http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 12:16
PRIME Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai can no longer make senior appointments in
his party and
government without consulting the MDC-T national standing
committee (NSC),
as part of measures to stem growing factionalism.
This follows
concern that Tsvangirai’s June cabinet reshuffle and the
redeployment of
staff in the Prime Minister’s office had created more
fissures in the party
than already existed.
The resolution was made by the MDC-T executive in June
at a retreat in South
Africa that was organised to calm tempers after
Tsvangirai unexpectedly
reshuffled his cabinet line-up.
Sources
said this development was likely to delay or halt the pending
restructuring
of the Prime Minister’s office.
A number of changes had been lined
up, with reports that Tsvangiriai’s
spokesperson James Maridadi was to be
replaced by MDC-T director of
information Luke Tamborinyoka.
In
June some ministers and members of the party claimed they were shocked
and
embarrassed when they learnt of the demotions in the Press.
“It was
recommended that he will have to make consultations first,” said one
of the
sources.
“This consultation will deflect fears and accusations that
Tsvangirai is
targeting officials whom he thinks are not loyal to
him.”
The source said ultimately Tsvangirai would have the final say
but he would
have consulted the NSC.
Tsvangirai chairs the
committee, which is responsible for the day-to-day
administration of the
party.
The 12-member team reports to the party’s national
executive.
Party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa yesterday denied that
the party adopted
that resolution saying “the MDC-T, as a party of
excellence has always been
consulting” whenever important decisions were
made.
Tsvangirai’s reshuffle was seen as a witch-hunt against
officials believed
to be aligned to MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who
survived the
restructuring exercise.
There have also been
accusations that the Prime Minister’s so-called
“kitchen cabinet” was behind
the reshuffle.
They said those close to the former trade unionist
such as Ian Makone and
Jameson Timba, who landed the post of Minister of
State in the Prime
Minister’s Office in the reshuffle, were behind the
restructuring.
The two most senior victims of the reshuffle were
Elias Mudzuri, who was
Energy and Power Development minister and ex co-Home
Affairs minister, Giles
Mutsekwa.
Mudzuri has been confined to
party business where he is the organising
secretary while Mutsekwa was moved
to a smaller and not-so influential
Ministry of National
Housing.
Mutsekwa was replaced by Makone’s wife, Theresa, who a few
years back got
the party’s women’s assembly top post amid a cloud of
controversy.
She had the full backing of Tsvangirai as she battled
against trade unionist
Lucia Matibenga.
The re-arrangement of the
party by Tsvangirai and redeployment of staff in
the Prime Minister’s Office
is widely seen as an attempt to reassert his
authority in the party
currently bedevilled by factionalism.
But Tsvangirai has said the
restructuring exercise was meant to enhance
government performance as well
as revitalising the party, presumably ahead
of next year’s
elections.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
12:13
HUNDREDS of Harare City Council ghost workers who were employed
illegally
during the era of commissions led by Zanu PF sympathisers will not
lose
their jobs following a contested manpower audit, Harare mayor Muchadeyi
Masunda has said.
Last December, the MDC-T dominated council created
shock waves after it
announced plans to embark on a human resources audit to
flush out ghost
workers. The cash-strapped local authority also wanted to
get rid of
unqualified employees whom it accused of fleecing the city of a
fortune in
revenue.
The councillors remained defiant even when
Local Government minister
Ignatious Chombo interfered with the audit
processes and twice halted the
exercise.
Masunda said the audit
was complete and added that council would hire
professionals to validate the
exercise.
He said the audit had established that Harare employed 9
500 workers and an
additional 500 casual labourers.
But in what
must be a major climb down, Masunda said council would not be
retrenching
anyone but would instead rely on death and retirement to
rationalise its
workforce.
"The professional audit will tell us the number of
employees we need to
effectively run the city," Masunda said.
"We
are, however, not going to fire people.
"Our workers have contracts
and employee rights, and we also do not want to
be dragged to court over
these matters.
"We will deal with these things professionally and
allow attrition to take
its course."
He added that the city would
not replace workers who retired and those who
died while still in its
employ.
When council's financial position improves, the city would
also consider
paying voluntary exit packages.
Masunda said
retrenchments were not an option at the moment as the city did
not have
enough money.
Chairperson of council's Human Resources Committee
Councillor Panganai
Charumbira confirmed council would not weed out ghost
workers.
The chairperson of the council's Human Resources committee
said his
committee would have preferred retrenchments, redeployments and the
demotion
of some people to general hands if the audit concluded that council
was
overstaffed.
Charumbira added that an average of not less
than 10 people retire from
council employ every month especially due to
medical reasons.
"But as a committee, we say there is no audit to
talk about because
management, the very people who made us recommend an
audit, and the very
people who did not want the audit, are the ones who
carried it out,"
Charumbira said.
"We are very suspicious of this
report we have only heard about but not seen
so far.
"There are
certain things which made us to think this exercise should be
carried out so
if those things are not reflected in the audit report, we
will declare the
exercise false."
The Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA)
has since scoffed at
council's decision not to retrench excess workers,
saying the climb down was
an act of cowardice.
"If they are not
going to fire anyone, then there is no need to waste
precious time and the
little resources they have used carrying out the
exercise,"CHRA chairperson
Simbarashe Moyo said.
"Under normal circumstances, an audit is for
facilitating the plucking out
of unwanted elements to realise value for
money.
"This is an act of pure cowardice. They are developing cold
feet and
succumbing to political pressure.
"The flushing out of
ghost workers employed on partisan grounds to milk
residents and the city is
long overdue."
The proposal came at a time when government is also
conducting an audit
which is understood to have unearthed several thousands
of ghost workers in
the civil service.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:58
WINDHOEK - In
the past Zimbabwe's suppression of dissenting voices was an
isolated case in
the region but the trend is spreading like a veld-fire as
other countries
join the "Bad Boy Club", according to deliberations at a
recently held
people's summit.
The sixth Southern African Development Community (Sadc)
people's summit,
which ended in Namibia on Monday, heard that governments in
the region were
silencing dissenting voices to sustain unpopular
regimes.
The summit was held under the auspices of the Southern Africa
Peoples'
Solidarity Network (SAPSN), an umbrella body of civil society
organisations
in the region.
The delegation from Swaziland said
repression had escalated and the state of
emergency "has turned the country
into an open-air prison".
It called for the removal of a ban on political
parties imposed by King
Mswati III.
The Swazis also called for the
imposition of Sadc targeted sanctions on the
elite to force the monarch to
relax repressive laws.
The delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) said the central
African nation has to stop the harassment and killing
of human rights
defenders.
In an open letter sent to DRC president Joseph
Kabila, civil society
organisations called for an independent inquiry into
the killing of
activist, Floribert Chebeya Bahizire who was murdered in
June.
"The official investigation has achieved almost nothing and bears all
the
hallmarks of a cover-up rather than any real attempt to uncover the
truth,"
said Hubert Tshiswaka, the DRC advocacy manager at the Open Society
Initiative of Southern Africa.
"Only an independent inquiry has any
chance of bringing those responsible
for these appalling crimes to
court-something President Kabila has promised
to do."
Tshiswaka said the
murder of Bahizire and the disappearance of his driver,
Fidele Bazana Edadi,
were not isolated incidents "but part of escalating
campaign of violence and
intimidation by the authorities in the DRC ahead of
next year's
election".
Namibia, the host of this year's summit, was also on the radar
after banning
public protests by opposition parties and non-governmental
organisations
during the course of the Sadc heads of state and government
summit.
Civil societies from Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Madagascar and DRC
had
planned street marches to highlight the crisis in their
countries.
The Namibian government had initially granted the groups
permission to march
but made an about- turn saying the police were "ill
equipped to provide
security to people or individuals who may want to
exercise their
constitutional rights in the form of demonstrations or
gatherings".
Despite the ban, Zimbabwe's gory past was on display when
Zimbabwe Human
Rights Association (ZimRights) held a photo exhibition of the
country's dark
past in the period 2007-2009.
The 74 pictures captured the
trials and tribulations Zimbabweans went
through.
Okay Machisa, the
ZimRights director said: "Zimbabwean issues especially
human rights-related
cases remain a thorny area in the region.
"This platform becomes critically
relevant since it gives unconditional
participation from the civil society
from within Sadc."
"ZimRights' path of preaching the truth and advocacy
around national healing
using the pictures in our country was thwarted by
state security agents.
"This left us with no other option than using such
platforms like SAPSN
gathering here in Windhoek."
This is the second time
that the pictures had been exhibited on an African
gathering.
The 74
pictures were showcased before the recent World Cup in South
Africa.
ZimRights showed delegates a film, Article IV, which touches on
national
healing as prescribed by the global political
agreement.
Analysts say the re-emergence of repression in the region emanates
from the
fact that Sadc is "an "Old Days Club" and ruling parties in the
region
believe that their legitimacy is derived from the barrel of the gun
and not
democracy", according to Johannesburg-based political analyst, Dewa
Mavhinga.
"As such to retain political power there is a growing tendency
in the region
to rely on repression.
"This has happened in Zimbabwe,
Angola, Swaziland, Namibia and now the South
Africa government seeks to
muzzle the press," said Mavhinga who is also a
regional coordinator for
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
"Sadc leaders are paying lip service to
democracy while relying on military
might for political
authority."
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:57
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe is set to reappoint Zanu PF governors despite
agreeing in principle
to share the disputed posts with his counterparts in
the inclusive
government.
The new stance differs with observations made by South African
President
Jacob Zuma at the just-ended Southern African Development
Community (Sadc)
summit that the issue of governors has been
resolved.
Mugabe has placed a caveat on the appointment of governors from the
two MDC
formations insisting he would only do so once targeted sanctions are
removed.
This is bound to be a sticking point, as US ambassador, Charles
Ray last
week pointed out that sanctions would not be removed unless there
was
significant movement towards political reform.
The appointment of
governors, after the incumbents' terms expired at the end
of last month, is
one of the outstanding issues in the Global Political
Agreement (GPA),
together with the swearing in of Roy Bennett and the
selection of Gideon
Gono and Johannes Tomana as governor of the central bank
and attorney
general respectively.
Mugabe on Friday reaffirmed his position that he would
not cede any
gubernatorial post. "We have told the other side that there
will be no
movement on that matter.
"Governors will not be divided, let
us see to those issues that worry us
such as sanctions," he told the Zanu PF
Central Committee.
"Sanctions must go in their entirety and that is when we
will talk about
governors."
The ageing leader added that he had informed
the facilitators that there
would be no movement until sanctions were
lifted.
Zuma, the mediator to the Zimbabwean crisis, reported that the three
parties
to the GPA had found common ground on the appointment of
governors.
"While agreeing on the appointment formula recommended to us by
the GPA
negotiators, we have resolved that this matter be addressed
simultaneously
and concurrently with the sanctions removal strategy," reads
the report.
Leader of the smaller formation of the MDC, Arthur Mutambara is
reported to
have written to Zuma informing him that the three principals had
agreed on
governors.
"That correspondence is confidential, if you want
anything, talk to the Zuma
people, I cannot discuss this with you,"
Mutambara said, when asked about
the letter yesterday.
At a press
briefing after the summit, Tendai Biti, MDC-T's negotiator said
that as the
terms of office of the incumbents expired at the end of July,
his party
expected Mugabe to make new appointments in consultation with
Tsvangirai.
He said the appointments must be in accordance with the
formula agreed by
the negotiators and endorsed by the principals.
The
formula agreed to is that Zanu PF would have five governors, MDC-T four
while MDC-M would have one.
Minister of State in the office of the Prime
Minister, James Timba said if
Mugabe went ahead with the appointment of Zanu
PF governors, the move would
be unconstitutional.
"The constitution says
Mugabe has to consult and agree with the prime
minister before making any
key appointments and if this is not done these
would be a nullity," he
said.
MDC-T spokesman, Nelson Chamisa said as far as they were concerned
governor
positions were vacant and they had come up with a list of people to
take up
those posts.
"Mugabe is coming up with yet another flimsy excuse
not to appoint
governors. First he said he could not terminate the contracts
of governors
so they had to run their term," he said.
"Now that the terms
are over he is coming up with a perforated excuse not to
appoint our
governors."
Chamisa said he hoped that within the 30-day deadline set by
Sadc, they
would be able to persuade Zanu PF to fully implement the dictates
of the
GPA.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:48
A young
man, in his early 20s, lies motionless in the veranda of a shopping
complex
in Harare’s Kambuzuma high density suburb recently.
The only visible sign of
life around him are big green flies, hovering over
his seemingly lifeless
body.
The buzzing flies are being attracted by a revolting stench coming from
his
trousers. The young man has soiled himself after taking a combination of
alcohol and bronclear, a highly intoxicating drug smuggled from neighbouring
countries.
Passers-by just shake their heads in disbelief as his friends
giggle from a
distance where they continue with their drinking
binge.
“Leave him like that. He will wake up when he sobers,” one of his
friends
shouts to those who want to give a hand thinking the young man is
ill.
Investigations by The Standard news crew established that it was common
among the youths, mostly the unemployed, to take concoctions of drugs
whenever they can find them to speed up intoxication.
A snap survey
around Harare’s high density suburb also established that
among the commonly
abused drugs is marijuana (mbanje), bronclear (popularly
known as Bronco)
and Histalix D.
Bronco is also widely used by street kids and rank marshals
(mahwindi).
A local anti-drug abuse lobby group, Anti-Drug Abuse Association
of Zimbabwe
(Adaaz) says drug abuse in the country, just like anywhere in
the world, has
increased in the past two decades.
Adaaz acting director
Brilliant Mushipe fears that Zimbabwe could turn from
being a transit point
for dangerous drugs to becoming a fully-fledged
consumer if corrective
measures are not taken immediately.
The association refers at least 10 drug
addicts to hospitals and
psychiatrists every month, he said.
“Though
there is no comprehensive statistical data on drug abuse, informal
surveys
and arrests by police show that the trend is going,” said Mushipe,
whose
association advocates for a drug-free community.
Since the beginning of this
year, police in Nyamapanda Border Post alone
have impounded two tonnes of
mbanje, which drug peddlers intended to smuggle
into the country.
Last
year, police seized 109 kg of cannabis, as well as varying amounts of
ecstasy (49 tablets), cocaine (395 grammes) and heroin (5,1 kg).
Mushipe
said current trends have indicated a shift from the “soft” to hard
drugs.
Hard drugs are commonly used by the elite because they are too
expensive for
the poor.
Police sources said hard drugs were usually
consumed at parties in poshy
suburbs.
Two weeks ago, two men from
Harare’s leafy suburb of Glen Lorne died after
taking an overdose of
cocaine.
Andrew Malcom Ross and Norman Scott, both 35, died at Parirenyatwa
Hospital
where they had been taken after taking an over dose of the
drug.
Apart from being consumers, Zimbabweans are increasingly being used as
traffickers of hard drugs all over the world, said Mushipe, who attributed
this phenomenon to poverty and the “get-rich-quick” mentality.
With
unemployment topping 80% in the country, the problem is set to continue
as
the poor are driven into doing anything for survival.
The World Drug Report
(WDR) 2010, released in June this year says
Zimbabweans constituted 1% of
people from different nationalities who
trafficked hard drugs into Pakistan
in 2008.
Nigerians and Tanzanians constituted 32% and 4%
respectively.
Pakistan is a major producer of opium and is also a transit
route for drugs
from Afghanistan, which is the world’s largest producer of
banned drugs.
Mushipe called for urgent intervention of governments to curb
drug
trafficking.
“There is a need to keep strong, non-stop and effective
prevention measures
in progress if any nation is to stand against the drug
dilemma.”
The Minister of Health and Child Welfare Henry Madzorera had also
expressed
the same sentiments while officiating at this year’s International
Day
Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking commemorations.
He said
there was need to come up with educational campaigns to deal with
the
scourge of trafficking and use of narcotics.
In recent years, a number of
Zimbabweans have been arrested in other
countries while smuggling hard drugs
for a small fee.
Among the most commonly abused or trafficked drugs are
marijuana,
barbiturates, cocaine and heroin.
Two years ago, three
Zimbabwean women were sentenced to death in China for
trafficking cocaine
and heroin while another five were given life sentences
after being found
with varying amounts of the banned drugs.
Mushipe said the influx of
foreigners in the country has exposed Zimbabweans
to hard drugs.
Some
foreigners, he said, use Zimbabwe as a transit point to their drug
markets
in the Southern African region, Asia and Europe.
Just two months ago, two
Tanzanians and a South African were arrested in
Karoi after allegedly
swallowing cocaine capsules which they were allegedly
trafficking to South
Africa.
The state said Juma Ally Juma and Masumbuko Abdallah Munguni
allegedly
received 96 and 63 cocaine capsules respectively, valued at $203
810, while
Francis William joined them on their way to South Africa via
Lusaka, Zambia.
The WDR says Africa is both a market and a staging point for
other
destinations.
It says African traffickers “have created two
networks: a supply network
from Pakistan to Africa and a redistribution
network from Africa to Europe
and North America and elsewhere.”
In
destination markets like Europe, West African networks rely on their
respective diaspora as a base for their activities (importation and retail
distribution of heroin).
Police CID national spokesperson Augustine
Zimbili said Zimbabwe was being
used as a transit point by drug traffickers
who sell their drugs in other
markets across the world.
He however said
in the process of being used as a transit point by drug
peddlers, “there
would obviously be some drops” that would be consumed
locally.
Zimbili
dismissed claims of increased drug trafficking and consumption in
the
country saying the cases appear to have increased because of the
alertness
of the police.
“There has not been an increase,” said Zimbili. “This is only
because of the
efficiency and effectiveness of our expertise in detecting
cases of drug
trafficking.”
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
18:47
SINCE the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 11
years
ago, Welshman Ncube was always considered to be the brains and the
driver of
the opposition party.
At the split of the party in 2005, it was
thought that he had engineered the
break-up and wanted to take over the
party’s leadership from founding
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Since then he
has been labelled all sorts of names among them that he is a
Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agent and a sellout.
That Ncube received a
farm from a Zanu PF government at the height of the
land invasions has not
helped matters as he was often accused of having been
a mole in the then
united MDC party.
“The truth is that I had a farm that was invaded by Zanu PF
members and the
one I received was compensation,” he said.
Ncube said he
had bought the farm, but it emerged that the farm, which had
never been
utilised had belonged to Zapu and was invaded by war veterans,
who said they
were claiming back their property.
President Robert Mugabe’s government
seized Zapu properties during the
Midlands and Matabeleland disturbances and
some of the properties have since
been invaded by war veterans.
Former
Midlands governor, Cephas Msipa is reported to have intervened and
ensured
that Ncube and the late Renson Gasela were compensated for the farms
they
had lost.
Despite the explanation, the “sellout” tag has stuck, while the
questions
have arisen on Ncube’s judgment and credibility.
Central to the
questions on Ncube’s character is whether he is a shrewd
contriver or an
honest politician.
“I am not a contriver,” he told The Standard last week.
“If the truth be
told we have conducted our politics in an honest and
transparent manner.”
As if to prove his point, Ncube said he and his party
were the first to talk
about forming a coalition government, but then it was
unpopular and they
were dismissed as opportunists.
“We realised that it
was important to put the interests of Zimbabweans first
after 10 years of
conflict, but this was unpopular at that moment,” he said.
“We are not about
politics of grandstanding and populism, we are about
honest politics.”
A
few years after proffering a unity government as the only solution to the
economic and political malaise Zimbabwe faced, a coalition government was
formed, consisting of the two MDC formations and Zanu PF.
Another
position, which they had taken but was to prove to be unpopular,
Ncube said,
was on holding elections next year.
“We do not want an election that will
produce a disputed winner and
elections should not be held before all
outstanding GPA issues have been
resolved,” he said.
MDC-T and Zanu PF
are calling for elections to be held next year, while
MDC-M claims
prevailing conditions made it impossible for a free and fair
poll to be held
next year.
The law professor added that his party had also decided to oppose
sanctions,
as they did not serve the interests of the country.
Ncube, a
former University of Zimbabwe law lecturer, is being touted as a
replacement
for party leader, Arthur Mutambara and this has raised a lot of
interest
from across the political divide.
Tsvangirai recently attacked Ncube’s
leadership ambitions saying that he had
caused the split of the MDC because
he wanted to be the leader.
Others claim that the reason for Ncube’s new
found courage to go for the
presidency of his party was his relationship
with South African president,
Jacob Zuma.
The two are in-laws following
the marriage of their children last year.
Ncube disputed this, however,
claiming that this was a misconception as Zuma
was a professional, who had
earned respect from both Zanu PF and MDC-T.
“Like any family we discuss and
share ideas and politics, but these are
private discussions,” he
said.
Ncube was ever so diplomatic on his leadership ambitions, claiming that
he
was available if he were to be nominated by the party’s 12
provinces.
He said he could not nominate himself and his party had a
different approach
to the way things were done in the old MDC.
“We were
all being terrorised to proclaim that we were not interested in
this or that
position,” he claimed.
“There were hired people who made sure that any
ambitious people were
brought down.”
Asked why he was now challenging
Mutambara, yet he was the one who
reportedly parachuted the robotics
professor to the helm of the MDC-M, Ncube
disputed this saying he had not
invited Mutambara into the party.
“Mutambara was suggested by the leadership
of the party, people like
Minister (Priscilla) Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Job
Sikhala and (Gabriel)
Chaibva,” he said.
“We discussed the nomination and
decided that we should support it, it was
not my decision but a party
decision.”
He said Mutambara was seen as the best candidate at the time and
so they
chose to go with him.
In the same vein, he said he regretted
endorsing Simba Makoni’s candidature
for the 2008 presidential elections and
swore the party would not make such
a “mistake” again.
“We evaluated our
performance as a party and with the benefit of hindsight
we know it was a
mistake,” Ncube said.
In regard to the polls, Ncube said their biggest
undoing was their failure
to communicate with the electorate. He said they
were working towards that.
He said the party had embarked on a restructuring
exercise and dispelled the
notion that it had all but collapsed.
Asked
about his relations with Tsvangirai, Ncube who was rather evasive said
he
would not be drawn into insulting or attacking the former trade union
leader.
“We will not get into the politics of name calling or insulting
others, what
we are interested about is serving the national interest,” he
said.
To his supporters, Ncube is seen as a moderate, who is able to interact
with
both Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who seem to be poles apart. He is also seen
as
being amenable to donors and western nations because of his
diplomacy.
Personally, Ncube said he had had more joy as a lawyer and
academic, but had
a vision of a free and fair society which inspired him to
join politics.
He said in the academia there was an ivory tower perception
that they sought
to criticise the government but were unwilling to proffer
any solutions.
An academic lawyer who became a professor of law at the
University of
Zimbabwe since 1992, Ncube is a holder of Bachelor of Law
(BL), Bachelor of
Laws (LLB) and MPhil (Law) degrees.
His MPhil thesis
was on Zimbabwean customary law focusing on family law.
Ncube paid tribute to
party vice president, Gibson Sibanda, whom he said had
pushed him extremely
hard to join the MDC at its formation.
In 2002 Ncube, who is the Minister of
Industry and Commerce in the
government of national unity was among three
MDC MPs charged with high
treason along with Tsvangirai after they were
accused of plotting to
assassinate President Robert Mugabe.
Ncube along
with MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti and Zanu PF’s Patrick
Chinamasa and
Nicholas Goche were key figures in negotiations to set up the
inclusive
government.
But his political fortunes seemed to take a knock in 2008 after
he lost the
Makokoba parliamentary seat to Thokozani Khupe of
MDC-T.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
18:41
GOVERNMENT says consultation fees at state public health
institutions remain
the biggest impediment to access to treatment by people
living with HIV and
Aids.
Owen Mugurungi, the head of the HIV and
Tuberculosis (TB) unit in the
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare told a
recent Global Fund dialogue on
policy that government was in a dilemma
because health centres argued that
they needed the money to stay
afloat.
“User fees have remained a challenge for us. Clinics say they need
the money
to keep running,” said Mugurungi.
“User fees are only useful in
denying access to treatment for patients.
“They impede access to health care
by typically adding the cost of health
services to patients resulting in
poor vulnerable population groups not
always seeking appropriate health care
when it’s needed.”
Various studies have confirmed that many only discover
their HIV-positive
status when their immune systems are already too weak to
support
anti-retroviral treatment (ART).
This is because they are often
discouraged by exorbitant fees to visit
health centres for regular check-ups
and voluntary HIV testing.
As a result they may unknowingly infect many
others.
Tabona Shoko, Zimbabwe Network for People Living with HIV (ZNNP+)
director
said although ART was accessible, treatment for opportunistic
infections is
unaffordable to the majority of people living with the
virus.
Shoko said lack of information on available treatment options was also
another major challenge in the fight against HIV.
“Universal access to
treatment is still unattainable,” he said. “There is
still need for
practical policies.”
A case study done by Shoko for Zvimba, Karoi and Kariba
revealed that the
distance travelled by patients to health centres also acts
as a barrier to
treatment.
Last year, Zimbabwe recorded further decline
in the prevalence rate of HIV
from 15.6% the previous year to 13.7% but
experts say the figure is still
too high and more has to be done to reduce
new infections.
Meanwhile, the National Aids Council (Nac) recently handed
over four CD4
count machines to be placed at Mpilo, United Bulawayo
Hospitals,
Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospital — the four central hospitals in
the
country.
The machines process 40 samples per hour substituting the
older ones which
took 10 samples per hour.
Speaking at the handover
ceremony at Harare Hospital, Deputy Health and
Child Welfare minister,
Douglas Mombeshora said the procurement of the
machines and ARV drugs by Nac
was testimony that the Aids levy was being put
to good use.
The CD4
machines were bought using proceeds from the Aids levy.
Workers in Zimbabwe
pay three percent of their salaries towards the levy on
a monthly
basis.
The current policy states that Nac must set aside 50% of the Aids levy
for
the procurement of ARV requirements.
Murombedzi Kuchera, the Nac
board chairman, said the levy had become useful
again following the
dollarisation of the economy.
According to new WHO guidelines people living
with HIV whose CD4 count falls
to 350 should be immediately placed on
ART.
The new development has seen the number of people in need of ART rising
from
340 000 to 570 000.
Zimbabwe HIV and Aids Activist Union (ZHAAU)
representative, Bernard Nyathi,
speaking at the same occasion, said lack of
CD4 count machines had
frustrated efforts to extend access of the
life-prolonging drugs to ordinary
people.
Early this year Nac donated a
consignment of various commodities including
ARV drugs, HIV test kits and
condoms to Harare hospital.
BY PERPETUA CHIKOLOLERE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:09
THE beleaguered
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) on Friday said
it will comply
with an order from Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) to
reduce tariffs
and reverse some of the bills it gave to consumers.
After a 10-month
investigation into complaints that the power utility was
abusing its
monopoly, CTC last week ruled that the power utility had treated
its
domestic and commercial clients unfairly.
Consumers complained about Zesa's
collapsed meter reading and billing
systems, excessive tariffs, overlapping
bills, fluctuating and unfair fixed
charges, unfair load shedding, arbitrary
disconnection of power, poor
communication with customers, aggressive and
arrogant staff.
"Some of the complaints came to us in written form but others
were expressed
at various public hearings we held," said CTC chairman
Dumisani Sibanda when
he presented the findings of the inquiry to
journalists.
"Zesa, through its power transmission and distribution
subsidiary Zimbabwe
Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company
(ZETDC) accepted that 95%
of the customers' concerns and observations were
correct."
Among other measures, the commission ordered that for metered
domestic
consumers based in Harare and Bulawayo, February 1 last year should
be used
as the starting point for Zesa's new billing period, and that all
outstanding charges arising from electricity consumed prior to that date
should be written off.
The country adopted the foreign currency regime in
February 2009 and
consumers have complained that charging foreign currency
for power consumed
prior to the date is unfair as the value of the
Zimbabwean dollar had been
eroded excessively during that period.
"The
charges in respect of electricity consumed excluding fixed charges
between
1st February 2009 until 30 November 2009 should be in accordance
with the
Minister of Energy and Power Development's directive, that is, $30
per month
for domestic consumers in high density areas and $40 per month for
domestic
consumers in low density areas," Sibanda said.
"All excess payments made on
the basis of estimated bills and reconnection
fees for those consumers whose
power was disconnected after having paid
according to the minister's
directive should be credited to the affected
consumers' accounts."
CTC
recommended that in respect of metered domestic consumers countrywide
with
load limiters, Zesa must reduce the fixed monthly energy charges to
57%,
this being the ratio of power availed for use by consumers monthly for
the
period between February and November 2009.
From December 2009 onwards, the
fixed monthly energy charges for such
consumers should be based on power
availed taking into account load
shedding.
In respect of all other
consumers including industrial, commercial, mining,
farming, schools,
universities, government institutions, hospitals and other
commercial
entities, CTC said, they should approach Zesa and submit their
electricity
consumption where readings are available.
Where readings are not available
and the parties fail to agree on respective
consumption levels, the
commission said, a mutually agreed arbitrator should
be appointed.
Zesa
was also ordered to carry out its load shedding in a fair and equitable
manner and advise customers of the basis or reasons for load
shedding.
Fullard Gwasira, the Zesa public relations manager said the power
utility
was ready to comply with the order which was registered with the
High Court.
"We have not yet received formal communication from CTC but we
are looking
at the order with a view towards compliance because it was
issued by a
legally constituted body," Gwasira said.
"But we were already
complying with some of the things for example the
ministerial directive and
fairness in load shedding, it's just that our
efforts were being hampered by
faults in some areas."
Combined Harare Residents Association chairman
Simbarashe Moyo welcomed the
development saying residents had on several
occasions tried to engage Zesa
on the issues without success.
Moyo
however said a monitoring mechanism needs to be put in place for full
compliance otherwise consumers will continue to be
shortchanged.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:09
KINGSTONS Limited
- a giant provider of stationery partly owned by the
government - had 18
vehicles attached by First Mutual Limited (FML) recently
over a US$130 000
debt amid reports that it owes creditors over US$1,5
million.
The company
has been struggling to pay its workers for several months while
the Deputy
Sheriff has been constantly knocking at its doors as impatient
creditors
resort to attaching property.
FML reportedly seized 18 vehicles including T35
trucks after Kingstons
failed to service the loan it was advanced more than
two years ago.
Sources said only US$30 000 was realised from the sale meaning
that FML may
still gun for more property from the company, which operated
24 branches
country wide at its peak.
Brian Sedze, the Kingstons CEO
confirmed the developments but was quick to
point out that the company had
devised a strategy that it hopes will result
in a big turnaround.
The
initiative known as the Path to Growth Strategy (PGS) would see the
company
diversifying its interests away from selling book, magazines,
newspapers and
scholastics stationary to information and technology as well
as entering the
leasing business.
"Basically, the PST is very feasible," Sedze
said.
"Look, we are the first parastatal board to have successfully
diversified
the portfolio while also auditing the company which, had not
been audited in
a decade.
"We have come up with a corporate governance
code and an audit committee
which is delivering results."
Sedze said
turnover for the company had increased from US$1.2 million last
year to
US$3.8 million during the first quarter of this year.
Kingstons terminated
the contract of its MD Dunmore Mazonde in February
following accusations of
mismanagement.
Mazonde is reportedly challenging the dismissal saying it was
unprocedural
and is seeking compensation.
Sedze said the former MD's
contract expired and negotiations for his package
were ongoing.
He said
the new board had made some tough decisions in order to rescue the
company
from imminent collapse.
"One branch has been closed so far as the company
seeks to pursue its PTGS.
"We have 23 branches that are operating countrywide
as we seek to focus
attention on branches that are making profits.
"In
essence we are rationalising and focusing on profit making
branches."
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
18:07
PRODUCTION at Rio Tinto Zimbabwe's Murowa mine has increased by
28%,
although it witnessed a loss of US$5 million due to a ban on the export
of
diamonds from Zimbabwe among other factors, the Rio Zim unit said on
Friday.
The increased production was attributed to the increased confidence
in
resource grade predictions following a review of the resource model last
year, according to the latest group financial results.
Rio Tinto controls
78 % of Murowa Diamonds (Pvt) Ltd, with the remainder
owned by locally
listed mining group RioZim.
"The mine recorded its highest output in 18
months in May, and this trend
has been sustained in the following months,"
RioZim said in its financial
statement.
Murowa Diamonds (Pvt) Ltd
recorded a US$5 million loss compared with a loss
of $6.5 million last year
owing to low gem grades and the diamond export
ban.
Zimbabwe had banned
all diamond exports until stones from the controversial
Marange fields,
where it operates two joint venture mines, were certified by
industry
regulators.
There had been a lot of controversy surrounding the export of
Zimbabwe's
diamonds until issues of human rights violations had been
addressed.
Niels Kristensen, the Murowa MD said he expected the mine to
resume diamond
exports soon, after the government sold its first batch of
certified Marange
diamonds.
Although Rio Zim recorded a 74% increase in
group turnover this year, from
US$17 178 000 as at June last year, total
equity decreased from
US$55 687 000 during the same period last year to US$40
879 000 this year.
Zesa's excessive load shedding negatively affected the
group's gold
production at Renco Mine, according to the statement issued to
shareholders
on Friday.
Current liabilities increased by 66% this year up
from US$33 603 000 in June
2009 last year.
The Empress Nickel Refinery
has been tipped to witness an increase in
profitability during the remainder
of this year owing to a secure supply of
the three critical inputs of matte,
water and oxygen as well as a reliable
power supply.
on the 88kv
line.
Meanwhile, the pending conclusion of the rights issue has caused the
deferring of further drilling at Chimakasa and Kenilworth gold
prospect.
BY KUDZAI CHIMAHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:46
THERE is
lingering talk about forgiveness, healing, truth and
reconciliation, all
centred around the violent nature of politics that has
defined Zimbabwe's
elections especially in the past decade.
This politically-motivated violence
has been widely documented with people
whose homes were burnt, members of
their families killed during orgies of
violence rightly complaining that the
perpetrators are still walking the
length and breadth of our scorched
country as free men.
As Zimbabwe approaches another election within the next
two years, the
violence that has come to characterise political campaigns is
already being
reported, this time inspired by the constitution outreach
programme, and
this without any efforts having been made to "make peace"
with aggrieved
victims of past political violence. It is within that scope
that this
country has placed itself on the path of cyclical violence with
perpetrators
rightly knowing that nothing will happen to them.
After all
it is quite straight forward: if you go unpunished for a perceived
crime,
what will stop you from repeating it? Talk about literally getting
away with
murder; Zimbabwe presents scholars with innumerable case studies!
And we have
seen it since 1980 with the Gukurahundi massacres as known
architects and
the foot soldiers who caused this mayhem have never been
taken to task about
their role. Issues around forgiveness and healing are
likely to elude us as
long as there is no political commitment on the part
of the leaders who
presided over the killing and torture of innocents, and
we are guaranteed
that angry emotions will be part of our individual and
collective psyche for
a long time to come.
I listened to a man who all along had been enjoying his
beer until someone
muttered something about the futility of a Truth and
Reconciliation
Commission and something about how the dead must be left to
bury the dead.
The man literally wept, saying he never knew his father as he
was killed
during Gukurahundi and - while he had been enjoying the beer
among them -
said how much he hated the Shona. Everyone went silent, for
how would anyone
pacify a man who has so much anger in him?
This is a guy
who walks and talks each day as if everything is normal but
deep down hidden
from the rest of us, he harbours and carries such hate and
hurt.
This
becomes a strong case for open discussion of the evil that was spawned
by
political violence and the need for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
so
people can move on with their lives.
Yet some people in their wisdom think
the past can take care of itself by
natural processes of time and have been
arrogant and dismissive of calls for
a naming and shaming of people behind
the raping and killing of wives and
mothers since independence.
The
question for many is that what really can be expected from the people
who
are accused of heinous political crimes and still control state
apparatus
that would in essence be in charge of letting the law take its
course?
So
does the nation wait for that epoch when they are no longer in government
and then they are tracked and shot down like rabid dogs?
But then some
will argue that this goes against the principles of
restorative justice but
conforms with the dictates of vengeance instead.
Thus, justice must be
delivered in the here and now so that victims like the
man cited above may
know peace in their hearts. African politicians have
tended to exhibit
traits that seek to place them above the moral barometer
of ordinary beings
as they use both illiterates and the literati commit the
basest crimes, then
turn around and say the charges are all conspiracies by
political opponents.
Charles Taylor, Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Baby Doc
Duvalier - all their
stories read the same and the tragedy is that even as
we journey into the
21st century, we find ourselves having to make the same
excuses made by
these evil black brothers.
It is invariably always someone else who is not in
power who is blamed for
the atrocities!
But with the nature of Zimbabwe's
politics whose popularity contests have
largely been defined by clubs and
cudgels as weapons of persuasion we are,
no doubt, in for another round of
calls for national healing after lives
have already been lost when all this
can be averted by heeding the calls for
restorative justice. - Kubatana.net
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:45
ZIMBABWEANS
who have tasted some semblance of peace during the past 19
months have
started to hear growing calls for elections to be held next
year.
The
calls grew louder last week when South African President Jacob Zuma
called
for elections to end the impasse between parties in the inclusive
government
which have failed to resolve their outstanding issues.
Zuma's proposals were
endorsed by the Sadc leaders who met in Namibia last
week though no time
frame was set for the elections.
While there is no doubt that for any country
that purports to be a democracy
an election is the only way to determine who
governs the country, the
problem is that Zimbabwe is not ready for
elections.
Almost two years after the formation of the inclusive government,
there is
nothing to suggest that conditions now exist that will allow
Zimbabweans to
express their views freely without fear of the marauding Zanu
PF militias.
There is also nothing on the ground to suggest instruments of
terror that
have propped up President Robert Mugabe's regime have been
disbanded.
Memories of the 2008 violence are still fresh in people's
minds.
Many victims of the violence are yet to fully recover from the
injuries that
were inflicted on them by Zanu PF militias.
In some parts
of the country, people who fled political violence are yet to
return to
their homes.
For them, the situation is still far from being conducive for
peace as war
veterans who unleashed untold violence on them remain out
there, untamed and
ready as always to haunt MDC activists.
Despite being
Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai has not succeeded in
convincing Mugabe to
disband militias whose activities prompted him to
boycott the June 27 2008
run-off poll.
One doesn't need to go far to see evidence that yesteryear's
militias are
still active.
Reports from the rural communities where Copac
teams visited to solicit for
views for the new constitution, show that some
axe-wielding militias are
ready to attack those who oppose the Zanu
PF-favoured Kariba draft
constitution.
The recent activities of war
veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda in Bikita are
enough to remind villagers
that the veterans of the liberation struggle
stand ready to defend Mugabe's
rule.
Though Sibanda laughs off any suggestion that he and his cronies have
been
intimidating villagers in Bikita, there is cause for concern about
security
issues.
So, whenever the issue of elections is raised, people
should think about
what is likely to happen if Mugabe unleashes again the
army and the Zanu PF
militias to campaign for his party.
The most likely
scenario is that Zimbabwe will once again degenerate into a
political
hotspot it was two years ago.
The resurgence of unmitigated violence would
not only be bad for hapless
people who would either be killed, maimed or
raped by Zanu PF goons, but
would hurt an economic recovery process that had
started to take root.
After about 10 years, we had started to become
accustomed to seeing bread on
shelves and petrol at service stations, but
there is no guarantee that if
the election produces a disputed winner, this
recovery won't be thrown off
track.
Apart from just calling for
elections, Mugabe should demonstrate that he is
sincere. The starting point
would be to disband militias.
The police and the spy agency, Central
Intelligence Organisation are also in
dire need of reform.
The public
broadcaster ZTV is among the other institutions that need to be
reformed.
The Registrar General's office also needs to sort out the
voters' roll which
is replete with ghost voters. A national healing process,
that remains a
mirage, is also needed to heal the wounds of the past before
we embark on
another divisive election.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
18:43
We have always known, haven't we, that Zimbabwe is the big brother
in the
Southern African Development Community (Sadc)?
Coincidentally
Zimbabwe and the regional body are both 30 years old. People
might want to
be reminded that Sadc was born out of an organisation which
used to be
called the Frontline States.
At its inception Sadc was called the Southern
African Development
Coordination Conference (SADCC). The Frontline States
had come together to
help liberate the whole region from colonialism. When
Zimbabwe gained
independence in 1980, only South Africa and Namibia remained
under the yoke
of minority settler rule.
It is important to mention that
the man mandated to lead SADCC in its
formative stage was Zimbabwean. Simba
Makoni who had been a central figure
in Zanu PF until he broke away in 2008
to contest the presidency against his
erstwhile leader Robert Mugabe was
entrusted by the region to babysit the
organisation until it was 10 years
old when it was then transformed into
Sadc.
In 1980 Zanu PF which won the
people's mandate to run the newly-independent
country inherited (ironically)
an economy which was the most robust in the
region outside apartheid-ruled
South Africa. Almost all the other countries
that surrounded it had
collapsed. Zambia, after the copper bubble burst
because of low prices on
world markets and also because of the wars it
supported, was comatose.
Malawi had been rundown by the dictator Kamuzu
Banda. Mozambique had been
ravaged by war having fought its own against its
Portuguese colonial masters
and after also supporting the Zimbabwean
liberation struggle. Botswana was
not yet the jewel it has become now and
had a miniscule population of under
a million people.
Zimbabwe at transition from Rhodesia had the best
agricultural system based
on highly mechanised commercial farming. It could
feed not only itself but
the region as a whole. There was no commercial
agriculture to speak of in
the rest of the region.
It was only befitting
that Zimbabwe's role in the new regional organisation
was that of ensuring
food security in the region.
Tanzanian statesman and founding president
Mwalimu the late Julius Nyerere
called the country Africa's
jewel.
Zimbabwe's footprint in Sadc is therefore all-pervasive. To add to
that, in
Sadc, Mugabe is the longest-serving president. This is important
because he
can claim to be the last custodian of the regional body's
founding
principles; he hinted this in Namibia last week.
He told the
region's leaders gathered for a Sadc summit that the new crop of
African
leaders should learn from "the principled stance of the continent's
founding
fathers if they are not to undo the selfless work in liberating the
continent".
Can we envision a Sadc without Zimbabwe? Hardly!
That is
precisely why Mugabe is treated with kid gloves whenever the
Zimbabwean
crisis comes up for discussion.
Member states of Sadc are overly aware of
Mugabe's bravado. He pulled
Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in December
2008 leaving it divided because
he did not accept the decision made at the
Abuja summit, to maintain
Zimbabwe's suspension from it indefinitely.
Zimbabwe had been suspended
because of the presidential poll of 2002 which
was widely seen as flawed.
The issue split Commonwealth leaders, with South
Africa, Mozambique, Namibia
and Zambia extremely upset at the move. The
summit came to an end amidst
acrimony and division.
The Commonwealth
however did not split and no country has followed Mugabe's
move. But the
Commonwealth and Sadc are based on a different set of values
hence its
survival after Mugabe pulled out.
Sadc's values, if any, are amorphous. It
purports to stand for democratic
values but it doesn't. Violations of human
rights have continued in almost
all of its countries, especially Zimbabwe,
but nothing has been done by the
regional body to rectify this.
Zimbabwe
has in the past 10 years gone through hell because Zanu PF, which
Mugabe
fronts, has continually refused to accept election results. It has
used all
tools at its disposal to deny the people of Zimbabwe their
democratic right
to choose leaders of their choice.
If Sadc followed its founding principles
Zimbabwe would be a pariah state in
the region but instead it seems to be
everyone's favourite; see the kind of
camaraderie and mass hysteria that
accompanies Mugabe whenever he "graces"
the capitals of the region.
This
has undermined the regional body's credibility.
Sadc was expected to stand
firmly against Mugabe over the issue of the Sadc
Tribunal. There was a
loophole in the treaty that set it up but it is common
knowledge that in the
past Zimbabwe had supported it and subscribed to its
values. Zimbabwe had
even seconded a judge to the tribunal. But Sadc leaders
in Windhoek last
week, according to their shared wisdom, thought it was more
important to
deal with a technicality than deal with the very real denial of
people's
democratic rights.
Sadc has said it is against racism but where racism has
been committed the
perpetrators can get away with it because the agency that
should deal with
it is not properly constituted! What this means is that the
regional body,
in the face of such crimes against humanity as genocide would
rather look
aside because of flaws in its statutes.
Sadc was again a
letdown concerning the outstanding issues of the global
political agreement.
The regional body knows full well what has been
impeding the full
implementation of this agreement.
It knows that Zanu PF intransigency has
been at the heart of this. But again
instead of chastising Mugabe firmly he
has been let off the hook. Mugabe and
the other principals, Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, were given a
month to straighten whatever
was crooked in the GPA, but we all knew this
was not going to
happen.
Already Mugabe has reneged on the Sadc order and was only on Friday
telling
the central committee of his party that he would not make any new
concessions in negotiations despite what Sadc had said he should
do.
NEVANJI MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 August 2010
18:43
QUITE often in my life I find myself caught by the words my
grandfather
said one day as we talked about how the world hates the truth.
He told me
how a boy who ate his guavas at night was disappointed to find
half of them
with worms, so because of his love for the fruit he had to
switch off the
light as he felt it inconvenienced his desire for a
feast.
This analogy came into my mind as the news filtered that the Sadc
summit
had agreed to suspend the Sadc Tribunal, a court that ruled that the
Zimbabwean white farmers Michael Campbell and 78 others had to be given back
the land they lost through the land reform programme in Zimbabwe. This
ruling had not created a challenge for Zimbabwe alone but the entire Sadc
member states.
We have seen the Afriforum, a South African organisation
that represents the
interests of the farmers who lost their land in Zimbabwe
going to court
seeking an order to attach Zimbabwean properties in that
country.
On August 13 I had an opportunity to be part of the audience at the
Presbyterian Church in Bulawayo that watched the award winning documentary
entitled "Mugabe and the White African" that relates the painful
circumstances that Michael Campbell and family went through at the height
of the farm invasions. The farm take over was characterised by the violence
of unimaginable proportions that made the audience really weep.
Most
people in the audience hoped that the Sadc summit would force the
government of Zimbabwe to observe and implement its Tribunal ruling. Little
did they know that Mugabe was playing his political games behind the
scenes.
I have always held the unpopular view that most people expect the
world to
force Mugabe to conform to the democratic values. I submit that
this is a
duty of Zimbabweans. I come from the region that was disappointed
by the
world in the past when the Mugabe regime massacred our fellow
country men
and the world reacted with the usual lip service. Thus to
expect Sadc to
act now on Zimbabwe is a luxury we can ill afford if we are
serious about
our struggle for democracy.
At times I don't know whether
to weep or to laugh when Tsvangirai goes
globe trotting from one gathering
of heads of state to the another but
always returning empty-handed. Even the
Sadc brokered Global Political
Agreement has legitimised Mugabe' election
theft as he has retained his
executive powers and continues to run the
show.
The Sadc decision on the Tribunal was nothing but a confirmation that
we
cannot expect these international bodies to deliver the democracy we
want,
right now the African Union is divided on Al-Bashir the Sudanese head
of
state indicted for war crimes by the ICC. It is impossible, as it has
once
again been proved, for this regional block to come to our rescue. The
suspension of the Sadc tribunal was a political decision simply taken to
protect their kith and kin. Had Sadc forced Zimbabwe to implement their
decision it would have been political "incorrectness" on their part as they
would have sacrificed a fellow black African to protect the interests of a
white men. This is the basis of that decision that we should wake-up
to.
In as much as I pray for God's mercy for the affected farmers I want
them
to know that their situation is not an isolated case of human rights
abuse
I have mentioned Gukurahundi, and not forgetting the victims of
Murambatsvina. On that note I submit that they should now unite with all
other progressive forces that are pursuing democracy. The first step
that should be seriously supported by all is the writing of a new
constitution currently underway. This is the only way to deliver a final
blow to Mugabe and the injustices we face. Mugabe is scared and continues to
panic everyday thus his use of the war veterans to disrupt the process. A
good constitution will guarantee the respect of life, property rights and
protection of all Zimbabweans.