Zimbabwe Constitution: Take the Survey!

SADC lawyers ask regional heads to warn Zim on land ruling

http://www.busrep.co.za/

August 6, 2010

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Lawyers Association urged
regional heads of state to condemn Zimbabwe's snubbing of a ruling ordering
it to compensate farmers who had their land taken from them during
Zimbabwe's land redistribution programme.

"Continued silence on the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities will only
help to play in the hands of sceptics who doubt the ability of the regional
leaders to deal effectively with the Government of Zimbabwe and its
leaders," a statement read on Friday.

They said that when the leaders gather at the forthcoming SADC summit to be
held from August 16 to 18 they should take a principled stand on the matter
by condemning the Zimbabwe government.

The SADC tribunal has ruled that over 70 farmers be compensated, but the
Zimbabwe government has ignored the order, as well as warnings that it is in
contempt of court by doing so.

The association said that a warning to Zimbabwe would be in the interest of
regional cohesion and integrity.

They said the SADC leaders had been firm with the unelected government of
Andri Rajolina of Madagascar.

"It is however sad to note that the SADC heads of state and government have
continued to give the government of Zimbabwe special treatment and turn a
blind eye to its continued disregard of the rule of law and lack of respect
for regional institutions."

This made Zimbabwe bold enough to "trash" the jurisdiction of the SADC
tribunal.

On July 16 this year, the tribunal issued another ruling that Zimbabwe was
in contempt of court, but Zimbabwe's justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
stated that the Tribunal "could make as many such judgments as possible" but
this would not change the government's stance on the land issue.

"Clearly therefore, the Government of Zimbabwe is not going to abide by the
Tribunal rulings on its own free will."

The General Council of the Bar (GCB) in South Africa said it was "profoundly
disturbed" by the Zimbabwe government's stance.

"The GCB accordingly calls upon all concerned, and particularly the
Government of Zimbabwe, to ensure compliance with international law in the
region and that the rule of law is effectively applied and not
disregarded." - Sapa

New crisis rocks Zimbabwe coalition gov’t as provincial governors’ term expire

http://www.apanews.net/

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) A new crisis has rocked Zimbabwe’s fragile
power-sharing agreement on Friday as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
party claimed that the country’s 10 provincial governors were in office
illegally after their terms expired in July.

The new crisis comes in the wake of the expiry on July 31 of two-year terms
for the governors, making the their positions vacant.

“The Provincial Councils and Administration Act provides that each term
shall not exceed a period of two years hence their terms expired on 31 July
2010 and the ten former fovernors have no legal basis to act as being still
in office,” an MDC spokesperson said in a statement.

He said in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, new governors should be
appointed following consultation between President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Tsvangirai.

The appointment of the provincial governors has already been one of the
issues at the centre of a long-running dispute between Tsvangirai’s MDC and
ZANU PF led by Mugabe.

The posts have been a cause for acrimony since the unilateral appointment of
ZANU PF officials to the position of governor by Mugabe in breach of a
memorandum of understanding signed with Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara of a
breakaway MDC faction in July 2008.

The dispute over these appointments almost derailed the formation of
Zimbabwe’s transitional government before the Southern African Development
Community intervened and instructed the parties to come up with a formula
for the representational allocation of the governors.

The parties subsequently agreed to share the positions on 5:4:1 formula,
with Tsvangirai’s party getting the largest number of posts, followed by
ZANU PF and Mutambara’s faction.

Mugabe has until now refused to appoint the MDC governors, insisting that he
wanted the current terms of the incumbent officials to run out.

JN/daj/APA
2010-08-06

Civil society demands action from SADC leaders

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
06 August 2010

Civil society on Friday demanded that leaders of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) take action to prevent state-sponsored violence
during the next elections in Zimbabwe.
The call by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition comes ahead of the SADC Summit
in Namibia from August 15 - 17, where Zimbabwe's current political stalemate
is set to be debated. The situation fell off the agenda at last month's
African Union (AU) summit in Uganda, despite the stalemate that has blocked
any real change in the country.

All the signs are in place for a presidential election to be called next
year and ZANU PF has already started electioneering, amid efforts to gather
public opinion on a new constitution. But concern is already being expressed
that there are no systems in place to prevent a repeat of the 2008 election
violence that left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The Crisis Coalition is now calling upon SADC and AU leaders, as guarantors
of Zimbabwe's Global Political Agreement (GPA), to put concrete plans in
place to prevent such violence. This includes ensuring that Zimbabwe fully
complies with SADC Principles and Guidelines regarding elections, as well as
recognising the right of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to vote. The Coalition
also wants SADC and AU leaders to "facilitate technical support to the newly
appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission by more experienced regional
electoral bodies, such as the South African Electoral Commission."
Additionally the Coalition wants Zimbabwe barred from taking up a position
in the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security for the duration of the
on-going mediation process in Zimbabwe "to preserve the independence of the
Organ."
"Even in Zimbabwe, a player for one side cannot pull on a referee jersey,"
the Crisis Coalition said in a statement.

A team from SADC is expected in Zimbabwe in the next two weeks, to review
the progress of the unity government. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said
over the weekend that the SADC team was expected to consider the ongoing
violations of the Global Political Agreement by ZANU PF. It's also believed
he will raise the issue of ZANU PF's propa

Ministers and journalists face arrest for ‘leaking’ information

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 August, 2010

The Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, on
Wednesday threatened to arrest any government ministers who disclose
information on cabinet meetings and proceedings to the media, plus the
journalists who use such information.

Minister Shamu reportedly said ministers were using confidential information
from cabinet proceedings to “further their political agendas” and that some
even “distort or misinterpret” the information in order to “promote their
narrow party political interests”.

The announcement came after ministers reportedly discussed the issue last
week in cabinet and agreed that leaks of such information were damaging to
government.

But media analysts strongly disagree and have criticized the move as yet
another attempt to silence the media, target the MDC and keep Zimbabweans in
the dark about political activities.
Political science professor John Makumbe criticized the MDC ministers for
going along with this decision, saying the directive by Shamu is aimed at
victimizing them.

He said: “The MDC ministers have become sitting ducks really. And there will
be no ZANU PF ministers arrested for leaking anything, not just to the
Herald, but even to independent newspapers. They will be leaking only those
stories that they want to go out into the public domain.”

Makumbe said the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) have so far been used to
prosecute journalists. He said the government also uses the Miscellaneous
Offenses Act - something they turn to when they cannot fit an allegation
into any existing law.
But Shamu want to find additional ways to prosecute journalists and MDC
ministers and is reported to have said: “As cabinet ministers we take an
oath of office and if information is divulged then you should be
 answerable,” and “If any information is divulged, the official will be
investigated and appropriate action taken against both the official and
journalist.” Then he added that offenders would be violating the Official
Secrets Act, a law that has not been used to prosecute any journalists since
Independence in 1980.

This issue of leakages was discussed after local reports said that cabinet
had agreed to stop ZBC from using the ZANU PF’s jingles that were being
played every hour by the state broadcaster. ZANU PF officials accused MDC-T
MPs of leaking the information to the press. The MDC responded by accusing
ZANU PF MPs of leaking information to state run media outlets to denigrate
their party.

This intense debate is reported to have led to the cabinet decision that
both sides should stop the leakages and anyone in breach of that would be
arrested and prosecuted.

Makumbe warned the MDC not to behave as though they were equal to ZANU PF
ministers because they are not. He said: “The sad part is that the deficit
is in favour of Mugabe and against the MDC. And yet the MDC are operating as
if everything is quite balanced. They will be shocked when, towards the end
of the duration of the government of national unity, Mugabe will
increasingly be running the country alone, without consulting the MDC.”

The formation of the so-called “inclusive” government was supposed to bring
with it a more independent and free media environment in Zimbabwe. But so
far no real progress has been made.
The bottom line is…….why shouldn’t Zimbabweans be told about a cabinet
decision on the ZANU PF jingles. It hardly threatens state security and it’s
time government officials recognized the fact that Zimbabweans should be
allowed to know what’s going on.

Expelled Mutambara MP’s challenge by-election delay in court

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
06 August 2010

The decision by the Mutambara MDC to expel 3 of its MP’s last year could
soon come back to haunt the coalition government after the trio this week
launched a High Court application, challenging delays in the holding of
parliamentary by-elections to fill up the seats.

Former Nkayi South MP Abednico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane East) and
Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East) were expelled by the MDC-M over allegations
they had undermined the party leadership and were working with the main wing
of the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

In an attempt to avoid election related violence during the transition
period the three parties in the coalition government agreed in 2008 not to
contest against each should seats fall vacant. Although the agreement does
not say by-elections will not be held, it was assumed the dominant position
of the three parties ensured this was the case.

The expulsion of the 3 MP’s in the MDC-M however changed the dynamics. Now
ten seats in parliament and 6 in the senate are vacant, but mostly arising
from the death of legislators. Bhebhe, Mguni and Mpofu’s situation is
different with the trio having been expelled. They feel aggrieved at what
they termed their ‘illegal’ expulsion from parliament.

Bhebhe told Newsreel on Friday that; "Nkayi South constituency, despite the
lapse of a year since the termination of my membership of parliament,
remains without a parliamentary representative. It is quite an anathema to
democracy and quite unconscionable that in a representative democracy a
constituency can remain unrepresented in parliament for more than a year.”

On Monday the trio asked the High Court to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission and Mugabe to gazette a date for the by-elections, within 14 days
of the order being granted.

Meanwhile Parliament has come in for some stick over the number of days it
has been in session. According to Veritas, a body that monitors legal and
constitutional issues, in a period spanning 9 months the senate sat on only
16 occasions, while parliament met just 30 times. It said there were a
significant number of short sittings, ‘when one or other of the Houses met
only to adjourn after sitting for less than an hour and sometimes after 10
minutes.’

Added to the short sittings the sessions were also ‘marked by long
adjournments – six weeks over the Christmas-New Year period, and a premature
adjournment for more than three months from March onwards to allow
legislators to take part in the Constitution outreach programme – which
eventually only started at the end of June.’

Observers say parliament is slowly becoming a white elephant with its
significance dwindling by the day.
 

Zimbabwe's Lancaster Constitution No Longer An Option

http://news.radiovop.com

06/08/2010 08:34:00

Gweru, August 06, 2010 - Zimbabwe cannot afford to go back to the Lancaster
Constitution if the current one being drafted is rejected by the people, the
country's chair of the umbrella organisations for civic society in Zimbabwe
has declared.

Speaking to journalists here, the chairperson for for the national
association for non governmental organisations in Zimbabwe, (NANGO), Dadirai
Chikwengo, said politicians had not made it clear on what will happen if
Zimbabweans rejected the constitution which was being written.

 "As civic society we want the politicians to understand that if this
process fails, we do not know where we will go to, but we are not going to
the Lancaster one. We can not keep on going back to the Lancaster one. Maybe
we will operate without a constitution," Chikwengo said

While the Referendum Act states that people will vote yes or no, Nango
national Chairperson said that if the yes or no referendum is used then it's
not clear where Zimbabwe will head to.

"History has taught us that if we vote yes or no for a whole constitution we
will not go anywhere because if it is voted no we will not know where
exactly we will have gone wrong. It is better that we have an issue based
referendum where people will vote for issues."

Chikwengo said it was also not clear on how data currently being gathered
for the new constituttion will be reconciled as there was a lot of
information being captured. She said the civic society was pushing that they
also be involved in the writing of the draft.

When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 it adopted a constitution
negotiated at Lancaster House in London, as part of a peace agreement ending
years of a protracted war. The constitution has been amended 19 times.

Chikwengo also said civic society was not happy with the lack of progress by
the national healing Organ. She said, "The organ should have asked civil
society and churches to help so that progress could have been made. We
should have started with the healing before any other process."

Zimbabweans were also not ready for an election, she said. " If you talk
about elections in Zimbabwe people shiver because at the moment elections in
Zimbabwe means fear, torture, intimidation, running away from your own house
and country. " That is why we wanted a conducive environment before any
elections," she added.
 

Facilitators Turn Heat On Zimbabwe's Political Leaders

http://news.radiovop.com

06/08/2010 10:54:00

Harare, August 06, 2010 - A team of South African mediators tasked to help
resolve political differences between the country's three main political
parties has intensified effors to unlock the impasse ahead of a Southern
African Development Community (SADC) summit scheduled for August 16 in
Namibia.

The spokesperson of a three member facilitation team appointed by South
African President Jacob Zuma, told Radio VOP that the team is intensifying
its attempts to bridge the differences between the political parties.

"Mr Mac Maharaj was in Harare last week and is currently engaging with the
process because President Zuma has to engage with the Principals before he
goes to the SADC Summit and that's why Mr Maharaj is busy with that process
now," said Ambassador Lindiwe Zulu by phone from Johannesburg.

"The three principals have to review the report submitted by their
representatives and that is the process taking place now. Only when that
happens will President Zuma present a report to the SADC Troika chairperson,
Armando Guebuza."

Maharaj who was in Harare on Tuesday also told Radio VOP that he is still
engaging with the Zimbabwean leaders.

"All I can say is that I am still engaging the leaders in this process,"
said Maharaj.

Asked if at all, he is making any headway in solving the evergrowing
outstanding issues between President Robert Mugabe and his long time foe and
now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, he said, "I know you are a fisherman
from Kariba and I will only report to President Zuma not to fisherman like
you."

The list of grievances  includes the appointment of the unilateral
appointment of Reserve of Zimbabwe governor Gedion Gono, Attorney General,
Johannes Tomana, provincial governors and MDC Deputy Agriculture designate
Roy Bennett who remains out of government even though he was acquitted by a
Harare High Court last month.

However the list of outstanding issues continues to grow and now includes
the unilateral appointments of ambassadors by President Robert Mugabe and
incessant musical spots on state media praising Zanu (PF) and the president
on national television.
 

Mliswa Freed On Bail

http://news.radiovop.com

06/08/2010 10:29:00

Harare, August 06, 2010 - Controversial Zanu (PF) official and businessman
Temba Mliswa has been granted bail and is likely to taste freedom for the
first time in over a month if police do not move in again to arrest him.

Mliswa applied for bail in cases involving an alleged fraud of US$3,5
million at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and the other on charges of
stealing generators from white commercial farmers about eight years ago.

Mliswa was granted US$1000 bail and was ordered to reside at his Borrowdale
house and report to police homicide section every day.

He was also ordered not to travel beyond the 40 kilometre radius from his
house and was also instructed not to interfere with witnesses.

In passing the ruling, magistrate Don Ndirowei said Mliswa was a good
candidate for bail considering that the cases he is facing were committed
many years ago while some of the cases brought before the courts were
withdrawn either by the complainants or the police.

"The court finds that there is no reasonable suspicion that the accused will
abscond given that he has been facing the cases since 2002 but has remained
in the country.

"The state had also failed to prove how the accused will interfere with
witness when granted bail. It also failed to challenge the fact that the
accused did not test liberty when he was granted bail as he was arrested
soon after his release from remand prison," said Ndirowei.

The magistrate also ordered police not to bring Mliswa's case in
installments saying because of this the Harare businessman had never tasted
freedom since he was last granted bail more than a month ago.

He urged the police to employ a holistic approach to the cases involving
Mliswa arguing that bringing them to court in installments would infringe on
his rights.

Mliswa was arrested more than a month ago after launching a stunning attack
on police commissioner Augustine Chihuri accusing him of being corrupt.
Police then went overdrive and started pulling out old cases some dating
back to nearly a decade ago.

Each time he was granted bail, police would move in to arrest him and was
kept incarcerated for more than a month while fresh cases kept coming
through.

Mliswa's continued incarceration is reminiscent of the way police and the
system kept in jail the likes of Roy Bennett and Jestina Mukoko only for
them to be cleared by the courts.

Police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Homicide
Section could be seen milling around at the Harare magistrates court raising
fears they could have been planning to arrest him.
 

Zimbabwe sets diamond sale for next week: minister

http://news.yahoo.com/

AFP

Fri Aug 6, 1:12 pm ET

HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe will next week launch a sale of
diamonds from Zimbabwe that had been banned over "blood diamond" concerns, a
cabinet minister said Friday.

"The launch of the sales will be made on Wednesday next week," mines
minister Obert Mpofu told AFP. "This is really good news for the country."

The sale comes as the issue of "blood diamonds" has come under a global
spotlight following supermodel Naomi Campbell's testimony Thursday at the
war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Taylor is charged with murder, rape and enslavement for his alleged role in
the 1991-2001 civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone that claimed some
120,000 lives -- a conflict fueled by diamonds.

The Kimberley Process, created just after the war to ensure that diamonds
are "conflict-free", had barred Zimbabwe from selling the gems after its
investigators found that soldiers had beaten civilians to force them to mine
the precious stones.

But Kimberley decided last month to allow Zimbabwe two diamond sales, saying
the country had met basic human rights requirements. Zimbabwe has 4.5
million carats in stock, which it had been unable to sell because of the
ban.

Kimberley monitor Abbey Chikane is expected to arrive in Harare on Sunday to
supervise the sale.

Mining is Zimbabwe's main foreign currency earner, and Mugabe claims the
Marange fields could eventually account for a quarter of global output.

Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, said last
Sunday that the diamonds should benefit the entire country.

"Diamonds should not be pocketed by some individuals," Mugabe said.

Finance minister Tendai Biti told parliament last month that the Treasury
could not account for any of the 30 million dollars in Marange diamonds sold
last year before the Kimberley ban took effect.

 

Fake plane accident or just attention seeking?

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
06 August 2010

Something in the ZANU PF DNA is drawn to seeking attention. Robert Mugabe on
Sunday created world headlines by telling the West to go to hell at the
funeral of his sister Sabina at the Heroes Acre in Harare. Ambassadors from
those countries duly walked out. On Tuesday the Foreign Affairs Minister was
fanning a diplomatic incident of sorts by summoning the diplomats and
demanding an apology for the walk out..more headlines.

Hardly before those headlines had dried up Zimbabwe's Civil Aviation boss
catapulted the country back on the news map. "I can confirm that a 767 plane
coming from London has had an accident at Harare airport. I am not at the
site, but there are just injuries, no deaths. I cannot name the airline
involved or say more at this particular time. We are trying to establish
what has caused the accident. We have set up an emergency help line desk to
assist," David Chawota told the media.

It was left to the Foreign Office in Britain to bring sanity to the
situation and calm worried Zimbabweans, telling them that this was just a
drill. "As we understand it, it's a drill, it isn't real, it hasn't really
happened. We have got somebody on the way to the airport just to check. We
have spoken to airport and air authorities and they say it's a drill." Hours
later embarrassed Zimbabwean aviation authorities came to their senses and
confirmed it was just a drill. Their excuse - 'they wanted to make the drill
and emergency response seem more real.'
The next question is an obvious one. What happens when there is a real
aviation disaster at the Harare International Airport? Response time will be
much slower as everybody concerned will want to know if it's the real thing?
Aviation experts who spoke to Newsreel on Friday said a drill should involve
only the emergency response groups that are needed.

Fooling the media into believing it's an actual accident in the day and age
of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and other forms of
communication technology would be suicidal for most countries. Imagine if
officials in New York lied to the media about a fake aircrash. The media
would crucify them, and they'd be out of their jobs quicker than you could
say... Robert Mugabe.

 

More Zanu (PF) Jingles Coming

http://news.radiovop.com

06/08/2010 09:46:00

Bulawayo, August 6 2010, The nation should brace up for more pro-Zanu (PF)
jingles in Ndebele on both the national television and radio stations
following a deal between Zanu (PF)'s commissariat department and a local
theatre club.

According to sources at ZBC Montrose in Bulawayo, the jingles, which are
being done by Asambeni theatre club of Luveve will start to be incessantly
aired on television and radio at the end of August.

"The whole project is being coordinated by James Ncube from the Zanu (PF)
commissariat department. The jingles are in the form of songs and poems
praising Zanu (PF) and President Robert Mugabe. Minister Shamu should be
here anytime next week to give a nod to the jingles," said a source at
Montrose who refused to be named for fear of victimisation.

Some of the jingles are, kuyini iGNU (what is the government of national
unity) and iZanu (PF) izabusa amadonkey ezeemeli mpondo (Zanu (PF) shall
rule until donkeys develop horns).

ZBC is currently playing pro- Zanu (PF) jingles in Shona.

The jingles, which were done by Zanu (PF) Mbare choir under the supervision
of the Zanu (PF) Secretary for commissariat and Information minister,
Webster Shamu have already caused a stir in the government of national
unity. The jingles praise Mugabe and his two vice presidents while
denigrating the Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Tsvangirai led Movement for Democratic Change have said the jingles are
a violation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). They have raised the
issue with Jacob Zuma, the South African president.

During the run up to the presidential elections in 2002, Bulawayo artists,
Yulith Ndlovu and Umkhathi theatre works were involved in composing pro-Zanu
(PF) jingles.

Shamu could not be reached for comment
 

Zimbabwe's Poor Face Starvation

http://news.radiovop.com

06/08/2010 07:57:00

Harare, August 06, 2010 - The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET)
has warned Zimbabwe that although there was likely to be an improved supply
of basic commodities on the market following the extension of the duty-free
regulations, poor and very poor households in urban areas were likely to
remain vulnerable with limited income to buy food.

It said in its Zimbabwe Food Security Outlook July to December 2010 that
Matabeleland, and Masvingo provinces were likely to be the worst affected by
looming food shortages anticipated in October when most households run out
of food as the planting season sets in.

"Though a majority of the households are currently food secure, the worst
affected livelihood zones in specific provinces are the Poor Resource Kariba
Valley (Matabeleland North and Masvingo provinces), Beitbridge and South
Western Lowveld Communal (Matabeleland South province), Save River and
Ndowoyo Communal (Southern area of Manicaland province), and the Northern
Zambezi Valley (Mashonaland Central province) which are likely to be
moderately food insecure in the October to December 2010 period."

It said generally, the food security situation was stable throughout the
country, following improved harvests and the extension of the duty-free
regulations to end of the year.

"This situation is likely to prevail throughout the July to September 2010
outlook period with the majority of poor rural and urban households meeting
their minimum basic cereal requirements. However changes are expected in the
beginning of the October to December 2010 outlook period as cereal
production stocks will diminish for a majority of the poor households
throughout the country."

The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) rural livelihoods
assessment in May 2010 projected that about 1.3 million rural people will
not be able to meet their cereal requirements at the peak of the 2010/11
consumption year.

Earlier this year, Agriculture Minister, Joseph Made announced that the
government had banned donor agencies from giving free food while
Matabeleland South Governor, Angeline Masuku also said her province, which
is drought prone and is among the hardest hit, would reject any food aid.

Already there is a food deficit of 416 000 metric tonnes, due to poor
imports and harvests.

Zimbabwe has had to rely on food aid since President Robert Mugabe embarked
on a chaotic and ill advised land reform programme a decade ago. Thousands
of white commercial farmers were pushed off their land, since then the
country has experienced successive grain deficits. But Mugabe and his
cronies blame this on recurrent droughts and sanctions imposed by the West.
 

In Zimbabwe, a good read is supplanted by need for a feed

http://news.smh.com.au/

FANUEL JONGWE
August 7, 2010 - 2:09AM

As visitors crowded round Daimon Phiri's stall at Zimbabwe's annual book
fair, business seemed to be roaring for the fledgling publisher, but few
people could afford to buy books.

"This year it's busy in terms of people visiting," Phiri, who runs Tepp
Publishers in the second city of Bulawayo, told AFP. "But the people don't
have money to buy books."

He was attending to queries from a group of school pupils asking if he had
anything on offer for free.
Advertisement: Story continues below

At its peak more than a decade ago, the book fair in Harare drew hundreds of
exhibitors from around the world and local publishers reported brisk
business, in a nation that prided itself as the most literate in Africa.

That was before a decade of economic crisis reduced many to paupers, while a
political crisis isolated Zimbabwe from its former allies in the West. Now
the fair is a local affair and a low-key one at that.

"Most of the visitors say they like reading, some show interest in some of
the books we have on display and ask for contacts, and from my experience
asking for contacts is a polite parting note but they don't get in touch,"
Phiri lamented.

"People are living from hand to mouth and to expect them to buy books is to
expect too much," said Phiri. His company published 10 titles, including a
play by a prominent local playwright, in its first two years, but only
managed two publications this year.

Maxwell Mutami, a resident in the working class suburb of Chitungwiza, said
while most Zimbabweans liked reading, they must choose between spending
their scarce income on food or books.

"The salaries most people are earning are not enough to cover their basic
needs and in such a situation a book becomes a luxury," Mutami said.

"The average price of a book is five US dollars and for the same amount you
can buy a loaf of bread. So with five US dollars most of us would rather buy
a loaf of bread for five days or for 10 days if it's the cheap quality."

Prayer Mutasa, a representative for College Press, a subsidiary of the
international publishing group Macmillan, said sales were gradually creeping
up since Zimbabwe's power-sharing government dumped the worthless local
dollar and adopted the US dollar last year.

"It's better than previous years. Our advantage is that we sell school books
for both primary and secondary school," Mutasa said.

"The sales of our non-academic books are still slow. For a person to buy a
book they must have food on the table. A book is a second priority and a
leisure books are considered a luxury."

As buyers grew scarce, many bookstores turned to selling cheap imported
toys, clothes, second-hand books and greetings cards, while others pulled
down the shutters.

Those still operating remain optimistic.

"We hope next year will be better," Alex Musendeki, a manager with the Roman
Catholic-affiliated Mambo Press, said, like many others in the business. "A
lot of people want books but they haven't got money to spare and buy books.
The economy has not yet fully recovered to enable people to buy books."

Kenyan David Ronoh, among the few foreign exhibitors, said that some books
he brought were sold out on the first day of the three-day fair last
weekend.

"The people here like reading," said Ronoh from East African Educational
Publishers, whose catalogue includes such giants as Ngugi wa Thi'ongo,
Cyprian Ekwensi and Chinua Achebe.

Zimbabwe International Book Fair director Greenfield Chilongo said: "We are
picking up since the dollarisation. If the trend continues the book industry
will be back to where it was."

But that depends on rebuilding the economy and keeping a political truce
with the unity government, neither of which are a certainty.

© 2010 AFP

Zimbabwe Weekly update – week ending 3 August 2010

Constitution Watch 16/2010 - 6th August [Outreach MeetngsMashonaland West 11 to 15 August]