http://www.earthtimes.org
Posted : Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:59:55 GMT
Author :
DPA
Harare - After years of jaw-dropping inflation, Zimbabwe
is now
experiencing deflation, the country's Central Statistical Office
(CSO) said
Tuesday. The dollarization of the economy forced prices down by
an average
3.1 per cent between January and February this year, acting CSO
director
Moffat Nyoni told a press conference.
The
inflation rate, which fell 0.8 percentage points on
January's -2.3 percent,
is given only as a month-to-month figure because the
complete dollarization
of the economy was achieved only in January.
The last time an
official inflation figure was given in July
last year, it was a whopping 231
million per cent.
At the time, prices were still denominated
in the now worthless
Zimbabwe dollar, which has been abandoned by most since
the central bank in
November legalized the use of hard currencies, including
the US dollar and
the South African rand.
Announcing the
new figures, Nyoni said: "The gap in the supply
of statistics on inflation
was due to the scarcity of products in the
market, product prices being
displayed in Zimbabwe dollars but actually
being sold in foreign currency,
and resource constraints faced by the CSO."
Economists say
the fall of prices was due to the low pay levels.
The CSO
said that, an average family of five requires about 550
dollars a month, but
the average pay is 100 dollars.
A decade of misrule by
President Robert Mugabe's government has
left the economy teetering on the
brink of collapse.
The country's new unity government, which
has longtime
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister, has
appealed to its
neighbours for 2 billion dollars in short-term aid, while
putting its
long-term needs at 5 billion dollars.
Southern African leaders are meeting to consider its appeal in
Swaziland at
the end of the month.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13907
March 24, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The return of Prime Minister to Harare yesterday
was embroiled in
uncertainty over when exactly he is due to return to
office, following a
week of rest and recuperation in the Southern African
coastal town of
Durban.
Tsvangirai was invited to the country by
South African officials following
the traumatic experience of losing his
wife, Susan in a road traffic
accident on March 6. He sustained head
injuries which he finally recovered
from as he rested in Durban with his
children.
The Prime Minister arrived in Harare just after noon on Tuesday
aboard a
South African Airways flight from Johannesburg.
"The Prime
Minister is back in the country," said James Maridadi, Tsvangirai's
spokesperson. "He arrived this afternoon around 12 pm and has fully
recovered from his injuries.
"He is currently at home and is still on
his compassionate leave. He will
only be back in the office on April
1."
While Maridadi told The Zimbabwe Times that Tsvangirai would only be
back at
work next week the MDC online newsletter, The Changing Times,
reported
Tuesday that the Prime Minister would resume official duties
Wednesday, when
he officially opens the inaugural National Tourism
Stakeholders' Conference
in Harare.
The online newsletter also
reported that Tsvangirai was due to chair a
meeting of the Council of
Ministers on Thursday.
Tsvangirai faces several outstanding issues when
he returns to work. Among
some of the pressing issues to be finalised in
terms of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) are the appointment and
swearing in of provincial governors
and the swearing in of the Deputy
Agriculture Minister, Roy Bennett.
Bennett was arrested on Friday,
February 13, days before he was due to be
sworn in as deputy minister. He
languished in remand prison in the eastern
border city of Mutare as an
international outcry raged for four weeks.
Tsvangirai will also attend to
the finalization of the appointment of
permanent secretaries, most of whom
had been unilaterally appointed by
President Robert Mugabe in contravention
of the provisions of the GPA. The
appointment of the country's ambassadors
is also still to be finalised.
A major challenge ahead of Tsvangirai will
be how to handle the payment of
allowances for the entire civil service in
foreign currency, as he promised
in his inaugural speech soon after he took
the oath of office.
The new inclusive government is struggling to put
together proper salary
packages for civil servants due to a serious lack of
foreign currency.
Minister of Finance Tendai Biti told Parliament last
week as he presented a
revised version of the national budget that the
inclusive government would
have to live within its means.
Tsvangirai
is also expected to chair a meeting of security ministries where
the
continued invasion of commercial farms will be discussed. The latest
wave of
invasions has been singled out by foreign governments and the
International
Monetary Fund (IMF) officials as having the potential to
derail the
country's efforts to restore international relations.
There have been
widespread reports of fresh farm invasions on the sugarcane
estates of the
Lowveld as well as on several farms around the country.
A visiting Danish
official told the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC) last
week that there was need to restore property rights
and to protect farms
covered under the Bilateral Protection and Promotion
Agreements (BIPPAS)
before any form of new investment could be considered,
at least by her
country.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
HARARE - Harare magistrate, Memory Chigwaza
has granted the state's
application which sought to have six Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
activists and a photo journalist remanded to the
30th of April.
She has however relaxed the stringent bail conditions of
the accused
persons who were, until Tuesday, supposed to report twice a day
at their
nearest police stations.
From today, they shall report
every Friday.
This was against the request of the state which, although
consenting
to the relaxation of their bail conditions, wanted the accused
persons to
report thrice a week.
The state on Monday sought an
order by the court to remand the accused
persons to April 30.
In
his submissions, Tawanda Zvekare, who represented the state, said
the state
had not yet finished compiling their indictment papers, which
should spell
out their exact offences, their places of occurrence and the
witnesses
thereof.
Harare lawyer, Alec Muchadehama vigorously opposed the
continued
placement of his clients on remand.
He wanted their trial
date set down or have their charges dropped
completely.
Muchadehama
argued that his clients had suffered enough during their
abduction and it
was not their fault that the state was not yet ready to try
them.
The group is being said to have committed five counts of bombings on
two
Harare police stations together with a railway line and a bridge in
Norton
between August and November last year.
Except for three, four of the
accused persons were recently granted
US$600 bail.
Chagwiza on
Monday postponed to Tuesday her judgement on the matter.
The state,
which wants trial to commence during the second term of the
High Court which
begins during the first week of May, is adamant the papers
cannot be
produced any sooner.
It contends the process of preparing the papers is
laborious and would
want up to the end of this April to complete the
process.
The accused persons, alongside other MDC and human rights
activists,
were kidnapped from their homes in and around Harare between
October and
December last year and are being charged for acts of
banditry.
The state says the acts were intended to seek the overthrow
of
President Robert Mugabe, charges which they deny.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13877
March 24, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Winding bank queues have resurfaced in Zimbabwe as
nearly all
banks and other financial institutions have run out of foreign
currency.
This has happened at a time when civil servants are queuing to
withdraw
their US100 allowances for the month of March. Hundreds of rural
teachers
have been left stranded as a result, with many spending the night
in the
queue so that they don't lose their position.
Long and winding
queues that became the scourge of the banking sector at the
height of the
financial crisis last year have resurfaced at most banks and
building
societies since last week. Soldiers, teachers, policemen and other
civil
servants have struggled, and failed in most instances, to withdraw
their
allowances amid reports of a severe forex shortage within the country's
banking sector.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) has
expressed concern over the
development, saying that more than 50 percent of
teachers have missed
lessons since last week because of the new
problem.
An official with ZIMTA here said his offices had been turned
into a
"squatter camp" as teachers descended there for shelter overnight
after
failing to access their allowances.
"We are very worried by
this development, given the fact that schools opened
late this term", said
the official on Tuesday.
"Our offices have been literally turned into a
squatter camp as teachers
come to camp overnight after failing to get their
money.
"What is disturbing is that the allowances are reflecting in the
teachers'
bank accounts but no cash is available. It is also disheartening
to note
that students who started this term late are missing their lessons
as
teachers struggle to withdraw their money.
"We met some bank
managers yesterday and they told us that they will only
try to serve a few
of our members since there is no cash to pay all of
them."
Education
officials here generally agree yesterday that a speedy solution to
the
problem had to found.
Some of the teachers told the Zimbabwe Times that
they had been told that
there is no cash to give them.
Omen Gapare a
teacher at a local schools said, "We have been coming to the
bank as early
as 3 am but we are failing to access our money. The government
should just
revert back to the issue of vouchers which worked very well last
month."
The government last month designed and issued vouchers of
US100 as payment
of allowances to the entire civil service.
Bank
managers who spoke to the Zimbabwe Times said that they had no cash to
pay
the civil servants because the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had failed to
allocate to them their monthly forex allocations in view of the fact that
civil servants were now being paid in forex.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono
refused outright to comment on the issue on
Tuesday.
Although Finance
Minister Tendai Biti could not be reached for comment he is
on record as
saying that the state coffers were empty.
Reviewing the country's budget
last week Biti said, "I am afraid to increase
the allowances for the civil
servants from the current US100 because the
country's coffers are completely
empty."
http://www.sabcnews.com/
March 24 2009 ,
4:17:00
The recent wave of farm invasions and government's
inability to
account for public funds were among the key concerns raised by
the
International Monetary Funds (IMF) team of experts. The team has just
concluded its assessment of the situation in Zimbabwe, after consulting with
government, industry and private sector stakeholders.
Analysts
believe the consultations could see more support channeled to
assist the new
unity government. At the same time, another European Union
member state,
Norway, has offered an olive branch to Harare.
The Western world,
at loggerheads with the Zimbabwean government for
years, appears to be
finally burying the hatchet. Norway's Minister for
International
Development, Erik Solheim, is the latest arrival coming to
mend relations.
"We should now look into how we can get into a positive
spill, democratic
reforms, and the release of political prisoners and how
Zimbabwe can move
forward," says Solheim.
Solheim's visit comes barely a week after
Denmark dispatched its envoy
to the country and as the IMF team wraps up its
fact finding mission. The
bankrupt state is highly indebted to international
lenders, with debt
amounting to billions of dollars.
Zimbabwe's
Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion,
Elton Mangoma, says:
"They raised issues of indebtedness, capacity of
government to account for
revenue and expand capacity in terms of driving
the new policies that
government has set."
Analysts say it is imperative that these
concerns are addressed and
that the IMF comes back on board.
"It is quite important that the IMF debt is settled because once this
is
done, it will open floodgates for other aid agencies to return," economic
analyst Daniel Ndlela added.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
returns to work this week from
compassionate leave and will have to deal
with this and many more of the
challenges afflicting this embattled Southern
African nation.
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/
24
March 2009
The Zimbabwe Anglican Church has pressed charges against the country's
police chief for sending armed police to drive worshippers out of churches
every Sunday.
Anglicans in Zimbabwe's Diocese of Harare face
harassment and violence from
President Robert Mugabe's police force in what
appears to be an attempt to
prevent them from worshipping.
Diocesan
Registrar for the Church of the Province of Central Africa, Michael
Chingore, said police commissioner general, Augustine Chihuri, is conniving
with ousted Bishop Albert Kunonga to destabilise the church.
Bishop
Kunonga, a fierce Mugabe supporter backed by the police, is engaged
in a
wrangle for control of the Zimbabwe Diocese of Harare. He has claimed
ownership of extensive Anglican assets, despite being officially
excommunicated in 2007 and replaced by Central Africa Bishop Sebastian
Bakare.
Kunonga was fired from the church after he withdrew the
Diocese of Harare
from the province, made up of Anglican churches in Zambia,
Botswana, Malawi
and Zimbabwe, citing rampant homosexuality in the
church.
Mr Chingore told inthenews the church wanted the police chief
charged for
instructing officers to assist the ousted Bishop Kunonga who is
allegedly
using his strong links with Mugabe to drive Anglicans out of their
churches.
"We have already pressed charges against [Mr] Chihuri at the
high court for
sending police to disturb our services," he said.
"We
are simply saying the police or commissioner-general should not be
anywhere
near our services. Mr Chihuri is sending police to provoke
Anglicans and on
the other hand he is saying he does not know anything about
it."
Anglican bishops from around the world last year called on
renegade Kunonga,
an avid Mugabe supporter, to let go the churches' property
as they did not
recognise him as an Anglican bishop.
"We do not
recognize Mr Kunonga as a Bishop within the Anglican Communion
and we call
for the full restoration of Anglican Property within Zimbabwe to
the Church
of the Province of Central Harare," the Anglican Bishops said in
a
statement.
Despite the calls, the renegade bishop reportedly always moves
with scores
of Zanu-PF supporters and the police every Sunday to disturb
church services
at the Anglican Church and to force Christians at that
church to listen to
his sermons.
However, Anglican Christians in
Zimbabwe appear to have snubbed him and
reports suggest Kunonga is usually
forced to conduct his 'rival' services to
Zanu-PF militiamen and police
officers instead of the church congregations.
© Adfero Ltd
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=3336
By Moses Muchemwa
Published: March
24, 2009
Harare - The General manager of National Railways
of Zimbabwe has denied
that the parastatal's bosses have been looting
resources from the company's
coffers.
In a statement, the NRZ General
manager Retired Air Commodore Mike
Karakadzai said the company bought
vehicles only to replace an ageing fleet.
"It is pertinent to mention
that the NRZ has five Directors and as readers
may confirm, the Toyota land
cruiser ranges from US$65 000 to 70 000, while
the Toyota Prado is between
US$35 to 45 000, contrary to indicated figures,"
he said.
"The
acquisition of the vehicle for the General Manager was a long overdue
condition of service, because he had been using his personal vehicle since
2005, when he joined the organization. The delayed acquisition of this
vehicle was to allow the organization to build enough capacity for self
sustenance."
Karakadzai said the furniture that was acquired for his
office and residence
remain NRZ property.
He said the NRZ had not
failed to pay workers but were delayed due to
clearance "by our bankers
first in New York, before being banked into the
employees' accounts.
"
According to Karakadzi one of the programs the company was undergoing
was a
vehicle replacement program which has seen us acquiring 29 buses for
employees to be transported to and from work, 12 mini-buses for train crews,
20 lorries and 30 pick up trucks for operational and maintenance work.
Karakadzi in his report however omitted the issue Samsung LCD television, a
laptop among other expensive items bought for his office which is in the
12th Floor of the 22-storey NRZ building, and state of the art sofas to be
placed in the Directors' houses
MDC Press
Release –Three MDC activists who were part of over 40 MDC activists abducted
last October were released from custody last week after spending more than four
months in illegal detention. Fani Tembo, Lloyd Tarumbwa and Mrs. Terry Musona were abducted in pre dawn
raids from their homes between 30 and 31 October 2008 in Banket, Mashonaland
West province. The three are part of over 40 MDC and civil society activists who were
abducted on trumped up charges of banditry and recruiting MDC youths for
terrorism training in neighbouring Botswana in an effort to topple the Zanu PF
government. According to Tembo, Tarumbwa and Musona they were severely tortured and
subjected to inhumane treatment by State security agents during their illegal
detention in a bid to force them to confess to the false charges. Tembo is a Councillor for Ward 22, Zvimba South and MDC district organizing
secretary while Tarumbwa is a co-ordinator for Ward 22 and Musona is the
Mashonaland West provinces’ vice secretary. “We were tortured, denied food and medical attention during our entire period
of illegal detention,” said Musona who is now receiving medical attention
following the gruesome torture. Although they could not positively identify the perpetrators, all the three
managed to implicate one Chief Superintendent Magwenzi as the leader of the
torturers. “Most of the days we were forced to sleep on a cold floor, hungry and blind
folded,” she said. “We had one meal a day, which consisted handful of sadza and a very tiny
piece of meat,” said Tembo. The abductees said they were constantly moved from house to house in order
for them not to detect where they were being kept during their four-month
isolation. “The windows were always shut and curtains drawn. However, we knew that it
was in Harare and the only place we managed to identify was the Police Golf Club
as we were taken there for regular interrogations and we had our blinds taken
off,” said Tarumbwa. The three would plead on several occasions for them to be brought to court so
that if they had committed any crimes they would be charged but this never
happened. “In fact when we told the persecutors that we wanted access to a lawyer or to
be brought before the courts we were severely beaten, threatened with death and
denied food for up to two days,” said Tarumbwa. They were released last week without any charges pressed against them but
were only forced again to sign affidavits. They were taken away quietly at night
and dumped some kilometres outside Banket. They had to complete the rest of the
journey on foot. However, despite the severe ill-treatment that they went through, the three
vowed to The Changing Times Online that they would remain true cadres
of the democratic struggle. At least 30 of the detainees including Zimbabwe Peace Projects (ZPP) director
Jestina Mukoko and Concillia Chinanzvavana, the MDC Women’s Assembly Mashonaland
West provincial chairperson were brought before the courts and remanded in
custody at Chikurubi Maximum and Harare Remand Prisons. Among the abducted MDC activists was a two year old boy Nigel Mutemagawo who
was abducted with his parents Violet Mupfuranhehwe and Collen Mutemagawo. However, despite repeated denials by the MDC, the Botswana government and
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe that these were flimsy charges, the
Zanu PF government continued to illegally detain and torture the abductees. Zanu PF also refused to comply with numerous court orders for the accused to
be released or to receive proper treatment from hospitals following reports of
excessive torture at the hands of State security agents. The MDC is also worried about the whereabouts of seven other MDC activities
that were abducted last year and are still missing. These are Gwenzi Kahiya – abducted 29 October 2008 in Zvimba, Ephraim Mabeka
– abducted 10 December 2008 in Gokwe, Lovemore Machokoto – abducted 10 December
2008 in Gokwe, Charles Muza – abducted 10 December 2008 in Gokwe, Edmore
Vangirayi – abducted 10 December 2008 in Gokwe, Graham Matehwa – abducted 17
December in Makoni South and Peter Munyanyi – abducted 13 December 2008 in Gutu
South. Other three political detainees, MDC head of security, Chris Dhlamini, former
personal aide to MDC President and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Gandi
Mudzingwa and photo journalist Andreson Manyere are still in detention.
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, March 24, 2009 -
THE Norwegian Minister of Environment and
International Development, Erik
Solheim, arrives in Harare on Tuesday for
bilateral talks with the new
government as Zimbabwe intensifies its efforts
to re-engage the
international community.
Information obtained by Radio VOP
on Tuesday indicated that Solheim,
who is on a three-day visit, would be in
the same flight from South Africa
with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who
returns from a nearly two week
compassionate leave following the death of
his wife, Susan in a car
accident.
Upon his arrival, the
Norwegian Minister would pay a courtesy call for
Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs
Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi before meeting
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
On Wednesday, he would have bilateral talks with Finance
Minister
Tendai Biti and later Acting Prime Minister Thokozani Khuphe. He is
expected
to pay a courtesy call to President Robert Mugabe at a date and
time to be
announced before flying out on Thursday morning.
The
visit of the Norwegian Minister comes hard on the heels of last
week's tour
of duty by Danish Minister of Development Cooperation, Ulla
Tornaes. The new
government has undertaken to re-engage its development
partners with a view
of lifting targeted sanctions imposed on President
Mugabe.
Meanwhile the United States government has reiterated its calls that
it will
not lift sanctions against Zimbabwe until there is a clear policy
change by
the new government towards the respect of human rights and
establishment of
a new constitution.
"The people of Zimbabwe, their needs are not
being met. ... We have
looked at it very carefully. The situation ...
remains the same. So until we
do see some change, the sanctions are going to
stay in place," said the US
Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee in an
interview with the US State
Department Information Bureau.
He
said the US is looking for a new constitution in Zimbabwe within 18
months
and a new election within 24 months as some of the benchmarks that
his
government will use to gauge the performance of the inclusive
government.
"That is key - free and fair elections in Zimbabwe
within 24 months
would be an absolute key to anything that does happen
positively in this
country," said McGee.
The United States
government imposed targeted sanctions on some
Zimbabwean government
officials and companies in 2003.
McGee said there is "no reason and
no way" the United States is going
to lift sanctions anytime soon against
Zimbabwe without some "very, very
clear indication that the country's new
unity government is moving in the
right direction."
McGee was
responding to pleas by President Mugabe last week on
Thursday calling for
the lifting of sanctions which he said was impeding the
progress of the new
unity government.
Mugabe was speaking at the launch of the Short
Term Economic Recovery
Programme (STERP) in Harare.
Tsvangirai
has said Zimbabwe needs about USD 5 billion to put ot on an
economic
recovery path. The Southern Africa Develompent Community (SADC)
will hold a
meeting to discuss Zimbabwe's economic aid package.
Source: Government of Zimbabwe; World Health Organization (WHO) Date: 23 Mar 2009 ** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result A. Highlights of the day: - 255 cases and 9 deaths added today (in comparison 140 cases and 0 deaths
yesterday) - 64.4% of the districts affected have reported today 38 out of 59 affected
districts) - 90.3 % of districts reported to be affected (56 districts out of 62) - Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate 1.8% - Daily Institutional CFR = 1.99%
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers. Any change will then be explained.
http://www.etaiwannews.com
By DIKKY SINN
Associated
Press
2009-03-24 04:51 PM
Hong Kong
lawmakers urged the local government Tuesday to ban
Zimbabwean first lady
Grace Mugabe from visiting the city again after she
allegedly punched a
newspaper photographer.
The pro-democracy politicians issued the calls
after Hong Kong
authorities decided not to take legal action against the
wife of Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe.
She was accused of
repeatedly punching photographer Richard Jones in
the face and inflicting at
least 10 cuts with the diamond-encrusted rings
she was wearing after finding
him taking pictures of her near a luxury hotel
in January.
Hong
Kong's Justice Department ruled Sunday that she is exempt from
prosecution
under Chinese regulations governing diplomatic immunity and
privileges.
Democratic Party lawmaker James To, however, said
Mugabe posed a
threat to people in Hong Kong and should be barred from
entering.
"She has an assault record in Hong Kong. When she comes
again, there's
a risk she might attack somebody else again, so why not ban
her from coming
at all?" he said.
Mugabe is likely to visit the
Chinese-ruled territory again, To said,
since her daughter, Bona Mugabe, is
believed to be studying at a local
university.
The Security
Bureau declined to comment Tuesday whether the authority
would refuse Mugabe
entry, saying it does not comment on individual cases.
The U.S.,
the European Union and Britain have imposed sanctions on
Robert Mugabe's
ruling clique, including asset freezes and travel bans. He
has been accused
of overseeing his country's economic collapse, trampling
democratic rights
and killing opposition supporters.
Senate will assess choice of Amb. Johnnie Carson for State Department post
Washington —March 23rd 2009- President Obama on March 20 announced his intent to nominate career diplomat and three-time U.S. ambassador in Africa Johnnie Carson as the next U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
If confirmed by the Senate, Carson will succeed Jendayi Frazer, who served in the post during the Bush administration.
Carson is currently the national intelligence officer for Africa on the National Intelligence Council. He joined the council in September 2006 after a 37-year career in the foreign service. Prior to this appointment, Carson served as the senior vice president of the National Defense University in Washington from 2003 until 2006.
Carson's Foreign Service career includes ambassadorships to Kenya (1999–2003), Zimbabwe (1995–1997) and Uganda (1991–1994). He also served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs from 1997 through 1999. Earlier in his career, he served in Portugal, Botswana, Mozambique and Nigeria as well as in the Africa section of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Before joining the foreign service, Carson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. He holds an undergraduate degree in history and political science from Drake University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of London.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented Carson with its Champion of Prevention Award for his leadership in directing the U.S. government's HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Kenya.
Senator Russ Feingold, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on African Affairs, called Carson’s nomination “a strong choice.” “Carson is an accomplished career foreign service officer with an excellent track record on African issues spanning many decades and a range of positions,” Feingold said. “Carson has a deep understanding of our diplomatic capacities and the importance of regular interagency collaboration. I look forward to considering his nomination and hearing how he and the administration plan to address the many challenges we face on the African continent.”
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
Is how a country treats the most vulnerable of its
people not a test of its humanity?
Emily Wellman
24 March 2009
The small town of Musina on the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa is the first stop for new arrivals and their introduction to what we proudly call ‘ubuntu’ or South African hospitality.
However, a trip to Musina a few weeks ago revealed a situation one would expect to see in a war-zone. Standing in the middle of the town’s Showgrounds were 3 000 people without formal shelter and with insufficient access to ablution facilities. These human beings were standing amongst sweating garbage, unable to move for fear of arrest and too exhausted to interact as a result of a lack of nutrition. How, in a country with one of the most advanced constitutions in the world, does a situation like this develop?
The Constitution of South Africa gives South African citizens and foreigners the same rights. That is, rights to adequate housing, access to healthcare, food, water, education and social security are to be afforded to all who stand on South African soil, regardless of nationality or status. If only our government would publicly endorse and uphold these laws and not treat asylum seekers as irritants, vagrants and at times, no more than criminals.
It is not practical for the purposes of this article to provide an exposition of the reasons why Zimbabweans are flooding into South Africa. What is important is the history of maltreatment at the hands of the Departments of Home Affairs (DHA) and Local Government in South Africa that refugees have experienced since 2000. If one looks at the experience of Zimbabweans who have come to South Africa to escape political persecution, avoid starvation or death from cholera and other illnesses; one should feel deeply ashamed of being a South African.
In a country that triumphed against Apartheid, why would so many thousands of people be forced to live in squalor? While one could lay blame at the feet of the Musina municipality, it was in fact the DHA who would not, or could not process asylum seekers from neighbouring Zimbabwe timeously. This rendered them unable to leave Musina as they risked arrest for being undocumented, would have been unable to work to buy food and unable to purchase any form of temporary shelter, even just a cardboard box or piece of heavy duty plastic.
This treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is a travesty for several reasons. Firstly, without a Section 23 Transit Permit (valid for 14 days), or better yet a Section 22 Asylum Seeker Permit (valid for up to 6 months) the government considers immigrants to be in the country illegally. Yet, the throngs of people wasting away in the Showgrounds were waiting for their turn to apply for asylum with the DHA, a process that at last count was taking over 5 weeks for some individuals; when it should take no more than 3 days. Secondly, without adequate paperwork it is impossible to find legal employment, access housing or access medical treatment. However, it has been widely documented that asylum seeker permit holders have also been at the mercy of prejudicial staff in governmental departments. Stereotyping and xenophobic attitudes towards ‘makwerekwere’ (foreigners) are frequently reported, even when someone requires life saving medical attention or a pregnant woman needs shelter.
When one considers the country from which these people have fled, nutrition, medical and sometimes psychological interventions are often vital. One would think with our advanced establishment our government would treat this population with the dignity and empathy they deserve as vulnerable human beings. It is unacceptable that the municipality of Musina would not cater to the most basic and legally endorsed needs of these refugees. If the DHA’s system for registering new applicants was not adequate; resulting in people having to stay in the town for several days or weeks, the municipality should have tried to ensure that the state acted in the best interests of the asylum seekers.
Instead, until a few weeks ago they were left to rot in the Showgrounds, the only place that offered them some level of protection from arbitrary arrest and/or deportation. Whilst predominantly protected from arrest, instances of rape were rife. Women are often raped on entry into South Africa by the ‘gumba gumba’ or local bandits as payment for safe passage across the Limpopo River. They were then at high risk of rape whilst they were living in the Showgrounds. It may not always be possible to prevent rape but physical and psychological treatment for victims should have been made available.
Local churches and international organisations came to the service of this neglected population in Musina and began to expose the shortfalls of the state response in the media. This was an embarrassment to the African National Congress (ANC) but instead of correcting the situation and providing basic shelter, food and healthcare for people while they waited to be processed by the DHA they turned a blind eye. When the ‘cry foul’ exposés became too much to bear, what did our 15 year young democratically elected government do? They shut the Showgrounds with no warning and in contravention of agreed arrangements with local groups. This left the immigrants in an even more vulnerable situation. Some were processed by the DHA in a day or two (how that was suddenly possible is a question only the department can answer) and bussed off to Makadho, Polokwane or Johannesburg. It is not clear what happened to all of those residing at the Showgrounds as some disappeared, probably into the bush for fear of arrest.
The act of closing the Showgrounds is not condemnable in and of itself as the living conditions were deplorable. However, the fact that the situation was ever allowed to get that bad and that the ‘solution’ was in fact inhumane is inexcusable. In addition, the problems of the Musina Showgrounds have only been moved to Johannesburg and in a much worse setting, the same problems can now be seen in and around the Central Methodist Church in the city centre of Johannesburg.
The new arrivals from the Musina Showgrounds have to sleep on the busy streets as all available shelters are full. There are no ablution blocks nor is there safety from arrest by police who lack an understanding of the laws that protect these vulnerable people. The neighbouring Small Street Mall’s shop owners are understandably vexed at this situation as are local businesses and lodgers, but where do these groups expect the thousands of refugees to go? The state makes no concessions for new applicants who do not have the means to find work, accommodation and food if they do not have family in South Africa. After the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, portaloos were provided to deal with human waste, but they were not being properly serviced. After much hesitation and irritation, public toilets have finally been opened for these people to use.
This treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is in direct violation of the bill of rights in the South African constitution which is based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enshrines the right to shelter, food and security.
When one considers the situation as it stands today, one fact stares us in the face. After the shameful Xenophobic attacks of 2008 and the resulting nightmare of how to deal with foreigners living on the states ‘good will’, government should have been prepared to handle or at least begun to develop appropriate responses to the situation that developed in Musina. It can have come as no surprise that as Zimbabwe fell deeper and deeper into decline more and more Zimbabweans would come to South Africa for assistance.
The government has, once again, started to talk of establishing ‘transit camps’, basically a form of refugee camp, for the human beings who continue to wait to be processed by the DHA. The DHA processing backlog currently stands at about 100 000 applications. Who knows how long this group of immigrants will need to be in transit camps as a result of this bottleneck in the system. If these transit camps accommodate applicants in humane and dignified conditions then they could provide a short-term solution to the current situation. However, if they turn out to be a form of detention camp, what does that say about the state of human rights in South Africa?
Lessons, it seems, are not learnt from experience. We can only hope history does not repeat itself. If it does, South Africa will be remembered by history for its inhumanity to people in need.
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HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 24, 2009/African Press
Organization (APO)/ - As part
of its mandate to promote freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe, MISA-Zimbabwe
together with Zimbabwe Poets for Human
Rights on 21 March, commemorated the
International World Poetry Day in a
poetry session dubbed Weapons of Mass
Instruction.
The
poetry session, which featured ten poets from Harare and attended by
approximately 200 people, was held at the First Street mall and paid tribute
to late poets, Dambudzo Marechera, who during his time performed his poetry
at the same venue and the late Solomon Mutsvairo who wrote the popular poem,
Nehanda Nyakasikana, recited by the late Vice-president, Simon Muzenda
during national events.
In a commemorative message,
MISA-Zimbabwe advocacy officer, Tabani Moyo,
emphasized the importance of
freedom of expression in a democracy and raised
concern over the continued
incarceration of freelance journalist, Anderson
Shadreck Manyere is charged
for acts of insurgence, banditry, sabotage or
terrorism under Section 23
(1), (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform)
Act
The poetry performances touched on the themes of love,
culture, the daily
life challenges of the ordinary Zimbabwean and the need
to be able to speak
out.
63-year old poet, Julius
Chingono who performed an unpublished piece, My
uniform, that described the
advantage that uniformed police officials had
over ordinary Zimbabweans
during the food shortages when they skipped the
queues, was briefly detained
by the police who alleged that the poem was
offensive. He was released after
convincing them that the poem reflected
what happened in the
past.
SOURCE : Media Institute of South Africa (MISA)
BULAWAYO, 24 March 2009 (IRIN) - Thabani
Dube, 38, was a parallel-market trader who took advantage of Zimbabwe's
collapsing economy, which resulted in empty shelves in shops and supermarkets.
Photo:
Antony Kaminju/IRIN
Changing
fortunes
When retailers could not provide, he could, selling everything from
basic commodities to expensive electrical appliances. In the process he amassed
great wealth, boasting sleek cars, trendy clothing and several city properties.
But the parallel market is declining because deregulation of the
currency has made the South African rand, US dollars and the Botswana pula legal
currency. The good times are over, and Dube knows it.
"Things are not
going well for me – I have no form of income, there is nothing to sell anymore
and I incurred a lot of debts due to the high life I used to live. The goods
that I used to go and purchase in Botswana are now available in Zimbabwe, and
people are now buying from the shops because it is much cheaper to buy there
than from people in the black market.
"Everything was ruined for us
cross-border traders when government licensed and allowed shops and wholesalers
to trade in foreign currency. We were taken out of business and as a result we
have no source of making any income, as the shops are selling the goods cheaper
than what I would sell them for.
"The shops buy the goods in bulk from
neighbouring countries and they still make a profit, even when they sell the
goods cheaply, but for small-scale dealers the profit is realized from huge
mark-ups in the selling price compared to the purchase price.
"When
everything was rosy for us dealers we used to sell basic goods like sugar,
mealie-meal [maize-meal], cooking oil, rice, margarine that we bought in large
quantities from Botswana and South Africa and sold back home at double and, in
some instances, at three times what we would have bought the goods for in
Botswana and South Africa.
"I employed over 30 people who were runners
for me. They would cross the borders to buy the goods in my truck and they would
bring the goods into the country for resale. I was a big man then, with a large
workforce, and I was respected in the city.
"When my business began to
collapse I realised I was in serious debt, as I could not manage to pay for the
expensive clothes, beers, property, needs of girlfriends and in general up-keep
of my family. I sold the two properties I had in the city in January to maintain
my extravagant lifestyle.
"Things did not change, as my source of income
was drying up, so in February I sold one of my two cars … to pay for food, rates
[property taxes] and for taking my children to school [by paying the fees].
"At the beginning of February I sold the second car … and that is the
money that I use for getting along, but life is now difficult for me. Every
month-end I used to travel with my wife to South Africa for shopping and we
bought expensive clothes and imported whisky, but I cannot afford to do that
anymore as I am not making any money now.
"I used to drink from the
most expensive hotels in the city but I have now gone to my usual opaque beer
and I drink from the local bottle stores – life is now very tough for me. I have
moved my children from the posh low-density suburb schools and they are now back
at the cheap government schools in the high-density suburbs.
I used to drink from the most
expensive hotels in the city but I have now gone to my usual opaque beer and I
drink from the local bottle stores - life now is very tough for me
"I have
sold all my luxury goods that include hi-fis, plasma TV screens, laptops and
computers so that I can support my family that was used to a high lifestyle.
"The changing faces of the Zimbabwean economy have now made me a pauper
– one minute I have a lot of money and am living a good life, and the next
minute I am a pauper, as all my savings have disappeared in the banks.
"Currently I am selling cheap biscuits … for five South African rands
per packet to make ends meet, but the competition is stiff from the established
wholesalers and retailers but there is nothing to do as I have no other means of
getting money.
"But once things improve I will have to find a job in
the formal sector, and since I am a trained and qualified teacher I have no
option except to go back to teaching, but going back to teach will be difficult
after the comfortable life I have had in the last eight years."
From Sapa, 23 March
Lawyers for Human Rights will approach the High Court in
Pretoria on Tuesday
for an urgent order to declare as unlawful an
immigration detention centre
located in Musina. "Every month, around 15 000
Zimbabwean nationals are
deported from a detention centre located on a
military base outside the town
of Musina close to the Zimbabwean border,"
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR)
said in a statement on Monday. It said
detainees were rounded up along the
border and in town by police,
immigration officials and soldiers, taken to
the detention centre and
deported. "This is done without any recourse to due
process and the
procedures under immigration and refugee legislation. This
detention
facility is operated by the SA Police Service and not by the
Department of
Home Affairs, whose responsibility it is to manage
immigration. "People in
need of asylum protection risk being returned to
face persecution in
violation of South African and international law," the
organisation said. In
addition, the conditions at this facility were
appalling and violated even
the minimum standards of detention set by the
Department of Home Affairs
under the Immigration Act. LHR will be asking the
court for an order:
declaring the operation of the facility unlawful in
terms of the Immigration
Act; declaring the conditions of detention as
unlawful and unconstitutional;
declaring the detention and deportation of
unaccompanied children as
unlawful; directing the director-general of home
affairs to either designate
the facility an immigration detention facility
and drastically improve
conditions in compliance with the law or to close
the facility down within
30 days.
Last Modified: 24 Mar 2009
By: Channel 4 News
As Zimbabwe's MDC MPs and municipal officials put their feet under desks occupied by Zanu PF for the last 29 years we can only imagine what is being uncovered.
Possibly because of the fragile state of the unity government or perhaps
under the guise of "national healing", not much is being exposed on a
national/ministerial level yet.
With the country in such a bankrupt
state and because law and order has been politically selective for so long,
everyone knows that looting on a grand scale has been underway.
Worst of
all for the Zanu PF officials is the fact that Zimbabwe's collapse over the last
decade has been meticulously documented with affidavits, court papers, witness
testimonies and hundreds of thousands of eye witness reports giving the names,
government or political positions, photographs, even car makes and number plates
of the perpetrators.
Basically, the ordinary people of Zimbabwe want
accountability and punishment because they know exactly 'whodunit'.
Basically, the ordinary people of Zimbabwe want accountability and punishment because they know exactly 'whodunit'.
One little fish got caught last week. The state controlled media have been
having a field day about what a Reserve Bank official had pilfered during one of
the banks numerous handouts of farm equipment to beneficiaries of the country's
land seizures.
Included in the hidden booty uncovered at three different
premises were: 41 tonnes of fertilizer, 30 tonnes of soya bean, 11 generators,
10 motorbikes, one grinding mill, and three New Holland tractors.
With
all this brand new farm equipment stored in urban homes in Harare it is little
wonder that Zimbabwe is starving and Zimbabweans are surviving almost entirely
on imported food and international aid.
Nine years after the start of
the land redistribution exercise, most farms stand derelict and weed infested,
and well over 60 per cent of the population are eating world food aid.
Unbelievably, even as the new government tries to get the country working again,
a new wave of invasions on the few remaining commercial farms has got underway
just as we approach harvesting time.
It is a familiar case of people
reaping what they did not sow, something we've become all too familiar with. It
is beyond belief that these land seizures are being conducted by the most senior
people in Zimbabwe's new unity government.
At municipal level there are also more questions than answers about what has been going on, as the new MDC Mayors and Councillors are finding out.
Senator Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate, is trying to take over a
highly productive citrus farm whose owner has the protection of an SADC Tribunal
ruling.
How ordinary Zimbabweans, let alone fellow legislators and
Senators, can be expected to show any respect to Mrs Madzongwe or her position
is a complete mystery. The fact that the new unity government has apparently
done nothing to sanction the Senator is a very bad sign.
The photograph
of Senator Madzongwe sitting next to Mrs Mugabe at the President's 85th birthday
party recently is explanation enough for most people of who is really still in
charge in Zimbabwe. At municipal level there are also more questions than
answers about what has been going on, as the new MDC Mayors and Councillors are
finding out.
An
overgrown car park in Zimbabwe.
Challenged about an entire town
having had no water for 6 days recently, the new Mayor said there were no
chemicals to use, despite recent purchases.
This wasn't the only
problem. As the Mayor explained to residents: "Of the eight water pumps
belonging to the town, only one is to be found. The rest have
disappeared."
The Mayor said that lawyers had been hired and
investigations were underway to ascertain where the water pumps and other tools
and equipment belonging to the ratepayers had gone to.
When residents
demanded that the outgoing Zanu PF Mayor be held to account, they were told that
the man in question could not be found.
In desperation the new MDC Mayor
had even resorted to engaging the help of the CIO (secret Police) to try and
track down the ex Mayor and all the town's missing assets.
Challenged
about huge potholes in the roads, blocked sewer pipes and uncut roadside grass,
the incoming MDC Council said sewage rods had disappeared and that the entire
municipality was having to virtually start from scratch.
HARARE, 24 March 2009 (IRIN) - A cold
reality is dawning on Zimbabwe's inclusive government that those able to give
money for the country's reconstruction will not give it, and those wanting to
give money just do not have it.
Photo:
Gnerk/Flickr
Its about
the money
After a political deal brokered by the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), Morgan Tsvangirai was inaugurated
as prime minister on 11 February 2009, while President Robert Mugabe maintained
the post he had held since independence from Britain in 1980.
SADC
heralded the deal as a new beginning for the once prosperous state, but the
country's main donors – the US and the European Union (EU) – have adopted a
wait-and-see approach before releasing any funds for economic reconstruction.
Since 11 February, US President Barack Obama's administration has
publicly refused to lift targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his ZANU-PF
elite, a position also held by the EU.
Tony Hawkins, an economics
professor based in the capital, Harare, told IRIN: "There are no signs at this
stage that Zimbabwe will get the much needed funds that are central for an
economic turnaround."
In a 2008 report the UN Development Programme
(UNDP) estimated that about US$5 billion would be required to kick-start the
economy and rescue the country from its financial morass.
Zimbabwe's
government stopped counting the inflation rate in July 2008, when it reached 231
million percent; infrastructure has collapsed and seven million people, or
more than half the population, depend on food aid; a cholera
epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people and infected over 90,000 in just
over six months.
Donor dependent region
Economic recovery is predicated on a substantial rescue
package, but Mugabe's grip on the reins of power has deterred Western
governments, and the onus has fallen on SADC to come up with some form of
financial assistance.
SADC has pledged US$2 billion for Zimbabwe's
reconstruction, but a question mark hangs over where it will find the money. The
organization will meet on 30 March to make a final decision on the package.
"When you look at those
countries that make up SADC there is virtually no reason to trust that they can
raise the amount of money required for Zimbabwe's economic turnaround, even
though there is no doubt that the political will to save the inclusive
government is there,” Hawkins said.
When you look at those
countries that make up SADC there is virtually no reason to trust that they can
raise the amount of money required for Zimbabwe's economic turnaround
"The economies in most of them are
largely dependent on donor funding and it would not be possible to take out from
what is donated to them.
"Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi belong to this
category, while Botswana's GDP [gross domestic product] is going down, Angola
has been affected by [falling] oil prices, and South Africa is having economic
problems of its own, leaving it having to depend on acquiring lines of credit
from the corporate world in the country," Hawkins told IRIN.
The unity
government's finance minister and a leading light in Tsvangirai's party, the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tendai Biti slashed this year's revenue target from US$1.7 billion to US$1
billion recently.
"The reality of the matter is that at this stage no
country is prepared to support us directly, other than through traditional
humanitarian aid being channelled through the United Nations Development
Programme," Biti said.
Hawkins said there was "no chance" of help in the
immediate future from the African Development Bank, the World Bank or the
International Monetary Fund, which recently sent a delegation to Zimbabwe but
said the country should first pay its debt before it could be considered for
further financial assistance.
The US, EU and other potential donors,
such as Japan, "are saying it's too early to come in at this stage," Hawkins
said.
Mugabe recently implored the US and EU to lift targeted sanctions
against him and his ZANU-PF ruling party, claiming the sanctions were
responsible for the country's economic demise.
Mugabe remains an
obstruction
The EU and the US maintain that decades of misrule,
corruption and a complete disregard for democratic norms by Mugabe's ZANU-PF are
responsible for the country's predicament.
"As long as Mugabe is
demonstrably holding influence in the inclusive government it will be an uphill
task to convince the West to chip in and help," Hawkins commented.
Yet
the Sunday Mail, a weekly Zimbabwean newspaper sponsored by the government,
claimed the country would "soon receive a host of co-operating partners".
Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, the unity government's international
co-operation minister and a member of the MDC, told the newspaper: "In our
opinion, [the removal of sanctions] will be a process, but what is interesting
is that, as an inclusive government, we are already seeing a lot of interest
from a lot of co-operating parties who would want to re-engage, and who would
want to enter into dialogue."
Zimbabwe's local businesses have been
crippled by the economic malaise, while multinational companies have remained
unwilling to invest because they were not convinced that the economic
environment was viable, Hawkins said.
"The global recession is so deep that not
many companies are running around with lots of money at the moment. Add to that
the existing pessimism among potential investors from outside, who consider
Zimbabwe a high-cost, inefficient economy, and you will see that it will be a
while before something tangible comes out."
The global recession is so deep
that not many companies are running around with lots of money at the
moment
Another wave of illegal farm
invasions by high-ranking government officials since 11 February has also dented
the confidence of foreign investors that private property rights will be
guaranteed.
Hawkins said the country's recovery prospects had been
worsened by a decade-long absence of financial aid. "Even though you would not
expect the current global financial crisis to affect aid to a country, because
donors release support up to five years in advance, Zimbabwe has not been in
that cycle for a long time."
The UNDP report published in September 2008
said it would take about 12 years for Zimbabwe's economy to be restored to its
1998 levels, but according to Hawkins this estimate was based on a growth rate
of six percent.
The global recession will affect Zimbabwe's growth rate,
even if money is found to kick-start the economy, lengthening the road to
recovery.
http://business.theglobeandmail.com
Geoffrey York, today at 5:03 AM EDT
HARARE -
In one of Zimbabwe's beautiful national parks, a tourist guide
points to the
hippos and crocodiles in the river. Then he tells his foreign
visitors: "In
Zimbabwe, the animals are the only ones who are free."
It's a
provocative thought. But by making such a bold and irreverent
comment, with
so little fear of the consequences, the guide was proving
himself
wrong.
In Zimbabwe, the humans, too, are free. Even after rigged
elections and
horrific attacks on opposition activists, even after an
estimated 200
killings by ruling-party thugs in last year's election, even
after an
estimated 4,500 cases of torture during the seizure of white-owned
commercial farms in the past nine years, most ordinary Zimbabweans retain an
irrepressible sense of freedom that should be the envy of many apathetic
democracies.
The secret police - the Central Intelligence
Organization - have a presence
all over this country. Yet people refuse to
be intimidated. They find ways
to talk to you, to tell their stories, even
if they prefer to meet you in a
low-profile location where they are less
likely to be overheard by state
agents.
In the wake of the
new coalition government, with opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai serving
as the new prime minister, that powerful urge to be free
is stronger than
ever. Opposition newspapers are sold openly by hawkers on
the streets of
Harare. Opposition politicians speak freely to the media.
Ordinary people on
the streets are happy to talk to a foreign journalist.
I met a
resident of Harare named Nigel Wilson who was driving around the
streets
with a huge sign displayed on the back of his car. "Free Bennett
Now!" said
the sign, referring to the opposition activist and newly
appointed deputy
minister of agriculture, Roy Bennett, who was in prison at
the time. (He's
since been released.) Mr. Wilson said he'd received a lot of
approving honks
and waves from other motorists, but no harassment at all
from the
police.
Even the sleepy state-controlled media are becoming
slightly less
restricted. John Robertson, an independent Zimbabwean
economist who is often
highly critical of the government, says he is now
getting interview requests
from the state media for the first time in 10
years.
I found that even the victims of police torture were
eager to talk to me,
showing no fear of retribution. Oddly enough, it was
the Westerners -
including relief workers and multinational corporations -
who were more
reluctant to talk to a journalist. They kept telling me to
call their head
office in Canada, or send a fax. Canadians and Europeans
were more
restricted by the rules of their bureaucracies than Zimbabweans
were by the
intimidation tactics of Robert Mugabe's
regime.
I was left with a strong impression that the vast
majority of Zimbabweans
are simply too democratic-minded - and too free in
their hearts - to be
oppressed by any regime forever.