http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) More than 50 Zimbabwean civil society
organisations on
Saturday called on the coalition government to urgently
open negotiations
with the country’s security chiefs to ensure they do not
interfere with
forthcoming referendum and elections set for
2011.
President Robert Mugabe has hinted on a possible “fast-tracking” of
an
ongoing process to draft a new constitution which would be followed by a
referendum – possibly around March 2011 – on the new governance
charter.
General elections would then follow around next July to choose a
new
government to replace the coalition regime formed by Mugabe and former
opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara in
2009.
The CSOs, however, said on Saturday that political conditions in
Zimbabwe
are not yet conducive to ensure the holding of free and fair polls
and
demanded an amicable exit plan for the country’s security chiefs who
have
vowed not to recognise any poll results in which Mugabe is
defeated.
“Civic society organisations represented, therefore, demanded
... (that)
parties in the inclusive government look at the interests and
fears of the
security chiefs and open negotiations with them with a view of
making sure
that they do not interfere with the electoral process,” they
said in a
statement.
Several top army generals and members of the
police and intelligence
services have been fingered in the atrocities that
accompanied Zimbabwe’s
chaotic decade-long land reform programme as well as
political violence
during previous polls.
Zimbabwe witnessed some of
the worst political violence in 2008 after a
parliamentary election that was
won by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) while the former
opposition leader defeated Mugabe in a
parallel presidential election but
with fewer votes to avoid a second round
poll.
In a bid to ensure
Mugabe regained the upper hand in the second round vote,
militia allegedly
aligned to his ZANU PF party and security agents unleashed
an orgy of
violence and terror across the country, especially in rural areas
most of
which became no-go zones for the opposition.
The MDC-T leader later
withdrew because of the violence from the 27 June
2008 run-off poll which
was won by Mugabe unopposed.
The CSOs demanded a “total end and
denunciation of politically-related
violence” and urged the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to
ensure a non-violent, free and fair election
that respects the will of the
people of Zimbabwe.
This follows a
similar call by the MDC earlier this week for SADC to deploy
its election
monitors at least six months before the polls.
JN/ad/APA
2010-10-30
http://www.theglobeandmail.com
GEOFFREY
YORK
Johannesburg— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Oct.
29, 2010 7:55PM EDT
The world’s attempt to control blood diamonds is
teetering on the brink of
collapse as nations squabble over how to regulate
the lucrative trade from
Zimbabwe’s violence-plagued diamond
fields.
The sensational Zimbabwe diamond discovery – which could
represent up to 25
per cent of the world’s supply of rough diamonds within
two years – has
massive implications for the world’s diamond industry, in
which Canada is
now one of the top producers.
Yet many experts
consider that Zimbabwe’s gems are blood diamonds, the
product of brutal
violence, since hundreds of people were killed or
assaulted when its
military seized control of the diamond fields.
At a meeting in Jerusalem
next week, diplomats and civil-society activists
will try to hammer out the
conditions that Zimbabwe must accept if it wants
its diamonds to be
certified as “conflict-free.” Representatives of Zimbabwe’s
autocratic
president, Robert Mugabe, will fight for complete freedom to
export the
diamonds, with support from countries such as India and China.
If no
agreement is reached, it will further damage the credibility of the
Kimberley Process, the global certification scheme that aims to eliminate
blood diamonds. Canada was one of the main architects of the Kimberley
Process, and its diplomats and activists will be key players in the
Jerusalem meetings next week.
This could be a final chance for the
seven-year-old Kimberley Process. If
its 75 member countries fail to settle
the Zimbabwe question – and fail to
deal with the growing list of producers
that smuggle diamonds to avoid the
certification scheme – the process could
be doomed. Countries such as the
United States are already calling for a
tougher new system, involving a
smaller core of nations with higher
standards.
The Kimberley Process has banned Zimbabwe from exporting
diamonds for most
of the past year, but it allowed the country to hold two
auctions of its
diamonds in August and September. During the ban, Zimbabwe
built up a
stockpile of 4.5 million carats of diamonds with an estimated
value of
$1.7-billion – nearly equal to the government’s entire annual
budget. More
than 1.2 million carats of diamonds were sold in the two
auctions.
Now the question is whether Mr. Mugabe’s government will be
permitted to
keep selling diamonds, despite widespread reports that its
military has
killed more than 200 people since 2008 in the Marange diamond
fields in
eastern Zimbabwe.
At the meetings in Jerusalem next week,
the Mugabe government will be
strongly supported by India, where a diamond
consortium has reportedly
signed a deal to purchase a guaranteed
$100-million a month in rough
diamonds from Zimbabwe.
Activists and
countries such as Canada will try to prevent the diamond
revenue from
falling into the hands of Mr. Mugabe’s long-ruling political
party. Instead
they have insisted that the money must flow into the national
treasury,
where reformers in the coalition government have greater
influence. Yet it
is widely known that millions of dollars worth of diamonds
have already been
smuggled out of the Marange diamond fields, with none of
the money reaching
the treasury.
Because of the smuggling and violence in Zimbabwe, some
banks and diamond
traders have recently stopped dealing in diamonds from the
Marange fields.
Those decisions have put further pressure on the Kimberley
Process to take
action on Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe authorities also
sparked controversy by arresting an activist,
Farai Maguwu, who was
researching the diamond fields and providing
information to the Kimberley
Process. He was charged with endangering
national security, but the charges
were finally dropped last week.
The battle in Jerusalem over whether to
permit Zimbabwe’s diamond sales will
be “very nasty,” said Alan Martin,
research director at Partnership Africa
Canada, an Ottawa-based organization
that has been campaigning against blood
diamonds.
Mr. Martin, who
will be attending the Jerusalem meetings, noted that the
Kimberley Process
is already under severe criticism for failing to prevent
the widespread
smuggling of diamonds by Venezuela and several African
countries, along with
rampant diamond-related violence in countries such as
Angola and Zimbabwe.
If it fails to take action on these issues,
“potentially the whole system
could collapse,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s allies insist that the Kimberley
Process was set up to prevent
rebel armies from selling diamonds to finance
their insurgencies, as
happened in Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia in the
1990s. Since the
Zimbabwe diamonds are not controlled by rebels, the country
should be free
to export, they say.
But many countries such as Canada
and the United States disagree, and
Zimbabwe was forced to allow the
Kimberley Process to review and monitor its
diamond sector in exchange for
the two auctions this year.
“If the Kimberley Process softens its stand
on Zimbabwe, it will have turned
its back on its founding mandate – to cut
out human-rights abuses in
diamond-producing zones and the use of diamond
proceeds to fund conflict,
both of which are the case in Zimbabwe,” Mr.
Martin said.
“Canada has a lot to lose if the KP drops the ball on this.
It would sully
the entire diamond trade and shake consumer confidence in a
system which
people believe was set up to end the trade in blood
diamonds.”
The Jerusalem meetings are crucial because it is the final
session before
the Democratic Republic of Congo becomes chair of the
Kimberley Process next
year, replacing Israel, he said. Zimbabwe could gain
greater influence when
Congo holds the chair. “You’re going to see African
solidarity trumping
decency,” Mr. Martin said.
Ian Smillie, an
Ottawa-based researcher who was instrumental in helping
create the Kimberley
Process, quit the process last year to protest against
its ineffectiveness.
He says Zimbabwe is just one of many examples of the
weakness of the
certification scheme. “This is a vehicle with at least three
flat tires,
pretending that it is going somewhere,” he said.
“The thought of a return
to the chaos and bloodshed of the 1990s is
inconceivable. What may be
required is a full-bore consumer campaign that
targets the governments
blocking progress: Zimbabwe; Venezuela; but more
importantly their
supporters and others who block meaningful progress in the
Kimberley
Process.”
Saturday, 30 October 2010
An MDC supporter, Jonsaya Manyere is battling for his life at the Avenues clinic after he was assaulted before being stabbed in the head by a group of Zanu PF hooligans at a COPAC consultative meeting in Harare South constituency whilst three MDC officials have been arrested and are currently detained at Waterfalls police Station.
The three, Eric Murai, the provincial youth Assembly vice Secretary, Diana Nyikadzino, the MDC Harare provincial Administrator, and the Harare provincial Driver, Phineas Nhatarikwa, who were arrested after they had given their contribution during the consultative meeting at St John’s retreat, are detained at Waterfalls police station under unclear charges.
The violence erupted after Ms Nyikadzino protested against a team leader, Wonder Chinamhora of the Mutambara faction, who was deliberately selecting Zanu PF supporters only to make contributions during the consultations.
Reports received are that two other, yet to be identified men were abducted soon after the Copac team left the venue. Details on these men are yet to be established.
Similar reports were received from Chitungwiza at Tadzikamidzi primary school where Zanu PF thugs chased away MDC supporters from the consultation venue.
What continues to baffle the mind is the continued tendency by Zanu PF to employ violence wherever they feel defeated.
Such tendencies are tantamount to declaring a war unto the citizens of this country.
The drafting of the constitution is a vital stage in creating a framework for the establishment of the nation’s supreme law, however, the kind of behavior exuded by Zanu PF only shows how determined they are to destroy the rule of law.
Only three weeks ago, the same meetings were disrupted by Zanu PF after they bussed their militia from the rural and communal areas, assaulting legitimate contributors and intimidating others. And today, they decided once again to show their violent selves.
Whilst it had been agreed that security would be beefed up during the consultative meetings, the police failed to control the rowdy Zanu PF youth, at some time being totally helpless. In film style, a number of youth militia who were allegedly dressed in police regalia were directing targeted MDC activist towards a Zanu PF ambush whilst blocking all other exit points at St John’s retreat in Harare South constituency.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Guthrie Munyuki
Saturday, 30 October 2010
17:12
HARARE - Zanu PF supporters in Chitungwiza failed in their bid
to disrupt
the constitutional outreach meetings which resumed in Harare and
the
dormitory town on Saturday amidst a high turnout and a peaceful
environment.
At Tadzika Midzi primary school, Zengeza 5, Zanu PF
supporters chased away
MDC supporters in the morning and barred the meetings
until members of
Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac)
arrived.
They chanted slogans and sung liberation songs before they were
ordered off
by Copac officers who, to their credit, made headway in having
people who
had been turned away, participate in the gathering of
views.
Later, there was a huge turnout, which might have scared off the
Zanu PF
supporters who declared that the late spirit medium Chaminuka was
the owner
of the constituency and therefore, their party should lead
proceedings.
“Chaminuka did not have a Zanu PF card. He was a Zimbabwean
who did not
belong to Zanu PF so you have no business making your silly
demands, “came
the reply from the MDC supporters who had swollen just before
the meetings
resumed.
The near fiasco in Zengeza could have been an
isolated incident as in some
areas such as Glen View, Highfield, Glen Norah,
Hopley and Hatfield, huge
crowds turned out in full force to air their views
which ranged from
Presidential term of office to electoral
laws.
Copac co-chairman Paul Mangwana told the Daily News that the higher
turnout
and peaceful environment was a sign that the political parties had
hammered
home their instructions.
Said Mangwana: “We told the
political leaders that we don’t want violence
and that the constitution is
for all. There are no winners and lose in the
constitution-making
process.
“Basically, the three parties have delivered the message to
their supporters
and this is why today we are seeing people expressing their
views freely.”
He said the previous aborted meetings were like a contest
of the political
parties as seen by violence which rocked Mbare, Epworth and
Chitungwiza.
“It is clear that today there is no contest. The people
have received the
message and unlike the regrettable incidents, we are yet
to witness or
receive reports of violence. It’s a peaceful atmosphere
because people have
realised it’s all about Zimbabwe not individuals or
political parties,” said
Mangwana.
He dismissed allegations that some
people were bused, especially in Harare
South, where an estimated 500 people
attended the meeting in Hopley, once a
farming area donated to Zanu PF
loyalists who divided it into housing stands
before the 2008
elections.
Copac held 36 meetings on Saturday and will conclude the
outreach programme
with the final 20 slated for Sunday, including in Mbare
where an MDC
supporter died from injuries sustained in disturbances that
occurred at Mai
Musodzi Hall on September 19.
President Robert Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have repeatedly
said the country will
hold elections in 2011 after the completion of the
constitution-making
process.
A referendum could be held in June next year to pave way for a
new
constitution which will set the tone of elections which have drawn mixed
signals from key institutions.
Civic society groups maintain that the
political environment is poisoned
with violence and intimidation and does
not bode well for strengthening
democratic institutions through the
impending plebiscite.
The business community which was ravaged by the
economic meltdown of 2008
and previous years fear an immediate election
could drive away prospective
investors and negate the gains made so far by
the inclusive government.
Both the World Bank and the IMF have predicted
that Zimbabwe will record a
6% growth in 2011.
Sadc, in its last
summit, urged the Zimbabwean leadership to complete the
constitution-making
process and set timeline for elections.
The current constitution which
has been amended 19 times in 31 years is
blamed for entrenching Mugabe’s
rule which was unflappable before the
emergency of the MDC as a strong
movement opposing his governance style.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Gift Phiri
Saturday, 30 October
2010 12:34
HARARE – Ratepayers from Harare, Chitungwiza and Norton want
Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo's wide-ranging powers clipped and
more
authority given to elected councillors and residents, according to
Parliament’s portfolio committee on local government. (Pictured: Ignatius
Chombo)
Bikita East legislator Kenneth Matimba, who chairs the committee,
said
residents told the committee during public hearings that the immense
powers
granted Chombo under the Urban Councils Act were hampering effective
administration of cities and towns with the minister often disregarding the
wishes of residents or their elected representatives.
"Many residents
lamented that the Urban Councils’ Act (UCA) was a draconian
piece of
legislation which hampered effective and efficient development of
local
authorities," Matimba told the House on Thursday. He added: "They
recommended the amendment of some sections of the Act, particularly those
that gave too much power to the Minister of Local Government and disregarded
council committees. It was alleged that Sections 88 and 122 indicated that
the Act had no regard for the residents associations.”
Matimba also told
Parliament that inquiries by his committee revealed gross
incompetence and
dereliction of duty in the three local authorities. He said
in his report to
Parliament that there was, "total laxity and gross
negligence by the
councils executive; voluntary disregard and disrespect of
the council
by-laws by private developers who pursued self-aggrandisement
at the
expense of residents.”
The Zimbabwean on Sunday understands the MDC is
mulling assigning one of its
legislators to table a private members bill
proposing an overhaul of the UCA
to whittle down the local government
minister’s powers and ensure local
authorities are answerable to ratepayers.
The UCA empowers Chombo to fire
local councils for gross incompetence or
misconduct and appoint commissions
in their place.
The provision has
allowed Chombo to exercise near total control of Zimbabwe’s
urban councils
including those run by MDC mayors. Chombo has not hesitated
to fire elected
councils that are not aligned to his Zanu (PF) party and
replacing them with
commissions packed by his allies.
http://news.radiovop.com/
30/10/2010 09:02:00
Harare,
October 29, 2010 – A group of civil society organizations which is
monitoring the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which
brought the unity government has said the government has failed to improve
the respect for the rule of law by police and the office of the Attorney
General.
In a 54 page report to outline compliance and non-
compliance by the unity
government in the last 6 months, Civil Society
Monitoring Mechanism (CISOMM)
said there have been no respect for the rule
of law while draconian laws
like the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
are still in place.
The report accused President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF as
being complicit in
failing to respect the rule of law while the army and
state security
institutions have been used by the party to disrupt the
constitutional
making process.
“There has been no improvement in respect
for the rule of law. In fact, the
law is being used to persecute individuals
on behalf of Zanu PF, through the
office of the Attorney General,” Cisomm
said.
“Independence of the Bench remains a distant dream. Furthermore, there
is a
failure on behalf of law enforcement agencies to correctly and
impartially
implement judgments or law.”
“POSA is still being used by the
police to curtail freedom of association,
expression and movement. Unlawful
arrests and detentions of human rights
defenders have continued, with the
intention of frightening people into
silence or to cease their activities,”
Cisomm said.
Civil society organizations said ‘coercion’ by Zanu PF has
mainly been
prevalent in rural areas where soldiers and war veterans teamed
up to
intimidate people to not to contribute in the constitutional making
process.
“Zanu PF sponsored coercion has escalated in the rural areas in a
bid to
curtail the expression of opinions in the upcoming constitutional
outreach.
The abuses are mainly being perpetrated by soldiers, youth
militias, war
veterans and some village headmen,” Cisomm said.
“Political
violence and intolerance resurged in advance of the
constitutional making
outreach. Military and quasi-military agents were
deployed to threaten and
intimidate citizens.”
The report said state media is still being used by Zanu
PF to peddle lies
and hate language as well as to be partisan to the
party.
Despite the government having a monitoring body called the Joint
Monitoring
and Implementation Committee (JOMIC), Cisomm said they had to
form a
parallel monitoring body as they anticipated the ‘compromises’ that
will
befall JOMIC.
“CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) realized the
compromises that can befall
this body, hence the decision to set up an
independent monitoring
mechanism,” Cisomm said.
JOMIC which is made up
of 12 senior members of the three political parties
who are signatories to
the GPA. The body has failed to ensure that
government implement all the
reforms that were agreed in the GPA.
The unity government of Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been
facing in the last tensions weeks after
the latter complained that Mugabe
unilaterally appointed ambassadors and
provincial governors without
consulting him.
Mugabe has rubbished the
accusations saying according to the constitution he
is entitled to make the
appointments.
Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic (MDC) have been
denied to hold
meetings by police several times in the past two weeks while
Mugabe has been
having
http://news.radiovop.com
30/10/2010
08:58:00
Bulawayo, October 29,2010—Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
on Friday said
the inclusive government will make sure the National
Matabeleland Zambezi
Water Project (NMZWP) which has been on the cards for
decades get full
implemented as soon as possible.
Bulawayo, October
29,2010—Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday said
the inclusive
government will make sure the National Matabeleland Zambezi
Water Project
(NMZWP) which has been on the cards for decades get full
implemented
as soon as possible.
NMZWP is a project seeks to end the perennial water
shortages bedeviling
Bulawayo by constructing a 500km pipe line to bring
water from the mighty
Zambezi River to the city. The project was mooted
in 1912 by the
colonial government but it has been failing to take
off due
unavailability of funds.
Addressing delegates at NMZWP
stakeholders’ conference organized by
Ministry of Water Resources in
Bulawayo on Friday, Tsvangirai said the
inclusive government has already put
all necessary measures for the full
implementation of the project.
“We
have now moved from theory to practice, the inclusive government which
I
lead will make sure NMZWP get full implemented as soon as possible .This
project doesn’t belong to any political party but its for the people
of Matabeleland and should benefit the region.
“It is the duty of
the government to implement the project and
bring water to
Bulawayo and Matebeleland, ”said Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai also said some
political leaders have been trying to seek
support from people in
Matebeleland using the NMZWP project.
In January this year the Minister of
Water and Infrastructure Development,
Samuel Sipepa- Nkomo announced the
inclusive government’s takeover of the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project,
which has been renamed National
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project
(NMZWP).
Nkomo said he was merely implementing a 1 December 2009 cabinet
decision to
wrestle the project from Matebeleland Zambezi Water Trust to
speed up its
completion.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Saturday, 30 October
2010 12:21
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s security forces are cooking up criminal
charges –
possibly of a financial nature – against Finance Minister Tendai
Biti as
part of a campaign to distract Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC-T
ahead of polls set for next year, a leading London-based political
think-tank has warned. (Pictured: Tendai Biti – The plan is to bring charges
of financial embezzlement or misappropriation against him)
Biti is the
MDC-T’s secretary general and widely seen as one of the former
opposition
party’s chief strategists. The combative finance minister is also
among
MDC-T cadres seen a potential leaders of the party should Tsvangirai
one day
step down from his position as president.
Africa Confidential said last week
that the dreaded Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and the police were
baying for Biti’s blood as part of an
elaborate plan by Zanu (PF) hawks to
discredit and sidestep the MDC-T and
distract the former opposition party
during campaigning for elections
tentatively set for 2011.
“There are
already rumours that the security forces’ dirty tricks
departments are
beavering away to bring criminal charges – possibly of a
financial nature –
against him,” the think-tank said in its latest report.
The plan is to bring
charges of financial embezzlement or misappropriation
against Biti and
incarcerate the MDC-T’s virtual second-in-command without
trial for a long
time and then release him towards the elections.
“As Tsvangirai’s treason
trial showed, the charges do not have to be
believable; their mere existence
distracts attention and detracts from the
political effectiveness of the
accused,” observed Africa Confidential.
Tsvangirai was cleared of an attempt
to assassinate President Robert Mugabe
by High Court judge Paddington Garwe
in 2006 following a sensational
three-year-long treason trial that attracted
world attention.
In his judgement, Garwe ruled that the State had failed to
prove its case
beyond reasonable doubt the allegations against Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai, on
trial for his life for high treason, had always rejected a
conspiracy to
assassinate Mugabe or stage a putsch. The prosecution had
based its case on
evidence from a grainy videotape of a meeting between
Tsvangirai and
Canadian political consultant Ari Ben Menashe, who became the
state's key
witness.
Tsvangirai’s lawyers dismissed the videotape, saying
it was inaudible and
that the state had failed to produce the
original.
With elections expected in less than a year, the Zanu (PF)
machinery is
working at full throttle to position the former ruling party
for a comeback
after the sensational defeat at the hands of the MDC-T in the
last polls
held in 2008.
It is alleged that intelligence officers have
been assigned to monitor the
activities of the MDC-T top brass, particularly
Biti and Tsvangirai. The
ultimate goal is to ensure that targets are
destroyed as a credible
political force.
http://news.radiovop.com/
30/10/2010
16:25:00
MUTARE, October 30, 2010 – Presidential Affairs Minister and
one of ZANU(PF)
political heavyweights Didymus Mutasa has incurred the wrath
of traditional
chiefs in Manicaland accussing him of destroying the party in
the province.
Traditional leaders who spoke during a meeting with heads
of security at an
army barrack in Mutare said Mutasa was responsible for
ZANU(PF),s downfall
in Manicaland Province. Mutasa one of President Robert
Mugabe,s trusted
right hand men was present during the meeting held at Three
Brigade last
week.
The chiefs told the meeting that Mutasa,s leadership
style was responsible
for the party,s declining fortunes and has contributed
to its bad
performance in previous elections.The meeting was called to map
out
strategies for elections likely to
be held next year.
The
traditional leaders said the MDC-T swept all the seats in the province
during the last poll largely because of Mutasa’s poor leadership
style.
“I think we are all aware that ZANU(PF) used to be very strong in
Manicaland
but look at what is happening now,” said Headman Chingosho, from
Chief
Chipunza’s area in Rusape.
“The leadership of the party is
contributing towards its demise. Among the
contributors is Mutasa.This
politician has a habit of handpicking candidates
which has demoralized the
electorate,” said the chief. The angry
traditional leaders also accussed
Mutasa of misleading the President about
the situation in the
province.
“ Our President’s name has been abused by people who want to
further their
political ambitions and this should come to an end,” added
Headman
Chingosho.
Another traditional leader, Acting Chief Musikavanhu
echoed similar
sentiments.He said there were some people who behaved as if
they owned the
party.That kind of attitude has frustrated many party
faithfulls.
Chief Chiduku also took a swipe at Mugabe,s trusted disciple in
Manicaland
saying the powerful politician had usurped their powers and was
throwing his
weight all over.
The commander of 3 Brigade, Brigadier-
General Douglas Nyikayaramba who was
present at the meeting said the issues
raised by traditional leaders should
be taken seriously.Also present were
representatives from the secret
service, the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO).
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Tapiwa Zivira
Saturday, 30 October
2010 13:13
Outspoken teachers transferred: PTUZ
All it took was a
letter from the ministry of education one afternoon in
December last year,
for life for Ethel Tami, a former teacher at Sanyati
government primary
school, to turn into - to use her own words - total
chaos. (Pictured: A
teacher with his class)
The letter was an instruction ordering Tami and five
of her colleagues at
Sanyati to vacate the school within four weeks because
it was overstaffed,
and relocate to another school in Kadoma town, more than
100 km away. Being
transferred from a school in a rural area to one in an
urban area is an
opportunity most teachers would, as the cliché goes, grab
with both hands.
However for Tami and her colleagues the suddenness of the
move from a place
they had called home for so many years, the struggle to
find new
accommodation in Kadoma and schools for their children turned what
would
have been a dream transfer into a nightmarish eviction whose legality
they
are now challenging with assistance from the Progressive Teacher’s
Union for
Zimbabwe (PTUZ).
Corrupt headmaster
But the case of Tami
and her colleagues with allegedly corrupt headmasters
using their powers to
recommend teachers for transfer to cause such teachers
to be virtually
expelled from schools without proper procedures being
followed and for the
flimsiest of reasons.
For example the PTUZ told The Zimbabwean on Sunday that
its Harare office
alone has over the past six months handled more than 10
cases per month of
‘arbitrary and unprocedural transfers’. The militant
union said the chief
cause of the rise in the cases of arbitrary teacher
transfers are some
corrupt headmasters of abusing their right to recommend
teacher transfers by
punishing any teachers who attempt to expose corrupt
activities.
The union said allowances paid by parents as an extra incentive
for teachers
were a chief cause of transfer disputes at schools. School
authorities
administer the allowances and many headmasters have been accused
of abusing
money raised through the allowances. Many of those accused of
mismanaging or
stealing the allowance money have responded by recommending
to the ministry
of education the removal from the schools of teachers seen
as too outspoken
over administration of the funds. “It is those teachers who
attempt to
expose this corruption that face immediate transfers initiated by
headmasters who want to keep the corrupt activities under the lid,” said
PTUZ national coordinator Oswald Madziva.
According to the Ministry of
Education, Sports and Culture regulations
governing transfers, a teacher
must be given 90 days notice before he/she is
moved from one school to
another. The government is also expected to meet
the costs of transfer in
cases like that of Tumi and her colleagues where
the ministry initiates the
transfer. But Madziva said teachers have in many
cases been given as little
as a month or less to leave a school for another.
Negative impact
The
cash-strapped government has also not paid transfer costs, resulting in
teachers having to either sell their property or fork out from their paltry
salaries to cover the costs of moving to a new school they are posted to –
and leaving the PTUZ to fight to force the education ministry to live up to
its obligations.
“The Ministry has not been meeting any of the expenses
of the relocating
teachers and the issue speaks of the high levels of
insecurity within the
teaching fraternity as teachers are now living in fear
of being abused by
their superiors and being transferred at the end of it
all” said Madziva.
“You can imagine the teacher having to struggle to
finance her transfer on
their paltry salary. Relocating has a lot of
implications, schoolchildren
have to move and life has to take a completely
new twist and this needs
proper preparation,” he added.
Madziva said the
negative impact of an immediate transfer did not affect the
individual
teacher only, but also his/her classes. “You can imagine a
teacher being
moved midterm, before finishing a syllabus with his/ her
class, that
obviously affects the flow of lessons,” he said. Contacted for
comment on
the matter, Education Minister David Coltart said his ministry
was not aware
of such cases of forced or unprocedural transfer of teachers.
He said: “We
have not received any formal report but speaking of the
transfers, they are
done through the permanent secretary’s office and it is
of course subject to
positions being available and general policy
considerations.”
http://news.radiovop.com/
30/10/2010 14:58:00
HARARE, October 30,2010
–Zimbabwe,s gold mining industry, once the third
biggest in Africa in the
late 90s has dropped in its rankings, according to
a secret report by world
famous Fraser and Fraser International from Canada.
The report was
released last week to local and international investors.The
revelation comes
at a time when the gold producer price has reached an all
time high of a
staggering USD$1 800 a tonne of gold.
"Zimbabwe is now ranked number 69 out
of 72 countries studied," the report
revealed. "It ranks above Afghanistan
and Tobago."
Zimbabwe will this year only produce a paltry one tonne of gold
from a
record 27 tonnes in 1997, the report added.
The Chamber of Mines
of Zimbabwe (CMZ) has confirmed this revelation.
"This is the worst
performance since the economic meltdown began in about
2007," the report
said. "Gold production in Zimbabwe has reached alarmingly
low levels and
will suffer especially now that mines were closed for
business."
The
Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Tapiwa Mashakada
described the poor showing as "very tragic indeeed".
"This is very
poor and we need to go up the ladder again as happened in the
1990s," he
said in Harare.
"Gold production must improve if we are to become an economic
powerhouse
again in Africa."
The secret report was compiled in Canada by
Fraser and Fraser International
Limited which is among the top media houses
analysing economies worldwide.
It will be made available to local and
international mining investors.
The gold mining industry in the country was
on the verge of total collapse
before the formation of the inclusive
government in 2008.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Saturday, 30 October 2010
12:44
HARARE – More than 2 000 suspected cases of the Influenza A (H1N1)
or swine
flu virus have been reported in Tsholotsho district but officials
have to
contend with more than just a deadly outbreak – they face the
difficult task
of breaking deep-seated superstitions and overcoming
administrative hurdles.
At least one person has died since the outbreak,
which has affected mostly
children, was first detected last month. Health
workers fighting the
outbreak are however meeting unusual resistance from
villagers who believe
the virus is caused by
witchcraft and are refusing
to get treatment.
The outbreak has even affected the conduct of the 2010
final school
examinations. Education officials in the area have been forced
to introduce
“quarantined exam classes” for infected school children. In one
school, more
than 95 percent of the children are believed to be infected by
the H1N1
virus. A previous swine flu outbreak claimed more than 40 lives in
2009 and
affected more than 300 people.
The flu that alarmed the world
when the first cases were detected in Mexico
in April 2009 before quickly
spreading to other parts of the world has
claimed hundreds of lives to date.
Zimbabwe recorded its first confirmed
cases of swine flu August 2009 at a
school in east of the country.
Quick action by the then newly formed unity
government of President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
the University of Zimbabwe and
the World Health Organisation (WHO) helped
prevent a major epidemic in
country.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Sidney Saize
Saturday, 30 October
2010 17:33
MUTARE - Lawyers representing Nyanga North Member of
Parliament, Douglas
Mwonzora on Friday made an application to have his case
referred and be
heard at the Supreme Court on whether his constitutional
right to freedom of
expression is not being violated.
Mwonzora
stands accused of insulting and undermining the authority of
President
Robert Mugabe while at a political rally at Ruwangwe in March
2008, when he
said referred to him as a “goblin”.
The legislator faces another count of
undermining the authority of the
police.
Mutare provincial
magistrate, Lucy-Anne Mungwari is expected to make a
ruling on November 15
on the merits of the application from Mwonzora’s
lawyers.
Johannes
Zviuya and Blessing Nyamaropa who represented the MP argued that
prosecuting
Mwonzora under Section 33 of the constitution for allegedly
insulting
president Mugabe was infringing on his right to freedom of
expression and
political right.
Zviuya said the section of the law was meant to deny
political opponents
from criticizing political opponents and in this case
President Mugabe and
his Zanu PF party.
He said they wanted the
Supreme Court sitting as a Constitutional Court to
decide whether or not
Mwonzora’s rights were not being violated.
“Mugabe being the First
Secretary of Zanu PF was being criticized as such
and not as the President
of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” argued Zviuya.
He said Mugabe has the
penchant of ridiculing other political opponents at
his rallies and the same
should go for him.
“It was not uncommon for Mugabe to criticize and
insult other political
opponents at Zanu PF rallies as well in a bid to woo
supporters, he has done
that on many occasions and political leaders have to
live with criticism,”
said Zviuya in his submission of the
application.
But state prosecutor Mike Tembo argued that the application
was frivolous
and vexatious in that the particular statement did not amount
to criticism,
but “an unnecessary insult to the person of the President of
the Republic of
Zimbabwe.”
“The section is not vague, wide or broad.
It is clear and meant to stop
ridiculing, insulting on the person of the
President and his office. In no
way are votes won by insulting others and
neither are his rights advanced by
the utterance,” said Tembo.
He
said the utterances did not amount to an opinion or idea but, “only
amounted
to hitting a person below the belt”.
Tembo argued that while an
individual is entitled to his rights, such rights
should not infringe on the
other person’s rights as well and in this regard
the dignity and authority
of the incumbent President.
It is alleged that on the first count
Mwonzora said:"President Mugabe
Chikwambo uye achamhanya…Ndaona Mugabe
achigeza, tauro muchiuno, sipo
muhapwa,uye ndebvu hwapepe. Pamberi neMDC;
Pasi nechihurumende chembavha
chinosunga vanhu vasina mhosva chichitora
zvinhu zvavo.”
Literally, it means “President Mugabe is a goblin and will
run…I saw Mugabe
bathing, towel on his waist, soap under his armpit and big
beard. Forward
with MDC and down with a bad government of thieves which
arrests innocent
people taking away their property.
Mwonzora, who is
also COPAC’s select committee chairperson in September
refused to be served
with summon papers instructing him to appear in court
on September 6, to
answer allegations he insulted Mugabe on March 21 last
year at an MDC-T
rally.
After turning away the police detective, a second warrant of
arrest being
served on his but was later cancelled after the intervention of
his lawyers.
He is alleged to have on 22 August turned away detective
assistant Felix
Collen Mawonedze, from Nyanga police station, who had been
assigned to serve
him with notice papers.
Mwonzora is alleged to have
told Mawonedze that he was busy with the COPAC
outreach programme and
therefore, would not be bothered to attend to the
matter.
Mawonedze’s
affidavit papers at the Mutare Magistrates’ court state that he
approached
Mwonzora at Nyamhuka business centre in Nyanga while the accused
was in his
vehicle.
Mawonedze alleges that he advised Mwonzora of his intention to
serve him
with court papers instructing him to appear in court on September
6, 2010.
“In response Mwonzora said I could not serve him for the given
date because
he would be performing the COPAC duties and that there was
nothing to hurry
about as the case is not criminal and instead it is a
political one,” reads
part of the affidavit written by Mawonedze.
In
addition Mawonedze, in his affidavit says of Mwonzora; “He went on to say
that the court date could be set in the month of December 2010 and he was
going to phone the chief law officer Michael Mugabe to air his
suggestion.”
On the second count of undermining the police authority,
Mwonzora is alleged
to have said, “Down with a government of thieves and
forward with the MDC."
He is also alleged to have accused the police of
being used by Zanu PF to
intimidate and harass people in rural areas to
force them to vote for Zanu
PF.
He is alleged to have stated that he
is not afraid of police constables
trained at the Border Gezi training
institute. Mwonzora also referred to the
Border Gezi trained police officers
as recent recruits who are now
benefitting from the largesse of Zanu PF and
can afford to buy basic goods
like beef for their families. He is alleged to
have said the police officers
don’t know that Morgan Tsvangirai got
R1million from South Africa for them.
For the two charges against
Mwonzora, the state alleges utterances by the
legislator were unlawful,
false and had the risk and possibility of causing
hostility towards or cause
hatred, contempt or ridicule of the President in
person of the President’s
office.
The state further says on the second count Mwonzora intended
engendering
feelings of hostility towards the member of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police to
contempt, ridicule or disesteem.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
29 October, 2010 11:33:00 OWEN
GAGARE | HARARE
A seething Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
allegedly charged at his
shocked deputy Obert Gutu at their government
offices in Harare on Friday in
a heated verbal altercation over the Mutumwa
Mawere saga.
Chinamasa summoned Gutu to his office and, according to
sources who
witnessed the incident, only fell short of slapping him in the
face, in an
incident that is said to have attracted a little crowd in the
New Government
Complex corridors on Friday morning.
Chinamasa
allegedly gave Gutu what observers said was an unministerial
tongue-lashing
as he menacingly advanced towards the bemused lawyer, who
reportedly managed
to keep his cool.
The incident temporarily brought business at the
offices to a halt.
Chinamasa was reportedly angry that Gutu had attacked
him in the media over
a press statement he released last weekend which
poured cold water on Mawere’s
bid to reclaim his vast business empire, SMM
Holdings.
Gutu distanced himself from the statement and said it did not
represent the
ministry’s position.
He was also reportedly angry that
Gutu had spoken to Afaras Gwaradzimba, the
administrator of Mawere’s SMM
Holdings.
Chinamasa, sources said, interpreted Gutu’s actions as
tantamount to
investigating him.
“Chinamasa was boiling with anger;
he was seething, frothing at the mouth.
He was shouting at the top of his
voice, like a man possessed, while
advancing at Gutu, who appeared
shell-shocked.
He kept asking Gutu what his motive was and what he was
trying to achieve,”
said a source.
“He later ordered him out of the
office without giving him a chance to
respond.”
Gutu refused to
comment over the matter on Friday while more than a dozen
attempts to call
Chinamasa were fruitless as the minister’s mobile went
unanswered.
Gutu said: “I cannot comment on the matter. I have no
comment.”
Gwaradzimba confirmed speaking to Gutu over the SMM saga but
refused to say
what the discussion was about.
Chinamasa has received
scathing criticism for his failure to follow the
trail of misrepresentations
which led to his reportedly ill-advised and
unconstitutional decision to
place SMM under reconstruction.
The reconstruction order was issued in
terms of Section 4 of the
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures)
Reconstruction of the
state-indebted and solvent companies
regulation.
The two acts under which Mawere was being charged, the
Prevention of
Corruption Act and the Reconstruction Act were now under the
jurisdiction of
the Home Affairs ministry and Ministry of Finance
respectively.
The clash followed revelations in NewsDay last week that
the judgment used
to grab Mawere’s empire could have been fraudulently
obtained due to
misrepresentation of facts as SMM Holdings’ liabilities at
the time did not
qualify as state loans to the company. - News Day
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Christian Ncube
Saturday, 30
October 2010 12:59
JOHANNESBURG – Top South African labour leader
Zwelinzima Vavi has urged
civil society groups in Africa to mobilise forces
to fight tyranny on the
continent including in Zimbabwe.
Vavi, the
secretary general of the powerful Congress of South African Trade
Unions
(COSATU), told a meeting of civil society organisations in
Johannesburg last
Thursday that Africa could never triumph over poverty and
underdevelopment
as long as dictators continued to have free rein on the
continent. He said:
“We need to address the massive challenges of
underdevelopment in the
continent. Africa cannot succeed in developing its
economies and
transforming the lives of our people while it is still ravaged
by
poverty.
“Let us defeat the tyrants in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Sudan and
elsewhere whose
refusal to vacate their positions and allow democracy means
that can be no
hope of Africa ever rising to ensure a coordinated effort to
defeat under
development.”
COSATU has led criticism against President
Robert Mugabe’s controversial
rule and in one of several actions against the
Zimbabwean leader in 2008
blocked a Chinese ship carrying weapons for
Zimbabwe from offloading its
cargo at a South African port saying Mugabe
could use the arms against
opponents.
The union, which is part of South
Africa’s ruling tripartite that is led by
the ANC and includes the South
African Communist Party, has regularly
criticized the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) for its kid
gloves approach towards Mugabe.
http://news.yahoo.com/
PRWeb
– Fri Oct 29, 8:00 pm ET
Cambridge University
Press is sending thousands of primary school books to
12 African countries
in partnership with Book Aid International, to provide
school books to some
of the world’s most deprived areas.
(PRWEB) October 29,
2010
School libraries in Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,
Namibia,
Somalia (Puntland, Somaliland), Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia,
Zimbabwe
will each receive 50-100 copies of each book donated, ensuring that
whole
classrooms of school children will be able to learn from
them.
The books are unused and in perfect condition, but are not
currently part of
the UK curriculum.
Clive Nettleton, Director of
Book Aid International, said: “We are
absolutely delighted with this
donation from Cambridge. At Book Aid
International, we partner with local
organisations and schools to promote
learning, the creation of literate
environments and community development.
We focus on sub-Saharan Africa,
because it is the poorest region in the
world, where only a very small
minority can afford to buy books, and
libraries are for most people the only
place they can gain access to good
quality information. This generous
donation is going to help improve access
to educational materials for
literally thousands of children all over
Africa.”
Andrew Gilfillan,
Managing Director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa at
Cambridge University
Press, said: “Our mission as an organisation is to
advance learning,
knowledge and research all over the world. We know that
education changes
lives and we believe that part of our mission is to make
sure that everyone,
no matter where they are from in the world, has the
chance to access
educational materials of the highest quality.”
Book Aid International
supports some of the most unusual and accessible
library services in the
world, from traditional bricks and mortar libraries
right through to mobile
services on bicycles, motorcycles, lorries, donkeys
and even camels! They
send a total of around half a million books to
sub-Saharan Africa and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories every year, and
have provided 30 million
books to the developing world since they began.
Cambridge University
Press has supported Book Aid International for a number
of years, but this
is the largest single donation to date. The first
consignment is going out
this week and will be sent in 3-tonne weekly
shipments.
By Clifford
Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London
It would be uncharitable not
to applaud the European Union (EU) for deciding
to retain the visa and
financial sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his 200
listed cronies.
Without sanctions, it could be a blood bath in Zimbabwe.
Considering the
fact that Zanu-pf had mobilised and co-ordinated a major
international
offensive against the travel bans spearheaded by Mugabe’s
admirer and
comrade in arms, Jacob Zuma leader of the African National
Congress of South
Africa, it was a great relief to learn that the EU had
decided to keep the
restrictions in place.
Suggestions by some writers that there is
treachery or a conspiracy in
calling for targeted sanctions only betrays
their limited grasp of the
sanctity of democratic values which are daily
trampled upon by Robert Mugabe
as victims of politically-motivated violence
are arrested while the
perpetrators are given police protection. It might
not be their fault that
they don’t view good political governance with an
uncontaminated perspective
because they have been brainwashed by jingles and
Zanu-pf’s redundant
anti-colonialism rhetoric. To some people, political
murders and
disappearances like that of the Gokwe7 don’t seem to matter as
long as they
have or are related to someone with a seized farm where nothing
of value is
taking place except weekend braais and congratulating each other
over looted
property while the country is staring famine in the
face.
The European Union’s and various western countries have democratic
and
social values as well as fundamental rights which inspire those opposed
to
Mugabe’s dictatorship. These can be summed-up as political values and
rights
such as equality and non-discrimination based on colour, beliefs,
religion,
sexuality and gender. Peaceful democratic change of government and
constitutionalism, the rule of law, free speech, free press, justice and the
separation of powers are some of the values. Respect for human rights such
the right to life, to education, to negotiate and conclude collective
bargaining agreements and so on are also enshrined. Of course there is no
paradise on earth, but the EU and indeed Western countries continue to
support Zimbabweans by giving humanitarian assistance through
non-governmental organisations a move which irks Mugabe.
The decision
by the EU not to be swayed by Jacob Zuma and Zanu-pf’s
lobbyists is laudable
and politically significant given Mugabe’s high hopes
which were based on
false premises of redundant colonial rhetoric. It is
ironic that some SADC
leaders invested so much faith in one of theirs who is
adversely affecting
their countries with an influx of refugees but would
like him to be rewarded
with visas to conduct yet more ‘voyages of discovery’
like Vasco da
Gama.
Mugabe’s fear of regime change which is a euphemism for general
elections is
understandable but indefensible. It is understandable because
he has amassed
a lot of wealth from his farms and diamonds and has young
children. He has
not known of any job other than politics since he left
teaching in Ghana in
the 1960s. Mugabe has been a prime minister and a
president enjoying free
food, accommodation, air travel and transport for
the past 30 years. Few
people would do without such luxury. As a result the
rule of law has been
replaced by Zanu-pf law which puts his regime at a
collision course with the
EU. However Mugabe’s fear of regime change is
indefensible, because the
country’s constitution provides for change of
government, although he has
ensured that does not happen peacefully in his
lifetime. Again, his and the
EU’s paths cross on the issues of stolen
elections, violence and rights
abuses.
Contrary to claims by his
sympathisers that the “smart sanctions are not
smart enough” the EU
Ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell Ariccia clarified that
“if the measures are
not hurting the people on the list, there would have
been less campaigns for
their removal” (Zimonline, 28/10/10). Precisely.
What Mugabe does not
want the people to know is that targeted sanctions are
not aimed at ordinary
people like the chiefs and headmen who this week fell
victim to his
anti-western rhetoric. The sanctions include a ban on weapon
sales to the
southern African country, something beyond a rural chief’s
sphere of
influence. Also Mugabe does not want people to know that other
countries are
being well run and progressing while Zimbabwe stalls or goes
down the drain
because of corruption, repression and paranoia about white
farmers.
In order to ensure the “masses” do not get alternative news
and information,
the Central Intelligence Organisation and police are
reportedly seizing
donated portable radio sets from villagers in Murehwa’s
Chitowa District a
move that was started in Gweru where 862 radios were
confiscated. Earlier
on, there was Operation Dzikisai Madhishi (Bring down
satellite dishes).
As long as people are abducted, raped, abused,
harassed, terrorised,
tortured or murdered for their political beliefs,
targeted sanctions remain
justified and deserve support of any right
thinking Zimbabwean. In fact, the
list of individuals banned from travel to
the West should be updated as new
farm invaders and torturers may have been
omitted in the current 200.
Furthermore if the Joint Operations Command or
securocrats do not relent on
violence, the travel ban should be tightened
further.
Mugabe and his allies know very well the Shona saying that
“kurumwa
nechokuchera” (if you dig a hole, you get bitten e.g. by a snake).
Its good
that smart sanctions are really biting despite Zanu-pf propaganda.
They must
embrace and implement core democratic values of good political
governance in
Zimbabwe without hesitation, sooner rather than
later.
Politically blackmailing opponents will only make the sanctions
bite harder,
fortunately. There is nothing illegal about targeted sanctions
as touted by
Jonathan Moyo because banning unwelcome visitors to your
country is the
sovereign right of any government including the UK, USA,
Australia, Canada
and the EU not forgetting Zimbabwe but only after
democratic, free and fair,
UN supervised elections of course!
Until there
is real progress in Zimbabwe, targeted sanctions must stay.
According to
Harold Wilson, “The only human institution which rejects
progress is the
cemetery” (Quotegarden, 29/10/10)
Dear Family and
Friends,
The first real rain of the season arrived in the last week of
October.
It emerged from low purple clouds highlighted by vivid streaks
of
white, crackling, lightning. After six dry months, we sat
below,
expectant, panting, longing! It was a typically African storm,
the
rain pounding down so hard that in minutes everything was
afloat.
Sheets of brown water covered the ground in a few minutes and
when
they started to run, they carried away the detritus of half a
year:
soil, leaves, sticks, pods and everything not physically attached.
You
couldn’t hear yourself think over the noise of the rain banging in
the
gutters and hammering on the roof. The choking dust of months was
washed off
trees, walls and windows and in half an hour it was all
over.
Thirty
millimetres of rain (just over an inch) had fallen and from the
cracks and
crevices and holes in the ground, life emerged. The voices
of a myriad frogs
rang out from every direction: some sweet and
melodious, others shrill and
urgent and then there were the deep,
guttural croaks of the big boys. Shiny
black C/hongololos
/(millipedes) came from unknown places and were soon
everywhere, their
millions of red legs moving in a strange undulating wave.
All sorts of
creeping, crawling, running and flying insects appeared. Some
welcome
ones like sausage flies and flying ants; some strange ones like
rhino
beetles and some terrifying ones like huge rain spiders and
other
furry coated, long legged beasties.
So life returned to Zimbabwe
and for the residents of my home town
this first rain brought a unanimous,
almost audible sigh of relief as
we ran outside with buckets, bowls and
baths. For five days the whole
town had been without water. Dry taps, empty
geysers, hollow cisterns
and echoing tanks. Not a drop of water in the entire
town; not for
schools or hospitals, industry or residential areas. This water
crisis
had been months, years in the making. Corroded pipes, collapsing
pumps
and the main town dam visibly polluted with running sewage.
We’ve
been limping on, getting water for two or three hours a day if we
are
lucky; water that is always discoloured, often greasy and smelly
and
water that you never, never, drink before boiling and filtering.
The
local Municipality chose not to warn residents that we were about
to
have a major crisis and then not to tell us what was going on or
how
long it may be before we got water again. The Municipality sent
out
the monthly accounts, delivered by hand, door to door but
didn’t
bother to even attach a note explaining the water crisis or
advising
us what to do. And so we all did our own thing.
Outside gates
around the town huge lines of people gathered with
bottles, buckets and
containers – these were the houses where owners
had boreholes and were
prepared to share. School children each had to
take a 5 litre bottle of water
to school every day. The roads in the
mornings were filled with children
carrying satchels and suitcases and
parents and relations following behind
carrying their water rations.
The main bakery in the town drew water into
bowsers from a private
borehole in order to keep producing bread. In vleis
and open areas
wells were dug by desperate residents of the town. Shallow
holes with
unprotected walls and uncovered surfaces. Morning, noon and
night
women with buckets and 20 litre containers trekked backwards
and
forwards to these open pools to draw water
With no water for
toilets people were defecating in the bush, the same
bush were wells were
being opened up; the same bush where people have
been dumping litter because
the Municipality have stopped collecting
it again. As the days passed people
began doing their laundry
alongside, or even in, the open wells. Some
residents complained to
selfish women that they were soiling the water for
everyone else,
telling them to carry water away and wash clothes at home.
The
complaints were met with the same absurd rhetoric of life in
Zimbabwe:
critics were accused of being MDC supporters.
How we didn’t
get an outbreak of cholera or another major water
borne disease is a miracle.
I pray that I am not speaking too soon as
our water crisis continues and our
uncollected waste and filth festers
and rots and runs down into those open
wells. Until next week, thanks
for reading, love cathy. 30 October
2010
Copyright � Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com