• Chidyausiku says unable to grant MIC order
• 1 000 rights abuse cases reported last year
• Tsvangirai says sought Mugabe exit package
• MDC dismisses Herald story on monetary policy
• MDC activist awarded $800 000 damages
• Talks must focus on protection of civil liberties: Sikhala
• Church leaders in line of fire
• EU to inject $180 billion into Zimbabwe health system
• Parents must speak up now
• Pretending all is normal, manageable
• Mugabe in SA to pay lobola
• Don't tour Zimbabwe: Downer
• Chingoka hurls verbal bouncer at 'sanctimonious' England
• England ready to pay $1m to Zimbabwe
• Munya's mates look to future
• More Zim investors come to Botswana
• Kaseke apologises for chaos at airport
• 'Cheaper to die than to get treated' as health system fails
• Zimra officers picked up
• Decongest rural areas: Made

      CHIEF Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku was yesterday unable to grant an
interdict sought by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) barring
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) from publishing its newspapers,
saying a Supreme Court judge sitting in chambers had no jurisdiction to
issue such an order.

      In addition to the barring of the two ANZ titles, the Daily News and
the Daily News on Sunday, the MIC also wanted the appeals before the court
consolidated into one case and an order directing the registrar of the court
to expedite the hearing of the matter.

      The hearing of the MIC application continues today.

      Addressing MIC lawyer Johannes Tomana, Chief Justice Chidyausiku said:
“You have the right to approach the courts to consolidate the appeals. They
are fragmented.

      “I believe you are not really entitled to the interdict that you seek.

      “It is so untidy to deal with these matters piecemeal. I am sure this
is what has caused this confusion. That is why it is important to
consolidate all the issues and the appeals be heard as one case.”

      ANZ legal adviser Gugulethu Moyo said that in today’s hearing lawyers
for both the MIC and ANZ would make submissions as to when the consolidated
case could be heard.

      Moyo said: “It was determined that the best way to proceed was to
consolidate all the cases between the ANZ and the MIC in order to avoid
further confusion.

      “What will happen if the matters are consolidated is that the appeals
by the MIC against the Administrative Court decisions and the preliminary
point on whether or not ANZ still has ‘dirty hands’ in the constitutional
case will be heard all at once.”

      ANZ challenged the constitutionality of some sections of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) in the Supreme Court.

      But on 11 September 2003, the Supreme Court, sitting as a
constitutional court, ruled that it would not hear the matter because the
ANZ had approached the court with “dirty hands” by not registering.

      Chief Justice Chidyausiku said the Supreme Court’s ruling on 11
September 2003 which ruled that the ANZ was operating outside the law still
stood.

      In his submissions, Tomana said his applications sought to clarify the
position at law of the cases so that the rule of law was not jeopardised.

      “There is confusion in our media,” Tomana said. “The principle of the
rule of law demands that a law be applied without discrimination. The laws
of this country, under Section 66 of AIPPA, state clearly that no mass media
house can operate without being registered with MIC.

      “The situation that obtained between the time the Supreme Court made
the ruling that the ANZ was operating outside the law still stands. What has
to happen is that that ruling has to be complied with until that law has
been ruled unconstitutional.

      “From 11 September until 22 January there has been compliance but the
violation of the Supreme Court ruling started on 22 January when the ANZ
published against the ruling of the same.”

      He said the ANZ should refrain from operating a mass media service and
should comply with the country’s laws.

      But Chief Justice Chidyausiku, who heard the matter in chambers, said
a judge sitting in chambers could not issue the interdict sought by the MIC
but had no problem with the appeal for the consolidation of the cases
pending before the courts.

      “The judgment of this court has not yet been set aside by itself,” he
said. “After payment of registration fees to the MIC and the submission of
the receipt to the Supreme Court registrar, the registrar responded saying
the matter was not whether or not ANZ had complied.

      “The rightful thing that should have happened should have been to come
back to court to have the decision made as to whether there was compliance,”
he said.

      He said the judgments of both the Administrative Court and the High
Court had no effect of suspending the Supreme Court rulings.

      Chief Justice Chidyausiku said that it was the basis upon which the
police acted when they moved into ANZ premises.

      Mordecai Mahlangu represented ANZ.

      Staff Reporter

      1 000 rights abuse cases reported last year

      Date:28-Jan, 2004

      HUMAN rights violations persisted in Zimbabwe throughout last year
with more than 1 000 cases of abuses that included murder, rape, kidnapping
and torture recorded during the 12-month period, according to a report
released this month by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum (ZHRF).

      The ZHRF, which groups together pro-democracy, human and civic rights
groups in the country, cited State security agents, the ruling ZANU PF and
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties as some of the
perpetrators of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

      According to the ZHRF 559 Zimbabweans were unlawfully arrested while
782 other citizens were denied their right to freedom of expression
guaranteed by Zimbabwe’s Constitution.

      Another 77 people received death threats and 496 people were tortured
while four reportedly disappeared during the period under review.

      In the month of January alone there were 60 cases of unlawful arrests
and 77 cases of people being displaced from their homes because they
belonged to a particular political party.

      The ZHRF, which monitors political violence and human rights abuses in
the country, said voters were subjected to violence and intimidation in a
bid to influence their choice during a by-election held in the Mashonaland
West town of Kadoma last November.

      “The prospects for a free and fair electoral environment had already
been dampened by violence that prevailed in the area prior to the election.

      “In another incident, Kennedy Chivambe, the ZANU PF chairman for ward
11 (Kadoma) was reportedly stoned and injured by two MDC youths while having
a beer at Waverly Shopping Centre.

      The assailants were reportedly moving around with the MDC candidate
for Kadoma Central constituency,’’ the report read in part.

      It further said an MDC supporter only identified as TZ was reportedly
abducted by suspected ZANU PF supporters, stabbed with a screwdriver on the
left arm before he was further assaulted with a log.

      During the same period, an unnamed MDC ward leader in Marondera was
allegedly chased away from his home and had his house allegedly burnt down
by ZANU PF supporters.

      “Incidents of political violence continue to be reported from various
parts of the country. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum continues to
condemn organised violence in all its forms.

      “Of major concern is the continued reportage of violence surrounding
elections in the country.

      “The Human Rights Forum calls upon the government in partnership with
its citizens to cultivate a violent-free society,’’ the ZHRF said in the
report.

      There have been media reports of alleged violence by ZANU PF
supporters and war veterans against suspected MDC supporters in the campaign
for the Gutu North by-election scheduled for next week.

      Retired Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai of ZANU PF and Crispa Musoni of
the MDC are battling it out for the seat left vacant following the death of
Vice-President Simon Muzenda in September last year.

      Staff Reporter

      OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai yesterday said his party engaged the Canadian political
consultancy firm Dickens and Madson to arrange a power sharing agreement
between the MDC and ZANU PF that would also include an exit package for
President Robert Mugabe.

      Tsvangirai denied charges that the November 2001 meeting at the
Dickens and Madson headquarters in Montreal, Canada, was to arrange the
assassination of Mugabe.

      Under cross-examination by acting Attorney-General Bharat Patel, the
opposition leader conceded that he referred to the elimination of Mugabe
during the surreptitiously video-taped meeting.

      But he said by using the term elimination he was referring to
excluding Mugabe from a presidential election that was to be held after the
setting up of a transitional government.

      “Dickens and Madson were going to ensure that an exit package was
going to be worked out for President Mugabe thus eliminating him from the
election,” Tsvangirai said.

      Asked what he meant when he said in the video-tape there would be a
crisis if Mugabe was eliminated, Tsvangirai said: “President Mugabe has been
in power for 23 years and how can you say that an unceremonious departure by
him would not be a crisis.”

      The video-tape forms the basis of the treason charges against
Tsvangirai.

      He said the meeting also discussed how a new government led by the MDC
would work together with a ZANU PF majority in Parliament. Under the new
dispensation, chiefs would be recognised while governorship would be
abolished.

      The State’s case is that Tsvangirai hired Dickens and Madson, a
political consultancy firm led by Ari Ben-Menashe to arrange the
assassination of Mugabe ahead of the 2002 presidential election.

      The trial continues today with Patel cross-examining Tsvangirai.

      Staff Reporter

      THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party yesterday
dismissed as “malicious and unfounded” claims by the state-controlled Herald
newspaper that the initial success of monetary policy measures being
implemented by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono had
thrown the MDC into confusion, forcing it to revise its economic policy.

      Tendai Biti, the Harare East Member of Parliament who also chairs the
MDC Economics Committee, yesterday told the Daily News that the lead story
in yesterday’s Herald headlined “Gono report stings MDC”, was totally false.

      “That is absolutely rubbish for the Herald to claim that we have
changed our economic policy and have drafted another new document. Nothing
of that sort has ever happened.”

      The Herald reported that after Gono unveiled his economic policy late
last year, the MDC revised its economic policy and has prepared a new
document with the aid of an economic consultant.

      The State-owned paper also claimed that the MDC policy was not
original, but was a copycat of the Government policies, institutions and
instruments.

      Biti said they prepared the document well before Gono was appointed
the RBZ governor and that their document was original contrary to what the
Herald was suggesting.

      Said Biti: “This document was ready by August last year, well before
Gono was appointed governor, and contrary to what this paper is saying we
have not prepared any new document.”

      He said the MDC Economics Committee had to send the document to
different party structures for it to be approved before they could launch
it.

      Biti said they sent the document to the President’s Economics Council,
the party’s National Executive, the National Executive Council and the
National Conference, hence the delay in its launch.

      The legislator said contrary to what the Herald said, the document was
prepared by the MDC Economics Committee and each committee member was given
a specific section to work on.

      “In the committee, we do not have any headmaster we work with as being
alleged and we have never consulted any embassy as we were preparing this
economic policy as being alleged by the Herald,” said Biti.

      He said it was absurd for the Herald to say that there were
disagreements within the MDC, with some senior members worried that the
clampdown in the financial sector would catch up with them as they were
involved in foreign currency dealings.

      “The problem with the Herald is that they want to own Gono. However,
they should remember that Gono is there to serve everyone – he is not for
the ruling ZANU PF party only,” said Biti.

      The MDC economic policy named Reconstruction, Stabilisation, Recovery
and Transformation policy will be launched tomorrow by the MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai at the Harare International Conference Centre.

      Staff Reporter

      HIGH Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe has awarded close to $800 000
in damages to John Mukondwa, a Hwedza Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
activist who was shot by a policeman in February 2002.

      Lawyers for Mukondwa said they had originally asked for $1.2 million
in damages, but had accepted the judge’s decision.

      The matter was handled by Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum lawyer Godfrey
Mupanga, assisted by Harrison Nkomo.

      Nkomo told The Daily News: “Initially, we had claimed $1.2 million for
damages, pain and suffering, including medical expenses, but the judge
awarded us $785 150, which we accept.”

      He added: “The police should pay our client, who might be permanently
injured.”

      Kembo Mohadi, Home Affairs Minister and Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri were cited in the case as first and second respondents respectively.

      The allegations, as laid out in Mukondwa’s summary of evidence in Case
Number 6707/02, are that on the night of 26 February 2002, a Constable
Dzvairo from Hwedza Police Station visited Mukondwa’s home.

      He was in the company of ZANU PF youths identified as Chikudza, Igai
Chikumbirike, Bernard Makwarimbe and Mafondwe.

      An unidentified person also accompanied the group, which demanded to
search Mukondwa’s house for MDC campaign material for the 2002 presidential
election, controversially won by President Robert Mugabe.

      Mukondwa said he attempted to flee from the group, but Dzvairo
allegedly fired about three shots, injuring the MDC activist in the right
elbow.

      Nkomo said it was ironic that after shooting Mukondwa, the police
charged him with malicious injury to property to “justify their unlawful
behaviour”.

      According to court papers, Mukondwa reported the shooting incident to
the police on 27 April after he had been treated at a private hospital in
Marondera.

      Before beating up and shooting Mukondwa, Dzvairo and his companions
visited another MDC activist, Willias Muzoronga, who was handcuffed and
beaten up before being forced to lead the group to Mukondwa’s home.

      However, before knocking at Mukondwa’s home, Muzoronga screamed and
alerted Mukondwa of the risk to his safety.

      But the group forced its way into the house, overpowered Mukondwa and
handcuffed him, before taking him to their campaign base, where they
tortured and threatened to kill him.

      After his ordeal, Dzvairo force-marched the complainant to Hwedza
Police Station, where he was charged with malicious injury to property.

      Mukondwa’s mother, Anacke Mukondwa, told the court that on the night
the incident took place, she heard noises at her son’s house, but did not
know if her son was present at the scene.

      “After a while, I heard more than three gunshots and the group walked
away noisily,” she said, according to court papers.

      “The following morning, I told the headman about the incident, but no
action was taken. Instead, the ZANU PF youths came to collect the gun
cartridges. I later discovered that my son had been shot and I went to
Harare where he was being treated.”

      Nkomo said Justice Hungwe castigated the police for acting in a manner
inconsistent with their duties and responsibilities.

      “The judge condemned the behaviour of the police, particularly in the
handling of this case,” Nkomo said. “He was clear in court that the police
had shown total disrespect to the judiciary because of the refusal by some
senior policemen to appear before him to give evidence during the hearing.

      “He told the police that they needed to investigate cases first before
arresting anyone and questioned how a normal policeman could lead ZANU PF
youths in violence instead of being at the police station awaiting reports
from the public.”

      Staff Reporter

      THE Centre for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (Ceretov)
yesterday said dialogue between the ruling ZANU PF and opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) aimed at resolving Zimbabwe’s crisis should
prioritise constitutional reforms that would guarantee civil liberties and
protect citizens from torture.

      In statement to the Press, Ceretov chairman Job Sikhala, who is also
an MDC legislator, said: “Constitutional reform is the beginning and the end
to our crisis. Any form of reforms in the country that are not
constitutional are unacceptable to the torture survivors in our country.

      “Any political settlement in our country among political parties,
especially ZANU PF and the MDC, that does not include constitutional reform
as the leading light is dead before it begins.’’

      Sikhala’s statement followed media reports last week quoting
Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo saying that
President Robert Mugabe has now formalised dialogue with the MDC.

      The MDC, which has in the past denied similar claims by Mbeki, refuted
suggestions by the South African leader that it agreed to formal talks with
ZANU PF.

      Sikhala, together with four other MDC activists, were last year
allegedly tortured by suspected state security agents for allegedly burning
down a ZUPCO bus near Highfield.

      Staff Reporter

      During the 1970s Zimbabwe’s church leaders were beleaguered and
accused of being supporters of president Robert Mugabe and his guerrilla
fighters.

      Church leaders are once again in the line of fire: this time for
co-operating with an “international conspiracy” to oust Mugabe.

      However, church leaders who voice their concerns about human rights
abuses, deny these allegations.

      Zimbabwe university political scientist, Professor Elphias
Mukunoweshuro, says attempts by these leaders to facilitate dialogue between
political parties and at finding solutions in the worsening political
crisis, stem from their conciliatory task to ease injustice and suffering.

      “The church has a role in protecting the suppressed and it should take
a leading role in any kind of society by expressing its concerns about
suppression.”

      In the period preceding independence in 1980, churches were persecuted
and threatened with violence by the regime of the then-prime minister Ian
Smith.

      A bomb explosion at the time at the Catholic Church’s Mambo Press in
Gweru is still imprinted in the memory of people as one of the worst
atrocities of that war.

      Catholic leaders including Bishop Douglas Lamont had been imprisoned
by the Smith regime and subsequently deported on charges of conspiring with
the guerrillas. Other church leaders simply vanished.

      At the time, Mugabe praised church leaders, asking the church for its
support.

      That same church is now constantly under fire, accused as opposition
supporters and acolytes of the West.

      Mugabe’s critics, including Catholic Bishop Pius Ncube, are harassed
and have been detained by police for questioning.

      Ncube is in the forefront of human-rights issues and, despite threats,
he perseveres in his criticism of Mugabe’s human-rights abuses.

      Zimbabwean churches’ latest initiative is to try to facilitate
dialogue between the most important opponents in the crisis – the ZANU PF
party and the Movement for Democratic Change.

      The Rev Trevor Manhanga of Upper Room Ministries and bishops Patrick
Mutume and Sebastian Bakare of the Catholic and Anglican churches,
respectively, have had several talks with Mugabe and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai with this aim in view, to no avail, however.

      In fact, state-controlled media have accused the churches of
“hypocrisy”.

      They have been berated and ordered to “relinquish their MDC
 membership” otherwise ZANU PF would not take them seriously.

      Church leaders insist they don’t belong to any political party and
that threats would not hinder their attempts at bringing the two parties
together, says Manhanga.

      “The problem in our country is not between Tsvangirai and Mugabe, it
has now spiralled down to grass-roots level. We have spoken to both leaders
at their levels, hoping the peace and reconciliation process can start with
them.

      “We are concerned about the suffering endured by the people and we are
asking everyone involved in the dialogue process to put Zimbabwe first, and
ahead of their selfish agendas,” says Manhanga.

      Despite their emphatic denial of being involved in party politics,
Zanu PF Legal Secretary and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa insists that
church groups are a front for the opposition.

      “Self-interest is driving them. They are MDC activists in religious
collars.” Chinamasa insists churches should be denied a role if talks
between the MDC and Zanu PF get underway.

      MDC secretary-general Professor Welshman Ncube says his party
appreciates churches’ efforts to try to facilitate dialogue.

      “The church should set moral standards and integrity. The government
has neglected these issues. The church should not stop exposing government
abuses of the kind the Bible talks about,” he says.

      Church leaders have been unable to present a united front over the
crisis in the country. In fact, it appears churches are vying for God’s
blessing for their viewpoint.

      Civil rights organisations and the opposition are complaining that
churches have woken up late as to the gravity of the crisis facing the
country.

      The Rev Henry Chiromo of the Baptist Church admits to a “period of
confusion”, claiming his church now wants to be a role player.

      “A kind of deadlock has been reached where people want to talk about
themselves and not to each other.

      “Mugabe and Tsvangirai each represent their own followers.

      “We would like them to get together and put the interests of the
country first,” he said.

      The European Union is this year expected to spend close to US$30
million (Z$180 billion) to help improve Zimbabwe’s underfunded health
delivery system.

      The head of the European Commission (EC) delegation to Zimbabwe,
Francesca Mosca, said in a statement in Harare last week the money would be
taken from a US$69 million fund committed to Zimbabwe for the period 2000 to
2006.

      “The programme’s purposes are to support people’s increased access to
affordable quality health services, mainly by ensuring the continued
availability of safe blood and the supply of essential drugs for the
prevention, treatment and control of HIV/AIDS and other communicable and
non-communicable diseases,” said Mosca.

      She said priority areas would be the fight against HIV/AIDS.

      “The European Commission sees the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe as one
of the biggest socio-economic problems facing the country,” she said.

      The EC would support a national AIDS conference to be held in June,
and part of the money would also go towards assisting non-governmental
organisations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria.

      The cash injection would improve crumbling infrastructure and
dilapidated equipment at the country’s hospitals. “A lot of the equipment at
hospitals and health facilities needs repairs or replacement,” said Mosca.

      Meanwhile the European Commission on Monday signed an agreement with
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support a five-year
project for improving livestock productivity in the region.

      “This project seeks to contribute to poverty reduction in the SADC
region through increased productivity and trade flows in the traditional
livestock sub-sector of the SADC member states,” said SADC executive
secretary Prega Ramsamy.

      The US $9.2 million project, the Promotion of Regional Integration in
the SADC Livestock Sector (Print), is designed to strengthen the work of the
SADC’s Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Directorate.

      The directorate promotes regional integration and sustainable
livestock production, and co-ordinates strategies on animal disease control
and human resource development.

      Part of the Print initiative involves the creation of a Livestock
Information Management System within the SADC secretariat, headquartered in
Botswana, which will help with policy development and risk assessment for
both the public and private sectors.

      According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation,
sub-Saharan Africa has one of the fastest growing human populations in the
world, coupled with one of the lowest per capita consumption rates of
livestock products.

      Average annual per capita meat consumption in Africa is 11 kilograms,
less than half the developing world’s average of 26.4 kg.

      Improvement in the supply of meat and milk depends on an increase in
livestock productivity, which remains generally poor across the SADC region.

      The technical support provided by Print aims to help build the
national capacity of livestock services staff to assist rural producers, as
well as providing the framework for tackling highly contagious animal
diseases such as foot-and-mouth.

      “This animal health disease has caused, and is still causing, great
problems in this region, and constitutes a big threat to a viable and
productive livestock sector, which in many countries is an important
contributor to the economy,” said Claudia Wiedey-Nippold, the head of the
European Delegation in Botswana.

      – IRIN

      PARENTS cannot afford to be passive while the government and schools
fight it out over fees. That would be criminal and prejudicial to the future
of millions of Zimbabwean schoolchildren, who deserve the best education the
country can give them.

      It is true that school fees and levies have been rising steadily in
the past year, with some schools said to be charging as much as $7 million a
term.

      But it is crucial that all stakeholders examine why schools have been
forced to increase their fees virtually every term.

      There can be no doubt that inflation – which is unsustainably high at
598.7 percent – is the major reason why education is now so expensive that
many parents are considering keeping their children out of school.

      Because of inflation, wages have been forced up, so has the cost of
water, power, communications and other materials necessary to maintain a
well-run educational facility.

      Food has become unaffordable for most families, but boarding schools
must provide enough for the children in their care.

      For many schools with boarding facilities, the fees they demand are
inadequate to provide the nutritional diet that all children deserve.

      Schools are battling to meet these and many other costs so that they
can operate effectively, and it is, therefore, unjustified to conclude that
they are profiteering at the expense of struggling parents.

      That is not to say that parents have themselves not been hit hard by
Zimbabwe’s economic haemorrhaging.

      Most parents’ wages have not kept pace with inflation in the past four
years, making it almost impossible for many people to meet the rising cost
of food, accommodation, transport and other necessities from what they earn
every month.

      There are no easy solutions to the crisis in the educational sector,
but the options for parents are fairly clear cut.

      Parents can choose to maintain the highest standards of education for
their children, or they can become party to the government’s crackdown on
schools that have raised fees without permission from the Ministry of
Education.

      That will result in these facilities being forced to revise their
increases or even being shut down, as the Education Ministry indicated
yesterday.

      This will take some of the pressure off parents, but their children
will pay the price as schools find themselves unable to afford the materials
and services necessary for the provision of a quality education.

      Private school teachers will most likely join their counterparts in
the public sector in leaving the country to seek better pay and working
conditions elsewhere. School buildings and grounds will become even more
run-down than they are now.

      Libraries without books will become the norm, as will classrooms with
broken desks and chairs, or no chairs and desks at all.

      None of this is conducive to a good education and morale among
schoolchildren will be at its lowest.

      It is, therefore, in the best interests of parents around the country
to become proactive and to refuse to accept the crisis management that has
contributed to the decline in Zimbabwean education, once highly rated in
Africa.

      It is time for parents to demand that the government stops tinkering
with the symptoms of a deep-seated problem and begin tackling its
fundamental causes.

      Forcing schools to seek permission before raising their fees and
blindly looking to the government to keep a lid on educational costs will
not solve anything.

      Rather, parents must demand a sober fiscal policy, respect for human
rights and the rule of law to convince the international community that
Zimbabwe is putting its house in order and can be trusted with foreign aid.

      There can be no half measures in ensuring that children have the best
education, and parents must refuse to be fobbed off with less than what
their children deserve.

      AS we bury the 35-year-old father of three, nobody mentions, but
everybody knows, why he died so early. Nobody asks what fate might await the
young widow.

      Everybody knows why the 29-year-old single mother of two, only
recently returned from “Unit K” (United Kingdom) so sick she needed a
wheelchair at the airport, had her life cut short. But we are all far too
polite to say so.

      Roads are no longer passable in Mbare because of uncollected refuse.
We just walk in another street. Nobody makes any fuss about it.

      We celebrate all feasts and go to all parties and sing all new tunes
as if nothing had happened. No one admits that we can’t really afford it,
that hiring a bus costs millions, that our living standard has slumped so
much so that we have hardly enough for sadza and vegetables.

      We are told that even if you are found to be HIV positive life will go
on: just change your lifestyle, avoid stress, eat healthy food, take your
medicine, “get real”, “make your own choices”. Live (and die) in cloud
cuckoo-land!

      How can anyone avoid stress in a situation where people automatically
join any queue and only afterwards ask what the queue is for? Who can afford
special diets when the most basic foodstuffs are scarce?

      Medicines? What medicines? Even when the doctors are not on strike,
who can buy what they prescribe?

      Chipo wants to marry Tonderai. It would be the most rational thing in
the world to be tested for their HIV status. But then – what if Chipo tests
negative and Tonderai positive? Is she still going to marry him?

      The truth will make you free – and miserable! To know the daunting
truth and act on it is the rational thing to do, but most of us can’t face
it, they just don’t want to know. Better take a chance and hope for the
best. “Maybe I am lucky!”

      “My husband died five years ago. I know I am HIV-positive, I was
tested. I have to provide for my children. So far I am feeling alright, but
the time will come . . .” She is speaking in a plain, matter-of-fact tone.

      It takes courage to face the truth. Crowds panic and run. Strong
individuals resist. They have the courage to walk alone, follow their own
insights, make their own decisions.

      There is a faith dimension in their lives, and from that perspective
it is not the end of the road, and they are not really alone.

      The country is gravely ill. It can no longer feed itself. It can no
longer offer its children a workplace and security in the community. It has
lost the confidence of the young who leave in ever greater numbers. People,
apparently of the same country, live nevertheless on different planets.

      Dialogue has been shelved while party leaders are preoccupied with the
succession issue.

      Old leaders bury more and more of their own generation. But they never
bother to inspect a cemetery to see

      that most recent graves are of people born in the 1960s and 1970s.

      “AIDS? What about it? The minister of health takes care of that. Is he
not doing a fantastic job?” As a matter of fact, what can he do?

      Poverty and hunger have now joined forces with AIDS, and that is a
lethal alliance. AIDS you can fight. AIDS plus hunger means definite defeat.

      Hunger is not dealt with by one ministry. It is the result of years of
mismanagement involving everybody. Only a radical change of direction of the
whole government can make a difference to that.

      That is the tragedy. They pretend everything is normal. Things run
their course. There is somebody in charge of everything. In the meantime,
they can play their games as usual.

      Their power games in the champions league to see who comes out tops.
In their 70s and 80s, but still playing games.

      Their grandchildren, already dead and buried, have not reached that
age, but they have not noticed, they keep playing games, deadly serious, as
if it really mattered. Which it doesn’t, of course: it will not be long
before they join the heroes.

      For the time being, however, the old men keep playing their blaming
games (imperialism, neo-colonialism and so on) and naming games (eg Tony
Blair, hardly innocent, possibly foolish, but really not responsible for our
children running away, or dying).

      They even play high-risk, deadly games. They play with our lives. Play
politics even with the starving who are near death.

      Decide who is to live and who is to die. Give food only to “reliable
cadres”. Allow only government agents to distribute the life-saving grain.
Deny import licences to political suspects.

      Instead of forgetting all silly games and single-mindedly working for
the survival of all, every Zimbabwean man, woman and child. But the
obsession with playing those power games will not go away.

      What will ever make them sit up and face the truth? That there is mass
poverty and starvation and death for which they are responsible, they
themselves and nobody else.

      Will anyone have the enormous courage and say: “Yes, we did it. We
failed to provide. We were blind. But it is not too late. Let us start now.

      "Even if it costs us position and power. Even if it is the last thing
we do . . .”

      But they will not do that. They will pretend that all is normal. All
is manageable, even without knowing the whole awful truth. They mean somehow
to muddle through. Until the end. Their end.

      But not ours. We no longer pretend or trust good luck. We want to
know. And take it from there.

      By Fr Oskar Wermter SJ

Wednesday January 28, 2004 06:57 - (SA)

HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has acknowledged he had flown to
South Africa at the weekend, saying it was to help a nephew with traditional
marriage ceremonies.

The president told a gathering at a memorial service for his first wife,
Ghanaian-born Sally Hayfron, who died in 1991 of a kidney ailment, that he
was "very fit" and only travelled to South Africa for family business.

He was responding to South African media which had reported his visit was to
seek medical treatment after a vomiting fit.

Mugabe said he had gone to help his nephew Johnson Ngwenya pay the bride
price for his traditional marriage.

"I flew on Saturday and I met the family and the bride," Mugabe said.

The bride's family wanted cows but were prepared to receive cash in lieu of
the cattle.

"I had a few rands with me, so I paid 5,000 rands (700 dollars).

"That's all I went to do," said the 79-year-old leader.

He denied that he was ill.

"I am very strong, I am very fit, and I thank God for that capacity," he
said.

"I have no doctors (in South Africa), all my doctors are here in Zimbabwe
and I move around with my own doctors," he was quoted as saying by state
television.

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba earlier said : "The president is as fit
as none of his detractors can ever hope to be in a lifetime."

Mugabe's second wife, Grace, his former secretary, is almost 40 years
younger than him.

AFP

      The public relations manager of BEDIA, Shandukane Mpoloka said
although the majority of the Zimbabwe companies are in the textile sector,
some deal with professional services such as information technology and
accounting.

      If the deals are finalised, the companies, which Mpoloka refused to
name for fear of jeopardising ongoing talks, would pour in millions of pula
in investments.

      They will join a number of Zimbabwean firms that already have business
interests in Botswana.

      The companies that already have a presence in Botswana include Econet
and finance houses such as Kingdom Financial Holdings, Barbican Holdings and
African Banking Corporation.

      Mpoloka said the prospective investors are now in the process of
finalising details with authorities in Gaborone after a long period of
negotiations.

      More Zimbabwean companies are spreading their investments to countries
in the Southern African Development Community region to hedge against the
economic downturn in their country.

      The envisaged investment in Botswana by the companies further
highlights growing trade and investment relations between Zimbabwe and
Botswana, a few months after reports that Watercare Tswana is in the process
of establishing a joint venture company with Zimbabwean urban councils.

      The joint venture firm, to be known as Watercare Zimbabwe would enable
town and city councils in Zimbabwe to import water treatment chemicals from
Botswana under flexible payment terms, thus circumventing persistent foreign
currency shortages they are facing.

      Mpoloka said Botswana offered a range of benefits to foreign
investors, explaining that they enjoy free repatriation of profits,
including dividends and capital, a competitive corporate tax regime of 15
percent for manufacturing companies and 25 percent for other sectors of the
economy.

      He added that the highest tax bracket for personal income deductible
is 25 percent.

      Another investment incentive offered is that products manufactured in
Botswana enter the lucrative European Union market both duty and quota free
in terms of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

      Apart from the European markets, he said exporting companies in
Botswana have ready access to the Southern African Customs Union market
comprising South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.

BULAWAYO, - When Jasper Simalie suffered from severe respiratory
complications two years ago, his family had no reason to fear for the worst.
They had their hopes pinned on Zimbabwe's affordable health care service,
which enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best in Southern Africa.
And it delivered. After two months' recuperation, Simalie returned to his
job with one of Zimbabwe's leading cement manufacturers.

The condition returned to haunt him last year, and this time the family made
frantic but futile efforts to find affordable treatment. Simalie's illness
forced him to stay at home for three months. He was retrenched, and left
with only enough money to pay his way back to his rural home in the
northwestern province of Binga.

He has been bedridden for the past eight months. "For the pain I feel, I
wish I had died two years ago. Eight months of suffering is worse than all
the pains of a lifetime. If I had the money, I would seek private medical
service and buy myself the necessary drugs. But I don't," he told IRIN.

Hospitals, according to Simalie, "are now a place to die - they refer
everyone to a filthy deathbed under a hardworking but underfunded home-based
care system."

Simalie's predicament mirrors that of many other Zimbabweans, suffering as a
result of public health sector inefficiencies. The astronomical increase in
the cost of private and public services has aggravated the situation.

Plagued by a scarcity of drugs, dilapidated medical equipment and persistent
strikes over poor remuneration by health sector professionals, the public
health care system is on the verge of collapse. Over the past two years,
people have been forced to turn to private medical practitioners for
services no longer offered by government clinics and hospitals.

The last straw came this month when private medical doctors increased their
consultation fees. General practioners hiked their rates from an average of
US $5 to US $13 per consultation, while specialists began charging up to US
$32. Doctors cited an official inflation rate of around 600 percent as the
reason for the increased fees, and stopped accepting medical aid schemes,
demanding cash upfront.

State hospitals also raised their consultation fees this month, while public
sector clinics in Bulawayo, the country's second city, now charge US $2 per
consultation - last year they were charging only 28 cents.

Drug suppliers, feeling the pinch of the high inflation rate, increased the
cost of drugs by 1,000 percent in October last year - 500 ml of children's
cough mixture rose from 12 cents to US $1.80, while a full course of common
antibiotics now costs around US $11. A month's supply of antiretrovirals to
control HIV cost more than many people earn in a year.

Pharmacy managers and health consultants say inflation cannot be ignored in
a sector that relies heavily on imports, and foreign exchange is hard to
find.

"At this rate, no ordinary Zimbabwean worker can afford to buy drugs at
these prices. But, as drug retailers, we have no choice but to pass the
increases on to the patients," said a manager with one of the city's major
pharmacy chains.

Isaiah Shoniwa, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Medical Wholesalers
Association (ZIMWA), said price increases in the drug sector were
unavoidable because importation costs had risen by the same margin of 1,000
percent. "We find the cost of importing drugs highly prohibitive. In fact,
most of us are not sure if we will remain in business because of the costs
involved," Shoniwa said, adding that another hike was imminent this year.

Bulawayo residents who spoke to IRIN said health care was now well beyond
their reach. "There is no way - one cannot afford health care services in
Zimbabwe. The government hospitals have no drugs. In the rare instances when
deliveries are made, there are no nurses or doctors to attend to patients.
The poor can only die silently at home," said Patience Mpofu.

Private doctors interviewed by IRIN defended their rates. "Inflation has not
stabilised - so why should I charge less? If there is no business I can
simply close the surgery and relocate to other countries, rather than try to
beat government in offering expensive services at subsidised rates," said
one gynaecologist.

He confirmed that several private doctors with surgeries in the low-income,
high-density suburbs of Bulawayo had either closed down or relocated because
there was no business, and medical aid societies were out of the picture
because of the impasse over consultation fees between doctors in the
Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA) and the National Association of Medical
Aid Societies (NAMAS).

Doctors had rejected as "meagre" a 200 percent increase in consultation
fees, pegged at US $7, proposed by the medical aid societies, he pointed
out. "Medical aid cards will remain irrelevant as long as NAMAS does not
want to accept the 400 percent increase we have already effected."

Government attempts to bring order to the country's health sector have been
characterised by threats to invoke sections of the Public Health Act. When
drug retailers increased the cost of medication, the government threatened
to introduce price controls.

The government resorted to similar measures when a strike by doctors and
nurses paralysed the public health sector last year. The doctors were
demanding a monthly salary of US $8,305, which Minister of Health Dr David
Parirenyatwa described as "black market inspired".

In response, the minister threatened to invoke the Health Services Act, and
proposed a health services commission that would define health care
professionals as providers of an essential service who could not go on
strike.

Phibion Manyanga, president of the Hospital Doctors Association, scoffed at
suggestions that the commission could prevent future strikes.

"The fate of the patients in this country will depend on whether the
government will understand the need for reasonable remuneration for
employees in the public health sector. Whether it is set up or not, that
commission will not stop inflation, so industrial action will be embarked
upon whenever it becomes necessary. Besides, the professionals still have
the choice of resigning if the conditions of service violate their right to
reasonable remuneration," said Manyanga.

Julia Mpofu, a 45-year-old bedridden tuberculosis patient at Bulawayo's
Thorngrove isolation hospital gave her assessment of the health care system:
"It has become cheaper to die than to get treated."