http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
20:24
UNITED States ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray says his country
is ready
to lift targeted sanctions imposed on the Harare administration
once the
three governing parties fully implement their power-sharing
agreement. Ray,
who was talking to journalists after an event to commemorate
the Martin
Luther King Day in Harare, said the US will review the
restrictions once it
was satisfied that Zimbabweans were now free from
intimidation and human
rights abuses.
The US has maintained
targeted sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's
inner circle and state
companies, since 2002 for their involvement in
alleged human rights
violations.
"I have hopes that there will be an improvement in the
situation and
performance here (in Zimbabwe) so that there can be positive
movement on
that (sanctions)," Ray said.
"It's certainly an issue
that gets discussed a lot both between me and
policy makers in
Washington."
Mugabe formed a unity government with leaders of the two
MDC formations
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara
in February last year but the parties are still squabbling
over the full
implementation of their power-sharing
agreement.
Some of the disputes revolve around key reforms, which the
MDC formations
say are necessary to restore democracy in
Zimbabwe.
"Our position is that the people of Zimbabwe deserve a
country that fulfills
their legitimate needs and interests," Ray
said.
"We would very much like to see the situation here evolve into
one where
people can in fact, exercise their rights freely and that's all
rights; the
right to earn a living, the right to be free from torture or
oppression, the
right to self determination and self
realisation."
The ambassador addressed about 150 students from Prince
Edward, Allan
Wilson, Queen Elizabeth and Girls' High schools to pay tribute
to the
American civil rights icon.
"What Martin Luther King did
for us in the United States applies equally to
people around the world
regardless of their colour, religion or their
political beliefs and the
issue is that people should be free from
oppression," he
said.
"People have the right to live lives that are productive, that
are free from
intimidation and violence and I think that really...sort of in
a 21st
century context," Ray said.
Tomorrow is a national holiday
in the US in King's honour. He was
assassinated in April
1968.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 20:23
TWO men accused
of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe's government
in 2007 were back
in the court on Thursday seeking bail pending their
trial at the High
Court at a date yet to be set. Pattison Mupfere and Nyasha
Zivuku were
arrested together with Shingirai Mutemachani, Oncemore
Mudzurahowa, Emmanuel
Marara, and Albert Matapo, a former senior army
officer, for allegedly
plotting to recruit members of the armed forces to
stage a coup against
Mugabe.
In both their applications Mupfere and Zivuku say it's almost
three years
since they were indicted but they are still to be
tried.
They said their application in the Supreme Court challenging
their
prosecution had since been deferred indefinitely.
"This
application was in light of the unconstitutionality of the Criminal
Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, which we were being charged with" they
said.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu postponed the case to January 18
to give time for
the state to respond.
BY SANDRA
MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January
2010 20:02
CIVIL servants want President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai to intervene in their salary dispute with the government
after a
series of crisis meetings with three ministers last week ended in
deadlock.
On Wednesday representatives from the Public Service
Association (PSA), the
Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) and the
Progressive Teachers' Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) met Finance Minister Tendai
Biti, Public Service Minister
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, and Education Minister
David Coltart, a few hours
after they issued a 14-day notice to go on strike
if their demands are not
met.
The unions rejected the government's
offer of $236 a month for the highest
paid civil servant.
The
least paid civil servants earn US$155 a month and this includes teachers
who
are demanding US$600 a month.
A Zimta official said they were banking
on Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
"The ministers said the matter was beyond
them and we are now waiting for a
response to the letters we addressed to
the principals in government," he
said.
Zimta and the Apex
Council wrote to Mugabe and Tsvangirai through Coltart
and Mukonoweshuro on
Thursday, warning of a crisis if their demands are not
addressed.
"The (government) offer has agitated public servants and
we urge you to
decisively intervene in order to urgently address the
situation before it's
too late," reads the letter signed by Apex Council
chairperson, Tendai
Chikowore.
"It is in the interest of
government to address this matter. In this regard
we urge you to influence
change of the scenario for the better."
In her capacity as Zimta
president, Chikowore said: "The (salary)
negotiation process has been
neglected and compromised for economic and
political
expediency.
"This has heightened fears that the issue of civil
servants salaries has
been de-prioritised as confirmed by the level of the
awards.
"We fear any procrastination on the issue may allow this
matter to blossom
into a crisis of incapacitating
proportions."
If the civil servants go ahead with the strike, they
will deal a major blow
to the unity government's efforts to revive an
economy battered by years of
political disputes and wrong
policies.
Meanwhile, Coltart confirmed that the salary disputes would
now be dealt
with by cabinet, saying there might be need for government and
teachers to
revise their priorities.
"As of now, I cannot revise
the figures. I cannot revise money that I do not
have," he said in an
interview.
"The dilemma we face as a nation is that the cake is too
small and there is
no money going around.
"We need to realise as
Zimbabweans that we are all in this together as a
nation. If we as
government are spending too much on travel, yes, that can
attract
justifiable criticism but in this scenario, we all have to make
sacrifices."
He said teachers must also understand that his
ministry was under-funded in
this year's budget and could do little to
improve their conditions of
service.
"Many of us are disappointed
with the way the cake was cut," Coltart said.
"I was allocated only
$36 million to run the whole education sector against
a total number of
three million children learning in the country's various
schools.
"What this means is that government allocated $12 per
child which translates
to $1 per child per month to cover costs for chalk,
text books, electricity
and rent for the buildings among
others."
The unity government is still struggling to raise enough
revenue to finance
its operations and donors are reluctant to come to its
rescue because of the
delays in implementing the September 15, 2008 Global
Political Agreement.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 19:43
GWERU - The
Midlands capital is facing severe water shortages because
council does not
have money to replace obsolete pumps and motors, a senior
official said last
week. Residents, especially in high-density suburbs, have
gone for two weeks
without water while for others the taps went dry a year
ago.
Council engineer Jones Nantambwe said council was no longer
able to replace
pipes once they get damaged leading to the prolonged water
shortages.
He said the city's treatment works were also facing
similar problems. "If
one pump fails in any station, the ability to deliver
water to the city will
be severely compromised," Nantambwe said in an
interview.
"Most of the automatic valve actuators are out of
commission and there are
problems with leaking joints and corroded sections
on the delivery pipes in
the treated water pump station at
Gwenhoro.
"There are similar problems at the Whitewaters treatment
works, which
augments the supply from the Gwenhoro
system."
Nantambwe said although council had always been quick to
attend to water
problems the local authority was facing financial problems
and could not
afford to buy new motors and pumps.
But he said
that a German company had indicated its willingness to help
council
alleviate the water crisis.
Sources said the company will pour in close
to 1,7million euros for the
rehabilitation of the
infrastructure.
While council lays the blame on financial challenges,
angry residents say it
is because of corruption and poor
planning.
Danny Munetsi, the Gweru United Residents' Association
(Gura) chairperson,
said they want to pass a vote of no confidence in Mayor
Tedius Chimombe and
his council.
"There is no service delivery at
all! The council has wrong priorities and
is corrupt," Munetsi
said.
He said that residents were suffering due to shortages of clean
water,
sewage pipe bursts that go for months unattended, and
potholes.
Others said they were not happy with council's decision to
buy a Nissan
Navara for the ceremonial mayor while residents do not have
water and basic
services.
According to a council report,
management was directed to buy the
top-of-the-range vehicle for US$32
000.
Chimombe was not immediately available for comment.
BY
RUTENDO MAWERE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 19:41
A
Harare magistrate has ordered freelance journalist Jealous Mawarire to
return recording equipment and a laptop belonging to Deputy Information
Minister and Mt Pleasant MP Jameson Timba . Mawarire has been holding on to
two Panasonic cameras, an HP laptop, tripod stands, lights and accessories
to try and force the minister to pay him US$8 500 for an alleged outstanding
car hire allowance.
Mawarire, according to the court papers, was
engaged as a consultant for a
four-and-a-half month period to co-ordinate
the programmes of the Mt
Pleasant constituency but when the contract expired
on December 18 last year
he allegedly gave the minister an invoice demanding
to be paid for using his
car.
The equipment was used to record "The
Transition," a televised debate on the
inclusive government, which was being
hosted by Timba's Mt Pleasant
constituency.
This prompted Timba
to approach the courts for relief arguing that there
were no such provisions
of car hire allowances when Mawarire entered into an
agreement with him as a
consultant.
Timba in his founding affidavit indicated that he did not
owe Mawarire
anything since he "never hired a vehicle from him or anyone
else" for that
matter.
According to the contract, a copy of which
is in The Standard's possession,
Mawarire was entitled to a fuel allowance
of US$130 a month.
Magistrate Priscilla Chigumba on December 29
granted an interim order for
Mawarire to immediately return Timba's
property.
"Pending the return date of this order the Messenger of
Court Harare is
hereby authorised and ordered to immediately restore the
applicant (Timba)
to peaceful and undisturbed possession of his property,"
reads the interim
relief granted.
The court also ordered that in
the event of any resistance to the observance
of the order, the Messenger of
Court would enlist the services of the police
to carry out the terms of the
order.
When the order returned to court on Monday for confirmation,
Magistrate
Sandra Mpindu postponed the matter to January 19 after Mawarire
failed to
file opposing papers.
One of Timba's aides told The
Standard that Mawarire has since made a report
to the police that he had
been threatened with violence if he did not return
the
property.
Mawarire was not immediately available for
comment.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 19:39
THE
renewed campaign by Zanu PF officials to evict the country’s few
remaining
white farmers and the threats to take over foreign-owned companies
have
become the unity government’s Achilles’ heel as it tries to convince
sceptics that Zimbabwe has turned the corner. Last month the Swiss food
giant Nestle temporarily closed its Zimbabwean operations after senior Zanu
PF officials harassed its managers for refusing to buy milk from Gushungo
Dairy Estates reportedly owned by President Robert Mugabe’s wife
Grace.
The company only resumed operations following the intervention of the
three
principals in the unity government — Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara following strong
objections by organised business.
But as if taking a cue from the Nestle
fiasco, Zanu PF militants, especially
in Manicaland, have launched an
assault on South African-owned farms in the
province seeking the immediate
eviction of the owners.
Tsvangirai’s office, alarmed by the new wave of
lawlessness, has launched
immediate investigations into the continued
invasion of commercial farms but
analysts fear it might be a case of too
little too late.
Despite undertakings by parties in the coalition to stop
further invasion of
farms and other businesses, unruly elements in some
areas have ignored the
calls and farmers’ associations say the situation has
reached crisis levels.
During the festive season it was reported that several
farms were invaded by
senior civil servants.
Analysts warn that the
invasions fly in the face of reforms initiated by the
inclusive government,
and have already cost the country millions of dollars
in potential
investment.
In a bid to contain the situation, Tsvangirai’s office tasked the
co-Ministers of Home Affairs, Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi, to carry out
investigations and present a report this week.
Gorden Moyo, the Minister
of State in the PM’s office, confirmed that
investigations were underway on
the disturbances
“As an office we are busy doing something,” said Moyo. “We
are concerned
about these problems, they are not helpful at all.
“With
respect to the problem of disruption at the farms, the Prime Minister’s
office has asked the co-Ministers of Home Affairs to look into the issue
immediately and present a report next (this) week.
“They will also meet
the Minister of Defence (Emmerson Mnangagwa) because
soldiers were also
involved.”
But while the PM’s office was “busy doing something”, invasions
continued in
Manicaland, as reported elsewhere in this paper.
Analysts
said the invasions were a threat to the recently signed Bilateral
Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreement (Bippa) between Zimbabwe and
South
Africa.
To protect the Bippas, Moyo said they had engaged farmers and line
ministries.
“Where Bippas are concerned, we are receiving input from
different quarters,
among them farmers’ organisations and line ministries
like Industry and
Commerce, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion,”
Moyo said.
Economic analyst John Robertson warned that further delays in
dealing with
the latest assault on property rights could be difficult to
handle.
“These events have already cost us untold millions worth of potential
investment,” said Robertson.
“They (invaders) are saboteurs, they are
sabotaging the country’s prospects
of recovery.
“Who would want to do
that (invading farms), why would they do that? They
are economic
saboteurs.
“They are costing jobs for hundreds of children leaving
school.”
Robertson said if the inclusive government was to regain the
confidence of
investors, it had to act strongly against those involved in
the current
invasions.
“This is a massive disservice, they should be
criticised, they should be
prosecuted for this.
“The damage they are
causing will affect the lives of other people even in
generations to come,”
added Robertson.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 19:37
THERE are
instances when maintaining a low profile has its advantages.
Hillary
Chitapi from Shurugwi, who last week accused the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority
(ZTA) Chief Executive Officer, Karikoga Kaseke, of "hijacking" his
2010 HIV
and Aids project may have attracted the attention he least hoped
for.
Chitapi alleged last week in The Standard that Kaseke was
trying to elbow
him out of a project designed to tap into the Fifa World Cup
soccer finals
in South Africa in June this year.
But police last
week said they were anxious to locate Chitapi because he was
on bail and had
absconded.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka told
The Standard:
"Police Zvishavane is looking for him. He was on bail and he
absconded.
There is a warrant of arrest for him."
The Standard
understands the matter relates to three incidents that occurred
at Lambizi
and Diverse lodges in Zvishavane and listed as DR 44/06/09, CR
173/06/09 and
CRB 526/09 last year.
While the ZTA had initially warmed up to his
project, the Zvishavane
incidents would appear to have been instrumental in
the authority
developing cold feet over the proposal, leading to Chitapi's
frustration
over non-progress.
Chitapi was not immediately
available to explain whether he did not believe
the Zvishavane case had a
bearing on the ZTA toning down its initial
enthusiasm over his project. A
woman answering his mobile phone said Chitapi
was in Budiriro, Harare, but
had "gone out". He did not return the calls and
text
message.
Kaseke last week said there seemed to be a misconception
about his role and
the involvement of the ZTA in projects designed to spruce
up the country's
image. The projects were government's and not personally
his. As an officer
of the ZTA he was enjoined to implement government
decisions and policies.
"If I didn't agree with or refused to
implement them I would have to resign.
These are not my personal projects,"
he said.
By Our Staff
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
19:34
MUTOKO villagers say they have not benefited from black granite
mining
activities in their area that has been going on for decades and has
left a
trail of environmental degradation in the poor district. The
villagers
accuse Zanu PF politicians of encouraging the miners to disregard
environmental regulations and also to spirit away profits out of the
district without ploughing back into the communities.
At least nine
foreign-owned companies are mining black granite in Mutoko
after they were
licensed by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
The miners have
caused massive deforestation in the area but have invested
little.
The
villagers said they had expected improved roads, schools and clinics
from
the companies in exchange for exploiting the resource.
Edgar Nyamadzawo from
Charehwa said there was need for human rights
organisations to investigate
the mining activities.
"We know that there are politicians from this area who
are backing these
companies and are being paid to turn a blind eye to all
these activities.
"These people have been to some sites where mining is
taking place,"
Nyamadzawo said.
"This is another Chiadzwa. People have
lost their homes and land but they
have not received
compensation."
Nyamadzawo said the quarry mining activities had also led to
an increase in
prostitution in the area while young boys were dropping out
of school to
make quick money from the mines.
But it is not just the
villagers who are unhappy about the operations of the
quarry miners.
The
Mutoko Rural District Council has been involved in a long-running battle
to
force the companies to pay a reasonable development levy.
Peter Sigauke, the
council's chief executive officer said the miners were
paying a paltry
US$200 a tonne, which was "too little" for any investment in
community
projects.
The miners who are licensed by the Ministry of Mines also pay
royalties to
the Ministry. The royalties go to the Consolidated Revenue Fund
for national
development, in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act.
Sigauke
said last year council took the miners to court after they refused
to pay
the US$1 000 a unit the local authority had proposed.
"The matter was never
set down for a hearing in court after we filed our
papers because most of
the companies indicated that they wanted to settle
out of court," he
said.
"We are waiting to start on these negotiations but we are insisting on
what
we want; the US$200 that they are paying as development levy is too
little."
On the villagers' accusations that the companies were not ploughing
back
into the community, Sigauke said the miners were not bound by law to do
that.
"The expectations of communities are based on moral grounds.
Companies can
plough back based on their will but some are not driven by
moral grounds so
that is why as a local authority we are pressing for an
increase in the
development levy they pay so that we can give back to these
communities
ourselves."
Sigauke said his council also wanted a share of
the royalties being paid to
the government.
Environmentalists have joined
the fray with the Zimbabwe Environmental Law
Association (Zela) saying
Mutoko had become poorer since quarry mining
started in the
1970s.
"Technically speaking, the mining companies are under no legal
obligation to
develop these areas as long as they pay their royalty to
government," Zela
director, Matuso Dhliwayo said last week.
"It is the
responsibility of the government to develop these areas.
"However, what they
have is a moral obligation to develop these areas where
they are making
massive profits," Dhliwayo said.
"This moral obligation is called "Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR).
Under CSR, mining companies are required to
offer preferential employment to
locals, invest in education and health
facilities, road networks and so on."
he said.
Dhliwayo said quarry
mining in Mutoko had caused untold suffering and harm
to the community in
the form of noise and air pollution, destruction of
scenic mountains, water
pollution, siltation of water sources, dust
pollution and destruction of
cultural sites.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
19:31
THE High Court on Friday reserved judgment to Tuesday on a matter
in which a
retired army general, Edzai Chimonyo, is seeking to quash a
ruling by the
same court ordering him to vacate Fangudu Farm (Pvt) Ltd,
which he occupied
over the festive season. Justice Joseph Musakwa presided
over the case.
The lawyers for Chimonyo, who is also Zimbabwe's
ambassador to Tanzania, are
seeking to have an order granted against him set
aside. Two weeks ago
Justice Tedias Karwi ordered Chimonyo to vacate
Fangundu Farm on the grounds
that his occupation of the property was
illegal.
Chimonyo's lawyer, Gerald Mlotshwa of Antonio & Mlotshwa
challenged the
ruling on the grounds that they were not aware of a court
application lodged
against the ambassador by the farm's owners,
Matanuska.
He said the provisional order against Chimonyo should be
set aside on the
basis that the retired general was not aware of the court
action against him
because no papers had been served on
him.
Fangudu Farm, a banana plantation in Burma Valley, south east of
Mutare, is
owned by Matanuska (Pvt) Ltd, a farming entity whose shareholders
are
Malaysian and Dutch property investors.
Their company,
Property Route Toute BV, is registered in The Netherlands and
recognised and
approved as an investor through the Zimbabwe Investment
Centre.
The occupied property is protected under a Bilateral
Investment Promotion
and Protection Agreement which protects foreign
investment.
The occupation of the plantation may have far-reaching
consequences for
Zimbabwe's quest to lure foreign direct
investment.
BY KELVIN JAKACHIRA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 15:02
CLAD in khaki shorts and
shirt, the imposing farmer quavered as a group of
youths, visibly
intoxicated, threatened him with death and demanded that he
leave his
farmhouse immediately. A two-way radio in hand, Koos Smit, a
commercial
farmer in Rusape, looked dejected and physically drained as he
tried to
negotiate with the youths to spare him and his family.
His wife and
two children, who had been assaulted and manhandled the night
before, were
locked up in the farmhouse. They witnessed the horror through
the windows
and saw how their traumatised father was being terrorised.
Smit's De
Rust tobacco farm has been invaded by a Mr Mukomo, a Zanu PF
official based
in Rusape.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Zanu PF official bussed youths from
Rusape to
evict the Smit family.
Workers at the farm said when
the group arrived they started assaulting
everybody demanding that they
leave immediately.
Smit's two sons - Kobas and Mike - were tied to
trees and beaten up, the
workers said.
"We were all assaulted but
Mike is the one who sustained serious injuries in
the face and arms," said
Florence Mutukwa (43), who works for the Smits as a
housekeeper.
Mutukwa said on arrival the youths switched off the
electricity and cut-off
water and telephone lines in an effort to force the
family to leave the
farm.
"Mr Smit was not allowed even to go to
the toilet," said one worker, Daisy
Ndlovu, who together with Mutukwa fled
and slept in the bush the night of
the attack.
Mutukwa's legs
were swollen after she was flogged by the invaders for
"working for the
whites" before she fled.
The two - together with their children - have since
sought refuge at a
nearby village.
"I have two children in school
and this means they will not go to school
anymore," said Ndlovu, a single
mother of four. "I need money to go back
home to
Beitbridge."
Smit's face lit up when The Standard reporters arrived
at the besieged farm
but like dew in the sun that expression quickly faded
after realising that
the crew was equally helpless.
It was also
at the mercy of the marauding invaders.
In an episode reminiscent of
the violent 2000 land invasions, the group
advanced towards the news crew
threatening violence despite the presence of
four police officers, trying to
calm the situation.
"Ndimi vatengesi munoita basa rekutengesa nyika.
Nhasi muchazviona. (You are
sell-outs. Today, you will see it.)," shouted
one of the youths as he
charged at the news team.
The police
failed to restrain them and the reporters fled from the scene.
De
Rust Farm is one of the several white-owned commercial farms that have
come
under siege from invaders as last month's farm invasion continue
unabated.
Just five kilometers from De Rust Farm, Pete Landos of
Mepo farm is also
living in fear.
Two weeks ago his farm was
invaded by war veterans led by Zanu PF's
secretary for lands in Mashonaland
West, Themba Mliswa.
Workers at the farm said Landos and his family
locked themselves up in the
farmhouse fearing that the invaders would come
back.
The workers said the tobacco farmer was only spared after the
intervention
of the local community.
"The local community here
negotiated with the people who had come to occupy
this farm and they left,"
said one of the workers. "He has helped this
community very much, that is
why he has survived so far."
Landos had already bought huge boxes in which to
pack his belongings ready
to flee.
When The Standard arrived at
his farmhouse the boxes were still on the
veranda.
Landos, who
could not be reached for comment, is also part of a group of
farmers who
secured a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) ruling
in their
favour.
His farm had been allocated to Mliswa's brother,
Dumisani.
Ten other commercial farmers have been assaulted and their
farms occupied in
the past month as a new wave of invasions
intensifies.
Other farmers that have been attacked in the area are
South African
Antoinette Grobler from Geluk farm, Rudolf du Toit, and Ray
Finaughty from
Manda farm who was recently given three hours to
vacate.
"We are now being hit by a bigger stick for taking our case
to Sadc," said
one of the farmers who requested anonymity for fear of
victimisation.
"We took our case there because we had no other
choice."
Farmers in the area accused Mliswa and Zanu PF secretary for
administration
Didymus Mutasa of sponsoring the latest
invasions.
"Mliswa and Mutasa have joined hands to reap where they
did not sow . .
.They are sponsoring the invasions so that they can benefit
from the
proceeds of the tobacco currently in the fields when the farmers
flee," said
another farmer.
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU)
president Deon Theron also implicated Mutasa
and Mliswa in the on-going
invasions in Rusape.
He said the CFU was concerned that the unity
government has failed to stop
the evictions of productive
farmers.
"Certain people, in particular Mliswa and Minister Mutasa,
are taking the
law into their own hands. They are working outside the law,"
Theron said.
Due process, he said, should be that the farmers be
taken to court and
prosecuted and if found guilty they would then be given
eviction notices.
The CFU said there was a target to repossess 152 of
the remaining 300
white-owned commercial farms in the
country.
New farm invasions have also been reported in Mashonaland
West and the
Midlands provinces.
MDC-T, a partner with Zanu PF
and MDC in the inclusive government, has
threatened to take the issues of
renewed invasions to the Sadc Troika if the
property violations
continue.
Mutasa, who is Presidential Affairs minister, denied
leading the invasions
saying he went to the affected farms to try and solve
the land disputes.
"I went there on the invitation of Jomic (Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee) to help them solve the disputes. I
never sent
anybody to invade any farm," Mutasa said.
Mliswa
could not be reached for comment.
While farm invasions continue,
villagers around the area are wallowing in
poverty as no proper farming is
possible in the environment.
This has been compounded by the fact
that the maize crop in the fields is
wilting because of erratic
rains.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
14:59
SQUABBLES have rocked the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe (PAZ),
pitting
presiding Bishop Trevor Manhanga against pastors who believe he is
politicising the church. In particular, members were not happy with his
growing tendency to invite senior Zanu PF politicians to minister at the
church.
They cited a function late last year when Manhanga
invited Tsholotsho North
legislator Jonathan Moyo, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Governor Gideon Gono, Air
Zimbabwe Chief Executive Peter Chikumba and
Africa University
Vice-Chancellor Professor Fanuel Tagwira to officiate at a
leadership
seminar at the PAZ.
“It looks like he wants to do
exactly what his friend (Bishop Nolbert)
Kunonga is doing with the Anglican
Church,” said a pastor at the church.
“Most of the things that are
happening at the church at the moment have
nothing to do with ministering
the gospel, but it is just for the political
emancipation of the presiding
Bishop and a few individuals.
“People are leaving the fellowship in
numbers because of this. Honestly how
can he invite people like Gono and
Professor Moyo to come and preach to
pastors?”
Disgruntled
members last week said Manhanga had gone to the extent of
getting rid of
some pastors he felt were against his politicisation of the
church.
It is alleged that Manhanga targets mostly pastors
challenging his
legitimacy, and who have the potential of wresting the
leadership of PAZ
from him.
Elections are due in
2011.
Among these is an activist and leader of the Rugare Pentecostal
Assembly,
Pastor Lawrence Berejena.
Also on Manhanga’s alleged
blacklist is former Bishop Emmanuel Bawa, former
national executive member
Dickson Changara, and Leo Mupanduki, the founder
of some 28 churches
affiliated to the PAZ.
Lennie Meril, the founder of Kwekwe Christian
Assembly and Victory
Tabernacle in Mutare, where Manhanga is currently
pastoring, was also
frustrated until he returned home to
Canada.
“Manhanga wants all pastors to toe his pro-Zanu PF line, but
knows pretty
well this will not work,” said another member of Upper Room
Ministries, one
of the key members of the PAZ.
“Right now they
have not renewed Berejena’s credentials because of his
association with the
MDC-T, and for voicing loudly against corrupt
tendencies within the
leadership.”
The members said they want Manhanga to step down because
he is no longer
serving the fellowship under the will of God.
It
is understood that when he sensed looming defeat in the elections,
Manhanga
created an electoral board comprising handpicked lieutenants to
oversee the
whole process.
And to show members how connected he was, Manhanga
“invited secular leaders
to preach to leaders of the
church”.
Moyo confirmed that last year he made a presentation at a
PAZ meeting, but
said “there was definitely no preaching”.
“Some
time last year, there was something arranged as a leadership seminar
for PAZ
leaders to interact with people in different sectors of society,”
said Moyo
who formally rejoined Zanu PF at the end of last year.
“I was invited
alongside Professor Tagwira, Dr Gono and Dr Chikumba to
address various
topics on leadership. I gave a lecture on issues of
governance.
“It is stupid for anyone to say we preached at that
meeting. There was
definitely no preaching. We are humble enough to
appreciate that scriptures
should be left to the men of
God.”
Manhanga said it was “incorrect” that he was elbowing out
pastors and elders
perceived to be against him.
“That is a lot of
nonsense. There is no pastor that has been chucked out,”
Manhanga
said.
“Let the people making those accusations come out in the open.
I have got
nothing to hide.
“As for my continued stay, I was put
into office by the fellowship, and my
term expires in 2011.”
He
also disputed the claims that Moyo, Gono, Tagwira and Chikumba had
preached
at the church.
“There is no politician coming to preach, we only
invited them for a
leadership seminar last year,” Manhanga
said.
But the disgruntled members argued that if the objective was to
get
politicians and influential people to make presentations, Manhanga
should
have invited known Christian leaders, some of whom were members of
the PAZ.
“There are many known Christian leaders in business and
politics he should
have invited.
“Why didn’t he invite people
like (Health Minister) Dr Henry Madzorera, who
is a member of the
church?
“There is not much inspiration to draw from people like Gono
and Moyo, and
even Chikumba is struggling at Air Zimbabwe,” argued the
member.
Manhanga argued that they had invited Madzorera, but he could
not make it as
he was out of the country. Madzorera was not immediately
available for
comment.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
14:56
BARCLAYS Bank says it will not compensate a former senior official
who is
demanding damages for her incarceration over fraud charges levelled
against
her by the multinational financial institution two years ago.
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.
A fortnight ago her
lawyers wrote to the bank claiming US$245 000 in damages
after she was
acquitted by the Harare magistrates’ courts.
Her lawyers accused the
bank of causing Mapungwana’s arrest on spurious
allegations. But Barclays
says it has no control over the police or the
judiciary to have caused her
incarceration.
“May we point out that it is neither entirely accurate
nor correct for you
to state that the bank caused the arrest and subsequent
prosecution of your
client,” reads the bank’s response to Mapungwana’s
lawyers last week.
“You know as we do that it is the police that
arrest individuals and it is
the courts that prosecute.
“Both the
police and the courts do study any matter reported to them and in
their
respective judgment and wisdom decide whether to arrest and/or
prosecute as
the case may be.”
Barclays said when it made a report to the police,
it had reasonable grounds
to believe that an offence had been
committed.
“The said belief was then corroborated by the police who
went on to arrest
and by the prosecutor who vetted the matter and was
convinced that your
client had a case to answer and therefore referred the
matter for trial.
“There was absolutely no malice on the part of the
bank and it is trite that
in such claims you need to prove malicious
intentions.”
The bank said Mapungwana’s acquittal, on which the claim
is based, does not
necessarily mean that she did not commit the
offence.
It said the former manager at some stage had to reimburse
some of the money
utilised under the same transaction that resulted in her
arrest.
On Thursday, Mapungwana said she will take her case to the
High Court this
week but Barclays said they would challenge any
litigation.
“For them to blame the police and the ministry is to
merely hide behind a
finger,” Mapungwana said.
“While they have their
own arguments, I am also aware that I cannot fight
the police because they
arrested me on the bank’s invitation.”
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.
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 14:52
AFTER
months of public consultation programmes, civil society organisations
(CSOs)
taking part in the ongoing constitutional reform process can almost
foretell
contents of the country's next supreme law should the politicians
stand by
their pledge to respect the people's will.
Outreach teams for the process
were being trained in Harare last week before
being dispatched to gather
views from citizens across the country.
Organisations such as
the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights),
Artistes for Democracy in
Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT) and the Matabeleland
Constitutional Reform Agenda
(Macra) last year conducted civic education
programmes on issues around the
constitution.
Macra chairperson Effie Ncube said his organisation
held more than 100
meetings with people in Matabeleland provinces, Bulawayo
and the Midlands
while ZimRights director Okay Machisa said his organisation
and ADTZ's
programmes covered 1 240 wards countrywide.
"People
are eagerly awaiting the outreach teams," Machisa said.
"In the
meetings we have held, people expressed various views on what they
would
like to see in the new constitution."
Brilliant Mhlanga, a Zimbabwean
academic based at the University of
Westminster in the United Kingdom, said
all contributions in the
consultation exercise will be motivated by various
problems people have
faced in their different contexts.
"For
example, the people of Matabeleland have had a problem with a
centralised
system of governance which has tended to remit all resources
produced from
the region to Harare," he said.
"So, one of the main issues from that
region will be devolution of power.
"I cannot imagine anyone from
Matabeleland opposing such a motion."
Ncube agreed with Mhlanga's
view, saying the issue of devolution of power
was among those which continue
to feature most prominently in their
meetings.
CSO
representatives said another issue that was likely to feature
prominently
was that of presidential terms and also limiting powers of the
executive.
"Most people suggested that an individual should be
allowed two presidential
terms of five years each," Machisa
said.
Ncube said in Matabeleland a suggestion had been made that
there be an age
limit for presidential candidates while University of
Zimbabwe lecturer
Professor John Makumbe said there was also a suggestion
that defeated
candidates should not be given a chance to contest future
elections.
Mhlanga said the issue of executive powers is likely to
feature mostly in
Matabeleland as the people there attempt to revise the
current status quo
and ensure that leaders were more
accountable.
"Remember, political power is a resource which has also
been made very
scarce in Matabeleland with most leaders acting as servants
of a political
leadership in Harare," he said.
"That has caused
problems for our people.
"In that regard, people will seek to imagine
ways for how the constitution
as the supreme law of the land will ensure
that leaders from their regions
are not merely working on appointive basis
but are there to serve their
interests."
People across the
country also seem to hold a view that the judicial system
is currently
biased in favour of Zanu PF and desire an independent
judiciary.
Concern has also emerged over the size of parliament
which is considered too
large. One suggestion is that the Senate be
abolished, leaving a unicameral
parliament, which will save
resources.
Also likely to feature prominently is the issue of
electoral laws and
systems, with most consulted citizens reported to be in
favour of the
scrapping of the current first-past-the-post or
winner-takes-all system to a
more accommodative system like proportional
representation or a combination
of the two.
Analysts feel the
current system has seen those in the majority taking
advantage of the
situation and closing out other voices.
"Given the period we are
coming from, people are also most likely to insist
on laws which will ensure
that all elections are held in a free and fair
manner after every five
years," Makumbe said.
Many people are also said to be in favour of a
multi-party democracy and
would want to see an end to the current culture
whereby Zanu PF continues to
enjoy too much power, conflating the government
and the state.
Others are also said to have agitated for the
broadening of the Bill of
Rights to protect third generation rights that
include economic, social and
cultural rights.
Makumbe said the
current Bill, which protects civil and political rights,
had been weakened
by repressive laws such as the draconian Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act and Public Order and Security Act
among
others.
"People will also most certainly want meaningful democracy to
be implemented
through a meaningful observation of various human rights and
freedoms,
equality for all and even access to power," Makumbe
said.
There has also been a call for emancipation and empowerment of
women, the
youths and the disabled.
Mhlanga said there were also
growing calls for minimum qualifications for
public office holders such as
mayors, MPs and ministers to be enshrined in
the constitution.
"I
know that most people have been arguing that if it is true that Zimbabwe
enjoys a very marked literacy rate, then there is no reason why we cannot
have even slightly heightened educational qualifications for those who
aspire to public offices like parliamentarians, governors, mayors,
councillors and generally members of the executive," he
said.
Others have called for the scrapping of the posts of provincial
governors
and the death penalty.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
14:25
FOR many expecting mothers waiting for nine months to see one's
baby is
tortuous but with the availability of the three and four dimensional
ultrasound scan (3D/4D) in Zimbabwe this waiting period could be a thing of
the past. By utilising the technology currently offered at one medical
centre in Harare, expecting parents can now see all the features of unborn
babies and even observe their movements in the womb.
A
radiologist who is introducing the technology explained that 3D obstetric
ultrasound was a technique for producing three dimensional images of the
foetus.
"These images can be captured rapidly and animated to
produce a 4D
ultrasound scan.
The three dimensions of an image
are the width, height and depth.
Movement is the fourth
dimension.
The 3D is a still image and is displayed as a
photograph.
"The 4D images can be stored on a compact disc or digital
versatile disk
(DVD) or flash disk and replayed on a computer or similar
device," he said.
Currently, the standard obstetric scan is performed
using 2D real time grey
scale imaging, which shows blurred images of the
unborn baby.
"In 2D scanning sound waves are sent straight down and
reflected back to the
transducer.
"In 3D scanning the sound waves
are sent at different angles.
"The returning echoes are processed by
a sophisticated computer programme
resulting in a reconstructed three
dimensional volume image of the foetus'
surface.
"4D ultrasound
involves the addition of movement by joining together frames
of 3D
ultrasound in quick succession."
3D ultrasound was first developed by
Olaf Von Ramm and Stephen Smith at Duke
University in the United States of
America in 1987 but only became available
in Zimbabwe at the end of last
year.
Another advantage of using this technology is that it can show
to a certain
extent disabilities the baby may have.
"There is
extensive ongoing research using this technology especially in
screening for
foetal anomalies such as Down's syndrome, other facial
anomalies like
cleft-lip and palate, and some skeletal dysplasias," the
radiologist
said.
"4D ultrasound scan is best done between 20-32 weeks of
pregnancy.
"Excellent close-up pictures can be obtained as late as 37
weeks."
A 3D/4D ultrasound scan is, however, not a substitute for a
2D Obstetric
scan.
The 2D Obstetric scan shows internal organs,
and therefore is valuable
clinically, while a 3D/4D scan can add more
surface information and
therefore complete the picture.
BY
OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 14:25
ORDINARY
citizens now have a chance to achieve what President Robert Mugabe
once
boasted of: degrees in violence. Just like Mugabe, Zimbabweans can get
these
degrees free of charge.
But unlike the veteran ruler’s “degrees in
violence” which the opposition
and rights activists say destroyed many lives
and livelihoods, these degrees
will be for a positive cause as they seek to
help people deal with sexual
violence.
A United States based
organisation, End Violence Against Women (EVAW)
International has teamed up
with a local non-governmental organisation, the
Women’s Comfort Corner in
implementing a training programme on sexual
violence.
Among other
things, the programme provides skills and resources for
investigating sex
crimes.
EVAW International works with women’s rights organisations
across the globe,
mostly those involved in areas of domestic and sexual
violence.
The Women’s Comfort Corner was established in 1998 to
provide primary
support to women affected by sexual violence, particularly
those who ended
up acquiring HIV in the process.
“EVAW
International has developed an On-Line Training Institute to bring
state-of-the art training to anyone who is interested, on the topic of
criminal justice response to sexual assault,” reads an introduction to the
programme on the EVAW website.
According to the EVAW website, the
programme will help interested
professionals to expand their knowledge on
sexual crimes and other forms of
domestic violence.
“Participants
in the on-Line Training Institute can work through the various
training
modules to learn and review new information and then apply this
newly
acquired knowledge in realistic and interactive scenarios, as well as
assessment methods such as quizzes, tests, and case studies,” it
adds.
The course will also enhance participants’ methods of
investigation and
capacity to work in communities.
The founder
and executive director of Women’s Comfort Corner, Rita Mbatha,
said many
cases of domestic violence and sexual assault collapsed easily
because of
the limited skills of the investigators.
“In most cases, you find
that even the people who are tasked with
investigating sex crimes and issues
of domestic violence do not have much
knowledge on how to handle such
cases,” said Mbatha, who has completed the
12 modules.
The online
modules, she said, also encompass the issues of domestic violence
and
HIV/Aids.
“Gaining a rich picture of life via a holistic view of the
world, together
with the back up of the latest and tried tested research
techniques, enables
the trainees to tackle with confidence anything that
life might throw at
them,” said Mbatha.
The modules include
guidelines for preliminary investigators, techniques for
interviewing
victims, legal issues and prosecution procedures, among others.
Over
the last few years, women’s rights organisations have been pushing for
legal
reforms to criminalise domestic violence.
Despite the enactment of
the Domestic Violence Act in 2006, Mbatha said
ignorance still prevails,
both among victims and perpetrators.
Those tasked with investigating
the offences have also demonstrated
shortcomings and limited appreciation of
the laws.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
13:48
BULAWAYO - Small-scale miners now want to be allocated claims on
the
controversial Marange diamond fields, in the name of empowerment. The
small-scale miners under the Zimbabwe Miners' Federation (ZMF) are also not
happy that government gave foreign companies the claims ahead of indigenous
miners.
The government has defied a High Court order to cease
mining operations at
the claims owned by the UK-registered African
Consolidated Resources (ACR).
Mbada Diamonds, a joint operation
between government and Grandwell Holdings
of South Africa began mining in
the area last year following a major
military intervention to flush out
illegal panners and dealers.
ZMF says the government should consider
allocating its members some of the
claims to them as they contribute
significantly to the country's mining
industry.
"Small-scale
miners contribute significantly to the country's mining
industry," ZMF
president, Trinos Nkomo said in an interview.
"The government should
also consider allocating diamond claims to
small-scale
miners."
"We are surprised in some cases there have been mining
partnerships with
foreigners that are just in the comfort zones and who do
not have anything
to do with the mining business."
The Marange
diamond fields are one of the most controversial in the world
following
reports of wide spread human rights violations after government
deployed the
army in 2008 to stop illegal mining activities.
The government seized
the diamond fields from ACR in 2006.
The company has advised
investors and other buyers against purchasing the
diamonds from Marange
saying they are stolen property.
The company has also alerted
Interpol, the global association of national
police forces devoted chiefly
to fighting international crime and wants
diamond buyers in the United
States and Europe to be prosecuted for
receiving stolen property if they buy
the Marange stones.
Last week, Mbada tried to auction its first batch
of 300 000 carats of
diamonds but was blocked by the Ministry of Mines and
Mining Development.
The ministry said the company, which has been
associated with Zanu PF
bigwigs had not followed proper procedures when it
organised the auction.
Acting Mines Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa
could not be reached for comment
on calls for the allocation of diamond
claims to the small-scale miners.
Meanwhile, Nkomo also bemoaned the
lack of funding for small-scale miners,
saying the move was disempowering
ZMF members.
"Finance Minister, Tendai Biti did not allocate too much
funds to
economically empower small-scale miners.
"Such a development is
dangerous for the mining sector considering the
contribution of the
concerned miners to the mining sector."
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
13:45
THE tourism industry has called on the authorities to treat it as a
productive sector so that it can benefit from the US$510 million “windfall”
from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as preparations for this year’s
World Cup in South Africa gain momentum. Last year, the IMF gave member
countries Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocations to bolster their reserves
ravaged by the global financial crisis. Zimbabwe has said the funds will be
deployed to the productive sector.
Walter Mzembi, Tourism and
Hospitality Industry Minister told stakeholders
last week the sector was
hopeful it will be allocated the funds so that it
makes adequate
preparations for the soccer showcase.
“We have held discussions as
late as yesterday (Thursday) for this industry
to be treated as a productive
sector to the extent that it can be funded
from the SDR allocation,” Mzembi
said.
The industry is working on the budget to be presented to the
Sports,
Tourism, Image and Communication taskforce on
Wednesday.
Mzembi, who chairs the inter-ministerial committee on
Sports, Tourism, Image
and Communication, said Treasury is committed to fund
World Cup
preparations.
The committee has 19
ministers.
The World Cup is seen as a make or break for Zimbabwe’s
tourism industry.
The country’s ability to boost tourist arrivals
will be put to the test as
well as its preparedness.
South Africa
has said that it will not accommodate all the visitors for the
showcase
triggering interest from its neighbours who hope to capitalize on
the event
by hosting teams in their preparatory matches.
Mzembi said Zimbabwe’s
success should be measured by its ability to connect
the soccer showcase to
the people and plans were underway to put fan parks
in at least each of the
country’s 10 provinces.
Mzembi said he will present the second report
on Zimbabwe’s state of
preparedness for the World Cup when cabinet resumes
sitting next month.
Efforts to lure teams to Zimbabwe are
intensifying, Mzembi said, but would
not disclose the countries they are
targeting insisting it will jeopardize
discussions.
The June-July
soccer extravaganza is the first event to be held on African
soil since the
inception of the World Cup in 1930.
Africa can only get another bite
at the cherry in 2034.
Zimbabwe’s tourism industry is on the recovery
path since the inception of
an inclusive government last
year.
The tourism sector is expected to bring the quickest turnaround
ahead of
other sectors such as manufacturing, mining and
agriculture.
The industry, once the backbone of the economy, declined
by 22% in 2008 due
to the political violence associated with the run up to
the June 27
presidential election run-off and the cholera
outbreak.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010 13:38
AFRICAN
Sun Limited (ASL) recorded its worst occupancies in a decade in the
financial year ended 30 September 2009, which have been attributed to the
liquidity crunch that hit major world economies. At 31%, occupancies were 10
percentage points lower than the previous year, an indication of the low
occupancy levels in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe operations constitute 64%
of the group’s rooms’ capacity.
Shingi Munyeza, the group’s chief
officer on Thursday said city hotels were
almost back to the 1999 era where
they contributed a chunk to the group’s
revenue.
But he said
yields were currently low due to the liquidity crunch and the
perception
which makes the product trade at a discount compared to regional
prices.
“At the moment we are trading at between 20-35% with our
counterparts in the
region,” Munyeza said.
In 2009, city hotels in
Zimbabwe contributed US$13.5 million revenue to
total revenue of US$24.698
million.
The remainder was contributed by resorts.
At
least 60% of rooms are in resort areas.
The ASL boss said the resorts
were picking the pieces and fared well in the
first quarter to December 2009
when they contributed US$3.9 million of the
total US$8.9 million revenue
realized during the period.
Figures show that the Victoria Falls area
achieved an average of 22% for the
quarter compared to 21% for the full year
in 2009.
Munyeza said the Victoria Falls hotel was on top with 46%
in-system bookings
compared to 28% for the same period in the previous
year.
“Occupancies into resort hotels are expected to increase as
international
arrivals improve in 2010 with imminent FIFA 2010 World Cup and
improved
image and visibility of the region (Southern Africa) as a whole,”
he said.
But he bemoaned the high total costs which were at 82% of
revenue against
the desired target of 54%.
The high costs were driven by
cost of sales (34%) against the desired target
of 30%.
The
payroll chewed 32%, nearly double the desired target of 19%.
Rent and
raw materials were at 12% while other costs constituted 28% of
revenue.
Munyeza said the operating costs were driven by
depressed revenue, high
payroll and food and beverages costs.
Is
ASL ready for competition?
Munyeza believes the US$7.5 million
refurbishments of hotels in Harare,
Bulawayo and Victoria Falls will improve
the tourism product making it
competitive in the face of competition from
other international hospitality
groups that might be interested in setting
up shops in Zimbabwe. The
refurbishments will be completed by
May.
Is ASL ready for the World Cup?
The ASL boss said
there have been so much talk and less action on the World
Cup in South
Africa and without proper planning the event could turn out to
be just a
sporting rather than a tourism event.
Zimbabwe has set up a 19-member
inter-ministerial committee to look at the
spin offs that could be derived
from the June-July soccer showcase.
Munyeza said they were expecting
tourists to visit Harare, Bulawayo and
Victoria Falls during the tournament
that will run for a month.
“There might be spillovers to Great
Zimbabwe and if there be, we will be
most grateful,” he said.
He said
accessibility is key if the country were to reap from an inflow of
tourists.
Munyeza was ASL is on course to destination 2012 in
which the group is
targeting to have 8 500 rooms under its
wings.
Currently, the group has 3014 rooms under its
ambit.
This year more than 600 rooms will added to the group’s
portfolio in South
Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana and
Kenya.
ASL has operations in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria and
Ghana.
The group projects that by 2012 West Africa should contribute
35% of the
rooms, East Africa (7%), Southern Africa excluding Zimbabwe
(33%), and
Zimbabwe (25%).
BY NDAMU SANDU
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, 16 January 2010 14:45
UNFOLDING
electoral experiences across the globe point to a paradigmatic
shift in
voting processes with countries such as India, Brazil, Venezuela
and the US
already into electronic voting. The case for going for the
electronic voting
route derives intellectual, practical and moral support
from perceived
growing disenchantment with the way Election Management
Bodies (EMBs) run
elections coupled with widespread incidents in which
election results have
sparked bloody conflicts.
Electronic voting includes use of optimal
scanning machines to scan marked
ballot papers and tally election
results.
It may also involve direct recording by electronic voting
equipment such as
touch-screen machines where voters indicate their choices
which are then
electronically recorded and the results
tallied.
However going the electronic route is no ordinary stroll in
the park.
There are requisites to be fulfilled before they can be
expected to deliver
results.
E-voting equipment should be easy to
use. Voters should be able to confirm
their choice. Both software and
hardware should include the best possible
safeguards against any form of
manipulation or hacking.
Equipment used should allow for the possibility
of cross-checking results.
It should establish a paper trail to allow for
results verification by
tracing results to source, through an auditable
paper record. E-voting
equipment should also be used to transfer and
tabulate results data among
the different levels of the
EMB.
Going by experiences in India, voting machines generally have
two sub
units - Control and the Balloting Units which are linked with cables
and
alkaline batteries.
Control Units are manned and display the
number of votes and who voted. They
also inform when the voter has voted and
results.
Results are readily accessed by pushing the results button. The
Balloting
Unit has provision for conventional ballot paper and voting is by
pressing
the button instead of marking.
Literature on electronic
voting also point to two main categories of
e-voting, e-voting in controlled
environments and e-voting in uncontrolled
environments.
E-voting
in uncontrolled environments uses Internet voting and PDA or mobile
telephone voting.
Internet voting is reportedly being piloted in more
than 30 established
democracies, one notable example being Estonia which in
October 2005 had the
first country-wide elections with the possibility to
vote through the
internet.
However, tests on internet voting have not
yet given definite answers on how
to ensure the secrecy of the vote and
eliminate the potential coercion
exerted on remote voters.
Internet
voting will soon be available for countries which enjoy a deep
trust in
their respective EMB and have a relatively conflict-free society,
where the
secrecy issue has a more limited weight than in other younger
democracies,
where the trust in the institutions and in the EMB might not be
a
given.
In the e-voting in controlled environments, there is use of
EVM or DRE
voting. More than half a billion voters in two of the most
populous world
democracies, India and Brazil are already using this form of
voting.
Although this form of e-voting does not present the same range of
advantages
normally attributed to uncontrolled internet e-voting (such as
better
turnout, voter mobility, facilitating disadvantaged categories, etc),
it
does not endanger the fundamental requisite of the secrecy of the
vote.
It also offers some important answers on the issue of transparency
through a
development of various forms of auditing mechanisms. There is also
possibility to introduce Voter Verified Audit Trails (VVATs) that are
currently increasingly requested by EU partner countries.
However
the extreme sophistication and high reliability of the voting system
does
not make up for the lack of trust in the EMB among several
stakeholders.
The huge investment in technology has not been matched
by a similar effort
in capacity-building and voter information.
In
fact, the higher the distrust in the EMB; the higher there are calls for
transparency and security measures. The Venezuelan voting machines have
Touch Screens to support multiple electoral races, printers attached to
produce VVAT plus two memories.
New voting technologies can
enhance voter participation. They provide for
absentee voting and faster
counting which is less prone to human error.
There is increased speed and
accuracy in the release of the election
results. Offer longer-term cost
reduction and prevent fraud.
E-voting can raise serious concerns over the
transparency of the voting
process and accountability of election officials.
It removes many of the
transparency protections that come with paper
ballots.
For comments and suggestions write to:
zesn@africaonline.co.zw or info@zesn.org.zw
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
14:42
ONE of the biggest highlights and most curiously followed
developments after
the inclusive government in 2009 was the Zanu PF national
congress. Zanu PF
is the oldest and, until the last decade, the most
dominant political
institution in the land.
As feared but
expected, Zanu PF national congress "unanimously" re-elected
President
Robert Mugabe as party leader and presidential candidate for the
next
election, whenever that will be.
This is despite the fact that Mugabe is
now a qualified great grandfather
turning eighty-five next month. The
outcome removes any doubt that Mugabe is
the "elected" King of Zanu
PF.
Of course, Mugabe and Zanu PF have already reduced Zimbabwe to
fiefdom,
imposing the dictatorship of the nationalist political narrative
upon the
citizens of this promising nation and making a sham of any meaning
of a
parliamentary democracy and free and fair
elections.
Creating a police state where the ruling aristocrats
decide who gets this
farm and who doesn't, who is a patriot and who is a
sell-out, who is a hero
and who is a villain.
Despite all this, there
had been some hope that at some point Zanu PF will
at least be forced to
reinvent itself and get rid of Mugabe's reign and
legacy of violence, a
reconstructed and fabricated national memory and more
sophisticated forms of
democratic pretence.
Electoral manipulation is an art that Zanu PF
has built and sustained,
virtually its DNA of power on. In fact, those who
have chosen to give the
electorate an alternative to Mugabe or Zanu PF have
been insulted and
vilified together with their supporters and called
"sell-outs", "dissidents",
"puppets", "detractors", "enemies of the state"
among a plethora of insults.
This language has been systematically used
since the time of the liberation
war to reduce political competitors to some
form of sub-humans who do not
deserve any human dignity, even the right to
life, thereby legitimizing
their persecution, even death.
This
is the legacy both Zanu PF and Mugabe share, the one that makes them
tremble
when progressives talk about human rights and democracy.
Behind Mugabe
and Zanu PF's aggressive, dismissive rhetoric lie suspicious
minds that
conjure up their own demons - "the dissidents" "imperialists" and
a host of
other enemies. Of course, all this is a mirage, just like the
sanctions veil
simply constructed to cause alarm and despondency, to
perpetuate the war
agenda and thus sustain Zanu PF's relevance.
It may sound insulting to
say violence is the only political game Zanu PF
takes into 2010, but in fact
in 1976 while prosecuting the liberation war,
Mugabe is recorded as having
remarked: "Our votes must go with our guns.
After all, any vote we shall
have shall have been the product of the gun.
The gun, which produces the
vote, should remain its security officer - its
guarantor. The people's votes
and the people's guns are always inseparable
twins."
To
illustrate this in the building of a brutal terrorist state, in 1933 fire
broke out in the Reichstag (German Parliament) and Adolf Hitler declared
that it was a terrorist attack by the communists.
This gave him
enough grounds to arrest political opponents, kill them and
deny them the
right to free speech, assembly and due process of the law. In
1983, exactly
fifty years later, arms caches were "discovered" in
Matabeleland but not
before 5 Brigade had been trained to deal with
perceived Zapu supporters in
Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces.
This provided the opportunity to
impose a State of Emergency, the power to
use 5 Brigade to arrest, abduct,
cause to disappear and massacre, cause
terror in defence of the "state
against dissidents" and "forces of
destabilization." If Hitler's eight
million Jewish victims were considered a
global tragedy, then 20 000 victims
fifty years later should be considered a
national tragedy, something worth a
moment of silence and a moment of truth.
It is the 2009 Zanu PF
congress's outcome that confirmed the party as an
institution that continues
to perfect the art of manufactured consent and is
not about to change.
Zimbabweans may not want to remember the previous
congress where the
so-called "million man march" silenced calls for
leadership change within
Zanu PF and gave Mugabe yet another "re-election"
as party
president.
BY THABANI NYONI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 16 January 2010
14:40
ZANU PF is wasting no time in ensuring that the outcome of the
constitution-making process is pre-determined. It has been able to ensure
this by inclusion of youths, "war vets" and even the security arms in groups
participating in the outreach process and whose specific brief, it appears,
is to drown any other voices that appear to suggest a departure from the
Kariba Draft document.
In other words the party is determined that
what is returned as a result of
the outreach exercise is the Kariba
document.
There were concerns last week that there appears to be a
concerted campaign
to weed out people on the mere suspicion that they could
raise awkward
questions that could derail the Kariba Draft
document.
It is essentially, therefore for civil society
organisations as well as the
two MDC formations to ensure the outreach
exercise does not end up
representing the wishes of one political
organisation. The outcome of the
constitutional outreach programme must
reflect the wishes of the majority of
Zimbabweans and not the majority of
the hired or pre-programmed vocal Zanu
PF adherents.
In order to
ensure that Zanu PF does not have its way, the other parties
must remain
vigilant.
If they blink, they will forever rue the moment they lowered
their guard.
The strategies that helped in raising the level of
consciousness among
ordinary Zimbabweans before the 2000 Referendum might
require revisiting in
order to counter concerns that Zanu PF is busy
deploying its war veterans,
youths and security personnel in the districts
in order to manage the
outreach process so that the consultations return a
pre-determined outcome.
Zanu PF supporters and war veterans tried to
disrupt a constitutional
thematic meeting and threatened to beat up civic
society members attending
the indaba in Harare.
They started chanting
Zanu PF slogans while raising clenched fists in a
scene reminiscent of the
fiasco that greeted the first meeting of the
constitution-making process
last year at the Harare International Conference
Centre.
Civic
society members and MDC supporters on Tuesday confronted rowdy Zanu PF
supporters for attempting to disrupt a constitutional thematic meeting by
reminding them that the process was not just for those with a claim to
having participated in the liberation struggle.
War veterans soil
their stature when they argue that they fought for the
freedom of this
country and therefore deserve the right to dictate what they
want at the
thematic meeting. This pattern must be anticipated throughout
the course of
the consultative process.
But it is important to remind those who believe
they were solely responsible
for winning the war of independence that
without the vital support the
freedom fighters received from ordinary
people, the struggle would have been
bloodier, protracted and difficult. The
war was fought on different fronts
and by a range of disparate
players.
The contribution of the ordinary people was just as critical
as that of
those who were on the frontlines.
More significantly the
struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe was not
fought by Zanu PF and its
supporters only.
There were other movements and individuals. Zanu PF and
its supporters
should not be allowed to distort history.
It is
important for the three principals to the Global Political Agreement
to come
out and explain to their supporters in particular and the nation in
general
that they will not countenance disruption of the process when team
members
go out to gather people's views.
The leaders should come out
unambiguously in their condemnation of political
party sloganeering. They
must also make it clear that wearing of political
party regalia during the
whole constitution-making process will not be
tolerated.
http://www1.sundaymail.co.zw
Sunday,
January 17, 2010
Sunday Mail Reporter
EDUCATIONISTS have described the
just-released 2009 national Grade Seven
examination results as "a small step
out of the mud" while the 2007 and 2008
academic results were said to have
been the worst of the decade.
In 1999, as the educational system in the
country started showing distress
signs that led to the present downward
spiral, the national Grade Seven
examination pass rate stood at 53 percent
before tumbling to 10 percent in
2007, according to Unicef.
The worst
affected were rural schools where the majority have recorded zero
percent
pass rate in the recently released Zimbabwe School Examinations
Council
(Zimsec) Grade Seven examination results.
A senior education official from
the Matabeleland South region, who declined
to be named, said they had not
yet compiled the statistics, but initial
indications led to between zero to
nine percent pass rate in the Grade Seven
results.
Several "best" pupils
in three rural schools in Mashonaland West had 24
units, a far cry from the
expected four units.
"Although authorities have not yet released this year's
Grade Seven pass
rate, I bet you it is a little better than the 2007 and
2008 pass rates
which were below 10 percent.
"The two years' pass rates
were never made public but we believe them to be
the peak of the failure of
the education system.
"Academic pass rates for all levels tumbled to below 11
percent," said
Progressive Teachers' Union secretary-general Mr Raymond
Majongwe.
Financial problems and the chaos at Zimsec have been cited as the
reasons
for the poor performance.
"We no longer have faith in Zimsec.
There were unconfirmed reports of lost
Grade Seven scripts. As we speak now
some children did not receive their
results," said a senior education
official in the Harare region.
The educationists have attributed the high
failure rate to the collapse of
the system in the past two years.
While
Zimsec said they were yet to compile last year's Grade Seven
examinations
pass rate, educationists believe the results were a disaster.
"Initial
reaction to the just-released results by those of us in the
education field
is that they are atrocious.
"It is not pleasing at all," said the chief
executive officer of Zimbabwe
Teachers' Associ-ation (Zimta) Mr Sifiso
Ndhlovu.
The majority of rural primary and secondary schools have been
recording
between zero to eight percent pass rates in national
examinations.
In 2005, President Robert Mugabe bemoaned the poor school pass
rate.
"This (high failure rate) is not only a problem here in
Shurugwi.
"Everywhere pupils are failing. It is Us, Us, and Us
everywhere.
"And 'U' stands for underground. They are going six feet down if
we allow
them to fail like this.
"In Silobela they had three percent pass
rate. Shurugwi has a pass rate of
eight percent. In other areas it's six
percent, 19 percent, and 27 percent
has been the highest so far.
"Our
education standards have fallen partly because of lack of resources,
but we
must lift them up," said President Mugabe back then.
Zimta president Mrs
Tendai Chikowore attributed the poor performance to the
problems bedevilling
the education sector.
"Education has been Zimbabwe's strongest pillar since
independence, but that
pillar has slowly been eroded.
"The world over,
governments that take education seriously have made sure
the sector gets at
least 25 percent of budgetary allocation.
"Zimbabwe used to do that in the
1980s and in this year's budget, education
received 22 percent of the total
allocation."
Mrs Chikowore said serious and definite measures had to be taken
to restore
the education sector's glory