International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: June 20, 2007
BRUSSELS, Belgium 0: Zimbabwe's
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said
Wednesday time may be running out
to organize free and fair elections next
March.
The Zimbabwe
government and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change are
holding talks
in South Africa seeking to solve the political crisis that
reached new
heights earlier this year with the arrest and beating of
pro-democracy
leaders.
Tsvangirai wants the talks to lay the groundwork for next year's
elections.
"The focus of these negotiations is on the forthcoming
elections in March,"
he told Associated Press Television News.
"So we
are bit anxious what needs to be done to create the conditions for
free and
fair elections," said Tsvangirai, who is on a tour of European
capitals. "We
may actually be running out (of time) for it."
Zimbabwe has presidential
elections scheduled for next year and there are
moves to advance the
parliamentary elections by two years from 2010 so they
coincide.
President Robert Mugabe is still the official candidate though
there are
repeated rumors he is under pressure to stand down.
The
opposition maintains intimidation of voters and ballot rigging have
robbed
it of victory in parliamentary and presidential elections in the
past -
warning that polls scheduled for next year will be no different.
It also
wants the repeal of sweeping media and security laws, electoral
reforms and
an end to state-orchestrated political violence.
Business Day
20 June 2007
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE's ruling Zanu (PF) and opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) returned home yesterday after initial talks in
Pretoria on the country's
political and economic crisis.
The two
rival parties, convening under the mediation of President Thabo
Mbeki, will
resume dialogue early next month after Mbeki has reported back
to his
Southern African Development Community (SADC) colleagues on the talks
so
far.
Mbeki is expected to brief SADC leaders, who authorised him in March
to deal
with the issue , by the end of this month. Mbeki will also report to
the
African Union (AU) next month.
AU president John Kufuor of Ghana
has given Mbeki's mediation his full
support.
Sources said the
negotiations , under the chairmanship of SA's Provincial
and Local
Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, went "very well" at a
personal level
between delegates despite the two parties' initial positions
being like the
"north and south poles".
Zanu (PF) is represented by Zimbabwean Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa
and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, while the MDC
negotiators include
lawyers Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti.
"The
meetings were very friendly and conducted in good spirits but the two
parties held widely divergent views," a source close to the talks
said.
After preliminary meetings on Sunday and Monday, the
parties agreed to
discuss all the issues they had tabled. It is understood
the parties
eventually agreed on a common consolidated agenda.
Reuters
Wed 20 Jun
2007, 11:46 GMT
HARARE, June 20 (Reuters) - Fewer than 5 percent of
Zimbabwe's
industrialists believe the country will recover from its
deepening economic
crisis in the next three years, a survey showed on
Wednesday.
The southern African country is in its eighth successive year
of recession,
marked by the world's highest inflation rate at above 3,700
percent and
which has left four in five people without jobs and people
struggling to
feed their families.
The manufacturing sector
contributes 15.5 percent to Zimbabwe's gross
domestic product, compared with
24 percent a decade ago.
It has been hit by shortages of electricity and
foreign currency as well a
skewed exchange rate and government price
controls.
"We are in a crisis ... we no longer have an industry to talk
about. We have
de-industrialised ourselves," Callisto Jokonya, head of the
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) said at the launch of a survey on
the state of the
manufacturing sector.
The survey, which covered the
period from 2008 to 2010, showed that among
business executives in the
manufacturing sector, "the percentage of
optimists (on the recovery of the
economy) has now dropped to 4.8 percent in
2006, halving from 9 percent in
2005."
Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector was once hailed as one of the most
diversified in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa and contributes a
third of the country's export earnings.
Output contracted by 7
percent in 2006 compared to a 3.2 growth in 2005, and
is expected to
register a 2 percent decline this year.
Industry Minister Obert Mpofu
said the government hoped to arrest the slide
by giving cheap loans to
distressed companies, while the broader economic
problems were being
addressed through local and regional initiatives.
President Robert Mugabe
denies charges that he has mismanaged the economy
during his 27-year rule
and accuses Western countries of sabotage to punish
his government for
seizing white-owned farms for blacks.
IOL
June 20
2007 at 06:37PM
As the SA government confirmed for the first time
on Tuesday that
Zimbabwe peace talks had started in Pretoria, it emerged
that Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe had set tough conditions for engaging
in any
sustained dialogue.
Participants at the first official
talks between Mugabe's ruling
Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) are
keeping a tight lid on their
deliberations.
"All we can confirm at this stage is that there are
talks," said
George Sibotshiwe, MDC spokesperson.
But sources
close to the talks say Mugabe demanded in a letter to
President Thabo Mbeki
just before the talks that the opposition recognise
him as the legitimate
leader of Zimbabwe.
He also demanded that the
opposition denounce Western-targeted
sanctions and call for lifting them,
among other things.
Since elections in 2000, the opposition has
steadfastly stuck to its
position that Mugabe is an illegitimate ruler,
spurning the call for lifting
of sanctions saying it is not responsible for
sanctions imposed on Mugabe
and his cronies by the West.
Although it was unclear how Mugabe's demands had been addressed,
officials
close to the talks said the gap between the two sides remains very
wide. -
Independent Foreign Service
This article was originally
published on page 3 of Daily News on June
20, 2007
By Lance
Guma
20 June 2007
A state sponsored crackdown directed at student
leaders and their relatives
intensified with reports that police have
mounted an aggressive manhunt for
Zimbabwe National Student Union president
Promise Mkwananzi. His relatives
in Waterfalls and Glen Norah were beaten up
with clenched fists and baton
sticks after they told police Mkwananzi did
not live with them anymore.
In an interview with Newsreel from South
Africa Mkwananzi said police broke
down doors at the Waterfalls property in
Harare, accusing his relatives of
hiding him in a particular room. No one
was arrested in the incident. He
says he finds it strange the state is
trying to resuscitate a manhunt he
thought they had dropped. The raid on the
two homes comes in the wake of a
similar raid on the home of Lawrence
Mashungu, Vice-Chairperson the Students
Christian Movement of Zimbabwe.
Police assaulted Mashungu's brother.
Drawing comparisons with the seizure
of Arthur Mutambara's passport,
Mkwananzi suspects the regime was trying to
block his participation in a
Save Zimbabwe Campaign trip to Europe. The
ZINASU leader, who is a third
year law student, has been deregistered from
his faculty at the University
of Zimbabwe. Authorities at the campus have so
far refused to disclose the
reasons for the de-registration. Mkwananzi says
he got a High Court order
overturning the decision but Vice Chancellor Levi
Nyagura told, 'to go and
learn at the judges house.'
Students
countrywide are said to be restless over a variety of issues. Top
up fees
are high on the agenda, power cuts and what the students describe as
deteriorating food standards have set up a cocktail of unsuitable learning
conditions. The state is aware of the simmering tensions and has responded
by deploying soldiers and other security guards, disguised as campus
security guards. It's these security agents who are carrying out most of the
assaults on the students before they hand them over to the
police.
Another student leader, Witlaw Mugwiji, is said to have been
admitted at
Masvingo Central Hospital after Masvingo University security
officers
attacked him in the examination room. Mugwiji, the President of the
Students
Representative Council (SRC), and Edison Hlatshwayo the Secretary
General
were both barred from writing their examinations.
ZINASU say
Mugwiji has so far been denied a fair trial before a disciplinary
hearing.
Meanwhile the Secretary General of the UZ SRC, Kudakwashe Mapundu
and Caesar
Sitiya were released Monday evening after being arrested and
detained over
charges of malicious injury to property last week Friday. The
police allege
the two student leaders smashed windows on a bus at the
university campus on
10th May.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Violet
Gonda
20 August
A German Member of the European Parliament has denied
reports claiming
Zimbabwean legislators had been denied visas to attend the
ACP-EU Joint
Parliamentary Assembly due to meet in Wiesbaden, Germany next
week.
Austin Zvoma, the clerk of parliament, said Zimbabwe would not take
part in
the meeting claiming two ruling party legislators, Forbes Magadu and
Godfrey
Chipare, had been denied visas. Zvoma however said two legislators,
including opposition MP Nelson Chamisa, had been granted visas.
But a
statement by MEP Michael Gahler categorically denies refusing the
Zimbabwean
delegation visas and said no formal visa applications have ever
been
submitted by the Zimbabwean parliament.
All passports for the delegation,
including those of the opposition, were
supposed to have been sent by
parliament for visas, but MDC MP Nelson
Chamisa confirmed there was no
evidence in his passport that it had been
sent for a visa application. He
said this was a deliberate and strategic
ploy by the ruling party in an
attempt to block a resolution on Zimbabwe.
Zvoma said: "The parliament of
Zimbabwe categorically rejects attempts by
the German authorities to dictate
surreptitiously the composition of our
delegation to the meetings.
Consequently, all delegates are hereby advised
that the parliament of
Zimbabwe has decided not to send a delegation to
these meetings."
Gahler
said this is obviously another attempt at manipulation by the
Zimbabwean
regime. But reiterated that there are no obstacles for the
participation of
a Zimbabwean delegation, as long as they are not on the
sanctions
list.
Chamisa said he was surprised to hear that his passport had not
even been
taken to the German Embassy for the visa application. "When I
checked with
the Germany Embassy they said they had no problems with my
visa. So clearly
it shows that somebody is associating with mischief within
the corridors of
parliament and that is quite disturbing because we are
prejudicing the
nation of the opportunity to represent our own national
interests at the
international platform."
The Kuwadzana MP believes this
was a strategy to stop people like himself
from going to Germany from
telling the other delegates, particularly from
the African, Caribbean and
Pacific block, the truth about what's happening
in Zimbabwe.
Chamisa
said the Zimbabwean government is working on a strategy: "Once the
delegation has been cancelled you cannot represent the country and once the
country cannot be represented it cannot be discussed or debated in absentia.
So perhaps this is the strategy they are trying to play."
The week-long
ACP/EU joint parliamentary assembly will start on Monday.
For the last seven
years the Zimbabwe situation has threatened to derail
this international
programme. Scores of ruling party officials are on an EU
travel
sanctions.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
iafrica.com
Wed, 20 Jun
2007
Zimbabwean companies are operating at a third of their capacity as a
foreign
currency crunch hampers imports of spares and raw materials, an
industry
survey released on Wednesday said.
"The average capacity
utilisation for sampled firms was 33.8 percent (down
from 35.8 percent in
the previous survey in 2005)," said the Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries
survey.
"We have de-industrialised ourselves," CZI President Callisto
Jokonya told
guests at the launch of the report.
"There is a crisis.
We no longer have an industry to talk about."
Fuel shortages
He
said controls imposed by veteran President Robert Mugabe's government to
rein in galloping prices were not working.
The CZI report said 49
percent of the sampled firms operated below 50
percent capacity with only
9.7 percent operating at above 74 percent.
The industry body said the
decline was exacerbated by chronic shortages of
fuel and frequent power
cuts.
"In fact, 84 percent and 89 percent of the sampled firms stated
that power
cuts and fuel shortages had serious negative effects on their
operations."
CZI added that business confidence had dipped to five
percent as investors
grew increasingly pessimistic about the state of an
economy ravaged by
inflation now believed to have breached 4500
percent.
Soaring inflation
Zimbabwe is in the eighth year of a
recession, characterised by the world's
highest rate of inflation, 80
percent unemployment, chronic shortages of
foreign currency and of basic
goods such as fuel and the staple cornmeal.
Many factories have pulled
down the shutters and relocated to neighbouring
countries while others have
scaled down their operations, often running
fewer days a week or with a
skeleton workforce.
Financial analysts say an influx of cheap-quality
imports mainly from China
has also hit the local
industry.
AFP
By Lance Guma
20 June
2007
The High Court on Tuesday ordered the release of 6 out of 21 MDC
activists
still locked up in remand prison for over 2 months. Justice
Lawrence Kamocha
ordered the release of Piniel Denga, Philip Mabika, Peter
Chikwati, Jacob
Muvavi, Raymond Bake and Arthur Mhizha while granting them
Z$10 million bail
each. The police however refused to release 3 out of the
6, arguing that
Mhizha, Chikwati and Mabika still faced separate
charges.
Those released were ordered to report three times a week to the
CID law and
order section. Glen View MP Paul Madzore and 17 others,
including Morgan
Komichi who is critically ill, remain in custody. The
Mugabe regime had
ordered the arrest of several MDC activists on what
commentators described
as flimsy charges of engaging in terrorist
activities. A series of
suspicious petrol bomb attacks were unleashed on
police stations and other
government targets, in what is thought to have
been a well worked out excuse
to justify the crackdown on the
opposition.
Over 600 activists are said to have been either abducted,
beaten, tortured
or hospitalized in 4 months of unrelenting brutality. An
aborted prayer
rally by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign in Highfields set the
mayhem off after
police used brute force to crush it. Activist Gift Tandare
and cameraman
Edward Chikomba were murdered while the body of a third
activist was
discovered weeks after the rally.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
No:
2007-10
Date: 20 June 2007
Embargo: For Immediate
Release
BANKING (FOREIGN EXCHANGE) REGULATIONS 1959
SANCTIONS
AGAINST ZIMBABWE - AMENDMENT TO THE ANNEX
The Reserve Bank of Australia,
following a directive from the Australian
Government under the Banking
(Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959, currently
administers financial
sanctions against certain individuals associated with
the Government of
Zimbabwe. The list of individuals subject to sanctions
includes ministers
and senior officials of the Government of Zimbabwe, as
well as senior
management of state-owned enterprises of Zimbabwe.
The Australian
Government has reviewed the list of individuals subject to
financial
sanctions and has directed the Reserve Bank to remove 3
individuals and add
27 new individuals to the Annex of names. Amendments
have also been made to
64 entries on the previous list. The updated Annex
(see below) now contains
183 names.
Any transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments
to, by the
order of, or on behalf of any person listed in the Annex are
prohibited
without prior approval from the Reserve
Bank.
Enquiries:
Manager, Media Office
Information
Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
SYDNEY
Phone: +61 2 9551
9720
Fax: +61 2 9221 5528
E-mail: rbainfo@rba.gov.au
---------------
List
of names:
Updated: 20 June 2007
BIMHA, Michael Chakanaka,
Chairman, Air Zimbabwe
BONYONGWE, Happyton, Director-General, Central
Intelligence Organisation -
DOB 06/11/1960
BUKA, Flora, Minister of
State for Special Affairs in the President's Office
responsible for Land and
Resettlement Programmes - DOB 25/02/1968
BVUDZIJENA, Wayne, Assistant
Police Commissioner
CHAPFIKA, David, Deputy Minister of Agriculture - DOB
07/04/1957
CHARAMBA, George, Permanent Secretary, Department for
Information and
Publicity - DOB 04/04/1963
CHARUMBIRA, Fortune
Zefanaya, President of the Council of Chiefs and former
Deputy Minister for
Local Government, Member of Parliament & Zanu-PF Central
Committee
Member - DOB 10/06/1962
CHAWOTA, David, Acting CEO, Civil Aviation
Authority, Zimbabwe - DOB
10/01/1956
CHIDHAKWA, Walter, Chairman,
Tel-One
CHIDYAUSIKU, Godfrey, Chief Justice, Supreme
Court
CHIGARU, Daniel John, Chairman, ZimTrade
CHIGUDU, Tinaye
Elisha, Provincial Governor, Manicaland - DOB 13/08/1942
CHIGWEDERE,
Aeneas Soko, Minister of Education, Sports and Culture - DOB
25/11/1939
CHIHOTA, Phineas, Deputy Minister of Industry and
International Trade - DOB
23/11/1950
CHIHURI, Augustine, Police
Commissioner - DOB 10/03/1953
CHIKAURA, Charles, CEO Zimbabwe Development
Bank - DOB 08/08/1955
CHIMBUDZI, Alice, Zanu-PF Politburo Committee
Member
CHIMUTENGWENDE, Chenhamo Chakezha, Minister of State for Public
and
Interactive Affairs - DOB 28/08/1943
CHINAMASA, Patrick Anthony,
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs - DOB
25/01/1947
CHINDORI-CHININGA, Edward, Former Minister of Mines and Mining
Development -
DOB 14/03/1955
CHINOTIMBA, Joseph, Deputy Chairman,
Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans Assoc
CHIPANGA, Tongesai
Shadreck, Former Deputy Minister of Home Affairs - DOB
10/10/1946
CHIPATO, Charles, Chairman, National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe
CHITEPO, Victoria, Zanu-PF Politburo Committee Member - DOB
27/03/1928
CHIWENGA, Constantine, Lt. Gen., Commander Zimbabwe Defence
Forces - DOB
25/08/1956
CHIWESHE, George, Chairman, Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission - DOB 04/06/1953
CHIWEWE, Willard, Provincial
Governor, Masvingo - DOB 19/03/1949
CHIYANGWA, Philip, Former Zanu-PF
Provincial Chairman, Mashonaland West
CHOMBO, Ignatius Morgan Chiminya,
Minister of Local Government, Public Works
and Urban Development, Zanu-PF
Politburo Member, Secretary of the Politburo
Committee on Lands and
Resettlement - DOB 01/08/1952
DABENGWA, Dumiso, Zanu-PF Politburo
Committee Member - DOB 06/12/1939
DAMASANE, Abigail, Deputy Minister for
Women's Affairs, Gender and Community
Development - DOB
27/05/1952
DEKETEKE, Pirirayi, Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe
DOKORA, Lazarus, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary
Education
DUBE, Tshinga Judge, CEO, Zimbabwe Defence Industries; Retired
Colonel - DOB
03/07/1941
FUNDIRA, Emmanuel, Former Chairperson,
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
GAMBE, Theophilus Pharoah, Zimbabwe Electoral
Commissioner - DOB 20/06/1959
GATA, Sydney, Former Chairman, Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority - DOB
17/12/1946
GEORGIAS, Aguy,
Senator, Deputy Minister of Economic Development
GOCHE, Nicholas,
Minister of Public Services, Labour and Social Welfare, and
Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for National Security - DOB 01/08/1946
GONO, Gideon,
Governor, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) - DOB 29/11/1959
GULA-NDEBELE,
Sobuza, Attorney-General - DOB 12/08/1954
GUMBO, Rugare Aleck Ngidi,
Minister of Agriculture (former Minister of
Economic Development) and
Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for
Administration - DOB
08/03/1940
HOVE, Richard, Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Economic
Affairs - DOB
23/09/1939
HUNGWE, Josaya Dunira, Former Provincial
Governor, Masvingo - DOB 07/11/1935
KACHINGWE, Sarah, Commissioner,
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
KADZURA, Jonathan, Vice Chairman, Air
Zimbabwe - DOB 10/02/1959
KAHARI, George Payne, Commissioner, Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission - DOB
20/07/1930
KANGAI, Kumbirai, Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for External Affairs - DOB
17/02/1938
KARIMANZIRA, David Ishemunyoro Godi, Provincial Governor,
Harare
Metropolitan; Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary For Finance - DOB
25/05/1947
KASEKE, Karikoga, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority
KASUKUWERE, Saviour, Deputy Minister of Youth Development and
Employment
Creation; Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy-Secretary for Youth Affairs -
DOB
23/10/1970
KAUKONDE, Ray Joseph, Provincial Governor, Mashonaland
East - DOB 04/03/1963
KAZEMBE, Joyce, Deputy Chair, Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
KURASHA, Prof. Jameson, Chairman, Zimbabwe Post
Ltd
KURUNERI, Christopher Tichaona, Former Minister of Finance and
Economic
Development - DOB 04/04/1949
LANGA, Andrew, Deputy Minister
of Environment and Tourism - DOB 13/01/1965
LESABE, Thenjiwe, Zanu-PF
Politburo Member - DOB 05/01/1933
MACHAYA, Jaison Max Kokerai, Former
Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining
Development - DOB
13/06/1952
MADE, Joseph Mtakwese, Minister of State for Agricultural
Engineering and
Mechanisation (former Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development) - DOB
21/11/1954
MADZONGWE, Edna, President of the
Senate and Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy
Secretary for Production and Labour -
DOB 11/07/1943
MAFA, David John, Zanu-PF Provincial Chairman, Mashonaland
West
MAHOFA, Shuvai Ben, Former Deputy Minister for Youth Development,
Gender and
Employment Creation - DOB 04/04/1941
MAHOSO, Tafataona P,
Chair, Media Information Commission
MAKAMURE, Wellington, Managing
Director, Tel-One
MAKONI, Simbarashe, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary
General for Economic
Affairs - DOB 22/03/1950
MAKONYERE, Shepherd,
Acting Chairman of Agri-Bank (Agriculture Bank of
Zimbabwe)
MAKWAVARARA, Sekesai, Acting Mayor of Harare
(Zanu-PF)
MALINGA, Joshua, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for
Disabled and
Disadvantaged - DOB 28/04/1944
MALULEKE, Titus Hatlani,
Deputy Minister of Education, Sport and Culture
MANDISHONA, Gibson,
Chairman, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority - DOB 10/01/1956
MANDIZHA, Barbara,
Deputy Police Commissioner - DOB 24/10/1959
MANGWANA, Munyaradzi Paul,
Minister of State for Indigenization and
Empowerment (former Minister of
State for Anti-Corruption and
Anti-Monopolies) - DOB
10/08/1961
MANIKAI, Edwin, Chairperson, National Social Security
Authority
MANYIKA, Elliot Tapfumanei, Minister without Portfolio and
Zanu-PF Politburo
Secretary for Commissariat - DOB
30/07/1955
MANYONDA, Kenneth Vhundukai, Former Deputy Minister of
Industry and
International Trade - DOB 10/08/1934
MAPHOSA, Fidelian,
Zanu-PF Politburo Committee member
MARUMAHOKO, Reuben, Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs (former Deputy
Minister of Home Affairs) - DOB
04/04/1948
MASANGA, Gabriel, Former CEO, Zimbabwe Iron and Steel
Company
MASAWI, Ephraim Sango, Governor, Mashonaland Central and Zanu-PF
Politburo
Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity
MASHAIRE,
Florence, Acting Chairperson, Zimbabwe Investment Authority - DOB
28/02/1967
MASUKU, Angeline, Provincial Governor, Matabeleland South
and Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for Gender and Culture - DOB
14/10/1936
MATANGA, Godwin, Deputy Police Commissioner - DOB
05/02/1962
MATHEMA, Cain Ginyilitshe Ndabazekhaya, Provincial Governor,
Bulawayo
Metropolitan - DOB 28/01/1948
MATHUTHU, Thokozile,
Provincial Governor, Matabeland North and Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for
Transport and Welfare
MATIBIRI, Innocent, Deputy Police Commissioner -
DOB 09/10/1968
MATIZA, Joel Biggie, Deputy Minister for Rural Housing and
Social
Amenities - DOB 17/08/1960
MATONGA, Bright, Deputy Minister
for Information and Publicity - DOB circa
1969
MATOWANYIKA, Dr
Joseph, CEO, Agriculture and Rural Development Authority
MATSHALAGA,
Obert, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (former Deputy Minister
of Foreign
Affairs) - DOB 21/04/1951
MATSHIYA, Melusi Mike, Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs
MAVHAIRE, Dzikamai, Zanu-PF Politburo Member,
Deputy Secretary of the
Politburo Committee on Lands and
Resettlement
MBIRIRI, Partson, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local
Government, Public
Works and Urban Development
MIDZI, Amos Bernard
Muvenga, Minister for Mines and Mining Development - DOB
04/07/1952
MNANGAGWA, Emmerson Dambudzo, Minister for Rural Housing
and Social
Amenities and Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Legal Affairs - DOB
15/09/1946
MOHADI, Kembo Campbell Dugishi, Minister of Home Affairs and
Zanu-PF
Politburo Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs - DOB
15/11/1949
MOYO, Headman, Zanu-PF Provincial Chairman, Matabeland
North
MOYO, Jonathan Nathaniel, Former Minister for Information and
Publicity -
DOB 12/01/1957
MOYO, July Gabarari, Former Minister of
Energy and Power Development and
former Minister of Public Service, Labour
and Social Welfare - DOB
07/05/1950
MOYO, Musa, Zanu-PF Politburo
Committee member
MOYO, Onesimo, General Manager, Mineral Marketing
Corporation of Zimbabwe -
DOB 10/02/1959
MOYO, Simon Khaya, Former
Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for Legal
Affairs; Zimbabwe Ambassador to
South Africa - DOB 01/10/1945
MPOFU, Obert Moses, Minister for Industry
and International Trade, Zanu-PF
Politburo Deputy Secretary for National
Security - DOB 12/10/1951
MPOFU, Rido, Zanu-PF Provincial Chairman,
Matabeland South
MSIKA, Joseph, Vice-President - DOB
06/12/1923
MSIPA, Cephas George, Provincial Governor, Midlands - DOB
07/07/1931
MUBAIWA, Richard, CEO, Zimbabwe Investment Authority - DOB
28/02/1967
MUCHENA, Olivia Nyembezi, Minister of State for Science and
Technology
Development and Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Science and
Technology - DOB
18/08/1946
MUCHINGURI, Oppah Chamu Zvipange,
Minister for Women's Affairs, Gender and
Community Development, Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for Women's Affairs - DOB
14/12/1958
MUDEDE,
Tobaiwa Tonneth, Registrar General - DOB 22/12/1942
MUDENGE, Stan Isaak
Gorerazvo, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education and
Zanu-PF Politburo
Deputy Secretary for External Affairs - DOB 17/12/1941
MUGABE, Grace,
Spouse of Robert Mugabe - DOB 23/07/1965
MUGABE, Leo, Member of
Parliament and nephew of Robert Mugabe - DOB
28/08/1962
MUGABE,
Robert Gabriel, President - DOB 21/02/1924
MUGABE, Sabina, Zanu-PF
Politburo Senior Committee Member - DOB 14/10/1934
MUGUTI, Edwin, Deputy
Minister of Health and Child Welfare - DOB 02/05/1964
MUJURU, Joyce,
Vice-President - DOB 15/04/1955
MUJURU, Solomon Tapfumaneyi Ruzambo,
Zanu-PF Politburo Senior Committee
Member and former Commander, Zimbabwe
Defence Forces - DOB 01/05/1949
MUMBENGEGWI, Samuel Creighton, Minister
of Finance (former Minister for
Indigenization and Empowerment) - DOB
23/10/1942
MUMBENGEGWI, Simbarashe Simbanenduku, Minister for Foreign
Affairs - DOB
20/07/1945
MUPFUMIRA, Prisca, Chairperson, Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe
MURERWA, Herbert Muchemwa, Former
Minister of Finance and Zanu-PF Politburo
Deputy Secretary for Education -
DOB 31/07/1941
MURINGANI, Willie, Chairman, Zimbabwe National Water
Authority
MUSARIRI, Munyaradzi, Assistant Police
Commissioner
MUSHAYAKARARA, Elisha, CEO, Zimbabwe Financial Holding
Company - DOB
01/01/1964
MUSHOHWE, Christopher Chindoti, Minister of
Transport and Communication -
DOB 06/02/1954
MUTASA, Didymus Noel
Edwin, Minister of State for National Security, Lands,
Land Reform and
Resettlement, and Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for
Administration - DOB
27/07/1935
MUTASA, Mr Justin, Chairman, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings;
CEO, Zimbabwe
Newspapers Group
MUTEZO, Munacho Thomas Alvar, Minister
for Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development - DOB
14/02/1954
MUTINHIRI, Ambrose, Retired Brigadier, Minister of Youth
Development, Gender
and Employment Creation - DOB
22/02/1944
MUTINHIRI, Tracey, Deputy Minister of Indigenization and
Empowerment
MUTIWEKUZIVA, Kenneth Kaparadza, Deputy Minister for Small
and Medium
Enterprise Development - DOB 27/05/1948
MUTYAMBIZI,
Charles, Chair, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA)
MUVUTI,
Samuel Tendai, Acting CEO, Grain Marketing Board - DOB
06/07/1957
MUZENDA, Tsitsi, Zanu-PF Politburo Senior Committee
Member
MUZONZINI, Elisha, Brigadier, Former Director-General Central
Intelligence
Organisation - DOB 24/06/1957
MZEMBI, Walter, Deputy
Minister of Water Resources and Infrastructural
Development
NCUBE,
Abedinico, Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare -
DOB 13/10/1954
NCUBE, Vivian, Commissioner, Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
NDLOVU, Callistus, Chairman, Net*One
NDLOVU, Naison,
Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Production and Labour - DOB
22/10/1930
NDLOVU, Richard, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for
the Commissariat -
DOB 26/06/1942
NDLOVU, Sikhanyiso Duke, Minister
for Information and Publicity, Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for Education
(former Deputy Minister for Higher and
Tertiary Education) - DOB
04/05/1937
NGUNI, Sylvester Robert, Minister of Economic Development
(former Deputy
Minister of Agriculture) - DOB 04/08/1955
NHEMA,
Francis Dunstan Chenayimoyo, Minister of Environment and Tourism -
DOB
17/04/1959
NHERERA, Prof. Charles, Former Chairman, Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company
NKALA, Herbert, Chairman, Zimbabwe Newspapers
Ltd
NKOMO, John Landa, Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of Zanu-PF -
DOB
22/08/1934
NSIMBI, Zenzo, Former Zanu-PF Politburo Member, Former
Provincial Governor,
Bulawayo
NYAMBUYA, Michael Reuben, Minister of
Energy and Power Development - DOB
23/07/1955
NYANGULU, Nyepudzai,
Chair, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ)
NYANHONGO, Hubert
Magadzire, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications
NYATHI,
George, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary of Science and
Technology
NYIKAYARAMBA, Brig. Gen. Douglas, Chairman, National Railways
of Zimbabwe
NYONI, Sithembiso Gile Gladys, Minister of Small and Medium
Enterprise
Development and Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for
Indigenization and
Empowerment - DOB 20/09/1949
PARIRENYATWA, David
Pagwese, Minister of Health and Child Welfare and
Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy
Secretary for Health and Child Welfare - DOB
02/08/1950
PATEL,
Khantibhal, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for Finance - DOB
28/10/1928
POTE, Selina M, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for
Gender and Culture
SAKABUYA, Morris, Deputy Minister of Local Government,
Public Works and
Urban Development
SAKUPWANYA, Stanley, Zanu-PF
Politburo Secretary for the Disabled and
Disadvantaged - DOB circa
1945
SAMKANGE, Nelson Tapera Crispin, Provincial Governor, Mashonaland
West
SANDI, Eunice, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for Home
Affairs
SAVANHU, Tendai, Zanu-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary of Transport
and Social
Welfare - DOB 21/03/1968
SEKERAMAYI, Lovemore, Chief
Election Officer, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
SEKERAMAYI, Sydney
Tigere, Minister of Defence and Zanu-PF Politburo
Secretary for Health and
Child Welfare - DOB 30/03/1944
SHAMU, Webster Kotiwani, Minister of State
for Policy Implementation, Member
of Zanu-PF Politburo - DOB
06/06/1945
SHAMUYARIRA, Nathan Marwirakuwa, Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary
for Information
and Publicity - DOB 29/09/1928
SHIRI, Perence, Air
Marshal (Air Force) - DOB 01/11/1955
SHUMBA, Isaiah Masvayamwando, Deputy
Minister of Education, Sports and
Culture - DOB 03/01/1949
SIBANDA,
Jabulani, Former National Chairman, Zimbabwe National Liberation
War
Veterans Association - DOB 31/12/1970
SIBANDA, Levy, Deputy Police
Commissioner
SIBANDA, Mishek, Chief Secretary to the President and
Cabinet
SIBANDA, Phillip Valentine, Commander, Zimbabwe National Army -
DOB
25/08/1956
SIKHOSANA, Absolom, Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for
Youth Affairs
SIYACHITEMA, Jonathan, Commissioner, Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission; Bishop
STAMPS, Timothy, Health Advisor in the Office of the
President - DOB
15/10/1936
TAKAWIRA, Amod, CEO, National Social
Security Authority - DOB 28/02/1967
TSHAWE, Jabulani, Zanu-PF Provincial
Chairman, Bulawayo
UNDENGE, Samuel, Minister of State for State
Enterprises, Anti-Monopolies
and Anti-Corruption (former Deputy Minister of
Economic Development)
UTETE, Charles, Chairman of the Presidential Land
Review Committee;
Chairman, Industrial Development Corporation - DOB
30/10/1938
ZHUWAO, Patrick, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology -
DOB 23/05/1967
ZIMONDI, Paradzai, Prisons Director - DOB
04/03/1947
ZINDI, Fred, Chair, Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority of
Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)
ZVINAVASHE, Vitalis, Retired General,
Member of the ZANU-PF Politburo,
Secretary of the Politburo Committee on
Indigenization and Empowerment - DOB
27/09/1943
Fin24
20/06/2007 20:54
Maputo
- The economic crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in a rise in cases of
smuggling of goods and materials into Mozambique, a weekly independent
newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The weekly Magazine newspaper said in
its June 20 edition that Mozambican
customs officials recently confiscated
113 diamonds and $65 000 smuggled
into the country from neighbouring
Zimbabwe by two foreign nationals.
Paulino Azizi Dala, Manica province's
head of customs, told the weekly that
the diamonds and the cash were
confiscated.
"The owners of the diamonds and the money failed to present
any
documentation to prove that they had legally imported the products into
the
country," he said.
Dala said Hassan Yahfoufi, a Belgian national
and Wazneh Mohamad from Libya,
were arrested in the Munene zone of Manica
with the diamonds and the money
which they were transporting in a
Zimbabwean-registered bakkie.
The Southern African
:: Innocent Madawo - MAP Feature Service
Wednesday,
20 June 2007
A common picture in the drought prone Savannah landscape
of southern
Africa is of a flock of vultures stalking a wounded or starving
animal as it
struggles against all odds to stay alive and avoid providing an
easy meal
for the lazy birds.
You get that feeling when you
follow how the international community
is preparing itself for the imminent
demise of President Robert Mugabe's
hold on power in Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe is very much the politically and economically wounded
animal and the vultures are readying themselves for sumptuous meal, that is,
a nation free for investors and humanitarians to "assist" in economic
recovery.
In this regard, donor countries have apparently drawn
up a list of
Zimbabwe's needs, including a US$3 billion five-year economic
rescue package
to be released the moment Mugabe leaves office.
This is contained in a report championed by the International Monetary
Fund
(IMF) whose package has already been broken down into;
· $150
million in food support in the first two years, $125 million
in the first
year;
· $500 million for land agrarian reform over five
years;
· $325 million for health services and
education;
· $550 million for infrastructure;
· $1.7
billion for various emergency aid programmes; and
· $1.3 billion
for balance of payment support and budgetary support.
Business
Report in South Africa reports that a report by the Institute
for Democracy
in South Africa (Idasa), released by deputy executive director
Ivor Jenkins,
notes that a national economic and land reform programme would
be necessary
to lift Zimbabwe out of its economic crisis.
This programme must be
accompanied by the gradual lifting of sanctions
and the generous injection
of international relief aid and development
assistance, says the Idasa
report.
Rapid disbursements of development assistance, in the form
of balance
of payments and budget support, are also necessary.
The IMF's donor community report emerged as the ruling Zanu-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change ended talks in Pretoria with an
agreement to meet again in July.
Meanwhile, the UK department
for international development (DFID)
recently briefed a meeting of the
British foreign and commonwealth office
and officials from governments
active in donor co-ordination in Harare,
including Sweden, the European
Commission, Australia, the US, the
Netherlands, Canada, Norway, New Zealand
Germany.
In response to a DFID paper entitled Zimbabwe - Economic
Recovery,
focusing on macroeconomic stabilization in the country,
participants said it
was clear the country would need "hundreds of millions
of US dollars per
annum".
This group of donor countries is
reported to be "increasingly focused"
on improving its readiness to play an
effective and co-ordinated part in
Zimbabwe's recovery process.
The report says the devastated farming community is likely to require
donor-funded compensation for evicted farmers, while the distribution of
agricultural inputs and produce "must be market driven and involve the
private sector" - with Business Report.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
20 June 2007
Posted to the web
20 June 2007
Marondera
THE General Agricultural and Plantation
Workers' Union of Zimbabwe has
dismissed as unacceptable a $96 000 monthly
wage proposal for farm workers
through the National Employment Council for
Agriculture.
GAPWUZ secretary-general Ms Gertrude Hambira yesterday said
the proposed
salary was unacceptable.
"We cannot accept $96 000
because it cannot support a family. When the
current wage was negotiated at
$32 000, we did not accept it and we are now
proposing $2,7 million based on
the social contract negotiations," she said.
The farmers have also
proposed $500 000 for workers in the horticulture
sector, a figure Ms
Hambira described as paltry.
She said GAPWUZ was now contemplating
petitioning the Minister of
Agriculture to help in resolving the wage
impasse between the farmers and
their workers.
"We are not demanding
a wage that matches the poverty datum line but we are
asking for a
reasonable wage, which can sustain workers and their families,"
said Ms
Hambira.
Negotiations for a minimum wage with the NEC for Agriculture or
with
employers have proved futile over the years with the workers
contemplating
industrial action.
The debate over the unrealistic farm
wages recently spilled into the Senate
with the legislators calling for the
payment of a "living wage".
The senators were responding to a joint
report of the portfolio committees
of Lands, Land Reform, Resettlement and
Agriculture, and Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare on the plight of
farm workers.
Matobo-Umzingwane Senator Ananius Nyathi (Zanu-PF) said the
low wages had
resulted in farm workers failing to meet basic needs that
included buying
food, medication and paying school fees.
"Farm
workers are concerned that the lives of their children were doomed
without
education. They fear that this would perpetuate the cycle of poverty
among
the current farm workers and future generations," said Sen Nyathi.
The
committee recommended that over and above the NEC minimum wages, the
Tripartite Negotiating Forum should set a minimum wage across all sectors
indexed on the poverty datum line.
From ZWNEWS, 20 June
Over a million
people could have suffered human rights abuses during the
farm seizures, a
new survey estimates. 1% of former farmworkers and their
families -
estimated at around 10 000 people - have died prematurely since
losing their
livelihood. The survey also puts the total financial losses
incurred by the
agricultural sector at a staggering US$8.4 billion. The
survey, conducted by
the farmers' group Justice for Agriculture. and the
Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum, was conducted in 2006 and 2007, found
strong evidence that the
violence on the farms was systematic, and not
spontaneous in nature as the
government claimed at the start of the farm
invasions in 2000. As a result,
a plausible case can be made that the farm
violence constituted a crime
against humanity, and that the perpetrators
could be held liable in
international law.
Mens News Daily
June 20, 2007 at 7:10
am
Yesterday I was down near the Botswana border trying to locate the
scene of
the killing of two MDC activists. We called in at a small store and
spoke to
the people there to ask if they had heard anything. I spotted some
bread and
asked what the price was. "30 000" they replied and a young man
lounging
against the counter chipped in "Z$30 million"!
He was right
because we have already cut three zero's off our currency (10
months ago)
and in the old currency it would have been 30 million dollars..
Prices are
now doubling every week and soon the regime here will have to
repeat the
exercise and chop another three zero's off the currency while
issuing new
notes. I am told they are ready to do so and are threatening to
make the
change without notice.
In this situation life is becoming more and more
difficult although I am
always astonished how ordinary, simple people
adjust. I asked a peasant
farmer trying to sell a chicken on the roadside
how much and he responded
with a wave of his hand "60 or 70". He was of
course saying 60 to 70
thousand dollars. Quite a realistic price at the
time. Then there is the
ubiquitous parallel market for foreign exchange. In a
country where such
transactions are illegal and foreign exchange is not
legal tender, you can
ask anyone on the street what the price of the Rand or
the US dollar are and
get an answer. In fact the rate changes every half
hour or so and somehow
this is communicated across the country.
The
herdsmen were finally able to get the Zanu PF into the pen in front of
the
dip tank. Much mooing and kicking up of heels. But they got them into
the
pen and we are now looking at them and deciding what to do next. I
understand the actual talks went well and it has been agreed just what the
next talks will be all about. Detailed positions are now being worked
out
including specifics and a further round of talks is planned for the near
future.
It appears that Mr. Mugabe opened this Pandora's box himself.
He asked at
the December SADC Summit for the region to intervene in the
Zimbabwe crisis
and asked them to "mediate" between Britain and Zimbabwe.
Alleging at the
time that all of Zimbabwe's problems were caused by
"sanctions" imposed by
the international community co-ordinated by Britain.
SADC engaged and soon
discovered what all of us already knew: the crisis in
Zimbabwe is home
grown.
Then as the crisis deepened the SADC
leadership became increasingly
agitated. This led to the emergency Summit in
March and the agreement with
Mugabe that he would participate in multiparty
negotiations to bring the
crisis to a close. The SADC is now holding Zanu PF
and Mr. Mugabe to that
agreement.
The crucial issue is what would
constitute a "free and fair" election in
Zimbabwe? If that is defined and
then interpreted into the Zimbabwe
situation then Zanu will face its first
challenge on a level playing field
since 1980. Clearly you cannot even
imagine such an electoral process at
present.
For a start all
opposition forces are regarded as enemies of the State and
treated as such.
On a daily basis opposition activists are beaten, abducted
and even killed.
The majority of planned opposition activities are banned,
either officially
on one pretext or another or simply stopped by brute
force.
Then all
State controlled media - the electronic media and television and
all daily
newspapers are tightly controlled and directed. They pour out a
daily diet
of propaganda that is designed to denigrate the leadership of the
opposition
and promote the political interests of the Zanu PF. One of the
three
weeklies is now owned and controlled by the CIO and the other two are
less
than aggressive in their pursuit of the truth.
The whole electoral
process is controlled by the State and is also directed
by the military;
from the registration of voters to the issue of identity
documents. The
voter's roll is manipulated and used to strengthen the Zanu
PF position in
all areas where they think they might face a serious
challenge. Supporters
of the opposition are regularly disenfranchised and
denied access to the
voting system.
The boundaries of voting districts are manipulated in
classical fashion by
state appointed delimitation Commissions and voters are
transferred from one
district to another. The postal ballot is managed and
controlled and the
military required to vote under supervision. The votes of
those who live
abroad are simply excluded.
All essentials for life
are in short supply and are tightly controlled by
the State. So basic
staples and food aid are used throughout the country to
intimidate whole
communities and voters in particular. Traditional leaders
are used to
reinforce this situation by demanding that the people in their
districts
vote for the ruling Party or face penalties of one kind or
another - even
threatened with expulsion from their homes.
Then the State uses all its
power and resources to foster a system of
patronage that can turn a
penniless peasant into a Mercedes driving
billionaire in hours. Cars and
perks are dished out like confetti and anyone
who dares to oppose the regime
is denied any official support. Candidates
for the opposition are ambushed
in their districts and burnt out of their
homes. They are kicked off
irrigation plots and denied housing stands in
urban areas. Men in dark
glasses watch their every move and they can never
rest at night in their own
homes.
Free and fair elections are impossible under these circumstances.
The
problem is that any relaxation of the system of oppression will open the
floodgates and Zanu knows full well they will be swept away by popular
dissent and a tidal wave of electoral activity. I do not think they will be
able to walk away from this challenge this time and I am just waiting to
see
who is going to run first. If I were in their shoes I would be planning
my
own exit!
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo 20th June 2007
Zambia News Agency -
Lusaka, June 20, ZANIS - Nine SADC countries in collaboration with
the
Commonwealth today launched a new local democracy enhancement programme
aimed at promoting local democracy and good governance in the region. The
nine countries include Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Commonwealth Secretary General
Carl Wright disclosed this at the closure of a two-day Commonwealth Local
Governance Forum (CLGF) meeting held in Lusaka. Mr. Wright pointed out that
the core feature of the new programme is the development and application of
local indicators to measure good governance at the local level including the
accountability of local councils and the effectiveness of the of their
delivery to key services to the community. Other central elements have been
the use of the International Peer Review (IPR) to assess local authority
performance conducted by partner cities and extensive consultation of the
civil society and local stakeholders. Mr. Wright said it was agreed during
the meeting that the next new programme should be undertaken in Zambia. He
said the Zambian cities chosen for the programme are Kitwe, Livingstone,
Lusaka, Mufulira and Ndola and that upon completion, the programme will be
rolled out through out the country. And Local Government and Housing
Minister Syvia Masebo said Zambia was committed to implementing the new
programme as it provides the key to ensuring governance and effective
service delivery by local government. Ms. Masebo said the International Peer
Review also ensures an objective assessment of performance to the existing
African Peer Review Mechanism. She hoped that the innovative methodology
developed under the programme will see widespread adoption throughout the
SADC region, Africa and the Commonwealth. In this regard, the minister
stressed that she would firmely act on weakness that will be identified in
the local government system in the country. And Dr. James David, the
minister of Local Goverment in Mauritius, said the local government
enhancement process is ideally suited to Africa as governments have taken
the initiative to undertake the African Peer Review Mechanism. He said the
Peer Review will assist local authorities in walking the extra-mile and
enhance performance with a view to attaining total quality in the long-term.
Dr. David said that now is the time to move from rhetorics to facts, from
statements to concrete realisation if the programme is to be successful. The
Local Government Enhancement Programme builds on successful work undertaken
by the workshop, organisers, the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, and
the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) since 2003 in five cities
in Zimbabwe and their counterparts in other Commonwealth countries such as
Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Senior local government practitioners
including ministers, mayors and officials from the nine countries met in
Lusaka from 18 to 20 June 2007 and agreed to move forward an innovative
programme to promote local democracy and good governance in the SADC
region.
Monsters and Critics
Jun 20, 2007, 15:51 GMT
Johannesburg - South Africa is
having difficulty making a dent in its huge
backlog of 100,000 asylum
applications, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula admitted
Wednesday.
Only 12 to 13 per cent of the backlog of applications had been
processed a
year after the government announced a project to tackle the
caseload, she
said. Some asylum-seekers were still waiting for a definitive
response 11
years after filing their application in 1996.
The
situation reflected a 'a failure of implementation' and not of policy,
she
said. Most government departments in South Africa are reeling under a
chronic shortage of skilled staff.
At the end of 2006, South Africa
hosted approximately 223,470 refugees and
asylum seekers, of which only
29,510 had been formally recognized as
refugees, according to the Human
Rights Commission.
Most of the refugees hail from Zimbabwe: upwards of
three million
Zimbabweans are thought to be living in South Africa, most
illegally.
Others hail from other African countries such as Democratic
Republic of
Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda and Mozambique.
Most of the
arrivals were not refugees, the minister stressed, but 'economic
migrants
who jump across porous borders' and were therefore targeted for
deportation,
the minister said.
The minister said Wednesday the government might need
to review its policies
on illegal immigrants, citing the high costs of
accommodation, maintenance
and deportation.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
OhMyNews
Country
needs an urgent solution
Masimba Biriwasha
Published
2007-06-20 14:12 (KST)
With a crumbling economy, starving population and
a stormy political
situation in the background, Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe's ruling
party Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) has finally
agreed to talk with the political opposition, albeit
in South Africa.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki is playing the role
of mediator between
members of the Zimbabwe's ruling party and the
opposition after he agreed to
take on the task in March. Mbeki is expected
to produce a progress report on
the crisis talks to the SADC Heads by June
30.
Today, Zimbabwe -- once referred to as the Switzerland of Africa --
looks
more like a paradise wrapped in a quagmire. Much of the country's
post-independence potential is heavily overshadowed by the intractability of
the political situation. Like an alcoholic, Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF
government has pursued self destructive policies that have brought much
suffering to the majority of the population.
Ranked among 10 of the
world's most unstable countries in the Failed States
Index Scores 2007,
Zimbabwe needs an urgent solution.
Dialogue between the political players
in Zimbabwe is therefore seen as a
latch ditch effort to bring sanity to the
beleaguered country.
A report issued recently by 34 international aid
agencies including the
United Nations, the International Federation of the
Red Cross and Oxfam
predicted that hyper-inflation will bring the country to
a standstill within
six months.
Zimbabwe's inflation rate is
currently snowballing over the 4,000 percent
mark -- the highest in the
world -- and there's no let-up.
"The Zimbabwean dollar is now rotten,"
said Dominika Mateta, a worker in
Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, in an
email interview, "I am thinking of
going to South Africa."
According
to the reports issued by the international agencies within six
months, the
Zimbabwean dollar will be unusable and services will grind to a
halt. As the
economy shrinks many people in the country are opting for
self-imposed
exile.
"The memorandum is talking about a situation where there is no
functioning
government or a total breakdown, The Times Online quoted an
agency official,
who refused 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."
There are fears that the collapse
will necessitate a state of emergency in
the country.
There have been
many predictions of Zimbabwe's imminent collapse before but
these have never
come to pass. But the battering which the economy of the
country has endured
over the past seven years validate the hypothesis that
the bubble is about
to burst.
Not many believe that the talks will yield anything. For a long
time, talks
have been mooted but Mugabe has been reluctant to commit to the
process. Or,
he has simply expressed interest in order to gain a political
foothold.
Already, the exclusion of civil society organizations from the
process makes
it appear as if the protracted political crisis is a product
of the
political players in the country.
Many civil society
organizations contend that the talks will exclude issues
of social justice
and socio-economic issues to the detriment of ordinary
Zimbabweans. As a
prerequisite to the talks, civil society organizations
want a cessation of
violence, repeal of oppressive legislation and an all
stakeholders
conference that includes political parties, labour, churches,
students and
NGOs.
"MDC and Zanu PF have send representatives to SA for talks but
everyone is
wondering what will come out of the talks and whether it would
help improve
our economy in any way," said Michelle Dumare, an ordinary
Zimbabwean
citizen, in an email interview.
More than that, the
Zimbabwe political crisis is a function of failings of
institutional
frameworks that never reformed to suit the demands of a
post-colonial
dispensation.
In his 27 years as Zimbabwe's leader, Mugabe has used the
non-democratic
structures of the colonial government to aggrandize his
power-base.
Ironically, he has managed to whip up race-related issues to
posture as a
liberator of the oppressed black peoples of the
continent.
Until the institutional set is overhauled, Mugabe will
continue to have an
upperhand in determining the destiny of the country.
That is, unless, there's
a military or popular revolt against his
rule.
Mugabe full understands this. So far his commitment to the talks is
very
much in doubt, and will likely put paid Thabo Mbeki's mediation
efforts.
As if sending a signal, the Mugabe's intelligence police seized
the passport
of opposition leader Arthur Mutambara on the eve of the
talks.
In early June, Zimbabwe's House of Assembly, which is dominated by
ZANU PF,
passed the Interception of Communications Bill which seeks to
empower the
government to spy on telephone and e-mail messages.
This
Bill further infringes Zimbabwean citizens' fundamental right to freely
express themselves without any hindrance.
All these factors are
putting a strain to an already tense atmosphere around
the talks.
"So
yes, Mugabe is not negotiating in good faith and hence it undermines the
effectiveness of this process because we don't see any sincerity in the
efforts of Mugabe because of what he is doing to the opposition," Mutambara
told SW Radio Africa, an independent Zimbabwe radio station broadcasting out
of London because of repressive media laws in Zimbabwe.
And until
there's fundamental change, Zimbabwe will remain a paradise
wrapped in a
political quagmire whose fate no one really knows.
The Northern Echo, UK
20.6.2007
CAMPAIGNERS are preparing to sleep out on the streets of a North-East
city
to highlight the plight of asylum seekers who have been refused a haven
by
the Home Office.
Supporters of the Still Human Still Here campaign
from Amnesty
International, Church Action on Poverty, the Refugee Council
and Newcastle
People's Working Committee on Zimbabwe will be sleeping rough
in Newcastle
on June 28.
A spokesperson for those taking part said:
"The Government refuses to
provide support to thousands of refused asylum
seekers who cannot return
home to unsafe countries such as Iraq, Somalia,
Zimbabwe or Sudan, leaving
them in limbo.
"Unable to return home,
refused support and banned from taking work to
support themselves, they are
evicted and effectively driven into
destitution.''
Campaigners are
now calling on the Government to change its policy.
Local organiser of
the campaign Sibanda Noble said: "We need a more
enlightened policy that
would see refused asylum seekers who cannot be
returned home rescued from
destitution and allowed to contribute to British
society.''
As well
as the Newcastle demonstrations, she said: "A number of actions are
taking
place across the country to show our belief that the Government must
deliver
a change of policy."
University of Alberta Released: Wed 20-Jun-2007, 15:00
ET
Newswise - In 2000, the world watched in shock as Zimbabwe's
government
implemented a "Fast Track" land reform policy that encouraged the
country's
black peasantry to seize land from white farmers. While the events
may have
been hard for outsiders to fathom, a new study from a University of
Alberta
historian suggests the events, examined in a historical context, may
not be
so hard to understand, after all.
In a paper to be published
in the July edition of the academic journal
African Studies, Dr. Guy
Thompson does not express support for Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's
land reform policies, but he does presents
historical evidence to help
explain them.
"The complexity of the land issue is the heart of the
political chaos that
exists in Zimbabwe today, and it's the result of
discontent that has been
inherited from many generations," Thompson
said.
The 2000 uprising in Zimbabwe is the latest link in a chain of
events that
began in 1890, when state-sponsored colonialists claimed much of
Zimbabwe's
prime farming land. In 1930, the Land Apportionment Act, which
was partly
modeled after the Canadian native reserve system, officially
partitioned
land according to race, with the ruling whites getting the most
and best
real estate.
In 1951, the colonial government tried to
redress the land inequities
between races with the Native Land Husbandry Act
(NLHA). The liberal
creators of the ambitious social engineering plan wanted
to "modernize" the
country by offering black peasants the right to farm-but
not own-designated
land plots, if they agreed to a number of imposed
measures, such as farming
the land using government-approved
methods.
However, the NLHA also served to further racial segregation by
increasing
population capacity on the reserves, allowing the government to
move
Africans off designated white land to make room for the booming
European
immigration after the Second World War, Thompson said.
In
his paper, Thompson outlines a number of reasons why the peasants were
reluctant to embrace the NLHA, which ended in 1962. He noted that the
failure of the NLHA "highlighted the contradiction of using the
authoritarian structures of colonial rule to try and create docile
self-disciplining modern subjects."
The NLHA left Zimbabwe with a
spotted national map, with most of Zimbabwe's
black peasantry, who
constitute 80 per cent of Zimbabwe's 13 million people,
living in designated
"communal areas".
After Zimbabwe defeated colonial rule and achieved
self-government in 1980,
the country remained relatively peaceful for almost
two decades. However,
the peace could not withstand the build-up of a
century of racial
discrimination and failed policies, and the ill-conceived,
state-sanctioned
2000 farm invasions tore the country apart once
again.
Initially, the black peasantry claimed much of the choicest land
in the
invasions, but the ruling government's cabinet ministers and wealthy
allies
have since seized the vast majority of it, with many of the country's
black
peasants now serving on this land as labourers.
Thompson, who
lived and conducted research in Zimbabwe for six years in the
1990s, is
agonized that the Zimbabwean peasants continue to live in poverty
and under
the oppression of Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)
government, which is infamous for committing human rights violations.
Earlier this year, state police beat and nearly killed a group of protestors
who were trying to stage a secret meeting, Thompson said.
However,
Thompson added that applying political and social pressure on South
Africa,
Zimbabwe's wealthy neighbor, is the key to improving conditions in
Mugabe's
land-locked nation.
"The South African government and many privately held
South African
corporations have tremendous investments in Zimbabwe, but they
have been, to
this point, reluctant to push Mugabe to change."
"If
there's one thing Canadians can do to help people in Zimbabwe, it's
pressure
South Africa to make it clear to Mugabe government's that torture
and
preventing the right of assembly is unacceptable, and business with
Zimbabwe
will stop unless things change."
Fundraising.co.uk
by Howard
Lake
20 Jun 2007
Sanitary product company Bodyform is sponsoring
Action for Southern Africa's
'Dignity! Period' campaign to raise funds to
help women in Zimbabwe who, due
to the economic crisis, are unable to afford
packs of sanitary towels which
cost on average more than two weeks'
wages.
The Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) campaign will be based
around an
on-pack promotion on sanitary towels in the Bodyform Ultra range.
Packs will
highlight Bodyform's donation of a quarter of a million packets
of sanitary
towels to the women of Zimbabwe and will be on shelf during July
and August
2007. The on-pack stickers will also give consumers background
about the
ACTSA Dignity! Period. campaign.
The on-pack activity will
be supported by a national PR campaign which will
involve a range of
editorial, advertorial and promotional routes, with
support from celebrities
to increase both media and consumer awareness. The
bodyform.co.uk website
will also feature a campaign microsite.
Due to the economic crisis, just
one pack of sanitary towels costs more than
50% of the average monthly wage
for women in Zimbabwe. This results in many
women resorting to using dirty
rags, leading to severe infections which are
often falsely attributed to
sexual promiscuity, which can then result in
domestic violence.
Gavin
Vandeligt of Bodyform said: "We are really excited to be sponsoring
such a
worthy cause, that really will make a difference to the lives of
women in
Zimbabwe and ultimately help them get on with their daily lives
without risk
of infections or even abuse."
More: www.bodyform.co.uk
Trinidad and Tobago Express
Editorial
Wednesday, June 20th 2007
The
reluctance of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to have
the region's
"A'' team tour Zimbabwe is understandable given WIPA's
justifiable concern
"about players' safety in the continuing volatile
situation'' in that
country.
It is not that professional sportsmen dare to go only to
places where
there is absolutely no risk of incurring non-sporting injury or
worse - if,
indeed, there is any such country in the world. It is that
Zimbabwe
continues to be an increasingly explosive place where not only have
a lot of
negative things happened but where even more are predicted to
occur.
But there is another matter having to do with the legitimacy
of the
Mugabe-led government and the correct stance democratic nations in the
world
should adopt with respect to what continues to be a relentless assault
on
the human rights of not only politicians opposed to Mr Mugabe but those
of
his own people.
The West Indies Cricket Board has passed this
particular buck to the
countries of Caricom by stating that the tour will
only go on with the
blessing of the member governments. Perhaps rightly, they
have assessed this
to be a political rather than a sporting decision and we
wait to see whether
Caricom will seize this opportunity to make a
statement.
The Mugabe administration, to put it mildly, has
become something of
an embarrassment to those countries in Africa that
understand that rule by
brutal force should never be countenanced,
particularly in a continent that
has historically endured great suffering by
totalitarian regimes except, of
course, that these happened to be run by
white rather than black men.
Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, has
endured much in that era. It is a
tragedy that its people should now be
forced to eke out a living because
their de facto president and his allies
are consumed by their selfish
political interests, even to the point of
destroying their own country.
None of this is to suggest that
Zimbabwe, even after independence, has
not had to contend with historical
inequalities, not least the ownership of
land that continued to be skewed in
favour of the white minority. But what
Mr Mugabe has done is to turn what is
a grave, historic grievance into a
means of giving himself licence to prevail
politically by the power of the
gun.
Steven Price in Harare and Martin Williamson in
London
June 20, 2007
Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe
Cricket, will be in London for the
ICC executive meeting next week despite
an attempt by the Foreign &
Commonwealth Office (FCO) to have him
refused an entry visa to the UK.
The British Embassy in Harare
recommended to the FCO in London that Chingoka
be refused admission to the
UK on account of his associations with the
government of Robert Mugabe. The
FCO rubber-stamped this but Cricinfo has
learned that the ban was blocked by
Richard Caborn, the sports minister, as
he feared that any such move could
jeopardise the bid to have David Morgan,
the ECB chairman, elected as ICC
president in 2008.
The Foreign Office compromised and have only given
Chingoka a visa for five
days. He cannot start his journey until Monday,
June 25 and must be out of
the country by Saturday, June 30. This will
enable him to attend the
directors' meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, and
the ICC annual meeting
which follows, but that's all.
An ECB
spokesman told Cricinfo that the board "had not discussed the issue
with the
FCO" and that it "was solely a government decision" to limit the
entry visa.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said
that they
"did not comment on individual visa cases".
Kate Hoey, Caborn's
predecessor as sports minister and the chairperson of
the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, told Cricinfo that she was
"disappointed"
with Caborn's intervention. "Zimbabwe's cricket officials are
at the heart
of the dictatorship's web of corruption and political
oppression. It is sad
that the sports ministry has used Morgan's chances -
which are really no
chance at all - of becoming ICC president to ask the FCO
to go against their
better judgment and grant a visa. This sort of
unprincipled manoeuvring
looks very bad when we are asking other countries
to stand firm in isolating
those at the heart of Mugabe's regime.
We were meant to have
an ethical foreign policy... that needs to
include an ethical sports policy
too
Former sports minister Kate Hoey
"The people of Zimbabwe,
Mugabe's victims, will be bitterly disappointed
that a man who is getting
very rich by sucking up to Mugabe and doing his
bidding will be allowed into
the UK . We were meant to have an ethical
foreign policy... that needs to
include an ethical sports policy too."
As long ago as July 2004, Lord
Avebery raised a request in the House of
Lords that Chingoka and Ozias
Bvute, Zimbabwe Cricket's managing director
who is expected to attend the
ICC meetings next week, be barred from
entering the European Union as "close
supporters and collaborators of the
[Mugabe] regime".
Chingoka,
whose son and wife are believed to be in London, usually stays for
some time
either side of the meeting, as do many officials from other
boards, but on
this occasion he will have to leave the UK almost immediately
after the
conclusion of the AGM.
Steven Price is a freelance journalist based in
Harare; Martin Williamson is
executive editor of Cricinfo
©
Cricinfo
By
Tichaona Sibanda
20 June 2007
The Zimbabwe Football Association on
Tuesday took the unprecedented step of
firing the senior national team coach
and dissolving the coaching
departments of all its national
teams.
This follows a string of poor results, across the board. Zifa
chairman
Wellington Nyatanga has been under tremendous pressure from fans
and other
board members to get rid of Charles Mhlauri after the Warriors
failed to
qualify for next year's Nations Cup.
Henrietta Rushwaya,
Zifa's acting chief executive, told Newsreel on
Wednesday that they felt
compelled as an association to act because of the
poor results.
'We
are now casting our nets wide looking for a new coach to take over the
national team job. Zimbabwe is a soccer loving nation and with the way
things were going it was in the best interests of everyone to restructure
the coaching and technical departments,' Rushwaya said.
In firing
Mhlauri, Zifa also dissolved the entire Warriors technical
department, which
includes assistant coach Methembe Ndlovu, goalkeepers
coach Emmanuel
Nyahuma, team manager Ernest Sibanda, assistant manager and
team liaison
Sharrif Mussa, team doctor Edward Chagonda and physiotherapist
Lloyd
Maungwa.
Also shown the exit door were the Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary
Mugadza,
whose team was knocked out of the qualifiers for the 2008 Beijing
Olympic
games. The association's acting chief executive officer Henrietta
Rushwaya
confirmed Zifa had also relieved Misheck Chidzambwa as coach of the
Under-23
squad. National Under-20 coach Sammy Mavhenyengwa was also a victim
of the
purge and so was Rodwell Dhlakama the Under-17 mentor. The country's
youth
teams have also been performing poorly.
Rushwaya said some of
those relieved on Tuesday might actually bounce back,
but in different
capacities. She added that their restructuring exercise
should be done by
October to give time for new personnel to plan for the
2010 World Cup in
South Africa.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news