Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:58 |
Webster Baipai, one of the victims of the violence bedevilling Nyanga who had his left eye gouged out with a blunt object at Nyakomba Business Centre on February 13 is seen at Nyanga Hospital where he is being treated.
Chief Saunyama, the head of traditional leaders in Manicaland says he wants authority to regulate MDC-T and Zanu PF meetings in Nyanga North because of the violence rocking the constituency.
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http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:13
BY
KHOLWANI NYATHI
NYANGA — It took a petty fight over a rocky football
pitch at Nyamakomba
Business Centre between MDC-T supporters and Zanu PF
youths to trigger the
deadly political violence now stalking this
picturesque district.
The tension had already reached fever pitch and
it was a question of who
would cast the first stone.
Battle
lines had been drawn in a series of “provocative” incidents blamed on
Harare
South MP Hubert Nyanhongo and a band of Zanu PF youths roaming the
constituency.
Nyanhongo, who is also the Deputy Minister of
Energy and Power Development,
is reportedly eyeing the Nyanga North
constituency where Nyamakomba and
Nyamaropa, the epicentres of the violence
currently rocking the district,
lie.
Nyanga North is represented
by MDC-T’s Douglas Mwonzora.
On the fateful day on February 13,
Mwonzora had gathered about 500 people
under a tree near a football pitch at
Chatindo Primary School to brief them
on the Constituency Development
Fund.
But Zanu PF youths loyal to Nyanhongo allegedly started pelting
the crowd
with stones saying they wanted to use the pitch for their social
soccer
match.
There was complete mayhem as the people at the
meeting fought back and the
fight moved to nearby shops where several
windows were shattered.
Christopher Taziwa, an elderly shop owner linked with
Zanu PF says he
survived the attacks by a whisker as he had been sitting
outside when the
fighting broke out.
However, Webster Baipai, who
is believed to be one of the youths linked to
Nyanhongo, was not so lucky as
he had his left eye plucked out in the
attack.
He is recovering
at Nyanga Hospital together with another Zanu PF supporter
who was left for
dead by the angry mob.
A few kilometres from Nyamaropa Police
Station, Sheila Sabadza believes her
husband, a Zanu PF youth leader
survived death by the grace of God after his
bedroom hut was set alight by
unknown people while he was asleep.
Zanu PF supporters openly admit
that they are outnumbered by MDC-T members
in the area making Nyanhongo’s
fight for the constituency a desperate one.
In a dossier compiled for
the Joint Monitoring Committee (Jomic) — a body
set up to monitor adherence
to the provisions of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) — Mwonzora accuses
Nyanhongo, a former soldier, of using
military tactics to try and wrestle
the constituency.
He accuses Nyanhongo and the Zanu PF youths of
spearheading the February 13
violence.
“Hubert Nyanhongo’s
vehicles, including a Nissan Hardbody ABD3740, a Mazda
BT50 and a tipper
lorry, were used by Zanu PF youths pursuing my motor
vehicles,” Mwonzora
said in a letter detailing events on the day.
“At gunpoint they
abducted Tendai Chetsanga, Munyaradzi Zeta, Zondai
Chipanga Manyanga, Gift
Busiti and Obey Mwadiwa.
“They took them to Nyanhongo’s homestead in
Nyadowa where they tortured
them.
“Two of these were only
released when the MDC-T youths threatened to block
an ambulance carrying an
injured Zanu PF activist.”
Mwonzora said the police officer in charge
of Nyamaropa police station,
whose name was not given, refused to take
action against the abductors.
The MP, who is also the co-chairperson
of the Constitutional Parliamentary
Committee (Copac), says Nyanhongo has
also roped in the Manicaland
provincial head of traditional leaders, Chief
Saunyama.
Saunyama is accused of removing headmen he suspects of
being sympathetic to
MDC-T, replacing them with Zanu PF activists to aid
Nyanhongo’s campaign.
One of the kraal heads Peter Chipatarongo under
Chief Katerere was
reportedly relieved of his duties under Nyanhongo’s
watch.
He was replaced by Pios Chipatarongo who is said to have links with
Zanu PF.
Saunyama on Wednesday told a Jomic team that he had been
sent to investigate
the violence and that he was only replacing headmen who
were not doing their
jobs.
“I did not know that there are MDC-T
or Zanu PF headmen in this district,”
he said.
Despite the
strenuous denials, Saunyama could not hide the fact that he does
not see eye
to eye with Mwonzora.
Saunyama accused Mwonzora of bad-mouthing him
and said he would be sending
emissaries to his clan’s elders in Mozambique
with the Jomic dossier to
consult on what action to take against the
MP.
He said they asked the deputy minister to spearhead development
in the area
because the MP had not done anything for his
people.
Nyanhongo’s supporters are also accused of threatening two
teachers at
Chitando Primary School for accepting a CDF
donation.
The teachers are reported to have crossed the border to
Mozambique fearing
that the youths would make good their
threats.
MDC-T is also not happy with what it believes is the
selective application
of the law by the police who are letting the Zanu PF
perpertrators roam
free.
Jomic is planning to convene a meeting
between senior leaders of the two
parties to try and diffuse the tense
situation, which has become a stark
reminder of the 2008 violence that
almost brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
Nyanhongo was not available for
comment but Zanu PF provincial officials who
attended the Jomic meeting
denied accusations that the party was behind the
violence.
Mwonzora and 22 other villagers linked to MDC-T
have since been arrested in
connection with violence rocking the district
but the law has not been swift
enough to catch up with any Zanu PF members
implicated in the chaos.
Although the two gladiators are still
accusing each other of triggering the
violence, it is clear to any outsider
that Nyanhongo’s interest in the
constituency has raised the tempers ahead
of elections expected later this
year.
Zanu PF officials in the
area say Mwonzora and his supporters provoked the
youths since they could
have used the school grounds for the meeting instead
of the pitch since it
was a constituency gathering.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 20:07
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday marked his 87th
birthday saying government
is taking over Nestle Zimbabwe because it refused
to buy his milk.
Mugabe told Zanu PF supporters at the birthday party
organised by the
communist style 21st February Movement that he wants
government to also take
over South African owned mining giant Zimplats
accusing it of externalising
profits.
“Nestle refused to buy milk
from Gushungo dairies,” he told a crowd of about
6 000 Zanu PF
supporters.
“I told (Youth Development, Indeginisation and
Empowerment minister Saviour)
Kasukuwere to begin with them and tell them he
was sent by Gushungo.
“We should deal with them; let them get out of
the country.”
In 2009, Nestle bowed to international pressure and
stopped buying milk from
Gushungo Holdings, a company owned by the Mugabe
family.
This led to major fallout between the government which
accused the Swiss
based company of applying sanctions on Mugabe’s
family.
Government to take over Zimplats
Mugabe’s threat
to also grab Zimplats is likely to unnerve jittery investors
who are already
having sleepless nights over the country’s unpredictable
indeginisation
policies.
Zimplats is a member of the Impala Group of Companies.
Impala holds 87% of
Zimplats shares and is one the country’s biggest
employers.
“Zimplats has never given us any substantial money,” Mugabe
said.
“They are taking all the money to South Africa that’s why I
have told
Kasukuwere to deal with those mines.
“We have got to
get companies to account,” Mugabe said amid wild cheers.
He said Zanu
PF was also pushing ahead with plans to seize all companies
whose owners
were from the European Union and the United States.
On Tuesday the
party would launch its two million signatures campaign as it
intensifies its
rhetoric against Western sanctions.
Mugabe also repeated his threats
that elections would be held this year with
or without a new
constitution.
He accused the Finance Minister Tendai Biti of delaying
preparations for
elections by refusing to release money.
“We
would want to get to elections as soon as possible,” he said. “If others
are
to drag we will get out of the agreement.
“Biti says there is no
money, the money there is only to pay credits so that
we could be given
money. We have money in the country.”
Mugabe turned 87 on Monday but
he usually uses the big lavish birthday
parties organised days later to
attack his perceived enemies.
Wearing a red neck scarf of the 21st
Movement, the veteran ruler looked fit
and sharp, putting to rest that his
recent health problems had taken their
toll on him.
He cut three
giant cakes, one resembling a Zimbabwe flag and another
depicting the Great
Zimbabwe monument.
Mugabe who has been in power since 1980 said
although he was now old he
still had political ideas of a young
man.
“87 is only 8 plus 7. I want to remain with you. My body may get
spent but I
wish my mind will always be with you,” he said.
The
birthday parties have always been criticised for their extravagance and
are
often boycotted by Mugabe’s opponents.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 20:28
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
MDC99 leader Job Sikhala was on Friday arrested on
allegations of kidnapping
two men in Mutare.
Lawyer Obey
Shava said Sikhala was arrested at his house in Chitungwiza at
around
5pm.
Harare spokesperson James Sabau said he did not have any
information on the
case as it was being handled by the Border Control
Minerals Unit.
“When we arrived at St Mary’s Police Station, we were told
that they did not
have laptops and printers so we had to go to the minerals’
unit to record
the statement,” Shava said.
“But he is being
charged with kidnapping two adult men, one of them his
brother-in-law and
another long-time friend he stays with at his house.
“But we believe that
this is purely political persecution because the police
do not have
statements from complainants and when we arrived at the station,
they first
mentioned the million men march then mentioned minerals before
finally
settling for kidnapping.”
Shava said Sikhala was being detained at St
Mary’s Police Station and the
police kept telling them that they were
waiting for one Superintendent Churu
to come with the witnesses’
statements.
“The investigating officer does not appear satisfied with
the charges,”
Shava said.
“He was just told to arrest Sikhala on
allegations that Sikhala kidnapped
the two in Mutare on February 19 and a
report was made at St Mary’s police
four days later.
“The alleged
victims are currently in Mutare, having left home peacefully
last Sunday (20
February).
“What it means is that they made the report to St Mary’s
police while in
Mutare and it is not clear if they did this by phone or
other means.”
Some activists say they are planning a “Million Men March” on
Tuesday to
protest against President Robert Mugabe’s long rule.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:41
A
23-year-old Bulawayo woman claims Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is
neglecting their three-month-old child in revelations that might put a dent
on the MDC-T leader’s image.
The woman identified as Loreta
Nyathi is now preparing to drag Tsvangirai to
court in an effort to force
him to pay maintenance for the child.
Top Bulawayo lawyer Josphat
Tshuma of Webb Low & Barry confirmed on Friday
that he had received an
instruction to draft a maintenance letter of demand
to
Tsvangirai.
“We have not done the letter yet because I am attending a
funeral. We hope
to finalise everything by Monday,” he said.
The
woman’s father who could be identified yesterday confirmed that he had
been
informed about the case but sought to absolve Tsvangirai of any wrong
doing.
He said his daughter had a boyfriend in the
UK.
“I have heard those rumours but they are completely false,” he
said from
Bulawayo yesterday.
“Loreta is my daughter and the only
thing that I know is that she has been
trying to get money from some people
who received it on her behalf from her
boyfriend. I want to warn people that
we are ready to sue if they continue
peddling that rumour,” said the
father.
But Loreta who said she was forced to move out of home when
the pregnancy
was discovered by her parents said she did not have a
boyfriend.
She said her father was not fully briefed about the circumstances
surrounding her pregnancy and the birth of her son named
Ethan.
Late yesterday when The Standard again spoke to the
father, he said he had
not been in the picture when he earlier denied that
Tsvangirai was being
blamed for the pregnancy.
He however said he
preferred to have the matter solved through traditional
channels.
Sources close to Loreta say she was first introduced to
Tsvangirai in 2009
at the Churchill Arms hotel in Bulawayo’s Hillside suburb
by a mutual
friend.
The two are said to have kept in touch through phone
calls and text messages
before they met again in February last year when
Tsvangirai was on a tour to
assess the food situation in
Matabeleland.
They reportedly met at the Holiday Inn where they
became intimate and Nyathi
claims that is where she fell
pregnant.
In early November Loreta says she travelled to Harare where
she met Ian
Makone, the permanent secretary in the office of the Prime
Minister who
allegedly gave her another US$2000 for her
upkeep.
However when the woman reportedly went back to Makone’s
office early this
month for money for rent and the baby’s upkeep she was
told in no uncertain
terms that she was not getting any more money as they
had given her a lot of
money already.
The woman who for over a
week had refused to speak to this journalist said
she was hoping the
situation would be resolved amicably.
“I thought they would want us
to resolve this issue amicably but they don’t
even want to communicate with
me,” she said.
Makone refused to comment on Friday saying he was not
Tsvangirai’s
spokesperson.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the prime
minister’s spokesperson said Tsvangirai would
not comment on the
issue.
“We are sick and tired of these stories. The PM is worried
about pressing
national issues like violence, the issue of civil servants
salaries and the
roadmap to elections,” Tamborinyoka said.
Last
month, state media reported that Tsvangirai had been linked to a
Bulawayo
businesswoman Aquilina Pamberi leading to a breakdown in her
marriage.
Pamberi’s husband Jacob Mandeya reportedly wanted to
end the marriage
because he was convinced his wife was seeing
Tsvangirai.
The PM’s office dismissed the story saying it was part of
the state media’s
campaign to vilify Tsvangirai. The MDC-T leader is a
widower after his wife
died in March 2009 in a road accident.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:38
BY OUR
STAFF
ACTIVISTS campaigning for a separate Matabeleland state have
formally
written to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
calling for self-determination.
Although Mugabe’s
spokesman George Charamba yesterday refused to comment on
the matter, the
activists were circulating the documents on the internet the
whole of last
week.
The documents include a draft “independence agreement
for Mthwakazi
Republic.”
A militant movement, the Matabeleland
Liberation Front (MLF) was formed in
Bulawayo late last year and has been
pushing for the secession of
Matabeleland arguing that the region has been
marginalised for too long.
Although many people believe the activists
will not get enough support for
the creation of a separate state, their
campaign would bring to the fore
serious problems that have remained
unsolved in Matabeleland since
independence.
The region already
has two other parties calling for a separate state or a
semi-autonomous
region in the name of the Patriotic Union of Matabeleland
and Zapu Federal
Party.
Other national parties such as Zanu PF, MDC-T, MDC and Zapu
say devolution
is the answer.
Activists inspired by protests
in North Africa
Analysts say the activists have been buoyed by the recent
referendum that
saw the creation of an independent South
Sudan.
In the letters to Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the activists say
they were
motivated by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, which toppled
presidents
Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali respectively.
“Your
Excellency, whether by accident or design of history we all find
ourselves
living in a time when we have to make a decision about uMthwakwazi
independence,” reads the letters in part.
“Yes it is a decision
we otherwise wish did not confront us, but it does. We
must confront it,
honestly and bravely.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:38
BY OUR
STAFF
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says he never planned to
remove MDC
president Welshman Ncube from his ministerial post even after
claiming to
have expelled him from the party.
Last month,
Mutambara announced that he had expelled Ncube from the party
after the MDC
national council sought to redeploy him to the Regional
Integration and
International Co-operation portfolio.
Ncube, who replaced
Mutambara at the MDC congress last month, was supposed
to take over as DPM
but President Robert Mugabe refused to swear him in.
In a response to
a provisional order instructing him to “stop masquerading”
as the MDC
president, Mutambara said the reports in the state media
suggesting that he
wanted to remove Ncube and other ministers who engineered
his ouster were
false.
“For the record, I never announced through the ZBC that I was
going to be
announcing a cabinet reshuffle of the MDC ministers,” Mutambara
said as he
tried to thrash out the certificate of urgency for the urgent
chamber
application.
Mutambara’s u-turn could be an indication
that he has lost the battle for
the control of the
party.
According to the constitution, for one to be a cabinet
minister they have to
be a member of the House of Assembly.
The
next step was for Mutambara to inform the Speaker of Parliament Lovemore
Moyo that a vacancy had been created with the “expulsion” of Ncube.
The
robotics professor still claims to be the president of the MDC and
denies
that he voluntarily gave way to Ncube.
But Mugabe revealed recently
that Mutambara confided in him that he would
not be contesting the
presidency because officials in the party had ganged
up against him.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011
19:10
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
SENIOR Zanu PF officials are
allegedly looting farming inputs distributed
under President Robert Mugabe’s
US$33 million inputs scheme while giving
poor urban farmers fertiliser and
maize seed in lunch boxes.
The scheme, which the Minister of
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation
Development Joseph Made said was
meant to help revive agriculture, is only
benefitting Mugabe’s supporters
countrywide as the inputs are strictly being
distributed at Zanu PF
gatherings.
Sources in the President’s Office say a report
has already been made to
Mugabe indicating that his trusted lieutenants were
looting the inputs.
“This was communicated to the President three
weeks ago but I don’t know
what action he will take,” said one
source.
“The problem is that we are going towards elections and he
would not want to
antagonise his cronies because most guys will be found
wanting should there
be an investigation.”
Reports say the
looting of the inputs scheme was not restricted to Harare
but was widespread
in the country.
In 2009, several Zanu PF chefs, senior army, police
and prison officers were
fingered in the looting of agricultural inputs from
the Grain Marketing
Board meant to benefit the poor.
Made last
week professed ignorance that Zanu PF officials were helping
themselves to
the inputs but confirmed that people were getting small
amounts of seed and
fertliser due to demand.
“There is massive demand for inputs as you
might be aware that donors
withdrew some three or so months ago,” said Made.
“We are very grateful to
the President for this initiative because it has
raised hopes for food
security around the country.”
Made said the
scheme, establi-shed under the President’s Well-wishers’ Fund,
was not a
Zanu PF project but was designed to benefit every Zimbabwean.
He said
the scheme would be-nefit over half a million people recover from
the
effects of “illegal” sanctions and droughts experienced over the past
years.
In addition to seed maize, fertilisers and small grain
seeds, the inputs
scheme for the 2010/11 agricultural season which shot up
from US$10 million
last year to US$33 million, has expanded to include
cotton and livestock.
Made could not disclose the source of the
funding.
Mugabe started the ball rolling by giving the inputs to all
delegates who
attended the Zanu PF congress in Mutare that chose him to
represent his
party in the next elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:09
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
A row over wages at a Marondera farm has turned nasty
amid allegations of
rampant abuse of employees agitating for an
increment.
In separate interviews, employees from Bemba Farm
said management were
unprocedurally sacking workers, especially those
engaging in union
activities.
“Workers are being dismissed
without any discussions and Zanu PF youths are
called in to throw them
away,” one employee said.
“The youths facilitate the removal from the
farm of all employees whose
contracts have been terminated and transport
them during the night.”
The 700 workers who are earning the national
employment council approved
wage of US$55 per month for general agriculture,
have since last year been
agitating for the higher agro-wage. They argue
that the farm is improperly
classified as it also has interests in piggery,
milling and honey
processing, among others.
The agro wage
currently stands at US$80.
“Sometime last year, we formed the farm’s
first workers’ committee with the
help of unionists but the farm owner was
not pleased, resulting in the
dismissal of all those involved in unionism,”
Guidance Chipere said. “In my
case, the farmer just called me to his office
and told me that he no longer
wants me on his farm.
“I had been
employed at the farm for two years but he just handed me US$700
without
explaining how he arrived at the figure.”
Chipere alleges that the
Zanu PF youths transported him on a rainy day and
dumped him by the roadside
in Murehwa.
His property and family were soaked by heavy rain,
leading to the death of
his one-year-old child a few days later, he
claims.
Johannes Mfiri alleges he was sacked on January 4 for
encouraging workers to
join the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers’
Union (Gapwuz).
Although employees said many have been affected in a similar
way, Gapwuz’s
Marondera branch said it has only handled 18 such cases since
July last
year.
“A man (Cleopas Kundiona), whose company provides
security services at the
farm, threatened that those seen going to the
unions will be drowned in a
nearby dam like what happened to many people in
2008,” another employee
said.
The unionists said they have also
received death threats from Kundiona whom
they allege presides over the
“throwing away” of workers.
But Kundiona, who said he is also
spokesperson and legal advisor to Francois
Smit, owner of the farm, said
unionists were manipulating the workers and
trying to extort the
farmer.
“We have since sued Gapwuz Union, their representatives and
some of the
workers for US$1 114 500 being compensation for damages caused
during an
illegal strike they organised at the farm last
year.
“One of the unionists is also facing a charge for trying to
extort US$4 000
from Mr Smit saying if he gave him that amount, he would
stop the strike”.
Kundiona said management has since applied for
classification of the farm
but before that happens, the status quo regarding
everything, including
remuneration, will continue as advised by the NEC last
year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:07
BY TATENDA
CHITAGU
MASVINGO — A strong stench of human waste and uncollected
garbage signals
the decay at Shabanie Mine’s residential compound.
The
stench is unmistakable throughout what used to be business magnate
Mutumwa
Mawere’s distressed Shabanie Mashava Mines (SMM), which also
encompasses
Gaths Mine in Mashava, a few kilometres out of Masvingo town.
Water
supplies have been cut off at some houses in the compound as the mine
owes
Zvishavane town council more than US$3 million. Only communal toilets
have
been spared to avert a possible cholera outbreak.
The closure of the
mines has also squeezed life out of the asbestos mining
area, which now
resembles a ghost town.
Out of the mess that SMM found itself in
following Mawere’s specification
and subsequent placing of the empire under
re-construction, many sad tales
have been told of the suffering that the
more than 1 300 workers now have to
go through.
The Standard
learnt of harrowing tales that have gone unnoticed such as the
fate of
widows, the disabled and those living with HIV and Aids.
While some
who are able bodied and healthy are doing menial jobs to survive,
life has
been a hell on earth for Aids patients and widows.
While HIV and Aids
support groups preach adherence to the life-prolonging
Anti-Retroviral (ARV)
drugs, those living with the virus said they sometimes
fail to raise the
money to buy drugs.
They also cited lack of a proper balanced diet,
which led many to early
deaths.
“Some of us are HIV-positive, but
we cannot take the drugs regularly.
“We do not have the money to keep
buying the drugs, or even travel to nearby
hospitals where they are given
for free.
“Some cannot even raise a dollar to register with the
Zimbabwe Network of
People Living with HIV (ZNPP+) so that they can access
free medication,”
said Norman Zivengwa from Mashava, who said he has been
living with the
disease since 1994.
He told members of the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines recently
that he had seen many
Aids patients dying a premature death.
And the disease is spreading fast as
many are turning to prostitution to
earn a living,” Zivengwa
said.
The committee, chaired by Edward Chindori Chininga, was also
told that
prostitution was rife in Zvishavane and Mashava, threatening the
country’s
anti-HIV and Aids war.
A widow, Mary Kampango, said
life had been unbearable for her, as she has
been “totally forgotten” by
mine management from the time when the mine’s
fortunes started
dipping.
“While some of the workers were given some stipends,
especially when the
mine’s problems were surfacing, I was forgotten,” she
said.
“I have not been given any benefits or my late husband’s
pension, although
he died in 2009.
“Management actually wanted to
chase me out of the mine house.
“At one time, all my belongings were
thrown outside as I was kicked out of
the house that was given to my
husband. But I was later given a few rooms in
another compound, despite the
fact that my husband had been employed here
for 40 years,” she said, with
her eyes becoming watery with tears.
She also told of discrimination at the
mine.
“At one time I fell ill, nurses refused to treat me, saying my
days were due
in the mine,” Kampango said.
A nurse at Zvishavane
Mine clinic said although she has also been affected,
those who were ill
were worse off.
“This is not the right time to fall ill. I am also
afraid of getting ill
this time as there are no drugs,”said the
nurse.
“You prescribe some drugs to patients and tell them to take
the drugs after
food, and they ask you, ‘where do you think I will get the
food as I have
not been paid’.”
Underground, no mining has been
taking place since September last year and
the tunnels are flooded and
electricity has been cut off owing to a
ballooning debt accrued over the
years.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011
19:06
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Phillip Pasirayi
said the
current wave of arrests of pro-democracy activists was designed to
pre-empt
any attempt by Zimbabweans to revolt against Mugabe’s
rule.
“These arrests are acts of intimidation designed to pre-empt
any murmurs of
disgruntlement among Zimbabweans,” he said. “However, if
people are pushed
against the wall they will face their
abusers.”
But the CiZC spokesperson said civic organisations
in the country have
agreed to soon stage peaceful protests against
government’s arrest,
harassment and intimidation of human rights
defenders.
“We don’t want to topple the government but we want an end
to violence
against defenceless citizens and respect for basic human
rights,” Pasirayi
said.
“If lobbying fails, we will come together as
pro-democracy groups and there
is already consensus that we must revert to
our strategy of 2007 which
brought results.”
On March 11 2007,
the civic society groups staged prayer meetings in Harare
which were
violently crushed by armed police.
The marches were organised by the
CiZC under the auspices of the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was among those who were severely assaulted
at
Machipisa Police Station in Highfield.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011
19:04
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE ongoing arrests of human rights
activists in the country is an attempt
by an increasingly paranoid President
Robert Mugabe to quash mounting
dissent before it replicates mass uprisings
in North Africa, political
analysts have said.
Mugabe, who turned 87
years old last week, fears that the revolution wave,
which toppled Tunisian
and Egyptian presidents, might cascade down south to
engulf the country he
has ruled with an iron fist for the past three
decades, the analysts
said.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled after he
had ruled for
three decades while Tunisia’s Ben Ali had been at the helm for
24 years.
The analysts said that the Arab protests were making Mugabe and his
inner
circle nervous and at the same time more determined to nip any form
dissent
in the bud.
There has been heavy presence of armed
soldiers in Harare’s high-density
areas in the past week, a scenario which
analysts said is meant to cow
frustrated Zimbabweans.
Already,
armed soldiers are roaming around rural areas campaigning for
Mugabe ahead
of elections whose date is still to be announced.
In the past month,
over 100 people, mostly Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) activists have
been arrested on allegations that the party claim were
“cooked
up.”
Political violence, spearheaded by Zanu PF militia in Harare’s
high-density
areas, has displaced over 1 000 MDC supporters in the past few
weeks.
The analysts said the recent arrest of former Highfield MP
Munyaradzi Gwisai
and 45 others was designed to send a clear message to
would-be protestors
that they would be punished severely.
Gwisai,
the general co-ordinator of the International Socialist Organisation
(ISO),
together with the 45, are accused of plotting an Egypt and
Tunisia-style
uprising to topple a “constitutionally-elected government.”
MDC-T
legislator for Nyanga North Douglas Mwonzora and 22 villagers are
currently
in jail on charges of public violence.
Although they were granted
US$50 bail, the state revoked the notorious
section 121 of the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act to suspend the bail
order for a week pending the
filing of an appeal by the State in the High
Court.
The Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has demanded that the increase
in the extent
and frequency of harassment, arrests and persecution of
political and human
rights activists cease forthwith.
“The Supreme Court should further
urgently set down for consideration the
constitutional challenges pertaining
to Section 121, as the continued delay
is having a negative impact on the
fundamental rights and freedoms of
numerous legitimate political activists
and human rights defenders,” said
ZLHR, an organisation that gives legal
representation to human rights
defenders.
Mugabe’s
heavy-handedness comes at a time when some Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora have
called for a “Zimbabwe Million Citizen March” to force Mugabe
out of
power.
But some analysts said such actions would be disastrous for a
country that
was beginning to enjoy the benefits of a government of national
unity (GNU)
“It will be foolhardy to follow such a stupid way,” said
one commentator who
requested anonymity. “Let us go for elections. We cannot
erase the benefits
of the GNU in a day just because someone wants
power.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:02
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
AN Epworth man is lucky to be alive after police officers
allegedly recently
opened fire on him and his family accusing him of being
an armed robber.
Wilmore Ndlovu says he was shot on February 11 after
stopping to close his
car windows.
“I had just closed my grocery
shop at Aca-dish Shopping Centre around 9pm
and was driving home, which is
some 5km away.
“I realised a lot of air was coming in through
an open window and I feared
for my son’s health so I stopped to close the
window,” he said.
“A white Isuzu twin cab passed by but quickly reversed and
two men in
civilian clothes jumped out.”
He said the two men
asked him what he was doing by the roadside and he told
them he was closing
the car window to which they responded by ordering
everyone out of the
car.
“They ordered us to put our hands on the boot and look
downwards,” Ndlovu’s
11- year-old daughter, Em-ilia said.
“That
was when we heard the sound of a gun shot before they ordered us to
proceed
home without looking back.”
Ndlovu, who was with his wife, his wife’s
brother, his daughter and a
one-year-old son was shot on the left
side.
While his family sought refuge at a nearby house, the men took
him to Dombo
police station where they left his car and drove him in their
car to
Parirenyatwa Hospital where he was admitted and
treated.
“The government paid my bills and the men told me they
thought I was an
armed robber which baffles me because I have never heard of
armed robbers
who walk about with little children,” he said. “I am going to
the police on
Monday so they can record a statement from me and give me my
car.”
Harare police spokesman James Sabau yesterday said he was busy
at a function
and could not comment on the matter immediately.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:01
By
Mugove Tafirenyika
The restructuring exercise being carried out by
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC in Chitungwiza has been thrown into
turmoil, The Standard
has gathered.
This follows the
establishment of parallel structures by disgruntled party
cadres who accuse
their colleagues in the district and provincial executives
of deliberately
sidelining them.
The disgruntled members allege that
provincial chairman Alexio Musundire’s
loyalists are being preferred ahead
of them as the party’s elective congress
scheduled for end of May
looms.
The party’s former chairman for Zengeza east district Felix
Chihoro,
organising secretary for the youth assembly Frank Machingura and
deputy
youth chairman Taurai Shenje have said they do not recognise the new
party
structures.
The three say the structures were secretly
established by the district youth
chairman Jabulani Mtunzi without the
knowledge of organising secretaries of
all wings as must be the
case.
“We do not recognise the so-called new structures because they
are products
of a flawed process aimed at elbowing us out of the executive
to ensure
Musundire’s re-election as provincial chairman.
“We are
viewed as a threat to Musundire’s political survival after we
supported
James Makore at the last provincial election. The so-called
restructuring
exercise was done secretly by Mtunzi and a few others without
informing the
district chairman and the organising secretaries of all wings
as must be the
case.
“As far as we are concerned all the old structures are still
functional
until we conduct a proper restructuring exercise which will be
attended by
all party cadres,” said the trio at the
weekend.
Chihoro and company have since written to the national
organising secretary
Elias Mudzuri to register their grievances. In a letter
to Mudzuri, a copy
of which is in our possession, dated January 26 2011, the
trio charge that
elections in wards 13, 14, 16 and 20 were not properly
conducted.
Contacted for comment on the situation Mtunzi, who
retained his post as
district youth chairman, confirmed the existence of
parallel structures but
played down its impact on the party’s preparation
for the congress.
He dismissed Chihoro’s camp as one made up of
fly-by-night politicians who,
after realising that they had no support,
saved themselves from
embarrassment and stayed away from the elections but
were now raising dust.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26
February 2011 19:19
Often when a person is portrayed repeatedly as
omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent — in short, as a god — the general
public begins to believe that
he is invincible. The Brother Leader Muammar
Gaddafi is one such example.
He has many titles to his name, the most
prominent of which being “The Guide
of the First of September Great
Revolution of the Socialist People’s Libyan
Arab
Jamahiriya”.
Imagine this title being prefixed to his name
each time it is read on radio
and TV. He came to power in February 1969
through a military coup, hence the
title.
History is replete with
examples of people who boasted that they were
invincible but a closer look
at their behaviour shows that they had human
frailties that betrayed their
monolithic stature.
Although Julius Ceasar bestrode the “narrow
world” like a Colossus, he was
hard of hearing in one ear. This “little
ailment” was symbolic; he didn’t
“hear” many things that were loud and clear
around him, including warnings
of imminent danger such as the Soothsayer
advising him to “Beware the ides
of March”.
On assuming the
presidency of the United States, Ronald Reagan was asked by
a journalist
what he thought of Valery Giscard d’Estaing. His answer was
that he had no
idea who the bugger was. D’Estaing was the French president
at the time.
Americans should have known there and then that Alzheimer’s had
set it. It
is argued by some of his biographers that episodes of
forgetfulness haunted
his eight-year presidency signalling the extent of his
illness. He too was
human.
In spite of all the pomp and circumstance that accompanies
Gad-dafi wherever
he goes, he is pathologically afraid of flying. He also
fears using
elevators. He is not by any means the only one in the world with
such
phobias; so he is human too. But why had we come to think that Gaddafi
was
invincible?
Jamahiriya means “state of the masses” so Libyan
Jamahiriya would mean the
People’s Republic of Libya.
Gaddafi
rejected democracy and came up with his own political philosophy
which he
expounded in the Green Book which much like Chinese leader Mao’s
Red Book
were considered to be bibles of the people’s revolutions.
According
to the Green Book Libya is a “direct democracy” without any
political
parties, governed by its populace through local popular councils
and
communes called Basic People’s Congresses. Official rhetoric disdains
the
idea of a nation state; tribal bonds remain primary even within the
ranks of
the military.
Libya literally floats on oil; according to one
diplomat I spoke to many
years ago some wells have oil so pure one could
pour it into a diesel engine
and the engine would run
perfectly.
To the outside world Libya’s direct democracy seemed to
work. The world
assumed that the wealth from the oil was evenly distributed
among all
Libyans.
One of Gaddafi’s follies was the Great
Man-Made River, the water pipeline
project designed to bring millions of
litres of water from beneath the
Sahara Desert, northward to the Benghazi
region on the Mediterranean coast.
Under the giant scheme, according
to internet sources, water is pumped from
aquifers under the Sahara in the
southern part of the country, where
underground water resources extend into
Egypt and Sudan. Then the water is
transported by reinforced concrete
pipeline to northern destinations.
Construction on the first phase started
in 1984, and cost about US$5
billion. The completed project was billed to
total US$25 billion.
South Korean construction experts built the huge
pipes in Libya by some of
the most modern techniques. The engineering feat
involves collecting water
from 270 wells in east central Libya, and
transporting it through about
2 000 km of pipeline to Benghazi and
Sirte. The new “river’’ brings two
million cubic meters of water a day. The
system involves 4 000 km of
pipelines, and two aqueducts of some 1 000
km.
Asked on Chinese TV a week ago: “Sir, in retrospect, for the past
40 years
of your rule, what achievements have you accomplished during the
process?”
Gaddafi replied: “It is not I who am ruling. It is the people who
are
ruling. I think the most important achievement is having built a
people’s
regime and founded a republic.”
Asked about succession
he said: “First, I don’t have imperial power. I am
not a king or a
president. The question of considering a successor doesn’t
exist. In Libya,
the regime belongs to the people. People rule themselves.
Why do we need a
successor? I don’t have the authority to intervene either.
Since the regime
is in the hands of the people, people can choose whatever
method they
please.”
This was the picture of Libya portrayed to the world but
those studying the
workings of the regime saw through the façade. They
discovered that the
so-called “basic people’s congresses” were
systematically being used as
tools of political repression.
The
Libyan people’s anger simmered under the surface stoked by a situation
“in
which foreign companies won the prime government contracts and thousands
of
foreign workers from China, Egypt and Vietnam secured many jobs” and
“years
of frustration at Gaddafi’s foreign adventures and white elephant
infrastructure projects while most Libyans lived on in
poverty.”
Because people’s anger simmered underneath, Gaddafi was
just a giant with
legs of clay; one day they would give way under the
pressure of the people’s
outrage. But like anyone else who has, over
decades, turned a country into a
personal fiefdom, he would like to go down
with the country. He doesn’t mind
killing his own people to achieve this.
But the people will not be defeated
as they have become masters of their
fate.
In Julius Caesar one of the conspirators had this to say about
him:
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus;
and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find
ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their
fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that
we are underlings.
Caesar was felled, so eventually will Gaddafi and all
dictators.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:17
By
Maclean Dhlodlo
“We must constantly build dykes of courage to
hold back the flood of fear” —
Martin Luther King Jr.
Courage is
a virtue present in our daily experiences but often overlooked.
People make
decisions everyday that depend on them having to draw from this
resource —
business ventures, making the marriage vows, moving into a new
city, a new
job, a new school. All these take some guts. What is rare,
perhaps, is that
act of bravery exhibited in life-threatening situations.
The high level of
the nature of the risk associated with the act
distinguishes the act and the
actors as extraordinary. This is what
ordinarily separates the brave from
the cowardly; how we respond when the
stakes are
high.
Courage is not a denial of the presence of fear. Rather
it is defiance of
fear. In Christian theology fear is acknowledged as a
phenomenon that is a
consequence of human imperfection. The violation of
God’s boundaries opened
human beings up to fear and shame. Remember the
words of Adam as he
responded to God’s calling out in the garden, “Adam,
where are you?” He
answered and said: “I heard your voice in the garden, and
I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10). From
then on fear
became a primary emotion in human relationships.
The
presence of God in us however makes a difference. God is love and
perfect
love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Therefore boldness is not a
refutation of
the fear phenomenon. It is defiance of the very nature of fear
and contempt
of its very source, be it of satanic or human derivation. This
boldness does
not hinge on self. It leans on God who is greater than fear
itself or the
sources of it. That is why the author Dorothy Bernard said
“courage is fear
that has said its prayers.” Courage is dependent on God.
Courage is a
decision to believe God. It is a conviction that we continue to
build, a
confidence in His person, a steadfast faith in what He has said,
and a
certainty that He will perform of His plan concerning us, our
families,
communities and nations. “For I know the plans I have for you”,
says the
Lord “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a
future and a
hope” (Jeremiah 28:11).
Courage is what moves us to participate in
God’s plans for us and our
children, saying “thy will be done, Lord.”
Courage is what impels us to
compel ourselves in the resolve to step out of
the fear detention in order
to possess the God dream for ourselves and to
apprehend the future for
posterity. Corra Harris once said, “The bravest
thing you can do when you
are not brave is to profess courage and act
accordingly.” Courage believes.
For the Christian, courage is
commanded. In numerous places God commands
various ones to be courageous,
and assures them of His abiding presence.
Likewise, His servants instruct
His people at critical times to be steadfast
in their stance in Him, unmoved
by fear of people or circumstances. I will
cite one such
occasion.
The setting is the highlands of Kadesh-Barnea. The land of
promise lies not
far beyond. The occasion is leadership transition. Yes,
leadership
transition. As is normal practice for any leader as they exit
office, Moses
addresses the nation. He tells them that his time is up, and
his task is
done. He is handing over to one that God has chosen, one whom he
has had an
opportunity to mentor as well. This one, Joshua by name, would
take over and
complete the assignment. Oh, what a leader!
Moses
does not go into convulsions about handing over the baton. So what
does he
say to the people of critical importance? He commands them saying,
“Be
strong and be of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them
(enemies)”
(Deuteronomy 31:6). Why is he commanding courage? The land of
promise had
inhabitants. The possibility of the nation being intimidated
from entry into
the land of promise by these nations was very real. So they
needed to be
encouraged not to be timid. Moses, like his God, commanded
courage.
Moses turns to Joshua, the successor he has groomed.
With the cool of a
mature and Godly leader, he instructs him also, “Be
strong and take heart:
for you are to go with this people into the land
which the Lord, by his oath
to their fathers, has given them; by your help
they will take it for their
heritage” (Deut 31:7). He is courteous to
admonish him to be wary of the
pitfall of fear. The downside of fear is the
shift in confidence. Fear is
indicative of the fall-back to trusting in
human abilities than in God.
Fear puts to doubt the integrity of God,
His capability to deliver on
promise. Essentially Moses emphasizes to Joshua
to maintain his trust in
God.
It is notable that setting in motion this
transition was in itself an act of
great courage on the part of Moses. In
this context courage can also be
understood as the ability to envision a
future of hope and prosperity for
others without you in the picture. I like
the way that Mignon McLaughlin
captures this idea: “The only courage that
matters is the kind that gets you
from one moment to the next.” In this
case, Moses was able to usher Joshua
and the whole nation into their next
moment or season without pain. What a
courageous leader! It remains to be
seen how many such leaders will emerge
in our time.
Courage is a
choice made to step out of an enforced fear coral-reef with the
full
knowledge that the coastguard is watching. At best you swim to liberty.
At
worst you drown or the bullet ensures your exit from the earth. Such
courage
defies logic. It is a step of faith that says “I know that my Savior
is
watching over me and shall carry me under His wings. Should He not, my
body
may perish. However, the idea of liberty is indestructible.”
What is the
incentive for bravery? We are motivated by the knowledge that
outside of the
cage of fear awaits a world unexplored, pregnant with every
conceivable
possibility and more. I speak not here of heaven which will be
our reality
when we exit the earth. I speak here of that which is our
inheritance and
that of our children and their children in the here and now,
if the Lord
tarries. I speak of that privilege which the devil through
willing henchmen
is intent on keeping every child of God everywhere in the
world from
accessing and enjoying.
Outside the confines of fear awaits one who
Paul extols in a doxology, a
song of praise: “Now to God, who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we
think or imagine, through His mighty power at
work in us, to Him be the
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus,
throughout all generations, forever
and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20, 21).
God waits to fulfill every promise He
has made. All we need to do is step up
by faith, not by might, and take a
stance with the knowledge that “life
shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s
courage” (Anais Nin in The Diary
of Anais Nin, Vol 3, 1939-1933).
Finally, when we do take a
courageous stance, others will be encouraged to
follow suit. Billy Graham
once said that “courage is contagious. When a
brave man takes a stand, the
spines of others are often stiffened.” You can
dare stand and hold back the
tide of fear. Courage is honourable.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 26 February 2011 19:16
THE
treatment of Munyaradzi Gwisai and 45 others by law enforcement agents
is a
cause for concern for all the progressive forces fighting for democracy
in
Zimbabwe.
Gwisai, who runs the International Socialist Organisation
(ISO) chapter in
Zimbabwe, has been charged with treason, a very serious
crime which can
attract the death penalty.
While the
merits of the case are now for the courts to determine, what is of
major
concern is the manner in which Gwisai and his co-accused were picked
up and
treated by their interrogators.
According to testimony made by Gwisai
in court, police beat up and tortured
the accused in a bid to extract
treason confessions from them.
Gwisai’s lawyer said his client was
lashed more than 20 times on his back by
his torturers using a plank. Such
humiliating treatment in police custody is
a gross violation of the accused
persons’ rights and of the law.
Despicable as it is, the police
actions are not surprising, given the timing
of the arrests. With
revolutions taking place in North Africa and the Middle
East, it is clear
Zimbabwe’s state security machinery is already hard at
work, launching
pre-emptive strikes at any groups of people who may wish to
start Egyptian-
or Tunisian-style uprisings.
Arresting and torturing political
opponents is a cut-and-dried strategy that
has worked for President Robert
Mugabe’s regime in the past when faced with
the prospect of mass action. The
same strategy is again being used by the
regime bent on maintaining the
status quo in the face of a wave of uprisings
sweeping autocrats out of
office.
The violence unleashed in Mbare during the past few weeks
could also be part
of this grand strategy to strike fear into the hearts of
the regime’s
perceived opponents and weaken their resolve to take to the
streets. The
million dollar question is: Can the winds of change blasting
everything
autocratic in their wake in other countries be stopped in
Zimbabwe?
Only time will tell.