|
ABC News
Reuters
Jan
11, 2006 — By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador John
Bolton warned U.N. members
on Wednesday that allowing countries that had
committed gross human rights
abuses to serve on a new rights council would
mock the legitimacy of the
United Nations itself.
Bolton, speaking at a
closed meeting, presented several proposals on how to
create the new council
that would replace the discredited Geneva-based Human
Rights Commission,
known for giving seats to such countries as Sudan and
Zimbabwe who then make
deals to block resolutions against various offenders.
"The current
situation is untenable and must not be allowed to continue,"
Bolton said,
according to a copy of his written text. "Membership on the
Commission by
some of the world's most notorious human rights abusers mocks
the legitimacy
of the Commission and the United Nations itself."
World leaders at a U.N.
summit in September agreed to replace the Geneva
commission with a new
council as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
suggested. But they left
nearly all details to the General Assembly, which
still has deep differences
in the debate that began on Wednesday.
South African Ambassador Dumisani
Kumalo, one of the key negotiators for the
new council, was optimistic and
said "there is beginning to be movement" on
the size of the council and how
members should be chosen.
Bolton spelled out U.S. terms for the new rights
council but did not repeat
earlier comments that the five Security Council
powers — the United States,
Britain, France, Russia and China — should
automatically get seats. If the
United States make this a key condition,
diplomats said, the reform would be
derailed.
"At this stage all are
talking about them serving one or two terms and then
leaving," Kumalo said.
"They are not talking at all about permanent seats."
Still in dispute are the
size of the new council, its mandates mandate, and
how members should be
elected.
On size, Bolton said the United States wanted no more than 30
members.
Kumalo said most members want at least 38 seats and many advocated
the
number stay at 53 nations.
HARARE - Outspoken Dynamos football club coach Moses Chunga is in trouble once again for publicly criticising the club's executive and director of coaching Sunday Chidzambwa. The Dynamos board met last night in Harare where they were considering firing the former national team captain for publicly attacking his bosses at the club. Chunga also stands accused of undermining his immediate boss Chidzambwa. The firebrand coach was last year fired as national assistant coach of the senior national soccer team for attacking the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) in the media. Dynamos board chairman, Richard Chiminya confirmed that the board was scheduled to address the issue of indiscipline among other issues at the club. "We have a meeting at which we will discuss the upcoming 2006 season. There are a number of problems we want to solve including indiscipline that has crept even into the technical department," Chiminya told ZimOnline. However, sources said the meeting was called up to discuss the Chunga issue after he repeatedly attacked his bosses in the press accusing them of mismanagement. "While it is accepted that Chunga was at the helm when Dynamos survived relegation, it does not give him the right to demonise his bosses. He forgets that for Dynamos to survive, everyone was involved. "The board meeting's main agenda is to discuss his future at the club because his behaviour is worrying. He has also attacked Chidzambwa and again this is not acceptable," said a member of the executive. Chunga commands popular support at Dynamos after he steered the club to safety last season. It was not possible to get comment from Chunga on the matter last night. - ZimOnline |
The Naples Zoo is kicking off a year of firsts by sending its animal curator
to the Africa to take part in an animal conservation project.
Conrad
Schmitt will leave for Zimbabwe on Tuesday for three weeks of tracking
endangered carnivores, including cheetah, leopards and brown
hyenas.
"It's an awesome opportunity," said David Tetzlaff, zoo director.
The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens on Goodlette-Frank Road has made
education about animal conservation a part of its programs, since it was founded
by Lawrence "Jungle Larry" Tetzlaff, in the 1950s.
The zoo also has
supported conservation projects in Africa and elsewhere by sending money, David
Tetzlaff said. But this is the first time that a staff member is participating
in such an effort.
"In this day and age, zoos are the conduit between people and the wild,"
Tetzlaff said.
This trip is a way of bringing that home to people and
demonstrate how zoos play a vital role in animal conservation, he
said.
Schmitt will be part of a three-man team, including Chris
Pfefferkorn, general curator at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, and Alan Sironen
from the Cleveland (Ohio) Zoo.
All the zoos are accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium
Association.
The team will go to isolated regions in two national parks
in Zimbabwe, including the expansive Hwange National Park, and trap animals
using bait and cages.
The animals will be immobilized and radio collars attached. Then the animals
will be released and a GPS will track the radio signals from their collars so
their movements can be mapped, Schmitt said.
The purpose is to take a
census of the animals, monitor their range and behavior, and see how they are
surviving in the wild, Schmitt said.
The project, started by Pfefferkorn in 2001, is called the Matabeleland
Leopard and Cheetah Project.
"My role is just to help Chris collect
data," Schmitt said.
The project works with the Chipangali Wildlife Trust and information is
provided to Zimbabwe's national park system to help officials make wildlife
management decisions.
"Their wildlife has not been well documented over
the last 10 to 12 years with the unrest going on," Schmitt said. "They need to
get numbers, so they can make some recommendations on how to handle things."
This includes where to build or not to build, or where to expand or not to
expand, he said.
Schmitt is paying for his own trip to Zimbabwe because
the opportunity came up suddenly and the zoo had no money in its 2006 budget for
the project, Tetzlaff said.
This will be Schmitt's sixth trip to Africa
and fourth time in Zimbabwe. Earlier trips included a convention on the
international trade of endangered species, with 132 countries participating.
He also was partnered with Sironen in the importation of three East African
black rhinos from South Africa to the United States.
Schmitt also led a
couple of tour groups to Africa. And that is probably in the future for the
Naples Zoo, Tetzlaff said — African safaris led by either himself or Schmitt.
Also on the horizon is a new sign on Goodlette-Frank Road for the zoo, to
replace the 1920s-era sign damaged by Hurricane Wilma, and recently torn down at
the corner of U.S. 41 and Fleischmann Road.
An internationally known zoo
design firm also has been hired to design a new animal exhibit, Tetzlaff
said.
He won't reveal what the exhibit will be, and he won't even
announce the name of the design company until February.
But the zoo is now a nonprofit entity as of October 2005, and a major fundraising effort will be started for the new exhibit, which is expected to cost in the six-to-seven figure range, Tetzlaff said.
Amar C. Bakshi '06 says
he was held on espionage charges for five days
Published On Tuesday,
January 10, 2006 5:57 PM
By DANIEL J. HEMEL and NDIDI N.
MENKITI
Crimson Staff Writers
Zimbabwean officials detained
Amar C. Bakshi ‘06 on espionage charges late
last month after he visited the
African country to conduct thesis research
on political propaganda, the
Leverett House senior said.
The increasingly autocratic regime of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
held the student for five days inside a
cell that "reeked of feces," Bakshi
said.
Bakshi, who hails from
Washington D.C., said he boarded a British Airways
jet to return to the
United States on Dec. 30, but Zimbabwean authorities
called him off the
plane and would not let him leave the country.
Bakshi said that members
of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization
accused him of "spying and
sabotage" and told him his Harvard connections
were "just a
cover."
According to Bakshi, Zimbabwean authorities threatened him by
saying, "No
one will know if you’re here....No one will know if you’re not
here."
But Bakshi managed to place a cell phone call from a bathroom
stall to the
Leverett House assistant senior tutor, Judy
Murciano-Goroff.
He said Murciano-Goroff worked with U.S. embassy
officials and Zimbabwean
contacts to secure his
release.
Murciano-Goroff did not return several phone calls and e-mails
seeking
comment over the past two days. A spokeswoman for the State
Department’s
Bureau of Consular Affairs, Angela Aggeler, said that federal
law bars her
from releasing information on individual American
citizens.
A Zimbabwean embassy official in Washington initially called
Bakshi’s story
"very, very, very untrue," but he later declined to confirm
or deny Bakshi’s
account.
Bakshi said that Zimbabwean officers first
threw him into a solitary cell
and then moved him into a larger facility
with 120 other detainees. He said
the prisoners were not allowed to wear
shoes, go outside, or use a proper
restroom.
Although Bakshi said
that officials from the United States embassy in Harare
brought him meals,
he said the other detainees only received food every one
or two days. He
said that some of the other detainees had been held for over
a
week.
Bakshi’s parents, both of whom are doctors, were celebrating New
Year’s in
New York when they received a call from the U.S. embassy informing
them that
their son had been jailed in Zimbabwe.
"It was obviously
very frightening," his mother, Gita Chopra Bakshi, said in
a phone
interview. "My reaction was...my God, what have they done to him?"
She
said she and her husband flew to the Zimbabwean capital of Harare and,
along
with prominent Zimbabwean attorney Eric Matinenga, helped secure their
son’s
release.
Matinenga is also the lawyer for Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Bakshi, a joint social studies and visual and
environmental studies
concentrator, had traveled to Zimbabwe over the summer
to conduct interviews
with Mugabe’s current spokesman, George Charamba, who
is the permanent
secretary of the Information Ministry. Bakshi also spoke to
Charamba’s
predecessor, Jonathan Moyo, who was expelled from Mugabe’s ruling
party
early last year.
Harvard College halted funding for student
travel to Zimbabwe in 2004 but
lifted that restriction this past October.
Nonetheless, Bakshi used his own
means to pay for the trip.
Even
after his arrest, Bakshi said he does not believe Harvard should
restrict
student travel to Zimbabwe. "It’s a matter of your own personal
maturity,"
Bakshi said, though he recommended that the University compile a
list of
contacts for students in the region.
"For me, it was not a miserable
experience," Bakshi said of his detention.
"I met the most inspiring
people."
Cabot House applied mathematics and economics concentrator Proud
Dzambukira
‘07, a Zimbabwe native, was in Cambridge when he received a text
message
from Bakshi on the first night of his detention.
"This was
the first time that someone that I know directly was detained in
this
manner," Dzambukira wrote in an e-mail. "One of the things that
surprised me
was that a student clearly doing academic work would attract
this kind of
scrutiny," he added.
According to Amnesty International’s 2005 report on
Zimbabwe, the country’s
police and intelligence forces "were implicated in
numerous cases of
torture, assault, and ill-treatment." The report said that
"victims were
primarily members of the political opposition and those
perceived as
critical of the government."
Bakshi recalled that one
boy who was detained alongside him said, "Make sure
when you write up your
thesis, make sure that you write about us, about all
the good things." But,
the boy added, "Be sure to tell them how horrific
this is too."
A
press officer for the Zimbabwean embassy in Washington, Wilbert
Gwashavanhu,
said of Baskshi’s account, "This is created. This is very,
very, very
untrue."
After reading an article about Bakshi’s arrest on the website of
the
Zimbabwe Standard newspaper, Gwashavanhu said, "An article like this one
is
quite damaging."
Asked again, though, whether Bakshi’s story was
accurate, Gwashavanhu
replied, "I am an official at the embassy in the U.S.
reading this on the
Internet. Do you think I’m competent to answer this
question?"
"We can’t conclusively say that the charge is not true because
we haven’t—I
didn’t have any official communication," he
said.
Gwashavanhu referred further questions to Charamba, the Information
Ministry
chief whom Bakshi interviewed for his thesis. But Gwashavanhu
declined to
provide contact information for Charamba.
—Staff writer
Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer
Ndidi N. Menkiti can be reached at menkiti@fas.harvard.edu.
Zimbabwean
officials detained Amar C. Bakshi ‘06 on espionage charges late
last month
after he visited the African country to conduct thesis research
on political
propaganda, the Leverett House senior said.
The increasingly autocratic
regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
held the student for five days
inside a cell that "reeked of feces," Bakshi
said.
Bakshi, who hails
from Washington D.C., said he boarded a British Airways
jet to return to the
United States on Dec. 30, but Zimbabwean authorities
called him off the
plane and would not let him leave the country.
Bakshi said that members
of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization
accused him of "spying and
sabotage" and told him his Harvard connections
were "just a
cover."
According to Bakshi, Zimbabwean authorities threatened him by
saying, "No
one will know if you’re here....No one will know if you’re not
here."
But Bakshi managed to place a cell phone call from a bathroom
stall to the
Leverett House assistant senior tutor, Judy
Murciano-Goroff.
He said Murciano-Goroff worked with U.S. embassy
officials and Zimbabwean
contacts to secure his
release.
Murciano-Goroff did not return several phone calls and e-mails
seeking
comment over the past two days. A spokeswoman for the State
Department’s
Bureau of Consular Affairs, Angela Aggeler, said that federal
law bars her
from releasing information on individual American
citizens.
A Zimbabwean embassy official in Washington initially called
Bakshi’s story
"very, very, very untrue," but he later declined to confirm
or deny Bakshi’s
account.
Bakshi said that Zimbabwean officers first
threw him into a solitary cell
and then moved him into a larger facility
with 120 other detainees. He said
the prisoners were not allowed to wear
shoes, go outside, or use a proper
restroom.
Although Bakshi said
that officials from the United States embassy in Harare
brought him meals,
he said the other detainees only received food every one
or two days. He
said that some of the other detainees had been held for over
a
week.
Bakshi’s parents, both of whom are doctors, were celebrating New
Year’s in
New York when they received a call from the U.S. embassy informing
them that
their son had been jailed in Zimbabwe.
"It was obviously
very frightening," his mother, Gita Chopra Bakshi, said in
a phone
interview. "My reaction was...my God, what have they done to him?"
She
said she and her husband flew to the Zimbabwean capital of Harare and,
along
with prominent Zimbabwean attorney Eric Matinenga, helped secure their
son’s
release.
Matinenga is also the lawyer for Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Bakshi, a joint social studies and visual and
environmental studies
concentrator, had traveled to Zimbabwe over the summer
to conduct interviews
with Mugabe’s current spokesman, George Charamba, who
is the permanent
secretary of the Information Ministry. Bakshi also spoke to
Charamba’s
predecessor, Jonathan Moyo, who was expelled from Mugabe’s ruling
party
early last year.
Harvard College halted funding for student
travel to Zimbabwe in 2004 but
lifted that restriction this past October.
Nonetheless, Bakshi used his own
means to pay for the trip.
Even
after his arrest, Bakshi said he does not believe Harvard should
restrict
student travel to Zimbabwe. "It’s a matter of your own personal
maturity,"
Bakshi said, though he recommended that the University compile a
list of
contacts for students in the region.
"For me, it was not a miserable
experience," Bakshi said of his detention.
"I met the most inspiring
people."
Cabot House applied mathematics and economics concentrator Proud
Dzambukira
‘07, a Zimbabwe native, was in Cambridge when he received a text
message
from Bakshi on the first night of his detention.
"This was
the first time that someone that I know directly was detained in
this
manner," Dzambukira wrote in an e-mail. "One of the things that
surprised me
was that a student clearly doing academic work would attract
this kind of
scrutiny," he added.
According to Amnesty International’s 2005 report on
Zimbabwe, the country’s
police and intelligence forces "were implicated in
numerous cases of
torture, assault, and ill-treatment." The report said that
"victims were
primarily members of the political opposition and those
perceived as
critical of the government."
Bakshi recalled that one
boy who was detained alongside him said, "Make sure
when you write up your
thesis, make sure that you write about us, about all
the good things." But,
the boy added, "Be sure to tell them how horrific
this is too."
A
press officer for the Zimbabwean embassy in Washington, Wilbert
Gwashavanhu,
said of Baskshi’s account, "This is created. This is very,
very, very
untrue."
After reading an article about Bakshi’s arrest on the website of
the
Zimbabwe Standard newspaper, Gwashavanhu said, "An article like this one
is
quite damaging."
Asked again, though, whether Bakshi’s story was
accurate, Gwashavanhu
replied, "I am an official at the embassy in the U.S.
reading this on the
Internet. Do you think I’m competent to answer this
question?"
"We can’t conclusively say that the charge is not true because
we haven’t—I
didn’t have any official communication," he
said.
Gwashavanhu referred further questions to Charamba, the Information
Ministry
chief whom Bakshi interviewed for his thesis. But Gwashavanhu
declined to
provide contact information for Charamba.
—Staff writer
Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer
Ndidi N. Menkiti can be reached at menkiti@fas.harvard.edu.
Two Zimbabwean men and an Indonesian have appeared in a Queensland court over a scam involving about $150,000 in stolen cheques.
Abisha Katerere, 22, and Garikayi Maya, also 22, both from Zimbabwe, who were living in Surfers Paradise, and Indonesian national Curianto Ng, 27, who was living in Brisbane, appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
They were charged with two counts of fraud which involved $70,000 and one count of attempted fraud involving $80,000.
It is alleged the cheques were stolen from letter boxes, then washed, altered and deposited into different accounts by recruited decoys.
The accused were bailed to reappear at a later date.
No plea was entered.
Police said investigations were continuing with further charges and arrests expected.
HARARE – At least Z$500 million collected from the gates during the Warriors friendly international match against Zambia last month is said to have disappeared without trace after some members of the committee allegedly seized the cash. Zimbabwe played Zambia at the National Sports Stadium on December 31 last year. The disappearance of the funds has angered the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) officials who expected to collect the money to cover costs incurred to host the Zambians. ZimOnline has gathered that the now all powerful fund-raising committee made up of ruling ZANU PF officials and its apologists bulldozed their way to the chief cashiers' office at the National Sports Stadium and demanded the money from hapless cashiers. The money was then transferred to a local hotel where it was locked up in one of the rooms where a member of the fund raising committee is staying. Said a senior Zifa official: "These people are using their political muscle to push their way through everything at Zifa. They have failed to account for the $500 million collected from the gates during the match against Zambia and we don't know if we are ever going to recover the money. "We suspect some dirty games are being employed. Under normal circumstances, the money was supposed to be in Zifa coffers but the fund raising committee demanded it. "Each time Zifa tries to make inquiries, the officials are threatened. They are even refusing to give us a statement." Contacted for comment last night, Henrieta Rushwaya, a spokesperson for the fund-raising committee refuted the charges insisting everything was above board. "We did not get any cash from the National Sports Stadium. Maybe there is someone at Zifa who wanted to handle the money. What we simply did was provide the logistics for the match and also to make sure the money was accounted for," she said. Relations between the fund-raising committee and Zifa have been strained with Zifa accusing the controversial committee of hijacking football. - ZimOnline |
Thursday, January 12 2006 @ 12:03 AM
GMT Contributed by: correspondent |
Zimbabwe's crisis wrecked economy, hit by an unprecedented
slump last year, faces even worse dislocation in 2006, according to a forecast
by Standard Chartered, the country's leading bank. The bank's business trends
analysis issued on Tuesday warned of another "challenging year", with gross
domestic product predicted to drop by at least another 5,5 percent, inflation
set to rise to 900 percent and the currency set to plummet nearly 200 percent to
the US dollar. There would also be "intense pressure for substantial exchange
rate adjustment" this year. |
[This report
does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE,
12 January (IRIN) - The enduring symbol of Zimbabwe's economic woes is the
queue. A patient line of grim-faced people interminably waiting to get their
hands on the most basic of everyday items summed up 2005.
At the
beginning of the year it was fuel. The forex-starved government could not afford
to import all of the US $700 million a year the country needed. Motorists became
accustomed to parking their cars in lines that snaked blocks away from the
filling stations - sometimes for days.
That all changed when fuel
importation was fully deregulated in August and anybody with enough forex could
bring in supplies. Hawkers set up shop on the pavement outside the offices of
the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, the corruption-tainted former
monopoly.
The tools of the trade - a funnel and a five to 10 litre
container - became hard to find in shops because they were all in the hands of
the small-scale businessmen who gathered conspiratorially at intersections and
traffic lights.
The problem for motorists was the price of fuel. Service
stations and traders charge Zim $100,000 (US $1.20) a litre, while a high school
teacher with a degree and 20 years in the profession earned a net salary of
around Zim $3 million (US $38) - the equivalent of just 30 litres.
But
the majority of Zimbabweans rely on public transport and the ubiquitous 16-seat
HiAce taxi. A crackdown by the police in June on mini-bus operators, demanding
proof that foreign currency rules had not been infringed in purchasing the
vehicles, resulted in owners parking their taxis rather than risk them being
impounded.
The transport crisis meant commuters returned home from work
late in the evening and began their day at the crack of dawn. Streams of
pedestrians opted to save on transport fares by walking, or cycling, one of the
many belt-tightening measures Zimbabweans resorted to.
The orderly
queue has become a particularly Zimbabwean response to persistent shortages.
Whenever items like the staple maize meal or other basics like soap, cooking oil
and sanitary pads appeared on the shelves, they quickly disappeared after cell
phone-enabled citizens spread the word.
The government blamed the
shortages on hoarding and speculation. And while some bought in bulk to turn a
profit, others snapped up whatever appeared in the shops as a prudent response
to scarcity.
At the end of the year, inflation had hit 585 percent. The
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said the cost of buying groceries increased
almost 10-fold in 2005. It estimated by December a family of six required an
equivalent of US $208 a month - far more than most people earn.
"People
have cut down on food, they eat one basic meal a day and that's mainly
vegetables - I don't know how Zimbabweans have made it this far," commented
economist Dennis Nikisi.
Takesure Matarire, a 40-year-old security guard,
earns just US $15 a month in a country where health care and education is not
free. "I will have to withdraw my two children from school," he confessed. "What
I am earning is not even enough to feed them and I have no other
option."
In 2005 Zimbabwe was ranked among the world's worst performing
economies by the World Economic Forum. Its report cited the continued
deterioration of the institutional climate, including the disappearance of
property rights and corruption of the rule of law. The government insisted it
faced sanctions by western nations over its controversial fast-track land reform
programme.
With an unemployment rate estimated at 80 percent, the
informal sector acted as a lifeline for Zimbabweans and the real engine of the
economy. The government seemed to turn a blind eye to the mushrooming parallel
market that took over Zimbabwe's formerly ordered city precincts, flouting
byelaws, but providing an income for those with entrepreneurial flair.
Then in May the government launched Operation Murambatsvina ('Clean Out
Garbage') - known colloquially as "the tsunami". It was officially aimed at
rooting out the blackmarket and criminals, but quickly expanded to encompass
unapproved housing owned or rented by the poor, with armed police deployed to
enforce eviction orders and government officials insisting that the victims
return to their rural home areas.
The opposition condemned the blitz as a
deliberate attempt to dismantle their urban support base, and intimidate anyone
contemplating taking to the streets to protest plummeting standards of living.
But some analysts noted the crackdown on the blackmarket served as a
wrap on the knuckles for some elements within the ruling party after a bruising
leadership wrangle, and Murambatsvina also stung the radical war veterans, many
of whose members were among the displaced.
According to a report by UN
Special Envoy Anna Tabaijuka, 700,000 people were directly affected by the
operation, their houses bulldozed and livelihoods destroyed, and called on those
responsible to be held to account. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described it
as "a catastrophic injustice" to Zimbabwe's poorest citizens "carried out with
disquieting indifference to human suffering".
Since Murambatsvina the
informal sector has cautiously returned to life, and some of those evicted have
made their way back to the ruins of their former homes. The illegal forex market
that the government tried so hard to strangle is now almost accepted.
Instead of trying to maintain an artificial rate - at the start of the
year 1 US dollar to Zim $6,000 - the official rate is now Zim $90,000, almost at
par with the informal market's Zim $95,000 to $100,000. Through deregulation the
government hopes the blackmarket will bottom out and prices
stabilise.
Nelson Moyo (not his real name), a 36-year-old police officer,
supplements his salary by running an illegal stall that sells soap, sugar and
toothpaste. When he can, he crosses into neighbouring Botswana to buy supplies,
and bribes customs officials at the border to waive import duties.
"I
know I should be an example of a custodian of the law, but I also have to
survive," Moyo explained.
Along with the urban poor, rural Zimbabweans -
the bulk of the population - struggled through 2005. And there is every
indication things will worsen this year.
In December the UN launched a US
$276 million appeal, warning that at least three million people would require
food aid as only an estimated 600,000 mt of maize had been harvested, compared
to a national requirement of 1.8 million mt. Aid workers have noted numbers in
need could climb to five million out of a population of 12
million.
Zimbabwe's fast-track land reform programme of 2000 helped
precipitate the country's economic crisis, slashing forex-earning
agro-commercial production and throwing hundreds of thousands out of
work.
In 2005 the new farmers who had hoped to benefit from land
redistribution were still struggling with red tape on bank loans, lack of
extension services, and scarce seed, fertiliser and fuel.
The inability
of many of them to afford to pay the minimum wage for farm workers deprived them
of labour during the critical planting season, and experts have predicted that
Zimbabwe will face yet another disasterous harvest this
season.
[ENDS]
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Integrated Regional Information
Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the humanitarian community
Sidney Masamvu the Southern African analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) joins Lance Guma on Behind the Headlines. The programme discusses Zimbabwe’s political future and the way forward. He says if the opposition fails to put its house in order, the international community and others will concentrate on reforming Zanu PF much to the despair of many. He foresees Robert Mugabe trying to push either Joyce Mujuru or Simba Makoni to the Presidency depending on how strong the MDC is at that time. He also explains why Mugabe dumped Emmerson Mnangagwa for Mujuru. Masamvu ends the programme with advice for the opposition on how to sort out their mess.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES: Updated January 12, 2006
Please send any job
opportunities for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Job Opportunities;
jag@mango.zw
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Ad
inserted 12 January 2006
Wanted - Lady with accounting background,
computer literate with Excel
and Word.
Pleasant office environment in
Willowvale
Negotiable package and fuel allowance.
Please reply to
091-208566 or 011-207084 or email hyena@zol.co.zw.
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
CHILDMINDER WANTED
Looking for a
brilliant child minder to help with our 2-year-old
daughter. If anyone is
leaving and needs to place their child minder
please get hold of us.
Accommodation offered.
Brenda
Pattenden
091326755
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Position - OFFICE ASSISTANT
Duties
Include - assisting with computer input, keeping CD1's up-to-date,
assisting
with banking, general office duties - a varied job.
Type Of Person -
friendly, out-going, able to work with the minimum of
supervision, loyal,
confidential.
Please could CVs be emailed to the Export Manager at rene@zimflower.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Wanted Senior Bookkeeper
The Company:
Well-established, small and dynamic, growing, multi-faceted
organisation
based in the Northern Suburbs of Harare.
The Role: All accounting data
capture. Production of monthly trial
balance sheets and management
accounts. Cash management, statutory
returns,
VAT administration and
other day-to-day office duties.
The Person: Experienced bookkeeper who is
self motivated, responsible and
reliable. Willing to grow with the Company
they must be ready to tackle
new and varied tasks as they arise delivering
work accurately, on time
and in full. Own transport essential. Knowledge of
Pastel an advantage.
The Rewards: Negotiable salary for the right
person.
Part of a small but busy and motivated team.
Please
contact Tanera Bouchet on 04 494540 or
Tanera.bouchet@rutland.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
WANTED - Office Assistant
The Company -
well-established, small, dynamic, fresh flower marketing
agent based at the
Harare International Airport.
The Role - To assist in a very busy office
with computer data capture,
day-to-day office duties - a varied
job.
The Person - loyal, honest, reliable, must be able to work with a
minimum
of supervision. Own transport essential - company will assist
with
fuel. To start asap.
The Rewards - right salary offered to the
right person.
Please send CVs to: rene@zimflower.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
I am a man aged 26 years and I wish to apply for
any suitable vacancy. I
am a holder of BSC Honours Degree Economics with an
upper second class.
Please contact me on the following email address for
curriculum vitae:
stefanzombe@yahoo.com
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Bookkeeper required for small but busy business
based in the Avenues.
Applicant should be qualified up to trial balance, debt
collecting, petty
cash, etc some admin work and also have hands-on
involvement. Varied
position in relaxed office with good salary offered to
the right person.
To start immediately. Phone Lorraine Thomas on 733113/5,
792365 or
707245 or cell 091
263172.
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Full Day Bookkeeper required to work in
Msasa. Competitive package on
offer.
Please contact Marina or Dale on
446520, 091 261 629, 011 206
794.
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Ad
inserted 14/12/05
WANTED
Couple to caretake house and assist with
supervision of small
horticultural business. 18 km outside Harare with good
security.
Please phone 011 208568 or
335458
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Ad
inserted 05 January 2006
Wanted:
A mature couple to help on a
ranch that does tourism activities, teaching
students local and foreign,
accommodation, catering, hunting, all
livestock types, meat processing,
organic permaculture gardening,
bookkeeping and computers. The ranch is in
Matetsi Zimbabwe, so couple
needs to be Zimbabwean. Nice house and US$
related salary. Email;
ranch@africaonline.co.zw with CV no
images text
only.
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Ad
inserted 14/12/05
WANTED
Small business requires switched on /
part time lady to take on all
computer work, plus wages for a labour force of
20 Could be mornings or
afternoons.
Please phone 011 208568 or
335458
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MOZAMBIQUE:
Ad
inserted 05 January 2006
I own a Beach Resort in Xai Xai,
Mozambique.
I want to employ a couple to act as assistant managers to the
current
couple employed, skills to include F&B, maintenance, housekeeping
and GM
skills.
Housing and work permit and eventual residence
supplied, salary average,
great prospects to become shareholders in the
resort.
Urgent, thanks.
Regards
Gary Wilson
Cell
+258-823046880
Office: +258-21-306018/9
Fax:
+258-21-326965
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MOZAMBIQUE:
Ad
inserted 05 January 2006
Wanted: Bush Manager - Mozambique
based
Forestry and environmental tourism operation in northern Sofala
Province
seeks bush manager as part of a team managing 2 forest concessions,
2
tourism camps, 2 sawmills and a factory.
Should be self-motivated,
industrious, able to work alone and live in
remote areas. Owing to nature of
work the candidate should have good
technical sense. Suit an ex-Farmer
experienced in running low-skilled
teams, overseeing maintenance of machinery
and equipment and "doing
whatever is necessary to get the job
done"!
The candidate should be prepared to reside in Mozambique full
time, with
the majority of time spent in bush. Fully legal residence and
work
permits will be provided.
Package in US$ with vehicle &
accommodation in bush.
Portuguese not essential at the start but the
successful candidate would
have to learn to communicate in the
language.
Basic computer literacy an advantage.
Couples considered
- a part time position also available in the company
tourism operation for
spouse if interested.
Start - 1 April 2006.
Package to be
negotiated
Please email tct.dalmann@teledata.mz or fax +258 23
30 21 61 for an
application form.
For additional company information
see www.dalmann.com
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ZAMBIA:
Ad
inserted 13/12/05
A family owned farm/factory Requires Operations Manager
in a small sugar
plantation / Factory. The ideal candidate will have
extensive experience
in growing sugar cane, harvest and haulage, as well as
hands on
experience in factory operation of a vacuum pan system with small
boiler
and turbine.
Experience in workshop management / machinery
repair and computer
literacy will be an added advantage. A degree in
Agriculture or
Engineering will give additional advantage.
The right
candidate should be energetic and willing to stay in rural
Zambia and be
prepared to work with a large work force.
A attractive salary and profit
sharing scheme awaits the right candidate.
Reply to:
vedad@zamnet.zm or P.O. Box 50566, Lusaka,
Zambia
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EMPLOYMENT
SOUGHT
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Retiree with extensive management experience in
the Agri Chemicals and
Veterinary Supplies industries seeks a full or part
time position. The
applicant has qualifications in the Animal Science field,
is versatile
and has a wide range of experience and interests in Agriculture
and
related industries as well as Wildlife. He is fully computer
competent
and has experience in public multi media communications.
The
applicant would consider any full or part time position in the above
or
associated fields.
Contact: Mike Duncan on phone numbers 04 885236 or
cell 091 535737 or e
mail at carmiked@zol.co.zw or carmike@mango.zw
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Ad
inserted 04 January 2006
YOUNG MAN OF 27 YEARS TRAINED AS A QUANTITY
SURVEYING TECHNICIAN LOOKING
FOR EMPLOYMENT. PLEASE CONTACT HIM ON 091 386
665 OR
wendelljamu@yahoo.com
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Ad
inserted 14/12/05
I am available for temporary work on an "as and when
needed" basis.
Starting 18 December 05 to January 15
06
Administration/typing/secretarial/general office work.
Contact:
Naomi -
011618595
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For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
(updated 12 January 2006)
The Star
You can’t
continue to sit by idly, trade union federation warns
January 12, 2006
By Basildon
Peta
The Congress of South African Trade Unions says the government
cannot continue to “sit idly by” while the economic and political situation in
Zimbabwe continues to rapidly deteriorate.
It has also warned that the
African Union’s peer review mechanism will never be taken seriously unless
leaders act on serial human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
Cosatu’s warning yesterday followed a raid by armed police on the
offices of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Police seized
documents after accusing trade union leaders of illegally dealing in foreign
currency
Swaziland ‘another country that threatens the AU’s credibility’ |