Zim Online
Friday 20 October
2006
JOHANNESBURG - The much vaunted US$300 million
investment deal that
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono
signed with a Russian
group is bogus, it has been established.
Reports from Russia and ZimOnline's own investigations have
established that
the "businessmen" with whom Gono signed the investment deal
have no
credibility in Russian business circles.
In fact, they are mostly
briefcase operators with no traceable
credentials. Some do not even have
proper offices and telephones and their
deals with Gono are a huge
hoax.
It is not clear whether Gono knowingly invited these
briefcase
operators to hoodwink Zimbabweans into believing that the
government's "Look
East" policy was bearing fruit when they haven't got a
penny to invest in
Zimbabwe let alone the US$300 million
claimed.
Relentless efforts to contact the RBZ governor failed
yesterday as his
cell phone was kept on voicemail.
The deal was
concluded after Gono invited 31 businessmen and 17
Russian journalists to
tour Zimbabwe.
At the end of their trip, Gono invited the media to
witness the
signing of the multi-million dollar memorandum of understanding
(MoUs) in
the power, aviation and mining sectors with the Russian group
called
Rusaviatrade, reported to be the designated lead company for the
Russian
delegation.
"These MOUs are worth US$300 million, but
we hope we will develop our
relations so that we bring more investments into
the country," said Yury
Pancheko the external affairs director of
Rusaviatrade at the signing
ceremony.
South Africa's respected
business and financial daily, Business Day,
said Rusaviatrade's website
remained "under construction" and the two
telephone lines listed under the
company name did not even work.
The newspaper's correspondent from
Moscow said in the report that
Panchenko's company was so small that it was
virtually unknown in Moscow's
aviation industry.
The newspaper
also quoted sources at Renova, the Russian mining group
most active in
southern Africa as saying Rusaviatrade was in fact unknown.
One of
Russia's main aviation firms, the Russian Aviation Company
(RusAvia), said
despite the similarity in names, it had no links with
Rusaviatrade
whatsoever.
In fact, RusAvia had no dealings with Zimbabwe and was
represented in
India not Zimbabwe.
The Russian foreign ministry
in Moscow said it had no information on
the delegation's visit to
Zimbabwe.
ZimOnline enlisted the help of a reputable South African
businessman
with close links to Russian investors in Africa to establish the
authenticity of the US$300 million deal and whether any reputable investors
were included in the delegation to Zimbabwe.
His investigations
established that no one from the main business
chambers in Russia nor from
any of the reputable companies operating in
Africa was in the delegation
that visited Zimbabwe.
The major Russian companies seeking
investment or already established
in Africa's resources sector did not even
know about the visit.
"The answer I am getting from my Russian
counterparts is that only an
insane businessman will invest U$300 million in
Zimbabwe under the present
circumstances in that country," said the South
African businessman who
insisted on his name not being used.
"Maybe Mr Panchenko has a lot of money that he can throw around.
Unfortunately, he is not known and he certainly does not belong to the club
of serious Russians seeking investment in Africa.
"No one knows
where he will get the US$300 million to pump into your
country..but perhaps
as Zimbabweans, keep your fingers crossed," said the
businessman with a
whiff of humour.
Although Zimbabwe has signed a number of
multi-million dollar deals
with other Asian countries, mainly China, nothing
has come out of them and
only the very optimistic believe the country will
benefit from the
"Look-East" policy.
But at least such deals
have been signed with known businesses.
If Gono did deliberately
fabricate the latest deal with his Russian
friends and raised people's
expectations knowing that nothing tangible will
materialise, then he has
indeed taken long suffering Zimbabweans on a
reckless ride. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 20 October
2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF
party will table a motion
in Parliament demanding the sacking of Zimbabwe's
top union leaders, in what
insiders say is the first step by the ruling
party to annexing the powerful
but pro-opposition labour
movement.
In a motion to be moved by ZANU PF legislator for Makonde
constituency
Leo Mugabe - a close nephew of the Zimbabwean President - the
party will
request Parliament to ask Labour Minister Nicholas Goche to
replace Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo
and his entire
team with a "new look management".
ZANU PF
insiders say the "new look management" team will comprise
pro-government
labour leaders at the moment forming a tiny minority within
the ZCTU top
echelons.
Mugabe, who accuses present ZCTU leaders of unethical
conduct,
violating foreign exchange laws and of abandoning workers to pursue
politics, says in the proposed motion that a new union should "concentrate
on its core business of representing workers rather (job) stayaways that
have failed to address bread and butter issues in the country."
According to Parliament's order paper, the ruling party should have
moved
the motion in the House of Assembly last Tuesday but could not do so
following adjournment of the House to October 31. The motion is most likely
to be moved immediately when the House resumes.
ZANU PF
controls more than enough seats in both the Lower House and
the Senate to
carry the motion that could see the government effectively
silence the ZCTU,
which gave birth to the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party seven years ago.
But the ZCTU yesterday vowed to resist moves
by the ruling party or
the government to either weaken or gain total control
of the union by
forcing out present leaders and replacing them with ZANU PF
allies.
"The government and ruling party have failed to crush or
dilute the
power of the ZCTU now they are turning to abusing Parliament due
to their
majority in the house," ZCTU spokesman Mlamuleli Sibanda
said.
He added: "Now they want to deal with us politically but the
ZCTU will
always continue its mandate to represent workers by pointing out
what is
wrong or right as far as workers' welfare is concerned in this
country.
Workers will never be intimidated by political
threats."
Neither Goche nor Mugabe was available yesterday for
comment on the
matter.
The ZCTU has remained a thorn on the
side of the Harare administration
organising demonstrations and job
stayaways by workers to protest one of the
severest ever economic crises in
the world in recent times.
But protests called by the ZCTU last
month against worsening economic
conditions stalled after the police staged
a massive security operation,
arresting 31 top leaders of the union who they
also allegedly severely
assaulted and tortured.
However
tensions remain high as Zimbabwe grapples with an economic
meltdown the ZCTU
and the MDC blame on state mismanagement. Zimbabwe has the
highest inflation
rate in the world of more than 1 000 percent, skyrocketing
unemployment,
shortages of foreign currency, food, fuel, power and
increasing poverty
levels. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 20 October
2006
BULAWAYO - Police in Zimbabwe's second largest
city of
Bulawayo have in the past two days arrested scores of shop
managers
for allegedly hiking prices of basic commodities without approval
from the
government.
Business leaders in the city told
ZimOnline that mangers at some of
the leading wholesale and retail chains
were rounded up by police in a joint
exercise that also involved members of
the state's spy Central Intelligence
Organisation.
The managers
who spent Wednesday night in police custody were still in
custody by late
Thursday afternoon.
"All managers of major businesses here are in
detention and there is
no sign of them being released," said Eddie Cross, a
businessman operating
in Bulawayo and an economic adviser to the main
faction of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Callisto Jokonya
called
the arrest a retrogressive step to efforts to halt Zimbabwe's
seven-year
economic slide.
"We understand that the people that have arrested
the managers are not
instituted by the Ministry of Industry and
International Trade. We don't
know yet who has authorised the arrests. It is
very unfortunate. We are
pursuing a wrong agenda," he said.
Jokonya said senior officials at some of the country's biggest
retailers and
wholesalers such as OK Zimbabwe, TM Supermarkets, RedStar,
Jaggers, and
Makro had confirmed that their managers had been picked up by
the
police.
Both police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena and Industry and
Trade Minister
Obert Mpofu were not immediately available for comment on the
matter.
But Mpofu has in the past threatened to crack down on
businesses that
unilaterally increase prices without permission from his
department.
President Robert Mugabe's government, battling to keep
a lid on rising
prices and runaway inflation, has banned business from
hiking prices of
selected basic goods without prior permission from the
state.
More than 200 bakers and retailers were last month arrested
for
selling bread above the price set by the government. They were later
released.
Skyrocketing prices are just one on a long list of
problems
bedevilling Zimbabwe in its seventh year of an economic meltdown
described
by the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a war
zone.
The southern African country also has the world's highest
inflation
rate of more than 1 000 percent, skyrocketing unemployment,
shortages of
foreign currency, food, fuel, essential medicines and
increasing poverty
levels. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 20 October
2006
HARARE - Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai tomorrow kicks off
a nationwide campaign in rural areas to drum
up support for his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party in next week's
rural district council
elections and also to mobilise rural communities to
back anti-government
protests the MDC has promised to
call.
Tsvangirai and his wing of the divided MDC say they
will soon
engage in nationwide mass protests to force President Robert
Mugabe's
government to embrace sweeping political
reforms.
The MDC leader and his team will be based in the
rural areas and
are expected back in the office in Harare at the end of next
week, party
officials told ZimOnline.
"This is the first
time we have mooted such a campaign and the
president and his team will be
literally living with the people and sleeping
in villages to drum up support
for the party," said a top party official,
who requested anonymity because
he is not allowed to speak to the press.
Tsvangirai will
address 20 rallies in the next eight days at
rural centres in Mutoko,
Chimanimani, Mutare, Zvishavane, Gokwe, Silobela,
Chivi, Shamva, Chiweshe,
Mhondoro and Goromonzi.
Tsvangirai's message is expected to
urge the electorate to vote
for his party in the council polls as well as to
bolster and spread the
message for nationwide mass
protests.
The MDC has not given a time-frame for its protest
programme,
saying it will not be stampeded into action without completing
the necessary
groundwork for successful protests.
Meanwhile, the Tsvangirai-led MDC yesterday filed an urgent
application at
the High Court against an order by a lower court to bar the
party's rallies
in Seke rural district in Mashonaland East province.
A lower
court earlier this week consented to an application by a
ruling ZANU PF
party-dominated Manyame rural district council to bar the MDC
from holding
eight rallies in eight wards, saying the opposition party
should pay the
council first.
Tafadzwa Mugabe, the lawyer representing the
MDC, said the
matter had been set down for hearing today. He said the court
could not bar
rallies that had been approved by the
police.
"There is no provision in the law that allows a
council to bar
rallies that have been approved by the police. It is the
police that give
the go-ahead and nowhere in the country has a political
party paid a council
for holding a rally in an open space," Mugabe
said.
Both the Tsvangirai faction of the MDC and the Arthur
Mutambara-led wing of the opposition party have complained that ZANU PF was
putting in place a lot of bottlenecks to hamstring their campaigns for the
council polls - a charge the ruling party denies. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 20 October
2006
BULAWAYO - A Zimbabwe opposition
official on Thursday appeared in
court in Gwanda town on allegations that he
distributed pamphlets inciting
the army to revolt against the
government.
Sithatshisiwe Sibanda, who is the provincial
administrator for a
faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led
by Arthur Mutambara,
was arrested on Wednesday for breaching the tough
Public Order and Security
Act (POSA).
Sibanda was remanded out
of custody on free bail to November 17.
The state alleges that
Sibanda last month distributed subversive
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union
(ZCTU) pamphlets inciting the army and
police to revolt against the
government.
The ZCTU last month attempted to hold protests in
Harare over
worsening economic hardships in the country. The protests were
however
violently put down by state security agents.
MDC
spokesman for Matabeleland South province, Zinti Mnkandla said the
arrest of
Sibanda was nothing but a clear case of political harassment.
"There was nothing sinister with the ZCTU pamphlets and Sibanda was
not even
distributing the pamphlets but the pamphlets were in the office for
anyone
who wanted to read to pick them up," said Mnkandla.
The arrest of
Sibanda comes barely a week after the police also
arrested another MDC
legislator Abednico Bhebhe and a former white
commercial farmer, Peter
Goosen on allegations of assaulting members of a
pro-government labour union
in Bulawayo.
The MDC accuses the police of harassing its officials
on flimsy
grounds. Several of the party's senior officials have been
arrested during
the past six years with none of them ever being convicted in
a court of
law. - ZimOnline
[This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 19 Oct 2006 (IRIN) -
A government spokesman's remark that he has no
regrets over the masscare of
about 20,000 people by Zimbabwean security
forces nearly 20 years ago is
reopening old wounds and pitting the country's
deputy president against
President Robert Mugabe.
ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira made the
comments during a recent
workshop in Manicaland Province, bordering
Mozambique, almost two decades
after a five-year reign of terror in the
southern provinces of Midlands and
Matabeleland by Zimbabwean soldiers of
Five Brigade, who were trained by
North Korea.
"No, I don't regret
the deployment of the Five Brigade - the brigade was
doing a good job to
protect the people. It was because the dissidents were
killing people that
Gukurahundi [Five Brigade] was deployed to try and
protect the people,"
Shamuyarira said.
Gukurahundi, meaning 'the first rains of the season
which wash away all the
chaff' in the Shona language, was sent to the
provinces two years after
Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980,
following the liberation
war against the white-minority government of Ian
Smith.
The main opposition groups fighting the war against Smith's
government were
the late Joshua Nkomo's PF-ZAPU, which drew most of its
support from the
Ndebele people in southwestern Zimbabwe, and Mugabe's
ZANU-PF, whose cadres
were mainly drawn from the majority Shona people in
the north.
The five-year Operation Gukurahundi, condemned internationally
for the
violence it unleashed on mainly rural Ndebele, ended in 1987 when
the Unity
Accord was signed and the two political parties merged under the
banner of
ZANU-PF.
Mugabe's government justified the operation by
claiming that they were
suppressing apartheid South Africa-backed dissidents
destabilising the
region, although many people believed it was a pretext for
asserting ZANU-PF
hegemony in Nkomo's stronghold. The PF-ZAPU leader was
hounded into exile in
Britain during Gukurahundi.
At Nkomo's burial
in Heroes Acre in the capital, Harare, Mugabe described
Gukurahundi as "a
time of madness which should not be repeated again".
Shamuyarira's recent
statement that he had no regrets about the killings
raised the ire of
vice-president Joseph Msika, whose politics are rooted in
Nkomo's
PF-ZAPU.
At a rally last week in Bulawayo, in the southwestern province
of
Matabeleland, Msika dismissed Mugabe's past apology for the killings.
"When
we asked him about the massacres he apologised, but I was not
convinced
about his sincerity," he said.
Msika further goaded Mugabe
at the rally by claiming that ZANU-PF had been
"lying" to the world about
being the pioneers in the liberation struggle.
"The true history of the
liberation struggle should be told. I feel I have a
duty to correct this
blatant lie ... The struggle to liberate Zimbabwe
started in Bulawayo at
Stanley Hall, when we formed the African Youth
Congress."
According
to political analysts, the ruling ZANU-PF party government is
becoming
increasingly riven by political camps, with temperatures rising
over the
presidential succession battle ahead of Mugabe's expected
retirement in
2008. The division between ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU is the oldest
faultline,
which people fear could be used to ignite ethnic rivalries for
political
gain.
A grouping of people affected by the 1980s genocide issued a
statement
condemning Shamuyarira for trying to inflame ethnic divisions
among
Zimbabweans.
"By claiming that Gukurahundi soldiers were
protecting the people, when
exactly the opposite happened, is not only false
but very provocative. The
people of Zimbabwe cannot be blackmailed any more
by such tribally motivated
chauvinism, meant to mask murder, rape and
brutality. It is our sincere
belief that the crimes and sins of Gukurahundi
fall squarely on the
perpetrators and their apologists, and are not
transferable to all
Shona-speaking people - as the cunning tribalists would
want in order to
create ethnic animosities," the statement
said.
David Coltart, a lawyer who defended PF-ZAPU's leadership,
including Nkomo,
against charges of treason by the ZANU-PF government during
Gukurahundi,
said, "The statements by Shamuyarira indicate that he is either
exceptionally callous or that he simply does not know what happened in the
Midlands and Matabeleland areas during that time, because a person with the
slightest clue of what happened would not make such reckless
statements."
Coltart recalled affidavits he had taken during Gukurahundi.
"Women spoke of
how their husbands, sons and relatives would be abducted or
simply gunned
down in cold blood. Others spoke of how their neighbours would
be herded
into huts, which would then be set on fire, while all people who
were in the
ZAPU leadership structures were killed."
By Tichaona Sibanda
19
October 2006
MDC acting treasurer-general Elton Mangoma claimed on
Thursday that
corruption in Zimbabwe has become 'endemic' and nobody,
including Robert
Mugabe, has the power or strength to stop it.
He said the problem of corruption in the country is not new but high
profile
corruption is growing in leaps and bounds as recent events with the
Ziscosteel saga show.
Commenting on the Ziscosteel saga that
has rocked the Mugabe regime to
its foundations, the MDC finance chief said
since independence in 1980 Zanu
(PF) officials have been looting the
treasury with impunity.
'Zimbabweans are suffering today because
those in a position of
authority are mindless looters. Thus, in a
notoriously corrupt society such
as ours many people are ready to offer and
receive bribes and compromise
their official position. This mentality is
impacting negatively on public
policies and the growth and development of
the society,' Mangoma said.
Expanding on the subject of graft,
Mangoma added that there are many
unresolved problems in the country, but
the issue of the upsurge of
corruption is troubling.
'And the
damages it has done to government are astronomical. The
menace of corruption
leads to slow movement of files in the civil service,
leading to fuel and
bread shortages and election irregularities, among
others,' he
said.
The lack of political momentum in Zimbabwe to counter
corruption
remains all too clear. The collapse of the Ziscosteel-Global
Steel Holdings
US$400 million deal is an indictment of the manner in which
such vital
Zimbabwean entities are being ruined.
Mangoma said
the Redcliff based steelmaker had signed the mega deal
with GSHL to
rehabilitate production plants and to help it to improve it's
production. In
return GSHL would have been entitled to operate the
refurbished assets and
manage Ziscosteel's operations for 20 years, after
which management control
would revert to the government of Zimbabwe.
Mangoma believes the
Indian based firm allegedly reneged on the deal
and took flight back to the
subcontinent after a damning report on the
operations of the steelmaker
unearthed some massive underhand dealings that
left the company
bleeding.
The report, not yet made public, led to Industry and
International
Trade minister Obert Mpofu telling parliament last month that
'influential
people' had pillaged Ziscosteel through shoddy
deals.
Mpofu, who has since backtracked on his earlier statement,
said then
that the report nailed top officials, 'including colleagues of
mine in this
parliament.'
Government has made it clear it will
not publish the devastating
report as it could further damage the country's
already battered image.
Sources told us Thursday the report on Ziscosteel
will be kept under wraps
like the Gukurahundi and other reports because of
fears it will claim
high-profile political casualties. The sources said the
saga could ruin the
political careers of people like Zanu (PF) strongman and
presidential
hopeful Emmerson Mnangagwa.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
AIDS and Poverty Stalk Zimbabwe
Schools
Once they achieved spectacular goals - but are now a shadow of their
former
selves.
By Joseph Sithole in Harare (AR No.79,
19-Oct-06)
In Zimbabwe the good news is that there is a school in almost
every village.
The bad news is that it does not really matter. Teachers
are dying of AIDS;
children orphaned by the disease cannot afford the school
fees; and those
who can often fall asleep from hunger during
class.
Unfortunately the good news is as ephemeral as the bad is
enduring.
Independence in 1980 brought with it a boon for Africans. The
new
black-dominated government led by the then premier Robert Mugabe, later
to
become state president, announced a policy of education for all at
primary
level. It expanded the health service by building clinics in remote
areas.
Both services were free and won the government huge support following
years
of destruction during the 1970s liberation war.
One of Mugabe's
most wildly cheered political slogans-cum-promises was
"Health for all by
the Year 2000".
In the euphoria of international goodwill immediately
after the end of the
war and the lifting of sanctions that had been imposed
against the white
minority-dominated Rhodesian Front government led by Ian
Smith, donors
poured in development money - for social services, schools and
hospitals and
so that boreholes could be sunk to provide clean water to
rural communities.
Government policy was that no pupil or patient should
travel more than five
kilometres to the nearest school or health
centre.
Adult literacy education programmes proliferated in countryside
and town.
These were not idle promises. Soon Zimbabwe was achieving
spectacular goals.
It attained literacy rates of more than 80 per cent by
1990. There was
nationwide immunisation of children against measles and
malaria, which alone
led to a cut in the childbirth mortality rate.
Agricultural productivity and
exports expanded exponentially, with Zimbabwe
winning the accolade of the
"breadbasket of southern Africa". Life
expectancy, 56 at independence rose
to 65 years by 1995.
But the
fairytale was too sweet to last.
Since 1997 the country's economy has
been in freefall.
That is inasmuch as Zimbabweans could then begin to see
the collapse. With
hindsight, the disaster had begun a lot earlier in 1985
when news of a
disease called AIDS first crossed our
borders.
Typically, the news was met with denial, then scepticism and
finally with
panic when it was already too late. By 1990 the official weekly
death toll
from AIDS was 3,000, although non-governmental organisations
claim this was
a conservative estimate. The United Nations Children's
Programme UNICEF
estimates there are more than 1.3 million AIDS orphans in
Zimbabwe -
children who have lost parents to AIDS or who themselves are
HIV-positive.
The education system was in decline by the early 1990s.
Schools had no books
while hospitals lacked drugs and equipment. Doctors and
nurses were
emigrating in large numbers.
Clean water in rural areas
is now a luxury as most of the borehole pumps
have broken down.
By
last year Zimbabweans had, according to the World Health Organisation,
the
lowest life expectancy on earth - just 34 years, a drop of more than 30
years in just a decade.
Kadzangarare school in Hurungwe outside
Karoi, 225 km northwest of Harare,
is emblematic of the nationwide
institutional collapse that has followed
Mugabe's "land reform" launched in
1999-2000, during which white commercial
farmers, and a handful of black
ones, were driven from their properties with
extreme violence.
Rati
Moyo, 22, graduated with a teacher's certificate from Hillside Teachers
College in Bulawayo last year. She and a female colleague were deployed to
Kadzangarare. The school buildings consist of two former tobacco-curing
barns. There are no chairs or benches to sit on - and no windows. The
teacher jots notes on a blackboard from the class's only textbook. At the
best-resourced schools five pupils share a textbook.
"The children
can't concentrate because they are always hungry, resulting in
malnutrition
and school dropouts," said Rati. This is the part of the
country with the
most fertile agricultural soils and which until the late
1990s produced
bumper crops of wheat and maize. Today, following the "land
reforms", the
farms produce nothing. They are being overcome by bush and
weeds.
"There is no piped water, there is no electricity and I have
to share the
makeshift kitchen-cum-bedroom with Mary [another teacher] from
Masvingo,"
protested Rati. Without electricity, the school cannot benefit
from Mugabe's
largesse of ten computers per school that he donated during
the most recent
election campaigns.
Teachers use a communal pit
latrine and firewood for cooking, and they have
to travel 48 km to the town
of Karoi to buy groceries. Rati's gross pay of
33,000 Zimbabwe dollars (136
US dollars at the official exchange rate; 27 at
the more realistic and most
commonly used black market rate) is a slave wage
in a country where
inflation has topped 1200 per cent and the government
itself defines the
poverty line as an income below 110,000 Zimbabwe dollars
a month.
"It
all makes decent clothing a luxury," said Rati. "I can't contemplate
visiting my mother in Mberengwa district [in the far south of Zimbabwe]. The
cheapest bus ride would cost me 8,500 Zimbabwe dollars just one
way."
At least Rati does not have to pay rent or budget money for daily
commuting,
expenses that have reduced her urban counterparts to wretched
poverty.
Beset by poor conditions and low morale, AIDS is also ravaging
the teaching
profession, with an estimated annual death toll among teachers
of 600. It is
estimated that more than 25 per cent of members of the
teaching profession
are HIV-positive. The main teaching union, the
Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe, said in a statement, "The majority
of schools in Zimbabwe have
lost at least one teacher to the disease, and at
least two to three teachers
[per school] are on AIDS-related sick
leave."
Speaking at a recent fundraising function at Daramombe school in
Chivhu, 140
km south of Harare, Anti-Corruption Minister Paul Mangwana
revealed that 278
of the school's 600 pupils at the school had been orphaned
by AIDS and that
the government was paying their fees. He stood in front of
ramshackle
structures as he appealed for the local community and businessmen
to make
donations to build more classrooms. "Britain and the United States
have
imposed sanctions on us so people should not expect foreign donations,"
he
said.
In fact, there are no such sanctions on Zimbabwe: the only
sanctions imposed
by the international community are individual ones
targeted at Mugabe and
members of his administration, judiciary and armed
services.
This honesty about AIDS in schools contrast with government
double-speak on
the disastrous food situation. Mugabe has asserted that
Zimbabwe does not
need international food aid. He has protested that donors
are trying to
"choke us ... [by] . foisting food on us instead of sending it
where it is
needed."
To drive home his point, international food
agencies were barred from
distributing food in the country except to
vulnerable groups such as orphans
and the elderly.
However, the truth
is now out. Mugabe and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made
had been insisting
for months that this year farmers had harvested 1.8
million tonnes of maize,
the staple food of 90 per cent of the people,
enough to meet national
consumption levels until April 2007.
Independent assessors said there was
no evidence of an abundant harvest. A
maximum of 700,000 tonnes of maize
would be produced, necessitating either
huge commercial imports or a rescue
effort by the World Food Programme and
other international
donors.
Now Made has begun a series of speeches admitting that his food
production
forecasts were wildly inaccurate and that no more than 700,000
tonnes of
maize have been harvested, despite good rains. He blamed shortages
of
fertiliser, seed and fuel.
The World Food Programme has launched a
new appeal for funds to feed at
least 1.4 million Zimbabweans who are likely
to starve without international
help in the coming months.
South
African farmers have so far refused to send maize to Zimbabwe,
insisting on
payment up front in view of difficulties in obtaining payments
from the
Mugabe government.
Zambia, which for decades was dependent on
international aid to feed its
people, has agreed to sell an initial 85,000
tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe's
Grain Marketing Board.
Ironically, the
maize from Zambia is produced by white commercial farmers
chased out of
Zimbabwe at the height of the violent land reform which has
caused the
current hunger stalking the nation.
Joseph Sithole is the pseudonym of an
IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.
UNICEF
National plan is a milestone in Zimbabwe's pursuit of MDGs.
The United
Nations has invested more than US$2 million to improve girls
education in
past two years in Zimbabwe
HARARE, 18 October 2006 - The
United Nations in collaboration with the
government and civil society
launched a ground-breaking National Girls
Education Strategic Plan to
increase Zimbabwe's likelihood of achieving
universal primary education and
ensuring girls stay in school.
The National Girls Education Strategic
Plan is Zimbabwe's first-ever
strategic document on girls education. It
spells out how to provide quality
basic education while keeping girls,
orphans and vulnerable children in
school, in the face of economic hardships
and challenges particularly in the
context of HIV/AIDS.
Current
statistics show that girls are the first to drop out of school
during social
and economic crisis. This is a social and economic mistake.
"Girls
education, especially up to secondary level, yields significant
benefits for
households and nations in general," said UNICEF's Head of
Education in
Zimbabwe, Cecilia Baldeh. "Educated girls can protect
themselves from HIV
and AIDS, they can contribute to reduce infant and
maternal mortality rates,
and they can foster economic growth. As the World
Bank has noted, educating
girls yields a higher rate of return than almost
any other investment
available in the developing world."
Zimbabwe has achieved gender parity
in primary enrolment, and has a 2per
cent gap in secondary completion
nationally, however Zimbabwe has
unacceptably wide gender disparities within
districts. The nine districts
with gender gaps against girls of 5 per cent
or more, in relation to
secondary school drop out rates are: Umguza (25per
cent difference between
boys and girls), Bubi (20per cent), Bullilima and
Mangwe (18per cent), Mudzi
(13per cent), Buhera (8per cent) Rushinga (5per
cent), and Mt. Darwin (5per
cent). The ninth district is Mazowe, where the
disparity of 10per cent is
against boys, who work in orange plantations. The
National Plan seeks to
redress all gender imbalances
Thus, the
National Girls Education Strategic Plan seeks to ensure that that
every
child is able to enroll, complete and realize their full potential in
education. The plan also aims to address emerging HIV/AIDS-related and
cultural challenges (such as forced early marriage, abuse and economic
exploitation) which particularly harm girls.
The Ministry of
Education, Sport and Culture is currently working with UN
agencies such as
UNESCO and UNICEF, together with NGOs to improve the equity
and quality of
education for Zimbabwe's children.
To be implemented until 2010, the Plan
will utilize community, public and
private sector partnerships to mobilize
resources for the education of every
vulnerable child, most especially
girls. Resources will be mobilized locally
and internationally. Already the
European Commission, the Government of
Japan, Swedish SIDA, and the UK's
Department for International Development
and the Government of New Zealand
(both through the NAP for OVC) have
provided much needed
support.
Between 2005 and 2006 the UN has spent more than US$2million
supporting
girls education. Key activities include:
. Review of the
basic education policies
. Establishing Girl Empowerment Clubs (GEM) clubs
across Zimbabwe
. Providing primary education scholarships
. Providing a
gender, life skills and counselling training programme for
teachers
.
Training of SDC in the co-management of schools
. Strengthening of national
EMIS data systems to ensure access to
disaggregated data
. Classroom
construction/rehabilitation and procurement of textbooks
. Educational
campaigns to track and re-enrol children out of school
The National Girls
Education Strategic Plan is the product of more than a
year's work and
consultation. It compliments existing efforts such as the
United Nations
Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) and the United Nations
Secretary General
initiative on women and girls and HIV. Nevertheless, in
many ways its
success depends on ever-greater investment. The potential
results are
priceless.
"Knowledge is power," said UNICEF's Ms Baldeh. "Power to make
personal
decisions and choices to pursue a profession, to protect one's
children, to
become self-reliant and to become an active, productive member
of society.
This is what we must ensure for the girls of this
country."
***
About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the
world's leader for children, working on the
ground in 156 countries and
territories to help children survive and thrive,
from early childhood
through adolescence. The world's largest provider of
vaccines for
developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and
nutrition, good water
and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys
and girls, and the
protection of children from violence, exploitation, and
AIDS. UNICEF is
funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of
individuals, businesses,
foundations and governments.
For further information, please
contact:
James Elder, UNICEF Zimbabwe Communication Officer: Tel + 091
276120,
jelder@unicef.org
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 17 October
President Robert Mugabe's officials turned an Irish
tourist's holiday into a
nightmare after he bought wooden curios and was
then accused of being part
of a plot to "deforest" Zimbabwe. As Frank
Gorman, 48, from Dublin was
answering questions from detectives at Harare
Central Police station last
week, Vice President Joyce Mujuru opened a
tourism expo in Harare where she
described Zimbabwe as "safe... a paradise
for tourists." Mr Gorman extended
his stay in Zimbabwe by five weeks to
secure release of his curios and left
for home yesterday, hoping an
application he has launched at the Harare High
Court will eventually
succeed. "I know this makes no sense and I should have
just abandoned my
curios but I am doing this on principle because I am
furious. I bought
curios from vendors on the side of a road in southern
Zimbabwe who have
earned their living by selling wooden carvings since
independence 26 years
ago. There are no official warnings anywhere that
tourists could be buying
carvings made from protected wood."
Two members of the government's
Forestry Commission followed Mr Gorman who
had strapped his curios on top of
a hired South African-registered vehicle.
Just as he was about to hand the
curios over to Trax International in Harare
for freighting to Dublin, the
officials apprehended him and seized the
carvings. Mr Gorman was asked for
receipts, vendors' names and their
national identity numbers. "I didn't get
receipts, nor does any tourist,
even in Harare where there are many street
markets. I didn't ask their names
either. "I have been exasperated going to
and fro trying to get this sorted
out. Now I have to go to court to try and
get them back. My curios are in
the open at the Forestry Commission and they
have knocked the horn off my
rhinoceros." He has sued the Minister of
Environment and Tourism, the
Forestry Commission and the Attorney-General
for return of his carvings. The
state accuses Mr Gorman of not being a
"normal" tourist because he bought
"many large" carvings and says he was
part of a syndicate in possession of
"illegally harvested timber."
By Lance
Guma
19 October 2006
There are allegations that Zimbabwe's
ruling party is sponsoring moves
for a breakaway Anglican church that will
have no links to the Church of
England. A senior priest within the church,
who refused to be named, says
Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga is the key to
driving this breakaway agenda.
Statements by the Archbishop of Central
Africa Bernard Malango, accusing the
Archbishop of Canterbury (the head of
the church) of interference, have also
added to the speculation. The church
has already seen the gradual
infiltration of partisan bishops and priests
into its structures and talk is
rife that they are considering a complete
break from the mother church.
Bishop Kunonga courted controversy by
openly declaring his support for
the violent land grabs by Mugabe's regime
and has faced a church trial for
threatening his opponents with death,
amongst other charges. He has received
a farm in return for his support
while several priests he has threatened
have fled the country. Lionel
Saungweme reports from Bulawayo that the
church has already modified its
prayer book and form of worship but it
remains unclear if this is part of
the breakaway moves. The Church of
England is known to support traditional
forms of worship whereas the church
in Zimbabwe is taking on a more
Pentecostal approach.
Saungweme, who also interviewed a bishop in
Bulawayo over these
allegations, has been told the state wants to use the
Anglican church as
part of its, 'command and control influence.' He was told
that lessons from
colonialism had shown the church as a key asset in
influencing community
opinions and Zanu PF was now trying to do the same.
Another ominous sign was
when Bishop Kunonga ordered the closure of all
churches and the cathedral in
Harare so that parishioners could attend his
33rd wedding anniversary. The
decision increased the split within the church
and has given rise to talk
about the lack of unity being another reason for
a possible breakaway.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Mmegi, Botswana
WHITHER BOTSWANA?
DAN MOABI
10/19/2006
5:21:18 PM (GMT +2)
During his recent visit to the United States,
President Festus Mogae
was asked what his government was doing about the
Zimbabwe problem. The
following headline (Mmegi 13 October 2006) clearly
conveyed the president's
response: "Botswana powerless on
Mugabe".
Another article in the same newspaper quoted the
President as having
said: "If the United States can do very little with
tiny, naughty North
Korea, what do you expect Botswana's 1.7 million people
can do to 14 million
people in Zimbabwe?" As I indicated previously, this is
President Mogae and
foreign minister Mompati Merafhe's standard response to
such questions.
It is, of course, a perfectly valid view. There
is absolutely nothing
that Botswana can do to remove President Robert
Mugabe's undemocratic
government from power. Everyone knows this and that is
why no one has ever
suggested that Botswana should overthrow the government
of Zimbabwe.
All that the people of Botswana and others in the
rest of the world
plead for is that our government should do more to put
pressure on Mugabe's
government to change its policies. That is, "do more"
than the quiet
diplomacy that the government and its SADC partners say they
prefer to use
to try to persuade the Zimbabwe government to change its
policies.
This strategy has clearly hopelessly failed to
achieve the desired
result. It could even be argued that it has proved
counter-productive in the
sense that it has often enabled the President of
Zimbabwe to boast to his
people that his SADC partners, unlike the
governments of Britain and the
United States, support his policies. Mugabe
has been able to do this from
time to time because by its nature, quiet
diplomacy easily lends itself to
this kind of manipulation. It is also
incapable of undermining the authority
or confidence of the Zimbabwe
government in any way. Besides, it is partly
to blame for the perception on
the part of many Zimbabweans that the failure
of neighbouring states to
criticise the Mugabe government openly means that
it is not doing anything
wrong, after all. This is, of course, exactly what
Mugabe wants. Hence, the
repeated appeals to SADC governments to adopt
different strategies towards
Zimbabwe.
What different strategy could Botswana adopt towards
Zimbabwe that
would be more effective than the current one? In my view, the
government
should opt for the strategy that previous governments of this
country
adopted in dealing with the problems of apartheid South Africa and
Ian
Smith's Rhodesia. At that time, this country was well known for its
principled and frequent condemnation of those undemocratic systems of
government. Yet, at the same time, Botswana never considered imposing trade
sanctions against either of these countries, for it would have been
unrealistic to do so.
Public criticism of what is going on
in Zimbabwe would certainly prove
far more hurtful to President Mugabe and
his government than the
government's current policy ever will. It would also
help boost the morale
of those Zimbabweans who are trying to do something
about the crisis that
confronts their country. Above all, it would be a
clear signal to the people
of Zimbabwe that we have not forsaken them, which
is what we must seem to be
doing at present. This is undesirable, for we
must never forget that the
Mugabe regime will not last forever and that it
is important that we should
be able to get along with whichever government
will eventually take over
from it.
****
I
wonder why the management of Township Rollers football club recently
decided
to take their dispute with the Botswana Football Association back to
the
High Court. Would it not have been better for the club to concentrate on
trying to limit the damage likely to be caused by their initial decision to
take the matter to court?
Presumably, the FIFA rule that
prohibits clubs from taking football
disputes to court is based on the
assumption that it should be fairly simple
to manage and settle such
disputes on the basis of regulations promulgated
by national football
associations, which makes sense. However, problems will
always arise where,
as in the Township Rollers' case, the football
association fails to
interpret or apply its regulations correctly and a club
feels obliged to go
to court.
The Notwane football club dispute of the 1990s was
another example of
this. The problem here was simply that officials of the
association seemed
extremely reluctant to deal with Notwane's fairly
straightforward complaint
about the breach of an important regulation by
another club. The matter took
an entire season before the club was able to
have it resolved fairly at the
High Court. Only diligence and fair play on
the part of our association can
help avoid such cases in the
future.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Tendai Biti
THE national executive of
the MDC held its fifth post-Congress meeting
in Bulawayo on 15 October
2006.
The meeting was historic in that it was the first time the
party had
held its executive meeting in Bulawayo.
The national
executive deliberated on the state of the party, did a
post-mortem on the
Chikomba and Rushinga by-elections and received and
deliberated on Advocate
Happias Zhou's report on the assault of in Mabvuku 2
July 2006. The national
executive also reviewed the debate in Parliament on
the Domestic Violence
Bill. Pursuant to this, a number of critical decisions
were made, which
include the following:
1 (a) That the executive committee accepts
in total the report and
extends its thanks gratitude to Advocate Zhou, Ms
Irene Petras, Mr Kay Ncube
and Mr Kudzakwashe Matibiri for their sterling
effort in producing the
report for no charge. The executive also accepted
the responsibility of Zanu
PF and its intelligence agents in infiltrating
and destabilizing the party
and the centrality of the State in the barbaric
assaults that took place on
2 July 2006.
However, the party
acknowledges the huge internal problems inherent in
Mabvuku and with
immediate effect dissolves the Tafara/Mabvuku district
executive. An interim
committee will be appointed to run the district
pending elections to be held
in 3 months time.
(b) That the party acknowledges the destructive
role played by the
sitting MP, Hon Timothy Mubhawu and for his role in the
matter, the party
immediately relieved Mubhawu of his position in Harare
province where he was
director of elections. The party further barred and
interdicted Hon Mubhawu
from dealing with any structures in Mabvuku in any
manner other than that of
organizing meetings and rallies consistent with
party programmes.
(c ) The party acknowledges the Commission's
recommendations on issues
of vetting, security and intelligence and will
shortly take measures to
address these concerns as noted in the
report.
2 (a)The party noted with regret the seriously feudalistic
and
primitively patriarchal remarks made by Hon Mubhawu in Parliament on
Wednesday, 4 October 2006. The party restated its social democratic position
and its belief in the values of solidarity, justice, equality, liberation,
freedom, transparency, humility, obedience and accountability. The party
further stated its abhorrence of violence of any nature and its recognition
of Zanu PF as the the principal actor and sponsor of all forms of violence
in Zimbabwe.
(b). Hon Mubhawu sits in the national council, the
supreme organ of
the party outside Congress, having been elected as one of
three MPs to sit
in the council representing the interests of
parliamentarians in the party.
Pursuant to his debate of 4 October 2006, the
MDC has brought forth charges
of bringing the party into disrepute against
the Hon MP. His matter is
immediately referred to the national disciplinary
committee and he is
suspended forthwith from his position in the national
council.
The party also made various serious internal decisions on
several
party matters to safeguard the interests of the party and its
integrity as a
beacon of hope to the millions of people wishing for change
in Zimbabwe.
Tendai Biti, MP is secretary general of the main MDC
that is led by
founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Business Day
Xolela
Mangcu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY
EXPECTATIONS of the SABC and its political masters are so low that I am
not
in the least surprised that Dali Mpofu is covering up for Snuki
Zikalala.
Any expectation to the contrary would have been extremely
naive. After all,
neither Mpofu nor Zikalala would have been appointed
without some serious
political backing and the concomitant political mandate
to be their master's
voices. So let's stop working ourselves into a frenzy
about Mpofu - the
problem is much bigger than that.
Some time ago I
argued that in understanding South African politics it is
useful to move
from our usual fixation with "the meaning in the situation"
at a given
moment to an analysis of "the meaning of the situation as a
whole". Mpofu's
inaction is simply a symptomatic manifestation of a broader
political,
cultural and institutional malaise in this country.
It is a malaise born
of a cynical political culture in which political
leaders brook no dissent,
feed on public resources, and then tell the sick
and the poor to eat cake.
Such political cultures never change until and
unless there is a political
revolution that ushers in a new leadership
cadre.
Some years ago I
wrote my doctoral dissertation on Harold Washington and the
transformation
of local government in Chicago. The parallels with SA are
striking. One of
my findings was that no amount of reform could reverse the
cynicism and
corruption that had taken hold in Chicago's local government.
And as
happens with such governments, a citywide progressive movement
emerged
around the person of Washington to challenge notorious city boss
Richard
Daley. Jesse Jackson described Washington's movement as "a political
riot,
an unprecedented act of disciplined rage". The distinguished African
American scholar Manning Marable called it "the most recent and most
politically advanced expression of a very deep protest tradition which is
part of black Chicago's history".
State senator for Illinois Alice
Palmer could easily have been describing
the movement that has emerged
around Jacob Zuma when she said "because
progressive people from all walks
of life had been looking for a home for a
long time, Harold's campaign
became that place".
To be sure, Zuma is no Washington, but there can be
no question that he has
emboldened SA's civil society enough to say, if
rather belatedly, "Enough is
enough".
However, if I were Zuma I would
be content with going down in history as
having been the catalyst that
liberated our political culture, for I fear
that any reach for power on his
part would simply replicate the political
intolerance we have had under
President Thabo Mbeki's rule.
After all, who says that Zuma's government
would not also want to have its
own way with the SABC, with its own Dali
Mpofus and Snuki Zikalalas? I just
don't trust liberation struggle heroes
any more, whether it's Mbeki or Zuma.
If you peel away the surface and
remove the superficial differences in
education, the two men are cut from
the same cloth of exile politics, which
is probably why they worked well
together for so long.
What this country needs is not just a change in
regimes but a change in
political culture.
I suggested last week
that a change in political culture will only come
about with a generational
leadership change. I argued that the generation of
leaders that came of age
in the 1980s had developed the kind of social skill
needed to govern a
multiethnic, multiracial and multiclass society.
Someone I hold in very
high regard in the African National Congress (ANC)
then sent me an SMS
saying that "the 1980s generation also has more hard
skills than the current
lot".
And indeed one need only look at the raft of young chartered
accountants,
engineers, economists, medical professionals, specialist
lawyers, bankers
and IT specialists of various sorts.
This is the
generation that David Halberstam once described as "the best and
the
brightest". I see them every day, living on the margins of political
society, leaving the business of government and institutional leadership to
the cronies and the mandarins.
I suspect, though, that they will take
to the streets once they feel their
careers stagnate, just as professionals
have done in places such as
Zimbabwe. At that point we will be asking
ourselves what we could have done
differently.
If anything, the SABC
demonstrates that the political class has become the
albatross around the
neck of the professional and intellectual development
of this society. Now
that Zuma has initiated a political revolution within
the ANC, the question
is whether that same ANC can give us a postnationalist
leader who can
inspire a generation of professionals without any of the
cynicism on display
at the SABC. The future of all our children demands
nothing less.
?Dr
Mangcu is visiting scholar, Public Intellectual Life Project, at the
University of Witwatersrand. He is also a nonresident WEB DuBois Fellow at
Harvard University.
The Herald
(Harare)
October 19, 2006
Posted to the web October 19,
2006
Martin Kadzere
Harare
GOVERNMENT needs to speed up the
commercialisation and privatisation of key
parastatals to save them from
collapse following the suspension of direct
funding by the Reserve
Bank.
Over the past two years, the central bank has been the principal
source of
funding for parastatals, although many of them have continued to
under
perform.
Last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono
suspended any direct funding
for non-performing public utilities. Instead
they are now expected to go
back to their parent ministries for financial
support.
"The move that was taken by the central bank calls for
expedition of
commercialisation and privatisation of these institutions," an
analyst said.
"Already some of them are in a critical financial situation
and the
withdrawal by the central bank from extending financial aid to these
institution would worsen the situation, probably resulting in some
collapsing."
Analysts cited the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company
(Ziscosteel) as one of
the public institutions that require an urgent
financial package.
The company was not performing well and only an
injection of fresh capital
would save it from sinking into murkier
waters.
An economic commentator with a local financial institution Mr
Best Doro said
the withdrawal of financial support by the Reserve Bank opens
up for
commercialisation of these institutions and eventually
privatisation.
"Naturally, parastatals should not be a burden to the
fiscus and measures
should be put in place to enhance their
viability.
"What the central bank did was very positive and this opens up
for
commercialisation followed by privatisation," said Mr Doro.
"But
in the meantime, parastatals should move away from charging uneconomic
prices for their services since current pricing structures are not
sustainable."
Economic Development Minister Mr Rugare Gumbo yesterday
said Government
would soon unveil a document that would lay some basic
guidelines on how the
process should be implemented.
Government
indicated last year it would privatise non-performing public
entities in an
effort to boost efficient discharge of critical services, but
little
progress has been made so far.
"We are moving towards that direction and
we have some parastatals that we
think need to be commercialised urgently so
that they can be effectively
run.
He said the priority would be given
to the telecommunications sector, the
Cold Storage Company and
Ziscosteel.
Some Asian companies, notably from China, have already shown
interest in
some companies, with some Memoranda of Understanding having
already been
signed.
However, concerns have been raised over the
pricing structures of some
public utilities, which analysts said was scaring
off investors.
"Some prices being charged by parastatals are not
realistic.
The Herald (Harare)
October
19, 2006
Posted to the web October 19, 2006
Jeffrey
Gogo
Harare
THE Agricultural Rural Development Authority (Arda's)
proposed restructuring
meant to cut red tape and increase productivity is
yet to materialise,
sources said this week.
The project started with
the talk of setting up a board of directors at the
parastatal and
undertaking of a human resources audit almost three months
ago.
Arda's restructuring was being done within the premises of the
new National
Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP).
Amongst
its key objectives, the NEDPP seeks to bolster agricultural
productivity and
enhance food security.
However, Agriculture minister, Dr Joseph Made who
is also responsible for
Arda's re-orientation yesterday could not shed more
light on the latest
developments.
He said: "I am not commenting on
Arda right now. I am only concerned about
agricultural production at the
moment, particularly harvest of the winter
wheat crop."
No comment
could be obtained from Arda chief executive Dr Joseph
Matowanyika.
But restructuring of the authority, which has
under-performed in recent
years, has been seen as a key step in rejuvenating
agricultural productivity
pertinent to the success of Zimbabwe's ongoing
economic recovery initiatives
and ensure national food
security.
Agriculture economists say the delayed re-orientation of the
public
enterprise may betray the country's thrust on improving productivity
within
the agriculture sector.
Over the years, Arda has failed owing
to varying capacity-constraining
factors -- principal among them --
inadequate working capital and high level
of incompetence.
The
parastatal, which started off in the colonial period as Tribal Trust
Lands
Development Corporation before being renamed Arda at Independence in
1980,
was charged with spearheading Government agricultural projects in
rural
areas.
It runs over 25 estates countrywide, which nonetheless are less
functional.
Restructuring, therefore, would be targeted at increasing
production on
these farms through timely interventions in the supply of
inputs.
Last November, President Mugabe also blasted the authority
describing it as
a total failure.
He said: "It is disheartening to
see that most land under Arda is still
without crops.
"The authority
has a lot of resources but nothing much is coming out of it
and this is not
acceptable.
"We want to see crops growing on the land and not
weeds.
"We cannot accept excuses to the effect that the authority has
just
harvested wheat because we have a duty to feed the nation.
"All
recommended reforms and restructuring at Arda should be expedited."
Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw or justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
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EMAIL: visa@businessmigration.com.au
FAX:
+612 9555 7100: PHONE + 612 9555
2333
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Ad
inserted 21 September 2006
Australia
We have a number of job
opportunities for trades' people in Australia
Fitter and turner,
Boilermakers, Welders, Diesel Mechanics, Auto
Electricians, Bosch diesel
injection specialists, Diamond Drillers
We will provide a full facility
in relocation to Australia, including visa
applications: Please contact - rebecca@aussiemigrant.com
Tel +61
7 3226
4888
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Ad
inserted 21 September 2006
Tourism and Conservation
We are looking
for a person with the following qualities.
We are looking for someone to help
us with our small but growing tourism and
conservation concern.
Applicants
should have the following attributes:
Have a interest in Wildlife - the bush
- conservation as well as tourism.
On top of this applicants must have
animal husbandry experience particularly
with horses.
MUST BE COMPETENT
RIDER, BE ABLE TO GET ON WITH AND MANAGE STAFF
PREPARED TO TRAVEL
INTERNALLY IN ZIM BETWEEN OUR 2 SAFARI DESTINATIONS
HAVE GOOD OBSERVATIONS
AND RECORD KEEPING SKILLS
IDEALLY HAVE LEARNER GUIDE OR FULL PROFESSIONAL
LICENSE, HAVE DRIVERS
LICENSE
NOT AFRAID OF HARD WORK AND LONG HOURS -
ASSOCIATED WITH TOURISM.
IDEALLY THIS POSITION WILL SUIT YOUNG SINGLE
MALE WITH FARMING OR BUSH
BACKGROUND OR OLDER SINGLE PERSON
OR MARRIED
COUPLE WITH FARMING BACKGROUND.
PLEASE CONTACT: 04 861766, 091 256434 OR riding@vardensafaris.com
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Ad
inserted 28 September 2006
Vacancies Available
Financial manager /
Office Administrator
for medium sized agricultural
concern
Book-keeper
Flexi-time, casual environment, handling accounts
for a small Internet
subscription business. Knowledge of turbocash or pastel
an added bonus but
not essential, but must be computer
literate.
Please email CV's to rob@arniston.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 28 September 2006
GARAGE / MAINTENANCE MANAGER
This
position would suit a self-driven, committed, elderly or retired
gentleman
with a good knowledge of vehicle maintenance (especially Land
Cruisers) and
man management. It would assist if the incumbent has
experience in
overseeing other maintenance such as refrigeration repairs,
plumbing and
building, but this is not essential. Clock-watchers need not
apply. This is
a very pleasant and happy environment and we would like to
keep it that way,
so a good sense of humour would be great. Salary is
negotiable to the right
person and good perks are offered. This position is
available immediately.
Interested persons please contact Mr. Rogers on
(016) 596 or send CVs by fax
to (016) 256 or email them to
tshafari@mweb.co.zw
SECRETARY
TOURISM/HUNTING WANTED
Secretary in tourism/hunting needed. Word, Email
and common sense required.
Is a very interesting and can be very entertaining
too. Salary negotiable.
Contact tshafari@mweb.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 28 September 2006
Position - Cropping Manager
Location -
Northern Zambia, between Ndola and Kitwe.
Responsibilities - Preparation of
annual cropping budgets and cash flows,
overseeing and controlling all
aspects of irrigated (450ha) and rain fed
(700 - 1000ha) row crop production
(predominantly winter wheat and summer
maize and soya)
Qualifications
- Extensive experience and traceable performance in row
cropping and
agricultural management, as well as being computer literate.
Degree/diploma
will be necessary in order to obtain employment permit.
Remuneration -
attractive $ salary, normal farm perks, accommodation,
company vehicle,
performance based bonus scheme, medical aid etc. Contact:
Mick on selby@iwayafrica.com
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Ad
inserted 28 September 2006
VACANCY
Vacancy exists for husband/wife
couple to assist in running rural
workshop/superette. All benefits: i.e.,
vehicle, house, and medical aid.
Please submit CV's to borser@comone.co.zw. Phone for reply to
011408986.
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Ad
inserted 5 October 2006
Cook/domestic wanted
I am looking for a
cook/domestic worker - someone who is honest and
trustworthy, with traceable
references.
Contact <rsjsgardini@zol.co.zw> or 011 604
084
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Ad
inserted 5 October 2006
Gardener Wanted
Borrowdale area. Prefer to
share with someone in the area as no
accommodation available.
091 865 666
/ 882013 (pm) secretary@plastique.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 5 October 2006
Teacher Wanted
ONCE UPON A TIME NURSERY
SCHOOL is looking for a teacher for January 2007.
If you are a qualified
Primary, Infants or Nursery School trained teacher
you will find this a
rewarding position. We have a happy work atmosphere,
wonderful equipment, and
offer an excellent salary.
For more information phone Rosy on 776470 or
091-216730 or Andy on 746811
or
091-315455
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-------------
Ad
inserted 12 October 2006
S. KOREA
We are seeking 'Foreign
Teachers' to teach English in Seoul S. Korea. We
offer 12-month contracts
with good salary and conditions of employment.
Please send your CV if you can
fulfill ALL the criterion listed below.
Brief description.
Ten years
ago (1996) Dr. Jeong established a private tuition college in
Seoul, South
Korea. The college provides extra tuition in all subjects to
Korean school
students..most of whom are of primary school and early high
school age. The
majority of the staff are Korean teachers. However, ALL the
English teachers
are recruited from outside Korea. In order to be eligible
for an E-2 teaching
visa.. The Korean government stipulates that the
following two requirements
are met:
1) The teacher speaks English as a first language. i.e. 'grew up in
a home
where English was spoken.' This applies irrespective of their country
of
origin. For example we get many applications from Australians who are
of
Asian descent. Unfortunately, we are unable to employ them despite
most
applicants having outstanding qualifications.
2) The teacher has a
university degree. The degree MUST have been completed
in English. However, a
teaching degree is not required, nor is teaching
experience. although clearly
this is an advantage.
Ideally, the applicant has completed a recognized
TESOL course. However,
this requirement is not mandatory.
Send
applications of interest to mennellmike@optusnet.com.au
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Ad
inserted 12 October 2006
Situation Vacant
Balance Sheet Bookeeper
- Either half or full day (what is important is to
get the job done!),
Borrowdale surburban, friendly (if not 'flash'!)
environment. Immediate or
ASAP start. Phone Rob on 011 604 136 or email
rebeare@africaonline.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 5 October 2006
Floor Manager Wanted
Position for a floor
manager in a vegetable wholesaling business 15 km
outside of Harare. 4 day
week and would suit an energetic gentleman
experience not
essential.
House a usual farm perks offered. Please contact 011 208447
or
011
207639.
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Ad
inserted 12 October 2006
Accountant wanted
Blackfordby College of
Agriculture is looking for a suitably qualified
accountant to fill the
position of Bursar. The job: To run the accounts
section of the college and
farm from a-z, the preparation of college and
farm budgets and cash flows and
to provide monthly management reports for
Board meetings. Knowledge of
agriculture may be an added advantage. Only
applicants with solid accounting
experience and those fluent with PASTEL and
EXCEL will be considered. The
package includes company car, medical aid,
competitive salary, with house
free water free lights and other benefits.
The successful applicant will
reside at the college about 70km from Harare
in the Mazowe / Concession
area. The job of assistant matron may be offered
to the wife of the
successful applicant. Phone for interview appointment.
Details of CV to be
sent to The Principal. P O Box EH197 Emerald Hill,
Harare, Zimbabwe. Phone;
075-2532 / 2533, Fax 075-2539, e-mail
agfordby@mweb.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 12 October 2006
HUNTING SAFARI MANAGER
Position open in
Pemba, Mozambique, for a manager for a large hunting
operation. Responsible
for all aspects of the operation: permits, trophies,
camps, equipment,
stocks, etc. Previuos hunting experience not required but
proof of
managerial ability essential. Good terms and conditions available.
Reply to
tlane@mweb.co.zw with
CV
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Ad
inserted 19 October 2006
Vacancy: Farm Manager, Lusaka Zambia
A
vacancy is available for a dynamic farm manager just outside
Lusaka
Zambia.
The ideal candidate would be:-a single, Black- Fordby
Graduate or similarly
educated type of person.
The farm produces: -
tobacco, maize, wheat and cattle.
Attractive salary, normal farm perks
and production-based bonus will be
offered.
For further information,
Phone 00 260 1213633 (evenings) or 00 260 96748249.
or 04
443017.
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Ad
inserted 19 October 2006
General Manager
Vacancy as a General
Manager will arise at the end of November 2006. The
position is within the
textile industry and a more mature person from either
gender is being
sought. The ideal person must have a working knowledge of
sewing (the
present incumbent is male) or have immediate access to a backup
who can
advise on the more technical aspects of sewing and knitting and be
prepared
to work in an all-female environment.
The candidate will be expected to be
not only General Manager but bookkeeper
to trial balance, be computer
literate in Excel, Word and email. Experience
in export procedures would be
an added advantage. This position will be
suitable to people living in the
Mount Pleasant, Borrowdale, Gun Hill,
Newland, Greendale, Eastlea areas of
Harare.
Please forward your application and CV to aztec@zol.co.zw for to P O Box
BW1510
Borrowdale. Remuneration package will be discussed at the
interview.
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Ad
inserted 19 October 2006
Bookkeeper/Secretary
Our wonderful
bookkeeper/secretary is leaving for South Africa and we need
to try and
replace her. Mornings only in a small but chaotic office in
Hillside,
Bulawayo, for a wildlife and ostrich ranch. Mostly bookkeeping
(to trial
balance plus company tax, VAT returns, salaries and PAYE), trophy
export
documentation and some secretarial (emails and letters).
Meticulousness,
common sense and a good sense of humour all essential. To
start in December
(end November for handover if possible).
Please email in the first place
to rosslyn@netconnect.co.zw with
contact
details and previous
experience.
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Ad
inserted 19 October 20006
Childminder Wanted
Mature maid wanted to
look after children, cook all meals, clean house, all
basic domestic
chores.
Must have experience and traceable references.
Accommodation
and competitive wage offered. Emerald Hill area.
Call Mrs. Revolta 339733
or email tamken@zol.co.zw
Ad
inserted 19 October 2006
Vancancy
Vacancy exists for husband/wife
couple to assist in running rural superette.
All benefits: i.e., vehicle,
house, medical aid.
Please submit CV's to borser@comone.co.zw. Phone for reply to
011 408
986.
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Ad
inserted 19 October 2006
Consultants Wanted
Consultants wanted for
a 40 day project in Zimbabwe ? Anyone interested
should contact r.clark@agrisol.co.zw. A good knowledge
of Zimbabwe's sugar
industry and farming conditions in the low veldt would be
extremely useful.
1. Rural Development Sociologist
The person
must have a thorough understanding of Zimbabwean rural society
and social and
economic characteristics of Zimbabwe in general. Experience
with gender,
environmental, social, economic and poverty issues is
essential. The person
must have at least 5 years experience in the
formulation and evaluation of
development programmes.
2. Agronomist
Ideally the person must
have a post-graduate degree in agronomy. The person
must have at least 10
years of experience with the Zimbabwean sugar sector,
and substantial
experience in irrigated agriculture in general.
Overall, the proposed
team must have a thorough knowledge of business skills
for full understanding
of the larger players in the Zimbabwean sugar sector,
as well as development
skills to assess issues related to the smallholder
sugarcane
growers.
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Employment
Sought
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 19 October 2006-10-19
Bookkeeper / Administrator
I am a
23 year old lady that currently works & resides in Harare. I will
be
relocating to Gweru in December and I am looking for a placement in
the
above position or similar. I am capable of performing the
following
functions:-
Accounting:
- Cashbook (manual &
computerised)
- Petty Cash payments and analysis
- Bank
Reconciliation's
- Debtors Invoicing, Statements & Debt collections
-
Creditors Analysis, Reconciliation's and payments
- Budgets and Cash
flows
- Journals and Ledgers
- Monthly Income Statements
- Draft Year
End Financial Statements & Income Tax Computations
- Salaries
and wages administration
- Capital Gains Tax Calculations and
reconciliation's
- VAT Calculations and payments
- PAYE Calculations,
payments and reconciliation's
- NSSA payments and administration
- NEC
payments and returns
- ZIMDEF payment and returns
- Medical Aid
administration
Administration:
- Company Secretarial work (statutory
returns) such as forms CR14, CR6, CR2,
Annual Returns, Company formation and
registration procedures.
- Functions of moderate Personnel
Management
Computer Literacy:
- Pastel Versions 5 - 8
- QuickBooks
(moderate knowledge)
- Belina Payroll
- Microsoft Office
For a
detailed Curriculum Vitae please contact: P. Russell - 011 646 268 or
756 841
or 756 850.
accounts@decisionstrading.com
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Ad
inserted 7 September 2006
I am a highly experienced individual with a
varied background and a tertial
education. I am seeking a position in sales
and marketing, advertising,
shipping or similar areas. Please call Cheryl on
776 875 or
011
628451
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Ad
inserted 14 September 2006
Gardener
Gardener looking for job for
three days a week. Accommodation needed.
Preferably in the Alex Park
area.
Phone
744075
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Ad
inserted 14 September 2006
BALANCESHEET BOOKEEPER/ADMINISTRATOR
I
am a 39-year-old man looking for placement in the above post and am
very
proficient in the following functions.
ACCOUNTING:
i) Cash
book entries
ii) Bank reconciliation's
ii) Debtors invoicing and
administration
iii) Creditors invoicing and administration
iv) Fixed Asset
Registers
v) Monthly Management Accounts
vi) Balance Sheeting
vii)
Income Tax Computation
ADMINISTRATION:
Company Secretarial
Work
Deeds Office Searches
Company Registrations
Forms CR14, Forms CR6,
Forms CR2
Annual Returns
Handling Judicial Managements and
Liquidations
Salaries
NSSA Registrations and Returns
NEC
Returns
P.A.Y.E administration
Bank Transfers via Paynet
Software
Medical aid
Pension Fund returns
Reconciling various salaries
related accounts
COMPUTER LITERACY:
Pastel Accounting Version 4 to
7
Solution 6 Accounting*
Microsoft Office (Excel & Word)
Belina
Payroll
Paynet Salaries, Paywell Payroll*, Payplus Payroll*
Denotes
packages used a while ago requiring some recapping
Please contact Peter
Andrew TAPIWA on Telephone 04 740233 or e-mail
andrew@guardtec.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 28 September 2006
Employment Sought
Workshop, parts
manager and motor mechanic looking for employment.
Please contact me on
091 772 473 or 011 732
084
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For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
(updated 19 October 2006)