http://www.radiovop.com
28/04/2011
18:06:00
Bulawayo, April 28, 2011 - Zimbabwe's prime minister
Thursday said the
country will hold an election in "12 months" and he wants
an outcome that
can't be contested.
"In 12 months time we have an
election in this country. Let it be free and
let it be peaceful," said
Morgan Tsvangirai, speaking in Bulawayo -- about
450km south-west of Harare
-- to his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party supporters ahead of a
congress set for Friday.
At the congress new MDC leadership will be
elected to prepare for general
elections in which Tsvangirai will lock horns
with President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai predicted the MDC will win,
ending the coalition government that
has ruled Zimbabwe since
2009.
"We are the next government of this country responsible to deal
with
unemployment which is over 85 percent. We have to resuscitate the
economy
and make it one of the best in Africa," added
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe formed a fragile coalition government
in 2009 after a
disputed, violent election in 2008. But the coalition has
been marred by
disagreements between the former political
foes.
"People's will must be respected (in the next elections). The
outcome of the
polls must not be contested," said Tsvangirai.
"Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF took this country to its knees in 30 years. We
have a
duty in the next government to bring it back," added Tsvangirai,
critical of
his coalition partner and his party.
Zimbabwe experienced a decade of
negative economic growth before the
formation of the coalition government,
he noted.
Mugabe has indicated that he wants an election this year to end
the
coalition government. But earlier this week, the country's finance
minister
said the economy was not performing well enough to finance an
election this
year.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is expected to
attend the MDC congress on
Friday as "the guest of honor".
Odinga, a
fierce critic of Mugabe, was Kenya's opposition leader before
joining
President Mwai Kibaki in a 2008 power-sharing deal following
contested
elections that sparked tribal violence in that country.
A similar deal
was later agreed to in Zimbabwe by Tsvangirai and his
long-time rival
Mugabe.
This will be the first time that Odinga has visited Zimbabwe
since being
appointed prime minister. CNN
http://www.radiovop.com
28/04/2011 11:24:00
Harare, April 28, 2011 -
Police on Wednesday ransacked offices of the Harare
International Festival
of the Arts (HIFA) and left with files but did not
arrest
anyone.
Officials at the annual multi-arts extravaganza, which roared
into life on
Tuesday, confirmed the police raid but would not give details
saying they
would issue a statement later. The officials said the police did
not have a
search warrant and were uncompromising.
Police general
headquarters were evasive when contacted for comment. An
officer in the
press unit said they were not aware of the raid.
The raid, at the HIFA
offices located at the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel
in the city centre, did
not come as a surprise to artists neither was the
festival new to such
police action.
Artists particularly said the hard hitting
music-theatrical production,
titled Treasure, that was performed during the
opening night of the ongoing
12th edition of HIFA on Tuesday must have
provoked the state security.
The musical appeared directly targeted at
the style of rule of Zimbabwe’s
veteran ruler, President Robert Mugabe, in
power for 31 straight years and
still seeking to further extend his
rule.
The musical, produced by Brett Bailey, combined astounding dances
and
imagery telling the all too familiar day-to-day story of corrupt fat
cats
and how they manipulated the povo who survived on crumbs while the
leaders
lined their pockets with riches.
The production climaxes with
overwhelming triumph of people power after the
masses revolted against the
despotic ruler who was portrayed as an aged and
frail man constantly guarded
by aides in military fatigue.
Earlier in the day sharp tongued poets had
lashed out at Zimbabwe’s rulers
and criticised the state of
democracy.
A youthful Bulawayo based poet Bhekumusa Moyo lashed out at
dictators in
poetry that kept audiences captivated.
Moyo chanted: “I
declare war on leaders who don’t uphold democracy.
Directors of dictatorship
shall fall one by one in no particular order but
they shall all fall. No
government will kill forever.’’
Moyo told Radio VOP in an interview: “As
artists we have the mandate to make
the leadership accountable to the
people. If I fear for my life then I lose
relevance as an
artist.”
Regional artists have also descended on HIFA to lend support to
their
Zimbabwean counterparts.
Renowned South African poet Pitila
Ntuli told VOP after his performance: “We
want HIFA and particularly poetry
to engage the issues of the day. We want
to mobilize the people to be
sensitive to what is happening without
insulting anyone. We are saying the
African dilemma is that we are
independent but not free. It’s not yet uhuru
(freedom).”
In 2003 police banned a theatrical production Super Patriots
and Morons
during its run at HIFA. The play depicted dictatorship and was
widely seen
as being targeted at President Mugabe.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chengetai Zvauya, Staff Writer
Thursday,
28 April 2011 16:04
HARARE - Civil servants are planning the “mother
of all strikes” if they do
not receive massive salary increases in June from
the cash-strapped
inclusive government as promised by President Robert
Mugabe.
While all GPA partners are agreed that state employees need
and deserve more
money, Mugabe’s unrealistic promises, and the resultant
threat of rolling
mass actions by civil servants, has heightened tensions in
the coalition
government – amid accusations that the 87-year-old is “happy
to wreck the
economy of this country if it can buy him one more day in
office”.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti warned on Tuesday that the
government’s wage
bill, in relation to the size of the state’s purse, was
already
astronomically and worryingly high, compared to other Sadc
countries.
“Total employment costs during the first quarter amounted to
US$248,6
million, accounting for 48% of the total recurrent expenditure.
More
appalling is the fact that, despite this high wage bill, individual
salary
levels in the civil service are pathetic.
“As it is, we are
going to have a shortfall of US$150 million by the end of
the year. I don’t
know where I am going to get the money, but it has to be
found.
“We
can only improve the salaries of the civil servants when we are able to
create jobs, attract foreign investment and have transparency,” he
said.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Progressive Teachers’ Union
of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe and Zimbabwe Teachers
Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu confirmed that
there would be a crippling strike in June if teachers did not get their
promised increments.
Other civil servants who also spoke to the Daily
News said they would join
the industrial action if they too do not receive
hefty increases.
“Civil servants have shelved their strike action, but if
we don’t get our
salary increments by June, then there will be a big
backlash. It will be
bad. Let’s wait until June and see what happens,”
Ndlovu said.
Majongwe said as far as they were concerned, Mugabe was
organising their
salary increments as he had promised. “We are still waiting
for the money.
We are two months away from June, where President Mugabe
promised to
increase our salaries. We don’t care where the money will come
from. I can
tell you if we don’t get our money by June we are going to
strike. However,
we cannot pre-empt anything as the month of June is not yet
due,” he said.
Responding to Tuesday’s statements on the state of the
economy by Biti and
public service minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro that the
government was
failing to raise the money for the civil servants, Majongwe
said the
announcements were unfortunate.
“These are MDC ministers who
are saying that and it is not what the workers
will want to hear. They
should know that the workers want money and we begin
to wonder who to
believe between these ministers and Mugabe.
“Mugabe gave us an assurance
that the money is coming, yet these ministers
are saying there is no money.
These ministers must be careful about their
statements as it does not
inspire confidence among the civil servants,” he
said.
However, Zimta
distanced itself from Majongwe’s other pronouncements that
they were
planning to meet Mugabe soon for a second round of talks on the
salaries
issue, saying they were just waiting for the June increments.
Last month,
Mugabe promised civil servants representatives at State House
that he would
make sure that they received increases of at least half the
poverty datum
line of US$520. The octogenarian leader also said this would
be done by June
- giving the firm impression at the time that he had already
found the
money.
But speaking on Independence Day, Mugabe backtracked on this
promise
somewhat, saying he would consult his partners in the GPA to find
ways of
raising the money to increase the civil servants’
salaries.
This about-turn, coupled with Biti’s revelation that the
government was
practically broke, appears to have hardened workers’
attitudes and hence
their threat to embark on massive strikes.
Many
civil servants canvassed by the Daily News yesterday, said it was
immoral
for Mugabe and his ministers to spend millions of dollars in
worthless trips
while the workers were “scavenging for food”.
Speaking at the Tuesday
briefing, Biti also revealed that the civil service
audit that was
sanctioned by government in 2009 had exposed the rampant
existence of ghost
workers.
“However, there has been slow movement in rectifying the
anomalies and the
nation continues to suffer. Clearly, eliminating these
ghost workers remains
the only avenue, not only to stop the haemorrhaging of
the fiscus, but also
to competitively reward genuine civil servants.
“Government should
therefore, move with speed on this issue,” he
said.
Biti said the civil servants audit had revealed that at least 75
000 jobs
were questionable and 13 500 of these were definite ghost workers
who
remained on the government payroll.
On average, depending on the
grade, civil servants earn between US$240 and
US$520 a month.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by James Mombe Thursday 28 April
2011
JOHANNESBURG – The African Commission on Human and People’s
Rights (ACHPR)
must investigate torture and other human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe and
Swaziland, a leading non-governmental organisation has
said.
In a statement ahead of the 49th session of the ACPHR that began in
the
Gambian capital, Banjul, today, the Human Rights Institute of Southern
Africa (HURISA) called on the continental rights body, to act to end
impunity and the culture of human rights violations in the two southern
African countries.
The HURISA said the African commission’s special
rapportuers on freedom of
expression and access to information, and on
torture should be called upon
to investigate cases of torture, and
violations of freedom of expression in
Swaziland and
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Swaziland’s Mswati III
are considered
among southern Africa’s most autocratic rulers that regularly
violate the
rights of citizens.
Mswati, southern Africa’s last
absolute monarchy, two weeks ago sent the
army and police to ruthless crush
mass protests called by human rights
activists to call for democracy in
Swaziland.
In Zimbabwe, Mugabe, who retains control of the security
forces and the
judiciary despite formation of a unity government with Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has -- since mass protests toppled despotic
governments in North
Africa -- clamped down on civil society activity and
dissent in general,
banning several public meetings and marches by groups he
fears could provoke
mass uprising.
For example the police have banned
public marches to commemorate Workers’
Day next Sunday, apparently scared
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions-organised processions could degenerate
into anti-Mugabe protests.
The HURISA said a general breakdown of the
rule of law in Zimbabwe has made
it difficult to access justice or enforce
judgments, especially those
against the state. It cited a judgment of the
Southern African Development
Community Tribunal declaring Mugabe’s land
reform programme racist and
illegal but which the Zimbabwean leader has
refused to implement.
The regional NGO said draconian pieces of
legislation continue to shrink the
democratic space impinging on
Zimbabweans’ right to freedom of expression,
assembly and
association.
It cited the recent arbitrary arrests and detention of
Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum director Abel Chikomo and Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition coordinator
Macdonald Lewanika as examples of ongoing rights
violations in Zimbabwe. --
ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com
The International
Crisis Group, in a report issued this week, concluded that
the worsening
climate of fear and violence means Zimbabwean security sector
reform is more
urgently needed than ever
Blessing Zulu | Washington 27 April
2011
Harare-based political analyst Pedzisayi Ruhanya said the
Zimbabwean
military and the national security apparatus is ZANU-PF’s last
line of
defense
The United States government and the International
Crisis Group in recent
reports said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
former ruling ZANU-PF
party is using the national security apparatus to
crack down on its
opponents.
The US State Department in a briefing on
the release of a report from its
Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights for
2010 said that security forces,
police and ZANU-PF-dominated elements of the
government “continued to commit
numerous, serious human rights abuses”
despite the formation of a national
unity government in 2009.
The
report said security forces continued to torture, beat and abuse
political
activists of parties other than ZANU-PF. Washington said the
projections of
an early election this year have led to the escalation in
harassment and
intimidation of rights activists.
“Security forces, which regularly acted
with impunity, arbitrarily arrested
and detained political activists not
associated with ZANU-PF, members of
civil society, labor leaders,
journalists, demonstrators, and religious
leaders," the report
said.
The International Crisis Group, in a report issued this week
entitled
“Zimbabwe, the Road to Reform or Another Dead End?” similarly
concluded that
the worsening climate of fear and violence means Zimbabwean
security sector
reform is urgently needed.
The independent think tank
accused ZANU-PF of insincerity in its
participation in the unity government
and of using "securocrats" to block
democratic reform.
The Crisis
Group cited an internecine struggle in ZANU-PF for control of the
party
after President Robert Mugabe, 87, has left the scene, as an
aggravating
factor. "Mugabe's health and ZANU-PF succession turmoil are
further
complications," it said.
The analytical organization added that, "Without
stronger international
pressure on ZANU-PF, the tenuous current coalition
[in Harare] may collapse,
triggering further violence and grave consequences
for Southern Africa."
But ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told VOA Studio
7 reporter Blessing Zulu
that the US and Crisis Group reports were off
target, dismissing them as
"hogwash."
Roger Bate, resident fellow at
the American Enterprise Institute in
Washington, said continued human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe are likely to
strain US-Zimbabwean bilateral relations,
which have been less tense under
President Barack Obama given the
normalization of ties at least with Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Harare-based political analyst Pedzisayi Ruhanya said the
Zimbabwean
military and the national security apparatus is ZANU-PF’s last
line of
defense.
http://www.radiovop.com
28/04/2011
11:23:00
Bulawayo, April 28, 2011 - Heavily armed police and soldiers
have mounted 24
hour road blocks at all main roads leading into Bulawayo
where motorists are
being harassed and searched thoroughly as the three day
mainstream Movement
Democratic Change (MDC-T) national Congress begins
Thursday.
The police and the army officers manning the road claim
that they are
looking for weapons of war.
MDC-T deputy
spokesperson,Thabitha Khumalo, condemned police behaviour
saying police and
soldiers were not supposed to harass their members
entering Bulawayo. She
said MDC members were not terrorists who carry
weapons of war.
“What
weapons of war are they looking for? That’s a silly excuse they are
using to
harass and frustrate our party members coming for the congress. MDC
members
don’t carry weapons of war; we condemn this kind of behaviour by
police and
army. We are not rebels but a legal registered party holding its
congress.”
On Wednesday night at a police and army road block
mounted near Fairbridge
police station along Bulawayo –Harare highway
motorists were being ordered
to step out of their vehicles and have cars and
body searched thoroughly.
Morethan 6000 delegates are expected to attend
the party's third national
congress at Barbourfields Stadium where Kenyan
Prime Minister, Raila Odinga
will be the guest of honour.
The theme
of the congress is; “The MDC Third National Congress – United,
Winning – The
People’s Covenant to Real Change.”
New members of the national executive
will be elected but party president
and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is
assured of retaining his post as he
is going to the congress unopposed.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By 5 more MDC officials arrested
Thursday, 28
April 2011 17:25
HARARE - Five more MDC officials have been arrested
in Kariba as the
crackdown on President Robert Mugabe’s opponents ahead of
their congress in
Bulawayo continues.
This brings to 10 the MDC
officials arrested this week in Kariba. While a
group led by provincial
secretary-general Greenwish Ndanga was picked up on
Monday, another five
including Tafadzwa Charumbira, Opa Makwenya, George
Masendu, Robby Tigere
and Joyna Whachi were arrested on Tuesday, provincial
spokesperson Charlton
Hwende said.
The officials arrested were scheduled to appear at the
Chinhoyi Magistrates’
Courts yesterday.
It was unclear what charge
the group was facing by late noon on Wednesday,
although the MDC hierarchy
believes the crackdown was part of broader plans
to disrupt the party’s
congress which starts today.
“After the Monday arrests, we learnt of
another assault on Tuesday and the
entire group has now been taken to
Chinhoyi by an officer Mandamba, who was
peeved by our members’ presence at
a Kariba waterfront club for
refreshments,” Hwende said.
Hwende, who
is tipped to be the provincial nominee for a seat on the
national executive,
said they were in sixes and sevens as to how the group
was moved or
transferred to Chinhoyi, while the expectation was that they
would be
charged in the resort town of Kariba.
“As stated before, we are not blind
to Zanu PF’s thuggish ways, but the
threats will not break our spirit for
the congress and march for the full
democratisation of our
country.
“Surely, Zimbabweans will not respond to this needless and
unprovoked
aggression or harassment through counter measures on violence,
but will
answer back through their vote,” he added.
Meanwhile,
Douglas Mwonzora was yesterday said to be in hiding after police
officers
were said to be hot on his heels for the violence that rocked
Nyanga
recently.
With the country’s security chiefs accused of bias and working
in cahoots
with Zanu PF to muzzle dissenting voices, Zimbabwe has witnessed
an
escalation in arrests and a general clampdown on democratic forces by
Mugabe’s
securocrats as it hurtles towards another bloody election
soon.
Apart from the 10, several other top MDC and other opposition
officials,
including Elton Mangoma and Moses Mzila-Ndlovu have been arrested
or held up
on frivolous charges brought up the police.
Despite calls
for wide-ranging reforms in the security sector by independent
bodies such
as Amnesty International and Sadc — guarantors to the country’s
September
2009 Global Political Agreement — a clampdown on Mugabe’s
perceived
opponents continues unabated.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, April 29, 1:26
AM
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s prime minister says his party will
expel
members who are involved in violence as they prepare for elections he
says
could be held within a year.
Morgan Tsvangirai acknowledged
Thursday during his party’s two-day annual
convention in this western
provincial capital that his supporters have been
accused of violent
retaliation against attacks by President Robert Mugabe’s
militants. Mugabe
called for polls later this year to end a shaky coalition
government formed
after disputed and violence-marred elections in 2008.
Bitter internal
squabbles have also emerged over key posts in Tsvangirai’s
party ahead of
fresh national polls.
Tsvangirai said youths, unemployed in the nation’s
economic meltdown, were
often used by politicians “to mete out violence” to
their rivals.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
28/04/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
MDC-T national chairman Lovemore Moyo has called on the party to
make a
deliberate effort at tribal balancing on the eve of a key
congress.
Moyo said the party must ensure minority tribes got more
“substantive” posts
as opposed to deputising to a Shona majority.
The
MDC-T’s three-day congress opens in Bulawayo on Thursday with party
leader
Morgan Tsvangirai the only senior official assured of keeping his
position.
Moyo said tribal exclusion in political representation at
the top of
political movements started with Zanu PF, admitting that some
MDC-T
officials had got indoctrinated in that culture and genuinely had no
understanding of the aspirations of minorities.
He told the Voice of
America’s Studio 7: “What I can say is that this is
something that we must
be patient about in the way we approach it. Let’s not
forget the history.
From independence, Zanu PF’s rule has been marked by the
marginalisation of
the Ndebele tribe.
“When we started the MDC, some among us were
previously in Zanu PF and these
are people who have not felt the pain that
Ndebeles felt during Gukurahundi.
“It’s time that the people we work with
understand the importance of
respecting all tribes, making all tribes feel
as part of Zimbabwe and part
of MDC. We are fixing it, it’s not easy, but we
must face it.”
Moyo’s candid comments lifted a lid on growing concerns in
the Matabeleland
regions that political actors from there are being crowded
out of key
structures in the party.
He added: “The only substantive
post, one a Ndebele doesn't deputise, is the
national chairman’s post which
I am seeking to retain on Saturday.
“I have heard that there is someone
[Lucia Matibenga] who has put his name
forward to contest me and they are
not from Matabeleland. That’s what people
are pointing at, that a certain
group is trying to grab everything not
realising that other tribes should
also be represented, and feel part.
“We will work hard as Matabeleland
provinces to ensure we get a few
positions which are
substantive.”
Meanwhile, Moyo said the congress must pass a resolution on
dealing with
members fingered in violent campaigning in the primary
elections. Voting in
Bulawayo province had to be postponed twice after
supporters of Matson Hlalo
and Gorden Moyo, who eventually prevailed in the
chairman's contest,
clashed.
“The message of the standing committee
and president [Tsvangirai] is very
clear and unambiguous. No-one will be
spared when it comes to the issue of
dealing with indiscipline and
violence,” Moyo said.
“In the meantime, we have assigned our security
people to document, in all
the provinces, the people who have been involved
in violent activities. We
know them in some instances, we know their
sponsors in some instances. It
will be easy to identify these individuals
and deal with them.
“We must get a congress resolution as to what will
happen to these
individuals. There would be no sacred cows. We would be able
to confront
every incident with due diligence to make sure we put a stop to
violence.”
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is the guest of honour at
the congress
which will give Morgan Tsvangirai a third term which will
stretch his
leadership of the party to 17 years when it expires.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Reagan Mashavave, Staff Writer
Thursday, 28 April 2011
17:19
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has released
the final list
of candidates vying for senior posts to be contested at the
elective
congress which begins today in Bulawayo.
MDC
spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said party officials concluded the
contentious
Bulawayo provincial elections which were marred by violent
clashes between
supporters of Gorden Moyo and Matson Hlalo.
Moyo eventually won the post
and was endorsed by the MDC leadership.
“The Bulawayo provincial
elections were concluded peacefully. We are ready
to conduct our congress,”
Chamisa said.
He added that Makokoba MP, Thokozani Khupe will contest for
the vice
president’s post with Bulawayo East MP, Thabitha Khumalo and
Bulawayo party
stalwart Norman Mabhena.
Matobo North MP as well as
Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo will contest
for the party
chairperson’s post with trade unionist and MP for Kuwadzana,
Lucia
Matibenga.
Kwekwe Central MP, Blessing Chebundo, Morgan Komichi and
Zengeza East MP,
Alexio Musundire will contest for the deputy chairperson
position.
Chamisa, who is the MP for Kuwadzana East will battle it out
for the
organising secretary position against former Harare Mayor and Warren
Park
MP, Elias Mudzuri.
Harare East MP and current secretary-general,
Tendai Biti will square up
with Gutu South MP, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro for the
secretary-general’s post.
Four candidates have been listed for the deputy
secretary general post. The
four are Hatfield MP, Tapiwa Mashakada, Mufakose
MP Paurina
Mpariwa-Gwanyanya, Southerton MP Gift Chimanikire and Bhekithemba
Mpofu.
Roy Bennett is set to retain his post as treasurer general
unopposed,
Chamisa said.
However, three candidates will contest the
deputy treasurer general post.
The three are Makoni North MP Elton
Mangoma, Lobengula MP Sipepa Nkomo and
Chizhanje Senator Sekai
Holland.
Kadoma Central MP Editor Matamisa is set to contest for the
women’s assembly
chairperson against Harare North MP, Theresa Makone. Evelyn
Masaiti who has
previously been linked to the post withdrew at the last
minute.
Mkoba MP, Amos Chibaya faces Solomon Madzore in the contest for
the youth
chairperson position which was left vacant by Thamsanqa
Mahlangu.
Nyanga North MP, Douglas Mwonzora is contesting for the
position of
secretary for information and publicity against, Masvingo Urban
MP Tongai
Matutu.
The MDC invited Kenya’s Prime Minister, Raila
Odinga to grace the congress
as guest of honour.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
28
April 2011
MDC-T Treasurer-General Roy Bennett has been re-elected
unopposed for a
second five-year term, pledging to continue his efforts to
help his party
win the next general election.
The third national
congress of the MDC-T kicked off in Bulawayo on Thursday
with the
accreditation of delegates in the morning and elections of the
Women’s
assembly and Youth wing in the afternoon. Elections for the senior
positions
will take place on Saturday.
But it was the re-election Bennett that was
making news in Bulawayo. The 53
year old former commercial farmer, together
with party President Morgan
Tsvangirai, are the only two nominees to be
re-elected without facing any
challengers from the country’s 12
administrative provinces.
‘I am so happy and my commitment has always
been to the people of Zimbabwe.
The MDC is a great party and very soon the
people will speak with one voice
to get rid of the dictatorship,’ Bennett
told SW Radio Africa on Thursday.
Our correspondent in Bulawayo, Lionel
Saungweme, told us there had been no
doubt Bennett was going to retain his
position because of the immense
support he has among MDC cadres.
‘Bennett
is a supreme democrat, who uses his great gift as an inspiring
speaker to
make the case for justice, liberty and peace. His command of the
Shona
language and knowledge of customs resonates very well with many
Zimbabweans
who regard him as one of their own,’ Saungweme said.
Pishai Muchauraya, a
close political ally of Bennett, hailed the
re-election, describing him as a
strong politician ‘who always has the
interests of the common man at
heart.’
‘Roy is an indomitable figure, who always stands up for his beliefs
and
whether people agree with him or not, they admire his character and his
steadfastness,’ Muchauraya said. However, Bennett remains a thorn in the
side of the ZANU PF regime not only because he is white, but because he is
popular, well-connected, competent and outspoken.
Over 5,000
delegates are already in Bulawayo for the Congress that is to be
officially
opened by the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday. There
are fears
some party heavyweights could face defeat at the Congress as they
are facing
stiff challenges from some of the contestants.
On Wednesday party
insiders said what looked set to be a straight contest
between deputy leader
Thokozani Khupe and party legislator Tabitha Khumalo
for deputy President,
has now been transformed into a three-horse race.
Another Bulawayo based
party stalwart Norman Mabhena has also thrown his hat
into the ring to
contest the post.
Others facing formidable challenges are National
Chairman Lovemore Moyo, who
is being pitted against leading trade unionist
Lucia Matibenga.
Organising Secretary Elias Mudzuri could be another high
profile figure who
will find the going tough as he faces the ever so popular
party spokesman,
Nelson Chamisa. Women’s Assembly Chair, Theresa Makone is
also one of those
fighting for her political life.
She’s facing a
strong challenge from another well known trade unionist and
Kadoma central
MP, Editor Matamisa. SW Radio Radio is reliably informed that
Evelyn Masaiti
pulled out of the race and is now backing Matamisa to try and
dislodge
Makone.
In the Youth wing race, Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya is expected to romp
to victory
against Solomon Madzore, younger brother to Glen View MP Paul
Madzore.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
28 April 2011
A leading human rights group in Zimbabwe has
demanded that Mines and Mining
Development Minister Obert Mpofu hand in his
resignation, because of his
failure to ensure the security and transparency
of the country’s diamond
trade.
The Center for Research and
Development (CRD), which has led the exposure of
the level of human rights
abuse and other irregularities at the Chiadzwa
diamond fields, said this
week that Mpofu should immediately resign. The
group said in a statement
that the Ministry’s failure to bring the diamond
industry in line with
international standards is “prejudicing the government
of revenue that could
make a difference in the lives of the suffering
Zimbabwean people, in
particular our loyal and hardworking civil servants.”
“CRD holds the
Minister of Mines and Mining Development, as head of the
responsible
Ministry, accountable for the losses,” the group said.
Their statement
comes in the wake of the arrest of two diamond smugglers who
were caught in
India last week with more than US$2 million worth of Chiadzwa’s
rough
diamonds. The two men who are Indian nationals, were arrested last
week by
the Indian Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after they were
caught with
more than 48,000 carats of rough diamonds. It’s understood that
the diamonds
were illegally smuggled out of Zimbabwe and transported through
Kenya before
being taken to India.
The arrests come amid ongoing reports of smuggling
out of Chiadzwa, which
are continuing despite claims that Zimbabwe is now
fully compliant with
international diamond mining standards.
In
September 2010 a consignment of 4,000 carats of rough diamonds was
reportedly seized by the United Arab Emirates and returned to Zimbabwe.
Other parcels suspected to have originated from Chiadzwa were also seized in
Israel and Belgium last year.
“The large quantities of diamonds
intercepted suggest that this could be the
work of a well coordinated
syndicate involving well placed people with
tremendous power in the mining
companies and in government,” the CRD said.
The group added; “The fact
that government was not aware or pretended not to
be aware of any missing
diamonds despite such heavy losses reveals shocking
levels of incompetency
and/or corruption.”
The international trade watchdog, the Kimberley
Process (KP), is said to be
in the process of finalising an agreement which
will allow the Zimbabwe
Mining authorities to export Chiadzwa stones with
certification. The KP
chairman meanwhile has unilaterally cleared Chiadzwa
exports, regardless of
the evidence that international standards are still
not being met.
Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe Blood Diamond Campaign
told SW Radio Africa
on Thursday that this latest evidence of ongoing
smuggling shows that
measures by the KP to try and get Zimbabwe in line with
international
standards “are not effective.”
“There are top
politicians and top army and police officials involved in the
extraction and
smuggling of the diamonds. They are the ones that the KP has
no control
over,” Shumba said.
Shumba added that the CRD’s call for Mpofu to resign
is long overdue, but he
added it was “doubtful that this will
happen.”
“But we can realistically expect some kind of investigation from
parliament.
And if anything, this is a wake up call to all those people who
want to
legitmise Zimbabwe’s diamond trade, that things still are not
right,” Shumba
said.
The CRD meanwhile has called on Parliament to
institute a thorough
investigation into the continued smuggling, also
demanding that Mpofu take
full responsibility for the failures to bring
Zimbabwe in line with
international trade standards. The group has also
insisted that Mpofu
publicly apologise “for letting down the nation and
resign with immediate
effect. This is in the best interest of government,
the people of Zimbabwe
and the diamond industry.”
http://bulawayo24.com/
by Lifa Khumalo
2011 April 28
14:25:57
OLD and sick President Robert Mugabe will not be attending the
Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair scheduled to run from May 3 to May 7 -
ZimScibes
has been told.
According to Central Intelligence
Organization (CIO) sources in Harare the
87 year old dictator might not turn
up this time around as he is busy
attending to his health and that of his
wife - Grace Mugabe, who reportedly
is nursing a dislocated a hip after
tripping and failing a month ago.
Said a source in the President's Close
Protection Unit: "I don't see the old
man coming that side (Bulawayo) this
year. The dates coincide with his
routine checkups and he is also set to
Visit Amai KuSingapore during the
days ZITF would be running.
"If he
attends that will be after confirming with the doctors whether
postponing
his critical appointment is ideal or not," he said adding that
the
specialists attending to the President have refused to "come" to
Zimbabwe
for the procedure.
"We requested them to have them coming this side to do
the checkups but they
said their bookings could not allow them, so we have
to go back," he said.
Contacted for comment the Presidents Spokesperson
George Charamba said : " I
am unsure of the President's schedule as of then
but I can assure you that
he will be at ZIFT,' whereas Mugabe's chief of
staff - Micheck Sibanda could
not be reached for comment.
Mugabe, the
sources say has a faulty kidney and heart which has for the past
months
caused him to shackle between Zimbabwe and Asian countries
especially -
Singapore, seeking medical aid. The President’s costs of
attending to his
ills are reportedly a staggering US$3 million per trip,
according to recent
press reports.
Vice President John Landa Nkomo is expected to officiate
at the trade
showcase and few international traders have confirmed their
participation
this year owing to the country’s poor human rights record and
an ugly image.
To date, no foreign head of state has been named as the
guest of honour as
in previous years. Last year, controversial Iranian
leader - Ahmahandinejad
was the guest of honour and he promised great
uranium deals with Zimbabwe,
which to date have not materialized.
The
state run Chronicle newspaper ( 28 April 2011) has attempted to woo
people
to the obviously quite trade fair by claiming that players in the
hospitality industry are expecting brisk business as most hotels and fully
booked for the showcase.
Everyone in Bulawayo and elsewhere in
Zimbabwe knows well that the said
lodges and hotels are fully booked because
of the ongoing Movement of
Democratic Change congress ( bigger faction led
by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai ) - which has thousands delegates from
all over Zimbabwe, United
Kingdom, South Africa and members of the
diplomatic community from more than
76 countries.
The trade fair
comes at a time when not all is rosy in the City of Kings and
Queens. There
is no denying the fact that companies in Bulawayo are reeling
from economic
challenges being experienced throughout the country and are,
worse off than
their counterparts in Harare.
These challenges are as a direct result of
the country failure to attract
international investments due to its ugly
human rights record and absence of
democracy. Zanu PF has claimed that the
economic ills are as a result of the
restrictive measures imposed by the
some members of the international
community because of its continued actions
that are a perversion of basis
standards of democracy.
Big companies
like Dunlop, Edgars, Cold Storage Company, Tregers, National
Blankets and
the National Railways of Zimbabwe to mention just a few , are a
pale shadow
of their former self and most of them have over the past year
been operating
on a short working week basis.
The economic balance of power seems to
have shifted to Harare, the capital
city - hence the uproar from business
and other Matabeleland based activists
over glaring marginalization
superintended by the Robert Mugabe regime.
Most firms in the ZITF host
city, Bulawayo have shut down completely,
throwing thousands of workers onto
the street due to the tough operating
environment. Others have relocated, or
have threatened to relocate to Harare
where they perceive a better business
environment.
http://www.catholicculture.org/
RSS Facebook April 28, 2011
More than 50 foreign heads of
state and government leaders will attend the
beatification of Pope John Paul
II.
Among the guests will be at least one whose presence is likely to
cause some
consternation among Vatican officials: President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe,
whose regime has been repeatedly criticized by the nation’s
bishops for
corruption, mismanagement, and violations of human
rights.
Poland will send a large delegation, led by President Bronislaw
Komrowski
and the speakers of both houses of the country’s
parliament.
King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium will be at the
ceremony, as will
French Premier Francois Fillon and the president of the
European Commission,
José Manuel Barroso.
http://www.eni.ch/
ENInews Staff
27 April
2011
Harare, Zimbabwe (ENInews). Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's latest
attack
on Catholic bishops, in which he accused them of lying about the
nation's
dire social and economic situation, was a sign that the
relationship between
the two will continue to be difficult, observers
said.
"The utterances show that he no longer cares about relations with
the
bishops who have been bold enough to stand up to him," Lovemore Madhuku,
a
political commentator from the University of Zimbabwe told ENInews.
"[Mugabe] knows it's almost impossible to get the mainstream churches to
follow him," Madhuku added.
In his latest tirade at the Zimbabwe
Catholic Bishops Conference on 21
April, Mugabe said the bishops spread lies
about the country's situation.
"There are other so-called bishops who fall
under what is called the
bishops' conference who are always telling lies, no
truth at all," Mugabe
said at the opening of a conference hall in the town
of Masvingo, south of
Harare, for an apostolic sect, the Zion Christian
Church. He praised the
leaders of the sect while attacking his
critics.
"Look what these bishops of my own church are doing, always
attacking me
every year. They say our government oppresses the people when
the truth is
that the bishops don't understand the wishes of the majority of
the people
of this country," said Mugabe, who was raised Roman Catholic and
educated in
church schools.
Joseph Tanonoka Whande, a columnist in
the privately-owned Daily News said
Mugabe's conduct was not consistent with
his Christian background and urged
believers to stand up against the
three-decade ruler. "I cannot understand
Mugabe's behaviour against the
church and how he reconciles his beliefs with
what he is doing," Whande said
in a column on 21 April. "It's no longer just
politics. It is now the
perpetration of evil. We cannot continue to stand
and watch as Christians
are abused by thieves and murderers who have ruined
a nation so much blessed
by God," Whande wrote.
Previously, the Catholic bishops, in a February
pastoral letter, deplored
violence by supporters of Mugabe's Zimbabwe
African National Union - Patriot
Front (Zanu-PF) party. "We are concerned
about politically-motivated
violence," the letter read in part. "We urge our
political leaders to desist
from intimidating and mistreating members of the
public, the media and civic
communities and uphold human
rights."
Mugabe's attack on the clergy last week came days after police
detained a
Catholic priest, Fr. Marko Mkandla after he gave a sermon at a
memorial
service for victims of a government crackdown on dissidents in the
1980s
that was believed to have left over 10,000 people dead.
On 9
April, riot police broke up a church service in the capital, Harare,
beat up
and arrested 14 people including priests attending the service. It
was held
to commemorate a similar prayer rally in 2007 which was stopped by
the
police who beat several people including Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime
minister in a power-sharing government with Mugabe. An activist from
Tsvangirai's party was killed as police used live fire to disperse the
congregation.
After falling out with the mainstream church, Mugabe
has sought the support
of apostolic sects. Last year he attended an annual
pilgrimage of one of the
sects and appeared in pictures wearing the church's
white robes and wooden
rod. On that occasion he railed against gays and
lesbians and urged the
adherents to oppose rights groups seeking to have gay
rights in Zimbabwe's
new constitution.
"This is a strategy to gain
votes because members of these sects tend to
follow what their leaders tell
them," Madhuku said.
Despite the strained relations, churches still play
a leading role in
Zimbabwe, providing low-fee education and health services
as the country
battles to recover from a nearly decade-long economic crisis
which saw
annual inflation at one time peak to 231 million percent. In
addition,
church hospitals are the major health service providers to the
poor as
government hospitals still lack essential drugs and are often
short-staffed.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
No money .... Temporary structures at
the Bulawayo airport
28/04/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PEOPLE leaving Zimbabwe via its international airports have been
hit with an
extra $30 charge in a scheme the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ)
insists is
aimed at raising funds for infrastructure
development.
CAAZ says it needs the money to fund infrastructure upgrade
at the country’s
airports most of which are in need of a
revamp.
Under the plans passengers will pay US$10 and US$30 for domestic
and
international departures respectively beginning May 1,
2011.
Travelers already fork out US$35 and US$10 per head in service fees
for
international and domestic routes respectively.
CAAZ chief
executive, David Chawota told state-media the authority needed to
raise
US$400 million over the next 10 years for the redevelopment of the
country’s
airports.
"For us to do that, we have had to adopt the user pay principle
for such
developments," he said.
Chiwota added that this method of
raising funds was standard practice in
other parts of the world.
"We
are saying this method of raising funds for the infrastructural
development
has been repaying in many countries in the world and has been
found to be
successful," he said.
The CAAZ boss insisted that money raised would go
into an Avian
Infastructure Development Fund which would be kept separate
from the
authority’s recurrent expenditure.
Refurbishment of
infrastructure at Harare International Airport which
started in 2002 stalled
in 2007 due to budgetary constraints
The new Joshua Nkomo International
Airport, in Bulawayo is also yet to be
completed because of the lack of
funds.
Other airports such as Victoria Falls, Kariba, Hwange and Buffalo
Range are
also in need of a revamp.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Reagan Mashavave, Staff
Writer
Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:22
HARARE - South African
President Jacob Zuma, through Sadc mediation in
Zimbabwe, must demand a stop
to the deployment of soldiers or any military
personnel in constituencies
before and during elections in the country, the
Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe
has said.
The influential human rights organisation says Sadc must
also stop the
military’s participation in electoral affairs.
In a
statement yesterday, Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe regional co-ordinator
Dewa
Mavhinga said Zuma must make sure that institutions like the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) are demilitarised to allow free and fair
elections in the country.
Mavhinga said Sadc must deploy a peace
keeping mission in the country six
months before any election so that the
regional body can assess if the
country is ready to hold a credible
poll.
“Sadc must categorically call for a return to the barracks of all
soldiers
currently deployed in various areas across the country where
reports of
violence and intimidation involving them have been received,”
Mavhinga said.
“To demonstrate security chiefs’ commitment to democratic
values and to
their constitutional mandate, they must be called upon to
publicly issue
statements renouncing any partisan involvement in political
and electoral
affairs and their willingness and readiness to serve under any
leader who
emerges from a democratic election.”
Some security chiefs
in the country have openly showed their political
affiliation by announcing
that they support President Robert Mugabe and his
Zanu PF
party.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has complained that soldiers and
security
personnel who openly support Mugabe have been deployed across the
country in
anticipation of polls this year.
The soldiers, Tsvangirai
said, are meant to rally support for Mugabe.
Zimbabwe formed a unity
government over two years ago after disputed
elections in 2008. The June
2008 elections were marred by deadly violence
which the MDC led by
Tsvangirai say resulted in the deaths of over 200 of
their supporters and
officials.
After the formation of the unity government, an organ on
national healing
was formed to heal the wounds of 2008 but the institution
has been battling
to reach out to the people.
Mavhinga said Sadc must
ensure that ZEC is run independently and that the
institution must be fully
resourced to carry its mandate to run elections
without the interference of
other state institutions adding that the
electoral body must invite local
and international election observers at
least six months before polls are
held.
“Sadc must play a direct and central role in the management of
Zimbabwe’s
next election. Firstly, Sadc needs to independently examine and
publicly
certify that conditions on the ground in Zimbabwe are conducive to
the
holding of free and fair elections where violence and intimidation play
no
part before an election date can be set,” Mavhinga said.
ZEC
delayed to announce elections results in 2008 and the reasons for the
delay
remain unknown although speculation was rife that the results were
being
“cooked up.”
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said a new constitution without
restrictive
laws must be established before any elections.
The
organisation said the country must strike off laws like the Public Order
and
Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act
(AIPPA), Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act), and the
Presidential
Powers Temporary Measures Act to allow ordinary people their
basic freedoms.
http://www.voanews.com
Alpha Media
Holdings chief executive officer Raphael Khumalo said the stolen
equipment
was not only worth thousands of dollars but contained much
information and
data vital to the newspaper
Sithandekile Mhlanga | Washington 27 April
2011
The editor and publisher of the independent Zimbabwean daily
newspaper
Newsday said Wednesday that they will not be daunted by the theft
of a
laptop and 10 hard drives with critical data from the premises of the
recently launched paper earlier this week.
The laptop was stolen and
the hard drives were stripped from the 10 personal
computers by parties
unknown who broke into Newsday's offices Monday night.
Publisher Raphael
Khumalo, chief executive of Alpha Media Holdings, said the
equipment was not
only worth thousands of dollars but contained much vital
information.
Khumalo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga
that the paper has
replaced some of the gear to resume operations, but was
deeply troubled by
the theft which appeared to be targeting Zimbabwe's
still-vulnerable free
press.
He said the theft was meant to have a
negative psychological impact on
Newsday staff.
“It’s coming a few
days away from World Press Freedom Day celebrations,"
Khumalo said. "That
again does not put Zimbabwe in good light. It is going
to be seen as a fight
against the independence of the media.”
Newsday Editor Brian Mangwende
said the break-in was a calculated crime
intended to demoralize staff and
paralyze the paper’s operations. But he
told reporter Sandra Nyaira that
although his team was disheartened it was
not deterred from its
mission.
“This is a calculated act of criminality designed to paralyze
the operations
of the country’s fastest-growing newspaper whose impact on
the market has
been felt through the length and breadth of the country,"
Mangwende said.
“The thieves knew exactly what they wanted targeting my
laptop and
vandalizing computers of senior editors to render incapable
production of
the paper.”
Mangwende said the attack was a serious
blow at press freedom.
“We will not be deterred by these criminals who
are not merely targeting the
property of Newsday, but freedom of the media,"
Mangwende said.
We hope the police will do all they can to unmask whoever
did this," said
Mangwende, who said police had been "very cooperative,"
taking photos and
fingerprints.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
28
April 2011
The British media have added their voices to criticism of the
invitation of
a Zimbabwean envoy to the UK’s royal wedding, which will get
underway in
London on Friday.
The event will see high profile
dignitaries and other personalities from
across the world converge in the
British capital. But many rights groups
have been left outraged at the
inclusion of controversial figures, including
representatives from
oppressive regimes like Zimbabwe.
London based protest group, the
Zimbabwe Vigil has called on the UK Foreign
Office to withdraw the
invitation to Zimbabwe’s Ambassador, Gabriel
Machinga. Observers have also
called the invite a “shocking display of
hypocrisy,” with British officials
arguing that the invite is a matter of
diplomatic relations and
protocol.
British media has also been left outraged after two of the
country’s
previous Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were left
off the
guest list. Stephen Glover, a columnist with the UK’s Daily Mail
newspaper,
said it was “mind-boggling that Blair and Brown should have had
to yield to
men such as Gabriel Machinga, Zimbabwean Ambassador to London, a
loyal
servant of President Robert Mugabe's murderous and kleptomaniac
regime.”
Glover said it was “highly regrettable” that Blair and Brown had
been
overlooked while “some pretty unsavoury foreign leaders, as well as
some
rackety private individuals” got invites.
The Independent
newspaper said; “Despite Zimbabwe having withdrawn from the
Commonwealth in
2003, and Robert Mugabe being subject to a travel ban and
sanctions,
Zimbabwe's ambassador to London, Gabriel Machinga, remains on the
guest list
because the two countries retain ‘normal’ relations.”
There has also been
a wave of criticism for the invitations extended to King
Mswati III of
Swaziland, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of
Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohamed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz and
Princess Fadwa
bint Khalid.
The Bahrain Crown Prince has declined the invite to escape
controversy,
while Libya’s ambassador had his invitation rescinded. An
invitation was
also extended to Syria’s ambassador, despite hundreds of
people dying in the
past week in violent uprisings against the authorities
there. That
invitation was then rescinded on Thursday.
http://www.radiovop.com
28/04/2011 11:20:00
Harare, April 28, 2011 - The British
government has defended its decision to
invite Gabriel Machinga, Zimbabwe’s
ambassador and top Mugabe ally, to
Friday’s Royal Wedding insisting the high
profile marital ceremony was not a
political event.
“Representatives
from all countries that the United Kingdom has working
relationships with
have been invited to the Royal Wedding, “Keith Scott,
British Embassy First
Secretary Political/Communications told Radio VOP in
an interview on
Wednesday.
“The United Kingdom has contacts with all parties subject to
the Global
Political Agreement, and this includes contact with the
Zimbabwean Embassy
in the United Kingdom. This is a State occasion, not a
political event.”
The British government has come under fire from critics
and its media for
inviting individuals whose governments are known for human
rights
violations.
President Robert Mugabe leads a blacklist of
Zimbabwean politicians who have
been put in a Western travel ban and
sanctions for gross rights violations.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chris Goko, Business Editor
Thursday, 28
April 2011 17:42
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats) is
pressing government to
honour a 2006 empowerment plan under which Harare
would discount higher
equity in the platinum miner for a 10 percent offer
and 86 claims.
This also comes as a local investment group
Nkululeko-Rusununguko Mining
Company of Zimbabwe (NRMCZ) — fronted by Alex
Manungo —‚ is reportedly back
in the running for a 15 percent stake in the
South African-owned mining
group.
Although company spokesperson Busie
Chindove was not readily available for
comment, Empowerment Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere yesterday said he was
unaware of alternative plans to indigenise
Zimplats and the recent
publication of the 51 percent mining-ownership
regime meant the new order
superseded any prior arrangements.
“As far
as l know (and understand), Zimbabweans will own 51 percent of any
mine
operating in the country,” he said.
Following March 25’s promulgation of
the localisation thresholds, foreign
miners have been under renewed pressure
to handover majority shares in their
companies or businesses to black
Zimbabweans.
Despite a plea for reduced direct equities on account of
significant civil
infrastructure investments, initial public offerings and
local procurement
initiatives, it is understood that Zimbabwe’s small band
of heavyweight
miners have been under such pressure that they were “hurtling
to court
potential partners”.
Founded in 1998, the US$2 billion
company gained key platinum group metals
(PGMs) assets in the country after
taking over the assets of Broken Hill
Proprietary in May
1999.
Zimplats , which is 87 percent–owned by SA’s Impala Platinum,
produces 180
000 ounces of PGMs a year from its northern Dyke operations or
site of
Hartley and Ngezi mine.
In the meantime, NRMCZ’s name has not
only popped at the envisioned scramble
for suitable partners by
foreign-owned mines, but also at the back of
Kasukuwere’s statements in
January that government was in talks with the
white metals producer over the
empowerment stake.
Initially named as the winner or consortium to buy the
coveted stake in July
2004, Manungo’s empowerment grouping announced five
years ago that it had
lined up an array of potential funders — about eight
of them — to fulfill
its takeover of the 15 percent stake in Australian
Stock Exchange-listed
Zimplats.
The consortium, which includes
bankers and an array of businessmen, said
then that financiers were from
China, Germany, Russia, South Africa and the
United Kingdom.
With
the company’s market capitalisation at 1,3 billion Australian dollars
as at
Wednesday, observers said Zimplats has always been willing to do
business
with any Zimbabwean party since commencing operations and NRMCZ’s
promoters
had reactivated its contacts in anticipation of a re-engagement
process.
While the Zimbabwean government and cabinet had okayed the
NRMCZ
transaction, it fell through at the hands of some powerful bureaucrats
in
President Robert Mugabe’s financial-management system and a few issues
that
needed ironing out at the time.
The company holds 165 million
ounces of platinum resources at its greenstone
and upper Zimbabwe
concession, which assets also position the country as a
key player in PGM
supplies for industrial uses, including glass production,
auto-catalysts and
electrical productions.
In Zimbabwe, the company competes with a range of
producers, including world
number one producer Anglo Platinum and Aquarius,
owners of Mimosa mine.
http://www.radiovop.com/
28/04/2011
11:21:00
Pretoria, April 28, 2011 - South African President Jacob
Zuma in an apparent
attack on Zimbabwe on Wednesday said he was proud that
his country had done
more in a short space of time compared to what other
countries had failed to
do in many years of their
independence.
Marking Freedom Day, Zuma said: “We are proud of the
substantial progress we
have made together since 1994. In comparison to many
countries that have
deteriorated after liberation, we have done
exceptionally well, against all
odds, in only 17 years,” Zuma said at the
Union Building.
“We have established a solid, sound, stable, functional
constitutional
democracy.”
Zuma shared the stage with leaders of
opposition parties, although there
were media reports that these were
heckled by ANC supporters.
Mugabe who has exclusively took to the podium
over the last 31 years of
independence to speechify against perceived
western enemies and dice his
political opponents.
Zuma however used
his independence speech to unite his country and offer
solutions to its
problems while the Zanu PF government has consistently laid
the blame for
the country’s problems to others except itself.
In 1996 South Africa
adopted one of the world’s best constitutions, now used
as a benchmark on
good governance. The constitution seeks to among other
things heal the
divisions of the past, establish a society based on
democratic values,
social justice and fundamental human rights.
However, 31 years after
independence, Zimbabwe is still using the outdated
Lancaster House
Constitution which has so far been patched 19 times. The
constitution is
replete with laws that reflect a colonial country. President
Mugabe and his
Zanu (PF) party have consistently used the law to stifle
political opponents
and maintain their iron-fist rule over the country’s
affairs.
Efforts
to draft a new constitution for the country have consistently been
undone by
scenes of violence and manipulation of text.
Meanwhile, the Welshman
Ncube led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is
pushing for a relaxation
of bail conditions slapped on Co-Home Affairs
Minister, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu
to allow him to attend intra-party negotiations
set for South Africa in a
fortnight.
Mzila-Ndlovu last week missed intra-party negotiations that
came up with an
election roadmap.
He is set to miss negotiations
scheduled for South Africa in a fortnight
ahead of a full SADC summit in
late May as he is not supposed to leave
Zimbabwe before the finalization of
his case.
The National Healing and Reconciliation Minister was slapped
with stringent
bail conditions following his release after five days in
custody for
statements he made during a Gukurahundi memorial service in
Lupane.
Among some of the bail conditions, Mzila-Ndlovu’s passport was
seized by the
state, effectively grounding him in the country. He was
ordered to reside in
Bulawayo, a move that makes it impossible for him to
attend intra-party
negotiations.
Nhlanhla Dube, the MDC spokesperson
when contacted for comment said his
party will push for a “relaxation of the
bail conditions so that
Mzila-Ndlovu will attend the negotiations scheduled
for South Africa.”
Mzila-Ndlovu told Radio VOP: “The bail conditions make
it impossible for me
to attend any of the party negotiations. I missed last
week’s negotiations
that came up with an election roadmap.
“We are
supposed to go to South Africa for the next round of negotiations on
the
election roadmap but because of the bail conditions, I don’t think I
will be
able to attend them,” Mzila-Ndlovu noted.
The next round of negotiations
before the full SADC summit in Namibia on 20
May 2011 will be in South
Africa.
“As long as my passport is not released and my bail conditions
are relaxed,
I cannot travel outside Bulawayo attend any
negotiations.”
During the first round of negotiations that came up with
an election
roadmap, Mzila Ndlovu’s MDC was forced to pick party vice
president, Edwin
Mushoriwa to represent him.
Zimbabwe’s political
parties to the unity government last week reached
consensus on an election
roadmap but are still deadlocked over security
sector reform and staffing in
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
28 April
2011
Zimbabwe's sole manufacturer of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, Sable
Chemical
Industries Ltd, has been forced to suspend operations after the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) cut off power over a US$30
million debt.
A report by NewsDay says most of the workers have now been
sent home as a
result. Electricity to the struggling company was cut off
during the Easter
Holiday and had still not been connected by Wednesday, the
report said. It’s
the second time since January this year that power has
been cut off over the
ballooning debt.
Speaking to NewsDay, Sable
Chemicals deputy board chairman Misheck Kachere
said the company presented a
payment plan to ZESA which it had been
following for some time, until it
later defaulted owing to cash flow
challenges.
In September 2009 the
company shut down owing to what it called high
electricity tariffs and their
impact on running the Electrolysis Plant.
Several meetings with ZESA
management to revise the tariffs yielded nothing.
At the time ZESA argued
that customers like Sable actually paid a lower
tariff of US5,6 cents while
the rest of the industry paid US7,3 cents for
the same unit of electricity.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
28
April, 2011
Zimbabwe’s Affirmative Action Group (AAG) announced this week
that they were
sending a delegation to South Africa to support Julius
Malema, the highly
controversial Youth League leader of the African National
Congress (ANC) in
South Africa. Malema is facing hate language charges due
to his insistence
on singing a racially charged ANC song from the liberation
struggle.
The AAG said the trip was in solidarity with Malema as “an
honorary member”
who supports empowerment issues. But some observers have
said it appears to
be a ZANU PF strategy to appease the ANC, after a recent
row with President
Jacob Zuma over the recent SADC troika summit in
Lusaka.
The AAG delegation is due to leave on Friday, represented by the
group’s
President Supa Mandiwanzira and Secretary General Tafadzwa Musarara.
Mandiwanzira is a devout ZANU PF supporter who is also heading up a new
weekly newspaper called The Patriot.
“We know who Supa is and who he
represents,” said former student leader and
activist Mfundo Mlilo, adding
that the gesture appears to be a ZANU PF
attempt to reach out to the
ANC.
Mlilo explained that the position of South Africa on Zimbabwe is
changing
because the country has a huge economy and therefore a “big
brother”
responsibility in the region.
The activist believes the AAG
trip is also a sign that ZANU PF does respond
to pressure, despite the
non-caring image they like to portray. “And this
pressure needs to
continue,” he added.
Reports said the AAG will also be taking a written
letter of support to
Malema. The letter reads in part; “On behalf of the
Affirmative Action
Group, the vanguard of broad-based black economic
empowerment in Zimbabwe, I
would like to categorically state that, as our
honorary member, the group is
fully behind you during and after your court
trial proceedings. Our entire
membership is disturbed and extremely
infuriated by the goings- on at the
Equality Court.”
Malema was taken
to the Equality Court by the human rights group Afriforum,
who want him to
stop singing the lyrics “Dubuli’bhunu”, which mean “Kill the
Boer”. The
group says these are hate lyrics that are partly responsible for
the ongoing
murders of white farmers in the country.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Today is a significant day for the women
of Zimbabwe. You as the women representantives of the country’s largest
political party -the MDC- have come to this Congress to elect a new leadership
and to chart the way forward for the MDC Women’s Assembly and for the country.
I hope that you will use this important day to reflect on the past five
years and derive valuable lessons on how best the women of this country can
actively take part as leaders in this important journey towards a new Zimbabwe
and a new beginning. It is a fact that 30 years after overcoming the racial
inequalities for which the liberation struggle was waged, the gender
inequalities remain. This is despite the fact that our women played such a
central role in the our liberation struggle.
Indeed, you have also
played a central role in the struggle for a democratic Zimbabwe that has been
ongoing now for more than a decade. Unfortunately, it is the women of Zimbabwe
who had to pay the highest price in our national struggles. When any hardship
stalks our land, it is the women of this nation that bear the brunt of the
suffering, whether it be from disease, hunger, or poverty.
Therefore, let
us take this opportunity to remember the gallant women who defied fear and
played an active part in the formation of this party in 1999. Women who must
continue to inspire us as we run the last mile to full democracy and freedon.
Some of them are now departed and I am talking here about passionate fighters
for democracy such as the late Getrude Mthombeni. May her soul rest in eternal
peace.
Yet others braved violence and stood firm in this struggle, like
our colleague Thabitha Marume who was callously and publicly murdered by Zanu PF
activists in Manicaland in 2007. Talent Mabika, a committed woman who was
plucked down in mid-stride and brutally murdered in April 2000 at Murambinda
Growth Point in Buhera, is a pick from this rich galaxy of brave women who paid
the ultimate price in their quest for change.
Abigail Chiroto, another
brave woman who was killed simply because her husband was a senior MDC
activist. We must remember all these gallant women; brave daughters of this land
who decided to be part of the national quest for a new dispensation.
Our
mothers and our sisters in Murehwa, Nkayi, Muzarabani and Chendambuya who were
raped, murdered and assaulted over the years for their unstinting belief in
change. In the face of threats, intimidation and brutal murders, they maintained
their resolve to continue fighting against oppression, violence and
plunder.
And there is one woman I knew so well and loved so much -a woman
who insisted that women were equal shareholders in the struggle for change in
Zimbabwe. A woman who would have been happy today to see such a huge gathering
of friends and colleagues committed and determined to finish the struggle they
started so many years ago.
And I am talking here of my late wife, Susan
Tsvangirai, who tragically perished in an accident on 6 March 2009, exactly 23
days after hope had beckoned for this country following the formation of the
inclusive government on 11 February 2009. All these women, including the women
in the villages, on the farms and in urban townships who have borne the brunt of
violence, are the true heroes of our struggle.
They have refused to be
cowed and they continue to be associated with the national desire for change.At
this historic congress let us honour their sacrifice. Let us treasure the memory
of those that have paid the ultimate price and let us ensure that their legacy
is a New Zimbabwe that is truly free, democratic and prosperous.
This is
what they stood for and this is what they were fighting for when they died. We
owe it to them to carry on the struggle courageously, peacefully and
relentlessly. In light of this, I wish to address the allegations of
factionalism, conflict and corruption that have preceded this Congress. Let me
state once and for all that there will no tolerance of violence in the MDC.
There will no sanctioning of corruption in the MDC and there will be no reward
for patronage in the MDC.
It is these traits that our party was born to
eradicate. It is these traits that condemned an entire generation to poverty and
repression and there can be no room for them in the New Zimbabwe.
Soon,
you will vote for your new leaders.Let me tell you now that it is your duty to
shun those that encouraged violence; To reject those that promoted factionalism;
And to discard any individual that attempted to tarnish your precious vote by
trying to buy it. As we prepare to govern our beautiful country let us ensure
that we represent the very best that the people of Zimbabwe have to
offer.
Let us truly be the Party of Excellence!
Women of Zimbabwe,
I am heartened by the enthusiasm that I see here, the high spirits and the
emotive contest which all go to show that we are a true democratic party.Serious
business for the Women’s Assembly must begin today.And we must begin with an
honest introspection into whether we have succeeded in the past five years in
creating a strong women’s movement that can mobilise women across all sectors
and classes to be part of the change agenda.
Our last party Conference
approved a 50-50 threshold for women at all levels of leadership and you must
rise up to the challenge and demand your space. I urge you to step up to this
challenge and as a Women’s Assembly; I hope you have comprehensive proposals to
the Constitution for adoption by this Congress, including the demand for equal
representation at all levels.
Until we have such a Constitution and until
our women take their rightful place in the Party and in Zimbabwe, our nation
will never be truly empowered. Only then will the MDC truly be a Party of
Excellence. I take heart that you have remained resolute over the years,
undaunted by a dark past but excited by the prospect of a better future for
yourselves and your children.
I also hope that you have managed to
debate the party policy on gender in order to enrich the party position on all
major issues affecting women and to keep the party appraised of the special
needs and concerns of women. At the epicentre of our beliefs as a social
democratic party is gender equality, the need to eradicate poverty and the
empowerment of women to take care of every area of their lives.
We must
be alive especially to the needs of rural women and the key role they continue
to play in the country’s economy.
We must recognise the role of women as
mothers in the family and as the ultimate care-givers even where national
institutions have collapsed.
This nation is poised for an election and
the role of women in this important national process cannot be underplayed.
Women must be on the forefront in the collective quest for a clear roadmap to an
election; with a clear role for our African brothers and sisters in ensuring
that the election will take place in a peaceful environment with neither fear
not coercion.
We must not merely seek peace. We must demand it! The women
of Zimbabwe must continue to occupy their space by taking part in national
struggles, national discussions, national processes and national
events.
I equally hope that the new leadership that will emerge from here
will be able to take the struggle forward and to ensure that women have an
important role to play in shaping the country’s future.
Your future is in
your hands.
I thank You
--
MDC Information &
Publicity Department
Clifford
Chitupa Mashiri, 28/04/11
The recent snub of EU and UN funding for
elections by Zanu-pf should not be
taken as official Zimbabwe policy because
it was not sanctioned by the
coalition government, at least until the other
parties publicly endorse that
position.
Regrettable
It is
regrettable that Zanu-pf hardliners reportedly ‘turned down’ an offer
by the
United Nations to fund and supervise elections in Zimbabwe, accusing
the UN
of siding with Alassane Quattara of Ivory Coast instead of the loser
in that
country’s elections Laurent Gbagbo whom Zanu-pf credited with
fighting ‘the
imperialist West’.
Rather than allow Zanu-pf’s weird foreign policy
transform Zimbabwe into an
appendage of Laurent Gbagbo’s ‘Ivory Coast’, the
Prime Minister and
President of the Movement for Democratic Change of
Zimbabwe Morgan
Tsvangirai who won the 2008 elections should spell out the
correct position
of what was agreed in cabinet on this issue.
Budget
deficit
Ideally, the MDC should directly follow-up the funding with the
UN before it
is committed for other use because Zimbabwe cannot afford the
arrogance of
turning down help when it has a budget deficit of US$150
million and also
faced with a request for US$400million by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
for elections.
Ironically, President Robert
Mugabe has used an estimated US$12 million in 3
months in private travel to
Singapore reportedly for medical treatment when
the government cannot pay
salaries. For instance, on average, depending on
grade, civil servants who
have threatened to go on a ‘mother of all strikes’
in June, earn between
US$240 and US$520 per month against the Poverty Datum
Line of US$520 (Daily
News, 28/04/11).
Diaspora vote
Part of the reason why Zimbabwe
would need outside funding is to meet some
preliminaries for the planned
referendum and elections such as guaranteeing
the Diaspora vote i.e. the
right of an estimated 3 million people outside
Zimbabwe to vote in the
forthcoming referendum and harmonised elections. It
appears the recently
agreed roadmap is silent on the Diaspora vote. In view
of the fact that
Zanu-pf’s ‘war veteran’ Jabulani Sibanda has threatened to
force-march
people to re-join his party and vote for it, the importance of
the Diaspora
vote in the upcoming referendum and election cannot be
over-emphasised.
I would like to assure the coalition government in
Harare that we will make
the loudest noise if they ever try to
disenfranchise Zimbabweans who are in
the Diaspora by using lame excuses of
inadequate funding for elections which
they are turning down but at the same
time urging exiles to repatriate their
hard-earned money.
Impartial
Chief Elections Officer
Similarly, security sector reforms needed which
may need funding includes
redundancies in the army, air force, police,
prisons and intelligence
services whose continued presence in the new
dispensation does not instil
confidence. At the same time the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission and the
office of the Registrar General obviously need
a complete overhaul
especially the appointment of an impartial chief
elections officer.
For example, in 1991 Lesotho had to approach the
United Nations for
assistance in the recruitment and appointment of an
expatriate Chief
Electoral Officer after extensive discussion on the
modality of appointing
the country’s Chief Electoral Officer whose
impartiality and general
acceptability would ensure confidence in the
electoral processes leading to
the return to democratic civilian rule
(Professor L Adele Jinadu, Africa
Journal of Political Science, 1997, Vol 2,
No1, 1-11).
Unless it has something to hide, Zimbabwe should not shy away
from EU and UN
funding for elections as operational costs especially
logistics for
electoral administration can be can be so prohibitive that
even the state
may not have the funds. For example, in the 1991 Zambian
elections, funds
and logistical support were provided by a consortium of
western European
countries. In Ghana, during the 1992 elections, a number of
foreign
countries and international organisations also assisted with funds
and
grants (Ibid).
In March 2010, the EU provided 960,000 Euros to
Georgia to help the country
‘in conducting free, fair and credible
elections’ according to a press
release of the Delegation of the European
Union to Georgia
(www.enpi-info.eu).
Two sets of
elections
Iraq got assistance from the European Commission to the tune of
30 million
Euros in preparation for elections in 2005. The Commission
financed 100% of
the United Nation’s requirements for preparation of the
referendum in that
country and together with member states financed nearly
two thirds of the UN’s
budget for preparation of the two sets of elections
(www.europa-eu-un-org,
21/10/05).
In 2006 the EU funded television and radio broadcasts to
Belarus ahead of
presidential elections after accusations that the EU was
unwilling to take
tough action against the authoritarian regime of President
Alyaksandr
Lukashenka of Belarus (www.rferl.org, 11/01/06).
Special
training programme
Next month, twelve Egyptian and 12 Tunisian
journalists are due to attend a
special training programme on the electoral
process in the United Kingdom’s
Welsh Assembly elections and Scottish
parliamentary elections on 5 May, as
part of the UE-funded European
Neighbourhood Journalism Network (ENJN)
project (www.enpi-info.eu, 14/04/11).
The
European Union funded the Palestine Central Elections Commission (CEC’s)
mock election in West Bank high schools in 2009. The project was
administered by the CEC in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and
Higher Education as well as UNRWA schools (www.humanityvoice.net,
13/05/09).
Of course there are times when some countries are more
convincing when they
decline foreign assistance. For example, early this
year, Guyana’s President
Bharrat Jagdeo said that his government would be
financing the country’s
general elections due to be held this year and ruled
out the need for
funding by donor agencies. He, however, gave an assurance
that anyone
desirous of monitoring would be welcome, with no restrictions
placed on
their monitoring activities.
Confidence in Guyana’s
electoral processes
The EU expressed confidence in Guyana’s electoral
processes and confirmed
that the EU would not be funding or monitoring
Guyana’s upcoming elections.
Monitoring bodies will most likely be the OAS,
CARICOM and the Commonwealth
(www.guyanachronicleonline.com,
09/02/11).
While the foregoing may not be exhaustive, it goes to show
that election
funding by the EU and the United Nations is standard practice
if the
recipient country has a genuine need like Zimbabwe does. Until the
correct
position is officially confirmed by the coalition government, the
question
will continue to be asked: ‘Is Zanu-pf snub of elections funding
official
Zimbabwe policy?’
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political
Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com
MDC will start its congress
tomorrow with the women congress, then the Youth
and finally the Main wing
Saturday 30 April 2011. This will be the third
congress after MDC formation
and ironically will be the third election MDC
had won but failed to claim
back from the jaws of ZANU (PF). Its easy to
understand the dynamics of
Zimbabwean politics if you are a politician but
totally unacceptable if you
are a Zimbabwean voting each time for a change
but ending up with the same
result, still living in abject poverty. I can
not emphasis enough the burden
which awaits those fortunate enough to be
elected this week. The generality
of Zimbabweans are fad up with
politicking, they want real change and indeed
MDC has the challenge to
deliver to the expectation of the people of
Zimbabwe, it’s not an easy
mandate but this time around it will determine
the capacity of MDC to force
throat change. The winds of change sweeping
North Africa and the Middle East
or should I say on dictators all over the
world, have a psychological impact
on the outcome of this congress. The
Bulawayo punch!!!
Every election anywhere in the world draws bitter enemy
lines of vitro
words, in western world it leads to a hand shake while in
Africa it leaves a
deep sense of hatred and mistrust. As we prepare for the
congress I urge my
fellow MDC co patriots, that it’s not your post at stake
but the country at
stake. While some will emerge morally bruised, you should
never have a sense
of being politically bruised. In a real world of politics
with the
challenges that ZANU (PF) and Mugabe poses to our national
integrity, they
should be enough roles for every politician to play, before
and after Mugabe
is gone. I draw your attention to a quotation by Mikhail
Gorbachev (1991)
former president of USSR, “Tomorrow you may have another
president. In any
case, we are all one, side by side, and we shouldn’t spit
on each other”
This is a powerful reminder that what ever we do, we must
remember that
there is always a tomorrow. Don’t personalise the struggle,
it’s not your
struggle, it’s the people’s struggle. The problem that we have
is that we
become vindictive of those whom we perceive to have different
views to us.
Let’s reach out to those who challenge us for their views are a
shortfall of
yours.
If the truth is to be said, the press isn’t the
best friend either, it does
give you positive coverage when it suits it but
can be a brunt instrument to
self destruction. Headlines will appear, again
and again, so and so did this
and said this to that. There is also perceived
stigma in our society to
failure, taking a loss as a bad omen. For God’s
sake is not the end of the
world, this is only MDC versus MDC, our target is
Mugabe and ZANU (PF). If
you are born a politician, you should die a
politician. A loss this weekend
shouldn’t give you the right to recoil but
the inspiration to fight on and
prove that you are worth what you said you
were. To some unfortunately age
has already taken toll on you, it’s not the
end of the world, wine mature by
age, and we still need you in other
capacity.
I wish all the best and to those who will win must
acknowledge that you have
won because somebody contested you and its very
health to the Zimbabwean
democracy that we all want to build. Lets encompass
everyone in the
struggle, the journey is not over until is
over.
Elliot Pfebve
MDC Nationalist
Academic who writes from
UK
epfebve@yahoo.co.uk
www.pfebve.blogspot.com
BILL WATCH
18/2011
[26th
April 2011]
The Senate has adjourned to Tuesday 10th
May
The House of Assembly has adjourned to Tuesday 17th
May
In Parliament this Month
Senate
The Senate did not sit this month. Its last sitting was on the 31st
March.
House of Assembly
The House of Assembly sat on 5th, 6th and 7th April. It passed two Bills and sent them to the Senate to be considered in
May. On Wednesday 6th April Ministers dealt with members’
questions.
Bills passed and Sent to Senate
Small Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment
Bill – this was passed without amendment.
General Laws Amendment Bill – this was passed with several amendments, including the dropping of
the clause on Government copyright in legislation, court judgments and various
other official documents and the clause on local authority procurement
procedures, and the addition of three new clauses seeking to amend the National
Biotechnology Authority Act and the Banking Act, and to backdate the legal
practitioners US dollar fees tariff of 2011 to 1st February 2009. [For
details see Bill Watch 17/2011 of 19th April.] [Electronic version of Bill as passed by the House
available.]
Bills carried forward to May - awaiting Second Reading
· Deposit Protection Corporation Bill [Electronic version available.]
·
National Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill
[Electronic version available.]
Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] – presented non-adverse reports on:
· National Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill
· General Laws Amendment Bill as amended by the
House
· Statutory instruments gazetted during February.
Members Question Time
Questions dealt with by Ministers included:
Mount Darwin Mass Exhumations Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara said concerns about these exhumations
would be addressed by the Ministry of Home Affairs which had now taken over
responsibility for the matter.
School text-books The Minister of Education stoutly defended his Ministry’s
arrangements for the supply of school textbooks, pointing out that by handing
over the procurement process to UNICEF significant economies of scale had been
achieved, a considerable sum saved and some 30 million text-books produced and
delivered, resulting in every primary school child having his or her own
English, Maths, indigenous language and environmental sciences
textbook. He also rejected allegations that the books supplied were not
acceptable to schools, saying they were all approved by the Ministry’s
curriculum development unit.
Boosting Bulawayo industrial sector The Deputy Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion
gave a detailed response to a question about Government’s plans to boost
Bulawayo industry to stop imminent closures of factories that had ceased to be
viable.
Parliamentary Committees
Senate Thematic and House of Assembly Portfolio Committees sat until
15th April, then adjourned until the week commencing 9th May.
Update on Legislation
Bills Passed and Awaiting Presidential Assent and/or Gazetting as
Acts [Electronic versions available.]
Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Power, Communication and Water
Infrastructure) Bill [being printed]
Attorney-General’s Office Bill [being printed]
Zimbabwe National Security Council Amendment Bill [printed,
awaiting President’s assent]
Energy
Regulatory Authority Bill [being printed]
Bills in Parliament
Senate
·
Public Order and Security Amendment Bill – this Private Member’s Bill
still awaits its Second Reading [Electronic version available.]
·
General Laws Amendment Bill – awaiting Second Reading [Electronic version available.]
·
Small Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment Bill – awaiting
Second Reading
House of Assembly
·
Deposit Protection Corporation Amendment Bill – awaiting Second
Reading
·
National Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill – awaiting
Second Reading [Electronic version available.]
Bills Gazetted and Awaiting Presentation in Parliament
– None
Bills Being Printed for Presentation in
Parliament
Older Persons Bill [this is a Bill from the Ministry of Labour and
Social Services – text and summary not yet available.]
Bills Referred for Drafting after Approval in Principle by
Cabinet
· State Enterprises Restructuring Agency Bill
· State Enterprises and Parastatals Management
Bill
· Zimbabwe Investment Authority Amendment Bill.
Requests for electronic versions that have been offered should be
emailed to veritas@yoafrica.com
Statutory Instruments and General
Notices
Statutory Instruments
No statutory instruments were published in the Gazette of 8th April,
and none of any significance in the Gazettes of 15th and 22nd
April.
General Notices
Government financial statements for January and
February
Published as supplements to the Government Gazette of 8th March were
the Government’s consolidated financial statements for January and February
2011, as prepared by the Accountant-General. The ten-page statements give
Government income and expenditure, broken down under a number of sub-headings.
So it is possible, for instance, to ascertain the official figures for revenue
from mining royalties [$6 717 155 for January, $6 370 500 for February].
[Please note: Electronic copies of these financial statements are not
available from Veritas. Hard copies are available from the Government Printer’s
outlets.] According to section 34(3) of the Public Finance Management Act
the Ministry should have been publishing such statements every month since April
2010, when the Act came into operation, but these are the first to appear.
Concerned citizens are entitled to demand that statements for the preceding
seven months of 2010 are published now, even if somewhat belatedly. And it is
to be hoped that there will be no further lapses in compliance with this
important statutory obligation, because the point of making such information
publicly available is to promote transparency and accountability in the handling
of public money.
MDC-T 3rd
National Congress: 28th to 30th April [new dates]
The
Congress has been moved forward by one day to ensure that senior party officials
will be free to take part in Workers Day functions on 1st May. It will be held
in Bulawayo. Guest of honour will be Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The
agenda includes election of the national leadership; Mr Tsvangirai is set to
continue as party President as the only nominee for the post. Some of the
party’s provincial elections have been marred by violence between rival
factions. The Congress will not interfere with Parliamentary business, as both
Houses and all Parliamentary committees will still be in recess at that
time.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied