http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 16:50
GOKWE -
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai Saturday said he and President
Robert
Mugabe had agreed to hold elections next year and whoever lost should
not
challenge the outcome of the polls.
Tsvangirai told about 5 000
people gathered to celebrate MDC-T's 11th
anniversary that the two leaders
had agreed to take advantage of the
prevailing peace to hold elections that
would put an end to the unity
government.
"When I last saw
President Mugabe he said the prevailing peace was ideal for
us to go for an
election and this time we agreed that whoever loses should
make way for the
winner," Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai won the first round of
the 2008 presidential election but did not
garner enough votes to secure an
outright victory.He was stopped from
running in a run-off poll by an orgy of
violence, which the MDC-T blamed on
the security forces.
Army
generals have in the past vowed that Tsvangirai would never rule this
country as long as they were alive.
Yesterday the MDC-T leader
said he and Mugabe hoped that peace would hold
until elections so as to
produce a definite single winner.
He said elections were prescribed
by the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) and the African Union
as the only way to deal with the
Zimbabwe question and his party was keen to
follow that directive.
"We are going for an election as Sadc and the
AU have said an election is
the only way to close this chapter," the Prime
Minister said.
Mugabe has also been on a drive calling for elections
next year and is
reported to have ordered Finance minister Tendai Biti to
budget $200 million
for polls set for next year.
Half of that money
will be set aside for a referendum on the new
constitution whose drafting is
expected to be complete by April next year.
The other $100 million
will be for holding presidential elections, which are
set to be held after
the referendum.
On the new constitution, Tsvangirai said he and his
party would return to
tell the electorate how to vote and if the wishes of
the people were not
followed they could tell them to oppose it as they had
done in 2000.
He said even if the constitution was drafted it would
still have to be a
negotiated settlement as none of the parties had a two
thirds majority and
so they could not pass it without
compromise.
Already Zanu PF has threatened to campaign for a no vote
if their stance on
land and homosexuality were not catered for in the
draft.
MDC-T chairman Lovemore Moyo weighed in telling the party faithful to
prepare for elections as the country was inevitably drawing closer to
holding a vote.
"I do not know when elections are but what I can
tell you is that stay
prepared as we will be going for them soon," he
said.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have been calling for elections next year
despite
expert advice that free and fair polls were not possible next
year.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has advised that a
proper voters'
roll can only be ready in 18 to 24 months making holding of
credible
elections next year impossible.
However, the Prime
Minister and the president have defiantly said they
wanted elections next
year as the inclusive government was untenable.
Meanwhile, the
co-Minister of Home Affairs Theresa Makone revealed that a
junior ranking
police officer had written to Tsvangirai ordering him to
cancel the party
celebrations.
But that order was defied as the MDC-T went ahead with
the celebrations
without any incidences.
Party supporters from
all over the country converged at an open ground at
Gokwe Centre for the
day-long celebrations.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 16:53
ZIMBABWE
Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke
(pictured)
caused a scene recently when he threatened to beat up a hotel
manager after
he was given a bill for lunch that was meant for visiting
music superstar
Akon, The Standard has learnt.
Tourists and ordinary people who were
milling around the hotel hoping to get
a glimpse of Akon and Sean Paul were
surprised to see a fuming Kaseke
charging towards Meikles Hotel general
manger Tinashe Munjoma.
Munjoma's crime was that he had asked Kaseke
to pay for a lunch he cancelled
at the last minute when the hotel had
prepared the meal.
"On Friday (September 3) Kaseke ordered
that we prepare dinner for 250
guests which we did despite that it was at
very short notice.
"But an hour before lunchtime he cancelled," said
a senior hotel official.
The source said the Meikles Hotel management was
not amused.
The following day, Kaseke allegedly ordered dinner for
the same number of
people only to cancel it again at the last
minute.
This prompted Munjoma to confront the ZTA boss to force him
to pay the bill.
ZTA was supposed to pay about US$5 000 because lunch
costs US$20 per person
at the hotel.
"Kaseke almost manhandled
Munjoma and had it not been for people like
Phillip Chiyangwa who restrained
him, he could have assaulted him," said the
official.
"It was
very embarrassing because this happened in full view of everyone
including
tourists."
The official said Kaseke threatened unspecified action
against hotel
management once the international stars left the
country.
Munjoma confirmed that there was a "misunderstanding"
between Kaseke and
himself.
He said the tourism body finally
agreed to settle the expense incurred by
the hotel during the preparations
for the dinner, which was supposed to be
held at the Stewart
Room.
"They have not paid but they said they would pay up," said
Mujoma, who added
that Kaseke later came to him and apologised for his
unbecoming behaviour.
"It's sorted out. He (Kaseke) later came to me
and apologised. He said 'my
friend I am sorry I over
reacted'."
Munjoma said Meikles billed ZTA about US$3 000 for the
cancelled dinner.
But Kaseke yesterday blasted Munjoma for
approaching him in the lobby of the
hotel in the presence of guests
demanding payment.
The ZTA boss said he was embarrassed by Munjoma's
behaviour as he did not
know that the lunch had been cancelled as the hotel
was dealing with ZTA
senior official Isidore Tsatsa.
Kaseke, who
denied ever apologising, said Mujnoma was unprofessional and his
days were
numbered at the hotel.
"If it was not for Chiyangwa I could have
kicked him. That manager
akajaidzwa," said Kaseke.
"That manager
is gone, get it from me.
"How could he approach me in the presence of
tourists?
"He must have waited for them to go and then we will deal
with our in-house
issues."
The ZTA boss continued: "Why is the
stupid manager not telling you that I
together with tourists spent one and
half hours locked up in a lift at the
hotel?
"I gave them a lot
of business but they want to play games with me. They
must know ZTA is the
supreme tourism body."
Hotel officials confirmed that Kaseke,
Chiyangwa, Munjoma, Miss Tourism and
some of Akon's group members spent over
an hour locked in a lift at the
hotel.
Technicians had to be
called to rescue them.
Business mogul Chiyangwa, who is a shareholder
in Meikles, refused to
comment on the Kaseke-Munjoma fracas, referring
questions to the duo.
He however confirmed that they spent some time
locked up in a lift at the
hotel.
"The fairest comment I can give
is that the lift jammed and it is normal
with a number of lifts in town
these days," said Chiyangwa.
"The explanation given by technicians
was that it was caused by the sudden
surge of people who thronged to see
Akon and as a result the facilities
could not cope."
This was not
the first time that Kaseke was involved in fracas at the hotel.
In
2007 he allegedly beat up a waiter who failed to give a scone he had
ordered
on time.
Three weeks before the incident he had reportedly shouted at
a security
officer and a cashier at the boom gate, saying he was "not to be
treated
like an ordinary person" at the hotel.
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 16:59
DEPUTY Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara says he is not worried about the
threat posed by
MDC-M secretary general Welshman Ncube who is gunning for
the party's
presidency at a congress slated for next year.
Mutambara was headhunted by
Ncube after the MDC split in 2005 to lead the
smaller formation but his
flirtation with politics appears to be nearing an
end with the new power
struggles in his party.
Ncube who is not eligible to contest his current post
has made it clear that
his next stop is the presidency.
He appears to be
taking advantage of the growing discontent in MDC-M over
Mutambara's often
miscalculated support for Zanu PF and frustrations over
the party's failure
to grow its membership from the split.
There has been speculation that
Mutambara and Ncube were already not seeing
eye to eye because of the
leadership contest.
But the robotics expert said there was nothing odd about
the secretary
general's ambitions as he was acting within the boundaries of
the party's
policies.
"Our party is a democratic party, our country is a
democratic country so we
as a party feel that we must now start walking the
talk," Mutambara told SW
Radio in an interview.
"This means in my party,
any individual has the right to run for any public
position including the
president of the party.
"We are trying to move away from the politics where
certain positions are
reserved or sacred and there is no competition in the
party."
Some sections in the MDC-M want the party to focus on the Midlands
and
Matabeleland regions where it won all its parliamentary seats in the
last
elections, a situation that will favour a Ncube presidency.
Others
are already talking about a potential alliance with the revived Zapu,
which
is likely to emerge as a strong force in the region ahead of elections
next
year.
Mutambara whose known political involvement before joining the MDC-M
was
when he was a student leader at the University of Zimbabwe will bank on
support mainly from provinces outside Matabeleland.
On the other hand
Ncube will be hoping that his experience as a founder
member of the original
MDC will count in his favour.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:02
THE five-day strike by Air Zimbabwe pilots that has crippled the
struggling
national carrier’s operations could mark the beginning of work
stoppages
across the wider economy as wage negotiations have collapsed,
analysts have
warned.
Air Zimbabwe on Friday began hiring aircraft from
South African private
airline Quaries after its pilots ignored an ultimatum
to return to work
within 24 hours and pressed ahead with the job
action.
The pilots who are being paid
US$1 200 a month are demanding their
full salaries of US$2 500. They also
want the airline to pay outstanding
school fees for their children.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
who represent some of the Air
Zimbabwe workers who are fighting a
controversial retrenchment exercise said
the strike was a precursor of worse
things to come.
“It is unfortunate that even the inclusive government is not
doing much in
terms of addressing workers concerns not only at Air Zimbabwe
but even with
the public service workers,” said ZCTU secretary general
Wellington Chibebe.
“Workers are firing warning shots and government should
take heed.
“There is simmering unrest that if not addressed will spread
nationwide.
“Various sectors have reached deadlocks in wage negotiations and
tempers are
rising hence more disturbances such as the Air Zimbabwe strike
are
expected.”
Chibebe said the rest of the workers at the airline were
bound to join the
industrial action if the government did not step in early
enough.
Civil servants who earn an average of US$165 a month on Friday gave
government 30 days to address their demands for a salary review.
A strike
by government workers appears most likely as Finance minister
Tendai Biti
has stuck to his guns saying the unity government is not
generating enough
revenue for it to increase the wage bill any time soon.
Collective bargaining
negotiations have also collapsed at parastatals and in
the private sector as
employers tend to take their cue from government
salaries.
The ZCTU says
most employers pay salaries below the poverty datum line,
which is estimated
at about US$500.
John Robertson, an economic analyst said the Air Zimbabwe
strike could have
been avoided had the airline’s board and management dealt
with its employees
transparently.
“The situation might have been averted
had management taken time to be open
with their workers,” he said.
“On
the part of the striking workers, they need to be patient and understand
that the airline is in a very difficult situation that it cannot give them
special treatment.”
The aviation industry is in a crisis the world over
because of the economic
downturn.
Air Zimbabwe’s problems have been
compounded by poor management and the
decline of the country’s tourism
industry in the past decade.
However, Robertson said the grounding of Air
Zimbabwe flights would not have
any adverse effect on the economy, which is
experiencing a slow turnaround
after a decade of uninterrupted
decline.
“There have been relatively few flights at Air Zimbabwe in the first
place,
so it won’t be a serious situation for the country,” he
said.
“Most travellers will opt for flights with South African Airways,
people
just have other ways of doing things.
“So basically this is a
self-inflicted wound on Air Zimbabwe’s part.”
Another renowned economic
commentator, Eric Bloch says while the pilots and
other Air Zimbabwe workers
deserved sympathy, they had over reacted by going
on strike.
“It is a
very counter-productive strike which is unwise considering that the
employer
cannot pay them because it is an ailing airline,” he said.
“The strike is
going to have negative effects on the tourism sector as many
tourists are
currently stranded. When they go back home, they will have a
sad story to
tell.”
The strike left a large number of travellers to various local,
regional and
international destinations stranded.
Bloch said the
aggrieved pilots did not follow procedure in terms of the
Labour Relations
Act as one letter to management was not enough.
“This action on the part of
the pilots circumvents the provisions of the
law, therefore management has
no alternative but to institute the relevant
disciplinary action,” Bloch
said.
Chibebe said there had been a lot of political interference at the
airline
which complicated wage negotiations.
“The ZCTU tried to engage
top management but the management was not prepared
to enter into any
negotiations or accept any other advice,” the ZCTU boss
said.
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
18:44
IF President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
have their
way Zimbabwe will have another round of elections next year but
they will
need to work overtime to convince skeptics that the time is
ripe.
It's been two years since the country held what was widely
described as a
sham election when Mugabe ran unchallenged in the June 27
2008 run-off poll
and little has changed in the country's political
landscape.
Despite the formation of a unity government, the security forces
who are
blamed for the violence that forced Tsvangirai to withdraw from the
run-off
election are yet to reform and nothing has been done to clean the
voters'
role.
The national healing programme is yet to take off and more
importantly the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has made it clear that
it does not have
the resources to hold elections in the near future.
This
has left many Zimbabweans asking who will benefit from an early
election.
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo said the party was only
following the
constitution and the country must "scrounge for resources" to
hold the
polls.
The lifespan of the inclusive government formed in
February 2009 after an
impasse brought by the inconclusive elections ends
next year but the
coalition partners can still extend the negotiated
settlement.
"We believe all the requirements such as a new constitution will
be in place
next year and there is no reason to delay the elections," Gumbo
said when
asked why Mugabe appeared desperate for early polls.
Trevor
Maisiri of the African Reform Institute believes Zanu PF is eager to
have an
early election to prevent its opponents mainly the MDC-T from
benefiting
from substantial reforms that have been brought about by the new
government.
Besides establishing the non partisan ZEC, the parties are
also in the
process of introducing a raft of far reaching electoral reforms
and have
opened up the print media to private players.
The little
economic gains made on the economic front have also been
attributed to the
entry of the two former opposition MDC factions into
government, making it
harder for Zanu PF to justify its continued hold on
power.
"I think the
whole issue about an early election for Zanu PF is based on the
understanding that the electoral framework that existed since 2000 has not
changed much," Maisiri said.
"Zanu PF may fear that the coming years may
actually bring effective
electoral reforms which may make the terrain
difficult for the party to win
elections.
"Therefore an early election is
attractive to the party due to the stagnancy
of the aspired electoral
reforms."
The MDC-T, the biggest opposition party to emerge since
independence is
currently battling against factionalism and Zanu PF might
see it as another
potential plus in the event that elections are
called.
But Maisiri believes it is the improving economic and political
climate that
Zanu PF is most worried about.
"Further sustenance of the
government of national unity may likely give the
MDC-T more perceptional
gains from the public as well as influence any
governmental access which
could give them more clout in elections," he said.
"Zanu PF may be thinking
of putting a stop to the MDC-T gains as early as
possible."
Tsvangirai's
calls for elections next year have been punctuated with several
demands such
as the completion of the constitution making process and the
setting up of a
monitoring system by the Southern African Development
Community.
However,
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred
Masunungure
believes Mugabe and Tsvangirai are politicking as they know that
their
parties are not ready for elections anytime soon.
"Politicians are fond of
making rhetorical statements with no relation to
what is happening on the
ground," he said.
"I doubt whether any of the political parties are ready for
elections now or
next year.
"I tend to take such statements with a heavy
pinch of salt. They could be
doing this so that their supporters are in a
permanent election mode."
Masunungure said calls for elections next year
could also be an expression
of frustration by both Tsvangirai and Mugabe on
the way the inclusive
government was operating.
Zanu PF and MDC-T have
failed to find common ground on a number of issues in
their Global Political
Agreement including Mugabe's refusal to reverse the
appointments of Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General
Johannes Tomana.
The
veteran ruler has also refused to swear in MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett
as
deputy agriculture minister while the issue of the appointment of new
provincial governors has emerged as another major bone of
contention.
"Each party has its grievances because they have their own views
on how the
country must be governed," Masunungure said. "So the call for
elections
could be an expression of those frustrations."
Several civic
groups have counselled against elections before a new
constitution and a
comprehensive national healing programme.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said
the country would need at least US$200
million to hold early elections, an
amount that the government would
struggle to raise.
Government is
currently battling to raise US$8 million badly needed for the
stalled
constitution making process.
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday,
12 September 2010 17:16
THE recent plane crash at a Mt Hampden school was
just a tip the iceberg
amid revelations that a number of crashes have
occurred at and around the
institution, which was constructed without
following aviation procedures.
Authorities have called for the
relocation of Cornway College School, which
has an enrolment of about 750
pupils. The school is built on the same side
with Charles Prince Airport
runway, with aviation authorities warning that
more crashes could occur at
the school.
Already it is reported that the August 27 accident was the second
in a year
and there are calls to have the school relocated if fatalities are
to be
avoided.
Sources revealed that the owners of the school had
powerful political
backing and this had seen them building the school in the
vicinity of the
airport, without regard to protestations and warnings from
aviation players.
Commercial and General Aviation Association of Zimbabwe
president,
Nkosinathi Sibanda warned that the location of the school was a
hazard and
there was the ever-present risk that more accidents would
occur.
"When the first accident occurred the children had left the playground
10
minutes earlier, so imagine what could have happened if the crash had
occurred earlier," he said.
Sibanda contended that before allowing the
school to be built, authorities
should have consulted the Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ).
He said his association had since made
representations to the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications, CAAZ and proposed a
judicial commission of enquiry about the
school, which caters for both
primary and high school pupils.
CAAZ chief
executive officer David Chaota confirmed that concerns had been
raised about
the school and he had since approached relevant authorities to
discuss the
issue.
"We are talking to relevant authorities, including local government
concerning this issue," he said. "We are actually exploring possibilities of
having it relocated to a much safer place.
Chaota said he believed the
owners of the school had the relevant
authorisation to construct the school,
but were unaware that they should
have sought approval from CAAZ as
well.
"But in looking at this, we have to consider and be sensitive to the
investments put in constructing the school although I do not want to say
much about this issue as we are still in discussions."
He said it was not
odd to have a school located at a risky zone, saying
"things like that
happen".
Chaota added that there was a lot of construction taking place in
the area
where the school is located, including factory and other commercial
buildings.
"These things happen and we should not start pointing fingers
at each other
because there have been accidents," he said. "What we need to
do is explore
solutions."
Chaota challenged those who were complaining
why they had been silent all
along, an issue which Sibanda dismissed saying
that they had voiced their
concerns, but no one had listened.
An
administrator at the school, Robert Mhlanga dismissed concerns that the
school was built at a wrong place, instead insisting that the owners of the
planes should ensure their aircrafts were well serviced.
"We are willing
to engage but it's not a question of proximity to Charles
Prince as no
airport is built in isolation from the community," he said.
Mhlanga said they
had received permission from the Zvimba local council to
construct the
school and everything was above board. His claims could not be
independently
verified.
In the latest accident, a light six seater plane crashed in the
grounds of
Cornway College injuring the pilot and a
passenger.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI AND JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:17
THOUSANDS of Zimbabweans who have witnessed countless veld fires
raging in
the countryside and did nothing must count themselves
lucky.
Few may know that by failing to assist to extinguish fire they were
committing an offence that could see them spending a year in jail with hard
labour or paying a fine of
US$5 000.
These are some of the punitive
measures introduced three years ago through
the Environmental Management
(Environmental Impact Assessments and
Ecosystems Protection) Regulations of
2007.
The seemingly tough regulations have been used sparingly since their
introduction but the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) seems to be
awakening from its slumber after another devastating fire season.
The
fire season which starts on July 31 and ends on October 31 has seen
close to
10 deaths and the destruction of property worth millions of
dollars.
Last
week, EMA fined the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ)
US$500
after a veld fire destroyed Old Bulawayo.
The fine was for failing to put
fire pre-suppression measures in and around
King Lobengula's last capital
resulting in the fire.
If NMMZ does not pay the fine within seven days, its
directors are liable to
prosecution and may face a fine of up to US$5 000
per person and/ or up to a
year in prison.
Kingston Chitotombe, an EMA
official in Matabeleland South was quoted
warning members of the public that
it was an offence to ignore a veld fire.
"Even motorists should stop their
vehicles and help to fight fires," he
said.
Zimbabwe Environmental Law
Association (ZELA) executive director, Matuso
Dhliwayo said although such
legislation was necessary, it was difficult to
secure convictions in its
present form.
"If someone deliberately causes a fire that causes damage to
property, then
that constitutes an offence and therefore questions of
constitutionality
cannot be raised," Dhliwayo said.
"The challenge of
proof pertaining to who caused the fire is the problematic
aspect. It should
be qualified as it is difficult to prove."
He said one can drive past or
ignore a veld fire and still escape conviction
by blaming extenuating
circumstances.
"The instrument highlights aspects such as fire
pre-suppression, suppression
and post-suppression measures," he
said.
"The problem with this legislation is that it is difficult to get a
conviction.
"One is able to argue that they passed by the fire because
they had no
protective equipment or knowledge on how to extinguish a fire
hence they
feared endangering themselves.
"It is a generally progressive
provision but it is difficult to get a
conviction," Dhliwayo
added.
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:52
TRADITIONAL healers are up in arms over an influx of South African
herbs and
drugs stocked in most local pharmacies and have called on the
government to
intervene to regulate the trade.
Gordon Chavunduka, the
president of the Zimbabwe National Healers
Association (Zinatha), said they
were irked by the uncontrolled importation
of the drugs, which are widely
available in most pharmacies.
"We have approached the ministry of health,
complaining over the issue," he
said. "We agreed that the government should
draw up legislation on
traditional medicines from outside the
country."
Chavhunduka, who described the situation as untenable, said
importers of the
traditional medicines were taking advantage of a laxity in
the country's
laws and there was an urgent need to address the
situation.
"The government is very weak and they are taking advantage of the
lawlessness, since there is no law governing their conduct," he said.
The
Zinatha leader said chief among the priorities of the government would
be to
test the medicine, as there was a possibility that the drugs could be
poisonous.
He said in most cases these imported drugs were cheaper than
the ones that
were manufactured locally and this had an impact on the
livelihoods of a
number of traditional healers.
In the same vein,
Chavhunduka said some traditional healers had since
resorted to supplying
pharmacies with their own medicines, but there was
need to ensure that this
was done in a proper manner that would not have
adverse effects on
consumers.
Popular among these medicines is one known as zifozonke (all
ailments),
which manufactures claim can cure all diseases.
A concoction
known as Ngoka Eleven manufactured in Tanzania has also become
a hit at
local pharmacies.
Its manufacturers claim it can treat 115 ailments ranging
from yellow fever,
syphilis, stroke, cholera to mental confusion.
The
side effects, which should be "a sign that Ngoka Eleven is working and
patients must continue using it" include "heat flashes, diarrhoea, increased
appetite, fatigue and changes in complexion or healthier looking."
Those
who develop side effects are advised to "drink a lot of water, up to
12
glasses a day, take some pain killers, use milk and honey twice a day and
do
some exercises."
There are also a number of lucky charms and aphrodisiacs
coming in from
South Africa whose packaging promise all kinds of
miracles.
Health minister, Henry Madzorera referred all questions to the
director of
pharmacies in his ministry who was said to be out of the
country.
Since the advent of the multi currency regime there has been an
increase in
the importation of foreign drugs and food supplements from South
Africa.
In most cases, these drugs would not be tested by the Medicine
Control
Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).
Efforts to get a comment from MCAZ
were in vain, as officials were said to
be out of the
office.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:54
THE United States government, through the US President's Emergency
Plan for
Aids Relief (Pepfar), the US Agency for International Development
(USAid)
and its partner John Snow International, supplied approximately 5
000
medical kits for use in Zimbabwe's growing programme to provide male
circumcision (MC) services.
A proven and important way to reduce the
incidence of HIV, the World Health
Organisation estimates that male
circumcision lowers the chance of
contracting HIV in males by up to
60%.
At present, only about 10% of adult males in Zimbabwe are
circumcised.
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare is expanding its pilot
male
circumcision programme to make these services widely available.
The
ministry has identified a goal of circumcising 80% of adults (ages
15-49)
and newborn males in Zimbabwe by 2015.
Estimates show that scaling-up medical
MC services to reach 80% of all adult
and newborn males in Zimbabwe by 2015
would reduce the number of new adult
HIV infections by more than 80% by the
end of 2025.
The circumcision kits are the first part of a US$1,5 million
Pepfar donation
of medical supplies that can facilitate up
to 28 000
circumcision procedures.
Each kit contains the necessary equipment to perform
a male circumcision,
including forceps, disposable scalpels, needles and
gauze.
Other support is being provided by the United Nations Population Fund
and
Population Services International (PSI), which is partnering USAid and
the
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to expand male circumcision across
the
country.
"We are proud to support the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health in
its efforts to
support and promote widespread use of male circumcision in
the fight against
HIV and Aids," said USAid health development officer Peter
Halpert.
"Male circumcision is a new and innovative way of preventing the
spread of
HIV and Aids and we urge young men to consider the
procedure."
USAid has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide
for more
than 40 years.
The United States remains fully committed and
engaged with Zimbabwe in the
fight against HIV and Aids through Pepfar,
including the government's scale
up of antiretroviral treatment.
In 2010,
the number of people receiving ARVs with direct Pepfar funding
increased to
59 000, up from 40 000 in 2009.
Pepfar's 2011 budget for Zimbabwe is
increasing by more than 20% (US$10
million) over this current year to a
total of US$57.5 million.
This follows a doubling of the Zimbabwe Pepfar
budget from 2009 to 2010
(from approximately US$26 million in 2009 to
US$47.5 million in this year).
Much of that increase came as part of
President Barack Obama's pledge of
assistance to Zimbabwe.
Pepfar
programmes are implemented in Zimbabwe by the US Centers for Disease
Control
and Prevention (CDC), USAid, and the Embassy's Public Affairs
Section (PAS),
under the leadership of the US Embassy.
BY OWN CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 18:43
THE
Harare city council has started rehabilitating obsolete equipment at the
Firle sewage works, which became almost derelict under the management of the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
Council says it needs at least
US$7,4 million to fully rehabilitate the
sewage works and end the now
perennial problem of blockages.
"When we took over the plant nothing was
operational, there was no
electricity and no activity was taking place at
all," Town Clerk Tendai
Mahachi told journalists during a media tour on
Friday.
"We have managed to pay US$1,3 million for the rehabilitation and
hope by
march 2011 the whole plant would be fully operational."
Harare
has faced outbreaks of typhoid and cholera due to potable water
shortages
with some high-density suburbs such as Mabvuku and Tafara going
for years
without running water.
Several studies have indicated that most of the city's
underground water is
heavily contaminated with human waste.
The Firle
sewage works were designed to treat 72 000 cubic metres of waste
water per
day but now the plant receives more than 100 000 cubic metres per
day.
Harare waste water manager, Simon Muserere said: "The plant project
is a
process but we are actually doing this to protect our lake (Chivero)
and the
environment.
"The project will actually help in reducing the
water treatment cost."
Water pollution has affected water quality and
impacted negatively on public
health and the functioning of the ecosystems
including the rising costs of
water treatment.
Council has managed to buy
two high powered compressors to unblock digesters
and six mobile
compressors.
Mahachi said: "We used to receive reports of about 200 blockages
per day in
the high-density suburbs but now we are happy to say they can be
as little
as 10 blockages per day.
"We have redesigned the blockage pipe
and increased its diameter. This has
worked well and the lines are flowing
smoothly."
Harare's sewage crisis was one of the symptoms of an economic
crisis which
left the country close to collapse and many key infrastructure
facilities
from roads to power plants badly in need of upgrade or
repair.
Water shortage and dilapidated sanitation works have left Harare
stifled by
pools of open raw sewage and dirty public toilets.
The city
has five sewage treatment works namely Firle, Crowborough,
Hatcliffe,
Marlborough and Donnybrook.
BY PERPETUA CHIKOLOLERE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 18:46
THE
United States President’s Forum for Young African Leaders (PFYAL)
provided
youth across Africa including representatives from Zimbabwe with an
opportunity to discuss common themes affecting the continent.
Zimbabwean
youth leaders who attended the forum early last month revealed
that climate
change and entrepreneurship, HIV and Aids, governance,
empowerment and new
information technologies as drivers of positive social
change came under
discussion.
“The most common theme is that everyone was positive about the
nations that
they are coming from,” said Sydney Chisi during a Food for
Thought
presentation held at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section in
Harare.
“They wanted to see change and wanted the best out of what they have
today.”
Chisi, and co- speaker, Masimba Nyamanhindi, attended President
Barrack
Obama’s Forum for Young African Leaders with women’s rights
activist,
Cleopatra Ndlovu.
The forum brought together more than 100
young leaders from civil society
and the private sector representing 50
African countries.
The two youth leaders echoed this sentiment saying it was
imperative for
Zimbabwean youths to start getting involved.
Chisi is the
founder and director of the Youth Initiative for Democracy in
Zimbabwe
(YIDEZ), which runs an academy for 18 to 35-year-olds focused on
developing
leadership skills and empowering them to take action.
“Youth should be proud
of the liberation of Zimbabwe and, indeed, the entire
Africa
continent.
“However, young people should not allow our liberation war
generation to
pollute the nationalistic and liberation war
discourse.
“They should claim that discourse for their emancipation and move
forward
the ideals of democracy, empowerment and non-racial societies that
the
struggle for independence sought to achieve,” said Nyamanhindi, who
heads
the Students Solidarity Trust (SST), a youth activist organisation
working
with student activists.
“For a majority of unemployed African
youth, it is time to embrace the
struggle for an accountable and transparent
state, the struggles of respect
for the rule of law and the dignity of human
beings.
“And it is time to fight the HIV and Aids scourge and promote the
rights of
women,” said Nyamanhindi.
The two youth leaders said the summit
also looked at other issues and
described as ‘refreshing’ insights from
youth leaders representing other
countries.
They especially valued the
discussions on empowerment, climate change and
the use of new information
technologies to increase youth participation in
democracy and other
governance issues.
“The most amazing thing was the ability of young people, a
good example
being youth in Eritrea, to engage around the issue of climate
change.
“They have done wonders around that, something that is a missing link
in
Zimbabwe,” said Chisi.
He added, “as youth we need to engage in that
because we are all going to be
victims in the near future.”
“As youth, we
are the leaders of today, otherwise tomorrow might never
come,”
Nyamanhindi.
The two youth leaders bemoaned the lack of youth participation
in the
current constitution making process being conducted by the
Parliamentary
Select Committee.
Responding to questions from the
audience, the two pledged, through their
organisations, to intensify
outreach efforts to other youth located in
various parts of
Zimbabwe.
“Youth have tended to do away with issues of national
politics.
“For example, the constitution making process has indicated that
youth are
not participating in the process,” said Chisi.
“For us to
achieve youth participation, this generation should use
non-violent means to
achieve our objectives.
“These objectives have not been carried forward after
the war of
independence was won,” he said.
Responding to criticism in the
local media about their participation in the
programme, Nyamanhindi said
there was a lot of hype about the fact that they
met the US
President.
“The whole purpose of the forum with President Obama was to share
experiences from our different regions and gain invaluable insight to our
varying contributions, in a small way, to societal change and development,”
said the former student leader.
BY OWN CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 17:04
ZANU Ndonga
says it has mobilised its structures to support devolution in
the ongoing
constitution-making process as it is the only way ordinary
people can
benefit from natural resources from their regions.
Reketayi Semwayo, the
party's national chairman said some regions in the
country remain
undeveloped despite having a lot of natural resources.
He accused businessmen
and politicians of looting black granite from Mutoko
in Mashonaland East and
diamonds from Chiadzwa in Manicaland province
without ploughing back the
proceeds into the communities .
"Politicians are the ones benefiting from
diamonds from Chiadzwa and not the
villagers from that area," said
Semwayo.
"People must own their resources. We say no to a situation where
resources
from one region are extracted to benefit another region."
He
said it was unlikely that the outcome of the constitution outreach would
be
representative of what people are saying citing cases of intimidation by
Zanu PF in rural areas.
Apart from that, he said, the exercise has not
been publicised well enough
on national radio, television or in
newspapers.
"There is little publicity about the constitution-making
process," he said.
"Instead of Copac jingles people are being fed with Zanu
PF jingles which is
very unfair."
Semwayo said Zanu Ndonga, which has
written to three principals in the
inclusive government asking them to
review the late Rev Ndabaningi Sithole's
hero status, said selection of
heroes and heroines must not be the privilege
of one political
party.
Sithole, who died in 1992 and was buried at his Freedom Farm in
Chipinge,
was one of the founding fathers of Zanu PF in 1963 and contributed
immensely
to the liberation of this country.
Semwayo said the party was
on a membership recruitment drive ahead of next
year's planned
elections.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
18:42
ANOTHER round of general elections is now almost certain next year
and
analysts say Zimbabweans must brace themselves for a two-horse race
between
Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Despite the emergence of the revived Zapu led
by Dumiso Dabengwa and Simba
Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD), the
political landscape that prevailed
in 2008 when Zimbabwe saw the emergence
of a hung parliament has remained
unchanged.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara’s MDC, which gave Zanu PF and the
MDC-T some challenge in the
watershed polls has been on a steady decline.
Analysts who spoke to The
Standard to conclude a series on leaders of
Zimbabwe’s “fringe parties” said
a unity government could be a long-term
feature as no credible third force
had emerged to challenge the two main
parties.
“Indeed the political turf
in Zimbabwe has remained a two-horse race between
the two political giants,”
said Jack Zaba, a political analyst.
“It seems that the emergence of a third
formidable force is less likely,
especially in view of the apparent lack of
organisational capacity to
mobilise voters in the smaller political
parties.
“This failure to mobilise is even worsened by the inherent power
struggles
and incoherence attendant to the same political
formations.”
Both Zanu PF and MDC-T have of late been rocked by factionalism
raising
questions whether they can better their 2008 performance.
Rejoice
Ngwenya, a Harare-based analyst said although Zanu PF’s popularity
continued
to dip, the party that has ruled Zimbabwe since independence
continues to
control the levers of power.
By the time the country holds the next
elections, a new independent
electoral body would be in place and chances
are high that a new
constitution would have been adopted.
But the
security forces, accused of orchestrating President Robert Mugabe’s
fight
back in the run-up to the bloody June 2008 run-off poll remain
unreformed.
“The exaggerated role or dominance of Zanu PF on the
electoral landscape is
because they control the institutions of repression,”
Ngwenya said.
“In a completely accommodative plebiscite, Zanu PF would
ordinarily
disappear save for a strong contempt of rural zealots poisoned by
the allure
of more land and expropriated companies.”
Ngwenya said if the
new constitution failed to produce strong independent
democratic
institutions, Zanu PF may still feature but not well enough to
neutralise
the dominance of MDC-T.
He said if the new constitution-making process was
concluded successfully
the next election would be contested on issues rather
than rhetoric.
The scenario will bring into the fore the newly revived Zapu,
which is
riding on the crest of the discontent over Zanu PF’s centralised
government
system.
Demands for devolution of power have dominated debate
in outreach meetings
especially in Matabeleland and Midlands.
Trevor
Maisiri of the Africa Reform Institute said those who were
discounting
Zapu’s as a potential force in the next polls could do so to
their own
peril.
“I see Zapu causing a major stir in the Matabeleland and Midlands
regions,”
he said.
“I also see a likelihood of MDC-M instituting
leadership change to replace
Mutambara so that a more anti-Zanu PF leader
can rise for the party to form
an electoral alliance with Zapu.”
MDC-M
secretary general Welshman Ncube has already indicated his willingness
to
challenge Mutambara at the party’s congress scheduled for next year.
Ncube
can no longer contest the secretary general’s post as the party’s
constitution only allows for two terms.
Maisiri said with Mutambara at
the helm of the MDC-M there was a less
likelihood of an alliance with Zapu
because he was considered to be more
favourable to Zanu PF.
“The eventual
electoral alliance between MDC-M and Zapu in the aftermath of
Mutambara’s
leadership will also cause major political shifts in the
Matabeleland and
Midlands regions,” he said.
“If the constitutional permutations are anything
to go by, we are likely to
have devolution become a constitutional
provision.”
Zapu is unlikely to seriously push for the country’s presidency
but
concentrate on its traditional strongholds of Matabeleland, Midlands and
Mashonaland West.
The analysts were unanimous that in the next elections
Zimbabweans must also
consider parties that are outside the unity
government, which has so far
failed to function properly mainly because the
parties do not want to move
from their entrenched positions.
“Since
Zimbabwe’s situation is peculiar because of the inclusive government,
the
considerations of the electorate have to take into account issues of
which
party was stalling the implementation of the Global Political
Agreement,
which one made it a success or a failure,” said Takura Zhangazha,
a
political commentator.
“The electorate must also consider parties outside of
the framework of the
inclusive government and assess both their policy
proposals as well as their
leadership credentials.”
In the last elections
Zanu PF lost its majority in the House of Assembly for
the first time since
independence to the MDC formations.
MDC-T won the most number of seats while
Zanu PF dominated the Senate.
Tsvangirai with 48% of the first round of the
vote emerged the winner
against Mugabe (43%) but did not garner enough votes
to claim the
presidency.
Results of the poll were withheld by almost a
month leading to protests that
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission then led by
now High Court Judge President
George Chiweshe had tampered with
them.
The MDC-T leader was subsequently forced to withdraw from the run-off
poll
after hundreds of his party’s supporters were killed in an orgy of
violence
blamed on Zanu PF and the security forces.
The next election is
likely to generate world wide interest and the Southern
African Development
Community, which is the guarantor of the GPA, will be
heavily
involved.
Going by the prevailing political developments Mugabe, Tsvangirai,
Makoni
and Dabengwa will run for the presidency.
BY KHOLWANI
NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:52
THE African Development Bank has set aside US$2 million to
support various
statistical activities in Zimbabwe as the country forges
ahead with efforts
to provide up to date statistics for national development
and policy
management.
The money is for the period 2009-2011.
The
programmes for capacity building in statistics are conducted by the
Statistics Department of the bank which falls under the purview of chief
economist and vice-president of the AfDB, Zimbabwean Mthuli Ncube.
Ncube
told Standardbusiness: "The activities and programme of the African
Development Bank will go a long way in rebuilding Zimbabwe's capacity in the
collection and reporting of statistics, all of which would lead to better
delivery on and monitoring of, development goals of the country."
AfDB
has since 2002 supported statistical development activities in
Zimbabwe,
under the bank's Statistical Capacity Building (SCB) programme for
its
African member countries.
The rationale for the bank's support is to provide
resources to restore
institutional and human capacity of the Zimbabwe
national statistical office
to generate reliable and timely data for
national development policy
management.
Consequently, support is
continuing under the bank's SCB-2 for the period
2009-2010, with additional
resources for statistical activities in Zimbabwe
from the Fragile States
Facility and the Middle Income Countries (MIC) Fund.
AfDB is providing key
support in seven areas which include national
accounts, processing of
agriculture and livestock survey, National
Statistical Development Strategy
(NSDS), Population and Housing Census
(PHC), Income Consumption Expenditure
Survey, Infrastructure Statistics and
other statistical building capacity
activities.
AfDB is providing technical assistance and financial support for
several
activities, including ongoing economic surveys that need to be
undertaken
before a complete set of preliminary national accounts for
Zimbabwe for
recent years can be generated.
The processing of an
agriculture and livestock survey would allow for firmer
estimates of
national accounts for Zimbabwe and is budgeted for in the
Emergency
Institutional Support Project.
There has been no disbursement of funds
because of the lack of an
appropriate account to lodge funds in.
In 2006,
AfDB provided financial and technical assistance to Zimbabwe to
design the
NSDS, which facilitated the establishment of an autonomous
statistical
agency (Zimstat), officially launched in February 2010.
The bank is
processing funds from its MIC Fund for continuous support in the
implementation of the NSDS.
AfDB carried out a thorough assessment of
Zimstat's state of preparedness to
execute a PHC in the 2010 round of
census.
The bank has resources within its SCB-2 programme to provide
assistance for
preparatory work as well as for data processing and analysis,
Ncube said.
On infrastructure statistics, the bank is assisting the country
to improve
availability of data (regarding the state of infrastructure in
the country,
the associated costs and investment needs) in such sectors as
energy, water,
ICT, roads, rails, ports, and air transport.
AfDB has
already trained country officials and preliminary results are
expected to be
out by early next year.
Zimbabwe however remains is barred from getting loans
from AfDB because the
country has failed to settle its debt estimated at
over US$400 million.
This means that the country is ineligible to access the
US$30 billion the
bank has set aside to lend out to members in the next five
years.
Last year, AfDB rolled out
US$9 billion to eligible members but
Zimbabwe missed out because of the
debt.
BY NDAMU
SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 18:00
"We are
enveloped in the politics of hate. The amount of hate that is being
preached
today in this country is frightening. What Zimbabwe fought for was
peace,
progress, love, respect, justice, equality, not the opposite. And one
of the
worst evils we see today is corruption. The country bleeds today
because of
corruption . . . Our country cannot progress on fear and false
accusations
which are founded simply on the love of power.
"There is something radically
wrong with our country and we (are) moving
fast towards
destruction.
"There is confusion and corruption and let us be clear about it,
we are
seeing racism in reverse under (the) false mirror of correcting
imbalances
of the past. In the process we are creating worse things. We have
created
fear in the minds of some in our country.
"We have made them feel
unwanted; unsafe... The fear that pervades the
rulers has come down to the
people and to the workers" said Joshua Nkomo at
the funeral of Lookout
Masuku on the April 12 1986.
One would have thought Joshua Nkomo was reading
into the future, if he had
known the trials and tribulations Zimbabweans
were to go through since he
spoke these words. Following a controversial and
inconclusive election
result in March 2008 between Zimbabwe's main political
parties, Zanu PF lead
by Robert Mugabe, MDC-T lead by Morgan Tsvangirai and
MDC-M lead by
Professor Arthur Mutambara, Zimbabweans were subjected to a
political
arrangement they did not vote for, namely the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA) which was signed in September 2008 brokered by the then
South African
President Thabo Mbeki.
In that agreement the parties
explicitly agreed to " dedicate themselves to
putting an end to the
polarisation, divisions, conflict and intolerance that
have characterised
our country's politics: They undertook to build a society
free of violence,
fear, intimidation, hate, patronage, corruption and
founded on justice,
openness, transparency, dignity and equality (Robert
Mugabe, Morgan
Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara 21 July 2008)
The initial response to this
government of national unity from Zimbabweans
was one of excitement and a
sense of relief as it was a marked departure
from the politics of
polarisation that had become characteristic of
Zimbabwe.
At last
Zimbabweans could begin the hard work of reconstructing Zimbabwe
without
having to worry about the politics.
Here we had three political parties
different in their outlook and
aspirations coming together into this
political arrangement with a promise
to put Zimbabwe first. National
interest one might say.
Two years later, punctuated by numerous trips to the
Sadc facilitators
Zimbabweans are no way better off as they had
imagined.
The three political parties, Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M that signed
the
coalition agreement have failed to implement the full text of the
agreement
and therefore have failed to deliver on the promises made.
The
blame game is the order of the day. They say when elephants fight it's
the
grass that suffers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst the
three political parties are playing the blame game, real lives are bearing
the brunt of it all. Zimbabweans have been presented with yet another false
dawn. The life span of the Global Political Agreement is coming to its
natural end. All the three parties have now lost any appetite to implement
the text of the agreement in its fullness.
The focus has now shifted to
the Presidential and Parliamentary elections
that are due in the year
2011.
The politics of patronage that Joshua Nkomo decried have now began to
rear
their ugly heads .The leaders of the three political parties are more
concerned about their political survival in the oncoming
plebiscite.
Lloyd Msipa
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:59
The crash of a small aircraft near a Harare school at Mount Hampden
last
month was a poignant reminder of how important it is to follow town
planning
rules when developing land.
The aircraft had just taken off from
Charles Prince airport when it
developed a fault and crash-landed a few
metres from the new school, Cornway
College. The pilot and his passenger
missed death by a whisker. But what was
scarier was the possibility of the
plane crashing into the school itself.
The result would have been disastrous
if children were in the school grounds
or classrooms.
It turns out the
school is standing on grounds where construction should not
happen at all.
It is international law that nothing should be built on areas
adjacent to
runways, under the approach and climb-out paths. But Cornway
College is
built adjacent to the runway.
The recent crash is not isolated. It has been
reported that it is the second
this year in the same area. What this means
is that there is a real
possibility of a plane crashing into the school in
the not-so-distant
future.
There have been calls, particularly by the
Commercial and General Aviation
Association of Zimbabwe, to have the school
relocated. The Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe has also said authority
was not sought from it before
the school was constructed. The issue has been
raised with the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications to no avail.
Cornway College is a huge investment. It is
probably the biggest property
development in the city in recent years making
the idea of relocating it
ridiculous. The owners of the school are said to
be powerful individuals
with political clout. It just may be that in the end
it is the airport that
has to move!
What is worrying is that there has
developed a trend in Harare and other
parts of the country in which pieces
of land set aside for certain purposes
are being used for something
else.
When settlements or cities are planned land is allocated for different
purposes; residential, commercial, industrial, recreational etc. There are
also wetlands where no construction should happen at all, but we are seeing
a lot of construction happening in these now.
Many people underestimate
the importance of wetlands and equate them with
wastelands yet they are
about the greatest centres of biodiversity
considering the variety of plant
and animal life that survives in them. They
also save to purify the water we
use for domestic purposes.
The trend of changing the uses of certain pieces
of land seems, without
exception, to be driven by certain powerful
individuals. Minister of Local
Government, Rural and Urban Development,
Ignatius Chombo himself has been
reported to have changed the use of a
certain piece of land in Borrowdale,
which had been set aside for
recreational purposes, and turned it into a
residential area. Another
property mogul, Phillip Chiyangwa, is also in the
process of changing the
use of certain pieces of land from designated use to
other uses.
These
changes may not be as potentially tragic as the Mount Hampden one but
the
consequences may be long-term. Harare for example is comparatively a
young
city with a small population.
In the next 20 to 50 years it might have
population of five million which
would be more than twice the current
population. Town planners had this in
mind when they designated big swaths
of land for certain purposes.
Many more schools may have to be built as the
population increases; more
shopping centres will be needed and so will
schools.
It is imperative therefore that city fathers stand steadfast in
denying
property charlatans the wanton tendency to change land uses for
their own
enrichment at the expense of the residents whose heritage the city
is.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010
17:58
The robots at the corner of Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold
Takawira Street
were not working yesterday morning. It is a very busy part
of Harare so the
traffic jam was enormous. Lines of cars extended for
kilometres in all
directions. It took up to 30 minutes just to cross Samora
Machel towards
Avondale.
One woman tried to make a difference. In the
absence of the police she got
out of her car and tried to control the
traffic. She was dressed in a bright
orange blouse making her very visible.
But Oh boy! You should have seen the
contempt with which the motorists,
mainly men, treated her. The question on
their faces as they disregarded her
instructions completely was: "Who the
hell do you think you are?"
The
motorists knew for sure their behaviour was not helping the situation;
indeed the jam became worse; but they were spiteful to this woman.
Many
reasons could be advanced why the motorists did not obey the woman.
Most
will obviously say she was not in police uniform and therefore had no
reason
to be directing traffic. What they may not realise is that it's not
the
uniform that directs traffic; she looked competent enough to do the job
suggesting she might in fact have been an off-duty policewoman.
The
really reason for the motorists' disdain might well be that the
Zimbabwean
psyche has been traumatised by years of political, socio-economic
crises
that have inured them to their condition so that when someone emerges
and
tries to make a difference his or her effort is not recognised.
Zimbabweans,
especially those living in Harare have become a selfish lot and
every effort
each one makes is purely for their own wellbeing.
Many bad things have
happened to the capital.
One of them is that it has become a traffic jungle;
what with the constantly
dysfunctional traffic lights and the commuter
omnibus drivers who consider
themselves masters of the road. The police and
the local authority have been
often half-hearted in their efforts to bring
sanity to the roads. Recently
they carried out something like "Operation
100% CBD decongestion Phase One
and Two", but it did not produce any
tangible result. One of the reasons is
that without these omnibuses flooding
into the city the police officers
would be the worse for it.
The
city, which was once dubbed the "Sunshine City" is now a big rot. Not
only
is it infested with rats but people throw litre everywhere. There is
no
longer any sanity. Pushcarts have become part of the traffic. People sell
all sorts of fruit from these carts and banana peels are now part of our
daily fare. But these pushcarts are not licensed to use our roads and their
owners do not even know which side of the road to use.
What happened to
the men and women who used to clean our streets? In the
past it was
refreshing at lunch to just take a walk in the Harare Gardens or
Africa
Unity Square with its fountains. These have all disappeared and
Harare
Gardens are now a rubbish dump.
This is all very depressing hence it is so
important that we recognise the
few individuals who emerge now and again to
try to make a difference.
What gave the woman the courage to park her own car
and then try to manage a
busy intersection such as the one in question? It
was the human's spirit's
love for order and decency!
Everyday there is
someone out there who is trying to make a difference but
have we recognised
them? If only I had the woman's details I would give her
a three-month
subscription of The Standard.
On another matter, which demonstrates the
complete opposite of our traffic
controller I was reading a truly sickening
story about war crimes in
Afghanistan the other day. This world is full of
depraved people.
Here are excerpts:
"Twelve American soldiers face charges
over a secret 'kill team' that
allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians
at random and collected their
fingers as trophies."
"In one of the most
serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the
Afghan conflict, the
killings are alleged to have been carried out by
members of a Stryker
infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in
southernAfghanistan."
"Investigators said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with
another soldier, Jeremy
Morlock, 22, and other members of the unit to form a
'kill team'. While on
patrol over the following months they allegedly killed
at least three Afghan
civilians."
"The Army Times reported that a least
one of the soldiers collected the
fingers of the victims as souvenirs and
that some of them posed for
photographs with the
bodies."
Nevanji Madanhire
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 September 2010 17:56
There
has been a huge upheaval in Zimbabwe over Marange diamonds and like
other
citizens, the student community is hoping for the creation of a
framework
within which education can also benefit from the country's mineral
wealth.
The next few months will see momentous events in the calendar of
Zimbabwe
education, which include the fact that O' level and A' level
students will
write their end of course examinations with our sad memories
of the hundreds
of thousands of students who failed to register for those
examinations. This
is a resurfacing of the colonial day's usage of financial
bottlenecking in
education.
In this period, universities and colleges
will see the coming of new
students in the entrenched reality of low
enrolment. The privatisation of
education has effectively trimmed the
number of the new students enrolling
in tertiary institutions.
At the
same time, half-baked graduates who will have survived the financial
hide-and-seek because of the privatisation of education by the government of
Zimbabwe will be sent off at university graduation ceremonies into the job
market where focus will once again fall on the realities of educational
decay in Zimbabwe. This is because there will be glaring reflections on
quality and quantity.
It is in this reality that the students of Zimbabwe
will make loud shrills
for part of the financial cake from the sale of
Marange diamonds after the
Kimberley Process certification. The contextual
framework of these benefits
should be in the form of an Education Levy which
we see as necessary and
deserving of constitutional affirmation.
.
The rationality of and justification of such a fund can is
understandable
when one considers that hitherto, the only sources of funding
for most
students in tertiary institutions were the shallow pockets of their
peasant
or worker-parents and guardians. I believe this to be an abrogation
of
government responsibility in the development of participative citizenship
and human capital in Zimbabwe.
The financial needs of education in
Zimbabwe are too clear for anyone to
ignore. The fact that Schools
Development Committees (SDCs) still require
the users of elementary
education to pay fees which is a negation of the
free education concept
as parents are required to pay part of the teachers'
remuneration package
in the guise of incentives and to contribute towards
the maintenance of
infrastructure and acquisition of text books and other
teaching aids. These
contributions become permanent properties of
government schools with the
tacit approval of the ministry and government.
This also means the
government may not be able to exercise full control
in the institutions
towards the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals
(MDGs).
Meanwhile, tertiary students are being made responsible through the
exorbitant fees for the day to day running of learning institutions
including meeting part of the lectures' allowances while they continue to
drop out of colleges. This is a contradiction to the call for the
broadening of the idea of student support and with this extension, the
widening of what we call basic education in Zimbabwe to include the
undergraduate level in the context of the MDGs.
Botswana, another diamond
producing southern Africa country, has
extrapolated its basic education to
include the first three years in
secondary school in the context of its MDGs
targets in education.
Besides our concerns in terms of student welfare, we
realise the necessity
to start a fund that will assist in carrying out
scientific research in
science-based institutions where students are
sponsoring themselves for
mandatory research which is part of their learning
programmes. The
installing of infrastructure and the constant maintenance of
the same will
enable handicapped students to access important areas of the
learning
institutions in order to remove equity barriers across physical
ability.
The challenges of education in Zimbabwe in terms of inaccessibility
have led
to the churning out of a wide range of variously half-educated
societal
strands in the country while we blindly celebrate the so-called
achievements
in literacy terms. This affirms nothing more than the fact
that a majority
Zimbabweans can successfully write their names, which takes
them nowhere in
the modern world.
Vivid Gwede is ZINASU National
Secretary General.