Zim Online
Thursday 18 January 2007
BULAWAYO -
Zimbabwe's Health Ministry says all striking doctors who did not
heed an
ultimatum to return to work by Wednesday are deemed to have resigned
their
jobs and should vacate state provided accommodation at public
hospitals.
In an apparent carrot and stick tactic to entice doctors
back to hospitals,
Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti said the government
had offered doctors
a "good package" and expected all to have resumed work
with those who failed
to do so regarded as having quit.
"Those that
did not heed the ultimatum to return work would be considered to
have
resigned and they should vacate the government accommodation," Muguti
told
ZimOnline.
Muguti would not say how much the government had offered to
pay the doctors
only saying "the package is good and they have to wait to
see when their pay
slips come but they should go back to
work".
Doctors last month abandoned public hospitals demanding that the
government
increase their salaries to Z$5 million from the about $56 million
they earn,
which is way below the poverty datum line (breadline) pegged at
above $300
000.
But whatever the new salaries the government may have
offered doctors as
well as the threat to force out those who failed to
report for duty by
Wednesday did not appear to have achieved much with state
hospitals still
operating without doctors.
A spokesman of the
striking doctors at the United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH),
Derrick Mangoye,
said they would not resume duties despite the warning by
the government that
those who remained on strike would be considered to have
resigned.
Mangoye said: "The government has said that they have
increased our salaries
but they are refusing to state the figure but we as
doctors have resolved
that we will not go back to work until government
honours our demands."
At least 350 doctors are on strike and the
government would struggle to find
replacements if it were to fire them
because the country is already facing a
shortage of doctors and nurses many
of who left to seek better paying jobs
abroad.
Conditions have
deteriorated at state hospitals with scores of patients
reportedly dying of
diseases that could otherwise be treated since doctors
downed tools four
weeks ago.
Nurses at various hospitals have since joined the strike
leaving patients in
the care of young student nurses.
The latest
doctors' strike, coming hardly two months after another
paralysing work
boycott at the government-owned Mpilo hospital in Bulawayo
last November,
only highlights the rot in Zimbabwe's public health delivery
system that was
once lauded as one of the best in Africa but has virtually
crumbled due to
years of under-funding and mismanagement. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday
18 January 2007
MASVINGO - There was drama at Chikombedzi
community hall on Tuesday when a
convoy of three army trucks stormed a
Nomination Court at the rural business
centre in a show of force ahead of
next month's by-election in Chiredzi
South constituency.
The
Nomination Court was sitting at Chikombedzi to accept papers from
prospective candidates wishing to contest in a by-election scheduled for
February 16.
But business at the rural service centre came to a
standstill as the army
rolled into the centre disrupting the nomination
process as people rushed to
watch the "spectacle.".
Representatives
of opposition political parties contesting in the election
condemned the
army move saying it was a clear case of intimidation by the
army.
Calisto Killian Gwanetsa who is standing for the ruling ZANU PF
party in the
by-election, is a retired colonel in the Zimbabwe National
Army.
"This was a clear case of intimidation by the army. We do not
understand why
the soldiers were deployed here when the nomination court was
sitting.
"It clearly shows that the ruling party has started to employ
its dirty
tactics to intimidate voters ahead of by- election," said a senior
United
People's Party official, Steven Maguya.
The army could not be
reached for comment on the matter yesterday.
Zimbabwe's main opposition
Movement for Democratic Chnage party and human
rights groups have in the
past often accused President Robert Mugabe's
government of using the army to
crack down on political dissent.
Several opposition supporters have also
been beaten up by soldiers and ZANU
PF militia during election
times.
The Chiredzi south constituency fell vacant last September
following the
death of ZANU PF legislator Aaron Baloyi.
Apart from
Gwanetsa, three other candidates will also battle for the
seat.
Immaculate Makondo will represent the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party while Nehemiah Zenamwe will
represent the
Arthur Mutambara-led MDC.
The UPP will be represented
in the election by Mayetani Chauke. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 18 January 2007
HARARE - Zimbabwe opposition leader
Arthur Mutambara was on Wednesday
nominated by the World Economic Forum
among 20 outstanding young leaders
from sub-Saharan Africa with potential to
shape the future of the world.
Mutambara, a brilliant robotics professor,
is the president of the smaller
wing of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
party.
The party split in 2005 into two
rival factions with the larger group led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Mutambara, who was also nominated together with another
Zimbabwean,
businessman Patterson Timba, will serve a five-year term under
the Forum of
Young Global Leaders Class of 2007.
They are part of 250
other young leaders drawn from around the world with a
commitment to shape
and improve the future of the world.
Mutambara and Timba's nomination
brings to five the number of Zimbabweans
who have received similar honour
from the World Economic Forum.
Others who have been nominated before are
banker Nigel Chanakira, human
rights campaigner Brian Kagoro and trade
unionist Collen Gwiyo.
The Forum's citation on Mutambara will however
raise eyebrows within the
opposition movement as it erroneously says the
former student leader was
instrumental in the formation of the MDC in
1999.
Mutambara, a popular student leader during his days at the
University of
Zimbabwe, only entered mainstream politics after he was
elected to head the
MDC faction that had rejected Tsvangirai's leadership. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington, DC
17 January 2007
With Zimbabwean doctors and nurses, teachers and
other civil servants
pressing the Harare government for huge wage
concessions to offset
hyperinflation, economists say such demands are not
realistic however
understandable they may be.
Economic consultant
Daniel Ndlela said it is unacceptable for doctors and
nurses to earn barely
$US100 a month, but unfortunately that is the economic
reality. Doctors and
teachers now making less than Z$200,000 a month or
about US$60 want the
government to increase their monthly wages 15-fold to
Z$3
million.
Ndlela told reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe
that the blame for their plight lies with the government, which has
been
fueling inflation with over-the-top spending and printing of money to
meet
current cash needs.
Reuters
Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:55 PM GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said
on
Wednesday his movement would mobilise supporters to block President
Robert
Mugabe's plan to extend his rule by two years to 2010.
Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party last month approved a plan to move
presidential polls from
2008 to 2010 so they can be held at the same time as
parliamentary
elections.
At a news conference to discuss his party programme for the
year,
Tsvangirai -- who heads the main wing of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change -- said the MDC would fight hard to push Mugabe out on
schedule in 2008.
Although he declined to discuss details, other
party sources said the MDC
would lead a series of street protests and
industrial strikes in the coming
months.
"The tragedy we face today
stems from the fact that ZANU-PF and Mugabe have
completed their project to
turn Zimbabwe into a totalitarian state,"
Tsvangirai said.
"In this
regard, the national council resolved that we would engage in a
campaign
that will ensure the ZANU-PF project collapses and that the agenda
for
democracy and change should be pursued vigorously," he said, adding that
presidential polls must be held on schedule next year.
Critics accuse
Mugabe of ruining Zimbabwe -- once one of Africa's most
promising economies
-- and desperate conditions faced by average workers
have led to several
wildcat strikes, including one by junior doctors.
Political analysts say
more strikes may be in the cards, with or without the
MDC's leadership, as
average workers grow angry over a deepening economic
crisis that has seen
inflation rocket to more than 1,200 percent,
unemployment surge and frequent
shortages of food, fuel and foreign
exchange.
Tsvangirai, who charges
that Mugabe robbed his party of victory in two
parliamentary polls and a
presidential vote held in the last seven years,
said the MDC would work with
other civic and political groups under a "Save
Zimbabwe
Campaign".
Tsvangirai declined to discuss whether the MDC's campaign this
year would
include mass protests -- which he threatened last year but which
analysts
said failed to draw support after Mugabe warned he would crush
them.
"We are a democratic movement ... and we will employ democratic
strategies
but I am not going to discuss those strategies," he said. "People
power
shall be our salvation."
Although the plan to extend Mugabe's
rule to 2010 must still be approved by
ZANU-PF's central committee and by
parliament, analysts say this is
virtually guaranteed as Mugabe has control
over both institutions.
Mugabe, now 82 and Zimbabwe's sole ruler since
independence from Britain in
1980, says his country's woes are the result of
sabotage by political foes
opposed to his black nationalist policies, which
have included seizing
white-owned farms.
He has accused the MDC of
being a puppet of Britain and the United States,
and promised to resist any
efforts to promote "regime change" against his
government.
Reuters
Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:41 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's police have
arrested thousands of gold panners
in a crackdown on illegal mining
activities the government says have fuelled
rampant smuggling of precious
minerals to neighbouring contries.
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi
told journalists on Wednesday the blitz,
launched two months ago, had so far
seen 24,890 people nabbed over the
illegal mining of gold, diamonds and
emeralds among other minerals.
The police had also moved to block a human
rush to Marange district in
eastern Zimbabwe, in search of diamonds, and
recovered 7,868 pieces of the
precious stone, as well as 3.5 kg of gold and
552,000 kg of gold ore.
"Zimbabwe's economy has been bleeding for quite a
number of years. We take
note that some of our people have also contributed
to these economic woes by
smuggling our precious minerals to enrich
themselves," Mohadi said.
The government attributes declining mine output
-- production fell 14.4
percent in 2006 -- partly to smuggling, but the
chamber of mines blames
rising costs linked to galloping inflation, and an
unrealistic exchange
rate.
Zimbabwe's dollar is officially pegged at
250 against the greenback, but
trades 10 times weaker on a thriving black
market fuelled by chronic
shortages of foreign currency.
The collapse
of commercial agriculture -- once the country's largest
employer -- and
Zimbabwe's worsening economic crisis have forced thousands
of desperate
youths into gold panning.
However, the illegal mining activities have
presented a growing problem to
the environment, and the illegal panners have
not spared claims held by
foreign mining firms.
Mohadi said gold
deliveries to the central Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which
offers producers
half the black market price for gold, had increased
following the launch of
the police blitz.
The official gold purchase price is Z$16,000 per gram,
but miners complain
that this is make it viabile.
David Coltart MP Shadow Justice Minister
Statement regarding the Judge
President's remarks made at the opening of the
High Court 15th January
2007
and Statement regarding Supreme Court challenge against
Constitutional
Amendment 17
The Judge President, Justice Makarau, in
her address to the opening of the
High Court on the 15 th January 2007, has
correctly stated that normally
Judges should not complain publicly regarding
their conditions of service,
but that she has to because their conditions,
and the conditions of all
those involved in the justice system, are now
dire. The MDC is in principle
sympathetic towards Judges and towards all
those affected by the fact that
the government has not allocated sufficient
resources to the Ministry of
Justice.
However the reason why this
deleterious situation has been allowed to arise
is because the Zanu PF
regime does not care about justice and only tolerates
the Judiciary in so
far as it serves its purposes. Since 2000 law, and the
justice system in
general, has been used as a weapon against legitimate
democratic opposition.
Spurious charges have been brought against opposition
leaders, activists and
supporters; equally spurious trials have been held.
Judges have delayed
politically sensitive matters such as electoral
petitions and applications
for the release of activists, including MPs,
causing serious miscarriages of
justice. Many Judges have seriously
compromised their independence by taking
and occupying farms often
unlawfully seized from commercial farmers. Many
Judges since 2000 have
severely retarded the positive strides made by the
Judiciary since 1980 in
expanding the rights of Zimbabweans through positive
interpretations of
Zimbabwe 's Declaration of Rights, by handing down a
string of judgments
inimical to universal human rights norms. Other Judges
who have chosen to
act professionally have been hounded out of office and
some have gone into
exile.
During the same period the Zanu PF regime
have ensured that vast amounts of
money are spent on the CIO. That shows
exactly where its priorities lie.
Accordingly it is clear that Judges have
simply been used and exploited by
the regime to further their political
purposes. The truth is that the
Judiciary will always be seen by Zanu PF as
some cumbersome appendix which
is necessary to maintain the façade of
democracy and which on occasions can
be useful in furthering a political
goal. But the Judiciary will never be an
institution which is revered by
Zanu PF as an indispensable part of a
Zimbabwean democracy. It is in light
of this that we fear that the Judge
President will not be listened to by
this regime and to that extent her
statement is futile. It may be that some
individual Judges will have their
conditions addressed but in the prevailing
environment there is not the
slightest chance that sufficient resources will
be applied to address Judge
Makarau's legitimate concerns.
The MDC,
unlike Zanu PF, believes strongly in the need for a strong,
independent
Judiciary. The MDC believes in the need for our Constitution to
be amended
to ensure that there is an effective balance of powers amongst
the three
arms of government, namely the Executive, Legislature and
Judiciary. The MDC
believes that in order for the Judiciary to become strong
and independent
there needs to more than just changes to the Constitution;
in addition
sufficient resources must be made available to the Judiciary
through the
national budget. Accordingly when the MDC comes to power it will
not only
amend the Constitution (if it hasn't been amended positively
already) but
will also make the Judiciary a budgetary priority. Monies
presently
allocated to institutions designed to prolong Zanu PF's unhappy
rule will be
diverted to promote justice and the well being of the
Zimbabwean
people.
In the interim we urge the Judiciary to change its ways and to
turn over a
new leaf this year. It has a role to play in fairly applying the
law and by
doing all it can to strike down laws which clearly violate our
Constitution
and which offend international laws, norms and morality. South
African
judges did that with great distinction during apartheid and we look
forward
to our Judges emulating their fine example. If our Judges act in
this manner
then they will play their own part in bringing an end to
tyranny. That in
itself will result in the legitimate concerns raised by
Judge Makarau being
addressed earlier than will be the case if tyrannical
rule is allowed to go
on indefinitely.
David Coltart MP
Shadow
Justice Minister
Zimbabwe
Bulawayo 16 th January 2007
Statement
regarding Supreme Court challenge against Constitutional Amendment
17
Heads of argument (attached below) were filed in the High Court of
Zimbabwe
this morning by lawyers representing Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd (a
Zimbabwean
farming company) in a Supreme Court application in which the
constitutionality of Amendment 17 to the Zimbabwean Constitution is
challenged. Whilst this is a private initiative, and I should stress the MDC
has not been involved with the case, I commend these Heads and the case
generally.
Constitutional Amendment 17, passed in 2005,
removed the right of the Courts
to adjudicate in land acquisition matters.
In doing so a horse and carriage
was driven through the fundamental
democratic right of due process,
especially the right to have one's rights
determined by an independent
court. The amendment also shattered any notion
that we have a genuine
separation of powers in Zimbabwe and that there is
any reasonable balance
between the powers exercised by the executive,
legislature and judiciary.
Since the amendments were first tabled
in Parliament our view in the
opposition has always been that the amendments
were so far reaching that
they actually destroyed the very core of our
Constitution, and therefore
even though procedurally Amendment 17 was passed
correctly in Parliament, it
remains illegal. In essence our view has always
been that one cannot pass
any amendment to the Constitution, just because
one may have a 2/3rds
majority. There are some rights so sacrosanct, so part
of the fundamental
core and structure of the constitution, that if they are
removed from a
constitution, that constitution is rendered
meaningless.
If Amendment 17 had been left unchallenged the Zanu
PF regime would believe
that it can amend any aspect of the Constitution
with impunity. That
certainly appears to be the mindset of Robert Mugabe and
others in Zanu PF
who believe that a Presidential term can be extended by a
constitutional
amendment. That notion too violates a core principle of any
constitutional
democracy, namely that universally politicians are elected
for a defined and
restricted period, with a limited time mandate, and once
elected politicians
cannot extend that mandate by simply amending the
constitution. Accordingly
it is in this context that this present case must
also be seen in a broader
context, namely a challenge to the notion that
Zanu PF can change any aspect
of the Zimbabwean Constitution at
will.
These Heads, drafted by two of the finest Constitutional
lawyers in Southern
Africa, Jeremy Gauntlett SC and Adrian De Bourbon SC,
make out ,in my view,
an unanswerable case that the constitutional
amendments excluding the
jurisdiction of the Courts should be struck
down.
Skeptics may question why constitutional challenges like
this are brought
before the Zimbabwean Supreme Court when so many other
cases have been lost
there since 2001. The reason is simple - we must make
these arguments so
that there is no hiding place for those in the Zanu PF
regime who argue that
they have acted lawfully. There must be an historical
record for the future
to show that these brazenly illegal acts were
challenged; that there was
never any consensus about what has happened.
Furthermore we must do all we
can to expose those judges who are more
politicians than judges. They too
must be given no place to hide in the
future. Our Judges must confront these
outrageous violations of our
Constitution and choose where they stand. We
need clear unequivocal
statements from them to show whether they stand on
the side of tyranny or
justice.
One of the peculiarities of living under tyranny is that
both the oppressors
and the oppressed think that tyrannies last for ever.
The oppressors
continue to act (as vividly demonstrated in Amendment 17) as
if they are not
subject to universally accepted human rights and norms, and
never will be.
The oppressed are so downcast that they cannot believe that
things will ever
change. Bizarrely both oppressors and the people they
oppress believe that
the oppressors can do literally anything with impunity,
indefinitely.
History gives the lie to that fallacy. Zimbabwe will be no
different; this
tyranny will end, and possibly much sooner than anyone dares
to hope for.
And when tyranny ends justice, as the prophet Amos stated
thousands of years
ago, will "roll on like a river".
When
tyranny ends in Zimbabwe the arguments raised in this case will help us
to
restore justice in many ways. Not only will the arguments be used to
establish the individual rights of Zimbabweans but they (and the judgment
which will eventually be handed down in response to the arguments) will also
help us determine in future which judges are truly committed to the
principles of a constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the
application of universal human rights without fear or favour. There will be
no place in the future democratic Zimbabwe 's judiciary for judges who
clearly demonstrate now that they are not committed to those fundamental
principles.
David Coltart MP
Shadow Justice
Minister
Zimbabwe
Bulawayo
15 th January 2007
17 January, 2007
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
wishes to add its voice to those
who have spoken out recently on the dire
straits in which the Judiciary, and
therefore the administration of justice,
finds itself.
The official opening of the 2007 Legal Year was marked by
speeches from the
Judge President, Mrs. Justice Rita Makarau, in Harare and
Mr. Justice
Maphios Cheda in Bulawayo. The two judges, particularly Justice
Makarau,
brought attention to invidious poisons which are negatively
affecting the
administration of justice in the country, namely insufficient
resources and
corruption within the judicial system.
The Judges
pointed out that personnel within the judicial system are poorly
remunerated, promoting rampant corruption. She was concerned that the court
is failing to effectively and expediently carry out its duties because of
the adverse shortage of stationery and computers, and the poor equipping of
the libraries. Such impoverishment led to the courts failing to hold a
circuit in Masvingo in 2006, meaning that awaiting-trial detainees continue
to remain incarcerated for unduly long periods whilst they wait for justice.
The Judge President noted that the conditions of the police cells and remand
prisons continue to amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.
The
independence of the judiciary is one of the cornerstones of any
democratic
society and is protected in various international agreements
including the
United Nations (UN) Basic Principles of the Independence of
the Judiciary as
well as in section 79B of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
This principle is
necessary to curtail arbitrariness and ensure that the law
is applied fairly
and equally, so that there is access to justice for all.
Independence of the
judiciary entails both institutional independence and
the individual
independence of judicial officers. When a judiciary is
underfinanced and
understaffed, the institutional independence of the
judiciary is grossly
undermined; where the resourcing of the judiciary is
subject to the control
of a central authority, the quality of justice
dispensed is seriously
compromised and it is the general populace which
suffers. As the Judge
President stated: 'It is wrong by any measure to make
the judiciary beg for
sustenance. It is wrong to make the judiciary beg for
resources from central
government.'
Courts are failing to deal with the backlog of cases,
especially criminal
cases, especially in outlying and more remote areas. The
populace is
therefore failing to access justice. This inevitably breeds loss
of
confidence in the justice delivery system. The failure of justice
administration in the country gives rise to impunity, anarchy (with people
taking the law into their own hands) and a gateway to continued violations
of human rights and the breakdown of the rule of law.
ZLHR therefore
wishes to add its voice to the calls for due attention to be
paid to the
needs of the judicial sector, and the related arms of law
enforcement. In
this respect, we call upon the government of Zimbabwe to:
1. Review
constantly the conditions of service of judicial officers in
Zimbabwe in
light of rampant inflation and guard against a situation where
they have to
beg central government for their sustenance as this is violent
disregard of
Section 79B of the Constitution of Zimbabwe
2. Show commitment to the United
Nations (UN) Basic principles of the
independence of the judiciary (endorsed
by General Assembly resolutions
40/32 of 29 November 1985 and 40/146 of 13
December 1985) which state that
it is the duty of each Member State to
provide adequate resources to enable
the judiciary to properly perform its
functions.
3. Ensure that they adhere to and show reverence to the rule of
law and
international norms and values especially the African Charter on
Human and
Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights
which, properly understood, enshrine judicial rights and
the independence of
the judiciary as a matter of law, not just
principle.
4. Ensure that witness expenses are constantly reviewed in light
of rampant
inflation.
5. Improve detention conditions at Matapi Police
Station, Highlands Police
station and all other places of detention in
Zimbabwe, especially in light
of the undue delays experienced before matters
are brought to court.
ZIMBABWE ELECTION SUPPORT NETWORK
PRESS
STATEMENT
HARMONISATION OF ELECTIONS 2008/2010?
ZESN
POSITION
The harmonisation of elections in Zimbabwe has been proposed
by the ruling
ZANU PF party and discussed at its National Conference held in
December
2006. This has sparked substantial debate in the country to which
the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) would like to add its
voice.
It is important firstly to distinguish between the
harmonisation of
elections and the 'extension' of the presidential term. The
harmonisation of
elections is a noble idea. ZESN appreciates fully that the
costs of running
a national election are significant. However, the process
of harmonisation
needs to be undertaken in a manner, which exacts the least
cost on
democracy.
ZESN proposes a comprehensive approach to
harmonisation, which should
encompass all Presidential, House of Assembly
and Senatorial Elections. It
would also be ideal to merge the Urban Council
with the Rural District
Council Elections. The Network further proposes that
Provincial Governors be
directly elected by the people they serve as opposed
to the current system
of appointment. Elections for this purpose should then
be merged with the
local authority elections.
The
harmonisation process further needs to be accompanied by reforms such
as:
a.. Constitutional reform, particularly the comprehensive
protection of
civil and political rights;
b.. Changes to the electoral
system from the current first past the post
to a more proportional system of
representation;
c.. A voter registration exercise resulting in a new
voters' roll; and
d.. Rational delimitation of boundaries (both
constituency and ward).
Further, it would be essential to undertake
extensive voter education in
order to inform the electorate of the
modalities of the changes that finally
occur.
Periodic
elections through which citizens participate to authorise
politicians to act
on their behalf are an essential tenet of democracy. ZESN
is therefore of
the view that the Presidential election due in 2008 must go
ahead in order
to seek a fresh mandate from the people, who should determine
the
socio-economic and political path of the nation.
The Network is
of the view that under a working democracy there is no way a
nation can
extend the term of its leader without widely consulting the
people and
giving them an opportunity to decide through a referendum. A
Parliament such
as our House of Assembly or Senate with a substantial number
of appointed
representatives, while the contested results of some seats
remain pending
before the courts since 2005 cannot, in all conscience, be
allowed to use a
technical two-thirds majority to extend the current
presidential
term.
ZESN, therefore calls for the presidential election to be
held in 2008 as in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The
Network reiterates
that all decisions pertaining to the timeframe for
harmonisation or
alteration of the presidential or parliamentary tenure must
be left to the
people of Zimbabwe
.
Ends//
Signed.....................
Signed....................
Dr Reginald Matchaba- Hove (National
Chairperson) Ms Rindai Chipfunde-Vava
(National
Director)
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
17 January 2007
Joel Gabuza, chairman of the special
parliamentary portfolio committee on
mines, energy and the environment, has
confirmed that his committee will be
launching an investigation into illegal
mining activities including the
involvement of any top government officials.
Several recent reports said top
ranking members of Robert Mugabe's cabinet
were suspected of conducting
shady diamond deals that had been brought to
the attention of the World
Diamond Council. Gabuza said he would not mention
any specific names at this
juncture, but any government chefs they come
across in their investigations
would be exposed. Gabuza said the committee
would begin the probe when
parliament opens in the next two
weeks.
The World Diamond Council (WDC) last month revealed they were
aware that top
government officials in Zimbabwe were implicated in the
illegal mining and
smuggling of diamonds. The global watchdog said they
would monitor the
situation. Among those suspected is retired general
Solomon Mujuru, who owns
shares in River Ranch Diamond Mines. His wife,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
was not mentioned. The general is alleged to
have partners that include
Zanu-PF politician Tirivanhu Mudariki and other
officials in the ruling
party. The reports said they smuggle diamonds mined
in Zimbabwe along with
"blood diamonds" from the Congo and sell them to
legal markets through South
Africa.
The ZimOnline news site reported
that authoritative sources had told them
the police in Manicaland province
were closing in on three senior members of
the government involved in
illegal mining activities. The officials' names
were withheld for legal
reasons, but they were all reported to hold senior
posts within Mugabe's
Cabinet. ZimOnline said the three are accused of
organising villagers and
teachers in Nyanga and Marange districts to conduct
illegal mining
activities. The stones are then smuggled to South Africa for
sale as a legal
product. They also reportedly paid fines for any villagers
who were arrested
for illegal mining. Police confirmed the investigations
but gave no
details.
Gabuza said there was a lot of corruption in these diamond
districts.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 17 Jan
2007 (IRIN) - A partnership between Zimbabwe's second city,
Bulawayo, and
the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), will bring
about the
construction of much-needed housing to replace homes demolished
nearly two
years ago during Operation Murambatsvina.
Also known as Operation Restore
Order, Murambatsvina was touted as an urban
"clean-up campaign" by President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government but
condemned by the UN for breaching
"both national and international human
rights law", and left over 700,000
people homeless.
The campaign was hastily followed by the government's
Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle (Live Well), designed to rehouse those who
homes had
been destroyed, but the follow-up exercise did little to alleviate
the
country's self-inflicted humanitarian crisis. In Bulawayo alone, more
than
10,000 housing structures were torn down during the nationwide
operation.
Mugabe's opponents condemned the campaign as a collective
punishment of
urban residents for supporting the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
party.
Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, Bulawayo's executive
mayor, told IRIN that the IOM had
offered to assist in the construction of
about 1,700 houses, specifically
for those made homeless by Operation
Murambatsvina but had not benefited
from Operation Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle.
According to council records, only 39 victims of Operation
Murambatsvina,
out of an estimated 10,000 affected households, benefited
from the 700
houses built in its wake.
Ncube said a recent audit had
found that the beneficiaries of Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle in Bulawayo
were mainly politicians, well-known soccer
players, public servants and
security force members involved in the
operation, and at least 600 of the
"illegal beneficiaries" owned one or more
properties elsewhere in the
city.
The council audit revealed that very few victims of Operation
Murambatsvina
had actually got houses. "We are grateful for the support
offered by the IOM
because it will help many victims of Operation Restore
Order
[Murambatsvina], who are still living in various conditions of
distress in
unsuitable locations around the city."
Bulawayo town
clerk Moffat Ndlovu said the IOM had indicated that they would
spend about
US$3,000 per unit, although the total cost of the programme had
yet to be
finalised because of the country's unstable economic environment,
in which
inflation was now running at 1,281 percent, the highest in the
world.
"We agreed on a double-phased programme, in the first stage of
which the IOM
would put up complete structures for the poorest victims of
Operation
Restore Order. The beneficiaries are expected to provide labour,
such as
brick-moulding and other support roles," Ndlovu told IRIN. "In the
second
phase, the IOM would provide materials for those who can afford to
pay part
of the construction costs of the structures. When we worked out the
programme last year, we estimated the cost of putting up a single structure
at US$3,000, but it could be much higher now."
The government has
rejected numerous offers of help to build houses by
various international
organisations, saying it had adequate resources to
manage the
crisis.
Ignatius Chombo, Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban
Development,
said the government welcomed development partners. "The
government will work
with any genuine organisation that wants to help the
country develop. Their
assistance makes a great difference to our people and
we appreciate it."
The Zimbabwean
BY GIFT
PHIRI
HARARE - The ruling Zanu (PF) party has taken its begging bowl to the
corporate sector, forcing companies to bankroll President Robert Mugabe's
83rd birthday bash next month.
The governing Zanu (PF) party is seeking
Z$10 billion from private
companies, already weighed down by a deepening
economic crisis.
The fundraising committee, chaired by Chipinge South MP,
Enoch Porusingazi,
has set a target of Z$10 billion with each of the
country's 10 provinces
expected to raise Z$1 billion.
The ruling Zanu(PF)
party's kindergarten or "21st February Movement" is
stating in its letters
that it would like to content itself with a series of
children's parties
around the country in honour of the 83rd birthday of
President Mugabe.
In
past years, taxpayers and state employees, headed by the loyal cadres of
the
Central Intelligence Organisation, were expected to club in for the cost
of
far more lavish celebrations. Parents were exhorted to give their
children
presents so the day became associated in young minds with a
supplementary -
or alternative - Christmas.
Many companies and other well-to-do individuals
are expected to cough up
millions to celebrate a private occasion which the
ruling Zanu (PF) party
has nevertheless elevated to a national event.
The
party's reasoning for soliciting contributions is because everyone who
has
become rich in post-independent Zimbabwe has done so because Mugabe led
the
liberation struggle. So his birthday is seen as payback time.
And Zimbabwe's
grinding economic crisis has done nothing to alter the ruling
party's
ambitions to mark its leader's 83rd birthday on February 21 with
hefty
donations.
Schoolchildren and Zanu (PF) youth brigades from the 10 political
provinces
will hold parades to mark the occasion. As in previous years, it
is planned
as a military-style operation dubbed the 21st February
Movement.
Porusingazi said the money was needed to "mark our president's
birthday with
dignity".
A circular signed by Zanu (PF) youth leader,
Absolom Sikhosana, has been
sent to all major companies in Zimbabwe asking
for donations towards
Mugabe's birthday celebrations.
"Once again as a
nation we are celebrating His Excellency, Comrade R G
Mugabe's birthday ...
we are kindly appealing for cash or kind to make this
year's event a
historic and memorable one for the children. Kindly make cash
donations
payable to 21st February Movement. The account number is
4125-031273003
ZimBank. The 21st February Movement seeks to instill our
cherished national
values among our youth e.g. it seeks to develop
individuals who can
confidently defend those values."
The money targeted for the event could feed
hundreds of thousands of hungry
children in a nation in which a quarter of
the population is surviving on
World Food Programme handouts and where fuel
and electricity shortages have
become the norm.
Observers said monies
raised for the president's birthday should be used to
help needy children,
especially those seeking life-saving operations,
instead of creating a cult
of the ageing despot.
IOL
January 17 2007 at 12:23AM
Johannesburg - A British organisation on
Tuesday urged the European
Union to maintain sanctions against Zimbabwe
after a review this month,
calling President Robert Mugabe a "cruel" despot
whose rule was "getting
worse".
"It is not certain whether the
sanctions against the president of
Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe will be renewed
when the EU announces its decision on
20 February," after a meeting of
foreign ministers on
January 23 in Brussels, Action for Southern Africa
said in a
statement.
"The excesses of the Mugabe regime are
getting worse," it said,
recalling the "brutal treatment of trade union
leaders when they tried to
hold a peaceful protest on September 13," and a
slew of human rights
violations.
It also cited government
threats to re-launch a controversial urban
demolitions blitz which left
hundreds of thousands homeless according to the
United Nations and the
abysmal state of Zimbabwe's
economy.
Zimbabwe has the
world's fastest shrinking economy and the highest
inflation rate (more than
1 000 percent), the lowest life expectancy rate,
the highest number of
orphans per capita and 80
percent unemployment, the report
said.
"Half the population is starving," it said of the former
regional
breadbasket whose economy has been in a tailspin since Mugabe's
government
seized white-owned farms and doled them out to landless blacks
with no
skills or expertise.
The move led to a massive slide in
agricultural output and food
shortages.
The British
non-governmental organisation expressed alarm at reports
from British
parliamentary sources that the "French and Portuguese
government
representatives will not guarantee their support for the
sanctions against
Mugabe being reinforced," at a key meeting in Brussels on
January
23.
"At a time when the country is spiralling deeper into chaos as
a
result of Mugabe's inhuman policies, it seems extraordinary that the
French
government can consider entertaining this cruel man," it
said.
The European Union slapped sanctions on Mugabe and his
coterie after
controversial elections in 2002 won by the long-serving ruler
which the
opposition insists were rigged.
There is a travel ban
and an asset freeze on Mugabe, who has led the
southern African nation since
its 1980 independence from Britain, and his
inner circle. The sanctions also
preclude any form
of military assistance to Harare. -
Sapa-AFP
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 17 Jan
2007 (IRIN) - The Zimbabwe government is struggling to
contain a nationwide
wave of illegal prospecting for precious minerals and
metals that is
threatening the viability of the already troubled mining
industry, on which
rests the hope of turning around an ailing economy by
generating foreign
currency earnings.
Analysts attribute the "frightening" magnitude of
illegal mining and sale of
vital minerals on the unofficial market to a
desperate population seeking to
beat poverty, and poor government policies
regulating the mining industry.
"The government has let this thing
[illegal mining] go on without control
for too long, and the industry is now
driven by the black market," said
Innocent Makwiramiti, an economist and
former chief executive officer of the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
(ZNCC). He told IRIN the country could
have lost billions of dollars in
revenue.
Manicaland Province, bordering Mozambique to the east, has
gained overnight
fame for the widespread panning activities of thousands of
illegal miners,
popularly known as 'makorokoza', who have turned vast tracts
of land into
open-pit mines in their bid to extract a variety of minerals,
including
diamonds, emeralds and gold.
The police, army, prison
guards and graduates of the ruling ZANU-PF
government's national youth
training centres have been deployed along the
roads leading to and from
Mutare, the provincial capital on the Mozambique
border, and the heavy
security presence extends to Marange District, a large
communal land area
about 40km to the south and west, and even further to
Buhera, a town in
Marange District, about 200km southeast of the capital,
Harare.
Roadblocks have been set up to stop and search private and
public transport
vehicles for minerals and those suspected of illegal mining
activities
arrested. But the clampdown has had little effect on the
activities of the
miners or the precious metal and gem dealers drawn to the
area.
"We have become cautious after the police descended on Buhera in
December
[2006], but business continues as usual," Samson Munhangu, 21, an
illegal
miner, told IRIN.
Munhangu, from Chivu, about 140km south of
Harare, in Mashonaland East
Province, operates in the Jori area of
Manicaland, which the diggers and
panners have reduced to rows of gullies in
search of emeralds. He is one of
more than 3,000 illegal miners in Buhera
constantly on the lookout for the
patrolling security details that are
trying to stop the illegal mining.
"I am more afraid of the soldiers and
the Border Gezi [youth training
graduates], who can beat you to death if
they decided not to have you
arrested," said Munhangu. He spent two nights
hiding in a mine pit when the
Jori area was raided by government security
forces.
To avoid detection, Munhangu, like others operating in Buhera, is
no longer
selling the emeralds near the mining works, but routinely travels
to
Mutare's poor suburb of Sakubva to meet buyers from Harare, and foreign
dealers from the neighbouring countries of Mozambique, Botswana and South
Africa.
Sometimes he has travelled through the night on foot to beat
the roadblocks
on the way to Mutare, a journey of about 60km. The foreign
dealers usually
paid him in foreign currency for the emeralds or with cell
phones,
second-hand clothes and electronic goods, while dealers from Harare
paid in
Zimbabwean currency.
Some panners were even grinding bottles
to take advantage of the mining
hysteria sweeping across the region, and
passing them off to dealers as
emeralds. "With the way the economy is going,
you have to do everything you
can to make money while you can," said
Munhangu.
For the past eight years Zimbabwe's economy has been in
meltdown,
characterised by a slew of shortages, including foreign exchange,
food,
clean water, fuel and energy. The industrial base has shrunk by more
than a
third, unemployment levels are touching 80 percent, and inflation has
reached 1,281 percent - the highest in the world - putting most commodities,
when available, beyond the reach of most people.
Instant riches from
the sale of the minerals has transformed the lives of
many people in Marange
District in central Manicaland Province, where police
estimated that around
15,000 illegal diamond panners had descended before
they sealed off an area
known as Chiadzwa.
Clephas Mharidzo, a village headman in Marange
District, said he was
"amazed" by the changed lifestyles of some of the
local villagers since they
began prospecting for diamonds in
Chiadzwa.
"That should be the work of our gods. Many of our sons and
daughters have
managed to build the types of houses that can only be
afforded by people
living in the cities. Some of them have even bought cars,
even though they
cannot drive," Mharidzo told IRIN.
In March 2006,
the headman said, the ancestral spirits of the area ordered
that the people
of Marange should be left to pan for the diamonds in an area
that used to
belong to a German mining company.
"The spirits had the noble idea of
empowering the local community, but
things started going wrong when
makorokoza from all over the country invaded
Marange and turned it into a
wasteland. Even the government had initially
agreed that we pan for
diamonds, but when the greedy ones came the
politicians changed their
minds," he commented.
Although the security forces were carrying out
patrols, Mharidzo said a
significant number of his subjects still had
diamonds hidden in their
houses, and the mining fever was making children
abscond from school to dig
for the precious stones.
"Whenever you
have a good thing, bad things follow. Prostitution and
violence have also
increased, with sex workers coming from as far as Mutare
and Chimanimani
[about 100km southeast of Mutare] to waylay the
free-spending makorokoza,
who turned Marange shopping centre [in Marange
town] into a very busy spot,"
said Mharidzo.
With security tight in the towns of Buhera and Marange,
some buyers were
involving "those who matter" to successfully carry out
their illegal
business. "You ought to be close to the big guys in the army
and police and
bribe them for you to be let to pass," said Isaac Moyo, who
owns two gold
claims in the small mining town of Shamva in Mashonaland
Central Province
but is also buying diamonds in Marange.
He moves in
and out of the area with ease, and said some soldiers and police
officers
were confiscating emeralds and diamonds from illegal traders, and
working
with officials at the Beitbridge border post, the main crossing
between
South Africa and Zimbabwe, who would then smuggle the minerals to
Musina in
South Africa.
Economist Makwiramiti said the widespread panning for
minerals was a direct
result of an ill-performing economy and rising
poverty. "Gold panning became
rampant in the early 1990s, following a
devastating drought and the
introduction of an economic structural
adjustment programme that
impoverished the people."
Another
economist, John Robertson, said the country was losing its precious
minerals
to other countries through smuggling because the government had an
unrealistic foreign currency exchange rate. "The government is using the
wrong exchange rate - thus the easy smuggling of minerals out of the
country, where sellers fetch more," he told IRIN.
While the US
dollar, when available, is being sold at the official rate of
Z$250, on the
parallel market the exchange rate is as much as Z$3,000 to the
US
dollar.
In November 2006 the police launched Operation Chikorokoza
Chapera [End of
Illegal Mining], and to date have arrested about 22,500
illegal miners,
recovered 7,799 diamonds and 3.5kg of gold worth about Z$60
million
(US$240,000), as well as 544,231kg of gold ore, 1,872kg of quartz,
25,000kg
of chrome and 80 emeralds.
A Belgian national was among
those arrested for illegally buying diamonds in
Zimbabwe, but has since been
acquitted by the courts.
The European Union recently expressed concern
over claims that diamonds
smuggled out of the country were being sold on the
world market, adding that
if the allegations were verified, Zimbabwe could
face a ban on the sale of
all its precious minerals.
By Lance Guma
17 January
2007
Ten student leaders drawn from universities and colleges around
Zimbabwe
were arrested Wednesday while addressing a meeting in Bulawayo at
the United
College of Education (UCE). Those arrested include Zimbabwe
National
Students Union (ZINASU) President, Promise Mkwananzi who prior to
this had
been in hiding after being made the subject of a police manhunt
last year in
November. He had attracted police attention by addressing
meetings around
the country calling for student demonstrations. According to
Lawrence
Mashungu, the Chairman of the Students Christian Movement of
Zimbabwe
(SCMZ), all ten arrested were taken to Mzilikazi police
station.
Gladys Mukubvu, Blessing Vava (Bulawayo Polytechnic), Zwelithini
Viki
(University of Zimbabwe), Tafadzwa Chengewa (Hillside Teachers
College),
Clever Bere, Jonathan Magabathela (National University of Science
and
Technology), Emmanuel Nyoni (UCE), Beloved Chiweshe and Melward
Makwenjere
from ZINASU were also arrested. A police defender vehicle loaded
with riot
police accompanied by another small vehicle carrying plain clothes
policeman
arrived at the campus in the afternoon. The riot police provided
the backup
for the plainclothes officers to drag the student leaders from
the podium.
Mashungu told Newsreel that students are receiving Z$2200 in
grants and yet
government now wanted them to pay up to as much as Z$300 000
in tuition and
boarding fees. He says the government is clearly aware
students are
disgruntled over the fee increases and is trying to block any
form of
organized grouping or meeting from taking place. He says the
majority of
'conventional' students that is those who are not apprentices or
sponsored
by private companies, have failed to make it back into college
because of
the new fees. The national students union ZINASU estimates over
100 000
students have since dropped out.
The government increased
tuition fees by between 300 to 2000 percent
depending on the courses. At the
University of Zimbabwe for example,
ordinary students now have to fork out
Z$42 000 up from Z$2000 while
veterinary students have to pay Z$180 000 up
from Z$44 000. These figures
exclude boarding
fees.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Herald
(Harare)
January 16, 2007
Posted to the web January 16,
2007
Harare
ZESA Holdings has re-introduced widespread load
shedding following major
breakdowns at Hwange Colliery and as a result of
the high demand for
electricity.
Since late last year, there has been
limited load shedding in the country
but the magnitude is expected to
increase, with some areas going to be in
darkness for up to 10
hours.
Power outages have also been worsened by the high demand of
electricity as
most industries started re-opening last week.
Zesa
general manager for corporate communications Mr James Maridadi
yesterday
confirmed the power cuts but said the power utility was working
flat out to
address the issue.
"This is normal load shedding which is not related to
any industrial action.
There is now more demand for power since most
companies started operating
last week after the Christmas and New Year's
holidays," Mr Maridadi said.
He added that Zesa was working flat out to
address the power shortages.
In a statement, Hwange Colliery Company said
coal deliveries to Hwange Power
Station had been reduced owing to major
breakdowns at the mine.
"Hwange Colliery Company wishes to inform all its
stakeholders that there
have been reduced deliveries to Hwange Power Station
in the past two weeks.
"This is a result of major breakdowns which
occurred on the secondary
crushing and conveyor belting systems," said
Hwange Colliery.
It, however said repairs were underway and coal
deliveries to the power
station were expected to resume soon.
Zesa
last introduced load shedding in October last year following the
breakdown
of six generators at HPS and another breakdown on the import line
from the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
At present, the power utility generates 1
440 megawatts at Kariba and Hwange
Power Stations.
Kariba generates
750 megawatts, Hwange 590MW while small thermal power
stations generate just
100MW.
Imports account for 650MW, representing 32 percent of national
electricity
requirements.
Eskom of South Africa exports about 300MW
to Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe also imports 250mw from Hydroelectrica de Cahora
Bassa of
Mozambique while 100MW is imported from SNEL in the DRC.
At
the moment, the country is relying on the Kariba Power Station whose six
generators are now fully functional.
However, intermittent
breakdowns, a dearth of foreign currency and coal
shortages have in the past
few years left Zesa grappling with power supply
problems.
Theft and
vandalism of Zesa's infrastructure has also contributed to power
cuts.
VOA
By Barbara Schoetzau
Washington
16 January
2007
The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says its
strategy to prevent and
support children affected by AIDS is showing signs
of success despite tepid
response for the international community. From
VOA's New York Bureau,
correspondent Barbara Schoetzau has the
story.
UNICEF launched its campaign Unite for Children, Unite Against
AIDS in
October 2005 to call attention to the youngest victims of the
disease.
UNICEF says children have been missing from the HIV/ AIDS agenda
despite the
fact that children are the best long-term hope for defeating the
epidemic.
According to the United Nations, 2.3 million children are
living with the
HIV virus worldwide. Another 15 million children have lost
one or both
parents to AIDS.
Peter McDermott, UNICEF's chief AIDS
adviser, says the group's decision to
focus on AIDS-affected children has
not elicited the hoped for international
response. "We sought to try to
mobilize resources, call for better drugs and
to really have a more
centrally organized and more responsive action for
children globally. First
of all, one year on, the global response
unfortunately remains tragically
insufficient," he said.
But McDermott says there are early signs that
UNICEF's four-pronged strategy
is working. Increasing numbers of children
living with AIDS are receiving
treatment and more women have access to
anti-retroviral drugs to prevent
mother-to child transmission. "Seven
countries todate are on target with 40
percent of the women accessing. More
notably perhaps is that four countries
in sub-Saharan Africa have already
got 20 percent of their women accessing
antiretrovirals through prevention.
Another 100 countries now have developed
national scale up plans and I think
we are beginning to see some significant
increase on the ground not just in
terms of access to the drugs but also in
infections averted," he
said.
"On the pediatric side, more children, we estimate a minimum of
75,000 in
2005, are now on treatment. A small number compared to the number
of
children in need, but a significant improvement 12 months
on."
McDermott says the improvements are due, in part, to lower prices,
better
drugs and better diagnostic techniques.
According to the
UNICEF report, evidence shows that greater dissemination of
information
about the disease and prevention has led to a decrease in
infection among
young people in a number of countries.
McDermott says a number of
governments are now using innovative methods to
reach to more children and
children are increasingly featured in national
development
plans.
Broadcast Journalist Violet Gonda concludes her Hot Seat teleconference
with former information minister Jonathan Moyo and journalist Peta Thornycroft.
Broadcast on 16 January 2007
Violet Gonda: Welcome to the concluding debate with former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Foreign Correspondent Peta Thornycroft . In the final segment we discuss Zimbabwe ’s Citizenship law, a follow up on ZANU PF since their Goromonzi Conference and opportunities for pposition groups. We first discuss recent controversial moves by the authorities to strip newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube of his Zimbabwean citizenship. I asked Professor Moyo if there’s a new push to finish off the private media as most suspect.
Jonathan Moyo: Well, I think clearly for quite some time now Trevor Ncube has been seen by certain sections of the ruling elite as public enemy number one and some of the stories that have been coming out of the Zimbabwean Independent of late are not the kind that would please the same sections, especially those dealing with such scandals as the ZISCO saga, diamonds and many other things including the ownership of newspapers by the Central Intelligence Organisation. So they were targeted. But, I think there is a bigger story here which is less about Trevor Ncube and more about the primitive citizenship laws that we have. And, the fact that, you know, over the last five years, but basically over the last 27 years, we’ve been institutionalising a personalised approach to legislation. In order to dispossess people of assets you come up with laws that deny them of their citizenship. In order to deny people’s voting rights; you come up with funny citizenship .
I can tell you that what is striking about the Trevor Ncube issue is that there is absolutely no doubt that he was born in this country, raised, grew up in this country and therefore he is a Zimbabwean. There is no question about that. And, the fact of who is parents are really is irrelevant, as irrelevant as the fact of where he was born. It can’t be Trevor Ncube’s problem. There is no human being who decides where they will be born and by whom. Therefore, place of birth and parentage, therefore descent, are matters which really should be outside legislation. These are matters of God. It us God who decides where you are born, God who decides by whom in terms of parents and it is an overzealous Government which then seeks to regulate that, creates problems. We can only regulate to the extent of naturalisation; where the person who was born by whoever parents decides that country X shall be his or her home and wants the citizenship of that country.
Zimbabwe is one of the most backward countries when it comes to citizenship law. And, this is a problem we should understand not only in terms of what they are trying to do in the Trevor Ncube case but generally across the board. What is worse here in Zimbabwe , this is really a strange law because the majority of people in the political class are not Zimbabwean by descent. Many, and perhaps even all of them were born in Zimbabwe , but their parents are from Zambia , Malawi , Mozambique , South Africa . And, you wonder, ‘why mess around’? And, we know for a fact that most of these people, because they are part of the ruling elite, they have not renounced in the manner they are asking Trevor to do.
Trevor Ncube, we all know, its common cause, he renounced his Zambian citizenship on grounds that he is potentially capable of assuming it. He renounced that. Only that they say he didn’t do, was to then go to Zambia and say because he is potentially capable, or, because he has that entitlement, he should renounce it. Many, many, I repeat, Zimbabweans among the ruling elite are in that category, many! And, if they do not handle the Trevor Ncube issue properly, they are going to be embarrassed because they will then force the rest of us to name names,
Peta Thornycroft : Good!
Violet: Can you name some of them right now? (Laughs)
Moyo: Well, as we have said before, we don’t want to threaten anybody but we do want to promise that if they continue disturbing public life in this manner then all hell will have to break loose. Because Zimbabwe is one of those countries with an amazing presence of regional nationalities within the ruling elite.
Violet: And you know I did speak with Trevor Ncube, and he said, as you mentioned, that he had renounced his Zambian citizenship and now he’s been stripped of his Zimbabwean citizenship, meaning that he is now stateless. Now he also said this whole affair is intimidation harassment, and harassment meant to terrify him and soften him. Now Peta, what are your views on this whole citizenship issue?
Peta : Well I, just on Trevor Ncube, I interviewed him for the Sunday Independent in Johannesburg and he told me that there’s always a smaller and a bigger picture in Zimbabwe . And, the smaller picture here, which confused him, was that when he was editing The Independent and The Independent was exposing the Roger Boka scandal, Tobiawa Mudede’s name cropped up in some of the stories, so when he needed a passport in 2002 urgently, he asked Bornwell Chakaodza who knew Mudede’s PA to go with him to see if that would help him get one quickly because he knew he had a bad reputation with Mudede who’d actually said that Trevor Ncube had ruined his career. When they got to the office, this is what Ncube told me, the PA said to Chakaodza ‘come in on your own and bring Ncube’s passport with you’. And he went in there, and when he got into the office, Mudede fumed at him and threw Trevor’s passport across the office and said ‘tell him to go outside and queue with the rest of them’. So, what Trevor Ncube was saying is exactly what Jonathan is saying; the way it’s been personalised. So, I’m not sure and Trevor Ncube is not sure himself.
Of course, the bigger picture is the harassment of Ncube, the harassment of the media because you cannot be a media owner if you’re not a Zimbabwean.
But, I’m quite sure, and he said so on the record to me that he would step aside, he has a very good team in The Independent who would carry on without him. After all, his main business is these days in South Africa . But the agony for Trevor Ncube as there was agony for Anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa, was that they then had to chose if they’d had their passport withdrawn and they wanted to travel, they would be allowed to leave South Africa permanently on what was called an Exit Permit, and that meant that they could never return to South Africa. And, I don’t know whether the Zimbabweans can get that sort of thing up and going efficiently because they’re not terribly efficient at the airports, despite their electronic scanning. But, clearly, that’s an agonising decision for any person who loves his nationality as much as Trevor Ncube loves his.
But for me, it’s so reminiscent of what happened under Apartheid, and I’m quite sure that when they first seized Trevor’s passport, and I think Raymond Majongwe and Paul Themba Nyathi’s a year ago, there was an enormous outcry over it and clearly the echoes of the Apartheid era were there for everyone especially in the ANC who remember that. So Trevor went to court and he won and then it all sort of faded away. Now, whether they are coming back at it another way because they have long mean vicious memories, I don’t know, but nobody can be sure of their citizenship.
I don’t know whether I’ve just got a very long built-in paranoia about immigration anywhere in the world but every time I get to Immigration in Zimbabwe I wonder if someone’s going to rip my passport off me and that is a paranoia that spreads over. It used to happen in South Africa , when I was travelling in and out of South Africa and I wasn’t a South African citizen ever, and I just used to think ‘oh God, they’re going to make me a prohibited immigrant’. You know, I knew so many people; so many South Africans; who’d had their passports… or, South Africans who were permanent residents and got to the borders of South Africa to go and see their family and found they were on the list. There was a list of people at all the border posts of people who weren’t allowed to go in.
We’re in that; we’re in the Apartheid era situation, in fact, it was more clear cut in South Africa than it is now, because one just doesn’t know now, from what Trevor Ncube told us, whether or not this is Mudede or this was some kind of policy taken either amongst the Securocrats, or, in Cabinet.
Violet : What would you say Professor Moyo because this act was actually crafted or amended in 2002 just before the Presidential Elections, wasn’t it?
Moyo : Yes
Violet: What would you know about this?
Moyo: Yes, I mean, clearly, it is about the law and it’s about a vindictive law that is targeting segments of the population. And that’s why, yes, there is a smaller picture which is focusing on Trevor captured by the anecdote that Peta has shared with us. And where the intention clearly is not just to intimidate but also to embarrass, release certain details about an individual so that you question his patriotism and you say ‘why are you sounding more Zimbabwean than Zimbabweans, Zimbabweans are good people, they are not like you. They don’t query, question or confront the system’ that is the intention.
But, this is a law which has to be seen in the context of the recent politics around land reform with the former farm owners who were white and who are being pushed back to Britain, or to Australia and wherever people think they must go, and former farm workers coming from the regional neighbouring countries and whose votes were seen both in 2000 and 2002 as a big problem.
But there is a lot of shopping around now and this is what happens where you have a bad law and selective application of the law. Everyone in Office who thinks that somebody in the media or in civil society or elsewhere is trying to be too big for their boots; find a law to use to deal with that individual. It is for this reason that at the end of the day this is just a waste of time because we know that Zimbabwe will, like other progressive countries, very soon, in a matter of a few years, embrace dual citizenship. This law is going to fly out. Even if we don’t have a constitutional overhaul this is one of the laws that is going to fly out for many reasons. Including the fact that now, as we speak, we have a lot of people, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, with children born in the Diaspora who are entitled to citizenship there where they are born at the place of birth. But, who also will be entitled to the citizenship by descent , and we would have to recognise this. And, the Trevor case might, at the end of the day, with some inconvenience to Ncube, help us focus on this matter and I think with a result that might solve a problem for many.
Violet: You know I have a few minutes left and I want to talk briefly about ZANU PF and MDC. In the first segment of this teleconference we heard what Mugabe and his ZANU PF are doing to harmonise Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Now, what have you uncovered about ZANU PF post their conference in Goromonzi?
Moyo: From my understanding, the kitchen, the ZANU PF kitchen; Kitchen Cabinet working, making and queen-making is taking place and is very, very hot right now. And, I think, from what I hear, there is a growing meeting of minds among the various factions on the question of Mugabe’s succession. There are growing calls for elections to be held when due next year in March 2008. And interestingly, because Joyce Mujuru seems to be the target of the resolution, many of those who supported her are reacting in ways that are designed to ensure that that resolution does not see the light of day especially now that the matter has been taken back to Provinces. And, in Provinces, the political game in ZANU PF can be very, very uncertain.
Violet: And, it’s been reported that Joyce Mujuru’s husband, Solomon, has been campaigning in the provinces for the provinces to reject Mugabe’s idea. Have you heard anything about this?
Moyo: Well, but that campaign was visible in Goromonzi itself. I mean, one of the major, if not the reason itself why they did not come up with a single resolution and they had to postpone the matter is because the Mujuru camp was campaigning vigorously and they were the host province.
Violet: So, Peta, can you give a reflection of what you see is the way forward for the opposition in Zimbabwe , and the opportunities that the infighting or factionalism within ZANU PF creates for the opposition.
Peta : Well, there are opportunities aren’t there. I mean, there were opportunities in Murambatsvina and they didn’t grab them. I thought, I read Arthur Mutambara’s Annual Statement a couple of days ago. I thought it was most intelligent and raised many questions about strategy and tactics that the opposition is going to face. I’m not saying opposition MDC, I’m just saying the broad opposition to ZANU PF. I’ll just hold my breath and see if they translate any of that into any action, or lobbying or clever ploys to do.
You know, Mutambara, raises this question; are they really going to commit suicide? I mean they need ten MP’s not to go to Parliament one particular day when they have to get a two-thirds majority to change the constitution to allow any change to the elections. Are they working on it? I don’t know, maybe it’s too early in the year, maybe they are working quietly, I haven’t heard anything of that nature so far, I’ve read some stuff but certainly, Mutambara raised really interesting possibilities for debate and obviously what he is talking about is some kind of coalition of all opposition parties, opposition groups, civil society etc, etc, and if they have the means with which to do this. Maybe something will happen, but you know, I’m a bit of a pessimist about the opposition. We’ve seen it, where it was in 2000 and it’s been downhill all the way since then.
Violet: And finally, Professor Moyo, considering that the trend of late seems to be showing that the MDC is losing the electoral mandate and leading to voter apathy, do you believe that the MDC has the potential to wrestle power from ZANU PF, and, if you think so, how?
Moyo: I don’t think so and therefore I don’t have to answer how.
But, I do think that, ZANU PF, yes, I see the point raised by Peta, it will not commit suicide, but it will definitely have to reinvent itself. ZANU PF is now going through the same political experiences we have seen in Zambia , in Malawi in Kenya and in other countries where a ruling dictator, if you will, is clearly on his way out, has become a lame duck President.
And, you have people whose interest go ten, twenty, thirty years and they see that the party, the ruling party is a name and that there are more important goals that tie them with other elements in society. So, it will not be, if the ZANU PF MP’s block the two year extension proposal in Parliament, they will definitely not be committing suicide, they will be trying to give themselves a new lease of life. And that is why this is very important. And, it’s not about the MDC or other parties banking on ZANU PF. It is about all of us as a nation looking at the structures of this one party that has been in power for 27 years and saying to ourselves ‘can they continue?’ And the answer on the wall is ‘no they can’t’. Even Kaunda could not continue beyond 27 years. In order for a founding ruling party to continue for a longer period, it needs to be flexible, it needs to be dynamic, it needs to embrace change. That’s what KANU or now Chama Cha Mapinduzi in Tanzania did, and it’s the only time when a ruling party can survive. ZANU PF has been so stiff and the only outcome will be to break; not to kill political careers of ZANU PF people, but to renew them.
Violet Gonda: Professor Moyo and Peta Thornycroft thank you very much for taking part in the teleconference.
Jonathan Moyo: Thank you and you’re welcome
Peta Thornycroft: Thank you Violet
Audio interview can be heard on SW Radio Africa ’s Hot Seat programme (Tues 16 Jan). Comments and feedback can be emailed to violet@swradioafrica.com
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 17 Jan
2007 (IRIN) - Grinding poverty has condemned Zimbabwe's
tiny San population,
also known as Bushmen, to the fringes of society, but
the remaining few are
taking it upon themselves to improve their lives.
Alleged discrimination
at the hands of other ethnic communities and lack of
government support made
the San in Mgodimasili, a poverty-ravaged hamlet
200km northwest of
Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, where about 200 of the
1,200 San left in
Zimbabwe live.
Desperation made them decide to pool their resources to
start an
income-generating communal vegetable farm, established with
financial
assistance from members of the San community working in South
Africa and
Botswana.
"We are generally poor, as a community, and our
requests for help from
government and other well-wishers to help us empower
ourselves have failed
... Last year, we had a few boys - our children [in
neighbouring
countries] - donating some money for us to buy inputs that we
used to set up
a project to cultivate vegetables. We managed to do that as a
community and
now, as you can see, the tomatoes and spinach are ready for
harvesting,"
said village elder Vule Ndlovu.
"We have harvested some
that we have shared amongst ourselves for family
consumption, and some we
have sold and also shared the proceeds. Meanwhile,
we are continuing with
the cultivation of more vegetables," he said,
pointing to the flourishing
vegetables.
The project has now become the envy of Tjitatjawa and
Makhulela, two other
San villages situated in drought-prone southern
Zimbabwe, who have not been
able to raise the money to initiate similar
projects.
Mgodimasili is located near a dam, which is used as a source of
water for
irrigation. But this has the put the San on a collision course
with members
of other ethnic communities in the village. Although the San
use watering
cans for their vegetables, the other villagers accuse them of
draining the
precious resource.
"They [the San] are deliberately
wasting water, so that when the dam dries
up we will have nowhere to water
our animals," complained Bukamu Dube, a
villager from the Kalanga community.
"This will mean the death of our
livestock and we will be like them: they
don't have animals, because even if
somebody gave them goats or cattle to
breed, they will just slaughter them
all in a short period. They like meat
too much."
The San are unfazed. Nothabo Mafu, one of the farmers who has
benefited from
the project, said she wished they could get generators to
pump water. "This
will make work much easier for us and also it will help us
grow more
vegetables. Increased production certainly will mean an increase
in the
money that we get from selling our produce."
Pleased with the
success of their venture, the San wished they could raise
more money to
expand their project to include commercial cash crops, like
maize, or just
simply to buy pesticides. "Now we are looking forward to
getting chemicals
to kill pests that routinely damage our vegetables. On our
own we cannot
afford them because they are too expensive, and besides, we
don't know which
chemicals to use," said Mafu.
Although the San still practice their
ancient traditions, an increasing
number of laws banning hunting have forced
them to abandon their nomadic
life as hunter-gatherers and turn to
subsistence farming to eke out a
living.
Most have survived on
handouts from neighbouring ethnic groups, such as the
Kalanga and the
Ndebele, while others, especially young people, have sought
work herding
cattle and brick-making for a small wage.
The San have battled to send
their children to school, resulting in low
literacy levels that prevent most
of them from getting jobs with decent
salaries, and the crippling economic
hardships besetting once prosperous
Zimbabwe have left the San worse off
than other ethnic communities.
With inflation hovering at around 1,200
percent, the cost of living for a
family of six has reached more than
US$1,400 a month, a sum beyond the reach
of ordinary people, most of whom
earn around US$100 a month, while the San
barely make US$1 a day.
The
government has consistently denied discriminating against the San,
saying it
has a national policy to support all Zimbabweans, regardless of
their ethnic
group.
Basildon Peta
January 17 2007 at 10:53AM
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe flew
off to the East for his annual
holiday, but declined to use Air Zimbabwe
because its new Chinese jetliner
was "not safe".
Mugabe, who
has been out of the news in Zimbabwe recently, left for
Asia shortly after
Christmas with a group of more than 30 people, mostly
bodyguards and his
children, wife and central bank governor Gideon Gono.
Gono has since
returned to Zimbabwe.
Air Zimbabwe sources said the airline ran
into problems when it
reserved a Chinese MA60 plane to fly Mugabe and his
entourage. This was
because the Boeing 737 favoured by Mugabe was due to be
serviced.
A furious Mugabe refused to fly in the
MA60.
Sources at Air Zimbabwe said they had received correspondence
from the
president's office saying this was for "safety
reasons".
At the historic Focac summit between China's president Hu
Jintao and
46 African leaders in November, Mugabe was given a seat at centre
stage in
the first row when the gathering signed the Beijing Declaration
sealing
greater co-operation between African and China.
Air
Zimbabwe bought two MA60 planes from China last year and got an
extra one
free. The planes have frequently hit the headlines over their
numerous
technical problems leading to groundings or emergency landings.
Reports say the cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe could not afford to import
spares
to repair the MA60s and had to cannibalise one to keep flying the
other
two.
Mugabe has refused to fly in them since their arrival but
expects his
countrymen to do so.
Efforts to get comment
from his office failed
"We offered the MA60 because we simply did not
have an alternative at
the time. But not to our surprise the president
refused to fly it," said a
well-placed Air Zimbabwe source.
He
said Mugabe's refusal forced a sudden rescheduling which saw the
airline
delay its bigger B767 plane so that it could fly Mugabe to
Johannesburg from
where he connected to Singapore.
Whenever Mugabe goes on leave with
his family, his expenses are
bankrolled by the taxpayer because, he argues,
he would still be working.
The holidays are particularly expensive
as Mugabe is accompanied by
hordes of bodyguards on the state's
payroll.
His visit to Singapore has been very low key as he is said
to have
remained ensconced in a luxury hotel while his wife embarked on her
usual
shopping sprees.
Efforts to get comment from his office
failed.
This article was originally published on page 2 of
Pretoria News on
January 17, 2007
Wednesday 17 January
The Judge President Rita Makarau
launched a blistering attack on the
government this week for failing to
provide enough funding for the justice
department. Award winning lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa joins Gugulethu Moyo In The
Balance to talk about Makarau
and the state of the justice system in
Zimbabwe.
Mtetwa said she was
not surprised by Makarau's speech because what the Judge
President said was
factual and nothing new to those in the profession. Gugu
spoke to Mtetwa
last year at the beginning of the new legal year and she
asked her whether
there have been any changes since then. Mtetwa said the
situation has
actually become worse. She revealed that Masvingo province had
no circuit
court at all in 2006 because there was no money. She said: "One's
freedom
can depend on whether there is money or not. And a country that
cannot
dispense justice quickly and fairly cannot dispense anything
else."
Mtetwa told Gugu that prisoners are failing to make it to court
because
there was no fuel. Those who made it to court are sometimes not able
to
testify because they are too hungry. She said the prisoners are being fed
once a day and this affects their capacity to function. At the courts a
shortage of bond paper is making it difficult to keep records.
As for
recommendations, Mtetwa said more money needs to be injected into the
justice system. She also believes there are areas that do not need money
that can be improved. As an example she said people are being locked up
unnecessarily in cases where bail makes no difference. Putting mostly
dangerous criminals in prison would ease the situation by reducing costs and
freeing up the courts. Mtetwa also encouraged her fellow members in the Law
Society to check on cases they could take on free of charge during the
weekends. She believes many prisoners would be freed if they only had legal
representation.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
From SW Radio Africa, 16 January
By Violet Gonda
The editor of The Standard Newspaper
Bill Saidi said his paper still stands
by the story alleging that Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono splashed out
US$365 000 on a top-of-the range
Mercedes Benz. This is despite a statement
issued by the board of the RBZ
and ZIMOCO, distributors of the car range in
Zimbabwe, issuing separate
statements that there was no purchase of such a
car. But Saidi said the
newspaper got the information from impeccable
sources most of whom work at
the RBZ. "We have reliable people who have seen
the car." On Monday the
Board of directors of the Reserve Bank issued a
statement saying the
allegations were "wholly and totally untrue and
entirely a creation of the
media house and the journalist who wrote the
story." The group resolved to
take legal action against the, The Standard,
the UK based Zimbabwean
newspaper and against the journalist who wrote the
story. Zimoco General
Sales Manager Mrs D. Ritson said in a statement:
"Zimoco, as the general
distributor for Mercedes Benz vehicles in Zimbabwe,
has not imported a
BRABUS vehicle on behalf of any Zimbabwean customer to
date." Saidi said the
paper spent several days trying get comments from RBZ
officials but there
was a lot of stonewalling. Saidi claims the RBZ
spokesperson said he didn't
know about this purchase but it could have been
a personal purchase. Saidi
added: "Which means it might not have gone
through ZIMOCO. It might not
(have) come through what you call the normal
channels."
According to
the paper there was a virtual stampede by the workers at the
central bank
who tried to rush to the basement of the building when it was
reported the
new car had been seen there. The paper said senior management
staff barred
them from entering the basement, fearing that some of them
might take
photographs. Saidi told us: "We couldn't quote anybody because
obviously of
the dangers of some kind of action against them. But all that
information
came from people who work at the bank." Some commentators say it
is possible
that the story may have been manufactured by Gono's enemies and
leaked to
the press. Analysts say if this is the case it exposes the serious
jockeying
going on at Zanu PF in the succession battle for Robert Mugabe's
seat. When
asked about this Saidi said it's a point that cannot be dismissed
but the
story was checked thoroughly: "It's not improbable that we could
have been
the victim of some kind of scam, but what you want to appreciate
is that
this is not information which you could say is one sourced. There
are a
number of people. Now it's impossible that all of them were in a plot.
It's
not really something that you could say that half the bank - half the
staff
at the bank, were in on it? That will really be quite incredible."
Critics
also say even though RBZ has denied the claims the fact that they
admit
approving the purchase of US$138 000 for an S500 Mercedes Benz for use
by
Gono, is shocking in a country that is going through a desperate economic
crisis. In a country where there is a critical shortage of foreign currency
to buy food and fuel many are shocked that even if Gono bought a cheaper car
the "cash strapped" central bank forked out such a large amount for the
purchase.