that by granting the rebate, council stands
to lose
revenue amounting to US$41 217.80.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14
November 2009 16:46
"Man is always a threat to the social order that
produced him", a
British philosopher and novelist, Bertrand Russell once
wrote. The
philosophy underpinning this presupposition is that a man is
aware and
conscious of the values and the systems that helped produce him:
he is privy
to the cracks and crevices in the shell that produced him and in
that
regard, he wields great power to overturn it, should he wish to. This
is
true of Jonathan Moyo and his Zanu PF party.
While
Moyo's hitherto declaration to disassociate himself from the
ways of Zanu PF
seemed a sure sign of his true vitality, versatility and
principle, it is
now clear that his life-long inescapable quest has been and
shall always be
to please his handlers.
If Moyo's idealism to part ways with
Zanu PF was a delusion, then it
was a noble one. But contrary to what people
thought of the professor, he
went on to rejoin the same party he accused of
gross violations of human
rights, despicable enslavement of the people,
partisan idealism and
propaganda.
His return to Zanu PF and
his instantaneous acceptance implies that
Zanu PF may be in fear that he
poses a threat to the party since he helped
craft policies and legislation
that have ensured the continued oppression of
the masses which Zanu PF have
constantly relied on.
His return to Zanu PF party has been a
subject of intense debate
amongst Zimbabweans. How could a man who left Zanu
PF claiming that he had
decided to be with the people instead of being a
"hostage to the whims and
caprices of political patronage" go back to the
same system?
How could an "intellectual" of his calibre revert
to the system that
invented parochial policies such as POSA and AIPPA? A
party responsible for
undermining the civil liberties of not only the people
of Tsholotsho he
claims to represent but those of every Zimbabwean; a party
he claimed said
and still says is "deadwood?"
How could the
same man misdirect all his energy, intellect and zeal to
prop up the image
of a failing geriatric? He has the audacity to justify his
desperate move by
hiding behind freedoms of association and expression
forgetting that he
gagged and circumscribed the media and every other
Zimbabwean's
rights.
The responses to these questions lie in the
analysis of his behaviour
towards anybody and everybody who has dared
challenge his principal.
Moyo should know that the eternal
question that ought to haunt him if
he, by any chance, aspires for
integrity, is not why he re-joined Zanu PF
but that which calls him to
account for the pronouncements he made while on
"separation" with Zanu
PF.
Zanu PF is still the same and its principles and beliefs
are still
anchored on violence hence the people are justified in asking him
to
account. If he claimed that President Robert Mugabe is surrounded by
deadwood, have those woods suddenly become fresh? Or is he another piece of
deadwood that was fighting because its place had been taken by other
splinters of deadwood?
Furthermore, to the perpetual memory
of every Zimbabwean, Moyo is
guilty of having crafted the worst documents
operational in independent
Zimbabwe, which even up to date are still used to
restrain civil liberties
and to deprive men of his rights to political
freedom.
To that end, Zimbabweans have every reason to be
worried when a man
who dealt with the media and voice of dissent in a
ruthless manner,
launches a rejoinder to work with Zanu PF again, a party
whose history of
violence is self-confessed and well documented. The
question many would want
to ask is: Won't Zanu PF provide, as it has done
previously, a fertile
ground for Moyo to persecute all who disagree with him
and his principal?
It should also be acknowedged that Moyo's
ability to spread hate
language and create a divided nation is
unparalleled.
He helped create a machinery of unprecedented
efficiency for enslaving
the minds and crushing the spirit of Zimbabweans
through AIPPA and POSA and
has been driven by a life-long quest for a
totalitarian society.
It was during Moyo's term of office as
the Minister of Information and
Publicity that Zimbabwe became very
polarised and it is very difficult and
naïve to believe that he had no hand
in the June 27 violence.
Many will remember that prior to
Moyo's return to Zanu PF and earlier,
before the June 27 run-off election,
reports were already out that he was
masterminding Zanu PF's election
victory "by any means necessary". His
invisible hand behind the polarisation
in the media and the violence speaks
for itself.
The people
of Matabeleland in general and Tsholotsho in particular
have a history of
rejecting Zanu PF because of the Gukurahundi atrocities
and the deliberate
underdevelopment of Matabeleland. The people, who voted
for Moyo in
Tsholotsho in the presence of a Zanu PF candidate, did so
because he was not
Zanu PF. Why would Moyo go back to Zanu PF after all that
Zanu PF has done
to the people of Matabeleland?
BY EMMANUEL NDLOVU AND
NHLANHLA MPOFU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November
2009 16:43
AFRICA'S natural and mineral resources place it in a
position where it
should not be entirely dependent on foreign aid inflows
for its salvation.
Blame for the continent's condition should rest squarely
on its leadership's
failure to negotiate investment ventures and trade
agreements that serve the
interests of their countries.
The
rapacious greed of the continent's economic and political elite is
partly
responsible for Africa's dependency on aid despite its immense
resources
which are sought after by the rest of the world economies.
Two
recent examples explain the tragedy that blights the continent.
Last month
the UK's Guardian newspaper exposed how Trafigura, a UK oil
trader, shipped
toxic petroleum by-products waste to Ivory Coast in 2006 and
had the waste
dumped - not in some far flung corner of the West African
nation but in 15
locations right in the capital, Abidjan.
Hundreds of residents of
the capital have since developed
life-threatening conditions. Sadly nearly
20 others perished as a result of
exposure to the toxic
waste.
Dumping of the toxic cargo could only have taken place
with the
connivance of greedy but well-connected elites. How else could such
a
scandal happen under the watch of the Ivorian authorities? Africa's
leaders
have decided to serve their own personal interests or have simply
become
agents of foreign interests.
The second example is
found in Nigeria's oil-rich delta region. Ever
since the days of Ken
Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by the Nigerian government
of Sani Abacha this
month 12 years ago, the indigenous people of the delta
region have
questioned the benefits of the plunder of their oil
resources.
Clearly the issue remains unresolved. That is
why the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta is still pressing
for benefits from the
exploitation of the region to be accessed and realised
by its inhabitants.
The fault lies with the governments and political
leadership that
allows or negotiates for the exploitation of the continent's
resources in a
manner that does not benefit the immediate inhabitants of the
region or
citizens of a particular country. The continent's brain drain has
exposed
the paucity of negotiating skills available to African
governments.
It is this skills deficit that has resulted in
exploitative financing
arrangements that on paper appear appetising yet in
reality turn out to be a
bitter pill. Africa is contributing to the growth
and development of other
economies with minimal resultant benefits to its
own.
Africa, it is said, is witnessing an increase in aid and
that foreign
currency remittances from its Diaspora have become a
significant source of
foreign exchange inflows. For example, last week China
announced a
multi-billion dollar aid package for Africa.
The figure appears significant, but on closer examination it is not
much
considering there are 50-odd countries on the continent. The amount is
especially telling when considered against the backdrop of the continent's
resources going either East or West. Aid therefore becomes nothing more than
a sweetener or a diversion to keep the continent within the sphere of
exploitation.
Zimbabwe has enormous mineral resources, key
among them platinum,
diamonds, gold, gas, cotton and horticulture. However,
in negotiating
exploitation of these resources and others, it is important
to call on the
assistance of experienced negotiators who can get the best
deals - for both
the investors and Zimbabweans.
The
negotiating skills are readily available and it's time African
governments
realised that when it comes to negotiating investment and trade
agreements -
which are always complex - there is need to tap into the
available knowledge
base in order to break out of the cycle of poverty.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 16:40
A story appeared in the media this
week which caught my interest, not
least because it touches on a matter that
as an ordinary man and lawyer is
very close to my heart: Judicial
Independence. It was reported that a Harare
magistrate, Chioniso Mutongi,
had resigned on the basis of interference and
harassment from certain
quarters. There are indications that she felt that
she had not been
adequately protected in the course of discharging her
duties.
This arose, according to the reports, from a
specific case in which
she had committed a state prosecutor, referred to as
Andrew Kumire, to
prison having found him guilty of contempt of court.
Apparently, this order
had not been carried out by the state which is
responsible for the execution
of judgments.
This had continued
even in the wake of a dismissal of the application
to the High Court for a
review of the matter. In other words, the magistrate's
decision had been
found by a judge of a superior court to be lawful and
proper.
There are various other aspects to the case but the
core of the matter
is that the magistrate felt that she had been undermined.
In her words, she
had endured a "torrid time during which I was entirely
abused and harassed
at the hands of the State prosecution (authorities)".
She added that she
felt she "did not get professional protection from this
office as I
reasonably anticipated".
Mutongi had been the
magistrate presiding over the case in which the
state is prosecuting top
civil rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama and another
individual.
She had subsequently recused herself from that
case, although it is
not entirely clear from the accounts whether this
recusal was due to the
"torrid" circumstances in which she found
herself.
In the last few years, the Zimbabwean judiciary has
been pilloried for
alleged lack of independence. But often, I have observed
that when reference
is made to the principle of judicial independence, focus
is almost always on
the judges of the superior courts, namely the High Court
and the Supreme
Court. The reality however is that much of the judicial work
is dispensed at
the lower levels of the judicial strata, the hub of which is
the magistrates'
Court.
The forgotten men and women who
preside in those courts have to cope
with tough working conditions,
including poor facilities and worse, lack of
protection that is afforded to
their colleagues in higher office. Mutongi is
not the first to throw in the
towel citing lack of protection.
Many will remember the
likes of Judge Majuru, who left the country in
2003 citing interference in
the wake of his judgment in favour of ANZ, the
banned Daily News's parent
company.
Before that many judges of the superior courts had left
the bench
unceremoniously, the most high profile being the departure of the
then Chief
Justice Gubbay, whose security the Justice Minister had advised
could no
longer be guaranteed.
But Mutongi's dramatic departure
comes at a time when the inclusive
government is supposed to be helping to
make things better. It raises
questions yet again about the independence of
the judiciary and more
significantly, about the plight of the officers in
the lower echelons of the
judiciary.
It is difficult, given
the implications for a person in her position
to take the stand that she has
adopted.
If it is as it appears that she took her position on the basis
of
principle, then she has done what few have dared to attempt. Many suffer
in
silence.
They accept their fate. It is not entirely
their fault. They depend
for their livelihood on the job and many will be
hard-pressed to walk away
when that would entail loss of gainful employment.
That makes the decision
of Mutongi even more significant. Here is one woman
who has taken a stand in
defence of her profession.
She is
walking a path that some brave men and women before her have
travelled. I am
reminded here of the bold and brave stance taken by two
judges in the
history of Zimbabwe at a time when the situation was very
sensitive. I have
written about them before in this column and I only repeat
the story to
highlight the significance of decisions to defend judicial
independence.
I was yet to join this world when the
celebrated Madzimbamuto case was
decided in the late sixties.
Those who were favoured with early entry and are blessed with longer
memories will have recollections of the case and what it meant at the time.
Many students of constitutional law and jurisprudence across the world have
endured many hours studying the judgments.
This was a highly
political case in the wake of the Unilateral
Declaration of Independence
(UDI) by the Smith regime by which they rebelled
against British
rule.
Daniel Madzimbamuto along with other nationalists who were
fighting
the Smith regime had been detained without trial under regulations
enacted
by the Smith regime. The action was essentially to have the
detention
without trial declared unlawful.
At the heart of the
matter was the question of legality of the Smith
regime in the wake of the
UDI. The task of the judges of the then Rhodesian
courts was to pass
judgment whose implications directly affected the status
of the post-UDI
government.
In the end the judges held that the Smith regime had de
facto control
of the country and that its laws had binding
force.
The UK's Privy Council which was the highest forum of appeal
under the
system provided for under the pre-UDI constitution decided that
the acts of
the Smith regime lacked legal validity. This did not matter
however since
the Rhodesian judges refused to accept the decision of the
Privy Council.
Significantly, however, not all of the judges were united on
this matter. In
particular, two judges, Justice Fieldsend and Justice Dendy
Young, resigned
in protest and walked away.
It is the stance
taken by these two judges which is worth
highlighting. They could have, as
did their colleagues, joined in the
decision which effectively gave the
regime a veil of legality and
legitimacy. They would have kept their jobs
and all the attendant benefits
of that high office.
They chose,
instead to register their protest and defend what they
believed to be right.
It was, in my view an act of bravery - principled
decisions that highlight
the defence of independence of the judiciary. They
did not allow personal
interest to stand in the way of principle.
Few among us can
make similar claims. Ms Mutongi may be out of a job
but surely, she can
count herself among those who, in the face of adversity
have chosen to
defend what they believe in.
I hope those who wear the apparel
of human rights defenders take
notice of this woman's act of
bravery.
The independence of the judiciary must be protected and this
goes
beyond concerns for judges in the superior courts but to all the men
and
women who are the footsoldiers of the judicial system - from Harare's
Rotten
Row, which houses the Magistrates' court to Tredgold building in
Bulawayo
where the High Court has its other station.
Alex
Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent .
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 14 November 2009 16:35
IS there an
ideological difference between Zanu PF and the two MDCs?
Is ideology
important or not? How much of the ideology is rhetoric and how
much is
reality? Is there a national consensus on certain key policies which
all
parties agree to? These are important questions which all Zimbabweans
should
address.
Zimbabwe is likely to have elections in the near
future. Elections
should give Zimbabweans clearly delineated choices, so
that when we elect
our Member of Parliament or our Senator we know exactly
what they are going
to deliver to us.
During the liberation
struggle of the 1970s nearly all liberation
movements, including both Zanu
and Zapu, espoused some form of socialism.
This was perhaps
inevitable because the Rhodesian colonial-settler
propaganda portrayed
Rhodesians as the defenders of Western "civilization"
and "capitalism"
against socialism and communism. Ironically Rhodesians also
felt that they
were the victims of the West, particularly of the United
Kingdom, which they
accused of "selling out" their kith and kin in Rhodesia.
The West
exhibited contradictory attitudes towards the Rhodesian
Front, condemning
them for their fascist and racist policies, whilst
supporting them as "kith
and kin".
The oppressed naturally believed that they should oppose
whatever the
Rhodesians stood for. Liberation movements were against
oppression, and
rejected whatever the settler colonialists supported as
oppressive.
Capitalism was seen as exploitative.
In the
early days of Independence the Zanu PF government, which
comprised the old
Zanu and the old Zapu, tried its best to provide all the
things which were
denied to Africans, such as education, health services,
clean water supply,
the right to live and own houses in cities, the right to
land,
etc.
Black people had been denied all of these very basic human
rights.
These were clearly what people wanted from Independence, and the
government
delivered.
These rights were provided within the
inherited governance system, as
under the Lancaster House Agreement the old
system was retained in a
peaceful hand over of power.
Thus
despite the Marxist Leninist rhetoric of Zanu PF, the same old
colonial
governance system was retained, except for Africanisation of the
civil
service and the removal of racial segregation. Notably the education
system,
the economic system and the bureaucratic system all remained
intact.
Around 1992, Zanu PF ideology changed abruptly, as a
result of the
pressure placed on it from within and from outside. This
pressure was known
as Structural Adjustment, also known as the Washington
Consensus.
Structural Adjustment can be defined as an ideology
based on small
government: the smaller the government and the weaker the
government, the
better. According to this theory, development, especially
economic
development, depended not on government, but on the private
sector.
Thus the answer to development problems, such as economic
growth and
poverty eradication, was less government and more private sector.
The best
representatives of the Washington Consensus were Margaret Thatcher
and
Ronald Reagan.
In Zimbabwe's case, Structural
Adjustment was not forced upon us. It
was willingly accepted by the Zanu PF
Central Committee. I do recall Sally
Mugabe fighting against this change of
ideology, but she was defeated.
Structural Adjustment was willingly welcomed
by Cabinet.
The argument at that time was that the low growth rate
of the country,
1-2% economic growth a year, was due to the ideology of
Marxist-Leninist
socialism, and that if this ideology was left behind, the
economy would
improve. Today, 17 years later, we do see the result of the
change of
ideology.
During this period the rich have become
richer (lots of luxury houses
and luxury cars), and the poor have become
poorer (lots of plastic and
cardboard shacks and one meal a day if you are
lucky). Zimbabwe's industries
have been decimated: we have been through a
period of rapid
de-industrialisation.
Do the two MDCs offer
a different ideology from the Washington
Consensus? It appears not. In
economic terms, their ideologies are closely
based on the Washington
Consensus. MDC-T is seen as pro-Western, mainly
because of its heavy
dependence on Western financing and Western ideological
directions.
Both MDCs have in effect espoused Structural
Adjustment.
At this critically important point in Zimbabwe's
history, can we not
define a national ideology which can provide a united
way forward? Can we
define exactly what the Look East policy is? Can we
define exactly what is
meant by the pro-West policy of the two MDCs? Does
Zimbabwe need to look
East or West? Do we have a clear ideological
direction? Where exactly are
we heading?
In looking at the
two ideologies of capitalism and socialism, it is
now no longer possible to
identify the West as purely capitalist, and the
East as purely socialist.
Bush's capitalism is not exactly the same as
President Barack Obama's
capitalism. Swedish capitalism is not exactly the
same as American
capitalism.
In some ways, China is more capitalist than socialist,
yet China
remains a one-party Communist state. It is therefore important
for Zimbabwe
to identify exactly how it wants to go forward, rather than
muddling through
with contradictory and self-defeating policies and
strategies.
One important ingredient for success is the need
for a strong state.
The Zimbabwean state has weakened considerably since the
1990s. The various
departments of government no longer have the capacities
which they used to
have 20 years ago.
They no longer have
up-to-date equipment, highly qualified and
experienced staff, and money.
The brain drain has been drastic in almost
every government department. The
technical and professional know-how that
was there has weakened, and in some
cases has even disappeared.
The universities and colleges which
used to train the high level staff
have weakened, with a shortage of
lecturers and researchers everywhere. The
tendency of donors to create a
rival bureaucracy outside the state sector,
through NGOs, has further
weakened the state.
One important consensus should therefore be to
strengthen State
capacities and capabilities. This will mean, in many
cases, starting
afresh, and training young staff in their twenties, thirties
and forties to
replace the outgoing staff in their sixties, seventies and
eighties.
A strong state does not mean a large bureaucracy. On
the contrary, a
smaller, better organized bureaucracy which knows its work
well, and is
capable of implementing its policies, is very much preferable
to an
over-large, incompetent bureaucracy which is involved in blocking
rather
than leading development. State staffing should not be based on
patronage.
A second requirement is a very strong private
sector. Zimbabwe's
private sector is relatively weak, due to its historic
baggage. Its
technology is at least 15 years behind.
It has
limited market outlets. It is incumbent on the state, in
combination with
private sector organizations such as the CZI, ZNCC, trade
unions, the
farmers' unions and the professional associations, to work
together to
strengthen the private sector.
This can be done through
technological inputs in a drive to update our
industries so that they are
regionally and internationally competitive.
Much more can be done to upgrade
the quality and quantity of our own
industries. This is in line with the
type of capitalism pioneered by Japan.
Much more can be done through state
and private sector partnerships to
expand export markets.
Education and training institutions are important for moving forward.
The
backward slide of the sector over the last decade needs to be overcome,
so
that all institutions can offer a first class service. The same is true
of
health institutions. They need to be brought back to being model
institutions regionally and internationally. In other words, service
sectors need to provide high quality service to all, rather than only for
the rich.
In brief there is need for the state to support
the growth of a
productive capitalist private sector, with special emphasis
on agriculture
and industrialisation. The emphasis should be on
productivity, and not on
political sloganeering.
There is also
need for state-supported service sectors which can
provide equitable and
high quality health and education services for all.
The service sectors need
to be community owned and controlled, but with
state support for up-to-date
research and development, salary and
infrastructure grants. In both the
productive sectors and the service
sectors, it should not be a free for all,
with survival of the fittest, but
should be based on state support for a
large number of institutions.
BY FAY CHUNG