http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Guthrie Munyuki
Saturday, 23
October 2010 16:05
HARARE - The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (The
Coalition), has warned that
Zimbabwe could plunge into violent political
conflict if the Southern
African Development Community (Sadc) fails to
address outstanding issues
that have drawn sharp differences within the
unity government.
"Zimbabwe's political environment remains poisoned
with violence,
intimidation and fear, despite the constitution of the
National Security
Council, which has failed to ensure meaningful civilian
oversight over the
security forces and check the existence, as an
alternative-governing centre
of the Joint Operations Command
(JOC).
"Without external assistance from SADC and its member states in
the
management of elections and in setting up mechanisms to prevent
violence,
the next election may be no different from the chaotic and violent
June 2008
polls, if not worse," the Coalition said during its meeting with
President
Jacob Zuma's representative team in Johannesburg last
week.
It was the first time that Zuma's team , which has been negotiating
and
trying to find a lasting solution to Zimbabwe's political woes, had met
the
civil society.
The Coalition said that the implementation of the
Global Political Agreement
(GPA) was largely a 'box-ticking exercise'
lacking full compliance with
the agreement's letter and spirit.
"The
real outstanding issue is holistic and actual implementation of the GPA
itself, especially as it relates to security sector reform and governance,
full restoration of the rule of law, respect for basic rights and freedoms
as well as other institutional reforms that will enable Zimbabwe to hold a
credible election, free of violence and whose outcome can be respected as
the will of the people.
"There is ample evidence that Zimbabwe's
security sector remains highly
partisan, unprofessional and politicised. The
National Security Council,
which was intended to provide civilian oversight
to the security sector and
take a lead in reforming the sector, is barely
functional," it said.
It charged that the inclusive government had not
defined, in clear terms,
the roadmap to democratic, free and fair elections;
neither did it stated
key benchmarks in that roadmap.
The Coalition
bemoaned the continued politicisation of the security
institutions which it
said could yet again be used in the future elections
to thwart the
democratic will of Zimbabweans from prevailing in future
elections.
"Scores of cases relating to the 2008 electoral violence,
in which victims
have named perpetrators in their reports to the police,
have inexplicably
not been prosecuted.
"This perpetuation of the
culture of impunity and the retention through lack
of action of security
sector actors in the electoral and other political
processes will not bode
well for credible elections in the near future, as
the state and its
cohesive apparatus remains a major instigator of
politically motivated
violence," said the Coalition.
President Robert Mugabe is accused of
deliberately dishonouring the GPA to
frustrate Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara,
who both appended their
signature to the historic pact that spawned the
inclusive
government.
Mugabe has since declared that he won't extend the life of
the GPA beyond
February next year after which Zimbabwe will hold elections
to choose a new
government.
Tsvangirai has said he will fight it out
with the veteran former guerrilla
in elections but wants Sadc and the
international community to be actively
involved in the run up to, during and
after the polls.
Civic and rights groups insist that the current
political climate is not
conducive to holding free and fair
elections.
"Electoral and Political Reforms implemented by the Inclusive
Government so
far are not sufficient to create a conducive environment for
Zimbabwe to
conduct an election that meets SADC standards on the conduct of
democratic
elections.
"For instance, the Voters' Roll is outdated and
requires a thorough cleanup,
while Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
itself is yet to get its enabling
law that accord with the GPA, and the
requisite financial wherewithal to
conduct its duties," observed the
Coalition.
The Coalition challenged Zuma's facilitation team to insist on
ensuring that
a credible election pitched on key benchmarks takes place in
Zimbabwe.
It said the benchmarks for fresh elections should include
ensuring that a
non-partisan public media exists which ensures that
different political
actors have got access to public media, a transparent
electoral process that
ensures greater transparency in all facets of the
process and put in place
mechanisms to ensure the existence a clean voters'
roll.
"SADC, as guarantor of Zimbabwe's GPA, must insist that Zimbabwe
elections
comply with its Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic
Elections -
including impartiality of electoral institutions and
non-interference in
electoral processes by the state security
agents.
"Where resources to conduct the election become scarce or
unavailable, we
request SADC and the AU to facilitate the pooling and
availability of these
resources in order to make sure that Zimbabweans are
given a chance to elect
a leadership of their own choice," said The
Coalition.
Among a raft of recommendations, the Coalition urged Zuma to
put pressure of
the government to put in place necessary administrative
mechanisms that
ensure the Diaspora, differently-abled, prisoners and other
marginalised
groups are not disenfranchised in all electoral
processes.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara formed the inclusive
government in February
2009 to end a decade of hostilities and
quarreling.
There have been mixed reactions to its performance although
it is credited
with stabilising the economy and halting hyperinflation.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 23 October
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe weighed in at 123rd position in the latest
press freedom
index published this week by Reporters Without Borders,
showing a slight
improvement from last year despite the media environment in
the country
remaining rather dicey for journalists.
According to the
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, Zimbabwe moved 13
places from last
year's 136th position out of 175 countries, thanks to a
partial opening up
of the media space following the licensing of new private
newspapers since
May.
This year's index included 178 countries.
"Zimbabwe has again
made some slow progress, as it did last year. The return
of independent
dailies is a step forward for public access to information
but the situation
is still very fragile," the media freedom watchdog said in
the 2010 World
Press Freedom Index.
Zimbabwe's media environment has progressively
improved since President
Robert Mugabe agreed to share power with former
opposition leader - now
Prime Minister - Morgan Tsvangirai in
2008.
The country was ranked 151st out of 173 countries prior to the
formation of
a coalition by Mugabe and Tsvangirai last year.
The
coalition government has implemented some of the media reforms agreed in
the
power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai although it has
avoided instituting far-reaching measures that would drastically open up the
country's media space.
The reforms instituted so far included the
establishment of the Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC) and the licensing of at
least nine private newspapers
to compete with the state-run titles that have
dominated the country's media
landscape since 2003.
But reforms to
open up Zimbabwe's media are likely to take much longer due
to reluctance by
Mugabe's allies to allow press freedom.
More than a year after the
coalition government was formed, the government
broadcaster Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) still dominates the
country's
media.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has refused to license
private
television or radio stations, forcing several radio stations to
broadcast
into Zimbabwe from Europe or United States.
It however
allowed the ZBC to launch a second television channel in May
underlining its
dominance of the airwaves.
Pressure groups also continue called for the
repeal of the draconian Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) and other laws that
restrict media freedom, blasting the
government's piecemeal approach to
addressing media concerns.
AIPPA
requires journalists and media houses to register with the government
and
also criminalises the publication of "falsehoods".
It has been used to
harass the independent media, with scores of journalists
arrested for
operating without government accreditation and at least four
private
newspapers shut down since 2003.
The arrests have continued as late as
this month when a Kwekwe journalist
Flata Kavinga was detained for covering
a demonstration by Catholic
parishoners who were protesting against their
priest in the Midlands town.
He was released a day later to allow him to
obtain proof of his ZMC
accreditation.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Saturday 23 October
2010
HARARE - The UN says Zimbabwe's measles outbreak is claiming
five lives a
week, four months after a nationwide immunisation campaign that
targeted
more than five million children.
The UN said while suspected
cases have declined from 248 to 85 per week, the
average weekly death toll
of five was a cause for concern among the
humanitarian
community.
"Following the (immunisation) campaign in the period 5 July to
12 September,
844 suspected cases and 53 deaths were reported," the UN's
Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its
monthly humanitarian
update on Zimbabwe.
More than 11 744 suspected
cases and 570 deaths have been reported since the
September 2009 when the
outbreak started.
"In the last 30 days three districts, namely Bikita in
Masvingo province,
Chipinge in Manicaland and Zvishavane in the Midlands
have reported
confirmed outbreaks," the UN agency said.
The Zimbabwe
government embarked on a nationwide measles vaccination
campaign in June to
fight a rising measles outbreak and arrest plummeting
immunisation
coverage.
The disease - that can be prevented through vaccination - was
initially
confined to families of some religious groups whose followers
refuse
conventional medical treatment but later spread to more areas
countrywide.
The measles outbreak came barely a year after a cholera
epidemic claimed
close to 5 000 lives as bankrupt local authorities failed
to supply clean
drinking water to residents or provide garbage collection
services.
The cholera epidemic was only brought under control after
international aid
agencies moved in with water treatment chemicals as well
as medicines and
health support staff to treat the
disease.
Zimbabwe's health system was once one of the best in Africa but
collapsed as
a severe recession over the past decade meant the government
was unable to
build new hospitals or maintain existing ones, while poor
salaries drove the
best trained doctors and nurses abroad where pay and
working conditions are
better.
The power-sharing government between
President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has promised to
rebuild the economy and restore
basic services such as water supplies,
health and education.
But the administration has found it hard to
undertake any meaningful
reconstruction work after failing to get financial
support from rich Western
nations that insist they want to see more
political reforms before they can
loosen the purse strings.
http://www.voanews.com/
Analysts say the banning of Tsvangirai's rallies shows that
ZANU-PF is now
in election mode following President Mugabe's speech last
week that
elections will be held next year.
Chris Gande & Brenda
Moyo | Washington 22 October 2010
Zimbabwean police are continuing to
block Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
from holding rallies with supporters
of his Movement for Democratic Change
formation.
Mr. Tsvangirai was
on Thursday evening expected to address a rally with his
supporters in
Harare's Budiriro township but senior police officers moved in
and cancelled
the meeting, his party said.
A similar meeting scheduled for Highfields
was blocked on Wednesday. The MDC
criticised the police actions saying they
were "inspired by fear."
Analysts say the banning of Tsvangirai's rallies
shows that ZANU-PF is now
in election mode following President Robert
Mugabe's speech last week that
elections will be held next
year.
Tsvangirai MDC spokesperson, Nelson chamisa told VOA Studio 7
reporter Chris
Gande that police have banned Mr. Tsvangirai's meetings
despite having been
notified of them well in advance.
In another
development, the Tsvangirai MDC formation has launched a
broadside at Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara for statements he made
in parliament this
week over the appointments of ambassadors by Mr. Mugabe.
Mutambara
allegedly told the House of Assembly that only the Supreme Court
could
determine whether Mr. Mugabe acted constitutionally or not by
appointing
ambassadors and provincial governors of his ZANU-PF party without
consulting
his governing MDC partners.
In a statement posted on its website, the
Tsvangirai MDC said Mutambara was
acting like a "ZANU-PF
sidekick."
Mutambara was not reachable for comment. But his party came to
his defence,
denying he is endorsing Mugabe's unilateral
actions.
Party spokesperson Edwin Mushoriwa told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Brenda Moyo
his boss does not approve of Mr. Mugabe's violation of the
Global Political
Agreement.
http://www.voanews.com
Select Committee co-chairman Paul Mangwana said the
officials in question
were facing disciplinary hearing for mishandling the
data.
Patience Rusere | Washington 22 October 2010
Zimbabwe's
parliamentary select committee on constitution revision has
suspended some
of its officials for allegedly mishandling data collected
during
consultation meetings.
Sources said COPAC National Co-coordinator, Peter
Kunjeku and a Data Manager
identified only as a Mrs Fundira, have been
suspended following allegations
they mishandled data from four unnamed
provinces.
The sources said Kunjeku stored the data from the four
provinces in an
unsecured room at COPAC offices before moving it to the
National Archives in
unsealed boxes without the select committee's
permission.
The sources added that at a meeting held in Harare Thursday,
the select
committee was instructed to move the data from its National
Archives to a
secure place.
Select Committee co-chairman Paul
Mangwana told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience Rusere the officials in
question were facing disciplinary hearing
for mishandling data.
http://www.voanews.com
Sources said the Comptroller and Auditor-General has
sub-contracted private
auditing firms to probe finances of the parastatals
due to serious shortages
of state auditors.
Gibbs Dube | Washington
22 October 2010
The Zimbabwean government has hired several auditing
firms to check
financial statements submitted by state enterprises to line
ministries in
compliance with a state directive two months
ago.
Sources said the Comptroller and Auditor-General has sub-contracted
the
private auditing firms due to serious shortages of state
auditors.
Most of them quit their jobs when Zimbabwe was paralyzed by a
record
hyperinflation rate between 2000 and 2008.
The sources said
the auditors started sifting through the financial
statements this week and
are expected to complete their work within the next
two months.
State
Enterprises Minister Gorden Moyo said most parastatals have now
submitted
financial statements and salary structures to line ministries as
per the
cabinet directive. The deadline for submitting the financial
statements,
some back-dating to 2005, is October 31st 2010.
Moyo told VOA Studio 7
that he expects parastatal executives that have not
complied with the
government directive to do so before the end of this
month.
"All
those executives who will fail to stick to the deadline will face the
wrath
of the law," said Moyo.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Saturday, 23 October
2010 14:38
HARARE - The Harare City Council is operating with only two
ambulances to
service the local authority's 50 health facilities, the United
Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) revealed last week.
The UN agency
said the shortage of ambulances was severely affecting the
delivery of
healthcare services in the capital, with some sick people
waiting more than
nine hours before an ambulance is available to transport
them to the
hospital.
"In a city like Harare, with more than 50 primary health
facilities, only
two ambulances are available to respond to emergencies," it
said.
Harare City Council spokesman Leslie Gwindi was not available for
comment
but the local authority's ambulance fleet has previously been
grounded due
to a shortage of fuel and spares, paralysing the provision of
emergency
services in the city.
The shortage has forced the poor to
either hire private vehicles or use
public transport to ferry sick relatives
to hospital.
This has led to many patients who could otherwise survive
being exposed to
risk of death because of lack of access to emergency care
from trained
ambulance medics.
The shortage of ambulances ironically
comes at a time the city fathers are
said to be splashing millions of
dollars on top-of-the-range vehicles.
http://news.radiovop.com
23/10/2010 21:30:00
MASVINGO,October
23,2010- Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has
claimed that
liberation war veterans here are forcing its members to join
ZANU(PF) and to
attend party meetings during working hours.
Takavafira Zhou of the
militant union said he was shocked to learn that
hundreds of teachers in
Masvingo and Midlands provinces were being forced to
pay USD25 or buy goats
as punishment for late confirmation of their
membership to the former ruling
party.
"We have learnt with shock that our members are being victimised by
Zanu(PF)
thugs for not joining the party. We have overwhelming evidence to
prove the
allegations, said Zhou.
Those found without party membership
cards are severely punished and some
forced to buy goats which are usually
taken by the party heavyweights.
Schools in Bikita and Zaka districts in
Masvingo are the most affected as
war veterans leader and Zanu(PF) foot
soldier Jabulani Sibanda together with
Chief Nhema are forcing teachers to
abandon lectures and
attend political ralies.
"It's a shame that in some
areas such as Zaka and Bikita, teachers are
forced to leave schools to
attend political rallies. Already their salaries
are not enough and they are
fined if they are found without party cards,
Zhou told Radio
VOP.
RadioVOP was informed that teachers at Cheziya High School and Gombo
Primary
in Gokwe and Mabika areas in Mberengwa and some in Masvingo were
affected.
Zhou promised to take the matter to the responsible ministers in
government.
Meanwhile MDC supporters in Masvingo continue to live in fear as
the
campaign of intimidation by war veterans leader Sibanda rages
on.Sibanda, a
former Zipra cadre believed to be in Emmerson Munangagwa,s
camp has been
accussed of spearheading a campaign of terror aimed at
instilling fear among
villagers there.
He is reportedly working with
chiefs in the province.Police have turned a
blind eye to his activities as
Sibanda is believed to have the backing of
party heavyweights and the Big
Man himself.
ZANU(PF) Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke denied
that teachers
in the province were forced to join the party.He said they
were joining
'willingly'.
However when contacted for comment Provincial
Education Director (PED) Ms
Clara Dube said she needed more time to
investigate the issue.
http://news.radiovop.com
23/10/2010
21:28:00
BULAWAYO,October 23,2010 -The decision by the South African
government to
give Zimbabwean immigrants the deadline of December 31 to
regularise their
stay in the country has created chaos and confusion at the
Bulawayo passport
office.
Staff at the Registrar-General,s office say
they are now struggling to cope
with the large numbers of people applying
for passports.The South African
government ultimatum coincided with
Zimbabwe,s own decision to slash
passport fees from USD140 to
USD50.
After the announcement by Home Affairs Department in South Africa,
thousands
of Zimbabweans who had been working and living in that country
illegally
returned home to apply for travel documents.
A Radio Vop
reporter who visited the passport office found hundreds of
people sleeping
outside the premises waiting to be the first in the queue
when the offices
opened for business.
Some people in the queues said they were asked to pay
small bribes to be
given application forms.
" When I went to collect the
forms I was told to come back after one month
but if you pay a bribe, you
get the forms in few minutes, said Hellen Moyo
one of the people who slept
in the queue.
Moyo said after spending five days visiting the offices, she
was told to
collect her forms on Novemeber 3.Some of the residents told
Radio Vop that
they now resorted to travelling to Gwanda where they said the
staff there
were more efficient than those in Bulawayo.
Although Radio
Vop was not able to get official comment from the
Registrar-General,s
office, some staff members admitted the chaos at the
passport office has
been created by the influx of Zimbabweans who work in
South Africa
affectionately known in Matabeleland as Injiva.
Meanwhile Home Affairs
Department in South Africa says it has so far
processed 24000 applications
for permits from the Zimbabwean immigrants.Out
of that number 6000 permits
have been issued while 247 applications were
rejected because it was
discovered that they were accompanied by fraudulent
letters of
employment.
After December 31, Zimbabweans in South Africa who will be found
without
permits will be deported.
http://news.radiovop.com
23/10/2010
21:26:00
GUTU,October 22,2010-Thousands of starving families in Gutu
District in
drought stricken Masvingo province have appealed to President
Robert Mugabe
for food handouts following poor rains that left farmers with
nothing to
harvest.
Mugabe was at Matizha Primary school for the
installation of his
cousin,Vengesai Rushwaya, as Chief Serima on
Thursday.
The daring villagers told Mugabe in the face that they were on the
brink of
starvation and desperately needed his intervention.
One of the
villagers, a school development committee member who was asked to
introduce
other members, took the opportunity to air their grievances.
"Mr President,
we are almost dying. We had poor harvests due to drought. We
need your
urgent help or else we will starve," said the villager.
Another villager who
was asked to shout party slogans made the same appeal
to the
President.
Masvingo provincial governor and Resident Minister Titus Maluleke
also
siezed the opportunity and told the President that thousands of
villagers
were facing food shortages in the district and needed urgent
supplies.
"We had poor rains last year and many people hardly
harvested
anything. About 1 000 people in the province are in need of food
handouts.
The most affected are Gutu, Zaka and Chivi districts,'Maluleke
said.
Responding to the appeal for food, Mugabe said his government will
introduce
food for work schemes where villagers will get money to buy
food.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 22 October 2010 11:47
Nelson Chenga,
Staff Reporter
THE Commonwealth is quietly working on a multi-million
dollar aid package to
assist Zimbabwe emerge from a decade-long
socio-economic bog as the
54-member bloc moves to re-engage Harare, which
renounced its membership
about seven years ago. The Financial Gazette can
exclusively reveal that the
Commo-nwealth has been hard at work on what it
terms a "Special Programme
for Zimbabwe" since mid last year despite
President Robert Mugabe severing
ties with the former British Empire after
threats to suspend the country
over alleged gross human rights violations
and flawed elections between 2000
and 2002.
The programme is a brainchild
of a civil society-led Common-wealth
organisations' roundtable meeting that
took place in South Africa in early
July last year and will target, among
other sectors, education and health,
confirming years of behind the scenes
efforts by successive Commonwealth
secretary generals to re-engage
Zi-mbabwe.
Commonwealth director of communications and public affairs,
Eduardo del
Buey, told The Financial Gazette this week that as a former
member country,
Zim-babwe and its people remained important to the
grouping.
"Plans are being finalised to launch a Special Programme for
Zimbabwe,
offering technical assistance in a number of areas, including
education,
health and capacity building for key institutions," said del
Buey.
The education and health sectors, for instance, are desperate for
assistance
after suffering the worst during the past decade of economic and
political
upheaval.
"As a former member country, Zimbabwe and its
citizens remain very much in
the Commonwealth's thoughts and indeed, since
the withdrawal, the
secretary-general has consistently engaged with
Commonwealth leaders,
especially within SADC (the Southern African
Development Community), on the
situation in Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe has a
special place in the history of the modern Commonwealth and,
as our Heads of
Government have said, we hope the conditions can be created
for Zimbabwe to
return to the Commonwealth family."
Despite Zimbabwe having voluntarily
withdrawn from the association the
Commonwealth still maintains that for the
country to be readmitted it should
"accept and comply with Commonwealth
fundamental values, principles, and
priorities and specifically to
demonstrate commitment to: democracy and
democratic processes, including
free and fair elections and representative
legislatures; the rule of law and
independence of the judiciary; good
governance, including a well-trained
public service and transparent public
accounts; and protection of human
rights, freedom of expression, and
equality of opportunity".
Discord in
the inclusive government has so far shredded most of these
conditions
prompting Move-ment for Democratic Change leader, Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai, to openly vent his frustrations over the unilateralism by
one
the partners in the unity government, ZANU-PF, through letters to the
United
Nations, the European Union and SADC mediator, South African
President Jacob
Zuma, among others.
The soured relations between the Commonwealth and
Zim-babwe still run deep.
This was evidenced by the conspicuous absence of
Zimbabwean athletes at the
recent Commonwealth Games held in Delhi,
India.
The games, held every four years, are not specifically targeted for
Commonwealth countries only but invite athletes from all over the world and
this year the event attracted athletes from 71 countries.
When he pulled
Zimbabwe out of the grouping in December 2003 President
Mugabe equated the
club to the famous English writer George Owen's novel
Animal Farm, accusing
some of the group members of being "more equal than
others". If the choice
were made, one for us to lose our sovereignty and
become a member of the
Commonwealth or remain with our sovereignty and lose
the membership of the
Commonwealth, I would say let the Commonwealth go,"
said President Mugabe
then.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of large and small as well
as
rich and poor countries that seek to support each other and work together
towards common goals of democracy and development. The group emerged in the
1870s and was reconstituted in 1949.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 22 October 2010 11:52
Clemence Manyukwe,
Political Editor
DUMISO Dabengwa is facing a revolt in the revived ZAPU
as a rival faction
pushes for the son of the late nationalist, Joshua Nkomo,
Sibangilizwe to
take over the leadership of the new opposition. The
emergence of
Siban-gilizwe is threatening to split ZAPU right through the
middle and
weaken its prospects of eclipsing ZANU-PF and the Movement for
Democratic
Change formations at the next polls.
The Financial Gazette has
it on good authority that moves are underway to
persuade the late national
hero's son to take-over the leadership of ZAPU
before the general elections,
in shenanigans that may result in a vote of no
confidence in the former
ZIPRA intelligence supremo.
Those pushing for Siba-ngilizwe would want ZAPU
to ride on the back of the
popularity of his father, the late Father
Zimbabwe.
ZAPU's spokesperson, Methuseli Moyo, yesterday admitted knowing of
attempts
to thrust Sibangilizwe into the leadership position of the party.
He said
the opposition party did not wish to establish a monarch, but
stressed that
this position was not an attack on Sibangilizwe.
"There are
some people who think that ZAPU is a party of their inheritance,
but they
are mistaken. ZAPU belongs to all Zimbabweans and it is wrong for
someone to
imagine that someone should be the leader simply because of their
father.
The official party position is that we held a successful congress
where we
elected our leadership and the next congress will come after five
years.
There is no leadership election at the moment," said Moyo.
He dismissed the
moves as machinations by people who lost in their bid to
get leadership
positions in the party.
"ZAPU does not belong to any particular family or
individual. We do not want
to establish a monarch at ZAPU. We are running a
political party and not a
dynasty. I am not attacking Sibangilizwe, but
those who are trying to use
him to achieve their dubious political
dreams."
The latest maneuvers comes months after Dabengwa survived another
storm,
amid allegations by some of the party's members that he displayed
autocratic
tendencies and fears that he wanted to turn the opposition party
into a
replica of ZANU-PF.
The same allegations are being raised now,
along with claims that the late
Nkomo's son has what it takes for the party
to gain a strong foothold in
Zimbabwean politics.
In an interview
yesterday, Sibangilizwe denied knowledge of a plan to hand
him the
leadership of ZAPU saying no one had aproached him yet with that
proposal.
He however added that he was willing to contribute towards
pulling Zimbabwe
out of the current crisis.
"No one has approached me
with that, but I am willing to help the people of
this country to get out of
this current mess. I am not talking about
political parties, I am talking
about helping the people to get out of
this mess."
ZAPU revivalists pulled
out of the unity accord the late Nkomo reached with
ZANU-PF in 1987,
accusing ZANU-PF of failing to fully implement the
agreement by among other
things,sidelining them in the appointment of senior
officials.
At a
congress held in August at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair,
Dabengwa
was unanimously elected as the revived party's leader.
Dabengwa officially
left ZANU-PF before the 2008 polls to join former
cabinet minister, Simba
Makoni's presidential bid.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au
Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker
October 23,
2010
MONASH University has distanced itself from an invitation issued by
one of
its senior representatives to notorious Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe,
asking him to give a guest lecture at one of its
campuses.
The invitation was issued in July by the deputy
pro-vice-chancellor of the
university's South African campus, Dina Burger,
when she and two other
senior Monash staff met Mr Mugabe in his presidential
office in the
Zimbabwean capital Harare.
The meeting appears to have
been part of a marketing exercise to encourage
Zimbabwean students to attend
the Monash South Africa campus and to thank Mr
Mugabe's regime for paying
for several student scholarships as part of his
''presidential scholarship
program''.
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After the meeting
between the Monash delegation and Mr Mugabe, the
state-owned Zimbabwean
Broadcasting Corporation reported that Professor
Burger had ''commended
Commander Mugabe's humility''.
''Our visit to Zimbabwe was to demonstrate
our commitment to the
presidential scholarship program by coming to your
beautiful country,''
Professor Burger reportedly said.
"We invited
the President to come to our university to give a public
lecture, which he
gladly accepted and would visit in the near future.''
An official
appointed by Mr Mugabe to run his scholarship fund, Commander
Christopher
Mushohwe, said after the meeting: "The program is going to
fulfil the Head
of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the
Zimbabwe Defence
Forces President Robert Mugabe's dream of according
deserving students an
opportunity to further their studies a reality."
Asked about the
appropriateness of Professor Burger's remarks, a spokeswoman
for Monash
University told The Age that the comments had not been approved
and that
''no visits by President Mugabe to Monash . are planned''.
''The comments
made by Professor Dina Burger in verbally inviting the
President to visit
Monash South Africa and meet students sponsored by the
Zimbabwe government
were not endorsed by Monash University and was not an
official invitation to
visit the campus,'' the spokeswoman said.
She said that Monash University
believed educating students sponsored by Mr
Mugabe would help contribute
''to a better Zimbabwe''.
The scholarship program was set up ostensibly
to support poor students but
it has been accused of favouring supporters of
the Mugabe regime.
In September 2002 Australia implemented a sanctions
regime targeting
Zimbabwe, which included downgrading government and
cultural links and
restricting travel to Australia by some Mugabe regime
officials.
After coming to power in 1980, Mr Mugabe began replacing his
professed
commitment to freedom and democracy with an increasingly
oppressive, corrupt
and authoritarian system of governance.
Mr Mugabe
visited Australia in 1981 to attend the Commonwealth Heads of
Government
Meeting. He was still well regarded around the world at that
time.
Deakin University senior lecturer in international relations
Scott Burchill
said the reported comments made during the Monash
delegation's trip to
Zimbabwe were an anathema to the values and ethics that
should be promoted
by Australian universities.
''These ethics are put
at risk, however, if a university is seen to endorse
an odious and
tyrannical regime, such as Robert Mugabe's in Zimbabwe, simply
for the
purposes of recruiting students from that country,'' Dr Burchill
said.
''Universities should remain at a professional length from
partisan
politics, and instead restate their support for the foundations of
all
liberal democracies. Regimes like Mugabe's radically violate these
values.
They should not be given a public platform by an Australian
university to
trash them further.''
Professor Burger did not respond
to questions from The Age.
Robert Mugabe’s scheme to
educate and enrich the children of his cabinet
members and supporters has
been going on for years now. When Mugabe’s Fort
Hare scholarship scheme was
created, its purpose was said, to be for
uplifting orphans and the poor, but
like anything ZANU PF, it never worked
as such. Today, dozens of children of
living ZANU-PF sympathisers are the
main beneficiaries of Mugabe’s
scholarship scheme. This is of course not a
surprise as Mugabe and his
comrades believe in empowering the few around
them and suppressing the
masses. It is the children of Mugabe’s third
chimurenga farm owners and
so-called indigenous businessman who are paraded
on TV every year as the
“less fortunate who have excelled in education and
have been graciously
chosen by the president to go and study abroad”. The
scheme which also
includes other South African universities such as
Johannesburg and some
universities in China and Malaysia is a total fraud.
Most of the
beneficiaries are poor performers whose parents pay ZIMSEC for
them to be
awarded pass grades. Some are sons and daughters, cousins and
nephews of
army generals and their lieutenants who do not want to send their
children
to the local institutions and do not want to part with their US
dollars for
fees for their children’s foreign education. The money used to
fund these
individuals, which Mugabe claims is his, comes from the tax
payers.
Only a fraction, if ever, of the scholarship’s recipients are
genuine
orphans with genuine achievements. Otherwise, almost all of the
individuals
selected for Mugabe’s “Orphans and less privileged” scholarship
have both
living parents and at least one is either an army police, prison,
C.I.O.
officer or attached to ZANU-PF in one way or another. Children and
families
of late liberation war heroes get kicked out of homes and their
children
forsaken but those of living conmen are well catered for. Genuine
scholarships such as the Econet Joshua Nkomo scholarship are the only ones
which cater for underprivileged people.
A source who works in the
office of the president has a list of current and
the next batch of students
and the names of their living mothers and fathers
where relevant will soon
appear on the internet. Its a shame that this is
happening while MDC
comfortably shares power with Mugabe. No wonder why the
county always ends
up with leaders like Henrietta Rushwaya and the likes of
Leo Mugabe who
cheat the system on the way up and continue to cheat the
system as leaders.
The poor will never rise, but the children of the
oppressors will always be
put through into the leadership positions, over
and over
again.
Yours
Tafadzwa Magata
Dear Family and Friends,
Both Mr Mugabe
and Mr Tsvangirai are openly talking about elections
being held in 2011. Just
the word “elections” reminds us of the
hell of 2008: a time and place we
never want to go back to.
In January 2008 we were all going across our
borders to buy basic
supplies because our own shops were empty thanks to
government price
controls which had resulted in all production coming to a
halt. My own
shopping list on a trip to South Africa had dozens of items on
it and
included flour, rice, beans, tinned goods, sugar, salt,
margarine,
cooking oil, tea, milk powder and even toilet paper.
In
February 2008 the monthly salary of civil servants and people in
general
employment was only enough to purchase one single loaf of
bread and a two
litre bottle of cooking oil. In March a loaf of bread
cost 7 million dollars
and a dozen eggs were 30 million dollars. In
reality these prices were
actually in the billions but Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono removed zeros
from the currency just before the
elections. On the 29th March Zimbabwe
voted. After casting his ballot
Mr Mugabe said: “The moment the people stop
supporting you, then
that’s the moment you should quit
politics.”
Throughout April 2008 the election results were not announced
and a
tsunami of violence swamped the country. Newspaper headlines
screamed:
“Murder, torture, terror” and “Hundreds flee Zanu PF.”
In
May 2008, 5 weeks after the poll, election results were finally
announced.
The MDC had won the majority of seats in parliament and Mr
Tsvangirai had
more votes than Mr Mugabe in the Presidential vote. It
was announced that the
Presidential majority wasn’t large enough and
another poll was to be held.
Violence swept across the land and
multiple thousands of people were killed,
maimed and tortured for
“voting the wrong way.” A loaf of bread soared in
price to 40
million dollars.
A run off Presidential ballot was held in
June 2008; Mr Mugabe was the
only candidate as Mr Tsvangira pulled out
because of widespread
violence. One man at my local hospital arrived with two
broken arms, a
broken leg and a fractured skull; he was accused of having
supported
the MDC. On the 29th June 2008 Mr Mugabe was again declared
the
President of Zimbabwe.
In July 2008 hundreds of people arrived at
foreign embassies in Harare
begging for sanctuary and humanitarian
assistance. The MDC said that
at least a quarter of a million people had been
displaced from their
homes by violence. The Reserve Bank Governor set a
maximum daily
withdrawal limit from banks of 100 billion dollars. At that
time a
five day penicillin-based antibiotic cost 2 trillion dollars.
There
was no bread to buy and a single scone cost 140 billion dollars.
5000
people a day were arriving every day at a Home Affairs
refugee
reception centre in South Africa.
In August 2008, five months
after the elections, Zimbabwe was still in
limbo with no parliament and no
MP’s having been sworn in. In
September Zimbabwe began hearing about power
sharing where losers
became winners and vice versa.
October 2008 saw
inflation at 231 million percent and there were only
cabbages and condoms to
buy in major supermarkets. There was no seed
maize or fertilizer to buy as
the rainy season began and in November
2008 hospitals didn’t even have
disposable gloves let alone
medicines, drips or bandages.
Two years
later we don’t have democracy, but thanks to an MDC
Finance Minister who put
the brakes on, we do have imported food in
the shops, US dollars in our
purses and inflation under 10%. Zimbabwe
has not forgotten the hell of 2008,
who took us there and who brought
us back. Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy Copyright �
Cathy Buckle. 23 October 2010.
www.cathybuckle.com
Friday October 22nd 2010
A prison memoir
titled 'Conversations with Myself' was released this week.
It's a selection
of diary entries from the world's most famous prisoner,
Nelson Mandela,
written while he was imprisoned on Robben Island together
with Ahmed
Kathrada, the late Walter Sisulu and other heroes of the anti
apartheid
struggle. Speaking on the BBC last Saturday, Ahmed Kathrada
repeated some
words of Mandela's that have a poignant relevance for
Zimbabwe. "Don't bear
grudges" the great man said, "that was the past."
But in Zimbabwe, from the
head of state right down to the thugs at grass
roots of Zanu PF, the past is
all they have to offer. Addressing the
National Youth Assembly this week
Robert Mugabe asked, "Tsvangirai, tell us
where were you when Zanu PF was
fighting for the liberation of this country.
So who are you to tell me to
go? Who are you to say I should go?" Mugabe
hardly needs reminding that
Morgan Tsvangirai is the head of the party that
defeated Zanu PF in the
elections. He knows that very well, hence his
decision to rush ahead with
elections in 2011. At 86 years old, he must know
he hasn't got that much
longer - even if the Women's League endorse him as
President for Life. In a
rather lame reminder, Mugabe told the Youth
Assembly to eschew violence but
clearly Jabulani Sibanda, for one, wasn't
listening to the Dear Leader's
words. Continuing his rampage of violence and
intimidation in Zaka the
so-called war veteran told villagers that he had
been "sent to warn all
sellouts in the area that ZPF is ready to kill them
if they fail to join his
party before campaigning for the next elections
have begun.".
All the
evidence on the ground points to the fact that campaigning has
already
begun; Zanu PF is in full election mode supported, as always, by the
military and the police. Troops are deployed in Mutoko and many other rural
areas around the country; the police are banning MDC political meetings on
the grounds that insufficient notice has been given and Augustine Chihuri
transfers the entire Avondale force to remote rural areas for no other
reason one can see than that Morgan Tsvangirai's home is in the Avondale
area and Chihuri suspects the police based there of being MDC supporters.
The UZ is sealed off by riot police and students are savagely beaten by the
police, just to teach them a lesson I suspect, because no charges are laid
against them. A man in Kezi is imprisoned for three months for daring to say
that he hates Mugabe; journalists in Mutare are beaten on their feet by a
policeman who tells them, "You will learn that as the policeman I am king"
Farm seizures increase as the country heads for elections. It is common
knowledge that Mugabe wants all white farmers off the land before the
country goes to the polls. A JAG report from a farm in Chegutu tells how a
group of men arrived at a woman's farm and told her she had three hours to
get out. "I told him I was 5th generation Zimbabwean. This was irrelevant I
was told. He held out his arm and said 'This is black and even if you were
born in Kadoma (which I was) you are white and have no place here.' The
woman told him she had a court order allowing her to remain on her farm and
he replied, "There is no law for whites in Zimbabwe, we are the law."
If
this is the situation in late October 2010, one can only dread what 2011
is
going to be like. Amnesty reports some 1.120 case of human rights abuse
in
August alone and while the UK and Europe are absorbed in their economic
troubles, it is not likely that Zimbabwe's troubles will feature largely on
the international radar. Former South African President Mbeki has just told
journalists that the GPA is the only game in town for Zimbabwe but Robert
Mugabe is intent on ditching the arrangement as soon as possible by whatever
means he can - not excluding violence and electoral chicanery. Living in
the past he certainly is but it is the present and future generations of
Zimbabweans who will pay for his failure to accept the reality that his time
is up.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka Pauline
Henson.