http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
27
October 2011
Suspected ZANU PF supporters from the militant Chipangano
group have
attacked Harvest House, the MDC-T headquarters in central
Harare.
The pre-dawn attack left several windows in the building
shattered but no
one was injured. A statement from the party said security
details protecting
the building recovered eight catapults dropped by ZANU PF
thugs as they
fled.
‘Several windows on the first, second and third
floors were broken during
the attack,’ the MDC-T said.
Meanwhile, the
party’s national Youth Assembly organising secretary, Phineas
Chikadaya, is
in hospital after he was attacked in Budiriro on Wednesday
night.
Promise Mkwananzi, the secretary-general of the Youth
Assembly, told SW
Radio Africa on Thursday that Chikadaya was waylaid by a
group of ZANU PF
thugs while walking home from a branch
meeting.
‘Chikadaya was walking home in the company of a colleague around
8pm when
they were suddenly surrounded by a group of ZANU PF
youths.
They accused him of being a sell-out and destabilizing the
country by
working for the MDC. This was an unprovoked attack where
Chikadanga was hit
with logs. They used stones to target his left leg and
unfortunately he
suffered a fracture to that leg,’ Mkwananzi
said.
The organizing secretary was admitted to the Avenues Clinic. A
report was
lodged with the police in Budiriro but no arrests have been made.
Chikadaya
has informed his party he can positively identify some of his
attackers.
‘We vociferously condemn the dastardly attack on our members
and strongly
speak out against the police inaction to bring the culprits to
book. In the
same breathe, let me say no amount of fear will dissuade the
Youth Assembly
from carrying out its legitimate mandate to remove ZANU PF
from power,’
Mkwananzi added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
27 October
2011
Many Harare residents have this week struggled to keep their cool,
with
ongoing water shortages made worse by soaring
temperatures.
Tempers have already snapped in Mabvuku and Glen View where
residents have
resorted to fighting while trying to access clean water.
Millions of people
are struggling with severe shortages that have now lasted
for weeks in some
areas, apparently because of a burst distribution pipe at
the Morton Jaffray
Water Treatment Plant. The worst affected areas have been
Glen Norah,
Budiriro and Glen View.
To make matters worse,
temperatures have reached record highs this week with
36 degrees Celsius
recorded in the capital on Wednesday. The Met Office has
already said that
this has been the hottest October on record since 1962,
and the public has
been urged to drink plenty of water to stave off heat
stroke and
dehydration.
But the heat and lack of clean water in the capital means
fears are
increasing daily about another outbreak of
cholera.
Simbarashe Moyo from the Combined Harare Residents Association
(CHRA) said
the water shortages mean people are accessing water from wells
and other
sources “that might not be safe.”
“This is so serious now.
If the disease is to break out again it will be
very difficult to control.
We already have people drinking dirty water, and
we also have burst sewage
pipes, so the risk is high,” Moyo said.
He added: “The excuses from the
Council are not good enough. For me, this is
a problem of incompetence and
incapacity. Two years ago when we had the
cholera crisis, these issues of
water supply were supposed to be sorted out.
We should not have a situation
like this again,” Moyo said.
The Met Office meanwhile has warned that the
sweltering temperatures of the
last few days will continue until at least
Sunday. Record breaking
temperatures of 44 in Kariba, 43 in Binga and 40 in
Masvingo, Kezi and
Victoria Falls have all been recorded this week. The
Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare has also issued health warnings, urging
people to be wary of
diarrhoea, headaches, vomiting and dehydration-related
conditions.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, October 27 2011 - Police in Matabeleland
North province have
banned three rallies planned for the weekend by the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-T) which is led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The three rallies were supposed to be held in Victoria Falls,
Binga and
Lupane. Tsvangirai, was expected to be the guest of honour to drum
up
support for his party in the forth coming elections.
Speaking to
Radio VOP, the (MDC-T) National Deputy Organising Secretary,
Abednico
Bhebhe, said: “The police have since banned our rallies in Victoria
Falls,
Binga and Lupane that were supposed to kick start on Friday until
Sunday.”
Bhebhe who described the banning of the rallies as
‘frustrating’, said: “We
are going to defy the police ban and go ahead with
the meetings;
Matebeleland North police are now fighting the
MDC-T.”
Bhebhe said the police cited high level of inter-state meetings
which will
require high security coverage in the three districts.
In
a letter to MDC-T Matebeleland North provincial organising secretary
Thembinkosi Sibindi, Chief Superintendent Chiwona of Victoria Falls police
station noted among others:"Please take note that we are going to have a
high level inter- state meeting which will need high security coverage in
the district. So for the above mentioned reason we have seen it fit to
prohibit your rally until, after this event.”
The letter advised the
MDC-T to hold their rallies after the 4th of
November.
Last week in
Nkayi North, MDC-T also ran battles with the police over their
unsanctioned
rally in Nesigwe Business Centre as it was clashing with the
one for Zanu
(PF).
The riot police forced Tsvangirai to abruptly end his rally when
the law
enforcement agents came in full force to disperse the people who
were
attending the rally.
Tsvangirai will be on tour of government
projects in Matebeleland North
starting Thursday.
After the
disruption of his rally on Saturday Tsvangirai warned Matebeleland
North
province police chief, Assistant Commissioner, Edmore Veterai saying
he is
now politicising the force and was applying the law selective by
harassing
and arresting political activists week in week out.
Police in
Matabeleland North have been preventing Tsvangirai from
campaigning in the
province since the run up to the June 27 2008
presidential run-off poll. His
armoured BMW campaign car was seized by
police in the provincial capital,
Lupane and has not been released.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) Matabeleland North
is now the most hostile province in
the country as police have so far
arrested or harass more than 40
politicians and human rights activists since
January
http://www.iol.co.za/
October 27 2011 at 03:49pm
Zimbabwe
has secured a $300 million loan from Brazil to finance agriculture
and boost
crop production after successive years of food deficits, state
media
reported on Thursday.
The loan is part of Brazil's aid programme for
Africa, the state-controlled
Herald newspaper said.
Agriculture
Minister Joseph Made said the funds would be used to support
farmers who
have largely failed to get loans from local banks that are still
recovering
from a prolonged economic crisis.
“The ... programme is important for the
country as it has managed to address
some of the challenges we have been
facing in securing lines of credit to
support the agriculture sector that is
the backbone of the economy,” Made
told the newspaper.
Once a
regional bread-basket, Zimbabwe has struggled to feed itself since
2000 when
President Robert Mugabe's government started to seize farms owned
by whites
to resettle landless blacks.
The agriculture sector has shown signs of
recovery under a unity government
set up two years ago by Mugabe and his
rival, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, following disputed elections in
2008.
The sector is expected to grow 33 percent in 2011, according to
government
projections. Production of the staple maize grain has risen from
400,000
metric tonnes in 2008 to 1.45 million tonnes this year, but is still
below a
national requirement of 2 million tonnes. - Reuters
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
Tichaona
Sibanda
27 October 2011
Hundreds of protesters marched through the
streets of Bulawayo on Thursday,
venting their anger at the country’s
utility company ZESA, for its catalogue
of failures that have impacted so
badly on residents
Demonstrators hoisted signs and chanted: ‘ZESA is
raping us,’ ‘No ZESA No
money.’ Our Bulawayo correspondent Lionel Saungweme
told us the mood seemed
one of exuberance, not rage, and police who shadowed
the march made no
effort to interfere.
The march was organized by the
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
whose members have inundated them
with complaints over power outages and
huge bills. ZESA is also being
castigated for disconnecting power from
almost 70 percent of the city’s
households.
The residents association handed over petitions to ZESA, its
board and the
Ministry of Energy, demanding that action be taken urgently to
rectify
failing standards at the utility company.
‘The residents are
angry that the failure by ZESA to provide adequate power
has impacted
negatively on industry, health, environment, education. Crime
has gone up,
especially at night time when victims are pounced upon in dark
areas. Most
of the time there is no electricity at various industries in the
city
forcing many companies to lay off workers. What surprises the residents
is
that at the end of the month they still get huge bills, when half the
time
they go for hours without power,’ Saungweme said.
Some of the demands
from the residents are the return of the city’s thermal
power station to the
ownership of the people of Bulawayo and compensation
for all those whose
property was damaged by power surges.
‘The residents want ZESA to reduce
its load shedding and adhere to load
shedding schedules and they’ve also
asked the company to work on its flawed
billing system and stop estimating
bills,’ Saungweme added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
27 October, 2011
It has been reported that hundreds of
workers at the state owned Ziscosteel
will not be receiving their salaries
this month, as more drama unfolds
behind the scenes over a deal that was
negotiated with the giant Indian
steel company, Essar.
According to
the Newsday newspaper, Finance Minister Tendai Biti confirmed
“the deal was
in limbo”. Biti is quoted as saying he was shocked “there are
people in
government and cabinet” determined to block the deal, for their
own
“personal reasons”.
Zisco agreed to a deal that sold 54% of Ziscosteel to
Essar, with the
government keeping 36% and 10% going to minority
shareholders and workers
themselves. A new company named NewZim Steel was
formed. Essar is also to
invest $3.5 billion in mining under the banner of
NewZim Minerals.
The deal has been described as the biggest of its kind
in Zimbabwe but it is
rumoured that politicians from all parties have been
battling for a piece of
the profits and kickbacks.
Political analyst
Bekithemba Mhlanga said it is possible that both parties
have realized they
made hasty decisions and could have secured a better
deal. “On the part of
the investor, it is quite possible they have woken up
to the fact that doing
business in Zimbabwe is not going to be as rosy as it
first appeared,”
Mhlanga explained.
He added that someone in government may also have
realized the deal was not
negotiated in the best interests of Zimbabwe and
it needs renegotiating.
According to NewsDay, Ziscosteel workers said
their human resources manager
Dean Chikukwa, told them at a meeting on
Tuesday that salaries would not be
paid this month. The paper said rumours
had filtered through the workers’
union that “government was reneging” on
the NewZim minerals deal.
Ziscosteel was rife with corruption and
mismanagement before the Essar deal
was negotiated, a condition that has
plagued all parastatals in Zimbabwe. As
always it is the workers that suffer
the most.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Bulawayo, October 27, 2011- Zimbabwe has set
17-28 August 2012 as the dates
for the country’s fourth census since
independence, population census
manager, Washington Mapeta, has
said.
Mapeta said the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (Zimstat) will
finish
the mapping exercise, which it is currently conducting, in March next
year
ahead of the census.
Mapping is a pre-enumeration activity that
involves updating geographical
boundaries of all administration units and
socio-economic infrastructure in
the country.
“We are currently
undertaking a mapping exercise and we expect to complete
the exercise by
March next year. This involves creating maps for every ward
in each
district.
“The census will be conducted in August next year. We will
start on August
17 and finish on August 28,” Mapeta told journalists on the
sidelines of a
ministerial committee workshop on census held in Bulawayo at
a local hotel.
Mapeta said Zimstat requires US$37 million for the August
2012 census,
saying that they have since extended a begging bowl to other
nongovernmental
organisations (NGO’s) to assist government with
funding.
He added that Zimstat will start recruiting personnel to conduct
the census
in June next year, adding that the organisation has since also
completed
drafting questionnaires to be used during the
exercise.
Zimbabwe has since independence held three census exercises.
The previous
ones were held in 1982, 1992 and 2002.
The last 2002
census put the population of the country at 11.6 million.
Analysts expect
the next census to show either a drop in population growth
or stagnation
after an economic meltdown drove more millions Zimbabweans out
of the
country in search of better living conditions.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Tonderai Kwenda in Australia
Thursday, 27
October 2011 09:08
PERTH - The European Union (EU) says financial and
travel sanctions imposed
on President Robert Mugabe and his colleagues in
Zanu PF will stay until
necessary democratic reforms are in
place.
Baroness Catherine Ashton, Vice President of the European
Commission and
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs
and Security
Policy told the Daily News yesterday evening that the ball was
in President
Robert Mugabe’s court to introduce democratic reforms in
Zimbabwe because
the EU stood ready to re-engage Zimbabwe.
“We have
made it clear to the Zimbabwean government on what needs to be done
for us
to re-engage. It’s simple. Implement the reforms and everything will
be
alright,” said Ashton.
“I have met Zimbabwean ministers and we have had
talks but right now they
are dealing with my director until we have
something tangible on the table,”
she said on the sidelines of the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings
(Chogam) in Perth, Australia
currently underway.
The EU rights commissioner said she was unaware of
the much touted lawsuit
against the grouping that Zimbabwe says will be
filed at the European Court
of Justice.
“I am not aware of that
lawsuit, maybe my director will know,” she said.
The Zimbabwean
government through the Attorney-General’s office says it
plans to file a
lawsuit against the EU at the European Court of Justice
arguing that it
unprocedurally took a decision to impose sanctions against a
select group of
Zimbabwean politicians including Mugabe and his Zanu PF
counterparts.
The EU foreign policy chief however said although there
has been significant
progress made so far, it was not enough for EU to
review its position as the
economic and social development have not been
matched by the necessary
reforms on the political front.
Mugabe has
often blamed the country’s woes on sanctions but his coalition
partners
argue that the situation in the country is a result of bad economic
management of the country.
Chogam starts tomorrow with heads of state
and government poised to deal
with an explosive report by the Commonwealth
Eminent Persons Group which has
recommended the appointment of a Human
Rights Commissioner to deal with
issues of human rights violations in the
groups.
So far the suggestion has been received with hostility by
political leaders
gathered here.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Tendai Kamhungira, Court Writer
Thursday, 27
October 2011 09:13
HARARE - Labour activist Munyaradzi Gwisai and
five other social equality
campaigners’ trial has been further pushed back
after state witness Jonathan
Shoko fell ill.
Gwisai and his
colleagues were initially accused of meeting in Harare on 19
February to
plot the ouster of President Robert Mugabe through popular
revolts such as
those that toppled several dictators in North Africa earlier
this
year.
The alleged treason has been reduced to lesser charges of
conspiring to
commit violence or alternatively inciting public violence or
participating
in a gathering with intent to promote public
violence.
Shoko was still testifying when the court adjourned proceedings
on Monday.
The case resumes next Tuesday.
On Monday, magistrate
Kudakwashe Jarabini was shown video footage of the
Egyptian revolution by
the state as Shoko, an undercover police officer who
claims to have been
part of the meeting, gave evidence.
The video footage showed Egyptians
demonstrating in the streets while locked
in running battles and heavy
clashes with the police.
Shoko told the court how Gwisai and the other
activists watched video
footage of the Egyptian revolution while allegedly
plotting to launch a
revolt against Mugabe.
“He (Gwisai) said on
March 1 (2011) scores of people should gather at Africa
Unity Square without
police detection and ignite a revolution,” said Shoko.
Shoko is the
second state witness after Rinos Chari testified on September
14 when trial
kicked off, after having been postponed on numerous occasions
for various
reasons.
Chari told the court that he was severely assaulted by police as
an
accomplice before he was turned into a witness.
Gwisai, 43 is
jointly charged with Antonater Choto, 36, Tatenda Mombeyarara,
29, Edson
Chakuma, 38, Hopewell Gumbo, 32 and Welcome Zimuto, 25.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter
26/10/2011 19:31:00
HARARE - Robert Mugabe's feisty
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana says the
United Nations is no longer a safe
haven for all its member states,
following the world body’s inaction after
Switzerland refused to grant visas
to President Robert Mugabe’s delegation
to the Geneva ICT conference.
Speaking in a interview with State media,
Mr. Tomana said by allowing
Switzerland to apply its domestic laws of
delaying to issue visas to some
top Zimbabwean government officials who were
supposed to have accompanied
the President to the ITU conference in Geneva,
the UN has violated
international laws which protect member countries to
attend any UN
conference without undue interference.
“When the UN is
affected by such illegal decisions by member-states, its
credibility is put
under scrutiny,” said the AG.
Mr. Tomana however challenged the United
Nations to live up to its
expectations and bring countries such as Britain,
the US, Switzerland and
their western allies to book, for breaching
international laws by continuing
to impose what he called illegal sanctions
on Zimbabwe.
The AG said: “Failure by the UN to deal with the so-called
super powers’
unbecoming behaviour is tantamount to confirming that the
world watchdog is
just but a puppet of the west.”
The call by the
Attorney General for the reform of the UN comes in the wake
of the denial by
Switzerland to issue visas to six members of Robert Mugabe’s
delegation to
Geneva namely, his wife Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister
Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, Transport, Communications and Infrastructural
Development
Minister Nicholas Goche, Director-General in the President’s
Department,
Retired Major General Happyton Bonyongwe, Secretary for Media,
Information
and Publicity, George Charamba and his aide de camp, Senior
Assistant
Commissioner Martin Painona.
However, the granting of a visa to
Information Communication Technology
Minister, Nelson Chamisa who was part
of the same delegation, has reeled
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF with party
loyalists saying Switzerland appears to
be siding with Zimbabwe’s
detractors.
Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace, who has gained notoriety for her
exorbitant
shopping sprees during official visits outside Zimbabwe, was
reportedly
denied a visa by the Swiss government last week, along with five
other top
officials that were part of Mugabe’s delegation to a United
Nations summit.
The Mugabes and their close allies are banned from
travelling to E.U.
countries as part of restrictive measures that were
imposed on them by
member states.
The group had planned to accompany
Mugabe to Geneva for the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) summit
on information and communication
technologies. That portfolio belongs to
MDC-T Minister Nelson Chamisa, who
was rightfully given a visa but
reportedly did not attend.
According to the state run Herald newspaper,
Mugabe cancelled the trip after
the Swiss authorities denied his wife, along
with some of the cabinet
ministers and personal aides from his office. The
paper said Zimbabwe had
“lodged a protest” with the United Nations and the
Swiss government.
An unnamed “senior official” in the foreign ministry is
quoted as saying the
Swiss decision was “highly regrettable” and “a clear
violation” of the
United Nations host agreement, as well as “Zimbabwe’s
sovereign right to
determine the composition of its delegation.”
But
according to political commentator Professor John Makumbe, the Swiss
government later reversed their decision and granted Grace Mugabe and the
others their visas last Friday. The group planned to depart for Geneva over
the weekend, but Mugabe was angry at that point and decided not to attend
this important conference.
“This is ridiculous. You can’t run a
country on anger,” Makumbe explained,
adding: “This underlines the rot in
the inclusive government and shows how
it is not working.” Makumbe described
the government as a marriage of
convenience where the couples do some things
together and others apart.
Makumbe said Mugabe flew to Singapore instead,
and there is speculation the
trip was for ongoing medical treatment for the
ageing dictator. “It is the
ZANU PF way that if Mugabe cannot go then nobody
goes,” the professor
complained.
Makumbe described them as “hangers
on” who wanted to travel for personal
reasons, not as delegates who wanted
to assist Zimbabwe in Geneva, saying:
“Countries with more much more wealth
than Zimbabwe bring delegations half
that size.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
26/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was on the ropes last night
after a
showdown with MPs over his call for constitutional reforms to relax
anti-gay
laws.
Tsvangirai lit the fuse on the controversial subject
after giving an
interview to the BBC in London, which was broadcast on
Monday.
Despite previously endorsing President Robert Mugabe’s vow that
gay rights
were not up for discussion in the new constitution which is at
the drafting
stage, Tsvangirai stunned even his supporters by performing a
volte-face in
London.
“Of course there is a very strong cultural
feeling towards gays but to me it’s
a human right,” Tsvangirai, evidently a
transformed man from just a year
before, told the BBC.
His new stance
set the stage for testy exchanges in Parliament on Wednesday
in his
inaugural British-style Prime Minister’s Questions.
It was Dorcas
Sibanda, an MP from his MDC-T party, who raised the issue even
as
Tsvangirai’s aides were trying to draw a line over the controversy.
Sibanda
wanted to know if Tsvangirai had been quoted correctly, calling for
a
constitution that favours gay rights.
“My personal view does not matter,”
Tsvangirai began, showing no appetite to
repeat what he had told the BBC
just three days earlier.
“This is an elitist debate when people have no
food, when people have no
jobs, when people have so many problems. It is a
diversionary attitude, to
try and put this issue at the focus of the nation
is a real diversionary.
There are more important issues to deal with.”
A
few MPs muttered incomprehensibles, others heckled while most from his
MDC-T
party opted for polite silence.
He had a joke prepared to diffuse the
tensions, telling MPs: “Perhaps I am
speaking here kuda mumwe musi
mungangodai muringochani panapa (Perhaps I am
speaking here and some of you
may be gays). What you do in your private
sphere is your own problem, not
mine.”
Laughter in the House, and Tsvangirai had bought himself some
breathing
space.
Borrowing from a line which has been trotted out by
his party since his BBC
interview aired, Tsvangirai added: “The people of
Zimbabwe are writing a
constitution in which they would like to define their
society, articulating
issues they want. So who am I to question their wisdom
if they decide to
include the question of gay rights into the
constitution?”
Some in Tsvangirai’s camp say that is the position he
should have adopted in
the BBC interview and refused to nail his colours to
the mast. Now his party
is in damage limitation mode, intent to be on the
right side of the debate
on a controversy fast turning into an election
issue.
Tsvangirai’s discomfort has been a boon for Zanu PF which has not
only
pointed to his policy muddle but sought to align itself with the public
mood, which is strongly opposed to legitimising homosexual acts in the new
constitution.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
By KITSEPILE NYATHI 6 hours 11
minutes ago
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai might be in
the eye of a storm for
calling for constitutional reforms guaranteeing gay
rights, but many will
agree he bravely confronted the elephant in the living
room.
Mr Tsvangirai this week told BBC’s Newsnight programme that gay
rights were
a “human right” that Zimbabwe must strive to respect in the
constitution
that is being re-written.
His remarks were a major climb
down after he last year surprisingly lent
support to President Robert
Mugabe’s well known hostile stance against gays.
However, Mr Tsvangiriai
in an uneasy coalition with the veteran ruler, could
have been influenced by
a growing lobby within Zimbabwe for recognition of
gay rights.
The
southern African country could once again be in the spotlight over gay
rights after a government agency established to fight Aids, recommended the
decriminalisation of homosexuality.
In 2008, Zimbabwe tightened its
sodomy laws to include any acts involving
physical contact between males
that would be regarded by a reasonable person
as an indecent
act.
President Mugabe uses every available opportunity to attack gays and
lesbians, who he describes as worse than dogs and pigs.
Government
ministers mainly from his Zanu-PF party enthusiastically support
the veteran
ruler's stance with some going as far as saying homosexuals were
not welcome
in Zimbabwe.
Zanu-PF described the PM’s remarks as “misguided” and out of
“sync with
reality on the ground.”
However, they might soon be forced
to face the reality after a study by the
National Aids Council (NAC) found
out that some of Zimbabwe's laws
"seriously hampered safe sex
initiatives".NAC said studies had shown that
men having sex with men (MSM)
and commercial sex workers had become the most
vulnerable groups in HIV
transmission in Zimbabwe.
The findings of the study carried out by a
consultant hired to review a
number of laws that affect the fight against
HIV/Aids, encourage Zimbabweans
to be open-minded about
Homosexuality.
Recommendations
It also calls for contraceptives
"to be made available in
schools...stipulate placing of condoms in hotels,
night clubs and beer
halls."
The proposals to allow school children
access to contraceptives has been
roundly rejected by Zimbabwe's
conservative society.
NAC, which is a government body, says it had not
adopted the findings,
including those on homosexuality, but was encouraging
debate on the
recommendations.
Dr Tapuwa Magure, the NAC chief
executive officer, said it was premature to
say if the proposals would be
pursued.
"We hired a consultant who made those recommendations, but we
have not yet
sat down to go through them as an organisation, so we currently
do not have
a position regarding them," he said.
"We, however,
believe that all populations, be it the disabled or prisoners,
should have
access to interventions and as a country, we are doing well in
this
regard."
The Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ), whose
attempt to take
part at the Harare book fair in 1995, sparked President
Mugabe's now often
repeated attacks on homosexuals, has welcomed the
proposals.
"Service providers such as doctors and nurses also tend to
develop negative
attitudes when dealing with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Trans-gendered)
people as a result of lack of information," GALZ
said.
"In terms of HIV prevention, this is serious, particularly as GALZ
is the
only organisation in Zimbabwe providing services specifically to the
lesbian
and gay community; and very few other HIV/Aids organisations even
consider
MSM/ women having sex with women (WSW) in their intervention
work."
Zimbabwe has no data for sexual minorities, but studies done in
Botswana and
Malawi, among other regional countries, showed that the HIV
prevalence among
gay man was between 20 to 33 per cent.
A fortnight
ago, the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) rejected calls by human
rights groups
to distribute condoms to the country's 13,000 inmates, saying
there was need
to change a number of laws first.
Distributing condoms
ZPS Deputy
Commissioner Agrey Machingauta told MPs that although the
authorities were
aware that homosexuality was rife in prisons, distributing
condoms would
violate a number of laws.
He said prisoners found committing homosexual
acts were punished.
GALZ says the criminalisation of homosexuality had
even endangered people
considered to be heterosexual because some gay men
had women partners.
"The right to health should be accorded to everyone
regardless of sexual
orientation, gender, sex or creed," GALZ
said.
"Decriminalising consensual same sex practice will reduce fear,
stigma and
discrimination as it has to be accompanied by education,
trainings and
sensitisation of all stakeholders including the
police."
It said the availability of information would also go a long way
in
preventing new HIV infections among gay men who contribute to the
generalised epidemic in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV
prevalence rates in the world among
adults, at 13.1 per cent.
The
country used to have one of the biggest Aids epidemics in the world
until
the number of people infected with HIV almost halved from 29 per cent
to 16
per cent between 1997 and 2007.
The figure has since gone further down to
around 13 per cent. South Africa
was the only African country that had
decriminalised homosexuality.
Critics, however, argue that implementing
some of the recommendations in
Zimbabwe could be difficult given the fact
that most people were Christians.
President Mugabe's homophobia will also
pose a serious challenge to the
policy makers.
Sexual
orientation
Last year, the veteran ruler told a gathering to celebrate
Women’s Day that
gay rights were not up for discussion.
“The issue is
not debatable….it’s just madness, insanity. The ancestors will
turn in their
graves should we allow this to happen.”
Speaking after President Mugabe
on the same occasion, Mr Tsvangirai said: “I
totally agree with the
President. Women make up 25 per cent of the
population.”
“There are
more women than men, so why men should be proposing to men?”
The PM’s
comments sparked outrage from local and international human rights
groups.
He is now singing a different tune, telling the BBC: “My
attitude is that I
hope the constitution will come out with freedom of
sexual orientation.”
“For as long as it does not interfere with anybody,
who am I to define what
individual opinion would be as far as their sexual
preferences are
concerned.”
GALZ welcomed the Premier’s new position
and urged him to “take positive
action to support his most recent statement
on the indivisibility of human
rights”.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Tobias Manyuchi Thursday 27 October
2011
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s economic empowerment programme should
seek to attract
investment and grow more wealth to benefit ordinary citizens
rather than
powerful elites, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on
Wednesday.
Tsvangirai, who has opposed an ongoing indigenisation drive by
President
Robert Mugabe as a ploy by the veteran leader to reward his
political
allies, said wealth creation and not politics should drive
economic
empowerment.
Fielding questions from parliamentarians during
the inaugural Prime Minister
(PM)’s question time, Tsvangirai said: “we need
to promote (and) not damage
investment in the country.”
Under the
empowerment plan championed by Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party,
foreign-owned
firms, including mines and banks, are required to surrender at
least 51
percent shares to locals by 2015.
The plan has spooked investors and has
sharply divided the Harare coalition
government, with Tsvangirai and his MDC
party warning that the plan will
plunge the economy back into crisis after
it had started recovering from a
decade of collapse.
“The idea is not
to share a small cake but to grow the cake that people are
able to share. We
need to create wealth through the creation of funds so
that the people are
able to benefit,” Tsvangirai said.
The PM’s Question Time abolished when
Mugabe became executive President in
1987 affords the premier an opportunity
to answer questions from Members of
Parliament (MPs) and to explain
government programmes and policies.
Asked by Mutare Central MP Innocent
Gonese to clarify the government’s
position on media freedom, Tsvangirai
said the administration was working to
create a plural print and
broadcasting media as a way to enhance democracy.
“Without (free) media
space, you cannot speak about democracy,” he said.
But the PM, who has
been regularly derided and ridiculed by the pro-Mugabe
state-owned
newspapers and television, lamented the use of hate speech in
the
media.
“One would be forgiven for thinking that there are two governments
in
Zimbabwe,” he said, alluding to the way in which the state media openly
support Mugabe while regularly lampooning him.
Tsvangirai criticised
state-owned firms for what he said was a lack of a
“sense of responsibility”
that has seen most parastatals performing badly
and costing the fiscus
dearly as they have to be regularly bailed out by
Treasury to save them from
collapse.
He said, “the greatest weakness in the parastatals is that
there is no sense
of responsibility among the board members because they
feel it belongs to
the government and they don’t care if they make a loss.
These parastatals
are a very serious drain on our resources.”
Turning
to political violence that is resurgent in many parts of the
country,
Tsvangirai urged the police and the home affairs ministry to do
more to curb
politically motivated lawlessness and violence.
“The three principals in
the inclusive government have made commitments that
there should be no
violence in the country. Those who commit violence should
be arrested,” he
said, adding that the leaders of the three main parties
were planning a
meeting to seek ways to stop political violence.
On the situation in
Libya where longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi was
toppled by rebels,
Tsvangirai said Harare stood by the position of the
Africa Union that the
people of Libya should be granted an opportunity to
choose their leaders
without undue interference from an quarter. --
ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com/
26 October
2011
Investment Minister Tapiwa Mashakada said although the funds are
limited,
the input scheme will go a long way to help struggling
farmers
Gibbs Dube & Violet Gonda | Washington
The
Zimbabwean government has earmarked $45 million for financially strapped
small farmers and poor households lacking the means to buy seed and
fertilizer to plant maize crops now that the Grain Marketing Board,
traditionally a main source of inputs for struggling growers, has downsized
its operations in this respect.
Investment Minister Tapiwa Mashakada
said $20 million will be channeled to
communal maize growers and $17 million
to small-scale commercial farmers,
with another $8 million going to
vulnerable households. The funds will be
administered through the Grain
Marketing Board, the minister said.
Many farmers are under pressure
because they cannot get bank loans to
finance crops. Some are still owed
money by the GMB for grain delivered last
year and will be encouraged to
accept payment in kind in seed and
fertilizer.
Mashakada told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that although the funds are
limited, the input
scheme will go a long way to help struggling farmers.
Deputy Agriculture
Minister Seiso Moyo said the government expects the Grain
Marketing Board to
distribute the agricultural inputs without reference to
political
affiliations.
Independent agronomist Thomas Nherera, a founder of the
Zimbabwe Commercial
Farmers Union of Zimbabwe, said there are high hopes
farmers will soon start
planting their crops as they will now be able to
more readily access
subsidized agricultural inputs.
http://thinkafricapress.com/
With elections possible next year, the Zanu-PF
affiliated Chipangano gang
seems to be stepping up its campaign of
violence.
27 October 2011 - 1:05pm | By Andrew Mambondiyani
For
many years, a group in Mbare, a suburb of Zimbabwean capital Harare, has
terrorized people perceived to not support Zanu-PF. Of late, the group has
almost taken over suburb making it a no-go zone for those thought to be
anti-Zanu-PF. And its members, who have strong links to Zanu-PF, are
seemingly more emboldened than ever, arguably growing beyond the control of
their political patrons and defying even President Robert Mugabe’s call -
however insincere it may be - for an end to political
violence.
Chipangano started life in 2000 as a small group, intended to
spearhead Zanu
PF’s election time campaigning and weed out all known
anti-Zanu-PF elements
from Mbare after the then newly formed opposition
party, MDC, won both Mbare
parliamentary seats in the 2000
elections.
Gang members were supposed to be paid, but the funds to do so
filter down
through Zanu-PF ranks. Many group members have claimed that,
consequently
they never received any payment after joining. As a result,
many members of
Chipangano resorted to criminal activities, which they
carried out with
impunity.
As powerful as the war veterans?
Like
the 1970s war of liberation veterans, Chipangano became an appendage of
Zanu
PF, but later grew into a monster which the party either can not or
does not
care about controlling. The war veterans then led by the late
Chenjerai
Hunzvi spearheaded the invasions of white-owned farms in 2000.
They also
intimidated voters suspected of opposing Zanu-PF. Thousands of
people were
maimed or killed as the war veterans unleashed an orgy of
violence.
Thousands were also displaced. The war veterans become so powerful
that
Mugabe and his Zanu PF could no longer entirely control them. They
created
bases reminiscent of those formed during the liberation struggle.
And today,
Chipangano has activated similar bases which, it is claimed, have
become
outposts for torture, rape and other forms of abuse.
After securing a
bloody win for Zanu-PF in 2000, the war veterans became
indispensable,
demanding one thing after another from the government, even
going so far as
to demand a quota of the parliamentary seats in 2005. The
war veterans
become a powerful entity, but were slowly consuming Zanu-PF.
Mugabe himself
did not have free reign to confront them; much like his
failure to stop or
challenge the criminal activities of the Chipangano gang
today.
Beaten
for not gaining approval
A businessman from Mutare, Paul Mutisi, recently
encountered Chipangano when
he went to Harare to sell timber. He told Think
Africa Press that he was
assaulted for attempting to operate without the
gang’s approval. His efforts
to seek police intervention proved fruitless,
resulting in him losing timber
worth thousands of dollars.
“I was
really shocked that such a thing could happen in a country with law
enforcement agents. I lost my timber to the gang, and the police were not
willing help,” Mutisi said.
“The gang has taken over Harare. I have
heard of the group but I never
thought it so powerful.”
This is a
classic case of the group’s organized crime activities. It extorts
money
from market vendors, business people and transport operators, and has
threatened to take over market stalls belonging to suspected MDC
members.
Exposing divisions
The Zanu PF leadership appears to be at a
loss as to how to deal with the
group. Some senior party leaders like Zanu
PF secretary for administration,
Didymus Mutasa, have claimed ownership of
the group, publicly pledging the
party would stand by them to the extent of
providing legal counsel if its
members were arrested. Others, like party
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, have
disowned the group, clearly exposing the
divisions that lie at the heart of
Zanu PF.
It seems that Zanu-PF is
secretly banking on the gang to force the
electorate to vote for the party
in the coming general elections,
tentatively scheduled for next year. With
Zanu PF’s support base dwindling
in urban areas in general and Harare in
particular, the only hope for the
party is to unleash a wave of violence as
it did in the 2008 presidential
run-off.
Of late, cases of
politically motivated violence have been rising in Harare.
Recently, the
group attacked perceived MDC supporters outside the Zimbabwe
parliament
building as Robert Mugabe officially opened the fourth session of
the
seventh parliament of Zimbabwe. No arrests were made. The following day
Chipangano besieged Machipisa Township in Harare, seeking to seize market
stalls from suspected MDC sympathisers. Resistance led to clashes which
transformed the township into a battlefield. In Mbare, MDC Youth Assembly
member and Mbare resident Edwin Machokoto was waylaid by Chipangano youths
who attacked him for putting up party posters.
As testimony from a
member has revealed, the inspiration for such attacks
comes directly from
Zanu-PF patrons. Contrary to the party's claims, a
member has revealed that
drug-fuelled training takes place at a Zanu-PF base
where attacks on MDC,
coordinated by the Harare Zanu-PF chairman Amos Midzi,
are labelled
"community service".
Wreaking havoc in Harare
Chipangano has wreaked
havoc in Harare, where it has literally crippled the
operations of elected
public officials including the mayor, Muchadeyi
Masunda, and his council,
who have all but given up on controlling the group’s
disruptive and violent
activities. Harare deputy mayor Emmanuel Chiroto
threatened to resign out of
frustration, while co-Minister of Home Affairs,
Theresa Makone (MDC-T), told
local press that she had failed to rein in the
Mbare hooligans.
MDC-T
organising secretary, Nelson Chamisa, challenged Mugabe to the stop
the
shadowy group from terrorising Harare residents to prove he was sincere
in
his calls for peace. Chamisa said Mugabe must put his sincerity to the
test
by reigning in the Chipangano gang.
“This violence must stop,” Chamisa
said. “Mugabe said there should be peace.
The call for peace should migrate
from your lips and stop contradictions.
Violence must stop and this demon of
beating up people should not continue.
But for it to stop, we need to pray.
Zanu PF believes in Chipangano, but we
are on total promise and believe in
chirangano (promise).”
Powerful connections
Bulawayo East MP Tabitha
Khumalo (MDC-T) described how ZANU PF politicians
were using violence as a
tool to acquire or retain political support.
Speaking at an event in the UK,
the MP was in no doubt about where the
ultimate blame for Chipangano’s
operations must lie, suggesting that
although not all in Zanu-PF condone
Chipangano, Zanu-PF consent enables its
impunity to sustain.
“There
are four branches within Chipangano,” Khumalo explained. “There is
Chipangano one, two, three and four. Chipangano one identifies MDC
activists. Chipangano two carries out surveillance and monitors individuals
and structures of the MDC-T. Chipangano three approaches our members and
verbally warns them of dire consequences of supporting the MDC. Chipangano
four is the deadliest of all the groups. This group beats the hell out of
you.”
“They beat me up in parliament and I cracked my denture,” he
went on. “This
is a group that attacks parliamentarians, journalists and
ordinary people
whilst their party leader preaches peace and
unity.
“It is so shocking that a group of people can enter parliament
where we felt
secure and safe and beat up members.
"Only a group
linked to Zanu-PF can do this.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Staff Writers
Thursday, 27 October 2011
08:56
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s book, At the Deep
End, has
caused a storm in the country after he sensationally revealed that
President
Robert Mugabe was ready to hand over power to him after the 2008
elections.
Tsvangirai claims in his book that the then State Security
minister,
Nicholas Goche approached his party with proposals from Mugabe on
transfer
of power where the 87-year-old was reportedly pleading for
concessions.
Tsvangirai had trounced Mugabe but according the Zimbabwe
Elections
Commission (Zec), the MDC leader did not have the 50 percent plus
one vote
needed to clinch power.
Yesterday, the Daily News sought
views from ministers Jameson Timba, Goche
and Patrick Chinamasa who
reportedly played roles in the discussions around
the Mugabe
issue.
They offered contrasting views. The Question is who approached
who? Readers
can send their comments on this issue to: letters@dailynews.co.zwThis e-mail
address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to
view it .
Some of the comments will be published.
Who
approached who?
Goche approached me: Timba
(please note this is an
email response)
In fact what happened is that a very prominent industry
captain (whose name
I am not at liberty to divulge — unless he does so
himself) — called me and
requested for a meeting. I met him at Meikles
hotel.
During the meeting, he indicated that ZPF (Zanu PF) and President
Mugabe had
conceded defeat and they wanted to talk.
I advised him
that I did not have a mandate to speak to them and would take
up the matter
with our party President.
I then proceeded to meet with President
Tsvangirai who then instructed me
and Elton Mangoma to engage them.
A
meeting between myself Mangoma and Goche in the office of the industry
captain was then convened.
In the meeting, in addition to what has
been published in the book, Goche
indicated that Chinamasa was supposed to
join us but he refused saying he is
angry because he believed President
Mugabe had cost them the election.
On the second day of our meeting,
Goche said that some Service Chiefs had
requested that the President be
allowed to step down but only after six
months.
Goche, since there
was no functional government at the time, indicated to us
that he was the
acting minister for all security ministries.
I then queried the
constitutional basis of the six months proposal and also
the basis upon
which we would even involve the security establishment in
matters which were
purely political.
The meeting ended with Goche saying he was now going to
brief President
Mugabe and we would meet the following day at 2.30pm. At the
agreed time
myself and Mangoma appeared at the office of the industry
captain.
We waited for about 30 minutes then we called
Goche.
Goche then said he was in Shamva and would not make it for the
meeting. At
that stage, myself and Elton (Mangoma) concluded that the talks
had now
collapsed and another agenda was now on the offing.
Elton
then proceeded to go and brief President Tsvangirai.
The collapse of the
talks was confirmed by The Herald of the following day
where Chinamasa came
out saying he had been appointed the chairperson of a
Zanu PF information
subcommittee and that they wanted a presidential run-off
and a recount of
votes in some parliamentary constituencies.
He also rubbished our meeting
with Goche by attacking the industry captain
without naming him. The rest is
history.
The MDC came to me — Goche
State security minister
Nicholas Goche has brushed off claims by MDC
secretary for International
Relations Jameson Timba that the two held
meetings where he reportedly
confided that President Robert Mugabe had
conceded electoral defeat and was
ready to step down from power.
According to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s memoirs, At the Deep End,
the former trade unionist wrote that
Goche was sent to the MDC by Mugabe to
discuss possibilities of a power
handover programme following Mugabe’s
defeat during the first round of the
2008 presidential election.
In the book, Tsvangirai said Goche called one
of his party’s senior members
and the two held meetings where the hand
over-take -over plan was discussed.
Timba yesterday insisted to the Daily
News that Goche made overtures after
realising Mugabe had lost an election
for the first time since independence
in 1980.
In an interview with
the Daily News yesterday, Goche dismissed Timba’s
assertions that he met him
at a Harare hotel where the issue was discussed.
Goche, instead, said he
was called by Delta Beverages executive Joe Mutizwa.
“Tsvangirai’s book
has a lot of lies in it,” Goche said.
“What I have said in the past is
that I never contacted anybody at the MDC
for any discussions of that sort.
In fact, have you asked Joe Mutizwa?” he
said.
“I did not know who
Jameson Timba was until that time. So what nonsense is
he talking,” Goche
fumed.
He said that he never held “several” meetings with Timba and
Energy minister
Elton Mangoma, but only held one meeting where “a
discussion” was held.
“I attended one meeting, and that claim that I
attended several meetings is
a figment of their own imagination. Why does
Mangoma and Timba claim that I
attended several meetings with
them.
“I have witnesses that were at the meeting who can testify,” said
Goche
before hanging up.
Contacted for comment, Mutizwa said he had
nothing to say regarding the
matter.
During the watershed elections,
Tsvangirai polled 47,8 percent while Mugabe
polled 43,3 percent of the
votes.
Simba Makoni of the Mavambo/ Kusile/ Dawn (MKD) polled a paltry
eight
percent of the total vote — a margin desperately needed by the two
leading
candidates to win outright majority to rule.
A bloody
presidential run-off was held in June 2008, forcing Tsvangirai to
pull out
of the polls due to violence, leaving Mugabe to declare himself the
ultimate
winner of the election after a one man election.
Tsvangirai and the
international community described the poll as a sham.
This is nonsense:
Chinamasa
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a
leading
negotiator for Zanu PF, called the Daily News fuming that his party
never
conceded defeat when Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai polled more
votes than
President Robert Mugabe during the 2008 elections.
“It is
not true. We never conceded defeat. How can we concede defeat when
the
constitutional law says that a person has to have 50 percent plus one
for a
presidential candidate to emerge successful,” Chinamasa said.
The
minister was responding to an earlier Daily News report that quoted
Tsvangirai’s recently released memoirs suggesting Zanu PF bigwigs courted
the MDC for a deal well before presidential election results were
announced.
“If anyone is saying we conceded defeat, he is a bloody liar.
I was never
called to any meeting to do with the MDC. After the March 2008
elections,
we went into gear for the run-off after we realised there was no
clear
winner,” Chinamasa said.
Chinamasa went on to say he had no
idea whether Goche had held any meetings
with the MDC and that he had not
been invited to the meetings.
“To be honest I do not know whether he held
those meetings because the law
was very clear. A candidate can only be
termed successful if they got 50
percent plus one of the votes.
“I am
now told the Prime Minister did not know the law. Being a leading
candidate
in a race that had not been finished did not make him a winner. He
must have
stayed the course,” Chinamasa said.