http://www.radiovop.com/
BULAWAYO, November 2 2008 -
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ), has instructed its
members to boycott the marking of this year's
controversial examinations,
which it alleges were written under
unprofessional
conditions.
A PTUZ official, Themba Sithole, told
RadioVOP that candidates
experienced major hiccups when they sat for their
end of year examinations
under the supervision of police officers and
community leaders last week.
"We hear that pupils have written
examinations but the conditions were
not satidfactory. Teachers are still on
strike and we are saying without
US$1 200 salaries - we are not going back
to work. The government has forced
examinations down pupils and parents
throats but no one is going to mark
those examination scripts," said
Sithole.
He warned teachers not to mark examination scripts as
they would be
aiding a system that is under collapse.
Sithole said some students also boycotted examinations in
Matabeleland.
"In Hwange - some students openly told
teachers that they would not be
writing examinations as they were not
ready," said Sithole.
Confusion reigned at the start of this
year's public examinations with
reports of shortage of question papers and
inteference from Government among
other things.
Enock
Paradza, also of the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ), told
RadioVOP last
week that students in Masvingo were being invigilated by
Central
Intelligence officers and soldiers, and that most students did not
sit for
their exams as they had long stopped reporting for school.
In
another incident more than seven primary schools in Hwange received
Ndebele
examination question papers a week later.
The Zimbabwe school
Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) had also failed to
print enough examination
question papers, resulting in students having to
sit for the examinations in
batches and at times finishing around 7pm.
Paradza said the
current confusion showed that ZIMSEC was ill
prepared for this year's
examinations.
He said the organisation's secretary general,
Raymond Majongwe, was
under threat as the government was accusing him of
inciting teachers to
boycott examinations.
Officials from
the Presidents office were said to have visited the
PTUZ's Gokwe office and
harassed an official, accusing the organisation of
destabilising the
education system.
PTUZ had advised the government to cancel
this year's public
examinations citing the on-going strike action by
teachers this year, which
left pupils unprepared.
Teachers
have been staging strikes since January, demanding pay
increases and better
working conditions.
Due to massive inflation, the highest in
the world at over 230 million
percent, teachers have seen their salary
shrink to a pittance.
http://www.nation.co.ke
By KITSEPILE NYATHI NATION Correspondent
Posted Sunday, November 2 2008 at
17:25
Chances are fast diminishing
that Zimbabwe will have a functional government
before the end of the year
as the rivals in the political crisis still have
a long way to go before
concluding a power sharing deal, analysts have
warned.
The South
African Development Community is yet to set date for an emergency
summit to
persuade President Robert Mugabe and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai of the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to resolve the deadlock.
Analysts
said if the summit succeeded in persuading the protagonists to work
together, it would take months for the new government to start doing its
work as they were still some legislative hurdles on the
way.
Complicate the tasks
However, the analysts noted that the
delay would further complicate the
tasks that await the new government such
as reviving the economy, service
delivery and militating against looming
famine as envisaged in the power
sharing pact.
President Mugabe, Mr
Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara on 15
September signed an
agreement to set up an all- inclusive government to
tackle the country's
mounting economic and political crisis.
But already there are fears that
the deal has taken too long to implement as
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai
continue to haggle over the allocation of key
cabinet portfolios.
"So
the suffering of the majority continues ¬ ordinary men and women,
children
and the elderly without food and opportunity and more particularly,
without
hope," said Mr Eddie Cross and MDC parliamentarian and policy
advisor.
"The region has not even announced the date of the
SADCsummit due in less
than 10 days."
http://english.ohmynews.com
Mugabe Faces Growing Pressure to Resign
Nelson G. Katsande
Published
2008-11-02 15:52 (KST)
Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe faces mounting
pressure to relinquish
power as the country's economic woes worsen. Mugabe,
whose 28-year rule has
faced the greatest challenge from opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, has
vowed to hang on.
Recently Mugabe and
Tsvangirai signed a power sharing deal which analysts
say has collapsed due
to disagreements on the allocation of ministerial
posts. Although there has
been no official acknowledgement from the parties
on the collapse of the
deal, there is growing evidence the deal has
collapsed.
Last week the
regime accused Tsvangirai of holding the nation at ransom and
labelled him
"Another Savimbi." Savimbi led UNITA, an anti-communist rebel
group that
fought against MPLA in the Angolan civil war.
In the streets of Harare,
the capital city, there is talk that the Mugabe
regime intends to introduce
the compulsory national service in a bid to
suppress the growing dissent.
School children would be forced to enlist for
the national service. Already,
ZANU PF supporters are reported to be
visiting schools where school children
are brainwashed with party
ideologies.
In the run up to the March
presidential elections, school activities were
disrupted as teachers and
pupils were coerced to attend Mugabe's campaign
rallies. At a school in
Zvimba, Mugabe's home area, teachers were forced to
flee after ZANU PF
supporters pounced on them accusing them of being
sympathetic to the
opposition.
Tsvangirai who has refused to accept minority power in the
power sharing
deal insists the ministries should be shared equally and is
demanding
control of the finance and home affairs ministries, a move
resisted by
Mugabe's government.
Tsvangirai won the March
presidential elections but was denied outright
victory after the final
results were "rigged." The government delayed
announcing the election
results, fuelling claims the votes were being
tempered with to deny the
opposition outright victory.
Officials within the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission who threatened to uncover
the rigging process were
abducted.
Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic woes since
independence from
Britain in 1980. Mugabe blames Britain and America for his
country's woes.
He has repeatedly accused the opposition of being British
puppets.
In 2000, Mugabe embarked on the land distribution programme
which analysts
say is to blame for the country's problems. More than 3,000
white commercial
farmers were chased from their land by Mugabe's supporters
and war veterans.
Zimbabwe is also faced with a cholera outbreak which
has claimed many lives
in urban areas. Independent sources say more than 100
lives have been lost
as a result of drinking contaminated water. Councils
faced with cash
shortage have been failing to purify drinking water as there
is no foreign
currency to purchase chemicals. Residents have resorted to
digging wells
where they are drinking untreated water.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6636
November 1, 2008
LUSAKA, (Reuters) -
Zambia's main opposition party asked officials on
Saturday to suspend
release of further election results as its candidate's
lead over acting
President Rupiah Banda became slimmer.
The Patriotic Front's formal
request to Zambia's electoral commission came
several hours after PF leader
Michael Sata accused officials of rigging the
vote to prevent him from
ruling the mineral-rich southern African nation.
"We have genuine grounds
on which not to accept these results," Given
Lubinda, a PF spokesman, told
reporters in Lusaka. He added that there were
discrepancies between vote
tallies and the number of voters on registration
lists.
Sata, a
populist with strong support among workers and the poor, has been
alleging
electoral fraud since shortly after the polls closed on Thursday.
He made
the same charge when he lost the 2006 presidential election to late
President Levy Mwanawasa.
Mwanawasa died in August after suffering a
stroke, triggering the election.
Zambia is Africa's largest copper producer
and is one of the continent's
most stable countries, politically and
economically.
Earlier on Saturday, Sata stormed into the Lusaka
conference hall where
results were being announced and said: "I have
evidence that results are
being inflated . They cheated me in 2006 and they
want to do the same."
Preliminary results released on Saturday afternoon
showed Sata with 666,194
votes versus 652,354 votes for Banda. The count was
based on results from
137 of 150 constituencies. Some 3.9 million Zambians
were registered to vote
in the poll.
With the bulk of ballots in
Lusaka, a Sata stronghold, counted, it is
possible Banda could pull ahead
when more votes from pro-government rural
areas are factored into the tally.
The next set of results is expected at
around 1600 GMT.
Sata,
popularly known as "King Cobra" for his political manoeuvring, renewed
his
fraud accusations after election officials said the counting was
proceeding
slowly.
"We are slow because we have to verify all the results," said
Chris Akufuna,
a spokeswoman for the electoral
commission.
Independent election monitors have noted some irregularities
in the poll but
have stopped short of condemning the vote.
It is
unclear what Sata and his supporters will do if Banda is declared the
winner. The PF leader has suggested several times since Thursday that he
will not accept any result that allows Banda to remain in
office.
Zambia's army has been put on alert to prevent unrest and its
army chief has
said he will not tolerate violence.
The winner faces
the formidable task of matching Mwanawasa's strong record
of fiscal
discipline, praised by Western donors and investors, and cracking
down on
corruption, two rare successes in Africa.
The vote also is seen as a test
of Zambia's commitment to multi-party
democracy, restored in 1990 after 18
years of one-party rule under Kenneth
Kaunda, but neither Banda nor Sata is
expected to reshape the political
landscape dramatically.
Banda, who
leads the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, is hoping to
benefit from
Zambia's relative prosperity as well as Mwanawasa's enduring
popularity. He
has pledged to maintain the government's pro-business
policies if
elected.
From The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November
Rioting broke out in Zambia's capital overnight
after it emerged that acting
president Rupiah Banda had overturned
opposition leader Michael Sata's lead
in Thursday's presidential by-election
with only a few results left to
count, reports said. With just two
constituencies out of 150 in the southern
African country left to be
announced, Banda, 71, the candidate of the ruling
Movement for Multi-Party
Democracy, was poised to become president for the
next three years,
replacing ex-leader Levy Mwanawasa, who died in August.
Sata, also 71, has
accused electoral authorities of rigging in Banda's
favour and gone to court
to demand that the count be stopped. "We will not
recognise Banda unless a
court tells us why we should," a spokesman for
Sata's Patriotic Front, Given
Lubinda, told South Africa's SAfm radio,
saying the party would demand a
recount. Sata has complained of numerous
alleged irregularities during the
vote. He claims voting continued in some
places while the first results were
being announced, SAfm reported. African
observers gave the election a clean
bill of health.
SAfm reported that sporadic rioting took place
overnight in some poor
neighbourhoods of Lusaka after news of Sata's
electoral setback trickled
through. Zambia's capital is a Sata stronghold
while Banda is more popular
in rural areas. Sata, who is on his third
attempt to become president, had
looked comfortably ahead at one point,
while the rural votes were still
being counted. The Zambian army has been on
alert since earlier this week
amid fears of violence in the event of a
disputed outcome. In 2006, Sata's
initial refusal to accept his defeat at
the hands of Mwanawasa sparked days
of rioting. Zambia is Africa's largest
copper producer but 65 per cent of
the population live on less than $US1 a
day. The global financial crisis has
loomed large over the election as fears
of a worldwide recession drag down
prices for the commodity. Banda has
promised to continue Mwanawasa's legacy
of prudent economic management,
while cutting taxes on food and fuel. Sata
is promising to cut taxes and
give Zambians a stake in foreign-owned mines.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6657
November 2, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwe's long serving ruler, President Robert
Mugabe, left Harare
for Lusaka on Sunday to attend the inauguration of the
incoming Zambian
President, Rupiah Banda, government officials
confirmed.
Mugabe will be among several other regional leaders
including President
Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa, the new SADC chair,
who are expected to
attend the ceremony.
Zambia's ruling party
candidate Banda took a narrow lead over the
opposition, with official
results declaring Banda substantive president. He
will serve until 2011 -
when the late Levy Mwanawasa's term would have
ended. Opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai took a narrow lead in
presidential elections held in
Zimbabwe on March 29.
He and Mugabe are still engaged in a tussle for
power after the elderly
leader was inaugurated following a controversial
election re-run on June 27.
Banda, who has been acting president since
the death of Mwanawasa in August,
beat opposition leader Michael Sata in the
weekend poll. Sata has rejected
the electoral outcome, saying "a bunch of
thieves" stole the election.
His party, the Patriotic Front, said it
would go to court to demand a
recount.
However, monitors from
neighbouring countries unanimously insist the vote
was conducted in an open
and transparent manner. Banda, a 71-year-ol former
diplomat, has promised to
follow in the foot-steps of the former leader, who
succumbed to a
stroke.
This is in sharp contrast to Mugabe's widely condemned one-man
presidential
poll which was classified as a farce, although none of SADC's
14 member
states openly declared a position on the validity of Mugabe's
presidential
claim, save for Botswana.
The only African leader to
endorse Mugabe's fraudulent re-election is Gabon's
President Omar Bongo, who
has ruled the oil-producing state since 1967 and
is the continent's longest
serving head of state.
Mugabe, 84, has been Zimbabwe's only head of state
since the country won its
independence from Britain in 1980, but came off
second best in presidential
elections in March.
Mugabe will be
witnessing the inauguration of Zambia's fourth president
since that
country's independence; whereas the ageing Zanu-PF leader is the
only
president Zimbabwe has ever known since independence. His reign has
been
tainted by allegations of electoral rigging, economic mismanagement,
abuse
of human rights, a total breakdown of law and order and political
violence.
In fact, the few election monitors permitted to observe the
presidential
run-off on June 27 roundly condemned the outbreak of brutal
political
violence ahead of the poll.
The African Union (AU) and the
SADC observer missions monitoring the
election both condemned the poll as
fraudulent.
While Banda's inauguration will be witnessed by several heads
of State,
Mugabe's own inauguration in Harare on June 29 was boycotted by
all SADC
heads of State. Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term as Zimbabwe's
President
just hours after electoral officials said he won the country's
widely
condemned second election.
Government and Zanu-PF officials as
well as the security chiefs gathered in
a red-carpeted tent as Mugabe swore
to uphold Zimbabwe's laws. It was an
exact anti-thesis of the events that
surrounded Mugabe's ascend to power in
1980.
Mugabe attends the
inauguration of the Zambian president amid accusations by
the Movement for
Democratic Change that he is backtracking on commitments
regarding the
composition of the new cabinet and the extent of power-sharing
in government
position as agreed in a power-sharing deal brokered by former
South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki in September.
An emergency summit of regional
leaders failed last week to resolve the
stand-off over the sharing of
cabinet posts. The matter was referred to a
full SADC summit - likely to be
held in South Africa.
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/
Police, army and prison services hit by mass
resignations
A secret internal memorandum, sent from the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and addressed to the ministers of State
Security,
Defence, Home Affairs and Justice, and shown to me this week, is
warning
that the normal trickle of resignations from the security forces has
turned
into a torrent.
The memo, tagged "urgent", reveals that more
than 3,500 security personnel
have resigned already this year, but thousands
more are expected to go over
the next two months, in protest over pay and
conditions.
The memo also suggests that junior army officers are leaving
because they
are not happy with the way President Mugabe is "using them to
cling on to
power". It goes on: "The junior officers are complaining that
they continue
to earn very little... Most have been heard complaining that
they cannot
afford to buy basics, yet their superiors drive expensive cars
and enjoy
various perks from the government."
A senior Harare police
officer confirmed that similar problems were
increasing in the police force.
The officer, who works for the discharges
section of the ZRP, said: "More
than 1,000 non-commissioned officers will
leave by December 31, most of them
aged under 30."
He went on: "They have complaints about their
accommodation, their pay, and
even their uniforms, which come in such
strange sizes that they make the
officers a laughing stock. Basically they
have lost patience with the
government."
I tried to get an official
comment from Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijene, but had no luck. "I do
not know what you are talking about," he
said - and switched off his mobile
phone.
Currently Zimbabwe has about 40,000 soldiers, 30,000 police
officers, 20,000
prison officers and 15,000 CIO officers. In a normal
country, the continued
loss of security personnel would be a cause for
concern. Here, one more
resignation means one less uniformed
oppressor.
Keep those resignations coming, lads!
Posted on Sunday,
02 November 2008 at 10:06
A soaking Vigil saw us crowded
under the tarpaulin all afternoon, singing
and dancing to keep warm. Despite
the rain, people still stopped to sign our
petitions, though with the end of
British Summer Time, it was dark well
before the Vigil ended.
Vigil
supporters were shocked by the murder of Osborne Kachuru of our
partner
organisation Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR). He was
beaten
to death at ZANU PF's offices in Fourth Street, Harare, after a
peaceful
demonstration during the SADC talks on Monday. We are told that the
Zanu PF
political commissar Eliot Manyika was responsible and the Vigil
swears to
leave no stone unturned to make sure he eventually faces justice.
As we
feared (see last diary) the SADC meeting yielded nothing. The
deceitful
SADC communiqué falsely claimed that the only point of dispute in
the
power-sharing talks was who would hold the Home Affairs Ministry. It is
clear that the Troika was only interested in bullying the MDC and keeping
Mugabe in power.
The Vigil has little confidence that a SADC Summit
will take a different
view even though Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania are
likely to be less cowed
by Mugabe. It was thought the one ray of light from
the Harare meeting was
that the new South African leadership seems to be
aware of the desperate
situation in Zimbabwe. We look to them to force
Mugabe to honour the
power-sharing agreement and, if he doesn't, support the
call by Botswana for
new elections.
We were sad to hear of the death
of Vigil supporter Tapiwa Machemwa in a
hospital in Wolverhampton. She was
only 29 and left a 4-year-old child. We
observed a minute's silence
followed by a prayer from Rugare Chifungo. We
also took a collection for
funeral expenses.
Happier news came from Caroline Witts who comes to the
Vigil all the way
from Devon and sells for Vigil funds eco-friendly hessian
bags advertising
the Vigil. She sent two of these to the Archbishop of
York, John Sentamu,
who has show great concern for Zimbabwe. She received a
letter from him
saying "The people of Zimbabwe continue to be in my prayers,
and I thank you
too for all your work and concern."
The Vigil message
continues to spread. A Canadian group has contacted us
with a view to
working together and our attention was also drawn to a
picture of the Vigil
in a Guatemalan newspaper. While we are thinking of
South America, a group
of Venezuelans stopped by. They said they knew what
was happening in
Zimbabwe - and complained that their President was "just
the
same"!
Finally, we are pleased to announce that the new ROHR website
(www.rohrzimbabwe.org) is now live
thanks to the hard work of David
McAllister who is also working to refresh
the Vigil website.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 103 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
· Central
London Zimbabwe Forum. Monday, 3rd November at 7.30 pm.
Tahera Patel,
solicitor at Copperstone Solicitors, will talk about asylum
issues. Venue:
Downstairs at the Bell and Compass, 9-11 Villiers Street,
London, WC2N 6NA,
next to Charing Cross Station at the corner of Villiers
Street and John Adam
Street.
· Next Glasgow Vigil. Saturday, 8th November 2008, 2 - 6 pm.
Venue:
Argyle Street Precinct. For more information contact: Patrick Dzimba,
07990
724 137.
· ROHR meeting in Coventry. Saturday, 8th November
2008, 13.30 -
17.30 pm. Venue: Jassy Mood, 18 Gosford Street, Coventry, CV1
5DL. For more
information contact Nashe 07788 560 068, Sam 07861 206 785,
Christine 07958
560 094 or P Mapfumo on 07932 216 070 or 07533 831
617.
· Zimbabwe Association's Women's Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays
10.30 am - 4 pm. Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton
Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Nearest underground: Finsbury
Park. For more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355
(open Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Vigil co-ordinators
The Vigil,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday
from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by
the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will
continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held
in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, November 2 2008 - Former
MDC legislator for St Mary's
constituency, Job Sikhala, has likened
President Robert Mugabe to Afghan
terrorist, Osama Bin
Laden.
"There is no doubt that Mugabe is a terrorist.
He is like Bin Laden,"
Sikhala told a full house at a New Zimbabwe Lecture
Series talk forum on
Thursday evening.
Just like the
fugitive Bin Laden, Sikhala said, Mugabe uses terror to
prevail over his
political rivals.
"They are both terrorists. They trust terror
as an instrument of
political organization. There is no doubt in Africa that
nobody can infuse
fear into people more than Robert Mugabe. The
international community must
realise that there is an Osama Bin Laden in
Zimbabwe in the form of Robert
Mugabe,"he said.
Sikhala,
who in March lost his seat to Marvelous Khumalo of the rival
MDC faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai, said the MDC has been defeating Mugabe
and his Zanu PF
since its formation in 1999 - but the 84 year old leader has
retained an
iron grip on his rule through terror.
The militant former
legislator has been tortured on several occasions
by security agents in
Zimbabwe.
He has also escaped alleged assassination attempts by
Mugabe's
supporters during campaigns to drum up support for MDC candidates
in past
by-elections.
Mugabe, in power since independence
in 1980, is accused of unleashing
his North Korean trained Fifth Brigade to
massacre the then opposition
leader Dr Joshua Nkomo's supporters in the
western Matebeleland provinces
during the 1980s.
More than
20 000 mostly Ndebele people are reported to have died
during the
holocaust.
The Zimbabwean leader was almost pushed out of
office in 2000 and 2002
when a united MDC curtailed his party's
parliamentary dominance by winning
57 seats within a year of its
formation.
Mugabe came under intense international censure when
he unleashed
former fighters of the 1970s war of liberation to expropriate
and
redistribute land, formerly owned by white farmers in a bid to win
support
among Zimbabwe's rural poor.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6652
November 1, 2008
By Sibangani
Sibanda
TUCKED away at the end of an alleyway behind an industrial
complex in the
heavy industrial sites in Harare are the offices of a small,
barely known
milling company, whose main business is to mill maize into
mealie-meal which
makes sadza, the staple food for probably 99 percent of
Zimbabweans.
To say this company is barely known is probably not quite
accurate because
over the past two weeks, the proprietors have been turning
away customers,
ranging from ordinary mothers desperately seeking
mealie-meal to feed their
families, to members of the Zimbabwe uniformed
services looking to place
bulkier orders for both their canteens and their
homes.
For the last two weeks or so, this apparently nondescript company
has had to
tell the customers that they are waiting for their government
allocated
supplies to be delivered - their trucks are parked at the
Government-owned
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depot, but are not being
loaded.
So bad is the situation that even the employees of this company -
whose
major "peck" is that they get allocations of mealie meal for their
homes and
for their canteen at work - have run out. They too now have to ask
their
employer every day when the next truckload of maize is due to
arrive.
On the day that I visited the premises of this company, also
looking for
this once-abundant commodity, a headline in The Herald (a
newspaper that,
daily, makes me glad that I am not a journalist - because
being a journalist
would mean that I would be bracketed in the same
profession as the people
responsible for this rather sad excuse for a
national newspaper) catches my
attention. Apparently, the Minister of
Agriculture believes that
Non-Governmental Organizations (who, among other
things, spend a lot of time
in remote areas and have intimate knowledge of
the food situation in the
country) are misrepresenting the food situation in
the country.
It is not as bad as they are making it out to be. Is the man
blind or just
plain stupid? If anything, the endless talks about the
so-called Government
of National Unity (GNU) have shifted people's focus and
the calamity that
Zimbabwe is faced with is actually being
understated.
The front page of the same newspaper has another interesting
headline. South
Africa, having promised to supply Zimbabwe with farming
inputs, had sent a
team into the country to assess the situation. I found
this interesting
because it immediately suggested (to my, admittedly, rather
fertile
imagination) a possible reason why the trucks were not coming out of
the GMB
depot. Our government wants to show the South Africans that there is
some
food in store. By not distributing food for a couple of weeks, the
stock
levels will look better than they actually are when the South Africans
come
calling! How callous and unfeeling can a government get? To starve its
own
people so that they look good to the outside world!
A few days
earlier, on a South African television program, someone suggested
that
Zimbabwe was facing a famine of Ethiopian proportions. Those who
remember
that famine in the 1980's (the one made famous by Bob Geldoff et
al), will
recall that the Ethiopian government then had tried to hide the
enormity of
their problem from the world. The result of this was that help
came too late
for far too many Ethiopians, and the image of Ethiopia as a
country is
etched in most people's minds as the country with the walking
skeletons!
Ironically, Mengistu Haile Mariam, the leader of that
Ethiopian government
is enjoying hunger-free exile in Zimbabwe as we speak.
Could he possibly be
advising the Zimbabwe government on how to handle such
situations?
Of course the other story that is not being told is how
woefully short
Zimbabwe is of the inputs required for farmers to produce
this coming
season, which is now on top of us.
The scene at the small
milling company is being replicated at various places
throughout the
country, as farmers are looking to source fertilizer and seed
(which are now
being sold in American dollars), fuel and spares for their
tractors, mealie
meal for their labour and so on. I find myself constantly
asking the
question, "Do African politicians ever admit failure?" Come to
think of it,
do politicians anywhere in the world ever admit failure? It
seems to me that
politicians always have to be dragged away kicking and
screaming (literally
in some countries and figuratively in others) before
they give up what they
seem to believe is their right to ruin everyone else's
lives.
This
may explain why the illustrious men that lead the SADC countries are
reluctant to admit that the agreement that they witnessed so
enthusiastically in August has failed. They would much rather keep flying
all over the region to attend meaningless meetings at the expense of some of
the poorest tax payers in the world than admit that they witnessed a bad
agreement that cannot in any way be implemented.
But having told the
rest of the world to butt out because this is an African
problem requiring
African solutions, what other choice do they have but to
soldier on. In time
they may get to understand that problems of bad
governance are not continent
specific. Neither are their solutions.
I for one remain haunted by the
memory of the walking skeletons of Ethiopia.
I fear that no amount of
high-powered talks by not-so-high-powered leaders
will save Zimbabwe now.
Our fate, as the saying goes, is sealed.
