Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 08 2006 @ 12:05 AM
GMT
Contributed by: Ontibile
Last night during
the eight O'clock news on Dead BC (ZBC), Gift
Chimanikire sang so well from
the ZANU-PF hymn book as he took turns with
Reuben Barwe and other ZANU PF
party political commentators to attack Mr.
Morgan Tsvangirai. In his
virulent attack of the MDC leader, his immunity to
the Public Order and
Security Act, similar to that enjoyed by ZANU PF
members was
visible.
Everyone knows that when ZANU PF Broadcasting
Holdings Newsnet
conducts surveys, it seeks opinions of those with minds
like Chinotimba,
welcome Gift to the bandwagon.
Honourable Chimanikire, does not seem to remember the days he
was still
identified with Mr. Tsvangirai and Part IV section 24 - 31 of the
Public
Order Security Act (POSA) entitled "Public Gatherings" was hostile to
MDC
meetings. The pro-senate MDC has been enjoying the exemption from the
Act.
MDC is still existing under these same conditions that is why Mr.
Tsvangirai
and his anti-senate anti ZANU PF MDC were not given an
opportunity to
respond to all the smearing on the programme.
The MDC that is
not a branch within ZANU PF went to Zambia
because in Zimbabwe they would
have been required to notify the partisan
police four days ahead so that
they have time to relay MDC plans to ZANU PF
as required in POSA Part IV
Section 24. The police would then restrict or
prohibit the meeting entirely
(Section 25-26) as they would see that the
meeting is not in the interest of
ZANU PF hence not in the interest of the
"people"
Dr
Jokonya, Minister of Information and Publicity in the office
of the
President, George Charamba, Presidential spokesperson and Nathan
Shamuyarira
ZANU PF spokesperson did not even comment. They employed
Chimanikire as a
pawn so that it seems like an MDC affair. In his daft
witty, Chimanikire
chuckled sheepishly when attacking Mr. Tsvangirai. Maybe
he thought he was
sounding like Professor Jonathan Moyo and who knows in the
cabinet reshuffle
he might land a post as he is feasting with the devil.
Like
has been with the rest, his expiry date in ZANU PF will
come.
Tsvangirai does not have time to dignify the
nonsense paraded by
ZANU PF and its MDC branch. Over the weekend, Tsvangirai
had a star rally in
Epworth. The man is with the people while you are
seeking limelight on Dead
BC.
Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 08
2006 @ 12:05 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Acting President Joice Mujuru has signed into law, a despotic
General Laws
Amendment Act (GLAA), which recommends a jail term for any
journalist who
insults the president or communicates falsehoods. The
provisions are part of
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). The GLAA
amends 22 sections of
POSA, as well as several other acts. Mujuru signed the
law on February 3
according to a notice published in the latest "Government
Gazette."
The amendments increase the fine imposed under
Section 16 of
POSA from Z$20,000 to Z$2 million. The penalty may also entail
one year
imprisonment, either as an alternative or supplement to the fine.
Section 16
deals with the "publication of false statements that will
engender feelings
of hostility towards - or cause hatred, contempt or
ridicule of - the
President or Acting President." Those convicted under
Section 15 of POSA,
which deals with "the publishing or communication of
statements prejudicial
to the state", will now be liable to a fine of Z$10
million - up from
Z$100,000 - or five years' imprisonment, or
both.
Section 15 also covers the "publishing of statements
likely to
promote or incite public disorder or adversely affect the security
or
economic interests of Zimbabwe." Under the new amendments, "causing
disaffection among the police force or defense forces" will be punishable by
a fine not exceeding Z$4 million while "unauthorized public gatherings for
the purposes of rioting or causing disorder" will be punishable by a fine of
up to Z$10 million. The proposed amendments will not alter the prison terms
previously stipulated by POSA.
Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 08 2006 @ 12:04 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
In a dramatic climbdown, the ruling
Zanu PF party now says it is
eager to resume dialogue and cooperation with
the European Union (EU) after
a four year stand off that has seen the
country collapse from being a a
breadbasket to a basket
case.
In an interview with Zanu PF mouthpiece the Voice, the
ruling
party's secretary for external affairs Kumbirai Kangai admitted that
meaningful trade and cooperation was impossible under the EU sanctions
regime, adding the country was now ready to reengage the EU in negotiations
to break the current impasse. "Although they have renewed the sanctions we
do not close the door," Kangai said. "Dialogue whenever possible will
continue until they have lifted the sanctions.
They are
given the wrong information, they renewed the sanctions
but we will continue
to act in a manner we have done since the sanctions
were imposed on us. We
do not have problems with the EU they are the ones
with a problem with us.
So to say we have closed the door will not be the
best move." The EU
extended sanctions on Zimbabwe, including an arms embargo
and visa ban, by a
year last Tuesday.
The EU imposed a travel ban on President
Robert Mugabe and
around 100 officials from his authoritarian regime for
alleged vote-rigging
in a disputed 2002 presidential poll. An arms embargo
has also been in place
since that February on any weapons or equipment that
could be used by the
military or for internal repression. The sanctions are
now scheduled to run
until February 20, 2007.
Zim Daily
Wednesday,
February 08 2006 @ 12:03 AM GMT
Contributed by:
correspondent
An outbreak of cholera has killed more than 7
people, including
2 children, in the Midlands province, Zimdaily heard
yesterday. Health
minister David Parirenyatwa confirmed the deaths saying
that since the
outbreak began last month, at least 6 people had died of
cholera in Gokwe,
where the epidemic killed more than 2 out of just over 6
children rushed to
the Pediatric Hospital. Another death has been recorded
in the Kwekwe Rural
District.
"The epidemic has been
worse than we expected. One wouldn't be
wrong to be say that no fewer than 6
people have lost their lives," he said.
Regional officials said the dreadful
disease spread to Midlands' in earlier
January and claimed over 6 lives. The
plague first broke out in Mashonaland
where eight water wells identified as
the source of the disease have been
sealed off. According to reports from
field officials, more than 30 people
have been treated and sent home in the
province.
Parirenyatwa announced that in an effort to contain
the
situation, the government has dispatched medical team and health workers
on
house- to-house counseling in addition to medicine and drugs sent to
every
nook and cranny of the province. When asked about the efforts by the
government to bring an immediate and permanent end to this situation,
Parirenyatwa noted that there has been an hourly radio announcement telling
people about the preventive measures which include purifying water and any
edible item before consumption.
The government has also
written to the World Health Organization
and the United Nations Children's
Fund to ask for urgent help. Meanwhile,
Midlands health authorities are
making efforts to check the spread of the
disease, assuring that it is
preparing to manage situation adequately.
Parirenyatwa disclosed that drugs
have been distributed to hospitals in the
province in anticipation of any
outbreak.
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that
causes severe
vomiting and diarrhoea, leading to acute dehydration. It can
be fatal if not
treated properly. Health officials attributed the spread of
the cholera
scourge to poor sanitation and overcrowding in poorly ventilated
buildings.
Earlier last month, a cholera outbreak has killed at least 14
people in
Mashonaland and four in Harare.
African News Dimension
Wednesday, 8 February 2006,
By ANDnetwork
Journalist
Nine police officers leave Zimbabwe for a United Nations
(UN)
peacekeeping mission in Liberia before the end of this week while nine
others have returned from a similar mission in that country.
Two other police officers have also returned from a UN peacekeeping
mission
in Sierra Leone.
Briefing the nine officers who are going on the
tour of duty, Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri urged them to continue
defending Zimbabwe's
integrity and sovereignty by remaining disciplined and
to avoid any acts
that would tarnish the image of the force.
"The organisation will not accept any misguided behaviour. The
organisation
will take action because we have no room for any deliberate
misguided acts,"
said Cde Chihuri.
"We will not accept anything that will tarnish
the image of the
organisation and we will not allow any untoward behaviour
from any of our
officers in a foreign land."
Cde Chihuri said
the officers should exhibit the highest degree of
professionalism.
"As you leave for Liberia, I harbour no doubt
that you are geared to
uphold this legacy set before you. Keep the
Zimbabwean flag flying high,
mindful of those who needlessly seek to soil
the good name of the ZRP and
Zimbabwe in general by portraying us as a
country fraught with lawlessness."
"I thus thrust upon your
shoulders, as envoys of Zimbabwe, the duty to
resolutely and steadfastly
defend our integrity and sovereignty," he said.
Cde Chihuri said
the contribution made by the police in enabling
global peace over the years
was continuously exemplified by the UN's
perennial requests to the
Government to send police officers to peacekeeping
missions. Debriefing the
11 officers who returned from peacekeeping
missions, Cde Chihuri urged them
to deal with any criminal activities and
corruption
countrywide.
"I would like to call upon you to deal with corruption
within the
society without fear or favour to ensure that sanity prevails,"
he said.
He told them that they had returned at a time of economic
hardships.
"The only problem is that we are all (everyone in
society) not working
together. We have some misguided elements in society,"
said Cde Chihuri.
He urged the authorities to look into the working
conditions and
service of the force, expressing hope that the authorities
would do
something.
Source: The Herald
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has re-iterated its position
that
Zimbabwe's economic crisis calls for urgent implementation of a
comprehensive policy package comprising several mutually reinforcing
actions. According to the report released after last week's visit, the IMF
said such actions included strong fiscal adjustment; full liberalization of
the exchange rate regime for current account transactions; adoption of a
strong monetary anchor; elimination of quasi-fiscal activity of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe and transparent absorption of these losses by the budget;
and fundamental structural reform, including price deregulation, public
enterprise reform, strengthening of property rights, and improvements in
governance. "In the absence of such a comprehensive and immediate policy
package, Zimbabwe's economic prospects would be bleak," says the report.
"Zimbabwe also needs to strengthen relations with the international
community. The Fund staff stands ready to assist the authorities in
designing an appropriate policy package, which would help achieve
macroeconomic stability and growth and improve the welfare of the Zimbabwean
people. Inflation soared to about 900% just before the IMF team arrived and
massive power cuts plagued the entire country during the team's week-long
visit. "The signs of economic collapse were unmistakeable," said one
analyst. "The question is, will the IMF keep providing Mugabe with more
opportunities while the deterioration continues, or decide to put an end to
its relationship with Zimbabwe?" The IMF's decision will reveal whether
people or business lie at the core of its principles. Andrea Bohnstead, an
economics analyst for sub-Saharan Africa Global Insight, believes the IMF is
caught between a rock and a hard place. "It is in no-one's interest to end
Zimbabwe's membership, but it would also be detrimental to continue helping
a country that refuses to make the fundamental policy reforms the institute
has recommended. It is like stealing money from a starving beggar," she
said. But a March deadline is looming which could see the country expelled
from the IMF. Zimbabwe now owes nearly US$137-million after paying
US$15-million just before the team arrived . Reports say US$16-million is
due in the next two months. The importance of making IMF payments has been
questioned by critics, who believe the money should be spent on more crucial
necessities like fuel and food. But others believe expulsion could create
even worse circumstances as businesses and donors withdraw, fearing
instability and chaos. The country has struggled with the payments, and
Bohnstead said the source of funds used to meet a large instalment some
months ago was in question. Some exporters' accounts were allegedly raided,
illegally. Meanwhile Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, has been quoted
by the state-controlled media as boasting that the IMF had complimented the
'smooth functioning of the country's banking system'. The Herald said the
country had paid $184 million to the IMF over the last 12 months, reducing
its arrears to $14.5 million. The privately-owned Financial Gazette said it
had information that the team had demanded that Mugabe's government honour a
pledge to stop farm invasions which have crippled commercial agriculture.
But last week, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said the government had
finally pledged to end the farm invasions by ruling party supporters. - SW
Radio Africa/own correspondent
The Zimbabwean
BY WILF MBANGA In July
2002 the reinvention of the African Union amid the
ashes of the discredited
40-year-old Organisation of African Unity was
hailed internationally as a
triumph. It was seen as a vital leap forward
into the 21st Century for the
'dark continent' - with its tragic millions of
poverty-stricken, starving,
diseased peoples, and its elite coterie of
portly, be-medalled, aging
dictators. Colonialism was dead and gone. In this
one area the OAU had
succeeded. At its founding in 1963, its main goal was
to rid the continent
of colonial oppression and exploitation. Freedom for
Africans and
one-man-one-vote were the rallying cries. Some 40 years on, the
challenge
was different, and yet eerily the same: power concentrated in the
hands of a
heartless few, determined to exploit the many for personal gain.
Was Africa
free? How did freedom taste? Where did the OAU go wrong? The
colonialists
had been replaced by a new breed of African liberator/heroes,
most of whom
proceeded to plunder the resources of their nations and oppress
anyone who
dare oppose them. All pretence at democracy, freedom of
expression and the
rule of law was cast aside. Coups, not elections, changed
governments. The
OAU's founding principle of respect for national
sovereignty became its
Achilles heel - allowing the excesses of dictators
like Idi Amin, Mengistu
and Mugabe to be swept under the carpet. As the
hopeful new millennium
dawned on an Africa riddled with war, corruption,
debt and disease, the OAU
had become a sick joke. Enter the AU. With much
fanfare and rejoicing the
new body proceeded to establish and impressive
array of organs and
instruments purporting to deliver human rights to the
continent's oppressed
millions. It signified, on paper at least, a new
commitment by African
states to tackle issues of importance to the
continent. The Constitutive Act
of the AU explicitly espoused the promotion
of "democratic principles and
institutions, popular participation and good
governance" and the promotion
and protection of "human and peoples' rights
in accordance with the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and
other relevant human rights
instruments". Most significant was the agreement
by member states to limit
their sovereignty with specific regard to respect
for democratic principles,
human rights and the rule of law. 'Good
governance' and 'peer review' were
the new buzz phrases. In a further
erosion of state sovereignty, the AU even
gave itself some teeth, allowing
it to condemn and reject any
unconstitutional change of government and to
impose sanctions against any
member state for failure to comply with its
decisions and policies. Goodbye
to coups and counter coups! Tragically, it
soon became apparent that the
real implications of all this for ordinary
Africans remained limited and
remote. One of the first individual test cases
was Zimbabwean human rights
lawyer Gabriel Shumba, who was arrested and
tortured by the government for
defending in court a member of the opposition
MDC party. The Zimbabwean
judicial system failed him. He was threatened with
death and fled to South
Africa. In 2003 he approached the African Commission
on Human and Peoples'
Rights (ACHPR) directly. That body heard his case, in
which he said the
torture violated the African charter on rights, in Banjul,
Gambia, in
November 2005, but deferred its ruling to May this year. "Nothing
about the
AU has changed but the name," said a bitter Shumba. "We can only
conclude
that the African system as a legal system to enforce rights is
hopeless." He
said the only value of appealing to the commission was the
resulting
international publicity. He has abandoned seeking recourse in
Africa and has
taken his case to Canada. Then there was the fiasco over the
long-delayed
presentation to the AU Assembly in July 2004 of the ACHPR's
2002
fact-finding mission to investigate human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Howls
of protests from the Zimbabwean delegation, supported by the South
Africans,
resulted in adoption of the report being postponed. "This
indicated a clear
lack of political maturity at the AU to hold member states
accountable,"
said Zimbabwean political commentator Brian Raftopoulos.
"Instead of
defending and supporting the work of its own independent human
rights
institution, the AU Assembly chose to accede to the demands of the
Zimbabwe
government. Even when the Assembly adopted the report at Abuja in
January
2005, it did not adequately hold Zimbabwe accountable. "What it
ought to
have done was to publicly express concern at the human rights
situation in
Zimbabwe and request the Government to commit itself to
implementing the
recommendations of the African Commission. This would not
only have allowed
the Assembly to monitor implementation of the
recommendations in future but
would have also bolstered the confidence and
role of the commission," he
said. Hopes were raised again in November 2005,
that perhaps, after all, the
organisation did have some teeth when it openly
condemned Zimbabwe's human
rights record and pressured Harare to stop
evicting people from their homes
under the controversial Operation
Murambatsvina (clear out rubbish). At that
meeting, the commission said it
was "alarmed by the number of internally
displaced persons and the
violations of fundamental individual and
collective rights resulting from
the forced evictions being carried out by
the government of Zimbabwe", and
urged President Robert Mugabe to allow an
African Union delegation to go on
a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. The
report also called on the Harare
government to repeal several repressive
laws, to stop the forced evictions
immediately and to allow "full and
unimpeded access to international aid to
help the victims". But nothing has
happened. And at its latest meeting in
Sudan, an unseemly brawl over the
chairmanship issue eclipsed all discussion
of such vital issues as war and
peace, famine and starvation, oppression,
unity and economic development.
Just like its predecessor, the AU had failed
the people of Africa. Only 30
of the 53 leaders attended the summit. Several
of them will not sit in the
same room as other with whom they are engaged in
bitter border struggles or
outright wars. Normally, the host country assumes
the chairmanship for the
ensuing year. But this became an issue because Chad
accuses Sudan of hosting
rebels trying to unseat the government and other
African leaders are alarmed
at the crisis in the Darfur region where
hundreds of thousands have been
killed and millions are homeless. While the
leaders were squabbling the UN
food agency announced that 43 million
Africans would need food aid this year
- worth US$2 billion. At the same
time, eight UN peacekeepers were killed in
the DRC by Ugandan rebels. These
issues were not addressed. "Africans are
angered by the continued
unwillingness of African rulers to deal with human
rights issues. The fact
that they held the latest summit in Sudan in the
first place shows their
disdain for human rights," said Lovemore Madhuku,
chairman of Zimbabwe's
National Constitutional Assembly. "The fact that they
are passing the AU
chairmanship to a coup leader in Congo makes them
laughable. Where do
Africans turn now?"
The Zimbabwean
BY OWN CORRESPONDENT VICTORIA
FALLS - The recent deportation of Morgan
Tsvangirai and eight senior MDC
officials from Zambia last week is part of a
cat-and-mouse game that the
opposition and the CIO have been playing for
months. The officials are aware
that their phones, homes and offices are
bugged. To evade surveillance, they
nipped over the border to neighbouring
Zambia for a strategy planning
meeting with international NGOs. But the
ever-vigilant CIO found out,
followed them there and strong-armed their
Zambian colleagues to throw them
out. In order to evade raising suspicions
in Zimbabwe, the MDC executives
had travelled separately to Livingstone. But
when Tsvangirai arrived at
Victoria Falls airport, he was spotted by members
of the CIO, who routinely
stake out every airport in the country. They
questioned him, but he refused
to answer. However, by the time he got to the
border there was a heavy
presence of men in dark glasses. His passport was
scrutinised and details of
its contents noted. Other members of the group,
Nelson Chamisa, William
Bango, Eddie Cross, Pauline Mpariwa, Thokozani
Khupe, Lucia Matibenga,
Gertrude Mtombeni and Isaac Matongo, arrived the
following day. Their
passports were also examined by the CIO, but they were
allowed to proceed.
According to highly placed sources, the officials had
only been meeting for
an hour at the Zambezi Sun Hotel, when CIO officials
attempted to enter the
room. Hotel security was called and the officials
left. Later that evening,
a Zambian official came to the hotel and started
questioning the visitors.
Just before midnight, about 50 army, police,
intelligence and immigration
officials (none of them in uniform) arrived
with a warrant from a local
magistrate to search the visitors and their
rooms. They were accused of
failing to present themselves to an immigration
officer at the border to
declare the purpose of their visit, ordered to pack
their bags and then
taken to the border and deported at around 3am. "They
had to walk from the
Zimbabwean side to Victoria Falls village where they
sat in the foyer of a
local hotel until dawn," said the source. Peeved at
having been outwitted,
Minister of State for National Security, Didymus
Mutasa, has used the state
media this week to conjure an impressive cloud of
mystery and intrigue,
claiming that the MDC group had met officials of
Freedom House, an American
NGO which promotes democracy. Using evocative
words such as 'divulge',
'national security', 'sinister', 'shrouded in
mystery' Mutasa is desperately
trying to convince Zimbabweans that the MDC
is up to no good. The Herald
made the ludicrous claim that Freedom House "is
known worldwide for fuelling
civil unrest in countries seen as a threat to
US policies and interests".
Freedom House this week issued a statement
denying any such meeting and
dismissing Mutasa's claims as 'fictitious'.
Zambian president, Levi
Mwanawasa, has said he was not aware of the
incident. "The involvement of
Zambian security personnel was obviously the
result of relationships on the
ground between the CIO and local operatives,"
said one political observer.
Late last year, The Zimbabwean broke the story
of the government's spy deal
with South Africa, although there has been no
news about a similar treaty
with Zambia. It would appear, however, that more
than one spy agency in the
region has been tasked with spying on Zimbabweans
outside the country on
behalf of the CIO. "The fact that security forces in
neighbouring countries
are now the eyes and ears of Mugabe is a chilling
warning to all Zimbabweans
in the region that they should not expect to
escape the long arm of the
CIO," said the observer. The Johannesburg-based
Concerned Zimbabweans Abroad
immediately issued a statement deploring the
behaviour of the Zambian
authorities. "All Zambians must come out in full
force and condemn their
authorities as this has brought shame to their
nation and the region," said
the president, Jay Jay Sibanda.
The Zimbabwean
LONDON - Silence
Chihuri has responded to the article entitled 'The other
MDC in UK' carried
in last week's edition, in which his actions as treasurer
of the MDC, UK
were queried. He has exercised his right of reply as follows:
"The writer
mentions that money from party card sales is yet to be accounted
for by
myself as former Treasurer. I would like a full explanation from the
writer
as regards the meaning of that assertion. "As those familiar with the
activities of the MDC in the UK know, I set up a very unique system whereby
I was only a ceremonial treasurer. Branches handled all the money from card
sales and they in turn deposited any such monies into the MDC Trust Account.
In fact I was at one time at loggerheads with the MDC leadership in Zimbabwe
regarding the accounting for money sent through the Trust Account. "I at
some point ordered all Branches in the UK to stop sending money through the
Trust account until such time we got feedback on money already sent. As of
now, the only people who need to account for any MDC card money are Branch
Chairmen and Treasurers. Some Branches have already done so to me. "MDC
Zimbabwe Treasurer Fletcher Dulini at one time had to fax a letter to me
confirming that it was indeed still the best way to send money to Zimbabwe
through the Trust Account. The issue was also a subject of comprehensive
discussion in a meeting we held with Morgan Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube and
the MDC UK Executive in London, when Tsvangirai had to declare boldly that
whoever had ordered people to stop paying money in the Trust Account was
wrong and that the procedure had to be resumed with immediate effect. The
meeting agreed to this. "I would like whoever wrote the article in your
newspaper to explain him/herself fully and state why they are trying to
tarnish my image. I would like that part of the article immediately
retracted or if not so then the author should promptly furnish me with any
information of which my short memory could be depriving me. "I do understand
that lately things have not gone as we would have like them to. I have also
publicly stated a number of issues that could have been viewed as unusually
critical. However my criticism is not based on malice, but on constructive
and confidential engagement. I do not mind being criticised on the same
token, but I will not tolerate the kind of irresponsible remarks that a few
misguided elements have sought to associate with my name. "My lawyers are
already on another case following similarly disparaging comments by another
uninformed and irresponsible individual." Our correspondent, Mubvongodzi,
responds: The system whereby branches send money directly to the Trust
account is correct as described. There is or has been an MDC UK account,
which Mr Chihuri has repeatedly asked that moneys from card sales be
transferred through. What he describes in his statement is the status quo,
which he has apparently now accepted. Meanwhile, it is widely believed that
there should have been money in the account - there were tales a couple of
years ago of money raised through commercial donors in Scotland. However
this may all have been exaggeration. No-one publicly knows if there is money
in the old District account or not. Whether any money from card sales at
different branches has gone into the UK District account as originally
requested by the Treasurer or not has not been reported on by the Treasurer.
Whether there has been any money in the District account from any source or
not, and how this has been disposed of, has not been reported on by the
Treasurer. This has been allowed to happen because of the Political Parties
Finance Act. However, it is widely held that money from card sales, unlike
other monies, would be exempt from the Act, thought this has never been
tested legally. As a minimum, it should be possible for the Treasurer to
have given an account of those branches who submitted receipts of deposits
into the Trust account. It should have been possible to balance these
against the numbers of cards issued to branches, and where the cards have
all been issued and accounted for, these branches should have been issued
with fresh cards. This is the process that should have been there from the
beginning, and the Treasurer, who until January 2006 was Silence Chihuri,
was expected to report on this. This has not happened.
The Zimbabwean
BY SAMUEL MARUTA Chakafukidza
dzimba matenga, Zimbabweans say. Loosely
translated, this Shona proverb
means roofs conceal many goings-on in homes.
Unfortunately one of the major
goings-on in Zimbabwean homes, as perhaps in
homes in other countries as
well, is the making of tyrants and criminals
through the beating and abuse
generally of children by their own parents,
close relatives and caregivers.
According to the perceptual projection
theory of social behaviour people
behave according to the reality that they
perceive the world to be. This
perception depends on one's psychological
condition or the state of one's
inner self, which is a creation of a
combination of our inborn
characteristics or genetic endowment, our
upbringing or early childhood
experiences, and our earlier experiences in
relation to a particular issue.
For example, a deeply hurtful childhood
tends to produce a highly hateful
and cruel adulthood. If such people get
into leadership positions at
whatever level of society, they display
tyrannical tendencies. Their
privileged position gives them the opportunity
to take revenge on society
for the psychological injuries they suffered in
childhood as the battered
child inside them comes back and takes charge.
Unaware of the harm their
upbringing did to them, they see nothing wrong
with causing pain and
suffering to others. A look at the background and
exploits of some notorious
people to have graced this world would help
illustrate this point. Adolf
Hitler of Germany usually quickly comes to mind
as one of the most notorious
dictators this world has seen. History records
that his father beat him
mercilessly from an early age. He grew up with a
double burden, the
unorthodox Jewish lineage and the vicious beating by his
father which he
blamed on his unknown paternal Jewish grandfather. In an
attempt to come to
terms with this double burden, Hitler developed a hatred
of the Jewish race
until he became convinced of the need to kill all the
Jews in order to free
not only himself of Jewish blood but also all of
Germany and the whole
world. Another notorious dictator that also comes to
mind is Iosif
Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, otherwise known as Joseph Stalin,
of the former
Soviet Union. He caused millions to suffer and die because
even at the
height of his power, his actions were determined by an
unconscious,
infantile fear of powerlessness. Many more dictators could be
cited, such as
Mao Zidong of China who in his childhood was regularly
whipped by his father
and who sent 30 million people to their deaths in his
adulthood. Closer home
there is Sani Abacha of Nigeria who sent Ken Saro
Wiwa and his fellow Ogonis
to the gallows for politely asking him for a
small share of their own
wealth. Even closer to home is Joseph Mobutu,
otherwise known as Mobutu Sese
Seko, of the then Zaire (DR Congo) who was
richer than his own country of
diseased and impoverished people. Finally at
home, virtually no day passes
by without the newspapers reporting on some
heinous crimes such as rape,
torture and murder. Fathers have been reported
as having raped their own
children, some of them in their nappies. Children
have been reported as
having axed their parents to death. Recently during
the farm invasions and
operation murambatsvina, deeds were reported done
that could only have been
perpetrated by, and defendable or justifiable to,
tormented souls. So the
question is: How do we, as social beings, live our
lives? Above all, the
theory questions how we bring up our children. The
default is for us to do
it the way we were brought up by our own parents.
However most of us were
abused in one way or another, albeit with good
intentions, and the results
are there for all to see - we are dangerous to
ourselves and our societies.
The time for a paradigm shift is now. As
parents, we have an influence on
what kind of adults we want to produce out
of our children. We should,
therefore, begin to lay the foundations of a
more benign future by
protecting them from abuse of any kind. As one expert
on the effects of
childhood hurt on adulthood behaviour once said, many
people do not know
that they are placing dynamite in this world by abusing
their children. Let
us all beware.
The Zimbabwean
BY KJW
LONDON - The visiting MDC delegation spoke to supporters in Leeds,
Birmingham and London in three separate meetings over the weekend. They
assured members that the party had recovered from the "traumatic" split of
October 12, 2005 and was focusing on moving forward and achieving what it
set out to do - "fight a dictatorship". Speaking about the split which saw
Secretary General Welshman Ncube leave the party, the National Chairman of
the MDC, Isaac Matongo said: "Everybody is free to form a party, there is
freedom of association. Let's forget about the split and focus on getting
rid of Mugabe." He said that the split was part of a "longstanding agenda of
taking Tsvangirai out of power". The Chairman of the Central London Branch,
Ephraim Tapa told the delegation that "news of a MDC fallout was greeted by
diasporans with disbelief, anxiety and a sense of betrayal. Many of us in
the diaspora took the MDC as the only hope not only for Zimbabwe but also
for our return. We don't want to be here, we are homesick, we really want to
go home," he added. MDC members meeting the delegation at the forum in
London asked the delegation to stop the infighting in the MDC and focus on
bread and butter issues urgently facing most Zimbabweans. Harold Ndlovu,
Chair for the East London branch said: "We don't want to hear who did what,
we want to hear what you will do next." Amidst calls for the delegation to
"come clean" about the "kitchen cabinet" said to be advising Tsvangirai,
Chamisa said: "I don't see anything wrong with any president consulting
supporting staff." He admitted that the issue of the "big six" would have to
be dealt with in the forthcoming MDC congress but cautioned Zimbabweans that
"the challenge is bigger than the kitchen cabinet". Referring to the recent
split in the Leicester branch, the delegation confirmed Emily Madamonbe as
the chair for the Leicester branch and acting secretary for the district
until further decisions are made in Congress.
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - What a
terrible tragedy that a country with people as educated as
Zimbabweans
generally are - thanks in part to Robert Mugabe - should compel
its teachers
and other professionals to work as gardeners and domestic
workers in
neighbouring countries, often in conditions in which they are
resented. With
its fine but crumbling education system, Zimbabwe could have,
if Zanu (PF)
and Mugabe had the vision, now been contributing its
considerable human
resources to the upliftment of many Southern African
countries. Southern
Africa is so much the poorer when so many bright,
educated Zimbabweans have
to look for gardens to clean or shops to rob,
largely because their
government has driven them to such desperate measures.
George Starita,
Yeoville, Johannesburg
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - While the MIC
continues to restrict the private media, it has
remained deafeningly silent
on the government Press' ongoing disdain for
basic journalistic standards.
For example, in an effort to discredit, as 'a
product of the West', a report
by the African Commission on Human and People
Rights (ACHPR) condemning
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, Herald columnist
Charles Mutete falsely
depicted the head of the commission's 2002
fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe,
Jainaba Johm, as a "white man". The fact:
Johm is a black Gambian woman.
This week the media focussed on the fourth
quarterly monetary policy review
by central bank governor Gideon Gono. The
Press devoted 49 stories to the
presentation, of which 23 appeared in the
official papers and 26 in the
private Press. ZBH aired 28 reports (ZTV six;
Radio Zimbabwe eight; Spot FM
14), while Studio 7 featured five reports and
SW Radio Africa two. Although
the official media generally quoted some
economists critically examining the
statement, most of their stories either
simplistically celebrated or
amplified Gono's speech. However - ZBH,
especially ZTV - gave subdued
coverage to the governor's statement as
compared to the typical celebratory
and high profile status it has
previously accorded such presentations.
Neither did they wonder whether the
new $50 000 bearer cheque would
adequately match the scourge of galloping
inflation, which Gono himself
predicted would leap from the current 586
percent to around 800 percent by
next March. Instead, The Herald (25/1)
simply hailed the new paper money,
saying it "will help cut down on the
bulky piles of cash everyone needs just
to buy a few groceries" and increase
the maximum amount of money individuals
could withdraw from ATMs per
transaction. The paper also censored Gono's
inflation forecasts and barely
covered his condemnation of ongoing farm
invasions. It merely reported that
the governor had "admitted that it had
lost the battle (to reduce inflation)
in the year 2005 but not the war". The
official media's censorship of some
of Gono's candidly uncomplimentary
observations remained unbroken. For
example, they did not report Gono's
revelations that Defence Forces
Commander General Constantine Chiwenga had
raised fears that the continued
food shortages could trigger riots and urged
the central bank to address the
situation. This only appeared on SW Radio
(26/1), Studio 7 and in the
Zimbabwe Independent (27/1).
The Zimbabwean
BY A
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT BULAWAYO - This Valentine's Day WOZA,
Women of
Zimbabwe Arise, will be bringing their powerful and uniquely
feminine
message to the streets of Zimbabwe once again. Their theme this
year is
'Bread and Roses' and it's inspired by the 'Bread and Roses' strike
led and
won by American women textile workers in 1912. For WOZA in 2006,
bread
symbolises the need for affordable food and roses the need for dignity
and
social justice. WOZA's first Valentine's Day march, in 2003, was a bid
to
counter the violence and hate they saw unleashed on the people of
Zimbabwe
by highlighting the need for love. In spite of hundreds of arrests
since
then, WOZA continues to make the voices of the women of Zimbabwe
heard. In
2004 their valentine's cards and roses were graciously received by
the
Chitungwiza police in spite of shoot-to-kill orders and in 2005 hundreds
of
women marched through the streets of Bulawayo and Harare proclaiming that
'The Power of Love Can Overcome the Love of Power.' WOZA is determined to
make the government and the international community take account of the
effect of the crisis in Zimbabwe on women, their families, and their
children. Through street actions WOZA pressurizes for policies and
programmes rather than political allegiance and in a climate where ordinary
Zimbabweans are ransomed in the power games of a ruthless elite, WOZA 's
non-partisan approach is refreshing and vital. Decisions on what actions to
take and what messages to highlight are made in small meetings up and down
the country with workshops and debates to build leadership and develop
ideas. The WOZA women have brought their brooms onto the streets to 'put the
house of Zimbabwe in order' and banged their pots to draw attention to their
emptiness; they have joined the trades unions in decrying economic chaos and
the NCA in calling for a people driven constitution. Underlying their
message there is always the appeal for Zimbabweans to show love and accord
dignity to one another. As a new year unfolds in Zimbabwe with inflation
rocketing and the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina taking its toll in
sickness, hunger and hardship, Bread and Roses is a poignantly apposite
theme for WOZA's Valentine's Day march. Let us salute those on the streets
of Zimbabwe who have the courage to rise up and defend the rights so
precious to us all. For those in the UK who would like to show their
solidarity with WOZA's bread and roses march in Zimbabwe, there will be a
WOZA support rally outside Zimbabwe House, 429 the strand, from 12noon to
2pm on Saturday February 18. For more information contact
wozasolidarity2005@yahoo.co.uk.
The Zimbabwean
BY TREVOR GRUNDY PRETORIA - Zimbabwe's most courageous and
outspoken
Christian leader Archbishop Pius Ncube has called on President
Thabo Mbeki
to stop "kneeling" before Robert Mugabe and take immediate
action to bring
about the dictator's downfall. The Roman Catholic leader,
who refuses to
hold his tongue in the face of death threats by the ruling
party Zanu (PF)
and its hooligan youth wing the Green Bombers, has urged the
South African
president to immediately cut off electricity supplies to
Zimbabwe in order
to bring the almost 82-year-old Mugabe to his senses.
"Electricity supplies
should end now," the Archbishop told fellow Catholics
after a South African
Catholic Bishops' Conference meeting in Pretoria. But
the heroic cleric
doubted the South African leader would do anything to
bring about the
downfall of his northern neighbour. "Mbeki kneels before
Mugabe," he said.
The archbishop was echoing the words of one of South
Africa's best-known
journalists William Mervin Gumede, who told a
high-powered meeting of
diplomats, businessmen and journalists in London
last year that Thabo Mbeki
was frightened of Mugabe. "When he (Mbeki) became
president, his was a very
uncertain presidency because some people in the
ANC believed that there were
other people far better qualified to be
president." Gumede added: "Mbeki is
frightened that Zanu (PF) is going to
send him up as a puppet of the West.
Mbeki resents being called a toy of the
West by Mugabe and so he is always
trying to show that he's not like that.
He wants to show that he's
militant - one of them." Archbishop Ncube said
Mugabe would never have dared
treat Nelson Mandela the way he treats Mbeki.
He described Mandela as "a
moral giant." Asked if the disruption of
electricity to Zimbabwe was a
drastic measure, the Archbishop said anything
that would help in bringing
about the downfall of the Zimbabwean government
should be tried. He said
that the popular uprising against Mugabe last year
had not taken place
because Mugabe had a very active and effective espionage
system in place.
The Catholic Church has neither condemned nor endorsed the
sentiments of
Pius Ncube.
The Zimbabwean
BY TREVOR GRUNDY
LONDON - Highly informed sources, tell The Zimbabwean that
the Vatican and
the Mugabe regime are engaged in talks and that this could
open up future
dialogue between the beleaguered Zanu (PF) government and
Britain and the
USA. But Catholics are staying silent for the time being.
One highly placed
Catholic source told this paper: "Perhaps the only people
left in the world
that Mugabe will listen to are the Catholics in Rome - but
even that's
doubtful. The man seems to be happy to listen to the sycophants
who surround
him." Recently, The Zimbabwean reported on how terrified most
church leaders
in exile are of the CIO. Some say that it is operating in the
UK. Meantime,
Archbishop Pius Ncube has admitted reprimanding the Pope about
the positive
remarks Benedict XV1 made to Zimbabwe's new ambassador to the
Holy See last
year. An article in the 14 January 2006 issue of the Catholic
magazine The
Tablet was headlined Archbishop upbraids Benedict over Zimbabwe
and was
written by correspondent Ellen Teague. Ncube told the Pope on June
17:
"Seeing that you were so optimistic in your speech, it may be that you
don't
know what's happening: when I left (Zimbabwe) they were smashing
houses." In
a recent interview with the publication, Ncube said he had also
given the
Pope details of the Zimbabwean situation from the perspective of
the
majority of the population. It referred to demolitions, the stealing of
traders' goods, political repression, galloping inflation and a worsening
food crisis. The Tablet report concluded: "Archbishop Ncube was concerned
that Pope Benedict, who in June had been in office for only two months, had
been badly briefed by his Secretariat of State. He acknowledged that there
was a positive role to maintaining good diplomatic relations between the
Church and the Mugabe Government but 'for me, every tacit approval is
driving one more nail into the coffin of many Zimbabweans'."
The Zimbabwean
CHEGUTU - The Movement
for Democratic Change's warring factions will both
field candidates for the
forthcoming mayoral elections here in March. Early
last month, the party
fielded candidates in local elections but lost to the
ruling Zanu PF after
the votes were split. During the concil elections, the
MDC gave up control
of what were previously safe seats in its urban
stronghold of Chitungwiza
and rural Matobo. Incumbent MDC Chegutu mayor,
Francis Dhlakama, whose term
of office expired on December 10 last year has
indicated that he belongs to
a faction led by MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
He described it as the "real
MDC". On the same day, party deputy secretary
general Gift Chimanikire said
his faction, led by Tsvangirai's deputy Gibson
Sibanda, had lined up three
candidates who would battle it out to choose a
mayoral candidate. The
Chegutu mayoral elections should have been held in
December, but Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
failed to facilitate the holding of elections. The
development has seen
Dhlakama continuing his duties under provisions of the
Urban Councils Act
that stipulate that he can only relinquish his post upon
the election of
another office bearer. Dhlakama has complained of an
environment of fear and
intimidation and says he has struggled to find
people brave enough to put
their names behind his nomination. He said all
Chombo and his ministry spent
their energy on was sabotaging efforts to
deliver services to the people of
Chegutu. - SW Radio Africa
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The Zimbabwe
government has been mum about the recent assassination
attempt on vice
president Joyce Mujuru. According to informed sources, a
private, believed
to be with President Guard of the ZNA, Joseph Mutima,
allegedly opened fire
with his service issue AK47 rifle on her motorcade two
weeks ago. The shots
bounced off the armour-plated presidential limousine in
which Mujuru was
travelling. Her bodyguards returned fire and wounded Mutima
in the leg
before capturing him. At the time of going to press it was
believed Mutima
was being held at the Braeside police camp where the CIO
internal
surveillance unit is based. "I bet they are still beating the hell
out of
him right now," said a military source. Mutima is believed to come
from
Dorowa in Manicaland. The last such attack in Zimbabwe was before
Independence when Mugabe's motorcade was attacked during the run-up to the
1980 elections.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The
Commercial Farmers Union has issued a statement underlining its
belief that
'the greatest asset of a nation is the quality of its people'
and appealing
for an end to recriminations about the past. "It is the time
to draw the
line and go forward, learning from the past," says the
statement. "The CFU
is cognisant and sensitive to the fact that there is
sufficient evidence
that both government and those foreign agencies
currently represented in the
country, want nothing more than to see Zimbabwe
prosper." The farmers' body
emphasised its commitment to help restore the
country to its rightful
position on the sub-continent of Africa as a leader
in agriculture. "We seek
an all-inclusive and vibrant agricultural industry
that is sustainable. To
this end, we urge the authorities to declare a
moratorium on land and
current agriculture policies and, with the full
protection of the law, bring
together all stakeholders and rebuild the
entire industry to return as the
principal employer of labour and generator
of food and forex. "We have the
energy and capacity to help bring Zimbabwe
back, once again, to being the
'bread basket' of the sub-continent. Lets do
it! A return to productive
agriculture, which will benefit our nation, will
attract, in every way, both
at home and overseas, the support we need to
regenerate our economy and the
status of Zimbabwe," says CFU president, Doug
Taylor-Freeme, in the
statement. - Own Correspondent
The Zimbabwean
BY A SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT BULAWAYO - Over 200 church leaders from all over
Zimbabwe met
here last Friday to launch the Christian Alliance (CA) - a
network of
Zimbabwean Christians whose aim is to engage government in
meaningful
dialogue about the root cause of the nation's multiple social
ills. "We are
here to serve the people and will not focus on the symptoms.
Poverty,
hunger, these are symptoms; we will engage government in dialogue
concerning
the root cause of these social ills which is bad governance.
Murabatsvina,
Gukurahundi, the need for a new constitution; these are among
the issues and
ghosts from our past that must be satisfactorily addressed in
order for us
to move ahead and ensure a prosperous future for our nation,"
said the
convenor, Bishop Levi Kadenge. "After years of silence the church
has
finally awoken to pursue justice and peace and, if necessary, to defy
unjust
laws," said one participant. "We came to meet with one another, and
to learn
how together we can play our part in bringing our nation closer to
the will
of God." CA believes that God created human beings in his own
image, thus
making them unique, and therefore those who live the life of
Christ have a
duty to protect human dignity and a fundamental obligation to
their
Christian faith. The Alliance believes that God has called Christians
to
proclaim the Gospel as Good News that delivers all people from all vices
of
sin, including social injustices. It was felt that there was a need to
consolidate the visibility of the Christian prophetic voice and action by
creating a platform and space for conscious Christian leaders to work
together at national level in providing leadership to the work for justice
and peace in Zimbabwe. "The CA will give form and action to our goal of
mobilizing Christians to give witness to the life of Christ as defined by
his core mission statement on earth; "I have come that you might have life
and have it to the full." (John 10:10) We recognise the work of civic groups
in Zimbabwe and will seek ways of more collaborative approaches in resolving
crisis," said the organisers. All dialogue will be pursued following
Christian principles of non-violence and ethical debate. "The war ethos of
all Zimbabweans must be broken, we are not going to war neither do we expect
to be attacked, this is simply a platform to engage in meaningful discussion
for the greater good of all Zimbabweans," said Christian lawyer and Pastor
Lucky Moyo (CIB). "The leaders in the bible speaking prophetically on behalf
of God's people declared to their leaders 'Thou shalt not!' whenever God's
people were unjustly persecuted, it is not about bad governance, we are
talking about evil governance. Sleep well though my brothers and sisters
because as God was with these ancient prophets so he will be with us," said
political analyst Dr John Makumbe during his analysis of the socio-economic
and political landscape in Zimbabwe. CA is a joint initiative of various
prophetic Christian bodies in Zimbabwe, including the Evangelical Fellowship
of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference (ZNPC,) Association
of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), Zimbabwe Christian Students Movement
(ZCSM), Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), Ecumenical Support
Service (ESS), Zimbabwe Orphans through Extended hands (ZOE,) Churches in
Harare (CIH), Churches in Bulawayo (CIB), Churches in Plumtree (CIP),
Churches in Gweru (CIG), Churches in Vic Falls (CIV) and Christians Together
for Justice and Peace (CJP). The Alliance honoured Christian leaders who
have been exemplary in standing up for justice in Zimbabwe, including
Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Roman Catholic Church, Pius Wakatama and Sheba
Phiri of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Dr Andrew Pocock, 50,
will be Britain's new ambassador to Zimbabwe.
He replaces Rob Pullen who has
been recalled to London after only 18 month
in the post for what have been
officially described as 'personal reasons'.
However, according to informed
sources, his wife was said to be rather
'undiplomatic' in view of the very
delicate nature of relations between the
two countries. Pocock, a career
diplomat for 25 years, is currently
ambassador to Tanzania. As former Head
of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office's southern Africa desk, he is
well-informed about Zimbabwe, and seen
as something of a rising star. His
former postings have included Lagos,
Washington and Canberra. - Own
correspondent
The Zimbabwean
BY MUONGORORI BULAWAYO - When I
think about what is happening right now I
wonder - when will the crunch
come? This morning I was in one of the largest
food companies in Zimbabwe.
Parked outside were long lines of 30 tonne
trucks - all empty, the drivers
standing by waiting for food aid to arrive.
The company staff told me that
they had not had a delivery of maize for four
weeks. Other millers tell the
same story. In town I passed a man with a
small sedan vehicle - he was
selling 10 kg bags of maize meal at Z$350 000
per bag. He was surrounded by
a couple of hundred desperate customers.
Bulawayo has been without maize
meal for the past fortnight - the Sunday
News headlined the shortage this
last weekend. The GMB has a national
monopoly over the purchase, storage and
sale of raw maize in Zimbabwe. We
consume about 1,2 million tonnes a year as
maize meal for human
consumption - it is the national staple food. That is
110 kilograms of maize
per capita. The financial numbers of this exercise
are huge. A tonne of
maize from South Africa lands here in Bulawayo at about
R1500 per tonne. At
official exchange rates this is Z$24 million dollars per
tonne. The GMB
sells it at Z$600 000 a tonne - a direct subsidy of Z$23 400
000 per tonne -
a 97.5 per cent subsidy. Take into account the costs of the
GMB - interest,
transport, and staff, silo management costs, unloading and
loading, sales
costs and you are probably looking at a direct subsidy per
tonne of Z$28
million per tonne - Z$33,6 trillion a year or nearly a third
of total
revenues from all taxes. This is clearly not sustainable and how
the
Government will deal with this is anyone's guess but the profiteering
going
on in the trade is equally stunning. That 10 kilogram bag of maize
meal
probably used 11 kilos of maize at a cost to the miller of Z$6 600. His
gross margin is Z$343 400 per bag - his costs probably about Z$70 000
leaving him a profit of Z$273 400 or 78 per cent of his selling price. Not
bad. If they were to charge an economic price for maize of Z$28 000 a kilo,
the product would probably end up on the shelves at about Z$413 000 for a 10
kilo bag. So the bulk of the subsidy on maize is actually going to the
middlemen. I run a supermarket as one of my concerns, we cannot buy maize
meal from the GMB mills and have to buy from intermediaries who put a
substantial mark up on the product. This sort of thing is going on across
the country. So we are left to wonder - when will the crunch come - Maize
imports at US$250 a tonne will require us to find US$350 million this year
for our net import needs. If the State cannot find this money - we will go
hungry. If they do find it and continue to sell at present prices, then the
subsidy to the GMB will, by itself, push the budget deficit over 20 per cent
of GDP. This is simply not sustainable. By my own calculations inflation in
January is well over 900 per cent and still rising. Inflation, a runaway
budget deficit, the impossible demands of the patronage system in a
shrinking economy, a hungry angry people. We are close to breaking point in
every sense. Perhaps the crunch has come.
The Zimbabwean
BY LITANY BIRD Dear
Family and Friends, Writing a letter this week is no
mean achievement, being
able to send it is going to be another matter
altogether. Since my letter
seven days ago, we have had electricity cuts
every day - at least once but
sometimes twice and even three times a day the
power just goes off without
warning and has resulted in 47 hours without
electricity in my home town. It
is not unusual now, in the middle of the
day, in the middle of summer to see
smoke rising from gardens and chimneys
in the suburbs as people cook food
and boil water on open fires. When the
power does come on there is no
guarantee that it will stay on and so there
is a frantic rush to cook the
next meal, do the ironing, work on the
computer or charge cellphones and
batteries. For businesses, these power
cuts are diabolically bad news.
Machines stop, engines and pumps go quiet,
computers, ATM's and tills are
silent and only those who can afford
generators are able to keep operating.
Little shops which have only been
surviving our 600% hyper-inflation by
offering things like photocopying or
computer services, are shuddering to a
silent stop. All around town this
week the sight has been the same - workers
and customers together, sitting
outside on the pavements waiting for the
electricity to come back on. You
almost don't need to ask what's wrong now
when you see a stationary queue,
you just raise your eyebrows and someone
either shrugs or shows empty hands
and you know - no power. As has become
the norm in Zimbabwe, whenever there
is a shortage of something, for
whatever reason, you can guarantee that some
fat cat is making money out of
it. In the last couple of months the price of
small generators have soared
from a few million to hundreds of millions and
are out of reach of virtually
everyone. Even more despicable though is the
way the money-makers even turn
on the poorest of the poor. The price of
candles has soared in the last
fortnight as the power cuts have become more
frequent and widespread. When
you can find them, a packet of six locally
made candles are now over a
quarter of a million dollars. To make life a
little tougher this week have
been water cuts which covered two full days
and a telephone system just
hanging on by a very thin and frayed thread. In
the last seven days my
telephone has worked for less than one hour in total.
It pings incessantly,
day and night, but there is no one there. Lifting the
receiver either leaves
you listening to complete strangers having long and
loud conversations or a
rash of electronic buzzing, hissing and static but
no dialling tone and no
chance of making a call. Numerous reports and visits
to the state owned
telephone company have not achieved anything yet - they
are overwhelmed with
faults; a result of no money, no spare parts, very
little maintenance and
being run by a government in economic meltdown. I do
not know how soon I
will be able to send this letter but will do so as soon
as both electricity
and telephone are working at the same time. Until next
week, ndini shamwari
yenyu.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The chaos in the agricultural sector, condemned by Reserve
Bank
Governor, Gideon Gono, in his monetary policy statement, also contested
for
media space in the week. While all media exposed the myriad problems
still
haunting the sector, the official media presented them in isolation
and
avoided interpreting these as part of failed agricultural policies.
Neither
did they go beyond official pronouncements by discussing the
underlying
confusion caused by policy contradictions in the country's food
security.
For example, these media glossed over the shortages of
agricultural inputs
and the incessant disruptions to farming caused by
ongoing farm invasions.
Instead, they sought to portray the authorities as
the only ones taking
measures to revive the agricultural sector while
blaming others for its poor
performance. An example of this was The Herald's
supine report (27/1) that
government had blacklisted A2 farmers abusing
subsidised fuel obtained from
the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe. This
followed a story in the paper the
previous day, which quoted farmers'
representatives claiming that those
involved in the fuel scam were actually
"top government officials" who own
A2 farms, and appeared barely two days
after Gono had publicly deplored such
corrupt activities. Notably though,
the paper appeared afraid to establish
the veracity of the claims by the
farmers' representatives or to demand the
identities of the culprits. Nor
did it even attempt to check on the
prevalence of the abuse. The government
Press' reluctance to identify
corrupt government officials was further
exposed by the Sunday Mail's
failure to reconcile efforts by "two top
government officials" to seize a
farm with Gono's condemnation of farm
invasions. But the private media did.
For example, the Independent revealed
that barely a week after Gono deplored
farm invasions as "economic
sabotage", seven of the 10 commercial farmers
left in Karoi were "threatened
with eviction" forcing them to seek the
intervention of the "Zanu (PF)
leadership in the area". The paper also
recorded two other incidents of farm
disturbances in Triangle and Goromonzi.
Studio 7 reported the food security
forecasting organisation, FEWSNET, as
warning of another likely gloomy food
situation in 2006-7 due to severe
shortages of seed, fuel and fertiliser.
But The Herald and Radio Zimbabwe
carried an official dismissal of the
organisation's findings as "hostile".
The Zimbabwean
PRETORIA - South
Africa's Director-General for Refugees, Busisiwe
Mkhwebane-Tshehla, says she
will probe the conduct of some of Home Affairs
officials at Marabastad
government offices here. In an interview with CAJ
News this week,
Mkhwebane-Tshehla, expressed concern at the behaviour of
some South African
officials' behaviour towards Zimbabwean asylum seekers.
She strongly
attacked officials who only asked Zimbabwean asylum seekers for
passports,
while others were being served without any form of identity. She
said if
asylum seekers from elsewhere were required to produce identity
papers, then
Zimbabweans too were compelled to do so. But asylum seekers say
officials
only started asking for IDs and passports about three weeks ago.
"I am not
aware that only Zimbabweans are asked about identity particulars,"
said
Mkhwebane-Tshehla, before promising to probe the home affairs
officials. A
Zimbabwe asylum seeker, who asked to remain anonymous, said the
state of
affairs at Marabastad was suspicious. "I was the first among my
fellow
countrymen to join the queue, but I have failed to get served because
I
don't have a passport," she said angrily. - CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The Media and
Information Commission has accredited 15 journalists
working for the
privately-owned Zimbabwe Independent, who were held to
ransom in order to
force the editor of the publication to publish a
retraction of an article
about the commission that appeared last year. Under
Zimbabwe's Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a draconian
law governing the
country's news media, it had been illegal for the
journalists to work since
January 27 because the law stipulates that all
journalists must be
accredited with the commission. In a move hotly debated
by Zimbabwean
journalists around the world, the Independent carried the
retraction last
Friday. But Jonathan Maphenduka, the man quoted in the
original article,
continues to voice his criticism of the MIC and has
questioned the
impartiality of its chairman, Tafataona Mahoso. Maphenduka
resigned from the
MIC last year in protest at the commission's decision to
deny Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the Daily News, an
operating
licence.
The Zimbabwean
LONDON - The visiting
MDC delegation from Harare has been overwhelmed by the
spirit of
rejuvenation among members in the UK, the party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa
told The Zimbabwean this week. "We came here to brief our supporters
and to
hear their views. We told them that the electoral route in Zimbabwe
has now
been blocked. We have been cheated several times at elections," he
said. The
party was convinced that popular sentiment, at home and abroad,
was that the
opposition's participation in elections should be abandoned.
"We must find
an alternative route. What we need is a return to legitimacy,"
said Chamisa.
The visit to the UK and the USA by the three executives had
been embarked
upon in order to get vital feedback from the diaspora, he
said. "We need the
support of the external structures. We have been
impressed at how resilient
they are. We find that they are committed to the
struggle. We have agreed on
certain constitutional amendments to make the
MDC more effective." Chamisa
said all those concerned had pledged to work
towards better coordination
between the party at home and abroad. In order
to further facilitat this,
the branches in the diaspora would be sending
delegates home to attend the
party's forthcoming congress. - Own
correspondent
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR -
I was lucky enough to return to my home country for Christmas -
along with
hundreds, if not thousands of other hopeful and patient
Zimbabweans. I
travelled with my son and his family by car from Mpumalanga,
about a
four-hour trip to the border post in the old days, including border
formalities. Our vehicle joined a queue at 4.20pm and moved slowly towards
the border, 12 _ kms away. This took four and a half hours. Once we entered
the border post and parked the car, my son joined a walking queue to enter
the immigration office, at 9.20pm. There were whole families in and around
the line, from very tiny babies to walking toddlers, and old people.
Families sat on the pavement, and slowly moved up the line with the person
in the queue. There were no refreshments, and no toilets available. The
people waited patiently all night, at times through light showers of rain,
when the air turned very cold. It appeared that to cope with all those
people they had only one immigration officer on duty, and the line just got
longer and longer. We were finally lucky enough to get through at 8.30am the
next day, but others still had several hours to wait. The Zimbabwe side was
quick and very efficient. Once we left the border we travelled through
beautiful countryside, as there had been steady rains for the previous
weeks, and everywhere was green, the rivers were flowing, and the people
waved cheerfully as we passed. Every one seemed to be out digging and
planting. No tractors visible - but badzas, man or in some cases, ox- drawn
old hand ploughs were in evidence. But the populace just seemed happy to be
planting. We turned off at Masvingo and went through Birchenough Bridge to
Mutare and on up to Nyanga. Mutare was alive with shoppers and everywhere
was very busy. The amount of 000's after every figure on the price tickets
left me aghast. Both on the roadside and in the town the lack of fruit and
vegetable sellers, and crafts for sale was glaringly obvious. The beautiful
Craft Centres that always attracted tourists all lay in ruins. And it was
such a sad sight to see beautiful stone sculptures and wood carvings lying
head less in the dust, lacking the loving polish that had attracted so many
tourists with their foreign currency. My heart ached for the craftsmen and
women who had worked so hard to collect the materials and perfect their art.
We stayed in a private house, but visited The Troutbeck Inn, which appeared
to be keeping its head above water, but sadly, again the crafts, crochet and
tie and dye cloths, and embroidery were all missing. I had been given orders
and forex to buy various items for friends - but sadly none were in
evidence. On the way to Harare we again noticed that all the main roads were
in good repair, but not so the smaller towns, and especially not the suburbs
of Harare. Potholes were in abundance in Avondale and Borrowdale. We saw a
few nervous craft sellers, but they had very little on display and were
ready to flee at any moment. We did not have fuel to travel around, and were
lucky to have our own transport, and to carry enough fuel, but again I was
so sad for those who were battling to get 'home' for Christmas, and wondered
how many of them actually made it. The trip was wonderful until on our
return we were stopped at a 'roadblock'. One policeman in uniform stopped us
and asked for the driver's licence, and once he had it, he said we had been
speeding and would have to pay a fine. We were sure this was not the case as
we had been very careful about conserving what fuel we had. My son agreed to
pay the fine and asked how much, as we were only six kms over the limit. We
were told we must report to a man on the roadside in civilian clothes, with
no identification, who claimed that the fine was Z$6 million. When told we
didn't have that much he immediately proceeded to shout and act in an
intimidating manner, shaking his finger, and saying my son must appear in
court and go straight to jail. My son replied that he had spent a lot of
money in the country, and met with nothing but kindness and consideration
throughout until now. He would gladly go to court and tell them what
treatment he had received at the roadblock. There was an immediate apology,
a back down, and a request to know how much money we had. When a possible
figure was mentioned, he agreed that would be fine, and took it, wished us a
pleasant journey and put the money away without receipts or tickets. Did he
intimidate the policeman, or did they split the profits? I would like to
know. Although a large part of me was very sad about some of the things I
had seen, the courage and spirit of the people is still there, and the
country itself is still one of the most beautiful I have been in. P.W.,
Surrey UK
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - in response to the letter
in The Zimbabwean of February 02, 2006,
'Mugabe owes me' I fully support the
sentiment expressed. At last some
fighting talk is being expressed. Too much
time has passed where written
sentiment expressed within the media
everywhere comes from voices still
cowed by shock, trauma and disbelief at
what is going on in Zimbabwe. I too
am owed by Mugabe/Zanu and I support the
'Mugabe owes me' sentiment. It is
time to fight back. Zanu have been like
snakes in the grass for 25 years.
You could see the grass moving, but you
could not see the snakes. They were
to raise their heads one day, which they
duly have. Now we can all see the
faces of the snakes. All of us know who
they are, the world over. It is time
to stand and face them. I am now ready
to take back my country from these
evil brutes May the 'Mugabe owes me'
sentiment grow to a crescendo and
overwhelm and drive the snakes back into
the stinking pit they came from and
to where they belong. I am ready! I am
going home to touch the land that my
bones and blood grew from. Also a
Zimbabwean abroad, Dorset, England
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - What is it going to
take for us to get to the root of the MDC
problem? I think there is a risk
that the Welshman group is over-simplifying
the issue. Country consultation
is the only way to determine which side
should be MDC. The Welshman group
seems to be saying Morgan should never
have consulted anyone besides them.
It is important to note that being
elected does not give you a mandate to
make decisions that alienate that
whole population. Secondly, which violence
sanctioned by Morgan Tsvangirai
are they talking about and if sensible
people are to be asked, why is he not
getting arrested if he is committing
such acts? Ask Gibson to go and report
to the police that Morgan has
sanctioned this violence and where are the
people who have been affected?
And what about the group of 25 of them who
secretly engaged Zanu (PF) in
Britain and America behind the back of their
leader. Is this the correct way
of running a party like MDC? When you throw
mud and it fails to stick,
people will always come up with reasons but will
those reasons be sensible
enough? We have heard so many varied stories and
the mud is still not
sticking, including Morgan met Mujuru, Morgan and the
constitution, Morgan
and violence, Morgan and I want to be President. JR,
Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - I bought a house through
Homelink through a guy called Martin
Madziire who is in Gatineau Canada. For
two months after buying the house I
wanted to make my instalments, but he
told me to wait because my file was
not yet completed (I have a letter
copied from Mr Msipa). But then I
received a final demand letter from
Madziire - who I was still waiting for
to get back to me. I complained to
Homelink and they said the blame was on
me, regardless of the fact that
their agents are incompetent. I was
determined to have this house so I
persevered and after about three months
of my paying my instalments into
Madziire's wife's account, on his
instructions, Homelink contacted me to ask
if I had made any payments
because they had not received any. It is now
eight months and they have
received nothing. I now pay my instalments
directly into the Homelink
account but I have received a letter from
Madziire (Msipa's agent) that I
should deposit five percent of what I send
to Homelink in his wife's
account. When I queried this he replied that it
was a genuine business
transaction. Fellow countrymen, beware! ADMIRE
ZHAKATA, Montreal
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - I don't know who
else to express my disgust to. So please bear with
me. We have my
mother-in-law living with us. This week she received her
pension advice from
NRZ pension fund. Her pension for the month of February
is Z$ 37 890.41,
which is not even enough to buy a loaf of bread. But to
make matter worse
this is what they have printed onto her pension slip
"Pensioners who bank
with Standard Bank will have a bank charge of Z$30
500.00 deducted from
their pension." That will leave her with a total of $7
390.41, I'm not sure
what she is supposed to purchase with that. Her husband
whom has since
passed away worked with the railways for at least 35years.
And this is
supposed to be their liveable pension for when they retired. My
mother-in-law has us to assist her with her monthly expenses, but how many
old folks don't have any help. I spoke with the bank and they said that they
could not waive the minimum bank charge on her account unless of course she
has been banking with them for 40 years or more! Can someone stop this
madness? Wendi Brooking, Harare We are awaiting a response from Stanchart to
our query. - Ed
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - In 1945 the United
Nations arrested and tried the leaders of
Germany and Japan. These were the
people who had ravaged Europe and Asia.
They had destroyed their countries
and in so doing killed millions of
people. These Leaders were tried, most
found guilty and executed. It was a
clear message to the people of Germany
and Japan that what these men had
done was wrong. As a result the Germans
and Japanese learnt their lesson and
within a few decades through honest
hard work had rebuilt their shattered
countries. Unfortunately, that was the
last time that the United Nations
acted decisively. Since then men like Idi
Amin, Mengistu, Mobuto Sese Seko,
Pol Pot and Ferdinand Marcos have raped
their countries and murdered their
countrymen. When they were eventually
overthrown, they and their supporters
went into retirement in exile with
their ill-gotten gains. Nothing was done
to them. They were not arrested and
tried. They appeared to leave their
shattered countries and live happily
ever after. As a result politicians
realise that they can get away with
raping their countries and the cycle
continues uninterrupted. This shows
that the future for Zimbabwe is looking
very grim. Since Mugabe has
corrupted the whole of Zimbabwean society,
bankrupted the country, allowed
the infrastructure to collapse, brainwashed
a large portion of the youth and
created a system of patronage, any new
government coming into power will
find the fight to turn the country around
too difficult and within a short
space of time will give up and become
totally corrupt. The only way to turn
the country around is to set an
example that all will understand and will
act as a deterrent. Basically with
the fall of Zanu (PF), the criminals will
need to be rounded up tried and
executed. All their in gotten gains must be
seized and used to repair the
infrastructure of Zimbabwe. Any country which
gives asylum to any of these
criminals should have its and its nationals
assets in Zimbabwe seized.
Zimbabwe needs to put a firm end to the cycle of
corruption or it will never
fully recover. Leonidas, Salisbury,
Wiltshire
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - I'm a Zimbabwean in
the diaspora. At the moment I'm working towards
becoming a Chartered
Accountant. There is potentially a lot of financial
gain for me but my heart
tells me that one day we have to sort out this
mess. Without a functioning
country our own spiritual identity is on the
line here. We cannot abandon
our country forever. At some point we are all
going to have to make
sacrifices if we want Zimbabwe to work. It seems many
people have a good
idea of what we need to do and there comes a time when
those ideas must
culminate into action. I'm 100% behind the idea of us all
coming together
and I'm willing to work like a slave to ensure the security
of our beloved
country. If by the grace of God we can somehow unify the
depth of talent we
have and work towards nation building we can potentially
become the most
advanced nation on the continent - politically, socially,
economically and
spiritually. It can't be easy and if C.Witts and others
pursue their ideas
with vigour we can't be defeated. Meanwhile, I pledge
myself to the struggle
and may God bless all those fighting for a better
Zimbabwe. I hope my mail
serves to encourage those that are trying to do
something. I'm willing to
get with any programme I think can rejuvenate Zim.
An old Chinese adage says
" to move mountain start with small stone". When
I'm 80 and ready to move on
I want to look back and ponder "where would this
country be without people
like me". One day we will all meet on the
'frontline' and work together.
Velakude Mpofu, Diaspora
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - First of
all, there is no such thing as the "Pro-Senate" faction.
There is just but
one MDC and it is the MDC that upholds democratic
principles and values it's
Constitution. The tendency by your paper to call
us "rebels" must be treated
with the full contempt it deserves. Never have
we deviated from the Party
Constitution. What we have done is to deviate
from a leader who chose to put
himself above the Party Constitution. What is
unfortunate is that you seem
to suggest that everything that a leader says
is right, regardless of the
Constitution. Therefore, what difference is
there between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai? The rebels in the Party are those that
chose not to respect the
decision of the National Council that sat on 12
October 2005 in
contravention of the Constitution. The truth of the matter
is that
Tsvangirai is no different a dictator than Mugabe. We are still
committed to
fighting Zanu (PF) on every turf, be it on the electoral field
or even in
the streets. The Tsvangirai bunch decided to field candidates in
the recent
Ward elections and yet they wanted Zanu (PF) to walk in scot free
in the
Senatorial elections. This is what we refused in Bulawayo. We take
pride in
knowing that we have the support of 22 out of 29 Ward Councillors,
the
support of the Mayor, 6 out of 7 Members of Parliament and 5 out of 5
Senators. We are proud that Zanu (PF) has been kept out of Bulawayo through
the vote of the people in favour of the MDC. Lastly, we wish to inform the
people Bulawayo and members of the MDC that we have a new Chairman of the
Province following our 23 December 2005 Provincial Congress held at the MDC
Provincial Offices. Former Deputy Mayor, Councillor Angilacala Ndlovu is
that man. We urge the people of Bulawayo to rally behind the new Executive
as we continue to fight for democracy in Zimbabwe. Victor Moyo, Information
and Publicity Secretary, MDC Bulawayo Province