The Scotsman
JANE
FIELDS IN HARARE
NO-ONE uses wallets in Zimbabwe these days. They're too
small.
The country's money is devaluing so fast that you have to lug
around plastic
bags full of it if you're doing a small grocery shop. To buy
anything
bigger, you'll need to fill a suitcase.
If you want to take
friends out for a meal - say to a popular barbecue spot
like Kwa Mereki in
Harare's Warren Park suburb - it's best to take a
car-boot full of brown
bearer-cheques, wadded together into thick
two-million dollar piles known
here as "bricks", "metres" or - if you want
to rub it in -
"stationery".
Prices go up nearly every day here as record inflation
takes its toll. At
more than 782 per cent, Zimbabwe's inflation rate is the
highest in the
world. And that is just the official tally. Like most things
in Zimbabwe,
inflation figures are controlled by the authorities, who
carefully choose
which goods are to be surveyed. Business people say,
privately, that the
real rate is well over 1,000 per cent.
A
telephone bill last month - more than 15 million Zimbabwe dollars - would
have bought five houses five years ago. Nice houses, in Harare's rich
suburbs.
This week, $15 million is worth just £41 - enough to buy a
tank of
black-market petrol. Next week - who knows?
Millions don't
mean much now. Zimbabweans joke that they are "poor
millionaires". Like
Gladys, a domestic worker who earns $2.9 million a
month. That's a salary
she could only dream of early last year, when maids'
wages were fixed at
just over $80,000. These days her millions won't stretch
to a regular piece
of meat. So she eats dried grasshoppers.
The real sums these days are
done in billions and trillions. The
state-appointed city council in Harare
is planning to shell out $1.45
trillion to buy its managers pick-up trucks,
the official Herald newspaper
reported this week. The state-run electricity
company needs to raise $500
billion to import electricity.
Gideon
Gono, the governor of the Central bank, has urged people not to panic
at
soaring prices. He has promised that inflation will reach a peak of
around
800 per cent this month and then start falling. Few people believe
him.
VOA
By Chris
Gande
Washington
29 March 2006
Like the
residents of many developed and developing countries in Africa and
around
the world, Zimbabweans have embraced the telecommunications
revolution.
With three competing cellular phone networks - Telecel,
Net One and Econet -
and a comprehensive fixed line network operated by
state monopoly Telone,
Zimbabwe has more than kept pace with its peers among
African countries in
phone access.
But the country's surging
inflation, measured at a 12-month rate of 782% in
February, is threatening
to bring the country's progress in
telecommunications to a halt as the cost
of even routine cellular calls
becomes prohibitive.
As reporter Chris
Gande of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reports, even a busy
signal can cost a
Zimbabwe mobile user 20,000 Zimbabwe dollars, about 20
U.S. cents at the
official exchange rate, or around 10 cents at the parallel
market rate.
Zim Daily
Thursday, March 30 2006 @ 03:20 AM BST
Contributed by: correspondent
Embattled President Robert
Mugabe won a vague pledge from the
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo last night to
supply US$200 million worth of fuel to
combat Zimbabwe's worsening
shortages. Mbasogo arrived in Zimbabwe yesterday
afternoon on a three-day
state visit for negotiations on the deal that was
entered in November 2004
following the capture of 62 mercenaries in Harare,
who were on a mission to
topple the government of
Mbasogo.
Mugabe is said to have pleaded, hat-in-hand for
desperately
needed supplies, that have spawned renewed threats to his 26
year old rule.
The invitation to Mbasogo, official sources say, is a measure
of Mugabe's
desperation. Fuel supplies in Harare are in chaos. The
international oil
companies that distribute fuel to petrol stations have not
received
deliveries for more than a month from the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe
(Noczim), the state-owned fuel company with a monopoly on
importation.
Noczim is bankrupt after more than two decades of a policy,
directed by
Mugabe, of selling fuel for a fraction of its international
market price.
Thanks to the black market there is no visible
reduction in the
volume of traffic on the capital's streets. The Government
tried to shut
down the black market this week by banning motorists from
carrying fuel in
containers. Expectations were not high that Mugabe would
succeed in sealing
a long time deal, and the statement issued at the end of
last night's talk
left the extent of Guinea "co-operation" deliberately
vague.
Mike Nyambuya, Energy Minister, recently announced
that Noczim
owed foreign oil companies more than US$135 million, and was
paying off the
debt at the rate of $5 million a month. Zimdaily heard that
Mugabe was
offering to pay Mbasongo with tobacco, cattle and
tea. But with the mass expropriation of white-owned farms, the
Zimbabwe
tobacco industry has fallen from being the world's biggest exporter
to
producing only a third of its normal output last year. President Mbasogo
was
shown Zimbabwe's prime producer of milk and related products, Dairiboard
yesterday, raising speculation about government's
intentions.
Mugabe's scourge of commercial agriculture has
decimated the
beef industry. Zimdaily heard that Mugabe had offered to pay
the fuel partly
with an unspecified shareholding in Zimbabwe's fuel pipeline
system, storage
facilities and petrol stations, only some of which are
state-owned. Mugabe
has also offered a selection of white-owned farms seized
by the government.
Mbasogo is accompanied by his wife Constancia Mangue,
Equatorial Guinea's
First Lady. Zimdaily heard Mbasogo was set to address
the Zanu PF central
committee on Friday.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily
Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Mar-30
SHORTAGES of expertise and
porous legislation is affecting the fight against
corruption in the country,
the Minister of State for State Enterprises,
Anti-Monopolies and
Anti-Corruption, Paul Mangwana, said yesterday.
Mangwana said this while
responding to a question by Kambuzuma legislator
Willas Madzimure on the
challenges being faced by his ministry and the
Anti-Corruption Commission in
the fight against graft.
"Some of the constraints we are facing include weak
and fragmented
legislation on corruption, inadequate resources and skills
deficiency in
information science, forensic auditing and public fear of
reprisals for
reporting those involved in corruption," he said.
Mangwana
said other challenges included little regional integration in terms
of
extradition treaties, sophistication in white collar crime and the
existence
of only two commercial crimes court in the country, both located
in
Harare.
The minister added poor remuneration in both the private and public
sector
was also driving people to commit white-collar crimes.
He,
however, said an inter-ministerial committee had been set up and was
holding
discussions with neighbouring countries in the region to fight
corruption
and also review current legislation to curb graft.
"There is need for civil
service reforms and provision of houses to civil
servants to improve their
welfare and the engagement of the private sector
so that the astronomical
profits are shared with the workers," Mangwana
said.
The minister also
urged the legislators to be involved in the fight against
corruption.
"As
leaders we should shun corruption. It's a matter of concern that only
the
presidency has been distinctly calling for zero tolerance against
corruption. There is need for us as intermediate leaders, including church
leaders, business leaders and MPs to be louder in the fight against
corruption," he said.
Mangwana added that the government was working with
the United Nations
Development Programme to provide technical assistance in
the fight against
graft and that there were efforts to share intelligence
with other Sadc
countries to eradicate vice.
Matopo legislator Lovemore
Moyo castigated corruption in the allocation of
house under Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle saying 98 percent of people that
had benefited in his
constituency were undeserving.
The country launched a crusade against
corruption in 2003, which saw the
arrest of ex-finance minister Chris
Kuruneri and businessman and politician
James Makamba being arrested for
allegedly violating exchange control
regulations.
Kuruneri is standing
trial in the High Court, while Makamba fled the
country.
Apart from the
two high-ranking politicians, bankers Mthuli Ncube, Julius
Makoni, James
Mushore, Francis Zimuto and Nicholas Vingirai also skipped the
country after
police opened investigations into their deals.
Meanwhile, the leader of the
House and Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick
Chinamasa, confirmed that there were problems
in the production of the
Hansard whose latest edition was printed last year.
"I am aware of the
problem and I am going to refer that the matter be
attended to by
Parliament," he said in response to a question on whether he
was aware that
the Hansard has become a "scarce commodity."
Proceedings in the House are
recorded in the Hansard for distribution to the
public.
The Minister of
Science and Technology, Olivia Muchena, yesterday tabled the
Biotechnology
Bill to the House and it was read for the first time and
referred to the
Parliamentary Legal Committee.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Business
Reporter
issue date :2006-Mar-30
THE government exceeded borrowing
limits by 44 percent in 2004.
This was in direct contravention to standing
regulations that the public
debt limit should be confined to 30 percent of
the general revenue of
Zimbabwe, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee
said on Tuesday.
In a special report tabled before the House of Assembly, the
committee said
the government reached a debt of $224 billion.
This
represented 74 percent of revenue.
The report said the transactions were
carried out without Parliamentary
approval and this was of great concern to
the committee.
"Information received by your committee from the Comptroller
and Auditor
General revealed that the borrowing limit of 30 percent of the
general
revenues of Zimbabwe as set by section 3 (2) of the State Loans and
Guarantees Act was exceeded by $224 332 128 491 (74 percent) without
parliamentary approval.
"This is obviously a matter of concern to your
committee. Loan repayment
arrear claims amounted to $37 billion as at
December 31 2004. There were no
proper records for special treasury bills,"
chairperson of the committee
Priscillah Misihairabwi-Mushonga told the House
of Assembly.
She said the Ministry of Finance maintained that the Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe is responsible for the accounting of the special Tresury
Bills,
therefore the ministry as the manager of public funds is unable to
carry out
independent verification of the bills.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga
added that her committee was also concerned that the
ministry was providing
different figures on Treasury Bills on the
ledger and the public debt
statement.
She said there were irregularities in the procurement system,
especially in
the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs where
accounts for
goods supplied to Khami Prison were not clear.
There were no
internal controls. At the same time there appeared to be
conflicts of
interest where officers, friends and workmates supplied goods.
Turning to the
Ministry of Mines, the report said auditors had unearthed a
scam in which
the institution was procuring sub standard goods from
non-reputable
dealers.
The legislator said Treasury should swiftly move in and rigorously
enforce
the management and control of public money and state
property.
"The Ministry of Finance should seriously consider invoking
misconduct
regulations on accounting officers who fail to bring up to date
arrear
accounts within the stipulated period including those who fail to
submit
their returns timeously.
"Loopholes that exist in the public
finance management system which result
in unauthorised excess expenditure
should be plugged.
"Ministries should cease forthwith using resources from
Fund Accounts to
finance their recurrent expenditure as happened in the
Ministry of Local
Government over a period of three years," the report
said.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date
:2006-Mar-30
THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe has
so far paid $10
billion to the Rural Electrification Agency for the
electrification of the
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GTLP), an official
has said.
The authority's public relations manager, Major Edward Mbewe,
yesterday said
the GTLP was this year scheduled to have a facelift that
included
refurbishments of lodges, chalets, and roads to enhance its appeal
to
international tourists.
He said Zimbabwe was losing a lot of tourism
business to neighbouring South
Africa's Kruger National Park and the Limpopo
National Park in Mozambique
whose resources are more attractive to
tourists.
Last year the GTLP received a $100 billion from the government
under the
Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), Mbewe said, adding the
money came
in tranches specifically for the upgrading of the national
park.
He said $15 billion of the total $100 billion had so far been received
and
$10 billion had been paid to clear outstanding debts with REA, which is
electrifying the area.
Mbewe, however, said the tranch system was a
disadvantage as the value of
the money was constantly being eroded by
inflation, currently at a peak of
782 percent.
"Inflation is eroding the
value of the money and the quotations we made last
year have all expired. We
cannot cope as the money is not as useful now as
when we got it," he
said
Mbewe said the GTLP was the only entity in which the government had a
hand
in the refurbishment process.
Over the years, the country has
identified six potential transfrontier
conservation projects, including the
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, in
collaboration with South Africa and
Mozambique.
Gonarezhou and adjacent communal lands of Sengwe, in Chiredzi
District, and
Chipise, in Beitbridge district, were incorporated into the
Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park.
The 35 000 square kilometre GLTP
incorporates Limpopo National Park, Kruger
National Park and Zimbabwe's
Gonarezhou National Park, to become the world's
biggest wildlife
sanctuary.
The three parks have different life spans with Kruger Park being
more than
100 years old, Gonarezhou about 30 years old and Limpopo just less
than five
years.
The GLTP stands to boost the region's tourism figures
and earn the three
countries huge sums of money in foreign
currency.
Other benefits include reinforcement of economic integration of the
Sadc
region, restoration of cultural ties and promotion of infrastructure
development in communities that rely on wildlife activities.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror
Reporter
issue date :2006-Mar-30
BETWEEN 70 and 90 percent of
Zimbabwean university graduates are working
outside the country, a
government official said yesterday in the capital.
Eunice Chitambira from the
Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community
Development, said this
during a conference on labour migration.
"The brain drain is very acute in
Zimbabwe to the extent that between 70 and
90 percent of all Zimbabwean
university graduates are working outside the
country. The loss of skilled
people has serious negative implication on
development," she
said.
Chitambira added that research conducted by the Southern Africa
Research and
Documentation Centre (SARDC) revealed that an estimated 535 509
Zimbabweans
were living legally abroad, although there was no accurate data
on illegal
emigrants.
It is, however, estimated that at least 3 million
Zimbabweans, both legal
and illegal emigrants, are living in the
Diaspora.
At least 36,8 percent of emigrants go to the United Kingdom, 34,5
percent to
Botswana, 6,9 percent to the USA, 4,6 percent to South Africa,
3,4 percent
to Canada and 13,8 percent to other countries.
"Results from
the SARDC survey indicated that a large number of health care
professionals
are leaving the country as indicated by the fact that 24,6
percent of
Zimbabwean emigrants are trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
Teachers
constitute 20 percent of the emigrants and this is compromising the
quality
of education that is being offered in our educational institutions,"
she
said.
Chitambira added that the movement of people had destroyed
families.
"The family is under threat because of a number of reasons which
include
the brain drain. Husbands and wives are divorcing and remarrying
because of
the distance relationships they are not able to maintain," she
said adding
abuse of children especially girls had also increased due to the
break up of
families.
The economic hardships being faced in the country
have resulted in an
upsurge in the number of Zimbabweans going to the
Diaspora seeking greener
pastures.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Mar-30
SOARING inflation is
posing a serious threat to the viability of the
country's insurance
industry, the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ), has
said.
ICZ president, Lawrence Nazare, yesterday said that
inflation, currently at
782 percent, had seriously affected their
underwriting business.
"Inflation is one of the greatest enemies of
insurance. Besides compromising
our clients, it also compromises our
business as insurers. Our capacity to
keep underwriting is diminished," he
said
Nazare said because of the unstable prices of most assets they insured,
most
of their clients remained under- insured as they could not keep up with
the
significant rise in the value of their assets.
He added that relative
profits and balance sheets of most insurance
companies were being reduced
because of the high number of industry players
compared to the client
base.
This, he said, was aggravated by clients giving less priority to
insurance
as the harsh economic environment forced them to focus on basic
essentials.
Nazare described 2005 as the most challenging year for the
insurance
industry, with insurance companies making technical losses.
He
predicted that the shrinking business in the insurance industry would
compel
insurance companies to retrench their staff to keep afloat.
"We will probably
see voluntary retrenchments. We do not rule out companies
downsizing
considerably," he said
Nazare expressed confidence that most insurance
companies would comply with
the Ministry of Finance's minimum capital
requirement which states that
re-insurers and short term insurance companies
should have at least $30
billion and $5 billion respectively by end of
August this year.
He however expressed concern that the minimum capital
requirement could be
increased substantially by the ministry due to
increasing inflation.
Nazare recommended the merging of insurance companies
to avoid overtrading.
"Mergers like the one between Zimnat Lion and AIG are
what we believe in. It
will reduce the number of players in the business and
fewer players will
lead to a less congested market. Bigger and stronger
players will ensure
that insurance companies are better managed and more
capable to underwrite
business," he said.
He also welcomed as positive
the formation of the Insurance and Pensions
Commission to be chaired by
Elisha Mushayakarara.
More robust regulation would ensure discipline within
the insurance industry
and protect the consumers, he added.
New Zimbabwe
MASOLA WA DABUDABU HOPEWELL
Last updated: 03/30/2006 13:08:24
Silence is
golden!
The worldly rumour is that silence is golden. If it is true
that
silence is golden, bless all the monks of the order of silence. Perhaps
a
great number of Zimbabweans are honorary members of this self-gagging,
self-censoring and self-depriving order. The deafening silence of the people
that accompanies the vile murder of our country and that of its people by
Mugabe bears loud testimony to this.
I shall un-speak in order
not to speak! Perhaps the torturer-general
will listen to my
silence.
Silence is seemingly the only approach that the people of
Zimbabwe can
consider seriously; no talking, no complaints, no speeches at
funerals, no
laughter and no sobbing. We have sung songs but with no
reprieve in sight.
Our painfully sung tunes have been listened to in vein
only by the oppressed
singers themselves. Long and emotional speeches have
been read and said but
the rot persists. People have wept, cried, mourned
and howled only at the
cost of their dear voices. So far, dead silence
remains untested.
I invite you to the newest weapon in the struggle
for emancipation. I
invite you to refrain from your God-given talent of
speech. I urge you to
subscribe to the golden club of silence. They say at
times you are not only
what you eat but what you say as well. Say nothing
and no-one would ever
know what you are and who you are. Say nothing and you
will remain who you
are. Remain mum and you will never incur any
responsibility to the devil. In
maintaining total silence, the chances of
being misquoted by the
irresponsible gutter press are removed. The chance of
saying the wrong
slogan to the wrong mob is diminished. The sad chance of
incurring the devil's
wrath is next to nil.
These hard times
are about enduring. I ask you to endure that killing
urge to speak. I ask
you to have self-control over your freedom of speech.
You have a right to
remain silent. Should you succumb to your will to speak,
remember that
anything you say may be used against you. So; countrymen, do
not implicate
yourselves by saying anything. Remain silent! Your stoical
stance will bear
fruits. Exercise your right to remain silent by forfeiting
the other right
to freedom of speech!
Take to quietism with fanatical zeal. It may
seem like a demeaning
alternative, but it is definitely the safest one.
Passive attitude to life
is much safer than active transportation to doom.
Your silence may degrade
your ego though. It may lower your self-esteem and
might also humiliate you
in the face. Soldier on with the debasement. At the
end, you will be
dignified with nobility. You will be exalted to the highest
order of
humanity.
Let us all be the dastards that the powers
want us to be. Let us show
them all the cowardice we have. Let us make them
know that we are silently
resolving to remain the silent sneaking cowards
they want us to be. Let us
not voice our concerns. What else can we as a
people do? We have been
refused to ask for some more into our plates, to ask
why this and that may
be happening the way it is and ask the question when
will so and so quit.
What else can a people denied other basic
rights do? Who can we turn
to besides silence? If the salesman can raise his
prices hourly, we can also
raise the silent stake daily. The vow of silence
is the cheapest, yet the
most effective. If the salesman bastardizes your
silence, you can still
revenge by employing a stronger resolve to remain
silent. At the end, the
silence of the people will debunk the evil within
the system.
As we remain silent in this dark world, we can silently
pray to the
Lord for salvation. We can silently ask the lord to remain in
our midst
during our silence. We can silently ask the Lord to shed some
light onto
this dark world. We can silently curse all those forces of evil.
We can
silently eat humble pie in the fashion desired by our silent
appetites. We
can then silently acknowledge the mayhem and the disorder
within. We can
silently disassociate ourselves from the evil. As we remain
silent, the
forces of darkness will not enjoy our
submissiveness.
If the forces of darkness charge us for being
silent, we can answer
back by being even more silent. Perhaps we can
silently hope that those
forces have brains. We can silently assume that the
forces of darkness will
not continue to flog a dead frog, or is it horse? In
our silence, we can
only pray and hope that after-all there is some human
heart within the burly
bodies of the overly-fed forces of eternal darkness.
We can silently hope
that in their stately houses, the forces of darkness do
not fry house flies,
but fry fish like us. We can silently picture and hope
for the human side of
the evil forces.
If the order of silence
fails to settle the score between the good and
the bad, then we can again
silently pray to God. We could silently wish that
the biblical Samson will
have an urge to marry a money loving woman from the
fearsome tribe of the
Philistines. We can silently wish that Samson will be
foolish enough to tell
Delilah that his power, charm, wickedness, arrogance,
self-assertiveness,
strength and might are located in his hair.
We can remain
religiously silent and hope that Samson will be charmed
by the gracefulness
of Delilah and expose his wickedness. In our silence, we
can hope to see
Samson losing his locks. In our silence, we can see Delilah
inviting the
Philistines to feast on the weak Samson. This is only if we
have faith in
silence!
Now, fellow countrymen, are you giving yourselves up to
the order of
silence? Are you going to accept economic mismanagement
silently and
reservedly? Are you going to look at one side when the
price-ful blow of
profiteering strikes your meagre earnings? Are you going
to offer some tepid
responce to absence of a proper way of life? Are you
going to silently eat
nothing and hope your silence will bring something to
your starving body?
Are you going to silently allow the prophets of doom
mismanage your economy?
Are you going to resign to silence as the forces of
earthly men and women
eviscerate your existence? Are you going to silently
wait for the violent
visitation of the youthful brigands? Are you silently
resigning the fate of
your children to the fate of appeasement?
May be we are monks of the silent order because we fear the rebound.
It is
said that if you throw dirt around, some of it sticks. May be we fear
throwing dirt around. May be we do not mind dirt being thrown to us. May be
we are zombies under the spell of the forces of darkness. May be we are part
of the forces of evil. May be we enjoy being short-changed. May be it is
African to be exploited from birth to death, by fellow Blacks, colonising
Whites, enslaving Browns from the Middle East and enterprising Yellows from
the far East.
In our silence, we accept to remain the hewers of
stone and drawers of
water. Unfortunately again we shall silently marvel at
the efficiency of
those who use us as they use us to build them magnificent
castles. We shall
silently die of thirst as we see those who exploit our
silence drink with
evil gulps the water we draw. We shall silently choke in
hunger, anger,
frustration and misery as we move a gear up in our silent
resolve to remain
silent.
I may not speak!
Masola
wa Dabudabu is a columnist for New Zimbabwe.com and was
previously a regular
columnist with the banned Daily News. He writes from
London. CONTACT
MASOLA:
New Zimbabwe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
5 years, Professor Jonathan Moyo was President Robert Mugabe's strident
defender as Information Minister. Today, he is an Independent MP and sitting
on the other side of the fence, tearing into the man he loathed, then liked,
and now loathes again. On Tuesday night, he spoke to SW Radio Africa's top
inquisitor, Violet Gonda, and the following is a transcript of the interview
:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last
updated: 03/30/2006 13:07:54
Violet: Our guest on the programme this week
is Professor Jonathan Moyo the
former Information Minister who is now an
independent MP for Tsholotsho.
Violet: Let's start with the general question
on the crisis in the country.
You have written an article talking about the
devastating economic meltdown
and you said if nothing is done to intervene
as a matter of national urgency
more people will perish as some already
have. And you also say the economy
is the real opposition to ZANU-PF. First
of all can you explain the state of
the economy and how bad things
are?
Moyo: Well I thank it is now an undeniable truth that there is no
single
living Zimbabwean who can ever recall such a situation happening in
the
country, as we have today, in their lifetime. Some people have indicated
of
course that the economy has fallen to the standards of 1953 but the truth
of
the matter is people are finding it difficult to make ends meet. We have
high unemployment levels, unprecedented at over 85%, we have poverty, people
living below the poverty line - over 90% of our population, and now
inflation is hovering around 1000%.
Basic goods necessary for
everyday living are either unavailable or
unaffordable. What is particularly
disquieting about this is that those in
authority, the ruling Zanu-PF
Government, while it claims to enjoy popular
support, while it claims to be
for Zimbabweans, for the sovereignty of the
people, it is now clear to all
that they are totally clueless.they don't
know what to do. Over the last 6
months everything has gotten worse and the
hope that the government had was
that the IMF was going to come to their
rescue and that is why some 21
trillion dollars were printed to pay back the
arrears and this was done to
the detriment of the country.
As we all know the IMF has not restored
voting rights, it has not opened new
credit lines. There was also hope that
with excellent rains, and indeed
there were very good rains this year, but
again to demonstrate that the
government is no longer able to come up with
any solution even when it comes
to matters that traditionally we would
expect it to be leading, this is
going to be a disastrous season, the
harvest will be probably half the
requirements of the country when it comes
to maize, but even the other crops
like tobacco, and horticulture, the story
on the ground is disastrous. We
were not prepared.
Violet: Now
Professor Moyo you say the government is totally clueless on the
way
forward. Now what do you think needs to be done?
Moyo: The problem of
course is a political matter. Right now there is no
national or local
confidence in the economy, no international confidence in
the economy
because of the unresolved political situation that obtains in
the country.
It really is an obvious thing now that as long as we have
President Mugabe
in power and more particularly as long as we have Zanu-PF
in power, we are
not going to address the basic fundamental problems that
are affecting our
economy. So it is political first and there is no sign
that Zanu-PF sees
this within itself; indication of a willingness to reform
within Zanu-PF let
alone reform within the country. And so what needs to be
done when the
economy begins to affect everyone, businesses consumers,
ordinary people in
such ways, it means the time for everyone to work
together has come; it
means the time to put aside petty political squabbles,
to forge a united
front against Zanu-PF (has come). It's so clear now that
the problem is
Zanu-PF. Nobody has confidence in Zanu-PF. And Zanu-PF has
lost confidence
in itself that is why it is unable to deal with the
situation.
Violet: But Professor Moyo not long ago you were the
spokesperson for this
same government. First of all what policy discussions
took place while you
were in cabinet and wasn't there a recognition that
things were going bad,
that things were deteriorating?
Moyo: Well
it's over a year ago when I was in government discussing these
things. You
know that since 2000 a fundamental issue in our country has been
how to deal
with the land question and this issue which I believe many
Zimbabweans agree
that it is fundamental has not been handled properly.
There have been
mistakes, very serious mistakes that were made. There were
discussions when
I was in government about these mistakes and at some point
we thought that
there was a willingness to correct the mistakes. But if you
look at what
happened in October last year through constitutional amendment
number 17
it's obvious that there is no willingness in Zanu-PF to deal with
these
mistakes. Instead they have wadded more complications to the original
mistakes.
Now as long as this fundamental question of not just land
but general
property relations in Zimbabwe as long as this question is not
handled
properly then we are furthering economic doom. But it is not just a
question
of what Zanu-pf does alone or what discussion may be going on or
not going
on in government, it is a question of what Zimbabweans are going
to do about
it. Many people have seen Zimbabweans as a docile population;
Zimbabweans as
people who are not capable of rising up against a government
who are
violating their fundamental rights, not just political rights but
also
economic rights.
Violet: Can I just interject there Professor
Moyo, you know you sound very
sensible right now and someone would say what
great intellect, but some say
coming from someone who's played a part - you
were part of the system when
institutions were breaking down - how do you
feel they you were part and
parcel of that system that has destroyed the
country?
Moyo: Well, I don't agree that I was part of a system that
destroyed the
country. I was among those who were trying to reform that
system. It is too
simplistic to assume that there are some people who know
how we should
resolve the Zimbabwean conflict ant that they are the only
ones that have
that answer and that those people are outside Zanu PF. That
is a fallacy
which is costing us a lot. There are many people and as someone
who was in
government what you hear people say and do in terms of their
public
posturing and what they actually work tirelessly to achieve within
the
structures of ZANU PF is entirely a different matter. I certainly
consider
myself one of those who tried to reform Zanu PF from within and
failed and
the failure became quite public in November of 2004. I believe
that in a
country such as ours where the ruling party is linked with the
liberation of
the country you cannot reform a country like that without
reforming the
ruling party.
Violet: but you were the ruthless
Information Minister who crafted much of
the legislation that destroyed the
independent media in the country or at
least a representative of the
government that was doing so. Now you never
spoke out against it during your
reign as Information Minister. Do you now
believe that this was wrong and
that government should reverse its stance on
the media?
Moyo: No, I
am quite clear that there's a great deal of misunderstanding
about my role
and there's also a great deal of misunderstanding about the
legislation
itself. I believed that it was necessary to have legislation and
to have it
applied to everyone else But the application of legislation
especially when
it comes to the arrest and prosecution of people has nothing
to do with
people outside the police and the Attorney General's office;
those are the
people who arrest and prosecute and the fact that there is a
selective
application of the law in Zimbabwe is well known. I fought with
Nathan
Shamuyarira over Sky News and he did not want Sky News subjected
under the
laws of the country which applied to the media and my fight with
him is very
public because I did not accept that if certain foreign media
come through
Zanu PF for guru's like him then they should not be subjected
to the
law.
Violet: At the time you never spoke out against these oppressive
laws
against the media. You ruled the media with an iron fist, do you not
agree
with that?
Moyo: No, I don't agree with that but I'm aware that
there are many people
who feel so and some of those people because they take
on a certain position
and I also know that there are some people who think
that if you produce a
robust argument against them you are ruthless. They
just want you to fall
down and say roll over me. Yes, we argued bitterly.
There are a number of
issues that you can be very specific about where I did
not agree with
certain elements of the media - I did not agree with them, I
don't agree
with them to day on those matters. It does not matter whether
I'm in
government or I'm not in government. As an opposition person today I
represent Tsholotsho as an Independent Member of Parliament and I do not
wish to be assisted by a media that manufactures false stories; claims that
people have been beheaded by others when that is not the case. I do not
consider such a media to be part of a democratic process, in fact I consider
a media like that to be quite retrogressive in terms of the democratic
exercise. Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe, we have some people who think that if
you present an argument against them which they lose and its a robust
argument then they say you are vicious against the media - no I don't agree
with that kind of thing.
Violet: You seem to have an easy answer for
everything. I remember calling
you several times while you were minister of
information and you used to
refuse to talk to SW Radio Africa. What has
changed now? You are talking to
me right now?
Moyo: Yes I'm talking
to you I think you have several time s and I'm in
contact with some of my
colleagues and I have colleagues talking to you and
I hope you think it
would a good think to talk to you. And I hope you don't
think we are proving
anything or we have made an achievement. I just think
its a fact that many
Zimbabweans have been taking different positions over
the past five years
for one reason or another. We've got to respect that.
Either we are going to
be setting up kangaroo courts against each other or
we are going to wake up
to the realisation that our country is bigger, that
there is a bigger
picture there, but, not withstanding the differences which
we have had -
genuine or otherwise. History calls on us to now work
together.
Violet: We understand that but you must also understand
that there is a lot
of public anger against you because of all the
corruption and greed and lack
of viable policies that existed when you were
part of that system.
Moyo: I reject that.
Violet: Can I finish the
question? Many people would say why did you
continue to defend the
government as a spokesperson, why didn't you speak
for the Zimbabwean people
as you see to be doing right now. Why didn't you
do that when you were in
Zanu PF; in government?
Moyo: You ask the artists in this city. I spoke
to them and fought for them
and brought legislation in their favour. They
are Zimbabweans. You ask the
people in Tsholotsho, I spoke for them, fought
for them as Minister. For 20
years before I came into government there was
not even a single High School
in the whole of Tsholotsho district. As a
result of my direct intervention
there are now ten High schools - I consider
that a contribution to the
people of Zimbabwe and there are many other
things that I did. What I would
say to those people raising the issue
genuinely as I believe you are is that
you must remember that when you are
fighting that system from outside there
are tools and methods are different
from when you say, Oh Moyo you are
defending this and that I'm sure as a
journalist you also recall rather well
that throughout my tenure in Zanu PF
I was constantly at loggerheads with
the so called Zanu PF gurus and so
forth. Why was it so? Why is it that they
were having all those endless
meetings against Moyo?
And finally remember I decided myself to leave
Zanu-PF. You did not -
meaning generally people with the view such as you
are expressing, get me to
leave Zanu-PF. They did not even get me to leave
themselves. They wanted to
discipline me, they wanted to say no you cannot
pursue these things. None in
the media as far as I am aware has ever gone
really deep to unravel the so
called Tsholotsho saga. Many of you in the
media celebrated because you
believed it led to Moyo's departure from
government.
Violet: So tell us what was it, you are here right
now.
Moyo: I think it's a very long story and I think it would be quite
useful
for you to start digging to understand exactly what happened.
Because, look
at how your colleagues in the media including the state media
in Zimbabwe
have dug into the divisions that have been witnessed in the
opposition MDC
to the extent of calling one faction pro senate and another
anti senate. The
same people doing that have not been willing to look at the
divisions that
lead to the so called Tsholotsho saga. They have not. And yet
those
divisions are there today, and they present also opportunities to the
opposition as written large.
Violet: Maybe this is another topic that
we can call you on at a later
stage.
Moyo: Sure, some other
time.
Violet: There is another issue I would like to ask you about. You
seem to
say you used to speak out about several issues that were happening
in the
country and you used to voice this while you were Minister of
Information.
But there were other things that you did, Professor Moyo that
were obvious
to the rest of the world specially people in the country that
these things
were not true for example in September 2004 at the height of
the food crisis
when people were starving in Bulawayo do you remember saying
that there is
no food crisis in Zimbabwe?
Moyo: Yes I remember and
that was true. This is the thing about us
Zimbabweans either we get so
frivolous to the point of irrelevance. You
can't mix up a situation of
malnutrition and the availability of food in a
particular place at a
particular time.
Violet: But it was worsened by the fact that there was
no food.
Moyo: Give me an opportunity to answer, you asked the question.
It is not
right to assume that if there was maize in the silos of Bulawayo
in
September 2004 than that maize should be there forever, that it should be
there even in January 2006. It would be complete folly, and I just wonder
where this thinking comes from.
Violet: Do you remember there was
partisan distribution of food especially
in Bulawayo at that time
also.
Moyo: Listen, I know there was a problem of partisan distribution
of food in
the whole of Zimbabwe including my constituency Tsholotsho, and
that was a
major feature of my campaign platform, I know about
that.
Violet: That other statement that you made in 2001 you said that
"It's clear
to anyone who can read the writing is on the wall that Zanu-PF
is the
future". Now your recent analysis contradicts this. Do you see any
future
for Zanu PF?
Moyo: You know, again, this is an example, listen
are you quoting the Bible
or you are quoting Jonathan Moyo in 2001 or you
are quoting Jonathan Moyo in
2006. Surely you have got to say things they
was they are at the time. And
frankly that was at the height of very serious
efforts by myself and others
who are still in Zanu-PF to reform that party
and to send a positive message
in that party that if you want to be a party
of the future going ahead in
2002 and 2004 for the congress, here is the
agenda for that, and we were
seriously involved in reforming that party.
Yesterday it was a party of the
future, today it is not. And the reason it
is not is because of some old men
believe that the party is theirs and they
believe they are the shareholders
of that party, that no one else can
contribute to that party, that therefore
it does not belong to all
Zimbabweans.
Violet: Surely Professor Moyo how then can people take you
seriously when
you have changed sides twice in the last 2 decades? You went
from being a
major critic of Zanu-PF, then became its spokesman and defender
and now, a
critic again. Can you see why this leads to problems of
credibility?
Moyo: The choice is all yours. I did not pick up the phone
and call you to
say you take me seriously. The choice is all yours and I
would like to
believe that the fact that you called me indicates that you
take me
seriously and the fact that I am entertaining you reflects that I am
taking
you seriously. And it would be a good thing for Zimbabweans to take
each
other seriously regardless of the various positions we have taken.
Raila
Odinga over the last 3 years has been in NDP, in LDP, in KANU to the
point
of seeking the presidency of KANU, out of KANU into NAK, out of NAK,
back
working with KANU in the Orange Democratic Movement. That's why the
process
in that country is more dynamic and much more promising.
You
Look at people who are in Zanu-PF, do you think they have always been in
Zanu-PF? Why are people taking Nathan Shamuyarira seriously when he was once
Frolizi. Mugabe was NDP he was Zapu he became Zanu, why do people take him
seriously? We have to deal with the situation as it emerges and what I can
tell you is that none of us will ever succeed to transform our country by
avoiding Zanu-PF. We have got to deal with it in one way or the other. Some
might have to join it to try and beat them from within, others might have to
work from outside but at the end of the day the struggle will only succeed
when we have brought on board a significant number of the rank and file of
Zanu-PF because of our history.
Violet: I'm afraid Professor Moyo we
have to end here. Thank you very much.
Moyo: You are most welcome.
zimbabwejournalists.com
exiles
By Rhoda Mashavave
ZIMBABWE'S political and economic crisis has seen thousands of
professionals
leaving the country to live as either political or economic
refugees.
Zimbabwejournalists.com has been tracking down some of Zimbabwe's
prominent
sons and daughters who are now scattered far and wide with their
skills now
benefiting their new chosen communities at the expense of their
country.
This week Rhoda Mashavave spoke with Chenjerai Hove, one of the
most
prolific writers from Zimbabwe. The leading author has published
several
books. His steady output includes both fiction and non-fiction.
Celebrated
for his novel, Bones, which won the Noma Award in 1989, Hove is
well known
for writing poetry. His major thematic preoccupation is humanity.
The
creative canvas that engages his poetic imagination is colonialism,
ideologies of African patriarchy and, more seriously, the impact of the
policies of domestic tyrants on the lives of ordinary people. Since leaving
Zimbabwe Hove has lived in France and is now based in Norway. He talks about
his anxieties and hopes for a new Zimbabwe.
RM: What were the
circumstances that led you to make this painful
decision to live in
exile?
CH: I feared for my personal security after many anonymous
telephone
threats to me and my family. At some point, my personal electronic
goods
were stolen by burglars. The police officers who came to investigate
informed me they could not help much since it looked like a "political act".
That was after they asked me to
identify myself and they discovered
that I was "the writer". Many
telephone threats continued to pour in,
directed at me and my family. Some
even went so far as to tell me that I
would disappear any time.
It was at that time that I also got
reliable secret information
suggesting that the 2002 election period was too
dangerous for me. So I
decided to leave, hoping that I would return when
things calmed down. But
things did not calm down. It is probably
worse
than when I left.
RM: Has living in exile been good
for your writing?
CH: Living in exile is never good for anything. I
miss the real voices
of people, the sounds and rhythms of home, the
background to my poetic
language, the scents, the birds, the colours of my
landscape. Although I
carry my piece of country with me, it is not the same.
I write out of the
longing and desire for the motherland. It is always a
part of me. But I have
to write and reflect more since exile is also a time
to look at one's
country from a distance.
Sometimes distance,
another space, creates the desired tensions which
make the creator of
literature more sensitive to words and imagery which
sometimes is murky when
one is inside the issues.
RM: What do you find as being very
difficult living in exile?
CH: Exile forces me to create new imagery
and even search for new
words. It is like being a child, asking people the
simple things like names
of local birds, learning new languages and learning
to make friends as a
matter of necessity.
Europe is an
individualistic continent. Sometimes I cannot avoid
feeling really lonely,
isolated. People do not talk much to strangers, or
even to each other. In
Africa there is always someone near you, talking to
you or even harassing
you with all sorts of conversations. It is good to
have that human link, the
rhythm of life.
I found it difficult to deal with the fact that
European writers do
not seem to want to be involved with social and
political issues which
affect them every day. They are resigned to being on
the periphery. Writers
in the developing world are active in all sorts of
projects, literary and
social. That is the way it should be.
So, when I tell writers gatherings that I am a political writer, they
get
surprised. For me everything is political. That means everything has to
do
with distribution of power, use and abuse of power. Humans are either
victims or victimizers in a dynamic shift of power relations, which we live
through every day of our life. Everything is political, including food,
money, education, media, love. All these have to do with power relations
between people and institutions. Most European writers do not dare take the
cultural dialogue this far.
RM: Do you regret being a writer,
especially with the persecution that
you face in your own
country?
CH:I can't imagine being something else. Imagine if I had
been some
kind of businessman or bureaucrat. I would be so miserable.
Literature gives
me hope and vision. Literature is life. Through writing I
dream my dreams
for myself and for society. I hope readers share some of my
visions in order
for them to gain strength to continue with
life.
The persecution that I have suffered is part of the risk of
being a
creator of new dreams. As a writer I put the mirror of our society
in front
of our faces so that we can see how beautiful or ugly we are. Some
people
want to refuse to see the mirror. They try to break it because it
shows them
their ugliness. Literature has the task of shocking society into
re-examining itself. Social contradictions come to the surface through art
and artistic works.
If some people are afraid of idea, they
persecute the bearer of
messages. It has always happened in societies going
through drastic changes.
Our country is now a big wound. As a
writer I have to say it, to
create suitable imagery to cope with it all.
Through words, I have to paint
the ugliness that has descended on the land.
It is painful for some people,
especially those in power. So, they choose to
make me a victim.
I will continue to write and dream a better life
for our country, to
give hope to the smallest and weakest person in our
country so that one day
we will not be blamed by future generations for
sitting by while the country
was decaying.
RM: Have artists
been vocal enough about the social, political and
economic decay in
Zimbabwe?
CH: There are different categories of writers. There
those who stand
up and refuse to allow the country to continue to decay.
There also those
who think it is fine to join the bandwagon and get a few
crumbs from the
decaying system. The third group pretends not to be
involved.
Generally artists in Zimbabwe have been too silent about
the social,
political and economic decay of the land. As individuals, most
depict the
problems. But as a collective, they do not stand up in their
numbers and
refuse to accept certain social and political abuses happening
in the
country.
Artists are the conscience-keepers of society.
Imagine how effective
it would be if artists from all corners of the country
signed and presented
a petition to the political leaders on the state of our
national decay. That
would make a huge difference.
Look at what
artists have done in Latin America, they stand up and
organise
demonstrations against social and political abuse in their
countries. They
demand change. This is what Zimbabwean artists should do as
a
collective.
A Nigerian writer calls writers 'the sensitive point of the
community,' which means they have a certain responsibility by virtue of
being public figures who occupy public and private spaces, the space of the
imagination as well as the public space of being read by the public. Issues
are too urgent for writers and other artists to sit at home and pretend that
it is not their job to criticise the political leaders for the suffering
they have burdened the country with.
RM: What can Zimbabweans
in exile do to help opposition politics in
Zimbabwe?
CH:
Zimbabweans in exile should be well-orgnised. They can become
powerful
if
their organisations can shape local politics back home. After all,
they are a massive economic bloc in terms of their financial contribution to
the Zimbabwean economy. They can become an effective pressure group in
demanding political common sense
and dialogue in the
country.
RM: If you were allowed to turn the hands of time what
would you
change in
Zimbabwe?
CH:I would suspend all the
draconian laws which have been enacted in
Zimbabwe. I would ensure that
citizens are able to live their lives without
fear of government security
agencies. All institutions of government should
cease being party machinery
to oppress the people. Police, army,
intelligence agencies, they should stop
being enemies of the people.
I would also ensure that the leaders
go back to the people to seek
answers on national and even community issues.
For too long there has been
created a tradition of not listening to the
people. Politicians should be
the servants not masters of the people. That
means one has to remove the
'chef' mentality and replace it with another
type of
power with vision and humility.
There is need to
remove fear in the hearts and minds of the citizens.
At the moment, everyone
is so afraid of those in power. And those in power
are afraid of the people.
Why, for example, would the president be hidden
and guarded in such an
impenetrable motorcade when he is supposed to be a
man of the people,
elected by the people, at the service of the people.
There is so much money
which is wasted on such worthless projects.
Everyone knows that the
current constitution is bad for the country.
It should be thrown away and a
new one created in its place, a constitution
written by a properly
constituted body emanating from the wishes of the
people. Bad constitutions
breed dictators. That is where we are now:
dictatorship!
A new
constitution should also limit the presidential terms to a
maximum of two
four-year terms. And since there is a minimum age for the
president, there
should also be a maximum age. The president should retire
at the age of 65
since most workers also retire at that age in order for
them to go home and
rest. The idea of a life-president should be erased from
our minds and
national documents.
RM: A lot should have happened since you left
Zimbabwe six years ago -
what have you achieved in the literary world so
far?
CH:I left the country four years ago, not six. I am writing most
of
the time. In that time I have written and published three books. And
there
is more to come. Writing is not like baking bread where you have to
produce
a loaf every morning. It is not like that. Sometimes I take time to
reflect
on issues before sitting down to write them. It is different from
journalistic work. A book is a whole world, and it takes time to create it.
It is a vast task which needs profound reflection.
At the same
time, I have to work. Not many writers in the world are
able to live from
their literary work. As a teacher, I have to travel all
over the world,
teaching creative writing, literature, and other social
issues that I
concern myself with.
RM: What do you hope to achieve in the next 10
years?
CH: In the next ten years I hope to publish more and more
books. I
hope in that time I will manage to achieve my goal of 40 books
under my
name. That is my target. In the near future, when Zimbabwe becomes
free
again, I hope to go back home and work with youngsters to help them
create
literature instead of creating death and suffering as is happening
now when
they trained to be blood-thirsty young militias. I want to
participate in
restoring our memory, our vision, in projects of healing a
society torn
apart by violence and hatred.
RM: When do you
expect to return to Zimbabwe?
CH: My heart is already back home. I
am returning slowly. When the
atmosphere is better, when there is no
political violence, I will be back
then. Maybe one of these days I will pay
a visit to see the wounds inflicted
on our land by the current political
madness.
RM: Have you made new friends, and are you in touch with
those you
left in Zimbabwe?
CH:I am always in touch with friends
back home. They keep me informed.
And through them I receive descriptions of
the wounds on their bodies and on
the land. I have many new friends, but not
as many as in Zimbabwe. I miss
those street walks which I never could do
without someone greeting me or
challenging me about my last article. It is
not the same here.
RM: What are your parting words to Zimbabweans
living in exile?
CH: Exiles should keep their vision burning. They
should participate
in life wherever they are. They should not degenerate
into the abyss of
despair and hopelessness. Always dream of a better country
tomorrow. Always
keep the smile even when you cry and miss home. After all,
you carry a big
piece of home within you. Prepare yourself with skills to go
and rebuild the
country one day. Every sunrise must give you hope and a new
confidence that
a step ahead has happened.
WorldNetDaily
African case of
brain-injured young man mirrors Terri's
plight
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted:
March 30, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: The following article
is by Diana Lynne, author of a
powerful, comprehensive book on Terri
Schiavo's life and death, entitled
"Terri's Story: The Court-Ordered Death
of an American Woman."
By Diana Lynne
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
She
was kept from the hospice bedside of her 42-year-old child at the hour
of
death. Several weeks have since passed and she remains in the dark as to
where her child's spouse buried the cremated remains. In the place of
consolation, the spouse offers the grieving mother derision and spite. The
mother's crime? Opposing the spouse's dogged pursuit of her child's death
over the past seven years.
The mother's name is Susan Colquhoun. She
lives in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her
nightmare mirrors that of Mary Schindler,
mother of Terri Schiavo, the
41-year-old brain-injured woman who died one
year ago tomorrow following the
court-ordered removal of her feeding
tube.
'Angel of death'
Colquhoun's son, Stephen, sustained
a brain injury eight years ago, after
being struck by lightning on the
Tengwe farm where he was employed.
Witnesses of the incident reported to the
mother the extraordinary details.
One standing nearby claimed Stephen was
laughing at the sight of an ostrich
in the distance, dancing and twisting
itself into a fantastic feathery
pretzel. Stephen had put his head back as
he laughed, closed his eyes and
exclaimed, "God! What a beautiful country
this is!" At that moment, the
lightning bolt struck him on the right temple,
burning an inch-wide hole in
the side of his head above his right ear and
lifting him into the air. He
landed on the ground several feet
away.
From boyhood, Stephen, who is described as a perfect double for
actor Kiefer
Sutherland, loved violent storms and would run outside with his
mother and
siblings at the first sign of a deluge and lay on the lawn
marveling at the
sheet lightning. One night, when Stephen was 11, his mother
remembers him
running up to her "in a state of fear" following a
storm.
"He said the most extraordinary thing," Colquhoun recalls, '"'The
angel of
death [lightning] has just flown over the house and I know it is
looking for
me, Mom.' He never again shared the storms with us and his
nightmares of
being 'trapped in a loaf of bread' haunted him for years. It
is as if he had
known that one day he would be struck down by lightning and
trapped within
his own body."
The lightning knocked Stephen
unconscious and he remained in a coma for
several weeks, during which time
he underwent a tracheotomy. His mother was
assured the device was merely a
temporary "nursing aid," but he was never
weaned off of it over the
subsequent eight years.
Stephen's diagnosis
Stephen Colquhoun's
diagnosis depended on who was paying the doctor's bill.
Physicians hired by
Stephen's wife of approximately one year, Zana
Colquhoun, determined he was
in a permanent vegetative state, although no
tests were ever taken to assess
his level of consciousness. Answering a call
for help from Susan Colquhoun
and her family, a prominent neurosurgeon from
South Africa flew to Harare to
examine Stephen and reported there were signs
of cognizance, but could not
determine how much damage had occurred or how
long he could
survive.
The neurosurgeon admitted very little was known about
lightning-strike
victims, as it was rare for them to survive a direct hit.
Africa has the
highest lightning-strike fatality rate in the world. An
expert on
lightning-strike victims consulted over the Internet helped tip
the scales
in favor of Zana Colquhoun.
Like Terri Schiavo, in the
months directly following his injury when he was
given physical therapy,
Stephen made progress toward rehabilitation. He
moved limbs, wiggled toes
and ate bowls of porridge by mouth. When his
efforts to respond to commands
during therapy sessions were applauded,
Stephen is said to have returned the
praise with a smile. Susan Colquhoun
maintains she was able to communicate
with her son through a language of
hand squeezing and facial
grimaces.
Zana Colquhoun wrote her observations at that time on a
visitor's journal
kept on the wall beside Stephen's bed, noting Stephen's
progress with
optimism. Like Michael Schiavo in the early months following
Terri's injury,
Zana Colquhoun believed her spouse was aware of her presence
and that of
their son born two weeks after Stephen's lightning
strike.
Then, as with Terri, Stephen's rehabilitation was abruptly
aborted on the
orders of his spouse. Oral feeding was replaced by tube
feeding. Plans to
fly him to Johannesburg for special treatment in a
hyperbaric chamber were
abandoned. Like Terri Schiavo, he was transferred to
a hospice facility. The
team of physical therapists who had attended to
Stephen on a daily basis was
dismissed by the spouse, as was a subsequent
therapist privately employed by
Susan Colquhoun. No explanations were
given.
Will to live or die?
As in the Terri Schiavo case, the
reason for stopping rehab was not
financial. Zana Colquhoun received
substantial sums of money in donations to
fund Stephen's care. Like Michael
Schiavo, Zana Colquhoun, who already was
dating another man, decided her
spouse needed to die. Her apparent change of
heart coincided with the
e-mailed prognosis from the lightning-strike
victims' expert, whom neither
met nor examined Stephen. She suggested he
would be better off dead. The
recommended course of action from this
prominent physician was to introduce
Stephen to the "old man's friend,"
which is a euphemism in the medical
community for pneumonia left untreated
until death ensues.
In a 1998
letter addressed to her mother-in-law and Stephen's siblings, Zana
Colquhoun
demanded her husband should not be "forced" to live.
"Steve is lying in
bed with absolutely no function of any part of his body
and certainly, to
me, there is no hope or sight of any possibility to prove
otherwise," Zana
Colquhoun wrote. "My opinion is that there is no
noticeable, meaningful or
significant improvement. And maybe he hasn't
chosen to live like this, but
rather we are responsible for forcing food and
medication down his throat
daily, which is keeping him alive."
Zana Colquhoun's family backed her
stance, as did the hospital and hospice
administrators who were bound by law
to answer to the patient's next of kin.
Just as in the case of Terri
Schiavo, the spouse had the legal upper hand in
the dispute. Susan Colquhoun
believes that needs to change.
"It makes a mockery of basic human rights
when a comparative stranger enters
a family through marriage and has the
immediate right to decide on whether
their partner can live or die," she
asserts. "And the parent loses all
rights to save their child, under
circumstances such as those experienced by
the Schindlers, myself and untold
thousands of others."
Susan Colquhoun and Stephen's siblings
viewed his situation entirely
differently from his wife.
"If my son
wanted to die, he would have done so years back," Colquhoun
stated to
WorldNetDaily. "I have a report from a doctor I smuggled into the
nursing
complex a couple of years ago, confirming that Stephen was very
cognizant
and co-operative, but [was] in a poor state of nutrition and [had]
a
malfunctional trach tube which [was] likely to cause dependency pneumonia.
The report also refers to lack of sufficient physiotherapy, which is
essential for patients in Stephen's condition."
Susan Colquhoun
describes an uphill battle to keep her son healthy over the
years following
his brain injury, and meeting with constant resistance from
his caregivers
who took their orders from Zana Colquhoun. When she
discovered her son
feverishly fighting the infection of bedsores, or
dependency pneumonia as a
result of the tracheotomy tube in his throat, she
arranged for him to
receive care and antibiotics from a wound specialist.
When Stephen started
to appear "skeletal," Colquhoun says she got his weight
back up by bringing
homemade, high-protein soups and feeding him, while his
brother in South
Africa arranged for him to receive special food
supplements.
Stephen's tracheotomy tube was left uncovered at one
point, allowing flies
to feed on the raw flesh around the stoma. Cockroaches
that were breeding in
the frame of his hospital bed moved into the tube.
After watching her son
cough up dead cockroaches, Colquhoun erected a
mosquito net around his bed.
On the orders of the facility's administrator,
this was immediately taken
down. Colquhoun reports that after she threatened
to bring in the police and
the media, the netting returned and was kept in
place.
Colquhoun alerted the International Red Cross, the Nursing
Association and a
human rights attorney, but got nowhere.
Family
dispute becomes public debate
In May 2001, the familial debate over
Stephen's fate spilled onto the
editorial pages of the weekly local
newspaper, the Financial Gazette,
beginning with a column by reporter Grace
Mutandwa, who had visited Stephen
at the hospice.
"I know deep in my
heart, that it would be wrong to let this young man die,"
Mutandwa wrote.
"He is mentally alert, recognises people, gets quite excited
when his mother
visits and while squeezing your hands tries to mouth 'hello'
or 'hi'. Yes,
he might be bedridden and has developed paralysis, possibly
through lack of
adequate physiotherapy, but should he just be left to die?"
Zana
Colquhoun responded with a letter to the editor. "Every medical opinion
[concurred] that there [was] no prospect of improvement," she wrote,
maintaining her husband remained "deeply unconscious." She also disputed the
suggestion of medical negligence and abuse.
"I was 25 years old at
the time of the tragedy and I have worked tirelessly
and to the utmost of my
ability to ensure that Stephen is looked after to
the best possible standard
in Zimbabwe," Zana Colquhoun wrote. "I have been
devastated and very deeply
hurt by the unwarranted and unsubstantiated
attack by Grace Mutandwa ...
concerning Stephen's treatment. Most offensive
is the suggestion that
attempts have been made to terminate my husband's
life. The fact that
Stephen is still alive three and a half years after his
injury is more than
adequate proof that there is no such intention."
Stephen's brother, David
Colquhoun, penned a rebuttal in another letter to
the editor: "My brother is
alive today due to the wonderful care that his
privately employed nursing
staff have provided over the last three and a
half years, together with
Stephen's amazing willpower to stay alive," he
wrote. "I believe that
together with his nurses and the right rehabilitation
programme he would
have been afforded a far better quality of life today."
On Dec. 6, 2005,
Stephen Colquhoun died of a reported massive heart attack.
According to the
death certificate, the heart attack was triggered by
bronchopneumonia in the
right lung. He'd made the acquaintance of the "old
man's friend." Stephen's
body was moved to the morgue hours before his
mother was informed of his
death by his eldest brother in Johannesburg.
Neither the widow, nor the
hospital administrators contacted the mother with
the news. By the time she
reached the hospital, her son was gone and all
traces of his ever being
there completely erased.
U.S. 'exporting euthanasia'
Susan
Colquhoun sees no coincidence in the eerie parallels between her
family's
ordeal and that of the Schindlers continents away. She believes the
death of
Terri Schiavo lit the fuse of euthanasia around the world. "Terri
Schiavo"
became a household name in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere.
"I knew the moment I
learned of Terri's demise, my son would have less than
six months of life
left to him, unless I could get him out of the hospice
and under the care of
a doctor who cared enough to help," Colquhoun wrote
WND. "I believe to this
day, they refused to let me take him out, because he
was a living testimony
to the practice of deliberate negligence leading to
ensured fatality.
Nothing I can do or say will bring my son back to me, but
I cannot remain
silent while so many innocent human beings are suffering in
silence under a
sentence of death imposed on them by a society that has lost
all sense of
value for human life."
"The Third World takes very careful note of what
goes on in the USA, as it
is regarded as the most powerful country in the
world, as indeed it is," she
continued. "What the USA does must be right -
ergo - to dispatch human waste
because it offends, or because the law
considers it useless to let someone
unfortunate enough to suffer [brain
injury] ... continue their right to
live."
In addition to the global
precedent set by the death of Terri Schiavo,
Colquhoun draws a more direct
tie between the U.S. and her son's death. The
physician her family first
consulted over the Internet for expert medical
advice on treating
lightning-strike victims was located in the U.S. In an
e-mail to the
Colquhoun family, the doctor suggested Stephen would be better
off being
helped out of this world through "old man's friend." And that is
where Susan
Colquhoun's nightmare, and Stephen's dying, began.
As in the United
States, euthanasia is illegal in Zimbabwe. But if you ask
Susan Colquhoun,
euthanasia takes place under cover of malpractice and
medical
negligence.
The Herald (Harare)
March 29,
2006
Posted to the web March 29, 2006
Jeffrey Gogo And Pharaoh
Lomazolo
Harare
POWER utility Zesa Holdings Limited is seeking to
raise $500 billion to fund
electricity imports and coal
purchases.
Yesterday, the power utility invited investors to subscribe to
its $500
billion Megawatt Bills with a 180-day tenor.
This is an open
tender with a tender-based coupon rate but carries an
irrevocable guarantee
by the Government, and can also be traded on the
secondary money
market.
Only tenders upwards of $100 billion would be
considered.
If Zesa manages to raise the targeted funds, it could go some
way in
bridging the utility's perennial power outages.
Lately,
industry and individual consumers have been subjected to regular
power cuts,
as supply fails to match demand.
Zimbabwe imports 35 percent of its
electricity requirements from its Sadc
neighbours, notably South Africa,
Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
But shortages of
foreign currency, antiquated equipment and vandalism at
suburban power
stations have compounded Zesa's woes.
Furthermore, Southern Africa could
next year run short of surplus
electricity for export, leaving countries
such as Zimbabwe that are
dependent on imports in a precarious
situation.
The situation has also been aggravated by weak pricing
structures that make
candlelight and woodfuel more expensive than
multi-purpose electricity.
Analysts say alternative energy sources such
as methane gas should be
explored. Explorations to generate power from this
fossil fuel are already
in progress in Matabeleland North.
According
to unofficial estimates, Zimbabwe's methane gas deposits are among
the
largest in Southern and Eastern Africa.
As part of strategies to avert
the projected Sadc-wide power shortages, Zesa
Holdings has drawn
up
contingency plans to boost production by up to 900 megawatts at its
Hwange
and Kariba power stations this year.
Plans to mobilise over
US$2 billion for power generation projects to be
undertaken in the next four
years are also gathering momentum.