Sep 21st 2006 | JOHANNESBURG
From The
Economist print edition
Discontent is bitter but there's not the unity to
harness it
THE protest was stamped upon before it could even begin.
Last week, members
of the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions tried to
organise marches in the
main towns. They had a lot to protest about. Food,
fuel and other essentials
are in painfully short supply (shops in Harare,
the capital, are even
running out of bread). Power cuts are routine,
three-quarters of the
population have no job, inflation is at 1,200%-the
highest rate on the
planet. The economy shrank by nearly half in the six
years to 2005, and most
people now rely on remittances from some of the
3m-4m Zimbabweans living
abroad.
Some union leaders were arrested as
they gathered for the march and others
were chased off by the riot police.
Officials claimed that the trade unions
were pursuing a political agenda.
But the would-be marchers wanted to
complain about the lack of bread and
butter, rather than the flattening of
democracy. The unions want a higher
minimum wage, AIDS treatment for the
poor, lower taxes, and for officials to
stop harassing informal traders.
The poverty line-what is reckoned to be
the bare minimum to keep a family of
six alive for a month-stands at
Z$96,000 ($384 officially, much less by
black-market rates). But the unions
say that the average monthly salary is
less than a quarter of that, barely
enough to pay for a decent pair of
shoes. One adult in five may be infected
with HIV, and AIDS is thought to
kill nearly 500 people every day. Drugs
could have saved many of them, but
there is almost no money for that. People
with jobs see 5% of their salaries
deducted, supposedly to finance a
national AIDS programme. Yet getting
treated in government clinics is
difficult, and patients must pay Z$3,000
for a monthly course of pills.
Private treatment is much more costly.
In the past, many Zimbabweans made
ends meet by trading informally: women
offered small piles of tomatoes or
jars of honey from the roadside; men sold
flecks of gold scraped from
river-beds; hawkers packed the streets of
Harare. But the government's urban
demolition drive last year destroyed the
homes and businesses of some
700,000 people. Traders are now told to use
government stalls, but few have
been built and only members of President
Robert Mugabe's party get places.
Those trying to sell wares outside
official markets are arrested and their
products grabbed.
There is no resolution in sight. Clearing up the
economy depends on sorting
out the politics, and that depends on Mr Mugabe
leaving office. He shows
absolutely no sign of doing so. The police, the
army and the ruling party
are growing stronger, at the expense of such state
institutions as
parliament and the courts. Some observers believe that the
situation is so
bad it could become explosive.
So it could, but
continued years of quiet desperation seem more likely. The
opposition-the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the unions, the
churches and civic
groups-have failed to unite in putting as much pressure
on the government as
possible. They did get together in a "Save Zimbabwe"
convention in July,
promising mass resistance, but nothing came of it.
Though other groups
backed the unions' planned march, they made it clear it
was not a joint
action. The MDC, itself split, said it would watch with
"keen interest" how
the authorities reacted. Morgan Tsvangirai, the party's
founder, has been
saying since March that mass action is in the works,
predicting a "winter of
discontent". But Zimbabwe's winter has passed, with
much discontent, and
little action.
Zim Online
Friday 22 September
2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government
has banned gays and
lesbians from a United Nations facilitated workshop to
discuss the setting
up of statutory commission to monitor human rights in
Zimbabwe.
The four-day consultative workshop that began in the
resort town of
Kariba on Thursday will lay the groundwork for the
establishment of a
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to be appointed by the
state but which
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa says shall have autonomy
to probe human
rights violations and act on findings.
Chinamasa, other senior government officials, local non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
resident representative Augustino Zacharias are attending the workshop that
was twice postponed after civic society objected to the process saying it
could lead to a commission subservient to the state.
The
National Association of NGOs (NANGOs) said it was participating in
part
because the government had revised the workshop agenda and also because
it
believed dialogue was critical to resolving Zimbabwe's humanitarian and
human rights crisis.
But NANGOs, which represents the country's
pro-democracy and civic
bodies, lamented the decision by the government to
ban the Gays and Lesbian
Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) and said the ban was
an abrogation of the
rights of homosexual people.
NANGO
spokesperson Fambai Ngirande told ZimOnline: "We have received
communication
that GALZ will not be part of this gathering. We are concerned
and we have
raised a complaint that they must be allowed to enjoy their
freedom of
association as any other individuals. This is an abrogation of
their
rights."
Chinamasa, who is spearheading the formation of the state
rights
commission, could not be immediately reached to shed light on why the
government had banned the GALZ from the Kariba meeting.
The
UNDP's Zacharias was also not available to comment on the matter.
But
the Harare administration is well-known for its anti-homosexual
stance with
Mugabe at one time describing gays and lesbians as "worse than
pigs and
dogs".
While same-sex couples can enjoy each other's company in the
privacy
of their homes, it is almost impossible and also dangerous for such
couples
to venture out and openly declare their relationships in public. A
large
section of Zimbabweans remain averse to same-sex
relationships.
An exhibition stand set aside for the GALZ at the
Zimbabwe
International Book Fair last August was trashed by unknown people -
suspected to be state agents - forcing the group to pull out of the
exhibition. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 22 September
2006
HARARE - The state-oriented media
celebrated the failure of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU)-organised mid-day protests on
Wednesday 13 September 2006 describing
it as a "damp squib".
More sympathetic media were more restrained
in their reactions. The
alleged reasons for the "damp squib" varied widely
and wildly. This is
neither the first nor the last time such "damp squibs"
will be witnessed in
crisis-riddled Zimbabwe.
The paradox is
that as the overall situation of the multi-faceted
crisis worsens, the
people directly affected become more and more impotent
and
demobilised.
Some analysts and commentators may want to explain
this anomalous
situation in terms of embedded fear among the Zimbabwean
population.
The "fear thesis" indeed has its merits but accounts for
only part of
the paradox, and probably only a small part of it.
In short, the fear hypothesis is overstated. More critically, even if
the
fear variable is a valid assertion, it itself needs to be explained
rather
than it being an adequate explanatory variable.
In any case, where
does the fear reside: in the elite or the masses?
My contention is that
repression in any polity projects fear, not fear
directed at the state
elites by the demos but of the state elites towards
the demos.
The more repressive the polity is, the more it is an admission of the
fright
and fear of the governing elite towards the masses, not the other way
round.
In short, repression is the weapon of the fearful.
The
problematique that seizes my attention is not unlike that posed by
Maggie
Makanza in early August when she presented a paper entitled: "The
Anatomy of
the Zimbabwean Problem." She lamented:
Why has the pro-democracy
movements not been able to capitalise on the
so many reported failures by
the ZANU PF government? Operation
Murambatsvina, failed Land Reform
Programme, the economy characterised by
high inflation, high prices of basic
food commodities, unemployment, the
list is endless. Some people say all the
necessary conditions needed for
combustion to happen exist in Zimbabwe. All
that is needed is a spark. Why
then has there been no spark despite numerous
opportunities that if
presented elsewhere in the world would have brought
about a change of the
ruling government? Why has there been no eruption in
Zimbabwe?
Why did Zimbabwean workers, in their admittedly dwindling
thousands,
not heed the call to participate actively in the protest action
in the
various 34 urban centres? Fear of the coercive instruments of the
state?
Maybe.
I however offer two probable explanations, one of
which is not an
original formulation.
The first arises from a
basic asymmetry in the risk orientations of
the ruling elite and the ruled
masses. If anything, the last ten years have
demonstrated that the governing
elite in Zimbabwe is a risk-taking elite.
Some may even say it's a reckless
elite.
Whatever characterisation one uses, the reality is that
President
Robert Mugabe and who ever advises him, are willing and prepared
to take
bold decisions irrespective of the consequences.
This
explains the risk-ridden decision to award the war veterans an
unbudgeted
bonanza, a decision that many blame for the genesis of our
present unhappy
situation. This was in 1997.
A year later the same risk-taking
leadership took the bold decision to
send thousands of our valued troops to
prop up the regime of a "buffoon"
according to the late Masipula Sithole's
description of the late DRC's
Laurent Kabila.
Two years later,
the regime took a series of bold decisions that
cascaded to the
comprehensive and multi-pronged crises that have buffeted
the country since
then.
This syndrome of crises was dubbed "Third Chimurenga," a
Hobbesian
equivalent of a war of ZANU PF against all. President Mugabe
himself is the
supreme risk-taker and he is proud of it.
While
the state elites are a risk-taking elite, the masses in Zimbabwe
are
predominantly a risk-averse demos. Further, the risk-averseness is a
rational calculation. In any case, fearful people are rarely
rational.
Most commentators and those who wish to organise mass action
and other
forms of popular protest seem to miss this vital
point.
To reiterate, being risk-averse does not mean being fearful;
it simply
means being rational, i.e. to engage in an analysis of the costs
and
benefits of any course of action and taking the line of least
risk.
The risk-averseness is now an integral part of Zimbabwe's
political
culture. This is now a fundamental reality, unpalatable though it
might be
to activists. Scholars describe this kind of political orientation
as a
subject political culture.
In Zimbabwe, this subject
political culture is a historical product of
three layers of political
authoritarianism: the traditional variant of
political authoritarianism,
settler colonial repression and the commandist
liberation war discourses and
practices.
The articulation of these three sources of
authoritarianism has
produced the variant of post-colonial authoritarianism
we witness today
whose binary features are a risk-taking elite and a
risk-averse demos.
It is my considered view that the risk-taking
orientation displayed by
Zimbabwean demos during the liberation war, that
is, the taking of arms and
engaging in other forms of struggle politics
against a well-armed and
repressive state, was in fact a transitory
aberration.
This explains why it took Zimbabweans more than sixty
years to
organise armed resistance against a recalcitrant and equally
risk-taking
settler regime best exemplified by Ian Smith's Rhodesia Front
and its
ruinous Unilateral Declaration of Independence in November
1965.
And this brings me to my key point which is that any strategy
to
engage the state will have to take this reality of Zimbabwe's political
culture into account.
If Zimbabweans are risk-averse, this
means they will only take such
action as is consistent with the line of
least resistance; this is the line
of least activism.
Given
this reality, any calls for active demonstration against the
government will
receive little to no response.
The most feasible strategy arising
from this diagnosis is one that
involves least risk i.e. least active
involvement. Mass action and street
demonstrations represent a high form of
activism and a high level of risk.
What this means is that the
strategy has to be calibrated to
correspond to the level of Zimbabweans'
activism. Mass protests are at
variance with the level of investment that
Zimbabweans are willing and able
to make.
A strategy that
harnesses the energies of a risk-averse population
ruled by a risk-taking
elite would need to be along the lines of passive
resistance. Passive
resistance may not be as visible as the mass protests
but may be more
effective in the long run.
Passive resistance involves not
physically confronting the state, but
eroding the state. Confrontation is
the Zimbabwe state's favourite game and
any organisation that takes this
confrontational strategy will in all
likelihood emerge second
best.
What the state under the risk-taking elite is not used to is
a
strategy that entails inactive resistance that is meant to erode rather
than
confronting the state.
This will clearly demand a
strategic rethink on the part of whoever
wants to engage the state. It
demands a paradigm shift in the strategy of
democratic
resistance.
It is up to the strategic thinkers in the various civic
organisations
to craft the specific means of operationalising this. This is
why of all the
various forms of public protest so far put in motion,
stayaways have been
the most successful and street protests have been the
least effective.
Stayaways involve people refraining from going to
work; people stay at
home rather than venturing out with all the risks of
colliding head on with
the state. They are an unobtrusive form of protest.
So are rent boycotts.
Imagine Harare surviving even for a month
without the sustenance
coming from rent payers. Rent boycotts erode the
capacity of the local
authority from functioning without confronting
it.
Making the state and its agencies dysfunctional in this way
demands a
lot of hard, patient, and even frustrating work of persuasion at
the popular
grassroots level. And this is not glamorous and media-catching
work. It is
painstaking work.
What this suggests is that mass
protests may well be a visible but
foolhardy if not reckless way of
registering public anger.
More importantly, it is an ineffective
strategy when used against a
risk-taking elite in charge of a state that is
still relatively robust in as
far as the deployment of the instruments of
coercion is concerned.
The Zimbabwe state has typically responded
to mass demonstrations (or
more accurately attempted mass demonstrations) by
deploying the tools of
state coercion not as the last resort but as a
reaction of first resort.
Any conceptualisation or characterisation
of the Zimbabwe state as a
failed state is in this particular respect
misguided if not dangerous.
The state may indeed be failing with
respect to the delivery of other
valued public goods and services but is far
from failing with regard to the
delivery of coercion. This is a fundamental
point that organisers of mass
street protests have to bear in
mind.
Erosion of the state rather than its confrontation appears to
me to be
the best strategy that is consistent with a risk-averse populace
governed by
a risk-taking elite.
The only other viable
alternative strategy is the arduous and
painstaking one that yields a
harvest only in the long run and this entails
the mobilisation process that
seeks to convert risk-averse Zimbabweans into
either risk-neutrals or
risk-takers.
In the final analysis, what is needed is a critical
mass of
risk-takers led by a skilful, risk-taking (but not foolhardy)
leadership.
Only then will mass street protests and demonstrations attract
popular
response from the demos.
And of course, a risk-taking
demos confronting a risk-taking governing
class can only produce a violent
and bloody contestation. In the next
instalment, I will seek to diagnose why
this state of affairs (of a
risk-averse demo) arose and some of its
manifestations.
. Eldred Masunungure is the Chairman of the
Department of Political &
Administrative Studies at the University of
Zimbabwe
Zim Online
Friday 22 September
2006
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) deputy
president Lucia Matibenga on Thursday failed to
address a congress of South
Africa's COSATU trade union due to severe pains
from injuries sustained when
she and other labour leaders were tortured by
the police.
Matibenga and several other ZCTU leaders and opposition
activists were
severely assaulted and tortured by the police last week after
they attempted
to stage demonstrations in Harare over worsening economic
conditions.
Matibenga, who is also the chairperson of the women's
wing of the main
faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai, was scheduled to brief the COSATU congress over their
ordeal at
the hands of state security agents.
COSATU President
Willie Madisha told the congress that Matibenga could
not address the
meeting yesterday as she was still in severe pain.
"Our colleague
from Zimbabwe arrived yesterday (Wednesday) but could
not come forward to
present her speech because she was severely tortured by
Mugabe's police. She
could not sit as a result of the police brutality,"
said
Madisha.
Earlier this week, COSATU said it would formally respond
to the brutal
attack of their colleagues in Zimbabwe.
COSATU,
which is part of South Africa's ruling alliance together with
the African
National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party,
has in the
past been at the forefront in criticising President Robert Mugabe's
human
rights policies.
The United States, Britain, Sweden and human
rights groups have all
criticised the attack on the labour leaders which
they said was a flagrant
violation of human rights.
Meanwhile,
late reports suggested that Matibenga and another ZCTU
official she is
travelling with were admitted to a Johannesburg trauma
clinic for treatment.
- ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 22 September
2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe dollar continued
to lose by wide margins against
major currencies on the parallel foreign
currency market, which is illegal
but remains the surest source of hard
currency in the country for
individuals, firms and even government
departments.
The local dollar, weighed down by falling production
amid a deepening
political and economic crisis, was on Thursdays trading at
800 to the
American dollar up from about 670 to the green back last weekend.
One
British pound was fetching Z$1 200 up from about $980
before.
The South African rand, one of the main sought-after
currencies by
Zimbabweans who source most of their food and other goods from
their giant
neighbour, was fetching Z$110, up from 80 last
weekend.
On the official interbank market, the United States dollar
is trading
at $250, the British pound sterling at $470 while the South
African rand is
trading at $40.
The bulk of the trade in
foreign currency however takes place on the
illegal but thriving unofficial
or parallel market.
Harare-based economist James Jowa said foreign
currency shortages,
gripping the country for the past seven years, would
persist in the absence
of a viable and holistic initiative to fix the
bleeding economy and boost
production.
Jowa said: "There have
not been significant policy initiatives to
address the supply constraints
which will benefit the foreign currency
market.
"The impact of
inflation on the local currency has been serious and
this has caused the
dollar to lose its value significantly. The government
must proffer policy
initiatives to address the supply constraints and only
then can the dollar
be seen to stabilise."
An investment analyst with a local bank, who
declined to be named for
professional reasons, said the government should
seek to revive investor
confidence and attract back foreign direct
investment.
"Unfortunately the government is worsening the
situation by the brutal
attack on the rights of civilians as what happened
last week when the
uniformed forces attacked Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU)
demonstrators," she said.
The bank analyst was
referring to the severe assault and torture of
ZCTU and opposition leaders
last week by the police for attempting to stage
street protests against
worsening economic conditions in the country.
A near-worthless
currency is only one of a litany of severe symptoms
of an economic meltdown,
critics blame on state mismanagement.
The meltdown has also spawned
shortages of food, fuel, electricity,
essential medicines and just about
every basic survival commodity. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 22 September
2006
HARARE - About 170 activists of the
National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) were released by the police yesterday
but the civic alliance said it
may appeal to the courts today for the
release of about six other activists
still detained in the cities of Gweru
and Masvingo.
Those set free were all from the eastern city of
Mutare and they were
released after agreeing to pay admission of guilt fines
of Z$250 each.
NCA lawyer Trust Maanda said the Mutare activists had
only agreed to
pay the fines in order to avoid another night in police
cells, known for
their crowded and filthy conditions.
"We had
to go for the option of a fine to avoid dangers of being in
police cells,
otherwise there was no case," Maanda said.
NCA activists detained
in Gweru and Masvingo could not be freed
apparently because the police had
still not completed the paperwork for
their release by the end of day
yesterday but lawyers said they would
approach the courts if there were any
further delays today.
The NCA activists were arrested for holding
street protests against
last week's severe assault and torture of dozens of
top Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders and some opposition
officials by the police.
The ZCTU and the opposition officials, who
incurred various injuries
including broken ribs, arms and legs, were
assaulted in police cells after
their arrest while attempting to stage
protests against worsening economic
hardships.
While the NCA
was able to hold marches in other cities it could not do
so in Harare where
the police maintained a heavy presence.
President Robert Mugabe
regularly sends the army and police onto the
streets to suppress mounting
dissension against his rule as Zimbabwe
grapples with an economic meltdown,
critics blame on state mismanagement.
Zimbabwe has the world's
highest inflation rate at 1 204.6 percent,
skyrocketing unemployment,
shortages of foreign currency, food, fuel and
power and increasing poverty
levels. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
21 September
2006
Mutare police released 178 members of the National
Constitutional Assembly
arrested Wednesday during anti-government
demonstrations after the detained
activists paid fines of Z$250 apiece,
sources in the civil society
organization said Thursday.
Equivalent
to just one U.S. dollar, the fine is as stipulated by law for
illegal
assembly but has been overtaken by the country's roaring inflation,
now over
1,200%.
But 17 activists remained in custody in the Midlands city of
Gweru and in
the south central city of Masvingo, according to NCA Chairman
Lovemore
Madhuku.
In Harare, one of four NCA members reportedly
abducted and assaulted by
ZANU-PF youths in Wednesday's attempted
demonstration there has come
forward. Simon Moto told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe he was subjected to beatings and
forms of torture within the ruling
party's Harare headquarters.
At
about 10am on Wednesday Traffic and Riot Police had already
started
diverting traffic away from Nelson Mandela Avenue around
Construction
House, where the ZCTU demonstration was due to start at 12
midday.
On my arrival in the vicinity at 11.45 am there was a heavy Riot
police
presence. I sat for over an hour watching them. There were a number
of
MDC and ZCTU officials and activists waiting around Bakers Inn. The
Riot
Police were without doubt going to provoke a situation. They
were
stopping passersby and questioning them and in many cases grabbing
their
arms aggressively, and telling them to get out of the
area.
The demo finally started around 1pm with about 12 people singing
and
dancing in the street. It was over in seconds. The demonstrators
were
ordered to sit down and then the Riot police went beserk. They beat
the
people so viciously and brutally it was a terrible and shocking
spectacle
to witness. I feared for their lives. All the Policemen raised
their
baton sticks way above their heads and then brought them down in
full
force against the peoples bodies.
I was seen to be taking
photo's by a CIO operative who pulled me aside to
question me. Grace Kwinje
distracted him and gave me the "disappear"
look! I hid in a nearby Bank
and when I thought the coast was clear,
slipped out and went round the
corner. The next minute there was a
tsunami of bodies surging panic
stricken past me. Before I could turn
around I was hit by a baton stick on
the back by one of three Riot cops
telling me I was under arrest. I refused
to hand over my camera or my
cell phone. Having been told to switch off my
phone, I called Iain and
left the phone open so he could hear what was going
on. Fortunately we
passed Tendai Biti so I was able to advise him of the
situation. While
climbing into the open Land Rover I saw that Grace Kwinje
had also been
arrested.
As we were driving past Harvest House (MDC)
the Land Rover screeched to a
halt and five of the six Riot cops leapt out
and just grabbed passersby
and a few people who were standing watching us,
and proceeded to beat them
shouting "what are you doing on the streets?".
Having satisfied their
lust for violence once again, they jumped back in and
we were then handed
over to the CIO just outside the Anglican Cathedral.
Again I was told to
hand over my camera but refused to do so - I said I
would only hand it to
a senior Police detail if I were to be
charged.
There were two suited Chinese gentlemen with cameras standing
on the steps
of the Cathedral, smiling - waiting for what? The demo was
supposed to
end outside Parliament. It did make me wonder if their
suppression of
dissent tactics in China, ending in the massacre of Tianamen
Square, is
being leant to the Mugabe regime? Their involvement in
Operation
Murambastvina was visible ie. military uniformed Chinese men seen
in the
Army vehicles at the sites of destruction was ominous to say the
least.
2
We were then taken to Harare Central Police station where we met up
with
the ZCTU leaders and members already arrested. The station car park
was
teeming with Police and riot members and we were heavily guarded! It
was
brought to our attention over the next few days that we had been
referred
to as "ZCTU terrorists bent on killing the President". One fails
to be
able to connect a peaceful demonstration to terrorism, unless ZANU PF
has
added a new word to its dictionary.
Having been officially
booked into the holding cell-block we awaited the
arrival of our lawyers.
Access to our lawyers was denied. The lawyers
spent five hours at the
Station attempting to gain access to us, their
clients. It was flatly
refused. We were also denied the opportunity to
speak with our relatives
when they brought us food and water.
The following are the Human Rights
abuses encountered in the Harare
Central Police cells:
· Access to
legal practitioners denied.
· Brutal and savage torture and beating of
prisoners (Matapi Police
Station).
· Access to relatives denied.
·
No food or water offered by Police.
· No blankets supplied.
· Very
little light, mostly kept in darkness.
· Extreme verbal abuse and in some
cases prisoners kicked or hit with a
broken hosepipe.
· All the toilets
in the cells were overflowing with human excreta.
· The majority of the
cells had raw sewage covering the floor and
overflowing into the
passages.
· No access to water for drinking or washing.
The stench
was so stifling that it caught in the back ones throat and
eventually stuck
there. As prisoners we were not allowed to wear our
shoes, which meant we
were walking in raw sewage. With very little
lighting it meant it was
impossible to avoid stepping into this disgusting
filth. We brought this to
the attention of the duty Police Officers and
were told "those are the
rules". Some prisoners wrapped their feet in
bread packets but were told
to "pfeka mapackets".
As we were taken up to the top of the building for
our first roll call,
our eyes were adjusting to the darkness on the first
floor, when we heard
a roar of excitement and singing and we then realized
we were in jail with
our WOZA sisters. It was a heart warming welcome to
the world of
detention! Arms came flying through the bars and there were
hugs all
round till the Officer with his "rova pipe" (piece of hose pipe
used for
beating) shouted to us to move on.
Due to the uninhabitable
state of the cells we were all left with no
option but to "sleep" on the
concrete floor in the passage. There were
about forty WOZA women so we all
squashed up together for warmth and to
keep out of the way of the sewage
creeping along the
passage.
3
Each toilet has a tap above it to flush the contents away, but there
was
no water.
The first morning I saw a civilian cleaner and asked him
to show me where
the water source was. Once I knew, I was able to get water
to flush out
the toilet in only one cell. Cleaning it was not a pleasant
task but I
felt if we were to be there for a few days we had to have some
place for a
"comfort break"! However it was soon back to where it was in
the
beginning so Grace took her turn as the "plumbing consultant".
We
even managed to get a bottle of Sanpic in with our food pack, as well
as
Doom Spray to kill the tsikitsi (bed bugs). One of our group
captured
about fifty of these bugs and placed them in a plastic packet to
be kept as
"Exhibit A"!
The duty officers were cussed constantly by the ZCTU
inmates, for their
lack of professionalism, their abusive manner, the police
violence, the
inhuman conditions in the cells etc. One of the younger ZCTU
members got
very vociferous at one of the roll calls and was threatened with
a beating
"ndichakurova". He just yelled back, "you can beat me all you
like, you
are not Policemen, you are just thugs in uniform". Am sure they
were
pleased to see our backs!
On Thursday we were not formally
charged and our fingerprints were not
taken. We still had not been accessed
by the lawyers.
By now we had heard that the ZCTU leadership and an MDC
senior official
had been detained at the notorious Matapi Police Station at
Mbare. That
Station is a well- known torture center and has been condemned
by the
Supreme Court of Zimbabwe as "unfit for human habitation". That
night -
we thought about 9 pm, the Matapi contingent were moved to join us
at
Central. It was a pitiful sight to see those 14 physically and
mentally
battered and brutalized figures appearing. Three could hardly walk
or
stand. The solidarity and comraderie was tangible as we all shook
hands
or hugged our friends and offered our deepest empathies. They told us
of
their ordeal and how they had been told on arrival at Matapi by the
Police
(Army?) details "we are not trained to write dockets, we are trained
to
kill". They were taken two at a time into a room and brutally beaten
by
five men with knobkerries and long baton sticks for up to twenty
minutes.
It was clear that they were all in desperate need of Medical
attention,
which had been denied them at Matapi Police Station.
The
Duty Officer made arrangements for their removal to Parirenyatwa
Hospital
and the pitiful group shuffled out with some hope of relief in
their
hearts. Many hours later they all returned, bandaged, X-rayed,
and
obviously all still in great pain.
To have to "sleep" or sit on
the filthy concrete floors for hours through
the night and the next day must
have been agony for them, not to mention
the time spent in worse conditions
at Matapi.
Friday morning, the documentation and fingerprinting
procedures started.
The Police detail doing the fingerprinting was excellent
at his job and
soon got through all 20 of us very quickly. Time was of the
essence as we
had to get to Court before 3pm in order to apply for Bail.
The option of
remaining in the cesspool over the
weekend
4
was a bleak one. However there were other Officers who were not
so
efficient and there was a definite push by the CIO to delay matters
in
order to keep us in custody.
We saw our lawyers for the first
time that morning and were given great
hope when one of them showed us the
High Court Order she had obtained
saying that if we were not brought before
the Courts by 1600hours on
Friday, then the Police were ordered to release
us. Many of us know from
previous experience that Police seldom comply
with High Court Orders,
especially if the men in dark glasses are
involved!
Once the documentation was completed we were taken back to the
cells to be
released. This can only be done if the Investigating Officer
(IO) is
present to book and sign each prisoner out, so we were accompanied
by a
Sergeant who was to stand in for the IO. Also booking out a
prisoner
(presumably?) was a CIO operative.
He was heard quite clearly
saying to the Sergeant "get out of here before
I arrest you". In a flash
and a blur, the Sgt. was gone. Proof that the
Presidents Office was doing
all in its power to delay our release. Well
there was nearly a
riot.
We were eventually all booked/signed out, collected our property
and
herded out to the car park. Time was clearly running out. 24 of us
were
squashed into a Land Rover and a pick up truck and the doors
closed.
Then! The IO finds that he is one statement short and we all need
to
debus so he can take the final statement.
This elicited a rowdy
cussing of Police unprofessionalism and delaying
tactics from all of us. It
was now about 2.45pm and we were
understandably getting agitated.
A
lawyer was present so the remaining statement was duly taken (or
found!?)
and we were off to court escorted by the wailing siren of a
Police
B-car.
Were we high profile dangerous criminals or was someone trying to
expedite
our arrival at the Courts? I like to think the latter.
As
we drove out of the station our truck erupted in song and this
continued all
the way to the Courts. On the steps of the Court were a
group of people
including journalists, members of the Diplomatic
corps,well-wishers and
members of the ZCTU.
Eventually at 4.10pm the case opened. The Court
was jam packed. It was
very encouraging to see ones relatives there, but
especially leaders such
as Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the MDC and Dr.
Lovemore Madhuku,
Chairman of the National Constitutional
Assembly.
Two lawyers, with two assisting lawyers, led the defense case
in a concise
and professional manner. The Prosecutor then presented the
State's case.
He claimed that the accuseds had used derogatory statements
referring to
Police as "mugabes dogs", that they had disrupted traffic at a
busy time
of day (Police had been diverting traffic for hours) and
generally
disturbed the peace. He went on to say "further to that they
(the
accuseds) had caused some Policemen to sustain injuries and had
damaged
some Police vehicles". Well there was a spontaneous eruption of
laughter
from all present, including many of the large number of Police and
Prison
officers in the courtroom. Coming from a supposedly intelligent man
that
was the most
ludicrous
5
statement to make, and just goes to show how desperate the State is
to
attempt to make a "terrorist" trial out of absolutely
nothing.
The highest penalty for the charge proffered against us, if
found guilty,
would be a fine not exceeding $2,000 (two thousand dollars).
The State
did not oppose bail but wanted the following bail conditions
imposed:
· surrender travel documents
· deposit of $20,000
· twice
weekly reporting to Harare Central Police Station.
The defense argued the
unreasonableness of the conditions, which were
eventually set at bail of
$20,000 and Friday reporting to the Police
Station. The accused persons
were remanded until the 3rd October. 2006.
My experience with the
majority of the Police Officers (duty Policemen,
militia in Police uniform
and CIO operatives) and Prison officers, has
shown that the indoctrination
has been deeply entrenched in the younger
members. There is a total lack of
respect for human rights, their
behavior is extremely aggressive and
abusive, verbally and physically. To
see these people enjoying sadistic and
brutal savagery says something
about our country at this time. Sadly this
is the order of the day.
To end on a positive note there were a couple
of "old school" Police and
Prison Officers who were professional,
compassionate to those brutalized,
and fair in their treatment. Thank God
for those few, it keeps hope
alive.
My belief is that God puts us in
certain places at certain times for a
reason. I have learnt a great deal in
the past few days, and it has made
me even more committed to our beloved
country, to see democratic change,
and the rebuilding of so many shattered
lives, hopes and dreams.
Where there are witnesses to brutality, there will
eventually be
accountability and justice.
Kerry Kay.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
21 September
2006
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has called
a worldwide
day of action Friday to protest the mistreatment, allegedly by
Zimbabwean
police or security forces, of leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade
Unions. The ICFTU is urging labor and human rights activists to
demonstrate
outside Zimbabwean embassies.
Elsewhere, international
labor activists meeting in Johannesburg at the
Council of South African
Trade Unions resolved to travel Friday to Zimbabwe
to express their
solidarity with their ZCTU colleagues. Based on previous
incidents, it
seemed quite likely authorities in Harare would refuse to let
the activists
enter the country.
Trade union rights director Janiek Kuczkiewicz of the
International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe in an interview from Brussels that
his organization is
disturbed at the "despicable.anti-union repression"
allegedly carried out by
Zimbabwean authorities.
IOL
September 21
2006 at 09:04PM
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
vice-president Lucia
Matibenga and a colleague who suffered police beatings
last week have been
admitted to the trauma unit of a Gauteng clinic, Cosatu
said on Thursday.
The labour federation's general secretary,
Zwelinzima Vavi, announced
this at Cosatu's congress at Midrand, explaining
that they had been
scheduled to address the gathering.
"We
suspect that Lucia's arm may be cracked and she may have trouble
with her
kidneys," he said.
They were allegedly beaten up after their arrest
before the scheduled
start of a demonstration in Harare.
Further details were not immediately available. - Sapa
IOL
September 21 2006 at
02:13PM
Harare - The drive to oust Robert Mugabe has not run out of
steam
despite the muzzling of protests and splits in the Movement for
Democratic
Change, according to Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The southern African country has been beset by
unemployment running at
80 percent and the annual inflation rate hit a world
record levels of more
than 1 200 percent last month.
With bread
shortages reported in bakeries and electricity blackouts a
frequent
occurrence, opponents of President Mugabe's 26-year rule should be
in a
prime position to take advantage.
"Our mass democratic resistance
is definitely coming," Tsvangirai said
in an interview with
AFP.
But while Tsvangirai was once able to attract thousands of
Zimbabweans
to attend rallies in the late 1990s, a planned series of
nationwide protests
last week was stopped in its tracks as the organisers
were arrested and
rank-and-file demonstrators failed to turn up at the
meeting points.
While a strict enforcement of the public order act,
which bars
unauthorised protests, was partly to blame for the day of
action's failure,
it also appeared to epitomise the weakness of the
opposition since the MDC
divided into rival factions last November in a
dispute over whether to
contest senate elections.
Tsvangirai,
who still heads the largest MDC faction, said he was not
about to throw in
the towel and was planning a new round of mass protests
against the
82-year-old Mugabe.
"Nothing short of a resolution of the current
crisis will deter us. We
are deeply concerned with the struggles people are
going through everyday to
survive as a result of mismanagement by the Mugabe
regime."
Last week's day of action was organised by the Zimbabwe
Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) which was headed by Tsvangirai in the
1990s.
Several of the ZCTU's current leadership sustained injuries
after
being arrested at the start of the march last Monday, including
secretary
general Wellington Chibebe who broke an arm.
Tsvangirai, who has had his own run-ins with the Mugabe security
forces and
was at one stage put on trial for plotting to kill the president,
said that
the assaults on the ZCTU leaders was part of a plan of
intimidation.
"The attack on the ZCTU leadership was carefully
planned by the
regime," Tsvangirai said.
"As a labour-backed
party, we feel that our base is now under siege.
There was no justification
for denying workers their right to express
themselves."
Tsvangirai however insisted the opposition movement would not be
baited into
resorting to violence, citing a recent march on parliament when
he delivered
a petition to the speaker to protest the state of the country.
"We
have already shown our commitment to peaceful change by the march
we made to
parliament on September 1. Whatever will follow will depend on
the
preparedness of the general populace."
Tsvangirai has been keeping
a low profile in recent months and was
conspicuous by his absence at the
ZCTU protest.
He gave his interview after the announcement of the
findings of an
internal MDC probe into an assault on one of its female
lawmakers who has
fallen out with Tsvangirai.
The implosion of
the MDC has left many opponents of Mugabe despairing.
Tsvangirai
however believes that the attack on Trudy Stevenson was the
work of the
security services who are trying to drive a wedge through the
opposition
ranks by "heavy infiltration in the party".
The government has
scoffed at the suggestions that it was behind
either the attack on Stevenson
or the assaults on the union leaders after
their arrests.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa refuted Tsvangirai's claims and said
the
attacks on the union leaders were "unfortunate".
"They (ZCTU) were
told not to break the law and they did that but that
is not to say we as
government were behind their attacks," Mutasa said.
"It was
unfortunate that they were attacked but we were not
responsible." -
Sapa-AFP
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
September 21, 2006
Posted to the web September 21,
2006
Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg
AN INTERNATIONAL Monetary
Fund (IMF) team is expected in Harare next week to
assess Zimbabwe's economy
after the country was singled out as the weak link
in regional
growth.
During the IMF-World Bank meetings in Singapore that ended
yesterday,
Zimbabwe was singled out as the stumbling block in regional
economic growth
and development.
Official sources confirmed that an
IMF team would be in Harare next week on
an Article IV consultative mission.
It is expected to highlight the
worsening political and economic situation
in its post-visit report.
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa
will announce the date of the
visit when he returns from Singapore today. He
was expected to hold private
talks with IMF officials before
leaving.
Zimbabwe has been reluctant to allow the IMF back since its last
visit in
March because the government fears it will intensify criticism of
its
policies, which have driven the economy to ruins, sources
say.
Harare's worst fears were realised at the weekend when the IMF
hauled the
government over the coals for its damaging economic
policies.
Siddharth Tiwari, the IMF African department's deputy director,
said on
Saturday Zimbabwe had experienced six years of cumulative decline
that had
left the economy near collapse.
Zimbabwe had faced six years
of continuous output decline, a rise in prices
at high rates over several
years, increased poverty, failing public
services, and rising HIV/AIDS
rates, Tiwari said.
An IMF report last week said inflation was expected
to reach 4000% by the
end of next year.
"It is a tragic situation,
frankly, and prospects are grim; they are not
bright. While financing will
be helpful to Zimbabwe, fundamental changes in
economic policies are
needed," Tiwari said.
The IMF has urged Zimbabwe to adopt a comprehensive
package of sustained
structural reforms to rescue its economy.
When
the IMF last visited Harare in March, it said Zimbabwe's economic
crisis
called for "urgent implementation of a comprehensive policy package
comprising several mutually reinforcing actions in macroeconomic
stabilisation and structural reforms."
Although Zimbabwe earlier this
year settled its arrears with the IMF's
General Resources Account, it still
owes about $119m to the Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility-Exogenous
Shocks Facility Trust Fund.
The move resulted in IMF MD Rodrigo de Rato
stopping the fund's push for the
country to be expelled. But the IMF refused
to lift other sanctions on
Harare, such as the suspension of its voting
rights and a ban on using the
organisation's general
resources.
Tiwari said there was "substantial goodwill" to help out
Zimbabwe on the
part of the international community, although much depended
on the country's
authorities.
He said Harare needed to sort out
macroeconomic fundamentals, especially
reducing inflation, which is at
1204%.
"We are looking for a set of policy measures that go in the right
direction,
and structural reforms are an important part of that," he
said.
"Exchange market reforms are an important part of that. Frankly, in
the end,
(for) improvement in the business climate, the rule of law is an
important
part of that. You can do all of the above and if you do not
convince the
private sector, it is not going to work."
Nigerian
Finance Minister Nenadi Usman said at the weekend that the
sub-Saharan
region had continued to register "strong growth and favourable
economic
outlook" due to the implementation of sound policies. However,
Zimbabwe was
the exception.
Bloomberg
By Brian Latham
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Farmers in Zimbabwe,
the world's fifth-biggest
exporter of high-grade tobacco, may plant 22
percent more of the leaf this
year, said Rodney Ambrose, chief executive of
the Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association.
Seed sales indicate that about
55,000 hectares (135,908 acres) of tobacco
may be planted this year, from
45,000 hectares last year, Ambrose said in a
telephone interview today from
the capital, Harare.
``In recent years, experience has taught us that
some seed leaks through
into neighboring countries like Malawi, Mozambique
and Zambia, so it is too
early to be certain,'' he said.
Tobacco
production in the southern African nation, which once ranked number
two in
exports after Brazil, has slumped since 2000. That year President
Robert
Mugabe began seizing mainly white-owned farms for distribution to
blacks
deprived of land during colonial rule.
Zimbabwe completed this year's
main tobacco selling season Aug. 31.
Preliminary figures show the country
sold 54.2 million kilograms (119.5
million pounds) of tobacco worth $109
million between April and the end of
August, the association
said.
The country, which produces tobacco that rivals the U.S. crop for
quality,
may sell as much as 65 million kilograms next year if 55,000
hectares are
planted, it said. In 2000, Zimbabwean growers sold a record 234
million
kilograms of leaf.
The association blames the fall in
production on shortages of finance and
inputs such as fertilizers and
chemicals. Zimbabwe is in its eighth year of
recession and has the world's
highest inflation rate of 1,205 percent.
Power Cuts
Farmers in the
Mashonaland West Province, one of Zimbabwe's three main
tobacco growing
provinces, have planted between 20,000 and 25,000 hectares
of tobacco this
year, up at least 25 percent from last year, the state-run
Agricultural
Research and Extension Department said.
``Transplanting from seed beds to
the main fields is progressing, but
farmers are complaining that power cuts
are hampering the process,'' Felix
Tavuringa, an officer with the
department, said in a telephone interview
from the provincial capital
Bindura, in northeastern Zimbabwe.
Power cuts occur as often as twice a
day in Zimbabwe because output from the
country's main Hwange thermal power
plant has been reduced by coal
shortages. Tobacco growers need electricity
to pump water onto newly planted
fields ahead of the rainy season that
starts in November.
Monumental Problems
``Seed sales don't
necessarily guarantee a larger crop,'' said John Worsley
Worswick, chairman
of farmers' lobby group Justice for Agriculture. ``All
growers still face
monumental problems sourcing inputs like chemicals,
fertilizer and diesel.
These shortages will have an effect on the final crop
size.''
Richmond, Virginia-based Universal Corp. and Alliance One
International Inc.
are traditionally the biggest buyers of the Zimbabwe's
crop, which is used
to flavor cigarettes such as Malboro and Benson and
Hedges.
Last year's crop was the smallest planted since 1972, the year a
civil war
broke out in the country, then known as Rhodesia.
To
contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Maputo via the
Johannesburg bureau on (27) prichardso10@bloomberg.net
Last
Updated: September 21, 2006
Islamic Republic News Agency
United Nations, New York, Sept 21,
IRNA
Iran-Zimbabwe-meeting
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and
his Zimbabwean counterpart,
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, discussed expansion of
bilateral ties here
Wednesday.
The two ministers met on the sidelines
of the 61st annual session of the
United Nations General
Assembly.
Mottaki, in the meeting, said Iran is keen to expand ties with
African
countries, Zimbabwe in particular.
The two sides stressed the
role of the Iranian private sector in
implementing various economic projects
in Zimbabwe, particularly in its
agriculture and foodstuff
sectors.
It was decided that an Iranian delegation led by the Deputy
Foreign Minister
for Economic Affairs would visit Zimbabwe to review grounds
for mutual
cooperation.
The two sides also decided to hold the next
session of their joint economic
commission in Tehran this year.
The
Zimbabwean minister expressed hope he would be able to visit Iran in the
current year.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
September 20, 2006
Posted to the web September 21,
2006
Harare
AS EXPECTED, the RBZ increased the 0 percent,
non-negotiable certificate of
deposit from seven days to between 90 and 270
days on September 15 2006.
As a result, investors that had been shying
away from longer-dated paper
citing economic uncertainty like the
possibility of a sudden policy shift in
the current low interest rate policy
due to inflation suddenly took cover in
the long paper.
Suddenly the
central bank is now in control of the situation and has been
dictating the
level of interest rates it wants to see on the six and
one-year papers. For
instance, the 181-day rate, which stood at 250 percent
prior to its stoppage
on August 31, resurfaced on Tuesday (12/09/06) and
Wednesday (13/09/06)
lower at 199 percent and 143,.44 percent, respectively.
This week they have
been on offer since Tuesday (19/09/06) and the rate
closed lower at 128,5
percent while on Wednesday (20/09/06) it slumped
further to 105,91 percent.
The 365-day Treasury bill that had up until
Monday (11/09/06) stabilised at
300 percent fell to 226 percent and 192,38
percent when the central bank
brought it back on Thursday (14/09/06) and
Friday (15/09/06), respectively.
This week the rate continued unchanged at
192,3 percent when the one-year
paper was offered on Monday (18/09/06).
This reduction in the Treasury
bill rates is meant, among other factors, to
reduce the inflationary impact
of a lower interest rate policy through the
Budget.
This is because
by lengthening the tenors of the Treasury bills the effect
of compound
interest on the Budget deficit will be reduced, as the principal
will be
repaid after 365 days instead of 91 days. It is highly likely that
the
central bank may increase the Treasury bill tenors to more than 365 days
at
even lower interest rates in order to achieve its twin aim of (a)
providing
cheaper funding to the productive sectors and (b) restructure the
domestic
so that a greater proportion of it becomes medium to long-term. It
remains
to be seen whether this policy is potent enough to reverse the
current
inflation trend whereby the August 2006 rate has reached an all-time
high of
1204,6 percent.
The money market continued liquid due to the heavy
Treasury bill maturities,
a situation that saw interest rates falling even
further. For instance, the
90-day NCD rate that stood at around 40 percent
last week came down to
around 20 percent while 120-day rates that hovered
around 80 percent is now
softer at 50 percent. The 180-day fell from 110
percent to 100 percent
during the same period. As a result, there is scope
for banks to revise
their minimum lending rates further down from the
current levels of around
295 percent to below 270 percent.
Meanwhile,
the equity market recorded solid gains across the board on the
back of the
announcement of higher inflation numbers for August and the
continued low
money market interest rates. The annual rate of inflation rose
by 211
percentage points to 1 204,6 percent. As a result, the Industrial
Index rose
by 30,6 percent during the week to Wednesday (20/09/06) to 272
057,13 while
the Mining Index gained by 28,4 percent during the same period
to 141
520,14.
Going forward, we expect bulls to be continually present in
quality counters
like export-oriented, retailers, banks and highly
diversified ones.
The need to provide cheaper sources of finance to the
productive sectors
especially agriculture and the 2008 Presidential
elections is expected to
determine the bulls' term of office. In this regard
the scrapping of aid to
A2 farmers is only sustainable in a general low
interest rate environment.
In the case of the foreign exchange market,
the Exchange Rate Impact
Assessment Board (ERIAB) that the central bank
promised to establish soon
"...to monitor and inform the market of
sustainable bands of exchange rate
adjustments under the new flexible
exchange rate" is still to be seen.
According to the RBZ the ERIAB shall
meet every month to review developments
in the foreign exchange market and
based on the ERIAB recommendations, the
central bank, through its
International Banking and Portfolio Management
Division, shall announce
trading bands to the foreign exchange market for
the next month. In order to
smoothen the transition to the new exchange rate
management system, the RBZ,
on July 31 2006, devalued the currency by 59,5
31 to Z$250 to the U.S.
dollar for the period August 1 to 21 2006.
Now, given that the first 21
days of August during which the exchange rate
would be maintained at Z$250
to the US dollar is long over, the market
awaits the authorities to start
depreciating the Zimbabwe dollar against the
greenback in order to reduce
the premium on the parallel market rate, which
stands at more than 65
percent above the official inter-bank rate.
Meanwhile, the parallel
market exchange rates that is said to have
stabilised at levels of between
Z$600 and Z$650 to the US dollar following
the revaluation of the Zimbabwe
dollar and threats by the central bank that
a similar exercise would be done
in less than 24 hours, is said to have
started to depreciate again on the
back of renewed demand coming from
unidentified sources.
Having ended
last week at levels of around Z$850 to the US dollar, the local
unit is said
to have moved this week to more than Z$1000.
By
Lance Guma
21 September 2006
The militant Free-Zim Youth
group have been granted an audience with
the South African embassy in the
United Kingdom on Friday after announcing
they would be demonstrating there
on the 14th October this year. According
to Alois Mbawara the co-ordinator
of the pressure group the purpose of the
meeting is to 'create a mutual
understanding between the two nations and to
enlist the support of the South
African government at a time when the
liberty and safety of youth activists
inside Zimbabwe is under renewed
threat.' The meeting has been set for
11:00am at the embassy offices in
London.
Free-Zim Youth is
seeking a statement from Thabo Mbeki's government on
what their policy is
towards Zimbabwe and to get a clear condemnation of the
crackdown on trade
union and youth activists in Zimbabwe. Mbawara told
Newsreel that;
'Free-ZimYouth align themselves with the concerns of other
African
counterparts in the AU and SADC countries who have expressed
solidarity with
those engaged in the struggle for freedom in Zimbabwe.'
Whether the group
can influence South African government policy is a remote
possibility but
Mbawara says at least they will convey the concerns of
Zimbabwean youth
given growing repression at home.
Composed mainly of Zimbabwean
youths in the United Kingdom, Free-Zim
Youth has held demonstrations at the
offices of the British Prime Minister
in Downing Street in July, protesting
the appointment of former Tanzanian
President Benjamin Mkapa to mediate in
Zimbabwe's crisis. In September the
group held a solidarity march at the
Zimbabwean embassy in London to show
solidarity with students from the
national student body (ZINASU). Mbawara
says they are currently embarking on
a 'road show' in the African diplomatic
community to raise awareness on the
situation in Zimbabwe.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
Reuters
Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:58 PM GMT
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - When Sarah Mandiopera said she wanted to
attend a
funeral -- the second in three days -- her husband refused. When
she
insisted on going, he bludgeoned her to death in front of their three
young
children.
Those children, the eldest a 10-year-old boy, met
Zimbabwe legislators and
the public at a hearing on Thursday on a proposed
law to curb domestic
violence.
"A lot of perpetrators are getting
away with murder," Betty Makoni, director
of Girl Child Network, a pressure
group fighting for the rights of girls,
told the public hearing.
The
Domestic Violence Bill was first mooted 10 years ago but women's groups
have
this year pressured President Robert Mugabe's government to speedily
enact
the law, saying more than 90 percent of domestic violence targets
women.
Zimbabwe's economic crisis, which has seen inflation soar to
more than 1,000
percent amid shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange,
has also spurred
the need for more legal protections.
Some women say
the crisis has spawned anger among many people, with most men
finding it
easier to direct their rage at more vulnerable groups of society,
such as
women and children, instead of the state, which has clamped down on
dissent.
The bill classifies physical, sexual, emotional, verbal and
psychological
abuse as acts of domestic violence, and criminalises those
along with
intimidation, harassment and stalking.
The draft law also
takes aim at some cultural practices including female
gender mutilation,
child marriage, and "wife inheritance", in which wives
are passed along in
their husband's family if the husband dies.
There were several sad tales
of domestic violence at Thursday's meeting,
including a recent "rescue"
mission in eastern Zimbabwe by a local rights
group and police to save four
young girls given to another family as payment
to appease spirits, a
traditional practice in the country.
"THEY ARE MURDERERS"
Women
and children spoke of physical abuse by their spouses and fathers, a
domestic worker narrated a rape ordeal, while some women said they had
endured days in the bush, running away from abusive
men.
Traditionally domestic violence is treated as a private family
matter and
cases reported to the police seldom go to court. When they do,
perpetrators
are either fined or sentenced to community service, activists
say.
A recent survey by some NGOs showed that 60 percent of the murder
cases that
go through Zimbabwe's High Courts are a result of home violence
mostly
involving spouses and relatives.
Many Zimbabwean women are
encouraged by parents to endure violent and
abusive relationships for the
sake of the children, and often do not speak
of abuse, fearing the stigma of
divorce.
"My crime is that I don't want to continue to be a slave and I
am in hiding
because my husband wants to kill me," said Shorai Chitongo, a
mother of
three, who now lives in a safe house provided by a local rights
group
outside the capital.
Women say the creation of the Women's
Affairs and Gender Ministry, headed by
gender activist and politician Oppah
Muchinguri, has given fresh impetus for
the new law.
Legislators have
come out in support of the bill, which is expected to be
debated and passed
by Parliament before the end of this year.
Women's groups said they
wanted stiffer penalties for offenders, saying the
maximum jail sentence for
stealing cattle is 49 years while that for
domestic violence is just 10
years.
"What is more important a cow or a woman?" asked Florence
Mudzongwa, a
programme officer at Girl Child Network.
The Herald (Harare)
September 21,
2006
Posted to the web September 21, 2006
Victoria
Muringayi
Harare
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) requires $875
million to revamp its
Centralised Train Control (CTC) system in some parts
of the country as the
parastatal seeks to turn around its fortunes and
minimise loss of life.
Last month five people were killed in a train
crash near the resort town
Victoria Falls. The accident was blamed on signal
failure.
Three years ago, in what was probably the worst accident in the
parastatal's
history, 50 passengers lost their lives when two trains crashed
head-on on
the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo route.
The CTC system traces
the movement of trains throughout the country on a
monitor in addition to
facilitating communication between the controller and
the train
driver.
NRZ chief executive officer Air Commodore Mike Kakaradzai said
the CTC
system in some parts of the country had been compromised by
vandalism, theft
and lack of maintenance dating back several
years.
"We are currently raising some of the funds from our own
resources. But it
will not be enough, so we have approached the central
bank, Ministry of
Transport and Communications and other private players to
help us with the
funds.
"The programme is currently underway and it
involves the replacement of the
vandalised and stolen equipment along
various sections of the railway
networks," said Air Commodore
Kakaradzai.
In addition, NRZ would need to install vandal-proof equipment
and satellite
equipment to beef up security. The parastatal is currently
using what it
calls "paper order" in those parts of the country where CTC
was no longer
functioning. "Paper order" is an antiquated system that allows
a train
driver to proceed without the need for signals as the paper shows
him his
line of way.
Only Dabuka and Harare run on the CTC system.
Altogether, 90 trains -- both
goods and passenger -- travel on the country's
rail network everyday,
stretching the system's capacity to the limit. The
Dabuka CTC system
monitors trains between Victoria Falls, Gweru, Beitbridge,
Chikwalakwala and
Chiredzi while Harare controls the movement of trains from
Harare, Mutare,
Chinhoyi, Shamva, Glendale and Bindura.
NRZ has been
facing serious viability problems, notably foreign currency
shortages and
delays in departures and arrivals resulting in the parastatal
failing to
deliver critical inputs, such as coal, to industry and the
farming
community.
However, the parastatal seems to coming out of the woods with
Reserve Bank
governor Dr Gideon Gono recently commending NRZ for making
significant
progress in turning around its fortunes. To prove its
determination, the
parastatal is seeking to double its traffic loads to
about 9,4 million
tonnes of goods and 7,6 million passengers by
year-end.
The Herald (Harare)
September 21,
2006
Posted to the web September 21, 2006
Harare
DAIRIBORD
Zimbabwe Holdings Limited's milk production is set to increase
courtesy of
the first batch of dairy cows imported from South Africa in July
which
produced over 11 000 litres of milk during the month of August 2006.
The
cows were imported under the Government-initiated Buy-Operate and
Transfer
(BOT) scheme.
DZL Holdings corporate services director Mrs Busi Chindove
said the BOT
scheme was already bearing fruit as most of the cows are now
being milked,
while the majority of the heifers have exhibited above average
production of
15 to 24 litres per cow per day.
This acquisition of
the cows would go a long way in resuscitating the ailing
industry which has
been in steady decline due to a fall in the national
dairy
herd.
Although DZL Holdings initial target was 500 dairy cows, only 100
in-calf
heifers have so far been imported from South Africa. The milk
processor
blamed the situation on foreign currency shortages.
Despite
the setback, the DZL was optimistic of meeting its target in the
short term.
"Dairibord intends to continue with the programme to boost milk
volumes, and
it is our sincere hope that the foreign currency challenges
will improve to
enable the programme to run smoothly," Mrs Chindove said.
The company had
also enlisted the services of qualified managers to run
dairies in
Manicaland. It was also working with small-scale producers in
Chipinge,
Mutare and Marirangwe where it contributed calves with the aim of
improving
the genetic make-up of the dairy herds.
The company would continue to
seek opportunities to rebuild the dairy
industry and work very closely with
the Government and other stakeholders in
this regard, Ms Chindove said. The
exercise was shelved last year after
stakeholders failed to raise the
necessary foreign currency, although the
central bank later came to its
rescue.
To set up the BOT farms, Dairibord accessed funds under the
Agricultural
Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) for both the
purchase of
dairy animals and working capital purposes. The ASPEF funds are
still open
to dairy farmers who can apply for them through their banks.