http://thecitizen.co.tz
Sunday, 19 August 2012 14:14
By
Kitsepile Nyathi
The Citizen Correspondent
Harare. Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has made a raft of
amendments to the country’s
draft constitution to restore the president’s
powers.
A draft
produced by a cross parliamentary committee last month had diluted
President
Mugabe’s powers and compelled him to name a successor.
That document had
already been approved by Zanu-PF’s ruling coalition
partners who have vowed
to reject the new amendments.
State media on Friday said the party’s
amendments explicitly banned same sex
marriages and dual citizenship.
The
original draft was silent on homosexuality and provided for dual
citizenship.
Zanu-PF also wants a proposal that presidential
candidates must appoint
running mates scrapped and allow winners to choose
their vice presidents.
The proposal was seen as a way of forcing
President Mugabe, in power since
1980, to name a successor in the next
elections.
South African President Jacob Zuma who visited Harare
Wednesday ahead of a
heads of state SADC summit in Mozambique noted that the
disagreements over
the new constitution had the potential to derail
preparations for fresh
elections.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Mr Rugare
Gumbo said his party was looking forward to
SADC bringing together the three
governing parties on the constitution
making process. “We expect SADC to
take a decision compelling the political
parties in government to complete
the constitutional making process and see
it through to the referendum, “ he
said.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said amending the draft would be a
violation of his power sharing agreement with President Mugabe.
"It
has been decided that the matter would be re-visited at the summit,” he
said
after meeting President Zuma.
"Clause 6 of the 19th Amendment doesn’t give
veto power to the principals
(on the draft constitution).
"Principals
cannot veto what Copac (Parliament Constitutional Select
Committee) has
done.”
The impasse has put pressure on President Zuma to act after
Zimbabwe was
given 12 months to prepare for elections by SADC in
June.
The South African leader is SADC’s mediator in Zimbabwe’s long
drawn
political impasse.
http://www.iol.co.za
August 19 2012 at 02:33pm
By Paul
Fauvet
Maputo - Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti
told reporters yesterday in
Maputo, where he is attending the summit of the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC), that the new impasse over the
Zimbabwean constitution is
entirely the responsibility of President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.
Earlier in the week SADC Executive Secretary Tomas
Salomao was optimistic
that the new constitution had been agreed to by all
parties in Zimbabwe and
could go to a referendum in October, thus paving the
way for general
elections next year.
But that timetable has been
thrown into uncertainty by Zanu-PF’s demand for
further amendments. Biti,
who is also general secretary of the main faction
of the Movement for
Democratic change (MDC), led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, told the
Mozambique News Agency that, as far as both MDC
factions are concerned, the
constitution was a done deal.
“Three years were spent discussing the
constitution,” he pointed out, and
the two MDCs did not accept Zanu-PF
reopening those discussions. “When the
Zanu-PF team negotiated with the
MDCs, we assumed they had the authority
from their party to do
so”.
Biti insisted that the constitution could not be amended here and
there,
because it all hung together as a coherent whole. He was unsure what
the
SADC summit could do to unblock this latest impasse.
Both MDCs
wanted the referendum on the constitution to take place in
October, Biti
said.
If there was no longer agreement with Zanu-PF, perhaps the simplest
thing to
do would be to put both texts before the Zimbabwean electorate –
the text
agreed by negotiators of all three parties and the one Zanu-PF is
now
writing on its own.
Meanwhile, southern African leaders were
yesterday mulling over presidential
elections in Madagascar that would
exclude the two main rivals, strongman
Andry Rajoelina and ousted Marc
Ravalomanana, a mediator told Sapa-AFP.
Seychelles Foreign Minister
Jean-Paul Adams said the SADC summit was
discussing the proposal to end a
stand-off between the two rivals that has
stalled elections in the troubled
country.
Neither side has yet reacted to the SADC proposals. The
15-nation bloc
suspended Madagascar in 2009 after Rajoelina toppled
Ravalomanana.
The question of Ravolomanana’s return from exile in SA has
been the main
stumbling block to the holding of elections to end the
three-year crisis on
Africa’s largest island.
Rajoelina says
Ravalomanana should be prevented, at all costs, from
returning home. He was
sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment over the
killing of 36 protesters
by presidential guards during unrest in 2009, and
faces life in prison with
hard labour if he returns.
Adam said SADC was working on a plan to ensure
peace and security should
Ravalomanana go home.
The
Seychelles has in recent weeks hosted two failed mediation attempts to
get
the two leaders to patch up their differences.
Mauritius Foreign Minister
Arvin Boolell said the peace plan signed by the
feuding sides in September
last year under the auspices of SADC had to be
respected. - Independent
Foreign Service
http://www.sanews.gov.za
Compiled
by the Government Communication and Information System
Date: 19 Aug
2012
--------------------
By
Chris Bathembu
Maputo - Regional leaders who convened for the SADC summit
in Maputo have
heaped praise on South Africa's President Jacob Zuma for his
mediation to
the Zimbabwean political impasse.
The two-day Heads of
State Summit which ended in Maputo on Saturday elected
Tanzania's President
Jakaya Kikwete as the new chairperson of the regional
body's Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. This effectively
makes Kikwete
the new facilitator in Zimbabwe at a time that the country is
about to hold
a referendum on a new constitution.
The summit adopted Zuma's report on
Zimbabwe and said it noted progress in
the implementation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) signed by
Zimbabwean politicians in 2008. It urged
signatories to the GPA to develop a
road map with timelines that were guided
by the requirements necessary for
the adoption of the new constitution. Zuma
had to leave the summit early on
Friday due to a domestic problem in South
Africa.
Kikwete said: "We are grateful to South Africa and President Zuma
for
steering the affairs of the organ so well in the past year...we will
surely
build on the good work he and other members of the troika organ have
done".
He said the new members of the Troika will work with Zimbabweans
in ensuring
that all the necessary institutions were in place to allow for
the adoption
of that country's new constitution, a process SADC wants to see
completed in
a few months.
Zimbabwean leaders have also been urged to
work with a SADC appointed
facilitator to iron out any challenges with
regard to the constitution and
its implementation ahead of the June 2013
deadline, "bearing in mind the
timeframes and the necessity to hold free and
fair elections".
"Summit resolved that if there are any difficulties with
regards to the
constitution and implementation of agreements, the
facilitator should be
called up to engage with the parties and assist them
to resolve such
issues".
On Madagascar, SADC called on Malagasy
political players to implement the
road map agreed to in Luanda last year
and to create a favourable condition
for free and fair elections. -
SAnews.gov.za
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare,
August 19, 2012 - Zimbabwe is at risk of not meeting International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) 2015 deadline by which all countries under
the United Nations should have migrated from analogue to digital
broadcasting.
This might result in the country not being able to
receive or send out
television and radio signals.
The Acting Chief
Executive officer of TransMedia, Rufaro Zaranyika told a
media conference
organised by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
on Friday in
Harare that the country will meet the ITU deadline.
Apart from the ITU
deadline Zimbabwe is also lagging behind the SADC
2013deadline by which
regional countries should have migrated from analogue
to the digital
platform.
“As it is at the moment if we don’t get government support,
it’s very
unlikely that we will be able to meet the SADC 2013 deadline and
the 2015
ITU deadline,” said Zaranyika.
“The switch is compulsory and
any country which decides not to migrate will
not be protected from signal
interference from other countries as ITU will
not be able to protect its
signals. It is also a possibility that we might
experience a media blackout
if we don’t digitalise.”
The TransMedia official said currently the
country has only managed to
source some of the required digital transmitters
which will arrive in the
country in October. This, he said, only represents
less than 5 percent of
the work that needs to be done before the SADC and
ITU deadlines.
He said TransMedia which offers broadcasting
infrastructural services in the
country requires an initial amount of $ 30
million dollars to set up digital
transmitters only yet it was only
allocated $ 5 million from the current
national budget which was further cut
to$ 2 million when the Minister of
Finance Tendai Biti moved to austerity
measures in his last mid-term
budgetary review.
http://ewn.co.za/
Eyewitness News | 4 hours ago HARARE - New diamond
deposits have reportedly
been discovered in Zimbabwe's Eastern Chimanimani
Mountains and the gems
could be as good as those found in the infamous
Chiadzwa fields.
President Robert Mugabe's side of the coalition
government has picked the
companies currently mining in Chiadzwa and there
are fears these new
deposits will be claimed by Zanu-PF.
Zimbabwe is
now the world’s fifth largest diamond producer, according to the
Kimberly
Process.
Experts say because the gems are found in a same geological
structure as in
Chiadzwa, they are likely to be of similar
quality.
The Standard newspaper says a Russian company already involved
in gold
mining in Zimbabwe has partnered with a local mining company and
will go
into full diamond mining in Chimanimani by the end of
2012.
However, the Movement for Democratic Change’s Deputy Secretary for
Mines
Pearson Mungofa says the new diamonds are not being properly accounted
for.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
19/08/2012 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
MINES Minister Obert Mpofu has maintained that Zimbabwe
is set to dominate
the global diamond market after Kimberly Process (KP)
noted a marginal
increase in output and said the country was now the fifth
biggest producer
of the gems in the world.
A recent KP report said
the country produced 8,5 million carats in 2011, up
0.7 percent compared to
2010, making Zimbabwe the fifth biggest diamond
producer after Russia,
Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Canada.
Commenting on
the report Mpofu said: “We were recently given certification
by the KP (to
export diamonds), but we have already shaken the world market
both in terms
of production and demand.
“Our gems are a force to reckon with. If we
had not been hindered in selling
our diamonds in the past years by the West,
we could be one of the top
countries in the world in terms of diamond
production.”
Speaking after the KP lifted a ban on the export of diamonds
from Marange,
Mpofu said Zimbabwe would no longer need to beg for assistance
from donors
adding the country could expect a US$2 billion boost to its
annual budget
from the gems.
But his upbeat assessment contrasts with
complains by Finance Minister
Tendai Biti that the country was not
benefiting from the diamonds and hints
that proceeds were being diverted
from the treasury.
Biti recently cut his 2012 national budget by 10
percent saying very little
of the US$600 million promised from diamond
revenues had been remitted to
treasury.
However, Mpofu said Zimbabwe
was being forced to sell its gems at below
market prices because of concerns
over their legal status after the United
States imposed sanctions on some of
the companies operating at Marange.
“In 2011, Zimbabwe exported its goods
at a price of US$54,31 per carat,
though their book price was US$56,01 per
carat,” the KP report said.
“This confirms the previously published
reports citing some sources to the
effect that because of an unclear legal
status of diamonds coming from
Zimbabwe, this country sold them low to get
at least some money.”
Mpofu said the country could not optimise benefits from
its gems because of
sanctions imposed by the West.
“If you look at
the price of our diamonds captured in the KP report, one can
easily see that
we are selling the diamonds at a low price as a result of
the sanctions that
have been imposed on our diamond companies,” he said.
“It has become difficult for our diamond-producing
companies in Chiadzwa to
sell their gems despite the KP certification.”
By ANGUS SHAW,
Associated Press – 4 hours ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Officials of the
Salvation Army in Zimbabwe said
Sunday they have given a Canadian doctor 48
hours to leave the southern
African nation after he was fired from a mission
hospital.
Dr. Paul Thistle's departure was moved forward from Sept. 1
after villagers
incited violence at the medical facility on Thursday to
demand his
reinstatement, said Vinece Chigariro, head of the church group in
Zimbabwe.
Thistle was the chief medical officer at the Howard hospital about
80
kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Harare. After 16 years at the mission,
Thistle had clashed with church leaders over fund raising for the hospital
and local aid projects.
He said the order to leave was "not a legal
decision" by Zimbabwean
immigration or police authorities.
Twelve
people were arrested after Thursday's unrest and eight nurses were
held for
questioning on allegations of incitement to violence.
"The nurses are
people who treat and care for the victims of trauma and
don't create it,"
Thistle said.
Chigariro said Thistle had challenged church leaders and he
was being
reassigned "for the good of the church." Ordained Salvation Army
officers
"sign a covenant with God and make an undertaking to be loyal to
the church
leadership," she said.
Thistle told The Associated Press
on Sunday he will leave Zimbabwe after
conferring with his Zimbabwean family
members. He is married to a Zimbabwean
nurse.
He left the mission
Saturday. Disruptions at the hospital, including a heavy
police presence
since Thursday, have left the facility running at about one
quarter of its
capacity, he said. Patients were transferred to other
facilities unable to
treat them adequately, he said.
"People are suffering and dying and the
church doesn't care. I can live a
safe life in Canada but the professional
staff we have worked with for
nearly 20 years are suffering now too. That's
not right," said Thistle, a
fluent speaker of the local Shona language who
was born in Scarborough in
Canada and qualified as a doctor at the Toronto
university.
His work at the hospital and his far reaching programs to
treat AIDS
sufferers in the impoverished Chiweshe district have won
accolades from
medical professionals in Zimbabwe and worldwide.
The
popular and well-loved physician was carried shoulder high by villagers
during a week of dispute over his future. Community elders said they wanted
him to stay.
"The people have spoken but they have been overruled,"
he said.
Thistle said he differed with church leaders over donor aid and
some private
donor funding and project materials for the mission went
unaccounted for.
"I don't want to tarnish the name of the Salvation Army
worldwide, but we
have a crisis in the church leadership in Zimbabwe," he
said.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, August 19,2012
---Former smaller MDC Senator for
Lobengula-Magwegwe Thabiso Ndlovu, who
announced his defection to MDC-T last
Friday described his party leader
Welshman Ncube as an “arrogant loser”
saying the party will not win a single
parliamentary seat in next elections.
Ndlovu who was also smaller MDC’s
Bulawayo provincial secretary for defence
and security told journalists in
Bulawayo that Ncube’s party is already
crumbling because of
divisions.
“The reason why I have decided to leave Welshman’s party and
join MDC-T is
because that man has destroyed it. He runs the party like his
personally
tuck-shop and is very arrogant. He is a blinded tribalist who
also runs the
party on ethnicity.
"Actually Welshman is the reason
why the original united MDC crumbled; we
have four MDCs right now because of
him. At first he pushed out Morgan
Tsvangirai from united MDC.
“After
that he pushed out Job Sikhala, Arthur Mutambara, Abdnenico Bhebhe,
NjabulisoMguni, and Norman Mpofu among others from his party. He doesn’t
listen to anybody and if his party wins a single parliamentary seat next
election it will be a great miracle,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu was smaller
MDC Senator for Lobengula- Magwewe from 2005 to 2008. He
lost his senatorial
seat to the late MDC-T’s Gladys Gombami-Dube.
Gombami–Dube succumbed to
bird- flu in December last year.
Ncube was elected as the smaller MDC
president in 2011, replacing Mutambara.
Tsvangirai and Ncube are also
former allies who launched the united MDC in
1999 with the former becoming
the President whilst the later becoming the
Secretary General of the
party.
Last year Ncube once described Tsvangirai as a useless leader who
has
betrayed Zimbabweans by allowing the powers bestowed upon him upon
signing
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to slip away to President
Robert
Mugabe.
The vibrant united MDC party split in 2005 over
strategy and participation
in Senate elections held that year.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
19/08/2012 00:00:00
by
SAPA
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa must
resign
following the death of mineworkers at Lonmin's Marikana operations,
in the
North West, expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema said on
Saturday.
"President Zuma decided over the massacre of our people, he
must step down."
Malema was speaking in Wonderkop where around 34 people
were killed in a
clash between police on Thursday.
He said Mthethwa
must also resign because the police shot people under his
command.
"He must resign because he failed in executing his
duties."
Malema told the crowd that the police were supposed to protect
them and not
kill them.
Stand firm
"It has never happened
before that so many people were killed in a single
day and it became
normal," he said.
Malema, who pledged his support for the striking
mineworkers urged them not
to retreat and to stand firm on their demand for
a R12 500 salary.
He said the reason the police shot at the people was
because they were
protecting the interest of ANC NEC member, Cyril
Ramaphosa, who healleged
owned shares in Lonmin.
"Lonmin had a high
political connection that is why our people were killed.
They were killed to
protect the shares of Cyril Ramaphosa," he said.
He told the gathering
that it was amazing that Ramaphosa was able to buy a
buffalo for R18m but
could not pay them the R12'500 they were demanding.
Earlier Saturaday,
the Shanduka Group, which was formed by Ramaphosa,
pledged R2m for the
burial of scores of people killed in the Lonmin clashes.
No
president
Malema said one reason why he called for the resignation of
President Zuma
was that he failed in his duty to protect the citizens of the
country.
"When you were killed, Zuma was still in the country. He decided
to go to
Maputo, Mozambique and once he was there he was advised that he
made a wrong
decision. That is why he returned to the country yesterday
[Friday]."
He told the crowd that if they were asked who is the president
of the
country, they should say they do not have a president.
"I
don't have a president. Zuma is not a president."
He called on the
mineworkers to form a militant union that would represent
their
interests.
He said that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was no
longer a union
that represented the interests of the workers but interested
in making more
money.
Peaceful crowd
"NUM is not a union,
it's a company. They hold shares in mining companies,
that is why when there
are problems in the mines they are the first to sell
out the
workers."
The crowd dispersed peacefully after Malema's address.
A
total of 34 people were killed in a shootout that erupted near the mine
when
police tried to disperse striking miners.
More than 78 people were
injured. Another 10 people had by then been killed
in the violent protests
at the mine over the past week.
Mourning the mineworkers
The Vigil observed a
period of silence to mourn the massacre of mineworkers by police in South
Africa. We were horrified that such a thing could happen in a country to which
we look for help.
It is difficult to
avoid the conclusion that there is a fatal flaw in South African governance that
can allow the mining confrontation to develop to this point – just as it has
allowed the situation in Zimbabwe to deteriorate.
South African leaders
appear willfully blind to realities – from ‘Crisis, what crisis?’ Mbeki to
Zuma’s dismissal of Zanu PF’s latest attempt to subvert the constitution-making
process as ‘minor hitches’.
In the hope of seeing
a more dynamic approach to the Zimbabwe problem the Vigil is submitting the
following letter to the President of Mozambique on Tuesday as part of the 21st
Movement Free Zimbabwe Global Diaspora Protest.
His
Excellency President Armando Emílio Guebuza
c/o
Mozambique High Commission
21
Fitzroy Square
London
W1T 6EL
Your
Excellency
Zimbabweans
in the diaspora – of whom there are millions – urge you as the new Chair of SADC
to give priority to dealing with the dangerous situation in Zimbabwe in the
run-up to next year’s crucial elections.
We
are pleased to see that the summit in Maputo reaffirmed the decisions already
taken on Zimbabwe but we see little evidence of urgency in the summit
resolutions, particularly in preparing the ground so that the elections will be
free and fair.
We are unhappy that
President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party is still being allowed to put obstacles in the
way of any reforms. We draw your attention to the remarks made by Daniel Bekele,
Africa Director at Human Right Watch: ‘SADC leaders
need to maintain pressure on ZANU-PF to honor its commitment to reform. They
should make it clear that there will be consequences if ZANU-PF fails to adhere
to the terms of the election road map and the GPA.’ (See: http://allafrica.com/stories/201208150842.html).
We believe SADC
should now insist that Zanu PF immediately end its refusal to the appointment of
SADC representatives to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(JOMIC).
The letter will be
presented to the Mozambique High Commission during a demonstration on Tuesday
21st August from 12 – 2 pm (see Events and Notices for
details).
Other
points
·
Claire Freeth of the
Mike Campbell Foundation has contacted us to ask for support for the ‘Save the
SADC Tribunal’ Campaign. You can read their media release on this link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/434-save-the-sadc-tribunal.
The campaign is supported by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and John Sentamu,
Archbishop of York. To sign the petition go to: http://chn.ge/SaveSADCT and for videos,
check: http://youtu.be/jXQjqqBv4tE and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm2BgeKSMZo&feature=youtu.be.
Claire also asks for support for the Mike Campbell Foundation expedition
‘Sailing across the Makgadikgadi Pans’ which will raise money for the work of
the Foundation. To sponsor go to www.justgiving.com/Mike-Campbell-Foundation.
We look forward to Ben Freeth’s visit to the Vigil on 10th
November.
·
We were saddened to
hear of the death of Vigil supporter Loreta Govere, who was MDC Portsmouth
Twinning co-ordinator. Our condolences go to her family and friends. We continue
to collect for the family of Vigil supporter Bernard Hukwa whose body was found
in the Thames on 9th July.
·
Our best wishes for
her recovery go to Vigil supporter Sue Shaw who had a serious stroke in May and
spent 2 months in hospital. She is now at home with carers visiting 4 times a
day.
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: 57 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
Eighth
21st Movement Protest. Tuesday
21st August from 12 noon – 2 pm outside the Mozambique High
Commission, 21 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6EL. Nearest stations: Warren Street,
Great Portland Street.
·
Next Swaziland
Vigil. Saturday
25th August from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi friends. Nearest
stations: St James’s Park and Victoria. www.swazilandvigil.co.uk.
·
Zimbabwe Action Forum
(ZAF). Saturday
1st September from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel
(first floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the
same road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the
direction away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the
south side of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo
Bridge. The entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its
famous Indian restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest
underground: Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn. Future special
ZAF meetings: Saturday 13th October when we mark the
10th anniversary of the Vigil and Saturday 10th November
when our special guest will be Ben Freeth. These two meetings will take the
place of the regular ZAF meetings in October and November. Both events at 6.30
pm at Strand Continental Hotel (first floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R
1JA. For directions see entry above.
· The Rain that Washes
showing
at the Lounge, Leicester Square Theatre, from Monday 17th September –
Saturday 6th October at 7 pm. Check: http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/126523428/events
or phone the booking line: 08448733433 for
specific dates and to book tickets, ‘Instantly plunged into a young man’s
compelling story of growing up in turbulent Zimbabwe, we live and breathe his
extraordinary journey from innocence to escape, finally returning to his
homeland to witness the greatest betrayal of all . . . Inspired by a series of
interviews between Zimbabwean Christopher Maphosa and writer Dave Carey, The
Rain That Washes is a true story that is poignant, political and most of all.
personal’.
·
Zimbabwe Vigil
Highlights 2011 can be viewed on this
link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch other
Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
Useful websites:
www.zanupfcrime.com which reports on Zanu
PF abuses and www.ipaidabribe.org.zw where people can
report corruption 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.zimvigil.co.uk.
Are your individual property rights adequately protected?
Moderator: Rejoice Ngwenya [Liberal activist]
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 19, 2012 in Comment
SOUTH African
President Jacob Zuma’s much-anticipated visit to Zimbabwe ––
his first
official visit since 2010 –– was auspicious in many respects as
the country
enters the home stretch towards holding credible elections to
elect a
government of the people’s choice. The meetings he held with unity
government principals and political leaders on Wednesday were in preparation
for the Sadc troika meeting and main summit scheduled to start yesterday and
today, respectively, in Maputo, Mozambique.
Zuma arrived at a time when
the constitution-making process, a major
signpost to the polls for the
Government of National Unity (GNU) which has
lurched from one crisis to the
next since its formation in 2009, has hit
more turbulence, with Zanu PF and
MDC formations poles apart on the next
move after the belated production of
a draft constitution. While the MDC
formations insist the draft is final and
must proceed to the second
all-stakeholders conference and referendum
without changes, Zanu PF was
until yesterday making wholesale amendments to
the document.
It is a measure of the deep-seated feuding and
disparate interests within
the so-called unity government that despite being
two years behind schedule
and gobbling up US$45 million, the
constitution-making process appears no
nearer to conclusion than when it
began three years ago.
Soon after separately meeting GNU principals
on Wednesday in Harare, Zuma
expressed satisfaction at the progress made by
the parties so far in
implementing the Global Political Agreement (GPA) ––
which he has indeed
done several times before –– but conceded there were
still “hitches”
requiring ironing out if the agreement is to be fully
consummated. The fact
of the matter is that the GPA will not be anywhere
near full implementation
before elections. And the sooner those holding
hopes to the contrary,
especially the MDC formations, accept this the better
for all concerned.
Thanks largely to Zanu PF’s intransigence and duplicity,
the hybrid
government is woefully short of time to make good a yawning GPA
implementation deficit. It is inconceivable that most of the outstanding
agreed-to reforms will be fast-tracked and implemented to make a material
difference to the Zimbabwean environment before
elections.
Therein lies the priority imperative: Zuma must henceforth
ensure that the
parties to the GNU focus on those deliverables that would
guarantee a free
and fair election –– the ultimate objective of the GPA, but
an elusive goal
since Independence in 1980. Indeed Zimbabwe has registered a
modicum of
success in some GPA key result areas that include “restoration of
economic
stability and growth”, “sanctions and measures”, “respect for
national
institutions and events” and “freedom of assembly and association”.
Others,
such as “national youth service” and “external interference”, though
important, can always be revisited later to allow partners in the coalition
government to expend more effort towards ensuring no-one would be able to
steal the forthcoming crucial elections and hence the nation’s hopes and
aspirations.
So for Zuma and Sadc — the guarantors of the GPA ––
political consensus is
the name of the game. Pressure must be ratcheted up
in Maputo to ensure that
the unity government protagonists find common
ground and reach consensus on
the way forward, in such a way that none of
the parties feels shortchanged.
A major shortcoming of facilitation efforts
thus far is the impression that
Zanu PF clearly holds the whip hand, to the
extent of making unilateral
decisions within the GNU and thumbing its nose
at GPA provisions. Zanu PF’s
overhauling of the latest draft smacks of
another attempt to ride roughshod
over coalition partners. And Mugabe’s
claims to reporters that the GPA was
progressing well should be taken with
the proverbial pinch of salt, given
his failed strident calls for early
elections, and description of the GNU
as “dysfunctional” and a “creature”
that had outlived its welcome.
As Sadc deliberates the perennial
Zimbabwean question, it should keep its
eyes on the ball to ensure that no
foul play derails long-suffering
Zimbabweans from their goal of undisputed
polls. It must keep alive to the
fact that the unity government arose after
Zanu PF launched a violent
presidential campaign after losing its
parliamentary majority. Thus Sadc
must use the tried-and tested carrot and
stick method to ensure that through
give-and-take, the crucial
constitution-making process moves from the
carousel it’s currently stuck in,
and heads for the finishing line. Obscure
election roadmaps and equally hazy
GPA implementation matrixes will just not
work again; for Zuma and Sadc the
way forward is to focus on free, fair and
credible elections.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 19, 2012 in
Opinion
Eric Bloch
THE national sport with the greatest following
is undoubtedly the Blame-Biti
game. Politicians, workers in commerce and
industry and in other economic
sectors are all involved, but the most ardent
of the game’s supporters are
those in the public service. Scathing,
castigatory and virulent criticisms
of Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance,
Tendai Biti, are now common.
Indisputably, those most vocal are government
employees (usually known as
the public service or civil service,
notwithstanding that many of them are
disdainfully dismissive of the
public’s interests, and all too many are
unaware of the term “civil”). They
are continuously blame Biti for not
giving them substantive salary
increases. Incontrovertibly, most of them
are seriously underpaid,
receiving salaries significantly below the poverty
datum line (PDL) –– the
minimum required for the health and wellbeing of
their families and
dependants.
However, in their pursuit of the Blame-Biti game, they
completely disregard
that their opponent is severely constrained in meeting
their income demands;
for he cannot pay that which he does not have.
Football and rugby cannot be
played without a ball, cricket cannot be played
without wickets; similarly
public service salaries cannot be increased
without money, or equivalent
alternative resources. Biti’s ministry is
devoid of the required financial
resources; the funds received are used for
other purposes, many of which are
of even greater importance to Zimbabwe
than the increase of incomes of civil
servants.
No matter how
convincingly civil servants are leading contestants in the
Blame-Biti game,
there are many other exceptionally adept players. The
majority of
Zimbabweans blame Biti for his alleged failure to reverse the
high costs of
living that Zimbabweans are experiencing. In so doing, they
disregard the
skills that he successfully applied in almost totally halting
the
hyperinflation that afflicted them in 2008. At that time, prices rose
so
rapidly they exceeded the highest levels of inflation ever experienced
anywhere in the world. Prices were soaring upwards at such a pace that, by
November 2008, they were rising between the time of entry into a shop to
reaching the cashier’s desk.
Within a few months of Biti becoming
Finance minister, inflation had
declined to single digit levels. However,
that has not satisfied Biti’s
opponents, for they contend he should have
brought about deflation. That he
could not bring about deflation without
other teammates playing their role
is contemptuously
ignored.
Other Biti-bashers include co-ministers in the government of
so-called
“national unity”. They seek to win the game by deploring his
failure to
meet their demands for funding education, healthcare and other
services, and
for long overdue infrastructural rehabilitation,
refurbishment, and
development. Although none can play football without the
ball, they believe
Biti should pay salaries without having the
money.
Others blame Biti by virtually condemning him for the
excessive expenditures
of his ministerial colleagues on endless
international trips, luxurious new
motorcades and other unnecessary
government spending. In criticising him for
the profligacy of others, they
ignore the extent to which his hands are tied
to ensure that he cannot
control the spendthrifts; they also ignore his
recurrent calls for an end to
unnecessary expenditure.
Although many play the Blame-Biti game by
identifying and using expenditures
which he should incur and fails to, and
those which should not be incurred
but which his colleagues do, there are
some who effectively identify Biti’s
actions of commission and omission ––
albeit they are fairly few. Foremost
of such actions is his imposition of
oppressive taxation on below-PDL
incomes of many Zimbabweans taxpayers. This
intensifies workers’ suffering
and distress.
Their expenditures
within the economy are consequently more constrained to
the prejudice of the
viability of commerce and industry. There is thus
minimisation of inflows of
value added tax, customs duties and surtax, and
excise duties, into the
emaciated national treasury.
Thus those that play the Blame-Biti game
do so by blaming him for actions he
has had to take, for others which he
cannot take without the requisite
funds, and for the profligate misdeeds of
others. A few play the game more
legitimately by confining the blame to his
actions or inactions.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
August 19, 2012 in
Opinion
Dumisani Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe on Monday
delivered an attention-grabbing yet
controversial and problematic Heroes Day
speech in which he warned that
youth unemployment posed a potential threat
to national security and
stability.
Effectively he cast his speech within
a broad political and socio-economic
context with the unmistakable although
tacit allusions to the Arab Spring
causes and consequences.
Sadc
leaders have at their meetings made more unambiguous references to the
North
African and Middle East situations, alluding to implications for
Zimbabwe.
The Arab Spring swept through Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and
Yemen. Civil
uprisings –– spearheaded by largely unemployed youths armed
with social
media tools –– also erupted in other countries. Syria is
currently burning
after catching the viral contagion.
Zimbabwe
almost caught the virus when militant political and civic activist
Munyaradzi Gwisai and others were arrested and convicted for plotting
similar protests to topple Mugabe.
The Arab protests shared a lot
of things in common, some of which can be
correlated to the situation in
Zimbabwe. The revolts were generally based on
civil resistance in sustained
campaigns involving mass demonstrations,
protests, rallies and strikes. The
use of social media was key in organising
and coordinating communication in
the face of brutal state repression and
censorship.
This brings
us back to Mugabe’s remarks about unemployed youths and the
threat they pose
to “national peace and stability” –– a coded reference to
the danger the
suffering youths constitute to his rule, which remains intact
at the core
despite having been shaken to its foundation during the past
decade of
political turmoil and upheaval, mainly in 2008 at the zenith of
the economic
meltdown, unemployment and resultant instability.
But before tackling
Mugabe’s statements, it is important to recall and point
out the numerous
factors and catalysts of the Arab uprisings which still
reverberate around
the world. The variables at play included dictatorships,
which were mostly
precarious, fearful and thus lethal in their subsequent
panicky repression,
economic decline, human rights abuses, corruption,
unemployment and
poverty.
“Youth unemployment and under-employment present one of the
biggest
challenges facing the nation,” Mugabe paradoxically said, “which if
not
addressed is a potential threat to national peace and stability. We do
not
need to be reminded that economic stabilisation and sustainable growth
cannot be achieved unless there is peace in the country.”
Therein
lies the problem. First, Mugabe spoke worrisomely as if to exculpate
himself
from the issue of youth unemployment and attendant problems like
they were
conditions which were either inherently natural to the economy or
imposed on
the country by some external force beyond his control.
Mugabe was unwilling
or unable to make a connection between his leadership
and policy choices and
the issue of massive youth unemployment. The problem
is not the youths and
joblessness, but economic failure caused by his
disastrous
policies.
Second, when Mugabe said youth pose “a potential threat to
national peace
and stability”, he simply meant they are a danger to his rule
and survival.
In other words, his remarks were not just a mere observation
but also a
veiled threat that any uprising by disgruntled youths would be
brutally
crushed.
Third and most importantly, Mugabe, in his abjuration
of reality, failed to
acknowledge youth unemployment and the potential
revolt it may cause are
part and parcel of his checkered legacy which
includes economic devastation,
political divisions and polarisation, and of
course unemployment and
poverty, mainly among the youths.
So when
Mugabe warned Zimbabwe’s widespread youth unemployment could trigger
political unrest as he insincerely called for an end to political violence,
he was spot on, but did so without any sense of irony.
Hypocrisy
and deceit were written all over his remarks which only helped to
betray
deep-seated insecurity about the current explosive conditions,
especially
regarding the youth, which, strangely though, he did not seem to
realise
cannot be divorced from his failed rule and legacy. The context is
his
leadership and policy failures. The global environment and external
circumstances –– including his favourite excuse of sanctions –– are just
exogenous factors.
What will Mugabe and Zanu PF be remembered for?
Undeniably, when the current
popular anger and misery subside, some credit
will still be due to Mugabe
and his party for their role in the liberation
struggle and some
achievements here and there after Independence, but the
reality is youth
unemployment and concomitant problems are hallmarks of his
failed rule and
legacy.
After all, his regime has used and dumped
youths as political storm-troopers
after promising them jobs and
indigenisation incentives never delivered. So
for these reasons, if no
other, Mugabe’s disingenuous speech was simply a
dramatic irony writ large.
Friday August 17th 2012
The Zimbabwe
Independent last weekend took the occasion of Heroes Day to
ask what about
the women fighters? Were they not also heroes? In contrast,
Wilfrid Mhanda,
himself a war veteran, decries the whole concept of ‘hero’
status and points
out that everyone was a hero in the struggle that finally
brought an end to
Rhodesia and ushered in Zimbabwe. The whole question of
‘Hero’ status is now
just used for political patronage, Mhanda maintains and
the truth of his
remarks was clearly demonstrated by Robert Mugabe’s
speeches over the two
days of the Heroes and Defence Forces holiday. He
never fails to use this
occasion to sound off about his pet hates: the west
and the whites.
It
was revealed this week that over one third of Zimbabwean children under
five
years of age are suffering from malnutrition and 15.000 are at risk of
dying
from the condition. It is not always realised that malnutrition in
childhood
may result in irreparable damage to a child’s physical and mental
development. Not only is the food situation desperate across the country,
there is a desperate shortage of fresh water too. In Buhera the World Food
Programme has appealed for $87 million to avert starvation. And, as Mugabe
was speaking at the National Stadium, Harare itself was in the grip of a
water crisis. At the other end of the country in Tsholotsho after 32 years
of Zanu PF rule not a single borehole has been dug. The people there – and
in many rural areas - are drinking unsafe river water with all the attendant
dangers of water-borne diseases. The president said nothing of these
matters, preferring to concentrate on the issue of political violence in the
country and urging the virtue of tolerance. Very laudable you might think
but we have heard it all before from Mugabe’s lips and it has not changed
his followers’ behaviour. Moving on to the issue of Zanu PF’s clenched fist,
Mugabe denied that it was a symbol of violence; it was he said “the punch
that knocked them (the whites) down.” As always, Mugabe chose this occasion
to remind his audience of his own heroic status in the battle against
colonialism. We have heard that all before too but it was his remark on the
day after Heroes and Defence Forces that got me seething - and quite a few
other women I should think!
Mugabe was launching this year’s census
operation and he began by referring
back to 2002 which had revealed what he
called a ‘miserable’ reading of 11.6
million people. Of course, he made no
reference to the exodus that took
place in 2000 after his disastrous ‘land
reform’ began. Between 4 and
5million Zimbabweans are believed to have left
the country but instead the
86 year old chose to tell the female members of
his audience,
“We want more children Give us more children you women. Why
are you
refusing to get pregnant? Why were you given bellies? No, no don’t
refuse.”
I wonder if Mugabe’s wife was sitting on the podium as her husband
uttered
these arrogant and insulting words? I can’t believe that any woman,
whatever her political beliefs, would find it acceptable to be lectured by
an 86 year old man on her right to control her own fertility. Quite apart
from the male chauvinism it demonstrates, Mugabe’s remark shows crass
insensitivity to the economic crisis that is currently gripping the country.
Telling women to have more children at this time is to condemn them to years
of struggle to pay school fees, buy uniforms and text books, not to mention
feeding and clothing them. The Women’s Movement across the world has fought
for women’s right to control their own fertility and along comes an 86 year
old man and tells them, in effect, that it is their duty to have more
children in order to boost the country’s declining population. Mugabe
clearly has not grasped the fact that the millions of Zimbabweans who have
chosen to live outside Zimbabwe do so precisely because they do not want to
be ruled by him. Like the musician, Thomas Mapfumo, many of them say they
will never return to Zimbabwe while Mugabe remains in power.
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson.