* Zimbabwe lodges protest
with UN, Swiss government
* Mugabe's party in anti-sanctions
drive
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe has been forced to cancel a trip to Geneva for a
United Nations meeting this week after his wife and some of his aides were
denied visas, state media said on Wednesday.
Western countries,
including the United States and the European Union, imposed travel and
financial sanctions on Mugabe and senior officials of his ZANU-PF party
almost a decade ago over charges of rights abuses and vote
rigging.
But the sanctions, which Mugabe argues are punishment for
his seizure and redistribution of white-owned commercial farms to black
Zimbabweans, have traditionally not been applied for U.N.
meetings.
On Wednesday, the official Herald newspaper said Mugabe, 87,
had scrapped a trip to Switzerland for an International Telecommunications
Union summit after his wife Grace, Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi,
chief spokesman George Charamba and three other senior officials were
refused travel permits.
Private media in Zimbabwe reported that
Mugabe had planned to travel with a 62-member delegation.
Harare had
lodged a protest with both the Swiss government and the United Nations, the
Herald said.
"This was a highly regrettable decision which was a clear
violation of the United Nations headquarters' host agreement and Zimbabwe's
sovereign right to determine the composition of its delegation," a foreign
affairs official was quoted as saying.
An ITU spokesman said
invitations had been sent to all members but questions of border control
were left to host countries. Mugabe officials were not immediately available
for comment.
The Swiss embassy in Harare confirmed some visa applications
had been turned down but declined to comment on charges that Switzerland had
adopted the European Union's position on ZANU-PF although it is not a member
of the bloc.
State media quoted Charamba as saying Zimbabwe had noted
the Swiss position as a sign of changing times, and, without giving any
details, promised an appropriate diplomatic response.
ZANU-PF has in
the past threatened to target for seizure foreign-owned firms from countries
supporting sanctions against Zimbabwe, and is now trying to force mining
firms to transfer majority shareholdings to black Zimbabweans.
Early this
year ZANU-PF launched an anti-sanctions campaign, collecting signatures
countrywide, and officials say it will soon approach international courts to
challenge the legality of the sanctions.
Mugabe, who was forced into a
power-sharing government with his rival Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister,
says sanctions against his party are illegal and have hit state-owned
companies and Zimbabwe's ability to borrow money abroad.
Critics say
Zimbabwe's economic recovery from a decade-long crisis caused largely by
ZANU-PF policies will be slow and hard for as long as Mugabe pursues his
controversial black empowerment programmes.
President's
delegation denied UN visas... Wednesday, 26 October 2011 00:00
Herald
Reporter
THE Zimbabwean Government has lodged a protest with the United
Nations and the Swiss government after the latter denied visas to six
members of President Mugabe's delegation to the International
Telecommunications Union summit on information communication technologies
underway in Geneva.
President Mugabe was leading the delegation, but
cancelled the trip after the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Transport, Communications and
Infrastructure Development Minister Nicholas Goche, Director General in the
President's Department Retired Major General Happyton Bonyongwe, Secretary
for Media, Information and Publicity Mr George Charamba, and his aide de
camp Senior Assistant Commissioner Martin Kwainona were denied
visas. Information Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa, who was
part of the delegation, was granted a visa.
A senior official in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that Zimbabwe had lodged a
protest with the UN and the Swiss authorities. "We noted that this was a
highly regrettable decision which was a clear violation of the United
Nations headquarters host agreement and Zimbabwe's sovereign right to
determine the composition of its delegation," the official
said.
According to the official, Zimbabwe lodged its protest through the
Swiss embassies in Harare and Geneva, the UN in New York as well as to the
UN secretary-general, his representative at the ITU and the
secretary-general of the ITU, which is headquartered in Geneva. The ITU
is a UN specialised agency for telecommunications.
"Our ambassadors (to
the UN in Geneva and the UN in New York) were told that the Swiss had made
their decision and not violated the host agreement. They (Swiss authorities)
argued that they had given visas to the Zimbabwean delegation and those
given were adequate to represent Zimbabwe at the summit," said the
official. Section 11 of the host agreement says authorities of the host
nation shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the
headquarters (of a UN body) on persons invited by the UN or by such
specialised agency on official business.
In this case, the
President was invited by the ITU secretary-general and had the right to
determine the composition of his delegation. The Foreign Affairs official
said the Swiss embassy in Harare wrote to the Government that they made the
decision based on current Swiss law and obligations as a host country (to a
UN body).
The Swiss embassy also said it had done its part by issuing
"exceptionally a visa to President Mugabe" and taking into consideration
that those denied visas were on the European Union sanctions
list. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but asserts to be an associate
member which is neutral in world politics.
However, President Mugabe,
who was given a visa and the six who were denied the visas, are all on the
EU sanctions list, which bars them from travelling to EU member
countries. But the travel restrictions do not apply to UN meetings because
the world body has not imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe and host countries of
UN bodies are therefore required to grant visas for such
meetings. Contacted for comment yesterday, Mr Charamba said: "These are
changed times and nowadays you become neutral from one side, in this case
the western side. Switzerland has called itself neutral in terms of
international politics, anyway the Zimbabwe Government knows what recourse
it takes in terms of international law."
Mr Charamba said it was
surprising that a country which calls itself neutral had taken a decision to
divide a government of national unity, a family (the First Family)and a
delegation by issuing visas to some members and denying others. Minister
Chamisa yesterday said he was no longer attending the summit.
"I am no
longer going. I was supposed to go with the President but we are no longer
going," he said. Minister Goche said this was the second time after 2009 that
he had been denied a visa to attend a world ICT summit. He said the Swiss
authorities' arguments were flimsy given that in April this year he was
granted a visa to attend a World Meteorological meeting in Geneva and for
five years when he was Labour Minister he attended International Labour
Organisation meetings in Geneva.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister
Patrick Chinamasa was also recently in Geneva attending a UN Human Rights
Council meeting. Mr Charamba said despite the Zimbabwe delegation not
attending the summit, the country will forge ahead with promotion of
ICTs.
Comments Monya - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:14
AMThank you to the Swiss government for help us save some money from these
blood sucking travelers
Newton - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:18
AMwhat international law is charamba talking about? Garai kuzimbabwe ikoko.
Inga munotuka Europe every day...why not go kuBuhera munokohwa chibage
vanaCHARAMBA. Handiti mune mafarm. What business do you have in
switzerland...well done swiss government....President always goes to europe
with 200 people....why???? ....zimbabwe can be represented by the
ambassadors...we don't need a big crowd......there is a reason why it has
gone like this. It didn't happen in 1988. As yourself what have we done
wrong and you know what u did. Mhondi dzevanhu!!
Homegirl -
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:35 AMGet over it, please! The rest of us
mortals jump through hoops all the time to get visas. It's not an easy ride
for anyone, ad this is not a life-and-death summit. Just one less shopping
trip for some people. Stay home to clean house and do some DIY repairs. Not
worth moaning about going to other people's countries. As if we don't give
foreigners a hard time ourselves. Even I, a Zim citizen travelling on a Zim
passport, was 'given' 3 months to stay by an idiot immigration officer last
time I landed at Harare airport. Where was I going to be deported to if I
'overstayed'?! So we have a lot of work to do on our home territory, instead
of adopting this victim mentality over silly things.
baRuva - Wednesday,
October 26, 2011 at 12:42 AMwhy come kunotonhora kudai, garai kumusha murime
mvura yoda kunaya Mr. Jinx - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:52
AMRegardless of what we think about the sanction list and visa problems, we
really have to ask: What was such a bloated delegation including the First
Lady doing at this conference?
Timi - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at
01:01 AMGood. You have to be made to feel you are real pariahs in the
international community. You cannot continue to oppress your own people and
expect to gallivant around the world. Very good.
Watching -
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 01:06 AMAnd Chamisa refuses to go without
Mugabe....and in that linked story he is described as "supersonic" by the
President....something is going on here...
Robert Mugabe is rumored to have once again flown to Singapore this
week, after quietly leaving Zimbabwe and giving no indication as to his
travel plans.
Mugabe reportedly snuck out of the country earlier this
week, leaving Cabinet in a state of confusion because he was not there to
chair the Tuesday meeting. It was then reported on Wednesday that he had
cancelled a planned trip to Switzerland for a UN conference, and that he
left for Singapore instead.
Reports as early as Monday had said that
Mugabe was due to travel to Johannesburg for a connecting flight to
Singapore. If true, this would be the ageing ZANU PF leader’s eighth trip to
Asia this year alone, amid ongoing speculation that he is receiving
treatment for prostate cancer.
This is the second time this month that
Mugabe is said to have traveled to Asia for medical treatment, and after
returning from his last trip, Mugabe claimed he had gone there on a private
visit to see his daughter Bona. She is studying in Hong Kong.
But it
is widely believed, and fiercely denied by ZANU PF, that Mugabe is getting
serious treatment. The party has insisted that Mugabe’s only health concerns
are related to his eyes. But his repeated trips, courtesy of the taxpayer,
have hinted at something more serious.
Leaked diplomatic cables by the
whistle blowing group WikiLeaks have added more fuel to the fire. In one of
the leaked cables, a US diplomat is said to have seen Mugabe checking in at
a cancer clinic in Singapore in May and August in 2008. Gideon Gono was then
quoted by a different leaked cable as confirming that Mugabe is being
treated for prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, other members of the government
have also started questioning the details of Mugabe health. Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai was quoted in an interview with the UK’s Guardian
newspaper of UK this week as saying:
“President Mugabe’s health is a
national question, a national concern. Why? Because when you have a partner
whose state of health is unpredictable, and that partner holds the key to
the unity of the opponent, what is likely to be the outcome should he die is
instability in the party, which leads to instability in the country.”
The state case against former MDC-T legislator Munyaradzi
Gwisai seems to be crumbling, following serious questions about the
credibility of the prosecution’s ‘star’ witness who failed to show up in
court on Wednesday.
Gwisai is being accused of plotting against the
government. The University of Zimbabwe law lecturer is jointly charged with
Antoneta Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and
Welcome Zimuto.
The group was arrested in February after watching videos
of the Arab spring uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. They were initially
charged with treason and plotting to overthrow Robert Mugabe but that was
downgraded to ‘conspiracy to commit public violence’. The defence team,
led by leading human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama, was on Wednesday
disappointed Jonathan Shoko did not turn up for cross examination. Police
brought a sick report dated 25 October in which he was given three days bed
rest by a doctor.
Muchadehama applied for discharge, but the magistrate
granted the postponement application by the state to the 1st November. This
is the fifth time the trial has been adjourned due absence or
excuses.
Under oath Shoko told the court he is a police sergeant, while
investigations by the defence team allege that he might be on the payroll of
the CIO and was testifying falsely. If this turns out to be true Shoko could
find himself in serious trouble for committing perjury, for wilfully telling
an untruth in a court.
Muchadehama was non-committal about their
planned approach to discredit Shoko’s testimony.
‘We get this feeling
the police are no longer keen to have this matter finalised. Previous
indications showed that police were in a hurry to get a conviction but
suddenly they’re dragging their feet,’ Muchadehama said.
In February
Shoko infiltrated the meeting attended by civic and human rights activists.
But infiltration is the job of the intelligence services, not the
police.
‘I think it is clear Shoko knows he has been cornered and
that his lies are to be exposed, hence his attempt to absent himself in
court for several times on flimsy excuses,’ a source close to the case said.
By Tonderai Kwenda in Australia Wednesday, 26
October 2011 09:01
PERTH - Although Zimbabwe is not officially part
of proceedings here, the troubled southern African country’s economic and
political woes are firmly on the discussion table.
The country is set
to feature in many discussions taking place here at the Commonwealth Heads
of Government Meeting (Chogm) taking place throughout the
week.
Several activities from public marches, panel discussion and
reports presentations on Zimbabwe will take place during the
week.
Today, the Commonwealth Organisations Committee on Zimbabwe will
launch a report taking stock of the political progress in the
country.
The report titled “Zimbabwe: Routes to Progress” takes a look at
progress made so far in political and economic reforms in Zimbabwe since the
formation of the coalition government in 2009.
It also looks at
whether the conditions prevailing in the country are good enough for the
readmission of the country to the commonwealth family of nations as well as
the holding of free and fair elections in the country.
On Friday, at the
Commonwealth Round Table and Murdoch University will host a discussion
titled, “The Commonwealth — a force for global good?”
The event will
feature two presentations on Zimbabwe. One, titled, “The Commonwealth &
Democracy Challenges, flashpoints and responses” which will feature
presentations by Matthew Neuhaus the Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe and
Moses Chamboko of the Zimbabwe Information Centre.
On Thursday, the
Commonwealth Advisory Bureau will launch the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting 2011 Policy brief at the University of Western Australia
where the future of Zimbabwe within the commonwealth will be
discussed.
On Friday, a loose coalition of Zimbabwe organisations
based in Australia called the Democracy for Zimbabwe Contingent will lead a
public march for Zimbabwe in central Perth.
The organisation’s
convenor, Paul Kaplan, said: “The march will be able to call on the Chogm
and Sadc leaders in Perth to end the daily incidents of political violence
in Zimbabwe, secure the dropping of charges against Munyaradzi Gwisai and
all political prisoners, uphold human rights of the Zimbabwean people and
ensure the holding of fair and free elections in Zimbabwe.”
Although
the Daily News could not get the Chogm official agenda of a meeting to be
officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on Friday, diplomatic sources said
the issue of Zimbabwe will feature prominently during the
discussions.
There are countries in the grouping of former British
colonies who want Zimbabwe readmitted into commonwealth unconditionally as
an incentive to encourage the coalition government to speed up democratic
reforms.
Others particularly African countries want their western
counterparts to remove targeted sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his
inner circle as a way of pushing him to embrace reforms required before the
country can be readmitted into the Commonwealth family of
nations.
“There is more we can do as the Commonwealth to help Zimbabwe
recover from a terrible political and economic situation and our friends in
the West can assist us by tactically reviewing the sanctions position while
we put pressure on the Harare government to effect necessary reforms,” said
a diplomat from Botswana who is here to attend the festivities held every
two years.
Chogm, is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of
government from all Commonwealth nations.
Every two years the meeting
is held in a different member state, and is chaired by that nation’s
respective leader.
It has often been criticised of failing to decisively
deal with problems in member countries and put too much emphasis on dealing
only with member countries which is why it was easy for Mugabe to simply
pull out of the grouping when he was confronted with tough questions on
electoral violence and fraud in 2002.
As a result, Mugabe dragged the
country out of the grouping in 2003 before it could be booted
out.
But the incoming chairperson of the grouping, Australian Prime
Minister, Julia Gillard yesterday said it was time for the grouping to size
up to its challenges if it is to remain relevant.
Zimbabwe's first green power plant produces ethanol from
sugarcane and could help the country achieve energy independence. But its
detractors say it has one big drawback: it has displaced local cotton
farmers.
The Green Fuel Private Limited ethanol plant sits about 500
kilometres south of Harare near the Mozambique border, amidst 11 500
hectares of sugarcane.
About 500 families lived near the plant until
construction began in 2010. These farmers now say they were booted by
government and company officials who promised them compensation, but never
delivered.
“I was chucked out by government,” says Sam Rugare, a
78-year-old farmer who told dpa that he worked on the land for
35
years. Ruramai Garwe, a widowed mother of seven, said that she can no
longer afford to pay her kids' tuition fees.
“We used to raise school
fees from proceeds of cotton sales. Then we were promised new jobs, but
we've been waiting three years now for those jobs,” Garwe
said.
Officials from Green Fuel did not respond to a request for comment,
but a local government official countered the villagers' claim that they
were not fairly compensated.
“People genuinely displaced by the
ethanol project received land and irrigation facilities to improve their
livelihoods,” said James Mundoma, a local government official.
Member
of parliament Meki Makuyana disagrees, and recently asked the federal
government to look into the compensation program.
But that's not
enough for displaced farmers like Matthew Karikoga, who say they heard
promises of thousands of new jobs associated with the green
plant.
“It is not a development but a destruction project,” Karikoga
said. “We are not employed. They give employment to other
people.”
General Manager Graeme Smith told The Zimbabwean newspaper in
2010 that the project would generate 6000 jobs and assist
3000
small-scale farmers. But the actual number of jobs generated seems
to have been considerably less, critics said.
The farmers have
threatened to invade the sugar cane irrigation plantation and replant their
cotton.
Yet the plant itself could bring significant benefits to
Zimbabweans. Green Fuel says it has already generated 2 million litres of
ethanol that it can sell as soon as tax authorities give them a licence to
do so. The facility generates 160 000 litres of ethanol fuel
daily.
According to the government, the Chisumbanje ethanol plant is set
to be the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa with an expected output of over 40
million litres a month when fully operational.
This would potentially
allow Zimbabwe - which consumes about 2 million litres of imported fuel
every day - to achieve energy self sufficiency.
Despite its promised
societal benefits, however, the 600-million-dollar joint venture between
state-run ARDA and a group of white private investors led by Muller Conrad
Rautenbach and Graeme Smith has been controversial.
Rautenbach, or Billy
as he is known, was dubbed a “Mugabe regime crony” by the United States and
the European Union, and added to their travel ban lists in
2009.
Rautenbach's involvement in the project raised concerns because he
has, in the past, “enabled Robert Mugabe to pursue policies that seriously
undermine democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe,” the British
newspaper The Guardian reported. - Sapa-dpa
A Canadian based Zimbabwean man has taken ZANU
PF’s Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, to court over Mudede’s refusal to
grant him a passport.
Mudede’s office has refused to renew Sebastian
Piroro’s Zimbabwean passport which expired last year, after the office
discovered that his late father was born in Mozambique. According to the
RG’s office although Piroro was born in Zimbabwe more than 40 years ago, the
fact that his father was born in Mozambique meant he now had dual
citizenship which is illegal in Zimbabwe.
The registry argued that
the law required Piroro to renounce his Mozambican citizenship before he
applies for a passport in Zimbabwe.
Piroro then took his fight to the
High Court, which in March declared him a Zimbabwean citizen. The same court
ordered Mudede’s office to issue him with a passport, but this has still not
happened. Mudede could now find himself in contempt of court when the matter
is heard on Thursday.
Piroro’s case has highlighted the ongoing and
outstanding dual citizenship issue, which prevents tens of thousands of
Zimbabweans from registering to vote. ZANU PF has also actively campaigned
for the dual citizenship law not to be allowed in Zimbabwe, with Mudede last
year telling party MPs that it was “unpatriotic.”
Gabriel Shumba from
the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the issue
should be prioritised, explaining that it affects many Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora.
“It is a huge problem that does not start with people holding
dual citizenship. That is not the issue. The issue is that they are now
being punished selectively, and in many cases it is because they had to
leave the country,” Shumba said.
He added: “It is an immoral argument
to deny people citizenship from their country just because they were forced
to leave and become unwilling citizens of another country.”
Harare,
October 26, 2011 – President Robert Mugabe and his two principals in the
inclusive government have agreed to the reconstitution of the Tafataona
Mahoso led Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) which is currently
superintending over the licencing of new broadcasters.
This was
revealed in Parliament Wednesday by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who was
responding to questions by legislators during the inaugural session of the
Prime Minister Question Time.
“I want to assure you that myself, his
Excellency the President and Honourable Mutambara (Arthur), one of the
critical interventions that we are looking at and that we have directed the
Minister of Information to do is...that the broadcasting authority must be
rectified, the board must be reconstituted,” he said.
Tsvangirai was
responding a question by MDC-T MP for Mutare Central legislator Innocent
Gonese who wanted to know what government was doing to end the state
broadcaster's (ZBC) monopoly on the airwaves.
The MDC leader also lashed
at the ZimPapers stable for its current attempts to extend its media empire
to the airwaves. Currently there is no law in Zimbabwe which prohibits cross
ownership in the media.
“We cannot have a situation in which the same
people who are controlling the print media want again to go into radio,” he
said.
The Zimpapers Talk Radio is one of the four prospective
broadcasters that include Radio VOP, AB Communications and KISS FM that were
invited for public hearings by BAZ currently chaired by Tafataona Mahoso who
is also the chief executive of the print regulatory authority, the Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC). Radio VOP's hearing, which is the last of the four,
is expected to be heard on Friday.
BAZ intends to give two radio
licenses and it is not yet clear what would happen if the current BAZ is
disbanded.
Tsvangirai also defended his position in the wake of state
media reports he was fighting for gay rights.
“My personal view does
not matter,” he said, “The people of Zimbabwe are writing a constitution in
which they want to define their society and who am I to question their
wisdom if they want to put the issue of gay rights into the constitution,”
he said in response to a question by MDC-T legislator for Bulawayo Central
Dorcas Sibanda, who asked Tsvangirai to respond to press reports he was
advocating for the inclusion of gay rights in the constitution.
“This
is an elitist debate when people have no food, when people have no jobs,
when people have so many problems. Diverting the real issue and put this
issue at the focus of the nation is a real diversionary.”
Tsvangirai drew
wild laughter from the house when he suggested, “perhaps I am speaking here
kuda mumwe musi mungangodai muringochani panapa (we may be talking while
some of you may be gays here). What you do in your private sphere is your
private problem.”
Tsvangirai also said Zimbabwe should abandon its
intransigent stance towards the new Libyan government which overthrew long
serving leader Muammar Gaddafi in a fierce war.
“Circumstances
dictate behaviour,” he said, “The situation in Libya has changed. I am sure
that Zimbabwe is bound by AU position in spite of our own personal or party
positions. I think it’s very clear that we ago with the AU
position.”
Tsvangirai was responding to a question posed by MDC-T
legislator for Nkulumane Thamsanqa Mahlangu who wanted to know what
government’s position was in terms of accepting the new Libyan
rulers.
Meanwhile, there was a lively atmosphere during the inaugural
Prime Minister’s Question Time where legislators from both Zanu (PF) and MDC
were given equal opportunity to throw questions at Tsvangirai.
In his
opening remarks, Tsvangirai pleaded with MPs not to misconstrue the session
as an “a war situation” among the rival parties.
By Richard Chidza Wednesday, 26
October 2011 09:37
HARARE - Harare city councillors fired by Local
Government and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo last year, have
won their jobs back.
Chombo suspended and subsequently fired the four MDC
councillors, Maxwell Katsande ward 26, Johnson Zaranyika ward 39, Paul
Gorekore ward 3 and Silas Machetu ward 25, over allegations of irregularly
acquiring stands and forcing themselves into council houses.
In a
humiliating turn of events, a High Court judge ruled that Chombo’s dismissal
of the four councillors using evidence that could not be substantiated was
“irrational.”
Justice Barat Patel delivered a scathing attack over the
way Chombo disregarded the evidence of his own officials in order to fire
the four, who are members of the Elected Councillors Association of Zimbabwe
(Ecaz) headed by Warship Dumba.
“The town clerk and deputy director
of housing were not called to testify at the inquiry and moreover the
commission totally ignored the evidence of the director of housing
(Chivavaya) and that of chief housing officer (Mandizha) which evidence
clearly exculpated the applicants of any wrongdoing,” said Justice Patel in
his ruling.
“In short the findings of guilt in relation to all four
applicants were so grossly irrational in their defiance of logic that no
reasonable person applying his mind to the matter could possibly have
arrived at those decisions,” Patel said.
He said Chombo acted on the
findings and recommendations of his commission but disregarded the detailed
record of proceedings of the inquiry and the evidence contained
therein.
“If he (Chombo) had done so he would not have simply adopted the
commission’s findings and recommendations of dismissal,” said Justice
Patel.
Two of the four councillors who were at the High Court said
justice had prevailed.
“We are all ready to serve the people who
elected us beginning now, it was only political and we knew it was a minor
setback,” Katsande said.
Katsande told the Daily News the councillors had
all along known they were victims of Zanu PF political
machinations.
He claimed that at one time Chombo had sent an emissary in
the form of MDC councillor Herbert Gomba of ward 27 in Glen Norah to ask the
four to apologise to the minister for the case to wash off.
“Gomba
approached us saying he had links with the minister and what we only needed
to do was apologise to Chombo,” said Katsande.
“We all refused. Gomba
actually told us we were going to be fired and it happened as he had said.
Gomba also said PM Tsvangirai had less power than Chombo,” Katsande
said.
Councillor Gomba could not be contacted for comment.
MUTARE - Scores of worshippers from the Anglican Church at St
Peter’s Nyamandwe in Watsomba, 40km north of Mutare, sustained injuries as
violent clashes over the ownership of properties continue.
At least
five members from the church were hospitalised on Monday at Mutasa clinic
with cuts in the head, bruises and swollen faces.
Others did not seek
medical treatment as their injuries were said to be “minimal.”
Some
were referred to Nyanga district hospital yesterday.
Albertina Chikanya,
a worshipper and treasurer at St Peter’s Nyamandwe parish, told the Daily
News that “worshippers” loyal to Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and Elson Jakazi
attacked her and several others during Sunday service.
Both Kunonga
and Jakazi have been expelled from the church but are demanding control of
properties after forming a breakaway outfit.
“Hired thugs beat me up and
other people who were in church on Sunday,” said Chikanya.
She said
the attack on members loyal to the mother church was in contravention of a
High Court order granting the mother church access to the property.
A
church warden Chenai Mparutsa sustained a cut over his left eye and a
swollen lip.
Mparutsa said he was beaten until he lost
consciousness.
“I only managed to wake up after several minutes. I was
beaten with clenched fists and had to be rescued out of the church
building,” he said.
He said police at Mutasa’s Watsomba police station
were yet to make arrests despite the culprits being well known in the area.
Local MDC official Jacob Gwature said two members were arrested
Sunday and three others were picked up Monday on allegations they chanted
the slogan “Mugabe mudenga, rovera pasi” at a youth forum
Jonga
Kandemiiri | Washington
Officials of the Movement for Democratic
Change formation of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in
Mashonaland Central province said five youth members were arrested on
charges of undermining President Robert Mugabe's authority.
Local MDC
official Jacob Gwature said two members were arrested Sunday and three
others were picked up Monday on allegations they chanted the slogan “Mugabe
mudenga, rovera pasi” at a youth forum in Glendale, Mashonaland
Central.
The Shona slogan means, “Mugabe up, then on the
ground.”
Gwature said the five were being held at Bindura Central Police
Station, and that officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police's law and order
section were seeking three others.
Bindura Central police officers
would neither confirm nor deny the arrests.
Gwature told VOA reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri that the arrests were intended to intimidate the MDC ahead
of elections generally expected to be held in 2012, as Mashonaland Central
province has traditionally been a ZANU-PF stronghold.
Meanwhile, MDC
Member of Parliament for Mkoba Amos Chibaya, arrested Sunday on allegations
of public violence at Guinea-Fowl shopping center in Mberengwa, Midlands
province, was freed on US$50 bail by a Gweru magistrate.
Chibaya was
charged along with Midlands South MDC Treasurer Livingstone Chiminya after
they went to the police station at the shopping center to file a complaint
after their vehicle was stoned by alleged ZANU-PF supporters on
Saturday.
Lawyer Reginald Chidawanyika, representing the two, said his
clients, who are denying the charges, were expected back in court on
November 8.
Air Zimbabwe is reportedly
struggling to register two airbus planes it bought from France because of
European Union sanctions imposed on the southern African
country.
Details emerging from several Air Zimbabwe sources reveal that
the planes were bought through China Sonangol, a Chinese controlled oil
company based in Angola.
Sonangol was reportedly roped in to
circumvent the sanctions slapped on Zimbabwe in 2002.
Aviation
sources said Eads, the French aircraft manufacturer was the supplier of the
planes.
The sources said the Ministry of Transport, Communications and
Infrastructural Development entered into the deal with
Sonangol.
Sonangol would then advance payment to Reliance Aerospace
Solutions, an aviation consulting firm which would transfer the funds to
Airbus.
In 2009, five deals worth US$8 billion were signed between the
Zimbabwean government and Sonangol.
The deals were signed amid
promises that they would help the country attract direct foreign investment
into key sectors of the economy.
′Air Zimbabwe seems to have been one of
the beneficiaries with the purchase of the Airbus planes to replenish an
ageing fleet.
With the procurement of the planes in place, several pilots
and staff have been sent to various European countries for training but
registration of the planes is now a stumbling block.
In July and
August a team of pilots and stewards was dispatched to Toulouse in France
and Madrid in Spain for training on the new aircraft.
The new aircraft
will service Air Zimbabwe's long-haul routes – mainly to China and the
United Kingdom.
Air Zimbabwe sources said the latest team sent to France
to iron-out the deal came back empty handed.
"The first delivery was
expected before September 20.
"What I see as the biggest challenge is the
issue of ownership of the planes because the management of Air Zimbabwe have
no idea where the money to buy the planes is coming from," said the
source.
As if to collaborate the details, last week Air Zimbabwe acting
chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga told a parliamentary committee
that 16 pilots had been sent for a 45-day course in preparation for delivery
of new equipment.′
Mavhunga, however, failed to say when the
government would bring the new equipment, prompting MPs to conclude that the
government, which is the majority shareholder was the one running Air
Zimbabwe and not management.
Mavhunga said the airline was saddled with a
$137, 7 million debt, $112, 7 million of it being internal
debt.
Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Minister
Nicholas Goche recently announced that government will soon take over Air
Zimbabwe's debts.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has told Parliament that
the issue of gay rights “is an elitist debate meant to divert attention from
the problems affecting poor people in Zimbabwe.”
Fielding questions
from MP’s in the first ever Prime Minister’s Question Time since 1988,
Tsvangirai said the people were writing a new constitution and they would
define what sort of society they wanted to live in.
The historic session
saw both MP’s from the three political parties in parliament get an
opportunity to ask the Prime Minister questions on what the government was
doing. Tsvangirai got the ball rolling by telling the MP’s the session was
not a ‘war situation’ were party rivalries would be settled.
The debate
over gay rights surprisingly came from Tsvangirai’s own party with MDC-T MP
for Bulawayo Central Dorcas Sibanda, asking whether the PM was advocating
for gay rights in the constitution. There was wild laughter when Tsvangirai
said “perhaps I am speaking here kuda mumwe musi mungangodai muringochani
panapa- we may be talking while some of you may be gays here. What you do in
your private sphere is your private problem.”
Tsvangirai also addressed
issues on empowerment, political violence, media reforms and developments in
Libya. The session was poorly attended by ZANU PF MP’s.
Responding to
questions on the controversial manner in which the empowerment agenda was
being pushed through Tsvangirai said there was a need “to promote, not
damage investment in the country” adding that the idea was “not to share a
small cake but to grow the cake that people are able to share. We need to
create wealth through the creation of funds so that the people are able to
benefit,” he said.
Tsvangirai also had a dig at Zimpapers Talk Radio for
trying to muscle into the broadcasting field by applying for a commercial
radio licence when they were already dominating the print media. Responding
to a question from Mutare Central MP and the MDC-T chief whip in Parliamen,
Innocent Gonese, who wanted clarification on the government’s position on
media reforms, Tsvangirai said:
“One would be forgiven to think that
there are two governments in Zimbabwe. There is need for multiple media
space not a situation where newspapers want to go into radio broadcasting.
Without media space, you cannot speak on democracy.”
He also said the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) board needed to be reconstituted,
as had already been agreed.
The Prime Minister also touched on the
continuing political violence countrywide, saying the police needed to be
unbiased and weed it out. He gave the example of the violence which rocked
Parliament a few months ago and said the perpetrators have still not been
arrested. Tsvangirai urged the three main political parties to play a
leading role in stamping out political violence.
He bemoaned the poor
performance of parastatals like Air Zimbabwe, arguing they were a drain on
state resources. Government recently committed itself to taking on Air
Zimbabwe’s US$140 million debt and Tsvangirai said: “There is no sense of
responsibility among the board members because they feel it belongs to the
government and they don’t care if they make a loss.”
Turning to Libya, he
said there was now a need to recognise the National Transitional Council
which deposed long time dictator Muammar Gaddafi, a position that was in
line with that taken by the African Union.
By Garikai Chaunza, Harare,
October 26, 2011- Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has blamed
the United Nations for the killing of Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi last
week.
Mumbengegwi said the killing of Gaddafi by the western sponsored
National Transitional Council (NTC), was no cause for
celebration.
“...The past nine months have demonstrated how a few
countries with their air force in the air and their special forces on the
ground can easily treat the Security Council and its resolutions with utter
contempt and render that important organ of the UN totally impotent. This is
no cause for celebration. Yet leaders of the western world are celebrating,”
Mbengegwi told delegates attending the UN's 66th celebrations in Harare on
Tuesday evening.
He called for an urgent reform of the UN Security
Council to make it more democratic and accountable to 194 member countries
that constitute the UN General Assembly. He also said the UN General
Assembly needed to be strengthened so that under given circumstances it
could override the Security Council.
"It does not make sense that
only 9 countries out of the 194 can take a decision that leads to the kind
of carnage and destruction that we have witnessed in Libya over the past 9
months. What is Libya’s crime? It is that God gave it Oil?"
"Remember
Iraq. What has happened in Libya must stand as an example to all members of
the UN that ...resolutions should never be loosely worded to allow a group
of greedy countries to destroy a member state for their selfish ends,” he
added.
On Friday Zanu (PF) political commissar and the country’s
Information Minister Webster Shamu condemned the killing of Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi by the country’s transitional authorities saying the country
was not going to accept the move to be a legitimate way of solving political
disputes.
“Muammar Gaddafi was on last Thursday killed in crossfire
between his loyalists and fighters from the country’s transitional
authorities. In August the Zimbabwean government through the Foreign Affairs
Ministry headed by Mumbengegwi expelled the Libyan ambassador, Taher El
Magrahi to Zimbabwe after he defected to the National Transitional
Council.
The Zanu (PF) side of government accused the Libyan envoy of
hoisting the North African state’s new flag before forcing him to later pull
down the NTC’s flag.
Gaddafi was President Robert Mugabe’s close
ally.
But the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) says slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s fall from grace is a
lesson to African dictators who continue to cling to power against the
wishes of their people.
ZIMBABWE has ruled out ratifying the Rome Statute
establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the body of
targeting Africans.
Ratifying the Statute was one of the 179
recommendations made at the end of the 12th Session of the United Nations’
Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights, held in Geneva earlier this
month.
But the Zimbabwe government, which fears becoming a full member of
the ICC could precipitate the indictment of President Robert Mugabe and
other senior officials for alleged crimes against humanity, has chosen to
stay out of the treaty.
Chinamasa told the ZBC: "One of the
recommendations was that we should ratify the Rome Statutes on the
International Criminal Court.
“That we rejected for the sole reason that
the ICC is completely discredited, it has tarnished its own image by
selective application of international law.”
The minister told the
state broadcaster that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the
former United States President George Bush had “committed serious crimes
against humanity in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world, but they
had been left free.”
Zimbabwe also rejected 97 other recommendations,
including calls to recognise gay rights, reform its security sector, and
amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public
Order and Security Act.
The fact that a disproportionately large
number of cases investigated by the ICC have so far been on the African
continent has created resentment towards the body, even in countries which
are state parties to the Court. Zimbabwe is one of 32 countries, including
Russia and China, which signed but did not ratify the Rome
Statute.
As of October 2011, 116 states were parties to the Statute of
the Court, including all of South America, nearly all of Europe and roughly
half the countries in Africa.
The United States and Israel are among
countries which “unsigned” from the Statute. On August, 3, 2002, President
Bush signed into law the American Servicemembers Protection Act (ASPA) which
authorises the use of military force to liberate any American or citizen of
a US-allied country being held by the court, which is located in The Hague.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
MDC says police and security forces in Mbare are intensifying a campaign of
violence and intimidation against MDC leaders in advance of elections Zanu
(PF) wants next year. 26.10.1112:58pm by The Zimbabwean
Harare
Piniel Denga, the Mbare MDC MP said that President Robert
Mugabe's party had created a climate of intimidation and political violence
that could prevent free and fair voting. "Right now we are observing a level
of fear that I have not seen before," said Denga, speaking of meetings he
held over two weeks inside Mbare with party organisers and supporters of the
MDC.
"Everybody wants all this to stop. They want help." Denga accused
Zanu (PF) of waging a "war by proxy" against its own people and appealed the
14-nation Southern African Development Community to apply pressure on ruling
Zanu (PF) party officials to rein-in the marauding Chipangano militia. Denga
said MDC victims that have sought police protection have been arrested
themselves. It is understood the police stations in Mbare have been stuffed
by pro-regime officials.
"Zimbabwe is using the legal system to
undermine the MDC," said Denga, explaining that Zanu (PF) was using security
forces and groups of ruling party militants to attack, arrest and intimidate
MDC officials and supporters. Critics say President Robert Mugabe's Zanu
(PF) has packed courts, undermining the once independent judiciary and
giving legal cover to acts of repression.
Political violence has
convulsed Mbare where the Chipangano militants, encouraged by Amos Midzi and
Tendai Savanhu, began cracking down on MDC structures.
Denga said the
Chipangano militants have randomly attacked MDC supporters, attacked vendors
selling independent newspapers and anyone regarded as members of the
opposition. He said they also looted the party offices in Mbare while police
escorts watched passively. The whole retail and wholesale Mbare Musika
market has been purged of MDC supporters and their stalls doled out to Zanu
(PF) loyalists.
The have even stalled the refurbishment of the Matapi
flats saying the project will give the MDC political advantage.
The
crackdown on the MDC in Mbare is increasing as the country moves closer to
elections. Mugabe, 87, who has ruled since independence in 1980, wants
another five-year term. He is facing the toughest electoral challenge of his
rule. In an effort to gain greater control, his militants have literally
forced everyone in Mbare to support the party. Under the watchful eye of the
Zanu (PF) goon leader Jim Kunaka, the Chipangano militia has unleashed
unspeakable acts of atrocities, including scalding an MDC supporter with
boiling oil.
Despite all this provocation, Denga says the party still
believes in peaceful transition. But he says party members were getting
agitated and baying for revenge. Its a matter of time before the whole
situation explodes.
An 88-year-old Zimbabwean woman living in Kent who was
facing deportation has won a three-year reprieve.
Lydia Werrit has
been living in Hythe with her family since supporters of Robert Mugabe
seized her farm in 2003.
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "Given the
special circumstances, we have decided to grant three years' discretionary
leave to remain."
Ms Werrit's daughter Sophie Laubscher had said she
feared her mother would not survive the flight to Zimbabwe.
She added
if her mother did return, she would be questioned by the Mugabe regime as to
why she had been out of the country for so long and what she had been
doing.
Ms Werrit had been told by the UK Border Agency she had no basis
to remain in the UK and must leave immediately or face removal with
force.
On Monday, Ms Werrit received a letter from the UK Border Agency
giving her permission to stay in Britain for the next three years. After
that time, she can apply to stay in the UK on a permanent
basis. 'Grateful for support'
Ms Werrit attends the Age UK centre in
Hythe twice a week, where a campaign against her deportation was
mounted.
Jacqui Mupratt from the centre said: "Her husband had fought
alongside our men in the war, he was very brave and she classes herself as a
UK resident.
"She doesn't claim a state pension, the family look after
her financially."
Ms Werrit said: "I want you all to know how grateful
myself and my family are for the way you all supported and stood by me. I
wish to thank you all from the bottom of my heart."
The UK stopped
deporting people to Zimbabwe in 2006, because of the escalating political
violence there. But removals by the UK Border Agency resumed earlier this
year.
Zimbabwean prison authorities and
NGOs working in jails are braced for yet another cholera outbreak following
the on-going strike by municipal workers, which has caused serious water
shortages in the capital city. 26.10.1107:23am by Fungi
Kwaramba
Medicines Sans Frontiers says it is working with the
Zimbabwe Prison Services to install emergency cholera kits in all the
country’s jails.
MSF has also appealed to the International Community of
the Red Cross to intervene and address widespread water and sanitation
challenges by drilling boreholes and installing water tanks at prisons
around the country. Other towns suffering a severe water shortage are
Hurungwe and Bindura.
ZPS Deputy Commissioner Fadzai Mapure said although
there had not been any outbreak of commutable diseases such as cholera in
recent months, the spectre of yet another outbreak similar to that of 2009
was possible because clean water supplies and sanitation were still issues
of concern in the prisons.
“The challenge we are facing is that of
water and sanitation because of the number of prisoners we keep,” said
Mapure. Packed prisons are ideal breeding places for commutable
diseases.
He urged Zimbabweans to regard prisoners as a joint
responsibility of both the community and the ZPS.
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commissioner, Professor Geoff Feltoe, has warned securocrats against
disregarding the will of the electorate in choosing a president of their
choice. 25.10.1104:44pm by Seven Nematiyere
ZEC has vowed to
declare the winner of the next presidential election within five days.
Feltoe said ZEC would not be intimidated by certain individuals like
Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba, Prison Services Chief Paradzai
Zimondi and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, who have said they would
only recognize a leader with liberation war credentials.
Feltoe has
urged the security chiefs to be professional in carrying out their duties.
“The security sector comprises professional institutions and we expect them
to operate professionally, without any resistance, as enshrined in our
constitution,” he said.
The commissioner also called on everyone to
respect the outcome of the presidential elections and take a leaf from
Zambia, where there was a recent smooth transfer of power from Rupiah Banda
to Michael Sata without any incidents.
ZEC has promised to accord
equal campaigning opportunities to political parties in the run-up to
elections and urged them to address violence as a matter of
urgency.
Among the envisaged electoral reforms are special courts to deal
with any violence during elections, and liaison officers to be based at
polling stations. Election results will be announced at polling station
level to avoid delays and tampering with the ballots during transportation
to command centres.
Electoral watchdogs have described the recent
High Court ruling on by-elections in Lupane East, Nkayi South and Bulilima
East as a litmus test on whether the executive will respect the
courts. 25.10.1105:09pm by Fungi Kwaramba
Nine senatorial and14
parliamentary seats are vacant. Ousted MPs for the three constituencies,
Njabuliso Mguni, Abdenico Bhebhe and Norman Mpofu respectively, are
hopeful.
Matshobana Ncube of Phulu and Ncube Legal Practitioners, who
represented the legislators, says they are waiting for a certified copy in
order to hand the court ruling to the President.
Legal experts say
the 14 days given for the President’s Office to respond will start to count
the day this is done. But the Attorney’s General has already accused its
Chief Law Officer, Fortune Chimbaru, of having erred by filing
counter-arguments and wants the ruling to be reserved.
As the legal
battle rages on, the government says it does not have money to hold
by-elections. Seven of the 14 vacant constituencies did not receive the
$50,000 Constitutional Development Funds given to sitting MPs.
The
Parliamentary Monitoring Trust Zimbabwe said the ruling was long overdue and
should be honoured.
“What we have seen since 2008 has been a wanton
disregard of the supreme law of the country,” it said in a
statement.
“Politicians seem to think that the constitution-making
process is important and have been complementing donor funds. But the same
government has been very lethargic when it comes to by-elections, arguing
that there is no money. We should be prepared to pay the price of a
democracy.”
Zimbabwe Election Support Network is also concerned about the
moratorium on by-elections.
Members of the public have expressed their concern
about a massive army recruitment exercise being carried out countrywide, as
children of grade seven age have been conscripted. 25.10.1104:39pm by
Jane Makoni
At Nehanda Hall, youth mainly from surrounding farms and
rural areas converged for a two day recruitment programme. Potential
recruits holding grade seven certificates and above went through an oral
selection on Saturday and then ran a 10 km race on Sunday.
“It is
suspicious for the army to recruit potential soldiers in such a desperate
way given that the country is awash with jobless Ordinary and Advanced Level
school leavers,” said a resident, Joseph Musonza.
While the young people
from the surrounding farms were enthusiastic about the recruitment, those
who lived in town had reservations.
“Let Mugabe recruit his body guards.
We would join the army in a new Zimbabwe after MDC gets into power next
year. I would be proud to be a member of the defence forces in a democratic
state, not under the current dictatorship. It would be against my conscience
to prop up a dictatorship at the expense of the will of the people,” said a
youth in his early 20s.
Soldiers spearheading the recruitment told
potential recruits that the recruitment was routine and there was nothing
suspicious about it.
“This is a people’s army and every youth should be
proud of being a member of the defence forces. It is also normal that the
army would conscript young blood into its ranks as old soldiers retire,”
said a physical training soldier.
In the past, there were reports
that soldiers and other defence force members were forced to vote Mugabe and
Zanu (PF) under the watchful eye of their partisan superiors.
Tobacco
cultivation is providing prompt cash payments for small scale farmers
HARARE, 26 October 2011 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe’s small-scale
farmers are favouring tobacco over maize because they are paid immediately on
delivery, while the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the state-run cereal
distribution monopoly, often takes months to pay for the staple, say some
small-scale farmers.
The country has suffered consistent bouts of food
insecurity since 2000 after President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF implemented its
fast track land reform which saw thousands of white farmers displaced, often
violently, to make way for landless black Zimbabweans.
Tobacco
production - a major foreign currency earner - plummeted from 237 million kg in
2000 to 49 million kilograms in 2008. Production has since recovered and the
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) said 132 million kg was auctioned in 2011.
The profile of tobacco farmers has changed in the last decade. Prior to
2000, 1,500 of the then about 4,500 commercial farmers produced 97 percent of
the tobacco delivered to sales floors, while other commercial farmers generally
shunned maize production because of price controls - which remain - and opted
for cash crops such as paprika, cut flowers and cotton, while growing yellow
maize for stock feed.
Cereal production for food security before 2000 was largely the domain of
small farmers who benefited from the sophisticated agricultural input system
which supported commercial farmers and were able to easily source cheap
fertiliser and seeds. The disruption of commercial farming activities also saw
the collapse of Zimbabwe’s agricultural input industries.
ZTA's chief
executive officer, Rodney Ambrose, told IRIN 67,000 tobacco growers - resettled
on former white farmland - registered in 2011, of which only about 17,000 were
considered large growers, including 300 white farmers still active in the
sector, and that by and large the quality of tobacco delivered to the auction
floors was “very good”.
Samuel Chizemo, a new tobacco farmer in Karoi
about 150km north of Harare, told IRIN more farmers were opting to grow tobacco
in place of maize, because of GMB delays in payment, although some was grown for
personal consumption.
“Tobacco is a cash crop and unlike other crops which are
delivered to the GMB we get paid cash on delivery,” he said and estimated he
earned about US$8,000 from his tobacco crop this year and was paid promptly.
Some farmers, he said, were forced to sell the maize to third parties at
a lower price than the controlled price of US$285 a ton, so it was the middlemen
that profited from the grain, who could afford to wait for payment from the
marketing board.
The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network
(FEWS NET) said in its September 2011 factsheet that about 1.68 million people would require emergency
food assistance during the lean season, from January to April 2012. This was a
12 percent decline from the previous year for the same period.
Chizemo
is one of 36 small-scale farmers working six hectare divisions of formerly
white-owned farmland which was redistributed in 2001. They are all cultivating
tobacco as contract farmers.
This year the average price of tobacco per
kg was $2.73, slightly lower than the previous year of US$2.89.
Hard beginnings
Initially,
Zimbabwe’s hyperinflationary environment - which was effectively ended through
the scrapping of the local currency and its replacement in 2009 with the US
dollar, Botswana pula and South African rand - financial difficulties, and the
farmers’ inexperience of growing and curing tobacco hamstrung their first
attempts in 2003.
“Besides us not having the know-how, it is a very
expensive crop to grow,” Chizemo said.
Irrigation systems were also
removed by the evicted farmer, which limited the area under cultivation, as the
new farmers had to carry drums of water from a nearby river to ensure the crops
did not wither in the early stages.
The refusal of banks to grant loans
to the new farmers because of concerns over the security of land ownership saw
the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) petition President Robert
Mugabe’s ZANU-PF government in 2004 to permit tobacco companies to offer farmers
contracts whereby the necessary inputs, such as fertilizer and chemicals, were
provided ahead of the planting season.
Under the contract agreement the
farmers must sell to an agreed auctioneer until they have paid the loan for the
inputs and are then free to sell the surplus to whoever they choose.
New
farmers were also offered advice, assisted in the paying of wage bills and in
some cases supplied with food.
However, it was the scrapping of the
local currency, which saw tobacco’s renaissance.
Tobacco growing is
making a big difference to our lives
“Tobacco growing is making
a big difference to our lives,” Thomas Gwata, 28, from the Nyazura area east of
Harare, who started tobacco farming in 2006 on a formerly white-owned farm that
was subdivided among 65 small farmers, who made thousands of dollars from this
year’s crop.
The farmers also lack access to a curing facility.
“The farmer who took over the farm infrastructure does not allow us to
use the [curing] barn as he says it’s on his land,” he told IRIN. “He is a
cellphone farmer,” a term describing new farmers who received land, but are
employed elsewhere and conduct their farming activities by calling their workers
on cellphones.
Gwata and his fellow small-scale farmers built their own
curing barn, but it was not as efficient as the barn constructed by the former
white farmer.
Tree-felling
Without a coal
supplier the tobacco farmers have resorted to tree-felling to get fuel for
tobacco curing. “This is causing serious deforestation but we really do not have
a choice,” he said.
“We have the land but we are not benefiting enough;
agriculture is the driver of our economy so government should seriously look
into putting money into the sector,” said Gwata. That may not happen any time
soon though as the government remains cash-strapped.
TIMB chief
executive officer Andrew Matibiri said the new farmers had also yet to come to
grips with the tobacco industry systems, including notification of how much of
the product they intended to grow.
“Some farmers are not aware of this
and just bring their crop to the already overcrowded three auction floors in
Harare which were designed for 4,000 growers,” he said.
However,
Matibiri said the sector was being rejuvenated. “Besides earning the country
much needed foreign currency, tobacco is now benefiting thousands of families
rather than the small minority who grew it before.”
He forecast that
tobacco production could grow to 350 million kg annually in three to four years
- provided there was adequate financial support - thanks to demand from the
European Union and China, which each purchase about 40 percent of the country’s
tobacco crop.
[This report
does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
Ratepayers here are up in arms against the
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company whose subsidiary
arm, ZESA, has been haphazardly cutting off power supplies to defaulting
residents. 25.10.1105:08pm by Jane Makoni
Ratepayers described
the practice as day light robbery, after they were forced to fork-out a $10
reconnection fee.
“This month alone ZESA has disconnected my homestead in
Nyameni a record three times. Each time they cut me off, I am forced to pay
at least half of what I owed them. They would restore the power supply after
I paid an additional $10 reconnection fee. This robbed me of no less than
$30 in connection fees alone in a single month.
The practice was both
unjustified and unscrupulous behaviour by the sole power supplier in the
country. Just imagine the power utility randomly switching off homesteads
whenever it feels like lining its pocket,” complained a resident, Sheila
Ndudzo, of Nyameni. The plight of defaulting bill payers has been worsened
by unscrupulous ZESA employees who solicit bribes in return for not cutting
the power.
A ZESA official who said he was the organisation’s Public
Relations Officer claimed:
“The new area manager based in Chinhoyi
has resolved to collect all revenue owed the organisation by defaulting
clients before the end of the year. He wants to capacitate ZESA’s ability to
afford the rehabilitation of run down power generating plants and provide
enough power to ratepayers. He was given the authority, without the approval
of an Act of parliament, to make whatever decision he wanted.”
He
referred any further questions to the organisation’s national spokesperson,
Gwasira, who could not be reached for comment.
Vulnerable and abused
ratepayers called on the government to investigate the conduct of ZESA.
By Own Correspondent Wednesday, 26 October 2011
09:03
HARARE - Coalition government partners have ruined the country
because of their obsession with election preparations and petty party
politics, Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone has
confessed.
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
have been in power for 30 months, but most Zimbabweans have complained of
continued poor service delivery and slow paced political and economic
reforms.
Makone, a close confidante of Tsvangirai, let the cat out of the
bag while addressing delegates to a Medium Term Plan (MTP) meeting in
Mutare.
“We have ruined the country because of being heavily involved in
petty political issues. We need to have a mind shift and put the country
first ahead of party politics. The country has been destroyed because of
people who first question which party one belongs to before they can engage
each other,” said Makone.
The meeting was organised by the Ministry
of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion.
“Such behaviour does
not bring food at your table. It neither brings the drugs into hospitals,
and neither does it afford an opportunity to send your child to school. We
have to first focus on things that are good for our country,” Makone
said.
She said as a result of party politicking Zimbabwe has remained a
basket case.
“In Zimbabwe we are always talking of elections to an
extent that we no longer have time for the development of the
country."
We should leave the issue of elections for now and focus on
development. We are always in a political mode for elections seriously
letting key developmental issues aside.
“We are always holding
political rallies gearing ourselves for elections. This is bad for the
country,” said Makone, dismissing travel and financial sanctions imposed on
Mugabe by the West as inconsequential to economic problems facing the
country.
“Sanctions are bad I know and I also have to admit that the
country is under sanctions and we do not want them. But I have to be open to
everyone here that when Rhodesia was under sanctions the past regime managed
to burst the sanctions when it promoted its local industries. At that
particular time that is when many factories flourished,” said
Makone.
She said colonial ruler Ian Smith managed to bust those sanctions
yet the current leadership is crying foul and doing little to promote local
industries.
Speaking earlier on Economic Planning and Investment
Promotion Minister, Tapiwa Mashakada said the MTP would run from 2011 to
2015 by which time the country’s annual economic growth rate should have
reached 7,1 percent.
He said at least $9,2 billion is required to finance
the MTP in order to meet the growth and development
targets.
Mashakada said the MTP was a government programme and that any
political party that would form the next government would continue with
it.
“This programme, the MTP programme is a government programme and not
a party project. Whichever government that comes into power after the next
election will simply continue with it as it is a programme for the people of
Zimbabwe. That government will have to implement this MTP programme,” said
Mashakada.
The MTP programme among other issues it seeks to ensure
infrastructural development, employment creation, human centred development,
poverty reduction, entrepreneurship development, macro-economic stability
good governance.
The government’s position on indigenisation is to create wealth so
that the people of Zimbabwe are able to benefit from the process in a
non-partisan and apolitical manner, President Tsvangirai and Zimbabwe’s Prime
Minister has said.
Responding to questions from parliamentarians at
the inaugural Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament today, President
Tsvangirai said the issue of indigenisation should not be based on political
rhetoric, but should be based on one clear government policy.
“The
issue of indigenisation is of national concern. We need to promote not damage
investment in the country,” President Tsvangirai said.
“The idea is not
to share a small cake but to grow the cake that people are able to share. We
need to create wealth through the creation of funds so that the people are
able to benefit,” he said.
The PM’s Question Time gives the MPs an
opportunity to question the Prime Minister on key government
policies.
President Tsvangirai said one of key issues that the inclusive
government was tackling was for the public media to desist from using hate
speech when reporting.
He was responding to a question from Mutare
Central MP and the MDC’s chief whip in Parliament, Hon. Innocent Gonese on
the government’s position in terms of continued repression on freedom of
expression and communication.
“One would be forgiven to think that there
are two governments in Zimbabwe. There is need for multiple media space not a
situation when newspapers want to go into radio broadcasting,” said President
Tsvangirai, referring to Zimpapers which has applied for radio
licence.
“Without media space, you cannot speak on democracy,” he
said.
President Tsvangirai said the government was worried by lack of
zeal shown by some board members in most parastatals, a situation which had
led most of the government companies to operate below standard.
“The
greatest weakness in the parastatals is that there is no sense
of responsibility among the board members because they feel it belongs to
the government and they don’t care if they make a loss.
“These
parastatals are a very serious drain to our resources,” he said calling for
heads to roll in non-performing parastatals like the Air Zimbabwe.
On
developing the country’s infrastructure especially major roads,
President Tsvangirai said the government was encouraging investors to
participate in the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) projects as the government
had no sufficient resources to improve the country’s
infrastructure.
Turning to state sponsored political violence that is on
the increase across the country ahead of the coming elections, he said the
responsibility of curbing violence in the country was the duty of the police
and implored the co-ministers of Home Affairs to see that this was
done.
“The three principals in the inclusive government have made
commitments that there should be no violence in the country. Those who commit
violence should be arrested,” he said adding that the national leaders for
all the three political parties in the inclusive government were going to
hold a meeting on how best they could curb political violence in the
country.
He said the government’s position on the situation in Libya was
that it stood by the Africa Union decision that the people of Libya should
have a choice to choose their leaders after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s
regime.
*The people’s struggle for real change: Let’s finish
it!!!*
– MDC Information & Publicity Department Harvest House
Bill Watch 45/2011 of 26th October [Prime Minister's Question Time to Start Today]
BILL WATCH 45/2011
Apology: the last Bill Watch should have been 44 not
43
[26th October 2011]
Prime Minister’s Question Time
Prime Minister’s Question
Time Starts Today
The Speaker of the House of Assembly and the President of the Senate
yesterday announced the inauguration of thePrime Minister’s Question Time as follows:
ˇHouse of Assembly – today, Wednesday 26th October, from 2.15 pm to 3.15
pm
ˇSenate – tomorrow, Thursday 27th October, from 2.30 pm to 3.30
pm.
Form of the Proceedings
The guidelines given to MPs and Senators by the Speaker
and the President of the Senate are:
1.Only policy questions will be permissible;
2.Supplementary questions should be restricted to the policy
questions;
3.Only 3 supplementary questions per policy question will be
admitted;
4.Questions should be generally be on national issues;
5.Questions that can properly be addressed by line Ministers should be
avoided.
Background
The Standing Orders of both Houses were amended during the last
Session to provide for the holding of Prime Minister’s Question Time on the last
Wednesday of each month in the House of Assemblyand the last Thursday of each month in the Senate.This week, for the first time, both Houses
will be sitting on those days.
Public Attendance
Members of the public wishing to attend should contact Parliament’s
Public Relations department for tickets admitting them to the public
gallery.Telephone 700181,
252936.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied
Some are more indigenous than others
Tobacco growing is
making a big difference to our lives
