The Times
June 14, 2007
Jan
Raath in Harare
Inflation is likely to bring Zimbabwe's economy to a
standstill within six
months with the possible paralysis of President
Mugabe's Government and
civil unrest, international aid agencies warned
their staff yesterday.
The country's plight is likely to see Mr Mugabe
introduce emergency rule,
said a group representing 34 organisations,
including the United Nations,
the International Federation of the Red Cross
and Oxfam.
The warning came as the country's consumer watchdog reported
that the cost
of living for an average urban family had risen by 66 per cent
last month.
In April inflation stood at a record 3,700 per cent.
The
internal memorandum from the Heads of Agencies Contact Group is the
first
evidence that international organisations are taking steps to prepare
for a
collapse.
"The memorandum is talking about a situation where there is no
functioning
Government or a total breakdown," said an agency official who
asked not to
be named. "It is saying it is inevitable, not just a
possibility. Our head
offices have to know. Not many people have experienced
this kind of crisis."
The document says that inflation will continue to
snowball. "Thus economic
collapse is expected before the end of 2007," it
adds.
By that point the Zimbabwean currency will have become unusable and
shops
and services will "substantially cease to function". This is likely to
be
followed by "increased unemployment with concomitantly increased crime
and
possible civil disturbances".
It says that "NGOs should ensure
that their donors and national governments
are aware of current concerns."
It points out that presidential and
parliamentary elections are due to be
held by the end of March next year,
but adds: "If the country is unable to
function, it is difficult to see how
these can be held."
"It can no
longer be said that the health service is 'near collapse'," the
Zimbabwe
Doctors for Human Rights said last week. "It has collapsed."
The
memorandum says that member organisations are forced to pay their staff
weekly as price increases outstrip wages, and before long staff will have to
be given daily increases.
Mr Mugabe's reaction to the deepening
crisis grows increasingly bizarre.
This week he presided over the handover
of 925 imported tractors, 35 combine
harvesters and a range of other
sophisticated equipment which cost $25
million (£12.5 million) of foreign
currency. As far as it could be
established, the recipients are all
politicians.
"Today we are proud masters of our political and economic
destinies," he
said.
In crisis
80%: unemployment
£130:
GDP per capita
-4.4%: growth
39: years life
expectancy
700,000: people had homes and businesses destroyed by the
Government in 2005
27: years with Robert Mugabe in power
$0: funds
left for the Zimbabwean Army to pay for rations
Source: Times archives;
CIA
Financial Times
By Tony Hawkins
Published: June 13 2007 21:56 | Last updated:
June 13 2007 21:56
Notwithstanding the world's highest inflation rate -
by far - and the world's
fastest-contracting economy, the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange is booming, with
share prices trebling in real terms in just 22
weeks.
Earnings and growth fundamentals cannot begin to explain the 4,500
per cent
surge in the ZSE Industrials index since December 2006. Instead,
analysts
cite three main influences - the market is drowning in liquidity as
the
central bank prints money at a breakneck pace; the Zimbabwe dollar has
collapsed in the parallel (unofficial) market from Z$2,900 to the US dollar
at the start of the year to between Z$75,000 and Z$100,000 today, and the
ZSE is more casino than market as investors throw increasingly worthless
Zimbabwe dollars into penny stocks.
Consumer prices rose 55 per cent
last month, according to official figures
leaked this week, taking the
year-on-year inflation rate to 4,350 per cent.
With the authorities pumping
literally thousands of billions of Zimbabwe
dollars into the economy in the
form of subsidies to gold miners, tobacco
and maize farmers and to service
the national debt along with higher wages
for public servants and the
security forces, money supply is growing at an
alarming rate. Meanwhile,
output is contracting rapidly leaving consumers
and investors little to do
with their money other than play the technically
illegal parallel foreign
exchange market or the ZSE. Brains Muchemwah,
economist at Genesis
Investment Bank, estimates that in US dollar terms the
stock market is now
up 38 per cent this year.
He says that a small investor can buy 176
shares in medical group Medtech
for the same price as a loaf of bread. And
with the market poised to "go
through the roof", in the words of Tony
Fisher, managing director of Tetrad
Asset Management, it is hardly
surprising that a whole new class of
investors has discovered the stock
exchange.
Yet ZSE investment re-mains a high-risk strategy. The key
downside risks
include the probability that in the forthcoming supplementary
budget due
next month, the finance minister will impose some form of
short-term capital
gains tax or stock exchange turnover tax.
Then
there is the government's Indigenization and Empowerment Bill - due to
become law by September - that will force foreign-owned companies, of which
there are many on the ZSE, to sell at least 50 per cent of their shares to
"black" Zimbab-wean investors. It is clear that having made this policy
decision in the hope of winning votes in next year's elections, the
government has no idea just what it is taking on or how it will implement
the scheme.
Perhaps the greatest downside risk is that when - rather
than if - the
political bubble bursts, so too will the stock exchange. Those
who believe
that political change will fire the starter's gun for rapid
economic
recovery in Zimbabwe are underestimating the huge damage Robert
Mugabe, the
prime minister, has inflicted over the past 10 years, which will
take at
least a decade, if not a generation, to redress.
But for the
time being, the bulls are in full control.
Zim Online
Thursday 14 June 2007
By
Hendricks Chizhanje
HARARE - A Zimbabwean parliamentary committee on
health and child welfare
says the nation's health delivery system has
virtually collapsed with most
state hospitals and clinics barely able to
offer meaningful services.
The parliamentarians spoke after touring
Harare Central Hospital, Beatrice
Infectious Diseases Hospital and a council
clinic in Harare's working class
suburb of Highfield.
The tour was
meant to assess the impact of a recent work boycott by junior
doctors and
nurses that was called off last week after the government
awarded them
salary increments.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislator
Blessing Chebundo, who
chairs the parliamentary committee, said state
hospitals and clinics were in
an advanced state of decay and urged
government to act quickly to save
lives.
"Things are bad and service
delivery has virtually collapsed. Patients are
being turned away from
hospitals. We need an overhaul in the manner in which
we are running these
institutions," Chebundo said.
Chebundo said there was a critical shortage
of life-prolonging
anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV and
AIDS.
Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa, who is a
member of the
parliamentary committee, could not be reached for comment on
the matter on
Wednesday.
Zimbabwe's health delivery system, once
considered among the best in Africa,
has virtually crumbled due to years of
under-funding and mismanagement with
most patients at state-run hospitals
receiving nothing more than pain
killers because there is no foreign
currency to import essential medicines.
The crisis in the health sector
has been worsened by a severe eight-year old
economic crisis that has seen
inflation shooting beyond 4 500 percent, the
highest in the
world.
The MDC and major western governments blame the crisis on
mismanagement by
President Robert Mugabe's government. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 14 June 2007
By
Sebastian Nyamhangambiri in Berlin
BERLIN - The International Monetary
Fund this week said it was "deeply
concerned" by economic crisis in Zimbabwe
but ruled out an rescue package
unless Harare repays outstanding debt and
implements comprehensive economic
reforms.
An IMF spokesperson
interviewed by ZimOnline by phone from the German
capital, Berlin, described
monetary policy measurers unveiled by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
last April as ad-hoc and inadequate to break
hyperinflation cycle that has
left consumers impoverished and the economy in
deep crisis.
"Recent
ad-hoc policy changes will not resolve the crisis. Changes announced
in the
April monetary policy statement fall far short of a comprehensive
package
that would be needed," said the spokesperson from the IMF's
Washington
headquarters.
Inflation - which shot to 4 530 percent in May and is
described by President
Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe's number one enemy - is the
most visible sign a
deep economic recession that has left more than 80
percent of the labour
force without jobs and spawned shortages of food, fuel
and foreign currency.
The IMF official, who said the Bretton Woods
institution was ready to help
Harare to draw up a comprehensive policy
package to address Zimbabwe's
economic ills, said such a package would
include among other things
eliminating quasi-fiscal spending by the RBZ,
liberalising the exchange rate
and lifting controls on prices of essential
commodities.
She said: "A strong upfront fiscal consolidation, including
elimination of
quasi-fiscal activities, would be a particularly critical
element of a
successful stabilisation programme.
"Other main elements
would include exchange rate unification and full
liberalisation of the
exchange regime for current international payments and
transfers,
liberalisation of price controls and imposition of hard budget
constraints
for public enterprises."
RBZ governor Gideon Gono was not immediately
available to respond to the IMF's
recommendations. Gono, tasked by Mugabe to
lead efforts to revive the
comatose economy is known to prefer co-operating
with the IMF.
However, Gono has rejected calls by the Fund to stop
quasi-fiscal spending
and to liberalise the exchange rate, arguing that
Zimbabwe was in a unique
situation that demanded unorthodox
solutions.
The IMF withdrew balance-of-payments support to Zimbabwe in
1999 following
disagreements with President Robert Mugabe over fiscal policy
and other
governance issues.
The Fund's withdrawal and Mugabe's
chaotic farm seizures that began in 2000
have plunged Zimbabwe into an
economic meltdown described by the World Bank
as unprecedented for a country
not at war. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 14 June 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - Former Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander
Vitalis Zvinavashe has
told voters in rural Gutu North constituency he did
not care whether they
voted for him because President Robert Mugabe would
still appoint him to
Parliament.
A clause in the Constitution allows
Mugabe to appoint a limited number of
individuals to the Houses of Senate
and Assembly ostensibly to represent
minority and other marginalised groups.
He has however used the
controversial clause to reward friends and
supporters by appointing them to
Parliament.
Zvinavashe, infamous for
issuing a threat on the eve of a presidential
election in 2002 to stage a
military coup in the event of Mugabe losing the
poll, was elected Senator
for Gutu North in 2005 after he left the army.
He stunned voters at
Mupandawana rural business centre in the constituency
when he told them
their votes had little with him being senator, saying even
if he lost
re-election he would still be appointed to the House of Senate by
Mugabe
because of his liberation war history.
Zvinvashe, who was elected senator
on a ruling ZANU PF ticket, told bemused
villagers: "Even if you do not vote
for me, I do not care because I know
President Mugabe will appoint me
because of the role I played during the
war. Even if you do not vote for me
the President will know what to do."
A spokesman for ZANU PF supporters
in Gutu North, Kenias Magura, said they
had written to Senate President Edna
Madzongwe to order the retired army
general to apologise for his offending
remarks.
Magura said: "We have written a letter to the President of the
Senate Edna
Madzongwe for him to come here and apologise or be dismissed
from the
Senate. We voted him into power and how can he talk to us like
that?"
Zvinavashe, a short tempered and straight talking fellow,
yesterday said he
had no apology to make since he had only spoken the truth.
"People might be
offended with my remarks but that is the truth. My role
during the war
speaks for itself," he told ZimOnline.
While
Zvinavashe's forthright manner could be because of his military
background,
the utter disrespect for rural voters that is all too evident in
his remarks
highlights the contempt ZANU PF often displays for the
villagers, who
ironically are its most faithful constituency.
The late Simon Muzenda,
who was vice president of ZANU PF and the
government, in 2000 once told
voters in one rural constituency in Masvingo
province that even if the
ruling party chose a baboon as a candidate, their
duty was to vote for the
animal without ever questioning the party's
choice. - ZimOnline
The Zimbabwean
*Army on high alert
*Generals under house arrest
BY ITAI DZAMARA
HARARE
A massive dragnet
has been cast all over Zimbabwe in a manhunt for senior
defence force
officers alleged to have been involved in a foiled coup
attempt. The army
has been put on high alert following what highly-placed
sources described as
'an increasingly dangerous situation'.
The Zimbabwean can reveal that
Lieutenant Colonel David Matapo of General
Headquarters in Harare was the
leader of a group of seven army and police
officers arraigned before the
courts last week and charged with treason
after being arrested at an office
in central Harare.
It has also been confirmed by top officials that Deputy
Commander of the Air
Force of Zimbabwe, Air Vice Marshall Elson Moyo, and
Major General Engelbert
Rugeje from army headquarters have been placed under
house arrest.
The sources say Mugabe and his henchmen "have discovered that
there is a
network of army leaders with advanced plans to remove the
regime". Colonel
Ben Ncube is also reportedly being hunted after the CIO
alleged that he was
involved in the coup plans.
"All army barracks have
been put on high alert and the situation is
increasingly getting dangerous
as the hunt continues," a senior official
said. "State security agents have
been getting information through torturing
those arrested." Sources say the
coup plans involved very senior army
officials, while other indicators
point towards the involvement of senior
government officials or former
leaders of the defence forces. Huge numbers
of small weapons, such as
rifles, have been said to be missing from army
barracks and sources say
investigations by state agents show they have been
found in the hands of the
coup plotters.
The Defence minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, has continued to
dismiss the coup
plot, saying arrests of soldiers guilty of misconduct were
a daily
occurrence in the defence forces. In addition to the top officials,
this
paper is reliably informed that up to 150 middle and junior members
have
been rounded up, with fears many of them could have been executed.
A
combination of disgruntlement over poor salaries as well as the general
suffering of the nation as hyperinflation continues to choke Zimbabwe has
been attributed to the rising levels of unrest within the defence forces.
There have been reports that some senior army officials have given President
Robert Mugabe an ultimatum for him to either step down or they take things
into their own hands.
zimbabwejournalists.com HOT SEAT INTERVIEW: Jenni Williams, Chenjerai Hove and Stan Mukasa Broadcast on Tuesday 12 June Violet Gonda: The discussion on the programme Hot Seat this
week centres on the issue of talks and elections and whether or not there are
alternatives to talks and elections. My guests on the programme are Jenni
Williams, the co-ordinator of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise,
Zimbabwean poet and writer Chenjerai Hove and Professor Stanford Mukasa, a
political commentator. Welcome on the programme Hot
Seat. Violet: I’m going to start with Jenni on the issue of the
talks and also the elections that are scheduled for next year. What is the
feeling on the ground on these two issues? Jenni Williams: On the issue of an election, you know, as
far as we’re concerned as members of WOZA and MOZA, and, just as ordinary
Zimbabweans, to have an election in a climate where you are starving, where 4000
people are dying every day, is totally irrelevant. And, right now I don’t know
whether anyone is even pre-occupied or thinking or even looking forward to the
day of any election and even thinking they will leave their homes for that day.
So an election and even the discourse about an election is pretty irrelevant. We
are just looking at how to survive today. On the issue of talks we have a little
bit of a slightly different reaction because the situation; the cost of living,
everything is just tough and so people are just saying: “Today, how am I going
to survive. Let me spend a little bit of today thinking about how we can put
pressure to make this Mbeki initiative at least become something close to being
genuine and, if don’t do something like that, I know what will happen. It will
be a repeat of the deals before, Lancaster House and others where politicians
speak at a level that is totally irrelevant and then cut political deals in our
name, and then we end up with nothing. So I have got to be able to have some
voice, some recognition, some acknowledgement on that table if I might find that
tomorrow will be a bit easier for me.” Violet: And you were arrested in Bulawayo last week together
with 7 other women and just on Monday about 150 WOZA women were arrested after
they handed themselves in at the Filabusi Police Station. Now, your group has
been holding demonstrations, or trying to, for inclusion in these talks. Are any
of these demonstrations having any impact on the talks? Jenni Williams: Well, I don’t know if we actually want to be
included in the talks. I think our role is more to project what should be on the
agenda of the talks, and that is more what we are pre-occupied with. We do not
think that sitting right directly there will be time well spent because our role
is a watchdog role. We need to be on the sidelines pushing an agenda on and then
making sure that those discussions and the discourse and the issues that we want
addressed are addressed in the talks. If they are not addressed we then are
still free and have that arms length role to be able to keep insisting and keep
pushing and keep on making sure our issues are being more genuinely discussed.
So I think that is our role as WOZA. We recognise that role, all our members
understand it very well and that’s why we are able to mobilise them to keep
active and to keep putting pressure. Violet : And what should be on the agenda? Jenni Williams : It should be dealing with the socio
economic crisis. We have our ten steps that we have recommended and in each of
those ten steps, if they are progressively done, we will be able to have a
better climate and then we will be interested in talking about an election.
Until we get those ten steps addressed and until we have a better climate, until
all the unjust laws have been repealed and until we have done an audit of the
civil servants and disbanded the Law and Order, we won’t be able to have a
climate where a truly free and fair election with one man/one woman one vote can
be conducted and give us a now independent and fresh start for Zimbabweans. Violet: The continued arrests and beatings of Opposition and
rights defenders have left many to question the validity of the Mbeki led
negotiations and also the participation of the MDC in the talks. Now, some ask
how can we allow talks to take place while Mugabe is given free reign to put his
violence and rigging machinery in place. What do you say to this? Jenni Williams : Well, again, it’s a matter of agenda and
mandate. You know the MDC should actually be able to look at on what basis they
will go into the talks and they should be able to envision and come up with the
climate that they need for those talks to be conducted. If it’s the freedom of
all their members in custody, if it’s a different environment, it’s their agenda
to press for that. We are not interested in pursuing their agenda or even a ZANU
agenda. We are only interested in pursuing our agenda; that we need for what
will be discussed when those talks take place. And, if Mbeki is to be a fair
arbitrator and also a genuine mediator, he will also be pressing from his angle
that those talks should be able to engage the issues that would make Zimbabwe
liveable. Violet : And, Mr Hove, what are your views on these
talks? Chenjerai Hove: I think the talks should be all-inclusive.
By that I mean that it is no longer possible for political parties to deal with
the situation in Zimbabwe . It is important that all interested parties should
be included in these talks so that they don’t seem to be pushing party political
agendas. They have to be inclusive; everybody: WOZA, MDC, the constitutional
movement, the youth, Lawyers for Human Rights, they must be included in these
talks if they are going to be substantial talks. Violet: But the Opposition has said that these other
stakeholders would be included in these talks and this is just a preliminary
stage. Chenjerai Hove: Yes, yes, it’s better to include everybody
in the preliminary stage because you have to draft the agenda, you have to get
all the items on the table which are coming from everybody and then you go on.
Otherwise you can’t take people or some other people on half way through the
journey. So I think it’s important that we realise that this is a national
crisis which is political, social, economic and cultural. It must include
everybody who has a stake in what we want to do for our country. Violet: Now, some Zimbabweans say that this is déjà vu and
that they have seen this happen with ZANU and ZAPU, so how can the MDC ensure
that they don’t suffer the same fate? Chenjerai Hove: Yes, the MDC has to be cautious that’s why I
am talking about an all inclusive discussion table, because ZAPU went in as ZAPU
and it was swallowed by ZANU PF. Now, if they went on as MDC, MDC now are going
in as a minor partner in the discussion because ZANU will say ‘Oh no, look, you
don’t have many seats in parliament, you are a minor partner, you don’t have
much negotiating power’, which was the same with ZAPU. But if you include
everybody else, the Churches, all the Women’s’ organisations, Men’s
organisations, Lawyers for Human Rights, Women for Human Rights, then the risk
of being swallowed by ZANU PF and put on the ZANU PF train will be less; will be
reduced. Violet: And also, Mr Hove, what about the situation on the
ground right now that is worsening, so while people are talking about talks,
Mugabe is carrying on with what he’s always done for seven years especially, you
know beating up opponents, arresting opponents. Now, shouldn’t that be a
precondition to talks, you know to stop the violence, to stop the arrests? Chenjerai Hove: The violence definitely has to stop. I think
Mr Mbeki, if he wants to be seen as a serious negotiator; facilitator, he should
make sure that he clearly tells President Mugabe that this has to stop. You
can’t negotiate while you are killing the other negotiating partners, you are
torturing them, people are being disappeared and being people are being
imprisoned. So that violence has to stop and that negotiation table must include
a lot of basic changes. The laws which have been made to safeguard Mugabe’s
power; ZANU PF’s power; must be on the table and those have to be removed.
Electoral laws, POSA; all those laws just make it impossible to have no violence
in the country. So, if those are put aside and negotiations are done on that
basis; a genuine basis. Because, if you look at what happened to Ian Smith, for
example, it was one South African President who said ‘if you don’t negotiate
with the blacks in Zimbabwe, the consequences are going to be too ghastly to
contemplate and this is exactly what Mbeki must tell Mugabe. Violet: And now, Professor Mukasa, you know there are those
who believe that Mugabe is using delaying tactics and that the MDC seems to be
following his agenda and that it’s becoming like a daily pilgrimage for the
Opposition going to South Africa . Now, are there an alternative to talks and is
the initiative becoming a waste of time? Professor Mukasa : Yes, of course there are alternatives to
talks but those alternatives are aimed at bringing pressure. Ultimately, any
conflict is resolved at a conference table. The problem with the present talks
is that Mugabe’s agenda is likely to prevail simply because MDC does not have
any bargaining power at all. You see, if you go to a conference table and you
have nothing on your side to show that you are also strong, you are going to be
swallowed up by the other person’s agenda. Right now, I was talking to an MDC
official the other day who said ‘well, if you can suggest alternatives to
participating in elections, let us know’. You see that’s a tacit admission that
we don’t have any bargaining power because going to the conference table is
tantamount to power politics. You know, people who sit and face each other
across the table, each must have what I may call a stick, a power base which can
make their demands credible and believable from the other person’s perspective.
When ZANU engaged in a dialogue with Ian Smith, it was against the background of
each partner, each group, having a power base. Now, the power base for the MDC
is obviously the civil society and what is needed now is to create that kind of
environment that will make it clear; unequivocally clear; that he does not
posses all the power. Mugabe, right now, is dependent on the military power he
thinks he can wield at any time he wants to. What MDC needs to do now is to link up with the rest of the civil society and
make it clear to Mugabe that if he does not accede to the basic demands; demands
like just social equities, you know, the basic necessities that Jenni talked
about; the need to bring about free and fair elections, the need to bring back
the Rule of Law, the need to bring back true democracy and the kinds of economic
reforms that are needed to make Zimbabweans move forward and make Zimbabweans
feel there is something for them in this post-colonial era. Unless MDC can
marshal that power and strength; that power base, they are going as junior
partners to the conference table with Mugabe. And, Mugabe can postpone the talks
as much as he wants, and even if he were to come to the conference table, he is
not likely to take those talks seriously because he has got so much confidence
in this own power base. And, one thing that must be recognised is that, the agenda for talks;
according to Mugabe; is not to save Zimbabwe , but to save himself; to save
himself from the kinds of prosecutions that could arise. Mugabe has lost
interest in the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe , Mugabe has no vested
interest in bringing back free and fair elections. He knows what’s going to
happen to him. Free and fair elections are going to be a death knell to him
politically and in terms of his career and his party. And, he knows what lies
ahead for him if the Rule of Law is ever to return to Zimbabwe . So, he has a
power base, namely the military, and because he does not believe that the talks
as envisaged by the MDC and Mbeki and the International Community will work to
his interest. He is going to hold out. He has survived for seven years now and
he feels he can hold out indefinitely. So, what is needed right now, I wouldn’t
talk about alternatives to talks, I would talk about developing a power base in
order to become a real force at the talks or to force Mugabe to move away from
his agenda of self survival to the agenda for the survival of the nation. Violet: But how do they do that exactly because some say
both the Opposition and the general civic society have failed to develop
meaningful rhetoric free programmes which would deliver tangible immediate
outcomes. So, what suggestions can you give? Professor Mukasa: Well, then you have to start asking
yourself Jenni: If I can also come in here? Violet : Yes Jenni Williams: The one thing that we recognise, if MDC
definitely thought they had to go to a table with bargaining power and a power
base, they would have consulted civic society; they would have gone to the
communities. They have not done that. So the first thing that needs to be done,
is that anyone who calls themselves a civic or political leader needs to
re-examine their agenda and ask themselves whether they are in it for the long
haul or they are just in it for personal enrichment and positions and the glory.
If they are please its time for them to please step aside. We need people who
are going to understand they must be in this for reform and a real transitional
process and not a quick fix. If we then have those kind of people then those
people will be more inclined to go and develop a power base, to go and engage
people, to genuinely meet with WOZA, to genuinely meet with other mass based
movements and say, OK, how can we now unite, how can we come together, what
memorandum of understanding can we come up with and then we will go forward.
That is the kind of solution but with the current crop that you have I don’t
know if those people even have the intention to respect someone enough to ask
them what is it and how can we work together to have a power base and give us
more bargaining power and that is the grade zero of the whole problem Violet: Now Jenni still on that issue about consultation.
Now as I said earlier, your group has been embarking on these demonstrations,
but have you had any response from the MDC? Jenni Williams : No, we don’t engage with them, they don’t
engage with us, which is actually a very sad thing that I have to admit and it’s
the truth and so I don’t mind. But I can tell you that the other problem here
that is coming and that is not actually seen, is we who are in the communities,
we understand, we hear the heartbeat of the communities, ZANU have already begun
their election campaigning two months ago. MDC mustn’t be surprised if an
earlier election is called so that basically ZANU will present Mbeki with a fait
accompli and that will be that. Where are MDC? Pre-occupied talking about talks;
amongst themselves and not in a consultative process to develop a power base.
And so, do you see where this is going? Violet : Now Mr Hove, can you give us your thoughts. We know
that there is in-fighting in the MDC and many people say that this is the reason
that Mugabe continues to stay in power because the Opposition forces are
fighting amongst each other. And now, as Jenni has told us, even within the
civic society people are not, you know, consulting or working as one. What can
you say about this? Chenjerai Hove: Yes, I think the problem, one of the big
problems we have in the country, which we have had for some time, is the
factionalism. Zimbabweans are specialists in creating factions out of every
organisation and that fragmentation is costly. That fragmentation is going to
disrupt the whole democratic programme. Why shouldn’t people and organisations
be talking to each other about this, and say ‘OK, we want to get our act
together, we go there together, we go there as a big power base to negotiate and
we tell Thabo Mbeki that we have all these organisations, as what happened in
South Africa, for example, the United Democratic Front which brought in the
Churches, the different political movements, the Labour Unions, brought them
together and they were a power base. They were very important for change in
South Africa . Now we, in Zimbabwe , we tend to concentrate on very petty things
and forget the bigger picture and that has cost us a lot at very crucial
moments. Violet: And what are your views on this Professor Mukasa?
Because it seems Zimbabwe has become highly polarised and divided. How can these
Opposition forces or rather pro-democracy be united? Or rather, is there a need
for them to work together? Professor Mukasa : Ok, two things first. One, some people
have talked about the unity of Opposition forces into one anti Mugabe struggling
mass. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the physical unity. I think it’s good for
the Opposition forces to exist in their individual entities because those are
the seeds for multi party democracy in future. What is needed is a common
strategy. Let all the different parties in the civic society movement sort of be
co-ordinated in their actions. So that when there is a ZCTU demonstration, let
it not be a ZCTU demonstration, let it be a peoples’ demonstration. When there
is a WOZA demonstration, let it not be a WOZA demonstration, let it be a
peoples’ demonstration so that the fight for one becomes the fight for all. So,
two strategies are needed here. One, and this is immediate and very important,
is that the Broad Alliance which had been mooted some time in the past, it must
be given an extra strength to co-ordinate the activities, so that when the ZCTU
people are on strike everybody should participate. Just because the
demonstration has been called by ZCTU, or by WOZA or MOZA it should not remain
an exclusive activity of that particular agency. Everybody should join in.
That’s very very important. And, when anybody is arrested, when anybody is victimised, whether it’s in
the ZCTU or the MDC or whatever, it should be a concern for all Zimbabweans. So
it should be one fight for all. But, let the different entities exist in their
own ideological enclave because that will give seeds. Those are the seeds for a
multi party democracy once Mugabe is overthrown. If everybody was to unite under
one party, you know, that will easily lend itself to the post Mugabe trend
towards a one party type of political system. The most important thing right now by way of developing a power base is that
the Opposition movement must strategise. They must actually sit down and have a
weekend seminar somewhere, it does not have to be in Zimbabwe, they can go to
neighbouring Botswana, and sit down and say ‘look here are some practical steps
that we must take by way of developing a power base; a source of influence on
Mugabe that will push Mugabe. Mugabe right now is dilly-dallying, Mugabe is
taking his time, Mugabe is not serious about the talks because he knows the
Opposition is so divided that they cannot come together to consolidate their
strategies, they cannot co-ordinate their work. This is where the MDC needs to
review their tactics. In 1963 after the Sharpeville massacre, Nelson Mandela stood up and said
‘look, we have tried all this non-violent and peaceful strategies and the time
has come for us to ask ourselves very serious questions. Now, I’m not saying
that the Opposition should engage itself in any violent activity, but they
should from time to time be reviewing their strategies. One thing that amazes me
and impresses me about WOZA is that they are very creative, innovative, they are
always coming up with new strategies to beat Mugabe, and, they have been very
successful. So let us learn from each other, you know, where ZCTU is looking at
why their efforts have not been that successful, they should also learn from how
the other groups has been successful. Violet: But Professor Mukasa, why do you think these other
groups have not picked up on those strategies that you’ve talked about? Professor Mukasa : That is the question that is the
challenge now for these other groups. They should not be so stuck on saying
like; I think it was Welshman Ncube who said it one time who said ‘look we have
no alternative but just to go on with the elections’ you know, agitating - when
he was defending his decision to go to participate in the Senate elections. Now,
that’s a defeatist attitude you know. The history of revolutions, if you are to
study the history of revolutions, they never started successfully. The very
first Chinhoyi battle that was waged by ZANU PF, all the members at Chinhoyi,
they were all wiped out but they did not sit back and say ‘well we tried it and
we failed’. Some of the most successful revolutions had very poor starts – the
regimes were so effective in wiping them out but they didn’t sit back and say
well we have tried the best thing is to talk to them. No. Violet : Professor Mukasa, before you carry on and before I
go to Jenni and Mr Hove, on the issue of elections that you have just talked
about, what else can people do besides going to the elections? Professor Mukasa: Well, what people need to do is to agitate
for their rights. The elections are, in the present environment, the elections
are not going to give people what they want. I mean since 2000 every single
election has been rigged and we know it. You can be as sure as the sun comes
from the east and sets in the west that the next elections are going to be
rigged as well. So its foolishness just to keep on doing the same things and
hoping you’ll get results. I think the strategy now is to develop what I call a
power base to be able to make it clear to Mugabe that if you don’t accede to our
demands we are prepared to go to the streets. Some people have given up on mass action, I have not. And, I believe that the
Zimbabweans will arise, and that they are able and that they are willing. And,
in fact, if rumours are true, Mugabe’s Security Chiefs have reportedly told him
that the people are now ready and willing to overthrow him through mass action.
Whether that is true or not we don’t know, but the fact of the matter is that
what is needed now is that kind of leadership that will mobilise the people; not
the leadership that will just sit by the rivers of Babylon and just moan their
failures and weep. But, we need leadership that are creative, that are very
innovative, that are always constantly reviewing their strategies. If something
did not go well in the past we have to sit down and ask ‘why did it not go
well’. I believe right now that the people of Zimbabwe are ready and willing and
able to be mobilised into real demonstrations. I mean WOZA is a model, is a text
book case that shows that people are ready and willing. What we need now is the
kind of resolute leadership that will take that extra step and say ‘look we have
to show Mugabe by demonstrations, by what I call a civil disobedience campaign.
It doesn’t necessarily involve mobilising thousands of people onto the streets
but there are many, many strategies that can be engaged in and that is what
Mugabe is fearful of. He’s afraid that there will come a day when the Opposition
movement will have that kind of a leader who will mobilise people into a
systematic and purposeful civil disobedience campaign. Violet: Let me ask Jenni about this. Why isn’t this
happening? You are on the ground and you mentioned the problems of the
leadership, what really is the problem? Why aren’t these organisations, including your organisation, why aren’t you
all working together? Professor Mukasa talked about the MDC Opposition detainees
that were in custody, and some of them spent more than 65 days in police custody
and there were no demonstrations from any of the other organisations demanding
their release. The WOZA women are always getting beaten or brutalised or
arrested and we don’t hear other organisations issuing statements condemning the
arrests. Why is it like that? Jenni Williams: It’s the fear of the baton stick, the baton
stick syndrome, and I know it because I am actually amongst people and people
fear very much when that riot policeman gets off his vehicle wearing his chamber
pot helmet and he lifts his baton stick people fear that very much. And we do a
lot of training to ask people to overcome fear and we recognise that we still
now have to take another step in our training programme, in our curriculum
development to try and find a way to train people to overcome the fear of that
baton stick. That is number one, for us as WOZA. But with other organisations and other political parties, they fear that time
in custody. They don’t want to be in the dirt, they don’t want to have lice in
their hair like I’ve currently got, and they fear all those sorts of things. But
sometimes the things that you most fear are the things that you need to do if
you want to be free, and we need to come to that stage where we realise that.
But then, the other thing that also comes into play, and it needs a lot more
discussion; it needs analysis examination is this issue of non-violence. With us; as a non violent organisation; we are developing a worry, a concern
when we are called by other organisations to join them in the streets and it is
primarily because of our commitment to non violence. WOZA people are trained, we
100% endorse non-violence as the way that we are going to remove this violent
regime. But, other organisations have not developed that commitment, have not
developed that ability to be as brave to say, in response to your violence, I
will sit down, in response to your violence I will hand myself in, in
solidarity. They haven’t got that and so it makes us very reluctant to join in
with people who might respond violently and destroy a reputation that we have
actually suffered five years to build. There needs to be an understanding that non-violence is not your response to
violence. It’s a sustained campaign of strengthening the psyche of a people who
want to be more dignified. And if people start to recognise that and commit to
non violence; I have been with Morgan Tsvangirai and I’ve asked him ‘can you
commit to non-violence’ and I’ve not gotten a clear answer. I’ve seen NCA demos
do they commit to non-violence? No, we don’t see that. ZCTU maybe they commit to
non violence but there’s no sustained training and curriculum development that
allows someone to say ‘I am a non violent human rights defender and because of
that, under the United Nations as long as I maintain non violence and
universality, I have that protection. And that will act like a shield to protect
people so that they don’t fear the baton stick as much. Violet Gonda: And I’m going to pause here for this week but
join us next Tuesday for the last part of this discussion with Professor
Stanford Mukasa, Jenni Williams and Chenjerai Hove.
13th Jun 2007 23:57 GMT
By Violet
Gonda
All: Thank you
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe this week accused Britain of mobilising
international hostility
against Zimbabwe and maintained his land grab was
highly successful and a
source of pride for Zimbabweans.
"We knew we were right in taking our land,"
thundered Mugabe to his party
faithful at a rally called to donate farming
implements to his loyalists.
"Through our unshakeable determination, today
we are proud masters of our
economic and political destiny. The land should
now be transformed into
hectares and hectares of maximum
productivity."
Mugabe was speaking at a campaign rally where he donated more
than 2 million
herd of cattle, 925 tractors, 35 combine harvesters, 586 disc
ploughs, 463
disc harrows, 78 fertiliser spreaders and 71 planters to his
supporters. The
move was widely seen here as a vote buying gimmick.
In
2000 when the land grab began, Britain offered £36 million for land
redistribution, but only once the occupations had ended. The money was
actually earmarked in 1998, but has been held back because London feared it
might be misused by Mugabe's political cronies rather than spent on the
rural poor.
The Zimbabwean
'Radio and television remain the exclusive propaganda tool of the
Mugabe
regime'
HARARE - The screws are tightening on Zimbabwe's
beleagured opposition - the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The
country's aged dictator, Robert Mugabe, has put tight controls on the
media,
installed an efficient rigging mechanism ahead of elections, torn up
a
democratic draft constitution, and sent opposition activists into jail,
exile or the grave.
Twenty-seven opposition activists have now spent a
gruelling three months in
remand prison. Only one person in this group,
Tsvangirai's top advisor Ian
Makone, has been released on Z$150 million
bail.
The government has used the array of legislation at its disposal,
including
tough security laws, to impose virtual martial rule. Rallies and
demonstrations remain banned - nine months away from crucial presidential
and legislative elections. The penalty for challenging established authority
can draw a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment. Organising people to take
part in protests gets two years inside.
Against this background, the
opposition is backing Morgan Tsvangirai, a
trade unionist, as a joint
candidate in the presidential and parliamentary
election next March.
He
has had a warm reception abroad - most recently at a meeting in South
Africa
organised by pro-democracy group IDASA.
But it is wowing the dirt-poor rural
areas, constituting 75 percent of the
Zimbabwe vote, that really matters.
This is an uphill battle, given the
official harassment that cripples his
campaigns in these areas and the
deeply entrenched patronage system. The
opposition has no access to the
public media - which reaches these people.
State-owned radio and television
remain the exclusive propaganda tool of the
Mugabe regime.
The shrinking independent media, although nominally free, must
overcome big
bureaucratic obstacles, including tough registration
requirements with the
government-run Media and Information
Commission.
Now a new law is targeting the only channel of information that
the
government does not control - the Internet. The Interception of
Communications Bill will make it a criminal offence to discredit Zimbabwe's
standing abroad through any electronic medium. It also empowers government
to snoop on private communications, including telephone conversations and
e-mails.
Local geeks claim the authorities have bought software from
China to block
opposition related content in e-mails or websites. has
reciprocated with a
desperately needed loan, which has given the Mugabe
regime a new lease of
life.
The opposition has also ratcheted pressure by
threatening public protests.
Up until March 11, numbers taking part had
grown each time. But with the
police now allowed to shoot demonstrators,
coupled with an escalating wave
of State-sponsored terror, it is
understandable that numbers have
predictably fallen.
Pro-democracy forces
hope for a Ukraine-style revolution in Zimbabwe. It
could be a long wait. -
Chief Reporter
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
An Anglican bishop closely associated to President Robert
Mugabe and his
family has lain to waste a lush soya bean and wheat farm
seized from white
farmer Marcus Hale at the height of the land grab
here.
St Marnock's farm, which bishop Nolbert Kunonga has taken over, is
located
15 kilometres from the stone-clad cathedral of St Mary's in central
Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital, where he officiates.
A visit to St Marnock's
at the weekend revealed a classic tale of the
disastrous effects the sullied
agrarian reform programme. The Zimbabwean
found Kunonga's son reclining in
the grabbed seven-bedroom farmhouse
overlooking a dam and what were once
2,000 acres of wheat and soya bean
fields, now abandoned.
This farm used
to be one of the areas under the prestigious "10 ton club."
But now what
remains are derelict fields with overgrown grass. Equipment is
locked away
and there no agriculture taking place here, despite the fact
that the nation
is desperately short on food.
Round about this time, back in the day when St
Marnock's was still under the
management of the previous owner Hale, who
studied with the Royal
Agricultural College in Cirencester, Gloucestershire,
the farm would have
been teeming with green fields of a knee high soya bean
crop and a winter
wheat crop.
The highly mechanized farm has been reduced
to a wasteland, without
virtually nothing under irrigation. The machinery is
all lying useless in
the sheds. And this year, no one has done anything
about planting a crop for
this season.
Hale was kicked off his farm some
months before the 53- year-old bishop took
it over.
Kunonga reportedly
wanted the farm for property development because it was
close to Harare. But
this has not taken place.
It is believed Kunonga was given Hale's farm by
President Mugabe as a reward
for his outspoken support, a move that has
sharply divided Anglicans in
Zimbabwe. The sycophantic bishop has mocked the
president's opponents as
"puppets of the West".
Mugabe's policy of land
seizures, which has plunged the country into its
worst crisis since
independence from Britain in 1980, is largely being
blamed for a hunger
crisis that threatens the lives of 4,1 million
Zimbabweans.
The Zimbabwean
Over 500 Zimbabweans
recently attended the first meeting of the National
Constitutional
Assembly's South Africa desk.
NCA Coordinator Tapera Kapuya vowed to launch a
relentless campaign on
Zimbabweans in SA to contribute to constitutional
reform back home.
"We are geared to bring a democratic people driven
constitution before
Zimbabwe's next elections are held, so we are moving at
a faster pace and we
need the millions of Zimbabweans in this country to
help," said Kapuya.
"The NCA is not affiliated to any political party hence
everyone from any
political party who wish to contribute in bringing a
democratic dispensation
is welcome to participate in these deliberations. We
are geared for an
educational and mobilization campaign", confirmed a senior
NCA official in
South Africa.
"Every exiled Zimbabwean is a victim of our
current constitution which gives
executive powers to one man. All elections
since 2000 have been marred by
rigging," lamented Gerald Moyo from
Mabopane.
Demonstrations are expected all over the country starting with
Petersburg
and Messina next week. - Trust Matsilele
The Zimbabwean
It is amazing how
fast a country can heal under the right hands. A return to
the economic
prosperity of the mid-1990s, or even the early 1970s, may take
time says
writer GEOFF HILL, but, he believes, Zimbabwe can come right.
'To achieve
this, there must be freedom -- both political and civil, an end
to
corruption, a new police force and space for the media to operate without
interference'
People often cite Mozambique and Zambia as examples of
basket cases that
have been turned around, but I have not been impressed by
either. The
Portuguese, for all their errors, turned Mozambique into a major
producer of
cashews. They established world-class national parks and a good
network of
roads and railways. The late Samora Machel destroyed all
that.
His successor, Joachim Chissano, worked hard to undo the damage, but
the
country still falls way short of its potential.
Zambia was dragged
down by the bumbling one-party state of Kenneth Kaunda.
From 1992, his
successor, Frederick Chiluba, corrupted what had been an
honestly
incompetent public sector. President Levy Mwanawasa is doing his
best to
make up for almost four lost decades since independence. By the end
of his
term in 2011, we might see Zambia as a new model for Africa to
follow, but
the jury is still out.
But, there are countries that serve as examples of
what can be achieved in a
new Zimbabwe.
In 2004, I was in Kigali to
report on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan
genocide. It was my first
visit to Rwanda. What a surprise!
It's easy to imagine that the 10 weeks of
slaughter in 1994 were the time
when Rwanda collapsed, but the previous 32
years since independence from
Belgium had been a disaster. Colonial
infrastructure decayed, roads washed
away, the forests were cut down. Rwanda
quickly became a dictatorship with
few economic prospects. The media fell
under state control and personal
freedoms withered.
In July 1994, Paul
Kagame's forces overthrew the government in Kigali and
stopped the genocide.
They took command of a failed state -- littered with
corpses. Today you
would hardly know it. Call boxes work. Tarred roads link
all parts of the
country, investment is growing faster than anywhere else in
East Africa, and
the currency is stable.
As early as 2000, GDP had jumped by almost 50%.
Rwanda is an easy place to
do business and probably the most crime-free
country in Africa.
These are the decisive factors in the transformation
wrought by Kagame:
depoliticising the police and public service; bringing
talent home from
exile;
punishing corruption; creating a relatively
transparent government;
fostering growth in the private sector; minimising
demands for "local
ownership"; lifting most restrictions on foreign
exchange; and healing old
wounds through legal trials for human-rights
abusers.
These are all challenges that face Zimbabwe.
The other example is
less known, but even more impressive. The former
British Somaliland achieved
independence in 1960 and, a week later, joined
with Italian Somaliland in
the south to create Somalia.
The marriage was a disaster, with southerners in
Mogadishu dominating the
government. Under the one-party rule of president
Siad Barre, festering
resentments culminated in genocide in the north of the
country. When a coup
dislodged Barre in 1991, warlords took over the south,
and the country
became partitioned.
Somaliland seized the chance to
declare unilateral independence, on May 18
1991. To this day, no other
nation formally recognises the government in
Hargeisa. But most countries
accept their passports.
Somalilanders are rightly proud of their
achievements. Whereas in Mogadishu,
capital of Somalia, you can barely move
without finding your path obstructed
by an AK-47, the only rifles I saw in
Hargeisa were in the hands of
soldiers. They were courteous, disciplined and
well turned out.
As in Rwanda, the phones work and roads are reasonably good.
Private capital
is pouring in, mostly from Somalilanders living abroad.
Somaliland has a GDP
more than double that of Somalia, which is,
geographically, four times as
large.
I was struck by the example of sound
governance and administration in
Somaliland when I covered its general
election of September 2005. If only
Zimbabwe could have an election like
that -- with parties free to campaign,
a total absence of intimidation,
daily newspapers and even a TV station in
private hands.
The achievement
is especially striking, given the country's brutal history.
On the sandy
banks of the Maroodijeex River that runs through Hargeisa, I
walked among
thousands of human bones. These are the skeletons of men, women
and children
gunned down by Barre's troops.
Today those war criminals have retreated south
of the Somaliland border.
Unlike Rwanda, there have been few trials. The
absence of justice leaves an
air of unfinished business. Zimbabwe too will
have to bring the killers and
torturers to justice before lasting peace can
be found.
Press freedoms are fragile. Earlier this year, Somaliland's leading
independent daily newspaper, Haatuf, was closed down and four of its
journalists jailed. Haatuf had published allegations of misuse of government
property by the president and his family.
The journalists were "pardoned"
after an outcry by human rights groups, but
the incident has damaged the
country's standing. Even so, political life in
Somaliland is more democratic
than in many Africa states. Administration is
effective.
A new Zimbabwe
can learn from these examples. There will need to be a return
of exiles and
their money and a rush of new capital. To achieve this, there
must be
freedom -- both political and civil, an end to corruption, a new
police
force and space for the media to operate without interference. - C.
2007
Geoff Hill is bureau chief Africa for the Washington Times and author
of
What Happens After Mugabe? (Zebra-New Holland)
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
The Zimbabwe
Republic Police has recruited more than 3000 members of the
militia as a
desperate measure to address staff shortages following massive
desertions
and absconding by officers.
Sources within the police said that the militia
were recently recruited
after Commissioner Augustine Chihuri had been issued
with a government
directive to "immediately address the issue of staff
shortage" ahead of next
year's elections and as the political situation
remains tense.
Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi confirmed that "yes we
have been
recruiting into the ZRP because we need the force to be prepared
for any
situation". He claimed the recruitment was done from deserving
members of
society.
Investigations have confirmed that most police
stations across the country
have recently received the groups of Green
Bombers and war veterans, with
some senior officers saying the new members
didn't undergo sufficient
training required by the ZRP.
"We have recently
received Green Bombers and war veterans and they are being
used mainly to
contain volatile situations as well as do the spying tasks
within the
force," said a senior official at Harare's Central Police
Station.
More
than 5000 members of the ZRP, which was already under-staffed, have
left the
force while many others have not reported for duty for long
periods. Mohadi
described this as "a serious cause for concern".
Members of the police are
leaving largely due to poor salaries with the
majority of them reportedly
going to neighbouring countries where they even
accept to work as security
guards. - Itai Dzamara
The Zimbabwean
BY OWN
CORRESPONDENT
The late William Nhara, principal director in the President's
Office, is
alleged to have been poisoned by a top former army general and
senior Zanu
(PF) politician fearing that he was about to reveal information
on illegal
diamond smuggling.
Nhara is thought to have inside knowledge
of a syndicate involved in
smuggling diamonds and other precious minerals
out of the country. He was
arrested early this year for attempting to bribe
immigration officials with
US$700 meant for the release of a Lebanese woman,
Carole Georges El Martini,
who had been caught trying to smuggle 10 000
carats of diamonds out of
Zimbabwe.
It is suspected that the arrest was
as a result of a tip-off from a rival
group, allegedly linked to Emmerson
Mnangagwa, Rural and Infrastructure
Development minister and close
confidante of President Robert Mugabe. El
Martini was later released on a
$Z21 million fine and has since fled
Zimbabwe.
However, weeks of
investigations have revealed a link to the poisoning of
the late Nhara by
senior Zanu (PF) and government officials. Nhara, dubbed
the 'Diamond
Geezer' following his arrest, was out on bail after being
charged with
attempting to smuggle diamonds.
According to a close family relative working
as a senior diplomat at
Zimbabwe's mission in South Africa who cannot be
revealed for security
reasons, an independent post mortem report showed that
Nhara's cause of
death was from neurotoxin poisoning.
Government reports
have suggested that Nhara, who passed away at St Annes
Hospital in Harare,
was suffering from a kidney ailment.
"The post mortem report that we saw from
the pathologist, which was a top
secret document, reveals that my cousin
died from chemical poisoning," the
relative, who was part of a small group
of relatives that was made to make
arrangements for the funeral together
with Central Intelligence Organisation
officials said.
"I believe this
arrangement was meant to cover for those involved in the
murder of William,"
he added.
Our investigations also reveal that Nhara, 47 at the time of his
death, was
working as a front for a syndicate linked to retired
army-generals Solomon
Mujuru and Claudius Makova when he was arrested at the
Harare International
Airport.
Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) boss and
former army general Arnold
Tshinga Dube's son Mthulisi has also been
involved in diamond dealings on
behalf of his father.
Among others who
are involved in illegal diamond mining are General Mujuru
with wife,
vice-president Joice Mujuru, government minister Oppah
Muchinguri, and the
First Lady, Grace Mugabe.
George Charamba, the permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Information and
Publicity was the only high-ranking government
and Zanu (PF) official who
attended the burial.
According to central bank
governor Gideon Gono, Zimbabwe is losing US$40m to
US$50m every week through
the smuggling of precious minerals. A Harare
magistrate and seven others
were recently nabbed in the western town of
Mhangura where they were
allegedly panning for gold.
Gold deliveries in 2006 were 10.96 tons, down
from 13.45 tons, owing to a
combination of factors, including a lack of
equipment, reduced exploration
and illegal trading and smuggling.
In
January, authorities vowed to press on with a crackdown on illegal gold
and
diamond miners. About 31 509 people have been arrested since November.
One
miner died in the crackdown. Police have recovered 3.6kg of gold and 7
868
diamonds since the blitz was launched.
zimbabwejournalists.com
13th Jun 2007 21:18 GMT
By Zinasu
Zimbabwe
National Students Union ( ZINASU) held an extra-ordinary General
Council
meeting on Saturday the 9th of June 2007.The meeting was attended by
Student
Representative Presidents of more than 40 Colleges and Universities
who
discussed issues facing students in various institutions of higher
learning
. Issue identification has become a new center of force in
politics.
The major problems facing students in Zimbabwe include the
issue of bonding
of students to government for three years after completing
their studies.
This is grossly unfair and unacceptable. Over the years the
government was
sponsoring students and yet they never thought of bonding
students .It is
only now when the government has failed to fund students
that they now try
to implement this futile strategy. The students refuse to
be bonded to a
desperate government whose only primordial instinct is to
guarantee itself
cheap labour and misappropriate state resources with
military discipline and
brutal efficiency. If this country is not a military
state, ZINASU questions
the rationale behind bonding students to a
non-existent contract.
The students condemn the deplorable diet that most
colleges are offering,
usually cabbage with no cooking oil and students are
required to bring their
own sugar and salt. ZINASU condemns the deplorable
diets which are being
served in colleges which have become a recipe for
diarrhea. Further, the
colleges are now asking for a top up (between $700
000 and $800 000) outside
the gazetted amount. And yet the students on
teaching practice are being
paid $66 000, a figure far less than the amount
they need for transport
alone which is estimated at $200 000 per month. The
University of Zimbabwe's
(UZ) Department of Education is demanding $250 000
as Teaching Practice Levy
and $1.2 million for the development of the
project. The majority of our
students are living under chronic and abject
poverty to afford such enormous
amounts. It is unfortunate that under an
African Black government, African
Black students, who are backbone of this
country, can be reduced into such
objects of ridicule.
The incessant
water and power cuts, coupled with broken down toilet cisterns
have turned
our institutions of higher learning into both laughing storks
and health
hazards .The students can hardly bath, read or use the toilets
.The
environment has just become an aberration of a conducive learning
environment. All toilets at Mkoba Teachers College are not working; there is
no internet for students at Bondolfi Teachers` College, Chinhoyi University
of Technology, which the government claims to be the epitome of technology
has only thirteen working computers .As a result, students writing
examinations are forced to wait up to 12 midnight for their turn to access a
computer. At Mary Mount Teachers` College, the students are being forced to
pay computer levy when they have never used a computer. It remains a mystery
as to where Mrs. Matongo (the Principal of Mary Mount) is taking the money
to. Midlands State University is running with on empty water taps.
Electricity blackouts are affecting the functioning of boreholes. Students
at Gwebu Agricultural College and Mupfure College have gone for month
without eating beef despite the fact that they have farms with plenty of
cattle.
The University of Zimbabwe has resorted to buying satellite
toilets because
normal toilets have broken down and have not been
refurbished, Professor
Levy Nyagura, the UZ Chancellor will go down the
annals of history as having
expelled more student leaders and activists in
an independent Zimbabwe than
anyone else. Bindura University students of
police studies behave like an
organized militia who harass and intimidate
other students. This is in spite
of strict laws that prohibit fighting among
students .lt is astonishing how
these militia elements have not been
expelled after physically assaulting
students who are suspected to be
protagonists of academic freedoms.
Professor Obert Maravanyika, the Vice
Chancellor of Masvingo State
University who behaves like a 16th century
Dictator was implicated in a
corruption dossier leaked from his university.
There was no investigation
carried out .One English Lecturer is reported to
demand sex from female
students in order to make them pass .Because of
wrangle over the name of
Masvingo State University, to date no student has
graduated from that
university. The Chancellor of all state institutions in
Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert
Mugabe has allegedly refused to cap the students until
the name of the
institution is changed to Great Zimbabwe University, a name
associated with
one of the most spectacular failures of the government after
the collapse of
another Great Zimbabwe University which was being run by Dr.
Matarire, a
niece of the late Dr. Simon Vengesayi Muzenda .Dr Matarire had
usurped the
university from the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe, with the
ostensible support
of government, particularly the former Resident Minister
and Governor of
Masvingo Mr. Josiah Hungwe .
At Masvingo Polytechnic,
Engineering students were forced to go and help
construct houses under the
government scheme dubbed Operation Garikai from
July to December 2006.The
government paid no cent for the services rendered
by these student .Instead,
they said student are now being required pay the
enormous sums like everyone
else. Further, the students have been put on a
crush program to finish their
program and go .It is unthinkable and
unimaginable that a Black government
can be so cruel to its own children,27
years after independence .In this
modern day time, such a philosophy is
worse than slavery and
colonialism.
Way forward
In accordance with the resolution of the
General Council, the students are
urged to DEFY the top up call from
government. It is outside the gazetted
amount unaffordable. The students
were never even consulted and the notice
was too short for students who are
currently traumatized by hunger and
poverty. The food being served is not
commensurate with the huge monies
that the government is demanding. The
students are being given sadza with
cabbage without cooking oil and
tomatoes. They are being asked to bring
their own salt.
The union
demands an immediate meeting with Ministry of higher and tertiary
education
to find an amicable solution to the crisis. ZINASU would like to
take this
opportunity to warn the government that failure to find a solution
to these
problems will only bring more animosity between the student and the
government and this will not help the situation.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Government
has gazetted tough new anti-smuggling legislation
imposing prison terms for
illicit dealers in precious stones.
The move aims to curb rampant smuggling
of precious stones by diamond barons
who are flouting international trade
regulations.
The Precious Stones Trade Amendment Bill, gazetted last
Thursday, proposes a
mandatory prison term for the offence of unlawful
dealing in or being found
in possession of precious stones. This change is
seen harmonizing
legislation in the mining sector following law reforms
imposing a prison
term on illegal dealers under the Gold Trade Act as
amended in 2006.
The Bill also increases penalties for other offences;
restates the offence
of transmitting precious stones by post, and
re-introduces certain offences
removed from the Act in 2001 such as
malicious planting of precious stones
on another person, making false
statement for purpose of procuring a license
and cutting or polishing
precious stones without a dealers' license.
Zimbabweans have been fingered in
illegal cross border trade in precious
stones, especially diamonds, with a
Kimberley Process Certification Team
ending a fact-finding mission in
Zimbabwe last week.
Senior government officials and defense force generals
have been implicated
in the illegal trade.
The Zimbabwean
The
Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation has beefed up its security
on
senior government officials and their families in South Africa following
a
recent assassination attempt on the daughter of a senior army official.
Laura
Sibanda, the daughter of Zimbabwe National Army general, Major-general
Phillip Valerio Sibanda, was attacked by as yet to be identified individuals
in early May in Kwazulu Natal.
Laura is a psychology student at the
Kwazulu Natal University and was
allegedly attacked at a nearby shopping
centre.
A family friend studying at the same university says Laura suspects
some
disgruntled Zimbabweans who have either worked as domestic workers for
their
family who were fired without pay or some army officials trying to
embarrass
her father into resigning.
According to Zimbabwe Society
Students (Zimsoc) members, who were with her,
Laura had to seek medical
attention at a private hospital as she had
received serious cuts and
bruises.
It is understood that because of the recent attack, senior
government
officials in Zimbabwe had now resolved to change the names of
their children
for fear of further attacks.
Thousands of children of
senior government and ruling party officials are
studying in South Africa,
Europe and the United States following the
collapse of the education system
in Zimbabwe.
At the Kwazulu Natal University, there are also a number of
children of
high-ranking officials who include, another daughter of Gen.
Sibanda,
Rachel.
Other students at the college are, Simbarashe Masoka,
the son of agriculture
permanent secretary Ngoni Masoka; Jacqueline and
Elinor Kundishora, the
daughters of Brigadier Kundishora and a nephew of
President Robert Mugabe,
Hillary Mugabe.
Close government sources have
established that the Zimbabwean government is
spending millions of South
African rand per semester in beefing up security
of high ranked Zimbabwean
elite's children in South Africa. - Own
correspondent.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
Constitutional Amendment No. 18, setting up the controversial human
rights
commission, was finally gazetted last Thursday by President Robert
Mugabe's
government.
The commission has been called a farce by its detractors, aimed
at winning
votes for Mugabe, who is moving to soothe tensions over the
emotive
Gukurahundi and Operation Murambatsvina issues. But proponents say
it is a
brave attempt to come to terms with the wrongs of the
past.
Whatever the truth, the human rights commission, comprising 16
commissioners
handpicked by Mugabe, has raised the stakes in the 83-year-old
veteran
ruler's endgame. It will be empowered to investigate human rights
abuses in
Zimbabwe.
Sources close to the developments said the commission
would run a few public
hearings gathering evidence on Gukurahundi and
Operation Murambatsvina in a
bid to pull wool over people's eyes.
The
amendment comes as an independent legislator moves to table the
Gukurahundi
Memorial Bill in Parliament in September, which demands a probe
into the
Matabeleland genocide in the 80s and punishment for the
perpetrators.
The
UN, which has been instrumental in the formation of the commission, has
been
slammed for helping set up a structure that will be used by Mugabe to
escape
international censure for his appalling human rights record.
Open Society
Initiative of Southern Africa boss, Tawanda Mutasah, says
Mugabe wants to
use the domestic human rights commission to pull out reports
tabled at the
African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the
African Union
detailing gross human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
"He will simply say the
cases are being investigated back home and there is
no need for a parallel
process," said Mutasah
The Zimbabwean
The African National
Congress's vice president, Jacob Zuma said he backed
the World Association
of Newspapers' president Gavin O'Relly's call for
press freedom in
Zimbabwe.
This is the first time the ANC vice president has commented on the
ongoing
Zimbabwean crisis that has left Mugabe with few friends.
Analysts
say this is clear sign of a loss of support for the Zimbabwean
leader from
fellow African leaders due to continued press repression,
harassment,
torture and murder of journalists and media activists.
Zuma's comments have
been welcomed by Zimbabweans exiled in South Africa.
Meanwhile the Pan
African Parliament is on its way to Zimbabwe for
investigations into
systematic attacks on journalists. - Trust Matsilele
The Zimbabwean
For the first time ever
President Mugabe has acknowledged that members of
the opposition are, in
fact, Zimbabweans. Speaking at a ceremony at which he
dished out farming
implements to a favoured few, Mugabe made a few
conciliatory comments about
the MDC, which drew applause even from the party
stalwarts. But then of
course they applaud every word he utters.
"They are part of us in the entity
we call the nation and no politics can
ever make them alien," said Mugabe,
although it was not clear whether,
indeed, there were any MDC members in his
audience.
This is a welcome departure from the norm, whereby Mugabe never
fails to use
every public occasion, including national days, funerals and
other
non-political events, to vilify the opposition.
We have always
maintained that speeches made at state occasions should
emphasise the common
values of Zimbabweans. We should celebrate our
diversity, and not resort to
hate speech and incitements to violence against
those who may not agree
slavishly with our viewpoint. This has never been
the case in
Zimbabwe.
At this week's ceremony Mugabe reportedly said: "And therefore,
that
realisation is very important - that there must be occasions (when) we
must
be together." We couldn't agree more.
However, Mugabe went on to
say: "After all, we eat together don't we." With
this we absolutely do not
agree. Thanks to the dictator's vicious and
inhuman politicisation of food
aid during the past decade and more, most
Zimbabweans are no longer able to
eat at all.
It is this that makes his unctuous statements about unity
particularly
distasteful and makes us wonder what he is up to now.
We are
inclined to agree with Tendai Biti's analysis that the wily old
tyrant is up
to no good - trying to create a smokescreen to divert attention
from his
utter contempt for the Mbeki mediation process and his
determination never
to allow democracy in Zimbabwe while he lives.
It is also proving extremely
difficult to find any MDC members who have
actually received any of the
giveaways.
If Mugabe means what he says he should be making every effort to
engage the
MDC, and civic society, in trying to find a solution to our
country's
problem.
The Zimbabwean
Mugabe no longer Africa's
hero
BY STANFORD MUKASA
WASHINGTON
In a dramatic replay of the storming
of the Bastille, a notorious French
prison, on July 14, 1789, by the
peasants, hundreds of members of Women of
Zimbabwe Arise last week
confronted Mugabe's police at the Bulawayo central
police station in protest
against the arrest of their leaders.
The reaction by the police in Bulawayo
was predictable. They resorted to the
only language they knew - the language
of violence that Mugabe has
boastfully made his trademark. But what the
police did not know, or chose to
ignore, was the fact that the storming of
the Bulawayo central police
station could well have sowed the seeds of a new
revolution in Zimbabwe.
The action by WOZA activists showed clearly that
Zimbabwe is now a tinderbox
ready to explode at any minute. The fact that
WOZA had the courage to march
to the Bulawayo central police station and
demonstrate showed how
Zimbabweans are slowly but systematically generating
the courage of the
peasants that led to the French Revolution.
The event
was a timely reminder for those who had written off mass
demonstration in
Zimbabwe - beneath the people's resilience there is an
undercurrent of mass
protest which could be unleashed at any time.
Even Mugabe is aware that the
situation in Zimbabwe is now explosive. But he
is dragging his heels and
will have to be brought kicking and screaming to
the conference table.
Mugabe will do literary anything to sabotage the talks
with the opposition
leaders, or to rig the next elections.
He has decided that he would rather
fight than surrender through peaceful
free and fair elections. Of all the
people, Mugabe knows he does not stand a
chance in hell in winning free and
fair elections, even if he was
campaigning against a divided
opposition.
One popular myth among many analysts is that Mugabe and Zanu (PF)
enjoy the
majority support of the rural peasants. But without a rigged vote,
no sane
Zimbabwean, whether in urban or rural areas, will cast a vote in
favor of
them. Mugabe knows that for a fact. He would not resort to rigging
elections, especially in rural areas, if he was confident of victory.
He
may have fooled himself into thinking that if he can control the
propaganda
about being a victim of western sanctions and imperialism he will
sustain
himself politically, especially in the eyes of Africa and the Third
World.
But Africa is taking a second hard look at Mugabe.
African leaders may still
have some remnants of adoration for their
perceived role of Mugabe in the
anti colonial struggle. But the reality of
the Zimbabwean geopolitical
situation is slowly hitting home.
The Daily Nation of Kenya recently hit back
hard at Mugabe, calling him to
step down. A number of Kenyans felt Mugabe
had abused his hospitality in
Kenya by insulting the Mau Mau. One Kenyan
told me there was absolutely no
comparison between Mau Mau and Mugabe's
chaotic land reform programme.
This rebuff came hot on the heels of another
humiliation - Edinburgh
University's stripped Mugabe of the honorary degree
awarded to him 20 years
ago. Not even the feeble reaction from the ministry
of information could
hide the fact that this was a major blow to Mugabe's
pride.
Like Idi Amin, Mugabe had always had a secret and personal admiration
and
respect for Scotland. There was a rumour years ago he had bought, or
planned
to buy, a castle in Scotland to serve as his retirement home.
The Zimbabwean
Mugabe arrogant - Aziz
Pahad
HARARE - South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation in the
Zimbabwe
crisis is in tatters following President Robert Mugabe's
contemptuous
gazetting of a constitutional amendment last Thursday giving
his Zanu (PF)
party an undue advantage in the forthcoming
elections.
Despite receiving a document from Mbeki's emissary last month
detailing the
opposition MDC's demands for a new constitution before
SA-brokered talks
resume, Mugabe last week went ahead with further
amendments to the
constitution, a move that observers said betrayed his
reluctance to
compromise on demands for a new democratic constitution.
SA
deputy Foreign Affairs minister Aziz Pahad said at the weekend Mugabe's
latest move smacked of arrogance and urged robust action to rein him in and
force reform.
Pahad expressed concern about "the lack of urgency by the
Zimbabweans,"
adding Mbeki should move with speed if he was going to report
on any
progress at a meeting of SADC heads of state scheduled for end of
June.
Constitutional amendment No. 18, which among other things sets up a
controversial human rights commission, and offers the legal framework for
electoral theft strategies that will be employed by government next year, is
set to be introduced in Parliament on July 9.
The constitutional
amendment was gazetted a day after Labour minister
Nicholas Goche and
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa boycotted a scheduled
meeting in Pretoria
between opposition deputies Tendai Biti and Prof
Welshman Ncube of the two
MDC wings. Goche gave an excuse that he was tied
up with the International
Labour Organisation business in, Switzerland while
Chinamasa simply
unplugged his landline and switched off his cell phone.
Political analysts
said Mugabe sees Mbeki's SADC mediation as an utter
nuisance which could
become dangerous if allowed to linger for too long.
The amendment will
shorten the term of office of the President from six to
five years and make
it run concurrently with the life of Parliament. If the
president dies in
office or resigns, an electoral college will elect his
successor. Under the
present conditions, a presidential election must be
held in 90 days to
replace a dead president.
The amendment also increases the composition of the
Senate and the House of
Assembly and changes the mandate of the Delimitation
Commission, which
divides constituency boundaries.
The Zimbabwean
A person from
another country tells of how the Electricity Supply Board sent
a letter to
residents in her locality warning them a week before that there
would be a
two hour cut in power on a certain day between stated hours. Even
then the
people complained, 'how are we to make our morning tea?'
We have different
expectations. But it would be nice to have just a word of
explanation, a
word of warning so that we could plan and maybe a word of
apology. When this
is suggested the response is, 'you must be crazy; don't
you know we've given
up apologising long ago.' And, of course, it is true.
When did we last hear
a convincing explanation of our economic woes? When
did we last have a
scheduled plan warning us of power cuts on such and such
a day for such and
such hours? A nation that gives up explaining, abandons
apologies, is on a
fast track to losing its way completely.
If you ask the question: 'what are
our leaders thinking? They are
intelligent men and women; they must know
what they are doing,' what answer
do you hear? 'There is no logic in it any
more. People are just scrambling
for what they can get for as long as they
can get it. Tomorrow has been
cancelled. We just live for today.'
Some
years ago a boat full of whiskey foundered on the shore of an island
off
Scotland. All the islanders descended on the wreck and carried off
crates of
whiskey before the owners could reclaim their cargo. When the
police arrived
the islanders had hidden away their treasure and claimed
ignorance and
innocence and soon a book celebrated the event appeared;
Whiskey Galore. At
times it seems as though our leaders rejoice in power for
its own sake and
the way they have found of making fortunes even if it is
from a wreck and
they are just intent on enjoying that fortune for as long
as it will
last.
But it seems so unbelievably irresponsible to build on sand and just
wile
away the time while the 'whiskey' lasts. People are dying for lack of
medical treatment and now we hear that the UN says crop failures in the
southern provinces of Zimbabwe and the rapid erosion of incomes caused by
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate . means that about '2.1 million people will
face serious food shortages as early as the third quarter of 2007. The
number of people at risk will peak at 4.1 million in the first three months
of 2008 - more than a third of Zimbabwe's estimated population of 11.8
million.'
The Zimbabwean
ZAKA - It was 11 o'clock in the
morning and heavy traffic was already
clogging Jerera Growth Point. Horns
were honking, bus conductors shouting
and dust was flying everywhere. Yet
the nearby polling station was cool,
clean and almost deserted. With the
exception of five bored and idle
election officials sitting on desks, there
was no one else in sight.
And this was at the height of polling day in a
by-election called to replace
the late incumbent MP, Tinos Rusere last
Saturday. Zanu (PF)'s retired
brigadier general Livingstone Chineka won
that poll with 11,152 votes to
1,117 for Nicholas Shanga of the United
Peoples Party and 622 for Lameck
Batirai of the Zimbabwe People's Democratic
Party. At least 50,000 were
registered to vote. The MDC boycotted the
election.
The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which
fielded 33
accredited observers in the by-election, reported that polling
was
characterized by a low voter turnout and by mid-day, most polling
stations
were deserted.
"The by-election was generally peaceful and
calm," said an election synopsis
from ZESN. "ZESN is however concerned by
the unusually high number of
assisted voters at some polling stations. Of
note is Chigwagwa Primary
School where 68 out of 451 voters were assisted to
vote. At Gumbu Primary
School 50 voters were assisted out of a total of 387
voters."
At a seedy bar at the growth point, no one seemed interested in
polling.
Asked whether he was going to vote, a bar tender turned his wrinkled
face
and stared in amazement. "To vote?" he asked. "For what? For Zanu
(PF)?"
"The need for comprehensive and continuous mobile voter registration
process
coupled with the mobile issuance of national identity cards cannot
be
overemphasized if Zimbabwe is to achieve an inclusive and participatory
electoral process," ZESN said.
The Zimbabwean
'It certainly is time to take advantage of
the disarray within the ruining
party'
It has been eight years since the
crisis in Zimbabwe began in earnest.
Although trouble had been simmering all
along, the real crunch came early
2000 with the violent state-sponsored
white commercial farm invasions by
Zanu (PF) hoodlums and hired hands.
Almost 200 people lost their lives
during the farm invasions and the June
2000 parliamentary elections. The
majority of them were farm workers and MDC
supporters. A few white
commercial farmers were also killed for simply
owning commercial farms.
Following this Zanu (PF)-sponsored lawlessness and
the resultant breakdown
of the rule of law throughout the country, several
Western democracies
imposed travel restrictions on elements within the
tyrant's political party,
Zanu (PF). Matters came to a head in 2002
following Mugabe's massive rigging
of the presidential election, which
Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC had clearly
won. This deception only served to
intensify the standoff that had begun in
2000. More names were added to the
list of persons that were regard as
persona non grata in such countries as
the UK, the USA, the EU, Australia,
New Zealand and Canada.
The question
we need to ask ourselves is whether the travel restrictions and
other
measures that were taken by Western democracies are still adequate in
terms
of applying pressure on the tyrant to repent and reform his ways. The
results of the travel restrictions have been devastating to most of the
protagonists of authoritarianism in Zimbabwe, but I am of the opinion that
it is now time to make a paradigm shift and re-engage the dictator.
I am
aware that several Western democracies will find it unpalatable to
resume
discussions with the diabolical Mugabe regime at this point in time.
After
all, they have openly stated that they do not recognise Mugabe as the
legitimate President of this country, and that is the correct position for
them to maintain. Nevertheless, it is necessary to find ways and means of
re-engaging the tyrant, at least, for the sake of the suffering people of
Zimbabwe.
In the light of the crawling SADC initiative on the Zimbabwe
crisis, would
it not be appropriate for the EU, the UK, the USA and the
Commonwealth to
devise their own strategies of re-engaging the dictator.
Frankly, there is
little that is likely to emerge from the SADC initiative
if there will be no
other positive pressure applied on Mugabe and his
retinue of hangers on.
Some people are likely to ask why it is necessary to
re-engage the dictator
at this time, and I can think of several good reasons
for this. Indeed, in
the past the dictator has spurned all forms of
engagement and dialogue, but
that was then. Today Zimbabwe is experiencing
severe socio-economic
difficulties that should make any rational being want
to seek for ways and
means of resolving these problems.
Secondly, whereas
in the past the dictator's political party seemed to be
united and
determined to stand strongly behind everything that the tyrant
did, things
are rather different now, with as many as three, if not five
factions
comprising Zanu (PF). It certainly is time to take advantage of the
disarray
within the ruining (as opposed to ruling) party in Zimbabwe. It may
also be
possible that the geriatric is now desperate for a face-saving
mechanism to
enable him to turn over a new leaf.
Re-engaging Mugabe at this time may well
be the best way of offering him an
opportunity to tactfully retreat from his
disastrous pursuits. It is
however, very likely that the dictator will, once
again, scoff at any
attempts to re-engage him. We all know that he has
essentially become
impervious to reason, and is now probably the most
selfish national leader a
country can ever be cursed with. But try we must,
and there is no better
time than now.
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject line.
JAG Hotlines:
+263 (011) 610 073 If you are in trouble
or need advice,
please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
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Lines
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1 - P. Mangwende
Dear JAG,
I cannot believe that this rusty CFU
Nero machine is still limping along.
Rome burns with everything collapsing
around us and they continue to play
their harp. The CFU is an organisation
run by arrogant men who thought they
had people like Msika and Zanu PF in
their pockets. Their arrogance blinded
them from the realities and now they
wish to proactively work with a regime
that the whole nation despises. Is the
picture becoming clearer? I doubt it.
They
want to work with the enemies
of the people of Zimbabwe.
The reason why JAG was formed was because of
the behaviour and the attitudes
of the CFU leadership. The CFU has and
continue to be used by the regime for
it's own purposes and those Makabusi
visionaries who run the CFU will never,
not in a 1000 years, be able to
recover from the loss of confidence by the
majority of its past members. The
CFU is a failure and an embarrassment. It
should disband and disappear into
the past alongside Zanu PF.
Keep going JAG, you showed us the
way.
P
Mangwende
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2 - Idle Thinker
Dear Jag,
I sense some excitement about CFU
Congress due in August.
If this is a serious Congress, I seriously
suggest that the Congress
considers a resolution to be forwarded to the
Honourable Minister of Foreign
Affairs - I gather he went to university with
torture victim, Sekai Holland,
in Australia - that the CFU is concerned about
Zimbabwe's international
isolation due to the behaviour of various
politicians.
It also appears that Zimbabwe still has enormous talent from
within, to make
serious changes for the better but this talent is largely
sidelined and has
no authority. Just an idle thought brings one to consider
the likes of John
Robertson in terms of Economics, Eddie Cross who ran the
CSC and the DMB at
one stage, or Brian Oldrieve who would be hard to beat in
terms of the
simplest way to grow a mealie - and the list goes on and
on.
But no, the Great Gideon Gono is the Very One who has all the answers
- he
knows everything about fiscal policy!
He has been so successful at
RBZ in the last five years!
Now he's turning to agriculture!
Holy
Smokes!
Idle
Thinker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3 - Motoring Enthusiast
Dear Jag,
I am reliably informed that
Genocidal Gabriel and Gleeful Gideon have gone
to a broad section of The
Opposition and the New CFU and asked them:
"What's your price?"
"A
Gonomobile!" they all shouted in unison at the prescribed moment! - with
ZBC
and ZTV standing by of course.
I have to congratulate Gideon and Gabriel
outright, on their thorough study
and understanding of their quarry - they
are truly brilliant ecologists when
it comes to mujibas - flash a little cash
and you have got them!
The press reports that Taylor Freeme, Mutambara,
Rosenfels, Hawgood, Dollar,
Gasela, Olivier, Welshman Ncube, Gibson Sibanda,
Khupe, Gonese, Vaughan,
Joubert and any more have all traded their soul to
Zanu for a Gonomobile.
Exact details of who got which model are not out just
yet but we expect a
brochure any moment showing the proud new Zanu drivers
with their
Gonomobiles about to set off on a green revolution - under Zanu
oustanding
tutelage, I assume.
This is a momentous occasion for
agriculture in Zimbabwe.
I suggest it be used as the theme for the CFU
Congress - "Gonomobilists
Unlimited."
Motoring
Enthusiast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4 - Eddie Cross
Dear Jag,
Diamonds in the sky.
Sometimes I
feel sorry for people who do not live in the drier regions of
the world. In a
place like Bulawayo we have zero humidity at this time of
the year and it can
get pretty chilly at night, with wonderful clear blue
skies and mild
temperatures during the day. In weather like this there is
also the
temptation to stay indoors after dusk. If you have a fire of real
mopani
wood, even more so! It is a mistake.
Last night for example, at about
19.30 hours my wife and I walked home under
a sky that was ablaze with stars.
Venus was near setting in the western sky
and what a sight. It was so bright
you could mistake it for a light in a
passing aircraft only it flashed and
sparkled like a 100-carat space
diamond. Absolutely beautiful and free to all
of us who occupy planet earth.
Right overhead was the Milky Way - spiraling
across the night sky like a
splash of diamonds. No moon, no clouds, no
moisture, just the black African
sky and the diamonds of
space.
Sometimes I think of Africa in those same terms - beautiful,
exotic but with
a backdrop of darkness that sometimes overwhelms us. I have
often pondered
what it would mean to mankind if there were no stars, just
black, empty
space going on into infinity. I am sure it would have
profound
psychological implications - let alone the philosophical questions
it would
pose! We would then be quite justified in asking how did we get
here? Who
was responsible? The possibility that there might be life
somewhere "out
there" is always a consolation in a universe crowded with
millions of
planets, suns and stars.
But we do have Venus and a
plethora of other stars to keep us company and to
force us out into space in
an attempt to find life elsewhere. When he was
President, Ronald Reagan had a
programme under which he recognized
outstanding human achievement in the USA.
He called those who were
recognised and rewarded under this programme Stars
in the night sky of
America. I have always thought this was a great
idea.
In any dark situation there are always stars that light up the sky
and give
us hope that we are not alone. Stars that illumine their universe in
a
unique way and in the process light up our world. Here in Zimbabwe we are
no
exception. Last week I attended a small community meeting of 20 or
so
individuals who have just taken a lease on 96 hectares surrounding two
small
dams known as the "Hillside Dams". There they are intending to build
a
restaurant, establish a botanical garden and aloe collection. They are
also
going to put in fences and security and create a small game park. All
work
carried out by volunteers and all costs met by donation.
In my
sons church there is a remarkable woman who has taken it upon herself
to help
the children's wards in the local hospital. With over 3 500 beds,
the
hospital is a giant medical facility but being State owned and operated
is
just about on its knees. The children's wards are freshly painted and
clean
and every child gets a toy when they are checked in. Drugs are
fully
available and supplied free of charge and nursing staff are assisted.
All
wards have television and visitors from the Church pay regular visits
to
children in the wards. Another remarkable women in the same Church runs
a
massive programme for the absolute poor and destitute in Harare. She
helps
thousands in camps at various rubbish dumps on the periphery of the
City,
has pastors
ministering to their spiritual needs as well as food and
clothing. Whole
families are selected and sent out to a training farm where
they are taught
farm skills and then settled on vacant land as small-scale
farmers.
Driving into Harare after 400 kilometers of empty farms and
abandoned
homesteads you suddenly find yourself looking at a string of three
farms
where the fences are repaired, cattle graze the land and superb crops
grown
on well-prepared lands. All three have housed their staff well and
produce
milk on a large scale for the nearby City. How they have been able to
remain
on their farms and keep going is a mystery to me - one day I will stop
and
pull in to ask, but I already know that behind these islands of sanity
and
prosperity are individuals who have just stuck it out and have
shown
every determination not to give in and quit.
Of course there are
many who do not contribute, many who in fact like the
dark because it suits
their purpose. But those who do struggle against the
odds, who still plant
trees and flowers and tend their lawns, they are
heroes in every way, bright
stars in the night of our time. The marvel of
this process, is that in
becoming stars in our universe, we discover light
always wins and that gives
us hope.
It is really tough right now to give people hope and faith in
the future
because things look so grim. We now know that Tendai Biti and
Welshman Ncube
were actually in South Africa waiting for the Zanu PF
representatives to
pitch up for the meeting. They did not arrive and gave no
apologies. On
Monday Zanu PF submitted their response to the request that
they set out
their basic position. We have now had sight of that and I am
told it
resembles the ramblings of a lunatic - I am not surprised, we have
long
known this was an asylum with the inmates in charge.
The Zanu
document in fact does not deal with any of the issues that are on
the table.
They ramble on about "recognition of Mr. Mugabe as President" and
the
suspension of "sanctions" as well as the well-known diatribe about the
MDC as
a "violent Party". As if it would make one iota of difference to
anything if
we did do those things! We do not control the standing of Mr.
Mugabe in
international circles - he does. We do not control the imposition
of personal
travel and financial restrictions on the 100 or so worst
offenders in terms
of human and political rights abuse - those who control
visa regulations and
money markets do. I think we have shown quite clearly
who sponsors political
violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe - it is Zanu
who holds degrees in
violence!
I really do feel sorry for these Zanu PF types - they know now
that they are
really up against impossible odds. Their only way of avoiding
the dip tank
is to stay outside the holding pens. Once they are in, the only
way out is
either over the fence or through the dip. On the other side we
wait with
expectation - we have all the ingredients for a national braai
and
celebration that will make the record books. I already have picked out
a
couple of fat, corrupt, lazy oxen to provide the nyama for my braai - I
am
sure everyone else is equally ready.
I am waiting to see just what
Mbeki is going to do next. He has no choice
now but to exercise leadership
and get this process underway. The deadline
for the SADC leadership is the
end of June and this time I am sure we are
going to see that cattle prod in
action - all 10 000 volts applied in the
appropriate place.
But for
all of you who are in my universe and are little spots of light
against the
night sky, hang in there, you give hope to all of us and you
make this dark
place a place of beauty.
Eddie
Cross
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
help!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CANCER
ASSOCIATION APPEAL
The astonishing thing is that they still offer this
wonderful service today
under almost impossible conditions.
Eleven
years ago I turned to the Cancer Association when I was stunned by
my
diagnosis of breast cancer. But that was a picnic compared to today
when
the only radiotherapy machine in the country spends more time broken
down
than working and many patients cannot afford chemotherapy.
Yet
somehow the Cancer Association continues to meet the needs of
cancer
patients.
This world class organisation holds its annual Street
collection on 23rd
June in Harare and desperately needs your help cancer@mweb.co.zw
Thank
you,
Jacquie
Gulliver
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MALVERN
HOUSE
Malvern House was built in 1969 in Umvukwes (now Mvurwi) by the
local
farmers and businessmen, and was intended originally as a retirement
home
for the local residents of the area.
In the last few years most
of the farmers have moved away and the facilities
are now under
utilized.
The complex consists of a large central building referred to as
the
cloisters, which includes the reception area, lounge, library, dining
room
and kitchen. Accommodation consists of 9 double rooms and 7 single
rooms al
with en-suite bath/shower and toilet. The current all in charges
for this
facility as at July 2007 are as follows:-
Cloisters (ALL
FOUND)
1 room with bath and toilet for 1
person
$1,386,000
5 empty
2 rooms with bath and toilet for 1
person
$2,079,000
2 rooms with bath and toilet for 2
persons
$2,772,000
In addition there are 17 self catering cottages and
4 self catering flats on
the property, the rates for these are as
follows:-
Cottages:-
2 empty
2 bedroom cottages
$42,000
per month
1 bedroom cottages
$31,500 per month
3
empty
Flats
$26,250 per month
Lock up garages are available
at
$31,500 per month
Care Unit:-
There is also a highly rated
13 bed care unit with 24 hour nursing care:-
Long stay
patients
$2,142,000 per month
Other Charges:-
Cottage and Flat
Residents Meals at Cloisters $40,000
Guest
Meals
$50,000
Guest Nights
$60,000
Al the above charges are
payable in advance and are subject to regular
increases