Zim Online
IMF LASHES OUT AT GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY
Tue 21 September
2004
HARARE - Weak governance, corruption and a breakdown in the
rule of
law in Zimbabwe have severely eroded investor confidence in the
country,
according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In
an annual economic review released last Friday, the IMF board
expressed
alarm at Zimbabwe's "sharp economic decline" which it said was
mainly
because of poor economic planning and the country's disorderly land
reforms.
The IMF said Zimbabwe's crisis, which was also
negatively affecting
neighbouring countries, was mainly a result of
"inappropriate macro-economic
and structural policies, including weak
financial management, distortionary
controls and regulations, and the
disorderly implementation of the
fast-track land reform
programme.
"Directors (of the IMF) regretted that weak governance,
corruption and
the lack of respect for the rule of law have undermined
confidence and led
to capital flight and emigration, with negative
spill-over effects on
neighbouring countries."
The Bretton
Woods institution also criticised Harare for its refusal
of food aid which
it said left the country badly exposed if the government's
"ambitious
estimates" on food production prove incorrect.
President Robert
Mugabe has told international food aid groups that
have helped feed hungry
Zimbabweans for the last three years to take their
help elsewhere saying the
country had produced enough food to feed itself.
The government
says the country produced 2.4 million tonnes of the
staple maize. The United
Nations and other groups note there will be an
improved production of the
staple grain this year but insist it will still
fall far short of national
requirements.
The UN estimates that about 2.5 million Zimbabweans
will still need
food aid. Zimbabwe requires about 1.8 million tonnes of
maize for its
consumption per year and for strategic reserves.
The IMF urged the Zimbabwean government to abandon multiple and often
chaotic exchange rates in favour of one unified exchange rate determined and
driven by the market.
Zimbabwe, which less than a decade ago
had one of Africa's most
vibrant economies, is in the grip of a painful
economic crisis that has
manifested itself in acute shortages of foreign
currency, fuel, essential
drugs and food.
The IMF and other
critics blame the government's economic and land
policies for Zimbabwe's
decline.
Harare denies the charge claiming instead that the
economic meltdown
is because of sabotage by Britain and other Western
opponents of its land
redistribution programme under which it seized
white-owned land and parceled
it out to landless blacks. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Evicted farm settlers still stranded in the open
Tue 21
September 2004
HARARE - Several thousand families left homeless
when soldiers and
police burnt their homes on Little England and Inkomo
farms last Friday were
yesterday still stranded in the open about 30
kilometres along the
Harare-Chinhoyi highway.
Elsewhere across
the country, chaos reigned at several former
white-owned farms as ruling
ZANU PF party militants ordered thousands of
black families to vacate farms
they seized about two years ago.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
yesterday told ZimOnline the
families were being removed from the farms
because they had settled there
illegally. He said: "These are illegal
settlers and the law states that they
can't continue occupying those
farms
illegally."
Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo last week told the Press the
evictions were necessary to pave way for
blacks who had resources to carry
out commercial agriculture on the
farms.
Chombo said the government would find alternative areas for
the
evicted families. But he and Bvudzijena did not explain the involvement
of
ZANU PF militants in the evictions.
The black families
seized the farms between 2000 and 2003 and were
encouraged by President
Robert Mugabe and his government who at the time
defended the families'
actions as a "legitimate demonstration of land
hunger."
The
government, which launched its own farm seizure programme several
months
after the farm invasions by the black peasants, promised it was not
going to
evict the peasants from the farms. Instead the government promised
it was
going to send in its land experts to properly plan settlements on the
farms.
Black settlers at several farms toured by ZimOnline
yesterday in the
districts of Banket, Darwendale, Karoi and Chinhoyi in
Mashonaland West
province and in Lower Gweru in Midlands province expressed
disappointment at
the government actions.
They accused the
state of using them during the
internationally-publicised farm invasions.
They said the government was now
evicting them from the farms to pave way
for ZANU PF and government
officials.
Government, ZANU PF
officials, their relatives and friends kept most
of the best land seized
from white farmers with some of them taking as many
as six farms each,
according to a government land audit report leaked to the
Press last
year.
A father of two, who talked to our news crew by the side of
the
Harare-Chinhoyi road said: "When we moved onto Little England the
government
backed us and said we were going to be allowed to stay on the
farm."
The disappointed father, who would only identify himself as
Mukosi,
said: "Now that the chefs (senior government and ZANU PF officials)
want
more land on top of what they already got, they are sending soldiers
and
police with guns to chase us off."
Mukosi explained that he
and his colleagues were sleeping in the open
and said he feared that the
evicted families, especially the children, might
soon contract diseases
because there was no clean water or sanitary
facilities at their new
"roadside settlement." - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Finance minister remanded in custody
Tue 21 September
2004
HARARE - Finance and Economic Development Minister Christopher
Kuruneri was yesterday remanded in custody to October 12 after State
prosecutors said police were still finalising investigations against the
minister.
A pale and tired-looking Kuruneri could only shake
his head in
apparent disbelief after magistrate Omega Mugumbati acceded to
requests by
the State for the police to be given more time to finish probing
the charges
against him.
Kuruneri, who has been in jail since
April, is facing charges of
possessing a Zimbabwean and a Canadian passport
in contravention of the
country's Citizenship Act which bars Zimbabweans
from holding passports of
other nations.
He is also accused of
siphoning out of the country 5.2 million rands,
34 371 pounds, 30 000 euros
and US$582 611. 99. Kuruneri has in the past
sought to be released on bail
pending trial without success.
The Finance Minister, who is also
the ruling ZANU PF Member of
Parliament for Mazowe West constituency, is the
highest-ranking government
official arrested so far in a clampdown by the
State against high level
corruption.
Kuruneri has pleaded not
guilty to externalising foreign currency
saying the money he is accused of
having used to buy properties in South
Africa was acquired through
consultancy work done outside Zimbabwe.
Higher Education Minister
Herbert Murerwa, who has been finance
minister before, is acting in
Kuruneri's place. - ZimOnline
Daily News online edition
Daily News wins case
Date:20-Sep, 2004
HARARE - Regional magistrate Lilian Kudya, on
Monday acquitted four
directors of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe,
(ANZ),publishers of The
Daily News and Daily News on Sunday who were facing
charges under the
draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act (AIPPA) and
contempt of court after publishing The Daily News on October
24 last year.
The four, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Rachel Kupara, Michael
Mattinson and
Brian Mutsau, today walked out of the regional court free
after Mrs. Kudya
said there was no prima-facie evidence that the four had
wanted to commit
any crime against the state.
Mrs Kudya also
acquitted ANZ as a company for publishing the same
paper.
The
charges had stemmed from a decision by the newspaper bosses to
resume
publication of the Daily News, six weeks after it was shut down after
an
Administrative Court ruling in which the Media and Information Commission
(MIC) was adjudged to have erred when it denied ANZ a licence to
publish.
The MIC, through its executive chairman, Dr Tafataona
Mahoso, had
complained that ANZ had misinterpreted the court ruling and that
it should
have waited until November 30, 2003 before restarting publication
of its
titles.
Beatrice Mutetwa of Kantor and Immermann
represented ANZ.
Daily News online edition
Move to place bank under curatorship
queried
Date:21-Sep, 2004
HARARE - The recent
placement of Royal Bank under curatorship by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
has been described as a political rather than
administrative move aimed at
stripping the bank of its market share in the
country's remote
parts.
According to sources within the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), the
bank's financial books, although in an unhealthy state, were in a
much safer
position than those of a named financial institution, which is
currently
operating.
"Royal Bank was sacrificed because it was
growing faster than
expected. Although it had a liquidity deficit, it did
not warrant RBZ's
decision to place it under curatorship," said the source,
adding that the
decision was a result of the government's fears that the
bank would become
more independent and reach out to the new
farmers.
The bank's curator, Robert McIndoe, recently said he was
looking for
investors to come on board and rescue the bank.
Among the other initiatives which McIndoe has suggested, is the
disposal of
the bank's assets in the remote parts of the country in an
effort to raise
the required capital.
However, sources within the central bank have
maintained that the
disposal of the bank's assets would work against the
bank's strategy, which
was to target those clients in remote parts of the
country.
Two banks in which the government has a significant
shareholding,
First Banking Corporation and Agribank, are said to be eyeing
the branches
in rural areas and remote parts of the country, which the
curator said he
was targeting for disposal.
According to the
sources, the government is not comfortable with Royal
Bank being responsible
for financing and handling of finances for new
farmers.
Such
finances, according to sources, would be better handled by either
First
Banking Corporation or Agribank, which do not have braches in most of
the
commercial farming areas where Royal Bank had already established its
network through buying out of clients and banking halls from either Standard
Chartered Bank or Barclays Bank which recently closed shop in the
areas.
Most farmers in areas such as Chipinge and Karoi, were now
relying on
Royal Bank and its recent closure to the public had adversely
affected their
operations.
In Chipinge, there is no other
banking institution operating in the
area apart from Royal
Bank.
Unlike the other banks where chief executive officers and
other
management board members have fled the country on suspicion of
embezzling
funds, all the directors of Royal Bank are currently in the
country.
IOL
Zimbabwe is running out of food - report
September 20
2004 at 07:36PM
Harare - Food supplies are declining in most rural
districts of
Zimbabwe and households will be forced to depend on
insufficient official
stocks, a monitoring body warned in its latest report,
received on Monday by
AFP.
The warning comes a week after the
head of the state-run Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) admitted the country's
sole grain purchasing agency
was only likely to receive 750 000 tons of
maize this season, way below the
southern African country's
needs.
"As more households rely on the market to obtain their
cereal needs,
food security will depend more and more on the the Grain
Marketing Board,"
the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in its
monthly food security
update.
But the US-funded agency warned:
"The quantity of grain collected by
the GMB as of mid-August is insufficient
to meet the needs in urban centres
and rural areas with deficit
production."
It said people in rural areas were depending on their
own dwindling
stocks of grain to survive.
In urban areas, food
security is also threatened: while basic
commodities are available, many
households cannot afford them, the report
said.
"Hyperinflation, high rates of unemployment and low wages contribute
to food
insecurity in urban areas," the report said. Zimbabwe's inflation
rate
currently stands at just over 314 percent.
Last week the head of
the GMB, Colonel Samuel Muvuti told a
parliamentary committee that Zimbabwe
currently had just 298 000 tons of
maize in stock and expected a total
harvest of 750 000 tons by March next
year.
The figure
represents less than half the 1.8 million tons the country
needs for both
humans and livestock.
Muvuti said farmers would retain some produce
for their own
consumption.
Earlier this year, the Zimbabwe
government claimed it would be
harvesting a bumper maize crop of 2.4 million
tons. It refused to accept
international food aid on that
basis.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
claimed that
the figures on the country's food stocks have been distorted so
that food
handouts can be used to buy voter support ahead of next year's
general
elections.
The government denies the charge, saying it
will not let anyone
starve.
Zimbabwe is due to hold general
elections next March, but the MDC has
vowed to boycott those polls unless
electoral reforms are implemented. -
Sapa-AFP
Xinhua
Zambia temporarily suspends oil export to
Zimbabwe
www.chinaview.cn
2004-09-21 01:02:15
HARARE, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Zambia has
temporarily suspended
exporting crude oil to Zimbabwe after fuel shortages
hit Zambia as a result
of technical fault at its Indeni oil refinery plant,
local official said on
Monday.
A senior official with the
Zimbabwean Ministry of Energy and Power
Development here said on Monday that
on Friday last week, Zambia suspended
exporting oil to Zimbabwe following
the fuel shortage that the country is
currently
experiencing.
"The suspension will be lifted once the oil
situation improves in
Zambia. Zambia's Ministry of Energy informed us that
the move was inevitable
as the current stock in their country was failing to
meet domestic
requirements," said the official.
"Fuel
shortage in Zambia was caused by a defect in the machinery
at the country's
sole oil refinery plant. The plant is currently being
attended to. Zimbabwe
is not the only country affected as Zambia has
suspended all exports to
other countries that benefit from them," the
official said.
He said once Zambia addresses the technical fault, normal supplies
to
Zimbabwe would resume.
The official said the temporary
suspension would not affect the
fuel situation as measures had been taken to
avert shortages.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe recently availed
10 million US
dollars to facilitate the release of bonded stocks of fuel in
the country to
improve the fuel situation, and another 20 million US dollars
was also made
available to the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe for purposes
of importing
fuel in the past one and a half months.
The
move by the central bank came as fuel queues were beginning to
resurface in
Zimbabwe at the beginning of the month following reports of
fuel shortages
in the country. Enditem
Homeless Rural Children On Increase
The Herald
(Harare)
September 20, 2004
Posted to the web September 20,
2004
Harare
THERE is a worrying increase in the number of homeless
children in rural
areas as a result of poverty, food insecurity and
HIV/Aids, the president of
the Association of Rural District Councils of
Zimbabwe, Cde Jerry Gotora,
has said.
Cde Gotora said the problem of
homeless children was most prevalent at
growth points and rural service
centres.
He said women should champion solutions to the
problem.
"With the gender wave in the world, women should play a central
role.
Without a woman there is no home. No man has a home until there is a
woman,"
he said.
He also challenged the Ministry of Education, Sport
and Culture to use its
department of culture to conscientise society on the
need to safeguard the
interests of children.
He said his association
was in consultation with Government over the problem
and was exploring a
number of remedial interventions.
Cde Gotora said the HIV/Aids pandemic
has orphaned many children who,
because of circumstances beyond their
control, also lost property left by
their deceased parents.
The
demise of the extended family system had also exacerbated homelessness
among
the children.
"Those in distressed circumstances have traditionally been
protected by the
noble philosophy of the extended family. In our culture it
was taboo to kick
out a relation and even a stranger. It was unheard of for
a child to go
without a family, a father, a mother, brother or sister," he
said.
Cde Gotora said that system was used to protect the vulnerable in
society.
He said unlike in the European set-up where such children are sent
to foster
homes, the African culture of the extended family should be
strongly
advocated.
Interventions that are being explored include the
creation of a special fund
to deal with the problem but there is a fear that
red tape would bog down
the fund.
New Zimbabwe
MDC leaders meet Mbeki as mass action looms
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 09/21/2004 00:30:23
ZIMBABWE'S main opposition
party said it may launch mass protests to press
President Robert Mugabe to
enact voting reforms ensuring free and fair
parliamentary elections next
year.
Mass action and demonstrations were options if Mugabe did not
implement real
electoral reforms, Movement for Democratic Change secretary
general
Professor Welshman Ncube told Reuters on Monday after seeing South
African
President Thabo Mbeki at the weekend.
It was the first time
the MDC had made known its intentions after it said
last month it would
boycott elections until Mugabe's government introduced
meaningful
reforms.
Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, is accused by
critics of a
harsh political crackdown as Zimbabwe spins into economic
crisis, partly due
to the government's seizure of white-owned farms to give
to landless blacks.
He has announced plans for electoral reform that have
been welcomed by
regional governments but has not said when they will come
into force. The
MDC remained skeptical.
"There are other forms of
struggle we will look at like mass action,
boycotts and demonstrations to
bring about a democratic dispensation because
elections are not an end in
themselves," said Ncube.
He said three MDC leaders met Mbeki in the South
African capital Pretoria
and impressed on him the need for an urgent
resolution to Zimbabwe's crisis.
Mbeki has admitted his policy of quiet
diplomacy has so far failed to make
headway, and informal talks between the
MDC and Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF have
not matured into full
negotiations.
There was no immediate comment from Mbeki's
office.
Last year marches planned by the MDC were crushed by Mugabe's
government and
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and charged with
treason.
Ncube said the meeting with Mbeki was part of the MDC's
resolution to press
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) leaders to
push Mugabe to
embrace democratic reforms.
Ncube said MDC ranks did
not have radical elements agitating for an armed
struggle.
Mugabe's
electoral reform plans won backing last month from Zimbabwe's
neighbors at a
summit of SADC, which proposed similar guidelines as
democratic benchmarks
for the region.
The Harare government, which was not available to comment
on Monday, has
given no indication of when it would enact them -
Reuters
Marondera Shooting: 2 in Critical Condition
The Herald
(Harare)
September 20, 2004
Posted to the web September 20,
2004
Harare
TWO of the 13 people shot and injured when a mock
battle drill allegedly
went awry at Marondera Agricultural Show on Saturday
are in a critical
condition and have been referred to Parirenyatwa
Hospital.
Circumstances surrounding the incident were still unclear
yesterday as
Zimbabwe National Army spokesperson Major Masuku could not shed
light on any
developments regarding the matter, saying he was away in
Bulawayo.
"We apologise to the victims, but this issue is under
investigation to
ascertain what could have happened," Maj Masuku
said.
He, however, pointed out that army officers are prohibited from
using live
ammunition during their demonstrations.
Speaking from her
hospital bed, a woman who was shot at the show said she
had been watching
the drill when - all of a sudden - she was hit in the
right
breast.
"I was just standing and watching when I was hit. I do not know
why I was
shot. I must have lost consciousness as I only woke up in
hospital," the
woman said.
Two members of the Air Force of Zimbabwe,
who were about 200 metres away
from the arena where the drills were taking
place, were shot in the legs.
"None of us knows how this happened. We
were standing about 200 metres away
when we heard some shots. I immediately
felt being hit on the leg, but was
not sure whether I had been shot at with
a live bullet as there was no
reason for me to think there could be live
bullets flying in the air.
"In a state of shock, I ran towards our bus
while the crowd - which was
panic-stricken too - started fleeing."
He
said he collapsed on reaching the bus.
The airman said it was strange for
the soldiers to have fired live
ammunition in public.
"In this
profession, we do everything involving firearms by ourselves. No
one can
book for a gun on behalf of someone else and from my knowledge, only
blank
ammunition is used."
He said the soldiers had fired randomly.
"If
they had used blank ammunition - which produces smoke only - they would
not
have injured even someone standing as near as five metres away," he
said.
The other injured airman, who was still in pain, said he was
suddenly hit in
the leg while helping in the displays at their
stand.
"The next minute I was lying on the ground - I did not know what
happened,"
he said.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Oliver
Mandipaka yesterday said
investigations into the shooting were still at a
preliminary stage.
In southern Africa, too many elephants
John Donnelly The Boston
Globe Monday, September 20, 2004
Is killing the best remedy for
overpopulation? Some ecologists say it may be
PILANESBERG NATIONAL PARK,
$ Rudi van Aarde, an ecologist, leaned back on a
veranda that overlooked dry
grasslands and a group of bull elephants, his
shoes still dusty from a
12,800-kilometer tour of game reserves in southern
Africa. Van Aarde was on
a mission: saving elephants from sanctioned
killings.
.
The
overpopulation of elephants in parks throughout southern Africa has
reached
a crisis stage, most conservationists agree, and South Africa soon
will
consider whether to cull its herds. It would be the first culling on
the
continent in a decade. Proponents say it is necessary because the
elephants
are fast destroying valuable woodlands in many parks, including
some
2,000-year-old thick-trunked baobabs. But van Aarde, head of the
Conservation Ecology Research Unit at the University of Pretoria, and a
collection of animal rights groups and zoologists hope to avoid culling by
expanding newly created transnational parks. In this way, they hope to link
the seven largest clusters of elephants in southern Africa.
.
Their
theory, which they call "Megaparks for Metapopulations," is that by
merging
herds with high and low reproduction rates, and then drying up many
water
holes, the numbers of the world's largest land mammals will reduce
more
naturally.
.
They don't have much time to make their case. Public hearings
on how best to
manage the growing elephant herds, including the option of
culling, are
scheduled for next month in Kruger National Park in
northeastern South
Africa.
.
"This is a problem that man induced,"
said van Aarde at dusk one day last
week, relaxing on the veranda of an
open-air restaurant in Pilanesberg
National Park, a small reserve crowded
with nearly 180 elephants. He had
just returned from a five-week trip in a
Land Rover through Malawi, Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. "We
reduced their range and forced the
elephants into fenced-in areas and then
artificially created water holes.
The populations grew rapidly. What did we
expect?"
.
Those who favor culling the herds, he said, are "only dealing
with a symptom
of the problem. It's a short-term solution. I think we need
to deal with
what caused the problem in the first place."
.
Opponents
of culling also worry that such killings may lead to lifting the
worldwide
ban on ivory sales. Opening the market, they say, could encourage
poachers
to kill elephants in protected areas as well.
.
But those who favor
culling include respected ecologists who acknowledge
that they are trying to
solve a vexing problem in which all the viable
options are risky. Given
current reproduction rates in Kruger National Park
and Chobe National Park
in northern Botswana, they say that if half the
herds were killed, it would
take a dozen years to return to today's numbers.
.
"No one wants to go out
and cull elephants," said Jeremy Anderson, a South
African wildlife
consultant. "Say we take off half of the elephants; it will
take 12 years to
get back to where you were. "If you don't take them off,
and you're wrong
about the baobabs, it will take us 2,000 years to replace
them, or wrong
about the soil, it will take us 2 million years to replace
that. No one is
looking at the big picture and the loss of biodiversity."
Africa's elephants
once roamed the continent wherever water and trees were
plentiful, but their
range today, while still spread over 37 countries, has
been vastly reduced
because of development and the once-lucrative trade in
ivory. In 1979, the
African elephant population was estimated at more than
1.3 million; a decade
later, the widespread slaughter for ivory had reduced
it by half.
.
In
1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species placed
a
worldwide ban on the trade in ivory and other elephant products. The ban
had
an immediate effect, vastly shrinking the market for poachers. But
because
the elephants' traditional range in western and central Africa had
been
greatly reduced, the numbers of elephants there stabilized or continued
to
dwindle.
.
Southern Africa is a different story. It is home to about
300,000 of the
continent's estimated population of 400,000 to 600,000
elephants; about 80
percent of the region's elephants are in northern
Botswana and Zimbabwe, in
the vast region stretching from Chobe to Hwange to
Lower Zambezi. South
Africa has about 17,000 elephants in 75 fenced-in
parks, and specialists
estimate that the numbers of elephants exceed the
capacity of the land in
three-quarters of those
populations.
.
Elephants are herbivores with a great appetite for trees.
They use their
versatile trunks to snap branches and strip off leaves and
bark; some bulls
level mature trees, snapping the roots with relative ease.
They eat about 5
percent of their weight daily, which means 68 kilograms, or
150 pounds, of
vegetation for a young bull.
.
The environmental
destruction can be negligible if elephants have wide areas
to
roam.
.
But in southern Africa, they don't, so they have turned some
forest areas
into grassland or denuded the land in ways that open it to
erosion.
.
In Botswana, the government determined in 1991 that its
population of 54,000
elephants was the maximum its parks could handle
without severe
environmental damage. Today, the number of elephants is
estimated at more
than 120,000.
UNICEF
Life saving interventions target vulnerable in Zimbabwe
HARARE,
ZIMBABWE, 20 September 2004 - The European Commission Humanitarian
Aid
Office (ECHO) in Zimbabwe has contributed EURO 1,600 000 to UNICEF for
providing targeted assistance to the country's most vulnerable women and
children.
"We are very grateful to the European Commission for their
continued
commitment to assist Zimbabwe's vulnerable women and children,"
said Dr.
Festo P. Kavishe. "This generous contribution will go a long way in
helping
vulnerable women and children through building on already existing
programmes."
The funding comes at a time when many families and
communities continue to
struggle with the consequences of diminishing access
to basic social
services, the aftermath of three years of drought and the
impact of the AIDS
pandemic. Zimbabwe, with an estimated HIV infection rate
of 24.6% and
approximately 1,820,000 living with the disease, currently
faces one of the
highest AIDS prevalence rates in the world. The number of
orphaned children
continues to grow, with close to 800,000 children under
the age of 18 having
lost one or both of their parents to AIDS (Children on
the Brink, 2004). Of
the more than one million orphans, many children are
dependent on elderly
grandmothers or live in child headed households, having
to care for younger
siblings and forced to survive on their own.
The
contribution will target malnourished children, orphans and other
vulnerable
children, especially child headed households, as well as the
families and
communities supporting these children. It also builds on the
existing UNICEF
programmes that were initiated with ECHO support received in
2003/2004.
The funding will specifically support:
Nutrition
Interventions
a.. Food shortages worsen the plight of those living with
and affected by
AIDS and diminish the overall health status of the
population at large,
especially children. Children are more likely to
suffer the effects of
acute or chronic malnutrition and are in turn more
susceptible to disease.
ECHO's support will ensure that therapeutic feeding
programmes operating at
District Hospitals continue to benefit severely
malnourished children, and
that treated children are further supported once
they are discharged and
return home.
b.. These hospital-based
interventions, carried out in partnership with
the Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare, will be complemented by a pilot
community based nutrition
programme. The programme seeks to better educate
communities and health
workers to identify the signs of malnutrition,
understand how to manage them
and to refer children to the hospital if their
condition worsens.
c.. Initial anecdotal research indicates that children suffering the worst
forms of malnutrition are more likely to be HIV positive. In addtion,
malunutrition increases their risk to other infections and the likelihood
that they will be less responsive to treatment. The project looks to expand
referral systems for these children and their families to include additional
HIV/AIDS services that could improve their overall wellbeing.
In order
to ensure a more comprehensive response for improving the
nutritional status
of children in Zimbabwe, ECHO support will assist UNICEF,
in collaboration
with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and NGOs, to
coordinate
nutrition related activities and create better systems to monitor
their
impact.
Water and Sanitation Interventions
a.. ECHO support to
UNICEF will strengthen coordination and data
collection mechanisms to allow
for a more accurate understanding of the
country's water and sanitation
needs. Currently an estimated 50 per cent of
all existing water facilities
are in need of repair, and additional
facilities are urgently required to
meet demand. Through better
coordination and information sharing, women and
children have greater access
to safe water and sanitation.
b.. Support
will also be used to identify the numbers of orphaned and
other vulnerable
children in 16 targeted districts who are without access to
safe water and
sanitation. These children will then be given priority.
Care and Support for
Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children
a.. Building on an existing
network of community based organizations
established last year with support
from ECHO, 31,000 orphans and other
vulnerable children will be assisted to
improve their physical and emotional
wellbeing. Interventions will include
the provision of shelter and access
to improved nutrition, emotional and
access to education or vocational
training.
"This partnership with UNICEF
to assist the most vulnerable women and
children is part of our much larger
commitment to provide humanitarian
assistance to the people of Zimbabwe,"
said Aadrian Sullivan, ECHO's field
expert based in Zimbabwe. "We believe
our collective efforts can help
mitigate the devastating impact of the
current crisis in the country and
ensure that children are better able to
cope in the future."
UNICEF Zimbabwe works both at national level and in
16 target districts in
the country in areas of health, nutrition, water and
sanitation, HIV/AIDS,
education and life skills in efforts to ensure the
basic rights of all
children are realized.
For more information,
please contact:
Shantha Bloemen, Communications Officer, UNICEF Zimbabwe,
Tel. +263 4
703941/42 Mob. +263 91 27 6120, sbloemen@unicef.org
State Scraps Trainee Nurses Requirement
The Herald
(Harare)
September 20, 2004
Posted to the web September 20,
2004
Harare
THE Government has scrapped the requirement that
people wishing to train as
nurses at central hospitals should have obtained
five Ordinary level passes
in one sitting.
Recently Harare Central
Hospital refused to accept eight students with
O-levels obtained from two
sittings despite the fact that the hospital
committee had permitted them to
start training as nurses this term.
Of the eight trainees, five had been
referred from the Ministry of Youth
Development, Gender and Employment
Creation, while the other three had
performed satisfactorily during their
interviews.
Harare School of Nursing enrols 50 nursing students a
term.
Harare Hospital medical superintendent Mr Chris Tapfumaneyi last
week
confirmed he had expelled eight students who had been allowed to start
training by the hospital committee as they had not met the requirements
then.
"They did not meet the requirements then as we, until
Wednesday, had a
policy that clearly stated that all applicants wishing to
train as nurses at
all central hospitals should have obtained five O-level
passes in one
sitting," Mr Tapfumaneyi said.
"I had implemented the
policy of that day and that policy was not supposed
to have applied to some
individuals and then made not to apply to others
regarded as special by
certain people," Mr Tapfumaneyi said.
Of late, some people wishing to
train as nurses had complained that most
intakes at nursing schools were not
being conducted transparently as the
bulk of applicants who were considered
were those who came through the back
door and were usually those referred by
influential people in society.
As a result, some people said, the alleged
corrupt channel of enrolment had
in a way negatively impacted on the nursing
profession as some people
without the passion for nursing were afforded the
opportunity to train and
those turned down ended up going to other countries
such as the United
Kingdom.
Mr Tapfumaneyi said the nursing school
was not in the habit of accepting
applicants simply because they were
referred by influential people.
He, however, confirmed the nursing school
was sometimes inundated with phone
calls from politicians and other
prominent figures in the private sector
wishing to have their relatives
enrolled for training.
"All applicants, including those that are referred
to us by some people from
higher offices, go through a rigorous interview
conducted by the hospital
committee and members of the Public Service
Commission.
"None of those referred to us gets preferential treatment
from the rest of
the applicants. In fact, if they fail to satisfy the
committee, they are not
considered. It does not matter where they would have
come from," Mr
Tapfumaneyi said.
Officials at the nursing school said
the matter concerning nursing training
was complicated as even workers at
the hospital also brought their relatives
for consideration.
Mr
Tapfumaneyi said there had been rumours of workers who went around
soliciting for bribes from applicants.
"We have asked those who have
already got places to give us the names of
such people if they know them,
but no one has come forward. We are appealing
to anyone who could have
fallen prey to such corrupt officials to bring such
information to us so
that we can carry out our own investigations," he said.
Council Doctors Leave
The Herald (Harare)
September 20,
2004
Posted to the web September 20, 2004
Harare
CHITUNGWIZA
Municipal clinics are facing a shortage of doctors, a situation
that has
seen some senior nurses being tasked with the diagnosis of
illnesses and
prescribing medication to patients.
One qualified doctor, who is also
involved in administrative issues at the
municipality offices, mans all the
four clinics in the town. Under normal
circumstances, each clinic should
have one doctor. Most doctors have left
council clinics for greener pastures
outside the country or have moved into
private practice and to Government
hospitals where remuneration is higher.
Director of Health Services Dr
Mike Simoyi said doctors were highly
marketable and would not stay for
meagre salaries and poor working
conditions.
"The situation is bad,
but we are managing to cope using our senior nurses
who diagnose and
prescribe drugs to our patients," said Dr Simoyi.
He said the nurses were
under strict instructions to exercise caution when
they execute their
duties.
"They are under strict instructions to handle the situation
carefully,
especially in maternal problems where we tell them to refer
patients
immediately to Chitungwiza General Hospital for further attention,"
he said.
However, this move has put a strain on the referral hospital
where the staff
is struggling to cope.
Chlorine Shortage Hits Chitungwiza
The Herald
(Harare)
September 20, 2004
Posted to the web September 20,
2004
Harare
CHITUNGWIZA Municipality has been hit by a critical
shortage of chlorine, a
chemical powder applied on sewage waste to kill
bacteria and dampen the
smell.
Residents fear a major disease
outbreak judging by the frequency at which
sewage bursts occur in the
town.
Mr Tonderai Chenhamo, a St Mary's resident, said employees from the
town's
engineering department came to fix a sewer pipe burst but did not
apply the
chemical to ward off flies, disinfect the flowing sewage and kill
the heavy
stench.
"We fear a diseases outbreak might occur since our
children, like all
children, are playful and will end up playing along the
streams of sewage,"
said Mr Chenhamo.
Chitungwiza mayor Mr Misheck
Shoko admitted that some areas were not being
disinfected after sewage
bursts had been attended to but attributed the
situation to the run-out of
stocks at some offices.
"Council policy is that after de-blocking,
chemicals should be applied for
the health of our residents, but at times
some offices might not have the
powder to apply," said Mr Shoko.
He
said some of the area offices did not have supplies owing to inadequate
funds on the part of council.
Chitungwiza has been plagued by
persistent sewer pipe bursts which have been
blamed on the ageing sewerage
infrastructure in the town and the rise in
population. Some residents
recently took the local authority to court over
incessant sewage bursts.
Email received:
Thought I could just to let know that President Morgan
Tsvangirai has now been informed that the verdict on his treason trial will be
delivered on 15 October 2004 at the High Court in Harare. You will recall that
the judgment was postponed indefinitely after he was told to be ready for it on
29 July 2004.