http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, August 20, 2011 - Tens of
thousands of Zimbabweans thronged a
massive state funeral for one of the
nation's main power brokers,
liberational war heroes and husband to the
country's deputy president (Joice
Mujuru) whose death in a house fire has
intensified political maneuvering in
longtime President Robert Mugabe's
fractured party.
Mourners thronged a shine in western Harare on Saturday
and swarmed over
adjoining hillsides for the burial of Gen. Solomon Mujuru,
a retired
military chief who gave vital political support to his wife, the
vice
president.
Mugabe said Mujuru died Tuesday in an "inexplicable,
horrendous fire
accident."
Police and forensic investigators are
investigating the fire's cause, amid
questions of possible
arson.
Mujuru's is the biggest state funeral since independence in 1980,
symbolizing his influence and popularity. His gravestone says he was 66,
older than the age given by biographers.
Joice Mujuru wife of the
late army general appealed to mourners earlier this
week to remain calm amid
allegations of foul play.
“I appeal to you to avoid too much history, and
talking bad things and
listen to good things. We agreed with Solomon every
time that even if we
hear anything coming from anywhere, we won’t comment
whether it’s a lie or
not. Only one person (God) will comment, good or bad”
said Mujuru.
Earlier in the week leaders across political parties
buried their
differences as they mourned General Mujuru among them leader of
the
mainstream Movement for Democratic Change -Morgan Tsvangirai and Dumiso
Dabengwa leader of ZAPU.Radio VOP and Tribune Star
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
President Robert
Mugabe on Saturday departed from the norm and for the first
time reprimanded
his party followers in public, for booing Morgan Tsvangirai
during the
burial of the late Solomon Mujuru at the heroes’ acre.
Whenever the Prime
Minister's name was mentioned, Mugabe’s supporters would
jeer and burst into
anti-Tsvangirai songs.
“We are here to bury a national hero and all the
three political parties are
represented, we are united therefore we do not
want anyone of you to jeer at
anyone of us since we are giving respect to a
national hero,” Mugabe angrily
declared.
Immediately Mugabe went on
to acknowledge the presence of Tsvangirai and the
jeering stopped, proving
that only Mugabe can stop the indiscipline in ZANU
PF.
Mugabe went on
to call for an end to political violence, and urged his
supporters to let
people choose leaders of their own choice.
He urged Zimbabweans to create
peace in their hearts and commended the peace
that, he says, has prevailed
for the past six months in Zimbabwe.
The 87 year old leader who spent
almost 75 percent of his speech time
narrating the history of the liberation
struggle, also condemned corruption.
“Zimbabweans now are going for high
prices, you form a company today and get
rich today, don’t exploit others,”
Mugabe said
Although Mugabe spoke for almost two hours he said nothing
that could have
given a clue to the cause of a mysterious fire that killed
Solomon Mujuru on
Tuesday.
A record crowd of more than 25 000 people
gathered at the national shrine to
pay their last respect to Mujuru,
although some went merely to get an idea
of what could have killed
him.
Mugabe said he is still baffled by Mujuru’s death and will continue
to
question why, each time he thinks of the former party
stalwart.
“Comrades and friends today is a very sad day indeed that sups
our energies
and devastates our hearts, the tragic occurrence which has
brought us all
here will forever baffle us. For a very long time we shall
continue and
always ask why, why, why. True, the ways of the Lord are hard
to find and
harder to question.
As humans we ask questions and to
some events we can never get answers to
questions we ask,” Mugabe
said.
In conclusion Mugabe acknowledged the differences of party
ideologies of
those in the GPA and asked people to respect that.
He
likened the political parties in the GPA to different churches
worshipping
the same God.
http://www.reuters.com/
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE | Sat Aug 20, 2011 12:03pm EDT
(Reuters) -
President Robert Mugabe appealed for tolerance and peace between
Zimbabwe's
leading political parties on Saturday after the death of a
retired army
general sparked speculation he was murdered.
Speaking at the burial of
General Solomon Mujuru, 67, who was burned to
ashes in a bizarre fire at his
home, Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to accept the
death as an unfortunate and
painful tragedy.
Mujuru, a leading figure in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party for
nearly four decades,
was married to Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who was
backed by one faction in
the party to succeed Mugabe as party and state
president.
Mugabe praised Mujuru, popularly known by his guerrilla name
Rex Nhongo, as
a great soldier and freedom fighter whose legacy would be
defended by his
comrades and a strong security service.
"We don't
want any violence. Please, no violence, no violence. Let's
organize
ourselves and campaign in our different parties peacefully," he
said, adding
they should build on a lull in violence between ZANU-PF and the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
The MDC led by Mugabe's rival Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai says war
veterans and ZANU-PF's youth brigades are behind
the violence. ZANU-PF
denies the charges.
The veteran leader told
thousands of people at the funeral, including
members of both parties, that
the MDC and ZANU-PF must co-exist, but made no
reference to media reports
that his party is increasingly divided over who
will eventually succeed
him.
General Mujuru headed the ZANU-PF faction that supported Joice
Mujuru to
succeed Mugabe. It had jostled against another faction led by
Defense
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
AN INGLORIOUS
DEATH
Mugabe appeared to dismiss suggestions that Mujuru's death was
suspicious.
"It is hard to imagine that such a glorious soldier died in
such an
inglorious way, so uneventfully. But this is how God willed it and
we cannot
do anything about it, except to grieve, to ask so many questions
and finally
accept his demise even though it will always hurt," Mugabe said
in a
statement.
There has been no suggestion either by the
authorities or Mujuru's wife of
foul play, but private media reports say
some family members believe the
general was murdered.
Mujuru was
Zimbabwe's first black army commander after independence in 1980,
after
serving for some months under Rhodesia's last white general Peter
Walls,
retiring in 1992 and becoming a member of ZANU-PF's top organ, the
politburo.
Political analysts say Mujuru's death could lead to some
bruising battles
over the succession, but may nudge Mugabe to tackle the
problem.
Many analysts say Mugabe, in power for 31 years and currently
his party's
presidential candidate for elections expected in the next two
years, is
likely to have a big say on who succeeds him if and when he
decides to step
down.
There are unconfirmed reports that General
Mujuru was pressing Mugabe to
step down before the next poll.
Mugabe
was forced to form a unity government with Tsvangirai's MDC after
disputed
elections in 2008. But their fragile coalition is haggling over
democratic
reforms.
At the funeral, Mugabe said Zimbabweans should defend Mujuru's
contribution
to freedom by pursuing economic empowerment policies, including
a drive to
force foreign firms to sell majority shares to blacks over the
next five
years.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, August 20,
2011 - President Robert Mugabe said the death of Retired
General Solomon
Mujuru in a mysterious inferno at his Beatrice farm will
leave many
questions unanswered, speaking at the burial of the late General
Mujuru
popularly known as Rex Nhongo, his war name.
Mugabe hailed Mujuru for his
contribution in the liberation of the country
and lamented that the way
Mujuru died was undeserving to a person of his
caliber.
"Such a
gallant fighter did not deserve to die the way he died. A hero in
real life,
Rex (Nhongo) has been sadly taken away from us by a cruel fire.
Solomon
Mujuru has left us in heart rending way, why we continue to ask,"
Mugabe
said while addressing mourners at the national heroes’ acre.
"But this is
how God has willed it and we cannot and we cannot do anything
about it,
except to grieve, to ask so many questions and finally to accept
his demise
even though it will always hurt."
A family spokesperson from the Mujuru
family who spoke on behalf of the
Mujurus said; “Baba (Father) did not
deserve to die the way he died."
The burial was attended by Vice
President John Nkomo who has been reported
to be not feeling well, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara,
senior government officials from both the MDC
formations and Zanu
(PF).
Delegates from other countries including South Africa's State Security
Minister Siyabonga Cele, senior army officials from Mozambique, South Africa
and Tanzania attended the funeral.
Mujuru was honoured by a fly past
by the Airforce of Zimbabwe war planes and
a 17 gun salute.
Police are
still to finish their investigations on the cause of Mujuru’s
death
prompting ordinary people to spread rumours on what might have
happened to
the former army commander.
Vice President Joice Mujuru has called for
people to stop commenting about
the death of his husband but to wait for
police to conclude their
investigations.
Mugabe as his custom took a
swipe at Zimbabwe's former colonial master,
Britain and her allies saying
the big nations must leave Zimbabwe alone.
"That is why we continue to
say to the British and their allies, the
Americans leave us alone, get away
from us, we are an independent people,
and we are a sovereign people. But
no, the British would want to debate us
every month in their parliament as
if we are an extension of Britain,
“Mugabe said.
Mugabe launched
vitriol against gays and lesbians saying "even our dogs know
their mates,
even a bull knows its mate, it doesn't go mate with another
bull, that's why
I say you are worse than pigs and dogs that's what I tell
them”.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
We were violently evicted from
Beatrice Farm by the late General Solomon
Mujuru in 2001, who burnt to death
on our property on Tuesday morning.
19.08.1107:08am
by Guy
Watson-Smith
We have fought a nearly-ten year battle in the High Court of
Zimbabwe for
payment for the moveable assets which we were forced to leave
behind (with
only an hour to leave). Those assets included all of our
breeding cattle,
game, our tractors, vehicles, equipment, irrigation
equipment, stocks of
fertiliser and diesel, coal and so on. It was
independently valued by
Zimbabwe's top valuers at US$1.7m in 2001. All the
documentation is, of
course, available and forms the basis of our civil suit
against General
Mujuru.
The land itself is an entirely different
issue and forms part of a wider
action on the part of 4000 dispossessed
farmers, against the government.
This has also been valued along with 90% of
the dispossessed farms, and is
being pursued through the Commercial Farmers
Union in Harare, and Agric
Africa who are UK-based.
If Solomon
Mujuru's death on my farm brings anything at all, I hope it is a
renewed
awareness that there are huge injustices that need addressing before
Zimbabwe can feed itself again, and recover from the last 10 years of
mayhem. The rule of law and property rights are at the heart of any future
recovery in our country, and mine is just one of so many productive farms
which have been similarly taken out of the economic life of the country.
With law and order and the return of property rights the turnaround for the
average Zimbabwean could be so quick - everything is still there and
basically waiting for conditions to change, with loyal productive
Zimbabweans forced to sit on their hands waiting for the opportunity to go
back to work.
On another level - one has to wonder whether the truth
about Mujuru's death
will ever come out. Our house was a sprawling single
storey building, roofed
entirely with asbestos sheeting (which was common in
the 50's when it was
built). Of course that makes it absolutely fire-proof,
and the walls were
brick and cement. All that could have burned was roofing
timbers and
ceilings, and to imagine the fire spreading quickly without help
is
difficult. Finally, there were more doors and windows than holes in a
colander. Our main bedroom alone had three doors out of it and four double
windows. How do you get trapped inside that?
The 62-year-old General
was the husband to Vice President Joice Mujuru. He
began his military career
in the 1960s when he joined Zimbabwe African’s
Revolutionary Army led by the
late Joshua Nkomo before joining President
Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African
National Liberation Army as operations
commander, second in rank to the late
Josiah Tongogara.
Popularly known as Rex Nhongo during the 1970s war of
independence that
ended white minority rule, Mujuru played a crucial role in
the rise of
Mugabe to the apex of Zanu (PF) and became Zimbabwe’s first army
general
after independence where he remained Mugabe’s pillar of support.
http://www.iol.co.za
August 20 2011 at 10:56am
Harare - Zimbabwe's central
bank chief on Friday warned on threats to
foreign banks after state media
said 13 firms had two weeks to submit plans
for selling majority shares to
locals or face losing permits.
The Herald said the firms, including
Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered,
had two weeks to submit acceptable
indigenisation plans or risk losing their
licenses with the government
taking over ownership.
“There are ways of achieving the same objectives
as intended by the law
through non-confrontational means and not in a manner
of dishing out threats
to sensitive institutions that are custodians of
people's hard-earned
savings,” responded Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
in a statement.
“This is necessary in order to avoid fly-by-night,
reckless and excitable
flexing of muscles and decisions that overlook
certain fundamentals that
could irreparably harm the nerve centre of our
recovering economy.”
The Herald reported that indigenisation minister
Saviour Kasukuwere had
given the companies a two-week ultimatum to submit
plans on how they
intended to meet the 51 percent direct equity
participation by locals within
five years.
The two banks, six mining
companies and five other firms had “been given a
two-week ultimatum to
submit acceptable indigenisation plans or risk losing
their licences with
the Government taking over ownership”, the paper said.
Other affected
companies included platinum miner Zimplats and British
American Tobacco
which received letters dated July 28
signed by Kasukuwere, and officials
told the newspaper no responses had yet
been received.
“If the
companies fail to rectify their non-compliance, the minister is
empowered
under the indigenisation act to institute proceedings to cancel
their
licenses,” The Herald reported
But Gono assured foreign banks that the
central bank had not issued notices
to revoke their licences.
“The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe... wishes to advise all stakeholders that it
has
neither given notice nor does it have an immediate or foreseeable
intention
to withdraw operating licences.”
A new indigenisation law requires all
foreign firms to sell 51 percent
stakes to black Zimbabweans, with companies
given up to September 25 to
submit proposals on how they plan to
comply.
The new law is strongly supported by veteran President Robert
Mugabe but has
created tensions within the unity government, with Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai arguing that it will discourage
investment.
Mugabe had defended the regulations as a measure to correct
the economic
imbalances created by Zimbabwe's colonial past.
Zimbabwe
is in the process of rebuilding its economy following nearly a
decade of
political and economic crisis that ended with the formation of a
unity
government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai two years ago.
Foreign mines
operating in the country include London-listed Aquarius
Platinum,
Australian-listed Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, Anglo Platinum and Rio
Tinto. -
Sapa-AFP
http://www.bbc.co.uk
20 August 2011
Last updated at 09:43 GMT
Zimbabwe's central bank governor has sought to reassure
foreign investors
after major companies were warned they could be
nationalised.
Gideon Gono said an ultimatum to transfer control to local
shareholders
could "harm the recovering economy".
Government minister
Saviour Kusakawere's warning went to 13 firms, including
BAT and
Barclays.
Under the country's empowerment laws, black Zimbabweans should
acquire 51%
of foreign businesses.
The companies, which included
mining companies and banks, were asked to
submit plans on how they intended
to transfer majority stakes to local
owners.
They were told they
faced being nationalised and would lose their licences
if they failed to
comply within 14 days.
In a statement, Dr Gono said the central bank
remained the sole authority to
issue and withdraw bank operating
permits.
"The financial sector ought to be treated with a great deal of
circumspection", he said.
"This is necessary in order to avoid
fly-by-night, reckless and excitable
flexing of muscles and decisions that
overlook certain fundamentals that
could irreparably harm the nerve-centre
of our recovering economy."
The BBC's Grant Ferrett says the dispute over
the empowerment law reflects
divisions not just within Zimbabwe's
power-sharing government, but between
high-profile members of President
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
President Mugabe and his political rival Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
formed a power-sharing administration six months
after a chaotic
presidential election in 2008.
The deal stabilised
the economy, which had been in terminal decline, and
Zimbabwe's fortunes
improved since the local currency was abandoned in
favour of the dollar.
http://www.voanews.com
19 August
2011
President Mugabe said sending a team to work with JOMIC amounts to
interference in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs - sources said he tried but
failed to block the SADC summit’s appointment of the
delegation
Blessing Zulu & Ntungamili Nkomo |
Washington
Following a failed bid by his ZANU-PF party to remove
South African
President Jacob Zuma as mediator in Zimbabwe's perennial
political crisis,
President Robert Mugabe has declared that he and his
negotiators will only
deal with Mr. Zuma and not with his team of
facilitators who have been
shuttling between Pretoria and Harare for
months.
ZANU-PF had called for Mr. Zuma to step down as mediator, arguing
that the
role was in conflict with his new status as troika chairman. But
the summit
rejected the argument.
On his return to Harare from this
week's Southern African Development
Community summit in Angola, Mr. Mugabe
said he rejects the summit resolution
urging SADC's troika on politics,
defense and security to name three
officials to work with the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee to
ensure compliance with the 2008
Global Political Agreement for power sharing
that is the basis of the unity
government.
President Mugabe told reporters in Harare that sending a team
to work with
JOMIC amounts to interference in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.
Sources said
Mr. Mugabe tried but failed to block the summit’s appointment
of the
delegation.
From Pretoria, meanwhile, Mr. Zuma signaled that
SADC leaders have had
enough of the political impasse in Harare. "SADC feels
we need to resolve
the Zimbabwean issue because we are running out of time,"
Mr. Zuma said.
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told VOA reporter Blessing
Zulu that SADC
must know its limitations when dealing with a sovereign
state.
Energy Minister Elton Mangoma, negotiator for the former
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, accused
ZANU-PF of being insincere and trying to frustrate
President Zuma in his
mediation.
The same sentiments were echoed by
negotiator Moses Mzila Ndlovu of the MDC
formation headed by Industry
Minister Welshman Ncube, who noted that the
negotiators for the
power-sharing parties agreed JOMIC needs to be
reinforced.
Zimbabwean
civil society organizations, meanwhile, welcomed the results of
the SADC
summit, noting that it upheld its previous resolutions, as Benedict
Nhlapho
reported.
Elsewhere, in mourning ceremonies Friday at the rural home of
the late
Solomon Mujuru, a former commander of liberation forces and the
national
army who died in a fire at his Beatrice Farm Tuesday, ZANU-PF's
Mashonaland
East provincial chairman urged his members to win back seats
lost to the MDC
to honor the deceased.
Reporter Thomas Chiripasi
reported from Sadza district.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The United Nations Population Fund has
donated 23 vehicles to The Zimbabwe
Statistics Agency that will be used for
the national population census to
held in August next
year.
19.08.1105:25pm
by Liona Mwayera
ZIMSTAT acting director
general, Moffat Nyoni, said the organisation had
also managed to procure 17
vehicles at a cost of $623 900 from government.
Nyoni said the vehicles
would be used during the mapping and data collection
exercise, adding that
98 mappers have been employed to carry out the
exercise.
“We are
behind schedule. We should have finished this exercise in December
this year
but we expected it to go ahead until March 2012,” he said.
Preparations
for Zimbabwe’s fourth national census had been dogged with a
myriad of
challenges, he said.
The next census is expected to reveal a large drop
in population, caused by
millions of people leaving the country in search of
better working and
living conditions since the last census in 2002.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
A South African
workers movement has accused the Zimbabwean government of
sending personnel
to crush worker movements in Malawi.
19.08.1105:41pm
by Mxolisi
Ncube
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union made
the allegation
on Friday and called for the regional SADC bloc and the
broader African
Union to investigate the allegations and take remedial
action against both
President Robert Mugabe’s government and
Malawi.
“It is disconcerting to hear of the reports that the Malawian
government is
allegedly using Zimbabwean mercenaries to crush the public
uprising and we
call on the SADC and AU to investigate and intervene if need
be,” said Sizwe
Pamla, the union’s spokesperson.
“NEHAWU believes
that citizens have a right to hold their elected government
to account and
the use of security forces and the legal system to stop
public
demonstrations and coerce the working class into submission is not
only
immoral but tyrannical.”
Pamla said his organisation was deeply disturbed
by the strong arm and
oppressive tactics being used by the Malawian
government to silence the
dissenting voices of the working class in that
country.
“Our union offers its solidarity to all the working class of
Malawi that
finds itself under siege and we call on the government of Malawi
to respect
the civil liberties and listen to the views of the working
class,” he added.
Zimbabwe and Malawi are some of the countries in the
SADC region where
worker movements have been suppressed and demonstrations
crushed by the use
of oppressive state machinery and tough legislation
designed to silence
dissenting voices from the workforce.
NEHAWU,
which has previously spoken up against the oppression of worker
movements
and the suppression of democracy in Zimbabwe, also called on South
Africans
and progressive internationalists to offer support and solidarity
to the
working class of Malawi and put pressure on the government of that
country
to implement meaningful changes.
“We all have a responsibility to oppose
tyranny wherever it emerges because
we are not free as long as there are
people who are suffering under the yoke
of oppression and state brutality,”
added Pamla.
“We reiterate our support for the people of Malawi and we
are fully behind
their defiance actions like staying at home, wearing red
clothing, going
slow, or walking to work.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
20/08/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN police have issued an arrest warrant for Rwandan
genocide suspect
Propais Mpiranya, reports said.
Stung by criticism
by prosecutors for a special United Nations court that it
was harbouring one
of the world’s most wanted mass murderers, Zimbabwe
appears to have caved in
to pressure.
Constable Innocent Chinembiri from the Zimbabwe Republic
Police’s public
relations department told the ‘Mhosva Hairobi/Lidla
Umnikazi’ programme on
state-run Radio Zimbabwe that a special CID taskforce
was trying to track
down Mpiranya.
"Mpiranya anonzi akapara mhosva
iya inonzi pachirungu genocide (Mpiranya is
accused of committing a crime
called genocide),” Constable Chinembiri is
reported by the Financial Gazette
newspaper as telling the radio programme.
Constable Chinembiri named
three CID detectives identified only as Maida,
Muzenago and Chiremba as
leading the manhunt for Mpiranya who has a US$5
million bounty over his
head.
“Anyone with information on Mpiranya should immediately contact the
Criminal
Investigations Department’s homicide section or their nearest
police
station,” he added.
Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa told
parliament in July that Mpiranya had
claimed asylum in the country, but he
did not say whether this had been
granted.
A special UN court is trying
individuals responsible for the 1994 genocide
in Tanzania.
Major
Protais Mpiranya was the commander of the presidential guard for the
former
Rwandan leader Juvenal Habyarimana, whose plane was shot down above
Kigali
airport on April 6, 1994, – the trigger for the slaughter that
followed.
Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans
– mainly Tutsis –
were killed in the space of 100 days in revenge killings
for the President’s
assassination by his Hutu supporters.
Among
Mpiranya's crimes are allegations that at the start of the genocide he
"tracked down, arrested, sexually assaulted and killed" Rwandan Prime
Minister Agathe Uwilingiyi-mana.
The presidential guards, under
Mpiranya’s command, are also accused of
taking into custody and killing 10
Belgian peacekeepers on United Nations
duty who had been guarding the Prime
Minister’s house.
He has been charged in absentia with genocide,
conspiracy to commit
genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes.
Claims that Mpiranya is hiding in Zimbabwe were
first made by the Belgian
government last year, and pressure was cranked up
in May when the tribunal's
chief prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow accused
Zimbabwe of providing
sanctuary to a war criminal.
Chinembiri said
Mpiranya was using several aliases including James Kakule
and Patrick
Sambo.
The United States government has put a US$5 million bounty on his
head.
Under its Rewards for Justice programme, the US says the cash prize
will be
claimed by anyone who can “furnish information leading to the arrest
or
conviction, in any country, of Mpiranya”.
http://www.bulawayo24.com
by .
2011 August 20 08:18:20
THE
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is feared to have split with a faction
led
by incumbent president Mr Lovemore Matombo boycotting the labour body's
congress that began in Bulawayo yesterday.
The faction led by
outgoing secretary general, Mr Wellington Chibebe, said
the congress would
go ahead as planned, adding that ZCTU first vice
president and MDC-T's, Ms
Lucia Matibenga, had since been appointed to lead
proceedings, The Herald
Online has reported.
Mr Matombo is reported to have said said attending
the congress would amount
to legitimising a process he felt was
unlawful.
The boycott came as the High Court dismissed a petition by some
ZCTU
affiliates aligned to Mr Matombo that sought to stop the
congress.
Justice Susan Mavangira dismissed the application saying the
matter was not
urgent. But Mr Matombo said the congress was riddled with
irregularities and
attending it would sanitise something that was
illegal.
"There are people who are just going there but are not members
of ZCTU and
that will bring the union into disrepute. I will not attend
because it is
not a legitimate process," said Mr Matombo. "We don't want
people who are
not members to attend even if he/she might be a single
person."
Mr Matombo said he remained ZCTU president and his position
would not be
affected by the Bulawayo meeting. "As president of ZCTU, I
should not be
seen at such a meeting because of its legitimacy," he
said.
However, Mr Chibebe said the congress would go ahead as
planned.
"The general council elected the first vice president, Mai
Matibenga to
chair in terms of the union's constitution, which says the
first vice
president or any other person can be elected to preside," he
said.
He dismissed claims that the congress was illegitimate, saying only
the
general council or a court of law was authorised to stop it, not a mere
pronouncement.
Mr Chibebe said the general council had deliberated on
a letter written by
Mr Matombo that sought to stop the congress and had
responded to him
accordingly.
"We responded to him saying the general
council had allowed the congress to
meet and proceed," he said.
Some
ZCTU affiliates, led by Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
secretary
general, Mr Raymond Majongwe, had threatened to expel anyone who
attended
the Bulawayo congress.
They said there was need to first address issues
that had been identified as
impediments to the smooth holding of the
congress before convening it.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Malawian lawyer Peter Mutharika has been
forced to resign from the
arbitration panel in two international court cases
in which groups of
foreign investors are suing the Zimbabwean government for
breaches of
bilateral investment treaties following objections about his
impartiality by
some of the claimants.
19.08.1106:01pm
by Vusimusi
Bhebhe
Mutharika was one of a three-member arbitration tribunal
appointed by the
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
in December last
year to consider the request by a German family that is
contesting the
seizure of its farms by the Zimbabwean government.
The
von Pezold family sought assistance of the Paris-based ICSID in July
2010
after its three farms –Makandi Tea and Coffee Estate, Border Timbers
Estate
and Forester Estate in Manicaland – were invaded by members of
President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) in June.
The German investors, however,
protested to the ICSID, questioning whether
Mutharika was the right person
to arbitrate in the matter, given his
indirect links to the Mugabe
regime.
Mutharika is the young brother of Malawi’s President Bingu wa
Mutharika, a
close ally of Mugabe. The younger Mutharika is the current
Malawian
Education Minister.
“Following the resignation of arbitrator
A. Peter Mutharika, the Centre
notifies the parties of the vacancy on the
Tribunal; the proceeding is
suspended,” the ICSID said.
Mutharika’s
resignation has also affected proceedings in another case before
the ICSID
in which Border Timbers is suing the government for damages caused
by
illegal land invaders on the company’s properties.
The same three-member
panel was due to arbitrate in both cases. The
remaining members of the
arbitration panel are Canadian lawyer Yves Fortier
and New Zealand’s David
Williams.
In case number ARB/10/15, Bernhard von Pezold and others are
suing the
Government of Zimbabwe for loss of income during the three-week
stand-off in
June last year between the German investors and marauding gangs
from Mugabe’s
party.
The case was registered on the roll of the
Paris-based tribunal on 8 July
2010, a few days after the Harare regime
bowed to pressure from the Germany
embassy to order the illegal land
occupiers off the investor’s properties.
The German investors are
accusing the Zimbabwean government of failing to
act against the illegal
occupants who claimed they were allocated the
properties under Mugabe’s
controversial land reform programme.
Harare only ordered the armed and
alcoholic mob off the farms after the
Germany government threatened to
withhold aid to Zimbabwe.
The illegal land occupiers are believed to have
looted maize and other crops
valued at more than $1 million since moving
onto the farms on June 18.
The properties are covered by a bilateral
investment promotion and
protection agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and
Germany in 1995 but which
came into force in 2000.
The agreement
precludes any farms owned by Germans from expropriation under
Zimbabwe’s
controversial land reform programme.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Rampant poaching is threatening to
wipe out wildlife in the Kariba national
park area where animal rights
activists warn of a surge in sightings of
snares planted by
poachers.
19.08.1105:42pm
by Vusimusi Bhebhe
The Kariba Animal
Welfare Fund said last week that poaching activities
threatened to decimate
entire herds of buffalo, waterbuck, impala and zebra
in the once
wildlife-rich national park.
It said a recent operation by a combined
tracking team comprising members of
the fund and Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority rangers recovered at
least 40 snares planted by
poachers in the Nyanyana section of the national
park. Several impala
carcasses were also found.
Another sweep retrieved 21 snares in the
Quarry area, together with
carcasses of a zebra and a buffalo. A KAWF
spokesperson said, due to the
gravity of the problem, the fund was currently
conducting snare sweeps three
times a week.
“We sincerely hope these
snare sweep updates hit home to our Kariba
residents as well as businesses,
tour operators, boat owners and visitors to
Kariba, that this is not by any
means a small problem that will go away. It
is a huge poaching problem that
is growing daily,” the spokesperson said.
Poaching has become rampant
throughout Zimbabwe over the past few years and
has been particularly
fuelled by the lawlessness spawned by the illegal
occupation of
conservancies by supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu
(PF) party.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Sick and tired of being used as agents of
violence by Zanu (PF), another
section of the Zimbabwe War Veterans
Association in Manicaland is being
re-organised and poised to become a
non-partisan association.
19.08.1111:54am
by Tony Saxon
The
association is yet to be named but is under the interim leadership of
Misheck Beta with an interim coordinating committee.
Reuben
Mucharahondo, the interim secretary general, said: “As genuine war
liberators we want to remain politically neutral and pre-democratic. We are
doing this as an effort to unitethe true war veterans and we are at an
advanced stage of registering the war veterans who would want to join our
association.”
He said elections for the leadership and committee
would be held this year.
“We are planning to engage all the stakeholders
and the association is going
to be a national association that will
represent all the war veterans in the
country. If all our plans go well, we
are expecting to hold our first
conference in Mutare where the national
elections to select the national
leadership would be held,” added
Muchirahondo.
Sources interviewed said most war veterans from Bulawayo
and Matebeleland
had shown interest in joining the association. They said
frustration in the
current association (Zimbabwe War Veterans Association)
had reached boiling
point.
They accused the Zanu (PF) politicians for
manipulating the association for
political gain.
A source said: “The
new organisation has sent shivers to the Zanu (PF)
leadership, as it has
donors who have promised to chip in with resources and
projects that would
improve the welfare of the war veterans who have been
left in poverty by
Zanu (PF).”
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
A Canadian mining firm is
contemplating taking legal action against the
Zimbabwean government to
challenge its controversial indigenisation
regulations.
19.08.1105:32pm
by Chris Ncube
Caledonia
Mine, which operates Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe, said it was
considering such
action against Saviour Kasukuwere, the Minister of
Indigenisation, after he
ordered the cancellation of Blanket’s operating
licence.
In a
statement to The Zimbabwean, Caledonia said this was despite the fact
that
the mine, unlike other companies that government wants to ‘indigenise’,
had
not received any communication asking it to present revised
indigenisation
plans. Kasukuwere ordered the cancellation of the licence on
the grounds
that Caledonia’s proposal did not meet the legislated
indigenisation
requirements
“Caledonia believes the Minister for Indigenisation has
exceeded his legal
powers both in terms of his assessment of Caledonia’s
proposal and his
request to the Minister of Mines. Caledonia is seeking
urgent clarification
from the relevant ministers, and is also consulting its
legal advisers
regarding appropriate legal action,” the company said in a
statement from
Canada.
Caledonia submitted its indigenisation
proposal in May. Blanket’s operations
are continuing as normal.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
A netball pitch serves as a refuse
disposal point for overcrowded families;
rubbish and raw sewage flow down
the open drain that serves as a pantry to
swarms of flies and the
dilapidated makeshift rooms provide squalid living
conditions for the
residents of Mushando Squatter Camp in Sakubva high
density
suburb.
19.08.1109:59am
by Tony Saxon
The condition of the only
one bathroom and toilet shared by 19 families that
contain 120 people is
deplorable. To bathe, they must first fetch water from
a single pipe and
take it to the bathroom. There is no electricity.
The Zanu (PF)
government in 2005 carried out a clean-up exercise, commonly
referred to as
Operation Murambatsvina, which destroyed illegal structures
in the high
density suburbs.
The Zanu (PF) government then crafted the
Garikai/Hlalalani Khuhle scheme
that was meant to offer “decent”
accommodation to the hundreds of displaced
people. It is now six years down
the line and for the 19 families at
Mushando Squatter camp, life is
hell.
The place has become a haven of illegal activity such as robbery,
black
market dealings and the world’s oldest profession –
prostitution.
The families there also said they were victims of politics
as the Zanu (PF)
government perceived them to be MDC-T
supporters.
“We were victimized because the police, who were behind the
operation,
openly told us that we were the ones who were voting for MDC-T
and we had no
place to stay. One of them told us that we should go back to
our roots and
vote for MDC-T there,” said a resident at the squatter
camp.
A high number of people at the camp are unemployed and the great
majority of
the unemployed are semi-skilled or unskilled.
“We were
living well in our old shacks, but the government destroyed them.
It was
promised that we would be relocated to another place, but it is now
six
years and we have since lost all the hope.
“We are hopeless here. We are
in total darkness. Our future seems bleak and
we are all going to die of
diseases if the government does not take this
camp seriously,” said a
resident who requested anonymity for fear of
victimization.
“There is
a lot of diseases and we are living in hell. I do not know whether
the
government is aware that there is a part like this one that needs to be
looked at. We do not think we are Zimbabweans. Surely we think that we are
living in another country not Zimbabwe,” said Rose Mutasa.
“They
promised us houses under the Garikai scheme, but the few houses that
were
available were given to staunch Zanu (PF) supporters. Many of us are
living
in poverty. We do not know the motive behind our displacement. It is
now
even worse here. We are totally neglected and we do not see any help
coming
our way,” said another resident.
Contacted for a comment the Mutare City
Council Town Clerk, Obert Muzawazi
said: “As a council we are aware of the
situation at Mushando Squatter camp.
We are working frantically to rectify
the situation.”
Muzawazi said the council had identified an alternative
place to relocate
the families and he hoped that by end of August the
families would have been
relocated.
“The living conditions there are
totally unacceptable. As a council we have
committed ourselves to relocate
the families this month,” he said.
Local Non-Governmental Organizations,
churches and individuals are giving
hand-outs to the occupants. The
residents have called upon the government to
come to their rescue.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, August 20,
2011, The Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has blamed
non-transparent
diamond sales as part of the reason why the inclusive
government is failing
to adequately pay civil servants in the country.
Tsvangirai expressed
disappointment over the inclusive government’s failure
to decisively address
the working conditions of civil servants in the
country addressing 7th
congress of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) in Bulawayo on
Friday.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai said because of his background as a
trade
unionist, he was not happy to be part of a government which fails to
adequately pay its workers.
“I am equally unhappy with our failure to
decisively address the working
conditions of the government’s patriotic
work-force, the civil servants,”
said the Prime Minister.
The Prime
minister said his disappointment must be measured in the context
of the
nature and limitations of the inclusive government where he said
there are
no shared vision and values among the partners in the
government.
“Equally, our frustrations must not blind us from the little
progress we
have registered to date including the return of food on our
shelves, the
re-opening of health and education facilities and the return of
a semblance
of dignity”, said Tsvangirai.
The veteran Movement for
Democratic Change leader also added, “ we now have
a semblance of dignity
since the trying times when we all had a constant and
common meal of chakata
for our breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Melvyn Thomas, TNN |
Aug 20, 2011, 02.54PM IST
SURAT: The Union ministry of commerce on Friday
approved import of Rs 700
crore worth of rough diamonds belonging to the
diamantiares of Surat from
Zimbabwe's controversial Marange diamond
field.
Industry sources said the journey of the rough diamonds from
Zimbabwe to
Surat has been long and complicated. The goods were mined in
Marange diamond
field in 2010, auctioned in November 2010 after the plenary
meeting of the
Kimberley Process (KP) in Jerusalem and sold to Surat
diamantaires.
Surat buyers, who were issued KP certificates by the KP
monitory Abbey
Chikane, exported the goods to Dubai, where they were stopped
by the UAE's
Kimberley Process Office after KP put an embargo on the export
and import of
Zimbabwe rough diamonds on November 4, 2010.
The UAE
stated in December 2010 that rough diamond shipments from Zimbabwe's
Marange
region will not be allowed to be exported to India until full
consensus
amongst KP participants is reached on the approval to the export
of diamonds
from Zimbabwe and that the goods were held in the Dubai's free
trade
zone.
On June 29, 2011, the UAE allowed the export of the Rs 700 crore
worth of
Zimbabwe rough diamonds to India after KP's Working Group on
Monitoring
(WGM) approved the export. The goods arrived in India, but they
were seized
by the customs awaiting final approval from the central
government.
"We were in constant touch with the commerce ministry over
the release of
the Rs 700 crore worth of rough diamond consignment belonging
to Surat
diamantaires for the last one month. Finally, the commerce ministry
has
given its clearance to hand over the goods to the respective traders on
Friday," regional chairman of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council
(GJEPC) Chandrakant Sanghavi said.
According to Sanghavi, about 15
parcels of Zimbabwe rough diamonds belonging
to as many as 13 diamantaires
from Surat have been released by the GJEPC's
regional office in the city.
The release of the Zimbabwe rough diamonds has
spread excitement in the
local market as the rough diamond prices have
appreciated by almost 50 per
cent in the past one year.
"The fresh flow of Zimbabwe rough diamonds
will ease the price pressure
faced by the diamantaires for the past one
year," a DTC sightholder said.
http://www.independent.co.uk
AFP
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Five southern African
countries signed an agreement Thursday to create a
giant conservation zone
in the Okavango and Zambezi river basins that
stretches over an area half
the size of France.
The "conservation and tourism area" will cover parts
of Angola, Botswana,
Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, linking 14 national parks
and nature reserves,
including world-famous Victoria Falls and the Okavango
River delta.
Leaders said they hoped the agreement would protect the
region's rich
biodiversity and give root to a thriving ecotourism
industry.
"It's the largest protected tourism zone in the world," an
official from the
15-nation Southern African Development Community said in
announcing the deal
at the regional bloc's summit in Angola.
The
region is known for rare species including cheetahs, African wild dogs,
black sable and rhinos. It is also home to some 250,000 elephants.
Dear Family and Friends,
Zimbabwe was rocked to the core this week by the
death of the
Commander of the Defence Forces, retired General Solomon Mujuru,
in a
fire at a farm in Beatrice. General Mujuru’s body was burnt
beyond
recognition in the early hours of Tuesday 16th August 2011.
General
Mujuru was the husband of Zimbabwe’s Vice President Joice
Mujuru.
Everything about the fire at Alamein farm has left
Zimbabweans
whispering and suspicious. The morning after the fire a
journalist who
arrived early on the scene said the fire brigade had been
called but
didn’t arrive for some hours and when it did get there, had
no
water. The journalist said the borehole also wasn’t working and
water
was being pumped into a bowser from a dam 3 kilometres away. A
radio
communication system on the farm was apparently out of order and
the three
policemen stationed just 50 metres from the house were not
aware of the fire
until the blaze was so intense that asbestos roof
sheets began exploding and
shattering. One newspaper reported that
guards at the farm did not have air
time for their cell phones to call
for help; another newspaper said that that
farm workers had used their
mobile phones to contact Vice President, Mrs
Mujuru and summon the
fire brigade.
No one can understand why General
Mujuru, who was a big, strong man,
was not able to escape from the inferno as
there were numerous doors
and windows, none of which had burglar
bars.
The Beatrice farm, Alamein, was taken over by General Mujuru
who
evicted the owner, Guy Watson Smith in 2001. Given just an
hour’s
notice to vacate his home and farm, Guy Watson Smith said he left
with
just a suitcase, forced to abandon his life’s work and assets.
Guy
Watson Smith told the press this week that he has spent the last
ten
years trying, through the High Court of Zimbabwe, to get payment
for
his assets that were seized. These included: 460 breeding
cows;
tractors, irrigation equipment, fertilizer, diesel; coal and
vehicles
which were valued in the region of two million US dollars. Asked
about
the flammability of his house on Alamein Farm this week, Mr
Watson
Smith said it was built of brick and cement with asbestos
roofing
which made it, in his words, ‘fireproof.’ Mr Watson Smith
said:
“there were more doors and windows than holes in a colander.
Our
main bedroom alone had 3 doors out of it and 4 double windows. How
do
you get trapped inside that?”
The banner headline on the front of
the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper
at the end of the week summed up the
feeling prevailing everywhere:
“Mujuru allies cry ‘murder most
foul’.”
As I write this letter, General Mujuru is being laid to rest at
Heroes
Acre in Harare. There are more people gathered than I can
ever
remember seeing there. The stands and grounds are overflowing;
people
are seated under, around and in the branches of the surrounding
Musasa
trees whose leaves are red and orange in an early spring flush. The
MC
at the funeral is Kembo Mohadi and his words perhaps explain far
better
than I can, the current sentiment in the country. He said:
“Before I call on
His Excellency President Mugabe to speak may I
implore you all to exercise
maximum discipline.”
The death of General Mujuru breaches a wall already
straining at the
seams and we wait to see which way now for the faction
fighting within
Zanu PF in the succession war and which way now for
Zimbabwe.
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy Copyright �
Cathy
Buckle 20 August 2011. www.cathybuckle.com