Robert Mugabe says Zimbabwe elections will be held before 31 July

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Zimbabwean president promises to abide by court ruling calling for
elections, despite objections from opposition

Associated Press in Harare
The Guardian, Monday 3 June 2013 02.58 AEST

The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, has said he will abide by a court
ruling that crucial elections must be held before the end of July, despite
objections from his rivals.

Mugabe told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp travelling with him on a trip to
Japan that he would convene polls "not later than 31 July", state radio
reported.

Mugabe, interviewed by the broadcaster on Sunday, claimed some members in a
coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister and former opposition
leader, wanted to delay the elections "to enjoy being in power" for longer,
the radio said.

The constitutional court, the nation's highest court, on Friday chided
Mugabe for not calling elections linked to the dissolution of the parliament
at the end of its current five-year term on 29 June.

Tsvangirai said electoral and democratic reforms demanded under the
coalition agreement and a new constitution could not be completed by 31
July.

Mugabe travelled to Japan to attend an African development summit in
Yokahama. He described the coalition formed by regional leaders after the
last violent and disputed elections in 2008 as having "outlived its
usefulness", the radio said.

The president said he was consulting the justice minister, Patrick
Chinamasa, on changes to the electoral laws that should be finished in June
so he could announce the actual polling date for the following month.

Tsvangirai's party said on Sunday that unless reforms to voters' lists and
the registration of new voters were in place before voting there would be
doubt over whether conditions allowed for a free and fair election.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said it also demanded media
reforms to end bias by the country's dominant state media controlled by
Mugabe loyalists and an end to political intimidation and partisan actions
by the police and military.

Those demands are written into a new constitution that was overwhelmingly
accepted in a referendum in March, the party said.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, the MDC is ready for free and fair
elections. The issue is not about the date but about the conditions under
which these elections can be held," said the party spokesman Douglas
Mwonzora.

Pro-democracy activists allege Mugabe's own fractious Zanu-PF party wants
early polls to take advantage of flaws in existing election procedures,
shorten rigorous campaigning by its increasingly frail leader and hinder the
deployment of regional election monitors.

Mugabe, 89, who led the nation to independence in 1980, has been accused of
packing the courts with sympathetic judges whom he appoints from the justice
ministry and the legal profession.

Seven out of nine constitutional court judges ruled on Friday that Mugabe
had violated his constitutional responsibilities by failing to declare polls
by 29 June.

But Judge Luke Malaba, in his dissenting opinion available on an official
website on Sunday, said his colleagues' ruling "defied logic" in finding
Mugabe was in breach of his constitutional responsibilities "and at the same
time authorising him to continue acting unlawfully" by proclaiming a July
date.

"That is a very dangerous principle and has no basis in law. The principle
of the rule of law just does not permit such an approach," wrote Malaba.

He said the new constitution made it clear that elections could be held
within four months of the automatic dissolution of the parliament on 29 June
and to hold them in July compromised constitutional rights for the
electorate as a whole "to play a meaningful role in the electoral process",
Malaba said.

A private lawsuit brought before the constitutional court to force Mugabe to
call early polls turned clear and unambiguous language in the law into "a
question of interpretation that plunged the court into irreconcilable
differences".

"I, however, refuse to have wool cast over the inner eye of my mind on this
matter," concluded Malaba.

Zim headed for sham poll: Experts

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

Sunday, 02 June 2013 13:00

HARARE - A ruling by the Constitutional Court to hold harmonised polls by
July 31 is likely to result in Zimbabwe holding a “sham poll” and infringe
on other people’s rights, constitutional law experts warned yesterday.

The Constitutional Court led by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku on Friday
ruled that elections should be held before July 31 and ordered President
Robert Mugabe to proclaim poll dates as soon as possible.

Seven Constitutional Court judges ruled in favour of the July 31 poll date
while Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba and Bharat Patel handed a dissenting
judgment arguing that the Constitution allows for a four-month period from
the date of the dissolution of Parliament.

The matter was brought to the Constitutional Court by director of Centre for
Election Democracy in Southern Africa and journalist, Jealousy Mawarire, who
argued the delay in announcing poll dates violated his constitutional rights
as a voter.

Legal experts told the Daily News on Sunday that the court’s ruling will not
only jeopardise chances of holding a free and fair election, but also
infringes on other people’s rights as there will be procedures and processes
that will not be followed if Mugabe was to abide by the court’s ruling.

David Coltart, legal secretary in Welshman Ncube’s MDC said the ruling
violates other people’s rights to participate in the elections.

“The effect of the judgment will be to seriously undermine our chances of
having credible elections,” said Coltart, who is also minister of Education,
Sport, Arts and Culture.

“I foresee a variety of very serious logistical and legal challenges
arising, including a denial of a few fundamental rights,” he said, adding
that the new Constitution signed by Mugabe two weeks ago provides for a
mandatory 30-day voter registration exercise.

The fresh voter registration exercise is expected to commence tomorrow.

“So assuming that the constitutionally mandated period of registration
begins on Monday the 3rd of June, it must then run until the end of 3rd
July,” Coltart said.

The MDC secretary for legal affairs and senator for Khumalo Constituency
said the judgment could deprive first time voters who failed to register in
the just-ended chaotic voter registration exercise their opportunity to
participate in the coming elections.

Section 26A of the Act says that eligible voters must register no later than
24 hours before the nomination date,” said Coltart.

“It means that the nomination day cannot be before the 5th of July.

There have to be 28 days between the nomination day and the election which
means the election cannot be before the 2nd of August if the Constitution
and Electoral Act are to be complied with.

“If they are seen to be shambolic, illegal and conducted in a manner which
denies Zimbabweans their basic rights, then they will lack at the very least
the moral authority any new government will need to take the nation
 forward.”

Chris Mhike, one of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s lawyers, said while
Zimbabwe should respect the court findings, the ruling was anchored on the
repealed Lancaster House Constitution.

“We are surprised that the honourable court orders and directs the president
to proclaim dates for general elections in terms of the old Constitution,
that is the 1979 Constitution, when as a matter of fact, the new
Constitution of Zimbabwe provides explicitly that the next elections should
be conducted in terms of the new law, not the old,” said Mhike.

Lovemore Madhuku, a law professor at the University of Zimbabwe, said
elections should be held by July 31 as a sign of respect to the country’s
Constitution.

“Politicians should work towards ensuring that it is feasible. It is the
attitude of politicians that will make it possible or not,” Madhuku told the
Daily News on Sunday.

“They must ensure that we have a voter registration starting now which could
run for 14-days and put mechanisms that those people who will be 18 years on
the election date are registered to vote.”

The constitutional law expert said no politician will have “moral authority”
to govern Zimbabwe after June 30 when the current Parliament expires.

“It is better to have a bad election than have no elections. Their time is
up and we should have elections as stated by the supreme law,” Madhuku
added.

Apart from the legalities set out above, adequate funding for the poll is
another hurdle that Mugabe and his coalition partners, Tsvangirai and Ncube
will have to contend with in the coming weeks.

All hopes, according to Mugabe, now pin on the forthcoming extraordinary
Sadc summit penciled in for Maputo in Mozambique on Sunday, which will
discuss poll funding.

Meanwhile, the National Standing Committee of Tsvangirai’s MDC met in Harare
yesterday to review the judgment of the Constitutional Court.

Although the MDC expressed misgivings on some of the aspects of the
judgment, it resolved to abide by the decision of the court.

“The party reiterated that the date of the election must be process-driven,”
said MDC spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora.

“In other words, it must be dependent upon the completion of key processes
that have a bearing on the freeness and fairness of the election.

“These processes include the completion of the Ward-based, transparent  and
accessible  voter registration exercise targeting all communities.

“After the voter registration exercise, there must be a period set for the
inspection of the voters’ roll to make sure that it is correct and that all
eligible voters are on it.

“The MDC also insists that media reforms which should guarantee reasonably
equal and fair access by all contesting parties to the State media as
enshrined in the new Constitution, must be completed before the election to
ensure that there is an even playing field during the elections.”

Mwonzora said although Chapter 11 of the new Constitution now provides for
security sector reforms by providing that members of security services must
not act in a partisan manner and obey and respect the fundamental rights of
the Zimbabwean people, a code of conduct must be drafted to govern the
behaviour of members of security services during the elections.

“It is critical that Zimbabwe completes all legislative reforms to bring all
legislation which have a bearing on elections into conformity with the
Constitution,” he said.

“These include the Electoral Act, the Public Order and Security Act, the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”

Mwonzora said “the MDC is ready for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

“That means for the MDC the issue is not about the date of the elections.

“It is about the conditions under which these elections are held.” -
Xolisani Ncube

Parliamentarians gag media

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary Editor
Sunday, 02 June 2013 12:21
HARARE - Journalists were this week denied entry into the Parliamentary
Portfolio committee on industry and commerce public meeting that was hearing
evidence from Ziscosteel management.

Scribes had been allowed to cover the presentation by Ziscosteel workers who
narrated ordeals they are enduring because of the continued closure of the
formerly giant steel mining company.

Legislators chose to slam the doors on journalists when it was time for
management to talk.

Management at Ziscosteel, now called New Zimsteel and led by board chairman
Nyasha Makuvise, felt the information they wanted to give the MPs was too
sensitive for public consumption.

William Mutomba, Zanu PF MP for Buhera, chairs the committee that has failed
to find solutions to the Ziscosteel saga despite having held several
meetings with not only the management but also with relevant government
officials such as Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube.

The absence of the media in the public hearing meetings was the third of its
kind for the past four years.

Workers who are lying idle told the committee that their living conditions
are appalling.

Benedict Moyo, chairperson of Zisco workers, told the committee how the 3
500 workers are failing to look after their families.

He said they are also failing to pay utility bills to the extent that some
are now being dragged to court.

Willas Madzimure, deputy chairperson of the committee, told the Daily News
that the committee ruled in favour of Makuvise’s request as he felt he was
holding sensitive information.

“If the witness feels that he wants parliamentary protection he is entitled
to it.

“But the chairperson has to hold a press conference and brief the media on
what has been discussed, but it did not happen. However I don’t support the
gagging of the media,” said Madzimure.

'The British can't make me retire' - Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/

Staff Reporter 6 hours 18 minutes ago

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Sunday he will not
step down because of pressure from Britain and other countries for a change
in government.

"I've thought about retirement, but not when the British are saying we want
regime change," the 89-year-old president told Kyodo News in an interview in
the Japanese city of Yokohama.

"I won't be changed by the British. My people will change me."

President Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since independence from Britain in
1980, despite a series of disputed and violent elections and a severe
economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.

He has been widely condemned for human rights abuses.

Mr Mugabe said there was no democracy in Zimbabwe before independence. "We
brought democracy to the country," he told Kyodo.

The president signed a new constitution into law last month, clearing the
path to crucial elections later this year.

The charter introduces presidential term limits and strengthens parliament's
powers, but could allow Mr Mugabe to stay on for another decade if he wins
elections.

President Mugabe is visiting Japan to attend the three-day Tokyo
International Conference for African Development ending Monday in Yokohama.

The ageing Southern Africa strongman is attending a summit between Africa
and Japan at the fifth Tokyo International Conference on Development
(Ticad), which opened in the Japanese port city of Yokohama yesterday.

Zimbabwe's state media on this week termed President Robert Mugabe's visit
to Japan a sign that the country "could be irreversibly breaking out of
Western-imposed isolation."

The government-run New Ziana news agency said Mugabe is attending the Tokyo
International Conference on African Development in Japanese city of Yokohama
this Saturday for the first time since the conference was first launched in
1993.

The Zimbabwean leader, who is on US and EU sanction lists, met Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, "the first time in over a decade the President
Mugabe has held direct talks with a leader of a major Western-leaning
country," the news agency said.

Zimbabwean and Japanese top leaders last held face-to-face talks in 1989.

The report said Tokyo used to shun Zimbabwe by discouraging its businessmen
from investing and by withdrawing direct official aid to Harare, but things
are changing as Tokyo is "hungry for Africa's natural resources" and
Zimbabwe "has plenty of this in its small belly -- diamonds, nickel,
platinum, gold."

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, is
campaigning for re-election in the upcoming poll. His Japan visit also came
at a time that the US and EU, including Britain, have tried to re-engage
with the Mugabe-led government after more than a decade of stand-off. EU and
Australia removed most Zimbabwean officials from their travel bans in just
recent months, a reward, they say, for Zimbabwe's progress on democracy.
He stopped short of berating the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his
country’s failure to lend support to Zimbabwe following the disputed
elections between 2000 and 2008.

The conference, which seeks to open high-level dialogue between African
leaders and their partners and mobilise support for African-owned
development initiatives, started on a high note as host, Premier Shinzo Abe
announced a staggering 3,2 trillion Yen (US$32 billion) Japanese package.

This was the largest by any single or multilateral donor ever, in aid and
foreign direct investment for Africa.

Of this global amount, to be disbursed over five years, US$14 billion will
be in the form of overseas development assistance, while US$16 billion is
expected in the form of foreign direct investment.

This signals a marked increase in Japan’s intervention towards boosting
economic growth on the continent, where about 650 billion yen (US$6,5
billion) will be channelled towards infrastructure investment.

The package, which is an extension of the Japanese premier’s brand of
economics, has among some of its targets fostering
30 000 “business-savvy individuals” on the continent, emphasising peace and
stability as the foundation of development and forging true partnerships
with Africa.

“Japan has maintained its faith in the future of Africa. In the 1990s when
the international community had almost forgotten Africa amidst the post-Cold
War circumstances, Japan alone believed in the development of Africa, and
thereby launched the Ticad process,” Abe reminded 39 African heads of state
and almost 3 000 delegates from 53 countries.

In spite of a clear indication that Japan is increasingly asserting its own
presence on the African continent instead of playing second fiddle to the
United States and Europe, Mugabe in a meeting with the Japanese Prime
Minister, decried the Japanese government for reducing its assistance to
Zimbabwe, since the country became a pariah state after the controversial
elections and was slapped with international sanctions by the United States
and the European Union.

In contributions by heads of state during further deliberations, Mugabe also
bashed Japan for not supporting the transfer of technology beyond a 30%
threshold in the past in the Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries joint
venture.

“That resistance, please throw away and be ready to impart technology, be
ready to assist us in industrialising our economy and also in building our
economies to levels that you now see in the world of Malaysia, Singapore,
etc,” Mugabe said.

He went on to slam European American companies for being the biggest
culprits during and after colonialism when it came of transferring
technology and skills to Africans.

“Those we have related to happen to be our erstwhile colonisers, Europe
especially have not wanted to see us elevate ourselves by way of
beneficiating our goods, our primary goods. And so as we look forward to
greater interaction with Japanese companies, I would want us to impart to
them this one idea that as countries interact with us, do so as partners who
want to see us develop in the same way as they have done and therefore not
just a question of our being suppliers of raw materials.”

However, the veteran politician, flanked in the meeting with Abe by Foreign
affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and CIO director general Happyton
Bonyongwe, was later conciliatory, expressing hope to further develop
bilateral relationships with Japan. He said he hoped Japanese firms would
participate in projects in Zimbabwe in the identified areas as
infrastructure development, agriculture and mining.

Zimbabwean President Calls for UN Security Council Permanent Seat for Africa

http://english.farsnews.com/

22  Rajab  1434 /  Sunday 02 Jun 2013 / 12 Khordad 1392 a

TEHRAN (FNA)- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Sunday that Africa
should be allowed to have a permanent seat in the United Nations Security
Council.

Mugabe said he hoped Africa should have the permanent membership of the
Security Council so as to play "a full part" in safeguarding global peace
and stability, Xinhua reported.

The Zimbabwean president was referring to a planned meeting on Monday
between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and African leaders on the reform
of the Security Council at a session of the Fifth Tokyo International
Conference on African Development, which started in Yokohama, Japan on
Saturday.

Armed soldier terrorising MDC-T supporters in Gokwe

http://nehandaradio.com

June 2, 2013 at 3:41 pm /

By Lance Guma

GOKWE – An armed soldier is terrorising MDC-T supporters in the Gokwe South
constituency hardly a day after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party
concluded primary elections to choose council and parliamentary candidates.

A member of Mugabe’s presidential guard (File Photo).

Nehanda Radio understands the soldier known as Magwizi was on Saturday
brandishing an AK47 assault rifle in the Mapfangautsi constituency, Ward 23
at a place known as Ganyungu Township.

Magwizi who stays at Ganyungu Primary School moves with his gun only in the
evenings. He is assisted by two Zanu PF youths, Jeofrey Chikafu (District
Chairperson) and Anywhere Karera (District Youth Chairperson).

Magwizi’s friend, a teacher at Ganyungu Primary School, Chamunorwa Dzikatire
(nicknamed DZ) is also part of the mob who were toyi toying in the area in
the evening while threatening MDC-T supporters.

During the day villagers failed to go work on their plots as the Zanu PF mob
mounted a door to door campaign of intimidation. Active members of the MDC-T
were told they would be abducted in the evening and disappear.

An MDC-T candidate aspiring to be a councillor, Mike Oriah Musandipa
confirmed the developments saying the situation in the area was tense.

He said his own son who is also a soldier, was told “your dad is going to be
in trouble for supporting the MDC-T.” People who took part in the MDC-T
primary elections on Thursday are mainly being targeted.

We understand MDC-T youths did not take the intimidation lying down and
several clashes took place which ended up at Nyarupakwe police station.

The police however refused to take any action and instead chased the MDC-T
youths away.

Zim can licence 7 more TV stations

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

Sunday, 02 June 2013 12:48
HARARE - Zimbabwe is under utilising the frequency spectrum under the
analogue broadcasting system, a move that has seen the country failing to
license new independent TV and radio stations, a local non-governmental
organisation has said.

Taurai  Mabhachi Kufa, Media and Technology Trust (MTT) coordinator said the
unavailability of a three-tier broadcasting system in Zimbabwe was inimical
to the full enjoyment of the right to access of information as enshrined in
the Global Political Agreement(GPA) and other regional and international
conventions.

Kufa said the Very High Frequency (VHF) which is being used for both
television and sound broadcasting purposes in Zimbabwe can accommodate more
operators though it has some inherent bandwidth limitations.

“Let’s take Harare in accordance with our VHF band two spectrum from
88MHz-108MHz, this spectrum only carries six operators whereas in Kenya and
South Africa it used to carry more than 10 radio operators under the
analogue system,” Kufa said.

He said in television, authorities were lying that there was purported
frequency spectrum saturation yet Zimbabwe can have nine TV channels
operating on the VHF band three spectrum which is designated for TV
transmission under the analogue system.

“Out of the nine channels available nationally, only channel five for TV one
and channel eight for ZTV two are occupied, which therefore means that there
are seven channels unoccupied in Harare only,” Kufa said.

“In addition to this, we have eight unused channels nationwide since TV two
covers Harare and its environs.

“There is also a possibility of BAZ (Broadcasting authority of Zimbabwe)
harnessing private players on the ZTV channel two when it closes
transmission to other broadcasters as they used to lease airwaves for
channel two during the days of Joy TV and Munhumutapa broadcasting rather
than Transmedia wasting power by transmitting test patterns.”

He said there was another band one (channel three-four) operating from
68MHz-88MHz which used to carry TV one until 1992 when it was surrendered by
the ZBC back to Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of
Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) and is currently empty.

“To this end, POTRAZ must release this VHF band one to other TV operators
since the hardware still exists in transmitters,” he said.

On community radios, he said POTRAZ must expedite the assizing  of
transmission  equipment  to pave way for the operation  of community radios.

Zimbabwe has many community radio stations ready to go on air including
Bulawayo-bas=ed Radio Dialogue, Community Radio Harare, Masvingo-based
Wezhira, Mutare-based Kumakomo, Kwekwe Radio Station and the others.

Zimbabwe says the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) can only be able
to provide a three-tier system of broadcasting when the country has
digitised by 2015, which is the deadline set by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) to have all transmission in Sadc countries
digitised by then.

But Kufa says this process requires huge capital investments which Zimbabwe
does not have at the moment.

“This demand is imperative especially during the election cycle that is the
pre-election, during voting and post-election, critical to enable the
electorate to make informed electoral choices and discuss post-election
transformation processes such as the continued peace preservation necessary
for national progress.” Kufa said. - Staff Writer

MSF eases Tsholotsho health care task

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Jeffrey Muvundusi, Own Correspondent
Sunday, 02 June 2013 12:10
TSHOLOTSHO - At the crack of dawn the sound of the rooster rings through a
homestead, jolting people out of their slumber.

In reaction, villagers begin cleaning chores while school children begin to
consort for their daily jaunt to different distant schools.

For 35-year-old Ntonkozo Mabiza, the alert from the rooster means more
strain and hassle.

Mabiza of Dlamini village some 50km west of Tsholotsho Centre has to endure
not only the distance she is about to embark on to access the life-saving
anti-retroviral drugs but the tortuous queue that she is supposed to beat at
Tsholotsho District Hospital.

With transport glitches being a thorny issue in the remote area, the donkey
drawn carts come to the rescue but without doing any good to the patient
considering the dusty rutted roads that in a very bad state of disrepair due
to evident neglect.

This has been the challenge faced by hundreds of HIV/TB patients in the
greater marginalised area of Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North Province,
about 70 km from Zimbabwe’s second largest city Bulawayo.

But with the coming of the Médecins Sans Frontiers/ Doctors without Borders
(MSF) Zimbabwe since the year 2000, the epidemic and other related
infections in the usually marginalised areas have been reduced.

Working in conjunction with the ministry of Health and Child Welfare MSF is
slowly making positive impact in decentralising HIV and TB treatment in
specified remote areas.

This has not only facilitated the treatment and care of people with HIV,
tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) but Sexual and Gender based
Violence (SGBV) interventions and emergency preparedness.

During a tour of the Tsholotsho district early this week, the Daily News
managed to get first-hand experience of the decentralisation programme which
MSF and the ministry is currently expanding to the communities.

The process seeks to get care out of centralised hospitals and into
community clinics and local health posts  which has been the cornerstone of
intensifying access to anti-retroviral therapy.

This has resulted in the shifting of health care tasks from medical doctors
to nurses and to lay health workers which have proved to be ideal in the
district.

Over 52 000 people are receiving the lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy
(ART) under the project which also covers such areas as Beitbridge, Buhera,
Chikomba, Epworth, Gokwe North, Gutu, Mbare, and Tsholotsho.

Speaking to the Daily News, Victor Garcia Leonor head of mission for MSF,
Zimbabwe said despite advances made in offering HIV and TB services as well
as putting people on treatment, the infections remained an emergency in
Zimbabwe.

“Transmission rates from HIV positive mothers to their babies are still too
high and children and young adults are still often excluded from HIV
response.

We have patient reality models that allow them to be treated in or close to
their homes rather than at central or national level,” Leonor said.

Dr David Wachi who is the Medical Team Leader in the district said they have
for the past year been relentlessly endeavouring to scale up facility based
treatment, a development that promises to get treatment to every clinic.

He said this has seen them shift health care tasks from a doctor led ART
initiation to a nurse led ART initiation.

“We have been having a challenge of bring medical doctors to come and work
in the rural areas as a result task shifting became the only option.

Nurses now play a leading role in managing HIV cases in all the 14 health
facilities we are supporting in this area, Wachi said.

Wachi said the programme had expanded anti-retroviral therapy access to the
all the health facilities through trainings of “task shifting” where it has
empowered the nurses to do the jobs that could have been done by the
doctors.

“This led to increased ART coverage and reduced delays in ART initiation.
“We have a challenge of doctors coming down to these areas, unfortunately
the burden of HIV is with the villager,” Wachi said.

MSF which has been one of the organisations strongly advocating for the
total removal of user fees has also guaranteed that patients receive free
services on HIV testing, CD4 count as well as counselling among other
services.

Of the 14 health facilities in rural Tsholotsho under the programme, 12 are
static anti-retroviral sites.

There are six start-up sites while the remaining are follow up sites where
patients that have started taking medication can receive their medications
closer to their place of residence.

There are 19 health facilities in Tsholotsho district.

While the country grapples with its own economic and political problems,
reports of HIV treatment scarcities in the district are now history as the
supply has improved, Wachi said.

Meluleki Nyathi the information, education and communication project
coordinator said working with the community has helped reduce the strain on
the health system.

Nyathi said with the continuing shift away from specialised clinic HIV care,
anti-retroviral therapy programmes are increasingly looking towards newer
models for chronic diseases management hence the active inclusion of the
community.

“There are village health workers, TB-HIV collaborative communities that
push home-based care programmes and other community based programmes that
aloe affected people take charge of their own lives,” Nyathi said.

The Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme has not
been left out in the process as expecting mothers have been receiving free
medical support from MSF.

According to Leonore, the number of pregnant women commenced on ART
increased in 2012 in comparison to 2011 due to nurse led ART initiation.

Leonore said despite their concerted effort to fight the HIV/Aids epidemic
and related opportunistic infections; there have been some bottlenecks that
are threatening the health delivery system.

“Most of the barriers keeping from accessing health care can be linked to a
lack of resources.

Health facilities, especially in the rural areas, are understaffed and a
freeze on hiring any civil service staff perpetuates this situation,”
Leonore said.

In addition, the head of mission said, national funding is not enough to
cover the HIV/TB response and an overall donor  retreat as well as late
disbursements of funds cause serious stock out of essential medicine and
ARVs; shortages in laboratory agents and other crucial equipment like
diagnostic tools.

By end of 2012, almost 13, 500 patients have been commenced on ART in the
project. Of these  1 139 (8,4 percent) of them were less than 15 years old.

In the same month 9 103 patients were being actively followed on ART in the
district’s database and of these patients 875 (9,6 percent) were less than
15 years old.

8 years on, we remember victims of Operation Murambatsvina

http://nehandaradio.com

 

 

June 2, 2013 at 1:08 am /

It is now 8 years after the infamous cleanup campaign codenamed Operation Murambatsvina which displaced millions of people in Zimbabwe in 2005.

It has been a long eight years since the eviction started in Harare on the 19th of May 2005 and people’s lives have never been the same.

Young victims of Operation Murambatsvina

Official Government figures released on July 7, 2005 showed that the total number of people affected by Murambatsvina were 2.4 million which is 18% of the population. The United Nations (UN) estimated that Operation Murambatsvina affected at least 700,000 people directly.

Many people lost their properties and sources of livelihoods during the operation. The exercise was carried out during the winter season leading to many losing their lives due to the cold weather. Two babies were also crushed to death in their homes under the relentless shovels of bulldozers.

It is sad to note that the Operation was carried out in a military fashion by armed police and members of the army with minimal notification to the general populace and in contravention of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

It is regrettable that up to now many victims of the operation remain without any source of livelihood, many remain without a roof on their head and many have died due to unbearable conditions they have been forced to live in at squatter camps.

Families were broken, children lost out on attending school, many were forced into prostitution and yet little has been done to ensure that lives are restored.

Government in an attempt to cover up for the cruelty of operation Murambatsvina carried out a sham exercise dubbed Operation Garikai/ Hlalani Kuhle which was ill planned and failed to meet the overwhelming demand for accommodation.

Victims of Murambatsvina continue to suffer and their wounds have not been healed. It is HZT’s hope that the Government reintegrate these people and provide compensation as well as decent houses. No justice has been done over the years.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission need to seriously look into this issue and proffer solutions to the victims. There is need to push the Government to fully take up the recommendations of UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy (the Tibaijuka Report), listed below:

• The need for the Government to compensate those whose property was unlawfully destroyed.

• The Government should create a conducive environment for effective relief.

• The need for reconstruction and resettlement.

• Ensuring unhindered access of humanitarian workers and delivery of aid to victims of the operation.

• Holding to account those responsible for planning and executing the operation, including through prosecution where laws were broken.

• Granting full citizenship to former migrant workers residing for a long period in Zimbabwe and their descendants.

Heal Zimbabwe Trust

Size 46B for Biti – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 1st June 2013

The Vigil applauds Tendai Biti’s promise that an MDC government will firmly support action on corruption. All public officials will be required to declare their assets every year. ‘Guys I have four underwear,’ he told SW Radio Africa. ‘Guys I’ve got four vests. Guys I’ve got four bras – size 46B.’ (see: HOT SEAT: (Part 2) Tendai Biti says MDC government will target multiple farmers – https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/may30_2013.html#Z21).

We would like to check next year if Mr Biti is still size 46B but, sadly, the Vigil doesn’t think it’s likely that the MDC will form the next government, having allowed themselves to be out-manoeuvred by Zanu PF for four years to the extent that there is no time left to ensure a level playing field for the elections that Zanu PF’s tame judges say must be held by the end of next month.

The Zimbabwe Action Forum, at our fortnightly meeting after the Vigil, was pessimistic about next Sunday’s SADC summit in Maputo. Speakers did not think the summit would force Mugabe to make real reforms to the security sector, the media and the electoral process.

We were joined by Andy Moyse of the Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project, who took a similar view. ‘Zanu PF will control the elections as they have always done’, he said. ‘As for security reforms, they can’t be done in 30 or 60 days. Any reforms will be purely cosmetic’.

Andy went on to say ‘Some people think there will be another GNU but I’m not sure. I don’t think Zanu PF will tolerate another GNU. I think there will be a 51.5% victory for Mugabe. The military can’t consider an MDC victory.’

The meeting was chaired by Ephraim Tapa, leader of ROHR and Zimbabwe Yes We Can. He said the MDC leadership seemed to have lost its appetite for change. Years had gone by and Tomana and Gono were still in office, there were no MDC governors or permanent secretaries – all once non-negotiable MDC demands. Ephraim said the West appeared to be preparing for a Zanu PF government, perhaps with some MDC people for PR purposes. The Vigil doubts that Mr 46B will be among those clasped to the bosom of Zanu PF as they will be anxious to restore the good old Zimbabwe dollar to ‘boost the economy’.

Other points

·         Vigil management team member Fungayi Mabhunu, a tireless supporter of the Swaziland Vigil, was invited to speak on a discussion programme: ‘Swaziland 2013 elections: A shameless sham democracy’ on the TV station Africa Today. To see a video of the programme, go to: http://youtu.be/qieEj8s3sM8.

·         Vigil supporter Kudaushe Matimba (formerly of the Bhundu Boys) has asked us to advise people of a concert by Mokoomba, a Zimbabwean band. They are performing from 7.40 on Wednesday 5^th June at the Jazz Café, Parkway NW1 7PG. For more information, check:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/365115573603897/?fref=ts.

·         The International Bar Association are presenting a film: ‘Beatrice Mtetwa and the rule of law’ at 7.45 pm on Tuesday 18^th June at the London School of Economics in Houghton Street WC2A 2AE. There will be a question and answer session with Beatrice and admission is free. For more information, check ‘Events and Notices’.

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil website.

FOR THE RECORD: 52 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

·         ROHR Executive meeting and Cambridge branch meeting. Saturday 8^th June from 11 am – 5 pm. Venue: St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, Chesterton, Cambridge CB4 1DH. For more details contact Deon 07786674066, Mubaiwa 07846170094 and Robart 07902790313.

•         ROHR Midlands Region Fundraising. Saturday 15^th June from 2 pm – 2 am. Venue: Malaika House, 81 George Street, Lozells, B19 1NS, Birmingham. Food (BBQ) and Drinks, Music and Dance, Raffle etc. Contact: Zenzile Chabuka 07951418577, JaneMary Mapfumo 07412310429, Tafadzwa Mushakwe 07551873256, Enniah Dube  07403439707, Elector Zvorwadza 07905831330, Tecla Bandawe 07450507650, Pedzisai James 07428180518, Petronella Mapara 07903644612 and Anne Chikumba 07857528546.

•         Zimbabwe Action Forum (ZAF). Saturday 15^th June from 6.30 – 9.30 pm.  Venue: Strand Continental Hotel (first floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. The Strand is the same road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the direction away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the south side of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo Bridge. The entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its famous Indian restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest underground: Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn.

•         Screening of ‘Beatrice Mtetwa and the rule of law’. Tuesday 18^th June at 7.45 pm. Venue: London School of Economics, New Theatre, East Building, Houghton Street WC2A 2AE. There will be a question and answer session with Beatrice and the event is free. For the film trailer, check: http://vimeo.com/58496261, For more information, check: http://www.ibanet.org/mtetwafilm.aspx and to register for tickets, email: mtetwafilm@int-bar.org.

•         Zimbabwe Vigil Highlights 2012 can be viewed on this link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/467-vigil-highlights-2012.  Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2012 Highlights page.

•         The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the views and opinions of ROHR.

•         Facebook pages:

-         Vigil: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts

-         ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

-         ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ROHR-Zimbabwe-Restoration-of-Human-Rights/301811392835

•         Vigil Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.

•         Useful websites: www.zanupfcrime.com which reports on Zanu PF abuses and www.ipaidabribe.org.zw where people can report corruption in Zimbabwe.

Vigil co-ordinators

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 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.

Even in Zimbabwe, It's All About Having the Right Partner

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/

 

 

02 June 2013 | Issue 5139

By Alexander Bratersky

Courtesy of Ruschrome

Ruschrome co-owner Alexander Chepik (left) and Robert Mugabe (right).

For some, Robert Mugabe is the authoritarian anathema who leads Zimbabwe, the mineral rich state in Africa, but for Russian businessman Alexander Chepik he is a man to be admired.

"I am fascinated by him. He is an articulate man with a great sense of style and a sharp memory. He never forgets anything," Chepik said about the African strongman who is not welcome in many Western capitals after his government began taking land from white farmers in 2000.

But Chepik, 47, said he felt very comfortable in Zimbabwe, where his company Ruschrome holds an exclusive license to develop the second biggest platinum field. This makes him one of the leading Russian investors in Zimbabwe, a terra-incognita for Russian companies.

Ruschrome, where Chepik is one of the major shareholders, was able to obtain a license to develop the Darwendale platinum field in 2006 after working for ten years in the country on various other projects.

The license is held by Ruschrome Mining, jointly owned by the local government and Chepik's Center for Business Cooperation with Foreign Countries. Among the company's senior managers are former Soviet diplomats who have long specialized in African affairs. The head of the company board of directors is Martin Rushwaya, a permanent secretary in Zimbabwe's Defense Ministry.

The Center for Business Cooperation with Foreign Countries company also has gold mining operations in Mongolia and Ethiopia.

Chepik, who graduated from the History and Archive Institute in Moscow with a degree in history, occupied senior positions in various defense-related companies in Russia in the mid 1990s.

A businessman who spends half of his time in Zimbabwe, Cherpik said his attention was drawn to the country by reports from Soviet-era geologists about the country's mineral wealth. "The whole of Mendeleyev's table is there; the country is also rich in uranium and diamonds," he said, referring to periodic table of elements invented by Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleyev.

Many Western companies exited Zimbabwe after the European Union imposed sanctions on the country in 2002 due to the local government policy of driving white farmers from their land without compensation.

The sanctions include travel restrictions and a freeze on assets abroad for President Mugabe, more than 200 senior officials from his ruling ZANU-PF party and companies close to them.

Although the European Union suspended sanctions against 81 officials and eight local companies in March, they remain in effect against Mugabe and senior party members, BBC reported. Analysts said Western countries were moving toward normalization of relations with Zimbabwe, following a referendum on Constitutional amendments conducted in March.

The government, however, announced during the referendum that the seizure of farms could not be legally contested. Authorities said a commission would be appointed to audit the situation.

Chepik said his company's plan was to prepare the Darwendale field for platinum extraction and then invite a strategic investor from Russia — a goal shared by the local authorities who are also his partners. He said the field, which is estimated to have 755 tons of platinum, needs $350 million of investment.

Ruschrome said it had already spent $10 million on studying the field, but its relationship with potential Russian investor Renova — controlled by billionaire Viktor Vekselberg — turned sour when Renova accused Ruschrome of reneging on an agreement to sell a 50 percent stake in the project.

Renova has appealed to the Trade and Industry Chamber mediation court, claiming that a German lawyer who received a $5 million fee has failed to prepare the share sale contract between Renova's AfroAsia Consulting and Ruschrome. The lawyer was recommended by Chepik's side. The chamber court dismissed Renova's claims. That ruling was supported by the The Higher Arbitration Court in  October 2011. 

Chepik said Renova's plan in Zimbabwe was to prepare the field for development and then sell it to other investors. While he called this plan "business-like," he said it was not favored by Zimbabwean authorities.

Chepik does not deny that his company maintains strong ties with the African country's senior leadership. Novaya Gazeta newspaper, in an article about the Renova conflict with Chepik's company published in 2011, said the Center for Business Cooperation was staffed with former senior military and intelligence officers.

The article stated that then-company vice-president Yuri Khozyanov was a former senior official from GRU military intelligence and had worked as the deputy head of state arms exporter Rosvooruzheniye, the precursor to the Rosoboronexport arms exporter.

Khozyanov has left the business. Now the Ruschrome joint-venture's Russian chief is Andrei Shutov, a former senior executive at Renova.

Despite the court battle, Chepik said his company was still open to doing business with Renova. But he added that he was more hopeful about a possible agreement with Norilsk Nickel, Russia's leading platinum producer. "They are a priority for us," Chepik said.

A Norilsk Nickel spokeswomen said that although the company was looking to invest in Zimbabwe's projects, including Darwendale, "no positive decisions have been made at this point in time."

The Darwendale platinum field is also being eyed by the powerful Rostec holding, headed by Sergei Chemizov — who is reported to be a friend of President Vladimir Putin.

Kommersant reported last June that the company was offering to supply helicopters to the Zimbabwean government in exchange for access to the field. No deal was reached so far.

Chepik said he was confident that all Russian investors interested to work in Darwendale will go through his company, since in his role as middleman he has already won the trust of ruling.

"Some Russian investors were trying to get around us, but it was not well-received within the government. Laws in Zimbabwe work better than in Russia," Chepik said.

Although he has placed his hopes on securing Russian investors, Chepik has a Plan B. If his company can not find partners, it will sell shares on the open market.

He and his subordinates also said Russia is missing out on opportunities to invest in Zimbabwe, whereas China has already invested over $600 million into the local economy. Neither Putin nor his predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, has ever been to Zimbabwe.

Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov was the only government official who paid a visit to the country in 2012, accompanied by executives from leading Russian companies.

But Russian firms are more keen to invest in South Africa, avoiding Zimbabwe because of political uncertainty, experts said. Russian investment in South Africa currently stands at more than $1 billion, with Norilsk Nickel, Renova, Evraz Group and Basic Element among the biggest players.

Manturov's visit to Zimbabwe was, however, marked by signing a bilateral agreement on the protection of investor rights, which Chepik calls a very positive step.

Meanwhile, Mugabe, surrounded by sanctions, is very interested in dealing with Russia, although Chepik said that the strongman still has hard feelings toward Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

"He is still angry because when Mugabe came to Russia, Gorbachev didn't even meet him. But he sees Russia positively," Chepik said.

Still the ball is in the Russian court. "By the time sanctions are be lifted, there will be no room for Russia anymore," he said.

Elections in Zimbabwe: Fighting Bullets With Ballots

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Blog contributor
Douglas Mwonzora
Secretary for Information and Publicity, Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) in Zimbabwe

Posted: 06/02/2013 11:37 am

The cells at Harare central police station are packed from wall to wall with
political prisoners. Men and women walk barefoot on floors dirtied with
human waste. The smell is unbearable. These are the "lucky ones." Other
victims of ZANU-PF political violence and intimidation are beaten, tortured,
and killed -- their bodies abandoned in deserted fields. As the Secretary
for Information and Publicity of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), I
receive phone calls daily informing me of arrests of MDC supporters and
missing persons who are members of our Party. These calls are nothing new.
For 33 years, Zimbabweans have bore the scars of Robert Mugabe's dictatorial
ZANU PF regime. We have been kidnapped, robbed, beaten, tortured, and many
of our brothers, sisters, and children have been killed. But we are not
broken and our resolve has never been stronger. We know now, more than ever,
is our time to enact real change and bring freedom and democracy to this
troubled nation.

In 2013, Zimbabweans will again go to the polls. The violence already being
carried out by Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party, harkens back to the
atrocities that occurred when MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai won the 2008
presidential election. Refusing to accept the outcome, Mugabe's vote rigging
efforts successfully forced a run-off election. To stop the subsequent
brutal and widespread ZANU PF politically motivated violence, Dr. Tsvangirai
withdrew from the run-off election.

Unlike the more discernible strategies of tyrants such as Muammar Gaddafi in
Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Robert Mugabe's reign of terror veils
outright dictatorship under the guise of democracy. In spite of a ruling
party that has demonstrated time and again its willingness to carry out
violence to retain power, Zimbabweans are committed to the power of the
vote. My country represents one of the only places in the world where
democracy stands a real chance at overcoming authoritarianism without
violent disposition of the regime -- yet the world has turned a blind eye to
our struggle.

In the past two weeks alone, we have observed clear signs that the ZANU PF
regime is intent on suppressing Zimbabwe's democratic transition. In our
capital city of Harare, 19 MDC activists were arrested during a door-to-door
voter registration campaign. Police also detained two journalists from the
Zimbabwe Independent on allegations of publishing falsehoods after reporting
on alleged private talks between Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the country's
security chiefs. In Matabeleland South, security agents raided my party's
offices and impounded 15 motorbikes used for campaign and voter registration
activities. In a separate incident, MDC's youth leader Solomon Madzore was
jailed for allegedly referring to Robert Mugabe as a "limping donkey." On
Tuesday, Ndomupeyi Matshoba, an MDC Youth Assembly member in Harare was
attacked and suffered cuts and bruises to her face while out working on
election activities. The list goes on and on.

After three decades of corrupt cronies and catastrophic government policies
that have turned the breadbasket of Africa into a nation unable to feed its
own people, Zimbabweans have had enough. The time for change is now. The
stakes couldn't be higher. This may be our last chance to free ourselves
from tyranny through democratic means.

The people of Zimbabwe are fighting guns with ballots, and democratic
nations around the globe neglect to take notice. Many in Zimbabwe hope that
the road to elections and the transition to a new, more democratic country
will stand as an example of freedom peacefully overcoming oppression, but we
need support from the democratic leaders of the world. On Election Day, we
are confident that the people of Zimbabwe will vote for change, but we
cannot underestimate the will of Mugabe's regime to commit voter fraud,
inflict violence, exercise intimidation tactics, and rig the election
outcome. All we hope for is a free and fair election, where the people of
Zimbabwe can choose their future without the fear of dying for their vote.
We can only enact change if democratic nations pledge to monitor the
political environment in Zimbabwe and help us ensure a free and fair poll.
Even muffled by state-controlled media and government controlled
communications, the voice of the people continues to grow louder.
Together -- and with the help of democratic nations across the globe -- we
can ensure free and fair elections and a peaceful step forward on Zimbabwe's
path toward freedom and democracy.

The Beginning of the End

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/

02.06.13

by Eddie Cross

After the success of the Policy Conference and the rally to launch our
campaign, MDC (T) has been conducting the primaries to select candidates who
will stand for election in the 2300 electoral Districts that will be
contested in the coming election. As we expected the State controlled media
and our opponents in the election, have not been able to effectively respond
to the MDC’s policy platform. Private media and many representative bodies
and individuals have commented and on the whole,

The task of selecting candidates is never easy for a political party. We are
on the edge of change and most Zimbabweans now understand that the MDC (T)
is going to form the next government. This changes the whole tenor of the
primary process – many want to be candidates because they see this as a job
opportunity, many want to join the expected gravy train (“it’s our chance to
eat” syndrome) and suddenly the constituents appreciate that those whom they
send to run their local Councils and to Parliament will be responsible for
the delivery of the change that they have all been working for the past 14
years.

We have required that all potential candidates must seek the approval of
their leadership structures to stand. We have also directed that the
elections must be by secret ballot and those who are allowed to vote are
identified and approved before voting. All aspiring candidates are required
by the Party to sign a declaration in front of the assembled voters saying
that they will accept the outcome and work with the candidates so elected.

In this, I think the MDC is breaking new ground in Africa. I cannot recall
any other Party having gone through this process. Candidates had to apply in
January to be considered, then the Party went through a complex process to
vet the candidates (nearly 40 were shown to be State Agents) and ensure they
met the criteria laid down for each position. The final list of candidates
was then put to the Party leadership to approve and then sent to the
Districts who had to undertake the administration of the primary elections.

I am part of the team that is supervising and conducting the primaries and
we have been hard at it all week. So far we have done 7 of the 12 Provinces
and I have personally conducted elections in all those Provinces. One day we
started out at 4 am and got back to base at 1 am the following day having
driven nearly 1200 kilometers and conducted 3 primary elections – one of
which was within sight of the Kariba Dam.

The experience has been encouraging and humbling, in fact I have found the
whole process deeply moving at times. MDC (T) is a Party of the poor in
Zimbabwe, the middle and upper classes in our society by and large do not
support us for one reason or another. You travel deep into the remote rural
areas to conduct a primary and after driving for hours over the most
horrendous roads you have ever seen, arrive at the destination to find 300
people patiently sitting under a tree waiting for us to arrive – they
themselves having walked many kilometers to get there earlier in the day.

There would be about half men and women – the two groups quite separate –
the women sitting in the shade and the men standing around in groups. When
we arrived they would gather together, listen as we explained what they had
to do and then conduct a process which identified those who were eligible to
vote on the grounds that they were leaders from their wards and branches
(villages). They go through that process and the subsequent Electoral
College introduced to the eligible candidates. These introduce themselves
and we then hand out the preprinted ballot papers. They then form up in
their wards and cast their ballots for the person they want to represent
them either in Parliament or in their local Rural District Council. Sitting
Members of Parliament have to be confirmed at the same time which means that
they have to secure the support of the majority of the College.

When this process was complete we then ask the candidates to sign a form
saying they will accept the results of the vote and are satisfied with the
process up to that point. This is then followed by a very public and
transparent process of identifying the candidates on each ballot and then
counting the ballots to determine a winner. In all the cases I supervised,
the people had a very clear idea of who they wanted in each position and the
voting was emphatic. In one instance where the sitting MP was rejected, I
thought he was going to collapse when we announced the result. A surprising
number of sitting MP’s are not being accepted by their Districts.

The announcement of the results was always accompanied by an uproar with the
women ululating and the men carrying the successful candidate around the
clearing. In one case a young man (perhaps 35 years old) who had returned
from the Diaspora to contest the primary and who had been living in the UK
for many years, was clearly embarrassed by the adulation. He will now face a
strong Zanu PF candidate who is a Minister in the GNU Government.

All the primaries were carefully watched by the police and the CIO. I would
love to see their reports – this is the beginning of the end of the Zanu PF
as a dominant political force in Zimbabwe. Everywhere we went the story was
the same, this time we are going to finish this never ending crisis in our
affairs. Back in the capital City it is clear, all the other political
parties and especially Zanu PF are in disarray and nowhere near ready for
this election despite their bravado. The message they will get from this
process in that they are now being put, in fencing jargon, “on guard”.

Constitution Watch 30/2013 of 31st May 2013 [Proportional Representation]

Hay Festival 2013: NoViolet Bulawayo returns to her homeland

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

 

 

NoViolet Bulawayo was 18 when she left Zimbabwe for a new life in America on the eve of the new millennium. This year, her debut novel soon to be published, she returned to her homeland for the first time. She wasn’t prepared for what she would find.

The novelist NoViolet Bulawayo Photo: James Manyika

By NoViolet Bulawayo

7:00AM BST 02 Jun 2013

Comment

I am a proper jumble of emotions as I make my way from the Ethiopian Airlines plane into the arrivals lounge of Harare International Airport. It is only a brief distance, it being a small building, but the 13 years I’ve been away from home makes it feel like the longest and most difficult walk I can remember. Part of what weighs on me is that the way I had imagined this day, the way I had played it over and over in my head, the way I had fantasised it years and years ago, was different. Like, over there, on the second floor where family and friends wait to greet their loved ones, would be my father, my Pops, chest swelling with enough pride to make him explode, waiting to welcome his daughter. And with him of course the whole mkhamandolo – all his surviving nine children and their children, the extended family, some of the sons and daughters of my grandfather and his four wives, all my people, drunken on pride and joy – weeping like they’d wept that December 31 1999, when I left, but this time tears of happiness, of course, shrieks of laughter all over, handshakes and hugs, songs and stories.

But then the reality is nothing like I had imagined. In reality I walk alone like a true prodigal. I am coming like some disaster: unexpected, unawaited. Not a single soul at the airport could tell you my name if you paid them. Besides Knockout Thabs, my best friend from high school who is picking me up from the airport, nobody knows of my return. My homecoming will be a surprise – the whole surprise thing being something I never knew before I left Zimbabwe and have picked up during my stay in the US, like so many foreign tendencies that now make up my identity. Oh how it ticked me off, the surprise thing, when I first moved to the US: surprise birthday parties, surprise present, surprise trip, surprise this and that. So unnecessary, so pointless, trying to catch me off guard when you could just come right out and tell me upfront so I am prepared.

And yet, here I am. Tired of the broken promises I suppose, after promising to come home and failing for years now because of one thing or another – finances nixing plans, my papers not secure enough to get me in and out of the country, or the unstable situation at home making it a bad time to visit – I have decided, out of guilt, to simply show up. It doesn’t feel like a bad decision, and having left home when I was a teenager, I feel so grown up doing things on my own terms like this.

I have never been to Harare airport before and so I do not recognise anything. Still, I am terribly aware of the wave of humanity around me; airport workers at various tasks, eager-eyed people looking out for their loved ones, travellers like myself and outside, a congregation dressed in white, perhaps waiting for an important church person. ‘My people, these are all my people,’ I want to scream, perhaps from the shock of being back home, perhaps from the joy of seeing the familiar rhythm of doing things; the poetry of the body, expressive faces, the thing without a name that speaks of home but I would never be able to explain. When I see a sign in Chinese, testament of course to the growing Chinese presence in Zimbabwe, I am a bit surprised, but still, I cannot help but laugh. This is a subject I treat briefly in my novel We Need New Names, and because my child characters – Darling, Chipo, Bastard, Godknows, Stina and Sbho – have been such an intimate part of my life for the past four years, to the point of almost becoming real, I find myself wondering what they would say if they were here with me.

^{Family and friends surround the young DJ waiting for the music to start at the party}

I join the line for returning residents and not too long after, the young desk attendant stamps my passport and says, ‘Welcome home.’ I remember some of the port of entrees I have gone through – in the US, where I now live, the UK, Canada – always the questions, the scrutiny, and my awareness that I am an outsider. This is perhaps why, when I get my passport back, I hold it like it is the most precious thing ever; hold it like it is alive. Welcome home.

We enter my city at dawn, a time of returning witches. In the back of the car, my sister Bo and her youngest son, a nephew I have never met, are passed out from sleep. Bo lives in Harare and so we surprised her first. She refused to stay behind when we proceeded to Bulawayo.

‘I haven’t seen you all these years, I’m not staying behind,’ she said, leaving her children and young nieces and nephew by themselves as her husband was out of town.

I squint into the lightening darkness at the sign that welcomes us to Bulawayo, my heart breaking and joyous and disbelieving. My blood stirs when we pass familiar streets, though I’m surprised by the trash. Because Knockout Thabs has never seen me cry I work hard to maintain a straight face while he drives to my sister’s house in Cowdray Park, where I will wait for a while because I do not want to wake my father so early in the morning. Inside, though, I am a drumbeat of anguish, inside I am a river of tears. Dearest Zim, you beloved country, you’ll just never know how I’ve cried for you in the 13 years I’ve been gone.

^{Sehliselo, a family friend, helps out with the cooking}

In my hometown the roads are the first indication of the country’s hard times. I dance in my seat as we hit pothole after pothole after pothole, while my brother-in-law, Luke, navigates his car from his Cowdray Park neighbourhood to New Lobengula, where my home is. I do not quite know yet that this road situation is normal for the townships, so at first I politely abstain from passing comments. I do not, after all, want to sound like I’m looking down on my city. But when the potholes continue and it sinks in that they are a normal part of the drive, I cry out in frustration. Luke offers apologies, but I cannot tell if it’s for my discomfort, or the potholes. He talks about how bad the roads are, something I have heard before from friends who have visited, but apparently hearing and experiencing are two different animals. There seems to be no disappointment or rage in Luke’s voice as he says, ‘It is what it is; the potholes are here and life goes on.’

I will notice the same attitude with the water and power cuts that occur on just about a daily basis. There are no outcries when these happen, which strikes me as strange because years ago power cuts made us pour out into the streets to voice our displeasure. Now, instead of outcry, firewood is brought out and seamlessly replaces the stove (thankfully my father has a generator that powers everything else, though I cannot help but think of those who are without), and buckets of water line up in the kitchen and small passage leading to the lavatory. I am in Rome and must do as the Romans do, so I have to take a bath in a bucket, which I quickly adjust to because it is after all how I did it all those years ago. But it’s flushing the lavatory with a bucket that eventually gets to me. With the extra people who come to our house because of my presence it just seems I am constantly flushing after kids who probably have better things to do than lift buckets.

Save for my aunt Mildred, who keeps reminding me that I am wasting water, my family looks at my lavatory flushing with quiet amusement. If I were to read their eyes I would see that once upon a time they, too, were busy with buckets, concerned with keeping the lavatory flushed at all times. But that was a few years ago when all this was new. Now, they are not fazed; even the children are not fazed, no. They do not complain about the water and power cuts, the day-to-day challenges; their generation was born into it, this is their normal. What would be abnormal is the Zimbabwe of my childhood, of running water and spraying ourselves with hosepipes and flicking lights and blaring radios all the time and… No, they wouldn’t understand; that Zimbabwe is terribly gone.

^{Bulawayo examines the guava crop on her father's tree}

The weight of the 13 years of my absence shows most markedly on my father’s 74-year-old face. In all that time I’ve seen him only once, when he came to the US to visit while I was an undergraduate. He stayed with his sister, my aunt, in Michigan and, because I was away in Texas for school and living on campus, I was only able to fly to Michigan and see him over one weekend. I have listened to him age over the phone, his robust voice going just a bit quieter over the years as he relates the various sicknesses of old age, the way the country has and is unravelling, among other things. The day I arrive home to surprise him he is at his cousin’s funeral. Because of his age, and a heart issue he has been having, it is decided that it may not be healthy to surprise him as I have done with everybody else. Yes, you don’t want to shock an old man to death, my sister says in a joking tone.

Later, he arrives, half panting from heat and the long walk; my father, the old man. My own siblings too are ageing, but it’s on the bodies of their child­ren that I really begin to see the marks of time. The kids and toddlers and babies I left behind (a little over a decade ago) have blossomed into adults and teenagers, and occasionally, like an old woman failed by memory, I have to ask, ‘Who is this, who is this one now?’ Some of the children even have children of their own, something that doesn’t cease to baffle me.

But if I am shocked by the fact that kids have their own kids, then other people are shocked by the fact that I am still yet to have children. My family, obviously, because they are in my life and we are in constant touch, do not express much concern, but other people do. On my way to the grocery store a neighbour introduces me to his three or four grandchildren before he says, ‘How many do you have and did you leave them in America?’ It is a question I encounter over and over like an accusation, until I am stunned, and then annoyed, by the implication that without children I am not enough.

^{Bulawayo holds her nephew's son}

New Lobengula, my neighbourhood, is mostly red-brick houses carefully lined like loaves of bread. People with means have renovated their originally two-roomed houses and added additional rooms to accommodate their families. A lot of houses have remained the same, but I hardly recognise my home. It was already renovated to begin with, but more work has been done to it. In fact, they were digging a foundation when I left, and the house I grew up in is no longer there, replaced now by one I cannot really connect to. Part of me feels sad for the loss; if I were blindfolded and thrust inside I would have been lost for sure, but I’m still grateful to see pieces of furniture from back then. There is the weird wardrobe I shared with my sister, with the little shelf where I stacked my books including the ones I stole from libraries because I could not afford to buy new books but still wanted to own some. The display cabinet where we kept glassware that only came out when we had visitors. The round dining table with the chairs we did not sit on. These are things I know; they connect me to my past and I’m grateful they have been spared.

Sometimes I will escape the home I cannot remember and take random walks in my neighbourhood. Thirteen years on, New Lobengula looks pretty much the same, though it takes me a while to adjust to the landscape. At the same time there are changes that I wish hadn’t happened; the grocery stores where I used to shop, from whose corners naughty boys used to catcall and make me both confused and excited, are gone and have been replaced by new ones. Like most things in the area, it is not an upgrade; the shelves are not as well stocked as I remember them from before, the meat at the butcher’s is discoloured from the power cuts that affect the fridges, and I generally cannot relate to the mood in the stores. Later, though, I will find that the shops in Bulawayo city centre are much better, comparable even to the ones I am now used to in the US. The currency in use in Zimbabwe at the moment is the US dollar, alongside the South African rand, and so in a way I am pleased to be able to use my US dollars. Still, I am confused by the prices, how a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, a pint of milk, beer and a Coke can all cost the same price, for instance. And when I get my change back it is so dirty that I am almost afraid to touch it. Zimbabwe may use US dollars but it cannot print the currency, and so the low-denomination notes will change hands and change hands and change hands until you want to tell George Washington to take a bath.

^{Bulawayo's sister Roseline (left) and niece Precious dance at the homecoming party}

Yet another change I cannot get over is that faces and people I do not know confront me in my neighbourhood. It is a strange feeling; whereas 13 years ago I could never walk New Lobengula without bumping into a familiar face, without stopping to chat, without anybody yelling my name, now I may as well be a ghost. It is a fact of life, I suppose, people come and go, faces change, but because I have fantasised about reuniting with loved ones and friends, the realisation that I am a stranger in my own streets breaks my heart. When I stop by my best friend’s home, her sister tells me she has moved to the next town where she lives with her husband. From our tight group of high-school friends, she is one of the few who have remained; the rest of us are scattered in the US, Britain, Botswana, and mostly South Africa. The majority left during the ‘lost decade’ when the country was falling apart. The Zimbabwe we know and Facebook about is the beautiful ghost of this new country that is right now defiantly belching in my face and daring me to say something. In the stench of its accusation I wonder what kind of animal we would be looking at if we had stayed, all of us, if our only option had been to face and fix the country instead of take flight. In the stench of its accusation I am left guilty, because now that I am seeing things with my own eyes, I know just how much my family suffered; a reduced standard of living, poor access to health care, lack of jobs and many other things that made life hard for them.

The throb of house music in the morning, this beat-based music that has come from South Africa and somehow nudged out the kwaito and other sounds of my youth. It has occupied houses and taxis and streets and teenagers’ cell phones. It provides the soundtrack to the hustle and bustle of township life – kids walking off to school, girls and women bent double, their brooms mauling the earth and raising dust, touts calling out for customers heading off to town, rotting guavas falling on to the ground, people exchanging morning gossip, my father telling me one story or another as we stand by the gate and watch New Lobengula emerge from its slumber. Later, at my party (for what is a homecoming without a party?) the same house music rips from the stereos on the veranda where kids congregate and dance confusing dances that I cannot begin to imitate. Once or twice I will leave the living room and go to the DJ, a quiet boy in his teens, and ask him to play a song, to play Brenda Fassie or kwaito or anything old-school just so I can be at home on the dance floor. The DJ nods and I wonder if he knows what I am talking about.

^{Pop relaxes at home with a beer and the paper}

When the DJ eventually honours my request, I charge on to the dance floor and dance like I will be rewarded with the country I know, brought back from wherever countries go when things fall apart. My sister and aunt and brothers-in-law and friends and some of the older kids join me and we move in a delirious frenzy of limbs. The shock of my surprise visit has worn off but the happiness stays; we will all be infected with it for the whole week I will be home. My father sits on a chair, next to my mother, half watching the muted TV, half watching the dance floor, and perhaps wondering if it indeed is his long-lost daughter he is seeing. It is a question everyone is always asking me, as if they are drunks coming to their senses. ‘Is this really you? I still cannot believe it!’ I can only grin back sheepishly; I too cannot believe I am home at last. Around us Brenda’s voice wails from the sound system, and I wail with her with my body. I wail for the time I have been gone, for all that's been, for the family I am now reunited with, for the country I love.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus, £14.99) is available for £12.99 plus £1.35 p&p from Telegraph Books (0844-871 1514; books.telegraph.co.uk. NoViolet Bulawayo is speaking at Hay on Sunday June