The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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CNN
Zimbabwe: Farm compensation up to UK
Thursday, September 22, 2005 Posted: 1149 GMT (1949 HKT)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- A Cabinet minister said Thursday it was up to Britain to compensate thousands of white Zimbabweans whose farms were seized under President Robert Mugabe's land reform program.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said a constitutional amendment Mugabe signed August 30 that strips landowners of their right to appeal expropriation "finally settled the land question in Zimbabwe."
"All title deeds of the farmers have been canceled, with the British government having sole responsibility to compensate the evicted farmers," Chinamasa told state radio.
Zimbabwe has repeatedly accused former colonial power Britain of creating economic and political trouble in this southern African nation. Mugabe also has accused white Zimbabweans of orchestrating opposition.
Mugabe ordered the seizure of 5,000 white owned commercial farms starting in February 2000, initially promising to compensate farmers for improvements with long-term, low-interest bonds. Farm groups say the government was offering less than 10 percent of the commercial value.
Farmers resisted the takeovers, lodging appeals that alleged technical or other irregularities. They refused to surrender title deeds.
Their organization, the Commercial Farmers Union, estimates up to 1,000 may still be cultivating small portions of their former properties under agreements with new occupiers. They now face two years in jail if found there by police.
Until 2000, whites farmed 17 percent of the country and earned most of its export revenue. Farming was the backbone of an economy now in free fall.
Commercial Farmers Union official Ben Kaschula said Canadian coffee farm owner David Wilding-Davies and his South African manager Allan Warner had Thursday been allowed by doctors to go home after receiving treatment for injuries when they were beaten Wednesday by a mob trying to force them off a farm about 350 kilometers (200 miles) south of the capital.
The attack was the first since Didymus Mutasa, head of Mugabe's feared secret police, the Central Intelligence Organization, described remaining white farmers as "filth" and said an operation would be launched to "rid the country of remaining whites."
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Police arrest 13 women activists
Thu 22 September 2005

BULAWAYO – Police in Bulawayo on Wednesday arrested 13 members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activist group for marching across the city to mark the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. 

WOZA also held marches in Harare but no one was arrested. The arrested women, who by last night were still in police custody, were part of a larger group that marched across Bulawayo to Southampton police station in the city where they dumped their placards before dispersing.   

The police, who surprisingly did not break up the march, later tracked some of the activists to their homes and arrested them, according to WOZA spokesperson Magodonga Mahlangu. 

“So far we have taken note of 13 people who are being held at Bulawayo Central police station. We have however, received reports that the police are looking for some of our members and we fear that more arrests could occur,” Mahlangu said.

According to Mahlangu, the march was part of efforts by WOZA to draw the attention of President Robert Mugabe and his government to Zimbabwe’s worsening food and economic crisis which she said if left unattended could threaten peace in the country.

Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena could not be immediately reached for comment on this matter. - ZimOnline
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zimonline
Exiles want top SA bank to cut links with Zimbabwe bank
Thu 22 September 2005

JOHANNESBURG – About 100 Zimbabweans marched to South Africa’s Absa bank headquarters in Johannesburg on Wednesday demanding that the institution sever ties with a Zimbabwean bank closely linked with President Robert Mugabe’s government.

Absa holds a majority stake in Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) also known as Jewel Bank, in which Mugabe's government holds a stake.

The demonstration was organised by a pressure group called Zimbabwe Johannesburg Support Network (ZJSN).

A spokesman for the group Victor Kasaga said they were demanding that Absa withdraws its stake in CBZ as continued links with the Zimbabwean bank would virtually endorse Mugabe’s poor human rights policies.

“Our march to Absa headquarters was meant to demand that the bank withdraws its stake in Jewel Bank which has facilitated terror in Zimbabwe.

“The values of good corporate governance have been eroded in Jewel Bank,” he said.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor and top Mugabe confidante, Gideon Gono, was once chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed CBZ. - ZimOnline
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newzimbabwe
Fresh constitutional amendments should face battle royal


By Professor Jonathan Moyo, MP
Last updated: 09/21/2005 10:19:40
IN THE sunset politics of uncertain leadership succession, such as
embroiling the increasingly isolated Robert Mugabe, it is almost axiomatic
that when an incompetent ruling party, such as Zanu PF, faces an impotent
official opposition party, such as the MDC, in a volatile political
environment underpinned by economic meltdown raising a lot of choking dust
all over the place, such as is currently happening in Zimbabwe, the ruling
party invariably tends to be defensive by adopting a self-perpetuating
Ostrich approach while embarking on futile policies and burying its head in
the sand in the hope that after the dust has settled down the hapless
opposition would have gone with the wind and the futile policies would have
become law.
This retrogressive approach by the Zanu PF government which has reduced
Zimbabwe to a banana republic was dramatized yesterday when the Herald
reported that Patrick Chinamasa has finally confirmed media reports that
first surfaced in the Zimbabwe Independent last June that Robert Mugabe, who
has failed to groom a successor over a period of 25 years owing to his love
for unilateral power, now wants to abuse the Constitution of Zimbabwe to
manage his succession in Zanu PF and the presidency of the country by
avoiding presidential elections until 2010.
What Chinamasa confirmed without saying so in so many words is this. The
jittery and clueless power mongers in Zanu PF believe that Robert Mugabe has
so outlived his political usefulness that it is no longer possible for him
to be succeeded by anyone from the beleaguered ruling party who can win a
presidential election should the office of the president become vacant
either through: (a) Mugabe’s sudden mental incapacitation, resignation or
death or (b) completion of Mugabe’s term in March 2008.
The same power mongers are also fear that it is no longer possible for any
Zanu PF presidential candidate, including Robert Mugabe, to win any
presidential election held on its own without legislative elections in which
parliamentary candidates on a Zanu PF ticket would reinforce and support the
ruling party’s presidential candidate as a matter of self interest.
As a result, the Zanu PF power mongers believe that they can have a
Machiavellian way out by taking subversive advantage of the ruling party’s
technical two thirds majority in Parliament to abuse the Constitution of
Zimbabwe as an instrument for delaying presidential elections until 2010. In
other words, Zanu PF wants to remain at State House beyond the expiry of
Mugabe’s current term in March 2008 without facing any popular presidential
election until 2010.
The Machiavellian pretext invoked by the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, who seems recklessly determined to
distance himself from allegations that he was a key participant of the
so-called Dinyane coup plot in Tsholotsho last November by appeasing his
scheming accusers, is to fatuously claim that there is a need to harmonize
presidential and parliamentary elections. Yet if there is such a need, then
it has not been demonstrated by anyone worth taking seriously and if the
need has been demonstrated, maybe at some obscure seminar or irrelevant
meeting of the Zanu PF politburo, then that need is most definitely not
urgent and is therefore not a national priority given the spiraling
political and economic crisis facing Zimbabwe today.
Chinamasa was quoted by the Herald as saying that “whether the President
[Mugabe] retires or not, the question, of course, still remains that his
term of office expires in 2008 and, in this connection, Chinamasa alleged
that “there was already debate over how that would impact on plans to make
legislative and presidential elections coterminous”. If this debate is
indeed taking place in Zanu PF, then it’s yet another proof that the dead
wood and political cowards and stooges in the ruling party have nothing
useful for the country to debate.
This is because such a debate is totally useless in a country where there’s
three-digit-inflation that is escalating, where over 80% of the population
lives below the poverty datum line, where unemployment is over 75% of the
workforce, where basic commodities and food stuffs are either unavailable or
unaffordable and where 18% of the population has been rendered destitute
through the destruction of its homes or livelihood or both under an evil so
called Operation Murambatsvina undertaken by an incompetent government whose
party is busy debating the harmonization of presidential and parliamentary
elections as an urgent constitutional priority.
Four diversionary scenarios under which the proposed harmonization would be
done were advanced by Chinamasa.
The first scenario is that the term of the current parliament which expires
in 2010 could be cut short so as to have presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2008. Curiously, if the proposal to harmonize presidential and
parliamentary elections was genuine and being introduced by Zanu PF without
prejudice related to the party’s desire to abuse the Constitution of
Zimbabwe to deal with its internal succession squabbles, then this would
clearly be the route to follow. Parliament can be dissolved at any time in
terms of the Constitution and there is no need for a constitutional
amendment for that.
Yet Chinamasa’s emphasis was clearly on the need for a constitutional
amendment and that should indicate that there is more to the issue than mere
harmonization of presidential and parliamentary elections. Of course,
technically, the argument is that while the Constitution does empower the
President to dissolve Parliament at any time, a constitutional amendment
would be necessary in order to reduce the term of office for the President
from six years to five years but this point is really pedantic.
The clearest argument that Zanu PF has no intention to have the
harmonization begin in 2008 with presidential and parliamentary elections
was made by Chinamasa to the Zanu PF central committee in a Memorandum dated
may 27, 2005.
In that Memorandum Chinamasa defended the reintroduction of the Senate,
which has since become part of the Constitution through Constitutional
Amendment Act, Number 17, in the following terms:
“The proposal to introduce the Senate at this hour, at this juncture, should
correctly be regarded as a stop gap measure for the period 2005 to 2010. The
structure and composition of the Senate will again be reconsidered in a more
holistic manner within the context of the more comprehensive Constitutional
proposals that I shall propose later in the life of this [Sixth Parliament]”
"The claim that Mugabe has encouraged his party to discuss the issue of his
succession openly is pure fiction, actually it is nonsense. Just ask those
like this writer"
JONATHAN MOYO
To avoid any doubt as to what he could have been talking about on the
proposal to reintroduce the Senate, Chinamasa further made the following
telling statement to the Zanu PF central committee meeting last May:
“Central Committee is being asked to approve this proposal as the best
workable proposition in the circumstances for the period between 2005 and
2010”.
It is very clear from the above statement by Chinamasa, which was approved
by the Zanu PF central committee last May, that—through logical
extrapolation—the bench year for the intended harmonization sought by
Chinamasa is 2010 and not 2008. Therefore the first scenario given by
Chinamasa as reported by the Herald yesterday is pure mumbo jumbo that
should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
The second scenario that Chinamasa painted is to have an election for the
President in 2008 only to serve for two years up to 2010. As it turns out,
and based on reliable information from Zanu PF sources—including Chinamasa
himself—this is in fact the scenario that Zanu PF wants to bring via the
proposed 18th amendment to the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
According to this second scenario, presidential and parliamentary elections
would be harmonized in March 2010 under a possible but not certain new
constitution which could take effect from 2010. Such a new constitution is
possible in that that’s what Zanu PF is promising to the MDC faction that
the ruling party is talking to and to other liberal minded sections of the
ruling party but the promise is not certain in that Chinamasa’s
Machiavellian approach is designed to ensure that the key amendments that
Zanu PF needs are made well in advance of and outside a comprehensive
constitutional reform process.
Once Zanu PF gets the amendments it needs through the ongoing piecemeal
approach to amending the Constitution, it will have no reason to or interest
in a comprehensive constitutional reform ahead of or even after the
harmonized presidential and parliamentary elections in March 2010.
But what is critical to observe about the second scenario of having an
election of a President in 2008 to serve only for two years is that
Chinamasa did not tell the Herald how that President would be elected in
2008 or who would elect that President to serve for only two years until
2010. Again, it turns out that the kind of election Chinamasa is talking
about would not be a popular election by the people of Zimbabwe but would be
an election of a President for two years by the Parliament of Zimbabwe in
which Zanu PF has a two thirds technical majority that would be expected,
actually required, to deliver the vote regardless of the merits.
The precedence for this was in December 1987, after the signing of the
controversial and practically useless Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu
PF, when Parliament elected Mugabe as the first Executive President of the
republic of Zimbabwe to serve what also amounted to a two year period until
March 1990 when Mugabe faced the popular ballot. This is exactly the plan
that Zanu PF has and it is so sinister that it stinks all the way to hell
and would have to be fully resisted by any democratic and constitutional
means available including an uprising of the masses.
This is because, as already pointed, Zanu PF does not believe that it can
produce a presidential candidate to succeed Mugabe who can win a popular
presidential election before 2010. The election of a President by Parliament
in 2008 to serve for only two years would give the chosen Zanu PF successor
some time to learn the ropes of patronage so as to be able to be
presidential by dishing out slush funds ahead of the elections in 2010.
An interesting twist to this second scenario, again which is the scenario
that Zanu PF wants, is that the proposed 18th amendment would also repeal
the current provision in the Constitution that requires the holding of
presidential elections within 90 days of the mental incapacitation,
resignation or death of an incumbent. A proposed new constitutional
provision would require that a designated vice president serves the
remainder of the term if the incumbent resigns, is mentally incapacitated or
dies.
Apparently, in addition to a palpable fear that he might die in office, the
plan seems to be designed to give Mugabe an opportunity to resign before
2008 and to enable his successor to get between 12 to 24 months before March
2008 when that successor would be given another 24 months through an
election as a transitional president until 2010. Whereas the façade now is
that the transition would be from the current Constitution to a new one to
take effect in 2010, the intended political reality is that the transition
would be from the current holding of separate presidential and parliamentary
elections to the proposed harmonization of these elections that will take
effect in March 2010.
A third scenario presented by Chinamasa is to have a popular election of the
President in 2008 to serve for seven years until 2015 and for the proposed
harmonization to start in 2015. This is a stupid scenario and the fact that
Chinamasa mentioned it shows more the contempt he has for Zimbabweans whose
intelligence he was insulting than anything else. Chinamasa knows as well as
any average fool that the Zanu PF power mongers who want an 18th amendment
to the Constitution of Zimbabwe now will all be dead, buried and forgotten
by 2015 and so there is no need to bother ourselves analyzing such a silly
scenario.
The fourth scenario, which the Herald sought to dismiss, is that Mugabe
could be the President elected by Parliament in 2008 to extend his term to
2010. Although this scenario was dismissed by the Herald story on grounds
that Mugabe “has told his party to openly discuss the issue of his
succession” and that he has made repeated announcements of his intention to
step down at the end of his term in 2008, the fact is that this scenario
competes with the second scenario and is therefore real.
It is very possible that, if he keeps on breathing and lives to rule another
day until March 2008, Mugabe could use the proposed amendment described
under the second scenario to turn around and claim that he is still as fit
as a fiddle and that he could do two more years to save Zanu PF and Zimbabwe
from total collapse because by then infighting within the ruling party is
certain to reach fever point and the country would be in the doldrums.
The claim that Mugabe has encouraged his party to discuss the issue of his
succession openly is pure fiction, actually it is nonsense. Just ask those
like this writer associated with the so-called Tsholotsho Declaration. The
existence of the second and fourth scenarios is clearly intended to leave
Mugabe with an open option of remaining at State House until 2010. The
essence of the second and fourth scenarios is that Zanu PF is afraid of
facing the electorate in presidential elections before 2010. Even Mugabe is
now afraid of the voters and would want to have his term extended from 2008
to 2010 by political cowards and stooges of his party.
Eve so, it is important to repeat and emphasize that the desired option is
the second one for the reasons already stated.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, Zimbabweans at home and in the
Diaspora should start now to resist the proposed 18th amendment. Zimbabwe
must have presidential elections preferably now and certainly within the
next 29 months if the country can manage to go that far. Because it is now
quite clear that Zanu PF is determined to use its technical two thirds in
Parliament, to subvert the democratic process by postponing presidential
elections until 2010, the people must now use their three thirds majority
outside Parliament to stop Zanu PF madness by any means necessary. The time
for that kind of action has come and it is now.
Professor Jonathan Moyo is MP for Tsholotsho constituency and a former
government spokesman
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Kansas City Star
Posted on Wed, Sep. 21, 2005

A self-imposed blow to Zimbabwe

President’s refusal to allow vendors destroys livelihoods


HARARE, Zimbabwe — A toothless flower-seller rushes up to a well-dressed
shopper outside a supermarket and peers around anxiously through watery eyes
as though about to offer drugs for sale.
He begs her to buy a 20-cent bunch of asters.
Suddenly two policemen appear in riot gear.
“Ah, you can do nothing!” he exclaims in disgust, jumping on a rickety
bicycle with his box of flowers and disappearing down an alley.
President Robert Mugabe’s crackdown on vendors has destroyed the livelihoods
of thousands and criminalized one of the last functioning sectors of
Zimbabwe’s crumbling economy.
Tens of thousands were arrested and their goods were seized in a slum
clearance called Operation Murambatsvina — Drive Out Trash — launched May
19. Mugabe’s government accused them of sabotaging the economy through black
market dealing.
For 35 years, the flower dealer — too afraid to give his name — grew asters
and roses on a plot at Domboshawa, a rocky tribal area about 20 miles north
of the capital. Every day, he peddled down to the city and sold his flowers
on a sidewalk.
Then, without warning, police arrested him and seized his stock, even though
he had a vending license from the municipality. The $20 loss represented a
huge chunk of his capital savings.
There are few other ways to make a living in a country with more than 70
percent unemployment.
Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy has spiraled out of control since the
government began seizing thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution
to blacks in 2000.


— The Associated Press
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newzimbabwe
United States pressures China on Zimbabwe


By Staff Reporter
Last updated: 09/22/2005 09:37:33
THE United States has called on China and India to join Western efforts to
isolate Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime and encourage his people
to boot him out of power.
"The international community needs to continue to isolate him, to increase
the isolation of his regime," the new US assistant secretary of state for
African affairs Jendayi Fraser said in an interview.
She said Washington was working very closely with the Europeans to further
isolate Mugabe and added: "I think China and others can come on board as
well."
In July China, which maintains close ties with Harare, opposed discussion at
the Security Council of a damning UN report into Zimbabwe's slum clearances,
which left 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless and destitute and affected a further
2.4 million.
The Council was briefed on the report just as the 81-year-old Mugabe visited
Beijing. Fraser specifically mentioned India, which also has good relations
with Zimbabwe and rejected a British request this summer to boycott a
Zimbabwean cricket team.
"We should consider consultations with others, the (UN) Security Council,
the UN needs to be seized on this issue...so there can be a return of
democracy (in Zimbabwe)," Fraser said - AP
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ABC
Downer warns UN chief on Zimbabwe visit

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says he has impressed upon the United
Nations (UN) secretary-general, Kofi Annan, the depth of Australia's
concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
Mr Downer has been in New York to accept a world statesman award on the
behalf of the Prime Minister.
Australia has been attempting to convince the UN Security Council to refer
Zimababwean President Robert Mugabe's regime to the International Criminal
Court.
Mr Downer says he has warned Mr Annan not to visit Zimbabwe without having
very clear achievable outcomes, otherwise it would be used as a propaganda
tool by the Mugabe government
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Reuters
Zimbabwe c.bank chief blasts land neglect - paper
Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:01 PM GMT


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank governor has described as
"criminal" the under-utilisation of land by local farmers who benefited from
the government's controversial land redistribution, the Herald newspaper
said on Wednesday.
The official daily said Gideon Gono told parliament's land reform and
agriculture committee that no amount of finance could make agriculture
successful until land was fully exploited.
"It is criminal the manner in which we are using land," Gono said. "We only
need to understand that our neighbour South Africa can achieve 5 to 8 tonnes
of maize per hectare or even 15 tonnes a hectare using irrigation and here
we are priding ourselves at 0.5 tonnes per hectare."
Zimbabwe is mired in its worst economic crisis since independence from
Britain in 1980, blamed on President Robert Nugabe's policies -- 
particularly the seizure of white-owned farms for the resettlement of
landless blacks.
Agricultural output has fallen sharply, leaving the former breadbasket of
the region with severe food shortages and an economy that has shrunk over 30
percent in the past five years.
Gono was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.
The Reserve Bank is charged with steering the country's economic recovery.
Gono has in the past suggested that some of the commercial farmers driven
off of their land should be allowed to return because of their specialised
skills.
But the government has repeatedly said the land reform programme will not be
reversed.
"We always want to react late. We have become a nation of pointing fingers,
a nation of perpetual moaners and a nation that lacks initiatives," Gono was
quoted as saying.
He said a central bank survey of planting intentions among some 1,000
farmers allocated large-scale commercial plots under the forcible
redistribution had shown that the entire group would grow only about 60,000
hectares (150,000 acres), a figure he called "pathetic".
Critics say the land reforms have largely benefited Mugabe's cronies, most
of whom have neither the will nor the know-how to engage in productive
farming.
The government has acknowledged that some senior officials have amassed
farms that they are not fully utilising, but says Zimbabwe's food shortage
has largely resulted from drought.
Mugabe, in power since independence, charges that local and foreign
opponents of the land seizures have sabotaged Zimbabwe's economy, leading to
erratic fuel supplies, unemployment of over 70 percent and triple-digit
inflation.


© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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Reuters
S.Africa Fin. Min. sees little relief for Zimbabwe
Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:06 PM GMT

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on
Wednesday he saw no immediate relief for Zimbabwe's struggling economy, but
Pretoria would remain in talks with its neighbour to help with its crisis.
"As long as inflation continues unabated the government will have to
overspend to meet its commitments, uncertainties will therefore continue and
there will be no investment," Manuel told Reuters in an interview.
"There will be nothing to grow that economy without significant new sums of
investment -- and that I think is a big challenge."
Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by about a third over the past six years.
Unemployment is estimated at 70 percent and inflation is still in triple
digits and rose by an annual rate of 265 percent in August.
South Africa has offered to help the country with a loan but those talks
fell silent last month after Zimbabwe made a surprise $120 million payment
to the International Monetary Fund, winning a 6 month reprieve from possible
expulsion.
"Because we haven't met in a fortnight doesn't mean the talks are off the
table ... we have no reason to draw a line and say the talks are over,"
Manuel said.
"We will remain in discussion on a whole range of issues."
Manuel did not specify whether this meant that South Africa still wanted to
help ease acute shortages of food, fuel or foreign exchange in Zimbabwe
through financial assistance.
Manuel said he did not know where Zimbabwe got the money for its payment to
the IMF -- which still leaves it owing $175 million to the fund.
Zimbabwe says it raised the money itself -- in part from exporters, who are
required to sell part of their foreign exchange earnings to the central bank
at supervised auctions.
President Robert Mugabe's government has predicted that the country's
economy will expand in 2005, but many independent analysts remain sceptical.
Critics accuse Mugabe, 81, of prompting the collapse of Zimbawe's economy by
seizing white-owned farms for landless black Zimbabweans, while he in turn
accuses the opposition and Western opponents led by Britain of sabotaging
the economy.


© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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VOA
Zimbabwe Ruling Party Organizes Mugabe Succession

21 September 2005

Zimbabwe’s ruling party is contemplating yet another amendment to the constitution that would clear the way for Vice President Joyce Mujuru to take over from President Robert Mugabe for two years after his term ends in 2008 – without an election, say officials in Mr. Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

The rationale offered by ZANU-PF officials backing the amendment is that installing the second vice president – and heir apparent, say some - from 2008 to 2010 would allow the next presidential and general elections to be held in the same year.

But ZANU-PF sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some senior party officials, among them Justice Minister Patrick Chinimasa and State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, would rather see Mr. Mugabe stay at the helm until 2010.

Senior opposition figure Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change, said he is aware of the move to strategically position Mrs. Mujuru by means of such a constitutional amendment. Mr. Mugabe this month signed into law constitutional amendments setting aside legal appeals of government seizures of farms and authorizing the state to prohibit foreign travel, among others.

Mr. Ncube, a lawyer and expert in constitutional law, says this looks a lot like a rehash of the 1987 constitutional amendment the same ruling party passed to let Mr. Mugabe, then prime minister, step up as president until elections were held in 1990.

Reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe sought perspective from the International Crisis Group’s director for Southern Africa, Peter Kagwanja

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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE DEATH NOTICES - September 21, 2005

Email: jag@mango.zw;justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death notice;1

Seward Moira [nee Schultz]------most dearly loved daughter-in-law of Sheila
and Mike and wonderful wife to Steve.Loving mother of Kerryn, Tyrone and
Brennan, tragically in Zambia.Will be so sadly missed.

Death Notice;2

Seward Moira Tragically killed in an act of random violence. Our hearts go
out to Steve, Kerryn, Tyrone, Brennan, and the rest of the family. Moira
will be sadly missed. May God comfort you at this terrible Love. Tony,
Odette ,and Sarah Seward

Death Notice;3

Ann Moorcroft, beloved wife of Des, Dendere/Tuvix farm, Centenary, passed
away on Wednesday 14th September. Dearest mother of Wendy and Les,
grandmother of Kerry and Craig and great grandmother of their children. No
more suffering, will be forever in our hearts.

JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE STEVE SEWARD UPDATE - September 21, 2005

Email:jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve Seward Update

Accurate information on the shooting episode in which Moira and Steve were
involved The incident took place on the Chirundu road while they were en
route to Harare Steve currently in Mill Park hospital Johannesburg in
stable condition.The families have been very appreciative of the concern
shown by so many good friends-----emails, telephone calls, visits, flowers
have given us the necessary strength to cope with this terrible tragedy

the Seward Family



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newzimbabwe
Daily News hearing moved after MIC protest


By Moyo Muturikwa
Last updated: 09/22/2005 09:43:06
ZIMBABWE'S Administrative Court has indefinitely postponed the hearing of an
appeal by the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) in which they are
contesting the decision by a government-appointed watchdog to deny its two
titles an operating licence.
The matter was pencilled to be heard on 21 and 22 September but the court
postponed the hearing after the Media and Information Commission (MIC)
strongly objected to the inclusion of two assessors who presided over the
ANZ hearing in September 2003 when the same court heard ANZ's appeal.
ANZ are the publishers of the banished Daily News and its sister paper, The
Daily News On Sunday.
The MIC argued that it would not get a fair hearing since the two
assessors - Tendai Chari and Agustine Timbe - assisted former Administrative
Court Judge Michael Majuru in 2003 when the Daily News appealed against the
decision by the MIC to deny it a licence and also challenged the
Constitutionality of the Commission.
Judge Majuru ruled in favour of the ANZ at that time but was forced to seek
refuge in South Africa after government blasted him for ruling in favour of
the ANZ.
He feared for his life if he were to return to Zimbabwe.
Ironically, the two assessors whom the MIC have objected to their inclusion,
are strong Zanu PF sympathisers.
Timbe is one of a growing number of analysts that the state media turn to
for "positive " comments whenever the government makes controversial
decisions.
Chari is a former columnist in The Daily Mirror which has strong links with
the government of President Mugabe. He runs a weekly column in the Sunday
Mirror.
ANZ chief executive officer, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, said they would wait for
new date to be announced but bemoaned the postponement which he said was a
delaying tactic by the MIC.
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US to tighten sanctions against Zimbabwe
    Peter Fabricius
    September 21 2005 at 05:29AM

The US is considering tightening its sanctions against the leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party, a senior American official says.

Tom Woods, deputy assistant secretary for African affairs, said the US might expand the targeted travel sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF leadership to include members of their families as well as new cabinet ministers appointed since the March parliamentary elections.

The US would also look at the businesses of party leaders.

"We know it (sanctions) works. They may say it doesn't, but it's having an effect," Woods said at a seminar on Tuesday in Washington and Pretoria of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Participants in the two cities were linked by video.


He said the US would continue to stand with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as the "best hope for democracy" despite criticism of it.

John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group criticised the international community for investing too much support in the MDC, which had failed to mobilise Zimbabweans against Mugabe's government.

He also criticised countries for beating Mugabe's regime with "small twigs" not "real sticks" and for relying on South Africa and other regional leaders to influence Mugabe. This would never happen, he said.

    • This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on September 21, 2005
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zimonline
Zimbabwe’s second largest city suspends essential services
Thu 22 September 2005

BULAWAYO – Authorities in Zimbabwe’s second largest city of Bulawayo have suspended all essential services except the ambulance division - which has only two vehicles running -  as worsening fuel shortages gradually bring the country to a complete halt.

Executive Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube told ZimOnline that the two ambulances servicing the city of about a million people could also run out of fuel “any minute”. 

He said his office had already approached Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, who oversees municipalities, for permission to buy diesel and petrol from the illegal fuel black market, the only reliable source of the commodity in Zimbabwe. 

Ndabeni-Ncube said: “We are virtually grounded except for two ambulances which can also run out of fuel any minute. All other essential services are not being attended to at the moment. 

“Because of the gravity of the situation, I have just written to the minister of local government for permission to access fuel from the black market to deal with health emergencies because we cannot stand aside and let people die.” 

Chombo could not be immediately reached for comment on the matter.

Zimbabwe’s fuel crisis, itself the result of an acute shortage of foreign currency to pay for oil imports, began six years ago after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) withdrew financial assistance to Harare because of differences with President Robert Mugabe over fiscal policy and other governance issues.

But the fuel crisis has worsened in recent months after the government diverted all the little foreign currency the country had to paying US$120 million to the IMF in a bid to avoid expulsion from the Fund for non-payment of debt.

Only a handful of garages are selling petrol and diesel across Zimbabwe but Ndabeni-Ncube said the situation in Bulawayo and surrounding areas is made worse because of acute water shortages there after poor rains last year. 

Municipalities require fuel to ferry water to schools, hospitals and poor suburbs where residents cannot afford to sink boreholes.    

The severe scarcity of fuel on the formal market has pushed prices for both diesel and petrol on the black-market in Bulawayo to about Z$120 000 (about US$4.6) per litre, which is about four times the official pump price. - ZimOnline
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Hot Seat: ARISE! Women of Zimbabwe speak out

 

By Violet Gonda

 

20 September 2005

 

On the programme Hot Seat, we listen to the first part of a documentary produced by Violet Gonda on the plight of women in Zimbabwe. Since 2000 Zimbabwean women have been speaking out against rape and their suffering, and exposing the brutality of the oppressive regime of Robert Mugabe.

 

In a desperate attempt to hold on to power, the regime has over the years unleashed the youth militia and partisan security forces to terrify Zimbabweans into accepting Mugabe’s unpopular and brutal rule. Vulnerable groups, women and children in particular, have been seriously affected. Since the inception of SW Radio Africa, we have recorded the horrors encountered by women and this is a tribute to their suffering.
 
Here is how you can listen to programme:
 
Part 1:  go to archives on www.swradioafrica.com and listen to the Hot Seat Programme aired on Tues 20 Sept 2005
 
Part 2: To be aired on Hot Seat Prog on Tues 27 Sept 2005 ( you can listen live between 5 to 5:30pm OR this programme will be archived after 7pm on same day www.swradioafrica.com)
 
Violet Gonda
Producer/Presenter
SW Radio Africa
Direct:    00 44 208 387 1415
Mobile:   00 44 795 874 1820
Fax:       00 44 208 387 1416
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newzimbabwe
Condoms priced out of reach of many


By Staff Reporter
Last updated: 09/22/2005 09:34:12
ZIMBABWE'S HIV/Aids fight has suffered a major reversal after a New
Zimbabwe.com investigation revealed most ordinary Zimbabweans cannot afford
to buy a pack of condoms.
Escalating prices of condoms have put them beyond the reach of the ordinary
man on the street -- the main targets of a government and United
Nations-sponsored anti-HIV/Aids drive.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest infection rates in the world with more than
5 000 people reported to be succumbing to the virus weekly.
Our investigation revealed that a packet of three condoms now costs between
$100 000 and $250 000, depending on the brand -- making it a luxury for many
in a country with a 70 percent unemployment rate.
Condoms distributed freely in public places have become scarce because
unemployed youths reportedly take them in their dozens and sell them in pubs
for anything between $10 000 and $20 000.
Organizations involved in the fight against the spread of HIV expressed
horror at the price of condoms.
David Chisamba, an Aids activist said: "The nation is now on the edge of
extinction. People like myself who are HIV positive cannot do without
condoms because of the fear of spreading the virus. But now some HIV
positive people will be forced to engage in unprotected sex because they
cannot afford to buy a condom."
Peter Magaisa, another activist said if the government was serious in
reducing the rate of infection this was the time to subsidise the price of
condoms.
"Many young girls have turned to prostitution because of the bad economic
conditions and it is a pity that they will be now forced to engage in
unprotected sex," he said.
Heterosexual intercourse is the most common mode of HIV transmission in
Zimbabwe where more than 1,8 million people are reportedly infected with the
virus.
Recently, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr. David Parirenyatwa
said Zimbabwe remains one of the countries in the world worst affected by
the HIV/Aids pandemic with women constituting 60 percent of those affected.
"I need not over-emphasise that Zimbabwe is experiencing high levels of HIV
prevalence rates although there has been a reduction of prevalence from 24.6
percent to 21.3 percent," Parirenyatwa said.
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New Zimbabwe
Beauties gear for Miss Zimbabwe pageant


By Showbiz Reporter
Last updated: 09/22/2005 09:35:49
PREPARATIONS are in Depeche mode for the 2005 edition of the Miss Zimbabwe
pageant.
This year the pageant is being run by marketing and PR company, Les Rêves,
and the stage seems set for a more professionally organised pageant.
Most of the regional finals have been held and the venue -- the 7 Arts
Theatre in Avondale, Harare -- has been booked for the grand finale which is
set for Saturday, October 22.
Twenty ladies from around the country will be competing for the title "Miss
Zimbabwe". They will be joined by Miss Zimbabwe USA, Rudo Change and Miss
Zimbabwe UK, Primrose Mutsigiri.
The winner of the pageant will receive a host of prizes yet to be announced
and a trip to Sanya China for the Miss World Pageant which is billed to take
place on December 10 this year.
Miss Zimbabwe UK, Primrose Mutsigiri was at the after-party for Caps United
and Highlanders players in Bradford at the weekend. She told New
Zimbabwe.com of her new status and the instant recogntion she was getting at
Zimbabwean events.
"I am really enjoying it and look forward to staking my claim for the Miss
Zimbabwe title," she said.
Additional reporting by Itsbho.com

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