IOL
November 04 2006
at 03:41PM
By Peta Thornycroft Independent Foreign
Service
'If you don't sow, you don't reap," said Dan Nel, his grin
conveying
the extreme irony of this remark in an unpredictable, lawless
land.
He's a South African farming in Zimbabwe and is determined -
eviction
order or not - to stick it out. Nel doesn't want to go back to
South Africa.
He "loves" Zimbabwe and is planting madly near Karoi,
200km north of
Harare.
He gave most of his farm to the
government a few years ago, hoping
this would persuade the "land reform"
cronies to leave him a few hundred
hectares.
When Nel pleaded
for a reversal of his eviction notice, Lands Minister
Didymus Mutasa
reportedly asked him if he was an Arab. "If you were an Arab,
there would be
no problem," the minister said.
Mutasa, who is also
in control of the Central Intelligence
Organisation, hasn't a clue about
agriculture and says he doesn't mind that
80 percent of about 15-million
hectares of seized former commercial farmland
is growing weeds.
He is dishing out farms like confetti - some of it to people from his
home
area in eastern Zimbabwe. He signs them over by official "offer
letters",
mostly to the top brass.
Receipt of an offer letter, in theory,
spells the end for a white
farmer. However, many of them are hanging on by
their teeth. Despite being
pestered often by people demanding that they
abandon their homes, crops and
equipment, the shrug off the offer letters
and eviction notices.
Sometimes district officials and war veterans
tell farmers to ignore
Mutasa. Last February, someone in the government
decided that key white
farmers, without political profiles, should be
invited back to boost foreign
currency earnings. Instead, it got even
tougher for the about 350 white
farmers still working a small part of their
land.
Nel has given up hoping his South African citizenship - or
that he was
a foreign investor - would make any difference.
Anyway, the rains are two weeks away and his crops are nearly all
planted.
Will he be there at Christmas?
The answer lies in Mutasa's mood or
the throw of a dice.
The white Zimbabwe farmer story has gone on
and on for more than six
years. Between 2000 and the middle of 2003 there
was a frenzy as a few
farmers were killed, while several were beaten or
locked up. They fled in
droves.
A few were relieved they were
being forced out as they were going
broke anyway.
Then it
settled down for a while and farmers started giving most of
their land to
the government and applying to be "resettled" on the
remainder.
Most are still waiting to hear if their applications were
successful.
The government promised 99-year leases to purge
survivors, but they
haven't materialised as millions of hectares would have
to be surveyed to
make them legal tender.
Land laws were
changed every time a farmer's lawyer saw a chink in the
legislation.
Finally, a year ago, the constitution was amended
to make it
impossible for farmers to seek redress in the courts, and all
white-owned
rural land was nationalised.
Now there is the final
land law, passed by the Senate three weeks ago
and still to be signed by
President Robert Mugabe, which makes eviction
automatic. Until a fractious
Mugabe signs, Mutasa carries on dishing out
eviction notices.
People like the Nels are still hanging in there, but each month a few
more
leave - some forced out, while others give up in a hostile environment
or
due to a lack of finance.
The other human tragedy, of course, is
the workers.
Some farmworkers helped Mugabe's militants during the
land invasions.
They were promised the earth by liberation-era "war
veterans" who
spearheaded the onslaught.
But apart from
retrenchment packages from departing farmers, they got
nothing.
One farmer now living in Harare, but still in touch with his former
workers,
said last week: "Many of us fear that about 40 percent of them died
since we
left. They hardly ever get paid by the 'new' weekend farmers."
In
addition to the 350 or so white farmers trying to continue on the
land,
there are some, with nowhere else to go, just living in their
homesteads.
They, too, are receiving eviction notices.
Some are quietly renting
land from anyone prepared to let them. A few
have done a deal with "new"
farmers and share profits. A handful, now living
in town, finance former
workers and split any profit.
So there are probably about 700 white
farmers still in Zimbabwe with
some contact, often extremely tenuous, with
their old farms.
About 3 500 have left farming, or the country, for
good - or so they
say.
A few "new" farmers, like Mugabe's
sister, Sabina, and her son,
Zanu-PF MP Patrick Zuwayo, are doing well about
40km north of Harare on a
sophisticated white-owned farm they were
given.
They are the exception. Don't believe regular reports from
Harare of
how agricultural production is improving. It's not. If rains
aren't good
this summer, harvests will be worse than last year, and that was
a record of
sorts: the lowest production for more than 50
years.
This article was originally published on page 6 of The
Star on
November 04, 2006
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Dennis Rekayi
HARARE - RESERVE
Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, is in Russia once again
following up on
investment opportunities as knives are being sharpened back
home for his
head at the forthcoming Zanu PF conference.
Gono, according to
sources in the finance ministry, jetted into
freezing Russia mid-week with a
team from the central bank to follow up on
investment opportunities
unearthed during two earlier visits this year and a
recent one by a Russian
delegation to Zimbabwe.
The visit comes after reports alleged Gono
had been duped into signing
deals worth $300 million in Zimbabwe's mining,
power, and aviation sectors
with criminals posing as Russian businessmen.
The central bank chief has
since rubbished the allegations saying the
agreements were not a hoax.
Efforts to get a comment from either
Gono or his office were fruitless
but embassy officials confirmed the
Governor and his team were indeed in
Russia on business.
If
they materialise, the investment deals from Russia are a potential
boost to
Zimbabwe's ailing economy and Moscow's own bid to raise its
economic profile
in southern Africa.
Analysts say Russia's interest in the
sub-region, following a
determined push by China, signalled growing
competition for Africa's natural
resources as the two economies
boom.
Gono, who has been spearheading campaigns to have foreign
investment
in the country, urging an end to farm invasions, cracking the
whip on
corruption and making decisions that have affected and touched on
the nerves
of his colleagues and those in the high echelons of the ruling
Zanu PF, is
becoming increasingly unpopular amongst top Zanu PF officials as
the party
prepares for its annual congress.
Sources in the
party said daggers and knives were all being sharpened
for Gono who does not
attend such gatherings unless invited to give a
speech. Ironically, this
year's congress is being held in Goromonzi, which
is Finance Minister,
Herbert Murerwa's constituency. Murerwa and Gono have
clashed over the
country's fiscal and monetary policies and related issues
over the past few
years. Different camps in the party are apparently
planning to use the
platform to mobilise against the Governor, who is
President Mugabe's
blue-eyed boy. Mashonaland East province, which will host
the conference,
is, according to sources, one of the provinces leading the
call for Gono's
head.
"Things are happening so fast and as we saw in 2004 the fall
of
Jonathan Moyo through the Tsholotsho debacle, there are many in the party
who feel Gono has overstepped his boundaries and has made decisions
affecting them and their desire to acquire more wealth so they want him
out," a finance ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
said.
"Despite the general outlook of the economy today, people
cannot deny
that for the first time in many years, there has been a scramble
for
deposits with banks now giving better interest rates," he added. "What
this
means is that those companies and individuals who have foreign currency
and
have been relying on borrowings because money was cheap will be forced
to
offload it because they cannot sustain the high rates of 500 to 600
percent.
So in the process the parallel market goes down too because money
is not
there so those caught with their pants down blame it all on
him."
He said it was clear there had been a lot of corruption
within the
government, epitomised by the Ziscosteel deal in which some of
the people
intending to succeed President Robert Mugabe in 2008 are said to
be
implicated.
A Zanu PF official told zimbabwejournalists.com
"people want to finish
him off. The smear campaign is reaching new
proportions despite the fact
that he told the Herald recently that he is not
interested in politics. Many
believe he is liked by the people and they are
afraid his star seems to keep
rising".
The opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) will be watching
the Zanu PF congress closely.
The party has since said Gono's biggest enemy
was not the MDC but those from
Zanu PF who have and continue to benefit from
the chaos in the
country.
"It remains to be seen what strategy will be used at the
conference
but close sources I have heard say they will not leave him
alone," said the
Zanu PF official.
Meantime Gono will be in Russia
until next week sealing business deals
that include some mining concerns in
the country.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
HARARE - Three of
President Robert Mugabe's guards appeared in court
Thursday for allegedly
conniving with security guards at the Harare Sports
Club, which is directly
opposite Mugabe's official residence, to steal
sports attire.
The three are said to have broken into the Zimbabwe Cricket's
storeroom and
stole sports clothing worth Zd$895 496.
Privates Admire Njiri
Chigwendere (28) and Stansilous Choto (28) and
Lance-Corporal Martin Khabo
(30), all based at the State House, appeared
before Magistrate Olivia Mariga
facing housebreaking and theft charges.
According to the Herald,
they were not asked to plead but were
remanded out of custody to November 22
on $10 000 bail each.
Representing the three was Harare lawyer
Happy Tsara. She said
successfully applied for bail for her clients saying
the three had
cooperated with the police since investigations into the theft
began.
Investigations in the three began earnestly when one of the
soldiers
was spotted wearing part of the stolen kit.
According
the State, the three were on guard duties at State House
when they connived
with guards from Masimba Security Company manning Harare
Sports Club to
steal from ZC.
The soldier guards broke into the ZC storeroom on a
number of
occasions this year and stole uniforms that included T-shirts,
sweaters,
tracksuits and crickets trousers.
The uniforms
included 279 T-shirts, 126 pairs of tracksuits, 75
sweaters, 48 pairs of
cricket trousers and 79 pairs of short trousers valued
at Zd$895
496.
One of the stolen pair of shorts was allegedly recovered from
Chigwendere who was wearing them leading to the arrest of Choto and
Khabo.
Some T-shirts were allegedly recovered from Choto and Khabo
while some
pairs of cricket long trousers were found at the houses of city
people who
had bought them unawares.
Yahoo News
Sat Nov
4, 4:40 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwean government will next week
issue 99-year land
leases to black farmers who have been resettled under a
fast track land
reform scheme.
"The first 99-year leases giving
security of tenure to A2 farmers (black
farmers who have been resettled)
will be issued on Thursday at a special
ceremony to be presided over by
President Robert Mugabe," the state run
daily Herald reported on
Saturday.
"The launch of the new lease system is part of measures that cement
the
agrarian reform." it added.
The daily quoted a statement from the
Lands ministry describing land reform
as the hub of economic revival and
sustainable development in the country.
"Zimbabwe's land reform has has
come of age as the nation celebrates the
official launch of the 99-year
leases," the ministry said.
The ministry's secretary, Ngoni Nyamasoka,
said the leases were a reflection
of the Goverment's commitment to black
economic empowerment through
sustainable use of natural
resources.
"Those A2 farmers who have been on land for the last three
years and have
been assessed by National Land Board in terms of the relevant
Act, will be
issued with leases," Nyamasoka said.
The seizure of
around 4,000 farms since 2000, part of the government of
President Robert
Mugabe's controversial land reform policy, is seen as a
major cause of the
economic crisis in the southern African nation.
Before the start of the
farm evictions, agriculture accounted for 40 percent
of foreign currency
earnings but that has now dropped to around a quarter.
Amid criticism
that the farm seizures have led to a slump in production,
Mugabe has warned
new black farmers to either start producing food or have
the land seized
again by the government.
http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml
Saturday 4th November 2006
Dear Family and
Friends,
The first week of November 2006 has been the hottest that many
people can
remember. As I make notes for this letter it is 35 degrees
Celsius at midday
in Marondera - normally a cooler part of the country. The
forecast is for
temperatures to top 38*C in Kwekwe today and 43*C in Kariba.
When it is hot
like this it is hard to pay attention to anything but some
things do manage
to cause a slight stir of interest. Headline business news
in the South
African media one day this week was: "Zimbabwe is holding back
the whole
continent and is an island of decline." A sentence like that is
cause for
great embarrassment to us but it also brings slight relief. It
means that
our fanatically diplomatic neighbours are finally starting to be
publicly
outspoken about us - it really is about time.
Also causing a
stir of air in the scorching heat this week has been the
launch of a vision
document by a group of Church leaders. Called "The
Zimbabwe We Want", the
Church leaders say that the nation is "sliding into a
sense of national
despair and loss of hope." They say that principles of
peace, justice,
forgiveness and honesty have degenerated and that even some
Church leaders
have "become accomplices in some of the evils that have
brought our nation
to this." The document apparently calls for a new
constitution, for the
repeal of repressive media and security laws (POSA and
AIPPA) and for an
independent land commission to bring sense and
productivity back to
agriculture in Zimbabwe.
The voices of local church leaders, along with
the voices of our neighbours,
raised the temperature a little more although
I don't think either said
anything about last weekend's rural council
elections.
At the beginning of the week I met a man with a bright purple
stain on his
little finger. "I've been to vote" he said, his voice filled
with pride but
his face creased with despair. I asked him how it had been
out there at the
rural polling stations in the dusty villages. The man shook
his head slowly,
exhaled loudly. "At least now we will get the seed," he
said. He told me
that two weeks before the elections donors had come with
seed maize to the
village. The seed had not been given out though, the
village heads were
waiting till 'after the elections.' Similar findings were
made by the ZESN,
an electoral monitoring body, who said : "residents were
told that if the
election outcome was not favourable to ZANU-PF the price
[of the
state-subsidised maize] would be increased." Official figures of
voter
turnout had not been released by the end of the week but in the Kadoma
mayoral elections, held concurrently with rural district elections, the
voter turnout was diabolical - just 9% (NINE PERCENT!) of registered voters
had bothered.
Also, completely un-noticed by the state media in the
sweltering heat this
week was a protest held by members of the National
Constitutional Assembly
in Harare. 250 people were rounded up and arrested
by baton wielding police.
There were many reports of people being beaten up.
Chairman Lovemore Madhuku
and two others were still being held days
later.
It is hard to see light in such dark news from Zimbabwe but small
things
give relief - the voices of a million crickets that fill the night
air; the
calling of the cicadas clinging to Msasa trees during the hot days
and the
glimpses of a gorgeous plum coloured starling in the new canopies
shading
our gardens. Such beauty in such harshness. Because of this, and for
this,
we still have hope.
Until next week, love cathy.
Reuters
Sat Nov
4, 2006 3:26 PM GMT
MUMBAI, India, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe could
return to the test arena in
November 2007 if they improve their domestic
structure, the International
Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on
Saturday.
The ICC's executive board made the announcement after president
Percy Sonn
and chief executive Malcolm Speed reported back on their
fact-finding trip
to Zimbabwe in late July and early August.
World
cricket's governing body has asked Zimbabwe to establish a credible
domestic
first-class structure and secure competitive cricket for their best
players
against high-class A sides in the next 12 months.
The Zimbabwe government
took control of cricket in January and one of their
first decisions was to
withdraw the national team from the test arena.
The ICC blamed
in-fighting in the Zimbabwe board for their plight but has
been assured by
Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka that a new draft
constitution will
be adopted at a special general meeting on Nov. 18.
Zimbabwe have been
forced to pick a depleted team since April 2004, when
most of their senior
players retired or opted to further their careers in
other countries after a
dispute with the board that followed Heath Streak's
dismissal as
captain.
The Zimbabweans lost nine of their last 10 tests, seven by an
innings.
They are still playing one-day internationals but last won a
limited-overs
game against a major team against West Indies in November
2003.
Zimbabwe lost all three qualifying games in the Champions Trophy in
India,
against Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka.
VOA
By
Carole Gombakomba
Washington
03 November
2006
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, or ZESA, was on
the defensive
Friday over its decision to increase electric power rates by
95% for
households and 27% for its business customers, effective
retroactively to
Nov. 1.
ZESA Corporate Affairs Manager James
Maridadi said the increases were
necessary to absorb ever-rising cost of
running the state power utility
under the harsh economic conditions
prevailing in Zimbabwe, including
inflation of around 1,000%.
But
critics say mismanagement coupled with state interference plus a chronic
shortage of hard currency are to blame for the increases.They say electric
bills now eat up the bulk of meager household incomes that now distantly
trail soaring living costs.
Maridadi told reporter Carole Gombakomba
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that despite the increases, Zimbabwe has some
of the lowest tariffs in the
region.
Daily Record, UK
4 November 2006
How one
Scots woman is helping the people of Zimbabwe get back on their feet
By Annie
Brown
SHOPPING, for Mary Convill, is a bewildering experience in a country
where a
loaf of bread can double in price overnight.
Mary is a
director of the charity GOAL in Zimbabwe, which has the highest
inflation
rate in the world.
It runs at a staggering 1,204.06 per cent and is
crippling the economy.
The situation is tolerable for Mary, but it means
locals find it impossible
to budget on meagre incomes which average only £70
a month.
Mary, 47, said: "I get a decent salary, so I'm not desperate for
resources,
but the people I work with really are."
This week their
government-sponsored consumer council admitted families had
to fork out £50
to pay for food and other essentials over the course of a
month.
Health costs skyrocketed 68.2 per cent from September,
bread 42.4 per cent
and white sugar 38.6 per cent.
The rising
costs are difficult enough for those in work, but Zimbabwe also
has an
unemployment rate of 70 per cent.
Mary said: "People aren't sure
where their next meal is coming from.
"Inflation here means you can't
buy the same things with your salary this
month as you did last
month."
Industry has also suffered, shrinking 65 per cent in the last
10 years.
Mary, originally from Paisley, has lived in Zimbabwe for
six years, working
for various charities and has previously worked in India,
Peru and Malawi.
In Zimbabwe she oversees a variety of humanitarian
projects run by the GOAL
charity, which includes increasing access to food,
water, shelter, medical
attention and primary education. It is a
nondenominational, non-governmental
and non-political
organisation.
On the ground, GOAL distributes food in partnership
with the UN. It is also
helping fix disused bore holes which will provide
access to clean water. In
schools, the charity provides supplementary meals,
just like school dinners.
Mary said: "This year's harvest has been
better and there's not a famine,
but there is a shortage of food. Children
are still undernourished."
The charity also supplies families with
mosquito nets.
Mary said: "We are focusing on pregnant women. If a
woman is pregnant and
she gets malaria, she can die, so we need to get
people used to sleeping
under nets.
"We are trying to do simple
things that will make a difference."
The AIDS problem has reached
epidemic proportions in Zimbabwe and GOAL is
trying to raise awareness of
the disease in schools.
Almost two million people have contracted the
disease, 160,000 of them
children and more than one million kids have been
orphaned because of AIDS.
Mary said: "Quite often our charity workers
lose a relative to AIDS. Some of
the workers are even looking after the
children of relatives who have died,
as well as their own."
GOAL
has also implemented a schools' AIDS awareness programme, which touches
on
sexual exploitation.
New figures released yesterday revealed there
had been 2301 child sex abuse
cases in Zimbabwe between January and August
this year.
Mary said: "We want to alert children to sexual abuse and
also alert
teachers that we are watching them because they have been known
to be part
of the problem, as have parents in some cases.
"It is
a difficult one. We have heard of some horrendous cases. We want
children to
know they have a right to say no."
Mary calls Zimbabwe her home from
home, although she loves visiting her
parents in Paisley for everyday
luxuries like a cappuccino or basics like
reliable
electricity.
Zimbabwe is subjected to regular power cuts which hit
Mary's home in the
capital Harare, two or three times a week.
She
said: Sometimes there's no electricity for 12 hours. Now we are more
organised and have a back-up battery system that will keep the lights on for
a few hours."
Despite the volatility of Zimbabwe, the forced slum
clearances and the land
seizures from white farmers, Mary has always felt
safe.
"There have been times when international relations have been
fraught," she
says. "But it doesn't manifest itself in the way you are
treated by ordinary
people."
In many ways it's the simplicity of
life in Zimbabwe that Mary loves.
She said: "I don't feel like I am
missing out on anything. There is very
little advertising here, so we are
not being bombarded about the latest must
haves."
She laughs when
she admits: "We go around in fashions from the Seventies."
What Mary
does find difficult though, is watching the people around her
suffering amid
poverty and disease.
But she said: "Despite the difficulties, I still
think it is a beautiful
country.
"People try to approach every
single day with an attitude of good humour.
"They help you out, and
act with great dignity and greet you with warmth,
smiles, and
gentleness.
"Everybody has a good word to say about what we do here.
It helps me and I
get encouragement from them."
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
IN what could turn out to be a huge
embarrassment for Gideon
Gono, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe recently
procured
70 000 tonnes of fake fertiliser from an obscure South
African
company.
Moreover, the "counterfeit" stuff is
being distributed to
unsuspecting farmers as the genuine article, certified
Compound D.
The distributor, the Grain Marketing Board, is
said to be fully
aware of the inferior quality of the product but was last
week still
transporting it all over the country.
It is
distributing the fertilizer - a blend known as 7-14-7 - to
farmers
countrywide.
Impeccable sources said a senior RBZ official
awarded the tender
for the supply of about 70 000 tonnes of fertilizer to a
South African
firm - Intshona - ahead of tried and tested traditional
suppliers.
The sources said the contract did not go to the
government
tender board. About 35 000 tonnes have already been supplied and
are being
distributed to farmers who are unaware of its inferior
quality.
Curiously, the GMB has itself raised concern with
the RBZ over
the quality of the fertilizer.
In a letter
dated 3 August addressed to RBZ division chief, Dr
Millicent Mombeshora, the
GMB acting chief executive officer, Samuel Muvuti,
explained that the
imported fertilizer was below standard and would affect
next season's
agricultural output.
Mombeshora is responsible for strategic
planning, foreign
investment promotion and special projects at the central
bank.
Muvuti said tests had indicated that the fertilizer was
"inferior" and should not be distributed to farmers. The tests were done by
GMB and RBZ through a testing station of the Ministry of
Agriculture.
"From the analysis reports to date, the D
compound that has been
imported from South Africa and sitting in our
Aspindale depot is not
acceptable as D compound and cannot be distributed to
our farmers as it is
an inferior product," wrote Muvuti.
Although in the letter Muvuti said the fertilizer was not being
distributed,
The Standard on Friday witnessed several farmers loading the
useless
fertilizer onto lorries for use at their farms.
Workers at
the depot confided that the fertilizer being loaded
onto the trucks was the
fake product from South Africa.
The chairman of the State
Procurement Board, Charles Kuwaza,
through his secretary, refused to comment
on the issue, referring all
questions to the RBZ.
In his
letter, Muvuti said: "We therefore request that a team
comprising Arex, RBZ
and GMB should urgently be dispatched to Secunda, South
Africa, and make
investigations into the source of the sub-standard compound
D and at the
same time obtain a sample for testing of the product from
Intshona before it
is dispatched, in case it comes from the same supplier at
Secunda."
The GMB boss said there was need to establish
the company's
ability to perform and supply the remaining 35 000
tonnes.
"The visit is critical, given our situation of forex
shortage
and the importance of a successful land reform
programme."
Zimbabwehas reeled from a serious food shortage
since the
violent 2000 land invasions that disrupted farming
operations.
It is estimated that about 3.5 million people now
survive on
food relief.
RBZ sources wondered privately
why Mombeshora did not buy direct
from an established fertilizer
company.
"The information I have," said one of the sources,
"is that one
of the companies operate from a small office and are backyard
operators."
Contacted for comment on Saturday, Muvuti advised The Standard
to call after
30 minutes saying he had visitors.
Efforts
to contact him after half an hour were fruitless as his
mobile phone had
been switched off.
The Minister of Agriculture, Joseph Made,
said he knew nothing
about the fake fertilizer. Nonetheless, he said, there
was no fertilizer
which did not help crops grow.
Made
said: "I have not heard about that issue but if it happened
then the company
that supplied us should give us the fertilizer with the
correct
mix."
Gono, who is said to be fully aware of this corrupt
deal, could
not be reached for comment as he was said to be in Russia.
Mombeshora was
said to be busy throughout last week. She did not return
messages left with
her secretary.
Efforts to get comment
from Intshona were unsuccessful. When The
Standard phoned their last known
numbers, the person who answered the phone
said the company had moved out
the building. This newspaper has also
established that Intshona, which has
links with some people at the RBZ, does
not manufacture fertilizer at
all.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE
MAPONGA
HARARE city council's decision to shut down many
firms dealing
with funeral services has led to the birth of a thriving but
illegal "death
business'" at State-owned hospitals.
Hospital employees, working with illegal undertakers, are
cashing in on
bereaved relatives who can no longer afford skyrocketing
funeral
fees.
In September, the council temporarily closed down 21
licensed
coffin-selling firms. It had proved they had started preparing
bodies for
burial, for which they were neither licensed nor properly
equipped.
Moreover, this "moonlighting" by the coffin-makers
deprived the
council of much-needed revenue.
But
investigations by The Standard soon proved that council
action had brought
an undesirable element to the business of death.
There was a
sharp increase in funeral costs after the closure of
the private
parlours.
A Harare woman who declined to be named said she
went through a
nightmare after a close relative died at
home.
"We moved from one parlour to another after the
government
hospitals told me that they had no space. The private parlours
are charging
as if it's a crime to have a dead relative," she
said.
There are only six properly-licensed funeral parlours
in Harare.
They are now charging between $150 000 and $200 000 to cover a
funeral. The
money caters for the preparation of the body and transport
only.
An official at Doves Funeral Services said they now
charge $180
000 for a funeral. The fee does not include transport costs
outside Harare.
Sources at the Harare Central Hospital
mortuary said workers,
realising the desperate situation facing many
bereaved people, were making
fat profits by preparing the bodies for burial
at the hospital under cover
of darkness.
Some of the
workers had teamed up with illegal undertakers to
form their own private
funeral parlours. One such parlour is located in
Highfield's Gazaland
area.
A visit to the hospital last week indicated that more
than 20
illegal undertakers were conducting thriving businesses, advising
mourners
on how to get their deceased relatives buried at an affordable
"people's"
cost. The illegal undertakers were even ready to go to the houses
to prepare
the bodies.
"How can we help you?" asked one
undertaker, eagerly, unaware he
was talking to a reporter. "Where is the
body? Is it an adult or a child? Do
you have the papers (burial order)? We
can help you bury your relative and I
tell you we are the cheapest in
town."
He said the cost of preparing the body would be $20
000. The job
is done in their backyard parlour in Highfield's
Gazaland.
"We can also provide transport, coffin/casket and
help you with
the documentation," he said enticingly. "We can even come to
your house to
prepare the body and our coffins range from $28 000 to $80
000."
Investigations last week threw up the probability that
normal
procedures were not being followed when private parlours brought in
the
bodies.
Security at
bothBeatriceRoadInfectiousDiseasesHospitalsandWilkinsHospitalmortuaries
proved dubious, at the very least.
City of Harare acting
director of health, Prosper Chonzi, is
reportedly probing the activities of
the funeral parlours.
Last week, he could not be reached for
comment as he was
reported to be attending a funeral, out of
town.
The City ofHararecharges over $20 000 to bury an adult
in any of
its cemeteries. A grave for an adult at the low-income Granville
cemetery
costs $19 550 during weekdays and $24 550 at weekends.
Zim Standard
BY OUR CORREPONDENT
MUTARE -
Intervention by traditional leaders and a spirit medium
is said to have
persuaded the government to suspend its plans to have the
police and army
cordon off the Marange diamond fields, after thousands of
fortune seekers
descended on the area last month.
About 7 000 men and women
were camped at Chiadzwa on Friday, up
from the 5 000 who mined and traded in
the stones.
Over half of them are mining and trading in
diamonds while the
rest are doing a roaring food and drinks vending
business.
Last week the police said they planned to seal off
the site,
accusing some of the people of engaging in illegal diamond dealing
and using
mining methods which seriously damaged the
environment.
The illegal trade could deprive the country of
millions of
dollars in foreign currency earnings.
The
drastic action was averted after traditional leaders,
reportedly acting on
the advice of a spirit medium (Svikiro), pleaded for
the action to be put on
hold.
They are said to have convinced the authorities that
the
discovery of the industrial diamonds, reported in May this year, was a
"divine" reaction to the "traditional prayers" to relieve this
drought-stricken community, over 100 km south-west of
Mutare.
Much of Marange district receives only scant rains
and has
paltry harvests. Many families for the most part rely on government
and
donor organisations food hand-outs.
"Basically," one
man in the area said, with a straight face,
"the (traditional) leaders said
God and the ancestors had intervened to make
diamonds a life-saver for the
community."
He asked: "Why take away the opportunity God has
given us?"
There was no immediate comment from the
government.
Others suggested the eviction order had been
stayed to allow a
ministerial panel, appointed by President Robert Mugabe
and led by National
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, to complete its
assessment work.
The team includes officials from the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe.
They visited the site towards the end of last
week.
There were also reports that the police initially
assigned to
seal off the area had been re-assigned to other duties. They
have been asked
to monitor the mining and trading activities, with orders to
arrest anyone
disposing of the stones illegally.
The
stones, which are said to have a ready market in South
Africa, are supposed
to be sold solely to the State-run Minerals Marketing
Corporation of
Zimbabwe, which has set up a cash site at the centre.
But the
marketer is failing to cope with the demand, forcing
traders to deal with
"loaded" unlicensed middlemen.
So far, more than 100 people
have been fined for dealing
illegally in diamonds.
Three
days ago, three suspected dealers hitchhiking along the
highway to Marange
landed in trouble after offering occupants in the vehicle
three buckets full
of the stones in return for cash.
The trio was promptly
arrested by police undercover agents who
had offered them the
"lift".
Zim Standard
BY OUR SAFF
CENTRAL Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) operatives in Masvingo
recently threatened a government
employee after a domestic dispute with his
wife, The Standard was
told.
Purazeni Jakata, employed by the Ministry of Water
Resources and
Infrastructural Development in Masvingo, said he was shocked
to be summoned
to the CIO offices in Masvingo over the
matter.
He said he has been married to Pauline Jaravaza, a
nurse at the
Masvingo General Hospital, for close to two years. The couple
has a
five-month-old baby.
"I would like to believe all
these problems are as a result of
my wife's young sister, Regina, who works
for the CIO," he said. "I cannot
imagine the CIO guys dealing with domestic
matters. My encounter with the
guys was so frightening."
Jakata has since made a police report at Masvingo Central Police
Station.
Police in Masvingo said they were not aware of the case but Jakata
said:
"The CIO guys started by accusing me of insulting the government which
I
could not understand. They later told me that my wife, with the support of
her parents, had decided that we go on separation."
After
the fallout a fortnight ago, Jakata's wife is now staying
with her parents
in Masvingo's Eastvale suburb.
Contacted for comment last
week, the wife confirmed that she had
gone back to her parents' home."I
don't know anything about the CIO story,"
she said. "Let him tell you what
he wants. He is just trying to make up an
issue. He never paid any lobola to
my parents."
Regina Jaravaza, who works for the CIO, strongly
warned this
paper against publishing the story. "Those guys may file a
lawsuit against
you and I don't want that story to be published," she
said.
Zim Standard
By Foster Dongozi
WOMEN'S organisations have expressed
outrage over the refusal by
the government to award pregnant women untaxed
salaries for the three months
they are on maternity
leave.
Women members in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
had
proposed at a maternity workshop in July that pregnant women should not
be
taxed while on maternity leave as they needed as much money as they could
to
prepare for the birth of their babies.
But the
government, through the Ministry of Finance, rebuffed
their request, saying
granting such women tax-free maternity benefits could
cause "distortions" in
the economy.
A memo signed by a government official says in
part: "In order
to reduce distortions within the economy, as well as reduce
the
administrative burden of tax collection on the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority,
government has taken a deliberate stance to reduce the schedule
of tax
exemptions."
Lucia Matibenga, the ZCTU first
vice-president, said she was
"outraged" by the response from the
government.
"We believe in engaging the government through
dialogue and if
that does not work, then we have several options, like
lobbying and others.
When a woman is on maternity leave, she will be
contributing immensely to
the country and for our government to punish women
on maternity by not
awarding them cash benefits is absolutely diabolical. We
stick by our slogan
that every woman is a working woman and we will consult
our partners in the
informal sector and civic society on the way
forward."
Matibenga is also the president of the regional
Southern African
Trade Union Co-ordinating Council, the umbrella body for
all labour
federations in Southern Africa.
The deputy
chairperson of Women's Coalition, which groups all
women's organisations in
Zimbabwe, Regina Dumba, said: "It is sad and
unfortunate that the government
does not consider the plight of women.
Pregnant women need a better diet and
drugs for themselves and their babies
and that is when we need more money.
We wonder where we are going as a
nation if we don't realise that women will
be on national service during
pregnancy and yet the government sees it as
something else."
Dumba said the Women's Coalition would write
a letter to the
Ministry of Finance, demanding a meeting with senior
government officials.
"If dialogue does not achieve anything,
then we will see what we
can do."
The coalition recently
staged a demonstration outside Parliament
to protest against sexist remarks
made by MP Timothy Mubhawu (MDC).
Stella Moyo, a Harare
woman, said she was surprised that the
Ministry of Gender and Women's
Affairs had not reacted to the snub. She also
wondered why Vice-President
Joice Mujuru had not used her position to ensure
women got the tax
relief.
"The refusal to grant pregnant women cash benefits is
the
clearest sign that the ministry is a toothless bulldog," Moyo said."I
think
the ministry should be disbanded, instead of being used as
window-dressing
to mislead women into thinking that their welfare is
important in the eyes
of the government."
Women's Affairs
minister, Oppah Muchinguri, appeared blissfully
unaware of the storm
affecting her constituency.
"I am not aware of the issue that
you are talking about, so I
cannot comment. I will first have to do my
homework before I respond. Thank
you for alerting me to that."
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
AN outbreak of
infectious diseases looms at a Chinese-owned
brick moulding site in Harare.
Over 150 workers and their families live
there without lavatories or proper
housing.
Workers of the Chinese-owned firm - S & M Bricks
- also complain
of poor pay and working conditions.
The
absence of lavatories forces the workers to use the bush to
relieve
themselves, raising a heavy stench throughout the compound.
Human waste is strewn around the compound, attracting hordes of
big, blue
bottle flies, dubbed "The Green Bombers" by the workers, who are
exposed to
such communicable diseases as cholera and dysentery.
The
Standard found only one available lavatory during a visit to
the compound
last week. It was not flushing because there was no running
water. Worse
still, the lavatory is less than five metres from the
canteen.
The overcrowded and generally poor living conditions
have
allowed lice and bugs to breed rapidly in the
compound.
The workers said rats, which scurry from place to
place in broad
daylight, add to the general state of filth in the
compound.
"At times, we spread our clothes and blankets on
top of the hot
ovens to kill the bugs," said one of the workers, exposing
his back to
display many small pimples. "If you look at my skin closely, you
will notice
the work of the bugs."
Apart from the threat
of an outbreak of disease, the workers
alleged poor pay and very long
working hours: they start at 6AM and finish
at 7PM for $6 000 a
week.
They complain there is not enough protective clothing
for their
type of work, which requires overalls, safety shoes and
gloves.
"Once in a while Mr (Yumpu) Meng (the managing
director) gives
us Chinese-made tackies," said one worker, "but they don't
last a week
because they are not strong. Most of us work without any form of
protection."
He asked not to be named for fear of
victimisation.
Meng could not be reached for comment as his
mobile phone went
unanswered. Several messages left at his office were not
responded to.
Zimbabwe Construction and Allied Workers' Union
(ZCAWU) senior
regional officer, Alex Masarakufa, said his union did not
represent workers
who moulded common bricks.
"We only
represent those who produce cement bricks and concrete
products," he said.
"They (S & M Bricks workers) should go to the ministry
(of
Labour)."
Masarakufa said contract workers in the
construction industry
are paid $183.10 an hour, which translates to about $8
788.80 for six days
if they work for eight hours a day.
But most workers at S & M Bricks work for an average of 12 hours
a day
and earn $6 000 for six working days.
Chinese companies have
been lambasted in several African
countries for the alleged second rate
treatment of their workers.
In Zambia, there is a growing
backlash over low wages and poor
conditions in Chinese
operations.
At the NFC Africa copper mine in Chambishi, a
Chinese-owned
operation in north-eastern Zambia, hundreds of workers rioted
in late July
over reports that management was reneging on a pay
increase.
Chinese employers opened fire on the striking
workers, wounding
four of them.
When a government
minister, Alice Simango, saw the conditions at
one of the mines, she wept on
national television and accused the management
of treating workers like
animals, prompting the government to close the mine
for three
days.
The issue also featured prominently in campaign
speeches in the
run-up to the Zambian Presidential elections held
recently.
Opposition politician and presidential candidate
Michael Sata
had promised to take action against Chinese companies accused
of
ill-treating their workers.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
AN internal Harare
City Council audit has revealed that senior
managers in the Municipal Police
department abused food rations worth over
$97 000.
The
food rations - tinned beef, beans, fish and spaghetti - were
to have been
given to officers who took part in Operations Murambatsvina and
Garikai.
But the food ended up being served to senior
Municipal police
managers during breakfast and other
meetings.
Some of tinned food was taken home.
The officers who withheld the rations never sought any authority
from the
Chamber Secretary, Josephine Ncube, the audit said.
The audit
was carried out after four municipal police officers
blew the
whistle.
But the case took a turn for the worse for the
whistle blowers,
who have gone for the past three months without
pay.
Patrolmen and members of the Harare Municipal Workers'
Union
Gift Jembe, Isaac Sigauke, Howard Mazanhi and Message Sadomba have
taken
their case to the Ministry of Labour. They say they are being
victimised for
exposing the corruption.
Their lawyer,
Joel Mambara of J Mambara and Partners early last
month wrote a letter to
the Town Clerk advising him that his clients were
being
victimised.
"Our clients are at a loss for this draconian
unwarranted and
illegal measure. Our clients also strongly feel that they
are being
victimised for revealing malpractices and corruption in their
department,"
wrote Mambara.
In papers filed with the
Ministry of Labour, the workers wrote:
"During Operation
Murambatsvina and subsequently Garikai, Harare
Municipal Police divisional
management spared a lot of tinned foods which
were meant to be ration for
officers on duty.
"Later, after these operations our
management started eating and
taking home the spared tinned foods," said the
workers in a joint affidavit.
Chamber Secretary Ncube was not
immediately available for
comment.
Zim Standard
BY
WALTER MARWIZI
A tough assignment awaits Henry
Muradzikwa, the new Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) chief executive
officer.
Coming from the University of Zimbabwe, where he was
a lecturer
in the Media Studies department, Muradzikwa faces what insiders
say could be
an insurmountable task to turn around the fortunes of a
run-down State
broadcaster.
Muradzikwa arrives at Pockets
Hill at a time when there is
mounting confusion about the restructuring
exercise, initiated by the late
Tichaona Jokonya, a former diplomat who
became Minister of Information and
Publicity, after the unceremonious
departure of Jonathan Moyo.
He died a few hours before he was
due to announce his new plan
for a State network that appeared to be on the
brink of collapse.
Everything that could have gone wrong
appears to have done so.
Experienced staff have been forced out and
advertisers remain sceptical of
the corporation, which is heavily controlled
by the government.
Mismanagement, corruption and a financial
crisis have blighted
the corporation, which enjoys a monopoly of the
airwaves, from which it has
failed to profit financially or in
popularity.
Even mundane things appear not to work at Pockets
Hill. For
example, the lifts that provide a quick passage to the chief
executive
officer's fifth floor offices were down when Muradzikwa arrived
three weeks
ago.
Boasting an impressive CV, close
associates say Muradzikwa is
well-qualified to take the challenges
head-on.
Muradzikwa is a former editor of State-owned Sunday
Mail
newspaper and former Editor-in-Chief the Zimbabwe Inter Africa News
Agency.
He was fired from the newspaper after it had
published a story
of Zimbabwean students being expelled from Cuba because of
their alleged
HIV-positive status.
His presence is
alreadybeing felt at ZBH, days after he assumed
office. He has ordered an
audit of assets at the corporation, amid fears
that the ZBH equipment may
have been looted.
There are reports that many computers are
mere shells, after
having beenstripped of their hard drives by
unscrupulousworkers.
Muradzikwa could not, for the second
week running, talk to The
Standard about how he intends to tackle what some
insiders say is the
nightmare at ZBH.
"It's too early for
me to talk about my work," he said over the
telephone. "I am still going
from one meeting to the other and I need more
time."
The
veteran journalist said he would be in the office this week
after embarking
on a familiarisation tour of ZBH bureaux across the country.
But insiders said as he assesses the task facing him, there are
indications
it won't be a stroll in the park.
In the various newsrooms
and offices at the corporation,
confusion reigns, with morale at its
lowest.
Nine companies, set up following an unbundling
exercise
initiated by Moyo, have been reduced to two, leaving many
executives and
workers uncertain of their fate.
There are
reports that there is heavy lobbying by some
executives who want to retain
their cushy positions. Some of these have
reportedly sought to endear
themselves to Vice-President Joice Mujuru in the
hope that she could flex
her muscles and ensure they do not leave the
corporation.
Before the restructuring exercise, ZBH had a top heavy
structure:there were
nine CEOs at Pockets Hill, with 25 board members in
charge of loss-making
companies.
Now with Muradzikwa at the apex, ZBH will have two
general
managers, one for Radio and the other for TV
services.
Muradzikwa has to formulate a new culture at ZBH if
things are
to change. A Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications that investigated ZBH found that the corporation had no clear
personnel policy and procedure, "hence the lack of clarity on authority
demarcations".
There have been reports of clashes between
Newsnet chiefs,
Tazzen Mandizvidza and Chris Chivinge.
Interference from government officials could also affect
Muradzikwa's work.
Stories abound of ministers and permanent secretaries
barking orders to
journalists, bypassing the main editors.
It remains to be
seen whether Muradzikwa would make an impact in
such an environment. Critics
say he is too close to Zanu PF and may not wish
to alienate the top brass in
the party.
A veteran broadcaster, John Masuku, says of
Muradzikwa's
challenge: "He has to work hard to change the culture at ZBH.
If you look at
the bulletins, you notice simple grammatical mistakes, facts
not put
correctly; the professionalism is in doubt. There are also lots of
repeats."
Masuku worked for 27 years at the then Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation in various capacities. He is now with the
independent Voice of
the People (VOP) radio which broadcasts from outside
the country.
He was once the controller Radio Services before
becoming
Controller Montrose Studios in Bulawayo.
He was
among hundreds of workers kicked out of ZBC when former
Information Minister
Moyo moved in like a whirlwind in 2001.
"Some of us worked at ZBC
at a time when the government was in
control," said Masuku, "yet we still
managed to come up with programmes that
catered for both sides: why can't it
happen now? That is the challenge
facing the new CEO. ZBC should be a public
broadcaster not a State
broadcaster."
On Muradzikwa's
appointment Masuku said: "The Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA) said
in the absence of an act of parliament that
guaranteed the independence of
ZBH from political and economic influence,
the corporation could remain 'a
personal theatre of every minister of
information who comes into office,' as
observed by a 1999 parliamentary
report.
"The new
appointments at ZBH are, therefore, unlikely to change
anything, as the
station will remain under the tight grip of the executive,
closed to any
alternative voices. The ZBH is riddled with material and
manpower
incapacities."
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO - Enos Nkala, a former defence
minister, announced last
week he met Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube as part
of a plan to form a
"united front" to remove the government from
power.
Nkala, a founder-member of the ruling Zanu PF party,
said he was
meeting church leaders, diplomats, civic society leaders,
politicians from
across the political divide to lead the front against the
government of his
former colleague, President Robert
Mugabe.
Nkala served in the early Mugabe cabinets, until he
was cited in
the top people's motor vehicle racket known as the Willowgate
scandal, in
the late 1980s.
He has recently described
Zimbabweans as "cowards" for not
revolting against Mugabe's
government.
Nkala has still not recovered from the notoriety
he garnered in
his home turf over his role in the Gukurahundi massacre,
launched by the
government against so-called PF-Zapu dissidents in both
Matabeleland and
Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
Nkala
was minister of defence at the time.
Recently, Ncube has also
described Zimbabweans as "cowards" for
not rising up against Mugabe's
regime. He has volunteered to lead protest
marches against the
government.
Nkala has said he was prepared to spend the last
part of his
life in Mugabe's prions for leading the struggle against
him.
Ncube confirmed he met Nkala, but would not give
details. He too
is a fierce critic of Mugabe's policies.
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY MUTIMBA
MASVINGO - The High Court last month
postponed its third session
circuit to next year in Masvingo amid
revelations that the Ministry of
Justice had no funds to pay accommodation
and transport allowances for Judge
Tedious Karwi and two other officials
from Harare for their stay here, The
Standard has learnt.
The session that was supposed to sit for two weeks was adjourned
after High
Court hearings failed to resume, leaving witnesses stranded for
three days
at the provincial magistrates' offices here.
The 25 affected
witnesses had travelled from as far as Chiredzi,
Bikita, Zaka, Chivi and
Gutu to give evidence in cases involving their
relatives and other
suspects.
They spent the whole day milling around the
courts.They also
complained of hunger as the local officials did not have
funds to feed them
because their coffers were reportedly dry. The witnesses
also had nowhere to
sleep. They were, however, offered accommodation at
Masvingo central police
station where they slept without
blankets.
Under normal circumstances, court officials secure
accommodation
and meals for witnesses during the session until the trial is
over.
Court officials in Masvingo told The Standard that the
session
was cancelled after the Ministry of Justice indicated that it had no
funds
to pay for hotel accommodation and transport allowances for Justice
Karwi
and two other court officials.
The officials said
the move would impact negatively on justice
delivery in the province as the
Masvingo magistrates' court was already
facing a backlog crisis as cases
continue to pile up without trial.
"The development has a
negative impact on justice delivery as we
are already reeling from a backlog
crisis," said an official who declined to
be named. "And this means the
trial of these people some - who are in
custody and others who are out would
be heard next year when we will be
supposed to be dealing with new cases
that will come next year. Reports from
Harare indicate that the ministry
failed to raise funds for the High Court
judge and his clerk and an
interpreter. But what puzzled us is how a huge
ministry like ours can fail
to pay accommodation for three people only for
two
weeks."
Masvingo High court chief law officer, Jatiel
Mudamburi,
confirmed that the circuit was cancelled but declined to shed
light on the
reason for the cancellation.
"The session
has been postponed to next year but I am not the
right person to discuss why
it has been cancelled. I think the Master of the
High Court is the better
person to answer these questions," Mudamburi said.
However, a
witness who spent three days in Masvingo city waiting
for the High Court
Judge expressed disappointment with the development
saying it had
inconvenienced them.
"I came here on Sunday and this is my
fifth day here," Last
Murambe, who had travelled from Zaka, told The
Standard.
"I was supposed to give evidence to the court in a
case
involving murder. We spent over two hours travelling to and from the
central
police station where we were told our accommodation for the night
had been
sorted out. But when we arrived at the police station we were
referred back
to the court. We only managed to get somewhere to sleep at
around 8PM and we
slept in the laundry section without
blankets."
The witnesses, however, slept in the laundry room
at Masvingo
police station for three days before they were informed that the
session had
been cancelled and the High Court would resume next
year.
Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Justice,
Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa and Master of High court
and were
fruitless.
Zim Standard
by our
staff
BULAWAYO - Vice-President Joseph Msika has said
government
officials have not looted struggling
parastatals.
Msika's comments contradict accusations that
government
officials have been pillaging the state-owned steel making
enterprise,
Ziscosteel.
Msika said the parastatals had
been knocked down to their knees,
not by corruption or mismanagement, but
lack of equipment.
He said this on Saturday last week at the
official opening of
the Chaba Opencast Mine and the commissioning of new
machinery sourced from
China at Hwange Colliery Company.
"The problems with our parastatals, including companies like
Hwange Colliery
and Zisco are not that of mismanagement but that of
under-capitalisation,"
Msika said.
"What I want to say to parastatal workers is that
they should
stop crying for salary adjustments. Where should government get
money for
recapitalisation for their salaries?
"All
workers should emulate what Hwange Colliery Company workers
did when their
company was going through a torrid time, they did not ask for
a pay
increase."
But economic analyst, Eric Bloch was quick to
shoot down Msika's
statements, saying the parastatals had collapsed due to
incompetence and
corruption.
"What the Vice-President
said is not correct. It's not only lack
of funds which has contributed to
problems faced by parastatals," said
Bloch. "Lack of skills, incompetence
and corruption by management are some
of the main factors which have
contributed to the downfall of many
parastatals."
Msika's
comments also appear to contradict Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa, who
attributed the poor performance of parastatals to poor
corporate
governance.
Presenting the 2006 budget last year in December,
Murerwa said
the government would privatise seven parastatals as they were a
drain on the
fiscus. Among the struggling parastatals are the National
Railways of
Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and Air
Zimbabwe.
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
A shortage of funds
is hampering the implementation of crucial
projects at the Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park, National Parks and
Wildlife Authority officials have
said.
The officials said this threatened the success of the
project,
especially for Zimbabwe where investors were reluctant to set up
viable
projects without a cue from government.
The GLTP
consists of the Kruger National Park of South Africa,
Gonarezhou of Zimbabwe
and the Limpopo National Park of Mozambique.
A National Parks
official, Tessa Chikabonya, said projects
outstanding at Gonarezhou included
electrification, demining, construction
of a viable communication network,
bedding facilities and setting up of a
border post.
Chikabonya said Zimbabwe's financial resources were limited and
this was
delaying progress on the projects.
"Two transformers have
been procured and we are now waiting for
the Rural Electrification Programme
to connect the electricity," she said.
"We have already paid $140 million to
REA to do that. But our problem
concerns limited resources. We will need a
big capital investment to
electrify the park."
The
official said the authority was facing a big challenge in
terms of improving
communication systems within the park.
But she said dialogue
had begun with network providers to enable
cell phone services to be
available while funds had been mobilised to
construct a
causeway.
Chikabonya said the authority needed funds to
improve the
bedding capacity.
Four chalets have been
completed and four others are under
construction but more work would be
needed to accommodate large numbers of
tourists.
She said
investors had been invited to take up tenders but some
had developed cold
feet because of lack of funding and the "inaccessibility"
of the
area.
The official said 7 000 square kilometres of land
needed to be
cleared of land mines in the Sengwe-Chipise wilderness and the
project would
still be implemented though the authority has failed to
mobilise US$10,5
million.
She said the Ministry of
Defence had moved into the area and
would only start work once funds had
been provided for the equipment.
The wilderness constitutes a
corridor that will link Gonarezhou
to the Kruger National
Park.
The area in general faced problems because it had
failed to
attract visitors and lagged behind Kruger, which receives 1
million tourists
annually. Gonarezhou receives an average of 2 000 visitors
in a year.
Zim Standard
By Our
Staff
HWANGE Colliery Company (HCC) got reprieve last
week when the
China North Industries Corporation deferred payment of the
company's US$6,3
million debt.
The debt accrued after the
purchase of equipment early this year
and would be paid out after two years,
a Norinco official said.
The deputy chief executive officer
of Norinco, Mr Jin Zhi Zhon,
said during the commissioning of the equipment
last weekend that 70% of the
money owed to his company would be deferred for
two years.
Hwange Colliery received machinery, including two
drilling
machines, from Sweden, two shuttle cars from Joy Mining in South
Africa, 10
terex dump trucks, two Atlas excavators and one Terex water
browser from
Norinco in China.
The mining company said
earlier that production had doubled in
its opencast and underground mines to
10 000 tonnes and 1 600 tonnes
respectively owing to the purchase of the
equipment.
HCC is a strategic company in Zimbabwe on which
most of the
industries rely for provision of coal. However, the company has
been failing
to meet demand due to various constraints, among them machinery
break-down
and a flooding that took place in one of its mines in the first
quarter of
the year.
HCC Managing Director, Godfrey
Dzinomwa said their problems
could be a thing of the past, with the use of
the new equipment, but
conceded the issue could not be fully resolved
without a functioning
continuous miner belt.
The belt is
among the strategic equipment the company needs to
meet the national demand
of 320 000 tonnes.
Zim Standard
BULAWAYO - The failure by parastatals to provide essential
services is scaring away investors as there is no guarantee that their
operations would not be disrupted, says economist Eric
Bloch.
Bloch said investors could not sink money into the
country as
long as there was no assurance they could rely on struggling
parastatals,
with a monopoly on providing services, to
deliver.
"Investors want to know that the parastatals can
offer efficient
services without disrupting their operations," Bloch said in
an interview on
Tuesday.
"They need to know they can rely
on their services, such as
electricity, communications, transport . .
.Without these services there is
no investment."
Parastatals are struggling to provide essential services due to
a host of
factors, such as lack of foreign currency. At the same time, they
are
saddled with huge debts they can't settle.
During the CZI
congress this year, Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa, attributed the
pathetic performance of parastatals to poor
corporate
governance.
He said price distortions had weighed down
parastatals, noting
that this also resulted in poor service delivery as they
had no money to
provide services.
Analysts have called
for the privatisation of parastatals in a
bid to help resuscitate
them.
Bloch said the government should deregulate the economy
and do
away with price controls that are scaring away
investors.
The government stands accused of running down
parastatals by its
continuous meddling in their
operations.
Presenting the 2006 budget in December last year,
Murerwa said
the government would privatise seven parastatals as they were a
drain on the
fiscus.
Zim Standard
Marketwatch By Deborah-fay Ndlovu
A drop in share prices and
re-introduction of the 91-day
Treasury Bill lifted deposit rates last week,
guaranteeing the flight of
investors to the money market.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's newly-introduced seven-year
stabilisation
bond also helped the increase in short term interest rates.
Analysts said the there was a scramble for cash, as a result of
the bond,
prompting the increase in interest rates.
"The deadline for
the take up for the five-year bond was Monday
and soon after that the
seven-year bond was introduced. So banks are still
building up on their
portions for the bond and there has been a high
appetite for money. As a
result, the money market had deficits ranging
between $5 to $10 billion for
the greater part of the week. That had a huge
impact on deposit rates," one
dealer said.
The week saw short-term rates for seven to 14
days going up as
high as 500% from 50% earlier.
Analysts
said the introduction of the 91-day TB also contributed
to the upsurge in
deposit rates.
"It's quite mind-boggling why the paper is
back but this just
says the RBZ would do anything to mop up excess
liquidity. It being an OMO
(Open Market Operation) means what they want is
to get money from actual
depositors.
"With the bonds they
get money from banks but at the end of the
day the money still belongs to
the depositors who can claim it, and
financial institutions are obliged to
pay. Getting it from the depositors is
a way of controlling speculation
because once it's locked in the TB, the
individual cannot just claim it
back," said a local analyst.
The increase in deposit rates
negatively impacted on the stock
market, causing it to fall
flat.
Share prices of most counters dropped significantly as
the
equities turned into a sellers' market.
Analysts did
not see a reprieve in sight, with Interfin
predicting that investors would
approach the stock market with caution ahead
of the 2007 national
budget.
"We expect monetary policy inconsistencies and
surprises to be
affecting equities at the same time we expect the stock
market to be
relatively quiet up to a time the Ministry of Finance announces
the 2007
budget," said Interfin in its weekly report.
It
said most investors were opting to hold assets against shares
because the
money market was unpredictable.
The industrial index closed
Wednesday 4.90% points down to 327
645.08 points. Among the losers were PPC
and Old Mutual which were down $5
000 to $85 000 and $270 to $5 400
respectively.
Gains were made in Colcom and ABCH, which were
up $15 to $110
and $10 to $360 respectively.
The mining
index shed 3.11% points to close Wednesday at 138
100.82 points on the back
of losses in Rio Zim and Bindura. The counters
were down $100 to $3 200 and
$20 to $380.
Zim Standard
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwean agricultural experts have warned
that the
prohibitive cost and non-availability of farming inputs like
fertiliser
could affect next year's harvest.
Thulani
Mkhwananzi, spokesperson for the government's
Agricultural Research
Extension in the western province of Matabeleland
North, said: "The
situation is really bad here, especially considering that
the farmers have
little support from government. What they need most is
seeds at relatively
low prices, because most of them are poor and
unemployed.
"It is just a few who rely on remittances from their relatives
outside the
country who manage to secure all the necessary implements," he
added.
Seed Co the country's main seed supplier, has
warned of a
serious deficit and was quoted in the official Herald newspaper
as saying
that the country needed to import 10 000 tonnes of maize seed to
meet the
demand in the current planting season.
Two
months ago, the agricultural ministry also terminated a
three-year-old
policy of providing free fertilisers and seeds to farmers who
had been
allocated land under the fast-track land reform programme that
began in
2000.
Most agricultural inputs are imported and beyond the
financial
reach of many farmers, who are suffering the combined effects of
Zimbabwe's
steadily deteriorating economy and last season's low yields after
widespread
shortages of chemicals, fertilisers and seed. Independent
estimates suggest
only 800 000 tonnes of maize was harvested this year, or
about two-thirds of
the country's annual requirement; the government has
insisted that around
1.8 million tonnes were produced.
Despite denials of a shortfall by government officials, a recent
USAID-funded report on informal trade in Southern Africa said Zimbabwe would
have to import cereals. According to the South African Grain Information
Service, Zimbabwe has imported nearly 100 000 tonnes from South Africa since
April this year.
The May 2006 Zimbabwe Vulnerability
Assessment, yet to be
released, identified 1.4 million people as critically
in need of food
assistance.
With less than a month before
the farming season starts,
Thandolwenkosi Nkomazana, a subsistence farmer in
Matabeleland North, is
still battling to secure seeds, fertiliser and spare
parts for his worn-out
ox-drawn plough. His main problem, he said, is not
necessarily the
availability or non-availability of the inputs, but the
cost.
"Seeds are available at the shopping centre, including
spares
for a plough, but the problem is that I don't have money to buy them.
They
are just too expensive. In fact, many villagers here can barely afford
(the
inputs), and the worry is that planting will be starting very soon,"
said
Nkomazana.
His dilemma is shared by subsistence
farmers across the country.
Despite an attempt by government to impose price
controls on agricultural
inputs, producers have repeatedly hiked prices,
arguing that they want to
keep pace with inflation, currently at over 1 000
percent annually.
A 10kg bag of maize seed costs an almost
unaffordable Z$10 000
(about US$40), and the same amount of fertiliser goes
for Z$40 000 (about
US$160). Surveys by IRIN revealed that seeds were still
available in most
shops in Bulawayo and in rural areas.
Agriculture minister Joseph Made said that the government was
aware of the
problems farmers were facing, and said his ministry, Seed Co
and other
related companies were discussing the issue of prohibitive
prices.
"We are working towards the harmonisation of prices,
so that all
farmers, peasant or commercial, can buy all the implements they
need without
forking out a lot of money," he said. "We are not neglecting
any farmer." -
IRIN
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
UNILEVER, one of the
country's biggest manufacturing companies,
faces a bleak future because of a
shortage of raw materials.
The company has retrenched 113 of
its 500 employees, albeit on a
voluntary basis.
Human
resources manager, Noah Matibiri, said the company was
presently operating
at 20% capacity, which prompted management to explore
retrenchment as a
cost-reduction measure.
"Due to continuing viability
problems, Unilever Zimbabwe are
exploring a number of cost-reduction
measures to facilitate survival in the
current harsh economic environment,"
said Matibiri. "One of the measures
being actively pursued is that of
right-sizing our structures to fall in
line with present and forecast
business activities."
Matibiri said retrenchment was
something the company was still
to explore but sources close to the company
said 113 employees had been
given their severance
packages.
The sources said Unilever had been sending workers
on leave
intermittently because of the raw materials
shortage.
"The previous week people went on leave," the
sources said.
"They are back at work now but they are just milling around.
Things are that
bad. They cannot find foreign currency yet some of the raw
materials are
imported from as far away as Venezuela which means money is
needed to
transport it to Zimbabwe."
As a result, serious
shortages of edible oils and detergents are
expected.
Unilever manufactures bath soap, petroleum jelly, washing soap
and powder,
soups and margarine.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE churches in their latest initiative recently
launched in
Harare have delivered themselves to Zanu PF on a plate. As a
result they run
the danger of becoming ensnared in the ruling party's
sinister web of deceit
and diversion.
The government and
the ruling party will play along because the
initiative will buy them
much-needed breathing space but the end result will
mean nothing except an
extension to Zanu PF's sclerotic rule.
For the government,
getting the churches to come together to
speak with one voice and vision is
a major coup. Since Zimbabwe is made up
of various churches, the government
will claim that it has the support of
all citizens of this country and that
any dissenting voices are of people
being paid to destabilise the
country.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
The churches
have misread and mistimed the situation and have misdirected
themselves. The
churches' initiative - The Zimbabwe We Want - must be seen
in the context of
recent overtures by government to church leaders who were
wined and dined at
State House. It is billed as an attempt to create
dialogue with the State
when there is no reciprocity on the part of
government. There can be no
dialogue when President Robert Mugabe declares
certain aspects
non-negotiable.
The essence of dialogue
is that people approach it with an open
mind and arrive at a common
position.
There was also a fundamental flaw in the way the
whole matter
was handled. Mugabe and the political parties should have been
the last port
of call. They would then have been presented with the outcome
of
consultations with the people.
Despite Mugabe's
posturing, the government appears to support
the initiative by the churches
but has no intention of following it to its
logical conclusion. They will
milk it of its value and drag their feet, in
the process creating false
expectations. By the time the churches realise
that they were misled, Zanu
PF and the government will be selling the
country another
illusion.
The government desperately needs a pretext to
explain its
heel-dragging on political reform. The church dialogue provides
a perfect
excuse to do nothing while telling international observers and the
region
that it is engaged in talks. It also needs a mirage on which it can
focus
national attention between now and next month's Zanu PF national
conference
in Goromonzi, and after that the discussion around whether or not
there will
be Presidential elections in 2008. The churches' intervention was
fortuitous
for the government and the ruling party.
But
there is a history to all this. There have been previous
attempts by
government to exploit willing or naïve members of the clergy in
order to
prolong its term. Andrew Wutawunashe, Obadiah Musindo, Bishop
Nolbert
Kunonga, Father Fidelis Mukonori and others have all betrayed their
calling
to serve the interests of the regime. Who can forget Peter Nemapare's
performance at State House earlier this year?
The
churches need to be informed by the role the church played
during the
struggle for independence and learn to avoid such pitfalls. While
the
churches believe that such pieces of legislation as AIPPA and POSA need
to
be repealed or amended, the government has a different interpretation and
we
saw this when promises to this effect were made to President Thabo Mbeki
of
South Africa.
The government is good at promising reforms but
it is also a
master of deceit.
The national vision
document is another clever hoax by the
government and Zanu PF to divert
attention from the administration's real
and mounting failures. Sadly, the
churches have become unwitting partners.
Zim Standard
SundayOpinion By Trust Shumba
FREEDOM is both the primary
objective and the principal means of
development . . . what a person has the
actual capability to achieve, is
influenced by economic opportunities,
political liberties, social
facilities, and the enabling conditions of good
health, basic education, and
the encouragement and cultivation of
initiatives. These opportunities are,
to a great extent, initially
complementary, and tend to reinforce one
another." - Amartya Sen,
Development as Freedom: An Approach (Nobel
Laureate -
Economics).
Does the Governor of the Reserve Bank really
believe that
economic development can take place in a distressed and hostile
political
environment such as Zimbabwe? No matter how Dr Gideon Gono
executes his
monetary plans, all his efforts will come to nought or even
exacerbate the
problems bedevilling the nation as his report cards
show.
In the three years or so of his tenure, the results of
all his
efforts and policies have impacted negatively on the lives of the
people of
this nation. None of his policies has ever had a positive effect.
It's been
a long time since the wheels have come off and the economy keeps
hurtling
down. The IMF must have also whispered this unpalatable truth in
his ears a
long time ago.
The Governor's policies cannot
work in a distressed political
environment.
Homelink was
launched amid so much fanfare, and was touted as
the part miracle answer to
Zimbabwe's foreign currency shortage.
The closure of
indigenous banks was not for reasons unknown. All
that was taking place was
with the connivance and tacit approval of the top
men in government. But the
indigenous bosses and their financial
institutions were expendable once the
chefs had milked them.
While the Governor tried to wipe out
foreign currency dealers
and parallel marketers, they have resurfaced and
the lucrative parallel
market is undermining Gono's efforts. He is free to
take a walk on the World
Bank Street in disguise and see how the
"Osipathelenis/ What have you
brought us?" numbers have swelled. They are a
direct result of the political
blunders and economic mismanagement. They
will never be eliminated unless
the government engages the IMF and the World
Bank in order to sort out
balance of payments
support.
Until the Reserve Bank convinces politicians
that good politics
breeds good economics it will not be possible for
Zimbabwe to access the IMF
and World Bank loans and sort out balance of
payments - the crux of Zimbabwe's
problems and not the inflation
bogeyman.
Once the problems of foreign currency are sorted
out, inflation
will climb down.
The Reserve Bank knows
the answers to Zimbabwe's economic
problems but it does not have the courage
to tell the politicians directly
because politicians will not entertain such
notions.
Four million Zimbabweans face starvation. They are
impoverished
and their lives ruined as a direct result of economic
mismanagement.
As the US Ambassador has clearly stated,
economically we have
gone back 50 years. The economic recovery that is often
talked about is just
another fabrication that has been replayed over and
over again.
Commerce and industry have been ravaged and many
are closing
shop, retrenching or scaling down just to survive. The political
and
economic environment is further compromised resulting in more hardships
and
poverty.
Can we still say we have a conscience
and that part of the
mission is to alleviate poverty when all one sees
around is more poverty,
which is a direct result of the country's economic
policies? Thousands of
people are dying each week because they cannot afford
basic medicine and
food.
During the past three years
Zimbabweans have seen more
suffering. It is time the Reserve Bank told the
politicians that good
politics creates an environment conducive to good
economics. The two always
connect.
The RBZ should spend
more time, effort and energy convincing and
educating the politicians that
through fiscal discipline, good governance,
transparency, accountability,
democracy and implementing these noble ideas
the country will witness the
fruits of the central bank's economic monetary
policies.
Finally, integrity and truth is still an option and so is
admitting
failure.
Zim Standard
Sundayview By Webster Zambara
IT
would seem a new rainy season brings with it a new political
wave in our
country. Two years ago it was the Tsholotsho Declaration that
rattled
through Zanu PF and resulted in some ruling party heavyweights being
sent to
political Siberia. The issue is still haunting that institution's
corridors
of power even today.
Last year it was in the MDC, where a
seemingly simple
disagreement on whether to take part in an election would
result in the two
factions as we have today. I deliberately never
contributed to the debate
torched by the split and the theories developed
thereafter beyond my circle
of friends, and it is not at all the purpose of
this article, but their
recent routing in local government elections should
remind them of the very
old saying; united you stand, divided you
fall.
This year the Churches have come on board. To a certain
level
that cannot be ignored. They are also a divided lot. On one side there
is
the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance formed earlier in the year, then we have
the
Christian Heads of Denominations. And if we are to fall to some media
propagated divisionist and polarist theories, the Churches are divided along
the MDC - Zanu PF polar lines, which lead us nowhere.
However, at a deeper level, the Churches are not divided. They
are
intricately bound by the issues that they raise in trying to create a
better
Zimbabwe for all. Closer looks at the documents they have produced
clearly
show that they have the same direction. In fact, they should be
found guilty
by omission for letting the people of God suffer to this end
while they
pretended as though they did not see what was happening. Only a
few of them
will be spared.
Now there are two fundamental issues that are
raised by the
intervention of the Churches and these cannot be separated.
First is the
issue of the vision, and second is the strategy. As for the
first one,
everyone will agree that we are angry with the situation we are
in. Actually
the issues raised by our Church leaders are so obvious to
everyone in
Zimbabwe. Forget about our politicians who say they will meet to
discuss the
document. They want to meet over some food to "discuss" what we
talk of day
in day out in kombis, in Sakubva, in Dulibadzimu, in Jahunda, in
Dotito, in
Chiguhune - you name it.
I do not know where
they got the idea that they will think on
our behalf, then agree for us
whether the Church leaders have raised the
right issues or not. Foolish! We
do not want the levels of poverty we are
in! We do not want inflation
over
1 000%! We do not want hospitals with no drugs! We do not
want
to die of hunger! We do not want to walk to town! We do not want
corruption
at Ziscosteel swept under the carpet! We do not want to be
jobless! We do
not want anything that makes our lives miserable,
period.
We all know where we want to be. This brings the
second issue up
for serious discussion. How do we get there? How will we
deal with obstacles
along the way?
In order to realise
our vision we obviously need to undertake
certain actions. This is where we
either make it or break up. I have
personally found out that very many
people do not want to invest their
energies and resources on strategising,
and yet it is the crux of the
matter.
If you want the
situation to change, and you do not know how
that change will come, then
forget about the change itself. Be content with
the status quo. That is why
many Zimbabweans always wish for our past. They
do not want to crack their
heads strategising for the future. Unfortunately,
life is not lived for the
past. Life is lived for the future.
The principle of
engagement taken by the Church leaders is very
plausible, more so to many of
us who believe in the philosophy of
non-violence, following the example of
Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther
King Jnr.
In brief,
they did not ostracise their or shun their opponents
but interacted with
them; they had love - an intense "friendly feeling" -
for their opponents;
they worked to build friendships with them; they were
transparent about
their own strongly-held beliefs and hopes and did not
compromise on them;
they did not try to defeat their opponents; and, in
modern terminology, they
looked for win-win outcomes.
They followed a central
Gandhian belief - that you cannot
achieve a good end, such as friendship and
harmony, by bad means, such as
ostracising or trying to defeat your
opponent. Fighting, whether with words
debate or weapons, is not effective
in building peace.
Let us take our tri-polar situation into
consideration. I say
tri-polar putting the Churches on one side, the MDC on
another, and Zanu PF
on the other. All the three have divisions of their own
as earlier stated,
but they are not significant for now. The advantage we
have is that the
Churches have an ear in both political parties (as well as
other smaller
ones in the periphery). These institutions have one vision
they all share, a
prosperous Zimbabwe.
If they do not
invest in strategising, either individually or
collectively then we will
never realize it. We have so many examples of good
visions bogged down by
poor strategies. President Mugabe had a very good
vision to redistribute
land to his landless peasants. But the strategy used
has been disastrous so
far, and we now talk of "recovering" the sector.
Whatever anyone tells us,
the truth is this year we sold only 50m kg of
tobacco when in 2000 we sold
265m kg.
We may shout from the top of mountains that we
are on an
economic recovery path, but as long as we make our parastatals
retirement
homes for our distinguished army officers and expect them to make
profits
then we are a hopeless people.
The most dangerous
thing is to do something wrong and pretend it's
good, like we seem to be
doing.
Now that Mugabe has openly applauded the Church's
initiative but
also openly expressed his stance on the issue of the
Constitution, the
challenge our Church leaders face, and all of us too, is
to co-operate fully
in areas where we agree, but start non-violent
strategies that will put back
the issue of the Constitution on the national
agenda.
This could be the same with the Gukurahundi and
Murambatsvina
issues: "the Zimbabwe we want" document raises but which the
government may
think otherwise, basing on history.
Meanwhile, we can join hands on issues of corruption, violence,
the land
question and many others, but without having to compromise on our
own
strongly held beliefs and hopes. We cannot continue socialising
ourselves in
enemy images. This is for the good of our country.
Zim Standard
SundayOpinion By Briggs Bomba
FOR a
long time ordinary Zimbabweans have held legitimate
expectations that South
Africa will use its leverage as the biggest
political and economic power in
sub-Saharan Africa to support the
realization of the democratic ideals of
the people of Zimbabwe and help
resolve the crippling poverty and economic
meltdown.
While Pretoria played a direct role in places like
Lesotho, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire and Sudan,
South Africa's
attitude towards the crisis in Zimbabwe has been
characterised more by an
unintelligible stance, officially defined as "Quiet
Diplomacy" which in
practice camouflages the reality of Pretoria's subtle
support for President
Robert Mugabe's regime.
The role
played by, not just the South African government and
its public institutions
but also its private capital, is nothing less than
complying with the regime
of Mugabe.
Zimbabweans, therefore, have a right to feel let
down by their
key neighbour who could have the greatest influence on the
present crisis.
Details coming out of the recent Sisulu Commission of
Inquiry into the SABC
only add to this feeling of great
betrayal.
The Sisulu Commission established that the SABC,
acting on the
instructions of its managing director, Dr Snuki Zikalala,
blacklisted
certain civil society voices on Zimbabwe because of views they
hold on the
crisis. Zikalala is the managing director, SABC News and Current
Affairs. He
is a former ANC political commissar.
Among
those banned from the station is Archbishop Pius Ncube of
the Roman Catholic
Church, Mail and Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube, Elinor
Sisulu, the media
manager for the Crisis Coalition South Africa office and
political analyst
Moeletsi Mbeki, young brother to President Mbeki, who is a
strong critic of
Mugabe's policies.
This is a serious scandal if one considers
that the SABC as a
public broadcaster has an obligation to provide the
public with a balanced
view on the crisis in Zimbabwe. Zikalala justified
banning Trevor Ncube by
saying, "Trevor Ncube has his newspapers which he
uses to attack Mugabe
every day and why should I give him space on my
broadcaster."
He thinks Elinor Sisulu and Moeletsi Mbeki are
removed and
misinformed on Zimbabwe. He hasn't had the courage to tell
anyone why Pius
Ncube should not be allowed to comment on Zimbabwe.
Zikalala's agenda is to
systematically marginalise, from the SABC, voices
critical of Mugabe's
policies.
The SABC is violating
journalism's cardinal principle of giving
professional and unbiased coverage
and instead acting as a "solidarity
broadcaster" for Mugabe's regime. The
SABC's coverage of Zimbabwe's 2005
parliamentary elections immediately
springs to mind. The broadcaster had a
team of 59 journalists in the country
whose coverage of the elections was
nothing less than a public relations
mission for Mugabe and his regime. When
Zimbabweans were dismissing the
elections as predetermined citing serious
distortions of the playing field
in favour of the ruling party, the SABC's
main anchor Hope Zinde shocked
Zimbabweans by declaring, within a matter of
a few hours of checking into
Harare's Sheraton Hotel, that the conditions
were conducive for free and
fair elections.
"The first thing that I have to say", she
said in her report, "
is that this is a very peaceful country, contrary to
many reports out there,
especially in South Africa and some western media .
. ."
Zimbabweans will also remember Zikalala's interview with
Mugabe
just after the elections where he proved a fan of the dictator. At
the end
of the interview, Zikalala even compliments Mugabe saying, "It's a
very
peaceful country and we have seen the economic turnaround ourselves".
What
peace and which economic turnaround?
Under Mugabe's
iron rule people have been reduced to a nation of
foraging paupers stripped
of any dignity. Mothers have to endure the pain of
seeing their children
wailing because of hunger but not knowing what to do.
Workers can barely go
through a week on a minimum wage. Communities have to
cope without basics
like water and electricity. The sick cannot get drugs.
The vast majority of
the population is now destitute.