http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Sep 17, 2011,
9:03 GMT
Harare - No passengers turned up for Air Zimbabwe's first
flights after a
seven-week strike by pilots, its chief executive admitted
according to media
reports Saturday.
Air Zimbabwe chief Innocent
Mavhunga said it would take six months for the
beleaguered national airline
to regain customer confidence, the daily Herald
reported.
'We have
started operations but we have not yet started the physical flying
because
there are no passengers,' he said.
None of Friday's scheduled domestic
flights took to the skies on the pilots'
first day back to work, due to the
lack of passengers.
This was attributed in part to the airline's
last-minute announcement that
flights would resume, which was only made on
Friday.
'Hard work is really needed to restore customer confidence and we
must take
into account that it takes time to build (confidence in) the
market,'
Mavhunga told the Herald.
'It's like we are re-entering the
market.'
The pilots grounded flights from July 29 in protest at the
non-payment of
salaries and allowances.
President Robert Mugabe's
government pumped an additional 2.8 million
dollars into Air Zimbabwe this
week, allowing management to come to an
agreement with workers.
But
the Herald said workers 'were still owed their July and August
salaries,'
raising the spectre of fresh strike action.
'We have agreed in principle
with the workers and we will work hard to
resolve what we owe them,'
Mavhunga said.
Air Zimbabwe is due to resume international flights next
week. The strike
has cost the national carrier 6.8 million dollars, Mavhunga
said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
President Robert Mugabe’s plans to call for
elections early next year is
likely to hit another snag amid revelations
that “not a word” of the new
constitution has so far been written due to
bickering and administrative
problems.
16.09.1112:19pm
by Vusimusi
Bhebhe
Mugabe has indicated that Zimbabwe’s next general elections
would be held no
later than March 2012, insisting last month that a shaky
30-month coalition
government he forced with arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai
was surviving "on
stolen time."
But, according to a South
African-based thinktank, time is fast running out
for the GNU to squeeze all
that needs to be done into the months available
before the constitutional
guillotine drops in March 2013 – formally ending
Mugabe’s term in
office.
The Southern Africa Report said it was increasingly unlikely That
Zanu (PF)
and the two MDC formations would complete their
constitution-making
programme and all other conditions imposed by the Global
Political Agreement
to ensure conditions conducive to free and fair
elections.
It noted that despite mounting Southern African Development
Community
irritation about the lack of progress, there was little prospect
that a
draft constitution would be ready for consideration by Parliament on
schedule in late November or early December.
“Sources close to the
pre-drafting process insist ‘not a word’ of the
constitution has been
drafted,” the thinktank said.
“This will make the possibility of an
election before the last quarter of
2012 impractical – and even that will be
tight.”
The sources said completion and submission of the new
constitution in time
for a parliamentary vote was unlikely before the end of
the year.
This will make the possibility of an election before the last
quarter of
2012 impractical – and even that will be tight.
Parliament
is currently considering a Human Rights Commission Bill and an
Electoral
Amendment Bill – the latter crucial for cleaning up massive fraud
in
Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll.
The clean-up exercise is expected to take more
than six months - voter
registration and voter mobilisation for 30 days,
voter registration for 60
days, preparation of the new roll 60 days,
inspection of the roll 45 days,
and final clean-up 45 days.
The GPA
and the current constitution both require popular endorsement of the
new
constitution by referendum, a process requiring several months.
SADC
leaders who met in Luanda last month chastised Zimbabwe’s leaders for
failing to show enough commitment to the country’s reform
process.
Zimbabwe needs SADC’s full backing – particularly from South
African
President Jacob Zuma, the facilitator of Zimbabwe’s dialogue process
– to
persuade Western countries that the time has come to lift targeted
travel
and trade sanctions on Zanu (PF) officials and hangers
on.
Zanu (PF) continues to agitate for a general election as soon as
possible,
despite Zuma and SADC’s insistence that the country is not ready
for this
step along its “roadmap”.
Zuma’s report to the recent Luanda
summit highlighted a number of
commitments that have not yet been met,
including the creation of a level
political playing field and freedom for
all political parties to campaign
without harassment and intimidation.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Senior Zanu (PF) officials have
threatened to expose President Robert
Mugabe's secret dealings with Western
businessmen if he brings up the issue
of their own clandestine meetings
exposed in leaked US diplomatic documents.
16.09.1103:47pm
by Fungi
Kwaramba
Zanu (PF) secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa told
the media ahead
of Wednesday's politburo meeting that the issue of
"sellouts" exposed by the
US organisation Wikileaks to have pursued a regime
change agenda would be
top priority at the meeting.
But the issue was
inexplicably dropped from the agenda. The party elders
then spent a long
time deliberating the hero status of financier and
politburo member,
Kanthibai Patel, who died last week.
Mugabe is accused of dealing with
British business people by proxy. The
revelations that have thrown Zanu (PF)
into turmoil implicated top
officials, including vice Presidents Joice
Mujuru and John Nkomo and Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
There
was a media frenzy amid expectations that the Politburo would read the
riot
act to those named in the cables. But that came to naught on
Wednesday.
Sources close to Zanu (PF) and analysts say Mugabe is now in a
fix and has
nowhere to turn that will not spell disaster for his party.
“Almost everyone
worth talking about is involved. So it’s difficult for
Mugabe to act as that
would divide the party further,” said a Zanu (PF)
member.
“Since the death of Solomon Mujuru Zanu (PF) is falling apart.
There is
still a group that thinks Mujuru was murdered. Raising the
Wikileaks topic
would have led to a bitter fight that even Mugabe would not
be able to
control,” said an analyst.
Police are still to reveal
their findings on the cause of Mujuru’s death,
while many have demanded an
inquest as they suspect foul play.
http://www.radiovop.com/
2 hours 29 minutes
ago
Karoi –Zanu-PF and Movement for Democratic Change supporters have
called for
an Independent Electoral Commission few months ahead of the
scheduled
election.
''Zimbabwe Electoral Commission must be
independent, staffed with competent
people appointed on basis of expertise.
Police must not detain people who
report cases of violence" said CIZ in a
statement released to the media at
the weekend.
Residents who attended a
community meeting agreed that Zimbabwe was in
urgent need of an Independent
Police and Electoral Commission.
Participants also called for secrecy of
ballot paper for security forces
unlike in the past where juniors were
forced to vote under watchful eyes of
their superiors including police, arm
and prison services.
Participants also called on transparent voting of
civil servants many who
have been subjected to political victimisation. The
participants called on
police to carry out duties without any political
influence, not detaining
victims of political violence.
Karoi town
under Hurungwe is a politically volatile area in Mashonaland West
and had
MDC supporters detained for making reports of political violence
since
2000.
Zimbabwe's decade long political crisis ended in 2009 following
the
formation of a Government of National Unity between President Robert
Mugabe
and his long time foe Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister after the
disputed
2008 presidential election that were condemned internationally.
MDC-T claims
at least 200 of its supporters were killed in June presidential
run-off.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Much has been said about the need
for a new voters’ roll in Zimbabwe over
the past months and the debate has
come to a head in current discourse
around the roadmap to elections and the
recently gazetted Electoral
Amendment Bill.
16.09.1112:56pm
by The
Zimbabwean Harare
The debate has prompted the Registrar of Voters to
challenge anyone
dismissing the roll to come and inspect it as he believes
that it is
probably one of the best in the world. In as much as he has
trashed
suppositions that Zimbabwe’s Voters’ Roll is in shambles, the very
people
that participate in elections such as political parties, civic
society
organisations and ordinary voters clearly do not have confidence in
the
document.
In fact, the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) has
repeatedly and
categorically called for the cleaning up of the current
voters’ roll.
That being the case, the Election Resource Centre (ERC)
seeks to ignore the
Registrar of Voters’ comments about the state of the
Voters’ Roll and
instead explore possible voter registration methodologies
that the state
could embark on ahead of the next poll.
The submission
below will seek to place into a context, perceptions about
the roll and the
fact that as the primary election document, any negative
perception on such
a document by election stakeholders not only opens up any
election premised
on it to rejection, but also promotes voter apathy.
The ERC further
wishes to point out that in as much as voter registration
has to be
comprehensively and inclusively conducted, the success of such a
process,
regardless of the methodology, lies in its accessibility to the
very people
that are supposed to register and the opportunities available
for scrutiny
of such a document by election stakeholders.
Consequently, the ERC is
convinced that any voter registration methodology
that the Election
Management Body decides to embark on can be comprehensive
enough as long as
the electorate can freely participate in the process of
registering and
parties that will participate in the election have unlimited
access to
scrutinise and audit the document on time.
It is therefore prudent that
the political environment under which future
voter registration processes
are conducted allows for the exercise of one’s
freedoms and there is access
to accurate and timely information on the
process.
That being said, a
number of submissions have been presented as potential
solutions to
Zimbabwe’s discredited voters’ roll. Election watchdogs such as
the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network and organisations such as the South
African
Institute for Race Relations have recommended that a credible
election in
Zimbabwe can only happen if the country adopts the usage of a
biometric
system. Such submissions have largely been centred on the need to
add
security features that are aimed at eliminating the six flaws that have
been
identified in the current voters’ roll namely;
1. Duplicate
entries
2. Existence of deceased persons
3. Existence of under age
individuals
4. Incomplete addresses
5. Inaccurate names
6.
Unclear sex of voters
Using biometric voter registration methodology, the
registering authority is
able to collect more than just one’s name,
identification number,
residential address, sex among other things. The
method, which has proven
quite popular in emerging democracies such as
Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and
Gambia, captures biometric data such as the
voters’ finger prints and
photographic image and then assigns a barcode to
the data.
It is widely believed that the system, which is computerised
and
centralised, is able to detect once an individual attempts to register
more
than once as his details are unique and hence limits multiple
registration.
Owing to its computerised nature, the methodology is also able
to reject
incomplete data such as unclear sex and incomplete
addresses.
Given the above assertions, it would be logical for
Zimbabweans to clamour
for biometric voter registration as it clearly
addresses four of the key
challenges identified with our current voters’
roll. The other two
challenges can also be comprehensively dealt with if the
system is linked to
the birth and death register and the electorate is
adequately educated to
understand the importance of registering births and
deaths and the processes
are easily accessible to everyone.
However,
the ERC is cognisant of the fact that processes that are meant to
be
inclusive and participatory in nature often confront difficulties if the
environment in which they are conducted is not conducive. By environment,
the ERC refers to the political climate and the question here should be are
communities free to participate in the process.
From past
experiences, participation and free participation are different in
the
Zimbabwean context. The Constitutional Making Outreach Process provides
clear evidence of this fact in our immediate past. In some rural areas,
communities came out to participate and in fact participated through
attending the ward meetings but only assigned “spokespersons” participated
as they were the only ones permitted to contribute during the
discussions.
Secondly, access to accurate information and not just access
to information
is also central in processes that are supposed to be
participatory. If the
objective of voter registration is to capture a true
record of potential
voters and to afford every adult of voting age an
opportunity to exercise
their constitutional and democratic right to vote,
then emphasis should be
placed on dissemination of accurate information
about the registration
process.
Again from previous election
experience some political parties have thrived
on provision of false
electoral information. Communities have been convinced
that the ballot is
not secret and that in fact when one folds their ballot
paper and shows it
to the polling officials, “ZANU PF” is able to see how
one would have
voted.
Through biometric voter registration’s use of advanced technology
to capture
potential voters’ details, there is limit to what those
politicians who
thrive on misinformation are likely to tell rural and
marginalised voters
what the system actually allows them to
predict.
As the voter registration debate continues, the ERC strongly
urges all
election stakeholders to carefully consider the implication of any
voter
registration methodology to be used ahead of the next poll. The ERC
supports
a process that will not only be inclusive but transparent and
conducted in
an environment free of intimidation and violence.
Voter
registration in Zimbabwe will in fact be an election on its own and
therefore the same demands being made about the next election also aptly
apply ahead of this process. Such conditions include security sector
reforms, media reforms, reforms to ZEC and all bodies mandated with
conducting election related processes such as the Registrar of Voters, an
end to violence and removal of all infrastructure of violence such as bases
and the disbanding of youth militia.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Everson Mushava, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 17 September 2011 16:39
HARARE - Zimbabweans from
all political divides should centre debate on how
to achieve the common
position voiced through the WikiLeaks explosion that
President Robert Mugabe
should go than to waste time in discussing the
merits of the exposures,
analysts have said.
Speaking at the Southern Africa Political and
Economic Series (Sapes) Trust
dialogue, academic and political analyst Ibbo
Mandaza said there was
unanimity in the calls for Mugabe to go from within
his party and outside,
nationally and internationally.
Mandaza said
99 percent of all that was said about Mugabe showed that the
people want the
aging leader out of politics, including his inner cabal.
“There is
unanimity in what needs to be done and I think debate should focus
on how it
can be achieved. It is evident that the people no longer want
Mugabe,” said
Mandaza.
Zimbabwe’s crisis was, Mandaza said, the excitement to continue
discussing
the merits of the cables without debating on how the agreed
position can be
implemented.
“Instead of debating on the merits of
the WikiLeaks exposures, Zimbabweans
should realise that there is unanimity
on what needs to be done and debate
should be centred on what is needed can
be achieved,” said Mandaza.
He wondered how Mugabe, with these many
voices against him, had survived all
this long.
Media space, Mandaza
urged, should be dominated from now on by discussions
on leadership renewal
in the country as it was evident from the leaked
cables that Mugabe was no
longer the man people wanted.
Speaking at the same event, Brain
Raftopoulos of the Solidarity Peace Trust
said the WikiLeaks exposures only
saved to show how weakened and fractured
Zanu PF was as a
party.
Raftopoulos said the biggest challenge for Mugabe was that people
had shown
that they were not what they appeared to him and never meant what
they said
in public as the cables revealed.
He said dealing
decisively with the matter will further fragment the
liberation
party.
“People should however try to understand the meaning of these
exposures in
the right context,” warned Raftopoulous.
Mugabe, so grieved
by open betrayal, has up to now not officially commented
on the
exposures.
On Wednesday he met the “sell-outs” but left them guessing on
their future
after he railed off discussion on the exposures which show most
of the party’s
top officials told United States diplomats they wanted him
out.
Author and University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Professor Rudo
Gaidzanwa, said
Mugabe would not likely comment on the issue until the Zanu
PF congress
penned for December in Bulawayo as a diplomatic move to avoid
further damage
to the former ruling party.
The leaked US cables lay
bare that most Zanu PF bigwigs, whom Mugabe used to
trust, like most
Zimbabweans and the rest of the world, want the
octogenarian leader to
go.
Most diplomats told the US envoy that it was time for Mugabe to
go.
Mugabe’s Vice President, Joice Mujuru, who is said to be wrestling
with
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to replace Mugabe, held a meeting
with
US ambassador Charles Ray at a secret location, when she was acting
president, according to the leaked cables.
Vice President John Nkomo
is alleged to have confided in late politburo
member Edson Zvobgo as early
as 2003 that the country’s economic woes could
be solved once Mugabe was
removed from power.
Saviour Kasukuwere, who was described by diplomats as
“dangerous”, with the
potential of being a “thug” told the US diplomats he
too wanted Mugabe to go
to give way to a youthful leader.
Moyo, whom
US officials described as a “useful messenger” for extracting
data from Zanu
PF, told US diplomats that Mugabe had throat cancer.
He even gave advice
on how to infiltrate Zanu PF to weaken Mugabe.
The serial political
flip-flopper, who is now suing the Daily News for
“sensationally” reporting
on the leaked cables against him, defended his
position saying by then he
was in political wilderness and was not a member
of Zanu PF.
Moyo had
since confirmed that the cables reflected the truth about his plots
on
Mugabe.
Former Resident Minister and Governor Cephas Msipa of the
Midlands province
also said he wanted Mugabe to go and had since advised him
at his birthday
celebrations in 2007 but he did not take the advice.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
17/09/2011 11:08:00 Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe left Harare last night for next week's 66th
Session of the
United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he will
deliver an
address.
Mugabe's wife Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi,
Health and Child Welfare Minister Henry
Madzorera and other senior
Government officials were part of the delegation
accompanying him.
President Mugabe was seen off at the Harare
International Airport by senior
Government officials.
The main
plenary of the UN General Assembly - whose agenda was still
embargoed
yesterday - would be preceded by high-level meetings, chief among
them the
Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) scheduled for Monday and
Tuesday.
The meeting is the second in the international body's
history to focus on a
global disease after the HIV and Aids Summit of 2001
that led to the
creation of the Global Fund.
UN members organised the
interface on NCDs to formulate a co-ordinated
global strategy to prevent and
control the diseases. Deliberations would
centre on prominent NCDs such as
cancers, cardiovascular ailments, chronic
respiratory disorders and
diabetes.
Leaders are expected to discuss Millennium Development
Goals.
On Monday, the President of the General Assembly will chair
plenary meetings
that will also be addressed by UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban
Ki-moon, World
Health Organisation Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, and a
civil society
representative.
Three roundtable discussions are
expected to tackle the rising incidence and
socio-economic impact of NCDs
and their risk factors.
Participants would also explore methods of
strengthening the national
capacities and policies of member states to
address their prevention and
control.
Tuesday will see the adoption of an
action-oriented outcome document
comprising submissions from the plenary
meetings and roundtables.
In Zimbabwe, resource constraints continue to
hamper the fight against NCDs.
Those living with such conditions -
including top local musician, Tongai
Moyo, who is battling non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma - have complained that
authorities seem to be concentrating on
diseases such as HIV and Aids, while
turning a blind eye to their
plight.
The omission of NCD indicators in the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs)
also makes it difficult for the country to secure donor
support. So far,
only Government and the WHO are channeling funds towards
the diseases.
In an interview last Thursday, Cancer Centre knowledge
manager Mr Tafadzwa
Chigariro, urged world leaders to avail more resources
for NCD awareness and
treatment programmes.
"The world is yet to
acknowledge that NCDs are a major challenge in terms of
resources. They are
now the major killer globally," he said.
"The developing world, in
particular, has experienced a transition from
communicable to
non-communicable diseases. NCDs are easier to prevent as
they have a lot to
do with healthy lifestyles. They are, nonetheless, more
expensive to treat
and manage than communicable diseases.
Latest statistics show that NCDs
account for 60 percent of deaths worldwide.
More than 12 million people
are diagnosed with cancer worldwide annually
with 7,6 million of them
eventually dying. Zimbabwe records an average of 7
000 cancer cases every
year. Indications are that the figure could be higher
if rural communities
were included.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
17/09/2011 00:00:00
by
africalegalbrief.com
JUSTICE Wilson Sandura, an eminent jurist on the
Supreme Court bench, has
retired, with colleagues saying the judiciary has
been robbed of one of the
finest legal brains in the country.
The
high-profile judge left the bench at the end of July, before the Supreme
Court went on its month-long break in August.
Justice Sandura, the
most senior judge in the country after serving as a
judge for nearly 30
years, would be remembered as a forthright and fearless
judge who saved his
country with a constant mind, both in good and turbulent
times.
Chief
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's office confirmed Sandura's retirement at
the
age of 70 yesterday.
The top judge had served on the Supreme Court since
1998. He was a High
Court judge between 1983 and 1997, and was judge
president from 1984.
Zimbabwean judges are required to retire when they
reach 65 years, but if
they can demonstrate good mental and physical health
to a doctor, they can
stay on up to the age of 70.
The president of
the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Tinoziva Bere, said justice
Sandura made some
of the best judgments on record in this country.
"He was constant and
stayed the course like a candle that continued to burn
and bring light to a
dark room. He is principled and courageous and he can
be proud of the
service he rendered to the cause of justice and the rule of
law in this
country,” Bere said.
“He endured service under conditions, which some
could not tolerate and
resigned. Some of the best judgments on record in
this country carry his
name; sadly some of them had to be dissenting
judgments in the Supreme
Court."
"The judiciary is poorer without the
skill he goes away with. We hope he is
available to save this country in
other capacities to advance the cause of
justice," said Bere
.
Another prominent defence lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said Justice
Sandura
enriched the judiciary process in Zimbabwe adding that from a
judicial
point, he is a national hero.
"He was his own man. He did not go
with the flow. He stood as one man and
justified himself.
"His judgments
were good, sound and well-reasoned even when they were
dissenting
judgments," said Samkange.
"He brought out the jurisprudence aspect in
his judgments. I compare him
with two English judges, Lord Denning and Lord
Wilber-force. There is Lord
Denning, Lord Wilberforce and Justice
Sandura."
Some of the retired judge's notable judgments include the case
of Movement
for Democratic Change treasurer, Roy Bennett, whose application
for early
release was dismissed by Chief Justice Chidyausiku following the
politician's sentencing to an effective year in prison by Parliament after
flooring Justice Minister, Patr-ick Chinamasa.
Justice Chidyausiku said
Bennett's one year sentence, though "severe, is not
grossly disproportionate
to the offence" but the Sandura said: "I
respectfully disagree with
it."
Sandura also passed a dissenting judgment in the case of former
Judge
Benjamin Paradza, stating that President Robert Mugabe had erred in
using
his powers to select members of a tribunal that probed the
judge.
In 2002, the judge also differed with Justice Chidyausiku's
judgment on a
media case on the issue of compulsory accreditation of
journalists under the
Access to information and Protection of Privacy
Act.
He said compelling journalists to register was clearly ultra vires
the
Constitution as it violated Section 20 of the Constitution.
In
2009, the law society awarded Sandura the Walter Kamba Rule of Law Award,
named in honour of the late Professor Walter Joseph Kamba, a law professor
and scholar credited for being the driving force behind the expansion and
transformation of the University of Rhodesia into the University of
Zimbabwe.
In 1989, Justice Sandura became a household name in
Zimbabwe after presiding
over the Sandura Commission that claimed the
political careers of several
ministers following a vehicle scandal, commonly
referred to as the Willogate
scandal.
For more than seven weeks, the
Sandura Commission called 72 witnesses,
including six Cabinet ministers, two
deputy ministers, three Members of
Parliament, two senior army officers and
40 directors and managers of
private companies.
During the hearings,
some Cabinet ministers threatened commissioners, but
Justice Sandura stood
his ground and threatened two of them with arrest.
The Los Angeles Times
of April 20, 2009, in its coverage of the commission's
work, portrayed
Justice Sandura as a legal super-hero.
Leaked United States cables on
developments in the judiciary in the country,
said the judge "was widely
respected for his non-partisan reading of the law
and is viewed as one of
the two last remaining independents".
In one secret meeting with US
officials, Justice Sandura allegedly
criticised some of his colleagues and
accused Zanu PF of pressurising judges
to issue judgments in its
favour.
Sandura allegedly described Justice Chidyausiku as "more of a
politician
than a judge".
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tsitsi Sekeramayi, wife to Zanu (PF) State
Security Minister and Senator for
Marondera-Hwedza, has been earmarked for
the Marondera East Parliamentary
seat following the dismissal of Tracy
Mutinhiri from Zanu (PF).
16.09.1103:08pm
by Jane Makoni
“It
was suggested by Zanu (PF) that since the constituency was reserved for
a
female candidate as prescribed by the party policy, Tsitsi should be given
the green light to represent the party in that regard. It’s no wonder Sydney
Sekeramayi worked tirelessly for the dethronement of Mutinhiri,” said a
party central committee source on condition of anonymity.
“Tsitsi has
plans to set up women’s forums. The programmes will begin at Two
Boy
Shopping Centre and will spread around the constituency in due
course.”
Elsewhere in the district, the headmaster of Eagle Turning
Secondary School,
Machinga, refused to accept two water tanks donated to the
school by
Mutinhiri, as he wanted authority from Zanu (PF) to receive the
items.
“Machinga, who is reported to be a member of Sekeramayi’s campaign
team, was
involving himself in party politics at the expense of our
children’s
welfare. The school has no facilities to store water and how
Machinga
resolved to deny the school the donated water tanks boggles the
mind. The
fact that Mutinhiri fell out of favour with Zanu (PF) should not
hold our
children to ransom,” said a parent, Naison Kanyi.
Machinga,
a self-declared Zanu (PF) supporter, was kicked out of Dhirihori
Secondary
School in 2009 following a fall out with parents.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey Mtimba
Saturday, 17 September
2011 16:35
MASVINGO - Rowdy Zanu PF youths on Thursday violently took
over three
buildings owned by white businesspeople in Chiredzi accusing them
of
refusing to comply with the Indigenisation and Empowerment
Act.
The unruly youths said they were moving into the white-owned
buildings in
support of Youth Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere’s
controversial policy that compels foreign businesses to
sell 51 percent
shareholding to locals.
About 60 youths operating
under a group called the Masvingo Youth
Empowerment Association (Mayea)
brought business to a standstill in the
small town of Chiredzi after they
went on a rampage — “taking ownership” of
the said buildings.
The
three affected businesspeople are Jan Van Javeert, who owns South East
Turning company, Graig Hanning, and Southhood Govan who owns Govan
Investments.
Mayea spokesperson, Darling Zirebwa confirmed the
buildings grab to the
Daily News adding that they were targeting buildings
owned by foreign whites
in the whole province starting with
Chiredzi.
“This is in response to the indigenisation drive, a policy by
government
which we feel should also empower the youths. We will be taking
more
buildings in Chiredzi before we move to Masvingo city where there are a
whole lot of listed properties we are going to take,” Zirebwa
said.
As the youths went on a rampage, police officers watched
helplessly.
Zirebwa said some of the buildings they are taking were lying
idle and
needed to be utilised by youths who are unemployed.
The
controversial youth movement says it was fully backing Kasukuwere for
this
policy and will not sit while their ageing leaders in Zanu PF grab
everything and use them in their fight for political power.
“We are
sick and tired of being used by these elderly politicians as weapons
of
political violence while they loot everything especially under such
policies.
“It’s our time now to be empowered economically. We will
make use of the law
to take up firms owned by whites,” he added.
The
group said after taking buildings from well-known white investors in the
province, they will be moving to big mines and transnational companies like
Hippo Valley and Triangle, the country’s giant sugar producers as well as
Renco Mine which are the province’s biggest gold producers.
Lithium
giant, Bikita Minerals is also said to be a target of the youths’
takeover
bid.
Efforts to get comment from the three affected white men were
fruitless as
they were said to have skipped the country while one went into
hiding as a
result of the move by the youths.
Police in Masvingo
declined to comment and referred all questions to their
Headquarters.
“Call the Police General Headquarters. I can’t
comment,” said Masvingo
provincial spokesperson, Tinaye Matake.
Talent
Majoni, the Zanu PF national youth deputy political commissar
confirmed the
grabs and backed the youth for supporting the policy.
“It is true our
youths who formed an empowerment organisation moved into
some buildings in
Chiredzi on Thursday as part of the policy by Minister
Kasukuwere.
“We are fully behind the youths who are repossessing the
wealth ill-gotten
by whites during the colonial era.
“I was advised that
so far they took three buildings and the operation is
on-going. It is their
time and they will be moving into bigger companies,”
Majoni said.
The
move has sent shivers down the spines of other white businesspeople in
the
province as panic has gripped them, with some in hurried efforts to
leave
the country before they are confronted by the rowdy youths.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Matabeleland is suffering an acute shortage of teachers
both at primary and
secondary level.
16.09.1103:04pm
by Paul
Ndlovu
Matabeleland South province is short of about 610 and 460
primary and
secondary teachers respectively. The Ministry of Education is
still
consolidating figures for Matabeleland North.
Education
directors for the two provinces said the shortage was compromising
the
standard of education. The PED for Matabeleland South, Thumisang
Thabela,
said the hardest hit districts were those along the border:
Bulilima,
Mangwe, and Matobo.
She said the situation in Beitbridge was
better.
“Insiza and Mzingwane districts are better off because they are
closer to
Bulawayo. However, we still have challenges with secondary school
teachers
especially in practical and science subjects,” she
said.
“With the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture directive
for
schools not to engage temporary teachers, we cannot create new posts,
but
can engage people for those posts that were filled last
term.
“This means that the gaps which are there will remain. In
Matabeleland
South, about 85.3 percent of primary school places are occupied
while about
77.6 percent of secondary school posts are full. This means we
have a
shortage of 610 and 460 teachers for primary and secondary teachers
respectively.”
She said the challenges facing the province were
worsened by the fact that
most people had left for South Africa or
Botswana.
“We hope we will be allowed to engage temporary teachers to
fill our vacant
posts,” she said. Mathius Luphahla, the deputy Provincal
Education Director
for Matabeleland North, said the province was assessing
the situation.
“One thing to note is that districts are still recruiting
teachers to try
and reach the figures they had previously. We have always
had a problem with
teachers for sciences and practical subjects and hope the
government will
allow us to engage temporary teachers.”
The Ministry
of Education, Sports and Culture recently announced that it
would
indefinitely suspend the services of temporary teachers while
qualified
teachers intending to go on leave would not be in a position to
immediately
do so.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
A Zanu (PF) functionary, Mubuso Chinguno, is firing workers
perceived to be
MDC sympathizers from their jobs at Mbada and Canadile
mining firms in the
diamond-rich Chiadzwa area.
16.09.1102:56pm
by
Staff Reporter
Disgruntlement is rife, and tempers running high among
the people in
Nyanyadzi, Gunura, Hotsprings, Marange and Chakohwa areas
which border the
diamond fields.
Saigon Magurutu, an MDC secretary in
Nyanyadzi, where Chinguno hails from,
criticized Zanu (PF)’s insensitivity
towards the affected MDC members.
“It is utter rubbish and totally
unacceptable to imagine how Zanu (PF),
vociferous on community empowerment
and indigenization at its campaign
rallies can stoop so low to the extent of
employing workers on partisan
lines,” he said.
Chamada Murire from
Gunura, who was barred from sending his documents to
seek employment in
Chiadzwa for being an MDC activist accused the local Zanu
(PF) leadership of
double standards.
“Munacho Mutezo, former Water Resources Minister and MP
for Chimanimani who
lost the seat to MDC’s Lynnette Karenyi, promised to
turn the fortunes of
this area around for everyone’s benefit to secure votes
in the next
elections. Events on the ground, however, show that he is the
one telling
Chinguno to fire all MDC sympathizers from their work in
Chiadzwa.” - Seven
Nematiyere
http://www.iol.co.za
September 17 2011 at 11:19am
Harare - Four
suspected thieves escaped from the clutches of Zimbabwean
police this week
by simply speeding off in the patrol car, the official
Herald newspaper
reported on Saturday.
The police officers guarding the men in the capital
Harare not only forgot
to handcuff their captives but also abandoned the
vehicle carrying the
suspects to chase another member of the
gang.
The engine was left running, according to the Herald.
The
officers gave chase in a second car, when ran out of fuel and the
suspects
got away.
The Herald said the escape was “the conclusion of an otherwise
highly-successful police operation.”
The arrests followed an
investigation into a recent spate of burglaries in
Harare and came just days
after President Robert Mugabe urged police to “act
tough” on crime. -
Sapa-dpa
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Ugandan-born John Sentamu, the (Anglican)
Archbishop of York will continue
refusing to wear a dog collar until Robert
Mugabe is out of office – despite
the fact that his immediate “boss,” Dr
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, plans to meet the Zimbabwean
dictator in Harare next month.
16.09.1101:10pm
by Trevor
Grundy
“The Archbishop will stick to his principles. He cut up his
dog collar on
the Andrew Marr Show on 9 December 2007 and said that he would
not put it on
again until Mugabe was out of power. He has no intention of
putting it on
again until that happens,” one of his aides told
me.
Sentamu, 62, caused a sensation in Anglican circles when he cut up
his
symbol of being a clergyman, asking his interviewer: “Do you know what
Mugabe has done? He has taken people’s identity and literally cut it to
pieces. So, as far as I’m concerned, from now on I’m not going to wear a dog
collar until Mugabe is gone.”
The irony of the situation is clear to
those who wish the Archbishop of
Canterbury well in his attempts to make
Mugabe see sense over the burning
issue of church property ownership in
Zimbabwe.
The legitimate Anglican Church has been effectively hi-jacked
by the rebel
“bishop” Nolbert Kunonga who was excommunicated by Williams
after the fiery
pro-Mugabe cleric’s attempt to remove his diocese from the
Anglican Province
of Central Africa.
Kunonga has always said that his
actions were in protest against the western
churches growing toleration of
homosexuals who Mugabe describes as “worse
than dogs and pigs.”
With
the help of police, Kunonga has seized something like 40 percent of all
Anglican church and other property in Zimbabwe. Williams has asked to meet
Mugabe to discuss this. His visit will be the first by a prominent public
figure from Britain in a decade.
The trip starts on 5 October in
Malawi with a celebration of 150 years of
the Anglican Church in that
country.
After he shredded his collar on television four years ago
Sentamu described
Mugabe as “the worst kind of racist dictator”. He has
criticized African
leaders who defended Mugabe as a freedom fighter who
liberated his country
from white rule.
http://www.businesslive.co.za
17
September, 2011 21:14
Business Times
Zimbabwe will not revoke operating licences of any foreign
mining company,
mines minister Obert Mpofu said this week.
The
indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere had said earlier he would
enlist
Mpofu's support in deregistering noncompliant companies in his
empowerment
duel with foreign-owned miners, including Zimbabwe Platinum
Mines
(Zimplats).
In his bid to seize companies under a controversial law that
entitles black
locals to a 51% share of foreign-owned entities, Kasukuwere
said recently
that Caledonia-owned Blanket Mine and Zimplats had been
"sanctioned" for
closure under powers vested in him by the empowerment
act.
While Mpofu claimed the issue of Zimbabwe's indigenisation programme
was
being overplayed in certain quarters of the world, numerous investments
and
projects in the sector were being inked on a shared basis.
As
Impala Platinum CEO David Brown and Kasukuwere jointly announced a new
empowerment plan for Zimplats on Monday, the minister told a mining
conference that discussions with various mining companies were under way and
exceptions in terms of implementing the shareholding demand were
foreseeable.
Tapiwa Mashakada, the opposition MDC minister of
economic planning and
investment promotion in the coalition government, also
said seizure of
mining licences was not government policy and the sector had
shown
tremendous potential, with most of the inquiries at the Zimbabwe
Investment
Authority being linked to the sector.
However, he stressed
there was a need for the country to improve support
infrastructure for the
sector's anticipated double-digit growth,
particularly in relation to water,
power and transportation supply.
Winston Chitando, Zimbabwe Chamber of
Mines president, said nearly
$260-million worth of mining projects had been
approved in the first half of
2011 - a 300% jump on the comparative period
last year - and the sector
required $8-billion in recapitalisation funds in
the next five years.
"Financial products are short-term and limited,
hence loans are available
only for working capital, which is inadequate. The
mining industry received
18% of disbursed loans ... compared to sectors such
as telecommunications at
40%," he said, adding government and lenders must
prioritise the sector
given its strategic importance to the economy.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Only in Zimbabwe can government ministers threaten
to seize a controlling
stake in private businesses, sending their shares
tumbling on world
markets - and then turn around to say they didn’t mean it
after all!
16.09.1112:40pm
by Editor
After behaving all these
months as if the 51-percent local ownership rule
was non-negotiable,
empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere and his mines
counterpart Obert
Mpofu have backtracked, telling a mining investment
conference in Harare
last week that no one would lose their licence to
operate in Zimbabwe
because of the indigenisation law.
The government, or to be more precise,
the Zanu (PF) wing of the government
that is behind the so-called
indigenization campaign is, after all, willing
to negotiate with
foreign-owned companies. It says not everyone will be
forced to surrender
control of their businesses.
"We have no intention of canceling any
licences. There are some negotiations
taking place with some parties. No
licence has been cancelled. We have no
such intention," Mpofu told
investors.
So why was it not made clear in the first place that the
government was open
to negotiations? Why create the impression that any
foreigner who fails to
cede a controlling stake in their business faced
hefty fines, seizure of
their company or even imprisonment?
Why did
Mpofu and Kasukuwere repeatedly reject pleas by the Chamber of Mines
to
reduce empowerment thresholds for mining firms to 26 percent, with the
rest
made up of credits arising from corporate social investments?
And then,
when we are done with this flip-flopping, we turn around and ask
why no one
wants to invest in Zimbabwe? Or blame so-called Western sanctions
for
dissuading investors from coming to our country?
Seriously, which
foreigner, except those already with investments in
Zimbabwe and therefore
in a sense trapped here, would give a hoot about a
country where the
government behaves like this?
We have said it before, and we repeat: we
will be the first to call upon the
nation to rally behind any economic
empowerment plan meant to place control
of the economy in the hands of
Zimbabweans. This is as it should be.
But this ill-timed and
ill-conceived empowerment plan championed by
President Robert Mugabe and
Zanu (PF) has achieved nothing but to scare away
investors. It is nothing
short of economic sabotage.
http://www.radiovop.com
Chivi, September 17,
2011- Zanu-PF central committee member and youth’s
legal affairs chairman
Clopas Magwizi was this week arrested here for
allegedly stealing six cattle
from his neighbours in Chivi district.
Magwizi also a councillor for ward
eight in Chivi is expected to appear in
court soon.
Magwizi is
accused of having slaughtered cattle belonging to a Dengu family
and sold
the meat after having connived with other party youths. The police
from
Chivi denied commenting on the issue referring all the questions to
Masvingo.
Masvingo provincial police spokesperson Inspector
Tinaye Matake said he
needed more time to look into the facts of the
matter.
“I was not in office for some time. I am not fully furnished
with the
specific details of his (Magwizi) matter but I can come back to you
once all
the details are available,” said Matake.
Cliford Dengu
confirmed that their cattle were stolen and Magwizi was the
chief
suspect.
“He is the chief suspect in this case. This is not the first
time for this
man to be fingered in some criminal activities. Our major
worry is that the
police often get intimidated by Zanu-PF politicians so
they get away with
their cases at our expense,” said Dengu.
This
is the second time for Magwizi to be arrested after he was elected to
be
Zanu-PF councillor and central committee member respectively. In 2008,
Magwizi was arrested for stealing tones of maize which was meant for the
general public in his ward.
Efforts to get a comment from Magwizi
were unsuccessful.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, September 17,
2011---The first Gukurahundi play was showcased last
Friday following the
magistrate’s ruling.
There was a sombre moment at Bulawayo theatre on
Friday evening when the
first Gukurahundi theatre play in the country was
performed in public.
On Monday police here had banned the Gwanda-based
Jahunda Community Theatre
group’s public performance of the Gukurahundi play
without giving any
reasons. They threatened with arrest its leader Bhekimusa
Moyo and other
group members with arrest.
But the Gukurahundi play
was finally showcased on Friday evening after
Bulawayo magistrate on
Wednesday Magistrates Tancy Dube lifted the ban
saying that police should
not disturb or interfere in any way with the drama
performance.
More
than 200 people attended the show and some dropped tears when the
actors
showcased how the 5th Brigade soldiers maimed, raped and butchered
innocent
people of Matebeleland and Midlands provinces accusing them of
being Zapu
dissidents in the early 1983.
Addressing the gathering after the show,
Moyo the writer of the
Gukurahundi play said he was inspired by the love of
truth and peace and
also wanted the truth to be told about Zimbabwe’s
history.
"The play is written to show what happened in the past because
we can’t live
without talking about the past. We have to create a peacefully
Zimbabwe and
we don’t want our bad past to be repeated. We don’t want people
to be killed
again,” said Moyo.
Moyo said the Gukurahundi play will
be taken to most parts of Zimbabwe.
In 1982, President Mugabe’s Zanu PF
in pursuit of a one party state sought
help from North Korea to train the
infamous Five Brigade soldiers. The
brigade was deployed in the Midlands and
Matabeleland regions in an
operation code named Gukurahundi.
For
about five years, the Five Brigade massacred innocent civilians using
the
propaganda excuse that there had been insurgency in the Zapu
strongholds.
Innocent civilians estimated at up to 20 000 were killed while
thousands
disappeared.
They were buried in mass graves while some were thrown
in disused
mines.President Robert Mugabe has refused to apologise for the
killings
although the Zimbabwean leader has called the crackdown a “moment
of
madness.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior Writer
Saturday, 17
September 2011 16:33
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe “feared” that
war veterans who had invaded
farms in 2000 could turn against his government
if he attempted to have them
forcibly removed from the farms they had
occupied, it has emerged.
According to a leaked United States cable
penned by the then US Ambassador
to Zimbabwe, Tom McDonald, Mugabe confided
in the US diplomat that he feared
there could be serious uprising if he had
ordered the war vets off the
farms.
The cable was created on April
24, 2000 after the two had met.
Thousands of war veterans, who had in
1997 received Z$50 000 packages from
the government as gratuities, invaded
farms across the country as government
claimed it was embarking on a land
reform programme to address imbalances
that had been created by the colonial
regime.
The international community rubbished the land reform programme
as chaotic
and laden with human rights abuses and lack of respect for
property rights.
McDonald said that he held a “frank and open” 45-minute
discussion with
Mugabe primarily on the land reform programme and other
issues, with Mugabe
reportedly opening up on his fears and reservations on
the entire programme.
“The Zimbabwean president listened closely and
appeared to welcome the
opportunity to talk through a number of his
immediate preoccupations: he was
keenly aware of the immediate dangers, had
publicly condemned the violence
that had occurred, and was working to defuse
the crisis,” McDonald said.
He added: “(He said) His government had not
abandoned the rule of law, but
feared the consequences of any police or army
effort to forcibly remove the
war veterans who had occupied the commercial
farms.”
McDonald is quoted as saying: “I told the Zimbabwean president,
whom I have
known since the 1970’s, that there was a growing and widely held
perception,
even among his country’s longest and strongest supporters, that
the
Zimbabwean government had abandoned its commitment to the rule of law;
was
complicit in recent acts of lawlessness and violence; and was
contributing
to a climate of increased racial polarisation and dangerous
political
tension.”
“In a forty-five-minute tete-a-tete, Zimbabwean
President Mugabe and I had a
cordial but frank exchange on Zimbabwe’s
domestic political crisis. I told
Mugabe that recent events were threatening
to imperil his own personal
legacy.
“He, however felt that the
British had yet to hold up their part of the
bargain struck at Lancaster
House and had no moral basis to complain about
Zimbabwe’s insistence that
long-delayed land reform be implemented with or
without compensation to the
white commercial farmers.
After all, it was the Africans who had
originally been forcibly separated
from their traditional lands by the white
settlers,” McDonald said.
The US diplomat said Mugabe had, during their
meeting, pledged to conclude
the land reform programme using his own
government initiatives.
“While he still hoped for a negotiated solution
to the land question, he was
determined to address this historical injustice
once and for all. He had yet
to have a real meeting or exchange with Prime
Minister Blair and, more
generally, felt slighted by the new labor
government,” he added.
McDonald noted there would be challenges in
creating harmony between the
black farmers and white commercial farmers
whose land had been taken.
This, he said, was created by a situation
where the white minority had
refused to acknowledge that blacks had taken
over the agricultural sector.
“Many of Zimbabwe’s white farmers had never
reconciled themselves to a
black-led Zimbabwe. There were however, some
notable exceptions.
“Unfortunately, one progressive commercial farmers’
union president had
failed in his efforts to persuade his colleagues to
negotiate a binding
settlement that would definitively resolve the land
issue.
“He (Mugabe) welcomed the willingness of the US government to be
of
assistance, both in direct support of Zimbabwe’s land reform programme
and
in our conversations with the British,” McDonald added in his cable.