Erin can be seen preparing for her jump and is encouraged off the ledge by a worker
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Miracle escape for bungee jumper whose cord
snapped plunging her into crocodile-infested water with tied feet... and she
still managed to swim to shore
Last updated at 5:56 PM on 8th January 2012
A tourist has miraculously survived following a fall into crocodile-infested waters after the cord snapped while she was bungee jumping in Zambia.
Australian backpacker Erin Langworthy fell into the Zambezi river following the terrifying mishap, which happened as she leapt from a bridge at Victoria Falls on the country's border with Zimbabwe.
The 22-year-old told how her feet were still tied together as she fell head first into the fast-flowing rapids beneath the world's largest waterfall.
Erin can be seen preparing for her jump and is encouraged off the ledge by a worker
She leaps from the bridge, arms outstretched, and is still safely attached to the cord
Miss Langworthy
said she feared for her life but managed to survive after swimming to a nearby
bank on the side of the river.
'I landed with
my legs tied and then had to swim to the Zimbabwe side [of the river] through
the rapids,' she told Australia's Channel Nine network.
'It was quite scary because a couple of times the rope actually got caught on some rocks or debris.
'I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught on to make it to the surface.'
Ms Langworthy
spend a week in hospital following the incident, which happened on New Year's
Eve.
Officials have
since launched an investigation into what caused the terrifying
accident.
Erin plunges head first towards the water but is still attached to the rope
The cord snaps and half of it recoils back towards the ledge, right, while another piece can be seen heading for the water below
Chilling footage
of the incident shows the young holidaymaker, from Perth, leaping from the
bridge which crosses a gorge 111 metres above the water.
It shows how her bungee cord snapped as she reached the bottom of her descent, sending her flying down towards the water below.
According to reports it is believed she was around 20 metres above the Zambezi when the cord broke.
She hit the water and immediately fought to get herself towards the shore.
Zambian police spokeswoman Brenda Muntemba confirmed the holidaymaker was eventually rescued after reaching the side of the river.
She was treated by medics in the town of Victoria Falls before being transferred to a hospital in neighbouring South Africa.
The government has set out to reassure people the tourist attraction is safe, despite the incident.
Tourism minister Given Lubinda said around 50,000 people made the leap each year at the world-famous beauty spot.
'The bungee has proven to be a very viable operation considering that more than 50,000 tourists jump on it every year.
Erin is nowhere to be seen but part of the rope is seen floating in the rapids
The remnants of the rope float off. Erin managed to swim to the side of the riverbank where she was treated by paramedics
'It has been in operation for 10 years. This is the first time I am hearing of an incident. The probability of an incident is one in 500,000 jumps.'
The minister
added that his office had launched a full investigation.
Every week
hundreds of tourists pay around £80 ($120) for the thrill of jumping off a rail
bridge which links the two countries.
The Zambia Post reported that the jump was operated by a private firm, Bungee Extreme, which confirmed it was looking into the incident.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JAMA MAJOLA | 08 January, 2012 00:19
POLICE are
probing Finance Minister Tendai Biti over the controversial
$500-million
windfall Zimbabwe got from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) in 2009.
They aim to arrest him if they detect any trace of fraud.
The Biti probe
follows a police bid last year to arrest Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
and nephew Hebson Makuvise, Zimbabwe's ambassador to
Germany, in a
$1.5-million fraud case.
It was alleged Tsvangirai double-dipped into
state funds by securing first
$1.5-million and then $1-million to buy an
up-market house in Kew Drive in
Highlands, Harare.
Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) detectives opened a criminal docket
and are
still probing the premier in a case being handled by police
commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri. CID chief superintendent Alison
Nyamupaguma is leading the investigating team.
Officials told the
Sunday Times this week Biti was being investigated over
the $500-million. He
and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono
fought bitter
battles to get control of this money.
"The minister of finance has been
under investigation since last year by
police and some government officials
over the usage of the money, which came
from the IMF in 2009. It is alleged
the minister was involved or knew about
how part of the money was mishandled
at some banks," a senior government
official said.
"The line of
investigation is that part of the money, which was deposited
into banks
owned or run by the minister's friends, was mishandled through
means that
border on unauthorised or unlawful practices, including
creaming-off
interest accrued for individual benefit. Police want to know if
the minister
was involved in, or was aware of, these activities."
Another official
said the team probing Tsvangirai was "on Biti's case".
Biti was not
available for comment, but a senior finance official said on
Friday he was
"not worried about it".
Zimbabwe got $512.3-million in special drawing
rights in 2009 after the IMF
injected $283-billion into the global economy
to provide liquidity and boost
member countries' foreign exchange reserves
at the height of the financial
crisis.
As soon as the money was in
the RBZ coffers, Biti and Gono started fighting
over it. They engaged the
IMF separately. Biti said he was the "sole
authority" on how the money would
be used. Most of it would go to
infrastructure development and exporters'
lines of credit. He could channel
some to budgetary support.
Biti
also told Mugabe and cabinet that he wanted Zimbabwe to use the money
to
clear its arrears with international financial institutions in a
debt-reduction strategy. Zimbabwe's debt overhang tops
$8-billion.
But Gono wanted the money for mining, manufacturing, tourism
and
recapitalisation of public enterprises like the national railways and
the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, Ziscosteel and Hwange Colliery,
among
others. He also wanted to use some to repay government debt to
corporates,
NGOs and the IMF.
Biti has said the IMF money was used
for several projects, although the IMF
at one time withheld $215-million as
national reserves, with another
$140-million earmarked for Zimbabwe's
obligations with the IMF
poverty-reduction growth facility.
About
$150-million was used for agricultural inputs in 2009 and 2010,
$50-million
for summer cropping, $80.46-million for infrastructure and
$19.54-million
for the Zimbabwe Economic and Trade Revival Facility
administered by
Interfin Bank.
"Police are interested in money deposited in banks like
Interfin and are
following the trail," an official said. "They suspect
fraudulent activities
in the handling and management of these funds.".
http://www.timeslive.co.za
HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE | 08
January, 2012 00:19
ZIMBABWE'S coalition government is on a collision
course with the bulk of
its workers after selectively hiking earnings for
government ministers and
some senior employees at the expense of its
hard-pressed civil servants.
The Sunday Times can reveal exclusively that
President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
administration recently hiked subsistence
and travelling allowances for
ministers, deputy ministers, judges,
provincial governors and ministerial
permanent secretaries to $105 per
night, while paying no heed to demands for
a salary review for its famished
civil servants, who earn an average of $250
per month.
The review of the senior government employees' earnings is in
addition to
their monthly salaries, which average $3 000 per
month.
In a cabinet circular marked confidential and seen by the Sunday
Times this
week, Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to the President and
Cabinet,
advised ministers, deputy ministers, provincial governors and
ministerial
permanent secretaries and the comptroller and auditor-general
that their
local travel and subsistence allowances were now
pegged.
The country's high and labour court judges, who enjoy almost the
same status
and benefits as ministers, have also been notified about the
reviews to
their allowances.
"Please find enclosed herein for the
information of judges and presidents of
the Labour Court the revised and
subsistence rates for ministers and allied
grades. Where a judge or
president elects not to be booked into a hotel on
full board, a maximum of
US$105 per night shall be payable for each full
day. The commission is
available to clarify any further queries that judges
and presidents may have
on the above," reads Judicial Service Commission
Secretary Justice Rita
Makarau's memorandum to Judge President George
Chiweshe and to the Senior
President of the Labour Court.
The revelations by the Sunday Times are
certain to infuriate the country's
impoverished civil servants, among them
teachers and nurses, who have been
earning paltry salaries.
Recently,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's component of the coalition
government
came under criticism from its former allies for spending public
funds on
purchasing luxury cars for government officials.
This was despite the
fact that Finance Minister, Tendai Biti repeatedly
stated that the
government was broke.
The Committee of the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter, once
allies of the Movement
for Democratic Change, also condemned the acquisition
of the cars as
"mistaken" and "unfortunate" and an "unfortunate
demonstration of opulence
amidst poverty," advice which fell on deaf ears.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
ZOLI MANGENA | 08 January, 2012
00:19
ZANU-PF is to intensify its campaign to force foreign-owned
companies to
surrender majority shareholdings or give equities to them
through community
share trusts.
Senior Zanu-PF officials told the
Sunday Times this week there would be an
escalation of the grabbing of
foreign companies' equities through community
share trusts soon after
President Robert Mugabe has returned from his annual
holiday in the Far East
early next month.
After raiding firms like South African-owned Zimplats,
Old Mutual and
Meikles, Mugabe and Zanu-PF are expected to ratchet up
pressure on
foreign-owned firms to force them to parcel out shares to
Mugabe's
supporters as part of its bid to avoid a defeat at the
polls.
"There is going to be a relentless intensification and broadening
of the
indigenisation and empowerment campaign soon after the president has
returned to work. We are going to visit big companies one by one and demand
that they surrender majority shareholdings or accommodate us through
community share trusts," a senior Zanu-PF politburo member said.
"We
make no apologies for this. It's part of our campaign strategy. Between
2000
and 2008, land reform was our campaign driving force, but now it is
indigenisation," he said.
Another official said Zanu-PF had realised
that efforts to seize 51% of
foreign companies were not working, or would
take too long, and decided to
go the community share trust
route.
"The thrust of our indigenisation policy has been shifting and
changing
since we started working on it. Although we have not announced and
acknowledged this, we have changed the policy in many ways. When we started
we wanted 51% straightaway, then we went the sectorial and measured
approach - and now we have adopted the community share trust
method."
The government has been trying to take over foreign-owned
companies without
requisite funding, confirming its real motive is to grab
private property
under the guise of indigenisation. The envisaged Sovereign
Wealth Fund to
bankroll the programme is penniless.
Zanu-PF has also
formed its own Youth Empowerment Fund to finance its
partisan indigenisation
and development activities linked to election
campaigns. It has prevailed
over the biggest commercial bank, CBZ Bank, to
provide direct loans to its
youth members.
The Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe has been
forced to provide
funding to youth projects, while the bankrupt ZABG has
been providing
support to vocational training centres to further Zanu-PF
activities and
agendas.
Zanu-PF also wants to push its youth members
who have no funding and
experience into capital-intensive and difficult
sectors of the economy, like
mining.
Last year Zimplats was forced to
set a community share trust covering the
Chegutu, Mhondoro, Ngezi, Zvimba
and Chivero areas.
Similar trusts will be set up around the Marange
diamond fields and the
Murowa, Hwange and Mimosa mining areas.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer
Sunday, 08 January 2012
13:50
HARARE - A referendum this year looks doubtful, as the
constitution drafting
process is set to miss the 35-day drafting timetable,
a sign of how the
conclusion of a governance charter expected to lay the
foundation for
credible elections remains entrenched in political
bickering.
A technical committee member involved in the drafting
exercise said the date
for the completion of the constitution draft remained
unknown as political
parties involved continue to throw spanners in the
drafters’ work.
Drafters are currently in Vumba, Manicaland for the
process, which had been
derailed by Zanu PF claims that drafters were being
influenced by the MDC.
“Without these glitches it would have been done by
the end of this month.
But it might drag to February and perhaps longer if
the squabbles continue.
Writing a constitution itself is not a hard
exercise,” the source said.
“The first four chapters were completed
pretty quickly so at that rate it
shouldn’t take too long to complete. But
the other guys are not interested
hence their underhand tactics,” the source
added.
Late last year, the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) said the
draft
will be completed late this month, paving way for an all-stakeholders
meeting.
The draft would be scrutinised at the all stakeholders’
conference.
If the draft gets the nod, possibly in late February, it will
be sent to
Parliament for further amendment.
If it sails through
Parliament, the referendum will then be held after three
months, meaning
June.
However, this timetable is in limbo after political grandstanding
and
showmanship derailed the drafting stage, said our source.
Paul
Mangwana (Zanu PF) co-chairperson of Copac late last year sowed discord
by
ordering drafters to stop work, accusing them of sneaking in gay rights
and
other issues which were not part and parcel of views collected from the
public at the over 4 000 outreach meetings.
Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga intervened,
and told the
drafters to ignore Mangwana’s instructions, as he was acting
outside his
mandate.
A spat ensued between the two with Mangwana accusing Matinenga
of
interfering with the work of Copac.
The drafting managed to get
back on track but the political wrangling still
persists with Zanu PF saying
it will never allow issues such as gay rights
and dual citizenship to be
“smuggled” in.
A law expert, Alex Magaisa based at Kent University, said
smuggling is an
alien term in the law sphere as comparison of constitutions
is the best
practice in the field.
“When you write a constitution,
you are not reinventing the wheel. Anyone
who has done basic drafting should
know that looking at precedents or
comparable examples is standard drafting
practice,” said Magaisa.
“Likewise, there is absolutely nothing wrong
with looking at comparable
constitutions and following best practice. It
doesn't mean you are imposing
other people’s will on the people of
Zimbabwe.
“What are being borrowed are not the views but the drafting
style and
quality. There is a difference and it’s very basic,” he
said.
The constitution fracas is seen by analysts as a device by Zanu PF
to stall
reforms and have elections under the prevailing
circumstances.
Jenni Williams, leader of pro-democracy group Women of
Zimbabwe Arise, said
any election held under the current constitution will
lack credibility.
“We are worried about the continued talk of elections
under the prevailing
conditions. “The outcome will not be a reflection of
the people but of
certain political parties” she said.
She further
said people would not participate in such any election as it
will be a
sham.
Analysts believe Zanu PF is keen on using “hook or crook” to force
elections
under the existing conditions, as the party risks losing in a free
and fair
election.
President Robert Mugabe said during his Zanu PF
party conference in December
last year that elections will be held this year
without fail.
However, this looks uncertain as other coalition partners
in the inclusive
government have said elections have to come after
democratic reforms,
including a new constitution, are in place.
Sadc,
which is overseeing the political transition in Zimbabwe, has said the
fulfilment of reforms is a prerequisite for holding an election.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Everson Mushava, Staff Writer
Sunday, 08
January 2012 13:11
HARARE - Zimbabwe's sole distance learning
university, the Zimbabwe Open
University (Zou), is struggling to pay
allowances for examiners almost a
month after the exams were
marked.
Both full-time and part-time examiners are owed $200 each for the
days they
had been camp-marking the exams from December 7 to December
16.
According to one of the examiners who refused to be named for fear of
victimisation, Zou was supposed to give them a per-diem of $20 per
day.
But for the 10 days they were marking, they did not receive any
money from
the university, which, cumulatively, means each marker is owed
$200.
The $200 does not include marking fees, which is said to range from
$2
upwards per script, depending on the degree programme.
“We were
only later re-imbursed the transport money but others refused it in
protest
of the unpaid allowances,” said the examiner.
It was also alleged that
the university also failed to pay for accommodation
and hospitality fees for
the markers at Zimbabwe Institute of Public
Administration and Management
and Zesa Training Centre.
The development is another reminder of how Zou
urgently needs a shake up
before employers start questioning the quality of
students passing through
the institution which has more than 18 000
students.
Zou said it was making efforts to pay the markers.
“The
examiners are being paid their per-diems and the university apologises
for
the late disbursement of funds,” Nhamo Marandu, Zou communications
director
said.
According to a source, the university needs at least 35 markers for
each of
its four faculties, meaning that the university owes markers
allowances of
more $28 000, excluding transport money and actual marking
fees.
“Because we were not paid the per-diems, most markers were on a
go-slow and
could not finish marking the scripts inside the days of camping.
The
grumbling markers took the scripts home for marking,” said the
source.
This further compromises the credibility of such results, one
examiner said.
The Daily News, sister paper to the Daily News on Sunday,
in August exposed
an exam scandal at the university where workers were
allegedly doctoring
student marks.
The paper also exposed that the
university had continued to offer a
condemned degree, throwing the
university into a credibility crisis.
But the worst came for Zou when the
Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education
suspended some degree and diploma
programmes offered by the university until
corrective measures were
taken.
Examiners told the Daily News on Sunday that the university had
“forgotten
its core business” by failing to pay the examiners.
“They
are busy doing other things while they fail to finance critical areas
of
their mandate. Greed is destroying the university. How can they say they
do
not have money when the government releases money to them for the
administration of examinations,” said one examiner.
Zou is currently
under probe by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission for
financial abuses
involving close to $1 million dollars and corruption.
The university in
March last year took a $3 million loan from a commercial
bank to buy
vehicles for senior management, a move observers warned will
have negative
consequences towards the quality of service at the university.
They said
the money should have been invested in improving the quality of
service
offered by the university.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
07/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) has said salary
negotiations are
continuing with the government and urged its members to
report for work when
schools open in Tuesday.
Zimta’s call comes amid
fears schools may not reopen after civil servants
threatened to go on
strike, frustrated with delays in reaching a new pay
deal with the
government.
But Zimta chief, Tendai Chikowore said her union had not
declared a strike
and urged members to return to work.
Chikowore said
talks with were continuing adding a meeting with government
negotiators was
scheduled for Wednesday.
“The onus is on Minister Lucia Matibenga,
through her Public Service
Ministry, to rope in negotiators from the
Government side so we can map the
way forward,” Chikowore told state
media.
“However, whether or not they come to the meeting, we are
determined to have
a response and if we do not see light at the end of the
tunnel, we will
definitely take action.”
Civil service unions are
demanding a monthly salary of US$538 for the least
paid worker.
The
government is keen to keep a lid of expenditure with treasury saying
civil
service wages accounted for 63 percent of overall spending last
year.
“The situation where employment costs account for 63 percent of
total
expenditure and net lending, against a budgeted ratio of 53 percent is
unsustainable,” Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in his 2012 budget
statement.
“This outcome has consequentially crowded out non-wage
expenditures in areas
such as infrastructure development and social service
delivery.
“Civil servants are approximately 235 000, representing 1.78
percent of our
14 million population.
“The implication of this
unsustainable equation is that Government is
spending 63 percent of its
budgetary resources on 1.78 percent of the
population, while the remaining
98.22 percent have to share the balance of
37 percent.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
07/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE three members of Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF), a
pressure group-cum
political party calling for the separation of
Matabeleland from the rest of
the country, will go on trial for treason at
the High Court in Bulawayo
early next month.
Charles Thomas, John
Gazi and Paul Siwela are currently out of custody on
US$2 000 coupled with a
number of other conditions. They have been further
remanded to 19 January
when they would likely be indicted for trial at the
High Court.
Thomas,
44, Gazi, 54, and Siwela, 49, have not been formally charged.
However the
state alleges that in March last year, the trio – along with
seven others,
who are still at large -- held an executive meeting at Siwela’s
Bulawayo
offices where they connived and agreed to distribute fliers with
subversive
messages.
The fliers along with calendars were targeted at various groups
including
churches, non-governmental organisations, civil servants and
political
parties.
The State will seek to prove that they tried to
influence people to
demonstrate against the government and advocate for a
separate state of
Mthwakazi covering the Matebeleland and Midlands
regions.
Advocate Lucas Nkomo instructed by Sindiso Shepherd Mazibisa, Robert
Ndlovu,
and Matshobana Ncube is defending the trio.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 08, 2012 – THREE editors of independent
Zimbabwe newspapers
are contemplating taking legal action against a Zanu-PF
spin-doctor for
alleging that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai bribed them
to run stories
portraying him in a positive light while attacking Zanu-PF
officials.
State radio and television carried reports last week which
said Prime
Minister Tsvangirai had received money from Western governments
to launch a
campaign in the private press to spruce his image following
damaging reports
about his failed engagement and allegations that he was a
womanizer.
On Friday the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation quoted a
former MDC
legislator-turned Zanu-PF proxy, Gabriel Chaibva, naming the
three editors –
Brian Mangwende (Newsday), Nevanji Madanhire (Standard) and
Stanley Gama
(Daily News) – as having pocketed unspecified dollars from the
PM, charges
the three editors vehemently deny.
The editors are
understood to be consulting their respective lawyers over
Chaibva’s
allegations they say are tantamount to libel or defamation.
“We are
going to take Chaibva head-on. This is below the belt. We want to
take him
to the cleaners for misinforming the nation and soiling our names,”
said one
of the editors, speaking strictly is not named.
“We know where this
trash is coming from but we will expose the culprits
when the time comes,”
he added.
The state broadcaster alleged that Tsvangirai spokesman
Luke Tamborinyoka
and Minister of State Jameson Timba, attached to the prime
minister's
office, were “key point-men in the whole
saga.”
Tamborinyoka dismissed the corruption charges against
Tsvangirai telling
reporters that the reports were "rubbish, arrant
nonsense."
Daily News Editor Gama described the allegations as false and
libellous. On
Saturday he wrote a lengthy article in his paper flatly
denying the
accusations.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 08, 2012- CHIEF Negomo has been
ordered by the Bindura
Magistrates Court to return two beasts and a goat
that he fined a Movement
for Democratic Change ward chairperson in Mazowe
Central constituency on
grounds that he did not have jurisdiction over the
matter.
Vine Chinake, appealed to the magistrates court after he was
tried and
convicted in absentia last year by Chief Negomo’s community court
in
Chiweshe after being accused of practicing witchcraft, in a matter that
had
been brought by fellow villagers Lucias Chibvongodze and
Sam
Mhandu.
The nature of the witchcraft accusations made against
Chinake are not
specified in court papers but the MDC-T ward chairperson
said the chief
erred in dealing with the matter which he had no jurisdiction
over as the
Witchcraft Suppression Act, criminalizes accusing someone of
witchcraft.
He added that only the magistrates’ court has
jurisdiction to deal with the
case as it was a criminal
matter.
“The judgment by the community court of Chief Negomo is
hereby set aside. In
its place it is ordered that the appellant be given
back his property namely
beasts and a goat,” reads part of the court
order.
Last Tuesday, Chinake’s lawyer Shepherd Mushonga said chief Negomo
has not
yet complied with the Bindura Magistrates Court’s order to return
the beats
and goat he had attached as part of his judgment.
“I
can confirm that the order was granted, but he has not complied. Chief
Negomo promised Chinake that he would pay back,”said Mushonga.
On
the other hand, when contacted for comment the chief said he remembers
presiding over a case involving Chinake, but could not recollect all the
details as he deals with many cases in his court.
“I record all the
cases on my laptop. Give me some time to look at the
matter,” chief Negomo
said.
Recently, chief Negomo fined in absentia Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
two cows and a sheep for violating a cultural taboo by paying
bride price
for Locardia Karimatsengu in a forbidden month of
November.
The MDC-T has dismissed the hearing as politically
motivated.
“That the chief sought to act as his own messenger is
clear manifestation of
failure on his part to appreciate the difference
between his role as a
traditional leader from his role as a
Zanu-PF
activist.
“Chief Negomo must be aware of the murders and rapes
and other barbaric acts
committed by Zanu PF in 2008 in his jurisdiction. He
is no doubt aware of
acts of arson committed by Zanu-PF activists against
MDC-T people. Why has
he not summoned any of them to his court if he is a
man of justice?” the
MDC-T asked.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior Writer
Sunday, 08
January 2012 13:30
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
supposed marriage to Locadia
Karimatsenga, has taken a new twist after a
chief issued a warning to attach
his residential property in
Harare.
Chief Negomo, Lucious Chitsinde who in December found
Tsvangirai guilty of
breaking customary laws that prohibit families from
performing marriage
rites in the sacred month of November, says he will this
week move to attach
property at the premier’s Strathaven home, citing
Tsvangirai’s failure to
pay a fine on time.
Legal experts such as
Professor Lovemore Madhuku immediately said the chief
was turning the whole
matter into a political drama as he enjoys no power
under the law to attach
Tsvangirai’s property.
Tsvangirai claims he did not marry Locadia,
insisting the money he paid was
compensation after his lover claimed to be
pregnant.
But Negomo insisted the difference was the same since
traditional rites were
performed at the Karimatsenga family home in
Mazowe.
Negomo claims the Karimatsengas are his subjects hence has
jurisdiction over
them.
He fined both families two goats, two beasts,
two sheep at his traditional
court at Gweshe Business Centre in Chiweshe on
December 10, giving them
until yesterday to pay up.
Both families are
yet to pay the fine, with the Karimatsenga family claiming
to be waiting for
Tsvangirai to offer resources to meet the fine demand,
according to
Negomo.
“We are going to take action against them,” he told the Daily
News on Sunday
at the weekend.
“We shall move to Christon Bank (the
Karimatsenga family home) and attach
their properties or go to their village
in Kanyemba to collect the cattle.
“This is a customary ruling and they
are aware of the procedures,” said
Negomo.
“We shall do the same to
Tsvangirai,” he added.
At the court, Locadia was represented by her
family members that included
uncle, Isaac and brothers Positive and
Abraham.
Tsvangirai snubbed the court hearing, and instead asked his
lawyers to
advise Negomo that the proceedings were illegal.
“The
Karimatsenga family are my subjects and they accepted the court ruling
by
attending the court and they have told me that they are waiting for their
son-in-law Tsvangirai to help in paying the fine,” said Negomo.
The
Karimatsenga family spokesman Simba Shopera could not be reached for
comment
as his phone was unreachable.
Biata Nyamupinga, Zanu PF MP for Goromonzi
North constituency and sister to
Locadia, could not be reached for comment
either.
A man who identified himself as Daniel answered the MP’s phone
and said she
was busy and will phone back later. She had not done so by the
time of going
to press last night.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the PM’s
spokesperson, has stuck to a statement released
by Tsvangirai’s Office soon
after the news of “marriage” broke out in
November denying the
marriage.
Law professor Lovemore Madhuku said Negomo had no legal right
to attach any
property from Tsvangirai in terms of the law.
“There is
no law that allows Negomo to attach the property. Attachment is
done by the
messenger of court or sheriff not anyone else. If he continues
with the
attachment it will be theft. I know that Negomo is playing politics
in this
matter. There is a legal process to be followed for him to attach
anything,” said Madhuku.
Locadia is still said to be staying with
Tsvangirai’s mother in Buhera’s
Hamunikwa village where she is still holed
after eloping there last year.
The premier has beefed up security at his
rural home to prevent the media
from snooping on or interviewing
Locadia.
Despite being a father of six, Tsvangirai became one of Zimbabwe’s
most
sought-after men after the death of his wife Susan in a road accident
along
the Harare- Masvingo Road two years ago.
Locadia, a single
mother and formerly married to Harare businessman Ben
Muchedzi, appeared to
have scored in November but the “marriage” has been
haunted by controversy
since.
Yesterday Tsvangirai denied that he spent Christmas with Locadia
in South
Africa.
Tsvangirai is denying his supposed marriage to
Locadia and last year issued
two different statements on the same matter in
one of the boobs which his
rivals say shows the confusion surrounding him at
the moment.
The popular MDC leader has blamed the spy agency — Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) — for showing its hand in the “marriage”
saga which he
says has been used to tarnish his image and weaken his party
ahead of
possible elections this year.
http://www.radiovop.com
Zimbabwe Mines and Mining Development
Minister, Obert Mpofu has said a
government survey into the discovery of
diamonds in Beitbridge, Matabeleland
South has revealed that the border town
does not have the gemstones.
Mpofu told Radio VOP on Friday in an
interview that Beitbridge does not have
diamonds but emeralds called
aquamarine.
“Tests by our mining engineers have confirmed that there
are no diamonds in
Beitbridge. Villagers were only scrambling for
aquamarine,” Mpofu said in an
interview.
Aquamarine is a type of
pale blue to green gemstone which has been used in
ornamental
jewelry.
Aquamarine is also described as a type of beryl, a stone
which contains a
mixture of beryllium, aluminum, and silicate: other beryls
include emeralds,
golden beryls called heliodors, and morganites, also known
as rose beryls.
Fortune-seekers descended on the Pondongoma area in
BeitBridge amid reports
that diamonds have been discovered
there.
According to reports, the diamond rush began after a Harare
man, named
locally as Rasim Kassim, was granted a prospector’s licence to
explore for
aquamarine.
Word soon went round that Kassim was in
fact trying to disguise a diamond
find, and since then fortune hunters have
piled in to the Ponongoma area,
near Zezane Mission, to dig for
gemstones.
Locals put up barricades to block access to the area,
while deploying a
night watchman to stop diggers who are arriving in the
area on bicycles,
motorbikes and cars to dig for diamonds.
The
diamond rush was similar to the scramble for the gemstone after its
discovery in Mutare about six years ago.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Bridget Mananavire, Staff
Writer
Sunday, 08 January 2012 13:18
HARARE - Police barring of
more than 80 Anglican Church of the Province of
Central Africa (CPCA)
members from holding their annual pastoral prayer
meeting has highlighted
the abuse of the harsh Public Order and Security Act
(Posa), human rights
lawyers have said.
The law was supposed to make provision for the
maintenance of public order
and security in Zimbabwe.
Posa was also
meant to annul the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act (Chapter
11:07); and to
provide for matters connected with or incidental to the
foregoing, has been
now used as a repressive tool, says human rights
lawyers.
Legal
experts believe the restrictions imposed by Posa on individual rights
to
freedom of assembly are unconstitutional and undemocratic.
“Posa has been
used by law enforcement agents and rulers of the land for
purposes of
unmitigated repression,” said Chris Mhike, a human rights
lawyer.
“The situation has been worsened by rulers who selectively
apply the law,
with a clear pattern of heavy application of repressive laws
only on those
who are deemed to be enemies of the state,” said
Mhike.
A Private Member’s Bill sponsored by MDC chief whip Innocent
Gonese suffered
lack of support from Zanu PF members.
The MDC has, as
a result, agreed to shelve the Bill, and push the reforms
via ongoing
political talks.
One of the arguments on proposing to amend Posa was that
the legislation
gave too much power to the police and the ministry of Home
Affairs as well
as the fact that the police are responsible for the
administration of the
Act.
Police stormed CPCA gathering venue at
Peterhouse girls school in Marondera
on Tuesday, forcing church officials
and clergymen to vacate the place
without giving a plausible explanation,
except that the meeting was illegal
under Posa.
Police say Posa gives
them powers to stop meetings held without their
authority.
Speaking
to the Daily News on Sunday near the venue, Diocesan secretary of
Harare
Clifford Dzawo blamed the Zanu PF loyalist Nolbert Kunonga for the
ugly turn
of events.
Kunonga, whom the CPCA says enjoys police support because of
his Zanu PF
links, was expelled from the church in 2008 but is clinging on
to property
claiming to be the legitimate head of the church in
Zimbabwe.
His drive to own the church has resulted in the arrest,
eviction and general
harassment of CPCA officials and clergy.
Mhike
said the recent unfortunate disruptions of activities of CPCA are an
example
of partisanship in the execution of duties by law enforcement agents
and the
abuse of “undemocratic and unjust” laws in Zimbabwe.
“The Anglican saga
illustrates the sacrifice of freedom of worship in
Zimbabwe at the altar of
political expediency,” he said.
Posa was crafted from the relics of
colonial era Law and Oder Maintenance
Act (Loma).
Ironically Loma was
considered to be a draconian piece of legislation that
served the interests
of the white minority.
Another human rights lawyer Jeremiah Bamu said
there was lack of
appreciation of the law from those responsible for
administering it.
“It is shocking that Posa is now being used to regulate
Church activities,”
he said.
In February last year, two Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) members were
arrested during a Valentine’s Day
anti-violence protest that was supported
by up to 1 000 members in different
parts of Bulawayo.
“Posa is only used to prevent gatherings that are
distinct to be gathering
against Zanu PF.
“I have not heard of Zanu
PF being refused to hold gatherings according to
Posa. It is just the MDC
and anyone not Zanu PF,” said Bamu, who has
defended dozens of Posa victims.
http://www.radiovop.com
Masvingo, January 08, 2012 -PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s elections
call for
this year has wrecked havoc for Mwenezi villagers after rowdy
Zanu-PF youths
and war veterans have allegedly started forcing villagers to
attend meetings
were they are warning them of a devastating war if they vote
against their
party leader.
Mugabe and his party resolved to call for
elections this year at their party
congress held in Bulawayo last December,
accusing the shaky inclusive
government of not working.
The calls
however, have since seen Zanu-PF youths and war veterans going
into an
election mood, as they have started campaigning for the ageing
leader by
forcing villagers to attend meetings where they are being
threatened with
untold suffering should they vote for bitter rival
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Villagers told Radio VOP that the boring life of election
time has returned
in their district.
“Since the announcement by
Zanu pf that they would be election this year at
their congress last year,
war veterans and youths started coming to force us
to attend their meetings.
They are threatening to punish us if we do not
vote for Mugabe and Zanu-PF
,”said Trust Tsakelani of Sarauro village.
The villagers said the war
veterans and the youths said they had been sent
by the party leadership to
warn and threaten them so that the 2008 situation
that saw the thumbing of
Mugabe by Tsvangirai will not be repeated.
MDC secretary for
information in Mwenezi, Douglas Hlekani confirmed to Radio
VOP that the
youths and war veterans were threatening party supporters and
villagers.
“It’s true that war veterans and youths from Zanu-PF
have started forcing
our supporters and villagers here to their meetings.
They are moving door to
door and at times force march people to their
mini-rallies where they are
threatening a ravaging war if their President
Mugabe is beaten.
They are also telling them that soldiers would be on
stand by to deal with
them if they defy their threats,” said
Hlekani.
But Hlekani scoffed at the threats and said his party was
not aware of any
elections this year.
“I am shocked by their
behaviour how could they do that when we have even
not agreed on elections
this year. We are however telling our supporters and
the people of Zimbabwe
not to be intimidated by a dying party.
“I think they are crazy but we
are planning to engage our leadership to tell
Zanu-PF to stop intimidating
villagers,” he said.
But villagers also said that they have been told
to prepare for night
meetings popularly known as (Pungwes) in the district
as Zanu-PF take the
issue of elections this year
seriously.
Zanu-PF national deputy political commissar, Talent Majoni
could neither
confirm nor decline the issue.
“I will have to
comment on that later because I have to figure out something
before I say
anything, I will come back to you later,” he said before
hanging up his
mobile.
http://www.radiovop.com
Hurungwe, January 08, 2012-
Cracks are widening in Zanu PF after Hurungwe
district coordinating
committee (DCC) passed a resolution on Saturday that
Hurungwe East MP Sarah
Mahoka must face a discliplinary hearing for hosting
"an indiginisation
function" that had no blessings of local leadership ahead
of provincial
elections due in two weeks.
The meeting was held in Karoi at the weekend
and communicated its
resolutions to national political commissar Webster
Shamu whose wife
Constance Tsomondo faces Mahoka in the provincial women
chairperson
position.
"We passed a resolution that Mahoka must be
discliplined over her actions as
she is putting the party into disrepute.
We hope Provincial Coordinating
Committee will sit soon and consider
our
position to act against Mahoka" said an insider whom we can not name for
fear of victimisation.
Other sources claim Mahoka who is linked to
the Emmerson Mnangagwa faction
hosted another
indigenisation function at
Zebra Downs farm about 15 east of Karoi that
Youth Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere allegedly snubbed.
However, the controversial meeting was
attended by former provincial
chairman John Mafa, Walter Chidhakwa, Phillip
Chiyangwa and Patrick Zhuwawo.
Another source added that the Zebra Downs
meeting was done as a "private
function" but hijaked to be a party business
drumming up support for Mafa
and Chiyangwa.
" They had to spruce it
up with those linked to Mafa but local leadership
had not sanctioned it"
added a source who declined to be named.
At Zebra Downs, Chiyangwa was
among high table delegates eluded by party
protocol as he is an "ordinary
card carrying member" was introduced as
Affirmative Action Group
president.
He later donated $1400 for a chicken project as well as
umbrellas bearing
his face. "We are suspicious that the meeting is more like
the Tsholothso
Declaration that wanted to unseat President Robert Mugabe and
replace him
with Defence minister Mnangagwa.
“ This time, they are
plotting ahead of elections using unsanctioned
meetings. Local
Central
Commitee and DCC members were left out at Zebra Downs meeting and we
smell a
rat" added another source.
Shamu only said, "I can only
comment if PCC discuss resolutions passed to
them and the course of
action".
However Mahoka laughed off the allegations saying, "The party is
bigger than
individuals and we were making Government policy on
indigenisation familiar
to farmers".
Zanu PF is battling to close
emerging cracks where President Mugabe blocked
Chiyangwa’s candidature . Six
candidates are vying to take over from acting
chair Reuben Marumahoko.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer
Sunday, 08
January 2012 13:12
HARARE - Co-minister in the organ of national
healing Moses Mzila-Ndlovu has
dared police to arrest him for talking about
Gukurahundi, saying he is not
“intimidated by hopeless Zanu PF activists
masquerading” as law enforcement
agents.
Mzila-Ndlovu, from the
smaller coalition government partner, Ncube-led MDC,
said he was aware of a
plot to arrest him for talking about the 1980’s
massacre of civilians by the
military in the Matabeleland and Midlands
regions.
The Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) says at least 20 000
people,
including children and pregnant mothers, died in the massacres that
only
ended after then opposition leader, the late Joshua Nkomo agreed to
disband
his PF Zapu party to join President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF in
1987.
Police spokespersons were unavailable for comment on Mzila-Ndlovu’s
claims.
But the minister insisted he had uncovered a plot by police to
arrest him,
in what would be the latest in a string of moves to silence
debate on the
massacres, most commonly known as Gukurahundi.
An
“unsanctioned” meeting hosted by a Victoria Falls based human rights
organisation, Uluntu, last week has sparked the talk of Mzila Ndlovu’s
possible arrest.
Police are said to be planning to swoop on Uluntu
leader Dumile Mpofu and
Ndlovu for allegedly turning the public meeting into
a political gathering
by deceiving the law enforcement agents that he was
organising a public
meeting yet political topics featured on the
agenda.
“I challenge the police to arrest or detain me. I do not care
even if they
assault, torture or kill me. I am not intimidated by hopeless
Zanu PF
activists masquerading as police officers,” he told the Daily News
on
Sunday.
“I am not intimidated by such threats. In fact, I am not
going to run away
or chicken out. I will continue sleeping comfortably until
they come to
arrest me,” Ndlovu said.
State security agents have
previously stifled debate on Gukurahundi,
resulting in several politicians,
civil society workers, media personnel and
the clergy being detained for
raising the matter.
Last year, Bulawayo–based visual artist Owen Maseko
was incarcerated for
holding an art exhibition depicting the horrors of
Gukurahundi.
Maseko was charged under the harsh Public Order and Security
Act (Posa) for
“inciting violence, undermining President Robert Mugabe and
demeaning the
dominant Shona tribe”.
The exhibition, entitled
Sibathonthisele (the decade of horror) had the art
gallery walls in Bulawayo
painted red, a symbol of blood.
In one corner, the bloodied figure of
Nkomo, a founding father of the 1970’s
liberation war, bends to sign a peace
agreement. Nearby, two figures hang
upside down on an artistically
configured tree.
The illusion of blood is everywhere.
Police used
old newspapers to cover Maseko’s work, depriving visitors to the
exhibition
a chance to view illustrations, graffiti and paintings revealing
the
atrocities.
Mzila-Ndlovu himself has been arrested before for speaking
about
Gukurahundi.
Together with a Roman Catholic priest, Mzila
Ndlovu was arrested and
detained by police for holding a memorial service in
Lupane for victims of
the massacre last year.
According to a report
titled: Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe, published by the
(CCJP) and the Legal
Resources Foundation, a North Korean-trained military
brigade was equipped
with “unusually cruel skills where opposition leaders
were targeted for
property destruction, gang rape and mass murder in
attempts to quell the
dissidents in the Matabeleland region”.
Zanu PF appears to have no
remorse for the bloodbath with Mugabe refusing to
apologise for the
massacres.
He, however, described it as a “moment of madness” at Nkomo’s
burial in
1999.
During the 2010 Fifa world cup in South Africa,
Zimbabwe offered the North
Korean soccer team a camping base in Bulawayo,
the heartbeat city of
Matabeleland.
The plan crumbled after activists
expressed outrage and threatened to
disrupt the North Koreans.
A
decision last year to contract North Koreans to construct a memorial
statue
of Nkomo also drew outrage from activists and survivors of the
massacres,
again forcing government to abandon the plan.
But Zanu PF was not done
yet.
Recently, Zanu PF secretary for administration and Minister of State
in
Mugabe’s Office, Didymus Mutasa, said his party was mourning the loss of
a
“friend” in the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong il.
He said
Zanu PF was particularly grateful to Kim Jong il for helping train
Zimbabwean forces when he was commander in the North Korean army in the
early 1980s.
Mzila-Ndlovu said Mugabe and his loyalists’ attitude
towards Gukurahundi
made national healing difficult.
“Healing cannot
take place without dealing with the past atrocities and the
disharmonies
they caused,” Ndlovu said
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Bulawayo Correspondent
Sunday, 08
January 2012 14:34
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's government needs to urgently
create a stable
investment climate by amending the Indigenisation Act,
economist Eric Bloch
has said.
In an interview, Bloch told
Businessdaily that the country had the potential
to achieve the anticipated
economic growth, but said policy issues were some
of the stumbling blocks
militating against the country achieving its full
potential.
Bloch
said the indigenisation policy, which compels foreign-owned companies
operating in the country to transfer 51 percent of their ownership to black
Zimbabweans, was impeding investment.
Finance minister Tendai Biti
has projected a 9,4 percent economic growth
rate this year.
“For the
country to achieve real economic growth, we need to have
substantial foreign
direct investment. Currently, the banks do not have the
money to lend the
private sector. Most companies in the country are
under-capitalised and we
need to see money coming into the industry by way
of investments,” said
Bloch.
The economist said the conditions of the indigenisation and
empowerment
programme were the major obstacles in attracting the much-needed
foreign
investment.
“Almost every investor and financial institution
supports the principle of
indigenisation but not the situation where they
are going to be reduced to
be minority,” he said.
“Investors do not
want to put their capital, expertise and technology into a
company that they
have no control over. They end up investing elsewhere
where the conditions
are favourable,” said Bloch.
He said there was need for the law to be
substantially modified.
“We must not repeal it but modify it so that it
becomes constructive and
effective,” he said.
Bloch also said
economic growth would also depend on how the country is
going to conduct the
elections.
He reiterated that investors were holding on to their plans
until the
elections where held.
Although Finance minister Tendai Biti
said Zimbabwe’s economy is likely to
continue its strong recovery in 2012,
from a decade of decline, to grow by
9,4 percent, Bloch predicted that the
economy would perform much better
particularly in the first six to nine
months of the year.
“I actually think for the whole year the economy is
going to grow by about
11-12 percent above what that government had
focused.
“This because of the improvement in the agriculture, tourism and
mining
sectors,” said Bloch.
“We must anticipate economic growth in
the first six to nine months of the
year as a result of slight improvement
in agriculture subject to a better
climatic condition. A small growth will
also be expected from the
improvement performance in the mining and tourism
sector,” he said.
“However, that is going to be partially offset by the
contraction that is
being experienced by the manufacturing sector over the
last two years and
which is going on.
However, we expect the sector
to stabilise particularly in the clothing and
manufacturing sector following
the new regulation by the ministry of Finance
that is set to marginally
reduce unfair import competition,” he said.
He added that the economic
growth would not change the crisis that is
bedeviling the
country.
“We are working on a small economic base so the growth of
economy by 10
percent will be insignificant as it will not be able address
the problem of
over eight million people who are
poverty-stricken.
“The nine or 10 percent growth is also not going to
address the unemployment
challenge that the country is facing,” he said.
The Vigil was informed that a meeting
has been called in London next month to help elect a new UK Executive for the
Vigil’s sister organisation Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR). A
CIO-inspired attempt to subvert the organisation has prompted the Founder and
President of ROHR, Ephraim Tapa, to dissolve the Interim Executive.
Mr Tapa said malicious accusations of
corruption leveled at him had been comprehensively rebutted by the production of
all relevant financial records (see: http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/Latest-News-from-ROHR-in-the-UK/new-year-message-from-rohr-zimbabwe-founder-ephraim-tapa.html).
The London meeting will be held at
the Strand Continental Hotel, 143 Strand,
London WC2R 1JA at 1 pm
on 4th February. It will be followed at 6.30 pm by a forum of
supporters of the Vigil, ROHR and the recently-formed Zimbabwe We Can movement
to exchange views. (Members of the CIO will, as usual, be in attendance!) It is
planned that the three organisations will hold a regular joint forum on the
first Saturday of each month after the Vigil (see Events and Notices for more
details).
Other
points
·
As we held
our first Vigil of 2012, leaders of the ANC were gathering for celebrations in
Bloemfontein marking the organisation’s 100th anniversary. Sadly, we
feel unable to congratulate them as the ANC has betrayed those seeking freedom
in Zimbabwe and allied itself to repressive regimes around the world.
·
Talking
about repressive regimes. ZBN News have uploaded a video on youtube (see:
Weeping
North Koreans inspire Vigil Demonstrators to Show Grief for forthcoming Death of
Mugabe – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPJVC1NY0fM)
of Vigil
supporters ‘practising weeping hysterically for the forthcoming death of Mugabe’
as reported in our Christmas Eve diary (http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/355-dictatorial-grief-zimbabwe-vigil-diary-24th-december-2011).
·
Following
this week’s diary you will finds the first part of our annual summary of the
Vigil’s activities during the past year. The second half of last year will be
covered next week.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 56 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch other
Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Free Zimbabwe Global
Protest. Saturday
21st January from 2 – 6 pm. Venues: Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy and
outside the South African High Commission. The MDC UK is joining the Vigil to
target South Africa for failing to get Mugabe to honour the Global Political
Agreement. Protesters will move from the Zimbabwe Embassy to the South African
High Commission at 3 pm and try to present a petition to the South African High
Commission at 3.30 pm.
·
ROHR meeting to elect
its UK Executive. Saturday
4th February from 1 – 4 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel, 143
Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the same road as the Vigil.
From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the direction away from Trafalgar
Square. The Strand Continental is situated between Somerset House and the turn
off onto Waterloo Bridge. The entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a
sign for its famous Indian restaurant at street level. It's next to a
newsagent. Nearest underground: Temple (District and Circle lines) and
Holborn.
·
First Joint ZimVigil,
ROHR and Zimbabwe We Can Forum. Saturday
4th February from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel,
143 The Strand, WC2R 15A. For directions see above entry. Future joint forums to
be held after the Vigil on the first Saturday of each
month.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy
by post in the UK please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Vigil Highlights 2011
(Part 1)
Saturday
15th January: We had
to call for police help for only the second time in our eight years outside the
Embassy. This time it was a demented pro-Mugabe Caribbean shouting abuse. The
last time we had to call for police help was when Tsvangirai’s uncle Hebson
Makuvise, now Ambassador to Germany, tried to hijack the
Vigil.
Saturday
22nd January: Vigil
supporters were overjoyed by news that management team member Luka Phiri has
been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK. His face told everything: a
beaming smile. Luka has had a long struggle to get his papers, mostly because
he arrived in the UK on a Malawi passport.
Saturday
5th February: Today we were
visited by members of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group: Thamsanga Zhou, Lucia
Dube and Martin Chinyanga. Thamsanga stressed how important it was to attend
the Vigil and said that all Zimbabweans in the diaspora should work together for
an end to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and for free and fair
elections.
Saturday
12th February: As Egyptians
celebrated the triumph of people power, the Vigil marked the second anniversary
of Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU) with posters expressing our
disgust at how the agreement has rescued Zanu-PF and emasculated the MDC. We are
still bewildered why MDC leaders signed up to such a flawed document. ‘Two years
forward for GNU – two years backward for MDC’ read one of our posters. With the
quasi-legitimacy conferred by the GNU, Zanu-PF is making further inroads in the
UK. The Guardian newspaper reported recently that 32 suspected Zanu-PF war
criminals are believed to be in the UK.
Saturday
19th February: The mystery of
Mugabe’s whereabouts as his 87th birthday approached was solved when
he suddenly arrived at the Vigil to launch his planned two million person
petition against the illegal sanctions which as you all know have done so much
damage to our country by beating up innocent people, raping and starving them
etc and generally sanctioning them with the aim of illegal regime change. The
Commander-in-Chef and Head of Everything, Robert Mugabe (Dickson Munemo in our
Mugabe mask) emerged tottering on walking sticks from Rymans Stationers next to
the Vigil. He had apparently mistaken it for the optician’s shop on the other
side of the Embassy.
Saturday
26th February: The
illustrious leader, icon, beacon, legend and philanthropist with “telescopic
foresight” can’t keep away from the Vigil. Tearing his illustrious self away
from his adoring fans at his birthday celebrations, Mugabe (played by Dickson
Munemo) suddenly materialized outside the Embassy dressed in the robes of an
Arab sheik to show his solidarity with his Libyan friend Gaddafi, who is
apparently running short of power at the moment. Of reports that a plane stuffed
with gold was ready to take Gaddafi to Harare, the beacon and philanthropist
said the great Libyan philosopher and prophet only wanted to visit his Ethiopian
brother Mengistu Haile Mariam, who has been sheltering in Zimbabwe for many
years, to discuss how ungrateful people are to their despots.
Tuesday
1st March: President
Mugabe was strung up from a tree outside the Embassy at a Vigil in support of
an attempt to stage an anti-Mugabe demonstration in Harare. We were joined by a
Reuters news team, apart from other journalists, and passers-by stopped to take
photos with their mobile phones. Bus drivers hooted in solidarity as Terence
Mafuva in our Mugabe mask and a white shroud dangled from the branch of a maple
tree (discreetly supported by a small stool). The
Vigil was pleased to get a message of encouragement from Passop, the Zimbabwe
support group in South Africa, who were holding a solidarity demonstration
outside Parliament in Cape Town.
Monday
21st March: Zimbabwean
exiles in the UK and supporters demonstrated outside the Zimbabwean Embassy and
the South African High Commission in London in protest at the growing violence
as Mugabe’s Zanu PF prepares for new elections. Amid drumming and singing, over
a hundred demonstrators outside South Africa House carried banners reading ‘Zuma
where is our road map?’, ‘Blood on Zuma’s hands’, Mugdafi stop selective justice
now’, ‘Zuma publish election dossier now’, ‘AU act now’, ‘Zanu PF game is up’,
‘Mugabe stop torture, false arrests’, ‘Bloody SADC where are you? – wake up’,
‘Chihuru, Chiwenga, Shiri – Hague is waiting’, ‘Bloody Zuma – ungunthakathi’ and
‘No violence in Zim? Ask Gwisai’. A deputation was sent to the Home Office to
deliver a petition protesting at new moves to send home failed Zimbabwe asylum
seekers.
Saturday
2nd April: The Vigil
celebrated the imminent ousting of another illegal president – Laurent Gbagbo of
Ivory Coast – whose clinging to power after losing the election last November
has cost countless lives. As Ouattara's forces closed in on Gbagbo in Abidjan,
Vigil supporters played the West African drama out in front of the Zimbabwe
Embassy. Fungayi Mabhunu, wearing our Mugabe mask, welcomed his Ivorian friend
with the poster ‘Zimbabwe – world of wonders: Mugabe, Mariam, Gbagbo? Gaddafi?’
Gbagbo (played by Stanford Munetsi) bore on his back the poster ‘G’bye G’bye
G’bagbo’. Trailing behind the former Ivorian President was another Mugabe ally –
Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi – played by Paul Mathema in Arab robes. The Zim Vigil
band (Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit
website: www.imusicafrica.com.
Saturday
9th April: Vigil
supporters were encouraged by indications of a change of attitude to Mugabe by
SADC leaders meeting in Zambia. Have they been given the jitters by what is
happening in North and West? Mugabe’s arrival by ‘golf cart’ at the Livingstone
meeting with a huge entourage of 60 (including a large medical team) clearly
exposed both his increasing frailty and the big-man arrogance of Zanu PF. (Zuma
was accompanied by only 12 people.) Thanks to Fungayi Mabhunu for playing the
role of Mugabe arriving at the Vigil on a municipal bicycle propped up by
Godfrey Madzunga and Ronald Nxumalo.
Saturday
16th April: Vigil
supporters are disappointed that Mugabe’s Ambassador to London has been invited
to the Royal Wedding on 29th April. But the presence of Ambassador
Machinga might be entertaining as he goes around Westminster Abbey soliciting
signatures supporting the 2 million person anti-sanctions petition. Zim Vigil
regular, Swazi national Thobile Gwebu took a stronger line when she heard that
King Mswati of Swaziland would be present at the wedding, travelling to London
with an entourage of no less than fifty to stay at the super expensive
Dorchester hotel. Thobile, who launched a Vigil outside the Swaziland High
Commission in London modeled on our own protest, was able to reach a large
audience by being interviewed on the BBC TV Newsnight programme which looked at
the brutal repression of the recent unrest in Mbabane.
Monday
18th April: Some
150 people gathered outside the Zimbabwe Embassy to protest on Zimbabwe’s
Independence Day against increasing Mugabe violence. Vigil founder member
Ephraim Tapa summed up our mood on the 31st anniversary of
independence: ‘we have nothing to celebrate’, he said. An anniversary card was
delivered to the Zimbabwe Embassy calling for an
immediate end to the violence, free and fair elections and justice for the
people of Zimbabwe.
Wednesday
20th April: Following
comments in the Vigil diary on 16th April, the London Evening
Standard took up the matter of the invitation to the Zimbabwean Ambassador to
attend the Royal Wedding. After some research the newspaper concluded that the
UK would be justified in withdrawing the invitation so the Vigil sent the
following letter to the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague. ‘Exiled
Zimbabweans in the UK represented by the Zimbabwe Vigil wish to express their
disappointment that the Zimbabwe Ambassador Gabriel Machinga, has been invited
to attend the Royal Wedding. President Mugabe and his corrupt coterie have
rightly been placed under EU sanctions for their human rights abuses and Mr
Machinga has always made it clear that he represents Mugabe and not the people
of Zimbabwe or even their coalition government . .
Tuesday
26th April: ZimVigil
supporters had to search Mayfair when Swazi despot Mswati and his entourage of
50 failed to turn up at London’s deluxe Dorchester Hotel to stay for the Royal
Wedding. About 80 demonstrators had gathered outside the hotel to support the
Swaziland Vigil which had arranged a picket of protest against Mswati’s
oppressive rule – only to find that the Swazi freeloaders had gone to the nearby
Four Seasons Hotel. Mswati had obviously got the message as members of his
entourage at the Four Seasons were overheard talking about our demonstration
which had attracted much media attention with protesters carrying posters such
as ‘Swazi King parties while country starves’ and ‘Royal Wedding guests are
human rights abusers’.
Saturday
30th April: Vigil
supporters ended another busy week by picketing the farewell reception given by
Swazi King Mswati. Guests appeared uncomfortable when they saw the protest. The
Swaziland High Commissioner Dumsile T Sukati jumped out of her car and hurried
into the building. Despite the failure of our appeals to the British government
to withdraw the invitations to the Royal Wedding extended to Mswati and the
Zimbabwe Ambassador Gabriel Machinga, we were compensated by the widespread
publicity for our joint human rights cause. The Foreign Office said in a letter
to the Vigil ‘Thank you for your letter of 20th April 2011 about the
invite of the Zimbabwe Ambassador Gabriel Machinga to the Royal Wedding.
Representatives from all countries that the UK has working relationships with
have been invited to the Royal Wedding . . .’
Saturday
14th May: The demand for
change is steadily moving down Africa judging from the reception given to Mugabe
and other African leaders attending the installation for another term of Ugandan
perpetual President Museveni. Their motorcade was assailed by stone-throwing
protesters shouting ‘Go to hell dictators’ and ‘You dictators: we are tired of
you’. These messages were reflected in posters displayed by Vigil supporters.
The traditional English dancers the Morris Men made their annual visit to us and
gave us a good show. Vigil management team member Fungayi Mabhunu drew a laugh
from them when he said ‘it was good to see Englishmen dancing like Zimbabweans’.
Friday
20th May: Zimbabwe Vigil dancers performed at a Community Event for Adult
Learners’ Week at City and Islington College in North London. Thanks to Dumi
Tutani, Farai Marema, Wendy Ziyambi, Edna Mdoka and Moses Kandiyawo for a lively
and much appreciated performance that helped to spread the awareness of
Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses.
Saturday
21st May: To help focus
the minds of SADC leaders the Vigil has been pushing the British government to
suspend aid to countries supporting Mugabe. Britain is one of the very few
countries – if not the only one – to honour the Gleneagles Agreement of 2005
under which the world’s richest countries committed themselves to giving 0.7% of
their national income in foreign aid. In Britain’s case this will amount this
year to £8.1 billion (rising to £11.5 billion in 2014 /15). All this is at a
time of stringent budget cuts at home. Here is a letter the Vigil has sent to
the Defence Secretary, Dr Fox. who wants a more nuanced approach to how British
government aid is allocated. ‘The Zimbabwe Vigil notes with interest your
recent comments and fully supports demands for a more flexible approach to the
UK’s overseas aid . . . Of particular interest to us is budgetary aid given to
member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), amounting
to many hundreds of millions of pounds a year. SADC has betrayed the people of
Zimbabwe by pandering to the odious Mugabe regime for the past decade . . .
Take, for instance, the notoriously corrupt regime in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, which will feature among the top 10 recipients of UK spending in direct
aid for 2012 / 2013 at £165 million. Or take Malawi, which although this year is
receiving £90 million of British budgetary aid, has recently expelled the
British High Commissioner for criticising President Mutharika for being
intolerant of criticism. Mutharika has made no secret of his admiration for
Mugabe, naming a new highway after his idol, who in turn has given the Malawian
leader a stolen farm.’
Saturday
4th June: One of
Britain’s best-known poets Benjamin Zephaniah joined us at the Vigil and
condemned Mugabe and his betrayal of Africa. Zephaniah, born and brought up in
the UK of West Indian parents, spoke to us of his disillusionment with Mugabe.
He said ‘I am friends with Mandela. I have only seen him angry once and that was
about Mugabe when he spoke about failure of leadership in Africa.’ (The Vigil
remembers the occasion well because Mandela’s comment followed a campaign by the
Vigil and others to urge him to reject Mugabe when he visited London to
celebrate his 90th birthday.) The Vigil welcomes Zephaniah’s support
particularly highly because we have had such difficulty getting our message over
to our Caribbean brothers. It has been difficult to convince them that Mugabe
the liberator has turned into Mugabe the monster. It was great to have Vigil
team member Patson Muzuwa with us again with a party from Leicester. He was most
appreciative of the support Vigil members gave him on the recent death of his
mother. But we were alarmed to hear that her funeral was invaded by two
truckloads of Zanu PF who disrupted the proceedings. We understand this was a
direct result of Patson’s involvement with the Vigil.
Saturday
11th June: Vigil founder
member Ephraim Tapa has been elected President of the new Zimbabwe ‘Yes we Can’
Movement. Ephraim is also President of our partner organisation Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe.
Saturday
25th June: Few
Zimbabweans have much respect for the UK Home Office . . . What prompts this
comment is a letter from a Home Office official to a lawyer acting for one of
our supporters who is seeking political asylum. The official said this about a
letter from the Vigil supporting the asylum claim: ‘Objective evidence from www.nehandaradio.com
raised public awareness that the Zimbabwe vigil was exploiting asylum seekers in
the UK and would on the payment of a fee issue a letter to state attendance at
the vigil. Therefore, no weight is attached to the production of this letter’.
Our
supporter’s lawyer asked for our comment on this ‘objective evidence’. Here is
the response of one of our Vigil Co-ordinators. ‘I
attach a doc with the history of why Nehanda Radio wrote the article
decampaigning the Vigil. As you will see on 20th June 2009 Morgan Tsvangirai
addressed the Zimbabwean diaspora in the UK and was booed off. The Vigil was
accused of orchestrating this and we wrote this riposte in our diary of 27th
June "But Vigil supporters were too fired up about another matter – the silly
allegations on some loud-mouthed Zimbabwean exile websites that the Vigil and
ROHR were behind the booing of Morgan Tsvangirai when he spoke to the UK
diaspora in Southwark Cathedral last week. Anyone looking at videos of the
occasion will see that the angry response was prompted by Mr Tsvangirai’s
remarks and was spontaneous and could not possibly have been planned." You will
see that we also outline our policy on asylum letters in this particular diary -
and our policy is still the same now. Nehanda Radio's article of 30th June 'ROHR
& ZimVigil exploiting asylum seekers' is in retaliation for this. Even
though we didn't mention them by name they recognised themselves. We are not an
organisation set up to help asylum seekers: we campaign against human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe and all we can write about asylum claims by our supporters is
their visibility as activists because they attend our protests – the more they
come the more visible they are. We are entirely self-funding: the charge of £10
for our letters is for admin costs to cover paper, envelopes, print cartridges,
phone calls, postage etc. Anyone who works for the Vigil does so voluntarily -
nobody is paid. For people who are good attenders the admin fee for letters is
not charged.’ For
our policy on administrative costs for letters, check: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/171-zimbabwe-vigil-diary-27th-june-2009.
Sunday
26th June: The London
chapel of John Wesley – one of the founders of the Methodist Church – resounded
to the sound of drums and African singing and dancing as exiled Zimbabweans and
supporters gathered to mark the UN international day in support of victims of
torture. The Vigil supplied the choir and drummers, who were energized by
management team member, Patson Muzuwa, himself a survivor of torture. Our host
at the Methodist world’s ’cathedral’ was the Reverend Jennifer Potter who is
Methodist ‘companion’ for Zimbabwe, visiting there every year. Jennifer prayed
for a new dawn in Zimbabwe and reached out to Anglican friends in Zimbabwe who,
she said, seemed to be particularly persecuted. The service was addressed by two
visitors from Zimbabwe: Irene Petras, Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights and Kudakwashe Chitsike of the Research and Advocacy Unit (Zimbabwe).
Monday
27th June: Vigil
supporters provided the backbone for a protest by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) against violence in Zimbabwe. The
Embassy refused to accept 1,300 cards ACTSA had collected calling for an end to
the violence. The Embassy (as usual!) was closed so we stuck one of the cards
under the door signed ‘Zimbabwe Vigil’ and listing our address as ‘outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy’.
(Part 2, covering the last half of 2011, will be published next
week.)
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
Dear Family and Friends,
Finding a wild Flame Lily to welcome the New Year
was a difficult task
this year. Normally they are all over the bush by late
December,
glorious flashes of crimson in knee-high, lush green grass. This
year,
after a decade of completely out of control, illegal cultivation,
the
search was a difficult one. All my usual peri-urban haunts
yielded
nothing. Stretches of open grassland, between rocky outcrops, in
old
quarries, the edge of vleis and in the scrub near streambanks –
all
have been dug up and planted with maize, sweet potatoes, nuts,
beans
and sugar cane. In the process of searching I became reacquainted
with
the striking blue of the Woodland Kingfisher with its enormous
red
beak, the bright yellows and reds of Masked Weavers and Red
Bishop
Birds and the raucous, scolding, chattering of a Redbilled
Francolin.
At last I came upon a Flame Lily. Deep crimson, ablaze with
fiery
yellow at the base of the flower, fading into a delicate,
yellow
outline along the wavy edge of the petals. What a sight to
welcome
2012.
The madness wasn’t far behind. Hardly had we drawn the
first breath
of the New Year into our lungs than the absurdities of the
never
ending struggle for political power engulfed our lives
again.
First came the news that the country’s leading timber
producer,
Border Timbers is facing closure. 2,500 hectares of prime
timber
plantations in Chimanimani have been invaded by people
from
surrounding areas. An Estate Manager said the invasions were
being
co-ordinated by politicians and that people were simply walking
into
the plantations and “parcelling themselves pieces of land.”
The
invaders were cutting down the trees and planting little squares
of
maize and rapoko. The impact of cropping on mountainous
plantations,
with their fragile, porous soils is devastating. The Estate
Manager
said that repeated appeals for intervention to the
government’s
Environmental Management Agency had yielded nothing. A
councillor for
the Chimanimani area said he had moved a motion in Council for
the
invaders to be evicted from the timber plantations but this had
failed
because: “our colleagues from Zanu (PF) are against the
idea.”
Next came the unbelievable news that the Minister of Transport
had
issued a circular ordering Air Zimbabwe to stop flying to
South
Africa, obviously to try and stop the planes from being seized
by
creditors. The suspension of flights followed the Christmas from
hell
for both Air Zim and their passengers after a plane was impounded
in
the UK over unpaid debts and passengers were left stranded at
Gatwick
airport for over a week. The CEO of Air Zimbabwe said that now
the
national airline was waiting for government to pay their debts
for
them. (Again)
Then came the most despicable news of the week.
Eighty Anglican
Clergymen who had gathered for a week long prayer retreat
at
Peterhouse School in Marondera, were ordered to leave by the
police.
Told they needed police permission to meet at the private school,
the
Clergymen refused to leave saying they weren’t breaking any laws.
The
next day the police were back. The spokesman for the Harare Bishop
said:
“This morning police returned with re-enforcements and
threatened to arrest
men of God, including the Bishops, if they did
not leave immediately.” First
they lost their churches, then their
church assets, then the people they were
helping were evicted from
church orphanages and homes and now it seems these
Anglicans may not
even meet on private property to pray together.
More
madness followed: war veterans demanding parliament be closed,
teachers
threatening to strike, the constitutional process on the
verge of collapse
and then the jamming of Short Wave Radio Africa’s
broadcast on the 4th of
January. Oh poor Zimbabwe, when will it ever
end. How we long for a normal
life again. Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy 7th January 2012.
Copyright � Cathy Buckle.
www.cathybuckle.com
