http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
Via the
Justice for Agriculture mailing list
The police promised to evict
Landmine and thugs (in keeping with the High
Court order) on Tuesday 9th but
the Member in Charge, Chegutu ,Chief
Inspector Manyika, was not around so
the eviction did not take place. He
said that he would do it today, Thursday
11th June.
The sheriff went to police and to carry out the eviction this
morning. He
was given 8 police details headed by Ass Insp Bepura . Police
came out in
their own vehicle and the sheriff took Bruce Campbells pickup.
When the
sheriff and police arrived at Mt Carmel the thugs all ran away. The
sheriff
loaded up all the thugs belongings and hitched up the DDF tractor to
Bruce's
pick up which is now being towed into Chegutu (now broken and unable
to move
on its own). Police sat in their vehicle the whole time and said
they
refused to help as their job was only to protect the
sheriff.
Bruce soon discovered that the lock to the Mt Carmel house has
been changed
by the thugs and so he was unable to get into the house. Bruce
also soon
realised the thugs were still around, running around the
garden.
Police have now said that they have done their job and will not
return to
help Bruce enter the house or pick up the thugs. The sheriff has
said he
will come out again this afternoon with Bruce to try to enter the
house but
Bruce really needs a police detail and a locksmith to do this so
that he is
not accused of breaking the thugs lock. Police have refused to to
this.
We have asked the sheriff to phone DISPOL (district police) to tell
him that
the police are refusing to carry out the full requirements of the
high court
order.
Further update 3:20pm.......
Bruce is at the
sheriff's office now and Landmine has also arrived there.
Bruce is wanting
the sheriff to go back with him to the farm to open the
lock on the house
and to get into the house. Landmine has said that if Bruce
goes back to MT
Carmel he will get hit. 35 Balclutha workers have arrived at
our house to
move into the Mt Carmel yard in support of us. Ben has managed
to get Kerry
Kay to come down to stay in the Mt Carmel house tonight and
hopefully some
press.
Things might get nasty so please pray.
This entry
was posted by Sokwanele on Thursday, June 11th, 2009
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nokuthula Sibanda Friday 12
June 2009
HARARE - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has
failed to pay back US$100
000 to the PTA Bank, part of a larger amount
belonging to the regional
institution that the central bank was
keeping.
Well-placed sources told ZimOnline that the outstanding money
was part of
US$300 000 the PTA Bank kept in an account held with the RBZ and
which was
to be used for the regional clearing house.
But the central
that has used other private funds without consent from
owners used the money
without permission from the PTA Bank.
The RBZ - charged with raising cash
to keep President Robert Mugabe's
government afloat before the Zimbabwean
leader agreed a unity government
with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai - had
only managed to pay back US$200
000 a few weeks before the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern African
States (COMESA) Summit that took place in
Victoria Falls last week.
The PTA Bank is an institution of COMESA, whose
new chairman is Mugabe.
"The PTA bank is still owed US$100 000 by the RBZ
which is part of the
US$300 000," said a top RBZ official, who did not want
to be named for
professional reasons.
The official added: "Former
central bank chief Kombo Moyana (now with the
regional clearing house) had
to write to Gono (Gideon, RBZ governor) on more
than three occasions to get
the money. The PTA Bank was paid US$200 000, but
we do not know when the
outstanding money will be repaid."
Gono, accused by Finance Minister
Tendai Biti of running the RBZ without
regard to the law and in the process
undermining and weakening the country's
banking and financial system,
confirmed last month that he had raided more
than US$2 billion in funds
belonging to NGOs, private firms and individuals
in order to keep the
government afloat last year.
Funds seized by Gono included US$7.3 million
donated by the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria and meant
to fund programmes to combat
HIV/Aids and other killer diseases. The RBZ
eventually paid back the money.
Gono, who has been under immense pressure
to quit from Tsvangirai and Biti,
has defended his actions as necessary to
beat off western sanctions against
Mugabe's government.
Critics say
most of the funds seized by Gono went to funding a lavish life
for Mugabe
and his cronies.
Gono and Moyana were not immediately available for
comment on the matter. -
ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
11
June 2009
By PAUL
NDLOVU
'I can't believe my son was lying on that desk for three
months'
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe National Army infantry battalion soldiers are
using
classroom desks as beds as the army has no money to buy bunk beds.
This came
to light during the recent pass out parade at the barrack where
140 military
police graduated.
"The situation is bad,
when we came here three months ago we were told that
the desks were a
temporary measure but we have been sleeping on those desks
this whole time,'
said a soldier who graduated at the Military Police
School.
The
soldier said that he had difficulties sleeping when the course commenced
but
got used to the desks after realising that there were no beds coming
their
way after all.
"We were hopeful in the beginning but we lost hope when a
month passed and
there was no word from the superiors," he said.
HQ1
brigade is in charge of training Military Police from all the wings in
the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
A parent who had come all the way from Harare to
witness her son's
graduation almost broke down in tears at the sight of what
her son used as a
bed in the duration of the course.
"This is very
shocking, I can't believe my son was lying on that desk for
three months. It
is so disappointing that a national army is living in such
squalid
conditions, she said.
The woman said that it was disappointing
considering how the Army had come
out in strong defence for Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono, threatening to
go to war after MDC called for his
dismissal yet they lived in pathetic
conditions.
The reviewing
officer, Major General Trust Mugoba declined to comment saying
that it was
not his duty to speak on behalf of the military.
"My job has nothing to
do with commenting on army business," he said.
http://www.miningweekly.com
By: Oscar
Nkala
12th June 2009
US-based Business Monitor International
(BMI) has warned that despite the
establishment of a unity government,
Zimbabwe still has a long way to go
before it recovers fully economically,
with the main short-term challenges
facing the economy, in general, and the
mining sector, in particular, being
a persistent shortage of foreign
currency, a dearth of skilled workers and
frequent power cuts.
This
warning, contained in a new report, follows a revelation by the Chamber
of
Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ) that gold production in 2008 declined by 49%
from
the 2007 figure.
"It should also be reiterated that Zimbabwe still suffers
from
hyperinflation and frequent power shortages. The Zimbabwean dollar is
no
longer widely accepted as a valid source of any real value and the
economy
now only deals in the South African rand or the US dollar," says
BMI.
However, BMI argues this gloomy picture can be changed for the better if
the
country creates an enabling environment for investors to revamp the
mining
sector.
"The geology of Zimbabwe is very richly endowed. Of the 40
known metals and
minerals that it is home to, gold, platinum, and chrome
form the principal
endowments. The country's gold reserves are among the
largest in the African
region, while it hosts the second-largest platinum
reserves in the world.
Another segment that has caught the attention of
miners in Zimbabwe is
diamonds, after the discovery of a number of
significant kimberlites," reads
the BMI report.
Owing to several negative
forces still at play in Zimbabwe, BMI says it
remains pessimistic and
predicts a further decline in production across the
mining sector this
year.
"The slump in global metal prices is forcing mines to cut back
production.
Under these conditions, it is no surprise that BMI is pessi-
mistic about
the prospects of Zimbabwe's mining sector in the short term.
Indeed, in
2008, we estimated that the sector fell by almost 6% in real
terms, while
2009 should see a further decline."
The report identifies
gold- and nickel-mining as two particularly vulnerable
segments of the
industry, noting the liquidity crisis that is still hobbling
gold producers
and the sharp decline in international nickel prices which
saw the country's
largest nickel producer close down in November last year.
"However, the
nation has abundant mineral resources and a well-developed,
albeit deterio-
rating, infrastructure network. In this sense, there is hope
that the
country's mining sector can begin to recover, especially when the
global
economy returns to growth." It concludes: "The future of the industry
lies
in the hands of the new unity government.
"It must be remembered that many
problems are self-inflicted . . . Until the
political situation resolves
itself, it is hard to hold anything but a
negative prognosis. In 2013, we
expect the industry to be worth around
US$0,18-billion, although this will
depend on how the currency will fare
over the next five
years."
Meanwhile, CoMZ president David Murangari describes the performance
of
Zimbabwe's mining industry in 2008 as "dismal and gloomy".
"Most mines
operated under extremely difficult macroeconomic conditions for
the first
nine months of the year. There is a dire need for the
recapitalisation of
the industry."
http://www.voanews.com
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C
12 June
2009
U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai Friday in Washington. The two leaders are
expected to discuss
what has been described as Harare's difficult road
ahead.
Washington has said it wants to see reforms to the rule of law and
human
rights in Zimbabwe before it resumes financial aid.
Early this
year, Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader, joined embattled
President
Robert Mugabe in a unity government in a bid to resolve the
country's
political and economic crisis.
"It is very important that America
supports Mr. Tsvangirai," says political
analyst Rejoice Mbwenya. "So there
is a lot of expectation that perhaps for
the first time he might come up
with a plan that can support his call for
aid to
Zimbabwe."
Mbwenya adds that some Zimbabweans want international
financial institutions
to look more favorably on the unity government's
effort to revive the
country's ailing economy.
"Usually the idea
behind the expectation is based on that the IMF
[International Monetary
Fund] and the World Bank are likely to be more
amenable to looking at the
Zimbabwe case," he said.
Mbwenya says some people are hopeful Tsvangirai
will make a convincing case
to the U.S. president about the need for
financial assistance. "They just
hope that Mr. Tsvangirai might be able to
persuade President Obama to
consider lifting the sanctions that is imposed
on Zimbabwe," Mbwenya said.
Mbwenya adds that the prime minister's recent
remarks about the progress of
the unity government have been
contradictory.
"Mr. Tsvangirai unfortunately. sends conflicting signals
because in one
minute he will be talking about how difficult it has been
working with
Mugabe.and in the next sentence he will be talking about things
looking up,"
he said.
Meanwhile, in an interview with VOA's Zimbabwe
Service, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai acknowledged the shortcomings of
the unity government. He
also expressed hope that Harare's re-engagement
with the West will yield
positive results.
11 Jun 2009 09:23 pm
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is scheduled to meet with Obama tomorrow. The Economist reports on the state of the country:
For ordinary Zimbabweans, life has begun to get a bit better ...Thanks to the government’s decision to give an allowance of $100 a month to all civil servants (including government ministers), schools and hospitals have started to reopen. Food is back on supermarket shelves—for those who can afford it. Potholes in Zimbabwe’s bumpy roads have begun to be filled in.
But otherwise things are much as they were.
Electricity still often cuts out, sometimes for days on end. An estimated 95% of the population is still without formal jobs. A cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 4,300 people, may have abated but the water and sanitation systems are as decrepit as ever. Meanwhile, HIV-AIDS continues to claim some 3,000 lives a week.
Yet, against all the odds, there is a new feeling of hope. Mr Mugabe’s secret police are still everywhere, but the fear has gone. People are willing to speak out more freely. Demonstrations and MDC rallies are no longer met with the same violence. Foreign investors are sniffing around. But neither they nor international donors will put big money back into Zimbabwe until they can be sure that property rights and the rule of law are being respected. That, plainly, could still take some time.
http://www.ft.com
By Tony Hawkins and Richard Lapper
Published: June
11 2009 23:36 | Last updated: June 11 2009 23:36
When Morgan Tsvangirai
meets US President Barack Obama on Friday he will be
at pains to dispel the
notion that he is on a "begging bowl mission".
The Zimbabwe prime
minister talks in terms of "international re-engagement".
One of his
deputies, Arthur Mutambara, told a meeting of the World Economic
Forum in
Cape Town this week that the simple fact of the meeting with Mr
Obama itself
constitutes a "victory".
But whether Mr Tsvangirai and his supporters
in the Movement for Democratic
Change like it or not the prime minister's
three week tour of western
capitals will be judged at home by his success in
raising money.
Although Zimbabwe's economy has stabilised since the local
currency was
effectively replaced late last year by the South African rand
and the US
dollar, the coalition government between the MDC and President
Robert Mugabe's
Zanu PF - which took office four months ago - is in urgent
need of very much
greater economic assistance.
Manufacturing and
mining output is recovering; banks have greater liquidity
and the government
has secured some $1bn in trade finance - mainly from the
Cairo-based African
Export Import Bank in Cairo and the PTA Bank (part of
the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa). At the same time
Botswana and South Africa
have also come forward with credit lines.
But the the economic advance is
extremely sluggish and the government is
desperately short of cash. It needs
$250m a month just to be able to meet
the current civil service "allowance"
of $100 a month, let alone pay the "proper
salaries" that it has promised to
introduce into the public service from
July.
According to an April
report by the International Monetary Fund, it was
already on course to
register a $200m shortfall in terms of its $1bn revenue
target in 2009.
Donors are set to disburse more humanitarian assistance than
last year's
$600m. In the first quarter of this year $300m was promised.
But without
much bigger sums - specifically for budgetary and balance of
payments
support - the government will be unable to pay its bills and the
economy
will remain in intensive care.
Donors though are unlikely to make
significant payments unless they see more
evidence that the rule of law is
being restored. Government ministers from
both sides of the country's
political divide continue to insist that they
are working well
together.
"We have worked so well as an inclusive government," Patrick
Chinamasa, a
Zanu PF minister told the WEF in Cape Town. But there is
continuing deadlock
in a number of areas. So far, Mr Tsvangirai has been
unable to dislodge two
key Zanu PF ministers and allies of Mr Mugabe whose
presence in government
it opposes.
Gideon Gono, the governor of the
central bank judged responsible for much of
Zimbabwe's economic chaos in
recent years and a bete noir among donors,
remains governor of the Central
Bank. Johannes Tomana, who is accused of
ordering illegal land takeovers, is
still attorney general.
Mr Tsvangirai has not made much progress either
in lifting repressive media
and law and order legislation. Indeed, to the
fury of the country's
remaining 300 white farmers Mr Tsvangirai recently
described the farm
invasions as "so-called attacks" and "isolated incidents"
that had been
"blown out of proportion" by the media.
The Commercial
Farmers Union says that since the government of national
unity took office
in mid-February more than 100 farmers have been charged in
the courts with
being on their farms "illegally" while some 80 farms have
been occupied by
Mugabe loyalists costing thousands of farm worker jobs.
In Cape Town,
both Mr Mutambara and finance minister, Tendai Biti, insist
progress is
being made. But according to donors in many parts of the country
the
government is simply not in control of events. Even when the politicians
agree a course of action, demoralised civil servants are simply unable to
put it into effect.
"It is not just that the right hand does not
know what the left is doing,
but the left-hand doesn't know what the left
hand is doing," said one
exasperated donor. In addition, they argue that the
inexperienced and
under-resourced administration is not handling its
relationship with
development agencies effectively. "They keep coming to us
wanting a few
million for this or that but what we need is a coherent
medium-term
framework," he added.
All this suggests that Mr
Tsvangirai will return from his trip with good
wishes ringing in his ears
but little else.
Last week the Dutch government made clear that it wanted
to see more reform
in Harare before it opened its cheque book. So did
Johnnie Carson, assistant
secretary of State for African Affairs in the
Obama administration and, as a
former US ambassador to Harare, a man who
knows President Mugabe well.
"There is no indication that the US
government is prepared to lift
[targeted] economic sanctions against those
in Zimbabwe who have been most
responsible for undermining the country's
democracy and destroying its
economy," Mr Carson said. More political,
social and economic reforms were
needed first, he added.
That is
likely to leave the Zimbabwe government limping along. One western
diplomat
said that there is a strong case to provide "enough oxygen" to keep
the
fragile coalition on the rails.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Lizwe Sebatha Friday
12 June 2009
BULAWAYO -A top official of Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF
party, John Nkomo, has filed an urgent chamber
application seeking an order
to stop his eviction from a lucrative safari
farm, following last week's
High Court ruling against him.
Justice
Francis Bere sitting in the Bulawayo High Court ordered the deputy
sheriff
to evict Nkomo - who is also a minister of state in Zimbabwe's unity
government - from Jijima Lodge in the wildlife-rich Gwayi River Conservancy
to pave way for businessman Langton Masunda, with whom he has been engaged
in a land dispute.
But Nkomo, through his lawyer, Christopher
Dube-Banda, of Dube-Banda,
Nzarayapenga and Partners, says last week's
ruling against him is "suspect"
and, if carried out, will prejudice him
since he had obtained hunting quotas
for 2009.
"If 1st respondent is
allowed to execute the Writ issued against me on 2
June 2009 I will suffer
irreparable harm. The land allocated to me is in the
Gwayi Conservancy area
with its main activity being tourism.
"I was given my hunting quota by
the Department of Parks and Wildlife
Authority for the 2009 hunting season.
It is clear from the foregoing that
1st respondent is desperately in need of
the occupation of the lodge to
launch his illegal hunts," Nkomo
wrote.
Masunda and the Deputy Sheriff are cited as the first and second
respondents
respectively. The matter has not been set down for a
hearing.
Jijima - on a farm seized from a white farmer during the height
of Mugabe's
chaotic land redistribution programme - had been subject of an
ownership
wrangle after Nkomo, then land reform minister, allocated the farm
to
Masunda about five years ago only to try to grab the property allegedly
after discovery at a later stage that the farm had a successful safari lodge
on it.
Nkomo who has lost numerous court challenges against Masunda,
argues that
the Lodge is his, saying it is within his Lugo Ranch which he
allocated
himself in 2003.
Masunda however claims the lodge is his,
saying it is within the boundary of
his Volunteer farms 47, 48 and
49.
The dispute between Nkomo and Masunda over the lodge nearly turned
fatal a
month ago when the young brother to Masunda was shot five times by
security
officers employed by Nkomo.
The security officer, Eddie
Sigoge, was charged with attempted murder and
unlawful possession of a
firearm and was granted bail when he appeared in
court in Bulawayo last
month.
The wrangle over Jijima Lodge only helps to highlight the chaos,
violence
and thuggery that have characterised Mugabe's land reforms he
started in
2000.
On paper, the land reforms were to benefit poor
black peasant farmers
deprived of arable land by former colonial governments
but most of the best
farms seized from whites ended up in the hands of
Mugabe's officials, their
relatives and friends.
Land reform has led
to hunger after Mugabe's government failed to provide
blacks resettled on
former white farms with inputs and skills training to
maintain
production.
Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also
had far
reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands of people have lost
jobs
while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is
operating below 15 percent of capacity. - ZimOnline
Corporate Council on Africa
(Washington, DC)
11 June 2009
The Corporate
Council on Africa (CCA) today hosted Zimbabwe Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai and a delegation of Zimbabwean government ministers and
other
senior government officials. CCA used the occasion to emphasize that
before
investing in Zimbabwe most American companies will need to see a
combination
of political and economic reforms to create a sustainable
investment climate
in the Southern African country.
The lunchtime event in Washington was
attended by more than 120 business and
government leaders. It came on the
same day that CCA President and CEO
Stephen Hayes, who is visiting Zimbabwe
at the invitation of the United
States Embassy there, addressed a large
gathering of Zimbabwean business
leaders in Harare. In his remarks, Hayes
advised the Zimbabwean business
community not to expect any significant new
American private sector
investments in the near-term until reforms are made,
but added that the
American business community looks forward to the day when
Zimbabwe is a
"beacon of investment and a leader in addressing Africa's
economic
development needs".
At the Washington luncheon, Mr.
Tsvangirai, saying that "Zimbabwe cannot do
it alone", called on the
American business community to support his
country's reconstruction. He
enumerated efforts taken in the past three
months that have reduced
inflation rates from 500 million percent to minus
three percent, increased
government accountability and addressed corruption.
He reassured the
American audience that his government is working to
establish stability and
rule of law necessary to protect private
investments. He said that the
recently established Multi-Donor Trust Fund,
which is administered by
international donors, will help support Zimbabwe's
economic recovery as it
meets donor criteria for accountability.
Accompanying the prime minister
were Zimbabwe's minister of economic
planning & investment promotion;
the minister of regional integration &
international cooperation; and
the country's minister of tourism &
hospitality industry.
In
addition to having fertile agricultural lands and some of the world's
largest reserves of strategic minerals, Zimbabwe has traditionally been one
of Africa's leading tourist destinations. The country's economy collapsed
following controversial economic reforms that were coupled with harsh
crackdowns on the country's political opposition, including Mr.
Tsvangirai.
Mr. Tsvangirai, who heads a unity government with longtime
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe, is scheduled to meet with President
Barack Obama on
Friday to discuss how the United States can support reforms
to bring about
the rule of law, respect for human rights, and free and fair
elections in
Zimbabwe.
About The Corporate Council on
Africa
Established in 1993, The Corporate Council on Africa is a
nonpartisan 501
(c) (3) membership organization of nearly 180 U.S. companies
dedicated to
strengthening the commercial relationship between the U.S. and
Africa. CCA
members represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector
investments
in Africa. The organization is dedicated to bringing together
potential
business partners and to showcase business opportunities on the
continent.
From September 29-October 1, 2009, CCA convenes the U.S.-Africa
Business
Summit, the premier private sector trade and investment forum
between the
U.S. and the nations of Africa. For more information, visit
www.africacncl.org.
CONTACT:
Andrea Todd, (202) 263-3538, atodd@africacncl.org
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou Friday
12 June 2009
HARARE - A French-based humanitarian aid group
is set to open a new mission
in Zimbabwe next month in a further sign of
improved relations between
Harare and charities.
Solidarites, which
provides aid to victims of war and natural disasters
around the globe, is to
start a food security programme from July 1 onwards.
Constance Decorde,
the group's communications officer, said about six
million Zimbabweans - two
fifths of the country's population - faced food
shortages.
"This
programme will target those living in urban and urban-fringe areas
with no
access to land and therefore no revenue,'' said Decorde in a
statement.
Solidarites is currently present in 13 countries and has
previously provided
humanitarian aid in Iraq, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo,
Macedonia, Bosnia,
Romania, Rwanda, Angola, Pakistan and
Lebanon.
Decorde said the programme involved setting up "family vegetable
plots,
together with distribution of tools, technical support and
horticultural
training to enable people to gain access to a means of
subsistence".?
"In parallel, by building irrigation wells to serve the
family vegetable
plots, these vulnerable populations will receive a minimum
level of revenue
through a food for work scheme so that they may be able to
meet their basic
food needs," she added.
Zimbabwe, a net exporter of
agricultural produce before the turn of the
millennium, has faced food
shortages following the land reform programme
that saw agricultural
production plummeting to low levels.
About a quarter of the population
has survived on food aid since the land
reform programme in 2000, in a
country where life expectancy is one of the
lowest in the world, according
to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Humanitarian agencies last week
issued a revised appeal requesting US$718
million, an increase of US$168
million from the original appeal launched in
November 2008, to meet the food
requirements of six million starving
Zimbabweans. - ZimOnline
Editorial
The Guardian, Friday 12
June 2009
Yesterday morning Radio 4's Today programme broadcast a
heart-rending report
from Zimbabwe. It put the concerns of British political
life, which usually
dominate the show, into moving human context. The third
in a series of
pieces recorded undercover in the country by the BBC's
correspondent, Mike
Thomson, it described the life of a 14-year old boy,
Patrick. His father is
dead and his mother is dying with Aids. He cares for
her and his 10-year-old
sister - trying, he said, to be both a mother and a
father to her. His story
was bleak and simple, and it is being repeated all
over Zimbabwe, a country,
Thomson reported this week, where there are 1.5
million orphans among only
11 million people. "I no longer go to school -
that dream is over," said
Patrick, who has cared for his family since he was
12. Each day, he said, he
cleaned clothes, fetched water and firewood, and
looked for food, begging
from neighbours. "Sometimes I am lucky and
sometimes I am not," he said
sadly. When his mother is very ill, he carries
her to hospital. He takes her
to the toilet. "Only when I die will he have
his freedom," said his mother -
but Patrick insisted he would never abandon
his sister. It is hard to see
much hope for him: Aids and Zimbabwe's
economic collapse are crushing lives,
and the country's new unity government
has not yet made much of a
difference. Thomson's reports - still available
online - are a reminder of
how much people can suffer in their lives, and
how nobly and calmly they can
respond.
Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman
for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
Landline: 263 4
336710
Landline/Fax: 263 4 339065
Mobile: 263 11 603
213
Email: galorand@mweb.co.zw
Website: www.zctf.mweb.co.zw
Website: www.zimbabwe-art.com
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM - No..zw with "For
Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Dear JAG,
Sanctions, Sanctions and more Sanctions Please
So much
has been said about sanctions by the West on Zimbabwe and I am
also reading
that the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai , is on a mission
to persuade the
US, Britain and Europe to remove the sanctions against
Zimbabwe. As a
concerned Zimbabwean citizen I wanted to know two things
about these
sanctions:
1. What these sanctions are and
2. What the demands
are by those who imposed the sanctions.
On point "1" my research revealed
that the sanctions are:
· An arms embargo on Zimbabwe
· A travel
ban on individuals in ZANU PF who are believed to be behind
the violence
against Zimbabwean citizens, those who act above the laws of
the country and
those who violet conventional human rights such as
freedom from torture which
is an absolute human right.
· A freeze on financial accounts (held in the
western banks and financial
institutions) of all the banned
people.
On point "2", what I found was that those imposing the sanctions
are
saying is that:
· Stop killing Zimbabweans for voting the way they
want. In other words
the demand is, "stop beating and killing Zimbabweans for
choosing the
president of their country".
· Stop picking up citizens
from their homes in the dead of the night for
it is against the laws of your
country to do so.
· Stop torturing Zimbabweans that you "arrest" or
kidnap whether in the
dead of the night or in broad daylight. People deserve
respect.
· Don't starve people of Zimbabwe especially when we (the West)
give you
food to feed the nation and you should stop evicting/killing the
farmers
who produce the food that feeds the nation.
I trust my
research is in line with the general perception and given that
this is the
true scenario, surely Zimbabwe does not need more arms as it
is surrounded by
friendly nations that are all part of a friendly bloc,
SADC. So any embargo
on arms is ineffectual. Zimbabwe is now twenty nine
years into self rule and
under the same leader. So we cannot say or that
leader spoiled it for us. It
is just the same one.
I fail to fathom the impact of a travel ban on an
individual would have
on the socio -political economy of a country. I need
help on this.
Similarly, what economic impact is created by freezing a
ZANU PF
politburo member's USA $6m account? Absolutely nothing if I was to
answer
that.
I have heard some ill-considered arguments that the MFI
and the World
Bank have sanctions on Zimbabwe. Rubbish! I would say. These
two
institutions represent the first order of capitalism in its true
sense.
They are there to make money. If Zimbabwe can pay its debts,
these
institutions would continue to lend to Zimbabwe irrespective of who is
in
power in that country.
As a Zimbabwean I am wondering why it should
take sanctions by foreigners
against the powers that be in Zimbabwe to ensure
that Zimbabweans realise
their sovereignty and are treated with dignity by
their own fellow
citizens. If the sanctions are an attempt to ensure that
Zimbabweans are
given back their dignity, respect, autonomy and freedoms then
I can hear
clamours of Sanctions, Sanctions and more Sanctions! - from all
corners
of Zimbabwe.
On reflection - if indeed the Prime Minister,
Morgan Tsvangirai is
touring America and Europe advocating for the dropping
of sanctions,
whose corner is he fighting in? The truth is: Morgan Tsvangirai
did not
impose the smart sanctions and as such he hasn't got the power to
have
them lifted. Only those in Nkayi, Gwanda, Masvingo, Chimanimani,
Mudzi,
Zvimba, Mtoko, Silobela, Chipinga, Chirundu and the rest of Zimbabwe
have
the power to say Free at last! Free at last! Only then will the
world
will listen. The future of Zimbabwe is not going to be determined
by
those who are dying off but by those who are living.
My message to
those in power is that you should never take people for
granted.
Is
there someone out there who can tell the people of Zimbabwe the truth
about
the sanctions? My own perspective is as given above.
John Huruva jhuruva2002@yahoo.co.uk
London
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2.
Dear Jag,
I have been reading, with disbelief, the saga about
Tsvangirais' 'niece'.
Dr Arikana Chihombori, born in Zimbabwe but has
been living in America
for 30 years - CEO of two Medical Centres - thinks she
has the right to a
piece of land in Zimbabwe.
Sure she is, but one
would think that she would be in a position to buy
it?
She has made a
statement (this is what has prompted me to comment),
giving reasons why she
feels she is entitled to land. She says that Mr
Cremer verbally abused her
sister. Well, anyone who knows Mr and Mrs
Cremer would know that these
gentle folk who only want to continue living
and farming in the country of
their birth, with their family, would never
in a million years, do
that.
Doesn't she understand that basically the white Zimbabweans who are
still
in this country are not racist - if they were they wouldn't be
living
here, thats for sure.
We now have reverse racism - hatred from
an American Citizen against a
white Zimbabwean.
Dr Chihombori is also
quoted as saying (to a journalist no less) that the
reason she also feels she
is entitled to illegally take the Cremers
entire livlihood away from them is
that "My fathers' hut was burnt down
by a white."
Correct me if I'm
wrong, but I always thought that doctors were highly
intelligent
people.
I wonder what her patients will think about having a doctor who
feels she
has the right to steal land from genuine citizens of Zimbabwe, but
- as
the Zimbabwe Government says - we are redressing the wrongs of the
past
and giving land TO LANDLESS PEASANTS!
Maybe Dr Arikana Chihombori
should add this to her list of degrees - it
would look good in
Tennessee:
DR ARIKANA CHIHOMBORI, Landless Peasant!!!
What is it
about black Zimbabweans who have been in America for
sometime? They seem to
be descending on Chegutu.
Edna Madzongwe, lived and worked in the USA -
her daughter Farai, is an
American citizen who has been working and living in
Germany for 8 years.
They also feel they are entitled to take an entire
generations work and
investment away from them - i.e. Stockdale Citrus
Estate.
Please, enough already, just leave us to live our lives in
peace.
Katherine
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3.
Dear JAG,
Thank you, Jill Baker, for your comments.
I
wholeheartedly agree with every word you write. Then let's call it a
day and
get on with our lives.........
Yes, we ARE the most resilient nation I
can think of. Yes, we do carry on
against all odds, yes, there ARE a lot of
us, both black and white, who
DO pull together, with a common objective, to
make this most fantastic
country work again. But we cannot ignore those who
are pulling in the
opposite direction all the time and putting the proverbial
spokes in the
wheels of change.......
When I think of the UDI years,
the Rhodesian war years and international
sanctions, yes, I DO think 'wow,
how fantastic this country was, how
marvellous the people were, to come
through against all odds'
But really, look at us now..........??? Yes, we
ARE soldiering on and
there ARE some truly fantastic, remarkable people,
black and white,
trying their best to 'fix it'.......and yet, for all the
'positives',
there are still so many 'negatives' which ARE affecting a lot of
us in
all manner of ways..........you cannot deny this and it's all very
well
for people who no longer live in Zimbabwe to write when they are
NOT
physically EXPERIENCING what the people 'on the ground' in Zimbabwe
ARE
living daily.
What WOULD be fantastic, would be for all those who
have left Zimbabwe,
to return - take up where they left off, rebuild their
lives here and
return this wonderful land to its former
glory............
I return to Zimbabwe within a fortnight, I cannot wait
to walk around my
garden again, barefoot, with the dogs at my heels and feed
my ducks and
bantams again...I cannot wait to see the brilliant vibrant
colours of the
new msasa leaves in a couple of months time....pick mulberries
from the
tree,........and enjoy the sunrises and sunsets that seem to be the
most
beautiful only in Zimbabwe........I might not be able to text any of
my
family to let them know I am home safely, I might not be able to pick
up
the phone to call a near neighbour to let them know I am home, I
might
not be able to email anyone for a while.......but I guess, at the end
of
the day, what the hell, I have my health, I have my family, and I
will
sure as hell make sure I have a good bottle of wine on ice to make it
all
feel much better! So, feeling all fired up now, having had masses
of
'help' (recommended by one reader, and believe you me, I get, and
take,
all the help I need and am doing just fine, thanks) bring on
the
revolution!!
LAST WORD NOW - from
REALIST
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4.
Dear Jag
I was so pleased to read Jill Baker's letter, summing up the
situation
here with such wisdom and maturity. What she said about the "sad
and
unthinking letters that that have flowed recently" many of us will
be
in agreement with. Some years ago I read Cathy Hull's story of her
life
here and the portrayal of the many tragedies she has had in her
life.
What impressed me about her was her honesty in expressing her
true
feelings, her sense of humour and the love she had for this
wonderful
country.
As Jill has so rightly said let us support and let
us respect each
other's views at a time like this. May we start each day
with a spirit
of anticipation, expectation and awareness. Yesterday, whilst
eating
our lunch on the veranda we viewed 7 Red-billed Wood Hoopoes
darting
around our palm tree. What a sight to behold.