http://www.radiovop.com
21/12/2010 17:45:00
Harare,
December 21, 2010 - Ten people including a mother clutching a baby
died here
on Tuesday in one of the worst road carnages which can be blamed
squarely on
the Zimbabwe Republic Police as the commuter omnibus rammed on a
truck while
running away from the police along Simon Mazorodze Road.
The Glen View
commuter omnibus was bound for the city when it was chased by
the police
resulting in the crash.
Among the deceased was a mother who was clutching
her baby in her hands. The
baby survived the horror crash.
Commuter
omnibus passengers blamed the police for the accident as most
police
officers were demanding bribes leading to the cat and mouse game.
On
Monday Radio VOP reported that traffic cops manning road blocks along the
country’s major roads were demanding bribes from motorists and officers were
accepting anything from groceries to cash.
Zimbabwe's civil servants
earn US$150 which is below the poverty datum line
of about US$500 a
month.
This is probably one of the worst accidents in the country in the
run up to
this year's Christmas holidays.
Meanwhile the Gweru
National Blood Services said the blood donor base had
dropped to less than a
hundred clients out of the over 3 000 a month.
Midlands Region Customer
relations Officer, Aggrey Ngazana told Radio VOP:
“We are so much worried by
the rate at which the adult clients continue to
dwindle and we are in the
process of organising social gatherings in a bid
to lure more blood
donors.”
“I am urging our old clients and potential clients to consider
donating
blood in order to curb the seasonal shortages. Blood stocks are
dwindling
and it is scary," he said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/12/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporters
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has promised action after
witnessing thousands
of holiday travellers between South Africa and Zimbabwe
stuck at the
Beitbridge border post for hours – caught-up in the
“depressing”
inefficiency and bureaucracy of immigration
control.
Immigration authorities are battling to cope with an upsurge in
the number
of travellers as Christmas and New Year’s holidays
approach.
During a visit to the border on Monday, Biti said: “A border
post should be
a place for happiness not depression – people should be happy
that they are
going home or visiting a hospitable country.
"This
border post is the preface to the country and whatever image we
portray here
which is unfit for the 21st century is going to affect us as a
country.”
During most parts of the year, the border must cope with
between 1,500 to
2,000 people per day.
However, during December and
early January, the number of travellers trying
to pass through Beitbridge,
surges to around 17,000 per day.
Zimbabwe’s understaffed port
authorities, burdened by archaic technology and
byzantine regulations,
traditionally struggle to cope with the surge in
human and vehicle
traffic.
Biti, who travelled to the border with Transport Minister
Nicholas Goche for
a first-hand account of the chaos, promised a
transformation of the border
post to “world class standards” by next
Christmas.
He said: "At the moment, people are taking between six and
seven hours to
cross from Zimbabwe to South Africa. We are going to do
everything within
our power to improve the situation.
"The state of
affairs here is affecting the speedy movement of both cargo
and private
traffic in what is the busiest port of entry in the country and
region.
"Most of the infrastructure here is in a bad state and we
have courted other
partners to help in the re-organisation and
transformation of the border
post to world class standards.”
Biti said
work on improving the border post would begin shortly and should
be complete
by September next year.
The International Organisation is funding a
project to computerise the
border post, after supporting a similar scheme at
the Harare and Victoria
Falls airports.
The system -- to be also used to
fight crime -- will allow for eye scanning,
passport scanning and image
recognition.
Frustrated travellers, mainly drivers, complain about the
many forms they
have to fill and the various offices they have to visit
before they are
allowed to enter Zimbabwe.
Biti says most of the
paperwork is unnecessary and wants the various
immigration departments
brought under one roof, with the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority taking the
lead.
He added: “We are going to consolidate services here and make the
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority the lead agent and do away with a lot of control
measures
which are frustrating and delaying travellers.
"You will
realise that at the moment we have a lot of agents duplicating
services yet
that can be consolidated and carried out by one lead agent.
"We have also
noted with concern that a lot of operations are being done
manually which is
slowing down the movement of people and cargo.
"We are going to work out
on a serious programme to computerise services
especially with the Revenue
Authority where we are going to link all the
computers through the Asycuda
Clearance System.
"Some of the clearance facilities, especially for
commercial purposes,
should be done over the internet rather than truckers
spending days for
their documents to be processed manually.
"In essence,
we need a multi-faceted approach to address the challenges we
are facing
here.”
Biti and Goche heard from the Assistant Regional Immigration
Officer-in-Charge (Southern Region), Charles Gwede, who complained that they
were understaffed.
For instance, Gwede said, the Revenue Authority
needed a staff compliment of
400, but currently had 227 officers at the
border. The Immigration
Department had 55 officers, Gwede said, when ideally
they needed no less
than 80 during the holiday period.
Between Friday and
Sunday, Zimbabwe had cleared 55,190 visitors into the
country, with 21,738
moving in the opposite direction.
Bulawayo South MP Eddie Cross, a member
of the Parliamentary Committee on
Budget and Finance, said last week that
the country was losing millions in
revenue due to the poor management of the
Beitbridge border post.
“Beitbridge is the biggest border post in Africa
and has a huge national and
economic significance,” said Cross. “Millions of
dollars are lost per month
in unnecessary costs due to corruption in
particular.”
Cross said between January and December 2010, Beitbridge
recorded movement
of people, private vehicles, buses and heavy trucks of
3,633,017 million –
suggesting those numbers showed "huge" revenue
potential.
“Delays in commercial traffic is a hindrance to the growth of
tourism. I
would say the situation in Beitbridge has reached crisis level.
It is a huge
business and if we run it properly, it can make a significant
profit for
Zimbabwe. It has actually cost us a lot of money.”
http://www.radiovop.com
21/12/2010 12:03:00
Karoi,
December 21, 2010 - Some rural teachers were left stranded on Monday
after
banks ran out of cash to give them.
The teachers were forced to sleep
outside banking halls on Monday hoping to
get a chance to access their
salaries early Tuesday.
'I came from Mjinga and arrived here during
midday but failed to access my
salary. I will sleep outside the bank so that
I can get money early to buy
grocery for Christmas,' said a disgruntled
rural teacher.
A bank teller said the shortage has been caused by the
fact that teachers
had been paid their salaries earlier than
usual.
'Intially teachers were scheduled to get salaries on 23 (December)
and the
sudden change of payout date has affected our clients,' said the
teller.
Meanwhile, some temporary teachers in the area received a shock
when they
only received US$30 in their bank accounts as salaries. The salary
was
worked according to a pro-rata basis.
'What does Government think
I will do with this $30?' asked one temporary
teacher.
Zimbabwe's
prices of commodities have been increased in the past few months.
The price
of petrol and diesel has also gone up which may see another round
of price
increases by shop owners.
http://www.mg.co.za/
STAFF REPORTER - Dec 21 2010 17:24
The
Mail & Guardian won't be getting its hands on a hitherto secret report
into Zimbabwe's 2002 elections just yet, despite the fact that two courts
have ordered the Presidency to hand it over.
The Supreme Court of
Appeal (SCA) last week ruled that the report on the
constitutional and legal
environment surrounding the controversial 2002
presidential poll, widely
regarded as having been rigged in favour of Robert
Mugabe, must be made
available to the M&G. This followed a series of
requests by the
newspaper under the Promotion of Access to Information Act
dating back to
2008. In terms of the ruling, the hand-over was to have taken
place by the
end of Friday December 24.
Instead, the Presidency will apply for leave
to appeal the judgement to the
Constitutional Court, the state attorney on
Tuesday informed the M&G's
attorneys, Webber Wentzel.
'Extremely
disappointed'
The report was compiled for former president Thabo Mbeki by
judges Sisi
Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke, and has never been made
public.
The Presidency argued that doing so would reveal information
given to the
judges in confidence by the Zimbabwean government, saying that
the two had
been acting in a diplomatic or quasi-diplomatic role. Both the
North Gauteng
High Court and the SCA found that the Presidency had failed to
provide any
evidence for this contention, and hence had not provided the
necessary level
of justification for keeping the document secret.
* Read the SCA judgement (PDF)
"We are extremely disappointed with
President Jacob Zuma's decision to keep
on fighting this matter in the
courts," said M&G editor-in-chief Nic Dawes.
"He has lost twice, and
costs have twice been awarded to the M&G. That on
its own should be a
signal of the weakness of his case. More importantly,
the appeal will
further delay the release of information which we believe
the South African
public has a right to access.
"Worse, it will do so at a time when
Zimbabweans are once again being pushed
toward an election that many of them
believe cannot be free and fair.
Instead of continuing to burn public money
on a case that we believe he
cannot win, President Zuma should show his
commitment to the open democracy
provisions of our Constitution by handing
the report over now."
http://uk.reuters.com
Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:17pm
GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department announced on
Tuesday it
was imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe's attorney general,
Johannes Tomana,
saying his actions undermined the country's democratic
institutions.
"(His) targeting of selected political opponents threatens
the rule of law
in Zimbabwe, harms the integrity of the government ... and
counters the will
of Zimbabwean people who have expressed their desire to
build a democratic
society," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office
of Foreign Assets
Control.
http://www.mg.co.za
COLUMBUS MAVHUNGA | HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Dec 21
2010 15:14
A leading business group on Tuesday urged President
Robert Mugabe not to
seize Zimbabwe-based firms from Western countries in
opposing the sanctions
imposed on him and his party.
Last week Mugabe
had made such a threat while addressing the annual congress
of his Zanu-PF
party.
Under existing economic empowerment and indigenisation laws,
foreign-owned
businesses have to be 51% owned by black Zimbabweans. Mugabe
has warned that
unless sanctions were removed he would aim to seize complete
control over
the firms.
"He (Mugabe) might have a point on sanctions,
but a retaliatory approach
will not work," said Joseph Kanyekanye, head of
the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries, the country's largest business
group.
Engagement with the West was "critical", as more foreign
investment and
access to capital from abroad were needed to bolster any
recovery in
Zimbabwe, Kanyekanye said.
"The economy must not suffer
as a result of indigenisation," he told
reporters.
'Smart
sanctions'
In 2002, Western countries imposed so-called "smart sanctions" on
Mugabe and
some top party officials, which Zanu-PF blames for Zimbabwe's
deep economic
woes.
Minister of Indigenisation and Empowerment
Saviour Kasukuwere has argued
that seizing Western-owned companies would not
worsen the economy.
"Gone are the days when our resources are being
exploited and nothing is
coming to us," Kasukuwere said. "If they [the West]
continue with their
sanctions, we will also give sanctions."
The
indigenisation laws have sparked fierce differences in the fragile
coalition
government, with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the rival
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) opposing the laws. -- Sapa-DPA
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Gift Phiri
Sunday, 19 December 2010
12:11
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Peace Project has won the French Republic’s
Human
Rights Prize, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” for 2010 for its
continuous
defence and furtherance of human rights in the troubled southern
African
country.
The prize was presented last week by the French
Minister for Justice to ZPP
director Jestina Mukoko at a ceremony described
as " warm and friendly."
"The 15.000 € award granted to ZPP will allow
the NGO to improve its human
rights monitoring capacity with an emphasis on
the violence early warning
systems, using the latest information
communication technologies (ICTs),"
the minister said.
"Through this
Prize, the French Republic salutes the courage of hundreds of
thousands of
human rights defenders in the world who endanger their lives
for the
promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms."
The Human Rights Prize is given by the French Government
and awarded
annually by the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de
l’Homme
(National Consultative Commission of Human
Rights).
Recipients are handed the prize in Paris, usually on December
10th of each
year, on the occasion of the Human Rights Day proclaimed by the
United
Nations.
The award consists of a medal and a total 75.000 €
prize shared between the
various winners that has to be used to implement
projects aimed at promoting
human rights.
This year’s prize went to
the ZPP, two Burmese and one Mauritanian
organisations, and one Chinese
blogger.
Several organizations from Afghanistan, Argentina, Benin, Egypt,
Moldavia,
and Thailand received special mentions.
http://www.radiovop.com
21/12/2010
12:04:00
Harare, December 21, 2010 - The Development Foundation for
Zimbabwe (DFZ)
Executive Director, Nokwazi Moyo said Diasporans had resolved
to engage
Zimbabweans in the country when launching their various
initiatives.
The resolution was passed at the just ended Diaspora
conference held in the
Victoria Falls. Delegates drafted proposals to
strengthen Diaspora networks
and boost their ability to contribute to
economic recovery and development
particularly in social services,
investment, governance, human rights and
rural development.
Moyo said
DFZ aimed to tap into the rich Diaspora community to develop ways
through
which those living outside the country could help rebuild their
country.
“The DFZ believes that an economic recovery strategy that
emphasises the
return of skills must have a clear agenda,” he
said.
He added that the call for Zimbabweans to return home must be
accompanied by
appropriate policies aimed at absorbing these skills through
a range of
government programmes, alongside creative solutions developed by
those in
the Diaspora.
Moyo said it was vital to underscore the point
that in an age of
technological advancement, returning home can take various
forms beyond the
physical movement of persons. He said returning home can be
through the
Diaspora deploying their financial investments in the home
market.
He said the Diaspora experience had given skills to many and had
also
de-skilled as many. Teachers, nurses and other professionals had been
forced
into menial jobs in order to survive, yet other citizens had
furthered their
education whilst outside the country.
He said the DFZ
hoped that these groups may wish to make voluntary or
temporary, virtual or
permanent returns to help shore up the skills base in
the Zimbabwean public
service or other sectors of the economy.
Moyo said this patriotic desire
was not tied to partisan political interests
but to the love for Zimbabwe
and the belief in the country's potential to be
a truly great African nation
and global icon.
The conference brought together business leaders, civic
society, politicians
and Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora, run under the
theme “Engaging the
Diaspora toward Zimbabwe’s Economic Reconstruction
“.
Among other issues, the conference facilitated the formation of an
institutional framework that will support effective contributions to and
participation in economic recovery by Zimbabweans living abroad, and
provided a platform for opinion leaders and implementers to discuss the role
of the Diaspora. The conference is the first in a series of high profile
meetings which will continue to consider ways in which the Diaspora and key
plays within Zimbabwe can work together to promote development. An estimated
4,5 million Zimbabweans live outside the country and the majority of them
are believed to be in South Africa.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
21 December 2010
Senior priests in the Anglican church faction
led by excommunicated
Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga, have come out and declared
their support for
ZANU PF and its leader Robert Mugabe.
In an article
carried by Newsday on Tuesday, the senior priests said the
church prayed
only for Robert Mugabe and no other leader. Reverend Admire
Chisango,
accused the media of supporting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC-T
party to get rid of Kunonga’s faction and to effect regime change in
Zimbabwe.
Chisango told the journalist who interviewed him that he
had been fed with
lies by the other faction that ‘brought you here’ for the
interview.
‘We can only pray for President Mugabe not all the others. We
realise him as
the leader given to us by God and we will continue to pray
for him whether
you want it or not. You cannot separate the church and the
ruling party and
that is why we will continue to support and pray for
President Mugabe,’
Chisango is quoted as saying.
Some members of the
Anglican church hit back at Chisango, saying he
represented no one because
his master Kunonga was excommunicated and does
not have anything to do with
the church.
Anglican Reverend Lameck Mutete told us he wanted to remind
people that
Kunonga is an excommunicated Archbishop who was no longer part
and parcel of
the Anglican church.
‘As a result of that he can say
anything and it doesn’t hold any water. So
any comment that comes from his
followers has nothing to do with the
Anglican church,’ Rev Mutete
said.
During his tenure as Archbishop, Kunonga turned his Anglican
diocese into a
religious branch of Mugabe’s then ruling ZANU PF
party.
The church also accused him of abusing his position to terrorize
christians
while systematically destroying the institution. He’s known to
have invaded
farms and evicted families, and ordained all his cronies as
priests.
When he was excommunicated, Kunonga unilaterally declared
independence from
the Anglican Province of Central Africa, technically
meaning that he fired
himself, but he is refusing to relinquish church
assets.
‘Kunonga is more of a political figure than a man of the cloth.
His
political rhetoric destroyed the fabric of the church and in the process
lost a whole generation of followers.
‘He is a discredited
individual, rejected by the church and has no place
whatsoever within the
Anglican church. When he does say anything, remember
he’s speaking for
himself, because you must realise he’s not a Bishop and
certainly not an
Archbishop. He’s simply Nolbert Kunonga, full stop,’ Rev
Mutete
added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
21 December,
2010
The Zimbabwe Mail news site has reported that rowdy mobs belonging
to rival
factions of the MDC-M fought running battles all day in Mutare on
Sunday,
after Manicaland province rejected Welshman Ncube’s nomination as
MDC-M
leader. The report said police responded to violent clashes between
Ncube’s
supporters, and supporters of current President Arthur Mutambara,
who is
from Manicaland.
Mutambara announced over the weekend that he
would not seek re-election as
MDC-M president at the party’s congress due in
January, 2011, in order to
avoid divisions within the party. It is known
that he had lost the
endorsement of 11out of the party’s 12 provinces to
Ncube.
MDC-M spokesperson Edwin Mushoriwa on Tuesday denied the
allegations that
rival factions had fought in Mutare. He described the
Zimbabwe Mail report
as ‘malicious’ and ‘meant to tarnish the image of the
party’.
Mushoriwa said it is also not true that Manicaland province had
rejected
Ncube. “There is only Professor Ncube for president in all the
provinces,
including Manicaland, and there were no objections,” said
Mushoriwa.
The MDC-M spokesperson also denied the report that Mutambara
was being
defiant and insisting that he will run for President in elections
in 2011.
He said the party was united and the reports are coming from
‘people who
want to create divisions within the MDC’.
But there has
been a huge outcry from MDC-M members over the fact that
Senator David
Coltart was not nominated for any top positions within the
party. Some of
them ‘attacked’ secretary-general Ncube on his Facebook page,
describing
Coltart as ‘hardworking’ and crediting him with improving the
education
sector, in his position as education minister.
Ncube reportedly responded
by announcing that Coltart would be appointed
into a ‘National Executive
Council’.
On Monday SW Radio Africa had reported that the MDC-M
provincial chairperson
for Manicaland, Sondon Mugaradziko, had been arrested
after heavily armed
police barged into a meeting he was about to chair in
Mutare on Sunday.
MDC-M spokesperson Edwin Mushoriwa said that Mugaradziko
was still in police
custody Tuesday and was facing charges of ‘organising a
political meeting
without clearance’.
But Mushoriwa explained that
according to the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA), a political party
does not need to inform the police when they hold
a private meeting. He said
their chairperson was taken by the police before
the meeting had even
started.
“It works in ZANU PF’s favour when we cannot meet to organize,”
said the
frustrated spokesperson.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Reagan Mashavave
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
16:09
HARARE - Elton Mangoma, the deputy treasurer general of the
main formation
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has dismissed
reports that he
approached the United States government to contribute to a
"trust fund" to
buy out army commanders into retirement.
The reports,
carried in Wikileaks, a whistle blower media organisation, said
Energy and
Power Development minister Mangoma, asked the US government
through their
Harare embassy to contribute to a "retirment fund" that would
cushion army
chiefs who are loyal to President Robert Mugabe, "urging" them
to retire and
pave way for free and fair elections.
Contacted for comment Mangoma
denied ever having a meeting with "anyone" on
the need to create a trust
fund to retire service chiefs.
“Certainly not true, I did not talk to the
Americans on those matters. What
will be my basis of saying that? I have not
met anyone and discussed that,”
Mangoma said.
He reportedly said he
planned to approach the UK and Germany with the same
request.
According to the reports, the money was to be used to pay
exit packages for
the service chiefs.
“Mangoma said that a primary
obstacle to political progress and reform was
the service chiefs. Unlike
many ZANU-PF insiders who had stolen and invested
wisely, these individuals
had not become wealthy.”
“They (service chiefs) feared economic
pressures, as well as prosecution for
their misdeeds, should political
change result in their being forced from
office,” Wikileaks said quoting a
classified report by a US diplomat,
Katherine Dhanani.
According to
the report by Dhanani, Mangoma also said that the MDC will also
try to put
pressure on the retirement of Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon
Gono.
Wikileaks said Mangoma made the suggestions when the MDC disengaged
from the
unity government in October last year after the party complained
about the
slow implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which
formed the
coalition government.
The report says Mangoma was hopeful
an agreement will be reached with Zanu
PF to end his party’s disengagement
from government adding that if it fails
“the MDC will continue pursuing its
long-term strategy of preparing for
elections.”
Army chiefs who are
former liberation war fighters have openly expressed
their support for
Mugabe in all the elections in the last decade.
The service chiefs have
said they will not salute a democratically elected
President who does not
have liberation war credentials and that the country
will go to war if
people vote out Mugabe. Civic society groups have
castigated the statements
saying a free and fair election will not be
possible if army chiefs make
such pronouncements.
Zimbabwe service chiefs include Defence Forces
commander, General
Constantine Chiwenga, army commander, Lieutenant General
Valerio Sibanda,
Air Marshal Perence Shiri and Zimbabwe Prisons General,
Paradzai Zimondi.
Chiwenga, Shiri and Sibanda attended the just ended
Zanu PF annual
conference which was held last week in
Mutare.
Wikileaks continues to release classified documents by the US
embassies
across the world. The media organisation has said it has over 250
000
classified US documents from US embassies across the world. Zimbabwe has
some of the highest cables totaling 3000 dating back to 1966.
On
Monday when the three principals in the GPA, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara met to give their end of year
statements,
George Charamba the permanent secretary reportedly asked
reporters not to
ask the three leaders about Wikileaks as they were ‘not
interested’ in
taking questions on the controversial reports.
http://www.businessday.co.za
Mineral claims under
threats in bold move from government
NELSON GORE BANYA and BRIAN
LATHAM
Published: 2010/12/21 07:42:05 AM
ZIMBABWE would cancel all
mineral claims held by African Consolidated
Resources, Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu said yesterday .
WikiLeaks this month released a classified
diplomatic cable from US envoy
James McGee that contains a list of
Zimbabwean officials allegedly involved
in the country’s illegal diamond
trade. African Consolidated Resources CEO
Andrew Cranswick is named as one
of several sources in the report.
The licences "will be revoked because
there were irregularities when they
were issued", Mr Mpofu said in Harare.
"All of them were acquired
fraudulently."
He said the cancellation
was not related to President Robert Mugabe’s
warning last week that UK and
US companies may face sanctions if they failed
to lift targetted sanctions
against the president and his inner circle.
African Consolidated
Resources has been fighting a government takeover of
its rights to the
lucrative Marange diamond field — one of the biggest in
the world — for
years. The company has been active in Zimbabwe since 2004
and has interests
in gold, nickel, platinum and other commodities.
Mr Cranswick yesterday
said the company had done nothing wrong.
"None of our claims, including
those in Marange, were improperly acquired,"
he said in a phone interview
from the UK . "We will do everything we can to
protect our
rights."
Mr Mugabe said last week it was "time to read the riot act to
the British"
and other western states for refusing to lift targeted
sanctions, which the
states say should stay until corruption is curbed and
the power- sharing
agreement is properly implemented. Mr Mugabe effectively
ended the deal on
Saturday, and called for elections early next
year.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights urged the ruling parties
yesterday to
allow free and fair elections or risk a new bout of Zanu (PF)
-instigated
violence.
Many opposition groups and human rights
organisations fear Mr Mugabe’s Zanu
(PF) might resort to violence to stay in
power . Bloomberg, Sapa-DPA
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
21 December
2010
A few days after vowing his ZANU PF party would ‘crush’ the MDC at
the next
election Robert Mugabe on Monday exchanged kind words with Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, at an end of year press conference at State
House. The
function was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
Over the weekend Mugabe told his annual ZANU PF party
conference that he was
not happy with the coalition government and wanted a
fresh election. He also
said that the MDC would finally be ‘crushed.’ But on
Monday the 86 year old
was singing a different tune, claiming the coalition
is making progress and
had given people ‘a sense of togetherness’ despite
the partners being ‘at
each other’s throats.’
Tsvangirai, Mugabe and
Mutambara are reported to have held talks for about
an hour at State House
emerging later, to give the press briefing. Speaking
with Tsvangirai by his
side Mugabe said; “Just because we go at each other's
throats at party
level, let people not think we are a dysfunctional
government."
Tsvangirai returned the pleasantries by saying; "We have
made gains in
economic reform and public services," before blaming a
shortage of money and
resources for preventing them from achieving more.
"This inclusive
government will not collapse. We will make sure that it does
not collapse,"
he said. Strangely, Tsvangirai also said he had "camaraderie"
with Mugabe, a
contradiction of his outburst in October when he accused
Mugabe of betraying
him.
The most jaw-dropping statement however was
reserved for Mugabe who said
there should be no violence in the next
election. "What we would want to get
to our people is our voice and our
command that there should be no violence,
but that does not mean that
everybody will listen to us," he said.
But the fact is his party has
deployed soldiers around the country to help
rebuild collapsed ZANU PF
structures and intimidate people into voting for
them. War vets, led by
Jabulani Sibanda, have been terrorizing people,
especially in the Manicaland
and Masvingo provinces. The defence Minister
and police chief have already
said even if ZANU PF loses they will not allow
‘puppets’ to rule
them.
If Mugabe was truly sincere about bringing an end to the violence,
he could
do so overnight.
http://www.radiovop.com
21/12/2010 17:47:00
Harare, December 21, 2010 -
A Harare based residents pressure group has
written to the Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP) Commissioner General asking
him to investigate allegations of
corruption levelled against the Minister
of Local Government, Urban and
Rural Development, Ignatius Chombo.
The Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA) wants Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri to
investigate the numerous cases of corruption.
Chombo’s corrupt affairs
came to light after revelations of hundreds of
properties that he owns
throughout the country came to light through a messy
divorce affair with his
estranged wife Marian.
The pressure group accuses Chombo of unlawfully
acquiring land belonging to
the council in a letter addressed to Chihuri and
the Co- Ministers of Home
Affairs, Theresa Makone and Kembo Mohadi. The
letter was dated 21 December
2010.
“The Combined Harare Residents
Association is disturbed by the fact that it
would appear that no action has
been taken by the police to investigate the
issue of Chombo’s unlawful
acquisition of land,” said CHRA Chairperson,
Simbarashe Moyo in the
letter.
“This creates the impression that the politically powerful can
commit
serious crimes involving the public property with impunity. The
precedent
that the inaction against Chombo sets is that, the powerful
members of our
society can acquire public property illegally secure in the
knowledge that
the long arm of the law will not reach them. As Combined
Harare Residents
Association, we are aware of the fact that the police does
not desire to set
this precedent.”
The Harare City Council (HCC)
resolved during last week’s full council
meeting that the police should act
on a report that was lodged with the
Harare Central Police Station with
complaints about Chombo’s unlawful
acquisition of property.
“On
behalf of Harare residents, CHRA implores you to take action on the
report
that the Harare City Council lodged against Dr I Chombo,” said Moyo.
The
Harare City Council councillors early this year compiled a report in
which
it detailed the unlawfully acquisition numerous properties in Harare
by
businessman Phillip Chiyangwa in which Chombo was directly involved. The
report led to the arrest of the councillors and summoning of journalists who
picked up the story.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
21
December 2010
An international tribunal has been appointed to consider
the case of a
German farming family in Zimbabwe, whose three farms were
illegally invaded
by ZANU PF members in June.
The von Pezold family,
who are the largest German investors in Zimbabwe,
were forced to approach
the Paris-based International Centre for Settlement
(ICSID) of Investment
Disputes in July, after the farms were invaded. At the
time, Germany’s
government threatened to cut off all aid to Zimbabwe unless
the reportedly
armed and alcohol fuelled ZANU PF mob that invaded the
properties was
ordered to leave. The land invaders are said to have looted
maize and other
crops valued at more than a million dollars before they left
the farms after
a three week long stand off with the von Pezolds.
The ICSID has now
appointed a three-member arbitration tribunal to consider
the case filed by
the von Pezold family, who are suing the Zimbabwe
government for loss of
income and for failing to act against the land
invaders. The properties are
meant to be covered by a bilateral investment
promotion and protection
agreement between Zimbabwe and Germany, which was
formed in 1995, but which
only came into force in 2000. The agreement is
meant to protect all
investments by Germans in Zimbabwe, including
agricultural investments, and
precludes any farms from ‘expropriation’ under
the land grab
campaign.
This will be the second time the Zimbabwe government had been
dragged before
the ICSID, after a group of Dutch nationals in April last
year won its case
after their farms were invaded. The Dutch farmers argued
that their
properties were protected by a BIPPA, under which Zimbabwe
promised to pay
full compensation to Dutch nationals in disputes arising out
of any
investments in the country. The Dutch group has still not been
compensated
despite winning their case in the Paris court last year. They
have now
approached an American court seeking an enforcement order, and the
court is
reportedly ready to attach Zimbabwean owned properties in the
compensation
case.
There have been several attempts to try and force
the Zimbabwe government to
compensate farmers who have lost land because of
Robert Mugabe’s land grab
scheme, but all court orders, whether domestic or
international, are being
blatantly ignored.
Critically, the regional
Tribunal which ruled in 2008 that Mugabe’s land
grab was unlawful has been
suspended this year, in what critics say is an
attempt to appease Mugabe.
The court had ordered the government to
compensate farmers for properties
that had been illegally seized and protect
the remaining commercial farming
community from new threats. But this order
has been completely ignored and
farm invasions have continued unabated,
despite the formation of the unity
government.
John Worsley-Worswick from Justice for Agriculture (JAG)
explained on
Tuesday that it is important for these rulings to be made,
despite the
breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. He said that while
there is a
“total abandonment of the judiciary,” it is just a temporary
issue.
“At some stage in the future the judiciary will have to be
revamped and
there will be a return to property rights,” Worsley-Worswick
said.
The JAG official added that this latest case before the ICSID needs
to be
dealt with more comprehensively than the previous Dutch case, saying:
“Compensation claims are now beyond just the value of the land that was
seized.” He explained that the question of what constitutes compensation has
changed in light of a recent ruling this year by a British asylum court. The
court dismissed an asylum application by a confessed land invader, and
stated that the land grab scheme was a crime against humanity.
“This
level of illegality should underwrite compensation claims of farmers
and
their workers,” Worsley-Worswick said, adding: “Other issues now enter
into
this, and these are issues of damages and disturbances
losses.”
Worsley-Worswick said that issues of lost income for both
farmers and their
works, plus relocation costs, trauma costs and the length
of time people
have been waiting for compensation, must be taken into
account in future
cases. He added: “It is critical that these rulings are
made in
international courts to set the necessary precedent.”
http://www.voanews.com
Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings falls under the Ministry of State
Enterprises, but its
operational arm, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation,
answers to the
ZANU-PF controlled Information Ministry
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington 20
December 2010
State Enterprises Minister Gorden Moyo of the Movement
for Democratic Change
formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on
Sunday criticized state-run
media for its continued partisan coverage
favoring President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
Moyo, speaking at the
Development Foundation for Zimbabwe conference in
Victoria Falls on Sunday,
accused state media of churning out political hate
speech.
Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings falls under Moyo’s ministry, but its
operational arm,
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, is controlled by the
Ministry of
Information, headed by Information Minister Webster Shamu and
Mugabe
spokesman George Charamba.
Sources said ZBH is not financially sound as
revenue from advertising has
fallen by more than 60 percentin recent months,
some say because ZANU-PF has
not paid for the commercial air time it
commands to run pro-Mugabe,
pro-party jingles or songs.
Moyo told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that his ministry cannot do
anything to
address issues of fairness because it only deals with management
policy
issues.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
21 December, 2010 08:00:00
BY NATASHA RUDRA - The Canberra Times
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge
font
Zimbabwean ambassador Jacqueline Zwambila is about to celebrate
her first
Christmas in Australia with her family and grandchildren after a
turbulent
few months.
Ms Zwambila became ambassador to Australia
early this year but in recent
months has been caught up in a bizarre
incident involving allegations from
three embassy staff that she stripped
off her clothes during a heated
argument.
Speaking publicly for the
first time since the incident yesterday, Ms
Zwambila said the allegations
were false.
''I totally deny those allegations,'' she said.
Ms
Zwambila returned abruptly to Harare to meet foreign affairs secretary
Joey
Bimha late last month but said she had not been recalled as
ambassador.
''I was never recalled. I went to Harare because this thing
with the papers
was happening and as ambassador and head of mission I had to
explain what's
going on,'' she said.
''I went back to report on an
administrative matter, in which a letter was
submitted ... and any head of
embassy would go back and explain what was
going on, which I
did.''
Ms Zwambila spent 10 years as a political activist for the
Movement for
Democratic Change, the opposition party led by Morgan
Tsvangirai.
She is one of five Zimbabwean ambassadors appointed by the
Movement for
Democratic Change under a power-sharing deal with President
Robert Mugabe.
Ms Zwambila declined to comment on suggestions that she
was the victim of a
smear campaign by supporters of Mr Mugabe and said she
was unaware of
allegations that illegally mined ''blood diamonds'' were
being smuggled into
Australia through the Zimbabwean diplomatic
bag.
The three embassy staffers who sparked the incident are on recall to
Harare,
including charge d'affaires Felix Nyamupinga, whose wife Biata is an
MP from
Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
''All I do know is that in any new
team which is formed, there is a process
of getting to understand each
other, a process of forming as a team,'' she
said.
''There are
different management styles, I definitely have a different
management style.
Getting people together as one team I think that takes
time and some people
are able to and others are not.''
Ms Zwambila said the embassy
had been working to re-establish a close
relationship with the Australian
and New Zealand governments.
''That [work] is continuing. We have
development aid from Australia, when I
first came it was quite negligible,
but now Zimbabwe is getting, I believe,
25 per cent of the total Africa aid
from the Australian Government,'' she
said.
For more on this story,
including Ms Zwambila's comments on the impact the
new inclusive government
is having on society there, see the print edition
of today's Canberra Times.
http://www.numismaster.com
By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News
December
20, 2010
Zimbabwe’s politicians and central bankers have been talking
a good story,
but when it comes to delivering local bankers and merchants
wonder if
circulating domestic coinage will become a reality or if it just
simply
sounds good politically.
There is no question Zimbabwe is
going to revamp its currency system,
changing both the appearance and the
denominations on its bank notes at the
same time. Central bank authorities
have also indicated coins will return to
circulation despite their use
having been discouraged by inflation, but so
far there is no evidence plans
for a new domestic coinage is in motion.
Instead, the blame game appears
to be popular. The Bankers’ Association of
Zimbabwe has been complaining of
shortages and related problems due to a
lack of circulating coinage, while
retailers are blaming BAZ for setting an
unreasonable exchange rate that has
impacted the availability of coins in
commerce.
Zimbabwe in theory
has stainless steel composition 10-, 20-, and 50-cent and
$1 and $2 coins in
addition to a steel center, brass ring $5 ringed bimetal
issue, all of which
are supposed to circulate. Due to inflation and a lack
of production this
simply hasn’t happened.
Instead local banks carry South African rand,
Botswana pula, and US coinage,
but even this has failed to circulate due to
a disparity between the
official and unofficial or parallel market exchange
rates.
BAZ Chairman John Mushayavanhu summarized the problem in the Oct.
25 issue
of the Zimbabwe newspaper News Day, in which he said, “Banks have
loads of
coins ranging from 1 cent to 5 rands—as much as nine million South
African
rand, but the problem is that retailers want an exchange rate of one
to 10.”
According to News Day, “He [Mushayavanhu] blamed retailers for
not being
reasonable and said his organization was considering repatriating
the coins
back to South Africa.” This would be the equivalent of either
Ecuador or
Panama sending U.S. dollar coins back to the United States while
refusing to
make a domestic replacement available.
Mushayavanhu
continued, “If the retailers insist on their own rate, they
want the banks
to make a loss. We do have coins lying idle in our banks and
it is all about
retailers who are not willing to have them. Now we are
considering
repatriating them because it is dead money.”
The newspaper reported that
government and the business community have
arranged to meet and deliberate
on the issue at a pre-budget consultative
meeting, however it appears the
government may not be able to sit back idly
and allow BAZ and merchants to
slug it out.
Rosemary Siyachitema is a rather vocal spokesman for the
Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe. She places the blame on the government for not
issuing any
domestic coinage.
Siyachitema recently said, “If you buy
goods for $1 and you pay $2, you are
forced to take sweets or other
unbudgeted [merchandise] for groceries and
that means retailers will be
benefiting at the expense of consumers which is
unfair.”
She
continued, “The relevant officials should be engaged to end all this as
a
matter of urgency.” While this discussion and any associated blame becomes
more vocal Retailers’ Association of Zimbabwe Chairman Denford Mberi added
his comments, saying the problem isn’t with his association, but is a
national problem that requires a national solution. He added that the
bankers’ association needs to be more sensitive to the needs of retailers on
this matter.
Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti was in
Washington during early
October seeking U.S. assistance in obtaining
additional US coins and bank
notes for use in his country. The U.S. State
Department has remained hostile
due to alleged human rights violations by
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
and his ZANU-PF political party.
The
official U.S. dollar and South African rand rate to the Zimbabwe dollar
is
one to seven.
http://www.numismaster.com
By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin
news
December 20, 2010
Yongle Tongbao coins of 15th century China
are back in the news as Chinese
and Kenyan archaeologists continue to study
the coins as artifacts as they
connect the dots regarding past trade between
China and the East African
region.
According to an article posted
Oct. 20 on www.AfrikNews.com, “The story
of a
small rusted coin with a square hole in the middle will certainly
rewrite
the dynamics of China-Africa relations and give impetus to
China-Africa
trade.”
Professor Qin Dashu of the Department of
Archaeology at Beijing University
is leading the Chinese team that is
working closely with Kenyan
archaeologists. According to Qin, “These coins
were carried only by envoys
of the emperor, Chengzu.” (Chengzu was from the
Ming Dynasty.)
Qin suggested the coin his team has been studying may have
been a gift from
the emperor. It was issued between 1403 and 1424, and was
discovered
recently in the northern town of Malindi, Kenya.
The time
frame of the minting of the coin and the location at which it was
discovered
are both important. According to Chinese records, the Chinese
Muslim eunuch
Zheng He was the admiral of Emperor Zhu Di’s (Yong Le) fleet
during this
time. It is believed the admiral commandeered a fleet of more
than 200 ships
across the Indian Ocean from China to Eastern Africa in two
expeditions, one
between 1417 and 1419 and a second between 1431 and 1433.
During the trips
the fleet is said to have traveled the coastline, trading
with people in
what are today Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.
Several years ago Kenyan
fishermen from Lamu dredged up a 15th century
Chinese vase in their nets, a
find that appears to correspond to reports of
shipwrecks within Zheng’s
fleet during a storm. The yet to be substantiated
local story is that
survivors from the wreck came to live with the local
natives, marrying some
of the women.
According to the AfrikNews.com report, “Recent DNA tests
have confirmed the
claims of certain [Lamu] fishermen to have Chinese
ancestors.”
Perhaps coins will never replace DNA as archaeological
evidence, however
coins are to archaeology what index fossils are to
paleontology. Coins may
“talk” since they have inscriptions, can be dated,
may reflect technological
abilities of the area from which they were issued,
identify local rulers,
mark trade routes, and much more. In this instance
the coins being found
recently in Kenya indicate there was trade between
China and that African
region before the better known trade between Portugal
and East Africa.
Malindi may be the epicenter of the likely trade between
the region and
China. According to Chinese records, an emissary from Malindi
visited the
Chinese court in 1414. Chinese records also indicate Emperor
Zheng visited
the Sultan of Malindi, who at the time was the most powerful
ruler in East
Africa.
Coins and other artifacts also point to likely
15th century trade between
China and both Eastern and Southern Africa.
Chinese coins and ceramics have
been found at archaeological sites in what
had been Great Zimbabwe.
All of this trade appears to have ended in 1433,
after which time China
abandoned its maritime ambitions. Trade between China
and this region of
Africa would not be continued until the late 19th
century.
http://www.reuters.com
By Mark
John
DAKAR | Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:25pm EST
DAKAR (Reuters) - Rarely
have world powers and neighbors piled so much
concerted pressure on an
African leader to quit as Laurent Gbagbo faces
after an Ivory Coast poll he
is almost universally judged to have lost.
But with Gbagbo determined to
stay in power, the stand-off is becoming a
test of how far the world is
prepared to go to resolve the type of election
dispute that has plagued
African politics for decades.
"The level of consensus is unprecedented,"
Rolake Akinola of political risk
consultancy VoxFrontier said of the
endorsement by the United Nations,
African leaders, Washington and Europe of
Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara
as winner.
"It will make others
elsewhere think hard about what they are going to do,"
she said.
With
17 national elections scheduled in Africa next year, it will be the
busiest
year of voting for the continent since the independence era.
A November
28 poll intended to draw the line on Ivory Coast's 2002-2003
civil war now
risks plunging the world's top cocoa grower into new conflict
after a
pro-Gbagbo constitutional body overturned Ouattara's win on grounds
of
fraud.
His subsequent swearing-in triggered a diplomatic backlash
intended to show,
in the words of a senior U.S. State Department official,
that "the era of
stealing elections is over."
Suspensions of Ivory
Coast by the ECOWAS West African bloc and the African
Union suggest Gbagbo
-- who already had few natural allies in his
neighborhood -- has been frozen
out by peers more completely than even
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
NOT
HOME FOR OBAMA
Defying his demand that the 10,000-strong U.N.
peacekeeping force leave, the
U.N. Security Council this week extended its
mandate for another six months
and France is also keeping its 950-strong
force in place.
The IMF has said it can only work with a UN-recognized
government and donors
such as the African Development Bank and World Bank
have put programs under
review, potentially depriving Gbagbo of debt relief
and lending.
European Union countries have agreed travel bans on Gbagbo,
his powerful
wife Simone and 17 officials. The United States is looking at a
move that
could even mean the children of Ivorian officials are ejected from
U.S.
schools.
But so far Gbagbo appears unmoved, at least officially.
A personal telephone
call and letter from U.S. President Barack Obama have
gone unanswered, while
Gbagbo's interior minister said simply of the EU
sanctions: "They make us
smile."
"Ouattara may have the moral high
ground, but Gbagbo has all the levers of
power," Stratfor analyst Mark
Schroeder said.
He still controls the army, state broadcaster, the bulk
of cocoa output and
the country's two main ports.
Views differ on how
the coming weeks and months could play out -- assuming
all-out civil war
does not happen first.
MESSY OUTCOME
Starving Gbagbo's government
of external funds could stir discontent in the
army and civil service if
wages do not get paid. Ivorian diplomats and other
officials will consider
the risk to their reputation of being allied to a
pariah
regime.
Which way the Senegal-based BCEAO regional bank -- the central
bank of the
West African franc monetary zone -- swings could be vital.
Ouattara has
asked it to recognize only his parallel administration as a
signatory to
transactions. But so far, the Bank appears to be sitting on the
fence.
"If the pressure is kept up, sooner or later the (Gbagbo)
administration
will start to get squeezed," said Akinola, suggesting things
could get
tougher for Gbagbo as time goes on.
Others are less
convinced but acknowledge that a next possible step -- a
sanctions regime on
the cocoa industry that supplies around 40 percent of
the world market -- is
risky.
"Sanction of the cocoa sector could backfire, both on the global
markets as
well as a prospective Ouattara government," said African security
adviser J.
Peter Pham, noting the risk that it could turn cocoa farmers
strongly
against Ouattara.
But if there is little international
appetite for a cocoa embargo that would
deny a poor country of a major
export earner -- and possibly entail major
humanitarian consequences --
there is even less support for armed
intervention.
An African
Union-led military intervention in the Indian Ocean islands of
the Comoros
in 2008 to oust the presidential claimant after an illegal
election is not
seen setting a viable precedent for similar action in
20-million-head Ivory
Coast.
If the crisis drags on, the likelihood could grow of talks on
possible
power-sharing deal, despite the reluctance of the AU and ECOWAS to
accept a
route followed by Kenya and Zimbabwe after similar
disputes.
With 2011 due to see elections in Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon,
Zambia, Uganda
and elsewhere, such a messy outcome is not the best
encouragement to
Africans who long for the chance to choose their leaders
through the ballot
box.
New book by Donette Read Kruger will be available from orders@trafford.com
next
week:
http://www.zambeziwindsong.com