http://news.radiovop.com/
23/02/2010
01:30:00
Masvingo, February 23, 2010 - Zimbabwe teachers who are part
of the striking
civil servants are demanding to be paid diamonds since the
Zimbabwe
government is saying it is broke.
The teachers have also
given government a March 05 deadline to resolve the
civil servants'
grievances or they will turn to the streets. Civil Servants
have been
demanding a USD 600 wage, up from the current USD 150.
Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe President Takavafira Zhou said: "We
know that the
government has 300 000 carats of gold seized by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ). So the government should give us those
diamonds if they say they have
no money and we will sell them on our
own."
"We will turn to the power
of the street...we are prepared for the worst, "
Zhou warned.
He also
complained about the alleged politicization of the strike by Zanu PF
to
discredit Prime Minister and Movement of Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
http://www.afriquejet.com/
A former UN official
is due to give evidence against Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon, accused of
undermining humanitarian operations in Zimbabwe and
blocking action that
could have helped to stop the death of 4,000 people.
The ex-UN official,
Zimbabwean Dr. Georges Tadonki, said he would give
evidence before a UN
Tribunal in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, showing that
the Ban and other
senior officials blocked efforts to stop a humanitarian
crisis in
Zimbabwe.
Dr. Tadonki worked as a senior official for the UN Office for
the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), between March and
December
2009, when a choler a outbreak in Zimbabwe killed 4,000 people and
left
100,000 hospitalized.
Dr. Tadonki said he would present his
evidence before a special dispute
tribunal in Nairobi, on why the UN chief
reportedly said the President
Robert Mugabe-led government was cooperating
with the UN while Mugabe
insisted there was no cholera.
"What did the
UN Chief say? They (Zanu) officials were cooperative. What did
Mugabe say?
Our doctors conquered cholera. Now there is no cholera, there is
no reason
for war," Dr. Tadonki said in a statement, released on his behalf
by a
publicity firm in Kenya.
The UN chief has denied reports that his office
had been silent over the
crisis in Zimbabwe, including the grabbing of white
farmers land and other
subsequent crises there.
Ban denied
suggestions that the UN had been silent over the crisis in
Zimbabwe,
including the power-sharing crisis and the "other conflicts
between the
Zimbabweans".
"I do not agree that the UN has been silent on Zimbabwe,
when there was the
humanitarian crisis, I met with Robert Mugabe many times.
I asked him to
democratize. We still have serious concerns about the
humanitarian
situation," Ban said on 31 January.
Speaking during his
last Africa visit, when he attended the African Union
Heads of State Summit,
Ban said, on the power-sharing agreement, the parties
did not accept the
intervention of his office.
On the land issue between Britain and
Zimbabwe, he said, the UN did not have
powers to interfere on agreements
signed between two independent countries.
The former UN official accuses
Ban, several senior UN officials within the
rank of
Under-Secretaries-General, of undermining the work of the UN or
working
closely with the ZANU-PF to cover up the extent of the humanitarian
crisis
in Zimbabwe.
"The cholera epidemic was officially recognized only in
December 2008,
nearly five months too late. The Government of Zimbabwe was
late to act and
the UN was late to act," Dr Tadonki alleged.
He said
the UN did not challenge the government of Zimbabwe to face the
truth and
let people receive the help they needed timely.
Dr. Tadonki said: "When
help finally came, it was too late. Over 4,000 had
died and more than
100,000 people, sick of cholera, and millions of people
had been af fected
directly or indirectly not only in Zimbabwe, but also in
neighboring South
Africa, Zambia, and Mozambique."
Nairobi - Pana 23/02/2010
http://www.iol.co.za
February 23 2010 at 07:11AM
A year
into a power-sharing agreement that was supposed to put an end to
President
Robert Mugabe's autocratic rule, Zimbabwe has made "insufficient"
moves
towards democracy, European Union foreign ministers said on Monday.
Last
week the EU extended sanctions against the country for another year,
renewing an arms embargo and a visa ban and asset freeze against Mugabe and
his acolytes.
In a statement, EU ministers lamented "insufficient
progress with regard to
the rule of law, respect for human rights,
constitutional reforms, power
sharing on equal terms, national
reconciliation, security sector reform and
the protection of
investors."
However, they stressed that the the bloc "stands ready" to
keep sanctions
"under constant review and to revoke them" if Mugabe makes
concessions
towards Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who
became Prime
Minister as a result of last year's coalition agreement. -
Sapa-dpa
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 23 February
2010
HARARE – Only one board member of Mbada Investments – one of
the two
companies mining diamonds at Zimbabwe’s controversial Marange
diamond
field – turned up for a parliamentary hearing to probe the affairs
of the
firm on Monday, forcing the lawmakers to postpone the matter to next
week.
Mines and energy committee chairperson Chindori Chininga was forced
to
reschedule the hearings to next week after only Mbada board chairman
Robert
Mhlanga turned up.
But Chininga said Mhlanga would not be able
to answer all the necessary
questions.
“We need to have the whole
board here, those that represent Grandwell and
ZMDC, all those who represent
Mbada should be here,” said Chininga.
“I do not think that you will be
able to answer all questions sufficiently,
as such we should reschedule the
meeting to next week,” he added.
The government-owned Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) last
year partnered little known Grandwell of
South Africa to form Mbada
Investments which is mining diamonds at the
Marange field that is also known
as Chiadzwa.
The ZMDC also partnered
another little known South African firm Core Mining
and Minerals in a
joint-venture operation trading as Canadile Miners to
exploit the Marange
deposits.
The joint ventures were formed as part of measures to bring
mining of
diamonds at Marange in line with standards stipulated by world
diamond
industry watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP).
But the two
companies’ operations in the notorious diamond field are
shrouded in
controversy amid revelations that some members of the boards of
the two
firms were once illegal drug and diamond dealers in the Democratic
Republic
of the Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.
The two firms are not known names in
the diamond industry with for example
Grandwell known to have been involved
in scrap metal dealing in South Africa
before they came to mine diamonds at
Marange.
Mbada was last month forced to abandon a planned sale of 300 000
carats
after it emerged that the firm had failed to follow laid down
procedures.
The firm's management has also been dogged by allegations
that they are
"fronts" of certain named politicians within President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU
PF party.
Chininga said his committee wanted to
expedite investigations surrounding
the aborted auction of diamonds by Mbada
in January as well as its other
operations for the country to start
generating revenue from the precious
gems.
“When Parliament calls
you, we would have done thorough research on your
operations, and we expect
you to answer sufficiently,” said Chindori
Chininga.
“We want to
quicken the process so that Zimbabwe gets what belongs to its
people.”
Last week, ZMDC board members appeared before the same
committee to answer
questions on the aborted sale and its representation in
Mbada, but requested
that they put some of their answers in
writing.
However, during the hearing the ZMDC revealed that it had four
members on
the Mbada board instead of the required five, a situation the
committee said
undermined government’s interests as a
shareholder.
Marange is one of the world’s most controversial diamond
fields with reports
that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the
government took over the
field in October 2006 from a British firm that
owned the deposits committed
gross human rights abuses against illegal
miners who had descended on the
field.
Human rights groups have been
pushing for a ban on Zimbabwean diamonds but
last November, the country
escaped a KP ban with the global body giving
Harare a June 2010 deadline to
make reforms to comply with its
regulations. – ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 23 February
2010
HARARE – The treason trial of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
top ally
Roy Bennett that was scheduled to resume at the High Court Monday
was been
postponed to Tuesday (today) following the death of a close
associate of the
accused, a lawyer said.
Bennett, who is treasurer of
Tsvangirai’s MDC party is accused of plotting
to murder President Robert
Mugabe. The trial was scheduled to resume
yesterday after it was postponed a
fortnight ago due to an ongoing strike by
civil servants.
"The trial
will now start tomorrow," Beatrice Mtetwa, Bennett’s lawyer said.
"One of
Roy's close friends just dropped dead, so he is not able to come to
court
today as a result of the death."
Bennett faces a possible death sentence
if convicted in a case that has
worsened tensions in Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s
coalition government, amid
claims by the MDC that the charges are
politically motivated to persecute
its treasurer and prevent him from taking
up the job of deputy agriculture
minister.
Mugabe has refused to
swear in Bennett into the agriculture post saying the
former white
commercial farmer must first be cleared of treason by the
courts before he
can be appointed to Cabinet.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, presiding over the
case, is expected to rule when
the trial resumes whether fake emails
produced by defence lawyers can be
used to cross-examine a state witness who
claims to have printed emails from
the laptop of gun-dealer Peter Michael
Hitschmann that implicate Bennett.
Lead defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa
produced the fake emails in order to
prove to court that emails can be
forged – a point that could cripple the
state’s attempts to use the emails
allegedly printed from Hitschmann’s
computer as evidence against
Bennett.
However Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana – who is leading
the
prosecution – has asked Bhunu to bar Mtetwa from using her fake emails
because the originator of the fake emails is shown as a "Johannes Tomana"
which the AG says is tantamount to caricaturing and demeaning his office and
person.
A ruling by Bhunu barring use of the fake emails could damage
defence
efforts to disprove the authenticity of the state’s own set of
emails
implicating Bennett and which the judge has already ruled are
admissible as
evidence.
The state alleges that Hitschmann was given
money by Bennett to buy weapons
for use to assassinate
Mugabe.
Prosecutors say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was
arrested
after being found in possession of firearms, claims the gun dealer
denies
saying he was tortured into making the confessions during
interrogation at a
military barracks in March that year. – ZimOnline
http://news.radiovop.com
23/02/2010 01:26:00
Masvingo, February 23, 2010 -
High Court Judge Tedious Karwi came face to
face with the gravity of the
power blues currently gripping the country
after he was forced to deliver
judgement, using candles after a power outage
at the Masvingo Magistrates
court.
An apparently annoyed Karwi, who was about to deliver judgement in
a murder
case in which Admore Dambanevana of Zaka was convicted of murder
with actual
intent after killling a fellow villager in a love triangle, had
to
temporarily adjourn the court to enable court official to run into the
city
to buy candles after a power outage.
Karwi, who was being
assitsted by assessors Joseph Mushuku and Thomas
Dauramanzi, only proceeded
to deliver judgment and thereafter jailed
Dambanevana for 20
years.
Sources at the court said senior officials had to run around to
raise the
money for candles after Karwi had reportedly attacked them over
why there
was no generator. ''There was no money to buy candles and senior
officials
had to run around to raise the money to buy the candles after
Karwi had
expressed outrage. The generator which was handed over to the
court two
years ago by the government developed a fault and has not been
repaired due
to lack of money,''said the source.
Masvingo area
prosecutor John Shumba said: '' Why don't you ask the judge
himself, why me.
...is it a crime, how many generators have broken down
elsewhere, what's is
so special about the generator here.''
Masvingo has been one of the
hardest hit cities with loadshedding in
Zimbabwe. The city can go for more
than 12 hours per day without power.
http://www.busrep.co.za
February 23,
2010
The multi-currency system adopted by the Zimbabwean
government early last
year would remain in place until at least 2012, the
Herald reported
yesterday. "The multi-currency will be in place for the next
two years,"
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Mangoma was
quoted as
saying. "Zimbabwe is the only country in the world that does not
have
foreign exchange risk," he added. After 2012, the government would
decide
whether to revert to the local unit, Mangoma said. - Sapa
Zimbabwe Information
Centre Inc
PO Box K824,
HAYMARKET NSW 1240
Media
Release
February 23, 2010,
Vicious ZANU-PF
attack on MDC continues in Epworth – government
responds
ZANU-PF militia continued beating suspected MDC members
yesterday in Epworth, a poor township on the edge of Harare, focusing on Wards
4, 6 and 7.
In
Ward 7, the beatings are systematic – the militia are going from door to door.
The militia base at Mai Mawire has compiled a list of known MDC members in
Epworth which is being used to locate the homes of these on the list. There are
claims from some victims that the police are using the same list to target
suspected MDC members.
The
Co-Ministers for Home Affairs received a report on the political violence in
Epworth on Sunday evening and decided to tour Epworth to hear the stories and to
see for themselves the extent of the violence, to visit the injured - and the
injurers.
The
objective is to stop the violence and to begin the process of both sides
learning together to develop their community for the benefit of
all.
The
names of the injured, those in hiding and those who have a story to tell about
these events are being compiled for a correct record.
Ward
3 Councillor Gift July was the first to be badly assaulted when the beatings
started around 1pm on Sunday with the arrival of six vehicles full of ZANU-PF
youth militia at an MDC rally called to discuss the proposed new constitution..
Some of the vehicles were pick- ups from the high-density Harare suburb of
Mbare.
Amos
Midzi, the former ZANU-PF member of parliament and former diplomat, was
identified as involved in these terrible events in Epworth on Sunday. Midzi is
the chairperson of the ZANU-PF Harare Province.
An
additional militia base has been re-opened at Donoro in Ward 2, Harare South
constituency. The militia bases established last week in Epworth constituency
are located in the following wards: Ward 7 - Garakara and Mai Mawire, Ward 6 –
Makandira, Ward 5 – Kadumbu and Solani, Ward 4 - Reuben.
For further comment:
Peter Murphy 0418 312 301
Coordinator
SEARCH
Foundation
Level 3, 110 Kippax
St,
Surry Hills NSW 2010,
Australia
Ph: +61 2 9211 4164;
Fax: +61 2 9211 1407
ABN 63 050 096
976
promoting democracy,
social justice and environmental sustainability
http://news.radiovop.com/
23/02/2010 01:37:00
Harare, February 23,
2010 -The re-run of the disputed Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists(ZUJ)
elections will be supervised by the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (ZESN)
in the presence of various non-governmental
organisations.
The
election is scheduled for Bulawayo on February 27.
ZUJ National
Coordinator Chaka Bosha told Radio VOP: "We have invited ZESN
to conduct the
election for transparency's sake. The election will also be
observed by
Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe and National Association of
Non-Governmental
Organisations, among other NGOs.This has been caused by a
wide out-cry from
members who said the last election was flawed."
The re-run will cost the
cash-strapped ZUJ USd 8 000.
"We are going to do this because we want to
improve the image of the union
which has been tarnished by some members who
claim that the December
election was fraudulently done. These allegations
have cost us our
reputation. It has affected donor confidence in the running
of the union,
with most of them (donors) saying they will engage us after we
have put our
house in order," said Bosha.
ZUJ last December held an
election in Bulawayo resulting in Sunday News
assignments editor Dumisani
Sibanda being elected the Union President. Some
journalists who were vying
for union positions claim that they were not
given chance to
campaign.
ZUJ Secretary General Foster Dongozi said: "We have been
democratic enough
to agree ...a re-run. The union has no funding at the
moment with donors
holding on to their funds till a legitimate executive is
elected, and we
can not afford postponing the election. Union business
should not be
compromised by few people who are forwarding their individual
interests."
"The election is going to take place as scheduled and
those who are
saying is has been postponed are candidates who have
chickened
out of the race, after realizing that they do not have the needed
support
from journalists whom they aspire to represent," said Dongozi in an
interview.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27475
February 22, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabweans have overwhelmingly welcomed proposed
amendments to the
Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which seek to
curtail the powers of
Zimbabwe's partisan police force.
Dozens of
individuals and representatives of civic organisations who
converged at a
community centre in Harare Monday to give their views on
amendments to the
repressive law said they felt the law should in fact be
repealed.
Irene Petras, director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights said the law
had been used selectively by the state on citizens
opposed to the
establishment.
"POSA is one of the many examples of
how repressive legislation has been
used and selectively applied against
human rights defenders," she said.
Petras, whose organisation has spent
the last few years defending
politicians and individuals who have been
persecuted under the law, was
among Harare based civic organizations who
took time out to air their views
about the amendments to the law.
The
proposed amendments were presented in a Private Member's Bill sponsored
last
year by Innocent Gonese (mainstream MDC) the MP for Mutare Central.
The
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and Defence, chaired
by
Glen View legislator Paul Madzore is conducting countrywide
consultations.
"POSA has been used against legitimate political
activists in order to
suppress legitimate public decent and criticism which
is part of the rights
which citizens have in order to participate in the
affairs of their
government," said Petras.
Short of its repeal, she
said, the ZLHR was emphatically behind its
amendment which she said was
positive incremental change.
Precious Hombera, who works for a women's
rights lobby group, said the law
denied women them the opportunity to
discuss issues affecting them and those
to do with their
government.
"The Act is more repressive to women," she
said.
"Women have less social space to interact and discuss other issues
especially issues of governance compared to our male counterparts who can
meet in beer halls and social clubs. Spaces for women are so
limited."
Paddington Japajapa, president of the Zimbabwe Indigenous
Economic
Empowerment organization described POSA as "draconian and not
user-friendly".
He praised Gonese for introducing the Bill.
"POSA
is infringing upon people's rights," he said. "It was enacted to fix
certain individuals within the opposition parties. The law was never meant
to protect the larger majority of Zimbabweans. It was meant to serve the
political interests of a few individuals.
"So any law that is so
vindictive has no space in our statute books and must
be amended if not
completely repealed."
One Wakatama Munodawafa, a war veteran, said the
law was as repressive as
its predecessor law, the Law and Order Maintenance
Act (LOMA). LOMA was used
by the colonial regime to oppress
blacks.
Some said the overzealous application of the law had reduced
Zimbabwe to a
police state.
The repressive law has routinely been
used by President Robert Mugabe's
government to prevent opposition political
parties and ordinary Zimbabweans
viewed as critical to Zanu PF's
controversial rule from enjoying their basic
freedoms.
The law places
inordinately wide and sweeping powers in the hands of the
police.
The
police have routinely prevented political parties and civic
organizations
from organizing meetings by citing such flimsy reasons as that
they had no
manpower to monitor the meetings.
Some organizations had often resorted
to holding their meetings in
neighbouring countries after being routinely
denied permission to hold their
meetings locally.
In the Bill, Gonese
seeks to transfer the powers to prohibit a public
gathering from the police
to magistrates.
The Bill also seeks to redefine a public gathering so as
to apply only to
those gatherings which pose a threat to public
safety.
The regulating authority, in terms of the Bill, will only be able
to apply
to a judicial officer to impose conditions on a public gathering,
rather
than arbitrarily restrict peaceful protests.
The fact that
since its enactment in 2002, there has not been a single
conviction in
relation to a case brought on the strength of the harsh
provisions of POSA
is evidence of the failure by the police to correctly
interpret and apply
the law.
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=13883
By Ngqwele Dube
Published:
February 23, 2010
Bulawayo - ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa says
Zanu-PF’s policies of seizing
farms and forcing foreign firms to cede
majority shareholdings locals is
counterproductive and mounts to
self-imposition of sanctions on the country.
Addressing Zapu supporters
at a packed Lobengula Hall on Saturday in
Zimbabwe’s second capital city
Bulawayo, Dabengwa said financial and
targeted sanctions imposed on the
country were caused by Zanu-PF’s
controversial policies.
He said no
foreigner, even from Zanu-PF’s so-called friendly countries from
the East
would invest in a country where laws required them to be minority
shareholders in their own firms.
Dabengwa said it was worrying that
the farm seizures have resumed for the
few remaining white farmers, some of
who had already had their farms
extensively reduced during the previous land
resettlement. He said the
proposed new law which forces foreign-owned firms
to surrender 51 percent of
their equity to locals was
counterproductive.
“Farmers who had invested so much capital, and in some
cases had found
international partners, were just evicted by someone who
just had to bring
an offer letter for the land from the government. Now they
are targeting
mines and businesses through what they call indigenization.
Who would invest
his or her money so that they could become a minority
shareholder? We put
ourselves and the country under sanctions due to our bad
policies,” he said.
Dabengwa added: “Even the Russians and Chinese would
not invest under those
circumstances. In effect we have imposed sanctions on
ourselves. We must
remove the sanctions we put on ourselves first before
expecting the EU and
the US to remove theirs.”
Zanu-PF has, through
the minister of indigenization, Saviour Kasukuwere,
enacted a law that
forces foreign owned firms to cede 51 percent of their
equity to
locals.
Dabengwa said the forthcoming Zapu congress would debate and come
up with
investor and people friendly policies.
“We need a win-win
policy framework for both foreign investors and locals.
Indigenization must
be done in a manner that is not self-destructive or for
a few people.”
http://www.africasia.com/
HARARE,
Feb 23 (AFP)
Ten
years into Zimbabwe's land reforms, lifelong farmer John Browning has
found
a job at a food company's factory in Harare, supervising the night
shift.
"At 73, you should not be working at night," Browning said.
"But we don't
have a choice, do we?"
He lost his only source of
income when the government seized his land, and
after years of
hyperinflation his pension is now worthless.
"There is nothing worse than
having no money," he said, but added: "You
can't be bitter. It eats you
up."
Over the last decade, more than 4,000 of Zimbabwe's 4,500 white
farmers have
been chased from their land by President Robert Mugabe's most
militant
supporters: self-styled veterans of the 1970s liberation war
against the
white-minority Rhodesian government.
Older farmers have
struggled to put their lives back on track, but younger
ones have built new
lives in Zimbabwe's towns and cities, where they have
become mechanics,
butchers or businessmen.
"A lot of us came to that stage where you just
have to shut yourselves off
from what happened in the past. We need to move
on," said Hendrik Olivier,
head of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which
represents mainly white
farmers.
John Saunders remembers the
terrifying day when war veterans, after
occupying his farm for a year and a
half, threatened to take his
five-year-old daughter Carolyn.
"The
intention was to keep her hostage as long as I would not pay them," he
said.
"Twenty loyal workers took Carolyn in my Land Rover. At that
time a
policeman arrived. I asked him for help. He gave us 10 minutes to get
off.
So we get into our vehicles and left."
In late February 2000,
Mugabe unleashed his supporters on the white farms,
which still accounted
for about 70 percent of Zimbabwe's farmland.
Officially, the campaign was
intended to redress colonial-era inequities.
But days earlier, on
February 14, 2000, voters had for the first time turned
against Mugabe, in
rejecting a constitution that would have strengthened the
president's
powers.
Branded as the "enemy" by Mugabe, whites became the scapegoats of
a
government losing its popular support.
Despite the attacks, most
white farmers decided to stay in Zimbabwe, even
though those still on their
farms continue to suffer intimidation and abuse.
"I don't regard any
other country as being my home," Saunders said. "This
country is in our
bones. I just could not live anywhere else."
"Once in town, farther from
the war veterans, we had more distance and I was
able to realize my
priorities. I had no other qualification but farming," he
said.
He
believes that most Zimbabweans didn't support the violent land reforms,
which decimated food production and left the nation dependent on foreign
aid.
"The basic people of this country are nice, it's the politicians
who created
a clique," Saunders said, adding that support from the white
community was
crucial to allowing his family to stay.
He rents a home
for a minimal amount from a friend who left for abroad. The
community has
also helped find jobs.
For two years, Saunders has worked for a German
group to help train poor
black farmers living on communal
lands.
Browning, who calls himself "unemployable," was recruited by a
former farmer
who went into business at a food company.
But to really
turn the page, Olivier said the question of compensation
needed to be
settled.
Since the farm seizures began, the agriculture-dependent economy
has
collapsed. The population has become dependent on international food aid
for
survival and many of the farmers who once fed the country face
destitution.
In November, the CFU said that most of the displaced white
farmers were,
like most Zimbabweans, surviving on little more than one
dollar a day.
The government had said it would compensate them for
property lost when they
were forced off their farms, but not for their land.
In practice, this never
occurred and the country's economic woes have ruled
out any hope it will.
"One of the sad things, farmers have still not
received compensation," he
said. "It is the final thing that is keeping the
farmers from forgetting
everything that happened."
"A lot of farmers
say if you can't allow me to farm, then compensate me and
I will move on."
Nominated ... Eight of the nine members of
Liyana
23/02/2010 00:00:00 | |
by Lunga Sibanda | |
|
A NINE-PIECE music group from Bulawayo is proving that disability is not inability after landing an Oscar nomination for Short Documentary.
Music by Prudence is a short film produced by Prudence Mabhena, the lead singer of Liyana.
Liyana's music was described by one American magazine as "a fresh, bright sound led by a singer with the voice of an angel."
The 35-minute documentary charts the band's life story, with special focus on the 22-year-old Prudence who was born disabled and suffered rejection by her family at an early age.
The group, who got together at Bulawayo's King George IV School for Children, was discovered by Zimbabwe-born Leslie Goldwasser. Now based in the United States, Goldwasser liked their music and Prudence's life story while on a visit to Zimbabwe, leading to the group's first tour of the United States where they performed at the Apollo Theatre in December last year.
While in the United States, they befriended rocker Sting and the widow of John Lennon -- Yoko Ono -- who recorded a song with them at the John Lennon Bus.
Speaking by telephone from Bulawayo, Prudence told of her pride this week, but revealed she would NOT be at the March 7 Academy Awards because her American visa expired.
She said: "I am very proud about the nomination, it's the best thing ever to happen to me. The whole group is excited about this and we hope we will win.
"I wish I could be there for the awards, but my American visa expired and there is no time left."
Each member of Liyana was born with or developed a serious physical disability since birth, and seven members of the group move around with the aid of a wheelchair, including Prudence.
Music by Prudence is up against China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, The Last Truck: Closing of a General Motors Plant and Rabbit à la Berlin.
http://online.wsj.com/
*
FEBRUARY 22, 2010, 4:12 P.M. ET
Did the United
Nations ignore Zimbabwe's 2008 cholera outbreak to please
Harare?
By
MARIAN L. TUPY
Over the last 10 years, Robert Mugabe's government has
destroyed Zimbabwe's
economy and eviscerated freedom in the country. In
addition to the many
victims of state-sponsored violence, hundreds of
thousands of people died as
a result of avoidable hunger and
sickness.
Yet most African leaders either passively watched or actively
supported the
criminal regime in Harare. A trial that will start today in
Kenya may show
that the U.N. has also betrayed the people of Zimbabwe by
cozying up to the
dictator and hiding the truth about one of the worst
episodes in that
African country.
Georges Tadonki, who heads the U.N.
Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Harare,
alleges that the top U.N. official in
Zimbabwe at the time knowingly ignored
the 2008 cholera outbreak in the
country. By the time the U.N. finally
intervened in late December 2008, Mr.
Tadonki told the press, there were
already "over 4,000 deaths, more than
100,000 people sick of cholera and
millions [of] people affected directly or
indirectly not only in Zimbabwe,
but also in neighboring South Africa,
Zambia, and
Mozambique."
According to Roger Bate of the American Enterprise
Institute, "the mortality
rate was at least four times, maybe five times,
higher than one would
expect-even allowing for the parlous state of the
Zimbabwean health-care
system. The mortality rate was similar to the
outbreaks before the discovery
of the transmission process in mid-19th
century."
The crisis started when the Mugabe government nationalized
Zimbabwe's water
supply in 2005 but soon ran out of money to maintain the
infrastructure and
treat the water with sodium sulfate. In 2008 the
government shut down the
water supply altogether, reducing the people in the
urban areas to scavenge
for water in ponds and sewers. Since the Zimbabwean
health-care system
collapsed along with the rest of the economy, the U.N.
effectively became
responsible for providing the necessary aid to tackle the
emerging health
crisis.
However, Mr. Tadonki says that Agostinho
Zacarias, who headed the overall
U.N. mission in Zimbabwe at the time and
was since promoted to another U.N.
position, refused to give the go-ahead
for anti-cholera measures even though
Mr. Tadonki and his staff advised him
that an outbreak of the disease was
very likely. Moreover, Mr. Tadonki says,
the U.N. made only minimal efforts
to galvanize the international assistance
needed to arrest the spread of the
disease between its outbreak in August
2008 and early December 2008. Those
four months were crucial because cholera
is highly contagious, has an
incubation period between one and two days and
can kill soon afterwards.
Mr. Tadonki claims that the U.N.'s refusal to
rapidly move on cholera was
not simple negligence but politically motivated.
According to Mr. Tadonki,
the U.N. didn't want to anger the host government,
which was trying to
convince the world in general and Africa in particular
that all was well in
Zimbabwe. The government's official line-spelled out by
Mugabe as late as
December 2008-was that there was "no cholera." According
to Mr. Tadonki, his
former superior, Mr. Zacarias, aligned the U.N. "behind
a humanitarian
situation analysis 'acceptable' to [the]
government."
The U.N. rewarded Mr. Tadonki's criticism with a threat of
dismissal, which
prompted him to sue the U.N. for harassment at the U.N.
Dispute Tribunal in
Nairobi, Kenya. International lawyer Robert Amsterdam,
famous for defending
the Russian political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is
Mr. Tadonki's
pro-bono legal counsel.
Did the UN fail to fulfill its
mission to protect the people of Zimbabwe out
of political considerations?
Did it make matters worse by refusing to
acknowledge the outbreak of the
epidemic? Those are some of the questions
that the trial may soon
answer.
Mr. Tupy is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for
Global
Liberty and Prosperity.
BILL Watch
6/2010
[22nd
February 2010]
The
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General)
Regulations
[Statutory Instrument
21/2010]
Introduction
These
regulations, which were gazetted on 29th January, have caused consternation in
many quarters.
Economists and business commentators fear they will discourage
foreign investment at a time when
The
Prime Minister claimed that neither he nor the Cabinet had seen the regulations
before they were published; they were therefore null and void. He assured business
executives that they would not be punished if they failed to comply with the
law. The Minister
responsible for the regulations, on the other hand, said he had consulted widely
before preparing the regulations and that they had indeed been considered by the
Cabinet. In any event,
he said, the regulations merely implemented the indigenisation programme set out
in the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which had already been
passed by Parliament.
Last
week Acting Prime
Minister Khupe told an investment conference that the responsible Minister and
the Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion had agreed “to return
to the drawing board” on the regulations. But public statements of this sort, even by
the Prime Minister or Acting Prime Minister, do not unmake the regulations.
The latest statements
by the President that they are “irreversible” and the responsible Minister that
there is “no going back” make it clear that at best there may be amendments to
the regulations to take account of concerns.
Legally, these regulations will remain on the statute book until they
are properly repealed by another statutory instrument gazetted by the
Minister of Youth Development
and Economic Empowerment.
Were the regulations validly promulgated?
The
regulations were made in terms of section 21 of the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act, which allows the Minister to make regulations providing for
“all matters … which, in his or her opinion, are necessary or convenient to be
provided for in order to carry out or give effect to [the] Act.” There is nothing in section
21 of the Act obliging the Minister to consult the Prime Minister or the
President before making the regulations; all he has to do is consult an advisory
board called the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board. While it is the general
practice for all regulations which are likely to have a significant impact on
society to be submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation before being
promulgated, and for really important regulations to be considered by the
Cabinet, this is merely a practice and not a legal obligation. The Inter-party
Political Agreement, as embodied in Schedule 8 to the Constitution, states that
the Prime Minister must “ensure that … Ministers develop appropriate
implementation plans to give effect to the policies decided by Cabinet”, and
obliges Ministers to “report to the Prime Minister on all issues relating to the
implementation of such policies and plans” [Article 20.1.4(e)]. But the Agreement does not
make the Prime Minister’s consent a prerequisite for the publication of
regulations [although in the spirit of the
GPA, the Minister should have brought the regulations to the
PM]. If a
Minister publishes regulations in accordance with an Act of Parliament,
therefore, but fails to keep the Prime Minister properly briefed, the failure
does not invalidate the regulations.
The Prime Minister’s assurance that people will not be punished
if they disobey the regulations is legally invalid, because he has no power to
exempt anyone from compliance with the law.
The
problem is that the Act, passed when ZANU-PF had a majority in Parliament, gives
the Minister inordinately broad powers to make regulations, and he has exercised
them to the full, at a time that is most unpropitious for the recovery of the
economy and damaging to the inclusive government. This is a political issue which must be
resolved politically.
Meanwhile, the regulations will remain in force.
What do the regulations say?
Application of Regulations, and Definitions: The
regulations apply to all businesses in
The term
“indigenous Zimbabwean”, as defined in the Act, is also unclear. It means anyone who, before
Businesses Must Submit Forms to Minister by 15th
April: Under section 4 of the regulations, all
businesses with an asset value of more than US $500 000 must send the Minister a form [which is
set out in the regulations] showing the extent to which they are indigenised
and, if they are not majority-owned by indigenous Zimbabweans, their plans for
indigenisation; these
plans must conform with guidelines provided in the form [though in fact there
aren’t any such guidelines].
Existing businesses must submit the form to the Minister by the
15th April but it is not a criminal offence to fail to submit the form — if a
business fails to do so, the Minister can send it a form and order the business
to complete it; only
if the business fails to comply with the Minister’s order will it commit an
offence [section
4(4)].
Minister’s Response to Forms: Having received a form from
a business, the Minister has 45 days within which either to approve the
business’s indigenisation plans or to make his approval dependent on the plans’
conformity with a notice which the Minister is supposed to publish in the
Gazette before the 1st March 2011
[see section 5(1) &
(4)]. Since the
Minister has not published such a notice, and since there are no guidelines in
the form indicating how indigenisation plans are to be prepared, the effect of
the regulations is that the Minister must approve all plans submitted to
him. That may not be
what was intended, but it is certainly the effect of section 5. And if the Minister makes
no “positive response” [whatever that means] to a plan that has been submitted
to him, the plan is deemed to have been approved [section
5(5)].
Indigenisation when Businesses Merged or
Section
7, similarly, deals with the splitting up of businesses whose asset value
exceeds US $500 000. The resultant businesses will have to
conform to indigenisation targets set out in a plan approved by the
Minister.
Indigenisation when Controlling Interest
Relinquished: If a person or company that controls a
business whose asset value exceeds US
$500 000
relinquishes control over the business, the transaction will have to be approved
by the Minister, and the approval will be conditional on the transaction
conforming with indigenisation targets set out in an approved indigenisation
plan [section
8].
Effect on Investment Licence Applications: Under
section 9, anyone who “projects or proposes an investment for which an
investment licence is required in terms of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority
Act” will have to obtain the Minister’s approval before obtaining such a
licence, and “any investor requiring a licence in terms of the Zimbabwe
Investment Authority Act” will have to obtain the Minister’s approval before
investing in sectors of the economy which are listed in the Third Schedule
[these sectors include agriculture, transport, “wholesale or retail trade”,
barber shops, advertising agencies and milk processing — it is a rather
disparate list].
Although the section does not say so, one must assume that the
Minister’s approval will be conditional upon satisfactory provision for
indigenisation. The
problem with this section is that it presupposes that investors need a licence
from the Investment Authority before they can invest in
Procurement Contracts: Much the same anomaly occurs in section 12,
which deals with the sub-contracting of procurement contracts. Under the section, if goods
or services are obtained from a supplier under the Procurement Act and the
supplier is not controlled by indigenous Zimbabweans, the supplier must
subcontract to competent indigenous businesses — but only if the supplier “is
required by the Act [i.e. the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act ] to
subcontract to businesses whose controlling interests are held by indigenous
Zimbabweans.” The
problem is that the Act itself does not require anyone to subcontract to
indigenous Zimbabweans;
it merely allows regulations to impose such a requirement
[see section 3(1)(g) and (4) of the
Act]. Hence there
is no situation in which section 12 can operate, and parties to procurement
contracts can subcontract freely to indigenous or non-indigenous
contractors.
Regular Reports to Minister: Under section 13,
businesses will have to satisfy the Minister annually that they are indigenising
in accordance with the law.
Official Database of Would-be Indigenous
Partners: Under section 15 the Minister will establish
a database of people who want indigenous Zimbabweans to acquire an interest in
their businesses, and of indigenous Zimbabweans who wish to “partner” those
people. There is no
provision allowing the Minister to compel businesses to take on particular
indigenous Zimbabweans, and there is no such provision in the Act. It is not correct,
therefore, to say that the Minister will be able to foist politically-acceptable
“partners” upon reluctant businesses.
Can the Regulations be Legally
Challenged?
Constitutional Validity: Are the regulations
constitutionally valid?
They are certainly discriminatory, in that they favour indigenous
over non-indigenous Zimbabweans and the discrimination is based on race. On the
other hand, they are intended to implement an affirmative action programme for
the advancement of people who were previously disadvantaged by unfair
discrimination, and as such they are authorised by section 23(3)(g) of the
Constitution.
It might
be argued that the regulations contravene section 21 of the Constitution, which
protects freedom of association. That freedom extends to commercial activities
such as the right to form companies and partnerships. Partners have a fiduciary
relationship with one another and it is obviously important that they should
have the greatest freedom to choose their fellow-partners. Much the same
applies to company directors. A law which compels partners and directors to
take someone into their partnership or company on the ground of that person’s
race, or on the ground that that person had previously suffered unfair
discrimination, undoubtedly limits their freedom of association. This argument
has some merit, but it is unlikely that a Zimbabwean court would adopt it in
order to declare the regulations unconstitutional.
Unreasonable
penalties? There is one further
ground on which the regulations could be challenged: the penalties prescribed
in them are out of all proportion to the conduct sought to be penalised. In
every case, whether the prohibited conduct consists in the making of a false statement or merely
failing to submit a form to the Minister, the penalty is the same: a fine of US $2 000 or five years’ imprisonment, or
both. That is the
maximum penalty the Minister is allowed to prescribe in the regulations, and by
prescribing it in all cases he has laid himself open to this challenge.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied