http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior
Reporter
Sunday, 16 October 2011 15:38
HARARE - Feuding Zanu PF
factions are said to be closing ranks to oust
President Robert Mugabe from
power — ahead of the elections scheduled to be
held either next year or in
2013.
Sources told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday that the two
main factions,
believed to be led by Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and
Vice President
Joice Mujuru, are reaching out to each other in a bid to
dethrone the
long-ruling octogenarian.
“Reality is beginning to sink
in that unless people work together, the old
man won’t go. As a result,
there is a plan to put our heads together so that
we can ask him (Mugabe) to
step down before elections are held,” one of the
sources said.
The
source would not say how the audacious, but unlikely plan would be
practically orchestrated and implemented.
A long-standing party
veteran, who had heard about the plan, said that he
doubted that the plan
would go ahead.
“I honestly can’t see anyone at the moment gathering
enough courage to tell
President Mugabe to leave. Why have these people
failed to do so for the
past decade?” he asked.
Former Finance
Minister Simba Makoni tried to challenge Mugabe and was
booted out of the
party, leading to the formation of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn
(MKD) — which has
failed to change the country’s political landscape.
Makoni was alleged to
have had the backing of the late Solomon Mujuru and
former Zipra
intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa, who resigned from Zanu PF
at the
inception of the MKD party.
Dabengwa now leads the revived
Zapu.
The likes of serial political flip-flopper, Jonathan Moyo, were
also thrown
out of the party in 2004 when they unsuccessfully tried to oust
Mugabe from
power in what later became known as the Tsholotsho
Declaration.
Mugabe has said that the party’s December conference, to be
held early that
month in Bulawayo, will also serve as an elective congress,
thereby making
leadership changes possible.
But many inside the party
think that Mugabe wants to use the congress to
purge internal rivals, as
well as Wiki-Gate “sell-outs” — hence the talked
about attempt to unite
factional forces to get rid of the 87-year-old.
“A lot of people are
going to be surprised,” one of the central committee
players behind the plot
said yesterday.
He likened the plan to the one that was orchestrated by
the Mujuru faction
in 2006, but which died a natural death, ahead of the
party’s conference in
Goromonzi.
Then, Mugabe successfully blocked
the move after rallying support from the
Mnangagwa camp.
“Both
factions learnt a bitter lesson from that episode and have now come to
realise that Mugabe is past his sell-by-date as the party’s team
leader.
“Another issue is that age is not on his (Mugabe’s) side. He will
be
contesting against a young and energetic Tsvangirai who will be 60 years
and
it is on that premise too that the factions are closing ranks,” said the
source.
However, the two camps are said to be having problems in
agreeing on the
candidate who will contest against Tsvangirai once Mugabe
has been deposed.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said he was unaware
of the manoeuvres to
remove Mugabe at the conference.
“President
Mugabe is our leader. I know that there is always a lot of
speculation on
change of leadership in our party before any congress.
“It is the work of
our enemies who always want to spread disharmony in our
party,” he said.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JAMA MAJOLA | 16 October, 2011
02:45
President Robert Mugabe has caved in to intense pressure from
senior Zanu-PF
officials who want the conference in December to take the
form of a congress
so that a new party leader and presidential candidate can
be picked.
Mugabe's availability as a candidate is uncertain as Zanu-PF
is deeply
divided over the issue. An overwhelming majority of the party
members want a
fresh candidate to try to stopMDC-T leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's relentless
rise to power.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in
the first round of the 2008 polls before
dropping out of the race due to
violence and intimidation. The situation is
likely to be the same in the
next elections, particularly if the polls are
free and fair.
As a
result of this and Zanu-PF infighting, Mugabe has been under pressure
to
call for an extraordinary congress to elect a new party leader and
candidate
for the elections.
In a sign he was giving in to pressure, he said this
week the conference in
Bulawayo would be "just as good as a
congress".
"Yes, we are organising for the conference. It is a very
important
conference as we organise towards national elections. After that
conference
we will not have another conference before elections so it is an
important
conference - just as good as a congress," Mugabe said on
Monday.
This has now spurred senior party officials to demand a full
extraordinary
congress.
Zanu-PF holds annual confe-rences to take
stock and wrap up the year. One of
the main functions of conferences is to
endorse the party leader as the
presidential election candidate. Mugabe was
endorsed as candidate last
December in Mutare when elections were expected
to be held this year.
Although Mugabe is likely to cling onto power in
Bulawayo, pressure is
mounting on him to quit. In a bid to contain the
demands for him to go,
Mugabe has now accepted that the conference should be
like a congress,
although he has not yet gone all the way to embrace the
proposal.
Senior Zanu-PF officials who spoke to the Sunday Times this
week said Mugabe
was in a quandary over the issue because although he
realises he is now too
old and ailing, he is unwilling to step down.
Insiders say Mugabe's real
game plan is to die in office.
"Like we
told you a few weeks ago that the Bulawayo confe-rence would be
very
critical, the president has now publicly confirmed that. The
conference,
which will be a mini-congress if you like, although we want
actually a full
extraordinary congress, will be a defining moment," a senior
politburo
member said. "It will be a decisive moment because we have to
address the
issue of leadership renewal and the candidate. Most people think
for us to
move forward we need a relatively younger leader, but there are
others who
say that while that is true, the timing is wrong."
Senior Zanu-PF
politburo member Patrick Chinamasa told a local weekly that
his party would
not remove Mugabe at such a critical juncture because "we
can't change the
captain in the midst of a storm". He said the Zanu-PF ship
was under threat
of being shipwrecked.
Another Zanu-PF official said: "The issue is we
need to resolve this
leadership question and we can't do that through a
conference, hence the
demands for a congress."
Insiders said although
Mugabe was prepared to accept an extraordinary
congress, he was not ready to
step down. Instead, they said, he would want
to seek a stronger mandate from
congress.
In December 2007, Mugabe was forced by the late General Solomon
Mujuru's
faction to call for an extraordinary congress instead of holding a
conference.
The plan was to replace Mugabe with either Dumiso
Dabengwa or Simba Makoni.
After the plan failed, the two quit and challenged
Mugabe during the 2008
elections under a makeshift party, Mavambo/Kusile,
costing Tsvangirai
outright victory.
http://www.news24.com
2011-10-16 17:01
Harare - At least
seven children have died from a suspected diarrhoea
outbreak which has
affected over 6 000 children in two towns in Zimbabwe
over the past week, a
state newspaper said on Sunday.
"Seven children died in Masvingo and
Kadoma last week following a diarrhoea
outbreak which has seen a total of 6
472 cases being recorded in the two
towns," The Sunday Mail
reported.
"The main problem has always been unclean water and poor
sanitation," the
newspaper quoted Portia Manangazira, director for disease
control in the
health ministry, as saying.
"Our main concern is that
in most instances 60% of these cases are children
under the age of five
years."
She called on municipalities to ensure constant supplies of clean
water and
proper disposal of garbage.
Diarrhoea thrives in areas that
do not have proper sanitation. Proper sewage
systems and clean water can
prevent its outbreak.
Municipalities in Zimbabwe are battling to supply
residents with water with
some suburbs going for weeks without running
water.
Over 85 000 cases of cholera were diagnosed in West and central
Africa this
year, leading to 2 466 deaths, as the region faces the worst
cholera
epidemics in its history, Unicef said this week.
Three years
ago over 4 000 people died of cholera in Zimbabwe in an outbreak
which
affected nearly 100 000 people.
According to Uniceff, diarrhoea is
responsible for 7.7% of deaths in Africa.
- AFP
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Thelma Chikwanha and Farai Mutsaka
Sunday, 16 October
2011 12:32
HARARE - A standoff between the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission and Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa, as well as growing
disaffection within the
inclusive government, is threatening Zimbabwe’s
much-anticipated elections
scheduled for either next year or
2013.
The roadmap for the high-stakes election is viewed by many,
including Sadc
and the entire international community, as vitally important
– particularly
if the twin targets of political stability and sustainable
economic growth
are to be realised in the country.
President Robert
Mugabe, who is plagued by ill-health and advanced age, is
determined to have
the critical ballots held next year.
But avoidable tussling between ZEC
and the justice ministry on one hand, as
well as disagreements between the
country’s coalition partners on how best
to amend electoral laws to
guarantee an even playing ground have left
stakeholders worried that the
country could be sliding back towards the
anarchy of 2007 and
2008.
Most Zimbabweans view the forthcoming poll as the country’s best
chance to
end the political stalemate that has so negatively affected the
development
of this nation for more than a decade now.
Highly-placed
sources told the Daily News on Sunday this week that ZEC,
formed as an
independent body to oversee the elections following successive
disputed
polls, is struggling to assert its autonomy.
As a result, daggers are now
drawn between ZEC and the justice ministry -
headed by one of Mugabe’s
staunchest supporters, Chinamasa, over the control
of funds, as well as the
strategic and operational
direction of the commission.
Another bone of
contention, the sources said, was the resistance by
Chinamasa’s ministry and
Zanu PF to allow ZEC chairman, retired Justice
Simpson Mutambanengwe, to
carry out a human resources audit that would most
likely result in the
necessary flushing out of intelligence agents who are
known to have been
planted inside the
commission secretariat by Zanu PF when it enjoyed
unfettered control of the
levers of power.
“Mutambanengwe’s decisions
are on the basis that the commission will be more
effective once a skills
audit is conducted and the right persons are
allocated to the right
positions. He also wants to take advantage of that
audit to rebuild the
image of the commission so that people will be
confident with ZEC,” said one
source.
Another source said with regard to the body’s fights over
funding,
Mutambanengwe was unhappy that the justice ministry did not just
want to get
involved in ZEC’s operational activities, but also wanted to
have the final
word on everything.
“Zanu PF is also jittery about ZEC
receiving funding from Western countries
for capacity building, fearing that
the elections body will somehow be
influenced to the former ruling party’s
detriment,” one of
the sources said.
“Chinamasa is doing a hatchet job
for his party, as it is desperate to win
elections at all costs. It (Zanu
PF) is afraid to relinquish control and let
ZEC become the independent body
it was created to be,” another source said.
While Mutambanengwe was
unavailable for comment, he has previously stated
his desire to be weaned
off Chinamasa’s ministry.
Chinamasa said he could not comment as he was
out of the country when
contacted by the Daily News on Sunday.
But
his deputy, Obert Gutu, confirmed that election preparations were in
turmoil
and that ZEC was battling to get its “independence” from his
ministry.
Gutu said problems besetting the electoral commission would
be solved once
“it is adequately resourced to secure its own premises,
commissioners and
when support staff are adequately resourced in terms of
equipment and office
furniture so that they are be able to conduct and run a
credible election”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC
party has said it will
not participate in an election held before the ZEC
concerns are fully
addressed.
These concerns included a comprehensive
human resources audit and the
attainment of financial independence by the
commission.
The party’s national executive decided at its meeting last
week that it
would also not support the Electoral Amendment Bill, citing
failure to
recognise the Diaspora vote as one of the reasons – a position
that
puts the former opposition party at war with Zanu PF.
The MDC
also demanded the following conditions:
- The completion of the
Constitution making process and the referendum;
- Completion of the
drafting of a new voters roll;
- Completion of full media reforms;
-
Completion of all required legislative reforms; and
- Mechanisms to ensure
that violence will not be a factor in the planned
elections.
“The
party notes that any election which does not meet the above conditions
will
be a sham election and the party will not have anything to do with a
sham
election,” reads part of resolutions to the MDC national executive
meeting.
Zanu PF stands diametrically opposite to the MDC position on
many of these
conditions.
Chinamasa told the international community
during a UN Human Rights
Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last week that
his party would not agree
to reforms such as repealing harsh media laws,
casting a dark cloud over the
credibility of the forthcoming
elections.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs,
Constitutional
and Parliamentary Affairs will this week begin countrywide
public hearings
on the proposed amendments.
Civil society groups such
as the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network have
also demanded that ZEC, as a
statutory body formed through an Act of
Parliament, should report to
parliament rather than to Chinamasa.
“As Zesn we believe that Zec should
be independent and their funding must
come from the Consolidated Revenue
Fund,” Zesn director Rindai
Chipfunde-Vava said.
“We also recommend
that Zec report to Parliament instead of the Ministry of
Justice. Reporting
to the minister gives room to executive interference in
the election
process.
“The minister is also a political player and a contestant, it
therefore
gives his party a skewed advantage,” said Chipfunde-Vava, whose
organisation
is the country’s biggest elections watchdog
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, October 16, 2011- ZAPU is ready and
itching to participate in
by-elections and any other by-elections that may
be called following the
order by the High Court of Zimbabwe that compelled
President Robert Mugabe
to gazette dates for by-elections in Nkayi South,
Lupane East and Bulilima
constituencies.
Speaking to Radio VOP, Zapu
director of Communications, Marketing and
Publicity, Methuseli Moyo,
disclosed that his party prays that none of the
respondents appeal to the
Supreme Court, thereby delaying or preventing the
by-election.
“We
believe a by-election in the three particular constituencies would be a
perfect early Christmas present for our party. The people of Nkayi South,
Lupane East and Bulilima East need permanent political home and solid
leadership to overcome the problems of underdevelopment in their areas,”
said Moyo.
He added that Zapu is ready to rescue the three
constituencies from
opportunists and political wonderers.
On
Thursday, Bulawayo High Court Judge Nicholas Ndou ordered President
Robert
Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce within
14
days dates for the election in three vacant constituencies in
Matabeleland.
The three constituencies fell vacant after three members of
Parliament were
expelled from the house of assembly in 2009 by MDC led by
Welshman Ncube for
aligning themselves to MDC –T.
Abednico Bhebhe of Nkayi South, Njabulo
Mguni of Lupane East and Norman
Mpofu of Bulilima East made a High Court
application last year seeking ZEC
and Mugabe to call for a by-election in
their former constituencies as soon
as possible.
No by-elections have
been held in Zimbabwe under GPA and there are 18 vacant
seats in Parliament.
Map.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, October 16, 2011
--- The High Court will on November 16 hear the
contempt of court charges
against Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
filed by the Welshman Ncube
led MDC.
Bulawayo High Court judge Nicholas Ndou in February issued an
interdict
against Mutambara barring him from “exercising any function vested
in the
president of the MDC.”
Mutambara had refused to give way to
Ncube after he was beaten to the post
of MDC president at the party’s
congress last year.
The robotics professor after initially conceding
defeat at the January
congress changed tact and joined about 12 MDC
officials who were contesting
the Industry and Commerce’s Minister elevation
to the party’s top post.
MDC is the first applicant and its secretary
general Priscilla Misihairabwi
was the second applicant in the case to stop
Mutambara from “masquerading as
the leader of the party.”
“The
respondent (DPM Mutambara) is interdicted from purporting to be the
President of the Movement for Democratic Change.
“(He) is interdicted
from exercising any function vested in the president of
the Movement for
Democratic Change,” the order reads in part.
“The respondent is
interdicted from, in any way, interfering with structures
and organs of the
party."
The MDC says Mutambara has violated the order by his continued
stay as DPM,
a position which according to the Global Political Agremeent is
reserved for
Ncube’s faction.
President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have refused to
put pressure on Mutambara to
resign saying the courts must be allowed to
deal with the matter without any
interference.
Mutambara claims that the MDC congress where he was one of
the main speakers
was unconstitutional and has put his weight against former
chairman Joubert
Mudzumwe and others who have launched a High Court
challenge against Ncube.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Nomalanga Khumalo
is the only MP from MDC who
has publicly pledged her loyalty to Mutambara
while the rest of the
legislators say they support Ncube.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
VLADIMIR MZACA | 16 October, 2011 02:45
Midlands
Province governor Jason Machaya has warned land invaders against
targeting
the farm of Derek Shaw, one of Zimbabwe's few remaining dairy
farmers.
The governor also slammed the latest wave of farm invasions,
saying: "The
time for invasions is over".
This past week more than
200 illegal settlers and their families had moved
onto Shaw's diary farm,
Wildebeest, occupying his last 200 hectares of land.
The other part of his
farm was given to local settlers between 2002 and
2004.
Machaya's
warning comes at a time when Zimbabwe is battling to improve
output volumes
of milk. Industry experts blame the low level of milk
production on the
chaotic land reform at the turn of the century, as well as
the government's
failure to honour property rights, resulting in low
investor
confidence.
Most of the milk in Zimbabwe is imported from South Africa.
Even Nestlé
Zimbabwe, one of the biggest milk buyers, is importing milk from
South
Africa because local producers are failing to meet its
demands.
Machaya said Shaw was one of the "strategic farmers" who had
entered into an
agreement with the government. It was decided that Shaw
should keep his
remaining land.
"Mr Shaw should not be disturbed.
This is a government position. White
commercial farmers like him are part of
the country's move towards improving
dairy farming," he said.
The
governor spoke against the latest wave of invasions, saying "things
should
be done through the proper channels" to follow the laws of the
country.
"Anyone who occupies land in Zimbabwe has to do this by
following the laws
of the country," he said.
The Midlands Province
has seen a number of farm invasions in the past
decade, including the farm
of Colin Cloete, a one-time president of the
Commercial Farmers Union of
Zimbabwe from Chegutu, whose tobacco farm was
earmarked. He lost a final
supreme court appeal to keep his only remaining
property this
year.
One of the country's most honoured cattle breeders, Philip Hapelt,
lost his
farm to Zanu-PF politician Jabulani Mangena. Hapelt, his family and
his
employees were subjected to violence before the courts declared him a
persona non grata.
And Ben Freeth's farm was taken by Zanu-PF
stalwart Nathan Shamuyarira.
Freeth's father-in-law, Mike Campbell, took the
matter to the SADC Tribunal
and won his case. However, the government
declared the ruling invalid,
saying the tribunal did not have jurisdiction
in Zimbabwe.
According to a WikiLeaks cable in 2003 about 300 commercial
farmers were
engaged in legal battles with the government to keep their
land, while 4000
to 4500 white farmers had already been evicted.
To
date the government has ignored a legally binding ruling by the SADC
tribunal in 2008, following a petition by 77 commercial farmers who argued
that the land reform programme was conducted along racial lines.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
SUNDAY TIMES CORRESPONDENT | 16 October, 2011
02:45
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is this week due to confront
President
Robert Mugabe to try to defuse a potentially major diplomatic row
after the
South African ambassador to Zimbabwe, Vusi Mavimbela, attacked
Harare
viciously over lawlessness.
Speaking after meeting Tsvangirai
last week, Mavimbela blasted the Zimbabwe
government and police for failing
to rein in rogue Zanu-PF militants who
have been wantonly invading farms
owned by South Africans in violation of
the Bilateral Investment and
Protection Agreement (Bippa) signed between
Pretoria and Harare in
2009.
Diplomats say Mavimbela's condemnation could only have been
sanctioned by
South African President Jacob Zuma.
In the past few
months, militants loyal to Mugabe have been invading the few
remaining
white-owned farms, including those owned by South Africans,
although they
are supposed to be protected under Bippa.
Mugabe and the police have
failed to take action and prevent the lawless
invasion of the farms, leading
to the angry words from Pretoria directed at
Harare.
Mavimbela did
not mince his words in appealing to Tsvangirai for
intervention and also
asked the SA government to assist as they had failed
at diplomatic
level.
Recently South African farmers Koos Smith of De Rust farm and
Tiennie van
Rensburg of Rueben Farm in Nyazura were evicted by a mob loyal
to Mugabe and
Zanu-PF, leaving them destitute.
Tsvangirai, through
his spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka, told the Sunday Times
that he would take up
the issue with Mugabe.
"The prime minister will personally table the
issue of lawlessness raised by
the South African ambassador as this is a
serious issue that needs urgent
attention. He is taking the issue seriously,
as this is what has poisoned
the political environment in Zimbabwe. This is
the culture of impunity that
has to be stopped," said
Tamborinyoka.
The meeting is expected to be held this
week.
Mavimbela fired the salvo two weeks after Zuma said his country
would not
grab land in the violent and bloody manner witnessed in Zimbabwe
at the
start of the last decade.
Mavimbela said the militants
appeared to be protected by police and said the
lawlessness in Zimbabwe had
resulted in most South African companies failing
to invest in the country
for fear of losing their money.
"One of the issues we raised with the
prime minister was our concern about
the manner in which farm invasions
still take place in this country. We have
a number of South African farmers
who were evicted from their farms
recently. We believe that the process that
was followed is not anything that
we can be proud of," said
Mavimbela.
"Some of the things seem to be happening not only to the South
African
companies, but also to the farmers, and this has the possibility of
violating the agreement. We raised that concern," Mavimbela said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
16/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ARMY chief, General Constantine Chiwenga has said two senior
officers who
blasted his leadership and lack of military experience during
secret
meetings with US Ambassador, Charles Ray will not be
punished.
According confidential US embassy cables released by
whistle-blower website,
WikiLeaks, Major-General Fidelis Satuku and
Brigadier-General Herbert
Chingono made their damning assessment of Chiwenga
during a secret meeting
Ambassador Charles Ray in Harare on January 5 and 6
last year.
But Chiwenga told state media the army would not take any action
against the
pair.
“The ZDF is a strategic institution that cannot
afford to make any
irrational decisions. Our role is to defend the nation
and we cannot afford
to be distracted from this duty by the works of foreign
forces,” Chiwenga
said in an interview with The Sunday Mail.
“The two
generals are key components of the force; they have served us well.
We
cannot afford to treat them in an irrational manner because of something
that cannot be verified.”
Satuku and Chingono reportedly told
Ambassador Ray that Chiwenga lacked
military experience and had only
attended one mid-level training course.
“The Commander of the Defence
Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga, is a
political general who works hard
but has very little military experience or
expertise,” the US embassy cables
read in part.
“A political commissar before 1980, he has only attended
one mid-level
training course, which he did not complete. If given a choice
between a
military and political issue, he routinely defaults to the
political.”
But Chiwenga warned that US officials could have been trying
to destabilise
the army and force the security services sector reforms being
demanded by
the West.
“The WikiLeaks statements were made by United
States embassy officials; they
might have had an imperialist agenda,”
Chiwenga said in an interview with
The Sunday Mail.
“To the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces (ZDF), WikiLeaks is of little significance.
It would,
therefore, be improper for an institution such as ours to make a
decision
based on statements that were relayed by United States embassy
officials who
could have been pursuing certain agendas.”
At the time of the alleged
meeting with Ray, Brigadier-General Chingono – an
artillery officer -- was
the army’s Inspector General. He was the last ZNA
officer to train under the
America’s International Military Education and
Training (IMET) programme,
graduating from NDU in 1999.
Major General Satuku – who received his
training in England -- was the ZDF
Director General for Policy and
Personnel.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
16/10/2011 00:00:00
by Zambia
Watchdog
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has commended Zambians on their
just-ended elections
saying peaceful power transferas opposed to the western
bombardment as
witnessed in Libya was the only way to build peace in
Africa.
He congratulated Dr Guy Scott on his ascension to the office of
vice
president of Zambia saying there was nothing odd in the
development.
The President told delegates in Malawi as he addressed the
Comesa Summit
plenary Friday that at Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe had five
whites in
Cabinet – four from the Rhodesian Front of Ian Smith and an
independent, the
then agriculture minister Dennis Norman.
“We have
had demonstrations of peaceful elections, the most recent one being
in
Zambia, that is the only way you can build peace, and that is the way to
go,” the President said as he decried the Nato bombardment in Libya that has
claimed thousands of innocent lives.
“To my brother who has been
sitting next to me,” referring to Dr Scott:
“Marondera where you were in
school, the NDP formed in 1960, two years of
life before it was banned by
Ian Smith. We want to congratulate him for
being elected, I think he will be
the first white vice president,” the
President said to applause from
delegates.
“When we had our independence in 1980, we had five whites,
four from Ian
Smith, the other an independent. Dennis Norman, I think you
know him, he was
non-political but the others were political.
“We had
them in the Cabinet for a start, so it shouldn’t surprise at all,
you having
been born here but of course Ian Smith and others.
“Well he is dead now and I
hope God is resting him in heaven,” President
Mugabe said bringing the
auditorium down in mirth.
When Dr Scott was appointed Zambia’s vice
president, some sections of the
media claimed the move was likely to
estrange Lusaka from Harare.
They claimed that President Mugabe and his
Government were anti-white, a
perception the Western media peddled in a bid
to brand land reform a racist
clampdown on white farmers.
On his
part, Dr Scott told the gathering that his party’s name, the
Patriotic Front
and the clenched fist symbol, were all inspired by and
derived from
Zanu-PF.
“As you are aware Zambia held its tripartite elections, I can’t
stop talking
about this, on the 20th, of September 2011 in which the then
opposition
party, the Patriotic Front, to quote the phrase I stole from His
Excellency
President Robert Mugabe, he gave me permission to use it this
morning, and
it worked, the Patriotic Front emerged victorious under the
leadership of Mr
Michael Chilufya Sata,” Dr Scott said expressing surprise
that the Western
world seemed surprised that an African country could
organise such a simple
thing as a peaceful election.
He then told
delegates that he and President Mugabe had come a long way.
“Maybe I
could be allowed a little insertion here. We both worked out today
that we
were both members of the National Democratic Party, in his case 52
years
ago, in my case 51 years ago. We were both members of the National
Democratic Party in Southern Rhodesia.
“In this case that was 51
years ago. That (the NDP) was the parent of
Zimbabwe’s nationalist movement,
many, many years ago, that is how we know
each other,” Dr Scott said
Dr
Scott was named vice president when new president Michael Sata announced
his
19-member cabinet last month.
Born in 1944 in Livingstone, Zambia, Dr Scott
was educated in Zambia and the
then Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe).
His late father, an ally of Zambia’s nationalists founded the
African Mail,
which is now the Zambia Daily Mail. He studied economics at
Cambridge
University and holds a PhD in cognitive science from the
University of
Sussex in England.
Scott joined active politics in 1990
when he joined the Movement for
Multiparty Democracy. At its first
convention, the MMD elected him
chairperson of the agriculture committee.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Diana Chisvo, Business Writer
Sunday, 16 October
2011 15:36
HARARE - Freda Rebecca Gold Mine Limited (Freda) employees
have gone for 32
months without pay owing to longstanding contractual
disputes, workers say.
According to the workers, the mine has not paid
their salaries since January
2009, and is attempting to illegally terminate
their contracts to replace
them with new and pliable workers.
“Our
old contracts had benefits such as 100 percent medical aid cover,
school
fees for our children, funeral cover, our transport to work and
funeral
cover, the new contract has fewer benefits.
The workers’ grades have been
changed, that means salaries change as well,”
said Cleopas Njinga the
employee’s representative.
Last month, an arbitrator ruled in the
employees, favour instructing the
company to pay the outstanding
salaries.
However, Njinga says there has not been any action from
management.
According to the arbitral award, the company owes the
employees a total of
$197 778 in unpaid salaries and bonuses ranging from
$123 for the lowest
paid worker to $281 for the highest paid worker from
July 2009 to February
2010.
Freda’s lawyers, Magwaliba and Kwirira,
said the complaining employees were
no longer employed by the mine due to a
number of reasons including
misconduct.
The lawyers, who said they
could not comment further, however confirmed that
there was a case at the
High Court.
“Some of these people were told to come and get their money
but they
refused.As you can see here is a list of all the people that have
been paid
some of them have retired and some were retrenched. These people
are just
unreasonable they have their own agenda that they want to push,”
they said.
Njinga said the employees took their cases to court in batches
and claims
the company still owes them for salaries and bonuses from March
2010 to
present.
“A total of 115 employees had filed the lawsuit
against the company but now
only 80 remain as the company is luring some of
the employees into signing
contracts. The condition is that once you sign
the new contract you get your
salaries,” he said, adding that the company
was using different means to
manipulate the employees.
He said the
mine was breaching the terms of the old contract and going ahead
to pay
employees who agreed to sign the new contracts.
“In the old contract we
were given the option to buy the houses that we were
occupying but now we
are told to pay rent for houses that we had bought from
the company. The
contracts are not even permanent contracts they are
periodic and we are
required to renew them when they expire of which the
company may decide not
to renew,” Njinga said.
However, a Supreme Court judgement indicates that
the houses were never sold
to the employees but there was a memorandum of
understanding expressing an
intention by the company to dispose of the
housing units to its employees.
The company argues that it decided to
introduce the new contracts in 2009
when the country adopted the
multi-currency system.
“As you are aware, your contract of employmnet
signed on 21 March 1994
became inoperative as a result of the falling into
disuse of the Zimbabwean
dollar with effect from Frebruary 29,
2009.
Thus it is not possible for the mine to pay you the Zimbabwe dollar
based
salary and other benefits in terms of that contract,” the company said
in a
letter of termination of employment to one of the employees.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JAMA MAJOLA | 15 October, 2011 14:59
While
the government has been frantically trying to seize foreign-owned
mining
companies under the guise of indigenisation and empowerment, it has
failed
to mine rich platinum deposits given back to it by Zimbabwe Platinum
Mines
(Zimplats).
Meantime, the government has even sold off some of its
platinum reserves to
dubious speculators in shady deals.
This issue
came to the fore this week when SA's Impala Platinum (Implats),
the majority
shareholder in Zimplats, offered to help the state-owned
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC), to mine platinum and provide
technical
assistance to extract the huge reserves.
In recent years platinum
reserves surrendered to government as part of
empowerment credits have been
changing hands among speculators in dubious
deals which have not benefited
the country .
Instead of getting involved in productive mining
activities, government has
been sitting on massive platinum reserves and
selling off claims while
campaigning to force operations such as Zimplats
and Mimosa to surrender 51%
of their equity to investors linked to
Zanu-PF.
Implats CEO David Brown exposed government's failure to mine in
the presence
of President Robert Mugabe on Thursday during the launch of a
community
ownership trust in partnership with Zimplats.
Brown offered
Zimplats technical assistance to help ZMDC, which has run down
several gold
mines, to develop an unused claim valued at $153-million. ZMDC
extractsalluvial diamonds at the controversial Marange fields, and most of
the revenue from there has not been accounted for.
"In 2006 Zimplats
released ground with 36 million ounces worth of resources.
We note, however,
that there's no production on those claims. We offer our
technical
assistance to bring that resource into production," Brown
said.
Zimbabwe's mineral-rich Great Dyke has four major complexes that
constitute
the world's second largest platinum reserve:
Near
Zvishavane, is the Wedza Complex, where Implats and Aquarius
Platinum
jointly operate the Mimosa mine;
North of the Wedza Complex, near
Shurugwi, is the Selukwe Complex, where
Anglo American and Central African
Mining and Exploration Company have
claims not yet in production;
About an hour southwest of Harare is the Hartley Complex dominated by
Zimplats; and
The undeveloped Musengezi Complex at Snakeshead,
controlled by African
Consolidated Resources.
Earlier this year,
China offered Zimbabwe $3-billion for platinum
reserves valued at
$40-billion. Finance Minister Tendai Biti blocked the
deal.
The
mining sector contributes a third of the country's exports.
Brown also
said Implats planned a third phase of its expansion programme at
Zimplats
from 2014 which would raise output to 360000 ounces per annum. At
least
$1-billion will be invested in the project.
He also said Zimplats would
not be able to declare a dividend until its
$500-million expansion was
concluded, but agreed to fund the operations of
the community trust to the
tune of $10- million over three years to improve
schools, clinics, roads and
bridges.
In an apparent climb down, Mugabe said his government did not
intend to
"steal or rob" foreign companies. "Mr Brown, go and tell your
shareholders
that we don't intend to take over (Zimplats). We don't want to
steal or rob
that which does not belong to us, but we don't want to be
robbed as well."
The new Implats initiative contrasts sharply with recent
efforts by
Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to cancel Zimplats's
operating
licence. Last year he led a delegation, including ANC Youth League
president
Julius Malema, which stormed Zimplats trying to intimidate its
management
into agreeing to give Zanu-PF youths 51% of the
multi-billion-dollar
company.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe expects to
realise $137 million from the
disposal of immovable property and investments
in local companies as it
seeks to clear its $1,1 billion
debt.
14.10.1101:31pm
by Rebecca Moyo
The Governor, Gideon
Gono, told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Budget and Finance
investments would realise $110 million.
Analysts have questioned why
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has not undertaken
a full audit of the bank, as
the Reserve Bank Act allows him to do, to find
out exactly where the money
went.
This they say would clear (or confirm) the suspicions of many that
connected
individuals were receiving foreign currency at official rates and
bank notes
in short supply and which could be changed at a premium. It would
also
clarify numerous reports that farm inputs were distributed along party
lines
The disposal process, according to the chairman of the assets
disposal
committee Retired Justice Smith, would be completed by the end of
the year.
However, Gono said the RBZ was still weighing the options
regarding disposal
of Bank Chambers and Hardwick House due to their
strategic positions. The
two buildings adjoin the central bank.
But
chairman of the portfolio committee, Paddy Zhanda, advised the central
bank
to sell the buildings to realise more funds to reduce its debt.
Although
a significant portion of the debt was accrued from national
obligations
carried out by the RBZ on instructions from government, Biti
says the debt
must be settled by the bank itself.
He has often accused Gono of
undertaking unsanctioned quasi-fiscal
operations that resulted in the huge
debt.
Gono presented evidence to the committee that showed that most if
not all
quasi-fiscal operations were carried out at the behest of government
in line
with Section 6d and Section 8 of the repealed Old Reserve Bank
Act.
The provisions mandated the RBZ with advancing economic objectives
of the
country and compelling it to carry out such activities as instructed
by
government.
The quasi-fiscal operations included settling debts
accrued during
procurement of fuel, medicine, paying off IMF arrears and
procuring
agricultural implements.
Discussions are underway to
determine what portion of the debt government
will assume, which would
lessen the burden on the central bank.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
It is pointless to open a Commission of
Inquiry into the events surrounding
the death of General Solomon Mujuru,
because the people who ordered the hit
will never be brought to book, said
some MDC Members of Parliament.
14.10.1101:47pm
by Chief
Reporter
Mujuru, 67, popularly known by his guerrilla name Rex
Nhongo, was burned to
death in a bizarre fire at his home in
August.
"Let me say that this kind of death did not start with Mujuru. My
own
brother in Buhera was burnt by Joseph Mwale such that we need an
inquiry,"
said Masvingo West MDC MP Tachiona Mharadza in his contribution to
a
condolences motion moved by Zanu (PF) MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti.
"It
is useless when we talk of an inquiry. Kitsiyatota and Joseph Mwale are
still there. There is no inquiry that is needed as the facts are there. But
the issue is that Augustine Chihuri, who is at the same level as General
Mujuru, protects Mwale and you cannot get the docket."
Mharadze said
Zanu (PF) was a "hyena" that was responsible for many murders
and yet
Parliament had not called for any inquiries.
"Now that the hyena has
taken one of your children it has become an issue,"
Mharadze
said.
The MDC MP said Zanu (PF) murderers had rushed to contaminate the
crime
scene after an incredible claim that the fire was started by a
candle.
"Why is it that when such things happen you run and distort
evidence before
the experts come in?" Mharadza said. "We have Patson Nyangwa
who was burnt
in Jerera the way Mujuru died. People were there. Mutombeni
was also burnt
in Mashava. Learnmore Jongwe passed away and it was said he
took poison,
where did he get it from when people are subjected to a search
at the gate?
The issue we are saying is that we should not fool the
people."
Police say testimony is being taken from dozens of witnesses who
lived and
worked around Mujuru's farm at the time of the alleged
assassination.
Masvingo Central MDC MP Jeffryson Chitando said many
people passed away in
the same manner during the 2008 elections, "some of
them, the way they died
has not been revealed to this
date".
Kambuzuma MDC MP Willias Madzimure said that a system existed that
could not
go on any longer, while Zvishavane MP Obert Matshalaga said
Mujuru's funeral
at the Heroes Acre was an example of what Zimbabwe should
look like.
“I think as Parliament we should also recognise and probably
thank him for
bringing us together for the first time."
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
16/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
POLICE have warned men against letting down their guard
insisting the three
suspected female rapists arrested in Gweru could be part
of a wider
syndicate with parts of the network potentially still active
across the
country.
Rosemary Chakwizira, 24, Sophie Nhokwara, 26, and
Netsai Nhokwara, 24,
appeared in court late Friday charged with seventeen
counts of aggravated
indecent assault after their alleged victims picked
them out at an identity
parade in Harare.
They are charged along with
Thulani Ngwenya, 24, who is Sophie Nhokwara's
boyfriend. The women, all from
Gweru, were arrested on Sunday after trying
to retrieve 31 used condoms at
an accident scene -- three of them half full
with semen.
The arrests
provided the first break in police investigations of a spate of
alleged
rapes of male hitch-hikers around the country by women said to have
been
driving expensive vehicles. The women are said to have collected the
semen
of their victims for suspected ritual purposes.
But police believe the
frequency and geographical spread of the attacks
suggests more women could
be involved.
“People should not relax now that these suspects have been
arrested. We
believe a syndicate is operating in various parts of the
country,” Harare
police spokesman Inspector James Sabau told state
media.
He said preliminary investigations suggested a ritual link to the
collection
of victims’ semen.
“We are still trying to figure out why
semen was collected. Information we
have gathered so far links the entire
female rapist issue to rituals that
make people rich,” he said.
“It is,
however, still unclear how the supposed rituals work.”
Meanwhile, the
three suspects and Ngwenya were remanded in custody to
October 28 when they
appeared before a Harare magistrate last Friday.
They were arrested after
Ngwenya ran over and killed a pedestrian while
driving a red Chevrolet Aveo
owned by Sophie Nhokwara.
Police examining the vehicle following the
accident were approached by the
three women with a suspicious request to
pick up some condoms.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Sunday, 16
October 2011 15:36
HARARE - South Africa appears to be getting
frustrated and impatient about
its dealings with noisy and unstable northern
neighbour, Zimbabwe.
Damning statements by South Africa’s ambassador
to Zimbabwe Vusi Mavimbela
last Thursday betrayed how relations between
countries once bonded by shared
history of defeating colonialism have become
ice thin.
Mavimbela’s strong condemnation of Zimbabwe’s economic policies
and state of
the rule of law laid bare the impatience of a country that
believes all it
is getting for carrying Zimbabwe’s burden is
flak.
Zimbabwe continues to grab properties belonging to South Africans
in mob
fashion leaving the owners, elderly in many cases, destitute,
Mavimbela
said.
He had just met Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to
table his country’s
concern at the coalition government’s failure to stop
farm invasions and end
lawlessness.
Such acts against South African
citizens had become so out of control that
the embassy had been rendered
powerless hence it had recommended direct
state-to-state intervention, he
said.
Then the punch line: “We believe that the process that was followed
is not
anything that we can be proud of,” said Mavimbela.
“There are
instances where people just walk in the farm and tell the farmer
that they
are taking over the farm without producing any documentation to
show that
they are entitled to the farm.
“We have raised these issues with the
police but in some instances they are
there and say we can’t intervene, we
have been told not to intervene. The
law is not followed properly that is
why we call them invasions,” said
Mavimbela.
“We do not have a
problem with the principle of indenisation.
“We are worried about the
manner in which it is being implemented,” he said,
taking a dig at a project
which, together with the often-violent land
reform, Mugabe views as his
lasting legacy.
“This has caused a stir among South African companies
here,” said Mavimbela,
whose country is a major investor in
Zimbabwe.
As the biggest economy on the continent and a neighbour, South
Africa has
for the past decade carried the yoke as political and economic
tumult
plunged Zimbabwe into a failed state.
Migration bodies and
civil society estimate that over 3 million
Zimbabweans — from criminals to
low pay labourers and highly skilled people
fled to South Africa at the
height of the turmoil.
On the international front, South Africa has been
forced to defend Zimbabwe
at the United Nations, when other members felt
Harare’s human rights-record
deserved censure.
Gabriel Shumba, a
human rights-lawyer who heads the Pretoria-based Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum said
South Africa’s only viable option was to use its President
Jacob Zuma’s
mediatory role to ensure free and fair elections that can usher
an
accountable and stable government.
“South Africa can only shake off the
burden if stability returns to
Zimbabwe. This explains Zuma’s aggressiveness
in getting things done in
Zimbabwe,” said Shumba.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
HARARE CORRESPONDENT | 16 October, 2011
02:45
Morgan Tsvangirai is plotting against senior party officials who
doubt his
leadership, according to WikiLeaks.
MDC-T insiders told the
Sunday Times that the replacement on Monday of Roy
Bennett, the deputy
minister of agriculture designate, was one of the first
steps by Tsvangirai
to exert his authority in the party.
They also pointed to the last week's
suspension of Obert Gutu, the deputy
minister of justice and legal affairs,
as another step by the MDC leader to
show who was in charge.
Bennett,
in self-imposed exile in neighbouring SA, has been replaced by
Bulawayo MP
Seiso Moyo. On Tuesday Bennett expressed surprise and ignorance
over his
axing.
But Tsvangirai's spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, said it was not
true that his
boss was purging his doubters, saying Bennett needed to be
replaced for the
general good of the country.
Tamborinyoka said
Tsvangirai was not vindictive, adding he was on record as
saying that he was
bound by his party's decision and the WikiLeaks issue was
a
non-event.
"It was important to note that his (Bennett's) failure to take
up his post
was his absence from the country due to alleged persecution,"
said
Tamborinyoka.
Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC-T spokesman, said: "The
appointment of Moyo as
deputy minister of agriculture was activated by
necessity. The party was not
effectively represented in this important
portfolio."
While Gutu has retained his post of Deputy Minister of
Justice and Legal
Affairs, insiders said he and Bennett were the first
casualties of
Tsvangirai's purge.
Bennett, party secretary general
Tendai Biti and national organising
secretary Nelson Chamisa were all quoted
by WikiLeaks as saying Tsvangirai
was a weak leader who needed to be held by
the hand all the time. Sources
said the divisions in MDC-T over the
WikiLeaks disclosures were so sharp
that senior party members nearly came to
blows at the recent national
executive committee meeting. Tsvangirai had to
step in to stop the melee.
After the meeting, the party's information and
publicity department issued a
statement trying to downplay the claims that
Tsvangirai was purging his
opponents. "With regards to the recent WikiLeaks
publications, the party
restates its resolution of December 10 2010 and
noted that the same were
WikiLies, unsubstantiated hearsay and would not
cause commotion or division
in the party," read the resolutions of the
national executive meeting in
part.
It is understood some party
officials are against Tsvangirai taking any
action against those fingered in
the cables, arguing that it would be
self-destructive ahead of a crucial
election.
Zanu-PF president Robert Mugabe, who is also said to be
contemplating
disciplining officials of his party who stabbed him in the
back, has
signalled that the country might hold polls in March next
year.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said the WikiLeaks cables
would alter
relationships in Zimbabwean politics. "I think that some
political
friendships have been permanently damaged and this will have
far-reaching
ramifications," said Mangongera .
"It seems in both
Zanu-PF and MDC-T that those perceived by the public as
being very close to
the party leadership are in fact critical of that
leadership.
"I
think Tsvangirai and Mugabe will be asking themselves who their true
political friends are. But I think they would not countenance any immediate
purge of those that have been exposed as they both know how disastrous, such
a move would be in the face of the coming elections," he said.
A new attempt is to
be made on Thursday to deport Vigil supporter Shamiso Kofi despite the violent
failure of the first attempt earlier this month. There is speculation that the
UK and South Africa are making a concerted attempt to deport Zimbabweans to put
pressure on the Mugabe regime.
Shamiso is one of the
first Zimbabweans to be targeted for forcible return since the UK ended its
moratorium on sending back failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers. It comes amid
reports from South Africa that hundreds of Zimbabweans are being sent
back.
Shamiso, who was
returned to Yarl’s Wood detention centre, told us she went through hell during
the abortive attempt to deport her and feels like
dying at the thought of another attempt to forcibly remove her. She had to
receive medical attention after violence on the plane at Heathrow Airport
prompted the captain to order her to be taken off.
Shamiso
was accompanied by no less than three UK Border Agency security guards and said
she was abused when she refused to co-operate in her deportation. One of the
guards, who was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, expressed support for
Mugabe. (Another of the guards was a Jamaican woman.)
The
Vigil is urging supporters to phone Virgin Atlantic Airways to protest. See: http://shamiso2.notlong.com for what you
can do to help.
Other
points
·
On the Vigil
front table we displayed a copy of a UK Times report about the Archbishop of
Canterbury’s visit to Zimbabwe headlined ‘Archbishop speaks out against Mugabe’s
greed and violence’. We believe that the visit, as well as encouraging Anglicans
in Zimbabwe, has helped draw the attention of the wider world to the thugocracy
in Harare (see: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/oct15_2011.html#Z14
– Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Condemns
"Thuggery" against Zimbabwean Church). The Vigil is glad that Dr Williams
disregarded the cowardly advice of Royal African Society Director Richard Dowden
that a meeting with Mugabe would be foolish. Well, Mugabe was handed a dossier
detailing the abuse of Anglicans so he can’t say he knows nothing about it. A
foolish meeting . . . ?
·
The Vigil is dismayed by
Tsvangirai’s short-sighted betrayal of yet another principle by filling in the
Deputy Agriculture Minister vacancy created by Mugabe’s illegal refusal to swear
in Roy Bennett. Tsvangirai says MDC supporters are suffering because they are
not represented in the Agriculture Ministry. But what are any deputy ministers
in Zanu PF-controlled ministries achieving?
·
We note that,
oddly, South Africa’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe has had a meeting with the Prime
Minister to protest against the seizure of South African owned farms. Perhaps
Tsvangirai could ask his new Deputy Minister to intervene (see: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/oct15_2011.html#Z2
- SA Ambassador to Zimbabwe criticises
lawless farm invasions)?
·
The Vigil was pleased that
South Africa didn’t give its routine support to Zimbabwe’s litany of lies at the
UN’s human rights meeting in Geneva. While the usual suspects, from Iran and
Cuba to Syria and Venezuela, supported Zimbabwe’s claim to be a beacon of human
rights, South Africa called for an investigation into the killings during the
last elections (see: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/oct15a_2011.html#Z20
– Stop human rights abuses).
·
As we embarked on our tenth
year outside the Embassy, we were joined by two couples visiting London from
Zimbabwe. They took part in the dancing and bought our knitted hats in
Zimbabwean colours.
·
A group from the Vigil are to
sing, dance and drum at an event to celebrate Black History at City and
Islington College. The Vigil is also providing a speaker – David Kadzutu,
International Relations Secretary of the newly-formed ‘Zimbabwe We Can’
movement, will speak of his experiences as a human rights activist.
For latest Vigil
pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 78 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND
NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN News.
The
Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the
video check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch
other Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
ROHR Manchester
Vigil. Saturday
29th October from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens, Manchester City Centre
(subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens). Contact; Delina Tafadzwa
Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira
07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future demonstrations: 26th
November, 31st December. Same time and venue.
·
ROHR Manchester
Meetings. Saturday
12th November (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting
from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation
Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor Road, Manchester M13 9UB. Contact; Delina
Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika
Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future meetings:
10th December. Same times / venue.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s
acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy by post in the UK
please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 16/10/11.
Reports that Zanu-pf MPs are
allegedly making frantic moves to block further
prosecutions of their party
youths accused of killing political opponents in
previous elections (The
Standard, 16/10/11) are regrettable but come as no
surprise.
According to the weekly, having previously relied on the
youths for their
election campaigns, the Zanu-pf members of parliament fear
that convictions
might harm their chances of re-election in next year’s
elections.
Zimbabwean scholars have already exposed Zanu-pf’s culture of
intolerance.
For instance James Muzondiya, discussion on Zanu-pf’s culture
of intolerance
in his contribution, ‘From Buoyancy to Crisis, 1980-1997’, in
Brian
Raftopoulos, Alois Mlambo (ed) Becoming Zimbabwe: a history from the
pre-colonial period to 2008, p177).
Muzondiya says this ‘culture of
intolerance’ badly affected Zanu-pf’s
practice of the democratic ideals it
espoused. Although multiparty elections
were held regularly throughout the
1980’s and 1990s, their organisation
betrayed the government’s lack of
tolerance of political diversity and
commitment to democratic
politics.
Similarly, the late UZ lecturer Professor Masipula Sithole
observed that the
commandist nature of mobilisation and politicisation under
clandestine
circumstances used during the liberation struggle gave rise to
the politics
of intimidation and fear.
“Opponents were viewed in
warlike terms, as enemies, and therefore
illegitimate. The culture from the
liberation struggle was intolerant and
violent,” according to Masipula
Sithole (see Masipula Sithole, ‘Zimbabwe: In
search of stable democracy,’ in
L Diamond et al Democracy in Developing
Countries: Vol 2, Africa,
p245).
Scholars believe that Zanu-pf approaches elections as ‘battles’
and views
political opponents as enemies to be annihilated rather than as
political
competitors.
According to Sithole, the party’s electoral
dominance was partly achieved
through its Gukurahundi strategy, which
entailed ‘an undisguised,
intolerant, commandist and deliberately violent
policy towards the
opposition’ (see M Sithole and J Makumbe, ‘Elections in
Zimbabwe: The
Zanu-Pf Hegemony and its incipient decline’, Africa Journal of
Political
Science, 2 (1), 1997, p133).
Violent elections were also
experienced in 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2008 with
the most tragic polls being
the 2008 presidential run-off when over 200 MDC
supporters were murdered by
suspected Zanu-pf activists.
What is more worrying is the alleged
plan by the party’s MPs to reportedly
get Robert Mugabe to use his powers to
stop the trials. This vindicates our
concerns about the unfettered powers of
the president under the current
constitution.
It is not surprising
why Zanu-pf is adamant on retaining POSA and AIPPA as
well as not giving in
on the Human Rights Commission Bill. At the same time,
if the internal
jostling to replace Mugabe while the constitutional
loopholes are still
there is successful there will be serious consequences
for the
country.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com
BILL WATCH
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE SERIES
[14th October 2011]
Public Hearings on 2012 National Budget
The House of Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Budget,
Finance and Investment Promotion will be holding public hearings on the 2012 National Budget from
17th to 21st October. The committee will
operate in two teams. The team programmes are as follows:
Team 1 - Harare, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East,
Manicaland and Masvingo provinces
Monday 17th October
Harare – Rainbow Towers, 9am to 4pm
Tuesday 18th October
1. Bindura – Kimberley Reef Hotel, 9am to 11am
2. Marondera –
Farmers Hall, 2pm to 4 pm
Wednesday 19th October
Mutare – Queen’s Hall, 9am to 11am
Thursday 20th October:
Masvingo – Civic Centre Hall, 9am to 11am
Friday 21st October:
Chiredzi – Chitsanga Hall, 9am to 11am
Team 2 – Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo,
Matabeleland South
and Matabeleland North provinces
Monday 17th October
Chinhoyi – Cooksey Memorial Hall, 9am to 11am
Tuesday 18th October
1. Gokwe – Cheziya
Community Hall, 9am to 11am
2. Gweru – Gweru
Theatre, 2pm to 4pm
Wednesday 19th October:
1. Bulawayo – Small City Hall, 9am to 11am
2. Gwanda – Gwanda Hotel, 2pm to 4pm
Thursday 20th October:
Lupane – Lupane Community Hall, 11am to 1pm
Friday 21st October:
Victoria Falls – Leambe Conference Room, Kingdom Hotel, 9
am to 11am
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee is Hon Paddington Zhanda,
MP. The committee clerk is Mr Chris
Ratsakatika.
The portfolio committee is obliged by the Public Finance Management
Act “to conduct
public hearings to elicit the opinions of as many stakeholders in the national
annual budget as possible”.
The 2012
Budget Strategy Paper [BSP], launched last week by the Minister of Finance, has
been made available to the public to encourage “full participation by stakeholders in order
to build consensus on the priorities that should guide the preparation of the
2012 Budget”. [The
BSP can be downloaded from the Ministry’s website at www.zimtreasury.org/downloads/921.pdf. It is a pdf file of
approximately 1.2 MB. If you do not have
Internet access please request a copy from veritas@mango.zw.]
Interested
groups and organisations, and all members of public, are invited to attend these
hearings, at which they have the opportunity to give evidence and make oral
representations. Contributions made will
be considered by the portfolio committee in compiling a report to be tabled in
the House of Assembly.
If you
want to make oral representations at a hearing you should signify this to the
Committee Clerk so that he can notify the chairperson to call on you. An oral submission is more effective if it is
followed up in writing. If you are
making a written submission, it is advisable to take as many copies as possible
for circulation at the hearing.
If
you are unable to attend a hearing, written submissions and correspondence are
also welcome and may be addressed to: The Clerk of Parliament, Attention:
Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion, P.O. Box CY298,
Causeway, Harare. If delivering, please
use the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue entrance to Parliament, between Second and Third
Streets.
For further information please contact the committee clerk, Mr Chris
Ratsakatika. Telephone 04-700181-9,
252936, extension 2282. Fax
04-252935.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied.