Zim Standard
By Foster Dongozi
THIRTY-FIVE women's organisations have
threatened to demonstrate
against the police over their alleged reluctance
to arrest Zanu PF supporter
and leader of the Destiny for Africa Network,
Obadiah Musindo.
Musindo mingled with Zanu PF heavyweights
and ministers at the
burial of national hero, senior assistant police
commissioner Winston
Changara on Friday.
Musindo also
recently donated $130 million towards President
Robert Mugabe's birthday
bash held in Mutare.
Musindo, who calls himself a reverend,
is alleged to have raped
his maid five times and photographed her private
parts.
A statement by Women's Coalition, the umbrella
organisation for
all women and children's organisations leading the
complaints, said: "The
Women's Coalition is shocked that after the Attorney
General declared that
Obadiah Musindo has a case to answer, he has not been
arrested. Failure to
arrest Mr Musindo to answer to the charges of rape will
leave us no choice
but to march in protest. We deserve protection and
justice against
gender-based violence as citizens of this
country."
Attorney General, Sobusa Gula Ndebele referred The
Standard to
the Director of Public Prosecutions Loice Moyo, who was not
immediately
reachable.
"The Women's Coalition is worried
that a number of cases that
concern sexual abuse of minors by high profile
men are not brought before
the courts."
Women's affairs
minister, Oppah Muchinguri, said she could not
comment on the Musindo issue.
"I am uncomfortable discussing that issue as
it is going through the legal
process," she said.
Two weeks ago she castigated what she
described as a "lenient"
sentence against an alleged serial
rapist.
A former permanent secretary seduced a
15-year-old-girl
resulting in pregnancy but he has not been charged for
statutory rape.
A deputy minister from Masvingo and a very
senior chief have
also made young girls pregnant, while a permanent
secretary has impregnated
several young girls in Mashonaland
East.
They have been allowed to go scot-free because they are
senior
Zanu PF officials.
Meanwhile, the government and
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions are headed for a showdown over the
issue of sanitary ware.
The government appears annoyed that
the ZCTU sourced truckloads
of sanitary towels from abroad for use by
unemployed and poor women.
Although the government refused to
waive duty, the ZCTU, looked
for US$7 000 ($700 million) to pay the duty for
the sanitary pads.
There are reports that women have been
using soft tree fibre,
newspapers and rags for sanitary purposes because
they could not afford the
sanitary towels.
Muchinguri
said following the publication of a story in The
Standard about the plight
of women, the government had visited several
companies that manufacture
sanitary pads to establish their capacities.
Companies that
were said to be manufacturing sanitary ware were
wheeled out and paraded
before the Press and invited guests.
"People should desist
from using women as guinea pigs to further
their political clout. The
products prices are quite reasonable and for ZCTU
to masquerade as the
saviours of Zimbabwean women in terms of providing
sanitary ware is rather
worrying and misleading."duty for the sanitary pads.
There
are reports that women have been using soft tree fibre,
newspapers and rags
for sanitary purposes because they can not afford the
sanitary
towels.
Muchinguri said following the publication of a story
in The
Standard about the plight of women, the government had visited
several
companies that manufacture sanitary pads to establish their
capacities.
Companies that were said to be manufacturing
sanitary ware were
wheeled out and paraded before the Press and invited
guests.
"People should desist from using women as guinea pigs
to further
their political clout. The products prices are quite reasonable
and for ZCTU
to masquerade as the saviours of Zimbabwean women in terms of
providing
sanitary ware is rather worrying and misleading."
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - THE National University of Science and
Technology
(NUST) has erected a security fence in order to bar students who
have not
paid new fees from attending lectures.
Disgruntled students say the fence is a throw back to the
apartheid era in
pre-democratic South Africa, when blacks were barred from
designated
areas.
University authorities have also pitched a huge tent
near the
security fence. The tent is used as a banking hall for students
settling
their outstanding fees before they can enter the
campus.
Paid up students are issued with new identity cards
that have to
be produced upon entering the security
fence.
NUST had given its students until 27 March to settle
the fees,
increased to $30 million up from $3 million a
semester.
Student Representative Council (SRC) president,
Beloved
Chiweshe, said the SRC was making frantic efforts to contest the
move by the
authorities in the courts.
"We are against
the barring of students from entering the campus
on the basis that they have
not paid their fees. It is a waste of resources.
We will confront that by
going to the courts because we cannot be denied
education," Chiweshe
said.
Chiweshe was on Tuesday, with 27 other students, hauled
before a
disciplinary hearing for protesting against the new fees and also
"unlawfully and intentionally.demonising and castigating the government and
the Vice Chancellor of NUST".
Contacted for comment, the
Director of Information and Public
Relations, Felix Moyo, defended the
"apartheid" fence saying "it is not
something new and the tent is designed
to provide a shade for the students."
Moyo said: "In fact, in
other universities world-wide, students
swipe their identity cards before
entering the campus. We pitched the tent
so that students can be protected
say if there is a blazing sun or if it's
raining."
However, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers'
Union of
Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe, urged NUST students to "bring down
these walls
and cut the fences of injustice".
He said: "It is a violation
of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948: Article 26) because it
says that everyone has a right to
education. The nature of creating zones as
if we are in the Ian Smith era is
a negation of fundamental human rights.
Students must confront that system,"
Majongwe said.
The
Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Stan Mudenge,
told Parliament
last Thursday that tertiary institutions should not deny
students access to
universities and colleges on the basis of having failed
to settle the newly
introduced tuition fees. His appeal seems to be falling
on deaf
ears.
Meanwhile authorities at the Harare Polytechnic
continue to bar
students who failed to top up their fees from eating at the
institution's
canteens.
Sources at the college last week
said the authorities have
however, stopped evicting students that have not
paid up their accommodation
fees.
But the college is not
accepting examination fees from students
who have not paid up their tuition
fees. Tuition fees were increased from
$2.7 million to $14.4 million more
than a month ago.
The suspended students' representative
leader, Stephen Matenga,
said: "As student leaders we applaud the
government's temporary reprieve.
But there is need for a permanent solution.
Fee increments must be realistic
and affordable. It must be sensitive to the
plight of parents who are
already languishing in
poverty."
College Principal, Steven Raza, declined to give
details. "I don't
want to talk to you people from The Standard because you
just write whatever
you want," he said before switching off his mobile
phone.signed to provide a
shade for the students".
Moyo
said: "In fact, in other universities world-wide, students
swipe their
identity cards before entering the campus. We pitched the tent
so that
students can be protected, say if there is a blazing sun or if it's
raining."
However, the secretary general of the
Progressive Teachers'
Union of Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe, urged NUST
students to "bring down
these walls and cut the fences of
injustice".
He said: "It is a violation of the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights (1948: Article 26) because it says that everyone
has a right to
education. The nature of creating zones as if we are in the
Ian Smith era is
a negation of fundamental human rights. Students must
confront that system,"
Majongwe said.
The Minister of
Higher and Tertiary Education, Stan Mudenge,
told Parliament last Thursday
that tertiary institutions should not deny
students access to universities
and colleges on the basis of having failed
to settle the newly introduced
tuition fees. His appeal seems to be falling
on deaf
ears.
Meanwhile authorities at the Harare Polytechnic
continue to bar
students who failed to top up their fees from eating at the
institution's
canteens.
Sources at the college last week
said the authorities have
however stopped evicting students that have not
paid up their new
accommodation fees.
But the college is
not accepting examination fees from students
who have not paid their new
tuition fees. Tuition fees were increased from
$2.7 million to $14.4 million
more than a month ago.
The suspended students' representative
leader, Stephen Matenga,
said: "As student leaders we applaud the
government's temporary reprieve.
But there is need for a permanent
solution."
College Principal, Steven Raza, declined to
comment.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
JUNIOR ranking
soldiers and police officers in camps in Harare
were on Friday commandeered
to the national shrine while stallholders at
Mbare Musika were ordered to go
to Stodart Hall to make up numbers at the
burial of President Robert
Mugabe's former aide-de-camp ,senior assistant
police commissioner Winston
Changara, The Standard can reveal.
Irate soldiers said they
were ordered to leave whatever they
were doing and troop to the National
Heroes' Acre.
Some of the soldiers said other officers were
told to go without
uniforms so as to create the impression that it was
actually members of the
public who had graced the national
event.
"I was preparing to go on an out of town journey, but
we were
told to go to Heroes' Acre. I tried to reason with my superiors, but
they
said my loyalty to the force would be questioned if I boycott the
burial of
a hero," said one junior soldier.
A cursory
glance by The Standard news crew on Friday observed
that uniformed officers
from the Zimbabwe National Army, the police and
Zimbabwe Prison Services
filled up the terraces at the national shrine.
There were very few people in
civilian attire.
However, army spokesperson, Colonel Simon
Tsatsi denied
commandeering soldiers to the Heroes' Acre.
"Masoja agara anongoenda ku Heroes'Acre each time panovigwa
gamba. We never
followed people at their homes to commandeer them to go to
Heroes' Acre. If
they were not on duty then what were they doing at the
barracks?" Tsatsi
asked.
Mbare Musika's retail section was shut down around
10AM and was
only re-opened later in the afternoon. However, the wholesale
section for
farmers was not seriously affected, as it closes at 1130AM
everyday.
Vendors and residents were bitter at the disruption
of their
activities. They said they were ordered to close the market or face
the
wrath of Chipangano, a notorious Zanu PF militia group based in the
high-density suburb.
"The security officers manning the
gates just told us to pack
our things and leave the market for Stodart. When
we asked what was
happening, they said they were working on instructions,"
said Rose Chipunza,
a stallholder at the retail section of the
market.
At the national shrine, President Mugabe threatened
to
ruthlessly crush the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)'s
planned mass demonstrations to oust him.
He said the MDC
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was digging his own
grave if he goes ahead with
the planned mass street protests.
As Mugabe was making the
threats, two police officers collapsed
after standing in the sun for hours
before the burial commenced.
His threats came less than a
month after Tsvangirai, who leads
the Anti-Senate MDC faction, said he would
lead demonstrations against the
82-year-old leader for running down the
country's economy and committing
gross human rights violations.
Zim Standard
BY GIBBS DUBE
HWANGE - Villagers in
Hwange District, Matabeleland North
Province, face starvation because most
of them consumed government-donated
maize seed.
The
villagers, desperate for food, ate the maize seed after the
rains
failed.
Villagers, government officials, relief agencies and
community
leaders told The Standard that a large number of people resorted
to eating
maize seed between August last year and February this year after
the Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) failed to deliver food
supplies.
"The majority of people used to rely on maize seed
which is
preserved with chemicals," said Joseph Change, the village head for
Change
area.
"They would boil the seed and mill it before
consuming it.
"We had several cases of people who were
admitted to various
clinics and hospitals after they were poisoned by
chemicals," he said.
As a result, he said, most villagers
failed to plant maize and
were in urgent need of food aid at a time when the
GMB has failed during the
past seven months to deliver grain to areas
desperate for food.
Change said:
"The
situation is worrying as most people are facing starvation.
We do not expect
any meaningful harvests in both communal and newly
resettled farms as most
people consumed their donated maize seed.
There is urgent
need for government intervention to ensure that
our people get
food.
"The majority of people last received maize from the
GMB between
May and July last year and this is the reason why they ate maize
seed. We
are facing a crisis in this area."
The Senator
for Hwange East, Grace Dube, also confirmed that
people consumed maize seed
when they failed to get maize from the GMB and as
a result were starving
because few villagers managed to plant crops.
Dube said:
"Villagers used to eat maize seed especially in
circumstances when they were
failing to access food supplies from the GMB.
There is
definitely a food crisis here although I am informed
that the government may
intervene soon to alleviate the situation by
providing
maize."
The maize seed was treated with chemicals such as
Captan,
Cruiser and Gaucho which, according to manufacturers, are harmful if
ingested by human beings.
Hwange East villagers - Focal
Constantine Liteta, Anna Kwidini,
Regina Zulu and Jennifer Dube -said the
majority of people were surviving on
a single meal a day, sourced from
non-governmental organisations.
Liteta said: "The situation
is bad as we cannot make ends meet.
We are surviving on meagre food supplies
from non-governmental
organisations.
We sometimes get at
least five kilogrammes of maize meal a month
and this is not enough to feed
our families that have ballooned due to the
AIDS menace.
"Although some primary school children are fed with porridge
sourced from
NGOs, their colleagues at secondary schools go to school on
empty
stomachs.
They only get one meal a day and this is
distressing for
youngsters who have to cope with the demands of school life
while struggling
to feed themselves."
A spokesman for one
of the relief agencies said:
"Government and NGOs should come
together to make a thorough
assessment of the food situation in this region
in order to ensure that
people get food supplies.
This
issue needs a collective approach as we are facing a food
disaster in Hwange
East."
The food crisis in Zimbabwe has been largely blamed on
the
government's skewed land reform and insufficient rains during the past
five
years.
Zim Standard
t
By our
correspondent
GWERU - A committee set up to raise funds for
the rehabilitation
and expansion of Gweru Provincial Hospital mortuary has
failed to start work
after Zanu PF officials objected to its composition,
The Standard has
learnt.
The Midlands Governor Cephas
Msipa, who was involved in setting
up the committee, decided that it was
prudent to co-opt Gweru mayor, Sesel
Zvidzayi, as chairperson of the
fund-raising committee, The Standard
understands.
However, some ruling party provincial officials, keen to portray
the project
seen as a Zanu PF initiative, decided it was improper to have a
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) member heading the committee. Zvidzayi
belongs to
Morgan Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC.
A government official
speaking on condition he was not
identified, said following the objections
by Zanu PF officials, the MDC
mayor was then made the deputy chairperson of
the committee while Gweru
businessperson, Enos Size was appointed the
chairperson of the committee.
However, the committee is still
to meet.
Asked for comment, the Midlands provincial medical
director,
Anderson Chimusoro, referred all questions to the Midlands
governor who was
not immediately available for comment
yesterday.
However, Zvidzayi told The Standard that he was
willing to
direct all his energies to the project despite disagreements over
his
involvement.
"Unfortunately I cannot say much
regarding the committee but I
want to emphasise that I am ready and willing
to work for the improvement of
the mortuary and on anything else that
benefits our residents," Zvidzayi
said.
The Gweru
provincial hospital mortuary has a capacity of 24
bodies but has over 60
bodies at any given time.
Zim Standard
BY
VALENTINE MAPONGA
MASVINGO - Massive power outages that are
currently being
experienced in the country have reduced most urban families
to living an
almost rural life and the residents are slowly adapting to the
situation.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)
early this year
announced that they were reintroducing power cuts in cities
and towns
lasting several hours on end because of an acute shortage of
electricity.
Everyday, it has become normal to see women and
children from
Harare's high-density suburbs carrying firewood from
neighbouring farms.
"There is nothing we can do. We just have
to use firewood," said
Sarah Makamba of Glen Norah. "Electricity is cut on a
daily basis and that
does not stop us from getting hungry. We still have to
cook and eat, the
living standards are always deteriorating,"she
said.
Paraffin, which has always been a ready substitute
source of
energy, is also not available as the country grapples with a
serious fuel
crisis.
Because of the regular power
outages, some residents complain
that they have had to throw away meat from
their refrigerators which had
gone bad after power cuts on several
occasions over the past few months.
"Although because of
rising prices, it makes sense to buy food
in bulk," said one Greendale
resident, "It is now extremely difficult
because it will go bad as most of
the time there is no electricity.
"These days you cannot
plan," lamented the man.
However, it is not everyone feeling
the pinch, The Standard
found.
Well-heeled residents are
buying generators for power
generation, in the event there are power
cuts.
They are, however, struggling to keep them running
because of
fuel shortages, which have worsened over the past three
years.
Other residents regularly raid
furniture-manufacturing
companies to buy sawdust, which they then burn as a
source of energy.
ZESA Holdings, through its subsidiary the
Zimbabwe Electricity
Distribution Company (ZEDC), released a load shedding
schedule for Harare
Region customers indicating that they will be without
electricity for up to
six hours each week.
"Customers
should treat the mains as being live during load
shedding periods as
supplies may be restored before expiry of the peak
period.
Customers should also note that in the event of
severe supply
deficiencies more severe load shedding may be warranted and
the above
programme may not necessarily be followed," warned ZEDC in a
statement
ZESA Holdings loss control manager, Philip Mhike,
last week
revealed that the company was losing about $5 billion a week due
to
vandalism and theft.
"We have acquired a lot of
equipment from China meant for
connecting new clients but we have failed to
do so because we have to
replace vandalised areas," Mhike
said.
He was speaking in Norton after the police had arrested
seven
people accused of stealing aluminium conductors. The thieves use the
conductors to make aluminium pots for export.
Zimbabwe
imports 40% of its power requirements from South Africa's
Eskom,
Mozambique's HCB and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)'s
Snel.
Electricity is only one item on a long list of key
commodities
in critically short supply as the country grapples its worst
ever economic
crisis.
Food, fuel, essential medical
drugs, chemicals to treat drinking
water for urban residents and nearly
every other basic survival commodity is
in short supply because there is no
hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.
Zim Standard
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUTARE - Esau
Mupfumi, the Zanu PF central committee member and
transport tycoon, who fell
victim to the government's anti-corruption
crusade, has resigned from the
commission appointed by the government to run
the eastern border
city.
In a letter to the Minister of Local Government, Public
Works
and Urban Development, Ignatious Chombo, Mupfumi said he had resigned
from
the commission because he has a pending criminal case against
him.
He is alleged to have defrauded the National Oil Company
of
Zimbabwe (Noczim) of 15 000 litres of diesel.
The
businessman was remanded in custody to next month when he
appeared before a
regional magistrate, Hosia Mujaya last week.
Two other top
Zanu PF officials from the city have also fallen
prey to the anti-corruption
blitz.
Mupfumi said it was immoral for him to remain in
public office
while still facing criminal charges.
Mupfumi was appointed in January as deputy chairman responsible
for
finance.
He said the decision to resign from the commission
should not be
misconstrued to mean that he was guilty of the charges he was
facing but
merely wanted to be excused until the case has been
finalised.
The Standard saw a copy of the resignation
letter.
There was no immediate comment from Chombo but an
official from
the office of the Manicaland provincial governor
confirmed
Mupfumi's resignation which he said had been
accepted.
Mupfumi's resignation letter was also copied to
Tinaye Chigudu,
the provincial governor.
"Yes I can
confirm that Mupfumi has resigned and we have
accepted his decision which
was very personal," said the senior official
from the governor's
office.
The latest development further throws the commission
into
disarray after Chombo abruptly dismissed new commissioners he had
appointed
three days earlier and demoted the commission chairman, Kenneth
Saruchera,
to being a deputy responsible for public works.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - Accommodation rentals in Bulawayo have this
month
shot up by more than 233% following an increase in tariff rates by the
Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZEDC), a subsidiary of the
Zimbabwe Electricity Power Authority (ZESA).
ZEDC
increased its tariff rates by 450% to be effected quarterly
this year in a
bid to cover its operational costs running into trillions of
dollars.
ZEDC is this month expected to increase
electricity charges by
95%. Other increases will be effected in June,
September and December.
As a result of the tariff increases,
rentals in Bulawayo's
high-density areas have shot up by between $2 million
and $3 million a room
up from about between $600 000 and $800
000.
In the low-density suburbs, estate agents say they have
increased their rentals to between $15 and $40 million. Property owners were
charging tenants rents ranging from $10 to $30 million a month before this
month's increases.
However, the rentals are expected to
go up again soon as local
authorities have been given the green light by the
Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and Urban Development, Ignatious
Chombo, to charge
market rates in a bid to effectively provide essential
services.
Bulawayo Residents Association chairman, Winos
Dube, said the
rent increases were symptoms of an ailing
economy.
"This really expresses the difficult economic
situation in the
country and we sympathise with everyone.
This is a serious national crisis and we can only plead with the
higher
authorities to solve the crisis as the majority of workers are really
suffering," Dube said.
The increase in rentals come at a
time when workers are
grappling with transport costs which now run into
millions of dollars every
month following hikes in commuter fares coupled
with the ever-rising prices
of basic commodities.
The
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) says a family now needs
close to $28
million a month to cater for its needs.
There are concerns
that the ZEDC would still incur huge loses
running into trillions of dollars
since the tariff increases are regarded as
low because the parastatal is
saddled with huge debts.
ZEDC is facing viability problems, a
situation that has seen the
organisation failing to purchase critical
equipment and spare parts.
Zim Standard
By DAVISON MARUZIVA
ZIMBABWEAN
government ministers and ruling party officials on
the US sanctions travel
list have been able to exploit international
conventions to travel to
Washington and New York regularly, The Standard can
reveal.
In a recent interview, the US Ambassador to
Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell, said while individuals on the sanctions are not
allowed to
travel to the US for personal reasons, under what are known as
host country
treaties, or host country memorandum, a government which hosts
an
international organisation on its territory such as the United Nations in
New York or the International Monetary Fund in Washington is obliged to
allow individuals and government officials from other member countries to
travel to the US for official business with those institutions regardless of
the state of political relations between the US and that
country.
"So, for example," explained Ambassador Dell, "Fidel
Castro in
the past regularly attended the UN General Assembly much as
President Robert
Mugabe regularly attends the UN General
Assembly.
Even though we would not give either of those
individuals a visa
for personal travel, we are obligated to do so as the
host country of the
United Nations."
The Minister of
Finance Dr Herbert Murerwa and the Governor of
the Reserve Bank, Dr Gideon
Gono, were in Washington last month for IMF
Board meetings even though both
appear on the US travel sanctions list for
undermining democratic processes
in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe has exploited the same loophole in both
the US and
European Union travel sanctions to attend United Nations
conferences in New
York and the Food and Agriculture Organisation meetings
in Rome, Italy.
Mugabe, his government ministers and ruling
party officials are
part of nearly 130 people and 33 entities, their
immediate family members
and any other persons assisting them who appear on
the US economic and
travel sanctions list.
But Ambassador
Dell said:
"What I can tell you is that there have been
numerous cases in
which senior officials and members of their families have
been denied visas.
As a general policy we do not disclose
information about visa
issuances or about visa denials.
"While the list of individuals who are subject to financial
sanctions is
public, we do not publish the list of people who have been put
on travel
restrictions.
Those individuals are however, informed by a
personal letter
that they are not welcome to travel to the United
States.
"So what I can tell you is that there have been
numerous cases
of ministers, senior party officials and their spouses, who
have been turned
down for their request to travel to the United States for
things like family
weddings or to travel to attend their children's
graduation at university."
He said that in certain cases the
travel restrictions extended
to the children of these and family
members.
"We have recently added to the various lists of
sanctioned
individuals.
These have been expanded over
time and in more recent times we
have added to that list, the children of
individuals who are on the
sanctions list.
"However, as
long as those children are already in the United
States, they are not going
to be forced to leave the United States and be
deported but should they
leave and re-apply for a new student visa there is
likelihood they will not
get that visa."
Zim Standard
By
Deborah-Fay Ndlovu
THE Ministry of Finance is drafting a
$50 trillion supplementary
budget after line ministries ran out of funding,
Standardbusiness has
learnt.
Finance Permanent Secretary
Willard Manungo denied the
development saying while government appreciates
the impact of inflation on
ministries' budget, it still expected them to
live within their means.
"We appreciate that that when
inflation goes up, ministries are
under pressure. The challenge now is to
get it down but we are saying let us
stick to the 2006 Budget," Manungo
said.
But an official from his Ministry said on Friday the
supplementary Budget had been pegged for June and has been under draft since
January. The official said of priority would be "security"
ministries.
"The matter is going through Parliament and the
document has
been under draft since January. When drafting began it had been
decided that
it would mostly be for security ministries like that of Defence
and Security
but the other ministries are broke and have been factored in,"
said the
official.
"The thing is the money that was
allocated for the 2006 national
Budget was not enough and with inflation
shooting to 782 % it is now another
story," he said.
Standardbusiness understands the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs had its cheque dishonoured at a local bank last week
causing some embarrassment for the government.
The
Ministry of Finance has been forced to eat its words after
inflation
skyrocketed to unforeseen levels. Last year, the government
boasted that
there would be no supplementary Budget and had drafted the 2006
Budget when
inflation was forecast to hit an average of 200 % by year-end
last
year.
It has since hit 782% and continues to rise because of
pressure
driven by food costs. Forecasts are that figures will go down in
the second
quarter but analysts believe the decrease will not be significant
because of
the increase in money supply growth.
The
inflation pressure has hit line ministries hard and
government has also been
forced to increase fees for services, such as
passports, as a cost recovery
measure.
"The supplementary Budget is not desirable really
but has forced
by the situation. Fees for most ministries have been
increased and there
will be periodic reviews to bring them closer to
inflation. When inflation
goes up it would be necessary to adjust fees
upwards," the official said.
Most ministries reviewed their fees in the last
month to hedge against
inflation.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
MINES and Mining Development Minister, Amos Midzi
might be
forced to swallow his words after government announced that there
will be no
radical review to the Mines and Minerals Act, Standardbusiness
has
established.
Midzi's announcement caused panic among
investors, angered his
counterparts in government and is believed to be the
reason why the
International Monetary Fund refused to give Zimbabwe
financial assistance.
The proposed amendments, stating that
government would get
non-contributory 25 % equity on the promulgation of the
Bill into law and
the nationalised stake would be increased to 51 % within
five years, also
sparked warnings of closures from the Chamber of
Mines
But government is seeking to sweep the dirt created by
Midzi
with President Mugabe reportedly having met Zimplats to assure them
that
Mine Minister's proposals would not be carried out.
Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba told Standardbusiness
last week
that the contested amendments 'do not exist' but confirmed that
there were
discussions at cabinet level that could change ownership in the
country's
mining concerns. Charamba said that the changes would cut across
all sectors
of industry.
"The referred amendments to the Mining Act do
not exist. There
is no Act ... just discussions which have not been approved
by cabinet. The
discussions are still at a formative stage. Its an
empowerment programme
that will cut across all sectors starting with mining
and what is being
discussed is very far from what is being said right now,"
Charamba said.
Midzi's camp could further be threatened after
Charamba added
that changes in ownership would be done using a "market
friendly approach".
"It would be wrong that indigenous people
are by-standers with
concerns to resources mined in the country.
Indigenisation can be done at
three levels, which could be government acting
on behalf of people, people
with means buying or Zimbabweans combined to
form consortiums to acquire
stakes in foreign owned
concerns.
"What is being done is all in the context of
markets, based on
negotiations and understanding and agreements. There will
be a market
friendly approach to the empowerment program and there is
nothing for free
in a market," he said.
He said the
President had met Zimplats where he assured them
that what was happening is
in line "with what is happening in the region.
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
COAL producer Hwange Colliery Company Ltd (HCCL)
says it is
expecting a consignment of US$33 million equipment for its
expansion project
next month.
The equipment is for the
underground mine (US$20 million), open
cast mine (US$10 million) and coal
fines projects (US$3 million).
Godfrey Dzinomwa, HCC MD told
Standardbusiness last week the
coal producer had made some payment and was
expecting the equipment by the
middle of June. Dzinomwa said the coal
producer was expecting drills from
Europe and earthmoving equipment, water
bowsers and haulage trucks from
Asia.
He could not be
drawn into revealing the sources of suppliers
though sources told
Standarbusiness that the drill would come from a
Scandinavian country,
possibly Sweden, and other equipment from China. The
drills, earthmoving
equipment will be used for the open cast mine, Dzinomwa
says.
The HCCL boss said a consignment of mining
equipment and a
conveyor belt had been ordered for the underground mine
while the coal
producer has made a down payment for equipment to be used at
the coal fine
spiral plant.
Dzinomwa said the expansion
programme would result in increased
output in coke and coal to meet growing
demand. In the financial year ended
31 December 2005, HCCL recorded a
decline in coal exports compared to the
previous year. Coal exports at 39
067 tonnes was 60 447 tonnes less than the
previous year. However coke
exports for the year at 105 927 tonnes were 40%
above the sales achieved in
the previous year.
Dzinomwa said exports to China North
Industries Corporation
(NORINCO)'s smelter in the Democratic Republic of
Congo were raking in
US$150 000 and the coal miner was optimistic that the
exports revenue would
grow to $500 000 by the end of the year. HCCL exports
coke and coal DRC.
In its financial year ended 31 December
2005 results, HCCL
recorded a profit after tax of $264.5 billion from $49.9
billion in the
previous year.
The mining concern said it
was not declaring dividend citing the
need for money to fund the company's
recapitalization programme.
Zim Standard
By Thayer Watson
UNDER Tito,
Yugoslavia ran a budget deficit that was financed by
printing money. This
led to a rate of inflation of 15 to 25 percent per
year. After Tito, the
Communist Party pursued progressively more irrational
economic
policies.
These policies and the breakup of Yugoslavia
(Yugoslavia now
consists of only Serbia and Montenegro) led to heavier
reliance upon
printing or otherwise creating money to finance the operation
of the
government and the socialist economy. This created
hyperinflation.
By the early 1990s the government used up all
of its own hard
currency reserves and proceeded to loot the hard currency
savings of private
citizens. It did this by imposing more and more difficult
restrictions on
private citizens' access to their hard currency savings in
government banks.
The government operated a network of stores
at which goods were
supposed to be available at artificially low prices. In
practice these
stores seldom had anything to sell and goods were only
available at free
markets where the prices were far above the official
prices that goods were
supposed to sell at in government
stores.
All of the government gasoline stations eventually
closed down
and gasoline was available only from roadside dealers whose
operation
consisted of a car parked with a plastic can of gasoline sitting
on the
hood. The market price was the equivalent of US$8 for four litre.
Most car
owners gave up driving and relied upon public transportation. But
the
Belgrade transit authority (GSP) did not have the funds necessary for
keeping its fleet of 1 200 buses operating. Instead it ran fewer than 500
buses. These buses were overcrowded and the ticket collectors could not get
aboard to collect fares. Thus GSP could not collect fares even though it was
desperately short of funds.
Delivery trucks, ambulances,
fire trucks and garbage trucks were
also short of fuel. The government
announced that gasoline would not be sold
to farmers for fall harvests and
planting.
Despite the government's desperate printing of
money it still
did not have the funds to keep the infrastructure in
operation. Pot holes
developed in the streets, elevators stopped
functioning, and construction
projects were closed down. The unemployment
rate exceeded 30%.
The government tried to counter the
inflation by imposing price
controls. But when inflation continued, the
government price controls made
the price producers were getting so
ridiculously low that they simply
stopped producing. In October of 1993 the
bakers stopped making bread and
Belgrade was without bread for a week. The
slaughter houses refused to sell
meat to the State stores and this meant
meat became unvailable for many
sectors of the population. Other stores
closed down for inventory rather
than sell their goods at the government
mandated prices. When farmers
refused to sell to the government at the
artificially low prices the
government dictated, government irrationally
used hard currency to buy food
from foreign sources rather than remove the
price controls. The Ministry of
Agriculture also risked creating a famine by
selling farmers only 30% of the
fuel they needed for planting and
harvesting.
Later the government tried to curb inflation by
requiring stores
to file paperwork every time they raised a price. This
meant that many store
employees had to devote their time to filling out
these government forms.
Instead of curbing inflation this policy actually
increased inflation
because the stores tended to increase prices by larger
increments so they
would not have file forms for another price increase so
soon.
In October of 1993 they created a new currency unit.
One new
dinar was worth one million of the "old" dinars. In effect, the
government
simply removed six zeroes from the paper money. This, of course,
did not
stop the inflation.
In November of 1993 the
government postponed turning on the heat
in the State apartment buildings in
which most of the population lived. The
residents reacted to this by using
electrical space heaters which were
inefficient and overloaded the
electrical system. The government power
company then had to order blackouts
to conserve electricity.
In a large psychiatric hospital 87
patients died in November of
1994. The hospital had no heat, there was no
food or medicine and the
patients were wandering around
naked.
Between 1 October , 1993 and 24 January, 1995 prices
increased
by 5 quadrillion percent. This number is a 5 with 15 zeroes after
it. The
social structure began to collapse. Thieves robbed hospitals and
clinics of
scarce pharmaceuticals and then sold them in front of the same
places they
robbed. The railway workers went on strike and closed down
Yugoslavia's rail
system.
The government set the
level of pensions. The pensions were to
be paid at the post office but the
government did not give the post offices
enough funds to pay these pensions.
The pensioners lined up in long queues
outside the post office. When the
post office ran out of State funds to pay
the pensions the employees would
pay the next pensioner in line whatever
money they received when someone
came in to mail a letter or package. With
inflation being what it was, the
value of the pension would decrease
drastically if the pensioners went home
and came back the next day. So they
waited in line knowing that the value of
their pension payment was
decreasing with each minute they had to
wait.
Many Yugoslavian businesses refused to take the
Yugoslavian
currency, and the German Deutsche Mark effectively became the
currency of
Yugoslavia. But government organizations, government employees
and
pensioners still got paid in Yugoslavian dinars so there was still an
active
exchange in dinars. On November 12, 1993 the exchange rate was 1 DM =
1
million new dinars. Thirteen days later the exchange rate was 1 DM = 6.5
million new dinars and by the end of November it was 1 DM = 37 million new
dinars.
At the beginning of December the bus workers went
on strike
because their pay for two weeks was equivalent to only 4 DM when
it cost a
family of four 230 DM per month to live. By December 11th the
exchange rate
was 1 DM = 800 million and on December 15th it was 1 DM = 3.7
billion new
dinars. The average daily rate of inflation was nearly 100
percent. When
farmers selling in the free markets refused to sell food for
Yugoslavian
dinars the government closed down the free markets. On December
29 the
exchange rate was 1 DM = 950 billion new dinars.
About this time there occurred a tragic incident. As usual,
pensioners were
waiting in line. Someone passed by the line carrying bags of
groceries from
the free market. Two pensioners got so upset at their
situation and the
sight of someone else with groceries that they had heart
attacks and died
right there.
At the end of December the exchange rate was 1
DM = 3 trillion
dinars and on January 4, 1994 it was 1 DM = 6 trillion
dinars. On January
6th the government declared that the German Deutsche was
an official
currency of Yugoslavia. About this time the government announced
a NEW "new"
Dinar which was equal to 1 billion of the old "new" dinars. This
meant that
the exchange rate was 1 DM = 6,000 new new Dinars. By January 11
the
exchange rate had reached a level of 1 DM = 80,000 new new Dinars. On
January 13th the rate was 1 DM = 700,000 new new Dinars and six days later
it was 1 DM = 10 million new new Dinars.
The telephone
bills for the government operated phone system
were collected by the
postmen. People postponed paying these bills as much
as possible and
inflation reduced their real value to next to nothing. One
postman found
that after trying to collect on 780 phone bills he got nothing
so the next
day he stayed home and paid all of the phone bills himself for
the
equivalent of a few American pennies.
Here is another
illustration of the irrationality of the
government's policies: James Lyon,
a journalist, made twenty hours of
international telephone calls from
Belgrade in December of 1993. The bill
for these calls was 1000 new new
dinars and it arrived on January 11th. At
the exchange rate for January 11th
of 1 DM = 150,000 dinars it would have
cost less than one German pfennig to
pay the bill. But the bill was not due
until January 17th and by that time
the exchange rate reached 1 DM = 30
million dinars. Yet the free market
value of those twenty hours of
international telephone calls was about
$5,000. So despite being strapped
for hard currency, the government gave
James Lyon $5,000 worth of phone
calls essentially for
nothing.
It was against the law to refuse to accept personal
checks. Some
people wrote personal checks knowing that in the few days it
took for the
checks to clear, inflation would wipe out as much as 90 percent
of the cost
of covering those checks.
On January 24, 1994
the government introduced the "super" Dinar
equal to 10 million of the new
new Dinars. The Yugoslav government's
official position was that the
hyperinflation occurred "because of the
unjustly implemented sanctions
against the Serbian people and state."
Zim Standard
Comment
The government never learns. Two months ago
it moved to stop
supply of fuel to A2 farmers because of rampant abuse as
the commodity was
diverted to the parallel market instead of agricultural
activities.
Last week in an about-turn, it announced a $3.25
trillion
package for this year's winter wheat crop.
This
is the problem of the government being an interested party.
The nation is being persuaded to believe that beneficiaries of
this new
package are not the same people who diverted the subsidised fuel
meant for
farm production to the parallel market.
In fact, the people
responsible for the current food shortages
are being
rewarded!
The reason why the government lacks resolve is
because ministers
and government officials are the main beneficiaries of its
handouts.
They will now be lining up to abuse the latest
facility for
winter wheat production.
Ever the masters at
cunning, the scheme is being presented as
critical because Zimbabwe faces a
shortfall in wheat production while
planting of the crop is
imminent.
The idea is to thwart any attempt at criticising
the decision.
This is deliberate.
If the
government has only just realised that winter wheat
planting is a few weeks
away, then we are in big trouble.
It simply proves that for
the past six years they have learnt
absolutely nothing about planning and
the country will be forced to go onto
the international market to buy wheat,
when it does not have the foreign
exchange to do so.
There will be bread shortages.
We have had too much of this
management by crisis.
Zimbabwe has in recent years lurched
from one agricultural
production crisis to another with no end in
sight.
Last year the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Agriculture
presented its findings, following countrywide
consultations.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion By Masimba Nyamanhindi
STUDENTS play crucial and decisive roles in the political and
socio-economic
issues in their respective societies.
This is especially so
because institutions of higher learning
provide a platform for students to
form competent organised centres of
opinion, which opinions normally reflect
the state of affairs of a given
society.
In societies
that experience political, social and economic
injustices, more often than
not, students have been at the forefront of
demanding social, economic and
political justice.
History shows that students have indeed
lived up to their
billing - voice of the voiceless - and have acted as
catalysts for change.
Zimbabwe is no
different.
The Zimbabwean society has always been beset by
morally
incompetent leadership that uses coercion as a form of
governance.
Before independence, Zimbabwe was a country
bedevilled by
political and economic injustices where all forms of racial
discrimination
were operational.
But students did not
just watch when the country was burning;
they echoed the demands of a
downtrodden nation, that is, restoration of
people's fundamental liberties
and freedoms.
Many a times, the consequences of their actions
were fatal,
often leaving in their wake a trail of dead or injured student
activists.
Some were expelled. Zimbabweans recall the
expulsion of the
late Witness Mangwende, Simba Makoni and the late prolific
writer Dambudzo
Marechera after leading the famous "pots and pans"
demonstration.
As Zimbabweans were imbued with the euphoria
of independence,
signs that Zimbabwe would be a failed nation were becoming
apparent.
Soon after independence, the country got embroiled
in a bloody
civil war that claimed the lives of scores of thousands of
innocent
civilians in the Matabeleland and the Midlands
region.
This was genocide in which more than 20 000
civilians perished
in that dark era of Zimbabwean
history.
Unfortunately, students and Zimbabweans from the
other side of
the road were silent at a time when an inferno was engulfing
Matabeleland
and the Midlands.
Be that as it may, when it
was becoming increasingly clear that
the political leadership in Zimbabwe
was driven by selfish agendas more than
anything else, students in Zimbabwe
broke their silence.
They were at the forefront of speaking
out against corruption, a
cancerous canker that has continued to eat into
the social fabric of the
Zimbabwean society.
Since that
time corruption has remained deeply endemic within
Zimbabwe's
society.
Students condemned the high profile Willowgate
Scandal.
As students clamoured for transparency from the
government,
journalists and musicians joined in the fray.
Thomas Mukanya Mapfumo, a renowned protest musician released a
blockbuster,
titled Corruption - a song that condemned corruption.
Student
leaders who led the sentiments against corruption were
brutalised and
suspended.
The then President of the University of Zimbabwe
students'
union, Arthur Mutambara, wrote his examinations from the
cells.
He is now trying to lead
Zimbabweans.
The deliberate and systematic attack on the
liberties and
freedoms of students' activists in Zimbabwe has continued,
unabated and if
left unchecked could be a cocktail for
disaster.
During the last two weeks alone, we have witnessed
the
suspension and expulsion of 37 students at the country's institutions of
higher learning.
The University of Zimbabwe has expelled
four student leaders.
The National University of Science and
Technology has suspended
29 student activists and Masvingo Polytechnic has
expelled one student
leader.
Since 2000, the Students
Solidarity Trust has documented at
least 100 cases of victimisation of
student activists, which include
suspensions and
expulsions.
At a time when the education sector is going
through a turbulent
crisis, universities and colleges were thrown into
disarray when the
government unilaterally increased tuition and
accommodation fees for
students.
The increment was so
sudden and exorbitant that it threatens the
capacity of ordinary students to
attain tertiary education.
Yet every child has a right to
attain decent education so that
they can have the opportunity to earn a
decent living and escape from the
vicious clutches of
poverty.
There is now a real danger that the majority of
students will
fail to attain tertiary education.
Harare
Polytechnic has turned away thousands of students and
NUST has given
students up until next week to pay up the fees or risk being
expelled.
While students en masse are faced with
expulsions, the
systematic victimisation of those brave students fighting
the increments has
reached alarming and unprecedented
levels.
President Robert Mugabe's regime continues to
outflank the Ian
Smith regime in almost every aspect of
oppression.
It seems oppression is the only industry that is
growing in
Zimbabwe.
Until all these ills are removed and
true democratic order is
restored, Zimbabwe's independence will forever
remain hollow and meaningless
Zim Standard
End of an
era
DEATH does indeed diminish us all. The death of
"Murehwa"
James Dambaza Chikerema, at a ripe old age of 81, was of course,
inevitable.
Inevitable because death, like the taxman, will
one day pay each
and all of us a visit.
What is saddening
about the passing away of such a great
Zimbabwean as the late Chikerema, is
that - if everything was equal - there
were perhaps very few people who
deserve to lie at the National Heroes' Acre
than Murehwa.
This man was a colossus of the liberation struggle.
Some of
us who were toddlers when the townships were burning
in the early 1960s
still recall the stories told to us by our fathers and
uncles of the heroics
of the likes of James Chikerema, George Nyandoro,
Joshua Nkomo, Enos Nkala
and many others.
Ok, if the truth be told, some of the
legendary heroics of
people like Chikerema were unfortunately during times
of internecine
violence, when black brother attacked black brother because
one "belonged"
to Zapu while the other was Zanu.
But
Chikerema - Nkomo et al - had made their names even before
they became the
faces of the liberation struggle at a time when being
associated with the
struggle for black majority rule was almost a death
wish.
The white settler regime in power in the 1960s - led by Ian
Douglas Smith
-was vicious.
Its favourite pastime was to hang black
nationalists as some
people enjoy swatting houseflies. It took extra
courage to confront the
regime.
Chikerema was such a man
and there were even songs sung in the
townships of his exploits, and of
course, those of other nationalists such
as Nkomo and the late Samuel
Parirenyatwa.
Woody got to know Chikerema more intimately in
the late 1980s.
Chiki, as we called him, and I became part of
tight group of
influential Zimbabweans that would gather every night - come
hail or high
water - in the late Herbert "HMD" Munangatire's offices at
Lonrho head
office to discuss any subject on earth, while copious amounts of
intoxicating liquids (through HMD and Tiny Rowland's largesse)
flowed.
The air in that office would be rich with chatter
and the
aromatic fumes of Chiki's pipe, mingled with those of HMD's
expensive cigars
(legend is that HMD so loved a particular brand of Cuban
cigars that at one
time a messenger used to be flown once a week to collect
them from
Johannesburg!).
Inevitably the subject would
turn to the man at State House.
Chiki was closely related to
President Robert Mugabe and they
grew up together as youths at Kutama. He
also went to Saint Francis Xavier
College, better known as Kutama College,
as did Mugabe, HMD, his late young
brother Charles Chikerema and of course,
Woody.
According to Chiki, and he was never one to mince
words, the
Chikeremas and Mugabe had a love-hate
relationship.
While the Chikeremas and the Mugabes
participated closely in any
rituals associated with their kinship at their
rural Zvimba homes, they
(especially James) were vehemently opposed to each
other's politics.
Not a day (or night) would pass without
Chikerema lambasting one
government policy after another.
And whenever the subject came as to who deserved to be at the
National
Heroes' Acre, Chiki always vowed that he did not want to be buried
at the
national shrine because it had been politicised and - in his words -
housed
some people with lots of blood on their hands.
If it is
indeed true that the Zanu PF Politburo chose to honour
Chikerema's wishes by
not burying him at the National Heroes' Acre and there
were no ulterior
motives such as his well-known criticism of Mugabe, then
Murehwa finally
scored a blinder against his kin.
But then, when did the
Zanu PF officials ever listen to people's
wishes when it concerns who is
buried at the Heroes' Acre?
Didn't we hear that the late
Chief Rekayi Tangwena also
expressed similar wishes?
Some
even say even "Umdala Wethu" did not want to be buried at
the national
shrine but his final wishes were overruled.
Where-ever he is
buried, history will judge Chikerema on his
virtues and his
failures.
His failures might include his ill-fated flirtation
with the
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia politics of Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Ian
Smith.
But nothing will obliterate the enormous contribution
to the
Zimbabwean struggle that Murehwa made.
And if
that alone was the yardstick used to measure who really
deserves to be
buried at the National Heroes' Acre, James Chikerema would
lie forever at
the highest hill at the national shrine.
Zimbos
mourn
WOODY was in the Queen's land the other day just to
sample what
the international sanctions are denying us, and also wine and
dine with the
folks in Harare North.
While local
businessmen here are mourning at the Chinese
invasion that has seen Indians
being pushed off from their traditional
sections of the city (because the
Chinese are paying outrageous rentals) and
companies crying because of the
influx of cheap Chinese products, Zimbos in
London are unhappy with the
sudden increase of Eastern Europeans in "their
UK".
Some
Zimbabweans Woody met accused the Russians, Latvians,
Yugoslavs, Polish and
other Eastern Europeans who have taken advantage of
the relaxation of travel
regimes in Europe to invade the United Kingdom, of
stealing their menial
jobs.
Many highly educated Zimbabweans who fled Sir Robert's
kingdom
to take menial jobs in London bars, hotels, hospitals and homes say
most of
their jobs have been stolen by East Europeans who are content with
low pay.
Because many of the East European girls are blonds,
they have
automatically taken most of the jobs in the bars - especially
serving at the
counter - because they look more inviting than the ordinary
looking
Nyamuziwa from Chivi.
It never rains, does
it!
Zim Standard
By Webster Zambara
FOR long the human
rights situation in Zimbabwe has been a
topical issue. But recent human
rights violations had no precedence other
than the deliberately sidelined
issue of the massacre in Matabeleland and
parts of the Midlands during the
first decade of independence.
The establishment of the
Zimbabwe Human Commission, though late,
could be the only good thing to
happen in the year we are celebrating our
Independence Silver Jubilee. I say
so because so much happened in the year
April 2005 - April
2006.
Of all the ills we witnessed in the year, the worst is
arguably
the highest inflation rate on earth, continual shortages of basic
necessities and foreign currency, a collapsed health delivery system, rising
unemployment and deepening poverty, and our own man-made tsunami, "Operation
Murambatsvina".
Nevertheless, even amid man-made
disasters, God showed his mercy
by giving us rains in abundance, but we
could not grow enough to feed
ourselves. We are expecting about 700 000
tonnes of grain when we need
1.8million, and we are expecting to sell only
50 million tonnes of tobacco
when in 2000 we sold 270
million.
It was therefore no surprise that at the most recent
meeting of
the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in Banjul,
Gambia in
December 2005, the government failed to defend itself as one of
the chief
perpetrators of human rights violations on the continent. This is
the
background to the recent announcement by Minister Patrick Chinamasa that
the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission is to be instituted,
urgently.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the United Nations
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, among other instruments of the world
body.
These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the
International Covenant on the Elimination of all forms of Racial
Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Continentally, Zimbabwe is a party to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights, among others.
It is important to note
that the average Zimbabwean has little
knowledge of these Charters or of the
human rights their government has
pledged to promote and
protect.
here are three basic ways through which the
state's obligation
can be put to test. One is that the State gives periodic
reports on the
state of human rights in the country. The other one is that
the treaty body
periodically carries out missions to promote or investigate
human rights
issues, but only with the consent of the host country. The
third one is that
complaints can be filed directly by individuals, or groups
of individuals to
the bodies concerned. A contextual analysis of our
situation is that the
first option, which is supposed to be done through the
office of the
Ombudsman, is almost non-existent.
How many
reports have we seen, and how recent are they? In any
case, how many people
know where the offices of Beatrice Chanetsa, the
current Ombudsman, are
located? In fact, the former governor for Mashonaland
West Province's name
comes quicker than hers when she holds a national
public
office.
The second one; where investigations are carried out,
quickly
reminds us of the recent visits by two UN envoys, Anna Kajumulo
Tibaijuka
and Jan Egeland. The rest, as they say, is
history.
t is the third one, where individuals can file
complaints
directly to these august bodies that prompted Chinamasa to set up
the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, for the reason earlier stated. The
State
media said government's opponents have over the past few years
relentlessly
waged a campaign to project Zimbabwe as a violator of human
rights. Civic
bodies and Western governments, they argued, orchestrated
these allegations.
This is a very familiar argument in Zimbabwe though very
shallow.
Chinamasa, himself a former lawyer for a civic body
in 1974 (the
Catholic Justice Commission for the Rhodesia Catholic Bishops'
Conference,
now Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Zimbabwe) should
not establish
this very important commission along such thinking. It will
negate the very
purpose for its establishment.
In fact,
the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission will derive its
strength and relevance
more from what it is not, rather than what it is. It
should not be an
institution set up to hoodwink the local and international
community into
believing that human rights issues are being adequately dealt
with in
Zimbabwe.
It should not be an institution presided by
government
appendages whose role will be to please their master. It should
not be a
monster put up to harangue NGOs involved in human rights work in
Zimbabwe. I
say this because we do not have a tradition of independent
institutions in
Zimbabwe.
In South Africa they call them
Chapter 9 institutions, following
their Constitution. Such institutions
receive government funding but work
totally independent of government
influence when dealing with excesses.
uman rights issues
are serious business because they affect
every facet of life - from an HIV
infected person who can't access ARVs, to
the university student who can't
raise fees, to the one denied food because
she doesn't have a party card, to
the resettled farmer who can't get inputs
because she is not well connected,
to the teacher who is earning below the
poverty datum line, and to the
millions facing economic hardships because of
unemployment.
I was elated when I heard that the
Commission will have the
mandate to receive, investigate and redress any
complaints relating to human
rights. I have every reason to, because it is
not so much the hatreds, the
fears, and the brutalities, which are the
social evils of our country. It is
the ignorance and deliberate denial of
the truth. Even on the rule of law,
the argument that "we have the law, and
therefore the law is just" has since
reached its use-by
date.
Colleagues in the civil society are already calling for
this
commission to be relevant. The commission will start with a huge
backlog if
it is to live up to its mandate stated above. Non-governmental
Organisations
cannot change the world on their own. They can identify
problems and what
needs to be done about them. Governments are the ones who
must make changes.
They are the ones who have the power to change laws, and
ensure that they
are implemented.
The creation of a just
and peaceful society involves not just
bringing to each and every person in
the country his or her social,
economic, political and cultural rights but
also of their "right" to expect
the government to provide the environment in
which to realise these basic
rights. With this in mind, another Zimbabwe is
possible.
Readiness to embrace democracy still a
challenge
IT is my opinion that we have a very serious crisis in
Zimbabwe.
And I think its therefore necessary for us to try and determine
what has led
us to the situation we find ourselves in and hopefully try to
see what we
can do as individuals as well as collectively to get ourselves
out of this
crisis.
Over 30 years ago Ian Smith, was
asked at a Press conference why
he was not conceding to the demands of the
nationalists who were then waging
a war of liberation when what was then
known as qualified or limited
franchise was accorded some black people. He
answered: "You people from
Europe, romanticise the black people. You do not
know them; we live with
them and we know them better. Democracy as an
institution, is foreign to the
Africans. It came here with the white people
and we are still in the process
of educating the blacks on its merits. And
it is a process which will take
some time.
"What they
know, that is the majority of the them, is that a
chief is a chief, he does
not have to be voted in or out of power. Now it is
not good to give these
people something they do not understand because it
can quite easily be
abused by the unscrupulous few at the expense of the
vast
majority."
He said something to that effect and I recall
feeling indignant
and coming to the conclusion that Smith was saying that
simply as an excuse
to justify his desire to cling onto power and protectthe
privileged position
whites occupied in Rhodesia.
I was
convinced his observations were typical of a racist who
believed his race
superior and blacks inferior. I never tried to examine
what he had said
objectively.
I guess then and perhaps even today, Smith's
observations only
confirmed what we had been telling each other, that he
despised black people
and therefore was an enemy of the blacks who must be
fought.
It never occurred to me that his view deserved a
sober
assessment to see whether there was any truth in it. He was an enemy
and
everything an enemy says must be false and by extension everything those
who
were fighting against Smith said must be true.
It was
against that background that I too threw in my lot and
joined the swelling
ranks of the forces that were fighting against the Smith
regime. Little did
I know that time would come when I would be forced to
recall Smith's
observations and examine them in the light of events
unfolding in the
Zimbabwe which is claiming to be celebrating its Silver
Jubilee "25 years of
Independence and Democracy".
To what extent has Smith been
proved wrong or correct by
Zimbabwe's experience for the past 26 years. That
is the challenge I feel
needs to be addressed by all of us in the wake of
the MDC split.
In my opinion the split was over the question
of democracy. The
question was or is:
* To what extent is
Morgan Tsvangirai democratic?
* To what extent is the general
membership of MDC democratic?
* To what extent are
Zimbabweans in general democratic?
That is the essence of
issues at the heart of our crisis in
Zimbabwe
It is my
opinion that the question of whether or not Smith has
been proved right or
wrong in his observation 30 years ago about Africans
not being ready to
embrace democracy is still challenging us today just as
it did
then.
In my opinion, one of the fundamental aspects of a
democratic
culture is to accept that different views must be given a fair
chance to be
heard and where it is not clear which view has been embraced by
the majority
of the people concerned, then the vote is used to ascertain
that.
The outcome of that vote must be respected and accepted
as the
view of the majority whether one likes it or not. The moment one
feels that
majority vote on any issue to which instrument of the vote has
had to be
resorted to is against the interests of be it a party or a country
or a club
is the wrong one and therefore must be rejected or overturned,
unless if
objections are being raised with regard to the unfairness of the
process,
one must know that he or she is violating one of the fundamental
aspects of
democracy.
What does all, this suggest? In my
opinion it clearly
demonstrates that we have not yet cultivated in our
social and political
outlook sufficiently high levels of a democratic
culture to enable us to
immediately sense the danger whenever anyone among
us violates one of the
fundamental principles of democracy. We still have
the feudal mentality of
generally being afraid to criticise a leader which
mentality autocrats,
thrive on.
We have not yet developed
a love for justice, fair play and a
love for certain ideas to a point where
we are prepared to die fighting for
ideas. We still ask who has said what
and not why he/she has said what has
been said and ask even further whether
what has been said is not a violation
of an idea we hold
dear.
David Chikombera
Mutoko
-----------
Urgent need to undo Moyo
legacy at ZBH
ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Holdings really knows
how to trash
things.
It has presided over the
"juniorisation" of all its
operations.
Broadcasting
used to be an awe-inspiring experience, more
so the reading of
news.
Today, however, all stations run by ZBH - ZTV,
Power FM,
SFM and Radio Zimbabwe have all been reduced to children's or
juvenile play
stations.
The other night a female
presenter was announcing the
programme line up just before the main news sat
8PM. This is supposed to be
serious business right? - Wrong! She carried on
as if she was about to
present
Ezomgido/Mvengemvenge.
Then there is the news. In the
past older people were
engaged as news readers - that is on both radio and
television and there is
a simple reason for this deliberate
choice.
It is founded on the belief that the viewer or
the
listener is much more likely to believe someone who is mature and
carries
herself/himself with decorum than a youngster who struggles and
stumbles
over lines and over words he/she has difficulties
pronouncing.
I know it is not the politically correct
thing to continue
to refer to the past because, it is said, it was "bad",
but the past informs
the present and determines the
future.
Dr Rhino Zhuwarara, the executive chair of ZBH
and Susan
Makore, ZTV's chief executive officer were media lecturers before
they moved
over to ZBH/ZTV while Chris Chivinge, Newsnet's Editor-in-Chief
and his
deputy, Tazzen Mandizvidza, know one or two useful things about
running
newsrooms.
Yet despite all this knowledge
and having studied/lectured
on media organisations they unleash youngsters,
who to all intents and
purposes give the impression they do not know what
they are doing or if they
do, nobody believes them.
As past media lecturers, Zhuwarara and Makore surely are
aware of how to
make news stations more credible.
I am also sure,
somewhere in their lecture notes they
taught about the importance of
rehearsals before coming on the screen or
going live on
air.
If they do and presumably practise what they only
taught
yesterday, how come they don't give a hoot about what happens in
reality?
I wonder, too, whether they take time to
listen to their
own programmes and compare them with BBC, CNN, CFI,
Deutschwelle or CBC.
I know they will argue that young
faces attract young
viewers and listeners, but that precisely is why there
are programmes that
are specifically for the young viewers and
listeners.
What about those who pay for the licences?
Don't they
deserve some respect?
Dr Tichaona
Jokonya, the Minister of Information as well
as one of his predecessors, Dr
Nathan Shamuyarira, have spoken about undoing
the legacy of Professor
Jonathan Moyo.
I wish they could move with speed before
the anniversary
of independence and restore some measure of credibility in
State
broadcasters.
T
Mhofu
Emerald Hill
Harare
-------
State
media -the pan calls the kettle black
SOMETIMES
the State-run media tends to outdo
itself in an unparalleled
fashion.
Last week one of the
government-controlled
newspapers wrote about "Blair in peerage loan scandal"
and went to town, as
they say, on how the British Labour party secured loans
from the rich in
return for appointment to the House of Lords, Britain's
second Chamber.
Yet, one could easily
re-write the same story,
substituting Zanu PF wherever the Labour party
appears in the text.
Many will recall
President Robert Mugabe's
anger at indigenous bankers, when he complained
that the government gave the
bankers licences but the said bankers were not
supporting the ruling party.
For example,
The Herald had the following
paragraph from the same story on Blair: "If
Britain's Prime Minister is not
thinking about stepping down, he should
be."
In the local context, it could read:
"If
Zimbabwe's President is not thinking about stepping down, he should be."
This is especially after all the mess he has gotten us
into.
So companies were supported in the
hope that
they will fund the ruling party's campaign activities as has been
the case
with every affirmative action
initiative.
I wish the State-media could
apply to the
government and Zanu PF, the same critical mind it uses when
focusing on the
alleged weaknesses and double standards of supposed enemies
of the
government.
If the State media
is so adept at identifying
shortcomings of others countrys' leadership, it
should do the same with our
own leadership - after all charity begins at
home.
Wake
Up
Mbare
Harare
---------
Mutambara, like an unguided
missile
MOST people were relieved by Arthur
Mutambara's acceptance speech in which he said his mission was to reunite
the MDC.
Most of us, though, were
wondering how he
was going to achieve this by taking sides, and accepting
the presidency of
the pro-Senate
group.
Even within the pro-Senate group
itself,
Mutambara's decision to accept the post did not go down well with
others,
among them Gift Chimanikire who may have been promised the
presidency.
So, from the very beginning,
Mutambara was
seen as dividing the
people.
He did acknowledge the MDC
president Morgan
Tsvangirai as a hero. He spoke strongly about the need to
forget the past
and move forward.
But a
week or so later, Mutambara is quoted
in the media
saying:
"How do we talk about a regime
which is
criminal and violent when you yourself are carrying out violent
acts and
violating your own party
rules?
We won't be qualified to fight
Mugabe if we
are little Mugabes."
His
statements were obviously directed at
Tsvangirai.
Mutambara has obviously
not had time to do a
careful analysis of the situation, and must have relied
on information
supplied to him by the pro-Senate
faction.
He obviously has not heard about
the
violence committed by members of his faction against members of the
other
faction.
In his acceptance
speech Mutambara clearly
stated his position on the Senate and other
government institutions.
The hope of many
Zimbabweans was that he
would quickly consult with his colleagues, with a
view to persuading them to
pull out of Senate, pull out of Parliament and
all other offices obtained
through rigged
elections.
However, a few weeks down the
line,
Mutambara talks of preparations for
elections.
"Even if we have to fight
elections under
the current constitution, we will build an opposition so
strong and
formidable that if Mugabe tries to rig elections, it will be
impossible for
him to get away with
it."
Some will argue that Mutambara needs
more
time to put his house in order before if he hopes to live up to his
acceptance speech.
Benjamin
Chitate
New
Zealand
--------------
Sweden to continue culture
support
REFERENCE is made to your article
"Culture
Fund corruption: Sweden pulls out" in The Standard newspaper of 19
- 25
March 2006 by John Mokwetsi.
I
appreciate your paper's interest in the
developments in Sweden's support to
the culture sector in Zimbabwe.
Regrettably the information contained in the
aforementioned article is not
accurate.
All Sweden's support to the
culture sector
in Zimbabwe will be channelled through the Zimbabwe Culture
Fund Trust with
effect from April
2006.
The termination packages availed to
the five
organisations announced recently is in line with this policy. The
five
organisations are still eligible on equal terms with other arts
organisations, for Sweden's support through the Zimbabwe Culture
Fund.
Notably, the Zimbabwe Culture Fund
is
currently undergoing a restructuring exercise that will see it handle
increased volumes of support to the
sector.
The whole point with the Culture
Fund is to
transfer authority, money and decision-making power to the
Zimbabwean
cultural workers themselves; so that they take their own
decisions, instead
of having donors picking and choosing what they like to
support.
Sten
Rylander
Ambassador
Embassy of
Sweden
Harare
----------
No respect for women who wear
skimpy dresses
I think it is always
interesting to hear the
arguments that women put forward for putting on
skimpy clothing.
I for one, do not
begrudge any woman who
goes around naked, but I do not respect such a
person.
Why? - because anyone who does
not respect
his or her own body is obviously not looking for
respect.
Funny enough, it is other women
who like to
sneer at fellow women while most men welcome a woman who
exposes her body.
You can ask any female
to do an experiment
and see which members of the public are more likely to
show disapproval, men
or women.
Having said that, I always find women who
dress elegantly more interesting
to look at.
Their tasteful dressing
invites nothing but
respect from men.
A person's character comes out in the way
they
dress.
On the other hand, a woman who
dresses
scantily is missing something in her mind, and as such, she needs
all the
help and sympathy she can
get.
Some might say that because they
came from
overseas with lots of money they can dress the way they like, but
are they
aware that even in New York indecent dress can have one
arrested?
By dressing provocatively, you
are
technically committing an offence, and any man or woman can actually
report
you to the police for crimen
injuria.
I believe that those who dress
indecently
have no one in their lives to dress for, and end up dressing like
that in
public in order to attract the attention they can't get if they
dress
normally.
Curiously, those who
dress scantily think
people do not have the right to ogle at them! In case
they don't know,
ogling is a freedom of expression
too!
Chimedzanemburungwe
Harare
--------
Thanks for
nothing
ON behalf of all Harare
residents, I would
like to thank the city of Harare and Zesa for their
excellent services in
the past few
weeks.
I am sure that we are getting more
than our
fair share of electricity of three to four hours a day and water
that drips
out of our taps. This is probably why you have raised your
tariffs
accordingly?
Oh and I must
not forget about the ghost
refuse trucks that we pay for that come every
week to collect our refuse,
but somehow they always seem to leave the
rubbish behind.
Mike
Summer
Harare
----------------
Impeccable
Source
When it comes to news from
Zimbabwe, your
paper is an impeccable source for those of us in the
Diaspora.
Please let us also have the
latest in
politics in Zimbabwe. We are waiting for democracy in Zimbabwe and
President
Robert Mugabe must go. If only we had the courage for a Ukrainian
style-revolution to exorcise the Zimbabwean
demon.
M
Mubaiwa
Cambridge
UK
----
Our grants
embezzle
CAN you believe that students at
Kwekwe
Polytechnic are still to receive their grants because the institution
reportedly converted the money to their own use, at a time when students are
facing starvation?
No one will dare
raise his/her head lest
they get into big trouble with the
authorities.
Cool
Toad
Kwekwe
-------------------------
-I'm not the
author
THIS letter serves to inform you
that I,
Ngonidzashe Chiutsi, am not the author of the letter to the Editor
that
appeared in the issue of The Standard of 26 March 2006 and entitled
It's the
principal causing confusion at Harare Polytech, which appeared
under my
name.
I would appreciate it
if this letter could
be published so that my name is
cleared.
Ngonidzashe
Chiutsi
Harare