http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Staff Writer
Sunday, 14 August
2011 16:01
HARARE - Government has spent over $20 million buying
top-of-the -range
luxury vehicles for government ministers, deputy
ministers, permanent
secretaries and members of parliament.
This
is despite the fact that Minister of Finance Tendai Biti has repeatedly
stated that the coalition government is broke.
The scandalous and
reckless spending spree comes at a time when hospitals
have no medicines,
running water and electricity while civil servants were
awarded a paltry $31
increment each.
The money spent on vehicles is enough to drill 5 000
boreholes, a
development which would go a long way in solving the persistent
water
shortages in the country and help fight waterborne diseases like
cholera.
If government had avoided buying even one car, they would have
drilled 40
boreholes in an area like Budiriro which was the most affected by
cholera in
2008 which killed more than 4 000 people.
Highly placed
government sources told the Daily News on Sunday that a fleet
of
top-of-the-range V-8 Range Rovers, Land Rovers, Prados and Jeep Cherokees
valued between $160 000 and $200 000 each had been purchased for government
ministers and their deputies and permanent secretaries for the 38
ministries.
This effectively means that while the majority of the
people are living in
abject poverty, being forced to scavenge for food, the
ministers are living
the lifestyles of sports superstars and Hollywood
stars.
The 4x4 fancy vehicles for ministers come on top of the relatively
new fleet
of cars they already have which includes Mercedes Benz vehicles.
The Daily
News on Sunday has been told that Zimbabwean ministers now have at
least
three luxurious cars each.
The money used to buy the luxury
vehicles is also enough to feed 40 000
families for a month using
calculations based on the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ)’s monthly bread
basket.
The latest CCZ figures show that a family of six requires $500 a
month for
basics.
Yet the inclusive government of President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara saw
it fit to splash on
new wheels for their already pampered
ministers.
The executive is also plundering treasury of millions of
dollars a week
through worthless travels around the world. Tsvangirai’s
spokesperson, Luke
Tamborinyoka on Friday could not justify the lavish
lifestyles being led by
his ministers.
“Check with the ministers of
finance and transport rather than involving the
PM in these issues,’’ said
Tamborinyoka. However, Tsvangirai is said to have
raised concerns with Biti
over the acquisition of the top-of-the-range
vehicles which around the world
are driven by wealthy starts like David
Beckham, Tom Cruise, Christiano
Ronaldo and a host of others.
Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba was
unavailable for comment. But it has
been a norm for Mugabe to spend on his
ministers ahead of more pressing
national needs before Tsvangirai’s entrance
into government.
A cabinet minister who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday
said they deserved
the cars.
“Ministers are supposed to have at least
two cars — one a sedan and the
other a high clearance vehicle for travel to
rural areas. People should not
mistake this for plunder because the cars we
have been using are getting
old,” he said.
Sources also said a major
car dealer with connections in government supplied
three quarters of the
posh vehicles although it could not be established if
the purchase went
through tender.
Last month the government announced a series of proposed
cuts on foreign
travel, provision of aides to government officials and a job
freeze in a
raft of austerity measures. However, the decision by government
to buy the
luxury cars exposes its misplaced priorities.
Raymond
Majongwe, the secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union
said the
education sector needed a lot of money to buy text books and
building of
classroom blocks and other materials needed in the teaching
profession, and
payments of the civil servants.
“This money would go a long way in
helping our education sector,’’ said
Majongwe whose colleagues have been on
and off industrial actions clamouring
for better pay.
Several
government ministers are already driving the top-of-the- range
vehicles that
were bought by the treasury at the inception of the coalition
government in
2008.
MPs and senators will also receive 4x4 twin cabs vehicles, each
valued at
$15 000. The purchase has also already been approved by the
treasury.
MPs from all political parties requested for new vehicles last
month,
arguing that their current cars were damaged during the
constitutional
outreach programme.
They also argued that the vehicles
would also go a long way in compensating
for the non-payment of their
sitting allowances which they have not received
since the start of the
Seventh session of parliament in August 2008.
The sources further told
the Daily News on Sunday that Biti has already
informed the MPs that their
vehicles would soon be delivered, asking the MPs
to contribute a top up
amount of $2 000 towards the purchase the trucks
procured at a cost of $17
000 each.
Contacted for comment, secretary for joint parliamentary
welfare committee,
Zanu PF MP for Mwenenzi East, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti
confirmed that they were
had made a request for the vehicles and government
had agreed to purchase
the vehicles for them.
“We agreed as
parliamentarians to have new vehicles and we requested the
executive to
purchase vehicles and it was accepted by the treasury and we
are still
waiting for the vehicles,’’ said Bhasikiti.
Biti was not available for
comment on the matter and on the purchase of the
luxury vehicles as his
phone was not reachable.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
14/08/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
A MEMBER of Parliament accused of infecting a female
journalist with HIV has
in turn pressed charges against the reporter for
allegedly insulting him on
Facebook.
The HIV case now hangs in the
balance after the High Court ruled that
Siyabonga Malandu-Ncube who
represents Insiza North constituency cannot be
forced to undergo an HIV test
as part of the prosecution.
He is accused of infecting B-Metro newspaper
reporter Simiso Mlevu with HIV,
the virus which causes AIDS.
However,
Malandu-Ncube says he has now reported the journalist to the police
for
allegedly insulting him on Facebook.
“I have pressed charges against
Mlevu she insulted me on Facebook last week
saying that I am a man of lose
morals who goes around bedding women and
infecting them with HIV virus.
Police said they will pick her anytime,”
Malandu-Ncube told Radio
VOP.
The legislator was arrested in June after Mlevu accused him of
deliberately
infecting her with the virus.
A magistrate’s court
ordered that the MP undergo an HIV test but
Malandu-Ncube successfully
challenged the order in the High Court.
Mlevu claims she tested negative
for the virus at the start of their
relationship on 2009 but later
discovered she was infected while still
seeing the MP.
The legislator
denies the allegations but faces a 20 year jail term if
convicted.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, August 13, 2011-
Zimbabwean police and the Attorney General are
under fire for selective
arrests on political violence perpetrators,
according to the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
Irene Petras, the ZLHR Executive
Director told reporters here that the
police force is using the law
selectively against the perpetrators. She said
they have court cases records
to prove it that some of perpetrators of
political violence have not been
brought to book.
The Attorney General Johannes Tomana has openly said he
support Zanu (PF)
and is biased of not prosecuting Zanu PF suspects
perpetrators who have
political connections.
‘‘It’s an impunity as
there are no arrests yet on some political violence
cases in the country''
said Petras. She added that there must be political
will from all political
parties to eradicate violence.
"There must be political will from all
parties at grassroots level for the
positive shift to end political
violence'' added Petras.
She said ZLHR has assisted 878 individuals from
1 January up to 9 August
this year. The workshop was organised by ZLHR for
journalists on court,
human rights and election reporting in Harare to
capacititate them ahead of
referendum and possible elections in
Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party has come under fire
for political
violence since 2000. In 2008, MDC claim nearly 200 supporters
were killed in
the June presidential run off that President Mugabe won in a
man race after
Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew after his were killed, though Zanu
PF denies the
allegations.
http://www.businesslive.co.za
14
August, 2011 15:24
Tawanda Karombo
BusinessLIVE
Import restrictions
and an increase in the import duty on finished and
processed goods are
likely to hit Zimbabwe's economy while economic analysts
fear that this
could also lead to shortages of basic goods and commodities
in shops as
Zimbabwe's industry and manufacturing sector do not have the
capacity to
meet rising demand.
The move, outlined in the Medium Term Plan (MTP)
economic blue-print and in
Finance Minister Tendai Biti's mid-term budget
review delivered last month,
is mainly aimed at protecting local industry
from stiff competition from
often cheap foreign products from neighbouring
countries such as SA,
Botswana and Mozambique. Officials at the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra)
confirmed the new measures and said these were
being put in place to protect
local industry.
Products under
categories such as shoes; groceries; processed goods such as
maize meal and
cooking oil; clothing, blankets and textiles; electrical
goods such as
stoves and fridges and agricultural products such as tomatoes,
potatoes and
onions among others are being charged import duty of upto 40%.
Most goods
under many of these categories now also no longer qualify for the
monthly
$300 duty free import that is given to Zimbabwean cross-border
travelers.
Zimra is also holding goods for which duty would not have
been paid, a
situation that had hit businesses, individuals and traders who
were caught
off-guard by the latest measures.
Zimbabwean economists
and analysts said Zimbabwe's manufacturing and
industry sectors were still
constrained at below 45% capacity and that
demand would ultimately outrun
local supply and production capacity,
resulting in shortages of goods and
commodities. "I don't think the economy
is ready as the import duties would
want us to believe," said economic
analyst, Masimba
Kuchera.
According to a recent survey, Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector is
still
dogged by "high levels of idle capacity" while Biti said recently that
the
major challenges affecting this sector included "lack of affordable
working
capital" and an environment of domestic liquidity constraints
characterised
by short-term expensive loans.
This is likely to
further highlight and heighten concerns that the
government's move to
restrict imports will lead to shortages of commodities
and goods in shops.
Most Zimbabwean businesses procure their goods from SA
for resale
locally.
Biti last week warned local businesses against raising prices of
consumer
goods after instances of price increases were reported in some
parts of
Harare and Bulawayo, the second largest city. The Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) deputy secretary general Japhet Moyo said his
organisation was
opposed to the price increases as this was likely to "hurt
low-paid"
Zimbabwean workers while the Retailers Association of Zimbabwe
refuted
reports that some of its members were increasing
prices.
Sources at Unilever Zimbabwe told BusinessLIVE that the household
products
maker was facing severe constraints and that it was importing some
of its
products from outside the country for repackaging and re-selling on
the
Zimbabwean market.
"The company is no-longer producing its
washing powder products and is
concentrating on scouring powder production.
Production of margarine and
some soaps and other products has been
shelved."
Statistics at hand indicate that goods and products produced
outside
Zimbabwe constitute more than 40% of stock in shops and retail
outlets.
Cheap Chinese imports account for about half of the foreign goods
and
products in Zimbabwean shops, although there have been complaints about
the
quality of Chinese manufactured goods.
However, in their outlook
report on ZSE counters in the fast moving and
consumer groups for the month
of August, analysts at IH Securities are
projecting a boon for companies
such as OK Zimbabwe, Delta and Dairiboard,
on the back of increased trading
volumes in locally produced goods following
the introduction of import
restrictions.
"This will aid local manufacturers who were struggling to
compete with
cheaper imported goods. Benefactors are likely to include
stocks like
National Foods, Innscor, and AICO."
Industries performing
badly are mostly those in the textiles, wood
processing, leather and metals
sub-sectors, while only 160 out of 217
companies in the paper printing and
packaging sector are still operational,
with the rest having closed shop
owing to increased competition from imports
and working capital constraints.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sunday Times writer | 14
August, 2011 05:05
The United Kingdom has a new ambassador in
Harare.
Deborah Bronnert, who saw the start of the Arab uprisings in
North Africa
and the Middle East, says she is excited to be taking up her
new post in
Zimbabwe, and has pledged to improve relations between the two
countries.
"I am honoured and delighted to be taking up this post at such
an important
time for Zimbabwe, as the parties in the inclusive government
work towards
greater reform and free and fair elections.
"The UK has
long been a friend to the Zimbabwean people and I look forward
to ensuring
that that commitment remains as strong as ever," said Bronnert
in the UK
Foreign Office magazine.
Harare and London have had frosty relations
since the start of the chaotic
land reform programme in 2000. Bronnert, who
is yet to present her
credentials to President Mugabe as per diplomatic
norms, takes over from
Mark Canning, who has been reassigned to the Far
East.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
14/08/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
ZANU PF must lead efforts to resolve the Gukurahundi issue
or risk having
“charlatans and vile opportunists” exploit the explosive
subject for cheap
political advantage, politburo member and former
information minister
Jonathan Moyo has said.
Moyo said recent remarks
by senior party officials suggesting that the
Gukurahundi scourge was a
“closed chapter” were “irresponsible and
unacceptable”.
Rights groups
claim some 20 000 innocent civilians were killed in the
Matebeleland and
Midlands regions when the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe
deployed a North
Korean-trained army taskforce to hunt down a few dozen
dissident supporters
of rival Joshua Nkomo.
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa recently
triggered a storm over the
issue after suggesting that the 1987 unity accord
between Mugabe and Nkomo
should be the last word on the emotive
subject.
Mnangagwa’s remarks followed a similar intervention by Vice
President John
Nkomo who said the country needed to move beyond what he
described as
“irreversible history”.
"We have to accept that where
there are human tribulations, such things
happen. Let's engage to build a
better present and a better future and
always remember that what happened is
history and we can't reverse it,”
Nkomo said.
Mnangagwa and Nkomo
said revisiting the atrocities risked re-opening “healed
wounds” and
undermining unity in the country.
But in an interview with the Zanu
PF-leaning Sunday Mail newspaper, Moyo
said “it cannot be true that the
wounds were ever closed” and urged the
party to lead efforts to resolve the
issue.
“The Gukurahundi issue is not a closed chapter,” Moyo
said.
“(But) calls from some destructive quarters for a fresh probe on
this matter
are as irresponsible and unacceptable as the claims from our own
ranks that
the matter is now a closed chapter whose discussion will open old
wounds.”
Moyo said the atrocities were a dark point in the country’s
history adding
the state’s reponse to the dissident problem in the two
regions was
“outrageously disproportionate”.
“(Gukurahundi) was a
dark point in our history as an independent nation
which not only involved
dissidents who committed atrocities and wantonly
destroyed property but also
the State whose response to the dissident
menace … was so outrageously
disproportionate as to cause unnecessary
suffering among ordinary people
which could have otherwise been avoided,” he
said.
President Mugabe
has not directly apologised for the atrocities only
describing them as a
“moment of madness that was regrettable”.
Moyo said Mugabe’s remarks were
“paradigmatic” and should direct new efforts
to address the
issue.
“President Mugabe made a paradigmatic statement in 2000 when he
described it
as a moment of madness, which it indeed was, but there’s
nothing that has
been done since 2000 to use that very important statement
by the President
to bring the matter to finality or closure,” Moyo
said.
“I strongly believe that only Zanu-PF can lead the process of
bringing that
matter to closure building on what President Mugabe said in
2000. And the
party can do that by being willing to publicly engage the
issue in an open,
honest and non-defensive way, which has characterised our
attitude thus
far.”
Human rights and opposition groups have demanded
a new probe into the
atrocities leading to the prosecution of those
responsible and compensation
for the victims.
However, Moyo said all
the facts about Gukurahundi were known and there was
no need for a new
probe.
In 1983, Mugabe commissioned an inquiry into the attrocities led
by
Simplisius Chihambakwe but refused to make public its findings and it
remains unclear whether the government acted on any of its
recommendations.
“Quite clearly, those who have called for a fresh probe
are pursuing cheap
politics in the hope of winning cheap votes,” Moyo
said.
“The facts are that there’s nothing about the Gukurahundi period
which we do
not know to warrant a fresh probe … Therefore, the only
outstanding issue
about Gukurahundi is not to probe some more but to close
the wounds and
close the chapter in a responsible manner once and for all.”
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
VLADIMIR MZACA | 14 August, 2011 05:04
The cholera
that has claimed 57 children under five years of age so far this
year is
linked to the 2008 cholera epidemic, health officials say.
More than
100000 cases of cholera have been recorded so far this year.
A cholera
epidemic in Zimbabwe began in August 2008, swept across the
country, and
spread to Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.
By January 10
last year, there had been 98741 reported cases and 4293
deaths, making it
the deadliest cholera outbreak in Africa in the last 15
years.
The
government declared the outbreak a national emergency and requested
international aid as the country was incapacitated because of the economic
meltdown.
The principal cause of the outbreak was lack of access to
safe water in
urban areas and communities.
The head of epidemiology
and disease control in the Ministry of Health, Dr
Portia Manangazira, said
the recent outbreak had a direct link to that of
2008.
"So far we
have recorded 64 deaths out of 11040 cases in July. It has been
discovered
that the major cause of this is poor sanitation and water
treatment," she
said.
Diarrhoea has been severe in areas such as Chimanimani, Chipinge,
Chiredzi
and Masvingo, Chisumbanje, Bikita, Buhera, Murewa, Mutare and
Mutasa.
These areas constitute the bulk of Zimbabwe's irrigation system -
and, as a
result, water-borne diseases are prevalent there. "Sanitation in
the east
and southern part of the country is the lowest at 11%. This is very
bad and
under such conditions disease outbreaks are high," said
Manangazira.
Research done at the University of Florida in the US
revealed that the
2008-9 outbreak could have been dealt with through massive
vaccination to
prevent future epidemics.
According to the research,
the cholera bacterium is not native to Zimbabwe.
Researchers think it was
imported from neighbouring nations during the
1970s.
During the
2008-2009 cholera epidemic, nearly 100000 people fell ill and
4300 died.
Researchers estimate the majority of those cases were the result
of
human-to-human transmission.
Researchers looked closely at cultural and
other practices that might
contribute to the spread of the
epidemic.
In order to account for regional differences, the researchers
tracked weekly
cholera incidence rates for each of the country's 10
provinces.
One practice that stood out was funeral feasts, which are
common in Zimbabwe
and other African countries. At these feasts, people
often eat in a communal
fashion, and it is customary to shake hands with the
bereaved, who may have
been infected as they cared for the deceased under
unsanitary conditions.
"The bodies are often transported from towns and
cities for burial in the
rural areas. Cholera transmission through these
types of direct contacts
among people accounted for much of the observed
illness and also through
untreated water," reads the
report.
Manangazira said the government was working with a number of
partners to
contain and treat the cholera.
The US researchers warn
that their results indicate that there should be a
systematic, regionally
based way of dealing with the epidemic.
"The differences observed among
provinces suggest that approaches to disease
control should be tailored to
specific regional characteristics. For
example, different areas may require
different rates of vaccination to
control the disease, potentially resulting
in cost savings in less severely
affected regions," reads the
report.
The Red Cross is involved in delivering immediate assistance in
the Chipinge
district. Proposed interventions are focused on water and
sanitation, health
and hygiene in a target population of 30000
beneficiaries.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey Mtimba
Sunday,
14 August 2011 16:31
HARARE - Over 500 victims of the June 2008
political violence are still
unaccounted for in Masvingo province alone,
according to a local human
rights group.
Speaking during a rights
group workshop in the city recently, Community
Tolerance and Reconciliation
Development (Cotard), Director, Gamuchirai
Mukura said his organisation was
undertaking research to ascertain the
actual number of people missing as a
result of the political violence.
He said there could be over 1000
missing people in the province but so far
they have managed to identify
about 500 people who are still missing with
their relatives having no clue
as to what could have happened to them.
Mukura said some of the missing
people were abducted by Zanu PF militia who
with the assistance of state
apparatus waged an orgy of violence across the
country, which eventually
forced MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to pull out
of a presidential
runoff.
“We have been compiling the statistics and the exercise is still
on. What we
have established in areas we have covered so far are about 500
missing
victims most of them MDC activists,” Mukura said.
He said his
organisation was moving around the province’s seven districts
interviewing
the missing victim’s relatives.
Some of them are believed to have been
abducted and murdered and dumped in
the wild life infested Gonarezhou
National Park while some could have been
dumped in the province’s major
dams.
Others are believed to have crossed the border to neighbouring
South Africa
to seek political asylum.
MDC claims that over 200 of
its members were killed during the violent
period.
Mukura said the
process will help deal with tensions that still linger in
the
communities.
“If you speak to the ones who lost their relatives, they are
still in pain
although it’s now three years after the atrocities were
committed. The
perpetrators should be brought to book”, he said.
The
organisation called on the largely moribund national healing and
reconciliation organ to speed up efforts to resolve the issue of violence
before the country’s next election.
“This toothless national healing
organ should start doing something to
resolve tension between the victims,
relatives and the perpetrators. People
out there are not ready for
elections. They still have fresh wounds and
memories of the barbaric
activities of violence in 2008,” Mukura added.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Taurai Mangudhla, Business
Sunday, 14 August 2011
14:19
HARARE - Panic buying has gripped consumers following the
government's
decision to restore a 40 percent import duty on household goods
and other
commodities.
According to snap survey by dailybusiness,
there has been a sudden surge in
demand for imported appliances.
Shop
owners say speculative buyers stormed reasonably priced grocery shops
in
Harare in the past week to purchase imported electricals and food items
in
anticipation of a price surge following the restoration of import duty by
Finance Minister Tendai Biti last month.
“People have been buying a
lot since last Friday and I must say it’s out of
the ordinary,” said one
shop worker.
Consumers, emerging from a rough time at the height of
Zimbabwe's
hyperinflation in 2008, said it was a means of preserving
value.
One shopper at a grocery store said: “We don’t know how much these
products
will cost at the end of the moth so it’s better I use the little
money that
I have to buy food.”
Other less conventional suppliers,
mainly run by small scale cross boarder
traders, have increased their prices
by up to 15 percent since beginning of
last week with a Defy 621 stove now
going for around $650 from $570, before
the duty was
effected.
Recently, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) commissioner
general Gershem
Pasi announced that the tax collector was reinstituting duty
on all goods
exceeding the $300 duty free exemption.
Biti announced
in his mid-term fiscal policy that amounts ranging between 10
to 15 percent
of commodities’ cost would be collected on food imports
starting this month
on the basis that there was need to protect local
industry.
He also
set aside a $40 million fund to help resuscitate distressed and
marginalised
areas of local industry and an additional $20 million
specifically for Small
to Medium Enterprises support.
However, economist John Roberstson said
the decision by government to
restore duty as a means to protect local
industry was conflicting with
common sense.
Roberston said the move
was going to result in unprecedented price hikes,
subsequently increasing
the consumer index to unsustainable levels.
“People are prepared to pay
more for these imports because the local
industry lacks variety and it
normally doesn’t meet quality expectations.
If anything people will start
demanding higher salaries so that they are
able to buy these foreign
products,” he said.
Robertson said there was need for government policy
to be coherent if the
country was to sustainably resuscitate the
economy.
“Government policies are in serious conflict, I know the motive
to promote
local production comes with the need for job creation but
government should
instead be able to attract investment so that we produce
quality products at
a competitive cost and then export them, but they
instead scare away
investment with indigenisation,” said Robertson.//
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/
Eyewitness News | 6 Hour(s) Ago
Zimbabweans
are angry about a proposed ban on late-night and weekend beer
sales.
On Sunday, President Robert Mugabe's health advisor said there
should be no
sales of alcohol after seven in the evening and on Sunday
afternoons.
The proposals come from Dr Timothy Stamps, the ministry of
health officials
say they are in line with World Health Organisation (WHO)
guidelines.
Many of Zimbabwe's road accidents and a fair amount of
domestic violence are
linked to the consumption of alcohol.
Under the
proposals, supermarkets would only be allowed to sell beer between
six in
the morning and seven at night.
Sunday afternoon beer sales will be
totally banned.
Meanwhile, editorials said the ban will only drive
drinkers to the black
market and that Zimbabweans have much bigger things to
think about like the
shaky coalition deal.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
VLADIMIR MZACA | 14 August, 2011
05:05
Kenias Mhlanga, 32, the illegal cross-border transporter nabbed
during the
week for human trafficking and charged under the Immigration Act,
has
escaped with a $600 fine or five months' imprisonment.
In passing
the judgment, Beitbridge Magistrate Carrington Karidzagundi
warned him not
to engage in a similar offence for five years.
The state case, presented
by prosecutor Reason Mutimba, was that on August 9
at midnight Mhlanga drove
a minibus to Beitbridge from Bulawayo.
The vehicle was carrying a group
of border-jumpers, among them 21 children.
On arrival in Beitbridge town,
he helped the border-jumpers cross the border
into South Africa through an
undesignated entry point along the Limpopo
River.
The court heard
that Mhlanga later drove to the South African side, where he
picked them
up.
He was spotted by South African police while loading the
border-jumpers into
his vehicle leading to his arrest.
The illegal
immigrants were taken to the South African Home Affairs
Department before
they were handed over to the Zimbabwean authorities.
Among the illegal
immigrants were seven adults and they were taken to the
Beitbridge Police
Station while the children were ferried to Save the
Children (UK) centre in
the border town where they were offered temporary
shelter.
Mhlanga
admitted to the offence, saying that he was acting as an agent hired
by the
children's parents to bring them to South Africa, where most of them
are
working.
No formal charges were laid against the parents and guardians
who had
confirmed hiring Mhlanga.
Despite the South African
government's effort to regularise the flow of
Zimbabweans, more are
trickling in as illegal immigrants.
http://www.bulawayo24.com/
by Ndou
Paul
2011 August 14 08:57:41
On Sunday the state controlled newspaper
'The Sunday Mail' reported that the
US Embassy in Harare through its new
military attaché, Lieutenant-Colonel
Ronald Miller, is allegedly planning to
cause alarm in Sadc by using a South
African-produced television news
programme, Carte Blanche, to discredit the
Zimbabwe Republic Police and the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces by falsely alleging
that the security sector in the
country is illegally selling firearms
allegedly stolen from former white
farmers to African conflict spots in the
DRC, Sudan and Uganda, it has been
unearthed.
This is part of the on-going regime change intrigues by the
US, UK and EU
governments and their allies to try to weaken the country's
national
security under the cover of the Global Political Agreement
process.
Detailed documents including email correspondence exclusively
obtained by
The Sunday Mail from authoritative diplomatic sources close to
the US
Embassy reveal an alarming determination by Lieutenant-Colonel
Miller, who
joined the US Embassy in June, and who is working with his local
contacts,
who include one Chris Dhlamini, to force the so-called security
sector
reform in Zimbabwe "by any means possible".
Lieutenant-Colonel
Miller's network includes "activists among NGOs and in
the media in and
outside Zimbabwe" to mobilise opinion against Zimbabwe in
Sadc, AU and the
UN. Apparently, Lieutenant-Colonel Miller's major brief is
"to find and do
anything by working with NGOs and media actors to unravel
and bring to book
Zimbabwe's security sector" ahead of the country's next
elections".
Revelations of the sinister media plot come in the wake
of a related
campaign by the British Embassy channelled through the
discredited BBC's
Panorama programme which falsely claimed in a report
broadcast last week
that the Zimbabwe National Army is running torture camps
in Chiadzwa, in a
failed two-pronged bid to prevent the now irreversible
selling of Chiadzwa
diamonds and to implicate Zimbabwe's security sector in
false human rights
violations in the hope that the allegations would attract
UN sanctions.
These media smear campaigns are consistent with the launch
in May of a £3
million DFID programme coordinated by the British Embassy in
Harare to pay
NGOs and media actors to tarnish the image of national
institutions in
Zimbabwe in the hope of influencing the outcome of the
forthcoming
harmonised general elections. The DFID programme is being
complemented by a
similar multimillion-dollar initiative funded by Usaid and
being used by
Lieutenant-Colonel Miller at the US Embassy.
According
to evidence gleaned from some of the written questions seen by The
Sunday
Mail and which the Carte Blanche news team has been hoping to pursue
with
Zimbabwean authorities at the instigation of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller,
the
US Embassy is seeking to contrive false links to implicate the Zimbabwe
Defence Industries (ZDI) in deals that involve alleged illegal exports of
firearms to the DRC, Sudan and Uganda through National Cartridge Company, a
South African-based business concern which trades as Suburban Guns based in
Cape Town and run by Charles Montgomery, who has become a major player in
the US Embassy plot. Suburban Guns also represents Holts Auctioneers, a
leading British gun auctioneer, and trades as Holts Africa.
Working
closely with Ian Rowbotham, a Zimbabwean whose father's gun, a
William Evans
double barrel shotgun 470 serial number 10098, was bought from
Holts
Auctioneers by an American, Thad Scott, Montgomery and
Lieutenant-Colonel
Miller's US Embassy officials and their local Zimbabwean
contacts — who
include former white farmers and some retired ZRP officials —
have been
desperate to trace back the gun to ZDI in the hope of building a
case of
alleged illegal exportation of guns by the company and to use that
link to
tarnish the image of Zimbabwe's security sector.
Communication between
Montgomery and the Carte Blanche news team in
possession of The Sunday Mail
shows clear acknowledgement by the news team
that its investigations have
come to grief because it has failed to
establish a prima facie case of
illegality by the ZDI, ZRP and the security
sector in general or even the
Zimbabwe Government itself.
Correspondence at hand shows that Montgomery,
who claims to have seen with
his own eyes some 20 000 small arms of all
sorts allegedly taken from former
white farmers, has come under immense
pressure from Lieutenant-Colonel
Miller at the US Embassy in Harare to
insist without any proof that, "there
are other ways to kill the cat" by
building a false case to expose the ZRP
and the ZDF in the alleged illegal
selling of arms. In one of the
correspondences on the matter sent on May 31,
2011 seen by The Sunday Mail,
Montgomery wrote that "I have a very sad tale
but really hope you can
assist. In 2007, I was invited to go to Zimbabwe to
inspect +/- 20 000
[guns] that were in the hands of the Zimbabwe
Government.
"After inspection, I found about 1 000 guns that were of
HOLTS quality to
export to London. In amongst this lot was the Williams
Evans .470, serial
number 10098. The gun was shipped to the UK in March
2008 and sold in the
June sale of 2008 to Thad Scott. A year ago, I was
approached by the
original owner of the rifle who traced me down and showed
me proof that he
is still the rightful owner of the gun (still currently
licensed in his
name). Sadly, in 2004 he and his family were evicted from
his farm by
Zimbabwean land grabbers (Mugabe's Mob) and was given 24 hours
to vacate his
home and 10 000-hectare farm and what was a lifetime's work.
He put his 5
guns (one of which is the W. Evans) into storage at a police
station for
safe- keeping. When he went to get his guns in 2008, he was told
that the
Zimbabwean
Government had seized all the firearms at the
police stations and sent them
to a central area. That's where I inspected
them . . . he had heard that I
had been in Zimbabwe and followed up and
found the gun has been sold on
Holts sale in 2008."
While
correspondence in the possession of this paper shows that Montgomery
and his
local contacts have been misleading Lieutenant-Colonel Miller into
believing
that "as far as the farmers weapons are concerned, they are stolen
property
the purchase of which is a crime", Susan Puren of Carte Blanche has
had
problems with that claim prompting her to write to one of Montgomery's
contacts last week pointing out that: "I've got legal opinion that says
Zimbabwe gun licenses are valid for one year, so if guns were handed in to
police for safekeeping and the owner does not renew (his) licence after year
then he is no longer the legitimate owner so it's not stolen. While it's
morally wrong it may be all above board."
In one of her e-mails,
Susan went on to admit that she would have wanted to
do the story "but the
facts on the ground do not add up".
Asked to comment on these
developments last week, an African diplomat based
in Windhoek, Namibia,
where he observed a historic summit of the region's
liberation movements
from South Africa's ANC, Namibia's Swapo, Mozambique's
Frelimo, Angola's
MPLA, Tanzania's Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Zimbabwe's
Zanu-PF said that
"nobody should be surprised to hear that the American and
British embassies
in Harare are working with former white farmers and gun
merchants to cause
confusion in Zimbabwe by seeking to destabilise the
security
system".
The diplomat added: "But if anyone really believes that they
(Americans and
the British governments) can still get away with their usual
lies about
Zimbabwe after what we have seen in Ivory Coast, Libya and Malawi
against
the background of the hypocrisy displayed in the handling of the
violent
demonstrations in Britain last week, then they should have been here
in
Windhoek.
"The African message to the Western world from Windhoek
is very clear and
very loud and it is that enough games have been played
over Zimbabwe. The
time has come for the nonsense to stop
http://www.radiovop.com/
Bulawayo,
August 14, 2011- The Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai Friday,
toured the
Mtshabezi pipe line project in Matabeleland South and pledged
government’s
commitment to solve Matabeleland’s perennial water woes which
have seen the
closure of some companies in the province.
Addressing journalists soon
after touring the 42 kilometre pipeline, Prime
Minister Tsvangirai said the
pipeline which will link the Mtshabezi and
Ncema dams is set to transform
the lives of villagers along the pipe line
corridor as well as alleviate
Bulawayo’s water shortages upon its completion
before the end of this
year.
“I have been informed that this project will be completed before
the end of
this year. This is a very important project for the people of
Matabeleland
and Bulawayo. Water shortage among other factors such as
liquidity and
recapitalisation problems were some of the reasons why
industries were
closing in the province. The most affected industries are
textile. The
agenda for Zimbabwe now is for reconstruction. Our industries
are using very
old and dilapidated machinery,” said the Prime
Minister.
The Prime Minister who was accompanied by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo,
the Minister
of Water Resources and Development, the Mayor of Bulawayo and
the permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Water, Ringson Chistiko during
the tour said
government through the Ministry of Finance has set aside funds
to assist
depressed companies in the country.
He said the local people
will also be able to use the water from the
Mtshabezi dam for irrigation
purposes.
“Matabeleland is a drought area and we hope the local will be
able also to
use the water for irrigation purposes,” he said. It is also in
the national
interest that the state should compensate those families
affected by the
construction of the pipeline,” said Tsvangirai
The
Mtshabezi pipeline project is a short term measure meant to address the
city’s perennial water shortages that have seen some suburbs going for weeks
without water and industries operating at a low capacity Work on the project
stopped in the year 2007 due to lack of funds.
The project was mooted
in 1994 but the Bulawayo city council turned down the
offer saying council
could not afford to fund the pipeline. Over the years,
Bulawayo has been
facing perennial water shortages which have been
attributed to the
increasing high water demand in the city. The city’s
population currently
stands at about 1, 5 million and the last dam to be
built was commissioned
in 1976.
Since that period no single dam has been built to correspond the
city’s
increasingly population. Bulawayo draws water from five dams, namely
Upper
and Lower Ncema, Inyankuni, Umzingwane and Insiza dams are also
heavily
silted due to upstream gold panning.
The deputy minister of
Local Government Sisal Zvidzai also attended the
tour.
http://www.sbs.com.au/
15 August 2011 | 02:31:03 AM | Source:
AAP
Rampant Zimbabwe defeated hapless Bangladesh by seven wickets on
Sunday to
win the second one-day international with Brian Vitori taking five
wickets
and Vusi Sibanda and Tatenda Taibu both hitting
half-centuries.
The win at Harare Sports Club gave Zimbabwe a 2-0 lead in
the five-match
series to follow victory in the one-off Test last
week.
Bangladesh were bowled out for just 188 in 47.3 overs with Zimbabwe
replying
with 3-191 and 35 balls remaining.
Opening batsman Sibanda
top-scored with 67 off 96 balls with seven fours --
to follow his 96 in the
first game -- as he also passed the 2,000 runs mark
in one-day
internationals.
Former skipper Taibu was unbeaten on 61 off 74 balls
having hit four
boundaries and two sixes.
Vitori starred with the
ball after Zimbabwe won the toss and he took full
advantage of the
conditions, finishing with 5-20 to follow his 5-30 in the
first match, the
21-year-old seamer's debut.
Vitori removed Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal
(three), playing in his 100th
ODI, and Imrul Kayes (eight) before the
tourists slumped to 58-6 in the 19th
over.
Captain Shakib Al Hassan
(26) and 19-year-old debutant Nasir Hossain (63),
who had never previously
played a first class match, put on 53 for the
seventh wicket.
But
Vitori removed Shakib, Hossain and Abdur Razzak (35) to put his team
firmly
in the driving seat.
Zimbabwe lost opener and captain Brendan Taylor for
just three in the third
over with the total on four before Sibanda and
Hamilton Masakadza, who hit
38 off 51 balls, put on 83 for the second
wicket.
Sibanda was out, stumped off Mohammad Ashraful, with the total on
146-3 in
the 35th over having made his 15th ODI half-century before Taibu
made amends
for his first match duck with a bright 61 not out.
It was
his 19th ODI half-century and he, along with Craig Ervine, saw
Zimbabwe
home.
There was much talk
at the Vigil about the riots in England and what lay behind them. Many people
pointed to a lack of discipline for children: apparently half of those arrested
in London were under 18. We know something about the difficulties facing parents
here: one of our supporters served a jail term for disciplining his wayward son
in traditional Zimbabwean fashion.
We were glad to be
joined by Vigil management team member Patson Mazuwa, who brought a group from
Leicester, about 90 miles away. He said there had been trouble there too and his
group was appalled at the behaviour.
The Vigil
suggests that Zimbabwe might learn much from these ‘incapable’ policemen. Within
a few days 800 people had appeared in courts around the country after being
identified by closed circuit television and other means. Interestingly, none of
them said they had been tortured – unlike in ‘Marvellous Zimbabwe’. Indeed,
despite their violent behaviour, no looters were killed or seriously injured by
the police. If anyone other than Zanu PF thugs were allowed to riot in Zimbabwe
the police and army would fire on them with live ammunition. All those arrested
would be thrown into overcrowded filthy jails to rot
indefinitely.
We – the
people in Britain including Zimbabweans – turned out with brooms and cleared up
the debris and by the end of the week attention had turned to a beach ball which
had found its way onto the field during the test match at Birmingham against
India which saw England become the leading cricket nation in the world.
Whatever the causes
of the rioting in the UK, they would certainly be eased by reversing the
government cutbacks affecting the police and local services. We at the Vigil are
grateful to the UK for offering us a home along with countless other asylum
seekers from all over the world. We understand why the British people are
beginning to wonder whether the £7-8 billion spent this year on foreign aid
could not be spent more fruitfully on local services here.
Talking
about foreign aid, a former Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has raised the
possibility of cutting off British aid to Zimbabwe – now running at about £100
million a year. He was speaking on a BBC radio programme about CIO attempts to
intimidate Zimbabweans in the UK. Mr Howells said foreign aid should be cut off
to Zimbabwe and other countries if they threatened people in Britain. (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012wjdc and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/fileon4_02_08_11_exilesinfear.pdf).
Other
points
· Flowers
were laid at the door of the Embassy and a candle was lit by Martin Chinyanga in
tribute to MDC activist Maxwell Ncube. A notice said he was abducted and killed
by CIO agents and that Mugabe must be charged at the Hague with human rights
abuses.
· Please
note that the UK performances of the play Rituals, scheduled this month, have
been cancelled because the cast were not able to get
visas.
For latest Vigil
pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 77 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND
NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe.
·
ZBN News.
The
Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the
video check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QukqctWc3XE.
·
ROHR Manchester
Vigil. Saturday
27th August from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens, Manchester City Centre
(subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens). Contact; Delina Tafadzwa
Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira
07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future demonstrations: 4th
September, 29th October 26th November, 31st
December. Same time and venue.
·
ROHR
Woking General Meeting. Saturday 3rd September from 2 – 6
pm, Venue: Woking Homes, Oriental Road, Woking, GU22 7BE. Contact, Isaac
Mudzamiri 07774044873, Sithokozile Hlokana 07886203113, Saziso Zulu 07861028280
or P.Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070.
·
ROHR Manchester
Meetings. Saturday
10th September (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting
from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation
Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor Road, Manchester M13 9UB. Contact; Delina
Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika
Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future meetings:
8th October, 12th November, 10th December. Same
times / venue.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s
acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy by post in the UK
please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimghvigil.co.uk.