http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
12
January 2011
The MDC has lashed out at orders to destroy maize in Harare,
with city
councillors distancing themselves from the ‘barbaric’
act.
Councillors held an emergency caucus meeting on Tuesday at Harvest
House
after the slashing of maize crops in the city. The city officials said
in an
MDC statement that they “dissociate themselves and condemn the ongoing
barbaric destruction of the staple maize crop in the high density areas of
the city.” The officials added that the Harare Council “has never made such
a resolution.”
“The MDC is a pro-poor political party and is fully
behind all livelihood
support programmes among them urban agriculture,” the
MDC statement read.
The instruction to destroy maize is believed to have
come from the mainly
ZANU PF loyal police, in what the MDC suspects is an
attempt to taint their
image in the Capital. According to the MDC statement,
the instruction was
given to a Mr. Mutisi who works in the Housing
Department as a manager in
the grass cutting section.
“Mutisi went on
to implement the directive without any consultations,” the
MDC statement
read.
The statement continued that “it is frightening to contemplate how
the
police would give directives straight to council employees.”
“The
MDC has always known that some council employees are partisan and are
working in cahoots with ZANU PF’s Ignatius Chombo and other securocrats to
ensure perpetual suffering of the Zimbabwean population,” the statement
read.
The Harare Council has recommended that action be taken against
the
implicated council employee, Mutisi.
“Council would like to warn
the partisan Minister of Local Government never
to protect employees with
satanic tendencies as he has done in other local
authorities,” the MDC
statement added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Tichaona Sibanda
12 January
2011
Police have in the last week intensified their crackdown on MDC
officials
and activists, amid fears it may be the beginning of a new wave of
political
arrests and harassment this year.
The partisan police
force’s unwillingness to tolerate any ‘real change’ was
starkly illustrated
in recent days, when several key figures in the MDC were
picked up by the
police for holding consultative meetings
Analysts told SW Radio Africa
that the security services are clearly
renewing their efforts to destroy the
MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai. The MDC-T was elected to rule
the country two years ago, but
they were never allowed to govern, mainly
because of the Robert Mugabe loyal
military junta.
Charles Rapozo,
the MDC-T’s director for elections in Dangamvura in Mutare,
was arrested on
Monday from his home for allegedly holding a caucus meeting
without
notifying the police.
There were eight other party officials in his house
but he was the only one
who was led away. Rapozo, though, suspects a
disgruntled member of the party
tipped off the police about the
meeting.
“Without beating about the bush, we have a member called
Boniface Gweru, who
is working in cohorts with the police to undermine the
party in Mutare. Even
the police who arrested me let it be known that he was
behind my
incarceration,” Rapozo said.
Rapozo appeared in court in
Mutare on Wednesday and was charged with
contravening the Public Order and
Secuirty Act (POSA), by holding a meeting
without police clearance. He was
asked to pay bail of $60 and was released
from custody.
“My arrest is
nothing but political. You don’t need permission to have a
caucus meeting in
a house. I could tell what the police wanted was
intelligence about our
strategy for the upcoming party congress due in May,”
Rapozo
said.
Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland told SW Radio
Africa
that they were disturbed by reports that “certain individuals” within
the
party were working with “enemies of the party” for selfish
interests.
“We are investigating the allegations, and if it is a case of
infiltration
then we will deal with the issue once and for all,” Muchauraya
said.
In Masvingo, south district secretary, Elson Mutonhori was abducted
at
gunpoint by a Major Toperesu of the army from his Renco Mine home on
Saturday. He was assaulted for allegedly wearing a party t-shirt. But police
in Renco refused to open a docket arguing that the matter was too political
for them to be involved.
“Surprisingly, the same police station,
which refused to take Mutonhori’s
statements, hastily opened a docket for
Reason Mujaka, the MDC ward 24 youth
chairperson, whose father was allegedly
assaulted by a war vet for attending
an MDC meeting,” a statement from the
MDC said on Wednesday.
The statement urges people to resist the
intimidation antics of ZANU PF,
saying Zimbabweans proved beyond any
reasonable doubt that they are able to
reclaim their position as a peaceful
nation in March 2008.
“The MDC feels vindicated in its calls for the
cessation of all abuses and
intimidation as the nation prepares to go for
elections this year,” the
statement added.
Meanwhile four councillors
and five MDC youths who were arrested in Victoria
Falls are still in police
custody. Police officers working on the case have
said they are waiting for
their boss, a superintendent based in Hwange, to
inform them on how to
handle the matter.
Paulos Chilewede, councillor for ward 5 in the resort
town was arrested last
week on Thursday. The other three councillors,
Bernard Nyamande of ward 1,
Nkululeko Nyoni, ward 9, Taruvinga Makoti, ward
10 and the five youths were
arrested on Sunday.
They are being
detained at the Victoria Falls Police Station. The nine are
facing charges
of disrupting a public council meeting at the Victoria Falls
Community Hall
last week. But they all deny the charges.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
12 January
2011
South African authorities have extended its moratorium on Zimbabwean
deportations until August, to allow more time to process permit applications
made last year.
Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and civil
society groups had a
meeting on Wednesday, as part of ongoing efforts to
successfully and
smoothly complete the Zimbabwe Documentation Project. The
project was
launched last year when the South African government announced
it was ending
its deportation moratorium, which has been place since
2009.
Zim nationals were awarded the brief opportunity to try and
regularise their
stay in the country to avoid future deportation, by
applying for relevant
work or study permits. That window slammed shut on
December 31st last year,
with only an estimated 270 000 applications
submitted.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Ministry had originally said this
year that
deportations would resume at the end of March. But on Wednesday,
Home
Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni told the civil society meeting
that
the moratorium will be extended until August.
Gabriel Shumba
from the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) told SW Radio Africa on
Wednesday that
they are “overjoyed by this news, saying it is “another show
of South
Africa’s ability to appreciate the plight of Zimbabweans in this
country.”
Shumba explained that the meeting also looked at the plan to
process all the
applications made last year, including how to deal with the
Zimbabwean
government’s lack of capacity to produce passports on time.
“The South
African government indicated that its open offer to Zimbabwe
still stands
and that if Zimbabwe needs assistance in producing passports,
South Africa
will assist in any way that it can,” Shumba said. “We once more
appeal to
the Zimbabwean Government to consider this offer as it will assist
our
people in South Africa.”
The Zimbabwean authorities last year admitted it
could not produce enough
passports to meet the sudden demand, with Zim
nationals needing to submit
passports when they applied for South African
permits. However, instead of
accepting South Africa’s offer of help,
authorities turned them down,
leaving thousands of Zimbabweans without
documents. South Africa was
eventually forced to accept permit applications
with just receipts that a
passport application had been made. It’s
understood that about 100 000 of
the applicants still don’t have
passports.
Shumba meanwhile continued that one of the issues that must
still be tackled
is the illegal actions of some members of the South African
Police Service,
after a number of Zimbabweans were arrested recently and
threatened with
deportation. Shumba said that there are “still elements in
the police and
even in Home Affairs who are corrupt and feel that their
source of income is
drying up.”
“These people are responsible for
Zimbabweans being arrested and asking for
bribes or other forms of payment.
They want to resume their nefarious
activities as soon as possible,” Shumba
said.
At the same time, Director General Apleni emphasised new
applications are
not being accepted, and added that those Zimbabweans who
have not taken
advantage of the amnesty to surrender fraudulently obtained
South African
documents “will now face the wrath of the law.” The DG also
reiterated that
“the interest of Government is not to deport people; the
objective is
instead to bring back dignity to Zimbabweans in our country.”
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
12 January 2011
Self proclaimed war vet leader, Jabulani
Sibanda, is reported to have
brought his language of hate and political
threats to the town of Triangle
in Masvingo over the weekend. According to
the Crisis Coalition, Sibanda and
his thugs forced about 2,000 people to
attend a rally at Gibbo Stadium on
Sunday, and threatened them with violence
and death if they supported the
MDC in the next election.
The Crisis
Coalition said Sibanda compared his campaign to “the biblical
story of Jesus
cleansing the temple in Jerusalem,” after discovering it had
become “a
market for thieves.” He reportedly told the forced audience that
he is “on a
mission to restore order in Zimbabwe.”
There have been concerted efforts
by the MDC and non-governmental
organisations to have Sibanda investigated
and arrested for the violent acts
that he has committed, especially in Zaka,
Bikita, Jerera and Chiredzi.
But according to the Crisis Coalition
spokesperson Philip Pasirayi, the
police have not investigated the alleged
acts and the war vet has continued
his campaign.
“We have made
reports to the effect that he is spreading his terror.
Although the police
have done nothing, we will not stop. We will bring the
allegations to higher
authorities if necessary,” said Pasirayi.
At the Triangle rally, Sibanda
is alleged to have threatened to take over
the Hippo Valley Estates, under
the guise of indigenisation. He also
attacked the American government for
imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, despite
the sanctions being targeted,
restrictive measures against Robert Mugabe and
his inner
circle.
Pasirayi pointed to similar threats made by Mugabe at a rally in
Gutu in
December, 2010, when he said Hippo Valley would be taken over if it
fails to
give majority shares to locals.
“These are desperate
attempts and they will not help Zimbabwe economically.
Investors will fear
that the same will happen to them if they come here to
do business,” said
Pasirayi.
According to the Crisis Coalition, ZANU PF officials have
already seized
Mkwasine Estates in the same area and “run it to the ground
by employing
unqualified staff and misusing funds.” Many farm workers that
were employed
there now have no jobs. The approximately 10,000 workers that
are employed
at Triangle Estates face the same possibility of losing their
jobs if it is
taken over political chefs.
Pasirayi said Sibanda does
not travel with a large team of thugs. He
explained that Sibanda manages to
get thousands to attend his rallies
because he is known to be ruthless
against suspected MDC supporters, and
people in rural areas do not want that
label.
“Since the formation of the MDC many people have lost their life
and others
their livestock and property. People are afraid not to attend the
rallies,”
added Pasirayi. But he explained that this does not mean they
support
Sibanda or ZANU PF.
http://www.radiovop.com
12/01/2011 16:15:00
Masvingo, January 12, 2011
- With just a day after schools opened for this
year’s first term,
Zimbabwean teachers have embarked on a two week go slow
and have threatened
a fully fledged strike if they do not get a salary
increase by the time they
get paid.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti in his 2011 budget said he had
increased civil
service salaries by 100 percent.
However, some of the
teachers said they had since learnt from the soldiers
who got paid this week
that they had not received the promised increment.
The Progressive
Teachers Union in Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou
said the
teachers were attending class but doing so under protest.
“We urged our
members to return to work while assessing the situation. The
teachers are on
a go slow and come pay day when we see there is no
increment, we will
strike."
“Biti announced a salary hike but it seems there is nothing. We
will prove
it on pay day," he said, adding that government cannot afford to
take
teachers for granted because they deserved better.
http://www.voanews.com/
The
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said its members would not start
teaching until they have learned the outcome of a meeting on Thursday
between union and government officials over salary demands
Jonga
Kandemiiri | Washington 11 January 2011
Zimbabwe's first school term
in 2011 started Tuesday with most teachers
reporting for work though some
were not actively teaching to back up wage
demands while some institutions
were refusing entry to classrooms to pupils
whose parents had not paid their
fees.
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said its members would
not start
teaching until they have learned the outcome of a meeting on
Thursday
between union officials and other teachers representatives and
government
officials over salary demands.
But the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association said its members will only stop
teaching if salary negotiations
with the government fail. Teachers want a
base US$500 a
month.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Secretary General Raymond
Majongwe
told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that his organization's
members
will stay in their staff rooms and out of classes until the Thursday
discussions are concluded.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Fungi Kwaramba
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
14:30
CHIVHU - Zanu (PF) hooligans in Chikomba district began the school
year by
disrupting classes and trying to push out teachers who are alleged
to
support the MDC.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Secretary
General, Raymond Majongwe,
confirmed reports of staged demonstrations at
Nhangambwe and Sadza Secondary
schools and said that the union was gravely
worried.
"We have heard reports of the demonstrations that are targeting
innocent
teachers. This is a cause for concern and should be stopped
immediately,"
said Majongwe.
The MP for Chikomba Central, Moses Jiri,
told this paper that on Tuesday,
Zanu (PF) thugs besieged Makuvimavi Primary
School in Chivhu demanding that
Edwin Mareve, a teacher there, be
transferred because he is the MDC-T
Organising Secretary. The marching
crowds, led by Farai Watambwa, accused
the grade seven teachers of teaching
pupils to follow the MDC.
“There is need for the police to act fast. Even
though we reported the case
to the police they just went to the school and
observed as the hooligans
abused the teacher. Classes were disrupted and
parents seeking to register
their grade one children failed to do so as the
administration block was
closed,” said Jiri.
So rampant are the
disruptions that there was no one at the District
Education Office when Jiri
went to report the case.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
12 January 2011
A
spokesman for the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has not
ruled
out the chances of a unity deal with the smaller faction of the party
led by
the newly elected Welshman Ncube.
Speaking on SW Radio Africa’s Question Time
programme, MDC-T spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said they “had the appetite for
working together” with their
former colleagues but it had to be “a coalition
of the willing.”
Responding to listeners questions on why they are not
trying to unite the
two parties ahead of elections, Chamisa said “we have
always emphasised as a
party that unity pays. Unity gives us the profit we
would want politically.
Unity is ultimately going to be the winning
political formula in this
country.” The problem, he said, was a difference
of opinion on strategy and
political destination.
“We do not want a
situation where you have certain people indicating left
while others are
turning right. There has to be consistency of not just
message but political
strategy, beliefs and political destination. And I am
sorry to say if you
judge the character of our colleagues it would appear
they are quite remote
from our thinking and from the way we see things,”
Chamisa told the
programme.
Asked if it was not possible to bury their differences
temporarily until
after the elections, he said: “We can’t just have a donkey
and a horse, when
in fact it will lead to a retardation of the momentum.” He
said a deal was
possible if they could agree on a set of objectives and how
to achieve them.
On replacing Arthur Mutambara as leader of the MDC-M,
Welshman Ncube
launched an astonishing attack on the MDC-T calling them
‘pseudo democrats’
and ‘hypocrites’. He went further to say ‘we refuse to be
intimidated, we
refuse to be cowed by your lies and your head mentality even
if you are
supported by your friends in the media.’ Any unity deal will have
to
overcome this political sniping.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
11 January, 2011
08:43:00 OWEN GAGARE
The fractured MDC led by newly-elected
president Welshman Ncube is headed
for a showdown over property ownership
after the faction headed by former
national chairman Joubert Mudzumwe
indicated it would compel Ncube to
produce an inventory of the party’s
property it claims it is entitled to.
Mudzumwe walked out of a national
executive meeting he was chairing ahead of
the party’s congress last weekend
alongside several members, including the
women’s assembly chairperson Hilda
Sibanda, deputy national organising
secretary Morgan Changamire, secretary
for education Tsitsi Dangarembga and
national youth chairperson Costa
Chipadza.
They convened at another hotel where they announced they would
not attend
the congress accusing Ncube of violating the party’s constitution
to elbow
out Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara from the helm of the
party.
Mudzumwe said his group would continue to regard Mutambara as the
leader of
the party regardless of the results of the congress while
announcing the
elevation of Nomalanga Khumalo to the
vice-presidency.
Mudzumwe said they would hold a separate congress where
a new leadership
would be ushered in.
Changamire said Ncube should
produce an inventory of the party’s property
and financial statements before
assuming any power.
“We want Welshman (Ncube) to produce audited
financial statements and a list
of the property which the party has because
he has been abusing party
property. That property belongs to us and we can
prove legally that his
congress was unconstitutional,” said
Changamire.
“Before we hold our congress, we will seek to address the
issue of the party
property. Everything must be declared and we will then
take it from there.
We want accountability and justice.”
Changamire
justified his claim to the party’s property arguing that they
were the real
MDC since Ncube and his backers had attended an
unconstitutional
meeting.
“In fact they expelled themselves from the party by attending an
illegal
congress,” he said.
Ncube, however, said his party would not
entertain the request from Mudzumwe
and his supporters. He dismissed
Changamire and said the clique was
attempting to justify the “theft” of
party vehicles by Mudzumwe.
“They walked out of a full national council
meeting. Actually it was seven
people with the support of 106 other people
and it’s surprising that they
are claiming that they are genuine members of
the party. Imagine if Dynamos
was playing a soccer match with 11 players on
the field and two decide that
they have had enough then they come back and
say they are the real Dynamos.
It’s so absurd,” he said.
“Besides,
the party constitution is clear that all property belongs to the
party and
not individuals. If you move away you don’t move away with the
party
property, and even if the party dissolves, which is not the case here,
there
is a clear way of how the property is disposed.”
Ncube said the group was
making noise to justify the fact that Mudzumwe has
been holding on to some
party vehicles.
Mutambara lost the MDC-M presidency to Ncube over the
weekend. He had
however indicated he would not contest for any position at
the congress.
Mutambara, who said he would remain a soldier of the party,
called for unity
and said the party should seek ways to accommodate those
who had boycotted
the congress. - NewsDay
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Simplicious Chirinda Wednesday 12
January 2011
HARARE – The new leader of one of Zimbabwe’s three
ruling parties has called
on the parties to fully implement their more than
two years old
power-sharing agreement before new elections can be
held.
Welshmen Ncube, who at the weekend took over from Deputy Prime
Minister
Arthur Mutambara as leader of the smaller MDC party, said all
clauses of the
power-sharing pact known as the global political agreement
(GPA) must be
implemented in order to avert political violence and another
disputed poll
as happened three years ago.
Ncube said the troubled
coalition government that has brought economic
stability but has struggled
to implement political reforms should be given
until 2013 to implement the
GPA and democratic reforms.
He said: “Our position as MDC is that we
want to see the full
implementation of the GPA so that we don’t have a
repeat of the 2008
situation. We want this political and economic stability
that we are
experiencing now to continue until the full legal term of
Parliament comes
to an end in 2013.”
Ncube dismissed calls by
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, who heads the
main MDC formation, for elections this year as
political grandstanding,
saying democratic polls were impossible in Zimbabwe
without a new
constitution to guarantee a free and vote as well as the basic
freedoms of
citizens.
He said: “The constitution making process must be completed ….
restore
political freedoms, freedom of speech, media freedom and the right
to
campaign freely before any election can be held.”
Zimbabwe’s
elections have been characterised by political violence and gross
human
rights abuses with the last vote in June 2008 ending inconclusively
after
the military-led campaign of violence and murder that forced then
opposition
leader Tsvangirai to withdraw from a second round presidential
ballot.
Tsvangirai had been tipped to win the second round election
after beating
Mugabe in the first round ballot but without the percentage of
votes
required avoiding the second round run-off poll
The former foes
eventually bowed to pressure from southern African leaders
to agree to form
a government of national unity whose future is uncertain,
with Mugabe
insisting Zimbabwe must hold elections by next June to choose a
new
government to replace the coalition administration.
According to the GPA,
Zimbabwe must first write a new and democratic
constitution before holding
fresh elections. However a multi-party
parliamentary committee leading the
writing of the new constitution is
lagging behind and is not seen producing
a new charter by June when Mugabe
says a new vote must take
place.
But Mugabe, who wields the most power in the unity government, has
previously said Zimbabwe can still hold elections with or without a new
constitution. -- ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com
Though ZANU-PF is pushing for an early referendum,
Constitutional Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga of Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC
formation has said he will
not be pressured into accelerating the
schedule
Blessing Zulu | Washington 11 January 2011
As the
parliamentary committee in charge of revising Zimbabwe's constitution
moves
to digest public opinion collected in an outreach phase last year,
parties
sharing power in the country's unity government are arguing about
when a
referendum can be held.
Hardliners in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party are pushing for a vote
in June despite increasing pressure in the
party and outside it for a later
ballot, while Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement
for Democratic Change is talking
about a referendum in September, which
seems a more likely
timeline.
Political sources said the ZANU-PF hardliners, led by Defense
Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa and members of the Joint Operations Command
comprising
security service chiefs, are demanding a referendum for the
constitution be
held in June with a fresh round of presidential and general
elections before
the end of the year.
Facing intense pressure for a
slower pace toward elections from the Southern
African Development
Community, Mr. Mugabe is said to be amenable to a delay.
SADC wants to see
broader political and electoral reforms before the next
elections are
held.
A ZANU-PF conference late last year resolved to hold elections by
June.
ZANU-PF has accused the MDC of working with Western donors to delay
the
process of revising the constitution, and said elections will be held
with
or without a new document.
But Constitutional Affairs Minister
Eric Matinenga of Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC
formation has said he will not be
pushed into accelerating the election
schedule.
The ZANU-PF
co-chairman of the parliamentary select committee running
constitutional
revision, Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, said the process should
be done by
June.
But Douglas Mwonzora, select committee co-chairman from the
Tsvangirai MDC
wing, told VOA reporter Blessing Zulu that his panel will
adhere to the
sequential timelines set out in the 2008 Global Political
Agreement for
power sharing - though in theory the drafting of the
constitution should
have been completed late last year.
http://www.voanews.com/
Sources said the RBZ recently wrote to the ministry asking for at
more than
US$5 million to keep its creditors at bay while waiting for
Parliament to
draft a law allowing the government to take over its
debts
Gibbs Dube | Washington 11 January 2011
Zimbabwe's
Finance Ministry has turned down a request by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
for help in paying creditors and meeting downsizing costs, sources
said.
Government sources said the Reserve Bank recently wrote to the
ministry
asking for more than US$5 million to keep its creditors at bay
pending
passage by Parliament of a law that would allow the government to
take over
its US$1.2 billion debts.
The RBZ had also asked for US$20
million to fund severance packages for
1,600 workers being laid off in a
major restructuring of the troubled
institution.
Financial sources
said the central bank owes creditors more than US$1.2
billion, mainly from
procurements on behalf of the previous government for
various
programs.
Attorney Davison Kanokanga, representing RBZ creditor Farmtech
Supplies and
Implements which is owed US$2.1 million, said the RBZ has to
meet its
financial obligations even if it is being protected by
government.
Economic commentator Bekithemba Mhlanga told VOA Studio 7
reporter Gibbs
Dube that the beleaguered central bank's creditors will
eventually be paid
off by taxpayers.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 12
January 2011 12:58
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party
squandered US$3,3 million
at its annual national conference held in Mutare
last month, according to
documents.
A central committee report says
US$3,3 million was gobbled by accommodation
costs, food, transport,
equipment hire and renovations to Marymount Teachers
College, which was
spruced up for the annual gathering. About 4, 000
delegates attended the
conference.
The conference attracted delegates countrywide, and its
diaspora branches in
Joburg and London.
The figures show that Zanu (PF)
has spent millions of taxpayers' money as
they failed to devise a rescue
plan for the political logjam that is still
perilously close to the cliff
edge of disaster and threatening the GNU.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
MDC party accuses Mugabe of stubborn
defiance in implementing terms of the
power sharing pact. The Central
Committee report says Zanu (PF) this year
got US$1,094 million of taxpayers
money as a grant under the Political
Parties (Finance) Act.
Party leaders produced a communique that papered over
the cracks in GNU and
pressed for renewed economic growth as the answer to
Zimbabwe's woes. They
continued to repeat the tired ‘sanctions’ mantra and
urged the grabbing of
western-owned companies.
The College was turned
into a no-go area so that the leaders could enjoy
their conference in peace.
Details of the security bill for the summit were
not included in the
Central Committee report, which paints a picture of a
party in financial
distress. The party’s printing company, Jongwe Printing
and Publishing, has
been mothballed, with a US$100 000 need. The report says
it failed to print
its propaganda sheet Zimbabwe News as a result. Zanu (PF)
is also struggling
to bankroll the party mouthpiece The Voice. The party has
hit by acute donor
fatigue, with a paltry US$114 679 raised in fundraising
activities and
groaning under a US$3,4 million budget deficit. Last year,
the party spent
US$6 333 581 and raised only US$2 929 991 as revenue from
membership fees,
donations, a government grant, fundraising and conference
hall
hire.
"How can anyone trust a party that throws away such large sums of
money for
a day's partying — or trust the rest of the Zanu (PF) leaders who
attend
such a meeting inside a wire fence fortress while they discuss how to
win
elections through violence," said political commentator Ronald
Shumba.
"There must be a less wasteful way of holding these
get-togethers, and there
must be a more productive way than these useless
events to achieve
cooperation on burning political issues."
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by MDC
Information & Publicity Department
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
09:55
The four councillors and five MDC youths who were arrested in
Victoria Falls
are still in police custody as the police officers are saying
they are
waiting for their boss, a superintendent based in Hwange, to inform
them on
how to handle the case. Paulos Chilewede, councillor for ward 5 in
Victoria
Falls was arrested last week on Thursday. The other three
councillors;
Bernard Nyamande of ward 1, Nkululeko Nyoni, ward 9, Taruvinga
Makoti, ward
10 and the five youths were arrested on Sunday. They are all
detained at
the Victoria Falls Police Station. The nine are facing charges
of disrupting
a public council meeting at the Victoria Falls Community Hall
last week.
Meanwhile, the trial of Glen View South MP, Hon. Paul Madzore who
is facing
bogus charges of resisting lawful arrest and assault failed to
kick off at
the Harare Magistrates’ Courts as the State’s witness; Constable
Everisto
Maponga failed to turn. Hon. Madzore is facing charges of resisting
arrest
and assualting Maponga of Southerton Police Station at Makomva
shopping
centre in May 2006. However, Maponga failed to turn up for the
trial and the
case was postponed to 15 February.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
12 January, 2011
12:05:00 APA
Harare –Three Chinese men have been arrested in
Zimbabwe for allegedly using
fraudulent visas to enter the country, the
state-run Herald daily reported
Wednesday.
According to the
newspaper, the visas were from a visa book stolen from
Zimbabwe’s
Immigration Department.
Yan Xiao Hua, He Huiju and Huang Jia Xing were
arrested upon arrival at
Harare International Airport on Sunday and are
awaiting deportation.
The trio’s lawyer Charles Chinyama, however, said
his clients were innocent
victims of fraud.
"Our clients applied for
Zimbabwean visas while they were still in China.
They engaged services of an
agent, Bo Liung, who promised to process the
visas on their behalf for a
fee.
They duly paid the required fees to Mr Bo Liung and they were later
advised
that their applications for visas had been successful and their
passports
were returned with visas," he said.
Bo Liu has already been
deported from Zimbabwe on related offences.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has
tightened residency requirements for foreigners,
telling investors wishing
to settle in the country to show proof of personal
funds amounting to US$1
million before becoming eligible for permanent
residency, private radio
station Radio VOP reported Wednesday in Harare.
Private radio station
Radio VOP reported Wednesday that Zimbabwe’s
Department of Immigration now
also requires a US$500 non-refundable
processing fee from foreigners upon
submission of an application for a
permanent residency permit while US$2,500
would be paid when the licence is
issued.
Zimbabwe’s immigration
regulations allow local companies to employ
foreigners under temporary work
permits.
Such permits are only issued by the Department of Immigration
upon
application by the company, which should provide proof that the
requisite
skill cannot be sourced locally.
Foreigners are only
permitted to work within the capacity for which their
specific permits were
issued.
Their spouses and children may reside in Zimbabwe provided that
they do not
take up employment.
Zimbabweans are currently up in arms
over the influx of Chinese and Nigerian
business people who have taken up
most of the shop space in the country’s
main towns and cities.
http://www.radiovop.com
12/01/2011
17:05:00
Harare, January 13, 2011 - The Media Institute of Southern
Africa (Misa) has
declared the 400 percent controversial increment in
accreditation fees for
journalists and media houses in Zimbabwe as not
legally binding.
Misa noted in a statement on Wednesday that despite
attempts by Zimbabwe's
Information Minister to distance himself from the fee
increases which had
already received criticism from the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists, the
statutory instrument that authorised the increment clearly
specified that
they had been made by his Ministry.
"The instrument
that was published as a supplement to the Zimbabwe Gazette
dated 31 December
2010, clearly states that the Ministry “made” the
regulations in terms of
Section 91 of the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act
[Chapter 10:27]," said Misa.
In his response, Minister Webster Shamu
stated that his ministry’s
relationship with the Zimbabwe Media Commission
(ZMC) is ‘strictly
administrative’ and the statutory media regulatory board
“only turns to the
Minister and the Ministry for legal administrative
instruments that give
full effect to its decisions”.
"While Minister
Shamu’s statements are legally correct, the wording in the
Statutory
Instrument 186 of 2010 gazetting the accreditation fees implies
that the
regulations emanated from his Ministry," noted Misa.
"Going by the
wording of the statutory instrument, the ministry is in
violation of the law
making the instrument invalid and consequently of no
legal force. This is
because section 91 of AIPPA, which formerly empowered
the Minister to make
regulations as stated in the statutory instrument, was
amended in 2007 to
give the Zimbabwe Media Commission the authority to make
such regulations.
The Ministry only approves them," read the statement.
"According to Act
No. 20 of 2007 section 91(b) (1), “the Commission may,
with the approval of
the Minister, by regulation, order or notice, prescribe
matters that, by
this Act, are required or permitted to be prescribed or
that in the opinion
of the Commission are necessary or convenient to be
prescribed for carrying
out or giving effect to this Act.”
"It seems there is no other clause
under AIPPA implying the contrary, or at
the very least, giving the Minister
any leeway to act outside the ambit of
this administrative role.
"It
is therefore MISA-Zimbabwe’s considered view that since the gazetting of
the
statutory instrument on the new accreditation and registration fees was
inconsistent with the enabling legislation, they are void and therefore
cannot be legally binding."
http://www.radiovop.com
12/01/2011
11:51:00
Harare, January 12, 2011 - Zimbabwe diamond activist, Farai
Maguwu, said
there is an urgent need for the government to secure the
security of people
living in the gem-infested Marange
area.
Maguwu said it is important for the government to first
consider the welfare
of the villagers ahead of commercial interests that are
pushing for the
relocation of the thousands of families in the area to pave
way for
extraction.
“I feel it’s an area where there is a need for
the government, non
governmental organisations and the international
community to secure the
security of the people of Marange,” said
Maguwu.
Maguwu was speaking at an event organised by the United States
Embassy to
discuss human security.
About 50 000 families have so far
been relocated from Marange area better
known as Marange on 17 December last
year. The families were given small
plots, 200 bags of maize meal to share
but no seed and fertilizer at the
time.
They recently received a $
1000 fee per family as disturbance fees.
Maguwu however said vital
facilities such as schools and clinics are located
3 kilometres away from
the residences of the families and the timing of the
relocation mid
agricultural season was wrong.
“There was no proper planning and these do
not meet the minimum United
Nations standards on human security,” said the
Mutare-based diamond
activist. More so the relocation is being done in the
middle of the
agricultural season.”
Turning onto the security issues
in the country Maguwu said many Zimbabweans
do not enjoy the basic human
security and are often subjected to structural
violence.
He urged
Zimbabweans to start setting the agenda for the politicians not
vice
versa.
“We need the people of Zimbabwe to be more determined and set the
agenda not
the politicians to set the agenda for them. Right now the problem
is that
the politicians are setting the agenda while the people continue
sitting and
folding their hands,” said Maguwu who last year was arrested for
exposing
government malpractices in diamond extraction.
He spent
close to three months in jail until he was acquitted on the
charges.
When asked whether he feels safe when doing his diamond
extraction research
work, Maguwu said, “When you do the work that I do and
working in this
sensitive area, it will not be accurate to say I am secure.
With this kind
of work you threaten a lot of people,” said
Maguwu.
Maguwu last week said the Kimberley Process (KP) which regulates
world
diamond trade should be tougher when dealing with Zimbabwe’s diamond
trade
compliance. This was against a backdrop of claims by the Zimbabwean
government that it has finally secured authorisation to sell its diamonds
mined between 2006 and 2009 at Marange.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Ngoni Chanakira
Wednesday, 12 January
2011 14:33
HARARE - Beneath Zimbabwe’s blood-soaked soil lies fabulous
wealth which,
if transparently and expertly exploited, could put an end to
unemployment,
poverty and disease and turn the country into one of the most
prosperous on
the African continent.
A secret document in our possession,
prepared by the Zimbabwe Investment
Authority (ZIA), shows that the country
is sitting on 2.8 billion tonnes of
platinum, 26 billion tonnes of coal and
30 billion tonnes of iron ore, not
to mention extensive diamond
deposits.
The document has been distributed secretly in an attempt to woo
international investors.
Despite this huge wealth, investors are still
hesitant to put their money
into Zimbabwe because of Zanu (PF)’s continued
anti-western rhetoric, the
indigenisation law, disregard for the rule of law
and property rights, and
massive corruption.
According to the document,
Zimbabwe also has a staggering 16.5 million
tonnes of diamonds especially in
the Chiadzwa area in Manicaland, Murowa
Diamonds and at the controversial
River Ranch near Beit Bridge.
There are 13 million tonnes of gold deposits in
Bindura, Kadoma, Mudzi,
Mvuma and Kwekwe.
"Opportunities exist throughout
the whole mining cycle from exploitation,
mining production, marketing and
downstream activities," the document says.
"There are also opportunities for
joint venture partnerships in existing low
capacity running projects as well
as new ventures.”.
The country has the largest methane reserves in southern
Africa as well as
5.2 million tonnes of copper, 930 million tonnes of
chromite and 4.5 million
tonnes of nickel.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
12:50
HARARE - A director of a diamond company booted out of the rich
Marange
diamond fields has gone on the run after being accused of lying and
attempting to steal US$300,000 from a Harare law firm that represented the
Zimbabwe government at the Kimberley Process talks.
Canadile Miners
director Lovemore Kurotwi, was detained for days for
fraudulently
misreresenting to government that his company had money to
exploit the rich
Marange diamond fields, when in fact the company was
bankrupt, government
alleges.
Kurotwi appeared in court last month, and was granted bail. He
has now been
hit with a further charge of writing to Farai Mutamangira's law
firm
Mutamangira and Associates, demanding back US$300,000 Canadile paid in
legal
fees to represent Zimbabwe at the KP talks in Jerusalem.
Kurotwi
demanded Canadile's money back after government cancelled its
licence to
mine the Marange fields. It has emerged that Canadile Miners,
Marange
Resources, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe bankrolled the legal representation
rendered to government by the law firm. ZMDC chairman Godwills Masimirembwa
and former chairman of Canadile Miners (Pvt) Ltd Cougan Matanhire were said
to have lodged a criminal complaint against Kurotwi on Saturday at the
Harare Central Police Station, but police say they cant find him. "He is
missing," said a police spokesman. A warrant for his arrest has been taken
out.
Detectives are understood to have made extensive efforts to trace
Kurotwi,
raiding his home on Saturday and hunting for him at the
Chikumbirike law
firm. Police are now appealing for the public's help to
track him down.
Police said Kurotwi had shown "total disregard" for the law
and the police.
But his lawyers said he was not on the run. His lawyer
George Chikumbirike
told The Zimbabwean on Monday: “He is not on the run. I
will accompany him
to the police as soon as he gets back to
town."
The government earlier accused Kurotwi, together with other
diamond bosses,
of duping the government into believing that a non-existent
South African
firm was ready to invest $2bn in Zimbabwe in order to obtain a
licence for
Canadile Miners. The State was told to proceed by way of summons
on the
matter.
Even before the ink was dry on that acquittal, Kurotwi
was again wanted on a
further charge of attempting to extort money from
government's lawyers. This
is significant because the law firm won approval
for Zimbabwe to sell
diamonds from the Marange fields, and is naturally the
darling of the
government.
Observers say the swiftness with which the
police have pursued the case is
breathtaking.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Reporter
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
12:16
HARARE - Construction of Africa's largest ethanol plant in the
Lowveld is on
course, with management indicating Tuesday that fuel sales
will commence
March.
Zimbabwe’s Green Fuel company is expected to
start producing ethanol fuel in
March, a development expected to impact
positively on the economy as this
will bring down the price of fuel in the
country. The billion dollar
investment employs 6 000 people.
With the
plant nearing completion, Green Fuel says a distillery section is
being
installed at Chisumbanje in Chipinge.
“The main function of the
distillery section is to receive the raw juice
from the mill for
purification and fermentation into the final product –
ethanol. The
distillery columns form additional structures that are now
visibly above
ground at the Green Fuel ethanol plant site,” Graeme Smith,
the company's
general manager said.
“The construction site itself is a hive of activity
as welders, boiler
makers, carpenters, surveyors, engineers and project
managers negotiate
their way around the rains that have been pounding
Chisumbanje to make good
progress.
‘We have had exceptionally high
rainfall this year – having received already
50% of the usual total of the
whole season for this area. This has affected
work in the fields - at some
stage in December we had to stop all planting
and tillage because of the
mud,” he added.
While the current rains have been a relief for the
group’s agricultural
activities in watering its cane fields, Green Fuels has
experienced minimal
disruptions as the south eastern company and operation
has experienced
increased power cuts by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority.
It has, though, been relying on back-up power from
generators.
On completion, the plant will produce more than a million
litres of fuel,
stock feeds and excess power - out of its projected 120
megawattage
generating capacity - to light the whole of Manicaland.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by BY Mtotobi Zingwenya
Wednesday, 12 January
2011 13:30
HARARE - The Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo, says the
house is doing
well despite the presence of legislators with divergent
views.
Moyo says he has managed to bring about sanity and respect for the
august
house even though it was not a stroll in the park. Moyo told The
Zimbabwean
“It was never going to be easy for an outsider to come and take
over the
leadership of an institution that has known only one political
party for
over 30 years. It meant that structures of that institution were
pro-Zanu
(PF) and the systems applied are biased towards that
party.
“That alone was a challenge, not to mention different political
parties with
different political backgrounds and ideology. I have managed to
change the
culture of doing things in parliament. I became a speaker when
the donor
community had lost faith in us. I managed to beg them and they
resumed
sponsoring us so that our programmes can be successful. In December
2010 we
managed to install audio equipment in parliament to replace the
obsolete
system we inherited in 1980.”
The Speaker has signed seven
memoranda of agreement with the donor community
since he assumed office.
Besides presiding over some robust debates and
coming up with some friendly
and progressive legislation, the portfolio
committees have become
effective.
“They now have ‘teeth’ such that some ministers have complained
that they
were now ‘biting’ too much. The portfolio committees do an
oversight role of
seeing that government departments are spending the money
wisely and doing
what they are supposed to do,” said Moyo.
The former
Matobo legislator also put the Zimbabwe Constitution Select
Committee,
COPAC, in place and managed to cool the tempers of diametrically
opposed
legislators.
The three political parties represented in Parliament do not
share a common
philosophy, yet Moyo managed to bring about consensus and
stability in this
diversity. There were also reports of bad blood between
the Speaker and the
clerk of parliament, Austin Zvoma, while Moyo’s
mother-in-law Sthembiso
Nyoni is an MP.
Moyo says, “I can lead my
relatives, friends and those who are not my
friends. I am a natural leader.
I do not mix work and family issues.”
He was elected in Namibia late last
year to chair other speakers of
parliament in the SADC region. T
Moyo
said Parliament would move urgently in 2011 to amend laws like the
Electoral
Act and complete the constitutional-making process and the
referendum. There
are also plans to take Parliament to other towns like
Bulawayo, Mutare and
Gweru where the public will be able to listen to the
debates.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Fungi Kwaramba
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
09:11
HARARE - Supermarkets country-wide have defied a government order
banning
them from giving shoppers plastic bags.
The ban has shocked
many in the country and its flimsy environment
cleanliness assertions have
not been convincing to the general public. While
major shops in the country
have complied with the ban medium and small
supermarkets have continued to
give away plastic bags.
“We have large stocks of plastic bags and we are
not going to stop giving
them to our customers. If people cannot carry their
groceries in plastic
bags then where else can they put them?” said a shop
manager in Harare.
The general public expressed shock and dismay at the
ban that attracts a
US$20 fine.
“How does the government expect us to
carry our groceries if we cannot get
the plastic bags? The government has
nothing better to do,” said Evelyn
Sakande from Chitungwiza.
The ban
on plastic bags has, however, allowed vendors to make a roaring
trade by
selling them on the doorsteps of shops.
“Before the ban I used to take
home US$10, but I am now making twice that
amount,” said a woman who sells
bags along Julius Nyerere.
The ban that came into effect last week was
passed by the Zimbabwe
Government in May 2010 under the Environment
Protection regulations.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by MDC Information &
Publicity Department
Wednesday, 12 January 2011 09:51
The actions of
Zanu PF functionaries in our patriotic security sector pose a
threat to the
freedoms and peace of Zimbabweans. The abduction of our
Masvingo South
district Secretary, Elson Mutonhori on Saturday morning at
gunpoint
allegedly by one Major Toperesu and others from his Renco Mine home
over a
petty issue of putting on MDC party regalia, is a case in point.
Renco Mine
police refused to open a docket arguing that the matter was too
political
for them to be involved.
But surprisingly, the same police station, which
refused to take Mutonhori’s
statements, hastily opened a docket for Reason
Mujaka, the MDC ward 24 youth
chairperson, whose father was allegedly
assaulted by a war veteran for
attending an MDC meeting; took the young man
to court; and ensured that he
is locked up in Mutimurefu prison serving his
six months sentence.
It never ceases to amaze every level-headed
Zimbabwean, why Zanu PF
functionaries masquerading as civil servants would
descend on a Zimbabwean
citizen and question his right to freedom of
association and assembly.
Zimbabweans need peace. They need protection. They
know the security sector
is a necessary element of governance to protect the
integrity, autonomy and
interests of this country, not for a few corrupt
officials to use them as
tools of aggression against the people who need
protection.
Such actions by Zanu PF wrongfully place the image of our
patriotic security
forces. The security sector should concentrate on
ensuring the nation is
protected from external aggression and must observe
its Constitutional
mandate at all times. The people of Zimbabwe yearn for
the return of their
dignity in society; they strive for their security, to
restore their
dignity, self esteem and confidence.
The MDC urges the
people of Zimbabwe to resist the intimidation antics of a
hornless owl; Zanu
PF. Zimbabweans proved beyond any reasonable doubt that
they are able to
reclaim their position as a peaceful nation in March 2008.
The MDC feels
vindicated in its calls for the cessation of all abuses and
intimidation as
the nation prepares to go for elections this year.