Yahoo News
by Fanuel Jongwe Mon Mar 10, 11:03 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - A new
equity law passed by President Robert Mugabe to ensure
the population gets a
majority stake in public-owned firms will plunge
Zimbabwe into deeper
economic woes, analysts predicted on Monday.
Last week, Mugabe, who
is facing elections this month, passed the
indigenisation and economic
empowerment act which states that "indigenous
Zimbabweans shall own at least
51 percent of the shares of every public
company and other
businesses".
"It will entail the destruction of the economy,"
Harare-based economist
Godfrey Kanyenze told AFP.
"We should have
learnt from the blunders of the land reforms where people
who were not
properly equipped rushed to grab farms.
"The result was a disaster in the
agricultural sector and we are now
importing maize from the countries where
the former farmers have migrated
to."
Eight years ago, the government
launched land reforms which saw the state
seize some 4,000 white-owned farms
for redistribution to landless blacks,
most of whom lacked the means and
skills to farm.
Critics blame the seizures for the drop in agricultural
production in the
former regional breadbasket.
"But those in power
never seem to learn," Kanyenze said. "They repeat the
same mistakes over and
over again, expecting different results. This is
insanity."
Under the
new legislation the government will only allow firms to
restructure or merge
if indigenous Zimbabweans hold 51 percent of shares.
New investment will
not be approved unless a controlling stake is reserved
for
locals.
Best Doroh, an economist with Harare-based financial group ZB,
said the new
law would discourage investment.
"Those who are already
on the ground may have prepared themselves for the
eventual passing of the
act, but foreign direct investment will be slower,"
he told AFP.
The
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Cain Mpofu
warned the law was ill-timed.
"The economy is in a tailspin,
inflation is the highest in the world and
world perception of property
rights in Zimbabwe is at its lowest," Mpofu
said in a paper submitted to
parliament during debate on the law.
"The possibility of further capital
flight from Zimbabwe is not far-fetched.
The real crisis facing this country
is not about indigenisation but about
the crippling shortages facing the
people."
Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed since 2000, with inflation
officially over
100,000 percent and most people living below the poverty
line, while
industries are operating at a fraction of their capacity or have
shut down.
Mugabe, who will stand for a sixth term on March 29, says the
indigenisation
drive will deliver economic independence to the majority of
Zimbabweans who
were discriminated against by colonial laws.
But
central bank chief Gideon Gono has already warned the law may be abused
by
individuals with government contacts.
"We call upon the government to
ensure that the empowerment drive is not
derailed by a few well-connected
individuals ... to amass wealth for
themselves in a starkly greedy and
irresponsible manner while the majority
remain with nothing as happened in
the past with respect to government
empowerment schemes such as the lend
reform programme," he said in a
statement in October.
Multinational
firms that may be affected include Barclays Bank, Bindura
Nickel Corporation
and mining giant Rio Zim.
According to the law, published in the
government gazette on Friday, the
minister for indigenisation and
empowerment will conduct a rating of every
company to ensure
compliance.
The law also provides for the establishment of an economic
empowerment board
to give loans to locals intending to acquire shares, start
businesses or
expand existing ventures.
Last year, Mugabe warned his
government would nationalise firms, accusing
them of pushing prices up to
trigger anti-government protests.
Reuters
Mon 10 Mar 2008, 13:47
GMT
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union raised concerns on Monday
about the
fairness of elections this month in Zimbabwe, noting that European
observers
had not been invited to monitor the vote.
"The (EU) Council
remains very concerned about the humanitarian, political
and economic
situation in Zimbabwe and conditions on the ground," it said in
a statement
agreed by foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels.
"(It) may endanger
the holding of free and fair parliamentary and
presidential elections," the
statement said, urging veteran President Robert
Mugabe to ensure the
elections respect international standards.
The March 29 election
presents Mugabe with one of the biggest challenges to
his rule since taking
office in 1980.
Millions of Zimbabweans hoping for an end to a
decade-long economic crisis
are due to vote in presidential, parliamentary
and municipal elections
described by Mugabe and his opponents as a landmark
poll in the
post-independence period.
EU relations with Zimbabwe have
been tense for years, and have been a thorn
in EU-Africa
relations.
The 27-nation bloc slapped visa bans and asset freezes on
Mugabe and over a
hundred top officials after a controversial distribution
of white-owned
commercial farms to mainly landless blacks and Mugabe's
disputed re-election
in 2002.
"We want to see elections that are
properly free and fair in Zimbabwe," said
British Foreign Secretary David
Miliband. "The voice of the people of
Zimbabwe needs to be heard in free and
fair elections."
nasdaq
HARARE (AFP)--The U.S. expressed fears Monday that
conditions were lacking
for fair elections in troubled Zimbabwe later this
month, and deplored its
exclusion from a list of invited observer
teams.
"The U.S. shares the concerns of many Zimbabweans and
international
observers about the pre-election environment," Paul Englestad,
spokesman for
the U.S. embassy in Harare, said in a statement.
He
cited "reports of inadequate election preparations, evidence of
irregularities associated with registration and inspection of voters' rolls
and concerns that the violence and human rights abuses of the past year will
affect the campaign and election day voting".
Given such concerns, it
was vital that the international community field
strong teams of election
observers, said Englestad.
"Unbiased observation of the elections is
essential to ensuring that the
voice of the Zimbabwean is
heard."
Last week, Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
announced that
European Union member states and the United States have been
excluded from a
list of observers that would be invited to monitor joint
parliamentary and
presidential polls set for March 29.
He said only
diplomats permanently resident in Zimbabwe would be allowed to
observe the
elections.
"We understand that diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe will be
accredited as
observers," said Englestad.
"But we strongly regret the
government of Zimbabwe's efforts to otherwise
restrict those countries and
organizations that would like to send observer
delegations."
Russia
was the only European country which had been invited to send
monitors.
The U.S. and E.U. imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's veteran
President Robert
Mugabe and his inner circle after alleging he had rigged
his re-election in
2002.
Mugabe, 84, faces challenges from his former
finance minister Simba Makoni
and the leader of the main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai, runner-up to
Mugabe in 2002, has warned the octogenarian leader
was likely to try and rig
the outcome as he seeks a sixth term in office.
(END) Dow Jones
Newswires
03-10-081255ET
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company,
Inc.
Mail and Guardian
Pretoria, South Africa
10 March 2008
05:47
A "virulent and vicious" smear campaign is being waged
against
Zimbabwe over the list of observers invited to witness the country's
elections on March 29, the country's ambassador to South Africa, Simon Moyo,
said on Monday.
The campaign is being driven by the West
and certain sections of
the South African media, he said in a
statement.
"Much of the recent criticism is certainly not out
of ignorance
of the facts, but out of sheer malice," Moyo
said.
The country's detractors are "trumpeting British
falsehoods"
about the election process.
"It is therefore
disheartening, but not surprising, that certain
sections of the media,
unfortunately including the South African
Broadcasting Corporation, have
chosen to ignore the facts ... on the ground.
"We are now
[aware] that whatever good and positive happens in
Zimbabwe can never pass
as newsworthy as long as such stories do not fit
into the well-known and
publicly acknowledged broad agenda of 'regime
change'," Moyo
said.
He said election observers are invited on basis of
reciprocity
as well as their objectivity and
impartiality.
"Our list of invitees excludes those countries
with preconceived
ideas who believe that the only free and fair election is
where the
opposition wins," he said.
Moyo said that among
organisations invited to send observers are
the African Union, the Southern
African Development Community and the
Non-Aligned
Movement.
The only country in Europe to be invited is the
Russian
Federation.
All diplomats, including those from
the West, accredited to
Zimbabwe on a full-time basis can observe the
polls.
'The voice of the people needs to be
heard'
The European Union raised concerns on Monday about the
fairness
of the elections in Zimbabwe, noting that European observers had
not been
invited to monitor the vote.
"The [EU] Council
remains very concerned about the humanitarian,
political and economic
situation in Zimbabwe and conditions on the ground,"
it said in a statement
agreed by foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels.
"[It]
may endanger the holding of free and fair parliamentary
and presidential
elections," the statement said, urging veteran President
Robert Mugabe to
ensure the elections respect international standards.
The
March 29 election presents Mugabe with one of the biggest
challenges to his
rule since taking office in 1980.
Millions of Zimbabweans
hoping for an end to a decade-long
economic crisis are due to vote in
presidential, parliamentary and municipal
elections described by Mugabe and
his opponents as a landmark poll in the
post-independence
period.
EU relations with Zimbabwe have been tense for years,
and have
been a thorn in EU-Africa relations.
The
27-nation bloc slapped visa bans and asset freezes on Mugabe
and over a
hundred top officials after a controversial distribution of
white-owned
commercial farms to mainly landless black Zimbabweans, and
Mugabe's disputed
re-election in 2002.
"We want to see elections that are
properly free and fair in
Zimbabwe," said British Foreign Secretary David
Miliband. "The voice of the
people of Zimbabwe needs to be heard in free and
fair elections."
'Extremely apprehensive'
Meanwhile, the JSE in South African is not interested in working
with its
Zimbabwean counterpart while Mugabe's "moronic government" is in
power, its
chief executive said on Monday.
While the JSE has courted
other African stock exchanges to forge
a closer working relationship, CEO
Russell Loubser effectively ruled out any
tie-up with Zimbabwe unless
Mugabe's 28-year rule is ended at this month's
elections.
"The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange would like to work much closer with
us
yesterday," Loubser said at a press conference for the announcement of
the
JSE's annual results.
"We are just extremely apprehensive
while you've got that type
of government in power because anything is
possible ... We are very careful
about doing something there while that type
of moronic government is in
place," he added.
Loubser's
comments come after Mugabe last week passed a new law
that will ensure that
indigenous Zimbabweans will own at least 51% of
companies operating in the
troubled Southern African nation.
Analysts have warned that
the new legislation will scare off
foreign investment in a country that has
been in economic meltdown for the
last eight years and has an inflation rate
of more than 100 000% -- the
highest in the world.
-- Sapa,
Reuters, AFP
As Mugabe heads into a presidential election, a mother's
desperation sums up the reality of 100,000% inflation The numbers ceased to mean much to Sarah Chekani about the time inflation in
Zimbabwe surged past 50,000% late last year. It has doubled again since then, to
the alarm of Robert Mugabe heading into this month's presidential election. But
that hardly matters to Chekani and others like her who survive in an orbit
touched only fleetingly by cash or the spiralling exchange rate. Nor do the other numbers that the central bank governor has called "an
economic HIV" - half the population living on 50p a day, 80% unemployment and
45% of Zimbabweans malnourished - mean much when what you are worried about is
your own young children. To Chekani, 31, the figures now only represent desperation and death; one
death in particular, but also the fear that more might follow. "I try not to eat too much so there is enough food for my children, but even
if I ate nothing there wouldn't be enough," she said. "I didn't think it was
possible that people could starve in Zimbabwe or just die because the hospital
has nothing. That's what we thought happened in Angola and Mozambique." Chekani's home in Highfield, a crowded township on the edge of Harare, is
bare. There are no chairs, only cloths on the floor. No bed, just a mattress for
her and the two remaining children, boys of seven and eight. She has a gas hob but no oven, and the only decoration is a print of a Jesus
Christ - a white man with a golden halo. It wasn't always this way. Chekani and her husband were relatively poor, but
his labours as a casual construction worker and her trading in secondhand
clothes filled their three-roomed home with the things that marked rising living
standards in Zimbabwe after independence: a radio and then a television, a
couch, armchairs, a bed. Then, five years ago, shortly after the birth of her only daughter, Chekani's
husband died. She says she doesn't know why - he just got sicker, and nothing
could save him. By then, his work had dried up as the economy crashed under Mugabe's
maladministration, and they were selling off their belongings to those who still
had means. The television fetched enough money to feed the family for a month.
The bed went for almost nothing. Chekani even sold off most of her plates and
cutlery, keeping only what the family needed for a meal. With the money, she did what large numbers of Zimbabweans are doing to
survive: she bought up basic foods, keeping some for her family and making a
small profit from the rest. There is almost nothing left in the house to sell, but Chekani gets by. Her
latest acquisition is two litres of cooking oil which she sells at a pavement
stall, five tablespoons at a time, in return for a handful of near worthless
notes. Other women are selling bars of soap by the slice and flour by the cup.
But cash isn't something you keep for very long with 100,000% inflation and
the Zimbabwe dollar diving from 15m to the pound a month ago to about 50m today
as the government furiously prints money to fund pay rises for the army and
civil servants in advance of the March 29 general election. Dealing with cash is like a torrid game of pass the parcel. Everyone wants it
but then unloads it as quickly as possible in exchange for something worth
having. Chekani gets rid of the money from selling her oil by buying two eggs.
Sometimes the police and soldiers take the street hawkers' wares, claiming it is
illegal to sell on the pavement. The women say it is another form of state
looting. Chekani's trading kept her children alive until last November. Then her
five-year-old daughter fell sick with diarrhoea and fever. Chekani hesitated to
take her to Highfield's government clinic because charges have risen several
times over, but as the child's condition worsened she carried her there. The nurse said there was nothing she could do. There were no antibiotics to
treat the child's condition. All she could offer was a spoonful of syrup to help
bring her temperature down. "The nurse said she was sure she would be fine. She said lots of children
were coming in with diarrhoea because of the sewers," said Chekani. Burst sewer lines are increasingly common in Highfield and other Harare
townships as the infrastructure collapses from lack of maintenance. On occasion,
groups of women with babies strapped to their backs have marched to Highfield
clinic to demand treatment for their children, sick from the filthy water. The situation is not helped by months without clean water in the taps in most
of Harare. Even residents of wealthy suburbs are collecting water in buckets and
jerry cans from borehole stand pipes. Swimming pools are now mostly used for
water to flush toilets. Chekani's child did not get better. "I took her back to the clinic three
times," she said, "but every time they said that she would get better soon if I
give her food and lots of water - that it was just the fever and there was
nothing they could do because they had no drugs. "I thought about taking her to the Harare central hospital, but it costs so
much money and people said things are no better there. I just hoped." A week later the child was dead. The death rate for children under five in Zimbabwe has almost doubled over
the past decade. So has the number of women dying in childbirth because, doctors
say, so many more are giving birth at home because they can no longer afford
hospital charges. There is a desperate shortage of vaccines to protect children from measles
and other diseases. Thanks to foreign donations, some of those with HIV get
antiretroviral drugs to keep full-blown Aids at bay, but most who need them do
not, and the supply is often irregular, which undermines their
effectiveness. The biggest government hospital in Harare, the Parirenyatwa, has ceased
operations because of the shortages. The two hospitals share a single
radiologist because so many medical staff have decamped to South Africa or
Europe to find work that can feed their families. That is not an option for Chekani. "I don't know what to do if my other children get sick. Where can we go? The
hospital tells you to buy the drugs yourself, but where do I get the money?" she
said. "Some people say this election will change things. I don't know. I don't
have hope. It will not bring back the dead."
The Times
March 10, 2008
Jan Raath in Harare
President Mugabe has
shored up his election campaign with a handover of
millions of pounds of
imported vehicles, machinery and cattle paid for with
money seized from
private companies and local and international aid
agencies, business sources
say.
On Saturday Mr Mugabe, 84, presided over the distribution of 500
tractors,
20 combine harvesters and an array of modern farm equipment as
well as
50,000 ox-drawn ploughs, 60,000 ox carts, tools, cattle, buses,
motorcycles,
generators and diesel.
The goods were to be distributed
around the farming districts, he said,
under the agricultural mechanisation
programme, which would produce "the
sound of machinery tilling the land in
places far and wide and announcing
with an irreversible finality that our
land has returned to us".
In two similar handouts last year -- of £12.5
million of equipment -- the
main recipients of the modern machinery were
members of the ruling elite in
Zimbabwe. Human rights organisations said
that peasant farmers were forced
to chant party slogans to qualify for the
manual implements.
No indication was given of the value of the handout on
Saturday. John
Robertson, an economist, said: "They must have paid cash [in
hard currency]
because no one anywhere will give the Government credit. It's
a desperate
attempt at vote buying."
Mr Mugabe, after 28 years in power,
is standing for another term in
elections on March 29. He is challenged by
Simba Makoni, his former finance
minister and Morgan Tsvangirai, the
pro-democracy leader. Mr Makoni hopes to
capitalise on the despair within
the ruling Zanu (PF) party.
With the agricultural and mining industries
in ruins, the coffers drained by
excess and its international credit ratings
exhausted, there is one source
of finance left -- the foreign currency bank
accounts of private companies.
The money is routed into commercial banks
via the central bank, which is
under the control of Mr Mugabe.
"Every
company that has tried in the last two months to draw on its export
earnings
has been told by their bank that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe [the
central
bank] says it can't be done at the moment because they don't have
the
money," Mr Robertson said.
Bankers said that central bank agents have
been buying foreign currency from
black market dealers in the past month to
pay for the re-election costs of
Mr Mugabe.
At the time of the latest
acquisition the Government has been struggling to
pay for imports of grain
and electricity and to supply drugs for hospitals.
A Cabinet minister
complained last month that the equipment handed out last
year was being used
as transport and parked outside beer halls "instead of
tilling the
land".
BBC
Monday, 10 March 2008
A man
has been jailed for a month for destroying an election poster of
President
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper reports.
The report says Tichaona
Sande tore up a poster of President Mugabe and
threw the pieces on the floor
after an argument at a Harare shop.
He was arrested after witnesses
reported him to the police.
The magistrate said his behaviour could have
provoked violence and jailed
him until after the 29 March
election.
Mr Sande was found guilty of breaching a section of the
electoral law which
prohibits destroying or defacing campaign
materials.
The forthcoming elections see Mr Mugabe pitted against former
Finance
Minister Simba Makoni and long-term opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Zim Online
by Thenjiwe Mabhena Tuesday 11 March
2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's out of control inflation could hit a
new record 150 000
percent, one of the country's biggest industrial
conglomerates has said.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed Radar
Holdings said in a commentary
to its financial released at the weekend that
inflation - which President
Robert Mugabe has labeled the country's enemy
number one - had continued
surging in the month of February.
"The
monthly inflation rate from December 2007 to January 2008 was 120
percent.
The forecast annualised inflation rate for February 2008 is 150 000
percent," said the diversified corporation with massive interests in
forestry, building supplies and brick making.
Inflation was
officially pegged at 100 580.2 percent in January. The
government's Central
Statistical Office has not yet released figures for
February. CSO acting
director Moffat Nyoni was not immediately available for
comment on the Radar
estimates.
Inflation, which is the highest in the world, is the most
visible sign of
Zimbabwe's deep recession that has left more than 80 percent
of the labour
force without jobs and shortages of food, fuel and foreign
currency.
The government, in a desperate attempt to halt inflation, last
June ordered
businesses to halve prices of all commodities but the
controversial measure
terribly backfired as shop shelves were emptied of
basic goods as consumers
took advantage of lower prices to stockpile while
manufacturers scaled down
production to minimise losses.
Echoing the
views of many of Zimbabwe's embattled industries, Radar said the
controversial price freeze coupled with current failures in the banking
system, fuel and electricity shortages makes it difficult to forecast the
future.
Analysts say the continued weakening of the local dollar and
surging
inflation would ignite protests anywhere else in the world and would
have
meant certain defeat for Mugabe's government in local government,
parliamentary and presidential elections on March 29.
However, they
say Mugabe looks set to win another five-year term in office
to take his
time at the helm to more than three decades, thanks to an
opposition torn
apart by divisions over strategy and leadership wrangles,
which undermines
its ability to exploit Zimbabwe's economic crisis. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Nqobizitha Khumalo Tuesday 11 March
2008
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's opposition on Monday accused the
government of using
scarce food to buy votes, barely 48 hours after
President Robert Mugabe
distributed millions of dollars worth of farm
equipment in what critics said
was an attempt to placate a disgruntled
electorate.
Both factions of the divided main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party said politicization of food had become rampant
in rural areas
where in some cases entire communities rely on grain from the
state-run
Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Some villagers who spoke to
ZimOnline said the GMB - the only firm permitted
to trade in maize and wheat
- had since campaigning for the March 29
elections started in earnest about
three weeks ago distributed food through
traditional leaders known for
supporting Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF
party.
"We have received
reports from Manicaland province and in most rural areas
that ZANU PF is
using grain from the GMB as a campaign tool," said Nelson
Chamisa, spokesman
of the main grouping of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
"ZANU PF should
not use food to punish those who are seen to be in
opposition and rewarding
those sympathetic to the ruling party. We say this
is wrong," he
added.
ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira was not immediately available
for
comment on the matter. The ruling party has in the past denied using
food to
punish opposition supporters, insisting food is distributed to all
hungry
people regardless of political affiliation.
Gabriel Chaibva,
spokesman of the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC faction,
described politicisation
of food as an old habit that ZANU PF finds hard to
drop.
"Year after
year and election after election, ZANU PF abuses food to punish
its
opponents and we are saying there is a need to develop counter
strategies to
deal with that," he said.
Zimbabwe, also in the grip of its worst ever
economic crisis, has battled
severe food shortages for the past eight years
after Mugabe's controversial
land reforms displaced established white
commercial farmers and replaced
them with either incompetent or inadequately
funded black peasant farmers.
International relief agencies say up to
four million Zimbabweans or a
quarter of the country's 12 million people
require food aid between now and
the next harvest in about a month's
time.
Villagers in the southern Lupane rural district, one of the worst
hit by
hunger, said the GMB was selling cheaper-priced maize through
traditional
chiefs and village headmen who sold it to ZANU PF
supporters.
"The food is delivered almost daily but is sold by headmen
and chiefs who
give it to ZANU PF supporters and we are never given a chance
to buy as they
always have a list of known ZANU PF supporters," said one
villager who
preferred not to be named.
The villager said the ZANU PF
supporters re-sell maize at inflated prices.
Other villagers said they had
slept outside GMB offices in Lupane for days
hoping to get maize but to no
avail.
Zimbabweans vote for a new president, parliament and local
councils at the
month-end.
Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's 1980
independence from Britain, at the
weekend handed out tractors, motor cycles,
combine harvesters, generators,
small farm implements and cows to
beneficiaries of his land reform
programme.
The ageing Mugabe - still
adored by some on the African continent but
equally loathed by many over
rights abuse charges - has in past weeks raised
allowances and salaries for
traditional leaders and soldiers, who have
backed his government.
He
has also promised to hike salaries for striking teachers, in what critics
have described as a massive vote-buying exercise ahead of a tricky election
in which he faces former ally Simba Makoni and old foe, Tsvangirai. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Patricia Mpofu & Prince Nyathi Tuesday 11 March
2008
HARARE - Southern African Development
Community (SADC) executive
secretary Tomaz Salomao is expected in Harare
today to launch the regional
bloc's observer mission to Zimbabwe's month end
elections.
The head of SADC election observer mission from Angola,
which chairs
the regional Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (OPDS), is
also
expected in Harare. But the SADC Parliamentary Forum excluded from
observing
Zimbabwe general elections three years ago said it was yet to be
invited.
"We are here at the invitation of Zimbabwe but we will
make our
presence official during the launch to be held at 1600 hours at
Rainbow
Towers (a Harare hotel)," OPDS director Tanki Mothae who is already
in the
country facilitating accreditation of observers.
Zimbabwe - which in 2002 expelled the leader of an European Union
election
observer team forcing the bloc to withdraw the entire mission and
impose
sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his top officials - has
invited what it says are friendly African and Asian governments to observe
the polls.
Such friendly observer missions have in the past
declared Zimbabwe
elections free and fair despite politically motivated
violence and gross
human rights abuses in the run-up to polls.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum, which was excluded from observing the
2005
general elections after criticizing Harare's conduct of elections, said
it
was yet to receive an invitation from the Zimbabwean authorities.
"Regarding your question whether the SADC Parliamentary Forum has been
invited to observe the harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, please be advised
that we have not yet received an invitation," said Forum secretary general
Kasuka Mutukwa.
Mutukwa said the Forum only sends observer
missions on invitation,
adding it was ready to dispatch a delegation to
Zimbabwe when and if they
are invited to do so.
Zimbabwe, which
is grappling with its worst ever economic crisis,
holds local government,
parliamentary and presidential elections on March
29.
Analysts
say an unfair playing field coupled with political violence
and intimidation
of opponents guarantees Mugabe's government victory at the
polls despite
clear evidence it has failed to break a vicious inflation
cycle that has
left consumers impoverished and the economy in deep crisis. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Prince Nyathi Tuesday 11 March
2008
CHIPINGE - A Zimbabwe traditional leader in Chipinge
district could be
stripped of his post for standing in month-end elections
on an opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party ticket,
ZimOnline has learnt.
Mukayi Joseph Rimbi, a sub-chief under Chief
Musikavanhu, stunned the ruling
ZANU PF party in Manicaland province when he
filed his nomination papers to
represent the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC in
elections on 29 March.
Sources within ZANU PF told ZimOnline that the
party leadership in the
province was so incensed with Rimbi's decision to
stand in the polls and had
sounded out President Robert Mugabe on the
decision to strip him of his
post.
The sources said Manicaland
governor, Tinaye Chigudu, told Mugabe at an
election campaign rally at
Checheche rural business centre last Tuesday that
they could not just fold
their hands and watch as a traditional leader
"joined the
enemy."
"Chigudu told the President (Mugabe) that sub-chief Rimbi was
contesting the
elections under an opposition ticket and that they were
planning to find a
way of stripping him of his post," said the
source.
The sources said Mugabe had given the green light to the ZANU PF
provincial
leadership to take whatever action they deemed fit "to preserve
the
integrity of chiefs and the government."
Speaking to ZimOnline
yesterday, Chigudu confirmed that he had discussed
Rimbi's candidature with
Mugabe adding that as a traditional leader, he
should stay away from
national politics.
"I had to brief the President because I don't want to
be accused of
negligence," said Chigudu.
The Manicaland governor said
Rimbi should have first relinquished his post
as sub-chief before filing his
papers to stand for the MDC.
Zimbabweans go to the polls on 29 March to
elect a new president,
parliamentarians and local government
representatives.
Zimbabwe's elections come amid serious concerns from
human rights groups and
the opposition that the electoral playing field was
still heavily tilted in
Mugabe's favour.
Although traditional leaders
have largely ceremonial powers, they still
wield immense influence over
their subjects in rural areas that remain the
bedrock of Mugabe's
support.
The MDC and pro-democracy groups have in the past blamed chiefs
and headmen
of intimidating their subjects to back Mugabe and ZANU PF during
election
times. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 11 March 2008
JOHANNESBURG -
South Africa's Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesman on foreign
affairs, Tony
Leon, says Pretoria should explain what it is doing to protect
South
African-owned firms from being expropriated in Zimbabwe.
Media reports at
the weekend said President Robert Mugabe had assented to a
controversial
Bill that would grant indigenous Zimbabweans the right to
seize controlling
stake in all foreign-owned companies.
Analysts say the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Bill could frighten
away foreign investors and deliver
a sucker punch to Zimbabwe's struggling
economy.
Speaking to the
media yesterday, Leon said foreign affairs minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
should be summoned to parliament to explain what the
government was doing to
protect South African businesses in Zimbabwe.
He said Dlamini-Zuma should
also explain why President Thabo Mbeki's
government had failed to conclude
the Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection (BIPA) agreement with
Zimbabwe.
"The nationalisation of foreign-owned businesses in Zimbabwe
will not only
have a negative impact on investment in the ailing Zimbabwean
economy, it
will also have especially negative consequences for South
African companies
with substantial mining interests in Zimbabwe, such as
Impala Platinum
Holdings and Anglo American," Leon said.
Zimbabwe is
in the grip of a severe economic crisis that has manifested
itself in the
world's highest inflation rate of over 100 000 percent,
massive unemployment
and poverty.
Mugabe, who is seeking a new five-year term in elections at
the end of the
month that could take his rule to 33 years, denies
responsibility for the
country's economic collapse.
Meanwhile,
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) chief executive has described
Mugabe's
government as "moronic" and said the South African bourse would not
seek
closer ties with its Zimbabwean counterpart for as long as the veteran
leader was in charge.
JSE boss Russell Loubser said the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange had pursued closer
ties with its South African counterpart
but said this could not be possible
unless Mugabe's 28-year rule is ended at
elections this month.
"The Zimbabwe stock exchange would like to work
much closer with us,"
Loubser said at a press conference for the
announcement of the JSE's annual
results.
"We are just extremely
apprehensive while you've got that type of government
in power because
anything is possible . . . We are very careful about doing
something there
while that type of moronic government is in place," he
added. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
10 March
2008
More than 100 members of Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change were arrested or beaten up around the country
this weekend in
politically motivated incidents, MDC sources said
Monday.
In the province of Mashonaland Central alone, sources in the MDC
grouping
headed by Morgan Tsvangirai said some 100 activists including the
formation's candidate for Bindura North, Peter Mabika, were arrested on
their way to a rally.
All were released except 13 who were expected
to be arraigned soon.
In Matabeleland South Province, suspected Central
Intelligence Organization
agents and youth militia of the ruling ZANU-PF
party smashed the automobile
of Insiza South parliamentary candidate
Siyabonga Ncube late last week, MDC
sources said.
In Bulawayo,
ZANU-PF supporters made a "citizens arrest" of MDC activist
Duduzile
Sibanda, saying she had defaced a poster of President Mugabe,
seeking
another term in the March 29 elections. She was released Monday
after a
weekend in jail.
In a similar incident, the state-controlled Herald
newspaper said Tichaona
Sande of Epworth, a Harare high-density suburb, had
been sentenced to a
month in jail for tearing down a poster of President
Mugabe.
In a more disturbing case of suspected political foul play, a
candidate for
the local council for Rushinga, Mashonaland Central, Edson
Muwengwa, has
been missing since mid-February after receiving death threats
from local
ZANU-PF members.
Deputy Organizing Secretary Morgan
Komichi of the Tsvangirai MDC formation
said there has been no serious
investigation by police into Muwengwa's
disappearance.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
10 March
2008
Junior doctors in Zimbabwean state hospitals in Harare
and Bulawayo have
gone on strike again demanding higher allowances for cars
and public
transport.
Medical sources said nurses at the four main
state hospitals in the two
cities are also showing up for work irregularly
due to the soaring cost of
transport.
Hospital Doctors Association
President Amon Siveregi told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that the doctors are dissatisfied
over a disproportionate
allocation of car allowances to senior consulting
physicians.
Junior
doctors meanwhile must travel to work using expensive public
transport.
Siveregi declined to state what junior doctors earn, but
sources told VOA
they make Z$700 million (US$20) to Z$900 million (Z$25) a
month.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
10 March
2008
A pay increase is in the works for Zimbabwean civil
servants, the state-run
Bulawayo Chronicle newspaper reported on the
weekend.
Education Minister Aenias Chigwedere told the Chronicle that the
government
has approved salary increases following a meeting last week of an
inter-ministerial task force. He said the panel made recommendations on how
to prevent strikes and staunch brain drain of key professionals from the
country.
In a related development, the Zimbabwe Teachers Association,
whose members
went out on strike recently, was set to meet with the Public
Service
Commission
But sources said the government has excluded the
Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe from the talks. The PTUZ was the
first teachers union to call a
strike.
Progressive Teachers Union
General Secretary Raymond Majongwe told reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the government is not
helping matters by talking
only to the Zimbabwe Teachers Association.
Reuters
Mon 10 Mar
2008, 15:35 GMT
By Adrian Croft
LONDON (Reuters) - Commonwealth
Secretary-General Don McKinnon likened
Zimbabwe on Monday to North Korea or
Myanmar, saying the southern African
country wanted to be
isolated.
McKinnon, who steps down next month after eight years at the
helm of the
53-nation group of mostly ex-British colonies, said the
Commonwealth had
done all it could over Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe left the Commonwealth in 2003 and calls
the
organisation a stooge of British neo-imperialism. He is standing for
re-election on March 29, accused by rivals of wrecking Zimbabwe's
economy.
The United Nations, the World Bank, Britain and the United
States had also
done all they could over Zimbabwe, McKinnon said. "Everyone
was limited by
what Zimbabwe did or did not want to do," he told reporters
at an event
marking Commonwealth Day.
"Regretfully, Zimbabwe, for
many countries, has pushed themselves into this
situation not dissimilar to
Myanmar or North Korea where they just want to
be isolated," he
said.
North Korea agreed last year to dismantle its nuclear programme in
exchange
for aid and steps to end its isolation. Myanmar's military rulers
remain cut
off from the West.
New Zealander McKinnon, who hands over
on April 1 to Indian diplomat
Kamalesh Sharma, said he believed significant
change in Zimbabwe could only
come from within. He did not know when it
would happen.
"The world could not change North Korea until recently, the
world has not
been able to change Myanmar. Sometimes a sovereign state can
just stand out
against this sort of thing for a long, long time and that is
very
unfortunate," he said.
McKinnon said the Southern African
Development Community was probably the
most influential group that could
achieve change in Zimbabwe.
But he said South African President Thabo
Mbeki, who mediated between
Mugabe's government and the opposition at the
urging of SADC countries, "has
put his reputation on the line, seven, eight,
10 times since 2000 and
regretfully has to admit that nothing has actually
changed."
nasdaq
JOHANNESBURG (AFP)--The Johannesburg Stock Exchange
isn't interested in
working with its Zimbabwean counterpart while President
Robert Mugabe's
"moronic government" is in power, its chief executive said
on Monday.
While the JSE has courted other African stock exchanges to
forge a closer
working relationship, CEO Russell Loubser effectively ruled
out any tie-up
with Zimbabwe unless Mugabe's 28-year rule is ended at
elections this month.
"The Zimbabwe stock exchange would like to work
much closer with us
yesterday, " Loubser said at a press conference for the
announcement of the
JSE's annual results.
"We are just extremely
apprehensive while you've got that type of government
in power because
anything is possible ... We are very careful about doing
something there
while that type of moronic government is in place."
Loubser's comments
come after Mugabe last week passed a new law that will
ensure that
indigenous Zimbabweans will own at least 51% of companies
operating in the
troubled southern African nation.
Analysts have warned that the new
legislation will scare off foreign
investment in a country that has been in
economic meltdown for the last
eight years and has an inflation rate of more
than 100,000% - the highest in
the world.
Loubser said the JSE, the
largest stock exchange on the African continent,
which has itself been
listed since June 2006, had enjoyed an increase in
revenue of close to 40%
despite what he called a "volatile" year.
(END) Dow Jones
Newswires
03-10-081209ET
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company,
Inc.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
10 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March 2008
Lance
Guma
The ousted Anglican Bishop of Harare Nolbert Kunonga has urged
Zimbabweans
to vote for Robert Mugabe in the March 29 election. Kunonga who
continues to
defy his dismissal from the Anglican Church and is blocking
worshippers from
the cathedral in Harare, claimed Mugabe was Zimbabwe's
anointed leader. The
remarks came as no surprise, given the former bishop
has relied on state
security for protection and continues to receive
immunity from arrest
despite violating three court orders governing the use
of the cathedral. He
has on several occasions assaulted parishioners trying
to access the
cathedral for Sunday services.
Kunonga justified his
support for Mugabe by saying; 'As the church we see
the President with
different eyes. To us he is a prophet of God who was sent
to deliver the
people of Zimbabwe from bondage.' The former bishop, who
received a farm
from Mugabe's regime, wasted no time in talking about the
controversial land
reform programme. Referring to Mugabe Kunonga said, 'God
raised him to
acquire our land and distribute it to Zimbabweans; we call it
democracy of
the stomach. There is no Government without soil. As the church
we are
totally against sanctions for they are destroying our
country."
Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who replaced Kunonga, told
Newsreel they were not
surprised by his comments. He says the church has
always suspected Kunonga
was more interested in politics than the church.
Bakare said the church was
home to people from different political parties
and it was not proper for
its leaders to urge support for a particular
candidate in the election.
Meanwhile Bakare says he has advised his
parishioners not to use the
cathedral because Kunonga 'defiled it' by
sleeping, cooking and eating
inside. 'We will need a ceremony to cleanse the
cathedral before we can use
it,' Bakare said.
SW
Radio Africa (London)
10 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March
2008
Tererai Karimakwenda
Women Of Zimbabwe Arise report that
3 members were briefly detained and 50
had to receive medical attention
after they were brutally assaulted by riot
police during a march to
commemorate International Women's Day on Saturday.
They say about 1,000
members, including MOZA, took part in the event on the
streets of
Bulawayo.
WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams said the march was peacefully
in progress
when a police officer approached them as they arrived near the
offices of
the Chronicle newspaper, where they intended to disperse. As they
attempted
to do so, riot police appeared from behind the march and a signal
was given
for them to beat the protestors. Williams said they heard what
sounded like
a gunshot but none of their members had bullet
wounds.
Eva Tanyanyiwa from Pumula, was beaten to the ground by two
police officers.
They dragged and pulled her towards a police vehicle where
she fainted.
Williams went to assist her, pleading with the police to
release her since
she was seriously injured. This led to her arrest.
Coordinator Magodonga
Mahlangu joined them in solidarity and was detained as
well. The 3 were
taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station where their
details were recorded.
Williams said the remaining members regrouped and
began marching towards the
police station to support those who were
detained. But before they reached
the station riot police caught up with
them and continued the assaults.
Those in detention were released with no
charges after about 30 minutes.
Their release after such a brief period
contradicts information that WOZA
say they received from reliable sources.
On Friday Williams said WOZA had
found out that all uniformed police
departments had been briefed on WOZA
activities and instructed to detain the
leaders until after the elections.
The Saturday demonstration presented the
police with that opportunity as
both WOZA coordinators were in police
custody.
A statement from WOZA said: "Eva has serious bruising on her
upper arm and
lower body. Another woman got stitches to her neck after she
was pushed by a
police officer into a stationery vehicle. Another was pushed
into a pole by
a police officer, receiving a deep cut across her forehead.
Other injuries
included a woman who developed a haematoma just above her
kidneys as a
result of being beaten and many others with deep tissue
bruising from being
beaten with baton sticks."
The demonstrators held
placards and balloons with the message "Stand up for
your Child" which is
the WOZA theme this year. They also distributed flyers
urging people to make
sure they are informed about the candidates running in
the elections this
month, so they can choose leaders capable of delivering a
socially just
future.
Despite continued beatings and arrests, these defiant WOZA
activists say
they will keep bringing their message demanding social justice
and peace to
the streets.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
10 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March 2008
Tichaona
Sibanda
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai has urged Zimbabweans to vote
his party into
power in the forthcoming elections because 'it has the best
policies that
will resolve the country's crisis.'
Addressing a
record-breaking crowd at the White city stadium in Bulawayo at
the weekend,
the MDC leader outlined the five key issues his party regards
as fundamental
after the crucial elections.
Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme said
Tsvangirai, whose speech was
delivered passionately, said an MDC government
will prioritise issues of
governance and a new, people-driven constitution.
Next would be a working
economy, a people-centred land and agrarian reform
agenda, social services
and national integration and
reconciliation.
On the upcoming elections Tsvangirai said; 'It's not the
personality that
you are choosing, you are choosing the best policies that
will resolve the
crisis in Zimbabwe. As we go to the 29th March election, it
is very simple.
Do you choose a man who has promised you independence, but
given you no
freedom? Do you choose a man whose time has expired? Do you
choose a man who
has isolated Zimbabwe from the rest of the world?
A
statement from the MDC press unit said 40,000 attended the rally.
'The
carnival atmosphere was punctuated by song and dance. The people
arrived
from all corners of Bulawayo; from Pumula, Makokoba and Magwegwe.
They came
to make a bold statement against the Zanu PF dictatorship. They
came to make
an unequivocal support for President Tsvangirai,' the statement
added.
The MDC leader vowed that never again in a new Zimbabwe would
a government
unleash the military against a defenceless people. He also said
his party
would set up a Gukurahundi fund.
'We must never tolerate a
government that regards one tribe as inferior to
others. We must have a
situation where everyone, irrespective of their
tribe, aspires to hold any
office in the country of their birth,' the MDC
leader said to a tumultuous
applause from the crowd.
On Tuesday Tsvangirai will launch the MDC's
policy document at a breakfast
meeting at Northside Community Church in
Borrowdale. Senior party officials,
diplomats and journalists will attend
the launch.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
10 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March 2008
Lance
Guma
Army commander General Constantine Chiwenga has said the army
will not
support an opposition led government, in the event of Robert Mugabe
losing
the March 29 election. Speaking to the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper
Chiwenga
said, 'elections are coming and the army will not support or salute
sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential
elections.' The General argued that Mugabe had sacrificed a lot for the
country and deserved support. When questioned about the role of the army in
protecting a democracy Chiwenga burst out, 'Are you mad? What is wrong with
the army supporting the President against the election of
sell-outs?'
Not to be outdone, a woman thought to be Chiwenga's wife
Jocelyn took the
phone and snapped, 'we can come and take you, and deal with
you.' Only last
year Jocelyn sought to confront MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
during his tour
of empty supermarkets and shops in Harare. The incident at
Makro Supermarket
ended in her assaulting photographer Tsvangirai Mukwazhi
who was part of the
press corps accompanying Tsvangirai. Meanwhile General
Chiwenga's outburst
seems to betray the level of anxiety within the ruling
Zanu PF party over
their chances of winning the election. A fledgling
rebellion led by former
finance minister Simba Makoni has perhaps put the
party into panic mode.
Last week Zimbabwe Prisons Service chief,
retired major Paradzai Zimondi
vowed he would resign and, 'go back to defend
my piece of land,' if Mugabe
lost the election. In 2002 all the service
chiefs, including retired army
general Vitalis Zvinavashe, came together at
a press conference where they
vowed they would not salute Tsvangirai if the
MDC leader was elected
president. This time around no such unity exists and
the service chiefs are
speaking out individually, as if being pushed into
doing so. Zvinavashe has
openly told journalists that Mugabe is now a
liability for the party and has
to step down. Retired General Solomon Mujuru
has refused to be publicly
drawn into the power struggles, but those close
to him say he is behind the
Makoni rebellion.
News24
10/03/2008 21:09 -
(SA)
Harare - Two heavyweight foreign mining companies said on Monday
they would
press ahead with operations in Zimbabwe despite a nationalisation
law that
analysts warned could deepen an economic crisis ravaging the
country.
The world's largest platinum miner, Anglo Platinum and Rio Tinto
have said
they will continue mining after President Robert Mugabe signed
into law on
Sunday a bill giving locals the right to take majority control
of foreign
companies, including mines and banks.
"We will continue to
engage Zimbabwe's government," Trevor Raymond,
Angloplat's head of investor
relations told Reuters.
Nationalisation has not discourged Rio Tinto,
which has diamond interests in
Zimbabwe.
"Rio Tinto is supportive of
the move towards indigenisation provided that it
is done at the right pace
and in a way that does not discourage much needed
overseas investment in the
Zimbabwe mining industry," it said in a
statement.
Zimbabwe is
already suffering from foreign investor flight, the world's
highest
inflation rate of over 100 000% and severe food, fuel and foreign
currency
shortages.
Digging in
Mugabe is digging in for March 29 elections,
facing one of the biggest
political challenges in his 28 years in power
after former finance minister
Simba Makoni broke ranks with
him.
Makoni's chances of victory in the polls were boosted when Dumiso
Dabengwa,
a senior member of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF, endorsed him. Makoni
is running
as an independent.
Mugabe also faces long-time rival
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the biggest
faction of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), in the
polls.
Mugabe may be dangling
shares in foreign-held companies to those who may
seek to back his
opponents, analysts say.
There is constant talk of more defections by
senior ZANU-PF officials
although most of them have rallied behind
Mugabe.
'Move will backfire'
Analysts warned the nationalisation
drive could hit the mining sector, now
the major pillar of the economy,
which makes up more than a third of
Zimbabwe's foreign currency
inflows.
"He (Mugabe) appears to have signed the law to improve his
prospects in the
election," John Robertson, an independent Harare economic
consultant, told
Reuters.
"But that's a short-sighted move, one that
will backfire and the broader
economy will suffer badly as long as this law
remains on the statute."
The world's second biggest platinum producer,
Impala Platinum Holdings, is
the foreign mining firm with the most
operations in Zimbabwe,
Its shares fell more than 5 percent on Monday on
worries about the
nationalisation law as well as a fall in the platinum
price. Larger rival
Anglo Platinum lost 1.3%. The Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI)
said the new law could also hurt manufacturing, which
operates at less than
a third of its capacity.
"We are not opposed to
indigenisation, but we would want it to be
implemented as smoothly and
practically as possible, taking note that we are
part of a global
marketplace," said CZI president Callisto Jokonya.
freemuse.org
10 March 2008
Zimbabwe before the
elections:
Zimbabwean
musicians are bracing for a crucial election set for the
end of March 2008.
While the radio keeps rotating songs that praise the
current regime,
opposition and dissenting voices are silenced, and things
fall apart, writes
Freemuse executive committee member Maxwell Sibanda in
his review of the
situation.
By Maxwell Sibanda, journalist, writing from Harare,
Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe the country's president, 84-year-old Robert
Mugabe,
features in songs while ministers jostle to compose or sing songs in
praise
of him and his ruling Zanu PF party. For instance, he features in a
song
titled 'Beitbridge' which is a favourite on the sole state-controlled
radio
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Song bird Nonsi sings
the song's lead vocals which are spiced with
sections of a speech by Mugabe
sometime ago while on a visit to Beitbridge,
a town on the border with
neighbouring South Africa. The song is produced in
local pop fashion fused
with some traditional jiti.
Like previous propaganda songs, it is
played with nauseating frequency
on all stations. Nonsi
sings:
"...Come to Zimbabwe and see the city of
Beitbridge
A symbol of a lovely country
The future of our
children lies in our hands..."
Mugabe complements in local Shona
language:
"...Forward with developing Beitbridge
Food to
the people of Beitbridge..."
This new release follows a 2005 CD
and cassette compilation entitled
'Mugabe Speaks' which was released through
recording firm Gramma Records.
The compilation comprise some of his landmark
speeches since black
independence in 1980. Then, the Minister of Policy
Implementation, Webster
Shamu told the state-controlled Herald newspaper the
recordings "would not
only provide good home entertainment but would be
useful to scholars".
Some of the speeches date back to the late
1970s, when Mugabe and
other key nationalists were waging a guerilla war
against the former white
minority government of then Rhodesia. Shamu said
the record "will assist our
children and will also educate people on where
we came from and where we are
going".
While it is Mugabe or his
ministers' democratic right to participate
in any recordings, the sad aspect
in Zimbabwe as the global Music Freedom
Day was marked on 3 March is that
other independent voices have been
suppressed completely. The opposition MDC
party has released albums that
have never seen the day at the state
broadcaster, and so has Jonathan Moyo
and the National Constitutional
Assembly. Several songs and individual
musicians have been blacklisted on
state radio in which government enjoys a
monopoly.
Patriotic musicians
When Mugabe celebrated his 84th birthday on 21
February this year
(2008), "patriotic musicians" led by gospel musicians
Zexie Manatsa and Amos
Mahendere recorded a birthday song for him - a remix
of the traditional
"happy birthday". Minister Shamu coordinated the
recording with the
assistance of popular DJ Tich Mataz. The birthday song
which included a
video has been receiving a lot of airplay on the state
broadcaster.
Manatsa, one of the country's veteran musicians of the
pre-independence era and now a church pastor said during an interview while
commenting on the production of the song that there were two fathers, one
who was in heaven (God) and the other (Mugabe) who was on
earth.
This year Mugabe celebrated his birthday party in
Beitbridge, the
inspiration of the before mentioned song, 'Beitbridge'. His
birthday
celebrations, spiced with revolutionary songs and dances, where
beamed live
on state television and radio.
Just recently the
ruling party held what it called the Patriotic
Musicians' Workshop at its
headquarters in Harare. The workshop was
organised by the Zanu PF
information department and held under the theme
"Music as a tool for
mobilising the people".
Speaking at the workshop Zanu PF Secretary
for Information and
Publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, said it was "our policy
that workers who are
patriotic have better lives and the media and artists
should work towards
the dissemination of information that promotes the
development of the
country."
Minister of State for
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment,
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, said the
government was committed to the
development and empowerment of musicians.
But the only musicians benefiting
in Zimbabwe today are those who are
"patriotic". They receive massive
airplay on state radio and get invitations
to play at state functions and
music galas.
New government
stations
While government is refusing to let new players into the
broadcasting
sector, it recently launched a new 24 hour radio station, Voice
of Zimbabwe.
The propaganda radio news channel has been on the drawing board
since 2000
and it was the brainchild of now sacked Minister of Information
and
Publicity, Jonathan Moyo.
According to the general manager
of Voice of Zimbabwe, Happison
Muchechetere, broadcasts will be intended to
reach target audiences in South
Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom and
USA.
Officiating at the switch-testing ceremony in Gweru on 25 May
2007,
George Charamba, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Information and
Publicity said the project was designed to reach out to
Zimbabweans in the
diaspora, remote parts of the country and the broader
international
audience, thus providing them with first hand news about
Zimbabwe.
The government accuses SW Radio Africa, Voice of
America's Studio 7
and Voice of the People based in London, Washington and
Netherlands
respectively of broadcasting propaganda aimed at inciting
Zimbabweans to
rise against the government.
"We have hastened
the project because of the onslaught from the west
that has reached alarming
levels. The station would be a way of telling our
story and to react to
hostile Western machinations aimed at undermining the
credibility and
legitimacy of our government," the Minister of Information
and Publicity,
Skhanyiso Ndlovu, told the state media.
The government has over the
past few years tried to shut out the three
independent radio stations
claiming that they beam hostile Western
propaganda. The three have however
gained popularity among Zimbabweans eager
to hear alternative voices. In
2000, the police closed Capital Radio and
seized its equipment. Radio
Dialogue a Bulawayo-based community radio
station met the same
fate.
Singing ministers
The trend of using music as a
tool for promoting party politics began
back in 2001 when two cabinet
ministers, Jonathan Moyo (Information) and
Elliot Manyika (minister without
portfolio and the party's national
commissar) decided to compose and record
propaganda songs for Zimbabwe's
ruling Zanu PF party. Between them they
coordinated the recording of more
than 10 propaganda music albums with
Manyika singing in one of the "most
popular" songs, Nora.
The
recording project, whose songs were to help in election campaigns
involved
the Police and Airforce musical bands. Popular musicians
sympathetic to Zanu
PF took part in the recordings.
In contracting the musicians,
government set them against opposition
party supporters who felt agitated by
the deep economic crisis engulfing all
fabrics of Zimbabwean life. Inflation
alone stands at more than 100,000 per
cent.
And the urban
population's response to these musicians was swift, with
many boycotting
shows, while nightclubs refused to book them. Some had to
hire bodyguards
for their security.
The musician has to be free and that refers to
both the ruling party
and the opposition. But in having cabinet ministers
sing, the ruling Zanu PF
was killing two birds with one stone. The first
being to instill fear among
state controlled radio and television station's
DJs and producers. These had
to be patriotic as well and could not be seen
promoting hostile and
politically hard hitting compositions rebuking the
Presidum. And the second:
by using ministers who happen to be civil
servants, all production costs
would be paid by the ordinary
taxpayer.
Record company take-over
The biggest record
company in Zimbabwe, Gramma Records was bought by
Zanu PF faithfuls. Josiah
Tungamirai, the late and former Minister of State
for Indigenisation and the
Zanu PF MP for Gutu North was a shareholder in
the company. Musician Elias
Musakwa, who is standing in coming parliamentary
elections on the ruling
party ticket is also a shareholder of Gramma
Records.
Musakwa
was also the producer of Minister Manyika's 2005 campaign
album. This
automatically means that another record company, Ngaavongwe
Records is now
under Zanu PF influence because Musakwa owns it. Musakwa sits
on the board
of the state-controlled Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe
(BAZ) which
issues broadcasting licences and is an official at the Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Is there any freedom in such record companies for
independent voices?
Indeed things have fallen apart as politicians try to
control all dissenting
voices.
Protest theatre
In
a bid to counter government's shutting out of critical voices,
Zimbabwe's
leading playwright Cont Mhlanga launched the Voices For Change
aimed at
promoting protest arts.
Speaking to the media, Mhlanga said
Zimbabweans no longer had a voice
as the media was tightly controlled "the
only independent radios operate
over short-wave frequency, only for a few
hours and it is expensive to find
a receiver."
Mhlanga said
silence and fear had replaced dialogue and discussion in
Zimbabwe and that
artists in Zimbabwe had a duty to restore the voice of the
people through
art forms. Mhlanga's recent play 'The Good President' was
banned when armed
police stormed Bulawayo Amphitheatre before its premiere.
The play is
critical of Mugabe and his government.
Government music
galas
As a way to reward "patriotic musicians" the government launched
state
sponsored music galas. There are several of these state galas, among
them
two that commemorate the deaths of Zimbabwe's two vice-presidents,
Simon
Muzenda and Joshua Nkomo. The Unity Gala commemorates the unity
agreement
between the ruling party and ZAPU, led by Nkomo. Another one
celebrates the
Heroes Day on a day that honours Zimbabwe's fallen heroes
while the other
one is on Independence Day.
The country's
information ministry has the budget readily for these
programmes, hosting
more than 30 bands in a single concert. The concerts are
broadcast live on
television for 12 straight hours - 6pm to 6am - the
longest uninterrupted
live televised musical show ever seen in Zimbabwe. The
galas are merely the
ruling party's propaganda vehicle where party officials
get together to
drink and dance the night away with the crowds.
The galas are
popular with a helpless populace who are happy to dance
their worries away
and also the fact that most musicians are gathered
together for a single
show. At the galas most of the "patriotic musicians"
have the chance to play
their propaganda songs to wider audiences.
Unfortunately for most
of the musicians who sing independently, these
galas are out of bounce. Such
is the music freedom and association in
present day
Zimbabwe.
Maxwell Sibanda is a former Arts & Entertainment
Editor of the Daily
News newspaper in Zimbabwe
Nehanda Radio
10 March
2008
By Grace Kwinjeh
"IF anyone tries to remove President Robert
Mugabe from power, we will march
in the streets and we are prepared to
remove our clothes in support of his
candidature in next year's elections,"
said Oppah Muchinguri, leader of
Zanu-PF women's league at a meeting held at
the party's Harare headquarters
early this year.
The Chinese proverb:
"Crisis equals opportunity", seems to be a reverse of
what happens in
Zimbabwe's politics in which "crisis equals zero
opportunities" especially
for women aspiring for political office.
After the horrific 1994
genocide, Rwanda's first general election, in 2003,
resulted in the election
of the highest number of women in Parliament in the
world, a record 48
percent. South-Africa and Mozambique after Apartheid and
the civil war
respectively managed to attain at least 20 percent of women in
Parliament -
a high percentage at that historic moment.
These countries were ready for
healing and forgiveness. They were ready to
put the past behind and to move
on - the women themselves were also ready to
unite and move on, much to
their advantage.
Sadly, in Zimbabwe another reality is playing itself out
in the absence of a
united front of women to push the 'women's agenda"
strategically in the
coming election. The volatile political environment has
meant parties have
had a higher hand in shaping and influencing women's
participation in the
election more than the women themselves in a united
front out of their
various political contexts that would ensure a strategic
increase in their
numbers in the contested seats.
Open Society for
Southern Africa, (OSISA)'s gender advisor, Alice Kanengoni
says: "The
polarized political environment manifests itself in elections and
electoral
processes and unfortunately that also impacts on women's
participation. And
to also say some of these women will represent Zimbabwean
women might be an
anomaly as they represent their political parties. And so
it becomes a party
agenda as distinct from a Zimbabwean women's agenda."
Under Robert
Mugabe's dictatorship the political environment is highly
polarized, the
shrinking political space has meant the opposition and its
leadership
fighting for survival - more so for the women.
The above statement by
Muchinguri in her proclamation and backing of the
aging dictator, Mugabe, is
ample testimony of the kind of environment women
go into this election as
they stand behind the BIG MEN, representing their
political parties.
Participation is therefore through a male symbol and
given the patriarchal
nature of the
political systems it means even within the party women are not
able to
wrestle out of that context that will by and large result in their
continued
subjugation and marginalisation.
There are four male
Presidential aspirants in the elections to be held in
three weeks time. The
three main contenders being the incumbent, Mugabe,
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, (MDC), leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and Independent candidate
Dr Simba Makoni. Each of these males has attracted
strong female candidates
to his side.
But then the question is when push comes to shove who gets
shoved?
While no women have put their names forward for the highest
office in the
land, certain dynamics are at play in terms of the diversity
of the women
candidates, their quality and caliber and the value they add to
Zimbabwe's
politics, at the senatorial, parliamentary and council levels.
There are
credible women with a good background or political history, in
some cases
going back to Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. Some have been
leaders in the
women's movement; some in the labour movement; while others
carry Government
experience.
They have a collective track record and
history of participation in politics
or public life that qualifies them to
win their constituencies and serve the
people of Zimbabwe.
Behind
Morgan Tsvangirai are his deputy Thokozani Khupe, trade-unionist
Lucia
Matibenga, war veteran Sekai Holland, Lawyer Jessie Majome, trade
unionist
Thabita Kumalo and former MP Hilda Mafudze.
Makoni has attracted the
support of former education minister Dr Fay Chung,
Feminist Dr Rudo
Gaidzanwa, war veteran Margaret Dongo and members of
parliament, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Trudy Stevenson have also
put their weight behind
him.
"For me it is delightful to see a young woman like Jessie on this
list. That
means inter-generational continuity; those are the veterans of
tomorrow":
says Kanengoni while lamenting the fact that the best of
Zimbabwe's women
are going to be up and against each other.
While it
also seems more women have been given room to come out to
participate in the
harmonised election analysts warn that it is the campaign
environment and
the voting that will determine the number of women
represented in the
contested seats - after the final vote count.
In any event technically
there are more seats up for grabs - for instance
parliamentary seats have
been increased from 150 to 210- that has simply
meant higher numbers both of
men and women, contesting in the various levels
of the election, not that
women have been accorded higher representation.
Feminist Thoko Matshe
says there should be no surprises in this election.
"Do you anticipate
any surprises in this one?" she asks. "No, same old, if
they increase its
more about having four different formations than that the
political parties
have deliberately increased, the numbers of women."
However a perusal of
the candidate list makes an interesting analysis. In
some cases women are
standing against women, while in others political
parties have fielded
strong female candidates in opposition strongholds and
in others female
candidates have been
'imposed', apparently in a bid by the parties to attain
a one third quota as
stipulated in their constitutions.
Explaining
the incidence of women standing against fellow women, Matshe
says:
"Personally I have a problem because I think they are set up, but then
if it
has to be I then lament that they do not do it with dignity they end
up on
each others throats."
However, parliamentary candidate Jessie Majome has
a different take.
"I think to have women standing against women is an
indicator of the success
of the women's lobby for more women standing- it's
pretty much like the
ladies' tennis or other sports where women compete
against women. It's also
good because it gives the electorate a chance to
vote for women for the sake
of it, but based on issues."
In Zimbabwe
there are no constitutionally guaranteed quotas for women in
decision-making
positions. The only guarantees are at political party level.
Both Zanu-PF
and the MDC have one third quotas. Since the 2000 General
election the
percentage of women in parliament has been going down
significantly after
each election, the last parliament
had 10.6 percent female representation a
drop from 14.6 percent in the
previous parliament.
Sadly, the
environment in which these brave women have decided to take a
plunge into
the turbulent political waters is hardly woman- friendly, let
alone
person-friendly. The backdrop of a dictatorship that has strengthened
its
grip on power over the years, accompanied by the deep entrenchment of
patriarchy as women are pushed further to the
periphery of political and
public life would complicate any campaign. Not to
mention those like Sekai
Holland who are still on therapy, healing the
wounds of Mugabes'
brutality.
In an environment in which at times a good campaign simply
means cash not
your political track-record, it is a known fact women often
go into politics
with very little resources a source again of their
perpetual
marginalisation. The use of money has already been reported in the
way the
different parties ran their primary elections meaning the
elimination
process of some deserving women to stand as candidates started
at that party
level.
The shrinking political space has further
poisoned the environment as
campaign issues or manifestos are thrown out of
the window, it is now about
personalities.
The poison or polarization
can be felt even in the media in which now most
discussions hardly make
sense for Zimbabweans who just want change - a
situation in which at times
professional journalists, have been reduced to
information officers for the
various male aspirants.
Again, this is an environment in which women's
voices are muted. What do the
women want out of this election as the
majority 52 percent voters? We do not
know. And then as candidates what do
they have to offer? Again we do not
know. Their visions and aspirations have
been eclipsed by the men who are
majority of the news makers and news
sources.
A situation further compounded by the fact that the women are
going to be
fighting in different camps and on completely different agenda's
and
platforms. There is no united front of women across political party and
class divide that is going to battle it out in this
election. The women
have been parceled according to the different agenda's
based on their
political formations and persuasions.
Over the years of fighting for
freedom and democracy Zimbabweans have had
moments of recall and reflection
on the future Zimbabwe they want to see.
One such recent event is the
Working People's Convention, which adopted a
People's Charter which states:
"That gender equality is the responsibility
of women and men equally, we
recognise the role that our mothers and sisters
played in the liberation of
our country from colonialism and their
subsequent leading role in all
struggles for democracy and social justice."
That is the common
denominator amongst most of the women on the participants
list -therefore
their participation is not out of charity or the largess of
our patriarchal
society but a right they earned, squarely side by side with
the men. What is
unfortunate is how
the poisoned political environment seeks to disenfranchise
some of the above
women simply on the basis of political choices they have
made.
The Zimbabwe Women's Charter goes further in as far as the
promotion of
women in politics and decision-making: "Government and all
political parties
must ensure that women participate equally and are
represented equally in
all national and local decision-making bodies. They
must have a system so
that women hold the same number of
positions as
men."
Again going back to the South-African experience the Women's
Charter adopted
in 1994 after months of consultations by the women across
class, race and
political divide under the National Women's Coalition,
resulted in them also
influencing the new constitution in the which their
rights are not only
guaranteed but are also safe guarded. This process
happened at a time when
the wounds of oppression under apartheid were still
fresh in the minds of
many women who had suffered these.
Kanengoni,
however, says what is needed for such an outcome is leadership:
"There is a
lot of potential in the women. Maybe because I have never really
been a
politician, but I feel that women have to rise above their party
affiliations." Kanengoni believes there is need for a strong women's
leadership to unite the women and move the country forward.
New Zimbabwe
By Taffy
Nyawanza
Last updated: 03/11/2008 05:39:24
IT HAS been brought to our
attention that the Home Office may soon resume
enforced removals of failed
asylum seekers to Zimbabwe.
We have been shown what appears to be a
standard letter from the Border and
Immigration Agency of the Home Office.
The letter gives notice of impending
enforcement action. It states in part
that ".the Border and Immigration
Agency is expecting shortly to be able to
enforce returns to Zimbabwe".
We understand that those who have made
asylum claims are also receiving
refusal letters with that standard
statement. In effect of course, the
majority of refusals, at least in the
Zimbabwean context, should come with
the right of an in-country appeal. If
such an appeal is lodged in time, an
individual cannot be removed until all
the appeal rights have been
exhausted.
For failed asylum seekers
generally, however, enforced returns should follow
as a matter of course
unless there is a moratorium on returns as has been
the case for
Zimbabweans.
In the Zimbabwean context, if it is true that there is now
an official
position to return failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe, the timing
is as
unfortunate as it is baffling. This is because there is a high stakes
election which is scheduled for March 29, 2008. There has already been wide
publicity of the rising political temperature, Mugabe's ominous threats to
the opposition, as well as the beatings of opposition activists and
teachers.
The main Country Guidance cases, in particular SM
(Zimbabwe), already
confirm the existence of an 'election cycle' with
reference to the
heightened risk during election periods and the period
immediately after the
election. The tribunal has also accepted that this is
a pattern which has
been followed since 2000 and that before an election,
there is intimidation
of real or perceived opposition supporters
particularly teachers and civil
servants. It also confirms that following an
election, there is well
documented evidence of the post-election retribution
on political opponents.
So what the options to failed asylum
seekers?
Where enforcement action is threatened, it is important to act
fast. It
might be useful to contact an MP and request urgent
representations. There
are also pressure groups and other specialised
organisations that may be
useful in raising publicity. One such an
organisation is the National
Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)
which has a huge mailing
list of partner-activists and solicitors who may be
able to assist at short
notice.
But the obvious option for
individuals who do not want to return to Zimbabwe
is to lodge a fresh asylum
claim. A fresh asylum claim is defined in Rule
353 of the Immigration Rules
which states that;
"When a human rights or asylum claim has been refused
and any appeal
relating to that claim is no longer pending, the decision
maker will
consider any further submissions and, if rejected, will then
determine
whether they amount to a fresh claim. The submissions will amount
to a fresh
claim if they are significantly different from the material that
has
previously been considered. The submissions will only be significantly
different if the content:
(i) had not already been considered;
and
(ii) taken together with the previously considered material, created
a
realistic prospect of success, notwithstanding its rejection."
It
is important therefore, to demonstrate in submissions that the materials
submitted are significantly different from the material that has previously
been considered. This could be by reference to a change in the law, or a
change in country circumstances, or individual circumstances.
An
example would be a failed asylum seeker whose last determination accepted
that he was a teacher in Zimbabwe but a low level MDC activist and therefore
not at risk. If such a decision pre-dates 2005, SM (Zimbabwe) and other
recent case law could be used to argue that there is now new evidence that
teachers face a risk of persecution on return to Zimbabwe for simply being a
teacher.
Another typical example could be that since a refusal,
an individual has
become active in a civic organisation or opposition party
the UK. The latest
Country Guidance case of HS accepts that the Central
Intelligence
Organisation is known to act extra-territorially and has
infiltrated civic
organisations in the UK with the obvious aim of passing on
intelligence to
their Zimbabwe masters. An obvious example is the speed with
which the
Herald, Zanu PF's mouthpiece, reported a recent pro-Simba Makoni
meeting
which took place in London.
The important thing about a fresh
claim is that an individual who has made
further submissions to the Home
Office cannot be returned to their country
of origin before the Secretary of
State has considered the submissions made
in terms of paragraph 353 or
otherwise.
It should, therefore, be enough to produce proof that a fresh
claim has been
submitted in order to stop removal. The Home Office can,
however, decide
that the evidence submitted does not amount to a fresh
claim. A lot depends,
therefore, on the quality of the evidence submitted,
and the presentation of
the supporting arguments.
Ultimately, what is
useful is that case law has interpreted Rule 353 as
imposing a modest test
that the fresh claim has to meet before it becomes a
fresh claim. There are
three requirements to the test:
One: The fresh claim must have a
realistic prospect of success, but not more
than that.
Two: There is
no requirement that the evidence submitted must make the Home
Office achieve
certainty of what is alleged, but only to think that there is
a real risk of
the applicant being persecuted on return.
Three: The Home Office, the
adjudicator and the court, must exercise what is
called 'anxious scrutiny'
of the material presented to them because if the
preliminary decision is
made incorrectly, it may lead to the applicant's
exposure to
persecution.
This appears to be a very low threshold and easy test to
meet and you would
think that the majority of fresh applications should
easily pass the first
hurdle. The reality is somewhat different, hence the
need for
representation.
An acceptance by the Home Office that an
application is a fresh asylum claim
is of course just the beginning. The
asylum process will then begin all
over, with interviews, NASS entitlement,
decisions and the entire appeal
process kicking in.
Taffy Nyawanza
works for Bake & Co Solicitors of Birmingham. He can be
contacted on info@bakesolicitors.co.uk, ph. 0121
616 5025 or visit Bake & Co
Solicitors' website at www.bakesolicitors.co.uk.
Disclaimer:
This article only provides general information and guidance on
immigration
law. It is not intended to replace the advice or services of a
solicitor.
The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome
different
than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any
liability
for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this
information.
The Southern African
Written by Innocent Madawo
Monday, 10 March
2008
Journalists of my generation at Ziana - between 1992 and 2000
- will
agree that the best way to incur the wrath of the news agency's
editors was
to submit a story without background, cross-references or with
figures that
did not add up.
Being a student of some of Zimbabwe's
best editors of that era, like
Tarcey Munaku, Ndaba "Ndasto" Nyoni and
"Sekuru" Tambayi Nyika (may their
souls rest in peace), I cringe when I read
some of the stories being churned
out from Zimbabwe, particularly at this
time of elections.
Very few reporters - and editors - produce
complete stories that would
make a reader understand an issue even if they
have missed earlier accounts
and I find it very frustrating.
Coverage of the highly contentious presidential election is the case
in
point here. Ruling Zanu PF candidate, President Robert Mugabe is quoted
extensively by both the government-owned and private press as he bashes his
opponents Dr. Simba Makoni and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
We read that at almost every rally,
Mugabe accuses Makoni and
Tsvangirai of being funded by British and American
businesses. The Herald
even published names of companies alleged to be
funding Makoni.
The reporters doing these stories may be young and
without much
knowledge of what happened in the 1980s and 1990s, but their
editors will
definitely recall that every election before 2000, Mugabe
received public
financial donations (solicited and unsolicited) from mostly
British
individuals, companies and organisations.
I recall
vividly that in preparation of the 1996 presidential
election, Mugabe
dispatched the late Eddison Zvobgo to go and fundraise in
London, no less.
Zvobgo raised more than 1 Million Pounds from the likes of
Tiny Rowland and
others.
I made several trips to London and other European
destinations with
Mugabe as a presidential reporter. There were meetings
with white
businessmen, which we would not be allowed to report on. I don't
suppose
Mugabe discussed cricket with these men.
Lately,
Tsvangirai has ganged up with Mugabe in accusing Makoni of
being funded by
foreign "embassies" in Harare. This sounds to me like a
jilted lover venting
on a rival suitor.
Was it not a few short years ago that Tsvangirai
prided himself with
being seen in the company of the same diplomats and even
travelling to their
countries to seek (and receive) endorsement and funding
as the next
president of Zimbabwe.
Could it be that after
failing to deliver in three attempts, his
former backers have decided to
pursue a new and perhaps more acceptable
option and Tsvangirai is lashing
out in bitterness?
Whatever the case, the point is that Zimbabwean
press (and to a large
extent Diasporan and foreign press too) has been
complicit in not being
diligent enough to provide this background and
cross-referencing or
balancing their reports.
And the funding
issue is not the only problem. There is the fact that
Mugabe's message at
this year's election rallies is exactly the same as he
delivered at every
other election campaign since the 1980s. He would give
people land and food,
increase salaries of government workers and make sure
"bad ol' whitie"
doesn't come back.
Yet, not a single reporter has raised this
background in the thousands
of stories we read each election period. No
effort is made to go to the
people and ask them if they ever received the
things Mugabe promised them
every election period.
Then there
is the issue of rally attendances. Last weekend when Makoni
addressed a
rally at White City stadium in Bulawayo, depending on the
newspaper one
read, the number of his audience ranged variously from 4,000
to 7,000.
That's understandable.
Then this weekend, it was Tsvangirai's turn
and the range was 12,000
to 40,000.
I covered many rallies and
other functions at White City stadium and
unless its carrying capacity was
increased in the years that I have been
away, I know that there is no way
20,000 people can fit into White City; let
alone 30,000 or 40,000 which is
the capacity for Barbourfields or Rufaro.
Then there is the issue
of generals who declare that they will not
salute any leader other than
Mugabe. Why doesn't anybody tell these
gentlemen the truth that if Makoni or
Tsvangirai are elected by the people
of Zimbabwe, it is a simple fact of
military rules that they will perform a
crisp salute to their new
Commander-In-Chief or else they will be court
marshaled.
In any
case, President Makoni or Tsvangirai will remove them from the
positions
they hold now and replace them with generals befitting that rank.
These are just a few of many inadequacies I notice in reports from
Zimbabwe
and I wish someone could ensure that we get backgrounded and
balanced
news.
Neglecting these ground rules of good journalism is, in
itself, an act
of electoral fraud.