http://www.portalangop.co.ao
8/28/11
10:20 AM
Harare
Harare - LIBYAN citizens in Zimbabwe yesterday pulled down the
country's
flag and replaced it with the one used by rebels fighting against
Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi's regime, as the onslaught against the beleaguered
former
leader reached Tripoli and swept through his compound.
Reports from Tripoli yesterday said rebel forces swept into Col
Gaddafi's
compound on Tuesday, seizing weapons and destroying symbols of the
longstanding dictatorship.
The jubilant fighters
celebrated their rapid advance and erected
their flag above the
base.
There were reports that Col Gaddafi could have fled
Tripoli using a
secret network of tunnels, but the United States said it
believed he
remained in the country.
In Harare,
lunchtime protests broke out after scores of Libyans
converged at the
country's chancellery in Harare in an apparent defection
from Gaddafi - who
came to power through a military coup four decades ago
but whose regime
crumbled this week - after a rebellion swept through the
capital, Tripoli,
forcing him to flee.
Students, mostly children of Libyan
diplomats who had served under
Gaddafi, at a Libyan school at the
chancellery located next to The Financial
Gazette offices, shouted "Gaddafi
must go", creating a scene that drew the
attention of the
public.
After bringing down the flag, the Libyans set
ablaze the old Libyan
flag and raised the new flag synonymous with the
Libyan rebels.
Anti-riot police parked adjacent to the
embassy, closely monitored the
demonstrations. No one was dispersed by the
police.
The protesters, among them women, tore up and
trampled on several
portraits of Gaddafi, which were hung inside the embassy
as they sang and
danced in solidarity with rebels.
Libyan Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Taher Elmagrahi, expressed his
solidarity
with the Libyan protesters.
"We are here representing the
Libyan people not Gaddafi. From today,
24th of August, we will follow what
the Libyan majority says as directed by
the National Transitional Council,"
he said.
"I am not afraid of anyone even if I'm recalled.
This flag represents
our independence in 1951."
Media
reports yesterday suggested that Gaddafi could have managed to
escape
capture by using a bunker and tunnel system underneath his compound
in
Tripoli.
Sky News said the man who ruled Libya for 42 years
was known to have
deep bunkers under his Bab al-Aziziya lair, which rebel
fighters seized on
Tuesday
http://www.zimdiaspora.com
Sunday, 28 August
2011 11:28 Editor News
By Our Correspondent
THOUSANDS of school
leavers who wrote O and A-Level examinations in 2009 are
in a desperate
situation because they cannot be employed as the government
is failing to
produce certificates, The ZimDiaspora can reveal.
It has emerged that the
Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) is
failing to release the 2009
Ordinary and Advanced Level certificates,
resulting in those who sat for
examinations failing to secure jobs.
The 2009 O and A-Level candidates
only use results slips which have no
security features.
On several
occasions, the school leavers have been denied employment due
Zimsec’s
failure to award them their certificates.
Zimsec spokesman Ezekiel
Pasipamire confirmed the development but insisted
that the results slips
could still be used as an authentic proof.
“Anyone doubting the results
slip should contact Zimsec complaints desk. The
certificates are not printed
in Zimbabwe and that could also contribute to
the delays,” he
said.
Zimsec is well-known for bungling in handling examinations and many
are
preferring the respected Cambridge examinations body.
Pasipamire
said due to serious financial problems, Zimsec was failing to
print the
certificates adding that the nation should not rush the
examinations body
into producing sub-standard certificates.
But he assured that the
certificates were due to arrive in Zimbabwe “soon”
although he declined to
announce where the papers were imported from citing
security
reasons.
“The candidates should expect their certificates before end of
year,” said
Pasipamire.
The disadvantaged candidates said no
prospective employer would take time to
verify the results slips with
Zimsec. Zimbabwe has been awash with reports
of forged certificates.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Twenty seven pastors from the Anglican
Church have been violently kicked out
of their homes by thugs sponsored by
renegade bishop Norbert Kunonga since
the recent Supreme Court ruling that
put properties of the church into his
hands.
27.08.1101:34pm
by Fungi
Kwaramba
In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Reverend Clifford
Dzavo, the Diocese of
Harare Secretary, said the church was worried by the
manner in which Kunonga
has been evicting its members.
“Kunonga has
issued illegal eviction orders, which he did not get through
the courts, He
and his priests are delivering eviction notices in the
company of the police
- who are well aware that a deputy sheriff should be
present,” said
Dzavo.
According to a High Court judgment last year, Kunonga should
engage a deputy
sheriff when he seeks eviction of the
pastors.
“Kunonga’s thugs have been harassing our pastors. Rev Mudowaya
of Chinhoyi
was severely beaten,” said Dzavo.
Similar incidents have
happened throughout the country as Kunonga seeks to
purge the church –
having had his hand strengthened by the court ruling.
In Highfields,
Southerton, and St Johns Chikwakwa as well as in Mhondoro and
at a number of
church schools, the thugs have been invading and ejecting the
pastors.
Dzavo said Kunonga had been milking the church dry as he had
assumed control
of schools and other church properties.
“Kunonga and
the six rebels have been given that power by the judgment of
Chief Justice
Godfrey Chidyausiku. Constitutionally we are not obliged to
recognize them,”
said Dzavo.
On Wednesday lawyers representing the Anglican Church filed a
Constitutional
appeal against Chidyausiku’s chamber ruling on 4 August
2011.
The Chief Justice ruled that, while he reinstated the appeal by the
CPCA,
‘the appeal shall not suspend the operation of the order’ – thus
giving the
ex-communicated Kunonga full custody of Anglican
properties.
In light of these developments, clergy and members of the
laity belonging to
the Anglican Diocese of Harare across Harare, Mashonaland
West, East and
Central have been receiving threats, constant harassment and
lately severe
beatings from Kunonga’s hooligans, masquerading as clergy,
accompanied by
‘hired thugs’.
The Diocese of Harare is demanding that
Kunonga’s agents, followers and
representatives should restore to the CPCA
all property, movable or
immovable which they seized. Dzavo said
Chidyausiku’s ruling, while stating
“For the avoidance of doubt, the
judgment will not be suspended by the
noting of an appeal against it,” had
compounded the confusion even further.
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, August 28, 2011—Zimbabwe is to
host the first disaster preparedness
conference next month as it emerged
that the country could have lost over
US$2, 8 billion to disasters since
independence from colonial rule in 1980.
The disasters are in the form of
natural disasters such as floods, road
traffic accidents and mine
accidents.
The conference will be held at Meikles Hotel on September
2.
The meeting is the brainchild of Business Intelligence Services and
will
draw experts from the Civil Protection Unit (CPU), United Nations
Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Traffic Safety Council
of
Zimbabwe, Mine Rescue Association of Zimbabwe and actuaries from the
insurance industry.
CPU will look at disaster preparedness
capabilities and legislation.
Over the past years, the country has been
found wanting in terms of disaster
preparedness.
The cost of
disasters to the fiscus will also be discussed. Experts from the
insurance
and actuary will explore the place for disaster preparedness in
enterprise
Risk Management.
The 1991 Nyanga bus disaster claimed 91 lives mostly
student from Regina
Coeli Mission.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
28/08/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
MALE Cabinet ministers are set to undergo circumcision as
part of government
efforts to promote the procedure which is said to help
reduce the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
Studies suggest that male circumcision
reduces the risk of men contracting
HIV during heterosexual intercourse by
about 60 percent but experts warn
that this should not replace other more
effective prevention methods.
Zimbabwe launched a massive circumcision
campaign in 2009 targeting at least
1.2 million men in a bid to stem the
rise in new HIV infections across the
country.
Centres carrying out
the procedure have reported brisk business with
research indicating most men
were keen to undergo the operation.
Now there are plans to have top
politicians including cabinet ministers,
members of parliament and local
councilors undergo the procedure.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
said the move was in line with
strategies the government was implementing to
curb the spread of HIV/Aids.
“Research has shown that circumcised men are
eight times less likely to
contract HIV (and as) leaders in Government, we
should lead by example so
that when we cascade to the grassroots they
understand the importance and
benefits of the exercise,” Khupe told the
Bulawayo-based Sunday News.
“Our target is to have zero deaths emanating
from HIV and Aids. We can only
achieve that when the opinion leaders are
setting the pace. People need to
understand that HIV is there and no one
should think that talking about male
circumcision is taboo.”
Zimbabwe
is one of the countries worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic
with
infection rates and numbers among the biggest in the world.
However,
infection rates have declined dramatically, almost halving from 29
percent
of the population in 1997 to 16 percent in 2007.
Researchers say locals
have primarily been motivated to change their sexual
behavior because of
increased awareness about AIDS deaths which heightened
fears of catching
virus that causes it.
"Very few other countries around the world have
seen reductions in HIV
infection, and of all African nations, Zimbabwe was
thought least likely to
see such a turnaround," Simon Gregson, of the
Imperial College in England
said in a recent report.
http://www.iol.co.za/
August 28 2011 at 12:38pm
Impala Platinum
may invest as much as $10 billion (R72bn) in Zimbabwe to
expand production
if the government backs down on a demand that its business
there be
controlled by the black citizens of the country.
Zimbabwe, which has the
largest platinum reserves after South Africa, passed
a law earlier this year
to force foreign companies to cede at least 51
percent of their local assets
to black Zimbabweans.
Anglo American Platinum and Aquarius Platinum also
mine the metal in the
southern African country.
“It would run into
the billions of dollars, probably between $5bn and
$10bn,” chief executive
David Brown said in an interview in Johannesburg on
Thursday, where the
company is based.
“Fifty-one percent equity just does not
work.”
Impala first invested in Zimbabwe in 2001 when it bought 30
percent of
Zimbabwe Platinum Mines for the equivalent of $47 million and
later took
control of the company. It is now the biggest investor in
Zimbabwean mining,
with the country in the third year of recovery from a
decade-long recession
sparked by the seizure of white-owned commercial farms
for redistribution to
black subsistence farmers.
The unit, now known
as Zimplats Holdings, produced 182 100 ounces of
platinum in the year to
June and is in the midst of a $460m expansion of its
Ngezi mine – southwest
of the capital Harare – which will boost output to
270 000 ounces in 2014,
according to a company statement.
“We could begin to look at phase three
and beyond but this requires
stability,” Brown told investors at a
presentation.
The company has until Wednesday to revise its May proposal
to satisfy
ownership rules, after it was rejected over a week
ago.
Impala also owns the Mimosa mine in the country in a venture with
Aquarius.
Impala, which produces about 25 percent of the world’s platinum
used to cut
car emissions and make jewellery, is spending R35 billion over
the next five
years to expand production as rising demand drives up
prices.
While most of its deposits are in South Africa, 11.3 million
ounces, or
almost a third of its total platinum reserves, are in Zimbabwe.
That’s worth
about $21bn at the current platinum price.
“It’s a huge
disappointment that we find ourselves in this position – we’ve
been a model
investor in this country,” Brown said.
Impala believed that “an
appropriate level of ownership will be the final
result” of talks with the
government, Brown told investors. The ownership
rule could “retard”
investment in mining and other industries at a time when
it’s
needed.
Economic expansion has been “largely confined to the mining and
agriculture
sectors”, the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit said in a
report
earlier this month.
Power shortages, uncertainty over the
likely election timetable, as well as
the “continued confusion about
legislation requiring 51 percent local
ownership of all enterprises, are
likely to prevent more rapid gross
domestic product expansion”, it
added.
Zimplats signed an agreement with the government in 2006 to
release a
portion of its mining claims in exchange for a combination of
black
empowerment credits and cash.
Impala announced in a June
statement that year the area contained 99 million
ounces of platinum,
palladium, rhodium and gold.
The area could support open-pit mining and
“could be turned into quite a
profitable concern”, Brown told investors on
Thursday.
“They gave that ground to people who weren’t necessarily
interested in
mining it.”
The country also has the world’s
second-biggest chrome reserves, as well as
deposits of coal, gold and iron
ore.
Impala gained 2.1 percent to R168.95 at 9.18am on Friday in
Johannesburg,
giving it a market value of R106bn. At 5pm, shares gained 1.81
percent to
close at R168.50.
Meanwhile, Gold Fields said Peru’s
decision to base a new mining industry
windfall tax on operating profit
rather than revenue was in line with the
industry’s preference.
“The
new tax, we believe, will retain Peru’s competitiveness and will
guarantee
the government’s support for the growth of mining investment,”
Gold Fields
said on Friday. – Bloomberg
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior Writer
Sunday, 28 August 2011
16:16
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HARARE - Former Zanu PF Member of
Parliament for Bikita West and
businessman, Great Makaya, has dragged the
Minister of Transport and
Communications Nicholas Goche and the Postal and
Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) to the High
Court seeking an order
for the reinstatement of his telecommunications
licence.
Makaya was granted an operating licence by the then
information minister,
Chen Chimutengwende, in 1998 and which was valid for
25 years.
The telecommunication services which the applicant was licenced
to provide
included a two-way voice and data communication (facsimile,
messaging and
related services) among others.
The licence was
expected to expire in 2023.
The telecommunications project has the
potential of generating over 1 000
jobs.
However, Potraz wrote to the
former Bikita West legislator in November 2009
claiming that his licence,
issued under the name of Information Media
Investments, had
lapsed.
The telecommunications regulatory authority, according to court
papers in
the Daily News on Sunday’s possession, said Makaya had failed to
regularise
his application in 2002 when it advertised for the regularisation
of
applications by all applicants for telecommunication licences.
In
the court papers filed by his lawyer, Terence Mazhindu, of Mutezo and
Mugomeza legal practitioners on August 1 Makaya stated that he had entered
into partnership with Alcatel of France for the setting up of a network
through its division, Globalstar.
However, the project failed to take
off after Alcatel withdrew its financial
and technical support following the
slapping of restrictions on Zimbabwe by
the European Union.
Makaya,
who is a Zanu PF member, said he had searched for a partner without
any joy
as all prospective partners were declining to partner him because of
the
restrictions.
“From 1999 until early 2009, the applicant searched far and
wide on every
continent for a financial and technical partner to provide
capital and
requisite technology. The prospective partners which (the)
applicant courted
declined applicant on the basis of the imposed economic
sanctions," said
Makaya’s lawyers in the papers filed.
Makaya argues
that he has acquired the services of a South Korean investor
but the
ministry and Potraz are reluctant to reinstate his licence.
“The
applicant never questioned or doubted the validity of its licence but
had to
co-operate with the investors’ requirements so that his partnership
can
materialise. The prospective investor indicated that it was willing to
invest but would not do so unless it had received confirmation of the
validity of the applicant’s licence,” said Makaya.
The Korean
business entity, whose name was not disclosed, is said to have
indicated its
willingness to invest in the project on condition that it
received a
confirmation of the validity of Makaya’s telecommunications
licence.
It
is the delays in providing the confirmation by Potraz that has forced
Makaya
to seek a court interdict to force the regulatory authority to
expedite the
issuing of the status report of Makaya’s licence.
Makaya had made several
appeals to the minister of Transport and
Communications, Goche to review the
decision of Potraz which cancelled the
licence.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Sunday, 28 August 2011
15:03
HARARE - Followers of popular preacher Emmanuel Makandiwa
yesterday said the
United Families International (UFI) church leader is set
to return home this
morning from his “holiday” where he was reportedly
getting spiritual “powers
and guidance” from his spiritual
father.
Makandiwa slipped out of the country last month at the height
of
investigations by the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority
of
Zimbabwe (Potraz) on suspicion that he could have contravened the
country’s
Telecommunication laws with his “spiritual” airtime
cards.
There were reports then that he had fled the country.
A
Harare man who claims Makandiwa stole the airtime idea from him has not
only
sued the “Man of God” but has made a police report of fraud.
There were
also reports that Makandiwa was under pressure from top Zanu PF
officials
who wanted him to publicly show his support for the former ruling
party.
When rumours of Makandiwa fleeing the country started
circulating, church
members and close friends were quick to dismiss this,
saying the “man of
God” was on a three-week holiday which was supposed to
have ended a week
ago.
Makandiwa was billed to be a guest preacher at
the just ended “Catch the
Fire” conference at which he was supposed to
preach alongside Ugandan
“miracle worker” Apostle Robert Kayanja. However,
Makandiwa did not turn up
raising further speculation that he was not coming
back.
Close friends of the charismatic preacher told the Daily News on
Sunday
yesterday that Makandiwa was set to return home today and will preach
at the
service.
“The man of God is coming back tomorrow (today) he
will go straight to
church,” said a close friend who is also church
member.
The extremely popular Makandiwa moved out of Apostolic Faith
Mission (AFM0
after he was given an option to choose between UFI which was
then an
interdenominational congregation. He however chose UFI and since
then has
attracted a huge following throughout the country and his life has
dramatically changed from a simple Hebron preacher to a
star “Man of God”
who now drives top-of-the-range vehicles complimented a
convoy of equally
luxurious cars.
He is always surrounded by heavily-built
bodyguards.
Potraz says it has finalised investigating Makandiwa’s
airtime deal, but
could not disclose the results, saying they will first
engage relevant
authorities and the concerned companies before disclosing
their findings to
the public.
“For now we are not going to speak
about our findings to the media, not
until we engage the responsible
entities and discuss with them the results,”
said a Potraz
official.
The police have not commented on whether they will invite
Makandiwa for
questioning.
Africa’s new King of
Kings, President Mugabe, Defender of the Faith (except Anglican), emerged from
the Zimbabwe Embassy in London on Saturday on his way to Tripoli in support of
deposed King of Kings Muammar Gaddafi, who has fallen on hard
times.
Brandishing a rifle,
Mugabe was dressed in classical Arab attire so that he would not be mistaken for
one of what Gaddafi describes as ‘Libyan rats’. Before disappearing in his golf
cart down one of the tunnels leading to Gaddafi’s compound, Mugabe said everyone
was happy in Libya until the Western gangsters started bombing the place to find
more oil. ‘Don’t they know it doesn’t spring from rocks?’
Asked whether Gaddafi
had been annoyed when Zimbabwe didn’t pay its $360 million bill for oil, Mugabe
said: ‘That’s all oil under the bridge now. I explained to him that Zimbabwe had
no reason to pay as we had used up all the oil’.
Questioned why
Libya’s Ambassador in Harare had suddenly turned into a rat, Mugabe said ‘Good
question. We always suspected he was a rodent, but not how big.’ As for the
other staff of the Libyan Embassy who had suddenly seen the light as payday
approached, Mugabe said ‘At least they support Zanu PF, where every day is
payday’ (see: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/aug26_2011.html#Z1
– Anti-Gaddafi Libyans demonstrate in Harare).
Mr Mugabe added that
Zanu PF had perfected an infallible method of disposing of rats. ‘You shoot
them. Then you apply special muti so that lo and behold they are turned into
cinders. It’s simple really: the appliance of science.’
Another question put
to the feisty anti-rodent octogenarian was ‘Why should Zimbabwe spend $500
million on two air buses when the United Nations is unsuccessfully appealing for
this sum to feed 1.7 million Zimbabweans faced with starvation?’ (See: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/aug23_2011.html#Z15
– Chronic malnutrition in Zim). And ‘Why does every minister need half a million
dollars worth of vehicles so that they can go out to the countryside to see what
the parking situation is like?’ His answer: ‘Ask Gaddafi. He’s deputising while
I am dealing with the Western-led rats’.
Other points
·
Vigil supporters were
abuzz with reports that Gaddafi was in Harare. Phone calls told of many roads
closed and a high level of security in Gunhill.
·
The Vigil was puzzled
why travel-junkie Mugabe missed the opportunity of centre stage at the AU summit
to raise money for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa. Only four heads of state
turned up so he could have spoken for 50 or so friends in tribute to the AU
which has so far pledged a less than munificent half a million dollars towards
an appeal for $1.4 billion (see: http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2011/08/25/african-presidents-shun-au-famine-fundraiser
– African Presidents shun AU famine fundraiser).
·
Action for Southern
Africa (ACTSA), successor organization to the Anti-Apartheid Movement,is holding
a vigil outside the Swaziland High Commission on Tuesday 6th
September from 12.30 – 1.30 pm in support of an international day of action to
highlight the lack of democracy and human rights in
Swaziland.
For latest Vigil
pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 60 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND
NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe.
·
ZBN News.
The
Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QukqctWc3XE.
·
ROHR
Woking General Meeting. Saturday 3rd September from 2 – 6
pm, Venue: Woking Homes, Oriental Road, Woking, GU22 7BE. Contact, Isaac
Mudzamiri 07774044873, Sithokozile Hlokana 07886203113, Saziso Zulu 07861028280
or P.Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070.
·
Swazi
Protest. Tuesday 6th September
from 12.30 – 1.30 pm. Venue: outside the Swaziland High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB.
·
ROHR Manchester
Meetings. Saturday
10th September (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting
from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation
Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor Road, Manchester M13 9UB. Contact; Delina
Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika
Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future meetings:
8th October, 12th November, 10th December. Same
times / venue.
·
ROHR Manchester
Vigil. Saturday
24th September from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens, Manchester City Centre
(subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens). Contact; Delina Tafadzwa
Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira
07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future demonstrations: 29th
October, 26th November, 31st December. Same time and
venue.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s
acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy by post in the UK
please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
|
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk. |
Dear Family and Friends,
There’s nothing that can put Zimbabweans into a bad
mood quicker
than no water or no electricity. Put the two together and you
can
almost see people’s blood pressure rising. A collapse of the
national
electricity grid on Wednesday plunged most of the country
into the dark. That
night the clatter of generators rang out from
every direction; the noise was
deafening and the air vibrated! ZBC TV
ran a crawl line on the screen during
the main evening news bulletin
calling for people to switch off their geysers
and lights to save
electricity. What electricity, we all shouted, as we
watched battery
powered TV’s, because there was no electricity to
save.
Ironically the national black out came in the same week that
the
protest group WOZA delivered 101,000 petition signatures to
parliament
In Harare for presentation to the Anti Corruption and
Monopolies
Committee due to sit during the week. WOZA’s ‘anti abuse
of
power’ petition has long been calling for reduced electricity
charges
and for a pre-paid metering system to be introduced.
In my home town,
calls to the local electricity supply office resulted
in a variety of reasons
for what very rapidly degenerated into rolling
18 hour a day power cuts. We
were told that the hydro electricity
generators at Kariba Dam were being
maintained, then that the thermal
units at Hwange weren’t working and
finally, the clearest of all
reasons given was that there just wasn’t enough
electricity in the
country. An article in the press later in the week quoted
a Zesa
spokesman as saying there was “an unstable grid, resulting in
the
disconnection of inter connectors.’ The article spoke about a two
hour
national blackout but in many places it seems the inter
connectors are still
disconnected because we are still in the dark!
In my home town the power
cut continued for the next three days.
Lights flickered on between 11pm and
midnight and went off again a few
hours later, long before sunrise. If you
are lucky it flicks on for an
hour or two in the afternoon but don’t bank on
it! Coping with five
hours of electricity a day, and then only in the middle
of the night,
is gruelling. We had got used to this a couple of years ago
when daily
extended power cuts were the norm but it comes as a shocker this
time
round when many of us are woefully unprepared.
You can hardly
hear yourself think, let alone hold a conversation with
anyone as you walk
around town, negotiating the smoking, roaring
generators that clutter the
pavements. Everywhere except the
government buildings that is, where the norm
is, as always, no change.
Outside the passport office people are ordered to
queue on the other
side of the road providing a deadly hazard for drivers
when suddenly a
score or more surge across the road, running to be allowed in
the gate
in small batches. At the Post Office where civil servants
and
pensioners get their monthly payments, it is utter mayhem which
is
embarrassing and shameful to witness. With nowhere to sit or
shelter,
hundreds crowd the car park, pavements and road, standing for hours
at
a time in the full sun waiting to get their meagre salaries or
even
more meagre pensions. Payments seem to be dependent on electricity
to
power computers and people wait without apology or explanation
from
officials within.
To all this mayhem add no water. No electricity
means no water can be
pumped and for three days my home town has been bone
dry. Not a drop
in any tap, sink or toilet. Everywhere we go we apologise to
people
for smelling and at every stream and shallow well, crowds of
women
scoop water out into containers to carry home. A borehole has
been
sunk in the town’s green, a small park which used to have
pretty
gardens, lawns and benches. Now lines of people wait their turn to
get
to the hand pump and draw a few litres of water to carry home.
The
lawns have turned to dust and the plastic water containers are
piled
up where once the flower beds were. When you have to physically
carry
every litre of water that you need, everything takes on a
very
different perspective.
Hard to believe that life is still like
this, two and a half years
into our so called unity government. Even harder
to explain to
outsiders who say: but everything’s OK in Zimbabwe now isn’t
it?
Far from it and after a bad week it seemed inevitable that
something
daft would happen and it did, on Friday. An announcement came
from
Zesa – the electricity supplier with no electricity to supply.
They
said that tariffs are to increase by 31% from the 1st of
September.
Pay more for less must be their new slogan. Until next time,
thanks
for reading, love cathy Copyright � Cathy Buckle. 27 August
2011.
www.cathybuckle.com
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011
09:58
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
ZIMBABWE’S ruling coalition is in a tailspin
on how to handle the defection
of the Libyan ambassador to the country, with
President Mugabe’s Zanu PF
party ordering he should leave.
Libya,
for a while was a long-time benefactor for Zimbabwe and Mugabe, in an
apparent act of loyalty, says the flying of the National Transition
Council’s
(NTC) flag in Zimbabwe is illegal, ordering that the ambassador,
Taher el
Megrahi be on the next flight to the strife-torn North African
country.
In the event that Gaddafi, popularly referred to as Brother
Leader, is
finally ousted, there are suggestions that Zimbabwe could be one
of the
countries to offer him refuge.
Zanu PF spokesman, Rugare
Gumbo argues that El Megrahi, would only be
accepted in Zimbabwe when the
African Union recognised the NTC and he is
reappointed ambassador
again.
“So that means he must go back, and if he is reappointed by
the new
government, which is recognised by the African Union, then Zimbabwe
will not
have any problem with that ambassador,” Gumbo said.
On
Friday the AU fell short of recognising the rebels and instead urged
dialogue between the NTC and emissaries of Gaddafi, something which both
sides have refused to do since the outset of the rebellion in February. But
Zanu PF’s coalition partners were singing from a different page, arguing
that El Megrahi be allowed to remain in Zimbabwe as he was only following
the will of the Libyan people.
“As much as we don’t want
interference in our own country, we can’t also
interfere in the decisions
and politics of other countries,” Nhlanhla Dube,
spokesman of the MDC
said.
MDC-T spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora concurred saying what
Zimbabwe was doing
was akin to interfering in the internal dynamics of
Libya.
El Megrahi, like many Libyan envoys across the world, defected to the
rebels
when the NTC rolled into the Tripoli, the country’s North African
capital
city.
Scores of Libyans also celebrated outside the
country’s offices in Harare
leading to the hoisting of the new flag, a great
act of transgression,
according to Zimbabwe
authorities.
Political analyst, Trevor Maisiri said Zimbabwe was
being cautious in its
diplomacy and might not want to be seen to be jumping
the gun, but should
respect the Libyans’ right to
self-determination.
“African nations, including Zimbabwe, have not
come out in support of the
NTC, mainly because they are being cautious and
protective in their
diplomacy,” Maisiri argued.
“But because the
Libyans seem to be unanimous in removing Gaddafi, then that
position must be
respected by other African nations. That is the whole
essence of the respect
for sovereignty.”
Gabriel Shumba, of the Exiles Forum, based in South
Africa, says Mugabe and
Zanu PF may have benefitted from Gaddafi’s
benevolence and were caught
between a rock and a hard place — either to dump
their long-time ally or to
ignore the events in Libya and pretend they were
not happening.
“It is inevitable that Zimbabwe’s government, which
largely comprises Zanu
PF elements that have benefitted from Gaddafi’s
largesse, would refuse to
accept what is staring it in the face, the
imminent departure of a fellow
dictator,” he said.
Shumba said
parallels between the Gaddafi regime and the Zimbabwe government
could be
drawn, as both Mugabe and Gaddafi shouted pan-Africanism yet they
allegedly
oppressed people in their countries.
“The most glaring parallel is
the peoples’ cry for leadership change when a
former revolutionary turns
into a monster and starts committing crimes
against humanity while labelling
those agitating for change, instruments of
the West,” he
continued.
“What is also true of the Libyan dictator and our own
president is the fact
that they shout pan-African slogans to garner support
from fellow African
leaders while they commit heinous
crimes.”
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition regional coordinator, Dewa
Mavhinga on the
other hand, argued that Zanu PF did not want to recognise
the NTC as they
feared the same situation may be replicated in
Zimbabwe.
“It signifies an underlying fear by Zimbabwe that events
that have ended
Gaddafi’s dictatorship may be replicated in Zimbabwe, where
the people are
struggling under the yoke of oppression,” he
opined.
Mugabe protecting Gaddafi’s investment?
While observers
have pointed out that Mugabe and his government may be
swimming against the
tide in not recognising the NTC, he might be protecting
the investment that
embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi poured into Zimbabwe
when the country was
literally on its knees.
It has emerged that the Libyans have a stake
of more than 14%, worth about
US$12,6 million, in CBZ Bank, an institution
that the government also has
shares in.
The North Africans also
have huge investments in tourism and agriculture —
deals which the
ambassador says he wants to have a re-look at, as Gaddafi
and not Libya were
benefitting from the bilateral agreements.
Gaddafi reportedly bailed
out Mugabe with a US$360 million fuel deal when
the country had literally
run dry and Mugabe might loathe having to turn his
back on an ally whom he
feels is being persecuted by the West.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:55
-
STAFF REPORTER
THE Libyan embassy in Harare has been forced to pull down the
rebel flag,
which was hoisted last Wednesday after the National Transitional
Council
(NTC) rolled into the country’s capital city
Tripoli.
Following the fall of Tripoli, scores of Libyan nationals
celebrated what
they perceived as the fall of long-time leader, Muammar
Gaddafi by replacing
the old uni-coloured green flag, with the striped NTC
flag.
But the Zimbabwean government described the new flag as
unacceptable and
immediately ordered that it be pulled down.
“Flying the
flag of the National Transitional Council in Harare is an
illegal act under
the laws of Zimbabwe,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said in a statement
to the Libyan ambassador, Taher El Magrahi.
But El Magrahi shot back,
arguing that the new flag that had been hoisted
was in fact the original
flag of the country’s independence in 1951.
El Magrahi has since been ordered
out of the country and is expected to
leave today or in the next three days,
as Zimbabwe said it did not have
diplomatic relations with the
NTC.
The Libyan ambassador on Friday called a press conference, which
he
cancelled abruptly without offering an explanation.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:57
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Police say they cannot stop Zanu PF youths from
invading
buildings in Bulawayo unless the owners approach the courts to seek
eviction
orders.
The youths have been taking over properties
owned by Indian and white
Zimbabweans saying it’s part of the government’s
empowerment drive.
Government is trying to force foreign-owned companies to
give 51% of their
shareholding to locals in the next five
years.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson, Inspector Mandlenkosi
Moyo said:
“Issues to do with evictions are handled by the courts because it
is their
responsibility of making orders as such.
“They are the
ones better placed to comment on whether there will be any
evictions or
not.
“Our role as police is to accompany a messenger of court whose function
is
to effect court orders,” he said on Thursday.
The invasions
have also sparked a political storm in Bulawayo with the Zanu
PF youths
pushing for the ouster of provincial chairman Isaac Dakamela, who
they
accuse of siding with property owners.
Zapu has also threatened to
stop the invasions if the police do not act. Ray
Ncube, the Zapu provincial
chairman urged the party’s youths to stop
discouraging investment in the
city.
“We should, by all means, protect other races. We should not
let these
parties chase businesses under the guise of
nationalisation.”
He said Indian Zimbabweans supported the liberation
struggle and don’t
deserve the treatment they were getting from Zanu
PF.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:52
BY KHOLWANI
NYATHI
DEFENCE minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ill-timed comments that the
Gukurahundi atrocities were a “closed chapter” have sparked acrimonious
debate in Zanu PF.
Serious issues, such as the reported killing
of 20 000 innocent civilians in
Midlands and Matabeleland by the 5 Brigade
were never discussed openly in
President Robert Mugabe’s party in the
past.
Mnangagwa, who is one of the top Zanu PF officials and security
chiefs being
blamed for the killings, told state media that the 1987 Unity
Accord had
closed the Gukurahundi chapter.
Late Vice-President
Joshua Nkomo’s PF Zapu was forced into the 1987 deal to
end the
politically-motivated killings. Vice-President John Nkomo early this
year
also described the atrocities as “irreversible history”.
But two Zanu
PF politburo members, Jonathan Moyo and the outspoken Joshua
Malinga have
broken with tradition by joining the growing chorus for an
investigation
into the atrocities and compensation for the victims.
Moyo has
claimed that his father was killed by the dreaded 5 Brigade. He
argued
recently that Zanu PF must stop pretending that the Gukurahundi
atrocities
never happened.
Moyo said: “It cannot be true that the wounds were
closed.
“The Gukurandi issue is not a closed chapter.”
Malinga, a
former Bulawayo mayor, last week said the issue could not be
swept under the
carpet before victims get compensation or know the truth
about the
killings.
He went on to call for a fresh inquiry after findings of
previous
commissions set by Mugabe were never made public. Bekithemba Mpofu,
a United
Kingdom-based political analyst said Zanu PF’s failure to come up
with a
clear position on Gukurahundi and the perceived marginalistion of
Matabeleland was beginning to haunt the party.
“Zanu PF has
always been on a back foot on both issues, particularly having
failed to
demonstrate their willingness to address them,” he said.
“The lack of a clear
party position on these issues has cost them political
mileage at a time
when some of their opponents claim to be champions of
these regional
concerns.
“For a party that has been in power for decades, it is a
tough sell for Zanu
PF politicians to use the Gukurahundi issues for
political capital and one
can therefore assume that individual calls by its
regional leaders are
driven by pressure from their
constituencies.”
Moyo also appeared to acknowledge the political
mileage Zanu PF opponents
were getting by using Gukurahundi. He said: “Calls
from some destructive
quarters for a fresh probe on this matter are as
irresponsible and
unacceptable as the claims from our own ranks that the
matter is a closed
chapter whose discussion will open old
wounds.”
Mpofu said it would be difficult to silence the Zanu PF
leaders in
Matabeleland over Gukurahundi given the fact that the party’s
failure to
have a clear position on the issue saw it playing second fiddle
to MDC in
elections held since 2000.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:46
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
THERESA Makone, the MDC-T co-Home Affairs minister yesterday said
the
failure by the police to arrest Zanu PF militants who attacked
journalists
and MPs inside Parliament in July showed that the force was
partisan.
Makone, who is also the MDC-T’s women’s assembly
chairperson, was addressing
a rally in Chitungwiza.
“I am embarrassed
that police have not arrested anyone after they disrupted
business of the
country’s highest law-making body,” she said. “I will never
remain silent
over that issue until the law catches up with them.”
Police officers
watched as the Zanu PF supporters, who were against a public
hearing on the
Human Rights Bill, forced themselves into Parliament Building
and disrupted
proceedings.
Makone lamented what she termed the intimidation of
junior police officers
by their seniors, who order them not to attend to
cases reported by MDC-T
supporters.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011
09:21
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
VICE-president John Nkomo (pictured) arrived
yesterday from South Africa,
where his family say he had gone for a regular
check up, putting to rest
rumours that he had died in the neighbouring
country.
Nkomo arrived at 1.05pm aboard a South African Airways
flight, a week after
going to the neighbouring country, where he is
reportedly being treated for
cancer.
Passengers who travelled
with the vice-president described him as frail,
although saying he looked
better than when he last appeared in public, at
the burial of the late
former army commander Solomon Mujuru.
One passenger, who said he had
travelled with Nkomo on the flight to South
Africa and back, said last
Sunday Nkomo had walked with the support of a
walking cane, but this time he
was unsupported.
Nkomo’s son, Jabulani, had confirmed that his father
would be back in the
country yesterday, saying his family was shocked at the
rumours as his
father had gone for a scheduled check up in the neighbouring
country.
“He has been going there for the past three or four years
and this was a
scheduled visit as he had gone for review,” he
said.
Jabulani said his father was recovering and it was unfortunate that the
media and the internet were awash with the baseless rumour.
“Even
if he is ill, instead of wishing him well or to recover, the media is
now
busy spreading baseless rumours,” he continued.
On Friday speculation was
rife that Nkomo had died in South Africa but Zanu
PF and his family made
strenuous efforts to deny the rumour, with
presidential spokesman George
Charamba maintaining that the vice-president
would be back in the country
either yesterday or tomorrow.
Nkomo has been ill for sometime, with
speculation that he had been diagnosed
with cancer.
He has made numerous
visits to South Africa, but Jabulani said these were
scheduled and there was
no need to cause alarm.
The VP’s family last week had put an advert in the
Bulawayo- based Chronicle
newspaper congratulating him on his 77th
birthday.
Nkomo is not the only high- ranking official in the
inclusive government
battling with cancer.
Deputy Prime Minister
Thokozani Khupe has revealed that she has breast
cancer.
Lands and Rural
Resettlement minister Herbert Murerwa is also admitted at a
South African
hospital suffering from cancer of the colon, according to
state media.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:44
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THERESA Makone, the co-Minister of Home Affairs will this week
appear before
the MDC-T standing committee facing allegations of trying to
manipulate the
party’s structures by imposing her loyalists, The Standard
has been told.
Sources said Makone, who is also MDC-T’s women
assembly chairperson, was
supposed to appear before the committee last week,
but the matter was
postponed because she had been taken ill. They said
Makone violated the
party’s constitution when she allegedly handpicked her
loyalists for
co-option into the party’s national executive without
consulting provincial
executives.
“Our party constitution says
each province must nominate two people that
would be co-opted into the
national executive, but instead of us doing so,
Makone personally nominated
them without consulting us,” said a member of
the provincial
executive.
“We cannot allow her to do that.” MDC-T spokesperson
Douglas Mwo-nzora
denied that the issue would be discussed at the party’s
standing committee
meeting. He said the issue of leadership positions were
settled a long time
ago.
“There is no issue of imposition of
candidates before the standing
committee,” Mwonzora said. “There is no
disciplinary action against Makone.
In any case, the standing committee is
not a disciplinary committee.”
But sources insisted that the Makone
issue would be discussed by the
12-member standing committee and not any
other forum, to avoid leakages to
the press that could further widen
divisions in the party.
They claimed Makone, regarded as an “Iron
Lady” in the party, harbours
ambitions and is laying the foundation for a
higher post by strategically
placing her loyalists in all the provinces.
Makone and her husband Ian, are
said to be very close to Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, and at one time
bankrolled the party.
Sources
said Makone refused to sit in the VIP tent at a rally in Mutare
after she
was confronted over the issue of imposition of candidates.
A day after the
rally, Makone was admitted at a private clinic in Harare
with Mwonzora
claiming she had suffered a mild stroke.
However, Makone disputed the
claims saying instead, she had a history of
high blood pressure and had
forgotten to take her medicine when she
travelled to Mutare for the
rally.
On Saturday Mwonzora said: “I regret telling the media that
she had suffered
a stroke, but that is what I had been made to
believe.”
Some senior MDC-T officials have been calling for Makone’s
dismissal ever
since she accompanied Zanu PF secretary for administration
and Minister of
Presidential Affairs Didymus Mutasa to Matapi Police Station
when he was
searching for his son who had been arrested.
Makone was
accused of trying to influence the release of Mutasa’s son. She
has since
denied the allegations.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011
09:43
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
TRANSPORT, Communication and
Infrastructural Development minister Nicholas
Goche has denied reports
linking him to the recent purchase of luxury
vehicles for government
officials, including ministers.
Government splashed US$20 million on
top-of-the-range vehicles for
ministers, their deputies and permanent
secretaries. Finance minister Tendai
Biti appeared to be shifting the blame
to Goche, when he told journalists to
direct their enquiries to the Zanu PF
minister over the issue that has
angered long-suffering
Zimbabweans.
Goche on Friday said: “Where would I get that money to
purchase the cars? I
am not the Treasury.” Last week Biti was quoted in the
local media implying
that it was Goche who was responsible for the purchase
of the luxury
vehicles.
“Why do you want me to respond to that
issue? I am not the Minister of
Transport.
“Look for (Nicholas)
Goche and ask him. I am not at liberty to talk about
that,” Biti was quoted
as saying. The move shocked civil servants, who have
been battling to get a
living wage from the inclusive government since its
formation.
An
organisation calling itself the Committee of the Peoples has come up
with a
petition asking those who got the luxury cars to return them. The
group says
the meagre resources should instead be channelled to key
ministries of
health and education.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 10:01
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
MOUNTING pressure from an increasingly impatient Sadc bloc
has apparently
pushed a traditionally intransigent President Robert Mugabe
to adopt a more
reformist approach, analysts observed last
week.
A few days after the Sadc summit in Angola, Mugabe
uncharacteristically
called for peace and unity at the burial of retired
General Solomon Mujuru
at the National Heroes Acre.
Mujuru died
in a mysterious inferno at his Beatrice farm on August 16. The
87-year-old
leader usually uses such gatherings to attack his foe Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, whom he accuses of working with the West to
topple
him.
Last week, Mugabe held meetings with some legislators from his
Zanu PF party
and warned them against fanning political violence in their
constituencies.
Several Zanu PF MPs have been accused of inciting political
violence against
members of the MDC formations, especially during times of
elections.
Analysts said it was surprising that Mugabe, who has in
the past “won”
elections through coercion, was suddenly denouncing violence,
a tool that
has sustained his rule for decades.
University of
Zimbabwe political science lecturer John Makumbe said Mugabe’s
latest
overtures were forced by unbearable pressure from Sadc.
“The old man can no
longer withstand the pressure from his colleagues in
Sadc,” Makumbe
said.
“(Angolan President Eduardo) Dos Santos’s comments that leaders
must win
free and fair elections if they want to hold on to power meant a
lot to
Mugabe, who viewed him as his friend who would not criticise him
publicly.”
Makumbe also believes Mugabe’s call for non-violence
partially stems from
Mujuru’s mysterious death. Some believe the general,
who was regarded as a
kingmaker in Zanu PF, was a victim of the bitter war
to succeed Mugabe.
“It shook him very hard,” Makumbe said. “He
suspects that it (death) is a
result of internal violence within his party
and he is now trying to get his
cronies to behave, but it is too late.
“Violence is so entrenched in that
party,” he said.
A hard-hitting
Sadc communiqué released after the summit in Angola worsened
Mugabe’s
predicament. The summit endorsed the deployment of regional
monitors to work
with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(Jomic) to ensure the
full implementation of the GPA.
Mugabe also failed to have Zuma
removed from his mediation role in Zimbabwe.
In his report to Sadc summit,
South African President Jacob Zuma blasted
Zanu PF for some of the
disruptions to the smooth implementation of the GPA.
Political
analyst Charles Mangongera said by preaching the gospel of
non-violence
Mugabe was trying to rescue his legacy. Unfolding events in
Libya, the mass
uprisings in other North African countries and riots in
neighbouring Malawi
had sent shock waves down Mugabe’s spine.
“It is difficult for
Zimbabweans to trust him because he is known for
indicating left but then
turn right and in the end cause all kinds of
traffic confusion – politically
that is,” Mangongera said.
Other political observers said Mugabe had
not capacity to stop violence
because he had lost power to rein in the
militia, war veterans and
securocrats.
SADC MOUNTS PRESSURE
A
hard-hitting Sadc communiqué released after a recent Sadc summit in
Angola
worsened Mugabe’s predicament. The summit endorsed the deployment of
regional monitors to work with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (Jomic) to ensure the full implementation of the
GPA.
Mugabe also failed to have Zuma removed from his mediation role
in Zimbabwe.
In his report to Sadc summit, South African President Jacob
Zuma blasted
Zanu PF for some of the disruptions to the smooth
implementation of the GPA.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said
by preaching the gospel of
non-violence, Mugabe was trying to rescue his
legacy. Unfolding events in
Libya, the mass uprisings in other North African
countries and riots in
neighbouring Malawi seem to have sent shock waves
down Mugabe’s spine.
“It is difficult for Zimbabweans to trust him
because he is known for
indicating left but then turning right and in the
end causing all kinds of
traffic confusion — politically that is,”
Mangongera said.
Other political observers said Mugabe had no
capacity to stop violence
because he had lost power to rein in the militia,
war veterans and
securocrats.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 09:51
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
TEACHERS from the region met in Harare yesterday to revive the Southern
Africa Teachers’ Organisation (Sato) with the hope of improving their
bargaining power.
The teachers from Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Swaziland, Botswana and Zambia,
among other countries, said they were
concerned about the increasing
problems they continue to face in their
profession.
“We have decided to regroup, so as to build solidarity
and mutual
cooperation among member organisations in the region,” newly
elected Sato
president Henry Kapenda said.
“We aim to commit
ourselves in the struggle to promote peace, democracy,
social justice,
equality and freedom of association in the region.
“We want to urge our
governments not to take us as their enemies, but as
partners in regional
development.”
Sato collapsed five years ago, partly due to lack of
donor funding and
resource mismanagement.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 10:55
BY
CHIPO MASARA
From fresh reports of illegal hunting in Zimbabwe, it would
appear as though
the poachers are adamant on wiping out all wildlife and as
long as the
authorities, whose job is to protect the natural resource
neglect to fulfil
their mandate, the country’s wildlife will surely continue
to diminish.
Not so long ago, the media carried reports of
Chinese nationals in Mushumbi,
a remote previously wildlife-rich area in the
Lower Guruve District, who
were allegedly poisoning elephants in the area
for their tusks.
We also recently received reports from the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force
(ZCTF), that illegal hunters in the Charara area of
Kariba have come up with
a plan to try and prevent the authorities from
discovering their activities.
It has come to their attention that
when they shoot an animal, vultures
circling in the sky above have been
giving them away. So in order to avoid
detection, they are now shooting
animals and spraying them with a poison
such as DDT
(dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane — a deadly synthetic
pesticide).
When
the vultures feed off the carcass, they die from the poison, hence
reducing
the number of vultures available to give them away.
From such
reports, it is clear that poaching is not going anywhere anytime
soon as the
illegal hunters have evidently upped their game in their
relentless bid to
self-enrich at the expense of the country’s wildlife and
overall ecological
balance.
Poachers are mainly targeting the rhinoceros and the
elephants for the ivory
and reports show that if the poaching continues at
the current pace, the
rhinoceros will especially become extinct, and soon.
Already there are very
few left.
There are no exact statistics to
show how much wildlife Zimbabwe still has
as the Ministry of Environment and
Human Resources Management and the
department of National Parks have not
conducted an audit that would take
stock of the
animals.
Self-enrichment behind rhino poaching
Johnny
Rodrigues, the chairman for ZCTF, a non-profit organisation that
strives to
save the country’s wildlife, said the Environment ministry has
not carried
out audits because it is fully aware that the country has been
cleared of
most of its wildlife, partly for the pot but mostly for the ivory
and
skin.
Rodrigues insisted the estimated figures that the responsible
authorities
are currently basing their strategies and policies on are not a
true
reflection of the situation on the ground.
The ZCTF website
says more than 90% of the game in private game ranches has
been lost to
poachers and illegal hunters in the past five years.
One only has to travel
to a place like Gonarezhou National Park that was
previously infested with
elephants, to tell that the wildlife numbers have
drastically depleted, said
Rodrigues.
The problem would not have been so grave were it not for
the get-rich-quick
attitude that seems to have pervaded Zimbabwe. Curbing
the gruesome practice
would be easier if more people were willing to put the
country’s wildlife
ahead of personal gain.
The arrests of
poachers are rare instances and reports of some police
officers that are
allegedly working in cahoots with the poachers are rife.
It is therefore of
paramount importance that the responsible ministry puts
proper measures in
place that will transmit in a clear manner the message
that poaching will
not be tolerated. Those that are caught on the wrong side
of the law must be
dealt with accordingly.
Considering the rate of poaching in Zimbabwe,
curbing the practice will take
a lot more than just occasional public rebuke
as the class of poachers that
we are dealing with now requires smarter and
sterner measures.
Wildlife is a major part of Zimbabwe and has since
time immemorial added to
the country’s appeal, which at one time made it a
worthy destination for
many tourists.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 10:59
BY INDIANA
CHIRARA
There is nothing as painful as watching a child withering away with
an
illness which could have been easily avoided. But pregnant mothers still
deny their children the right to live a healthy life by refusing to get
tested for HIV and Aids early.
Health experts say
innocent babies are dying every day because their mothers
are reluctant to
get tested on time to avoid transmission of the virus to
their unborn
babies.
Currently, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in
collaboration with
other Aids organisations have embarked on a programme to
encourage people to
be tested for HIV and Aids, especially pregnant mothers,
to avoid
unnecessary suffering and deaths of children.
But it
appears this is falling on deaf ears as most people are reluctant to
get
tested, especially when they feel physically fit. Health officials who
spoke
to StandardHealth&Fitness last week said most women who go for
pregnant
registration do so when their pregnancies are at advanced stages,
which put
their unborn babies at risk. The majority of the women, they said,
would be
getting tested for the first time.
“Every Wednesday we carry out
pregnancy registration and almost three
quarters of the women who visit us
have never been tested before. For
instance, on 17 August 2011, out of 20
pregnant women, only two of them had
been tested before,” said a nurse who
identified himself only as Matehwe.
Matehwe, who works at a clinic in Harare
added: “The sad part is that most
of them were seven months (pregnant) and
above, which poses a great danger
to the unborn child.”
He urged
husbands to support their wives, especially during pregnancy.
“Men need to do
away with their attitude of shunning away from health
institutions,” he
said. “There is need for them to accompany their wives,
especially for
registration so that in cases of being diagnosed
HIV-positive, they can
comfort each other and receive counselling together.”
He said both
parents must take responsibility of their children. If a woman
is found to
be HIV-positive, he said, it is advisable that she gets
treatment
immediately to protect the baby.
At times, said Matehwe, pregnant
women abandoned the registration process as
soon they realised that they
would be tested for HIV and Aids. This clearly
shows the need to create
awareness on the importance of getting tested.
Fear of the
consequences of testing positive holding women back
Lucia Taizivei (26)
of Chitungwiza, who is seven months pregnant and has not
been tested, fears
the implications of testing HIV-positive, even though she
has not been
promiscuous.
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” she said. “How can I
tell my husband that I
am HIV-positive? From my own knowledge, he has not
been tested yet and this
will definitely lead to our separation as we will
blame each other.”
Taizivei however said she would get tested in the
near future to avoid
endangering the life of her child, despite her
fears.
“I think the best way to ensure that pregnant women get tested is to
first
create awareness among men because in most cases they are the ones who
are
thick-headed.”
Dr Angela Mushavi, a Paediatrics HIV Care and
Treatment Co-coordinator in
the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare said
30% of children who are born
HIV-positive and do not receive treatment die
in the first year of their
lives while 50% die in the second
year.
“When children are born HIV-positive, they develop pneumonia
which is a very
dangerous and life- threatening disease,” said Mushavi.
“Their immune system
will be depressed and will have diarrhoea frequently,
as well as vomiting.
They will not gain weight.”
Mushavi, who is
also the national co-ordinator for Prevention of Mother to
Child
Transmission (PMTC) programme, urged women to get tested as soon as
they
fall pregnant.
“As soon as a pregnant mother tests positive, her CD4
count is checked and
if it is below 250, she is immediately put on treatment
which assists to
lower the viral load,” said Mushavi. “This is good for the
health of the
mother as well as the baby.”
According to the
latest WHO guidelines on PMTC, when a pregnant mother tests
HIV-positive,
she would start to take Zidovudine when she is about 14 weeks
pregnant until
the onset of labour to protect the baby from being infected.
Previous
guidelines said mothers were put on treatment when 28 weeks
pregnant while a
child would be put on treatment for one week soon after
birth.
The revised guidelines say a baby is given a dose of
Nevirapine until it is
weaned off.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011 10:17
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
National Foods Limited says it is in a good position to meet any
increased
demand for maize meal after government re-introduced duty on
imported
products.
Import duty for basic commodities such as
maize meal and cooking oil took
effect from August 1 while for other
foodstuffs, such as potato chips, baked
beans and mixed fruit jam, the rates
will start to apply on Thursday.
The move has resulted in huge price
increases that have even alarmed Finance
minister Tendai Biti. But Chipo
Nheta, the National Foods MD said the
company was not contemplating a price
review soon, in response to the
re-introduction of
duty.
“National Foods has never effected any price increases before
and after the
introduction of import duty,” he said.
“The introduction of
duty on cornflakes will also translate into increased
demand for the grits
we produce, which are required by breweries and other
local
companies.”
Nheta said since duty was being imposed on imported maize
meal rather than
maize itself, National Foods would be able to adequately
supply the market
with its brands without adjusting
prices.
National Foods imports 85% of its maize for milling from
neighbouring
Zambia. Nheta said the company’s capacity utilisation levels
stood at 25% on
the two operational mills in Harare and Bulawayo, excluding
a third mill
that had been mothballed due to low demand.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 21 August 2011 15:00
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
YOUTH Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister
Saviour
Kasukuwere on Friday vowed to go ahead with plans to seize
foreign-owned
companies despite a stern warning by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor
Gideon Gono to refrain from disrupting economic
revival.
State media had reported that 11 companies that failed to
comply with the
government’s empowerment laws, including Barclays and
Standard Chartered
banks had been given a 14-day ultimatum to do so or risk
losing their
licences.
Gono, in an uncharacteristic attack on a
Zanu PF minister, warned against
“irrational exuberance during these times
of necessary soberness.”
Kasukuwere’s ministry is trying to enforce
the controversial indigenisation
regulations that seek to force
foreign-owned companies to cede 51% of their
stakes to locals over the next
five years.
Caledonia Mining Corporation also threatened a legal
showdown with
Kasukuwere after he reportedly wrote to Mines and Mining
Development
minister Obert Mpofu instructing him to withdraw Blanket Mine’s
licence.
The Canadian firm owns Blanket Mine, one of Zimbabwe’s top
gold producers,
which was named among the 11 companies that were on the
verge of losing
their licences.
“Caledonia believes the Minister
of Indigenisation has exceeded his legal
powers, both in terms of his
assessment of Caledonia’s proposal and his
request to the Minister of
Mines,” the company said in a statement.
“Caledonia is seeking urgent
clarification from the relevant ministers and
is also consulting with its
legal advisors regarding appropriate legal
action.”
But
Kasukuwere remained defiant, vowing to follow through his threats that
have
already given investors jitters at a time when the economy is desperate
for
foreign capital injection.
“As far as we are concerned, we are going
ahead with the process and we
shall effectively use the laws to empower our
people,” Kasukuwere told
Standardbusiness.
“They (foreign
companies) have taken us for a ride for too long, we have
tried to be
accommodative and understanding so we shall deal with those that
don’t want
to co-operate.”
The minister announced recently that he had thrown
out proposals by mining
companies on how they intended to comply with the
empowerment law.
On Friday Kasukuwere said Caledonia and other companies were
free to consult
lawyers from “heaven” and appeal to whoever they wanted, but
his ministry
was not going to look back.
Gono pointed out that
the minister’s proposal flew in the face of the
Southern Africa Development
Community proposals of stabilising the banking
sector, at a time when the
world was facing a double dip economic recession.
“To this end, therefore,
the timing of any move that we may take or intend
to take is important,”
Gono advised. “May all stakeholders please be guided
accordingly and take
heed before it’s too late.”
He said he was issuing the statement 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.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
The shocking manner in which the Zimbabwe government
has treated Libyan
ambassador, Taher El Magrahi, shows that it still has to
come to terms with
the reality that the regime of Muammar Gaddafi has
fallen, never to return.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ move to
deport him on the grounds that he
no longer represents the Libyan government
is weird in that it implies the
Libyan government is the person of Gaddafi.
But even if this were true,
Gaddafi is on the run and Libya is effectively
in the hands of other people
whose beck and call El Magrahi has to
obey.
El Magrahi has done what anyone in his shoes would do. His
erstwhile leader
has fallen to a popular uprising which most Libyans now
support. The Libyan
community in Zimbabwe has also rallied behind the
uprising back home. For
all intents and purposes, Libya has changed. The
Arab League and dozens of
countries in Africa have recognised the legitimacy
of the National
Transitional Council. There are even indications that the
African Union will
recognise the NTC.
Faced with this, El Magrahi
is right to say that he represents the Libyan
people rather than Gaddafi as
an individual.
Two reasons motivate the Zimbabwe government’s bizarre move;
personal
alliances between some in Zimbabwe’s leadership and Gaddafi as an
individual, and the fear of a similar popular revolt in Zimbabwe. Government
is wary of being seen as supportive of a change of government through
popular rebellion.
It fears that by endorsing the revolt in
Libya it might encourage similar
developments in Zimbabwe, a country
painfully suffering under a regime as
oppressive as Gaddafi’s ever
was.
Most Zimbabweans seem to support the rebellion in Libya; they have read
and
understood how the Gaddafi regime and its acolytes corruptly enriched
itself
and how megalomaniac and kleptocratic its leadership had become. The
similarities between the systems of government under Gaddafi and the one
here send a chill through anyone’s spine.
But the Zimbabwe government
must wake up to reality and do what every other
government in the world is
doing: recognise the new dispensation in Libya.
Quote of the
week
"I represent all Libyans. I follow what they want. When they are
like this,
I follow them. I follow what they chose,” Libyan ambassador Taher
El Magrahi
on threats by the Zimbabwe government to deport him after he lead
the Libyan
community in joining the rebels.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 28 August 2011
12:56
Preaching the gospel of peace and living the doctrine are two
different
things. Virtue lies in the latter aspect, whereby the citizens
are not
intimidated to pursue their political dreams in a nation that claims
to be a
“republic”, in which governance is attained through the consent of
the
people.
A critical mind waits to see if political parties in
the inclusive are going
to enforce President Robert Mugabe’s declaration,
when he officially
unveiled New Zim Steel company last month and recently
when he called for
unity during Solomon Mujuru’s burial, that the nation
deserves a free
environment during the forthcoming elections.
The
problem of political violence that has become intrinsic within the
leadership style of Zanu PF is hard to banish at the moment, considering
that many unemployed youths, especially in the high-density areas, thrive on
it to and in the process deny those perceived to be members of the
opposition of their civil liberties. One avenue towards achieving fair polls
is to send a clear message to the grassroots level, informing supporters in
unambiguous terms, the merits of political tolerance.
The belief
that an election can only be won by tormenting the opposition on
either
side of the political divide can only be extinguished by an earnest
attempt
to educate the electorate that freedom of choice is one of the
greatest
pillars of participatory democracy.
Some sections of the society
have failed to grasp that political solutions
are not attained through the
massacre of opponents. Instead, the remedy to
political turmoil can only be
achieved through mutual understanding between
individuals who hold
dissenting views.
As Zanu PF and the two MDC formations negotiating
teams share the same table
to discuss options aimed at salvaging the
bleeding economy, the electorate
has an obligation also to respect each
other’s views as they discuss matters
that affect their
livelihoods.
In areas that gave rise to some of the acclaimed
revolutions in the world
such as beer halls, salons or coffee houses —there
are some people whose
mission is to disrupt fruitful discussions that may
assist in shaping noble
societal values. In these places, hate speech
displaces rational thinking.
In most cases, it is the Zanu-PF supporters who
instigate this vitriol,
failing to recognise that their party is led by
humans, whose rule for over
three decades cannot be consistently
perfect.
Zanu-PF played its part in promoting free education and
ensuring that even
the poorest villager had access to a vibrant health
delivery system soon
after Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980. But,
there is a moment when
the glory begins to fade.
The
destructive effects of the Economic Structural Adjustment (Esap) in the
1990s formed the genesis of a seemingly perennial conflict between economic
decline and the slump of the welfare of the majority. Since then, service
delivery has remained inglorious, failing to meet the demands of the
ordinary citizens.
Every candidate with ambitions to rule this
country should understand and
accept that if the electorate says NO, then
it’s time to quit office and
give others a chance. Without acknowledging
that political power is sweeter
when the masses accept policies that uplift
their welfare, the resultant
effect is to subjugate them through use of
force.
The end to the bloodshed will come only if Zanu PF is firm in
denouncing
unruly behaviour among its supporters. Peace can also prevail if
the MDC
formations realise that intra-party violence can be used by Zanu-PF
to
penetrate its constituencies. The police and the army must relinquish
their
partisan orientation and protect national citizens without beating
them up
for their political choice.
A public proclamation calling
for peace is noble, but enforcement of the
rule of law and constitutional
rights will allay fears of torture,
harassment and abduction of opponents,
especially of those belonging to the
opposition. So far, it is remote to
assume that there will be an impartial
application of the law when electoral
campaigns begin, considering that
ministers belonging to the MDC formations
were recently being arrested
arbitrarily.
Rowdy youths, driven
largely by ignorance of what an election means, are
likely to take heed if
their bosses within the upper echelons of power
become clear and state in
utmost terms the need to have fair elections. If
they get the blessings of
their superiors to manouvre in any possible way to
ensure a win is achieved,
no doubt, they will resort to violence.
And critically, it is not a
party that enjoys the majority support that
implements dirty tricks. It is
that which no longer trusts itself in terms
of stamina and appeal. When the
going gets tough, like Mike Tyson, it can
bite Evander Holyfield’s
ear!
BY GUMISAI NYONI