Three officials aligned to the Anglican Church
under Bishop Chad Gandiya’s leadership, were arrested on Sunday after a
morning service in their Manicaland church.
The three church members,
including the Pastor, church warden and church treasurer, were all arrested
at the Bonda Mission Church following a packed Sunday service.
The
three were taken to Mutasa police station and charged for illegally entering
the property, which was recently handed back to Gandiya’s church after being
seized by the ousted Nolbert Kunonga.
Last week the Supreme Court ordered
Kunonga to hand over all church properties in his possession, ending a
five-year feud that began when Kunonga pulled out of the Church Province of
Central Africa (CPCA). He formed his own church, the Church Province of
Zimbabwe, but held on to the CPCA properties.
Kunonga has since filed
a court injunction to stop the eviction of his followers who have been
occupying the properties he illegally seized, and a decision is expected in
the High Court on Tuesday.
Kumbirai Mafunda from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) told SW Radio Africa on Monday that the arrest of the
Bonda Mission church members is linked to the ongoing fight with Kunonga.
Mafunda explained that the three church leaders were held overnight at
Mutasa police station before being brought before a magistrate on
Monday.
“The prosecutors decided not to go ahead with prosecution and
they acknowledged that the police had erred in arresting the three. So they
were finally released,” Mafunda said.
He added: “We are worried by
the deterioration of the rule of just law in Zimbabwe. We have seen how the
Kunonga faction has defied court orders for years. It seems to be in their
DNA. But it is part of a wider problem where the situation continues to
deteriorate in Zimbabwe.”
HARARE
- Anglicans across the country were led into their churches by police as
supporters of ex-communicated clergyman Nolbert Kunonga defied a Supreme
Court order directing them to leave the Church of the Central Province of
Africa’s (CPCA) properties.
According to witnesses at Daramombe
Mission, Mashonaland East Province, Anglicans were denied entry into their
church and only intervention of police from the dog section enabled them to
get through.
“People were denied entrance into the church by a group of
toyi-toying Kunonga supporters who were armed.
“The police were
called in and they brought dogs with them. However, that did not stop the
gang who went on to beat worshippers,” said a member of the CPCA.
In
Mutare, which is in the diocese of Manicaland, Anglicans in some parts also
sought assistance from the police in order to get into their
churches.
Precious Shumba, Anglican spokesperson said they had managed to
take most churches across the Harare diocese which include Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland provinces.
In central Harare,
Anglicans enjoyed church services after the messenger of court successfully
sent Kunonga packing.
Last week, police arrested five bouncers in Harare
who had been roped in by Kunonga to harass worshippers and on Thursday
Kunonga’s thugs severely assaulted a reverend and only the intervention of
the police saved the day. - Staff Writer
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer Monday, 03 December
2012 12:10 HARARE - Fallen former Anglican Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga has
sensationally claimed that he deserves to retain control of the church
properties because he has fiercely supported President Robert
Mugabe.
Kunonga also claims he also deserves to regain the property
because he has supported the judiciary and ministers in Mugabe’s
government.
The ex-communicated and disgraced Bishop is also now playing
the racial card saying he must be awarded church property because he fought
against whites.
These strange and controversial details are contained in
Kunonga’s High Court application in which he is fighting to regain control
of the church.
Kunonga claims church properties across the country,
including the main Cathedral in central Harare, are “natural resources” that
cannot be owned by a foreigner.
Kunonga was left high, dry and
clutching at straws following a Supreme Court decision that ruled that the
defrocked “archbishop” was no longer an Anglican and should cede control of
church properties to the Church of the Province of Central Africa
(CPCA).
“The defendant (CPCA) and its mother church supported the
imposition of sanctions against the Head of State (Mugabe) and those who
supported him and the State.
“The defendant, its officials and the
mother church spoke openly against (Mugabe), ministers, the judiciary and
anyone who had equal persuasion or shared the same political belief and
would be seen actively castigating the government of the day,” Kunonga said
in court papers seen by the Daily News on Sunday.
For the past few
years, Kunonga has been used by Zanu PF in their propaganda tactics and was
also heavily protected by police in his illegal grabbing of the Anglican
Church property.
He was regularly seen at Mugabe functions but now Zanu
PF seems to have dumped the disgraced former bishop.
However,
Kunonga seems to be contradicting himself.
While the former Anglican
clergyman told the Supreme Court he had never left the global communion, he
now tells the High Court, his church, the Anglican Church of the Province of
Zimbabwe has been in existence since 2007.
“Plaintiff (Anglican Church of
the Province of Zimbabwe) has been in existence and recognised by the
defendant since 2007 as a separate entity and has been running all churches
under a separate leadership.
“Defendant accepted the status quo and was
now worshipping from different places leaving the occupation and use of the
Cathedral and other buildings under the plaintiff,” Kunonga
argues.
Kunonga then plays the race card and the controversial
empowerment programme in his court papers.
“Plaintiff is entitled to
claim ownership of the church, schools, colleges and properties as these
form the natural resources of the Zimbabwean community just like land and
minerals.
“They cannot be owned by a foreign entity. Plaintiff cannot
claim ownership of a property in a foreign land such as the United Kingdom,
so must the defendant.
“The Anglican Church represented by CPCA did
not accept the current ideology of the government and Zanu PF in
particular.
“The plaintiff has embraced the ideology initially enunciated
by Zanu PF and adopted by the State that is the policy of indigenisation,
land acquisition, distribution and economic empowerment of the ordinary
members of the community and the distribution of natural resources,” he
said.
“Re-colonisation became a major issue between plaintiff and
defendant’s mother church deliberately which advanced the interests of the
former colonial masters,” the former bishop added.
The fight for the
soul of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe is refusing to go away and has taken
in global banking giant Standard Chartered, while violence has marred
intended evictions.
The gun-toting Kunonga also threatened to shoot
journalists covering his embarrassing eviction from the main Cathedral in
Harare.
Police, who have been accused of abating the renegade bishop’s
four-year reign of terror, also turned their baton sticks on Kunonga and his
proxies as they sought to kick out pockets of resistance from within the
former cleric’s scattered flock.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he learnt with great
shock and concern about the savage beatings of MDC-T activists in Zhombe, by
uniformed members of the Zimbabwe National Army last week.
The attack
on the supporters left 40 injured, five of them seriously, when soldiers
went on a rampage at Samambwa business centre in Zhombe, in the Midlands
province. Tsvangirai said soldiers should not be terrorizing citizens who
they are supposed to be protecting from external attacks.
The Premier,
who was in Redcliff last week Friday for a meeting with the party’s Midlands
North provincial council, was briefed about the incident by the provincial
chairman Costain Muguti. Many of those who escaped unhurt or with minor
injuries made their way to Redcliff, where some of them had an audience with
Tsvangirai.
Muguti explained that the attack seems to have united the
people of Zhombe, who ended up providing the biggest number of delegates at
the provincial council meeting.
‘The people of Zhombe united and
resolved that violence will not stop or deter their resolve to see change in
Zimbabwe. Instead of staying indoors fearful of follow-up attacks, the
people from Zhombe came in their numbers in Redcliff determined to show
solidarity with their colleagues.
‘So on the sidelines of the meeting,
the Premier asked to be updated on the Zhombe incident. We explained in
detail what transpired and he told us he was bothered to learn that soldiers
can beat up people old enough to be their grandfathers,’ Muguti
said.
Two of the five people now admitted at the Avenues clinic in Harare
sustained broken limbs and internal injuries in the unprovoked attack. They
are 77 year old Peter Frank and 74 year old Phineas
Madhlembwa.
Muguti said Tsvangirai told them such brutality by members of
the military deserves a full investigation and their behavior cannot be
tolerated at all. The soldiers who carried out the attack were guarding
farming inputs for the Maguta project at the business centre.
Victims
were made to lie down on the ground and bludgeoned with logs. Women were
stripped naked and had their T-shirts burnt. 18 cell phones and wrist
watches were also thrown into a fire.
‘We are happy that five of our
supporters at the Avenues are making steady progress, while some were
treated in KweKwe and discharged. The majority of those who received minor
injuries were treated at a local clinic in Zhombe,’ Muguti added.
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces last week deployed troops along
the Mozambican frontier to halt possible incursions by the resurgent Renamo
rebels, led by opposition leader Alfonso Dhlakama.
Army units have
been stationed along more than 1,000km of the eastern border with Mozambique
as a precaution over military instability emanating from the uprising by
Dhlakama’s troops.
Dhlakama is the leader and commander in chief of the
Mozambican opposition party and rebel movement Renamo. He said last month
that his dissident army was keen to wage war and destroy Mozambique, unless
the government there met his demands, which include political reforms and a
revision of the 1992 peace accord.
Media reports in the past weeks
suggest there are fears that Dhlakama’s troops could terrorise Zimbabwean
citizens in the Manicaland border province with Mozambique. Concerns have
also been raised over the possibility that the troops could attack
facilities like the Feruka oil pipeline. The 287km- ng pipeline stretches
from Beira in Mozambique to the Feruka oil refinery outside
Mutare.
Dhlakama and his nearly 800 troops are camped at the Casa Banana
base on the foot of Mount Gorongossa.
Renamo and the ruling Frelimo
party government fought a bitter civil war which raged from 1977 and ended
with the signing of the Rome Peace Accord in 1992. The accord led to the
formation of a unity government.
In terms of the agreement political
leaders were to share government posts equitably, while all former
combatants who were not demobilised were to be integrated into the police
and the armed forces.
Dhlakama and his Renamo insist that the Freelimo
government has not ever tried to honour this agreement and its members say
they also want a bigger share of Mozambique’s expected coal and gas profits,
plus an overhaul of the electoral system to prevent alleged fraud.
More infighting within the structures of
ZANU PF is reported to have surfaced in Robert Mugabe’s own rural home, just
days before the party conference in Gweru.
A report in the
independent NewsDay newspaper said activists loyal to the Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo, who is also the Zvimba North MP, have banned
supporters from wearing party regalia that has Mugabe’s image.
Thousands
of items with Mugabe’s portrait were reportedly sourced by Edwin Matibiri, a
close relative of Mugabe’s who aspires to be in parliament. NewsDay said
Chombo’s supporters reportedly viewed Matibiri’s actions as part of a
campaign strategy to replace Chombo in Zvimba district, before the party
announces a date for the primaries.
The regalia, which included scarfs
and bandanas, has already claimed some victims. Four ZANU PF executives in
Zvimba North were reportedly suspended by the district chairperson, Hardlife
Chiwoniwoni, after they were caught wearing the forbidden regalia supplied
by Matibiri.
According to NewsDay, the four wasted no time in writing to
the ZANU PF chairman for Mashonaland West, John Mafa, asking him which
regalia they should wear “since Katawa district is now afraid to put on ZANU
PF regalia”. The letter, dated November 29, was copied to Chiwoniwoni, who
had suspended them.
The letter read in part: “As far as the party is
concerned, we feel we have done nothing bad. We will not surrender this
regalia to you since this will be tantamount to surrendering ZANU PF. On the
regalia, there is the portrait of President Mugabe, so if I don’t put it on,
whose regalia should I put on?”
One of the suspended executives,
Mercy Mutyavaviri, told NewsDay that 5,000 ZANU PF members in the district
were in possession of the regalia, but were now unsure what to do because
they feared being viewed as supporters of Chombo’s rival.
NewsDay
said Matibiri admitted that he supplied the regalia, but refused to comment
further.
'Differences do not
necessarily lead to fighting' says activist as Mugabe and Tsvangirai prepare
to renew contest in 2013 poll
Mark Tran guardian.co.uk, Monday 3
December 2012 07.00 GMT
With elections scheduled for next year in
Zimbabwe, human rights groups fear a recurrence of the violence that broke
out around the disputed vote in 2008, when President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party lost its parliamentary majority.
In a report last week, the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an NGO network,
expressed concern that human rights defenders could become victims of a
potential rise in violence and a crackdown on civil society due, in
particular, to collusion between security forces and the presidential
party.
The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) describes
Zimbabwe's political situation as "highly volatile" (pdf). DfID is providing
£80m-90m in aid to Zimbabwe this year and next, and says it is prepared to
increase aid significantly if a government is elected that "reflects the
will of the people".
This is the difficult situation in which Leo
Wamwanduka, a peace activist, is operating. Wamwanduka runs Envision, an NGO
working at community and village level to build bridges in an attempt to
defuse violence before a referendum for a new constitution, which is
supposed to take place at the end of this year, and elections in
2013.
Zimbabwe is set to hold elections by June to end the power-sharing
deal between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister. The two
formed a coalition in 2009 under a "global political agreement" brokered by
regional leaders after the election in which Mugabe claimed victory over
Tsvangirai in the presidential vote.
"Our main message is that we can
see things differently, but it is important to acknowledge that differences
do not necessarily lead to fighting," said Wamwanduka, who was in London
last week to discuss Envision's work with MPs on the all-party parliamentary
group on conflict and to compare notes with people working to reduce gang
violence in Newham, London.
Wamanduka said: "Having an argument can be
good because it may bring the benefit of new ideas and people get their say,
but when an argument is not handled properly it can lead to violence. It is
important for people to be able to disagree. We try to instil a culture of
tolerance where there is an appreciation of diversity of
views."
Envision is working in five villages in Hurungwe district in
Mashonaland West province in northern Zimbabwe, reaching about 1,400-1,500
people. The area saw considerable political violence in the runup to the
last election. "We work with key individuals, traditional leaders and young
people, hold training workshops in analysing and defining conflict and
violence," said Wamwanduka.
So far, 22 traditional local leaders have
been trained and local peace committees set up to support their work. The
other key message in these workshops is that peace is a precondition for
development and a chance at prosperity. However, that message comes against
a backdrop of the highest level of youth unemployment in southern Africa –
59.6% in 2004, according to the latest official figures.
"There are
similarities in how underprivileged young people react to their situations.
Here [London], they form gangs and get into trouble. In my country, they
join political parties to do mischief as part of the political game," said
Wamwanduka.
One way of dealing with disaffected young people is to
identify troublemakers and ask them to join communal projects, such as
"peace gardens", where potential antagonists are brought together to grow
vegetables. If gardening seems an unlikely path to reconciliation, Envision
also organises team activities such as football, volleyball and netball,
where teams comprise members of different communities.
The test of
Envision's efforts will come nearer the elections. The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders is not alone in its concerns. In July,
the outgoing US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, expressed his fears
about election violence, judging by recent trends. At his last media
briefing, he said there were "disturbing signs" of the potential for
violence. Political indoctrination rallies have started, and residents have
noted increasing incidents of political violence.
Wamwanduka said the
nature of the threat has changed. "It is more intimidation rather than
violence. People are being visited and given warnings, and there have been
arbitrary arrests and detention," he said. "We are working at the grassroots
level and hope that the spirit we have can make its way higher up."
AIR ZIMBABWE has said its recently acquired Airbus aircraft will
go into service in the new year as the troubled airline looks to revive its
flagging operations.
Management says acquisition of the Airbus A320
aircraft, which are being kept at the company's Harare International Airport
hangers, is part of a plan to modernise its ageing fleet.
Acting
chief executive Innocent Mavhunga said the aircraft would service the
airline’s regional routes. “We have two A320 airbuses, which are meant
for regional routes since they cannot do long hauls," Mahunga told state
media at the weekend.
"We will be announcing by mid-December when they
will be taking to the skies, but it is most probably going to be in
January.”
Air Zimbabwe is battling a mountain of debt estimated at more
than US$140 million and was last year forced to pull out of the lucrative
London route after its aircraft was seized by creditors.
The
state-owned airline which has been offering a truncated domestic service
recently resumed flights to South Africa where another plane was also
attached last December over debts.
Mavhunga said the addition of the
Airbus aircraft would help put the airline on the path to recovery at a time
competition has also increased with the return to Zimbabwe of several global
carriers and other regional airlines.
“This (acquisition of new aircraft)
is a boost to the current fleet. But our major endeavour is to return to the
international scene. As we speak, an Air Zimbabwe team is in Maputo to
finalise on the code sharing deal with LAM and we will have the full details
once there are back,” he said.
The airline has also been readmitted to
the global reservations system after being kicked out some six months ago
for failing to pay membership and related fees.
“The airline is now
visible and accessible online and can be booked worldwide in all countries
that we have Central Reservation Systems (CRS) and Global Distribution
Systems (GDS) agreement,” the company’s spokesperson Shingai Taruvinga
said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has also announced
plans to help the airline regain its place on regional routes such as
Harare-Johannesburg after losing ground to rivals such as South African
Airways.
ZTA boss Karikoga Kaseke said Air Zimbabwe’s international
reputation had taken a battering adding the airline should concentrate on
becoming competitive and winning back the confidence of the travelling
public
“It is critical that the brand is regained and that Air
Zimbabwe returns to become a competitive airliner. There is no brand to talk
at the moment; it was lost some ten years ago so what we are now trying to
do is to regain that brand which we lost over a period spanning ten years,”
Kaseke said.
“It will take some time for the airline to regain their
brand and the confidence of the travellers is what is now needed
most. “Everywhere the airline was flying its brand has been battered; the
travelling public has lost faith in the airline even in the traditional
routes such as China and the UK.
“So this confidence building
initiative will take some time, give them 3-4 months, but what is needed
most is for the government to chip in.”
The government has since agreed
to take over the airline’s debt but wants the company to trim its bloated
workforce as part of measures aimed at helping return the company to
viability.
Efforts to bring on board technical partners from China ha
however proved unsuccessful to date with Transport Minister Nicholas Goche
conceding that the airline’s image problems and massive debts were putting
off potential investors.
Agriculture
Reporter China has continued to top the tobacco buyers’ list since last year
with 52, 8 million kilogrammes so far exported to the world’s largest
market. Last year during the same period, according to the
Tobacco
Industry and Marketing Board, China had bought 51, 3
million kg of tobacco from Zimbabwe. This year China is buying the golden
leaf at US$8,83 per kilogramme, an increase from last season’s price of
US$7,27/kg.
Of the US$725 million raked in from tobacco exports this
season, China has spent US$466 million. Latest statistics from TIMB show
that China is offering the highest price followed by India offering
U$7,62/kg, Argentina and Chile US$7,30/kg while Taiwan is offering
US$7,12/kg.
In Africa, South Africa remains the major buyer for
Zimbabwean tobacco spending US$35,8 million. TIMB chief executive Dr
Andrew Matibiri recently said 40 percent of Zimbabwe’s tobacco was exported
to China.
He said that the country last year exported 57 million-kg of
the golden leaf to there as its tobacco continued to be in demand the world
over.
Zimbabwean tobacco was popular because of its good smoking flavour
and very few cigarette brands globally were made without Zimbabwean
components. He also attributed the good quality to the producers’ high
production skills complemented by the good climate, soils and
techniques.
Tobacco last year accounted for 26 percent of the country’s
total foreign currency earnings. China and Zimbabwe’s trade in tobacco
dates back to the 1980s when the Chinese developed an interest in the pale
to lemon coloured tobacco produced mostly under irrigation in the Highveld
areas of Marondera, Wedza, Beatrice and Harare South.The last 10 years saw a
major shift in China’s import patterns as the Asian giant broadened its
scope to include all quality tobacco that is produced in Zimbabwe.
Monday, 03 December 2012 13:35 HARARE - Local
government minister Ignatius Chombo has instructed Harare City Council to
fork out $100 000 as payment for two probe teams he set up in a space of
four months.
Harare, already battling to contend a typhoid outbreak in
Glen View, will have to pay the Ellen Chivaviro-led investigating team and
that of Madzudzo Pawadyira from its dry coffers.
Both teams were set
up by Chombo following a delivery of sodium cyanide to Harare water
department by a local chemical distribution company.
Mayor Muchadeyi
Masunda told a full council meeting last week that Chombo wrote to his
office instructing him to pay $10 000 to Ellen Chivaviro as the leader of
the probe team, and $8 000 to other team members. “The cost of these teams
will be met by council,” Masunda said.
As was revealed by the Daily News
three weeks ago, all members of the two probe teams will go to this year’s
festive season smiling with rich pickings from council while service
delivery dwindles.
Both teams were set up to investigate tender issues at
Town House. Each team will get $50 000 — with their leaders getting $10
000.
The first team was headed by director of civil protection Madzudzo
Pawadyira — a civil servant and deputised by former Masvingo town clerk
Tsungai Mhangami.
According to Masunda, Pawadyira received not less
than $10 000 on top of his monthly salary from government while other
members of the team pocketed not less than $8 000 each.
The money
paid to these teams can at least buy a Borehole water pump to help residents
get water, or it can be used to renovate dilapidated public toilets which
have now become an eyesore.
Other members of that team included Florence
Ziyambe from the Attorney-General’s office, Environmental Management Agency
director, Petronella Shoko, State Procurement Board member, Patrick
Mushonga, Albert Wakandigara, a consultant on hazardous substances and
Comedy Piti, a mining inspector.
The team led to the suspension of
Warren Park councillor, Julias Musevenzi, who was the procurement board
chairperson for council.
Two months later, Chombo assembled another team
headed by Ellen Chivaviro, the finance and administration director at
Tel*One.
Masunda said each member of the team got $8 000 with Chivaviro
going receive $10 000.
Some of the members on the second team have
previously featured in other investigating teams set up by Chombo to other
local authorities.
Some were members of the Chitungwiza Town Council
probe team headed by Manicaland provincial administrator, Fungai
Mbetsa.
The team reportedly pocketed not less than $20 000.
But
Chombo refused to divulge how much he had recommended for the team’s stay in
the dormitory town south-east of Harare.
Despite paying all these monies
to the team, Chitungwiza is failing to provide to residents due to its
financial status.
Probe teams gobble $100 000Local Government minister
Ignatius Chombo set up two probe teams in Harare in a space of four months.
- Xolisani Ncube
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer Monday, 03
December 2012 13:29 HARARE - Teachers who participated in the census count
have not been paid for the services they rendered more than three months
ago.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said the teachers only
received less than $200.
Just before the population census there was
so much hope as promises of a massive pay out saw even soldiers jostling to
be enumerators.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) urged teachers to employ prostitute-like
tactics in order to squeeze payment from the government.
“Teachers
are themselves to blame, they always let government use them and then dump
them. Up to now teachers who participated in the population census have not
been paid yet Zanu PF is building a multi-million conference facility in
Gweru.
“I want to propose that teachers start working like prostitutes.
First the government gives them money and then they do the assignments,”
said Majongwe.
Although the education sector received $1 billion, the
highest allocation in the 2013, $3,8-billion budget —Majongwe says the
government should walk the talk and dispatch the money to improve the plight
of teachers who live below the $600 poverty datum line.
“Both Zanu PF
and the MDC do not worry about the education sector. When they want things
done their way, money is available but when it comes to paying teachers it
is a war.
“We are proposing that from now onwards teachers should be paid
in advance just as with prostitutes. You first pay and then get the services
later,” said Majongwe.
Last week some teachers desperate to earn
extra cash were marking Grade Seven examination papers and getting 30 cents
per paper marked.
“It is criminal for the government to abuse teachers
that way. How do you pay a professional 30 cents and expect them to be
motivated?
“The government employs the Officials Secrets Act on teachers
and they cannot complain because they have signed a contract. As teachers we
are being abused yearly,” said Majongwe.
Zimbabwean human rights activists in the UK have
urged the government body responsible for immigration there, to probe
reports that people are being drugged during deportation.
According
to the London based pressure group the Zimbabwe Vigil, there are allegations
that some Zimbabwean deportees from the UK are being drugged or threatened
with sedation by security details at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) “to ensure
they do not kick up a fuss when put on a plane home.“
Vigil coordinator
Rose Benton told SW Radio Africa on Monday that many activists, when faced
with deportation, have resorted to delaying tactics to prevent being removed
from the UK. She explained how “a number of airline pilots have refused to
take off when failed asylum seekers have created a scene on board to draw
attention to their plight.”
Vigil founder and former Zim trade union
leader Ephraim Tapa has since raised concern that deportees are being
threatened with sedation. Tapa said that over the weekend he’d been informed
by relatives or friends of four people who were said to have been injected
with sedatives or threatened with sedation to facilitate their
deportation.
Benton said these claims are yet to be verified, but a
recent incident has supported the validity of such comments. She explained
how Vigil supporter Chipo Hazel Tafirenyika, who was deported last Thursday
night, reported that UKBA security guards threatened her with sedation if
she caused any trouble when she was put on the plane.
“We expect that
there should be some kind of investigation, and if anything people should be
approaching their MPs. We would hope that the Home Office gives their
position on the situation,” Benton said.
Meanwhile the UK based Zimbabwe
Association, which deals with immigration and deportation issues of
Zimbabwean nationals, has issued the following information for asylum
seekers:
Information for asylum seekers from the Zimbabwe Association
(ZA)
If you get detained (and do not have a legal representative) put
your name down for an appointment with a legal aid lawyer as soon as
possible. There will be a booking system, probably in the detention centre
library. Each detention centre has legal aid firms contracted to provide
legal help. These are objective legal professionals. If you are already
using a legal aid lawyer when you are detained you should be allowed to
continue with them. Using a private lawyer can be a problem because if
relatives are not able to raise the money required the private lawyer will
not be able to act for you and may drop your case at the last minute.
(Applying for a Judicial Review is a very expensive business.)
If you
are given an appointment with a legal aid lawyer that is after the date of
your flight then tell the Immigration Officer and ask for an earlier date.
Get them to prioritise your case.
If a legal aid lawyer says your case
has no merit ask them to put their reasons in writing.
If you are not
in detention don’t just submit a fresh claim to try to protect yourself. You
have to build up your case and prepare all possible documentation.
If
possible:
Scan all your evidence. Put Reasons for Refusal letter in one
document. Put Immigration Judge Determination in another document. Put
Application for Fresh claim in another document. Put all supporting letters
together in another document. Put all press stories in another
document.
Keep a version of your evidence electronically and make sure
that a trusted friend or relative can access and produce these documents if
/ when you are detained.
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says attempts by
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF to create a wedge between him and his
deputy Thokhozani Khupe were aimed at destroying his party but warned the
MDC will not fall into the trap.
In the past few weeks, there have
been reports that Tsvangirai and Khupe were at war over attempts to pull the
Deputy prime minister to a hearing on allegations of inciting
violence.
Tsvangirai dismissed as false reports that he was fighting
Khupe saying the reported friction was a creation of Zanu PF which wanted to
“kill” his party ahead of elections next year.
“They have come up
with a new conspiracy of trying to destroy our party from inside. They want
to cause divisions among us. I don’t see the reason why I should put my own
deputy under a disciplinary hearing. She is my deputy and if I have problems
with her, I will just call her, then we sit down and talk,” Tsvangirai told
the party’s Bulawayo provincial council meeting in the city on
Saturday.
Reports had indicated that Khupe was facing a hearing for her
alleged role in the violence that rocked MDC ahead of its congress held in
Bulawayo in April 2011.
The MDC national disciplinary committee is
chaired by party chairperson Lovemore Moyo. Tsvangirai is on a nationwide
tour holding meetings with his party structures.
Meanwhile,
Tsvangirai yesterday declared he is ready to govern and was now going around
the country laying the grand strategy of how his MDC will take Zimbabwe out
of the current economic tragedy.
With unemployment standing at over 80
percent, the MDC leader told party leadership in Lupane that he has keys to
unlock the problems bedevilling country’s rundown economy through job
creation. He said he will also create a fair environment for foreign direct
investment.
Secretary in the PM’s office responsible for political
affairs, Alex Magaisa, told the Daily News from Lupane yesterday that
Tsvangirai spoke of an economic recovery strategy which included massive job
creation.
“For the past years, Mugabe has proved to be a failure, He is a
legend in failure and the PM was taking a new vision for Zimbabwe to
grassroots.
“The MDC leader unveiled a strategy which includes
preparation to govern. He is ready to rule. This country will come to life a
minute after his victory. He is ready to turn over the unemployment rates
prevailing in the country by affording an opportunity to serious investors
to revamp our industries,” said Magaisa.
Tsvangirai formed a
coalition government with his arch rival, Mugabe four years ago which has
stabilised the economy and brought back a social service which had
disappeared.
In Lupane, the MDC leader said when he takes over as leader
of the country, infrastructural development will begin to take place a day
after taking over.
According to Magaisa, the former trade unionist
bemoaned the state of industries in Bulawayo which he described as “museums
of manufacturing”.
“He is worried about the number of closed companies in
Bulawayo. The once industrial town has now become a museum, and in his
address, he told the provincial party leadership that all this will be
changed once he assumes governance of the country,” Magaisa said.
The
MDC leader was accompanied by his deputy, Khupe, party vice chairperson
Morgan Komichi, and senior officials from his office.
Before the
Lupane meeting, Tsvangirai met party leadership in Bulawayo and Gwanda and
before that he was in Kwekwe taking his “new government strategy to
grassroots structures saying he was rolling out his plan for a new
Zimbabwe.”
The country is expected to go for elections next year and
Tsvangirai says he will triumph over his long time enemy now turned
coalition partner, Mugabe, who is also seeking to extend his 32-year
rule.
The former ruling party is also campaigning on job creation through
the controversial indigenisation programme.
The MDC says
indigenisation is a “smart robbery” programme which seeks to empower a few
elite individuals leaving the masses wallowing poverty.
Other contenders
for the country’s top job include Welshman Ncube and Simba Makoni but
Tsvangirai says the experience he got in the coalition government has
provided him with an “insight of how to govern as well as how not to
govern”
“The president told the structures here that the decision to
join the inclusive government has helped the party to prepare itself on how
best to govern.
“The party is using experiences from the
dysfunctional inclusive government to get the best of its ability and he
assured the nation that social services and infrastructure development will
becomes the hallmark of his government,” Magaisa added. - Pindai Dube and
Xolisani Ncube
MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
said “lazy” sitting party Members of Parliament (MPs) will be kicked out
during primary elections and he is not going to protect
anyone. Addressing MDC-T Bulawayo provincial council meeting held at party
offices in the city Tsvangirai who was accompanied by his secretary general
Tendai Biti, Vice President Thokozani Khupe, National Organizing Secretary
Nelson Chamisa and his deputy Abedinico Bhebhe said sitting MPs who failed
to deliver during their term of office would be booted out in primary
elections. “I am not going to protect anyone or impose anyone, if you are
an MP and you failed to hold even one meeting in your constituency to give
people feedback about what happened in parliament, you should not expect
people to support you again,” said Tsvangirai. The MDC-T is expected to
hold primary elections around the country this month and campaigns have
already started in some areas where most sitting are seeking re-
election. Tsvangirai also called for unity within his party saying that
members should stop fighting only to get into parliament and senate as they
can save the party in many ways. The Prime Minister also said Zanu (PF)
wants to divide his party and is happy to see the MDC-T members fighting.
“You people are the ones who gave me this team I am working with. You
elected these party leaders during congress and we should not allow Zanu PF
to divide us.” Tsvangirai is on nationwide tour holding meetings with his
party structures in preparation for the country watershed elections next
year. The Premier and his team have so far met party’s provincial structures
in Midlands South Midlands North, Matabeleland South, Harare, Chitungwiza
and Bulawayo. He is expected to meet the Matabeleland North structures on
Sunday. Tsvangirai said he will stand down as leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC-T) if he loses elections slated for March next year,
he told supporters in Gweru on Friday. Tsvangirai, who has led the party
for 13 years, stunned supporters with the shock declaration even as he
predicted his party would win. “2013 election tikaruza, zvakaoma [if we lose,
it would be difficult],” Tsvangirai said.
“You [should] take others
and put them forward, isn’t that so?” The former trade unionist, who became
leader of the MDC at its formation in 1999, surprised supporters further by
openly admitting the MDC had been an “apprentice” of President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party since 2009 when he joined a coalition
government. Tsvangirai said the coalition government had been a blessing in
disguise as the MDC was too inexperienced to rule in June 2008 when he
pulled out of the presidential election, controversially, after more than
200 supporters were murdered in pre-election violence. “For the last four
years, we were in transition - being shown keys, being made apprentices,
being taught how to run government,” Tsvangirai said. “We now know the keys
are here, there and there. God has a purpose. It was God’s plan to first put
us in the GPA, otherwise we would have gone into the deep end without
experience and ended up at each other’s throats. “God wants a peaceful
revolution, not a violent revolution.” Tsvangirai presided over a damaging
split in the party in 2005 when senior figures, including his late deputy
Gibson Sibanda, chairman Isaac Matongo, secretary general Welshman Ncube,
treasurer Fletcher Dulini Ncube, spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi and elections
director Esaph Mdlongwa led a break-away, accusing him of failing to tackle
violence within the party and undemocratic tendencies. Tsvangirai’s
latest pronouncements could encourage rising stars within the party,
including the popular Finance Minister Tendai Biti and likeable Nelson
Chamisa, to step up their interest in the top job. MDC-T supporters yearn for
a re-unification of the party, but most accept that this would not be
possible under a Tsvangirai leadership. Tsvangirai and Ncube, according to
insiders, have a mutual hatred of each other.
KWEKWE – MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti has
called on members of the party to up their game ahead of the 2013 elections
saying while Zanu PF will remain violent, the party would be a lot smarter
as Zimbabweans move to their first ever issues-based election. “We know
Zanu PF never intends to have a peaceful election. They will continue to
beat us up, but they will be a lot smarter and will bring issues to the
table. An MDC cadre should, therefore, have more game and be smarter than
just sloganeering,” Biti said. Addressing hundreds of supporters in
Torwood, Redcliff, during a provincial consultative meeting, Biti explained
that the just-launched MDC-T economic blueprint Juice (Jobs, Upliftment,
Investment, Capital and Environment) which he said would help revive the
collapsed Ziscosteel which is teetering on the brink of an almost collapsed
$750 million investment deal. Biti blamed Zanu PF for leaving a legacy of
economic destruction over its 32 years of uninterrupted stranglehold on
power and thus could not be trusted to lead the country again. “They have
even destroyed the infrastructure which was left by Ian Smith because that
is what they are good at. “There is no better show of Zanu PF’s destructive
power than Ziscosteel which used to be the nerve centre of industry in
Zimbabwe even during the Unilateral Declaration of Independence era,” said
Biti. Biti also said the MDC-T on behalf of the people had won the
constitutional fight and vowed that the party would not bow down to allow
Zanu PF a chance to reverse the gains. - NewsDay “The citizen issues are
sealed, devolution will be in the constitution and all those issues which
have been agreed on will not be compromised. The constitution is our baby
and the MDC-T is not a baby dumper,” Biti said.
Over the weekend President
Morgan Tsvangirai was on a whirlwind tour of some of the provinces in the
country holding Provincial Council meetings which saw him in the Midlands
and Matebeleland provinces.
On Saturday he unveiled the Jobs Upliftment
Investment Capital and Environment policy (JUICE) to party structures in
Bulawayo and Gwanda calling on all MDC members to unite and stop
factionalism ahead of elections to be held next year. President Tsvangirai
said there is need for more unity in the party and urged members to be
organised and stop behaving like renegades.
Also at the weekend, Hon
Theresa Makone who is the Member of Parliament for Harare North and Minister
of Home Affairs as well as the chairperson of the MDC Women’s Assembly
launched the commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based
Violence in Harare at the weekend.
This year’s global theme for the 16
days campaign is: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s
Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!
Manicaland: The
Zimbabwean government must first educate the soldiers they are deploying in
Manicaland on their actual mandate, so that they do not stray and harass
people as we approach the elections set for next year.
Whilst its crucial
for the government of Zimbabwe to deploy army personnel at our borders with
Mozambique in case the Renamo bandits cause any instability, the desperate
army bosses who are an extension of Zanu PF, must not take any advantage of
the situation and send partisan soldiers to campaign for Zanu PF and harass
innocent civilians perceived to be MDC supporters.
Gutu - Recurring
cases of violence and anarchy being reported across the province will not
deter the MDC party from winning the watershed polls scheduled for next
year, senior party officials said at the weekend.
Addressing party
members at a district meeting held at Maungwa Business Centre, ward 24
Gutu South Constituency on Saturday, Provincial Chairman Wilstaff Sitemere
said the MDC should focus on winning the crucial elections expected next
year, instead of jostling for party positions.
More than 20 armed
soldiers from Battlefields in Kadoma deployed under the Operation Maguta
scheme in Zhombe assaulted over 50 MDC activists at a district meeting held
at Samambwa business center in Zhombe, Midlands North Province.
The
soldiers encamped at Samambwa Primary School for a week distributing maize
seed assaulted the MDC members accusing them of denouncing Zanu PF and
insulting Mugabe at their party meetings.
Global Outlook: The company has a big reputation to look after,
in the UK and around the world
JIM ARMITAGE SATURDAY 01 DECEMBER
2012
Zimbabwe's Marange mining region is so littered with diamonds you
can't help tripping over them as you walk. Thus goes the myth about the
hugely valuable resource which could fuel a boom in the country's
economy.
Little wonder, then, that the London Stock Exchange-listed
insurance giant Old Mutual wanted to get a slice of the action by taking a
stake.
Unfortunately for Old Mutual, and President Robert Mugabe's
Zimbabwean government, diamonds from the mine are blocked by sanctions, due
largely to his appalling treatment of white farmers as well as other human
rights violations.
The human rights group Global Witness and Peter
Hain MP have described the glittering stones plucked from Marange as "blood
diamonds", claiming that revenues from these side-deal sales are going to
President Mugabe's security forces, rather than health, education and other
services needed by the people. You can't use an AK47 or a new ministerial
limousine to treat children with HIV, the argument goes.
Are they
really blood diamonds? Not all of them, no. In fact, as Old Mutual is at
pains to point out, the diamonds it has a slice of have been given the seal
of approval from the internationally recognised Kimberley Process watchdog.
That means it guarantees money goes to the Zimbabwean treasury, and not into
the pockets of politicians.
Having said that, Kimberley Process documents
for 2011 show 99 people were arrested that year for having illegal rough
diamonds on them, and the Global Witness NGO has quit Kimberley, alleging it
has failed to be tough enough on Zimbabwe.
There is still some
diamond money coming through to the country, though. Trade blocks in most
western countries don't mean Zimbabwe can't sell its stones elsewhere: it
simply offers them at a knockdown price in places that will still trade with
President Mugabe's henchmen, like Dubai and South Africa.
But the
huge markets of the US and Europe remain out of bounds, while one of the
main companies investing in Marange, the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC), has had its assets frozen by the UK Asset
Freeze department.
One would have thought the issue of investing in a
country that has such widespread sanctions on it from most major western
governments would be a matter of more embarrassment for Old
Mutual.
The company has a big reputation to look after, in the UK and
around the world. Its British arm alone has £4.1bn under management, mostly
from retail investors. I wonder if all of those clients are aware of its
involvement in Zimbabwe.
Old Mutual argues that it invests in the
diamonds through a South African subsidiary and South Africa has no trade
bans on Zimbabwe. Yet Old Mutual has invested in a business partnered up in
the region with ZMDC, trashed by a major Global Witness report earlier this
year that attempted to untangle a deliberately complicated web of companies,
many of which linked back to ministers in President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
Only last week, a report from a diamond trade watchdog, Partnership Africa
Canada, alleged that senior government officials have plundered more than
$2bn of diamonds from the Marange fields. The allegations have been
denied.
Despite the plight of white farmers seeking compensation for
having had their farms illegally seized, Baroness Ashton, the EU's foreign
policy chief, is seeking to lift some sanctions on the government when they
come up for review in February.
White farmers' groups such as Justice
Zimbabwe argue, with good grounds, that this is a disgrace. Lady Ashton's
plans would lift the travel bans currently imposed on a large number of
President Mugabe's fellow party members, allow aid to be given direct to the
government and lift the freezing of some companies' and individuals'
assets.
Whether the lifting of restrictions applies to ZMDC is in some
doubt.
Word around the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is that it won't,
particularly due to the continued condemnation of goings-on at Marange by
Global Witness.
But the drift of European policy towards Zimbabwe is
clearly going in the direction of normalising its relations with the rest of
the world.Lady Ashton says she sees signs of an improvement in human rights
and democracy in the country, and there are possibly some grounds to support
that.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has continued to trade throughout the sanctions
period with countries who do not ratify the trade restrictions. Nowadays,
they say, there are more Chinese than white people in Zimbabwe. Many of them
are working in the diamond industry.
Despite the plans to ease
sanctions on the country, Simon Rainer, head of the British Jewellers'
Association, is in no doubt of where he stands. The Kimberley Process, he
says, may have approved the Zimbabwean mines, but that doesn't make them
clean. Under Kimberley, you can be ratified if your mines are not being used
to fund rebel attempts to overthrow a democratically elected government. But
what if a democratically elected government is using diamond wealth to
suppress indigenous populations, he asks.
Meanwhile, much of the time the
profits go to China, rather than helping to build Zimbabwe's infrastructure,
he says.
"We tell our members, and they agree with us – don't touch
Zimbabwe's diamonds. We don't want anything to do with them."
That's
a far cry from the message coming out of Old Mutual.
Zimbabwe's
Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere confirmed on Sunday that three
gold mining companies are under threat to have their licences
revoked.
Kasukuwere said it was because they had not complied with
Zimbabwe's black empowerment regulations, which state that 51 percent of
shares of all large foreign or white-owned companies must be in the hands of
blacks.
The three firms targeted are Metallon Gold, Vumbachigwe Mines in
Gwanda and John Mack Gold Mine in Kadoma.
Metallon Gold is owned by
South Africa's Mzi Khumalo and has five mines in Zimbabwe.
Kasukuwere
told the Sunday Mail that Metallon had a "negative attitude" towards the
indigenisation policy.
The minister, who's fast becoming one of the most
powerful in President Robert Mugabe's cabinet, claimed the company was
refusing to contribute to a local community share ownership
trust.
Kasukuwere said if they are not interested in doing business in
Zimbabwe they must leave and he has recommended Metallon and the other two
mines have their operating licences revoked.
MISA-Zimbabwe in conjunction with
Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES) on 30 November 2012 released the 2012 African
Media Barometer (AMB) report on the state of the media and freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe at a launch ceremony held in Harare. The AMB
officially launched by MISA-Zimbabwe Chairperson Njabulo Ncube, is a tool
used to assess the state of the media and freedom of expression in African
countries. It also assesses the extent to which African countries, Zimbabwe
included, have gone in complying with the benchmarks set in terms of the
Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa. The AMB
determines how far the country has progressed towards achieving the desired
objectives as defined under the afore-mentioned Declaration by looking at
four key areas, notably: freedom of expression, the media landscape, radio
and television, and quality of journalism. The instrument was jointly
developed by Fesmedia Africa, the Media Project of the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa, and the Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA) in 2004. The report compiled by an 11-member panel
comprising journalists and representatives of civic society, laments the
continued retention of laws such as the Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Broadcasting
Services Act, Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, as hindrances to
the enjoyment of media and freedom of expression rights. While freedom of
expression is guaranteed in the Zimbabwe constitution, citizens live in
constant fear of being arrested and convicted for breaching the laws in
question. “To a certain extent Zimbabweans have thus been subdued and now
tend to act with caution when it comes to exercising their right to freedom
of expression,” says the report. According to the report, corruption had also
become “endemic” in the journalistic profession notwithstanding the poor
salaries and working conditions for journalists and media workers in
Zimbabwe. Leading discussions on the findings of the report Chris Mhike, a
Commissioner with the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), said the
issue of poor working conditions cannot be condoned as an excuse for
compromising the ethics of the profession. “Poverty cannot be an excuse
for unfair and inaccurate reporting” Mhike said.
Participants at the
launch ceremony comprising journalists and members of civic society agreed
with the findings of the report that Zimbabwe was still far from complying
with regional and international instruments that promote freedom of
expression and media freedom.
On media professionalism, MISA-Zimbabwe
Chairperson Ncube said: “This is an issue of great concern that calls for
journalists to go back to the basics (of the profession) to ensure accuracy
and fairness,” said Ncube.
TREES are life but whose life
you may ask? Yours of course and that of the earth’s. For this cause we will
never stress enough the need for you to plant a tree and not to cut one. If
you do, replace that one by planting 10 more trees. And, do not just plant,
but plant and water and see the tree through to maturity.
There are
many things that have been equalled to life, with good merit. Water is
another. These resources are perceived key atoms in the nucleus of human
life, without which, life as known to us, would be critically
endangered.
Each year, therefore, for the past 30 years Zimbabwe has
celebrated the importance of trees by planting more on a day specially set
aside for this purpose, December 1.
This day is now known, as the
National Tree Planting Day (NTPD) and echoes perfectly with the United
Nation’s worldwide efforts on the conservation and protection of trees and
forests.
The Forestry Commission, which is the guardian of Zimbabwe’s
forests, will this year continue to lead this effort aimed at reversing the
damage caused by humans on the country’s tree population. It is targeting
to plant 10 million trees of the indigenous red mahogany species (muwawa or
mururu in shona) between now and December 1, 2013.
President Robert
Mugabe who is the patron of the NTPD was expected to officially launch this
year’s programme at Nyamandlovu Secondary School in Matebeleland North last
Saturday.
That the 2012 official launch occurred in Matebeleland was very
symbolic given this province boast Zimbabwe’s biggest plantation forests,
and are commonly and frequently destroyed by human-sponsored fires as well
as poaching.
They require urgent protection. Some 1 500 trees were to
be planted on the launch day. Forestry Commission spokesperson Ms Violet
Makoto last week said that the 2012-2013 theme, “Grow and Conserve
Trees-Sustain Livelihoods”, was an all encompassing one that promotes tree
growing and tree care as opposed to simple planting.
“This year’s
campaign encourages people to go further than just planting to seeing that
trees planted are taken care of and reach maturity.
“It also looks at
conservation of indigenous trees, the old growth that has been in existence
even before our times,” she explained in an interview.
Every year a
specific tree is declared tree of the year. The red mahogany is for the
current one. Ms Makoto said the tree of the year is chosen based on the
criteria that it is indigenous to Zimbabwe.
It also qualifies if it
possesses important food and or medicinal properties or has potential to
significantly contribute to the socio-economic well-being of the country and
if Zimbabwe can generally benefit from the widespread propagation of the
species.
Some are identified because they are rare and can possibly
become extinct. The red mahogany is a strong, robust tree, which makes ideal
for furniture.
On the other side of town, leading environmental
organisations Environment Africa and the Friends of the Environment (FOTE),
a coalition of corporate entities answered (as they have done over the past
years) to the call for the need to continuously plant trees, more and
more.
Environment Africa is today expected to launch its “For Every
Child A Tree Campaign” at the University of Zimbabwe.
This project
targets to encourage everyone, particularly school children to take issues
of the environment seriously, as well as promote the protection and
conservation of trees. Within the next year, Environment Africa targets to
plant 14 million trees under this project.
At least 500 red mahogany
trees are expected to be planted at launch today. Meanwhile, between
Thursday and Friday last week, FOTE performed its annual walkathon, a road
walk for the trees, this time to Mtoko, a rural town approximately 160km
north-east of Harare.
Last year, FOTE walked 263km to the eastern city of
Mutare from Harare having completed another 278km walkathon from Gweru to
the capital in 2010.
The group has ambitious plans of planting 500
million trees within the next 15 years, which translates to 33 million trees
annually.
Such efforts are very crucial in complimenting Government’s
initiatives in replenishing local forests. 50 million trees planted, many
more destroyed
Over the past 30 years, nearly 50 million trees have been
planted countrywide under the NTPD initiative.
For 2010-2011 the
target was 5 million and this was exceeded by 300 000 trees. Last year,
9,2 million trees were planted out of a targeted 10 million. Early in the
1980s, the yearly target of one million trees was consistently
beaten.
It is not clear, however, whether all these trees have/will
survive to adulthood, so to speak. But what is clear is that Zimbabweans
have shown little or no restraint at all in cutting down trees and
destroying forests.
Each year, at least 330 000 hectares (that’s the size
of the whole district of Zaka) is lost to uncontrolled forests fires,
agriculture preparations and rampant cutting.
Tobacco production
alone accounts for 15 of deforestation in the country. The actual number of
trees lost is not known but spans into millions, and cumulatively, it
exceeds the number of trees planted to date by far.
The Forestry
Commission says only 45 percent of forest cover is left, and at this rate
Zimbabwe will have no forest to talk of in 50 years.
The United Nations
says that at least 15 hectares of forests were being lost per minute between
1990 and 2005.
Ms Makoto said: “The number of trees planted through the
national tree planting day campaigns might seem insignificant in the face of
the rate of deforestation but it does make a huge difference. It is the
effort of every individual to at least replace a tree they have cut down
that ensures a balance between losses and gains.”
Obviously, Ms Makoto is
right. Greater effort than is currently being employed is now
required. Such effort as will concretise the transition from simply focussing
on tree planting to the actual care and conservation of those planted and
existing ones.
This transition must also be able to significantly
change perceptions that the conservation of Zimbabwe's tree life is now
beyond Government’s singular efforts, but a shared national responsibility
which involves participation by individuals, communities, the church,
schools, media and corporates etc.
Saving trees is saving our own
lives Be worried when most or all of the green vegetation in your community,
particularly trees, is rapidly being replaced by emptiness, by vast spaces
of rugged earth, gullies and, well, again, nothing.
But, really in
what way is a tree, life to the human being? Indeed that tree, which does
not even respond when talked to nor cry or weep when the merciless axe
arrogantly sinks into its marrow, why is it important in the greater human
scheme of things?
The reasons are plenty, the most important being trees
provide oxygen, a critical gas for human survival.
At present,
however, we are predominantly concerned about the impact that trees could
have in neutralising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, and
thus minimising the risks of dangerous climate change.
Trees have played
this carbon sink role for millenia although that has significantly
diminished over time, as a result of unrestrained global forest loss facing
too much man-made carbon emissions. Along with numerous other factors, this
has resulted in climate change and global warming, which have made life
extremely difficult especially for the poor.
Trees can help reverse
that and keep global temperatures from rising beyond the dreaded 2 degrees
Celsius limit.
Trees grown to maturity are able to soak up an average 440
tonnes of atmospheric CO2 per hectare. That may mean that of the 330 000ha
of forest lost per year in Zimbabwe, some 145,2 million tonnes of CO2 are
being allowed to roam unchecked in our skies.
In the reverse, that
much could be prevented from aiding the climate change horror if trees the
size of Zaka were planted and cared for each year.
Worldwide, tropical
forests remove 4,8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per
year.
So, from a climate change perspective, trees are crucial. To be
effective, however, trees must be planted on a colossal scale, nursed to
maturity and aided by a in change attitudes, which supports sustainable
forest management practices. Trees perform other important tasks. As defined
by Ms Makoto, trees and forests sustain livelihoods starting from cleaning
the air that we breathe, providing raw materials, providing food and
providing habitats for wildlife.
“In the crisis of global warming,
trees and forests become the immediate response in mitigating against the
effects of climate change,” she said.
“In Zimbabwe many livelihoods are
sustained through use of forest resources such as the timber industry, honey
production. Our lives depend on trees and forests so saving trees is saving
our own lives.” God is faithful.
Monday, 03 December 2012 14:10 IN-DEPTH Abbey
Chikane, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) Monitor to
Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2010, says the Marange question - which nearly ripped
the global diamond watchdog apart over the past three years - was nothing
but a "storm in a tea cup". He gave it the name "isivunguvungu", a
Ndebele word for storm. "I think the storm is over (now)," Chikane
said. "It was a wild storm in a tea cup and it wrecked all of us. I am glad
it's all over. The Kimberley Process can return to work
(now)." Acknowledging there were still some residual pockets of conflict,
brewed by parties with conflict-plus issues in diamond trade, Chikane
assured the industry that stability would be restored to the KPCS when South
Africa takes over the chairmanship of body from the US next year. The US
has been accused of using its chairmanship to sustain the "storm", which
officially ended in November 2011 when the last KPCS Plenary at its annual
session held in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo unanimously
cleared Marange diamonds as conflict-free based on successive KPCS
Monitoring Reports. "Ideally, the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process
should be measured against its ability to ensure that participants and
non-participating states do not slide back to armed conflicts either as a
result of internal crisis or troubled regions and thus compromising
legitimate diamond trade." Chikane was appointed KP Monitor in Swakopmund,
Namibia in November 2009 to superintend over the implementation of a Joint
Work Plan agreed between Zimbabwe and the KPCS for the purpose of bringing
Marange diamond mines to full compliance with KPCS minimum
requirements. The Joint Work Plan was developed in line with the Swakopmund
Administration decision. KPCS minimum requirements include, among other
things, a record of accounting and a system of warranties, without which a
KP certificate cannot be issued to rough diamonds. The Joint Work Plan
came on schedule as Mbada Diamonds and Canadile, now subsumed under Marange
Resources, in August 2010 carried out Zimbabwe's first public auction of
diamonds in Harare and Mutare under the supervision of Chikane. A second
auction was held a month later. By November 2011, all diamond mines in
Marange were duly certified complaint. Reflecting on the process, Mines
and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu, said the road to KPCS
certification was arduous, lengthy and stressful, for the process irked
everyone who was involved, from government and the mines involved to the KP
Monitor and various other stakeholders. "The local diamond sector has come of
age and is now ready to claim its position on the global platform with
Zimbabwe being one of the top five producers of rough diamonds by volume in
the world," he said. Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ)
chairperson, Juliet Machoba, said the final battle in unlocking Zimbabwe's
full diamond potential was the freeing of the marketing and selling of the
gemstones, a critical step in moving the local diamond industry up the
global value chain. MMCZ is the sole selling and marketing agent of
government for all minerals produced in Zimbabwe, except gold and silver.-
FACTS are inconvenient things. More
than that, they are stubborn. Sadly, the interpreters of fact – humans – are
not nearly as reliable. We are subject to shifting emotions, cruel bias, and
sometimes plain evil prejudices.
It is these human frailties that often
lend the seemingly obvious to imaginative interpretations. It’s a cruel
world for the objective man, or woman.
There is much more comfort in
taking sides. Robert Mugabe is a demon. Morgan Tsvangirai is Mandela.
Welshman Ncube is a CIO. I suffer the incurable curse of a scientific mind.
So much so I must always call it as it is, however inconvenient. Robert
Mugabe will certainly win the next election.
Let’s quickly touch on
the Freedom House Survey. In 2010, they surveyed the Zimbabwean generality
and found that the majority wanted Mugabe to go. I will remind you that
Freedom House is a Washington-based NGO that conducts research and advocacy
on democracy, political freedom and human rights. If Tsvangirai stood a
chance of impregnating anyone, it would be these guys. They are in love with
our good Prime Minister.
It is with this view of their favourable
inclination toward the MDC-T that the results of the same survey in 2012
surprised many by offering quite a different and unexpected set of results.
Mugabe’s support was surging, far outpacing Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai’s MDC had
shed 18 percentage points whilst Mugabe’s party had shot up a comfortable 14
points. If facts are stubborn, then numbers are pure evil.
The MDC-T
spin machine went into overdrive offering all manner of explanations. Some
more absurd that others. One that gave me a chuckle was the assertion by one
MDC-T man claiming that Freedom House was misrepresenting the electorate,
this in an effort to assist the MDC-T. The reasoning offered was that if
Zanu PF imagined victory was certain, they would then “go to sleep”, leaving
the MDC to victoriously march into the State House. Zanu PF would never see
it coming. As you can imagine, Jonathan Moyo took great pleasure it
dismissing this for the nonsense that it was.
Another desperate argument
offered in an effort to contradict these troubling numbers was the fact that
40 percent of respondents had not disclosed their intentions. The MDC-T
immediately pounced on this claiming that this 40 percent was made up
exclusively of MDC-T supporters who feared expressing their views to the
Freedom House interviewers for fear of being beaten up by those nasty Zanu
PF hoodlums.
That has a semblance of surface plausibility. But take a
closer look and see. What about the 2010 survey that found enormous support
for Tsvangirai? Were these MDC-T supporters not afraid to express their
views back then? Given the country was just coming out of the 2008 political
violence, can we be so credulous as to believe that MDC-T supporters felt
safer then than they do now under the Unity Government? Facts are stubborn
things.
The productive political question is not if the MDC is losing
support, but why. To fully grasp the current political dynamic, it is
important to recognise that the MDC-T electoral base is largely in the urban
areas. I do not suggest that they have a vice grip on all us city dwellers,
but the fact of it is that they previously far outpaced Zanu PF. At the same
time, Zanu PF has tended to do well with the rural vote. These are crucial
points. We will come back to this.
When the MDC-T campaigned against
Zanu PF before joining government, they had an arsenal of effective
ammunition. Zanu PF personified corruption! Zanu PF officials were living in
luxury at our expense! We are a government of the people that cares not for
ourselves but for the people! We are different. We will be different. And we
will certainly have different results!
These were impressively
eloquent and seductive slogans. The MDC-T’s support soared. Herein lies the
problem. The MDC-T is in government and the potency of these attacks have
been considerably diminished.
For example, let’s all offer a quick
appreciation for David Coltart. He refused to accept a ministerial top of
the range Mercedes Benz. He is the only minister to have taken this
principled position. Other MDC ministers jumped into those cars head first.
They couldn’t wait. Such was the acquisition frenzy that the MDC nearly tore
itself apart over some used double cab trucks that a sympathetic Gideon Gono
had offered them to use in their daily activities.
Tendai Biti
ordered MDC-T MPs to return the vehicles. The hungry MDC-T MPs showed him
the middle finger. It was their time to eat. Imagine a poor man who wins a
modest US$50,000 in the lottery. His children have no clothes, no shoes, no
bed and no food. If this man immediately buys himself a 12 suits and a
US$34,000 truck before seeing to the needs of his children, we would most
certainly curse him to his grave.
In 2009 the Zimbabwean condition was
similarly dire. It was a moment when the intelligentsia expected the MDC-T
assert its values and embarrass the greedy Zanu PF looters it had previously
condemned by refusing to drive luxury vehicles whilst raw sewage flowed.
Give us Mazda B1800s, they would have said, much to the delight of a
relieved electorate. But no, they jumped in head first.
Should I
speak of the corruption within the MDC ranks? Councillors who had taken
position immediately set out extensive corruption syndicates, dishing out
stands to friends and relatives. Some are currently languishing in prison.
Is this the change that Tsvangirai had preached to the point of deafening
us?
What of sanctions? All these years the MDC told us there were no
sanctions on Zimbabwe and that the only sanctions that existed were targeted
at Zanu PF elites. I wonder why Tendai Biti wrote a letter to the US
Treasury Secretary, Charles Collyns, begging him to remove sanctions. What
sanctions? I thought the MDC position was that these do not
exist?
The electorate is not blind to all this. They can see very clearly
that they were lied to. Sanctions were and are real. If only it ended on the
policy front.
Tsvangirai himself caused a great deal of damage to the
MDC through his repeated sexual indiscretions. Let’s begin in
Matabeleland. The 60-year-old bedded a 21-year-old Loretha Nyathi without
using protection. The child fell pregnant. Fearing for his political career,
Tsvangirai sent her to South Africa and demanded she abort. She quietly kept
the child.
When the baby was born, Tsvangirai refused to support it
although it was his child. It was only after the lawyers were called in that
he gave in and agreed to pay monthly support. If ever there was an example
of a man lacking in personal integrity, Tsvangirai is that man.
I am
not the one who made Tsvangirai do these things. I am simply putting the
facts to paper. Those unhappy at my writing these things should rightly
direct their wrath at Tsvangirai who committed these shameful
acts.
Then Locardia Karimatsenga came along. The Prime Minister swore to
us that she was a home wrecker and he had never married her but simply paid
damages. ZBC got its hands on footage of the event showing Tsvangirai’s
emissaries in great joy and indeed paying a bride price, while asking for
the woman’s hand in marriage. It was broadcast on national
television.
Tsvangirai, in his signature flip-flop, performed a quick
position shift and claimed his emissaries had misrepresented him.
Apparently, he had simply instructed them to pay damages but they had taken
it upon themselves to take a wife for him. Tsvangirai can be childish at
times. It was a weak argument and the courts – after taking in all the
evidence – sided with the soon to be jilted wife.
Locardia was his
wife and he dumped her through a newspaper press statement. Those are the
facts. If he expects the dignified women of Zimbabwe to support him all the
same, then he is clearly duller than he lets on.
I could go on about his
other sexual exploits but that is needless. Even Grade 7 kids know
everything about Tsvangirai’s sex life. The one time celebrated democrat is
now the butt of dirty jokes. What is important is that all this was playing
out through the media. It draws us back to the MDC-T’s strong urban base who
are all in close contact with television, radio, the internet and
print.
Tsvangirai and the MDC-T were destroying the MDC brand right
before the television cameras. All this whilst his most ardent urban
supporters watched in dismay. Many were disappointed. Some were angry.
Others were ashamed. A few blamed the CIO – all too familiar an
excuse.
The effect is that many MDC-T supporters have lost faith in the
party they previously believed in. Many cannot bring themselves to vote for
Zanu PF and will instead stay at home on election day, whilst Zanu PF romps
to victory. Others have been positively converted and now see the MDC-T as
shameless hypocrites, especially with regards to sanctions. These few will
vote for Zanu PF.
The rural folk remain a steadfast bastion of
patriotism and can be counted on to deliver votes for Zanu PF, come the next
election. In 2008, the March elections gave the MDC-T control of Parliament.
The MDC-T called this election free and fair. They won
Parliament.
But most Zimbabweans do not know one very important fact. The
BBC and CNN do not want you to know this. Although the MDC-T won more seats
in Parliament, they lost the popular vote. In the widely considered free and
fair March Parliamentary poll, Zanu PF actually had more votes than the
MDC-T. Specifically, Zanu PF secured 1,110,649 and the MDC-T came second
with 1,041,176 votes.
Imagine the economic desperation at the time,
yet Zanu PF got more votes than the MDC-T. What more now with an improved
economy and a self-impaling Tsvangirai limping into the election with sperm
on his hands? Robert Mugabe’s victory is certain, Tsvangirai’s friends at
Freedom House think so too.
Mai Jukwa is a loving mother of three. She
respects Robert Mugabe, is amused by Tsvangirai and feels sorry for
Mutambara
Margaret Tredgold's research led her to believe that Aesop's
fables had their origins in Africa
My friend
Margaret Tredgold, who has died aged 102, gave service to the people ofZimbabwethat bridged generations and transcended the
race divide.
One of seven sisters,
Margaret grew up in the South African country town of Aliwal North. One of her
earliest memories was of watching the stagecoach, with armed outriders, passing
in a cloud of dust at sunset, taking diamonds to Johannesburg. After school, she
qualified as an art teacher and moved to Zimbabwe, then Southern Rhodesia, to
take up a teaching post. Marriage to Bill Phear, a lawyer, in 1934 marked a
turning point: she became a Zimbabwean citizen and her love affair with the
country's flora began.
Margaret began making
watercolour portraits of the flowers, and the 1953 edition of Robert Martineau's
Rhodesian Wild Flowers was illustrated with her paintings. They caught the eye
of Sir Robert Tredgold, president of the National Museum, who had been
instrumental in the publication of the book. After the deaths of their
respective spouses, Margaret and Robert married in 1974, united by a common
interest in the flora and folklore of Zimbabwe.
Together they
researched the roots of Zimbabwe's folk tales, publishing many as illustrated
children's books. Her research led Margaret to believe that Aesop's fables had
their origins inAfrica. Margaret wrote and illustrated local
African fables and a range of Bible stories to be used in schools and sold at
low cost. Later, when grandchildren came along, she would write up their
favourite stories for them. She was a wonderful storyteller and they loved to
listen to her.
After Robert's death in
1977, Margaret finished their project on edible plants, with Food Plants of
Zimbabwe appearing in 1986. A set of Zimbabwean stamps, issued in 2001, depicted
six of her butterfly paintings. Other sets she illustrated featured Christmas
celebrations and African folk tales for children.
In 2004 political
unrest forced Margaret to leave her homeland of 70 years and relocate to
Britain. One son, Patrick, predeceased her. She is survived by her son Stephen,
who still lives in Zimbabwe, daughter, Shirley, eight grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren.
