http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 19:16
INTENSE
infighting within Zanu PF over control of the Marange diamonds
stalled the
planned sale of diamonds on Thursday and is frustrating proper
mining
operations of the precious mineral, sources told The Standard last
week.
This was compounded by the fact that Mbada Diamonds, a
joint operation
between government and Grandwell Holdings of South Africa,
failed to meet
conditions stipulated by the Kimberley Certification Process,
the global
diamond regulatory body, before the planned sale.
The
sources said the battle for control of the Marange diamonds pits
factions
aligned to retired Army General Solomon Mujuru and Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the
Minister of Defence.
The two camps are already embroiled in a bitter
decade-long battle to
succeed ageing President Robert Mugabe (85) as leader
of the party and the
country.
Last week Mbada announced the
proposed auction of the first 300 000 carats
of the precious Marange mineral
but this flopped spectacularly after it
turned out proper procedures had not
been followed.
Although government, which is also a shareholder in
Mbada, had been informed
about the auction, Secretary for Mines and Mining
Development Thankful
Musukutwa said the auction had been stopped until the
correct laid-down
process was followed.
He said Mbada should have
involved the Minerals Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe, ZRP Minerals Unit
and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development
in the
process.
But announcing the diamond auction on Wednesday, Mbada
chairman Robert
Mhlanga claimed government was involved in the whole
process.
“The entire process from mining, transportation to marketing
is being done
in compliance to the requirements of the Kimberley Process,”
he said.
“The sales and marketing offices are jointly manned and
controlled by teams
from both government and Mbada Diamonds,” he
said.
Mhlanga, a former air vice-marshal, has close links with
Mugabe. He was one
of the first black pilots to fly Zimbabwe’s only ruler
since Independence.
Sources said the auction was stopped after
officials from the faction
aligned to Mujuru took advantage of the failure
by Mbada to follow laid down
procedures.
The Mujuru faction, said
one of the sources, wants to wrest control of the
Marange diamonds from the
faction aligned to Mnangagwa whose key figures are
associated with the
companies mining in the controversial area. Mnangagwa
is acting Minister of
Mines.
The Mujuru faction, said another source, is also querying how
Mbada – a
company hurriedly registered late last year - got the tender to
mine
diamonds in Chiadzwa ahead of already “existing and reputable” mining
firms.
The source said Mnangagwa’s faction is said to be sympathetic
to Mbada’s
mission to ensure proper mining operations at Chiadzwa, where
diamonds worth
millions of dollars were looted by senior politicians before
ordinary
Zimbabweans invaded the area.
Mhlanga dismissed
allegations that he was aligned to any politician saying:
“I am not aligned
to politicians, MDC, Zanu PF or Mavambo. I am my own man.”
He said it
was time the diamonds benefited the country and the people of
Marange
instead of politicians.
However, sources said, some politicians loyal to
the Mujuru faction – who
had been in control of mining operations at
Chiadzwa before the
normalisation of mining in the area-- were determined to
derail the project.
“It is the fight for political control of Zanu PF
that has spilled over to
the control of the diamonds,” said one of the
sources. “Each faction knows
that the diamonds are the country’s lifeblood
so they both want to control
the precious stones.
“Mbada
officials made the mistake of not going by the book and their
adversaries
took advantage of that to throw spanners in the works.”
A Mbada
official last week said their controversial reallocation of the
mining
claims owned by a British company, African Consolidated Resources
(ACR) had
saved the situation as politicians were plundering the
resources.
This is not the first time that Mbada has been stopped in
its tracks.
Last month, the Environment Management Authority (EMA)
ordered the company
to stop mining operations saying Mbada had contravened
the Environmental
Management Act [20:27].
Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu declined to comment saying: “I am on leave.”
Efforts to get
comments from Mujuru, Mnangagwa and the Deputy Minister of
Mines Murisi
Zwizwai were unsuccessful yesterday.
As the fight for the control of
diamond rages on, ACR has warned
international diamond traders against
buying germs from the Marange diamond
field, saying they were
“stolen”.
ACR holds right of title to claims on the Marange diamond
field that was
seized by the government in October 2006 and reallocated to
ZMDC.
“Those are our diamonds. Anyone buying them must know that they
are trading
in stolen diamonds. We are placing an advert in the press to
that effect,”
ACR lawyer Jonathan Samkange said after Mbada announced it
would be
auctioning the first 300 000 carats of Marange
diamonds.
The government also seized considerable quantities of
diamonds from ACR but
was last year ordered by the High Court to return the
diamonds to the
British company.
The court also upheld ACR’s
right of title to Marange - in a judgment
government is
contesting.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
has demanded the
immediate establishment of an independent investigating
committee that would
report to Parliament to undertake an audit of the firms
currently mining at
Chiadzwa.
ZLHR said Zimbabwe has not met the
standards set up by the KCP for it to
start mining the
diamonds.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
19:06
ZANU PF's women's league leader, Oppah Muchinguri, tried to block
Minister
of State for Presidential Affairs, Didymus Mutasa from violently
taking over
one of the most productive farms in Manicaland in what is seen
as widening
divisions in the party over the continuing land
invasions.
Mutasa allegedly threatened Rusape tobacco farmer Gavin Woest
with death if
he tried to resist the takeover of his Masasa Farm by Agatha
Mugomba on
January 2, according to the Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU).
The CFU yesterday said Woest who has been at the farm for the
past 50 years
had initially tried to resist eviction and wrote a letter to
the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) seeking
protection.
But after continued threats by Mutasa and Zanu PF militia
camped at the
farm, the farmer and his family eventually left, abandoning
his farm
equipment and unharvested tobacco crop.
The CFU said
Woest was first tipped off about the impending takeover on
Christmas Eve
while helping another farmer Ray Finaughty of nearby Manda
Farm to pack up
his belongings after he was given three hours to vacate his
farm.
On December 29 three youths arrived at the farm and
informed them they were
taking over the property. The youths then ordered
all workers to stop work.
The following day a Jomic team that
included Muchinguri arrived at the farm
and tried to
intervene.
"During the talks, Ms Oppah Muchinguri was harassed by the
three youths,"
the CFU said.
"A silver Toyota Prado approached
the scene. Mr Didymus Mutasa got out of
the vehicle and greeted everyone
present.
"Talks between him, the Jomic delegation and us continued
for a while.
"The talks became heated, at which stage Mr Mutasa
proceeded towards his
vehicle to leave," reads the letter written to CFU by
Woest.
"Ms Muchinguri had a long discussion with Mr Mutasa after
which he left.
"The delegation voiced their disappointment towards Mr
Mutasa's way of
addressing the situation. They returned to Harare shortly
after that. The
youths remained on the farm."
Yesterday
Muchinguri confirmed visiting the farm but said she did not clash
with
Mutasa who is also Zanu PF secretary for administration.
But she
spoke against the ongoing takeover of productive farms by Zanu PF
militants
across the country.
"As Jomic it is our role to investigate cases such as
these and our role is
to ensure that economic activities at farms are not
disrupted," she said.
"I went to the farm under Jomic to see how best
the situation could be
resolved because we were informed there was a lot of
activity on the farm.
"So as Jomic we do not support any disruptions
that cause economic
instability.
She said she called Mutasa to
the farm to discuss the situation which was
getting out of
hand.
Muchinguri has been at loggerheads with the Zanu PF leadership
in the
province following her audacious bid to topple Vice-President Joice
Mujuru
ahead of the party's congress last month.
The women's
league boss embarrassed Mujuru in polls in Masvingo but failed
to garner the
same support in nine other provinces.
Mutasa was not available for
comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, CFU president Deon Theron said white
commercial farmers had grown
weary of the unending farm disruptions despite
the new political
dispensation.
He said the invasions were also
militating against Zimbabwe's efforts to
attract foreign
investors.
"The disrespect of property rights, court rulings and
signed Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements and the
selective application
of the rule of law also contribute to the
unwillingness by investors to get
involved in Zimbabwe, thereby hindering
the recovery process," he said.
"As much as 80% of former prime land
now lies uncultivated and thousands of
farms are derelict.
"Up to
60 000 workers and their families have been displaced, many of whom
were
assaulted or tortured by militants."
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
19:01
SOUTHERN African Development Community (Sadc) ministers have
expressed
disquiet over the slow pace at which Zanu PF and the MDC
formations are
moving to resolve issues threatening their 11-month-old unity
government.
The three governing parties have been engaged in Sadc-brokered
talks since
March 2007 to tackle a litany of disputes centred on Zimbabwe's
decade-old
economic and political crisis.
The talks led to the
successful formation of a unity government last
February, but divisive
issues came to the fore after a couple of months, and
subsequently led to
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T partially
disengaging from Zanu PF
government ministers last October.
The party rejoined its partners in
November after Sadc leaders intervened
and called for another round of talks
to resolve what the party called
"outstanding issues".
Instead of
resolving the few items referred to them by Sadc, the negotiators
kept on
adding new items, enlarging the list to the extent that the talks
could not
be concluded before the end of the year.
Mozambican Foreign Affairs
Minister Oldemiro Baloi, who last year led a team
of foreign affairs
ministers from the countries that make up the Sadc organ
on politics,
defence and security, on Friday said they were unhappy with the
pace of the
talks.
Baloi spoke to journalists in Maputo after ministers from
Angola, Mozambique
and Zambia received a report from South African President
Jacob Zuma's
facilitation team on the Zimbabwe negotiations at their meeting
on Thursday.
The meeting had also been convened to prepare for the
African Union summit
and to discuss the situation in the region's hotspots,
namely the DRC,
Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
"With regards to the pace of
negotiations (in Zimbabwe) and the pace of
events, nobody is happy," reports
quoted Baloi saying. "We want the talks to
conclude as soon as
possible."
The talks are set to resume on Saturday in Harare after a
three-week break
for the festive season.
Zanu PF negotiator
Nicholas Goche said he was not sure of the exact date of
the resumption of
the talks, as he was on leave.
He referred questions to his colleague
Patrick Chinamasa, who was not
immediately available.
It is
understood that the parties are still poles apart on such issues as
the
appointment of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana, equitable sharing of provincial governorships, cabinet
roles and sanctions.
Sources said there had been no movement on
these issues.
Yesterday, the MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti
confirmed there were
still "major outstanding issues" which had to be
resolved if there was to be
"genuine power-sharing".
"The
position is still as it was expressed by the principals at the end of
last
year," said Biti.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
18:31
A senior clerk of court at the Harare magistrates' courts has been
arrested
for allegedly assisting dangerous criminals escape from custody
using fake
bail orders. Shylet Tafirenyika was arrested on Christmas' Eve
and will
appear in court on January 14.
It is alleged that
Tafirenyika was involved in the bail scam in which eight
notorious armed
robbers were released using fraudulent bail orders.
The suspects were
arrested for robbing banks, stealing cars and other
related
offences.
The scam was discovered after repeat offenders Clever
Nengomasha, Emmerson
Mutevera, Arnold Kwarira, Shepherd Mhizha, Fanuel
Muchineripi, Ernest
Chikate, Tawanda Mandudzo and Brighton Chagara were
released on bail.
Although denied bail by the High Court, all the
suspects somehow obtained
what appeared to be authentic release documents
with a stamp from the High
Court and a signature of the criminal
registrar.
But the plot unravelled when a relative of another
suspected robber, Caesar
Chandakada Garapo who was still in custody, took a
fake bail order to the
magistrates' court to try and secure Garapo's
release.
Apparently a prosecutor from the Attorney-General (AG)'s
office who was
present when Garapo was denied bail at the High Court was at
the magistrates'
courts when the relative tried to secure Garapo's
release.
He became suspicious and called the Director of Public
Prosecution, Florence
Ziyambi, asking whether Garapo was granted
bail.
Garapo's relatives were allegedly tipped off that their plot
had been
discovered and they vanished from the courts.
Police
have also arrested two ex-convicts who are suspected to have been
part of
the scam.
Magistrate Lazarus Simbi remanded David Mwanjeya and George
Simbi in custody
to January 12.
The court heard that Murendo and
Mwanjeya obtained a High Court bail release
order lawfully issued to
Cainmore Ngorima and used it as a specimen copy.
They also used a
stolen High Court stamp.
The two would demand US$300 to process the
fake bail orders.
So far two robbers, Arnold Kwarira and Ernest
Chikate, have been arrested.
They were remanded in custody to January
13 but their six accomplices are
still on the run.
Ziyambi told
The Standard soon after the scandal came to light last month
that they
feared more criminals could have escaped from custody using the
same
trick.
"We recently discovered that there are fake bail orders
circulating, we are
investigating the issue and we believe that there are
some people at the
High Court who were conniving with the criminals to issue
those fake bail
orders," she said.
"The AG's office is now taking
measures to ensure that nothing like that
ever happens
again."
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 18:24
THE
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) is embroiled in a row with a local
music
promoter over an HIV and Aids awareness project that was proposed to
tap
into the excitement created by the Fifa World Cup soccer finals in South
Africa in June. The project would involve a musical gala pitting regional
musicians to be held at a major local tourist attraction with the aim of
spreading HIV and Aids awareness messages ahead of the global soccer
showcase expected to attract more than one million people to the
region.
But the project has become a bone of contention between
Hillary Chitapi, who
proposed it, and the tourism
authority.
Chitapi is accusing ZTA boss Karikoga Kaseke of trying to
elbow him out of
the programme so that he can benefit from the
spin-offs.
According to various documents to hand, ZTA and other
associates such as the
National Aids Council and the National Arts Council
of Zimbabwe had approved
the idea and expressed willingness to work towards
the success of the
project.
Chitapi says his sources had informed
him that ZTA intended to hijack his
project while a former official with the
authority had openly told him that
he was not qualified to handle such a
major project.
"After numerous futile efforts to discuss the progress
of the project with
ZTA, I met Paul Matamisa (then ZTA's 2010 projects
co-ordinator) and he told
me not to come back to the offices because I was
not fit to spearhead such a
major project," Chitapi
said.
Matamisa has since left ZTA but an official at the 2010
projects office said
she knew about the project.
She refused to give
further information since she is not allowed to speak to
the
press.
ZTA public relations manager Sugar Chagonda professed
ignorance about the
project, referring questions to his
bosses.
Kaseke was said to be in South Africa on business while chief
operations
officer Givemore Chidzidzi was not answering calls to his mobile
phone
yesterday.
But documents to hand indicate that there had
been communication between
Chitapi, NAC, NACZ and ZTA over the project until
around November last year.
Minutes of a meeting between NAC, ZTA and
the Swedish International
Development Agency (Sida) on 2010 World Cup and
Cosafa tournaments held on
September 10, 2009 indicate that Chitapi's
project was on the agenda.
Chitapi says ZTA had been co-operating
until he submitted the final project
proposal.
"I suspect they
want to hijack my project.
"They appeared so nice before I handed the
project proposal.
"Now that they have it, they have become evasive
and I have lost a lot of
money travelling from my home in Shurugwi on
numerous occasions yet there is
no progress."
He claims that he
spoke to Tourism minister Walter Mzembi and Environment
minister Francis
Nhema about the issue to no avail.
The ministers were not immediately
available for comment yesterday. Kaseke
has been sucked into countless
controversial projects ostensibly meant to
spruce up Zimbabwe's battered
image.
They include the discredited Miss Rural that was run by Sipho
Mazibuko, the
Miss Tourism finals and the invitation of top artistes from
the United
States to visit Zimbabwe at great expense to the
taxpayer.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 18:22
JOHANNESBURG - It
never rains but pours for hundreds of Zimbabweans who work
in South Africa.
After all the partying and excessive spending during the
Christmas and New
Year holidays at home, hundreds of the Zimbabweans known
as Injiva are still
stranded at Beitbridge border post after South African
immigration officers
confiscated and destroyed their travel documents.
On New Year's Eve,
South African immigration officers with the help of state
police launched a
crackdown against foreign nationals in possession of
fraudulently acquired
SA passports.
While at the border on the way to Johannesburg this
reporter witnessed
immigration officers and police confiscating passports
from Zimbabweans who
were in possession of South African
passports.
Those whose passports were confiscated were told to return to
Zimbabwe. But
on arrival at the Zimbabwe side of the border, officers there
refused to
accept them.
Zimbabwean immigration officials said
they could not accept their own people
because they were holders of South
African passports. They in turn sent them
back to the South African side,
effectively rendering them stateless. Some
of the Zimbabweans whose
passports were confiscated were seen milling around
the no man's
land.
Others tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the South African
immigration
officers to return their passports. This reporter also watched
the
immigration officers tearing what they called "fake passports" they
seized
from the Zimbabweans.
Some Zimbabweans who were being
transported by Omalayitsha - human
smugglers, managed to pass through
official check points at Beitbridge only
to be stopped and arrested at a
roadblock manned by both immigration and
police officers at Mkhomeni near
Musina town.
Mkhomeni has become notorious as a place where border
jumpers on their way
into South Africa are intercepted and
arrested
"We have so far confiscated fake passports from 200
Zimbabweans," said one
immigration officer. He told this journalist that the
operation against
foreigners in possession of South African passports would
continue for
several weeks until "all bogus south African citizens were
flushed out".
BY THABO KUNENE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January
2010 17:10
AFTER spending the greater part of last year without
electricity, residents
of Kuwadzana were last week incensed by the power
utility's audacity to
serve them bills for a service not rendered. Residents
of Kuwadzana 5 last
week said they last received uninterrupted power in June
last year before a
transformer in the area developed a
fault.
Since then, the residents have been forced to part with their
hard-earned
cash buying firewood, paraffin and candles.
It was
only in mid-December, that Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa)
employees were spotted in the area attending to the transformer.
Their
efforts did not bring any joy because just after a day, the area was
again
plunged into darkness, ostensibly because the transformer did not have
oil.
The residents said they again saw Zesa workers on New Year's
Eve. Power was
restored for only 10 minutes.
One of the affected
residents, Viola Mafukidze, was excited when supplies
were reconnected. She
hoped that they could now prepare food for New Year's
Day.
"Our
joy was shortlived," she said on Thursday.
"We did not even boil
water for a cup of tea. This time they (Zesa workers)
said the problem was
with the cables."
After the New Year power heartbreak, Mafukidze and
other residents were last
week shocked when they began receiving
astronomical Zesa bills for
electricity they did not consume.
"I
received a bill of US$300 for a service not delivered," Mafukidze
said.
"On lodging a complaint with Zesa, I was advised to bring my
own meter
reading.
"But I found that a bit mischievous
considering that Zesa employees are
always here reading meters that I have
on several occasions asked them why
they bother to read meters for a non -
existent service."
Other residents in Kuwadzana got bills ranging
from US$500 to US$800.
Bills sent to the residents show that the
amounts are based on estimates,
something Zesa promised to stop last year as
it claimed it now had the
capacity to charge customers according to actual
consumption.
Another Kuwadzana resident, Joshua Bvumbura, said he regrets
paying for
electricity in advance as all the money was used when no service
was
rendered for his family.
"I paid $100 to Zesa sometime in
June and I feel I wasted my hard-earned
money," he said.
"This month,
they sent me a bill amounting to $26 showing all that money has
been
exhausted and they want more yet I am not receiving any
service."
The residents initially thought that the power cuts were
part of Zesa's
load-shedding exercise, but now say they are worried that
this seemed to be
taking longer than in other areas.
They are
also concerned that with the rains they are forced to make fire
indoors.
Alternative sources of energy were also expensive
especially for households
which do not generate much income, they
said.
"We do not understand why it is taking them so long to fix the
problem,"
Tendai Cheza said.
"They once asked us to dig trenches
for poles for overhead cables along
Bulawayo road but nothing has been done
despite us having dug the trenches
long back."
Some landlords
said they were meeting payment for the bills as they could
not justify the
expense to their tenants.
Responding to the outcry over bills, acting Zesa
spokesman, Shepherd
Mandizvidza said: "In the event that some amounts
reflected on the bills are
erroneous, adjustments are done
accordingly.
"Customers should also be aware that ZETDC (the Zimbabwe
Electricity
Transmission and Distribution Company) does not charge them for
electricity
that has not been consumed and to that effect, when a meter is
not moving, a
customer is not charged except for fixed costs."
He
acknowledged that electricity supplies to Kuwadzana had been adversely
affected "by vandalism and theft, which resulted in the drainage of oil from
a transformer and they had been without service for about four
months".
He said a new transformer had been secured and "will shortly
be connected".
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 17:07
THE
United States Embassy in Harare last week moved swiftly to calm a storm
that
has been brewing for months over the embassy's alleged discriminatory
award
of scholarships. Over the last few months, activists mostly from
Matabeleland have been exchanging emails over the alleged discrimination of
students from the region in the awarding of scholarships for less privileged
students to study in the US.
Some of the activists even wrote to
Rebecca Zeigler-Mano, the Education
Advisor at the US Embassy in
Harare.
In one of the emails, Faith Dube reiterated the need to
redefine the
selection of students so that it benefits "under privileged
brilliant
students" from the region.
UK-based Zimbabwean academic
and activist Brilliant Mhlanga said there was
"a clear case of
marginalisation" in the awarding of scholarships.
"While I wholly
accept that people from Matabeleland also have a duty to
ensure that they
come up with development focused programmes to assist
disadvantaged children
in the region, it is my contention that last year's
process of awarding
those 17 scholarships was flawed, and I personally could
not pretend
everything had been down above board and correctly, when the
truth spoke for
itself," wrote Mhlanga.
The activists cited last year's awarding of
17 scholarships to American
colleges and universities, which they said
excluded students from
Matabeleland.
The students were sponsored
through the United States Student Achievers'
Programme (USAP), an
educational initiative of the US Embassy to assist
highly-talented,
economically-disadvantaged high school students to access
higher education
opportunities in the United States offered by top colleges
and
universities.
On Friday, the US Embassy's Public Affairs Officer Tim
Gerhardson dismissed
the complaints, saying they did not have any quotas for
ethnic distribution
of scholarships.
"Each year, the Embassy
receives more than 450 applications from Upper Sixth
'A' level students for
the 30 places available on the programme from
throughout Zimbabwe,"
Gerhardson said.
He said selection of students was strictly on the
basis of academic
excellence, demonstrated leadership potential, ethos of
giving back to their
community and economic disadvantage, regardless of
one's tribal background.
"We do not set quotas for geographic or
ethnic distribution but seek the
students who meet all four of our
criteria.
"Neither do we discriminate on the basis of race,
ethnicity, ancestry, sex,
religion, age or disability nor use these criteria
in our selection."
In an earlier response to Ndabezinhle Ndlovu on
the same subject last
Thursday, Zeigler-Mano said: "Despite doing lots of
outreach to schools in
Matabeleland, we simply do not get very many
applicants that can compete
with those from other regions."
But
Mhlanga insisted the criteria had to be revised so that the selection
process has special considerations for students from rural Matabeleland,
than to lump them together with their counterparts from
Bulawayo.
Last week, some of the beneficiaries of the programme who are
currently in
the country on vacation took time to share their experiences
studying in the
US.
In a Food for Thought session, "Tell it Like
it is", which was organized by
the Embassy, the students shared how the
scholarships had transformed them
into people of excellence.
"The
education system builds a person of excellence in and outside the
classroom," said Mutsa Mutembwa (20), a Mathematics and Economics major at
Indiana University.
The same sentiments were shared by Tawanda
Tasikani (20), who is studying at
Amherst College, who said they are "built
to be someone who is curious about
the world and wants to know
more".
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 17:04
FROM the
edge of her sorghum field, a dejected Beatrice Munazvo surveys the
wilting
crop, her eyes welling with tears. The 52-year-old communal farmer
from
Gudyanga area in Chimanimani district has neither the energy nor the
zeal to
tour the whole field where the crop has virtually collapsed in the
early
morning heat.
"I don't know what to do," she laments. "I used all I
had hoping for a
bumper harvest. I don't have any more money to buy seed to
replant."
In the past five years Munazvo, who takes care of her three
orphaned
grandchildren, has been able to harvest barely enough to feed the
whole
family.
Currently she receives supplementary food from
Christian Care Zimbabwe, a
charitable organisation that assists
disadvantaged families in drought-prone
areas in the country.
"If
we don't get seed now it would mean more and more families might need
food
aid here and it would also mean we would get reduced rations," she
says.
Councillor for Ward 20 in Chimanimani Zekias Nhachi said
most households in
the area had not been able to plant any crops because
there was no rain.
Apart from that most villagers did not have access
to farming inputs in
time.
"Unfortunately, crops of those who
managed to get seed and were able to
plant have wilted because of the
scorching heat.
"There has not been any rain for the past month,"
Nhachi said, adding that
more people in the area would soon need food
aid.
Agricultural experts said the crop situation remains precarious
countrywide
although after a prolonged dry spell most parts of the country
received
rains last week.
Former Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
general manager Renson Gasela said
Zimbabwe is facing another disastrous
agricultural season because of erratic
rains and poor planning by
government.
Most communal farmers have not been able to plant because
there is no seed
and fertiliser in the shops.
In areas where
inputs are available, they are beyond the reach of the
ordinary communal
farmers who are still battling to access foreign currency
following the
dollarisation of the economy early last year.
Gasela, a renowned
farmer, said in some parts of Manicaland, Masvingo, the
Midlands as well as
Matabeleland North and South seed failed to germinate
because of poor
rains.
Those farmers that were lucky to see their seed germinate now
have to watch
helplessly as their crops wilt in the scorching
heat.
"We are faced with another disastrous agricultural season,"
says Gasela.
"But it's a combination of human and climatic factors that are
causing this
calamity."
His assessment was corroborated by a
senior Agricultural Research and
Extension Services (Agritex) officer in
Harare who said that the situation
was "extremely bad" because the crops
were exposed to a prolonged dry spell
soon after germination in most parts
of the country.
"Manicaland is hardest hit but the situation is
equally bad in Masvingo and
Matabeleland provinces although rains are
falling now.
"For some crops, it's a little too late, the only way
out is for farmers to
replant," said the officer.
The officer
said in some parts of the Midlands the maize crop that was at
fertilisation
stage was destroyed by a cold spell that hit the province.
Gasela
claims that some of the fertiliser that GMB distributed to farmers
was of
"inferior quality" and would result in reduced yields.
The fertiliser
was imported from South Africa, he said.
"Compound D that was
distributed by GMB was of inferior quality and many
farmers are complaining
about it," says Gasela. "I bought that fertiliser
myself and my crops are
not looking good while those of my neighbour who
bought locally manufactured
fertiliser are looking fantastic."
Farmers who spoke to The Standard
last week also complained that the US$210
million government loan facility
that was availed to them came late.
As a result, they said, they
failed to buy seed and fertiliser on time.
"Most of us will not be
able to pay back the money because this is another
bad
season.
"Remember the loan must be repaid by June this year," said
one farmer who
requested anonymity.
GMB public relations officer
Joseph Katete had not responded to questions by
the time of going to
print.
Head of forecasting at the Meteorological Services Department,
Tich
Zinyemba, said unfavourable atmospheric conditions had been largely
responsible for reduced rainfall activity across the
country.
"Against this backdrop, the chances of meaningful rains were
diminished
especially in Masvingo, Manicaland and parts of Matabeleland
South during
this period," said Zinyemba.
"However, Mashonaland
provinces, parts of Midlands and Matabeleland North
had some good rains up
to date."
He said projections suggest that rainfall activity will
continue in much of
northern Zimbabwe.
However, he said, for
southern Zimbabwe weather conditions were likely to be
dominated by reduced
rainfall activity.
"From the meteorological angle, we have begun the
second half of the season,
thus all things being equal the season ends in
March/April.
"Farmers are encouraged to work hand in hand with
Agritex and plan their
activities," Zinyemba said.
Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU) president Wilson Nyabonda said it
was too
early to forecast whether there would be a food deficit or not.
But
if farmers heeded the union's advice to grow crops suitable to their
regions
the country would not experience food shortages, he said.
"We know
the southern parts of the country might have a deficit but they can
be
covered by food from the northern region, which is the food-producing
region
in the country," Nyabonda said.
The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU)
has already forecast a poor agricultural
season, citing continued invasion
of white-owned commercial farms, shortages
of seed and
fertiliser.
For the past decade Zimbabwe has been experiencing
serious food shortages
precipitated mainly by the violent seizures of
commercial farms which began
in 2000.
During the last
agricultural season, Zimbabwe - once the breadbasket of
southern Africa -
only managed to produce a paltry 500 000 tonnes of maize
down from more than
two million tonnes before the invasions.
As a result an estimated
five million people were said to be surviving on
donor food for the greater
part of this year.
The figures are likely to
increase.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:56
WHILE long queues have always been the order of the day at the
Registrar-General's offices at Makombe Building in Harare, this year one
thing is striking about the queues: the unusually large number of people
speaking in South African street lingo. From their conversations it is clear
most of the youngsters queuing for passports and emergency travel documents
have at some point lived in South Africa.
Last Wednesday one
would have mistakenly assumed that someone had grouped
the applicants
according to where they lived in South Africa.
While most of them
spoke in broken Zulu mixed with a whole lot of other
South African dialects
- there were some who sounded fluent in such
languages as Xhosa, Sotho and
Tswana.
But why are they applying for passports in such large
numbers?
"When I arrived in South Africa, I bought an identity
document from a
certain lady, Nelisiwe Mabuza from Umlazi (in KwaZulu Natal
province)," said
Melody Ndlovu, who says she has lived in South Africa since
2003.
Ndlovu used the ID to write her Matric examinations, which she
passed and
proceeded to college.
Since then she has lived and
worked in South Africa as Nelisiwe Mabuza,
without any
problems.
Her luck ran out when she tried to return to South Africa
after the
Christmas holidays.
"When I arrived at the South
African side of the border, one of the
officials asked where exactly in
Umlazi I had done my primary school and who
the head was.
"I
mentioned a certain school, and provided a name for a head. He apparently
called the province to check with their records, and the information did not
tally.
"Within moments, they had impounded my passport and I was
deported."
She was not alone in that predicament. It was double
trouble for those with
Zimbabwean passports.
After surviving the rigorous
searches on the SA side, a number of them lost
it when they got to the
Zimbabwean side.
After travelling close to 2 000km by road from Cape
Town to Beitbridge, en
route to Harare, and after successfully completing
the procedures on the
South African side of the border, Victor Tichapondwa
had every reason to
celebrate that he was now home.
That
excitement was short-lived.
Immigration authorities on the Zimbabwean
side immediately suspected that he
was using a forged passport, and
impounded it. "They told me that I was a
South African masquerading as a
Zimbabwean," said Tichapondwa.
"They took my passport and demanded
that I pay R200, which I did but still
did not get my passport
back."
Ndlovu and Tichapondwa are among hundreds of Zimbabweans who
were deported
from South Africa over the past two weeks following that
country's clampdown
on foreigners using suspected fake
documents.
An unusually large number of suspect South African
passports were allegedly
detected at the border.
Those with ETDs
acquired from Gweru and Bindura also got into trouble as
officials said
documents obtained from the two cities were "fraudulent." It
is suspected
that the documents were issued clandestinely by officials from
the RG's
office.
Statistics on the number of people who have been applying for
new travel
documents since the festive season were not immediately available
from the
RG's office.
In the past failing to get a Zimbabwean
travel document did not matter for
thousands of desperate job seekers who
risked their lives by swimming across
the crocodile-infested Limpopo River
to join the great trek.
But since South Africa scrapped visas for
Zimbabwean visitors, many are now
choosing the legal route to cross the
border.
Also a number of Zimbabweans who had migrated to South Africa
illegally over
the years had also returned for the festive season and are
now trying to
return with valid papers.
Officials at the
Principal Immigration Office requested questions in
writing, but they had
not responded at the time of going to press.
Co-Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi said he did "not want to speculate" on
the situation, and would
only give details this week.
But his counterpart from the MDC-T,
Giles Mutsekwa said they had since
resolved the issue of the Gweru and
Bindura-issued ETDs, and had since
engaged the South African authorities on
the inconvenience faced by many
Zimbabweans.
"We are still
talking to our South African counterparts," Mutsekwa said.
"I am not
sure if the situation at Makombe is a result of what happened
during the
festive season.
"But it is a normal trend that at the beginning of
the year there is an
increase in the numbers of people applying for
passports."
Mutsekwa said they had set up temporary offices to
process ETDs at
Beitbridge. He however would not confirm how many ETDs were
processed at the
port, the busiest in Southern Africa.
Despite
the new steep fees for passports and ETDs, getting the documents
remains a
nightmare for most Zimbabweans.
Many impatient ones end up crossing
illegally into South Africa, and
obtaining fraudulent
documents.
This comes amid reports that the RG's office is still
struggling to clear a
backlog of 78 355 passports.
SA Home
Affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy was recently quoted saying
they were
coming across about 80 suspicious passports a day at the
Beitbridge border
post alone.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:49
JOURNALISTS and media organisations have cautiously welcomed the
announcement last month of members of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC),
saying "diametrically opposed viewpoints" could cause friction in the
commission, rendering it difficult for it to make any
impact.
However, hopes are high in the media fraternity that the
new commission will
expedite the registration of new media houses, and the
return of newspapers
banned by its predecessor, the Media and Information
Commission (MIC).
When the eight commissioners approved by President
Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara after
almost a year of haggling finally begin their work
they will be confronted
by a long wish list from Zimbabwe's battered media
community.
Zimbabwe National Editors' Forum chairperson Iden
Wetherell said the ZMC
urgently needs to reform the public
media.
"We have a scandalous situation where a so-called 'public
media' misleads
the public about many crucial issues, including those
currently under
discussion in the inter-party talks," he
said.
"There is an element of dishonesty and deception in the public
media; it's
unhealthy.
"There is need to restore genuine public
ownership so they play a useful
role in nation-building.
"For
people to make informed choices at the polls," Wetherell said, "there
has to
be not only media freedom but also media diversity."
He said the ZMC
should also address the GPA provision requiring external
radio stations to
return home and register. That would require the
government, he said, to
give undertakings as to the safety of those
journalists returning from the
Diaspora who have in the past been subject to
threats.
Andrew
Moyse, the co-ordinator of the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe
said the
ZMC has to overcome the commissioners' different viewpoints.
"It is a
bit of a mixed bag, but we understand because this is a product of
heavy
compromises everywhere," he said.
"The commission might be paralysed
by the diametrically opposing viewpoints
of the commissioners.
"The Zanu
PF elements in the commission will resist reform."
Media Institute of
Southern Africa Zimbabwe chapter chairperson Loughty Dube
said while they
expected the commission to urgently implement media reforms,
they would
continue with their push for self-regulation.
"We would have
preferred a self-regulatory body which is not run by
politicians," Dube
said.
"But of course we expect the ZMC to move henceforth and
register new players
in the media.
"There are some questionable
characters in the ZMC, but we view it as a
window of opportunity for the
coming in of new media players."
Many journalists share the same
expectation. They said the registration of
new media houses, likely to be
among the milestones of the ZMC, will give
them more options and open new
opportunities.
"We cannot expect much from the commission unless
relevant changes are made
to Aippa, the law that provides its terms of
reference," said former Daily
News staffer Oscar Nkala, now a
free-lancer.
"As long as that guideline remains unaltered, the ZMC
won't be any different
from the MIC. It will just be another rubberstamp
organisation. They should
prioritise the registration of new media houses
and create more choices for
us."
ZMC commissioners were named
last month, but it is still not clear when the
commission will start
operating.
Last week, commission chairperson Godfrey Majonga would
not give details
about their plans, or how they would address the concerns
from different
media players saying he needed time.
But Deputy
Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Jameson Timba said
there were
still a few issues that had to be addressed before the commission
is
operationalised.
However, he could not say when this would take
place.
For any commission to start operating there has to be enabling
legislation
that defines its operations.
"The ZMC has a slight advantage
because it is already defined in the Access
to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act," Timba said.
"The only problem is that they do not have
a chief executive officer to head
the secretariat.
"Their first
task will be to sit down and work out the appointment of the
CEO.
"It is now upon the commission to come up with criteria for
the employment
of a CEO, advertise the position and hold interviews to
choose the most
suitable person."
As head of the MIC, Tafataona
Mahoso worked as executive chairman,
effectively making him a de facto
CEO.
Timba said the ZMC would inherit the same secretariat that was
being used by
the discredited MIC.
Japhet Mathanda Ncube, a
Zimbabwean journalist now working in South Africa,
said Zimbabwe should have
taken the self-regulation route. He said
government regulation would "take
Zimbabwe back to the dark ages".
"We must be seen to move with the
rest of the world in guaranteeing freedom
of speech and freedom of the
press. A media commission has no place in a
democracy.
The media must
police itself, like we do here in South Africa where
government officials,
politicians and the public can go to the Press
Ombudsman if they feel
aggrieved by an article."
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:46
A FORMER Barclays Bank senior official who was recently acquitted
of fraud
charges levelled against her by the multinational financial
institution two
years ago is now claiming US$245 000 in damages following
her incarceration.
Sibongile Mapungwana, who was the bank's communications
and community
projects manager, was arrested in February 2008 for allegedly
swindling the
bank of 2 500 British pounds and US$60 000.
It was
the State's case that Mapungwana, who was based at the bank's head
office in
Harare, received donations from Barclays Bank, United Kingdom, for
development projects, which she allegedly converted to her own
use.
However, last month the Harare Magistrates' courts acquitted her
of the
charges.
On Wednesday her lawyers wrote to the bank with a
damages' claim totalling
US$245 000.
"In December, our client as
you may by now know was acquitted after a full
trial as a consequence of the
bank's action," reads part of the lawyers'
letter.
"Our client
suffered emotional trauma, reputational damage and financial
loss over the
past 21 months as a result of her unlawful detention and
trial."
Mapungwana wants US$50 000 as compensation for unlawful
arrest and
detention, US$100 000 for defamation, US$70 000 for loss of
income and US$25
000 for legal fees.
The lawyers advised that
failure to respond to the demand within seven days
may see the parties going
back to court.
Barclays' head of corporate affairs Valeta Mthimkhulu
said: "Barclays
confirms that it has received correspondence from Sibongile
Mapungwana's
lawyers in relation to the above-mentioned claim and we have
responded
directly to them. Should they decide to proceed with the action,
the matter
will be decided by the courts as is the case with all legal
proceedings."
Meanwhile, Mapungwana has started writing a book
detailing her experiences
during the 21 months of her fall from holding a
prestigious position in the
bank to a "criminal".
Titled
Barefoot, the emotionally-charged account starts with a simple line -
"How
things can change so quickly and so drastically".
She details how one
morning she "had a job, hope for the future, security
and all the luxuries
that a management position in a bank could give", and
how quickly that
changed with the criminal charges she faced.
Mapungwana also
describes the poor conditions she and fellow inmates were
subjected to in
the police cells, among them an unhygienic environment and
police
brutality.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:37
THE
Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
fears
the refusal by the security forces and the Attorney-General's Office
to
reform might torpedo the fledgling unity government, a confidential
annual
report by the party has revealed. The secret report, which covers the
period
between January and November 2009, says the MDC-T last year had to
deal with
various "challenges" emanating from Zanu PF using the police,
military, the
AG's office and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
for partisan
political purposes.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), says the
report, teamed up with Zanu PF
loyalists in the Zimbabwe National Army
(ZNA), Zimbabwe Prison Services
(ZPS) and the CIO and created several hit
squads that resulted in the
disappearance of MDC-T activists and human
rights defenders.
In the report the police and the AG's office are
named as being at the
forefront of the persecution of MDC-T supporters
thereby threatening the
survival of the coalition
government.
"These two government arms, the ZRP and AG's office are
liabilities to this
GNU since it is clear that they withhold their services
when some sections
of the community call for them," says the
report.
Both Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and
Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana are self-confessed Zanu PF
supporters.
The deliberate withdrawal of services by the police
against such people as
farmers, human rights defenders and MDC-T activists
caused an escalation in
violation of human rights across the country, notes
the report seen by The
Standard.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu
PF and the two MDC formations signed the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) in
2008 leading to the formation a unity
government in February last
year.
However, operations of the GNU have been bogged down by endless
disputes
that include the appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono,
Tomana,
provincial governors and the swearing in of Roy Bennett as Deputy
Minister
of Agriculture.
The rehabilitation of the partisan
security sector would be among the top
issues on the agenda when the ongoing
inter-party talks on outstanding
issues of the GPA resume next week, sources
close to the negotiations said
last week.
The report says several
MDC members were "arrested" by Zanu PF which was
"using the services of the
police or rather the ZRP was acting as its
extension".
Most of
those who were arrested were charged with violations of the Criminal
Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, the draconian Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, Public Order and Security Act, and Miscellaneous
Offences Act.
Among those who were arrested and kept in secret
locations for a long time
are human rights activist and Zimbabwe Peace
Project director Jestina
Mukoko, MDC-T director of security Chris Dhlamini
and Tsvangirai's advisor
Gandhi Mudzingwa.
The MDC-T does not see
a thawing of the tense working relations with Zanu PF
in the near future as
hardliners in the liberation war party appear
determined to wreck the unity
government.
"There are no indications to exhibit a shift from that
kind of behaviour by
Zanu PF as will be seen in the manner Gwezere's case
was handled and the
attempted kidnapping of Edith Mashaire in October," says
the report.
Mashaire works in the party's administration
department.
The MDC-T says Pascal Gwezere, the party's transport
manager, who is on
trial for allegedly stealing 20 AK 47 rifles from Pomona
Army Barracks in
Harare, is facing trumped up charges.
It also
adds that the AG's office openly supported Zanu PF last year.
It says
those detained were treated as guilty from the time of arrest,
remained so
until proven innocent but still faced Section 21 of the Criminal
Procedure
and Evidence Act which the state invoked whenever the courts
granted bail to
MDC-T members.
"The actions of the AG's offices complemented the
effects put in place by
Zanu PF via ZRP, ZNA, CIO and ZPS.
"Zanu
PF had lost the harmonised elections in March 2008 and embarked on a
killing
spree which left more than 200 MDC members dead, scores displaced in
the
process."
In the whole political strategy to destroy the MDC-T, the
report says, the
ZPS provided prison cells at places like the notorious
Goromonzi Prison
where people were held without having gone to court as
required by law.
Reacting to the report, police spokesperson
Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena said the force remained apolitical
and only arrested people who
had committed crimes. "This is not the first
time that this accusation has
been raised," he said.
"It's not
the police who direct people to commit crimes and if people commit
crimes
it's inevitable that they will be arrested.
"We arrested people who
committed crimes, whether it was people from MDC -T,
Zanu PF or Mavambo is
neither here nor there."
Efforts to get a comment from Tomana were
fruitless but he is on record
saying his political affiliation does not
affect his official duties.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:35
THE Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists' dirty linen will not be washed in the
courts after an
executive controversially elected in December opted to stand
down, allowing
for fresh elections to be held in February. The battle for
control of the
ZUJ spilled into the courts in December after some members
who were
prevented from taking part in the December 4 elections filed a High
Court
application seeking nullification of the polls.
In court papers, the
applicants said the elections were not only a sham, but
an affront to
democracy.
"If journalists are to steal elections, then who will
protect the public
when politicians then repeat the same feat?" wondered
Godwin Mangudya in his
founding affidavit.
Mangudya, Frank
Chikowore, Conrad Mwanawashe and Guthrie Munyuki were
represented by human
rights lawyer Harrison Nkomo in the court action that
would have thrown the
spotlight on serious allegations of vote-rigging and
cronyism that marred
the ZUJ elections held outside Bulawayo.
The applicants said the
elections, held at Entabeni Lodge near How Mine
outside Bulawayo, were
fraudulent because the venue was kept secret to the
extent that some of the
aspiring candidates only became aware of it after
the results had been
announced.
Dumisani Sibanda of The Sunday News was voted the new
president, taking over
from the long-serving Matthew Takaona, who landed a
new position as
"consultant".
In his founding affidavit Mangudya,
who was vying for the presidency cited,
among many irregularities, that the
list of delegates (voters' roll) was
kept a closely guarded secret by
Takaona who was the second respondent and
secretary-general Foster Dongozi
(third respondent).
Chikowore who only got to the venue after
following a vehicle that picked up
Takaona, said the congress that was
scheduled to take three days, lasted
less than 30 minutes.
Third
applicant, Mwanawashe who wanted to become treasurer said Dongozi
told him
that the congress would be held at Dandaro Lodge, which does not
exist.
Munyuki, the fourth applicant said he was keen to contest
the ZUJ election
because he wanted to stop "rampant looting in the union and
those that were
running it did not answer to my idea of
professionalism".
The entire new ZUJ executive that includes Sibanda,
Dongozi, Mercy Pote,
Michael Padera Chideme, Evince Mugumbate, Jennifer
Dube, Valentine Maponga,
Godfrey Mutimba and Grail Kupakuwana were cited as
respondents.
They were given 10 days to respond. On behalf of the new
executive, Dongozi
filed a consenting affidavit in the High Court on
December 29 that
effectively stopped the battle for the control of ZUJ from
being fought in
the courts.
Dongozi however noted that by
consenting, this did not mean that the
executive, whose tenure is the
shortest in the history of the union, "had
stolen the
election".
He said some of the allegations raised by the applicants
were not only
"criminal" but "meant to cause alarm and
despondency".
"The consent is being given in order to protect the
image of the first
respondent (ZUJ). The first respondent has been able to
survive on its good
image. Negative publicity will only scare away potential
partners," he said.
He said ZUJ could not survive on member
contributions but survived on
donors.
Contributing to the debate
on the outcome of the December 4 elections,
Zimbabwe Independent Group
Projects Editor Iden Wetherell said journalists
should not allow their
squabbles to overshadow their need to be accountable
to the
public.
"We have a more serious issue of accountability. It seems
there has been a
departure from the norms that we expect of ourselves. We
have to be
accountable to each other within our own ranks, and to the
public," said
Wetherell, who is also the chairperson of the Zimbabwe
National Editors'
Forum.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:02
THE
National Aids Council, under fire for holding onto funds collected
through
the Aids Levy while hundreds of people in need of life-prolonging
drugs die
prematurely, has bought Antiretroviral Drugs (ARVs) worth US$1,8
million to
increase access to treatment, an official has said. NAC also
bought four CD4
cell count machines that will be given to Harare,
Parirenyatwa, Mpilo and
United Bulawayo central hospitals using proceeds
from the Aids
Levy.
In addition, the council procured about 150 000 HIV test kits
which it
handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare on
Wednesday.
NAC has also handed over about 9 000 test kits, 54 000
condoms and various
other support materials to the ministry that were
sourced from the Aids
Health Care Foundation.
The organisation
extended its support to Zimbabwe as part of its global
"Test Millions"
campaign.
Handing over the drugs and other support materials to
government last week,
NAC board vice-chairman, Dr Phineas Makurira said
since the country switched
to multiple currencies, the levy had started
making a "significant
contribution to the lives of people living with
HIV".
"As you are all aware, the years 2007 and 2008 were punctuated
by an
unfriendly economic environment with very high levels of inflation,"
Makurira said.
"As a result the Aids Levy although very high in
figurative terms, was
virtually of no value and as such the NAC was unable
to procure commodities
in support of the health delivery
system."
However, Makurira said the levy collections remained very
low because not
many people were gainfully employed.
Health and
Child Welfare minister, Dr Henry Madzorera said the move by NAC
would quell
persistent rumours about the misuse of the levy.
"This allocation and
the subsequent arrival of some of the items is
testimony that the Aids Levy
is reaching the people of Zimbabwe," Madzorera
said in a speech read on his
behalf by his permanent secretary, Dr Gerald
Gwinji.
"This will
hopefully engender public confidence in the National Aids Council
and how it
is administered particularly in view of recent negative press
reports that
cast doubt on the amount of ARVs bought."
The World Aids Day campaign theme
for 2009-2010 is Universal Access to
treatment, care and prevention: a human
right.
In Zimbabwe the treatment gap is huge with only 180 000 of the
600 000
people in need of ARVs accessing the life-saving
drugs.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 15:59
AT
least 14 046 children between the ages of six months and 14 years have
been
vaccinated in Makoni South in Manicaland in a mop up campaign following
a
measles outbreak that has claimed at least 22 children, according to the
United Nations Children's Fund. Unicef had set a target 16 000 children at
risk of contracting the killer disease in the district during the emergency
immunisation campaign.
Since the outbreak began in December, at
least 18 districts have been
affected and 869 cases reported countrywide,
according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO).
Government and
Unicef deployed medical teams to Makoni South, which has the
highest number
of cases and accounted for the 10 community deaths because of
the low
immunisation levels among members of an Apostolic Faith sect.
Unicef
communications officer, Tsitsi Singizi said the 16 000 children
reached
during the emergency immunisation programme in Makoni South
represent 94%
coverage.
She described the rate of coverage as a huge success which
will contribute
in the prevention of future outbreaks in the
area.
However, she said that Unicef was still concerned by some
resistance to the
mop up campaign from members of the Apostolic Faith
sect.
"We are very pleased with the immunisation coverage so far
during this
campaign but the large numbers of members of the sect who are
refusing to
have their children vaccinated is still a major cause for
concern to us,"
Singizi said.
However, medical teams on the
ground are continuously working with local
leadership to persuade some of
the households to allow their children to be
immunised.
This has
been successful in some instances but in some cases the medical
teams have
managed to reach the households and they continue to dialogue
with
them.
Medical teams on the ground, are targeting areas such as
Nyamidzi (the area
that reported the fatalities) and surrounding areas of
Chikogore, Rukweza,
Mukamba and Nyazura.
Unicef says that at
least 99% of the affected children were members of the
religious sect who do
not believe in seeking medical care.
So far 18 districts have
reported measles outbreaks and they are Bindura,
Bubi, Buhera, Bulawayo,
Chegutu, Chirumhanzu, Chipinge, Chitungwiza, Gokwe
South, Gutu, Harare,
Insiza, Kwekwe, Makoni, Makonde, Marondera, Mutare and
Zvishavane,
according to the World Health Organisation.
Efforts to get a comment
from the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr
Henry Madzorera were not
immediately successful last week as he was said to
be out of the
office.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
15:58
BULAWAYO - A Geneva-based Non-Governmental Organization has given
Pelandaba
Clinic equipment and materials worth US$19 000 as efforts to
revive the city's
health delivery system gathers pace. Council was forced to
close down most
of its 19 clinics mostly in high- density suburbs at the
height of the
country's debilitating economic and political
crises.
But following the formation of the unity government between
Zanu PF and the
two MDC formations in February last year, the situation has
improved.
According to a report of the Health, Education and Housing
Committee tabled
at a full council meeting on Wednesday, the donation by
ZimHealth came at a
time when the local authority was battling with a
liquidity crisis.
Council said it was unable to buy essential medical
supplies as a result of
the financial problems.
In an interview
from Geneva, ZimHealth member, Shiva Murugasmpillay said
they were driven by
the quest to play a part in the rehabilitation of the
city's health
provision.
He said they had made individual contributions within the
organisation after
engagements with council officials.
"We had
discussions with officials from the Health Services department at
the
Bulawayo City Council who appraised us on the situation at
Pelandaba.
"They told us that there were shortages at the clinic,
which we understand
is a busy clinic and thus we decided we would make this
donation,"
Murugasmpillay said.
He said his organisation had also
made several donations to other health
institutions.
"As a group
of doctors and friends of Zimbabwe, we have helped quite a
number of health
centres in the country.
"Our quest is to see to it that there is an
improvement in the delivery of
health in Zimbabwe," Murugasmpillay
added.
The consignment for Pelandaba Clinic is already in the country
and is set to
be officially handed over to council on
Wednesday.
The equipment includes syringes, thermometers, surgical
gloves, bed sheets
and hospital clothing for expecting mothers as well as
their babies.
It also includes wheelchairs, bandages, cotton wool,
and other operating
machinery.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January
2010 17:02
THE Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) has launched a
new book on the
local media's coverage of political violence in the run up
to the disputed
presidential election run-off held on June 27, 2008. The
book, titled:
Propaganda War on Electoral Democracy: A Report on the Media's
coverage of
Zimbabwe's 2008 Elections, assesses the public and independent
media's
coverage of the March 29 harmonised elections, and the subsequent
presidential run-off election.
MMPZ head Andrew Moyse said the
new publication seeks to generate debate on
the media's role in national
politics.
"I hope this book will provide a valuable contribution to
the national
debate on free media," Moyse said.
A foreword to
the publication says the "book attempts to address the
political climate
prevailing in the year leading up to the historic
elections, and
particularly the media environment at the time".
Political
commentator and University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Professor John
Makumbe said
the book will play a key role in influencing reform in the
media
sector.
"If there is a sector that needs urgent reform, it is the
media," said
Makumbe.
"Of course, there are some state media
organisations where reform would
entail firing everyone and leave only desks
and chairs.
"A lot of people in the media need to be retrained, to be
reoriented."
Makumbe described the book as "refreshing" and giving a
balanced account of
what transpired in 2008.
"This is a readable
book, presented in simple language. The reading public
will love this book
because it documents reality. The analysis is really
accurate," he
added.
In addition to the main book, there is also a publication
accompanying the
research, which focuses on the details of the use of hate
language, naming
the perpetrators and citing incidents where inflammatory
language was used.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 15:25
ZIMBABWE will be embarking
on power generation projects worth billions of
United States dollars to end
crippling electricity outages by 2015, a
five-year economic blueprint to be
unveiled in February reveals. The Medium
Term Development Plan (MTDP) will
succeed the Short Term Emergency Recovery
Programme (Sterp) that was
credited with stabilising the economy after
almost a decade of
decline.
Under MTDP, government aims to unlock investment worth US$10
billion for
reconstruction and growth.
On power generation, the
unity government plans to build new power stations
and revive old ones
rendered idle by years of neglect.
Last week, Zimbabwe sealed a US$8
million deal with Botswana that will see
that neighbouring country
refurbishing the idle Bulawayo thermal power
station to increase electricity
generation.
Under the MTDP the government will enter into such deals
to push its
earmarked power generation projects. In the next five years the
country will
also be exporting electricity to countries in the region after
completion of
planned power generating projects.
"In a move to
increase power generation to meet national demand and for
export in the
region, the following will be developed by 2015. . .
"Development of
Greenfield projects: Batoka Gorge (1600MW), Gokwe North
(1400MW), Lupane
Coal Methane (330MW) and Condo Hydro Power (100MW)
"Expansion of
Hwange Thermal Station (600MW) and Kariba South Hydro Power
Station
(300MW)
"Development of mini-hydro power plants to supplement supply
to mini-grids
in rural communities with total projected capacity of 50MW,"
reads the MTDP
document in part.
The plan also adds that
government will "promote use of renewable energy
including installation of
mini-solar grids systems (450 units)" to increase
power
generation.
Zimbabwe has over the years grappled with constant power
outages resulting
in some companies downsizing operations, closing or
relocating altogether to
neighbouring countries.
Electricity
shortages are blamed on either broken down or ageing power
generation
equipment and lack of foreign currency to refurbish power
stations.
Most of the power stations were shut down due to lack
of foreign currency to
buy space, forcing the country to rely on imports
from South Africa, Zambia,
DR Congo and Mozambique.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010 15:23
THE spotlight this
year will be on the financial services sector ahead of
the March 30 minimum
requirement deadline while executives of listed
companies will be
hard-pressed to deliver the first meaningful dividend to
shareholders in
three years. The banking sector has to meet the second phase
of minimum
capital requirement deadline of US$12.5 million for commercial
banks,
building societies and merchant banks (US$10 million), and US$500 000
for
asset managers.
A number of locally owned indigenous banks struggled
to meet the first phase
of the deadline in September and analysts forecast
hectic boardroom meetings
as they battle to reach the last
hurdle.
Last year, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon
Gono announced the
minimum capital requirement deadline for banks in a bid
to bolster the
sector ravaged by record-breaking
hyperinflation.
He has said the central bank no longer had the
appetite for curatorships and
institutions that fail to be capital-compliant
will be allowed to go under.
But while RBZ has been on the forefront
of calls to strengthen the financial
sector, the regulator itself is limping
because of undercapitalisation.
The audit of the central bank by the
Ministry of Finance is yet to be
completed while RBZ has run for a year
without a board for policy direction,
which analysts say is an assault on
corporate governance.
RBZ has also failed to play its lender of last
resorts function an
indication that the financial sector is living on
borrowed times as the
central bank cannot bail out any institution faced
with a crisis.
The insurance industry has its prescribed minimum
capital deadline of March
30 for confidence building in the sector and
underwriting of meaningful
business.
On March 30, life assurance
firms are supposed to have US$500 000, US$300
000 for short term insurance,
and US$800 000 for a company with both life
assurance and short term
insurance.
Life reinsurance and short term should have US$400 000
with funeral
assurance expected to have US$350 000 as minimum
capital.
Insurance and Pension Funds will also be required to publish
their annual
reports including information on their
performance.
The companies will also be required to make public
announcements on key
appointments as their investment and fund
managers.
In addition, the insurance sector will also have to contend
with the
reintroduction of prescribed asset requirements effective this
month.
The prescribed assets were suspended in July to give the
industry more
breathing space after its underwriting capacity was ravaged by
hyperinflation of 2008.
This year the prescribed asset ratio will
see pension funds investing 10% of
their portfolio in government
bonds.
Long term and short term insurance are supposed to set aside
7.5% and 5%
respectively in government bonds.
The Kingdom Meikles
Limited demerger will be fully implemented in 2010 after
the feuding parties
agreed last year that the marriage could not work.
Executives of
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed companies have to deliver a
dividend to
shareholders, the first time since the use of multiple
currencies last
year.
In 2009, only Econet managed to pay out a dividend of US$0.08
per share.
The soccer extravaganza next door in South Africa is set
to increase
interest in Zimbabwe's tourism products.
The country
can benefit directly by hosting visiting fans as South Africa
alone cannot
amid indications that 50 000 rooms would be required for the
World
Cup.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
15:18
RESPONSE to a new international funding initiative for Zimbabwe's
rural
business sector has been strong and positive, reflecting an upsurge in
confidence in rural development potential, according to the initiators of
the project. Growth and development in the rural areas are the objectives of
the funding initiative, which was unveiled in December. Known as the Africa
Enterprise Challenge Fund Zimbabwe Window, it was officially launched at a
ceremony in Harare attended by the Minister of Economic Planning and
Development, Elton Mangoma, the Australian Ambassador, John Courtney, and
more than 150 other invited guests from embassies and from across the
business spectrum.
The AECF Zimbabwe Window has been created to stimulate
private sector
business in the country's rural areas, leading to increased
incomes and jobs
in those areas. It is focused on agro-business and rural
financial services.
A call for responses from the business sector has been
made and applications
must be received by the deadline of January 31.
The
AECF is a fund created to support private sector investment that
benefits
the rural poor of Africa. It was created by the Alliance for a
Green
Revolution in Africa, the brainchild of former United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and funded by various donor agencies. Based in
Nairobi, the fund is active in 16 countries across Africa and has decided to
create the Zimbabwe Window to foster rural-led economic recovery
Speaking
at the launch and standing in for Finance Minister Tendai Biti,
Minister
Mangoma commended the developers and donor agencies behind AECF
for their
inclusion of Zimbabwe in the initiative.
"The Government of Zimbabwe is
delighted with the launch, especially as it
is specifically aimed at helping
the rural poor and also because it provides
a much-needed cash injection
into the economy," he said.
"This initiative resonates with the 2010 National
Budget, which is designed
to foster economic recovery."
Also speaking at
the ceremony, the Australian Ambassador said the Australian
Government had
provided US$4.5 million seed capital for the Zimbabwe Window
and he felt the
initiative would stimulate investment that would in turn
have a direct
impact on Zimbabwe's economic revival.
He also felt the AECF Zimbabwe Window
would be successful because the timing
of the launch was ideal and also
because the skills and energy of Zimbabwe's
private sector would contribute
enormously to private sector-led revival.
"This will help lift small scale
farmers out of poverty," he said.
AECF Director Hugh Scott told guests that
the AECF Zimbabwe Window would
start operating immediately and was calling
for responses from the private
sector by the deadline of January
31.
"Applicants must be private, for-profit organisations and funds requested
as
grants and repayable grants must be between US$250 000 and US$1.5
million,"
he said.
"Applicant companies had to provide matching funds
equal or greater than 40
percent of the total cost of the project and
requests must be for specific,
new and innovative business ideas in
Zimbabwe, in one of the two areas
supported by AECF's Zimbabwe Window -
agribusiness or rural financial
services.
"The purpose of the Window,
which is specific to Zimbabwe, is to contribute
to the rehabilitation and
regeneration of business and finance market
systems linked to rural
Zimbabweans. This will be achieved by selecting and
co-financing private
sector-led projects that will have a direct, positive
impact on large
numbers of people living in rural areas. Indirectly, it will
have a wider
and more strategic impact on the way business and financial
systems operate,
particularly in relation to poor people."
Funding for the projects will
eventually come from multiple donors, as in
other AECF activities across
Africa, but the initial $4.5 million from the
Australian government will
ensure operational capacity.
Scott said all requests had to be channelled
through the website
www.aecfafrica.org. A Southern African
manager, based in South Africa, is in
charge of the sub region, while an
AECF representative in Zimbabwe has been
appointed - Harvey Leared of Acumen
Africa.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:28
VOTER Registration remains one of the most political and highly
sensitive
aspects of the pre-electoral phases hence the need to ensure that
its
conduct is informed by best practices of efficiency and transparency.
Those
eligible to vote by virtue of age still have to pass the voter
registration
eligibility test in order to consummate their basic political
right to vote.
Voter registration thus determines who can vote or not
vote and on this
basis has the potential to enfranchise or de-franchise
potential voters
especially where it is not openly run.
Election
literature is replete with stories of eligible voters who have been
robbed
of their basic right to vote because voter registration requirements
were
not clearly spelt out.
Debates on when and what specific time frames
should be accorded for
registration, which identity particulars should be
produced, whether
potential voters should only register in their
constituencies or outside
their constituencies continue to be contested
terrains in the pre-election
discourse.
By determining who can
vote or not vote, voter registration ultimately
determines who wins and by
extension shapes the political future of every
citizen in the
country.
This explains why genuine logistical and administrative
constraints may be
perceived as politically motivated. In highly polarised
election contexts,
decisions about who to register and who not to register
determine the
legitimacy of electoral processes. Underscored here is the
need to ensure
that voter registrations are accurate, up to date, impartial
and
comprehensive.
In the 2008 Elections in Zimbabwe, voter
registration was generally
constrained by an interplay of factors, among
which was that Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission was not in charge of the voter
register, problematic
ward-based voter registration, lack of transparency,
limited access to the
electronic copy of the voter register by political
parties, lack of figures
on how many have been registered, contradicting
numbers in the delimitation
report and voter register, lack of notification
of deleted entries,
deliberate exclusion of resident status, inclusion of
names of deceased
voters, deliberate rural over-representation and
politicised farm tent voter
registration points.
These allegations
should not be allowed to resurface in the 2011 Elections.
Voter
registrations assume various forms. They may be in the form of active
registration in which registration is initiated by the voter when he or she
applies for inclusion on the voters' register.
They can also be in
the form of passive registration in which the
compilation of the voter
register is initiated by state authorities, a
process which is often done
using records of residence or citizenship.
Thus conceptually, voter
registrations can be in the form of stand alone ad
hoc/ periodic processes
or in the form of stand alone continuous/permanent
processes. The third set
is a form of voter registration which is based on
the civil
register.
Maintenance of voters' rolls can be done either as an
on-going process or at
fixed regular periods, or only when there is an
election.
These updates are done to ensure that all eligible voters are
included in
the register.
However, it is instructive to note that
voter registration processes are
very expensive and require use of huge
human resources and technology. In
practice, there is always a limited
supply funds, time and trained personnel
with IT expertise.
Where
supplier-driven voter registration models with heavy doses of IT and
special
material from external suppliers are adopted, issues of
sustainability have
to be considered. In addition, most of the proposed
technology and
methodologies are often entirely replaced in the next
election
cycle.
Three levels of technological approaches are usually used
namely:
Low Technology Approaches. These are manual and paper-based.
Challenges
associated with these are how to perform duplicate searches which
are
mandated by several electoral laws as well as ensuring enabling
conditions
including civil identification of citizens.
Mid
Technology Approaches. This approach is OCR/ Optimal March
Recognition/ICR
based. The main challenges in this approach relate to
replacement solutions
for Polaroid, photographic equipment problem versus
review of total
solution. It was in use in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997.
High
technology Approaches. These involve digital registration kits where
specialised devices such as digital photographs, fingerprint scanning,
facial recognition and fingerprint matching.
Points to ponder
include use of technological upgrades, biometrics (facial
recognition versus
fingerprint matching for duplicate search),
standardisation, sharing
experiences, sustainability and relation to voter
education and domestic
observation.
Given the strong political dimension of voter registration,
the exercise
must be inclusive, transparent and fair. There should be
sufficient time
for inspection of the roll to effect changes.
The
process should be accessible to all potential voters, whilst copies of
the
roll are available to interested parties. Sustainability issues must be
considered fully, and technology and methodologies must be relevant in the
next election cycle. There should be an independent audit of voters'
roll.
These recommendations are based on international standards.
There should be
consistent legal provisions for the method of registration,
registration
timetable, eligibility documentation, registration forms and
the format of
the register.
The voter register is sufficiently recent
to allow for newly eligible voters
to be included and recently deceased
persons to have been removed. Where
there is active registration, there
should be effective voter education. The
method of registration should be
simple and accessible.
Voter registration should be intensified for
groups less likely to be
registered, e.g. first time voters, minorities,
etc.
A preliminary voter register should be made available for public
inspection
to ensure voters can confirm their inclusion and its accuracy can
be
assessed before assessed before it is finalised.
Relevant extracts
from the preliminary voter register should be posted at
polling stations or
other convenient locations. The voter register should be
computerised to
avoid duplicate entries.
Political parties should be able to access
copies of the voter register.
The number of registered voters is
published in advance of the election and
that number is broken down into
different levels, including by polling
station.
There should be a
right to challenge any inaccuracies or omissions in the
voter register.
Corrections should be made through a simple but secure
procedure.
For any comments and suggestions write to:
zesn@africaonline.co.zw or info@zesn.org.zw
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:22
THEY loiter about aimlessly throughout the month but when pay day
comes,
they are the first in the bank queues. They then draw a salary
equivalent to
that of a university professor, yet many of them did not pass
their “O”
Levels and can hardly read or write.
Meet Zimbabwe’s
do-nothing-but-get-paid civil servants: the youth officers.
At
Mhandamahwe Growth Point in Chivi, you would easily recognize them over
the
just ended festive season.
I was probably the only person who did not
know them.
However that changed when chart buster Maggie Mukaranga
started blaring out
of a rickety home theatre system. Two of these youths,
who appeared
inebriated, jumped onto the stage and started displaying their
fancy
footwork.
They went down in synchronized paces
approximating a well-rehearsed dance
routine. One would mistake them for
stray band members of a renowned sungura
outfit. They must have been doing
this for a long time. I stood there
mesmerized by the way they danced, until
somebody tapped my shoulder.
“Hey my friend, nobody cares to look at
these people anymore. They are
always dancing. They have nothing else to
do,” a colleague who was waiting
for me to buy a round of the brown bottles
said.
I soon realised there was no malice in what he
meant.
“Vasevenzi vaMugabe” (Mugabe’s servants), as they call
themselves in this
part of the country, are well-known for leading charmed
lives.
They do not go to work, yet when it’s the civil servants’ pay
day, they are
the first in the bank queues.
And because they do
not work, they have become notorious for drinking beer
and when they exhaust
their US$150 a month pay, they simply loiter, waiting
for the next pay
day.
Many of these more than 10 000 youths were recruited last year when
Zanu PF
needed foot soldiers to stop the then opposition MDC from
penetrating the
rural areas.
But those operations ceased a long
time ago after the signing of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) leaving
the youths, whose names were illegally
added to civil service payroll,
redundant.
However many of them are hardly the kind of people who
would qualify to be
called civil servants by any stretch of
imagination.
Their demeanor and the educational qualifications fall
far short of what is
required for one to get into the civil
service.
They were also not subjected to the mandatory medical
examination, which was
only conducted late last year when questions started
being asked about the
illegal recruitment of the 10 000
youths.
What is worrying progressive government officials is the fact
that these
youths openly boast that they get money for doing
nothing.
“They are quick to tell you that they were hired by the
President, so they
are not answerable to anyone,” said a senior government
official in Masvingo
based at Benjamin Burombo building.
And if
you talk to these youths, you realise theirs is a charmed life.
“What
exactly do you do?” I asked one of these youths on Christmas
Day.
“Tino mobilizer musangano (we mobilize Zanu PF
supporters).”
“And you get paid for that by the
government?”
“Eh! nekuti hurumende ndeye Zanu PF” (Yes, because it’s
a Zanu PF
government),” he quipped.
I did not ask any further
questions because I had been told many stories
about how these “civil
servants” fared when they were hauled before the
civil service auditors late
last year.
One of the youth officers from Zaka was asked if he knew
anything about the
Public Service Commission (PSC).
No, he
didn’t.
“So who is your employer?” he was
asked.
“Musangano” (the party).
“When and where were you
recruited?
“Pamuchakata tave kuda kuinda kumaPresidential. (I was
recruited under the
tree just before we headed for the Presidential run-off
election).”
Another youth, a 27-year-old-man, was asked about his
immediate supervisor.
He said it was the Zanu PF district
chairperson.
And his certificates: Akarasika kuhondo (They were lost
during the
liberation war) — a war that ended 30 years ago, three years
before he was
born!
And then his job description: to ensure that
the opposition and its stooges
do not penetrate his area.
As I
surveyed the two youths dancing to Maggie Mukaranga, I realised the
importance and timeliness of the civil service audit.
These
dancing characters certainly don’t deserve to be anywhere near a civil
service office. Maybe they could do well as hired dancers on musician
Josphat Somanje’s payroll.
BY WALTER MARWIZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:19
THE government needs to move swiftly even at this eleventh hour and
engage
civil servants on concerns over salaries so that there are no further
disruptions to the educational sector. Last week teachers and the rest of
government workers threatened mass job action this week accusing the state
of insensitivity to their plight. Presently civil servants draw an average
salary of US$155 a month.
They want the least paid of their
colleagues to be paid between US$500 -
US$600 or they will - in the case of
teachers - down tools effective Tuesday
this week.
The government
workers want the issue treated as a matter of urgency.
That is why the
Ministers of Finance, Public Service, Education as well as
Higher and
Tertiary Education must meet so that they can engage the
government workers
and agree on what is possible and avoid the chaos that
has characterised the
education sector since 2007.
Last year was fraught with wild cat
strikes but many understood it to be a
transitional phase as Zimbabwe's
education system, once a model in Africa,
starts to get on its
feet.
Civil servants have endured distressed working conditions. One
of the
realities they confront this week as schools open for the New Year is
that
many will not be able to afford school fees for their
children.
It is unrealistic to expect them to render efficient service.
The government
might live in a different world but civil servants are only
putting in an
effort they believe is equivalent to how the government values
their work.
But it is not just the failure to engage and communicate
with workers that
irks civil servants.
There is an irony the workers
see in the government: While the state says it
does not have the resources
to pay its workers salaries above the Poverty
Datum Line, government
ministers drive not only the latest but the most
expensive top-of-the-range
vehicles that few chief executives heading blue
chip companies can afford.
One can understand why government workers have
difficulties in digesting
government's doublespeak.
But this is a point that even well-meaning
international donor supporters
must point out - cut your coat according to
your cloth.
It is imperative that almost a year after the Government
of National Unity
came into being we demonstrate that we have the capacity
to overcome
problems we encountered during the past 12 months - strikes in
the education
sector, for example.
But critically, there is need
to build on the modest successes of the past
year.
As a direct
response to the deteriorating situation, particularly in the
education
sector, Unicef working with the Ministry of Education Sport, Arts
and
Culture and supported by Australia, Denmark, the European Commission,
the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and USAid, established a US$50 million
transitional fund to support the sector and bring back quality to the
education sector.
The transitional support mechanism - known as
the Zimbabwe Education
Transition Fund (ETF) - provides co-ordinated,
coherent donor support for
key education priorities. The fund assists in the
purchase of critical text
books, supports schools with learning materials
and provides technical
assistance to the Ministry of
Education.
These measures are meant to result in improved quality and
service delivery
in the education sector while making available adequate
text books and
critical learning materials for Zimbabwe's 5 300 primary
schools.
There is need to complement these measures by ensuring
government workers'
concerns are addressed so that teachers are back in the
classroom when the
first term of the school year begins this week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
RBZ
Official's 'medical clinic' Mystery Deepens PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 09
January 2010 16:08
I was intrigued to read the article, "RBZ official
denies turning residence
into medical clinic" in last issue of The Standard
of December 20, 2009. As
one of neighbours affected by this development, I
was astonished to read Dr
Munyaradzi Kereke's statements to the effect that
he did not plan to develop
his property at 92 Norfolk Road into a medical
facility. On 14 October 2009,
a notice appeared in The Herald (reproduced
right) of an application for a
Permit in terms of Section 26(3) of the
Regional, Town and Country Planning
Act, Chapter 29:12, Revised Edition
1996, which stated as follows: "Notice
is hereby given of an application to
carry out the following development on
Stand 284 Mt Pleasant Township 11 of
Lot 35A Mt Pleasant (92 Norfolk Road)
Mount Pleasant, Harare.
1. It is
proposed to establish a health facility on the above mentioned
stand."
The notice said that, because the stand is in a residential area
and
requires the "Special Consent" of the Local Planning Authority, the
application and plans could be inspected at the offices of the Department of
Urban Planning Services, and anyone wishing to make objections or
representations was invited to do so within one month of the notice
appearing.
I duly inspected the application, which was made in the name
of the Rock
Foundation Family Trust, whose family, it said, had resided at
92 Norfolk
Road for many years. It was signed by Dr M Kereke as their
representative,
and was accompanied by a copy of the title deed in his
name.
The application said that it was for "special permission to be granted
by
special consent to convert the current domestic residential property to a
health facility, i.e. a modern, state-of-the-art emergency facility". The
drawings I saw showed areas in the proposed buildings that were labelled "CT
scan", "haematology", "eye unit", "pharmacy sales", "paediatric unit",
"ambulance bay", "nurse's station", and the like.
Although Dr Kereke may
well have "stamped papers from the Harare City
Council" to prove that the
buildings presently being constructed are simply
an extension to the
residence, I wonder why he should say that he has no
intention of converting
it into a clinic, when public documents clearly
indicate that he does, or at
least that he did. Was he misquoted? Perhaps he
just changed his mind? Or
could there be some other reason?
One of the neighbours
Mount
Pleasant
Harare.
------------
Kudos for the Police, Brick-bats for
Zimra PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:15
BRAVO to ZRP
for breaking through the recent bank robbery case and arresting
the
suspects. Evidence seems to point out that the right culprits were
apprehended. It is a source of pride for the nation when criminals realise
that they cannot get away with murder, and in this respect hats-off to
Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri for the professionalism
exhibited by the force.
It is a pleasure to note that the ZRP is rising
to the occasion. I am also
reminded of the recent murder cases where ZRP has
made inroads and arrests.
I am proud to be a Zimbabwean. I know that not all
may be well with the ZRP,
but fellow Zimbabweans, we must give credit where
it is due. Would other
public institutions please take a cue from ZRP and in
this instance let me
take a swipe at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra),
also headed by a
Commissioner General, but running as a parastatal.
I am
a clearing agent and I recently passed through Beitbridge Border Post
at a
time when the press revealed the arrests of the bank robbery suspects.
We
can surely not blame the South African Revenue Services (SARS) for our
inefficiency, corruption and dirty offices.
In South Africa, you can use
the public toilets but on our side you cannot.
I find it inappropriate that
blame for delays on the Zimbabwe side was being
heaped on SARS. Heavens
forbid! May the other Commissioner General please
attend to the delays and
inefficiencies at Customs on the Zimbabwe side?
Immigration and Limpopo
Bridge appeared organised with simple procedures. I
found Zimra to have
complicated systems with as many sub-queues as officers
on duty e.g. TIPs,
duty paying, searches, assessments etc.
It was not even clear as to when a
traveller must join a particular queue.
It is only the officers who know and
will tell you that you were in the
wrong queue when you have already wasted
a lot of time.
In addition to collecting taxes, I surely expect Customs to
assist with the
movement of people and goods at our borders. Beitbridge,
Chirundu and
Plumtree are points of delay. So many searches with no
discernible outcome
are the order of the day!
In the buses we are forced
to pay money for facilitation. I don't know why
and where the money goes
but to me this is open corruption. Zimra knows
about this extra money but
does nothing about it.
Service standards within Zimra have deteriorated at
the Customs offices.
This has been the trend over the past nine years. The
drawing board must be
revisited where commercialization has resulted in
worsening of standards.
Perhaps the ship has the wrong captains.
May the
two commissioner generals (CGs) share notes? The above compares how
two
public institutions, both run by CGs fared during the festive season.
The one
which is a government department did its best during a national
crisis. The
other is blaming South Africa for failing to perform during its
busiest
time. The ship requires a new captain and new managers.
Job
Mari
Beitbridge.
------------
Exposing the Real Enemies PDF
Print E-mail
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:11
IMPRESSED by the 10
000-strong crowd at the last Zanu PF Congress, President
Robert Mugabe
probably thought the large crowd was the entire population of
Zimbabwe, and
found it appropriate to buy their votes in the next election
by denigrating
Finance Minister Tendai Biti and the western donor countries
over
agricultural inputs for the current season. As it turns out, the United
Kingdom and European Union may in fact be some of the "well-wishers" behind
an input scheme unveiled at the party's congress. According to recent press
reports, the UK proved the Zimbabwean leader wrong by revealing that London
had, in partnership with the EU, recently donated millions of dollars worth
of seed and fertilisers to communal farmers.
According to the reports,
685 000 householders across Zimbabwe will be
provided with substantial
support from the donor community, including
fertiliser, seeds and other
inputs. The donor community in total has this
year provided agriculture
support to cover 50% of all smallholder farmers.
To clear the confusion, and
to expose Mugabe, the donors should circulate
widely details of the
assistance they have given to deserving Zimbabweans.
We all know that
Mugabe's statement is part of the strategy by Jonathan Moyo
to confuse
Zimbabweans into believing that the western world and the MDC-T
are the
enemies of the people of Zimbabwe, when it is Moyo, Mugabe and Zanu
PF at
large who have caused the suffering which the MDC-T and the western
donors
are trying to alleviate.
Moyo, Mugabe and Zanu PF in general should know that
lies will never carry
the day for them. The people of Zimbabwe have woken up
and now know very
well who is for them and who is against them.
The
Minister of Finance, who has been berated by Mugabe, may also want to
compile statistics of donor assistance for the agricultural sector for the
2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons to prove Mugabe wrong.
Benjamin
Chitate
New Zealand.
------------------
Bibi Ignorant About Primary
Objective of Liberation Struggle - Chinotimba
PDF Print
E-mail
Saturday, 09 January 2010 16:07
DOES (sic) most Zimbabweans
know the main reason why we took up arms and
waged a protracted war of
liberation against the white oppressing (sic) and
racist minority? Are
people aware that the primary objective of the
liberation struggle was none
other than the land, which for over a century
was in the hands of the white
minority?
Is it known by the majority that this vital resource - the land was
forcibly
grabbed from our forefathers by the whites and that the black
majority was
deprived of its ownership and exploitation resulting them (sic)
to reel in
abject poverty for quite a long time?
Does repossessing what
is rightfully yours an offence? What proper or legal
method was used by the
racist white minority in grabbing our land from our
forefathers?
All
these questions have come to mind following publication by your
newsletter
(sic) of an insulting article by one Bibi under the readers'
views and
comments headlined, Losers, weepers - December 13 to 19 issue. In
the
article, the author alleged that only Zanu PF officials including myself
benefited from the land reform programme and he mischievously described the
noble programme as "chaotic".
The author ignorantly went on to allege
that I am used to get (sic)
fertilisers and other farming inputs leaving
other farmers with nothing. The
article does not only reveal how misinformed
the author is, but how
treacherous he/she is. Even stranger is the fact that
the allegations and
accusations brought on (sic) the fore carries (sic) no
weight and substance.
It is no doubt that the author dismally failed to
substantiate his/her
allegations and accusations. Can the author of the
article explain when and
where I got fertiliser and other inputs at the
expense of other farmers? To
me the allegations and accusations shows (sic)
nothing else other than a
chorus of hatred to me as a war veteran and to
Zanu PF as a party. Further
the accusation shows a very desperate attempt by
some wayward elements to
discredit and denigrate the historic land reform
programme.
With the obvious answers to the questions raised in the first
paragraph of
my article, I feel Bibi and other lost and misguided
individuals (sic) needs
to be taught one or two lessons regarding the
historic land reform
programme, which he/she irreverently described as
chaotic. As a war veteran
and proud Zimbabwean, my heart bleeds profusely to
realise that at (sic)
this age and era we still have amongst us elements
with treacherous and
short memories.
Let the author - Bibi - be reminded
that the land reform programme was not
and still is not a Zanu PF programme,
but a national programme meant to
correct land imbalances to empower the
people.
In future, I urge people like Bibi to make reasonable research before
committing pen to paper.
Joseph Chinotimba
Vice-National chairman,
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans'
Association.
---------
SMS
The Standard PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 09 January 2010
16:05
Squandered chance
WHY is it we want to lure teams for the 2010
World Cup when we don't even
have one world-class stadium even by African
standards? Of course, our
hotels are good as well as the country in general
but these are not
tourists. They are here to win the World Cup not to see
the Victoria Falls.
Don't tell me our government didn't know that when we
had four years to
prepare. - Soko.
******
IF the present
parliament building appears small it is because there are too
many MPs and
Senators. - Makudo Ngeamwe.
******
WE are still puzzled to hear
someone in this day and age saying: "Down with
Tsvangirai!" while Zanu PF
officials, traditional leaders and councillors
enlist the help of the police
to bar MDC-T rallies/meetings. Is this
permissible under the Global
Political Agreement? - Councillor,
Mhondoro-Mubaira, Mashonaland West.
I
too, have a dream
I AM not Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, but I too have a
dream. I dream that one
day giants like Jairos Jiri will be recognised as
heroes; that Zimbabwe
will, like a mature mother be able to look after all
her children well; that
all these idle vast tracts of land will be put to
productive use; that
Zimbabwe will be the world commercial hub; that one day
Zimbabweans in exile
will bring their expertise home. - Herbert Mugwagwa,
Chitungwiza.
******
HOW gratifying it was to hear Colonel Clive Sheppard
of the South African
Air Force state that their "role is to defend the
country and the
Constitution" and not the ANC. (SABC News International,
December 3,
2009). - Cleka weDowasuro.
******
COULD the
responsible authorities do something about the Patchway-Sanyati
road? It's
in a frightful condition. - Reggie Zvidza, Hatfield, Harare.
Clinic
welcome
I AM extremely amused by the article (The Standard, December 13,
2009) about
Dr Munyaradzi Kereke's extensions to his property at 92 Norfolk
Road, Mount
Pleasant. If it's true that he is building a clinic, we should
be glad that
there is a state-of-the-art Emergency Clinic coming up.
Personally, I don't
care who owns a facility as long as they follow the
Council
by-laws. -Amused.
******
CHARLIE Jones must be voted the
new Zimbabwe Football Association boss at
the forthcoming elections. -
Conilious Toga, Old Highfield, Harare.
Is rugby dead?
IS the Zimbabwe
Rugby Union still functional, because I see that people are
no longer
interested in rugby? - Disappointed, Harare.
******
A few years back,
you had to pay through the nose to have a cell phone line.
Right now it
costs US$5 but in South Africa it's R2 or R0.5. I guess lines
for Zimbabwe
were being made on planet Jupiter but now they are being made
on the moon,
hence the change and the discrepancy. Are we that desperate as
a country
that we should allow crooks and charlatans masquerading as
entrepreneurs and
businesspeople to operate? Are we short of honest people
with good business
ethics to the extent we have to rely on dealers and allow
ourselves to be
ripped off or short-changed? - Herbert Mugwagwa,
Chitungwiza.
Lead by
example
I read with interest an article on male circumcision. I am of the
opinion
that all politicians should lead by example and I am waiting for the
day I
will share a hospital ward with some of them, talking about how they
will be
recovering from the circumcision. We are waiting for you Mashefu. -
Tshaka.
******
ECONET is not different from Zanu PF. It boasts that it has
three million
subscribers, but what about its service? - Bad Medicine,
Victoria Falls.
New Year resolutions
LET our New Year resolutions be:
holding of free and fair elections under
the auspices of an independent
body; allowing a free and unfettered vibrant
media; the revival of our
defunct industries; ensuring that the wealth
generated through the
exploitation of our resources cascades down to the
poor among us; writing a
new constitution that will stand the test of time;
tapping the expertise of
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora in order to fast-track
recovery; allowing
business to operate without the interference of
politicians; paying workers
decent salaries; and re-orienting the police so
that they operate more
professionally. - Herbert Mugwagwa, Chitungwiza.
******
THE dragging
constitution-making process is a drawback to our rights as
citizens to speak
out. - N Moyo, Athlone.
Probe secret payroll
CAN Parliament establish a
Commission of Inquiry into why Harare City
Council has a secret payroll for
those in Grade I to IV? Their packages
should be made public. Also why is
Council operating with two Directors of
Health and two Treasurers? Someone
needs to be investigated for such
bungling because this is a burden to the
ratepayers. We demand the truth and
an immediate redress. - S
Mugidiza.
******
DID you know that when pressure is coming out of your
taps and there is no
water the City Council meter records usage of water?
Check how fast your
meter runs. - Fleeced.
******
I AM a passionate
Caps United fan and I propose that the Kepekepe bosses
release Ashley
Rambanepasi and let him go to Dynamos because that's where
his mind is.
-Agripa Ngwazi.