Tsvangirai death crash truck driver named

Stephen Smith seeks probe into Tsvangirai car crash

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

March 08, 2009

Article from:  Australian Associated Press
THERE must be a full inquiry into the car crash that injured Zimbabwe prime
minister Morgan Tsvangirai and killed his wife before any "insidious
undertone" can be ruled out, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.

Mr Smith has also hinted Australia might change its foreign policy towards
Zimbabwe and help Mr Tsvangirai rebuild its shattered economy.

Friday's crash happened as Mr Tsvangirai and his 50-year-old wife, Susan,
were travelling from Harare to their rural hometown of Buhera. His wife died
at the scene.

The Tsvangirais' car was hit by a truck which crossed into the oncoming lane
and side-swiped the prime minister's vehicle, causing it to roll several
times, Zimbabwe police said. Mr Tsvangirai, who suffered neck and head
injuries, has now flown to neighbouring Botswana for medical tests.

"We're expecting that there'll now be a full, open and transparent inquiry
into the circumstance arising to that accident to make sure there was no
insidious undertone or motive," Mr Smith told ABC Television on Sunday.

Two of his daughters, who have been living in Australia, are on their way to
Africa to be by his side, the ABC said on Sunday.

Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party has vowed to launch its
own investigation, saying a police escort might have prevented the accident.

Mr Smith has asked Australia's high commissioner in Zimbabwe to pass on the
nation's condolences to Mr Tsvangirai.

The foreign minister on Sunday also suggested the government might be about
to change its policy and help Zimbabwe rebuild following years of turmoil
and political violence under President Robert Mugabe.

Australia has so far maintained sanctions against Zimbabwe following the
formation of a unity government bringing together bitter foes Tsvangirai and
Mugabe.

Assistance has been limited to humanitarian aid, but that could be about to
change.

"To date, our approach has been to be very critical of Mr Mugabe and we'd
still prefer that he walked off the stage," Mr Smith said.

"But I'm now giving very serious consideration to whether we can do more.

"Whether we can start to help rebuild Zimbabwe.

"Particularly in the health, agricultural and education areas."

There were some risks in adopting a new approach, given Mr Mugabe's on-going
presence, the foreign minister said.

"But my disposition is we should start the job of helping to rebuild
Zimbabwe, its social and economic structures, and also give Mr Tsvangirai as
much political assistance as we can."

Britain has confirmed that the truck that hit the Tsvangirais' car was owned
by a joint US-British aid project that delivers HIV/AIDS drugs but denied
reports that the driver may have fallen asleep.

"The driver was not asleep. He was well rested and had not been drinking," a
British foreign office spokesman said.

"We cannot pre-empt any investigation by giving further details at this
stage."

Ministerial Retreat Set for Victoria Falls

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, March 8 2009 - The office of the Prime Minister is organising
a three-day Ministerial Retreat aimed at drawing up an agreed government
action plan necessary for the implementation of a Short Term Emergency
Recovery Programme (STERP).

Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office,
will on Thursday present a full programme for the event to be held at the
resort town of Victoria Falls.

Moyo said all ministers, their deputies and permanent secretary will
attend the retreat.

"The Ministerial Retreat is an initiative from the Prime Minister's
Office. Its main objective is building a team ready to tackle the challenges
bedevilling our country. We have a group of people who were in conflict for
almost a decade but now have to work together for the resuscitation of the
economy and political reform. It is meant to bring the former foes together
and prepare them to take Zimbabwe forward," said Moyo.

He said the Retreat would critically analyse STERP to enable each
Ministry in the new government to design its 100-day programme.

"After the retreat we are looking forward to having a transformative
and progressive team," he said.

The five clusters the Prime Minister's Office has established will
work together at the Ministerial Retreat to create synergies.

The Ministerial Retreat, which has allegedly received both material
and financial support from well-wishers is meant to put to rest wrangling
over overlapping of mandates.

All Ministers have been asked to produce Status Reviews of their
ministries, clearly stating their human, financial and asset positions. The
100-day programme is expected to commence soon after the Ministerial
Retreat.

Mudzuri Flexes His Muscles

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, March 8 2009 - Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert
Mpofu last week reportedly tried to block his Energy and Power Development
counterpart, Elias Mudzuri, from touring Hwange Colliery Company.

The clash is the latest in the power struggles between ZANU PF and
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ministers, following the setting up of
a unity government, and has been worsened by ministers' overlapping roles.

Mpofu who was moved from the Ministry of Industry and International
Trade by President Robert Mugabe last month,claimed that Mudzuri should have
informed him about the visit so that they could tour together, as the
company falls under his ministry.

HCC officials said an angry Mudzuri who was in the mining town on
Friday to assess operations at the Zimbabwe Power Company thermal station,
instead ignored Mpofu's protests.

"The Minister told the managing director Fred Moyo, that Mudzuri can
not tour the mine without his permission and wanted the visit cancelled,"
said an official.

"When he was informed about that, Mudzuri said he would go ahead with
the tour because he was at the same level as Mpofu and did need his
permission to visit a government establishment."

Earlier, Mudzuri had flexed his muscles to ensure that ZPPC employees
who had not received their salaries because the company's foreign currency
was being withheld by the Reserve Bank, were immediately given their dues.

"The Minister wanted to talk to the President when he heard about the
problem, but he was told Mugabe was busy and was referred to Misheck
Sibanda, chief secretary," said another source.

"Within a few hours, the workers were told to collect their payments
from banks."

There are fears some forces from the previous administration are
working behind the scenes to frustrate the unity government whose success
they fear, could cost ZANU PF in future elections.

Mukoko, abductees relive their ordeal

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 21:22
ZIMBABWE Peace Project director, Jestina Mukoko, who was last week
granted bail after spending 87 days at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison, says she is relieved gun-toting prison guards have been
removed from her hospital bedside.

Mukoko, a former newscaster with the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Cooperation (ZBC) turned human rights campaigner, is recovering at a private
clinic following months during which she was denied urgent treatment after
weeks of torture.

Agents of the dreaded spy agency, the Central Intelligence
Organisation, abducted her on December 3 from her Norton home without vital
medication or proper clothing.

She was handed over to the police on December 22 and charged with
allegedly recruiting bandits for military training in Botswana.

Her detention raised an international outcry and was seen as a crucial
test for the unity government between long time rivals President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Fears persisted her health would deteriorate under prison conditions.

"I am recovering well and the most important thing is that at least
you no longer see those guns around," said Mukoko, who looked emaciated and
a shadow of the lively prime-time television newscaster.

The presence of armed prison guards on the several occasions she was
admitted at the Avenues Clinic during her incarceration, Mukoko said, caused
her psychological trauma.

"It was so bad and I was the only one who would tell them that this is
a hospital ward and not a battlefield," Mukoko said.

When The Standard team visited her for an interview on Thursday,
Mukoko was sitting up in her hospital bed, reading.

During the brief interview, Mukoko would occasionally wear the smile
that endeared her to thousands of television enthusiasts during her time at
ZBC.

Although reluctant to discuss her ordeal at the hands of her
torturers, she nevertheless described the treatment as "grossly inhuman".

But she was relieved that she could spend time with her family and
relatives.

"As of now that is what I would like to concentrate on. For a long
time, I had not seen them and now the situation has changed, I can get to
talk to my relatives like this," she said pointing to her brother who had
come to see her.

The former newscaster's plight epitomises the suffering the more than
50 MDC-T supporters and human rights activists underwent at the hands of
state security agents.

On Wednesday, Mukoko and a group of MDC-T activists appeared at the
Harare Magistrates' Court and were further remanded out of custody to March
20.

The activists include Fidelis Chiramba, Concelia and Emmanuel
Chinanzvavana, Broderick Takawira and Audrice Mbudzana.

Three of the accused, Pieta Kaseke, Collin Mutemagawu and Violet
Mukandiwa, failed to appear in court after prison authorities cited fuel
shortages.

However, defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama challenged the excuse and
called on the state to provide a trial date for the accused.

Some of Mukoko's co-accused, who were also admitted at the same
private clinic, narrated their ordeals at the hands of state agents.

Zachariah Nkomo (33) said he was abducted on December 4 in Masvingo
and was ferried to Goromonzi while blindfolded.

"I was beaten, exposed to electrocution, dipped in drums of water and
right now I have a hearing problem," he said.

Nkomo said he was still nursing knee and backbone injuries he
sustained during the prolonged torture sessions.

But he said: "I am happy to be free from detention and I am looking
forward to seeing my family."

Another activist, Audrice Mbudzana, said she was in a stable condition
although she had been psychologically affected by the experience.

She said her medical condition had been compromised during her
detention since she was on Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

"The food was not proper and we would be made to sleep on a hard
surface and this affected my health since I am HIV positive," she said.

Fidelis Chiramba (73), the MDC-T district chairperson for Zvimba South
was ecstatic after his release from remand prison.  He was arrested on
October 31 last year.

Chinoto Zulu, another activist also admitted at the same institution,
said: "We were tortured, one day on, one day off.  Sometimes we would be
hanged upside down and beaten, then later on put in drums of water."

He sustained a fractured rib and serious injuries to the shoulder.
Zulu is also nursing a broken arm.
For Concelia Chinanzvavana, the prospects of seeing her 22-month-old
baby seemed to outweigh the trauma and terrible headache she says were a
result of torture.

On Wednesday, Kisimusi Dhlamini and Ghandi Mudzingwa, who were still
admitted at the Avenues Clinic, said they were recuperating well although
they were still to recover from injuries they sustained.

Dhlamini said he was experiencing problems with his back which he said
often aches if he sits for long durations.

He also sustained a fracture to his arm.

Finance minister and MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti and other
MDC-T leaders on Wednesday visited the detainees admitted at the Avenues
Clinic.

He said: "They were tortured and I think they only survived by the
grace of God."

He said the detainees needed to be released for the unity government
to gain credibility.

BY EDGAR GWESHE

High Court Challenge on Passport Charges

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:57
ZIMBABWE remains in danger of sliding back into political violence
that engulfed the country in the run up to the bloody June 27 presidential
election unless the victims are accorded redress, analysts warned last week.

The warnings came amid reports that political clashes had resurfaced
in Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces where Movement for
Democratic Change supporters were reclaiming property seized by Zanu PF
militias during the reign of terror.

An estimated 150 MDC supporters were killed while more than 100 000
were forced to flee their homes by the marauding Zanu PF militias
campaigning for President Robert Mugabe last year.

 Police turned a blind eye to the attacks which were co-ordinated by
state agents and soldiers deployed to ensure Mugabe reversed his March 29,
2008 electoral defeat by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The unity government has appointed five Ministers of State to lead a
"national healing process" in recognition of the extent of the violence not
seen in post-Independence Zimbabwe since the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres
that claimed the lives of 20 000 civilians in the Midlands and Matabeleland.

But prominent lawyer and president of the Bulawayo Legal Practitioners
Association, Job Sibanda, said without a truth and reconciliation commission
that would grant perpetrators amnesty in return for full disclosure, the
threat of the country sliding back into anarchy would always remain.

"There is need for people to sit down and discuss what happened to
prevent a situation where people take the law into their own hands," he
said.

He recommended a commission modelled along the lines of one set up in
post-apartheid South Africa where perpetrators who made full disclosures of
their roles in human rights violations were pardoned.

Last week there were reports MDC-T youths in Masvingo were rounding up
suspected Zanu PF militias and taking them to the same torture camps where
they were held during the tumultuous period.

The most affected districts were Gutu, Bikita and some parts of Zaka
where Zanu PF used to enjoy support before it lost the March 29 elections.

Some Zanu PF supporters and the youth militias who spearheaded the
attacks against the opposition have fled their homes as angry MDC supporters
hunt them down.

"The situation has changed. Angry MDC supporters who had a tough time
with Zanu-PF militia are on a revenge mission," said Tawanda Nhondova from
Chin'ombe in Gutu East.

"The youths are saying they cannot forgive their enemies who gave them
sleepless nights last year because of the pain they went through."

MDC-T provincial spokesperson, Tongai Matutu, said: "We do not condone
this and we are urging them to desist from any acts of violence."

Matutu said police recently called the MPs in the province to discuss
the issue after violence flared up in Bikita.

Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke said the violence
was threatening the success of the unity government between Zanu PF and the
MDC formations.

 "We urge MDC leaders to restrain their supporters as we have advised
our supporters to respect the law by not fighting back but to report the
incidents to the police," Matuke said.

In other parts of the country like Mutoko and Nyanga the victims of
the political violence were confronting their tormentors to reclaim their
livestock and property.

A number of Mbare residents who were forced out of their homes by the
Zanu PF militia that operated with impunity were arrested after they tried
to reclaim their property.

Zimrights director, Okay Machisa said although they did not condone
the revenge attacks, politicians including those now occupying senior
positions in the unity government should be held accountable for the roles
they played in the violence.

"Zimbabwe is a polarised country because a lot of people went through
trauma and are still traumatised but this does not give them the green light
to take the law into their own hands," he said.

"We realise that there is a national healing process that is taking
place and there is a need for all the political parties and civil society to
be part of the process."

Sibanda said some politicians might oppose the concept of a truth and
reconciliation commission as it would expose their dark secrets and harm
their future electoral chances.

Mugabe's administration has resisted calls for a truth and
reconciliation commission on the Matabeleland massacres and has even refused
to release findings of the Chihambakwe Commission that was set up to
investigate the massacres.

BY GODFREY MUTIMBA AND KHOLWANI NYATHI

Lawyers for Detained Rights Activists Accuse Police of Defying Court Order

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:53
LAWYERS representing human rights activists held in custody as "state
witnesses" in Jestina Mukoko's case last week accused the police of
violating a provisional High Court order setting their release.

The three, Lloyd Tarumbwa, Fanny Tembo and Terry Musona were abducted
along with seven others from their homes in Banket in October last year and
their whereabouts were only established in January following the
intervention of the courts.

 On Friday, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo ordered the immediate release of
the detainees describing as "wrong and unlawful" their abduction and
incarceration beyond 48 hours.

 He said the police had acted unlawfully by refusing relatives or
lawyers access to the detainees.

The order also directed that the filing or noting of an appeal should
not affect the execution of the provisional order.

 But the trio's lawyer, Chris Mhike said despite assurances by a Chief
Superintendent Nzombe that police had complied with the order, the abductees
were still missing.

"Despite that communication from Chief Superintendent Nzombe that the
order had been complied with and that all the detainees had been released
from police custody and transported back to their homes in Banket by 7am on
Saturday the relatives were reporting that none of the detainees had been
delivered home," Mhike said.

He said they found it strange that the accused in Mukoko's case were
out on bail, but the state witnesses were still being detained.

During court hearings in January, the defence team said state lawyers
conceded that the three were not accused persons but witnesses and their
relatives could be allowed to see them.

"Relatives made attempts to visit the detainees in line with the
undertaking that had been made but when they went to the police headquarters
they were told by the police that the position had changed," Mhike said.

Mhike said the abductees said they had been "ill-treated and subjected
to inhuman and degrading treatment".

The other seven, the defence team said, have not been accounted for up
to now despite a January 16 order by Justice Alphas Chitakunye compelling
the police to establish their whereabouts.

BY EDGAR GWESHE

Emilia Zindi Charged

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:48
CHINHOYI - Emilia Zindi, the chief reporter for the government-owned
Sunday Mail, who has been on the Chegutu police wanted list was arrested
last Friday and appeared in court on Monday last week.

She is facing a charge of robbery as defined in Section 121 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 after she
 "violently" seized a vehicle from a former Interfresh employee.

Charges levelled against Zindi, who was allocated plots 2 and 7 of
Hippo Valley farm in Chegutu during the chaotic land reform programme, last
month are that she allegedly teamed up with her son Misheck Chimombe-Zindi
(31) and Richard Milanzi (22) and went to Tafadzwa Matore's house in
Chegutu, where they violently took away a Nissan Hardbody vehicle.

They were remanded out of custody to March 16 on free bail.

The bail conditions were that Zindi would report to Harare Central
police station while Chimombe-Zindi and Milanzi would report to Chegutu
Criminal Investigations Department every Friday.

Matore is a former employee of Intefresh, a company which had been
running a citrus plantation at the farm taken over by Zindi.

The vehicle has since been recovered and was handed back to Matore.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Clashes Loom as ex-Zipra Bids to Reclaim Properties

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:14
BULAWAYO - About 50 families who are renting rooms from the Castle
Arms Motel on the outskirts of the city have become the first casualties in
the battle between Zanu PF and the revived Zapu over control of Zipra
properties.

The Zipra Veterans' Association, launched last year and linked to the
revival of Zapu, last month ordered the families who are paying rentals to
the Zanu PF-aligned Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association
(ZNLWVA) to vacate the property.

Acquired through contributions made by former Zipra fighters from
their 1980-demobilisation payouts, the motel is one of the properties seized
by the government as a precursor to the Gukurahundi military operation in
Matabeleland and the Midlands.

The properties run by Nitram holdings included buildings, one of them
Magnet House, the regional headquarters of the Central Intelligence
Organisation, companies and farms.

But the Zipra veterans have begun reclaiming the properties and this
has reportedly provoked Zanu PF officials and war veterans still linked to
the party as they benefited from rentals paid by desperate home seekers.

The tenants at Castle Arms reportedly pay up to R3 000 a month in
rentals to ZNLWVA Entumbane offices.

Zipra Veterans' Association chairman, Lazarus Ray Ncube said those who
were refusing to leave the motel would be evicted.

"We gave the settlers at Castle Arms up to the end of February to
leave that place," Ncube said. "The association is moving in to repossess
the motel as part of our moves to reclaim what rightfully belongs to us as
Zipra.

"We have properties we acquired under Nitram. Castle Arms is one of
those. We want to ensure that once revived, our members will benefit from
proceeds realised from the hotel because it was meant for their benefit."

But the affected families said they had been advised to stay put by
war veterans linked to Zanu PF.

"We have been told by the (Bulawayo) province (of the ZNLWVA) that we
should stay put here because there is no resolution to the effect that we
should vacate these premises.

"Unless that decision is made, then we cannot leave. We will stay out
and resist any attempts to force us out," said Markson Ncube, a spokesperson
for the settlers.

He said if the Nitram board resolved to evict them they would demand
three months' notice in terms of the law.

"One thing that we will resist is a hurried eviction from this place
without prior warning," Markson Ncube said. "We know that we have to get a
three month notice to leave than a situation where one comes and expects us
to leave the premises that very minute."

Zapu interim chairman, Dumiso Dabengwa who also chairs the Nitram
board said he could not comment on the matter, as he did not have details of
what transpired at Castle Arms.

The revived party also wants properties seized from PF Zapu by
President Robert Mugabe's administration returned.

BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA

Constitution: Urgent Education Needed

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:06
GWERU - Zimbabweans need urgent education and training on
constitutional matters if they are to participate meaningfully in the
drafting of a new people-driven constitution, a recent survey has revealed.

The inclusive government made up of Zanu PF and the two formations of
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has given itself between 18 and 24
months to come up with a new constitution for the country.

It has already announced that the new constitution will be based on
the Kariba draft, a document that was agreed upon by the negotiating
parties.

A new constitution to replace the one drafted in 1979 on the eve of
Zimbabwe's Independence is one of the major things that has to be
accomplished by the new government in the coming months.

But the results of the recent survey by the Mass Public Opinion
Institute (MPOI) reveal that the process might be restricted to a few
interest groups if massive education campaigns are not carried out.

The survey titled Constitutional Reform Interventions and
Democratisation in Zimbabwe conducted in six provinces showed that 91% of
the people have no training on constitutional issues.

The survey also indicated that only 42% of the sampled people were
aware of the content of the Lancaster House Constitution.

The majority of respondents did not believe that the government would
come up with a constitution that would satisfy all Zimbabweans and called
for the involvement of Non-Governmental Organisations in the process.

Out of the total number of people interviewed, 52% said they had never
heard about the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an organisation that
has been in the forefront in the struggle for a new constitution.

But 61% of those surveyed said they were aware of the power-sharing
agreement that provides for a process leading to a new constitution but they
had not heard about the Kariba Draft that is referred to in the agreement.

MPOI is a non-profit organisation that seeks to gauge public opinion
on topical issues of governance and public concern, and make them known to
policymakers, implementers and the public.

BY RUTENDO MAWERE

New Terror for Returning Rural Teachers

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 16:43
SOME schools, mainly in rural areas, remain closed after returning
teachers were chased away by state security agents and war veterans who
accused them of supporting the Movement for Democratic Change.

Most of the teachers, who fled their schools in the run-up to the
bloody June 27 presidential election run-off in which over 150 MDC activists
were murdered, were reportedly shocked when they were received by the same
hostile forces on their return.

The unity government made up of the two MDC formations and Zanu PF
formed last month has prioritised reopening of schools closed since last
year because of the violence and a prolonged strike.

The move to pay teachers in foreign currency had renewed hopes that
normalcy would return to the education sector, with reports teachers who had
deserted the profession almost two years ago were eager to return.

But the country's two major teacher unions said the harassment of
teachers, especially in Mashonaland West, Central and East provinces was
threatening the return of teachers.

The Progressive Teachers' Union (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers'
Association (Zimta) raised the issue with the new Minister of Education,
Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart last week.

"We raised the issue with the minister (Wednesday) and he said he was
immediately sending a fact-finding mission into the three provinces," said
PTUZ national treasurer Ladistous Zunde.

Sifiso Ndlovu, the acting Zimta chief executive officer said
indications were that some civil servants were involved in the harassment of
teachers.

"In one of the cases, a teacher in Mashonaland Central was threatened
with death by a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO),"
Ndlovu said.

"We recommended to him that he seeks intervention from the provincial
director and we are still waiting to hear the outcome."

The most affected areas were provinces where President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu PF commands majority support and which were the epicentre of the June
27 electoral violence.

Coltart confirmed receiving reports of the harassment and urged the
affected teachers to report to their district offices for assistance.

 "We are concerned that those teachers had to flee for their lives,"
he said. "We urge people to co-exist for the benefit of the country."

Some teachers were also failing to redeem the US$100 vouchers they
were given by government as salaries for last month as banks do not have
enough foreign currency.

Others even failed to get the vouchers because their headmasters had
left the country seeking greener pastures abroad.

The remaining teachers had no mandate to collect pay-sheets and
vouchers from the Ministry of Education's regional offices.

Both government and teachers' organisations confirmed last week that
hundreds of teachers were yet to receive their salaries almost two weeks
after they were released.

PTUZ national co-ordinator Oswald Madziwa said the disbursement of
vouchers was "chaotic" with some of them sent to the wrong province.

Coltart said the Ministry of Finance, which had been alerted, would
address the issue of vouchers.

Zunde said in addition, some headmasters were turning back teachers
who had either absconded or resigned despite a government directive to take
them back without questions being asked.

He said the problem had arisen because the government had not properly
communicated its decision to grant amnesty to the affected teachers.

Coltart said: "They are covered by the general amnesty granted by
government.they qualify for amnesty."
The general amnesty covers teachers who resigned or absconded between
January 2007 and this year.

Zimbabwe's schools require more than 200 000 teachers to function
normally but most of them have deserted the profession due to poor pay and
deteriorating working conditions.

Analysts say a year-long strike by teachers over salaries and working
conditions had accelerated the collapse of the education system.

The teachers were demanding salaries in foreign currency of up to US$2
300.

Government recently presented a US$458 million budget to the donor
community for the education sector, which Coltart said would cover six
months.

The quality of education in the country has suffered a dramatic
decline over the past nine years as teachers fled the effects of economic
collapse by trekking to neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Namibia,
where working conditions and remuneration are more attractive.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Zimbabwe was counted among African countries
with the highest literacy rate estimated at over 80% but educationists say
the percentage has since plummeted due to poor education policies.

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

Aids Activists Bemoan Lack of Resources

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:27
THE Zimbabwe HIV and AIDS Activists' Union has petitioned the new
government to urgently address problems bedevilling the health delivery
system.

In a petition addressed to Health and Child Welfare Minister, Dr Henry
Madzorera and copied to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance
Minister Tendai Biti, ZHAU secretary general, Rosa Chimbindi-Nyathi said
they were "deeply concerned" about the continued lack of access to treatment
and support services for people living with HIV.

She said the lack of support services for even "reasonably priced" CD4
Cell Count machines meant many people living with HIV may die while waiting
to raise money to access the critical service in the private sector.

After testing HIV positive, a CD4 cell count is recommended to test
the strength of the immune system. The result of the test determines whether
or not, a person living with HIV is put on life prolonging Antiretroviral
Drugs (ARVs) and at what stage.

But in its petition, ZHAU said many people ended up dying at home
because they had no access to CD4 cell count machines, a huge concern for
the organisation.

"We as ZHAU are lobbying for the Aids Levy to be used where every
Zimbabwean living with HIV can benefit as the nation is facing serious
economic challenges," reads part of the petition.

"People living with HIV who want to access treatment at all government
hospitals as new clients, cannot access it, because of lack of drugs, lack
of CD4 count machines. . .

"This has caused a high percentage of people living with HIV dying for
example during the last quarter of 2008.

"At least 39 percent of people in HBC (Home Based Care) died due to
lack of drugs."

Chimbindi-Nyathi said the economic crisis had made the lives of people
living with HIV difficult while the food crisis had seen many people on ARVs
defaulting on treatment because it was painful for them to take the drugs on
empty stomachs.

As a result of the food crisis, the World Food Programme is providing
food aid to at least five million people while other relief agencies are
taking care of another two million.

Chimbindi-Nyathi said ZHAU members had not been spared the crisis.

She added: "A number of people living with HIV on treatment are
stopping treatment because they lack a balanced diet.

"We are advised as people living with HIV on treatment that these
drugs are so strong that one cannot take them on an empty stomach."

"As most of our members are less privileged, they are not gainfully
employed or cannot work due to other reasons for example side effects of
ARVs like swelling of feet and so on.

"Many cannot afford to even buy food for their families and pay school
fees for their children."

The union suggested the government must immediately revise how the
Aids Levy (now known as the National Aids Trust Funds) is used so that it
benefits people living with HIV instead of funding administrative work at
the National Aids Council (NAC).

"Whilst NAC from early 2005 going backwards, had programmes of
mitigation which helped members access food packs, school uniforms,
blankets, school fees, treatment and also pay for our review dates or visits
to clinics to be treated of opportunistic infections and accessing HBC kits
at city council clinics, all these were stopped and the reason was that NAC
is now doing co-ordination programmes," said Chimbindi-Nyathi.

"When the Aids levy was introduced it was meant to assist us as people
living with HIV.

"As an organisation which is registered and representing the sector
and health care consumers, we are calling for the honourable Minister of
Health to revisit this issue."

Launched in 2006, ZHAU represents HIV positive Zimbabweans and seeks
to protect their rights through advocacy and lobbying relevant authorities.

According to the United Nations Joint Programme (UNAIDS) there are at
least 1.7 million people living with HIV. Out of that number only 100 000
people were accessing life-saving ARVs while 320 000 others were in urgent
of treatment.

The closure of public hospitals and HIV/AIDS clinics last year left
many people, particularly those living with HIV, in a serious predicament.

Although hospitals have reopened and health workers are back to work,
a lot still needs to be done to revamp most of the government hospitals to
improve service delivery.

BY BERTHA SHOKO

Call for Embargo on Zim Diamonds

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 16:17
THE United Nations Security Council should place an embargo on
Zimbabwe's diamonds as the industry is "out of control," a leading
campaigner against conflict diamonds said last week.

In a report titled, Zimbabwe, Diamonds and the Wrong Side of History,
Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) rapped the Kimberley Process (KP) for having
done little to prevent tainted diamonds from Zimbabwe entering the world
markets.

The KP was designed to halt the traffic in conflict diamonds which are
"directly linked to the fuelling of armed conflict, the activities of rebel
movements aimed at undermining or overthrowing legitimate governments, and
the illicit traffic in, and proliferation of armaments, especially small
arms and light weapons".

If the ban is effected it would hit hard on established companies such
as Murowa Mines owned by RioZim.

PAC said diamonds are a source of increasing human rights abuses
"including extra judicial killings by state security forces, and if the
situation is allowed to go unchecked, they are likely to become a source of
growing social instability.

"The United Nations Security Council should place an immediate embargo
on Zimbabwean diamonds until such a time there is legitimate and competent
governance of the country's diamond resources," it said.

Since the Chiadzwa diamond rush in 2006, there have been reports of
torture and killings of panners by state security forces in a bid to halt
illegal mining in Marange.

PAC said the government should halt human rights abuses and restore
the rule of law and due process to the diamond fields of Chiadzwa and to the
diamond industry as a whole.

It accused the KP of failing to take vigorous action against Zimbabwe
and said such a move would reduce consumer confidence in the purity of
diamonds.

"Consumer confidence in the purity of diamonds will only be maintained
if the Kimberley Process is willing to take vigorous action to prevent
tainted diamonds from entering the world's diamond stream. In the case of
Zimbabwe, the KP is currently failing the test," it said.

Last year PAC and another organisation Global Witness demanded an
immediate suspension of locally extracted diamonds from the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme citing the government crackdown on illegal
diamond miners in Marange.

There has been rampant smuggling of diamonds from Chiadzwa in Marange
by top officials.

The late William Nhara, then principal director in the Ministry of
Public and Interactive Affairs was arrested at Harare International Airport
in 2007 with a consignment of diamonds destined for Dubai. He died before
the case was concluded.

In 2007 Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono told a
parliamentary portfolio committee that Zimbabwe was losing between US$40
million and US$50 million a week through the smuggling of precious minerals
such as gold and diamonds.

Gono told the parliamentarians that the country could realise US$1.2
billion from diamond sales, enough to solve the country's economic problems.

"We have investors who are able to mine and bring US$1.2 billion every
month while we only need US$100 million a month for all our difficulties to
go," Gono said.

The Marange diamonds, previously owned by African Consolidated
Resources was taken over by the government and given to the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC).

 But the central bank believes ZMDC did not have the skills to
undertake diamond mining saying they were practising "mechanised panning".

In 2007 there were calls to ban the country's diamonds following an
ownership wrangle involving River Ranch Mine, which pitted Bubye Minerals
owned by the Farquahars against consortium of indigenous and international
investors headed by Retired General Solomon Mujuru.

A team from KP visited the country on a fact-finding mission and said
that Zimbabwe had adequate controls that would discourage smuggling of the
precious mineral.

But PAC said the review team had done little to investigate abuses on
the diamond fields.

"The team saw pits where re-vegetation had taken place, concluding
that incursions of illegal miners were under control and that little illegal
mining was now taking place," it said.

"ZMDC in its first year produced only about US$15 million in diamond
revenues from mechanised but low-tech and inadequate panning operations in
the fenced-off site."

BY NDAMU SANDU

ZITF U-turn on Fees

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 16:15
BULAWAYO - The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair has slashed its
foreign currency denominated exhibition fees after local companies
threatened to boycott the trade showcase.

A fortnight ago the Bulawayo chapter of the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce (ZNCC) wrote to the ZITF warning that most companies would
struggle to raise between US$80 and US$130 a square metre in exhibition
space.

But last week the fees were reduced to between US$50 and US$105 a
square metre following a meeting between the new Minister of Industry and
Commerce, Professor Welshman Ncube and the ZITF management.

The new fee schedule also saw municipal rates that had been pegged at
US$10 per square metre being reduced to US$2.

The 50th edition of the ZITF runs from April 28 to May 2.

"In appreciation of your unwavering support over the years, we feel
that our Golden Jubilee is the most opportune time to reward all our
exhibitors participating in this significant event in the same way," said
ZITF general manager, Daniel Chigaru in a statement accompanying the new
schedule.

"As well as several activities lined up to make this a memorable
occasion, I am pleased to inform you that your participation in this year's
fair entitles you to a generous discount ranging between 35% to 75% off the
tariff rates, proportional to space reserved."

There were mounting fears the prohibitive rates would result in a few
local and international exhibitors taking part in the country's biggest
trade showcase.

This comes on the back of last year's low key exhibition that saw most
stands being taken up by government parastatals after local and foreign
exhibitors stayed away.

The ZNCC had argued that most companies were still reeling from the
10-year economic collapse and the dollarisation of the economy to afford the
proposed fees

BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA

ZCTU Demands US$454 min wage

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:51
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is demanding US$454 as the
minimum wage, setting the stage for a showdown with employers, well known
for underpaying workers.

Lovemore Matombo, the ZCTU President said US$454 a month, which he
said was the poverty datum line, was "not negotiable".

He said it was supposed to come into effect on January 1 but employers
had asked for a waiver for them to adjust to the dollarised economy.

"They (employers) said they will pay in February and I don't think
there is anybody who says he or she cannot pay the PDL. Every employer
should be able to pay it and there are no excuses," he said.

The country's workforce - including the civil service - got salaries
and wages below US$200 in February and Matombo said employers must settle
the difference.

Told that some employers will fail to reach the PDL levels, Matombo
accused the country's business sector of being insensitive to the plight of
workers.

"The major issue is that some business people are indisciplined and in
a culture of profiteering," he said.

Zimbabwean workers were being paid salaries in local currency at a
time the economy had dollarised.

Employers argued that they did not have foreign currency since they
were trading in local currency. They said they needed approval from the
central before they could start paying out salaries in foreign currency.

In his monetary policy statement last month, central bank governor,
Gideon Gono, said employers should pay in foreign currency following
government's decision to allow the use of multiple currencies side by side
the shattered Zimbabwe dollar.

BY OUR STAFF

Workers sent Home as Banks Feel the Pinch

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:49
A NUMBER of banks have sent employees on forced leave amid reports of
looming retrenchments as the financial services sector becomes the latest
casualty of the economic downturn.

Banking executives said last week the situation had deteriorated to
levels where "some employees had to be sacrificed and those on contract were
the first casualties".

The situation is not only confined to major multi-national banks,
local institutions were also struggling to adjust to the prevailing
conditions.

The advances departments at most banks had become the biggest losers
as financial institutions no longer give out loans to depositors in a
dollarised economy, where the local unit has lost its function as a store of
value.

Staff that used to be busy when the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
became big business and those who were employed to process cheques has also
been affected.

Repeated efforts to get a comment from Dr John Mangudya, the Bankers'
Association of Zimbabwe chairman, were fruitless as he was attending a
series of meetings throughout the week.

However, executives were hopeful that the US$2 billion Sadc initiative
would boost confidence in the sector.

"It helps in developing confidence because it is financed through the
financial sector," an executive said last week.

Blessings Mujuru, president of the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers'
Union (ZIBAWU), said the workers' representative body had not received any
official communication on the state of affairs in the industry but said
negotiations were being done at the Works Council level.

"These things (forced leave) are being agreed at Works Council. The
councils are also negotiating for salary increases," he said.

Sending of workers on forced leave comes at a time when a number of
financial institutions had announced plans to close down some of their
branches citing declining business.

Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited will close two of branches in
Harare and Chitungwiza.

Mujuru said the retrenchment of workers at the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) would encourage other banks to follow suit. "If the mother
bank retrenches, it encourages other banks to also retrench," he said.
Mujuru said salary negotiations in the industry were ongoing and a
meeting was scheduled for Monday to resolve the impasse.

ZIBAWU had bargained for housing, transport and cost of living
allowances separately but employers said they would offer US$40 for
allowances.

Employers then said they would offer US$40 as cost of living allowance
but without catering for transport and housing.

"They (employers) then upped the offer to US$80 as cost of living
excluding transport and housing and negotiations resume on Tuesday," Mujuru
said.

BY NDAMU SANDU

'Dollarisation' lures Back Crooks, Robbers, say Police

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:46
BULAWAYO - The dollarisation of the economy has lured back dangerous
Zimbabwean armed robbers and carjackers from neighbouring South Africa
fuelling an upsurge in robbery cases involving huge sums of foreign
currency, police said last week.

Shops, bars, companies and supermarkets now charge for their goods and
services in more stable foreign currencies after dumping the Zimbabwe
dollar. This means they now handle large sums in foreign currency.

According to the police, hardly a day passes in Bulawayo without
reports of armed robbers striking companies in the central business district
and both high and low-density areas.

Delta Beverages' Bulawayo depot was the latest casualty after armed
robbers seized thousands of US dollars and South African rand in cash
recently.

"According to our investigations, most of the armed robbers and
carjackers who are causing havoc in the city are locals who are based in
neighbouring South Africa," Bulawayo police spokesperson, Inspector
Mandlenkosi Moyo said.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the
world and most of the criminals are believed to be foreigners including
Zimbabweans escaping the economic meltdown in their own country.

Moyo said the same gang of criminals coordinated most of the armed
robberies.

"They are the same gangs." Moyo said. "Some of the criminals are in
hospital after being shot by the police during exchanges of gunfire."

He said armed police had been deployed throughout Bulawayo to counter
increasing cases of armed robberies.

Business has started improving for most traders in the country
following the government's decision to allow the use of multiple currencies.

Shelves of most shops and supermarkets that are now the target of
armed robbers were left bare last year while industries were operating at
less than 15% of their capacity due to rampaging inflation.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

Alex Magaisa: Zimbabwe's Maze of the 'Rule of Law'

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 18:40
THE 'Rule of Law', like the politician's other favourite, 'the people'
is like one of those things that everybody agrees is beautiful but evokes
diverse opinions as to what exactly constitutes that beauty.

The result, as the new members of the Zimbabwe government are
discovering, is that it can so easily become a double-edged sword which can
be employed to weaken an otherwise good cause.

It is therefore important to have some clarity on the substantive
character of this creature, the 'Rule of Law'. Confusion on this creature
has arisen most recently over the incident which pitted the new Prime
Minister Tsvangirai against the Attorney-General in relation to the
incarceration of Roy Bennett.

The Bennett Affair

The facts can be easily summarised. Bennett was nominated by
Tsvangirai to be the Deputy Minister for Agriculture in the new Inclusive
Government.

However, Bennett was arrested on the same day that the cabinet was
sworn in by President Mugabe. He has been in jail ever since.

Critics argue that the charges are without foundation and that Bennett
is, in effect, a political prisoner. The Bennett saga has placed Tsvangirai
in a very difficult situation, with critics lambasting him for joining the
government party leaving his comrade in the lurch.

Under these circumstances, Tsvangirai wrote a letter to the Judiciary,
accompanying Bennett's bail application.

In it he pleaded for Bennett's release and offered to stand as
guarantor for Bennett's compliance with bail conditions.

Judge Karwi granted Bennett bail, which order remained hollow as the
Attorney General exercised a statutory power to appeal against the decision.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai's letter caused huge controversy. It has been argued
that as he is now a member of the executive he is in effect part of the
state that is incarcerating Bennett and cannot therefore act contrary to the
state's position.

He has been accused of interfering with the legal process and
improperly straddling the line that divides the executive from the
judiciary. Significantly, the AG, among others, has accused Tsvangirai of
subverting the Rule of Law.

Maze of the 'Rule of Law'

For a man who, for years, has stood as the symbol of the campaign for
a return to the 'Rule of Law' in Zimbabwe, these accusations must have come
as a shock.

The danger here, in my view, has to be that Tsvangirai and his team
will recoil in the face of all these accusations of violating the 'Rule of
Law'. The Prime Minister and his team now find themselves in a maze of the
'Rule of Law' and unless they can trust and follow their moral campus they
could well end up being victims of a dry, lifeless version of the 'Rule of
Law'.

There are at least two ways of looking at this creature, the Rule of
Law:

Dry, Lifeless 'Rule of Law'

First, one could take a dry, lifeless and legalistic approach to it.
In this case, the mere presence of properly enacted laws and the fact that
officials act under those legal provisions would be enough to establish the
'Rule of Law'.

It matters not, from this perspective, that the laws are oppressive or
that the legal powers are used in a vindictive way so long as they are
exercised under the law. In other words, the enactment of the law or its
administration pays little, if any, regard to the values upon which
fundamental rights are built.

The trouble is that this is not really the 'Rule of Law'; rather, it
is 'Rule by Law'. In other words, dictatorial conduct can so easily be
clothed in the apparel of the law and the oppressors can easily say they do
adhere to the 'Rule of Law' even where it is devoid of any positive values.
Used in this way, the Rule of Law becomes a tool for oppression.

Indeed, from this perspective Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa and
even the minority Smith regime in Rhodesia could argue that they adhered to
the 'Rule of Law'.

Even post-independence Zimbabwe regime could easily argue that it has
been a big adherent to the 'Rule of Law', since for all its faults,  one
thing for sure is that it always made sure that laws were put in place and
power was exercised under those laws. This  makes a mockery of the 'Rule of
Law' since it simply justifies dictatorship by using the law.

'Rule of Law' and Fundamental Rights and Values

The second perspective, which gets my favour, is that if the 'Rule of
Law' is to have any meaning of significance, it must necessarily encompass
the protection of fundamental rights and values. For the 'Rule of Law' to
subsist, the laws have to conform to the universally accepted fundamental
rights of the people. Here, two key components are important:

First, it has to be grounded on the high moral values that sustain
individual and collective rights. Such values include fairness of laws,
impartiality of the adjudicators, fair hearing for the accused, prospective
and not retrospective legislation, procedural fairness and proper use of
powers, reasonableness and proportionality of sanctions.

Second, the 'Rule of Law' is very much dependent on what I have
previously referred to as the 'human factor', that is, the attitude,
behaviour and conduct of those charged with administering the laws.

For it matters very little that the laws respect fundamental rights if
those empowered to administer them are unwilling or unable to give effect to
that protection. This means there has to be a fair and efficient enforcement
mechanism that gives effect to the fundamental rights.

Therefore, the Rule of Law is undermined where power that is provided
for to the prosecuting authority under statute is nevertheless employed for
an improper purpose.

For example, where the Attorney-General's right to make an appeal
against a judgment is used for no good reason other than to delay or thwart
an individual's bid for freedom.

This rigid policy of appealing against judgments that favour the
individual regardless of the limited merits of the appeal is conduct that
could, arguably, amount to abuse of legal process.

Yet, incredibly, the perpetrators of this apparent abuse of legal
process would vigorously defend their stance on the basis of the 'Rule of
Law'! But surely, deploying a power for an improper purpose can hardly be
the stuff that constitutes the 'Rule of Law'.

The Future

Therefore, in considering their position in respect of the 'Rule of
Law', I believe that the new government ought to take a broader view in
which the 'Rule of Law' is a living creature that carries with it the values
that form the foundation for the protection of fundamental rights.

Anything devoid of these values and fundamental rights can't properly
be described as the 'Rule of Law'.

Tsvangirai and his team have to sow, nurture and grow the 'Rule of Law'
through a combination of those values, fundamental rights and the attitude
and conduct of the human agents who administer the law including the AG, the
law enforcement agents and the judiciary itself.

If they fail to see beyond the flimsy veil of the 'Rule of Law' as
presently used, they could easily find themselves disempowered; utterly
unable to challenge injustices for fear that they might be seen to be
violating the 'Rule of Law' when in fact, the so-called Rule of Law is no
more than a façade of oppressive rule.

Finally, for the avoidance of doubt, this is by no means an attempt to
defend the Tsvangirai's letter to the judiciary.

I do understand the political basis of that letter, given the
circumstances but I think on that occasion the Prime Minister could have
been advised differently.

I say so simply because the act itself does not set a good precedent.
It matters not that Tsvangirai's intentions were good and endowed with good
faith.

The danger, which it is imperative to avoid at all costs, is the risk
that such a facility, if allowed to subsist could so easily fall into wrong
and ill-intentioned hands. It will be a lot harder to cry foul when is is
employed for purely selfish reasons.

Alex Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent and
can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk  or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk

Sunday View: Property Rights Door to Foreign Investment

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 18:34
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe must be one of the luckiest men alive today,
having to share a table with progressive forces of real democracy when he
should be languishing in the doldrums of political obscurity.

And for this, he owes it to millions of Zimbabweans who seem to have
forgiven him, despite a vicious thirty-year political reign that at one time
or another served a diet of starvation, disease, abject poverty,
unemployment and death to his petulant countrymen.

The forgiving Zimbabweans ought to be recorded in history for being
one of the most abused in the world, classified in the category of the slave
trade of the 17th Century, Jews under the reign of terror of Adolf Hitler
during the 1940s, the Rwanda genocide of the 1990s and of late, the blood
bath in Darfur.

Between 1890 and 2008, Zimbabweans have been humiliated by three eras
of fatalistic political governance attributable to three tyrants - Cecil
John Rhodes (1890-1964); Ian Smith (1965-1980); Robert Mugabe (1980-2008).

Yet, just like with Smith in 1979, the Government of National Unity
(GNU) has offered Mugabe a second chance at life. Surrounded by a "deadwood"
retirement cabinet meant to chaperone him into political bliss, the man has
the audacity to sit on podiums and pontificate on issues that not only bear
no resemblance to real life but also defy all known forms of civilised
logic.

The first reality is that Mugabe's deadly land reform bankrolled by
his political vampires is responsible for decimating our nation's strategic
grain reserves. His cronies simply took the land, locked it up in their
cabinets and opened up their proverbial beaks for free inputs which they
subsequently traded on the black market.

Now the chief protagonist of human disaster, Gideon Gono, claims an
"audit" of the implements that he doled out to consolidate Mugabe's waning
political fortunes will exonerate him. How a man can audit his own
transgressions beats the daylight out of every logical conclusion.

The second reality is that by continuing to abuse white commercial
farmers and violating property rights, Mugabe is defeating the noble cause
of attracting investment towards Zimbabwe's recovery. There is not going to
be any foreign direct investment in a country where the head of state
continues to desecrate universal norms of property rights.

Ironically, even if Mugabe is the chief perpetrator of property rights
violations in Southern Africa, he has done so with inadvertent complicity of
the MDC. This view point demands mature political scrutiny before fanatic
condemnation.

I have been directly involved in matters of "constitutionalising"
Zimbabwe's land reform since 1999 and am convinced that both Zanu PF and the
two MDC formations actually have no consistent property rights ideology.

Mugabe's paranoid obsession with rewarding cronies by grabbing farms
from Joe Blogs puts him out of the equation of rational judgement in
property rights discourse. What I mean is that in a room where sensible
citizens are discussing matters of justice in land reform, the presence of
Zanu PF starves the atmosphere of life-giving oxygen.

The tragedy, however, is around Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur
Mutambara's death-defying equivocal rationale that "land ownership i.e.
property rights in the commercial farming sector cannot revert to the status
quo." This perspective is neon-lit with patronising hypocrisy and fatalistic
appeasement.

Let me explain. The Government of National Unity will never get
international credibility without outright respect for property rights, and
this, unfortunately, must include the restoration of legitimate ownership of
commercial farms to Joe Blogs.

The fact that Tsvangirayi, Mutambara, Professor Welshman Ncube and
Tendai Biti want to avoid "negative political backlash at the domestic
 front" may be politically correct but ideologically flawed.

The assumption, of course, being that the doctrine of Property Rights
is a universally accepted ideological position.

Whether or not Leander Starr Jameson and his settlers shot their way
out of the Fort can still be debated but would not be a credible starting
point for modern day land reform. If Cecil John Rhodes raped my grandmother
in 1890, it would not make it right to rape his granddaughter in 2008.

My point cannot be clearer than this: a return to the rule of law is
embedded with returning farms that were expropriated from black and white
Zimbabwean citizens under a smokescreen of partisan, Zanu PF-aligned
constitutional chicanery on the pretext of social justice.

Zimbabwe does not require aid, but if international reputation is
mortgaged to the respect of property rights, we can only attract global
sympathy and support if MDC is seen to be on the side of truth, not
self-deception.

BY REJOICE NGWENYA

Comment: Review Security for new Leaders

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/


Saturday, 07 March 2009 18:29
THERE will be public outrage at the death of Susan Tsvangirai, the
Prime Minister's wife, in an accident on Friday on their way to Buhera,
where her husband was due to address a rally at Murambinda yesterday.

That will be understandable given the dodgy record of traffic
accidents on Zimbabwe's roads.

Barely a month ago, MDC-T's Vice-President, Thokozani Khupe, who is
also Deputy Prime Minister, narrowly escaped death in a road accident near
Kwekwe, which claimed the life of one of her workers. She was travelling
from Bulawayo to Harare for the swearing in of new government ministers when
tragedy struck.

Only in December Elliott Manyika died in another road accident while
on his way to Gwanda on Zanu PF party business.

Mrs Tsvangirai joins a list of illustrious Zimbabweans, among them
Josiah Magama Tongogara, who perished needlessly when they were about to
enjoy the fruits of our hard-won freedom.

The death on Friday afternoon emphasises the need to improve security
arrangements around the new leadership.

Initial reports said the driver of a truck travelling in the opposite
direction apparently fell asleep at the wheel. Mrs Tsvangirai died at the
scene while her husband and the driver of their vehicle were injured.

There will be a compelling urge to point fingers and apportion blame.
That, too, is understandable.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai has survived three previous attempts on his
life. It is understandable that there is growing suspicion among supporters
and that it will be difficult to quell their anger.

But there is need to keep level heads, even in these trying times,
given the insincerity of some of the parties to the new political
dispensation and even against the background of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's warning about "residual parallel structures that attempt to
manipulate the process and procedures of government for personal or
political gain". Also worrying are outstanding issues that continue to act
as impediments to progress.

There is need to restrain our anger and allow for full investigations
by the government and the MDC-T, whose results must be made public.

Mrs Tsvangirai played a critical role in supporting her husband as he
suffered persecution at the hands of state security agents, ironically the
people who are among those now offering him close security.

What must pain the immediate Tsvangirai family, the MDC-T in
particular, and the nation in general is that her life has been terminated
at a time when the ideals which she and her husband fought for were nearer
than they have ever been.

But questions will be raised about the security given the new
leadership, while the loss of Mrs Tsvangirai will be an indictment on the
state of Zimbabwe's roads, which raises concerns about how many more
people - never mind high-profile figures - should continue to perish before
the government does something.

Mrs Tsvangirai's death only serves to highlight the state of
unpreparedness of Zimbabwe to play a significant role in hosting some of the
teams in next year's 2010 Fifa soccer World Cup in South Africa.

While Zimbabwe says it welcomes the hosting of the world soccer
extravaganza, it has done little to show its readiness to share part of the
business that the soccer showpiece will bring to this part of the world.

Our roads, airports, hotels, and our driving must be the starting
points in demonstrating our preparedness in welcoming visitors to the soccer
festival, potentially a lucrative national showcase.

Zim Standard Letters

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/

Open letter to David Coltart
Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:14
HEARTY congratulations on being appointed Minister of Education Sport,
Arts and Culture, arguably the most sensitive and vital after that of the
Prime Minister.

The ministry is very important because the responsibility of educating
our children and the nation building lies solely in your hands.

Forget about Ministry of Defence, we are not at war with anyone nor is
there a possibility of any in the near future.

Forget about other ministries because without adequately educating our
children, today we surely can forget about any responsible, learned
workforce to take our country forward in the future.

Knowing you the way I do in your political and civil life - a fierce
campaigner for civil and political rights, I'm confident that you shall face
the challenges of your new job with the same aplomb, commitment, diligence
and intelligence that characterized your previous elections into
parliament.]

I write you this letter as a friend, parent, teacher and citizen of
this great country which, you will agree with me, has been denigrated and
adulterated by virtueless men and women with no conscience, sympathy,
rationality and wisdom.

Since 1999, teaching students and general public the principle of
democracy which opened the way of thinking of our people towards the
alternative political thought analysis of constitutional reforms and sheer
comparison of offers from competing rivals was the teachers' crime.

They were viewed as the single most potent vehicle of multi-party
democracy change orientation that saw the people, rightly or wrongly,
rejecting the proposed new Constitution of Zimbabwe in the referendum of
2000.

The concept of democracy is innocent in the primary school curriculum
in social studies existing only as as a subject called Rules and Laws as
from Grade One! For adequately teaching that topic teachers were rewarded
with poor conditions of service, non-existent salaries, systematic
psychological torture and the violence that was waged on teachers resulting
in the mass exodus to UK, US, SA. You will also have noted the numerous
deaths and abject poverty levels bordering on extermination.

Teachers are among the most hungry, emaciated, poor, property-less,
dirty, demotivated, denigrated, desolated, forlorn, and   without supportive
friends and relatives yet we are so full of sacrifice each time we stand
among our students.

The ministry of education has had the most lacklustre ministers from
car thieves (the Willowgate Scandal), exam leakers and clueless village
heads combined with ministers of public service who were more often
vindictive against teachers than they care to be remembered as having been
change agents.

I know it all. I lived through it and I felt it. In this new era of
openness I have the guts to say it now.

Zimpapers have no moral right to lecture teachers on the new
dimensions for education as shown by some of their recent writings. They
were accomplices in the oppression of teachers and education, as if being
wordsmiths gave them the ultimate intellectual superiority over all to
sermonize on education as a priority of the new government!

You now have a perfect opportunity to rewrite the script and usher in
a change we all can believe in.

There is a need for an all-encompassing Education Indaba - but this
should not be compromised by over-fed and spoilt chefs of Harare's office
corridors, who falsely claim a monopoly of solutions to every problem.

As the new minister, you will also need to engage the parents in the
townships and in the rural areas. Education has reverted back to be a
preserve for the rich.

Why should there always be calls for teachers to be patriotic during
the worst of problems nationally as if they eat patriotism? Theirs is a
profession where there is nothing to steal for re-sale in order that they
survive by putting food on their tables.

I hear there are attempts to woo back those of us who fled, migrated
or submitted to cowardice and chose a "safe" life away from this madness we
went through? What of the heroes who braved it all and sacrificed to remain
behind, do you fail to reward them with a real "thank- you- Maqhawe"?

Real change is what we stayed home to shape, not arrogance and
impudence.

I will have failed to congratulate you adequately if I concluded this
without mentioning that I intend to mobilize all parents of children
attending school in our great country into an institution that will hold you
accountable in the delivery of education to our children.

This will be unprecedented but I'm sure you obviously are very
passionate about social justice.

Only then will democracy have triumphed and national healing achieved
when the education field is levelled for all children without regard to
socio-economic background.

Giyani "Titsha" Moyo
Bulawayo.
moyogiyani@yahoo.com

-------------
Minister Wrong on Zesa bills
Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:13
THE Minister of Energy and power Development is wrong in requiring
domestic consumers to pay a minimum of US$10 in respect of their electricity
bills.

Consumers should wait until the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
complies with Statutory Instrument 175 of 2008 and 5 of 2009 under which
Zesa is obliged to accept payment in Zimbabwe dollars.

Under SI 5 of 2009 (3.1) says that: "Every trader, health
practitioner, parastatal, educational institution or health institution
shall accept in settlement of any sum due to the trader, practitioner,
parastatal or institution payment in the form of Zimbabwe dollar banknotes
or coins."

Clause 4.2 of SI 5 of 2009 also says: "Where a trader, health
practitioner, parastatal, educational institution or health institution
referred to in sub-section (1) engages in dual charging, he or she shall
offer to sell goods and services in question for the equivalent amount in
Zimbabwe dollar banknotes and coins at the rate determined by the Minister
from time to time in terms of section 47 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act
[Chapter 22.15] (No 5 of 1999).

W Lasmar
Mount Pleasant
Harare.

------------
Christians Pledge Support for Inclusive Government
Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:11
WE the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop's Conference (ZCBC), Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and the Zimbabwe Council Churches (ZCC), warmly
welcome the promulgation of the all-inclusive government.

As the nation of Zimbabwe enters this new dispensation, we wish to
assure our new government that we will assist where possible for Zimbabwe to
be fully restored to its rightful place among the nations of the world.
 We wish to remind the new government that it is taking office at a
very special time and under very special circumstances in our history.

The special circumstances include a clearly defined and limited
lifespan of the government during which it must present to the nation some
specific deliverables which include the following:

Facilitating the development and promulgation of a people-driven
national constitution as a foundation for democratic governance; opening up
space for people's democratic participation, freedom of expression and
personal freedoms; enacting legislation and mechanisms for people's free
participation in the national elections. . . that will mark the end of the
life of the current all-inclusive government; re-vamping the national
economy in order to create jobs, reduce hunger, poverty, disease and
restoring public and social services, particularly those related to health
and education; and addressing all outstanding issues that include the
release of persons detained on political grounds, fair distribution of land
and equitable distribution of relief and aid to those who need it.

In addition, political party leaders should work to ensure that the
unity they have achieved at their level cascades down to their supporters.
The resurgence of politically-motivated acts of violence that the country is
witnessing following the inauguration of the new government, whatever its
cause, is morally wrong, unacceptable and should be condemned and stopped.

The country needs reconciliation and healing. The Church in Zimbabwe
has made plans to partner with other stakeholders and work towards national
reconciliation and the healing of persons and communities at all levels as
an important and essential first step into our new dispensation. This will
be a process to address past hurts and permit a climate for reconstruction.

For national reconciliation and healing to take place, however, we
need to break the culture of violence that has come to characterize how we
resolve conflicts in our communities.

We urge Church leaders, political leaders and opinion leaders to go
back to communities and address national (not political party) rallies to
promote the message of unity, to repeat again and again that timeless
message from Scripture: "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brethren
live together in unity."

The media should join other sectors in promoting unity in our new
dispensation by dropping hate language and biased reporting, encouraging
diversity and free flow of opinions and vigilantly and constructively
probing issues of national importance.

We believe this is the moment in our history when we must all be
forward-looking and doing all we can from our various and diverse vantage
points to restore our nation.

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference  Evangelical Fellowship of
Zimbabwe.

-------------------
The Standard SMS
Saturday, 07 March 2009 15:19
BIRTHDAY DISGRACE

LAST week's birthday bash in Chinhoyi was a disgrace. How can people
who are quite capable of feeding themselves travel all the way from Harare
and other centres to feast in the full view of villagers whose food stocks
are dangerously low and this at a time when we all know that many households
are going to bed without a meal. Would it not have made sense to donate the
food and money towards the many desperate families, some of them
child-headed instead of such a demonstration of such insensitive and lavish
lifestyle? The international community will only begin to take us seriously
when we show leadership during such testing times. The Chinhoyi bash was
gross and this at a time when the villagers are supposed to be tending the
little patches they were able to cultivate because the government forgot to
plan to bring in agricultural inputs in time for the planting season. - Get
real, Harare.

******
TO whom do a country's soldiers belong? Is it to a political party or
an individual? If it is to an individual, then they are nothing more than a
militia and should not be paid from the fiscus. They should choose from now
onwards who they wish to serve - the people of this country or a militia. I
chose to serve the people. - Pro Bono.

BENNETT GRUDGE

I suspect that Roy Bennett's case is one of grudge, because Zanu PF
suspects that he was behind the well organised MDC parliamentary and
presidential campaigns during March and June 2008. Indications were that the
epicenter of the campaigns was South Africa, where coincidentally Bennett
was resident. This is why before the swearing in of the Prime Minister, Zanu
PF was alleging that Morgan Tsvangirai was under pressure from the whites in
the MDC because they were demanding key posts in the cabinet. So if it is
correct that Bennett was behind the defeat, then typical of Zanu PF they
will not forgive him for that. But Tsvangirai must remain steadfast and
stick to his appointment of Bennett as Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Zanu
PF kicked Bennett out of Parliament as well as his Charleswood Estates in
Chimanimani. Now they want to kick him out of government. He is a victim of
racism. - Free Bennett, Harare.

SALUTE OR QUIT

WE fought for majority rule, yet the security chiefs vow not to salute
the choice of the voters, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and boycotted his
inauguration. Can someone advise or remind these guys that they are there to
serve the interests of the nation and that the nation chose Tsvangirai. The
service chiefs must salute him or simply resign and let those willing to
serve Zimbabwe take over. The service chiefs need to appreciate the
difference between personal and national interests. The war of liberation
was about national interests. Those interests should be protected. - Nation
first, Harare.

GONO'S COSTLY BLUNDERS

MORE than five years ago when Dr Gideon Gono became the Governor of
the Reserve Bank, we had a currency that worked and yet now after his first
term the currency is worthless. I shudder to think what will happen by the
end of his second term? It's apparent he has failed, miserably. Both his
failures and experiments have proved very costly for this nation. -
Tanatswa, Harare.

LETS SHUN THEM

IF Zanu PF continues to behave and mistreat MDC activists and
supporters the way it has been so far, I suggest that we just ignore them
completely. When they and their ministers call for a meeting let's just
ignore them. That will send a powerful message that we no longer want them.
This is possible and achievable because we ignored them. They will just have
to move into oblivion. It's possible because we ignored them by not going to
work and they were thoroughly humiliated. They should not claim credit for
what is happening now. In fact, their role in the past destroyed what we are
now trying to rebuild. There are ways in which the continuing farm invasions
are destroying the economy. They no longer have any idea about how to go
forward. All they know is going backwards. They are an archival lot. -
Dustbin material.

MANTAIN

WESTERN nations should keep the targeted sanctions in place because
they serve to reign in Zanu PF zealots. The sanctions should be extended
during the life span of the Government of National Unity, while private
radio stations should continue to operate, giving balanced news. We can no
longer trust Zanu PF and will never because of its poor track record. - Not
fooled, Harare.

FEES RULING HAILED

THE decision to reduce fees for students at institutions of higher
education is most welcome because it gets back students into lecture rooms,
which is where they rightly belong. But there hasn't been much creativity
coming out of the administrations of the educational institutions in the
country with regards to ensuring the structures are well maintained. A visit
to Harare Polytechnic, the University of Zimbabwe and the Women's University
in Africa will show how things are being allowed to fall apart. Surely it
must be possible to appeal to the various ambassadors' funds or United
Nations organisations such as Unesco and Unicef, as well as the corporate
sector in Zimbabwe to help. What people do not like is doling out money
because it is likely to be diverted to totally different purposes. But a
paint company could be asked to provide materials to renovate buildings that
suffer from neglect. Building suppliers and plumbing companies could be
asked to help in, for example, contributing materials for carrying out the
repairs necessary for students to return to the halls of residence at UZ. -
MaIdeas, Kwekwe.

KUDOS FOR MUDZURI

KUDOS to the new Minister of Energy and Power Development, Engineer
Elias Mudzuri, who ordered the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to stop
disconnecting consumers who have not paid their bills. In my view he should
demand two things: that Zesa delivers; and secondly that heads roll at the
parastatal. Most staff members are good people who mean well but they are
really frustrated by a leadership that believes they should deprive
operations of all resources to carry out their work. Zesa or all the other
parastatals should not have such leadership. Maybe the new minister can find
it in himself to enlist the services of Engineer Simbarashe Mangwengwende,
the former Zesa CEO, whose departure coincided with the collapse in the
power utility's service delivery. - Still in darkness, Mount Pleasant
Heights, Harare.

Scraping the funds together

From The Financial Mail (SA), 6 March

Zimbabwe's reconstruction wish list could not come at a worse time

By Carol Paton

It's a tall order: US$2bn now and $5bn later. This is what Zimbabwe has put
on the table for its reconstruction. Where will the money come from, and
what role will SA play in funding its neighbour? For now, it is only the
$2bn that is being spoken about. Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's new minister of
finance, tabled a document at last week's SADC council of ministers'
meeting, which roughly computed the immediate needs. Of this, $1bn is a
request for direct on-budget assistance to get schools, hospitals and farms
running. It includes the costs of recurrent expenditure to pay civil servant
salaries (in foreign exchange); the purchase of drugs, medical equipment and
agricultural inputs; and for urgent assistance to the vulnerable and
destitute. In an interview with the FM, finance minister Trevor Manuel said
the first $1bn is "to deal with elementary things that say to people:
'change is possible'." Manuel says the second $1bn is a "self-liquidating
credit line" that will allow wholesalers, retailers and producers to
purchase goods using credit. At the moment, basic goods are available only
for foreign exchange and are out of reach for most people. Most of the goods
needed to restock stores and kickstart the economy would be purchased in SA.
So opening credit lines to Zimbabwe makes sense, he says.

SA's constitution prohibits it from lending directly to other sovereign
states, so other vehicles would need to be found. Among the options are the
SA Reserve Bank, which has its own balance sheet; the Development Bank of
Southern Africa, which has already said it can raise R2bn for Zimbabwean
reconstruction; and the Industrial Development Corp. Says Manuel: "We will
look at the credit facility. There is an old [SA Reserve Bank] credit line
from 1967 that goes back to [Rhodesia's] unilateral declaration of
independence, and we are exploring using that." Private banks could also do
lending. Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim says the participation
of the central bank in extending credit to a public entity, for example,
would help the entry of the private sector. Private banks could then provide
credit to retailers, which a central bank would be unlikely to do. Ballim
says the effect of extending such a credit line, however it's configured,
will be negligible on SA reserves and sovereign credit rating. SA bankers
are now beginning to get their heads around what lending in the Zimbabwean
market will mean. A "robust exploration" of their role has begun, in a
process led by national treasury officials, but participants refused to be
drawn on the detail of the discussions. However, in many ways it looks like
this will be the easy part. Raising the $1bn of on-budget assistance looks
close to impossible. Such resources are not sitting in the treasuries of
SADC member states.

Only SA could really consider a grant of some kind. Manuel says government's
African Renaissance Fund, administered jointly by foreign affairs and
treasury, is the likely conduit. It was through this that the R300m that SA
granted to Zimbabwe in last October's medium-term budget policy statement
was channelled. Any new grant to Zimbabwe would require an adjustment to the
SA budget, and would therefore need to be voted on by parliament. It would
in any event be nowhere near the $1bn being asked for, for which "a case
will have to be made to donor countries", says Manuel. This won't be easy.
There is deep concern in the donor community about President Robert Mugabe's
continued presence. At the very least, donor countries would insist on a
range of pre-conditions, from the repeal of repressive legislation to
evidence that the public finance management system is in order. And donors
almost never fund recurrent expenditure. When approached with the same
document two weeks ago, donor agencies in Harare were horrified. "A billion
dollars is a very high figure just for recurrent expenditure - it is close
to 25% of Zimbabwe's GDP," says one participant. "Donors don't like to
support recurrent expenditure. Added to that is the simple fact that the
developed world is in the grip of its most serious financial crisis in 80
years, and the pool of overseas development aid just got smaller."

Manuel, with his status and influence with institutions like the IMF and
World Bank, could become Zimbabwe's champion. Money needs to flow early, he
argues, if the Zimbabwean people are to believe in the transition. "When
they addressed SADC, all three parties, including Zanu, [were] saying that
they [had] to demonstrate to people that they would work for success. We
must support that, even if support is given for a trial period. Putting too
many conditions on it means that it just won't happen." One of the things
that donor nations and agencies are keenly watching is the fate of the R300m
which SA transferred to Zimbabwe to buy seed and diesel. Treasury says the
money was administered by SADC and the UN, making it difficult to monitor,
but it is awaiting a report on the distribution of the funds. There is
persistent talk that some of the money did not reach its intended
destination, making donors very uneasy. Regularising relations with the IMF
is another area where Manuel could use his influence. Before real lending
can take place, sanctions - imposed by the IMF board, not its management -
must be lifted and Zimbabwe's $5bn debt rescheduled or submitted to the
fund's highly indebted poor countries' initiative. Says national treasury
official Neil Cole: "The IMF is always the first creditor, so it will be
impossible for Zimbabwe to talk to other agencies, like the World Bank or
African Development Bank, before talking to the IMF." An IMF fact-finding
mission is headed for Zimbabwe in the next few weeks. But before real
progress can be made, the IMF board will have to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The $2bn named by Biti and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai would be
assistance for only the next 10 months. The big-ticket items - for instance,
land reform and investment in energy - are not included. Full
reconstruction, says the document tabled at SADC, would cost about $5bn.
This has its origins in a report compiled by Zimbabwean economists for the
UN last year. In the absence of reliable data, it was "a stab in the dark"
and an attempt to start somewhere, says a UN official. The real costs could
be higher. Economic data are so dubious that the real macroeconomic picture
is a mystery. Should the IMF, when it arrives in Harare in the coming weeks,
get unfettered access to the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank, then it will be the
first time for many years that a real assessment of the economy can begin.

The flight of the beautiful mother bird

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

By Alex T. Magaisa
Posted to the web: 07/03/2009 21:00:12
WHEN I was a small boy, my friends and I in the village would often go out
to the pastures with the village cattle. They were many, over one hundred at
any given time. We knew each by name and they, too, knew their names - the
bulls, the cows and their calves.

We would sit, play and watch as the cattle peacefully grazed the beautiful
green grass. But often, we would get carried away and when it came to
rounding them up to return home, we would discover that one or two were
missing. They would have wandered into the thick bushes.

If a cow was lost, the young, hungry calf would often be a good instrument
to search for its mother. So we would take it along and it would cry for its
mother. Her cry, we had learned over the years, would eventually capture its
mother's attention.

It was a cry that the mother would be hard-pressed to ignore. The maternal
instinct would cause her to respond. And in so doing, by responding, she
would announce her location. That was our way of finding her. We would be
happy and return home.

Today, the children of Zimbabwe are crying the cry of the calves. But we
will never again hear the mother's return call. Not in this world. For she
is not in this universe, anymore. She is gone; taken away in the most brutal
and tragic of circumstances. My eyes well-up even as I type this, for the
maternal answer will be heard no more.

I was on my way home on Friday when the message arrived on the little
gadget. It was a message from my friend, Sam. It announced that Tsvangirai
had been involved in an accident; that he had been injured and that his
wife, Mai Tsvangirai, had died.

Those Zimbabweans again, I said to myself. They have started their bad jokes
again. But I thought this particular one was in bad taste. I resolved at
that moment to chastise my friend, Sam over a drink later that evening. It
was unbelievable. And, perhaps, I just did not want to believe it. I do that
often. I block bad news. I pretend it does not exist. But it always catches
up with me.

And sure enough, moments later a call came from another friend but when I
looked at the name I ignored it. He rang again. And again. Then another one
called. At this point I was beginning to fear that the worst had happened.
But I refused to accept it. I knew from those frantic calls that Sam may not
have been joking in the first place. And this was me in my 'blocking mode'.

I got home and headed went straight for the refrigerator. Somehow, I thought
it would wash away all those bad thoughts; that this was a nightmare from
which I would soon recover. Then, with that bit of Dutch courage, I picked
up the phone and called Sam.

His voice was sombre. He seemed tired and resigned. It confirmed my worst
fears. That he was not joking after all. I swallowed hard and said the
obvious, 'So, it's true?' 'It's everywhere in the news', he replied. Another
gulp of the good beverage but it did not help. For the first time in a long
period, I was lost for words. We did not talk for long.

I hung up and called a few other friends - perhaps, mentally, I was still
seeking confirmation that this was true. I was unblocking the mental fence
that I had erected. I had deliberately ignored the television.

In an instant, it all unfolded before my eyes, as I stared at the otherwise
empty wall. I saw Morgan; I saw the many Zimbabweans at home and abroad. I
wondered what they must be thinking; what must be going through their minds.
I saw a nation that has staggered and stumbled; a nation that had rose again
on the tortuous journey to the oasis; a people that had reached the oasis,
took a sip of water but suddenly the precious liquid had vanished before
their eyes. I saw a thirsty nation staring at the abyss, an empty dark pit
with no end. Then I saw Mai Tsvangirai; the mother whose call her Zimbabwean
flock will never hear again.

I saw the image of a warm, tender and beautiful African woman; a woman who
exuded maternal charm and warmth, even to those of us whose only contact
with her was through pictures. For that is what she was - a human being who
embraced and symbolised the best of not just femininity but humanity in all
its beauty.

What was extraordinary about Mai Tsvangirai is how ordinary she was. She
carried herself as such. She always reminded me of Mai Chipo who lived next
door or Mai Rumbi who lived in Mufakose. She was not pretentious. She shone
brightly in her ordinary garments. She was always there, by her husband's
side.

She talked little in words but spoke volumes by her conduct; by her
appearance. She did not need gold and diamonds to carry her message. No, she
was not captured by the beautiful stones or the costly apparel made by
famous men and women in far away continents.

You see, with that woman, we did not know her, yet we knew so well. For she
encapsulated all that was beautiful and admirable about women - she carried
the qualities that we have seen in the many different women we have met. And
for that reason, she was familiar - and that is why we knew her so well.

Tsvangirai, our Prime Minister, has lost a good and loyal wife. He has lost
a trusted friend. I send my condolences to him. Mai Tsvangirai's children
have lost a good mother. Masiziva, for that is how those of our clan,
veDziva, call our women.

The children of Zimbabwe have lost a mother. We will cry out in the forest
of this cruel world but we will never hear her again. Not in this world. If
there were a word that communicated it better than 'sad' I would employ it
to describe the state of today, in the aftermath of her departure.

Munhu akanaka haararame, we have often heard (the good die young). Perhaps
He knows that this place is no place for good souls. Perhaps, we could take
comfort, in the knowledge that wherever she is, if we should all go there
one day, we know that there is, at least, someone who will prepare and make
it comfortable for us. We should not be scared to go there.

People will be emotional. We all are. On this day; indeed on this occasion,
decisions will probably be called. Mai Tsvangirai would have supported her
husband. And whatever decision he makes, I'm sure she would be supportive
too. I hope though, that she will not die in vain. I hope her efforts for
many years will not go to waste. I just hope that her husband's detractors
will not have their way.

I wish the Prime Minister well. I join others in praying for his speedy
recovery. It will be very hard. We can only hope, that she is there now by
His side and that she will, from time to time, whisper in His ear telling
Him about the plight of her children; the children of Zimbabwe. So even if
we might never hear her again, perhaps she will hear us and give good
counsel so that our suffering might end. Rest in Peace, Save, Rest in Peace
Musaigwa.

Magaisa is a New Zimbabwe.com columnist. E-mail him: wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk

We are a nation in mourning

She delivered change to us all then she died; Susan Tsvangirai.

The death of Mrs Susan Tsvangirai remains a shock to every peace loving
Zimbabwean, not only because she was a visible fighter for peace and justice
but that through her civic work, she touched many souls and minds. She was a
pillar of hope and that for the first time Zimbabweans saw a figure head in
the making that symbolised in every respect, the mother of a nation. She
lived a simple life in a country torn strife with corrupt materialistic
ergo. She was another Sally or should we say mother Teresa.

I am humbled to have met her personally, having met her at her house on
numerous occasions as was all MDC officials. She was both welcoming and a
rock to the party founded on none violence principles, not withstanding to
her husband the Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai. I remember receiving her
call on the day Border Gezi died in a car crash warning me to take extra
care on the road. It came as a shock to me that she could take the pains to
call me and warn me of possible danger; I felt her warmth and power guiding
me through and through, it was touching. I wish I could have done the same
but I was not given the chance, she is dead.   The accident that killed Mrs
Tsvangirai and injured the Prime Minster, coming barely three weeks after he
assumed the post of Prime Minster has already started raising eyebrows in
both the media and within the Zimbabwean population. This fury and suspicion
is justified in a country long bent on eliminating political opponents in
bizarre incidents of a similar nature. While I am not suggesting a foul
play, neither will I dismiss it.

No doubt that this incident will shake an already shaky transitional
government which Zimbabweans badly need. There have been never been a time
when Zimbabweans placed so much hope for a new beginning and indeed a few
weeks of the new MDC government had proved that indeed positive change is
possible after all. Nobody will deny that the accident will impact
negatively on the GNU momentum, as deadlines will be missed as the nation
mourns the fallen heroine of Susan Tsvangirai. Our greatest hope is that the
Prime Minster will swiftly recover to continue where Mrs Tsvangirai left
albeit a surmountable task. The ZANU (PF) must move swiftly to lay bare all
evidence to exonerate themselves from the incident, as I see it, fingers
pointing at the hand of Mugabe government or is it pockets of resistance
will not simply disappear. Investigations must prove beyond doubt that this
was just a tragic accident otherwise the implication to the transitional
government and subsequent recovery of Zimbabwe will be severely jeopardised.
Nobody should go to sleep thinking that tomorrow it will simply disappear
from people's minds because it simply won't.

To the mother of the nation, Mrs Susan Tsvangirai, R.I.P. and to the Prime
Minster I wish you a fast recovery. To the Tsvangirai family I offer my deep
sincere condolence.

Elliot Pfebve

Zimbabwean politician.

Susan Tsvangirai's death a great loss to Zimbabwe

Zimbabwejournalists.com
8th Mar 2009 03:48 GMT

By Sandra Nyaira

WHEN I heard that Susan Tsvangirai had been involved in a fatal car crash
with her husband, Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the first
person I called was a friend and former colleague at the banned Daily News
newspaper, Urginia Mauluka.

Like me she was jolted, she was shell-shocked. I heard her voice croaking
over the phone as she tried to get more details of the accident from me,
information I didn't have except that the accident occurred along the
treacherous Beatrice Road as they were driving to their rural home in
Buhera. We both shed tears for a woman we met and grew in love with during
our time as journalists in Zimbabwe, especially during our time at the
banned Daily News newspaper.

We were confused as to why the accident had happened now, especially at a
time we were all looking up to her husband to help heal the wounds and most
importantly, pull the country from the abyss that it finds itself in today,
lure back Zimbabwean skills from all over the world and help rebuild the
country.

With Zimbabwe at the crossroads, the country in a delicate national process,
why would such an ugly accident occur and take away Mai Tsvangirai of all
people, was one of the first many questions that came into my mind. The next
was how the national and international media was going to handle such a
delicate story. We needed to tread carefully as a people, I told myself as I
wallowed in pain all by myself.

Away from the newsroom that made me close to Mai Tsvangirai and now writing
for web-based newspapers, including the Zimbabwe Journalists site, there was
nothing I could do to contribute to a process that would eventually say
goodbye to Zimbabwe's unsung heroine who now lies in the morgue at the
Avenues Clinic in Harare.

Urginia and I met Mai Tsvangirai at different times in Zimbabwe. I met her
before her husband helped form the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in
1999 with colleagues in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the
umbrella body for unions in Zimbabwe.

Our relationship with Mai Tsvangirai was to grow from strength to strength
mainly because I so indentified with her - she was just like the woman next
door who would tell you off or put you straight if she caught you
misbehaving on the street without waiting for your own mother to come. Three
years my mother's junior, Mai Tsvangirai was just like a mother to me and I'm
sure to many of my colleagues and other Zimbabweans, especially those who
religiously followed her husband's dream for a new Zimbabwe.

As I sat alone pondering what her death meant for our country, I knew for a
fact that Zimbabwe had lost a great woman who was ready to rise and become
the mother of the nation in the form that I had heard many talk of Sally
Mugabe during her days. Sally Mugabe died before I started secondary school
but stories at that time told of a woman who held the nation together and
was affectionately called Amai by almost everyone.

Years after Amai Mugabe's death I started working for Ziana as a reporter.
One day I was assigned to cover the President and I almost fainted of hunger
after a long day at Zimbabwe House. I remember the then information officer
in the President's Office, Munyaradzi Hwengere running around to find me
some sugar from the kitchen. We were then offered drinks afterwards together
with all the other journalists there. One staffer then quipped things never
used to be like this during the late Amai's time.

Susan Tsvangirai opened her house to everyone, she made us feel at home and
I will miss that infectious laugh that many in Zimbabwe did not know because
she kept herself largely occupied with being a supporting housewife, the
backbone that shouldered all the pain that her husband went through in the
last 10 to 15 years in the ZCTU and as leader of the MDC.

I reported in Zimbabwe at a time when I was in my prime - youthful and very
energetic - and yet Mai Tsvangirai felt so much at home having me on so many
occasions sit with her husband with my partner, herself much younger than
me, who would be clicking away, freezing time with her camera for posterity.
It was during this time that we built a friendship with Mai Tsvangirai, a
friendship that was to be affected by distance when Urginia and I came to
the United Kingdom but was reignited every time she came to London with her
husband.

In Harare we went through a journey with Mai Tsvangirai that saw the Susan
Tsvangirai we knew and so loved being transformed from the housewife to a
First Lady in waiting. I remember just before 2002 presidential election
calling her home to ask for an interview. Morgan Tsvangirai told me she was
away in South Africa but would be back just before the polling day. When she
came back, Tsvangirai talked to one of my colleagues and then asked for me.

'Sandra, Mai Tsvangirai is back now if you still want to come and see her,'
Tsvangirai said over the phone. 'She is saying that it is okay you can come
now if you are free.'

Without further ado, I called out to Urginia that we should go to the
Tsvangirai's residence for an interview with Mai Tsvangirai. When we
arrived, I was struck by the new Mai Tsvangirai who stood before me - she
looked perfect, her hair well-done, nails manicured and all. She even wore
accessories matching her outfit. Mai Tsvangirai was really a First Lady in
waiting and she was confident like most Zimbabwe that this was her husband's
time - he was going to beat Robert Mugabe in the fight for the highest
office in the land. The MDC believes Tsvangirai did win that election and
that Mugabe rigged the results.

Because we were so familiar with her, we did our interview as she walked
around the house and yard giving directives. She was feeding so many people
for lunch while at the same time already preparing for supper. Someone came
to report that they had run out of maize-meal and Mai Tsvangirai went
outside to ask Murisi Zwizwayi, now an MP and deputy minister in the unity
government, to go and buy to make sure people gathered at her house had
enough food to eat. Tomorrow was a big day so there was no time to sit down
and relax - the election coincided with her husband's birthday as well. I
watched as the mother of the Zimbabwean struggle for democracy operated like
the woman I had always known her to be. She did not know most of the people
there but still she welcomed and fed them because she knew her husband was
their only hope of a better life in Zimbabwe. Mai Tsvangirai was devoted not
only to her husband and family but to the struggle as well, from time to
time rising to quell major disagreements within party members, offering a
word or two of advice to women leaders in the party and related issues.

She had been transformed in her outlook but inside she remained the same old
Susan Tsvangirai I had seen on many an occasion visiting party members and
supporters beaten to pulp and now living in safe houses littered around the
capital city, Harare. 'I will be serving you tea in State House tomorrow,'
she said as we laughed and talked about the election and what she would do
for Zimbabwe if she became the next First Lady taking over from Grace
Mugabe. She told me she would take up the cause of HIV and Aids sufferers in
Zimbabwe as well as standing up for women's rights. "Women at the grassroots
level would be my main focus," Mai Tsvangirai said then.

I remember the last time that I met Mai Tsvangirai at a rally addressed by
her husband in London. At the end, we exchanged greetings and when I was
saying my goodbyes, she asked me why I was going so early. 'Are you not
coming to the hotel?' she asked. I filed my story quickly and ended up
teaming up with her nieces from Birmingham. At the hotel, we went back
memory lane, we talked, laughed and remembered those we knew who had
perished before the new Zimbabwe we all yearned for had become a reality - a
stable country where education and health were available to all. The humble
Susan Tsvangirai had not changed an inch in the many years that I had not
seen her, she remained motherly and every time I saw her, her love for
Zimbabwe and her people seemed to have multiplied.

So what's new in your life Mai Tsvangirai, it has been long, I asked her.
She chuckled lovingly and said: "I'm a grandmother now Sandra. Would you
believe it? And it is the best thing that has happened to us. Ndane muroora
(I have a daughter-in-law now) and I'm loving every minute of being called
granny. I cannot even describe the feeling to you but it is just so great
that after all that we have been through in Zimbabwe, we are alive today na
President to see our grandchildren."

She talked lovingly of her grandchildren and many other issues. She asked
about my life, my plans and like the motherly Susan Tsvangirai I had known
like the woman next door, she wanted to know why I was still on my own and
related issues. On the political side of things, she remained confident her
husband was surely going to lead Zimbabwe one day. When I saw her on
television at the church service before her husband's swearing in ceremony
and at State House, I felt so proud that at last she had entered a new phase
after so many years of pain, watching out for her husband whom she had
diligently stood by during a treason trial, gruesome beatings, intimidation
and harassment over the years.

My only regret is that I did not pick up the phone to say 'congratulations,
you are now the Prime Minister's wife and hopefully in the near future I
will be coming for that tea party at State House'. I figured people would be
tripping over each other to talk to Mai Tsvangirai and her husband as he
took on this mammoth task to take Zimbabwe from this quagmire it find itself
in. I didn't know that time was not on my side and today from across the
miles, I write to say farewell to a dear mother who was humble and kind to
everyone, a great woman whose life has been cruelly cut short by a nasty
accident on a road the inept government of Zimbabwe has long said would be
developed into a dual carriageway to cut back on the number of accidents
taking place there. What is sad is that tragedy struck when people were
still celebrating Tsvangirai's ascendancy into political office. Many would
have loved to see the wife who stood by him through thick and thin being
there to counsel him and provide a shoulder to lean on as she had always
done in the past. Susan Tsvangirai's death is a great loss to Zimbabwe.

My condolences to Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his family on their personal
tragedy. Having seen him together with his wife on so many occasions, I have
no doubt that he is currently lost, not sure how he will pick himself up. I
hope the memories of Mai Tsvangirai and what she would have wanted for a new
Zimbabwe, her children and grandchildren will pull him through to come back
and work towards rebuilding Zimbabwe.

Rest in Eternal Peace Susan Nyaradzo Tsvangirai. Go well Mambokadzi!

Litany of sinister deaths