Zim Online
Mugabe suspends seven top ZANU PF officials
Wed 1 December
2004
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe suspended seven top officials of his
ruling ZANU PF party and severely reprimanded Information Minister and
propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, as he cracked down on dissension over the
choice of Water Resources Minister Joyce Mujuru as his potential
successor.
The purge comes as ZANU PF began a key congress today
that is expected
to confirm Mujuru as party co-vice president with Joseph
Msika.
Mugabe is expected to appoint her state vice-president
shortly after
the congress firmly placing her at a good advantage to take
over both as
ZANU PF and Zimbabwe's President when he retires around
2008.
Msika, 81, is also expected to retire in three years time.
Mugabe
retained his position unchallenged but a vicious battle for the
second vice
presidency, seen as a stepping stone to Mugabe's job, had
threatened to
split ZANU PF.
Mugabe curved in to pressure from
one of two rival factions in the
party to give the post to a woman, Mujuru,
ditching parliamentary speaker
Emerson Mnangagwa, long perceived as his
preferred heir.
The suspended officials, who are provincial
chairmen of the party
defied orders by Mugabe to back Mujuru and campaigned
for Mnangagwa to be
nominated to the post earning the ire of Mugabe who
called the rebel
officials "cunning knaves" bent on splitting the party and
threatened tough
punishment against them.
Moyo co-ordinated the
plot to scuttle Mujuru's ascendancy to the vice
presidency. The suspended
provincial chairmen are July Moyo for Midlands
province; Mike Madiro,
Manicaland; Themba Ncube, Bulawayo; Daniel Shumba,
Masvingo; Lloyd Siyoka,
Matabeleland South; and Jacob Mudenda, Matabeleland
North.
ZANU
PF spokesman Nathan Shumuyarira told the Press that Zimbabwe
liberation war
veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda was also suspended for four
years for
working with Moyo to block Mujuru.
The suspended chairmen would not
be allowed to attend the party
congress while further sanctions could be
imposed on Moyo, Shamuyarira said
without elaborating.
Sources
have maintained that Moyo will eventually be dropped from
Cabinet but they
said that may only be after a key general election in
March
2005.
Mugabe - the only ruler Zimbabweans have ever known - is
scheduled to
address the ZANU PF congress tomorrow with the more than 7 000
delegates
expected to unanimously endorse him as party leader.
Minus the addition of Mujuru to the party's presidium, little is
expected to
change at the congress which analysts have said ZANU PF will use
as a
platform to mobilise its ranks for the crucial March 2005 general
election
in which the party faces a weakened but still dangerous opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change party. - ZimOnline
Daily News online edition
Jonathan Moyo*s political
waterloo
Date: 1-Dec, 2004
THE chickens are
finally coming home to roost for Jonathan Moyo, the
Minister of Information
and Publicity in the President's Office.
While many were
extremely surprised at his chameleonic abilities -
being able to
metamorphose from being the Robert Mugabe government's main
critic to being
its most vociferous supporter - at some point his true
colours were going to
be exposed.
That Moyo was able to worm his way into the high
echelons of Zanu PF,
and be the trusted lieutenant of the ageing Mugabe, is
evidence of his
ability to identify opportunity and exploit it to the
maximum.
Moyo was able to achieve what most people in Zanu PF
itself have been
unable to do over the years - to have the ear of Mugabe
24/7.
As government chief spokesman, Moyo was privy to the
goings-on in all
government ministries, departments and quasi-government
institutions.
No doubt Moyo was the most informed person -
after Mugabe - in the
land as he was, through his office, the fly on the
wall for every meeting
Mugabe held.
That Moyo had grand
plans became obvious when he assumed the roles of
all ministers early days
in his new office. At one point then Home Affairs
minister John Nkomo had to
set the record straight by stating that there was
"only one Home Affairs
minister in Zimbabwe".
This after Moyo had fired broadsides at
the police for "reneging on
duty". In sports, Moyo was again at the
forefront, resulting in running
battles with Education, Sport and Culture
minister Aneas Chigwedere.
The latter's role had been
effectively usurped by Moyo, who was
holding meetings with Zifa, the PSL and
media on sports issues in the
absence of Chigwedere.
Moyo
even had to audacity to order Central Intelligence Organisation
members to
invade the home of an Attorney General's Officer staffer. Her
crime;
agreeing to the release on bail of a foreign journalist without first
seeking permission from Moyo.
Matabeleland North Governor,
Obert Mpofu, is on record saying because
of Moyo's actions, civil servants
in his province were no longer reporting
to him but to Tsholotsho, implying
they were now reporting to Moyo.
"This Minister of Information
and Publicity in the President's office
and cabinet is abusing his ministry
and powers. Television, newspapers and
radio stations are always full of
Tsholotsho news.
"If I may be allowed to ask, what's there in
Tsholotsho?" asked Mpofu.
As his star continued to shine, with
no rapping of knuckles by Mugabe,
Moyo went overboard and openly challenged
the Vice-president Joseph Msika,
party national chairman John Nkomo and
information guru Nathan Shamuyarira.
Zanu PF had created a
monster and it was on the loose. With his
murderous hold on both the print
and electronic media, party functionaries
were now able to see that the
Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act which Moyo authored, was
meant to close them out of the media.
Only Moyo's chosen few would be given
inches of column space and television
coverage.
It
therefore comes as no surprise that in government circles, Moyo was
the
"future" of Zanu PF. Deputy Minister of State Flora Bhuka, Transport and
Communications deputy minister, Andrew Langa, Foreign Affairs deputy
minister Abedinco Ncube and Masvingo provincial governor Josiah Hungwe, are
but some of the top Zanu PF leadership that jumped on the Moyo
bandwagon.
Six provincial chairmen - July Moyo for Midlands
province; Mike
Madiro, Manicaland; Themba Ncube, Bulawayo; Daniel Shumba,
Masvingo; Lloyd
Siyoka, Matabeleland South; and Jacob Mudenda, Matabeleland
North - also
joined what they saw as the fastest ascendancy to the
throne.
For their trouble, they are now being asked to submit
written
explanations why they defied party orders. The six attended a
meeting
allegedly convened by Moyo in his home area of Tsholotsho a week
before the
provincial nominations for party posts, to plot a flopped
rebellion against
orders by Mugabe and Zanu PF's politburo to nominate Joyce
Mujuru for the
vice-presidency.
The group had as its
candidate speaker of Parliament Emmerson
Mnangagwa. Even Mugabe himself was
fooled by this batman of Zimbabwe
politics.
"When Moyo came
he worked hard towards improving people's lives,
helped develop some schools
in the constituency, and we all liked that. What
is frightening now is the
meeting of six Zanu PF provincial chairpersons he
allegedly convened without
the mandate of the people," Mugabe said.
Mugabe on Friday openly
said he would "deal" with Moyo, setting the
stage for what Zanu PF insiders
say could be the beginning of the end for
this "famous" turncoat of the
Zimbabwean politics. The nation waits with
batted breath. -
Editorial
Daily News online edition
Zanu PF congress a farce, say
exiles
Date: 2-Dec, 2004
PRETORIA - Zimbabweans in
exiles have dismissed the on-going Zanu PF
congress as "nothing but an event
meant to endorse a dictator renowned the
world over for bad governance,
rampant abuse of human rights and trashing
the rule of law.
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum co-ordinator, Gabriel Shumba said the congress
would
not address the problems bedeviling the country and there was
therefore
nothing worthwhile to expect from it.
"That congress will
remain a farce like all other farces before
because it will not deal with
the principal cause of the Zimbabwe crisis.
Mugabe is the principal cause of
the crisis and I don't see that congress
dealing with him," said
Shumba.
He said the congress would only serve to endorse "a
world renowned
despot, a man with a dubious record of being the only African
head of state
to abuse power with impunity".
He said even
the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as second vice-president
would not light up
the event being held at a time when four million people
have been driven out
of the country through Mugabe's misgovernance and gross
human rights
violations.
Shumba warned regional political parties such as
the African National
Congress against attending such meetings saying they
would discrediting
themselves by doing so.
Honest Rimai, a
Zimbabwean living in exile said as long as Mugabe
remained in power, there
would be no change in any of his policies.
"Our view is that as
long as Mugabe is there, our situation won't
change. We would welcome a
situation where such a meeting would kick the old
man out because he has
failed but we don't think they will do it," said
Rimai.
He
said most Zimbabweans who fled poverty, hunger, starvation and
torture to
South Africa and other countries could not return home as long as
Mugabe was
in power because he would "finish us off".
The Zimbabwean
government widely regards all asylum seekers and
refugees as supporters of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The Zanu PF
congress is expected to see a number of changes in the
party's
decision-making body the politburo and retain Mugabe as its leader.
Daily News online edition
Expect nothing new from Zanu PF
convocation
Date: 2-Dec, 2004
THE
four-year Zanu PF money-blowing convocation is once again
upon us. City
hotels are bursting at the seams with delegates - 7 000 of
them - who have
made the pilgrimage to eat, drink, fornicate, be merry and
endorse President
Robert Mugabe as the party leader for the next five
years.
About $20 billion is there for the spending. A
fierce battle
over his eventual successor is threatening to split the
party's ranks, but
for the common man in the street, this might as well be
happening on another
planet for the good it will do.
The congress is being held amidst a crumbling economy, food
shortages,
record poverty and unemployment. Unemployment is at a record 80
percent and
still rising.
In the past two years alone, more than 800
manufacturing sector
companies have closed shop. Zimbabwe's education
system, once the pride of
the region and respected the world over, has gone
to the dogs.
In the townships, just keeping body and soul
together on a day
to day is taking a toll on the majority. Long-suffering
Zimbabweans should
expect little from the gathering.
The congress has little to do with resolving the country's
deepening
political and economic crisis but more about solving power
struggles within
Zanu PF.
That Zanu PF is split is not in doubt. Party
elections for a
second vice presidency - seen as a stepping stone to the top
job - have left
Zanu PF divided ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled
for March.
Mugabe bowed to pressure from some lieutenants
to give the post
to a woman, sidelining parliamentary speaker Emmerson
Mnangagwa, a man often
touted as his preferred
successor.
Mugabe's warning that he would punish top Zanu
PF officials who
"defied the party" by trying to block the rise of Joyce
Mujuru and
campaigning for Mnangagwa has opened fissures right down the
middle of the
governing party.
The suspension of six
provincial governors at a time when they
were supposed to consolidate their
power at congress has sent shivers down
the spines of those who were toying
with the idea of voicing discontent
against the ageing
leader.
There is simmering discontent in Zanu PF over how
the whole
issue of a second VP has been handled. Although the official line
is that
the party is united and will emerge out of this stronger, the truth
is that
Zanu PF is looking weak and divided - but probably not weak enough
for the
opposition to take out.
Mugabe as expected
will use "intimidation and terror" to keep
the party he has been at the helm
of for 30 years united in the face of a
whispering campaign that a political
faction bent on consolidating power
around Zimbabwe's northern Mashonaland
region has hijacked the Zanu PF.
But that is for party
supporters to worry about.
The congress does not concern
ordinary citizens as it is not
expected to solve the political and economic
problems prevailing in the
country. It is very much to do with power
struggles in the party which are
not going to help address current
problems.
Instead of coming up with solutions to a
painful five-year
economic recession that has seen shortages of every
life-saving commodity,
Zanu PF - which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence
from Britain in 1980 -
is expected to use the meeting to mobilise its ranks
in order to win next
year's general election and retain
power.
The congress would have had impact on Zimbabwe if
it was going
to usher in a completely new leadership for Zanu PF, which
could have seen
the ruling party probably changing direction and
policies.
Daily News online edition
Inter-Parliamentary Union expresses
outrage at Bennet*s continued
detention
Date: 2-Dec,
2004
JOHANNESBURG - The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has
expressed
disappointment at the Zimbabwean parliamentary authorities'
failure to
respond to its concerns over the "harsh" sentence imposed on
Chimanimani MP
Roy Bennet.
A senior official of the IPU's
committee on the rights of
parliamentarians told Daily News Online they were
treating the Bennett issue
seriously and would be communicating with Harare
again before the end of the
week to express dissatisfaction over the
handling of the issue.
He said the committee was further
concerned by the fact that Bennet
was not being held in acceptable
conditions and that he had been transferred
to a rural prison where his
lawyers and relatives could face difficulties in
visiting
him.
The jail is located in a Zanu PF
stronghold.
"After his sentencing we wrote to the authorities
conveying our
concern about the heavy sentence but we haven't received any
response from
Harare. We are going to write again this time complaining
about his
conditions in prison," the official said.
Bennet,
the most persecuted MP in Zimbabwe, was in October jailed for
a year by
parliament for shoving Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to the
ground
during a heated debate in May.
Fifty-three ruling Zanu PF party
parliamentarians voted for the jail
term while Bennet's colleagues in the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) voted against the prison
term.
Bennet, a commercial farmer, pushed Chinamasa to the
ground after the
minister had called the former's ancestors
"thieves".
Although under Zimbabwean law parliament has the
authority to sit as a
court and impose penalties, the Bennet case has been
roundly condemned
worldwide.
His lawyers have appealed
against the sentence and have said they
would be taking the matter to the
African Commission for Human and People's
Rights.
The IPU
said it was disturbing that the Bennet case came just after
the committee on
the Rights of Parliamentarians had produced a damning
report on the
harassment and torture of opposition MPs in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe
is expected to dominate the committee's deliberations in
Geneva in
January.
The southern African country now joins other countries
such as Burundi
and Mynamar that are renowned for harassing
legislators.
Daily News online edition
Zimbabwe bars Renamo from campaigning
among nationals
Date: 2-Dec, 2004
VILLA DE MANICA,
MOZAMBIQUE - Renamo, the main opposition political
party here, is bitter
with the Zimbabwean government for allegedly denying
them an opportunity to
campaign in Zimbabwe where thousands of eligible
voters
live.
Sources within Renamo, Mozambique's largest opposition
political
party, on Tuesday said despite representations, Harare had denied
their
party an opportunity to sell itself and its election manifesto to
their
nationals in Zimbabwe.
Thousands of Mozambicans are
dotted all over Mutare and areas along
the eastern frontier, which borders
Mozambique, either working on estates
and plantations or staying in other
major towns such as Chipinge,
Chimanimani, and Rusape.
A
Renamo member in Manica town, who identified himself as Joao
Machande, said
he was disappointed their party was denied access to
Mozambicans staying in
Zimbabwe.
"We were told that we were not allowed to campaign
inside Zimbabwe,"
Machande said.
While Harare authorities
have allegedly denied Renamo access to their
potential voters, Frelimo, the
governing party in Mozambique and a close
ally of Zanu PF, has been granted
unfettered access to campaign in every
area they chose inside
Zimbabwe.
There was no immediate comment from Zimbabwean
government officials.
The Mozambican elections to choose a new president
will run for two days.
The ruling Frelimo party is fielding Armando Emilio
Guebuza, a former
guerrilla during Mozambique's struggle for independence
from the Portuguese.
Joaquim Chissano is not standing for
re-election after 18 years in
power. Guebuza, a former Frelimo
secretary-general, is considered a
hardliner who was pivotal to the
infamous expulsion of Portuguese
nationals from Mozambique in the
70s.
Frelimo members say he was a confidante of the late
Mozambican leader,
Samora Machel. Renamo, a bandit movement-turned
opposition party, is
fielding its president Alfonso Dhlakama, as their
candidate.
In interviews, Renamo supporters alleged the
Zimbabwe government
denied their party access to campaign inside the country
where several
thousands of potential Mozambican voters are
based.
Mozambicans living in Zimbabwe will participate in the
electoral
process. They will vote at the Mozambican embassy in
Harare.
Frelimo supporters held several campaign meetings with
Mozambicans in
Mutare at the weekend imploring them to cross into their
country to vote for
Guebuza.
The Mozambican border is about
10km away from Mutare's central
business district. Dhlakama is said to enjoy
support in the western parts of
Mozambique which include provinces such as
Tete, Manica, Nampula and Sofala.
Guebuza's Frelimo party's
support base is said to be concentrated in
Maputo and surrounding
areas.
sudan.net
US blasts UN for turning 'blind eye' to rights
abuses
News Article by AFP posted on December 01, 2004 at 11:24:04: EST
(-5 GMT)
US blasts UN for turning 'blind eye' to rights
abuses
WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday slammed
the UN
General Assembly for ignoring serious human rights violations after
it
failed last week to pass resolutions condemning abuses in Belarus, Sudan
and
Zimbabwe.
"We urged other UN member states to take a strong,
unified stand against
human rights abuses in these countries," State
Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said.
"The failure to do so
turns a blind eye to the suffering of people in the
concerned countries and
undercuts the UN's own authority," he said in a
written answer to a question
posed at Tuesday's State Department news
briefing.
"It also
underscores the need for UN member states to consider ways to make
these
bodies function more effectively and consistent with their founding
mandates," Boucher said.
He said Washington was "deeply disappointed"
that the General Assembly had
rejected resolutions taking Belarus, Sudan and
Zimbabwe to task for their
poor human rights records.
But Boucher
stressed that the United States would not stop working with
other nations --
such as those in the European Union, which proposed the
Sudan and Zimbabwe
resolutions -- to hold countries accountable for abuses.
"The United
States will continue to engage with member states in the
relevant UN bodies,
both the General Assembly's Third Committee and the
Commission on Human
Rights, in promoting and protecting human rights," he
said.
"We are
committed to working with other like-minded states toward this end,"
Boucher
said.
Last Wednesday, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee, which
covers
human rights, voted down proposed resolutions condemning widespread
abuses
in Sudan and Zimbabwe by passing so-called "no-action motions" in a
dispute
between African and Western nations.
South Africa, on behalf
of the African group of nations, filed the no-action
motions, saying that
country-specific resolutions were inappropriate at the
United Nations
because they violate the principle of "friendly cooperation"
that underlie
UN actions.
At the time, Washington, along with human rights groups, was
bitterly
critical of the UN process with US ambassador to the United
Nations, John
Danforth, questioning "the utility of the General Assembly on
days like
this."
Another US representative to the UN, Gerald Scott,
warned that the rejection
of the resolutions might signal "a complete
breakdown of the UN's
deliberative bodies related to human rights."
cybergolf
Nick Price To Receive USGA Bob Jones Award
Nick
Price, a 2003 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame and
winner of three
major championships and more than 40 professional titles
worldwide, has been
selected to receive the 2005 USGA Bob Jones Award.
Presented
annually since 1955, the USGA's top award is given in
recognition of
distinguished sportsmanship in golf. The award seeks to
recognize a person
who emulates Jones' spirit, his personal qualities and
his attitude toward
the game and its players. It will be presented on
February 5 at the
Association's Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Now 47, Price
was the best player in the game in the 1990s, winning 15
PGA Tour events and
another 12 times internationally. His highlight season
was 1994 when he won
six times, including top finishes at the British Open
and PGA Championship,
on his way to PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for
the second consecutive
year. In his overall professional career, he has won
18 times in the U.S.
and 23 times internationally.
He has been a professional golfer
since 1977 and has ranked among the
sport's top 50 leading money leaders for
the last 18 seasons. He has
published books on the golf swing, built golf
courses and learned to fly his
own helicopter and recently started his own
golf apparel company. He also is
the only golfer to be ranked among the top
50 of the world rankings since
its inception in 1986.
More
noticeable, however, is the way Price has shown his personal
qualities in
his daily routine, with a manner befitting the phrase, "It's
nice to be
important, but it's more important to be nice."
"To receive this
award is a great honor for me," said Price. "I have
always respected and
admired Bob Jones, not only for the way he played golf,
but also because of
the way he conducted himself both on and off the golf
course. Throughout my
career, I have strived to achieve the etiquette and
sportsmanship that Bob
Jones exemplified."
In 2002, Price was the first winner of the ASAP
Sports/Jim Murray
Award from the Golf Writers Association of America for his
consistent and
thoughtful cooperation and accommodation to the media. Later
that year, he
received the annual Payne Stewart Award from the Tour for his
respect for
the game, his professional conduct and his commitment to
charities.
"He is as decent and nice to the little old ladies in
the parking lot
when the TV cameras are nowhere near as he is when he's
attempting to close
the deal late on a Sunday afternoon before thick
galleries," wrote veteran
golf writer Bob Verdi on the eve of Price's 2003
induction in to the World
Golf Hall of Fame.
"I think the
players recognize what a great guy he is," says Davis
Love III of his fellow
Tour player. "People always ask who's the nicest guy
on tour, and Nick
Price's name always comes up."
He stood by his long-time friend and
caddie, Jeff "Squeeky" Medlin,
while he fought a losing battle with leukemia
that came to an end in 1997.
He shared the spotlight in happier days with
Medlin at the 1994 British Open
at Turnberry, Scotland, when the two walked
arm-in-arm on to the final green
to a thunderous ovation before two-putting
for par and the win.
He supports charities that benefit children
within Palm Beach County
and his native homelands of South Africa and
Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. In
addition, he formed the Nick Price Junior
Golf Foundation in 1997 to support
junior golf development in Zimbabwe, a
land of 12 million people that is
torn with strife and under a strict
one-party rule.
He is committed to bettering the life for those
around him,
particularly his family. Just last summer when the family -
wife, Sue;
Gregory (13), Robyn Frances (11) and Kimberly Rae (8) - was
having a
well-earned vacation, Price surprisingly extended the vacation by
opting out
of the PGA Championship several days before the
event.
"Nick is one of those people who has a firm grasp on what's
important," says Sue. "In his soul, he thinks about others. I rarely have
seen him become abrupt with anybody. He just wants to give the best of
himself in whatever he does."
A resident in the U.S. since the
early 1980s, he lives comfortably in
Hobe Sound, Fla., but his roots are in
Africa. Born in Durban, South Africa,
to English parents, Nick was raised by
his mother in Zimbabwe. His father
died when he was 10 before getting a
chance to introduce him to the game of
golf. His older brother, Tim, showed
him the game, giving him a left-handed
5-iron for his first
club.
The two spent countless hours chipping golf balls through
their
mother's backyard garden while pretending they were on the best golf
layouts
and playing for major titles. On his first trip to the United
States, as a
17-year-old, Price won the Junior World Championship in San
Diego. He turned
professional three years later, in 1977, but in between he
learned never to
take his good fortune for granted.
During that
time, he served 18 months in Rhodesia's Air Force,
fighting in a civil war
that would end in 1980. "The service taught me that
golf is not the be-all
and end-all in life and that I am fortunate to do
something I love," Price
says.
Having achieved success on both the European and South
African Tours
between 1978 and 1982, earning his first four wins, he
ventured to America
where he earned his PGA Tour card for the 1983 season.
Later that summer, he
edged out Jack Nicklaus to win the World Series of
Golf event. Along with
the win, came a 10-year exemption on Tour. But there
were lean years ahead
and a time when he came within a week of running out
of money to stay on
Tour.
Somehow he held on, believing that
his rebuilt swing would pay
dividends. It did, beginning with a win at the
1991 GTE Byron Nelson
Classic. He won the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive
Country Club in St.
Louis, and then won it again in 1994 at Southern Hills
Country Club in
Tulsa, Okla.
His last win was at the 2002
MasterCard Colonial, a year in which he
topped $2 million in earnings for
the first time and finished fifth in
scoring average. He sees himself
playing into his 50s, and would like to add
to his win total and
accomplishments in the game. He has Tour wins in each
of the last three
decades, and he is one of only seven players since 1945 to
capture
consecutive majors.
No matter what the next few years bring, Price
has left his mark on
the game he loves. "Like Ben Crenshaw (the 1991 Jones
Award winner), he's a
role model that a lot of the players out here need to
pay attention to,"
says Love.
"When I see a young guy who has
shot 78 giving a signed ball to a kid
who is there with his dad, that's
huge," says Price. "That's what golf is
all about."
News24
Cosatu: Tensions mirror society
01/12/2004 18:47 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions
(Cosatu) on
Wednesday said that the tensions in the alliance reflected the
growth of
class differentiation within the black community, which could be
seen in the
on going debate over economic policy in
particular.
Celebrating 19 years of struggle for national liberation and
worker's
rights, Cosatu said that black economic empowerment (BEE) if not
properly
handled, could create a narrow class of black capitalists rather
than
benefiting the majority.
"Moreover, it creates opportunities for
corruption and abuses of power as
shown in the Telkom deal," the union
said.
Cosatu, however, stated that it did not oppose the growth of black
capital,
but it could not be allowed to happen at the cost of the majority
of people
or displace strategies to bring about broad based
empowerment.
The union added that a particular concern was the potential
for conflict and
plain corruption arising out of the new opportunities for
leaders and high-
ranking government officials to join
business.
"These relationships must be treated with great caution, with
an emphasis on
transparency and clear links between government functions and
the private
sector."
Cosatu, which is in an alliance with the African
National Congress (ANC) and
the South African Communist Party (SACP) has
been embroiled in a bitter
public spat with ruling ANC leaders over the
Zimbabwe issue and black
economic empowerment.
Cosatu general
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has suffered a personal attack from
ANC national
spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama, Cosatu said.
Cosatu's reports to its
Congress in 2000 and 2003 noted that the alliance
tended to come together
well during elections, but failed to meet to resolve
debates between
elections.
"This results in unnecessarily vitriolic and public
disagreements," Cosatu
said. The union added that it was unfortunately
seeing a repeat of this
process at the moment.
"The conflict in this
case has arisen over Cosatu's mission to Zimbabwe and
the Telkom deal. The
reluctance of some Ministers and officials to engage at
Telkom has
aggravated the problem."
The trade union pointed out that key challenges
in the coming year were to
build a mass base for the alliance and to ensure
unity in action of all
progressive forces.
The union said that one
short-run challenge would be to work for
constructive debate, which would
put an end to unnecessary public rows,
questioning of bona fides and
personalisation of debates.
Cosatu also noted that a broader debate on
succession needed to be developed
and should not focus on the vice
presidency, but on what kind of leaders
were needed in the coming
years.
Cosatu welcomed the continued shift towards more expansionary
policies and
the increased emphasis on the need to ensure that economic
growth created
employment and supported greater equity.
Mr John
Stern trying to contact a MRS HELEN KATHLEEN HALL fairly
urgently.
Helen is a teacher and taught at a
junior school in Kadoma, Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. Her husband, Ken Hall,
taught at Jameson High School also in Kadoma. They may have a child, born in the
mid 1980s. Helen came from Bulawayo and her father may have been with National
Parks. Ken and Helen spent school holidays in National Parks. Ken came from the
UK so they could be living in the UK.
Does anyone have a contact address for
her? If you do not have this
information, is there anybody who you think may know her family or may in any
way be able to give me some information, however slight? like her
maiden name? her parents names? Does anyone from National Parks know her? An
email address would be the most
helpful. Please contact me either on jandlresearch@btopenworld.com or
bjs@fndc.govt.nz
Thanking you in anticipation.
STATEMENT
BY MDC
PRESIDENT MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, Park Plaza Hotel,
London,
1
December 2004
Over the past month I and other senior
officials from the MDC have
engaged on an intensive diplomatic initiative, meeting political leaders in
Africa and Europe.
The fundamental objective of our diplomatic
engagement efforts has been to appeal for solidarity with the suffering people
of Zimbabwe, brief political leaders on the situation on the ground, appraise
them of the context of our decision on 25 August to suspend participation in all
elections pending the government’s full compliance with the new
SADC protocol on elections and
engage in discussions on the way forward in Zimbabwe.
The right of citizens to fully participate
in the democratic process, and freely elect leaders of their choice, is a
universally accepted human right. Regrettably fundamental rights which underpin
democratic society are seriously impaired in
Zimbabwe.
The struggle to restore the basic right of
the people to freely elect a government of their choice goes to the heart of the
crisis of governance in
Zimbabwe.
Africa is increasingly
unwilling to accept Mugabe and Zanu PF’s ruse that the crisis is anchored on the issue of
land reform and nefarious neo-colonialist agendas. There is a growing consensus
across the African continent that the root cause of the crisis in Zimbabwe stems
from bad governance, violations of human rights, the closure of the democratic space and a failure to uphold the
rule of law.
The parliamentary elections scheduled for
March next year potentially provide
Zimbabwe
with a historic opportunity to begin the process of resolving the current
crisis, and ushering in the new beginning which Zimbabweans so desperately
desire.
This historic opportunity will be lost
however if SADC leaders do not
exert sufficient diplomatic pressure on the Zimbabwe Government to fully commit
to reforming our political and electoral environment, in line with what is
expected under the SADC protocol on elections
which Mugabe ratified with other
SADC leaders in Mauritius on 17 August.
The growing popular pressure for a free and
fair election has provoked the government into announcing a number of electoral
reforms. These reforms however are cosmetic and fall woefully short of what is
required under the SADC
elections’ charter. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Bill, which has just
passed the committee stage in parliament, will ensure that the government
retains a controlling hand over the electoral framework.
Mugabe will appoint the chair of
the commission, while the other four commissioners will be appointed by a
parliamentary committee dominated by Zanu PF. Civic
society organisations will be banned from conducting voter education, while
members of the police, army, secret police and prison service will be seconded
to the commission during an election period.
This is not what is expected under the
Mauritius
agreement. Mugabe has gone back on his word, like he
has done on so many occasions in the past. It is imperative therefore that SADC leaders engage
Mugabe and encourage him to honour in full the
undertakings that he has given.
In our meetings with European leaders we
urged them to engage their SADC
counterparts, and encourage them to intensify their collective diplomatic
pressure on Mugabe to commit to genuine reforms that
will ensure a free and fair election takes place.
In the absence of a genuine, democratic,
election
Zimbabwe
risks deteriorating into another Darfur or Sierra
Leone. This would pose a serious threat to the
stability of the southern Africa region; a region whose
impressive democratic and economic gains over the past decade have made it
Africa’s template for the pursuit of good governance and
sustainable development. Africa can ill afford to lose
this template.
For our part we are ready to engage Zanu PF in a process of meaningful dialogue so that we can
build a solid national consensus on the way forward. Tackling the crisis in
Zimbabwe
will take a collective effort by all stakeholders.
The people of
Zimbabwe
are tired of the political impasse; they need food and jobs but know that these
basic grievances can only be addressed when the political environment is able to
support a sustained economic recovery. This environment can only come about
through a free and fair election.
We as
MDC are ready for such an
election. We look forward to fighting on the issues of the day: food and jobs.
Through RESTART, our programme for economic recovery, and our other policy
programmes, we possess a comprehensive agenda to govern; an agenda equipped to
kick start a new beginning and create a new
Zimbabwe
characterised by peace, stability, opportunity and prosperity.
We are committed to making this a reality
for the people of
Zimbabwe.
I thank you.
ZIMBABWE: More vulnerable added to feeding scheme
01 Dec 2004 15:36:31
GMT
Source: IRIN
JOHANNESBURG, 1 December (IRIN) - The
development agency Save the Children
is to provide food aid to almost 25,000
vulnerable people in northern
Zimbabwe.
The distributions, to begin
in the third week of December, will target
"social welfare cases, including
the elderly and HIV/AIDS-affected
households in the districts of Binga
[Matabeleland North province] and
Nyaminyami [Mashonaland West province] in
the Zambezi valley," Chris McIvor,
Save the Children's programme director,
told IRIN.
The two districts are among the poorest in Zimbabwe. According
to an
assessment conducted by Save the Children earlier this year, chronic
malnutrition in Binga is high, with almost 30 percent of children
stunted.
Food aid in the form of maize meal and cooking oil, with
corn-soya blend as
a supplementary feed for children, will be distributed
until the end of
April next year, according to McIvor.
As part of its
two-year plan to make the residents of the valley
self-sufficient, Save the
Children will also provide a safety net of
agricultural inputs to 15,000
vulnerable families. "We are ensuring that
woman- and child-headed
households are covered in these interventions,"
McIvor said.
Earlier
this year, Save the Children organised seed fairs to ensure that all
farmers
had access to agricultural inputs. Due to a shortage of cereal seeds
in
Zimbabwe, the NGO will be distributing vegetable seeds packets to
supplement
the communities' food requirements.
News24
Mugabe slams 'neo-colonials'
01/12/2004 11:54 -
(SA)
Harare - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Tuesday hit
out at what he
termed a "neo-colonial onslaught" against the Southern
African country that
he said had affected the fight against Aids.
In
a late-night televised address on the eve of World Aids Day, Mugabe made
reference to the Global Aids Fund, from which Zimbabwe has so far failed to
source funding for its fight against the pandemic.
"Regrettably, the
international, neo-colonial onslaught against Zimbabwe has
seen the
politicisation of even HIV programme resources from such
humanitarian
institutions as the Global (Aids) Fund," Mugabe said.
Zimbabwe had an
appeal for funds turned down by the Geneva-based institution
in July this
year, in what the government claimed was a politically-biased
decision.
Million Aids orphans
However, the fund, which
receives a considerable amount of its funding from
the United States, a
staunch critic of the Mugabe regime, said Zimbabwe's
appeal failed because
of "technical reasons".
Up to 3 500 people are estimated to be dying from
HIV-related illnesses in
this Southern African country every
week.
The pandemic has so far created close to a million orphans who
either live
on their own or with grandparents in a country of 11.6 million
people.
But Mugabe was upbeat about his country's own initiatives in
fighting the
disease, and lauded homegrown programmes to combat
it.
"We should therefore use this year's World Aids Day commemorations to
rejoice in the knowledge that as a sovereign and united nation we have used
our own internal resources and structures to fight and record measurable
progress against the pandemic," the 80-year old leader
noted.
Zimbabwe is due to mark World Aids Day Wednesday with festivities
planned in
the capital Harare.