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Air
Zim refused ground handling services in SA
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
03/12/2011 00:00:00
by
Staff Reporter
AN Air Zimbabwe flight to Johannesburg was refused
ground handling services
at OR Tambo International Airport on Friday over
unpaid debts resulting in
passengers and their luggage being ferried by a
private vehicle.
Up to 70 passengers on the morning flight from Harare
had to be ferried by a
private Mazda 5 vehicle resulting in further delays
as the vehicle could
only carry five people at a time.
The airline only
managed to complete the passenger transfers by 12 mid-day
when the plane had
landed at 8 am.
“It was a bad experience, considering the car was small
and it took too long
for most people to be moved from the plane to the
airport terminal. Some
passengers were now becoming rowdy,” a passenger told
the Daily News.
The airline is said to owe various services suppliers and
had been
struggling to service the debts.
Air Zim acting chief
executive, Innocent Mavhunga confirmed the company’s
failure to access
ground services.
“The issue relates to challenges over non-payment and
this has since been
negotiated with the ground handlers,” he
said.
“The amount owed has been outstanding and we have discussed a way
forward,”
the airline boss said.
Air Zim is currently saddled with a
$137 million debt and records monthly
losses of $3,5 million according to
recent information availed to
Parliament.
The airline's pilots and other
staff have also gone on strike several times
this year over unpaid salaries.
Mugabe Says Unity Gov't Has Expired, Demands Elections
http://www.voanews.com
02 December
2011
The 2008
Global Political Agreement for power sharing called for electoral,
media and
other reforms to be implemented by the unity government, but
progress on all
fronts has been slow
Ntungamili Nkomo |
Washington
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the country's
constitutional
revision process must be speeded up so elections can be held
next year,
arguing that the national unity government installed in February
2009 has
outlived its legal mandate and is therefore, operating illegally
and
unconstitutionally.
Mr. Mugabe was addressing members of his
ZANU-PF Central Committee in Harare
on Thursday. Both formations of the
co-governing Movement for Democratic
Change have said elections cannot be
held until broad reforms are
instituted. Moreover, Finance Minister Tendai
Biti has not put funds for
elections in his 2012 budget.
Spokesman
Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said Mr. Mugabe should be talking about reforms, not elections.
"We are ready for elections anytime, but we want reforms first," he
said.
The 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing called for
electoral,
media and other reforms to be implemented by the unity
government, but
progress on all fronts has been slow. The MDC has been
demanding reform of
the security sector including the military, police and
security services,
but Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF has resisted.
Qhubani
Moyo, organizing secretary of the MDC wing led by Industry Minister
Welshman
Ncube commented that elections may not even be possible next
year.
Elsewhere, members of yet another MDC wing led by Deputy Prime
Minister
Arthur Mutambara, which broke away from the Ncube formation after
Mutambara
was ousted as president in January, said Friday that Deputy House
Speaker
Nomalanga Khumalo, expelled this week from the Ncube MDC, was now
party vice
president.
Correspondent Thomas Chiripasi reported on the
latest MDC shuffle.
Conf
to focus on life after Mugabe
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
President Robert Mugabe’s failing health
and its implications on the future
of Zanu (PF) will dominate the party’s
11th annual conference that kicks off
in Bulawayo on Tuesday, analysts have
warned.
03.12.1112:25pm
by Vusimusi Bhebhe
They said intense
and often cut throat manoeuvring was taking place behind
the scenes ahead of
the conference as factions led by Vice President Joice
Mujuru and Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, as well as a host of party
functionaries, move
to position themselves for life after the 87-year-old
Zimbabwean
leader.
An increasingly Mugabe will be using the conference to confirm
his
candidature in presidential elections expected in 2013. But, according
to
South African-based thinktank, Southern Africa Report, Mugabe’s failing
health is rapidly eroding his options and could prove decisive during the
forthcoming conference.
Waiting in the wings
It said the
ageing leader, who is said to be suffering from prostate cancer,
was no
longer his old energetic self and tires easily.
He allegedly chaired a
regular Cabinet meeting in October for just 20
minutes before dozing off.
And last month he resumed his regular visits to
Singapore, where he has, in
the past, received treatment for prostate cancer
and renal
complications.
“The relative silence ahead of this year’s conference, in
sharp contrast to
the usual chorus of endorsements of Mugabe, indicates the
extent to which
party functionaries among the 6 000 delegates are looking
beyond his
tenure,” the thinktank said.
Mugabe has flirted with the
idea of transforming the non-elective conference
into a mini-congress,
“implying that it will include an elective component”.
The thinktank said
Mugabe plans to pre-empt both Mujuru and Mnangagwa by
invoking Article 6 of
the Zanu (PF) constitution to have the conference
“declare the president of
the party elected at the congress as the
presidential candidate of the
party”.
Depending on the delegate strength Mujuru or Mnangagwa can
marshal, Mugabe
hopes to avoid a conference endorsement of either as
vice-president.
A veteran of countless challenges to his leadership
dating back to his
brutal years in Mozambique, Mugabe hopes to continue to
play the rivals off
against each other until he is ready to nominate his
successor.
Since the publication, through WikiLeaks, of a dossier of US
Harare embassy
cables demonstrated the extent to which Zanu (PF) members
were confiding in
the “imperialist enemy”, Mugabe has been even more
reluctant than in the
past to put his faith in any of his potential
successors.
Upgrading the conference
Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa
are, meanwhile, lobbying to have delegates vote to
upgrade the conference to
an elective congress (which constitutionally only
takes place every five
years).
Either way, Mnangagwa hopes to use the congress to regain ground
lost to
Mujuru at the 2004 and 2009 congresses, ideally replacing her with
Women’s
League leader Oppah Muchinguri. His supporters have been at pains to
emphasise their lobbying is not directed at Mugabe himself, but only at
Mujuru.
Mujuru’s power base has, however, been bolstered by a
sympathy vote
following the death of her husband, Solomon Mujuru in a
mysterious fire in
August.
Police Commissioner Snubs Unity Gov't Monitoring
Committee
http://www.voanews.com
02 December
2011
Police Commissioner-General Chihuri declined the request from
JOMIC for a
meeting, saying demands for security sector reform by the
Movement for
Democratic Change reflect a foreign agenda meant to breed
chaos
Blessing Zulu | Washington
Martin Rupiya, a retired
Zimbabwe army officer at the Institute for Security
Studies in Pretoria said
intransigence is a Chihuri trademark
Zimbabwean Police Commissioner
General Augustine Chihuru has dismissed a
request by the Joint Monitoring
and Implementation Committee, set up to
track compliance with the 2008
Global Political Agreement for power sharing,
for a meeting to discuss the
failure of the national police to take action
against political
violence.
The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, or JOMIC,
asked Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa last month to communicate with
Chihuri about the
need for him to appear before the committee to discuss
mounting political
violence.
But Chihuri declined the request, saying
demands for security sector reform
by the Movement for Democratic Change
reflect a foreign agenda meant to
breed chaos.
Speaking at a police
conference in Darwendale, not far from Harare in
Mashonaland West province,
Chihuri blamed political parties for violence and
said he does not want to
be involved. He denied charges the police force is
biased in favor of
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and against the
Movement for
Democratic Change.
"We have been tagged partisan, yet far from it, we are
a people's police
force," the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted
Chihuri as saying.
"This accusation of a partisan police force is aimed
at coercing the
leadership to agree to the so called security sector
reform," he said.
Oppah Muchinguri, ZANU-PF's representative on JOMIC,
referred questions
about Chihuri’s refusal to meet with the committee to her
Tsvangirai MDC
counterpart, Tabitha Khumalo.
Khumalo told VOA
reporter Blessing Zulu that Chihuri says his staff has been
in touch with
JOMIC so he does not see the necessity to meet with the panel
himself.
Martin Rupiya, a retired Zimbabwe Defense Forces officer at
the Institute
for Security Studies in Pretoria said intransigence is a
Chihuri trademark.
‘Gukurahundi
can’t be swept under’
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/i
By Pindai Dube
Saturday, 03 December 2011
09:23
BULAWAYO- Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) president,
Dumiso Dabengwa
says dishing out beer to victims of the infamous
Matabeleland 1980s
massacres will not silence them.
Dabengwa said
the simple act of giving victims beer is no panacea to many
cries for
justice adding that the victims are better placed to determine a
lasting
solution to close this dark chapter in the history of the
country.
Addressing a press conference to mark Zapu’s 50-year silver
jubilee
celebrations Dabengwa said the Gukurahundi issue needs to be handled
sensitively.
“As long as you have something that bothers an
individual who become a
victim and you think you can just wipe it by giving
them beer you are not
done yet. Zapu alone cannot also determine the
solution to Gukurahundi but
the victims and people of Zimbabwe at large can.
We should sit down to
discuss this issue genuinely,” said
Dabengwa.
Dabengwa the former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
(Zipra)
intelligence supremo who was jailed on allegations of trying to
ferment an
uprising by Zanu PF regime during the Gukurahundi era in the
early 1980s
said the National Healing Ministry has not helped much to
provide an answer.
The National Healing and Reconciliation organ was set
up by the coalition
government to deal with the issue among many others of
human rights abuse.
In 1982, President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, in
pursuit of a one party
state sought help from North Korea to train the
infamous Five Brigade unit,
which was deployed to the Midlands and
Matabeleland regions, according to
the Catholic Commission on Justice and
Peace (CCJP) report ostensibly to
hunt down dissidents.
The report
says almost 20 000 people, including children and pregnant women,
were
killed during the period that Mugabe later described as “a moment of
madness.”
As part of his party’s anniversary celebrations, Dabengwa
said huge
celebrations will be held at the Babourfields Stadium in Bulawayo
on
December 17.
According to Dabengwa, Zapu which was formed in 1961
fights for the true
freedom of every Zimbabwean irrespective of race,
colour, tribe, gender or
any conceivable differences.
“In true Zapu
spirit, the jubilee celebrations on December 17 will
demonstrate the freedom
espoused in the Zapu DNA where all Zimbabweans and
indeed all peoples of the
world who cherish and share the vision of freedom
for all will come together
as one.
“The paradox that lies in true liberation for all is that even
those who
would seek to deny others the freedom will benefit when at last
all are
liberated,” said the Zapu president.
He added that over 40
000 people including delegates from South Africa’s
Africa National Congress
(ANC), Namibia’s South West Africa People’s
Organization (Swapo) and other
former liberation movements in the region
will attend the
celebrations.
Disgruntled former Zapu members officially pulled out of
the Unity Accord
signed between the party and Zanu PF in 1987 citing a
skewed relationship
that favoured President Mugabe led Zanu PF.
The Dollar Is Dead, Says the
World's Worst Central Banker
By Jordan Weissmann
Dec 2 2011, 9:00 AM
ET
Zimbabwe says
it's time to drop the U.S. dollar and move on to the Chinese yuan. Should you
trust the folks who brought you the 100-trillion dollar
bill?
Reuters
You might not be a
fan of Ben Bernanke's monetary policies. And you might be fed up with the
European Central Bank's dawdling. But whatever their shortcomings might be, at
least they're not responsible for 231,000,000% inflation.
Sadly, the same
cannot be said for Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono.
Gono was the man
who turned on the printing presses to fund Zimbabwe's government after dictator
Robert Mugabe drove its economy off a cliff. The resulting hyperinflation left
the Zimbabwe dollar effectively worthless. But at the very least, everybody got
some totally sweet 100-trillion-dollar bills. They even kind of looked like
monopoly money.
Nowadays, Zimbabwe
uses the American dollar as its main official currency. It also allows
transactions in a few others, including the Euro and the British Pound. The
arrangement has kept inflation low. But Gono has a concern. He thinks it's time
to bail on the dollar and adopt China's yuan.
"With the
continuous firming of the Chinese yuan, the US dollar is fast ceasing to be the
world's reserve currency and the Euro-Zone debt crisis has made things even
worse," he said earlier this week, according to New Zimbabwe. "As a country, we still
have the opportunity to avoid being caught napping by adopting the Chinese yuan
as part of consolidating the country's look East policy."
As
Zero Hedge pointed out, it's a bit
concerning that the man responsible for the world's most staggering monetary
failure now sees storm clouds gathering around the greenback. On the other hand,
it's the man responsible for the world's most staggering monetary failure. We
may need to take his opinion with a grain of salt.
In the end, this
might have more to do with trade and geopolitics than the future value of the
dollar. China is Zimbabwe's largest trading partner, and promoting the Yuan as
an international currency might help curry favor with Beijing. And while it's
pretty debatable whether the dollar is really headed for a dramatic fall, the
Yuan is appreciating. Since Zimbabwe sends so much of its roughly $1 billion to
$2.5 billion of annual exports to China, it makes some
sense to adopt their currency.
So the guy has a
few strikes against him. But this time, he might have a point.
Image of a 100 trillion bill courtesy of Lee.org
Gono fired
staff 'like used condoms'
http://www.businesslive.co.za/
03
December, 2011 20:26
HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE
Business Times
Retrenched Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe employees
have accused the central
bank's governor, Gideon Gono, of discarding them
like "used condoms" after
they dutifully served the central bank at the
height of the country's
economic turmoil - a period that was marked by
world-beating inflation.
Gono laid off 1445 workers - about
three-quarters of the central bank's
workforce - earlier this year in a
staff rationalisation exercise that was
meant to cut costs and get the bank
back to its core business after it had
ventured into peripheral
projects.
The retrenched workers, who have not been paid their full
severance packages
in spite of pledges by Gono, accused their former boss of
condemning them
and their families to poverty.
In a letter addressed
to Gono, Artwell Chipepera, a representative of the
angry retrenchees,
accused the bank's management and board of being
insensitive to the plight
of its former employees by reneging on guarantees
to stagger the payment of
outstanding retrenchment packages by the end of
June.
"We also feel
like trashed used condoms after serving and saving the master
so well," said
the letter.
"Remember governor, your farewell message when we left the
bank. In any case
therefore, it is unequivocally callous and sadistic for
the initiators of
the retrenchment process and the RBZ board to justify and
defend our
non-payment or delay payment any further," Chipepera's letter
continued.
Chipepera appealed to Gono, who has allegedly turned down a
request for a
meeting with the fired workers, to act quickly to alleviate
their plight and
that of about 9000 of their dependants by paying them the
money they are
still owed.
"We consumed and invested what we received
to date with reasonable
expectations that the balance would be received as
explicitly agreed upon.
Now most of us find ourselves languishing in
financial doldrums, breach of
contracts such as hire purchases, enormous
opportunity costs and more
importantly crying babies and suffering
dependants. We need to pay our
medical aid services especially for the
terminally and chronically ill and
pregnant women, forthcoming school fees,
food and rentals," said Chipepera.
The retrenchees, who the police have
on two occasions dispersed as they
tried to protest publicly against the
non-payment of their packages, have
also petitioned finance minister Tendai
Biti to intervene and set up a new
payment plan.
Alpha
media under fire over rape case
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Award winning Girl Child Network
International director, Betty Makoni, has
accused Alpha Media Holdings of
covering up for Dr Munyaradzi Kereke who has
been accused of raping a
minor.
02.12.1110:52am
by Kingstone Ndabatei
Makoni said that
The Standard newspaper, the Attorney General’s Office and
the police are all
accomplices in the bid to cover up the case.
“Information coming from our
investigations clearly show a journalist from
The Standard newspaper (name
supplied) was there at Highlands police station
in August 2010 when the
child gave a statement and he was privy to all
medical and police reports,”
said Makoni. “We are shocked to learn The
Standard newspaper could expose Dr
Munyaradzi Kereke this late when the
child has been harassed and
violated.”
She said, it took the 11-year-old girl three months to leave
her house after
the attack.
“The journalist could have helped the
girl by linking her with other
organizations that help children. To think
that a paper like The Standard
swept this case under the carpet and only
exposed it when they are in a
legal row with Dr Munyaradzi Kereke needs to
be explored. Under the Criminal
Codification Law, anyone who knows about the
rape of a minor and does not
report is considered an accomplice,” she
said.
Makoni demanded that the authorities in Zimbabwe arrest all of
those
responsible for the cover up of the offence.
“My office will
keep exposing rape cases of minors without fear or favour
and we have a
network that gets to every case, whether high profile or not.
High profile
cases that do not get to be prosecuted pose a serious danger to
other such
cases. The whole aim of bringing Dr Munyradzi Kereke and his
accomplices to
book is to show that our society will not tolerate the rape
of children,”
said Makoni.
Judge
PM on performance: US envoy
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/12/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
UNITED States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray has weighed
into the
‘marriage’ controversy surrounding Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai,
insisting the MDC-T leader should only be judged on his
performance in
government.
Speaking to Radio VOP in Bulawayo, Ray
said Tsvangirai’s personal life which
has nothing to do with his public
performance as country’s premier.
“You cannot judge his performance in
government because of his personal
life. People should not spent time
discussing about his personal life as it
will divert us from really
pertinent issues on the country’s economic
development,” said
Ray.
Ray added: “If we really want to discuss about his personal life
lets also
scrutinise personal lives of all other leaders of this
country.”
Tsvangirai was reported to have married Locardia Karimatsenga
Tembo – who is
said to be pregnant with their twins – only for the MDC-T
leader to later
issue a statement saying he was ending the
relationship.
Blaming interference by the media and state security agents
Tsvangirai said:
“My genuine intention has been betrayed and hearts have had
to search long
and hard to the true meaning of this well-choreographed drama
that has now
been hijacked to cause political damage on my person and
character.
“Since the day I sent a delegation to the Karimatsenga family,
everything
has been played in the press and I have become an innocent
bystander in what
is supposed to be my relationship.
“This has led me
to conclude that there is a greater and thicker plot around
this issue which
has undermined my confidence in this relationship.”
Tsvangirai has six
children with his late wife Susan, who was killed in a
car accident in 2009,
and is also believed to have fathered a boy named
Ethan with a 23-year-old
Bulawayo woman in March.
PM Insists Marriage a Closed Case, But Jilted Bride
Differs
http://www.voanews.com
02 December
2011
The family of Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo told the
state-controlled Herald
newspaper that she remains married to Mr. Tsvangirai
under traditional law
and will continue to reside at Mr. Tsvangirai’s rural
homestead
Violet Gonda | Washington
In his statement on
Wednesday, Mr. Tsvangirai said he was obliged to
terminate his relationship
with Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo due to
interference by the media and the
Central Intelligence Organization
The marital saga of Zimbabwean Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai continued to
grip the nation on Friday as the
family of the woman Mr. Tsvangirai said in
a statement he could not marry
insisted that in fact she became his wife in
a traditional
ceremony.
The family of Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo told the
state-controlled Herald
newspaper that she remains married to Mr. Tsvangirai
under traditional law
and will continue to reside at Mr. Tsvangirai’s rural
homestead in Buhera,
Manicaland province.
A Karimatsenga family
spokesperson said the 39-year-old divorced
businesswoman was living at what
was termed her “husband’s” home.
In his statement on Wednesday, Mr.
Tsvangirai said he was obliged to
terminate his relationship with Tembo due
to interference by the media and
secret police.
He claimed everything
was “choreographed to inflict maximum damage on his
person and character for
political gain” and indicated he did not consider
himself
married.
Mr. Tsvangirai's spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka told VOA reporter
Violet Gonda
that the Prime Minister has communicated his position to the
Karimatsenga
family and the woman at the center of the controversy was aware
of his
position.
He said Mr. Tsvangirai now considers the matter
closed.
“So we will not be responding to whatever statements are
emanating from
elsewhere. The prime minister has made his position very
clear and he will
not be talking about this matter in the near future,” the
spokesman said.
A Karimatsenga family spokesperson, Simba Karimatsenga,
told the Herald he
could not respond to the prime minister’s statement, “but
what I can say is
that Locadia is with her new family. Everyone knows where
Locadia is.”
Tamborinyoka was asked whether Ms. Karimatsenga as reported
is pregnant.
“The prime minister says the woman claims to be pregnant.That's
what he says
in his statement and I think it would be unfair for me to say
whether I know
if she is pregnant or not."
Church minister and
cultural expert Dr. Levy Kadenge said there is likely
more going on than
what is being disclosed through statements and press
reports.
“No one
actually knows what is going on … but each day as it comes we are
being led
nowhere, but I am afraid we won’t get any truth from the news
outlets
because really only the two of them know what’s going on," Kadenge
said.
Khumalo
expelled for ‘intransigence’
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The MDC-N has expelled Deputy Speaker
Nomalanga Khumalo from the party,
accusing her of being too close to a rival
MDC grouping.
02.12.1105:25pm
by VOA
Ncube said Khumalo was
expelled due to 'intransigence' over her ties to the
rival - and larger MDC
formation - led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Political analysts said
the move will undermine the democratic process in
the country as Khumalo
stands to lose her seat in Parliament having been
expelled from the
party.
Khumalo said she had only learned about her expulsion from the
newspapers as
she was not even accorded a hearing by the MDC formation.
However, Ncube MDC
spokesman, Nhlanhla Dube, said Khumalo expelled herself
from the party by
failing to recognize Ncube’s authority.
Maxwell
Zimuto of the MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara -
formerly head of the wing now led by Ncube - called the
expulsion a
non-event. Organizing secretary Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai
MDC
formation said Khumalo was welcome to join MDC-T.
Mutambara’s
MDC Bump-Up Khumalo To The Presidency
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, December 03, 2011 -The
Arthur Mutambara led Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) faction has
appointed deputy speaker and Umzingwane legislator
Ms Nomalanga Khumalo to
the party’s vice President post .
Nomalanga Khumalo was dismissed from
the Ncube-led faction for being
suspected of working in cohorts with the
Tsvangirai-led MDC-T faction.
“Pursuant to the National Council
resolution taken at the 16th of May 2011
Executive meeting with particular
reference to the resolution that sought to
refill positions vacated by
expelled members who attended the illegitimate
meeting of 11 February 2011
at Hillside, the National council has appointed
Nomalanga Khumalo as the
part deputy President”, confirmed Jubert Mudzumwe,
the party’s national
chairperson.
Other new executive members include Mawell Zimuto now the
party Secretary
General, Garfield Makwati deputy secretary General, Kerr
Mthetwa the
Tresurer General and deputised by Godfrey Munhuwei
Gumbo.
“The appointment of deputy speaker to the position of the party’s
Deputy
President has relieved me as I have with immediate effect surrendered
all
party issues to her, since our President Arthur Mutambara remains
indicted
by the courts ,”Mudzumwe added.
Commenting of the move by
the other MDC leader Welshman Ncube’s decision to
fire Nomalanga Khumalo
which was protested against by legislators in
Parliament Thursday, Mudzumwe
said it shows that Ncube has lost
credibility.
At least 20 legislators
walked out on Welshman Ncube in Parliament yesterday
protesting against his
decision to expel Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms
Nomalanga Khumalo from
the MDC.
The walkout occurred when Ncube in his government capacity as
the Industry
and Commerce Minister was presenting two treaties to the House
of Assembly
for ratification.
“ We want to confirm that we have a
number of MPs who have come open to say
that they belong to our party and
these are Honourable Nomalanga Khumalo,
Mawell Dube, Mkandla Thandekho
Zinti, Dube Kembo (Senator) and Senator
Khumalo Dalimuzi)”,Mudzumwe
announced.
Ms Khumalo was elected to the House on an MDC ticket in 2008
representing
Umzingwane Constituency.
MDC-T deputy organising secretary
Abedinico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and
Norman Mpofu lost their seats under
similar circumstances.
UK
to review restrictions
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Britain will next year February review the
restrictive measures imposed on
senior Zanu (PF) politicians and their
businesses, according to the
newly-appointed British Ambassador to
Zimbabwe.
02.12.1105:37pm
by Zwanai Sithole Harare
Speaking
during a press briefing in Bulawayo this week, Deborah Bronnert
said the
targeted measures would only be removed when the government had
fully
implemented the Global Political Agreement.
“Britain and the EU will
review the restrictive measures in February next
year. We want to see
progress in the implementation of the GPA before we
lift the measures,” said
Bronnert.
The Ambassador denied Zanu (PF) claims that the targeted
measures were
affecting ordinary Zimbabweans.
“Only a small number of
companies and businesses are not allowed to do
business with the United
Kingdom and the rest of the European Union. In
fact, trade figures between
London and Harare have grown by 85 percent” she
said.
The Ambassador
also reiterated that her country did not support the land
reform programme
because of its chaotic and partisan nature.
“It was absolutely clear that
there was need for land reform. The
distribution of the land was not fair.
The land was not distributed to
ordinary Zimbabwean,” said Bronnert.
Nothing
for education: Gaidzanwa
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The education sector will continue to experience
operational challenges in
2012 because the proposed budget has allocated a
paltry $6, 3 million
towards programmes, constituting only 1% of the total
Education budget,
Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa has
said.
02.12.1110:54am
by Staff Reporter
Whilst the Ministry of
Education, Sport and Culture remains one of the
government’s top priorities
in the 2012 budget, experts have said the needs
in this sector will remain
largely unmet in 2012.
Speaking at a post budget gender analysis workshop
hosted by the Zimbabwe
Women’s Resource Centre and Network in Harare last
week, Professor Gaidzanwa
of the University of Zimbabwe said if the bulk
(89%) of the $707 325000
allocated to the ministry went towards employment
costs, there would be
nothing left for education, let alone female
education.
“A salary-focused budget is not sustainable and that means
there is not
money for real education in 2012”, said
Gaidzanwa.
Professor Gaidzanwa also said 64 percent of the education
budget will go
towards current transfers, which means it is money already
spent.
Meanwhile, the budget allocation for the Basic Education
Assistance Module
is pegged at $16million and targeted at 160 000 secondary
school pupils.
Pupils in primary education are not included in this
allocation. Gaidzanwa
said the government was rescinding on its
responsibility to provide basic
education.
“Reference to primary
school pupils is made where the budget states that
cooperating partners
stand ready to match government’s efforts with focus on
vulnerable primary
schools and this does not clearly state what government
is going to assist
especially the girl child who is socially disadvantaged.”
The budget for
BEAM is not gender responsive as it does not disaggregate
beneficiaries by
gender. The budget’s non committal stance towards primary
education under
BEAM is contradictory to the MTP objectives which include
introducing free
and compulsory primary education and promoting compulsory
education for
children, especially the girl-child up to secondary level.
Whilst the $30
000 allocation towards gender mainstreaming for tertiary
education is a
welcome development in the 2012 budget, the amount allocated
is not
commensurate with the extent of gender imbalances existing in
tertiary
education. Furthermore, no budget was provided for gender
mainstreaming for
education, sports and culture although the MTP provides
for gender
mainstreaming in all sectors of the economy.
$1 301 000 (0, 4 %) of the
total education budget has been allocated to the
Ministry of Higher
Education and $25 million for the Students Grant and Loan
Scheme. However,
Gaidzanwa said the current budgetary allocation did not
disaggregate the
institutions and universities to reflect the gender
distribution of
enrolment. Meanwhile, universities in Zimbabwe generally
enrol up to 30%
female students whilst the rest are in teacher training
colleges and
polytechnic colleges. The budget therefore needs to increase
funding to the
colleges that have greater numbers of female students.
“Funding schemes
should be structured with the purpose of strengthening
female participation
in technical and scientific sector higher education,”
said
Gaidzanwa.
Other participants at the ZWRCN budget analysis workshop
raised concern over
the disbursement challenges faced by various ministries
in 2011. They said
whilst the reintroduction of the loan scheme was noble,
its implementation
was key in order to avoid a repeat of the 2011 commitment
which ended on
paper. - You may send your feedback to zwrcn@zwrcn.org.zw/www.zwrcn.org/
call +2634 700250
Mutsvangwa
a ‘Shadow MP’
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Zimbabwe’s former Ambassador to China and member of the
Zimbabwe Media
Council, Chris Mutsvangwa, has become the first shadow
minister in President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF)
party.
02.12.1105:16pm
by Ngoni Chanakira Harare
The new title
was given to the staunch Zanu (PF) supporter in an
advertisement that
appeared in The Herald daily newspaper on Wednesday. The
newspaper was
advising Zimbabweans about a debate being held at the SAPES
Trust on the
Global Political Agreement and how it had performed.
Participants in the
debate included new MDC President, Welshman Ncube, Rudo
Gaidzanwa, a
political scientist and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe,
and
Ambassador Mutsvangwa representing the forming ruling party, Zanu
(PF).
The advertisement called Mutsvangwa the "Shadow MP for
Norton".
The former diplomat has unsuccessfully tried to grab the Norton
constituency
from the MDC-T led by Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mutsvangwa has a
successful commercial farm in Norton, where he is in
partnership with his
wife, Monica, MP for Chimanimani under Zanu (PF). The
farm was allocated to
him during the controversial Land Resettlement
Programme.
He is a very strong critic of the MDC-T and "Western
detractors", regularly
appearing on the monopolistic national broadcaster,
the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation as an "analyst". He regularly bashes
the MDC-T has
already said he will stand in Norton during the next general
election under
Zanu (PF).
British
taxpayers paid £8m to buy Land Rovers for Mugabe thugs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
By Steve
Doughty
Last updated at 12:11 AM on 3rd December 2011
British
taxpayers provided Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe with £8million in
aid to
buy police vehicles that were used to crush his own people, a report
found
yesterday.
The tyrant’s regime was also supplied with loan guarantees
worth £21million
to help him import more than 1,000 Land Rovers.
The
vehicles were sent to Zimbabwe only after Mugabe promised that they
would be
used ‘with due respect for human rights’. In particular he pledged
not to
use them for riot control.
But within two years of their delivery, the
Land Rovers were being used to
crush demonstrations and to supervise the
seizure of white-owned farms by
Mugabe cronies.
The way British
taxpayers’ money was used to support one of the world’s most
vicious
dictatorships in the name of aid and development was set out in a
report by
the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a church-led group pressing for the
cancellation
of Third World debt. It said that Britain’s Export Credit
Guarantee
Department backed the loan guarantees that paid for most of the
vehicles.
‘The UK government, driven by corporate interest, made no
social impact
analysis before supporting this loan,’ the report said. ‘It
gave no
consideration as to whether it was a productive project that would
benefit
people and generate the resources with which to repay
it.’
Campaign chief Nick Dearden said: ‘None of this excuses the
responsibility
of the regime for what has taken place in Zimbabwe. But the
people of
Zimbabwe also need to hold the rich world to account for the role
it has
played in Zimbabwe’s economic decline.’
Powerful police: The Land
Rovers were used by the tyrant as vehicles for the
authorities
The
Land Rovers were supplied in the late 1990s, before Mugabe began his
land
grab of white-owned farms in 1999. Britain banned further shipments of
the
vehicles to Zimbabwe police in May 2000, when the country’s economy was
collapsing and its police were engaged in suppressing revolt in its towns
and cities.
Documents released to MPs have shown that 1,030 Land
Rovers were supplied
before Labour Foreign Secretary Robin Cook blocked the
delivery of the last
450 in spring 2000.
Zimbabwe started its
programme of land seizures in 2000. Over the bloody
decade which followed,
up to 90 per cent of the country’s white farmers were
forced off their
land.
But although the president had promised to redistribute the wealth
with his
country’s poorest, it is believed up to 40 per cent of the seized
farms are
now owned by a tiny black elite comprising senior figures loyal to
Mugabe.
Review of Two Zimbabwe
Novels
http://africanarguments.org
Review of Two Zimbabwe
Novels: The Boy Next Door and The Trial of Robert Mugabe — Reviewed by James
Kilgore
The Boy Next
Door by Irene Sabatini, Little
Brown and Company, New York, 2009, 403pp.
The Trial of Robert
Mugabe by Chielo Zona Eze, Okri Books, Chicago, 2009,
158pp.
Reviewed by James
Kilgore
The arrival of
these two new voices on the Zimbabwe literary scene is cause for celebration.
Both authors offer a nuanced and creative effort to portray the complexities and
ultimate degeneration of post-independence Zimbabwe.
Sabatini’s is the
more ambitious and conventional of the two. Written in a minimalist style
similar to Petina Gappah’s, Sabatini’s debut novel focuses on an unlikely love
story between a young coloured girl, Lindiwe Bishop, and her white next door
neighbor, the erratic Ian McKenzie.
The novel begins
in the early 1980s with Lindiwe still a school girl and spans to the late 90s.
Zimbabwe passes through its many twists and turns in the shade of the evolving
romance.
Sabatini is at her
best depicting the details of Bulawayo and the vagaries of the Fifth Brigade in
Matabeleland. The writer has a passion for the charm of Zimbabwe’s second city,
an appreciation of each and every storefront and stop street. The images of
central Bulawayo strike wonderful chords. Her portrayal of Lindiwe’s family,
with the contradictions of long hidden secrets and the brutality of neglect,
also resonates. In particular, Lindiwe’s unearthing of the liberation war
treachery of an uncle who postures as a heroic guerrilla in the post-1980 years,
gives us a clear glimpse into the manufacture of wartime legends. As Lindiwe
unearths her uncle’s past, the reader cannot help but think of the military
records of the thousands of fraudulent war vets who have climbed on the land-and
-payout bandwagon in the last decade.
While she has
delivered a comfortable and engrossing read, Sabatini also occasionally
stumbles. Though the relationship between Lindiwe and Ian seems credible in the
early stages, after Bishop completes university and develops a distinct gender
awareness, her ongoing attraction to a classic Rhodesian male who continues to
use racial epithets becomes less believable . Lindiwe seems all too eager to
forgive at a time in her life where such forgiveness appears out of place. In an
interview the author stated that the central question of the book was whether
Lindiwe and Ian would “manage to keep this connection.” They do, which may
frustrate some readers, as it appears Lindiwe should have moved on. While
Lindiwe wouldn’t be the first woman to stay in a relationship long past the sell
by date, I wonder how the novel would have worked if the couple had broken up.
Perhaps a more authentic reflection of the racial and political tensions of the
times would have emerged.
Despite these
shortcomings, with The Boy Next Door, Sabatini has established herself
as a promising figure among Zimbabwean writers. Though she’s not yet in the
league of Vera, Dangarembga or Chinodya, Irene Sabatini is perfectly capable of
tackling a broad canvas with fluid prose and considerable insight. Her voice is
more than welcome and her ear for dialog is superb.
By contrast Chielo
Zona Eze is a Nigerian whose clear cut mission is to condemn Mugabe. In a
personal communication with the reviewer, Eze labeled the Zimbabwean President
as “the epitome of political dysfunction in Africa,… a symptom of wider phenomena”
on the continent. The author possesses a special antipathy for Mugabe’s
attempts to “silence his critics and the voice of the people” by blaming all
Zimbabwe’s problems on the West. Eze believes it is the duty of African writers
to “expose such lies and deception.”
In keeping with
his overtly political purpose, Eze doesn’t hold back. At first The Trial of
Robert Mugabe’s premise appears a little absurd. Mugabe sits in
heaven at the Final Judgment Day, his fate to be determined by a range of iconic
African heroes: Zimbabwean writers Yvonne Vera and Dambudzo Marechera, Steve
Biko and Chief Justice Olaudah Equiano, the 18th century Nigerian
writer and abolitionist.
Eze cites Ali
Mazrui’s The Trial of Christopher Okigbo as his structural inspiration
but there are also resonances of Ngugi’s The Trial of Dedan Kemathi and
the transcripts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa.
The author could have gotten into trouble with this trial setting, but he
manages to make it work.
Drawing
extensively on the powerful testimony by witnesses to the atrocities in
Matabeleland, Eze chronicles the Fifth Brigade’s military campaign with
unforgiving frankness and extensive graphic detail. At times, The Trial runs
like a well-constructed history of Mugabe’s years in power, with the testimony
serving as lively and authentic source material.
Eze’s strength
lies in his international and Pan-African vision. By including Biko and Equiano
among those who sit in judgment, Mugabe’s trial becomes not merely an event for
Zimbabwe but one that places human rights violations under ZANU-PF into a
continental and global context.
While there is
much of interest in The Trial, at times the plot line does run a little
thin. The conclusion is a little bit too foregone, yet for anyone who wants to
get a glimpse of Mugabe’s underside, minus the self-serving diatribes of a
Catherine Buckle or Eric Harrison, The Trial of Robert Mugabe is a
valuable and easy read. The events of the legal proceedings flow smoothly and
Eze ultimately presents an optimistic message: that justice in Africa is part of
universal notions of justice and will ultimately triumph. Sadly, as Dobrota
Pucherova pointed out in her review of the book, Eze’s trial may be the only one
Mugabe ever faces. Perhaps that makes the work all the more worth
reading.
The reviewer is an
Affiliated Research Scholar at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) and
the author of the 2009 novel We Are All Zimbabweans
Now.
Dirty
politics
http://www.cathybuckle.com
December 3, 2011, 12:05 am
This will be my last letter for
2011. I am going into hospital next week for
an operation and it’s unlikely
I’ll be functioning properly again until the
New Year.
This weekly
Letter from the diaspora is intended to show how affairs in
Zimbabwe look to
someone who knows the country well but is no longer a
resident. Cathy
Buckle’s Letter, on the other hand, comes from inside and
reflects the daily
realities of life in Zimbabwe: the water and power
shortages, the vagaries
of the economic situation and the effects of
politics on ordinary people’s
lives. Cathy has the dubious pleasure of
hearing and seeing for herself the
ZBC/ZTV coverage of events- in and
outside Zimbabwe - while people in the
diaspora can only guess what ‘Idiot
News’ is saying. What Cathy can do that
people in the diaspora can’t, is see
the beauty of nature in Zimbabwe: the
birds, plants, trees and wide African
skies – and she does that beautifully.
It is my hope that the two Letters,
taken together, give a rounded and
accurate picture of life in Zimbabwe,
particularly now as the country goes
into the 3rd year of a GNU.
There was general agreement that the GNU had
at least succeeded in
stabilising the economy. Looking back to the economic
madness of 2008, a
year before the formation of the GNU, the Zim.dollar had
become the laughing
stock of the world. Now, in 2011, Tendai Biti has
presented a budget which
has earned him praise as ‘the best finance minister
since Independence’. His
budget was hailed as a genuine people’s budget. It
was a shock to hear that
MPs from both sides of the house chose to hold up
the budget until they were
given their allowances. Friday brought the news
that the MPs’ action was
successful and they will be paid the arrears in
their allowances.
This week the stories about Morgan Tsvangirai’s
personal life reached fever
pitch and politics played its sordid part even
there. This time it was the
dirtiest brand of Zanu PF politics as practised
by the state controlled
media which delights in spreading scurrilous rumours
about Mugabe’s
opponents. Today, Tsvangirai issued a detailed statement
clarifying the
whole matter - and not before time. The story, had it been
allowed to run,
was deeply damaging to Tsvangirai’s reputation. That, of
course, was the
intention of the Zanu PF rumour mongers; politics at its
very dirtiest!
Another example of dirty politics this week was the issuing
of bags of
maize – to Zanu PF supporters only - bearing pictures of Robert
Mugabe.
Whether this was intended to show that the 10kg bag of maize was the
personal gift of Robert Mugabe is not clear but it must certainly have
seemed like that to the recipients.
It was Ignatious Chombo, the
Minister of Local Government, who revealed the
depths to which Zanu PF
politics will sink, so desperate are they to retain
power. Chombo was
addressing a meeting of village headmen about a boundary
dispute but,
despite the fact that all three political parties had earlier
united to call
for peace, Chombo turned his address into a violent political
rant. He told
the assembled headmen that they had to support Robert Mugabe
in the next
election; if they supported Tsvangirai they would face dire
consequences. No
Zanu PF member would ever spend time in a cell for
defending their
territory, he said! And it was then that Chombo told the
chiefs and headmen
something which we have all known for a very long time –
but it was no less
shocking for that: “Zanu PF controls the police,” he
said, “and tells them
who to arrest and keep because they (the police) never
say no to their
instructions.” To hear a cabinet minister making such an
admission is
profoundly shocking. Chombo has been castigated for inciting
public violence
but what he said to that group of traditional leaders goes
much further than
that because it undermines the very foundations of the
democratic state
which Zimbabwe claims to be.
Not a good omen for democratic politics in
Zimbabwe in 2012.
With very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to
all Zimbabweans, at
home and in the diaspora.
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle PH.
Chicken dinner
Dear Family and Friends,
Believe it or not, the hot topic of conversation
this week was
take-away chicken portions. Shock, intrigue and controversy
came with
an advert for chicken pieces that was aired on DSTV, a South
African
satellite television broadcaster that is available in many
countries
in Africa.
The advert came from Nando’s, a South African
fast food chain which
has a Zimbabwe franchise and outlets in many centres
around the
country. The advert shows Robert Mugabe standing alone at a
Christmas
dinner table, holding place name cards of absent guests. To
background
music of “Those were the days my friend,” and with actors
playing
the characters, Mugabe is shown having a water pistol fight
with
Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, whose is using his trademark golden
gun.
Then on stage he sings with China’s Chairman Mao, and later
makes
sand angels in the desert with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Final
scenes
are of Mugabe playing on swings with South Africa’s P W Botha
and
then standing on top of a tank with Uganda’s Idi Amin, both with
their
arms outspread in classic Titanic pose. The advert ends with the
words “No
one should ever eat alone so get a Nando’s six pack
meal, for
six.”
The advert was definitely a case of forbidden fruit being
more
desirable as people scrambled to find a satellite TV where they
could
watch the Nando’s advert. Ironically it’s only because the sole
TV
channel in Zimbabwe, ZBC, is so biased and full of propaganda,
that
everyone that can has satellite television. In the blink of an eye
the
advert was on You Tube enabling even more people to watch
it.
Within a couple of days the inevitable happened and a Zanu PF
militant
group known as Chipangano warned, through ZBC radio, that
Nando’s
should withdraw the advert or face punitive action. Chipangano
called
for an apology for what they described as the negative portrayal of
Mr
Mugabe in the advert.
The blame game and denials rapidly moved into
full swing. Nando’s
Zimbabwe said they were not informed about the advert or
the marketing
strategy of Nando’s South Africa. DSTV said they could not
“filter
out” adverts on the satellite channels that were available
to
Zimbabwean subscribers. A major shareholder of the company that
holds
the Nando’s Zimbabwe franchise, who is himself and ex Zanu
PF
Governor, said the advert was a ‘violation of business ethics” and
in
disregard of “African values.”
Of course, anyone that hadn’t seen the
advert by that stage, made
determined efforts to see it and find out what all
the fuss was about.
Things reached absurd levels midweek when the Short Wave
Radio Africa
broadcast was jammed just as a news report about the Nando’s
advert
began. The jamming continued for the next two hours and no one was
in
any doubt about who was behind the radio’s signal
interference.
What had started out as a Christmas advertising campaign
for a chicken
dinner had turned deadly serious. On Thursday Nando’s South
Africa
announced they were removing the advert because of the
:“volatile
climate and believe that no TV commercial is worth risking the
safety
of Nando’s staff and customers.”
And the world thinks that
everything is OK in Zimbabwe? Happy chicken
dinner. Thanks for reading, until
next time, love cathy 3rd December
2011. Copyright � Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com