http://www.timeslive.co.za
JAMA MAJOLA | 15 April, 2012 00:51
A fierce battle
has erupted within the Select Committee of Parliament on the
New
Constitution (Copac) - pitting Zanu-PF factions supporting and opposing
President Robert Mugabe's controversial early elections agenda against each
other.
The early polls are also resisted by senior Zanu-PF officials
and both
Movement for Democratic Change factions.
Copac, which has 25
MPs, was established in April 2009 under the Global
Political Agreement to
draw up a new constitution before free and fair
elections are
held.
Information gathered by the Sunday Times this week shows that
Zanu-PF
factions battling over Mugabe's succession have taken their fight to
Copac,
where an intense power struggle is raging. The fight pits a faction
led by
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa against another one loyal to
Mugabe. The
camp led by Vice-president Joyce Mujuru is also
involved.
Mugabe's hardliners, who charge the process has been hijacked
by a coalition
of internal and external forces bent on ousting their leader,
want Copac to
fast-track its operations to facilitate early elections this
year without
fail - with or without a new constitution.
Mugabe
returned from Singapore on Thursday amid a storm of speculation about
his
failing health. Although the latest reports were unfounded, he failed to
clear the air.
He could not explain why he had been away for a
fortnight if he was not
battling health problems. Ministers said Mugabe
ignored the issue in cabinet
on Thursday, raising suspicions he might
actually be sick. Those close to
him insist he is battling prostate
cancer.
Mnangagwa's faction, which controls Copac through co-chairman
Paul
Mnangagwa, wants to delay the elections until next year, to knock out
Mugabe
on age and health grounds.
Mujuru's faction, although fighting
for political supremacy within, also
wants Mugabe blocked as the Zanu-PF
candidate.
Zanu-PF succession battles playing out in Copac exploded into
the public
this week, with Mnangagwa openly clashing with party strategist
Jonathan
Moyo. Moyo described Mnangagwa and his Copac allies frustrating
Mugabe's
agenda as a "mafia" and warned them to stop. It is unusual for
senior party
officials to fight so publicly.
"As the curtain falls on
the discredited Copac drafting process, the Copac
mafia realises that its
strategy of abusing the process to block or delay
elections has been
exposed, given that the constitutional roadmap for the
inevitable holding of
elections this year is set to be firmly decided next
month," Moyo
thundered.
"The Copac mafia has become desperate and is now resorting to
fallacies, and
scare tactics about devolution and a women's parliamentary
quota to force
the adoption of a draft constitution to secure the mafia's
floundering
regime change or succession interests," he said.
Annoyed
by Moyo's remarks, Mnangagwa hit back, saying his party's election
strategist was "crazy" and fuelling the fight.
"He is crazy, what he
is saying is not true at all, we know his motives. We
are, however,
expecting to complete the draft next week," Mnangagwa said.
Senior party
officials say Mnangagwa is angry that his former ally Moyo is
now fighting
against his faction. In 2004 Mnangagwa and Moyo were involved
in a failed
bid to topple Mugabe. Mugabe recently upped the ante after he
started
cracking down on Mnangagwa's faction within Copac, ordering it to
finalise
the constitution-making quickly so that next month he could
announce when
elections would be held.
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T, as well as
MDC-N leader Welshman Ncube, are
also opposed to Mugabe's agenda. They have
been accused by Mugabe loyalists
of working with the Mnangagwa
faction.
Mnangagwa said this week, after being given an ultimatum by
Mugabe, that the
draft constitution would be given to the management
committee made up of GPA
negotiators, Copac's three co-chairmen and the
Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister before it goes to the
principals, who want to
take charge of the situation before it deteriorates
into chaos.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
15/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZANU PF politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo has told
the constitutional
select committee to ‘bring it on!’ after two co-chairs of
the body
threatened to charge him with contempt of Parliament, leading to
possible
impeachment.
Cheesed-off by Prof. Moyo’s criticism of their
conduct in the ongoing
constitutional reform process, COPAC co-chairs
Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and
Edward Mkhosi (MDC) said the Tsholotsho North
legislator could face contempt
charges when Parliament resumes
sitting.
“Professor Moyo is clearly in contempt of Parliament. His abuse
of COPAC has
gone beyond fair criticism. The committee will seek to have him
charged for
contempt of the House,” Mwonzora said, according to the Sunday
Mail.
“At law, he can be charged and we are confident that, if the law is
strictly
followed, he will be found guilty. We are not trying to suppress
criticism,
but we will not tolerate abuse of the body
(COPAC).”
Mkhosi added: “We shall approach the Speaker when sitting
resumes next month
to thrash out the issue of Prof Moyo’s un-parliamentary
behaviour. If he has
a bone to chew with the committee, we believe that the
right platform to do
so will be in Parliament.
“We are confident that
even members of Zanu PF within the committee will
support this position.
Prof. Moyo has no grounds whatsoever to refer to the
body as a
mafia.”
The select committee is expected to discuss the proposed action
against Moyo
at a meeting set for Monday.
But Prof. Moyo shot back: “
… they will get more than they have bargained
for, given that the making of
a new constitution is not their personal
business but the business of every
Zimbabwean.
“COPAC is not a parliamentary process and cannot therefore
sustain any
charge of contempt of Parliament against anybody. Yes, the
formation of
COPAC was announced in Parliament in 2009 and Parliament was
involved in the
running of COPAC up to the chaotic first stakeholders’
conference.
“After that conference all hell broke loose and COPAC
literally left
Parliament in every sense but name. Since then COPAC has not
conducted
itself in terms of any standing order or rule of Parliament; none
whatsoever. Parliament’s presiding officers have had no role whatsoever in
COPAC.”
Prof. Moyo said if anyone should face contempt charges it was
COPAC
themselves for disregarding the views of the majority of Zimbabweans
gathered during the constitutional outreach programme.
“The views of
the people have not officially been published, arguably to
enable the Copac
mafia to ignore or manipulate them as we have indeed seen
happen,” he
said.
“The same contempt has been shown in how the COPAC mafia has
responded
against anyone who has said anything critical of COPAC’s work or
critical of
the outcomes of some of its work in progress.
“Critical
voices have been routinely labelled as laymen who should not be
listened to
as if the COPAC mafia is unaware of the fact that the
overwhelming majority
of its own members are not lawyers.
“According to one of its co-chairs
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, (COPAC’s) first
working draft constitution … had
at least 70 percent of its content smuggled
onto the draft outside the views
of the people.
“Who smuggled this content? Smuggling is mafia business
and 70 percent is a
very high figure and both considerations justify the
conclusion that there’s
a COPAC mafia that uses the false cover of a
people-driven process to
smuggle into the draft constitution its own or some
dark views typical of
mafia-like behaviour.”
http://www.timeslive.co.za
MARK SCOFIELD | 15 April, 2012
00:51
Vice-president Joyce Mujuru is the next in line to succeed
President Robert
Mugabe, according to the country's constitution and
Zanu-PF's hierarchy.
Yet, the problem is that Mugabe has never openly
backed Mujuru's succession,
a situation that has opened up intense rivalry
and infighting over the years
among Zanu-PF bigwigs jostling for the top
job.
In an interview with the state media on the eve of his 88th birthday
in
February, Mugabe acknowledged that he had not groomed a successor.
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the Defence Minister, who is touted as the leader of a
faction
opposed to Mujuru's rise, was reported by the UK's Telegraph this
week to
have struck a "gentleman's agreement" to succeed Mugabe after
polls.
But senior Zanu-PF officials canvassed this week by the Sunday
Times
insisted that the party's hierarchy would be followed to avoid any
splits
that would weaken it if anything happened to Mugabe.
Rugare
Gumbo, the Zanu-PF spokesman, dismissed as "nonsense" intimations
that
Mnangagwa was the frontrunner to succeed Mugabe. "He is way down the
hierarchy of the party, how is it possible that he can leapfrog everyone
else in front of him? There is no way that can happen," he
said.
Simon Khaya Moyo, the party's national chairman, said: "Leaders are
elected
at congress which is held every five years and that is the way
things are
done.
"All this succession talk is similar to the divide
and rule tactics used by
the colonisers to weaken the continent, and in this
case it is aimed at
weakening the party."
As Mugabe returned from
Singapore on Thursday morning, Mujuru welcomed him
at the airport in a
gesture observers said underpinned the fact that she
remains at the
forefront of both party and national affairs.
In political quarters, it
was feared that the death of her "kingmaker"
husband, Solomon, would weaken
her grip on party affairs, but she has not
shown any signs of backing down
from the race to succeed Mugabe.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, April 15,
2012 - Retired army Colonel and top loyalist to President
Robert Mugabe,
Tshinga Dube has dismissed suggestions he has been assigned
to the powerful
job of being Marange Resources chair to safeguard Mugabe's
political
interests.
Retired Colonel Dube, a ZANU PF Politburo member, described
his critics as
habitual fault finders who have chosen to ignore that he has
also chaired
various other firms in the country with little or no
controversy.
“I have been chairman of more than 10 or more organisations
but they did not
find fault with that. I do not see why they are now raising
a furore when I
am chairman of Marange resources, just because there is more
interest in
Marange, I do not think these statement are even worth answering
to them,”
said the soft speaking politician-cum-businessman.
Marange
Resources is owned by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC) and
operates one of the four concessions mining at the controversial
diamond
fields.
Dube was also a ZMDC board member for eight
years.
Critics, especially from the Non Governmental Organisations , are
concerned
about the systematic secondment of senior army and police
personnel to
management structures of diamond mining firms in Chiadzwa where
government
has 50 percent stake in four of the five companies, with
suggestions that
they are there to raise funds for a Zanu PF campaign for
the next elections.
These includes; Martin Rushwaya, the permanent
secretary in the Ministry of
Defence, Oliver Chibage and Nonkosi M. Ncube,
both police commissioners and
Munyaradzi Machacha, a ZANU PF director of
publications.
Also among the lot is Morris Masunungure, a former army
officer and Romeo
Daniel Mutsvunguma, a retired army Colonel in the Zimbabwe
Defence Force.
But Dube insisted his secondment to Marange Resources was
based on merit
while also denying the claims of the involvement of security
commanders in
the country's diamond mining activities was
political.
“It is not true,” he said, “How do you pick somebody purely
out of loyalty
if he is illiterate. To run a company requires skill and a
broad knowledge
of administration. If otherwise you will pick someone
because he is very
loyal to you and those are all the credentials he has,
then you are certain
he will run that company down.”
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
SIMPLICIUS CHIRINDA | 15
April, 2012 00:51
Zimbabwe's prison service is on its knees. Prisoners
face a shortage of
food. Scurvy and pellagra have also set in, along with
water-borne diseases
like typhoid and cholera.
Cells are overcrowded
and there is a shortage of inmates' uniforms. The
terminally ill have to
share lice-infested cells with healthy prisoners. And
worst of all, children
jailed with their mothers have to share these
conditions.
Two
Movement of Democratic Change female activists, Yvonne Musarurwa and
Rebecca
Mafikeni, have spoken out about their time at Chikurubi female
prison, where
they were remanded on charges of killing a policeman in May
last
year.
The pair told how they had to scoop raw sewage out of their prison
cells
with their hands because the sewer system was not working. "There is
no
sugar right now, there is no cooking oil," said
Mafikeni.
According to human rights organisations, the bad prison
conditions are in
contravention of the International Bill of Human Rights,
which requires the
state to provide a safe environment for
prisoners.
Last week Deputy Justice Minister Obert Gutu told local media
that inmates
at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison were surviving on sadza
with roasted
peanuts after government banned food assistance from
humanitarian
organisations. "The International Committee of the Red Cross
and other
humanitarian organisations have been providing additional food
assistance to
prisons for the past few years before they were stopped last
year," Gutu
said.
He said government had no money to look after the
prisoners adequately. In a
report presented to the House of Assembly during
the 2012 budget allocation
to the Zimbabwe Prison Services (ZPS) last year,
the chairman of the
parliamentary portfolio committee on justice, legal,
constitutional and
parliamentary affairs, Douglas Mwonzora, confirmed that
the withdrawal of
aid had affected the prison
operations.
"Investigations of prisons by the parliamentary thematic
committee on human
rights showed that prisoners' conditions had become so
dire that some of
them were suffering from food deficiency diseases such as
scurvy and
pellagra. Apart from food shortages, prisoners have a critical
shortage of
uniforms and stay in overcrowded rooms at Chikurubi and Harare
Central
Prisons.
"This has resulted in the spread of communicable and
water-borne diseases
such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid. The justice
system does not make
provisions for children jailed together with their
mothers," said Mwonzora.
ZPS and Ministry of Justice officials say
children are not budgeted for
because of the assumption that they cannot
commit crimes.
There are 35 children in Zimbabwe's 42 prisons. The
Zimbabwe Unemployed
People's Association (Zupa) has called for the revamping
of the country's
justice system so it can cater for children's
needs.
"The shocking revelations that some 30 toddlers are incarcerated
with their
mothers in squalid prisons calls for urgent remedial
intervention," said
Zupa.
Several of these children in jails are
being breastfed but are forced to
live in the squalid conditions.
The
Ministry of Social Services also makes no provision for these children.
"Part of the solution in the meantime may require that the breast-feeding
women prisoners serve their sentences in their areas of origin to enable
relatives to assist," said Zupa.
The Zimbabwe Association for Crime
Prevention and Rehabilitation of the
Offender (Zacro), an organisation
advocating for justice in prisons, has
also implored government to look into
the needs of the children when
budgeting for prisons.
Gutu told the
Sunday Times: "Zimbabwe's prison system was not designed to
accommodate
children. We have 35 babies in our prisons. Ideally kids should
not be kept
in prison with their mothers. We should have facilities where
children are
protected. You don't want to have kids who grow up in
incarceration
.
"We should have more open prisons for female prisoners. Having children
incarcerated affects their social and moral development."
Gutu has
made a passionate plea to government to prioritise funding for
prisons. He
said he was not seeking to turn "jails into three-star hotels
but places
where people's human dignity can be safeguarded".
He said prisoners were
eating porridge without sugar in the morning, sadza
and roasted nuts in the
afternoon and sadza and cabbage for supper. "Jail is
jail. It cannot be a
hotel and I understand that. But we have to at least
adhere to our own
specifications for prisoners' diets."
In December, the government
prescribed new dietary requirements for
prisoners, stipulating that they
should get a balanced meal and essential
foods daily. Gutu said Zimbabwe had
no capacity to look after its prisoners
at the moment and still needed the
help of aid agencies to meet its
obligations.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, 15 April
2012--The opposition Zapu said Registrar General Tobaiwa
Mudede is an
“incompetent liar and a Zanu (PF) activist” who should not be
part and
parcel of any election process in Zimbabwe.
Addressing journalists at
Bulawayo Press Club on Friday evening on “Voter
Secrecy in Zimbabwe” Zapu’s
national secretary for legal and special
affairs, Steven Nkiwane said Mudede
and his office should be booted out of
the voter registration
process.
“Mudede is liar, who is also incompetent, his office should be
detached from
doing voter registration in Zimbabwe, and he is also a Zanu PF
member. When
we met him last year in Kadoma during the Constitutional
Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee (COPAC) outreach programme, he told us
voter
registration has began countrywide. But that is a lie because right
now ,if
you visit any of his offices countrywide they will tell you that
the voter
registration process for next election has not started,” said
Nkiwane.
Speaking at the same occasion Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara’s
spokesperson Morgan Changamire said “Zimbabwe voters’ roll is in
shambles
and should be cleaned before next elections are held.”
Dates
for Zimbabwe’s next elections are yet to be announced. But Zanu (PF)
says it
wants the polls this year. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says
polls
should be held only after full implementation of reforms agreed to
under the
Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The breakaway MDC faction led by Professor
Welshman Ncube says it is
impossible to hold elections this year, indicating
that the polls can only
be held in 2013.
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) says the country needs more than US$200
million to fund
both the constitutional referendum and elections.
Zimbabwe’s elections
have in the past been blighted by violence and charges
of vote rigging,
which saw the European Union (EU) and United States
slapping sanctions on
President Robert Mugabe and senior members of Zanu
(PF).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
By Associated Press, Published: April 15
HARARE,
Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean youth groups are condemning the release on $50
bail
for each of six policemen accused of beating a mineworker to death.
The
Zimbabwe Youth Forum said Sunday that their release shows bias in
courts,
considering a youth leader and 28 alleged accomplices in the prime
minister’s party have remained in jail awaiting trial for nearly a year on
allegations of murdering a policeman.
The forum said even police
commanders acknowledged a breakdown of discipline
led to the mineworker’s
death and injuries to 11 others during a theft
investigation last
month.
The forum described the police bail ruling Thursday as another
“shocking and
glaring case” of skewed rulings by courts packed with
loyalists of President
Robert Mugabe.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
A major water crisis is looming in Bulawayo
when the council is expected to
decommission one of its major dams,
Umzingwane in July this year.
14.04.1201:22pm
by Zwanai Sithole
Harare
Speaking at a water summit organised by Habakkuk Trust in
Bulawayo recently,
council engineer Ian Mthunzi said with the current dam
levels and present
consumption patterns, it is likely that Umzingwane dam
will be
decommissioned between June and July this year.
“Once the dam
has been decommissioned , the city ‘s ability to meet demand
will be
compromised as it would be able to receive a combined total of 148
000 cubic
metres of water a day from the remaining dams, namely lower Ncema,
Inyankuni
and Insiza,” said engineer Mthunzi.
He said the water will be not enough
to meet the city’s demands. ” There is
a possibility of below average
rainfall again for the coming season. We need
to have contingent plans in
advance,” he said.
Muthunzi said council is also looking at the
duplication of the Insiza
pipeline. “This duplication will cost $21 million
and will be implemented in
about 10 to 18 months from the time the financial
resources are available,”
he said. Bulawayo has got five major dams namely,
Insiza, Lower Ncema,
Umzingwane, Upper Ncema and Inyankuni dam.
The
current city’s daily water consumption rate is 114 975 cubic metres a
day.
Over the years, Bulawayo has been facing perennial water shortages
which
have been attributed to the increasing high water demand in the city.
The
city’s population currently stands at about 1, 5 million and the last
dam to
be built was commissioned in 1976.
Since that period no single dam has
been built to correspond the city’s
increasingly population. The city’s
water dams are also heavily silted due
to upstream gold panning.
Last
year the city’s major, Thaba Moyo told The Zimbabwean that the city
needed a
new supply dam every 10 years to meet its increasing water demand.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Four MDC members were yesterday arrested in
Kariba for convening a meeting to discuss travel arrangements for the late
Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Senator Tichaona
Mudzingwa’ s funeral.
The arrested members who were briefly detained at
Kariba Police Station before being released on condition that they report to the
police on Monday are District Secretary George Masendu, Robbie Tigere, the Youth
Secretary, Farai Chinobva and Elijah Garisamoyo.
In arresting the
members, District Police Officer Mundanda and Officer In Charge Taderera said
the group did not notify them of the meeting. This is clear abuse of power as
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) does not require that the police be
notified when people want to converge for the purpose of holding a funeral. As a
party, we condemn the partisan manner in which the police are operating and we
immediately call for security sector reforms.
The crackdown on MDC
supporters by the police has intensified in recent weeks, ahead of the
forthcoming elections.
On Friday, Matabeleland South Women’s Assembly
chairlady, Nomathemba Ndlovu was arrested in Gwanda while distributing the Prime
Minister’s newsletter.
Ndlovu is being charged under the draconian POSA.
Earlier last week, the police arrested Abisha Nyanguwo, MDC Chief of
Staff for allegedly bombing ZANU (PF) Gweru offices in December 2011. He
appeared before a Gweru Magistrate and was remanded on $500, 00
bail.
The people’s struggle for real change: Let’s finish it!
--
MDC Information & Publicity Department
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Written by Sharon Muguwu, Staff
Writer
Sunday, 15 April 2012 09:05
HARARE - He might be the
country’s Prime Minister, but Morgan Tsvangirai
cannot even have his word
out without the police interfering.
One of his top officials,
Nomathemba Ndlovu, from Matabeleland South
Province on Friday found out the
hard way how her boss is still hostage to
powerful security sector forces
fiercely loyal to President Robert Mugabe.
Ndlovu, the MDC Matabeleland
South women’s assembly chairperson is facing
criminal charges for
distributing the Prime Minister’s newsletter.
Tsvangirai uses the
newsletter, distributed to the public for free, to push
his office’s
agenda.
According to the MDC, police in Gwanda took Ndlovu in after
accusing her of
contravening the harsh Public Order and Security Act (Posa)
for giving out
copies of the newsletter to residents in the
town.
Gwanda police spokesperson Tafanana Dzirutwe said he was unaware of
the
incident.
“I am in Bulawayo doing some Trade Fair business. What
I can do is refer you
to our operations office, they will give you the right
person to talk to,”
he said.
Efforts to get through to the operations
office were fruitless.
The MDC said one assistant inspector Machingura
summoned Ndlovu to Gwanda
Police Station on Friday.
She was arrested
and charged under Posa upon arrival at the station.
Media reforms are
part of the unfulfilled power sharing Global Political
Agreement issues that
have kept fragile coalition government partners
haggling.
Despite
cosmetic reforms that allowed the licensing of newspapers, police
are still
accused of harassing media practitioners, while media products
deemed
anti-Mugabe are banned in volatile pro-Mugabe areas.
The licensing of
independent radio and television stations to break the
state’s monopoly has
also left coalition partners at each other’s throat.
Tsvangirai says the
awarding of two commercial radio licences to pro-Mugabe
entities, Zimpapers
and Zi FM shows how genuine media reforms remain a pipe
dream.
Mugabe’s loyalists defended the licensing process as fair.
http://www.israelidiamond.co.il
15.04.12, 08:38 /
Mining
Zimbabwe's Mines and Mineral Development Minister announced last
week that
the southern African country's diamond industry has been steadily
growing
for the last two years and that it is projected to continue to grow
significantly in the coming year, boosting the national economy as a whole,
according to Mining Weekly.
Minister Obert Mpofu told a Chamber of
Mines meeting in Harare that despite
having to confront obstacles such as
energy shortages, insufficient funding
and out-of-date equipment, Zimbabwe's
diamond mining industry would continue
to show gains. The mining industry as
a whole was expected to grow by 15.8%
in 2012, mineral exports would grow by
13.3% this year, and diamond mining
would grow by 3.3%, Mpofu
said.
The minister noted that Zimbabwe's that two years ago, mineral
exports grew
by 138%, generating $1.6 billion, and that last year exports
grew by 39%,
generating $2.6 billion, Mining Weekly reported.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
14/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter I Radio VOP
TEACHERS have rejected a proposal to distribute
condoms in schools as a way
helping fight the spread of HIV and
AIDS.
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) said the proposal, made
recently
by the National Aids Council (NAC), was unacceptable and
unworkable.
“You can’t introduce condoms in schools; there is no way we
can allow 10 to
12 year- olds to have sex,” Zimta chief executive, Sifiso
Ndlovu said at the
association's annual conference in
Bulawayo.
“These kids don’t know much about their bodies yet and you want
to confuse
them further by allowing them to engage in sex.”
The NAC
recently said it would propose various legislative amendments to
enable
teachers to distribute condoms in schools and help curb the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
The practice is already underway in neighbouring South
Africa where children
who are 12 years and above have the right to access
condoms under the
country’s Children’s Act of 2007.
However, Ndlovu said
Zimta members rejected the proposal outright.
“As educationists there is
no way we can allow the distribution of condoms
in schools. This will
confuse the mental and physical development of our
children,” he
said.
Zimbabwe's epidemic was one of the biggest in the world until the
number of
people infected almost halved, from 29% to 16%, between 1997 and
2007.
Researchers attributed the huge decline to changes in people’s
sexual
behaviour because of improved public awareness of AIDS deaths and a
subsequent fear of contracting the virus.
Other important factors
included the influence of education programmes that
helped shift people's
attitudes regarding multiple concurrent sexual
partners in extramarital,
commercial and casual relations which increased
the acceptability of condom
use.
http://www.universityworldnews.com
Paul Rigg15 April 2012
Issue No:217
The private for-profit IE University in Spain has turned
to 16- to
18-year-olds from 11 countries for advice on the future of higher
education.
The teenagers – from countries as diverse as America,
Colombia, Germany,
India, Peru, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey,
Wales and Zimbabwe –
flew to Madrid to give their views.
IE
University is owned by the business Instituto de Empresa SL, and has
campuses in Segovia and Madrid.
Founded in 2009, the junior advisory
board (JAB) of IE is a highly select
group of pre-university students. The
institution employs their insight,
energy and excitement to ensure that its
educational programmes remain
innovative.
“This edition of JAB has
focused on the importance of new communication
technologies between students
and university, the need for diversity in
languages, and the importance of
international relations and social
entrepreneuralism,” said Arantza de
Areilza, IE spokesperson and dean of the
school of arts and
humanities.
This year the meeting, which took place from 27 to 30 March,
had five new
members. The fact that some students have returned to IE over
several years
has fostered both enthusiasm and the possibility of developing
more complex
ideas.
For example, Monica Brova, from Galati in
Romania, has just completed her
second consecutive stint as a JAB
representative in Madrid.
“Initially I was attracted to the innovative
idea of a university allowing
high school students to express their
expectations of higher education,” she
says. “But I also realised that the
JAB would offer an unparalleled
opportunity to learn about university life
and education.”
Brova feels that university education must steer away
from the traditional
model of “huge lecture halls and limited individual
attention”, to offer
instead a more flexible approach that is tailored to
students’ individual
needs and learning styles.
“Universities should
aim to educate by fostering the growth of the whole
person,” she
said.
“Specifically, after discussions with fellow JAB members and IE
professors
over these past few days, I have realised that there is an
evolving
relationship between nations and the role of non-governmental
actors, such
as social media, as catalysts of change.
“Students of
the future will need to speak three or four languages to
communicate
effectively and keep themselves informed about these
developments in current
affairs.”
Clara Bütow from Munich, Germany, agreed. “In the international
relations
workshop we emphasised the importance of always being up to date.
If you
want to act in a global environment, you need to have a clear view
about the
effect that one action can have on everything
else.”
Responses received from several of the JAB members seem to confirm
that
future undergraduates will be looking for innovative universities that
employ the latest teaching methods and challenge their
students.
“Today’s youth don’t fear leaving their comfort zone or diving
into a
culture that is totally different to their own: they increasingly
want to
leave their own country and study in a diverse cultural
environment,” said
Bütow.
Avneesh Mehta (17), who was encouraged to
apply to be a JAB member by his
student counsellor in Mumbai, India, was
clear that a much more diverse
group of students are now looking at the
“overall grooming” a university
offers, rather than focusing purely on
academic results.
“We want something different and unique."
Mehta
said IE was an example of an institution that focused on overall
student
development. “When a student applies to IE, they don’t just need the
grades;
they need the profile and personality. When a student graduates from
IE,
they’re not just ready to take up a job; they are prepared to take on
the
world.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au
by: R.W. Johnson
From: The
Times
April 16, 2012 12:00AM
IT was an unusual homecoming.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, supported
on the arm of his wife Grace,
strolling across the tarmac of Harare airport
last Thursday, spitting venom
at the world's media - which an aide had said
was "driving an imperialist
agenda" - after his 10th trip in 16 months to
Singapore for cancer
treatment.
Mugabe, 88, was supposed to have returned on Monday, but then
said he would
not be back until at least Thursday, triggering excited
rumours in Harare.
The news editor of the Zimbabwe Mail was so overcome
that his paper led with
a story Mugabe was dead. He has been sacked. No
doubt this frenzied
speculation - and the effect it has within Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF party -
led to a further change of plan, with the President
hurrying home much
earlier.
The latest private opinion polls show
Mugabe's support down to just 5 per
cent in the towns and 15 per cent in the
countryside.
Support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
Movement for
Democratic Change, is at 65 per cent.
Rec Coverage 28 Day
pass
Once Mugabe's Zanu-PF loses power, the remnants are likely to
rapidly
collapse and there will be wholesale regime change, with a far more
pro-Western government under Tsvangirai that could thrive on foreign aid and
investment. Until last year, Mugabe's two rivals for the succession had been
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former head of the secret police who was responsible
for the thousands of deaths in Matabeleland, and former guerilla leader
Solomon Mujuru.
However, Mujuru and his mistress were burnt to death
in a mysterious fire
last August. Many believe Mugabe has designated
Mnangagwa, known as
"Crocodile", as his successor.
Mugabe has been
desperately pressing for an early election so he can run for
a final time as
President - he is certainly the best candidate Zanu-PF has,
although he has
had to rely on violence and intimidation to win the previous
two
times.
However, Jacob Zuma, South Africa's President who heads the
Southern African
Development Community, has shown surprising backbone in
holding Mugabe to
his promise of constitutional reform, insisting that no
election can be held
till those reforms are in place. That means no election
until next year -
and creating a nation of presidential health-watchers.
Mugabe was shocked by
the fall of ally Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and insists
there is a NATO plot
to overthrow him. Last month, several Zimbabweans
facing charges of treason
escaped with fines and community service for
screening videos of the Arab
Spring.
While Mugabe has shown skill and
cunning in prolonging his mastery, he has
now reached a point where his
exits are blocked. The two certainties are
death and taxes - Mugabe has
dodged taxes, but there are limits to what even
he can manage.
The
Sunday Times
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7526
April 15th, 2012
I was shocked recently when
I attended an event in Muzarabani Mashonaland
Central Province. Villagers
had gathered to receive donations of maize and
I personally witnessed
politics being applied on the choice of
beneficiaries.
The gathering
was led by members of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and soon
turned into a
political rally, with traditional leaders following the way of
the GMB
officials, all backed by the presence of unidentified individuals
wearing
black wearing suits and dark glasses, ordering the production of
ZANU(PF)
party cards from villagers.
The maize and seed being distributed was
sourced through government’s Grain
Marketing and was coming through
President Mugabe grain scheme. Indeed, the
maize and seed packs had
Mugabe’s stickers on them. It is the same scheme
which early this year was
abused by the party’s politicians who were
castigated by President
Mugabe.
Segregation of villagers at the gathering meant subjection of
opposition
party supporters to starvation as they failed to produce the ZANU
(PF)
cards.
Is this the way food aid should be
distributed?
Should everyone subscribe to a certain political party in
order to access
food aid?
I later learnt from villagers who had been
turned away, that those perceived
to be anti-ZANU (PF) were not allowed to
look for alternative sources of the
seed and maize by militant Zanu PF
supporters.
Food Aid has over the years been used by ZANU (PF) to lure
votes.
Politicians should not take advantage of hungry villagers but instead
should
initiate projects which benefit the communities who will in turn vote
for
them if they are satisfied with the initiatives of those
politicians.
This entry was posted by Beven Takunda on Sunday, April
15th, 2012 at 7:28
am
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7552
April 15th, 2012
It’s harvest time and
farmers are now taking their tobacco to the market.
Some of the small scale
farmers smile all the way to the bank, but it is the
large scale growers who
are raking in huge profits from tobacco sales.
These are the old commercial
farms that require a lot of labour.
Unfortunately, behind the
celebrations, lies an unsung hero; the labourer
who is only getting a
pittance from back breaking farm work.
The big farmer in Zimbabwe has it
all, he does not pay for the inputs as the
government provides fertiliser,
seed and even tractors.
Recently we learnt that most of the farmers are
not paying their power
utility bills andneither do they do not pay for
water. The immunity from
settling bills goes even further to paying workers
well below accepted
standards, or not at all.
Recently I was in
Marondera and came face to face with the glum face of
poverty, brought on by
all these farm labourers endure.
Their children have dropped out of
school because there are no schools in
the vicinity. Even if therewere
schools nearby, the parents are too poor to
send their children to be
educated. So the vicious cycle for the workers
continue, with children
dropping out of school in order to help support the
family and just like
their parents, the children are doomed to be trapped
in farm life for
unforeseen years to come.
Apart from being trapped in the jaws of
poverty, the farm workers are also
subjected to abuse as at times they are
beaten, or caught in the middle of
cell phone farmers fighting over
land.
These farm workers have nowhere to go for the employers, in most
cases are
politicians, soldiers and police officers who break the law with
impunity.
This entry was posted by Simon Moyo on Sunday, April 15th, 2012
at 7:36 pm.
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7536
April 15th,
2012
Mothers deliver on the road, children have dropped out of school and
water
is a privilege. This is the sad story that one meets when you visit
the
slum dwellers whose decent homes were destroyed by President Robert
Mugabe
in 2005 Operation Muranbatsvina.
Last month Zimbabwe marked
International Water Day with the rest of the
world.
The people who
live in the muddy, shanty towns created by Mugabe, such as
Hopely and
Hatcliffe also were supposed to mark this significant day.
Ironically
instead of loving the life bringing rains, the residents hate the
season
with a passion because their card board homes leak and their unpaved
roads
are inaccessible whenever the clouds open.
It is a sad story indeed that
the government is failing to provide shelter
and water, which are both
rights under the law. The OCHA report makes for
sad reading, with 8 million
people with limited access to WASH/health
services (Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene), 1/3 of the population uses unsafe
water (ZIMVAC 2010), 1140
cholera cases were recorded in 2011, although
districts affected cholera
decreased by 50% fatality increased from 2.1 to
3.9 in 2011.
It’s
heart wrenching that in this day and age some 33% people still use the
“bush
toilet”, worse still when it is an urban settlement. And the cycle
does not
end there, for with poor sanitation, conditions for the outbreak of
water
borne disease outbreak are ripe, and epidemics ensue.
And when this
happens, people in the slums do not have a clinic close by
because the
government has forgotten about them. Add then a pregnant woman
who is
forced to give birth unattended by professionals, and you have a grim
picture of what is happening in modern Zimbabwe.
This is a country
where 100 children die daily, it is a nation which loses
eight women out of
a thousand die while creating life. This is Zimbabwe.
Hopley and
Hatcliffe which are both President Robert Mugabe’s creations are
the
microcosmic examples of an uncaring government.
This entry was posted by
Simon Moyo on Sunday, April 15th, 2012 at 7:23 am.
As Mugabe reaches 32 years in power,
the Vigil is preparing to mark Independence Day by presenting our petition to 10
Downing Street in an attempt to ensure that the elections threatened this year
are supervised by the UN.
A letter accompanying the petition
thanks Prime Minister David Cameron for his recent promise to Tsvangirai to help
Zimbabwe hold free and fair elections and asks the UK to pass on the petition,
which has been signed in the past two years by more than 12,000 people from all
over the world who have passed by the Vigil.
Some people have
asked us (1) why we have approached the UK government and (2) why we are
petitioning the UN. The answers are (1) because we are in the UK which is a
permanent member of the Security Council and (2) because the UN has ultimate
authority and we have already petitioned SADC and the AU with no result.
SADC promised last
year to send three delegates to help overcome problems in the implementation of
the GPA. None has yet arrived. We have been told for months that President Zuma
is to visit Harare to bang heads together. A date has still to be set . . .
Meanwhile, Mugabe continues to insist there will be elections this year whether
or not reforms have been made or the MDC agrees.
The Vigil fears a
scenario in which Zanu PF, in desperation because of Mugabe’s failing health,
collapses the GNU, calls elections and again bludgeons its way to a victory
which is accepted again by SADC and the UN. We fully realise the UN is less
interested in Zimbabwe than if there was a violent uprising there. But we hope
our petition will help persuade it not to recognise the gangster regime on the
horizon.
The visit to Downing
Street coincides with the latest demonstration outside South Africa House
called by the MDC in the diaspora to put pressure on President Zuma to make sure
the GPA is implemented by Mugabe. Vigil supporters will be there as usual. See
Events and Notices for timings.
Other points
·
The Vigil was disgusted by
the MDC’s hypocritical statement on the death of President Mutharika, speaking
of his ‘wise council and remarkable efforts in finding solutions to the Zimbabwe
political crisis’ (see: Resolutions of the MDC National Council – https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/apr14_2012.html#Z17).
·
The Vigil got the
following text message ‘Breaking news!!!! Message from Mugabe’s doctor in
Singapore. We did all we could but UNFORTUNATELY he’s still
ALIVE’.
·
Even more macabre was the
announcement from the organisers of the Zimbabwe Paralympic Games that the
opening and closing ceremonies would be combined into one (Lack of planning and
delays cripple Zim’s Paralympic Games – https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/apr14_2012.html#Z14).
·
Our friends of the
Swaziland Vigil said the demonstration in Mbabane they spoke to us about last
week had been broken up by the Swazi authorities. They are worried about the
fate of their informant who they had been unable to contact since the
demonstration.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 45 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
Fourth
21st Movement Free Zimbabwe Global Protest organized by the MDC
diaspora. Saturday 21st April. We meet at the Vigil at 2 pm
and move to the South African High Commission at 3 pm. On this day the Vigil
will also mark Zimbabwe’s 32nd Independence anniversary by presenting
our petition asking the UN to monitor the next Zimbabwean elections to 10
Downing Street at 4.15 pm. We will move from South Africa House at 3.45
pm.
·
Next Swaziland
Vigil. Saturday
21st April from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi friends. Nearest
stations: St James’s Park and Victoria. www.swazilandvigil.co.uk.
·
Zimbabwe Action
Forum. Saturday
5th May from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel (first
floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the same
road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the direction
away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the south side
of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo Bridge. The
entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its famous Indian
restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest underground:
Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn.
·
Two Gentlemen of
Verona Shona Production at the Globe
Theatre, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT. Dates /
Times: Wednesday 9
May, 2.30pm. Thursday 10 May, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 - £35 (700 £5 tickets
available) from 020 7401 9919 and www.shakespearesglobe.com. A two-man
Zimbabwean riot of love, friendship and betrayal. From Verona to Milan, via
Harare and Bulawayo, two great friends, Valentine and Proteus, vie for the love
of the same woman. In a triumphantly energetic ‘township’ style, Denton Chikura
and Tonderai Munyevu slip into all of the play’s fifteen characters – from
amorous suitors to sullen daughters, depressed servants and even a dog – in this
new, specially commissioned translation.
·
Zimbabwe Vigil
Highlights 2011 can be viewed on this
link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the
video check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch
other Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
