The Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11
07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21500-mdc-accused-of-plotting-banditry.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 11:54
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF are
refusing to concede the Ministry
of Home Affairs to the MDC because they
believe the opposition party is
plotting to destabilise the
country.
The allegations by Zanu PF against the MDC now lie at the heart
of the
deadlock in the distribution of ministries.
Sources said Zanu
PF last week told Sadc troika leaders heading the organ on
politics, defence
and security that the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai
was training
militias in a neighbouring state, meaning Botswana, to
destabilise the
country.
Political tensions rose dramatically between Zimbabwe and
Botswana this week
ahead of the crunch Sadc summit on the crisis. President
Ian Khama on Monday
called for fresh elections in Zimbabwe to resolve the
stalemate, provoking
an angry reaction by Harare which described his remarks
as an "extreme act
of provocation".
Zanu PF's claims of the MDC's
subversive plot were contained in a document
presented to the regional
leaders who met in Harare last week in a bid to
break the impasse over
ministries.
Zanu PF alleged that the MDC was plotting acts of banditry to
destabilise
government and oust Mugabe. Sources said this is what Mugabe and
his party
will present at this weekend's extraordinary Sadc summit on
Zimbabwe at the
Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
The
meeting was called to resolve the deadlock over the allocation of key
ministries, particularly Home Affairs. Although the Sadc troika last week
said only Home Affairs remained unsettled, the MDC said there were 10
ministries in dispute.
Sources said Zanu PF would provide documents
"proving" their claims of the
MDC's plot of subversion and insurgency to
justify why it would not let go
of Home Affairs. The ministry has the
police, immigration and customs, and
national registry departments under
it.
Some of the documents on MDC's alleged banditry have already been
presented
to Sadc leaders at previous summits. The documents claim that the
MDC is
"fomenting and perpetrating acts of violence against Zanu
PF".
Zanu PF chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa has insinuated that
Western
intelligence services have decided to turn Tsvangirai into a warlord
like
the late Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
Chinamasa first
made these allegations in public on the day of talks on
Monday last week.
Since then the state media have been intensifying the
allegations that the
MDC was morphing into an insurgent movement like
Savimbi's Unita.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa yesterday dismissed the allegations as
"incredibly
ridiculous".
"It's typical of Zanu PF when they have a sinister agenda
and under
circumstances of desperation. As usual they concoct charges,
create false
stories to justify targeting and victimisation of their
political
competitors," Chamisa said.
"They have done this many times
before. They did it against Joshua Nkomo and
Zapu, against Ndabaningi
Sithole and his party, against Edgar Tekere and Zum
and of course against
Tsvangirai and the MDC. But all their allegations
always end up being shown
to be false."
Chamisa said it was "preposterous" to claim Tsvangirai and
the MDC want to
be like Savimbi and Unita.
"Why on earth would
Tsvangirai, the most popular politician in the land who
defeated Mugabe in
March, want to be like Savimbi?
Why would the MDC, when it beat Zanu PF
in elections in March, want to be
like Unita when it controls parliament and
local municipalities?
The whole issue is ridiculous
propaganda."
Chamisa said Tsvangirai and the MDC had no reason after
"winning free and
fair elections in March" to resort to banditry. "If
anything, it's Zanu PF
which might want to entertain that because they have
no support among the
people," he said.
"Rebel movements are usually
illegitimate groups which however think they
have a legitimate cause. The
MDC is obviously not like that. Maybe Zanu PF."
During the 1980s, Mugabe
and Zanu PF accused Nkomo and Zapu of all sorts of
crimes, including
insurgency, subversion and treason. Most top Zapu leaders
were dismissed
from government, arrested and tortured on charges that were
later thrown out
by the courts. Nkomo accused Mugabe of making the
allegations to justify a
crackdown on Zapu which led to the massacre of at
least 20 000
civilians.
A series of similar allegations against Sithole, Tsvangirai
and many other
Zanu PF opponents have also been found by the courts to be
false. The MDC
leader has faced treason charges but was acquitted in all
cases.
The charges usually include plotting a coup or assassinating
Mugabe and
hence treason, subversion, banditry, insurgency and other such
serious
allegations.
In 1981, the chief whip of Ian Smith's Rhodesian
Front Wally Stuttaford was
arrested and tortured on allegations of plotting
a coup after conducting
talks with Zapu on forming an alliance to oppose
Zanu PF in parliament.
The charges against him --- like all others
including Dumiso Dabengwa and
Lookout Masuku - were dismissed by the
courts.
By Dumisani Muleya
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21499-sadc-to-lean-hard-on-mugabe-tsvangirai.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 11:39
THE MDC and Zanu PF this week embarked on a
diplomatic offensive in the
region ahead of Sunday's Sadc Summit in South
Africa
where regional leaders are expected to come down hard on President
Robert
Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai to remove the
deadlock
on allocation of cabinet portfolios.
Sources in both parties
told the Zimbabwe Independent that teams of senior
politicians have been
dispatched into the region and the continent.
The MDC leadership, the
sources said, was lobbying regional leaders to back
its position for an
equitable power-sharing with Mugabe.
Tsvangirai this week held talks with
the presidents of Botswana and South
Africa, Ian Khama and Kgalema Motlanthe
respectively, on the political
crisis in Zimbabwe.
Motlanthe is the
current Sadc chairperson and will preside over the Sunday
summit while Khama
has been highly critical of Mugabe's rule since the March
29 harmonised
polls.
The sources said Tsvangirai met African Union chairperson Jakaya
Kikwete in
Tanzania on Wednesday, while MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti
was yesterday
expected to lead a team of party officials to Senegal, Nigeria
and Ghana.
Thokozani Khupe, Tsvangirai's deputy, travelled to Zambia and
another team
of officials was sent to Mozambique.
"The party has been
on a mission to engage regional and African leaders and
the countries we
have covered so far include Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique
and Tanzania," one
of the sources said. "The party intends to visit all the
Sadc countries,
including those hostile to us."
Tsvangirai is expected to travel to
Swaziland and Lesotho before the Sunday
summit while Biti would travel to
Angola and Namibia for further lobbying.
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC
spokesperson, yesterday said his party does not
discuss its strategies with
the media.
"The only engagement and lobbying we will do is on Sunday at
the Sadc summit
in South Africa and I will not pre-empt anything on the
party strategy,"
Chamisa said. "We will engage the regional leaders in
Pretoria over the
weekend. President Tsvangirai has not been issued with a
new passport, but
he will attend the summit."
On the other hand, Zanu
PF has reportedly dispatched its legal secretary
Emmerson Mnangagwa on
Monday on a diplomatic charm offensive in the region
to counter that of the
MDC.
Mnangagwa has since visited Angola where he reportedly held meetings
with
President José Eduardo dos Santos. He has also held a meeting with
Kikwete.
He was expected to meet embattled DRC president Joseph
Kabila.
Sadc leaders are expected to adopt a tough stance against Mugabe
and
Tsvangirai and force them to compromise on power-sharing because they
feel
that the impasse is now becoming a major threat to regional
stability.
The South African government yesterday said it would take a
firm position on
Zimbabwe on Sunday.
"The failure of the parties to
agree is something that is becoming a major
political hindrance to the
stability that we desire in southern Africa,"
South African cabinet
spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters in Pretoria.
"We are indeed taking a
very firm position as government that the parties
understand the urgency of
finding a settlement."
He said it was South Africa's view that the
regional leaders must take
urgent steps to make sure a political solution
was found.
"This is becoming a matter of extreme concern to us and we
will be taking
quite a hard stance to make sure that agreement is reached,"
Maseko added.
Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa's ruling party,
on Wednesday said
the 15-nation regional bloc should pressure Zimbabwe's
rival leaders to
clinch a deal.
"I think Sadc must put its pressure
more strongly to these colleagues
because what happens in Zimbabwe has an
effect on the region," the ANC
president said. "I think the region should
say to the Zimbabwe leaders that
enough is enough. You must resolve this
matter; you can't leave South Africa
without resolving this matter. That is
what I am expecting."
By Constantine Chimakure/Loughty Dube
The Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21498-knives-out-for-midzi.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 11:34
FRESH divisions rocked Zanu PF Harare province
this week with over 100 war
veterans, ex-political detainees and war
collaborators petitioning President
Robert Mugabe to dismiss chairperson
Amos Midzi for his alleged "history of
counter-revolutionary activities" and
failure to lead the party to victory
in the March elections.
In the
petition, the Zanu PF activists pleaded with Mugabe to expel the Zanu
PF
provincial executive council led by Midzi whom they accused of
incompetence
and reducing the party to a laughing stock.
They asked Mugabe to appoint
an interim provincial executive council.
The activists also wanted Midzi
and his council to be removed for failing to
endorse Mugabe at the 2006
Goromonzi annual people's conference as the party's
sole presidential
candidate for the 2008 elections.
Knives are out for Midzi, the Minister
of Mines and Mining Development, for
also failing to come up with a campaign
programme for Zanu PF for the 2008
harmonised elections.
"(Midzi must
be expelled for) failure to assist Zanu PF candidates during
the campaign
period leading up to the 29th March elections, despite being
availed with
motor vehicles and fuel for the party," the petition read. It
also said
Midzi should be expelled "failure to support His Excellency the
President
during the opening of parliament leaving the opposition to
embarrass and
humiliate His Excellency the President and first secretary of
Zanu
PF."
They said the Harare province was to blame for the heckling of
Mugabe at the
September 15 signing of an all-inclusive government
agreement.
They said the Harare province was to blame for the heckling of
Mugabe at the
September 15 signing of an all-inclusive government agreement
between Mugabe
and leaders of two MDC formations - Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara -
because it failed to mobilise Zanu PF members to attend
the ceremony.
"The failure was deliberate and meant to ensure that the
party remains weak
and disorganised in Harare," the petition
read.
The petitioners claimed that Harare province executives were buying
votes to
ensure their victory in November 30's provincial
elections.
The province was accused of failing to comply with the party's
constitution,
regulations and guidelines. Instead "it was falsifying records
of cells and
branches of the party so as to ensure that the elections of the
district
executives scheduled for November 8 will be in their"
favour.
The petition read: "Members of the party are being hoodwinked by
the
provincial executive committee which is dishing out money and goods to
branch and district executive members under the false guise of poverty
alleviation.
"The project is highly selective targeting those
occupying the top six
positions of each branch or district. The objective is
to buy their votes.
Party members are being exploited and abused because of
the economic
hardships in the country," said the petitioners.
Midzi
yesterday declined to comment on the petition.
Sources in Zanu PF claimed
the petition was signed at the behest of Harare
South MP Hubert Nyanhongo
and chairperson of the National Incomes and
Pricing Commission chairperson
Goodwills Masimirembwa.
Nyanhongo is eyeing the chairmanship while
Masimirembwa reportedly wants to
be a member of the provincial
executive.
On Wednesday hordes of Zanu PF youths attempted to forcibly
close the party's
provincial offices.
Nyanhongo recently said Zanu PF
in Harare was full of traitors and sellouts
and they should be dealt with
before the conference in Bindura in December.
The legislator declined to
comment on the matter.
Masimirembwa last month was reported to have said
Zanu PF should flush out
leaders who were not backing Mugabe, especially in
Harare. This was
reportedly in apparent reference to Midzi.
However,
yesterday he denied singling out Midzi, but blamed the whole
provincial
executive.
Masimirembwa said: "I never singled out Amos Midzi. It was a
complete lie.
What I can confirm as to have said was that the general
performance of
Harare province during the March 29 election was very bad,
just to get one
seat won by Nyanhongo."
By Wongai Zhangazha
The Zimbabwe Independent
2008
11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21497-former-zapu-revival-effort-still-on.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 11:26
DISGRUNTLED former PF Zapu members are expected to
meet in Bulawayo tomorrow
in a bid to revive the party that signed a unity
accord with Zanu PF in
1987.
Sources close to the move to reanimate
the party said they wanted to leave
Zanu PF because it had failed to address
the concerns of the Matabeleland
region.
Last week, a meeting called
by the ex-PF Zapu members failed to take place
after Vice-President Joseph
Msika who was expected to be the guest of honour
failed to turn up at White
City Stadium.
"The meeting last week was sabotaged by people like
(Information minister)
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, but we are reviving PF Zapu soon,"
a former senior member
of PF Zapu said. "We are having a meeting this
weekend to map out the way
forward."
Last Saturday's meeting was
attended by the former PF Zapu's military wing
Zipra's intelligence supremo
Dumiso Dabengwa, Zanu PF politburo members
Ndlovu and Thenjiwe Lesabe, and
Bulawayo provincial chairperson McLeod
Chawe.
Former Zipra cadres,
however, called for a private meeting after Msika
failed to turn up and
expressed anger that the Zanu PF government was
sideling them.The Zipra
members have since formed their own war veterans
organisations - Zipra
Veterans Association - chaired by retired army Colonel
Ray Ncube.
The
ex-PF Zapu members said they were also not happy because President
Robert
Mugabe did not consult them when he entered into negotiations with
the two
formations of the MDC.
By Loughty Dube
The Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11
07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21495-charges-trumped-up-claims-mdc-mp-.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 11:02
THE trial of Buhera North MP Advocate Eric
Matinenga accused of inciting
political violence in his constituency, opened
in Mutare this week with his
lawyer accusing the state of using trumped up
charges to punish him for his
political views.
According to the state
outline, Matinenga paid and incited MDC youths to
unleash terror on Zanu PF
supporters in his constituency ahead of the June
27 presidential election
run-off.
The state alleged that on May 28 MDC supporters attacked several
homesteads
belonging to Zanu PF members in Gwebu village and the assailants
accused
Matinenga of complicity.
On May 31, Matinenga, a leading
Harare lawyer, allegedly visited the
homestead of MDC-Tsvangirai chairman
for Ward 3 in Gwebu village, Mbambata
Nkomo, where about 30 party youths
were gathered.
Matinenga was allegedly seen by Blessed Masiiwa and
Timothy Mhuruyengwe
giving money to the youths before driving
away.
The same day, the state alleged, Matinenga went to the homestead of
another
MDC official in the same village, Tapfumanei Muindisi, where about
60
supporters had gathered.
"The MDC supporters, who appeared very
excited, greeted the accused as he
disembarked from his motor vehicle," the
state averred. "The accused was
heard uttering words in substance and to the
following effect, "mirai
muzvikwata zvenyu semashandiro amuri kuita (stand
in your groups in which
you are operating)."
The state further
alleged that Matinenga was observed by Masiiwa and
Mhuruyengwe going to his
vehicle from where he took a cardboard box and
started to dish out cash to
the MDC supporters.
"After dishing out money the accused was heard
uttering words in substance
and to the effect that rambai muchiita basa
semaitiro amuri kuita (keep on
carrying out your work like you are doing),"
the state alleged.
However, Matinenga's lawyer, Tinoziva Bere, said the
allegations were a
creation of certain institutions of the state to
persecute and punish his
client for his political views and for his legal
challege to violence,
torture and repression led by the army in
Buhera.
"The accused is not aware of the alleged acts of violence against
the
claimed victims, but is aware that several of his supporters were
attacked,
arrested, detained and unlawfully tortured and then handed over to
the
police to be charged prior to and after May 31," read Matinenga's
defence
outline.
Bere submitted that his client sought a High Court
order against the army
after the abduction and the torture of innocent
civilians in his
constituency by members of the armed forces.
"It is
the same violations that forced him to attend Buhera Police station
on May
31 to represent innocent victims of the aforesaid torture who were
being
illegally detained," Bere told the court.
The trial was adjourned to
November 25 by magistrate Hlekani Mwayera.
Meanwhile, Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (Woza) leaders Jenni Williams and
Magodonga Mahlangu who have been
languishing in remand prison for three
weeks were on Wednesday granted bail
by the High Court.
The two would, however, have to abide by stringent
bail conditions imposed
by the court, among them, the duo should remain
within a 40 km radius of
Bulawayo.
Williams and Mahlangu can only
leave the city after getting written consent
from a Bulawayo magistrate. The
duo would also have to report to the police
twice weekly and should reside
at their given addresses.
The two were granted $ 200 000 bail on
Wednesday but were only released from
Khami Maximum Security Prison
yesterday.
Williams and Mahlangu were arrested three weeks ago after they
led a group
of women protesting against the humanitarian crisis in the
country and the
political impasse caused by the failure by Zanu PF and the
two MDC
formations to reach an agreement on the distribution of ministries
under the
unity government deal signed on September 15.
The two are
jointly charged under a section of the Criminal Law
(Codification and
Reform) Act for allegedly "disturbing the peace, security
or order of the
public".
They initially applied for bail a fortnight ago, but the state
opposed the
application arguing that two had the propensity to commit
similar offences.
Williams and Mahlangu are not new to the courts. They
have been arrested
several times for leading peaceful demonstrations against
deteriorating
living and human rights standards in the
country.
Williams is a recipient of the United States State Department
International
Women of Courage Award which she received from Secretary of
State
Condoleezza Rice in March 2007. Local and international human rights
groups
condemned the arrest and detention of the two women
activists.
By Loughty Dube/Lucia Makamure
The Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11
07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21494-newsprint-shortage-hits-zimpapers.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 10:58
THE state-controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers
(Zimpapers) group has stopped the
publication of its monthly magazine Trends
and the weekly vernacular tabloid
Umthunywa due to critical shortages of
newsprint.
The shortage has serious affected the group's operations as
their
newspapers - The Herald, The Saturday Herald, The Chronicle, The
Saturday
Chronicle, The Sunday Mail, The Sunday News and Kwayedza - have
been reduced
to shadows of their former selves.
The Bulawayo
Zimpapers general manager, Sithembile Ncube, told the Zimbabwe
Independent
this week that the shortage of newsprint was affecting the
company and has
forced the group to scale down operations.
"The shortage is affecting the
whole print industry, including us, and there
is nothing much we can do
about it," Ncube said. "We have since scaled down
our operations, as you can
see our papers are getting thinner and thinner
everyday."
The media
house confirmed that Trends and Umthunywa were temporarily out of
circulation.
The country's leading newsprint manufacturer, Mutare
Board & Paper Mills
(MBPM) said it was failing to produce adequate paper
due to shortages of
fuel and raw materials in the country. The situation,
the company said, was
compounded by the erratic electricity
supply.
"Every industry is struggling in the country, but we are trying
our best to
supply our market," MBPM sales supervisor Josphat Manjeya said.
"There is
shortage of fuel, raw materials and the power supply is unreliable
so we are
operating under abnormal conditions."
He added: "We are
importing almost everything, so our prices will obviously
be high. Some of
our customers didn't approve our cash prices for newsprint
and that is the
reason we have resorted to the fuel coupon payment system."
A tonne of
newsprint at MBPM now costs 740 litres of fuel and that is
settled through
coupons.
Zimind Publishers, which publish the Zimbabwe Independent and
Standard,
import their newsprint from South Africa because of unreliable
supplies from
MBPM.
"There is a serious shortage of newsprint in the
country so we import some
from South Africa to supplement the little we get
from MBPM," Zimind chief
executive officer Raphel Khumalo said. "We cannot
solely rely on them
because they are also facing problems just like everyone
in the country."
The ever-rising cost of newsprint has forced media
houses to increase cover
prices weekly.
The constant upward review of
cover prices has negatively affected newspaper
sales since the daily cash
withdrawal limit had stagnated at $ 50 000 daily
before this week's increase
to $ 500 000.
By Henry Mhara
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21493-election-violence-victims-continue-to-bear-the-brunt-.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 10:52
TEARS might have dried for Ross Wynard but
memories of the pre-June 27
presidential election run-off violence are still
fresh.
He has nowhere to go and the railway station has become his home
and that of
his two sons aged 15 and 13.
His clothes are worn out and
his face looks haggard --- tired from knocking
on one door after the other,
from humanitarian agencies to embassies and MDC
offices in a bid to find a
decent shelter and food for his family.
Wynard, a widower, claims that he
was displaced by war veterans from a
Mhangura farm where he worked as a
labourer for attending an MDC victory
celebration party at Chipungu Farm
after the March 29 elections.
Wynard is a bitter man. He is angry over
the current political developments
in the country and accuses the MDC of
selling out after signing an
all-inclusive government deal with President
Robert Mugabe and the leader of
the smaller faction of the MDC, Arthur
Mutambara.
He says the MDC-Tsvangirai party has abandoned its
supporters.
Wynard said: "I went to the MDC offices and raised my
problems, but did not
receive much assistance. Just passing through the
security guys at the
offices is a hassle. I feel like they have abandoned
me. At times we are
told to go to certain churches to get help and at the
churches we are told
there aren't anymore political victims.
"I am
not happy with the deal, I feel we sold out. Right now Zanu PF is
campaigning strongly in their constituencies giving their people land and
food to try to weaken the MDC. At their local meetings they tell people that
there is no way they can unite with Tsvangirai."
He says after the
war veterans chased him away, he sought temporary
sanctuary at the MDC
headquarters at Harvest House with other political
victims.
However,
at the offices there were not enough resources to look after the
increasing
number of victims.
"I was the one who mobilised people to go and seek
assistance at the
American Embassy. We were taken to a hideout in Glen Lorne
and we stayed in
tents. They fed us and kept us well," he
said.
Wynard claimed that they later left the hideout in the first week
of July
when helicopters hovered over the area.
"When the first
helicopter flew past people became suspicious. We were
afraid that someone
could have leaked information to the authorities and
when a second
helicopter flew past the area we agreed that it was no longer
safe to stay
at the place. Everyone was given $ 1 trillion ($ 1 000
revalued) for
sustenance and we left in different directions."
With his family, Wynard
said, they headed for Epworth where he ganged up
with other victims of
political violence and formed a group - Friends for
the Future.
"I
was staying in a place called Greenfields or Kumadonoro and I have been
trying to mobilise resources to look after my family but things have not
been easy. Zanu PF supporters would harass us, especially for refusing to be
aligned to a certain camp like Tongogara or Hunzvi," he said.
Wynard
claimed that people wearing Zanu PF T-shirts evicted him from his
Epworth
home last week.
Harare Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto, whose 27-year old
wife Abigail was
murdered before the presidential run-off by suspected Zanu
PF members, said
he wanted perpetrators of political violence brought to
book regardless of
their political affiliation.
Chiroto said: "We
don't want to lie to each other that we have forgiven
them. In my case I
want those who murdered my wife to be arrested. If this
happens everything
else can be resolved and people can live peacefully."
The deputy mayor
was bitter that police were yet to carry out investigations
into the death
of his wife.
Chiroto said: "I know the people who killed my wife and I
know those who
beat up people in Hatcliffe and they are around and are free.
Some of them
even brag that "PaChimoi pakaurayiwa vanhu vakawanda imi
mochema one" ("A
lot of people were killed at Chimoio during the liberation
struggle and you
are crying for only one person.").
"Soon after my
wife's death her mobile line was still operating. Someone was
using it. I
would call it and someone from the other end would answer. I
went to
Borrowdale police station and asked them if they could do a
follow-up on
such a lead by at least getting a print out from the mobile
company. But
nothing has been done."
MDC MP for Zaka Central Harrison Mudzuri who held
a rally last week at Fuve
clinic and Four Miles said victims of political
violence in his constituency
were still grieving.
He said: "Nothing
has been done in terms of rebuilding huts that were burnt
or destroyed
during the violence. Most of the people still do not have
proper places to
stay.
"As a party we have managed to give them food and blankets and at
times some
temporary shelter and there are sad cases in Ward 18 of people
with no
homes."
He said the police were mum on the four MDC activists
who were petrol-bombed
at Jerera Growth Point a few days before the
run-off.
"Five cases of murder were reported in the whole constituency.
Police are
saying that they are waiting for the conclusion of the talks for
them to
act," Mudzuri said.
A Zanu PF supporter from Midlands who
spoke on condition of anonymity said
he also wanted justice to take its
course because MDC activists murdered
some members of his party.
Zanu
PF claimed MDC killed two of its supporters in Mutoko, burnt four
homesteads
in Mayo resettlement area in Manicaland while four of its
supporters were
murdered in Bikita and Cashel Valley, among other reports of
political
violence.
According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project a cumulative 20 143
incidents of
political violence were recorded by the end of September.
According to their
records from January to September, 202 murder cases were
reported with June
recording the highest number of 78.
No murder
cases were recorded in January and February while March had seven,
April 27,
May 47, June 78, July 15, August 21 and September seven.
The report
states that in April 149 people were either kidnapped or abducted
while in
June the number decreased to 133.
The number of assaults increased from
219 in March to 771 in April and 804
in June. After the elections the
figures decreased to 285 in August and
slightly increased in September to
348.
Over 150 people were tortured in April and 102 in June and 78
between July,
August and September.
By Wongai Zhangazha
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/local/21492-obama-unlikely-to-differ-with-bush-on-africa.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 10:47
PRESIDENT Mugabe has now seen the backs of two of
his arch-enemies, Tony
Blair of Britain and this week George
Bush.
There could be a measure of self-gratification for Mugabe but no
bottles of
champagne will be popped.
In fact nothing is on ice
because the wily octogenarian knows that there
will be no let-up from the
new administration of President-elect Barack
Obama.
Obama's election
was celebrated loudly on the African continent because of
his Kenyan roots
and because of the new hope he brings to world politics.
Africans believe
Obama's view of the continent could reshape US foreign
policy to help solve
a myriad of problems in their countries.
But their celebrations should be
tempered with reality on the ground. As for
Mugabe, Obama is not exactly a
godsend. He, together with the Congressional
Black Caucus, stand accused of
sponsoring the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) in
2001. Only this year, he attacked Mugabe's
hold on power, accusing him of
stealing the recent election and using
violence against his own people. That
ain't the way to treat a black
brother!
But African leaders should
understand that the election in the US was fought
on the battlefield of
ideals; and largely American ones. It is not
surprising therefore that
Republican John McCain and Obama laboured to show
the electorate how their
policies differed from each other although they
shared a common position on
Africa. The conclusion: Washington's foreign
policy, whether under McCain or
Obama, was always going to be an extension
of President George W Bush's
projects on the continent.
The ascendancy of Africa in US foreign policy
under Bush reflected not only
the continent's growing importance to US
national interests but also his
determination to join overarching compassion
with resources. This is the
underlying theme in the Bush administration's
overall legacy, his supporters
believe.
A Heritage Foundation
backgrounder published last week said this
presidential election provided an
opportunity to reflect on US policy and
programme interventions in Africa
under Bush.
"The next president of the United States will soon decide
which efforts have
borne fruit, which programmes require modification, and
what new approaches
will shape the growing ties between the US and Africa,"
said Thomas M Woods,
a Senior Associate Fellow in African
Affairs.
President-elect Obama is therefore likely to travel an all too
familiar
path. The variation to policy is likely to be the speed at which he
would
move to tackle the age-old African issues of human rights, conflict,
disease, hunger, corruption, and poor economic performance. It should also
be noted that on McCain and Obama's inventory of priority areas, Africa did
not feature anywhere prominent. There are problems on the home front for
Obama which could further push Africa down on the to-do list.
"I
would do anything in my power to stop this terrible affliction," said
McCain
about appropriating US$ 300 million plus to help fight Aids in
Africa. "But
we have corrupt governments; we have organisations that don't
treat the
people. So before I spend our taxpayers' money on that, I would
have to make
sure that it would go to the recipients and those of these poor
people who
are afflicted with this terrible disease. Frankly, in a lot of
parts of
Africa today I do not have that confidence."
Obama on the other hand in
March last year co-sponsored the Bill to amend
the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961 to bolster public health efforts in
sub-Saharan Africa. That Bill has
not yet been voted on. Obama told the
media at the time that as president,
he had plans to expand the President's
Emergency Plan for Aids Relief
(PEPFAR) by providing at least US$ 1 billion
a year in new
money.
There was also convergence between McCain and Obama on the issue
of
democratisation on the continent. Under Bush, the US in 2004 established
the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to focus on democracy promotion. The
MCA
emphasises delivering foreign assistance based on a country's commitment
to
ruling justly, embracing open economic systems, and investing in the
health
and education of its people.
The country's compact concept
focuses on identifying individual countries
that display a measurable track
record of democratic values and investing in
them according to the country's
own development priorities.
To date, the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) has signed compacts with
seven African countries for US$ 2,4 billion.
Both Obama and McCain expressed
support for continuing the MCC.
But
as Woods observes, the next president should not confuse democracy
building
with generic notions of good governance. Many of Africa's more
effective and
economically reform-minded leaders, from President Yoweri
Museveni in Uganda
to President Paul Kagame in Rwanda, have demonstrated
autocratic tendencies.
Nigeria and Ethiopia, Africa's most populous
countries, fall short of
democratic standards.
For US foreign policy, the issue of
democracy-building in Africa will always
loom large during the next four
years with Thabo Mbeki being forced to
resign from office in Africa's
perceived strongest and most influential
democracy, South Africa; south
Sudan preparing for an election and then a
referendum, Zimbabwe in the
throes of great conflict and economic malaise,
Kenya wrestling with power
sharing, and post-conflict Liberia undertaking
its second democratic
election.
In Zimbabwe for example, the Zidera, now commonly regarded as a
sanctions
Act, declares it is US policy to support the people of Zimbabwe in
their
struggles to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based
and
equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law. It sets trade
restrictions which will only be lifted if the rule of law has been restored
in Zimbabwe; there is a level electoral playing field; the government of
Zimbabwe has demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal, and
transparent land reform programme based on the International Donors'
Conference on Land Reform of 1998 (a big task) and when there is
professionalism in the army and the police. On the other hand, the US
government has supported civic groups fighting for the democratisation
process in Zimbabwe.
The case of Zimbabwe - especially viewed in the
context of the MCC and the
Zidera - should be a key test case for the new
administration's strategies
to establish good governance on the continent.
The Act has failed to
dislodge Mugabe from power and has not provided civic
groups with the
necessary teeth to fight the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zimbabwe
stands out as a
dark stain on the continent's scorecard because of the
embarrassing failure
by its leaders to reach a political settlement in a
country where inflation
has rocketed beyond the stratosphere to over 233
million percent. Is it time
for a change in tactics for the new
leadership?
This week MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Al Jazeera
television: "I think
that for Africa we are looking forward to working with
the next president of
the United States in attending to some of the critical
African questions
that we are facing.
"In particular, of course,
Zimbabwe is a case, it has been in this pariah
status for so long, and we
hope we can work together to deal with the
problems that Zimbabwe is
facing."
The big question is how is Tsvangirai going to attract the
attention of a
new leader faced with a failing economy, a discredited
foreign policy and a
huge task to display competence in dealing with
domestic problems?
By Vincent Kahiya in Atlanta Georgia
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/business/21489-is-increasing-withdrawal-limits-the-answer.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 10:31
ALL efforts by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to
solve the current cash
problems in the country seem to be hitting a
snag.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday increased the daily maximum cash
withdrawal
limit for the tenth time this year.
In August alone the
bank reviewed withdrawal limit three times, a
development which left the
market and economists wondering if the bank was
in control of the fiscal and
monetary issues. They also wondered why the
central bank was repeating the
same exercise but expecting different
results.
On August 1, Gono
increased individual withdrawal limits from $ 100 billion
(old currency) to
$ 200 (new currency).
On August 7, he increased the withdrawal limit from
$ 200 to $ 300. A
statement attributed to him said the withdrawal limits had
been increased as
a tribute to
Zimbabwe's fallen heroes. The
commemoration of the country's Heroes' Day was
on the Monday. He was back in
action again on August 22, increasing the
withdrawals from $ 300 from $
500.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced that daily cash withdrawal
limits
had been raised from $ 50 000 to $ 500 000 for individuals, while
companies
will now access $ 1 million, up from $ 10 000.
The Reserve
Bank has imposed withdrawal limits to promote the use of plastic
money in an
effort to contain money supply and parallel market rates which
rise when
there is so much cash on the market.
The use of plastic money has not
taken off at the anticipated levels as the
country's telecommunications
network, which is meant to support the movement
of transactions, is
unreliable. Use of cheques is shunned by retailers and
manufacturers because
of high inflation.
Long queues have been experienced at banks since
October last year. Some
banks are making inadequate cash requests from the
Reserve Bank as they do
not have treasury bills which are needed by the
Reserve Bank as collateral.
Economists say the main reason for the
shortage of cash on the market was
high inflation running at well over an
official 231 million %.
In a statement the Reserve Bank said the upward
review of withdrawal limits
followed the introduction of $ 100 000, $ 500
000 and $ 1 million notes.
The new notes are the 22nd, 23rd and 24th
introduced by the Reserve Bank
this year alone.
"The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe is pleased to announce the introduction of $
100 000, $ 500 000 and
$ 1 000 000 bank notes, which will come into
circulation with effect from
November 5, 2008," read the statement.
Ironically parallel market dealers
had the new $ 500 000 note on Monday,
November 3, when it was scheduled to
be released two days later. Some
commercial banks had the note by Wednesday
midday.
The Reserve Bank last reviewed withdrawal limits on October 10
from $ 20 000
to $ 50 000 when the $ 50 000 note came into
circulation.
Withdrawal limits for companies had stayed at $ 10 000 per
day as a way of
encouraging companies to use alternative non-cash means of
payment such as
cheques and various forms of plastic money.
But the
unreasonable limit, coupled with the Reserve Bank's decision to
suspend the
Real Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS), has instead seen many
businesses
close their doors, unable to pay their bills or their staff.
But the
move, supposedly to make life easier for the average Zimbabwean, has
prompted mass outcry amid the collapse of the economy.
Although cash
withdrawal limits are being reviewed upwards more regularly
than previously,
sharp price hikes that follow each review have frequently
rendered any new
limit inadequate only a week after its introduction.
The digital money
supply now appears to be way beyond the control of the
Reserve Bank or
anyone else; the creation of new money to pay essential
state bills must be
significantly less than the expansion of money supply
coming from the equity
markets and the arbitraging between exchange rates
that seems to dominate
the "dealer" economy.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has
been describing the Reserve
Bank's maximum daily withdrawal limits as a
joke.
Gono has increasingly come under fire for imposing a limit on cash
withdrawals, a situation that has resulted in many people making repeated
trips to the bank to withdraw cash that in many cases is hardly enough to
cover the cost of travelling to the bank.
The ZCTU, the country's
largest labour federation last months wrote to the
Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono asking him to do away with the pegging of
the maximum amount one
is allowed to withdraw from their bank account.
Independent economist
John Robertson said monetary reforms being pursued by
the Reserve Bank would
remain futile in the absence of substantive
strategies to shore up the
country's battered economy.
"There should be increased production in all
major sectors of the economy.
He (Gono) is addressing symptoms as opposed to
the root causes," he said.
By Paul Nyakazeya
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 31
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/business/21447-zim-loses-out-as-chaos-in-chiadzwa-rages-on-.html
Friday,
31 October 2008 10:52
INDUSTRY has blamed power struggles between mining
authorities fighting for
control over diamond deposits in Marange for the
estimated US$ 1,2 billion
lost through diamond smuggling, businessdigest has
learnt.
According to presentations made by industrialists at the just
ended
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries congress, the Reserve Bank, the
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) are currently engaged in a war of attrition
over the control and pricing of controversial precious stones in Chiadzwa,
resulting in minimum proceeds gained from the gems.
Instead CZI
recommended government to streamline the institutional framework
of the
mining sector, which accounts for about 40% of the export revenue.
"There
is a dogfight between the country's institutions over diamond pricing
and
the granting of mining concessions," said a top business executive who
spoke
at the congress. " The area is currently under the control of the
President's Office and the Reserve Bank which is granting licences for
exporters. This setup could cause confusion when politically linked
businessmen manipulate the system to acquire mining licences.
Lack of
proper institutional, orderly and legal framework for diamond miners
has
also resulted in the country losing at least US$ 1,2 billion per
month."
ZMDC - which is the government's investment arm, reportedly
acquired 20
hectares of the estimated 70 hectares endowed with the diamonds
although it
is understood to be struggling to make viable explorations.
Business also
criticised the parastatal for failing to ringfence the mining
area resulting
in massive pillaging of diamonds by illegal small scale
miners and suspected
politically connected people.
MMCZ, which is
legally mandated by the government to market minerals to the
international
market is reportedly blaming the central bank for undermining
its authority
in the pricing of diamonds.
"The Reserve Bank wants the sector to be
treated like the gold sector," he
said. Government purchases gold deliveries
from producers under a support
price facility that has been criticised by
the gold miners.
Efforts to get a comment from the ZMDC and MCCZ were in
vain. However,
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono last week blamed illegal
miners for the
diamond leakages.
The chaos has since turned bloody in
Marange amid reports of fatal shooting
incidents and alleged human rights
abuses on illegal diamond miners by the
police. The diamond fields in the
Chiadzwa area have attracted thousands of
people to the eastern border town
of Mutare since their public discovery two
years back. Last year the Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono estimated that
at least US$ 400 million was lost
to diamond smuggling.
A leading gold producer recently urged government
to streamline bureaucratic
challenges in the mining sector blaming them for
promoting divestment in the
capital-intensive sector. - Staff Writer.
Opinion
The
Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/opinion/21491-memo-to-mdcs-a-story-of-doctored-agreements.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 10:42
THERE is something intriguing about the history of
political agreements in
our small country of Zimbabwe.
I mention this
in light of the furore surrounding the allegedly doctored
agreement between
Zanu PF and the MDCs, the elaborately entitled Global
Political Agreement
(GPA) signed on September 15 2008.
I struggle to understand why it is
endowed with that lavish title. Someone
has to educate me on what is
"global" about the political agreement. Our
politicians seem to get
unusually excited when they refer to the "global"
part of the
title.
Listening to the brouhaha over the alleged changes made to the GPA
(I use
the title reluctantly) the history student in me could not help but
recall
that this may not be the first time that a momentous agreement has
been the
subject of such disputes. It seemed to me that ours is a nation
built on
very shaky foundations as far as political agreements are
concerned.
But, perhaps, out of sync with the reaction in opposition
circles thus far,
I think this episode also provides an opportunity for the
opposition to have
honest self-introspection about the way it handles its
duty of care toward
its millions of supporters and sympathisers. But more on
that later.
Let's take a long trip into our history, for an occasion when
an agreement
has been the subject of disputation over allegations of
unilateral and
fraudulent changes. We might see that fraud, deceit and
unscrupulous
behaviour are hardly a novelty in our tired
country.
There is, in particular, an uncanny resemblance between the
so-called GPA
and the agreement that paved the path to the colonisation of
the land that
we now call Zimbabwe (the Rudd Concession), in as far as there
is deceit and
trickery. I rely, rather shakily, on my rudimentary
understanding of history
so I stand corrected. The point of similarity that
is drawn is only limited
to the allegations of deceit and doctoring of
agreements.
Charles Rudd negotiated an agreement on behalf of his
business associate,
Cecil John Rhodes, with King Lobengula. At the time
Lobengula dominated (or
was thought to dominate) a large part of the area
which Rhodes so coveted.
It was thought, rather wishfully (and wildly so, it
later appeared) that a
second Rand lay somewhere north of the Limpopo. This
was after the discovery
of rich gold deposits on the reef around
Johannesburg.
The Rudd Concession, as it is commonly known, was signed in
October 1888,
which is 120 years ago. Rhodes had also, apparently, enlisted
the services
of Dr Leander Starr Jameson to persuade King Lobengula to sign.
Jameson is
said to have had some leverage over Lobengula because he had
apparently
treated the king for gout. Having been relieved from such a
predicament, it's
probably natural that the king regarded Jameson as a good
man, whose word he
could trust.
The meaty part of that deal however,
and of relevance for current purposes,
are the allegations of deceitful
conduct by Rhodes and his friend Rudd in
their dealings with Lobengula.
Apparently, they had made assurances to King
Lobengula that only a few white
men would undertake mining activities in his
land. However, it is alleged,
this clause was omitted from the papers
documenting the agreement which
Lobengula signed. A few extra clauses were
also added, it is said, such as
that the mining companies could do anything
that was deemed necessary for
the fulfillment of their operations. The true
meaning of the agreement was
not fully availed to the king, until later.
By the time King Lobengula
discovered the fraud and the extent of what he
was purported to have given
away, it was rather late in the day. He tried
various ways to neutralise and
counter the effects of the Rudd Concession.
For example, he granted in 1889
a parallel agreement to a German
prospector - what became known as the
Lippert Concession. But even this came
to naught as Lippert was later bought
out by Rhodes.
King Lobengula even sent envoys to Great Britain with a
letter to Queen
Victoria, protesting against the doctored agreement. He is
said to have
written, "A document was written and presented to me for
signature. I asked
what it contained, and was told that in it were my words
and the words of
those men. I put my hand to it. About three months
afterwards I heard from
other sources that I had given by that document the
right to all minerals of
my country ."
In a dramatic description of
his situation at the time, King Lobengula is
famously quoted as having
remarked: "Have you ever seen a chameleon catch a
fly?
The chameleon
gets behind the fly, remains motionless for some time, then he
advances very
slowly and gently, first putting forward one leg and then
another. At last,
when well within reach, he darts his tongue and the fly
disappears. England
is the chameleon and I am that fly."
Those words in the agreement and the
deceit that accompanied them had paved
the way for the colonisation of King
Lobengula's lands. The king tried to
put up a fight but the Maxim gun was
much too powerful against the assegai
and shield. After all, someone
remarked rather smugly, "We have the Maxim
gun, and they have
not".
And now, 120 years later, we have yet another agreement, the
so-called GPA,
between Zanu PF and the two Siamese twins of the MDC. We
hear, long after
the event, complaints that Zanu PF fraudulently doctored
the original
agreement signed on September 11 2008. It is alleged the
document signed at
the lavishly dressed formal ceremony on September 15
omitted and added some
clauses that do not reflect the original. The MDCs
are evidently unhappy.
There have been accusations and counter-accusations,
each shifting blame to
each other.
If correct, it obviously shows bad
faith on the part of Zanu PF. But that's
just one side of the equation, one,
it must be said, that is easy to
deplore. It is easy to see why the flurry
of castigations has been targeted
at Zanu PF. There is another side,
however, one that those of us who share
sympathy and support for the
opposition are often more reluctant to question
because it is inconvenient,
perhaps embarrassing too. It is characteristic
of our approach when we deal
with leaders on this side of the fence, the
opposition. There is always a
tendency to look for somewhere to place
blameworthiness; to shift it from
our shoulders even when there are apparent
failures and neglect on our part.
We are scared to question these shortfalls
lest we are castigated and
consigned to the compost heap of "Zanu PF
supporters".
But question
them we must. These leaders aspire to sit in high places and
might well
assume the mantle of leadership soon. They are going to be
negotiating and
entering into agreements of all types, some complex and
others very simple.
They are going to deal with very crafty persons, perhaps
craftier and more
cunning than Zanu PF. They will still have to deal with a
cunning Zanu
PF.
But how, it has to be asked, is it that they participated in a public
ceremony signing a document that is quite clearly a sham?
One thing
is clear: they did not read it before appending their signatures.
They did
not do due diligence, notwithstanding the outstanding legal and
accounting
brains at their disposal; people who have drafted and signed
countless
documents in their professional lives; people who know that the Ts
must be
crossed and the Is must be dotted. These are people trained and
experienced
enough to have an eye for detail. Yet this document, the one
that carries
the hopes of millions, was left in the hands of a party to the
agreement, a
crafty party whose cunning ways are legendary. And they just
signed,
believing the crafty party was acting in good faith!
To be fair to King
Lobengula, he had none of the legal expertise at his
disposal. He dealt with
the folks who came to him in good faith and some had
been good to him. He
had little cause to doubt their sincerity. All the
knowledge of the pen and
paper was weighed heavily against him and he relied
on them. What the
episode shows us is that this world has crafty people who
will do everything
possible to gain advantage over others. They cannot be
trusted with
documenting agreements. It is important always to keep a
watchful eye
because any slip up can be used to your disadvantage.
But what defence do
our current leaders have?
Simply blame the crafty party whose ways
require no introduction?
Chinamasa and Zanu PF were wrong to doctor the
agreement, if indeed they did
that as alleged. But surely, that does not
exonerate the opposition leaders
from culpability.
No, gentlemen, you
have fought the good fight and you continue to do so
against all odds and
you must be commended, but on this one you need to
raise your hands and
admit there was a weak link. In any corporate circles
the lawyer would
rightly fear that a client might just slip away. Supporters
will back you to
the hilt because they like you and sympathise with your
situation. They
understand what you are up against and they will stand with
you come what
may. But it does not mean that you should bury your heads in
the sand and
pretend that you did not make mistakes on your part.
Acknowledge that you
are in bed with a crafty partner and be vigilant at all
times.
Remember that in 1979 at the Lancaster House talks, it is said
Mugabe and
Nkomo had agreed to contest as the Patriotic Front. By the time
Nkomo woke
up on the morning after the talks, Mugabe had allegedly vanished
to
Tanzania. Of this Nkomo says in his book The Story of My Life on p206,
"That
was the end of our agreement to talk, broken not by me but by Robert
Mugabe
and the leadership of Zanu ... I and the fighters and followers of
Zapu had
been deceived."
If Zanu PF does eventually concede the
Ministry of Home Affairs, look very
closely gentlemen and make sure that the
document does not say Ministry of
Homeless Affairs.
lMagaisa is
available at wamagaisa@ yahoo.co.uk or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.
Opinion
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/opinion/21477-my-vision-of-a-true-civolution.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 09:36
MY current condition of post-GNU insomniac
behaviour has a direct
correlation with the lethargy of civil society in
Zimbabwe in the face of
anti-citizen adversity.
For some, this
lethargy is gross misrepresentation of reality. They would
prefer hard terms
like "moribund", "paralysed", "lifeless", "brain-dead" or
any other context
that were it to be applied to the human medical condition,
there would be no
other choice than switching off the life-support system.
And yet I have
had a revelation that Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe and to
a limited
extent, Arthur Mutambara - the three musketeers of Zimbabwe's
version of
the
Broadway blockbuster "Zimboloosers" - have detached themselves from
the
mainstream political command module to a breakaway unit now totally lost
in
constricted democratic space. The consolation for the hapless people of
this
nation is my gift to perceive the encrypted emissions beyond the
microscopic
pixels of the subconscious.
The spirit takes me to Africa
Unity Square in Harare's central business
district, adjacent to Parliament
Building. For seven days beginning December
1 2008, more than one million
Zimbabweans from all walks of life have braved
the scorching summer heat and
chilly spring nights in search of a historic
Civolution.
Small tents,
umbrellas, stools and discarded fast-food packets are strewn
about the
patchy green lawn, while vendors of fruits, recharge cards, drinks
and
sweets mingle freely with the carnival crowd in pursuit of legitimate
self-enrichment. Somewhere next to Third Street opposite Old Mutual Centre,
a philanthropic citizen has set up a first aid tent where those in medical
distress are treated by volunteers. In the centre of the garden, the
perpetual fountain has been switched off, where the splatter of untreated
Harare water has been replaced with a circular stage of bright lights and a
10k sound system.
I am convinced that this multitude includes school
children, lawyers,
construction workers, doctors, soldiers, footballers,
housewives, members of
the Apostolic church, bus drivers, bank tellers,
nurses, teachers, college
lecturers, street children, factory workers,
carpenters, members of
parliament, chiefs, policemen, telephone technicians,
government workers,
prison guards, pilots, farm workers, company executives,
messengers,
secretaries, receptionists, curious tourists, journalists, ZBC
news readers,
night club disc jockeys, shop keepers, pharmacists,
architects, council
workers, welders, pastors, bishops, traditional healers,
spirit mediums,
pensioners, commercial farmers, security guards,
radiographers, football
coaches, advertisers, models, cross-border traders,
stone carvers, florists,
domestics maids, gardeners, diplomats, municipal
police, councillors,
mayors, cricket players, golfers, school masters,
chancellors, waiters,
barmen, bus conductors, taxi drivers, flea-market
traders and secret service
agents.
My vision is recurrent,
troublesome and mentally engaging. Of particular
interest is a speech
alternately recited on the public address system by a
representative group
of 14 people: a business person, a worker, an
unemployed person, a
disadvantaged person, a scholar, a policeman, a doctor,
a company director,
a traditional healer, a school child, a pastor, a
soldier, an NGO leader and
a civil servant.
With irritating redundant frequency, each speaker begins
by saying: "My
fellow countrymen, this is the beginning and the end of
Zimbabwe's first
Civolution." It is always followed by a deafening sound of
ululations,
whistles, shouts and a mass of white flags flapping nonchalantly
above a sea
of heads. My heart beats faster as I look around the multitude,
whose faces
beam with pride tinged with high self-esteem and unprecedented
confidence.
As I surge forward to take a closer look at the speaker,
someone tugs at my
sleeve and when I look back, a soldier clad in new
camouflage winks at me,
smiles and gestures me to the direction of the last
speaker.
"This, my fellowmen, is the penultimate hour of our Civolution.
We can look
back with pride at the preceding six days and nights, when you,
the citizens
of this country, have forfeited the comfort of your homes, the
security of
your jobs and the fruits of your investment, to come in peaceful
solidarity
with the awakened forces of civil power. For the first time in 28
years, the
people of this country have converged in defiant disregard of the
forces of
tyranny and oppression. They have ignored the hypocrisy of the
principalities of political trickery that have toyed with our hearts, minds
and souls since March 30 up till September 15 2008 in a deceptive game
called negotiations."
"Today as we speak, the cabal unholy trinity of
Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert
Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara are holed up in some
hotel with pretenders to
the throne of African nationalism claiming to
represent our interests and
yet in pursuit of self-aggrandisement. For the
past six days in this venue,
speaker after speaker has disowned these three
men, appealing to you to once
again put your own agenda forward to define
your own destiny through new
leaders.
"You have demanded that
political greed be neutralised with civil unity and
popular satisfaction
through a new system of governance - the Civolution.
Speaker after speaker
has pointed to that house - parliament building - and
stressed that its
occupants must today emerge from a cross section of civil
society that has
braved the hot sun and chilly nights to disown the three
products of a
fictitious democratic system that we have been subjected to
for almost 30
years."
"My fellow countrymen, those three are not negotiating on your
behalf, but
parcelling out spoils and sweat of your moral and political
support for
their own individual good. They pretend to grieve over your
poverty, your
aspirations, your needs and desires, yet their political radar
is locked
onto selfish ends. We are told the hiatus is on who takes the
Ministry of
Home Affairs. My fellow countryman, while Mugabe wants to retain
this
ministry as an instrument of perpetual repression, Tsvangirai's
covetous
desire for it is to exert a measure of vengeance over his
enemies."
"Today, my fellow countrymen, we stand on the verge of
deliverance, as we,
in unity with our brothers in the army, police, prison,
factories, civil
service, schools, homes and offices, advise those three
that they are no
longer the chosen representatives of the people. We are our
own
representatives. We are the Civolution and from tomorrow, we will bestow
the
new powers of governance on those that you will choose today."
My
vision is recurrent, troublesome and mentally engaging.
lRejoice Ngwenya
is a Harare-based writer.
Opinion
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
Friday, 07 November 2008 09:31
TODAY
we witness growing criticism not only of the MDC but of Zimbabwean
political
parties in general - a criticism that goes beyond Mugabe and his
Zanu
PF.
Admittedly, I share the belief that such criticism helps create
conditions
for a healthy democracy in that it provides the tools for checks
and
balances. The need for checks and balances stems from the dangers of
entrusting power in the hands of an individual or a few individuals because
of the possible abuse of such power.
Whilst I agree with the notion
that it is normal for any movement which
seeks to mobilise representation of
previously excluded political
communities to coalesce around a single
leader, this has a disadvantage in
that it precludes the creation and
adherence to well established democratic
political structures and
systems.
I submit that it only serves to create a leader who wields
immense prestige,
whose right to make policy on behalf of the party/movement
virtually goes
unchallenged and thus helps in the creation of a
dictatorship. This is a
lesson that Zimbabweans have learnt from Mugabe's
regime and indeed a lesson
learnt elsewhere in Africa - a lesson that must
be thrown in the dustbin of
leadership if Zimbabwe is to create a democracy
and yet it is showing its
ugly head through intolerance from the MDC in the
face of criticism.
Of course like in any emerging democracy intolerance
tends to prevail even
within those political parties guided by democratic
principles. It is
therefore not surprising that the MDC, a social democratic
party, harbours
some elements which are intolerant to criticism including at
the party's top
leadership. This intolerance is partly due to the political
orientation
experienced by the majority of MDC membership from Zanu PF by
virtue of
belonging to the later party in the past. Indeed most MDC members
including
its top leadership have been once members of Zanu PF hence this
monster of
"embedded intolerance". But most of all this is a function of the
need for a
crucial domestic regime transformation which Kathryn Sikkink
calls a "spiral
model".
In this model, a new generation of political
leaders has to be socialised
into an environment in which the acceptance of
criticism is the norm. Indeed
the Zimbabwean environment has to be
transformed into one in which
democratic values are a norm if democracy is
to succeed. The "spiral" of
domestic change in this case starts with
rhetoric commitment to democracy
and its values and ends with the
socialisation of a new generation into a
world in which democratic values
including tolerance are regarded as a norm.
I submit this is not an easy
task for Zimbabwe given the political history
of the country.
Indeed
the political and socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe can be sought
from the
political philosophy of Zanu PF, which has helped mould Mugabe as
one of the
worst dictators of Africa. Admittedly, there are a number of
reasons that
contributed to the creation of a dictatorship in Zimbabwe and
in Mugabe in
particular. These include inter alia the Zanu PF constitution,
unabated
praises of a single leader coupled with political naivety among
Zimbabweans,
entrenched nepotism and the Zimbabwe constitution.
On the other hand
while Zanu PF emerged in the 1960s as a nationalist and
mass party aimed at
fighting against colonialism and racism in Rhodesia, the
MDC emerged as a
result of the failure by the Zanu PF government to govern
Zimbabwe "justly,
transparently, honestly, fairly and equitably". The MDC is
therefore a
political party that seeks to address the various concerns
regarding the
governing of Zimbabwe that include the inability of the
economy to meet
basic needs of Zimbabweans, disempowerment of people and the
breach of the
rule of law, human right abuses, lack of progress with respect
to the land
issue, rampant corruption and unaccountability, and the absence
of a
national constitution framed by and for the people. The MDC has emerged
as a
broad based political party dedicated to the "promotion and advancement
of
human rights and to setting up a government based on the principles of
freedom and good governance."
Thus the MDC is a social democratic
party that believes in the empowering of
the people through increased
participation in democratic structures that
operate on the basis of
transparency and accountability to effect
development. The party unlike Zanu
PF, aims at an open democracy in which
national government is accountable to
the people through the devolution of
power.
Unlike the Zanu PF party
that forces people through violence to give it the
mandate to govern, the
MDC seeks the mandate of the people to govern through
free, fair and direct
elections. The biggest question that needs to be
answered is whether the MDC
is living by its word as entrenched in the Party
constitution.
I
submit that there are a number of developments in the MDC that help reveal
the party's derailment from its founding social democratic principles which
are enshrined in its constitution. These include:
lThe MDC leadership
is trying to maintain complete and total control over
MDC and Zimbabwe. The
continued violation of the MDC constitution serves as
evidence that suggests
that the MDC is becoming a personal and private
entity. Such continued
violation of the MDC constitution and people's will
without any challenge
indeed makes the top leadership more powerful, as was
the case with Zanu PF
that steered Zimbabwe into disaster unchallenged.
lThe MDC leadership
does not take well to criticism to the extent that
dialogue with the
leadership becomes impossible. The leadership does not
understand why people
should be allowed to criticise it. Criticism of the
MDC leadership be it at
cell or national level is unacceptable. To allow
criticism or different
opinions, to negotiate or compromise, to recede to
due process are signs of
weakness. I submit that all these are signs of
dictatorial
tendencies.
lJust like in the Zanu PF party, the MDC leadership run and
maintains a
patronage system within the party - a patronage system that is
oiled through
corruption largely in the form of the appointment of relatives
and close
confidantes and associates to positions of leadership in the party
and
ultimately in government if the chance arises. As a result the
leadership
has become so obsessed with securing its position that it has
invented a
game of orchestrating leadership coups within the party where it
feels
threatened and insecure, eg the Matibenga saga and the UK and Ireland
Tapa
executive saga. To this extent, the leadership fails to realise that
democracy is a necessary condition to eradicate corruption, even if the
democracies themselves are not immune from it.
lThe result of such a
patronage system in the MDC is that it has managed to
crowd out ideas
towards the struggle for democracy leaving the party with
little choices in
difficult times. At the same time, the leadership cannot
reinvent itself
because so many others depend on it and it in turn must
depend on so many
others. As a result, the leadership has stopped learning
because buffoons
who rarely dare tell it what it does not wish to hear
surround it. It is
deceived on a daily basis and it has become ignorant of
its party and the
basis of its support. It is fed unrealistic information so
that it and its
expectations become unrealistic.
l Zero consultation of the people and
interested stakeholders on the
negotiations for power sharing with Zanu PF
resulting in the MDC leadership
signing a flawed agreement that serves the
interests of Zanu PF. One cannot
rule out the fact that self serving
interests and individual power interests
were paramount in propelling the
MDC leadership to go to bed with Zanu PF.
There is no doubt that such
developments within the MDC are an indication of
a political party that is
heading towards "normative entrapment". A
situation in which the MDC
leadership made/make promises which it seems
opportune or in their interests
at the time to make but without the
intention to keep. Such a Machiavellian
thinking and approach might lead to
the creation of yet another
dictatorship. If this is the case then the MDC
leadership has to be advised
that the promises made to people if not
delivered will come back to haunt
them at a later time, when those to whom
promises were made eventually call
them in.
As such criticism should be seen by the MDC leadership as an
indication that
today Zimbabweans are not like the Zimbabweans of yesteryear
when Zanu PF
took people for granted. Zimbabweans have grown out of their
political
naivety and are seeking for a true democracy and will not tolerate
anything
that derails the realisation of a democratic
Zimbabwe.
lZhuawu is a Zimbabwean political scientist based in the United
Kingdom. His
e-mail is collinzhuawu@aol.com
Opinion
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/opinion/21475-more-resources-needed-to-fight-cholera.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 09:29
HEALTH and environmental experts have said the
rising death toll from the
cholera outbreak in Harare and other parts of the
country is a clear
indication that the government does not have the capacity
to deal with the
epidemic.
The state media earlier this week reported
that nine people have died at
Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital
since the first reported
outbreak, while the independent media put the death
toll at much higher than
that.
Human Rights doctor Douglas Gwatidzo
said it was clear that the government
has failed to contain the epidemic as
people were still dying from the
contagious disease three months after the
first outbreak.
He said: "The government simply doesn't have the ability
to handle the
situation. They are only applying intervention methods instead
of dealing
with the causes of the problem."
Government has set up a
cholera clinic at Budiriro 1 Polyclinic and a ward
at the Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases Hospital in an effort to contain
the
outbreak.
Gwatidzo said the government could never be on top of the
situation unless
there was an improvement in water supply in urban areas and
the unblocking
of sewer pipes.
On Tuesday, the Herald published a map
illustrating the water situation in
Harare metropolitan with areas like
Budiriro, Mabvuku-Tafara and Haig Park
marked under areas with perennial
water shortages.
The water management body, the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority, according
to Gwatidzo, is to blame for the cholera outbreak
because it has failed to
supply water consistently.
"There is no
better way to deal with this crisis than identifying the source
of the
problem, which we all know, is Zinwa's incapacity to deal with Harare's
water management and correcting it," he said.
Gwatidzo said areas
like Mabvuku have not had water since February and this
will aggravate the
epidemic as people would be forced to use water from
unprotected
sources.
He added that public hospitals could not deal with cholera cases
as they
have been paralysed by critical staff shortages and the
non-availability of
medicines.
Since last month many doctors and
nurses have not been reporting for duty
citing poor remuneration and working
conditions.
"Doctors are not going to work as they can no longer watch
their patients
die while their hands are tied by the failure of the state to
provide drugs
and other medical supplies," Gwatidzo said.
A
Harare-based environmental lawyer and head of research at Zimbabwe
Environmental Law Association, Shamiso Mutisi, concurred with Gwatidzo's
argument that at the moment the state has neither the financial capacity nor
the human resources to deal with the outbreak.
Mutisi pointed out
that in order to deal with the crisis the government
needed capital to
repair the pipes that supply water to the various urban
areas in Harare as
well as water treatment chemicals.
Mutisi said: "Without any scientific
proof one can see that the water we are
getting from Zinwa has a green
pigmentation which is evidence that it is not
being treated and is not safe
for human consumption."
He added that people living in low-income areas
were faced with a double
blow after contracting the highly contagious
disease as public hospitals,
which used to cater for them, were turning them
away because doctors and
nurses were on strike.
The executive
director of the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development,
Noma Neseni,
said the government on its own lacks the capacity to deal with
the outbreak
as a lot of money was required for the treatment of water and
repair of
water and sewer pipes.
"The government on its own cannot deal with the
crisis as it lacks the
financial capacity needed to deal with the root cause
of the crisis; which
is lack of water treatment chemicals and the repair of
water and sewer
pipes," said Neseni.
Neseni said the only way forward
would be for the business community to join
hands with the government and
avail funds to help Zinwa acquire water
treatment chemicals as well as
repair pipes.
She said the water is being contaminated by leakages from
blocked sewer
pipes, which flow into the water body.
Another
environmental expert, Webster Muti, said what makes water safe or
unsafe is
an intricate balance of many factors. He said these factors relate
to the
purification, storage and distribution stages of the water supply
system.
"It is a fact that Harare is producing less than 60% of its
water
requirements due to the overwhelming demand and of the 60%, at least
20% is
lost due to burst pipes. This makes the quantity of Harare water
supply
inadequate," Muti said.
The overwhelming demand affects the
purification process of the water in
that the "residence time" of the
untreated water in the treatment plant is
reduced to less than half the
intended time.
Residence time is the average time water spends in a
treating plant.
According to Muti this reduced residence time affects the
stabilisation
processes for various water treatment chemicals to the effect
that there is
short-circuiting of the treatment process from the water
treatment plant to
the body of the consumer.
Muti said the fact that
there are unintended residual chemicals whenever the
water is treated is a
real health hazard.
This short-circuiting is noted when one allows a
sample of tap water to
settle in a clear container, one will see a
collection of sediments at the
bottom of the container and this is evidence
of incomplete sedimentation
process.
The tap water has an unfriendly
odour and taste, which shows that the
removal of dissolved organics from the
water is incomplete and the organics
are persistent right to the
consumer.
The presence of these dissolved organics, Muti added, raise
concerns when
the water is chlorinated as the organics and the chlorine will
form the
much-dreaded chloro-compounds that are linked to carcinogenic
tendencies.
Opinion
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/opinion/21471-talk-to-the-suffering-people-on-the-street.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 09:10
I CAME back to Zimbabwe on Sunday after being away
for a few weeks.
Although I was expecting the Zimbabwe dollar to have
slipped further, I was
not prepared for the shock I had as I ran around
organising myself again.
On Monday at the bank, I was informed that US$
100 would buy me $ 50 000 -
which is a rate of 500-1.
The few people
in the bank were complaining bitterly, and saying openly they
would go onto
the street instead. This means that the street rate there was
50 000 - 1, or
100 times the bank rate!
Meanwhile there was no water, no electricity and
no telephone landline at my
house again - but both electricity and phone
later came back on.
Water for the high density areas of Glen View and
Budiriro has been handed
over to the Civil Protection Unit because of the
increasing incidence of
cholera.
One wonders whether any of the
negotiating "principals" has talked to
ordinary people trying to cope with
the daily struggle for survival
recently.
I can only pray that Sadc
manages to resolve the impasse over the
power-sharing agreement this
weekend, so that we can begin to return our
poor country to something like
normality.
Trudy Stevenson,
Harare.
Comment
The
Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11 07
Friday, 07 November 2008
09:25
IT is common cause (even to an obtuse government which only
believes that
which it wishes to believe), that Zimbabwe's economy has been
progressively
declining since late 1997.
(Of course, even though
government acknowledges that deplorable reality, it
vigorously and
vehemently refutes any and all suggestions that the ongoing
economic demise
has been, and is being, caused by it.
Instead it resonantly and endlessly
attributes Zimbabwe's economic ills to
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George
Bush, the European Union, many Commonwealth
states, and to government's
political opposition and to economic sanctions
which, prior to 2008, did not
exist, save and except in government's devious
and exculpatory
mind.
Nevertheless, whatsoever the real causes of the continuing
contraction of
what was once a virile, growth economy (and those causes are
almost totally
actually attributable to government, to its acts of
commission and omission,
to its convictions of omnipotence and
infallibility, and therefore to its
inability to recognise error, or to
admit thereto), the tragically harsh
fact is that now the economy is no
longer merely shrinking, and becoming
less and less of substance, but it is
actually on the threshold of imminent,
almost absolute implosion. Whilst the
catalyst for the potentially
forthcoming implosion has been government's
obdurate mismanagement of the
economy, now the consequential trigger is
being armed by the populace in
general, and the business community in
particular.
Underlying the trigger, which is the all-encompassing
negation of value of
Zimbabwean currency, and therefore the combined
official and unofficial
dollarisation of the economy, is the most
horrendous, monstrous inflation
ever experienced, not only in Zimbabwe, but
anywhere in the world.
Until 2008, as Zimbabwe increasingly became the
victim of hyperinflation,
economists could "play down" the intensifying of
that hyperinflation by
drawing attention to the very considerably higher
levels of inflation that
prevailed in Germany in 1992 to 1924, in Hungary,
in 1946, in Italy and in
Israel in the 1970s, in Bolivia, Brazil, and in
Mozambique and in Zambia at
the time of the millennium, and shortly
thereafter. But now Zimbabwean has
soared to all-time high levels, according
Zimbabwe the unenviable status of
the highest-ever sustained
inflation.
The renowned and very highly respected Professor of Applied
Economics at the
Johns Hopkins University in the US, Prof Steve H Hanke has,
in the absence
of any authoritative Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation
data from
Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office (CSO), developed a new
Zimbabwean
hyperinflation index. He is one of the world's leading experts on
exchange-rate regimes, and has created the Hanke Hyperinflation Index for
Zimbabwe (HHIZ), derived from market-based price data. Based upon that
index, the annual inflation rate was, on August 1, 2008, 391 000 000% (three
hundred and ninety-one million%). Within two months it had risen to 1 800
000 000 000% (one comma eight trillion%), and only three weeks later it had
soared to 10 200 000 000 000 000% (ten comma two quadrillion%)! These rates
of inflation are derived from market-based price data.
With such
cataclysmic levels of inflation, beyond the ability of all but a
very few to
comprehend and relate to, Zimbabwean currency no long has any
meaningful
value. Whatsoever currency may be in a person's possession has
lost the
substance of value within days, if not hours, and hence none wish
to be
possessed of such currency, whether in cash or in the bank. Therefore,
any
in receipt of Zimbabwean currency are most anxious to dispose of it
forthwith, be it for consumable or other goods (if they can find anyone
willing to accept Zimbabwean currency for such goods) or for investment into
enduring assets. However, in like manner, few are willing to dispose of
goods, or disinvest from assets, in exchange for Zimbabwean currency which
is depreciating with cataclysmic rapidity.
To all intents and
purposes, Zimbabwe's currency is now the United States
dollar, the South
African rand, the Botswana pula, and the British pound,
reinforced with
diverse other international currencies of standing and
repute. In terms of
law, only those licensed and authorised by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe,
being the recently established Foliwars retailers and
wholesalers, and
licensed vehicle service stations, may conduct their trades
in foreign
currency but, in reality, almost without exception all businesses
are
demanding that payments be made in acceptable foreign currencies or, in
the
alternative, in Zimbabwean currency based upon exchange rate conversions
from "pegged" foreign currency prices.
However, those conversions
have to be effected at rates of exchange
prevailing in the unlawful,
alternative foreign currency markets, and not
the specious manipulated,
government-favouring, interbank rates, And, in
those foreign currency
markets, the rates are surging upwards continuously,
driven by the immense
disparity between supply and demand.
The upward surge in rates is
reinforced by so many using Old Mutual Implied
Rate (OMIR) as a guide to
realistic rates of exchange. The OMIR is
determined by a correlation of the
price of shares in Old Mutual on the
London Stock Exchange with the price of
the shares on the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange. However, whilst a year or more
ago OMIR was a very realistic guide
to fair, inflation-related, exchange
rates, and to the adjustments necessary
to compensate for inflation, that is
no long so, for the prices of the
shares are no longer driven primarily by
inflation, but by other factors.
This is loudly emphasised by the extent
that Old Mutual share prices have
fallen on the London Stock Exchange,
reactive to the current global economic
crises, and to political
developments, whilst those prices have surged
upwards in Zimbabwe. The local
price escalation is due to the fact that in
the prevailing hyperinflation
environment none, or very few, wish to dispose
of shares for cash, whilst
many are anxious to dispose of cash for shares,
resulting in demand vastly
exceeding supply, with resultant almost
continuous rises in
price.
Those price rises in Zimbabwe, concurrently with falling prices in
London,
reflect in the OMIR. On October 23, 2008 the OMIR was 28 126 531
891, 46.
Within two trading days it rose to 105 026 256 564, 14, then on the
following day briefly fell to 70 398 738 454, 60, and only three days later
had soared up to a gigantic 3 907 567 059 432, 98. As horrifically great as
is Zimbabwean inflation, it is not that great and, therefore, OMIR is no
longer a realistic inflation barometer. But it is still being used as a
major guideline to exchange rate movements, and is therefore impacting
rapidly upon the costs of all imports, and upon the foreign-currency
prescribed, or pegged, domestic market prices.
This is causing a
self-perpetuating, continuous rise in inflation to such a
monolithic extent
that, unless sense and reason very soon prevails in the
private sector, as
well as the overwhelming need therefore in the public
sector, Zimbabwe's
economy will totally implode, as a direct consequence of
intensifying
dollarisation mania.
Comment
The Zimbabwe Independent
2008
11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/comment/21473-global-funds-missing-millions-casts-doubt-on-any-recovery-programme.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 09:17
A SHOCKING report appearing in the New York Times
on Monday claimed that the
government of Zimbabwe spent US$ 7,3 million
donated by a prominent
international organisation to fight killer diseases
on other things and has
failed to honour requests to return the
money.
The actions by Zimbabwe have deprived the organisation, the Global
Fund to
Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, of resources it needs and
damaged
efforts to expand life-saving treatment, said its inspector-general,
John
Parsons. He said Zimbabwe's actions also jeopardised a more ambitious $
188
million Global Fund grant to Zimbabwe, due for consideration by the
fund's
board today.
Parsons said Zimbabwean officials claim they had
not repaid the money
because they did not have enough foreign currency. But
Health minister Dr
David Parirenyatwa yesterday promised to clear all
outstanding obligations,
which he put at around US$ 6,5 million, over the
next seven days. Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono pledged
support.
"The breakdown of trust between the Global Fund and Zimbabwe's
government
comes at a time of widening humanitarian crisis and casts further
doubt on
the willingness of Western donors to invest heavily in rebuilding
the
economically broken nation as long as Mugabe is in charge," the New York
Times says.
Parsons said in an interview on Sunday that last year the
Global Fund
deposited $ 12,3 million in foreign currency into the Reserve
Bank. He
declined to speculate on how the $ 7,3 million it was seeking to be
returned
had been spent, except to say it was not on the intended
purpose.
Should any of this come as a surprise?
Civil society has
repeatedly argued that the Reserve Bank is playing a
questionable role in
funding President Mugabe's political survival. Now
everybody can see how.
The victims in this story are the poor and the
vulnerable.
Sikanyiso
Ndlovu, asked about the missing millions from the Global Fund,
accused the
organisation of having standards.
"They always want to put certain
standards and concoct certain things to
make us look bad and horrendous in
international eyes," he said.
Parsons pointed out the human dimension of
the Reserve Bank's failure to
hand over the money for disease
fighting.
"The Global Fund has brought in large quantities of medicines
that can cure
malaria, but has been able to finance the training of only 495
people to
distribute them safely instead of the planned 27 000," he told the
New York
Times.
"There were 2,7 million cases of malaria among
Zimbabwe's 12 million people
in the World Health Organisation's most recent
estimates. The drugs expire
by the middle of next year, and it would be
criminal if we can't use them
because of these problems," Parsons said.
"They've got quite a short shelf
life."
We only wish the same were
true of Ndlovu!
Evidence of just how destructive Zanu PF can be emerged
this weekend with
the news that one of the country's most productive farms
has been seized by
allies of President Mugabe.
The Sunday Telegraph
reported last weekend that Doug Taylor-Freeme, one of
the country's most
respected farmers, had his property at Romsey, one of
Zimbabwe's few
remaining productive farms, invaded by allies of Mugabe last
week despite
half the country teetering on the brink of starvation.
Romsey, the Sunday
Telegraph reports, has the only productive fields for
miles around in the
once-fertile Makonde South district, 90 miles north of
Harare. Now it is
under threat from Chief Nemakonde, a strong supporter of
Mugabe and his Zanu
PF party, whose land grab is being supported by local
government
officials.
"He has already taken over five formerly white-owned farms in
the district,
all of which are derelict after his efforts at planting
failed," the paper
says. "Taylor-Freeme (43) tried to continue his work
after the demands
started. But on Thursday evening, when he was planting a
new crop of maize
for the summer season, police arrived at the farm to
enforce the wishes of
Chief Nemakonde that all work be stopped. With five
million people in
Zimbabwe currently in need of United Nations food aid,
even one of the
police force admitted to the Sunday Telegraph that he felt
the effort was
'mad'."
'Before he forced his way on to Mr
Taylor-Freeme's land last week, Chief
Nemakonde, who is in his late 60s and
has several wives and scores of
children, sent men to torch a field of
winter wheat stalks. meaning there
will be no hay for cattle.
"Mr
Taylor-Freeme, one of just a few surviving white commercial farmers of
the 4
000 whose land was targeted for seizure in 2000, said that he had been
informed by local officials that a High Court order to evict the chief would
be ignored.
"Some local police do not support this," he said. "So
they had to send men
from Harare, and even they don't like what they have to
do, to stop me
planting and prevent our community from coming on to chase
the chief's
people away again. So I am going back to the High Court seeking
an order of
contempt but this takes time, and meanwhile planting is
paralysed."
"The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe failed to pay Mr Taylor-Freeme
about £50 000
from his 2007 tobacco and wheat crop, which he was forced to
sell through
government agencies," the Sunday Telegraph reports. "While he
has survived
in part due to European Union aid intended to boost regional
food
production, he is particularly anxious because he has taken out loans
of
about £250 000 which he has already used to buy seed, fertiliser and fuel
for his 800 acres. Even some local Zanu PF activists have sided with the
farmer, conscious of how desperate the country now is for food."
"He
must be allowed to plant," one said.
We would add that this is an
emblematic display of Zanu PF's capacity to
damage the economy. Here is a
farmer who has done everything to work within
the framework of government
policies being hounded off his land by Mugabe's
supporters acting in
contempt of court orders and regardless of agricultural
productivity.
Last week we heard Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi calling
on ambassadors posted here to report "accurately" on
local affairs. We
suggest they include this episode in their reports as
government holds out
its begging bowl asking other countries to feed our
population because we
are no longer able to.
Readers may be
interested in remarks on Zimbabwe made by Botswana's
President Ian Khama in
his state-of-the-nation address to parliament in
Gaborone on
Monday.
Khama said: "We remain serious-ly concerned about the failure to
form a
government that is widely accepted by the people of that country. We
are of
the further view that it is important for all Sadc member
states
to uphold the regional standards they have collectively and
voluntarily
adopted. We strongly believe that the one viable way forward in
Zimbabwe is
to have a rerun of the presidential election under full
international
sponsorship and supervision. That way a repeat of the past
runoff
presidential election, which was declared by regional and
international
observers to be neither free nor fair and was characterised by
intimidation
and violence, can be avoided. It should be unacceptable for
ruling parties
to seek to manipulate election outcomes to extend their stay
in power, as
this is bad for democracy on our continent."
Indeed. All
he is stating is that Sadc should abide by the principles it has
set itself,
hardly a revolutionary position but one the Zanu PF regime has
difficulty
understanding.
Patrick Chinamasa was up in arms this week over Khama's
speech, claiming
that "evidence" of MDC violence had been passed to the
Botswana authorities.
Why should Khama be expected to believe this claim
when nobody in Zimbabwe
does?
Khama's principled stance on Zimbabwe
is like a beacon shining across the
muddy waters of fudge and betrayal. The
people of Zimbabwe will know who
spoke out in defence of the exercise of
their rights when the chapter on
this sad episode of our history is
eventually written.
We have heard much recently about the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority's attempts
at changing the way people abroad see Zimbabwe.
It is called "image
perception management".
In other words, instead
of telling the truth about repression and misrule,
writers are expected to
come here and proclaim the wonders of Zimbabwe's
many
attractions.
For instance, we had security officers boarding a flight
that was just about
to leave Harare airport and arresting a journalist who
was charged with
practising his profession without a licence.
We
don't know whether he was writing about Zimbabwe or not. What we do know
is
that crass behaviour by the state of this sort plays very badly around
the
world and confirms an existing impression that Zimbabwe is a repressive
state where people are not free to express their views and journalists are
dragged off aircraft.
It will be interesting to see how the
authorities "manage" this particular
episode.
The same goes for the
clumsy handling of Africa Sun Hotels CEO Shingi
Munyeza who was picked up
last week and accused of getting the pricing wrong
on his hotels'
beverages.
The hotel company has to change the prices every day to cover
costs. You can
imagine what a nightmare this must be for any management.
Munyeza's group
has invested heavily in Zimbabwe, in the region, and across
the continent.
What will people think when he is treated as a criminal for
getting his
daily price list wrong in a country where everything is dictated
by the
state's pricing police?
But that is the state we are in. And
we expect visiting writers to produce
puff pieces about how wonderful
everything is. Unfortunately, people from
places like Russia where the media
is still rigidly controlled, are happy to
be used.
Viewers of RT
(Russia Today) on the DStv network will get some sense of
this. They told us
this week for instance that the BBC has revealed that
Georgian forces fired
on innocent civilians in the recent conflict. Of
course nobody actually
remembers that particular "revelation". But British
academics were
interviewed to say that of course the BBC misled the public
at the beginning
of the war but are wiser now!
We had somebody from the University of Kent
at Canterbury giving a hostage
to fortune in this way. It is exactly like
watching ZTV!
Two of Zimbabwe's real heroes, Jenni Williams and Magodonga
Mahlangu of
Woza, were finally granted bail on Wednesday. They had been held
in
appalling conditions for heading a peaceful protest.
The South
African Council of Churches (SACC) this week joined the growing
list of
South African civil and student bodies condemning their detention.
"We
are very concerned about the welfare of these two courageous women,"
said
Eddie Makue, SACC general-secretary, quoted by SW Radio Africa. "It is
ironic that those who are working for peace are charged with disturbing it,
while those with the power to promote a true and just peace seem to have no
interest in doing so," he said.
Did you see how quickly the US
election results came out?
When Zimbabweans went to bed on Tuesday night
America was still voting. When
we woke up on Wednesday morning the results
were known. Obama had won and
McCain had congratulated him.
One
hundred and fifty million people had voted in 50 states.
Was George
Chiweshe watching?
We still haven't been told why Zimbabwe's constituency
results were released
in dribs and drabs when all the ballots were already
in. And why it took
five weeks to be told the outcome of the presidential
poll.
Caesar Zvayi had an article in the Herald on Monday on the role of
Zimbabwean folklore. He compared the tales of hare and baboon to "Disney's"
Tom & Jerry.
A reader of an Online site was quick to point out
that Disney had nothing to
do with Tom & Jerry.
"Since the Herald
never bothers itself with facts, the following should be
pointed out," he
said.
"Tom & Jerry" are a cat & mouse cartoon produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer.
They have no relation to the Disney Company and were
thought of originally
as an alternative product to Disney's Mickey
Mouse.
"If the Herald cannot even get the very first 'fact' they use in
an article
correct, it shows how little else they bother to print is based
on fact."
That's all for now folks!
Comment
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
Friday, 07 November 2008 09:13
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/comment/21472-audacity-of-hope.html
THEY
cheered, they danced in the streets, they screamed their hearts out and
even
cried in celebration of Barack Obama's dramatic victory as the first
ever
black president of the United States which sent him to the White
House.
It was a historical moment that seized the attention of the world
like the
release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. Even Mandela this week joined
the Obama
revellers.
The Obama victory symbolised a social and
psychological revolution in the
US. But what does it mean for other people,
besides Americans?
First, Obama did not win because of the colour of his
skin. Nor did he win
in spite of it. This must guide us, especially in
Africa, that race or tribe
should not be the overriding factor in voting for
leaders.
Obama won largely because of himself, shifting social dynamics
of his
transforming society, conditions on the ground and his fresh
messages.
The "Audacity of Hope" carried Obama to a sweeping victory
which left his
supporters and rivals mesmerised. Trending against
insurmountable historical
odds, he was voted for, as he said, by "young and
old, rich and poor,
Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian,
Native American, gay,
straight, disabled and not disabled".
Obama won
on his own terms, strategically and symbolically. It was a
multicultural,
multigenerational movement that shattered centuries-old
racial barriers and
ushered in an age of new hope, not just for the US, but
the world at
large.
For the US, the Obama victory is historic and transformational. It
marked a
dramatic shift from the politics of race and hatred to the politics
of ideas
and programmes.
The Obama win thus changed the way the world
looks at the US and gave hope
that the country could still play a
constructive role in international
relations. The US's reputation abroad has
been damaged as much by
institutionalised racism as by George Bush's
militaristic administration.
The world expects Obama to change this.
Obviously Obama is aware of a crisis
of expectations that he might suffer
because everyone wants him to change
just about everything wrong in the
world.
Obama, as he said, will take over in the midst of "two wars, a
planet in
peril, the worst financial crisis in a century". The good thing is
he is
alive to the fact that the "road ahead will be long and our climb will
be
steep".
Obama's victory proved democracy allowed to roll can
change the world.
The system is not perfect, but offers the best
opportunity to right present
and past wrongs and transform the world. It
proved to all and sundry that
with hope and hard work, nothing is
unchangeable.
Even science has proven nothing is static. Mountains and
other natural
physical features subjected to particular conditions and
processes do shift.
How then can social conditions and human mindsets be
unalterable?
Coming under the banner of change, Obama's win gives hope to
all those
struggling for different forms of change around the
world.
Almost certainly it would have given hope particularly to the
oppressed
people in Africa, Asia and other notorious outposts of tyranny
scattered
around the globe. Africa, including Zimbabwe, must learn something
from
Obama's win. It must learn and accept democracy is the best form of
governance there is at the moment. It must also accept modern politics are
no longer about race and tribe; they are about issues.
In Africa,
racism is no longer the problem in politics but tribalism. Many
writers,
including George Wittman, have shown how the politics of tribe in
Africa
have badly damaged the continent's prospects of development and
prosperity.
Tribalism south of the Sahara remains the dominant
political force, and with
it poverty, starvation, disease, exploitation and
genocide, still holds back
the region's development.
Ethnic conflicts
or tensions hold sway and strike at the foundations of
unity, peace and
stability, ingredients of progress and success.
Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's
first president, denounced the African tribal system,
saying it was one of
the main factors undermining the continent's march
towards independence and
development. It was his view that the colonial
rulers had manipulated the
continent through tribal rivalries.
All over Africa, from the north to
the south to the west and east and in the
heart of the continent, tribal
structures and prejudices continue to be used
mostly by dictators to
manipulate politics and control the lives of the
citizens.
The
pervasive culture of tribalism, which thrives on intolerance, hate and
discrimination, defines most Africans' lives and supersedes anything that
other civilisations including Christianity and Islam have introduced.Tribal
blocs and practices have now been co-opted into what passes for democratic
processes and sometimes nothing wrong is seen in tribalism by those who
practise and benefit from it.
Tribalism has become more an impediment
to democracy than other practices
such as religion or class in Africa.
Ethnic or clan identity and bonds are
used as a major tool of political
mobilisation, more so than ideas and
programmes, during elections, mainly by
dictators, hence their disastrous
leadership and policy failures.
The
Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe explains this in detail. It is
high
time Africa discards primitive practices and embraces democracy.
The
Obama victory teaches us that the time for the politics of race and
tribe is
gone. Africa must rise to the occasion and embrace democracy based
on viable
policies and leadership capabilities, not tribal agendas.
By Dumisani
Muleya
Comment
The
Zimbabwe Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/comment/21465-just-give-tsvangirai-his-passport.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 08:52
IT does appear that the nastier the humanitarian
situation gets in Zimbabwe,
the more petty-minded we must be.
There
was a report in the Herald on Wednesday about MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
travelling to Botswana on an ETD. Tsvangirai had been quoted in
the Standard
saying this year should be declared "a non-agricultural
season".
Tsvangirai had to use an ETD because the Registrar-General's
office has
refused to issue him with a passport. It is irrelevant to me that
Tsvangirai
refused to use the same document two weeks ago to travel to the
Sadc troika
meeting in Mbabane, Swaziland, to discuss the petty project of
"key"
ministries. Some said he needs a diplomatic passport. Others argued
with
disarming opportunism that the refusal to issue Tsvangirai with a
passport
was now part of the talks. It showed that Zanu PF was not sincere
about the
inclusive government.
But that is to miss the point - which
is that there has been no convincing
explanation for denying Tsvangirai a
full passport. We know it is a
privilege and remains the property of the
Zimbabwe government, but given his
position as one of the key stakeholders
in the political dialogue, he enjoys
privileges above ordinary, unelected
Zimbabweans.
It has to be acknowledged that he is the leader of one of
the contending
political parties in the country. It is sham to try to
convince us that it's
all to do with a shortage of paper. This explanation
is an attempt at cheap
subterfuge, to give the impression that the RG's
office is free from
political manipulation. It is not. That's why state
institutions should be
beyond the grasping clutches of political
parties.
Which brings me to my point: that the passport incident makes
Zanu PF
political leaders not only petty-minded but vindictive too. In
denying
Tsvangirai a passport, they turned what was a simple domestic,
administrative issue into political capital for opportunists at home and
beyond. It is bungling of the worst order and gave a hostage to
fortune.
They may have some other reasons for their decision, but they
fly in the
face of logic. After the initial signing of the MoU, most of us
expected our
political leaders to get closer together in the interest of
national healing
and cooperative engagement. Instead they have drifted
further apart, abetted
in this treacherous betrayal of the poor by selfish
individuals in their
political parties.
It has been alleged that
Tsvangirai is being denied a passport on suspicion
that he will use it to
campaign for more sanctions on the government as part
of "international
pressure" to force President Mugabe to cede more power.
This might well be
true, but it might also not be the case. Why not give him
the benefit of the
doubt?
People should judge him on the basis of what he says when he goes
abroad,
not what government suspects he will do or say.
The rational
thing would be to let him have his passport and let him speak.
He should be
convicted by his own words. Denying him a passport on the basis
of what he
might do or say amounts to convicting him before he commits the
crime.
On the other hand, you would expect the MDC itself to react
with
judiciousness and maturity. Forget it.
I have no illusions that
even if Tsvangirai had gone to Swaziland nothing
would have come of it.
There is no meeting of the minds. The MDC now wants a
fresh presidential
election. Zanu PF is afraid of losing. People are tired,
angry and hungry.
The country is broke. Yet by going to Mbabane, Tsvangirai
would have
demonstrated his humility and showed that he respects the Sadc
heads of
state who had given him the platform to state his case, the same
people
whose advice and cooperation he might require as he tries to chart
his way
into the wider world as a new leader in government.
But these guys will
not pass an opportunity for histrionics over the
smallest incident of slight
because they believe we don't think and that we
might not realise that they
have been unfairly treated. So there was an
attempt to blackmail everybody
by blowing an individual's passport issue
into a national crisis more
pressing than food production.
Yet this could have been avoided by simply
giving Tsvangirai his passport.
He has as much right as all other
politicians to travel. He has as much
freedom of expression as every
Zimbabwean. It is an incident which gives a
patina of relevance to the
vexing deadlock over "key" ministries when people
are starving.
If
the fear is that he will say the wrong things to the wrong people once he
gets his passport, isn't the solution to get the wrong things corrected
instead of turning this banal passport issue into a national
embarrassment?
In any case, by issuing the passport to Tsvangirai the
government does not
forfeit its right of ownership. It can withdraw it if it
can be proved in a
competent court of law that it has been abused in a way
which threatens
national security.
Let's draw a line between trivial
party issues and the national emergency
which Zimbabwe faces as a result of
the political stalemate.
So I could not understand it when prime
minister-designate Tsvangirai said
let's declare this year a
non-agricultural season. Declare it to whom and to
what end?
Is he
aware that he is no longer an opposition leader and should be
proposing
solutions to the national crisis?
That calls for more responsibility;
which makes him part of the solution and
part of the problem why we have no
functional cabinet eight months after the
elections.
After parliament
declared the food security situation a national disaster,
we expect the
political leadership to assume their role and call for a
mobilisation of
resources to feed the poor and for the cropping season. We
boycott the
season and do what instead?
The global financial recession means there
will progressively be fewer
donors for those who fail to produce. Climate
change also means there will
progressively be lower world food stock
reserves to go round.
By Joram Nyathi
Comment
The Zimbabwe
Independent
2008 11 07
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/comment/21464-now-begins-the-test-for-obama.html
Friday,
07 November 2008 08:38
'IF THERE is anyone out there who still doubts
that America is a place where
all things are possible,
who still
wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who
still
questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,"
President-elect Barack Obama told his vast audience in Grant Park, Chicago,
on Tuesday night.
"It's the answer told by lines that stretched
around schools and churches in
numbers this nation has never seen, by people
who waited three hours and
four hours, many for the first time in their
lives, because they believed
that this time must be different, that their
voices could be that
difference.
"It's the answer spoken by young and
old, rich and poor, Democrat and
Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian,
Native American, gay, straight,
disabled and not disabled. Americans who
sent a message to the world that we
have never been just a collection of
individuals or a collection of red
states and blue states," a reference to
the electoral map that saw him and
his (blue) Democratic party romp home to
an unambiguous victory.
"It's been a long time coming, but tonight,
because of what we did on this
date in this election at this defining moment
change has come to America."
Obama has, rather like our own election
verdict in March, broken the mould.
He has shown that an African-American
president can be the choice of all
Americans.
John McCain, in his
speech in Arizona, made reference to Theodore Roosevelt's
invitation to the
great educationalist Booker T Washington to dine at the
White House a
century ago and the outrage that caused. African-Americans
today, he
observed, must be experiencing a great sense of pride and
satisfaction over
the outcome.
Obama's rollcall of diverse minorities together forging the
majority he now
presides over was emblematic of his compaign. It was this
inclusivist
approach that has done so much to advance his cause. He didn't
pose as the
standard bearer of any particular group, instead making it clear
that he
stood for all constituencies and for all people.
By striking
this note he was able to capture states that had been solidly
Republican for
40 years but favoured change. To the Democrats' traditional
support base
among the teeming "blue" states of the north-east and organised
labour, he
recruited a middle class instinctively conservative but prepared
to change
the voting habits of a lifetime.
To his banner fell Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana and Florida, states that George
Bush scooped up in 2000 and
2004.
In the face of this burgeoning army, the bullying religious right
evaporated
like a paper tiger, abandoned even by McCain.
McCain
failed the one last chance he had - in the television debates. Like
Nixon in
1960 his inability to make a decisive impact in millions of homes
across
America lost him the election. A war hero who tried to exploit his
opponent's inexperience, McCain failed to land the punch that mattered. A
nation weary of the Iraq morass declined to get fired up by his
"expertise".
What significance, if any, does this hold for
Zimbabwe?
Firstly, it deprives the bigots in power of the race card they
depend upon
for so much of their fulminating. Obama is so obviously his own
man and can
hardly be portrayed as a creature of Wall St which has felt the
fire of his
campaign.
The outcome was a complete repudiation of the
Bush presidency just as ours
was a repudiation of Mugabe and everything he
stood for in March.
Bush was beholden to the powerful oil lobby,
personified by Dick Cheney.
Obama is keen to shake things up across the
board - and in the boardrooms.
Zimbabwe will find a formidable critic in
the White House. There will be no
reprieve for the targets of Washington's
sanctions so long as Zanu PF's
misrule persists. Obama is an inspiration to
Africa, Zimbabwe's rulers a
disgrace.
And whereas Bush was content to
leave matters in the hands of his point man,
Thabo Mbeki, Obama will be keen
to speak out on the consequences of
repression and dictatorship.
But
first Obama will want to tackle the economy. The financial crisis
empowered
Obama just as it disabled McCain. But Obama was headed for victory
in the
first place. Now he will have to demonstrate every political skill he
has in
managing the crisis on Main St and fashioning a consensus on the
change he
spoke so eloquently about.