Mugabe succession splits ruling party

Financial Times

By Tony Hawkins

Published: December 14 2006 02:00 | Last updated: December 14 2006 02:00

Thousands of delegates will gather today near the Zimbabwean capital Harare
for the ninth congress of the ruling Zanu-PF party to consider the
succession to President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe, 83 in February, said two years ago that he would step down in
March 2008 but, with the party hopelessly divided on his successor, six of
the 10 provinces of Zanu-PF have called for him to stay on until 2010.

But supporters of Mr Emmerson Mnangawa, until last year the frontrunner to
succeed Mr Mugabe, are opposed to any delay.Tony Hawkins, Harare

Foreign firms to be nationalized

The Zimbabwean

BY GIFT PHIRI and WILF MBANGA

HARARE/LONDON - The Mugabe regime has taken the final step towards what
amounts to nothing less than wholesale nationalisation of the economy.
Contemptuously discarding international investment treaties signed with a
number of countries since Independence, the corruption-riddled government
has now targeted foreign-owned companies for take over through its National
Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy (NIEP), approved by cabinet last week.

This is the final step in a systematic programme of nationalization that
began in 2000 with the grabbing of much of the country's commercial
farmland. The often-violent dispossession of thousands of productive farmers
was followed by wholesale theft of their homes, vehicles and equipment.

The mines were next. Legislation is currently before parliament that
proposes a forced handover of 51 percent shareholding in all foreign
owned-mines to the government.

This week, highly placed sources told The Zimbabwean that Mugabe was set to
bulldoze through parliament a new law forcing all foreign companies to cede
50% of their shareholding to the state.

The recently-drafted NIEP has already sparked panic among investors. The
sources said government would hold the equity in trust for local
entrepreneurs, presumably the usual Zanu (PF) cronies. Foreign-owned
companies would also be required to adhere to an employment equity quota.

Companies that stand to be affected include financial sector giants Old
Mutual, Barclays Bank, Stanbic and Standard Chartered, mining conglomerates
Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP and industrialists Lever Bros, BAT and
Olivine.

It was not possible to obtain comment from Ozias Bvute of the Ministry of
State for Indigenisation and Empowerment, responsible for the bill.

Economic analysts said the NIEP would sound the death-knell for
desperately-needed investment - that has already dwindled virtually to
nothing as a result of the ruling party's disastrous economic mis-management
and corruption.

Observers note that the new moves follow the virtual collapse of all
parastatals following wholesale looting and asset stripping by those in
power and the politically well-connected.

This latest move will certainly cause all eyes to be fixed upon the dispute
between 15 aggrieved Dutch farmers and the Zimbabwe government that goes to
arbitration in Paris this week.

The farmers, whose operations were protected by an international investment
agreement between the Netherlands and Zimbabwe, are suing the Mugabe regime
for the loss of their land, their assets and their livelihoods.

This test case will open the way for thousands of other displaced commercial
farmers to sue the government for the loss of their property.

Mugabe cranks up pressure on business

The Zimbabwean

BY GIFT PHIRI

HARARE - Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis is deepening as President
Robert Mugabe cranks up pressure against business and the opposition, and
continues his controversial drive to punish industrialists and retailers who
flout his price controls. Political and economic analysts say Mugabe has
compounded Zimbabwe's gloomy outlook with a swoop of arrests on
industrialists and warnings to his opponents that he will not tolerate any
protests against his rule, and another vow that his land reforms are
irreversible.

There are currently over 6,000 outstanding court cases against business
managers in all fields on price control-related issues. They face prison.
The government has also capped school fees for all private schools and
threatens to jail school administrators who defy the directive.

While Mugabe's government has kept its eyes and guns on business, the crisis
in Zimbabwe's economy, in its seventh year of recession, appeared to be
worsening.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe announced last week that a low-income urban
earner's monthly budget for a family of six has shot to $208,714.84
(US$834.86) up from $141,706.79 (US$566.83) in October, a 47,3% increase.

The consumer watchdog said the increase was caused by a 197,9 percent
increase in the price of roller meal, a 196 percent increase in the price of
cooking oil, 112 percent in the price of washing bars, 95 rice, 91 salt, 85
percent surge in price of margarine and another 50 percent increase in
transport costs.

Food shortages are spreading, the Zim dollar continues to crumble in value
following sweeping currency reforms in July, and the price of critical
health drugs has risen by over 500 percent since October.
"The economy has become a hostage of our politics and there is nothing in
our politics to liberate the economy," said private economic consultant John
Robertson.
Eddie Cross, an economic advisor to MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, said
the net effect of price fixing was massive hoarding and black marketeering,
along with mounting losses and closures among food suppliers and processors.

"Price controls will create even more difficulties in an already bad
situation."

Price controls have been imposed on bread, maize, cooking oil, margarine,
soap, milk, beef, chicken and sugar.

Supermarket prices, Harare northern suburb

Prisoners starve as crime soars

The Zimbabwean

BY PAUL PALATI

BEITBRIDGE - The Beitbridge Police Station is becoming overcrowded with
people arrested for committing petty crimes as a means of survival as
unemployment and inflation reach unheard-of levels in Zimbabwe.

Being imprisoned quickly becomes a traumatic experience for prisoners
awaiting trial when the prison authorities refuse to feed them. Prisoners
only survive by being fed by friends and relatives.  Those who receive food
from relatives are forced to share it with their fellow inmates.

A police constable, who refused to be named for fear of being punished, says
the police station is becoming more overcrowded because prisoners are
detained without trial for up to four weeks.

She said more and more people were being arrested as they increasingly
turned to crime as their only means to ward of starvation.

Some residents say their only means of making a living is to assist others
to cross the border into South Africa illegally. Jobs are scarce, except in
the police force and army if you are prepared to support the government in
oppressing its people.

People are not allowed to say anything critical about Zanu (PF) or openly
complain about their problems - even when they are slowly starving to death.
Freedom of expression has ceased to exist and people are quickly arrested
and imprisoned when expressing their views.

Residents claim that the rural council further aggravates the situation by
destroying their properties and chasing away street vendors. "They take away
the food out of our mouths, so we are forced to sell our bodies in the
street if we want to go on living," said Sharai Mudzingi one of the
commercial sex workers here.

She claims she now earns a better income than most public servants working
for the government. Sharai holds a Diploma in Nursing but there are no jobs
available in this field.

Residents say it's very difficult to live a clean and moral life in the
current situation. Inflation has reached such staggering proportions that
everyone's quality of life is deteriorating day by day. There is a new Shona
saying among the people: "Pane mupurisa ndipopanemari yakaswiba" which means
"Where there is a policeman there is money." Today, dealing with anything
forbidden by the law makes money in Zimbabwe.

Bakeries close down

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - Bakeries have started laying off hundreds of contract workers and
are losing at least $5,8 million a day as the wrangle between the government
and bakers over statutory price controls on bread continued this week with
no solution in sight.

The bakers argue they are incurring heavy losses and risk going out of
business soon after using up the current flour stocks. Burombo Mudumo, the
National Bakers Association chairman, said this week bakers were losing $5,8
million every day because of the mandatory price controls on bread being
enforced by government. Mudumo, who had been jailed before being released on
bail pending appeal for illegally hiking bread prices, told The Zimbabwean:
"It's not possible to produce bread at $520 and sell it at $295. A business
that does that will close down sooner or later."

He said he his association had written to the ministry of Industry and
International Trade seeking a raise in the price of bread to $700.

A production manager at a city bakery, who refused to be named, said: "We
are incurring heavy losses every day and we cannot continue producing bread
under the prevailing circumstances. As a result, we are down-sizing our
operations and doing away with contract workers."

Since the beginning of this year, the price of flour has gone up every month
by between 20 and 50 percent.

While the Cabinet was expected to discuss the matter next week, Mudumo said
bakeries were producing and selling bread at a huge loss. He said millers
and bakers were eagerly waiting for the government's response to an appeal
for a review of the price so that all parties could get a better deal. - Own
correspondent

Thousands of cattle killed

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - Zimbabwean farmers are being forced to slaughter prime breeding
cattle after land invaders destroyed their pastures, agricultural
organisations said this week.

Commercial farmers have had to send about half the national breeding herd of
550,000 animals, including thousands of pregnant cows, to abattoirs because
supporters of President Mugabe set thousands of acres on fire in Chimanimani
last month.

A regional executive of the Commercial Farmers' Union, said: "The commercial
breeding herd is being decimated because farmers can't find grazing. I have
never seen cattle lose condition so dramatically as in the last few weeks."
He said abattoirs were fully booked until late February.

Land invaders had slaughtered a growing number of breeding cattle in recent
weeks and wild animals were also being killed. At the same time the mobs
were extorting enormous sums of money from white farmers.

He said: "As the rains continue, tens of thousands of cattle will be sent
for slaughter because we know the squatters will extort money from us,
saying our cattle have ruined their crops growing on our land."

State-run media burnishes its reputation for false reports

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - The state-run media reinforced its reputation for false reports,
distortions, and censoring stories which reflect badly on the Mugabe regime
in the week Nov. 27-Dec. 3.

But the private media carried accurate reports on the main issues, including
official corruption at Zisco, and dismissed as a damp squib the budget with
its same weary predictions of better times just round the corner.

The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) said that false reports in the
official media included news that a Chinese company was about to buy a major
share-holding in Zisco (which the Chinese immediately denied); that South
Africa had relaxed stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans; and that
private schools had lost their bid to increase fees.

The Herald, The Chronicle and the rest of the state media made no attempt to
correct the Zisco-China story - which Spot FM had unblushingly claimed would
make Zisco "the biggest steel manufacturer in Africa south of the Sahara."

The handling of the South African visas story was just about as bad.
Although The Herald did report the South African Embassy's denial of its
story about visa relaxations, it avoided explaining that it was Zimbabwe
officials who made these claims. Instead, it maintained that it was the
South African Defense Minister Mosioua Lekota, speaking at Victoria Falls,
who had said visa requirements had been temporarily scrapped.

ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe ignored the South African denial.

Over the private school fees, a judge told the Association of Trust Schools
(ATS) to exhaust all channels available under the Education Act before
seeking court intervention. This, said the media monitors, showed up in The
Herald as the ATS having "lost" its case.

Muckraker, columnist in the Zimbabwe Independent, noted that a
"believe-it-at-your-own-risk" caveat would help Herald readers.

Among the other distortions picked up by the MMPZ was ZTV reporter Reuben
Barwe using standard diplomatic etiquette - new ambassadors presenting
credentials - to gloss over Zimbabwe's isolation. "He deceitfully
interpreted the normal presentation of credentials to President Mugabe by
incoming French and Kenyan ambassadors to mean that Zimbabwe still has many
friends out there who recognise her strategic position on the African
continent", said the monitors.

The state media's coverage of the 2007 national budget was the usual mix of
blind endorsement of official policies; no reference to all the other
optimistic forecasts which failed to materialize, and economic fantasy. ZBC,
for example, hailed the budget as "aimed at . stabilising prices, enhancing
economic growth and job creation."

In contrast, the private media were unimpressed, dismissing Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa's optimistic predictions and noting he had done nothing to
solve the country's myriad economic problems.

The Zimbabwe Independent described the budget as a "classic soap opera." The
Sunday Mirror quoted economists as saying the budget was a "damp squib," and
the new wider tax bands would provide only temporary relief for those with
jobs because of hyperinflation.

New Zimbabwe.com noted that while Murerwa pinned his hopes on increased
agricultural production, he preferred allocating funds to state security. It
carried a statement by opposition MDC official Tendai Biti that the budget
reflected "the mediocrity, dishonesty and bankruptcy of ideas of the Zanu
(PF) regime."

President for Life?

The Zimbabwean

It looks certain that the hand-picked, well-fed delegates at this week's
Zanu (PF) congress will vote overwhelmingly in favour of extending Mugabe's
tyrannical rule from 2008 - 2010 - thereby extending the unpopular party's
reign of terror in Zimbabwe for two year's longer than the constitution
allows.

But then again, Zanu (PF) has no respect for constitutions.  They can just
amend it one more time - after all they have changed it 17 times since 1980.
Or they might just ignore it, which they also have done on numerous
occasions.

Like the ruling party members of parliament, the delegates will vote as they
are told to. We will not even be surprised if Didymus Mutasa's crazy notion
to have Mugabe appointed President for Life is thunderously applauded by the
delegates.

The "streamlining" of the presidential and general elections is a cunning
device - but no-one has been fooled by talk of saving costs and not
inconveniencing people by causing them to have to queue at the polls.

Saving money has never been a consideration for Zanu (PF). They are the ones
who amended the constitution to abolish the Senate, and then a few years
later amended it again to bring the Senate back. They amended the
constitution to separate the presidential and general elections - in another
ploy to stop the opposition gaining a hold on power. Now they want to change
it back again.

In 2005, Mugabe stated categorically that he would step down after 2008 when
presidential elections were next scheduled. But the succession battle within
Zanu (PF) has become so vicious that there is a very real danger of a major
split that would weaken the party considerably, and possibly pave the way
for an opposition victory at the polls.

He dare not allow that to happen. He and the political elite have only one
agenda - staying in power. No matter what.

So it would appear Zimbabweans are condemned to another four years of more
of the same - international isolation, economic collapse, violent repression
of any criticism, no rule of law, major human rights abuses, starvation,
disease - a virtual return to the stone-age.

Chombo stifles democracy - MDC

The Zimbabwean

 HARARE - The life span of the Commission that has been running the affairs
of the city of Harare came to an end on Saturday.

"Residents of Harare deserve nothing short of an elected and accountable
leadership to take over from the corrupt and dysfunctional Sekesai
Makwavarara-led commission that was forcibly imposed on them two years ago
when the popularly elected MDC-led council was dismissed," said Trudy
Stevenson, MDC (Mutambara) shadow minister for local government.

Minister Chombo was determined to stifle democracy by extending the term of
the Makwavarara Commission, she said, in spite of the overwhelming evidence
to the contrary, typified by poor service delivery; rampant looting of
council property, corruption, mismanagement of council property and carefree
attitude coupled with downright arrogant behaviour towards the plight of the
rate payers that is being exhibited by both the minister and members of the
Commission.

"This is totally unacceptable and it must be stopped.  Chombo spoke of
appointing a new commission as if to suggest that there was no alternative
to commissions. The alternative is there and it is to give the people of
Harare their democratic right to elect those that they feel are competent
enough to run the affairs of the city.

"MDC joins the residents of Harare in resisting Chombo's obnoxious, stinking
and hypocritical machinations by demanding their right to elect leaders of
their choice to run the affairs of the city," said Stevenson. - Staff
reporter

Africa must liberate Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean

LONDON -  Free-Zim Youth has announced it will march through central London
on December 22nd to protest against the lack of action by SADC member states
against the tyrannical rule of President Robert Mugabe.  They will meet at
noon at Zimbabwe House on the Strand.  All those concerned about Zimbabwe
are invited to join them.

The demonstration comes in the wake of the initiative by SADC to appoint a
troika to assess the political crisis in the country.

"The regional influence is absolutely imperative. Regional civic society and
institutes like SADC and AU have social, economic and political
responsibilities and should be empowering the African people in advocating
for political consciousness and a democratic environment," said the youth. -
contact: Wellington Chibanguza 07706868955; Alois Mbawara 07960333568 .
Email: Freezim6@yahoo.co.uk

Drought and diseases wipe out villagers

The Zimbabwean

By Paul Palati

SAVE - People in Save district near Chiredzi are increasingly affected by
eye diseases, malaria and drought. The area is currently experiencing a
severe drought accompanied by high temperatures which encourage the breeding
of mosquitoes on a massive scale. Residents say the situation is made worse
by the desperate shortage of medical facilities in the area.

Save is a huge and over-populated area in region 5. Malaria is rampant and
AIDS and malnutrition also cause many deaths. Health facilities are poor,
people are uneducated on how to combat diseases and food is scarce to feed
under-nourished bodies.

Residents are forced to walk up to 15 kilometers to reach the only clinic in
the area, called Ndali clinic. Chamett Makuni, one of only 3 qualified
nurses at the clinic, say they work long hours to cope with an increasing
number of patients every day. Most patients either suffer from malaria or
complain about eye pain because of the severe dry conditions and
malnutrition.

"We feel so helpless because we do not have medicine for all the people"
said Makuni. "To make it worse, we expect the number of patients to increase
next year. The Department of Health must take action soon or we face a
crisis of massive proportions." Sick people are often turned away from the
clinic without treatment by the nurses because of unavailable medical
supplies.

Many deaths can be directly attributed to the lack of education and
inadequate information about AIDS, coupled with the shortage of
anti-retroviral drugs for treatment of HIV-Aids. "People desperately need to
be informed about the use of condoms, the importance of abstinence from
irresponsible sex, and being faithful to one partner," said Amos Njenjekwa,
one of the male teachers at Mupinga Secondary school. He added: "The problem
affects everyone in the village, from parents to school children."

Chamett Makuni says pregnant women and infants are the ones most affected by
malaria and eye diseases. She says the Department of Health used to provide
pregnant women with mosquito nets but has now stopped because malaria has
become so rampant in the area that they cannot cope with the demand. She
urged the community to use mosquito repellent and other appropriate products
to reduce the rapid spread of malaria. According to Makuni, malaria gained
the upper hand in the area after efforts to control its spread were
disbanded due to a shortage of repellents, countrywide.

Residents say the withdrawal of most food aid organizations from Zimbabwe
has contributed to the misery of both people and animals. Many people either
slaughter their domestic animals for food, thus decreasing livestock, or
hunt wild animals. Malilangwe Conversation Trust, which manages various game
reserves, has tried to limit the slaughter of wild animals by donating
porridge to schools. According to the ward councillor, Abraham Madeleine,
the shortage of food [article ends here...]

MDC outlines fiscal policy to IMF

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not release critically
needed financial aid to Zimbabwe until the southern African country embraces
good governance and stops harassing investors and industrialists, diplomatic
sources said this week. Speaking as consultative talks between the
government and an IMF delegation dragged on in Harare, sources said the
fund, which abandoned Zimbabwe in August 1999, would maintain "a
wait-and-see attitude on Zimbabwe."

A six-member IMF delegation this week met Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa,
Gideon Gono, Reserve Bank governor and leaders of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).

Official sources said the IMF blasted Murerwa for the illegal arrest of
business leaders on allegations of flouting price controls, which the IMF
vehemently oppose. The team reiterated the importance of market forces
dictating prices of goods and commodities.

Long-standing differences such as the question of Zimbabwe's distorted
exchange rate and the slow pace of privatisation of loss-making government
parastatals are also still an impediment to the resumption of IMF aid to
Harare, the diplomats said. The IMF's suspension of balance-of-payments
support to Zimbabwe has blocked billions of dollars worth of aid from other
donors and institutions, which provide help to countries that have
functional IMF aid programme.

The MDC's economic affairs chief Eddie Cross said the IMF delegation had, in
technical discussions, generally accepted the opposition party's approach
and proposals on key policy issues such as how to stabilise Zimbabwe's
exchange rate, interest rate management and the handling of the burgeoning
national debt.

The MDC's economic policy, dubbed RESTART, proposes cutting by half the size
of the government to rein in spending and drastically reduce the US$4.5
billion owed by the government to foreign creditors within the first 100
days of the party's coming into power. - Own correspondent

EU funds E70m projects in 2005

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - The European Union remains the most important donor in terms of
providing technical assistance to crisis-torn Zimbabwe despite the frosty
diplomatic relations.

In an overview of EU-Zimbabwe current cooperation released by the bloc's
diplomatic mission in Harare this week, the 25-member body said it had
funded seven projects in Zimbabwe in 2005 to the tune of 70 million Euros.

The EU is the largest donor in Health and Education sectors in Zimbabwe,
contributing 18,5 million Euros towards the sectors in 2005 alone. The
overview says 16 million Euros has already been approved for 2006-07 for
these activities and to develop incentives to address the acute shortage of
health personnel in rural areas.

"The essential drugs programme comprises vital items such as
anti-Tuberculosis (TB) drugs and antibiotics to prevent HIV related
opportunistic infections and to treat sexually transmitted infections," the
EU report says. The EU has unveiled 14 million Euros for HIV and Aids
related services in 35 districts.

Through its humanitarian arm ECHO, the EU is assisting over 8 million
Zimbabweans in various sectors, key among them food security, home-based
HIV/Aids care, water and sanitation, nutrition, orphans and vulnerable
children.

The powerful body also revealed that it provided support to civil society in
Zimbabwe, essentially through thematic budgetline funds.

"It provides support predominantly to civilian organizations and NGOs and to
relevant international organizations for actions aiming at alleviating the
level of poverty and promoting human rights and governance," the overview
says. "More specifically, the European Initiative for Democracy and Human
Rights aims at promoting human rights, democracy, rule of law and conflict
prevention by providing financial support for activities promoting these
goals in Zimbabwe and around the world."

The EU said since 2002 its relationship with Zimbabwe had "profoundly
deteriorated." It said major disagreements arose over the deployment of the
2002 EU observer mission which led the EU council to adopt a common position
on restrictive measures such as the prohibition of arms supply and also
targeted sanctions, a travel ban and the freezing of assets against a
President Mugabe and his cronies.

"Trade relations have not been affected, and the EU remains a strong trading
partner of Zimbabwe," the overview says. "Interest in EU export markets
remains high in Zimbabwe and businesses from Zimbabwe are regularly
consulting the export help-desk of the European Commission."

The EU said the possibility of fully reestablishing cooperation between the
EU and Zimbabwe remained a reality.

"Through effective dialogue between the EU and Zimbabwe on issues of
concern, a full partnership could be reinstated between the two parties." -
Own correspondent

Budget a -slap in the face says ZCTU

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - Zimbabwe's umbrella trade union body, the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions, ZCTU, has said it would now seek to ballot its members on
strike action following the intransigence of government in meeting labour's
demands for higher wages, lower taxes and providing affordable HIV/AIDS
drugs.

ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo said Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa's 2007
national budget was a "slap in the face for workers" and that the minister
had not taken into consideration workers demands for better pay amid
Zimbabwe's skyrocketing hyperinflation.

ZCTU wanted to peg the minimum wage at par with the Poverty Datum Line
(PDL), currently Z$208,714.84. The union is also seeking reviews in
transport and housing allowances.

Matombo said ZCTU was not prepared to make any concessions on the minimum
wage because "the PDL is changing almost on a weekly basis and it needs to
be rectified now before the situation gets out of hand."

A visit to the water harvester

The Zimbabwean

BY ROBIN PALMER

BULAWAYO - While visiting Bulawayo recently for an Oxfam International
meeting, I took the opportunity to go to Zvishavane to visit a Zimbabwean
hero I had not seen for over 15 years. He is Zephaniah Phiri Maseko, the
water harvester. 'Mr Phiri', as everyone calls him, is now a veteran of 79.
He travelled to Washington last month to receive a Leadership in
Conservation Award from the National Geographic Society. In the accompanying
press release, the NGS spoke of his outstanding lifetime work and leadership
and described him accurately as an 'inspirational conservation advocate who
serves as a role model and mentor to his community.'

I first met Mr Phiri in 1987, when I joined Oxfam GB, and travelled
regularly in Zimbabwe. He was an inspirational and charismatic figure then.
He had been tortured and jailed by the Rhodesian authorities for his
political beliefs, denied employment and so had turned to the land to
support his family. With a little help from Oxfam, he had just set up the
Zvishavane Water Project to help spread his self-taught conservation
messages. Mr Phiri has only Standard Six education, but this has not
deterred him from 'learning by doing' water conservation on his communal
area farm 20km outside Zvishavane just off the Shurugwe road. One of the
many remarkable things about his enterprise is that he always envisaged it
as helping his community, not just himself.

So it was with immense personal joy that I met him again at his home. Age is
beginning to take its toll, as he freely admitted, but he had lost none of
his enthusiasm. He took us on a vigorous tour of his 'Garden of Eden', a
perennial wetland which is now 40 years old. His home lies beneath a large
rock formation. He has harnessed the water that flows from it and captured
it in 'Phiri pits' so the water can seep through the soil below and nourish
his crops and fruit trees. Below these are further pits which prevent the
rain water flowing away from his fields. The water retained here is used for
fish ponds. He has significantly raised the water table under his land and
that of his neighbours. He farms organically, which has helped sustain the
fertility of the soil.

For me the most rewarding thing was being accompanied by three young
Zimbabwean colleagues working for Oxfam in Zvishavane. They had not known of
Mr Phiri before my visit and it was moving to observe the obvious and
genuine respect in which they held him and his achievements. At a time when
we hear so much about global warming and climate change, Zephaniah Phiri
Maseko stands as a true visionary.

Mabvuku Pupils Reject Zanu (PF)

The Zimbabwean

Mabvuku - PUPILS at Mabvuku High School on Tuesday afternoon refused to
chant Zanu (PF) slogans at a National Tree Planting Day held at Matongo
Shopping Centre the suburb. David Karimanzira, the Governor and resident
Minister for Harare Metropolitan Province was the guest speaker.

CHRA representatives in the area reported that the pupils were disgruntled
at the manner the Zanu (PF) officials in the area attempted to force
everyone attending the function to chant the ruling party's slogans.

What allegedly happened is that Karimanzira arrived at the venue for the
official National Tree Planting Day but very few people were present.

People continued with their routine business, ignoring Zanu (PF) youths
overzealous singing and dancing.

Zanu (PF) supporters then allegedly went around the suburb forcing people to
attend the function, including school children at Mabvuku High School.

It is reported that one of the pupils was tasked to present a poem on
environment preservation. He went on to the podium and just started reciting
his poem. But 'alert' Zanu (PF) officials felt the pupil should have started
by chanting their party's slogan and the pupil tactfully refused. He instead
chanted a slogan denouncing environmental damage. Some of the officials
allegedly attempted to intimidate him to do their party slogan but other
more senior officials shielded the pupil from further harassment.

Chaos then reined supreme when some pupils from the same school allegedly
came running to the venue of the function and loudly announced that 'others
have gone home' and the rest of the pupils who were at the function trooped
away, leaving a handful of Zanu (PF) activists joining Governor Karimanzira
in commemorating the National Tree Planting Day.

Girl Child Network wins award

The Zimbabwean

      HARARE - The Girl Child Network (GCN) in Zimbabwe has won the UNDP Red
Ribbon award for addressing gender inequities that fuel the HIV /AIDS
epidemic.  The award was presented at the International Aids conference held
in Toronto earlier this year.

      It embodies the realisation that communities lie at the heart of  the
response to HIV/AIDS and display courage, resilience and strength in
addressing one of the greatest challenge facing the world.  According to a
Girl Child Network spokesperson, there were more than 500 nominees from 100
countries and GCN came first and is proud of this achievement.

      The local award presentation event took place last week at the
Chitungwiza  Aquatic Complex, and included a drum majorettes display, poems,
a musical interlude, drama focusing  on curbing  the transmission of
HIV/AIDS to innocent young girls. The GCN Network assists over 500 girls'
clubs with some 30,000 members country-wide. It is a community-based,
activist developmental organisation that seeks to promote the rights and
empowerment of the girl child in the home, school and society. - WMawire

HRC lambastes Mbeki

The Zimbabwean

      JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has one of the best constitutions in the
world, but the African National Congress (ANC) government has drastically
failed the implementation and accountability policy as it shields Zimbabwe
from appalling human rights abuses.

      The South African Human Rights Commission Chairperson, Jody Kollapen,
has lambasted the Mbeki government of hypocrisy and accused it of double
standards.

      Kollapen was addressing several dozens of Zimbabwe and other African
refugees at Methodist House in Braamfontein, Johannesburg South Africa on
Thursday last week during the 16 Days of Activism Agains Children and Women
abuses.

      He said the SA Human Rights Commission had lost hope in the government
of President Thabo Mbeki over the Zimbabwe crisis, arguing that his
organization was now contemplating lobbying the African Union (AU) member
states to denounce Zimbabwe on strongest terms.

      "It does not require any military action or coup against Zimbabwe, but
it only needs a statement from our government to denounce what is happening
there. The commission notes with concern the role of the ANC government in
blocking any moves against Zimbabwe's bad human rights record, torture and
violence against women," said Kollapen.

      He also took a swipe on the SA Police for alleged non-professionalism
and xenophobia when dealing with several civic society organizations,
claiming that some SAPS officers rape helpless Zimbabwean refugees.

      Speaking at the same function, the Executive Director for the Centre
for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) Ahmed Motala, said the
rampant human rights abuses and torture in Zimbabwe would be likened to the
genocide in Rwanda that claimed over 700 000 people.

      "The Organization of African Unity and the United Nations just folded
their hands as the masses died in genocide," he said. - CAJ News