http://www.nation.co.ke
By KITSEPILE NYATHI, NATION
CorrespondentPosted Wednesday, November 18 2009
at 18:55
HARARE,
Wednesday
Zimbabwe's feuding political parties look set to miss a
monthend deadline
set by the Southern African Development Committee (SADC)
to conclude
outstanding issues of their power sharing agreement as
negotiators are yet
to meet.
SADC averted a political meltdown on
November 6 when it convinced Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to end a three
week boycott of the unity
government.
But the regional body gave the
squabbling parties a 30-day deadline to
resolve a slate of thorny
disputes.
An emergency SADC mini summit in Mozambique to tackle the
Zimbabwe crisis
gave the parties 15 days to kick start
negotiations.
The deadline is fast approaching without any signs of
movement signalling
the parties' seriousness to end their disputes,
including the arrest and
harassment of Mr Tsvangirai's loyalists.
On
Monday, some of the negotiators from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF
and
the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions met the PM, in
what
officials said was a brief meeting to set the tone for the talks.
Two
minutes
The meeting only lasted about two minutes as some of the
negotiators were
said to be out of the country.
This means that
negotiations will not start until Friday, a senior official
in Mr
Tsvangirai's office said.
"They will work from Friday right into the
weekend to deal with the matters
as brought on the table through the SADC
troika summit," said Mr Gorden
Moyo, the Minister of State in the PM's
office.
"The principals themselves have met and agreed on a
programme.
"On Monday the Prime Minister was then implementing the
agreement in as far
as their meeting was concerned."
The main MDC's chief
negotiator and Finance Minister Mr Tendai Biti was
however, optimistic the
negotiations were on course.
"PM Tsvangirai implored us to start the
negotiations but the meeting did not
go far because there was no
representation from the other party (small MDC
faction) whose negotiators
are out of the country," he said.
"We are hoping to start the
negotiations as soon as the other negotiators
are back and we will work hard
to make sure we meet the stipulated time
frame."
Last week, Mr
Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara - the three
principals in the unity government formed in
February - met and referred all
the outstanding issues to their negotiators.
The former foes are still
wrangling over the appointment of provincial
governors, ambassadors,
permanent secretaries and lack of progress in
political reforms.
Mr
Tsvangirai's MDC also wants Mr Mugabe to reverse the unilateral
appointment
of his cronies to head the central bank and the attorney general's
office
and also swear in its deputy agriculture minister designate who is
facing
terrorism charges.
On the other hand, Zanu PF says it will not move on
the demands until the
MDC calls for the lifting of sanctions against Mr
Mugabe's inner circle and
the closure of pirate radio stations.
Mr
Mugabe also accuses his coalition partners of setting up parallel
government
structures to try and topple him from power. Zanu PF says MDC is
working
with Western powers on a regime change agenda. Analysts say the
parties are
unlikely to meet the SADC deadline because they are poles apart
on a number
of fundamental issues.
But Mr Moyo was confident the weekend meetings
will produce a result and a
report will be sent to the new facilitator,
South African President Jacob
Zuma.
Mr Zuma who takes over from his
predecessor Mr Thabo Mbeki - the key
facilitator of the dialogue that led to
the historic power sharing agreement
signed on September 15 last year - will
then visit Zimbabwe to assess
progress.
His entry was welcomed by
many Zimbabweans who felt that he would be tougher
on Mr Mugabe than Mr
Mbeki.
Incessant squabbling between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai has left
many
wondering about the Harare coalition's long term
viability.
Major investors appear to have adopted a wait and see attitude
before they
can consider making any significant investments in the
country.
Chances that the coalition will collapse are increasingly
becoming remote as
the parties now agree that they cannot survive without
each other.
The marriage of convenience has undoubtedly done a lot to restore
the
country's severely battered economy.
But the major concern is
that many investors now fear Zimbabwe's new found
stability is threatened by
the unresolved issues.
During Mr Tsvangirai's brief withdrawal from the
unity government, Zimbabwe's
stock exchange that had found its vibrancy on
the back of the new
dispensation, crashed overnight.
Foreign
investors who had rushed in to cash on the new order were also quick
to take
a back seat.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
18th November 2009
Gerry
Jackson
Parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to reform the
central
bank. In theory this should reduce the powers of bank governor
Gideon Gono.
This is the first major law to be passed by parliament since
the unity
government was formed.
According to the bill, Gono's powers
will be reduced by appointing an
independent chairperson and board for the
bank.
Reuters news agency quotes Paul Mangwana, a ZANU PF member of the
parliamentary legal committee, saying: "There have been extreme discussions
with the Minister (Biti) that there be amendments ... and we have agreed on
these amendments."
The bill has to now be debated by the Senate. If
approved Mugabe would then
have to sign it.
ZANU-PF legislators had
last week threatened to block the bill, but
an agreement was reached between
Biti and the ZANU-PF lawmakers to make
changes to the Bill.
One of
these changes was a clause giving immunity to the bank governor and
employees "for anything done in good faith and without
negligence".
So it would appear that once again ZANU PF loyalists, who
stand accused of
helping to completely destroy Zimbabwe's economy, will get
off scot free.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25165
November 18, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa,
yesterday said his
ministry was working on improving the services of the
country's judiciary.
Chinamasa held a meeting yesterday with the
country's judges at the High
Court Chambers in Harare.
"We held a
meeting to discuss about the judges conditions of service which
are very
bad," said Chinamasa.
The meeting was also attended by the Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti.
"We wanted the minister of Finance to listen to the
judges concerns and
appreciate the problems that they are facing," said
Chinamasa.
Chinamasa said the improvement in the conditions of service of
the members
of the judiciary was dependent on the performance of the
country's economy.
"We are not happy with the money that they are
receiving but the
improvements in service conditions are only depended on
the performance of
the economy," said Chinamasa.
The salaries and
perks are not among the worst within the civil service.
Last year, the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono,
incurred the wrath of
the public last year when he splashed on judges,
buying luxury Mercedes Benz
sedans, plasma television sets and generators.
The move sparked outrage
and the MDC party accused the central bank chief of
bribing the judges
through largesse.
The judges were also allocated four-wheel drive Toyota
and Isuzu trucks.
Responding to the public outrage Master of High Court,
Charles Nyatanga said
it was "not desirable" for judges to have to drive
their Mercedes Benz
vehicles over rough ground to get to their farms. The
judges joined the
swelling ranks of instant commercial farmers when farms
were allocated to
them free of charge under the controversial land reform
programme.
But analysts argued that the disbursement of these resources
of patronage by
President Robert Mugabe was a strategy to buy the allegiance
of the country's
judges.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, November 18, 2009 - The
Zimbabwe government has embarked on a
head count of its workforce to flush
out ghost workers, Public Service
Commission minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro
told the media on Wednesday.
The first ever comprehensive
payroll and skills audit since
independence, is expected to cost US$4
million and ends in December. There
are an estimated 200 000 civil servants
in Zimbabwe, excluding the police,
army and prisons departments. The bulk of
these civil servants are teachers
and nurses.
"We are not going
to do a paper or file audit. We want to see
physically the civil servants,"
said Mukonoweshuro. "If on file, there is
John James, John James must come
to the pay station on that given day on
that appointed date, with...all the
information that we want, birth
certificate, academic certificates, letter
of appointment, police clearance
so that we can be able to tick, it's a body
count."
The audit comes amid reports that government has been
paying 10 000
youth from the infamous Border Gezi Youth training programme,
the same
salaries being given to civil servants. They were recruited
en-masse in May
last year ahead of the disputed presidential run-off between
president
Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of
the Movement
for Democratic Change who later withdrew due to violence that
left at least
200 of his supporters dead.
One youth based in
Makonde rural in Mashonaland West province, about
200 kilometres north-west
of Harare, confirmed that he did not possess the
five Ordinary Level passes
as required by the government law.
''Besides not having education
qualifications, I am still yet to
submit my medical report to the ministry
although I am getting my monthly
salary but for virtually nothing as there
are no developmental projects to
talk about,'' the youth told Radio
VOP.
Mukonoweshuro denied the exercise was a witch-hunt and refuted
reports
in the State-owned Herald that the exercise had been sanctioned by
the World
Bank. He said the exercise, although funded by the World Bank,
had been
approved by cabinet in April.
"The skills audit is
intended to ensure that we have a clear profile
of the status of skills
across the board in the public service. Because of
the economic hardships
that enveloped this country over the past 10 years,
there has been a lot of
movement of skilled personnel from the civil service
to greener pastures,"
he said.
His ministry has just completed the preparation of a
computerised and
reliable filing system for all government workers while
streamlining the
payroll which was still being managed manually resulting in
inconsistencies.
Before the exercise there was no central source of data for
all civil
servants. Data was scattered across the board.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
18
November 2009
Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro has announced
that the
coalition government will this month begin an audit of the civil
service, to
weed out ghost workers. The audit follows reports over the
months that tens
of thousands of workers were on the public service payroll,
despite not
doing anything.
In an interview with Newsreel,
Mukonoweshuro said the audit would not cover
members of the security forces
because they did not fall under his ministry.
The Public Service Ministry
had sought permission from cabinet to carry out
the audit and this would be
restricted to the state workers covered by his
ministry.
In April
Newsreel broke the story that 29 000 youth militia loyal to ZANU PF
were
still on the payroll and listed as civil servants. Youth Development
Minister Savior Kasukuwere was quizzed in parliament over the matter and
claimed most were youth officers, employed to work in the different wards
around the country.
This was despite clear evidence the youths were
used during election time to
harass, beat up and torture opposition
activists. Receiving US$100 a month
per head, the militia were draining US$3
million each month from the budget.
In May it was then revealed that
other civil servants were receiving
multiple salary payments. The
revelations led to a freezing of payments to
hundreds of civil servants
while some had their contracts terminated. An
audit, started by Public
Service Commission Inspector General,, Clifford
Matorera, exposed how some
nurses, soldiers and other civil servants in the
Youth, Foreign Affairs,
Justice and Legal Affairs Ministries, were paid up
to 5 salaries each month.
Some of the civil servants implicated say their
names were used, but they
never received the money themselves.
The new minister Mukonoweshuro, who
is from the MDC, promised a
clean-up of the payroll to weed out the ghost
workers. He said the audit
would begin on the 23rd November and end on the
18th December.
"The idea is that government can vouch for the integrity
of the payroll,
audit staffing levels and eradicate irregularities if any.
The audit is not
in any way or in any form a witch hunt. If mistakes are
found we want, as
government, to stand up and have the courage to look up to
those mistakes,"
he said.
Money for the audit is coming from a
multi-donor trust fund administered by
the World Bank. With over 200 000
people employed by government, most of
them teachers, the auditors have
their work cut out trying to root out ZANU
PF functionaries deliberately put
on the payroll under a patronage and
reward system.
But Mukonoweshuro
told us they had put in place an instrument that would
ensure no name
appeared twice on the payroll.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25134
November 17, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - A police state witness in MDC treasurer general
Roy Bennett's
ongoing terrorism trial admitted Monday that police falsified
evidence when
they added weapons which were not recovered from Peter Michael
Hitschmann,
Bennett's co-accused.
Sipho James Makone, a Chief
Superintendent in the police force, made the
startling admission when he was
testifying in the high profile trial.
Bennett's trial opened Monday with
the deputy minister-designate denying the
charges both charges levelled
against him.
He is being accused of possessing dangerous weapons as well
as inciting acts
of insurgency.
On Tuesday, Makone, the investigating
officer in Bennett's case, showed the
court an assortment of weapons which
were allegedly recovered from
Hitschmann's house.
They included one
FN rifle, an MP5 sub machine gun, an AK rifle, 8 Uzzi sub
machine guns, a
one-inch signal pistol and some 3000 bullets of different
sizes and
types.
Also recovered were 19 anti-riot hand grenades, 6 Stun MIA3 hand
grenades, 2
Schermuly signal smoke hand grenades, 1 illuminating hand
grenade and a
rocket flair illuminating hand grenade.
But Makone told
the court during cross examination by Bennett's lawyers that
two Uzzi
sub-machine guns were not among the weapons recovered from
Hitschmann's
Mutare house.
Makone, who looked bamboozled by the plethora of questions
fired at him by
Beatrice Mtetwa, the lead defense counsel, blamed his
juniors for the
oversight.
He said they were recovered from a
Masvingo house belonging to Major Israel
Phiri, an army officer who was
Hitschmann's co-accused. Two other army
officers were
arrested.
Charges against the army trio were dropped before plea leaving
Hitschmann, a
firearms dealer, to face the charges on his won and be
convicted for two and
a half years.
Bennett is alleged to have been
the chief financier in the arms purchasing
plot.
Makone was leader of
an operation that involved state security agents and
army
officers.
He told the court he led the arrest of Hitschmann and his
co-accused who
were taken to the Zimbabwe National Army's Adams Barracks for
interrogation.
At the army barracks, Makone said, Hitschmann was given a
piece of paper
where "he was allowed the opportunity" of writing everything
he knew about
the weapons.
Asked why police would take accused
persons to an "army establishment"
instead of a police station, Makone said
he feared some of the explosives
would explode while in the custody of the
police.
"We are not experts (on explosives)," said Makone, "We also did
not want to
separate the accused persons with the exhibits."
He also
said the input of the army and state security agents was necessary
at that
stage of the case as they were the ones who had unearthed the
crime.
Makone further denied police took part in Hitschmann's torture at
the army
barracks.
Hitschmann later told police he had admitted to
charges against him after
being severely tortured.
The torture
included being burnt with cigarette stubs and kicks on his
private parts,
leading to his making "extracural statements" implicating
Bennett in the
alleged conspiracy. He has since disowned the statements.
Makone, who was
also involved in the trial of Hitschmann, denied ever
hearing of any
complaints of torture by Hitschmann. He said he has only
learnt of the
claims during Bennett's trial.
"My Lord, I am not aware of any torture
against Hitschmann," he told the
court.
On Monday, Makone was barred
by presiding judge Chinembiri Bhunu from
continuously referring to
Hitschmann's "confessions" to buttress his
evidence.
Bhunu said that
it was unprocedural for a police officer to base his or her
evidence in a
trial on statements extracted from an accused person through
torture.
The trial was adjourned to Thursday morning.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, November 18,
2009- A losing Presidential hopeful in Zimbabwe's
March 2008 presidential
elections, former Finance Minister and Zanu PF
politburo member, Simba
Makoni, has labeled his ex-colleagues in Zanu PF as
"murderers and
thieves."
Makoni, who came a distant third in the election widely
believed to
have been won by Prime Minister and Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said this on the social network Face
book on
Wednesday.
"Ladies and gentlemen we have not
arrived just yet; this is not the
Zimbabwe we want. This message needs to
reach our colleagues who happen to
be in the inclusive government," he said.
"They are content to rub shoulders
with murderers and thieves, as long as
some of the proceeds from the plunder
of our nation are given to them in the
form of luxury cars, luxury offices
and lavish travel."
Makoni, who last year took President Robert Mugabe by surprise when he
announced his decision to enter the Presidential race in February, also
questioned the performance of the inclusive government.
In his critic Makoni urged ordinary Zimbabweans to start criticising
all
parties within the inclusive government not just Zanu PF.
Zimbabwe's three main political parties led by Mugabe, Prime Minister
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara signed a Global
Political Agreement (GPA) last September which led to the formation of the
inclusive government in February.
"Who monitors the
monitors? Who polices the police? Who ministers the
ministers? Who governs
the government? The people: you and I, we cannot
afford to shirk from this
our duty as citizens of Zimbabwe. Some have said
do not criticise MDC others
are saying stop saying these things about ZANU
PF and I say when the
inclusive government starts delivering, then and only
then will I seal my
mouth and thank heavens," wrote Makoni.
Makoni formed his
own Mavambo/ Kusile/Dawn party early this year in
the high density suburb of
Mbare. He intends to run in the country's next
elections. The party members
have already split, with some having formed
another political party in
protest of Makoni's leadership style.
Makoni is also a
former executive secretary of Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
as well as former head of the state-owned
Zimpapers group which owns The
Herald, among other Daily Newspapers in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/
Eyewitness News | 3 Hours
Ago
Horrific child rape figures were uncovered in Zimbabwe on
Wednesday.
The Family Support Trust Clinic at Harare Central Hospital
said more than 30
000 cases of child sex abuse were reported in the last
four years.
Experts said this was only the tip of the
iceberg.
Zimbabwe has only around five million children and
Harare Central has not
been functioning for some time.
Police
told state media there had been a 42 percent increase in child rape
in the
last three years.
There have been newspaper claims President
Robert Mugabe's controversial
programme of slum clearances in 2005, known as
Operation Murambatsvina, was
partly to blame.
This is because
families who lost their homes may have had to crowd into
houses with other
families or send their children away, having devastating
consequences.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell & Lionel
Saungweme
18 November
Residents of Inyathi have rallied behind a local
farmer whose land has been
forcibly seized by a Bulawayo High Court Judge,
signing a petition for the
farm to be left in peace.
Farmer Glen James
has faced renewed attack on his farm by men working for
Bulawayo High Court
Judge, Maphios Cheda. Cheda has been trying to force
James to leave the land
since August, and the Judge's hired thugs have been
using government
equipment, including tractors and weapons, to plunder the
land and stop
farming there. The thugs, believed to be CIO operatives, have
caused a
number of disturbances on the farm over several weeks, including
firing
shots at James' staff last month. James meanwhile has also been
issued with
various offer letters, dated the 21st September, despite Cheda
and his men
starting their seizure of the land in August.
SW Radio Africa correspondent
Lionel Saungweme joined an Inyathi residents
meeting on Saturday where the
locals showed their support for James, calling
him an integral part of the
community. Last month the residents had resolved
to support James, by
writing a petition to the Minister of Lands and Land
Resettlement, the
district administrator and Judge Cheda himself. The
petition, signed by the
community, was hand delivered to Cheda on Saturday,
and was also sent to the
other recipients, although there has been no
response as of
yet.
Saungweme explained that James is a vital part of the local
community,
helping with development projects and even allowing local cattle
herders to
water their animals on his land. Even local members of the War
Veterans
Association, who have notoriously led farm invasions over the
years,
expressed their support for James, who they say is part of the
community.
James had been trying to seek legal protection against Judge
Cheda, and
Saungweme explained the farmer already had the law on his side.
In Inyathi,
a local Lands Act prevents farms of less than 1000 hectares in
size from
being considered for forced acquisition. James' 608 hectare farm
falls into
this category, and by law cannot be acquired for 'resettlement'
or 'land
reform'.
But Saungweme explained further that James has now
decided not to challenge
the courts, acknowledging that the legal route is
of no value in Zimbabwe.
The farmer explained at the residents meeting that
their support speaks
volumes, adding he is putting his faith in the strength
of their backing for
the protection of his land.
http://nehandaradio.com
Published on: 18th November, 2009
In a dramatic
event at Great Zimbabwe University this afternoon, seven
students were
arrested for possession a gun in their room.
The students had gathered in
Blessing Dubi's room, one of the aspiring
ZINASU National Executive Member
candidate to try and caucus before the
scheduled ZINASU National Bi- Annual
congress on the 5th of December 2009.
The students were surprised when 15
college security guards pounced on them
accusing them of holding an illegal
meeting. The guards started beating
them up and the students left the room
in a rush.
The students quickly dispersed but to their surprise one hour
after the
disturbances, three students namely, Blessing Dubi, Robson Ruhanya
and
Zivanai Muzorodzi (SRC President) were picked up by police citing that
they
had found a fire arm in Blessing Dubi's room after
searching.
Zimbabwe National Students Union
At first, the
three students thought the police were joking but were shell
shocked when
four other students were picked up on similar allegations and
were quickly
whisked away to Masvingo Central Police Station.
Security guards and the
police have been on a rampage of harassing student
activists and selected
politicians on trumped up charges evidenced by the
charges levelled on the
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Designate, Hon Roy
Bennet who is being
charged with possession of fire arms.
These abuses should stop forthwith
as it violate on the right to freedom of
association and
expression.
ZINASU
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25130
November 17, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - A Harare magistrate on Tuesday removed from remand
human rights
lawyer Alec Muchadehama who is charged with contempt of
court.
Muchadehama is charged over the release of three of his clients from
custody.
Magistrate Archie Wochiunga took over the matter from
magistrate Chiwoniso
Mutongi after she resigned citing
interference.
Wochiunga directed the State to proceed by way of summons
if it intended to
continue with the trial of Muchadehama.
The lawyer
is charged with contempt of court for allegedly causing the
unlawful release
from custody of his clients, Kisimusi Dhlamini, Gandhi
Mudzingwa and
Andrison Manyere.
However, Wochiunga remanded Constance Gambara, the
clerk of Justice
Chinembiri Bhunu, to December 9 for possible
trial.
Gambara is jointly charged with Muchadehama.
This is the
second time that Muchadehama has been removed from remand.
In June,
Harare magistrate Catherine Chimanda granted Muchadehama's
application for
refusal of further remand after determining that the State,
represented by
prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema, had failed to show any reasonable
suspicion that
the lawyer had committed the alleged offence.
The magistrate also found
that the State had failed to prove that
Muchadehama had an intention to
commit the offence.
On Monday, Wochiunga removed Pasco Gwezere, the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) transport manager from remand on one
count but further remanded
him on the other count.
He ruled Gwezere
could not be remanded on the count of undergoing military
training at Soroti
Training Camp in Uganda. The magistrate said the State
had placed
insufficient facts linking Gwezere to the commission of the
offence.
However, Wochiunga ruled that the facts presented, with
regards to the first
count of unlawful entry and theft of firearms at Pomona
Barracks, linked
Gwezere to the alleged commission of the
offence.
Meanwhile High Court Judge Justice Charles Hungwe will on
Wednesday consider
Gwezere's bail application filed by Muchadehama.
http://www.afriquejet.com
Zimbabwe said Tuesday it had been
selected to host the 26th Plenary Session
of the Parliamentary Forum of the
Southern African Development Community
(SADC), according to a PANA report.
It said the session, to be held next
week, would cover issues such as
regional trade, investment, integration and
gender.
Officials said
regional business executives and leaders of civic
organisations were also
expected to attend the session, to be held in the
resort town of Victoria
Falls.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum was established in 2007 to debate
common
regional goals, particularly integration.
Officials said most
of the group's 14-member countries were expected to take
part in the
session.
Harare - 17/11/2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com
192 participating countries
unanimously rebuff appeals for aid
Associated Press
Nov. 17,
2009
ROME - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, blamed for plunging his people
into
starvation, used his platform as Tuesday's opening speaker at the U.N.
anti-hunger summit to decry what he called his neocolonialist
foes.
Another longtime African strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, held another
nightly
soiree at a villa in the Italian capital in the company of hundreds
of young
ladies selected by a "hostess" agency.
Tunisia's first lady
and her bodyguards blocked traffic on roads leading to
Via Condotti, a
glamorous street of designer boutiques near the Spanish
Steps. Rome daily Il
Messaggero ran a photo of Leila Zine in front of luxury
jewelry store
Bulgari.
The images bolstered criticism that the summit called by the
U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization is long on rhetoric and extravagance
and short on
solutions for the world's 1 billion hungry.
The meeting
was branded a failure within a couple of hours of its start
after the 192
participating countries unanimously rebuffed the United
Nations' appeal for
commitments of billions of dollars in yearly aid to
develop agriculture in
poor nations.
'A clear disconnect'
None of the leaders of the Group of
Eight leading industrialized nations
attended except for Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconi.
"There is a clear disconnect between what governments
are saying, at least
the rich governments, and what in fact they are doing,"
said Flavio Valente,
an activist participating in a forum of NGOs held in
parallel with the
summit.
The G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy,
essentially set the agenda for this
latest summit by endorsing a strategy
shift in fighting hunger: helping
farmers in poor country to produce enough
food to feed their own people,
moving away from decades-long reliance on
handouts.
While the G-8 leaders in July approved $20 billion in
agricultural
development aid in a three-year package, the countries at this
U.N. summit
rejected FAO's call to commit themselves to earmark 17 percent
of their
foreign aid budgets for agricultural development, which U.N.
officials
estimated would cost $44 billion yearly.
Ertharin Cousin,
the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies in Rome, said the
summit wanted to
establish the principle that donors should listen to the
needs of each
country and not decide aid policies on their own.
FAO director-general
Jacques Diouf expressed "regret" and frustration that
the summit rejected
his call to members to fund the new shift in
agricultural development
policy.
About an hour after the decision, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a
speech to
the summit condemning opulence and waste in a world where the
numbers of
hungry have multiplied despite international efforts to combat
chronic
hunger.
Mugabe lashes out at West
Some of the
assembly-room chairs were empty when Mugabe opened Tuesday's
proceedings by
lashing out at the West and defending land reforms blamed for
plunging his
people into starvation. He described the policy, which led to
thousands of
white-owned commercial farms being violently seized in 2000, as
a quest for
"equity and justice."
He blamed the subsequent meltdown of Zimbabwe's
economy on "hostile
interventions" by "neocolonialist enemies" that have
imposed sanctions on
his regime.
Western countries have slapped
travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and
his top aides. The ban does not
apply to United Nations summits and Mugabe
has attended several Food and
Agriculture Organization meetings in the last
years.
While last
year's FAO summit on soaring food prices rang out with
denunciations of
Mugabe's showing up at forums aimed at slashing hunger, the
Zimbabwe
president's speech on Tuesday was widely greeted with silence.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
18 November
2009
The German government has sent a written protest to Zimbabwe over
the attack
on a German priest by soldiers over the weekend.
Father
Wolfgang Thamm, who is a priest in Banket, was on a mercy mission in
Darwendale on Sunday afternoon when he was attacked. The priest, who has
worked in Zimbabwe for the past 12 years, was on his way to fetch an ill
child from Darwendale clinic, and take him to Banket hospital for better
care. But, about half way there, he was flagged down by a group of soldiers
when he passed a local farm building that has been commandeered by the army
as an informal barracks. Father Thamm did not notice the soldiers trying to
wave him down, and when he eventually slowed his car and reversed back to
the uniformed and armed soldiers, he was met with a hail of
abuse.
One of the soldiers ripped off the priest's glasses and punched
him in the
eye, which was already damaged from a vicious beating he
sustained in the
2002 elections. He was then hauled out of the vehicle,
punched again and
shoved into a large muddy puddle, where he was kicked in
the stomach twice
and beaten again. The soldiers then used a container to
pour muddy water
over him from head to toe, until even his shoes were full
of mud. He was
then ordered to leave. Father Thamm then drove to Darwendale
clinic where he
was treated and clothed.
The German embassy has since
expressed its outrage for the treatment of one
of its citizens, writing in a
letter to the government that it expressed its
"utter consternation about
the violent attack." The embassy, which described
the attack as
'unacceptable' and 'particularly despicable said in the letter
to Zimbabwe's
Foreign Affairs Ministry that it expects Harare to take
"appropriate action
against the perpetrators and urges them to do their
utmost to prevent this
kind of incident from happening again".
Meanwhile, Robert Mugabe's
whereabouts on the day that the priest was
attacked by his armed forces, has
shocked observers. The dictator, who flew
to Italy for a UN Food Summit over
the weekend, was in Rome attending a
Catholic mass, overseen by the Pope.
Observers say it is 'obscene' and
'cynical' and paints a true picture of the
crisis in Zimbabwe, where
innocent people are daily becoming victims of
Mugabe's enforcers of power.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Nov 18, 2009 12:22 AM | By Moses
Mudzwiti
A
Zimbabwean MP shocked parliament when he produced evidence that the
voter's
roll used in last year's elections had names of hundreds of dead
people who
had been registered to vote.
MP Tongai Matutu said the anomaly showed "the
extent to which the voters'
roll should represent the graveyard".
"Of
those 503 (dead voters), the surprising thing is that they all have a
similar date of birth which is 1 January 1901," said Matutu.
Matutu
is a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic
Change.
"I have the list of those people who are 107-years-old still
appearing on
the voters roll," said Matutu.
He said he had copies of
the voter's roll used in the disputed elections,
which resulted in the
formation of the unity government.
"We have 144,202 [people] over the age
of 90 on the voters' roll," said the
fiery MP, adding that the average life
expectancy of Zimbabweans was about
44 years.
"There were 115 voters
who were below the age of 18 (legal voting age) with
the youngest being
one-year-old at the time of 2008 elections," said Matutu.
''So what it
simply means is we are going to have more ghosts than
registered
voters.''
Zimbabwe is expected to hold fresh elections next year.
http://www.voanews.com
By Patience Rusere
Washington
17
November 2009
Water shortages have resurfaced in parts of Harare,
raising fears of another
outbreak of cholera with seasonal rains washing
contaminants into
alternative local sources.
Sources said Harare
suburbs including Glen Norah, Budiriro, Warren Park and
Glen View have been
without water for a week and residents have been drawing
water from shallow
wells.
Harare Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience
Rusere that current shortages are due to electric power outages,
not water
system failures.
from VOA's Studio 7
http://www.voanews.com
By
Sandra Nyaira
Washington
17 November 2009
The
Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has extended the
availability of some US$38 million in unused grants to the country aiming to
speed implementation of programs not rolled out due to the political and
economic crisis of recent years.
VOA Studio 7 correspondent Sylvia
Manika reported from Harare that the
Global Fund took the action after the
government appealed the looming
rescission of the funds for nonuse.
A
Global Fund spokesman said the organization is satisfied with how its
funds
are being used in Zimbabwe, though the country lags behind most
countries in
grant disbursement due to the slow rollout of programs and
problems in the
oversight of Global Fund monies.
The country now has a lot to do in less
than two months to reach agreed
targets.
Global Fund Senior
Communications Officer Nalin Mehta in Geneva told
reporter Sandra Nyaira
that although Zimbabwe was not awarded grants under
the recent Round Nine of
funding, it still has ample unused funds in the
pipeline from earlier
rounds.
Zimbabwe's National Aids Council, replaced as principal recipient
of Global
Fund monies by the United Nations Development Program, expressed
satisfaction with the extension.
National Aids Council Director
Tapuwa Magure told VOA that all programs will
be scaled-up to fulfill the
targets agreed with the Global Fund by a January
deadline.
from
VOA's Studio 7
http://www.radiovop.com
By Naume Muza
Hurungwe, November 18, 2009 - Tinashe Mavhondo aged 16 years old,
dropped
out of school to look after his four siblings following the death of
both
his parents in the last three years. Besides household chores, Tinashe
has
to plan for the family's next meal as well as the next planting
season.
Food security has eluded Zimbabwe for close to
eight years now. This
has brought untold suffering among the majority of
Zimbabweans, especially
orphans like Tinashe.
Lead Trust, set
up in 2004, in collaboration with the Food and
Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), launched an 18-month project in May 2009
through the EU Food Facility
to provide agricultural inputs to Zimbabwe's
small-scale communal farmers in
an effort to boost cereal production and
livelihood prospects. The two
organisations came to the rescue of the
Hurungwe folk because in the past
they have been sidelined by government.
The majority of the people here had
not benefitted from any of government's
inputs schemes. Since the chaotic
land evasions of 2000, government have
been assisting newly resettled black
farmers with inputs so they could
produce enough for the nation. However,
this has not been the case as the
inputs have been mis-used resulting in low
yields each year.
In Hurungwe district in Mashonaland West
province, the FAO/Lead Trust
scheme is covering communal farmers from seven
wards. Sengwe area is in the
remote areas of Hurungwe that has virgin land
and has the best soils for
maize, cotton and small grains. This project
might just prove how communal
farmers can easily feed the
nation.
Recently Tinashe was among the beneficiaries of the
inputs at Sengwe.
This is set to make a difference in Tinashe's life
together with his three
brothers aged between nine and 13 years as well as
their six year old little
sister.
'' We are getting the
seed maize before the rains and can easily
prepare for the next farming
season on time,'' he told Radio VOP recently.
According to FAO:
''Zimbabwe's protracted socio-economic crisis has
taken its toll on the
country's agricultural sector, hitting the country's
poorest farmers the
hardest. About 70 percent of the population makes a
living from agriculture.
However, steep declines in production over the
years - brought on by high
costs and a shortage of inputs, adverse weather
conditions and policy
constraints - have seen farmers' earnings dwindle and
food insecurity
rise.''
FAO is this week holding a world conference on food
security in Rome.
Zimbabwe is represented at the highest level, with
President Robert Mugabe
and his wife, Grace
attending.
According to a recent FAO/WFP Crop and Food
Security Assessment, an
estimated 2.8 million people in rural and urban
areas of Zimbabwe may be in
need of external food assistance during the
2009/2010 marketing year.
Zimbabwe had a 1.5 million tonnes food deficit of
maize production pegged at
1.5 million tonnes this year. According to
government estimates, the
country needs 1.8 million tonnes to feed its
people annually.
''I had lost hope of feeding three
orphans I am looking after for the
past three years as I could not afford to
buy seed maize, let alone
fertilizer. It was expensive for us rural folks
and was hardly available in
the shops," says 71 year old Ethel Kaimbanemoyo
of Kaimbanemoyo village.
"After getting the seed maize enough for a hectare
and fertilizer, I am just
waiting for rains. For me hope has been
regained.''
Lead Trust Programes Manager, Personel
Sithole said, ''With funds from
European Union worth over Euro 15million, at
least 176 000 vulnerable rural
farmers, which is about 10-15 percent of
country's communal farmers will
receive seed and fertilizer packs... in time
for the planting season. We
have non-negotiable entry point for
beneficiaries that include land, labour
and those who do not have four
beasts of cattle''
'By cultivating 0.5 hectares of
land, each household is expected to
produce between 300-600 kg of cereal
grain, which is the equivalent of about
five to ten months of food for a
family of six,'' according to FAO.
Seventy year old
Winnie Zirima of Baradzanwa village says she is
hoping for a good harvest if
there are enough rains. She looks after three
orphaned grandchildren and a
mentally challenged son aged 42 years as well
as a disabled man of 34 years.
The orphaned children aged between three
years and ten lost their parents
due to HIV and Aids related illness.
Zimbabwe accounts
for at least 1 million orphans under 17 years,
according to UNAIDS report of
2008. This has since affected food security in
the country.
''We are assisting the farmers before the rains start so that they are
well
prepared for the farming season. We hope the farmers will not abuse the
seed
and fertilizer...,'' adds Sithole.
For hundreds of
communal farmers here, their hope is not only centred
to feed their
families, but to contribute to the nation's food security in
a small way as
the country braces to regain its lost pride in agriculture
sector.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by
MISA
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 16:28
The African Commission
on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information in Africa
Advocate Pansy Tlakula has
expressed concern over the appointment process
employed in the setting up of
the Zimbabwe Media Commission which she said
did not guarantee that the
appointed members of the commission are
independent and adequately protected
against interference. She expressed
this concern in her activity report,
which she presented on the 4th day of
the 46th session of the ACHPR, which
is underway in Banjul, Gambia.
Her concerns she said, were in line with
her mandate to "analyse
national media legislation, policies and practice
within member states,
monitor their compliance with freedom of expression
and access to
information standards in general and the Declaration of
Principles on
Freedom of Expression in Africa in particular and advice
member states
accordingly."
Further to her concerns, she said that
she had gone ahead to express
these concerns in writing to the government of
Zimbabwe in a letter in which
she says she; "....expressed her concern that
neither the Act nor the
Constitutional Amendment 19 provides specific
measures guaranteeing the
provisions of Principle VII (1) of the Declaration
which requires that any
public authority involved in broadcast or
telecommunications regulation is
independent and adequately protected
against interference, particularly of a
political or economic
nature.."
Her concerns on the need for independent media bodies were
also echoed
by MMPZ through Ms Fadzai December, in their statement to the
ACHPR on the
14th of November 2009 in which they called on the commission to
urge the
government of Zimbabwe to "complete reform of the public service
broadcaster
and its re-establishment under an independent representative
body that will
safeguard its editorial independence and ensure that it
fulfils its public
mandate.....". MMPZ also expressed their concern on the
delay in the
constitution of the ZMC and the lack of implementation
by the
government of Zimbabwe, of the 4 June decision by the commission for
section
79 and 80 of AIPPA to be repealed.
Following her concerns
on the appointment process of the media bodies,
the commissioner made
another important call to state parties to create an
environment where the
media can exercise their right to freedom of
expression without political
interference or fear, a call that was also
expressed by Misa-Zimbabwe in
their statement to the 46th ordinary session
of the ACHPR, wherein it raised
concern over the effects of threats to the
media by public officials.
Commissioner Tlakula also stated that media
regulatory bodies should without
question have independence and autonomy
from government. To this, she said
her call was ".on States Parties to allow
the media to be free from
political control in order to serve public
interest. Furthermore, she also
recommends that bodies with regulatory
authority over the media should be
fully independent from the government."
In concluding her remarks on
Zimbabwe, Commissioner Tlakula went on to
urge the Government of the
Republic of Zimbabwe,"... to take necessary steps
to address her concerns,
in order to ensure that the establishment of the
Zimbabwe Media Commission
complies fully with applicable regional standards
on Freedom of
Expression."
Aside from the analysis of media legislation and
policies
across the continent, the commissioner was also involved in
writing letters
of appeals to different countries such as Gambia, Kenya,
Niger and Sierra
Leone amongst others, following reports of violations to
the right to
freedom of Expression and access to information. Regarding
upcoming events,
she also stated that the African Commission on Human and
People's rights is
set to introduce an annual award to commemorate World
Press Freedom Day on 3
May of each year which she said "... seeks to
recognize journalists
and media practitioners who have made outstanding
contribution to the
advancement of Freedom of Expression and Access to
Information on the
continent, "
She further made a call on States
Parties that have received her
appeal on the situation of Freedom of
Expression in their respective
countries to provide responses and
clarifications to the concerns raised as
this will go a long way to show
their commitment in promoting human and
peoples' rights in general, and
freedom of expression and access to
information in Africa.
http://af.reuters.com
Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:22am
GMT
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Up to 2,700 Zimbabwean asylum seekers have
set up a
temporary "safety camp" at a rural South African town following
xenophobic
attacks on their shacks, a human rights group said on
Wednesday.
South African police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday to
disperse a mob who
attacked shacks belonging to hundreds of migrants
following several days of
simmering tension over jobs.
The attacks in
De Doorns, a town 150 km (90 miles) from Cape Town, was
reminiscent of 2008
xenophobic riots in which at least 42 people died and
tens of thousands were
displaced across South Africa.
"At the moment between 1,300 and 2,700
people, mostly Zimbabwean asylum
seekers, have set up an internally
displaced persons camp site or safety
site, at De Doorns sports ground,"
Braam Hanekom, co-ordinator of People
Against Suffering Suppression
Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) told Reuters.
Hanekom said the asylum
seekers were housed in two large tents. There was
limited water, poor
security and a few portable toilets, he added.
"Today all the displaced
asylum seekers refused to go to work for fear of
being attacked," Hanekom
said.
The attacks flared over competition for seasonal jobs at farms in
the area,
with the community arguing that Zimbabweans were "stealing jobs"
by agreeing
to work longer hours for less pay than locals were prepared to
do.
De Doorns police station commander, Superintendent Desmond van der
Westhuizen, told Reuters the displaced migrants would probably be held in
tents for the next week, as discussions about their future continued with
authorities.
"The were no new incidents reported over the last 24
hours," he said, adding
that "there were... in the last 24 hours," he said,
adding he estimated some
3,000 were affected by Tuesday's attacks.
In
2008, a wave of xenophobic attacks in and around Johannesburg led to
15,000
migrants, most of them Zimbabweans, being forced into settlement
camps.
The violence also spread to Cape Town, swelling the overall
numbers of
displaced, and was aimed mainly at the millions of Zimbabweans
who fled
their homeland in search of work and a better future.
A
global economic downturn and the first recession in two decades have
caused
massive job losses in Africa's largest economy. Unemployment is
officially
close to a quarter of the country's population of 49 million.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Zimbabwe Mail
Wednesday, 18 November
2009 17:54
CAPE TOWN - South African and Zimbabwean governments are
behind the
latest attacks on Zimbabwean asylum seekers on farms as part of a
security
plan to drive them out before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, our source
revealed.
The plan is coordinated by the South African and Zimbabwean
governments and it was drafted by both countries' military and security
organs that are providing logistical support to bands of ANC hooligans and
thugs driving out Zimbabweans from farms.
Sources said the
Zimbabwean government has ropped-in its members of
the Central Intelligency
Organisation (CIO) and War Veterans to assist South
African authorities on
identifying Zimbabweans.
South African government has made it a
pre-condition to finacially
support Zimbabwean unity government, that
Zimbabwe has to assist in the
repatriation of refugees before the 2010 World
Cup.
In the last 24 hours, there have been scenes similar to the war
torn
Great Lakes regions where huge numbers of refugees fleeing war between
Hutu
rebels fighting DRC forces.
On highway roads there have been
long lines of desparate Zimbabwean
men and women on foot, clutching at
anything from babies, big luggages,
cooking utensils. Traumatised and
starving young children crying and forced
to walk long distances to
safety.
Yesterday, a reporter for The Zimbabwe Mail based in South
Africa
drove to the troubled area and witnessed unusual activities at a
police camp
where hooligans in private vehicles were chanting war-cry
slogans and
signing the Jacob Zuma's trademark song, Mshina wami.
A
white farmer and his wife who had come to report violence on his
foreign
labourers was roundly booed by hooligans, and warned he would be the
next
target after the 2010 FIFA World cup.
A member of COPE, an opposition
party in South Africa told our
reporter of a secret plan by the ruling
party, ANC and coordinated by its
Senior leaders and it will be implemented
by ANC Youth Wing, together with
the country's security forces to drive out
foreigners from all levels of
employment and Springboks Rugby player Tendai
Mutawarira is the high profile
victim of the plan.
The plan also
coincides with the Zimbabwean State media trying to
distablise MDC-T South
African branch.
The source said Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu PF and the
country's
security and intelligentsia are aware of the South African
plan.
On Thursday, 13 November 2009, in Harare Zimbabwe Defence
Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa met with his South African counter-part, South
African
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu who was
leading a
delegation of Ministers from his country for the fourth session of
the
Zimbabwe-South Africa Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and
Security.
The Permanent Commission evaluated progress made by both
countries
since the third meeting held in South Africa in November
2007.
The Commission looked at common issues of Defence and Security,
among
them progress on de-mining the Great Limpopo Transfonteir Park,
coordinated
patrols along the border, preparation and launch of the Southern
African
Development Community (SADC) Standby Brigade, exchange programmes
and
cooperation during the 2010 World Cup and efficient border
management.
The Commission also looked at counter drug trafficking
measures,
prevention of stock theft, joint operations to stop armed
robberies,
management of deportation and Beitbridge border post
efficiency.
The South Africa delegation also included the Ministers of
Correctional Services Nosiviwe Maphisa Nqakula, Minister of Police Nathi
Mthethwa, Minister of State Security Dr Siyabonga Cwele, Deputy Minister of
Justice A Nel and Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thabang
Makwetla.
Emmerson Mnangagwa led the Zimbabwean delegation and he
was joined by
Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Didymus Mutasa and
Security forces
Generals.
Senior officials and Military Generals
from both countries had met
prior to the Ministerial session which was held
under high security.
South African government of former President Thabo
Mbeki, over the
years, refused to declare Zimbabwean asylum seekers as
refugees, rather
calling them economic migrants, in order to keep out United
Nations
involvement in the affairs of Zimbabwe, and hence own up to the
situation
whenever the matter came up for discussion in the Security
Council.
Up to 2,700 Zimbabwean asylum seekers have set up a temporary
"safety
camp" at a rural South African town following xenophobic attacks on
their
shacks, a human rights group said on Wednesday.
South African
police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday to disperse a mob
that attacked
shacks belonging to hundreds of migrants following several
days of simmering
tension over jobs.
The attacks in De Doorns, a town 150 km (90 miles)
from Cape Town, was
reminiscent of 2008 xenophobic riots in which at least
42 people died and
tens of thousands were displaced across South
Africa.
"At the moment between 1,300 and 2,700 people, mostly
Zimbabwean
asylum seekers, have set up an internally displaced persons camp
site or
safety site, at De Doorns sports ground," Braam Hanekom,
co-ordinator of
People Against Suffering Suppression Oppression and Poverty
(PASSOP) told
Reuters.
Hanekom said the asylum seekers were housed
in two large tents. There
was limited water, poor security and a few
portable toilets, he added.
"Today all the displaced asylum seekers
refused to go to work for fear
of being attacked," Hanekom said.
The attacks flared over competition for seasonal jobs at farms in the
area,
with the community arguing that Zimbabweans were "stealing jobs" by
agreeing
to work longer hours for less pay than locals were prepared to do.
De
Doorns police station commander, Superintendent Desmond van der
Westhuizen,
told Reuters the displaced migrants would probably be held in
tents for the
next week, as discussions about their future continued with
authorities.
"The were no new incidents reported over the last 24
hours," he said,
adding that "there were... in the last 24 hours," he said,
adding he
estimated some 3,000 were affected by Tuesday's attacks.
In 2008, a wave of xenophobic attacks in and around Johannesburg led
to
15,000 migrants, most of them Zimbabweans, being forced into settlement
camps.
The violence also spread to Cape Town, swelling the overall
numbers of
displaced, and was aimed mainly at the millions of Zimbabweans
who fled
their homeland in search of work and a better future.
A
global economic downturn and the first recession in two decades have
caused
massive job losses in Africa's largest economy. Unemployment is
officially
close to a quarter of the country's population of 49 million.
Week Ending 17th November
2009
Politics
The three principals in Zimbabwe’s
coalition government met on Friday to negotiate a solution to outstanding issues
threatening the power-sharing agreement. President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara face a 30-day
deadline set by the SADC Troika.
Botswana's President Ian Khama has
again called for the holding of new elections in Zimbabwe as a strategy to break
the country's political impasse.
SADC ministers have recommended that
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono should be dismissed to save the unity
government. President Mugabe (who has vowed that Gono will never be fired) has
meanwhile remained silent on the scandalous findings of the Auditor General's
report, which recently exposed massive looting of state coffers through Reserve
Bank channels. The Chamber of Mines has sought the intervention of Finance
Minister Tendai Biti in a bid to recover funds misappropriated from its members
by the central bank over the years.
Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo has dismissed the MDC deputy Mayor of Mutare and replaced him with a
discredited councillor who recently defected to Zanu PF. The MDC claims that
Chombo cannot dismiss a deputy mayor for no apparent
reason.
Cholera
The World Health Organisation says
116 cholera cases have been reported in Zimbabwe since August, killing five
people in nine out of 62 districts in the country. With the rainy season
starting and the availability of clean drinking water in short supply, it is
estimated that between 100 000 and 125 000 people could be infected this year
compared to last year, when nearly 100 000 cases were
reported.
Violence
Three more soldiers died under
torture on Nov. 13 at Harare's KG IV barracks, and two others are critical. This
brings to 16 the total number of soldiers tortured to death since the
'investigation' began. Reports say at least 120 soldiers are being brutally
'interrogated' following a weapons disappearance two weeks ago at Pomona
barracks. Activist groups have called for UN intervention to stop the
killings.
MDC employee Pascal Gwezere, who was
abducted by state security agents from his home two weeks ago, has been severely
tortured and was refused medical treatment. Gwezere was accused of breaking into
a military armoury and undergoing military training in
Uganda.
The United States Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) has placed Zimbabwe on its “watch list” as the
political and economic situation in the country deteriorates. The agency said
that trafficking in human beings and drugs is on the increase. "Zimbabwe is on
the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to combat severe forms of human
trafficking," the CIA said.
A DVD documentary presented in
Harare by the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe
reported that more than 60 percent of farm workers said they were tortured and
forcibly removed from their homes during commercial farm seizures since 2000.
The report said abused farm workers outnumber their former white-farmer
employers by 100 to one.
A dozen gun-toting soldiers
reportedly ransacked an orphanage in Bulawayo last week and beat up children in
the process. The soldiers went on the rampage in the Trennance suburb of the
city, in what has been described as an operation to look for MDC supporters.
Three uniformed soldiers in Darwendale beat a civilian unconscious for wearing
an Anti-Kariba Draft Constitution T-shirt on Saturday.
The continuing arrests and
harassment of Zimbabwe's trades unions were denounced by South Africa's COSATU
labour movement, the African regional organisation of the International Trade
Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and the European Union.
Diamonds
Powerful diamond trading merchants,
the Rapaport Group and the RapNet Diamond Trading Network announced last Friday
they are "implementing an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabwe
due to severe human rights violations in Marange."
The government will allocate US$10
million for the relocation and housing of thousands of families from the
militarized Chiadzwa diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe's Marange district to
make way for commercial extraction of the gems. This announcement came after a
meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP), a diamond trade monitoring body, voted
not to ban Zimbabwe from the world market and instead gave the country a six
month deadline to improve conditions in Marange.
Insurance giant Old Mutual has a
nearly six percent share in a South African company, New Reclamation Group,
which is exploiting the Chiadzwa fields in a joint venture with the state’s
mining and development corporation.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu named
Mbada Minerals and Canadile Miners Pvt. Ltd., which is reported to have South
African shareholders, as being the two companies presently mining the eastern
Chiadzwa field. Neither company is the legal owner of the diamond claim. Human
Rights Watch says the military personnel in control of the diamond fields have
killed more than 200 people.
Zanu PF last week tried to block the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill which aims to reduce the bank chief's
powers by appointing an independent board. Introducing the Bill in the Lower
House on Tuesday, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said reform was a key demand of
donors and stakeholders including SADC, the World Bank, and the IMF. But Zanu-PF
officials this week stepped up their efforts to block the Bill, stating it was
motivated by self-serving "personal agendas". They said the Bill aimed to weaken
Gono while giving "too much power" to Biti.
The High Court trial of Deputy
Minister of Agriculture designate Roy Bennett (MDC-T), who is facing terrorism
charges, commenced last Monday. The case was adjourned till Wednesday when the
defence requested a new judge. Justice Bunhu did not recuse himself and the
trial got under way on Thursday. Attorney General Johannes Tomana is personally
prosecuting the case, with a 'star witness', weapons dealer Peter Hitschmann,
who has already been cleared of all wrongdoing. Tomana insists that Bennett and
the dealer plotted to blow up communications installations. Bennett pleads not
guilty.
MDC MP Blessing Chebundo was
acquitted of rape charges in a Gweru magistrate's court. Chebundo defeated Zanu
PF senior politburo member and Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in the
2008 election.
Scores of lawyers staged a protest
march in Harare yesterday (16 Nov) to protest the increasing intimidation
tactics being used by the state against them, as they try to defend various
human rights activists in the country.
Education
Only 680 students from the
University of Zimbabwe graduated on Friday, out of nearly 3000 students. Even President Mugabe, who annually caps
thousands of graduating students from the university, was shocked and said he
understood the universities are faced with serious problems. "Colleges are in
mess, I am aware that there is no water, food, lecturers and a lot of other
essential things," said Mugabe, who then blamed South Africa for luring away all
the lecturers.
Business
The Presidential entourage jetted
off to Egypt for the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation trade summit. China
invests heavily in African resources, without regard to a nation's human rights
or governance record. Mugabe has urged other countries in the world to emulate
the example of China which he said provides "the best example" of how countries
should relate globally at the economic, political and cultural levels. Analysts
observed that China may overtake the EU as Africa's biggest trading partner
before long.
Cape Town-based Circle Capital
Commodities Trading brought an application in the Western Cape High Court for
summary judgment against the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after it failed to pay for
an order of 40 000 metric tons of wheat worth US$6.6m.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) says factory output doubled in the first six months of the year
and capacity utilisation had climbed to 32.3% from below
10%.
President Mugabe made a surprise
announcement that the Zimbabwe dollar was coming back before the end of the
year. The stock market panicked and shares nose-dived by more than 12% compared
to the previous week. Some reports indicate that the Government printers are
already at work on a new Zimbabwe dollar.
Well-connected tycoon, Robert
Mugabe's cousin Philip Chiyangwa, is busy with an urban land-grab to develop
property on Harare's green belt protected area of the Borrowdale vlei, a
catchment area for one of the city's water supply dams.
A consortium led by Jindal Steel and
Power Limited has been shortlisted as one of two bidders to buy a majority stake
in state-owned Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Co, or Ziscosteel. The consortium
includes the Investment Development Corporation of South Africa and the
Development Bank of South Africa. The other contender is ArcelorMittal South
Africa Ltd.
SA's Old Mutual is facing a boycott
petition for holding shares in Zimbabwe's state-owned propaganda mouthpiece, Zimpapers. South
Africa's powerful trades union, COSATU, has backed the call and threatened
action against Old Mutual.
Commercial Farming
Sector
Zanu PF youths in Kadoma held their
district administrator hostage, threatening violence and demanding 'their share'
of land offer letters, in return for violent farm takeovers undertaken on behalf
of local Zanu PF politicians. An official explained that the youths were in
reality only after the 'farming input loans', which they have been taking and
abusing since 2000.
About 500 'new settlers' were
evicted from the land they have occupied for nine years. The villagers said the
farms belonged to the late Speaker of Parliament, Nolan Makombe, Minister of
Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa and the late commander of the Zimbabwe National
Army, General Vitalis Zvinavashe.
Robert Mugabe took an entourage of
60 to Rome to attend the United Nations FAO World Food Summit. Zimbabwe is now dependent on massive food aid
after Zanu PF land 'reforms' all but destroyed the country's agriculture.
Meanwhile the FAO secretary-general, Jacques Diouf, is staging a symbolic hunger
strike in the the FAO building.
Mrs Hester Theron (79), the mother
of Commercial Farmers’ Union President Deon Theron, faces six months in prison
if she fails to leave her 2 000 hectare Friedenthal farm, south of Harare where
she has lived since 1957, after the December 8 deadline.
Source: Zimbabwe Democracy Now www.zimbabwedemocracynow.com
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
Leading
Article
November 18, 2009
Tsvangirai and the West
must stand up to the dictator's continuing abuse of
power
Inflation has
been tamed, a few goods have reappeared in the shops and a
little more food
is available to a hungry nation. But President Mugabe has
lost none of his
venom or readiness to hound, torture and repress his
enemies. Nor has he
ceased trying to thwart and isolate Morgan Tsvangirai,
the Prime Minister
and bitter Mugabe opponent, with whom the Zimbabwean
President has been
forced to share power after last year's rigged elections
.
Even as Mr
Mugabe was railing yesterday against the "hostile interventions"
against
Zimbabwe by "neocolonialist enemies", his prosecutors were
attempting to
secure the hanging of one of his political opponents, Roy
Bennett, who is
facing treason charges in a Harare court. Mr Bennett, the
white treasurer of
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, is
accused of providing
$5,000 to buy arms for plotters planning to topple Mr
Mugabe. His trial, the
latest of several attempts to convict him of various
charges, is a blatant
piece of political theatre to intimidate other white
farmers resisting Mr
Mugabe and to undermine Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC.
When Mr Bennett was
arrested in February after returning from South Africa,
where he had fled
after an earlier jail sentence, Mr Tsvangirai pulled out
of the
power-sharing Government. He saw, rightly, that it was impossible to
govern
in tandem with a man still ordering his cronies to beat up MDC
supporters
and concoct charges against serving ministers. After only three
weeks Mr
Tsvangirai returned to his job.
The charitable explanation is that he
thought Mr Mugabe and his Zanu (PF)
supporters would use the boycott as an
excuse to scrap the power-sharing
deal and resume their persecution of the
Opposition. A more cynical
suggestion is that Mr Mugabe has comprehensively
outfoxed the honest but
politically naive Prime Minister, and has forced him
into the position of
being almost an apologist, especially abroad, for a
regime that he loathes.
Mr Mugabe, meanwhile, has been relishing the
trappings of power, reluctantly
accorded to him in Rome, where he is
attending a United Nations food
security summit. A ban on visits to the EU
does not cover UN meetings, and
Mr Mugabe is exploiting his platform to
renew his accusations against the
West and blame his country's food
shortages on sanctions.
It is high time the world took firmer steps to
destroy this malign dictator's
continuing grip on power. It needs to send a
clear message to two men in
particular: Mr Tsvangirai and Jacob Zuma, the
President of South Africa. Mr
Tsvangirai should be told that there will be
no large-scale Western help for
his suffering nation unless his
power-sharing Government halts police
repression, curbs the violence of Mr
Mugabe's "veterans" and ends the
judicial hounding of opposition leaders. Mr
Tsvangirai may be unable to
deliver this message to the embattled President;
in which case, he should
resign.
President Zuma, however, has a far
easier task. With an estimated three
million Zimbabwean refugees in South
Africa, he has a pressing need to end
the violence and repression north of
the border. He promised, while
campaigning, to take a tougher line than
former President Mbeki. It is time
now to unplug the power, turn off the
fuel lines and force a change in
Harare.
17/11/2009 00:00:00 | |
by Scott Ramsay | |
|
Day two from our travel writer Scott Ramsey's Zimbabwe diary. CLICK HERE to read Part One of Five:
THE Sanganai travel trade show is termed “World Travel and Tourism Africa Fair”, and its tagline is: “Where the World Meets Africa”.
The show occupied several small halls. A variety of enthusiastic local exhibitors were showing off their tourism products and services.
It was clear that everyone there was desperate to do business, and to boost the tourism sector. But, unfortunately, it lacked any big-name international tourism operators, and unsurprisingly – given the massive knock that tourism has taken in Zimbabwe - the show wasn’t up to international standards.
The exhibitors that were present were passionate, but several told me that they were not doing enough business with the 234 buyers, more than half of whom were flown into the country on a freebie trip.
The show also needed a spruce-up. The area in which it took place was dilapidated, and the quality of the stands at the show was poor. And public turnout was minimal.
The Chief Executive of ZTA Karikoga Kaseke “admitted that organisers had not done much to encourage people to visit the stands,” according to this Global Travel Industry News article.
All this is to be expected though, as the Tourism Authority hasn’t had an easy job promoting the country.
According to a BBC article from March 2001, in 1999 more than 1,4 million people visited Zimbabwe. By 2001, numbers had dropped by 75%. The reason? “At least 30 opposition supporters and eight white commercial farmers have been murdered by suspected independence war veterans who have forcefully occupied more than 1,600 farms,” says the BBC article published in the same year.
And even the World Heritage Site and world famous Victoria Falls (usually comparatively immune from controversy) was targeted, where tourists were systematically harassed by “a group of ex-combatants."
Since 2001, there have been many more reports of farm repossessions and physical abuse of local farmers and opposition politicians. Most major airlines have pulled out of the country. Hundreds of tour operators have had to close down, and of course thousands of jobs have been lost.
I spoke to a ZTA official and asked her about the number of visitors to Zimbabwe. She told me the official figure was 2,5 million a year, mostly from SA, UK, Germany and USA. But a BBC article from 2008 quotes a ZTA official as saying that visitor numbers that year were only 218,000. Then other sources quote figures of roughly 900 000 a year.
The United Nations’ Geoffrey Lipman’s task of improving tourism statistics is a definite requirement.
A perusal of Zimbabwean news websites makes for unhappy and disturbing reading. It’s clear that even though the MDC and Zanu PF have entered into an agreement of sorts, things aren’t changing fast enough.
So against all this, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is to be commended for trying to do something in its own sector to make a positive contribution. It’s a pity that the country is far from ready to promote itself, especially considering that the surrounding countries of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique have comparatively paradisiacal status quos.
Yes, South Africa has a frightening crime rate, and yes, Mozambique is still a long way from being completely safe, but the overall scene in each of these countries is much more stable than in Zimbabwe.
Working for the ZTA must be one of the most thankless and difficult jobs in world tourism. If one can market Zimbabwe successfully in this political climate, then they have achieved the seemingly impossible. Good on them for trying!
Walking around the show, I met up with Sally Wynn, the founder of Wild Zambezi, an independent association which “promotes travel opportunities to the wild areas of the Zambezi River and Lake Kariba.” Check out the website: www.wildzambezi.com.
The organisation she runs is purely non-profit, and she’s determined to boost tourism – in her own little way – to Zimbabwe. She was inspirational, and someone who is utterly passionate about the country.
She and her husband Dick Pitman run a successful 4x4 tour company called Zim 4x4 (www.zim4x4.co.zw). Dick has also spent decades running the Zambezi Society, an influential conservation organisation that endeavours to look after the lower Zambezi valley, which takes in the spectacular wildlife areas of Chizarira, Matusadona, Mana Pools and Lake Kariba. They are a passionate couple, determined to make the most of Zimbabwe’s bad situation. If you’re looking for a guided 4x4 adventure in the country, drop them a line.
Then I ended up talking to Tonderai Shamurayira, owner and manager of www.magicalzimbabwe.com, a new tourism website that is promoting the country as a whole. He’s just starting out, and is establishing himself in the industry. He told me that Zimbabwe is going to get back on its feet one day, and when it does, he believes his website will hit the ground running.
I also bumped into Major Moyo, one of the army men who is leading the anti-poaching efforts in Zimbabwe’s National Parks. His team is deployed in the south of Zimbabwe, at Gonarezhou, where most of the time they work to clear the area of landmines. He was ostensibly determined to make sure that poaching was eradicated in the area, but he did remark how much work they still had to do.
I went over to the Zimbabwe Parks stand, which, I thought, would be one of the more elaborate ones, given the enormous value of the parks to Zimbabwe’s economy. But I was disappointed. There was precious little information, and not much to keep you there. But fortunately I did find Padgewell Mazoyo, one of the marketing managers, and he was very enthusiastic about me doing an article on the parks in Zimbabwe. He seemed very keen to get more people to visit the parks. And more people should visit the parks!
Zimbabwe has some of the best wildlife areas in Africa. Hwange is the largest in the country, hosting almost 30,000 elephants, Lake Kariba is a water paradise for a variety of big game, as is Mana Pools, where birdlife is particularly prolific. And the remote Gonarezhou is part of the massive transfrontier park, bordering Zimbabwe and South Africa. I looked forward to our delegation’s upcoming stop in Hwange.
On Sunday, we headed to lunch with our ZTA host’s family in Harare. It was her nephew’s graduation from medical school, and the extended family and his friends had gathered to mark the occasion. It was an emotional event, with speeches from family members that left a number of ladies in tears.
The speakers spoke of the hardships of growing up in Zimbabwe, and the great odds that they had to beat. Underlying everything was their praise of God, and how good He had been to their family. It was a privilege to be there, and I came away even more endeared to the Zimbabwe people.
After the lunch, I went to meet up with an English couple, who had started a primary school near Victoria Falls. A few years ago, their son had died suddenly at home in the UK while they had been on holiday in Zimbabwe. They decided to start a charity fund to build a primary school in Zimbabwe -- in honour of their son.
Today, that fund contributes most of the money required to run Chidobe Primary School near Victoria Falls. The couple comes out regularly to Zimbabwe to help at the school, and it was inspirational to chat to them. They remarked how so little can go so far in Zimbabwe, where people desperately need – more than ever - decent education, clothes and food.
I realised what I had always suspected: how all people – local and foreign – cared deeply for Zimbabwe and its people.
Don't miss Ramsay's diaries throughout the week
PEACE
WATCH
[18th
November 2009]
"If
there is to be forgiveness and national healing, then the truth must be
acknowledged." [
Continued
Abuse of Law to Harass Civil Society
The police have again
misused the Public Law and Security Act [POSA] by arresting trade union
leaders in what seems like a deliberate effort to deny civic society
organisations the right to go about their legitimate business peacefully. This
police action is also in open defiance of the widespread outrage provoked by the
arrests on similar charges less than two weeks previously of two senior
officials of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations [NANGO]
in
ZCTU
Leaders Arrested – Further Misuse of POSA
On Sunday 8th November
Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions [ZCTU], was
arrested by police while addressing members of the organization at
POSA
and Trade Union Meetings
As the magistrate said
in throwing out the police case against the ZCTU officials, the POSA provisions
on notifying meetings do not apply to trade union meetings. Section 26A of POSA
states that the relevant sections do not apply to gatherings listed in the
Schedule to the Act, and paragraph (j) of the Schedule lists “[gatherings] held by a registered trade union for
bona fide trade union purposes for the conduct of business in accordance with
the Labour Act”. Police cannot credibly plead ignorance, because
this is not a new exemption; it has been part of POSA from the start in 2002,
and before that it was in the corresponding provisions of the Law and Order
(Maintenance) Act.
The
unionists had with them a copy a High Court declaratory order which clarified
the fact that, under the Schedule as read with 26A of POSA, unions do not have
to seek police permission for their meetings. They also had a copy of POSA
indicating this, which they showed to the police. They say the police told them
that they had to arrest them nevertheless, as orders had come “from above”.
Not only was the whole
“incident” a gross violation of people’s rights to go about their lawful
business but it was a huge waste of the resources of the police and the justice
system.
In
their comment Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights [
International
condemnation of ZCTU arrests
The African Regional
Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) wrote
to President Mugabe pointing out that the arrests amounted to improper
interference in legitimate trade union activity protected by International
Labour Organisation Convention 87, which
Targeting
of Unionists Subject to UN Probe
Zimbabwe is already
been investigated by the International Labour Organisation [ILO], a United
Nations organ, for alleged violations of trade union rights by the Government,
including breaches of the ILO conventions on freedom of association and
collective bargaining, the banning of peaceful protests by workers, and the
prohibition of the holding of workshops and Workers Day’s celebrations. A
three-member team of ILO officials was in Zimbabwe in August to conduct an
official ILO probe into the allegations, the most serious of which was that ZCTU
leaders, labour and workers rights activists were brutally assaulted in 2006
after staging protests aimed at forcing the government to improve working
conditions. Lawyers representing the union leaders alleged at the time that
their clients were tortured while in police detention at Matapi Police Station
in Mbare. The ILO report is not yet out, but
The Constitution
[section 21] and the Labour Act [section 4] expressly recognize the right of
workers to form and belong to trade unions as a fundamental right, and to engage
in the lawful activities of their unions for the advancement and protection of
their interests. Unfortunately the ZANU-PF government has for many years
perceived the ZCTU as a political opposition force, an attitude that has
translated into frequent police harassment of ZCTU and its affiliated unions and
their officials. As recent events demonstrate, in spite of the inclusive
Government and MDC-T and ZANU-PF co-Ministers of Home Affairs, there has been no
fundamental change of heart by police.
Urgent
Need to Retrain the Police
These latest incidents
once again underline the need for effective action to change the police mindset
towards the rights of freedom of assembly and association. As long as POSA
remains on the statute book it must be implemented fairly and impartially. The
GPA states in Article 12(1)(b) “that the
Government shall undertake training programmes, workshops and meetings for the
police and other enforcement agencies directed at the right of freedom of
assembly and association and the proper interpretation, understanding and
application of the provisions of security legislation” and in Article
13 that “State organs and institutions do
not belong to any political party and should be impartial in the discharge of
their duties.” The inclusive government is being very dilatory in
ensuring that police are retrained to observe basic rights, to understand the
laws they are entrusted to enforce and to enforce them impartially.
In a statement after
the unionists were released, ZCTU Secretary-General Wellington Chibebe said that
comments made by the police that the ZCTU should have sought police clearance
before holding the meeting smacked of a police force that acts on political
decisions and not on whether one has a case to answer or not. "This is not the kind of police that Zimbabweans
want, but unfortunately we have to live with such. This points to the fact that
we definitely need to reform the police so that we have a professional
non-partisan force. The infamous POSA clearly does not cover trade unions but
the police continue to disrupt trade union activities in the name of POSA. The
police should be undoubtedly ashamed of their
actions."
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