Times Online
September 19, 2008
MDC sources said Mr Mugabe was insisting on the ministries
of defence and
home affairs - which includes the police, finance and local
government
Jan Raath in Harare
The first attempt by the three partners
in Zimbabwe's new power-sharing
government to launch its new administration
and confront the country's
disastrous state fell at the first hurdle last
night when they failed to
agree on the sharing of the
ministries.
"Zanu(PF) is claiming all the powerful ministries," said
Nelson Chamisa,
spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change, after Mr
Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of the
smaller faction of
the MDC, broke up after about six hours of
negotiations.
MDC sources said Mr Mugabe was insisting on the ministries
of defence and
home affairs - which includes the police, finance and local
government.
Mr Mugabe's new demands came after he addressed his party's
politburo and
central committee. At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Mugabe
declared: "We
remain in the driving seat. We will not tolerate any nonsense
from our new
partners."
Mr Chamisa said the issue would be referred
to representatives of the three
parties who carried out the bulk of
negotiations for the agreement for an
"inclusive" government signed on
Monday.
Mr Mugabe leaves next week for the United Nations general assembly,
which
means that any conclusion is stalled by at least another
week.
On Wednesday Mr Mugabe also told the central committee, "If only we
had not
blundered in the March 29 elections, we would not be facing this
humiliation.
"This is what we have to deal with. We urge you to do
your best in trying to
understand the document." His remarks indicate a
sense of resignation, and
also signalled that for the first time since he
came to power 28 years ago,
he and Zanu(PF) can no longer exercise total
control. His stance yesterday,
however, showed he can be expected to use
delaying tactics to the full.
Zanu(PF) will have 15 of the 31 ministries
established in terms of the
agreement, Mr Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and the lesser
MDC led by Arthur
Mutambara, 3, leaving the MDC with a slender majority -
another
unprecedented and unpalatable truth facing Mr Mugabe.
The MDC
is understood to be willing to let Mr Mugabe keep the defence
ministry, a
move that both would placate the powerful generals loyal to him,
but also in
the hope that he would surrender to the main pro-democracy party
the home
affairs ministry, and with it the all-important police force.
a.. Have
your say
How selfish that millions have to suffer for Mugabe's hunger for
power.
Australia was right not to accept the new government until it works.
Please
let Zuma take over from Mbeki, his negotiations are one
sided.
George, Elk Grove, CA
I am now convinced that Morgan
Tsvangirai is and will or would be an
ineffectual leader who should not
enjoy the support of the western world,He
Within a very short time would be
as bad or worse than mugabbe
Peter, Vancouver BC., Canada
Why am I
not surprised. Did we expect anything else from Mugabe other than
that he
would ignore the recent agreement he signed. His words are worth
nothing and
now so too is his signature, that agreement is as worth as one
of those $1m
Zim bank notes.
Taso Lambridis, Sydney, Australia
http://online.wsj.com/
By R.W. JOHNSON | FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET
JOURNAL EUROPE
This week's power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe marks, as
longtime opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai noted in his first speech as
prime minister, "the
rebirth of our nation" and the "building of a new
Zimbabwe."
Or at least that is the hope. For President Robert Mugabe, in
his own speech
Monday, rambled widely, accused the opposition of violence,
boasted of his
own greater experience -- and was frequently booed. What his
speech
indicated is that the deal is almost certainly unworkable: He has not
really
accepted the change for what it is and clearly hopes to continue his
rule by
presidential decree. That reign has seen more than a third of the
Zimbabwean
population flee abroad, and perhaps another million people killed
as a
result of starvation, political violence and accelerated death through
AIDS
and the collapse of the health-care system.
Unquestionably, the
settlement is complicated. It provides for Mr. Mugabe to
preside over a
cabinet of 31 ministers: 15 belonging to his previously
ruling Zanu-PF, 13
to Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, and
three to an MDC
splinter group led by Arthur Mutambara. In addition, Mr.
Tsvangirai will
chair an overlapping council of ministers which supervises
the government.
And while the prime minister will control the police, Mr.
Mugabe will still
aim to control the armed forces.
So the deal establishes two centers of
power and, in effect, two conflicting
cabinets. This friction is in part due
to the fact that the mediator, South
African President Thabo Mbeki, was more
concerned with getting a solution
acceptable to Mr. Mugabe than devising a
system that could work.
The talks were a monstrous display of bad faith.
Mr. Tsvangirai led Mr.
Mugabe by a considerable margin in the March
presidential elections, until
Mr. Mugabe conducted such a campaign of
all-out violence that Mr. Tsvangirai
withdrew from the June run-off. The
opposition also clearly won the
parliamentary elections in March, despite
violence and rigging by Mr.
Mugabe.
In any even halfway democratic
country, Mr. Mugabe would now be out of
power. He has survived not just
because of his violent methods but because
Mr. Mbeki has consistently tried
to keep him in power. Mr. Mbeki got the
South African Development Community
-- and the African Union, which tends to
follow the SADC's lead on regional
matters -- to accept Mr. Mugabe as
Zimbabwe's president (Botswana alone
dissenting). He was then able to
leverage this incumbency into the present
compromise deal.
Mr. Tsvangirai said he signed the deal because "my
belief in Zimbabwe and
its peoples runs deeper than the scars I bear from
the struggle." He
literally meant scars. In 1998 some of Mr. Mugabe's thugs
tried to throw Mr.
Tsvangirai out of a sixth-floor window. Less than two
years ago more such
thugs, clearly on Mr. Mugabe's orders, beat him within
inches of his life.
No wonder the new prime minister added that the deal
"can only be a
temporary measure, like a candle in a
dungeon."
Similarly, Mr. Tsvangirai said the first task of the new
government would be
to "unlock the food already in the country and
distribute it to our people."
He didn't mention that this food has been kept
locked up by Mr. Mugabe, who
wished to ensure it only got distributed to his
supporters, while opposition
supporters were deliberately starved.
As
yet no ministers have been named and there is likely to be a fierce
struggle
over portfolios -- though once donor aid starts to flow, it is the
donors
and the IMF who will really write the script.
A statement signed by
Messrs. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara called for
Britain to "accept its
responsibilities" and compensate the 4,000 commercial
farmers who have lost
their farms. This is a ludicrous nonstarter: The
British will hardly accept
that Mr. Mugabe's decision to steal farms for his
cronies from 2000 on
somehow makes them responsible. Instead they -- like
the rest of the donors
-- will want a solution to the land question which
sees both the return of
the rule of law and the restoration of proper
commercial farming to ensure
the end of the chronic famine which has gripped
Zimbabwe since the farm
invasions ruined this key sector of the economy.
The crunch is bound to
come quickly. All else apart, the major Western
donors will not hand over
money to which Mr. Mugabe or his cronies can gain
access, and they will also
want to see humanitarian aid immediately resumed.
Both the U.S. and the EU
have decided to maintain their targeted sanctions
against Mr. Mugabe and his
henchmen for now. The IMF has declared itself
ready to talk to the new
government but warns that it will have a number of
major conditions before a
loan can be extended.
Probably the first big issue will be the sacking of
Gideon Gono as governor
of the Reserve Bank. Mr. Mugabe has used Mr. Gono, a
key henchman and his
own private banker, to control the economy; Mr. Gono
has in turn been
rewarded with stolen farms and other looted assets. The
donors have made it
clear that not a cent will be handed over while Mr. Gono
remains in office.
If he goes and is replaced by someone acceptable to the
IMF, Mr. Mugabe will
lose his ruinous control of the economy.
Next
there will be Mr. Tsvangirai's determination to invite back the British
Military Assistance and Training Team, which trained the army and police
after independence in 1980. This would not only mean 200 British military
personnel on the ground. The gradual restoration of a nonpolitical stance by
the security forces would rob Mr. Mugabe and his henchmen of their key lever
of control, especially since the first job of such forces would be to crack
down on the murderous and torturous conduct of Mr. Mugabe's war veterans
(the ex-guerrilla fighters from the liberation war) and Zanu-PF youth
league, known as the Green Bombers.
The progressing of the agenda
favored by Mr. Tsvangirai and the major donors
would rapidly dismantle the
entire Mugabe system and prepare the way for
free elections, in which both
Mr. Mugabe and his party would face
annihilation. During his speech Mr.
Mugabe raged on about those who had the
temerity to want him to leave the
scene after 28 years in power: He still
cannot believe anyone would attempt
such sacrilege.
The next few weeks will show whether he intends to
subvert the new deal, or
whether he will be pushed aside by the determined
opposition. Meanwhile, 1.1
million Zimbabweans are facing starvation right
now. They need urgent
practical action, not more political
turmoil.
Mr. Johnson is southern Africa correspondent for the Sunday
Times of London.
TIME
By Megan Lindow and
Simba Rushwaya / Harare Thursday, Sep. 18, 2008
The shotgun marriage
between Zimbabwe's government and opposition was never
going to be easy, but
it could falter at the first hurdle. Despite signing a
power-sharing
agreement on Monday, President Robert Mugabe and his
arch-rival and new
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have failed to agree on
who will control
which portfolios in a new cabinet. A meeting between the
two men on Thursday
aimed at resolving the issue broke up without agreement,
as reports began to
trickle in of violence breaking out in different parts
of the country
between supporters of Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the opposition
MDC. While most of
the violence of recent months has been directed against
opposition
supporters - thugs controlled by Zanu-PF killed, tortured and
displaced
thousands to intimidate them into staying away from the polls - on
Thursday
it was the government crying foul. Reports from the countryside
tell of
local MDC supporters who lost relatives in the post-election
violence
seeking vengeance. "It is unfortunate that these violent acts are
occurring
at a time when we are beginning a new era in the country and such
behavior
does not make the cooperation between the parties succeed," Justice
Minister
and Mugabe loyalist Patrick Chinamasa told the state-owned Herald
newspaper.
Many Zimbabweans see such accusations as a ploy by
Mugabe's government to
thwart the deal that will curtail their power. MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa
dismissed as "nonsense" accusations that the party
is responsible for
violence. Even more ominous, though, was the tone adopted
by Mugabe on state
television on Wednesday, when he lamented that "If we had
not blundered in
this election, we would not be facing all this
humiliation." The bitterness
of their president's words will have burned in
the ears of army generals and
ZANU-PF hardliners who have vowed never to
accept MDC rule. The
power-sharing agreement signed on Monday gives the MDC,
which won the
parliamentary elections in March, a razor thin majority in the
cabinet that
will run Zimbabwe's government. Mugabe, however, assured his
backers that
ZANU-PF remains "in the driving seat" and "will not tolerate
any nonsense
from its partners" - words more likely to incite his generals
than to
promote reconciliation.
With Mugabe and Tsvangirai now locked
in a stalemate over control of key
portfolios such as finance, security and
information, the power-sharing deal
appears to have failed in its first test
of goodwill. Analysts say the
agreement was vague on who would actually have
the upper hand in running the
government, and Mugabe and his generals have
left no doubt that they intend
to retain control of the real levers of
power. "I think the game plan is to
assume that the MDC has been softened up
enough [by the past months of
violence]] to ensure that they don't really
stray into the areas that the
generals don't want them to stray into,"
Steven Friedman, director of the
Center for the Study of Democracy in
Johannesburg, told TIME.
In the 1980s, Mugabe successfully neutered the
challenge of his
liberation-era rival Joshua Nkomo, by bludgeoning his
supporters in a
sustained campaign of violence and then drawing a cowed
Nkomo into a
subservient role in government. This time, however, Mugabe's
end-game may be
about securing a safe exit for himself. A top government
intelligence
officer told TIME that Mugabe, despite his angry rhetoric, may
in fact be
preparing to step down. "One thing for sure is that Mugabe is now
on the
prowl, especially in his own party," the intelligence officer said.
"He
wants to deal with those who contributed to his defeat in March and
create a
safe exit for himself. By coming up with a unity accord, Mugabe
wants to
exit as a good statesman and give the impression that he was a
unifier."
But even if Mugabe does retire soon, his generals are unlikely
to relinquish
control. "Until the balance of power shifts, and the generals
around Mugabe
start realizing that they need the opposition, I think one has
to be quite
pessimistic," Friedman said. And as long as reconciliation
remains elusive
at the top the followers of Zanu-PF and the MDC are unlikely
to embrace one
another. "It would be naive to think that the deep-seated
rivalry between
the two parties will suddenly disappear," Zimbabwean
political analyst
Eldred Masunungure told TIME. "The MDC supporters think
they have finally
won over ZANU-PF, which is wrong."
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1817520,00.html
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Sapa-AFP Published:Sep 19,
2008
ZIMBABWE'S
leaders failed yesterday to agree on who will get which key
ministries in a
new unity government and have referred the dispute to
negotiators, days
after signing a historic power-sharing
deal.
a..
"The meeting did not produce an
agreement and the matter has been referred
to the negotiators because of
disagreements over key ministries," Nelson
Chamisa, spokesman for the
Movement for Democratic Change said.
Yesterday's meeting followed
Monday's signing of a power- sharing deal that
set out a framework for a
multi-party government under President Robert
Mugabe, with Morgan Tsvangirai
as prime minister.
Ministerial posts have been divided among the parties,
with Zanu-PF allotted
15 portfolios, and Tsvangirai's MDC 13. The smaller
MDC faction, led by
Arthur Mutambara, who will be deputy prime minister, get
three ministries.
An opposition source close to the negotiations said, on
condition of
anonymity, "Zanu-PF wants all the powerful ministries like
finance, defence,
local government and information, leaving u s the less
important ministries.
We are saying: 'Let's have an equal
share.'"
Mugabe told his Zanu-PF central committee on Wednesday that
party divisions
during the elections in March had cost him a winning
majority in the first
round of presidential voting.
Friday,
September 19, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In spite of some happy noises
coming out of Zimbabwe in the wake of what is
billed as an agreement between
President Robert G. Mugabe and the
opposition, the people of that miserable
country are still being dragged
behind a horse by a group of corrupt and
incompetent rulers.
Zimbabwe held presidential and parliamentary
elections in March, in a
context of an economy that has been deliberately
and thoroughly ruined by 28
years of despotic rule by Mr. Mugabe, 84, and
his Shona tribesmen. His
party, ZANU-PF, lost the parliament and he probably
lost the presidential
vote as well, although his people's approach to that
little problem was to
cook and then suppress the results. Following heavy
international pressure,
the presidential elections were held again in June.
This time the opposition
dropped out after having been tormented brutally by
Mr. Mugabe's security
forces.
Matters became so bad that South
African President Thabo Mbeki, appointed
the lead mediator by the other
Africans, in spite of his own personal
reluctance to put the heat on the old
tyrant, finally brokered an agreement
among the Zimbabweans. It leaves Mr.
Mugabe as president, with his 31-member
Cabinet in place, and makes
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangerai prime
minister, with his own Council of
Ministers. One aspect of the new accord is
that Zimbabwe now has two sets of
ministers, each with his own entourage,
luxury car and comfortable
office.
Then the Zimbabweans said, "Oh my goodness, we have fixed
everything. Now's
it up to the international community to give us lots of
aid." (The
resemblance to the current behavior of certain American financial
institutions is purely coincidental.)
The appropriate response to
this appeal is a flat negative. Zimbabwe will be
nowhere near being fixed
until Mr. Mugabe is gone -- thrown out of office or
dead of natural or other
causes. The situation of the Zimbabwean people is
certainly pathetic, but
there is no point in pouring money or other aid into
this bottomless pit,
particularly in response to creative political theater.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4416
September 18, 2008
Tanonoka
Whande
IF YOU did not watch the live broadcast of the first speeches
of Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister designate, Morgan
Tsvangirai,
speaking from the same platform, then you missed a real
spectacle.
To me the highlight was when old man Mugabe delivered a
rumbling speech that
was for the most part at variance with the spirit of
the agreement just
signed.
With somewhat slurred speech, Mugabe
stunned both visiting Heads of State
and compatriots in the gallery when he
tried to praise or to ingratiate
himself with President Thabo Mbeki, who was
the mediator of the
negotiations.
"I wish I was young again and
proposing to girls," he said to the man who
literally rescued him from the
jaws of a lion. "I would say, give me some
tips."
The aging tyrant
also talked about the bothersome subject of democracy
saying that democracy
in Africa is a difficult proposition, "because always
the opposition will
want much more than what it deserves".
After listening to a rumbling
speech that hardly had any content and that
craftily avoided reference to
the long desired, anticipated and
present-on-the-table agreement, it was
clear to everyone present and those
watching on world-wide television that
Mugabe was not cherishing the role he
was playing.
In a way, he was
giving a farewell speech that was not a result of his
humility. He was being
forced out and there was no room to maneuver.
Mugabe revealed that the
public statements attributed to Botswana's
President Ian Khama had irked
him. He could not resist the temptation to
take a dig at Khama, the man who
joined Zambia's late president Levy
Mwanawasa and initiated the move to
censure Mugabe both within SADC and at
continental level.
"I will
never attack an African leader in public," said Mugabe, desperately
trying
to hang on to the retrogressive practice of African leaders of not
criticising each other.
A regular reader of my column wrote to me
saying that he fails to understand
how anyone, especially Tsvangirai and the
MDC, could go along with this.
Mugabe lost even a rigged election; he has
murdered thousands of
Zimbabweans, terrorised millions, destroyed his
country's economy;
arrogantly, flaunted every code of decent human
behaviour; plundered,
pillaged and destroyed the wealth of his own people,
to his personal
advantage. In that vein, how can anyone make "deals" with
such a man; and
for what purpose?
I am one of the people who are not
impressed by the so-called agreement
between Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and the
two ZANU-PF factions led by Robert
Mugabe, on one hand, and Arthur
Mutambara, on the other.
As they have always done since the formation of
their renegade party,
Mutambara's faction still stands for nothing and has
shown to be agreeable
to different agreements as long as their faction is
included.
After a cursory look at the agreement, one can understand why
they did not
want to reveal to the people the contents of the agreement
before signing
it.
The agreement has more holes than fishing
net.
The deal, hammered out by politicians in the absence of civil
society, does
not even recognize the March elections, which Tsvangirai won.
And it cedes
too much power to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai told the BBC just
yesterday: "Yes, I am anxious.about how this is
going to work. The devil is
in the implementation of this agreement. This is
a political risk that we
have taken."
Tsvangirai said that he was not very comfortable with the
agreement then
added: "But I must say that I think all of us are committed
to see it
through."
Personally, I am still trying to be rational and
to convince myself that the
MDC did the right thing but no matter how
liberal I get, I cannot plug the
holes and rationalize those
signatures.
Needless to say, Zimbabweans, before and after the
announcement, greeted the
news of the agreement with a mixture of doubt,
disbelief, joy, cautious
optimism and, above all, with fear.
I hold
the opinion that this agreement is a hoax to, once again, cheat the
Zimbabwean people and Tsvangirai needs to be careful not to be tricked any
further because Mugabe is not done with him yet.
I remain opposed to
an arrangement that recognizes and rewards the loser at
the expense of the
winner and the people.
Even COSATU, one of the most vocal organizations
sympathetic to the MDC
called the agreement "the spreading Kenyan
virus".
Short term benefits will obviously look enticing.
Maybe
ZANU-PF will kill fewer people than before. Maybe the international
community will send in money, itself a danger that the MDC should be very
careful about. More food will come in and people are going to be
fed.
And all the while Mugabe and his people are going to be
watching?
As Tsvangirai admitted in that BBC interview, he and Mugabe
have been
opposed to each other for too long and working together is going
to be a
challenge. True, the devil is in the implementation of the
agreement.
I fear that what this agreement will do is to apply a thin
coating of cover
over festering wounds and blind the nation to the
decomposing anger
simmering under the surface only to burst open and
contaminate the false
sense of security that we childishly want to impose on
ourselves.
Yes, I am skeptical.
No, I am not convinced. No, Robert
Mugabe and Zanu-PF cannot be trusted
because they pillaged and murdered for
years and they can still do the same.
They have experience in this. And have
degrees in violence too!
Then there is Thabo Mbeki and his quiet
diplomacy.
In some circles, it is being said that the agreement signed in
Harare last
week vindicated Mbeki's quiet diplomacy.
That, I am
afraid to say, is hogwash.
Mbeki's quiet diplomacy failed. Mbeki used
this quiet diplomacy gimmick to
shield Mugabe and, clearly, his objective
was to keep Mugabe in power.
The African Union and governments outside
Africa tightened the screws on
Mbeki. The situation got worse for him when
he found himself SADC Chairman.
Results were expected from him yet he had
very little room to maneuver
because he found himself supervising his own
work on behalf of SADC.
So, in turn, he had to push Mugabe because he
himself was being pushed
harder. In a matter of weeks, the agreement, with
all its faults, was
signed.
It was not quiet diplomacy; it's
something called pressure.
While Mugabe and ZANU-PF have nothing to lose
but the MDC and the people
have everything to lose.
But I am only an
individual and this is only an opinion. I am hopeful though
that something
good will come out of this so-called agreement, even if by
default.
The people of Zimbabwe deserve not just a rest but a
permanent end to the
madness perpetrated on the nation by one man and one
political party. If
this agreement can save even one life, then it is worthy
it only if it does
not open the floodgates for more of our citizens to be
killed by mindless
people who have murdered our nation and now don't know
what to do with the
corpse.
Zimbabweans deserve better than this
agreement. The people should have been
consulted. Zimbabweans deserve peace
and security and this document will
stand in the way.
This agreement
will delay peace and security and, in the long run, may
re-introduce mayhem
but at a higher level.
This agreement has all the hallmarks of people
wanting to take advantage of
the masses; some wanting to gain and others
wanting to keep what they
already had. It is not a deal for the people but
one to benefit the
negotiators all of whom were anxious to gain
something.
It is an agreement that should never have been negotiated
because we are
here dealing with people who have proved they are cruel,
untrustworthy and
abusive of the nation.
Asked if he could trust
Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai said he did not.
"One thing I can say is that
he is a man that I can do business with," said
Tsvangirai.
Really?
And will you be watching your back,
Sir?
"You have to," Tsvangirai again. "There is no reason why you should
lose
your guard."
http://www.hararetribune.com
Friday, 19 September 2008 00:06
Harare Tribune
The situation on the ground in Zimbabwe is such that if a
person had not
followed the news in recent days the person would think that
the government
of national unity (GNU) deal was yet to be
inked.
ZANU-PF elements are still at it, with the partisan police out in
full force
harassing 'opposition' elements that include tertiary education
students,
teachers and MDC supporters.
The police harassed and
arrested students Thursday on the heals of Robert
Mugabe's declaration live
on ZBC Wednesday that "ZANU-PF was still in
control...in charge" in
Zimbabwe.
In Bindura, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers invaded
Bindura
University campus, "armed to the teeth" as one student put it, and
arrested
students who were on protest demanding that the university
administration
provide them with a "conducive" learning
environment.
Student leaders Chiedza Gadzirayi (22), Laswet Savadye (24)
and Respect
Mbanga (21) were beaten up while in police custody were among
the ten
students that the police arrested.
The students spent several
hours in police custody and were later released
after paying admission of
guilty fines.
Over the last decade, at the instigation of ZANU-PF and
fearing that the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would use
university
campuses as a hotbed for political activities, the police has
broken into
university campuses across the country, wantonly beating and
tear-gassing
students.
"We we given instructions to crush the demo,"
a police officer who took part
in the raid on the students told the Tribune
by phone from Bindura Thursday
night. "The chiefs were afraid the student
demo would set a bad precedent."
There is fear and uncertainity with
ZANU-PF ranks that the MDC might hijack
the GNU deal and use it as a
launching pad toward sidelining GNU tenets.
The Zimbabwe National
Students Union (ZINASU) said in a statement: "This is
a negative
development, taking into consideration that the deal was signed
to bring
sanity to the political terrain in this country."
Observers say
repression in Zimbabwe is now a political culture such that
this 'coalition'
has to put security sector reform and the judiciary as top
on its agenda if
it is to work.
Also Thursday the president of the Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) Takavafira Zhou was arrested in Masvingo, accused
by the police of
being the brains behind the 'illegal'teachers
strike.
Zhou who was picked up by plainclothes policeman while in a bank,
is being
held at Masvingo Central Police Station. Majongwe said: "This is a
clear
case of political victimisation by police officers."
The
teachers, together with doctors across the country, have been on strike
since schools opened early this month demanding salary increases that are
commensurate with the hyper-inflationary environment.
The doctors are
demanding that their salaries be paid in foreign currency to
'cushion' them
against the rampant inflation that is estimated at 300 000
000
%.
Judging by the stance of the police, the GNU deal is paper thin,
analysts
said. Indeed the GNU deal hasn't changed the mentality of people in
ZANU-PF,
starting with Robert Mugabe himself who delivered what amounted to
a hate
speech at the GNU signing ceremony on Monday.
The United
States, aware that the possibility that the GNU deal would not
succeed,
joined other western nations Thursday in pledging to keep the
sanctions on
ZANU-PF in place.
US sanctions would only be lifted once Washington saw
the deal "truly
implemented", US under-secretary for African Affairs Jendayi
Frazer said in
an interview.
"We will certainly keep the sanctions on
until we see real performance. we
will move very slowly to remove the
sanctions."
The holistic picture on the ground here in Zimbabwe is that
the GNU deal by
die a pre-mature death, or rather, it won't
succeed.
ZANU-PF, up to its old ways, is professing its commitment to the
deal one
hand, while on the other hand it is promoting activities that are
bent of
undermining the GNU deal, analysts warned Thursday.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Cuthbert Nzou Friday 19 September 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's political leaders appeared to speak with
discordant
voices on Wednesday on the sensitive subject of how to achieve
national
healing while ensuring those who violated human rights are brought
to
justice following a unity accord signed earlier this week.
Morgan Tsvangirai - Prime Minister-designate in a new government
of national
unity with President Robert Mugabe and another opposition leader
Arthur
Mutambara - told a British newspaper that some senior members of
Mugabe's
government could face trial over political violence. Mugabe himself
will not
be tried, according to Tsvangirai.
But, in a quick reminder
of how fragile the unity agreement
between the three political rivals is, a
senior official of Mugabe's ZANU PF
party and Mutambara's faction said the
parties had not agreed what to do
with perpetrators of human rights
abuses.
They said whatever course of action the three parties
may
eventually decide to take, it should be aimed at "achieving national
healing
rather than punishment and retribution" - clearly insinuating
Tsvangirai may
have jumped the gun when he spoke of bringing Mugabe's
lieutenants to
justice.
ZANU PF deputy spokesman Ephraim
Masawi described Tsvangirai's
remarks as "unfortunate" and charged that the
incoming prime minister loved
to point fingers at others while his own MDC
party was also guilty of
committing political violence.
"The agreement is clear that we must have national healing, but
how to
achieve that is yet to be fashioned," Masawi told ZimOnline. "It is
unfortunate that Tsvangirai speaks of ZANU PF members facing trial, ignoring
that his party was also responsible for political violence in the countdown
to the June 27 presidential election run-off."
The ZANU
PF official claimed that all of Zimbabwe's three main
political parties were
guilty of committing political violence, citing a
statement issued by the
parties last month in which they not only condemned
past political violence
but also accepted responsibility.
"Every party admitted
committing violence and we wonder why
Tsvangirai only mentions ZANU PF
members. The issue of whether perpetrators
will face trial or not rests with
the parties when they deal with how to
heal the nation as prescribed in the
deal they signed on Monday," said
Masawi.
Mutambara would
not comment directly on Tsvangirai's calls for
ZANU PF officials to be
brought to trial but said whatever action the three
parties decide to take
should aim to heal the nation and not to achieve
retribution.
He said: "We must have restorative justice
that seeks to
incorporate the views of the victims, to rehabilitate
individuals and
communities that were brutalised through the abuse of human
rights and
crimes against humanity."
In an interview with
The Times newspaper, Tsvangirai said while
Mugabe could let off the hook,
those in his inner circle should stand trial
for political violence and
other crimes.
"I don't think Mugabe himself as a person can
be held
accountable. But there are various levels of institutional violence
that has
taken place and I'm sure we'll be able to look at that," Tsvangirai
reportedly said. "Let the rule of law apply . . . We all cry for the rule of
law, and if somebody's committed an offence he should be
prosecuted."
The MDC leader, who was himself brutally
assaulted and injured
by police last year, said the new government was
committed to ensuring there
would be no repeat of the violence, which he
described as "the darkest
period in our history".
Political violence and human rights abuses have accompanied
Zimbabwe's
elections since the 1999 emergency of Tsvangirai and his MDC
party as the
first potent threat to Mugabe and ZANU PF's grip on power.
For example, Tsvangirai says that more than 100 members of his
MDC party
were killed and more than 10 000 others displaced in political
violence in
the run-up to the June presidential run-off election
Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the run-off to protest the
violence and
despite having led Mugabe in the first round of voting in
March, blamed the
violence on ZANU PF militia and state security forces.
Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal is the first real opportunity in
nearly 10
years for the crisis-sapped southern African nation to begin a
chapter of
national healing and recovery.
However, many in and outside
Zimbabwe remain immensely skeptical
that the deal clinched after seven weeks
of tortuous negotiations could
stand the strain given the deep personal
animosity and mistrust among the
political leaders. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Cuthbert Nzou
Friday 19 September 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's striking
teachers said they would continue boycotting
work to press for more pay, as
the country's political leaders failed on
Thursday to appoint a new
government to deal with an economic crisis that
has sent prices skyrocketing
and government workers striking.
The militant Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said a 1 200
percent salary hike awarded teachers in
August was inadequate and they would
continue boycotting classes until they
are given more cash to cushion them
from an economic crisis highlighted by
the world's highest inflation of more
than 11 million percent.
The
union called on the new government of national unity agreed by President
Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
to expedite resolution of the crisis in the country's once respected
education sector.
"What in reality can the package (latest salary
hike) do in light of
sky-rocketing prices of basic needs, accommodation,
transport, education and
health costs?" the union said in
statement.
"Whosoever becomes the new education minister must expedite
the resolution
of the current education impasse so that some semblance of
normalcy is
established to enable pupils to write their examinations with
minimum
obstacles this year," it added.
Education ministry permanent
secretary Stephen Mahere yesterday declined to
comment on the matter. But
the government said at the weekend that it was
working flat out to improve
teachers and other civil service salaries.
Most schools in the country's
cities and towns have been turning away pupils
because teachers were on
strike.
Mugabe will remain president while Tsvangirai and Mutambara will
become
prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively under the
power-sharing deal that has been as the first real opportunity in nearly 10
years for crisis-sapped Zimbabwe to end its long running political and
economic crisis.
But the fragility of the pact was brought to the
fore when the three leaders
could not name a new Cabinet on Thursday because
they could not agree on how
to share the key posts in the new
government.
The deadlock over posts has been referred to a team of
negotiators drawn
from Mugabe's ZANIU PF party and the two formations of the
opposition MDC
party.
However, this could mean further delays before
a new government is appointed
to deal with urgent crises such as strikes by
teachers and doctors that have
paralysed the public health and education
sectors.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a severe economic crisis that has
manifested
itself in rampant inflation, massive joblessness and
poverty.
Thousands of teachers have quit their jobs in the country to
look for menial
jobs mostly in South Africa, Zimbabwe's prosperous southern
neighbour while
others have gone as far as Britain and Australia. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Nokuthula
Sibanda Friday 19 September 2008
HARARE - South Africa is
developing an emergency plan to help revive the
farming sector of
neighbouring Zimbabwe, where millions of people face
hunger due to poor
harvests over the last few years.
Government spokesman Themba Maseko said
a special team led by the
departments of agriculture, foreign affairs and
national treasury would work
with other southern African countries on the
emergency farm rescue plan that
comes on the back of this week's signing of
a power-sharing deal between
Zimbabwe's rival political leaders.
The
deal, under which President Robert Mugabe retains his job while
opposition
leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara become prime
minister and
deputy prime minister respectively, is seen as the first real
opportunity
for Zimbabwe to end a political and economic crisis afflicting
the country
for nearly 10 years.
"The agreement represents the beginning of a process
of restoring peace and
stability for the people of Zimbabwe, the SADC
(Southern African Development
Community) region and the entire continent,"
Maseko told journalists in Cape
Town following Cabinet's regular meeting on
Wednesday.
Maseko said following the signing of the power-sharing
agreement there was
urgent need to begin the work to rebuild Zimbabwe's
shattered economy with
immediate focus on the key agricultural sector and
ensure food security.
Once a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe is reeling
under severe food shortages
that Mugabe blames on poor weather and Western
sanctions that he says have
hampered importation of fertilizers, seed, and
other farming inputs.
But critics blame the food crisis on repression and
wrong polices by the
veteran leader such as his haphazard fast-track land
reform exercise that
displaced established white commercial farmers and
replaced them with either
incompetent or inadequately funded black farmers
resulting in the country
facing acute food shortages.
An economic
recession marked by the world's highest inflation rate of more
than 11
million percent has exacerbated the food crisis.
With the government out
of cash to import food, while many families that
would normally be able to
buy their own food supplies are unable to do so
because of an increasingly
worthless currency - international relief
agencies have had to step in to
help feed the hungry in Zimbabwe. -
ZimOnline
http://www.dawn.com
September 19, 2008
Friday
By Knox
Chitiyo
The events of this week mark a milestone in Zimbabwe's history.
The Harare
agreement is a breakthrough that represents the country's last,
best chance
of averting apocalypse. Sceptics insist that the deal cannot
work; but for
millions of suffering Zimbabweans, it is a sweet tea. And the
risk is now
that the international community might inadvertently undermine
this source
of hope.
It will not be easy to make this deal work and
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
Zimbabwe's new prime minister, has no
illusions about the size of the task
facing him. In his interview with the
Guardian, he spoke of the "inherent
suspicion" between the reluctant
partners. He also pointed out that not only
would he have to handle Mugabe
and the Zanu-PF, but that he might also face
opposition from MDC hardliners
who want no truck with Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF elite.
Tsvangirai will
also have to gain the respect of the generals, without
becoming one of them.
Sooner or later, he will have to make a decision on
whether to persuade the
military top brass to stand down, or order them to
do so. A clash between
Tsvangirai and the military is looming and how he
handles it will be
essential to his political survival. His other immediate
priorities will be
to bring food, water, sanitation and medicine to the
people; reforming the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and repealing repressive
legislation.
The
role of the international community is crucial for the survival of the
new
unity government, and there is an expectation that the MDC can deliver
on
foreign investment. But so far the European Union, the United States, the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund have given a tepid welcome to the
deal, and have stated that the new government must "prove
itself".
What they really mean is that they are upset that Mugabe is
still in the
picture, and they will not provide aid until Tsvangirai ousts
him. Although
this response is not unexpected given the decade of hostility
between the
west and Zanu-PF, it is wrong. The west has to abandon the
orthodoxy of
demonisation. It ignores the obvious. First, without aid,
Zimbabwe will die.
Second, the goalposts of Zimbabwe's politics have
irrevocably shifted.
Although the agreement is notionally about
power-sharing, in reality it sets
the seal on the transition of power. The
process will be lengthy, and
fractious - but there can be no going back.
Zimbabwe is entering a new era
of leadership. Third, Tsvangirai and the MDC
have already "proved"
themselves - and they carry the scars of struggle to
prove this.
Without donor aid, the Harare agreement will become merely a
political
armistice, a brief interlude in Zimbabwe's civil war. If
Tsvangirai is
unable to persuade the donors to unlock their vaults, his
usefulness - and
shelf-life - will be brief. Failure by the international
community to
recognise the new government, and make at least a symbolic
investment, would
be to misinterpret Zimbabwean realpolitik and could only
be destructive.
Mugabe remains a major part of Zimbabwe's political
landscape. His time is
passing, but he cannot be wished away - and Zanu-PF
still holds the knife by
the handle.
Tsvangirai, and in turn the
Zimbabwean people, should not be punished for
signing a deal with Mugabe.
Western governments are right to worry about
continued violence and
corruption in Zimbabwe and they cannot dispense aid
willy-nilly, especially
during this economic downturn. But the country needs
aid, and it needs it
now.
The west and Zanu-PF will also have to re-establish a relationship.
Driving
Mugabe underground will only encourage a lethal Zanu-PF
unilateralism.
Travel sanctions on the Zanu-PF elite remain in force, but
there is no
reason why meetings cannot be held in Zimbabwe, or on neutral
territory.
Just as Zanu-PF and the MDC have formed a government of national
unity, so
too does the international community have to take an inclusive,
not
sectarian approach to Zimbabwe's politics of reconstruction. Zanu-PF, in
turn, must demonstrate that it is no longer addicted to
violence.-Dawn/Guardian News Service
Financial Times
By William
Wallis in Harare
Published: September 19 2008 00:03 | Last updated:
September 19 2008 00:03
Even if all goes well, it could take more than 12
years for Zimbabwe’s
economy to recover peak levels of per capita income
reached in 1991,
according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
report seen by
the Financial Times.
The report, “Comprehensive
Economic Recovery in Zimbabwe”, is due to be
published on Friday. Researched
and written by five Zimbabwean economists,
it is the first economic
assessment to be published in the wake of this week’ power-sharing agreement
between the veteran autocrat Robert Mugabe and
his opposition rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai, now prime minister designate
Over 239 pages it charts the
radical and, in many cases, painful policy
measures necessary to revive the
country’s fortunes following a decade of
crisis that has ravaged the economy
and eroded the state’s institutional
capacity to respond.
A minimum of
$5bn (€3.5bn, £2.7bn) in foreign aid, including debt relief,
will be needed
over the next five years – $1.62bn of that in the first
year – if the
government is to plug financing gaps, revive infrastructure
and stave off
hunger among the 5m Zimbabweans threatened by starvation. This
would make it
one of the largest recipients of aid in Africa.
Those figures would be
significantly higher if pensioners were reimbursed
for savings eviscerated
by the collapse of the currency, and thousands of
white farmers driven from
their land by Mr Mugabe’s resettlement programme
compensated.
“Without substantial foreign assistance sustainable
economic recovery will
be impossible,” the report says, adding that the
manner in which Zimbabwe
tackles structural problems at the outset could
determine whether it becomes
aid-dependent or able, in the long term, to
sustain its own development.
The report spares few details in portraying
the scale of the task facing any
government to emerge from the wrangling
over cabinet positions. Farm
production has more than halved in a decade,
starving the manufacturing
sector, once among the most developed on the
continent, of raw materials and
creating conditions for mass starvation.
Tourism has petered out, while the
HIV-Aids pandemic has contributed to
reducing life expectancy from 57 to 37
years.
At the same time, at
least 2m of the 12m population have emigrated to South
Africa, the UK,
Botswana and other countries, many of them skilled workers
and
professionals. Eighty per cent of medical personnel trained since 1980
have
left the country.
A prerequisite for recovery will be plugging vast
budget deficits financed
in recent years by money-printing and credit
creation. This has driven
inflation to a world record of about 40m per cent
and created a nation of
pauperised trillionaires. The mechanisms used to
tackle hyperinflation could
make the difference between a short-term bust
followed by recovery, and a
near-term consumption boom followed by
recession.
In a “lost” decade Zimbabwe’s economy has contracted 37 per
cent, while the
rest of sub-Saharan Africa made average gains of 40 per
cent. It would take
uninterrupted growth of 5 per cent annually until 2020
to recover peak per
capita income levels. A more likely average is less than
4 per cent, the
report’s authors suggest.
The government will need to
act decisively at the outset when “opposition to
radical reforms is likely
to be weakest”, the report argues, warning of the
dangers of “a constrained
decision making fostering consensus style
compromises that both delay and
undermine reforms”.
Britain, the US and the European Union have all
reacted cautiously to last
week’s deal, partly because they believe this is
the most likely scenario.
Bilateral donors could step in quickly, one
senior western official said, if
they are convinced the new government is
able to carry out reforms. However,
this will be dependent on clear signs
that Mr Mugabe, in power since 1980,
whom they blame for the crisis, has
been sidelined.
Longer-term budgetary support – of the type the UNDP
suggests will be vital
to stabilise the economy – will be dependent on
Zimbabwe’s agreeing a
programme with the International Monetary
Fund.
“We want to help Tsvangirai but he has to drive a wedge in. We are
not going
to put money into a broadly unreconstructed Mugabe condominium,”
the
official said.
Donors have yet to allocate specific funds for
Zimbabwe and recovery plans,
seen by the FT, of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund
(MDTF) administered by the
World Bank, are still at a sketchy draft
stage.
● Talks to set up a unity government in Zimbabwe got off to an
inauspicious
start on Thursday when the two main parties declared deadlock
over the
sharing of cabinet portfolios, writes Tony Hawkins.
It was
the first meeting of the main protagonists since Monday, when
President
Mugabe signed away some powers to Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the prime
minister-designate.
According to state media, Mr Mugabe told his party’s
central committee the
move was “a humiliation. . . Anyhow, here we are,
still in a dominant
position which will enable us to gather more strength as
we
move into the future” – comments that do not bode well for the future of
the
unity government.
MDC officials are hoping they can sideline Mr
Mugabe if they gain control of
the finance and home affairs ministries at
the least.
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the MDC, said negotiating
teams would be
charged with seeking common ground at the talks.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Thursday, 18 September 2008 12:09
A Harare magistrate, Mr Bhila, today
granted the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders' the right to
have their Constitutional case
heard at the Supreme Court.
This
is after the two leaders, President Lovemore Matombo and
Secretary-General
Wellington Chibebe, who are facing allegations of
"communicating falsehoods
prejudicial to the State " and "inciting the
public to rise against the
government', said the law under which they are
being charged, the Criminal
Law Codification Act, infringed on their right
to freedom of expression as
enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Because of the
constitutional challenge, the magistrate had no option
than to remand the
leaders to December 5, 2008 to give time to the Supreme
court to make
decision.
At the beginning of the trial yesterday, ZCTU lawyer, Mr
Aleck
Muchadehama had applied to have the case exempted from the trial, but
this
was rejected by the magistrate. In his reasons for the rejection given
today, the magistrate said he was of the opinion that the two were properly
charged under the law.
However, he said he found the ZCTU
application to the Supreme Court on
the grounds of freedom of expression was
not 'frivolous and vexatious" as
alleged by the State and therefore, he
referred the matter to the Supreme
Court.
In his arguments
submitted yesterday, Mr Muchadehama submitted that
the two ZCTU leaders were
arrested for expressing themselves and that they
had only received the
information and communicated to the workers. He said
the ZCTU leaders had a
right to receive and impart information under the
Constitution of Zimbabwe
and that the Criminal law codification Act did not
conform with the
Constitution.
However, the State, through chief law officer, Mr
Tawanda Zvakare,
contends that the two ZCTU leaders told the workers that
they had received
the information that Zanu PF supporters had killed two
teachers at a school
ion Guruve before urging them to revenge, an
allegations being denied by the
ZCTU leaders. The State claims that the
information was false and was
calculated to incite workers to revolt against
the government.
The ZCTU leaders are on Z$20 billion bail that was
granted by High
Court on 19 May 2008 at Dzivaresekwa Stadium while
addressing workers on
Workers Day, on May 1, 2008.
As part of
the conditions for granting bail, the two are being barred
from addressing
any political gathering until this matter is finalized. They
were also
ordered to reside at their given home addresses and not to
interfere with
any state witnesses.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4393
September 18, 2008
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - The National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF) says
the government
must rise above politics of patronage and start making
meaningful
appointments to the next cabinet.
The government-aligned
economic think-tank further urged the government to
live by its own pledges
that any future appointments to cabinet would be
performance-based.
NECF chairperson Nhlanhla Masuku, a known defender
of President Robert
Mugabe's policies, was rather candid at a press
conference in Harare this
week.
"Non-performers must be fired," he
said.
Masuku said government must first try to identify the capabilities
of
individuals before entrusting them with government
ministries.
"The new cabinet must inspire internal confidence among the
citizens of
Zimbabwe and to the external world," he said.
Masuku said
his organisation would not prescribe a time frame within which
the new
cabinet should start delivering although 100 days would be a
meaningful
period.
"We need to first see a credible line-up as the starting point,"
Masuku
said. "We are all Zimbabweans with different gifts so let each
Zimbabwean
find his level within his gifts.
"So if you are a
permanent secretary and you are not performing maybe that's
too high a level
for you. Maybe you should find your level as an
administrative
clerk.
"When you put people at a level they are not qualified or they
have no
experience in, you kill them and you kill the institution and when
they
entrench themselves, that is disastrous."
President Robert
Mugabe has been widely criticized for rewarding his
loyalists with top
government positions.
The Zimbabwean leader has, however, failed to find
cause for firing any of
his ministers. Instead, most non-performers are
being shuffled around
ministries with no signs of
improvement.
Mugabe, 84, does not have a history of sacking ministers
under him since the
widely publicized Willowgate scandal in the late
80s.
Only last month, Mugabe admitted he was being let down by his
incompetent
ministers.
The Herald of August 26, 2008 quotes him as
saying, "This cabinet that I had
was the worst in history. They look at
themselves. They are unreliable, but
not all of them."
Zanu-PF and
the opposition MDC formations on Monday signed a landmark
power-sharing
agreement that is expected to bring watershed changes to the
economic
situation.
According to the agreement, Zanu-PF will get 15 ministries,
the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC 13, Arthur Mutambara's faction of the MDC will
get the
remaining three out of the proposed 31 ministries.
The two
political protagonists, however, held unsuccessful discussions
Thursday and
were deadlocked on control key ministries in the new setup.
Zimbabwe is
battling to reverse its inflation - the highest in the world at
11 million
per cent, according to official figures.
The power-sharing deal is seen
as the first meaningful step by Zimbabweans
to reverse the economic
downturn.
However, despite the amount of euphoria that greeted the
signing of the
agreement among ordinary Zimbabweans, some economic analysts
say the
resumption of crucial financial support to the troubled country will
depend
largely on Mugabe's willingness to abandon his populist approach to
economic
matters.
Some analysts feel Mugabe still wields too much
executive power which may
prove difficult for Tsvangirai to exercise his own
authority.
Under the new setup, Tsvangirai would spearhead an economic
recovery
campaign as he is more acceptable to the international community
than
Mugabe.
Prominent economic analyst John Robertson says the
amount of power that
Mugabe still has will all but obliterate Tsvangirai's
functions.
"I don think there is going to be any change," said Robertson,
"Because of
the executive authority still being held by Robert Mugabe, the
functions of
Morgan Tsvangirai will be almost nil.
"I am very sorry
to suggest that the power is not going to be shared very
evenly because Mr
Mugabe still has all the important jobs while all the
unimportant things are
done by the council of ministers which is chaired by
Mr Tsvangirai," he
said.
Dr Eric Bloch, also an economic analyst, says Mugabe's government
has to
first convince the world it is now a genuine
democracy.
Mugabe's government has been accused of suppressing free
political activity
to ward off any competition with Zanu-PF.
He said
the government must start demonstrating its willingness to abide by
the
basic tenets of human rights if it relishes any prospects of a quick
resumption of crucial international financial support.
SABC
September 18, 2008,
12:45
The British government says it will support Zimbabwe if the new
government
of national unity takes rebuilding the nation seriously. Foreign
Secretary
David Miliband says the British government welcomes the prospect
of a turn
in the tide of suffering in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe and the leaders of two MDC factions,
Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, signed a power sharing deal on
Monday. Miliband says
Britain hopes the deal will help to allow Zimbabwe to
chart a new course
towards economic recovery and political stability. He
says what matters now
is how the deal will function and actions the new
government takes on the
ground. He has added that if the new government
takes the issue of
rebuilding the country as a matter of urgency, Britain
and the rest of the
International community will be quick to provide
support.
The three
principal parties in Zimbabwe are due to meet today to discuss who
will get
31 cabinet posts in the new government. Meanwhile, Food aid is
expected to
start reaching hungry people in Zimbawe's rural areas today
after the Red
Cross resumed its relief efforts there. Trucks loaded with
food left major
cities yesterday, aiming to reach about 24 000 vulnerable
people in eight
provinces.
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poem
for the Day
By The Jacaranda
AGREEMENT NOW!!
17/09/08
There
was once a preschool and in the play ground there was an old car
wreck. There
was no engine under the bonnet and inside the reclining
seats were cement,
The steering wheel, rear view mirror and indicators
were intact, The wheels
were carefully crafted brick work.
Also in the yard were several
motorcycle chases, all secured in
concrete. Break time would see
would-be-presidents drive through the
crowds with their outriders clearing
the way, crowds looking on and
cheering as the dignitaries drove
by...
One week-end morning I went past and saw the car full, this time
with
young men, all driving hard, "L" plates in place, practicing in
turn
their hand signals; battling to understand the baffling diagrams in
the
highway code!
That car has now lost the roof, the bonnet and the
boot; its passengers
too and their aspirations are gone; the bikes have no
handlebars or
seats, they are silent now, no riders; those youngsters all
were made to
hit the road..."fast track" and keep moving!
Where are
they now, forgotten and neglected children of the land's farm
workers? Their
school derelict, their homes burnt and empty, the fields
that sustained their
families fallow and the infrastructure dilapidated,
and in ruins. That place
was life for around 350 souls and its product
sustained many more, of late
the beneficiaries and their people number
no more than a dozen and they
anxiously await food aid to sustain
them...
Yesterday saw cavalcades
drive through the capital's streets, many
dignitaries came, the crowds waved
and then the parties signed and spoke
of their agreement.
So where are
we now?
This car has two driving seats, one faces back one faces front,
I've
seen those driving school vehicles with instructor over-rides but
not
this type, Rear view override and front view optional select, In
this
cab the "chauffeured" still wants to drive, and the "cabbie"
looks
hopefully ahead, it seems surreal... out front the policeman
who
arranged this strange engineered vehicle looks hopeful it will move
and
bring relief to the stranded passengers.
Maybe this car is like
"Flintstones" and the fellow with more and
stronger feet will make the
movement, but will it be "democratic" or are
there still "principles" or is
it "principals" to satisfy,
Clauses of intent....for me 5.5 is full of
foreboding...
"Accepting the irreversibility of the said land acquisitions
and
redistribution".
They want crops . so they will need farmers, but
it seems we have a
long, long way to go!
This car will need a lot of
pushing if it is ever going to start, maybe
I too spend too much time looking
back, perhaps that's just experience,
surely justice can never be a casualty
for lasting peace?
If land is indeed at the root of our conflict and
decline, no quick fix
that seeks to obscure the recent past in favour of
blind rhetoric can
solve our problem!
I fear we are the 'Roora' paid
for this forced
marriage!
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1.
Free Thinker
Dear JAG,
Mr. Mason suggests that Penga Kabanga might
have good intentions but not
good thinking. I wonder how Mr. Masons
thinks?
Most people have to think about their intentions - i.e. the
thought is the
first spark that generates an intention which then might
become an action?
In military terms they call it prevision (imagination
or planning) and
then provision and then execution. Generally speaking I have
to think
about brushing my teeth before I brush them, and it is the same for
an
e-mail.
I would hope that the CFU thought about the idea of
"working with Govt. on
the land reform programme" before they stated it in
July 2002?
I also believe that Zanu policy was actually thought out first
to enrich a
few and was not actually a case of thinking about it
afterwards.
Obviously we hope that Zanu and the CFU are still thinking
about what they
did over the last eight years but this thinking is likely to
be centred
around justifying their actions - I think it will be an
interesting read!
"Dr. Gono why did you think it was such a good idea to
print so much money?"
"Mr. CFU President, what made you think it was such
a good idea to have so
much faith in the Land Reform Programme?"
"Mr.
Gibson Moyo, what made you think it was an honourable act to go to
collect
Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and Mr. Freeth and re-educate them in the
manner that
you did?"
Thinking can obviously be very dangerous and scary.
The
CFU thought that Mr. Freeth was a very bad man for reading a passage
from the
bible at their Congress and wanting to follow the legal route!
Mr.
Joubert thought that Mr. Kay was a very bad man for standing for what
he
believed was right!
The CFU thought that Peter Goosen a "bible
punching racist" for lodging the
Quinnel Case!
It really makes you
think, doesn't it?
Today, they say that Morgan Tsvangirai will be prime
minister!
What do you think of that?
Free
Thinker.
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All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
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1.
Marian Wright - Comments by Elinor Sisulu in your Jag letter forum
today
Dear JAG,
This lady says it so very well.
I am
ashamed of the deplorable silence that Mbeki used countless times to
blanket
and protect Mugabe when the nation has been bludgeoned to its knees
for a
decade.
I hope Elinor Sisulu can be given power to see that Zimbabwe gets
the
freedom and respect due to its suffering, cheated, citizens. More
strength
to her! May Zimbabwe be in our prayers more than ever for a
spiritual
breakthrough that will defeat evil in every guise.
Marian
Wright.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------