|
Zimbabwe is one of the poorest
country's on Earth, but clearly despot Robert Mugabe doesn't seem to care on his
89th birthday.
The president celebrated it by immortalising himself in freshly minted gold coins and held a lavish party with a giant cake.
Guests, including his wife, first lady
Grace, tucked into the four-tier treat made in his honour at the state house
before he gave a thank-you speech.
Minted: Zimbabwe dictator
Robert Mugabe had the coins made to celebrate his 89th
birthday
The celebration came amid accusations that Mugabe is losing his grip on a country he has ruled since coming to power in 1980 and resorting to violence.
His party are suspected of being involved in the death of the 12-year-old son of a local official who is supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Christpowers Maisiri was burned to death while sleeping in a hut with his brothers last weekend in Headlands district, 110 miles east of Harare.
Birthday boy: Robert Mugabe celebrates with his wife Grace, right, as they have a slice from the four-tier cake at the party in Harare
Tsvangirai and Mugabe were forced into a power-sharing government in 2009 and will resume their rivalry in elections expected around July.
The MDC quickly blamed Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, saying the alleged killers were after the boy's father, Shepherd.
ZANU-PF denied killing the boy and accused the MDC of trying to fan pre-election tensions in the southern African state.
Thank-you: Mugabe makes a speech at the party to celebrate his birthday
"ZANU-PF is under siege, 'Tsvangirai said while addressing mourners and supporters attending the burial in Headlands, a tobacco-growing district.
'They are in a corner and this is a desperate act from a party that is losing power.'
Fighting back tears, Shepherd Maisiri said he had been subjected to violence and intimidation from ZANU-PF supporters since 2000. His son had been born in the bush because his parents had to flee from opponents, he said.
Tsvangirai said he had shown Mugabe pictures of the charred remains of the boy during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and that the president had 'shrunk' in disbelief and ordered a full investigation.
Tsvangirai, former trade union leader was forced to quit a presidential run-off race in 2008 after 200 of his supporters died in political violence blamed on ZANU-PF members.
'We are hurt but not intimidated. This
has to end, starting with the arrest of the people who committed this heinous
crime,' said Tsvangirai.
He said he could not vouch for Mugabe's sincerity when calling for peaceful elections.
http://mg.co.za/
02 MAR 2013 19:37 - GILLIAN
GOTORA
Robert Mugabe, celebrating his 89th birthday, has said he will
defeat his
opponents in elections this year and remain in power for another
five years.
President Robert Mugabe cut an 89-kilogram cake at a
sports arena in this
mining town of Bindura, about 90-kilometres northeast
of Harare. Youth
groups of his Zanu-PF party said they walked to the bash to
celebrate his
"walk through a life of struggle against colonialism and
Western
imperialism."
Mugabe said he was confident his Zanu-PF party
will triumph at the polls and
accused his rivals of claiming a recent
increase in political violence was
intended to cover up an upcoming election
defeat under the guise that the
polls would not be free and fair.
The
nation's central bank governor donated 89 cows to Mugabe.
Mugabe said he
was moved by the gifts and all the "giving hearts" of his
supporters.
"The love that comes from the heart is far more valuable
than the presents,"
he said.
The local provincial governor Martin
Dinha promised that free food at the
venue for an estimated 20 000 people
was plentiful and later in the evening
there was to be "entertainment
galore."
Officials of Mugabe's party reportedly collected donations of
$600 000 for
the occasion.
As about 1.5 million Zimbabweans across
the nation rely on food aid in the
troubled economy, a diamond mining firm
linked to Mugabe's loyalist police
and military who control the eastern
diamond fields helped pay for the
two-metre long cake, the biggest of five
lavish cakes on display.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, in a shaky
coalition with Mugabe brokered
by regional leaders after violent and
disputed elections in 2008, was in
central Zimbabwe on Saturday launching
his party's campaign for a 'Yes' vote
in a referendum on a new constitution
on March 16.
Parliamentary and presidential elections to end the
coalition that are
scheduled later, possibly around
July.
Clampdown
The death of the 12-year-old son of an aspiring
Tsvangirai election
candidate in an alleged arson attack last Saturday was
publicised with
photographs of the charred corpse by Tsvangirai's party to
attract
international news headlines, Mugabe said.
He said police
investigations into the death were still to be concluded. But
police said
Friday foul play was not suspected in the fire in a rural
eastern stronghold
of Mugabe's party.
In a nationwide birthday broadcast on state television
late Friday, Mugabe
said the coalition had become dysfunctional and was
"never meant to go on
forever."
He said Tsvangirai's former
opposition wanted to cling to the financial
privileges and power that
belonging to the coalition gave them.
"They want to enjoy the ride to the
maximum, they have never had it before
and they know they will never have it
again," he said.
"They are building a false picture of violence which we
do not know anything
about," Mugabe said.
Mugabe militants and
loyalist security services are blamed for human rights
abuses and vote
rigging in previous elections over the past decade.
Human rights and
civic groups say they have been the target of a worsening
clampdown by
police this year. In February, four groups were raided and had
documents and
equipment seized.
On Friday, police seized 180 cheap, hand-cranked and
solar powered radio
receivers from a media freedom group in the second city
of Bulawayo.
Police have banned the radios, saying they are capable of
receiving what
they call pirate stations beamed from outside the country
that are not
controlled by Mugabe's state broadcasting monopoly.
The
Centre for Community Development, an independent pro-democracy and
education
charity, said Saturday the clampdown was intended at cowing civic
groups
campaigning for free and fair polling.
"These trends are consistent with
a venal and authoritarian state that has
no regard whatsoever for people's
rights and freedoms," the group said. –
Sapa-AP.
By Nelson Banya | Reuters –
3 hours ago
BINDURA, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe on Saturday
denied his ZANU-PF party had launched a violent campaign
to intimidate
rivals in elections expected in July, which he hopes will
extend his 33
years in power.
Addressing a rally to mark his 89th
birthday last week, Africa's oldest
leader denied accusations by the rival
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
that ZANU-PF was playing dirty ahead of
the presidential and parliamentary
polls.
"We are going to win these elections, and we are going to win them
peacefully," Mugabe told the rally in Bindura, 85 km (53 miles) north of the
capital Harare.
"Our rivals are running scared, ridiculously blaming us
for every incident
of violence in the country, pinning every death on us to
get sympathy from
abroad and especially from their Western supporters," he
added.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in
1980,
has become a pariah in the West, blamed for running a once-prosperous
country into the ground, human rights abuses, and violent, rigged
elections.
Political analysts say ZANU-PF faces a stern challenge from the
MDC in the
next polls as many Zimbabweans blame Mugabe for a decade-long
economic
crisis which peaked in 2008 with inflation over 500 percent, food
shortages
and unemployment over 80 percent.
Mugabe was forced to share
power with Tsvangirai's MDC four years ago after
violent and disputed
elections in 2008.
One of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Mugabe has been
endorsed as ZANU-PF
presidential candidate despite concerns over his
age.
The veteran ruler accuses the West of plotting his downfall as
punishment
for his seizure, since 2000, of white-owned commercial farms to
resettle
landless blacks.
Although he appears spritely, there have been
rumours about his health. A
June 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by
WikiLeaks said Mugabe had
prostate cancer that had spread to other organs.
According to the cable, he
was apparently urged by his physician to step
down in 2008.
Mugabe made no reference to his health when he addressed
thousands of
ZANU-PF supporters on Saturday, focusing on party unity,
defending his
policies of seizing white-owned farms for blacks and forcing
foreign-owned
firms to sell majority stakes to locals.
"We make no
apology whatsoever for our policies because they are designed to
achieve
wealth and total independence for us as a people," he said to a
cheering
crowd in a speech in which, as usual, he also denounced Western
critics.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Blessing
Zulu
01.03.2013
WASHINGTON — Zimbabwean women from across the
political divide and civil
society set aside their political differences
Friday for an inter-party
indaba and a peaceful protest march through the
streets of Harare to
denounce political violence.
They met at the
Crown Plaza Hotel in Harare before marching to parliament
where they gave a
petition to senate president Edna Madzongwe.
The women from the three
political parties in the Government of National
Unity, President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and the other formation of the MDC led
by Industry Minister
Welshman Ncube, declared zero tolerance to political
violence.
They
vowed to spread the message to women at grassroots level and urge them
not
to vote for known perpetrators of political violence.
The women also
denounced the death in Headlands, Manicaland Province, last
Saturday of
12-year old Christpower Maisiri, son of an MDC-T official. He
was torched to
death in a suspected arson attack.
The MDC charges that Zanu-PF
supporters were responsible for the attack. But
police say they are still
investigating.
The women also voiced their concern at a recent incident
in which a Zanu-PF
parliamentarian, Sarah Mahoka of Hurungwe East, was
assaulted in a case of
intra-party violence.
Zanu-PF Women’s Assembly
secretary Oppah Muchinguri told VOA that violence
must be condemned and
urged the media not to tolerate hate speech.
Sibongile Masara, secretary
general of the MDC-T Women’s Assembly, said
Zimbabwean women are tired of
violence, adding perpetrators should be
arrested.
Thandiwe Mlilo,
chairperson of the MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube, said
the women from
the three political parties have agreed that they will do all
in their power
to ensure violence is removed from Zimbabwean communities.
http://nehandaradio.com
on March 2, 2013 at 2:37
pm
By Samuel Takawira
HARARE - Civil society
organizations in Zimbabwe have registered their
disappointment at the lack
of professionalism by members of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police and have urged
government to reign in partisan officers
acting as political commissars for
Zanu PF.
Phillip Pasirayi the Director of the Centre for Community
Development in
Zimbabwe
Speaking at a press conference held in the city
on Friday, Phillip Pasirayi
the Director of the Centre for Community
Development in Zimbabwe expressed
his dismay over the state police force’s
partisan operations.
“We call upon the ZRP to execute its mandate
professionally to bring to book
all the perpetrators of rights violations
without fear or favor. We urge the
ZRP to stop harassing civil society
organizations who are doing their work
in providing goods and services for
the good of our country,” said Pasirayi.
He said the raids by police and
incarceration of civil society activists is
meant to cow civil society into
submission ahead of planned elections this
year.
“We are shocked by
the lack of professionalism by members of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police who
always have excuses as to why they cannot bring
perpetrators of political
violence to the book,” Pasirayi said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
I SAPA
ZIMBABWE will ignore the rulings of South African courts
hearing challenges
to the country’s reforms by some white former commercial
farmers, President
Robert Mugabe has said.
More than 4,000 white
commercial farmers have lost their farms since 2000
when Zimbabwe launched a
land reform programme Mugabe said was needed to
address historic imbalances
in land distribution as well as economically
empower the country’s black
majority.
But 78 of the ex-farmers are challenging the process in South
Africa’s
courts.
However, Mugabe told state media Friday that
Zimbabwe would not be bound by
the decisions of the courts.
“In South
Africa they have certain elements outside the ANC and cannot be
controlled
by the ANC and these are elements that once upon a time where
here and were
unseated by us and have realised that in South Africa you can
go to court
and get judgements,” he said
“But let them have those judgments, we will
simply ignore them, South
African courts have no jurisdiction over us so we
will simply ignore them.”
South Africa's constitutional court reserved
judgment on Thursday on whether
local courts could enforce rulings made by
the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) tribunal against
Zimbabwe.
The case involves 78 Zimbabwean farmers who lost their farms
during the land
reforms and successfully petitioned the SADC Tribunal in
2007 for
compensation.
Zimbabwean officials ignored two of the
tribunal's orders resulting in the
farmers approaching the North Gauteng
High Court in Pretoria to have the
orders enforced in South
Africa.
The High Court ordered the seizure of several Cape Town
properties which
were owned by the Zimbabwean government.
Zimbabwe
approached the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to have the
ruling
revoked. The application was denied. The country then asked the
Supreme
Court of Appeal to intervene. Their application was again dismissed.
But,
in its application to the Constitutional Court, Zimbabwe argued that
protocol did not allow for a judgment obtained against Zimbabwe to be
enforced in South Africa.
Meanwhile, AfriForum lawyer Willie Spies
expressed his satisfaction with the
course of the trial.
"If the appeal
by Zimbabwe is dismissed, international legal history will be
made, as the
planned sale will be the first sale in execution of property
belonging to a
state that had been found guilty of gross human rights
violations," he
said.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 March 2013
00:00
Michael Chingarande Herald Reporter
University of
Zimbabwe whizz-kid Maud Chifamba, who became the youngest
student at 14 the
college last year, continues to dazzle.
The 15-year-old prodigy became the
youngest student at university in
Zimbabwe after scoring 12 points in her
Advanced Level examinations.
According to the Forbes magazine, Maud is the
youngest and one of the most
powerful women in Africa because of her amazing
intellectual levels.
She has obtained two distinctions, two 2.1 and one 2.2
in her first semester
subjects. The bright teenager is studying towards an
accounts degree.
In a rare interview yesterday, Maud said she feels she
is capable of
impressing and would continue to break records in the academic
field.
She feels she is settled at the UZ and is raring to tackle anything
that
comes her way.
“During my first days at the institution, I felt
uneasy being the youngest
and the centre of attraction.
“Now I feel
secure and I am prepared to face any challenge that comes my
way.
“I wish
and pray that nothing will stop me and I look forward to achieving a
first
class,” she said.
The determined Maud puts her efforts to study and has
embarked on a
dedicated reading routine lasting several hours a day.
“I
am happy studying at this institution because everyone treats me like
their
little sister, both female and male students, and they help me when I
need
assistance.
“I study during the night and one thing that has motivated me
to become a
hard worker is the environment I was raised in. I had to push
myself to work
for me and also for my brothers,” she said.
Maud said
she is aiming at becoming an inspiration in the world of business.
She hopes
to run her own company one day in the future.
“It takes hard work to reach
the top and that has motivated me to set a
target in my life to be an
inspiration in the world of business and run my
own company which will
dominate the world.”
Born in humble surroundings, the young genius has
become an inspiration not
only to Zimbabwe but to the whole world.
Maud
was born on November 19, 1997 in the Hunters resettlement areas of
Chegutu.
She, however, lost her father when she was five years old.
Gifted with
natural intelligence, Maud’s promising future was apparent from
an early
age.
Her remarkable aptitude impressed her primary school teachers who
decided to
move her up from Grade 3 to Grade 6. She took her Grade Seven
examinations
at nine years and had six units.
Without financial
support, Maud studied on her own and completed her
Ordinary Level in just
two years.
She scored 12 points in her Advanced Level examinations at 14
years of age.
This did not shake the world but has also inspired her young
brother Mukundi
who is set to write his O Level examinations this
year.
Her intelligence has earned her support through scholarships and
stationery
from various corporates and charity.
UZ Dean of Students Mr
Munyaradzi Madambi described Maud as a polite young
girl.
“We are
happy to be working with such a miracle. We are motivated by her
because she
is warm and polite not only to us but to everyone she socialises
with and
talks to.”
Zimbabwe has an adult literacy rate of 92 percent and is the
highest in
Africa, according to the Unicef.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 March 2013
00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
Mashonaland Central
traditional leader Chief Negomo, Mr Luscious Chitsinde,
has resolved to
attach property belonging to Tavydale Farm owner Mr Pip
Mattison for failing
to pay compensation to farmers who had their crops
destroyed in a land
dispute.
The commercial farmer destroyed 300 hectares of maize crop belonging
to 55
A1 farmers at the height of the dispute.
The chief had in January
ordered Mr Mattison to pay US$1,1 million which he
said was equivalent to
the cost of inputs the farmers had used for the crop.
Chief Negomo gave
Mr Mattison up to February 23 2013 to pay compensation in
a default
judgment.
Mr Mattison had refused to attend the traditional court arguing
that it had
no jurisdiction over the case.
Chief Negomo’s spokesperson Mr
Dougmore Chimukoko confirmed the development
yesterday.
“The Chief’s
court had given Mattison up to February 23 to pay compensation
but he failed
to do that within the given time.
“We are now preparing papers to go and
attach property with the equivalent
value of the money he was ordered to
pay,” said Mr Chimukoko.
He said a messenger of the traditional leader’s
court would soon be
dispatched to attach the property.
The
development comes as Mr Mattison’s lawyer, Mr Tich Muhonde is struggling
to
get a copy of the judgment.
Mr Muhonde said he went to Chief Negomo’s
traditional court to make a
request of the judgment so that he could use it
to challenge the
jurisdiction of the chief before a Bindura provincial
magistrate.
The lawyer had filed papers at Bindura magistrate court
challenging the
authority of Chief Negomo to hear the land case.
“I went
to Chief Negomo’s traditional court with a request to get a
judgment.
“The magistrate at Bindura wants to have sight of the
judgment before he can
make a determination on our application.
“Our view
is that the failure by the Chief to furnish us with the judgment
is a
violation of our client’s right to justice,” said Mr Muhonde.
Asked if that
meant the judgment by Chief Negomo stood in the absence of a
higher court
setting it aside, Mr Muhonde said the order was a nullity.
“It just means
that there is a stalemate.
“The judgment is a nullity because he has no
authority to hear a land case,”
he said.
Lands and Rural Resettlement
Minister Herbert Murerwa has since said
Tavydale Farm was protected under
the Bilateral Investment Promotion
Agreement and thereby the property would
not be acquired for resettlement.
He said the 55 A1 farmers, who are
valid holders of offer letters signed by
the District Administrator would be
given alternative land.
In addition to the US$1,1 million, Chief Negomo
ordered Mr Mattison to pay
two head of cattle, three goats, two sheep, a
cock and a 10-metre cloth for
cleansing purposes.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said his empowerment
minister was wrong to
sign-off the Zimplats indigenisation compliance deal
which has left the
tax-payer facing a possible US$350 million
hit.
Mugabe piled pressure on Saviour Kasukuwere over the Zimplats deal
during an
interview with state media to mark his 89th birthday.
The
Zanu PF leader said Kasukuwere was wrong to endorse an agreement that
requires the government to pay for shares acquired under the country’s
indigenisation programme.
South Africa-based Impala Platinum
(Implats), early this year, reached a
deal to reduce its interest in
Zimplats to 49 percent from about 87 percent
in line with the country’s
indigenisation legislation.
Foreign companies cannot own more than 51
percent of their Zimbabwe
operations under a programme driven by Mugabe’s
Zanu PF party but opposed by
his coalition partners.
Under the terms
of the US$971 million Zimplats deal, 20 percent of the
shares were handed
to community and employee share schemes while the
state-run National
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund (NIEEF)
would take-over a 31
percent interest in the platinum miner.
Implats however, insisted that
Zimbabwe must pay about US$350 million for
the NIEEB shareholding.
"If
they don't come up with the cash the stake will not be transferred,"
Implats’ then chief executive, David Brown, said at the time.
But
Mugabe said the mineral resource belonged to Zimbabwe and should make up
the
country’s 51 percent contribution to the business. He said Kasukuwere
made a
mistake when he agreed the deal.
“Problem ndiyoyo, ivo vakatipa 51
percent vachiti chikwereti chatirikukupai
asi tirikukubhadharirai mangwana
mozotibhadhara that is where the difference
is,” the Zanu PF leader
said
“I think that is where our minister made a mistake. He did not quite
understand what was happening and yet theory yedu ndeyekuti resource iyoyo
ndeyedu and that resource is our share that is where the 51 percent comes
from.”
Kasukuwere has led the charge to force foreign companies to comply
with the
country’s indigenisation laws and, buoyed by the Zimplats deal,
recently
indicated he would target the banking sector.
However,
questions have been raised over some of the transactions agreed to
date with
critics also querying the role of a Harare-based advisory firm
which is
demanding US$17 million for consultancy work on the Zimplats deal
alone.
Implats has refused to pay the fee arguing the company was
engaged by and
provided its services to the NIEEB and the Zimbabwe
government.
Meanwhile, the government has given Implats 30 days to appeal
the seizure of
about 28,000 hectares of land believed to hold significant
mineral resources
for allocation to new investors.
“The President
intends to acquire compulsorily part of the land held by
Zimplats Holdings …
for the utilisation of such mining location for the
benefit of the public,”
a government notice said Saturday.
However Implats is already demanding
US$153 million from the government for
ground released in 2006 and has said
conclusion of the indigenisation
transaction also depends on an agreement
being reached over the sum.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 March 2013 14:15
HARARE - Zimbabwe
Platinum Mines Limited (Zimplats) has posted a $6,4
million loss in the half
year to December 2012, in a development that could
jeorpadise the
indigenisation of the platinum miner in 10 years.
This comes as the
platinum group metals producer officially distanced itself
from Brainworks
Capital Management (Private) Limited — a private equity
investment firm that
acted as financial advisor to the National
Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board (Nieeb) in the $971 million
deal.
George Manyere’s
Brainworks is reeling after its $17 million consultancy
invoice hit a
brickwall, with Zimplats refusing to pay the cash saying it
was Nieeb that
hired the consultants and therefore must settle the bill.
Alex Mhembere,
Zimplats chief executive, said in a press statement yesterday
that his
company has no contractual relationship with Brainworks and said it
was not
responsible for the payment of Brainworks’ fees for consultancy
services
rendered in relation to the indigenisation implementation plan
(IIP).
“The company wishes to make it clear that neither it nor its
operating
subsidiary has any relationship with Brainworks,” Mhembere
said.
“Brainworks was engaged by the National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board (Nieeb) and acted for and advised Nieeb/the Government of
Zimbabwe in the negotiations between Nieeb/the Government and the company in
relation to the operating subsidiary’s IIP.
“Neither the company nor
the operating subsidiary was involved in any way in
engaging Brainworks to
act as advisors to Nieeb/the Government.”
Further, said Mhembere,
“neither the company nor the operating subsidiary
agreed or undertook to pay
any fees raised by Brainworks for consultancy
services provided by
Brainworks to Nieeb/the government.”
Under the deal, indigenous people
must pay $971 million within a period of
10 years, failure of which the
shares revert back to the owners of Zimplats.
If indigenous Zimbabwe fail to
pay the cash in 10 years, which is now almost
certain given the dire
financial situation reported by Zimplats, they will
be given 10 days within
which to pay cash or they will forfeit the shares.
Payment of the shares
will come from 85 percent of the dividends declared by
Zimplats over the
10-year period.
But already, Zimplats has posted a staggering loss, and
has in the last 10
years only paid a total dividend of $50 million making it
almost certain
from the onset that the indigenous people will not be able to
pay the $1
billion repayment to secure their 51 percent.
According to
Zimplats’ financial statement, the miner registered a $68,4
million profit
in the half year to December 2011.
But in its latest results, the group
said in the half year to December 2012,
it incurred a $6,4 million loss due
to subdued platinum prices.
“Markets metal prices have remained depressed
although there has been some
recent improvement in response to the problems
experienced by the major PGM
producers in South Africa,” Zimplats
said.
The Australia Stock Exchange-listed miner said turnover during the
period
under review slumped 23 percent to $176 million from $231 million on
the
back of lower volume of metal sales. - Gift Phiri and Eric Chiriga
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/
March
1, 2013 -
Haru
Mutasa
Haru Mutasa is a South Africa-based correspondent for Al Jazeera
English.
The UN dispute tribunal has ruled that senior UN officials did
not act on
health warnings by a member of its staff in Zimbabwe because the
organisation did not want to upset the government of Robert Mugabe.
I
don't know whether it's true someone was fired for criticising Zimbabwe's
president.
What I know is that it's not easy for local and
international aid agencies
to operate in Zimbabwe.
With just over two
weeks to a referendum on a new constitution, and general
elections expected
later in the year, offices of aid agencies and
non-government offices are
being raided by the police. Police officials say
they are looking for
documents and equipment illegally smuggled into the
country.
Human
rights activists say the state is trying to intimidate and stifle
freedom of
speech before the polls.
The mood is tense in Harare, the capital, but
not as tense as it was back in
2008 at the height of that year's election
campaign.
President Mugabe was facing off with the now Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
It was incredibly difficult for aid agencies to
work and move around freely
in the rural areas.
Officials wanted to
expose the human rights violations happening but doing
so could mean having
your organisation kicked out of the country.
Whether senior UN officials
chose to ignore warning bells about Zimbabwe's
cholera epidemic may never
really be known.
If it is true, it is disturbing especially as the
country prepares for
another election. How often has this happened and is it
still happening?
Intolerance
There have been a few positive
developments in the country, but ZANU-PF,
Mugabe's party, still does not
tolerate criticism.
Five years since a cholera outbreak killed more than
4,000 people in
Zimbabwe, families living in Harare's poor suburbs are still
struggling to
get clean water.
Rosemary Masigare is a very loud and
opinionated resident in Harare's
Mabvuku suburb.
"We are dying of
thirst, we need water for the toilets," she tells me. "We
have small
children. The flies are coming from the toilet and going on to
our
food."
There are nearly two million people living in Harare. More than a
decade of
economic decline means the state hasn't been able to repair or
replace old
infrastructure.
The cholera outbreak has since been
contained but occasionally a few people
get sick with typhoid and
cholera.
I wonder if the 4,000 or so people who died of cholera in 2008
would still
be alive today if non-government organisation and government
officials had
acted sooner.
ZANU-PF says international aid agencies
are allowed to operate freely in the
country. But international aid agencies
and non-government organisations
have in the past been warned they could get
kicked out of the country if
they offend the government here.
How
free are they going to be in 2013 when Zimbabweans line up to vote
again?
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 March 2013 14:15
HARARE - In 1958,
Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe’s book: Things Fall Apart
was published and
little did he know that in 2013 the words in the book:
“When things fall
apart, the centre cannot hold” would be used to describe
the constitutional
challenges that Zimbabwe faces after 33 years of
independence.
The
revolution promised to move the country from an undemocratic and unequal
society to a more democratic and prosperous one. It promised a
constitutional order that protected not the strongest but the
weakest.
Furthermore, it promised a separation of powers to ensure checks
and
balances required to underpin a constitutional democracy would be in
place.
The indigenisation programme was never meant to be a proxy for
nationalisation.
The call for the levelling of the economic playing
field was targeted and
specific to remedy a historical injury and less to
circumvent the
constitutional prohibitions against deprivation of property
that
indigenisation can assume if not properly conceptualised and
implemented.
The need for the State to be involved in indigenisation
programmes and
initiatives has to be understood in the context of a
generalised belief that
political freedom in and out of itself does not
alter the inherited class
relations and the weak bargaining power of blacks
can best be cured by
non-market forces.
The Act provided the
framework for the establishment of a ministry of
Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment and the fact that Youth Development
was added to the ministry
goes a long way towards exposing the state of mind
of the people who put
together the ministry and the thinking that equates
youth matters with the
issues of economically inferior market participants.
Independence was
expected to bring into being the “economically born frees”
but the mere fact
that the beneficiaries of the indigenisation programmes
are not prescribed
suggests that independence has failed to deliver the
promise.
In
1980, the first legitimate black Prime Minister took office and it is the
general perception that a solid foundation of a democratic constitutional
order was laid.
Parliament performed its mandate and the PM was a
member of the legislature
allowing for him to be closer to the
ground.
Many looked forward to the PM’s Question Time and even the then
PM would
agree that he learned from the experience about the real
developments taking
place.
When the Constitution was amended to
create the Office of an Executive
President, things did not fall apart
immediately but the president, with the
passage of time, lost contact with
the people’s representatives.
The president is an extremely gifted person
but the reality is that no
person, however, smart can pretend to know the
universe even if such
universe was his or her household.
He is after
all a human being. With the face of the president removed from
Parliament,
things began to fall apart gradually with members of the
executive branch of
the government increasingly feeling that their duty was
to the appointer,
the president, and less to the state that they ought to
have a duty
to.
It is, therefore, not to be unexpected that ministers will queue to
see the
president and less to be visible in Parliament.
An
indigenisation programme that operates like a car with an accelerator but
without breaks is doomed to fail.
The events or transactions that
have attracted the physical presence of the
president amount to mere photo
opportunities and politically-convenient
tools for ascendancy to
power.
It is significant that on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, the
chairperson of the
Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy, Edward
Chindori-Chininga, called on
government ministers who fail to respond to
portfolio committee reports on
time or at all to be
penalised.
Surely, this kind of call would have been unthinkable in 1980
as ministers
knew what time it was.
The fact that Chindori-Chininga said
this while presenting the Committee’s
report to the House on SMM Holdings
Private Limited (“SMM”) is significant.
As background, SMM’s parent
company, SMM Holdings Limited (“SMMH”) was in
1996 acquired by Africa
Resources Limited (“ARL”), a company wholly-owned by
a Zimbabwean-born
person who according to the Indigenisation Act is eligible
and compliant in
so far as the fact that he was born during the colonial era
and, therefore,
his market bargaining power was limited by non-market
forces.
In a
country not polluted by political games, one would expect the ministry
of
Indigenisation to be engaged to ensure that such a person is protected
not
only against white economic domination but a predatory State.
The fact
that Parliament was seized with this matter through the Committee
and no one
including any member of the Executive was concerned about the
fate of the
Zvishavane and Mashava communities including the workers whose
jobs and
careers were affected by an act of State says a lot about the true
condition
of the Republic at this defining hour in the nation’s history.
Whereas
Chindori-Chininga laments about the ineffectiveness of the oversight
role,
the PM seemingly oblivious of this called for a Parliamentary
investigation
into the country’s indigenisation programme saying he was
concerned about
allegations of gross irregularities and claims only a few
individuals were
profiting from the deals.
The PM had this to say in a statement: “I am
concerned about the possibility
of a few individuals benefitting from a
programme purportedly meant for the
majority of the Zimbabweans. I am
equally concerned with reports that some
relevant Government organs were
kept in the dark about the full nature of
some of these
transactions.”
It is ironic that the PM has not made a similar call for a
probe on the
circumstances leading to SMM’s demise leaving the Portfolio
Committee to
operate with little or no support from the executive branch of
government.
Could politics be at play?
Even Tsvangirai would agree
that jobs have been lost due to the SMM saga and
more importantly the
inclusive government is coming to an end with
Chindori-Chininga complaining
about the conduct of four Ministers who all
are members of the Council of
Ministers that he chairs.
Surely, the PM should be concerned about all
actions and choices that
prejudice the country because political point
scoring does not advance any
national interest.
I have no doubt the
reaction to the call for a probe by Parliament given the
experience on the
SMM matter has some merit in that it would be unreasonable
to expect one
minister to respect the authority of a parliamentary committee
when others
can get away with it.
When things fall apart; one cannot expect Cabinet
to perform and to be more
accountable to Parliament as recommended by
Chindori-Chininga.
The PM must be acutely aware that the challenges of
poverty, unemployment
and inequality will only be met when all the organs of
State act as one and
do what they are constitutionally expected to
do.
It would appear the PM would want Parliament to assume the role of
the
president in so far as supervising ministers.
It is evident the
last 33 years have created a power vacuum that any
ambitious minister fills
without let or hindrance.
What is the point of having a new constitution
when there is no appetite to
respect the current one?
I should like
to believe the PM acting together with his two other
Principals have the
power to establish the facts that he wants Parliament to
get in respect of
not only the Nieebgate deals but all deals including SMM
that seem to impact
adversely on the standing and reputation of the
government that he is an
integral part of.
Zimbabweans deserve better. The constitutional
challenge alluded to by
Chindori-Chininga coupled with the hesitancy by
legislators to debate the
SMM matter openly and transparently does affect
the country.
It would appear there are many people who would want to
relegate the SMM
matter to a Zanu PF issue forgetting Chindori-Chininga’s
words: “SMM touches
on a very important natural resource which has the
potential to generate
substantial revenue.”
Chindori-Chininga called
for the act used to grab SMM, the Reconstruction of
State Indebted Insolvent
Companies Act to be repealed.
This Act to the extent that it has been
successfully used under the partial
and qualified watch of the PM to deprive
an indigenous person as defined in
the indigenisation legislation may very
well be used at a later stage to
undermine any gains claimed under the deals
that he wants probed.
Any minister assigned the responsibility to
administer the Indigenisation
Act will necessarily need guidance that
appears to be missing in action on
how best he can prosecute a war without
ammunition and with bosses whose
actions may be primarily driven by the need
to win elections without a
definite programme of where they would want to
take the country.
The country needs direction and leadership.
The
SMM family has been let down. Chindori-Chininga’s Committee has
completed
its work admitting failure and the same goes for the Co-ministers
of Home
Affairs who specified me only to de-specify me minus the assets that
I had
when I was specified.
I have no doubt that God is watching, for the
people elected to protect the
victims are selective and hypocritical. -
Mutumwa Mawere
http://www.cathybuckle.com
March 2, 2013, 10:02 am
Dear Family and
Friends,
By the time you read this letter a twelve year old boy will have
been buried
in Headlands. His is one of the first names that will go on the
2013 Roll of
Honour commemorating victims of political violence in another
election year
in Zimbabwe. Just two weeks after the date of our
constitutional referendum
was announced, a little boy died, burnt to death
in the middle of the night.
Photographs of Christpower Simbarashe Maisiri
are all over the internet:
gruesome, horrific, haunting. But the image that
will stay forever in our
minds is the picture of a grinning cheeky- faced
boy dressed in dungarees
without a T shirt standing under a bright blue sky
in front of a thatched
house with a view of grassland and mountains behind
him. Christpower’s
father, Shepherd is an MDC deputy organising secretary
in the area and he
and his family have been repeatedly targeted by political
militia. Their
story is a litany of horror which has included rape and
repeated incidents
of arson. Shepherd Maisiri told SW Radio Africa that one
day before the
latest attack he had set out on MDC campaign business when he
was approached
by two people who said they were going to ‘finish him off.’
24 hours later
while Shepherd was away from home, men came in the
night.
On the night of Saturday 23rd February Christpower was asleep in a
thatched
house with four of his siblings. Witnesses said that they heard an
explosion sometime after 11 pm, rushed outside and found the house the
children were sleeping in was on fire. An older boy sleeping in another hut
managed to smash the door open and rescued four children but when the roof
collapsed he could not get to Christpower who burnt to
death.
‘Murderers,” was the huge front page headline of the Daily News
and then
despite attempts to whitewash the horror, saying the fire was just
arson and
not politically motivated, it was the actions that followed that
spoke much
louder than the words. Shepherd Maisiri told SW Radio Africa that
CIO men
arrived at his burnt homestead in a car without number plates but he
refused
to discuss the matter with them saying it was a matter for police
not state
security agents. When he asked them why their vehicle had no
number plates
the men said they must have fallen off on the journey. “Even
in my state of
grieving I’m not that stupid or naïve to believe that,”
Maisiri said.
Meanwhile at the highest levels of government a cabinet
meeting had left
incensed MDC MP’s demanding accountability and naming
names. Quoted in the
Press a few days later MDC’s Minister of Finance
Tendai Biti said: “We told
Didymus Mutasa (Zanu PF MP) that he is behind the
murder of this boy. If he
thought we were hiding under the cover of cabinet
privilege, we are now
saying it in public. Mutasa you killed this boy. If
you think we are lying
take us to court for defamation.”
The day
before the funeral after senior MDC officials, including Prime
Minister
Tsvangirai, announced that they were going to travel to Headlands
to attend
the burial of Christpower, the MDC’s Manicaland spokesperson
said: “They
(CIO and war vets) went around the villages last night telling
people not to
attend the burial and that there would be dire consequences
for anyone seen
going to a gathering to be addressed by Tsvangirai.”
This letter is in
memory of a little boy, Christpower Maisiri ; how sorry we
are; rest in
peace. Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
March 2, 2013, 4:08
am
Speaking on Thames TV last week, Robert Mugabe is reported to have
told his
interviewer that “opposition is a luxury”. What he meant, of
course, was
opposition to him and his views. They say wisdom comes with age
but at 89
Mugabe seems to have become even more authoritarian and intolerant
of any
point of view but his own. Unlike the other octogenarian on the
world’s
stage, Mugabe will not retire gracefully to ‘read and pray’ as Pope
Benedict
has done. Not for Mugabe a time of quiet meditation and reflection
before
the end; he wants to die in office, seemingly oblivious to whether
it’s good
for the country.
Apparently the Zanu PF Youth League
presented Mugabe with 89 gold coins
for each year of his life. In contrast
to Mugabe’s long life, young
Christopher Maisiri lived just twelve years -
but then Christopher’s father
is a member of the opposition, what Mugabe
calls a ‘luxury’. The blessing of
a long life was cruelly denied young
Christopher when he was burnt to death
while sleeping in his bedroom. Mugabe
himself has known the sorrow of losing
a son but his Zanu PF thugs are
immune to pity, seemingly deaf to their
leader’s repeated calls for an end
to violence. Christopher’s father,
Shepherd Maisiri is an MDC activist and
his son has paid the price for ‘the
luxury of opposition.’ His twelve years
of life began in the mountains where
he was born after his mother escaped
from Zanu PF. In his short life,
Christopher had seen his mother raped,
spent nights on the run from Zanu PF
thugs and seen his home burnt out nine
times. All this took place in Didymus
Mutasa’s home area of Headlands. So,
what did the Vice president have to say
about the tragedy? He said Shepherd
Maisiri was a friend of his and what is
more, Mutasa claimed, Shepherd
Maisiri is a Zanu PF man; that was news to
Shepherd!
Oddly enough,
the story of Christopher’s death was not even reported in
the state media.
There was a strange postscript to the story when CIO agents
in an unmarked
vehicle arrived at the Maisiri homestead. When Shepherd asked
them why they
were driving an unmarked vehicle they told him their number
plates must have
fallen off on the rough roads leading to his Headlands
home. It would be
interesting to learn how many other drivers’ number
plates, front and back,
fall off while driving on rough country roads!
As the week
progressed, the explanations for the tragedy of the young
boy’s death grew
more and more bizarre. At a stormy cabinet meeting, the MDC’s
Tendayi Biti
produced shocking photographs of Christopher’s charred remains
and, despite
his earlier comments, Didymus Mutasa denied any knowledge of
the incident –
even though it took place in his own home area! Then it was
the turn of
Rugare Gumbo, the presidential spokesperson. “Zanu PF had
nothing to do with
it,” he declared, “it was all ‘staged’ by the MDC”. There
are reports that
it was Zanu PF activists who caused the death of the twelve
year old boy;
true or not the fact remains that there is a rising tide of
violence as the
election date draws nearer. MPs demanded action from Robert
Mugabe so off he
went to see Augustine Chihuri. “Not all violence is
politically motivated.”
Mugabe said, “Some people perpetrate violence
without being sent by anyone.”
Not much comfort for Christopher’s parents as
they mourn the death of their
son. Christopher was buried at his home on
Thursday in front of crowds of
people who defied war veterans’orders not to
attend his funeral.
In
Zimbabwe, Zanu PF politics rule over life and death.
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson.
