Zim Standard
By
Foster Dongozi
THERE are plans to appoint senior military
officers to Zanu PF's
top decision-making body, the Politburo The Standard
can reveal.
President Robert Mugabe appears intent on forging
ahead with
plans to militarise all state institutions ahead of his
retirement.
The militarisation of the ruling party will also
see its Central
Committee having a large representation of retired army
officers.
Mugabe, according to sources close to him, is in
favour of a
heavily militarised post-Mugabe era.
The
military is gradually assuming a significant role in the
running of the
country, with serving and retired soldiers serving on boards
of parastatals,
including sports.
Zanu PF sources said Mugabe believes a
heavily militarised
government that would take over from him would not try
him for any rights
violations carried out under his
administration.
Retired Zambian president, Frederick Chiluba,
and former
Malawian president, Bakili Muluzi, faced a torrid time after
being hounded
by their hand-picked successors, prompting serving presidents
- Mugabe among
them - to review their initial retirement
plans.
A Politburo member told The Standard: "There is a lot
of
uncertainty among civilian members of the Politburo and Central Committee
because there are plans to flood them with retired
soldiers."
Another member of the Politburo said: "We are not
sure yet how
it will be implemented or when but the plans are already at an
advanced
stage."
Sources within Zanu PF said the
militarisation of all public
institutions would also serve as an advantage
for presidential aspirant,
Joice Mujuru, as most retired soldiers were
likely to be loyal to her
husband, Retired General Solomon
Mujuru.
Politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa, who is also a
former military
man, would not confirm if he was aware of plans to introduce
more of his
peers from the trenches into the Zanu PF
Politburo.
He said: "Unfortunately I can not be the source of
your
information."
Nathan Shamuyarira, the party's
spokesperson was not immediately
available for comment.
However, sources told The Standard the militarisation of Zanu PF
went a
notch up at Tuesday's Politburo meeting, receiving a presentation
from
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi on how the government plans to
transform
war veterans into a reserve force.
"The current war veterans'
association structure will be
disbanded and the new organisation will be
assimilated into the military,
receiving salaries and allowances. In other
words, they will not have the
independence that Jabulani Sibanda and
Chenjerai Hunzvi displayed," said a
source.
The war
veterans, according to Zanu PF's plans, will also play a
dual role of
cordoning off rural areas from the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change.
Former guerrilla commanders, Dabengwa, Solomon Mujuru
and
Vitalis Zvinavashe were tasked by Mugabe to reorganise the war veterans
association in 2004.
Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - The ruling Zanu PF has seized a
vehicle allocated to
Jabulani Sibanda, the former party provincial
chairperson and leader of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA), The Standard
has learnt.
Sibanda,
however, insists the seizure was illegal as the vehicle
was a property of
the war veterans and not the ruling party.
The Standard
learnt that the vehicle, a Nissan Hardbody
twin-cab, was forcibly taken from
Sibanda at his Nkulumane residence on 26
May by war veterans, allegedly sent
by some top ruling party officials.
Sibanda, on Friday
confirmed that war veterans seized the
vehicle he had been using. The former
Zanu PF provincial chairperson said
the seizure of the vehicle was part of
efforts to frustrate him.
He said: "When I went to the armed
struggle, I walked all along
with fellow fighters. There were no cars then.
We fought against a system
and government that had cars . ideas always
overpower weaponry.
"In fact, the vehicle was illegally
taken. It is a war veteran's
association car, not a party car. We are aware
as war veterans of what is
happening."
Efforts to obtain
a comment from Zanu PF's spokesperson, Nathan
Shamuyarira, were fruitless
yesterday.
Zimbabwe Liberators' Peace Initiative (ZLPI)
President, Max
Mnkandla, condemned the seizure of the
vehicle.
"As war veterans, we strongly condemn that move as
he was only
expelled from the party and not the association. The car also
belonged to
the association (of war veterans)," he said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
STATE security agents
continue to use torture to punish
government critics, The Standard has
established.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said this
when it unveiled
its April 2006 Political Violence Report which shows that
Zimbabweans are
still being subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment at
the hands of
security agents.
The purpose of the monthly
reports is to record the nature of
the politically motivated violence and
intimidation that continues to
prevail in the country.
These reports are primarily based on victims' accounts,
accompanied by
medical evidence where possible, and obtained from member
organisations of
the Human Rights Forum and other partner organisations.
"The
month of April saw torture being sustained," the latest
report says. "On 14
April, Nixon Nyikadzino, an NCA (National Constitutional
Assembly) activist
was tortured by Military Intelligence agents. The Human
Rights Forum
deplores the torture of Nyikadzino and urges the Government to
bring to book
perpetrators of this shameful and unlawful act.
"The Forum
further urges the Government to comply with
international norms on torture,
inhuman and degrading treatment and
punishment as stipulated in the
Convention Against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CAT)."
The report added that 11 NCA
demonstrators were allegedly
tortured for demonstrating peacefully in
support of a new constitution for
the country.
"The
Human Rights Forum urges the Government to respect the
rights of people to
freedom of assembly, expression and association as
enshrined in the
Constitution and international instruments to which
Zimbabwe is a
party."
The Human Rights Forum also expressed concern at
reports of
intra-party political violence between the two MDC factions, the
Arthur
Mutambara-led and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led factions. "This
violence,
coupled with repression from the Government, has led to a
situation where
Zimbabweans believe it is a crime to participate in the
politics of the
country, a right which is protected by the Constitution, the
African Charter
on Human and Peoples' Rights and other international
instruments."
Zim Standard
By
our correspondent
CHINHOYI - Mashonaland West farmers have
criticised the
State-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for failing to pay them
on time for
their maize deliveries.
The farmers said they
were promised cash payments each time they
made deliveries to the GMB but
were surprised that the parastatal always
told them to collect payments at a
later date.
Farmer Ennet Mandaza said she delivered 10 bags
of maize to the
GMB depot in Chinhoyi and was not paid soon after the
delivery. "I was told
to return a week later because they didn't have the
cash. The move greatly
inconvenienced me since I desperately needed the
money," Mandaza said.
The move also means she will spend more
money on bus fare to and
from the GMB depot.
Another
farmer, Norman Jaricha, said it was very expensive to
transport the maize to
the GMB depots and it was only fair that they are
paid on
time.
The farmers said they would rather resort to
side-marketing
because payment was prompt and very competitive. The
government recently
increased the producer price of maize to $31 million a
tonne.
Retired Colonel Samuel Muvuti, the acting chief
executive
officer of the GMB, was not immediately available for
comment.
However, the Minister of Agriculture, Joseph Made,
answering
questions in Parliament maintained the GMB had enough resources to
pay for
the grain it receives.
Made also said the GMB
should establish permanent structures in
the rural areas in order to ensure
it can collect and distribute grain
effectively.
Meanwhile the vice president of the Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU), Trevor
Gifford, has reported fresh attempts to take over farms in
some parts of the
country.
He said there have been problems in Chiredzi,
Mutare, Karoi and
Chinhoyi but they were trying to engage the government to
put an end to the
problems.
In Chinhoyi, Murray Pott, a
commercial farmer is battling to
keep his Hilltop farm.
"There have been some problems at his (Pott's) farm and I hope
he will get
through it," Gifford said. "We are talking with all stakeholders
to try and
put an end to all these problems. I am also very optimistic we
will be able
to resolve all these problems," he said.
Pott is reportedly
a beneficiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's
Productive Sector Facility
(PSF) and was hoping this would help him retain
his farm.
The CFU said a group of people went to his farm last Wednesday
trying to
evict him.
As disturbances into the farms continued, a report
by the
Agricultural Co-ordination Working Group said there were three
dimensions to
the crisis in Zimbabwe.
"Firstly, the
continuing economic decline to which the impact of
the land reform programme
is an important factor, secondly, a severe food
crisis aggravated by the
drought of 2002/03 and finally, the impact of HIV
prevalence, which is
compounded by the depletion of health services and
insufficient
international assistance."
Zim Standard
BY Terry Mutsvanga
IN clear violation of
a court order, workers for Deputy Minister
for Information and Publicity,
Bright Matonga, last week barred a Messenger
of Court from attaching farm
equipment looted from Chigwell Estate.
Sources said the
workers who wielded iron bars threatened to
assault a team from the Chegutu
messenger of court, which had come to
repossess the equipment left behind by
the former owner, Tom Beattie.
This was the second time the
team had gone to collect the
remaining farm equipment. "The first trip was
successful as some equipment
was recovered from the farm. However, chaos
erupted when the messengers
returned to take the remaining irrigation
equipment," said one source.
The situation at the farm is
reportedly very tense as the deputy
minister's workers are determined to
hold on to the equipment, said the
sources.
One member of
the team from the messenger of court said they
tried to defend themselves
but failed after the workers outnumbered them.
Chegutu Messenger of Court, B
Kanyangarara, was reluctant to discuss the
issue.
However, Beattie confirmed to The Standard that he was
struggling to get
back farm equipment worth billions of dollars.
"We went to
(Chegutu) court seeking an order to allow us to get
the equipment back. That
order was granted on 18 May. Since then, we have
only managed to repossess
two tractors," Beattie said.
He said the remaining equipment
includes 1 400 irrigation pipes,
welding machines and assorted workshop
equipment.
Matonga could not comment on the reports. He switched
off his
mobile phone the moment he was informed the caller was a journalist
from The
Standard.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
MASVINGO - Hungry Zanu PF supporters who
attended the
commissioning of four classroom blocks built by the Swedish
Embassy stunned
people when they exchanged blows over food at Mamutse
Primary School in
Bikita East recently.
In a stampede,
the supporters, clad in their party T-shirts,
rushed for food after they
were barred from joining the guest of honour,
Swedish Ambassador, Sten
Rylander, for lunch.
The youths, who were told to have their
lunch in another
classroom by a school official only identified as Mlambo
refused, arguing
that as Zanu PF supporters they were supposed to lunch with
the VIPs.
However, pandemonium broke out after a female Zanu
PF youth
supporter labelled the school official an MDC supporter who wanted
to eat
alone with his "white masters (the ambassador and his
team)".
The intervention of the police saved the day as the
Zanu PF
supporters exchanged blows with other youths who sought to restrain
them
from disrupting the VIPs during their lunch.
Before
the fighting over food began, the Swedish Embassy
commissioned four
classroom blocks and handed over books and furniture worth
more than US$ 250
000 to rural schools.
Zim Standard
By Vusumuzi Sifile
VILLAGERS in the ruling Zanu PF stronghold
of Uzumba
Maramba-Pfungwe in Mashonaland East Province, last week
unexpectedly
appealed to the British government to assist them in the
construction of a
secondary school in the area.
The call
was made during commissioning of a classroom block at
Guyu Primary School in
Pfungwe.
Delta Corporation supplied construction material,
while the
British Embassy in Harare provided furniture worth Z$1.2
billion.
A choir comprising members of the ruling party's
District
Coordinating Committee and Provincial Women's League, took to the
stage
singing: maBritish we tirikuda secondary. Chichemo chedu tirikuda
secondary
(British, we need a secondary school) before switching to an
improvised
version of the Rambai makashinga jingle: MaBritish we Rambai
makashinga ve
Delta we Rambai makashinga.
Chanting the
ruling party's slogan, a member of the ruling party's
provincial women's
league executive said: "Pamberi neZanu PF, Pamberi nava
Mugabe Pamberi neve
Delta then went on: Pamberi nema British."
MP for UMP, who
is also deputy Minister of Small and Medium
Enterprises, Kenneth
Mutiwekuziva, reiterated the need for Zimbabwe to
improve relations with its
former colonial master in solving the current
economic
crisis.
"Ukama pakati pedu nema British hwagara huriko. (Our
relations
with the British have always been there) Our relations date back
to 1890
when they came to our country. There is no way we can destroy that
relationship, we are connected in many ways.
"Thank you
for cementing this relationship. Tiri kuti mabridge
ngaavakwe,(Bridges must
be built)," said Mutiwekuziva, who is also the
ruling party's provincial
secretary for Information and Publicity in
Mashonaland
East.
He added: "MaBritish awa tine ukama nawo munyaya
dzedzidzo,
nedze upfumi. (Our relations with the British are in fields of
education and
wealth creation). We are related even in religious matters,
since we are
all Christians."
Gillian Dare, the first
secretary for Press and Political
Affairs at the British Embassy in Harare,
reiterated her government's
commitment to support Zimbabwe. She stressed the
need to ignore political
affiliation when implementing projects that help
communities.
She said: "In reaching judgements on which
projects to support,
the one factor that we do not consider is politics. We
judge projects
irrespective of the political orientation of the communities
and
organisations from which they come, she said.
She
added that the "... new commitment is a major demonstration
of the
continuing determination of the British government to support the
people of
Zimbabwe, particularly the most vulnerable."
Through its
Small Grants Scheme, the British Embassy has
provided Z$55 billion (about
US$543 505) to support community projects. Two
months ago, the British
government through its Department for International
Development (DFID)
announced it would avail 22 million British pounds to
cater for orphans and
vulnerable children in Zimbabwe.
The British government also
provides more than 30 million
pounds, which is spent through the United
Nations and other humanitarian
organisations.
...but
Zimbabwe, UK relations remain frosty
By OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain are
likely to
remain strained as President Robert Mugabe has not shown any
commitment to
normalise relations, a top official of a key Western country
has said.
The official who preferred not to be identified for
diplomatic
reasons told The Standard that relations between the government
and the
West, Britain in particular, would remain as they are for some
time.
The diplomat said despite calls on Mugabe to change his
policies
that have damaged the economy, the Zimbabwean leader was pursuing
the same
policies.
"We have not seen any change in
policies so far to address the
crises Zimbabwe is facing," the diplomat
said.
"The problems and issues of Zimbabwe have to be solved
first.
The government has a choice on how to govern this country and, based
on
international assessments, the way the government has chosen to govern
this
country has effectively destroyed the economy and closed the democratic
space."
Turning to the proposed visit by United Nations
Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, the diplomat said: "He (Annan) must decide
where the basis of his visit is as there is little chance (at present) for
him to succeed."
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY MUTIMBA
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe last week pleaded for dialogue with
church leaders who are critical
of his administration.
Mugabe has come under intense
criticism from some church leaders
for refusing to step down at a time when
the country's political and
economic situation continues to
worsen.
One of the leaders, Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of
Bulawayo,
has made it clear how he wishes nature could take its course with
Mugabe who
has remained in power since 1980.
The veteran
politician, who is accused of running down a once
prosperous country,
however enjoys the support of other church leaders who
endorsed his
leadership two weeks ago. These leaders are engaged in attempts
to bring
Mugabe and the European Union to the negotiating table.
Speaking at the 75th anniversary celebrations at the Catholic
church-run
Silveira Mission in Bikita at the weekend, Mugabe pleaded with
religious
leaders to engage in a dialogue in order to settle the stalemate
between the
government and their institutions.
Mugabe expressed concern
over widening criticism from church
leaders who feel his rule is responsible
for the crisis facing the country.
He added that mounting
criticism from the church leaders was not
justified as his party had enjoyed
a good working relationship with
missionaries during the liberation
struggle.
Mugabe also asked the church to support the
government's widely
condemned "Operation Murambatsvina" that left nearly one
million people
homeless, saying religious leaders should work with the
government in
removing "dirty and illegal" structures in urban
areas.
He however admitted that political violence sometimes
characterised elections and said churches should not criticise the ruling
party.
"Some churches always rush to criticise the ruling
party when
there is violence during elections. It is sometimes normal for
youths to
beat each other at such times," Mugabe said.
Mugabe said his government had failed to pay teachers and health
personnel
decent salaries because the country had been losing large sums of
money
importing food for the people over the past two years.
"Doctors and nurses in the rural and urban areas should receive
the same
salaries. Government will look into their plight to improve the
health
sector that has been facing many challenges. This time they will be
solved
as we had been spending a lot of money importing food during the last
two
years," he said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
THE General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union
of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) has threatened to spearhead protests against low wages
and
worsening conditions on the farms.
The development
comes at a time when the main labour union, the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) warned it would organise crippling
strikes to press for higher
wages.
GAPWUZ secretary general Getrude Hambira told The
Standard that
farm workers were the least paid in the country and their
working conditions
continued to deteriorate.
Hambira
said: "We will be calling for a job action if the wages
are not reviewed
because we cannot take this anymore."
Farm workers earn
between $1,3 million and $2,2 million a month.
New farmers
allocated land under Zimbabwe's controversial land
reform program-me employ
the majority of the poorly paid workers.
GAPWUZ has been
negotiating for a basic salary of $10 million a
month but employers have
indicated they are only prepared to pay around $1,6
million.
A family of six requires nearly $50 million a
month to survive.
Zim Standard
By our staff
THE Parliamentary
Committee on health and child welfare says
some of the country's nurse
training institutions are operating below
standards due to inadequate
funding.
The 10-member team of legislators, led by
chairperson and MP for
Kwekwe, Blessing Chebundo, recently visited Nyadire,
Bonda, All Souls
Mission hospitals and Marondera government hospital to
establish the state
of the country's training
institutions.
The committee does not mince its words and says
the situation at
the training institutions is dire and it recommends
government intervention
as a matter of urgency.
Nurse
training institutions in Zimbabwe are currently offering
two courses which
are Primary Care Nurse (PCN) and the Registered General
Nurse (RGN). The PCN
course is a one and half year crash programme recently
introduced by
government as one of the measures to deal with brain drain in
the health
sector. The RGN course runs for three years.
According to the
committee, inadequate financial resources are
affecting the running of
training institutions as all the training
institutions do not have separate
budgets from the main hospitals.
The committee noted that
Nyadire Hospital in Mashonaland East
province receives $128 million a month
from the government when it requires
$600-700 million in order to meet all
its needs. The hospital has been
fortunate enough to receive donations which
they used to supplement this
meagre allocation. The committee also noted
that institutions such as Bonda
in Manicaland and All Souls in Mashonaland
Central have also been saved by
donations from well wishers and
donors.
The committee noted: "Your Committee was impressed by
the fact
that despite the economic hardships, there is some effort towards
maintaining the health delivery system by individual
institutions.
"The hospitals are using the Health Services
Funds (HSF) or
donations to make improvements on their institutions.
Nyadire Hospital was
able to partition one of the dormitories for students
from donations.
Marondera Hospital used the HSF to erect a
durawall."
Another problem the committee noted in its report
is the late
disbursements of money allocated to hospitals by
government.
Marondera Hospital in Mashonaland West is yet to
receive the $12
billion it was allocated last year in the 2006 budget for
the completion of
a maternity wing whose construction began 10 years ago.
At the time of the
committee's visit the institution had not yet received
the money.
On student's welfare the committee reports that
training
materials were inadequate for the students.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - THE British government has come to the
rescue of a
Bulawayo based terminally ill HIV and Aids patients' home,
Thembelihle House
that has been facing water shortages since last
year.
Due to lack of clean water, Thembelihle House in
Mpopoma
suspended its gardening activities, which are a source of livelihood
for the
Home at the same time, putting patients' lives at
risk.
The British government has since donated a borehole
pump, water
tank and pipes to the home at a cost of more than $1.5
billion.
During a commissioning ceremony on Tuesday, British
Ambassador
to Zimbabwe, Dr Andrew Pocock, said the British government is
committed to
the cause of suffering Zimbabweans.
"I hope
the donation will improve water supply to the home and
the quality of life
of both patients and staff. We try to reach out to small
institutions like
these...to make a difference.
"The government of UK is
committed to the welfare of
Zimbabweans. It is during such times that the UK
government is putting more
effort to alleviate the suffering of
Zimbabweans," Pocock said.
Ellen Ndimande, the board
chairperson of Thembelihle Home, in
thanking the British, said: "We hope the
support will alleviate the problems
that patients were facing and make
Thembelihle self-sufficient."
Thembelihle was formed in 2002
and admitted its first HIV and
Aids terminally ill patients the following
year. The home relies mainly on
donations for its day-to-day
running.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
WHILE many people continue to die as a result of HIV
and AIDS
related illness the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
recently
launched the Zimbabwean HIV and AIDS and Human Rights
Charter.
The charter seeks to highlight the human rights and
fundamental
freedoms of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS in
as far as how
human rights can be enjoyed without
discrimination.
The charter is documented in the form of a
booklet and it was
drafted after nationwide multi-sectoral consultations
with various
institutions represented at the provincial and national
level.
Arnold Tsunga, the executive director of ZLHR, said
the rights
in the charter are rights that Zimbabwe is obliged to uphold as
enshrined in
international treaties and regional treaties that the state has
signed and
ratified. However the charter is not a legal binding document
enforceable in
a court of law.
He said: "The charter
serves as a tool that notes the importance
of recognising HIV\AIDS infected
people as human beings and reaffirms that
people who are HIV positive should
not be discriminated. It is also a tool
that creates awareness on
fundamental human rights for people living with
AIDS."
Justice Edwin Cameron, who is a judge at the Supreme Court of
Appeal in
South Africa and is also HIV positive, commended the ZLHR for
coming up with
the charter as he gave his testimony on how he suffered from
stigma and the
illness that struck him soon after he tested positive.
He
said: "I got sick in 1997 and never imagined that I would
live up to this
time as I was terminally ill. However I was put on Anti-
Retroviral
medication and I quickly recovered and I have been on the course
as I take
two tablets everyday."
He also expressed concern over the
failure by the Zimbabwe
government to provide free ARVs to its
citizens.
"There are 14 000 South Africans who are on ARVs
and I am
saddened to hear that in Zimbabwe, more than 300 000 people are not
accessing the drugs."
Hege Waagan the UNAIDS social
mobilisation adviser raised
concern on the failure by Zimbabwe to access
much funding from donors
compared to other countries in the region. She told
delegates that other
SADCC countries received US$90 a person infected with
the virus, compared to
US$4 given to a Zimbabwean. However the Gays and
Lesbians Association of
Zimbabwe (GALZ) criticised the charter, saying it
failed to recognise the
presence of gays and lesbians in society. They
argued that they should also
be given a voice in the charter as they said it
was their fundamental right
to live.
The ZLHR promised to
amend parts of the charter so as to suit
the needs of every Zimbabwean. Some
of the issues guaranteed in the charter
include the, the right to life and
inherent dignity, protection from
torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment and access to
treatment, care and support.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has
re-introduced the Bulawayo-Francistown passenger train as part of its
turnaround programme.
An NRZ train left for Francistown,
Botswana on Friday and was
scheduled to arrive in Bulawayo yesterday
afternoon. The trial run of the
train was held the previous week - seven
years after the parastatal
abandoned the route.
Christopher Mushohwe, the Minister of Transport and
Communications,
officially launched the train at the NRZ main station.
The
re-introduced passenger train will be running on Mondays,
Wednesdays and
Fridays.
However, while the train is set to offer alternative
transport
services for passengers, especially cross-border traders, its
re-introduction might spell doom for road transport
operators.
Road transport operators had hitherto enjoyed a
monopoly on the
route, charging astronomical fees for the trip at the same
time increasing
charges without notice.
Zim Standard
By
Deborah-Fay Ndhlovu
ZESA Holdings has stalled the
implementation of two of its
priority multi-trillion dollar dashing hopes of
Zimbabwe finding an
immediate solution to its electricity
woes.
The power utility had planned to commence the US$600
million
coal mining project in Sinamatella and Western areas of Hwange in
April this
year to enable it to expand the Hwange Power Station and improve
its
electricity generation capacity.
But outgoing ZESA
Holdings executive chairman, Dr Sydney Gata,
said last Thursday that the
project might not see the light of day after the
parastatal failed to raise
US$90 million.
While he initially said his company was
awaiting a government
gazette to start implementing he later admitted that
they had lost an
investor due to lack of funding.
"By
last year there was confirmation but Zimbabwe could not
raise the US$90
million as deposit," Gata told journalists at a press
briefing held at the
company premises.
ZESA wrestled the controversial grant for
the project from
Hwange Colliery Company last October after arm-twisting the
government with
arguments that they had secured a Chinese investor who had
set as a
condition that it acquires the coalfields before it could release
funds.
The long awaited US$2,4 billion joint Batoka project
with Zambia
also hangs in balance, Gata said.
He said the
project was too expensive to implement and Zimbabwe
could lose out because
it was not on the priority list for Zambia, expected
to be exporting
electricity in the near future.
"That suffers because it is
dependent on mutual co-operation. As
a ride the project could dent the
economies in a big way. It needs US$2,4
billion. The two countries must have
the same appetite and same fork and
knife to eat that meal. The project
involves a third party, the Zambezi
River Authority who need US$1,2 billion
to set up dam infrastructure," he
said.
The outgoing
executive chairman said the way forward for the
project would be to release
the site on concession for 30 years.
Both projects were
supposed to save the day for Zimbabwe
presently facing severe electricity
shortages. However, Zimbabwe might pin
its hopes on the Sengwa project, for
which Gata said he had found potential
investors, although talks were still
at an early stage.
"There is a renewed interest in Sengwa but
I don't know the
details. When investors come in, they start at the top with
government and
then come to us. If it materialises we in ZESA stand to
benefit in a big
way."
ZESA has been planning to set up a
thermal power station in
Sengwa for years.
For now, Gata
said, Zimbabwe will have to live with power cuts
and described it as a
"miracle" that power is still flowing at all at this
time (when) "ZESA is
running a vehicle without a spare wheel".
Zim Standard
By our staff
TELECEL Zimbabwe,
the country's third mobile phone operator has
acquired new equipment that
can accommodate up to one million subscribers.
The new equipment is being
installed in preparation for the issuance of new
lines.
The equipment arrived in the country last month and tests are
already being
conducted, which once completed will enable Telecel to issue
at least 70 000
new lines in August.
It will also allow the mobile operator
to implement an ambitious
plan that seeks to increase its subscriber base to
500 000 from 140 000 by
year-end.
Rex Chibesa, Telecel's
acting MD said: "The switch (equipment)
arrived in the country last month
and it is called a soft-switch because it
is easily
expandable."
Chibesa could not be drawn into revealing the
total cost of the
switch, only saying the equipment was part of the
expansion project the
company is undertaking.
He said
Chinese telecommunications firm, Huawei Technologies,
was the main supplier
of the equipment. Huawei also supplies equipment to
NetOne and
TelOne.
The switch can be expanded to encompass a total of
one million
subscribers but the expansion will be carried out gradually,
starting from
250 000 and 500 000, Chibesa said.
Telecel
has a subscriber base of 140 000 and is ranked third on
the pecking order
behind Econet and NetOne. The expansion, long overdue,
comes at a time when
competitors have completed different phases of
subscriber base
expansions.
The mobile phone operator like all players in the
telecommunications industry says it is being hamstrung by the acute shortage
of foreign currency making it difficult to import
equipment.
Chibesa said the telecommunications industry's
potential to grow
was being stifled by the harsh economic
environment.
Telecel was licensed to operate a mobile network
in Zimbabwe in
1998.
Telecel International and
Empowerment Corporation (EC) are joint
owners in Telecel with equities of
60% and 40% respectively. Telecel
International is wholly owned by Orascom
Telecom, an Egyptian conglomerate
listed on the Cairo and London stock
exchanges.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
GOLD production slipped a record 33% to a new four
year low in
the first quarter of 2006 dragged down by a weakening currency,
and the
industry has predicted worse to come.
The metal
fell by 33% in production to 2 864,6 kilogrammes in
the four months covering
January to April, according to latest statistics
from the Chamber of Mines.
The figure represents a 30% decline in production
to 14 tonnes in 2005
compared to 21 tonnes in 2004.
Future prospects have also
been dampened by power cuts and
uncertainties arising from mining
legislation, companies have said in recent
months.
Chamber of Mines president, Jack Murehwa, said the decline only
represented
official statistics and was therefore not that significant.
"While the large gold producers may be struggling with shrinking
revenues
and inadequate foreign exchange to maintain their plants, national
gold
production, in real terms has not necessarily gone down significantly,"
Murehwa said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
ZIMBABWE continues to
lose out on tourist arrivals despite the
upward trend in global tourist
arrivals with Africa recording the highest
growth as compared to other
regions.
Overseas tourist arrivals declined by 39% and also
arrivals from
the African region went down by 11% between December 2004 and
December 2005.
The downward trend reflects the country's
failure to attract
holiday makers despite protracted efforts by the
government to market
Zimbabwe as an attractive tourist
destination.
These figures were announced by Eben Makonese,
chairman of
Zimsun, in a statement accompanying the company's financial
report for the
year-ended 31 March 2006.
Zimsun decried
the harsh economic environment punctuated by sky
rocketing inflation, high
interest rates and managed exchange rate for the
crisis its operations
face.
The group however recorded a 5% growth in arrivals for
its
hotels against the backdrop of a fall in tourist arrivals in the
country.
The leisure concern's sales mix was tilted in favour
of the
domestic market but saw volumes going down by 8% in comparison to the
previous year.
Fall in domestic volumes resulted in the
fall in hotel occupancy
levels from 38% to 37%.
Makonese
said: "The local economic environment will continue to
pose a challenge on
operations as inflation is expected to persist on the
upward trend and at a
faster pace compared to movements in the exchange
rate."
Zimsun has managed to defy the harsh economic conditions
prevailing in the
country by recording an operating profit of $204 billion,
up from $8.6
billion last year.
Domestic tourism has become the backbone
of the group and the
group recorded 188 265 guests.
Tourist arrivals have been affected by the negative publicity;
sporadic fuel
supplies and limited direct international flights to
Zimbab1we.
Marketing efforts by tourism players in the
non-traditional
markets such as Japan, China and other Asian countries seem
to be failing to
bear fruit as indicated by the slump in overseas
arrivals.
Tourism was once one of the country's biggest
foreign currency
owners with receipts of over US$600 million a year.
Zim Standard
Comment
"OPERATION Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle"
stands out as one of the
government's monumental failures. But the tragedy
is that the government
never learns.
The government is
proposing a new housing scheme for rural areas
and as with the rural
electrification project and the AIDS levy, it will
find a way of ensuring
the few who still have jobs - thanks to the
government's misplaced policies
and priorities that have led to
de-industrialisation and massive job losses
- subsidise the scheme.
The motive behind this latest scheme
is clear. It is to endear
the government and the ruling party to the rural
electorate and in the
process buy their votes.
The
project will give a semblance of job-creation in the rural
areas, but there
is never any intention to see the whole project through.
The
experience of the scheme anachronistically described as
"Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle" is instructive. More than a year later,
the
government is yet to meet its self-imposed deadlines. In fact, it has
abandoned the project, which begs the question as to just where the
resources for the rural housing project will come from when it has failed to
achieve the target figures or complete the few houses it was able to
start.
The few "Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle" houses were
roofed but
they are far from complete and under normal circumstances people
would not
have been allowed to take up occupation.
The
government may have put up "Garikai houses" but it has not
put the needy in
the new houses because many of the houses remain largely
uncompleted - more
than a year after the government's campaign of terror and
subsequent
promises to address the damage.
In any case the real victims
are not the people being paraded as
beneficiaries of the system. Anyone who
believes what the government says in
this regard is breathtakingly naïve.
The government has never been pro-poor
and that is precisely the reason why
it launched an offensive against them
in May last year. No government with
pro-poor polices would have ever dreamt
of such Red Terror tactics against
the most vulnerable of its citizens.
Whenever it suits the
government, it dons its pro-poor façade.
But in reality, it is the big bad
wolf, masquerading as a guardian angel.
President Robert
Mugabe visited Uganda recently, ostensibly for
the inauguration of President
Yoweri Museveni. That was a perfect cover for
establishing how the Ugandan
strongman has transformed the rural areas of
the East African nation into
his power base. The rural housing scheme the
government is proposing is
merely a modification of the Ugandan model.
When the late
Enos Chikowore was Minister of Local Government,
he toured the country
launching what were described as model rural houses.
As with many other
projects where the government has demonstrated
unparalleled lack of will, it
was soon abandoned.
Museveni's re-election race began with
such choruses from the
rural areas.
The government is
preparing a campaign platform for 2008. But as
usual there is only meddle
and muddle.
Zim Standard
p
sunday view by Philani Zamchiya
Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe
shared with us the shocking news
from the Saturday Star newspaper of 27 May
2006.
The leading story was on Roy Bennett's rejected asylum
application and Givemore Chira's flee from Zimbabwe. Chira is a student
leader whose life is now under grave danger from the State following student
protests at the Bindura University of Science Education.
It is sad that this young man is now seeking asylum in South
Africa, barely
a week after Roy Bennett was denied the same status despite
evidence of
life-threatening circumstances as clear as the September sky.
Any CIO agent
under sober and sound senses without undue influence thereto
would freely
confirm that not only the lives of Bennett and Chira are in
grave danger but
of more than 90% of asylum seekers in South Africa and the
world
over.
The South African Home Affairs office should not choose
to be
blindfolded by the Zimbabwe government's soviet tactics of fabricating
criminal charges around its prey with intent to close net in on and block
outside sympathy and then pounce on it.
It does not need
a ballistic scientist to see that the alleged
coup plot is a ploy to close
in on Bennett and establish grounds to finish
him off. In my opinion the
previous incarceration of Bennett in rural Zanu
PF stronghold of Mutoko was
an attempt to pile psychological pressure on him
and ensure that he succumbs
in prison or that upon release he would not live
to see the
morrow.
Now that by God's will this chicanery has failed the
Zanu PF
maggots are dying to employ the shameless alleged coup to quench
their
insatiable appetite for blood. I know that the regime in Zimbabwe will
not
let go once they target you. After surviving the first serious attempt
on my
life on the dreadful eve of 14 October 2004, they had to come back
with
another dreadful attempt on 14 July 2005.
This
regime has also created unfounded allegations against
student leaders. The
recent torching of Bindura university laboratory is a
classic example.
During the days of our leadership, it was common cause that
any peaceful
protests in Mashonaland colleges would be accompanied by
state-sponsored
violence on college property perpetrated by Border Gezi
youths masquerading
as students, with intent to find grounds for our arrest,
subsequent torture
and unlawful detentions and incarcerations.
The South African
Home Affairs officials may demand that
applicants prove their case beyond
reasonable doubt. This is difficult when
it comes to life threats by
Zimbabwe's Soviet-trained intelligence. More so,
it becomes more difficult
when the two governments exchange intelligence
notes. .
The South African Ministry of Home affairs should be advised
that deporting
applicants like Bennett and young Chira would of course
provide them with
tangible evidence in the form of their dead bodies. Would
it then make sense
to grant asylum status to the dead?
The South African
government has chosen to remain silent on the
Zimbabwe crisis which is their
choice but what shocks and chokes me is when
they become tall and loud in
perpetuating dictatorship and sanctioning human
suffering. They should
rather remain average and mild enabling them to draw
reasonable inference
from the facts in issue and thus protect applicants'
inherent and
inalienable right to life in the spirit of the African
Charter.
In throwing out Bennett's appeal and Chira's
application, the
South African government is committing human and political
hara-kiri and
past, present and future generations will never forgive
them.
South Africa should know that deporting the two and
many other
applicants would not in any way vindicate their position that
there is no
crisis in Zimbabwe as the fate that would follow them upon
return would only
expose this ridiculous position.
Nevertheless it is also up to Zimbabweans to mobilise
progressive partners
such as the South African Students Congress, Congress
of South Africa
Students, COSATU, Young Communist League, South African
Council of Churches
and many others to react to this madness that is
tantamount to gambling with
human life.
Zim Standard
Sunday view by Chris Mhike
"HAWKERS should not be harassed or arrested until the local
authorities
where they operate provide a people's market place for them.
These women
have been harassed and this must stop.
"It is true they are
illegal hawkers but it is up to the
Victoria Falls Council to provide a
people's market place for them to sell
their goods before they are harassed
and moved on".
One could easily think this quotation comes
from Anna Tibaijuka's
Report on the impact of the 2005 Zanu PF - driven
"Operation Murambatsvina",
or from any other opposition or civic leader in
response to that same
demoniacal exercise.
But nay, this
is a quote from The Herald of 1 June 1981, just a
year after Zimbabwe had
become independent. The same quote was printed in
The Herald of 1 June 2006
on the 'The Herald 25 Years ago" column.
The wise and
empathetic statement is attributed to the then
Minister of Local Government
and Housing, the now late Dr Eddison Zvobgo.
He referred them to the issue
of shebeen operators and illegal hawkers in
the country, and specifically to
the women hawkers who were "illegally"
selling their crochet work outside
Victoria Falls Hotels.
Twenty four years later, the same Zanu
PF government had to deal
with the problem of squalor, or poverty, which
manifested through the
phenomenal increase in the number of hawkers,
vendors, flea markets, and
home industries that sprouted around the country,
in all major and minor
urban settlements.
Instead of
adopting the empathetic attitude of the fallen hero -
Zvobgo - the 2005
rulers closed their eyes to human suffering, closed their
ears to the cries
of despair, poured scorn on the voice of the United
Nations and of concerned
citizens. Government went ahead and destroyed
people's livelihoods under
"Murambatsvina".
The Zanu PF government continues today to
harass vendors and
hawkers in cities and towns without pausing to think for
a moment, that the
victims of the "Murambatsvina" or "Siyaso" operations,
are only trying to
eke out a living. They seem to forget that they have
plunged the country
into one where unemployment is practically 80%; where
the economy continues
to slip into record inflation and shrinkage
levels.
Tibaijuka's words relating to Murambatsvina were to
the effect
that the operation, while purporting to target illegal dwellings
and
structures, and to clamp down on alleged illicit activities, it was
carried
out with indifference to human suffering.
"The
Government of Zimbabwe should immediately halt any further
demolition of
homes and informal businesses and create conditions for
sustainable relief
and reconstruction for those affected", said the UN envoy
in her
report.
Now one can almost visualize the late Zvobgo, and
other fallen
heroes who died before they had been corrupted too badly with
power, nodding
from their graves, in agreement with Tibaijuka, and
re-iterating the great
words: ". this harassment must
stop!".
Had government adopted the sensible logic of the late
Zvobgo,
which runs along the lines of Tibaijuka's statement about the same
subject,
"Murambatsvina" would not have preceded the so-called "Garikai".
And the
blitz against the poor, which continues to this day, would not have
been
undertaken.
It seems that in 1981, the late hero
could only make that
statement, and his comrades, including the Prime
Minister of the day -
Robert Mugabe, could agree on that sound reasoning
because they were all
fresh from the war of liberation. They had just been
popularly elected
under an internationally monitored election, and they
aimed to govern for
and in the interests of the "masses".
How the same regime could, twenty-five years later, reverse the
formula and
destroy first before building, is only indicative of the fact
that the
qualities of popularity, empathy, fairness and common-sense, have
vanished
from our rulers.
Watching the motion picture, "Drum" can be a
painful experience
as one sees the theatrical representation of the
demolition of the shanty
settlement - Sophia town, by the Apartheid-era
rulers. The pictures
therefrom make a striking resemblance with the
pictures from "Murambatsvina".
Yet the authors of
"Murambatsvina" were at one time capable of
saying "these women have been
harassed and this must stop".
Today, in the "Clean-Up" age,
the attitude of President, the
Ministers of Local Government, the one for
Home Affairs, and a host of other
comrades, all seem to be saying that
Zvobgo's mentality in respect of the
treatment of the poor, is one inspired
by the British and the Americans.
Yet Zvobgo probably spoke
for the poor because he cared, and the
rulers of today on the other hand,
have ceased to care. While the Local
Government Minister in 1981 protected
the hawkers and the vendors, the
current one, and his bosses care more about
the aesthetic considerations of
settlements, over and above the welfare of
the people living in those
settlement.
Government has
truly ceased to care. Zvobgo (may his soul rest
in peace), having been one
of them, might have stopped all this nonsense by
saying ". this must
stop".
*Chris Mhike is a victim of the on-going blitz against
the poor.
Zim Standard
eyewitness by Gibbs Dube
FRANCISTOWN - It is Thursday,
8:56PM. A Batswana national,
carrying a 20 litre plastic container of opaque
beer, staggers into a
30-seater coach and utters obscenities in English and
SeTswana continuously
punctuated with the message; "Makwerekwere out .
Makwerekwere (are)
useless .".
He had been walking up and
down the coaches butfailed to secure
a seat for the long journey from
Francistown to Gaborone.
Shortly, the train starts off for the
Botswana capital and the
tall, light-skinned man with blood-shot-eyes has to
secure a seat for the
seven-hour journey. It is impossible for him to stand
inside the coach all
night, especially as he can hardly walk after possibly
drinking several mugs
of beer.
Barely minutes before the
train pulls out of Francistown Railway
Station, he shouts: "Everybody says
'Panemunhu (the seat is taken)' . Go
home Makwerekere."
Welcome aboard Panemunhu a Botswana Railways night train that
snakes from
the border town via Shashe, Foley Station, Serule, Maope,
Palapye, Tewana,
Mahalapye, Gonwapitse, Dinkowe, Mmamabula, Dibele, Artisia,
and Pilane and
arriving in the capital city at 5AM.
It derives this nickname
from the way Zimbabweans book seats.
Individuals, notably white-robbed women
well known for informal trading,
occupy a seat each in a coach and whenever
another traveller comes looking
for a seat, they respond by saying
"Panemunhu"(It is occupied).
This is to ensure that they are
able coil on the seats and sleep
comfortably until they arrive in
Gaborone.
When the drunken man finally gets a seat in the
next economy
class coach, he starts mocking several of the travellers. The
majority of
the women are Zimbabweans carrying large bags full of wares to
sell in
Botswana.
They are not amused by his behaviour
and by the time the train
gets to Tewane, two fights requiring the
intervention of the Botswana
Railways security guards had broken out.
Calling Zimbabweans makwerekwere,
he continuously taunts them saying they
have to go back home and vote
against President Robert Mugabe who has ruined
the economy.
He is not the only one in the night train who
appears to hate
the visitors. Two young men who boarded the train at Palapye
are also
fighting to get seats and their targets are
Zimbabweans.
After failing to find seats, they decide to
visit the buffet
where a large number of people are drowning their sorrows
in beer. This is
where they devise strategies, together with other people
who have failed to
secure seats, on how to displace Zimbabweans occupying
the seats.
Plan A - They decide to forcibly occupy seats
without asking
whether there is anyone occupying them. Plan B - They target
women in white
robes and pull off their blankets so that they will react by
running away.
They settle for Plan B. They are determined to
accomplish their
mission and a few minutes later, they put their plan into
action. A harsh
exchange of words between the women and the youngsters
ensues but does not
save the situation.
In a flash, the
young men completely dislodge the women who feel
uncomfortable sharing their
seats with strangers. To the young Batswana, it
is victory against
makwerekere, a derogatory term for foreigners including
Zimbabweans who are
economic refugees.
By the time the train reaches Mmamabula
and Dibele, the
youngsters have downed more than two dozen packets of opaque
beer. They sing
songs denouncing foreigners.
An elderly
man from Plumtree border town is unamused. He has
failed to sleep during the
journey because of the rowdy behaviour of the
Batswana
men.
Realising that he may lose the verbal war, Ronald Bango,
packs
his belongings and moves to the buffet coach, where three Batswana,
are
engaged in a "serious" discussion.
The three are not
happy with the behaviour of their countrymen
who have displaced Zimbabwean
women from their seats. They are agreed that
Zimbabwe's socio-economic and
political problems lie squarely on the country's
leadership.
"You see, these Zimbabweans are victims of
the ruling elite.
They must fight for their freedom," says one of the
clean-shaven men. "It
does not make sense for us to abuse our neighbours or
any foreigner.
Something should be done to stop this attitude towards our
brothers and
sisters across the border."
They all agree
and Bango is comfortable sharing the buffet coach
with these strangers. They
are convinced that xenophobia has dissected
relations between foreigners and
Batswana.
Close by there is a dispute over payment of some
sort.An angry
woman grabs a young man by the collar demanding 15 pula for
service rendered
without elaborating.
Fearing that he may
be embarrassed, the Motswana pulls out five
P2 pula coins from his pocket
and hands them over to the woman and flees.
I retire to my
coach only to be woken up at 5:05AM by the chilly
weather and bright lights
of Gaborone -the Promised Land for many
Zimbabweans in search of El
Dorado.
While alighting, I am convinced that Panemunhu is a
circus on
wheels and possibly a reflection of what the Batswana think about
Zimbabweans.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by Marko Phiri
THIS is a day I will never
forget. It was Friday 2 June around
8PM when a grey Renault sedan came
speeding towards me at breakneck speed.
Never mind that I was standing on
the edge of the road.
Naturally, I jumped off the kerb and
confronted the driver who I
suspected was driving under the influence of
alcohol or drugs or both.
As I approached the car, somebody
inside yelled my name.
Muttering expletives, I asked what the big idea was
scaring me like that,
and that was my first bad move. Out jumped two men
while the driver and
another man remained in the car. And remember this was
a civilian vehicle.
"Uthethisa amapholisa wena?" the two men
yelled as they
immediately started pummelling me. I was handcuffed and told
they were going
to shove me in theboot of their car if I did not keep
quiet.
Kicking and screaming, I was thrown in the car, and
when I heard
the typical noises of a walkie-talkie, I thought these guys
aren't bluffing.
They were indeed cops! They were in their casuals; the car
they were in was
not marked.
Still, I was supposed to
have known these people trying a hit
and run on me were
policemen!
As I protested demanding to know what the hell was
going on, the
handcuffs were tightened and I was slapped all over the face.
I still have
the bruises on my wrists and face as I write this
article.
It was dark in the car and I peered into their faces
to see who
these people were, but the guy with the hardest punches hid his
face from me
with his jacket. As I tried in the dark to identify the person
who had
yelled my name, I saw a chap I went to school with sitting
silently next
to me while his mates tormented me!
I
asked the man whom I knew to be a cop what I was doing in the
car. It
turned out this was a private car and the driver had allegedly been
harassed
by three young lager louts who had had one too many of the
inebriating
stuff.
The driver himself had no clue as to the identity of
the people
they were looking for as he would see a group of people, stop and
say
something like "this looks like them!" So, it turns out I must have
"looked
like them" to be picked up like that! As I groaned under the
stinging cuffs,
the car sped to a neighbouring township.
I had been picked up just a few metres from my home, and the
super cop I
went to school with sat silently as I remonstrated with him for
letting his
mates assault a law-abiding citizen, and when he knew they had
picked me up
virtually in front of my gate as he knows where I stay.
The
response of the other cops was that I had used foul language
on law officers
hence the hard punches I had to endure. As we drove into the
other township,
the driver identified his tormentors and the cops jumped out
of the car and
the drunk young men were slapped so hard I thought I could
see sparks flying
off their faces! They were then bundled into the car, and
we were taken to
the police post where I was to be detained until Sunday
morning for a crime
I still have no clue about.
I had no money in my pocket to
pay the admission of guilt fine
of $250 000 they were demanding so these
super cops threw me into a police
cell together with the young men who were
being accused of beating up the
driver of the Renault sedan who had
volunteered his car to fight crime. Good
citizen isn't
he?
My receipt is written "conduct likely to breach the
peace" and I
am still trying to figure out what the hell that means. You
hear stories
about police brutality, but wait till you experience this first
hand.
Now that the government has set up its own human rights
watchdog, during the time in the cells, I wondered whether this was not a
case for this watchdog if it is to be taken seriously. This being the cold
month of June, being in a cell was a nightmare I would never wish for
anybody, except perhaps the cops who punched me in the face and threw me in
the stinking cells.
My thoughts then were: "this is what
the Siberian holding camps
must have felt like for Stalin's
guests."
It appears part of the curriculum for Zimbabwean
policemen is to
treat law-abiding citizens and everybody else like people
with no rights.
Momentarily forgetting the pain in my wrists
and bleeding face,
I laughed when one of the young men started yelling
at
the cops at the Charge Office that he knew his
rights.
It was typical Dutch courage, and I asked him if he
knew what he
was talking about. But his ranting and raving only urged on the
cops who
summarily refused to take his fine and told him the cells were
going to cool
him down! What is it about this country that people have
resigned themselves
to abuses from the police?
Like the
brutal white cops of yesteryear, post-independence
black cops still expect
to get away with abusing innocent citizens without
recourse.
I suspect such tales abound in today's
Zimbabwe where the
police seem to operate above the laws they are employed
to uphold.
NCA saga: those attacking Madhuku are missing the point
I wish to
contribute to the debate concerning the National
Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) amendment to its constitution.
By continuously
attacking Dr Lovemore Madhuku and not
highlighting the lessons learnt, the
debate is losing meaning.
The amendment by the NCA was a
result of a need, which was
debated by the membership, discussed and put to
a vote. The NCA has set a
precedent; constitutions are made for the people
and not the people for the
constitution.
The breach that
aZanu PF has committed has been to use its
two-thirds majority in Parliament
to fast-track very discriminatory laws
that negatively affect the whole
country.
What the NCA showed is that the whole nation is
supposed to be
involved through a referendum each time national
constitutional amendments
are to be effected into law.
Parliament is too partisan to be trusted as our
representatives.
In the case of the NCA, the situation could
have been different
if the NCA taskforce had been the one that made the
amendments on behalf of
the membership. In my opinion, the NCA has remained
firmly behind the
principle of a constitution by the people for the
people.
President Robert Mugabe's stay in power is deplorable
because he
is ruining the nation, causing untold suffering for the people
through his
arrogance and bad foreign policy.
Madhuku, on
the other hand is in good service to the nation,
where his organisation has
endorsed him for the good of everyone.
The current state of
affairs in Zimbabwe calls for foot soldiers
that are pragmatic and action-
orientated. The NCA happens to know better
than any of us what Madhuku has
done for the organisation.
In my opinion, I differ from those
who disagree with the NCA
approach. I am happy as a citizen to realise that
Madhuku still has the
mandate to wrestle the cut-and-paste Lancaster House
Constitution from
Mugabe because Madhuku is the complete opposite of Mugabe.
While Mugabe is
destroying our nationhood, Madhuku is reclaiming our pride
as citizens with
rights.
I am however, perplexed by the
nature of voices that are
attacking the NCA. Gabriel Chaibva, the losing
candidate of the MDC
pro-Senate faction in the recent Budiriro Parliamentary
by-election can not
equate the NCA to a political party. The mandate of the
NCA is to press for
a new constitution and not to govern the
country.
If the NCA retains a leadership that can help it
achieve its
goals, then it is a good strategy. Chaibva and his faction are
not pragmatic
and so is their philosophy as a clique. It would be a major
mistake to take
the views of Peugeot 504 seriously.
It is
also important to understand the vulnerability of
activists in Zimbabwe.
Madhuku is already public and therefore less
vulnerable. Being NCA
chairperson is not the same as being a State
President.
The NCA can be compared to democratic and revolutionary forces
like the MDC
and other non-state organisations. The decision made by the NCA
is as wise
as the decisions made by the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction.
Leaders are
very important in the struggle to achieve difficult goals. They
can only be
replaced if and only when they have lost focus and the drive to
achieve the
desired goal.
The issue today is to pile pressure on Mugabe
and solve the
suffering of the greater majority of Zimbabweans. Madhuku and
the NCA are
doing this and are therefore a relevant part to the solution to
the
Zimbabwean crisis. Madhuku is more relevant than all his critics
combined.
Enock Mandhlazi
Bulawayo
--------------
Squabbling over MDC name
will not reasolve our crisis
IT would not be fair to let
Kurauone Chihwayi's letter
entitled Tsvangirai candidate out of race go
unchallenged.
In the letter to The Standard Chihwayi
sounded
non-partisan and portrayed an image of a neutral analyst. However,
when one
reads between the lines, it is clear his pro-Senate MDC membership
sentiments are unmasked. He tried to point out how bad the anti-Senate MDC
candidate was.
As if that was not enough, Chihwayi
had earlier denounced
Morgan Tsvangirai and his anti-Senate MDC faction
about their congress in
exactly the same way he did before the Budiriro
by-election. Fortunately the
people of Budiriro are not
fools.
The Budiriro by-election did not go down well
with
Chihwayi to the extent that he wrote yet another piece in the State
media
downplaying the winner.
For someone of a
sober mind, the MDC recognised by the
majority of the electorate is the
anti-Senate MDC and not the faction to
which Chihwayi belongs. In the
instance of the letter to the State media,
Chihwayi actually signed his
position in the pro-Senate MDC faction, which
he did not do in the letter to
The Standard.
My advice to Chihwayi and his party is
that they should
not waste their time and energy denouncing Tsvangirai.
Instead, they should
sell their policies to the people in order to get
votes.
There are two parties that use the name Zanu -
Zanu PF and
Zanu, also known as Ndonga - but they do not make noises about
it.
To Chihwayi, I say the electorate is not concerned
about
names. They want clear policies to turn around the economy, attract
investors and tourists, create employment, bring food on people's tables,
improve health delivery and education, curb corruption and restore the
country to its breadbasket status.
In other words
do all that they promised to do in 2000 and
stop lecturing the people about
issues over who the true leadership of the
MDC or the authentic MDC
is.
Lewis Gadimu
Masvingo
------------
Mugabe has
learnt nothing from other failed African states
PEOPLE all over the country are in mourning as they
watch helplessly the
destruction of their country.
The majority wish
they could turn back the hands of
time - to the times when we used to be the
breadbasket of the region and
when our currency was still stronger and the
President was still respected,
not just in Africa but even
beyond.
It is disturbing that our leader has
learnt nothing
from his former colleagues from the region who led their
countries along the
destructive path Zimbabwe is going through a man-made
crisis.
By destroying the agricultural sector, we
killed the
goose that lays the golden eggs. The so-called agrarian reform
only achieved
reduction of the production base and this in turn meant that
low exports and
low foreign currency earnings. It appears that President
Robert Mugabe is
prepared to take down the whole country with
him.
The challenge for the democratic opposition
is to
reinvigorate the people's desire to take part in
elections.
In both 2000 and the 2002 elections we
witnessed a
massive voter turn out but that has since fallen off
dramatically.
The MDC and other progressive
forces must fight for
a new democratic and people-driven constitution. This
is not going to be
easy but then it is said that noble undertakings at first
seem impossible.
Perhaps we need to remind
ourselves that democracy
is never given on a silver plate. It is demanded by
the oppressed, and where
it is denied, people take up arms to fight for
it.
It is time those in Zanu PF learnt to call a
spade a
spade. And to those about to lose hope, I suggest that the darkest
hour is
before dawn.
Mamuse Maunganidze
Mlambo
Checheche
Chipinge South
-----------
Diaspora
critics cowardly
IF there is one thing that I am
really passionate
about, it is those Zimbabweans in the so-called Diaspora
writing letters to
the Independent Press criticising the government because
that is plain
cowardice.
No amount of
criticism, 10 000km away is going to be
taken seriously. Be brave enough and
come home. Then criticise to your heart's
content. Here, of course the fault
lies with the editors.
I am a South African
residing in Zimbabwe. On
several occasions I have written to newspapers in
that country criticising
the Xhosa-dominated administration, but none of the
letters has ever been
published. The reason is
obvious.
I believe if you have conviction and
truly believe
you are right, you should have the courage to put your full
name on every
letter. Otherwise that letter becomes
meaningless.
Your article Always Coca-Cola in
which Godfrey
Gowoka found a disused battery in the world's most popular
soft drink comes
as no surprise to me. That's the problem with companies
that have an
absolute monopoly on goods and services. How many used condoms
were found in
their opaque beer brand?
Need I
remind them that I found what appeared to be
a woman's after birth in one of
their beer brands. I single-handedly took
them to court but sadly lost on a
technicality. However, one fact remains
because of Delta's monopoly: our
health is being compromised.
I wish I was the one
who found the contaminated coke
because I would put it on the Internet.
Atlanta would be interested in what
famous ingredient is being used to
enhance the sales of Coke.
Leslie
Vollenhoven
South Downs
Gweru
----------------
Exploiting voters'
roll
THE government has been using an
outdated
voters' role register to win elections. This rigging dates back to
1980 when
the country gained its
independence.
We have never had a genuine
register in the
country because of the falsification of voters. However, I
will admit that
no country will have a perfect voters'
roll.
I would therefore like to challenge
opposition
parties to encourage youths of majority age to register as
voters.
Neglecting the youths has worked to Zanu PF's advantage during
general
elections.
Voters on the
current register are all old
people whose numbers are dwindling through
deaths. Few school leavers whose
ages are 18 and above, are
registered.
It's now or
never
Masvingo
---------------
Hunger at Fort Hare
University
I write in reference to the
letter about the
plight of Zimbabwean students at Fort Hare. This is true
and it is something
parents of the students should know about so that the
issues can be resolved
speedily.
Ndana
RSA
-----------
No to Mugabe life
presidency
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe should
never be left
to be life President of Zimbabwe. Senator Chief Musarurwa from
Mashonaland
East, who wants him to be a life president, should be told to
resign with
immediate effect, because he doesn't know what he is talking
about.
N G
Harare
------------
World Cup fever: forget it, no power and no
water
I must admit that living in Zimbabwe
has
become a nightmare, given the persistent electricity and water cuts
being
experienced.
I live in Ashdown
Park and on a daily basis
it seems there's an on-going contest between
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) and Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA).
At the beginning of
the year, the
electricity authority gave a stern warning that they were not
going to cope
with electricity demands during the winter months. This was a
warning of
gloomy months lying ahead of us. I did not think it was going to
be this
drastic.
On Saturday 3 June,
they spent millions of
dollars splashing full adverts detailing the load
shedding schedules. What a
laugh it turned out to be because on the very
day, we spent a greater part
of the evening in darkness despite the schedule
showing that we were in the
clear.
Right now, you are very lucky to wake up on
a cold winter morning with
electricity available. It's the same story when
you trudge back home after
work.
ZINWA on the other hand has vowed
not to
stay out of the competition. At least they are not wasting time
devising
hair brain schedules detailing precise times for water cuts! That
precious
God-given fluid has become a rare commodity of late. Homes are
virtually
spending days without a single drop dripping from the taps. They
have
developed this uncanny habit if letting a few drops trickle in the dead
of
the night, which quickly disappear before morning has
broken.
There has been a lot of soccer
fever
building up to the World Cup in Germany, but I have simply switched
myself
off from the event. I live and breathe soccer and I really do not
want to
get worked up after failing to watch the games that are going to be
beamed.
Besides, if I do get to watch the games, how do I get to wash off
the sweat,
from the frantic and energetic pitching I will be doing for my
favourite
teams?
Our situation does
not need a prophet or
soothsayer to tell us that the coming months will
spell doom for most
Zimbabweans.
Jubiya
Ashdown
Park
Harare