The Zimbabwe Situation

http://www.timeslive.co.za

Mar 24, 2010 11:56 PM | By Moses Mudzwiti

Representatives of Zimbabwe's bickering political parties will meet today in
the resort town of Nyanga to tackle their differences a week after President
Jacob Zuma said they were committed to the success of the unity government.

Negotiators from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change were expected to tackle all
outstanding matters related to equitable power sharing.

The third principal, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara's breakaway MDC
party, will also be represented.

According to local media reports, the parties agreed, during Zuma's visit
last week to finalise the appointments of provincial governors.

They also reportedly agreed to deal with the status of Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and attorney-general Johannes Tomana.

There were suggestions that Tsvangirai's senior aide, Roy Bennett, would
finally be appointed a deputy minister. Until now, Mugabe has refused to
appoint Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.

Today's meeting will test claims that Zuma secured a breakthrough in
Zimbabwe's protracted political dispute, which has often threatened to wreck
the unity government.

Negotiators were scheduled to meet tomorrow and on Monday, and report to
Zuma by the end of the month.

Zimbabwe's Notorious Youth Service Program Set for Overhaul, Depoliticization

http://www1.voanews.com/

The 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing called for a new
national youth service to replace the so-called Border Gezi militia that was
implicated in the deadly political violence that occurred during traumatic
elections that year

Sandra Nyaira | Washington 24 March 2010

The Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe, a civic group, called
Wednesday for sweeping reforms of the country's national youth service
scheme to make sure government plans to overhaul such programs do not
perpetuate youth militia rights abuses.

The 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing called for a new
national youth service to replace the so-called Border Gezi militia - named
for a deceased youth minister of the longtime ruling ZANU-PF party - that
was implicated in the deadly political violence that occurred during the
traumatic 2008 elections.

Youth Initiative Director Sydney Chisi told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sandra
Nyaira that his organisation wants to see the youth program reformed and
reshaped into a non-partisan youth empowerment program.

Chisi noted that many Zimbabweans speak of the "youth militia" rather than
national youth service, which became a virtual wing of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF and whose members continue to be engaged as "youth
coordinators" in many rural communities.

"This isn't surprising given how many youth service graduates have been
manipulated into being agents of political violence," said Chisi, adding his
organisation, as a result, is launching its campaign for the reform of the
youth training program into a non-partisan scheme.

The Zimbabwe National Youth Service Program was established in 2001 with the
aim of instilling the nation's youth with patriotism and self-reliance.

Chisi said that while training at Border Gezi camps has been halted,
graduates of such camps continue to carry out partisan political work though
they are on the public payroll under vague titles such as "youth officers."

Nine years after the launch of the Border Gezi program, with an estimated
80,000 graduates, "the curriculum of the program still remains top secret,"
Chisi said.

He expressed his organization's concern at the "limited engagement of the
key stakeholder, the youth, in this process" of youth training. "In 2001 the
program was implemented without the input, consent and involvement of young
people and the general public. If this program is intended for the benefit
of young people, then this oversight cannot be repeated."

Chisi said Zimbabwean youth want "genuine reform and consultations in the
development and delivery of the national youth service program."

Deputy Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment Minister Thamsanqa
Mahlangu of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said the government is consulting with stakeholders on the
new service.

Govt neglected schools to focus on politics: PM

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Ndodana Sixholo Thursday 25 March 2010

HARARE - Zimbabwe drastically reduced funding for education from about US$6
per child in the first two decades of independence to a paltry $0.70 last
year as political leaders diverted resources to consolidating power, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday.

In a stinging attack on President Robert Mugabe's much vaunted achievements
in education, Tsvangirai said the public school system collapsed over the
past decade of political turmoil and economic crisis because of
under-funding, while teachers deserted classes because of political
violence.

Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with Mugabe last year to end
political crisis and pave way for economic recovery and restoration of basic
services such as health and education, said children were being taught the
same curriculum taught their parents 27 years ago because there had been no
effort to develop new and improved curricula since 1983.

"In the first decade after independence, government committed between 20-22
percent of budget towards education, supporting infrastructure development,"
said Tsvangirai, who was speaking at a ceremony in Harare to sign a 7.5
million euro (US$10.6 million) education grant from the European Commission.

"Twenty years later, government pays literally nothing towards schools per
capita grant (and) teachers' allowances are on the paltry side and worse
still (teachers are) a prey for the militia," he said, referring to the
pro-Mugabe youth militia that has attacked teachers as punishment for not
backing the veteran leader.

Tsvangirai said where two students would share a textbook in the 80s today
at least 14 percent of schools have virtually no textbooks at all.

Mugabe's sterling achievements in public education and health during the
early years of independence were for long hailed as examples of what a
developing country could achieve with the right commitment from the
government.

Upon taking power at Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe
moved with speed to bring education to thousands of black children
previously denied the opportunity by the country's former white rulers.

By 1981 Zimbabwe boasted of free primary education for all children and a
few years later, all who qualified were guaranteed admission to secondary
school. In no time, Zimbabwe boasted of one of the highest literacy rates in
Africa at around 90 percent of the population.

But public schools, as were government hospitals, were the hardest hit by
the dramatic collapse of Zimbabwe's economy over the past decade. The best
skilled teachers and other education professionals left the country in
search for better pay and living conditions abroad.

While those who remained behind spent the bulk of their time out of
classrooms on strike for more pay or simply stayed home because they could
not afford bus fare to work on their measly salaries.

But schools have re-openned since the power-sharing government came into
office in February 2009 with promises to revive the country's once brilliant
economy.

However teachers -- who two weeks ago called off a strike for more pay to
give chance to dialogue -- remain disgruntled over low salaries and there
are fears the government's reconstruction efforts in education and in other
sectors could suffer a reversal unless it gets more support from the
international community.

EU head of delegation in Zimbabwe Xavier Marchal said yesterday's grant was
part of the bloc's support to the Harare power-sharing government's efforts
to rebuild the country.

The grant given through the United Nations Children's Fund will see exercise
books and learning materials distributed to Zimbabwe's more than 5000
primary schools.

Meanwhile Tsvangirai said Harare will next week put together a multi-party
delegation that will work to improve relations with the EU.

"We will put in place a mission designed to further normalise relations
between Europe and Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai said.

The EU and the United States have maintained humanitarian support to
Zimbabwe but cut direct support to the Harare government, while maintaining
visa and financial bans on Mugabe and his top allies as punishment for
failure to uphold human rights and democracy.

The Harare delegation is part of measures Zimbabwe's political parties
agreed to implement during talks facilitated by South African President
Jacob Zuma last week and meant to end the country's international isolation
and speed up its transition to democracy. - ZimOnline.

Two More Companies Move to Seize Assets of Zimbabwe's Troubled Reserve Bank

http://www1.voanews.com

Lawyer Innocent Chagonda, representing Seedco, told reporter Gibbs Dube that
his clients have asked to share the proceeds of auctions already under way
under the High Court order obtained by Farmtech Spares

Gibbs Dube | Washington 24 March 2010

Two South African seed companies have obtained orders from Zimbabwe's High
Court to attach assets of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to settle debts
totaling some US$5 million, legal sources said Wednesday.

Central bank property was already being auctioned off in a separate case to
cover a US$2.1 million debt owed by the RBZ Farmtech Spares and Implements
for tractors purchased for a farm mechanization scheme.

Lawyers for Seedco International and Advance Seed of South Africa said they
have instructed the sheriff to start attaching RBZ assets to cover their
claims.

They said the Zimbabwean central bank failed to pay for maize and sorghum
seed supplied by their clients under agricultural input schemes in 2006 and
2007.

Lawyer Innocent Chagonda, representing Seedco, told reporter Gibbs Dube that
his clients have asked to share the proceeds of auctions already under way
under the High Court order obtained by Farmtech.

"We are aware that there are other companies that have sued the central bank
over a couple of outstanding debts and as such we need to move with speed to
attach its property," Chagonda said.

Attorney Thembinkosi Magwaliba, representing Advance Seed, said the sheriff
is expected to attach whatever RBZ assets he can to settle the US$1.3
million debt owed by the RBZ to his clients.

Central bank sources said several other companies are planning to sue the
bank over outstanding debts.

The central bank owes millions to non-governmental organizations and private
businesses for hard-currency accounts it looted to fund the operations of
the previous government of President Robert Mugabe, and to meet obligations
to mining companies for gold.

Zanu PF at it again!!

http://www.mdc.co.zw/

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 13:30

The police have for the past two weeks arrested scores of MDC supporters
across the country on trumped-up charges in a worrying partisan move as
cases of Zanu PF-instigated violence against MDC members are on the
increase.

Reports coming in show that, 10 MDC supporters from Mutasa North are
detained at Mutare Remand Prison in Manicaland province after they were
arrested last week on trumped-up political violence charges. The 10 are;
Godfrey Samhare, Enerst Maringa, Masai Mandeya, Noah Mwamuka, Agnes Mtetwa,
Zvishamiso Mandeya, Tendai Mawende, Michael Mheredza, Luckson Samhere and
Lovemore Zvarevamambo.

Another 12 from the same area are facing the same charges and are detained
at Ruda Police Station in Mutasa and are yet to appear in court despite
being in police custody for two weeks. The 12 are; Enia Mawende, Maria
Sigauke, Melody Mabvirakare, Listen Shoko, Violet Mose, Martha Mushunje,
Tedy Mwamuka, Barbra Bote, Maria Nyamunda, Cecilia Matere, Agnes Tumbakonde
and Florence Kamundimu. One of the arrested women is pregnant.

They are being held under bad conditions at Ruda police station and are
being charged with violence and disturbing a Zanu PF rally in the area.
Mutasa North MP, Hon. David Chimhini said he was worried by the selective
application of the law. "There is a selective application of the law because
serious and worse things have happened and we have evidence of real
political violence in Ward 4 in Mandeya, where people were brutalised and
beaten up by known soldiers. But the people have not been arrested."

There are similar reports of an upsurge of violence in other rural areas,
such as in Mudzi in Mashonaland East and in Masvingo. The violence has been
initiated by Zanu PF ahead of the forthcoming Constitutional outreach
programmes.In Epworth, Harare, two MDC youth activists were seriously
injured in a hit-and-run on Saturday while walking off the roadway. Alice
Banda and Rutendo Bvute were taken to hospital and are sure that it was a
punishment attack by the Zanu PF militia. Banda has a deep head wound, now
with eight stitches, severe grazing on her right shoulder, and extensive
bruising while Bvuke has a dislocated shoulder and elbow. The pair had just
distributed clothes to some Epworth youths.

Another MDC activist, Arefa Muronda was attacked and wounded on Monday by
six Zanu PF youths at Golden Valley mine in Kadoma for wearing MDC party
regalia. The Zanu PF thugs were led by Shepard Tinashe Marimanyika.
Meanwhile, in Epworth and Harare South, Zanu PF militia bases have been
re-opened under the guise of licensed wood-selling businesses, run by Zanu
PF youths. The bases are: Donoro in Ward 2, Harare South; in Epworth Ward
7 - Garakara and Mai Mawire, Ward 6 - Makandira, Ward 5 - Kadumbu and
Solani, and Ward 4 - Reuben.

UK Made No Deal To Fund Zimbabwe Land Reform - Lancaster House

The British Parliament's Africa All-party Group’s latest report, “Land in Zimbabwe: Past Mistakes, Future Prospects” claims that Britain never made nor betrayed any promises on land reform made at Lancaster House as claimed by President Robert Mugabe.

Some of the “most interesting evidence of all” came from ZANU-PF and the Zimbabwean embassy in London did not claim that there was a secret deal that the UK would provide funds to pay for land reform.

“It is true that both Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo sought commitments on land reform..., but the UK had to broker a deal between Ian Smith and his regime’s military on the one hand and the liberation movements on the other hand, and there was no agreement on land,” said the researchers who undertook the research presented in Parliament by Hugh Bayley, Labour MP for City of York.

At one stage in the talks, Mugabe and the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, who lead the Zimbabwean Patriotic Front delegation to the Lancaster House talks, threatened to walk out, but “a great deal of pressure was put on them by the Presidents of the front-line states, particularly Zambia and Mozambique, which were used by the Zimbabwean liberation movement fighters for their training camps and supply lines.

“Pressure from those neighbouring countries was put on the Zimbabwean liberation movements to agree a deal so that the war might end. The leaders of those movements were urged to compromise, and they did,” he said.

“There is nothing in the Lancaster House agreement promising to pay for land reform, and nothing in our conversations with the principal western Ministers involved at the time - Lord Carrington and Chester Crocker - suggested that there was any secret deal to do so. “

Britain, however, made aid available for land reform on a “willing seller, willing buyer” basis, and by 1986, 71,000 families had been resettled on land formerly owned by commercial farmers in what the Economist described at the time as “one of the most successful aid schemes in Africa”.

However, by 1985, the scheme had slowed down, and in the 1990s it stopped altogether, and when, in 1997, Robert Mugabe was losing support within ZANU-PF, and came under pressure from war veterans for pensions, he capitulated to their demands.

“The veterans came back with more demands, including demands for land, and in 2000 Robert Mugabe instituted a fast-track land reform process. From that time onwards, Zimbabwe’s relationship with the UK, the European Union and the United States deteriorated,” said Bayley.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group had chosen to investigate this subject because the violence from farm invasions has destroyed the livelihoods of 200,000 farm workers and halved the commercial agricultural output of Zimbabwe, and because because of concern that UK policy is misunderstood in Africa as the UK having reneged on its promise made during the Lancaster House talks.

“Furthermore, many in Africa believe that we oppose farm invasions in Zimbabwe principally because it is white farmers whose land is being expropriated, and many believe that we support the European Union’s restrictive measures because we have political differences with the President of Zimbabwe.

To set the record straight and to look forwards, the Group sought to establish what was actually agreed at Lancaster House and to document what development assistance has been provided by the UK to Zimbabwe for land reform, and to examine what future land reform policies would re-establish productive agriculture to support rural livelihoods and offer job opportunities for the many farm workers who have lost their jobs through the farm invasions.

They sought and obtained evidence from representatives of the UK Government, the Secretary of State for International Development, the Zimbabwean ambassador in London, and even ZANU-PF negotiating teams and their legal advisers, Lord Carrington, academics in both the UK and Zimbabwe; from Chester Crocker, the US Assistant Secretary of State who had special responsibility for Africa at the time of the Lancaster House talks, and many more.

As a result pressure from war veterans the fast-track land reform was introduced, leading to a 60 per cent fall in commercial agricultural output, an economy in free-fall and mounting inflation, with prices doubling every 24 hours at its worst.

Sir Robert Smith, a Liberal Democrat from West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine bemoaned the collapse in productive capacity and said it would be difficult to bring back the productivity without legal title to the new owners which would underpin investment in farming.

“We therefore need to bring back legal stability and a proper legal process to land ownership in countries such as Zimbabwe, to enable investment for the future so that productive capacity can be restored.”

“Willing seller, willing buyer” apparently did not work very well because the seller could not repatriate the money to the United Kingdom or wherever else they wanted to send it, as it was in the mining sector, where Lonrho negotiated a deal enabling it to take mining money out of the country, said Conservative William Cash of Stone, adding that this contributed to generating “a lot of the pressure.”

But said Bayley, since 2000, when political relations between the UK and Zimbabwe became strained, far from penalising Zimbabwe for farm invasions, the UK recognised the country’s growing humanitarian needs and increased aid from $ 20 million in 2000 to $ 89 million in 2008, which, according to independent figures from the OECD’s development assistance committee contributed to the $ 1.128 billion in aid from the UK to Zimbabwe since independence. Full Report

Zimbabwe Union Calls for International Labor Action Against Air Zimbabwe in Dispute

http://www1.voanews.com

Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington 24 March 2010

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said it is seeking a boycott of Air
Zimbabwe flights by the International Transport Workers Federation on all of
its routes, seeking to force the carrier to reinstate some 400 workers it
laid off in 2009.

The rights of the workers have been upheld in arbitration and court
challenges, the union said.

Some critics have accused the ZCTU of sabotaging the national carrier
through its boycott strategy.

But ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri that the union is well within its rights in seeking solidarity by
organized labor at home and abroad until Air Zimbabwe reconsiders its
position on the retrenched workers.

Zimbabwe govt privatises bank
News - Africa news

http://www.afriquejet.com

Economy - The Zimbabwe government announced Wednesday it was offering a 49
percent stake in a state-controlled bank to private investors, as part of a
major privatisation programme intended to raise revenue.

In a statement, the authorities said the government would retain a 51
percent stake in the People's Own Savings Bank, one of Zimbabwe's oldest and
largest banks.

The partial sell-off marks the beginning of what the government has said
will be a series of major privatisations of state enterprises, to raise
revenue to finance an expected budget deficit of around US$800 million.

The country's coalition government had hoped to raise up to US$10 billion
from donors to turn around the economy, but most financiers have withheld
aid, insisting on political and economic reforms.

"At all times, at least 51 percent of the bank's issued share capital shall
be held by the state or nominees of the state," the government said in the
statement.

The government has also lined up telecommunication and transport companies,
among them the national air carrier, for privatisation.

Most of these companies make huge losses and are perennially bailed out by
the government.

Harare - Pana 24/03/2010

Soldiers awarded salary increments

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=28268

March 24, 2010

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - Members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces have been awarded salary
increments of up to 75 percent, it has emerged.

Payslips for soldiers seen by The Zimbabwe Times show that the soldiers'
salaries have been increased from US$150 per month to US$270.

Last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti referred all questions on the
increments to Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, who in turn
asked for questions to be forwarded to the Defence Forces Service
Commission.

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa could not be immediately reached.

The salary increments for soldiers have irked teachers who have been locked
in a dispute with the inclusive government over improvement of their working
conditions.

The president of the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) Takavafira Zhou said
his union had asked the government to declare a deadlock in the salary
dispute with the teachers.

He said it was unacceptable that the government could afford to raise the
salary of soldiers while telling teachers it did not have the money to raise
their salaries.

"A teacher has a net salary of US$160,"said Zhou. "The government is telling
us that it does not have money, but a soldier is now taking home US$276.

"The government is misguided. We have asked the government to declare a
deadlock so that we can go for arbitration, but it is refusing saying it is
still consulting."

He added that going for arbitration meant a neutral arbitrator would make a
determination on the salary dispute.

So far government has confirmed increasing salaries of lecturers from less
than US$200 to US$800.

In previous statements, civil servants have bemoaned the plunder of the
country's mineral resources, particularly diamonds at Chiadzwa at a time
when the government was saying it did not have funds to increase salaries
for state employees.

The parliamentary committee on Mines and Energy has since launched a probe
on diamond mining activities.

Last month, Zimbabwe's civil servants went on an indefinite strike to press
for an increase in salaries and better working conditions

The government was promising an increment of $122 for the lowest paid worker
up from $120 while the highest paid was promised $236 from $185. Civil
servants were demanding $630 for the lowest paid worker; this included
housing and transport allowance.

The workers later called off the strike.

Germans assist Grace Mugabe build high tech milk processing factory

24 March, 2010 11:09:00 By Mxolisi Ncube

It is a subsidiary of the super-high tech German-owned GUTH Ventiltechnik and it will cost US$13.5 million.

JOHANNESBURG - A German company with a branch in South Africa has busted the EU targeted measures against President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, by building a state-of-the-art dairy processing plant to process milk from their Gushungo Dairy Estates.

The dairy, costing US$13,5 million, has been built by Guth South Africa, a leading supplier of equipment to the local dairy, food and beverage market. It is a subsidiary of the German-owned GUTH Ventiltechnik.

The first family seized Foyle dairy farm in the fertile Mazowe Valley from its rightful owner - Ian Webster. It used to be one of the best dairy estates in the country.

Sources at Guth said the equipment would be installed at a big factory at Mugabe's rural home in Zvimba, not on the Gushungo Estates. It is presumed the milk will be trucked across the country from Mazowe to Zvimba.

"The dairy will produce anything you can think of in terms of dairy products - milk, yoghurt, ice cream, cheese and juices," said the source

The Mugabes are unable to sell their milk to American or European Union (EU) companies, which are banned from doing business with the octogenarian leader and his inner circle or businesses linked to them, under a raft of targeted measures imposed on them for human rights abuses.

Zimbabwe's largest milk processor, the parastatal Dairiboard, which is riddled with mis-management and corruption, was unable to pay the Mugabes for the milk. They therefore began selling to Nestle - the Swiss-based multinational - but public outrage around the world forced Nestle to stop dealing with them.

Sources at the factory in Johannesburg told our reporters this week that the dairy equipment was built over the past two years through funds channeled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), where one of Mugabe's closest allies, Gideon Gono is the governor. It is not clear whether the Mugabes refunded the Reserve Bank from their own resources - or whether taxpayers' dollars were used for the project.

Mugabe's official salary for the past 30 years does not amount to US$13,5 million.

"We began to build the factory in 2008 and have now almost finished. Anytime it will be hitting the road to Zimbabwe. We are just waiting for Mugabe's people to come here and give their satisfaction before it leaves," said an employee at Guth.
On how the alliance with the Mugabes began, the workers said that one of the company managers was a close business associate of Grace, following many other "jobs" they have done for her.

"This boss is the only one who handles Mrs Mugabe's orders because he seems to have earned her trust. Her people always come here to check on the equipment and they only deal with him," said the source.

Other workers said the Mugabes had become popular and regular customers at the company, which is expected to send its experts to install the dairy in Zvimba. The company will also continue to supply spare parts and after sales service to the dairy, which will be up and running before the end of this year, according to the sources.

"They want to supply not only the Zimbabwean market, but other countries in the region with dairy products," said a source with the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), from which Mugabe draws most of his company managers. He also uses managers from the agricultural parastatal ARDA as well as Joseph Made, the minister of farm mechanisation as his personal staff.

Despite several attempts, no official comment could be obtained from Guth SA, as the company's manager - identified only as Andrew by the receptionist - was said to be out of office, and he had not responded.

Zanu-PF, MDC to meet to iron out their differences