Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
THREE Zimbabweans taking part in the recent World Scout
Jamboree in
Chelmsford, England, did not return home with the rest of the
group last
month.
They are believed to have remained behind.
The Boy Scouts Association
of Zimbabwe was not officially informed of plans
by two of the participants
to remain in England after the
jamboree.
The association was scheduled to meet yesterday to review
its
participation at the jamboree and the disappearance of the two, a girl
and a
boy, both aged about 17.
The third was identified as
Humphrey Dube from Kwekwe, a scout leader.
Deputy Scout
Commissioner Mostaff Matesanwa, who travelled with the
group, said Dube had
asked for permission to remain behind after the
Jamboree.
The
cases are said to demonstrate the desperation of Zimbabweans of
all ages to
escape the hardships back home.
Matesanwa would not say when Dube
was expected back. But he said all
three had visas valid until the end of
the year.
He said: "We contacted the relatives here and they
confirmed they have
relations in the UK."
The rest of the
Zimbabwean contingent returned on 17 August but the
17-year-old girl
disappeared on 29 July.
"For the girl," said Matesanwa, "we did not
see any relative. But
others say she had a phone. She asked to be excused
from morning activities
because she was not feeling well. The leader
escorted her back to the
campsite.
"After a while she said she
was going to the toilet. Then she
disappeared. Afternoon came and went. By
dinner time she was still missing.
We made a report to the
police."
Matesanwa said the person they least suspected to
disappear was the
girl. In July/August 2006 she had been selected to go on a
sponsored trip to
Japan for a jamboree.
Later, she was
supported by her parents to attend a Rover Moot in
Mafeking, South
Africa.
"But because she was due to write her 'O' Level
examinations, we did
not suspect anything," he said. "We had their travel
documents for
safe-keeping, so they disappeared without their
papers."
Matesanwa said a relative had visited the boy at the
campsite, before
the Form VI student disappeared. It is thought the relative
waited for the
boy after the visit.
The three were among 13
scouts from different countries who went
missing at the World Scouts
Jamboree at Hylands Park.
Reports said four scouts vanished from
the site, while nine are
believed not to have turned up at all.
The first scout reported missing was the 17-year-old Zimbabwean, on
July 29.
Next was a boy aged 15, from an unnamed country, a boy, 17, from
Sri Lanka,
and a boy, 15, from Nigeria.
A group of five males, aged between 12
and 24, from Bangladesh, did
turn up at the jamboree.
It was
not clear whether a group of two boys and two girls, aged
between 16 and 17,
from Uganda, made it to Hylands Park.
A police spokesperson in
Essex said they were not treating the
disappearances as suspicious, as all
missing scouts were in the UK legally
with six-month tourist
visas.
"Essex Police are actively trying to locate those who are
missing,"
she said, "including trying to make contact with any known family
members or
associates here in Britain.
"None of the youngsters
have committed an offence," she said.
Simon Carter, a spokesperson
for the scouts, said the jamboree was
still a massive success, despite the
missing people.
"While we are concerned," he said, "it's not
something that puts a
damper on all the other good activities.
"There are around 40,000 people who have had a fantastic time; if you
take
four people out of that it puts it into perspective."
Carter said
the nine who never showed up were the responsibility of
individual scout
contingents, who organised travel between home countries
and Hylands
Park.
Zim Standard
By Davison
Maruziva
SOMEONE isn't listening to advice and Zimbabwe's
moment of maximum
danger could arise because it is too busy not listening,
The Standard can
report.
Two months ago a group of economists
from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
advised on the need to approach the price
stabilisation drive with "extreme
levels of caution".
Yet the
Minister of Industry and International Trade, as recently as
last week, said
the government had no apologies to make for the recent
controversial price
blitz which has left many businesses tottering on the
brink of
collapse.
On 23 June the government ordered manufacturers and
retailers to slash
their prices by 50% - to pre-18 June levels.
The fiat, met with stiff resistance from within the hierarchy of the
ruling
party, has spawned a severe and unprecedented nation-wide shortage of
basic
commodities.
Concern by the group of economists, according to
documents seen by The
Standard, was the need "to avoid inadvertently causing
hardships to the
vulnerable groups" in society.
The concern
also appears to have been guided by a desire to avoid
attracting "needless
vilification" from friends in the region and elsewhere
in the
world.
With the government refusing to confront reality, shops were
last week
beginning to exhibit the full aberration of the price blitz - rows
of empty
shelves, while the more creative shop owners were shrinking their
original
floor space, creating an illusion of a shop full of goods, even if
this
really consisted of maputi, bits of onions and a sprinkling of imported
biscuits.
But these are not exactly basics - bread, sugar,
cooking oil, maize
meal, salt and milk - every household requires on a daily
basis.
Reserve Bank economists in the documents seen by The
Standard
cautioned against price monitoring, arguing it was highly demanding
in terms
of resources (financial and human), which would impose a further
strain on
the fiscus.
"Where the stipulated prices fall short
of genuine, justifiable
production costs," said the economists, "the result
is that producers of the
same goods and services will fail to continue
producing, which inevitably
breeds immediate shortages on the
market.
"A look at the shop shelves currently confirms the reality
of this
threat."
The group warned prophetically two months
ago: "Closure of shops and
unavailability of basic essentials risks
infuriating the very same members
of the public government has always sought
to cushion from rampant price
increases."
Gideon Gono, the
central bank governor had previously spoken of the
need to avoid what he
termed "unintended consequences" of the action the
government had taken and
which would leave the country in a worse-off
position. This is in apparent
reference to remarks by former US Ambassador
to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell,
who prophesied the collapse of President
Robert Mugabe's government by
year-end.
Gono refused to discuss the report last week when
contacted for
comment. "The report you are referring to is unofficial," he
said before
ending the discussion.
The economists warned the
government to "avoid the trap of temporary
victory and instant gratification
that backfire with consuming return-fire"
from the business community,
consumers and some politicians alike.
The report also warns of the
need to avoid populist actions.
It is therefore unsurprising that
even politicians on the government
side are reportedly unsettled by the
impact and effects of the price blitz
and the resultant
shortages.
Already the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is cash-strapped
because the
blitz has had "unintended consequences" on its revenue
collection from the
business sector, while consumers fume that they are
wasting time queuing for
basic commodities they fail to procure at the end
of the day.
"It is critical that urgent steps be taken to once and
for all deal
with supply side imperatives without which the Number One
Enemy, inflation,
will continue to rear its ugly head," say the
economists.
Drawing parallels with the US invasion of Iraq, where
it charges
Washington had no clear exit strategy, the documents call for
identification
of an exit point from the current price blitz.
"Alongside the exit strategy," they say, "there is also a mechanism
that
needs to be put in place to monitor the monitors. This is particularly
so
against reported cases of corruption, engineered looting and general
waywardness on the part of some stakeholders."
Then the real
telling point: "We have reached a moment of our maximum
danger and supreme
economic decisions have to be taken; certain national
sacrifices made and
personal comfort zones must be confronted head-on today,
not tomorrow
without fear or favour."
Is anyone in the Cabinet Taskforce on
Price Monitoring listening to
advice on an urgent pricing matrix that takes
into account reasonable
provisions for production costs in the entire chain?
Only time will tell.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO - Milk worth millions of dollars is lost every
day at dairy
farms across the country as farmers fail to transport it to
processors due
to severe fuel shortages triggered by the government's
controversial price
blitz.
Farmers attending a joint crisis
meeting of the National Dairy Farmers
Association and Cattle Producers
Association here on Friday, said they
feared they might soon be forced out
of business.
Milk products, like other basic commodities have
virtually disappeared
from shops in the aftermath of the government edict
forcing business to
revert to pre-June 18 prices.
But NADF says
precious milk was going bad before it could reach the
processors.
The National Dairy Co-operative (NDC), which
collects the milk from
farmers, has reportedly grounded most of its fleet
because of the worsening
fuel crisis.
"The milk is not getting
to the processors in urban centres," Ezra
Ndlovu, the NADF regional chairman
told the meeting, "and we are beginning
to see the effects of that with the
ongoing shortages
"At my farm, I had to throw away 900 litres of
milk recently because
it went bad before it could be collected.
"Most of you would be shocked when you collect your cheques from the
NDC
because there won't be any money since your milk got bad before it
reached
the processor."
Ndlovu said normally milk could stay at the farms
for two days before
collection by processors, but after the introduction of
the price controls
it stayed for as many as five days.
He
appealed to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to
intervene
immediately if the already ailing dairy industry was to survive
the
crisis.
The National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), recently
handed the
sole responsibility to source and distribute fuel, could not
comment
immediately.
Meanwhile the NADF said milk production
had declined from 6,1 million
litres in August last year to 5, 2 million
last month as the dairy industry
continued its steady decline.
Ndlovu blamed the decline on the "perpetual price controls" imposed on
dairy
products. He said the controls had led to farmers failing to buy
proper
stock feed and vaccines for their herds.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
THE
city council has failed to put out a fire burning out of control
for more
than two weeks at Pomona dumping site.
Residents have complained of
the council's lack of action, with some
reporting asthmatic relatives had
ended up in hospital after inhaling the
acrid fumes from the
fire.
Trudy Stevenson the pro-Senate Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
Member of Parliament for Harare North told The Standard the fire had
affected more than 40 000 of her constituents.
"The fire
started two weeks ago and it's getting worse," she said
yesterday. "We
talked to the city council but they could not do anything.
Now, it is
polluting the whole area because there is smoke everywhere and
asthmatic
people are the ones affected most."
Stevenson appealed for urgent
action to extinguish the fire since
residents in nearby Borrowdale,
Hatcliffe, Vainona and Mt Pleasant suburbs
were the most affected.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE AND
KHOLWANI NYATHI
ONE school has closed down its
boarding facilities while several
others have scaled down food rations as
the food crisis in the country bites
deeper and deeper, a Standard
investigation established last week
Several boarding schools have
asked parents to provide supplementary
food to avoid mass starvation among
students at schools which opened last
Tuesday.
A snap survey
painted a bleak picture of student life in boarding
schools short of food.
School authorities feared students might starve this
term due to the current
food crisis triggered by the June price slash
ordered by the
government.
Several schools in Manicaland, Masvingo, the Midlands,
Bulawayo,
Harare and Matabeleland North and South have told students to
bring rice,
sugar, salt, maize-meal and corn flakes, all no longer available
in
supermarkets.
In Bulawayo, the food crisis, coupled with the
shortage of water, has
made learning almost impossible at most schools amid
warnings that the
situation might deteriorate if the government does not
intervene.
EATEC College in Bulawayo has closed its boarding
facilities, citing
the shortage of food. Students have been asked to find
alternative
accommodation.
In Hwedza, Chemhanza High School has
sent an SOS to parents to provide
supplementary food.
In a
letter to parents, the headmaster, T Chitongo said they had cut
the amount
of food they give to students daily.
The school asked parents to
provide 2kg packet of rice, 2 litres of
cooking oil, 1kg of table salt, 500
grammes of soya mince and 2kg of plain
flour.
Students in many
schools complained their rations had been reduced
drastically.
"The school is providing us with food, but it is not enough because in
the
morning we do not receive our porridge and also at break-time we do not
get
any bread," said a pupil at Milton High School in Bulawayo.
The
Matabeleland North regional education director, Dan Moyo, said
arrangements
were made with the Grain Marketing Board and the Cold Storage
Company to
provide meat and maize-meal to the schools.
Debating on the issue
at a full council meeting last week Alderman
Charles Mpofu said in Bulawayo,
the crisis has been aggravated by the water
crisis.
In the
Midlands, Rutendo Mawere, reports that the food situation was
critical as
some schools had scaled down the amount of food they give to
students.
An elite school in the province, Guinea Fowl, is now
giving students
black tea with porridge in the morning, instead of tea with
bread.
The situation is almost the same at Fletcher High School
where
students complained they were not getting enough food.
At
Tongogara High School in Shurugwi, students said they have had beef
once
since the schools opened last week.
"It's sadza and cabbages almost
every day. We are not having a
balanced diet," complained a
pupil.
Association of Trust Schools (ATS) chairman Jameson Timba
described
the food situation as "precarious" in most private schools. He
said most
schools had appealed to parents' bodies to assist them secure food
supplies.
But the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, Aeneas
Chigwedere,
has pledged that no pupil would starve. He claimed that the GMB
has started
supplying maize-meal to boarding schools to avert the
crisis.
But GMB is already failing to provide maize-meal to needy
households
countrywide.
Zim Standard
By
Kholwani Nyathi
BULAWAYO - The two factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) are scrambling for coalition partners ahead of the
harmonised
parliamentary and presidential elections next year.
Both have approached different parties and civic groups after the
collapse
of their unity talks.
This followed an announcement by the
pro-Senate faction that it would
no longer pursue negotiations for a
coalition pact with the anti-Senate
faction.
Its leader, Arthur
Mutambara, announced his faction would go into the
elections
alone.
Until then, the two groups were seeking a coalition under
the auspices
of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC).
This group
had brought together political parties and civic groups
fighting for
political reform.
Since then, there has been a flurry of activity
in both camps to lure
uncommitted groups to back them.
The
pro-Senate group recently organised two meetings, one at the
Bulawayo house
of its vice-president, Gibson Sibanda, and another at a
restaurant along
Plumtree Road, where talks were held on a possible
coalition with Zapu
Federal Party (Zapu FP) and the Patriotic Union of
Matabeleland
(PUMA).
But Zapu FP is already negotiating an alliance pact with
the Morgan
Tsvangirai group, with negotiations said to be at an advanced
stage. Paul
Siwela, the Zapu FP leader who contested the 2002 presidential
elections
confirmed the developments.
"We are pursuing an
alliance that will see us retain our separate
identities but fight the
elections together," he said. But Siwela declined
to provide details, saying
it might jeopardise the talks.
Nelson Chamisa, the anti-Senate
spokesperson said he would not comment
"on the specifics" but said "we are
actively pursuing a unity of purpose and
direction with a view of amplifying
our momentum against the status quo and
the Zanu PF regime".
He
said his group believed the differences between political groups
were
"superficial" and would not stand in the way of the formation of a
united
front against President Robert Mugabe.
For the Mutambara group,
Gabriel Chaibva said the collapse of the
factions' unity talks had "to do
with one entity (the Tsvangirai faction)"
and insisted negotiations with
other "progressive democratic forces" were in
progress.
"But we
have said we are organising for elections on our own and any
agreements with
other groups will be welcome as we go along," Chaibva said.
If
Parliament approves the proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 18,
as
anticipated, the harmonised local government, parliamentary and
presidential
elections would be held early next year.
Zim Standard
By Leslie
Nunu
BULAWAYO - The Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is failing
to release
examination results on time, raising questions about the
integrity of its
examination system, The Standard established last
week.
There have been persistent questions about the quality of
graduates
from ZOU - a government-funded long-distance university - due to
perennial
under-funding and an acute shortage of qualified teaching
staff.
A number of students told The Standard, last week most of
them had not
received their results for the previous semester yet they were
supposed to
be registering for new programmes this month.
The
students have to pass a certain number of subjects before they are
allowed
to proceed to the next stage.
Graduating classes are said to be the
most affected by the
unavailability of results, as there is uncertainty over
whether they will be
conferred with degrees.
The problem has
been blamed on a faulty electronic mail system, which
the university uses to
dispatch the results.
"The situation is very bad because I have not
received my results from
last semester," said a student who requested
anonymity. "And I do not know
if I passed or not."
The students
accused the university authorities of turning a blind eye
to their problems,
which they say have persisted for a very long time.
"I have been
going to the ZOU offices for the past couple of months to
see if my results
have been released," said another student, "but I am
always told to come
back later as they have not been released."
Elizabeth
Karonga-Mamire, ZOU's director of information and public
relations,
confirmed that some students were not receiving their results but
claimed
that the problem had been blown out of proportion.
She said 90% of
the students receive their results through a manual
system.
"Some of the affected students did not complete the registration
process
properly," she said, "leading to the electronic system rejecting
them as
registered students on our database.
"Others pay their fees
directly to our bank but they do not bring
their deposit slips for
confirmation and reconciliation - so they cannot get
their
results."
But Karonga-Mamire admitted ZOU had problems with its
electronic
system, which has frequent breakdowns. She advised students who
could not
access their results to contact ZOU regional offices for
assistance.
Zim Standard
By Leslie Nunu
BULAWAYO - National Railways of Zimbabwe workers have been on a
go-slow for
nearly two weeks after wage negotiations were suspended because
of the
government's controversial price blitz.
The Railway Artisans Union,
Railway Associated Union and the Railway
Association of Enginemen are
demanding a 600% pay rise across the board.
But according to a
confidential circular to the unions, signed by the
NRZ general manager, Mike
Karakadzai, and seen by The Standard, negotiations
were suspended following
the government directive to freeze tariff
increases.
The
dispute was referred to an arbitrator on 2 August after the
negotiations
were deadlocked as management insisted on a pay rise of only
100%.
Last month the parastatal went back to the workers with
two offers for
an increment while waiting for the arbitration process to be
concluded, but
both were rejected.
Under the latest wage
review, which has since been imposed on the
unions, the NRZ will award its
workers an increment staggered over three
months and backdated to
July.
The lowest-paid worker will receive $5.5 million a month by
the end of
September, up from $1.4 million in July.
"Management
proposed a postponement of negotiations in view of the
absence of economic
data, such as month-on-month inflation and the Poverty
Datum Line for June
and July, which is traditionally considered during wage
review
negotiations," said Karakadzai.
He said the parastatal also wanted
to make a presentation to
government "on the possibility of obtaining
authority "to revise both
freight and passenger tariffs to levels
commensurate with NRZ's operating
costs".
"It is common cause
that in addition to traffic volumes, tariffs are a
critical factor in
determining the extent of the organisation's income
levels, which in turn
influence the level of employee wages," he said.
Describing the
increments as a joke, the workers have vowed to
continue with their go-slow,
threatening to embark on a full scale strike if
their demands are not
met.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
ZANU PF has seized the distribution of food aid at
Hopley Farm from a
non-partisan committee chosen by the residents, ahead of
the 2008 elections.
Residents fear this is a desperate bid to use
food as a bait for votes
in next year's harmonised elections, The Standard
was told last week.
Already, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters at the
sprawling settlement say they are being denied food
handouts by the new
committee.
This committee was alleged to
have been imposed on the community by a
Zanu PF official, a Mr Mutero,
reportedly on the instructions of Harare
South legislator Hubert
Nyanhongo.
He is also the deputy Minister of Transport and
Communications.
Nyanhongo said he would not respond to queries
raised over the phone.
"Where did you get my phone number?" he
asked. "Who gave you that
information? You come to my office next week. I
can't respond on the phone."
Then he switched off his mobile
phone.
One MDC supporter said the names of suspected MDC supporters
had been
removed from the list of beneficiaries.
"The committee
always claims the food was donated by Zanu PF and would
benefit supporters
of the ruling party only," said the opposition supporter,
identifying
himself onlyt as Mlambo. "I fear our children will soon suffer
from
malnutrition."
Mlambo, a resident of Zone 5, said they raised the
issue with the food
aid agencies two months ago but nothing had
changed.
Another resident, formerly from the demolished Porta Farm
near Norton,
said: "They have removed our names from the list, saying we are
not supposed
to get food because we are not originally from Harare
South."
Most of the families at Hopley were victims of Operation
Murambatsvina
and have no source of income.
They depend largely
on donations from international charitable
organizations.
Efforts by some officials at the settlement - who cannot be named for
fear
of victimization -- to rectify the situation, were dampened when
Nyanhongo
allegedly accused them of being MDC activists.
"Once you are
accused of being MDC, it becomes difficult to work with
these people. But
the fact is Nyanhongo is fighting for re-election and
wants to use food for
his re-election," said one official.
Hopley Farm social welfare
officer, Ezekiel Mpande, confirmed there
were problems with food
distribution at the settlement.
"I had a meeting with officials
from the Christian Care recently on
the issue. The World Food Programme also
knows about it. They are feeling
bad about the situation but it appears they
cannot do anything," he said.
Mpande said he would not allow the
politicisation of food at the
settlement to continue because he was a
"government employee and not a
political activist".
Efforts to
get a comment from WPF director in Zimbabwe Kevin Farrell
were unsuccessful
while Christian Care country director Forbes Matonga
referred questions to a
Mrs Simango who could not be reached for comment.
The majority of
the people living at Hopley Farm are victims of
Operation Murambatsina. The
May 2005 operation resulted in thousands being
evicted from their properties
which were destroyed.
The operation, carried out in winter and
against a backdrop of severe
food shortages, targeted poor urban and
peri-urban areas countrywide.
The United Nations estimated that in
nearly six weeks 700 000 people
lost their homes and livelihoods.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Margaret Joubert who was recently granted a
High Court
order to return to her farm which was invaded by the police
officers in
Matabeleland North, has been forced to flee the country after
threats to her
life.
The police defied two High Court rulings
to vacate Portwe Estates in
Bubi district which they occupied earlier this
year.
In the latest case, on 16 August Justice Nicholas Ndou
ordered the
police to vacate the farm and return the property they seized
from Joubert
when they forced her off the farm at gunpoint in
July.
After the eviction, the farmer went to stay with her uncle,
Brian
Dolphin in Banket, Mashonaland West while awaiting the outcome of the
court
case.
But Dolphin told The Standard last week that
Joubert was forced to
seek refuge in South Africa because of "threats to her
life and harassment".
"She left a fortnight ago since she had
nowhere to stay after all that
she had worked for was forcibly taken by the
police," said Dolphin. "They
continued to threaten her with
arrest."
Ndou had ordered the officers to return her two vehicles,
computers
and elephant tusks seized during the evictions. They were also
ordered to
return several hunting rifles confiscated during earlier
raids.
Joubert's husband, Dave, was forced to flee to South Africa
at the
height of the land invasions after he was brutally attacked by war
veterans.
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi refused to comment on
the open
defiance of court rulings by police officers, saying: "I am busy
and can't
comment."
Zim Standard
By Our
Correspondents
AMONG African nations, Zimbabwe is one of the
most heavily affected by
tuberculosis (TB).
The deadly
combination of TB and HIV epidemics is igniting a silent
and uncontrollable
epidemic of drug-resistant TB that will negate previous
national health
gains, says a report prepared for Partners Zimbabwe .
This is an
information, dialogue and advocacy platform about HIV, Aids
and TB in
Zimbabwe.
The 2007 Global Tuberculosis Control Report from the
World Health
Organisation ranks Zimbabwe among 22 countries worldwide with
the highest TB
burden.
While little is currently known about
the extent of multi-drug
resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases, conditions prevailing
in the country point to
the high probability of a significant drug
resistance problem, says the
report.
Drug resistance arises when TB
treatment and other services do not
work as intended.
Numerous
other critical factors can hamper TB control efforts: rampant
poverty, a
crumbling health system, a lack of appropriate laboratory and
diagnostic
capacities, the movement of people including the brain drain of
health
workers, and
limited TB funding.
The lack of access to TB
information, care and drugs, especially among
poor communities, and an
extensive HIV epidemic, have further driven a
resurgence of the
disease.
For the past 20 years, Zimbabwe has fought TB fairly
successfully,
providing free access to WHO-recommended treatments. But in
the past few
years, the disease has re-emerged as a leading killer,
especially among HIV
positive people, who are often not identified
through long-established
TB tests.
An estimated two-thirds of
Zimbabweans with TB are also infected with
HIV. As a result, Zimbabwe has a
staggering six times more TB cases than it
did 20 years ago. According to
statistics, the success rate of directly
observed treatment is just
54%.
Alongside the current TB emergency, Zimbabwe is also suffering
its
worst-ever economic crisis, with an estimated 80% of the population
living
below the poverty line.
Malnutrition, poor sanitation
and overcrowding are also helping to
spread TB. TB patients often fail to
complete their treatment because they
cannot afford
the transport
costs to and from health centres. The lack of access to
health services in
remote or rural parts of the country adds to the
likelihood that large
numbers of TB infections are going undetected and
untreated. The
ongoing brain drain of qualified front-line health care workers from
Zimbabwe has also not helped.
To make matters worse, the
government-led national land reform
programme has seen many people
resettling in areas with little access to
medical care in the past seven
years, which has disrupted TB care records
and patient monitoring
efforts.
Hardship and acute need is driving many people to seek
opportunities
in neighbouring countries. Outward migration, including
informally into
other southern African nations, makes it impossible to
effectively monitor
TB incidence and prevalence.
The recent
outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) in South
Africa poses a
direct threat to the situation in Zimbabwe. South Africa is
home to an
estimated three million Zimbabweans who frequently travel back
and forth
between the two countries.
Despite this mounting humanitarian
disaster, engagement among vital
government, private sector, donor and
non-governmental (NGO) stakeholders is
inadequate.
NGOs
involved in HIV-related work are doing little or nothing to
address the TB
problem.
Zim Standard
By Vusumuzi
Sifile
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono last
week refused to
comment on the fate of his three children who had their
student visas
revoked and were subsequently deported from Australia three
weeks ago,
saying he "would never, never" discuss his children's
whereabouts.
On 17 August, the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister,
Alexander
Downer announced he had initiated steps to revoke student visas
held by
eight children of senior figures in the Zimbabwean
government.
Downer did not reveal any names and officials at the
Australian
Embassy in Harare refused identify the children by
name.
But reports said among those to be deported were Gono's three
children, twins Pride and Praise, and their brother Passion; Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri's son, Sylvester; Rural Housing and Social
Amenities Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa's son, Emmerson; Tendai Nguni - son
of Economic Planning Minister Sylvester Nguni; Kudzai Muchena, son of
Science and Technology Development Minister Olivia Muchena; Thelma Chombo,
daughter to Local Government and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo;
and Taona Karimanzira, son of Harare Metropolitan Governor David
Karimanzira.
Last week, The Standard called up Gono to
establish if his children
were now in Zimbabwe, and what he would do
following their deportation.
Among other questions, The Standard
wanted to know if Gono would move
his children to a friendly country, such
as Malaysia, or whether he would
enrol them at local
institutions.
"I would never, never tell you where my kids are.
Would you do that
yourself with your own children?" asked Gono. The governor
hinted the issue
was stressing him, when he said: "Let us not make money out
of other people's
miseries or pains".
Attempts to talk to
Chihuri failed as he was said to be attending
meetings. But a man who
identified himself as Chihuri's personal assistant
advised The Standard to
"call the Australian Authorities".
"He is in a meeting right now .
. .Why don't you call the Australian
authorities? They are the ones who will
give you all those details you want.
But if you are in that situation, would
you discuss such issues in the
press?" he asked.
Sources told
The Standard Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's child,
whose name could not
be established immediately, was among students to be
deported.
Chidyausiku said simply: "I do not talk to the press."
Kudzai
Muchena, the Minister of Science and Technology, Olivia Muchena's
son, was
reported to be on the list as well.
But in an interview yesterday,
Muchena said her son had not been
deported, as he was only studying in
Australia on a partner arrangement
between a Malaysian university -Sunway
University - where he is enrolled and
the Australian university where he is
currently studying.
Economic Planning Minister Sylvester Nguni said
he was not aware that
his son Tendai was facing deportation from
Australia.
Yesterday, Karimanzira said his son was indeed back in
the country,
but had not been deported from Australia. He returned home on
his own after
finishing his programme.
Two weeks ago,
presidential spokesperson George Charamba told The
Standard they were not
moved by the deportations, which he said were part of
an attempt by the
Australians to save face on a looming mass exodus of
Zimbabweans from that
country. He said the government would soon come up
with a scholarship
programme to send students to Malaysia, a scheme similar
to a scholarship
arrangement with South Africa's Fort Hare university,
President Robert
Mugabe's alma mater
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - A restaurant owned by a Cabinet minister was
reportedly
shut down in the recent price blitz, for not displaying an
operating
licence.
The Minister of Small and Medium
Enterprises, Sithembiso Nyoni, owns
Tuckers' Inn restaurant in the city
centre.
The Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation
reportedly
descended on the restaurant and ordered its closure "for
contravening a
number of laws".
According to reliable sources,
a livid Nyoni later stormed the Ross
Camp police station to protest at the
closure.
"Nyoni arrived at Ross Camp fuming," said a police
officer, "demanding
to see the officer Commanding Bulawayo province, Lee
Muchemwa, over the
closure.
"When she failed to get an audience
with the commissioner she started
yelling at the police officers manning the
station. She was very angry."
Although repeated efforts to obtain a
comment from Nyoni were
fruitless, her son Mengezi who runs the restaurant
confirmed it was closed
for not displaying an operating
licence.
"We had such a problem," he said, "and the issue was over
an operating
licence which was not displayed at the time the taskforce
visited the
premises."
Bulawayo police spokesperson, David
Nyathi said he was not aware of
the incident "since you say Nyoni approached
our seniors".
"But police are not selective in the application of
their duties," he
said.
Since the blitz began last month, 4 000
businesspeople and company
executives have been arrested for not complying
with the price controls.
President Robert Mugabe has said the
clampdown, often accompanied by
looting and shortages of basic commodities,
would continue until "sanity
prevails" in business.
He recently
invoked the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act
barring the public
and private sectors from linking prices of goods,
salaries, service charges
or school fees to inflation, the exchange rate,
value-added tax or import
duty for the next six months.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has
called for a two-day
stayaway next week to protest against the recent
government freeze on salary
and wage increments.
Addressing a
press conference soon after the union's special general
council meeting in
Harare yesterday, ZCTU president, Lovemore Matombo said
all workers would
stay away from work next week.
He said the Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures) Act used to
freeze salaries by President Robert Mugabe,
were illegal, unconstitutional
and violated Convention 98 of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) on
the right to organised and
collective bargaining.
"We therefore hereby resolve that,
notwithstanding, national action is
on the 19-20 September and it would be
in the form of a stayaway," he said.
Apart from the salary freeze,
the ZCTU said the government had failed
to address, among other issues, the
contents of the 13 September 2006 ZCTU
petition, which called for the
indexing of salaries to the Poverty Datum
line (PDL), currently at $8.2
million.
But over 80 percent of the country's workforce earns on
average of
about $3 million a month.
"The supplementary budget
presented by the Minister of Finance falls
far short of workers'
expectations of a tax-free threshold that is linked to
the poverty datum
line," said Matombo.
The ZCTU announced it had pulled out of the
Tripartite Negotiating
Forum (TNF) until the Presidential Powers had been
"clarified" by the
government.
If the government fails to
address the ZCTU concerns after the
stayaway, then the labour movement would
embark on massive and prolonged
demonstrations.
"The stayaway
is just a warm-up. Real action is coming. It will take
the form of protests
and demonstrations," said Matombo, who was flanked by
his secretary general,
Wellington Chibebe.
The proposed ZCTU stayaway coincides with
industrial action announced
by teachers last week.
The teachers
are demanding a salary of $15 million, $5.2 million for
transport and $3
million housing allowances.
Currently, the lowest paid teacher gets
just above $1.6 million a
month as well as transport and housing allowances
of $1 076 275 and $300 000
respectively.
Last week, Mugabe
invoked the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures)
Act to freeze all wage
and salary increments.
The law allows the president to make
legislation - lasting six
months - without going to Parliament.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
EMBATTLED Zimbabwe, reeling under a seven-year-old
economic crisis has
been rated as the country with the least economic
freedom in the world,
according to a report by an independent research
organisation.
The report, Economic Freedom of the World: 2007
Annual Report, was
prepared by the Fraser Institute.
It places
Zimbabwe at the anchor of the table in the 141 countries
used in the survey
with a rating of 2.9 out of a possible 10.
Other countries in the
bottom of the table include Myanmar (formerly
Burma) and the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwe's neighbours Botswana and South Africa
were better placed on
the ranking at 38 and 60 respectively.
At
the summit of the table is Hong Kong followed by Singapore and New
Zealand.
The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal
choice, voluntary
exchange, freedom to compete, and security of private
property.
The report comes at a time the Zimbabwe government is
tabling a bill
that would allow it to have 51% ownership in all
foreign-owned companies
operating in Zimbabwe.
Analysts say the
proposed legislation is not conducive to investor
confidence.
The annual peer-reviewed report uses 42 different measures to create
an
index ranking countries around the world, based on policies that
encourage
economic freedom.
Research shows that individuals living in
countries with high levels
of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of
prosperity, greater individual
freedoms, and longer life spans.
"These measures are part of a fundamental base needed to build a free
and
prosperous nation. A quick glance at the names of countries scoring
lowest
on the index quickly shows that without protection of property rights
and
judicial independence, there is little individual freedom and little in
the
way of prosperity," said Fred McMahon, The Fraser Institute's Director
of
Trade and Globalisation Studies.
Commenting on the report, James
Gwartney, lead author said "weakness
in the rule of law and property rights
is particularly pronounced in
sub-Saharan Africa, in many parts of the
Middle East, and for several
nations that were part of the former Soviet
bloc although some of these
nations have shown improvement".
He
said: "Many Latin American and Southeast Asian nations also score
poorly for
rule of law and property rights. The nations that rank poorly in
this
category also tend to score poorly in the trade and regulation
categories,
even though several have reasonably-sized governments and sound
money."
The annual report is published in conjunction with the
Economic
Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational
institutes
in over 70 nations.
Economic experts say the
situation in Zimbabwe vindicates the rating.
"We (Zimbabwe) deserve
to be at the bottom of the list," said John
Robertson, an independent
economic analyst, "as there is an increasing level
of attack on property
rights".
Robertson said: "After the acquisition of agricultural
land, the
government is now demanding 51% shares in foreign companies which
is another
attack on property rights."
Robertson said the
country needed to restore property rights to
entertain any chances of
occupying a better place on the ranking.
"Unfortunately none of the
government policies seem to be in that
direction," he said.
Zim Standard
by
Jennifer Dube
THE operations of the National Incomes and
Pricing Commission (NIPC)
are unlikely to yield any positive results as it
remains susceptible to
government influence, an analyst said last
week.
Commenting on the 2007 supplementary budget, Zimbabwe
National Chamber
of Commerce immediate past president and business analyst
Luxon Zembe, has
expressed pessimism over the effectiveness of the
NIPC.
Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi announced in his budget
after the
July price blitz, it was time to return to normalcy through the
"operationalisation" of the NIPC.
"It will still be ineffective
because it will only be used as a
control regime, instead of assuming the
duties of a technical professional
body," said Zembe.
"They are
still going to control the commission and that is very
unfortunate as it
will not do us any good."
Mumbengegwi accused the business
community of trying to advance
"regime change" through incessantly
increasing prices in the first half of
the year.
He said it was
ironic that the price hikes were coming at the back of
the signing of three
protocols under the social contract.
These obliged the three social
partners - business, labour and
government - to work together towards
stabilising the economy.
This, he said, necessitated government's
intervention in price
monitoring and stabilisation.
Zembe said
Mumbengegwi's remarks were an insult to business who he
said have always
been committed to the successful implementation of the
social
contract.
"Those were political statements and it is very
unfortunate for a
minister to unnecessarily bring in political statements
the way he did.
"I heard him talk of a real social contract and I
do not know where he
got that from as we, as business, have always thought
we were all working
towards one social contract. Business have sacrificed so
much for the social
contract. We have even made very useful submissions
under the social
contract, only to have government dismiss them", he
said.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Callisto
Jokonya would
not comment on the issue or the budget as a whole on Friday
morning.
"We are still studying the statement and we will issue our
comment
later in the day," he said.
Zembe said the whole budget
was largely a disappointment, save for
"just two positives" - the increase
in threshold for PAYE from $1,5million
to $4 million and the final
devaluation of the currency.
But he said it would have been more
beneficial if the tax threshold
were to be revised to at least
$8million
He noted that despite the devaluation, there was still a
wide gap
between the official and the parallel market exchange
rates.
He said through increasing taxes, the minister increased the
cost of
doing business. He criticised Mumbengegwi for limiting his focus on
taxing
people while failing to provide measures to stimulate the
economy.
"It is not an economic budget. It is a consumption budget,
an
inflationary budget. It fails to adequately address such issues as
infrastructure and balance of payment support.
"There are no
measures to arrest inflation or to stimulate a
competitive investment
environment with both local and foreign investors."
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
FINANCE minister Samuel Mumbengegwi could have attempted
to bring
smiles to workers' faces by reviewing the tax free threshold but
analysts
warned such measures were too little to appease the overtaxed
labour force.
Announcing the $37.1 trillion Supplementary Budget,
Mumbengegwi
adjusted the tax free threshold to $4 million per month
effective 1
September 2007.
He also widened the tax bands to
end at $70 million, above which
income is taxed 47.5%.
"The
consequence of this measure is that a significant number of
taxpayers will
be released from the tax net and disposable income will be
enhanced, thereby
availing more resources to meet taxpayers' needs," he
said.
But
the labour movement said the review was "too little and a
violation of the
Incomes and Prices Stabilisation protocol" signed by the
Social Contract
partners - government, labour and employers - at the
beginning of the
year.
"The government has violated the protocol and it is
negotiating in bad
faith," said Wellington Chibebe, Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions secretary
general.
He said the protocol stipulated
that the tax issue be determined by
figures based on the poverty datumn
line. The protocol says wages and
salaries should be linked to the Consumer
Price Index on a monthly basis, he
said, adding workers were overtaxed, as
it was.
"If you add NSSA, Aids Levy, Valued Added Tax, you will
realise that
workers are taxed for 70%," he said.
Economic
analysts warned last week that such a review, though giving
relief to
workers, was inflationary.
"If people have more to spend but
nothing to buy," said John
Robertson, an independent economic analyst, "it
will end up in the black
market."
Mumbengegwi devalued the
Zimbabwean dollar to $30 000 to the US dollar
in a futile attempt to lure
foreign currency onto the formal market.
Analysts were unanimous
that the devaluation was nowhere near the
black market rates which peaked
$250 000 to the US$ on Friday.
"Although it is a good move, it
falls short of the parallel market
rates," said economic consultant Dr
Daniel Ndlela.
"No-one can devalue to the market rate without a
back-up of foreign
currency," he said.
Ndlela said the removal
of multiple exchange rates was a step in the
right direction as it removed
"all sorts of very controversial and corrupt
rates which were a rent-seeking
platform by the privileged few".
Mumbengegwi, retrieved from the
political recycled bin last year
before being elevated to the exchequer in a
mini-reshuffle, was singing from
his principal's song sheet, analysts said,
citing his reference to "regime
change".
He conveniently
ignored the problems facing industries: the foreign
currency and raw
material shortages that have reduced capacity utilisation
in the
manufacturing industry.
In its report for 2006, the Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries said
capacity had declined to 33.8
percent.
Mumbengegwi, jittery through- out his presentation, blamed
sanctions
for the country's economic woes.
Robertson disagrees:
"I believe the government is desperate to find
someone to blame for their
problems."
He said Zimbabwe had failed to access lines of credit
due to "a long
history for failing to pay what we have already
borrowed".
Mumbengegwi said line ministries, departments and
grant-aided
institutions had besieged the treasury for more funds in order
to meet their
operational expenses.
"These additional
expenditure submissions now stand at over $255
trillion. This level of
Supplementary Budget bids is beyond our domestic
financing capacity," he
said.
Mumbengegwi said the $37.1 trillion Supplementary Budget
"will
maintain operations and service delivery for the remaining four months
of
the year and allow for continuation of development projects.
Tapiwa Mashakada, MDC shadow Finance Minister dismissed Mumbengegwi's
Supplementary Budget as "hypocrisy and paradoxical at its
best".
He said it was ironical that while the government was
allowing a
freeze on all salaries, it was coming to Parliament for
additional funding.
Mashakada said the Minister of Justice had to
speed up the Public
Finance Management bill to rein in
spending.
For the ordinary workers the tax relief was something of
a pyrrhic
victory as the government announced a 20% increase in the price of
all goods
and services.
"We will not enjoy the benefits because
the prices of goods will go
up," said Joachim Munda, a shop floor attendant
in the central business
district.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO - The Minister of Industry and International
Trade says the
government has no apology to make for the recent
controversial price blitz
which has left many businesses teetering on the
brink of collapse.
Recently, the government was forced to make a
humiliating policy
U-turn after realising the disastrous consequences of its
measures on the
economy.
Manufacturers and retailers were
ordered to roll back by 50% prices to
what they were before 18
June.
The edict, opposed even within the hierarchy of the ruling
party, has
spawned such severe shortages of basic commodities that schools,
which
opened on Tuesday, are likely to face difficulties sourcing basics for
use.
A number of companies face closure after recording huge losses
during
the clampdown, characterised by massive looting, some of it by police
officers assigned to monitor compliance with the measures.
This
has fuelled mounting calls for the minister, Obert Mpofu, to
resign. He is
the chairman of the cabinet taskforce on Price Monitoring and
Stabilisation.
But Mpofu said yesterday the government only
intervened after being
prodded by consumers who were furious with the
lightning rate of price
increases.
"A few months back people
were crying that government was not doing
anything," he said. "Something is
now being done and you are saying the
government is being heavy-handed. What
do you want us to do?"
Mpofu said the government would not ease up
on the price controls, as
they wished to deal a "crushing blow" to
unscrupulous businesspeople who
were hurting ordinary people through
"unjustifiable" price hikes.
He said recent government concessions
allowing businesses to increase
prices did not represent a policy
shift.
"We never said we are freezing prices," Mpofu said. "We said
we will
be looking at the cost build-ups and permit increases if they were
necessary
and that is what is happening," he said.
The price
cuts have reportedly eroded government revenue, reducing
income from Value
Added Tax (VAT) by 90%.
The government said it was forced to
control prices because
businesspeople were working with its Western enemies
to effect regime
change, a charge denied by the captains of industry and
commerce.
President Robert Mugabe's inner circle, including
security chiefs,
reportedly pushed for the exercise, stiffly resisted by a
number of senior
politicians and other officials, including Vice-President
Joice Mujuru and
Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono.
Zim Standard
Comment
RECENT decisions by the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) are
clearly at
odds with the type of visionary leadership expected from the
oldest
institution of higher learning in the country.
Last week
the UZ announced it would not be admitting students into
several halls of
residence for the new academic year that opens tomorrow (10
September
2007).
The university said it was following recommendations from
the City of
Harare Department of Health Services that the accommodation
facilities were
unsuitable for habitation as they lacked proper ablution and
catering
services.
Thousands of students find themselves in a
quandary, through no fault
of their own. Most of them come from areas
outside Harare and will be
hard-pressed to find alternative accommodation at
such short notice. There
is an acute shortage of accommodation in Harare and
most rentals would be
unaffordable for most students whose families are
struggling to put them
through university.
Harare's Department
of Health Services declared the buildings
uninhabitable and closed all halls
of residence with effect from 10 August.
Some of the residences were damaged
following student unrest which also
resulted in extensive damage to motor
vehicles.
But the administration knew when the first semester would
start and
had enough time to undertake repairs and renovations ahead of the
arrival of
students on the campus. All that was needed was leadership and
critical
assessment of available options in the interests of the students.
Instead,
the administration chose to do nothing.
The decision
is inimical to the welfare of students from the affected
halls of residence.
The UZ is effectively punishing them, even though they
have not been found
guilty of anything.
In early July police evicted 4 000 students
from the university after
violent clashes. The students were given 30
minutes to leave their halls of
residence.
The protests
occurred after the university charged students extra fees
because the term
was extended following a strike by lecturers. Students
argued that it was
not their fault that lecturers had gone on strike and
that they should not
be penalised for something that was not of their
making.
One
observation is that each year the UZ has a disproportionate claim
to student
disturbances than any other university in the country. This is
not because
there is more militancy at the Mount Pleasant campus. Rather, it
is a
reflection of an administration that is in danger of being out of touch
with
students' genuine concerns.
The summary eviction of students - the
majority of them without
relatives in the capital - raised doubts whether
the administration cared
about the welfare of students.
There
are also questions around what the administration really cares
about when
apparently its most singular feat appears to be presiding over
the
spectacular decline of the infrastructure and human resource base at the
institution.
Then there is the UZ's decision to disregard a
High Court Order. This
move raised alarm over whether the UZ, like the
political establishment, had
decided to situate itself above the law, and
the effect of such conduct by
the country's erstwhile most eminent
institution of higher learning.
On 13 July Justice Hlatshwayo of
the High Court granted an order
directing that the University of Zimbabwe
must admit the students it had
wrongfully and unlawfully evicted back into
halls of residence, namely New
Complex 2, 3, and 4, Swinton and Car
Saunders, starting on 16 July.
Apart from not wishing to comply
with Justice Hlatshwayo's order, the
UZ is trying to hide behind the
directive from the City's Health Services
Department. When it offered the
students places it undertook to accommodate
them. The UZ must meet its side
of the bargain.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Bill
Saidi
IN the evening, when you and your wife are walking back to
your hotel,
after tucking into expensive but delicious pizza, it is
downright
humiliating to be asked to lie down flat on your belly in the
street.
Depending on your threshold of tolerance, you might decide
there and
then to leave the country of your birth for the wild blue
yonder.
Some people might call this over-reaction; others might, at
a pinch,
propose that this display of cruelty to a man's dignity was the
last straw.
Which is what it was for the man who wrote this to me
last week:
"Events over the past three months left me with no
choice. At the end
of June, I left my position as a branch manager of an
insurance company. I
just wanted to concentrate on my business(es); three
grocery shops, a
seven-tonne lorry, a minibus and a pick-up.
"As much as my branch manager position gave me a lot of prestige, it
no
longer made sense for me to continue earning a salary that could barely
fill
(up) a tank of petrol. So I left it all - a good Toyota twin cab truck,
a
three-bedroomed house, with a swimming pool in a posh suburb and all the
prestige, to concentrate on my indigenous businesses."
This
Zimbabwean is writing from Pretoria: "I am starting work tomorrow
exactly 12
days after having collected my quota work permit at the SA
embassy in
Harare. I had to leave Zimbabwe in a huff, maybe I had no choice
or maybe I
had a choice but I am just a coward."
He was responding to my piece
last week, Up Close and Personal. . .in
Agony
For him, the
clincher was an encounter with armed men guarding
Munhumutapa building in
Harare. In his own words:
"On our way back to the hotel, I decided
that as it was past seven, it
was no longer safe for us to use Kwame Nkrumah
Avenue and I suggested we use
Samora Machel Avenue and this should be safe
for us since there would be
police guarding Munhumutapa building. As we
approached Munhumutapa building
the metal button of my jacket accidentally
hit against the metal section of
the telephone substation next to the
pavement. At that time the armed police
asked my wife. Ambuya, chiyi
chamakanda pahwindo? (Lady, what did you just
throw at the
window?)"
Here, I am inclined to say "The rest is history". But I
suspect some
people will not be content until I give them what others call
the "full
Monty" or the whole enchilada. But what followed was almost
routine, vintage
Zimbabwean.
After a few exchanges with the
soldiers, he ended up lying flat on his
belly, in front of his
understandably flabbergasted wife. It was his wife's
comment later to which
he thought I ought to pay special attention:
"Shamwari, iwe ne
optimism yako! Let's leave the country. You see,
that policeman could just
have killed you . . . just like that (snap of the
fingers? and got away with
it."
Evidently, it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. The couple
had
been contemplating it for some time, as other couples - single men and
women, confirmed old bachelors and middle-aged spinsters and families - have
done since 2000.
Nobody with even a cursory understanding of
Zanu PF politics, since
Gukurahundi, could imagine them reacting to this
human haemorrhage with
anything other than "Who cares?" or "So
what?"
Life in exile has never been a bed of roses, not in the
Americas, in
Europe, Asia, Africa or Australasia.
Not everyone
who has fled the economic and political squalor of
countries such as
Zimbabwe has eventually finished up as a human Zero. The
people who escaped
Nazi terror included the German-born Werner von Broun and
Albert Einstein.
They became living legends in their adopted country, the
USA.
This should not encourage young Zimbabwean nerds or eggheads to flee
to
South Africa in the hope that, while there, they might discover a Nobel
Prize-winning chemical that, when secreted into the womb, will ensure no
African child is born with the genes that could turn them into maniacal
dictators - although this might solve a lot of problems for the
continent.
Zimbabweans have eventually done well in many fields of
human
endeavour, once they have braved the scourge of xenophobia that
afflicts
every country in the world.
The South Africans are
divided over what status to accord Zimbabweans
escaping what has been called
The Mugabe Menace: bona fide refugees or
economic asylum
seekers?
So far, Zimbabweans do not enjoy the status of refugees:
their country
is not in a state of civil war - well, not physically, anyway
- nor has
their president declared publicly everyone who opposes his regime
must be
fed to the lions in Gonarezhou.
What he has done, not
in so many words, is to indicate, chillingly,
graphically, that opposing
Zanu PF too openly can be very costly - at least,
to your
health.
You will be starved of food, either with empty supermarket
shelves or
the denial of food aid from donors.
Personally, my
sympathies lie with both sides - the cowards and the
people of courage who
decide to stick it out to the end.
Incidentally, I spent 17 years
in another country, before 1980. I have
mixed feelings about my period
there. Mostly, I wonder how I survived that
long.
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
sundayview by
Judith Todd
WHEN we left the hospital and I took
Gift home with me, she was
depressed and quiet.
"I keep
thinking of the future," she said. "There I am sitting having
a drink or
eating, or watching television with my husband and my children -
and
Maeresera."
She went to see Minister Mnangagwa the next day, and
complained.
Mnangagwa said he didn't know about it, and called in some white
CIO officer
and said the harassment must stop. He told Gift that Lookout's
freedom was
unconditional. Maeresera did not appear, as he had promised the
next day.
Gift was wonderful: so calm, brave and clever.
Lookout was thinking everything through carefully and, after
consulting with
his lawyer Bryant Elliot, during which time he sent Gift and
me out of the
room, he showed us, in writing, what must be said if the press
or anyone
else asked questions. The statement was about his future. He said
he was
looking forward to being with his family; to discovering again what
life was
like in Zimbabwe; that he would be continuing his studies; and
planning how
he would be able to provide for his family. He was also
thinking about a
holiday.
Bryant was as quiet, steady and dependable as ever. After
he left, we
were saying how blessed we were to have him as our lawyer. I was
startled
when Lookout said: "Bryant is such a brilliant man. It's a pity
about his
poor English." Then I laughed. "No, Lookout," I said. "That's not
poor
English. That's a Scots accent."
It was marvellous that at
least Lookout knew he wouldn't be going back
to Chikurubi. Prisons came and
dumped his belongings in the ward in a bag
and two cardboard boxes. He
wanted everything fumigated.
Lookout gave me copies of two letters
to look after for him. They were
both addressed to the Prime Minister, The
Hon RG Mugabe, in his capacity as
Minister of Defence. The first was dated 1
July 1980, less than three months
after Zimbabwe's
independence.
RE: Allegations against Zipra
Whilst
we appreciate the difficult task our Minister of Defence faces
in moulding a
Zimbabwe National Army, we would like to draw the Minister's
attention to
the following.
We are aware that a few former Zipra elements have
refused to go to
Assembly Points. These few elements have refused to take
orders from any
quarter including from the Minister of Home Affairs (Dr
Joshua Nkomo). In
compliance with the MOD's directive and appreciable spirit
of reconciliation
we at one stage managed to apprehend several of these
elements and put them
in Khami Prison.
We are still, with full
vigour and determination, forging ahead with
this exercise with an objective
to obtain peace and tranquility in our
beloved land, and indeed create
conditions for civil authority to function
without let or
hindrance.
In spite of this determination, it has come to our
attention that
Zipra has not been and is not being treated fairly and
equally with other
forces. The following examples serve to illustrate our
case:
1.The appointments by merit to the Zimbabwe 21st Battalion
was
rejected by other comrades because the majority of men recommended to be
officers happened to be former Zipra cadres.
2. Zipra has
revealed both to the government and the Joint High
Command (JHC)
Headquarters the number of cadres still undergoing training
abroad but our
comrades in Zanla have not. We further understand that Zanla
has sent men to
train in Libya, Romania and Yugoslavia without the knowledge
of the JHC. The
intentions behind such a move puzzle us.
3. Incitement of the
population against Zipra and its Command by some
political leaders and
slogans such as "Pasi ne Zipra" cannot make our
determined effort to build
one army any easier.
4. Radio broadcasts give an impression that
our full and well known
participation in the struggle to liberate our
country is neither appreciated
nor recognised. For example only Zanla and
Chimurenga songs are played - a
development which affects cohesion in the
army and is indeed out of step
with the spirit of National
Reconciliation.
5.The presence of dissidents at Sanyati, Zvimba and
Hurungwe has been
blown out of proportion as Zipra acts of organised
rebellion while similar
acts by Zanla elements are not talked of. We hereby
present a few cases of
unmentioned Zanla dissidents.
a) On
22/06/80 Zanla dissidents at Marenga Business Centre fired two
bullets
destroying the fuel tank of the vehicle driven by Sgt Mjr Gava of
Zvimba
Police Post in Sinoia.
b) In Chipinga Police are being assaulted by
organised groups or gangs
of Zanla, making police patrol duties impossible.
This includes an assault
on Inspector De Lange at APX.
c) Zanla
shootings at Kachuta TTL on 17/06/80 (ii) shooting at
Murambinda on 18/06/80
(iii) stealing of two (2) watches and $40.00 from a
bus driver in Maranke
TTL. Also threats to farmers in Maranke and Fort
Victoria area on
22/06/80.
d) Zanla has been harassing and in some cases burning
villages of the
civilian population around Golf and Hotel Assembly camps for
their refusal
to provide them with food when they visit their villages. As a
result people
in this area are demanding the removal of these camps from
this area. The
above few examples involving Zanla units exclude other wide
ranging cases of
murder, shooting, kidnapping, abductions and kangaroo
courts by Zanla or
Zanu PF cadres which are never mentioned.
6.We, in the Zipra Command, wish to remind the MOD of the fatal
incidences
which led to near disaster in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique
during Zipa.
(Zipa, the Zimbabwe People's Army, was launched in 1975/6, an
attempt to
unite divided liberation forces which ended in killings and
disaster.)
Integration of forces can never succeed if it means the
absorption of one
force by another; hence the shortcomings which befell Zipa
should be avoided
at all costs.
7.The Zipra Command calls for non-interference by
certain politicians
in military affairs. Military affairs are the
responsibility of the JHC and
the Prime Minister in his capacity as
MOD.
8.The Zipra Command and the highly disciplined Zipra cadres in
the
Assembly Points regard peace and co-operation with the government as our
first priority and an indispensable national duty - we sacrificed our lives
for.
9. At present we have specialists in the country whose
weapons still
remain in Zambia. We understand the government cannot permit
entry of these
weapons. We strongly feel that these weapons can be of better
use in the
defence of the state rather than left to wear and tear in
Zambia.
10.We have submitted to JHC HQs figures of Zipra personnel
training
outside the country but to our surprise those who have completed
such
training find it very difficult to return home. They have been made to
wait
under frustrating conditions in the country of their training. At the
moment
we have 1 600 men in Angola who passed out two months ago and are
still
waiting for authorisation to enter the country.
11.On the
other hand Zanla cadres have no problems returning into the
country after
training, for example the 2 500 recent returnees from
Mozambique.
Conclusion: In the light of what we say above, we
hereby recommend the
following: a) The MID to inform the nation that the
army is his sole
responsibility and that any reprimands or praises are done
by him and the
JHC. b) That politicians must leave military matters to
military men, if the
process of integration is to move with the desired
speed. c) The MOD to
adopt a parental attitude to the army and regard the
three former armies as
three children of one family, hence equal
status.
D Dabengwa (Zipra Commander)
L Masuku
(Zipra Commander)
nExcerpt from Judith Todd's latest book,
Through the Darkness; A Life
in Zimbabwe, available from www.zebrapress.co.za.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by
Alex Magaisa
THROUGHOUT the history of time,
living things have had to observe an
immutable law of nature, which requires
them to adapt to the changing
environment in order to ensure the survival of
the species. Likewise,
political organisations must be adaptable to changing
national, regional and
international political circumstances. Adaptation is
not failure and does
not signal acquiescence - rather, it demonstrates the
ability and
willingness to thrive under ever-changing
conditions.
Having carefully observed the behaviour and attitude of
African
leaders to the situation in Zimbabwe, I am inclined to believe that
the
Zimbabwean opposition movement, inclusive of the MDC and its civil
society
counterparts, has very limited choices but to be adaptive to the
circumstances of African politics. This applies as much to its strategies as
to its public associations.
Whilst there is a common
appreciation of the desperate situation in
Zimbabwe, it is clear that there
is divided opinion between Africa and the
West (both loosely defined)
regarding the approach to tackle the problem.
The Zimbabwe government has
found comfort on the shoulders of its African
counterparts, particularly
SADC (Southern African Development Community)
countries. On the other hand,
the opposition movement has depended on both
material and moral support from
the West. The critical issue, however, is
that for both moral and practical
reasons, it is Africa and not the West,
which is better positioned to
facilitate changes in Zimbabwe.
The moral restraints that prevent
the West from taking active
interventionist measures arise from the bitter
historical circumstances of
colonialism. The practical restraints arise from
both the contestable
legalities of intervention and more significantly, the
recent difficult
experiences of interventionist tactics in countries like
Iraq and
Afghanistan. The reluctance to intervene in Darfur epitomises the
practical
restraints. So, the practical reality is that outside material
support for
the opposition, vocal criticism of the government, the targeted
sanctions
regime and similar measures, there is not much that the West is
able to do.
The West itself has acknowledged this by pointing to South
Africa, alongside
other African countries, as the key external players to
influence events in
Zimbabwe.
The political reality, therefore,
is that, notwithstanding
protestations regarding apparent support of the
African leaders to the
Zimbabwe government, the opposition's greatest task
must be to do more to
court, rather than alienate Africa. If we assume, for
a moment, that the
African leaders were supportive of the opposition, it is
arguable that it
would have had a positive effect on its fortunes.
Conversely, that they have
shown more sympathy with the government has meant
great difficulties for the
opposition movement. The response, however, is
not for the opposition to
adopt a strong-headed stance and make disparaging
remarks about the very
people whose assistance it seeks. The critical
questions for the opposition
ought to centre on why President Robert Mugabe
and Zanu PF have been so
successful in winning the support of fellow African
leaders.
Arguably, Mugabe has successfully managed to mould the
opinion of
African leaders because he speaks the language of Africa; a
language that is
grounded in the historical circumstances of the continent
and its people
via-a-vis the West. His domestic policies may not show it,
but he is the
master of the language of the Third World and the imbalance in
the global
political and economic order. All this might make little sense to
suffering
Zimbabweans on the ground, but these are, nonetheless, important
political
questions with which African leaders encounter on a regular basis
and,
therefore, shape their approach towards politics in Zimbabwe. In this
regard, an important lesson for the opposition is that politics is not
necessarily rational or logical. Often matters are decided on the basis of
considerations that do not always make sense to those that seek to
rationalise.
In order for the opposition to thrive, the
opposition needs to make
itself amiable to the African leadership, which,
under the circumstances is,
likely to have greater leverage over the
Zimbabwe government. In order to do
so, the opposition must, of necessity,
understand and adapt to the nature
and circumstances of African
politics.
There are tactics and strategies that may have worked in
countries
like Ukraine but events have shown that they do not necessarily
work in our
circumstances. The opposition ought to properly manage its
alliances and
demonstrate a better understanding of the hurly-burly of
international
politics. Cultivating a workable relationship with the African
leadership is
essential, whilst retaining its Western links, albeit, in a
carefully
managed fashion.
Regular trips to Western capitals
might make economic sense, and
public statements could provide international
headlines that keep the
opposition in the public eye, but at the end of the
day it is important to
assess the practical efficacy of those strategies.
What difference do they
make for the people at home? Or do they exacerbate
the unhelpful
antagonisms? To what extent do they impact on the perceptions
of the African
leaders whose assistance is required for dealing with
problems at home?
These are difficult but inescapable questions which the
politicians must
deal with in a sober and level-headed manner.
The critical challenge for the opposition in this quest is to debunk
the
image that the opposition is no more than an instrument of the West.
African
leaders have their grievances against the West, including the
displeasure at
having issues being dictated to them, and, once in a while
there emerges a
convenient agent they use to express them. In this case,
President Mugabe
has become the willing spokesperson and champion of the
African cause. That
the opposition has effectively been labelled an imperial
agent, without
offering much resistance, has been damaging. It does not
matter if this
labelling lacks merit. It builds perceptions, which stick and
influence the
Africa's views and attitudes.
Notwithstanding the abundance of
domestic support, the opposition's
fortunes lie in careful management of its
relationship with Africa. Those
massive votes will count for nothing unless
Africa exerts its influence in a
positive way. But Africa is unlikely to do
so unless it trusts the
opposition movement and the opposition can earn this
trust by developing a
language that echoes Africa's understanding of the
situation. It might be
said that this is tantamount to blaming the
opposition.
No. It is simply a call for adaptability if the
opposition is to make
headway in its relationship with Africa. The
opposition must demonstrate a
better understanding of the global political
and economic issues that Mugabe
eloquently articulates on behalf of Africa
and that they are better able to
speak that language. At times there is a
worrying naivety and recklessness
in respect of statements and conduct,
which seem to demonstrate a near-fatal
failure to understand the nature and
dynamics of global politics, which
partly account for Africa's position in
relation to the Zimbabwe government.
The Zimbabwe government
understood long back that the key external
players are their African
counterparts and that, politically, the West will
always be the convenient
scapegoat. African leaders understand this
language. The opposition movement
thrived with the material support from the
West, which was critical to
building the foundations. It has become clear,
however, that the focus for
solutions is now firmly on Africa.
The West itself recognises this
and therefore continues to ask South
Africa and its counterparts to do
something. The opposition must therefore
adapt to the conditions, to
recognise that it needs to cultivate and manage
its relationship with
Africa. It does not entail that the opposition must
renounce and castigate
the West, as the government appears to have done -
rather it simply means
that it must demonstrate that it is capable of and
comfortable when using
Africa's convenient language.
After all, in their private domains,
the African leaders are quite at
home with the West. But they know how to
play the politics in ways that are
convenient to their interests. It might
appear an insurmountable task; it
might seem impossible, but there is hardly
any choice here. Should they fail
to adapt, the opposition will increasingly
find it very hard to survive in
the murky waters of African
politics.
Dr Magaisa can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk