Harare, January 28, 2012-An Air Zimbabwe
flight crew and an advance delegation accompanying President Robert Mugabe
to an African Union summit on Friday hurriedly evacuated an aircraft they
had boarded after smoke engulfed the plane just before the ageing
octogenarian leader boarded it.
Informed sources who were at the Harare
International Airport told Radio VOP that an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200
aircraft which was about to ferry Mugabe to Ethiopia developed a faulty
auxiliary power unit (APU) which pumped smoke into the cabin where some
flight crew including pilots, air hostesses and engineers had already
settled and waiting for Mugabe to board the plane.
The smoke forced the
flight crew and some of delegates accompanying Mugabe to the summit to flee
from the plane.
The incident happened just before lunch time when
officials were waiting for Mugabe to arrive at the airport for the departure
to Ethiopia.
Engineers who attended to the aircraft switched off the APU
to avoid the blowing of smoke into the cabin and declared the plane fit to
fly and Mugabe then departed for Addis Ababa around 2PM.
Sources said
after the embarrassing incident Air Zimbabwe was forced to run a test flight
of the plane for 25 minutes before Mugabe boarded it to assure his aides
that the aircraft is safe for flying.
However, some members of the
dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation reportedly interrogated Air
Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga over the
embarrassing incident as they suspected that the airline’s striking workers
could have sabotaged the plane so as to communicate a message to
Mugabe.
Last month, Mugabe became the latest victim of the chaos at Air
Zimbabwe after he was forced to hire a private plane to ferry him to the Far
East for his annual vacation after Air Zimbabwe failed to provide the
service.
The diamond firm intervened to rescue Mugabe after failing to
secure the services of Air Zimbabwe, whose long haul aircraft, a Boeing
767-200 was holed up in London after developing a technical
fault.
The wide-bodied aircraft, which services Air Zimbabwe’s
international routes and which Mugabe usually charters for his local,
regional and international jaunts developed a technical fault after being
impounded at Gatwick International Airport by American General Supplies over
a US$1.2 million debt.
Mr. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party say the national unity
government is dysfunctional and accuse the Movement for Democratic Change of
scuttling constitutional reforms, demanding elections be held in
2012
Studio 7 Staff | Washington
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe will make a pitch to his fellow African Union leaders gathered for
next week’s summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to support his push for
elections in 2012 without a new constitution or other key democratic reforms
in place.
Mr. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party say the national unity
government is dysfunctional and accuse the Movement for Democratic Change of
scuttling constitutional reforms.
African leaders will meet Sunday
and Monday to discuss various continental issues.
In a statement,
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo urged the African Union to “demand the
holding of elections in Zimbabwe this year as well as the unconditional
removal of economic sanctions by Western countries.”
Gumbo accused the
two MDC formations in government of delaying completion of the new
constitution to avoid new elections. He told VOA that elections cannot be
put off beyond 2012. He said ZANU-PF is confident AU leaders will endorse
this stance.
But Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC wing, said Gumbo is mistaken in claiming the MDC is
sabotaging elections.
Zimbabwean state radio reported that South African
President Jacob Zuma, mediating in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Southern
African Development Community, will present a report to the AU on the
situation there.
But his foreign policy adviser and Harare facilitator,
Lindiwe Zulu, told VOA reporter Blessing Zulu that her boss had no such
plans.
Meanwhile, representatives of Zimbabwean non-governmental
organizations were lobbying AU leaders not to lose their focus on the Harare
situation.
Human rights groups fear a return of political violence if
elections are held, and are urging the AU and SADC as guarantors of the
Global Political Agreement - which underpins the current "inclusive"
government in Harare - to pressure Harare to institute reforms generally
considered necessary for free, fair and non-violent
elections.
Opening the High Court circuit this week in Gweru, Midlands
province, Justice Lawrence Kamocha said cases of political violence were
likely to surge in light of possible elections this year. He urged police
and judicial officials to maintain impartiality.
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition Regional Coordinator Dewa Mavhinga said civic groups have
scheduled meetings with officials from the AU Peace and Security Council and
the organization's Political Affairs Department to urge the continental body
to send monitors to Zimbabwe to investigate whether conditions are right for
elections.
He said the civic groups held a meeting with SADC Executive
Secretary Tomaz Salamao who said he is planning a mission to Harare for
talks with officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, all the
political parties and civic organizations.
The mission will make an
independent assessment of the political situation in the country before
taking a stand on the issue of elections, Salamao is reported to have
said.
Mavhinga told Violet Gonda that his group was set to present a
report Friday to show the African leaders that Zimbabwe is not ready to hold
new elections.
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer Saturday, 28
January 2012 13:50
HARARE - Harare city officials have warned there
is a possibility of another cholera outbreak in the city due to the
mushrooming of unhygienic places where foodstuffs are being sold.
The
officials said the city is contemplating clamping down on such places in
many of the city’s high density suburbs.
Dr Prosper Chonzi, Harare
City Council Public Health director yesterday said in a press briefing
before a tour of township hotspots that cases of cholera are likely to
increase if it does not act.
“Cholera may hit anytime because the
environment is conducive. There is illegal vending, garbage remains
uncollected and there is rampant poor personal hygiene. These are the main
drivers and as of now they remain uncurbed,” said Chonzi.
Cholera hit
Zimbabwe in 2008 with more than 16 000 cases and almost 4 000 deaths
reported.
Recently some high density suburbs particularly Kuwadzana were
hit by a debilitating typhoid outbreak.
The cases have since risen to
750 according to council officials.
Typhoid is a bacterial disease,
transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the faeces
of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella
enterica.
Council has so far blamed the latest outbreak of waterborne
diseases to illegal vending on open spaces where fresh foodstuffs such as
fish, beer, chicken, beef and sadza are being sold.
Chonzi urged
residents to practise proper personal hygiene and boil borehole
water.
“In modern times typhoid is a primitive disease that is caused
by poor personal hygiene,” Chonzi said.
There are high chances that
the disease has hit other residential places such as Chitungwiza and Epworth
only that it has not been recorded, Chonzi said.
Dr Michael Mahachi,
the town clerk said they were mulling closing shops they suspected to be
trading contaminated foodstuffs as they battle to contain the
outbreak.
“We are planning to close shops that have contaminated
products. We then check whether they are selling safe products or not,”
Mahachi said.
“Police should arrest illegal vendors who are selling
contaminated products,” Mahachi urged.
HARARE, Jan. 28
(Xinhua) -- In Zimbabwe's capital Harare, many of the hotels, restaurants
and open air food spots face immediate closure for failing to meet health
and hygienic standards amid fears that a cholera outbreak looms, state media
warned on Saturday.
The move is part of a cocktail of measures designed
to contain the spread of typhoid and follow recent reports indicating that a
hotel worker had tested positive for typhoid.
Health services
director Dr Prosper Chonzi raised fears of a cholera outbreak given the
health conditions that gave birth to typhoid. "We can have cholera anytime.
The environment is conducive for the outbreak. We need to be proactive and
play our part," he said.
Dr Chonzi quoted by The Herald on Saturday said
typhoid could have spread to Chitungwiza and Epworth. "I can bet my last
dollar there is typhoid in Chitungwiza and Epworth. The hygienic levels
there are not good," he said.
Dr Chonzi said residents across the city
should also be wary because no one was safe from the disease. The movement
of people from one suburb to the other fuels the spread of the
disease.
Harare Town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi said some businesses faced
closure because it has been observed their foodstuffs were contaminated with
Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid. "We may close some of
them until they are inspected and we are assured of their cleanliness," he
said.
As of Friday afternoon, 882 typhoid cases had been attended to
in Kuwadzana, the epicenter of the outbreak. Another 64 people were admitted
at the Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospitals while on Thursday alone,
53 people were treated of typhoid symptoms at Kuwadzana
Polyclinic.
Dr Chonzi also said some businesses should be closed. "Food
businesses and those that handle raw foodstuffs like fruits, unprocessed
foods and butcheries face closure. We will have to certify food handlers.
They should be screened for TB and general cleanliness," he said.
Dr
Chonzi said some hotels have a tendency of employing temporary staff each
time they have brisk business, but never take measures to certify the health
of the workers. Most such workers are usually seen outside major hotels
waiting to be hired for relief duties.
Dr Chonzi said new samples
from a Government analyst confirmed that all food samples of chicken, fish,
raw and cooked meat taken from Kuwadzana tested positive for
typhoid.
The businesspeople, most of who are suppliers of goods and
services to council, have been mobilized to assist contain
typhoid.
Kuwadzana residents swamped Kuwadzana Four Shopping Center when
they realized city officials were touring the suburb, according to The
Herald.
They complained that garbage was not being collected and there
was no tap water for vendors who have literally invaded the shopping center.
The only available public toilet is not working.
Restoration Of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR) Vice
Chairman and Spokesperson Sten Zvorwadza has been arrested this morning on
allegations of ‘posing a threat of future violence’. He is being held at
Matapi police station where he had rushed seeking refuge from 50 rowdy ZANU
PF youths. 28.01.1202:10pm by ROHR
"Sten Zvorwadza had sought
intervention from police over a dispute that erupted when over 50 ZANU PF
youth militia besieged his business premise in Mbare harassing workers and
ordered the close of the premise . The youth militia allege that Zvorwadza
is a supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change and should not operate
in Mbare," according to a statement issued by the
organization.
Representatives of ROHR Zimbabwe spoke to Zvorwadza’s
employees who were at the premises at the time of the attack and subsequent
arrest of Mr Zvorwadza. The employees complained that ZANU PF youths were
being violent, and threatened to assault them if they continued working.
They were seeking the closure of business alleging that Mbare constituency
is a ZANU PF stronghold, hence any business entities owned by suspected MDC
supporters are illegal and should be shut down.
Zvorwadza went to
seek the protection of Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) as a complanaint who
turned around and arrested him accusing him of agitating the youths and in
their own words ‘posing a threat to future violence. ROHR Zimbabwe is in the
process of engaging lawyers to seek his release.
"ROHR Zimbabwe condemns
the arrest and the lack of objectivity exhibited by police in combating
political violence. We also rebuke the on-going violation of independence of
private business from political partys’ influence, the infringement of
private property and personal rights of individuals regardless of their
alleged political affiliation and choice," said the organisation's
spokesperson.
Obama sticks with
Kimberley Process but critics slam its lack of effect on regimes Daniel
Howden Author Biography
Saturday 28 January 2012
The United
States has taken over the leadership of the troubled blood diamonds monitor,
known as the Kimberley Process, in a move seen as the last chance to restore
the credibility of the body set up to prevent the sale of gems linked to
conflict and human rights abuses.
Gillian Milovanovic, a US diplomat,
takes the chair less than a month after one of the body's founding partners,
Global Witness, walked away, saying the monitor was "lurching from one
shoddy compromise to another". It has also been accused of refusing to take
action against member states including Zimbabwe.
Conceived as a
certification scheme to prevent the diamond trade from being used to fund
conflict, the process was accused of failing to deal with fraud in Venezuela
and Ivory Coast and of appeasing the Mugabe regime.
The final straw for
Global Witness came with the decision to endorse unlimited diamond exports
from a region of Zimbabwe which has been the scene of mass killings by the
army. At the time, the NGO's founding director, Charmian Gooch, said the
disintegrating process "has turned an international conflict prevention
mechanism into a cynical corporate accreditation scheme".
But the
Obama administration said it would stay in the monitoring group to address
the "challenges" raised by its critics. Ms Milovanovic, a career diplomat
who has worked in Africa and the Balkans, must now try to restore the
standing of the 76-country process that was conceived to avert any repeat of
the horrors of the West African civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia which
were largely fuelled by so-called conflict minerals.
The body itself was
launched in 2003. Named after a UN meeting in the South African town of
Kimberley, it is meant to ensure that uncut gems can only be traded from
countries that have been certified "conflict free" – but it has been accused
of using narrow definitions to avoid taking concrete action.
The hottest
issue remains the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe, where the regime has
been able to sell some £1.2bn in rough diamonds despite overwhelming
evidence of horrendous human rights abuses. The military is accused of
killing more than 200 people, many of them artisanal miners, in a bloody
takeover of the Marange fields in 2008. Since then a number of deals have
been concluded with mining companies that have helped to prop up Mugabe,
despite the economic collapse of the country.
26/01/2012 00:00:00 by Business
Reporter I New Ziana
TALKS between the government and an un-named
strategic partner interested in taking over Air Zimbabwe have collapsed, a
senior government official confirmed Wednesday.
The government
announced late last year that it was engaged in negotiations with a
potential suitor to take over the struggling parastatal which is among ten
entities earmarked for privatisation and commercialisation.
However,
Transport and Infrastructural Development permanent secretary, Patson
Mbiriri told New Ziana the discussions had collapsed.
"Unfortunately that
did not succeed due to certain reasons. At this point in time I cannot go
into details of that," he said without naming the potential
investor.
Officials revealed that President Robert Mugabe met
executives at a Chinese airline during a visit to the country last November
to discuss a possible investment in Air Zimbabwe which is faces a myriad of
challenges including an ageing fleet and huge debts.
Air Zimbabwe
owes various creditors about US$140 million and also faces possible
liquidation after restive workers – said to be owed US$35 million -- sought
to have the airline placed under judicial management.
Two of the
company’s aircraft were briefly seized by creditors in South Africa and the
United Kingdom last year forcing the airline to pull out of the lucrative
Johannesburg and London routes.
Meanwhile, Mbiriri said efforts would
continue to finding another strategic partner for the airliner.
He
added that the government had also not yet finished offloading the National
Handling Services (NHS), a subsidiary of Air Zimbabwe which provides
passenger and cargo handling services
"We are currently going through the
necessary legal processes that have to be done to take it out of Air
Zimbabwe," he said.
"We are guided by the indigenization laws of the land
in looking for a partner in NHS," said Mbiriri.
HARARE - Mainstream MDC youth assembly has castigated Zambian
President Michael Sata for attacking their party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Sata who was elected last September as the Zambian leader
after defeating Rupiah Banda ending a two-decade rule by the MMD said
Tsvangirai was a “Western stooge” whose leadership credentials are
questionable.
In an interview with a UK Telegraph newspaper published on
Tuesday this week, Sata described Tsvangirai as a Western stooge and
dismissed calls to institute reforms before elections are held.
“We
don’t know the policies of Morgan (Tsvangirai) he has other people speaking
for him rather than speaking for himself,” Sata said. But the MDC youth wing
believes otherwise.
“The people of Zimbabwe spoke clearly in 2008 that
they wanted Morgan Tsvangirai as their President, and that statement needs
to be respected by any regional leader worth his salt,” said the youth wing
in a statement.
Sata won last year’s elections after spending almost 10
years as an opposition leader and the MDC youth wing said no regional leader
spoke against his personality.
“Such remarks from a head of state are
regrettable and shows clear disrespect of the regional diplomacy,” said the
MDC youth wing.
The MDC further said Sata should respect efforts being
made by other regional leaders who are advocating for democratic reforms
before the holding of elections.
Sadc, through its appointed
mediator, South African President Jacob Zuma, has said no elections will be
held without reforms that include media and a new constitution.
Sata
has in the past made several controversial utterances on Zimbabwean
politicians including in 2005 when he supported President Robert Mugabe’s
controversial land grab.
“What Robert Mugabe has done is sensible. He
hasn't roasted any white persons, he has just taken back what belongs to
them,” said Sata while commenting on the country’s chaotic land reform
programme.
HARARE - In an exclusive interview with the PM’s Newsletter,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai this week spoke about the performance of
government, violence, the government priorities for 2012, reforms, the
election and other issues.
Excerpts:
Q: Prime Minister,
How would you rate the performance of the transitional government in
2011?
PM: I think the year 2011 had mixed fortunes. First of all, on a
positive note, in terms of social services and other deliverables, I think
the government did manage to respond to the issue of education, health and
water.
The stabilisation of the economy continued in 2011 but we also
had our deficits.
We have not managed to put our grip on the Marange
diamonds. We have not managed to respond to the fiscal demands of the
recurrent expenditure.
There has been a break down in the protection of
the people and in some instances there have been abuses that have been
recorded.
In some instances there has been defiance of executive
authority, particularly the authority of the Prime Minister.
The
attendance and full commitment of some of the ministers to the Government
Work Programme and the Council of Ministers have been very
disappointing.
Some of the decisions of Cabinet have been ignored,
especially the implementation of media reforms.
If you take a balance
sheet, one recognises the difficulties and challenges of a coalition
government.
As the election approaches there are likely to be tendencies
to resort back to competitive politics and sabotage of other members of
government.
For instance, the discord in policies over indigenisation and
investment promotion should not happen.
We should have one policy
that is supported by the whole government but it would appear that there is
this tendency to resort back to compartments, political compartments that
undermine cohesion in government.
Q: As we go into 2012, what is your
primary focus?
PM: As we go into 2012 and taking what I have said before,
there is need for a serious paradigm shift because 2012-13 is a watershed
period.
First and foremost, whether there is an election or not the
transitional government’s life will be determined by how many reforms we are
able to implement in order to create conditions for a free and fair
election.
At the same time it is a year where we can prove to the
detractors of the transitional government that indeed we put our people
first in all our decisions and in all our deliberations.
Q: What are
some of the key reforms you have earmarked for 2012?
PM: Among the many
key programmes is to implement the matrix of agreed positions of the Global
Political Agreement.
We must implement what we have agreed on in terms of
media reforms and in terms of strengthening the role of constitutional
commissions that we have appointed.
We must also ensure the security
sector re-alignment in terms of the adoption of a nonpartisan position by
members of the security structure.
All this rhetoric, sabre rattling is
not necessary. For a country that has gone through a crisis, I think that
crisis should be a lesson for all of us of on what should not be done and
that we should all be inspired by realising that there is greater advantage
in working together than trying to undermine each other and sabotaging
government programmes.
We delay our own situation of having economic
turnaround; creating jobs that are necessary for the people and improving on
the social delivery in the local authorities.
We are delaying
ourselves in rectifying and addressing the issue of food security in
agriculture.
I think those are the critical issues that the government
has to focus on this year.
Q: Speaking of the security sector, Prime
Minister, we have seen since the beginning of this year wanton arrests of
MDC activists, the arrests of the booksellers selling your book and some
violence, but no one has been picked up to answer to such
violations?
PM: This is what I have always said that there is an element
that is defiant to progress, that is defiant to the exercise of civilian
authority over the security sector.
It is defiance that is historic
in nature.
I think President Mugabe must, as his responsibility, demand
to address this issue as he is the Commander-In-Chief. He should
demonstrate his commitment to non-violence.
He should demonstrate his
commitment to ensuring that there is peace and stability in the country and
above all he should rise above some of the statements that are being issued
in his name either by the ministry of Information or the military
establishment itself.
The ones that continuously emphasise fear and
attrition against the people, he must address.
The people are not a
threat to the nation’s stability — it is the institutions that are supposed
to provide security of persons that have become the instruments of
instability themselves. That cannot be acceptable.
Q: So are you going to
take it up with the President?
PM: This is the issue of the Principals
and the National Security Council.
This is also the issue of the various
ministries responsible for the security sector.
By the way, I want to
make reference to minister Mnangagwa’s statement that the army is there to
thwart regime change.
Mnangagwa as the minister of Defence cannot talk
about regime change.
Regime change took place in 2008, there is no longer
a Zanu PF regime, neither is there an MDC regime, this is a
coalition.
I think people must disabuse themselves of this preoccupation
with regime change when it has already taken place.
It is
irresponsible to refer to the right of the people to elect their own
government as regime change.
In fact, the people have a right to
effect regime change.
Q: Can you comment on the promotion of Douglas
Nyikayaramba to the rank of Major-General in the Zimbabwe National Army when
he has been on the forefront of instilling fear into the people and is
accused of perpetrating human rights abuses?
PM: I am sure that this
issue about appointments is an issue that I am going to take up with the
President.
It is within our mandate to discuss that with the President in
terms of the Constitution and in terms of the law.
Q: Prime Minister
where is Sadc in all this?
PM: Sadc still remains the facilitator in our
crisis. They are seized with the issue of the road map, they are seized with
following up what the negotiators have been doing and I am sure at some
stage President Jacob Zuma and the Sadc Chairman will call us to
account.
There is no way you can have legitimacy without the endorsement
of Sadc. We need Sadc, we need the AU and the international community to
ensure that the process towards an election is one that is transparent, that
is free and fair and that is legitimate.
Q: The issue that is
burning, Prime Minister is that of the remuneration of civil servants, what
is your comment on that?
PM: What is important is that if we are able to
account for our diamond money I am sure we will have sufficient resources to
respond to any of our recurrent and institutional financial
demands.
We need to address the issue of ghost workers as well and the
$600 million promised by the ministry of Mines must be realised.
Then
this issue of remuneration of civil servants would not arise because we
would be able to reward them handsomely.
As a person who has for a
long time been committed to the workers’ welfare, this is an issue which we
should all try to work progressively towards reaching a certain
minimum.
There is a basis for government and its workers to discuss in an
honest, open and frank manner.
Strike is a weapon which people use,
there is a right to strike but at the end of the day any trade unionist
leader knows that you cannot go on strike when negotiations are taking
place.
When deadlock has not been declared and you just say we are going
on a strike.
They have to realise as progressive trade unionists that
they have to give government an opportunity to sit down with them honestly
and discuss their welfare.
Q: The ministry of Mines seems to be
holding the government to ransom and is determining how much it wants to
parcel out to government, is this legal and does this happen in a normal
situation?
PM: In a normal government all the money should go to one pot.
All the money should go to the fiscus, to the Treasury, that is what happens
in normal administrative setups.
You cannot have a minister of Mines
determining how much money will be going to the civil servants, where is the
other money going to?
I think accountability must become a basis for how
we behave in government.
Q: Are we going to have elections in 2012 Prime
Minister?
PM: We still have to emphasise on the process of achieving the
standards that will allow us to run an election which is legitimate, which
is acceptable by Zimbabwean and by regional and world standards, so we
cannot put a date on that.
It is driven by a process and everyone
knows that process.
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer Saturday, 28
January 2012 13:52
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
yesterday described comments by Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa that the
country’s defence forces were geared to block regime change as
“irresponsible” talk.
The Prime Minister said it was “irresponsible” for
Mnangagwa to remain locked in denial saying regime change took place in 2008
when President Robert Mugabe lost a historic presidential poll together with
his Zanu PF.
He accused the Defence minister of seeking to subvert the
will of the people by issuing messages that might derail the country’s
political transition.
In a lecture to army officers attending the Joint
Command and Staff Course Number 25 at the Zimbabwe Staff College last week,
Mnangangwa said the army had a constitutional duty to counter a Western
plot to remove Mugabe from power.
Tsvangirai reacted angrily in his
weekly Prime Minister’s newsletter, saying institutions that were supposed
to provide security of persons had now become instruments of instability in
the country.
“I want to make reference to minister Mnangagwa’s statement
that the army is there to thwart regime change.
“Mnangagwa as the
minister of Defence cannot talk about regime change,” Tsvangirai
said.
“Regime change took place in 2008, there is no longer a Zanu PF
regime, neither is there an MDC regime, this is a coalition. I think people
must disabuse themselves of this preoccupation with regime change when it
has already taken place.
“It is irresponsible to refer to the right
of the people to elect their own government as regime change. In fact, the
people have a right to effect regime change.”
Mnangagwa told the
staff college course participants that the constitutional obligations of the
defence force were to defend Zimbabwe’s independence, sovereignty,
territorial integrity and national interests, to participate in the creation
of a common regional security architecture and to contribute to the
maintenance of international peace and stability.
“With the emergence of
the regime change agenda around the year 2000, our defence policy had to be
tailored towards countering influences that were being spread by the Western
media through such devices as the Internet, CNN, BBC and Sky News,”
Mnangagwa said.
“It is clear that the West together with the United
States is using such tactics to sponsor regime change in various countries.
Africa therefore needs to guard against such manoeuvres if it is to
successfully resist neo-colonialism,” he said, referring to removal from
power of three sitting presidents in Africa without an election,
specifically in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in what is now popularly known as
the Arab Spring.
Defence chiefs in Zimbabwe have previously rallied
around Mugabe, endorsing his candidature ahead of elections. They have vowed
that they will never salute anyone without liberation war credentials — a
reference to the country’s 1970s independence war that Tsvangirai did not
participate in.
The MDC has urged the security forces to stop dabbling in
politics saying their public backing for Mugabe was meant to scare the
population into supporting the veteran Zimbabwean leader.
Sometime
last year, Tsvangirai challenged security forces to remove their uniforms
and fight him in the political ring.
Mugabe has strenuously rejected
Tsvangirai’s calls for security sector reforms with top Zanu PF officials
saying too many concessions to the GNU could undermine the 87-year-old’s
power.
THE massive
assailing of the Zimbabwean economy by the Chinese requires the Yuan to
strengthen these economic reconstruction efforts.
Invited by President
Robert Mugabe as part of his 2004 "Look East" policy to help drive the
economy and create jobs, such steps were taken after relations with former
traditional investment partners such as the European Union and United States
soured. China has since been able to create its own little sphere of
influence and establish a ubiquitous presence in Zimbabwe.
China
remains highly unpopular with Zimbabwe's industrial and commercial players,
along with the general members of the public who accuse the Chinese of poor
labor practices and shoddy goods and services.
Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono, chiefly seen as a close ally of Mugabe, said he was in favor of
having the Chinese Yuan as the country's official currency.
After the
Zimbabwean dollar was suspended in 2008, the country adopted a
multi-currency regime, which includes the use of the U.S. dollar, the South
African rand and the Botswana pula.
Gono says that the Chinese Yuan
would be introduced alongside the Zimbabwean dollar. Mugabe's political
supporters have been calling for currency reforms to bring back the
Zimbabwean dollar.
"With the continuous firming of the Chinese Yuan, the
US dollar is fast ceasing to be the world's reserve currency and the
eurozone debt crisis has made things even worse," Gono told state
media.
"As a country, we still have the opportunity to avoid being caught
napping, by adopting the Chinese Yuan as part of consolidating the country's
'Look East' policy.
"It's only recently when we had the startling
revelations, with Angola offering to bail out her former colonial master
Portugal from her debt crisis. This can also happen with Zimbabwe if we
choose the right path," Gono added.
"If we continue with our 'Look
East' policy, it will not be long [until] we will also be volunteering to
bail out Britain from her debt crisis, and I will not wait for my creator's
day before this happens.
“There is no doubt that the Yuan, with its
ascendancy, will be the 21st century's world reserve currency."
There
are concerns that such a policy could mean "handing over" the country to the
Chinese, who already have been offered huge mining rights by Mugabe -
despite protests from his coalition government partners.
Economist
Eric Bloch maintains that "it is not practical" for Zimbabwe to adopt the
Chinese Yuan.
"Zimbabwe won't have any interaction with international
markets, as the US dollar remains the standard currency in international
trade," Bloch explained.
THE Mujuru family wants to bring in a South African expert to
re-examine the findings of a state pathologists who concluded that General
Solomon Mujuru died from smoke inhalation, the inquest into the ex-army
chief’s death heard Friday.
State pathologists concluded that General
Mujuru, killed when a fire gutted his Beatrice farmhouse last August, had
died from carbonation which is caused by the direct inhalation of carbon
dioxide.
But Mujuru family lawyer, Thakor Kewada, told an inquest into
the tragedy underway at the Harare Magistrate’s court that the general’s
family wanted a second opinion.
"As you all know experts have varied
opinions and in this case there is a possibility that this new pathologist
could have a different opinion from the one who conducted the initial post
mortem," Kewada said when asked by Regional Magistrate and coroner, Walter
Chikwanha to justify the move.
“He may or may not agree with the first
pathologist and whether the body will be exhumed or not it’s up to
him." "I actually don't know how he will go about it I only rely on what the
expert will say."
State prosecutors did not oppose the application
and Chikwanha said he would make a ruling when the inquest resumes Monday
although he insisted there would be no exhumation.
Meanwhile, Chief
Superintendent Crispen Makedenge who led police investigations into Mujuru’s
death said their findings indicated there was no possibility of foul play in
the tragedy.
"Our investigations were concluded and no foul play is
suspected. All the witnesses that we interviewed and evidence collected
failed to determine or indicate foul play," Makedenge said. "The post
mortem report also confirmed that the late General died from inhaling toxic
fumes from the fire."
Asked by Kewada why the police probe had taken four
months to conclude, Makedenge said that was because they did not want to
“leave any stone un-turned”.
He added that police also positively
identified Mujuru’s remains after conducting DNA tests using blood samples
provided by his daughter, Kumbirai Rungano. The DNA match was 99.9
percent.
Police forensic ballistics expert, detective inspector Admire
Mtizwa also told the inquest that examination of spent cartridges found in
the gutted house showed that they had exploded from the
fire.
He said firearms recovered from the scene had been
extensively damaged by the fire and it was impossible to determine whether
they had been recently used or not.
The inquest also heard that
Mujuru had 15 firearms in the house. 14 were licensed commercial firearms
used for hunting and accessible to farmers, while one was an army issue
AK47. The hearing continues on Monday.
PUBLIC Service Minister Lucia Matibenga has launched an
astonishing attack on public sector unions, accusing them of working with
Zanu PF to undermine negotiations with striking civil
servants.
Matibenga’s attack comes after unions Wednesday rejected a
US$240-million blanket offer from government which -- if spread evenly among
the 230,000 state employees – would have seen each receive an $87 a month
increase, far less than their demand for basic wages to rise from US$200 to
US$538 a month for the lowest paid worker.
In a statement released
Friday through her MDC-T party, Matibenga claimed that some “rogue
unionists” and “false negotiators” were being used by Zanu PF to make a
settlement with the workers impossible.
“People should not think that I
have bags or trunks of money in my office. An inter-ministerial committee is
working flat out to solve the issue,” she said. “I am a former trade
unionist who was a shrewd negotiator but I have since changed hats and I am
now a facilitator.
“As a former trade unionist, I understand the plight
and grievances of the workers and I feel I should be fighting from their
corner. I can recite their problems in my dreams.”
The under-fire
minister dismissed allegations she was refusing to negotiate with the
unions, insisting her role was only to facilitate talks between the workers
and their employer, the Public Service Commission.
“Unfortunately I can’t
negotiate for the workers. The arena for the negotiations is the National
Joint Negotiating Council,” she said.
“I am facilitating that the
workers’ representatives have access to the relevant authorities and this I
have done.” Unions said five-day strike which started on Monday would
continue after talks with the government failed in midweek.
The
government says it does not have the resources to meet the workers demands
with Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, warning at more than 62 percent of
overall expenditure, the civil service wage bill is already
unsustainable.
Still, Matibenga said she was hopeful an agreement
would be reached. “The inter-ministerial committee … is hoping that something
will be done soon to resolve this issue,” she said.
“I want to salute
the workers who are working under very difficult conditions. Most of them
have refused to be used by false negotiators.”
As a woman approaches her 50th birthday,
she is likely to be at the height of her beauty and power: loved and
cherished by her husband and children she continues to influence and serve
the family and community she nurtured and supported during her most active
years.
Not so in the case of The Harare City Library, formerly known as
the Queen Victoria Memorial Library, which opened its doors in 1962 as part
of the new Civic Centre just off Rotten Row. Turning 50 next year, Harare
City Library is a grand old lady sadly in need of a facelift. Her two
virtual husbands, the Mayor of Harare and the Master of the High Court, have
neglected her in her declining years. For the last decade she has received
no maintenance, having to take in lodgers to make ends meet (the former
children's section is rented out as a study centre). Her roof is leaking, she
needs re-wiring and she requires qualified librarians, to enable her
to be once again a vibrant lending library. Countless
generations of young Zimbabweans have explored the magical world that lies
between the pages of books from the shelves of the Harare City
Library. Scholars have found inspiration and knowledge to help them pass
exams, adults have broadened their minds and extended their boundaries and
budding authors have honed their skills and ambitions by borrowing and
reading books from this once superb resource. As a nation, Zimbabweans
are great storytellers and avid readers. There has always been a strong
culture of reading in this country, established long before Charles
Mungoshi's Waiting for the Rain, or Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions
became best sellers at home and abroad. Award-winning Zimbabwean author and
bibliophile of note, Petina Gappah, spoke to me about her love of literature
and the radio programme Ku Verengwa kwa ma Bhuku that she listened to when
growing up in the townships. A different Shona or Ndebele novel every month
would be serialised and read nightly over the radio, attracting thousands of
listeners, eagerly awaiting each instalment. Gappah became a member of
the Harare City Library at a young age: it was here that she developed a
passion for reading and became the book lover that she is today. Now, as an
acclaimed writer, Gappah is searching for ways to raise funds to
rehabilitate the library. Working with her committee and numerous like-minded
individuals, various schemes are under way. A gala performance held at Reps
Theatre of the Christmas pantomime, Robinson Crusoe, has raised a moderately
encouraging sum of money. Lovers of romance, fine wine, superb food and
elegant surroundings can attend a Venetian-themed fund raising dinner at the
residence of the British Ambassador on March 29 this year. Patrice
Naiambana of the Royal Shakespeare Company, together with a cast of talented
Zimbabweans, will perform Othello to a captive audience. For more details
concerning this unique event, contact n-benham@dfid.co.uk . When she turns 50
next year, the Harare City Library will become a protected building. Having
been awarded a Bronze medal in 1962 by RIBA (Royal Society of British
Architects) for the beauty and elegance of her design, it would be fitting
if the fundraisers could achieve the US$US400?000 required to restore her
former glory.
IT has been a
year since Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube (WN) elbowed out Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara as president of the splinter Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in a bloodless coup at the party’s January congress in
Harare last year.
Since then,
Ncube has etched himself as a ‘third way’ in Zimbabwe’s political scene, and
wade into a political race that for over a decade has pitted President Robert
Mugabe against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
In the
following interview with reporter Ray Ndlovu, Ncube lays bare his expectations
in the New Year, and speaks of his relationship with President Mugabe and
Tsvangirai:
Ray
Ndlovu (RN): Professor Ncube what are your expectations for Zimbabwe in the New
Year?
Welshman Ncube
(WN): This is a critical year for us as Zimbabweans. It is going to be an
election year. It doesn’t matter if the election is going to be held in March or
in September; the difference will only be a matter of few months. What is
certain is that 2012 is going to determine the trajectory and history of this
country. Whether the country will turn or not is in itself another question. We
have gone ahead with a very difficult transition in the past three years, but
that alone has not been enough. The country needs a new government that would be
able to build and consolidate on the marginal successes of this present
government.
RN: Your
party has toyed with the idea of a possible coalition with Tsvangirai's MDC-T in
the next election in Zimbabwe. However, such a move could be regarded with
cynicism, given your role in the splintering of the then united MDC in the
first place. Your comment?
WN: We have never
suggested a coalition with anyone at all for the next election. Our National
Executive Council devoted the greater part of its time in 2006-2007 to talk of a
possible coalition for the March 2008 Presidential election. The MDC-T rejected
our overtures, And told us they were not interested in any coalition. Fairly
speaking now, given that the MDC-T rejected us in 2008, how can we be
pre-occupying ourselves with the hope of having a coalition with them again in
the next election? There is no change of heart from my party.
RN: How
is your current relationship with Tsvangirai, considering your past tumultuous
political relationship with him?
WN: We work in the
inclusive government together very well. I must say that the only differences
are at an ideological level, but that hasn’t stopped us from working together.
There is no personal animosity, hatred or ill-feeling towards each other. We
simply disagree politically, but I guess it is what is expected from us
politicians. The MDC-T says one thing, but they behave in exactly the opposite
manner; they have become masters of deception and speak with forked tongues. As
for my party, we are who we are and are simply pushing forward an agenda for the
betterment of Zimbabweans.
RN: There
is a widespread perception in Zimbabwe, and within political circles, that
President Mugabe and the premier have continuously sidelined you from the unity
government because of your ethnicity. Is this a
reality?
WN: What is clear
between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai is that they are in agreement to make
sure that I will never assume the post of Deputy Prime Minister as is allowed by
the due process of law. These are one of the few rare instances that President
Mugabe and Tsvangirai are in agreement over something. Blocking my rise to the
post of deputy premiership is something they can easily do as President Mugabe
is the one that swears in people, and he could refuse to swear me in, as we saw
was the case with Roy Bennet until the MDC-T gave up that fight and gave the
post to someone else.
The reasons and
motivations as to why I am not being allowed to become the Deputy-Prime Minitser
are known only to them. I have not bought into the ethnicity position waved in
political circles as the main reason. I however, believe that the two men fear
that the hegemonic contestation that has always involved just the two of them
would be thoroughly threatened if I rise in the ranks of the inclusive
government.
RN: You
have held rallies in Mashonaland and Manicaland provinces, which are all
perceived to be bastions of support for ZANU-PF and the MDC-T. During your
rallies have you got a sense of being viewed as a tribal politician from
Matabeleland?
WN: I have held
successful rallies in the areas you mentioned and I have never had a sense that
my ethnicity matters to the people that have attended our election campaigns.
The people who raise an ethnic card are the elites who are the real
beneficiaries of that scheme and not ordinary Zimbabweans.
RN: In the
WikiLeaks cables released last year, former United States envoy to Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell described you as a “genius”. Does such high-level support
either affect or help your position in a government that is partly avowedly
anti-Western?
WN: Dell didn’t
only say that about me, he said I was a genius, who is highly divisive and
should be taken off the stage. I don’t know what taken off the stage means, but
it could be American diction to end my political ambitions or to physically harm
me. I don’t really know. What I am certain of though, is that my party is keen
to engage regional and continental parties and groups and have their support for
our programmes. It is to fellow African parties that we lean most for support
and recognition.
RN: How do
you plan on engaging regional bodies such as the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to help resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis? One may speculate
that the strong relationship you enjoy with South Africa President Jacob Zuma,
given that you are in-laws, may see an increase in your influence in the
regional bloc.
WN: The family
ties with President Zuma are not relevant when it comes to the political issues
at play in Zimbabwe. My party will engage with SADC in an effort to make it
aware of the hurdles that currently poison the country from holding free and
fair elections. SADC has said it wants Zimbabwe’s next election to have an
uncontested result, and that is the position we are also pushing
for.
RN: Is
Zimbabwe ready to hold a free and fair election
now?
WN: Zimbabwe is
absolutely not ready to hold any election at the moment. Many of the provisions
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) have not been fulfilled. The process
itself of completing an election roadmap has been littered with squabbles and
fights. Violence is still pervasive; the police attitude towards opposition
supporters is still reminiscent of the 2008 scenario. The political players must
engage in a strong willed way to fully implement the GPA.
RN: How do
you intend on dealing with Mutambara clinging onto the post of Deputy Prime
Minister, and the renegade legislators that have refused to recognise your
leadership?
WN: Mutambara is
irrelevant to Zimbabwe’s politics and he can hold onto the position for as long
as he likes. We will not be drawn into tiring court battles over that and lose
focus on gaining support from the grassroots. The Members of Parliament are just
bidding time, they also know that supporting Mutambara is suicidal and are, for
now, hiding behind him saying they support him. In fact, they are canvassing
support for the MDC-T.
It is an expected
ploy from them to use Mutambara as a shield given that the country’s
Constitution doesn’t allow legislators to cross-floors. Within the party, there
is no disagreement over who their leader is, it is the person whom the 5,000
supporters elected at the congress last year to become the
president.
In
this 2005 file photo, Zimbabwe peasant farmer Loyce Nkala stands amid her
drought-devastated maize crop in Filabusi, southwest Zimbabwe. REUTERS/Howard
Burditt
By Madalitso
Mwando
ESIGODINI,
Zimbabwe – Whether rotating her crops, sowing seed from previous harvests or
gathering rainwater, Susan Gama is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to
keep her livelihood going.
Subsistence
farmers like Gama in this southern African nation are reverting to traditional
farming knowledge and local experimentation to cope with the challenges of poor
and unpredictable rainfall, which experts believe is linked to climate change.
That is producing
mixed results – and considerable frustration for government agricultural
experts, who believe traditional knowledge alone will not be sufficient to
protect farmers against changing rainfall conditions.
"We have always
known that our grandparents kept seed from the previous harvest for planting in
the new season, but… some people were instead advising us to buy what they
termed drought-resistant varieties," Gama said from the small plot of land where
she grows maize and groundnuts in Esigodini, 43 km (27 miles) from
Bulawayo.
But Gama said that
the newer varieties have not consistently produced a good crop on her
community’s land, apparently because of very poor rains. So she and other local
farmers are conducting their own experiments on what seed works best in poor
rain conditions.
“What we do is mix
our planting and combine the harvested seed from the previous year and what we
buy from the shops and compare outcomes," she said.
According to
villagers, this mixing of seeds has helped improve the
harvests.
Where Gama’s plot
previously produced 50 bags of maize at 90 kg each, last season she harvested 70
bags, spurring others in this small farming community to experiment with her
method.
REJECTION
OF NEW METHODS
Government
officials say that although rural women farmers are being advised about new
farming methods to deal with climate change challenges, many still prefer to use
their own traditional knowledge systems.
"There is still a
lot of convincing to be done in some parts of the country," said Thelma Ruvimbo,
an officer from the Lands and Agriculture Ministry.
"If farmers try
something on their own and it works, how they do you convince them about the
effectiveness of new technologies?" Ruvimbo asked.
Government
agricultural extension officers have encouraged farmers to practise conservation
farming, for example, by using hoes instead of oxen to work the land in order to
conserve both soil and water.
But farmers have
in some instances opted to explore other options. While crop rotation has been
practised for years, the new challenges posed by changing weather patterns have
driven farmers such as Thandekile Sibanda, also from Esigodini, to do it with
greater frequency, and with a wider variety of crops.
Now, each planting
season, she ensures that she plants a different crop – maize, groundnuts,
watermelon or pumpkin – in each area of her field, to help ensure something
survives the dryer conditions to produce a harvest.
Sibanda believes
her program is producing more consistent harvests as rainfall reduces. But
Ruvimbo says wider crop experimentation has sometimes led to further losses when
the farmers are unaware which crops are best suited for their
regions.
"The frustration
of the rural women is understandable as climate change is essentially volatile,"
Ruvimbo said.
Zimbabwe’s
Meteorological Services Department had predicted that this season’s rains would
peak in late December 2011. But while heavy rains came in December and January
to the provinces of Midlands, Harare, Manicaland and the three Mashonaland
provinces, areas such as Matebeleland, where Gama lives, are threatened with
drought.
While the
government's Civil Protection Unit announced in early January that it was
placing some parts of the country on a flood alert, the continued absence of
rainin other areas serves to highlight the climate-linked
problems that are impoverishing rural communities.
RAINWATER
HARVESTING
One consolation
for Gama and her colleagues is that when the rains do come, they will be able to
harvest the water.
The hard red earth
of Gama’s land does not retain much water, and she has built furrows along her
plot to control run-off. At the same time she uses tanks donated by a
non-governmental organisation to harvest water from her
rooftop.
Here, each drop
counts.
"A nongovernmental
organisation donated some plastic drums and water harvesting equipment (such as)
pipes connecting from our roofs, and we have been able to use this for our
plots," Gama said.
But this is not
enough to allow her to fully irrigate her crops, she added.
According to the
Plan International, an international children’s charity that works with
subsistence farmers in Matebeleland, rainwater harvesting is a good option for
millions of poor farmers across Africa and has helped improve yields despite
persistently low rainfall.
"We only hope
something can be done to make the rains come," Gama said, recalling the times
when the government carried out cloud seeding programmes as the rainy season
approached.
But Zimbabwe’s
government suspended this and other agricultural programmes, citing a lack of
resources, when the country’s agricultural production began to plunge a decade
ago following a government land redistribution effort.
The killing of rhinos in South Africa for their horns
has reached an all-time high. The country is home to most of the world’s
remaining white and black rhinos – about 20,000 animals. Conservationists say
the recent huge increase in poaching is being driven by the mistaken belief in
some parts of Asia that rhino horn cures cancer.
Darren Taylor | Johannesburg, South
Africa
This is Part 1 of a
5-part series: Saving Africa’s Endangered
Rhinos
In April,
conservationist Alan Weyer witnessed a scene he said had continued to haunt him.
Summoned to an area of the Kariega Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape
province, the park’s manager saw a rhino shivering silently in a clearing in the
bush.
(Photo courtesy Alan
Weyer)Poachers killed this rhino at South Africa’s Kariega
Game Reserve last year
“This animal had
been darted (and sedated), the horn had been removed, but the animal hadn’t
died. The animal stood up and it was walking around with, literally, its face
hacked off. It was absolutely dreadful,” Weyer said. “We could not save it. A
vet had to put the rhino down.”
Just a month
before, poachers had targeted another of his rhino. “It’s clear that the animal
bled to death because of the hemorrhaging where they cut the horn off,” Weyer
explained.
The rhinos killed
on Kariega are just two of the more than 400 slaughtered by poachers in 2011in
South Africa. “We are incredibly worried at the moment. We are actually facing
the worst rhino poaching crisis for decades,” said Lucy Boddam-Whetham, deputy
director of the United Kingdom-based organization, Save the Rhino
International.
Last year, 333 of
the endangered animals were killed in South Africa. Both 2010 and 2011 were
record years in terms of killings in the country. In most cases, the rhinos –
members of South Africa’s famous Big Five animals – were tranquillized with
veterinary drugs before poachers sawed their horns off.
More
expensive than gold
In Asia, rhino
horn has been used for centuries in traditional medicines to treat minor
ailments such as headaches and fevers. “Commonly it’s ground into a powder and
combined with other ingredients to form a medicine that you would swallow like a
pill, or it can be ground and mixed into water so that you drink it,” said Tom
Milliken of Traffic International, which monitors the world trade in wildlife
products.
(Photo: Kariega Game
Reserve)Rhinos graze in the Kariega wildlife reserve. The
animal’s horns are much-prized in some parts of Asia, where some people believe
the ground horn cures cancer
The Zimbabwe-based
director of Traffic’s operations in Southern and Eastern Africa added that
demand for rhino horn had boomed in recent years because of a growing belief in
parts of Asia, most notably in Vietnam, that it could cure
cancer.
“If you’re selling
the gift of life, you’re able to ask a premium price and I believe that’s what’s
going on,” commented Milliken, who’s traveled across the globe to investigate
the increase in poaching in recent years.
According to the
International Rhino Foundation, the price of horn is currently nearly $57,000 a
kilogram – making it more expensive than gold.
“You lose one
rhino, you’ve just lost half a million rand (about $62,500); you lose two,
you’ve lost a million rand. Sadly the poachers are selling (horn) for a lot more
than that,” said Weyer.
Several studies
put the average weight of white rhino horn entering the black market at almost
3.7 kilograms. So criminal syndicates are making huge profits. And they’re
reaping these rewards by selling horns that consist just of keratin – the same
protein that makes up human hair and fingernails, which science has proven has
no curative properties.
(Photo: AFP)Rhino
horns from South Africa seized late last year by customs officials in Hong Kong
On par
with drugs and weapons trafficking
But the scientific
facts have not permeated the markets for rhino horn in Asia, said
Boddam-Whetham, resulting in South Africa becoming the international epicenter
of poaching. Its wildlife reserves are home to most of the world’s remaining
white and black rhinos – about 20,000 animals.
The World Wide
Fund for Nature said poachers killed almost 1,000 rhinos in South Africa in the
past four years. “It’s a really sudden increase in rhino killings,” said
Boddam-Whetham. “If you look back to 2007, there were only 13 lost. So you can
see the massive jump…. I think it’s been a massive shock to everyone – the level
of poaching at the moment.”
“Certainly not the
least reason for the sudden spike is that rhino poaching has now become part of
international organized crime, on the same level – in terms of execution,
sophistication and ruthlessness – as drug and weapons trafficking, said Kirsty
Brebner, director of the Rhino Security Project at South Africa’s Endangered
Wildlife Trust.
(Photo: AFP) Conservationists attribute the sudden increase in rhino
poaching in large part to an economic boom in Asia in recent years, with more
Asians now able to afford expensive rhino horn medicines
Despite this, she
said, governments and law enforcers have not invested enough resources in
anti-poaching operations and the smuggling of illegal wildlife
products.
“This opened the
door for organized crime. Rhino poaching is an easy avenue to
riches,” Brebner said. “Some of the organized crime syndicates are seeing it as
an easy option, to move away from their traditional drugs and explosives and
guns and so on. It’s a low risk, high reward type of
operation….”
Asian
economic success fuels poaching
Another factor in
the upsurge of rhino poaching, according to many in the wildlife industry, is
the Asian economic boom of recent years. “Suddenly, with more disposable income
than ever before (in Asia), rhino horn has made a huge resurgence on the local
market,” Milliken stated.
(Photo: Pumba Game Reserve)
In South Africa, the race is on to save the lives of
rhinos such as this from being wiped out by ruthless poachers
He said this is
particularly true of Vietnam, which is now one of the world’s fastest growing
economies on the back of its oil, mining, manufacturing and agricultural
industries.
“In Vietnam it’s
at the point now where they’re selling horn for home use,” said Milliken.
“There’s a whole subsidiary industry that is manufacturing these rhino horn
grinding bowls, so that you can grind the powder at home and then add water to
it and drink it. This is a usage that I’ve never seen anywhere in the world
except in Vietnam.”
(Photo: Darren Taylor)
South African game park manager Alan Weyer says the
battle against the poachers has escalated into a “war”
Boddam-Whetham
explained, “More Asians are now able to afford expensive rhino horn products and
also the increasing Asian footprint in Africa has opened up trade routes to get
rhino horn out of Africa and into Asia.”
The cancer
factor
Brebner said the
myth that rhino horn could cure cancer was undoubtedly the biggest driver of
poaching. Milliken agreed: “This has stimulated usage (of horn) in a way that we
haven’t seen before.”
Many in the global
wildlife sector attribute the surge in rhino killings to supposed claims a few
years ago by Asian politicians and celebrities that the horn cured their
life-threatening cancer.
“There was a
Vietnamese diplomat or MP that came out a couple of years ago saying that rhino
horn had cured his cancer. This has led to a big interest in rhino horn and
demand for it,” said Boddam-Whetham.
South African
conservationist and game park owner Dale Howarth insisted that soaring demand
for horn stemmed from “a Korean national minister who publicized that he’d been
cured from cancer from taking rhino horn.”
Milliken said such
stories were commonly told in Asia and spread around the world. “Everybody’s
heard it. They’ve heard it so much that there’s kind of a tacit belief that
maybe it happened, but we can’t actually validate any of these stories. When you
really go for the details to get a name and to put a face on this, you can’t get
there,” he maintained.
Milliken described
the cancer cure legends as urban myths that are brilliant marketing tools
invented and spread by criminals to boost demand, and thus prices, for rhino
horn.
He said killings
have increased massively as the poaching syndicates were have been driven to
kill as many rhino as fast as possible because they knew know that the rhino
horn market is a “bubble economy that will burst” relatively
soon.
“Obviously people
who take rhino horn and have cancer are not going to be cured in the long run.
So I think that there’s a race against time here (and) that the criminal
syndicates are maximizing their profits while they can.”
Milliken remained
concerned that the bubble would not have burst before the “large-scale entry of
China into the illegal rhino horn trade.
“China looms large
in the background. We’re increasingly worried about the market for rhino horn in
that country,” he said. “With the largest number of consumers in the world, any
resurgent rhino horn trade in China is going to have major consequences around
the world.”
Back on South
Africa’s wildlife reserves, conservationists and anti-poaching units continue
their efforts to save the country’s rhinos. It’s a battle that many acknowledge
they lost in 2011. It’s also a battle that’s transforming as it
intensifies.
“It’s now a war,
plain and simple,” said park manager Alan Weyer.
Jan 28 (Reuters) - New Zealand highlighted the gulf in
international cricket when they bowled Zimbabwe out twice on Saturday to win
the only test match of their tour at McLean Park in Napier by an innings and
301 runs.
The hosts declared their first innings at 495 for seven earlier
on Saturday after wicketkeeper BJ Watling posted his maiden test century,
then bowled the visitors out for 51 and 143 to record their largest victory
by an innings in tests.
It was the third time a team has been bowled
out twice in one day. New Zealand also dismissed Zimbabwe twice in a day for
59 and 99 in Harare in 2005, while India were dismissed for 58 and 82 by
England in Manchester in 1952.
New Zealand are eighth in the
International Cricket Council's test rankings, while Zimbabwe are unranked.
Only 10 countries have test status, with Bangladesh the ninth-ranked
team.
The Africans only returned to playing test cricket last year
following a voluntary five year absence after the country was engulfed in
political turmoil, forcing many leading players to retire from international
cricket.
The visitors had crashed to 19 for five in their first innings
and looked in danger of being bowled out for the lowest total in test
cricket though Malcolm Waller took the attack to New Zealand's bowlers and
saw them past the mark before he was caught in the slips by Dean Brownlie
off Tim Southee for 23.
The lowest score is held by New Zealand, who
were dismissed for 26 against England at Eden Park in 1955.
Waller's
dismissal left Zimbabwe on 50 for eight and they added just one run for the
final two wickets to record their lowest score in tests, before stand in
captain Brendon McCullum enforced the follow on.
McCullum took over the
captaincy after Ross Taylor was ruled out of the rest of the matches against
Zimbabwe, which includes three one day internationals and two Twenty20
matches, when he strained his right calf muscle while batting on
Friday.
Zimbabwe again flirted with the lowest test score when Doug
Bracewell took two wickets in the first over after tea to reduce them to 12
for five, but Forster Mutizawa saw them past the mark before he was
dismissed for 18.
Regis Chakabva (63) and Graeme Cremer (26) combined for
a stubborn 63-run partnership that temporarily thwarted New Zealand's
victory push before Chris Martin cleaned up the tail to finish with six
wickets for 26 runs.
Published: 6:57AM Sunday
January 29, 2012 Source: ONE Sport
New Zealand's innings and 301-run
drubbing of minnows Zimbabwe yesterday will have done more harm than good
for the game of Test cricket.
12 hours on and the Black Caps and their
fans will still be basking in the glory of the eighth-biggest Test win in
history, but in the larger scheme of things, a result such as yesterday's
isn't overly 'good for the game' to use that ghastly sporting
cliché.
Additionally, New Zealand will be well aware that cricketing
powerhouse South Africa is on the next flight in.
Zimbabwe are just
three matches back from a near five year self-imposed suspension from Test
cricket, and Napier's hiding will have very little positive outcome on their
cricket, or the Test game on a broader scale.
The African nation offered
absolutely no fight in falling to their worst-ever Test defeat, in what has
been a chequered Test history for the country since they were granted Test
status in 1992.
2003 brought player revolts and claims of racism amongst
some of the white players, and Zimbabwe voluntarily exited the Test fold in
2006, with the International Cricket Council's backing, in an attempt to
rebuild their game away from the international scene.
They played
their first Test since 2006 against Bangladesh in August last year at home,
beating them by a comprehensive 130-run margin.
In their second match
they lost by seven wickets to Pakistan at home the following month, but took
the game the full five days and made a decent first innings effort of
412.
Then the Black Caps arrived for a one-off Test in Bulawayo just
under three months ago, and they were given a real scare before scrambling
to rescue the match by 34 runs in the final session on day five.
In
that match the hosts, led by inspirational knocks from captain Brendan
Taylor, were in sight of chasing down NZ's target of 365, before Doug
Bracewell saved NZ's blushes.
And just three Tests into their
comeback, it seemed the team was heading in the right
direction.
However yesterday's record annihilation shows there's still
much to examine in Zimbabwe's game, and the result will no doubt open up all
sorts of old scars.
Little value for NZ's preparations
On the
other side of the coin New Zealand would have been hoping for something more
than a three-day cakewalk before the Proteas arrive for a gruelling tour
next month.
Having South Africa back on these shores is a mouth-watering
prospect, since their last tour in 2004 in which the Black Caps drew the
three Test series 1-1, but going in cold could have disastrous consequences
for NZ.
The Proteas are coming off a stern working out against Sri Lanka
at home, where they drew the three match Test series 1-1 before edging the
one-day series 3-2.
The experience will have had little value for
NZ's preparations ahead of what should be a real 'testing' three-match Test
series starting on March 7, following three one-dayers, and three Twenty20
Internationals.
The Black Caps are ranked eighth in Test cricket, with
only Bangladesh below them, and they are desperate to get their Test game
back on track.
Under coach John Wright and following on from their
historic seven-run win over Australia last month, New Zealand are ready to
turn over a new leaf in the Test arena.
Test cricket facing
extinction
Despite a rise in crowds across the Tasman for Australia's
four-nil shellacking of India, Test cricket is still very much under the
microscope in terms of its long-term sustainability.
Lop-sided
results such as yesterday's, albeit fantastic for the statisticians and home
supporters, do little in terms of promoting Test cricket.
Australia's
whitewashing of a dazed and shambolic Indian outfit only ramps up the
pressure on the five-day game, with many still calling for a biennial Test
Championship to replace individual Test series.
With the money-making,
crowd pulling business in Twenty20 cricket now firmly in place, Test cricket
still faces a murky future if recent one-sided series continue.
When I arrived at my local Post Office this week I couldn’t
believe my eyes as I squinted through the brick dust and picked my way
around the rubble. For the past six weeks there have been increasingly loud
whispers that the Post Office was moving out of the Post Office. (Yes you
read that right!) At first I thought it was some sort of mad Zimbabwean joke
and just shook my head, muttered under my breath and laughed. As the days
went past and Christmas drew closer, the story kept coming back. In the end
I asked the counter staff and, like everything in Zimbabwe, it was a mission
to get to the bottom of the story. First look over your shoulder and make
sure no one is listening, then check that no one is watching and then talk
in the quietest of whispers. Eleven years of fighting for political power
have turned us into the most suspicious, untrusting people you can
imagine.
Anyway, it turned out the whispers were true, the Post Office
staff told me. The owners of the Post Office building had put the rent up
and when the Post Office management said they couldn’t afford the new rent,
they were told they would have to vacate the building by the 31st of
December. A few days after Christmas, Post Office staff were packing things
in boxes and a computer was being dismantled. It’s really happening, they
said, the new rent being demanded was a staggering seven thousand US
dollars a month and they had no choice but to vacate. Like everything
Zimbabwean, there were more questions than answers, uppermost was who
actually owns the Post Office. It sounded like a silly question but I asked
it anyway: “Doesn’t the Post Office own the Post Office?” More glances over
shoulders and whispered whispers before I was told that the government Post
Office had been sold in 2005 to the government telephone company’s Pension
Fund. For the last six years the Post Office had been renting the Post
Office. Confusion reigns, but it’s laced with suspicion. Why all the
whispers; why no publicity or protest, no public meetings; why so hush,
hush, is there politics behind this?
New Year came and the Post
Office was still open and functional. They had been given a reprieve of one
month, time in which to dismantle parts of the building that were essential
for the continued operation of postal businesses. They were referring to the
many hundreds of steel post boxes cemented into the walls of both the main
Post Office and another smaller, circular brick building in the grounds. As
the days of January passed there was no sign of movement or dismantling
infrastructure and no notice to the public about the pending move. Perhaps
it was a mad Zimbabwean joke after all I thought.
Three days before
the end of January 2012, I arrived at the Marondera Post Office to be met
with the sound of banging and hammering as I made my way to my steel Post
Box cemented into the wall. Chips of brick and cement flew in all
directions, there was no barricade or notice to deter pedestrians, no
warning of falling rubble. A pair of builders wearing goggles and armed
with hammers and chisels, were smashing the steel Post Boxes out of the
walls. I felt sure someone in authority would have emptied the letters from
the post boxes before they started smashing down the walls but thought I’d
better check, just in case. Wiping brick dust out of my eyes I unlocked my
box and sure enough there were all my letters, sitting under a coating of
brick dust.
The Marondera Post Office has been in its present
location since 1977. On the 27th January 2012 a handwritten notice, stuck
to a signboard was propped up outside the door. “To our valued customers.
The Post Office will be moving to new premises at Marondera Country Club
with effect from 1st February 2012. We sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience caused.”
I stood outside for few minutes watching people’s
reaction to the sign. One after the other people exclaimed in disbelief:
moving the Post Office to a Club where the main activity is a bar? Situated
on the outskirts of the town behind a sprawling commuter taxi rank and huge
flea market, the Club is hardly a safe and secure place for a Post Office.
No one has forgotten how this same Club was taken over by war veterans in
2001. How they planted a Zimbabwe flag in the main driveway, renamed it The
Laurent Kabila Memorial Club, cleaned out all the food in the kitchen and
drank the bar dry. I took a trip to the Club to see where our new Post
Office was going to be. At the gateway the grass is two meters high, the
Club signboard is promoted by a beer advertisement. The buildings are in a
bad state of repair; grey, chipped, run down. There is no mention or
indication that the Marondera Post Office is about to arrive here and I
found myself filled with sadness. Small towns around the country are falling
apart at the seams.
In March it will be eight years
since I left Zimbabwe. As each year passes I am struck by how little changes
in the country for ordinary Zimbabweans. This week, for example, it was
reported that residents of Chimanimani were being refused food relief unless
they signed up for membership of Zanu PF. Nothing new there! That is just
what was happening when I lived in Mashonaland East. I remember seeing
people lining up for food relief only to be told they would get no such
relief unless they produced Zanu PF membership cards.
Eight years
later, Zanu PF are still behaving as if they are the sole rulers of the
country. In the early days of the GNU it seemed as if the former ruling
party might be willing to share power but it soon became clear that they had
no such intention. If we hadn’t all been so blinded by optimism, we would
have seen that Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe never intended to share power.
Mugabe’s speech at the signing of the Global Political Agreement in 2008
made that very clear. He made no reference to the brighter future that we
all hoped would result from a Government of National Unity, instead, Robert
Mugabe looked back to the glories of his past and the Liberation Struggle.
It was different in 1980. At Independence Prime Minister Mugabe made a
deeply moving speech. “If you were my enemy yesterday,” he said, “today we
are bound by the same patriotic duty and destiny.” After the long and bitter
struggle of the Liberation War, Mugabe was reaching out to the white
community in a gesture of reconciliation – but as later developments showed
- it was little more than a gesture. Twenty two years later in 2008 at the
signing of the GPA, Mugabe’s Independence speech was quoted not by Mugabe
himself but by Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai too was reaching out, not to
the whites but to Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe who had beaten and imprisoned
him and then tried him for treason but with whom he was now to share
power.
Now in 2012, that power-sharing is a reality, of sorts. We have a
Government of National Unity, ministerial posts are supposedly ‘shared’
between the two main parties but out in the rural areas, such as the one
where I used to live, Zanu PF continues in the same old way. For them
nothing has changed. Membership of the MDC is still regarded as unacceptable
by the police and by the majority of local traditional chiefs; not
surprising when you realise that under Zanu PF the chiefs have more power
and more money than they have ever had. And, since the chiefs owe their
loyalty to Zanu PF, it is not surprising that they will discriminate against
the MDC whenever they can. It is the chiefs who draw up the lists of
people in their areas who need food aid. No wonder then that food relief is
not given to anyone who does not belong to Zanu PF. Not only will you not
get food if you belong to the MDC, the chances are you won’t get justice
either. The police and the courts – with a few notable exceptions – are Zanu
PF supporters and their actions and judgements reflect that
loyalty.
Neither can the MDC escape criticism for the present deadlock in
Zimbabwe. As Raymond Majongwe of the PTUZ, remarked this week the MDC are
part of the government but they have control of nothing. Zanu PF’s turncoat
loyalist, Jonathan Moyo, has just announced that elections will be held on
the old constitution despite the fact that the GPA stipulated that a new
constitution must be in place before elections can be held. What that tells
us is that legal agreements, assurances and fine speeches count for nothing
when they come from Zanu PF; we can only hope the electorate have not
forgotten that.