Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr Gideon Gono's
three
children and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri's son are among the
eight
children of top government officials facing deportation from
Australia, The
Standard can reveal.
On Friday, Australian
Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer
announced that Australia would
deport children of Zimbabwean government
officials and other people on the
sanctions list studying in that country.
"I have also decided to
initiate steps to revoke the student visas
held by eight children of senior
members of the Mugabe regime," he said.
"Once their visas have been revoked,
the government will take the
appropriate measures to have these individuals
removed from the country."
Downer said "a further two adult
children who are children of a senior
Mugabe regime figure" wanted to study
in Australia but he personally
intervened to have their applications
rejected. He, however, declined to
reveal the identity of the "senior
figure".
Although the Foreign Minister did not mention the names of
the
children, reports from Australia indicated yesterday that among those
who
will be deported are Gono's twin daughters Pride and Praise, who are
studying tourism and hospitality at La Trobe University. His son Passion,
studying music production in Sydney will also not be spared. Chihuri's son,
Sylvester, also faces deportation. It was not clear where he is
studying.
Downer however said the majority of the 1 512 Zimbabweans
on student
visas in Australia would not be affected by the new
actions.
"These measures will not affect the overwhelming majority
of
Zimbabwean students in Australia whom we are pleased have chosen to study
here and who help to maintain the strong people-to-people links between our
countries," Downer said. "Rather, they (measures) are an extension of the
measures the government has already imposed against those individuals we
have identified as being responsible for the dire political and economic
situation besetting Zimbabwe or for the egregious human rights abuses in
that country."
The latest measures, said Downer, are in
response to Mugabe's failure
to pay "heed either to international opinion or
his own people". He said the
president "continues to display a complete
disregard for democracy and human
rights".
Just before he
completed his mission in Harare, former US Ambassador
to Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell told The Standard that legislation had already
been crafted
specifically for the deportation of government officials'
children studying
in the US. He said they were waiting for President Bush to
sign the
legislation before it could be effected.
Gono and Chihuri were not
immediately available for comment yesterday.
But Presidential spokesperson
George Charamba said they were not moved by
the Australian government's
actions. He said the Australians were trying to
save face on the exodus of
Zimbabwean students who are leaving that country
for Malaysia.
While attending the Langkawi dialogue a fortnight ago, Charamba says,
they
met "many Zimbabwean students" who had already left Australian
institutions
"mostly because of racial attitudes".
"In a way," Charamba, said,
"what the Australian government is trying
to do is to politic on the
inevitable. Our people were leaving whether or
not they were the children of
Charamba or whoever, but because of the
intolerant racial attitudes of that
society, and the uncompetitive pricing
of the Australian education system
compared to the rest of Southeast Asia.
We want to advise the Australians
that they are just one small country in
the world of
education."
Charamba disclosed they wanted to establish a Malaysian
Presidential
Scholarship similar to the one at Fort Hare in South Africa. He
would not
elaborate.
It is estimated that over 300 children of
government and Zanu PF
officials are living abroad, where they are enjoying
"First World" health
and education services.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Zanu PF politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, not
known to
publicly discuss his past, including the period he was incarcerated
on
allegations of attempting to topple President Robert Mugabe's government,
says he is about to break his silence in a book he is writing.
Dabengwa, who was known as the Black Russian during the struggle, told
The
Standard his book would focus on the time he spent in prison when he was
incarcerated for allegedly attempting to overthrow Mugabe, and the
Gukurahundi massacres among other issues.
Judith Todd in her
latest book, Through the Darkness; A Life in
Zimbabwe, which is being
serialised by The Standard, offers some insights
into why Dabengwa and
Lookout Masuku fell foul of Mugabe's government during
the early
1980s.
Dabengwa will become the latest senior Zanu PF official
after Joshua
Nkomo, the late Vice-President, and former secretary general
Edgar Tekere to
write his memoirs.
Enos Nkala, the former
defence minister and Zanu PF founder member is
also writing his book, which
will only be released after his death because
"it will be too
hot".
Vice-President Joseph Msika and Zanu PF national chairman
John Nkomo
have indicated they, too, will be writing about PF Zapu's role
during the
struggle for Zimbabwe's independence. There is general consensus
that the
party's role has deliberately been de-emphasised.
Tekere's book, A Lifetime of a Struggle, released earlier this year
caused a
serious rift in the ruling party, forcing Mugabe to warn his
colleagues to
stop using autobiographies in their campaigns to unseat him.
But
Dabengwa, who was also the intelligence chief of the PF Zapu's
armed wing,
Zipra during the liberation war, said the "time" had come for
him to "talk"
about his past.
He said unlike Nkala, he will release the
autobiography while he is
still alive to "face off" with those who might be
harbouring plans to
challenge his revelations.
"Time has come
for me to talk all about my political career as a young
man," Dabengwa said
in an interview.
"It will talk about the part I have played right
through the
liberation struggle to post-independence and events that took
place when I
was incarcerated during Gukurahundi."
In 1982
Dabengwa, together with the late Masuku, a Zipra commander and
four others
faced treason charges which were quashed by the Supreme Court
for lack of
credible evidence.
They were arrested shortly after the alleged
discovery of arms caches
at farms owned by PF Zapu and were detained for
nearly four years despite
their acquittal.
Mugabe accused
Dabengwa of writing a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
(former USSR president)
allegedly asking for assistance "to topple the
Zimbabwean government". Both
the Soviets and Dabengwa, however, denied the
allegations.
Masuku died shortly after being released while Dabengwa was later
given a
Cabinet post in a unified government after the signing of the Unity
Accord
in 1987.
Masuku was belatedly declared a national hero, but only
after intense
lobbying.
"I will release the book soon while I
am alive," Dabengwa said.
"There are many that will wish to
challenge some of the things that I
will write but I am prepared to face
whatever challenge."
Zanu PF chairman, John Nkomo - who is also a
former PF Zapu senior
official - has said he will write his own book that
will set the "record
straight" on the role played by the liberation
movement.
Joshua Nkomo's former deputy, Vice-President Joseph
Msika, has in the
past complained about "misrepresentations of the role
played by PF Zapu"
during the liberation struggle.
He says the
history of the liberation struggle is "full of
distortions" and
"misrepresentations" which have to be corrected as it omits
the
contributions made by PF Zapu and Zipra.
Pathisa Nyathi, a
prominent historian, said Dabengwa's book is hugely
anticipated especially
if he is prepared to lift the lid on the secrecy
surrounding the execution
of the Gukurahundi military campaign.
"It is important for him (to
write a book) since he was on the
receiving end of government brutality,"
Nyathi said. "But he has to be bold
enough to tell us what happened in the
aftermath of his arrest.
"He should also shed light on events
leading to his arrest and what
happened to the arms, (whether there) were
any intentions to topple the then
Prime Minister (Mugabe), his incarceration
and so forth."
In the past, Dabengwa has refused to talk about
Gukurahundi insisting
that it was "dangerous to open old
wounds".
"What we have been told so far has been coming from the
Zanu-PF side,"
Nyathi said "We need to know what happened from him and not
the patriotic
history that we have been subjected to.
"We need
multiple voices as we are tired of the official version of
history"
Between 1992 and 2000, Dabengwa served as the Minister
of Home Affairs
and in 1991 he became chairman of the Matabeleland Zambezi
Water Project,
which he still heads today.
In 2000, he
contested and lost the Nkulumane seat to MDC
vice-president, Gibson
Sibanda.
Again in 2005 he lost a senate seat to Rita Ndlovu of the
Arthur
Mutambara-led MDC.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
AWARD winning photojournalist Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi will
tomorrow
appear before a hearing constituted by Media and Information
Commission
(MIC) which intends to cancel his accreditation.
The
hearing, initially set for 10 August was postponed after Mukwazhi's
lawyer,
Harrison Nkomo of Mtetwa and Nyambirai, requested its postponement.
Mukwazhi was summoned by the MIC to appear before a panel which will
conduct
a hearing at the organisation's offices in Harare.
The MIC wrote to
Mukwazhi last month notifying him of its intention to
cancel his
accreditation.
It claimed the photojournalist misled the commission
by not indicating
names of buyers of his media products.
But
Mukwazhi's lawyers are questioning the legality of the panel. They
also
expressed concern over the "Notice of Intention to Cancel
Accreditation"
which was issued before the hearing was convened.
"This, to us,
appears as if a decision has already been reached before
our client is
called to answer to these allegations in violation of the audi
alteram
parterm rule," Nkomo said. "In that regard, it would appear as the
hearing
is a mere formality when a decision has already been made."
Mukwazhi's troubles appear to have started following his recent run-in
with
Jocelyn Chiwenga, the temperamental wife of the Commander of the
Zimbabwe
Defence Forces, Lt General Constantine Chiwenga.
Mukwazhi was
reportedly attacked by Chiwenga while covering a visit to
a Harare wholesale
store by MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai to assess the
impact of the
government's on-going price blitz.
Zim Standard
BY
OUR STAFF
BOTH factions of the opposition MDC said yesterday
they had confidence
in the SADC initiative to solve the Zimbabwean crisis
though regional
leaders had not publicly talked tough about Harare at the
end of their
summit held in Zambia last week.
As in the run up
to the SADC summit in Dar es Salaam in March this
year, an earlier robust
offensive, which saw Zimbabwe's justice minister
telling the summit that no
political reforms were needed in Zimbabwe,
"because we are a democracy like
any other democracy in the world" appeared
to neutralise attempts to read
Harare the riot act over its crackdown on
opponents and failing to ease the
country's economic meltdown.
Western diplomats interpreted this as
another sign that Southern
African nations do not have the resolve to
influence President Robert
Mugabe, who has drawn international
criticism.
Southern African leaders in the end did not openly urge
Mugabe to
enact reforms in his country during the regional
summit.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the new chairman of the
Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC), said the group of countries
had relied
on a report submitted by South Africa on Zimbabwe's crisis and
had not
raised the issue with Mugabe.
South African President
Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating between
the Zimbabwean government and
the opposition, submitted the report, which
outlined his efforts, to the
SADC summit.
"We are quite happy that Mr Thabo Mbeki was capable
enough and was
moving in the right direction," Mwanawasa said.
Emerging from the summit, regional leaders issued a communiqué
welcoming
"progress" of the talks between Zanu PF and the MDC.
Mwanawasa who
once likened Zimbabwe to a sinking Titanic said Zimbabwe's
problems were
exaggerated. The statement appeared to mean that the leaders
had sided with
Mugabe who is accused of pursuing policies that have
impoverished a once
prosperous country.
But Nelson Chamisa, a spokesperson of the
Morgan Tsvangirai-led
faction of the MDC suggested Mugabe had been roasted
by the regional
leaders, keen to solve the Zimbabwean crisis.
"We know he (Mugabe) was told to change his way of running the
country,"
said Chamisa. "We have full confidence in the efforts of the
leaders and we
want the SADC initiative to be fulfilled."
The MDC spokesperson
made the comments after getting a briefing from
an MDC delegation he said
was still in Zambia late yesterday.
Gabriel Chaibva, a spokesperson
of the rival faction led by Arthur
Mutambara said yesterday the secrecy
surrounding what was discussed during
the closed door meeting showed that
regional leaders were concerned about
the crisis.
"This is
clearly indicative that Zimbabwe is still on the agenda of
the regional
leaders," Chaibva said.
Members of the civil society organisations
who were also in Zambia
said they were well aware that Mugabe had a torrid
time during a closed door
three-hour session that discussed the Zimbabwean
crisis.
Sources said an attempt by Mugabe's delegation to blame
everything on
sanctions was queried by some leaders who pointed at the
ongoing price blitz
as a creation of the government.
"The
leaders could not have come out of the meeting and said Mugabe
must go. They
could not just reprimand him in public," said a member of a
civic society
organisation that returned from Zambia yesterday.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
THE Midlands State University (MSU) has defied a directive by
government for universities to freeze fees, The Standard can
reveal.
Other institutions of higher learning such as the
University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) were reportedly considering raising their
fees.
MSU two weeks ago told students fees would go up from $109
000 to
between $4 million and $15 million for the new semester, depending on
their
academic programmes.
According to a notice from the
Midlands State University senior
assistant registrar N Shava dated 3 August,
registration and lectures were
due to commence on 6 August.
But
students could only register once they had paid the required
amount.
MSU students who spoke to The Standard said they were
not given
reasonable time to raise the new fees.
The new fee
structure was posted on the university's website, only
three days before the
start of the current semester.
"Some of us have no access to the
internet during vacation," said
Samuel Dube, a fourth year student, "so we
only got to know about the fees
when we returned to campus."
The students also complained about the residence fees, pegged at $4
million.
"Such exorbitant accommodation fees only makes life
harder for
non-resident students as landlords in Senga always charge twice
the
university's residence fees," said Rumbidzai Mamvura, a student at the
university.
Senga residential area provides alternative
accommodation for the
students as the university has limited
accommodation.
Houses in Senga also expose students to health
hazards as they are
characterised by burst and blocked sewage
pipes.
Amid the fee hikes and poor living conditions, a group of
students
from the Faculty of Social Sciences face the prospect of repeating
a
semester after they failed to complete a module because there was no
lecturer.
"We are supposed to be going on attachment this
semester but we might
not," said a student from the faculty. "We will have
to pay fees to repeat
the semester and that is our main grievance. It is not
out of our own making
that we did not have a lecturer."
The
university is experiencing a critical staff shortage, particularly
in the
faculties of commerce, science and technology and natural resource
management.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE on-going government-sponsored price blitz has
forced the closure
of many businesses in rural areas, The Standard has
learnt.
The government in June ordered all businesses to sell their
commodities at prices obtaining as of 18 June, a move which economic
analysts have described as self-defeating and likely to cripple the private
sector.
Several rural business people interviewed by The
Standard last week
said the future of their businesses hung in the balance
because of the price
controls.
They complained that they were
failing to source basic commodities for
resale because manufacturers and
wholesalers were unable to provide them
with the goods.
At many
growth points visited by The Standard most of the businesses
had closed down
while others were only open when they had something to sell.
"What
the government has done is virtually killing the rural
businessman," said
one businessman at Nyanyadzi Growth Point in Chimanimani
District. "It does
not make economic sense for me to sell a commodity using
the 18 June price
because I need to factor in transport and wages."
Nyanyadzi is
about 100 kilometres from Mutare.
The businessman, who requested
anonymity for fear of victimization,
said he drives to Mutare almost every
week to get supplies but at times he
comes back empty-handed after wasting
fuel.
Unlike farmers, who get cheap government fuel at $15 000 a
litre,
rural businesspeople buy fuel from the black market at $2.5 million
for five
litres.
Another rural businessman at Birchenough
Bridge in Buhera district
said his "business empire" - a bar, butchery,
grocery and food outlet - was
on the verge of collapse because of the price
controls.
"I buy beer and other commodities from either Chipinge or
Mutare
because manufacturers no longer provide transport," he complained.
"In most
of the cases, my businesses are closed because there will be
nothing to
sell."
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) spokesman on industry
and international trade, Mufandaedza Hove, said
the crisis being faced by
rural businessmen was predictable.
"The cost of acquiring goods is higher for rural business people
because
they have to factor in transport costs. I would not be surprised if
some of
them have shut down. If they haven't they will do so soon," Hove
said.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president
Marah
Hativagone said just like businesses in urban areas, businesses in
rural
areas were also affected by the on-going price blitz.
"We
have not done a study to ascertain the impact of price controls
but what I
know is that every business is affected. This means rural
businesses are not
spared by the blitz," she said.
The ZNCC president said the
association was advocating for the
government to revert to Instrument 125 of
2003 where prices of only 19 basic
commodities were controlled.
"The taskforce is giving itself a cumbersome job by wanting to control
everything from toilet paper to bread," she said. "We are advocating that
they control only 19 basic commodities."
Among the 19 basic
commodities are bread, flour, milk, maize- meal and
sugar.
The
Minister of Industry and International Trade Obert Mpofu was not
immediately
available for comment.
Zim Standard
By
Kholwani Nyathi
BULAWAYO - A new farmer, Langton Masunda, has
applied to the High
Court for the police to arrest Zanu PF national
chairman, John Nkomo's
workers for allegedly interfering with his safari
business.
Masunda and Nkomo are embroiled in a battle for the
control of Jijima
Lodge at Lugo Ranch. Both claim the ranch was allocated to
them under the
fast-track land reform programme.
Nkomo has
sought Masunda's eviction from the property, but the
application is yet to
be dealt with by the High Court.
Nkomo lost an earlier case where
he wanted Masunda to be interdicted
from carrying out hunting operations at
the disputed farm.
In the latest case Masunda wants Clifford
Sibanda, a manager at Nkomo's
Gwayi Conservancy farm, and Watson Chipa, a
professional hunter, to be
imprisoned for 90 days for violating court orders
issued against Nkomo and
his workers.
Masunda says Sibanda and
Chipa have on many occasions interfered with
the "use, occupation and
enjoyment of Jijima Lodge, its environs and hunting
operations" in violation
of court orders.
Sibanda is the first respondent and Chipa the
second in the papers
filed on 30 July.
"On no less than five
occasions in the space of a fortnight, the first
respondent and his
employees have caused veld fires deliberately destroying
plant and animal
life in my farm and surrounding areas," Masunda said in his
founding
affidavit.
"The first respondent was questioned by the police on
the matter and
he readily admitted he had caused the fires but sought to
argue that he was
lighting the fires on his own farm."
Masunda
also accuses the two of placing baits and hunting within the
environs of
Jijima Lodge, chasing away his clients who were on hunts,
frustrating
hunting operations by scaring away game and harassing his
employees.
He wants them to be "found in contempt of court and
sentenced to 90
days imprisonment".
They were given 10 days to
respond but it was not immediately clear
whether the two had filed opposing
papers. They were said to be away on
business when The Standard sought their
comment.
Nkomo's mobile phones went unanswered. The two men have
filed several
counter suits against each other and at one time the hunting
camp was sealed
off by armed police after Nkomo pressed on with attempts to
evict Masunda.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
IT was once a subject that was quickly brushed aside
when top company
executives met.
HIV/Aids was neither their
creation nor their companies' problem, they
would argue in response to calls
by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) for employers to roll out
HIV/Aids programmes.
But as the pandemic ravages the country's
workforce, it is now clear
progressive business organisations are fast
realising that HIV/Aids is not
just a problem for individual workers or the
government but a threat to
their operations.
At a recent
Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) and
International Labour
Organisation (ILO) breakfast meeting in Harare,
business leaders made it
clear the time had come for the "sleeping giant
(business) to wake up" and
be involved in the fight against HIV/Aids at the
workplace.
It
was not just mere talk as David Mutambara, the executive director
of the
Zimbabwe Business Council on Aids (ZBCA) presented a paper on
HIV/Aids as a
business risk to Chief Executive Officers and human resources
personnel.
ZBCA was established by 13 companies in 2004 and has
a secretariat
which is examining strategies on how business can respond to
the growing
pandemic. Its mission is to strengthen and widen the business
sector
response to HIV/Aids.
Mutambara said time when HIV/Aids
was treated just as a social problem
was over. The pandemic was not just a
social problem but a business risk,
just like any other that threatened the
survival of business operations.
He revealed that many business
organisations are still in denial about
the pandemic, have all along failed
to understand that they create
environments that allow people to contract
HIV/ Aids.
For example, Mutambara said, business organisations
created workplaces
which brought together different people who interacted,
and ended up forming
relationships. Others attended workshops which took
workers to places where
they ended up forming relationships.
"Businesses are perpetrators," Mutambara said. "They cannot say they
have
nothing to do with the way workers contract HIV/Aids."
Mutambara,
who is conducting research into how HIV/Aids affected
business, said
companies lose a lot of money when their workers take leave
due to illness
related to the pandemic or any other ailments.
The Labour Act makes
it mandatory for employers to pay sick workers a
full salary for three
months while they are away from the workplace.
Armed with a
certificate signed by registered medical practitioner,
workers can also get
an additional 90 days sick leave and employers will
still be obliged to pay
them, this time half pay.
But even if workers do not go on leave,
at symptomatic stage which is
characterised by opportunistic infections,
companies suffer from reduced
productivity and have to bear with increasing
costs of medical care.
For those workers at chronic illness stages,
companies could be forced
to retire them with payouts, and sometimes bear
the funeral expenses.
Afterwards, they would have again to bear the costs of
staff recruitment and
training new staff.
Mutambara said
supposing many workers were down with HIV/Aids-related
illness, this could
be disastrous for any company.
"What is needed is for companies to
shift their thinking, not to look
at HIV/Aids as a social responsibility but
as a business risk," he said.
"This matter should feature on the agenda of
the board, in line with other
business risks."
"The board must
set targets and monitor progress," said Mutambara who
suggested that chief
executive officers must also be assessed for the
performance on the
matter.
Business, he said, had the greatest potential, indeed more
than
anybody, to roll out vibrant HIV/Aids programmes.
Already
a number of companies have started these programmes. These
include mining
companies which now provide ARVs for infected workers. Other
companies such
as Barclays Bank, Zimsun and Nestle Zimbabwe have started
programmes aimed
at mitigating the effects while others are doing it
quietly.
Workers' representatives who have all along called on business to come
up
with these interventions have welcomed the move.
Wellington
Chibebe, ZCTU's secretary general, however cautioned the
programmes should
not be like those of the National Aids Council which have
largely benefited
the elite.
"We are now singing from the same hymn sheet, but what
is important is
to ensure that the workers and not the top managers should
be the
beneficiaries of such schemes," said Chibebe who believes the
interventions
are long overdue.
It's not just the ZBCA that has
taken the initiative to research into
the impact of HIV/AIids on
business.
The African Institute of Biomedical Science and
Technology wants to
develop tools that will be used by company bosses to
measure the impact of
the pandemic on business.
The model which
is for the Southern African region will first be
applied in
Zimbabwe.
An official of the institute told The Standard it was
cheaper for
business to come up with intervention programmes than to let
their employees
succumb to the disease without any assistance.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO - A
magistrates' court has freed a Gwanda commercial farmer
who was arrested
last year for allegedly threatening to shoot two war
veterans who wanted to
"kill" him.
Gary Earl Akeroyd, the owner of Todds Guest House along
Gwanda-Beitbridge road was charged with attempted murder following a scuffle
with Sibangilizwe Ncube and Muchaneta Ndlovu of Tshabezi Resettlement area
near West Nicholson.
The fight was a culmination of a
long-running wrangle over the lodge
as the war veterans wanted to force
Akeroyd to abandon the guest house.
At one time, Labour and Social
Welfare deputy minister, Abednico Ncube
reportedly threatened to take-over
the lodge.
Akeroyd was charged under section 189 (1) of the
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23 after he fired in
the air to
scare away the war veterans who "were apparently
drunk".
A fight then ensued pitting Akeroyd and his employee, Mike
Dube, on
the one had and Sibangilizwe Ncube and Ndlovu on the
other.
The two war veterans claimed the farmer wanted to kill them
when he
fired into the air.
But Gwanda magistrate, Owen Thagwi,
dismissed the State's case saying
it lacked merit.
Akeroyd was
represented by Advocate Nicholas Mathonsi, of Coghlan &
Welsh Legal
Practitioners.
According to court documents, Ncube and Ndlovu
challenged Dube to a
fist fight near their homesteads. The incident took
place on 20 October 2006
after 10PM.
The two war veterans who
had allegedly spent the day drinking at
Akeroyd's Todd's Kiosk were
allegedly offended "by the fact that Akeroyd had
stopped his vehicle to
urinate close to their gate".
When Akeroyd tried to help his
employee, Ncube advanced towards him
"shouting that he wanted to kill a
white man".
"Fearing for his safety and that of his vehicle,
Akeroyd pulled out
his shotgun and fired one shot into the air to scare away
Ncube who had
started throwing stones at him," court papers read in
part.
Zim Standard
By ZVIPO
MUZAMBI
Chegutu District Hospital has stopped performing surgery
and is
minimising admissions because of constant water and power cuts,
Standardhealth has learnt.
Amid claims by Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (Zinwa), that it does
not interrupt water supplies to
hospitals, Chegutu hospital has been
hard-hit by erratic water supplies. The
crisis started three weeks ago.
Dr Munyaradzi Mazonde, the acting
District Medical Officer, told
Standardhealth the problem of water and
electricity had been prevalent for a
long time and has worsened, as both the
hospital borehole and generator were
not functioning.
"This
problem has been going on for a very long time," Mazonde said,
"and has
since worsened because our borehole including the generator which
we used to
pump water have not been functioning for years now. It is now
impossible for
the hospital to spend a full day with electricity and water."
As
part of their efforts to cope with the water and power shortages,
Mazonde
said the hospital had stopped performing surgery and was restricting
admissions.
"What we do is to try to minimise admissions as
much as possible and
we have had to stop performing surgery, particularly
procedures that require
electricity-driven machines," Mazonde said. "As for
water, we send our
vehicles to a nearby hotel to borrow some as they have a
borehole."
He, however, said problems always arise as at times they
are forced to
admit more patients, citing a recent incident where the
hospital received
many patients from Kadoma after an outbreak of diarrhoea
in the town.
Mazonde said they had written to the Mayor of Chegutu
and also
approached Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority in an effort to
negotiate
so that they are spared the water and power cuts.
"I
have written a letter to the mayor for assistance but he is still
to
respond. Zesa, however, said the lines that support the hospital also
support a significant number of households so they cannot spare us," Mazonde
said.
Zim Standard
BY BERTHA
SHOKO
KINGDOM Financial Holdings boss Nigel Chanakira says it is
about time
Zimbabweans played a part in revamping the health sector for
their own
benefit.
Chanakira spoke as he applauded the launch
of the Zimbabwe Health
Access Trust (ZiHAT).
ZiHAT, an
initiative of Zimbabwe Medical Association, groups
Zimbabweans in the United
States of America, Switzerland, United Kingdom and
Canada who are bound by a
common desire to restore high standards that
Zimbabwe's health sector used
to enjoy.
Chanakira was speaking at the official launch of the
ZiHAT recently
when he challenged Zimbabweans to have leadership skills and
take up
responsibility to solve their own problems.
"A
motivational speaker once said that the biggest problem in Africa
was not
one of poverty or illiteracy," Chanakira said, "rather the biggest
problem
in Africa is lack of leadership.
"It is no use being negative about
things going on in the country and
expecting a positive turnaround. We
create the world we expect by what we
allow our minds to dwell
on.
"As leaders, we must adopt a positive mind-set that only sees
possibilities and therefore begins to bring into existence a world without
limits. Not to say we disregard the reality on the ground, but we look
beyond temporary setbacks and create mechanisms for change."
Chanakira urged Zimbabweans to stop whining and talking about their
problems
and instead do something to improve and solve these abnormalities.
He also
urged the business community to undertake more social responsibility
programmes that benefit their respective communities instead of only
concentrating on making profits.
"Transformation is the ability
to cause change within a group of
people, a community and indeed a nation,"
Chanakira said. "For me, it is
seeing a situation that touches your
conviction as to being wrong, unjust
and blatantly immoral and taking steps
to correct the scenario.
"It absolutely enrages me when Zimbabweans
at home and in the Diaspora
willingly engage in conversations that strip our
pride as Zimbabweans. And
you expect positive change? At a time when there
has been no greater need in
our society as we see today, companies cut the
budgets on corporate social
responsibility.
"We should not
deafen our ears to the cries of help by focusing on
creating wealth for
ourselves; rather we are only successful when we help
others to reach their
goals."
Chanakira commended ZiHAT for having vision enough to try
and make a
difference but urged the trustees to work hard to keep the
programme afloat.
"Whilst I applaud the visionaries of ZiHAT, who
have decided not to be
prisoners of the environment and translated their
concern into positive
action," he said. "We ought to be the change we want
to see and we can only
do this through the relentless and selfless
dedication to the needs we see
in our society and walking the
talk.
"Too many seminars and workshops are done, too little action
occurs
thereafter. We have the resources within ourselves to put action to
our
objectives."
Also speaking on the same occasion Chairman of
ZiHAT, Dr Paul
Chimedza, said they had decided to set up the trust because
the "harsh
realities of the shortfalls" in Zimbabwe's health sector could
not be
ignored any longer.
"In the past couple of months a few
concerned men and women decided to
take the temperature of our healthcare
delivery system as a nation,"
Chimedza said. "The reading was certainly not
very encouraging. We have all,
at one point or the other, come face-to-face
with the harsh realities of the
shortfalls of our health delivery
system.
"It may be a relative that did not receive timely
intervention due to
lack of medical equipment, women in remote villages
having to travel long
journeys for medical attention due to understaffed
health centres or local
clinics, or the unavailability of drugs, resulting
in medical complications.
"However, the good news is that we
believe as Zimbabweans, we have the
capacity and the stamina to ensure that
our healthcare delivery system is
second to none. Instead of joining the
masses in lamenting over the state of
affairs, instead of cursing the dark,
we have decided to light the candle."
ZiHAT's Big hat concept is
that everyone can contribute something.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE ruling Zanu
PF has embarked on a purge of Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) activists
in Mashonaland Central Province in an effort to
weaken the opposition party
ahead of next year's elections, The Standard was
told last
week.
MDC organising secretary for Muzarabani district, Ging
Dhlamini, said
he was severely assaulted by alleged Zanu PF youths two weeks
ago, and
scores of MDC supporters had gone into hiding since Vice-President
Joice
Mujuru addressed a rally in the district on 4 August.
"Scores of our members are now in hiding because Zanu PF militia and
traditional leaders are targeting us. They have told us to stop building our
structures or holding any political meetings," said Dhlamini, who was
assaulted on 5 August.
He said Zanu PF youths accused him of
being "a puppet of the West"
because he was senior member of the opposition
party in the area.
Dhlamini said other MDC activists who were
assaulted include Farai
Pambayi (Dambakurima ward chairman), Constance
Dzingirai (ward councillor)
and Stanford Maramba, the opposition party's
youth chairman.
The three MDC leaders, he said, were "ordered" not
to leave their
homes or report the matter to the police until after five
days.
"I managed to escape," Dhlamini said, "but I heard the
condition of my
colleagues is not good, especially Pambayi. Reports say he
can't even walk."
According to a medical report prepared by Doctor
Julia Musiriri of St
Albert's Mission Hospital, Dhlamini suffered "multiple
scalp deep abrasions,
deep abrasions left side face, deep abrasion on left
shoulder and mild
swelling left chest."
The report said the
amount of force used was moderate but "injuries
are a danger to
life".
When Dhlamini reported the assault case at Chadereka Police
post, he
was told to go and make a complaint in Harare apparently because
the
officers were afraid of handling the matter.
Efforts to get
a comment from Zanu PF information and publicity
secretary, Dr Nathan
Shamuyarira or Mujuru were fruitless.
Over the past years, Zanu PF
has been using traditional leaders, youth
militia and national security
agents to prevent the MDC from campaigning
freely or setting up its
structures, especially in rural areas.
The MDC is the only credible
opposition party that has presented a
serious challenge to Zanu PF, which as
been in power since the country's
independence in 1980.
Zim Standard
BY VUSUMUZI
SIFILE
THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) last week
sent a team of
investigators to determine if Surface Investments - an
oilseed extraction
company in Chitungwiza that was forced to close on 6
August because of
dangerous working conditions - could be allowed to
re-open.
The factory was closed after one worker, Evans Nyaumwe,
had his leg
crushed by a conveyor belt as he was removing waste cotton, a
task that is
normally done by a front end loader. The Standard understands a
number of
other workers were also injured and hospitalised, and discharged
on 12
August. But the company says only Nyaumwe was injured. Nyaumwe is
currently
hospitalised in Chitungwiza, where he is reportedly
recovering.
When the factory closed, NSSA specified some
requirements that had to
be met before the factory could re-open. It is
understood that the NSSA team
ordered that one of the two units at the
factory, which processes soya bean
products, should re-open. The cotton
processing section, however, remains
closed.
NSSA general
manager for safety and research, Benjamin Mthethwa, on
Thursday said they
would only commission the re-opening of the factory when
all the necessary
requirements are met.
"Unless those issues we asked them to attend
to have been addressed to
our satisfaction, the factory still remains shut,"
said Mthethwa. He however
refused to give details of the specific issues
that have to be addressed,
saying doing so would be
"unethical".
But the legal advisor for Surface Investments, Succeed
Takundwa, on
Friday was singing a different tune, saying they had since
"complied with
all the safety majors pointed out by NSSA and invited them to
re-inspect".
He said they resumed operations on 16 August, the same day
Mthethwa said the
"factory still remains shut".
"There was only
one major accident in which a worker lost a leg.
Others were small
accidents. The company had taken all the safety and
security measures except
a few issues which were pointed out by the NSSA
team," Takundwa
said.
Zim Standard
BY
GODFREY MUTIMBA
ZANU PF'S repressive machinery never stops - even
when Zimbabweans are
commemorating the Heroes' holiday!
Heavily
armed police and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
agents did not rest
over the weekend as they forcibly dispersed thousands of
people who turned
up for the late opposition MDC national chairman, Isaac
Matongo's memorial
held at Mushayavanhu village in Gutu.
The Standard news crew which
attended the function witnessed anti-riot
police descend on Matongo's
homestead on Sunday morning and order all MDC
members, save for close
relatives of the deceased, to vacate the premises.
They charged the
gathering, a memorial service (Nyaradzo), was not
sanctioned by
police.
A day earlier, they had barred scores of people at a road
block at
Zvavahera turn-off along the Gutu-Kurai road from proceeding to
Matongo
village. Private vehicles, hired kombis and buses were turned away
but this
did not stop defiant MDC members and civic organisation
activists.
They made their way to Mushayavanhu, through the
mountainous terrain
of Mpandawana, leaving their vehicles at the growth
point, about 15km away
to mourn their hero.
Unsuspecting police
and Intelligence officers were however shocked to
find scores of mourners at
the Matongo homestead in the evening.
MDC youths sang the night
away, celebrating the life of their former
national chairman, who died in
May.
Police officers pounced on MDC members in the early hours of
Sunday
morning, armed with AK 47 assault rifles. Three truckloads of
anti-riot
police drove at high speed to the Matongo homestead. Before they
even
stopped, armed officers jumped from the vehicles as if on a military
raid,
barking orders for people to disperse.
Panic gripped MDC
activists and villagers who ran away in all
directions. They however were
unsuccessful in their bid to escape as police
officers blocked the only exit
at the homestead. They then confronted the
MDC leadership which included
Matongo's wife, Evelyn Masaiti.
Although Masaiti tried to explain
that it was just a family function,
all her pleas fell on deaf ears. Police
officers informed her they had
special instructions from police headquarters
in Harare. She collapsed upon
hearing this.
The former MDC MP
was rushed to Gutu Mission Hospital where she later
recovered. The Standard
watched members of the opposition at the memorial
service being harassed by
police as they were ordered to produce their
identity documents at the gate
before leaving. The members and activists had
travelled from as far as
Harare and Bulawayo.
Police threatened to shoot anyone who dared to
resist their orders.
The Standard news crew which was covering the
memorial was also
ordered to show identity documents and leave the
homestead.
Police officers kept the Matongo homestead under guard
for the whole
day, making sure that MDC members would not return to the
homestead and
proceed with the memorial service.
Church leaders
who were supposed to lead prayers during the memorial
services were also not
spared by police who insisted the service would turn
into a political
rally.
Police insisted the mourners wanted to campaign for the MDC
in Gutu
using Matongo's memorial service.
The Standard also
heard that villagers in the surrounding areas were
barred from attending the
memorial service by traditional chiefs and village
heads who threatened to
reprimand anyone defying their orders.
A staunch MDC supporter, who
talked to this reporter, said he defied
the order but his colleagues could
not come after a directive, allegedly
from Zanu PF MP for Gutu North,
Lovemore Matuke, who could not be reached
for comment.
MDC
activists and officials from civic organisations walked back to
Mpandawana,
where they had left their vehicles and hired buses.
Shaking his
head in disbelief one of the activists remarked: "This is
the height of
repression."
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
A tourism revival document is gathering dust at the
Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA) offices a year after being formulated amid
revelations that
the absence of a full board to administer the affairs of
the authority had
stalled its launch.
The National Tourism
Development and Marketing Strategy (NTDMS) was
composed last year by ZTA
with assistance from all stakeholders in the
tourism industry and maps the
way forward in making Zimbabwe a prime tourist
destination.
The
blueprint, a copy in possession of Standardbusiness, seeks to turn
around
the tourism sector in the country with a view "to find solutions to
problems
resulting from past activities or neglect; to provide guidelines
for
avoiding similar mistakes; and to encourage change and development of
the
tourism industry in the desired direction".
It said Zimbabwe had
experienced a decline in tourism numbers in
contrast to its regional peers
who are experiencing a boom in the sector.
NTDMS acknowledges
Zimbabwe did not have a plan in place to counter
negative
publicity.
"Whilst negative publicity and the negative perceptions
about Zimbabwe
in the different markets have mainly contributed to this
development," the
document said, "it is also accepted that the destination
did not have a plan
to reverse the trend."
The blueprint aims
to generate over US$2 billion a year for the
economy by 2010 as well as
increasing the contribution of tourism to Gross
Domestic Product to 12% by
2010 from the current 3%.
NTDMS mandate is to increase annual
tourist arrivals from both
traditional and new markets from 1.5 million in
2005 to over 3 million by
2010 as well as improving and repositioning the
image of the country in both
traditional and emerging markets by December
2007.
The tourism industry has been on a decline over the years. In
1999,
the industry generated over US$200 million contributing about 7% to
GDP and
employing an estimated 200 000 people directly and indirectly.
However
following a decline in the performance of the sector, the industry
is
currently estimated to be employing close to 100 000.
"This
decline is a very sad development, which is a direct result of
the decline
in tourist arrivals especially from the major traditional
markets," the
blueprint said.
On its analysis of the environment, the blueprint
says that the
elevation of tourism as a national priority in the National
Economic
Development Priority Programme recognises that tourism has
potential for
growth and that it is a major source of foreign currency and
employment
generation.
The blueprint says that various pieces
of legislation that address
tourism directly and indirectly should be
reviewed with the
purpose of identifying areas of duplication and
contradiction.
It says: "There is need to harmonise such
legislation within the
Tourism Act so as to achieve an integrated approach
towards fulfilment of
the destination's strategic objectives."
The strategy says there is urgent need to address the exchange rate to
make
the destination not an expensive tourist destination.
Karikoga
Kaseke, ZTA CEO, told Standardbusiness that the authority had
delayed in
launching the document because it did not have full board
members.
An 11-member board chaired by Zimsun CEO Shingi
Munyeza was recently
appointed to steer the ZTA ship.
Zim Standard
BY LUNGILE
ZULU
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's largest telecommunications company,
Econet
Wireless, says its expansion projects meant to increase its
subscriber base
will continue despite congestion problems attributed to low
tariffs since
they were slashed in line with the government price
blitz.
Network problems have been further affected by power cuts
experienced
in the country despite efforts to install diesel generators to
minimize the
impact of load-shedding by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa),
says Econet.
Econet Wireless said prolonged
power cuts disrupted cellular coverage,
a situation that is threatening the
availability of service, and is now a
major contributor to calls failing to
go through between networks.
Douglas Mboweni, Econet CEO, said the
company is going ahead with work
started a few months ago to add capacity to
the network and increase its
subscriber carrying capacity from the current
800 000 to 1.2 million by
February 2008.
"The Econet board of
directors has directed that there should be no
suspension of the work to
increase capacity even though the network is
experiencing severe congestion
due to low tariffs," Mboweni said.
"Our board's view is that we
maintain a long-term approach to Zimbabwe
despite the current problems of
low tariffs which are causing congestion and
power cuts."
Econet Wireless early this year signed two contracts with Ericsson of
Sweden
and ZTE of China to supply equipment for the expansion project with
Ericsson
expanding the core network which is made up of the switching
systems, whilst
ZTE is supplying radio base stations for the southern part
of the
country.
Meanwhile, Econet Wireless says future dividends will now
include
shares as payment instead of cash. Econet reports twice a year, in
February
and August, and generally pays a dividend to its shareholders when
it
releases its results.
Econet said this is meant to help
shareholders protect the value of
their money owing to the hyper
inflationary environment and also to protect
the company to conserve cash
during its current expansion programmes.
Mboweni said that the
company is introducing scrip payments on future
dividends for the first time
to help shareholders mitigate against
hyper-inflation.
"At the
end of each reporting period by the time shareholders actually
get their
cash it would have lost considerable value because of
hyper-inflation hence
the need to produce results at the end of each
reporting
period.
"The payment of dividends is based in the results, and the
board only
makes such payments having considered all the issues including
the operating
environment," Mboweni said.
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
A trade expert says the time limit should not force
African countries
to hurry into signing a new trade agreement with the
European Union as it
will have serious ramifications on
economies.
African countries under the bloc, Eastern and Southern
Africa are
negotiating for reciprocal Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
that have
to be concluded by 31 December 2007.
"All such
agreements that were made," Professor Yash Tandon, executive
director of
South Centre, said "can be changed through political
negotiations."
Tandon said EPAs are a fall back position for
the developed nations
after the collapse of the World Trade
Organisation.
"In EPAs, they are putting things which are not in
WTO," he said. "In
WTO, we have succeeded in putting away things such as
Singapore issues which
open up economies further."
The
"Singapore issues" refers to four working groups set up during the
WTO
Ministerial Conference of 1996 in Singapore, namely investment
protection,
competition policy, transparency in government procurement and
trade
facilitation. Disagreements between largely developed and developing
economies prevented a resolution in these issues, despite repeated attempts
to revisit them, notably during the 2003 Ministerial Conference in Cancún,
Mexico, whereby no progress was made.
EPAs are being introduced
to replace non-reciprocal preferential trade
regime.
African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries used to enjoy
unilateral trade
preferences with the EU for almost three decades under the
Lomé Conventions.
The Fourth Lomé Convention was replaced by the Cotonou
Partnership Agreement
in 2000, which extends these unilateral trade
preferences up to the end of
2007.
Negotiated World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatible
reciprocal trade
agreements, EPAs, will replace the current non-reciprocal
preferential trade
regime. These EPAs have to be concluded by no later than
the beginning of
2008. The agreement covers trade issues in six areas:
fisheries; trade in
services; and trade related services.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE "outrage" by the Minister of Transport and
Communications,
Christopher Mushohwe, at the recent tragedy involving the
National Railways
of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is nothing more than an attempt to
divert attention from
himself.
A soldier from the Presidential
Guard Headquarters in Harare died and
more than 50 other people, who were
passengers on a Thursday morning
"Freedom Train," were injured following a
collision with a goods train.
Initial reports say the line on which
the collision occurred did not
have railway signals/communications and that
the engine drivers were
operating by line of sight. In other words, someone
took a decision for the
drivers to use the rail line knowing full well it
could result in loss of
lives or damage to property.
Such
callous disregard for human lives demands accountability. It
means those
responsible, whether by omission or commission should accept the
consequences of their actions and decisions. The loss of even a single life
on the public transport network is one too many. We owe it to those who have
died to begin to take the tragedy on our roads and rail routes more
seriously. There should be zero tolerance to any more loss of lives. What
every Zimbabwean demands are results. We have been fed a diet of promises
for far too long.
The Minister ordered a "thorough
investigation" but the record of
investigations into the tragedies involving
the NRZ have largely remained
top secret, fuelling suspicions of a
government cover-up and an attempt at
damage control over its neglect of the
rail transport in particular and
public road transport in
general.
To suggest that the NRZ can investigate itself is to mock
victims of
the accident. What should properly happen is an independent
inquiry into the
recurring accidents involving the railways. But it is
understandable why the
Ministry would be uncomfortable with an inquiry: What
if it found that the
NRZ's requirements to the Ministry were ignored, would
the Minister release
a report that damns his ministry for not acting
expeditiously? That is
hardly likely.
But how many tragic
accidents involving the NRZ have occurred since
2000 and what evidence
exists to demonstrate that with each tragedy improved
safety measures have
been implemented and continue to be enforced? Each time
there is an
accident, there are outpourings of grief and sadness at the loss
of lives
and property but after that life goes on happily ever after until
another
disaster strikes and more innocent lives are lost.
It is tragic
that Zimbabwe has a very weak and ineffective opposition.
The Minister
responsible should have been put on the spot. In other
societies the
Minister would have been forced to step down because of the
number of
accidents involving the NRZ.
But as if to emphasise the lack of
oversight and total paralysis over
what to do to bring improved safety to
the public transport sector, the
death toll over the Heroes' and Defence
Forces holidays became one of the
bloodiest in recent memory. This is
despite assurances from the Minister
responsible for safer travel during the
holidays. The figure could have been
worse - but thanks to the shortage of
fuel there were fewer vehicles on the
road.
If parastatals are
coming under increasing pressure to perform,
perhaps the time for
performance-related jobs for government ministers is
long overdue. We should
not tolerate the loss of lives, especially where
pre-emptive action could
save them. The minister should explain measures
implemented during his
tenure designed to make public transport safer and
reliable, and why these
have not produced the desired results.
All government ministers
should learn to shoulder responsibility for
their actions or
non-actions.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Bill
Saidi
TWO SADC foreign ministers addressed the three-day Sadc Civil
Society
Forum in Lusaka last week - Botswana's Lt Mompati Merafhe and
Mauritius'
Madan Murlidhar.
Neither of them spoke with any
passion or any lack of passion on the
Zimbabwean imbroglio. They were,
incidentally, not asked to answer any
questions relating to
Zimbabwe.
But Merafhe did speak with a lot of visible heat on Sadc
members who
don't pay their dues: he was disappointed that his proposal that
such
members be barred from addressing Sadc summits and their nationals
denied
jobs at the Sadc secretariat had not been supported by a majority of
members.
He didn't have to spell it out, but the impression we
gained was that
he was at one with his president, Festus Mogae, whose views
on Zimbabwe are
known to be unsympathetic to members who renege on their
commitments, either
to pay up or to abide by the loftiest ideals of the
grouping, among them
real, not cosmetic, democracy.
The forum
did discuss extensively and without restraint the problem of
Zimbabwe,
topping this with a straightforward resolution on the country's
political
and economic problems.
The essence of all this was to reaffirm the
Civil Society's oft-stated
opinion that Zimbabwe is "the sick person" of
Sadc.
Yet there were some statements which fairly tormented the
Zimbabweans
at the forum.
For instance, after comprehensive
presentations by such eloquent civil
society leaders as Arnold Tsunga and
Lovemore Madhuku, there were delegates
who railed against the leadership of
the opposition as the main obstacle to
the resolution of the
crisis.
Then there was another position, which again disparaged the
opposition's
notion that President Robert Mugabe was the main impediment to
a resolution
of the crisis which he himself had created, in the first place,
largely
through his "Go to hell!" response to any criticism of his every
decision.
Then there was this amazing declaration from one of the
delegates:
Mozambique was deeply disappointed that the opposition supported
Ian Smith.
The Tanzanian delegate dwelt at some length on Mugabe's
record as a
freedom fighter and leader of the victory against
colonialism.
The Zimbabweans boldly set out the home truths, one of
them being that
Mugabe was no longer the leader of liberation movement, but
the President of
Zimbabwe, a country with a constitution allowing for
elections during which
such people could be challenged.
All
this reminded me of a conversation I dragged myself into, in 2003,
with a
Sierra Leone broadcaster during the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting
(CHOGM) in Abuja.
She said her dearest wish was to interview Mugabe
because he was the
most fascinating African leader -in her opinion. I wasn't
astounded by this
starry-eyed admiration for a man who, to some Zimbabweans,
has been held
solely responsible for the bloody mess he later described as
"moment of
madness" - the massacre of more than 20 000 people in
Gukurahundi.
After all, there are Zimbabweans who don't believe
that the atrocities
were the huge blotch on our history that they have been
made out to be: they
believe Mugabe had good reason to act the way he did,
even though he himself
later condemned the butchery, without
reservation.
The Sadc leaders, apart from those whose foreign
ministers spoke to
the Sadc Civil Society Forum, seem to back Mugabe to the
hilt. Yet, only a
few months ago, President Levy Mwanawasa, in one of the
most searing
criticisms of Mugabe, likened Zimbabwe to "the sinking Titanic"
- a barb
that not even Ian Smith could match, in its graphic description of
what is
happening to this country once described by some as "the gem of
Africa".
Mwanawasa has political problems of his own: like Mugabe
he is
apparently trying to change the constitution to suit his party, the
Movement
for Multiparty Democracy. The largest opposition party is no longer
the
party which won independence in 1964, Kenneth Kaunda's United National
Independence Party (UNIP), whose one-party policies stunted both political
and economic growth in 27 years of uninterrupted rule, which ended only with
Frederick Chiluba's victory in 1991, at the head of the MMD.
I
had not visited Lusaka since leaving the country in 1980, to return
to
Zimbabwe. The only familiar sight was the airport, from which we had
left.
Everything else gave me the sensation of visiting another city,
another
country, in fact.
Lusaka, a rather sleepy dorp in the 1960-70s, is
bustling with
activity, both economic and human. There are now so many
hotels and lodges
it is a tourist centre of some note. Among the people you
discern a
purposefulness, a jaunty step of self-confidence, a manner of
speech
bubbling with the ring of hope, confidence.
During my
last days here, as the 1980s began, there had bubbled on the
surface a
tension which would explode later into food riots, which later
mushroomed
into the defeat of the founding leader of the nation.
Kaunda lives
sedately in Lusaka, although he cannot be Levy Mwanawasa's
favourite
resident of the capital. After all, he endorsed Michael Sata in
the last
election. This former trade unionist probably earned Kaunda's
respect with
his unabashed admiration of Mugabe, a man Kaunda himself had
once not found
to be a fitting ally, his preference being, quite openly,
Joshua
Nkomo.
A Zambian delegate to the Civil society forum snapped
angrily at me
"It's the British, of course!" when I tried to outline the
cause of the
empty supermarket shelves in the cities and towns. His
companion, a woman,
listened attentively as I proceeded to give them a short
history of the
inflation crisis.
She nodded with apparent
understanding, turning to her companion with
the unuttered question "Don't
you think that makes better sense?" I was
reminded of the Sierra Leone
broadcaster. If she could convince her
companion, perhaps she could convince
Mwanawasa too, that it was time to get
out of Mugabe pocket, or the sinking
Titanic.
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
sundayview
by Judith Todd
JUST before he and the others were formally charged
with plotting a
coup, I managed to see Edward Ndlovu. I went to the court
and sat next to
him for half an hour before the magistrate
arrived.
Amazingly Edward kept on taking about the need for unity -
PF Zapu
must enter Zanu PF en masse; there should be a ceremony with Nkomo
and
Mugabe present, at which Nkomo should welcome PF Zapu into Zanu PF, and
then
he should retire. Then the job of cleaning up Zanu PF, stopping
torture,
detentions, etc., should start from inside.
I had
heard the argument of working from inside before, and it didn't
impress me,
especially when I saw a man like Edward Ndlovu in the dock. It
was amazing
to hear a man facing treason charges under Zanu PF still
advocating unity;
especially after all he had been and was still going
through.
Edward looked alright, but was desperate to get out of detention. Ten
people
were charged. I knew that William Kona, an old-time struggler, and
Sydney
Malunga MP had been tortured by being beaten on the soles of their
feet. In
Kona's case, medicine had been withheld and he had eventually
collapsed and
been admitted to hospital for two weeks. I didn't know what
the other
accused might have undergone.
One night, Gift Masuku rang. She and
a sister-in-law had arrived in
Harare and were stranded. I collected them in
town. Gift insisted on trying
to see her husband, Lookout, who had been
admitted to Parirenyatwa Hospital
the previous day. After lots of efforts
she was allowed in to see him at
about 11.15PM and had 45 minutes with
him.
Mrs Sharlottie Msipa had seen Lookout just after he had been
admitted
and never thought he would live the night. He was unconscious, and
at one
point, when she shook him and implored him to speak, he just managed
to
touch his head and his throat. He was in agony. She said when he opened
his
eyes, tears rolled down his face, so he kept them shut. Gift eventually
got
one of the doctors to write down what he was suffering
from.
Lookout was guarded by four men from the police support unit
who
seemed to take pleasure in making it as hard as possible for Gift to see
him. She stayed in Harare for three nights before taking the train back to
Bulawayo. These wives, like Mary, Gift, Connie and Shamiso, wanted to be as
close as possible to their suffering husbands, but they had children to look
after and work to attend to.
The day after Gift left, Andrew
Nyathi, chairman of Simukai
Co-operative, came to say Jimmy Mbambo had been
taken by CIO. I rang Comrade
Shoko at CIO, and he said he would find out and
ring back, which he did with
information that CIO now also had Maplanka and
Felix Msika from Simukai.
Andrew then went to Harare Central police station
to try and see them, and
that night I was told the police had kept Andrew,
too.
A delegation of three men from the government of
Guinea-Conakry
arrived on a private visit, financed by Bread for World, to
learn what
Zimbabwe had done in the fields of resettlement, coping with
refugees and
demobilisation. I drove them around the country for 10
days.
We struggled to communicate, as they spoke French and I did
not, but
somehow we managed. In Bulawayo, Stephen Nkomo helped, as he did
speak
French, having been Zapu's representative in Algeria. He had recently
been
released from detention. After they met Stephen, they told me they now
wanted to meet his brother Joshua, and asked me to arrange it. They told me
they were not afraid and they obviously assumed that I wasn't
either.
Their delegation was headed by David Camara, who had been
imprisoned
under Sekou Toure. The other two were in exile for years. Camara
was
described as Chef de Cabinet, Ibrahima Sory Sow as Conseiller and
Ibrahima
Abba Diarra as Administrateur.
One evening at dinner,
I asked Camara how long he had been in jail. He
said about five years, and a
pall seemed to settle over the table. He was
very sombre, and shortly
afterwards we all went to bed. The next morning he
gave me a note
apologising for his poor English. I made some copies, exactly
as he wrote
it:
I was emprisoned twice in Guinea.
1. First time:
From 22 February 1971 to 27 August 72.
Accusation: They say that I
have help the families of prisoners who
were hanged (or killed) one month
before.
2. Second time: I was emprisoned from 18/7/76 to
19/12/80.
Accusation: They said I was with Diallo TELLI against the
Government.
We wanted to fall down they Party (PDG) and to take power.
Diallo Telli was
the first General Secretary of "Organisation de l'Unite
Africaine" (OAU).
My comrades were died by lack of food between 18
and 21 days. Very bad
and sad things. It is not good for me to tell
them.
They told me that under Sekou Toure about 25% of their
population
became exiles. They were not so keen anymore on "socialism". I
think that is
a word, like many others, that can be used to cloak many
evils.
By 2006, President Robert Mugabe would equal the then
President Sekou
Toure in that more than 25% of Zimbabwe's population was
also in exile.
Swazini Ndlovu, ally of Dumiso Dabengwa, who gave
important evidence
for Dumiso in his treason trial, was released from
another spell of
arbitrary detention by the CIO, and Stannard arranged for
him to return to
Bulawayo, where I saw him. I was trying to fathom the role
of Stannard, and
so I asked Swazini if he could consider Stannard to be a
friend.
"Yes, he is a friend of mine. They took me from office to
office in
Chaminuka Building and eventually they took me to his office. He
said: "I
know it must have been hell for you." I said: "For God's sake, at
least tell
me what day it is today." He told me it was Friday.
They had kept me for four days in total darkness at Goromonzi, and
they had
taken away the pills I have to control high blood pressure. I tell
you, I
was sick. I thought I was finished. They took me to a nurse. She
refused to
give me pills. She said I was critically ill and she would not be
responsible for treating me. They took me to Parirenyatwa and ordered the
doctor to give me pills.
"I was with them for eight, 10 days.
They drove me up from Bulawayo by
car. My hands were manacled all the way.
Yes, I knew them all. They said:
"Now we will fix you," and "Did you think
we had forgotten that you gave
evidence for Dabengwa in the treason trial?"
Yes, they interrogated me, but
there was nothing for me to tell them. When
they took me to Stannard, he
said to them: "You see - I told you he knew
nothing." They wanted to send me
back to Bulawayo by bus. I told them I
didn't have a Zanu PF membership card
and the buses are stopped by people
making sure everyone has a Zanu PF party
card. Stannard said: "You brought
him here, now you've got to send him back.
Why don't you buy him a one-way
plane ticket?" So they did.
"When I left Chaminuka Building, I
looked at a telephone directory,
but I discovered that these days there is
hardly anyone in Harare that I
know. I didn't want to come to your office.
There are some people there that
I don't like to see. That Sister - yes, I
know the whole story and how she
nearly finished you. So I just sat in the
park and read a newspaper until it
was time to go to the
airport."
*Excerpt from Judith Todd's latest book, Through the
Darkness; A Life
in Zimbabwe, available from www.zebrapress.co.za
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Marko Phiri
THE most pressing thing as Zimbabwe
heads for elections next year is
that the will of the people will win the
day amid continued hardships
engineered by the founding fathers despite the
ruling Zanu PF's age-old
insistence it is the only political formation which
holds the eternal keys
of the battered country.
By the current
collective sentiments of the people, it will be very
surprising for the
present dispensation to emerge triumphant, and naturally
students of history
will author tomes trying to dissect what really
happened.
But
by past experience, the ruling party, though roundly despised by
millions
for the misery it has brought, this has still not led to any defeat
at the
polls though events and developments here have always tended to
forecast a
different electoral outcome.
Today, however, as the nation sinks
deeper and deeper into the
whirlpool of mass poverty, kosher patriots will
be inclined to think they
deserve better, thus the election itself will be a
moment to redeem
themselves from the authors of political and economic
mayhem.
It will be recalled that when the results of the 2000 polls
threatened
to make Zanu PF obsolete, some analysts and pro-government types
said what
had buoyed the MDC to such historic victory was the people's
so-called
"protest vote".
Though the legitimacy of the overall
result stood contested by the
MDC, this became a pointer about the ability
of the people, the power of the
ballot to effect peaceful regime change.
Thus ultimately, every election is
a protest against something, and
post-independence Zimbabwe's electorate
sure has many things to protest
about.
While it was said then that the MDC itself had little to
offer in its
manifestos in terms of what it would do in real terms other
than obsession
about unseating an increasingly autocratic regime once it
gained the
majority in parliament, or once it assumed the presidency, this
still did
not seem to bother the people who wanted change, not for change's
sake, but
for a new beginning.
The oracles of old will tell you
there is nothing wrong with moving on
in life, careers, change of
government, love, etc. That is how the human
spirit is allowed to grow and
flourish. If you are trapped in a time capsule
you only wake up in the
future a very confused individual. But then, this is
the pedestrian
philosophy Zimbabwe's founding fathers have vehemently
ignored.
Even an untrained logician will tell you that as Zimbabwe has been
condemned
into a state where the repression of alternative voices and
economic
mismanagement have become the operating principles of the regime,
it only
makes sense then that the people protest about this.
And this time,
the protest is not on the street in the fashion of
civil disobedience
favoured by the robotics professor and other dare-devil
pro-democracy
activists, but through the ballot itself. Yet one lingering
motif has always
been the claims by election observers and opposition
political parties about
the ruling party's brazen inveterate theft of the
ballot.
Street protests have only proved to be a realm of the foolhardy, and
one
only needs the events of 11 March this year as a reminder.
But
then, it is a known historical fact that rigging of the poll has
always been
a phenomenon of African politics and the sad history of
post-independent
Zimbabwe has always been that of the ruling party allegedly
stuffing the
ballot boxes and inflating the votes in its favour.
While it has
been argued by the ruling party and other rabid
pan-Africanists in its tow
that this is the cry of the people who are sore
losers, it apparently
remains unknown even to students of voting behaviour
how a party so despised
can claim victory fair and square.
This sentiment can even be read
in the pledge by President Thabo
Mbeki, the only thing that will redeem
Zimbabwe is a free and fair poll. But
still it will be recalled that the
verdict of the South African observer
mission of the last legislative polls
was that the elections which
diminished the MDC seats were free but not
necessarily fair.
Where do the ordinary voters who feel cheated
seek recourse then to
assure their vote is respected within the realm of a
democratic dispensation
of free and fair elections? If it is free, how can
it be "unfair?" If it is
fair, how can it be "unfree?"
Can
voters and opposition political parties alike then be assured that
a
Zimbabwean election can have both elements for them to have a result that
is
universally accepted?
Zimbabwe's history sure has Zanu PF its
annals, but it has no place in
the country's future. That is a sentiment
informed by events here which has
seen the ruling party dragging the economy
and social services to levels
which we are told have not been seen in a
country not at war.
So, if Zanu PF emerges triumphant in an
election which opposition
forces and international poll observers - who Zanu
PF sees as the "other"
enemy - endorse as free and fair, what would it mean
about international
efforts to help the battered economy when the ruling
party has previously
rebuffed such efforts?
Will the regime
continue pursuing its megaphone diplomacy telling
everybody else singing a
different tune to stuff it? Will bowls of goodwill
line the streets to the
capital to help rebuild the battered economy?
A joke was told about
a thief who broke into State House and fled with
a huge steel box which he
believed had zillions of bearer cheques. In the
safety of his lair he opened
the box only to be met by the caption "2008
election results".
The anecdote probably best illustrates just how disgruntled the people
are
with the system but apparently cannot do anything about it. And then you
still have Zanu PF claiming victory despite everything else pointing to an
outright massacre at the polls.
The people's protest vote even
in the absence of what others still
view as nebulous policy positions of the
fractured opposition, is
legitimated by the fact that outside the ballot,
Zimbabweans have shown that
they cannot pursue other avenues as possible
vehicles of change. Who can
blame them?
Zim Standard
Fiddler
What a scoop! The
Fiddler is always well ahead of the exhausted
chasing pack and this creates
considerable jealousy amongst his less adept
colleagues at The Standard.
He's indeed a standard setter! But the Fiddler
doesn't like to blow his own
trumpet. He can't even play the trumpet. He was
brought up on the fiddle,
like quite a number of people in high places. But
unlike those in elevated
positions, he never stands around fiddling while
Rome burns. The Fiddler is
a man of few words and many bold actions. He
scorns danger, providing
there's absolutely no risk to himself. (His many
degrees in cowardice and
spinelessness were all awarded magna maxima cum
laude.)
The
Fiddler's can now disclose that a new Election Bill will soon be
sped
tracked through parliament. The Fiddler's source is naturally
confidential
but it can be disclosed that the informant was a high-ranking
member of the
Chikomba National Local Commissariat. The source only charged
a few million
Zim shekels.
This legislation will guarantee that the next election
will be
absolutely free and fair, will fully comply with all regional and
international standards, and will be flavour of the month with SADC. It
reads as follows:
Election Bill (2008-2010)
1.
Interpretation
Not necessarily in this Bill- "breakdancing" means
toyi-toying for the
wrong party;
"chef" means a person with the
divine to rule;
"correct" means not incorrect;
"correct party" means what it says;
"court" means the court that
will inevitably rule this Bill to be
constitutionality;
"court
order" means a stupid piece of paper that can be torn up;
"dead"
means not alive except for voting purposes or a person who
votes for the
wrong party;
"domestic violence" means gentle persuasion at
election time;
"election" means any process by which the correct
party wins;
"election challenges to the right outcome" means don't
be silly;
"election monitor" means a green bomber;
"free and fair election" means an election that leads to the right
outcome;
"ghost voters" means voters instructed by ancestral
spirits to do the
right thing;
"reward" means voting for the
right party;
"register of voters" means a list of all those persons
who deserve to
vote;
"voter" means any person who is wisely
prepared to be politically
correct;
"law enforcement agencies"
means all loyal agencies that contribute to
ensuring that the result is
correct;
"lawyer" means an interfering busybody who can be ignored
or worse;
"not quite entirely free and fair but beautifully
legitimate" means
South African endorsement;
"party" means a
party other than an incorrect party and, for the wrong
party, has nothing to
do with celebration;
"President" means the one who cannot
lose;
"politically correct" means supporting the right
side;
"right party" means if you do not know what this is we are
more than
willing to re-orient you;
"secret vote" means a vote
known only by those who need to know;
"subversion" means all
activities that the correct party considers to
be unacceptable;
"public gatherings" means public gatherings of the correct party ;
"regime change" means the election of the wrong party;
"rigging"
means to make suitable adjustments to ensure the right
result;
"voter" means a person who has contributed to the right outcome;
"whites" means non-indigenous persons who nobody in their right mind
would
allow to vote;
"wrong party" means a party other than the right
party;
2. All elections must produce the right
outcome.
3. Every Zimbabwean citizen who is over five years of age
and is not
dead shall have a right to vote in the elections, provided
that:
a)Persons who are dead, but who would have voted for the
correct party
were it not for the fact that they are dead, shall be entitled
to vote;
b) All persons who show any signs of not wanting to vote
for the
correct political party shall be entitled to vote provided that they
pass
the simple test bashfully administered in the basement of the
Prevention of
Disorder Section;
c) All eligible voters outside
the country who are unable to return to
Zimbabwe to vote shall be entitled
to cast a vote at a central polling
station conveniently situated on the
Soloman Islands;
4. The Registrar-General, as he has so ably done
in the past, shall
continue to ensure that all eligible voters are
registered to vote, provided
that persons seeking registration must prove
beyond reasonable or
unreasonable doubt that they do not have any stupid
thoughts of voting for
the wrong party.
Time for Sadc to act on Zimbabwe is now
IT is becoming more evident
that SADC countries are becoming more
impatient with President Robert
Mugabe.
Recently the Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was openly
critical of
Mugabe. In Botswana members of parliament have expressed
frustration with
Mugabe. But it is the statement by SA Foreign Affairs
Deputy Minister Aziz
Pahad last week which has in my opinion raised the
stakes.
Pahad was quoted as saying: "What more could we have done?
We have
been urging the government to address the situation since the crisis
developed with the land problem.
"We have tried systematically,
bilaterally and multilaterally to
assist the Zimbabweans resolve their
crisis. In the end, those pictures (of
Zimbabweans squatting in shacks) must
be of concern to us all. With reports
that Zanu PF has lacked commitment in
the current talks with MDC there is no
doubt that the South Africans have
now been pushed as far as they can be
pushed."
Even the Inkatha
leader weighed in last week with a complaint that the
Zimbabwe Refugee
crisis is causing problems for South Africa. Ironically the
South Africans
and other SADC countries have been advised by many people,
including
Zimbabweans to be more upfront in dealing with Mugabe for a long
time but
the South Africans preferred "quiet diplomacy", whatever that is.
Some SADC
leaders openly expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe.
It is quite
obvious that the longer the Zimbabwe crisis remains
unresolved the more
people and the more countries will be affected
negatively. This is not the
first time that Mugabe has lacked seriousness in
efforts to address national
issues. Mugabe is rightly blamed for the
collapse of the negotiations with
MDC in 2003. He is also to blame for the
failure of efforts by the former UN
Secretary General Koffi Annan to resolve
the Zimbabwe crisis.
During the Lancaster House talks in 1979 Mugabe walked out for several
weeks
until pressure was exerted on him by leaders of the Frontline states,
Julius
Nyerere and Samora Machel. I therefore think that until SADC leaders
become
more robust and assertive in dealing with Mugabe the crisis will
remain
unresolved and more people will suffer.
SADC leaders should take
cues from the way West Africans through
ECOWAS have dealt with wayward
leaders in their region and the way Nyerere
dealt with Idi Amin in Uganda.
SADC countries should make it clear to Mugabe
that the game is up. The
meeting in Lusaka should provide an opportunity for
the SADC Heads of State
to deal with the Zimbabwe crisis decisively. The
Commonwealth Heads of State
did the same thing in 1979 in Lusaka by ushering
the Lancaster House talks,
which gave birth to Zimbabwe.
If it means Zimbabwe being expelled
from SADC so be it, if there is no
progress in the current talks with MDC.
This should be followed by tougher
measures on the part of SADC. By so doing
I believe SADC countries will be
providing a fair deal for both the people
of Zimbabwe and their own
citizens.
Jonathan
Chawora
Birmingham
United
Kingdom.
--------
Uncaring black leaders
IT's surprising and
disappointing that black leaders
such as those in the mould of Mozambique's
and Ghana's foreign ministers
Alcider Abreu and Nan Akufani Addo
respectively, should stand up and call
for President Robert Mugabe to be
allowed to attend the EU-Africa Summit in
Lisbon, Portugal, in December this
year.
In the first place, do these so-called learned ministers know
why
President Mugabe was slapped with a travel ban? Mugabe got the sanctions
because of his unprecedented repressive laws that have caused untold
suffering to his own people.
After all, these two ministers -
who are they to speak on behalf of
the Zimbabweans who are suffering under
Mugabe? Zimbabweans know very well
that the African Union is conniving
openly with Mugabe's dictatorship and
they see no wrong in what he has done
to the suffering people of this
country.
Let those who are
fighting together with the oppressed people of this
country continue to do
so without hindrance from these blind and foolish AU
spokespersons.
Opposition leaders such as Morgan Tsvangirai and
Lovemore Madhuku and
others were savagely assaulted by police in March this
year with Mugabe's
approval.
Democratic organisations the world
over protested but we never heard a
word of disapproval from the AU. So the
two foreign ministers should shut up
and mind their own business.
Zimbabweans don't need or recognise you.
D R
Mutungagore
Mutare.