The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
Remarks by Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the
Movement for Democratic
Change, at the launch of the MDC’s economic policy,
RESTART, at the Harare
International Conference Centre.
Mr.
Chairman
Members of the National Executive Committee
Shadow
Ministers
Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
All
Zimbabweans are deeply disturbed by the political, economic and social
decay
that is evident in our country today. In spite of the
much-publicized
accusations against imaginary foreign and local economic
saboteurs, the real
enemies of Zimbabwe are being exposed every
day.
Recent events show clearly that the rot is entrenched in a
corrupt system of
political patronage, nursed by a corrupt dictatorship that
seeks to cling on
power at the expense of the majority. We are in this mess,
not because of
lack of resources and an industrious nation. We are in this
mess today
because of mismanagement, lack of good governance and general
misrule.
In launching our economic policy, RESTART, we recognize
the serious
challenges that lie ahead. We recognize the difficulties that an
MDC
government will have to face to reconstruct, restore and stabilize
our
severely battered economy.
With RESTART, we are offering
Zimbabweans a new beginning in a new direction
we seek to tae the country.
RESTART is a holistic programme whose success
will depend on a multi-faceted
attack on the current political, economic and
social ills brought about by
tyranny, greed and corruption.
RESTART is product of a
consultation process that began early last year. The
programme is guided by
the values of the MDC: peace, freedom, justice and
solidarity. It is a
flexible programme that takes into account the sad
realities on the ground.
It offers a diagnosis and prescription for long
term recovery and growth. We
are ready to govern.
An MDC government will seek to establish
social justice for all Zimbabweans.
We are determined to address the issues
of democracy, liberty, transparency,
justice, equality, growth and equitable
distribution of resources.
We are dismayed with the fact that for
so long, our political independence
has turned out to be a mere elite power
transfer process that has failed to
transform and uplift the lives of
ordinary Zimbabweans. The struggle for
social liberation and the quest for
social justice we are currently engaged
in as the MDC are goals we are
determined to achieve.
Our country has experienced continuous
negative growth rates for six years.
Massive devaluation of commerce and
industry and a subjective, chaotic land
policy have left millions of people
jobless, homeless and hungry.
Any visitor coming into Zimbabwe
today would be excused to assume that we
are at war. The regime has turned
its fight for survival onto the people,
creating a social crisis leading to
the collapse of transport, education and
health delivery systems. The
HIV/Aids pandemic rests at the top of this
massive humanitarian
emergency.
The challenge of social liberation we pursue today
must represent a marked
departure from years of failed economic experiments
which were introduced at
Independence and thereafter.
The
challenges can only be led by a new movement like the MDC whose
traditions
are rooted in the ideals of the liberation. The values of that
struggle are
the driving force in our quest for social justice. Our new
economic programme
is thus a RESTART after years of decay and
economic
failure.
The RESTART we unveil today is a process and
a goal. It is an ideal and a
target in which the potential and capabilities
of our people are directed
towards achieving a just and equitable
society.
The RESTART we present today is underpinned by our
values. It can only
succeed in a climate where the rule of law is restored
and observed
resulting in an election of a legitimate government. Any
legitimate
government must immediately enable the people to effect
fundamental changes
to our constitutional and legal framework in order to put
in place
irreversible guarantees to people’s freedoms.
Without
a people-driven Constitution, it would be impossible for us to
harness the
creative potential of all our people in this country. As long as
some
sections of our community feel excluded from key political and
economic
processes, we are bound to fail. Governments can never function
effectively
when it is at war with civil society. Governments are bound to
fail if they
pay lip service to the people’s
agenda.
Intolerant regimes always cause discomfort to their
neighbours and the
international community. The world does not have faith in
countries where
tyranny is celebrated. Zimbabwe will never survive
international isolation.
Through RESTART, the MDC is convinced
that we are our own liberators. We
have to play the major part to pull
ourselves out of the current mess. We
have to create a society that is able
to satisfy people’s basic needs. As I
said earlier, we are already in a state
of governing preparedness.
This is the beginning of a process of
popularizing all our policies and
programmes after they were debated, revised
and adopted by our party
structures and our conference last year. We must put
people first.
Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to lay on the table
our new economic policy,
RESTART.
Taipei Times
White emigrants returning to South Africa
HOMECOMING
REVOLUTION: Thousands of people who left the country because of
political
turmoil are now asking themselves whether leaving was really the
right
choice
AFP , JOHANNESBURG
Saturday, Jan 31, 2004,Page 6
They
emigrated six or 10 years ago, fearful for their security and their
future
or, more recently, attracted by prospects in London or Toronto.
But now
some are coming back. With little fanfare, but with enthusiasm,
white South
Africans are returning little by little to a country "that
works" and a
homeland they miss.
The "Homecoming Revolution" is on the move.
It
is a vibrant new non-governmental organization, run by two young
executive
women who believe in the drive to persuade South Africans to
come
home.
For the past year, the organization has been the echo
chamber for tens of
thousands of homesick South Africans, the majority of
them white, who had
found what they thought were greener pastures in Canada
or Australia, in
Manchester or New York, but who are now asking themselves
whether leaving
was really the right choice.
The "Homecoming" Internet
site is a revelation.
It hosts a constant flow of exchanges, written by
those who want to return
but who haven't worked up the courage yet, and whose
incomes keep them
abroad -- professionals, bankers and real estate
agents.
There is also the occasional embittered entry, accusing South
Africa of
going down the same path as President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe,
currently in
crisis.
It is difficult to quantify the number of those
returning, but they
certainly do not match the number of those leaving,
contributing to an acute
shortage of professionals and skilled
artisans.
But the trend is there, the optimism as well, said Alison
Melvill, a South
African who returned with her IT consultant husband after
six years in
London.
"In the six years since we left, people's
attitudes have changed a lot. The
people here now are very positive about
where the country is going, very
gung-ho, very keen to explore."
Angel
Jones, a 31-year-old creative director of an advertising agency and
Marina
Smithers, 32, a public relations officer, "threw a bottle in the
ocean" when
they launched the site a year ago with a message for 27,000
South Africans
across the world.
They have been overwhelmed by people writing their
stories, sometimes more
than 1,000 a day.
"We couldn't read
everything, we had no idea that we had reached so many
people," said Jones,
who last year won a South African Woman of the Year
award.
The Web
site plays on all the cliches in South Africa: sun, space, bush,
biltong
(dried meat), braais (barbecues), the clear skies. These are the
things dear
to the hearts of expatriates facing a London drizzle or a
snowstorm in
Canada.
Jones, who lived in London for seven years, believes that one man
was the
catalyst for the idea ... Nelson Mandela.
During a visit in
1996, the then president spoke to a huge number of
expatriates, who braved
the cold to listen to him speak in Trafalgar Square.
Said Jones: "He
[Mandela] just said `I love all of you. I just want to put
you in my pocket
and take all of you home'. The whole crowd just roared.
There were people in
tears, and I looked around and saw all of these South
Africans just yearning
to come home ... That's where it all began."
The obstacles preventing
people from returning -- crime and concerns about
job losses -- are often the
same that still drive them away: some 9,000
South Africans left during the
first nine months of last year.
"Our message is: don't wait for the
country to improve. Come back and
improve it. Don't wait for the jobs. Come
and create the jobs," Jones said.
"From a PR point of view, the idea of
returning home had to become `cool.'"
"There is not a single country in
the world where everything is so possible,
or where any individual can make
such an impact in society," she declares.
"And then again, we don't say
to people, `Don't go,' we tell them: `Go,
enrich yourselves, get a
qualification, and return and invest here.'"
extrapr.com
EFFECTIVE PLAN TO TACKLE HIV/AIDS IN
AFRICA
Washington, DC -- In an efficient and effective operation, the
Hope on
Africa project is being launched to reverse the trend of the
HIV/AIDS
pandemic across the African continent.
There are now 13
million orphans in Africa, and every 14 seconds another
orphan is created.
Unless the Hope on Africa program is actioned now it is
predicted there will
be 20 million orphans by 2010.
At present, 25 million people in Africa
are suffering from HIV/AIDS and its
spread is accelerated because the
majority receive no treatment and no
education.
Hope on Africa will
send 7,500 therapists to Africa and they will deliver 25
million treatments
to HIV/AIDS sufferers.
Education is a key feature of the project. Through
education and healthcare,
parents will be kept alive longer to care for their
children, therefore
reducing the growth of the orphan population.
http://www.hopeandcare.net
The Herald
EU has no case against Zimbabwe: President
Herald
Reporter
THE European Union has no case against Zimbabwe because Britain
influences
its decisions over Zimbabwe, President Mugabe said
yesterday.
"There is no case that the European Union should go against
us," he told the
outgoing French Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Didier Ferrand,
at Zimbabwe
House.
"That is the issue, but we notice of course that
Britain is taking these
issues to the European Union."
The EU is set
to meet next month to review sanctions it imposed against
Zimbabwe in 2002
amid reports that British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair was
attempting to
influence its decision.
MDC has dispatched its officials to several EU
capitals, including France,
to press for tougher sanctions against
Zimbabwe.
The party’s vice president Mr Gibson Sibanda on Wednesday urged
the EU to
slap so-called targeted sanctions against the Government, despite
the fact
that these have damaged the country’s economy over the past few
years.
The United States was also accused of influencing the EU decision
by issuing
a warning to its citizens last week to consider leaving
Zimbabwe.
The Government has dismissed the warning, which alleged that
Zimbabwe’s
political, economic and humanitarian crises could affect the
security of US
citizens.
Mr Blair, President Mugabe said, admitted he
was wrong on his treatment of
Zimbabwe, but it was too late.
"They
could not retract and redeem themselves because of too much publicity.
We are
more democratic here than most countries in Africa."
President Mugabe
said Zimbabwe would fight for its sovereignty without
being
intimidated.
"We fought for our independence and we will
continue to do so."
President Mugabe commended French President Mr
Jacques Chirac for his
principled stance with regards to Zimbabwe.
Mr
Chirac refused to be intimidated by his colleagues in the EU.
President
Mugabe said Mr Chirac understood that the differences between
Zimbabwe and
Britain were a bilateral issue that stemmed from history.
Mr Chirac had
invited him to the 22nd French-Africa Summit last year against
the wishes of
some EU countries because he understood the issues
concerning
Zimba-bwe.
Britain openly expressed its anger at Mr Chirac,
the leader of its main
rival in Africa during the colonial era, for inviting
the President to the
summit.
Mr Ferrand said he discussed bilateral
issues with President Mugabe.
"I told him that France has a principled
foreign policy," he told
journalists after the meeting.
"We have been
co-operating with Zimbabwe and we have ratified an agreement
for the
protection of investment."
Mr Ferrand said France supported a number of
community projects in the
country.
These included supporting the
teaching of French, community-based micro
finance and the fight against HIV
and Aids.
Mr Ferrand was expected to depart for France today after
serving for more
than three years.
ZW News
In Zim's fantasy world, nothing is as it
seems
Mail & Guardian (SA)
published:Sat
31-Jan-2004
The rule of law in Mugabeland, it would
seem, is now as problematical
as logic is in Alice’s Wonderland
Comment
Bill Saidi
As in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland, nothing is ever as it
appears on the surface in what one
journalistic wag has nicknamed
“Mugabeland”. This is Zimbabwe, the
politically and economically tattered
Southern African country President
Robert Mugabe has straddled like a
Colossus since independence in 1980. This
fantasy world is particularly
poignant for journalists working for The Daily
News and The Daily News on
Sunday, the independent newspapers published by
Associated Newspapers of
Zimbabwe (ANZ). Their saga could be a summary of
“The Mad Hatter’s Tea
Party”- chapter seven of the famous children’s tale -
in which the March
Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse contradict Alice at
every turn,
correcting her with confusing arguments that have their own
strange logic.
In ANZ’s case, whenever the company celebrates what it
believes to be a
victory in the court case launched against it by the
government last
September, it turns out to be another humiliating Waterloo.
The latest such
incident occurred after the Harare High Court ordered the
police to vacate
ANZ’s printing premises in the Southerton industrial area of
Harare. The
police have occupied the building on and off since
September.
The company’s lawyers interpreted the ruling to mean the
essence of
their application: resumption of publication until the Supreme
Court rules
on ANZ’s application to be registered by the Media and
Information
Commission (MIC). But the government claimed the ruling did not
entail
resumption of printing - only the removal of the police. This was not
the
first time the government had outfoxed, not only ANZ, but the
judiciary
itself. A ruling by an Administrative Court judge last year, again
declaring
the company could resume printing, was shot down by a minister as
“academic”
.Before that, there had been a bizarre twist in the case.
Another
Administrative Court judge had been forced to recuse himself from
passing
judgement because - or so it was claimed in the government paper,
The
Herald - he had told a passenger in his car that he intended ruling
in
favour of ANZ. The case was eventually decided in ANZ’s favour by
another
judge, who received a death threat from people claiming to be war
veterans.
The Minister for Information and Publicity, Jonathan
Moyo, has been in
the thick of the set-to between the government and ANZ,
whose original sin
was not to register with the MIC, the lynchpin of the
restrictive Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act. By some
calculations, the Act is
probably as restrictive of press freedom as any laws
conjured up by the
Nazis. Its description of a falsehood, for which a
journalist can be jailed
or fined heavily, is so imprecise one scribe joked
that it could turn
journalists into politicians or civil servants - both
masters of
gobbledegook, doublespeak and obfuscation. Moyo has been pilloried
by the
independent media as the ruling Zanu PF’s Goebbels, which ought to
intrigue
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is currently visiting South
Africa.
His talks with President Thabo Mbeki are expected to touch on Mbeki’s
role
as an honest broker between Mugabe and his political nemesis,
Morgan
Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
The decision by the 52 Commonwealth members in Abuja last
month to
extend Zimbabwe’s suspension over Mugabe’s flawed re-election in
2002 must
have grievously wounded Mbeki’s political ego. But to have expected
his
colleagues to endorse the imagined success of his “quiet
diplomacy”
suggested a naive, simplistic reading of their mood. Mugabe has
done nothing
to endear himself not only to the majority of his own people
since the
suspension, but to his peers in the Commonwealth. Could Mbeki have
waved the
banning of ANZ newspapers as a shining example of the alleged
excellent good
governance for which Mugabe ought to be rewarded? Clearly on
instructions
from on high, the police and the MIC are frustrating the
implementation of
every judgement made in favour of ANZ in its struggle to
resume publication.
In defying the rulings of the judges, the government
seems to be
implementing Mugabe’s threat made a few months ago. The president
announced
publicly that in future, if his government did not agree with a
court
judgement, it would ignore such a judgement. The rule of law in
Mugabeland,
it would seem, is now as problematical as logic is in Alice’s
Wonderland.
Bill Saidi is editor of The Daily News on
Sunday
Sunday Times (SA)
England and Zimbabwe may play 'tour games' in
SA
Colin Bryden
Playing matches in South Africa has
been suggested as a possible compromise
to the impasse over England's
scheduled cricket tour of Zimbabwe in
November.
The option of using
South Africa as a neutral venue was raised by David
Morgan, chairman of the
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in an
interview with The Guardian
newspaper in London. England are unwilling to
tour Zimbabwe because of the
political situation there.
England are due to visit Zimbabwe
immediately before a tour of South Africa,
and Morgan suggested that an early
arrival in SA was an option. He said the
ECB might offer US1-million (about
R7 million) to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union
(ZCU) as compensation if the tour
did not take place.
Gerald Majola, chief executive of the United
Cricket Board of SA, said he
had not been sounded out about making venues
available. "The only way we
could entertain such a suggestion would be if we
were approached by Zimbabwe
as the hosts," he said.
Peter
Chingoka, president of the ZCU, is determined to press for England to
honour
their commitment. Nor is Ehsan Mani, president of the International
Cricket
Council (ICC), in favour of the neutral option.
"Pakistan played West
Indies at neutral venues and lost millions as a result
in sponsorship and
gate revenue. The television arrangements were all that
survived," said Mani,
who is from Pakistan.
Morgan said on Wednesday that the ECB would
negotiate with the ZCU and the
ICC during February. "We need to know all the
impacts that might be made by
the cancellation," he said.
On
Thursday, though, the ECB agreed to postpone a decision until they
have
presented their case at an ICC executive board meeting in New Zealand
on
March 10.
England, who withdrew from a World Cup match in
Zimbabwe last year, are the
only one of the ICC's Test-playing members who
have consistently ba lked at
playing in Zimbabwe. Bangladesh are due to play
a series there this month
and Sri Lanka are due in May.
As with
England, there has been political pressure on the Australians to
withdraw,
but James Sutherland, chief executive of Cricket Australia, has
backed the
ICC's policy that all countries should honour their obligations
to play each
other.
"We'll make a decision on any tour based on safety and
security grounds. We
don't see it as appropriate that we make judgments on
those other issues,"
said Sutherland.
England believes it has a
special case. Morgan will go to New Zealand
carrying letters from Jack Straw,
the British Foreign Secretary, and the two
main opposition parties, all
expressing concerns over the tour. There is
also pressure from major sponsors
and other stakeholders in English cricket
to refuse to tour while Robert
Mugabe remains president.
Chingoka has sent an e-mail to all 18
English first-class counties warning
of the financial consequences if the
tour is cancelled, although according
to the Wisden CricInfo website most of
the counties support the ECB stance.
The website quoted Mark Newton,
chief executive of Worcestershire: "The
counties have allowed the management
board to make that decision for us
because we believe they are the best
qualified. You can always put pressure
on people if you want to, but that
doesn't mean they will necessarily
respond to it, and I fail to see how
sending an e-mail like this is going to
help Zimbabwe cricket at
all."
The political situation in Zimbabwe has led to the country's
already fragile
playing strength being diluted. Andy Flower and Henry Olonga
left Zimbabwe
after making a public protest about political conditions, while
Bryan
Strang, the country's former opening bowler, writes in a letter in
the
February edition of the Wisden Cricketer magazine that the game has
become
politicised in his country.
He says he was subjected to
racial abuse because of a selection he made as
coach of the Mashonaland
under-12 team. He claims the incident was "swept
under the carpet" when he
reported it to the ZCU. Strang wrote: "Some of us
know first-hand the
politicisation and racialisation of cricket in Zimbabwe.
"Children
are learning first-hand from coaches and policy-makers that skin
colour
matters. A union which promotes racial division and does nothing
about hate
speech should not be given the courtesy of touring democratic
countries."
The Herald
Move to ease congestion in city welcome
THE Harare City
Council has started attempts to address problems related to
parking in the
streets of the capital.
Vehicles parked haphazardly on the streets will
be towed away or have their
wheels clamped. This is a move to ease congestion
and is in response to
calls by ratepayers to clean up the city.
This
week saw more than 15 vehicles that were illegally parked or were being
sold
on the streets towed to the city’s central stores. Owners have to pay
the
costs for towing the vehicles and storage charges of $3 000 a
day.
Another menace is from the illegal car dealers who sell motor
vehicles on
the streets and the street mechanics especially along Kaguvi
Street.
That there is now a penalty of $500 000 before a vehicle is
released will
make some of these street businesses think twice before
embarking on such
ventures.
The wheel clamping system is currently in
operation at the Harare
International Airport and it has drastically reduced
parking violations
there.
The airport system forces the motorist to
pay the fine immediately in order
to recover his vehicle. Failure to pay the
fine on time results in storage
charges accumulating.
The vehicle
clamping system has proved a solution to parking violations in
other
countries such as Britain, Germany and South Africa. If well managed,
the
Harare City Council can generate millions from the illegal car parkers
and in
the process improve the city’s damaged reputation as the
Sunshine
City.
The Bulawayo City Council is already implementing the
system. It has raked
in millions of dollars by immobilising vehicles that are
parked illegally.
Offending motorists are now forced to pay fines within four
days.
The Harare City Council should not only target private vehicles
and
mini-buses but haulage trucks as well. They are becoming a menace.
Drivers
are parking and driving in the city centre areas not designated for
huge
trucks.
Double parking on some islands in the central business
district should also
be discouraged. The council should move urgently on
these motorists.
A number of illegal commuter omnibus ranks have also
mushroomed throughout
the city centre. One such illegal rank is at the
Leopold Takawira pedestrian
crossing where commuter omnibuses, private and
unregistered taxis plying the
City/Parirenyatwa/Avondale route constantly
block the pedestrian crossing.
The council, in consultation with the
police, should take stern measures
against these operators. The practice is
causing congestion along certain
roads as well as blocking the parking space
for other motorists.
The clampdown, if well implemented, should help the
municipality recover
millions of dollars from traffic offenders who ignored
previous fines.
The council should refer to its data base before
releasing a vehicle to
check if clamped or towed vehicles were not caught on
the wrong side of the
city’s roads before.
Independent (UK)
England face new threat over tour
'Pull out of
Zimbabwe and you could lose September showpiece' is the message
to
Lord's
By Stephen Brenkley
01 February 2004
The repercussions
of England's probable refusal to tour Zimbabwe are
beginning to emerge. In a
low-key but ominous warning, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the
president of the Indian
cricket board, indicated that the Champions' Trophy,
the so-called mini World
Cup, would be under threat.
"The Champions' Trophy will be played in
England in 2004 [from 8 to 25
September] and India are going there for three
one-day matches before to
acclimatise," he said. "If the tour to Zimbabwe has
been cancelled that is
something we would have to consider. We would need to
talk about it in the
International Cricket Council."
Dalmiya, who is
also the driving force of the Asian Cricket Council, refused
to sympathise
with the England and Wales Cricket Board or the dilemma in
which they find
themselves through being put under pressure from the
Government and the
media. He said they had agreed to tour Zimbabwe under the
future tours
programme.
"I look forward to hearing what England have to say at the
Executive Board
meeting of the ICC in March," he said. "We all have to keep
an open mind.
The Champions' Trophy is an important competition." Dalmiya
said that if
anything extreme happened, a proposition to hold it elsewhere
could be
examined.
The Trophy, a biennial event involving all the
major nations, is the ICC's
second most important one-day competition. Those
considering themselves as
purists scoff at it as being superfluous, but apart
from being a short
festival involving all the world's leading players in one
country, it also
forms part of the organisation's lucrative $550m (£300m)
television deal,
which lasts until the 2007 World Cup. Anything that
jeopardises it would
threaten massive financial penalties.
So far,
there is a conciliatory mood, as was embodied by Dalmiya's refusal
to issue
outright threats. Other countries insist they are willing to
listen. The new
presidents of the Pakistan and South Africa boards both said
they were not
rushing to judgement.
For Pakistan,however, Shah-aryar Khan said he would
stick to his country's
traditional line, that politics and sport must be kept
separate. He expected
England to tour. Ray Mali of South Africa said that
England should tour as
long as it was safe but did not rule out the
possibility of his country
agreeing to stage the Zimbabwe-England
matches.
England agreed last week to postpone their decision on the
Zimbabwean tour,
scheduled for October and November, until after the ICC's
executive board
meeting in Auckland on 9 and 10 March. This followed a
request from the ICC
president, Ehsan Mani.
Although the probability
is that England will withdraw, the postponement of
the decision buys them
time on two grounds. First, they have the chance to
convince the ICC that the
situation in Zimbabwe has altered, and that
England are a special
case.
Secondly, the Australian board will send a three-man delegation to
Zimbabwe
in March to assess whether it is safe enough for them to tour in
May. James
Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, said last
week: "We
will only travel if it is safe to travel." It would be convenient
for
England if Australia - who, like others, refuse to countenance a
moral
dimension - found it unsafe and that they had found it so before
England
make their decision.
There is no doubt the ICC will take some
convincing of England's case, not
least because Zimbabwe toured here last
year. Administrators and
commentators worldwide pointed out last week that if
you embraced a moral
dimen-sion it was objectionable not only to tour a
country but to play them
anywhere.
David Morgan, the chairman of the
ECB, said he was not worried about the
reception he might receive from his
fellow board heads. It was he who
travelled to Zimbabwe last March to seek
assurances that they would tour
England, and promised them that England would
withdraw from the reciprocal
tour only on safety and security grounds. "That
was our position then, but
since March last year our information is that
there has been a deterioration
in the situation," he said. "The letter to the
ECB from the Foreign
Secretary was as close as you are ever likely to get in
a western democracy
to an instruction not to go. We know business is against
us going. But I
would emphasise that we have not made a decision. We must
give the
international community the opportunity to put their side of the
story."
The ECB have not yet adopted the paper written by Des Wilson, the
chairman
of the Corporate Affairs and Marketing Advisory Committee,
Reviewing
Overseas Cricket Tours: A Framework For Rational Decision Making.
This
embraces the concept of declining to tour on moral grounds and, as
Morgan
said, has been well received in the UK, not so well
elsewhere.
Morgan and the ECB's chief executive, Tim Lamb, will spend the
next five
weeks trying to persuade their counterparts in other countries both
of the
merits of Wilson's document and England's status as a special case,
and
pointingout that the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe are
against
the tour. Morgan insisted that relations with the ICC top brass are
cordial.
"I'm not going to be hypothetical about what might or might not
happen after
we have made a decision," he said. But when he speaks to Dalmiya
he will
probably be told that plenty will.
Sunday Times (SA)
Minister embroiled in loan scandal
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Zimbabwe's Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare Minister July Moyo has
been accused of using cash from his own
department as collateral for a
Z1-billion loan for a company owned by two
close associates.
Moyo's ministry is said to have deposited the money
into a First Bank
account to secure a loan for Smoothnest
Investments.
Smoothnest is partly owned by National Social Security
Authority (NSSA)
chairman Edwin Manikai, who was appointed by Moyo to head up
the NSSA public
and private sector pension fund.
Police spokesman
Wayne Bvudzijena has confirmed that Moyo was interrogated
on January 16,
after law enforcement agents received a tip-off document
detailing the
Z1-billion loan transaction. Moyo, Manikai and his partner
Patrice Dhliwayo
were reportedly grilled for hours by the police but the
three strenuously
denied accusations of wrong doing.
In the end, Bvudzijena said police
"had no interest" in the issue but would
investigate further if new
information was found.
Those linked to the loan deal have dismissed
the issue as a smear campaign
connected to President Robert Mugabe's
succession debate.
First Bank confirmed that Smoothnest was their
client, but refused to give
further details.