ZIMBABWE INDEPENDENT UPDATE FOR MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 2005
What a
month September has been on the house robberies and smash and grabs - most
intersections, traffic lights and in general where you as a motorist have to
slow down. We have had various reports from the public that windows mostly on
the passenger side of the vehicle has been smashed with a blunt instrument and
handbags, briefcases, mobile phones, and shopping all grabbed. Please be very
aware of your surroundings and the people in the vicinity, some just waiting to
pounce on YOU the victim ! Put as much as possible out of sight and in the BOOT
this advice saves you a lot of stress and aggravation.
House robberies
seem to be on an increase at the most alarming rate, and the worst hit areas
that have come to the Trust’s notice are Borrowdale, Ballantyne Park, Chisipte,
Greystone Park, Northwood, Mount Pleasant, Greendale. There is more than one
gang involved here, and the main items on the ‘hit list’ are money, mobiles,
laptops, firearms and jewellery. Electrical goods are still being stolen, and
mostly loaded up in a family vehicle and taken away. There have been numerous
casualties needing medical attention, and victims being tied up, blindfolded,
and locked into a room. Most of the gained entry has been through open windows,
unlocked doors, so once again we ask you to tighten up on your security where
possible, keep in mind the safety of your families and children. We are living
in very stressful times and do not need to add to these. It’s so often the
case, of ‘closing the door after the horse has bolted’ So come on, lets make
sure that this does not happen ! Be Aware, Alert, Security conscious at ALL
times, make your children, staff and friends the same way.
We are
still manning the office at erratic hours due to the chronic fuel situation, but
please do not hesitate to use our Hotline numbers, we are there to help you in
any way we can. We need your support so that we in turn, can support you !
Here’s to peace of mind and a safe month
ANTI
HIJACK TRUST: NATIONAL HOTLINE: 091 242 512
TEL/FAX: HARARE 04-309870 /091
221 921 / 091 313 333
Email: hijack@mweb.co.zw or hijack@zol.co.zw
Tel:
Bulawayo 011 701 323 Email: crime@mweb.co.zw
IRIN (UN), 28 September
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean and South African
officials are to meet in the next two weeks for further talks on the possibility
of loan assistance, a government spokesman confirmed on Wednesday. "Talks have
been continuing, but the two sides have not met recently," South African
treasury spokesman Logan Wort told IRIN. The countries have been negotiating an
aid package worth almost US $500 million, including an outstanding payment of
$175 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to prevent Zimbabwe's
expulsion from the international financial institution. But talks had stalled
over Zimbabwe's reluctance to enforce political and economic recovery plans -
conditions set by the South Africans for providing the financial assistance.
"The conditions still stand, whenever talks resume," said South African
government sources. In late August the IMF began procedures to strip Zimbabwe of
its membership over arrears to the tune of $295 million and failure to rein in
public spending. However, earlier this month Zimbabwe managed to make a payment
of $131 million to the IMF, which granted the troubled southern African country
a six-month reprieve. Zimbabwe has promised to settle its arrears, currently
totalling $175 million, by November 2006. It has also submitted an economic
recovery plan to the IMF.
South African government sources described
Zimbabwe's recovery programme as "unrealistic" and said the IMF was "unlikely"
to accept it. The IMF has already commented on some of the economic reform
measures taken by the Zimbabwean government in recent months, such as
liberalisation of the fuel and maize markets, saying they "fell well short of
what is needed to address Zimbabwe's economic difficulties." The Fund warned
that "unless strong macroeconomic policies are undertaken without delay,
economic and social conditions could deteriorate further". Unemployment is
currently over 70 percent and inflation is more than 265 percent. Meanwhile,
controversy has erupted over the source of Zimbabwe's initial $131 million
payment to the IMF. At a press conference on the regional outlook for
sub-Saharan Africa last week in Washington, an IMF official said they had
queried the source of the funding. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono
revealed that the money paid to the IMF came from banks in New York and London,
among others, and the funds had been sourced from export proceeds, free funds
and foreign currency liquidations, according to the official newspaper, The
Herald, on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe is going through a severe economic crisis, with
serious food shortages due to recurring droughts and the government's fast-track
land redistribution programme, which disrupted agricultural production and
slashed export earnings. The crisis has also seen a flood of Zimbabweans
illegally crossing the border into South Africa. According to the Geneva-based
International Organisation for Migration, at least 2,000 Zimbabweans are
deported from South Africa via the border town of Beitbridge every week. South
African government sources confirmed that Zimbabwe was in urgent need of
assistance, such as food and agricultural inputs. "We are extremely concerned
about the food situation," said a government official. A vulnerability
assessment conducted by the Zimbabwean government and some NGOs earlier this
year indicated that 2.9 million people - an estimated 36 percent of the rural
population - would require food aid until the next harvest in April 2006. Aid
agencies have planned for over four million in need. Sources in South Africa's
ruling African National Congress (ANC) party said talks with the neighbouring
country had been disrupted by "political interference". "While the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe and other technocrats realise that our assistance is critical, the
political leadership in Zimbabwe is suspicious of South Africa's intentions,"
commented a senior ANC official.
From Zim Online (SA), 29 September
Harare - The Zimbabwe government
has diverted Z$250 billion from the country’s ailing public health sector to
finance an ambitious programme to construct houses for thousands of victims of
its controversial home demolition campaign three months ago, Zim Online has
learnt. Senior officials at the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare said the
ministry was one of several ministries ordered to surrender part of their budget
votes to fund the housing programme that President Robert Mugabe has flaunted to
the world as proof that their urban clean-up home campaign was a blessing in
disguise for poor Zimbabweans. "Nearly all the ministries were affected but
there was a huge debate over whether money should be taken from health because
that is a crucial sector that is already in the red. We desperately need money
to pay suppliers," said a top health official, who did not want to be named.
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa refused to take questions on the matter when
contacted by Zim Online yesterday. Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo,
whose ministry is spearheading the home building programme, confirmed government
departments had contributed parts of their budget allocations to the
construction programme officially known as Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. But
Chombo, who said there was also a separate budget allocation from Treasury for
the building programme, refused to name the ministries that had contributed or
the amounts of money each had paid to the programme. "You should be aware that
this is a massive programme involving several ministries. It’s not my job to say
which ministries pay for what or has poured so much," said Chombo.
Zimbabwe’s
public health sector, once a shining example to the developing world, is on its
knees due to years of mismanagement and under-funding. Most state hospitals can
prescribe little more than common pain killers because of a severe shortage of
essential medical drugs, itself the result of an acute shortage of hard cash to
pay foreign suppliers. In a telling example of the state of Zimbabwe’s public
health institutions, laboratory scientists at the government-run Chitungwiza
General Hospital, the main health centre in Zimbabwe’s third most populous city
of Chitungwiza told the Press yesterday they were unable to carry out HIV tests
because of a critical shortage of reagents used to conduct the tests. The
reagents are imported. Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV infection rates in
the world. An estimated one in four Zimbabweans is HIV-positive while at least 2
000 people die in the country each week because of AIDS-related illnesses.
Harare launched the home-construction programme after strong criticism by the
United Nations (UN), European Union, United States, local and international
human rights groups against its urban clean-up campaign. UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka
said the urban renewal programme violated human rights and may also have been in
breach of international law. Tibaijuka, who toured Zimbabwe for two weeks
assessing the impact of the home-demolition campaign said at least 700 000
people were left homeless while another 2.4 million were also affected. The
cash-strapped Harare administration said in July that it required Z$3 trillion
to rebuild people’s homes. But latest estimates by government civil engineers
put the costs at $5.5 trillion, this at a time the state must also find money
for food and fuel imports.
From Zim Online (SA), 29 September
Chipinge - The only doctor in
Chipinge town in eastern Zimbabwe is leaving the farming town after she and her
husband were evicted by the government from a nearby farm. Petra Baumgartner
told ZimOnline she was this week forced to discharge sick patients and close
down her Chipinge Trust Clinic because she had to leave the area after she and
her husband, Robert Clowes, were evicted from Destiny Farm. Fifteen workers, who
had helped Baumgartner run the clinic for the last seven years, have also been
left jobless. "Someone nearly died of severe asthmatic attack yesterday and I
was forced to send him home because I have to leave," Baumgartner said. She said
antenatal patients, who had depended on her services would now have to travel
far to find help as there was no other doctor in Chipinge, a town of more than
30 000 people located about 400 km east of Harare. "They will not find this help
in Chipinge as I am the only doctor who has been regularly attending to them in
this area ….its bad," said Baumgartner. There is a government hospital in
Chipinge but there is no resident doctor at the hospital, with patients
requiring special attention being referred to Mutare General Hospital, more than
150 km away. Baumgartner said she had attempted to seek audience with Health
Minister David Parirenyatwa in a bid to save her clinic from closure but to no
avail. Parirenyatwa could not be reached for comment on the matter. There have
been fresh evictions in the last three weeks of the remaining few white farmers
in Manicaland province, where Chipinge is located. State Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa, who is also in charge of land redistribution, has said the
government will step up eviction of the remaining white farmers to ensure all
farmland was in the hands of blacks by the start of the next rainy season around
November.
Daily News (SA), 28 September
Basildon Peta
Zimbabwean doctors, who
routinely strike for more pay, are bitter that President Robert Mugabe's
government has awarded them paltry monthly salary increases equivalent to the
price of three loaves of low-quality bread. The Hospitals Doctors Association
(HDA) said it was now consulting its membership with a view to staging more
industrial action. Zimbabwean doctors earn ZIM$5,7-million monthly (about R2 036
at the official exchange rate or R633 monthly at the more realistic black market
rate at which most foreign currency transactions are made). The doctors want
their salaries hiked from ZIM$5,7-million to about ZIM$50-million. But HDA
president Takaruda Chinyoka said the government had notified the association
that it was going to award increases of ZIM$98 000 monthly. With bread now
costing about ZIM$32 000, this is equivalent to three loaves of bread. "We are
very disappointed and we are currently carrying out consultations with our
members over the salary matter after which we will then decide what action to
take," said Chinyoka. He said the Z$98 000 was added to the doctors' salaries
this month after their last industrial action which ended with a government
promise of more pay. There was no immediate comment from the government. In
addition to their paltry salaries, the government doctors are entitled to a
ZIM$10-million loan to buy a house. However, the least affordable house in
Zimbabwe's low density suburbs cost about ZIM$3-billion. They can also access
about ZIM$50-million loans to buy cars but the only car one can get at that
amount is a late 1970s or early 1980s model. Because of their poor remuneration,
doctors are flocking out of Zimbabwe in search of greener pastures in
neighbouring countries and abroad. At one stage, the Zimbabwe government only
operated with one pathologist at all its state hospitals and clinics. Apart from
poor salaries, the doctors also have to endure life without basic equipment and
drugs. Panadol is the only drug that is found at Zimbabwean hospitals, which
have resorted to using ox-drawn ambulances. The psychiatry unit at Mpilo
hospital, the second biggest state hospital in Bulawayo, at one stage reported
that it was using cigarettes to help sedate mental patients because of a
shortage of drugs.
Business Day (SA), 28 September
Harare - Zimbabwe’s dollar is set to
be devalued again after black market rates soared this week amid a worsening
foreign currency shortage, analysts said today. The currency has plunged to a
historic low of 75,000/dollar, about three times the 26,000 official rate quoted
at central bank controlled auctions - sparking fears that inflation will once
again spiral out of control. Stablising inflation is key to the central bank’s
efforts to revive an economy in recession for the past six years. Chronic
foreign currency shortages have gripped Zimbabwe, one of the major signs of the
country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 that critics blame on
mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe’s government. "We are in a very
critical situation ... the Reserve Bank will have to devalue the currency to
improve inflows. It is critical that we have a convergence of the black market
and the auction rates if we are to stabilise the exchange rate," independent
economist John Robertson said. Central bank Governor Gideon Gono is expected
devalue the currency when he presents the quarterly monetary policy next month.
Gono has previously said the exchange rate will be reviewed in line with
inflation. The bank has devalued the dollar three times since May this year,
when the currency stood at 6,200 to the dollar. Inflation was at an annual rate
of 265,1% in August, but has subsided from a record peak of 623% in January
2004. Analysts predicted that inflation will be between 305 and 350% in the year
to September. "Gono has no choice but to adjust the rate because September
inflation figures will be steep, which will put pressure on the exchange rate,"
Witness Chinyama, chief economist at Kingdom Bank said. Zimbabwe’s monthly
import bill is estimated at $250m, but exports are yielding an average of
$109,4m a month. The country has been without balance of payment support since
1999 after the International Monetary Fund and donors withdrew financial aid
over policy differences with the government, particularly the seizure of white
owned farms.
Business Day (SA), 29 September
Jonathan Katzenellenbogen
Finance
Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday rejected diplomatic and business speculation
that SA covertly helped Zimbabwe repay part of its arrears to the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this month. "Tell those speculators to go and jump
in the bloody lake because they are talking rubbish," Manuel said yesterday. He
said the Public Finance Management Act, which governs the use and reporting on
state finances, made it impossible for government to carry out such a
transaction. The repayment of $120m helped Zimbabwe gain a six-month reprieve
from a possible decision by the fund’s executive board on expulsion. Zimbabwe
receives only humanitarian aid, and an expulsion from the fund would mean
greater financial and diplomatic isolation. Zimbabwe’s central bank governor,
Gideon Gono, said earlier this week that the foreign exchange used to repay the
fund had come from "free funds" and export earnings. His comments have not
stopped speculation that the country received the help of an external donor.
Some diplomats have pointed to China, but there are signs that Zimbabwe received
only about $10m when President Robert Mugabe visited Beijing last month. With
Libya and Iran unlikely, speculation has turned to SA. Fuelling the rumour mill
has been the failure of Zimbabwe to publish figures on its official foreign
exchange reserves since July last year. However, some economists have said that
it was possible for Zimbabwe to have raised the $120m by putting pressure on
private businesses to grant loans to the country’s central bank and by not fully
allocating foreign exchange at its weekly auctions.
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
Thursday September 29, 2005
The
Guardian
Zimbabwe announced it was moving back into the steam age
yesterday by recommissioning 10 coal-fired locomotives to cope with the
country's economic crisis. Further indications of shortages came from hospitals,
which are turning away patients because they do not have basic medicines and
surgical equipment. In the courts, state witnesses said they were too weak from
hunger to testify.
The announcement that steam engines would be put back
into service was made by Fanuel Masikati, a spokesman for the state-owned
National Railways of Zimbabwe, which has been plagued by breakdowns and
cancellations due to fuel shortages. Mr Masikati told the government-controlled
Herald newspaper that Zimbabwe's lack of foreign currency prevented the railway
from importing fuel and spare parts for the diesel engines.
The country
has abundant coal and basic components to keep the steam engines running. About
two billion Zimbabwe dollars (£44,000) is needed to refurbish the steam engines.
Coal-loading machines required to run a fleet of steam engines are being
checked. Many water towers, needed to fill the locomotives' boilers, are still
intact along railway lines.
In another example of reverting to old
technology, Zimbabwe has begun using ambulances pulled by cattle in rural areas
because there is no fuel for motor vehicles. The country's hospitals admitted
yesterday that they could not test patients for HIV infection because of a lack
of laboratory chemicals.
Zimbabwe has one of the world's highest HIV rates,
with more than 25% of the adult population infected and an estimated 3,000
Zimbabweans dying each week from Aids, medical experts say.
A state hospital
administrator said patients were being turned away because of a shortage of
medicines and equipment.
Zimbabwe's deepening crisis was also highlighted in
the courts recently when two trials were adjourned after state witnesses said
they could not testify until they had eaten. They complained that police had
held them for three days without food in "squalid and inhuman conditions",
according to the Herald. The judges postponed the cases until the witnesses were
fed.
Zimbabwe's currency fell further yesterday to 100,000 to the US dollar
on the illegal but thriving black market. "We are a nation going backwards in
civilisation," said John Makumbe, political science lecturer at the University
of Zimbabwe.
HARARE -- The Zimbabwe government on Wednesday said it will not pay compensation for developments on 4 000 white farms it nationalised last week because it does not have the money.
President Robert Mugabe and his government have in the past said they will not pay for actual land seized from whites but undertook to pay full compensation for improvements such as dams, houses and roads constructed on the farms.
Deputy Finance Minister David Chapfika told ZimOnline that the government would have to renege - for now - on the promise to pay for farm developments because the amount of money required to pay owners of the nationalised farms was too big.
Chapfika, who would not disclose how much money the government planned to pay the former white landowners or when it would be able to pay, said: "We do not have the kind of money required to pay the farmers, we won't be able to afford it in one year."
He said the government was still discussing and exploring ways to raise the money to pay for improvements on the farms nationalised almost immediately after Mugabe earlier this month signed into law the new Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 17) Act which bars citizens from contesting in court seizure of their land by the state.
The white owners had appealed to the courts against forced acquisition of their properties by the government during its controversial land reform programme in the last five years. The appeals automatically became invalid after the constitutional changes that also prohibit courts from hearing appeals by landowners against seizure of their property by the state.
Chapfika said an audit would have to be carried out to ascertain the value of the farm improvements for which the government would have to pay compensation. But he indicated this was also a "political arrangement" that might take longer to be finalised.
The white land rights lobby group, Justice for Agriculture Trust, estimates the amount of money owed to farmers by the government at 12 billion British pounds, which is way beyond the cash-strapped Harare administration's means.
Mugabe has over the past five years seized land from whites and handed it over to landless blacks saying farm redistribution was necessary to correct an unjust land tenure system that reserved 75 percent of the best arable land for minority whites while the majority blacks where cramped on poor soils.
The land seizures have been blamed for causing severe food shortages in Zimbabwe and also worsening the country's economic crisis. Mugabe denies his land reforms are to blame for causing hunger in Zimbabwe. He instead blames food shortages on poor weather and the economic crisis on sabotage by Britain and its Western allies opposed to his land reforms. - ZimOnline
Sent: Thursday,
September 29, 2005 9:03 PM
'Robert Mugabe has been fenced off from the
people, his communication has
been cut off by those around him', these are
the words of war veteran's
leader Jabulani Sibanda. He was responding to
media reports, Zanu PF has
expelled him from its ranks. He thinks party
national chairman; John Nkomo
is gunning for the presidency after 2008 and
along with a few reactionary
forces, planning the elimination of political
rivals, including himself. He
talks for the first time about the Tsholotsho
'coup plot' when several party
chairmen and cabinet ministers met for a
'prize giving ceremony'. He says
evil people cannot remain in power, tune in
to the program to find out who
he meant.
Lance
Guma
Producer/Presenter
SW Radio
Africa
+44-777-855-7615
www.swradioafrica.com
Behind The
Headlines
Thursday 5:15 to 5:30pm live on the internet at
www.swradioafrica.com
Friday 5:15 to 5:30am on Medium Wave broadcasts
1197khz
Also available on internet archives after broadcasts
at
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/archives.php
SW Radio Africa is
Zimbabwe's only independent radio station broadcasting
from the United
Kingdom. The station is staffed by exiled Zimbabwean
journalists who because
of harsh media laws cannot broadcast from home.
Full broadcast on Medium
Wave -1197KHZ between 5-7am (Zimbabwean time) and
24 hours on the internet at
www.swradioafrica.com.
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 2:46 AM
26
September 2005
The Senate: what is in it for the people?
By
Morgan Tsvangirai
While it remains our strategy and ultimate goal to assume
power through the
ballot box and other democratic means, our experiences with
elections, both
local and national, are instructive and significantly
enlightening.
The Mugabe regime decided as far back as last year to screw up
the
Parliamentary election in order to rally a two-thirds
Parliamentary
majority, regardless of the national sentiment and the outcome
of the actual
voting patterns on the ground. In other words, like the 2002
Presidential
election, the result of the March 2005 poll was pre-determined.
Mugabe made
no secret the same, in his public pronouncements at rallies and
public
meetings.
Between 2000 and 2005, the regime failed to tamper with
the Lancaster House
Constitution because the MDC enjoyed a blocking
representation in
Parliament. An attempt was made to persuade the MDC into
working with Zanu
PF to amend the Constitution at the end of 2004. Unsure of
how we were going
to react, the project was abandoned.
Zanu PF then
decided to use its Parliamentary majority to push through a
raft of
legislation including the enactment of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission Act
which created a highly partisan ZEC that proceeded to claim
to run the March
2005 election, and as is now the case, with disastrous
results.
Far from
resolving the national crisis, the electoral route has become a
weapon used
for driving our people apart and for deepening our mistrust in
the conduct of
the Robert Mugabe dictatorship.
Our people have totally lost faith and
confidence in elections. Elections
have brought no meaningful change to their
lifestyles. Against this
background, Zimbabweans are cagey about the proposed
Senate elections. The
Senate, as a national institution, is being forced upon
the nation against
our advice and despite our spirited resistance in and
outside Parliament.
The idea came out of a piecemeal Constitutional change,
Amendment No.17. We
have argued, together with the entire civil society in
Zimbabwe, that our
country needs a comprehensive Constitutional review
process which is
people-driven and publicly accepted. Zanu PF is against that
approach,
sadly, for selfish reasons.
Zanu PF can proceed with the
Senatorial plebiscite, as they have indicated
they wish to do, but that
action shall fail to deal with the question of
legitimacy and the crisis of
governance before us. With a Senate, Zimbabwe
shall continue to strengthen
its pariah status at home and abroad, with a
coterie of ambitious politicians
carrying the useless title of senator.
Because of the unresolved disputes in
2000, in 2002 and after March 31 and
our desire to end the national crisis,
taking part in this flawed and
opportunistic exercise presents us as a party
that is out of touch with the
grim reality on the ground. We shall be
subjecting our people to a process
that provides no value addition to their
political fortunes. We shall be
pressing our people to pretend to make
choices and informed decisions in a
matter that fails to raise their
political destiny in any meaningful way.
We shall be asking our people to
follow the Zanu PF succession agenda, a
political experiment that has cost
our nation its esteem and driven us to
the most agonizing level since time
immemorial. We shall be asking the
people to resign to their fate. I raise
this point because we are told that
the proposed Senate is a once-off, one
term institution. Of what public
benefit, economic or political, is this
set-up going to give us as an
embattled nation? What is in for the ordinary
person, without food and
without a job?
Talking of benefits, may I remind
Zimbabwe that although the proposed Senate
shall have fewer members than the
current Parliament, the election shall
cost us trillions of dollars more than
the amount we spent in March 2005
because of our substantially weaker
currency and galloping inflation?
Further, we will need the same numbers of
ballot papers, polling stations,
polling agents, election officials, election
materials, campaign materials,
fuels, imported ink, Chinese-made ballot
boxes, vehicles and all other
necessities that come with a real political
contest. Surely, can we afford
this luxurious expenditure at a time when we
have no food, no fuel, no
foreign currency and no jobs? Is creating 65 jobs
for senior citizens and
greedy politicians an emergency in Zimbabwe
today?
As I said before, the outcome of the Senate election shall
be
pre-determined, just like the March 2005 Parliamentary result.
Anyone
wishing to partake in this process should therefore refrain from
crying foul
because Zanu PF's intentions are as clear as the September sky.
Some may
argue that we need to give Zanu PF discomfort at every turn. But
does this
mean we have to do it even if we end up chasing our own
tails?
From the MDC, my position as President remains unchanged. We are in
local
government, supposedly in charge of lives of 80 percent of the
country's
prime productive minds. But have we ever been given a chance to
exercise our
duties and responsibilities without Zanu PF meddling?
Harare
is in state of chaos because Zanu PF refused to accept democracy. The
same
can be said of Bulawayo, Mutare, Chegutu, Chitungwiza, and all the
other
towns and cities in our hands. Zanu PF is not interested in
co-existence.
Zanu PF is intolerant. Zanu PF does not accept our presence
and shall never
respect our political space and political autonomy, hence
the appointment of
so-called governors and resident ministers whose mandate
is to fight the MDC
at a local level.
Our presence in Parliament is merely symbolic. Despite our
protests, Zanu PF
has pushed some of the most draconian pieces of legislation
in Zimbabwe
during the past five years. MDC legislators are to debate, raise
matters of
reason, caution and advise Parliament, but that translates to
nothing as
Zanu PF simply abuses its inflated majority to do as it wishes.
What then is
the point?
The Zimbabwean struggle needs a radical paradigm
shift. Parliament cannot be
the main arena of our struggle. Our experience in
Parliament since 2000
shows that the struggle resides outside Zanu
PF-dominated institutions.
POSA, AIPPA, the NGO Bill, Amendment No 17 and
many other repressive laws
were shoved down our throats in broad daylight. We
have lost acres and acres
of political space through legislation, imposed
onto the people while we sit
there in Parliament. Someone must explain to me
that Zimbabwe shall be a
different place as soon as we take up seats in the
so-called Senate?
We must be serious with ourselves if we hope to make an
impact in our desire
to bring about far-reaching democratic change in this
country. Playing the
Zanu PF game means more suffering and greater
uncertainty about the future.
Instead of wasting time with the Senate
proposal, which we vehemently
opposed during its passage in Parliament,
perhaps it is time we take a fresh
look at our continued presence in that
often-abused institution.
As political parties and individual politicians,
voters award us their
mandate on the basis of our promise to public service,
our undertaking to
the people. In the proposed Senate election, what shall we
promise the
people? What can the people look forward to as a result of the
establishment
of a Senate? Food, jobs? What shall be our campaign
message?
Zimbabweans need a break from past malpractices and past political
deceit.
Morgan Tsvangirai is the President of the Movement for
Democratic Change.
Efurida Pfebve, sister,
fighter for justice, former chairwoman of MDC Mt.
Darwin North and Plaintiff
to Mugabe US Court Case is no more. She passed
away on the 24 September 2005
after being taken ill the day before she met
her death. She became another
victim of a failed health system in Zimbabwe
among others. This comes less
than four weeks after Remus Makuwaza, a long
time friend, MDC Director of
Election and co-politician died without
realising his dream of a free
Zimbabwe. Losing freedom is one thing, losing
fighters of that freedom makes
the whole struggle a surmountable task. Such
has become a common scenario in
Zimbabwe today; one after another
Zimbabweans have succumbed to a crumbling
health system. Losing two comrades
in arms in less than 4 weeks have left me
devastated and grief stricken.
Against all these odds, ladies and gentlemen,
comrades and friends the
struggle must continue unabated, with conviction and
guidance by the
Almighty, victory is certain.
I worked with Makuwaza
from the formation of MDC, in structure building and
mobilisation. We were
all members of National Executive (Policy Making
Board), we shared common
problems in the 2000 Parliamentary Elections,
Makuwaza was contesting against
Mahachi (ZANU PF) in Makoni West and I was
against Border Gezi (ZANU (PF) in
Bindura. These men were regarded as the
most dangerous in ZANU (PF) hence we
had a common surmountable task. Remus
and I were soon nicknamed Mahachi and
Gezi respectively. We both escaped
numerous attempts on our lives. By
coincidence, yet not of our own making,
both men died in car accidents after
rigging the elections. They were
victims of struggle within struggles in ZANU
(PF). Makuwaza my friend rest
in peace.
Condolences for Efurida
continue to pour in from three continents, from
those whose work she touched
to those who knew her well both in struggle and
in personal capacity. The
following are a few of your words;
"I have been so much touched by the
news of the death of your sister. I
recall her commitment to the struggle for
change in an environment which was
not conducive for such activism, given
that we lost your brother too in the
run up to the 2000 elections. On behalf
of myself and my family in Zimbabwe,
I express my most profound condolence to
you and the Pfebve family members
in Zimbabwe. The party has lost a leader
who may not be easily replaceable
under the presence circumstances.
I
pray for your comfort during these trying times and hopefully this will
not
destroy the spirit of patriotism displayed in your family.
Victory is
certain, Zimbabwe will be free", Eckem Dandara.
"It was with great
sadness that we learnt about the death of Efurida. I
actually knew her
personally. Hope God gives you the courage to go through
all these many
tragedies in your life. Have the funeral arrangements been
finalised", Dr.
Zimudzi
"So sorry. What a shock for you all.
My love and prayers",
Pat
"My sincere condolences for the passing of your sister", Dr.
Nkiwane
"So sorry to read that news. Meriel and I send you our
sincerest
condolences. Hope things are going well for you, and we continue to
pray for
Zimbabwe
Best wishes", Ian
I remember receiving a phone
call 3 days after the Presidential Election in
March 2002 notifying me of 11
members of MDC who were arrested and in
detention at Mukumbura Police Station
in MT. Darwin. Knowing the area to be
politically volatile, I took with me
some youth and travelled to Mukumbura
Police Station passing through a
barrage of ambushes along the way from ZANU
(PF) Militia. I was shocked to
see Efurida being the only woman in custody
among the 11 MDC supporters,
their crime GBH against a ZANU (PF) war
veteran. Although the other 10
supporters were not admitting taking part in
the said crime, Efuida remained
adamant that she acted in self defence
against ZANU (PF) supporters who way
laid her and others for being MDC
supporters therefore British puppets. For
the first time I saw her courage
and determination flowing into her veins
refusing to compromise her liberty
and prepared to go to jail for what she
thought was her right of political
association. Those who know MT Darwin area
will agree with me that very few
people had taken an open stance against ZANU
(PF) there, yet there she was a
symbol of MDC among jackals of ZANU (PF)
patronage. Even after the murder of
my brother Mathew, Efurida refused to
move away from the area preferring
instead to lead the woman wing from the
grassroots against all odds. Efurida
was present when my brother was murdered
yet escaped only to meet her death
last week.
She was determined to
curve the future for all Zimbabweans even it meant
sacrificing her own life.
She died a miserable woman knowing that the
struggle she so committed herself
to, has now moved from a political to a
constitutional crisis with Mugabe
getting a firm hand of every system living
and gone. Now the big question
which I think she is still asking herself
where ever she is, "for how long
should the people of Zimbabwe wait to see
Robert Mugabe test his own medicine
of a failed health system"?
Efurida, sister and politician rest in
peace.
Elliot Pfebve
Lecturer & Political
Activist/Analyst
www.itrc-pfebve.com
30 September
2005
HARARE: Zimbabwe's central bank has ruled out overall use of the US
dollar
locally despite introducing greenback-based fuel sales to attract
scarce
foreign currency, the official Herald newspaper said
yesterday.
The southern African country has suffered chronic
shortages of petrol and
diesel since 1999 in the midst of an economic
downturn which critics say has
resulted from mismanagement by president
Robert Mugabe's government.
In July the central bank said
foreign-registered vehicles driving in
Zimbabwe would have to buy fuel in
foreign currency, and said local people
with their own access to US dollars
could also use the scheme.
But yesterday the Herald quoted central bank
governor Gideon Gono as telling
traders from the local Asian community that
this was a temporary arrangement
which would not extend to other
commodities.
"(Gono) said the issue of fuel was an exceptional one and to
extend it to
other products and services would be tantamount to dollarisation
of the
economy," the paper said.
Gono was not immediately available
for comment yesterday.
The Zimbabwe dollar has plunged to around 75,000
against the US unit on a
black market which has thrived at the expense of
central-bank managed
currency auctions, where the rate is pegged at
26,000.
Mugabe's government, grappling with food shortages, record
unemployment and
one of the highest rates of inflation in the world, has also
allowed
individuals with their own access to foreign currency to import
fuel
directly.
Analysts say some of this fuel is being sold at up to
80,000 Zimbabwe
dollars a litre - against the official price of 22,300 - to
stranded
motorists forced to resort to the black market because conventional
garages
have run dry.
Yesterday the Herald quoted Mugabe as saying
fuel supplies were set to
improve in the next few days, without spelling out
how this would happen.
Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has over
the past fortnight walked
to work from his suburban home in a protest against
the fuel crunch and in
recent days some members of his Movement for
Democratic Change have joined
in solidarity.
Mugabe, in power since
independence from Britain in 1980, rejects charges he
has destroyed a
once-promising economy through misrule, and insists it has
fallen victim to
sabotage by local and foreign opponents of his seizure of
white-owned
commercial farms for blacks.
www.stuff.co.nz
Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:45
PM GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai has
launched a new drive to rally public anger against
President Robert Mugabe's
rule but analysts say general fear of Mugabe's
forces will keep a lid on
mass protests.
Critics say Mugabe has plunged
his southern African country into a deep
crisis with a raft of controversial
policies, including tough security and
media laws, seizures of white-owned
farms, price controls and a clampdown
against the opposition they say has
been accompanied by vote-rigging.
Three weeks ago the leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) started walking to work from
his Harare home almost daily to highlight
chronic fuel shortages that have
crippled public transport and forced many
urban people to walk.
The
government has dismissed Tsvangirai's programme as a desperate
publicity
stunt, saying Zimbabwe's economy is struggling due to Western
economic
sanctions backed by his MDC.
Analysts say Tsvangirai has won
praise for his efforts to focus domestic and
international attention on
Mugabe over the deteriorating economy but many
Zimbabweans are reluctant to
join any mass protests for fear of a vicious
government response.
"I think
it is fair to say that because the government has routinely used
the police
and the army to use force in dealing with political
demonstrations, many
people are afraid," said University of Zimbabwe
political science lecturer
Eldred Masunungure.
"Fear is a very big feature in Zimbabwe's politics today,
an element which
Mugabe has exploited fully and an element which the
opposition is struggling
to overcome," he said.
John Makumbe, a political
commentator fiercely critical of Mugabe, said many
people are frightened by
their country's recent history, including the
deaths of nearly 20,000
civilians in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces
in the 1980s during a
military campaign against dissidents.
"Mugabe has shown that he can be
ruthless, and his reputation has greatly
influenced how some people respond
to opposition political programmes,"
Makumbe said.
In the last seven
years, Mugabe has deployed the army and riot-control
police to crush almost
every street protest or demonstration, and his
government buttressed its
tough-approach reputation when it swooped on a
small group of women political
activists who tried to distribute roses on
Valentine's Day.
In the run-up
to general parliamentary and presidential elections in 2000
and 2002,
Mugabe's war veteran supporters and militant members of his
ZANU-PF party,
commonly known as "green bombers," waged a violent campaign
against
Tsvangirai's MDC and led the invasion of white-owned farms which
have now
been nationalised and redistributed to blacks.
Mugabe -- 81 and in power
since independence from Britain in 1980 -- has
vowed that he will never allow
Tsvangirai to topple him through street
protests.
The government has
charged the MDC leader with treason twice in the last
five years including a
charge of trying to organise a mass "final push"
march against the veteran
president.
Tsvangirai began his walk-to-work three weeks ago with half a
dozen
bodyguards and MDC officials. Numbers have swelled to about 50 but
analysts
say it is unlikely to trigger mass action.
Zimbabwe is struggling
with an economic crisis manifesting itself in severe
food, fuel and foreign
currency shortages, unemployment at around 75
percent, rising poverty and one
of the world's highest inflation rates.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights
Reserved.