The Telegraph
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 20/01/2006)
Owners of
property next to President Robert Mugabe's retirement mansion have
received
written warning that their houses will be confiscated by the state.
The
move represents the first time Zimbabwe's elite, both black and white,
have
suffered at first hand.
Millions of Zimbabweans were affected by last
year's "clearances" of urban
shantytowns and much of the rural population
hit by Mr Mugabe's war on white
farmers.
But, until now, many members
of the aristocracy have escaped unscathed - and
even set up home in close
proximity to his putative retirement home.
Mr Mugabe, 82 next month, has
nearly completed a huge luxury residence which
will cost more than £6
million. It is probably the largest private dwelling
in Africa. The three
floors amount to approximately four acres and include a
ballroom, media
complex and 24 bedrooms.
The Chinese-styled palace overlooks dams and a
newly-planted 50-acre garden
protected by a 12ft wall.
The interior
includes a Moroccan-style public room plastered by north
African craftsmen.
Original Chinese decorations have been used in several
other public
rooms.
The palace is overlooked by scores of luxury residences, some
still under
construction in a special estate, Borrowdale Brooke, about 18
miles north of
Harare.
The first 15 homeowners at Borrowdale had
warning letters on Wednesday from
the valuation department of the Local
Government Ministry.
"This serves to advise you that your property falls
in a designated security
area in terms of general notice of 255 of 2004, and
we will be in contact
with you soon with a view to inspecting your house for
valuation purposes."
Scores more residents living in lanes around the
palace say they are sure
they will receive similar letters
soon.
Among them are older couples hoping to sell their homes and retire
closer to
children who left Zimbabwe during the upheavals of the past six
years.
"We will never be able to get out now," said an 84-year-old
woman.
An estate agent specialising in Borrowdale properties, said:
"These letters
wiped out the value of any property close to the president's
palace.
"Those who have actually received letters warning them their
homes will be
acquired must know that they will never be able to sell their
homes and that
they will receive no compensation."
The Zimbabwe
government is bankrupt and is struggling to pay its civil
servants' wages.
It has no money to import essentials such as fuel.
Only a handful of more
than 4,000 white farmers whose homes, lands and
businesses were confiscated
by the state in the past six years received
compensation, in most cases less
than two per cent of the value of their
property.
David Coltart, a
legal spokesman of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, said:
"Mugabe's house has been under construction for years and this
irrational,
bankrupt regime only notifies residents now."
IOL
Basildon Peta
January 20 2006 at 07:41AM
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe,
whose health has been the subject
of intense speculation over the years,
fuelled more hysteria about his
wellbeing when he showed up at a
Johannesburg clinic on Thursday.
However, there were conflicting
statements over the reason for his
visit.
Junior hospital staff
at Garden City Clinic said Mugabe, who turns 82
next month, had reported for
a routine medical check-up in the neurology
department. They said he had
visited the hospital for treatment and
check-ups before.
But
Garden City's assistant general manager, Linda Gnade, was adamant
that
Mugabe had been there to see a sick friend.
"He wasn't admitted at
all or seen by a doctor. He came here at 11am,
stayed for 20 minutes and
left," said Gnade. "It wasn't a planned visit; we
weren't aware of it. He
was quite well. He looked very well - it was purely
a visit."
Gnade said Mugabe had not been treated at the hospital before. She
could not
reveal his friend's name, for professional reasons.
Mugabe has been out of the public spotlight in Zimbabwe since
officiating at
his party's annual conference last month.
Although he usually takes
leave at this time of the month, he normally
combines his break with public
business outings, particularly in Asia. If
there are important events - like
next week's annual African Union summit in
Sudan - Mugabe would cancel his
leave to attend. While he also looks
physically fit, reports casting doubts
on his mental state and general
health are widespread in
Zimbabwe.
He once collapsed at a public function in Malaysia and
had to receive
stitches on an eyelid. The president also has to live with
rumours that he
suffers regular epileptic fits.
This
article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on January
20,
2006
Mail and Guardian
Percy Zvomuya: NEWS
ANALYASIS
20 January 2006 06:27
In
many ways, the formal split of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) is
the end of a world. Here was a party that for the first time
in the history
of Zimbabwe was able to unite under one roof capitalists and
socialists, the
workers, the unemployed, peasants, intellectuals and
students. In a phrase:
everyone.
The MDC's ability to gel disparate groups was its
strength and,
in many ways, its Achilles heel.
Professor
Brian Raftopolous, of the Institute of Development
Studies, who was roped in
late last year as a mediator in the MDC leadership
fallout, told the Mail
& Guardian this week: "The mediation is over. It
failed. We have not
made any new efforts. The division has gone too far."
He
painted three scenarios for MDC supporters: some will join
the Morgan
Tsvangirai camp or the Welshman Ncube group; some will pin their
hopes on a
reformed Zanu-PF; while others will train their sights on the
civic
movement, whose most visible protagonist is Dr Lovemore Madhuku of the
National Constitutional Assembly.
"People must regroup,
reorganise and confront what may be a long
struggle," Raftopolous advised.
He saw a viable opposition in one of the MDC
factions linking up with a
vibrant civic movement.
Dr Eldred Masunungure, a political
analyst based at the
University of Zimbabwe, also believes the party that
has offered the
sternest contest yet to the ruling party will cease to
exist. "There is no
chance for the party to reconcile. The differences
cannot be bridged. It
will be healthier for them to go their separate
ways."
He said he did not see a viable opposition "in the
near future",
but predicted the emergence of one by 2010 ahead of the next
elections, just
as the MDC and the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) announced
their arrival
prior to the 2000 and 1990 polls respectively. In that
dispensation,
Masunungure argued: "We are likely to see the marginalisation
of the
[current] opposition leaders."
Those advocating
the road of a reformed Zanu-PF hope the ruling
party will take heed of the
Southern African Development Community protocols
on the holding of
elections, and uphold the rule of law and democratic
values. In short, a
party that would erase Robert Mugabe's legacy.
But there is a
catch. Zanu-PF has a crisis of its own - a
succession battle that is
simmering and could explode the moment Mugabe's
grip
weakens.
Former student leader and human rights activist
Daniel Molokela
speaks for many when he says the MDC has disappointed
Zimbabweans more than
Zanu-PF. "The hopes we had for a new era have been
dashed. The MDC has
become a source of frustration."
Zanu-PF at its moment of glory was never able to command as
wholesale
support as the MDC did. Its quest for hegemony just after
independence was
never successful. The Matabeleland provinces were always
beholden to the
Joshua Nkomo-led (PF) Zapu. This uneasy political balance is
seen in all the
serious formations after the Unity Accord of 1987. All had
variously been
seen as tribal, regional or a home for intellectuals.
Although Edgar Tekere's ZUM was able to secure 20% of the vote
in 1990, its
support came mainly from the eastern highlands. Former chief
justice Enoch
Dumbutshena's Forum Party of Zimbabwe was dismissed as elitist
.
It was a character in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last
Sigh who
said the end of a world is not the end of the world.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 01/20/2006 13:18:18
THE Zimbabwe government has
launched another controversial operation
code-named Mutsvairo (Sweep Up)
which it says is aimed at weeding out
criminal elements from Harare's
neighbourhoods.
The operation was launched in Mbare's notorious
Matererini and Shawasha
flats, where armed police bulldozed into people's
rooms shortly after 3am
Wednesday, unannounced.
"I was sleeping with
my wife, both of us naked and they just bulldozed into
the room and woke us
up. They ordered us to dress up in their full view,"
said a resident who
refused to be named.
"They had vicious dogs that were sniffing at
everything including us," he
added.
Another woman who also refused to
be named said she had lost goods worth
millions to the police, who took
anything whose receipts could not be
produced.
"Some of our things
had no receipts because we lost them over the years.
Others we bought at
flea markets in South Africa where we were not given the
receipts.
"Just as they did during Operation Murambatsvina, no one
will ever call them
to account for the goods," she said.
A police
spokesperson, Loveless Rupere said the exercise involved different
sections
of the police such as the Support Unit, Central Investigations
Department
and dog section.
He added that stolen goods worth $3, 5 billion were
recovered. The police
spokesperson said similar raids would be carried out
across Harare, but
could not be drawn into commenting on whether it would
spill into other
cities and towns.
The operation was launched at a
time the United Nations has indicated that
it would be sending another envoy
to Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian
crisis brought by the government's
policy of razing down urban dwellings
during the Murambatsvina exercise that
rendered over 700 000 people
homeless.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last
updated: 01/20/2006 13:29:45
REPORTS that up to 60 Zimbabweans might have
drowned while crossing the
flooded Limpopo River into South Africa could be
a hoax, according to new
details.
The state-run Herald newspaper
first made the claims that at least 18
Zimbabweans had drowned while trying
to wad across the flooded river, a
figure revised upwards in later
editions.
And on Thursday, the Herald claimed that the South African
Civil Protection
Unit and sub-aqua units had been deployed and two
helicopters scrambled to
search an area of the Limpopo River for any
bodies.
However, South African police on Thursday appeared to blow huge
holes into
the story when they DENIED any knowledge of the reported
drownings, said to
have taken place on Friday last week.
Ronel Otto,
the Limpopo police spokesperson told the SABC Thursday: "The
police in
Limpopo are not aware of any drownings of a group of people in the
Limpopo
River. We did not get any formal request for assistance in a search
or
recovery operation".
Otto added that no police members, divers or
helicopters from South Africa
were involved in the search for people
presumed to have drowned. He said the
normal policing of the borderline
continues and the river as well as its
banks will be
monitored.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's state radio reported Thursday that a
search of the
Limpopo River bank in the Dite area, 60km west of the border
town of
Beitbridge, had been called off with no bodies found.
State
radio repeated Herald claims that South African police had taken part
in the
search together with their Zimbabwean counterparts, a claim that was
becoming difficult to sustain after the denials from South
Africa.
"The announcement [that the search was being called off] was made
at a
Beitbridge civil protection unit meeting held last night and chaired by
the
police officer commanding Beitbridge district," said the radio
report.
South Africa has been battling to stop the flow of illegal
immigrants from
its struggling northern neighbour.
Last year alone,
it deported 97 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, but
reports say many try
to sneak back into the country, desperate to escape
economic hardships back
home. Sometimes groups of border jumpers hold hands
to form a human chain as
they try to cross the Limpopo. -- Sapa-dpa
African News Dimension
Friday, 20 January 2006, 5 hours, 20 minutes and
17 seconds ago.
By ANDnetwork .com
Hospitals in
Zimbabwe are reportedly still treating new cases of
cholera, despite
government claims the outbreak is under control. The
Zimbabwe Standard
newspaper and the United Nations' IRIN news service said
this week that new
cholera patients are being admitted at two infectious
disease hospitals in
Harare.
Both news agencies cite unidentified hospital workers
as their source.
Hospital officials said they have been ordered not to speak
to the press
about the outbreak.
Government Health Minister
David Parirenyatwa said last Wednesday that
no new cholera cases are being
reported.
Cholera is an acute intestinal illness spread through
contaminated
water or food that can lead to death. Government reports say
the current
outbreak has killed 14 people.
The Zimbabwe Medical
Association has criticized the government for
failing to provide clean
drinking water and adequate sanitation in Harare.
-VOA-
Independent, UK
By
Colin Crompton
Published: 20 January 2006
The former Zimbabwe captain
Stuart Carlisle said yesterday that the game's
world governing body, the
International Cricket Council, needed to "grow a
spine" and blamed it for
the country's decision to pull out of Test cricket
in
2006.
Zimbabwe's interim board announced the move on Wednesday - and
Carlisle says
it could have been avoided. "This is very embarrassing for
cricket in
Zimbabwe," he said. "I put 95 per cent of the blame on the ICC.
They could
have done a lot more and avoided this. But they just didn't want
to get
involved."
Carlisle said that the ICC would eventually have to
abandon its
non-interventionist policy. "One day the ICC is going to have to
stand up
and make a decision on something," he said. "They can't always pass
it on
and say it's an 'internal matter'. They're going to have to grow a
spine and
make a decision."
Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe
Cricket's new interim board, said the
decision to withdraw from Test cricket
was made after "consideration of the
recent performances by the national and
A teams". This is the second time in
20 months that the country has been
forced to cancel its Test commitments.
Carlisle says the whole situation
could have been avoided with action a year
and a half ago. In April 2004,
the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed,
travelled to Zimbabwe to discuss a
boycott by the country's top white
players. Speed was forced to return home
after the Zimbabwean officials
refused to meet him.
"Instead of
sending Speed, they should have sent a committee," Carlisle
said. "They
should have sent a three-man research team and spoken to players
and
administrators. They always get one side of the story. They could have
sorted this out a long time ago."
The former Zimbabwe captain Stuart
Carlisle said yesterday that the game's
world governing body, the
International Cricket Council, needed to "grow a
spine" and blamed it for
the country's decision to pull out of Test cricket
in
2006.
Zimbabwe's interim board announced the move on Wednesday - and
Carlisle says
it could have been avoided. "This is very embarrassing for
cricket in
Zimbabwe," he said. "I put 95 per cent of the blame on the ICC.
They could
have done a lot more and avoided this. But they just didn't want
to get
involved."
Carlisle said that the ICC would eventually have to
abandon its
non-interventionist policy. "One day the ICC is going to have to
stand up
and make a decision on something," he said. "They can't always pass
it on
and say it's an 'internal matter'. They're going to have to grow a
spine and
make a decision."
Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe
Cricket's new interim board, said the
decision to withdraw from Test cricket
was made after "consideration of the
recent performances by the national and
A teams". This is the second time in
20 months that the country has been
forced to cancel its Test commitments.
Carlisle says the whole situation
could have been avoided with action a year
and a half ago. In April 2004,
the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed,
travelled to Zimbabwe to discuss a
boycott by the country's top white
players. Speed was forced to return home
after the Zimbabwean officials
refused to meet him.
"Instead of
sending Speed, they should have sent a committee," Carlisle
said. "They
should have sent a three-man research team and spoken to players
and
administrators. They always get one side of the story. They could have
sorted this out a long time ago."
News24
19/01/2006 09:30 -
(SA)
Cape Town - Ten elephant experts from universities and research
institutes
in South Africa and Zimbabwe met on Wednesday with Environment
Minister
Marthinius van Schalkwyk to discuss proposals to end a 10-year ban
on
culling the mighty mammals, which a top tourist attraction but are
threatening the delicate balance of nature.
Van Schalkwyk convened
the meeting as part of wide-ranging consultations
which have so far failed
to find common ground on the sensitive issue.
The scientists were asked
for advice in the following areas: if there are
too many elephants; whether
they are harming biodiversity; the need for
action to reduce populations;
and which management options should be used,
an environment ministry
statement said.
"The minister has said that his final decision would be
based on the
available science, ethical and social considerations,
indigenous knowledge,
environmental and tourism impacts," said ministry
spokesperson JP Louw.
Louw conceded that "there appears to be little
consensus among leading
scientists". A meeting of environmental groups in
November also ended in
differences between groups like the World Wide Fund
for Nature, which argued
that overall biodiversity should take priority and
animal welfare groups
outraged at the prospect of resumed
slaughter.
Action must be taken
The South African National Parks
recommended last year that culling should
be considered as one of the
possibilities to control the 7% annual increase
in elephants in the flagship
Kruger National Park. Without action, park
officials warn that the elephant
population will triple to 34 000 by 2020,
posing a threat to other animals
and vegetation in the reserve.
South Africa culled a total of 14 562
elephants between 1967 and 1994.
Without that cull, the population would
have rocketed by now to 80 000,
according to parks chief executive, David
Mabunda. The killing stopped in
1995, partly because of local and
international pressure.
Van Schalkwyk has said "no action" option is no
longer realistic and the
government must act in the interest of "sustainable
conservation". A single
elephant devours up to 300kg of grass, leaves and
twigs a day.
The environment ministry is considering other possibilities.
But it says
that relocating the elephants is not the sole answer because
adjacent parks
and game reserves are also full. Contraception poses
practical problems and
is expensive, given the number of elephants
involved.
Comparing notes with neighbours
The ministry said it
expected further scientific consultations, given that a
number of
specialists based in the United States, Britain and Australia were
unable to
attend Wednesday's session.
It expects to issue a draft policy document
for public comment later in the
year.
South Africa, Namibia and
Botswana all have booming elephant populations,
while East African nations
such as Kenya struggle to increase their herds,
which were decimated by
poaching in the 1980s. Trade in ivory has been
banned since 1989 to try to
combat poaching.
South Africa has repeatedly appealed to the United
Nations body monitoring
endangered species to lift the ban on trade in ivory
to allow the proceeds
to be invested in parks.
International Journalists Network
Jan 19, 2006
A group of
Zimabwean journalists based in the U.K. has launched a new Web
site. The
goal is to support persecuted colleagues in their home country and
abroad.
The Association of Zimbabwean Journalists in the U.K.
(AZJ-UK) launched the
site on January 16. The group formed a year ago, and
since then has grown to
about 40 Zimbabwean journalists living in the U.K.
because of political
pressure or economic problems.
According to the
Web site, the group hopes to support Zimbabwean colleagues
in a number of
ways. They plan to support press freedom, form a database of
journalists,
help fellow expatriates find jobs and training, and support
journalists in
Zimbabwe who have lost their jobs.
International watchdogs like Reporters
Without Borders (RSF) have voiced
concerns in recent years as President
Robert Mugabe continues to restrict
the press in Zimbabwe. Tafataona Mahoso,
head of the Media and Information
Commission (MIC), recently threatened to
close one of the last independent
news outlets, the Financial Gazette. The
commission has closed down four
newspapers in the last three
years.
AZJ-UK: www.zimbabwejournalists.com.
RSF:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16205.
The Zimbabwean
BY A
CORRESPONDENT HARARE - The rain fell and the state media's false dawns,
predictions of farming recovery and all being well in 2006 scaled new
heights of absurdity. These reports ran right alongside - but made no
connection with - stories about the general chaos in the agricultural
sector, including shortage of fertiliser and other inputs and under-use of
land seized from white owners. The media watchdog, Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe (MMPZ), noted in its report covering Jan. 2-8, that there were no
confusing signals, however, in the private media. "Almost all their 32
stories - forecast a gloomy 2006 on the strength of independent
commentators' observations that the country's economic slide would continue
despite the rains as government's skewed economic policies remained intact,"
the MMPZ said. The Financial Gazette, for example, reported the business
community took a gloomy view of the prospects for 2006 and predicted
inflation topping 600 percent and the plummeting Zimbabwe dollar hitting
100,000 to the US dollar. (Economists predict an unofficial rate of nearly
Zimbabwe $250,000 to the US dollar by mid-year). The Gazette also quoted
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Luxon Zembe as dismissing
the rosy predictions. The Zimbabwe Indepdent, The Standard and the Sunday
Mirror all concurred. The Herald, The Chronicle and the rest of the regime's
propagandists, however, pressed on regardless. ZTV, for example, claimed
that "most people" were confident "the country will go forward," and the
economy will "grow and stabilise." However, the MMPZ said that none of nine
people quoted as the basis for this report, actually said that. "Instead,
they simply highlighted economic problems besetting the country and implored
government to draw up effective measures to address the crisis in 2006." A
ground-breaking report by the African Commission for Human and People's
Rights condemning Zimbabwe's human rights record received a wide berth from
the state media. ZBH completed ignored the report. The state press made a
cursory reference to it in the context of the Mugabe regime feigning
ignorance of the resolutions. And even after the regime put together one of
its signature, blustering responses, the state press buried this at the end
of an unsubstantiated report that UN Secretary-Genral Kofi Annan is due to
visit soon. MMPZ said that both the state and private media dismally failed
to report on the major cholera outbreak, which has reportedly so far killed
at least 14 people in Manicaland, Harare and Mashonaland East. "All stories
on the matter were hazy and failed to independently establish the exact
circumstances leading to the outbreak, when the first cases were detected,
or when the first death occurred," the monitors added. ZBH was the worst,
covering the story with a series of events reports of Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa's tour of affected areas. Although Parirenyatwa expressed
serious concerns and said the spread of the disease indicated a "frightening
pattern," The Herald and The Chronicle presented the state as being in
control of the situation. The Chronicle gave a depressing insight into its
priorities - placing the cholera story on page 3, preferring to lead with a
fund-raising show for the national soccer team and a railways manager
arrested on charges of smuggling maize seed and cement.
The Zimbabwean
By MARTINE STEMERICK 2005 was not
an easy year for most Zimbabweans. For
orphans, the obstacles of finding
food, shelter, and money for school fees
were almost insurmountable. But in
Bulawayo, a determined grandmother has
energized her church and community to
provide hope and practical support for
over one thousand orphans across
Matabeleland. Her name is Sheba Dube,
director of Providence Orphans and
Caregivers Trust [POCT]. Working out of a
closet-sized office at Main Street
Methodist Church, "Auntie" Sheba is a
magnetic force for good, gathering up
suffering children and constantly
searching for the food, clothing, and
school fees to provide for their
physical and spiritual needs. With over
1020 children on the books, POCT is
more than a full-time job for its unpaid
director and her army of faithful
volunteers. Facing hyperinflation and a
5000 percent rise in school fees,
Sheba seems undaunted by a mountain of
problems: "God will provide." In
2005, POCT provided school uniforms, books,
fees and kits for 137 orphans;
in 2006, the number has risen to 154 as a
result of Murambatsvina. Seventy
percent of the beneficiaries are girls.
Archbishop Pius Ncube, whose
compassion for the poor has led him to speak
out tirelessly, marvels at
Sheba's efforts, calling her a "wingless angel"
for her ministry to Christ's
poor. The key to Sheba's success is care in the
community. Mobilizing an
army of carers is not easy, but Sheba has enlisted
the good will of high
school student clubs, the Rotary, and other
civic-minded organizations to
help care for the orphans in after-school Kidz
Clubs, summer camps, and
Christmas programmes. Sheba arranges for relatives
or widows to care for the
orphans, while POCT provides food and school fees
if necessary. Churches
collect food and blankets, used clothes and toys,
which are stored and
handed out in celebration services. With the number of
orphans and
child-headed households growing, POCT earmarked 2005 as its
expansion year.
Programmes for disadvantaged children began in two small
villages: Avoca in
Filabusi and Masenyane in Lupane. Monitoring the new
programmes proved
challenging because of transport problems. POCT does not
have its own
transport and relies on hiring trucks to deliver food rations
received from
friends. Sheba said, "Transporters charge us $30 000 a
kilometre in addition
to us sourcing our own fuel. Initially we were buying
at $50 000 a litre.
The price has since gone up to $105 000 a litre and is
likely to go up again
soon." Something had to be done. Ever resourceful,
Sheba came up with a
creative development solution for feeding the children:
grow the food in
large gardens next to the school. In Avoca, the school
donated the land and
contributions were raised to fence it. With diesel
increasingly unavailable,
Sheba has applied to donors for two oxen and a
plough. The oxen will be used
not only to plant maize and vegetables to feed
the orphans, but also to
plough fields for other villagers to earn money for
the children's school
fees. Other development projects include the purchase
of sewing machines,
fabric, buttons, etc. and teaching the widows and girls
to sew school
uniforms for the orphans POCT supports and also to sell to
parents who need
to buy uniforms. Before the rains came, Sheba encouraged
the villagers to
dig holes for 100 orange and natches trees, which promise
fresh fruit in the
future. Zimbabwe's orphans are in good hands as long as
Sheba Dube can
continue her loving work. POCT depends on friends for funding
and supplies.
Contributions can be sent to: Alvaston Methodist Church - The
Zimbabwe Fund,
c/o Revd Dr Martine Stemerick, 137 Shardlow Road, Alvaston,
Derby DE24 0JR.
To receive a copy of the POCT 2005 newsletter, write to
martinestemerick@yahoo.co.uk
The Zimbabwean
BY STANFORD MUKASA
WASHINGTON - The decision by the United States to resume
the SADC-US Forum
in which Zimbabwe can participate has raised fears that
the United States
may be softening its hard-line policies on Zimbabwe. The
United States had
broken off the forum because it did not want its delegates
to sit in the
same room as those from Zimbabwe. According to the assistant
secretary of
state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, the argument for
resuming the
SADC forum was that the United States has always engaged
Zimbabwe. She said
both countries have ambassadors in each other's capital.
Indeed, one can
also argue that the United States delegates regularly attend
international
conferences with their counterparts from Zimbabwe. On the
surface this
sounds like a logical policy shift. There are, however, two
major
implications of this policy shift. The first has to do with the United
States interests in Africa in general. The second reflects a growing
skepticism that the opposition Zimbabwe is merely a minor inconvenience in
the US's overall African policy, based on the US interests there. For quite
a while now both the secretary of state and the assistant secretary of state
for Africa have hardly made any significant comments on Zimbabwe. There is a
precedent to this. Back in 1970s the then secretary of state, Henry
Kissinger, tried forge a US policy on Africa that was focused more on the US
interests than on the social and humanitarian impact of apartheid. In the
early 1970s, a leaked policy recommendation showed a policy shift towards
reforming apartheid rather than regime change based on one person one vote.
The assumptions underlying that policy recommendation were that the white
regimes in southern Africa were there to stay and that the local liberation
movements had not shown any potential to achieve their objectives for regime
change. The other assumption was that the liberation movement was driven by
a neo-Marxist ideology, which during the Cold War Era was clearly seen
against the interests of the United States. But the new emerging policy was
overtaken by a numbered of events that changed the geopolitical map of
southern Africa. As a result Kissinger was forced to increase pressure on
the apartheid regime to force majority rule in the then Rhodesia. The
apartheid regime had accepted this in the hope that the tide of liberation
would be effectively halted on the Limpopo River. But as we all know events
took their own dynamic. In the aftermath of the splintering of the MDC
leadership there is a loss of faith in the ability of the opposition
movement to dislodge Mugabe and Zanu (PF). The new policy shift towards
engagement signifies a key US focus from regime change to regime reform,
similar to what Kissinger envisaged back in the 1970s. But this time around
there are no signs of a clear and present threat to the Mugabe regime in a
way that would give hope that the opposition movement is anywhere near
achieving their objectives of dislodging Mugabe. How many times over the
years did we hear former secretary of information and publicity say the MDC
had secret plans to confront Mugabe but would not disclose them until the
appropriate time! This is not to say that the MDC was or is without
strength - but is there is a commitment and determination among the
leadership to mobilize the massive and raw strength of Zimbabwean masses
into street protests? This is the fundamental key to any popular revolution
against Mugabe. Since the split in the MDC leadership Morgan Tsvangirayi and
his highly energetic secretary of information Nelson Chamisa and economic
planning and finance secretary Tendai Biti have articulated a new radical
policy of confrontation. In a stark contrast, the splinter pro-senate group
led by Welshman Ncube and Gibson Sibanda has opted for the politics of
accommodation. The question is which agenda will reach the finishing line
first, if at all? So what is needed in Zimbabwe today is a dramatic event
that will inspire an effective challenge to the Mugabe regime. It can be a
coup within the Zimbabwean army? Thousands of soldiers are reportedly
resigning from the army, signaling a low morale and a rising dissatisfaction
with Mugabe among the soldiers. These disgruntled solders could provide the
backbone for a more organized civilian resistance to Mugabe. MDC leadership
would need to forge closer links with them in their civilian lives. It can
also be, as in Kenya, a group of dissatisfied Zanu MPs crossing the floor
and effectively bringing down the Mugabe regime, university students and
youths around the country staging mass demonstrations, or civil servants
going on an indefinite strike, effectively shutting down government. Mass
protest is still possible in Zimbabwe. But what is critical now is what will
trigger or inspire it.
The Zimbabwean
Ten of the 12
Provincial Congresses have now been held - well attended in
all cases by
delegates from the Branches, Wards and Provincial structures.
New leadership
has been elected and in most cases there is a general
improvement in the
quality and character of the leadership that has been
elected. Some 15 000
people will be eligible to attend Congress as delegates
and these together
with our guests will mean that we will have a very large
number of people at
Congress. This will be our second Congress - the first
being in late 1999
when we met at the National Aquatic Sports Centre in
Chitungwiza. This year
we go to the National Sports Centre in Harare. At
Congress, the process of
healing the wounds of the split in our leadership
will finally be dealt with
and a full contingent of national leaders
elected. Congress will be a real
celebration of the democratic spirit in
Zimbabwe. A celebration of courage
and determination to stand up to a
tyrannical dictatorship in defence of our
rights as people. A celebration of
survival; in spite of all that has been
thrown at us over the past six
years, we are still here, still in good
spirit and still determined to
finish what we started out to do in 1997. The
second aspect of the Congress
will be to cement the consensus we have
evolved together over the past six
years in respect to our philosophy and
ideology as well as the policies that
flow from those foundations. We are a
social democratic movement and as such
our policies will reflect our
commitment to the welfare of our people and
the development of our country.
To facilitate this a full policy review is
under way. The third aspect will
be to work out how we are going to achieve
our main goal - that of effecting
regime change in Zimbabwe. There are very
few in Zimbabwe today who do not
accept that Zanu (PF) has completely failed
to manage our political and
economic affairs. We have seen the most rapid
collapse of an economy in
African history - and in a country that is not at
war and has no internal
armed struggle. This has been a self-inflicted
collapse and the regime shows
no sign of either understanding what it has
done or how to fix the problem.
We have no alternative but to now seek their
removal from power and the
instillation of a new government that will tackle
our massive and urgent
problems and restore our dignity as a nation. The
question is how? We have
tried the democratic route and been frustrated at
every hurdle. The report
on the Presidential election in 2002 is now out in
draft form and being
examined by Party leaders. It is a completely damming
indictment of the
whole electoral process as developed and managed by Zanu
(PF) since 1980. It
reveals a completely manipulated and corrupted voters
roll, a sophisticated
system designed distort the roll to accommodate every
sort of electoral
fraud. It uncovers the role of the "Command Centre" a
sinister body run by
the military and security agencies that actually
administers all elections
from the headquarters of the CIO in Harare and
that has links to every
polling station in the country. It shows how this
body distorted the results
- blatantly manipulating the voting figures that
were coming out of the
polling stations themselves. It reinforces our claim
that the Registrar
General's Office is totally partisan and is actually the
main agent used for
the manipulations and distortion of voting rights,
citizenship and creating
the capacity for vote fraud on a massive scale. We
have tried the legal
route - we took 35 of the June 2000 election results to
Court, as is our
right in terms of the law and our constitution. It took the
Courts five
years to hear 12 cases - award seven to the MDC and dismiss five
and the
rest fell away when the next elections took place. In only two cases
were
the electoral challenge procedures completed, MDC won both but so late
that
our extra Members of Parliament never had a chance to attend even one
session. Then there was the legal challenge to the election of Mugabe as
State President in 2002. He purportedly won that by a significant margin but
we know that in fact a two-thirds majority defeated him. We took this to the
Courts within 30 days of the election - today, five years later, the case
has still not been heard and in desperation we have now appealed to the
Supreme Court. So no democratic means, no legal means - what next? We
ourselves rule out violence and armed struggle - we have been down that road
before and see no future for anyone there. So what way to go? Well first we
have to set our goals - that is in the process of taking shape in the MDC
but I think it is going to be a new national, peoples driven constitution.
Once that is in place then a normalization period to stabilize the situation
on the ground (food and security) and then fresh elections under
international supervision. "You will never get Zanu (PF) to agree to that" -
agreed, therefore there will have to be some use of force and here we will
use the methods refined over the past centuries by similar populations
living under tyrannies - civil disobedience, strikes, stay aways, boycotts
and pressure on all associated with the regime to concede the need for a new
beginning. At recent rallies the leadership of the MDC spoke to thousands of
its supporters and outlined to them their thinking. There is no doubt about
our need. No doubt about our determination and we have no doubt about our
eventual victory. History is on our side, the people will prevail and this
time Zanu (PF) will have no place to hide, not even in Pretoria. As Roy
Bennett said at the recent Council meeting "we have won seats in Parliament,
taken control of a majority of the Cities and Towns and what have we
achieved for our people - nothing!" He asked? "In what way can we say that
what we have been doing in the past six years has benefited the ordinary man
in the street?" He said this in support of a call for radical new strategies
to confront Zanu (PF) in all spheres and for the MDC to abandon strategies
that do not yield change. He is absolutely right
The Zimbabwean
And now the government has turned
its attention to the production of
fertilizer. Goodbye to fertilizer. It
will now join the long list of
products procured or produced by the
government that are unobtainable on the
open market. First it was fuel.
Government took over the procurement of fuel
from oil companies years ago,
simply because it was an easy way to bolster
the (Swiss) bank accounts of
Zanu (PF) heavies. No sooner had they done so
than the country was hit by a
major shortage - a situation that has never
been successfully resolved. Then
they turned their attention to land - and
we all know the result of that.
Recently the government announced plans to
force commercial banks to lend
money to newly-resettled farmers, despite the
fact that its own land bank
nearly collapsed when politicians interfered
with its lending policies. Now,
it is the turn of fertilizer, one of the
beleagured agricultural industry's
most vital inputs. This hare-brained
scheme to mug the shareholders of the
fertilizer industry is just another
step in the Mugabe regime's doomed
ideological economic 'reform' that can
only lead the country into further
chaos and misery. If the fertilizer
companies have virtually collapsed
because they are unable to obtain foreign
currency to continue operating,
how will a change in ownership alter this? -
given that there is no hard
currency available in the country.
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - Over
the past five years the United States policy toward Zimbabwe
has remained
principled and pointed, even in its varying formulations. The
cornerstone of
the US policy has been the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act. In
the face of sheer intransigence on the part of the Mugabe
regime to adopt
democratic reform, the US government formulated and
implemented a set of
benign measures - the travel ban and asset freeze, in
an attempt to induce
Zimbabwe's ruling elite to re-think their strategy. To
compliment the US
commitment to democracy the US turned the dial up on
political rhetoric
calling for regime change in Zimbabwe. Former Secretary
of State Colin
Powell, America's leading diplomat put Mugabe on notice,
pledging US support
for Zimbabwe's transition to democracy. Following the US
President G. W
Bush's visit to Africa in June of 2004, and subsequent
consultations with
Zimbabwe's southern neighbor the US adopted a back seat
approach in calling
for change, allowing Thabo Mbeki's policy of quite
diplomacy to take centre
stage. Despite the labeling of Zimbabwe as the
outpost of tyranny by current
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
constructive engagement with
regional governments and the Mugabe regime will
remain the United States
policy position on Zimbabwe. With the failure of
South Africa's quite
diplomacy initiative, evidenced by declining conditions
in Zimbabwe, and the
chaotic political landscape in Zimbabwe, coupled by the
conspicuous rise of
the Chinese presence in the region, the US has been
forced to pursue a
policy that brings about a quick resolution to the
Zimbabwean impasse, while
maintaining a strategic presence in the region.
Hence the resurgence of the
US government's annual forums with the countries
of the Southern African
Development Community. US-SADC dialogue had been
impeded to date by the
region's complicit support for the Mugabe regime.
However, the African
Union's current position on the Zimbabwean crisis paves
the way for renewed
engagement with African States, with the hope that
Zimbabwe would be brought
into the broader discussion, where their peers are
sitting at the table as
well. With the stability of the Southern African
region being threatened by
the progressive collapse of the Zimbabwean
economy and the fluctuating
internal socio-political conditions elevating
Zimbabwe to a failed state
status, America's policy is likely to move beyond
humanitarianism to
include, a substantial human socio-political development
dimension. However,
this progression could be impeded by the rapid brain
drain and declining
social conditions currently being experienced in
Zimbabwe. RALPH BLACK,
North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean
LONDON - A
new scheme has just been launched by the International
Organisation of
Migration (IOM), to encourage failed asylum seekers to
return to their home
countries voluntarily. Many nationalities are being
targeted, including
Zimbabweans, as part of a government initiative. This is
such a widespread
programme some members have seen poster adverts on the
London tube. A figure
of up to 3,000 Pounds is being offered by IOM to each
person who chooses to
agree to return voluntarily to their home country.
Applications have to be
made by 31 May 2006. We understand that it only
applies to people who
applied for asylum before December 2005. A number of
Zimbabweans have
already received letters offering this deal. People in this
position may
wish to ring the ZA office for further discussion. It would
also be useful
to hear from anyone who has decided to accept the offer. A
constructive
meeting with the Asylum Support Appeals Project last week has
led to a
better understanding of the benefits and financial support
available to
those in the asylum process. We intend to participate in their
next training
session and hope to be in a position to provide more
information for our
members facing problems of asylum support. Other events
of interest this
week include the case of a person who was refused Section 4
(Hard Cases)
support after having put in fresh representations following the
AA ruling in
October 2005. The person appealed against this refusal of
support and the
adjudicator found in their favour. The adjudicator's
statement confirmed
that the AA ruling was likely to be accepted by the
Secretary of State as
reasonable grounds for a fresh claim. This is a
positive sign and suggests
other such fresh claims may be accepted. Rumours
of people saying they are
going to make 'opportunistic' claims for asylum
have been filtering through
to us. We can only warn such people that there
are many changes planned for
the asylum system this year and suggest that
they read such articles as
"Asylum seekers face tough controls under new
fast-track system" by Alan
Travis, home affairs editor, Tuesday January 3,
2006, The Guardian, before
making any hasty decisions. Anyone who is trying
to regularise their
immigration position is advised to take legal advice
from a competent legal
firm, law centre or Citizens Advice Bureau. Seven
Zimbabweans remain in
detention to our knowledge. Those we have spoken to
recently seem optimistic
that their release is imminent.
The Zimbabwean
BY LANCE
GUMA BEIT BRIDGE - The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) has
described the
recently opened migrant centre between the Zimbabwe-South
African border as
an intelligence-gathering scheme. The two countries on
Monday opened an
office at the Beit Bridge Border post to try and limit
illegal immigration
and the flouting of labour laws. The reported plan is to
help Zimbabweans
seeking employment in South Africa to get legal
documentation. Gabriel
Shumba the Executive Director of the ZEF says it is
mainly the Zimbabwean
government that wants to keep tabs on who is leaving
the country and where
they will be based in South Africa. South African
officials say the system
will help the department of labour to make
employers accountable for how
they treat migrant labour. It will provide
food and basic amenities while
work permits are processed. The centre will
reportedly also provide HIV/AIDS
counselling and be the centre point for
World Food Programme support. Both
governments say they are hoping it will
help reduce border jumping and the
abuse of Zimbabweans by South African
employers. Press reports indicate that
the International Organisation for
Migration is supporting the initiative,
which is the first of its kind in
Africa. The office will also receive the
close to 2000 Zimbabweans deported
every week. The defence and security deal
signed by the two countries last
year has coincided with a number of events
and arrangements that have made
activists feel vulnerable in South Africa.
Members of the militant Zimbabwe
Action Support Group have been arrested and
threatened with deportation
while at the same time a senior Zimbabwean spy
boasted about getting
information on NGO's working in South Africa from his
counterparts.
Observers say the office cannot absorb the large numbers of
people leaving
the country and there was no way everyone could get legal
documentation to
work in South Africa. It remains to be seen how the scheme
will work.
The Zimbabwean
A friend of mine was so touched by the
care of a nurse recently that he
composed a letter and circulated it to
share his New Year joy. Good news is
almost something we have come not to
expect. It is somehow unsettling. We
are supposed to be only having bad news
in Zimbabwe. Well, this friend had a
serious accident towards the end of the
old year and he and his fellow
travelers were cared for initially in a
government hospital in Mutoko. They
received the best care possible and what
struck my friend particularly was
the follow up. The nurse who cared for
them phoned several of them later to
find out how they were getting on. It
is common knowledge that our hospitals
are struggling. The government itself
described Parirenyatwa last year as
being 'in intensive care.' Supplies are
hard to come by and nurses are not
paid a living wage. The morale among
nurses suffers as a result. Just this
week a baby died in hospital in Harare
because at a critical moment after
birth there was no one in attendance on
the mother. Yet this particular
nurse rose above all the limitations of her
job and situation to reach out
to someone who was hurt and badly shaken by
his experience. She decided a
long time ago not to give in to the general
discouragement in the profession
but to make her own way and set her own
ideals. In her family life she felt
herself blessed by God and in return
decided, in my friend's words, 'to do
her job to the very best of her
abilities.' What a simple everyday
expression and yet what a powerful one!
She cared for the bodies of the
wounded people but much more she touched
their hearts. The poet Yeats has a
line about someone who Wild with divinity
Had so lit up the whole - There is
no more powerful incentive than the
witness of action, which goes against -
or rises above - the normal. It
releases something within us. We catch fire.
We can call this quality
'leadership.'
The Zimbabwean
BY LITANY BIRD Dear
Family and Friends, Zimbabwe has begun harvesting the
results of six years
of mismanagement. We are continuing to have a bountiful
rainy season and
every day the heavens open and wash our troubled land.
Streams and rivers
are flowing, dams are filling, the vegetation is
flourishing but all this
water is causing crumbling, decrepit and
un-maintained systems to come
dangerously close to falling apart. This week
the reports of diarrhoea and
cholera have continued and we have seen the
most appalling television
coverage of foul and filthy piles of sodden and
decaying garbage in and
around the capital city. We have seen pictures of
raw sewage bubbling up out
of broken, blocked pipes and have heard reports
of tap water with
unacceptably high levels of blue green algae. The excuses
from the
authorities are the same as always - there is no fuel - to collect
garbage,
transport workers or carry spare parts; and there is no money - to
buy fuel
on the black market, to buy chemicals for the water or to purchase
equipment
needed to effect repairs. Every day in my part of the country this
week the
electricity has gone off: at first it was two hours, then three,
five, six
and on Friday for seven hours. A telephone call to ZESA - the
electricity
supply company- is virtually pointless as all they can tell you
is that the
power cut is the result of load shedding. They say they don't
know how long
the power will be off for and that it is out of their control.
This week
there have been growing reports of army worm gobbling up the few
crops that
are in the ground on Zimbabwe's farms. Apparently the worm is now
in all but
one of Zimbabwe's provinces and is going largely unchecked for
the same
reason as everything else - no fuel to get to the affected crops
and no
money to buy the chemicals to spray the worms. What a diabolical mess
we are
now in. It is not surprising that over 50 000 Zimbabweans were
deported from
South Africa in the month over Christmas for being illegal
immigrants or
that each and every day another 400 jump the border into South
Africa. I do
not know what the figures are for border jumpers into
Mozambique, Zambia and
Botswana but I know that Zimbabweans are now just
desperate to get away from
the hunger, disease and dirt - not to mention
inflation of 585%. At the very
least our neighbours could say something but
still they stay quiet; what
shame upon them that they cannot, even now,
speak out. Ndini shamwari
yenyu.
The Zimbabwean
In this week's issue we carry a story
about thousands of disgruntled
policemen and solders trying to leave the
armed forces. In the past the
government has looked after the interests of
the army and the police, who in
turn have viciously suppressed any dissent
on the part of the long-suffering
masses. The forces were both active and
diligent in carrying out the
diabolical Operation Murambatsvina, which
wrought havoc among urban
populations throughout the country. Members of all
ranks have allowed
themselves to be used as willing tools of oppression -
thrashing suspected
opposition members and civil society demonstrators,
implementing the law in
an unashamedly partisan manner and soliciting and
accepting bribes at every
opportunity. As the ruling party's disastrous
economic policies bear their
inevitable fruit of rampant inflation and
desperate shortages of all basic
commodities, members of the armed services,
particularly those in the middle
and junior ranks, have found themselves
battling to survive - like most of
the population. Even taking bribes to
augment their meagre salaries no
longer bridges their budget deficits. And
so they are resigning. But their
options are limited. Unemployment is
running at 80% and above. South Africa
is deporting thousands of Zimbabweans
every week. What will it take for them
to realize that their best bet would
be to do whatever they can to
contribute to the removal of the current
failed, oppressive dictatorship?
Therein lies their, and our, only
hope.
Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw
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Ad
inserted 19 January 2006
Bookkeeper Wanted.
Mornings only
bookkeeper to Trial Balance. Knowledge of VAT and Wages
would be an
advantage. Garage and kiosk environment. Suit older
person. Female office
environment. Must be computer literate. Please
contact Louise on 309447/8
or email blong@zim.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
Looking for a manager, between the ages of 18 -
24 years. Preferably just
left school. To grow flowers, potatoes and a
cattle herd. Situated in
Ruwa.
Please contact me by e-mail at hopitt@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
CANE FARMER IN TRIANGLE AREA LOOKING FOR A
RETIRED FARMER TO OVERSEE CANE
PRODUCTION. POSITION WOULD SUIT SOMEONE
LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL INCOME
TO SUPPLEMENT EXISTING PENSION, AS THE AREA OF
CANE DOES NOT SUSTAIN A
PRESENT DAY FARM MANAGERS SALARY.
HOUSE,
ELECTRICITY, WATER & SERVANTS PROVIDED.
PLEASE CONTACT: - ANN
BRADFIELD acasiasafaris@zol.co.zw
CELL:
011211336 OR 091273639 OR BULAWAYO
230615
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Ad
inserted 12 January 2006
Wanted - Lady with accounting background,
computer literate with Excel
and Word.
Pleasant office environment in
Willowvale
Negotiable package and fuel allowance.
Please reply to
091-208566 or 011-207084 or email hyena@zol.co.zw.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
CHILDMINDER WANTED
Looking for a
brilliant child minder to help with our 2-year-old
daughter. If anyone is
leaving and needs to place their child minder
please get hold of us.
Accommodation offered.
Brenda
Pattenden
091326755
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Position - OFFICE ASSISTANT
Duties
Include - assisting with computer input, keeping CD1's up-to-date,
assisting
with banking, general office duties - a varied job.
Type Of Person -
friendly, out-going, able to work with the minimum of
supervision, loyal,
confidential.
Please could CVs be emailed to the Export Manager at rene@zimflower.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Wanted Senior Bookkeeper
The Company:
Well-established, small and dynamic, growing, multi-faceted
organisation
based in the Northern Suburbs of Harare.
The Role: All accounting data
capture. Production of monthly trial
balance sheets and management
accounts. Cash management, statutory
returns, VAT administration and other
day-to-day office duties.
The Person: Experienced bookkeeper who is self
motivated, responsible and
reliable. Willing to grow with the Company they
must be ready to tackle
new and varied tasks as they arise delivering work
accurately, on time
and in full. Own transport essential. Knowledge of
Pastel an advantage.
The Rewards: Negotiable salary for the right
person.
Part of a small but busy and motivated team.
Please
contact Tanera Bouchet on 04 494540 or
Tanera.bouchet@rutland.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
WANTED - Office Assistant
The Company -
well-established, small, dynamic, fresh flower marketing
agent based at the
Harare International Airport.
The Role - To assist in a very busy office
with computer data capture,
day-to-day office duties - a varied
job.
The Person - loyal, honest, reliable, must be able to work with a
minimum
of supervision. Own transport essential - company will assist
with
fuel. To start asap.
The Rewards - right salary offered to the
right person.
Please send CVs to: rene@zimflower.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Bookkeeper required for small but busy business
based in the Avenues.
Applicant should be qualified up to trial balance, debt
collecting, petty
cash, etc some admin work and also have hands-on
involvement. Varied
position in relaxed office with good salary offered to
the right person.
To start immediately. Phone Lorraine Thomas on 733113/5,
792365 or
707245 or cell 091
263172.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Full Day Bookkeeper required to work in
Msasa.
Competitive package on offer.
Please contact Marina or Dale
on 446520, 091 261 629, 011 206
794.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 14/12/05
WANTED
Couple to caretake house and assist with
supervision of small
horticultural business. 18 km outside Harare with good
security. Please
phone 011 208568 or
335458
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 05 January 2006
Wanted:
A mature couple to help on a
ranch that does tourism activities, teaching
students local and foreign,
accommodation, catering, hunting, all
livestock types, meat processing,
organic permaculture gardening,
bookkeeping and computers. The ranch is in
Matetsi Zimbabwe, so couple
needs to be Zimbabwean. Nice house and US$
related salary. Email:
ranch@africaonline.co.zw with CV no
images text
only.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 14/12/05
WANTED
Small business requires switched on /
part time lady to take on all
computer work, plus wages for a labour force of
20 Could be mornings or
afternoons.
Please phone 011 208568 or
335458
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOZAMBIQUE:
Ad
inserted 05 January 2006
I own a Beach Resort in Xai Xai,
Mozambique.
I want to employ a couple to act as assistant managers to the
current
couple employed, skills to include F&B, maintenance, housekeeping
and GM
skills.
Housing and work permit and eventual residence
supplied, salary average,
great prospects to become shareholders in the
resort.
Urgent.
Contact Gary Wilson:
Cell
+258-823046880
Office: +258-21-306018/9
Fax:
+258-21-326965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUDAN:
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
Position Title: Permaculture Program
Manager
Field Site: Upper Nile, S Sudan
Essential Job duties/Scope
of Work (provide at least 6-7 bullet points):
§ Plan, coordinate and
implement the permaculture / livestock
programme in Upper Nile
§
Provide specialist input and oversight for best practice in
appropriate
agricultural activities within food security/livelihood
related
projects
§ aa communities with sound technical basis, education,
and
promotion sustainable crop cultivation
§ Introduce and mobilise
community permaculture gardens in
targeted communities
§ Coordinate
and monitor project implementation and ensure
timely reporting of
activities
§ Provide and facilitate technical direction, education
and
training to staff, community health workers and community
members
§ Monitor and manage Community Animal Health Workers
and
agricultural outreach officers
§ Survey and study the existing
situation of livestock food
(fodder) and propose practical methods of
adjusting the food regiment
§ Coordinate veterinary activities with VSF B
and partners
§ In collaboration with VFS B, study and appraise the
existing
condition of animal husbandry and identify its constraints and
potentials
for development.
§ Develop demonstrable program linkages
between animal and
human health and nutrition levels
§ Identify and
monitor disease outbreaks among livestock and
ensure effective strategies for
disease control are in place
§ Document lessons learned across the
various project
activities and recommend future strategies and
interventions
§ Maintain and develop relationships with project partners
and
key stakeholders in project implementation
§ Represent IMC at
official forums when necessary, including
attending workshops, meetings,
seminars, conferences, etc.
§ Evaluate the working capacity of the local
counterparts from
a technical, planning and management point of view and
propose practical
methods for enhancing this capacity.
§ Write and
compile reports - both narrative and technical
Personal Qualifications
(special training/experience required, provide
6-8 requirements):
·
Bachelors degree or equivalent
· Minimum 5-7 years experience in
designing and implementing
agriculture programmes
· Experience in
community mobilization and participatory
methodologies strongly
preferred
· Knowledge of and experience in permaculture design
and
cultivation
· Experience with livestock / veterinary
programmes
· Experience in livestock management / animal husbandry
including
teaching and research. Abilities in survey, study and analysis of
the
livestock situation.
· Previous NGO experience
· Ability to
undertake physical work in a challenging and harsh
climate
· Ability
to communicate effectively both orally and in writing in
English
·
Able to work effectively independently and as a team member
· Experience
facilitating agricultural workshops / trainings
· Experience in the
region - ideally in Sudan itself
Other comments:
Able to function
effectively in remote, harsh environments with very
limited
communications
Contact: Candice von Memerty, candice@fauvelife
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZAMBIA:
Ad
inserted 13/12/05
A family owned farm/factory Requires Operations Manager
in a small sugar
plantation / Factory. The ideal candidate will have
extensive experience
in growing sugar cane, harvest and haulage, as well as
hands on
experience in factory operation of a vacuum pan system with small
boiler
and turbine.
Experience in workshop management / machinery
repair and computer
literacy will be an added advantage. A degree in
Agriculture or
Engineering will give additional advantage.
The right
candidate should be energetic and willing to stay in rural
Zambia and be
prepared to work with a large work force.
An attractive salary and profit
sharing scheme awaits the right
candidate.
Reply to: vedad@zamnet.zm or P.O. Box 50566, Lusaka,
Zambia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUSTRALIA
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
Manager - Hazeldean Pty Ltd
A position is
available for a hands-on manager, with a strong interest in
animal breeding
using measured performance, to take on a close working
relationship with the
managing director in the running of Hazeldean & its
sheep & cattle
seed stock enterprises. The position is at company
headquarters, Hazeldean,
located 15 minutes south of Cooma in
southeastern NSW.
The successful
applicant will be required to contribute ideas and form
strategies for the
future growth of the property & business. Planning &
budgeting are
essential skills however a desire for hands on involvement
is equally
important.
The position would suit a team player and one capable and
willing to take
on more responsibility in the future. We are happy to
consider
employment of a suitably qualified or experienced
Zimbabwean.
Applications to:
Jim Litchfield
Hazeldean
Cooma NSW
2630
Email: Litchfield@hazeldean.com.au
www.hazeldean.com.au
THE ZIMBABWE
CONNECTION
MOBILE: +61 414 363 006 (international)
0414 363 006 (within
Australia)
EMAIL: jill@zimbabweconnection.com
WEBSITE:
www.zimbabweconnection.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT
SOUGHT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
I am a man aged 26 years and I wish to apply for
any suitable vacancy. I
am a holder of BSC Honours Degree Economics with an
upper second class.
Please contact me on the following email address for
curriculum vitae:
stefanzombe@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
We are a couple from Edinburgh (Scotland) though
I was actually born in
Zimbabwe. We are on an advanced stage of relocating to
Southern Africa
(Zambia and Zimbabwe, but preferably Zambia around the
Victoria Falls
area).
We are both mid career professionals with
extensive professional experience
in management research and project
management (I am an Ecologist with an
MSc in human ecology, my wife is also
an MSc in social policy with a very
broad range of professional experience in
senior level). We are thinking of
investing in a business (Eco-tourism etc)
in the long term. We are
currently looking for a placement (work/voluntary)
for us to do while we
are deciding our future plan. We will be in Victoria
Falls on 30-01-06. An
body with information or something for us should email
us on
graccag@yahoo.co.uk or phone
00441316616925. We are happy to forward our
CVs if required.
"Most
people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste they often hurry
past
it"
Soren C
Kiekegaard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 18 January 2006
I am a woman aged thirty-five years with sixteen
years experience in
bookkeeping, accounts and administration. I am a holder
of ZAAT diploma
in accountancy and doing my final year in Bachelor of
Commerce, majoring
in banking and finance, as well as various other courses
in accounts and
administration and very conversant with computer and payroll
packages.
I can be contacted on 091 405 281/091 400 031 or Julia@soszim.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 11 January 2006
Retiree with extensive management experience in
the Agri Chemicals and
Veterinary Supplies industries seeks a full or part
time position. The
applicant has qualifications in the Animal Science field,
is versatile
and has a wide range of experience and interests in Agriculture
and
related industries as well as Wildlife. He is fully computer
competent
and has experience in public multi media communications.
The
applicant would consider any full or part time position in the above
or
associated fields.
Contact: Mike Duncan on phone numbers 04 885236 or
cell 091 535737 or e
mail at carmiked@zol.co.zw or carmike@mango.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 04 January 2006
YOUNG MAN OF 27 YEARS TRAINED AS A QUANTITY
SURVEYING TECHNICIAN LOOKING
FOR EMPLOYMENT. PLEASE CONTACT HIM ON 091 386
665 OR
wendelljamu@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
(updated 19 January 2006)