Zim Online
Mon 19 June
2006
KAROI - About 200 displaced white farmers from Mashonaland
West
province have turned down an offer of farms by the government, saying
there
was no guarantee the government would not in future turn back on the
offer
and evict them again, ZimOnline has learnt.
Authoritative
sources said Mashonaland West provincial governor Nelson
Samkange offered
the farmers - among the close to 4 000 whites to lose land
to the government
over the past six years - new farms in the wheat-producing
area of Tengwe
which lies in his province about 260km north-west of Harare.
Samkange, who, according to sources, had permission from President
Robert
Mugabe's office to give back land to "whites willing to work with the
government", had wanted the farmers back in Tengwe by May 20 in time to be
able to put a winter wheat crop on the ground.
"In fact, we were instructed to make available fuel for the about 200
white
farmers who were to be allocated farms in the area of Tengwe. The idea
was
that the farmers would move in, quickly revive the run-down farms and
boost
wheat production," said a senior official with the government's
Agricultural
Research and Extension (AREX) services department.
Tengwe is one of
the prime farming areas in Mashonaland West producing
mainly wheat, tobacco
and maize. But most of the farms there are now
derelict with infrastructure
such as dams and tobacco barns in a state of
disrepair after black villagers
resettled by the government on the former
white farms abandoned
them.
The plan to bring back whites to Tengwe collapsed after
ruling ZANU PF
party militants chased away white farmer, Justin Boddy, from
his Elephants
Farm near Tengwe just at the time Samkange's office was trying
to convince
the farmers that it would be safe to return, according to our
source.
''What happened to Boddy took them (white farmers) by
surprise and
they have since developed cold feet on the whole thing .. they
are saying
they could never be sure that they would not be evicted again as
happened in
2000," said the AREX official, who spoke on condition he was not
named.
The white farmers were also put back by the state of
dereliction of
farms in Tengwe and were unsure whether it would be possible
to revive
production especially given Zimbabwe's hyperinflation and
deteriorating
business environment.
Samkange confirmed that his
office had offered land to white farmers
but would not shed much detail on
the matter only saying: "We had extended
our hand but they have snubbed
us".
It was not possible to get comment on the matter yesterday
from the
Commercial Farmers Union that represents white
farmers.
There have been conflicting statements from the government
on whether
it will invite back whites to resuscitate some of the farms it
seized over
the past six years but which now lie unused because the new
black owners are
no longer interested in farming.
At one time
earlier this year, State Security and also Land Reform
Minister, Didymus
Mutasa, told ZimOnline that his department had invited
whites to apply for
farmland from the government saying that those who
qualify would be
allocated farms.
Influential Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono as well as
Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and Joice Mujuru have
also on several occasions
in the past said there should be no more eviction
of the few remaining white
farmers.
But farm seizures
nonetheless continue to this day, with hardliner
Ministers of Agriculture
Joseph Made and of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa,
saying the government would
not give back land to whites and that in fact it
shall continue seizing more
white farms to allocate to blacks who may still
need land.
The
farm seizures that began in 2000 and which Mugabe says were meant
to correct
an unjust land tenure system that reserved 75 percent of the best
arable
land for minority whites while the majority blacks were cramped on
poor
soils have been blamed for plunging Zimbabwe into severe food
shortages.
The southern African country that was once a
regional breadbasket has
largely survived food handouts from international
relief agencies for the
past six years and will this year require more food
aid for at least three
quarters of its 12 million people. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 19 June 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's long-term economic
survival prospects look dimmer
by the day with analysts warning that the
government's mortgaging of the
country's minerals to Asians is sure to lead
to more troubles in the future
for the world's fastest shrinking
economy.
President Robert Mugabe's government, at a loss as to how
to
permanently tackle an economic crisis that started at the end of 1999,
has
been parcelling out pockets of Zimbabwe's mineral wealth to China and
other
Asian countries in return for mostly short-term
assistance.
As part of its highly-vaunted "Look East" policy, the
Zimbabwe
government has entered into at least 15 deals with the Chinese,
Iranians and
other Asians, mostly on fuel, mining, electricity and
communication.
Last week a Zimbabwean delegation led by
Vice-President Joice Mujuru
was in China where they signed at least five
agreements that would
effectively give the Chinese access to the country's
resources.
However, analysts told ZimOnline that the Asian
expedition would only
worsen Zimbabwe's crisis in that the deals only served
to expand the
catchment area for Chinese and other Asian manufacturers to
dump their
products.
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political
science lecturer John Makumbe
said Zimbabwe's economy was structurally weak
to sustain trade with China.
"The Chinese are an attractive country
to trade with only if our
manufacturing sector is not on death row like is
the case at the moment,"
said Makumbe.
The UZ lecturer said the
Look East policy - which Mugabe adopted after
falling out with the West -
was in fact, contributing to Zimbabwe's biting
economic crisis by destroying
its manufacturing base as many industries were
forced to close after losing
market share to mostly cheap Chinese-made
products.
Harare
economist James Jowa cautioned against continued Asian
deal-making, warning
that these deals were leaving the country vulnerable to
the vagaries of
world commodity prices.
"These countries are getting a cheap source
of commodities at a time
when international prices of these products are
firming. If anything, all
Zimbabwe is getting is a few days' supply of oil,
electricity and other
things that we could as well produce locally if we get
our act together,"
said Jowa.
The recent World Economic Forum
on Africa summit held in South Africa
singled out China's insatiable demand
for commodities as one of the factors
pulling the rising Asian giant to
Africa.
Chinese demand is, in fact, believed to be the reason
behind the
recent firming of copper, gold and other commodity
prices.
The analysts also believe that the current deal-making and
attendant
mortgaging of Zimbabwe's resources could have serious
repercussions in the
event that the country's economic fortunes
normalise.
There was a likelihood that a future post-Mugabe
government in Harare
might want to review some of the deals or in the worst
case might want to
expel the Chinese and other Asian investors should
Zimbabwe's economic
situation normalise.
Zimbabwe is also bound
to suffer heavy economic losses as prices of
commodities continue to
firm.
"I foresee future problems with regards to our own
indigenisation
policy for sectors like mining and manufacturing and also
problems to do
with relations between future Zimbabwe governments and the
Chinese and
Iranians," said Jowa.
Mugabe, who has ruled
Zimbabwe since independence from Britain 26
years ago, has shifted his
foreign policy to favour the East over the past
six years in response to
what he views as sabotage by Western countries
angered by his government's
land reforms. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 19 June
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwean police at the weekend banned the country's
main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party from holding
public
marches in central Harare in commemoration of the massacre of Soweto
schoolchildren by apartheid South African police on June 16,
1976.
"They are stopping us from holding commemorations of an event
which
happened not in Zimbabwe but in South Africa. This government has
become
paranoid. This is a violation of human rights," said Solomon Madzore,
who is
chairman of the youth wing of the main rump of the splintered MDC led
by
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Madzore, who vowed that the opposition
youths would defy the police
and hold the march sometime this week, said the
law enforcement agency did
not give reasons for banning the
march.
But he suggested the police may have feared the march could
end up
turning into a protest against President Robert Mugabe, blamed by
many
Zimbabweans for ruining the country's once brilliant
economy.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was not immediately
reachable last
night for comment on the matter.
Police have
banned all public demonstrations by the opposition and
civic society groups
for fear these could easily cascade into mass
anti-Mugabe protests that
Tsvangirai has threatened to call sometime this
winter.
Tsvangirai says he wants the protests to force Mugabe to step aside
and pave
way for a government of national unity that would be tasked to lead
the
writing of a new constitution and to organise fresh elections under
international supervision.
The government has warned Tsvangirai
it will not allow Ukraine-style
mass revolt in Zimbabwe with Mugabe warning
the opposition leader that he
would be "dicing with death" if he ever
attempted to instigate a popular
uprising by Zimbabweans. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 19 June 2006
GABORONE - Civic groups in Botswana
have urged southern African
leaders to adopt a much more robust approach to
resolve a six-year old
political and economic crisis in
Zimbabwe.
Speaking at a belated solidarity march in Gaborone for
victims of a
controversial Zimbabwe government housing demolition campaign
last year, the
civic groups called for a change of tactics by regional
leaders as their
policies on Zimbabwe were not working.
South
Africa, seen as the best country to influence political change
in Zimbabwe,
has for the past six years refused to act against President
Robert Mugabe's
government preferring a policy of "quiet diplomacy" against
the Harare
authorities.
Addressing the marchers, opposition Botswana Congress
Party secretary
general Lucas Taolo said "quiet diplomacy" was effectively a
conspiracy
against suffering Zimbabweans.
Taolo said Botswana,
which currently chairs the Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
must push for a change of strategy in dealing
with the Zimbabwe
issue.
The march was organised by the Botswana Civil Society for
Zimbabwe, a
coalition of civic groups seeking to influence change in
Zimbabwe, as part
of commemorations for the clean-up exercise that left at
least 700 000
people homeless and directly affected another 2.4 million
people, according
to a United Nations report. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 19 June
2006
MARONDERA - Three years ago during a particularly bad fuel
shortage I
used to accompany my son to a nearby junior school by
bicycle.
There was no way to avoid a short but steep hill and I
always had to
get off and walk. My daily challenge was to stay on the bike
until I reached
a big boulder half way up the hill.
This week I
saw with sadness that the boulder has gone.
This big black rock,
the size of a family car, has been painstakingly
chipped into little stones
by a man, woman and two children over the last
few months.
We
do have municipal police in our town but it seems they are more
concerned
with impounding unlicensed bicycles than protecting the
environment for us
and those that come after us.
Now a rock, thousands of years old,
is stacked in little piles on the
side of the road for sale to
builders.
On a recent journey there were six police road blocks in
a distance of
just seventy kilometres. This is another fragment of
Zimbabwean life where
you are left with more questions than
answers.
As you repeatedly slow down for the road blocks you begin
to feel like
you are travelling in a country which is at war.
You keep asking yourself just exactly what it is the police, who seem
younger by the day, are looking for in so many road blocks.
Another view of Zimbabwe is the display of wealth by the nouveau riche
in
the country. Luxury cars and extravagant four wheel drive vehicles worth
multiple billions of dollars fill car parks and block roads in shopping
centres in affluent parts of suburban Harare.
The new super
rich people of Zimbabwe seem keen to show off their
wealth and are keen to
be seen.
At the dirtiest tattiest little beer hall or bar on the
side of the
road there is always at least one Mercedes or one luxury double
cab - more
often though there is a whole line of them.
Life in
Zimbabwe is such a strange mixture of wildly contrasting
circumstances and
these days almost nothing is as it seems.
For the past week only
one thing has been certain: If the electricity
is on there is a World Cup
football game being shown on TV, if its off, then
there's no game being
played.
I end with the very sad news that a man so many of us felt
we knew,
passed away this week. Wrex Tarr, a businessman, an entertainer,
newsreader,
a national archer and rifle shottist died aged 71 in East
London.
Apparently Wrex Tarr died while entertaining a happy crowd
of bowlers
at the club after the day's play. I offer my sincere condolences
to the
family.
* Cathy Buckle is a Zimbabwean writer based in
Marondera
Morgan had lunch with a group of local business
leaders this week. During
the conversation he made the point that he would
never have predicted that
the Nationalist government in South Africa in 1989
would have accepted the
changes that were about to break over the heads of
all who lived in South
Africa. They controlled all the instruments of the
State, huge resources,
the electoral system and the media. Domestically they
seemed to be
unassailable. Five years later they were defeated, out of power
and the
Party that had dominated South Africa for the previous 45 years
had
disintegrated.
It happens. Never say the word "impossible" in
politics.
Suddenly there is a new consensus in the international
community about
Zimbabwe. This replaces the assumed approach sculptured by
Tony Blair at the
G8 summit in mid 2005 when the G8 renewed its commitment to
helping put the
Zimbabwe economy back on its feet and its support for the
approach proposed
by the South Africans. After the Gleneagles summit, Thabo
Mbeki has had a go
at getting Mr. Mugabe to step aside and allow reform and
recovery on three
separate occasions and on each occasion he was frustrated
by the local
leadership.
We, in the MDC were never happy with the
approach being adopted for the
resolution of the crisis over the past year
and are quite happy that the
Blair/Mbeki approach has failed. In its place a
much more principled and
robust approach has now been crafted and seems to
have suddenly gained
acceptance across the globe.
In response we have
modified our own approach and this is now synchronized
with the new UN
crafted proposals and is currently being given some flesh by
experts and
legal draftsmen. As soon as this process is complete we will be
ready for
what might be coming in the near future.
The reasons for this new
consensus are not hard to understand. It is now 4
years since George Bush
stood with Mr. Mbeki in Pretoria and stated that
Mbeki was now the "point
man" on the Zimbabwe crisis. A logical choice - he
has the power to coerce
the Zimbabwean leadership if this is required, he
has the experience and his
own country had just been through a dramatic
transition assisted by the
global community.
In fact Mr. Mbeki accepted the role but then tried to
use his position to
secure an outcome that would have left a so-called
"sanitized Zanu PF
government" in power. The reasons for this were purely
domestic and had
little to do with what was best for Zimbabwe. Had the Zanu
PF leadership
recognised this and co-operated with Mr. Mbeki then he might
have made
progress and we (the MDC and the people of Zimbabwe) would have had
to learn
to live with new leadership, perhaps modified policies, but with
most of the
same problems that beset us right now.
The leadership of
Zanu PF did not see this as a way out and instead they
blocked all Mbeki's
efforts to resolve the crisis. In fact they have
insulted and slandered the
South African President and must now finally face
the new consensus without
his support and protection.
The second reason for the new consensus is
the acceptance that Zimbabwe is
now close to collapse. I have often said this
before - countries do not
collapse like companies, but in this case I may in
fact be wrong. We are now
close to the very real threat that we may not be
able to sustain our economy
as a functional entity. Coal supplies are down to
critical levels,
electrical energy needs are no longer being met and our own
local crisis is
being exacerbated by a growing deficit in electrical energy
supplies
regionally. Our railways are no longer capable of moving more than a
small
proportion of our national transport needs and we no longer have the
foreign
currency to support essential imports - this week saw Air Zimbabwe
suspend
flights because it simply cannot keep its aircraft in the
air.
A country like the Congo can survive these sorts of pressures - the
majority
of its economy is informal and can survive these chaotic conditions.
Its
inherent riches have enabled the Congo to survive under a succession
of
corrupt, even criminal, elements since 1960.
Somaliland has seen
half its total population leave the country since its
own collapse began.
Other African States that have failed have seen similar
numbers of migrants
fleeing the country for greener pastures. The great
difference here is that
our own millions of fleeing citizens have in the
main "gone south". A
correspondent told me just this week that they now
think that up to 4 million
Zimbabweans may be living in South Africa - only
15 per cent as legal
residents.
The continued, even accelerated collapse in the Zimbabwean
economy this year
has scared a lot of people - in the region and abroad. It
has suddenly given
new impetus to the search for a solution.
Perhaps
another reason for the new consensus on the way forward and the need
to throw
some weight behind the initiative, is the new sense of the
fragility of the
South African situation. The SACP and Cosatu are talking
about breaking away
from the ANC and if they did the political spectrum in
South Africa would
change overnight. A leftist Party would emerge from the
new dispensation that
could challenge the hegemony of the ANC in South
African politics. It is
Mbeki's nightmare scenario.
Under these circumstances he needs to narrow
down the focus of the South
African administration and reduce the number of
fronts on which they are
dealing with serious problems. Zimbabwe is one place
where they could effect
such a reduction and at the same time perhaps draw
the interests of the ANC
alliance parties together.
Whatever the
reasons - there is suddenly a new consensus on the way forward.
Like a
clearing in deep, dense fog at sea - suddenly we can all see how
a
transitional government might open up the situation here - allow
the
international community in with resources and open up the possibility
that
free and fair elections could be held in a year or so. So watch the
meeting
in the Gambia next week very closely. It is perhaps another turning
point in
southern African history - one that will echo the events in
September 1976
when Ian Smith was forced to cede to a transition and 1989
when the South
Africans faced the same scenario and succumbed to a
combination of domestic
and international pressure. Perhaps, just perhaps,
this time is our turn -
again.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, June 17th 2006
http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml
Saturday 17th June 2006
Dear Family and
Friends,
Zimbabwe tells a very strange story to the casual passer by. We are
a
country so full of contradictions and extremes that sometimes just the
fragments tell their own story about the situation here.
Driving on
the main road through Marondera this week I noticed that two big
shops have
just suddenly gone. A couple of weeks ago they were there but now
they are
unexpectedly closed; windows bare, doors locked, iron bars and
grills
padlocked and protecting empty showrooms.
Three years ago during a
particularly bad fuel shortage I used to accompany
my son to a nearby junior
school by bicycle. There was no way to avoid a
short but steep hill and I
always had to get off and walk. My daily
challenge was to stay on the bike
until I reached a big boulder half way up
the hill. This week I saw with
sadness that the boulder has gone. This big
black rock, the size of a family
car, has been painstakingly chipped into
little stones by a man, woman and
two children over the last few months. We
do have municipal police in our
town but it seems they are more concerned
with impounding unlicensed
bicycles than protecting the environment for us
and those that come after
us. Now a rock, thousands of years old, is stacked
in little piles on the
side of the road for sale to builders.
On a recent journey there were six
police road blocks in a distance of just
seventy kilometres. This is another
fragment of Zimbabwean life where you
are left with more questions than
answers. As you repeatedly slow down for
the road blocks you begin to feel
like you are travelling in a country which
is at war. You keep asking
yourself just exactly what it is the police, who
seem younger by the day,
are looking for in so many road blocks.
Another view of Zimbabwe is the
display of wealth by the nouveau riche in
the country. Luxury cars and
extravagant four wheel drive vehicles worth
multiple billions of dollars
fill car parks and block roads in shopping
centres in affluent parts of
suburban Harare. The new super rich people of
Zimbabwe seem keen to show off
their wealth and are keen to be seen. At the
dirtiest tattiest little beer
hall or bar on the side of the road there is
always at least one Mercedes or
one luxury double cab - more often though
there is a whole line of
them.
Life in Zimbabwe is such a strange mixture of wildly contrasting
circumstances and these days almost nothing is as it seems. For the past
week only one thing has been certain: If the electricity is on there is a
world cup football game being shown on TV, if its off, then there's no game
being played.
I end with the very sad news that a man so many of us
felt we knew, passed
away this week. Wrex Tarr, a businessman, an
entertainer, newsreader, a
national archer and rifle shottist died aged 71
in East London. Apparently
Wrex Tarr died while entertaining a happy crowd
of bowlers at the club after
the day's play. I offer my sincere condolences
to the family.
Until next week, love cathy
zimbabwejournalists.com
By a
Correspondent
LONDON - A WELL-KNOWN Zimbabwean intellectual and
lawyer, Dr Alex
Magaisa, has criticised some civic society organisations in
Zimbabwe for
replicating the behaviour of political organisations that they
are fighting
to change.
In a wide-ranging paper on the
situation in Zimbabwe presented at the
inaugural annual Basker Vashee
Memorial lecture in Amsterdam, Dr Magaisa
singled out the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) as one such
organisation. He said some CSOs in
Zimbabwe have failed to live by the
principles that they
espouse.
"Worse however, is when CSOs begin to replicate the
behaviour of the
political organisations that they are fighting to change,"
he told a
receptive audience in the Netherlands. "This has happened for
example, when
Constitutions of CSOs are changed on the basis of following
the will of the
people, something that ZANU PF and the government has done
in the past." The
NCA has recently amended its Constitution amid
controversial circumstances,
with allegations flying around that the
amendments were designed to allow Dr
Madhuku to remain in power beyond the
stipulated two terms.
"As a body that has been fighting for a new
Constitution, people have
begun to doubt whether it still has the moral
authority to challenge
President Mugabe and ZANU PF in the wake of the
controversial amendments.
Whatever the merits of the amendments the NCA
ought to have taken into
account the current context and refrained from
appearing to replicate ZANU
PF's behaviour."
He continued: "Also
worrying are the allegations that Dr Madhuku's
supporters used violence and
threatened opponents of the constitutional
amendment."
Dr
Magaisa said it was sad that very few organisations in the country
had
spoken out openly against the NCA debacle.
"The biggest problem
however is that except for the Mutambara led
faction of the MDC, none of the
other political and non-political actors
preaching the word of democracy
have uttered a word of condemnation against
Dr Madhuku and the NCA," he
said. "The Tsvangirai-led MDC, which appears to
command a majority at
present, has not commented on the episode. One
suspects that the apparent
conspiracy of silence is motivated by political
alliances, which mean that
none of the alliance partners has the moral
standing or courage to criticise
the other." He said the alliance of
partners also resulted in CSOs keeping
quiet when the Morgan Tsvangirai MDC
was accused of using violence against
some senior party officials.
"Violence was also reportedly used
against opponents and perpetrators
got away with it - fuelling impunity. At
that time civil society remained
largely silent and at worst took sides in
the MDC split, thereby undermining
their own impartiality," said Dr Magaisa.
"It is unsurprising then that now
that the NCA has trampled on its own
principles and values, there is by and
large unity in silence, bar the lone
voice of the Mutambara MDC, which
called for Dr Madhuku to step down. There
is only one word to describe the
whole episode: embarrassment."
Dr Magaisa said it was small wonder that in the eyes of a number of
critics,
CSOs have lost credibility and have become part of the problem in
Zimbabwe.
"Unless they reform and refocus, they risk becoming an irrelevant
side-show
in the current politics and a mere footnote when the history of
Zimbabwe is
told in future," he said.
Dr Magaisa said allegations of corruption
and lack of accountability
have also posed threats to the credibility of
CSOs. The greed and
competition for resources, he said, has had a largely
negative effect on the
nature of CSOs hence the many unnecessary and
wasteful divisions. "It is not
uncommon that once a leader loses office in
an NGO he goes on to form
another one. Unfortunately donors buy into their
project proposal and
consequently Zimbabwe has a lot of organisations doing
the same things. They
cannot even mobilise their membership, if they have
any, in order to carry
on a united protest."
The paper also
touched on Zanu PF politics and paralysis, the
succession issue, the
opposition MDC and the situation obtaining in Zimbabwe
at the moment. He did
not only look at the visible damage done by
hyperinflation, material
shortages and the breakdown of the rule of law in
Zimbabwe, but also at the
invisible damage the country's current crisis is
having on the culture,
behaviour and attitude of citizens towards each
other, the state and other
institutions. Dr Magaisa argued in addition to
insisting on a new government
and Constitution, the Zimbabwe opposition
movement needs to closely
scrutinise its own practices and work to develop a
more democratic
culture.
The Basker Vashee Memorial lecture will be held annually
to
commemorate the life of Basker Vashee (1944-2005), a Zimbabwean activist
and
scholar who was director of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute
(TNI) from 1977 to 1987, and a TNI Fellow until the end of his
life.
Sunday News, Zimbabwe
Chief
Reporter
In a strange twist of irony, some revenue halls run by
the Zimbabwe
Electricity Distribution Company are failing to collect
payments from
consumers because the unpredictable power cuts that have
plagued the city
have not spared the company's computer-based billing
system.
Residents of Mzilikazi, Nguboyenja and Thorngrove suburbs had their
electricity cut off this week for outstanding debts as low as $66 000, while
others risk being switched off after failing to pay due to ongoing power
blackouts that are ironically affecting the ZEDC revenue halls, Sunday News
has learnt.
As Mzilikazi residents made efforts to pay the recently hiked
tariffs before
supplies were cut off, the local residents' association was
busy engaging
officials from the power utility to reconsider the decision to
cut off power
supplies.
Following the tariffs hike, fixed seven-amp and
15-amp charges went up to
$700 000 and $1,5 million respectively.
Tellers
at the Nguboyenja revenue hall were on Monday forced to resort to
issuing
handwritten receipts and could hardly cope with hundreds of
residents
intending to settle their bills.
As early as 7am, hundreds of residents had
formed a long queue which
stretched up to the robot-controlled intersection
of Luveve Road and
Nguboyenja Road, commonly known as eMachipsini, some 200
metres away.
The revenue hall, just like the households in the ward, has also
been hit by
power cuts during business hours, thus affecting the smooth
payment of
bills, much to the disadvantage of residents who had to patiently
queue
until they were served manually.
Residents complained that they
were made to pay much more than they owed as
tellers were forced to estimate
the amount due when the computers were down.
Miss Portia Ncube, of Mzilikazi,
said she failed to pay on Monday following
an almost two-hour power cut that
affected the suburb, including the revenue
hall.
"I woke up as early as
six o'clock and found the queue stretching up to
Sotshangana Flats. By 7
o'clock, it was reaching the robot intersection.
"The queue was moving quite
fast until the power cut at around eight o'clock.
The tellers then started
issuing handwritten receipts and this lengthened
the process. I had some
business to do in town and I ended up leaving and
returned to pay the
following day," she told the Sunday News in an
interview.
She said she
was initially issued with an electronic receipt after paying
$600 000
following which she was directed to another teller where she was
told to pay
$85 000 which was recorded on a manually prepared receipt.
"I did not
understand why I had to pay to two different tellers. It has
become
difficult for one to determine what is due because of the use of both
computerised and manual methods," she said.
It also emerged that a number
of households in the suburb had electricity
supplies cut off for various
outstanding amounts.
One source said one household in the suburb had power
cut off over an
outstanding $66 000, although this could not be formally
verified.
The power utility demands a $5 million reconnection fee from
residents who
want their supplies restored.
Residents have of late rapped
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
Holdings for implementing an
inconsistent load shedding schedule that has
seen many families lose
electrical gadgets due to power surges.
Officials at the Bulawayo ZESA
offices referred the Sunday News to the power
utility's corporate
communications manager, Mr James Maridadi, whose mobile
phone was not
audible enough at the time of writing yesterday.
The Mzilikazi Residents'
Association chairman, Mr Mckenzie Sibanda,
yesterday said his organisation
is engaging ZESA officials on the way
forward.
"We had some meetings with
them and we are set to meet again in view of the
latest developments. We
discussed the load limiters deadline issue as well
as the power cuts we are
experiencing.
"We will be meeting again and I hope we will agree on the way
forward," he
said.
He could not be drawn into discussing what came out of
the previous meeting,
saying he would give a detailed comment tomorrow after
attending a workshop
elsewhere in the city.
" I am afraid I am attending
a two-day workshop and I am busy. Phone me on
Monday (tomorrow ) and I will
be able to give you details on the issue," he
said.
ZESA early this month
said Zimbabweans must adapt to living with the
inconvenience of power cuts
because its generation and distribution capacity
had been severely reduced
by a combination of ageing infrastructure ,
vandalism of equipment and low
tariffs.
ZEDC managing director Engineer Ben Rafemoyo was recently quoted as
saying
that the company would at times be forced to work outside the load
shedding
schedule announced in May due to expected power shortages.
"It
is an inconvenience that we will have to live with. We might have to
work
outside the schedule because of unforeseen power failure," Eng Rafemoyo
was
quoted as saying.
He pointed out that although the power outages could be
partly attributed to
the envisaged electricity shortfall in southern Africa
next year due to high
demand, Zimbabwe was not the only country experiencing
power shortages in
the region.
Two new stars of the vigil: Wilfred
Muzuwa, aged 12, and his brother
Kudakwashe, aged 10. They are the sons of
Patson Muzuwa, a Vigil stalwart
from Leicester who is delighted to have been
able to bring them over from
Zimbabwe. It was a joy to welcome them and
they immediately made themselves
useful, both dressed in England football
strip. Asked his impressions of
England, Wilfred said "The people here are
rich but they are also poor".
Patson, a torture survivor, is to feature in a
Zimbabwean theatrical
production 'Qabuka', which runs from 28th June - 15th
July at the Oval House
Theatre (Box Office 020 7582 7680). The production
is devised from the
personal stories of over 100 Zimbabweans in
exile.
One incident on a hot day: Wiz was confronted by a fellow with a
raised
finger. She thought "Oh help, more of Mugabe the saviour of Africa",
but
instead he said "Fantastic, we must get rid of these dictators in
Africa".
Attitudes among the Afro- Caribbean community do seem to be
changing.
We were pleased our new friends from Brighton, Wellington and
Alois, came
back to spread the message of their youth organization, Free
Zim: "Away with
the rhetoric of the past. We must confront where we are
today". They have
become firm supporters of the Vigil which they say was a
catalyst for their
initiative. We were also glad to have with us Mrs Biba
and Lois who were
asking for support for the WOZA protest (see below for
details). Thanks to
Clifford whose dancing energized the Vigil.
We
were visited by a couple from Zimbabwe. They were violently thrown off
their farm and the husband, who was very frail, has never recovered his
health. Nevertheless, he plans to return soon to Zimbabwe.
Latest
news on our evidence of torture to the UN. We have now been put in
touch
with Christina Saunders, the new person in charge of the Zimbabwe Desk
on
the Human Rights Council. She has been very encouraging and has asked us
to
resubmit our evidence (which we have done) so that she can ensure that it
is
followed through properly. You may not be aware that the UN Human Rights
Commission (which had Zimbabwe as a member!) has been reformed and is now
known as the UN Human Rights Council. Unlike its predecessor, in which
members were elected by regional groups with the support of 28 or fewer
countries, the new Council requires the agreement of 96 nations in a secret
ballot. For the first time each member's human rights record will be
scrutinised before and after elections. The Council will meet throughout the
year, not just once a year, making it more responsive to human rights
emergencies.
For this week's Vigil pictures:
http://uk.msnusers.com/ZimbabweVigil/shoebox.msnw.
FOR
THE RECORD: 52 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
· Monday,
19th June, 7.30 pm - Zimbabwe Forum. This week there will
be a social
evening at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam Street,
London WC2. We
have lost the exclusive use of the upstairs room at the pub
on 19th and 26th
June because of the World Cup. The Forum will be meeting
on 26th June after
the service at St Martin-in-the-Fields (see below) at a
local venue still to
be decided.
· Tuesday, 20th June, 5 - 7 pm - WOZA UK will be holding
a
solidarity protest with WOZA in Zimbabwe outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429
Strand. London. WOZA is marking this day, World Refugee Day, because
Zimbabweans are refugees in their own country. The theme this year is
"Keeping the Flame of Hope Alive". WOZA demands the right to earn a
living.
· Monday, 26th June, 5.30 pm - special service, organised by
the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church,
Trafalgar
Square, London, for Zimbabwean and Sudanese victims of torture to
mark UN
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. We are pleased
that the
Zimbabwean community in the UK has linked with activists from
another
suffering African community.
Vigil co-ordinator
The
Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human
rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October
2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections
are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
News24
18/06/2006 14:03 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe is considering three foreign bids to mine
uranium, a
state-run newspaper reported on Sunday, saying work could begin
before the
end of the year.
Deputy Mines Minister Tinos Rusere did
not identify the bidders to the
Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, saying
only that they were narrowed
down from a number of applications to exploit
uranium in the remote Kanyemba
district.
Among the countries believed
involved were China, Russia, South Africa and
Namibia, the paper
said.
President Robert Mugabe announced in November that the government
plans to
turn to nuclear energy to ease chronic electricity shortages in the
country,
which has close ties to two countries with controversial nuclear
programs -
Iran and North Korea.
A plan in the 1990s to acquire a
reactor from Argentina never materialised.
Rusere did not specify whether
uranium processing proposals were included in
the bids currently under
consideration, but said an eventual deal would
inject much-needed hard
currency into the crumbling economy, according to
the
report.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since Mugabe led
the country
to independence from Britain in 1980, with acute shortages of
food, foreign
currency, gasoline and other imports.
The crisis is
blamed largely on the collapse of agriculture following the
seizure of
thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to
black
Zimbabweans.
Lengthy power and water outages occur daily. Zimbabwe
imports nearly 40% of
its power from neighbouring countries and has not been
able to meet its
arrears.
Its own generating stations have been hit
by breakdowns coupled with
shortages of equipment, spare parts and
coal.
Significant uranium deposits were found in Kanyemba by German
prospectors in
the 1970s, but were never exploited because of low world
prices.
The Kanyemba district is about 250km north of the capital,
Harare.
June 18,
2006.
By ANDnetwork .com
The exchange rate movements
on the Zimbabwean parallel market are
beginning to be felt in the gold
mining industry as smuggling and illicit
trade of the commodity has
heightened over the past month, The Sunday Mail
Business has
learnt.
By Darlington Musarurwa
Since the beginning of
the year, prices on the parallel market have
been adjusted upwards by more
than 100% as the Zimbabwe dollar continues to
record losses against major
currencies.
Last week sources told this paper that the yellow metal
was now being
quoted at prices ranging from Z$5 million and Z$6 million per
gram, which is
markedly higher than that offered by Fidelity Printers and
Refiners which
has been stagnant at Z$2.5 million since the beginning of the
year.
Gold contributes about 52% of the mineral output in the
country, but
deliveries have been declining since the beginning of the year
as miners opt
for the illegal but much rewarding parallel
market.
Most small-scale miners interviewed last week called for
the upward
revision of gold prices saying this would shore up
deliveries.
Statistics that have been availed by the Chamber of
Mines show that
gold production has been declining from more than 1 000kg at
the beginning
of the year to 820kg in April, with the exception of March
when volumes
marginally picked up to 863kg.
However, for the
first quarter, the country managed to rake in close
to Z$7 trillion from
gold sales.
"Gold syndicates have intensified their operations,
especially in
Kwekwe and Kadoma, where the high prices that are being
fetched by the metal
have fuelled illegal trade.
"Prices have
significantly moved over the past month and this has led
to a marked rift
between those being offered by the authority and the
dealers.
"Although, there has been improvement in policing the sector by the
authorities, the major syndicates have not been busted yet," said the
source.
The authorities are understood to have launched
"Operation Goldfinger"
in a bid to suffocate the parallel market, but they
are reportedly finding
it difficult to track the syndicates.
When asked for comment, the president of the Zimbabwe Indigenous
Miners and
Approved Prospectors' Union (ZIMAPU), Rangana Chauke, said that
the present
situation in the gold mining sector was untenable and there was
need for the
authorities to intervene and address the challenges that are
being faced by
players in the industry.
"The situation in the mining sector is
very worrying at the moment and
viability problems have come to dog the
industry players.
"The whole process of producing the metal is very
expensive to such an
extent that operational costs far outweigh the returns
on investment.
"With the way that things are going, we might fail
to even produce the
quantities of gold that were realised last year and the
gap that has
developed between the official prices and those on the parallel
market has
made the situation all the more difficult.
"Most of
our staff members are now abandoning our companies and opting
to join the
gold syndicates," said Chauke.
Prices of mercury, which is used for
refining the yellow metal, are
now at about Z$1.5 million per teaspoon while
milling the gold is about
Z$600 000 per hour. It takes an average of three
hours to mill one ton.
Transport costs have also risen to between
Z$15 million and Z$20
million to transport five tons of the
commodity.
The prices of gold on the international market have also
been rising
since the beginning of the year and it is estimated that the
country could
have lost millions in earnings as a result of the dip in
production.
Sunday Mail Business
Mail and Guardian
Johannesburg, South Africa
18 June 2006
10:12
A 21-year old Zimbabwean man is in police custody after
holding
a hypodermic needle to an air hostess's throat on a South African
Airways
flight on Saturday.
Police said the man, whom
they believe to be mentally disturbed,
had apparently wanted to force the
pilot to fly to Maputo.
Cape Town resident Yunus Ismail told
the Mail & Guardian Online
was sitting in his business class seat when
he saw the man walking towards
the cockpit with an air
hostess.
"He shouted, 'If you don't open the door I'll kill
her,'" Ismail
said on Saturday night.
"Three of us jump
up . we got such a fright ... and then they
cuffed him," he
said.
The plane then flew back to Cape Town and a police task
force
stormed the plane and arrestd the suspect. Passengers were instructed
to put
their hands on their heads.
Ismail said one
passenger had been struck in the face by a
member of the task
force.
The paper quoted Cape Town photographer Roger Sedres
(37), who
was seated next to the suspected hijacker, as saying he was
well-dressed and
had acted strangely from the time he
boarded.
"He kept on fiddling with his phone and putting his
hand in his
pockets. He did not say a word or greet me."
Sedres told the paper he had immediately known an attempted
hijacking was in
progress when, about 35 minutes into the flight, the man
suddenly got up
from his 22C aisle seat, walked about 20m towards the front
of the plane and
grabbed an air hostess.
"He said something but I couldn't
hear what he was saying." said
the Sunday Times
The man
was then immediately tackled and handcuffed by a group
of passengers,
including an off-duty pilot.
"It was an attempted hijacking
... but at no point did he come
close to entering the cockpit. At this stage
we have no understanding of
what his specific demands were," SAA
spokesperson Jacqui O'Sullivan told the
paper.
Police
spokesperson Inspector Bernadine Steyn said the man would
remain in custody
while charges were formulated. - Sapa and Staff Reporter
From The Herald, 17 June
Municipal Reporter
Government has, for the fourth
consecutive time, re-appointed Ms Sekesayi
Makwavarara and four members of
the commission running the affairs of the
City of Harare for a further six
months. Four other members of the
commission were not re-appointed, but no
reasons were given. Commissioners
whose terms of office were renewed are Cde
Tendai Savanhu (deputy commission
chairperson), Mrs Prisca Mupfumira, Mr
Justin Chivavaya and Mr Michael
Mahachi. Mr Terrence Hussein, Engineer Noel
Muzuva, Mrs Viola Chasi and
Professor Jameson Kurasha were not re-appointed.
Addressing a Press
conference in Harare yesterday, the Minister of Local
Government, Public
Works and Urban Development, Cde Ignatius Chombo, ruled
out the holding of
municipal elections in the city until Harare Metropolitan
Province districts
are properly defined. He said the Government was pleased
with the work done
by the commission as it had managed to achieve targets
set for it. There are
plans to include at least three district
administrators in the commission.
Ms Makwavarara's term of office has
been marred by controversy owing to her
predilection for an expensive
lifestyle. The commission was appointed after
the dismissal of the MDC-led
council in 2004 after it was found guilty of
mismanagement. Although
commissions are normally appointed for a period of
six months, in the case
of Harare, the Government indicated at the beginning
that the body would
operate for 24 months, implying it would periodically
renew the commission's
mandate. The two years expire in December this year.
Cde Chombo said there
was an outstanding issue of the province's boundaries,
which needed to be
addressed first before elections could be held. "In other
words, there is no
consensus let alone unanimity on the matter. Ideally
given the sensitivity
of the issue, Government would want to proceed on the
basis of mutual
agreement amongst all concerned. Once the provincial
boundary is agreed
upon, metropolitan districts and wards shall then be
carved out," he
said.
The Urban Councils Act, which governs the operations of local
authorities,
empowers the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and
Urban
Development to appoint a commission and does not fix the number of
times the
minister can do so. The Act states in section 81 that: "A
commissioner
appointed in terms of sub-section (1) shall hold office during
the pleasure
of the minister, but his office shall terminate as soon as
there are
councillors for the council area who are able to exercise all
their
functions as councillors, or six months after the date of his
appointment,
which ever occurs first." The Act states that if the minister
is satisfied
that after the termination of the office of a commissioner
appointed in
terms of sub section (1) there will be no councillors for the
council area
who will be able to exercise all their functions, the minister
may reappoint
the commissioner in terms of sub-section (1). Sub-section (1)
states that
the minister may appoint a commission to act as council if there
are no
councillors or all the councillors for a council area have been
suspended,
imprisoned or are unable to exercise their functions as
councillors.
Cde Chombo said the re-appointments were done on the
strength of
achievements scored by the commission. He said he was pleased
with the
productive outturn of the commission. He said the establishment of
business
units, corporatised entities and utility agencies has enhanced the
city's
revenue base. "I observe and hear with extreme pleasure that, to
date, this
strategy has paid dividends in the increased visibility of the
city in areas
such as road maintenance, street and traffic lights
management, improved
refuse collection capacity as the plant and equipment
is slowly but surely
being brought back on the city's roads," he said.
Harare now boasts of 20
new refuse tractors, all fitted with trailers and a
number of repaired
refuse trucks. "Quick attendance to burst water and sewer
pipelines and
indeed increased financial inflows are indicators of the
turnaround strategy
bearing fruit under your leadership against a background
of negative forces
calling for levy boycotts," he said
Comment from The Zimbabwean, 16 June
By Fr Oskar Wermter SJ
Real evil often appears
in the guise of great social charm
"The president has bad advisers.
If he knew what is really going on he would
do something about it," you can
still hear occasionally. It is unbelievable
how people deceive themselves
about the true state of affairs in Zimbabwe.
They like to think everything
is normal, apart from a few "mistakes".
Christians are not necessarily
better judges of politics than other people.
They have no special
enlightenment. They may be as naïve and gullible as the
rest of us. In fact,
biased towards values like "peace" and
"reconciliation", they may make worse
blunders than others. "You must not
judge and condemn others," they may say,
and this could blur their political
vision. "You must see both sides," is
another noble sentiment, which may
prevent them from seeing the evil and
malice of those responsible. "They are
just people like you and me, they
make mistakes, but they are doing their
best." Precisely. Real evil often
appears in the guise of great social
charm. The "pied pipers" who have
destroyed the lives of millions were often
at first applauded by their later
victims.
"The Church must stay neutral so as to be ready to act as
arbitrator and
peacemaker," say some church leaders. Neither an individual
Christian nor
the Church as a body can stay neutral in the face of sheer
injustice. The
trouble is, some people cannot recognize injustice even when
the facts stare
them in the face. "Murambatsvina was not a bad thing. After
all, government
was merely implementing the laws of the country," they say.
Nonsense. No law
of the country gave government the right to destroy
people's homes without
warning. Even illegally built dwellings fulfil a
vital function, namely of
giving otherwise homeless people a roof over their
heads. If the law gave
government the right to inflict such harm on people
then the law would be an
ass. But in fact it did not. Anna Tibaijuka's UN
report made this quite
clear. It is irresponsible to make moral judgments
without taking the
trouble to get to know the facts.
Besides, the
basic human right to life and to shelter overrides city council
regulations
concerning building permits etc. Many people in Zimbabwe do not
know that
the positive law enacted by parliament or by city councils must be
in accord
with natural justice. There can be bad and harmful laws, which
people in
good conscience can disregard. No government has the right to
enact laws
that put people's lives at risk. That is why we need a Bill of
Rights in the
Constitution that cannot be overruled by any positive law.
"Murambatsvina
was a good idea. Merely the way it was carried out was not so
good," I have
heard, believe it or not. That is like saying to a killer,
"You were quite
right murdering that man. Only you should not have cut off
his head.
Poisoning him would have been better."
"There is nothing wrong with
inviting the President to church functions. The
Church respects the head of
state." Quite so. If he comes as head of state
and represents the nation,
there is not much wrong with that. But if he
comes as head of government and
party leader, talking party politics and
indulging in hate speech,
denouncing his enemies including certain critical
church leaders, his
presence is divisive and unacceptable at church
gatherings. "Government may
have made mistakes here and there. Who is
without fault? But after all it is
our government, and we must defend it
against the western world." Certain
people, even within the Church, resent
any criticism coming from outside the
country, or even from foreign-born
people inside the country. African
solidarity must prevail. That is very
human. Brothers fight each other
within the family, but close ranks against
any attack from the
outside.
But in the end this attitude is no better than the old
British jingoistic
saying, "My country - right or wrong". This blind
nationalism - blind to any
moral values - has done untold harm to Europe in
World War One and Two. It
is currently doing untold harm to Africa. It is
unworthy of a Christian and
a betrayal of Christian principles which apply
universally. Nationalism and
racism are incompatible with the Church which
is catholic and all-embracing,
making no ethnic distinctions. "The Church
must have good relations with
government so as to be able to carry on its
work in education and health
care." Now that is a tricky one. In our present
situation of general decay
church schools and hospitals are indeed rendering
a vital service to the
people and must not be endangered. For this
"privilege" of having church
institutions government is exacting a political
price, namely the Church's
silence in matters of social justice. The Church
cannot avoid some official
contacts behind closed doors. But the Church
should not give the appearance
in public as if it was endorsing government
and all its policies. That would
be too high a price.