Mens News Daily
January 22, 2008 at 10:44
pm
MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, was arrested at his home in
Harare at 4 am
this morning.
Police and water canons have been deployed
all over Harare obviously with
instructions to prevent the planned
demonstration for a free and fair
election from taking place. Police had
given permission for the demo to be
held today but then withdrew that
permission on Monday. A court hearing is
set down for 10am today to
challenge the issue.
Mugabe's propaganda mouthpieces, The Herald and ZBC,
hev been saying that
the MDC had called off the demo, which was untrue. The
opposition MDC had
resolved to continue with a peaceful demo.
Reuters
Wed 23 Jan 2008, 4:32
GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Police took away Zimbabwe's main opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai in the middle of the night for questioning about a
demonstration
planned for later on Wednesday, his lawyer said.
"The
police are saying they want to know what he is planning to do today,"
lawyer
Alec Muchadehama told Reuters by telephone.
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) planned the march to press
veteran President Robert
Mugabe for a new constitution to guarantee
parliamentary and presidential
elections due in March are free and fair.
The MDC launched a legal
challenge on Tuesday to a police ban on the march.
MDC secretary-general
Tendai Biti told Reuters that Tsvangirai was picked up
from his home in a
suburb of the capital Harare by plain-clothes officers.
"He was picked up
at around 4 a.m. (2. a.m. British time) in respect of the
intended
demonstration. His mobile phone is now off and we are really
worried," he
said.
The lawyer said police also detained another MDC leader, Dennis
Murira.
Mugabe has been in power since independence from Britain in
1980.
Tsvangirai was last arrested in March 2007 along with dozens of
opposition
officials ahead of another planned march. He says police beat him
up in
custody. They deny this.
The police had initially granted
permission for this Wednesday's march,
which the MDC called to protest
against a crumbling economy blamed on
government mismanagement as well as to
press for a new constitution.
On Tuesday, lawyer Muchadehama said the
Harare magistrate's court would hear
an application on Wednesday on
overturning the ban, which police say was
prompted by fears the
demonstration would degenerate into violence and
looting.
Zimbabweans
have tended to shy away from demonstrations in recent years,
mainly from
fear of a heavy-handed response by security forces.
(Reporting by
MacDonald Dzirutwe, written by Richard Meares)
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 01/23/2008 10:17:50
ZIMBABWE’S highest court on
Tuesday dismissed a constitutional appeal by a
white farmer who was last
month granted an interim relief by the SADC
tribunal allowing him to remain
on his farm against eviction threats by the
government.
The ruling
gives Zimbabwean authorities the power to carry through with the
eviction.
Chegutu farmer William Mike Campbell and his farming
company, Mike Campbell
Limited, were challenging Constitutional Amendment
Number 17 which states
that all farm land in Zimbabwe now belongs to the
State and anybody who
wishes to utilise it has to apply for and be granted a
lease agreement.
The Constitutional Amendment, passed in 2005, also
removed the right of the
courts to adjudicate in land acquisition
matters.
Campbell’s application was dismissed by the full bench of the
Supreme
Court – Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and Justices Ziyambi,
Malaba,
Gwaunza and Garwe.
Last month, the SADC Tribunal ruled that
Campbell should remain on his
expropriated farm until the Supreme Court in
Harare rules on his appeal
case, which it has dismissed.
SADC
Tribunal President Dr Louis Mondlane said in his ruling: “The Tribunal
grants the application pending the determination of the main case and orders
that the Republic of Zimbabwe shall take no steps, or permit no steps to be
taken, directly or indirectly, whether by its agents or by orders, to evict
from or interfere with the peaceful residence on and beneficial use of the
farm known as Mount Carmell in the Chegutu District in Zimbabwe, by Mike
Campbell Ltd and William Michael Campbell, their employees and the families
of such employees and of William Michael Campbell."
Apart from
seeking an order nullifying the Amendment 17, the farmer also
wanted the
court to reach a decision to the effect that “the right from
deprivation of
property and the obligation on the state through the
acquiring authority to
pay fair compensation for acquiring of
property…within a reasonable time as
provided under the constitution has
been violated.”
However, the
court dismissed the application.
The judges also supported the
government’s ouster of their authority in such
matters saying: “The court of
law shall have jurisdiction in a specific
class of cases… the intention of
the legislature must be respected and
enforced.
“By a fundamental
law, the legislature has unquestionably said that such an
acquisition shall
not be challenged in any court of law. There cannot be any
clearer language
by which the jurisdiction of the courts is excluded.”
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 01/23/2008 11:25:54
DESPERATE Zimbabwe government
officials are toying with the idea of
recommending donkey meat as a
substitute for beef which is in short supply
nationwide, New Zimbabwe.com
has learnt.
Ministers have heard from government scientists and health
officials about
the viability of donkey meat as an alternative to beef which
vanished from
the official market following government price
controls.
A government Principal Veterinary Public Health Officer Dr
Kaurai Edward
Masanganise said there was no harm in consuming donkey meat.
He said the
only limitation was deeply-seated social and cultural
beliefs.
Masanganise told New Zimbabwe.com on Monday that research had
shown donkey
meat was a healthy delicacy at par with beef, mutton, chicken
and ostrich.
The findings have been passed on to
ministers.
“Scientifically there is nothing wrong in eating donkey meat
except that the
country’s regulations and statutory laws only permit the
eating of livestock
such as cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens and ostriches. Our
social and cultural
background considers donkeys as animals for labour,”
said Dr Masanganise.
Findings by the Zimbabwe scientists and health
officials dovetail into a
recent research by Botswana’s National Food
Technology Research Centre
(NFTRC) which concluded donkey meat was as good
as fish and less susceptible
to disease.
The laboratory research
findings and analysis on donkey meat came to the
conclusion that the meat
was actually healthier than beef.
“The fats are quite good. The meat is
nutritious and compared to beef donkey
meat is not susceptible to disease,
they just don’t need to be overworked,”
said one of the researchers, Tumelo
Tlhong.
The NFTRC stand was one of the most popular at the Global Expo
Botswana held
last month. It was the only place where visitors with broader
culinary taste
got to sample sausages made of donkey meat.
Not many
visitors seemed keen on eating donkey meat. At the fair, there were
basically three groups -- those who swallowed mouthfuls without blinking,
the reluctant who nippled morsels before spitting them out and those who did
not touch the meat at all.
Although the Zimbabwe government is
unlikely to recommend donkey meat, the
country faces the immediate problem
of dwindling beef supplies as farmers
refuse to sell their cattle at
government gazetted prices.
Unexamined beef has surfaced on the thriving
black market.
In butcheries which have beef, a kilogramme is selling for
between Z$15 and
Z$20 million.
The consumption of donkey meat might
be one of the many ways to halt the
dependence on beef, at a time the
country is making efforts to restore the
national herd, said Dr
Masanganise.
The Zimbabwean
Date: 22 Jan 2008
HARARE - The Zanu (PF) regime has
clashed with Non Governmental
Organisations (NGO)s over the distribution of
humanitarian aid, as it
insists on them channeling the assistance through
its structures for
campaigning purposes ahead of the combined presidential
and parliamentary
elections.
Crisis Coalition, an umbrella of civic
organizations has confirmed that the
regime has stalled a lot of progress in
the distribution of food aid, drugs,
clothing and blankets sourced by donor
organizations and talks have reached
a deadlock. The regime is demanding
that all aid should be distributed
through its channels, which includes
district administrators, local
government officials as well as traditional
leaders, long known for their
blind support and loyalty to Zanu
(PF).
"There are problems and many donor organizations are failing to
reach out to
the needy because of the impasse created by the insistence on
the part of
government that it should be done through its channels," Jacob
Mafume of
Crisis Coalition said.
The Zimbabwean also spoke to
officials from Christian Care and World Vision,
who requested anonymity but
confirmed that huge quantities of aid are being
held due to the impasse,
adding there have already been some violent attacks
on their officials by
Zanu (PF) activists in the countryside.
"We are being asked to surrender
the aid to government and traditional
structures and then we follow behind
them in the distribution," an official
with World Vision said. "This has
created a problem and we are unable to
carry out the distribution
programmes."
The beleaguered Mugabe regime is clutching at straws and
leaving no stone
unturned in ensuring it sets up strategies for its
sustained rigging system,
which also thrives largely on vote-buying through
food and other forms of
aid.
The World Food Programme has said about
6 million Zimbabweans are in dire
need of humanitarian assistance and the
situation is set to worsen due to
the failure of the current agricultural
season through excessive rains and
the attendant problems associated with
Mugabe's chaotic land reform
programme.
The Zimbabwean
Tuesday, 22 January 2008 22:37
By Chief Reporter
BULAWAYO - There is a
covert campaign of nighttime intimidation in poor
ghettos here following a
weekend street demonstration by pressure group
Ibhetshu Likazulu, which is
demanding reparations for the Gukurahundi
atrocities.
The intimidation
campaign has sparked fears that the violence visited on
Zimbabwe’s
southwestern province of Matabeleland in the 1980s might recur as
part of
President Robert Mugabe’s quest to keep power.
Until the past few days, the
poor ghettoes of Makokoba and Mzilikazi, mainly
peopled by members of the
Ndebele ethnic group, had been largely untouched
by the political turmoil
gripping the rest of the country.
But there are reports of a State-sanctioned
crackdown involving ruling party
activists against Ibhetshu Likazuku
activists, most of whom live in
Makokoba and Mzilikazi.
Security
agencies were racing to check intelligence on the group following a
weekend
demo which caught police flat-footed.
Residents tell of being woken in the
middle of the night by the sound of
rapping on their doors.
“ZANU thugs
from Davies Hall are trying to terrorize us and to force us to
attend their
political meetings,” declares Mishkei Ncube, referring to
Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
party.
Qhubekani Dube, a spokesperson for Ibhetshu Likazulu demands that
there
should be a “truth and reconciliation commission” to heal the wounds
of the
Gukurahundi affected and survivors.
“We will not rest despite all
this intimidation,” Dube says. “The President
should be held accountable for
the Gukurahundi atrocities and should be
taken to the International
Court.”
Between 1983 and 1984, Mugabe, whose political force depended largely
on
Shona support, sent the army’s fifth brigade into the Matabeleland to
crush
supporters of his erstwhile ally in the war of independence against
white-run Rhodesia, ZAPU party leader Joshua Nkomo.
The ensuing massacres
claimed the lives of at least 20,000 Ndebeles.
Now the region has become a
stronghold for the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), and once
again the political tide appears to be
pointing towards a new round of
ethnic and party political persecution prior
to critical general elections
provisionally set for March. And Ibhetshu
Likazulu’s agenda to open “ethnic
wounds” has fuelled the tension.
”We are undoubtedly going to become targets
of violence before the
elections,” says Dube.
According to a police
signal seen by The Zimbabwean, reference number
LM05/2008, from Officer
Commanding Bulawayo District, Senior Assistant
Commissioner L.D. Muchemwa,
to Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri,
Ibhetshu Likazulu is listed among
organizations whose leaders have been
placed under “strict surveillance” by
the Bulawayo Law and Order Section as
well as the Police Internal Security
Intelligence (PISI).
“Our Law and Order and PISI details have been deployed
to monitor and report
on the activities of these,” says the internal memo.
“Their residential
places are also subject to daily routine checks, so as to
gather as much
information as possible on their plans and people who pay
them.”
Unlike Mugabe's followers, veterans from the region who fought
alongside
Nkomo during the war of independence from 1972 to 1979 are highly
suspicious
of Mugabe, although they have been co-opted into Zanu (PF). They
have raised
concerns on the cherry picking of “national heroes” and see a
conspiracy to
undermine the outstanding cadres from the region and from
formerly ZIPRA
combatants.
According to locals, the only violent
incidents in the region - have been
carried out by groups brought in from
Harare and questioned why the Officer
Commanding Bulawayo District was a
“Shona”.
“The present campaign of violence bears all the marks of what
happened in
the 1980s,” declares Dube.
Zenzele Ndebele, a youth activist
who produced a movie, “Gukurahundi -
Moment of Madness” on the atrocities in
Matabeleland says from 1983, the
fifth brigade carried out a systematic
campaign aimed at crushing
Matabeleland’s native population through the use
of torture, beatings,
prison camps and mass executions.
”The methods
being used at the moment and those used by the fifth brigade
are strikingly
similar,” says Ndebele, who has been forced to go into hiding
since the
launch of his movie in South Africa. He spoke to The Zimbabwean at
a secret
location.
His movie, produced last year, highlighted the frequent physical
assaults by
firth brigade troops, which have been repeated in the past few
days in
attacks police details and ruling party activists on Ibhetshu
Likazulu
activists.
Likewise, another fifth brigade party trick has been
given a fresh outing in
veteran-run camps.
Back in the Matabeleland
campaign, villagers would be herded together for a
perverse festival, where
“the songs were in an unfamiliar language, the
dance was forced, the slogans
were anti-ZAPU and the ‘festivities’ were
accompanied by beatings and
killings,” says the preamble of another report
produced by the Catholic
Commission on Justice and Peace on the atrocities,
named ‘Breaking The
Silence.’
”The past is catching up with us,” murmurs Sinikiwe of Mzikilikazi.
“I just
wish they (Ibhetshu Likazulu) allow this Gukurahundi issue to rest.
They
will be a fierce backlash if we are not
BULAWAYO - There is a
covert campaign of nighttime intimidation in poor
ghettos here following a
weekend street demonstration by pressure group
Ibhetshu Likazulu, which is
demanding reparations for the Gukurahundi
atrocities.
The intimidation
campaign has sparked fears that the violence visited on
Zimbabwe’s
southwestern province of Matabeleland in the 1980s might recur as
part of
President Robert Mugabe’s quest to keep power.
Until the past few days, the
poor ghettoes of Makokoba and Mzilikazi, mainly
peopled by members of the
Ndebele ethnic group, had been largely untouched
by the political turmoil
gripping the rest of the country.
But there are reports of a State-sanctioned
crackdown involving ruling party
activists against Ibhetshu Likazuku
activists, most of whom live in
Makokoba and Mzilikazi.
Security
agencies were racing to check intelligence on the group following a
weekend
demo which caught police flat-footed.
Residents tell of being woken in the
middle of the night by the sound of
rapping on their doors.
“ZANU thugs
from Davies Hall are trying to terrorize us and to force us to
attend their
political meetings,” declares Mishkei Ncube, referring to
Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
party.
Qhubekani Dube, a spokesperson for Ibhetshu Likazulu demands that
there
should be a “truth and reconciliation commission” to heal the wounds
of the
Gukurahundi affected and survivors.
“We will not rest despite all
this intimidation,” Dube says. “The President
should be held accountable for
the Gukurahundi atrocities and should be
taken to the International
Court.”
Between 1983 and 1984, Mugabe, whose political force depended largely
on
Shona support, sent the army’s fifth brigade into the Matabeleland to
crush
supporters of his erstwhile ally in the war of independence against
white-run Rhodesia, ZAPU party leader Joshua Nkomo.
The ensuing massacres
claimed the lives of at least 20,000 Ndebeles.
Now the region has become a
stronghold for the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), and once
again the political tide appears to be
pointing towards a new round of
ethnic and party political persecution prior
to critical general elections
provisionally set for March. And Ibhetshu
Likazulu’s agenda to open “ethnic
wounds” has fuelled the tension.
”We are undoubtedly going to become targets
of violence before the
elections,” says Dube.
According to a police
signal seen by The Zimbabwean, reference number
LM05/2008, from Officer
Commanding Bulawayo District, Senior Assistant
Commissioner L.D. Muchemwa,
to Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri,
Ibhetshu Likazulu is listed among
organizations whose leaders have been
placed under “strict surveillance” by
the Bulawayo Law and Order Section as
well as the Police Internal Security
Intelligence (PISI).
“Our Law and Order and PISI details have been deployed
to monitor and report
on the activities of these,” says the internal memo.
“Their residential
places are also subject to daily routine checks, so as to
gather as much
information as possible on their plans and people who pay
them.”
Unlike Mugabe's followers, veterans from the region who fought
alongside
Nkomo during the war of independence from 1972 to 1979 are highly
suspicious
of Mugabe, although they have been co-opted into Zanu (PF). They
have raised
concerns on the cherry picking of “national heroes” and see a
conspiracy to
undermine the outstanding cadres from the region and from
formerly ZIPRA
combatants.
According to locals, the only violent
incidents in the region - have been
carried out by groups brought in from
Harare and questioned why the Officer
Commanding Bulawayo District was a
“Shona”.
“The present campaign of violence bears all the marks of what
happened in
the 1980s,” declares Dube.
Zenzele Ndebele, a youth activist
who produced a movie, “Gukurahundi -
Moment of Madness” on the atrocities in
Matabeleland says from 1983, the
fifth brigade carried out a systematic
campaign aimed at crushing
Matabeleland’s native population through the use
of torture, beatings,
prison camps and mass executions.
”The methods
being used at the moment and those used by the fifth brigade
are strikingly
similar,” says Ndebele, who has been forced to go into hiding
since the
launch of his movie in South Africa. He spoke to The Zimbabwean at
a secret
location.
His movie, produced last year, highlighted the frequent physical
assaults by
firth brigade troops, which have been repeated in the past few
days in
attacks police details and ruling party activists on Ibhetshu
Likazulu
activists.
Likewise, another fifth brigade party trick has been
given a fresh outing in
veteran-run camps.
Back in the Matabeleland
campaign, villagers would be herded together for a
perverse festival, where
“the songs were in an unfamiliar language, the
dance was forced, the slogans
were anti-ZAPU and the ‘festivities’ were
accompanied by beatings and
killings,” says the preamble of another report
produced by the Catholic
Commission on Justice and Peace on the atrocities,
named ‘Breaking The
Silence.’
”The past is catching up with us,” murmurs Sinikiwe of Mzikilikazi.
“I just
wish they (Ibhetshu Likazulu) allow this Gukurahundi issue to rest.
They
will be a fierce backlash if we are not [article ends here...]
Zim Online
by Nokhutula Sibanda Wednesday 23 January
2008
HARARE - Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi on Tuesday
ordered bank
executives to clear queues within a week or face stern action
as Zimbabwe
struggles to end a three-month cash shortage that has seen
thousands of
people spend long hours at banking halls queuing for
cash.
The cash shortage that analysts say is chiefly the result of an
acute
economic crisis blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s policies has
persisted
despite the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) injecting new, higher
denomination bank notes into the market last week.
At a meeting with
bankers held at the RBZ’s Harare head office, Mumbengegwi
blamed the cash
crisis on the executives he accused of engaging in what he
called
“non-banking activities.”
Mumbengegwi did not say what the non-banking
activities were but the term is
often used to refer to illicit trading on
the illegal but lucrative black
market for foreign currency.
In no
nonsense mood, Mumbengegwi said: “Those queues have to disappear
soonest
before government resumes business next week because I will not
defend you
against (punishment).”
He said if the queues were not cleared, he would
authorise the central bank
to take appropriate action, adding: “Those who
are tired of banking should
get out of the sector voluntarily. If they
don't, they will be pushed out.”
Mumbengegwi's remarks came a day after
RBZ chief Gideon Gono accused some
banks of not collecting their cash
allocations from the central bank, as
they did not have equivalent sums or
sufficient collateral deposited with
the monetary
authorities.
Mumbengegwi, who was elevated to the Exchequer in a
mini-reshuffle last
year, said his department would not address the exchange
rate unless the
speculative purposes prevailing in the economy
stopped.
“Where on earth do you see an exchange rate based on
speculation?
Speculative behaviour must disappear immediately,” Mumbengegwi
said.
Gono, who was present at the meeting, warned he might have to order
the
closure of banks failing to play by the book.
“We have no
intentions of killing any bank but if pressure continues I will
find little
excuse to reduce the numbers,” said Gono, who four years ago
forced several
banks and other financial firms to close after they failed to
meet
standards.
Zimbabwe has experienced serious cash shortages since last
October. The
authorities blame the currency shortages on cash barons they
say have
siphoned off huge amounts of cash from banks – with the help of
unethical
bank executives - to the lucrative black market to fund fuel deals
and
foreign currency trade.
But analysts have dismissed this, finding
fault with the government’s
economic policies, which have created a fertile
ground for corrupt and
illegal business practices by a minority while the
majority suffers. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Patricia Mpofu
Wednesday 23 January 2008
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe on
Monday held closed-door discussions with
Simba Makoni, his former finance
minister who local and foreign media has
speculated could lead a rebellion
against the veteran leader.
There have been several reports in recent
weeks suggesting Makoni was on the
verge of leading a group of rebels from
Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party to
form a new opposition party to contest
elections set for March.
None of the reports – all largely based on
nameless sources - have provided
tangible evidence of an impending rebellion
in the ruling party.
Both Makoni and Mugabe have not commented on the
newspaper articles while
leading political analysts have ruled out the
possibility of Makoni or any
other ZANU PF leader breaking away from Mugabe
at this point.
A senior official in Mugabe’s office told ZimOnline that
Makoni met the
President for an hour at his State House presidential palace
on Monday, the
same day some international reports alleged the former
minister had resigned
from ZANU PF.
“He met with his Excellency on
Monday afternoon,” said the usually reliable
source, who we cannot name
because he did not have permission to disclose
the meeting to the
media.
Our source was not privy to the discussions between Makoni and
Mugabe.
Makoni is the founding secretary general of the Southern African
Development
Coordinating Conference, for-runner to the Southern African
Development
Community.
He is widely respected in business circles and
across the political divide
but critics say he lacks grassroots support of
his own. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
22 January 2008
Zimbabwean political activists in what is
known as the diaspora say it is
unrealistic for the government to propose to
hold national elections in
March as there are numerous issues which must be
addressed for those
elections to be free and fair.
Zimbabweans abroad
- a quarter of the country's population - are also
pushing for the right to
vote in the next elections, though as in past
ballots the government says it
will not make provision for Zimbabwean
emigrés to vote.
Zimbabweans
in Britain marched on Saturday to press for the "diaspora vote,"
and exiles
living in South Africa say they will hand over a petition at the
Zimbabwean
High Commission in Pretoria asking the Harare government to make
provision
for the estimated 2 million Zimbabweans in South Africa to
exercise their
franchise.
Human rights activist and Web blogger Charles Mutama of
Maryland told
reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
boycotting
the elections as the opposition threatens to do is the right
course of
action, as the ballots are shaping up to fall short of Southern
African
Development Community guidelines.
Nehanda Radio
23
January 2008
By Geoffrey Nyarota
EXILED Zimbabweans can vote
in the forthcoming general elections, wherever
they may be situated in the
Diaspora and they do not even need to be
registered on the voters’
roll.
Zimbabwe’s export earnings peaked at US$3, 4 billion in 1997. Last
year’s
export earnings were expected to generate only about US$1, 3 billion
in
foreign currency in a situation of persistent decline, despite the
massive
increases in global commodity prices.
Meanwhile, remittances
from exiled Zimbabweans, estimated at anything
between two and three
million, now constitute roughly 50 percent of the
foreign exchange earnings
available to the country’s economy. At an
estimated US$100 million a month
the remittances now match the value of
export earnings. These remittances,
which represent the sweat and sacrifice
of the Zimbabwean expatriate
community, who in many cases eke a living in
the Diaspora to support
families back at home, have therefore become an
important and reliable
source of hard currency for Zimbabwe.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has
become notorious for printing the trillions
of Zimbabwe dollars used to
purchase foreign currency on the streets, thus
fuelling the depreciation of
our currency as well as run-away inflation, now
estimated at more than 24
000 percent.
The hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, who have access to
the US$100
million remitted monthly by relatives in the Diaspora, now make
regular
shopping pilgrimages to South Africa, Botswana and, of all the
places,
Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Mozambique has even dispensed with
the need
for visas in order to facilitate the inflow of foreign currency
brought into
the country by desperate Zimbabweans.
Exiled Zimbabweans
now represent a reliable source of considerable levels of
foreign currency
for their arrogant and ungrateful government. Their foreign
currency
remittances also cushion ordinary Zimbabweans from the suffering
that their
government otherwise inflicts upon them daily.
If Zimbabwean exiles were
to withhold these remittances, that action would
have an immediate and
catastrophic impact on the Zimbabwean economy, apart
from condemning
millions of Zimbabweans to abject poverty and the threat of
instant
starvation. Petroleum supplies would be instantly crippled, for
instance. So
would the already diminished supply of electricity, a large
percentage of
which is imported from neighbouring countries.
While the Diaspora
community now plays a crucial role in sustaining their
country’s economy and
ensuring the welfare of citizens, they are not
officially recognized by
their government. In fact they are ridiculed,
especially by President Robert
Mugabe.
They are denied the vote. Zimbabwe faces landmark elections in
March which,
for the first time, will harmonize presidential, parliamentary
and local
government polls.
While the Diaspora community will not
vote, they have the power to influence
the outcome of the election. They, in
fact, constitute a powerful voting
block. Their hard-earned foreign currency
remittances could easily become
their ballot paper if wisely used.
If
the entire Diaspora population were to withhold any remittances to
Zimbabwe
during the month of February, the last month before the March 2008
elections, that action would have profound ramifications on the conduct and
outcome of the elections.
The government would be denied of 50
percent of the foreign currency
available to it at a crucial period.
Deprived of foreign currency ordinary
Zimbabweans, the electorate, would be
confronted by the harsh reality of the
extent to which they have become
dependent on the goodwill of kith and kin
in the Diaspora.
In the
absence of the US$100 million safety cushion, which is inflated from
the
Diaspora, the population would suddenly come face-to-face with the
ravages
of the economic melt-down. Even the rural electorate would approach
the
polling stations in a state of unmitigated anger. The task of the
opposition
would be to ensure that all registered voters actually go to the
polls on
election day.
Smith was dislodged from power in 1980 through a protracted
and bloody
guerilla war waged from outside the country. Mugabe could,
likewise, be
defeated, partly through such a bloodless coup orchestrated
from the
Diaspora
Yes, our people may suffer as a result but that is
a sacrifice they may have
to make for the future well-being of our nation.
Zimbabweans made worse
sacrifices and took greater risks during the
protracted war of independence.
Provision would be allowed in
life-threatening situations, such as the
purchase of medical
prescriptions.
Suffering and sacrifice are indispensable elements of any
revolution
inspired by the quest for political change.
It is absurd
that the citizens of Zimbabwe should collectively sit back
while waiting for
President Thabo Mbeki to reach out across the Limpopo to
deliver them from
suffering and humiliation at the hands of those they
elected to power long
before Mbeki became president. Neither should
Zimbabweans expect Tsvangirai
and Mutambara, each in his own way to rescue
them, while they subject them
to incessant and arrogant criticism and
condemnation.
For this
strategy to achieve maximum effect Zimbabwean politicians would
have to play
a complementary role in the national interest. Morgan
Tsvangirai, Arthur
Mutambara, Jonathan Moyo, and any other progressive
politicians in the ranks
of the opposition would have to cast their petty,
divisive and ethnic
differences aside to mount a united campaign against
Zanu-PF. If Mugabe and
PF-Zapu leader, the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, could join
hands in the interests
of national salvation, why should Tsvangirai and
Welshman Ncube not be able
to do so?
Dr Simba Makoni, who has not denied persistent reports,
especially in the
British press, that he is planning to launch a new
political party, should
seriously consider joining hands with existing
opposition politicians.
Otherwise he and retired general, Solomon Mujuru,
said to be his ally, will
forever be condemned for splitting the opposition
campaign while
strengthening the hand of a beleaguered Mugabe a few weeks
before the
elections.
Sections of the seemingly omniscient British
press may say they are the most
serious challenge ever to be faced by Mugabe
within his party, but the
elections scheduled for much will not be Zanu-PF
primaries.
Zimbabweans must of necessity assume ownership of the process
of
post-independence liberation and democratization. They must look back
with
pride well into the future and be able to say without hesitation, “We
liberated ourselves twice from the ravages of discrimination, oppression,
deprivation, dictatorship and humiliation.”
Despite an aura of
arrogance and invincibility, Mugabe and Zanu-PF are
certainly not
invincible.-The Zimbabwe Times.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
22 January
2008
Most of Zimbabwe was without electric power Tuesday
for the fourth straight
day.
Officials at the Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority blamed technical
problems in Zambia, saying imbalances in
regional distribution grid caused a
blackout that affected Zambia and other
countries in the Southern African
sub-region.
Sources reported a
total blackout in Harare with power restored by midday in
parts of the city.
Some districts in Bulawayo had power while Bindura
enjoyed a steady supply
due to its proximity to Mozambique and a deal with
power authorities in that
country.
ZESA officials said they were doing all they could to restore
normal
service, though the country has been subject to rolling blackouts for
many
months.
Correspondent Irwin Chifera told reporter Patience
Rusere that ZESA promised
that power could be restored in most parts of the
capital by midnight
Tuesday.
The widespread and persistent power cuts
have dealt another blow to
manufacturing firms and businesses in general,
many of which have been
forced to close their doors for lack of electricity
to carry on operations.
Economist and businessman Eddie Cross, also a
policy coordinator for the
opposition faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai, said
that for every day that it
goes without power the country is losing one half
of one percent of its
gross domestic product.
Monsters and Critics
Jan 22, 2008, 20:44 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg - Police in
Zimbabwe Tuesday warned that anyone taking
part in a banned march by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
would face the full wrath of the
law.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said the police were sticking to
the ban
of the 'freedom march' organized for Wednesday by the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led
MDC.
'The position still remains that the march has
been cancelled,' Bvudzijena
said in comments carried on state
television.
Earlier Tuesday, the MDC said it would procede with the march
despite the
police ban.
The party says it wants to test the sincerity
of President Robert Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF party after the long-time leader
signed into law an amendment
to the security regulations that in principle
make it easier for people to
demonstrate.
The march was meant to call
for food, jobs and a new constitution before
elections that President Robert
Mugabe insists will be held in March.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
SW Radio
Africa (London)
22 January 2008
Posted to the web 22 January
2008
Tererai Karimakwenda And Tichaona Sibanda
The MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that the protest march
organised for
Wednesday will go ahead as scheduled, despite a police ban.
The party was
informed last minute on Monday that they would not be allowed
to proceed
with their "freedom march" even though they had notified the
police weeks in
advance.
The MDC secretary for Home Affairs, Sam Sipepa Nkomo, described
the police
action as "totally unreasonable, provocative and in bad taste."
He added
that most of their supporters were not aware of the police ban
because there
was no electricity in the country since Saturday, and
communication was
difficult, if not impossible.
Nkomo said: "To
start with, the majority of our supporters do not tune in to
all ZBC radio
and TV channels because of its pro-ZANU-PF stance. I also
believe that Wayne
Bvudzijena was speaking to a dark world because our
radios could not carry
out his message."
This was in reference to reports that Assistant Police
Commissioner
Bvudzijena broadcast a series of statements all day Tuesday
portraying the
opposition party as a violent organisation. Our correspondent
Simon Muchemwa
heard these broadcasts on state run radio and said Bvudzijena
accused party
leader Morgan Tsvangirai of inciting chaos and violence
against the
government, during his address at a weekend rally in
Highfields.
But Muchemwa, who was also at the rally, said Tsvangirai
stressed that the
Wednesday protests should be peaceful. The MDC leader also
urged his
supporters to show restraint if confronted by hostile
elements.
Sipepa Nkomo accused Bvudzijena and the police of hypocrisy
because two
months ago they provided a police escort and allowed ZANU-PF
supporters to
run through the centre of town during their so-called "million
march." Now
the MDC was being denied the same privilege, even after
following procedures
as stipulated in the new rules signed into law by
Robert Mugabe a week ago.
Nkomo said they had believed that ZANU-PF was
beginning to be sincere by
signing new amendments into law, that govern the
right to assembly.
"It's not a case of defying police orders but we are
within the laws that
allow us freedom to assemble, freedom to demonstrate
without police
interference," said Nkomo.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
ANALYSIS
22 January 2008
Posted to the web 22 January
2008
Tererai Karimakwenda
There are media reports that Robert
Mugabe has blocked the parliamentary
committee on Finance and Economic
Development from questioning Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon
Gono about the country's serious cash
shortages. Gono had offered to name
individuals who were hoarding money and
engaging in illegal activities on
the black market, including senior
government and ruling party officials
that he called "cash barons." But
according to reports Mugabe told the
committee to wait until after the
elections to conduct the
hearing.
It is believed the move was meant to prevent an embarrassing
situation for
the ruling party, ahead of the elections scheduled for March.
Zimbabweans
will be electing a president as well as members of parliament
and rural
council representatives. Many of the "cash barons" on Gono's list
will be
candidates for these posts and so it is clear why Mugabe has
interfered.
The RBZ introduced larger denominations of bearers
cheques and increased the
maximum withdrawal limits last week. This has not
produced the desired
result of eliminating bank queues for individuals
seeking to withdraw their
money. Some banks have already reduced their
withdrawal limits from the
recent increase of Z$500 million set by the RBZ,
to Z$200 million.
A Reuters report on Monday said Gono blamed the banks
for the current cash
shortages. He said: "Notwithstanding the high levels of
cash stocks sitting
at the Reserve Bank ready for dispatch into the market,
some banking
institutions have been engaging in imprudent and unethical
practices which
are creating artificial queues for cash."
Gono was
implying that there are stacks of cash at the RBZ which the banks
are not
picking up. But economist John Robertson said he believes Fidelity
Printers,
who were hired to produce the new notes for the RBZ, did not
succeed in
completing the job on time, because of the continuing power cuts
that are
having a severe impact on businesses.
Robertson also blamed the Reserve
Bank itself for the cash shortages. He
said there is a "statutory reserve
ratio" which requires banks to deposit
50% of all money received, back to
the Reserve Bank. In other countries the
ratio is only 12-15%. This leaves
Zimbabwe's banks without enough cash.
Ultimately the government has no
long term solutions for the country's
economic woes. Unofficial estimates
say inflation is 150,000%. At that rate
it is impossible to print enough
money to keep up. It is now urgent that the
broader political crisis is
resolved, before the economy can even begin to
stabilise.
The Scotsman
By Jane Fields
In Harare
THE state-run grain company in
Zimbabwe has turned to making luxury dog
food, while up to four million of
the country's people starve.
Doggy's Delight is a new product from the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the
only firm to which farmers are allowed to
sell their wheat and maize.
It is supposed to supply millers with grain
for flour to make bread. But, in
addition to making dog food, the company
has announced that it will focus on
poultry feeds this year.
Recent
figures show Zimbabwe has a 360,000-tonne shortfall of maize – used
to make
the staple mealie-meal – and a 255,000-tonne wheat shortfall.
That means
more than a third of Zimbabweans are likely to need food aid in
the run-up
to presidential and parliamentary elections in March, according
to aid
agencies.
With probably less than ten weeks to go before the polls, there
are fears
Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party will once again offer food
for votes –
the government has started secretly importing food from
Malawi.
The GMB is delighted with the success of Doggy's Delight, a
pre-cooked,
high-protein instant dog meal. "Production of dog food by the
GMB is now on
full throttle," said the company nutritionist, William
Ndindana.
Five tonnes of Doggy's Delight are being produced every day,
according to
reports. But Zimbabwe's hungry hounds won't get much of a taste
of the new
product, which is primarily intended for the export
market.
Such exports earn foreign currency – vital for the government,
which is
grappling with the highest inflation rate in the world at nearly
8,000 per
cent.
Shortages of basics following Mr Mugabe's disastrous
price blitz in July and
the soaring cost of imported goods mean struggling
Zimbabweans are finding
it hard enough to feed themselves, let alone their
animals. Ten kilos of
regular dog biscuits cost about 35 million Zimbabwe
dollars (£583 at the
official rate of exchange) – more than a teacher's
monthly salary.
The cash squeeze appears to have forced many people to
turn household pets
out into the streets. Packs of starving dogs now roam
residential suburbs.
At the height of meat shortages last year, reports
from the east of the
country said a local man had even tried eating dog,
which is taboo in
Zimbabwe.
To make matters even worse for the
residents of Harare and other Zimbabwean
cities, they have been hit by the
second major power cut in three days.
The power went off on Monday
evening and had still not returned yesterday
afternoon.
Traffic
lights were not working in most of Harare; water supplies were cut;
telephone lines down, and radio transmission was interrupted.
"This
country's really bad now. It's on its knees," said George, a caretaker
at a
block of flats in a Harare suburb. "No power, no phone, no water. No
mealie-meal. We're starving."
Tensions are rising in the country
after the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) vowed to go ahead
with a protest march through the
streets of the capital today, even though
it has been banned by police. The
so-called Freedom March is meant to rival
the Million Man March held in
support of Mr Mugabe last November.
The
organisers say the march is to call for food, jobs and free and fair
elections. Police initially gave it the go-ahead, but late on Monday, a
spokesman told state radio it had been cancelled because police did not
believe it would take place in "a peaceful and tranquil
environment".
Yesterday, the MDC vowed to ignore the ban. "The march is
on", said its
spokesman Nelson Chamisa, who was badly beaten when police
broke up an
opposition prayer rally last March.
Zimbabwe's state
media has accused the opposition of "spoiling for a fight".
SET FOR
ELECTION 'ONSLAUGHT'
ROBERT Mugabe, who is 84 next month, is due to name
the election date in the
next few days, and his supporters are gearing for a
fight.
In a chilling threat last week, war veterans, who spearheaded the
invasion
of white-owned farms, said they were launching an "onslaught" to
ensure his
ruling Zanu-PF party wins. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans'
Association said its members were "on a mission to defend our
motherland".
The MDC says it will boycott the polls unless Mr Mugabe
agrees to adopt a
new constitution ahead of the vote.
Changes to
Zimbabwe's media, security and electoral laws were rushed through
parliament
at the end of 2007. They became law on 11 January.
Sources say the media
amendments will be put to the test in coming weeks as
foreign journalists
seek visas and state media accreditation to visit
Zimbabwe for the
elections. In the recent past, foreign journalists have
routinely been
denied access.
Last Updated: 22 January 2008 10:22 PM