http://uk.reuters.com
Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:06pm
GMT
*Zimbabwe PM sees unity gov't process as
irreversible
*Tsvangirai sees referendum in October, elections in
2011
*Calls on foreign donors, investors to return to Zimbabwe
By
Martin Howell
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said he believed the process that led to creation
of a unity
government last February is irreversible and that it is time for
Western
donors and investors to return to the country.
Speaking to a
small group of journalists at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Tsvangirai
said he expects a referendum on a new constitution around
October of this
year, leading to elections in 2011.
"I believe that the inclusive
government process is a process which is
irreversible," he said.
He
stressed that foreign investors should be reassured that the country was
not
sliding backward. "Certainly the country is moving forward, and this is
a
time to look at the country in a more positive light."
His optimistic
comments were in contrast to news last week that Zimbabwe had
suspended
moves to draw up a new constitution due to political bickering
over funding.
That was seen as dealing a blow to hopes for free and fair
elections next
year after the intended adoption of the charter.
Tsvangirai and his arch
rival President Robert Mugabe signed a
power-sharing agreement in September
2008, which led to formation of the
unity government last February and an
agreement to write a new constitution
within 18 months.
Western
donors, expected to provide the bulk of what Zimbabwe needs to
revive its
severely distressed economy, are reluctant to release aid without
broad
political reforms.
Tsvangirai said he had been told by Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper
in a bilateral meeting at the WEF that the
perception will remain "very
negative" as long as Mugabe remains in power.
Canadian government officials
traveling with Harper were not immediately
available for comment.
Many donors initially suspended aid over policy
differences with Mugabe.
But Tsvangirai called on the West to be
practical rather than theoretical.
"Come and make an assessment on the
ground. Come and talk to Zimbabweans.
How do they feel about the current
political and economic situation in the
country? And you'll be convinced
that 85 percent support the inclusive
government and its efforts," he
said.
Despite his optimism, Tsvangirai acknowledged that he could not
predict how
Mugabe would behave. "Personally, I don't know what his
intentions are."
Asked if Mugabe could seize full control of the country
once again,
Tsvangirai said: "I can't sit and predict that a coup will
happen and that
there will be a derailment of the project. All I am positive
about is that
so far this process is irreversible."
He said he meets
with Mugabe once a week before Monday cabinet meetings, and
that they walk
into the meetings together.
Tsvangirai said it was difficult for him to
deal with Mugabe given past
acrimony.
He said he felt the veteran
leader had in the past tried to "destroy" him
but that was no longer the
question.
"It is not that I will stand on top of the mountain and defend
Mugabe's
past, but I am talking about the country's future and this is the
delicate
moment to support the process that is taking place in
Zimbabwe."
Tsvangirai said it may be as long as five years before the
country can
return to using the Zimbabwe dollar because it needs to rebuild
its levels
of industrial and agricultural production and its gold and
foreign currency
reserves.
The Zimbabwe dollar was destroyed by
hyperinflation and replaced with
multiple foreign currencies last year.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 29
January 2010
HARARE - Four Zimbabwean white farmers who were ordered
to leave their
properties within 24 hours last Tuesday have been issued with
warrants of
arrest by a magistrate in the southeastern farming town of
Chipinge, the
Commercial Framers Union (CFU) said on
Thursday.
Magistrate Samuel Zuze convicted Algernon Taffs of Chirega
Farm, Dawie
Joubert of Stilfontein, Mike Odendaal of Hillcrest and Mike
Jahme of
Silverton Farm for refusing to vacate their properties and
sentenced them to
a US$800 fine each. He ordered that they immediately move
out of their homes
and vacate their farms by Wednesday evening.
But
the farmers filed an urgent appeal in the High Court in Harare Wednesday
evening, a move that under court procedures means the ruling of the lower
court is automatically put on hold, allowing the farmers to remain on their
properties until conclusion of their appeal against both conviction and
sentencing.
CFU director Hendrik Olivier said: "It has just been
reported that
Magistrate Samuel Zuze has refused to recognise the High Court
(appeal) and
has issued a warrant of arrest for all the farmers who were in
court on
Tuesday and to whom he issued eviction orders. The first farmer to
be
arrested has been Mr Dawie Joubert."
In terms of the eviction
orders the farmers should have vacated their
properties by 5pm on
Wednesday.
"However, the 24-hour period given to them to vacate their
homes and
properties of up to 50 years proved to be an almost impossible
task to
complete in such a short time," Olivier said.
The mainly
white CFU last has criticised the power-sharing government
between President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for
failing to end chaos
in the farming sector.
The government has watched helplessly as members
of the security forces and
hardliner activists of Mugabe's ZANU PF party
intensified in recent weeks a
drive to seize all land still in white hands,
causing deep frustration among
the farmers.
The beleaguered white
farmers, in a strongly worded statement last week
labelled the ongoing farm
seizures a "crime against humanity" and called on
the coalition government
to act to end lawlessness on farms in keeping with
the 2008 power-sharing
agreement that gave birth to the administration.
Under the power-sharing
agreement Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara, who
is third signatory to the pact, promised to
restore the rule of law in the
farming sector, including carrying out a land
audit to weed out multiple
farm owners - nearly all of them senior ZANU PF
officials who have hoarded
most of the best farms seized from whites.
The coalition government is
yet to act to fulfil the promise to restore law
and order in the key
agricultural sector, while more farms - including some
owned by foreigners
and protected under bilateral investment protection
agreements between
Zimbabwe and other nations - have been seized over the
past few
months.
And to make matters worse, according to the CFU, police and judicial
officers who are supposed to enforce the rule of law were also among the
beneficiaries of the free-for-all land grab. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 29 January
2010
HARARE – Zimbabwe's cholera fatality rate of 1.8 percent is
still higher
than the recommended international threshold although overall
infections of
the deadly water borne disease are declining, according to a
report by the
Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation
(WHO).
The epidemiological report released Wednesday said 10 out of the
country’s
62 districts have been affected by the cholera outbreak that
started on
September 7 2009, compared to 51 districts at the same period
last year.
According to the report, 49 cumulative cholera cases and five
deaths were
reported by January 24 2010 to the WHO through the Health
Ministry’s
National Health Information Unit.
"The crude case fatality
rate since the outbreak started stands at 3.4
percent. By week three last
year, 43 672 cumulative cases and 2 290 deaths
had been reported, with a
crude case fatality rate of 5.2 percent.
"For the same reporting period
the cases reported this year are 0.3 percent
of last year’s cases, whilst
the deaths are 0.2 percent of last year’s
deaths.
"This year’s case
fatality rate is lower than last year’s by 1.8 percent
although it is still
higher than the recommended 1 percent threshold."
The epidemiological
bulletin compiled by the Health Ministry and the WHO
provides a weekly
overview of the outbreaks and other important public
health events occurring
in Zimbabwe.
It includes disaggregated data to inform and improve the
continuing public
health response by the various partners. It also provides
guidance to
agencies on issues relating to data collection, analysis and
interpretation,
and suggests operational strategies on the basis of
epidemiological patterns
so far.
The cases reported so far came from
Bindura, Chegutu, Chipinge, Gokwe North,
Gokwe South, Harare, Kadoma,
Makonde, Rushinga and Seke.
The affected districts are in the following
six provinces namely: Harare,
Manicaland, Midlands, Mashonaland Central,
Mashonaland East and Mashonaland
West.
Fifty-eight (38.9 percent) of
the cumulative cases were reported by
Manicaland, followed by Midlands with
57 cases (38.3percent) and Mashonaland
West which had 22 cases
(14.8percent). Mashonaland West province has the
highest number of districts
affected by cholera.
The report said 82 percent of the cumulative cases
were from rural areas and
the remaining 18 percent from urban areas compared
to the corresponding week
last year when urban areas had 66 percent of the
cases and rural areas had
34 percent.
The report said by week ending
January 24, 253 cumulative probable cases of
the deadly pandemic H1N1 (2009)
had been reported in Zimbabwe, 41 of which
were confirmed to be the
pandemic.
A cholera epidemic that coincided with a doctors strike killed
4 288 people
out of 98 592 infections between August 2008 and July
2009.
Health experts have warned that Zimbabwe’s humanitarian situation
remains
precarious and that the same problems that helped drive the last
cholera
epidemic remained unresolved, with six million people or half of the
country’s
total population of 12 million people with little or no access to
safe water
and sanitation.
Aid agencies say they were on standby to
respond to an expected surge in
cholera cases this year with the
cash-strapped power-sharing government of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and President Robert Mugabe seen struggling
to cope in the event of a major
outbreak.
The new Harare government has promised to rebuild the economy
and restore
basic services such as water supplies, health and education that
had
virtually collapsed after years of neglect and under-funding.
But the
administration has found it hard to undertake any meaningful
reconstruction
work after failing to get financial support from rich Western
nations that
insist they want to see more political reforms before they can
loosen the
purse strings. – ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com/
Ish Mafundikwa | Harare
28 January 2010
The Zimbabwe constitution process is set to resume
after the parties to the
unity government agreed on the issue of official
reporters that had stalled
the process.
The Co-chairman of the
parliamentary committee in charge of the Zimbabwe
constitution process,
Douglas Mwonzora, told VOA the parties to the unity
government have reached
a compromise position. Two members of each of the
70 outreach teams will
now verify the official reports of the consultation
meetings the outreach
teams will hold.
Mwonzora said the outreach teams would be deployed soon
to gather what
Zimbabweans want in the country's new charter.
In a
related matter, three Zimbabwean organizations close to Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change Party say they will
campaign for the rejection of any constitution resulting from the current
outreach program.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the Zimbabwe
National Students Union
and the National Constitutional Assembly say they
maintain their stance
against the ongoing constitution making
process.
National Constitutional Assembly Chairman Lovemore Madhuku
insists the
exercise should have been carried out by an independent body and
not by
politicians.
"We have struggled for over 12 years as NCA to
push the position that we
need an independent commission," he said. "That is
the position that we
still stand by."
Madhuku added that this does
not mean the end of the NCA alliance with the
Movement for Democratic
Change. But he cautioned the situation would be
reviewed should the unity
government continue with what he called its
neo-liberal
policies.
ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo also dismissed the current
constitutional
exercise saying he sees nothing acceptable coming out of the
process.
"How do you expect people who are fighting every day to come up
with a
reliable constitution? So we said you are still fighting. Until you
cease
fighting we need to agree to disagree that the process is wrong," he
said.
The infighting in the unity government once again made headlines
when
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party said there would be no progress
on
implementing the agreement that brought about the unity government unless
the MDC calls for a lifting of the travel bans and other measures imposed on
Mr. Mugabe, some ranking members of his party and companies close to Zanu-PF
for alleged human rights abuses.
But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa
said Zanu-PF brought the sanctions upon
themselves by being undemocratic and
perpetrating acts of violence on the
people of Zimbabwe.
"We do
appreciate that Zanu-PF have sinned by way of omission and commission
in the
past, and these issues are the ones that have brought about that
bi-lateral
issues between them and those that imposed those measures," he
said.
Chamisa said the MDC would only call for the lifting of the
measures once
Zanu-PF sticks to the agreement that brought about the
government. He said
then the parties could speak with one voice.
The
British ambassador in Harare, Michael Canning, issued a statement saying
the
sanctions were not MDC measures, rather they were European Union
measures.
He said the key to having restrictive measures eased or lifted is
for those
in Zimbabwe who are resisting progress to implement the
commitments to
reform they agreed to in the so-called Global Political
Agreement.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za
By: Oscar
Nkala
29th January 2010
The Zimbabwe government says it will
soon open up the rail sector to private
players, ending the monopoly the
ailing National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)
has enjoyed for
decades.
This comes on the heels of a World Bank recommendation that the
NRZ close
down two-thirds of its railway network to allow for rehabilitation
because
of the high potential for disaster it poses.
According to the
2010 to 2015 Medium-Term Plan presented by Finance Minister
Tendai Biti
recently, government is considering the creation of a separate
body "to own
and operate railway infrastructure while the rail (passenger
and bulk)
freight services are opened up to a number of sector players for a
fee".
If approved, the plan will mark the end of the NRZ's reign in
managing the
country's 3 077 km of railway infrastructure, which includes
signalling and
telecommunications systems, leaving it to compete against
other players in
providing rail transport services.
The plan proposes
a massive rehabilitation of all railway infrastructure,
which has been
paralysed by obsolete communication systems, worn-out rail
lines and the
theft of more than three-quarters of copper wire lines, which
has
effectively paralysed the signal and communication systems across the
country.
Biti tells Engineering News that the Zimbabwe railway system
is on the brink
of collapse, owing to many factors, among them mismanagement
and failure by
the parastatal to update its systems over the past 20
years.
"The railway system has collapsed - and I mean it has collapsed
entirely.
Following a study by a team of experts from the World Bank, we
have been
given recommendations to shut down at least two-thirds of the
network
because it is a disaster waiting to happen," Biti says.
The
NRZ, which needs at least $274-million to conduct a detailed
infrastructure
update, was allocated only $16,7-milion for the mammoth task,
which is
expected to take nearly a decade to complete. However, NRZ
spokesperson
Fanuel Masikati tells Engineering News that the parastatal is
not taking the
advice of the World Bank.
"Suggestions that we should close the greater
part of our network are
unfounded; there will be nothing of that sort. There
are evident challenges
that we are battling against but rehabilitation
efforts are under way to
bring NRZ back on track."
He says the NRZ is
a key operator in the national economy and any suspension
of ser-vices, even
partly, would amount to "national economic sabotage".
"[The NRZ] supports
various industrial activities and is key to the economic
revival strategies
that government is pursuing. Maintenance activities
should continue without
stopping industrial activity. However slow, the
public utility should
continue operations," Masikati says.
A senior engineman with the NRZ
tells Engineering News that only 12 diesel
engines are in operation across
the country, of which only six are still
usable for long-distance passenger
and goods freight transportation.
"The rest are down and in need of
replacement. Presently, any engine that
breaks down is cannibalised for
spare parts; that is why we are now using
old steam locomotives for shunting
around the marshalling yards in Bulawayo,
Gweru and Harare. For exmaple, we
have a situation where an engine that
brings the overnight passenger train
from Harare is immediately sent to
Hwange to collect coal or down to
Beitbridge to pull up fuel tankers."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27047
January 29, 2010
By Mxolisi
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - The re-launched opposition ZAPU party says that it
will elect
a substantive leadership at a congress to be held in four months'
time.
ZAPU, which officially ended its 22-year-old unity pact with
President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and re-launched last year, is
currently under
the leadership of former Home Affairs Minister - Dumiso
Dabengwa, who is its
interim chairman.
However, Methuseli Moyo, the
party's director of information and publicity,
said in a statement released
Thursday that the party was scheduled to hold
its national congress in May
at a "venue and specific date to be decided".
"The party congress will
debate and endorse the amended ZAPU constitution,
party policy and
manifesto," said Moyo.
"Also, the congress will elect a substantive
National Executive Committee
and Council of Elders Committee. The party will
emerge from congress with a
substantive leadership and commonly adopted
policies and manifesto to lead
us to victory in the forthcoming national
elections."
Moyo said that ZAPU had already initiated the process of
holding elections
to choose substantive branch committees, after which
district leadership
would be elected.
"We expect structures to elect
provincial committees by March," he said.
"Provincial chairpersons have
been instructed through a circular on the
procedures to be followed on
conducting elections.
"Only registered or card-carrying members of ZAPU
are allowed to contest
elections which should be conducted jointly by the
interim provincial
committee and council of elders."
The ZAPU
spokesman said that a committee headed by the party's interim
secretary for
finance, Stylish Magida, and with members drawn from all the
country's 10
provinces, had been tasked to mobilize resources and logistics
such as
conference venue, transport, accommodation, food and materials for
the
congress.
"We expect around 5 000 delegates from all over Zimbabwe, and
ZAPU's
Diaspora provinces of South Africa, the United Kingdom and Europe to
attend
the congress."
The re-launched opposition party, originally
founded by the late Vice
President Joshua Nkomo, is currently involved in an
internal fight which
late last year led to the suspension of six of its
executive members on
allegations that they deliberately flouted the party's
rules and
regulations.
The six are Evans Ndebele, Retired Colonel Ray
Ncube, and Smile Dube, former
Bulawayo councilor Alderman Charles Mpofu,
Nhlanhla Ncube and Charles
Makhuyana.
Some of the suspended members
have since accused Dabengwa of trying to run
the party using "the same
dictatorial methods as those employed by President
Robert Mugabe in
Zanu-PF.
Dabengwa has pleaded innocence, saying that the suspensions were
the
decision of ZAPU's Bulawayo Province, to which the six belong. Some of
the
party's South African executive members this week complained that the
former
Home Affairs Minister had not consulted on any of the decisions he
has taken
in the party since his election into his current position last
May.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
29/01/2010 00:00:00
PRIME
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he expects a constitutional referendum
to be
conducted in October allowing general elections, which will end the
life of
the coalition government, to be held in 2011.
Early this month, the MDC-T
leader appeared to resist pressure by SADC
facilitator President Jacob Zuma
that the country speeds up implementation
of GPA reforms in order to hold
elections next year.
However, speaking to reporters in Switzerland, where
he is attending the
World Economic Forum meetings, Tsvangirai endorsed
Zuma's time-line.
He said he expects the ongoing exercise to draft a new
constitution to be
completed in time for a referendum over its adoption in
October this year.
The Prime Minister told the small group of reporters
he was addressing that
the country would then hold elections in
2011.
Still, Tsvangirai conceded that he could not be certain about the
intentions
of his coalition partner, President Robert
Mugabe.
"Personally, I don't know what his intentions are," Tsvangirai
said adding
he was also not sure whether the Zanu PF leader, who has ruled
Zimbabwe
since independence in 1980, would seek to take full control of the
country
again.
"I can't sit and predict that a coup will happen and
that there will be a
derailment of the project. All I am positive about is
that so far this
process is irreversible," he said.
The MDC-T leader
said he found it difficult to relate with Mugabe given past
bad feelings
adding he felt the Zanu PF leader had tried to "destroy" him.
Tsvangirai
however insisted that the acrimony was now gone adding he meets
Mugabe once
every week before cabinet gatherings adding they then walk into
the meetings
together.
"It is not that I will stand on top of the mountain and defend
Mugabe's
past, but I am talking about the country's future and this is the
delicate
moment to support the process that is taking place in
Zimbabwe.
The MDC-T leader said he was optimistic about Zimbabwe's future
and urged
prospective investors to visit the country and find out how
ordinary people
feel about the transition which is
underway.
"(Investors should) come and make an assessment on the ground.
Come and talk
to Zimbabweans. How do they feel about the current political
and economic
situation in the country? And you'll be convinced that 85
percent support
the inclusive government and its efforts," he
said.
Tsvangirai is attending the annual Davos meetings where he
hopes to persuade
investors to take another look at Zimbabwe insisting the
country has turned
the corner.
On Wednesday he met his Canadian
counterpart Stephen Harper who however,
said international perception about
Zimbabwe would remain "very negative" as
long as Mugabe was still in power.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27041
January 28, 2010
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Police in Masvingo have arrested MDC Masvingo
provincial chairman
Wilstaf Sitemere on allegations of fraud involving $4
000.
Sitemere will appear in court in Harare on February 4. The police
here say
the alleged offence was committed in the capital
city.
According to the police, the MDC provincial chairman defrauded a
fellow
party member of US$4 000 sometime last year and has since failed to
pay back
the money.
A fellow MDC member, only identified as Muchimwe,
is the complainant who is
claiming to have been defrauded of the money by
Sitemere.
After his arrest in Masvingo, Sitemere spent three days in
police cells and
was later transferred to Harare where the police say the
case was
transferred.
"We have finished our investigations and the
case has been set for February
4 the capital," said a police
spokesperson.
"We have forwarded all the papers to Harare because,
according to
information we have, the case was committed in
Harare."
MDC-T party's provincial spokesman Tongai Matutu confirmed the
arrest.
"There has been a misunderstanding between the chairman and one
of our party
members over $4 000," said Matutu.
"I would not call it
fraud but I think they just have to sit down and agree
on certain
issues".
However, sources within the party said that Sitemere had
allegedly failed to
pay back $4 000 to the fellow party member resulting in
a report being made
to the police.
"The chairman was asked to pay
back the money as an out-of-court settlement
but he failed, resulting in
this case," said a reliable source within the
MDC.
Meanwhile, the MDC
Masvingo provincial executive will on Friday deliberate
on the fate of
Masvingo mayor Alderman together with his deputy councillor
Selina
Maridza.
The party's Masvingo district executive this week resolved that
Chakabuda
and his deputy be fired from the party over allegations of
corruption and
misappropriation of council funds.
The district
executive has since forwarded its recommendations to the party's
provincial
executive for deliberations.
"We are going to meet as a party and
deliberate on the fate of the mayor and
his deputy," said a member of the
provincial executive who refused to be
named.
Chakabuda is accused of
misappropriating funds, resulting in late payment of
salaries to council
employees. Service delivery in Masvingo is at its worst;
some areas have
gone for months without consistent water supply.
The mayor is also
accused of failing to toe the MDC party line.
http://www1.voanews.com
Lawyer David Drury, representing the three farmers, said
Kudya's ruling
gives a temporary reprieve to the farmers, although their
land has been
occupied by unruly crowds of hundreds believed to be ZANU-PF
militia members
Gibbs Dube | Washington 28 January 2010
A
Zimbabwean High Court judge has ruled that three white commercial farmers
who were given 24 hours to leave their property by a magistrate in Chipinge,
Manicaland province, should stay put until their cases are
adjudicated.
Justice Samuel Kudya issued the order late Wednesday
following the issuance
of eviction orders on Tuesday by Magistrate Samuel
Zuze.
Lawyer David Drury, representing the three farmers, said Kudya's
ruling
gives a temporary reprieve to the farmers, although their land has
been
occupied by unruly crowds of hundreds believed to be ZANU-PF militia
members.
Drury told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that although
the Office of the
Attorney General has 10 days to appeal the High Court
order staying the
lower court order, the farmers now have a legal right to
stay on their land.
Algernon Taffs of Chirega Farm, Dawie Joubert of
Stilfontein and Mike
Odendaal of Hillcrest Farm were supposed to have moved
out of their farms on
Wednesday. Mike Jahme of Silverton Farm was ordered by
the Chipinge court to
vacate his farm within 30 days.
In a related
development, former Commercial Farmers Union President Trevor
Gifford said
he and one of the farmers facing eviction now face jail because
they tried
to serve Zuze with the High Court order. Gifford said Zuze
refused to sign
the papers and accused the two of failing to obey his
eviction
orders.
Zuze, who could not be reached for comment, allegedly reported
the matter to
police in Chipinge, who charged the farmers with contempt of
court.
"The magistrate was very upset when we served the papers and as a
result
farmer Joubert was immediately arrested and I was ordered by the
police to
report to the nearest police station," Gifford said.
White
commercial farms have been subject to seizure in Zimbabwe for a decade
since
President Robert Mugabe launched a land-redistribution program. There
are
now only a few hundred farms remaining in white hands, but loyalists of
Mr.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has been pressing ahead with takeovers in
disregard
of objections from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr. Tsvangirai's
former opposition Movement for Democratic Change party says
such land
seizures are counterproductive because they signal to potential
foreign
investors that the rule of law has not been restored despite the
installation of a national unity government in February 2008
http://www1.voanews.com
The
parliamentary committee in charge of revision has come under pressure
from
the main parties to have their own rapporteurs in the outreach process,
which some say defeats the purpose of having neutral
record-keepers
Patience Rusere | Washington 28 January
2010
Zimbabwe's constitutional revision exercise hit another bump in
the road
this week, though its organizers insisted that it was back on track
again.
This week the negotiators for the three parties in government met
with
donors to address questions about the soaring costs of the
exercise.
The parliamentary committee in charge of revision, meanwhile,
has come under
pressure from the parties to have their own rapporteurs in
the outreach
process, which some say defeats the purpose of having neutral
record-keepers.
Critics such as the National Constitutional Assembly,
a civic group, say
that the exercise has become a gravy train for
participants and politicians.
For perspective on the controversies and
the process, VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience Rusere turned to Edward Mkhosi,
a co-chairman of the parliamentary
select committee on revision, and Irene
Petras, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights, which has undertaken
to monitor the process with the
Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network and the
Zimbabwe Peace Project.
Mkhosi said the controversy has mainly had to do
with funding. Petras was
critical of pressure for parties to have their own
rapporteurs.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Jan 28, 2010 11:13 PM | By Moses
Mudzwiti
Political violence has resurfaced in Zimbabwe, where up to 10
families have
been left homeless after their huts were burned
down.
The violence in Buhera district - the home district of Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai - has been low-key until now.
But police
admitted it was getting out of hand, saying a local chief had
sounded the
alarm about increased political tensions in his area.
Local Zanu-PF
officals claimed that MDC members had attacked their
supporters' homes.
However, the MDC said its supporters were targeted.
The disturbing
reports coincided with a hardening of attitudes between
President Robert
Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Mugabe announced on Wednesday that his party will
not make any more
concessions until Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change "calls off
sanctions".
* The British government has
announced that eight members of the UK
parliament will visit Zimbabwe
shortly. Dave Fish, the head of the British
delegation, said they would be
reviewing the "effectiveness" of the aid the
UK was giving to
Zimbabwe.
http://www.miningweekly.com/
By: Jonathan Faurie
29th
January 2010
For more than a year, the World Diamond Council
(WDC) has voiced concerns
regarding allegations of human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe and significant
noncompliance with the Kimberley
Process.
When taken to task over the matter at the inaugural Zimbabwe
Mining Indaba,
held in Harare last year, President Robert Mugabe denied any
human rights
abuses had occurred ′at the country’s Chiadzwa diamondfields,
while Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai admitted that reports of reported
human rights
abuses were being investigated.
In November, the
Zimbabwe authorities ′agreed with other member States of
the Kim-berley
Process to implement a detailed working plan to bring
Zimbabwe into full
compliance and to end human rights abuses ′around diamond
digging at
Chidzwa, in Marange, in the east of the country.
Following this
agreement, the WDC said the world would be watching closely
and urged the
Zimbabwe government not to squander this opportunity.
Diamond-mining
major De Beers MD Gareth Penny reports that, to date, it
would appear that
some progress has been made.
“While De Beers welcomes this, the com′pany
continues to regard these
efforts as ′ongoing and calls for both the
Zimbabwe ′government and the
Kimberley Process to increase their efforts to
show demonstrable progress,”
says Penny.
A key feature of the working
plan is the placement of a special monitor
appointed by the Kimberley
Process and mandated to oversee the export of
rough diamonds from the
Marange region.
WDC director Abbey Chikane says that ′exports from
Zimbabwe have been
suspended ′since November 2009 and will not resume until
the monitor is
appointed.
“The WDC reaffirms its guidance to
indus′try members to exercise extreme
caution when buying rough diamonds on
the market to ensure that, for the
time being, they do not originate from
Marange,” he says.
Chikane adds that issues requiring urgent ′attention
include an end to the
apparent delay in appointing a credible, independent
monitor to oversee
exports from Zimbabwe; demonstration that efforts to end
human rights abuses
have been successful, and ensuring that those
responsible for abuses will be
brought to justice; and that visible action
is being taken to combat
corruption and smuggling.
“Should the
Zimbabwe auth-′orities fail to take advantage of the opportunity
the working
plan presents, the WDC will call for the immediate suspension of
Zimbabwe
from the Kimberley Process,” says Chikane.
The WDC has also called upon
all participating governments to adopt the
proposal, forwarded by civil
society and supported by the diamond industry,
to include wording related to
human rights in and around diamond-mining
activity, as part of the minimum
requirements of the Kimberley Process
Certification Scheme.
Finally,
as an effective and credible Kimberley Process is in the interests
of all
stakeholders, from mining communities to the consumer, the WDC has
called on
government participants of the Kimberley Process to increase their
efforts
in enforcing its ′systems and standards, thus ′ensuring that all
diamonds
are lawfully mined, documented and exported.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Norest Musvaba Friday 29 January
2010
JOHANNESBURG -- The National Union of Metalworkers of South
Africa (Numsa)
on Thursday condemned what it described as “broader agenda to
discredit”
popular Johannesburg Central Methodist church Bishop Paul Verryn
who was
suspended by his church more than week ago.
The Methodist
Church in South Africa (MCSA) last week suspended Verryn, who
is well known
across South Africa and beyond after turning his church into a
sanctuary for
refugees from across Africa, from his position in the church
on allegations
of breaching church rules pending. The church has said the
bishop will
appear before an internal disciplinary committee on February 8.
Numsa
which vowed to continue working with Verryn to, “make sure our
brothers and
sisters who have been displaced through xenophobic attacks and
forced
migration to South Africa enjoy equal rights with their South African
counterparts,” accused groups it did not name of launching personal and
venomous attacks against the cleric.
The union claimed that sections
of the media had been co-opted into the
campaign against
Verryn.
“Numsa notes with serious concern the personal and venomous
offensive
targeted and directed towards Bishop Paul Verryn,” Numsa national
spokesperson Castro Ngobese said in a statement.
He added: “We are
suspicious that this offensive is being lurched against
Bishop Verryn forms
part of the broader agenda to discredit his person and
social standing in
society. The bourgeois media has been co-opted
consciously or unconsciously
to prosecute Bishop Verryn through public
opinion.”
The Johannesburg
church offers refuge to more than 3 000 immigrants from
across Africa with
the bulk of them Zimbabweans who continue to flock to the
sanctuary, fleeing
their home country because of hunger and economic
hardships.
Numsa
described Verryn as a hero and champion for social justice, peace,
solidarity and equality for all underpinned by his long voluntary work and
outstanding efforts of assisting and accommodating the daughters and sons of
‘garden boys’ and ‘kitchen girls’ from across our borders speaks
volume.
The Johannesburg church receives up to 200 new arrivals from
Zimbabwe per
week with the formation of a unity government between President
Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last February appearing
to have
done little to stem the tide of Zimbabweans crossing the border to
seek food
and better opportunities in their more prosperous southern
neighbour
“He is a Bishop that is not detached from the broader struggles
and
sufferings of the working class and the poor as permeated by capitalism
and
dictatorship regimes across our boarders. Bishop Verryn’s actions
personify
the rich contribution made by others like Father Trevor Huddleston
as guided
by liberation theology during the struggle for freedom and
liberation,” the
metalworker’s union said. –ZimOnline.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Mutumwa Mawere Friday 29 January
2010
OPNION: The role of working men and women in nation building
cannot be
understated.
The story of the decolonisation of Africa
cannot be complete without mention
of the influential role of the trade
union movement in determining labour
and industrial relations and more
importantly in shaping the political and
economic agenda of the
time.
South Africa, Africa's economic powerhouse, has the largest trade
union
movement on the continent. It is part of the tripartite alliance that
has
governed the country for the past 16 years.
As we look back at
the journey travelled so far, what can we say about our
collective knowledge
of the concept of trade unionism? What are its origins?
How effective is
trade unionism as an instrument for economic and social
change?
In
pre-colonial Africa, we can safely say that trade unions did not exist as
they would have served no purpose.
The origins of unions can be
traced from the 18th century that saw the rapid
expansion in Europe of
industrial society with its appetite for human
capital in the work
places.
A trade union is a body corporate organised to promote and
protect the
interests of members.
A trade is defined as the exchange
of products and/or services with the use
of money. The change of labour time
for cash is a trade.
The emergence of corporate civilisation brought with
it challenges and
opportunities. The challenge was how to convert feudal
labour not a
commodity that can be purchased in the
marketplace.
Unlike slavery, the labour exchange market involved free
agents who could
contract voluntarily.
With respect to slavery, a new
ideology was crafted which classified human
beings deemed as uncivilised to
be treated as any asset class that could be
owned and controlled for the
duration of its life by the purchaser.
Instead of exchanging a certain
portion of one's day for cash, a slave was
paid for in advance to the owner
and henceforth became the property of the
purchaser.
Although an
enterprise is a juristic person, it is not normally easy to
alienate its
interests from those of its founders notwithstanding the
provisions of the
Companies Act which provides for the separation of rights
and obligations
between the company and the shareholders.
Employers are contracted to the
company and not to the shareholder and yet
most employees believe that they
work for the shareholder.
The shareholder only has a residual claim on
the company and is only
entitled to the income that the company does not
want for itself. Before any
profit is declared, all the service providers
need to be paid including the
tax authorities.
This being the case,
it means that a salary or wage has to be negotiated in
arrears i.e. a worker
has to agree to the cost of his time to the company
prior to getting the
salary.
The first month of work, a worker has to self-provide in
anticipation of
payment at the end. In the case of capital assets, the
company has to make
the arrangements to secure the full amount required for
the asset. The same
was true for slave labour.
In terms of power
relationships, it was recognised that employers on behalf
of companies had a
stronger bargaining position against workers at the
retail level hence the
need to organise wholesale platforms to represent the
interest of the
workers.
However, it must be recognised that each workers has a contract
with the
company but the conditions of work, benefits and related issues
require a
collective voice.
The concept of mutuality is not unique to
the labour movement. What is a
challenge in Africa is that the number of
working people compared to
non-working people is so small and yet the voice
of the labour movement on
political, social and economic issues is
strong.
The nature and context of the struggle for independence
necessitated that
the working people whose rights in the labour market were
not respected on
account of their race taking a leading and active
role.
The argument advanced by proponents of race-based policies was that
the
European way of life did not interfere with the native African worldview
and, therefore, the introduction of a market system underpinned by an unjust
constitutional order could not be blamed for the poverty in
Africa.
It was argued that even if settlers had not visited Africa, the
relationship
between native African and poverty would have been the same as
it is in
Haiti or Liberia, for instance.
The working people did
present a challenge. You had black and white
employees on the same shop
floor. One would get paid more for the same work
than the other just on the
basis of skin colour. One would be treated as a
second class citizen than
another. One would never be allowed to be a
shareholder of a company than
the other. The list goes on and then came a
generation of Africans who
refused to accept the world as they were exposed
to it.
They formed
clubs representing the coalition of the willing. These were
political
parties whose mission was to change the constitutional order. At
work places
where employees felt that their voices could only be heard if
they pooled
their grievances together, it also became a theatre for
struggle.
The
ideology that informed most of the struggles in the workplace was based
on
Karl Marx's conception of a capitalist system and the purported dialectic
relationship between workers and capitalists.
Notwithstanding the
fact that, for example, when I work for company like
Microsoft, it would be
wrong to say that I work for the shareholders.
The company's management
are also contractors to the company and, therefore,
any struggle that may
take place at the work place has to be described as a
consequence of human
interaction.
The attitude of employees cannot also determine their
altitude. In any
organisation it is healthy to have order. When a product is
produced by a
company and invoiced out it becomes indivisible.
One
cannot disaggregate the product and split it into pieces in order to
recognise the contribution of the various input providers. This being the
case, the only rational basis of rewarding labour becomes a market linked
arrangement.
If the worker is underpaid then he/she knows what to do.
In an expanding
economy good employers rarely have difficulty in
recruitment.
Unions benefit more bad employees and become more relevant
in stagnant
economies. In rigid labour markets, unions can be
counterproductive.
The fact that the ruling class in post-colonial Africa
is largely drawn from
political unions makes it difficult to discourage the
labour movement from
wanting to have a say in politics.
The
competition for state jobs invariably ends between one class of working
people and another.
Some end up working for the state as
representatives of the working people
and yet behave no differently from the
employers they used to despise before
assuming state functions.
Is
there democracy in Africa's trade unions? The answer is simple. Democracy
is
difficult to achieve when most of the workers would rather focus on
advancing their personal welfare than worry about the bigger
picture.
Unions tend to be more effective in public institutions than
private ones
where employers would be foolhardy to underpay hard working
employees.
Union leadership in Africa tends to self perpetuate itself
with no or little
accountability to the rank and file members. This
situation is no different
from that obtaining in political clubs. Whoever
assumes a leadership
position ends up believing in
indispensability.
The interests of workers are best advanced in a free
and dynamic economy
rather than in an economy where workers believe that
they can use their
muscle to extract more from a company that cannot speak
for itself about the
dangers of extracting value or taking blood from it for
short-term
expediency than long-term growth and security.
Even the
Catholic Church towards the end of the 19th Century endorsed unions
when
Pope Leo XIII in his 'Magna Carta': Rerum Novarum against the
atrocities
workers faced and demanded that workers should be granted certain
rights and
safety regulations.
No one can doubt that unions can make a difference to
a civilisation but
what is needed is for the beneficiaries to assume
ownership of their own
project. Although we all need to see, for example, a
well functioning state
very few of us want to be involved in making it
happen.
After all, Africa Heritage Society www.africa-heritage.com an
organisation
that I am a member of is a mutual benefit association. Old
Mutual was a
mutual benefit association so is FIFA. What makes organisations
effective is
the contribution of the members that comprise it.
The
imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to "masters/owners" is no
different to what the 18th century economist, Adam Smith noted when he wrote
in the Wealth of Nations that: "We rarely hear, it has been said, of the
combination of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever
imagines, upon this account that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of
the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of
tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of
labour above their actual rate.
When workers combine, masters . . .
never cease to call aloud for the
assistance of the civil magistrate, and
the rigorous execution of those laws
which have been enacted with so much
severity against the combination of
servants, labourers, and
journeymen."
It is the trade unions who often assume leadership positions
in political
contestations and yet their worldview would suggest that fixing
prices of
goods and services sold in the market place from which they draw
an income
is a progressive step forgetting that such actions have been shown
time
after time to have unintended consequences.
A labour market that
is not flexible ultimately undermines the interests of
the purported
beneficiaries. We all want a better and progressive world but
this comes
with obligations.
The human spirit is difficult to manage and manipulate.
A society that
allows, for instance, an angry worker to organise his affairs
and use the
market system to revenge is better than a system in which
employers are
forced to accept an administrative regime in which the price
of labour is
fixed in smoking rooms.
There is nothing to stop African
trade unions from forming mutual aid
benefit association to provide least
cost financial, supply chain and other
solutions.
If working people
are angry with a bank there should be no impediment for
them to set up an
alternative financial platform to serve them rather than
force the banks
that serve them to look at profit as a sin. - ZimOnline