http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Charles Tembo
Thursday 15 October 2009
HARARE - Prime Minister
(PM) Morgan Tsvangirai cancelled a weekly
Council of Ministers meeting and
will not be coming to office to protest
Wednesday's detention of his top
ally Roy Bennett, in the biggest test yet
for Zimbabwe's fragile coalition
government.
Tsvangirai acted apparently after several attempts to
meet President
Robert Mugabe or Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa or
Attorney General
Johannes Tomana to discuss Bennett's detention failed, the
PM's spokesman,
James Maridadi, said.
The former opposition
chief will Thursday hold an emergency meeting
with senior leaders of his MDC
party to discuss the issue of Bennett, who is
party treasurer and was
ordered back to jail pending the outcome of his
trial in the High Court on
controversial terrorism charges.
"The Council of Ministers
(meeting on Thursday) has been cancelled.
The Prime Minister has suspended
his coming to the office until the issue of
Senator Bennett is resolved. He
wants that matter resolved immediately,"
Maridadi told
ZimOnline.
"The Prime Minister was keen to meet President Mugabe to
talk about
Senator Bennett's issue but all communication was not
successful," said
Maridadi.
The Council of Ministers that is
chaired by Tsvangirai was created
under last year's global political
agreement that gave birth to the
coalition government and was touted as away
to balance powers between the
former trade union leader and Mugabe who
chairs Cabinet.
But Mugabe, who controls the army, secret service,
police, judiciary
and prison service, has done everything to show whom
between him and the
Prime Minister wields real power in the unity
government.
Tsvangirai's action to suspend the Council of Ministers
and stop
coming to office is the first time he has publicly taking on
Mugabe, after
spending the better part of the past seven months trying to
convince a
skeptical world that the unity government was working and he had
struck a
working relationship with his former foe.
Analysts say
the MDC and Mugabe's ZANU PF may not want to see the
coalition government
collapse because they both stand to benefit from its
continued existence but
they warn that unilateralism by the veteran
President - long used to ruling
alone - could in the long run cripple the
administration and damage its long
term effectiveness.
The defiance of ZANU PF and military hardliners
who have continued to
invade more white-owned private farms and Mugabe's
refusal to rescind his
unilateral decision to appoint two of his top allies
as Attorney General and
central bank governor have all undermined the unity
government.
Western donor nations refused to provide direct
financial support to
the Harare government demanding more political reforms
and a return to rule
of law on commercial farms that are key to economic
recovery and food
security.
One of the MDC's most popular
leaders, Bennett is accused of
possessing weapons for the purposes of
committing banditry, insurgency and
terrorism - charges he denies and which
Tsvangirai has repeatedly said are
politically motivated and are undermining
the unity government.
Bennett's detention is seen strengthening the
hand of hardliners in
the MDC and piling pressure on Tsvangirai to take a
more robust stance
against Mugabe.
In statement earlier on
Wednesday, the MDC said Bennett's detention
pending outcome of trial in the
High Court was a "serious attack on the
credibility" Zimbabwe's
power-sharing government.
"The MDC regards today's indictment and
subsequent detention of
treasurer-general and deputy agriculture
minister-designate Roy Bennett as
yet another serious attack on the
credibility of the inclusive government,"
the party said.
Bennett's lawyers are expected to file an urgent application Thursday
for
his release on bail at the High Court.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=23774
October 14, 2009
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday snubbed Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai who had sought a hasty meeting over the
controversial
imprisonment of MDC treasurer-general and deputy agriculture
minister-designate, Roy Bennett.
Bennett, a close ally to MDC
president Tsvangirai, faces charges of
possessing weapons for the purposes
of insurgency and banditry.
He was on Wednesday committed to imprisonment
by Mutare Provincial
Magistrate Lucy Mungwari pending his trial in the High
Court on Monday.
This is despite the fact that his indictment papers were
not in order and
his lawyers had not been furnished with the documents to
allow them to
prepare his defence outline.
Sources told The Zimbabwe
Times on Wednesday that a livid Tsvangirai, who is
under pressure to abandon
his softly approach to continued violations of the
Global Political
Agreement by Mugabe, immediately sought an urgent meeting
with the veteran
leader, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Attorney
General Johannes
Tomana to thrash the matter out.
Mugabe's alleged refusal to meet
Tsvangirai over the potentially divisive
matter angered the MDC leader, who
has called for a crisis meeting with the
top leadership in his party at
Harvest House on Thursday.
Tsvangirai immediately cancelled a council of
ministers meeting he was set
to chair the same Thursday to try and come out
with an appropriate response
to the matter, which his party said was
"provocative".
Tsvangirai and his secretary general, Tendai Biti will
also address the
media on the matter during the same afternoon.
James
Maridadi, Tsvangirai's spokesperson confirmed Thursday his boss had
sought a
meeting with Mugabe but said the meeting failed to materialise
because
Tsvangirai could not get through to Mugabe.
"I can confirm that the Prime
Minister was indeed chasing a meeting with the
President but could not
manage as all avenues of communication were closed,"
said
Maridadi.
"The Prime Minister is keen to have that meeting which he seeks
to use to
bring finality and closure to Bennett's case."
But sources
close to Tsvangirai's office said Mugabe deliberately avoided
Tsvangirai to
avoid confrontation with the MDC leader.
"He knew this was going to be a
bloody meeting," said the source, "Bennett's
incarceration leaves a bitter
taste in the mouth as it is in open violation
of the spirit of the inclusive
government.
"While it may be technically correct that an accused person
who has been
indicted for trial at the High Court should be committed to
imprisonment,
the decision was morally and politically incorrect in that
Mugabe violated
an agreement which was there between his party and the MDC
to have a stay of
prosecution on all political prisoners."
In a
statement on Thursday, the MDC said the arrest of one of its founding
MPs
was both provocative and vindictive.
"MDC views this as an act of
machination by Zanu-PF and its sulking cabal
planted in various state
institutions aimed at persecuting not prosecution,"
said the
MDC.
"This latest action is deliberately provocative, unnecessary and
motivated
by hatred of a personality.
"The MDC takes this matter as a
serious attack on the integrity and honesty
of the party; it is not
acceptable and will not be taken lightly."
Eight months into the
inclusive government, President Mugabe has refused to
swear into office the
former Chimanimani legislator, saying he would want
Bennett to first clear
his name in the courts before he can accept him into
government.
The
matter is among the most contentious issues that have been taken for
adjudication by SADC, brokers of Zimbabwe's unity deal.
Bennett once
served a one-year jail term for assaulting Chinamasa in
parliament.
Following charges of terrorism, he fled the country to
seek asylum in South
Africa in 2006 after the police quizzed him over the
discovery an arms cache
at a house belonging to Mike Peter Hirschman, an
arms dealer.
He was on February 13 this year seized by the police and
some intelligence
argents at the Charles Prince Airport as he was just about
to fly back to
South Africa to visit his family.
He had just returned
to the country when the unity government was being
formed. He spent a month
at Mutare remand prison and was released on
stringent bail conditions.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Thursday 15 October 2009
HARARE - Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party has condemned
Wednesday's indictment
and detention of party treasurer general Roy Bennett,
calling it a "serious
attack on the credibility" Zimbabwe's power-sharing
government.
Bennett who is a top ally of Tsvangirai was remanded in
custody by Mutare
magistrate Lucy Mungwari pending his trial in the High
Court on charges of
terrorism.
"The MDC regards today's indictment
and subsequent detention of
treasurer-general and deputy agriculture
minister-designate Roy Bennett as
yet another serious attack on the
credibility of the inclusive government,"
the former opposition party that
formed a unity government with President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party last
February said in a statement on
Wednesday.
"This latest action is
deliberately provocative, unnecessary and motivated
by hatred of a
personality. The MDC takes this matter as a serious attack on
the integrity
and honesty of the party; it is not acceptable and will not be
taken
lightly," said the MDC.
Yesterday's ruling effectively cancelled the bail
Bennett got early this
year after protracted efforts by his legal team
following his arrest a few
hours before ministers for the power-sharing
government were sworn in last
February.
However, he can still apply
for bail at the High Court pending his trial and
his lawyers said yesterday
they were preparing an urgent application for
Bennett to be released on
bail.
Bennett, who is accused of possessing weapons for the purposes of
committing
banditry, insurgency and terrorism, has maintained that he is
innocent and
the MDC says the charges are trumped-up for sinister political
motives by
ZANU PF hardliners opposed to the unity government.
"The
MDC views this as an act of machination by ZANU PF and its sulking
cabal
planted in various state institutions aimed at persecuting not
prosecution.
As a party, we know that Bennett is innocent. The banditry
charges are
trumped-up and they poison the letter and spirit of the
inclusive government
and the global political agreement," said the MDC.
Tsvangirai has
repeatedly said Bennett's ill-treatment by the Zimbabwean
courts is
politically motivated and is undermining the unity government.
Mugabe has
refused to swear in Bennett to his ministerial post citing the
charges
against him although those close to the veteran President says he
has
conceded in private that the state has no case against the MDC
politician,
while on the other hand the prosecution has looked not in a
hurry to
conclude the case. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Lizwe
Sebatha Thursday 15 October 2009
BULAWAYO - A
special parliamentary committee leading Zimbabwe's
constitutional reform
process said on Wednesday it was cutting back on the
number of teams to be
sent out to consult citizens on a proposed new
constitution because of
funding constraints.
Committee co-chairperson Paul Mangwana told
ZimOnline that outreach
teams to gather people's views and ideas they wanted
included in the new
constitution were being reduced after the three
principals to the country's
power sharing agreement - President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister, Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara - deemed them too big
and expensive to fund.
"We are
also rationalising the outreach teams from 860 people to
around 600 after
the principals to the GPA said the outreach teams were huge
and expensive to
fund. The outreach teams have been reduced because of
budgetary
constraints," said Mangwana.
Mangwana also said the committee is
setting up a secretariat to make
it independent from the Parliament that
initially was supposed to have
overall control of the constitutional reform
process.
"We are in the process of setting up an independent
secretariat since
we have been weaned away from Parliament," he
said.
Under last year's power-sharing deal between Mugabe's ZANU PF
party
and the MDC factions led by Tsvangirai and Mutambara, the country is
supposed to have a new constitution in the next two years to pave way for
new elections.
The draft constitution will be put before the
electorate in a
referendum expected in July next year and if approved by
Zimbabweans will
then be brought before Parliament for
enactment.
Once a new constitution is in place, the power-sharing
government is
expected to call fresh parliamentary, presidential and local
government
elections.
But funding constraints and quarreling
over how to proceed with the
making of a new constitution are derailing the
efforts of the parliamentary
committee leading the process to create the
country's first
post-independence constitution.
Differences
between the coalition partners over the direction reforms
should take have
also held back the constitutional reform process.
ZANU PF has said
any new constitution should be based on the Kariba
draft that was secretly
authored by the country's three main political
parties without citizens'
participation.
However, civic organisations and the MDC are opposed
to the Kariba
draft, saying the document leaves largely untouched the
wide-sweeping powers
that Mugabe continues to enjoy even after formation of
a power-sharing
government with Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Failure to enact a new and democratic constitution would be disastrous
for
the coalition government whose most important task, besides reviving the
economy, is to write a new constitution to replace the existing one that was
drafted in 1979 by Zimbabwe's former colonial power, Britain, with some
input from former liberation movements and has been amended a record 19
times.
Many analysts trace Zimbabwe's governance crisis to the
independence
constitution that was written more as a ceasefire document
between
nationalist guerillas and the white colonial government rather than
a
charter for good governance and democracy. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=23777
October 14, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Youth and Indigenisation Deputy Minister,
Thamsanqa Mahlangu says
he strongly believed theft of cell phone charges
brought against him by
self-styled war veteran Joseph Chinotimba were part
of a broad plot to smear
him and wreck his illustrious political career that
has landed him the post
of minister in the inclusive
government.
Mahlangu says he was a national leader privileged with four
cell phones, two
of which were government lines, and would not consciously
embarrass himself
by stealing a Nokia 2210 valued at US$40.
He was on
Tuesday called to testify for the first time since being accused
of stealing
the phone.
The two had been invited to present their views during a July
17, 2009
seminar called by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to craft
Zimbabwe's
Vision 2040 document.
Chinotimba claims he lost his phone
during a lunch break at the Harare
International Conference Centre (HICC)
VIP lounge where he allegedly shared
a table with Mahlangu.
But
Mahlangu denies ever remaining behind to take lunch alongside other
delegates saying he had excused himself to go to the CMED where he had other
business to attend to, a time when the master of ceremony announced the loss
of Chinotimba's phone.
Mahlangu further denied ever being in
possession of Chinotimba's cell phone,
contrary to earlier and wide reports
that he had been handed the phone by
his Personal Assistant (PA) and
co-accused Malvern Chadamoyo, thinking it
belonged to his boss.
The
MDC youth leader says the only time he touched Chinotimba's phone was a
week
after the alleged offence when he was phoned by Hwange Senator Jabulani
Ndlovu, an MDC legislator informing him about the arrest by Hwange police of
two women he had hosted in Harare on the day of the alleged
offence.
The two women, Geraldine Phiri, the alleged girlfriend to
Mahlangu, and
Patience Nyoni, her friend are being accused of having been
found in
possession of Chinotimba's simcard.
Ndlovu further said he
had been informed by "inside police sources" at
Hwange police station the
Nkulumane MP was being implicated in the theft of
a phone belonging to "a
top Zanu PF official" who was later revealed to be
Chinotimba.
At the
time, Mahlangu said, police in Hwange, 900 km from Harare, were being
said
to be denying Ndlovu, a practicing lawyer, access to the women as he
wanted
to represent them in the matter.
Police were also denying the two
relatives the opportunity to give them food
during their
detention.
Mahlangu said he had been advised by Ndlovu that he suspected
the matter
could be political and "for my own good", he must find Chinotimba
and
resolve the matter amicably with him.
Mahlangu says he had
earlier tasked his PA to take Chinotimba's phone back
to the organizers of
the conference on discovering the PA was in possession
of a phone that did
not belong to him.
On discovering that his PA had not followed through on
his instruction, he
then approached Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to ask
him to help resolve
the matter which he said was between Chadamoyo and
Chinotimba.
He said he could not personally approach the fiery Chinotimba
himself
because he was "unpredictable". Chinotimba is leader of Zimbabwe's
violent
farm invasions in 2000.
Mahlangu's trial opened in August
this year with seven State witnesses in
the matter being called to
testify.
They include Chinotimba himself and Kasukuwere, Mahlangu's
boss.
During his trial, Mahlangu accused Chinotimba of "blowing out of
proportion"
the alleged theft of his cell phone and failing to embrace the
spirit of the
inclusive government.
He told the packed Harare
magistrate's court that while he had good
intentions in the inclusive
government, the allegations brought against him
by Chinotimba had alerted
him to the fact that there were party
functionaries who had other
thoughts.
Chinotimba had told the same court when he gave evidence at the
commencement
of the trial that he was convinced Mahlangu had stolen his
phone to fix him
for being Zanu-PF.
He said there were remnants of
bad blood between the two parties despite the
rivals forming a unity
government early this year.
"From someone outside the inclusive
government," Mahlangu said, "his views
may be different from mine.
Personally, I am happy with the inclusive
government. We are working
well.
"The fact that the complainant wants to drag political issues into
this
court on a simple issue of a phone actually showed me that we still
have
some people who do not want to see this inclusive
government
succeeding.
"The way this issue has been blown out of proportion by the
complainant
confirms what I have said."
Chinotimba, who in July this
year led a group of Zanu-PF supporters to
disrupt a Stakeholders conference
on the making of a new constitution
convened by the inclusive government, is
claiming US$19 million from
Mahlangu for alleged loss of business during the
alleged theft of his phone.
Mahlangu's trial was set to continue on
today, Wednesday.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by
MXOLISI NCUBE
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 13:32
JOHANNESBURG -
Villagers from Jibhi Village, a communal area on the
Tsholotsho-Plumtree
boundary, say that they are in a quandary on what to do
to regain their land
- fenced off by a businessman and member of President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu
(PF) party early this year. (Pictured: Samson Nkezo -
He brags too
much)
The villagers, most of who are working in Johannesburg, early
this
week told The Zimbabwean that the businessman, Vuka Sibanda (42), had
so far
defied a ministerial order to remove his fence, which robbed them of
their
cattle's grazing land and dams, among a host of other things necessary
to
their livelihood.
Sibanda, from Somnene village, owns
Tsholotsho-based Vukuzenzele
trading stores, where he has a general dealer,
butchery and a grinding mill.
This newspaper first carried a report on
the dispute in July this year
and the villagers say that the report jerked
officials from the government
of national unity off their feet in
response.
"Officials from both Zanu (PF) and the MDC held a series of
meetings
with us and the businessmen to resolve this dispute," said Merciful
Ncube,
one of the affected villagers.
The most recent of those
meetings was held in Jibhi Village on
September 20, and attended by Lands
and Rural Resettlement Minister, Hebert
Murerwa, Tsholotsho Senator Believe
Gaule, Chief Gampu 4 from Somnene and
Plumtree's Chief Kandama.
"After hearing our arguments, the ministers told Vuka that he had no
right
to fence off our area and ordered him to remove the fence within 21
days,"
said Ncube.
Sibanda was also ordered to withdraw his court case against
61 elders,
including four headmen, who were allegedly tortured by Figtree
police and
detained for days without trial, at the behest of the
businessmen.
The case was scheduled to go to court on September 23 and
Vuka,
despite having been told to withdraw it on September 21, is said to
have let
it go ahead in defiance of the 24-hour deadline.
The case
was finally struck off the court roll on the instructions of
Police Deputy
Commissioner, Levvie Sibanda.
This was after three of the villagers -
George Nkezo (81), Aleck Gumbo
(79) and Joseph Gumbo (74) had been arrested
and tortured by three police
officers, who are said to be living in Vuka's
business compound and driving
around in the businessman's vehicles.
The villagers' ordeal stemmed from their decision to "abscond from
court" on
the same case that both Nkomo and Murerwa had ordered to be
withdrawn.
The police officers, led by one that the villagers
identified as Gono,
are said to have severely tortured the three old men for
three days and
three nights, during which they denied them food and
force-marched them from
one station to another, until their release in
Plumtree, from where they
were made to walk more than 40 kilometres back to
their homesteads.
Sibanda is also said to be stalling on removing the
fence and is
instead, going around the area intimidating the villagers
further.
"He says that he will not listen to instructions given in
favour of
poor people because he has a lot of money that buys him favours.
We also
understand that he is trying to forge some papers indicating that he
legally
obtained the land and is working with the Plumtree District
Administrator to
do that," he said.
The villagers expressed fear
that they would not be able to till their
land this farming season, which
begins later this month, as most of their
cattle had died due to failure to
access their grazing land.
"So far, more than 58 cattle have died and
more continue to die due to
the lack of grazing land and Vuka is bragging
that we will not till our land
this year," said another villager, Samson
Nkezo.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Staff
Reporter
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 12:50
HARARE - The
beleaguered Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC)
has finally
announced the dates for the delayed 2009 Grade Seven exams, amid
fears
internal problems may again affect the holding of public exams.
According to a circular sent by ZIMSEC to schools last week, Grade
Seven
examinations are scheduled to commence on October 27 and run until
November
5, but there is still no word on the O and A level exams.
The 2008
public examinations were mired in controversy after ZIMSEC
markers refused
to mark scripts until they were paid in foreign currency.
Grade Seven
results were only released in July this year, more than seven
months late,
while O and A Level results came out in June and May
respectively.
This year's exams could face the same fate after ZIMSEC workers went
on
strike last week, demanding that the lowest paid employee's salary be
increased from US$115 to US$400.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 13:39
HARARE - Even though civil service
salaries are still paltry, life is
slowly becoming bearable for Zimbabweans
at the top end of the food chain as
the September family basket experienced
a decline, largely owing to the
reduction of tariffs by service
providers.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) indicates that
the basket has
declined by 1.01 percent to US$490.08 from US$495.05, the
previous month.
CCZ said local products were increasingly becoming
available on the
market competing with imported products. The grand total
for the local
products in September was US$479.64 representing 98 percent of
the total
basket.
The CCZ attributed the slowdown in September
prices to an improvement
being made by utility providers especially
telecommunications and
electricity concerns to rationalise the cost of
services.
Two weeks ago Government directed service providers such as
Tel One to
reduce their service charges. As a result, TelOne has reduced
tariffs by 28
percent with effect from July this year. TelOne has also
written off the
bills for January this year.
This was done to avoid
problems since the telecommunications company
had billed customers in hard
currencies at a time when the local unit was
being used.
"Services
such as electricity, water and rentals constitute a
significant proportion
of the production costs for the productive sectors.
Evidence of the negative
effects of high service is the recent announcement
by Sable Chemicals, a
subsidiary of TA Holdings Limited that it had decided
to close down citing
high electricity charges.
"The outlook continues to point to a stable
inflation situation. Zero
percent duty on basic commodities will ensure
continued availability of the
said products by way of imports, should local
supplies become inadequate,"
reads part of the statement. Furthermore, the
imports will act as a
deterrent to local producers who are itching to
maximise their profits by
increasing the prices of their products.
"They still cannot accept the fact that profitability in the new
dollarised
business environment should emanate from increased turnover, not
an increase
in prices. It's now a volume business," said an economist.
On the
negative side, however, are the continued liquidity challenges
that
continued to affect the economy which mean that banks are unable to
offer
adequate medium to long-term credit to the productive sectors so as
increase
capacity utilisation which is required to reduce prices or, at
least, keep
them stable.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Natasha Hove
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 12:56
BULAWAYO:- AN inquest into the
murder of two Bulawayo men by police
detectives begins in Bulawayo next week
at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court.
According to correspondence
between Matabeleland magistrate in charge,
John Masimba, the police and
relatives of the two men shot by police, the
inquest is set for 21 October
with evidence being led from seven witnesses,
six of them police officers
attached to the Homicide Section.
Nehemiah Vumbunu and Andrew Jabulani
Sibanda were shot dead by police
detectives in April.
Police
sources say the two had undergone torture at the hands of the
detectives to
force them to admit to charges of armed robbery.
Police sources say the
two died during torture, leading to the police
detectives later shooting
them and then claiming that they shot them dead
because they were trying to
evade arrest.
But family members of the two disputed the allegations
and hired a
lawyer and filed charges against the police in court.
In their application, the relatives through their lawyers, Doreen
Vundla
assisted by Christopher Dube-Banda of Dube-Banda, Nzarayapenga and
Partners
wanted police to be ordered to "look into the circumstances leading
and
surrounding the death of the two.
The lawyers also wrote to Snr Asst
Comm Muchemwa to furnish them with
details as recorded in the Detention Book
relating to their client's son,
the circumstances surrounding his death and
whether any action is being
taken or considered against the person who
caused the death of their
client's son.
But the CID Co-ordinator
for the Southern region, Assistant
Commissioner Erasmus Makodza, responded
by saying Sibanda had not been
lodged in police cells as "he was assisting
police with investigations from
the time of his arrest until his intended
escape from lawful custody".
This effectively meant that no details
could be found in the Detention
Book, thereby raising suspicions surrounding
their arrest, torture and
shooting.
http://www.voanews.com
By Sandra Nyaira
Washington
14
October 2009
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's formation
of the Movement for
Democratic Affairs was distancing itself Wednesday from
comments attributed
to MDC Home Affairs Co-Minister Giles Mutsekwa blaming
Western sanctions for
the shortcomings of police.
The Herald quoted
Mutsekwa as commending the Zimbabwe Republic Police in
remarks to the
general assembly of the International Criminal Police
Organization in
Singapore, saying that the national police force had
maintained its
integrity despite "machinations" by the country's unnamed
detractors bent on
bringing about its collapse.
It said he praised the police, accused by
rights activists for numerous
abuses, for maintaining operations despite
"illegal sanctions" which he said
have damaged its capacities.
VOA
was unable to reach Mutsekwa, who was said to be in transit returning
from
Singapore.
But Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told reporter
Sandra Nyaira of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the party's leadership
does not agree with
Mutsekwa and will take up his reported comments with him
upon his return to
Harare.
http://www.voanews.com
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
14 October
2009
Divisions continued within the ZANU-PF party of Zimbabwean
President Robert
Mugabe over selecting the successor to the late Vice
President Joseph Msika,
who died in August.
A deadline for
nominations that fell Wednesday was extended as party leaders
scrambled to
address a challenge over the process from the western
Matabeleland region
whose three provinces failed to agree to back
front-runner John Nkomo,
ZANU-PF's chairman.
Matabeleland is considered to have a particular
interest in the vice
presidential appointment as the post has traditionally
been held by a
political heir to Zimbabwe African People's Union President
Joshua Nkomo,
who was vice president until his death in 1999.
PF-ZAPU
combined with Mr. Mugabe's ZANU party in 1987 following fighting
between the
two former rival liberation movements, resulting in a Unity
Accord and the
merged ZANU-PF. But a number of former ZAPU politicians have
lately
abandoned ZANU-PF, claiming discrimination, which have muddied the
waters of
ZANU-PF politics in the Ndebele-speaking region.
Only Bulawayo nominated
Nkomo, but following a meeting of officials from
that metropolitan province,
Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South, the
matter was referred back to
the politburo of the former ruling party.
Politburo member Sihkanyiso Ndlovu
told VOA that all 10 provinces should
participate in the decision, saying
this was non-negotiable.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper reported
that ZANU-PF Matabeleland
North Chairman Zenzo Ncube, who led the regional
revolt, had quit politics
following his suspension by the provincial
leadership. The paper said he was
suspended after being convicted of the
theft of party funds. But Ncube
blamed detractors for what he said were
trumped-up charges.
Ncube said that although he has been suspended he has
not quit politics.
The ZANU-PF national leadership is believed to favor
Nkomo, but there is
brisk lobbying for potential rivals including Ambassador
to South Africa
Simon Khaya Moyo, Bulawayo Governor Cain Mathema and Mines
Minister Obert
Mpofu.
Political analyst John Makumbe told reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that the Matabeleland provinces
are right to insist the
decision be a national one.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Wednesday,
14 October 2009 13:08
The main function of the Media Commission is to
uphold and develop
freedom of the press (radio, television, newspapers and
magazines). It is
also its responsibility to promote and enforce good
practice and ethics in
the media and ensure people have fair and wide access
to information. It has
power to conduct investigations and enquires into
circumstances that appear
to threaten the freedom of the press and to take
disciplinary action against
journalists and people who work in the media who
have breached the law or
code of conduct applicable to them. The Media
Commission consists of a
Chairperson and other members appointed by the
President from a list
submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on Standing
Rules and Orders.
Issues of concern
Freedom of expression and
communication is a right. How does the
Constitution ensure that the
appointment of the Commissioners and how they
carry out their duties is done
in a non partisan manner? The Commission has
in the past been criticised on
the manner in which it has exercised its
disciplinary powers over media
houses, journalists and others in the media
industry. How can the
Constitution ensure that such powers are exercised
professionally and
without bias?
The Global Political Agreement (GPA) stipulates that
there is need for
balanced and fair coverage of all political parties in the
media as well as
avoidance of the use of abusive language which incites
hostility, political
intolerance and ethnic violence. What should the
Constitution contain to
translate this into reality? Should the Constitution
guarantee the opening
up of airwaves, so that radio and TV broadcasting
licences are issued to
other players in accordance with the
GPA?
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Legal Resources
Foundation
Tel: 04 251170-4
E-mail: pa@lrf.co.zw
OR
Visit any Legal
Projects Centre in your area
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Natasha Hove
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 13:52
BULAWAYO - A state of the art clinic,
whose construction was funded by
the World Bank, has turned into a white
elephant as it has remained shut due
to lack of funds to buy necessary
medical equipment.
The clinic, in Mahatshula low density suburb,
remains shut years after
it was built because the Bulawayo Council that owns
it, has no funds to buy
beds, hire nurses or buy the necessary health
equipment to make it
functional. Construction at the clinic began in 1999
and ended three years
later. The Zimbabwean could not obtain the exact cost
of construction, but
estimates say it was millions of United States dollars.
"Residents of
Mahatshula and neighbouring suburbs are forced to go to the
city centre to
access health care because their clinic remains shut
because," said Martin
Moyo, the councillor for the area.
Zanele
Hwalima, the Director of Health Services, confirmed that lack
of funds had
stalled the opening of the clinic. Hwalima indicated that the
local
authority was mulling leasing the clinic to the Premier Medical
Services
Investment (PSMI) medical aid society. Ekusileni Medical Center
(EMC), a
private, 160-bed hospital and a brainchild of the late Vice
President,
Joshua Nkomo, also remains shut years after it was built. It was
intended
also to be a teaching site of the public medical school in southern
Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Edith Kaseke
Thursday 15 October 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe's minister
responsible for parastatals has invited
applications for new board members
of state entities, including the national
broadcaster and news agency, in a
sign of widening rifts and battle for
control of key state firms in the
country's coalition government.
Joel Gabuza, Minister of State
Enterprises and Parastatals ran
advertisements in state-owned newspapers
this week seeking applications for
candidates to sit on the boards of 75
government-controlled enterprises.
Gabuza, a minister from Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, said his
ministry had a mandate to maintain a
database of potential candidates for
appointments to the various boards.
But his move is at odds with Media
and Information Minister, Webster Shamu,
who recently named new faces to
serve on the boards of Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH), New Ziana,
Kingstons among several other government-owned
media and information
companies.
Political analysts say ministers are fighting for influence in
the new
government, with some in open conflict while others were conducting
"low
intensity warfare".
"This was bound to happen where you have two
political parties fighting for
influence, it will probably go on for some
time to come," John Makumbe, a
University of Zimbabwe political science
lecturer said.
Need to sit down
"Some of the battles are not
obvious to the public but what is also clear
now is that the three
principals need to sit down and carefully define the
mandates of the
different ministries to avoid such things."
Clashes over the mandate of
ministries is not new after Mugabe sought to
take away from Nelson Chamisa
some of the functions from his Ministry of
Information, Communication and
Technology and hand them over to his ally
Nicholas Goche, Minister
Transport, Infrastructure Development and
Communication.
Shamu's
appointment of media boards last week, which was packed with ZANU PF
sympathisers and retired army men loyal to Mugabe, was heavily criticised as
"unilateral" while the MDC called them illegal, again exposing the fragile
relations and discord in the unity government.
The unity government
was formed last February and was seen as offering the
best hope of plucking
Zimbabwe from a deep recession and a political crisis
that had fanned
electoral violence since 2000.
Gabuza's ministry is in overall charge of
state parastatals and sets policy
direction for the entities but parent
ministries are responsible for
appointing board members. After the formation
of the new government, all
senior appointments that need to be approved by
Mugabe can only be made
after consultations with
Tsvangirai.
Political appointments
Gabuza said the advertisements
by his ministry were intended to reduce
incidents of political appointments
to boards of parastatals.
"We are trying to eliminate arbitrary
appointments as has been the case with
alleged appointments at ZBH,
Zimpapers and BAZ. What we want is a situation
where every qualified
Zimbabwean has a chance to serve on these bodies
irrespective of their
political affiliations," said Gabuza.
"There have been allegations of
partisan appointments but as the responsible
minister and with the
concurrence of the principals to the GPA, we have had
to come up with a new
way of doing things so that we create transparency in
the appointment of
people to sit on state enterprises and parastatals," he
said.
Shamu
could not immediately comment yesterday but he told ZimOnline last
week that
he acted within the law when he appointed the new boards to
oversee the
government's media empire.
He argued that the law did not require him to
consult Tsvangirai who has
said the appointments were irregular and should
be revised.
Tsvangirai hinted at a press conference on Sunday that he and
Mugabe had
agreed that the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust, majority shareholder
in
Zimpapers, and New Ziana should be reconstituted and that the
appointments
at Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe should be
revisited.
Nature of coalitions
Analysts however said the tussle
for influence within the government would
continue but would not threaten
its existence.
"It is only natural that the parties to the inclusive
government seek to
assert their control but at the moment it does not seem
that this presents a
threat to the well being of the unity government," said
Eldred Masunungure,
chairman of Political Science department at the
University of Zimbabwe.
"That is the nature of coalitions although things
can be managed better," he
said. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Chris
Anold Msipa Thursday 15 October 2009
MVUMA - Impoverished
families in rural Zimbabwe are coming up with bold
ideas to fight hunger and
poverty, despite economic difficulties in the
Southern African
nation.
At least 25 residences in the central region gold mining town of
Mvuma,
190km south-east of the capital, Harare, are being turned into
agro-industrial schemes.
The poverty-ridden residents say they want
to produce all their domestic
requirements like food, medicines and
livestock feed at home, without having
to rely entirely on the traditional
suppliers.
The scheme, involving people who bought relatively low-priced
plots of land
on the outskirts of the degenerated town, is run by a group
calling itself
the Mvuma East Peri-Urban Ideal Homes Development
Club.
Project secretary, Tamuka Matambo, a soft spoken retired primary
school
teacher, says the idea came after the serious food shortages caused
by
drought and non-existence of basic goods in shops last year, when
desperate
hundreds of people fed on wild fruits.
"The plan is that
each family's two hectares of land should yield a
balanced, complete diet
and the people become self-sufficient in basic
supplies and drastically
reduce dependence on shops," he explains.
To achieve the intricate
objective, they have engaged the state-run
Agricultural Extension Service
for guidance and the department has committed
one officer, Faith Mudiwakure,
to help them in the projects they have lined
up.
"Farmers should be
able to build their own homes, repair their implements,
and construct crop
and livestock houses," she says.
She guides them to operate gardens,
small butcheries, keep domestic animals
and produce fruits. Numerous
problems are frustrating progress though.
Ms Mudiwakure says Mvuma East
has rich soils with high potential for serious
production, yet the
relatively virgin area is dry and as result many
families have to rely on
Mvuma town - some four kilometres away - for
domestic water.
"We have
approached the Church of God in Christ for help to drill
boreholes," she
says. But the religious group is yet to respond.
In addition to water
problems, wild animals and stray cattle that freely
roam the sparsely
populated area have been another scourge for the families,
ravaging crop
fields especially at night when there is no one to watch over
crops.
Group Chairman Onesmo Mapope says some 207 people were six
years ago
allocated land in the area. Only 25 of them have since developed
their
places, leaving the settlers helpless against thieves and wandering
animals.
Another group member says the poverty-stricken residents expect
to benefit
immensely from their joint scheme, given their enthusiasm for
work.
Augustine Chapwanya says, "I tilled the land by hand and also
planted other
crops like rapoko and peanuts. My harvest would have been even
bigger had it
not been for cattle and wild animals."
Meanwhile, the
co-operators expressed concern at the apparent reluctance of
the authorities
to develop infrastructure suitable for meaningful
production. A point echoed
by some agricultural and rural development
experts who say the government
has failed to give the sector "the attention
it deserves".
Dr Bright
Mombeshora, a farming expert says the top-to-down way of doing
things is
probably the biggest enemy of any schemes that state or private
agencies
have introduced to try to improve agriculture as a way to bolster
development in rural communities. Most of the projects have failed
dismally.
"Those people know what they want and the best means of
achieving it. They
need financial and technical help, not imposed
programmes. They have to own
the project; otherwise it will be a foreign
exercise to them," he says
The agricultural scientist says most
development schemes introduced over the
years in the country failed because
either the state initiated them and
lacked community support or communities
started them and could not get
government backing.
However, the
Central Zimbabwe project promises to become a different tale,
as it is both
a community initiative and a state-backed programme. -
ZimOnline.