Zimbabwe talks deadlocked over executive power: Tsvangirai

Yahoo News

2 hours, 11 minutes ago

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks deadlocked over
President Robert Mugabe's desire to retain control of the country's security
forces, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday.

"The talks deadlocked about a week ago after the (SADC) summit on the
fundamental issue of executive authority," Tsvangirai told independent Talk
Radio 702 in his first in-depth interview on why the talks stalled.

A power-sharing deal put forward under mediator South African President
Thabo Mbeki proposed that Tsvangirai become prime minister and that Mugabe
retain the presidency in an inclusive government.

"But in this case," said Tsvangirai, "there was an attempt to fragment the
cabinet, with some ministers reporting to the president and some ministers
reporting to the prime minister."

The deal would have seen economic and social ministries report to the prime
minister and security ministries answering to the president, including the
army and police which Tsvangirai said Mugabe had used to "brutalise" people.

"The maintenance of that status quo does not illustrate an desire to dilute
his power to the extent these institutions are state institutions and not
party's," he added.

The MDC leader said there had to be a "demonstrable willingness" on the part
of the ruling ZANU-PF, in power for nearly three decades, on a paradigm
shift.

"If it remains in the mindset that they are offering the MDC, I think it is
a wrong context because the MDC won the election. In terms of the will of
the people, we are ones who are offering ZANU-PF," he said.

"So far, I have not seen any move on the part of ZANU-PF. We have conceded a
lot as MDC (Movement for Democratic Change)."

Tsvangirai said his reservations had resonated with the expectations of the
country and that an adequate deal would have made the March 29 elections,
when the MDC won the majority vote, futile.

The opposition leader added that Mbeki had said there were "sufficient
grounds" for the proposal to be signed but that "he (Mbeki) is not the one
who is going to sign".

"I am going to be held accountable to the people. We are very conscious of
our responsibility, of the burden of history, and we are not going to
endorse something that does not resonate with the people."

Mugabe, 84, in power since independence in 1980, was re-elected in June in a
one-man presidential run-off after Tsvangirai, victor in the first round,
bowed out amid widespread electoral violence.

Tsvangirai said the MDC "won't be bothered" by Mugabe's threat last week to
form cabinet made hours after the veteran leader was booed and heckled in
the first opposition-led parliament since independence.

Such a cabinet would be dysfunctional, he said. "If there is no national or
international confidence in that cabinet, what will he do with it? I think
it will be a risky business on his part."

Tsvangirai said the MDC would have liked more pressure from the African
Union and SADC to solve the problem.

"There was a time when African leaders thought they can manage the problem,
because they were protecting Robert Mugabe. Now we have reached a stage
where Mugabe now is part of the problem."

Zim dismisses AU proposal

http://www.afrol.com/articles/30614

afrol News, 3 September - Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has rejected
African Union call for speedy 50-50 power-sharing deal with opposition,
though it has pronounced its commitment to power sharing talks.

Latest round of talks stalled over the weekend when president Mugabe and Mr
Morgan Tsvangrai disagreed on how executive powers will be divided between
the two in future coalition government.

Tanzania which is currently holding chairmanship of AU, urged for a rapid
resolution of Zimbabwe's extended power-sharing negotiations so that all
parties involved can turn their attention to the country's accelerating
economic meltdown.

Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said AU wants to see a 50-50
power-sharing deal allocating equal powers to president Robert Mugabe and to
Morgan Tsvangirai.

"There is a problem and we still hope the mediation will continue and we
still hope wisdom will prevail. We would prefer a solution be arrived at
immediately because of the escalating economic crisis," Mr Membe said.

Political analysts said a call by AU is an admission that Southern African
Development Community-mediated peace negotiations have failed to yield a
lasting solution to Zimbabwe's ongoing economic and political crises.

The political climate in the country has become more embittered since
reopening last week of parliament, during which MDC lawmakers heckled
president Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has reacted angrily to the incident. The
state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that longtime ruling
party has sent video footage of the raucous session to South African
president Thabo Mbeki, mediator in the talks, Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa calling it evidence the MDC seeks regime change.

The power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and the main
opposition MDC reportedly stalled over how to share executive power between
Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who refused to sign an agreement
two weeks ago that would have made him prime minister because it did not
give him enough executive powers.

The power-sharing talks that began in late July have been snagged for weeks
on the question of executive powers. Some sources said the gap between the
sides is widening.

Meanwhile, political tensions were reported to be spreading from the talks
and parliament to local councils.

MDC officials in Manicaland province said riot police and ZANU-PF militia on
Tuesday disrupted the swearing-in of councilors at the rural district
council offices in Makoni, Rusape.

They said the police and ZANU-PF militants forcibly ejected three MDC
members of parliament from proceedings and assaulted MDC supporters in
attendance.

Zimbabwe's inflation of 11 million percent, marking the world's highest
inflation rate, and exacerbated food crisis has been blamed on European and
US sanctions that target people and companies linked to president Mugabe.

But critics blame Zimbabwe's troubles on repression and wrong polices by
veteran leader such as his haphazard fast-track land reform exercise that
displaced established white commercial farmers, resulting to severe food
shortages.

By staff writer

SA's Mbeki to Hold Yet Another Emergency Meeting

SW Radio Africa (London)

3 September 2008
Posted to the web 3 September 2008

Alex Bell

South African President Thabo Mbeki is reportedly set to return to Harare
this week in yet another attempt to break the deadlock in Zimbabwe's power
sharing talks.

The talks have remained stalled over the issue of who of the country's
political rivals will hold the majority of power. ZANU PF has said it will
not cede MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai more power than has been apportioned
to him as the Prime Minister in a deal endorsed by the Southern African
Development Community. The deal, that Tsvangirai refused to sign, would see
Robert Mugabe hold onto the majority of power while Tsvangirai would become
a purely ceremonial Prime Minister.

The negotiators from ZANU PF and the MDC factions led by Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara respectively, were in South Africa last week in an effort
to break the political impasse but returned to Zimbabwe no closer to a deal
agreed upon by all parties. South Africa's Mbeki is now reportedly heading
back to Harare either on Thursday or Friday to meet the party leaders in his
role as SADC appointed facilitator, and it's understood he will try to work
out either a power-sharing deal, an exit plan for Mugabe, or whether to
publicly declare the talks a failure.

Political analyst Dr John Makumbe told Newsreel on Wednesday it is unlikely
that Mbeki will declare the talks a failure. He also predicted that the
talks will remain deadlocked while Mbeki goes about the 'futile exercise' of
bringing the SADC endorsed deal to the table, and added that a 'political
compromise' is beyond Mbeki's capabilities as a mediator. Makumbe explained
that the deadlock is 'politically unhealthy' and requires a higher power
such as the African Union to intervene.

The MDC has told Newsreel it has not received official word from South
African authorities about whether Mbeki will meet Tsvangirai or the other
political leaders. At the same time Tsvangirai told South Africa's Talk
Radio 702 that the talks had deadlocked and he 'was not aware of plans' for
negotiations to resume soon.

Service Chiefs engage Mbeki on Zim Talks

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Wednesday, 03 September 2008 08:34
JOHANNESBURG, ZIMBABWE'S service chiefs, likely to face charges of
crimes against humanity should opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai assume
power, are believed to be seeking to block possible prosecution by engaging
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is also the South African
Development Community appointed mediator in the country's on-off talks.
Heads of the Zimbabwe National Army, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and
the Central Intelligence Organisation, reportedly met Mbeki in Pretoria last
weekend, in a bid to convince him to persuade Tsvangirai, president of the
main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formation, not to prosecute them
if the talks result in him taking over power from President Robert Mugabe.

Fears of prosecution over crimes against humanity emanating from
state-sponsored political violence that left more than 3 000 MDC activists
killed between 2000 and 2008, is threatening the collapse of ZANU-PF's
supreme decision making body, the politburo.

War veterans are reported to be panicking as well in their role in
violence, while the military rulers, who before the March elections vowed
never to salute Tsvangirai, are now likely to be forced to swallow their
words.

Mbeki's spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, dismissed the claim saying
those allegations were baseless.

But impeccable source insists the army general came to Pretoria over
the weekend to seek assurance from preisdent Mbeki that they would not be
prosecuted in the event Tsvangirai takes over.

"I know nothing about that chapter of fiction. As far as we are
concerned, the Zimbabwe powersharing talks are continuing this weekend.

"You know quite well that we will never ever announce the contains of
the talks through the press before making a feedback to the Zimbabwean
community, Southern African Development Community and the African Union,"
Ratshitanga told CAJ News.

But sources close to the talks confirmed that the military rulers
comprising Zimbabwe Defence Forces Lieutenant General Constantine Chiwenga,
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and CIO Director-General
Happyton Bonyongwe were fully-represented at a private meeting in Pretoria.

MDC spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, admitted that the past might be
catching up with the individuals who sponsored or took part in the political
violence.

"I'm not aware of the military rulers' trip to SA, but of-course,
those behind the state sponsored violence have reasons to panic," said
Chamisa.

Behind the scenes, ZANU-PF'S politburo, including Mugabe, are
reportedly distancing themselves from the violence that claimed about 120
lives mostly of opposition members between the March elections and June's
one-man presidential run-off poll, laying the blame on military rulers,
among them the police and CIO bosses.

It is believed Mugabe might escape prosecution on crime against
humanity due to old age, while the military chiefs fear they could be
brought before the International Court of Justice to answer to similar
charges.

It is alleged that Mbeki promised to seek refugee for them in South
Africa. However, the military rulers are said to have expressed fears that
when the National Congress of South Africa president Jacob Zuma takes over
from Mbeki next year, he could hand them over to Tsvangirai to face
prosecution.

No immediate comment could be obtained from Zimbabwe's services
chiefs.- CAJ News.

Only 17% of Zimbabweans approve of Robert Mugabe’s job performance - Gallup Poll

 

1. Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of Robert Mugabe (among all Zimbabweans)?

Gallup conducted a nationally representative poll in Zimbabwe between March 7 and March 19, 2008, just prior to the March 29 national elections: 17% of Zimbabweans said they approved of their president’s job performance. The charts below reflect the rest of their findings. For more, please visit this link on the Gallup website.

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of the leadership of this country (among all Zimbabweans)?

---

3. Approval ratings of country’s leadership by province (among all Zimbabweans)

---

4. Approval ratings by ethnic group (among all Zimbabweans)

---

5. Approval ratings in Mashonaland (among residents in Central, East and West Mashonaland)

This entry was written by Sokwanele on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Inflation and exchange rate developments: The Re-valued Currency After One Month

 

Through the month, all the scarcities that had been doing the damage remained firmly in place. These were made even more serious by government’s enthusiasm for generating money to spend, while it completely lacked the ability to create goods on which to spend it. To make things worse, it kept in place the price controls that have prevented those who have that ability from getting back to work.

 

People’s Shops, stocked with imported food that were paid for with money drawn from exporters’ foreign currency accounts, and more recently with the larger off-take from exporters’ foreign currency receipts, might be said to have helped the tiny percentage of the population that they served. However, in no sense have these been an answer to the country’s problems. The population at large remains poorly supplied, the prices of many goods remain beyond the reach of most consumers and, as more people lose their formal–sector jobs, more are being forced to live by their wits, go hungry or emigrate.  

 

Government determination to keep persuading the public that the rising prices are the fault of the business sector appears to be its main reason for keeping in place the price controls. However, it is the shrinkage of the value of the Zimbabwe dollar that has caused prices to rise and government’s effort to claim the opposite is dishonest in the extreme. Scarcities have played their part, and all of these can also be linked to political policy choices, but government’s decision to simply print the money that was formerly collected from taxpayers or borrowed from institutional lenders has become the more important cause of the problem.

 

 

This table illustrates the combined and interwoven effects of scarcities and money-printing, and it shows that the parallel market-cost of a US dollar rose by more than 3 000% during August.

 

As these rates determine the retail selling prices of the goods that make it into the shops, it is these that are dictating the more immediate changes in the rate of inflation. However, the wide range of scarcities that are adding to the pace can usually be traced directly back to deliberately chosen policies that are still being defended and even reinforced, in spite of their disastrous consequences.

 

Government’s belief that complete acceptance of its regulated official inter-bank exchange rate will help bring inflation under control amounts to no more than a shallow attempt to deny the existence of the distortions, imbalances and scarcities that its policies have caused. Other than its effect on the costs of imports for officials who have granted themselves privileges, the rate has no bearing on inflation. Despite official claims, the so-called willing buyer – willing seller market is very rarely permitted to sell to the private sector. In reality, it is not a market at all.

 

However, this suppressed inter-bank exchange rate is an accurate measure of the severe prejudice suffered by exporters when they are paid Zimbabwe dollars at the regulated rates for 45% of their export proceeds. As it amounts to a very punitive export tax, this mechanism for supplying cheap foreign exchange to government officials has badly affected production volumes as well as investment and business viability.

 

It has also impacted on prices, because those producers who have to trade part of what is left of their foreign earnings to meet their local costs try hard to limit the amount they have to sell by asking for a much more generous exchange rate. Without it, many could not survive, but the resulting rates add directly to the costs of imports.

 

Government’s higher demands have therefore worsened the already severe scarcity of foreign exchange and driven its price even higher. Everybody is now feeling the knock-on effects; the costs of many goods can be seen to have increased sharply in US dollar terms and such costs are most resented when the imported goods in question used to be made locally. 

 

Price controls fully explain why such goods are no longer on offer from local suppliers. When permitted prices are held below the costs of production, the producers have to choose between exporting almost all they make or closing down. Either way, their decisions have considerably worsened local scarcities, but the survival of those producers who can capture export orders is also threatened by the Reserve Bank’s excessive demands at increasingly absurd inter-bank exchange rates.

 

Price controls have caused the mix of already incompatible policies to make a very bad situation considerably worse. Many of the more severe scarcities can be traced back to the price blitz that was launched a little more than a year ago, but far from relaxing on these now, the authorities are enforcing them with additional threats and menaces.

 

Further local production cuts have been inevitable and have forced the population to import very much more. But these finished goods imports are now calling for rising quantities of the already scarce foreign exchange. The amounts needed are far greater than the sums that were previously spent to sustain local production of the same goods, but as the amounts needed cannot easily be found, the scarcity-driven price of the hard currency is rising ever faster.

 

For many products, the only imported requirements used to be packaging, machine spares and fuel. Local production not only reduced the need for foreign exchange, it created jobs, generated tax revenues and often earned export revenues. Now that the goods have to come from abroad, the jobs have moved outside the country. Foreign governments are receiving the taxes and Zimbabwe is left with far more serious foreign exchange shortages as well as shortages of just about everything else.

 

The cash scarcity is just one of them, but this one is more directly related to the rate of inflation than most of the others. When prices double, people need twice as much cash to pay the doubled amounts, assuming that the flow of goods onto the shelves remains steady. But going by the parallel market exchange rates, prices doubled more than five times during August. If the flow of goods had remained steady, it would have had to be met by a more than thirty-fold increase in the flow of cash. Government had no hope of increasing its supplies of new banknotes and coins that fast.

 

To make matters worse, the pace appears to be accelerating. In the second half of August, prices were approaching a doubling rate of twice a week, and the first movements in September suggest that the pace is gathering momentum. As the Reserve Bank cannot hope to continue using severe daily withdrawal-limit restrictions as a control measure, perhaps we should brace ourselves for the return of the $50 billion and $100 billion bearer-cheque notes.

 

Maybe we will even see the “re-monetisation at face value” of the long-discarded $1000 notes. Such possibilities might seem unlikely at present, but the as the costs of producing more of the current family of expensive bank-notes will soon exceed their face values, we should try to anticipate the search for cheaper options.

 

Plotting our way forward through these uncertainties has been difficult enough, but as we are no nearer the needed political changes, September seems likely to see the problems deepening. For many, this will mean less production and fewer sales. Falling incomes are bound to result from lower employment levels, so turnover levels will continue declining.

 

Food scarcities are almost certain to become more serious, but with food prices rising faster than others, larger percentages of the reduced spending levels will be on food. However, official attempts to ensure that sufficient quantities of food reach politically important destinations at acceptable prices could generate increasing levels of interference.

 

But everything has its limits. Neither we, nor government, should believe that the decline can continue indefinitely on each social, political or economic front, or that any of us has the patience or even the ability to tolerate deepening levels of deprivation. On a specific issue, how will school fees be paid next week?

 

Local analysts are losing count of the number of ways government policies have failed to measure up to the country’s most basic economic requirements. In trying to explain the policy choices made, perhaps the most severe difficulty comes from being forced to choose between two almost equally unpalatable conclusions: government is either making deliberate attempts to precipitate the failure of all businesses that are not in full compliance with its political philosophy, or government is guilty of unprecedented levels of collective stupidity.

Whether to be guilty of the first would make government automatically guilty of the second, or whether other options can be identified, it would certainly be true that if the course Zimbabwe has travelled in the past four months is kept to in the next four, the compounding effect will lead to impossible inflation and exchange rate numbers.

 

Since the adoption of the inter-bank market on May 2 2008, the parallel market exchange rate changes have averaged about 14% per day and this has carried the rate up ten-fold every eighteen to nineteen working days. If this trend is continued to the end of 2008, a US dollar will cost about Z$50 million. At the end of last year, before ten zeros were removed, the parallel rate was about Z$5 million. If we don’t change course, we will get there again in November.

 

The course changes needed are political, rather than economic. No economic measures could result in changes that could work fast enough to put the brakes on our downward plunge. But the political acceptance of the policies needed to restore confidence in the country’s future could very much more quickly lead to the release of funding to overcome the wide-ranging scarcities.

 

As the Movement for Democratic Change has so far remained committed to the objective spelled out in its name, there is still hope that its determination will lead to success that will be followed by international support. In such an event, the forecast shown below would become a possibility as we make a start to the long process of restoring the country’s lost productive capacity. If the efforts end in failure, the table overleaf will be the more likely course.

In this table, the assumption is made that the policies and consequential inflation and scarcities will continue to follow the course that has been established over the past four months. As the numbers become so impossibly high, it has to be assumed that measures might be adopted to impose disciplines and penalties on the business sector, but as these would be unlikely to make any difference to the supply of anything, the underlying inflationary pressures would follow the trends illustrated.

 

Hopefully, the progressions in this table will offer compelling reasons why policy changes must be adopted. As it is, Zimbabwe is coming close to breaking world records for hyperinflation and for clinging to unworkable policies. From these progressions, we can see that the compounding effects of bad policies are very rapidly delivering us to a place we should not want to visit.

John Robertson
September 2 2008

Mwanawasa funeral: Zim bitter rivals mingle

IOL

    September 03 2008 at 02:02PM

Lusaka - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai put aside their rivalry on Wednesday to join African heads
of state at the funeral of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa.

The bitter rivals mingled with more than a dozen African heads of
state and government, as well as envoys from the United States and Britain
among 5 000 mourners at the Baptist church in Lusaka.

Mugabe paid tribute to Mwanawasa - who once referred to Zimbabwe as a
"sinking Titanic" - when he arrived in the Zambian capital.

Mwanawasa died aged 59 in a Paris hospital on August 19 after
suffering a stroke.

"Mwanawasa was a very courageous leader. He was very frank and wanted
to change not only his country but the entire southern African region. We
will greatly miss him," state radio quoted Mugabe as saying.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, chairman of the 15-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC), was to deliver a speech at
the funeral.

The late Zambian president was SADC chairman before Mbeki took over in
August at a summit in Johannesburg.

Among African leaders present were President Ian Khama of Botswana and
Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi as well as Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha
Mosisili.

Former colonial power Britain sent a delegation led by Foreign Office
minister of state, Lord Malloch Brown, who has responsibility for African
affairs. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer
represented the United States.

The mourners were led by Mwanawasa's wife Maureen and their six
children.

Mwanawasa was to be buried at Embassy Park, near the presidential
offices, following the service.

Dalai Lama, Tsvangirai, Betancourt on 2008 Sakharov prize list

Yahoo News

34 minutes ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The Dalai Lama, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and Franco-Colombian ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt figure among
the candidates for the EU parliament's 2008 Sakharov prize, the assembly
said Wednesday.

The three were nominated along with five others for the parliament's
prestigious prize, which is awarded each year to defenders of human rights
and democracy.

The other candidates are NGO European Roma Rights Centre, jailed Chinese
pro-democracy campaigner Hu Jia, Belarussian political prisoner Alexandr
Kozulin, Russian human rights activist Mikhail Trepashkin and Abbot
Apollinaire Malu Malu, head the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral
commission.

The parliament's foreign affairs committee will narrow down the list to
three names on September 22 before the winner is chosen in mid-October and
the prize presented in a Strasbourg plenary session on December 16.

The 2008 Sakharov Prize, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, marks
the twentieth year it has been awarded and all previous winners will be
invited to attend the presentation in December.

Among the previous winners are former South African leader Nelson Mandela,
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-UN secretary general Kofi
Annan.

MDC to Forward Harassment Footage to Mbeki

http://www.radiovop.com

BULAWAYO, September 3 2008 - The Tsvangirai led Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) will this week forward to South African President
Thabo Mbeki, the Southern Africa Development Community appointed facilitator
in the inter party talks, video clips of police arresting its Members of
Parliament during the official opening of the 7th parliament of Zimbabwe
last week, Radio VOP has learnt.

The latest move by the MDC-T follows a similar move by Zanu PF, which
submitted footage of the proceedings during the official opening of
parliament by President Robert Mugabe to Mbeki this week. Mugabe was booed
and heckled by MDC legislators during the historic event.

Sources in the MDC's Information Department told Radio VOP Tuesday
that the department is finalising the compilation of video clips of the
arrest of its MPs by police while entering parliament building as well as
the clips of victims of post inter party talks political violence allegedly
perpetrated against MDC supporters by Zanu PF youths and supporters, mostly
in rural areas.

"The desperate attempt by Zanu PF to portray MDC as not sincere in the
talks will not work because we have overwhelming evidence of Zanu PF
breaching the talks' agreement. We are putting all this evidence together so
that we can submit the evidence to Mbeki, the African Union and SADC heads
of states.

Those who live in glass houses should not thrown stones," said a
highly placed source within the MDC -T's information department.

Zanu PF this week said it had forwarded to Mbeki and other heads of
SADC, footage of some MDC MPs booing and humiliating Mugabe during the
official opening of parliament.

The footage, Zanu PF claims, will 'expose MDC-T's insincerity to the
ongoing talks'. Sources in the MDC-T camp said the MDC leadership would
personally deliver the clips to Mbeki and other SADC heads of states during
the burial of the late former Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa in Lusaka
Wednesday.

When reached for comment the party's deputy national spokesperson,
Thabitha Khumalo said, "We do not expose our strategies to the press. Mind
you we are in a struggle and we do not want our enemy to know what we are
planning," she said before switching off her cellphone.

Three MDC MP's remain in custody as State appeals bail rulings

From SW Radio Africa, 2 September

By Alex Bell

Three MDC MP's are still being detained in police custody this week after
they were arrested along with three other opposition MPs while parliament
was controversially reconvened last week. Police claim the MP's are wanted
for mostly 'public violence' charges. Broadwin Nyaude (MP for Bindura
South), Mathias Mlambo (Chipinge East) and Pearson Mungofa (Highfield East)
were all arrested on the day MDC MP's heckled Robert Mugabe during his
speech marking the official opening of Parliament last Tuesday. They were
taken into custody after armed police raided Harare's Quality International
Hotel around 4 am on Tuesday claiming they were looking for MDC MP's on a
'wanted list'. The day before, Shuwa Mudiwa the MP for Mutare West and Eliah
Jembere from Epworth were arrested before they were sworn in as members of
Parliament. Another MP Trevor Saruwaka (Mutasa Central) was also arrested.
Mudiwa was released on the same day after a few hours of detention. Mlambo
appeared in court last week and was granted bail, while Jembere faces a $200
dollar fine imposed by the Harare regional court on Monday for failing to
appear.

Jembere was placed on the police 'wanted list' allegedly for raping the wife
of an MDC councilor and is expected back in court on Thursday. Meanwhile,
Nyaude and Mungofa are both still being held pending high court appeals by
the state, while Saruwaka was denied bail when he appeared in court last
week and is still behind bars. Lawyer for the MDC, Alec Muchadehama told
Newsreel that Mungofa was granted bail on Tuesday after spending more than a
week in detention. However, despite the hefty $5000 fine placed on him by
the magistrate for being a 'propagandist,' Muchadehama explained the
prosecutor has approached the high court to appeal the bail ruling. Mungofa
is now expected to remain a prisoner until his court appearance on the 9th
of September. The MDC has accused Zanu PF of trying to regain its
parliamentary majority by securing the criminal convictions of its MP's. The
party said it knew of a plot to drag their parliamentary members to court
and secure criminal convictions that would disqualify them as MPs. Under the
country's laws an MP who gets a jail sentence of more than 6 months for a
criminal offence can no longer be, or stand as an MP. The Tsvangirai MDC
holds 100 seats in parliament, the breakaway Mutambara MDC 10, Zanu PF 99
while 1 independent MP takes the number to 210. Zanu PF would need to take
back more than 12 seats to regain its majority.

The Need for a Deal that will Work

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Wednesday, 03 September 2008 11:42

The Need for a Deal that will Work

All the debates taking place regarding the SADC sponsored talks to
bring about an agreement to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe center on the
issue of political power. In fact that may be the most important issue to
some, but its not the main issue at all. The main point of the talks is to
secure a workable solution to our economic, political and social crisis.

The basic facts that underlie the crisis is that we have a military
Junta running the country that cannot be overthrown by violence or armed
insurrection, the political leadership has lost control of the State to this
Junta and is now totally discredited, was in fact defeated at the last
election but refuses to leave office, spurred on by the Junta.

The regime has totally mismanaged the economy and now it teeters on
the edge of disintegration and collapse. This morning the RTGS rate for the
local currency was hovering about 5000 to 1USD. This dramatic collapse in a
few days points to a number of other forces at work - the flight of capital,
the reckless creation of money by the Reserve Bank and the severe shortage
of cash with which to make daily transactions.

The collapse of the dollar by 700 per cent since the new currency was
issued a month ago, means that while there might have been enough cash to
meet needs at that time, the availability of cash notes has simply been
decimated by inflation - I would guess that we probably only have the
equivalent of
US$5 million in cash in circulation in new notes - a drop in the ocean
when we probably need US$3 billion. When you think that the new currency
cost us Euro 35 million to print - now it has a face value of only US$5
million and next week probably half that again.

Our economy is literally teetering on the edge of collapse - the major
retail stores are empty and unable to finance their operations. Parastatals
cannot pay their staff let alone other costs. The urban councils are without
fuel, chemicals, spares and tyres for vehicles. Their administrations are no
longer able to produce accounts or manage their finances. The basic needs of
life are not available or unaffordable - the great majority of the
population is seriously considering flight to the nearest country they can
go to under any conditions.

The government must be in dire straights - they can create money by
simply passing credits from the Reserve Bank to local financial institutions
that will then pay out salaries to the civil service and the armed forces -
if they can get in the door of a bank and then along a queue perhaps 500 to
a 1000 people long. When they get there they are paid out in small amounts
(maximum Z$500 worth US10 cents today) and in coins, old bank notes and
bearer bonds.

The parallel market - always an immediate and accurate indicator of
real market conditions will no longer accept the old currencies for their
deals - only the new notes and these are now as scarce as hen's teeth. In
December the regime is committed to withdrawing the old notes from
circulation - and then what? No wonder Gono wants to retire when his
contract comes up for renewal in November.

And then there is the social and humanitarian crisis. Half our
population has no food and no means of earning a living. They must be given
their entire requirements for survival. Our hospitals and clinics are run
down and dirty, they have no drugs and no blankets and few staff. If you are
admitted to a State run facility you must provide everything you need, even
food and any medical supplies you might require.

Our State run schools have just opened - 70 000 teachers short of
their establishment. Hostels have no food, students no books or writing
materials.
Teachers cannot even pay for transport to school. Buildings are
dilapidated and in most school rooms there are no lights. Children come to
school hungry and cannot study because they simply do not get enough food at
home.

I was at a meeting of our City Council yesterday - the head of the
Cities medical services told us she couldn't dig graves fast enough to bury
the dead. She said they could not get labour to clean the streets or handle
waste or dig graves. This situation is repeated across the whole country -
the City Engineer said they have 4 days chlorine left in stock, after that,
we drink unpurified water, 1,3 million people at risk.

We have the shortest life expectancy in the world, the highest ratio
of orphans to population in the world, staggering infant and maternal
mortality rates. In a country where we once had one of the fastest growing
populations in the world - our death rates from all causes is now so high
that our population is shrinking rapidly. In line with this, our economy has
also shrunk - every year since 1998 and will decline again this year by at
least 10 per cent.

So what we need is not power sharing - that is the least of our
worries, its simply a government that will work and start to get the country
stable and onto the pathway to recovery. For that we need the following: -

A return to a democratic government that is accountable to the people.
New leadership that is honest, capable and caring.
A government team that will work together and put the country first.
A basic agreement to bring about these conditions that is acceptable
to our development partners who are essential to the stabilisation and
recovery process.

Today the SADC leadership is in Lusaka at the funeral of the late
President of Zambia. Mbeki will almost certainly use this occasion to get a
consensus on what is the next step in the SADC/Zimbabwe process. He then
travels to Harare to hold talks with the three principals and will try to
get agreement on a final deal. Any agreement that does not meet the simple
criteria listed above will simply not work. It will not be worth the paper
it is written on.
Mbeki must know this; it may not be acceptable to the Mugabe group or
to Mutambara but it is the only way forward.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 3rd September 2008

Mat North 3rd Sept Report on food, fires and Hunting

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Wednesday, 03 September 2008 14:24
Starvation

Our people need food!  Especially in cut off areas like Binga and
Lupane.

We are doing our best to get Mealie meal  to them but with the lack
of transport and finance it is very difficult.

Last week  in  Binga South,  MP Joel Gabbuza  picked up a small family
on the side of  road 18 KMs south of Binga.   It was a mother and her three
children.  She was carrying her youngest child who child had just died in
her arms. The other two children were both in a critical condition.  Joel
rushed  the little family to the hospital in Binga.  It seem that in their
desperate hunger  they had eaten poisonous  roots.   Luckily the mother and
two children after a few days of care in the hospital have survived.  For
now.

Bush Fires and a  potential Environmental disaster

Below is a report we got in yesturday from Environment Africa.   It
seems  that they have managed to get enough help and fuel through the
generosity of the local business people and hopefully in the next day or so
the fire will be brought under control.

Environmental Disaster looming
We would like to inform you that there are three veldt fires that are
moving towards Victoria Falls. We had a meeting with the Forestry Commission
of Zimbabwe -Fuller Forest Area Manager. He indicated that the veldt fires
originated from Botswana and have destroyed a very big part of Panda-Masuwe
Forest. The fires started last week on Friday and they are now heading
towards the Chamabondo Vlei and Zambezi National Park.

The Forestry Commission has run out of fuel to use to move during
fire fighting. They are therefore appealing to the corporate sector and
individuals for donations in the form of fuel and manpower. The Manager said
they need about 150 liters of diesel to effectively address this problem.
They also need about 50 volunteers for the exercise. They also need one land
cruiser for the exercise.

Could you please assist with donation of fuel ranging from 5 liters
of diesel and above. Cumulatively we will be able to get the required
amount.

For more information please Contact

Namo Chuma on 011 736 637

Fuller Forest Area Manager

Mr Mashingaidze on 011912826

Commercial Hunting Again in Chizarira

A hunting safari is taking place at the moment in Chizarira National
Park again .  Chizarira was one of the most pristine wilderness areas in
Africa.  Between uncontrolled poaching and now commercial hunting how will
the wildlife in the park ever recover?.

I do not have the full details on this except that they are camped at
Mabola camp site and due to all the shooting tourists that are staying
nearby  barley seen a thing as the wildlife is so skittish.

All  of the above are just a few more of  the symptoms of the terrible
disease that our Country suffers from.  God help us if we don't get a cure
soon!

Zanu thugs refuse to vacate Byo council farm

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Wednesday, 03 September 2008 12:58

BY PINDAI DUBE - BULAWAYO

The Bulawayo City Council has filed an urgent High Court application for the
eviction of 300 Zanu (PF) thugs allegedly sponsored by Didymus Mutasa, the
party secretary of legal affairs, who have occupied its farm.
The thugs, led by war veteran Lillian Kandemiri, invaded the council owned
Ungamwini farm in June, claiming they had a directive from Mutasa. They are
reportedly harassing and stealing from Bellevue suburb residents adjacent to
the farm.

According to the court papers, seen by The Zimbabwean, the local authority
wants the woman and her thugs removed from the farm because of fears of
extensive land degradation should they remain. There is also concern that
the war vets will resort to poaching in the nearby Tshabalala Game
Sanctuary.

"They can go to any court or where ever they want to report we are not
leaving this farm," Kandemiri said. She maintains that the invasion is an
extension of the governments "land reform programme" and she has already
contacted a construction company to build 400 housing units on the farm. She
claims to have received the go ahead from Mutasa for this operation.

No comment could be obtained from Mutasa and Zanu (PF) spokesperson, Effort
Nkomo, referred all questions to Bulawayo Governor, Cain Mathema, who was
also unavailable.

Meanwhile, farmers in Chiredzi report that police officers are touring the
area confiscating licensed weapons. "Five officers visited my home on
Tuesday and said they were from Harare and wanted to see my rifles and
permits. After they had finished checking all the permits and relevant
rifles, they said they had been instructed to confiscate all rifles of 308
calibre and over, with the ammunition plus all reloading equipment,"
reported farmer Gerry Whitehead. "I asked them for paperwork showing their
instructions. They said that they did not have any and did not require it to
take my rifles and equipment.

I even battled to get them to sign a receipt for the equipment taken, but
managed it after threatening to call my lawyer." Whitehead said it was
obvious the Mugabe regime was determined to completely disarm all Zimbabwean
citizens of any arms that could be used against it.

"We have been left with nothing but peashooters to protect ourselves against
the army and militia who are mostly armed with the AK rifles," he said.

"This shows that Mugabe's government has no intention of surrendering
authority to Morgan Tsvangirai and will fight to stay in
power."

Wild fruits instead of food aid

Photo: IRIN

Waiting for help

NHARIRA, 3 September 2008 (IRIN) - During the nearly three months that nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Zimbabwe were banned from operating by President Robert Mugabe's government, people desperate for food foraged for wild fruits to survive, in some cases with tragic consequences.

Janet Chagwiza, 70, who lives in Nharira village, about 40km south of the Mashonaland East town of Chivu, told IRIN that two of her grandchildren were thought to have died from eating too much of a wild fruit that grows abundantly during the dry season.

"This fruit has become our staple food. We don't have mealie-meal [maize-meal] and our vegetable gardens have been overwhelmed by the daily demand, leaving whole villages in this area to depend on wild fruits," Chagwiza told IRIN shortly after burying her grandchildren in a single pit "because people here no longer have the energy to dig graves."

The fruit's pulp is separated from the hard seed by pounding it in pestles, but if eaten in excess it can cause extreme constipation, a nurse told IRIN at a nearby referral hospital where the two children were taken.

A nationwide strike by government doctors began a few weeks ago, which meant that the two children were unable to receive medical attention at the hospital.

Zimbabwe's hunger rates will peak early next year at about 5.1 million people in an estimated population of 12 million, according to the UN, but the ban put aid agencies on the back foot because they rely on NGOs to distribute food aid.  

In the absence of food aid, villagers have been competing for the wild fruits with baboons and monkeys, sparking conflict between people and animals, and also between people.

Food shortages causing conflict

"The animals aside, competition for the fruits is so extreme among us and there are fights at times if some villagers feel that their territory has been invaded," Chagwiza said.

Because of overwhelming demand, we are harvesting the fruits before they get ripe; we cover them with soil and set fire on top of the soil to ripen them. The taste is not so good but at least we would have filled our stomachs

"Because of overwhelming demand, we are harvesting the fruits before they get ripe; we cover them with soil and set fire on top of the soil to ripen them. The taste is not so good but at least we would have filled our stomachs," she said.

Chagwiza said there had been droughts and poor harvests in her life, but this year was the worst she had witnessed and "clearly the situation has been made worse by the fact that aid organisations are no longer free to come in and help."

In Mhondoro district, about 60km southeast of the capital, Harare, children have been playing a vital role in finding food. "We go out early in the morning and return in the evening, looking for wild fruits and gathering leftovers from shopping centres, some of them as far away as 30km. We are helping our parents in these difficult times," said Yeukai Chirinda, 13. "If we don't do that, there won't be anything to eat."

Her daily chores also include a 16km round trip to fetch water from a stream, as boreholes in the area have fallen into disrepair, as well as collecting firewood.

The onset of the school term has provided some relief for Yeukai, but some of her peers have had to leave school to be able to do chores for their families.

A blanket ban on all NGO operations - with the exception of those doing HIV/AIDS-related work - was imposed on 4 June, a few weeks ahead of the second round of voting in the presidential ballot on 27 June, for alleged political bias against the government. Mugabe, the only candidate, won the run-off ballot, but the election was widely condemned as flawed.

The ban was lifted on some NGOs on 29 August, but there are strict new operating rules, which if flouted can lead to prosecution. NGOs concerned with democracy, justice and governance remain banned.

The permanent secretary in the social welfare ministry, Lancaster Museka, told a Harare meeting of NGOs on 1 September that they would have to regularly inform the government of their programmes, areas and modes of operation, and report to the authorities and police in the areas where they were operating.
 
These requirements are expected to delay the resumption of food distribution.

Difficult working conditions expected

Farayi Ngirande, spokesman for the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), told IRIN that "Naturally, the lifting of the ban is desirable, but it should not have been effected in the first place."

NGOs would face difficulties in re-engaging communities that have suffered internal displacement, are still smarting from recent political violence and do not know whether or not to welcome NGOs once again, considering that some of the people were beaten for simply wearing a T-shirt with the name of a humanitarian organisation on it

"There is a new set of operational requirements that the government has set in place, and the biggest challenge is how best to operate under the confining conditions. Our members will be expected to work through local authorities, and that is bound to introduce unnecessary red tape and create suspicion and confusion."

Conditions on the ground had changed and NGOs would "face difficulties in re-engaging communities that have suffered internal displacement, are still smarting from recent political violence and do not know whether or not to welcome the NGOs once again, considering that some of the people in those localities were beaten for simply wearing a T-shirt with the name of a humanitarian organisation on it," Ngirande said.

NGOs are expecting less acceptance when they return, especially in areas where high levels of political violence were experienced. Some communities are expressing hostility to relief agencies, while others are fearful that they could be labelled as political enemies of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party if they associate with humanitarian workers.

After the March 29 parliamentary, council and presidential elections, in which the rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won a majority in parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, political violence erupted across the country. The opposition party has claimed that more than 100 of its supporters were killed, thousands more injured and tens of thousands displaced.

Broke Mugabe regime delays opening colleges

By Lance Guma
03 September 2008

Universities and colleges in the country have still not been opened nearly 2
weeks over the start date sparking fears the government is broke and cannot
afford to run the institutions. In an interview with Newsreel Wednesday the
President of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, Clever Bere said students
are being denied the opportunity to learn and finish their academic
programmes on time. No official reason for the delay has been communicated
to the students. Bere said all they saw on national television was the
University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Levy Nyagura appealing to the
corporate sector to chip in and help fund the colleges.

With the exception of Bindura University all other colleges remain closed
amid rumours the responsible Ministry has already exhausted its 2008 budget.
With no cabinet in place to effectively run the country it will be some time
before students get a clear signal of their fate. Students at the Harare
Polytechnic normally write their exams between September and October and
Bere suspects the college might be one of the few that will be opened in
coming days while the rest remain shut. Highlighting the critical nature of
the problem, last semester results for the UZ, Midlands State University,
Masvingo and other colleges are still not out. The National University of
Science and Technology has only released partial results.

A 3 month strike by lecturers at NUST is said to be the reason why the
university has not opened. Authorities are said to be trying to tie up a
deal with the lecturers before the university can be opened. Meanwhile a
strike by teachers in primary and secondary schools has led to the
disruption of classes Wednesday, a day after the new term began. Teachers
under the militant Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) walked out
of classes Tuesday resulting in almost a quarter of city schools shutting
down. The teachers are demanding the equivalent of US$800 per month to
cushion them against the country's hyperinflation. The average teacher earns
Z$1475 in the new currency which translates to at least Z$14 trillion in the
old currency.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Schools Opening Nightmare for Parents

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, September 3 2008 - Schools opened countrywide on Tuesday with
most pupils failing to pitch up for classes owing to failure by their
parents to access cash at banks to pay for their school fees and levies.

A survey conducted in Harare revealed that most parents were by close
of bank business Tuesday, still queuing to access cash for school fees.

Their plight was further compounded by the meagre maximum withdrawal
limits set at ZW$500 by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). Parents
interviewed said they were still struggling to retrieve their money from the
banks.

"I have been coming to the bank since last week to try and withdraw
money to pay for my kids' school fees. The bank says it can only give me
$500. It is so sad because I need $15 000 as down payment for my child's
school fees and I shudder to think how many times I have to come to the bank
to get that kind of money," said Benedict Sithole, a parent whose child
attends Watershed School.

Marilyn Ndlovu, another parent, said repeated pleas to her bank's
authorities have yielded nothing as the management cited stringent RBZ rules
on withdrawals. "I have tried and this is not working," she said.

Another parent, Mildred Siakurima said she has resorted to selling
some "not so useful" household goods to be able to send her three children
to school.

"I have three secondary school going children whose fees I have to
pay. I have tried accessing cash from the bank and its not easy. I have had
to sell some of my appliances which I think are not that useful so I can
send my kids to school. There is no other option," she said.

Schools are reportedly demanding cash upfront as they also battle to
pay for services rendered to them by service providers who are reportedly
insisting on cash upfront.

Orphans Walk 60km to Beg for Food

http://www.radiovop.com


MASVINGO, September 3 2008 - Two orphaned brothers from Zaka district
recently walked sixty kilometers to get to their next of kin where they
intended to beg for food, as isolated cases of starvation begin to mushroom
in the province, hard hit by acute food shortages for the past six years.

Only last week, seven prisoners at Mutimurefu Prison starved to death,
Zimbabwe Prison Services (ZPS) officials confirmed last week.

The two orphans, from the Charamba and Dembure clan in Zaka, whose
fist names were withheld as they are juveniles, were rescued by the Reformed
Church In Zimbabwe (RCZ) run Community Based AIDS Programme (CBAP) near
Tugwane High school last week).

The two brothers, aged 10 and 13, walked from Marereke village near
Chirangano primary school in Zaka, up to Rupike irrigation scheme, under
Chief Nyajena in Masvingo South District, before the CABP crew came across
them.

"They were looking so pale and fragile. We saw them sleeping
lifelessly besides the road and decided to talk to them, that is when they
revealed every detail of their lives," said one official from the NGO,
concerned about the plight of HIV and AIDS patients and orphans in the
province.

The CABP crew then took the orphans to Chief Nyajena's residence where
they explained that they were going to their aunt's home, their only
surviving relative, to beg for food.

"We had gone for many days without eating anything, save for wild
fruits. We did some menial jobs but still that did not help, that is when we
decided to walk to our aunt's home," said the eldest of the two.

Their parents, the orphans said, died six years ago and they were left
in the care of their grandparents, who later died, leaving them to fend for
themselves. They two said they do not know any other relatives besides their
aunt.

Although Chief Nyajena was not personally contacted for comment, one
of his aides confirmed the case, saying the orphans had been temporarily
housed at the chief's place while awaiting assistance from the RCZ NGO.

"We are currently housing the two orphans while we try to locate their
aunt as well as get help from well wishers," said one of Chief Nyajena's
aides.

Despite boasting of many water resources, among them the enormous
Kyle/Mutirikwi and Tokwe Mukosi, the province has succumbed to annual food
shortages, with more than 1 million people currently in need of food aid.

Mutambara should be banned from talks - rebel faction MPs

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

BY STAFF REPORTER - BULAWAYO

A split is looming in Arthur Mutambara's breakaway MDC faction due to
elected members of parliament wanting to topple the leadership and call for
them to be banned from power sharing talks as they are not representing
anybody.

Mutambara lost control of his faction after a heavy defeat in parliament
when almost all MPs voted against their candidate for the
post of Speaker of Parliament post. It is believed Mutambara had cut a deal
with Zanu (PF) to have his party's candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi, elected to
the post in order to frustrate Morgan Tsvangirai's attempts to gain control
over the lower house. Most of Mutambara's MPs, however, voted with the main
wing of the party to elect national chairman Lovemore Moyo to the post.

At the SADC-brokered power sharing talks the MDC faction is represented by
its President, Arthur Mutambara, who lost the Zengeza seat, Welshman Ncube,
who lost the Makokoba seat and Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga, who lost the
Glen Norah seat in the March 29 elections.

One of the dissident MPs said he suspected Mutambara and Ncube to be members
of the CIO on the Zanu (PF) payroll because they threatened to call for
by-elections after MPs elected on the party's ticket rebelled and voted
against Nyathi for Speaker of Parliament.
No comment could be obtained from Edwin Mushoriwa, the MDC (Mutambara)
spokesperson.

Harare Residents speak out on the Talks!

03 September 2008

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is deeply concerned with the continued stalemate and ultimate failure of the talks between ZANU PF and the MDC, a situation that has negatively impacted on the lives of the Harare electorate and the whole nation at large.

It is the residents’ conviction that the social service delivery crisis bedeviling the city of Harare and other cities is a direct result of the failed policies of the previous and successive ZANU PF Governments. The ‘ruling party’ has, over the years, created a situation whereby by the central government has continuously imposed self centered policies on local authorities as well as make decisions on behalf of municipalities through the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development. Such disastrous policies and politically selfish decisions include the ZINWA takeover of water and sewer reticulation services from urban councils which has plunged Harare and other cities in this deep water crisis. Thus the roots of our local Governance crisis are found in the national crisis of governance.

Residents condemn ZANU PF for refusing to agree to a conclusive and fair power sharing deal that will see the MDC being given the powers to resuscitate the collapsed economy of Zimbabwe as well as implement corrective measures to solve the governance crisis in the nation. Let it be very clear to anyone who matter that the residents are against any kind of a power sharing deal that will not have capacity to resuscitate the economy and address the prevailing socio-political polarization. We expect ZANU PF to at least have the decency to accept that they have failed to revive the economy of Zimbabwe as the Government that has been in power for the past twenty eight years. ZANU PF had all the time in the world to prove its ability to govern Zimbabwe but the status of our economy and political system clearly shows that the ‘ruling’ party no longer has what it takes to govern a nation single-handedly. We also believe neither the MDC nor any other party can run the country alone.

The nation is currently in an economic crisis that has seen inflation spiraling to above eleven million percent, a figure that qualifies Zimbabwe to be in the Guinness book of Records for the wrong reasons. The Residents hold ZANU PF responsible for this economic disaster because it is the Party in Government and therefore with enough capacity and power to stop the rampant corruption going on. The Residents are following the events with regards to the talks with keen interest and certainly will not be prepared to continue watching while the situation continues to deteriorate.

Chief Executive Officer

Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)

145 Robert Mugabe Way

Exploration House, Third Floor

Harare

ceo@chra.co.zw

www.chra.co.zw

Landline: 00263- 4- 705114

CHRA holds successful Harare municipal conference

01 September 2008

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) held a successful Harare Municipal Conference on Friday the 29^th of August 2008. Participants in the conference included City of Harare Mayor, councillors, and technical staff from the city of Harare, Senator Morgan Femai, partners from the civic society and NGO sector as well as the CHRA leadership. The conference sought to develop a common plan between the residents and the councillors, of addressing service delivery problems in Harare and local Governance related issues.

CHRA Chairperson Mr Simbarashe Moyo welcomed the participants to the conference. In his speech he expressed the Association’s willingness to support the council in order to improve service delivery in Harare as well as improve Zimbabwe’s local Governance system. The Chairperson reasserted CHRA’s position that in essence the Association remains essentially a watchdog against council operations in the fight for improved service delivery; and therefore will not hesitate to speak out when council blunders. Mayor Masunda reiterated his stance that the council is there to serve and not to be served! The Mayor expressed his gratitude for the sterling work being done by CHRA in the areas of capacity building for the council as well as residents. After the CHRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’s presentation and subsequent discussions, the residents and the councillors agreed that the following issues must be addressed urgently;

à   Advocacy for Constitutionalisation of local Governance

à   Restoration of the executive mayoral powers

à   Reclamation of the water supply and sewer reticulation responsibility from ZINWA

à   Implementation of effective waste management programs

à   Rehabilitation of council recreational and sanitary facilities

à   Road maintenance.

à   Immediate stop to street vendor harassment by Municipal police

à   The need for maximum/broad residents participation in all council decision making processes

à   The need to provide shelter for the survivors of Operation Murambatsvina and other homeless residents.

à   Audit of Council property

à   Development and implementation of urban agriculture programs     

The conference agreed that CHRA should continue with its capacity building program especially around the following issues;

à   Training on Council duties, rights, powers & functions as provided by the law. 

à   Residents consultation & community engagement strategies

à   Participatory budget formulation processes

à   Project planning and management; including monitoring & evaluation

à   Fundraising strategies

à   Providing information about existing and potential networks and partnerships which the council and residents can use to address pertinent issues like housing and HIV/AIDS

CHRA remains firmly committed to its stance of ensuring enhanced civic participation in all local Governance processes. In that regard, the Association is eager to continue providing such platforms like the Municipal conference, so that the residents and the councillors are able to plan, implement and evaluate joint plans of action aimed at improving local governance and service delivery in particular.

Chief Executive Officer

Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)

145 Robert Mugabe Way

Exploration House, Third Floor

Harare

ceo@chra.co.zw

www.chra.co.zw

Landline: 00263- 4- 705114

Magic of the Tsotso Stove

http://english.ohmynews.com


The tsotso stove helps to reduce firewood consumption

Masimba Biriwasha

     Published 2008-09-04 02:56 (KST)

According to an old adage, necessity is the mother of invention; it forces
people to find alternative ways and tools. In Zimbabwe today, devising
skills to survive is the norm of daily living.

As a means to cope with erratic electricity power cuts that are undoubtedly
a defining characteristic of the ongoing socioeconomic crisis in Zimbabwe,
many Zimbabweans living in urban areas have resorted to using the tsotso
stove because of its low labor and energy saving characteristics.

Traditionally, rural as well as low-income households have always depended
on fuelwood, which usually chews up loads of firewood, thereby endangering
the environment.

However, in urban areas firewood for use as domestic fuel is always in short
supply or simply too expensive.

The tsotso stove, which is inspired by the traditional hearth fire, is a
specially designed open clay pot with openings at its sides where you put
little sticks of wood to make a fire.

The tsotso stove helps to reduce firewood consumption compared to normal
traditional open hearth fires. It is stable and portable; it uses small
pieces of wood and saves fuel.

In the Shona language, tsotso literally means little sticks of firewood, and
it is these little sticks that the tsotso stove employs to make a fire that
can cook a meal to feed a whole family.

The tsotso stove uses much less wood and has an insulated combustion
chamber, which helps reduce smoke while increasing the heat output and
burning efficiency.

The sticks, usually from thorn trees, come in a bundle and cost very little.
A bundle of the sticks can potentially cook approximately 6 to 10 meals,
saving energy and labor in the process.

The tsotso stove is so convenient because it can be carried from one place
to the other, and can therefore be used if when it is raining. In addition,
it utilizes minimal amounts of wood, which does not jeopardize the
environment.

All in all, the tsotso stove is highly desirable because it is fast cooking,
produces less smoke and is environmentally friendly and requires very small
amounts of wood fuel.

Zimbabwe official's smuggling plan foiled by France and the Netherlands

From Afrik.com (France), 2 September

By Bruce Sibanda

Gideon Gono, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boss has felt the sting on sanctions
imposed on him by the European Union when his consignment of flowers
destined for France and the Netherlands was returned. His attempt to evade
the sanction by using some fronts failed. He is estimated to have lost about
US200 000 when the flowers were barred from entering both France and the
Netherlands. It is understood that some of the handlers of Gono's business
deals had tried to smuggle the flowers into Europe under the guise of using
different people to claim their ownership. EU is said to have put in place a
very effective system that is busting the undercover tactics Mugabe and his
cronies have used in the past to stash funds as well as do business there
using fronts. "Gono's flowers were rejected on the grounds that he is on the
sanctions list although he had used fronts to pretend as the owners," a
source close to the issue said. Even before the consignment left Zimbabwe
authorities in France where already preparing to send it back to Harare as
soon as it arrived. An official from the French embassy in Harare says that
his country, which had been a major market of flowers from Zimbabwe over the
past, has included on its targeted sanctions the barring of flowers
belonging to Mugabe's people. Another Mugabe crony, Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife
of Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Constatine Chiwenga, has also been hit
where it hurts most after several EU countries have imposed a ban on her
company Zimsafe's purchases of goods there. Zimsafe has been importing
inputs for the manufacture of protective clothing and materials from EU
countries but since the inclusion of Chiwenga on the sanctions list, it is
being barred from buying there, severely affecting its operations. Even
attempts by Chiwenga to use fronts have reportedly been frustrated.

Where did money for Kirsty come from?

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3361

September 3, 2008
Jupiter Punungwe

SOME of the people reading this may be in Harare. Many may not be, but for
the purpose of this article let us all imagine we are in Harare.

Just imagine you are walking down Simon Mazorodze Road, maybe on your way to
Mbare. Suddenly one of those reckless kombi drivers hits you from behind.

You lie by the roadside, bones broken, your blood spilling into the dust,
and you are hanging onto life by the thinnest of threads. You need urgent
medical attention. Your only hope is if an ambulance arrives within minutes
and takes you to the casualty department of a big hospital. Once there you
need prompt attention from a full complement of medical staff. A host of
drugs from painkillers to antibiotics must be available for you.

There is only one tiny winy problem. You are in Harare in Zanu-PF run
Zimbabwe. The government run emergency services don't have ambulances. If
there is an ambulance in working condition it probably won't have fuel. If
some fuel was allocated, it was probably stolen by the driver or other staff
to supplement their inflation ravaged salaries. If there are one or two
ambulances moving on that day they are probably doing the rounds, moving
from clinic to clinic collecting patients who have been forwarded by the
clinics to major hospitals. They visit several clinics until the patients
are packed like sardines in a single ambulance. Pregnant women about to give
birth, people with broken limps all mixed up with sufferers of infectious
diseases, like TB for example.

Given the above scenario what do you think are your chances of surviving? I
would give a duiker a better chance of survival in the midst of a pride of
lions. As implausible as the above situation sounds, it is what Zimbabweans
are faced with every day. Collapsed services, dysfunctional institutions
have become part of every day life.

In the midst of this ravaged landscape, a man holding a shiny briefcase,
walks up and hands over one hundred thousand American dollars in cash to a
young lady. I do not want to belittle Kirsty Coventry's achievements. Over
the past half decade her achievements have shone like a golden nugget in a
heap of dark manure, a lone sparkle in a sea of stinking news.

At least what was given to Kirsty Coventry was in public and in my view
justified. The million dollar question is how much are these guys taking for
themselves while nobody is looking. How much are they allocating themselves
for foreign trips, luxury goods and posh cars while the rest of us have to
ride to hospital in pushcarts hospitals where there are no drugs, doctors or
nurses?

It is disgusting that someone can use a hundred thousand dollars of state
money to try and buy popularity and goodwill, while people are dying every
day because state institutions don't have money. I am not suggesting that a
hundred thousand American dollars would have solved all of Zimbabwe's
problems. However the speed with which the money materialised means that a
few individuals are keeping their nests well feathered while the rest of us
have to sleep among the thorns.

That some people can ensure their won comfort, while the tax-paying majority
not only suffer, but face death, means that those privileged few have
developed an attitude of disdainful contempt towards the rest of us. In
short they do not deserve to lead us any more because they no longer care
about us. They just care about their prestige andprivilege.

There is nothing that hurts more than when someone you thought was a brother
treats you in the same manner that former colonialists treated you. With
utter contempt and disregard for your welfare. At least the colonialists
were not liars; they told us openly that they were going to oppress us, and
we knew what we were dealing with.

These "brothers" who tell us they are going to make life wonderful for us
but proceed to use our tax money to make life very comfortable for
themselves are something else. Their children go to foreign schools using
our money while our children are left with no teachers because they don't
want to pay teachers. They ride around in twelve-cylinder Mercs acquired
with our money while critically injured accident victims are rushed to
hospital in a scotch-cart, wheelbarrows or pushcarts. They fly to Malaysia,
China and Mauritius on holiday while the rest of us have to wrestle the
crocodiles of the Limpopo into South Africa just try and find something to
feed our children with.

It is when you realise how much more important than the rest of us these
'brothers' have become that you realise they are no longer our brothers but
the emulators of our oppressors of yesteryear. For now they control the
guns, tanks and armoured vehicles that they bought with our money. There is
little we can do to remind them that the comforts of this country belong to
us, therefore, we the people should always be the priority ahead of them.

However, as we say in Shona, "That which flies will one day land."

They better start listening to us the people seriously if they want to have
a soft landing. Time is like a tortoise. It moves slowly but it will always
get to where it is going. Their time is on the move.

Mr. Mbeki, do the right thing and throw in the towel

http://www.hararetribune.com

Wednesday, 03 September 2008 14:18 Tribune Editorial Board

Mbeki, instead of feeding Zimbabweans false hope claiming that "the talks
will produce a good outcome," you should do the right thing and tell
Zimbabweans the reality, the truth that indeed the talks have failed. Why be
a merchant of selling false hope?

Even the optimistic among us now accept the unpalatable reality that the GNU
talks between ZANU-PF and the MDC have all but failed. Or rather, they are
deadlocked. What are you waiting for, Mr. Mbeki? We think you yourself ,
rather than Mugabe and ZANU-PF, are fast becoming the main obstacle
preventing a GNU deal from being hammered between ZANU-PF and the MDC.

The GNU talks, have been deadlocked for more than month now. The talks, if
they were a bus travelling to Bulawayo from Harare and had arrived in Kwekwe
on August 4, they haven't moved an inch since then. Despite the tout, Mr.
Mugabe, banging on the door of the bus, and Mr. Mbeki, revving the engine,
Tsvangirai is still sitting outside, for the bus has not moved.

It is public knowledge that the talks have failed because Mugabe, on orders
from the ZANU-PF politburo, has refused to cede more powers to Tsvangirai,
arguing that Tsvangirai should sign the deal that Mutambara inked weeks ago.
On his part, Tsvangirai has rejected the Mugabe offer, and instead wants him
to cede more powers, for he knows if he accepts the deal he is being
offered, he would be betraying and negating the mandate he was given by the
people of Zimbabwe on March 29.

Mbeki should know that the first step in coming to a resolution on the
Zimbabwe crisis, at this stage, is accepting that the talks, powered by
SADC, have failed. It is only with that recognition that probably the AU can
take over as main mediator.

Once the GNU talks are in the hands of the AU, we believe that Mbeki will
relinquish his role, for he has failed, paving the way for effective deal
brokers like former UN Secretary Gen. Annan ,to take over.

The best thing you can do, Mr. Mbeki, is to tellg the people of Zimbabwe
that you have failed, following which you should step aside and let others
handle the Zimbabwe crisis.

Surely Mr. Mbeki, after mediating for months, after initially claiming there
was no crisis in Zimbabwe, don't you think it is time for you stop selling
false hope and throw in the towel??

Ideas from a correspondent