http://www.nytimes.com/
By CELIA
W. DUGGER
Published: September 11, 2010
JOHANNESBURG - Five
Americans - two doctors, two nurses and an organizer -
who carried donated
AIDS drugs to Zimbabwe for distribution to the poor were
arrested Thursday
and remained jailed in Harare on Saturday on a charge of
dispensing the
medicine without the supervision of a pharmacist or proper
licenses, their
lawyer said.
The Americans, who are being held in smelly, poorly
ventilated cells at
Harare Central police station, were supposed to appear
in court on Saturday
for a bail hearing, but the police said they had not
finished the paperwork,
said the lawyer, John Sakumange. The Americans are
expected to appear before
a magistrate on Monday.
A Zimbabwean doctor
working with them was also arrested on related charges.
The state-run
newspaper, The Herald, on Saturday quoted a spokesman for the
criminal
investigations department, Detective Inspector Augustin Zimbili,
confirming
the arrests and the charges against the Americans.
The Americans belong
to the Allen Temple Baptist Church AIDS Ministry in
Oakland, Calif. The
church serves a predominantly African-American
congregation. Three or four
times a year since 2000, members have paid their
own way to Zimbabwe to give
antiretroviral medicine, vitamins, clothing and
food baskets to impoverished
people with AIDS.
The epidemic is severe throughout Zimbabwe and the
country's broken health
system fails to treat most people in need.
On
this trip, the team had brought a four-month supply of antiretroviral
drugs
for about 800 people, some of them orphaned children, in Harare and
Mutoko,
a rural district.
Arnold Perkins, the retired public health director in
Alameda County,
Calif., said in a telephone interview from California that
he had made the
trip six times and seen skeletal AIDS patients restored to
health by the
medicine. The arrest of the team there "breaks my heart," he
said.
"If this work stops, it's a human tragedy," he said. "People will
die. That's
a fact."
But the police spokesman defended the arrests.
"It is our duty to ensure
that all clinics and medical institutions are
registered for easy
monitoring," The Herald quoted Detective Inspector
Zimbili as saying. "There
is a risk of dispensation of expired drugs. When
premises are not licensed,
it is difficult to check if the act is being
complied with."
The Americans deny the charges. Their lawyer, Mr.
Sakumange, said the
doctors who dispensed the medicine, Dr. Andrew Reid, an
American resident in
Zimbabwe, and Dr. Tembinhosi Ncomanzi, a Zimbabwean,
are licensed to
practice there.
In addition to the two doctors,
according to the ministry, the others in
custody include two nurses, David
Greenberg and Gregory Miller, and the head
of the AIDS ministry, Gloria
Cox-Crowell. "They're all in good spirits," Mr.
Sakumange
said.
Kenric Bailey, a member of the AIDS ministry, said a soured
relationship
with a Zimbabwe charity was at the root of the arrests. The
ministry stopped
working with the charity after disagreements with its new
leader, and the
new leader then apparently reported the team to the police,
Mr. Bailey said.
"It's very unsettling," said Mr. Bailey, who has paid
his way to Zimbabwe
eight times.
Mr. Sakumange said he expected that
the American medical team would be
released on bail on Monday and subjected
at most to a fine.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Charles Tembo Saturday 11 September
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwean energy development minister Elton
Mangoma said on Friday
that the country was set to grant a licence to a
French consortium to set up
a US$3 billion electricity generation
project.
Mangoma did not name the consortium but described the deal as
good as
sealed, adding that the French investors were likely to receive a
licence
"possibly before the end of the month".
Zimbabwe, which
suffers incessant power outages because of low generation,
has already
signed awarded a licence to Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed
RioZim to develop
up a US$4 billion project in the south-western Gokwe
Sengwa coalfields
expected to produce about 2 400 MW.
Mangoma said: "We have already given
a license to RioZim for the Gokwe
Sengwa coal fields which will produce
about 2400MW and this project is
expected to come in line in 2014. I have on
my desk a proposal by a French
consortium that wants to generate 2000 .. the
French investment is close to
US$3 billion."
Zimbabwe's total
requirement stands at 2 000MW, but the country is currently
generating
around 1 100MW.
The country imports 150MW from Mozambique and another
125MW from Zambia in a
bid to ease power shortages.
The state-owned
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority inability over the
years to boost
generation capacity at its ageing power stations and a
critical shortage of
foreign currency to import adequate electricity from
neighbouring countries
has left Zimbabwe grappling with severe power
shortages.
The
government energy utility has previously said cash-rich foreign
investors
remain reluctant to provide funding badly needed to boost power
generation
because of uncertainty about the country's future political and
economic
direction.
But Mangoma said Zimbabwe's risk factor was no longer as high
as before and
said this coupled with viable tariffs since introduction of
the US dollar
and other foreign currencies in place of the local dollars was
drawing
investors into the energy sector where potential for growth is high.
--
ZimOnline.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Tobias Manyuchi Saturday 11 September
2010
HARARE -- South Africa will in about two weeks time begin
issuing permits to
Zimbabwean immigrants living in the country, it was
announced on Friday.
Pretoria last week said it would in December resume
deporting undocumented
Zimbabweans, ending an 18-month moratorium on
deportations of illegal
immigrants from its struggling northern
neighbour.
But Pretoria said Zimbabweans already working, engaged in
business or
studying in South Africa will be issued with relevant permits on
condition
they produce valid documents to show they are citizens of
Zimbabwe.
Home Affairs director general Mkuseli Aplenis said the
documentation process
will begin on September 20, adding that Zimbabweans
who fraudulently
acquired South African permits should surrender these and
will not be
prosecuted.
"The permits will be issued through all
forty-six (46) regional Home Affairs
offices in all the nine provinces in
the country," Aplenis said. " Two
hundred and thirteen (213) Home Affairs
officials both at headquarters and
provinces have been deployed to
facilitate this process."
Both Harare and Pretoria officials have said
they will cooperate to ensure
that all deserving Zimbabweans have necessary
documents to allow them to
stay in South Africa.
But civil society
organisations have criticised the move to resume
deportations saying it will
spark a witch-hunt against Zimbabweans by state
immigration officials and
that it could also fuel xenophobia against
foreigners.
South Africa,
which has Africa's most prosperous economy, is home to
millions of foreign
nationals, many of them living illegally and seeking
better opportunities
from failed economies like Zimbabwe.
There no exact figures of how many
Zimbabwean live in South Africa but
estimates put the figure at anything
above two million or above a sixth of
Zimbabwe's total population of 12
million people.
Locals often complain that the immigrants steal their
jobs or lower working
standards by readily accepting below market wages,
while also overloading
government social services.
An outbreak of
xenophobic violence in 2008 left at least 62 foreigners dead
and thousands
of others displaced, leaving foreign investors unsettled and
South Africa's
image as one of the more tolerant countries in the world
shattered.
Similar xenophobic attacks broke out soon after the end of
the FIFA World
Cup ended last July but security forces were this time round
quick to move
in to quash the violence and protect foreigners. - ZimOnline.
http://www.voanews.com
Restoration
of Human Rights said that based on its monitoring of outreach
meetings
around Zimbabwe the process was widely marred by political
intimidation and
general disorganization
Patience Rusere & Thomas Chiripasi |
Washington 10 September 2010
The advocacy group Restoration of Human
Rights is giving the constitutional
outreach process a thumbs down, saying
parliament's finding are not likely
reflect the true opinion of Zimbabweans
as to what should be in the new
constitution.
The non-governmental
organization said it has been monitoring outreach
meetings countrywide and
concludes the process was widely marred by
intimidation as well as
disorganization.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional
Revision said it is
mopping in the provinces with public comment sessions to
be held in Harare
and Bulawayo on September 18 and 19.
Restoration
information officer Ronald Mureveriwi said ZANU-PF supporters
and youth
militia hijacked the process, silencing people and hand-picking
individuals
to express views.
Mureveriwi told VOA's Patience Rusere that intimidation
was particularly
widespread in rural areas.
http://www.sabcnews.com
September 11 2010
,
6:10:00
Thulasizwe Simelane: Harare
Zimbabwe's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has expressed
optimism that long-time president Robert Mugabe
will stick to his end of the
bargain and stage legitimate elections at the
end of the transitional
government's tenure.
Tsvangirai has moved to allay fears that Mugabe will
simply dismiss the MDC
component of government, before staging fraudulent
and violent elections
early next year. Speaking at his party's 11th
anniversary commemorations,
Tsvangirai expressed hope that the Southern
African Development Community
(SADC) will prevail on Mugabe to stage free
and fair polls.
The MDC's 11 years of political existence has been rocky.
Two years ago the
situation came to a head after a bloody election forced
SADC's hand. At the
region's request, Tsvangirai joined hands with Mugabe to
form a unity
government. With the clock ticking down to February 2011, some
suspect
Mugabe may renege on the deal.
Political analyst John Makumbe
says Mugabe will dissolve Parliament, dismiss
all but Zanu-PF ministers and
call for new elections. But the MDC leader has
faith in SADC's influence on
Mugabe, saying the latter will not dissolve
Parliament as he seeks a soft
landing to his legacy crisis. According to
Tsvangirai, the only way for
Mugabe to restore some degree of credibility is
when he can manage the
transition to a successful conclusion.
The MDC leader has also revealed
that the fears of Mugabe's powerful
security cluster, that they could face
prosecution, have been a
consideration for the transitional government.
Tsvangirai maintains that
addressing such fears is the only way to ensure a
smooth transition.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Friday, 10
September 2010 10:32
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Supreme Court is expected to
pass judgment at the end of
September on an application by the country's
beleaguered white farmers for a
moratorium on ongoing farm evictions and
persecution of those refusing to
vacate properties targeted for compulsory
acquisition.
The Commercial Farmers Union said the Supreme Court would make a
ruling on
an application the union made earlier this year for order
suspending further
punitive prosecutions and evictions of the few remaining
productive farmers
in Zimbabwe until such time that President Robert
Mugabe's controversial
land reform programme has been properly examined and
addressed more
transparently. "A hearing date has been set for 30 September
2010," the
union said last week.
The CFU is seeking an order suspending
ongoing prosecutions and criminal
proceedings against several of its members
accused of allegedly contravening
Section 3(3) of the Gazetted Land Act by
refusing to vacate farms illegally
occupied by Mugabe's supporters. The
union contends that the prosecutions
are "invalid and of no force" and
violate the constitutional rights of the
farmers.
The Attorney General's
Office has in recent months stepped up prosecution of
white farmers it
claims are refusing to vacate land acquired by the
government for purposes
of redistribution to land less blacks. This is
despite the fact that the
Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal ruled
in 2008 that the
government's land reform programme is discriminatory and
illegal under the
SADC Treaty to which Zimbabwe is signatory.
Hordes of Zanu (PF) supporters,
so-called war veterans and members of the
army and police stepped up farm
invasions almost immediately after the
formation of the inclusive government
in February 2009. Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has ordered the arrest
and prosecution of the farm
invaders but his word is largely ignored with
farmers reporting continuing
invasions of their properties and disruption of
farming activities.
Western donors have - on top of other conditions - made
it clear that they
would not consider giving aid to the Harare government
while farm invasion
continue. Zimbabwe has since the start of the land
reforms in 2000 relied on
food imports and handouts from international food
agencies mainly due to
failure by resettled black peasants to maintain
production on former white
farms.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 10 September 2010
12:46
Clemence Manyukwe, Political Editor
FOUR top judges
and senior ZANU-PF officials occupying government houses at
Gunhill Villas
are being evicted at the high-security complex to make way
for new tenants
from the bloated coalition, which is battling to find
accommodation for
several bureaucrats. The evictions are part of the first
phase of an
initiative by the Ministry of National Housing and Social
Amenities of
taking stock of government property as well as getting rid of
undeserving
occupants who are refusing to vacate the State residences.
The ministry has
been under intense pressure to serve eviction notices on
former government
ministers clinging on to houses leased from the State as
well as those who
are leasing multiple government houses.
Results of an initial audit of
government houses in our possession targets
for eviction four judges and
three former ministers. Those who are required
to move out of the Gunhill
Villas, home to several top officials, are the
Deputy Supreme Court, Chief
Justice Luke Malaba, and High Court judges
Justice Lavender Makoni, Justice
Antonia Guvava and Justice Maphios Cheda.
Masvingo Resident Minister and
provincial governor, Titus Malule-ke, and
former deputy ministers, Abigail
Damasane and Morris Sakabuya, are among the
senior politicians at the villas
who should vacate the State premises within
the next three months.
The
four judges, who are entitled to State accommodation are said to be
having
alternative accommodation, while Damasane, a Matabe-leland South
ZANU-PF
central committee member, and Sakabuya, who is now the chief
executive
officer of the ailing Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO),
are no
longer in government.
Although, Maluleke is still serving government,
resident ministers and
provincial governors are required to have official
accommodation only in
their respective provinces, with the top official also
facing uncertainty in
his current position since the posts of provincial
governors expired last
month.
The appointment of provincial governors is
currently the subject of
contestation between the main political actors in
the inclusive government.
An official communication in possession of The
Financial Gazette from the
Minister of National Housing and Social
Amenities, Giles Mutsekwa, to his
permanent secretary, David Munyoro,
directs the latter to draft letters to
the affected individuals to find
alternative accommodation within three
months failure of which they would be
evicted.
"The following have no reason to be occupying the villas indicated
against
their names: a) SI449/427 Hon A. Damasane - she was deputy minister
of
education sometime. But still does not enjoy these facilities, otherwise
we
(will) have the entire Parliament knocking at our office doors every day;
b)
SI449/446 Hon M. Sakabuya - he was deputy minister of local government
sometime. He left government and I understand he now works for ZUPCO as
chief executive officer," said Mutsekwa.
"S449/436 Hon Maluleke - he is
the sitting provincial governor for Masvingo.
Surely, governors have
official accommodation in their respective provinces.
This governor cannot
have it both ways."
The minister also ordered that three persons occupying
villas identified
only as L. Ngwenya, G. Marema and P. Mahlaba must be given
two weeks to
identify themselves and where they work to determine the way
forward.
In another directive, the Housing and Social Amenities Minister
requested
further information on the persons earmarked to take possession
of six
other unoccupied government houses since they were said to be
reserved for
unidentified persons.
In an interview yesterday, Mutsekwa
declined to comment on the latest
government housing audit saying it was
still an internal and confidential
matter that is not yet ripe for public
consumption.
"We will issue a statement at the appropriate time," the
minister said.
The deliberate exercise of taking stock of government
high-security houses
and evicting undeserving occupants, comes at a time the
inclusive government
is faced with a serious crisis of accommodation that
has seen Vice-President
John Nkomo and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
still living at their
previous residences in Milton Park and Strathaven in
Harare.
The situation is said to have been exacerbated by the reluctance by
former
ZANU-PF top officials, who lost their positions at the formation of
the
inclusive government in February last year, to vacate the residences
triggering the latest initiative.
More names are expected to come into
the open as government spreads its
initiative beyond Gunhill Villas to other
parts of Harare where former
bureaucrats and top ZANU-PF officials are said
to be refusing to vacate
State houses.
Some ministers from the two
formations of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) are said to be
staying in flats in the Avenues area and hotels,
thereby increasing pressure
on the fiscus.
Last year, the then Housing Minister, Fidelis Mhashu, who lost
his
ministerial post when Prime Minister Tsvangirai reshuffled his cabinet
in a
development that saw Mutsekwa being moved from Home Affairs to the
current
post, complained that some senior ZANU-PF officials were hiding
information
pertaining to the state of government houses in order for them
to live
illegally in these properties.
But in his latest communication to
Munyoro, Mutsekwa said the vacating of
undeserving individuals from the
Gunhill Villas would see others without
accommodation, especially ministers,
being accommodated.
The minister added that the development would also result
in lawful
occupants not being subjected to what he said was "unnecessary
censorship".
Although in the correspondence Mutsekwa did not explain the
issue of
censorship, during a 2004 High Court case in which the State sought
the
eviction of former information and publicity minister, Jonathan Moyo,
from
the same villas following his sacking from government, a law officer
told
the presiding judge in the matter that only those who enjoy the
confidence
of the State occupy them.
The law officer added that if Moyo
or any other person who is not in
government, was allowed to occupy the
villas, it would "highly endanger the
security of the other remaining guests
and the security of the State in
general".
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 10 September 2010
12:20
Staff Reporter
MEMBERS of a prominent human rights group
have served a notice to sue
co-Home Affairs Ministers over alleged inhuman
and degrading conditions at
the Harare Central Police Station's holding
cells where toilets are said to
be overflowing with human waste as a result
of lack of running water.
Award-winning human rights activists Jennifer
Williams, Magodonga Mahlangu,
Clara Manjengwa and Sellina Madukani, all
members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) and 67 others have engaged the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to
sue the ministers, Kembo Mohadi and
Theresa Makone over their incarceration
at the police station under filthy
conditions.
In their notice to sue addressed to the two ministers dated
August 25, their
lawyers state that the activists were arrested on April 15
following a
demonstration organised by WOZA to protest against power utility
ZESA's
appalling service delivery. The Competition and Tariffs Commission
has since
ruled that the parastatal has been short-changing its customers
and abusing
its monopoly.
According to the activists' notification, the
police rounded up about 71
activists an hour after the protests began, and
these were taken to the
Criminal Investigation Department Law and Order
section.
"Our clients inform us that they were then forced to remove their
shoes and
all under-garments including brassieres and under-pants until they
each had
a single top and bottom. It was clear from the circumstances and
demeanor of
the police details that this was a peremptory order, which all
detainees
were subjected to, in terms of the practice and rules at the
Harare Central
holding cells," reads part of the letter indicating an
intention to sue.
"They were given no formal communication as to why it was
necessary to
remove their shoes and under-garments, but were then marched to
the cells.
When they got to the cells, their senses were assaulted by the
choking smell
of human excreta, and flowing urine of varying
colours.
"Even the beds were covered with human excreta, so they sat and
spent the
night huddled in the corridors of the cells, as they could not sit
inside
the cells due to the faeces. However, even the corridor itself had
flowing
urine and they had to use their own tissues, to clean up the area
where they
planned to sit on."
The notice added:" When they wanted to
use the toilet, they discovered that
it was inside the cells, and they had
to wade through a pool of urine to
get there.
"The toilets had no
running water and were already full and overflowing with
human excreta.
Police denied them access to the toilets with their own
tissue paper and
categorically stated that they would have to use their bare
hands, this was
extremely humiliating, moreso because Magodonga Mahlangu,
had a running
stomach and had to use the toilet frequently. There was
neither a hand basin
nor soap in the cell so they could not wash their hands
after using the
toilet."
The lawyers added that during the night, the activists requested
some
blankets for warmth, and were supplied with some they allege had
clearly
been "dipped in and were reeking of urine."
The intention to sue
notice says 16 detainees were given only three
blankets, as there were more
people who had been arrested for varying
offences, unrelated to the
demonstration.
Due to the strong stench, the women say they could not cover
themselves with
the blankets, and had to put the blankets on the cement
floor so as to make
their situation a little more comfortable. They said
they spent a total of
four nights in an "insalubrious environment", and
complaints to the police
fell on deaf ears.
Food was said to be
unpalatable, as they had to eat it in a filthy and
smelling
environment.
"In the premises, we hold strict instructions to apply to the
Supreme Court,
for a declaratur declaring the conditions at Harare Central
Police Station
Holding Cells, cruel, inhuman and degrading, and thus a
violation of section
15 of the Constitution," the lawyers said in their
notice to sue, dispatched
to Mohadi and Makone.
Both ministers have not
responded to the notification to sue.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
11/09/2010 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
AIR ZIMBABWE has pleaded with its striking pilots to return
to the cockpit
after an earlier threat to sack those involved failed to end
the job action.
The national carrier's 45 pilots went on strike during
the week and vowed
not to fly until the cash-strapped airline paid over US$3
million in
outstanding allowances.
Air Zim board chairman, Jonathan
Kadzura, gave the striking pilots a 24-hour
deadline to return to work on
Thursday warning those who failed to comply
would face "disciplinary
action".
However, as the strike continued on Friday amid reports the
airline was
losing US$350,000 a day while up to 1,000 passengers had been
inconvenienced, the state-run company was forced to change
tact.
Chief executive, Peter Chigumba told the pilots they "had made
their point"
and urged them to return to work.
"Boys and girls get
back to the cockpit. Zimbabwe does not have another
airline," Chigumba
said.
"Do not hold the shareholder and our customers at ransom. I have no
doubt,
sooner or later they will be back."
The Air Zim boss said the
airline was hemorrhaging badly needed cash due to
the job action.
The
company has been forced to book stranded passengers onto other airlines
as
well as lease planes to ply some of its routes.
Chigumba said the strike
was only benefiting the airline's competitors.
Meanwhile, the pilots say
the allowances have been outstanding since
February last year and insist
they will not return to work until Air Zim
pays up.
"We're not
prepared to continue working for peanuts. We're saying: Pay us
what you owe
us," one pilot said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
11/09/2010 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
CIVIL servants have demanded that the government use
proceeds from the
country's diamond sales to improve their conditions of
services and
threatened to go on strike if their salaries are not reviewed
within 30
days.
The coalition government has long insisted that while
it was keen to improve
the remuneration of its workers, the country's
constrained fiscal situation
meant this could not be done.
Finance
ministry officials say government revenues remain limited as the
country's
economy struggles to recover from a decade-long crisis.
However the civil
servants, who earn an average monthly salary of US$200,
said government
revenues had improved with the discovery of diamonds in the
eastern Marange
district.
"We are cognisant of the fact that Zimbabwe's revenue
collection has
improved since diamonds were sold but we do not understand
why civil servant's
salaries were not reviewed," the Apex Council, which
represents the country's
government workers said in a statement.
The
council gave government 30 days to address its members' concerns.
"We
demand unreservedly to be paid living salaries and further demand that
Government takes action on the issues of public service salaries within 30
days," the statement read.
The civil servants said they would hold
nationwide demonstrations and picket
the offices of public service minister
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, to press their
point.
Apex Council officials
claimed the government had pledged to improve civil
servants' salaries once
diamond sales were conducted.
Zimbabwe recently realised just over US$50
million from the sale of gems
extracted from the controversial Marange
fields after securing Kimberly
Process authorisation for the
auction.
Meanwhile the country's civil servants went on an abortive
strike in
February demanding minimum salaries of US$500.
The strike
precipitated a public spat between Mukonoweshuro and Finance
Minister Tendai
Biti.
Another job action could paralyse the country's education sector
and other
public services.
http://www.voanews.com
The
National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations commented that
the
imposition of a veil of secrecy over the auctions of Marange diamonds
would
open the door to further abuses
Sandra Nyaira | Washington 10 September
2010
Critics of the Zimbabwean government's development policy in the
controversial Marange diamond field in the east of the country say Harare is
heading in the wrong direction on transparency following word that future
Marange diamond auctions will be held in secret and with sales figures
withheld.
Mines Ministry Permanent Secretary Thankful Msukutwa said
this week that for
reasons of security and in line with international
standards, auction dates
would no longer be announced.
"We are the
only country in the world that announces what we have [in terms
of diamonds
for offer) and and what we are going to sell," Musukutwa said.
"Besides,
there is also the issue of security that has to be taken into
account. The
security of the monitor has to be addressed."
The National Association of
Non-Governmental Organizations commented that
the imposition of a veil of
secrecy over the auctions of Marange diamonds
would open the door to further
abuses, noting that some $30 million from
past diamond sales has never been
accounted for.
The secret auction policy was announced as Kimberley
Process Zimbabwe
monitor Abbey Chikane arrived in Harare on Thursday to
certify a second
batch of diamonds from the field for sale.
The first
such auction was held last month at the Harare International
Airport.
NANGO Programs Director Machinda Marongwe told VOA Studio 7
reporter Sandra
Nyaira that the country cannot afford secrecy when when
revenues from
previous sales are not made public.
Though the Marange
diamond field has been described by experts as very rich,
the government has
seen scant revenues though it is in theory a partner in
joint ventures with
mining companies there. The Mines Ministry has
frustrated efforts by
Parliament to conduct fact-finding missions in
Marange.
http://www.voanews.com
Economist
Rejoice Ngwenya commented that that while credit lines are needed
to
jump-start growth, drawing upon them will also worsen Zimbabwe's s
external
debt position
Gibbs Dube 10 September 2010
Having secured
lines of credit totaling US$90 million from Botswana and the
European Union,
the Zimbabwean government is soon to open talks with South
Africa in which
it will seek the revival of a loan facility that existed
between the two
countries before Zimbabwean independence in 1980.
Sources said Finance
Minister Tendai Biti will meet with South African
officials in Pretoria
within the next few days for final discussions on the
credit line which is
much needed to sustain economic recovery.
The sources said Biti will also
ask South Africa to revive a R3.3 billion
loan facility once tapped by the
Rhodesian government in the days when South
Africa was still white-minority
ruled. That amount would be equivalent to
some US$460 million. An estimated
US$10 billion is needed for
reconstruction.
Economic commentator
Rejoice Ngwenya told reporter Gibbs Dube that although
such credit lines are
needed to jump-start growth, they will also worsen the
country's external
debt position.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 10 September 2010 12:30
Dumisani
Ndlela, Staff Reporter
THERE was one thing to look out for when
travelling through Zimbabwe's
dreaded highways: The big potholes! It
bothered everyone, and on the busy
Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road, it was
always a nightmarish experience and
nobody dared travel without uttering a
prayer.
There are patches and too few of those deep holes now, but for public
transport operators and their passengers, and even for the private car
drivers, there is something new to look out for, especially towards school
opening days and, well, even when there is an urgent need for cash back
home.
Well, it's not an automated teller machine, in case one dared
hazard a wild
guess, but for those who have been on the road mainly as
drivers, there is
certainly no price for guessing who causes a shiver
without showing a danger
warning sign.
Police Ahead is normally a sign
that should invoke happiness among commuters
and drivers on the country's
roads, but that sign no longer inspires a sense
of safety but dejection
among road users across the country.
Last Saturday, travelling to Beitbridge
by public transport from Harare was
terrible: 18 police stops, one of which
had the dreaded Vehicle Inspectorate
Dep-artment (VID) officers.
A
journey that should have taken at least six hours ended up taking 10
hours:
10 of the police road blocks - one was in fact a highway patrol
team - were
between Harare and Chivhu; six were between Chivhu and Masvingo
and two were
between Masvingo and Ngundu, way before reaching Beitbridge.
The count could
have been more if the commuter vehicle I was travelling in
had crossed
Ngundu during day time: a driver who had wanted to get to
Beitbridge at 4:30
pm for another trip to Bulawayo was only too happy to
finish the remainder
of the journey under darkness.
"It's terrible. We are working for these
people," said the driver,
dejectedly. "I've paid, I've paid..." he stutters,
then, after what appears
to be second thoughts, withhold his words.
But
even at US$4 per road block, it's a staggering US$40 between Harare and
Chivhu, but at two of the road blocks, when he sounded stubborn to officers,
he was slapped with two US$10 tickets. These were waved like visa's at
subsquent roadblocks, but each time the man with the badge would look for an
offence different from any of those written on the two tickets.
"You
haven't started yet," charged a female police officer when the driver
flashed his two fine tickets at a roadblock just before Masvingo town. And
indeed, he hadn't. After penny-pinching efforts, he had to pay up as
passengers grew increasingly frustrated.
But a passenger was to later
plead with an officer at a roadblock in
Masvingo close to the golf course:
"Please spare this man. We've had 16
roadblocks already."
"Oh, I didn't
know police officers are working that hard," retorted the
officer,
mockingly.
So, along the way, each time an oncoming public transport vehicle
flashed
the headlights, he cringed - another roadblock ahead, and how much
should I
pay?
"Schools are opening and they are only trying to raise fees
for their
children," said a frail old man as he climbed down the car at
Ngundu. "But I
guess you can now travel well. It's now dark, isn't
it?"
The driver just stared blankly at the old man. He did not answer. The
maths
wasn't adding up.
The car staggered forward, and there was a
scream.
"Hey, don't let this stress you because you'll kill us," shouted a
passenger
from the back seat.
Well, the driver might already be dead, so
what's the point. There's still
need for a prayer!
Dear Family and Friends,
My son was 8 years old when
we were forced off our Marondera farm by war
veterans and Zanu PF youths in
September 2000. Richard does not remember
those very traumatic months that
we lived alongside the men who had invaded
our farm. Men who were far too
young to have been veterans of war; youths
who were almost always drunk,
drugged, abusive and threatening. Camped in a
paddock within sight of our
house, a rabble took over our lives, claimed the
farm field by field,
destroyed our business, livelihood and pension and
finally chased us out of
our home. For a long time I have been very glad
that Richard does not
remember that frightening, horrible time but that all
changed this week when
I phoned him one morning. Richie said he couldn't
talk just then because he
was on his way to help a friend who was being
evicted from his farm and had
been given until 3 that afternoon to get out.
My heart was in my mouth at
the thought of another family going through the
devastating anguish of being
forced out of their home. With just hours in
which to pack and move a home
and business of a lifetime, I knew that this
Mother and her son would need
all the help they could get. Before long, like
Richard, I was rushing to
help and it took me back in time to that bad place
that holds only fear and
painful memories. Just a few kilometres out of
Marondera town, down a
bumpy, winding, dust road through the most
magnificent Msasa woodland
adorned in glorious spring leaves, I followed my
son's vehicle. We travelled
for a dozen kilometres and saw no one and
nothing: no ploughed fields, no
sheep or cattle, no crops or greenhouses. A
line of fence posts caught my
eye: standing in a perfectly straight line
they had once been a paddock or a
boundary but the wire was all gone and the
poles stood as lonely sentinels
watching over these deserted, seized farms.
Arriving at the farm of my
son's friend, the hairs on the back of my neck
stood up as soon as I stepped
out of my vehicle. Sitting on stumps and
broken plastic chairs under a
covered carport a few metres from the house
were the land invaders. A tatty
rabble they were. Half a dozen of them,
mostly youngsters and openly
drinking at 11 in the morning; one swigging
from a $4 bottle of Vladinoff
Vodka, others drinking beer out of cut off
plastic bottles. One was drumming
and they were singing crude versions of
"Chimurenga songs" whose lyrics had
been changed to: "They are coming to
move you out. By 3 this afternoon this
will be our house. We are happy you
are going. We are getting our
land."
I recognized one of the men, a scruffy layabout with dreadlocks who
hangs
around car parks. And these were to be our farmers, I thought with
contempt.
I did not meet their eyes or respond to their begging calls for
cigarettes.
I hugged the woman who was losing her home today but we did
not talk, there
are no words. All day we worked removing curtains and
pictures, emptying
drawers and cupboards, loading our vehicles with another
destroyed life.
Eight years ago half this farm was given to the Zimbabwe
government but bit
by bit they took more and now this bunch outside wanted
it all. Wearing
broken green plastic flip flops and woolly hats even in the
25 degree heat,
they were determined they were going to have this house, and
they were going
to have it today.
The Police did not come, would not
come, because this, they said, was
political, not criminal. As 3pm came and
went, tempers flared and the
invaders moved into the garden and then some
even into the living room. The
farmer's dogs, chained under a shady tree
whined and whimpered as they
couldn't protect their owners. A beautiful
brown and white cat lay on the
floor in the bedroom surrounded by boxes,
piles, suitcases, coat hangers.
As the shadows lengthened and with the
red setting sun in our eyes I
followed my son's vehicle away from his
friend's farm for the last time. The
dust was thick and choking and I felt
tears burning my eyes. How can this
be? 10 years after it happened to us, it
is still going on. Nothing has
changed; no attempt to stop the destruction
of agriculture; no response from
the Police; no respect for Title Deeds,
property rights or even a family's
private home.
Who in their right
mind would dream of investing in Zimbabwe when a bunch of
arbitrary drunken
thugs can get away with something like this because "it is
political." Is
this Zanu PF politics or Unity Government politics? Until
next time, thanks
for reading, love cathy.
Copyright © Cathy Buckle. 11th September
2010.
www.cathybuckle.com