Zim Online
ZANU PF LEADERS SAY SUCCESSION RIFT COULD COST PARTY IN
POLL
Tue 14 December 2004
HARARE - Top leaders of President Robert
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party
have said the bitter wrangling over his
successor could weaken the party's
performance in next year's general
election.
In a confidential report of the party's key central
committee made
available to ZimOnline, the committee said rifts between
rival factions out
to position their candidates to take over when Mugabe
retires in about three
years time were having negative impact on the party
and could see it losing
votes in the March 2005 poll.
The
central committee is ZANU PF's highest decision-making body
outside the
party's congress held after every five years.
In an open admission
that infighting over Mugabe's successor was
weakening ZANU PF, the committee
said: "The party's performance as we go to
elections is likely to be
affected by perennial political rifts evidenced by
factions within the party
which will have a negative impact on ZANU PF's
political fortunes across
provinces."
Mugabe two weeks ago suspended six out of ZANU PF's 10
provincial
chairmen after they had ganged up to block his instruction that
Joyce Mujuru
be appointed party co-vice-president.
Mujuru has
since been appointed co-vice-president of Zimbabwe joining
Joseph Msika with
whom she is also co-vice-president of ZANU PF. Msika and
Mugabe are set to
retire at the same time leaving Mujuru best positioned to
take over as ZANU
PF and possibly Zimbabwe's president.
The surprise ascension of
Mujuru ahead of parliamentary speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa ditched by Mugabe
at the last minute has left ZANU PF
sharply divided. The six suspended
chairmen as well as influential
government information minister and
propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, backed
Mnangagwa for the
vice-presidency.
The central committee said infighting had "eroded
the image of the
party as a solid cohesive entity" and could see supporters
staying away from
the poll where ZANU PF is likely to face a stern test from
the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
"Factionalism fuels voter apathy . . . voter apathy and protest votes
are a
symptom of a much larger problem within the party," the report reads
in
part. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mugabe to use election to tighten grip on power:
analysts
Tue 14 December 2004
PRETORIA - President Robert Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU PF party will use
Zimbabwe's parliamentary election next year to
tighten further their grip on
power, analysts said yesterday.
They said the opposition could not win under prevailing conditions in
crisis-torn Zimbabwe which they said favoured ZANU PF and Mugabe - in power
since independence from Britain in 1980 - to consolidate their
rule.
"(The election) will just help to consolidate ZANU PF, it
will
consolidate authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe," University of Zimbabwe
Institute of Development Studies professor Brian Raftopoulos told a seminar
on Zimbabwe hosted here yesterday by the South Africa Institute for Security
Studies.
He added: "It will not resolve the fundamental issues
around economic
reconstruction and democratisation."
Zimbabwe
is grappling its worst ever economic and political crisis
which critics
blame on Mugabe and ZANU PF's mismanagement of the economy and
its failure
to uphold democracy, rule of law and human rights.
Raftopoulos
predicted there would be minimal political violence in the
run up to the
March 2005 ballot as part of a cunning strategy by Mugabe to
win the support
of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders.
This,
coupled with cosmetic electoral reforms introduced by Harare
there was great
likelihood that SADC leaders will recognise Mugabe and ZANU
PF's victory in
the ballot as legitimate, the UZ political analyst said.
The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party faced a
tough choice
on whether to take part in an election designed to deny them
victory
whatever the feelings of the electorate or stay away and face
oblivion,
according to Raftopoulos.
He said: "Mugabe is saying stay in
Parliament (by contesting election)
and be castrated or stay out and we will
crush you, that is the challenge
for the MDC."
The MDC, which
has emerged as the biggest challenge to Mugabe and ZANU
PF's hold on power,
has said it will not participate in the poll unless
Zimbabwe's electoral
laws were fully brought in line with SADC guidelines
for democratic
elections.
International Crisis Group Southern Africa project
director Peter
Kagwanja said it was a must for the MDC to contest the
elections and said
the opposition party could still fare strongly if it
repackaged itself,
notwithstanding the obstacles.
"To be in the
game is to play," Kagwanja said.
Kagwanja said only peer shielding
particularly by South Africa was
Mugabe and ZANU PF's salvation from
defeat.
Even if SADC guidelines that among other key conditions
require
independent commissions to run elections were fully implemented in
Zimbabwe,
the political field would still not improve, Kagwanja said. What
was needed
were far-reaching political reforms not piecemeal legal changes,
the ICG
analyst said.
Kagwanja said in the event the election
was flawed, stakeholders
should also consider lobbying the African Union to
expel Zimbabwe from the
continental body. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Government trains more militias
Tues 14 December 2004
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government will early next year open four more camps
to train youth militias accused by churches and human rights groups of
terrorising the government's political opponents, according to Youth
Minister Ambrose Mutinhiri.
Speaking to ruling ZANU PF party
youth leaders during a meeting in
Harare last weekend, Mutinhiri said four
new youth militia camps will be
opened before the March 2005 general
election in the two provinces of
Mashonaland East and West.
An
undercover ZimOnline correspondent was able to sneak into the
meeting held
at ZANU PF's national headquarters in Harare between 10am and
1pm last
Saturday.
Mutinhiri said: "Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West
should have
youth training centres by March next year. The youth training
programme is
here to stay; there is no going back on the programme for
whatever reason."
The government already has four youth training
centres at Kamativi in
Matabeleland North province; Border Gezi, Mashonaland
Central province;
Vumba, Manicaland province and Mushagashi in Masvingo
province. Another two
camps are nearing completion near the towns of Chivhu
and Masvingo.
The four camps that are operational each have a
capacity of churning
out 2 000 graduates every six months. Mutinhiri did not
clarify whether the
four camps to be opened next year will also have the
same capacity.
The government says its youth training programme is
meant to inculcate
patriotism and good behavior in young
Zimbabweans.
But churches, human rights groups and the main
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party say the programme has
turned innocent youths
into ruthless torture machines always on the hunt for
perceived government
opponents.
The youths, always clad in
green military fatigues, have allegedly
turned some rural areas particularly
in the largely remote Mashonaland
Central province into no-go areas with
people required to produce ZANU PF
membership cards to be allowed to travel
to some parts of the province.
According to Mutinhiri, the
government had resolved to accelerate the
training of youths with the
opening of the four new camps next year.
He also said the National
Youth Service Training Unit run on a part
time basis by military officers
would now be transformed into a fully
fledged government department to
ensure the programme had enough
resources. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
AIDS to slash life expectancy to below 35 years
Tue 14
December 2004
HARARE - Life expectancy in Zimbabwe will drop to below 35
years in the
next decade because of HIV/AIDS, the United Nations has
said.
Two other southern African countries ravaged by the disease,
Swaziland
and Zambia, will also see life expectancy plummeting to below 35
years, the
world body said in its 4th 2004 Report on the Global
Aids.
The UN report reads in part: "In Swaziland, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe, the
average life expectancy of people born over the next decade is
projected to
drop to below 35 years in the absence of antiretroviral
treatment."
The UN did not say what life expectancy in Zimbabwe and
the other
African countries would be in 10 years but said population in
these
countries will be 14 percent lower than it would have been without
HIV/AIDS.
Life expectancy in Zimbabwe now is 35 years. Zimbabwe,
grappling its
worst economic crisis ever, has a small anti-retroviral
distribution
programme that is almost entirely funded by donors because the
government
has no money to pay for drugs.
A collapsing public
health sector has only helped compound the
HIV/AIDS crisis in Zimbabwe with
treatable opportunistic illnesses such as
tuberculosis and pneumonia killing
people because state hospitals do not
have enough drugs.
At
least 2 000 Zimbabweans die of AIDS every week while 1.8 million
out of the
country's 12 million people are believed to be HIV positive.
The
country's impressive gains in education since independence in 1980
could be
drastically reversed as teachers succumb to the deadly disease over
the next
10 years, the UN said.
Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland, and Zambia were
also expected to lose their
educators to the epidemic, according to the
UN.
"(The) epidemic is expected to significantly contribute to
future
shortages in primary school teachers. Without forward long-term
planning,
these countries will have great difficulty meeting their school
enrolment
targets," the UN ominously warned. -ZimOnline
Vindy.com
African Union's credibility can be rebuilt in
Zimbabwe
Published: Tue, Dec 14, 2004
The
African Union last week condemned a new military assault by Sudanese
government troops on rebels in the strife-torn region of Darfur, where more
than 1 million people have been displaced. The condemnation was ignored by
the government. Why? Because the African Union has shown itself to be a
toothless tiger.
Its meager peacekeeping force of 833 in Darfur, an
area the size of France,
is a joke - and a bad one at that. The AU decided
to do something about the
growing humanitarian disaster in the Sudan only
after pressure from the
international community, led by the United States.
By then, the fighting
between the Arab-African government and non-Arab
African rebel groups, which
began in February 2003, had claimed more than
70,000 lives and had turned
1.5 million people into refugees.
The
union is hosting peace talks in Nigeria aimed at finding a political
solution. It has said that a peacekeeping mission of 3,320 troops will be in
place by early January. It will cost $220 million, which will be paid for by
the international community. But long-time observers of post-independent
African are skeptical that the AU has the ability to bring peace to the
Sudan.
Rwanda
The AU's failures as an organization, whose
stated goal is to improve the
lives of Africans, are plain to see. From
Rwanda, to the Democratic Republic
of Congo, to Sierra Leone, to Nigeria, to
Ethiopia and Eritrea, and most
significantly to Zimbabwe, death and economic
destruction are the rule
rather the exception.
The reluctance of the
union to condemn the iron-fisted governance of
dictators throughout Africa
has become the clarion call of growing numbers
of people in the western
world who see the continent as a lost cause. In the
United States, the
demand for a reassessment of foreign aid is becoming more
intense.
Indeed, a column by conservative columnist Cal Thomas that
appeared on the
opinion page of Sunday's Vindicator should be required
reading for African
Union delegates. Thomas' arguments can be regularly
heard on Capitol Hill,
where Republicans control Congress.
How can
the African Union restore its credibility? By embracing a report on
the
political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe presented by the International
Bar
Association. It accuses Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of conducting a
reign of terror and demands that he be brought to justice.
The
association said there is staggering and well-documented evidence that
Mugabe's government has committed murder, rape, abduction and
enslavement.
And the IBA, which has a membership of 16,000 lawyers and
190 bar
associations and law societies from every continent, accuses African
nations
of propping up Mugabe's government to deflect criticism of their own
human
rights records.
Starvation
In September, we warned that
thousands of Zimbabweans faced starvation
because the government's purchase
of maize (corn) was expected to amount to
barely half of the country's
yearly requirement. We urged the international
community to step in and save
the people from certain death and continued
suffering brought on by Mugabe's
brutal rule since the time Zimbabwe gained
independence from Britain in
1980.
Political and human rights are non-existent, and the once wealthy
nation has
been reduced to a state of ruin, desolation and
isolation.
The African Union can no longer turn a blind eye to what is
going on in
Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe must be brought to justice and made to
answer for
his crimes against humanity.
Business Report
Zimbabwe's claims of lowered inflation
unconvincing
December 14, 2004
Harare - President Robert
Mugabe's government Tuesday claimed it had
met its target of bringing
inflation down below 150 percent before the year
end, releasing figures
showing the rate for the 12 months to December had
fallen to 149.3 per
cent.
State radio said this was in line with predictions made in
December
2003 by the then newly appointed governor of the Zimbabwe Reserve
Bank,
Gideon Gono.
The inflation rate in November stood at 209
per cent, down from an
all-time high of over 600 per cent at the beginning
of the year, according
to the Government's Central Statistical
Office.
The official figures are, however, widely disbelieved, with
the
Zimbabwean dollar continuing to fall against all major currencies on the
black market and soaring prices for fuel, postage and telecommunications,
transport, medicines, and many basics.
On the official
market, the Zimbabwe dollar now stands at 6 200 to the
US dollar and 8 212
to the Euro.
Mugabe claimed last week that the economy is in the
midst of a
"dramatic" recovery following redistribution of 5 000 seized
white owned
farms to black Zimbabweans, a policy which saw a massive slump
in
agricultural and manufacturing production, and near collapse of tourism,
another traditional money-spinner. - Sapa-dpa
Independent Race and Refugee News
No removals to Zimbabwe
18 December
2004
A march and rally, organised by the Leicester Civil Rights Movement, to
oppose the government's resumption of returns of 'failed asylum seekers' to
Zimbabwe.
a.. Assemble 12.00pm, Saturday 18 December 2004
b..
Victoria Park, corner of London Road and Granville Road, Leicester
After the
march to Leicester city centre, there will be a public meeting in
the
Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, Leicester.
Speakers include:
a.. Zimbabwean human rights lawyers
b.. Representatives from the Zimbabwe
Association, London
Note that this event is not organised by the MDC and is
open to all
Zimbabweans who wish to speak out against violation of their
rights. For
more information, contact Emily Madamombe on 07900 061215,
Patson Muzuwa on
07863 214168 or Camilloh Kamera on 07879 858190.
Events
listing is provided for information only. Inclusion in this listing
should
not be taken to imply that the Institute of Race Relations supports
an event
or is involved in organising it.
14 December 2004
President Tsvangirai's Tuesday message to the
people of Zimbabwe
We buried veteran trade unionist Shangwa
Chifamba in Gutu on Sunday.
Chifamba (63), who died in office after a long
illness, will be remembered
for his untiring effort to raise the profile of
Zimbabwean workers before
and after
independence.
Unfortunately, Chifamba died at a time when
hundreds of thousands of workers
are in a worse situation than they were at
independence in 1980. The
majority is in a pathetic condition than they were
in the early sixties when
Chifamba accepted a calling to take up trade
unionism.
Speaker after speaker lamented the loss of Chifamba, in
particular that he
died without realizing the ideals of the liberation
struggle. The dignity of
the worker has since been eroded significantly by
the absence of
opportunity, loss of freedoms, lack of solidarity, rampant
inequities and
grinding poverty.
Chifamba shall be remembered
for his maturity, experience and guidance
within the entire labour movement
during the search for an alternative
political movement whose phenomenal
growth has since turned ordinary
Zimbabweans into instant leaders in the
democratic struggles against Africa's
post-colonial
tyranny.
The presence of other veteran unionists, leaders of
social society, Dr
Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly,
senior MDC
officials and myself caused some positive restlessness among the
mourners.
Anxieties abound about the future. Questions are being raised
regarding the
direction the country is now taking as we head towards March,
the month that
must provide a defining moment for Zimbabwe's
future.
Mourners prayed for Zimbabwe. There are uncertainties
over the meaning of
the forthcoming Parliamentary election to our
sovereignty. In their moments
of grief, the people pondered about the issues
at stake, wondering whether
Zimbabwe shall emerge with hope and direction in
the New Year. Will Zimbabwe
survive with a face, if we continue to bulldoze
our way past their concerns,
all for the sake of political
avarice?
While our opponents in Zanu PF see the forthcoming
election as to entrench
and consolidate 25 years of dictatorship, the MDC
and the people would like
the election to provide an opportunity to resolve
the Zimbabwean crisis. The
election is an opportunity to start afresh, to
end the crisis of legitimacy,
to bring back Zimbabwe into the family of
nations, and to put in place an
irreversible democratic path for our nation.
As we have seen in the past
five years, Zanu PF can easily retain power but
the nation suffers if that
power is obtained
illegitimately.
I left the Chifamba homestead convinced that the
people are already looking
beyond March 2005. None seemed concerned about
ballot winners and losers.
Zimbabwe is under scrutiny from none other than
Zimbabweans themselves. The
people know their fate.
Without a
free and fair election, March is neither set to produce winners
nor losers.
A one party election with a result nobody recognizes shall be a
non-event.
The people understand the magnitude of our nation's problems.
They have the
options and a turn-around strategy. What they require is a
catalyst for
order, a process that leads to a national solution respected by
all the
major players.
We need a transitional mechanism to ensure a smooth
substitution of one
generation of political leaders with another; to pave
the way for a
readmission of Zimbabwe into the community of nations; and to
embark on a
mammoth reconstruction and rehabilitation of a collapsed
economy.
The nation is keen to move forward, with broad
agreements on both our
domestic and foreign policies. From Mpandawana growth
point, through Buhera,
into Chivhu and in Gweru, I was disturbed by large
numbers of young people
loitering in the streets and around rural business
centres. Looking at empty
buildings representing what was once a thriving
rural economy, our young
people's approach to politics has since
changed.
Noting that they were misled during the past five years,
most youths now
appreciate that another five years without any prospects for
employment
would be a disaster. There is an undisputed call for a legitimate
government - a government the people are prepared to recognize and work
with; a government with a healthy relationship with the outside
world.
A legitimate government, born out of a legitimate election
in March, shall
face immense challenges. In my discussions with the
so-called new farmers,
it became clear that they now understand how they
were misled and used as
pawns in a dangerous political game. Insecurity
reigns supreme as the
farmers struggle to make ends
meet.
Nothing will change unless we work towards constructive
engagement before a
national election in March. March offers us an
opportunity out of the mess
if we are serious about restoring the national
esteem necessary for
meaningful national service. People recognize that
without a free and fair
election, no nation or international partner will be
prepared to work with
Zimbabwe.
Our calls for a new start, a
new beginning and a new Zimbabwe resonate
widely throughout the rural areas.
At the centre of our economic and
reconstruction plans is a need to remove
hopelessness and cast away what has
become a dependency syndrome among the
people. We must knock-down and
restructure government, to institutionalise
participatory decision-making
and to devolve of power in order to ring fence
our nation against costly
political mistakes such as what we witnessed in
the past five years.
Our objective is to see a secure society
with sufficient food and full
employment, a society that enjoys universal
benefits and rights. Our
objective is to place solid safeguards for personal
and family security as a
first step towards total
empowerment.
Together, we shall win
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President.
Yahoo News
In Zimbabwe, the old and poor pay the price in raising AIDS
orphans
KEZI, Zimbabwe (AFP) - Until a week ago, elderly Hannah
Dube and her five
grandchildren living in the dusty village of Kezi in
soutwestern Zimbabwe
had been surviving on small portions of dried white
melon.
Then Zimbabwe's social services stepped in, handing the
75-year-old Dube
emergency aid of the staple corn grain to feed her family,
caught in the
grip of an AIDS pandemic and a crippling
drought.
Her face worn by grief and stress, the aging grandmother's
plight in this
remote and rural corner of Zimbabwe tells the story of the
burden of many
other pensioners in this southern African country where AIDS
has turned a
million children into orphans.
The UN children's
organisation UNICEF estimates that more than one in five
children will be
orphaned in Zimbabwe by 2010, with more than 80 percent of
those orphaned by
AIDS, which kills an 3,000 people per week on average.
Nine of her
grandchildren are orphaned -- she is looking after five children
between the
ages of five and 13.
Three successive years of drought in this
naturally dry region some 600
kilometres (350 miles) southwest of the
capital, characterised by
unproductive soils, and a political and economic
crisis have exacerbated
food shortages.
"We only eat one meal a
day," said Dube, who lives in a hut next to a dusty
road, where her cooking
fire has long since gone out.
"We are used to it now and there is
nothing unusual about it," she told AFP.
While food is available in
the shops, people like Dube and her family, who
have no source of income
whatsoever, cannot even dream of buying any.
Driving up to Dube's
home along a narrow dust road, hundreds of people,
dangling empty sacks,
were seen walking back home, looking tired, hungry and
dejected.
They are coming from the local business centre where
they had gone to
register their names for food aid to be handed out three
days later.
"We were told (by an international aid organisation) to
come and register
our names for food coming next week. But now they say only
those on the old
list will be given food," Dube said.
The
Zimbabwean government this year turned away foreign food aid saying the
country produced enough to feed its people.
But Harare has
recently allowed the UN World Food Programme to undertake a
one-off free
food distribution to get rid of its stock left over from April
when the
government stopped general food aid.
Volunteer workers confirm the
hunger in the area.
"It is depressing to go out there visiting the
sick, handing out a few bars
of soap, diapers, some antiseptic solutions --
but seeing that what is
urgently needed is food," said volunteer Georgina
Tshabalala.
Dube is not only struggling to provide food for her
orphaned grandchildren,
but also shelter.
She cleans
up grass that fell while she was thatching the roof of her new
mud and pole
hut in this remote rural area of Zimbabwe.
With nobody to help her build
or maintain their home, Dube has to risk
climing onto the roof to patch it
up before the rains bring it down.
Inside, the fire has gone
out.
Dube said besides the fact that their one meal has already been
cooked, she
could not afford to keep the fire going because she does not
have the energy
to regularly go to the bush to cut down firewood.
The
elderly woman -- old and weak enough to be a dependent herself -- told
AFP
she had no choice but to look after her some of her grandchildren.
Those
who are not under her wing are probably involved in illegal gold
mining,
rife in the area.
"I don't really know how they are surviving, but no one
helps me with
anything. The chickens and the goats you see outside I sell to
send these
children to school," she said.
Despite the difficult
living conditions and lack of food, one of her
grandchildren, Dan, 7, passed
his year-end school examinations with 'A'
grades.
Shortage of Experts Blamed for Surge in Mental Illnesses
The
Herald (Harare)
December 14, 2004
Posted to the web December 14,
2004
Harare
THE country's new Mental Health Policy advocates the
training of more
psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers to
help in the
early identification of mental ailments.
The current
stressful environment resulting from a host of problems,
including a harsh
financial spell, broken families, depression from HIV and
Aids and many
other problems, has been largely blamed for the increased
number of mentally
ill people.
The shortage of experts to detect such cases at early stages
has resulted in
the rapid deterioration in the cases of affected
people.
Although Zimbabwe trains its own psychiatric nurses, clinical
psychologists,
clinical social workers and psychiatrists, there remains a
critical shortage
of these people.
This is a result of brain drain
that has hit the health sector in the
country, where many people have left
for greener pastures in the region and
abroad.
The Mental Health
Policy launched last week says there is need to train more
professionals and
provide incentives to alleviate the impact of brain drain.
It is also
important, the policy said, to empower the existing general
medical
professionals with relevant mental health skills so that mental
health
services could be integrated into the general medical health system
of the
country.
It is the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare's mission, the
policy says,
to provide for all Zimbabweans a comprehensive, co-ordinated,
quality mental
health service integrated into the general medical health
system.
This would ultimately see an improvement in the mental health of
the nation.
To achieve this, the policy says, there should be at least one
trained
psychiatric nurse per rural health centre or clinic.
This
expert would carry out primary assessments, support the patient and
relatives as well as support other clinic staff members.
The Minister
of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said it was
his belief
that mental health could play a crucial role in containing the
HIV and Aids
scourge.
He said it was for this reason that one of the guiding
principles of the
policy was to incorporate a mental health component into
the National HIV
and Aids programme.
"Although it is encouraging to
see that anti-retroviral drugs are now
available, there is still a need to
have a holistic approach in our fight
against this pandemic," he said, in a
speech read on his behalf by the
Secretary for Health and Child Welfare, Dr
Elizabeth Xaba.
He said the behavioural component of the pandemic needs
to be addressed
using scientific methods based on observations.
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabwe 'in control of our destiny'
Harare
14 December 2004 12:04
The Zimbabwean government will
not tolerate foreign interference in next
year's parliamentary elections,
the country's foreign minister, Kembo
Mohadi, said on Tuesday.
"The
government of Zimbabwe will not allow its people to become gullible
victims
of hybrid, genetically modified propaganda, affectionately fanned,
doctored
and synthesised by reactionary forces to discredit our election
process,"
Mohadi said.
Zimbabwe's polls are planned for March 2005, and would
certainly draw much
attention from observers around the world.
Mohadi
was speaking in the wake of the passing into law of Zimbabwe's
draconian
Non-Governmental Organisations Act, which bans foreign funding of
charities
and organisations that monitor governance and human rights.
"Let me warn
such forces of negation and people of like-minded disposition
that we are in
control of our own destiny and as such our people should be
allowed to make
their choices in the March 2005 parliamentary elections in
peace."
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change has
threatened to
boycott the poll unless the ruling Zanu-PF complied with
Southern African
Development Community electoral guidelines and revokes
harsh press and
public order laws which it claims are used against it
extensively.
Still, Mohadi dismissed MDC claims, saying: "Those political
cry babies who
wish to cheapen our electoral process by making incessant and
frivolous
accusations on us must come to terms with the fact that we are in
government
to rule and make provisions that safeguard our national
sovereignty and
independence." - Sapa
New Zimbabwe
Conjoined Zimbabwe twins to be separated
By
Agencies
Last updated: 12/15/2004 02:59:21
SPECIALISTS from Toronto's
Hospital for Sick Children are assessing
conjoined twins from Zimbabwe for
separation surgery, the hospital announced
Tuesday.
The
four-month-old twins, Tinashe and Tinotenda, are joined at the abdomen.
They
arrived at the hospital on Dec. 2, a release from Sick Kids said.
The
boys, born in July in a rural part of Zimbabwe, were accompanied to
Toronto
by their mother and a nurse.
Sick Kids learned of their plight through
Canadian physicians who delivered
the twins while working in
Zimbabwe.
The hospital said that over the coming few weeks, a team led by
Dr. Jack
Langer, chief of general surgery, will evaluate the twins' medical
condition
and devise a treatment plan.
The boys are the 10th set of
conjoined twins to be treated at Sick Kids. The
hospital's release said it
was the only facility able to offer both the
expertise and the financial
assistance needed.
Assistance is being provided through the Herbie Fund,
which has helped more
than 450 children from more than 80 countries travel
to Sick Kids to receive
care unavailable in their own
countries.
CP
SOKWANELE
Enough
is Enough
Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE
DEMOCRACY
We have a fundamental right to freedom
of expression!
(www.sokwanele.com)
Sokwanele
Reporter
11 December 2004
NUST GRADUATION
What a pleasure
it was to attend an official occasion, presided over by Robert Mugabe, which was
relaxed, carefree, joyous. No haranguing about Tony Blair or even about his
imperialist agents in Zimbabwe. No incipient power struggles, warnings and
threats to comply with autocratic dictates. Rather a true celebration of
achievement, both on the personal and on the national level. A new university
opened its doors only thirteen years ago, and already, in a single ceremony, it
is graduating 645 students, in four different faculties, with more than ten
different degrees, over a hundred of them post-graduates.
They pack the nearly-completed Great Hall, with
their friends and relatives, good-naturedly waiting for an hour for the
procession to file in and commence the proceedings. The delay has perhaps been
caused by the long queues which formed outside in the searing heat, as everyone
was forced to file through police checks. The uninitiated were dismayed to find
that cameras were forbidden – how can I attend my son’s graduation without a
camera? – but the hardened graduation goers already know from previous years
that cameras are dangerous items which can conceal bombs and can not be risked
where Mugabe is in attendance. Official cameramen must be relied on to record
the great event of a lifetime. Nevertheless, all eventually file through, bags
searched and declared safe. The red carpet leading up to the door of the Hall
is soiled by the time the thousands have crossed it to find their seats.
Excited graduates walk up and down, parading their finery of gowns, hoods and
mortarboards seemingly oblivious to the fact that these are colonial trappings.
Regular uniformed police ensure that no one trespasses on territory reserved for
the important, while the more menacing with their hip-hugging pistols or their
AKs slung at the ready seek out vantage-points from which they can eye the
crowd.
Finally the arrival of the processions is
announced. And then we are treated to a veritable visual encyclopaedia of the
regalia of the world’s universities. A colourful procession of academics in
flowing black gowns, with hoods all colours of the rainbow, mortarboards or
floppy velvet hats, depending on the particular degree. It is a thrilling
display, for any true imperialist, of the influence of the European university
tradition, even in the far-flung reaches of the empire where such bequests are
apparently no longer appreciated. Then comes Mugabe himself, decked out in the
gown and hat of one of his many alma maters, enjoying himself along with the
rest. He is accompanied by no less than fifteen police officials, in a
variety of uniforms and non-uniforms, as well as two uniformed nurses carrying
medical kits. Standard procedure, it appears. The army band is magnificent,
playing a dignified processional as the parade of professors, council members,
fraternal university vice-chancellors and other important persons files slowly
toward the stage and take their seats. But the ZANU PF provincial chairmen ?
Ministers, Governors, perhaps, they are government appointees, but party chefs –
what is their entitlement to a chair on the stage ?
But more are to come. Those graduating students
who took seriously the need to limit their guests to two family members,
choosing between spouse and parents, look on in dismay while the procession is
followed by at least a hundred party hangers-on, women with the Mugabe’s picture
on their ample backsides, youth in party T shirts, looking distinctly
uncomfortable in the august academic gathering. Their role is not clear – an
extended bodyguard, or a rabble out for a free lunch ? But how did they come
through the police checks without invitation cards ? Another of the
imponderables Zimbabweans have become accustomed to overlooking.
The ceremony itself finally gets under way. Only
one speech, from the acting Vice-Chancellor. This is the first graduation at
which the founding Vice-Chancellor, Phineas Makhurane, has not been present, as
he retired during the year. His successor has not yet been confirmed in the
post. But he recounts the achievements of the university, the new programmes
that are already functioning. Students will graduate for the first time in
Library Science, in Quantity Surveying, with a Bachelor of Architecture. The
Bulawayo School of Health Sciences, which trains medical personnel, has been
absorbed into the university. The university is expanding, meeting new needs of
the nation in such a wide variety of technical and commercial fields. A
technopark, to link the university and industry is in the planning stage. But
there are failings too – in spite of a gender sensitive affirmative action
admissions policy, only 23% of the graduates are women. There are other
problems he doesn’t tell us about. Some are evident. In spite of 12 years of
building, the Great Hall is not yet finished, neither is the library, which
stands next to it, a large and intriguing mass of concrete which will certainly
not house books for the next two or three years. Very few residences exist for
students, and equipment needed for scientific and technical training is not
available. Lecturers are difficult to attract and even more difficult to
retain. At least half of the teaching is done by part-timers, fitted into their
other work schedules. The salaries can no longer attract the best, or even the
mediocre, Zimbabweans or expatriates.
The students file up one by one to be capped by
Mugabe – the almost mandatory chancellor of every institution of higher learning
in Zimbabwe. Families and friends ululate, applaud and dance their excitement.
A son, a wife, a father, has succeeded in achieving a dream after years of hard
work, of financial and personal sacrifice. The choir congratulates them with
energetic songs to the delight of the assembly. There is every reason to
rejoice. The years of penury are over, a graduate brings status, but more
important, will get a better job, will earn a good salary, will support the
whole family.
But will they? The university and its graduates
are not separate from the problems which plague the whole society. The degree
has been achieved, but will it bring economic security to the holder and her
family? How many of these graduates in commerce, in textile production, in
architecture, in engineering will find employment in the crumbling economy?
Will they really contribute to the nation’s growth, or will they follow the
flood of emigrants looking for prosperity? A young man being awarded a degree
in management admits that less than half of his class have jobs, six months
after they completed their course. What will happen to them? And what will
happen to the cohorts of next year and the year after? Enormous amounts are
spent on university education in Zimbabwe, but is it money put to good use when
the economy cannot employ them? And there are questions about quality. Without
the necessary staff and equipment, what is the value of the degrees? Already
the first graduates in the Faculty of Architecture have two degrees, but neither
is recognised by the Institute of Architects. The students at NUST are the
cream of Zimbabwean youth. But are they being adequately trained in an
ambitious but under-resourced institution?
If any of the assembled crowd harbours such doubts,
they are not voiced. The mood is joyous. As the last graduate descends from
the stage, the choir breaks out into exuberant song, the graduates take off
their clumsy mortarboards and wave them back and forth as they join in the
chorus of congratulations. The colourful academics parade out and disappear for
their lunch. The graduates and their families hug and kiss each other and wish
each other well. From the elation of the occasion they move towards the car
park and the bus stop, but find their way blocked. A single metal detector has
been set up and police barricades placed so that everyone must file through it.
Not surprisingly, a crowd builds up as people push to get through. But this
harsh re-entry into the real world of Zimbabwe does not dampen the happy mood.
For today, at least, they are determined not to be deterred from their right to
celebrate.
Ends
Comedy of Political Errors: Super Patriots And Morons
Mmegi/The
Reporter (Gaborone)
December 14, 2004
Posted to the web December 14,
2004
They had taken the play to Sweden in March. Super Patriots and
Morons was
first performed in April 2003 in Harare. There were 10
performances in the
"Theatre in the Park" in the Harare Gardens. Then, they
had five more at an
arts centre.
Then commenced a pyramid or
multiplication initiative. Fifty actors from 10
theatre groups (in the 10
provinces) gathered to learn the play in a
workshop. Each took the play back
to where they came from and it was
performed on one synchronised
day.
Each then had 15 more performances (making 150). It was only banned
after it
was performed at an international gathering in Harare where it
attracted
more attention from the authorities.
They were ordered to
cancel their next performance at the Festival. It was
the first play to be
officially banned in Zimbabwe.
Since then, all has been quiet about the
play in Zimbabwe. Rooftop
Promotions launches 12 to 16 plays a year at their
venue in Harare.
Soon, they will take the play to Namibia where they will
perform in Windhoek
and Katatura. They expect to return to Europe in
2005.
They have taken it to South Africa, where it received a mixed
reception, and
Zambia where it was received enthusiastically.
"This
play is not really about Zimbabwe," O'brian Nubyiwenyana, one of the
cast
members says during a discussion after their performance.
They perceive
it as a play about misrule and dictatorship, and thus it is
universal. In
Zambia, people have had more experience with misrule since
independence in
1966, while in South Africa, many still see it as
politically incorrect to
be critical of an African leader.
"Some South Africans mocked us. They
see Zimbabwe as a proud nation, and
that we are still a proud nation," says
Producer, Daves Guzha.
After independence in 1994, South Africa has not
really experienced black
leadership as other countries, for example under
Amin, Mobutu, Banda, and so
on. They also do not understand Protest Theatre
in this context.
A script has been written to turn Super Patriots and
Morons into a movie, to
be made by Tawana Gunda, somewhere outside
Zimbabwe.
The once thriving film industry in Zimbabwe has been severely
curtailed
because of the economic crisis in the country, though people still
make
shots for television and documentaries.
The cast of Super
Patriots and Morons is from different groups besides
Rooftop Promotions. The
members have been in Gaborone before.
Jasen Nphepo was here a few weeks
ago for a SATI (Southern African Theatre
Initiative) workshop.
Mackey
Pickies of Amakhosi Theatre Productions in Bulawayo was first in
Gaborone in
1986. Nubyiwenyana is a permanent member of Rooftop Promotions.
"They
were most curious to learn more about Uganda under Obote and Amin from
my
time there in the 1960s and 1970s.
The difference between Amin and Mugabe
was Amin was quick to detain and kill
any perceived opposition,"
Nubyiwenyana says.
New Zimbabwe
Chinotimba faces axe over Tsholotsho meeting
By
Clemence Manyukwe
Last updated: 12/15/2004 00:37:10
IN what could be
tell-tale signs of the political demise of self-proclaimed
commander-in-chief of farm occupations, Joseph Chinotimba, Zanu PF Harare
province has passed a vote of no-confidence in him for allegedly
participating in the unauthorised Tsholotsho high-powered indaba.
The
province also passed a similar vote on former Harare ceremonial mayor
and
ex-Local Government deputy minister Tony Gara on the same charges.
If the
two lose their case, they will also lose their places in the central
committee.
The unsanctioned meeting, allegedly called for by
Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo, has so far claimed the scalps of six
provincial chairpersons
who have since been suspended from the party for six
months.
The meeting was convened allegedly to stage a "palace coup" and
topple
President Robert Mugabe's lieutenants in the presidium. The meeting
was
allegedly meant to usher in a new dispensation and sideline the
nomination
of the now co-vice-president Joyce Mujuru and scuttle the
re-nomination of
Joseph Msika as vice-president and John Nkomo as national
chairman.
Mujuru now occupies the void left by the late Simon Muzenda.
Speculation was
rife that Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa would
take over the vice-
presidency, together with Women's League boss Thenjiwe
Lesabe, with Moyo
replacing Mnangagwa as secretary for administration, while
Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa was to become national
chairman.
However, the alleged "coup plotters" were outmanoeuvred by
President Mugabe
who put a stop to the "madness".
Gara yesterday
confirmed that a vote of no-confidence had indeed been passed
against
himself and Chinotimba last Thursday by the party's Harare
provincial
coordinating committee.
The committee is chaired by Minister of Mines and
Mining Development Amos
Midzi.
"What surprises me is that they went
to pass a vote of no-confidence on the
two of us, although I did nothing
wrong. At least Chinotimba admitted that
he attended the meeting, but I told
them that I was nowhere near that
meeting. I was not even invited,"
complained Gara.
Gara said he was being punished for inviting Moyo -
perceived in Zanu PF
corridors as possessing a loose tongue - to donate
computers to a school in
Mbare East. Gara is eyeing that
constituency.
On why he invited Moyo, Gara said since Moyo was donating
computers "left
right and centre" in rural constituencies, he saw no reason
why he, too,
could not benefit from the "scheme".
The Thursday
meeting was meant to review what transpired at the just ended
ruling party's
congress, but ended up debating the Tsholotsho debacle.
Chinotimba, a member
of the central committee, said of the vote of
no-confidence: "Nothing was
communicated to me over that issue. But I have
received numerous calls from
people asking if I have been expelled."
Chinotimba was, together with war
veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda, booted
out of the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans' Association for
allegedly causing havoc and
confusion in the organisation and undermining
Zanu PF.
Their
inglorious "exit" came soon after President Mugabe publicly asked
Andrew
Ndlovu to restructure the war veterans' association.
Playing down the
incident, Midzi said yesterday: "I am not commenting on
that matter until
further notice. I am going to comment when the time
comes."
Highly
placed sources said the Tsholotsho meeting was now a hot potato and
people
were distancing themselves from it to save their political careers,
which
are now hanging on threads.
Daily Mirror
The Scotsman
Mugabe Government 'Very Rotten', Says Minister
By
Trevor Mason, PA Parliamentary Editor
President Mugabe's regime in
Zimbabwe was today branded "very rotten," by a
Government minister in the
Commons.
Junior Foreign Office Minister Chris Mullin warned that for the
immediate
future the prospects of bringing about democratic change in the
country were
"not good".
He was responding at question time to senior
Tory Sir Patrick Cormack (S
Staffordshire) who asked: "What hope can you
offer the people of Zimbabwe."
Mr Mullin replied: "The people of Zimbabwe
are regrettably at the mercy at
the moment of a very rotten
Government.
"We've played a leading part in the EU and the UN in bringing
international
pressures, such as can be brought, on this
Government.
"But it is true that for the immediate future the prospects
in Zimbabwe are
not good.
"We have hopes that in the longer term
future there will be a return to
democratic rule and the rule of law in
Zimbabwe and we will continue to do
everything in our power to achieve
that."
From The Daily Mirror, 14 December
Politiburo announcement expected
on Friday
Daily Mirror Reporter
The ruling Zanu PF will on
Friday convene an extraordinary central committee
meeting in the capital
where President Robert Mugabe is expected to announce
the new-look
Politburo, among other business. A senior member of the central
committee
and also Zanu PF's chief whip in the 150-member Parliament, Jorum
Gumbo
confirmed the extraordinary meeting. He, however, could not disclose
whether
or not the Politburo would be announced as it was the prerogative of
the
President who has for obvious reasons delayed appointing the team. It
has
been said and not denied that President Mugabe and the rest of the
presidium
were playing their cards close to their chests to avoid splitting
the party
down the middle. Already, fissures within the ruling party had
become
pronounced ahead of the just ended Zanu PF's National People's
Congress as
members drew lines and curled into camps. However, President
Mugabe managed
to diffuse the potentially explosive situation that
threatened collapse of
the party.
Speculation was rife in the highly enthusiastic central
committee that a
number of senior members who attended the unauthorised
Tsholotsho meeting
that threatened to effect "regime change" and topple the
presidium led by
President Mugabe, would be axed from the Politburo.
President Mugabe's
spin-doctor and "confidante" Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo allegedly
convened the unsanctioned meeting. "There will be an
extraordinary meeting
in Harare on Friday. We have not yet received the
agenda of the meeting
although speculation is rife that President Mugabe
will announce the
new-look Politburo," Gumbo told The Daily Mirror
yesterday. Zanu PF insiders
told this newspaper that President Mugabe and
his deputies - Joseph Msika
and Joyce Mujuru - and national chairman John
Nkomo, met at the party's
headquarters at the weekend and deliberated on
possible politburo members.
President Mugabe deferred the appointment of
heads and deputies of
departments that constitute the politburo when the
ruling party held its
fourth all people's congress in Harare a fortnight
ago.
Among the leaders who attended the "unorthodox" meeting was
Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa (secretary for legal affairs), who is
said to have
"apologised profusely to earn his keep". Six provincial
chairpersons who
also attended the meeting have since been suspended from
the party for six
months. War veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda was slapped
with a four-year
suspension. During the Zanu PF congress, President Mugabe,
Msika and Nkomo
said the party would not hesitate to crack the whip on those
bent on
destroying the party. Zanu PF's mouthpiece, The Voice, this week
quoted
Nkomo saying: "The current fissures within the party are, therefore,
reflective of the variegated nature of Zanu PF's membership, and the costly
compromises we made in order to unify the party and the nation. "As we
gained the confidence and numbers of the ecstatic masses, we were
infiltrated by a few termites, which began their long journey of burrowing
through our core values of liberation, discipline, unity, respect and
loyalty," Nkomo wrote.
From The Daily News Online Edition, 14 December
Mugabe's
dilemma
President Robert Mugabe is in a political dilemma. As he and
his three
colleagues within the Zanu PF presidium go through the process of
selecting
members of the Politburo, the supreme decision making body of the
ruling
party, they have to be careful not to rock the boat. A slight mistake
could
see the national boat sinking. They face a formidable quandary. They
either
leave out party members implicated in the abortive Tsholotsho indaba
and
risk having a new political party on the eve of crucial parliamentary
elections or they play it safe and let them be. Within Zanu PF circles,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the focus of the Tsholotsho meeting is seen as too
powerful to be dropped that easily from the Politburo. But the rest,
Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Chinamasa, July Moyo can be sacrificed on the altar
of political expediency. Mugabe will have to convince his colleagues, Joseph
Msika, Joyce Mujuru and John Nkomo that Mnangagwa is an asset and should be
spared. But some people believe if Mugabe fails to punish the errant boys,
including Mnangagwa now, he will have dug his own grave because one day,
these same errant boys will oust him from office.
The possibility
of a new political party, taking in the Ndebeles, Manyikas
and Karangas and
destroying all the work done by a united Zanu PF cannot be
ruled out. This
will allow the opposition MDC to come in during the next
elections with a
big showing. But Mugabe must be very much aware of the
consequences, either
way. So he will have to walk a very tight rope and the
names that he will
announce for the Politburo will be of people he will
depend on a lot for his
political survival. It is not clear which camp
Didymus Mutasa belongs
although simple analysis would point to the Mnangagwa
camp because
Chinamasa, a blue-eyed boy of Mnangagwa is also Mutasa's
home-boy and very
blue-eyed boy. The role of the CIO and the army is also a
very critical
decider on the names into the Politburo. The question is, who
really
controls the CIO and the army? There is speculation that both
critical arms
of government are divided in loyalty. The names of Solomon
Mujuru, Vitalis
Zvinavashe are linked to the army while those of Nicholas
Goche, Sydney
Sekeramayi and Mnangagwa keep surfacing within CIO circles. It
remains to be
seen who Mugabe will include and leave out in the Politburo
expected to be
announced very soon.