(AFP) – 2 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday
called for
peace and demanded political reforms before any election to
replace a
coalition government with his long time rival President Robert
Mugabe.
"There must be a non-violent environment so that people vote in a
free and
fair vote," Tsvangirai said while addressing hundreds of workers
marking
Workers Day at Gwanzura stadium in Harare.
"Elections must
not reproduce the 2008 scenario where Tsvangirai wins but
cannot form a
government, that we will not accept."
"This unity government must be
ended by a process which was agreed by SADC
(Southern African Development
Community), there must be a new constitution,
there must be a referendum, a
new voters roll," he added.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe formed a coalition
government in February 2009 after a
disputed presidential poll run-off in
June 2008.
Tsvangirai, who won the first round of the vote in March 2008
pulled out of
the run-off citing violence against his supporters.
The
prime minister's Movement for Democratic Change has said over 200
supporters
and officials of the party were murdered during the presidential
run-off.
The party blamed the violence on Mugabe's ZANU PF party.
Mugabe who has
ruled the country since 1980 when the country won its
independence continues
to insist that elections will be held this year while
Tsvangirai says
reforms are a condition to guarantee a free and fair vote.
The southern
African country is currently drafting a new constitution which
will go to a
referendum before elections according to the political
agreement brokered by
SADC to form a coalition government.
By Tichaona
Sibanda
01 May 2012
Principals to the GPA will receive a draft copy of the new constitution on Wednesday, COPAC-co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora said on Tuesday.
‘We managed to resolve some issues on devolution, death penalty and citizenship,’ Mwonzora said, adding that the country should now be able to look forward to having a referendum by August.
The MDC-T MP for Nyanga North and party spokesman, told SW Radio Africa that the co-chairpersons and management committee of COPAC met in Harare on Monday where it was decided the principals will be handed the draft constitution.
The committee that met comprises GPA negotiators from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations, COPAC co-chairpersons and Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga.
‘We presented the draft to the management committee who accepted it. They also authorized that the draft be handed over to the principals, which they will do on Wednesday,’ the MDC-T legislator added.
Mwonzora said they
had reached some agreement on the outstanding issues:
‘On citizenship we
decided that no Zimbabwean by birth must lose their citizenship. Now we have
many Zimbabweans who are citizens of other nations. On that score we resolved
that it would be left to an act of parliament to determine whether to place any
limitations on the rights of people with dual citizenship.
‘For example, that act of parliament will look at a scenario where a Zimbabwean with dual British citizenship can be allowed to stand as a President or Member of Parliament. These limitations are normal and are enshrined in many constitutions around the world. In the USA you can never be a president when you are a citizen of another country,’ Mwonzora said.
‘On death penalty we agreed that it is returnable only in instances of aggravated murder. On the issue of devolution, everything was agreed except on the composition of the provincial assembly. The issue of an elected governor was tentatively agreed.
‘What is left is the structure and composition of the provincial government. Some people still want a provincial government of people elected directly by the electorate, while others want sitting MP’s to be appointed to this provincial set-up,’ Mwonzora said.
He continued: ‘The differences are not many. The management committee has tasked us (co-chairpersons) to meet Wednesday and Thursday to deal with issues that were agreed on and incorporate them into the new constitution.’
Leading pro-democracy activist and lawyer Dewa Mavhinga said COPAC has only managed to deal with a few issues in dispute, leaving the rest to be dealt with by a new government that will emerge after the next elections.
‘Technically by referring some of the issues to parliament is deferring them and leaving it open for a new government to decide after the elections. What it means is that only a new government, elected under a new constitution, can then sit down and decide whether or not to have dual citizenship in Zimbabwe,’ Mavhinga said.
This will come as another setback for millions of Zimbabweans living in exile who were hoping a new constitution would allow them to vote, but it will come as good news to ZANU PF who are reluctant for close to 4 million Zimbabweans in exile to participate in national elections.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/05/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
WORK on the country’s new constitution has stalled over
devolution although
agreement has been reached on dual citizenship,
officials confirmed Tuesday.
A draft of the new charter has since been
handed over to the management
committee which comprises GPA negotiators,
COPAC co-chairs and
constitutional affairs Minister, Eric
Matinenga.
And officials said progress has been made on one of the two
major issues
stalling progress after it was agreed that dual citizenship
would be dealt
with through an act of Parliament.
However, there appears
to be no movement on devolution which President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF
party is bitterly opposed to.
Said COPAC co-chair Paul Mangwana of Zanu
PF: “The document has been
accepted and we can only say the management
committee has unparked dual
citizenship where we agreed that an Act of
Parliament should deal with it.
“As for devolution of power, there were quite
some discussions and we are
close to an agreement.”
Douglas Mwonzora
of the MDC-T added: “The issue of dual citizenship has been
resolved by
leaving everything to an Act of Parliament, but there was no
movement on
devolution of power.”
COPAC is under pressure to complete the writing of the
new charter which is
expected to lead to new elections.
Mugabe and
his coalition partners, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
deputy, Arthur
Mutambara recently expressed concern over delays in the
process and demanded
that exercise be speeded-up.
“The principals to the Global Political
Agreement expressed concern at the
delay in concluding the Constitution by
both the Constitution
Parliamentary Select Committee and the management
committee,” Information
Minister Webster Shamu said last week.
“The
principals directed that the Minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary
Affairs, Advocate Eric Matinenga, should work closely with the
Select
Committee and the management committee in order to conclude the
drafting
process by next week so as to deliver the draft Constitution to the
principals.”
A new constitution was one of a raft of political
reforms agreed under the
GPA. Once completed the charter would be put to a
referendum, leading to new
elections.
Mugabe wants the constitutional
reforms completed in time for elections to
be held this year. The Zanu PF
leader insists that policy and other
differences with his partners have
rendered the coalition government
unworkable.
His rivals however,
disagree on the timing of the new ballot with Tsvangirai
saying it was
unlikely that all the reforms necessary to ensure a credible
ballot would be
completed this year.
The MDC-T leader says a new election is only viable in
2013.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Bridget Mananavire, Staff
Writer
Tuesday, 01 May 2012 11:04
HARARE - Power-sharing
negotiators in the Copac management committee were
last night locked up in a
meeting to break deadlocked issues in the draft
constitution, as the
pressure to complete the draft mounts.
Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana, the Zanu
PF Constitutional Select Committee
(Copac) co-chair confirmed that the
meeting was meant to resolve outstanding
issues that are holding back the
conclusion of the draft constitution.
“We are hoping to resolve the
parked issues in the draft. These are issues
that we have not reached an
agreement on,” he told the Daily News before the
meeting.
The three
principals of the coalition government have been reportedly
pressuring Copac
to finish the draft.
Last week, President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai —
with the backing of Cabinet — issued a
statement expressing worry over the
delays and giving Copac until the end of
this week to complete the draft.
Since 2009 squabbles and disagreements
have been rocking the on-and-off
constitutional process resulting in its
stalling at every turn.
The Copac management committee is made up of
coalition government
negotiators, the three Co-chairpersons of the Select
Committee and the
minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs.
It provides policy direction to the process.
The
constitution-making process has been slowly dragging on, with
accusations
flying that Copac members were forgetting their mandate and
concentrating on
enjoying perks that come with the job.
Copac is a cross-party
parliamentary body leading the writing of the country’s
new constitution,
viewed by regional leaders as key to the future stability
of the
country.
Yesterday’s meeting was supposed to consider queries of some
Zanu PF
officials who last week made demands that could see the process
dragging
again, the officials were advised by the co-chairs to take their
concerns to
the management committee, as principals were getting anxious
over the delays
of the constitution.
Zanu PF members in Copac were
last week reported to have been demanding a
clause by clause review, a
process which according to other members has
already been done.
This
move exposes a deeper drive by Zanu PF members to delay the speedy
completion of a new constitution as demanded by Mugabe, who is pushing hard
for elections this year.
Sources within Copac told the Daily News the
move was spectacular as Zanu PF
co-chair Mangwana had also announced to the
media that the draft was ready
on the same day the principals issued the
statement.
Zimbabwe’s supreme law and future hangs in the balance as it
is tangled in
Zanu PF factional politics and intra-party tug of war. Zanu PF
factions are
at each other’s throats over Mugabe’s succession and have in
the past months
taken their political power tug of war to
Copac.
Front-running the bid to derail the process and force elections
under the
current outdated Lancaster House is serial political flip-flopper
Jonathan
Moyo.
Moyo and Copac officials; including those representing
Zanu PF have been at
each other’s throats following Moyo’s characterisation
of Copac as a “mafia”
driving a regime change agenda in the
country.
Moyo was accused by his fellow party member, Mangwana of
plotting a spirited
campaign against the process describing his actions as
the work of the
devil.
http://www.voanews.com
30 April
2012
Ntungamili Nkomo & Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington
DC
Zimbabwe's constitutional reform movement, the National
Constitutional
Assembly has urged workers to take the lead in rejecting the
new draft
constitution due for a referendum later this year, arguing the
proposed
charter does not reflect majority will.
In a solidarity
statement ahead of Workers' Day Tuesday, the NCA said the
working class
should stand up and demand a fair shake, including better
salaries and
improved working conditions.
The group, which campaigns for a
people-driven constitution also criticized
the government for running down
the economy and relegating the majority of
workers to levels of abject
poverty.
Way behind schedule, the draft charter is under negotiation by
the unity
partners, hard-pressed to reach agreement on several issues,
including
devolution of power, dual citizenship, and the number of vice
presidents the
country should have.
"Workers should take a lead in
rejecting the imposition of a negotiated
document between the two MDCs and
ZANU-PF that COPAC intends to present to
the public as the proposed draft
constitution," said spokesman Madock
Chivasa.
But secretary-general,
Japhet Moyo of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
faction led by George
Nkiwane, said workers will not be influenced by the
NCA.
"We said as
workers that what is going to come out of the process, the
product itself,
will determine whether we will support it or not," said
Moyo. "If the
charter reflects what the people were saying during the
chaotic
information-gathering, and people accept it, who are we to oppose
that?"
Both formations of the ZCTU have, meanwhile, scheduled
different May Day
events in Harare. The Nkiwane faction will be at Gwanzura
stadium, while the
one led by Lovemore Matombo will hold its festivities at
Harare Gardens.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will attend the Nkiwane
event, said MDC
organizing secretary, Nelson Chamisa.
Industry
Minister Welshman Ncube, leader of the rival MDC wing issued a
statement
urging government to pull out all the stops and address worker
concerns.
"The MDC believes the absence of sincere engagement with
workers in
government decision-making processes deprives the nation of the
best ideas
that will bring positive change to our economic circumstances,"
he said.
"We therefore, demand the resumption of the Tripartite
Negotiating Forum. We
are convinced that only through honest engagement can
the national economic
woes we face be abated."
http://www.washingtonpost.com
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, May 2, 2:47
AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government is investigating persistent
reports
of rampant abuse of workers by Chinese employers, the labor minister
said
Tuesday.
A team of investigators has already started visiting
Chinese construction
and mining companies to compile details of alleged
abuses, Paurina Mupariwa
said during the country’s Workers’ Day celebrations
in the capital, Harare.
Labor officials say workers have complained of
physical abuse by Chinese
managers, earnings below the legal minimum,
extended working hours and
negligence over health and safety
conditions.
Years of political and economic turmoil have seen an influx
of Chinese
businesses in a “Look East” policy announced by President Robert
Mugabe. The
creation of the policy is meant to replace Western investors
scared off by
human rights violations and a black empowerment program that
envisions
seizure of 51 percent of foreign-owned firms, excluding
Chinese.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a former labor leader, said
Tuesday that
workers now suffering record unemployment pinned their hopes on
democratic
reforms for future economic growth.
Tsvangirai, in a shaky
coalition government formed with Mugabe after
violent-ridden and
inconclusive elections in 2008, said the power-sharing
deal has made it
difficult to pursue any programs to improve workers’
conditions.
“We
have a unique coalition of opposing ideologies...this has resulted in
the
government dismally failing in its major responsibility of creating
jobs...and setting the tone and foundation for economic progress and
development,” he said.
He did not refer directly to complaints
against Chinese firms.
But Lovemore Matombo, a veteran labor union
official, at another Workers’
Day gathering in Harare, said the government
has turned a blind eye to
workers’ abuse by the Chinese and have let them
“run the economy,” without
regard to labor laws.
“The Chinese in this
country are treated more like a scared cow by
government. They don’t want to
observe our labor laws. Every investor should
abide by the country’s laws,”
he said.
Matombo said his organization has received complaints that the
Chinese
companies in Zimbabwe, apart from giving workers low pay, can go up
to two
months without paying any wages to their workers.
“Where they
(Chinese) are supposed to give workers $400, they give them $80
and can take
one or two months to do that. Workers are slapped and kicked,”
he said.
“They don’t observe safety requirements and provide no protective
clothing
in the mines.”
Labor leaders have also reported Chinese managers using
pejorative language
against black Zimbabweans and locking them up in
storerooms for alleged
indiscipline.
Workers who recently protested
working conditions at a military college
being built by China outside Harare
said their peaceful demonstration was
violently broken up by Zimbabwean
soldiers.
No response was immediately available from the Chinese embassy
officials in
Harare.
In the past, Chinese officials have avoided
dealing with complaints against
their nationals in Zimbabwe, stressing
instead their close and cordial ties
with Mugabe’s party.
Mupariwa,
the labor minister, said she expected the investigations to be
completed
this week. She will present the findings to the ministerial
cabinet.
“We will not allow this in our country. We won’t let it
happen to our
workers,” she said.
By Lance
Guma
01 May 2012
The factionalism in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) was exposed Tuesday when the two rival unions held separate May Day celebrations in the country. The faction led by George Nkiwane held celebrations inside Gwanzura Stadium, while the one led by Lovemore Matombo was at the Harare Gardens.
Last year the ZCTU split, in the run up to a congress that was meant to elect a new leadership. Matombo, the president at the time, claimed delegates to the congress were not properly vetted while those aligned to the eventual winner, Nkiwane, claimed Matombo knew he did not have sufficient support to retain his post.
Although reports suggested unity talks were under way, Tuesday’s Workers Day celebrations highlighted the existing acrimony. Matombo for example used an interview with our correspondent to blast Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a ‘political prostitute’ and accused him of taking sides by attending the Nkiwane led celebrations.
Tsvangirai meanwhile gave a speech telling the thousands gathered at Gwanzura Stadium that he was not happy there were two separate celebrations “because labour has chosen to factionalise itself.” The PM said it was not in the interest of workers, “to have a divided leadership claiming to represent their interest.”
Tsvangirai, who led the ZCTU as Secretary General before the formation of the MDC, said: “I hope common sense will prevail because it is in the interest of workers for the country’s largest labour body in the country, the ZCTU, to be one united entity. I hope that dialogue will be speeded up so that the workers of this country will speak with one strong voice through a united body.”
The PM also said there was nothing to celebrate at this year’s workers’ day and “our calendar is now laden with meaningless national holidays.”
“Today, we “celebrate” workers’ day in a country where very few people are still in formal employment, companies have closed down and the remaining workers, including civil servants, are earning below the poverty datum line. So today is workers’ day in a country with no workers,” he said.
He added: “On Thursday, we “celebrate” Press Freedom day when there is no such press freedom in the country. So I have no doubt in my mind about the bleak backdrop on which we celebrate this day.”
Interested to learn why the ZCTU split?
Last month SW Radio Africa journalist Lance Guma hosted a two part debate between rival Presidents Lovemore Matombo and George Nkiwane. Both explain why the ZCTU split and what it would take to unite the two factions. They also answered questions from SW Radio Africa listeners.
Transcript: ZCTU rival presidents debate on Question Time: Part 1
Transcript: ZCTU rival presidents debate on Question Time: Part 2
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, May 01 , 2012 – Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to snub
the Lovemore Matombo led
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions faction in favour
of the George Nkiwane
grouping thereby endorsing the later.
The Nkiwane led ZCTU is holding its
May Day commemorations Gwanzura stadium
while the Matombo led faction has
organised it’s at Harare gardens.
Both groups invited Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai to be the guest of
honour.
“Prime Minister Tsvangirai will
this afternoon address workers in Gwanzura
stadium. All workers and the
press are invited to attend this special day,
“Luke Tamborinyoka Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesperson confirmed
to Radio VOP
Tuesday.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai is said to be confused over the squabbles
in ZCTU
and his attendance at any of the factions’ event means his
endorsement to
that group.
Sources within Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s
office said the Premier last week
told both ZCTU factions that they should
put their house in order if they
want to invite him keeping them guising
whether he will attend their events.
Lovemore Matombo was booted out of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
last year at congress which voted in Mr
George Nkiwane as the new president.
But Matombo urged that the congress
was illegitimately held and vowed not to
relinquish his post.
At the
congress which was attended by 165 voting delegates in Bulawayo, 160
voted
for Mr Nkiwane while only two voted for Mr Matombo who boycotted the
congress.
The power wrangle is still pending before the courts with the
two factions
continuously fighting.
The Nkiwane led ZCTU’s secretary
General Japhet Moyo said the Matombo ZCTU
rushed to invite Tsvangirai after
they had already invited him hence their
victory.
“We know that the
people who told you that Prime Minister Tsvangirai was
going to snub us
obviously come from the rebels that are from the Matombo
faction.
“As far
as we are concerned we are convinced that Prime Minister Tsvangirai
is
coming as he has confirmed and if he fails to come we will not link that
to
our disputes. We have also invited Labour and social services Minister
Paurina Mpariwa to grace the May day,”Moyo said.
But Matombo said they
are not worried by Tsvangirai’s absence at their
event.
“We welcome the
Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s decision not to attend because
we know that was
going to divide workers. Tsvangirai as the former ZCTU
secretary General he
knows the pains of being divided. It affects workers.
We know that there are
some of us who want to be known by MDC and as ZCTU we
are not worried by
Prime minister’s attendance or absence,” Matombo said.
All over the world,
workers come together on this day to demonstrate their
solidarity as workers
and their support for social democracy. The date
commemorates the historic
struggles of working people, and is recognized in
every country.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
01 May 2012
Ideological and personal fault lines are growing
in ZANU PF as rival
factions gang up against each other following the
party’s District
Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections
nationwide.
There were ugly scenes of intra-party violence following
another round of
disputed DCC elections in Nyajena, Masvingo
South.
Armed police had to be called in to quell clashes and fired shots
to
disperse the warring parties. Other party supporters fought running
battles
at Shumba Primary School in Masvingo South, after members aligned to
the
Mujuru faction accused their rivals of manipulating the
elections.
Supporters pelted each other with stones, resulting in several
people being
injured and damage to the school classrooms with windows
shattered.
The warring factions, one led by Defence Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa and the
other by Vice-President Joice Mujuru, have been fighting
over various issues
including control of party structures in the
provinces.
Last Thursday a ZANU PF meeting to discuss the DCC elections
disintegrated
into an all out brawl as tensions came to a head in Nyanga.
Scores of people
sustained minor injuries. Police in riot gear intervened
and managed to
separate the warring factions. No one was arrested.
The
Nyanga incident came barely a week after similar clashes in Masvingo
where
police were also called in to disperse the fighting supporters.
The
clashes over the DCC elections in so many of the provinces have exposed
the
levels of factionalism in the party as the big guns in ZANU PF battle to
position themselves to replace Mugabe.
SW Radio Africa is reliably
informed that party leaders from seven out of
ten provinces have asked the
politburo to urgently call for fresh DCC
elections, to inject new blood in
the running and management of the party
affairs ahead of the next
election.
The leaders allege the discredited elections were won by
individuals imposed
on the party electorate by provincial executives, mainly
aligned to the
powerful faction led by Mnangagwa.
The y said that it
was only through fresh DCC elections that ZANU PF would
be salvaged from
disintegrating further due to the bad leadership from a
section of the top
provincial party leaders who are driving out key
supporters.
United
States based political analyst Dr Maxwell Shumba said the in-fighting
in
ZANU PF is to be expected, because of the party’s propensity to ‘teach
their
members not to love country but money and material things first.’
‘ZANU
PF is imploding and it will get worse unless they teach their members
to
love country first and material things second. The politics of patronage
is
destroying the party as everyone wants political power in order to
control
the mineral wealth in the country,’ Shumba said.
He said the post-DCC
election violence has not only divided ZANU PF, but
also threatened to cause
a deepening rift between the rival factions.
The party’s politburo is
expected to meet Wednesday to deal with the
violence amid reports senior
members, including party leader Robert Mugabe,
were alarmed after stalwarts
in provinces like Bulawayo, Masvingo, and
Manicaland rose against each
other.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
01 May
2012
A government minister has said attempts at a national healing and
justice
programme in Zimbabwe will not be possible while ZANU PF remains in
power.
Moses Mzila Ndlovu, the co-Minister of National Healing from the
MDC-N
party, said on Monday that ZANU PF’s continued presence in government
was
undermining attempts to start moving the country forward.
He was
speaking at the launch of a Transitional Justice report in London,
which
focused on the expectations of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. The report
is
the result of a series of workshops started by the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO
Forum, which have aimed to gather public opinion on transitional justice
issues.
The report detailed how the main concern of the those in the
Diaspora is to
be viewed as equal Zimbabweans to their citizens back home,
especially those
who have also suffered at the hands of ZANU PF. Some of the
respondents told
the workshops that their suffering was not being
acknowledged, and neither
were their hopes for real justice.
Mzila
Ndlovu said at the report launch that the views of the Diaspora
clearly echo
what is wanted in Zimbabwe in terms of moving forward towards
justice. He
explained that these expectations cannot be fulfilled despite
the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), which included national healing as a
key aim of
the unity government.
He said that this is another one of the GPA
provisions that have not been
honoured by ZANU PF, saying this is why “so
little” has been achieved by the
unity government.
“There is so much
intimidation from our colleagues in government. They are
threatening to
collapse the government, they are threatening early
elections….But we cannot
pull out because we will lose what little we have
achieved, and granted that
is not a lot,” Mzila Ndlovu said.
He described the little gains that the
government has made in terms of a
slowly emerging plan of national healing
for a post-Mugabe era. He said the
ball is starting to roll, with
international guided ideas of human rights
and other legislation for the
future. But he admitted “this is not possible
while ZANU PF is in
power.”
“We (MDC) are pushing hard for the cycle of impunity to end
because only
when Zimbabwe achieves a state of respect for human rights can
we move
forward with healing,” Mzila Ndlovu said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Wonai Masvingise, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 01
May 2012 10:50
HARARE - Marauding war veterans and suspected militia
yesterday besieged the
offices of Finance minister Tendai Biti, left, where
they threatened to beat
him up for apparent “lack” of respect for President
Robert Mugabe.
Waving banners inscribed “Biti SHOW THE President
Respect”, the angry mob
promised to burn the Daily News, among other
newspapers for “encouraging
Biti’s campaign against Mugabe”.
The
militant veterans of the Zimbabwe’s liberation were incensed by the MDC
secretary general’s acerbic remarks with regards to Mugabe’s
age.
Biti is accused of having said Mugabe should be confined to an old
people’s
home — sparking angry response from one of the octogenarian
leader’s fierce
backers.
However, the unmoved Biti who confirmed the
demonstration and subsequent
meeting with representatives of the war
veterans, said he respected Mugabe
and had a solid working relationship with
the veteran leader.
“I respect the President, he is the head of state, I
respect the Prime
Minister, I respect my principals. I actually have very
good relations with
the President,” Biti told the Daily News."
“Just
last week I was in a three-hour-meeting with the President and we had
beautifully-made chicken and pancakes. I am a product of the good education
of this country which the President is responsible for,” Biti
said.
The combative MDC official said Mugabe should be the first one to
admit that
his education policy had produced a competent breed of class to
which he was
part to.
“He educated us to offer different views and I
am part of that generation he
should be proud of. The President did not
educate us to be imbeciles,
slavish and engage in moronic behaviour,” said
Biti.
The Finance minister revealed he had met a 12-member
representative team
of the demonstrating war veterans and held a frank
discussion with regards
to their grievances pertaining to payment of school
fees by government.
The ministry of Defence is responsible for paying the
fees for war veterans’
children but without allocation from treasury headed
by Biti, it is
hamstrung.
“I had a meeting earlier on with some of
the war veterans. They were unhappy
about the issue of payment of school
fees. We have a problem with our
general fiscal position but we will deal
with it. I think at the end of the
day it was a fruitful meeting. They
understood that there is not enough
money,” Biti said.
“They also
understood that there has not been much revenue from our
diamonds. We will
deal with their grievance.”
Biti, however, refused to be drawn into the
politics of the demonstration
preferring to say that the task of reviving
the economy was more pressing
than squabbling.
In yesterday’s
demonstration, there was a similar pattern to last year’s
raid at the
minister’s office by suspected Zanu PF youths and war veterans
who demanded
increases in school fees payouts for the former freedom
fighters.
Last year, Biti survived a bomb blast at his Glen Lorne
home, a day after he
had a heated exchange with senior governments’ agents
during the Security
Council meeting.
A powerful explosion destroyed
part of the durawall of the main entrance but
no one was
injured.
Biti had threatened to resign from government after the bomb
attack.
Police are yet to arrest suspects in the
matter.
Previously Biti had been beaten, jailed and sent bullets in an
envelope by
people he said were enemies of democracy.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
01 May
2012
The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) got underway
Tuesday
night with a dynamic cast of local and international performers set
to light
up the Main Stage.
This year the six day festival goes under
the theme “A Show of Spirit” and
will feature “music, theatre, dance, visual
arts, craft, spoken word and
youth programming” according to HIFA founder
and artistic director, Manuel
Bagorro.
On Sunday music legend Oliver
Mtukudzi will make a welcome return to HIFA on
the main stage in a show that
will celebrate his 65th birthday. Other local
talents to feature over the
coming days will be mbira songstress Chiwoniso
Maraire, urban groover Alexio
Kawara and poets Outspoken and Comrade Fatso.
Those attending the
festival can also expect to see the likes of Black
Umfolozi, Siyaya, Jeys
Marabini, Willis Watafi, Family Voices, Umdumo
Wesizwe, Simon Banda and poet
Albert Nyathi. Dance group Super Crew and tap
dancing and live jazz music
crew Jazz Tap Ensemble from the United States
will also feature.
HIFA
says it aims to “showcase the very best of Zimbabwean, regional and
international arts and culture in a comprehensive programme of theatre,
dance, music, circus, street performance, spoken word, craft and visual
arts.” The intention they say is to “celebrate the healing and constructive
capacity of the arts.”
This will be the 13th edition of the HIFA
festival.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
01 May
2012
A magistrate has dismissed an application by the Women of Zimbabwe
Arise
(WOZA) pressure group, as part of their fight to have a ‘kidnap’ case
against them dropped.
WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga
Mahlangu are facing kidnap and
theft charges, despite the alleged victim of
the ‘kidnapping’ denying this
happened. The theft charges meanwhile are
related to the disappearance of a
torch.
The key witness, Emma
Mabhena, last year strongly denied she was ever
kidnapped by the WOZA
leaders, which contradicted a statement the police
claimed she signed. WOZA
said Mabhena has “disassociated herself with most
of the statement penned in
her name by police officers.”
The WOZA leaders have since applied to the
High Court to have the case
dropped, which is still pending before that
court.
The two also applied to be removed from remand on the basis of
their High
Court challenge.
But a Bulawayo regional magistrate,
Godwin Sengweni, last week dismissed
this application, arguing the
application to the High Court for a ‘stay of
prosecution’ did not warrant
their removal from remand.
They will now return to court in June.
http://www.radiovop.com
Gwanda, May 01, 2012 – Three media monitors’ bid for
freedom was finally
granted after magistrate Sheila Nazombe granted an
application for refusal
of further remand by defense counsel Kossam
Ncube.
Fadzai December, Molly Chimhanda and Gilbert Mabusa are facing
trial for
insulting or undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe
but made a
constitutional application to the Supreme Court arguing the
charges they are
facing infringe on their rights .
The Constitutional
Court is yet to make a ruling and the state will now
proceed by way of
summons.
Ncube had argued that having his clients on remand would infringe n
his
client’s freedom as Supreme Court cases take long to be heard.
The
trio is accused of insulting or undermining the authority of President
Robert Mugabe as the DVDs carry a message which says, “The President of the
Republic of Zimbabwe Robert Gabriel Mugabe is a wanted person for murder of
various people including political violence and that the state media was
biased and supportive of ZANU PF.”
The charges stem from a civic
education meeting the three facilitated in
November 24 last year and spent
twelve days behind bars after the state
invoked Section 121 of the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act to deny them
bail.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/05/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
UP to 4,500 workers at the US$600 million ethanol plant in
Chisumbanje could
lose their jobs as Energy Minister Elton Mangoma continues
to resist
pressure to introduce compulsory blending of petrol.
Green
Fuel has already ceased ethanol production after exhausting storage
capacity
at the Chisumbanje plant with some 10 million litres of product in
stock.
The shut down has resulted in 700 factory workers being sent home on
forced
leave.
The company employs some 4,500 at the plant and at its vast sugar
plantations, but officials say they could all lose their jobs unless the
government introduces mandatory blending petrol imports with locally
produced ethanol.
“We basically shut down the plant on February 6 and
sent all the 700
employees on leave,” general manager, Graeme Smith
said.
“We restarted the plant last week to keep the machine in shape and
to keep
our staff motivated, but we will be closing again on May
6.”
Workers committee deputy chair, Kokanayi Mapungwana, added: “If there
is
anything that needs to be done by the government, we are urging them to
do
that expeditiously.
“We have families to look after and we can only do
that if we are employed.”
The company has struggled to push its product
on the market as most service
stations only have storage capacity for diesel
and petrol.
Again, motorists argue that the price of the company’s E10 (a
10-90 ethanol
and petrol blend) is only marginally lower than unblended
petrol.
Green Fuel says higher blending rations would help reduce prices
further but
efforts to get government support with that and compulsory
blending have so
far hit a brick wall.
Energy Minister Elton Mangoma
recently ruled out compulsory blending,
telling Green Fuel to export their
product if they could not sell it
locally.
“We cannot have
legislation for individuals, because that would set a bad
precedent. They
are free to export their product,” he said.
“We have already licensed
them (Green Fuels), they are already on the market
selling their fuel. I
have not followed to see the volume which they are
selling. Let’s not create
a problem which is not there.”
However, Smith said exporting the ethanol
would be counterproductive arguing
the product would simply be re-imported
into Zimbabwe as blended petrol but
at an extra cost to the
country.
He said compulsory blending could help the country save up to
US$250 million
annually while higher blending rations would reduce pump
prices by a further
10 cents.
Observers say the ethanol project which
was expected to help end fuel supply
problems as well as significantly
reduce the country’s petrol import bill
has fallen victim to coalition
politics.
They claim that MDC elements in the government are reluctant
assist the
project because of presumed links between individuals associated
with the
company and President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
“There
appears to be a perception that by helping Green Fuel one is also
helping
Zanu PF because of the supposed links between the party and
individuals said
to be associated with the company,” said a source close to
the
developments.
“But that is unfortunate because it is only the workers who
end up suffering
and we are, in effect, undermining what could be a very
important project
for the country.”
The company is also understood to
be fighting off predatory elements from
Zanu PF who say they will not help
unless they get shares in the project
inline with the country’s economic
empowerment laws.
But company officials say the project is already
compliant since it is a
joint venture between two private but local
companies and the state-owned
agriculture development agency,
ARDA.
Said Arda chairman Basil Nyabadza: “We now have signed a
Memorandum of
Understanding which is guiding us in these negotiations (on
indigenization).
“Remember that when this project started there was no
indigenisation and we
are now discussing to make it a joint venture project
between Government and
the investors, and not a BOT (Build Operate Transfer
project,” he said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By David
Chidende
ZAKA- Chiefs, war veterans and Zanu PF supporters continue to
turn a deaf
ear on President Mugabe’s call to shun violence as they continue
to
terrorize MDC-T activities in Zaka East constituency ahead of elections
which Zanu Pf has vowed should be held this year with or without a
constitution.
Zaka, a stronghold of Zanu PF has been rocked with
political violence since
2008 with at least 11 MDC supporters murdered in
cold blood by the war
veterans and militia.
Chief Nhema, a Zanu PF
functionary is said to have ordered all the sub
chiefs and village headmen
to instill fear in the people so that they vote
for Zanu PF. The villagers
have been threatened with evictions from the
area, abductions, and death in
the event they are found to be MDC
supporters.
“We have been given direct
orders by Chief Nhema to threaten people with
eviction if they did not
support Zanu PF,” said sub chief who spoke on
condition of anonymity for
fear of victimisation.
He added, “The chief is also working with the Zanu PF
executive members,
Manyatera Venenzia, Festion Chinyanga and Jonathan
Mafunga, all from
Chemhazha ward 21, in threatening us. We no longer feel
safe to conduct our
day to day duties because we are afraid to be labeled
MDC supporters.”
Chief Nhema is also accused of denying MDC supporters
food aid from the
grain loan scheme. The loan scheme which is a government
initiative is meant
benefit everyone regardless of political
affiliation.
Speaking at a memorial service of an MDC activist, Martin
Hanyani who died
in November last year over the weekend, MDC-T District
Treasurer and
aspiring candidate for Zaka East constituency, James Gumbi
advised youths to
refrain from violence and encourage them to register to
vote in the next
general elections.
“That election is for us the
youths, it is our job to change the country,
Slogans without voting is a
waste of time.
“We don’t want violence; we are a peace loving people and our
party is non
violent party.”
Gumbi said the memorial service of Hanyani,
who was brutally assaulted by
Zanu PF activists in 2008 and died of internal
injuries, was a clear message
that MDC-T respects and honour the young
people who fought for the
democratization of this country.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, May 01, 2012 - Sekai Holland, one of
the three co -ministers for
National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration
has been named the
recipient of the 2012 Sydney Peace Prize much to the
surprise of human
rights activists.
The shocking awarding of the
US$50 000 prize was announced on Monday at a
ceremony hosted by the
Australian Embassy in Harare, Meredith Burgmann.
However, human rights
activists accuse Holland’s ministry of being a ‘paper
tiger’ and highly
ineffective.
The critics charge that her ministry has dismally failed in its
mandate set
under the Global Political Agreement to specifically heal,
reconcile as well
as integrate Zimbabweans after the bloody 2008 harmonised
elections which
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's faction says left more
than 500 of its
supporters dead due to state-sponsored violence.
The
Sydney Peace Prize jury’s citation reads: “Sekai Holland: for a
lifetime of
outstanding courage in campaigning for human rights and
democracy, for
challenging violence in all its forms and for giving such
astute and brave
leadership for the empowerment of women.”
Professor Stuart Rees, Chair of the
Sydney Peace Foundation said, “In
addition to her work for the education of
rural women and her founding of
Australia’s anti Apartheid movement fifty
years ago, Sekai Holland has been
a significant leader of non violent,
democracy campaigns, and is a key
figure in her country’s national dialogue
on how to heal the deep wounds of
social conflict.”
Holland, whose
ministry has been rated as one of the least performing if not
the worst, was
caught unawares by the accolade.
“This award comes as a wonderful surprise
but one which is so encouraging. I
accept on behalf of the brave women I
have worked with for so many years and
for my colleagues in our present
Organ for National Healing Reconciliation
and Integration. I also
acknowledge the long term support and friendship
which I have received from
Australian Aboriginal campaigners for human
rights and for peace with
justice,” she said.
2012 marks the 15th year of the Sydney Peace Prize,
Australia’s only
international award for peace.
Sometimes perceived as
controversial, previous recipients have included
Professor Muhammad Yunus,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, former
Governor General Sir
William Deane, Australia’s ‘Father of Reconciliation’
Patrick Dodson, the
Indian novelist and human rights campaigner Arundhati
Roy and last year the
distinguished American academic and activist,
Professor Noam
Chomsky.
Holland will travel to Australia in November to give the City of
Sydney
Peace Prize Lecture in the Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday November 7th
and
will receive the 2012 Peace Prize ($50,000 and a trophy crafted by the
artist in glass at a gala on November 8th.
In Africa, planting trees along with corn in soil that is low in nitrogen can substantially increase corn production without expensive fertilizers. In a decade, the number of small farmers using Fertilizer Tree Systems has ballooned from a few hundred to more than 250,000.
Among the most challenging long-term barriers to agricultural production and sustainability in Africa is poor and degrading soil quality.
A type of agroforestry, FTS incorporate nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs into agricultural fields, usually inter-planted with food crops. These trees take in atmospheric nitrogen and return it to the soil, where it serves as a nutrient for plants.
Soil analyses by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and others in the 1980s revealed nitrogen to be a limiting factor in many African soils. In response, on-farm studies in the 1990s showed that FTS, with the right species, could increase crop yields with or without mineral fertilizers.
FTS are much cheaper for farmers to implement than buying fertilizer and represent a more holistic approach to soil management. FTS scaling-up programs were broadly implemented about 10 years ago, and in that time the number of small farmers using these techniques has ballooned from a few hundred to more than 250,000 in Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
FTS have proven most effective for small farmers who are able to devote the necessary labor and land more easily than raise the money needed for commercial fertilizer. By relying on naturally occurring systems rather than imports, agroforestry improves food security, bolsters biodiversity, and reinforces local economies.
The introduction of a wider variety of plants to fields, for example, has been shown to increase diversity of the local ecosystem, which further augments the soil.
According to the report, FTS have generally been successful, but they are subject to regional variation. Some areas have found more suitable native nitrogen-fixers than others, and many regions have had little or no research to identify the best plants to use.
The report also stresses that FTS do not provide all nutrients required by crops, so external inputs are frequently necessary to boost phosphorus and potassium. However, as nitrogen has been shown to be a limiting nutrient in much of southern Africa, sustainable production can be improved through the use of FTS, even without other fertilizers.
Farmers in southern Africa have shown themselves keen to embrace new innovations, like the FTS programs. As research and training continue, more small farmers will be able to produce more food in sustainable ways.
• Isaac Hopkins is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project. This article originally appeared at Nourishing the Planet, a blog published by the Worldwatch Institute.
http://www.israelidiamond.co.il
01.05.12, 10:51
The
University of Zimbabwe's Metallurgy Department, which had been closed
down
due to a lack of lecturers, has been adopted by the mining company
Mbada
Diamonds, Zimbabwe newspaper The Herald reported.
Mbada revealed its
plans to underwrite the Metalurgy Department at a
University of Zimbabwe
fundraising dinner whose guests included former South
African President
Thabo Mbeki and various Zimbabwean government ministers.
Mbada has stepped
to the fore as the university is appealing to donors for
funding to the tune
of $70 million.
Mbada announced in September that it had become the
single largest producer
of diamonds in Zimbabwe, knocking Rio Tinto out of
the top spot. According
to Mbada chairman Robert Mhlanga, the diamond
company recovers a full
150,000 carats of diamonds per month from its mining
operations.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
Weekend in the cells
A young
woman was earning a living by making cash books and selling them. At
first
she did very well. A company bought hundreds of them. Bu then robbers
came
and took everything. She could no longer pay the rent and her landlord
took
her to court. That got her into police custody the first time.
Hardly
released, she started her little business again, only to be picked up
by the
police a second time. Back in the cells, she sent desperate SOS calls
on her
cell-phone to her friends. She needed something like $ 30 to get out.
That
was on a Saturday. Nothing doing on Sunday. We finally got her out on
Monday
morning.
Why are people who try make a living by producing something useful
punished
as if they were criminals? “The law is an ass” – at least if it
does more
harm than good as in this case.
Trading without a licence may
be an offence in normal times. But these are
not normal times. The vast
majority of our working population are unemployed
and have to earn a living
in the informal sector. Why should they be
punished for this? What about the
people who have destroyed our economy and
do not create any employment?
Should they not be held accountable, much more
than the victims of their
failed policies?
Our youngsters have started making candles which they
think are very much
needed during these times of daily power-cuts. Very nice
candles. They gave
me two large ones to use in the church.
Producing
things is comparatively easy. To find a market for them and sell
them – that
is much more difficult. There is a lot competition. You have to
be cheaper
than your rivals in order to sell anything. And still make a
profit?
Our
young people who dream of getting rich quick learn the hard way.
Young
people like to get out of Mbare which they call the “ghetto”. One
youth
group arranged for an outing to a lake. They presented the priest with
a
bill of more than a hundred dollars. He asked, “How much can you raise
yourselves?” They did not expect this. But when they came back with about
half the money needed they were given the rest.
Another group planned a
weekend trip to Mutemwa, the popular place of
pilgrimage where people go to
pray the whole night on the mountain where
John Bradburne, the martyr and
friend of the lepers, used to pray. They
never asked for anything. For
months they had been saving up. No need for
begging.
People are beginning
to learn: the Church is not a big dairy cow to be
milked. The Church is
theirs, not to be exploited. – - Oskar Wermter SJ
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 1st May 2012.
Despite being hailed as a
“liberator” in 1980, Robert Mugabe was named by
the international media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders as one of Africa’s
7 worst press freedom
predators in 2011. Little, if any has changed since
then.
Admittedly,
the registration of 30 or so ‘independent’ publications was a
move in the
right direction. However, the controversial licensing of 2
commercial radio
stations has been criticised for “keeping Mugabe’s critics
out of the
race”.
Furthermore, journalists and street vendors continue to be
subjected to
harassment, intimidation and violence by the regime’s agents,
while threats
of lawsuits for criminal defamation have been blamed for the
dearth of
investigative journalism.
Zimbabwe is inevitably undergoing
a political transition albeit
characterised by many false starts and even
back pedalling. A typical case
is that of the opening of the
airwaves.
As noted by Professor Eldred Masunungure, ‘a political
transition is about
regime change or regime transformation’ (Zimbabwe’s
Power Sharing Agreement,
paper prepared for a workshop on ‘The Consequences
of Political Inclusion in
Africa’, April 24-25, 2009, American University,
Washington D.C. p4).
Critics argue that ‘not everyone is on board’ on the
transformation agenda
as there is stiff resistance to key media reforms by
some hardliners.
It is this paper’s contention that the Mugabe regime is
‘driving with the
hand-brake on’ as far as press freedom, the opening of the
airwaves and
freedom of expression are concerned.
The basis for that
argument is the retention of ‘revenge laws’ like AIPPA
and colonial criminal
defamation laws, the reluctance to reconstitute the
Broadcasting Authority
of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and the ongoing running battles
with civil
society.
For instance, police disrupted a road show organised by a
Bulawayo-based
community radio initiative, Radio Dialogue during the recent
Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair (ZITF) suggesting lack of clear policy by
the
inclusive government.
According to reports, police in riot gear
called off the road show, four
hours after it had started, claiming there
was not enough space for holding
the activity. Earlier in March, Police
refused to grant Radio Dialogue
clearance for a free-the-airwaves
procession.
In 2010, Police and the CIO allegedly confiscated donated
shortwave radio
sets from villagers in Murehwa and Bikita west in an effort
to deny them
access to balanced foreign news broadcasts.
However,
despite condemning foreign based independent media as ‘pirate radio
stations’, the regime’s loyalists’ ironically feature in
interviews.
It is ironic and very sad that the former champions of the
fight for press
freedom and a new world information order have now turned to
be oppressors
32 years later.
Zimbabwe’s coalition government
continues to pull in opposite directions on
the issue of media freedom
although enshrined in the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights – well
before some of the ministers were born!
By resisting press freedom ‘in
his back yard’ Robert Mugabe is only giving
more ammunition to his critics,
a move that is unsustainable in
transnational relations.
Clifford
Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com