Mugabe gives ally control of telecoms

http://news.yahoo.com

Fri Apr 10, 7:00 am ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has put a top ally in charge
of telecommunications after a dispute over control of the key industry
involving a longtime opposition figure, state media said Friday.

The Herald newspaper said the department would fall under the ministry of
transport, communications and infrastructure development headed by Nicholas
Goche, a top aide to Mugabe.

Goche was part of the negotiating team to form a power-sharing government
with the main opposition.

The move follows a dispute between information and communication technology
minister Nelson Chamisa and information and publicity minister Webster Shamu
over control of the telecommunications industry.

Chamisa has been spokesman for the longtime opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), which has formed a power-sharing government with
Mugabe's ZANU-PF.

Zimbabwe's main political rivals formed a power-sharing government in
February to ease tensions in the aftermath of disputed presidential polls
and tackle a deep economic crisis.

Although the parties signed the agreement to form a government in September
last year, its formation was delayed as the parties haggled over the
allocation of key cabinet ministries including home affairs and finance.

A week after their appointment, ministers Chamisa and Shamu clashed over the
control of the key telecommunications industry.

Nelson Chamisa Is Disemboweled By Mugabe

http://www.nehandaradio.com

10 April 2009

By Denford Magora

These are the two men who have been humiliated by Mugabe in the last two
days. Day before yesterday, it Tendai Biti who was forced to eat humble pie
and live with Gideon Gono. Yesterday, it was Nelson Chamisa who was stripped
of all the most important elements of his ministry.

There really is no other way to put it: Robert Mugabe today essentially
disemboweled Nelson Chamisa, gutting his ministry into a shell and hiving
off Telephone and cellphone companies and their regulatory bodies to a ZANU
PF heavyweight minister.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is being systematically cut down to size by
President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe quietly announced the "redefining" of the Ministry of Information and
Communication Technology, which Nelson Chamisa is in charge of. He sent the
Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Mugabe is in charge of cabinet while
Tsvangirai is in charge of the Council of Ministers), to tell the ministers
how their turfs were now defined.

You will recall that Chamisa clashed with Webster Shamu, the ZANU PF
minister at the Ministry of Information and Publicity when both men tried to
address workers at the cellphone company owned by government, NetOne.

Immediately after this, Permanent Secretaries were also announced.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai called a press conference at which he declared the
appointments null and void. He also announced at the same press conference
that he was going to set out the areas of contention in the ministries of
communication. Tsvangirai also expressly said the government-owned
parastatals would fall under Chamisa.

In fact, Tsvangirai also announced that it was his job to define the job
descriptions of cabinet ministers and said this is exactly what he was going
to do.This, the Prime Minister has repeated on at least three separate
occasions.

He did no such thing, obviously. Mugabe has once again asserted his
authority over the Prime Minister. He himself decided to take the Department
of Communications away from Nelson Chamisa, the MDC minister of Information
and Communication Technology.

In essence, by taking this bit away from him, Mugabe has taken TelOne, the
phone company, Netone, the cellphone company and the regulating bodies for
the communication industry out of the ambit of the MDC.

Which means that Nelson Chamisa is now a minister in charge of shops that
sell cellphones, phone shops and computer shops. Even the matter of the
Internet has now been taken out of his hands.

And no, Mugabe has not given the Department of Communications to Webster
Shamu, the ZANU PF communications minister. It goes instead to a heavyweight
in ZANU PF, Nicholas Goche, who was one of the ZANU PF negotiators in the
talks that led to the formation of this government.

Goche is the minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructure
Development.

Do you now understand that we have three ministers in charge of essentially
the one industry. Each of them gets a US dollar salary, a Mercedes Benz,
unlimited fuel allocation, an office, secretary and staff, all with their
own running costs.

Jobs were indeed created for the boys. But we wander....

Back to this story, this disemboweling of Nelson Chamisa. It goes back again
to the issue of control, power. That is what this government is preoccupied
with while this country burns, while no water flows through taps, while
cholera roams the rubbish-strewn streets of our cities like The Grim Reaper,
while the health system collapses.

Mugabe was never going to allow the instruments of eavesdropping,
wiretapping and spying fall into the hands of the MDC. They are a junior
partner and had to be put in their place.

And all of a sudden, the Prime Minister is quiet. He did brief his
spokesman, James Maridadi on the position of his office today, in case the
media asked. That position is that, "there has to be give and take, in the
spirit of inclusivity." You will almost exactly these words when the MDC
justifies its capitulation yet again.

This disemboweling of Nelson Chamisa is only a chapter in the book that is
being written now as it is lived. There is still the little matter of
Permanent Secretaries to come. And then some.

That score now reads: Robert Mugabe 2 Morgan Tsvangirai 0

With all this going on, the Prime Minister is satisfied enough with his role
to want to make the arrangement permanent, making deals with Robert Mugabe
to divide this country like their cake?

Mugabe does not have the authority to take my powers -- Chamisa

http://www.hararetribune.com

Friday, 10 April 2009 18:55 Thomas Shumba

Hours after it was revealed that his powers as Minister of Information
Communication Technology have been handed over to a ZANU-PF cadre Nicholas
Goche by Mugabe, the MDC-M's Nelson Chamisa has said  Mugabe doesn't have
the authority to strip of his ministerial powers.

Chimasa said that "Mugabe does not have those powers, those powers in the
inclusive government arrangement lie with the three principals," referring
to Mugabe, Tsvangirai and the Prof. Mutambara who jointly form the head of
the inclusive govt.

A shocked Chamisa also said that the three principals "have not advised me
that I have been demoted or that my ministry has been disbanded as I read in
The Herald." He dismissed the Herald report that said he been demoted as a
joke.

"I will not take things from The Herald, which is notorious for telling
lies, so maybe its just a way of misleading people," Chamisa said.

Reports had indicated that Mugabe had expanded the Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructure Development to include the Department of Communications and
that the new portfolio would now become the Ministry of Transport,
Communication and Infrastructural Development under Minister Nicholas Goche.

The newly created ministry took over more than 90% of the functions of
Chamisa's ministry, leading to observations by Zimbabweans that Chamisa had
been effectively demoted.

ZANU-PF insiders have said that Chamisa will now only be in charge of
government software needs.

Chamisa said he will only hand over his ministerial functions to Goche if
the other two inclusive govt. principals, Tsvangirai and the Prof.
Mutambara, told him to do so.

However, the Harare Tribune heard that Tsvangirai was unlikely to agree to
Mugabe's demotion of Chamisa, setting the stage for another round of
confusion in the inclusive govt. If Tsvangirai were to agree to Chamisa's
demotion, the MDC would be cut off from anything to do with information
dissemination as ZANU-PF will be in charge of ZBC to telephones.

In handing over more powers to Goche, Mugabe was responding to pressure from
ZANU-PF hardliners who told him that it was a blunder to leave the MDC in
charge of communications in the country. In order to safeguard ZANU-PF's
position in the 2011 elections, it was necessary to stay in charge of the
information ministry but of the commutations portfolio also, ZANU-PF cronies
led by George Charamba told him.

MDC slowly being stripped of any power

http://www.zimtelegraph.com

By COLIN MADZIVA
Published: Saturday, April 11, 2009

What is Chamisa's Ministry Again?I could be wrong but this is what I see.

Honorable Chamisa you are fired! Sorry but that's what Mugabe is about.

If they can not fire you they will keep you but they will make sure that you
are irrelevant. MDC this is the time to sit-down and pull out the drawing
board.

The GNU is already on life support. I am still wondering why is it so hard
to see that the GNU does not work.

Was the Prime Minister consulted in the firing of Mr Chamisa? So what is
important is for MDC-T to loudly condemn the illegal sanctions while they
are being sidelined left and right?

Every ministry that is considered "USEFUL" or "INFLUENTIIAL" is under
ZANU-PF. We might want to sugarcoat the truth but just look at it.

Mining, Defense and Security, Information, Agriculture, Lands, Justice and
Transport are all under ZANU-Pf. One could argue that MDC has Industry and
Commerce, Education but don't forget Education is divided into two where
ZANU-Pf has the bigger chunk.

Industry is ZANU-Pf by default everybody knows that. The one that MDC-T can
claim their influence is Finance but do not forget the Doctor of fuzzy Maths
is the man running the show.

So what is MDC doing in the GNU? The answer is very simple, making sure that
Mugabe sees another day in office.

If MDC-T is full of western puppets how in the hell does Mugabe share the
same platform with them? Now we know why, he wants sanctions lifted so he
and his cronies can go shopping in the western malls. So who is a puppet?

It is not too late to dump this convenient marriage and do the right thing.
What MDC really needed was two months and ZANU-Pf was done. Elections were
going to be called early and the international community including SADC were
going to monitor the elections not ZANU-Pf picked observers.

Here we are MDC is doing the government work while ZANU-Pf is enjoying the
benefits. Why is it so difficult to see that MDC is being used? Please take
this move by Mugabe as a warning of things to come.

MDC activists are still in police custody while the violence perpetrators
like Joseph Chinotimba and the murderers like Mwale are free but all parties
are claiming to have made some progress.

I thought one conditions of getting into this deal was the release of all
political prisoners. If they are still in prison doesn't that mean to say
the deal is not working?

One by one MDC you are going to be sidelined and then find yourself
cornered, that's how Mugabe and gang operates.

Was Roy Benett sworn into office? The next we will hear is Biti is in police
custody facing death because he failed to pay civil servants.

Don't forget he still has a case to answer. MDC wake up!!

Defining Information Communication Technology

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/minister30.19667.html

By Msekiwa Makwanya
Posted to the web 05/04/2009 23:03:28
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's attempt to divorce telecoms from the Information
Communication Technology Ministry (read) has no rationale, as much as it has
no precedent in the modern world.

The debate over whether or not Nelson Chamisa, the ICT Minister, should be
in charge of the telecoms sector is a sheer waste of time and energy, and
certainly one that does not require arbitration because the answer is in the
dictionary.

The issue requires President Mugabe's advisors to visit the free
encyclopedia, Wikipedia, for the definition of Information Communication
Technology (ICT).

Minister Chamisa can draw comfort from the fact that one of his principals,
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, is a rocket scientist who is more
than capable of educating President Mugabe on ICT.

According to Wikipedia the term is sometimes used in preference to
Information Technology (IT), particularly in two communities: education and
government.

In the common usage it is often assumed that ICT is synonymous with IT; ICT
in fact encompasses any medium to record information (magnetic disk/tape,
optical disks (CD/DVD), flash memory etc. and arguably also paper records);
technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and technology
for communicating through voice and sound or images - microphone, camera,
loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones.

ICT includes the wide variety of computing hardware (PCs, servers,
mainframes, networked storage), the rapidly developing personal hardware
market comprising mobile phones, personal devices, MP3 players, and much
more; the full gamut of application software from the smallest
home-developed spreadsheet to the largest enterprise packages and online
software services; and the hardware and software needed to operate networks
for transmission of information, again ranging from a home network to the
largest global private networks operated by major commercial enterprises
and, of course, the internet. Thus, "ICT" makes more explicit that
technologies such as broadcasting and wireless mobile telecommunications are
included.

The above definition makes it clear what ICT is and what it is not.

The current unnecessary dispute over the ICT ministry gives credence to the
MDC's concerns that some of the ministries were created to give the party
"useless" posts. For if Chamisa loses a function that is at the heart of his
ministry, how can he be taken seriously?

However, as the late Eddison Zvobgo once observed, you do not reduce great
minds by giving them small or meaningless tasks.

The controversy has some unintended consequences -- by drawing attention to
the ICT Ministry, it will help to raise the profile of and a better
understanding of ICT.

The MDC must fight tooth and nail this brazen attempt at a public castration
of a minister by President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe's Hardliners Accused of Being Behind New Violence

http://www.voanews.com



By VOA News
10 April 2009

Top aides to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe are being blamed for a new
wave of violence, coinciding with the formation of the country's
power-sharing government.

The New York Times newspaper reported Friday some of Mr. Mugabe's aides are
behind recent abductions of dozens of human rights and opposition activists
in a bid to gain their own amnesty for crimes they committed during recent
election campaigns.

The report quoted unnamed members of Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party as making
the allegations.

In a VOA interview Friday, the ZANU-PF chief parliamentary whip Joram Gumbo
denied reports hardliners in his party wanted to destabilize the unity
government. He said nobody forced ZANU-PF to join the government, and that
the party is free to leave if it wanted to.

The power-sharing government has been off to a shaky start since being
formed in February after months of negotiations.

Thursday, VOA's Zimbabwe service reported cabinet members belonging to
ZANU-PF and top Mugabe aides had formed a group calling itself the Social
Revolutionary Council. The hardline group is said to be behind new invasions
of white-owned commercial farms.

President Mugabe has repeatedly said farm takeovers should continue as part
of a massive land redistribution program, but his new prime minister, Morgan
Tsvangirai, opposes them, and says anyone seizing land should be arrested.

Another new controversy is Mr. Mugabe's decision to put the
telecommunications industry under the control of the ministry of transport,
communications and infrastructure development.

That ministry is headed by a Mugabe ally Nicholas Goche.

The move followed a dispute between Tsvangirai ally Nelson Chamisa, who is
information and communication technology minister and the ZANU-PF's
Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu, with both insisting the
telecommunications sector was under their control.

Farmer demands US$2,1m for farm

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14958

April 10, 2009

By Owen Chikari

MASVINGO- Digby Nesbit, a Chiredzi commercial farmer and businessman whose
farm has been invaded in a fresh wave of invasions, has demanded US$2,1
million from the state for developments he made on the property.
Nesbit made the demand as his trial for failing to vacate the property
continued at the Chiredzi magistrate courts on Thursday. He was responding
to questions from the state during the trial.

Nesbit, whose farm was invaded by senior Assistant Commissioner Edmore
Veterai, said he was not resisting any moves to leave but would only do so
after being paid US$2,1 million for the developments he made on the farm.

"I made developments to the tune of US$2,1 million on the property and would
leave the farm once the money is paid to me as compensation by the state,"
said Nesbit.

"In addition to developments I made on the farm, if I am to leave my
machinery, then the state has to pay me before I leave."

Chiredzi magistrate Enias Magate postponed the case to next week as the
trial which has attracted a lot of attention here continues.

Nesbit is represented by Rodney Makausi of Chihambakwe, Makonese law firm
while chief law officer Tendai Zvekare is leading the prosecution.

At least seven commercial farmers based in the South Eastern Lowveld, the
sugar cane greenbelt of the country, await prosecution after they allegedly
refused to vacate their farms which have been acquired by the state.

The co-minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa has been quoted as saying the
issue of fresh farm invasions is complex as the invaders are reported to
have in their possession letters written by the Ministry of Lands to offer
them the farms.

"We are at the moment trying to establish the authenticity of these letters
before we effect any arrest," said Mutsekwa.

"We are working with the Ministry of Lands to verify these offer letters and
then we will go on to arrest people who are on the land illegally."

The supreme court of Zimbabwe last week ruled that the prosecution of white
farmers who are refusing to vacate their acquired properties was lawful.

Meanwhile, three senior Zanu-PF officials have been named as the main
culprits leading the terror campaign aimed at evicting the remaining
commercial farmers.

The president of the Council of Chiefs , Chief Fortune Charumbira, former
Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairman retired major Alex Mudavanhu and former
Masvingo provincial chairman of the war veterans Isaiah Muzenda are said to
be leading the campaign.

Charumbira, who already owns Acton Farm on the outskirts of Masvingo, is
bracing to take over Mitchel Farm owned by Antony Mitchel, while Mudavanhu
chased away a farmer named only as Sparrow and has already shared the
property with Muzenda.

The property formerly owned by Sparrow is a conservancy with a lot of wild
animals, among them lions.

Sources within the police said they had received information linking the
three to the campaign.

"We have received several reports about Charumbira , Mudavanhu and Muzenda
leading the terror campaign but we cannot arrest them since the whole issue
is political," said a senior police officer at Masvingo Central Police
Station .

"You know it very well."

Although Charumbira could not be reached for comment Friday, Mudavanhu and
Muzenda confirmed their occupation of Sparrow's property.

"The farm is now ours," said Mudavanhu "What is now left is to take over the
farm house."

Sources within the police said Muzenda and Mudavanhu were having problems
handling the lions on the property and had since approached the Department
of National Parks and wildlife for assistance.

A long awaited policy on economic migrants

Photo: Taurai Maduna/IRIN

Zimbabwean migrants outside the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG, 10 April 2009 (IRIN) - Almost a decade into the Zimbabwean crisis, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is introducing a permit that could regularize the status of thousands of undocumented migrants and put an end to mass deportations as a first step to a long-awaited new policy on a thorny issue.

The department has met with representatives from civil society and international organizations such as the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss implementing a new temporary residence permit. However, the need to secure additional funding, staff and information management systems means no formal timeline has been set.

The permit will grant thousands of Zimbabweans the right to live and work in South Africa, and access healthcare and education for an initial period of at least six months. The mass deportation of undocumented migrants may be halted.

South Africa has never formally addressed the influx of tens of thousands Zimbabweans over its northern border, and standard immigration measures left many undocumented, so seeking asylum has often been the only way for them to regularize their status.

Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and political crisis is a decade old, but until 2004 many Zimbabweans were barred from applying for asylum. According to the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), they form the bulk of applications, creating a backlog of almost 90,000 in 2007.

“Up to 80 percent of these applications are rejected on the basis that the applicants do not meet the requirements of the Refugee Act,” Home Affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy told IRIN.

“As it currently stands, the Immigration Act does not accommodate economic migrants. Given the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, it was agreed that the government cannot continue to send Zimbabweans who do not qualify for refugee status, or any other permit, back home.”

A promising first step

The idea of such a permit as a solution to the large number of asylum seekers is not new. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula first mentioned it in 2007, and civil society and international organisations, including CoRMSA, UNHCR and the Forced Migration Studies programme at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand have been advocating it for years.

Section 31 of the Immigration Act allows the minister to grant permanent residence to a category of foreigners for a specified period, under special circumstances. According to the Organisation for African Unity convention, similar provisions granting certain groups temporary refugee status have been a common response to large-scale migration on the continent.

In some ways seems like exactly the wrong time … [but] my guess is that the minister wants some kind of legacy around this issue, realizing that they haven’t dealt with it in the past

“We are extremely pleased,” said Sanda Kimbimbi, UNHCR’s representative for Southern Africa. “It is acknowledging the fact that movement is taking place, and instead of using control measures, it is better to try to manage it. It is the beginning of the migration management of a large number of people coming into the country, and for good reason.”

There are widespread misperceptions in South Africa about foreigners’ contribution to crime and unemployment, and such a policy change could be a political hot potato in an election year.

“We’re a little bemused by the timing of it,” said Loren Landau, director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme, which has long advocated the permit. “In some ways seems like exactly the wrong time … [but] my guess is that the minister wants some kind of legacy around this issue, realizing that they haven’t dealt with it in the past.”

The permits may usher in change that many think is long overdue. “There’s not really been a specific policy on immigration from Zimbabwe, but I think there’s been a realization that there are different needs among migrants,” said CoRMSA spokesperson Duncan Breen.

“When you apply for asylum, you’re technically were not supposed to go back to Zimbabwe, but I think people have realized that people need to go back to Zimbabwe, either with goods or money – remittances are largely what appear to be keeping the country afloat.”

“Arrest, detain, deport”

South Africa’s approach has been largely one of “arrest, detain, deport”, in which undocumented individuals were arrested by the police and detained in repatriation centres before being deported at state expense.

A paper published in 2008 by the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) noted that the absence of an official response to Zimbabwean migration stemmed partly from a lack of data on the number of people entering the country, and partly from political sensitivities over South Africa’s official stance on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, chief mediator between Zimbabwe’s fiercely opposed political parties, drew sharp criticism when he refused to admit there was a crisis in Zimbabwe, despite figures from the International Organisation for Migration showing that 17,000 Zimbabweans were being deported monthly by June 2007.

Local government has been left in the awkward situation of having to deal with the fallout from migration – from xenophobia to overcrowding at refuges like Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church – while waiting for national government to put an effective policy in place.

The authorities in Gauteng, South Africa’s richest province, have had to set up temporary shelters in response to the situation at the church. Spokesman Daniel Ramarumo said it was a short-term solution to the specific problem of overcrowding at the church, and the province was looking at policy at national level to prevent the situation from arising again.

Some national departments, such as Health and Education, have formulated specific responses to the influx by providing antiretroviral treatment to all undocumented migrants, and employing Zimbabwean teachers to alleviate shortages in South African schools.

Human rights and the right permit

NGOs said they hoped the permit would give undocumented Zimbabweans some protection from the human rights abuses they often faced. “[We’ve] outlined the problems of lack of documentation, and it starts at the border, where migrants face armed gangs of men,” said Gerry Simpson, a refugee researcher with Human Rights Watch, which called for the permits in their 2008 report.

“We’re looking at reports of rape, killings, trafficking, abuse of women, but it continues. [The new permit is] a clear turning point in South Africa, which up until now has had a line that there is no problem in Zimbabwe.”

CoRMSA’s Breen said the new permit could actually help guarantee the human rights of both Zimbabweans and South Africans by protecting Zimbabweans from exploitation while ensuring that skills shortages in South Africa did not deny citizens access to health and education.

“It will have very tangible effects for migrants themselves, but also for South Africa, which will be able to better use the skills that many Zimbabweans can contribute,” said Breen, who noted that South Africa’s emphasis on deportation had taken Zimbabwean teachers out of classrooms and into repatriation centres, with a one-way ticket home. 

According to a 2007 study by the University of South Africa, more than 60 percent of Zimbabweans in the country had matriculated from secondary school.

Comment from a correspondent

The events of the last few hours prompted me to share my frustration with
someone who might be sympathetic. Perhaps the story could be a warning to
other folks who might end up in a similar situation and perhaps you could
shed some light as to what the "Law of Zimbabwe" really says about the
situation this story is painting.

The background to the story is quite long but I am trying to be brief.

I am an SA citizen who employs Nomsa (not her real name), a Zimbabwe woman,
as a house maid. She has worked for me and my wife for the past 10 years.
Last year she and her brother managed to scratch enough cash together to
purchase a Toyota HiAce to be used as a taxi in Bulawayo. The vehicle is a
Japanese import, purchased in Durban. When the vehicle was delivered on the
Zim side of Beitbridge from Durban last year beginning of December, a number
of items had been stripped from the vehicle including the radio, spare wheel
even the radiator cap. But this is only a side issue. Delivery was taken and
the vehicle driven to Bulawayo only to find that the vehicle could not be
registered as there were no number plates available. A few weeks ago finally
a number plate was available at the exorbitant price of R2000.00.

Since Dec last year, a number of mechanical problems surfaced which Nomsa
tried to have fixed with local talent - also at premium prices - but in the
final analyses, more damage was done to the vehicle in the process. I
finally suggested to Nomsa to bring the vehicle to SA and have my motor car
mechanic try and fix all the problems once and for all. This was done and
Nomsa's driver finally brought the vehicle to SA about two weeks ago.

Now, at this stage it needs to be mentioned that the Zim authorities
apparently can only issue a permit for the vehicle and the driver to be in
SA for a period of two weeks at any one time. This in itself is ludicrous as
the repair of the vehicle might take and is taking more than two weeks to
complete. There are a number of reasons for this but the main reason is that
spares for the Japanese imports are very hard to find in SA.

Today, the two week permit expired and the driver had to go back to renew
the permit. Since the vehicle was not ready, I loaned Nomsa my Bantam
Utility van to drive back to Zim. As it is Easter now, Nomsa decided to
accompany her driver and spend the weekend with her family at the same time.
Purchases of groceries were made and I organized an affidavit, stamped by a
commissioner of oath at the local police station, to give the driver
permission to use my vehicle for the purpose stated above. Off they went
early this morning.

An hour ago I get a call from Nomsa saying that they had gone through the SA
border post without any problems. At the Zim border post they had to pay
again an exorbitant fee - not sure how much it was - to get permission to
take the vehicle to enter the "Despotic Republic of Zimbabwe" - actually it
is a contradiction of terms but, so be it. All duties etc were paid, the
permit for the driver and the HiAce to stay another two weeks in SA issued.

When they tried to leave the border post, the officials decided to tell them
that the driver would not be allowed, as a Zimbabwe citizen, to drive an SA
owned car in Zimbabwe. The reason given for this was that this would be
against the Law of Zimbabwe!!!  I am totally dumb struck. Can there be such
a law at all? The man has my permission to used the vehicle after all!!!

They were also told that he had only half an hour to return to SA otherwise
they run the risk of the vehicle being impounded. On top of that, the moneys
paid for the vehicle to enter Zim  were not refunded. Nice people, the
Zimbabwean officials are!!! I would call this kind of behavior
gangsterism!!!

Then end result of all this is that Nomsa had to catch a taxi to take her to
Bulawayo, again at three times the price than she would normally pay using a
bus from SA to Bulawayo, and the driver is on his way back from Beitbridge
as I write.

I guess this is just another typical Zim problem. I am no lawyer so I guess,
the authorities make up the law to the uninitiated as they go. Compared to
the horror stories I have been reading on your blog this is a benign one.
However, when something like this happens so close to home, one gets a
different perspective of all the "stories" one has read in the past.

If you have any advice or comment on the "Law of Zimbabwe" pertaining to
this incident, it would be very much appreciated if you have the time to
respond to this mail. Now I am wondering, whether this whole permit problem
could not have been resolved at the Zim embassy in Johannesburg or Pretoria.
To have to physically go all the way to a border post that is 650km away
seems such a damn waste of resources.

I dearly hope that the poor diver is not going to be harassed by the SA
police (no further comment on that one but Carte Blanch has uncovered lots
of shenanigans by SA police officers) on the way back after all he has been
through in the past 24 hours.

From a very concerned and bewildered ...... Richard