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Incidents of vote-buying, promises of food for votes, as well as
violence and
intimidation had been reported to the government-appointed
Electoral
Supervisory Commission. However, ESC officials said they had "seen
nothing
amiss".
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai blamed the low turnout on the
country's
economic crisis.
"People are busy looking for money
and food," he said, referring to
huge queues that snake around the capital as
desperate Zimbabweans try to
draw money from banks.
The Southern
African Development Community-funded Fewsnet
organisation, which monitors
food security in Southern Africa, said hunger
had spread to Zimbabwe's urban
centres.
"Price controls have failed to arrest increases and
protect the poor
from ever-escalating prices," said a Fewsnet report. -
Independent Foreign
Service
VOA
Zimbabwe Parties Split Parliamentary By-Election Results
VOA
News
02 Sep 2003, 00:46 UTC
Zimbabwe's ruling and main opposition
parties have split two parliamentary
by-elections after a vote marked by low
voter turnout and reports of voter
intimidation.
State media said
early Tuesday the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
retained its seat
in Central Harare, the capital in Saturday's and Sunday's
election. Harare
and other major cities are considered MDC strongholds.
Meanwhile, the
ruling ZANU-PF successfully defended its seat in rural
Makonde district,
northwest of the capital.
Final results are still expected Tuesday for
mayoral and local council
results in 16 municipalities across the country,
including Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second-largest city.
But election
officials said voter turnout was low nationwide, and only 11
percent in
Harare.
MDC officials have accused government supporters of voter
intimidation and
vote-buying. Opposition spokesmen also said unidentified
assailants had
pelted the car of an MDC official with stones on
Saturday.
But state election officials said the allegations were
exaggerated.
The council voting and parliamentary by-elections come as
Zimbabwe suffers
its worst economic and political crisis since independence
in 1980.
Inflation has soared to record highs and residents face daily
shortages of
food, fuel and cash.
The opposition has blamed President
Mugabe's policies for the economic
crisis, a charge the president has
denied.
The Herald
State directs schools to accept travellers’
cheques
Herald Reporter
THE Government yesterday directed all schools
to accept travellers’ cheques
as a legal tender for payment of school fees
and levies.
In a statement yesterday, the secretary for Education, Sport
and Culture, Dr
Thompson Tsodzo, said schools should accept travellers’
cheques because of
the shortage of cash.
"Travellers’ cheques are
legal tender and can be used for all payments
within Zimbabwe including
school fees. The Ministry of Education, Sport and
Culture is requesting all
schools to accept Zimbabwe Local Travellers
Cheques for payment of fees and
other related expenses," Dr Tsodzo said in
the statement.
He said
travellers’ cheque holders should countersign the cheques in the
presence of
a school agent and the signatures should match.
The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe introduced local travellers’ cheques last month
to mitigate the
acute cash shortages that hit the country in the last
three
months.
The cheques are in denominations of $1 000, $5 000, $10
000, $20 000, $50
000 and $100 000.
To distinguish genuine cheques
from counterfeits, one must check the
security features, which include the
embedded bird watermark, the embedded
vertical security thread and the
fluorescent ink which is visible when
viewed under ultraviolet light.
The Herald
RBZ unveils new notes
Herald Reporter
THE Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe yesterday unveiled the new $500 and $1 000 bank
notes to be
introduced at the end of this month and the beginning of next
month
respectively.
The new $500 notes will be in circulation on September 26
while the $1 000
note would be available on October 1.
Central bank
officials said the introduction of the new notes would see $2,5
billion of
each denomination being injected into the market daily.
"Technology to
print the notes locally is available, and the whole supply of
the $500 note
will be met through local production. However, for purely
logistical reasons,
part of the quantity of the $1 000 note needed is being
printed outside the
country to ensure speedy availability of the note," the
official
said.
The official said daily injections of $2,5 billion would continue
until
December when it is hoped that the situation would have
improved.
Once the situation improves, the official said, all the money
would be
printed locally.
"The reasons that we are printing money
outside is because we want to
increase our capacity ahead of the introduction
of the notes and when
everything is stable then we will review the
situation," he said.
Changes in the bank note situation in the market
were expected to start
showing towards the end of November.
"We hope
that by then the situation would have normalised but if not, then
other
measures would be taken to try and arrest the situation," he said.
The
new measures were expected to assist the central bank monitor the
cash
situation in the country.
"Close observation of cash movements
will allow the bank to respond quickly
and provide solutions that are in line
with national expectations," he said.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has
been battling to contain the bank note
shortages in the country which started
about three months ago.
The bank has introduced several measures to help
solve the cash problems in
the country.
Some of the measures
introduced include the injection of $24 billion in $500
notes and the
introduction of local travellers’ cheques which come in
denominations of $1
000, $5 000, $20 000 and $100 000.
The central bank has also been
encouraging people to use plastic money and
cheques.
The use of
cheques, debit and credit cards and point of sale points in
retail outlets
has increased significantly in recent weeks due to the bank
note
crisis.
Point of Sale operations have increased from 5 000 transactions
valued at
$20 million daily to 17 000 transactions valued at $110 million
daily.
In respect of cheques, a total of 144 838 328 cheques worth $2 390
trillion
were issued in the year 2000 before declining 17 410 927 cheques
worth $6
015 trillion in 2001 and 17 322 712 worth $14 080 trillion in
2002.
This year alone 12 605 794 cheques amounting to $24,8 billion were
issued
between January and August 14. The Minister of Finance and
Economic
Development, Dr Herbert Murerwa, recently announced that the old
$500 bill
would be phased out within 60 days.
This resulted in
billions of dollars in $500 notes which are being held
outside the country,
being repatriated back to the country, although some
traders outside the
country have adopted a wait and see attitude and
continued to hold on to
their notes.
The Herald
Cash crisis continues to worsen
Herald Reporter
THE
cash crisis continues to worsen in Harare with queues at banks getting
longer
and some people failing to report for work owing to lack of funds.
As
early as 7am on Saturday and yesterday morning, long queues could be
seen
winding around buildings housing banks in the city and industrial
areas.
To while up time, some people could be seen reading books and
knitting while
mothers breastfed their babies.
People who spoke to The
Herald said they had no choice but to queue at the
banks everyday to get cash
for everyday use.
Mr Tichaona Mbasi of Kambuzuma said even his employer
understood that he
needed some hours to go to the bank everyday.
"My
boss knows that I have to queue for a number of days for me to get
enough
money to meet my bills and buy groceries for my family.
"I feel sorry for
those who are not able to get time off from work to queue
for their money
because it means they will starve while their money is in
the bank," he
said.
Banks are giving amounts ranging from $5 000 to $20 000 a
day.
A teller with a local building society said the situation was
getting more
and more desperate as people ran out of cash.
"When the
bank notes shortage first surfaced, the queues used to be very
long only at
the end of the month but nowadays there is a long queue every
single day of
the month.
"Sometimes people cry after failing to get money after
spending the whole
day in queues and it breaks our hearts but there is
nothing we can do," said
the teller.
Some people said they had since
stopped reporting for work owing to the cash
crisis.
They said they
had run out of bus fare and wanted time to queue for cash at
the
bank.
Bank cheques and travellers’ cheques, which members of the public
have been
using as an alternative to cash in past months were not readily
available at
some building societies yesterday while people had to queue for
them at
others.
A check at shops that offer credit terms showed that
people were settling
their accounts late, which resulted in many of them
having to pay interests.
"People are failing to pay their installments on
time as a result of the
cash crisis and as a result end up paying interests,
which is sad
considering that their situation is a desperate one already,"
said a
salesperson with one furniture shop.
Efforts to get a comment
from the president of the Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe, Mr Gerry Tsodzai,
on what steps were being taken to address the
deteriorating situation were
fruitless as he was said to be in a meeting.
While the cash shortages
persist, prices for most basic commodities went up
by as much as 200 percent
in the last two weeks.
News24
Queuing to get out of Zim
01/09/2003 22:15 -
(SA)
Kodzevu Sithole, Media24 Africa Service
Harare - People
who are desperate for visas for Britain spend the night on
the pavement in
front of the British High Commission's office - a sign of
the gravity of the
situation in Zimbabwe.
More than 17 000 people applied for visas since
the beginning of the year,
Sophie Honey, spokesperson for the High
Commissioner, said.
"About 70% of these applications are successful," she
said.
Last week, the High Commissioner ordered a security guard to remove
the
people from the pavement, as he didn't want them sleeping
there.
Riot police were called in when the applicants refused to
budge.
"When police arrived, some people ran away in fear, but they
later
returned," said John Maarombwe, a security guard.
People
apparently start queuing at 19:00 with their bags and blankets.
Godknows
Mbiriri of Rusape said he has been sleeping in front of the High
Commission
offices for nearly a week because he wants to escape the poverty
and hardship
in Zimbabwe.
"The first time I made it to the front of the queue, they
sent me away
because I did not have the correct documents. The next two days,
the queue
was simply too long, but hopefully tomorrow will be my lucky day,"
Mbiriri
said on Sunday.
Daily News
MDC routs ZANU PF
THE opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) party yesterday
took a strong lead in urban
council elections winning 96 seats while the
ruling ZANU PF had won 70 seats
by the time of going to print last night.
The MDC, which has
its strongholds in urban centres that have borne
the brunt of Zimbabwe’s
worst economic crisis since independence in 1980,
had also grabbed three of
the four mayoral seats in poll results out last
night.
The
opposition party also retained the Harare Central parliamentary
seat with its
candidate, Murisi Zwizwai, polling 2 707 against 1 304 votes
for ZANU PF’s
William Nhara.
Votes were still being counted in the remaining
54 council wards but
Daily News crews at counting centres reported that
indications were that the
MDC would win most of the outstanding seats to
consolidate its foothold in
urban areas.
Results were also
still pending for the parliamentary by-election in
rural Makonde constituency
where ZANU PF’s candidate, Kindness Paradza, was
expected to romp to an easy
victory to keep the seat for President Robert
Mugabe’s
party.
The 30 and 31 August urban council and mayoral elections
were marked
by poor voter turn-out which political analysts had said could
work to the
advantage of ZANU PF which has a smaller but more loyalist
support base.
The ruling party’s spokesman, Nathan Shamuyarira,
last night could not
be reached for comment on his party’s early
performance.
MDC elections director Remus Makuwaza said the
impressive showing by
his party in the local government elections was an
indication urban voters
approved of the party’s management in the five towns,
including Harare, that
it already controlled before last weekend’s
election.
Makuwaza said: "The people have shown that they have
confidence in the
MDC’s ability to govern. The results must send a clear
warning to (Local
Government Minister Ignatius) Chombo that the people are
quite clear on
which party they want to govern them."
Chombo
has clashed with the MDC-dominated Harare City Council over
control of the
politically important capital city. Formed in 1999 by
Zimbabwe’s workers
disgruntled by plummeting living conditions, the MDC has
defeated ZANU PF in
most urban elections.
In Zimbabwe’s second largest city of
Bulawayo the MDC romped home to
victory yesterday, sweeping all the 27
council seats that were up for grabs.
The MDC also took control of Zimbabwe’s
oldest city of Masvingo, winning
eight of the 10 seats that were contested.
The remaining two seats went to
ZANU PF in Masvingo.
The
opposition party maintained its strong showing in the southern
Matabeleland
region, winning the Gwanda mayorship and six out of the town’s
nine
wards.
The MDC’s Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla polled 1 609 votes to
beat ZANU PF’s
Rido Mpofu who got 1 034 votes in the race for Gwanda’s top
job.
In the resort town of Victoria Falls, MDC mayoral
candidate Wesley
Sansole polled 1 657 while Cynthia Khumalo of ZANU PF
received 1 027 votes.
The opposition party also won eight wards while ZANU PF
took three.
In Hwange, the MDC won five wards to the ruling
party’s two. In the
mining town of Zvishavane, the two parties shared five
wards each.
In Kariba, John Rolland Houghton of the MDC became
Zimbabwe’s first
white executive mayor after defeating ZANU PF’s Petros Maya
by 1 999 votes
to 1 666.
By the time of going to print last
night, the MDC had won seven of the
nine wards in Redcliff to ZANU PF’s one,
while in Mutare it had won nine
seats compared to ZANU PF’s two. Counting of
votes in seven wards was still
in progress in Mutare and
Redcliff.
In Gweru counting was still going on, but early
reports showed the
opposition party had won seven seats while ZANU PF had
taken one. Nine more
wards were still to be counted in
Gweru.
The MDC had won 19 wards in Chitungwiza city while ZANU
PF had won
five seats. Counting was still in progress in the remaining four
wards.
The ruling party won all the 12 wards in Shurugwi at
stake and took
all the contested six seats in Marondera where five MDC
candidates were
barred from filing papers to the nomination court in July. In
Ruwa, the
ruling party won five wards and the MDC won two while in Norton
ZANU PF
grabbed nine wards to the MDC’s three.
In Kwekwe, ZANU
PF’s Stanford Bonyongwa polled 9 490 votes and the MDC
’s Henry Madzorera
received 7 414. The ruling party grabbed 14 wards in the
city while the
opposition won two. Kwekwe becomes the only major town with a
ZANU PF
executive mayor. Staff Reporters
Daily News
Houghton is Zimbabwe’s first white executive
mayor
THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party’s
John
Rolland Houghton became Zimbabwe’s first ever white executive
mayor
yesterday after he defeated the ruling ZANU PF’s Petros Maya to become
the
mayor of the resort town of Kariba.
Kariba, 365
kilometres north-west of Harare, is located in President
Robert Mugabe’s
Mashonaland West home province. Mugabe is accused of
orchestrating an
anti-white campaign to sway Zimbabweans’ attention away
from an acute
economic and food crisis blamed on his policies.
Houghton, 57,
defied the odds to poll 1 999 votes against Maya’s 1
666.
Kariba, a major international tourist destination before Mugabe’s
seizure of
white-owned private farms scared away visitors from the country,
will also be
run by an MDC-dominated council after the opposition party’s
candidates won
six out of the town’s nine wards.
An electrician by profession,
Houghton said he would work towards the
revival of Kariba as a prime
international tourist destination.
"I know that there will be
problems to expect from a certain
government official but I am a Christian
and I know that my God is more
powerful than any force," he
said.
However, while Kariba overwhelmingly voted for the
opposition, the
rest of Mashonaland West stood solidly behind Mugabe’s ZANU
PF party.
In Norton, just 40 km west of Harare, Zanu PF
maintained its grip on
power after it won nine wards against the MDC’s
three.
In Kadoma, also in Mashonaland West, ZANU PF had won 10
out of 15
wards by last night. Counting in the remaining five wards was still
in
progress by the time of going to print.
In Chegutu, not
far from Kadoma, elections did not even take place
after suspected ZANU PF
militias prevented MDC candidates from submitting
their nomination papers to
the nomination court.
And in Karoi town, about 200 km south of
Kariba, all the five MDC
candidates lost the elections.
From Foster Dongozi in Mashonaland West
Daily News
Lawsuit threat forces police to return seized
cash
THE government last week agreed to return nearly $10 million
it had
seized from five Harare residents, while the High Court in
Bulawayo
yesterday gave the state up to Thursday to reach a settlement with
foreign
currency dealers suing it after their money was seized by the
police.
The government, grappling with an unprecedented
shortage of bank
notes, has launched a crackdown against people suspected of
hoarding cash.
But legal experts, human rights groups and
ordinary Zimbabweans have
complained against what they say are high-handed
and arbitrary arrests by
police and state officials who are seizing cash from
people, even those
holding less than the $5 million maximum Zimbabweans are
permitted to hold
in cash under a controversial new law gazetted last
month.
The state backtracked to reach an out of court
settlement under which
it agreed to return the about $10 million to Precious
Nyakujara, Ivy
Gwishiri, John Mukorera and two others on condition that the
Harare informal
traders withdrew an urgent application the had filed with the
High Court to
recover their money.
In the application filed
last week, the traders had cited Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and a
Chief Superintendent Murwira, who is in
charge of police in Harare, as the
respondents.
Harare lawyer Charles Selemani, who was
representing the five traders,
yesterday told the Daily News: "The matter had
been set for hearing on 27
August but AG (Attorney-General)’s Office
negotiated that we withdraw the
case and get the money
back."
Selemani had argued in papers submitted to the court
that the police’s
action in arresting his clients, some who were carrying
amounts of money
much less than $5 million was arbitrary and
malicious.
"The police operation was arbitrary, unreasonable
and not in
accordance with due process, activated by malice and not pursuant
to any
known law that prohibits the carrying of large sums of cash," Selemani
wrote
in papers filed with the court.
The police have gone
on a blitz since storming business and conducting
spot-searches in a bid that
economists, however, say will fail to stop the
hoarding of cash or restore
confidence in the country’s troubled banking
sector.
In an
affidavit to the court, one of Harare informal traders,
Nyakujara, recounted
how she was at a public bus terminus where she intended
to board a bus to
Chinhoyi.
Nyakujara, a self-employed dressmaker, said the
police seized from her
$2.2 million which she had wanted to use to buy cloth
for her business.
But the police, in a surprise turn of events
instead charged under a
by-law which forbids obstructing pavements and
sidewalks.
Gwishiri, who runs a commodity broking, knitting and
sewing
enterprise, said she was stopped at the intersection of Harare’s
Enterprise
and Robert Mugabe roads by police officers who searched her bag
and found $1
274 500.
The police took her to Harare Central
Police Station where they
charged her for obstructing pavements and sidewalks
and confiscated her
money.
Mukorera, a trucker, said he was
stopped by five police officers along
George Silundika Avenue in the capital
city.
The police officers seized $2.3 million which he said he
wanted to use
to buy truck tyres.
In Zimbabwe’s second
largest city of Bulawayo, lawyers representing
informal foreign currency
dealers yesterday filed an urgent chamber appeal
in the Bulawayo High Court
seeking the court to order the police to return
money seized from their
clients.
But the court deferred hearing the matter to Thursday
to give both
parties a chance to reach an out-of-court
settlement.
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Chihuri and
another senior police
official, were cited as respondents.
Although only four foreign currency dealers have so far challenged
the
seizure of their money by the police, several hundreds more have lost
their
money to the law enforcement agency and more are expected to come
forward to
sue for compensation.
Meanwhile, the police on Friday
raided the Harare offices of the
country’s biggest fast-food chain, Innscor
Africa Limited, and confiscated
about $30 million. Innscor’s marketing
director, Mayor Mangeya, yesterday
denied any knowledge of the raid. "I am
not aware of any money which was
confiscated by the police," he said. But
police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
confirmed the law enforcement agency had
raided the fast-food chain, warning
that the crackdown against foreign
currency dealers would be intensified in
the weeks ahead. Bvudzijena said:
"The money is now at the Reserve Bank and
police will soon prosecute all
defaulters. It is not limited to Innscor
only. We will be intensifying the
raids on these traders to make sure that
they deposit their money with banks
as required by the law. It is an ongoing
exercise and we have already have
our targets." Zimbabwe has been
experiencing severe shortages of bank notes
that have been blamed on the
lack of foreign currency to import special ink
and paper needed to print
money. Staff Reporters
Daily News
‘Ex-GMB chief in furniture scandal’
A
PROPERTY manager at the troubled Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
yesterday told
the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday that former GMB chief
executive
officer, Martin Muchero, connived with a local furniture supplier
to flout
company procurement rules, when he allegedly bought furniture for
his office
and home on a GMB account.
Muchero is accused of conniving with
Lastworth Kadirire of furniture
firm Harare Global Systems (HGS) to charge on
a GMB invoice for furniture
supplied by HGS for Muchero’s office at the
parastatal and to his home.
The GMB lost $115 000 because of
the fraudulent transaction five years
ago.
Herbert Mutsotso,
who has since been suspended as property manager for
the GMB, said under the
parastatal’s procurement procedures, a goods
received voucher (GRV) should
have been raised for the furniture in
question.
The GRV
would show name of the supplier, serial numbers for the
furniture, date when
the furniture was received and the name of the person
who received the goods
at the GMB.
No GRV was raised for the furniture supplied to the
GMB by Kadirire,
according to Mutsotso.
He further alleged
Kadirire approached him and told him that he was
the one who was going to
supply the furniture for Muchero’s office, although
the GMB had already
selected someone else to supply the same office
equipment.
Mutsotso told the court that under the GMB’s procurement rules, before
the
furniture could be supplied an order for the goods had to be made and
copied
to the parastatal’s accounts department, asset controller, area
manager and
the supplier for approval.
He said: "I was surprised when
Kadirire approached me and told me that
he was going to supply us with
furniture when all the relevant departments
were not aware of
this.
"What even surprised me also is that the parastatal had
identified its
own supplier who is not Kadirire, but I do not know what
transpired
thereafter."
Mutsotso said Muchero knew very well
that he was flouting procurement
procedures because he approached him and
asked him not to make two separate
invoices for his household furniture and
the boardroom furniture.
"Muchero actually told me that
Kadirire would supply the boardroom
furniture as well as his household
furniture, but this had to be recorded on
one invoice.
"This
means GMB had to pay for Muchero’s household furniture and the
boardroom
furniture," Mutsotso said.
However, Muchero’s lawyer, Jonathan
Samkange, dismissed Mutsotso’s
claims as false, saying that his client was
away in Europe during the time
the alleged offence was
committed.
The trial continues today.
Court Reporter
Daily News
Matopos’ heritage status under threat
BULAWAYO – The Matopos National Park’s world heritage status is in
jeopardy
because
of increased poaching, it was learnt this week, as it
emerged that
funding for the world heritage site could be delayed because of
failure to
submit a management plan to the United Nations’ Education,
Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The park was
awarded world heritage status earlier this year by
UNESCO, which provides
funding to world heritage sites, but only after
receiving management
plans.
Park officials told the Daily News that poaching had
risen
significantly in the past seven months, with poachers tearing down a
large
section of the perimeter game fence and snaring
animals.
They said officials from the Matopos National Park had
last Friday
held an emergency meeting in Bulawayo with representatives of the
tourism
industry, the police and members of the Bulawayo Publicity
Association to
map out strategies for combating increased
poaching.
The officials said the Matopos, located south-west of
Bulawayo, could
lose its world heritage status because of the
poaching.
It also emerged that the Rhodes-Matopo Park Committee
had failed to
submit a management plan for the Matopo Hills, which is crucial
for the
release of funding from UNESCO.
It could not be
established yesterday how much funding the park
requires because the
management plan is not yet availableDescribing the
situation at the park as
"hectic", Matopos National Park game warden Moses
Gomwe said poaching
activities had been on the rise since February, with
scouts unable to
adequately patrol the park.
The UNESCO funding would enable the
Matopos, which has been hit by
staff deaths and resignations, to recruit more
scouts to patrol the park and
reduce poaching. Gomwe said the poaching crisis
had been worsened by the
relatively lenient penalties and jail terms imposed
on poachers.
"The crisis at the park needs the assistance of
all stakeholders
because National Parks alone cannot combat or correct the
situation. The
statistics indicate a sharp rise in poaching activities, as
the game fence
is virtually non-existent along stretches of the perimeter,"
Gomwe told the
Daily News.
"The penalties against poachers
and trespassers are not deterrent
enough, and the magistrates can only work
within the limits of the law."
Senior tourism officials said
the Matopos game fence had "totally
collapsed", enabling gangs of poachers
and trespassers to easily enter large
sections of the park to hunt, mostly
for commercial purposes.
Tourism operators have set up a fund
to provide incentives to game
scouts to capture poachers and reward villagers
for information about
poachers.
Figures made available
during the Friday meeting indicate that in
January, park officials
apprehended two poachers hunting with dogs, who
killed two kudus. In the same
month, two juveniles were caught with wire
snares within the
park.
In February, seven people were arrested while poaching
with dogs or
trespassing within the park, while in April, five were caught
illegally
chopping down trees.
The illegal activities
intensified last month, when two people were
caught snaring animals, two were
apprehended fishing illegally and nine were
caught cutting
wood.
Another two people were caught illegally cutting grass.
The increase in poaching is partly attributed to
drought, which has
led to the death of more than 100 000 cattle in
Matabeleland province,
worsening food insecurity. A large number of villagers
are already dependent
on food aid for survival.
Own
Correspondent
Daily News
Voter turnout a national disgrace
ZIMBABWEANS should be deeply ashamed of the apathy that affected
voter
turnout for the urban council polls and parliamentary by-elections
held
during the weekend.
In many areas, voter turnout was lower than
30 percent on both
Saturday and Sunday. This despite daily complaints from
the people of this
country about their miserable lives, which they believe
can only improve if
there is political change in Zimbabwe.
But given the chance to participate in improving their lot – even if
it was
only at council level – Zimbabweans once again proved that they can
talk the
talk, but they are incapable or cannot be bothered to walk
their
talk.
No doubt many potential voters will argue that
they could not take
time out to cast their ballots because they were too
engrossed in
"bread-and-butter issues".
Chief among these
"bread-and-butter" concerns were no doubt the severe
shortages of food, cash
and fuel that are affecting individuals and
businesses
alike.
It is certainly likely that many potential voters around
the country
spent most of Saturday hunting for scarce foodstuffs and queueing
for cash
at banks, where people are lining up as early as 1 am so that they
can be
given a measly $5 000 each that does not even begin to meet a fraction
of
their needs.
But it is disturbing that on Sunday, when
all banks and most shops
were closed, voter turnout at most polling stations
around the country was
lower than it was on Saturday.
No one
can argue that Zimbabweans are enduring unprecedented suffering
because of
the country’s worsening economic crisis. Basic commodities are in
short
supply, and where they are available, they are unaffordable for
most
people.
The survival of many companies is precarious at
best and unemployment
and poverty levels are at their highest in the history
of this country.
Wages have not kept pace with inflation in the past four
years and most
people cannot even access their money anyway because of
shortages of
Zimbabwe dollar bank notes of all things.
No
one living in this country is a stranger to these facts. But it
would seem
that a large number of Zimbabweans cannot or are unwilling to
appreciate that
it is specifically when things are so bad that they need to
come out in their
millions to exercise their right to vote.
Choosing the people
they want to represent them, be it at municipality
or parliamentary level, is
one sure way of ensuring that something is done
about the bread-and-butter
issues that have become such a weight around
their necks.
Clearly, short of an armed rebellion or a spontaneous mass uprising,
voting
is the only way to bring about political change without plunging the
country
into even more chaos and anarchy.
It is unacceptable that so
many people still seem to believe that they
can go about their normal
business in an increasingly abnormal environment,
while others go to the
trouble and take the risk of trying to change things
for the rest of
us.
Zimbabweans need to realise that no one – not the MDC, the
African
Union, South Africa or George W Bush – can do for us what we are not
willing
to do for ourselves. The MDC, which so many people seem to be banking
on,
cannot single-handedly bring change to this country.
Zimbabweans have to be ready and willing to help themselves. Part of
this
readiness means being willing to sacrifice just one day of queueing for
cash
or searching for their next meal to go to the polling stations and wait
for
however long it takes to cast their votes.
Sitting at home and
complaining behind closed doors will make a
difference to no one, but a
single vote is priceless.
It is time Zimbabweans began to
exercise this right, a right that so
many of this nation’s fallen heroes died
to win for them.
Daily News
Neighbours to blame for refugee influx
I
HAVE not yet met Michael Gaborone, although I legally spent about
25 days in
his constituency. If I had known, I would have walked across to
visit and to
talk a little since I lived less than a kilometre away.
Gaborone is a traditional leader in Botswana and he is one angry
man.
According to a local government daily, Michael, a chief, has a seat in
the
House of Chiefs which would be equivalent to our ludicrous Chiefs’
Council
that boasts the likes of Chief Mangwende, Fortune Charumbira and
others. But
Michael is in Botswana and he is virulent. That got my
attention.
Chief Gaborone declared he had a mandate to protect
his people from
Zimbabweans.
He charged that because of
Zimbabweans, Tswanas can no longer travel
freely at night.
He alleged that because of Zimbabweans, Tswana children cannot go to
school
(I don’t know why). He asserted that Tswana parents could no longer
send
their children on errands because they fear Zimbabweans.
When I
checked my thesaurus word finder, I discovered that a more
diplomatic word
for "stupid" is not "brainless" or "half-witted" but
"naive". Chief Gaborone
is naive. He is naive enough to blame Zimbabweans in
Botswana for the
frequent outbreaks of the bovine foot-and-mouth disease. He
revealed that
Zimbabweans are responsible for the rising crime rate in
his
country.
He declared that Zimbabweans were to blame for
Botswana’s high
HIV/AIDS rate.
These unfortunate outbursts
are really not Chief Gaborone’s fault.
They are not even his problem as he
appears to think. But he has an
advantage because he sits in the House of
Chiefs, which I believe offers him
a platform in Botswana to contribute to
the shaping of important
legislation. He must use that
avenue.
The heart of the matter is that Botswana is now being
affected and is
about to be overpowered by world events. Botswana is
awakening, albeit
slowly, to the pressures that African leaders inflict upon
the continent. We
were there ourselves and I do remember how scornful people
used to be
towards Mozambicans, Zambians, Malawians and others. We thought we
were a
better country than most of our neighbours. But Botswana has now
entered the
relay race, which they do not know has always been run backwards.
It is a
new experience for them and xenophobia is a road marker along this
route.
But if President Festus Mogae looks the other way while
Zimbabweans
are being chased across the border into Botswana, then the Tswana
should not
complain. Chief Gaborone should protect his compatriots by making
his
government tighten its attitude towards a misbehaving
neighbour.
Our neighbours will not be able to enjoy their
freedom, economic or
otherwise, as long as Zimbabwe or any other neighbour is
not free.
For years, we in Zimbabwe could hardly enjoy our
independence because
South Africans next door to us were not free. Not long
ago, we were hosts to
refugees from neighbouring countries. When these
refugees found it conducive
to return to their countries, we followed them
there to become refugees
ourselves.
I appreciate Mogae’s
conduct because he does not willingly hinder our
efforts to normalise the
situation in our country like the infamous
President Thabo Mbeki. True, Mogae
could do a little more for us if he
wanted, but like other African leaders,
he hesitates and then turns away as
if the problem will solve
itself.
In my previous writings, I bemoan that President
Mugabe’s wayward
presidency, his penchant for violence, economic
mismanagement and human
rights violations affect not only us Zimbabweans but
also the entire region.
The presidents from Southern African Development
Community countries,
including Botswana, choose to pamper and stick with a
man who has ruined the
economy and whose government continues to abuse its
own people.
Earlier on, when I said it is not Gaborone’s
problem, I meant that it
is a regional problem. The regional leaders allowed
Mugabe to destroy this
country and now the people have nowhere to go except
to seek refuge in
neighbouring countries.
What Botswana is
experiencing are the ripple effects of Mugabe’s
failures, which continue to
be protected by the same people who are now
complaining. The instability in
Zimbabwe is affecting the whole region; this
is what people like Prime
Ministers Tony Blair and John Howard and President
George W Bush have been
point outing.
Now our neighbours are complaining but, at the
same time, they stick
together in support of despots in an injurious,
unrewarding and destructive
solidarity. If our regional leaders had taken a
preventive stand, we would
never have been in this position.
Why should Howard or Blair champion our causes when our local leaders
ignore
the suffering of the people in the region? The entire situation could
change
instantly if African leaders wanted it to change. For example, how
many
minutes could Mugabe and his violent and scheming comedians last if
Mbeki
closed the Beitbridge border?
Yet they invoke racism,
colonialism and anti-African sentiments
whenever non-Africans try to help
us.
If real and proper sanctions had been imposed, this
situation could
have been remedied a long time ago. But now, our
self-inflicted wounds are
worse than sanctions and the region, which could
have been spared, is paying
heavily. We continue to suffer.
The
country continues to deteriorate. Mugabe and associates continue
to thumb
their noses at the international community and us while they enjoy
the
precious few morsels and crumbs left on the Zimbabwean plate. And as for
our
Tswana colleagues like Gaborone, they must simply wake up and realise
their
country is no longer a protectorate, that they are part of the region
and the
international community. They should accept that when someone bangs
the door
next door to them, they too will feel the tremors, however slight.
They must
accept that the rise in crime, AIDS and other ills are the
responsibility of
the region, especially when we consider that Tswanas and
South Africans have
freer movement between themselves than we have between
either one of them.
Malcontents are found in every society. There are South
African prisoners in
Botswana jails. One of them was actually hanged there a
couple of years ago.
There are Zimbabwean and Zambian prisoners there too.
Botswana should give
credit to the many Zimbabweans who are legally resident
there and who are
helping to run Botswana instead of their Zimbabwe. We have
such Zimbabweans
in South Africa, the United Kingdom and in many countries
and institutions,
including the World Bank and the United Nations. Chief
Gaborone may need to
be reminded that those illegals in Botswana are
illegally employed by the
Tswanas themselves. Botswana authorities may whip
Zimbabwean illegals, deport
them, jail them or berate them. That will not
help. What will help is to deal
with the cause of the problem and that is
Mugabe and his obstinate
government. I would have thought that living next
door to a despot would
cause Botswana to take a solid stand and make a bold
and positive move.
However, thank you Botswana, for taking care of our sons
and daughters. They
are only running away from Mugabe, who is being
protected by fellow African
presidents. If you look closely, you will notice
that Zimbabweans, legal or
illegal, are not the cause of your ills. We need
your help, Chief Gaborone.
We are in a Babel of our own and you as a
traditional African chief who has
his government’s ear have a perfect
opportunity and the means to do something
more for us Zimbabweans. Please
do. By Tanonoka Joseph Whande Tanonoka Joseph
Whande is a Zvishavane-based
writer
Daily News
It’s time to mend bridges, not egos
Zimbabwe was the only country in southern Africa that was vibrant
and
independent from South Africa.
But the dependence on South
Africa for everything is on the increase,
hence the soft diplomatic
negotiations adopted by President Thabo Mbeki, who
knows that his country
will eventually be controlling Zimbabwe’s economy.
Once
Zimbabwe’s economy cannot stand on its own, it is inevitable that
that the
gap is filled by somebody and South Africa will be the one to do
it. It does
not take a genius to know that. Just look around and see which
economy is
growing fast, whilst the Zimbabwean one is shrinking.
Zambia,
Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Angola are already
dominated by
South African products. Thus, the South African industry is
growing and
taking over the once traditional Zimbabwean export markets.
The
political game is more complex than what the ruling ZANU PF
thinks. Mbeki has
his own interests and as long as those interests are not
connected to
President Robert Mugabe’s, he won’t put his neck on the
chopping block to
assist.
Everyone is jostling for power and positions, no wonder
the ZANU PF
bigwigs are not interested in returning the country to
normality.
The gains will be lost, and that will affect their
lifestyles. It all
about status quo. Questions that cannot be forgotten
are:
- For how long will this free-fall last?
- Who
will eventually pay for the mistakes made by this
present
government?
- Will Zimbabwe continue to be ruled by one
man with all decisions
coming from Harare?
- Will Zimbabweans
continue to be peace-loving people?
- Will Mugabe, his ministers
and ZANU PF continue to treat Zimbabwe’s
common people like their personal
property?
- Will Zimbabwe ever be independent or will Pretoria be
the main
decision-maker for this country?
- Will politics remain
the main source of employment?
- Will graduates continue to leave
the country?
- Will Zimbabwe remain as one country or will there be
a civil war
soon?
- Will Mugabe remain the Life President of
Zimbabwe, ZANU PF, and the
ultimate owner of everyone and everything that is
in this country?
Those are just a few questions that cannot
just go away as long they
remain unanswered.
It is known
that corruption and greed are the breeding grounds of ZANU
PF. To remove and
change the present political system is the only way
forward for
Zimbabwe.
New checks and balances are needed to avoid another
corruption cycle
of the same civil service in another administration. A
facelift does not
change the person, just the wrinkles.
Demolition of the entire structure to foundation level, not changing
of faces
or names of management, not an overhaul but taking it to the scrap
yard,
crushing it down and starting afresh with new players, not a recycle
of the
same old dead beats, is what is needed.
Prosperity is not
stolen or earned, one is born with it. No matter how
jealous of others Mugabe
gets, one thing he should know is that a person’s
talents are not
transferable. To be marginalised does not mean inability or
incapability;
it’s just not being given the opportunity to participate in
your own
country’s affairs according to your ability.
ZANU PF and Mugabe
do not believe or want anyone else to prosper as
long as it is not one of
their own.
ZANU PF and Mugabe do not mind seeing foreigners
prosper as long as
they will benefit from it and are the only ones who will
show off to the
rest of us.
Printing more money does not
change or bring money to everyone. Roads,
water systems, housing and
businesses are all on a downturn for everyone,
except those that are
connected to ZANU PF.
The success of a country is based on the
quality of life being led by
everybody, not just a few chosen, loyal ZANU PF
supporters. Success is for
everybody, not according to where one originates
from, who is your father,
how are you related to me, did your father fight on
our side, which tribe do
you belong to? Those things will never build a
prosperous nation, no wonder
Africa is always caught up in endless wars.
Everyone is jostling for power
and position. It’s time to mend the bridges
and not your egos. N Kainga
Harare
Daily News
Zimcents no longer make much sense
Herewith a bit of useless information worked out in a moment
of
boredom.
A Zimbabwe one-cent coin weighs just on three
grammes. So, a British
£1 coin (weighing approximately 20 grammes) will buy,
at the parallel market
rate, over two tonnes of Zimcents. How’s that for
punching above your
weight.
Further to that, should you wish
to go to an average Harare restaurant
and buy a beer, you will need 450 kg of
Zimcents to pay for it.
Of interest to (do-it-yourself) DIY
enthusiasts, a Zimcent coin,
suitably drilled, is one five-hundredth of the
price of a 6 mm copper
washer.
Can you imagine!
This naturally leads to the delightful thought of
paying your taxes in
Zimcents.
Working out the length of a
column of lorries carrying these cents is
a straightforward, if astronomical,
mathematical exercise.
However, when I tried to factor in the
cost of the diesel and tyres
used by these lorries, and the resulting excise
duties payable to the
government, my normally reliable calculator decided
that its batteries had
been tortured enough for one day.
Maybe the next generation of computers will be able to work this
one
out.
As my daughter dryly remarked, I really must have been bored.
Sandy Douglas
Harare
Daily News
Mbeki’s bizarre collective punishment
MANY Zimbabweans seem puzzled by President Thabo Mbeki’s
softly-softly
approach to the Zimbabwean political crisis and the economic
decay
accompanying it.
Pius Wakatama, my dear friend, made this
observation last week, which
made me reflect. Thanks, Pius!
The only way I have come to understand the Mbeki inaction is that we
have to
look at the history of the two political parties: ZANU PF and
African
National Congress (ANC).
In the early eighties, soon after
Zimbabwe’s independence, I met Mbeki
several times in Harare. He was then the
ANC chief for international
relations. He always looked tense but always gave
you his well-rehearsed
diplomatic smile.
In Lusaka he was
more relaxed when he talked to writers and cultural
workers visiting
there.
Mbeki’s mission to Zimbabwe was an attempt to persuade the
Mugabe
government to recognise the ANC officially in order for them to open
offices
in Harare. Mugabe, as I understand it, was refusing.
The reason for this refusal was that the Mugabe government had
already
recognised the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) soon after
1980.
The Organisation of African Unity had made a resolution
years before
that obliged African countries to recognise only one liberation
movement.
The Mugabe regime chose the PAC.
The history of
this recognition was based on the common histories of
the two parties: ZANU
PF and the PAC. ZANU, without the PF, broke away from
the then Zimbabwe
African People’s Union (ZAPU). And, of course, they staged
a coup against
their leader Ndabaningi Sithole later, which was also
another
breakaway.
The PAC, on the other hand, had also broken away from the ANC.
PAC and ZANU PF became allies, and
the ANC became an ally of ZAPU. PAC
and ZANU had their fighters trained in
China under the communistic
philosophy of Comrade Mao.
ANC
and ZAPU had their fighters trained in the Soviet Union, under the
ideology
of Marxist-Leninism as practised by Moscow and its allies.
It
was only later, and after hard political diplomacy, that the ANC
was
recognised in Zimbabwe.
And Mbeki, I suppose, was rather happy
about it, but inside him I
think he had this deep sense of being betrayed by
the Zimbabwean political
leadership as well as the ordinary
Zimbabweans.
The Shona people have a proverb for this
situation: chinokangamwa
idemo, as muti wakatemwa haukangamwi (the axe
forgets, but the tree which
was cut by the axe never
forgets).
For ordinary Zimbabweans and civil society did not
raise a finger
about their government’s behaviour.
There was
no pressure from the trade unions, teachers’ organisations,
intellectuals and
students on Mugabe to change his position towards the ANC.
The
South African elections came, and it was hoped the PAC would
achieve a huge
surprise victory just as ZANU PF had done in Zimbabwe
against
ZAPU.
All of a sudden, Mbeki, the former beggar, was
Deputy President of
Africa’s most powerful country. The wisdom of Nelson
Mandela was that if any
foreign government leaders came to see him, he always
told them to "talk to
Thabo".
My gut feeling is that the
inaction of Mbeki towards the Zimbabwean
crisis is based on this deep-seated
bitterness. This might sound like some
kind of bizarre punishment to the
people of Zimbabwe, but I wonder why Mbeki
does not do anything in the
deepening crisis of political decay and economic
collapse.
Mbeki definitely knows about the political murders, torture,
imprisonment of
Mugabe’s critics, human rights abuses, destruction of the
properties of
political opponents, and the number of political and economic
exiles flooding
his country every day. He even closes the border and tells
Zimbabweans to go
through all sorts of complicated procedures before going
to South Africa. In
the face of all that, he does not do anything. His is a
bizarre form of
collective punishment. "Let them learn to fight their own
struggles like we
did ourselves," Mbeki seems to say, wining and dining with
United States
President George W Bush. Of course, I believe he also thinks
if he is seen to
be harsh on a man (Mugabe) who projects himself as fighting
to give the land
back to the people, his own people might betray him in the
coming elections.
The bizarre punishment meted out to ordinary Zimbabweans
is costly in human
terms. But Mbeki looks the other way even when he is
equipped with the
political and economic muscle that can force Mugabe to
give up power for the
sake of the nation’s survival. Or does he expect to
abuse the South African
constitution if he is cornered in elections just as
Mugabe has been doing all
these years? Maybe he is, like Presidents Bakili
Muluzi, Sam Nujoma and
Frederick Chiluba, taking notes and learning from
Mugabe’s guide to
dictatorship! I cannot claim to know, but for sure he is
passive while our
country wastes away economically, with immense human
suffering inflicted on
the people by Mugabe’s harsh and cruel dictatorship.
To Mr Mbeki, we can only
say:look, our flowers of hope die every day and
night, but you have the
watering can to give them life again. By Chenjerai
Hove Chenjerai Hove is a
Zimbabwean writer in self-exile in Europe.
Daily News
Corrupt leaders will pay for using others as
pawns
The notorious Beitbridge war veteran henchman "Mandebvu"
Mlaudzi,
who has reportedly been responsible for the destruction of
commercial farms
in the Beitbridge district has been abandoned in court by
his ZANU PF peers.
He has been sentenced to two years’
confinement after being found
guilty of assaulting a farm manager who was
investigating the theft of
livestock from his employer’s
ranch.
As more pressure is being brought to bear against the
unpopular
political leadership in Zimbabwe, so do they ensure that they will
be
untouched by any witch-hunting when law and order is finally returned
to
this tyrannised nation.
It has been said right from the
beginning of the assault against
Zimbabwe, some three-and-a-half years ago,
that the leadership will use the
people as pawns to do their dirty work so
they can remain "clean" whilst
they ensure that they can hold on to
power.
This observation is now inevitably coming true.
Once it is all over, the leaders do not seem to be
concerned about the
fate of their followers who have so fanatically assisted
them in their
nefarious schemes. So many dreams, so many
promises.
Yet in the end, justice will prevail, and even they
will not be able
to hide from their vicarious liability.
When the truth finally comes out, thugs will face charges and
investigations
for many more assaults, murders, attempted murders, theft,
extortion,
malicious injury to property and stocktheft.
They will be made
to pay for the damages, loss of income and theft
which they will be accused
of committing against their fellow Zimbabwean
citizens.
How
is it that Zimbabweans have been so corrupted, turned against each
other and
turned a blind eye to the lawlessness and self-destruction of
their once
beautiful and peaceful nation?
Message to the
people of Zimbabwe
Fellow
Zimbabweans,
I am aware that
uncertainty, despair and despondency are causing havoc to personal lives,
personal safety and personal security for the majority of Zimbabweans. I am
aware of the anxiety and disquiet among most of you arising from this seemingly
unending political and economic crisis that has befallen our nation and society.
When the MDC
entered the political stage three years ago, many weary and drained people in
this country, then suffering from 19 years of violent misrule and lost
opportunities, thought their struggle was going to be sharp and swift.
Now that the
struggle for a better life for all is dragging on, and given the worsening
poverty at all levels, we are witnessing points of desperation among some
sections of our community. The people’s welfare and basic needs have been
sacrificed for personal greed and ambition. If anything, the condition of the
majority has worsened since 1999 – thus making the call for change even more
urgent.
Our feelings
depended on the electoral system as a vehicle for achieving change. We have
since realized over the years that elections, and elections alone, do not always
guarantee freedom and change.
Events of the
past weekend in which a significantly reduced number of people turned out to
vote show that the majority seem to have begun to lose faith in elections. They
realize that as long as the national quest for an all inclusive democratic
culture and for comprehensive political change remain an unfinished agenda the
benefits from participating in these elections can always be soiled by our
opponents. An ideal situation is one in which voting results in a total and
meaningful resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis.
However, may I
urge you to raise your heads high and soldier on. Apathy, in spite of all the
odds and the nasty experiences we have gone through, is not an option. All the
little steps we take in our quest to build a new society will add a fresh entry
to our record of victories since February 2000. We are moving fast towards the
establishment of a democratic dispensation in which justice, freedom, solidarity
and development become a life-long goal.
Your national
determination to see change in your towns and cities has become a reality. I
thank you.
In 1980, we won
our independence. But we never got our freedom. Those who assumed political
power personalized our struggle. They believe they have a monopoly over
patriotism and therefore own this nation as their private property. They created
a ruling elite in direct contrast to the ideals which guided the liberation
struggle. They continue to claim, wrongly, that only those with direct
liberation war credentials have a right to run and manage public affairs on
behalf of the state.
The tiny layer of
opportunists in our midst was groomed and nursed through a system of political
patronage, and has never been interested in a speedy resolution of the current
crisis. The reason is simple. They are benefiting from the chaos. They have a
class interest to see politics as war, to subvert public institutions, to muzzle
the media, to tamper with the judiciary and to attack, often violently, any form
of legitimate dissent. Their plan is to loot as much as they
can.
We face a regime
that is completely frozen in its tracks. The regime has no cash, no food, no
friends, no fuel and no idea of how to get out the mess it created for itself.
Against local and
international advice, the regime continues to shamble along hoping that some
miracle could win it the hearts and minds of a beleaguered nation. Only dialogue
can provide the intransigent regime with a window for
redemption.
The majority have
their strength in numbers. Use that power. Continue to exert pressure on this
regime to listen to you. Fight for your rights and push Zanu PF to the
negotiating table. And make sure that party remains on that table until the
issues haunting this country are ironed out.
On our part, we are not
prepared to recognize the electoral fraud that took place in March 2002. We are
not withdrawing legal challenge. We will fight to the bitter end until we
realize our goals. We need change. We have
never sought to take over power for the sake of merely replacing Zanu PF. We
need to put a stop, once and for all, the practice of personalising a nation and
a people in order to suit a selfish agenda.
We seek to create a society where national
values belong to all, where national dreams and aspirations are realised,
independently from the partisan interests of a group in government or in
politics at any given time. We seek a society where our national diversity and
differences are acknowledged as assets. We value a society where all forms of
intolerance are discouraged and a nation where every person is equal before the
law, regardless of his or her social station. We must accept that democratic
tolerance and good governance have no substitutes if the country is going to
position itself for sustainable development.
The MDC has always been committed to a
smooth transition to a democratic order. I am convinced that the transition to a
new order cannot be far away as the as the current situation has become totally
unsustainable.
The challenges facing the party and indeed
any new order are obviously going to be immense. The country will need a
comprehensive reconstruction and development agenda, which would need to be
underwritten by the international community. We shall require significant
amounts of humanitarian aid to address current emergencies, including food and
fuel shortages that have overwhelmed us for some time
now.
Once again, may I take this opportunity to
thank you for your resolve to realise change in
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President: Movement for Democratic
Change
FALL TO RISE, SLEEP TO
WAKE
When I woke up
this morning and thought of the thousands of Zimbabweans who confronted tyranny
with their votes this weekend I was reminded of Robert
Browning’s words:
"One who never turned his back but marched breast
forward;
Never doubted clouds would
break;
Never dreamed though right were worsted wrong would
triumph;
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight
better;
Sleep to wake."
In my mind these words epitomize the spirit of the MDC and its
courageous supporters countrywide which has been demonstrated in the stunning
urban council results. “Stunning?” some may ask. After all the MDC lost Kwe Kwe
and Kadoma and lost a few small towns in Mashonaland. Kwe Kwe and Kadoma were
both Parliamentary seats we won in 2000 and were of course seats we should have
won. That, some may argue, is hardly
stunning.
But I am elated and the events of the past few days are indeed
highly significant. If one needed any confirmation of the significance of the
results one only had to watch ZTV last night, as I did, to appreciate how
crushing these results are to ZANU (PF). The results, some of them (!), were
only announced, almost in passing, twenty minutes into the news bulletin.
Believe you me had ZANU (PF) been happy with the results they would have been
first up.
Why then is ZANU (PF) devastated and why are these results
stunning? It is because:
Last Friday
ZANU (PF) controlled every single municipality in the country save for
For all the focus in regime’s media (and to a certain extent on
the SABC) on the MDC losing ground in Kwe Kwe and Kadoma the reality is far
different. It is in fact ZANU (PF) that has lost ground. Kwe Kwe and Kadoma were
only lost (narrowly at that in terms of votes cast) because of massive doses of
violence and intimidation perpetrated by the regime. Let us not forget that the
MDC MP for Kadoma, Austin Mupandawana, died only a few weeks ago, his death a
direct result of his unlawful detention and torture by the regime in March,
which severely undermined our capacity in that town. The election in Kwe Kwe was
a total farce – even more so than the rest of the country. Our Kwe Kwe MP,
Blessing Chebundo, had his car smashed by ZANU (PF) hooligans on the first day
of the election, the voter turn out was way over the national average
(suggesting that ZANU (PF) went to extra lengths to truck people in) and
suspected MDC supporters were dragged out of voter queues by ZANU (PF) thugs.
ZANU (PF) was only able to win in Chegutu and Bindura by violently preventing
our candidates from even filling their nomination papers. In towns like
Marondera and Norton they only won through overwhelmingly pervasive
intimidation. In areas where ZANU (PF)
leaders were complacent and took their eyes off the ball they lost ground.
It is pertinent to remember that both Kariba and Zvishavane were won by ZANU
(PF) MPs in the 2000 Parliamentary elections. Kariba is now controlled outright
by the MDC and, horror of horrors, has a white MDC mayor! Zvishavane is now
jointly controlled by the MDC and ZANU (PF) who won 5 seats each. The result in
Kariba is particularly remarkable because it is in
Low voter turn
out created by apathy traditionally favours ZANU (PF) because it is
guaranteed of being able to get a hard core out to vote come what may. In this
election ZANU (PF) used war veterans and youth militia to do its campaigning in
It is important to
remember that as bad as the electoral process was in the 2000 Parliamentary
elections the process was a cakewalk then compared to now. In 2000 we did not
have the Public Order and Security Act, youth brigades, a subverted police force
and judiciary, a thoroughly manipulated voters’ roll and food shortages. In 2000
we did have international observers, far more money to campaign with, and a
relative absence of fear. Since the 2000 elections the MDC has been subjected to
an unrelenting assault – virtually every single leader has been detained, many
have faced spurious prosecutions and other forms of harassment. Hundreds of
thousands of MDC supporters have been intimidated through killings, beatings,
threats and denial of access to food. The party has been drained of resources
through having to protect the thousands of its leaders and supporters who have
had to be provided with medical care and legal representation. Thousands of
Zimbabweans who voted for the MDC in 2000 have been disenfranchised through
unconstitutional means. Thousands of “ghost” voters have been introduced to
urban constituencies to supplement the votes ZANU (PF) receives. Whilst we were
able to field candidates in every single constituency in 2000 we were unable to
do so this year through the combination of ZANU (PF) thugs preventing candidates
from getting their nomination papers in and partisan judges subverting the legal
process brazenly in favour of ZANU (PF). In other words the regime has done
everything in its power to crush the MDC and to subvert totally the electoral
process in the last three years. Despite all of that the MDC now controls every
major city and town in the country bar two!
It is for all of
these reasons that yesterday’s results are truly amazing and why I thought
Robert Browning’s words so apt. The regime has thrown everything at us. The
regime has done unspeakable things to our friends and relatives – it has
murdered, raped, tortured, assaulted, detained, spuriously prosecuted thousands
of brave Zimbabweans but it has failed. We have indeed fallen only to rise; we
have indeed slept only to wake.
I have but one final
thought which is for those responsible for perpetrating all the horror that has
befallen our beautiful nation. It comes from Edmund Burke who wrote the
following words in 1775:
“The use of force
alone is temporary. It may subdue for a moment: but
it does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not
governed, which is perpetually to be
conquered.”
The desire of
Zimbabweans for liberty is a tidal wave that cannot be stopped. The events of
this past weekend will soon swamp this brutal regime and force it to yield.
Freedom is now just around the corner.
Makorokoto, Umhlope,
Congratulations
David Coltart
MP
2nd
September 2003
Field offices coordinate and monitor humanitarian assistance |
JOHANNESBURG, 2 Sep 2003 (IRIN) - The
United Nations Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU) in Zimbabwe has been forced to
close its provincial field offices, which coordinate and monitor the use of
donor-funded humanitarian aid.
In the latest Zimbabwe Humanitarian
Situation Report released this week, the RRU said the government had requested
that its "field offices be closed from mid-August".
"The government of
Zimbabwe's position is that not all procedures for the establishment of this
field presence had been properly followed. All RRU field staff have been
recalled to Harare while negotiations proceed," the situation report
said.
It noted that "the provincial field units are mandated to provide
support to provincial and district-level coordination structures in the
humanitarian fields. They are also supposed to monitor, from an independent
perspective, assistance provided with donor resources".
A UN official
told IRIN that while the situation was not ideal, "field staff are being allowed
to go out into the field from Harare".
"Two teams left yesterday
[Monday], one to Matabeland South and the other to Midlands province. So,
although it would be better to have the staff based in the provinces, and that
is still the desire of the UN [Humanitarian] Coordinator, their work will still
be going on as planned," the official added.
Zimbabwe will have about 5.5
million people in need of food aid by January 2004. Last month the government
released a new policy directive that withdrew responsibility from the World Food
Programme (WFP) for the selection of beneficiaries and the distribution of food
aid, and replaced the agency with local government structures and village
authorities. NGOs would perform only a monitoring role.
Although the
government later gave an assurance to WFP country representative Kevin Farrell
and UN Humanitarain Coordinator Victor Angelo that WFP would remain in control
of food distributions, the directive has not been withdrawn. Critics have
protested that it opens the door to the potential politicisation of food
aid.
In the case of the RRU, which falls under the office of the
humanitarian coordinator, the situation report noted that "at all stages the RRU
and its field officers have worked in collaboration with the appropriate
government of Zimbabwe authorities at field level".
"The governors' and
provincial administrators' offices have been kept informed of all activities,
and have also invited RRU to participate in some of their activities and
programmes where appropriate."
It was therefore hoped that the closures
"are only a temporary measure while the protocols and procedures needed to carry
out field activities are regularised," the RRU said.
The Herald
(Harare)
August 30, 2003
Posted to the web September 2,
2003
Harare
CASH shortages coupled with the ever-rising cost of
living have forced many
people to change their lifestyles with some luxuries
having to be foregone
in place of the basic necessities.
While the
shortage of cash has negatively affected most people, the
imaginative and
enterprising have managed to make the quick switch to the
world of plastic
money, cheques and travellers' cheques.
"I don't need to carry cash to
survive. My life is now much simpler and I
only use money when there is
something that I really want to buy," says
22-year-old graphics designer,
Lorraine Madzinga.
She says her spending habits have drastically changed
from the days when she
used to carry cash. "Gone are the impulsive buying
tendencies such as fast
food lunches, snacks and drinks because I now carry a
packed lunch."
However, most Zimbabweans still operate in the environment
of a peasant
economy where cash is king and vital for food, transport, paying
bills and
entertainment.
Most urbanites in the high density suburbs
have to buy their basic
necessities daily such as bread, milk, relish, among
other things using cash
as they cannot afford to buy or store perishables in
bulk.
By contrast, the well-to-do can buy their groceries in bulk and
have
adequate storage facilities for perishables such as meat, milk, bread
and so
on using cheques or plastic money as most of the upmarket supermarkets
have
point of sale swipe machines and readily accept cheques.
Although
most building societies, which handle most low income workers'
banking, now
have plastic money cards, there still is a big mismatch between
facilities
offering payment by card and the amount of plastic cards owned by
these
workers. As a result most of these workers simply use their cards for
cash
withdrawals at Automated Teller Machines instead of point of
sale
transactions.
The plastic card revolution is still to have any
real meaningful effect on
this social sector.
The result of bank notes
shortage has been such that in certain instances
some families have had to
forego things such as little toilet paper,
newspapers and other things that
require cash which they now preserve for
essentials.
"We have to
choose between buying toilet paper or food, the cash we get from
the banks is
not enough for both," said a Highfield woman.
Parents have become strict
with such commodities like toothpaste and lecture
their children on how to
save.
People wait for hours on end at banks and at other cash dispensing
points
and production hours in industries have been cut by almost half as
people
wait for cash.
"But you are not guaranteed to get the cash and
at times you wait for up to
eight hours to get five thousand dollars which is
not enough to cover your
needs," said Mr James Mufore.
A barman with a
city nightclub said clubbing was slowly dying as most people
now kept their
cash for essential things or other emergencies that might
occur in the
home.
"Once in a while, yes, you get crowds in the bar but they start
moving out
at around eight and by 10pm it is just me and the waiters without
any
customers," said the barman.
Many people that had abandoned opaque
beer have now gone back to their roots
and the "cabinets" of yesteryear when
people used to gather around mugs of
beer are around again.
In the
beer-drinking circles, cash shortages have transformed drinking
into
"co-operatives" and sharing of alcoholic beverages is now
common.
People have also changed from beer to spirits in a new drinking
revolution.
The motorists have been the worst hit by the shortage of cash
since most
fuel dealers do not respect travellers' cheques introduced to
mitigate cash
shortages.
Almost at every service station there are
three or four "dumped" vehicles
whose owners failed to get either cash or
fuel to drive their cars home.
The Freedom Trains that were mostly for
those without cars were reported to
be filling up with motorists that could
no longer get fuel.
And the "typing brigade" - a phrase used for
pedestrians - had increased
owing to cash shortages as many people went to
and from work on foot.
For the young and outgoing, cash shortages have
affected lunch dates that
have become few and far apart.
"My boyfriend
no longer invites me for lunch as frequently as he used to
when cash was
readily available and this has also been compounded by the
fact that food now
has just gone up in take-aways," said a University of
Zimbabwe
student.
Another young woman said her boyfriend was of late pretending to
be busy
when it was about lunch.
A snap survey at the popular food
outlets showed that business was not as
active while those down-town cafes
were beginning to register more clientele
owing to their low pricing of their
food.
But some women smiled as they said the cash shortgae kept their
husbands at
home.
"He comes home early and watches television with the
rest of us. We see him
early these days, its bad there is no cash but it has
its own advantages,"
said a Warren Park woman.
Medical experts said
cash shortages could result in stress especially to
those with sick relatives
who fail to take them to institutions that demand
cash.
South African Daily News
Mugabe builds on the ruins
September 2, 2003
By the Editor
It takes a
particularly indurate political leader to spend R72 million
on a 25-bedroom
retirement mansion when most of his people are struggling to
put food on the
table.
But then Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has never been
persuaded
that his despotic rule and prodigal lifestyle are any concern of
anyone
other than himself and his closest henchmen.
It must be
particularly galling to his critics who, over the years,
have built up an
ever-expanding dossier of his excesses, only for their
evidence to be
sacrificed to the whims of political expediency.
It must seem to
them that the stronger the case they present to the
international community
in the hope that it will act decisively against
Mugabe, the more he thumbs
his nose at them and continues on his ruinous
ways.
President
Thabo Mbeki's policy of constructive engagement with Mugabe
is hardly likely
to change simply because he is building a luxury mansion
which his
impoverished country can ill-afford. But South Africa should take
note of
reports that a number of Mugabe's sycophants have claimed the Hwange
Wildlife
Estate as their private hunting ground. It is further feared that
their next
target will be the world-renowned Hwange National Park.
Wildlife experts estimate that poaching has cost the country almost
R3
billion in recent years. That may appear to be Zimbabwe's problem, but
with
the Gonarezhou Park scheduled to be incorporated into the ambitious
Limpopo
Transfrontier Park, South Africa and Mozambique, as joint partners,
have
every right to be concerned at the prospect of the venture imploding
because
of the blatantly undemocratic excesses of Mugabe and his
freeloading
cronies.
If Mbeki is not prepared to act directly
against Mugabe he should at
least feel obligated to ensure that his
profligacy is not paid for by South
Africans.
BBC
Botswana-Zimbabwe fence row
Botswana's
relations with Zimbabwe are becoming strained after
Botswana began erecting a
security fence along its north-eastern border with
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean high commissioner to Botswana, Phelekezela Mphoko, is
reported by
South Africa's state broadcaster to have branded the move
as
provocative.
Earlier this year the government decided to
erect a four metre-high
electric fence along the 500km border shortly after
an outbreak of foot and
mouth disease in that area.
But the
government has also been coming under growing pressure within
Botswana to
stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the border to flee
the political
and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
Prof Malima, a journalist for
South Africa's Business Day newspaper in
the capital, Gabarone, says that the
Botswana Government is repatriating
about 2,500 Zimbabweans each
month.
"It is costing the government quite a lot of money," he told
the BBC's
Network Africa.
Cattle
Botswana's beef
industry, which is the country's second highest earner
after diamonds, was
hit badly by the foot and mouth crisis.
"Last year they had to
put down thousands of animals and it affected
exports badly,"
He
said the perception in Botswana was that Zimbabwe's Government was
unable to
prevent the influx of cattle or people.
Apart from food shortages
affecting millions of Zimbabweans, the
country is struggling with a
widespread cash shortage, inflation of almost
400%, unemployment of about 70%
and fuel shortages.
Zimbabwe's main opposition party blames
President Robert Mugabe for
the mismanagement of the economy during his
23-year rule.
But Mr Mugabe blames international opponents for
sabotaging the
economy because of his controversial policy of seizing
white-owned farms.
Regional efforts to halt the flow of Zimbabweans
leaving the country
and to resolve the political crisis have made little
progress so far.