The Telegraph
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 2:06am GMT
20/01/2007
President Robert Mugabe's officials have
blacklisted and refused to
accept further donations from a conservation
group that raised hundreds of
thousands of pounds to save animals in one of
Africa's great game reserves.
Zimbabwe's wildlife authority says it
will reject funds from the
Hwange Conservation Society, which is closely
involved with Johnny
Rodrigues, 58, the conservation activist who first
raised the alarm that
many animals were dying of thirst.
The
government has accused him of releasing "false reports" about the
management
of its wildlife areas.
Mr Rodrigues, who runs the Conservation Task
Force, raised an
international alert 18 months ago that thousands of wild
animals would die
in the 5,400 sq mile park in north Western Zimbabwe unless
new water pumps
were installed at drinking holes.
His remarks were
first reported by The Daily Telegraph, leading to a
swift response from
readers. The Friends of Hwange Conservation Society was
formed in Britain
and then Australia and South Africa. So far £600,000 has
been raised, at a
time when the Zimbabwe government has had no funds to
maintain the
park.
The money provided new pumps for dozens of water pans, fuel
and
vehicles for game rangers and support for underpaid government staff in
the
park.
"About 1,000 animals had died, mostly of thirst in
the previous year.
Not a single one has died in the dry months since then,
as most of the pumps
are now working and we also had good rain last summer,"
Mr Rodriguez said
yesterday.
But this week Mr Rodriguez
received a letter from Zimbabwe Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority,
signed by its director-general Morris
Mtsambiwa. It said: "Due to continuous
negative and false reports emanating
from your organisation about
conservation in Zimbabwe, the authority can no
longer afford to associate
with you.
"With immediate effect, the authority will no longer
accept any
donations that will come through your organisation."
Mr Rodrigues was distraught yesterday and said he had no option but to
take
legal advice on how to proceed.
Shortly before Christmas, Friends
of Hwange Conservation Society UK
donated money for school materials for the
children of park employees.
Officials from the society in Harare
yesterday failed to return calls,
as did spokesmen for the national
parks.
Mr Rodrigues has previously accused hunters, mainly from
South Africa
and the United States, of drastically reducing the lion
population in
southern Zimbabwe where they are, in theory, a protected
species.
He has also regularly criticised both the government and
some private
sector safari operators for wayward conservation
practices.
When Hwange National Park was critically short of funds,
Mr Rodrigues
exposed the authority's purchase of a fleet of top-of-the-range
4x4s for use
by officials in Harare.
His last alert to the
international media went out three months ago,
when he reported that
Zimbabwe's largest safari company, Shearwater
Adventures, which operates out
of the Victoria Falls World Heritage site,
had taken 10 young elephants from
their mothers in the Hwange National Park.
It is believed that the
young elephants could be trained to provide
rides for tourists.
The Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
has
laid a charge of cruelty against the company.
Linda Cook, the
solicitor for Shearwater Adventures, said: "We have
veterinary surgeons'
reports that confirm that the capture was properly and
professionally
carried out, that there is no cruelty and that the charges
instigated by the
ZNSPCA cannot be sustained and should be withdrawn."
Reuters
Sat 20 Jan
2007 10:33:31 GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE, Jan 20 (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's government has called in army medical
officers to staff hospitals
paralysed by a doctors' strike, the health
minister said on
Saturday.
Hundreds of junior doctors and nurses have been protesting
since late
December to demand a wage increase of more than 8,000 percent --
a sign of
the desperation caused by Zimbabwe's rocketing inflation rate, now
at well
over 1,200 percent.
"We are mobilising the army medical corps
to alleviate the situation,"
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told
Reuters.
"We started with 14, but more should come on board as we are
mobilising all
the time ... we're doing our best to restore services to
normal."
Junior doctors have earned around 56,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($224)
a month
since a previous strike, in July.
The latest action has
further strained a public health system that is barely
functional at the
best of times, and has to struggle with a heavy load from
HIV/AIDS
infections.
"The government continues to handle this situation in a
shoddy manner," said
Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa, head of the Hospital Doctors'
Association. "How can
four army doctors replace 100 who are normally on duty
at Parirenyatwa, for
instance?"
Parirenyatwa hospital is Zimbabwe's
largest public health facility, and is
named after the health minister's
late father.
The hospital crisis has added to the woes of ordinary people
grappling with
an economic meltdown and regular shortages of food and
fuel.
The government is increasingly relying on the military, which has
also been
roped in to boost agricultural production on previously
under-utilised farms
acquired by the state under the controversial land
reform programme.
Several public enterprises, including the state railway
company and the
grain procurement agency, are now headed by former military
officers.
On Friday, the minister said the government had worked out an
"attractive
package" of salaries, transport and accommodation for all health
workers,
but declined to give details.
"As long as what they intend
to offer us remains a secret, our position does
not change," Nyamutukwa
said. "In any case, we suspect they are not
revealing the package because
they know we will not accept it."
http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml
Saturday 20 January 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
This
week the world watched how bad behaviour on a reality TV programme in
the UK
became international headlines. Diplomatically described as "alleged
racist
bullying" by women celebrities on a Big Brother TV series, the story
ran as
top world news for four days. People held protests and burnt banners
in
India, the British Prime Minister had to answer questions in the House of
Commons and viewers of the TV programme increased from 1,7 to almost 6
million people in four days.
In Zimbabwe, while this was happening,
reality was also on display; not on
TV with histrionics, not with make up
and nail varnish, but just the grim,
grinding reality of everyday events
that the world seems to have turned its
back on.
Long before dawn I
received a phone call with the news that an elderly man
had died. For the
family the pain and grief of the loss was almost
immediately swamped with
the horrific reality attached to dying in Zimbabwe
in January 2007. Doctors
have been on strike for over a month and hospital
mortuaries are
overflowing. The body of the deceased had to be moved,
immediately. Petrol
has increased in price from 2900 zim dollars a litre on
Monday to 3400
dollars a litre by Friday. It was going to cost a whole
month's pension for
the new widow to have her late husbands body moved the
few kilometres to the
funeral home.
None of the man's family are left in Zimbabwe. The request
was made for a
cremation so that the ashes could be later given to the
family. Cremations
are undertaken in Harare but there is no gas in the
country for the ovens.It
may be three weeks, at the very least, before a
cremation could be done. For
each single day that the body was kept at the
funeral home the widow would
be charged half of her entire monthly
pension.
A wood fuelled cremation could be done but only in Mutare, a
town 180
kilometres away. The funeral home wanted 700 000 dollars to
transport the
body - the same as two and half years of the woman's pension.
The quoted
cost for the cremation, including the transport, was the same as
five years
of the widow's pension.
A simple burial in a local
cemetery in the least expensive coffin now costs
400 000 dollars. This is
the same as six months salary for one of the
doctors presently on
strike.
Young and old, professionals and workers - we are all alike in
this horrible
reality of Zimbabwe - we cannot afford to live or to die
here.
This is reality in Zimbabwe. Not reality TV, not a game show, just
grim,
sickening reality. We are a country that needs and deserves the
world's
attention. Is anyone watching?
Until next week, thanks for
reading, love cathy.
Mail and Guardian
On the Zimbabwe situation:
I make no bones about
it, Mugabe is a let-down within the democratic
imperative. He has become
power-intoxicated, he is a liberation fighter whom
we all admired and we
held up as a model. He has let us down. He is obsessed
with power,
intolerant and despotic. I consider him [to be] no better than
Idi Amin,
except that he is constrained from going the whole hog. The
conduct of
Mugabe is a betrayal of what we have fought for on the African
continent.
The business of playing the race card when there is internal
opposition and
internal demand for change, the cruelty involved, the
annihilation and the
bulldozing of all those centres of opposition ... How
is it different from
what apartheid South Africa used to do? So I am sorry
that Mugabe is earning
the contempt of former admirers. And that, for me, is
very sad.
Wole
Soyinka was the guest of honour at the launch of Between Faith and
History
by Ivor Agyeman-Duah, a biography of John Kufour, the President of
Ghana
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
MONTH after shutting down and barricading a Kadoma gold
milling
company under Operation Chikorokoza Chapera, the police stand
accused of
processing gold from the ore left behind by registered miners
without their
consent, several mine owners told The Standard last
week.
From his constituency in Beitbridge, the Minister of Home
Affairs,
Kembo Mohadi yesterday said the police were not allowed to be
involved in
mining activities.
"Are they miners? They are not.
Phone me on Monday and I will have
checked the issue."
Four
miners, who pleaded not to be identified for fear of reprisals,
have hired
Chikumbirike and Associates, the lawyers, to stop the police and
a company
identified as Karsilone Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd, from any further
processing
of their ore.
The lawyers on Friday wrote to the police officer
commanding Kadoma
district, identified only as Moyo, demanding that the
police and other
respondents stop milling or processing the
ore.
Chikumbirike and Associates noted that their clients, who
delivered
their ore to Amber Rose in December, were "surprised that you have
now acted
in concert with the other respondents, and resumed milling of
their ore
without our client's knowledge and/or participation.
"They jointly own the ore, which is in excess of 60 tons. No
accounting has
been done and no explanation has been made as to what will
happen to the
proceeds therefrom. You have also barred them from accessing
their milling
plant."
The lawyers said they would have no other option but to
lodge an
urgent chamber application in the High Court if their demands were
not met
by the close of business on Wednesday (24 January). It could not be
established who the owners of Karsilone were at the time of going to the
press.
Yesterday, the police officer commanding Kadoma
district, Moyo,
refused to give his first name. But he said he had not been
served with the
letter and referred the newspaper to police spokesperson
Wayne Bvudzijena,
who could not be reached.
But another police
spokesperson, Oliver Mandipaka, said yesterday: "It's
official that police
recover exhibits and in this case, the exhibits are
forfeited to the
state.
Kumbirai Nhongo, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe public
relations
manager, said they would be ready to respond to questions next
week.
The police action, if confirmed, could prejudice small-scale
miners of
several millions of dollars. One described what was going on as
"daylight
robbery".
The miners said they spent millions of
dollars extracting and moving
the ore to Amber Rose mine, outside Kadoma.
They could, therefore not just
watch as their gold was being
"looted".
The Standard was told yesterday the mill was shut down on
18 December
on the grounds that it did not have an Environmental Impact
Assessment
Report (EIAR).
But it was ordered to reopen before
it had complied with the law.
The mill is guarded round the clock
by the police and only workers are
allowed in to mill the ore. Customers
have been told they are not welcome.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE
MAPONGA
THERE are reported to be mass resignations and
desertions from the
armed forces as a result of poor pay and working
conditions, as anticipated
last year by the Defence and Security
Parliamentary portfolio committee.
Last year, a report by the
committee on the 2007 budget recommended
the need to fully fund the Ministry
of Defence's needs in order to boost the
morale of the forces.
The army was this year allocated $116 billion for employment costs,
which
the committee predicted could only support a pay increase of 350%.
The committee said, as a result, the salaries of general duty
soldiers,
pegged at $175 000, would remain below the poverty datum line
(PDL).
Now there are reports of many soldiers quitting the army
and some
seeking employment in neighbouring countries and others vanishing
without a
trace into the countryside, army sources said.
One
report said a few have sought employment as security guards in
South Africa,
which has seen a burgeoning demand for such jobs as the
country prepares for
the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Giles Mutsekwa, a former army major and
the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman on defence,
said he knew about the
resignations.
"We have warned about this
before," he said.
Although not officially confirmed, reports
persist of the army itself
placing posters at the entrances of camps, in
which they appeal for
information on the whereabouts of identified soldiers
reportedly AWOL -
absent without leave.
Some of the soldiers
are quitting at the end of three- and seven-year
contracts because of poor
pay and working conditions. Many others whose
contracts have not expired are
simply deserting.
"The salaries are just too little, even after
this year's 300%
increments and many soldiers are resigning to join other
forces within the
region. The resignations and desertions are mostly among
the ranks of young
privates and non-commissioned officers," said the
source.
Following the January increment, a private in the army now
earns
around $150 000, well below the poverty datum line, which currently is
estimated to be above $370 000.
Army spokesperson Lieutenant
Colonel Simon Tsatsi denied there were
mass resignations, though there were
cases of members "severing their ties
with the organisation after serving
their contracts as per the class of
engagement".
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE
MAPONGA
MATABELELAND South police officers are fuming after
they were forced
to contribute $1 000 each for the funeral of the Minister
of Home Affairs
Kembo Mohadi's mother who died a few days before the
Christmas holidays.
Police sources from Matabeleland said the move
has angered a number of
police officers in the province who take home less
than $50 000.
"Since when have funeral contributions had to be a
forced issue? One
just have to give what he has for chema," said one
disgruntled police
officer from Matabeleland South.
According
to a radio (police internal memo) that was sent to all
police stations in
the province, Matabeleland Provincial police paid $200
000 towards the
funeral on "the understanding that every police officer
would contribute
towards the provincial chema".
"We now appeal to all officers in
charge and senior officers in the
province to make good where the money was
borrowed by paying an amount of $1
000 each," reads part of the police memo
sent to all police stations in the
province.
The radio also
suggested the money could come from the police stations'
recreational
fund.
"Stations are asked to take the money from their rec. fund
equivalent
to their personnel at the station whether on leave or not and
remit it to
the Provincial Finance not later than 1 January 2007," adds the
radio which
is dated 18 December.
Deputy Officer Commanding
Matabeleland South Province Assistant
Commissioner Chamunorwa Matutu, who is
in charge of administration in the
province, denied the police officers'
claims.
"There was nothing like that, if you want to get the truth
you can
come down here (Gwanda)," Matutu said.
Contacted for
comment Mohadi said he was also not aware of the police
contributions. "What
rubbish is that? I don't know anything about that."
"Definitely I
couldn't have gone out to ask people to donate for my
mother's funeral,"
Mohadi said.
Mohadi is in charge of the Police as the Minister of
Home Affairs. He
is also the Member of the House of Assembly representing
Beitbridge.
The Minister's mother , Malindi Muleya-Mohadi died in
Beitbridge on 10
December.
Zim Standard
by Foster
Dongozi
OPERATIONS affecting more than 60 000 people living
with HIV and Aids
nationwide have almost ground to halt after a senior Zanu
PF official seized
a vehicle belonging to the Zimbabwe National Network of
People Living with
HIV and Aids, the organisation's president said last
week.
The ZNNP's president, Benjamin Mazhindu, said in an interview
the
seizure of their double cab truck in August 2004 had forced Aids
activists
to use public transport to visit their members in rural
areas.
Mrs Florence Gwazemba seized the vehicle after her
employment contract
with the Aids organisation ended in
acrimony.
She is now Zanu PF's deputy director in the department of
Women's
Affairs.
Aids activists said the vehicle has been seen
usually parked at the
Zanu PF headquarters in Harare where Gwazemba
works.
The dispute was taken to an independent arbitrator, Nasho
Wilson, who
ruled Gwazemba should keep the vehicle.
He said
during submissions, it had come to his attention that she had
filed an
unfair dismissal complaint against her employer and claimed she was
owed
terminal benefits.
But Mazhindu said although they wanted to
exhaust as many avenues as
possible to take back their vehicle, their hands
were tied: tackling a
senior Zanu PF official was a daunting proposition, he
said.
"Gwazemba has been using our vehicle since 2004 and I think
she is the
one who should pay us for using our vehicle for more than two
years."
He said despite the loss of the vehicle, the activists were
still
determined to continue their outreach programmes in the rural
areas.
"Right now I am going to rural areas in Masvingo,
Zvishavane,
Esigodini and Dotito , using 'chicken' buses as we are preparing
for our
provincial annual general meetings. Because we no longer have a
vehicle, our
secretariat and field officers are not able to reach areas like
Binga,
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe and Malipati in Chiredzi," said
Mazhindu.
Some of the work suspended as a result of the vehicle's
seizure
includes visits by the secretariat staff to people living with HIV
and Aids
for counselling, handing over funds for income-generating projects
and
distributing literature on positive living.
Mazhindu said
thousands of people living with HIV were still to come
to terms with their
dilemma.
"The biggest question our members keep asking is why would
a Zanu PF
official have such a big war with an organisation of people living
with HIV
and Aids. A lot of people have died and some will die because we
are not
able to reach them."
Gwazemba's only response was:
"Talk to my lawyer, Mr Mucheche."
Mucheche said far from appearing
as if they were the victims, the
leadership of the organisation had
disregarded labour laws.
"I am not just representing Mrs Gwazemba
but several other people who
were unfairly dismissed without notice, as
required under the labour laws,"
said Mucheche.
"We also have
an understanding with the legal representative of the
organisation that any
former employees holding on to any property should
keep it until the issue
has been finalised," he said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO - A High Court judge says there are police officers who do
not
deserve to be in the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).
Justice
Maphios Cheda said "there are some police officers who openly
consort with
criminals".
He said as a result, there were suspected offenders who
were left to
roam free, after they had bribed police officers.
Justice Cheda was officially opening the legal year at the Bulawayo
High
Court last week.
He said these unscrupulous activities were
tarnishing the image of the
law enforcement agents and prejudiced the
country of millions of dollars.
He said the officers had to be
reminded that the fines paid by traffic
offenders, for instance, were
intended for the national offers, not their
own pockets.
"There
are some police officers who openly consort with criminals.for
the sole
purposes of sharing the loot or profits which flow from such
criminal
activities," said the judge. "Such officers damage the image of the
police
force."
Cheda advised the ZRP to organise refresher courses to
fight
corruption and to discipline those found on the wrong side of the
law.
Several police officers have been caught soliciting for bribes
from
motorists who violate traffic regulations. Others have been arrested
for
engaging in other corrupt activities.
Reacting to the
judge's comments, police spokesperson, Oliver
Mandipaka said the ZRP had a
way of weeding out offending officers.
"Our system is above board
and quite transparent. Our officers are
thoroughly trained and always go for
training courses," he said.
A number of police officers have
appeared in court on charges of
soliciting for bribes. These cases been have
rising as economic hardships
have worsened.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO could be plunged into its worst water crisis
since 1992 amid
revelations that the Nyamandlovu aquifer boreholes - the
only standby water
supply facility for Bulawayo - broke down because the
beleaguered Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (ZINWA) failed to maintain
them regularly.
After two of the five major dams dried up last
year, the council
pinned its hopes on the aquifer.
But the
council says it urgently needs a staggering $500 million to
repair the
boreholes.
Bulawayo began experiencing water shortages two weeks
ago after the
levels at the Criterion Reservoir dropped dangerously. The
reservoir, with
its six million cubic metres of water, had delayed the onset
of the
shortages after the Upper Ncema and Umzingwane dams had dried up last
November and December respectively.
The council had banked on
immediately connecting 44 boreholes from the
aquifer to its supply network
to reduce the impact of the crisis.
But ZINWA, whose creation has
yet to impact positively on the water
supply situation in the country, has
told the council only two of the 39
boreholes it can lease to the council
for the emergency are functional.
The remaining 37 are broken down
and council will have to repair them
to avert a major
catastrophe.
Originally 77 boreholes were drilled at the aquifer
but most of them
cannot be used because the equipment has not been
repaired.
"We proposed to ZINWA to lease 44 boreholes and turn them
into a
permanent water source for this city, not only during emergencies,
but on a
permanent basis," said council spokesman Phathisa
Nyathi.
"ZINWA said they were prepared to lease 39 boreholes but
only two are
functional."
Nyathi said farmers who had leased
the boreholes were recently given
notice to stop using them to allow for
repairs. But it was very unlikely the
repairs could be done any time soon,
said Nyathi, because the council had no
idea where it could lay its hands on
$500 million.
"We are hoping that the government will assist us
because this is a
lot of money," he said.
ZINWA chairman Willie
Muringani admitted the water situation in
Bulawayo was at crisis
level.
"The council must sit down with ZINWA officials because they
are also
part of us, so that we can find a way of mobilising the required
resources,"
he said.
Muringani referred The Standard to the
ZINWA Gwayi catchment manager
Mattison Chidakwa for more information on the
boreholes.
But Chidakwa could not be reached.
A week
ago, a special council meeting agreed to tighten further the
city's water
ration, put in place last year. The daily allocations were
reduced by a
further 100 litres for a household a day and the use of hose
pipes and
moulding of bricks with domestic water banned.
Supplies to
industries were further reduced. Consumers in high-density
areas are now
restricted to 300 litres, down from 400, and those in
low-density suburbs
must use 350, down from 450.
Stiff penalties will be imposed on all
violators.
Water rationing was introduced in July last year after
dams started
drying up but this year the impact of the shortages is expected
to be more
severe with two dams already empty midway through the rainy
season.
The Nyamandlovu aquifer boreholes were sunk by donors at
the height of
the 1992 drought when the city faced a similar
crisis.
The sinking of more boreholes at the aquifer has been
hampered by
ZINWA's lack of financial resources. ZINWA owns the boreholes
and sells
water to the council to augument supplies in high-density
areas.
Bulawayo has had perennial water shortages since the 1990s,
which the
council blames on lack of government support. The last supply dam
was built
in 1976 but the council says it needs at least one dam after 10-12
years if
supplies are to match the growing population.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - Survivors of the government's military
campaign code-named
Gukurahundi yesterday held a memorial service for the
victims in Bulawayo,
re-igniting their claims for compensation.
They called for President Robert Mugabe and those linked to the
operation to
be brought to the International Criminal Court of Justice for
"their crimes
against humanity".
The moving service held at the Roman Catholic
Church's St Mary's
Cathedral and attended by opposition political leaders,
was organised by a
local pressure group, Ibhetshu Likazulu and heard
victims, survivors and
regional groupings give heart-rending
testimonies.
Former president of ZAPU Federal Party, Agrippa
Madlela said: "The
number of those killed during the genocide is above 20
000. There are many
that are not accounted for. It was a criminal act and
legal processes should
be taken against perpetrators to account for their
actions."
Max Mnkandla, the president of the Zimbabwe Liberators
Peace
Initiative (ZLPI) who said he lost his father, Siqanywana, during the
disturbances said: "The random killing of defenceless people was criminal
and has to be taken to the International Court .
"The issue was
not political but tribal because the defenseless were
murdered by a crack
force, for being Ndebele. We are advocating for the
arrest of Mugabe and
others blamed for the atrocities."
Archbishop Pius Ncube, a fierce
Mugabe critic, said the people of
Matabeleland deserved a sincere apology
and compensation.
"People are bitter and angry over what happened
during the
disturbances, especially so because there has not been any
compensation or
apology. These acts should be addressed for people's wounds
to be healed,"
said Ncube.
Arnold Payne, an activist, said
Mugabe should apologise and other
perpetrators arraigned in the
courts.
According to a report compiled in 1997 by the Catholic
Commission for
Justice and Peace (CCJP), more than 20 000 civilians were
killed by the
North Korean trained Five Brigade during the
operation.
The report recommended a national reconciliation
process, a proper
burial for the victims and compensation packages for those
affected, with
accelerated development for the affected regions of the
south-west.
Ibhetshu Likazulu chairman, Qhubekani Dube said the
"perpetrators
should be held accountable for their crimes and dragged to The
Hague".
Secretary of the Matabeleland Empowerment Services
Association, Effice
Ncube said: "There is conspiracy to create an ignorant
nation through
silence over the issue but the crimes committed are
punishable under
international law."
Zim Standard
BY
VALENTINE
MAPONGA
A prominent businessman who owns a mining
company is battling to stop
Chinhoyi municipality from expropriating his
company's 150 houses.
Macdonald Chapfika's Thunderbird Mines
Zimbabwe, trading as Shipfold
Investments, has sought the intervention of
the courts to stop the Chinhoyi
municipality from selling its
houses.
Chapfika, through his lawyer Herbert Chitapi of Chitapi
& Associates,
has since filed a High Court Application seeking an order
to bar the
municipality from taking over the houses.
In the
court application, Chapfika wants the municipality's "purported
takeover" of
the 150 houses to be declared null and void.
The houses were built
after an agreement in 1983 that was entered
between the Thunderbird Mines
Zimbabwe and the municipality for use by the
mine workers.
The
municipality, according to the agreement, provided 150 stands
measuring 300
square metres and Thunderbird built the houses.
The agreement also
stated that the houses would not be "available or
subjected to a home
ownership scheme" but the mine owners would "retain all
rights to the houses
for the duration of their existence".
In response to the court
application, the municipality is denying any
breach of contract and claims
that Thunderbird Mine Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited's
rights were ceded to Shipfold
Investments (Pvt) Limited without the
knowledge of the council.
"Such cession, carried out without the knowledge of the municipality
is in
breach of section 12 of the agreement. And such breach entitled the
municipality to cancel the agreement in terms of section 14, as it did,"
says the municipality.
Section 12 of the agreement indicates
that the company may cede or
assign its rights and obligations to any other
person or company "with the
full knowledge of the municipality.
Section 14 entails that in the event of either party failing to comply
with
the agreement, the other party shall be entitled to cancel the contract
without prejudice to its right to claim damages for breach of the
same.
The agreement states that Thunderbird Mines would lose rights
to the
150 houses if they "permanently cease mining operations" at their
Golden
Kopje Mine for a period of not less than five years.
The
company would lose the houses if they gave notice to the
municipality that
it does not require the mine or when it is closed under
the provisions of
the Companies Act. Again, the company might lose the
houses when the
municipality requires the houses in the national interest
and with
government approval.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Lecturers at the country's eight state
universities have
given the government a two-week ultimatum to review their
salaries and
working conditions or brace for industrial action.
The Standard learnt last week the lecturers rejected a 300% salary
increment
awarded by the government at the beginning of this month.
They
resolved instead, to go on strike if their demands for
inflation-adjusted
reviews were not met.
The lecturers join teachers and other civil
servants who have given
notice to strike if their demands for better pay and
working conditions are
not met soon.
Junior doctors downed
stethoscopes in the middle of the month to back
a pay demand of $5 million a
month, up from an average of $56 000.
The strike has paralysed the
health delivery system, with seriously
ill patients being turned away at the
major hospitals.
Nurses and other health professionals have joined
the strike in
solidarity with the doctors.
The lecturers want
their salaries of $120 000 a month for juniors and
$185 000 for seniors
adjusted to match the rate of inflation, now estimated
at above 1
200%.
According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), a family
of six
requires more than $350 000 to survive a month.
Bernard
Njekeya, president of the Zimbabwe State Universities Union of
Academics
Association, confirmed the impending strike, saying the pay rise
offered by
the government was far below their expectations.
"The government
has proposed 300% salary adjustments which we have
turned down as we want
inflation-related increases. We have given the
government a 14-day
ultimatum," said Njekeya.
Last week the Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe gave the
government a month in which to hike their pay to $3
million a month, up from
$60 000.
At the same time,
student unions have indicated that they would take
to the streets to force
the government to reduce tuition fees at tertiary
institutions that would
see some university students paying as much as $500
000 a
semester.
The government has given the nod for tertiary
institutions to increase
their tuition fees by between 300 and 2
000%.
The education sector has suffered a serious brain drain over
the years
with teachers and lecturers trekking to neighbouring countries in
search of
better working conditions.
Neighbours such as South
Africa,Botswana and Namibia have welcomed
Zimbabwean teachers, offering them
better wages and working conditions.
According to Washington
Katema, the Zimbabwe National students' Union
co-ordinator, the country "is
experiencing an educational crisis of
unprecedented
propositions".
Katema says since 1997 "the academic atmosphere in
the country has
become worse than the times of colonialism."
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Stan Mudenge was not
immediately available for comment.
Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Thousands of Zimbabweans returning to
South Africa after
the recent holidays are being sent back home at the
Beitbridge Border Post
by South African immigration officials on allegations
they are using fake
travel documents.
South African authorities
have reportedly introduced a strict
verification process targeting
Zimbabweans holding South African travel
documents as their country steps up
the fight against illegal immigrants.
On New Year's Day alone,
South African police rounded up about 3 000
illegal Zimbabwean
immigrants.
A number of Zimbabweans stranded in Beitbridge claimed
they were
turned away by South African officials after producing "genuine"
travel
documents.
"I obtained the South African passport
legally after gaining that
country's citizenship but I was turned away after
they said that it was
forged," said Tavonga Shiri.
Philani
Ngwenya and Karen Sithole said: "We are supposed to be
starting work this
week but we were turned away on the basis that our
documents are
fake."
The Standard could not obtain comment from the South African
immigration department officials.
According to Zimbabwean
immigration officials between 10 000 and 15
000 Zimbabweans crossed the
Beitbridge border daily as they returned home
for the festive
season.
Meanwhile, hundreds of would-be border jumpers are stranded
in
Beitbridge after heavy downpours last week made the crocodile-infested
Limpopo River virtually impossible to cross.
"I have to wait
till the water levels go down because there is nothing
to stay for in the
country as life is difficult," said Mkhululi Moyo from
Tsholotsho.
Border jumpers crossing the Limpopo River usually
pay between R400 and
R500 to villagers to help across the
river.
The villagers charge R800 to take the illegal immigrants to
other
crossing points in Panda Mine, Nottingham and Dite.
According to Beitbridge villagers, this is what has led many border
jumpers
to resort to crime to raise money for food.
As a result,
Matabeleland South police have launched operations to
arrest people "milling
around the border post " to flush out the alleged
border jumpers reportedly
turning to crime.
Zimbabweans are leaving the country in droves to
escape the economic
crisis characterised by high inflation at 1 099%, the
highest in the world,
and soaring costs of basic commodities.
Zim Standard
By Foster Dongozi,
recently in Accra,
Ghana
POLITICAL thuggery and the looting
of national resources by the ruling
class continues to be accepted as normal
in Zimbabwe but sections of the
African continent have begun the process of
renewal by embracing economic
reforms and good governance.
Every time the ruling elite in Zimbabwe is accused of plundering the
country's natural resources, they are always quick to say: "We fought for
this country and liberated you from the racist settler colonial
regime."
On the political playing field in Zimbabwe, opposition
supporters have
routinely been clubbed or burnt to death by ruling Zanu PF
supporters, in
the name of "preserving our territorial integrity and
sovereignty" from Tony
Blair and George W Bush.
But last week,
in Accra, political, business and youth leaders from
Africa and their German
counterparts came together to share ideas on the
best way forward for a
better Africa.
As has become the case where issues of good
governance and the rule of
law are discussed, Zimbabwe was not represented
at the highest level as many
progressive African leaders now view the
country as a pariah and rogue State
which would retard the growth of the
continent.
Telecommunications mogul, Strive Masiyiwa whose
operations are in
Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria and New Zealand attended
the conference.
Although he declined to be quoted on some issues,
especially those
affecting his banned newspaper, The Daily News, saying that
it would not
"change anything", Masiyiwa spoke of the need to provide
students with
technical skills for use in industry.
It was
significant that the meeting was held in Ghana, the first
post-Second World
War independent African country.
The Accra meeting appeared to send
a fresh signal of hope from African
leaders from all spheres of society that
Africa needed to depart from its
dubious history of dictators as caricatured
by the likes of Idi Amin and
Mobutu Sese Seko.
Known as the
German-Africa Partnership Forum, and held at the imposing
Kofi Annan
International Peacekeeping Training Centre, the conference was
attended by
the host president, John Kuffor, German federal president, Horst
Kohler,
presidents, Festus Mogae of Botswana, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,
Ellen
Johnson-Sirlief of Liberia, Thomas Yayi Boni of Benin and Professor
Alpha
Konare, the African Union president.
The conference was run under
the theme: Two Generations, One Future.
Many young leaders from different
spheres of the economy grilled the
political leaders on their vision for
Africa and the partnership with
Germany, when they went into discussion
groups.
The group discussions focused on four major topics: the
environment
and the shaping of the natural world, education and employment
opportunities, armed conflicts and everyday violence and participating in a
democracy.
These topics would have benefited Zimbabweans,
especially given the
orgy of violence that always goes with elections and
the reduction of the
democratic space, the degradation of the environment
and the deteriorating
education standards.
President Festus
Mogae of Botswana captured the new thinking when he
said: "In today's world,
no nation or region can afford to wallow in the
politics of narrowly
conceived nationalism, or delusions of zero sum
economic gain."
The German Federal President, Horst Kohler weighed in with his hopes
for the
partnership with Africa.
"It is in our interest that the people of
Africa have a future. We
live in one world and the peoples of this one world
depend on each other. We
need a political dialogue with Africa that is a
dialogue of equals."
The youngsters at the conference were very
tenacious and issued a
strong communique at the end of the
meeting.
"Violence and armed conflict in our societies are often
the result of
the failure on the part of governments to provide law and
order, human
security and basic public goods," they said in a joint
statement.
Zim Standard
By a
correspondent
MUTARE - A war veteran is contesting the awarding
of Kondozi estate to
the Minister of Transport and Communications,
Christopher Mushowe.
Documents at hand show that Wallacedale was
allocated to Levy Gwarada,
a former top Zanla guerrilla, by a provincial
lands committee.
But Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State for
National Security,
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, handed over the farm
to Mushowe.
Revelations that Mutasa elbowed Gwarada from the
property are
contained in a petition sent to Vice-President Joseph Msika,
seeking his
urgent intervention to reverse the allocation.
Gwarada was a senior guerilla during the war of liberation in the
1970s.
He also served as a member of the Zanla general staff
during the war.
The Manicaland province land identification
committee, chaired by
resident minister, Tinaye Chigudu, had initially
allocated Wallacedale to
Gwarada.
The decision was made after
it was considered that his farm in Mutare
South was being parcelled out to
peasants to undertake an irrigation
development programme.
Gwarada said in the petition to Msika that he submitted an application
for
settlement at Arda Odzi Estate, RE Wallacedale which was approved by the
provincial land identification committee on 24 August.
"The
governor and resident minister, chairman of the provincial land
identification committee sent a recommendation letter to Hon Didymus Mutasa,
Minister of State for National Security, Land Reform and Resettlement for
the farm measuring 490 hectares."
The war veteran said to his
surprise the property was allocated by
Mutasa to Mushowe.
Gwarada accused Mutasa of treating him unfairly and abusing his
powers.
Mushowe allegedly played a pivotal role in the eviction
of the De
Klerk family from Kondozi Estate.
An offer letter to
Mushowe signed by Mutasa dated 20 October 2006
says: "You are offered
Subdivision 1 of Lorn and Haig and RE of Wallacedale
in Mutare District
Manicaland Province for agricultural purposes. The farm
is approximately
1163.00 hectares in extent."
Contacted for comment Mutasa disputed
that Wallacedale had been to
allocated to Gwarada.
"There is
nothing like that. I am the person who allocates land in
this country, so
how did he (Gwarada) get that land when I don't know about
it?" said
Mutasa.
The take-over of Wallacedale has angered war veterans in
the province
who say the property should be returned to their comrade, whom
they say is
being unfairly treated by Mutasa and Mushowe.
The
government in 2004 seized Kondozi Estate and the owners were
forced off the
property amid threats of violence. It was then taken over by
the
Agricultural Development Authority (Arda).
However, Arda failed to
utilise the land, prompting authorities to
allocate plots to private
individuals.
Kondozi was one of Zimbabwe's largest horticultural
exporting firms
with markets in Europe and South Africa.
The
property was registered as an Export Processing Zone with an
annual turnover
of US$15 million and employing 5 000 people.
Former owners of
Kondozi have since established similar fresh produce
exporting ventures in
Mozambique and Zambia while dozens of other white
farmers evicted from
Zimbabwe farmlands have settled all over Africa,
including in Zambia,
Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and as further afield as
Australia and
Nigeria.
Mushowe, Mutasa and Joseph Made have been publicly accused
of looting
agricultural equipment from Kondozi, a charge they have
denied.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
HOME Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi admitted last week the police shot
gold
panners and destroyed huts in the Midlands recently.
The police had
publicly denied shooting dead gold panners in Shurugwi
and Makuti, but
Mohadi expressed regret over the "shooting incidents" when
he addressed
journalists in Harare on Wednesday.
Mohadi said the shootings
occurred as police carried out Operation
Chikorokoza Chapera, aimed at
stamping out illegal mining.
"We regret that during this operation
there were incidents that should
not have occurred, such as the shooting
incident in Shurugwi and the
destruction of huts in Chikuti," he
said.
"We hope these incidents will not recur. We appeal for public
support
during this operation."
Although he regretted the
shooting and the destruction of huts, Mohadi
did not comment on the deaths
of gold panners late last year.
There have been widespread reports
of seven deaths since the operation
started last November, some from gunshot
wounds, others from alleged torture
by the police.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
MINES
and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi's bid for River Ranch
to be
allowed to export diamonds suffered a major blow last week after key
constituencies refused to implement his proposal, saying they would wait for
the outcome of the case.
River Ranch and Bubye Minerals are
tussling over Special Grant 1278
that gives the nod to mine in an area. The
matter is still before the
Supreme Court.
The Mines and
Minerals Act does not allow players without authority to
mine in an
area.
In his address after a visit at River Ranch two weeks ago,
Midzi was
quoted as saying: "I do not see any reason why River Ranch should
not be
allowed to sell its diamonds because, as far as we are concerned, the
judiciary has pronounced itself and the High Court ruled in favour of River
Ranch.
"Presently, as a ministry, we are consulting with the
Attorney-General's
Office just to make sure."
But in a major
rebuttal, the Attorney-General office and the Minerals
and Marketing
Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) said they would not support the
bid until the
final outcome of the dispute between River Ranch and Bubye
Minerals.
MMCZ, the custodians of the Kimberley Process
certificates, said they
would maintain neutrality pending the outcome of the
case.
"We would like to advise that our client still maintains a
stance of
neutrality until the matter has been finalised," wrote MMCZ
counsel Dube,
Manikai & Hwacha to Bubye lawyers Hussein and Ranchod
& Co.
In their response to Bubye lawyers, the Civil Division of
the AG
office said: "Your concerns have been taken into account and our
client is
going to be advised accordingly. We look forward to the
finalisation of the
matter when your client's appeal will be
determined."
Hussein and Ranchod & Co had written to the AG's
office, complaining
that Midzi's assertion that he did "not see any reason
why River Ranch
should not be allowed to sell its diamonds because, in as
far as we are
concerned the judiciary has pronounced itself and the High
Court rule in
favour of River Ranch . . ." was tantamount to contempt of
Court.
The lawyers said the AG should counsel Midzi against giving
his
evidence on the legal ownership of the claim while the matter was
pending
before the Supreme Court.
Midzi was left with egg on
his face after his assertion that alleged
diamond smuggling claims were
being used to renew sanctions against Zimbabwe
was dismissed as
misleading.
"It is misleading and incorrect," said Xavier Marchal
European
Commission head of delegation to Zimbabwe. "It is not helpful and
Kimberley
Process has nothing to do with EU-Zimbabwe relations. It is an
international
process not limited to the EU."
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
MULTI-BILLION projects proposed under the Trans-Limpopo
Spatial
Development Initiative (TSLDI) now hang in the balance because the
two
governments have not provided vital support and the laws.
The development corridor would target the Zimbabwean and South African
provinces on either side of the Limpopo river.
The setback
might see Zimbabwe losing out on investment opportunities
associated with
the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa.
According to a report on
the initiative, produced after a recent
meeting of its Joint Executive
Committee in South Africa, the interim
secretariat tasked to implement the
mega-projects had no legal standing in
either country.
Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo on the Zimbabwean
side
and Limpopo Province in South Africa signed a Memorundum of
Understanding
six years ago to establish the corridor. Last year, the
provinces proposed a
number of ambitious tourism-related projects ahead of
the tournament, to tap
into the expected increase in tourists.
But the report noted that
the "legal persona" of the TLSDI secretariat
was not properly established.
It was, the report said, impossible for the
secretariat to initiate projects
which would interest serious investors.
Other problems included the
lack of a budget and office for the
interim secretariat.
National Economic Consultative Forum employees in Bulawayo are
part-time
members of the interim secretariat, which includes members of
Investment
Limpopo, a department in the city of Polokwane in South Africa.
Bulisani Ncube, a TLSDI spokesperson in Zimbabwe, played down the
problems
facing the initiative, saying they were already being addressed.
"Most of them, such as the shortages of funds are as a result of lack
of a
buy-in by stakeholders who are expected to drive the whole project," he
said.
"We have already set up a legal committe to address the
legal
challenges identified at our last meeting and there is also another
subcommittee on tourism looking at issues to do with the World
Cup."
Ncube said the town clerk of Bulawayo, Moffat Ndlovu and a
still-to-be
identified South African TSLDI joint executive committee member
had been
tasked to address the legal problems.
Some of the
initiatives include attracting reputable airlines to
service the
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls-Polokwane routes, upgrading tourism
infrastructure
in the provinces and increasing tourist arrivals.
Zimbabwe's
tourism industry took a severe knock during the chaotic
government land
refom programme, the precursor of a general economic
meltdown.
The Zimbabwean side has continued to lag behind South Africa because
of
funding constraints.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications,
reponsible for the
projects, was not accesible for comment.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE so-called operations the government has launched against
its own
people have resulted, in many cases, in deaths.
There
have been no investigations into these calamities, for which the
police must
be held partly accountable.
Murambatsvina, the most notorious and,
according to many people, the
bloodiest of these "operations", has not been
officially investigated by the
government. Reports of people being killed
have been denied, yet the reports
persist: unarmed citizens were shot or
clubbed to death.
We can understand why the government is reluctant
to order a
full-scale probe: the ugly finger of culpability would point at
people whose
duty is, in fact, to protect the vulnerable and innocent, not
to brutalise
them.
But the killing of gold panners, in the
colourfully named Operation
Chikorokoza Chapera is a particularly shocking
example of almost gratuitous
brutality. There is no evidence that the
victims were armed or that they
constituted a clear and present threat to
the police.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, may feel
expressing
"regret" could salve his conscience. But it is not
enough.
What is particularly galling is that these people are the
classic
victims of the government's disastrous economic
policies.
Oliver Mandipaka, the police spokesperson, has been busy
lately having
to explain this or that incident of police brutality. Now that
the police
have launched a campaign against commuter omnibus operators over
their
arbitrary raising of fares, are we in for more "cowboy", trigger-happy
displays by the police?
We hope not. Admittedly, the economic
crisis through which the country
is blundering has created a breed of
heartless, hardened criminals who,
armed with weapons as sophisticated and
deadly as those of the police, have
no hesitation in shooting their way to
safety
No-one can fault the police for responding with equivalent
determination. Yet perhaps they ought to be cautioned against excesses,
particularly when dealing with unarmed citizens.
Already, the
police have garnered for themselves a terrible record of
trigger-happy
incidents in which innocent lives have been lost. Moreover, in
most of these
cases, the police have stubbornly refused to subject
themselves to any
independent investigation.
In the end, all this reluctance to be
probed by impartial agencies
could lead to innocent citizens deciding to
protect themselves - against the
police.
"Violence and armed
conflict in our societies are often the result of
the failure on the part of
governments to provide law and order, human
security and basic public
goods."
This comes from a statement made by African youths after a
meeting on
German-African relations in Accra, on which we report elsewhere
in this
issue.
All the elements which could lead to violence
are present in Zimbabwe
today. And the absence of basic public goods is
something with which every
Zimbabwean has become so painfully
familiar.
There are no reliable statistics of casualties as a
result of
starvation. Yet it would take a particularly myopic supporter of
the
government to insist, as some of them keep insisting, that no
Zimbabweans
are going hungry today.
Or, incredibly, that most
people are still eating three meals a day.
These are the same people who
claim allegations of human rights violations
are "lies".
It is
time we got real as a society. These things happen and they need
to be
explained.
Zim Standard
Sundayopinion By
Bill Saidi
AN autobiography is subjective. The liberation struggle
featured
people of diverse backgrounds. Writing about them is bound to be
subjective.
It has been conjectured some fled from knife or
axe-wielding debtors,
or spouses, after discovering the union would never
blossom into seventh
heaven.
Most, however, took up arms for
the reason encapsulated in the
declaration: "Give me liberty or
death!"
I am irritated by the hullabaloo over Edgar Tekere's A
Lifetime of
Struggle, which is subjective.
There is an
irresistible temptation to embellish, for dramatic effect
or to satisfy a
publisher's fetish for the bizarre - publishers are as
fallible as we all
are.
I can't imagine Tekere embellishing so much he becomes
Gulliver, the
rest Lilliputians. Some critics may feel cheated: he published
his account
before they could.
No two accounts of the struggle
could be the same. Tekere's bears only
incidental resemblance to Martin and
Johnston's The Struggle for Zimbabwe.
I don't know of an account of
the Biafran war which reads like Chinua
Achebe's Girls At War.
Reading Tekere's book bro-ught back poignant memories of a 25-year-old
father, husband with a passion for politics, not a "blind faith"
zealot.
I have written about this incident elsewhere: in
Mufakose, Tekere and
I belonged to a group which met at the local watering
hole, to ventilate
such conundrums as the future of Southern Rhodesia. In
1958, the whites
rejected Garfield Todd's pro-African liberal policies for
the racism of the
United Federal Party, triggering seven years later, the
armed struggle.
Among the group was John Zhakata, later a Zanu PF
MP, soft-spoken,
with a ready smile, but a cool, incisive capacity to lay
bare the duplicity
of the settlers.
I had resigned from African
Newspapers. Yet they published my piece on
how the then minister of labour,
Abe Abrahamson, seemed to have outwitted
the trade unionists.
During our debate, Tekere thought I had gone overboard. I asked if he
thought the unionists had won. He admitted they had not, but still insisted
the minister didn't deserve the favourite light.
We left it at
that. In time, I moved to Bulawayo, he to Gweru, from
where he invited me to
visit.
I took the train, during which an incident occurred which
had a
profound influence on me. A former African Daily News colleague,
Vincent
Mijoni, invited me for a drink in his second class coach. The white
barman
decided I didn't belong there. A sledgehammer punch sent me back to
the
Mbombela.
Tekere was furious when I arrived at the station,
bloodied. He took me
to the hospital. Then we retired to his flat, to be
welcomed by his wife,
Elizabeth, tall, willowy, imperious. We had a great
time reminiscing.
I didn't know she had died until I read Tekere's
book: I last saw her
when I joined them at their son's funeral at the
Anglican church cemetery in
St Mary's, Chitungwiza, a few years
ago.
I met Tekere in 1979 inZambia at the Commowealth conference
which
preceded the Lancaster House talks.
We didn't talk
much and I thought he had changed.
I went to Zambia shortly after
the beating on the train: Mijoni was on
his way to join The Central African
Mail. Kelvin Mlenga, with whom we had
worked on the Salisbury paper, was No.
2 at The Mail.
Mijoni had mentioned the incident on the train to
Mlenga who later
called me in Bulawayo.
Tim Nyahunzvi, also
ex-African Daily News, was already in Lusaka.
For Tekere, I am not
sure what the effect of my beating had. It might
have bolstered, even in an
infinitesimal way, his decision to go to war,
probably made earlier in his
life.
The incident changed my life completely. By the time I
started working
as production editor on The Central African Mail, I was a
dedicated
anti-federation campaigner. I was also dedicated to the overthrow,
through
my pen, of the white regime in Salisbury.. Yet, having met and
talked to
other white Rhodesians, such as Garfield Todd, I knew they too.
like us, had
good and bad eggs among them.
What saddened me, on
reading Tekere's book, was how this proud,
self-sufficient man was turned
into a virtual beggar after his expulsion
from the party. His dignity seemed
shattered.
It was a terrible price to pay for giving so much to his
country.
His book shows politics to be a dirty, heartless business
where
friendships are meaningless.
As he pours out his heart in
an honest, if subjective, recollection of
the war, they unsheathe their
swords, like Brutus, ready to stab him in the
heart.
Zim Standard
Reflectins
With Alex Magaisa
I must admit we did not think much of her
when she first stepped into
the lecture room at the beginning of the
academic year. The year was 1997,
at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ),
Faculty of Law. It was our Final Year
and the new teacher of the law was Mrs
Rita Makarau. Ten years later, Mrs
Makarau is now Justice Makarau, the Judge
President of the High Court of
Zimbabwe and as we now know, a lot more than
that. The monumental task
before her was to take us through a module, which
law school legend had
placed in the category of the notoriously
difficult.
In every educational establishment there is at least one
aspect - a
subject, an experience, a feature - something whose notoriety
senior
students take pride in announcing to the fresh-faced; the uninitiated
ones.
I do not know why seniors do it. Perhaps, they do it to demonstrate
that
they know more - their accumulated wisdom, which is the consequence of
experience; to announce their status as having been there and seen it all.
Perhaps it is a way of instilling fear in the young ones - making them feel
small. All this perhaps, being efforts to establish positional
superiority.
Whatever the reason, seniors always have something to
tell the
freshmen, often to warn, sometimes sounding so grave and serious,
as if it
were a matter of life and death. A particular experience stands out
from my
year as a freshman at the UZ, in 1994. A senior student; a short,
chubby and
generally affable fellow who made it customary to be seen
carrying a load of
large books, an appearance that probably persuaded us to
take him very
seriously, which was the design of the fellow. Here was a man
of books, four
years in law school, speaking with weighted authority to his
juniors. We
figured that he fancied himself some kind of "elder statesman",
a term that
he regularly used in reference to his fellow senior colleagues,
but was
probably exporting it to us for his own benefit, for we also ended
up
calling him by the same title, which evidently pleased him.
On this occasion he appeared very animated as he spoke. He spoke with
a
lisp, which was more pronounced when he was too excited. He started,
"Young
men", followed by a measured pause as he inspected his small but
eager
congregation, probably to ensure that he had drawn sufficient
attention. And
then he continued, "There is a subject at Part Four level; a
subject that
will discipline you. It is called Conveyancing. Be very
careful, young men.
It will discipline you!", with heavy emphasis on
"discipline" and "Part Four
level". It conjured images of something distant
and insurmountable, which
could not be attempted by those of ordinary
powers. It sounded as if
whatever we did between our lowly First Year and
"part four level" would
ultimately count for nothing because in the distant
future there stood a
monster called Conveyancing.
Against the background of this
unsolicited wisdom, it was not
surprising that when the day came in 1997,
when we reached the famed Part
Four level, there was a fairly excessive
measure of apprehension as we
prepared for our first lecture in
Conveyancing. And so, when the woman
called Rita Makarau turned up for that
lecture, there was a mixture of fear
and worry on the faces of many
students, or at least hidden in their hearts.
Probably a fear of the
unknown. There was no known history of Mrs Makarau as
a teacher of law and
here she was to take us through what had been touted as
the toughest module
of them all, one that had caused many a student to spend
longer than normal
in law school in previous years. It did not help that her
demeanor betrayed
a measure of nervousness at first but gradually we were
reassured as she
gained her confidence, looking straight into the many pairs
of visibly
intimidated eyes before her. What struck me most was her calmness
and her
manner of speech, which was measured and cultured. She gave the
impression
of someone who chose her words very carefully. Over the next few
months, my
friends and I could not help but admit that she carried herself
very well.
She was a lady.
By the end of that first lecture she had managed to
communicate a very
simple, but key message - the demystification of
Conveyancing, the monster.
I recall thinking that she had done her homework
and knew exactly the legend
that surrounded Conveyancing. She managed to
bring calm, to replace fear
with expectation. Conveyancing lectures were not
the dreary encounters that
our minds had been trained to prepare for. Where
other lecturers had tried
to build an atmosphere of mystique around their
modules, Mrs Makarau had
taken the approach of demystifying things. I must
admit I had a particularly
good relationship with my teacher. I like to
think the affection and respect
were mutual. She showed respect to her
students, listened and communicated
as well as any could be expected to do.
I have not had the opportunity to
appear before her in a court of law, and I
am therefore not able to comment
on her performance on the Bench from a
lawyer's perspective. I should
therefore ask for forgiveness if those that
do not share my views feel that
I am overly biased.
There have
been many stories told about the government "packing the
judiciary" - a
euphemism for the government appointing its supporters to the
Bench. The
reality, as we know it, is that no government that has the power
to appoint
judges is immune from the tendency to appoint those that it
considers would
be fit for its purpose. Those in power always choose those
with whom they
think they have an ideological symmetry. The politics of
judicial
appointments are as contentious in the derided regimes in the
developing
world as they are in the developed countries. It is not for me to
comment on
whether or not Mrs Makarau's appointment, a few years ago owes
much to
politics one way or the other, because what matters most is the
quality and
character of the person. Being appointed to the Bench is one
thing and doing
what is right as a judge is quite another.
I was happy for my
teacher when she was appointed Judge President,
first as an individual whose
character I have much admired and secondly, as
a woman who is pioneering
uncharted territory in the legal profession. Many
people consider the life
of a judge to be one that is blessed by luxury. I
do not think so. I think
it is a tough job and worse still, some very
capable people sacrifice
lucrative careers in private practice. It is tough
when one is committed to
do what is right, yet the environment is not
conducive. To be sure, there
are many exceptional Zimbabwean lawyers who
have on previous occasions
refused to accept appointment to the Bench,
simply because it does not pay
enough to be a judge and one is better off to
continue in private practice
or pursue other careers. Even in the UK, some
judges have departed from the
Bench to return to private practice, which is
more lucrative and perhaps
more interesting.
It is against this background that I have not
been surprised at
Justice Makarau's recent speech delivered at the opening
of the High Court
on Monday 15 January 2007. It puts to shame, many men and
women involved at
high levels of state institutions who have decided to see
no evil, hear no
evil and say no evil, in the face of obvious difficulties
facing the nation.
One only has to consider the stance of the institution
that is supposed to
be the guardian of the nation's financial stability -
the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe - in the last few days. On the same day that a
woman in charge of
guarding the law was speaking the language of the
suffering, the institution
that is in charge of the finances of the nation
was busy rebutting claims
that it had purchased a luxury vehicle for its
Governor and defending its
reputation.
What is worse, in the
process of making the rebuttal, they unashamedly
admit that they spent a
hundred and something US dollars and a wooly
statement about a "loan, swap
and top-up" arrangement! So people are
actually permitted to obtain loans in
foreign currency from a banking
institution let alone a central bank in
Zimbabwe? It was bad enough that one
brave woman was complaining of poverty
afflicting the guardians of the law
while the guardians of money were
talking about "loans, swaps and top-ups"
to purchase luxury, but all this,
at a time when the health institutions are
at a virtual standstill because
of a strike by health personnel who are
asking for better
compensation.
While the guardians of money were busy defending
their hard-earned and
precious reputations, the guardian of the law was
fighting the people's
cause - people who are living side by side with
poverty in its naked state.
I wonder how "loan, swap and top-up"
arrangements measure up in the much
vaunted sermons on corporate
governance.
And this is where I have some difficulty with my
colleagues in
journalism - because it appears to me that the question
whether or not the
specific luxurious vehicle referred to in The Standard
two weeks ago exists
is no longer of great interest. Instead, via the
rebuttal, the RBZ has,
perhaps unwittingly, opened avenues for further
investigation, if not
criticism. Several questions come to mind: What is the
RBZ's policy on
executive benefits? Do these benefits include what in effect
amounts to a
loan in foreign currency? How does this scheme meet corporate
governance
principles at the bank? Are such schemes generally available to
other
executives as a matter of policy or are they decided on an ad-hoc
basis? Who
constitutes the RBZ Board of Governors and how does it measure up
to the
legal requirements? One would hope that these questions would whet
the
appetite of most pursuing their careers in investigative
journalism.
It goes without saying that the judiciary cannot
effectively function
when those charged with the duty to judge are in a
position of inferiority
in relation to those they are called upon to judge.
Corruption thrives in
the judiciary because the judges have power over
litigants and the accused,
which power they can trade for pecuniary benefit.
Admittedly, this happens
even in the best of systems but the problem is
exacerbated in environments
where judges are left to wallow in poverty.
Begging for assistance, as
Justice Makarau has done on behalf of fellow
judges, is a sure sign that the
men and women on the Bench have been left in
the lurch. It is a sad day,
when the judiciary has to constitute itself into
a trade union; when a
senior judge pleads for assistance.
The
speech by Makarau on 15 January 2007, outdoes whatever has been
said by old
warhorses like Tekere, Nkala who have lately been in the
headlines about the
inefficiencies of the government. Here we have a woman
of substance, a
professional who is serving the State at a very difficult
time, someone whom
others might consider sympathetic to the government
merely because she was
appointed by the establishment, standing up and
speaking the language of the
suffering; the language of the men and women
who daily, walk the streets and
paths across Zimbabwe.
* Alex Magaisa can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Standard
Sundayview By
Mutumwa Mawere
IS Mugabe a manufactured product? Is he entirely
responsible for the
economic decay?
Was the liberation struggle
fought on a defined set of values to
provide a reliable compass on who
should lead the process? How can more than
15 million people be confused by
one allegedly power-hungry individual?
Could it be that the 15
million are more confused than Mugabe? It is
equally instructive that many
would want the world to believe that less than
5 000 commercial farmers are
responsible for the economic crisis or that
targeted economic sanctions are
the root cause of the economic meltdown.
It appears that Zimbabwe
is no different in 2007 than it was in 1963
when ZANU was formed as a
breakaway movement from ZAPU, inasmuch as the two
MDC factions have emerged
in contemporary Zimbabwe with limited vision on
what needs to happen to make
Zimbabwe a working and progressive society.
Clearly, it appears
that the appetite exists for citizens to absorb
and accept poor
leaders.
It is evident the average citizen of 2007 may not be
better off than
the citizen of 1980.
In 2007, the people appear
helpless in the face of adversity and
confused on what options to pursue and
who to blame.
Yes. Mugabe is now the football of all the
disgruntled and yet the
institutional aspects of our quagmire may not be the
subject of scrutiny.
I have come to accept that a week can make a
big difference in a
lifetime. Only last week I had the shock of my life when
I read the judgment
handed down by Judge President Makarau. I have read the
judgment over and
over again, trying to put meaning on what has gone wrong
and whether the
proposition that it is only Mugabe who must go should be
accepted without
contestation.
My personal case may demonstrate
the abuse of state power in a
holistic manner than many other cases, not
only because its origin can be
located in the Executive but Parliament
willingly obliged by rubber-stamping
a Presidential decree.
Now
the courts have confirmed that a government can interfere with
citizen
rights and then proceed to benefit from such actions. I was
specified by
Chinamasa; my companies were also specified.
Makarau has now
confirmed that a specified person has no
constitutional rights and his
rights cannot be protected under Zimbabwean
law.
With respect
to the extra-territorial effect of Zimbabwean
legislation, this is what
Makarau said: "The Applicant, although a foreign
registered company, is
deemed by this court to be a company in respect to
which a reconstruction
order has been issued. As such, it cannot bring this
suit in the absence of
the leave of the administrator appointed by the
respondent (Chinamasa). No
such leave has been obtained and as such, the
application was improperly
brought."
To imagine that Zimbabwean law has application to a
company governed
under the laws of England will continue to baffle me for
the rest of my
life.
The conduct of the judiciary as
demonstrated by Makarau has led me to
the conclusion that it may not be
Mugabe alone to blame. We need to cast the
net wider than Mugabe because
ultimately even if Mugabe was not in office,
our problem may be more
entrenched that we see at face value. Yes, the buck
must stop somewhere but
it is incumbent upon citizens to look beyond the
obvious and seek to
establish the underlying source of the political and
economic
crisis.
While I accept where Tekere and Nkala are coming from, I do
not
believe that their prescription will have any real and lasting impact
unless
the sick value system that allows the state machinery to be corrupted
by a
few unelected persons who are not subject to the same laws and
sanctions
that are subjected to the many is eradicated.
Makwavarara,Mahachi and their strategies for Harare THE appointment of
Tendai
Mahachi as Town Clerk of Harare simply rubs more dirt into the wound
of
Harare residents already suppurating from the reappointment of
Sekesai
Makwavarara and her expanded commission for another six
months.
Mahachi's track record is hardly impressive, despite his
academic
qualifications. He was suspended and then fired as CEO of Air
Zimbabwe in
2005, only a year after his appointment, while his ability as
City of Harare
Strategist is all around us - potholes, garbage, broken street
and traffic
lights, water shortages and general deterioration of our capital
city's
infrastructure, environment and bank balance.
Chombo said
when he reappointed Makwavarara that she had done a good
job. We all asked
ourselves what that good job was, since Harare has gone
from bad to worse
under her illegal continued chairmanship. Then she boasted
that she managed
to pay the workers on time, and the penny dropped - she
must be an essential
part of the Zanu PF machinery, ensuring that
card-holders are employed and
paid, using ratepayers' money!
Doubtless that is the sort of
strategy Mahachi was hired for - not
that there is any such position as City
Strategist in the Urban Councils
Act - and we also wonder what Chester Mhende
was doing. Residents must guard
against being fleeced more and more to
support the voracious ruling party
machine, with other strategies the new
Town Clerk thinks up. The 1 000 grass
cutters called for only recently is a
case in point - why can't the
already-employed workers do their job? What are
we paying them for?
In fact, town clerks were traditionally
lawyers, trained to deal with
all the legal issues arising in cities and
towns, not strategists. But then
Mahachi is not a strategist by training -
he's a chemist. So perhaps there
is some chemistry at work, somewhere along
the line.
Whatever the case, Harare residents have every reason to
review their
continued payment of ever-increasing rates to support the
machinations of a
fired CEO and an ex-data capture clerk.
Trudy Stevenson MP
Shadow Minister for Local Government,
MDC
Harare
----------------------
Zimbabwe's youth must rise against Mugabe's kleptocracy WE as
Zimbabweans
must take action now because I don't see any future ahead of us
if we leave
the Mugabe regime to loot our resources and make people suffer
to such
extremes.
I was a student at the prime State institution,
University of
Zimbabwe. I don't see any tangible solutions being put in place
by the
regime to resolve the country's mounting problems.
For example, at the UZ students are eating stockfeed disguised
as maize-meal
with beans everyday, raw sewage is flowing in the halls of
residence,
lecturers are on strike and standards continue to decline at this
once envied
institution.
On a national level, inflation figures continue
to rise despite
the chaotic policies of the RBZ's "sweet-talking" Governor.
Most workers are
now getting paid wages below the poverty datum line.
Transport costs are
increasing every week. The so-called ministers of the
regime are looting the
country's resources like the recent case of
ziscosteel. Let us face reality
and I think the regime must admit
failure.
Where in the world have you seen the national army
and the
police flogging civilians just to protect a man who just can't
admit
failure - Nyadzi dzinokunda rufu.
We would not like
a situation where someone who claims to be a
nationalist, dies and the
majority of citizens celebrate his death.
Lastly, I wonder if
African politicians ever learn that there is
such a thing as retirement from
active service. How can a country develop
when 80 percent of the leaders are
far above 75 years? Youth, arise please
to save our future from this greedy
regime whose policies have brought
nothing but chaos.
As
for the looting at Ziscosteel - ndiwo maitiro avo mazuva
ese.
Shamiso "Pasi panodya"
Avenues
Harare.
----------------------
More robust methods needed to fight
graft THE approaches being
applied to tackle the pervasive problem of
corruption appear to be plagued
with deliberate deficiencies. Generally, they
are effective only
theoretically while practically they lack the required
aggression to achieve
the intended purpose.
It is
the implementation and enforcement; monitoring and
follow-ups where these
policies and strategies apparently lack venom
and
aggression.
Unfortunately these are the most
critical factors by which
success of any policy and strategy is judged.
Practically agreeable is that
corruption cannot be outrightly eliminated from
any society but it can at
least be minimised.
As the
government is deservedly credited with the current
commendable literacy
level, among the best in Africa, it should also be
acknowledged that the
highly educated perpetrators of corruption are now
applying more
sophisticated and intelligent means.
Hence the need for
correspondingly more intelligent,
deterrent approaches and remedies. The
birth of an autonomous ministry, the
Ministry of Anti-Corruption, whose core
mandate is detecting and dealing
with corrupt activities was a clear
demonstration of the seriousness of the
government to eradicate
corruption.
However, since its formation, the ministry
is still to
rise to its mandate.
What the ministry
seems preoccupied with is comparable to
someone trying to destroy a tree by
pruning the leaves. The only way to
destroy a tree is by cutting the roots.
The authorities appear to be
concentrating on trivial cases whose impact on
the economic health of the
country is minimal if not
zero.
There are many people driving posh cars, living
is
mansions and feeding from all sorts of dishes, but what remains a mystery
is
the source of their riches.
Serious unorthodox
activities with negative repercussions
on the health of our under-siege
economy seem to be receiving inadequate
attention probably due to the
involvement of some "hypersensitive offices."
The most
common cases being abuse of tender procedures by
these " hypersensitive
offices" for self-enrichment, the notorious gold
syndicates of high
officials, abuse of government facilities like Maguta and
Garikai, distortion
of pricing systems flouting of foreign
exchange
regulations.
Corrupt activities, which
implicate sensitive offices,
always seem to disappear without going through
the due process of
investigation and prosecution.
Some cases are just left to die a natural death. It is now
common talk in
social circles, "tinodya nemdhara" particularly among the
notorious
amakorokoza. Against this background, it therefore stands to
reason that the
big offices are fast becoming shields of corrupt activities
and obstacles to
justice.
They are becoming the silent assassins of our
beloved
Zimbabwe.
To effectively destroy corruption,
we need to catch the
big fish first before turning to the small
fry.
Makanyisa Paurosi
Bindura
---------
Nkomo entry
welcome YOUR article in The Standard of 28
November 2006 titled "Nkomo throws
hat into Presidential ring" deserves
comment.
The article constituted a welcome development and
added a new dimension in
the succession debate. All along, political
analysts and commentators pursued
the notion that the Presidency was a
preserve of the Shonas or blue-blooded
Zanu PF cadres. Nkomo's entry into
the ring gives this whole debate a truly
democratic and national character.
I am sure the
tribalists and their
pseudo-commentators are seething with anger and dismay.
It is hoped that
trivial, myopic tribal consideration will not sour this
contest. The Unity
Accord is now being put to the test and the true patriots,
national
retrogrades and reactionaries will be
exposed.
Zimbabwe belongs to all of us and any
law-abiding
citizen has a right to contest any post in the
land.
Abel
Nyamupinga
Mutare
-----------
Why the great fuss? MAYBE 'Dr' Gono
bought the
latest state-of-the-art Merc and maybe he didn't - but a call to
The Herald
offices elicited the fact that a full page colour advert, of which
there
were three in The Herald on 16 January in full denial mode,
costs
$1 953 000. Does the Reverse Bank really
have
money to waste on this type of grandstanding, or might it be put to
better
use? After all if the whole story is false, why the great fuss about
it?
Jeremy
Gordon
Greendale
Harare
--------
Why Mugabe
must go now! DURING the Rhodesian era, Ian Smith devised some
sanction-busting measures that appeared to work, and the country was
functioning. If Mugabe has no answer to the sanctions he claims have been
imposed by the the West which, if he is to be believed, are very effective,
then perhaps all the more reason he should step aside and make way for
someone.
DK
Harare