FINANCE MINISTER PREDICTS REVERSAL OF FOUR-YEAR DOWNWARD
TREND Sat 20 November 2004 HARARE - Acting Finance and Economic
Development Minister Herbert Murerwa says Zimbabwe will reverse a four-year
downward trend in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to record a remarkable three
percent growth in GDP next year.
Launching a new and ambitious
economic recovery policy this week, Murerwa said key sectors such as
agriculture - near total collapse at the moment after the government's
chaotic land reforms - will rebound in 2005 to inspire positive growth in
GDP.
Zimbabwe's GDP is this year expected to decline by 9.2 percent
according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Murerwa
said the decline in inflation, which at the beginning of the year reached an
all time peak of 622.8 percent only to drop to 209 percent last month, would
also drive greater economic activity and production in 2005.
Improved financial discipline and fiscal management by the government, which
last year nearly achieved a balanced budget recording a deficit of 0.3
percent compared to a targeted deficit of 11.5 percent, would also inspire
growth, according to Murerwa.
But economic analysts dismissed
Murerwa's predictions saying they were too "exaggerated" and "unrealistic"
given the challenges the economy is facing especially on inflation
reduction, foreign currency generation, capacity utilisation, infrastructure
and public service delivery.
Harare-based economic analyst John
Robertson said as long as Zimbabwe faced currency shortages and the
government responded by trying to control the exchange rate, then most of
Murerwa's prediction would come to naught.
Robertson said: "The
exchange rate has caused the closure of major exporting businesses as they
fail to cover costs. The current rate of $5 600 to the United States dollar,
gives the government cheap funds and helps keep inflation down but at the
expense of the exporter whose costs are quoted in hard
currency."
In a report released two weeks ago, the IMF said
Zimbabwe's GDP would increase by 1.8 percent in 2005. - ZimOnline
Media, human rights activists lobby African, EU MPs over tough
media laws Sat 20 November 2004
HARARE - Zimbabwean media and
human rights activists leave Harare tomorrow for the Netherlands to lobby
African, Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) parliamentarians to
pressure President Robert Mugabe to repeal tough media laws and embrace
democracy.
ACP-EU parliamentarians meet at The Hague from Monday to
Friday next week. Harare is represented at the consultative meeting but
Britain and other EU countries have indicated they might not attend the
talks to protest the presence of Zimbabwe which they accuse of gross human
rights violations.
An official with the Zimbabwe chapter of the
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe), Silas Dzike said the
activists will also lobby the ACP-EU to pressure Mugabe to drop a proposed
new law that will severely restrict non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
They will also lobby the parliamentarians to help create conditions
conducive for a free and fair general election next year.
Dzike
said: "The lobby group will be asking the meeting to put pressure on
Zimbabwe to ensure minimum basic standards for the holding of a free and
fair election that includes the scrapping of the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, the Public Order and Security Act and the
Broadcasting Services Act."
The Press Act requires journalists and
media companies to register with the state's Media and Information
Commission before they can operate in Zimbabwe. Reporters can be jailed for
up to two years for breaching the requirement while companies will be shut
down and have their equipment seized by the state.
The security
Act prohibits Zimbabweans from gathering to discuss politics without
clearance from the police and the broadcasting Act has made it impossible
for other players to enter the industry.
The 10-member delegation
will include representatives from MISA-Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists, Zimbabwe NGO Forum and other pro-democracy and civic rights
groups. - ZimOnline
NGO Bill will block monitoring of rights abuses in Zimbabwe,
says Amnesty Sat 20 November 2004
JOHANNESBURG - New
restrictions proposed under the government's draft non-governmental
organisations (NGO) Bill will hamper the reporting of human rights
violations in the country, Amnesty International said on Friday.
In
a statement Amnesty spokesman, Joseph Dube, said the proposed new law will
prevent human rights groups from easily operating in Zimbabwe.
The
Bill that is set to be passed by Parliament early next week bars foreign
NGOs from operating in Zimbabwe if they are principally focusing on
governance issues. Under the controversial Bill, "issues of governance"
include "the promotion and protection of human rights".
Dube
said: "If such provisions were enacted, several human rights organisations
would not be legally able to operate in Zimbabwe."
The new
legislation, which the Zimbabwe government says is necessary to rein in NGOs
opposed to its rule, will require civic bodies to register with a
government-appointed NGO Council before they can operate in the
country.
NGOs would have to cease operations immediately until
they were registered with the council.
"This could conceivably
mean that medical and legal programmes would cease on enactment of the Bill
and that humanitarian organisations would also have to cease their work
until registered," Dube said.- ZimOnline
Wife drums up support for jailed opposition MP Sat 20
November 2004
JOHANNESBURG - The wife of jailed Zimbabwean
opposition parliamentarian, Roy Bennet, is in South Africa to lobby local
and international organisations here to pressure Harare to free her
husband.
Heather, who is being accompanied by her lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, told ZimOnline: "We are here to raise awareness around Roy's issue
and drum up support so that he may be released."
She did not
name the groups she planned to meet nor did she say whether she also planned
to meet South African government officials in her quest to secure freedom
for her husband.
Bennet, a legislator for the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party, was last month jailed for 12 months by
Parliament - dominated by the ruling ZANU PF party - for shoving Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa during debate earlier this year.
He
is appealing against the sentence and also against an order by Speaker of
Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, barring the courts from hearing the
case.
His wife yesterday said the legislator was being kept in
"horrendous conditions, basically without food" at the tuberculosis and
meningitis-infested Harare Central Prison. - ZimOnline
ANGLO American, the
world's second biggest mining corporation, is contesting the Zimbabwe
government's plans to expropriate Mkwasine Estate, a sugar and wheat project
owned by the South African listed group.
Mkwasine Estate, a
joint venture between Anglo and the Tongaat-Hulett Group, was issued with a
Section 8 order on July 23 this year which means it must vacate the property
to allow the state to take over.
Anglo controls 53 percent of
the sugar estate whose acquisition notice expired this week. The order had
given management and staff 90 days to wind up operations and vacate the
property.
A spokesman for Anglo said the corporation had
engaged government in negotiations.
"Hippo Valley Estates
remains listed under Section 5 but representations with the relevant
authorities to secure a delisting of both properties (Hippo and Mkwasine)
are ongoing," the spokesman said.
Anglo was taking appropriate
legal action to prevent the government from acquiring its properties. He did
not elaborate. Mkwasine, which at the moment has 4 600 hectares under
sugarcane, produces between 475 000 and 500 000 tonnes of cane a
year.
The cane is grown under irrigation. Anglo owns a stake in
Mkwasine through its Zimbabwean subsidiary, Hippo Valley Estates, while
Tongaat is represented through a local subsidiary, Triangle
Ltd.
All three vast sugar plantations, which are tucked away in
Zimbabwe's south-eastern Lowveld, have been served with notices of
compulsory acquisition despite the presence of bilateral investment
promotion and protection agreements.
The agreements compel
the Zimbabwean government to protect investments and properties of other
countries from arbitrary expropriation.
The Utete land audit
report recommended that land owned by companies in Export Processing Zones
should not be acquired under the land reform programme.
Although the government initially said it was not going to seize timber, tea
and sugar estates, it appears to have backtracked on the promise with
several estates now targeted for acquisition.
The government
has repealed the Hippo Valley Agreement Act to pave way for compulsory
acquisition of the land owned by the country's largest sugar producer.
THE state-run Herald
newspaper reports that the Registrar-General's Office is to introduce new
instant national identity cards from next Thursday and eventually phase out
the existing metal cards that have been in use since 1978.
The Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede told newsmen in Harare on Thursday that
it had become necessary to do so because the cards were produced instantly
compared to the existing system which takes long to produce the metal
IDs.
Mudede said the first phase of the programme would begin
on November 25 and go on until February 25 next year. The programme would
consist of five teams that would issue the new national IDs to people who
are 16 years old and have not yet applied for the national ID
cards.
The second phase, according to the Herald story, would
come later and would involve the deployment of more machinery, issuing the
new cards to people with green waiting passes awaiting the issuing of their
metal cards.
Mudede stressed that people who have lost their
metal IDs cards would have to go to the district office for interviews and
go through the whole process of replacing the old metal ID
cards.
The new ID card is made of polythene synthetic material
which does not break if it is bent and features a number of visible security
features. Instead of featuring one facial picture as the case with the metal
ID, the new card will have two pictures of different sizes.
It will also feature the signature of the bearer, fingerprints, citizen
status, map of Zimbabwe in the background and the national registration
number. Mudede said residents who were non-citizens of Zimbabwe also
qualified to be issued with the new cards.
THE decision by the Registrar-General's office to
issue new identity cards raises many questions.
The first
one is the timing. The country faces crucial parliamentary elections in
March and the voters' roll, previously reported to be in shambles, has not
been updated yet.
Wouldn't the new IDs create more confusion in
this registration cacophony that has been used in the past as a tool for
election rigging?
There is ample evidence to suggest that the
2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections were rigged. Then the
other issue is that of money to produce the new IDs.
Zimbabwe is experiencing serious financial constraints and is being forced
to go with a begging bowl in hand to the donor community to stave off
starvation, especially in the rural communities.
A new ID
would really be a luxury that the cash-strapped nation can ill afford. But
if the new IDs are to be used as a tool to manipulate the next elections,
for the ruling Zanu PF it would be worth the investment.
The
other question concerns the modalities of the whole exercise. In the past,
the government has failed dismally to execute simple tasks like the issue of
birth certificates. People still queue for hours on end to have birth
certificates and passports.
Unless there is an overhaul of the
entire system, it wouldn't be far-fetched to conclude that the five teams
that will issue the new ID cards might not operate smoothly and
expeditiously to meet the nation's entire satisfaction.
The
other big question that begs an answer is whether or not the majority of
people think that a new ID is a priority, given the myriads of issues that
need urgent attention?
Among issues that need to be addressed
are the rampant lawlessness, the harassment of the opposition and media
practitioners through draconian laws, the lack of food, unemployment, poor
health delivery systems and a serious breakdown of facilities and services
by most local authorities.
The government, in typical
dictatorial fashion, did not consult the people on the issue of IDs. The
assumption is that the government always decides what is right for the
people and that no one should question its decisions.
If
anyone does, he is labelled a puppet of the West, paid to undermine the
democratically-elected government of President Robert Mugabe.
Bakare lashes out at politicians who
thrive on violence
Date: 20-Nov, 2004
SEBASTIAN
Bakare, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland, has urged
Zimbabweans to shun political leaders who use violence and other militant
tactics to gain support ahead of next year's parliamentary
election.
Bakare, who is also the vice-president of the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) was speaking in an interview with the
Daily News Online in Mutare on Tuesday.
"Some of our
politicians don't have Zimbabwe's interests at heart," he said. "They only
believe in their personal gains. It is my hope that as the ruling party's
annual congress draws near and the parliamentary election gets closer, those
people who have been abusing their authority must be rejected by the people
they purport to represent.
"These men who live for power and
their selfish benefits should not be given positions of authority in their
political parties and in our Parliament. They have done a lot of evil things
in the name of the people yet we all know that they have accumulated wealth
and served their interests.
"Instead of speaking for the
development of Zimbabwe, they have been selfish, their reason being that
they get nothing out of national service. Their main occupation has been the
preservation of their political and economic positions," said
Bakare.
He said as a church leader he would continue to condemn
political leaders who thrived on violence to remain in power no matter the
consequences because the situation in the country had become
unbearable.
He said Zimbabweans were capable of leading the
country out of its present situation only if the political leadership shared
responsibilities and allowed public participation in the national
politics.
Bakare said: "It is now a question of individual
survival instead of, how do we survive as a nation. We need to share
responsibilities and resources. Individuals within the existing political
parties have turned Zimbabwe into a death zone and bad destination for
investors. These same senior politicians are in control of our nation. These
are the same people whom we have entrusted to make their selfish decisions
in the name of the party in power."
He said: "Zimbabweans
must reject these people at all forthcoming elections whether national or
party elections. They should not be allowed to continue destroying Zimbabwe.
Other capable and responsible men should take over the responsibility of
representing the peoples' interests in their political parties, particularly
in parliament."
Previous elections in Zimbabwe have been
characterised by massive violence largely perpetrated by ruling Zanu PF
youths and veterans of the 1970s liberation war against supporters of the
Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai. At least a thousand
people died in politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe in the run-up to
the 2002 presidential election.
Chipanga, Mhiripiri in bruising battle
for Makoni East
Date: 20-Nov, 2004
POLITICAL
tension has reached boiling point in Rusape as the battle for the control of
the town rages between incumbent Makoni East Member of Parliament Shadreck
Chipanga and his closest challenger Nathaniel Punish
Mhiripiri.
Both men belong to the ruling Zanu PF party of
President Robert Mugabe which has been in power since independence in
1980.
A recent snap survey among the residents of the town
showed that they are sharply divided over the candidate to represent Zanu PF
in next year's parliamentary elections.
Speaking on
condition they remained unidentified, the residents voiced their concern
over escalating violence between rival party supporters.
A
Vengere resident, who is also a senior Zanu PF women's league official told
The Daily News Online that although they initially wanted Chipanga to retain
the Makoni East parliamentary seat, they had also found that Mhiripiri was
more reasonable in terms of accessibility and visibility in the
constituency.
"The majority want Mhiripiri to represent the
party in next year's elections," she said. "We have made presentations to
Chipanga that he had lost the support of the grassroots people because of
his consistent absence from the area. People feel that Chipanga has spent
most of his time in Harare doing his ministry's business instead of
attending to constituency business."
A policeman based at
the Rusape Police Station confirmed the increased vigilance of the police as
they try to contain the activities of the rival Zanu PF
camps.
The police officer claimed that recently, they had to
mediate between the camps after Chipanga's supporters, backed by the
Chinyavada terror group bankrolled by the Makoni North MP Didymus Mutasa,
attacked some people suspected to back Mhiripiri in the "NE" and Mabvazuva
residential suburbs.
"We just had to tell them to be
responsible in their political campaigns, otherwise we would be arresting
them," he said. "Police have also stepped up their patrols during the night
to try to protect the residents from acts of arson and political
violence."
In an interview on Thursday, Mhiripiri warned this
reporter to desist from remaining in the town because the Chinyavada terror
group would harm him.
"I know you young man," he said.
"What you ask is not anything that we can discuss openly. But it is now
common knowledge that the "boys" would punish all suspected enemies, and
that include yourself and my supporters. It is not safe for strangers and
those who support me to freely express themselves. I am advising you to
finish your business within the shortest possible time, and go away within
even two days for your safety."
He was responding to a question
by The Daily News Online on what his chances were given the reports of
violent clashes between his supporters and those belonging to
Chipanga.
People visited in their homes felt uncomfortable
entertaining this reporter, saying they had been warned against fraternising
with suspected enemies of the State.
An elderly couple in
the "VE" section said the situation was volatile and any variation in the
pattern of movement of a resident would mostly invite trouble from the
terror gang that has assumed extraordinary powers.
An employee
at the Zanu PF co-ordination office in Rusape, who apparently supports
Chipanga, said: "The genuine Zanu PF supporters know whom to vote for at the
end of the day. Of course Mhiripiri can claim a lot of support now but
Chipanga would still win. It is difficult in our politics for the sitting MP
to just lose to the new guys."
The date for the Zanu PF primary
elections is yet to be announced but the party's secretary for information
and publicity Nathan Shamuyarira this week announced that the elections
would be held after the ruling party's congress, scheduled to take place in
Harare in a fortnight.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, said yesterday his
party expects to decide within weeks whether to take part in March elections
but warned there was a real possibility it might boycott the
polls.
Tsvangirai, the head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
said the party would only be willing to take part in the 2005 parliamentary
vote if President Robert Mugabe's government implemented reforms to ensure a
free and fair poll.
The MDC could not take part in the elections
unless the government improved press freedom, repealed key legislation and
appointed an independent electoral commission, he said.
Tsvangirai,
the biggest challenger to Mugabe's 24-year-old rule, urged African and
European countries to put pressure on Mugabe to conduct free and fair
elections in a country battling its worst political and economic crisis in
decades.
"I think the prospects of the MDC not taking part in the
election are very, very real," Tsvangirai said during a visit to the
Netherlands.
"I am not ruling out that we may participate. But it's a
decision that we have to arrive at after a full assessment. If we decide not
to participate we just decide not to participate and as far as the Zimbabwe
situation is concerned it will be a one-party election," he said.
The
MDC, regarded by many political analysts as the most potent threat to
President Mugabe's rule since he took power more than two decades ago, is
expected to reach a decision around the end of December after a leadership
meeting, he said.
"A categorical position will be determined once we
have made an assessment sometime at the end of December," Tsvangirai said.
Last month he suggested polls may have to be delayed if they are to meet
regional standards for freedom and fairness.
The governing Zanu-PF
party has ruled out a postponement.
Treason Charges Tsvangirai was
acquitted in October of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and seize power ahead
of a presidential election in 2002. He still faces separate treason charges
linked to anti-Mugabe protests the MDC tried to organise in
2003.
Mugabe and Zanu-PF, in power since independence, are accused by the
West of rigging elections, muzzling the press and ruining the agriculture
driven economy by seizing white owned commercial farms for distribution to
land less blacks.
Mugabe in turn has accused Britain, Zimbabwe's
former colonial power, of undermining Zimbabwe as retribution for the land
seizures from white farmers.
Tsvangirai, who held talks with South
African President Thabo Mbeki in October after the MDC leader was allowed to
travel abroad for the first time since 2002, said Mbeki had a vital role to
play in Zimbabwe.
"I think he realises that there is more national and
international pressure and I think the focus on him is becoming more
discernible, that he is the critical player in the resolution of the
Zimbabwe crisis," Tsvangirai said.
Political analysts say Zimbabwe's 2005
elections could be marred by violence similar to that witnessed in the last
two major polls in 2000 and in 2002, which was mainly blamed on Mugabe's
militant war veteran supporters.
Zanu-PF, under pressure from the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), has proposed reforms such as
setting up an electoral commission, increasing the number of polling
stations, reducing polling from two days to one day and using transparent
ballot boxes. But implementation of the changes has been slow, leading some
regional analysts to question whether the proposed March vote can meet the
SADC guidelines.
Ruling Zanu-PF holds nearly two-thirds of seats in
Zimbabwe's 150 member parliament, including 30 reserved for traditional
chiefs and presidential appointees. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) has 51. -Reuters
HARARE: Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has not ruled out
playing for his country in future.
But he said changes he called for
months ago needed to be implemented before he would return to the
fold.
"I do see myself playing for Zimbabwe again but there needs to be
changes," Streak said, adding, "Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) needs an
overhaul then may be there is a future to return to the fold in a situation
where there is no racism."
Streak was sacked as captain in April
after he questioned selectors and their policy. It led to 15 cricketers
rebelling against the ZCU and taking them to a tribunal.
There was
also an ICC probe into the alleged racism in ZCU although the board was
cleared.
However, ICC did make recommendations as to how the board should
be run. And this week rebel players, which had dwindled to three - Streak,
Stuart Carlisle and Trevor Gripper - decided not to pursue their
tribunal.
Streak told Australia's Radio Sport 927 station: "The irony is
that at the end it gave stamp of approval to recommendations we had been
making all along. I think that if ICC wants to be what it is meant to be, it
should be policing these because we haven't seen any changes."
Streak
revealed he had had an offer from the ZCU a month, on condition he pulled
out of the racism hearing and dropped his complaints with the board. But he
refused and has not heard anything since. Steak has a contract to play for
Warwickshire next season.
Zimbabwe is starving. The country was once considered the bread
basket of Africa. Its lush green fields and knowledgeable workforce were
able to produce food for export to countries much bigger than itself. But
not any longer. The economy has crumbled. There are virtually no jobs.
Some 90 per cent of its 11.8 million people live on less than $1 a day.
Hyperinflation and food shortages are making the middle class, what remains
of it, destitute. Its youth were once seen as the continent's brightest the
result of an education system that bred confidence and ambition. Now they
are part of a struggling mass trying to survive in a society where inflation
is close to 400 per cent and unemployment at 70 per cent. A UN report
last year said poverty and hunger were fuelling child labour and
prostitution. This state of destitution is the result not of some natural
catastrophe, but the impoverished policies of Robert Mugabe who seems blind
to his people's plight. No amount of pressure from the international
community seems to move him. And so the crisis in Zimbabwe will deepen and
its people are condemned to suffer. Many times foreigners, often rightly,
are blamed for the continent's woes. The reasons for the problems of
Zimbabwe can be found in the plush, manicured-lawn compounds of the
country's ruling elite.
By Carolyn
Hughes Crowley SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
PALMWAG RHINO CAMP,
Namibia - "If she charges, lie down so her horn won't gore you. The trackers
and I will throw rocks at her. The trackers are responsible for the rhinos;
the guide for the guests," the Namibian guide warned in his briefing before
we closed in on a 2,000-pound double-horned black rhinoceros and its
calf. Mother and calf make a dangerous combination that should be
avoided. "The rhinos can pick us up on the horizon, so we must go quietly
from bush to bush," said guide Johan Ras, 23, a college student studying
ecology. He has received a year's ranger training and carried only a bear
banger, which makes a loud noise good for scaring lions. "We're here to
observe them without disturbing them. There's no wind today, so be cautious
not to kick rocks or stones."
The two
trackers had no weapons but were armed with their knowledge of the rhinos'
reactions and field signs. Rhinos are cantankerous and unpredictable,
resentful of any intrusion into their territory. They have survived the
threat posed by their chief adversary, man, by withdrawing to inaccessible
and inhospitable land. In Namibia, a network of natural springs enables
the black rhino, a browser of leaves and shoots, as well as fruit, to eat a
wide variety of plants. They munch on the toxic, spiny, grayish, cactuslike
Euphrobia virosa and the twiglike Euphorbia demarana, which provide some of
the rhino's moisture requirements. The hooked, flexible upper lip of the
black rhino is triangular and muscular and grasps and snaps twigs. Then its
cheek teeth, which are huge grinding molars, bite them off.
SAVE
THE RHINO For the Save the Rhino Trust, we were to approach as safely as
possible these two rhinos and complete a report about their health. The
26-year-old trust has headquarters in the Palmwag Rhino Camp, a private
reserve of a million acres of unfenced desert in Namibia, a sub-Saharan
country of shifting desert sands, rolling and rumbling dunes and mountain
peaks along Africa's south Atlantic seaboard. This area claims to have the
largest conservation of rhinos anywhere in the world outside of a national
park. The trust has been instrumental in almost doubling Namibia's desert
rhino population in just over 20 years. It was set up to halt the poaching
the region experienced in the 1970s and 1980s. Yemenis used the horns as
dagger handles, and people in the Far East prized the horn for its putative
sexual powers. Since 1978, the trust has collaborated with the government
and local communities to provide security for the rhino; its 30 trackers
monitor the rhino population by vehicle, foot, camel and donkey. The
trust also provides employment, tourism income, environmental education,
improved resource utilization and management to the Namibian
community. In the late 1980s, the trust performed one of the
first-ever rhino dehornings, a painless process that is like cutting nails.
The horn is made of the same type of fibrous protein - keratin - as our
nails and hair. The word "rhinoceros" comes from the Greek "rhis/rhinos"
(nostril/nose) and "keras" (horn). That famous horn is worth a lot of
money on the black market. The cost in Yemen for a kilo of black rhino horn
is $60,000. The horn grows throughout the rhino's life, increasing by
almost three inches a year. Unfortunately, the dehorning wasn't successful,
Mr. Ras said: "Poachers killed rhinos anyway, so the poachers wouldn't
needlessly track the same animals twice." Eighty percent of the
world's rhinos had disappeared by the late 1980s. In 1994, there were 2,550
black rhinos in Africa, a decline of 97 percent in 25 years. At the end of
the 20th century, 2,000 of the animals existed worldwide, about one-fourth
of them in Namibia. Since 1994, the trust claimed in a report, no one had
been poaching. A later report from a researcher, however, said, "Poaching
has increased in Zimbabwe, and horns have recently been picked up passing
through Namibia."
SLIPPING AND SLIDING It was cool at 7 a.m.,
which would give us "more trouble finding rhinos because they'll be moving
frequently," Mr. Ras said. We rendezvoused with the trackers in the bush,
where they had followed the rhino spoor until they spotted the two
animals. We followed a safe distance behind the trackers. I stumbled on
rocks in valleys if I raised my eyes to see the trackers and nearly fell
many times on boulders as we went up and down hills. We stopped several
times to inspect dried rhino dung. "See how poor the rhino's
digestive tract is," Mr. Ras said as he kicked apart the dung, revealing
undigested twigs and leaves. Scattered piles of rhino dung (or middens)
serve as message stations for both sexes, a rhino post office of sorts. On
approaching a midden, a rhino will first "read the news" by sniffing at the
midden. The trackers, sometimes within sight and often not, were looking
for field signs: neatly pruned bushes with twigs the rhinos had trimmed at
45 degrees, middens, polished rubbing spots (rocks, trees and termite
mounds) and mud scrapings on the ground. Rhinos leave them to mark their
territories. I was slipping, sliding, my feet tumbling off the giant
rocks. "I must say this rhino mother took the most difficult route she
could," Mr. Ras said. He took my sweaty hand, steadying me, and we quickly
scaled the boulders. He said that for such a large beast, the black rhino is
remarkably elusive. Its legs are short but sturdy, and being myopic does not
interfere with its climbing ability. On top of one hill, we sought
shade under a mopane tree (Latin for "butterfly" because its leaves are so
shaped). We looked for the trackers but had lost them after trailing for
five miles. Sometimes they were together, but often, we spotted them on
different peaks. From our high vantage point, we saw neither tracker. And
our chance to find the rhinos had disappeared, too, apparently. "It's
unbelievable that a large but robust rhino has eluded us," Mr. Ras said
testily. "Normally, we can track rhinos easily. "The wind is changing
direction all the time. The animals may have fled because of our smell. I'm
disappointed the trackers haven't kept in touch with us on the radio. We're
in this hunt together. This is not the best day of my life." He suggested we
go back to our Land Rover so he could radio the trackers to look for another
rhino. Soon we were reunited with them when they walked down a hill
together as they approached our vehicle. They had a new sighting of the
rhino and her calf, they said, so we drove off to find them. Along
the way, we spotted springboks, called "jumping goats," though they are
antelopes. Bouncing straight up in the air, they indicate excitement or
agitation. With backs bowed, tails clamped between their legs, necks lowered
and legs rigid like ballet dancers in midflight, springboks can bound as
many as six times in succession. Fawns do it more than adults, probably
because they become alarmed more easily or they are flexing their developing
muscles. Giraffes wandered across the road in front of us. Like the
giraffe, the nomadic and sociable oryx, which we saw, too, is
physiologically equipped to survive the thermal conditions of the desert.
Built like a polo pony with incredible strength and endurance, it has a
long, flowing tail; distinct black and white facial markings; and straight,
narrow, ridged horns. Lone bulls have attacked lions and impaled them with
their strong horns.
COOLORYX The oryx's unique cooling system
- a series of nasal blood vessels - reduces the blood's temperature before
it reaches the brain. It functions like a car radiator, enabling the oryx to
conserve water that would otherwise be used in evaporative cooling.
When deprived of water, the oryx uses several measures to minimize water
needs. For example, It allows its body temperature to rise as high as 113
degrees and then pants and sweats to cool itself. Saying we shouldn't
drive any closer to the rhinos because they have excellent hearing and
scent, Mr. Ras parked the Land Rover. Again we climbed over hills until
reaching a riverbed. We stayed in it for a while because it was where the
trackers had last seen the rhinos. Then we climbed more hills.
FINDING THE RHINOS We saw the trackers moving cautiously, more slowly. We
seemed to be getting closer, and Mr. Ras said we should stop speaking. The
trackers stopped by a bush, and we moved forward and squatted with them.
They pointed to a nearby large tree where mom and calf were lying together,
asleep in the midday sun. Mr. Ras whispered that we would stay
protected, unknown to the rhino cow, while a tracker would move closer to
another bush to take photos of the rhinos. Each day, after successfully
finding a rhino, the trackers complete a report for Save the Rhino Trust.
The report includes pictures to identify the horn - each rhino's is unique,
Mr. Ras said - and information on the animal's behavior at initial sighting
and its condition. The rhino cow, Tina, believed to be about 35 and last
seen the previous month, was in poor health. Tracker John Hendricks said,
"She has given milk to her calf, and she's not getting enough
nutrition. "When the calf is bigger, the cow will improve. The rains will
be coming soon, so she'll be able to eat grass. Now you can count her ribs.
Her shoulder bones are sticking out." Tina's calf was in excellent
shape, Mr. Hendricks said. Rhinos live for 35 to 40 years, and calving is
every three to four years. A cow can give birth to seven to nine calves in
her lifetime. Several months earlier, Mr. Hendricks had finished a
five-year census. Getting the statistics from the government is almost
impossible. "Black rhinos out here are about as politically charged as
weapons of mass destruction to you in America," wrote a foreign researcher
on an annual research permit. Mr. Hendricks tried to be helpful by saying
the census showed more calves in the region, though one cow had died and two
bulls had been relocated. The trust says that with financial and
material assistance, the black rhino of Namibia's desert wilderness will
live on. "They've survived so long," Mr. Ras said. "Why should humans
interfere and kill them just for their horns?"
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
MBABANE, 19 Nov
2004 (IRIN) - An influential organisation of Swazi traditionalists and royal
supporters has come out strongly against the palace-imposed exile of two
chiefs and their followers for defying an order by King Mswati
III.
"We all know, as a nation, the problems the issue of the rule of law
has caused, and that the problem is in the royal household," said a
statement released Thursday by a 'cultural organisation' called Sibahle
Sinje.
King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, has
insisted on his right to rule by decree, even though the country's highest
court, the Court of Appeal, has ruled against him.
In anticipation of
the legalisation of political parties, Sibahle Sinje was formed as a
cultural support organisation in 1996.
Eight years later, a new draft
constitution, drawn up by King Mswati's brothers, Prince Mangaliso Dlamini
and Justice Minister Prince David Dlamini, perpetuates the ban on political
parties.
"We feel betrayed," a Sibahle Sinje official told IRIN. The
organisation comprises prominent current and former officials, including
former cabinet minister Isaac Shabangu, the group's chairman.
In a
statement in the local press, signed by Shabangu, he expressed regret at
recent battles between the courts of law and the palace. "We, who have
defended the institution of the monarchy so strongly, even turning against
our fellow Swazis in the 90's, now feel betrayed."
The Sibahle Sinje
organisation warned of popular discontent with a monarchy that held absolute
power, and urged the palace to examine its actions if it was to survive as
an institution in Swaziland.
"If the issue of the rule of law is not
solved, the Swazi nation will face international hostility as a result of
decisions from the throne," Shabangu said in the statement. "We have
Zimbabwe as an example, whose head of state has been sanctioned for
disregarding international opinion."
The commercial agricultural organisation, Agri SA, today
welcomed the South African government's announcement that it would soon reach
an agreement with Zimbabwe on land rights for South Africans in that
country.
Hans van der Merwe, Agri SA's executive director, responded to
the announcement by the government while attending an agricultural conference
in Zimbabwe.
Van der Merwe said his organisation discussed the
problems facing South African landowners in Zimbabwe last year with Thoko
Didiza, the agriculture minister and her Zimbabwean counterpart.
He
expressed the hope the agreement that was on the cards would be comprehensive
enough and that it would be implemented satisfactorily.
Yesterday SABC
radio reported that Mandisi Mpahlwa, the trade and industry minister, had
said negotiations had been finalised and that an agreement was ready to be
signed.
According to the agreement, South African investors in Zimbabwe
would be able to take legal action should their property be
seized.
Such a treaty was first mooted three years ago after
Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme prompted fears of land owned
by South Africans being seized.
A senior Trade and Industry official,
who asked not be named, said South Africa was waiting for Zimbabwe to agree
to a date for the signing. Once endorsed, the pact would go before the South
African parliament for ratification. - Sapa
Zanu PF's
supreme decision-making body outside congress, the Politburo, has succumbed
to pressure from the women's league that one of the party's two
vice-presidents should be a woman. This has boosted Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development Minister Joyce Mujuru's chances of landing the
second highest position in the party, following her nomination by the
Women's League for the vice presidency in September. At an emergency
Politburo meeting held yesterday, a proposal was made to change the party's
constitution so that it explicitly pronounces that one of the
vice-presidents should be a woman. Congress will have to approve the
amendment when it meets in December, prior to the election of new office
bearers. While the move throws a lifeline to Mujuru, it derails
Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa's chances of occupying the void
left by the late Vice-President Simon Muzenda.
Mujuru's name came
up during the ruling party's women's league conference in September as a
suitable candidate to fill one of Zanu PF's top posts. Already, there is
consensus on the ground that President Robert Mugabe will retain his seat as
the party's President and First Secretary. Although there has been no word
from the provinces concerning the future of Vice President Joseph Msika and
National Chairman John Nkomo, chances are that they will retain their seats.
According to a Politburo member, it was unlikely that anyone would challenge
Msika for the party's vice presidency. Observers said if Msika was dropped,
Nkomo would be elevated. But if Nkomo does not ascend, the option will be on
former Cabinet Minister Dumiso Dabengwa, Matabeleland South Governor
Angeline Masuku and Zanu PF's secretary for women's affairs and chairperson
for the women's league, Thenjiwe Lesabe. If either Masuku or Lesabe is
elected as co-vice president, in the event that Msika has been retired, then
this could scuttle Mujuru's bid and at the same time enhance Mnangagwa's
chances. But as long as Msika remains, Mujuru's chances are much greater
than Mnangagwa, Lesabe and Masuku's. According the Unity Accord power
equation, one of the vice presidents should be from the old Zanu PF while
the other from the former PF Zapu. Masuku and Lesabe are from the former PF
Zapu, and, therefore, will not be in the running as long as their old
party's former Vice President hangs on.
In a circular to all
provincial chairmen, secretaries for administration and the commissariat,
Mnangagwa, considered President Robert Mugabe's protégé and who has declared
interest in the vice presidency said: "Article 7 Section 32 (1) of the
party's constitution states that there shall be a central committee which
shall be the principal organ of congress and shall consist of .232 members
as follows: "Four members being the President and the First Secretary, two
vice presidents and second secretaries, one of the vice presidents and
second secretary being a woman, and the national chairman of the party,
elected by congress directly upon nomination by at least six provincial
coordinating committees of the party, meeting separately in a special
session called for that purpose." Prior to the amendment, the constitution
was quiet on women standing for positions in the party, save for the Women's
League, which was automatic anyway. Mnangagwa also said 50 members, shall be
women allocated to the provinces in such a way and manner that each province
shall have five members, "provided that the respective provincial women's
council shall nominate the candidates in such a way and manner that each
administrative district shall have at least one member appointed to the
central committee where this is possible (Article 7 (9)". Yesterday's letter
superseded the one he wrote on November 11 calling on provincial executives
to nominate their preferred candidates for the party's top
positions.
As is required by the party's constitution, President
Mugabe will step down as Zanu PF's party president and first secretary,
alongside his lieutenants, to pave way for the election of a new leadership
at the party's congress slated for next month. Nkomo, as congress chairman,
will dissolve the current leadership. This Sunday, a showdown looms as all
provinces are expected to identify their candidates and forward their names
to their provincial coordinating committees where the names will either be
endorsed or challenged. Already, each province is coming up with a list of
aspiring members to the central committee and the indabas will give a
glimpse into who will occupy the top four posts of the party. Zanu PF's
national spokesperson and secretary for information and publicity, Dr Nathan
Shamuyarira said: "All the people will be elected at congress, including the
President and First Secretary of the party."
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 2:15 PM Subject: The darkest of
days
Dear Family and Friends, On Friday afternoon the long, hot
dry spell which had lasted for five weeks in Marondera, finally broke in true
African fashion with the most ferocious storm. In the middle of the day it
grew very dark, a fierce wind arrived from nowhere and lightning streaked
down the blackening sky every few minutes. The power went off almost as soon
as the rain started and while my son and his friend played cards at the table
I surveyed all the bounty on the floor around me.
For almost three
months I had been tracking a donation which had been left on the other side
of the country. Three boxes, one suitcase and one bucket was the description
of the donation and at last, thanks to the kindness of a whole string of
people, it had finally arrived in Marondera.
On the side of an 8 kg
bucket in big print it said "Old Fashioned Blueberry: Frozen gourmet muffin
batter." Inside the bucket there was something far more valuable than muffin
mix though and I pried open the lid to see scissors, tweezers and
toothbrushes. While the storm outside raged, the piles of treasure for the
Christopher Campaign grew - soap, disinfectant, linen savers and antiseptic -
whatever could be used to give some comfort and dignity to desperately poor
people living with HIV and AIDS in Marondera.
There are over 700
unemployed and virtually destitute people with HIV and AIDS in Marondera. In
addition there are over 900 orphans in the town and 21 child headed
households. In all cases these men, women and children are almost entirely
dependant on the goodwill of strangers, on food and clothing handouts and
charitable donations from NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) like The Red
Cross or The Rotary Club under whose umbrella our little Christopher Campaign
operates in Marondera town.
There are thought to be in excess of 3000
NGO's in Zimbabwe employing over 20 000 people who in turn help literally
millions of people in need in Zimbabwe. There are NGO's working to help the
very young and the very old, the sick, the hungry and the downtrodden. There
are NGO's working in the cities, towns and remotest of villages. This may
well be the last week that a large number of these NGO's continue to operate
in the country. This week parliament began forcing the NGO Bill through the
required stages. Despite an adverse report by the parliamentary legal
committee which said the Bill contradicted the constitution on 12 counts, it
now seems inevitable that the NGO Bill is about to become law. NGO's
are frantically making preparations as I write. Some say they will
go underground, others will relocate to neighbouring countries and many
more will simply cease to exist. Welshman Ncube, the Chairman of
the parliamentary legal committee described the NGO Bill as a
"pervasive attempt to curtail and extinguish the fundamental freedoms of the
people of Zimbabwe". He said the Bill "does not seek to regulate but to
control, to silence, to render ineffective and ultimately shut
down non-governmental organisations."
'70% of Zim workers have fled' November 20 2004 at
03:45PM
An estimated 70 percent of Zimbabwe's working population,
or 3,4 million people, have left the country to escape its political and
economic crisis, a regional church group said on Friday.
About
1,2 million are believed to be in South Africa, making them one of the
largest groups of foreigners in the country, the SA-registered Solidarity
Peace Trust said in a report.
"An estimated 25 to 30 percent of
Zimbabwe's population has left the nation. Out of five million potentially
productive adults, 3,4 million are outside Zimbabwe. This is a staggering 60
to 70 percent of productive adults," the report said.
Zimbabwe
is mired in its worst crisis since independence in 1980, with unemployment
estimated at 70 percent and inflation in triple digits. Critics say the
seizure of white-owned commercial farms has badly hit the agricultural
sector, and accuse the government of cracking down on political
opposition.
'The loss of skills has impacted on health
and education in Zimbabwe' "The loss of skills has impacted on
health and education in Zimbabwe... many professionals such as teachers,
nurses, policemen and artisans have been driven out by political events and
are living like vagrants in South Africa," the report said.
Catholic Bishop Kevin Dowling, of Rustenberg, said he feared the exodus from
Zimbabwe could accelerate ahead of parliamentary elections next
March.
If Zimbabwe approves a bill to ban foreign human rights
groups and block overseas funding for local activists, the crackdown on
opposition could gain momentum and drive even more people away, he
said.
"The climate of oppression could be ratcheted up with
impunity, and there is a possibility we will get more
refugees."
The report urged SA to make it easier for Zimbabwean
fugitives to gain asylum in the country.
.. This
article was originally published on page 17 of Saturday Argus on November
20, 2004
No politics please - Vaughan Saturday November 20
2004
Skipper to protect youngsters
Michael Vaughan intends to
shield his developing one-day squad from the politics surrounding their
impending trip to Zimbabwe in the hope they can concentrate on
playing.
The England captain is keen for his young squad to use the first
part of their winter itinerary to continue their cricketing education as
part of the long-term build-up to the 2007 World Cup in the
Caribbean.
Vaughan is acutely aware of the political opposition to the
tour and the widespread moral objections to President Robert Mugabe's regime
- but he is determined to protect his squad from intense scrutiny on the
trip.
He will be helped by the presence of David Morgan and John Carr,
the chairman and head of cricket operations at the England and Wales Cricket
Board, and Professional Cricketers' Association chief executive Richard
Bevan who will take some of the pressure off Vaughan.
But ultimately
Vaughan, as his predecessor Nasser Hussain found out in the run-up to last
year's scheduled World Cup match in Zimbabwe, will be the man asked the
difficult questions once his team arrive in Harare on Wednesday.
"We're
not looking forward to visiting Zimbabwe, but as a squad of players we have
five one-day internationals to play and we'll be doing our utmost to win
those - it's an opportunity for all the players," said Vaughan.
"It's
crucial for the rest of the squad to concentrate on the cricket
"If there
are any political questions we have Richard Bevan, David Morgan and John
Carr coming out to answer them - and if there are any other questions I will
be answering them."
Vaughan has already admitted he wants the Zimbabwe
leg of England's winter commitments over with as soon as
possible.
"When I get asked questions other than cricket then I know it's
not a normal cricket tour, but I want to make it as normal a cricket tour
for the players as we can," said Vaughan.
"Any difficult questions
and difficult situations I will try and deal with, alongside the three
members of the management.
"We realise it's going to be a little bit
tricky but we want them to concentrate on the cricket and try and get as
much out of the cricket as they can."
That emphasis on playing will
start tomorrow when England face Namibia in the first of two warm-up matches
before going to Zimbabwe - having had a request to field all 14 squad
players rejected by local officials.
Memories of how far Namibia
stretched England in last year's 55-run defeat during the World Cup at Port
Elizabeth should also be enough to ensure the tourists do not take
tomorrow's opposition lightly, particularly after their build-up this week
was decimated by unseasonal storms.
"We are realistic in that we've only
had two outdoor practices," said Vaughan.
"The weather has
intervened, and we have done a lot of fitness - which we always intended to
do on this part of the trip.
"We'd have liked to have had a bit more
middle and net practice, so we're going in slightly rusty - but we still
expect a decent performance. We have a young, exciting team - and I expect
them to perform to a decent standard even if they haven't had much net
practice.
"It's an early test of the team. Namibia have shown in the
World Cup that they are pretty good. They have some exciting batsmen, and it
will be a good test tomorrow."
England have not decided on their
final line-up. But Sussex's Matt Prior and new Hampshire signing Kevin
Pietersen, both of whom are appearing in an England squad for the first
time, are expected to feature.
"Kevin's a very confident lad and a good
player, and Matt Prior seems a similar sort of individual who looks a tough
cricketer and is going to put pressure on a lot of people in the squad,"
added Vaughan.
"The bigger the squad we can have and the more players we
can have to pick from certainly makes you work harder to stay in - which has
to be good for the team.
"We're trying to develop a squad of players
who we feel can take us through to the World Cup, and that's not to say that
those who are not involved will not get a chance to get into the
squad.
"The nucleus of the squad, which is important, we seem to have
pretty covered - and the role we have set for players in key positions are
all covered. But people who do well in the county game over the next couple
of years are also going to put themselves forward for selection."
Baby 'killed by witches' alive in Zim prison November 20
2004 at 01:41PM
Harare, Zimbabwe - A two-year-old girl, who was
feared killed in a witchcraft ritual after she disappeared five months ago,
had been locked up all along in a maximum security prison in Zimbabwe's
capital, a state-owned newspaper reported on Saturday.
The
baby, Tendai Muisa, was locked away in Harare's grim Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison since June along with her family's servant Juliet Kasundwa,
19, The Herald newspaper reported.
Kasundwa was minding the baby
when police arrested her, demanding she explain where she got a pair of
shoes that she was carrying, the paper said.
A Zimbabwe police
spokesperson was unable to immediately say why the teen was arrested and
held without bail, or whether she ever appeared in court.
Tendai's story once again put a spotlight on Zimbabwe's justice system.
Human rights groups have criticised new laws that allow prosecutors to deny
many suspects bail.
The family had notified police after Tendai
disappeared. Fearing she had become a victim in a series of ritual child
killings, they also consulted traditional healers and spirit mediums for
reassurance that Tendai was still alive.
"We could not believe
our eyes when Kasundwa came back with the child," Tendai's mother Shelly
Muisa was quoted as saying. "We shed tears of joy. I couldn't move or say
anything. I just held my baby close to my bosom and looked at
her."
Zimbabwean prison regulations allow women to keep babies
under four years old with them and do not require more than verbal assertion
of parentage. - Sapa-AP
By Staff
Reporter Last updated: 11/21/2004 02:25:59 ZIMBABWE'S opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) has lost yet another MP, this time through a car
accident.
Gweru Urban (Mkoba) MP, Stanley Bethel Makwembere died in a car
crash on his way from a parliamentary committee meeting in Harare on Friday
night, the party announced.
"He was a hard working MP who campaigned
hard and worked hard to see the democratisation of Zimbabwe, first as a
trade unionist and later as an MP," the MDC's shadow minister for foreign
affairs Priscilla Misihairabwi told New Zimbabwe.com in London where she is
meeting British government officials with party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
secretary general Welshman Ncube.
Details of the crash were not
immediately available, but Misihairabwi said he died on the spot around 10pm
on Friday night.
"Our thoughts are with his family at this time and we
will carry on the work that he started," she said.
The two Zanu PF MPs -
who lost their seats in Parliament - are still attending sessions, thanks to
the intervention of Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa. The Supreme
Court nullified the victories of Elleck Mkandla (Gokwe North) and Korerayi
Machaya (Gokwe South)'s following challenges by the opposition MDC.
Mnangagwa recently ruled that Mkandla and Machaya, the deputy minister of
Mines and Mining Development, would remain lawmakers since they had appealed
to reinstate them. Mkandla and Machaya initially lost their seats in the
High Court early this year after the MDC challenged their respective
victories in the 2000 parliamentary polls alleging violence before, during
and after polling. Subsequent appeals to the Supreme Court against that
ruling were thrown out by the country's highest court on the grounds that
they failed to file their appeal papers within the stipulated time. The
development saw the MDC writing a letter to Mnangagwa asking him to declare
their seats vacant in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, but Mkandla and
Machaya have not stopped attending Parliament.
Yesterday
Innocent Gonese, the opposition party's chief whip, said Mnangagwa wrote to
him advising that the two legislators had filed a second application in the
Supreme Court seeking the reinstatement of their appeal. As a result, Gonese
explained, the Parliamentary Speaker said the law should be allowed to take
its full course before any action on the matter was taken. "That is the
communication I received from the honourable Speaker, but as of now I am
reserving my comment on the matter," Gonese said. Clerk of Parliament Austin
Zvoma declined to comment on the matter. However, the ruling party's chief
whip, Joram Gumbo said as far as Zanu PF was concerned the two seats could
only be declared vacant by a certificate issued by the courts. "There are
procedures to be followed. The MDC should not bother writing to the Speaker
to declare the seats vacant. Only the Supreme Court or the High Court can
issue a certificate to the effect." Gumbo said.