The Zimbabwean
'Education is the key to
breaking the cycle of poverty but government has
thrown away the
key'
HARARE - Even the might of the Mugabe regime is no match for the
courageous
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members - men, women and children
- who
marched for eight blocks through central Bulawayo last week and in
Harare on
Monday to call for a reversal of the crippling 1000% increase in
school
fees.
There was an almost carnival atmosphere to the processions,
with the singing
marchers handing out copies of the May edition of the Woza
Moya newsletter,
which were eagerly accepted by passers by. Many children
were in school
uniform, signifying that this may be the last time they will
be able to wear
it.
At least 104 protesters spent the weekend in Bulawayo
jails after 185 of
them were arrested, including 73 children.
"The right
to education is a fundamental human right, both under
international and
Zimbabwean law. The Education Act clearly states that
children have a right
to schooling and that primary education is compulsory
and that parents have
a duty to send their children to school. And yet these
fee increases are
effectively denying children that basic right," says WOZA.
"Education is the
key to breaking the cycle of poverty but government has
thrown away the
key. This is the same government whose arsenal to suppress
the nation has
been prioritised in the budget over the needs of educating
the
nation."
As Mother's Day approaches, mothers across Zimbabwe are faced with
the stark
choice of either feeding their children or educating them. Most
cannot
afford to do both. With the poverty datum line for a family of five
at Z$35
million, and the minimum wage set at Z$7 million, those parents
fortunate
enough to be employed would have to spend their entire salary
sending one
child to school with nothing left over for any other basic
needs.
The demonstrators submitted this list of demands to the authorities in
both
Harare and Bulawayo:
- NO more buying weapons to oppress us - YES to
educating our children;
- NO more poor and starving children - YES to
educated and healthy children;
- NO more lies and empty promises - YES to
leaders who care and tell us the
truth;
- NO more massive school fee
increases - YES to affordable education for all
As many schools have also
threatened to exclude children who cannot produce
receipts, WOZA is also
calling on all teaching staff and school
administrations not to turn away
children because their parents are unable
to pay.
The movement to reverse
the fee increases is part of WOZA's continuing
social justice campaign.
Initial consultations across the country have made
it clear that most
Zimbabweans consider education to be a vital component of
a socially just
Zimbabwe.
WOZA has challenged Zimbabweans to choose: either remain silent and
passively allow their children to be denied the fundamental right to an
education, or join WOZA in demanding an end to these increases.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
A uniformed presidential guard dragged a woman from her car and
beat her up
on the Borrowdale road in front of her 3-year-old daughter, baby
son and
child minder, and no one intervened,.
The attack, among incidents reported by
the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
in its political violence report for
March, was by no means the most
serious - the Forum reported an increase in
torture by state security
agents. But it illustrated the mindless brutality
of guards on Robert Mugabe's
motorcade and the fear instilled in all those
who simply stood by while the
officer knocked the woman to the ground,
drawing blood and yelling abuse in
front of her terrified child.
The
woman, who approached from Gun Hill, was waiting on March 28 for traffic
to
clear the road when Mugabe's motorcade approached. She obeyed
instructions
to remain stationary. When the last of the motorcade passed the
officer got
out, pulled her from her car and, screaming abuse, punched her
in the face
and then hit her with a baton. She sank to the ground and he
left her. Other
presidential guard officers and passers-by just stared.
The Forum reported 19
cases of torture during March, up from three in the
previous two months.
There were also assaults and 46 unlawful arrests by
state security agents.-
Own Correspondent
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Government
officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe
(CAAZ) flew to
Johannesburg at the weekend to beg for fuel to prevent the
total grounding
of the national airline, due to a desperate shortage of Jet
A1.
Zimbabwe
has been without foreign currency to pay for crucial imports,
including fuel
since the International Monetary Fund, donors and development
partners cut
off aid over differences with Harare on governance issues. The
country has
virtually run out of all liquid fuels forcing the state-run
National Oil
Company of Zimbabwe to appeal to banks to help raise foreign
currency to pay
for fuel.
An Air Zimbabwe plane en route from London to Harare last Sunday
reportedly
had to divert and land in Zambia because it did not have enough
fuel to
complete the flight.
Jet A1 gas sells at between US 25 and 27
cents in South Africa, but in
Zimbabwean airlines must pay in excess of
US$1. Zimbabwe consumes 15 million
litres of Jet A1 fuel a month.
South
Africa has in the past helped Zimbabwe with fuel and electricity but
has in
recent weeks appeared reluctant to bail out its northern neighbour
out of
its worst
energy crisis. - Own correspondent
The Zimbabwean
BUDIRIRO - The candidate
for the Tsvangirai-led MDC in the Budiriro
by-election due later this month
has accused the police and security
intelligence officials of harassing and
intimidating campaigners.
Emmanuel Chisvuvure accused the government of
trying to confuse the
electorate and give the upper hand to the Mutambara
camp's candidate,
Gabriel Chaibva.
"The people of Budiriro will never
vote for such a Vasco Da Gama type person
who was once in NAGG and Zoom then
lost last year standing for Sunningdale
in the parliamentary elections," he
said.
Chisvuvure also accused Zanu (PF) of already having rigged the
by-election
by continuing to register voters after the April 13 deadline. He
said many
of the people whose names were still being added to the list came
from the
surrounding areas and were being given new identification
cards.
He said police details in the Budiriro area had been blocking
campaigners
from their work, saying police clearance was necessary. But the
law does not
require members of political parties to get permission from the
police at
all. There are also allegations that Minister without portfolio,
Elliot
Manyika, has threatened MDC activists and supporters of the
Tsvangirai
faction. - SW Radio Africa
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe is surreptitiously arming his war veterans
and violent youth brigades
with guns so that they can crush the planned
street protests to topple his
regime next month. The street protests, called
by the
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change, are set to be held in winter.
Army sources promised
chaos and bloodshed on a scale never seen before if
protesters tried to
march against President Mugabe's administration. The MDC
has kept the actual
dates under wraps although it has promised a cold season
of mass protests.
Mugabe's militant war veteran supporters have vowed to
crush them. They said
they would use their military experience to ensure the
MDC protests "don't
even take off". According to sources, Mugabe has "opened
army barracks" to
the war veterans and youth militias. The sources said
Mugabe was taking the
MDC threats seriously. They said Mugabe was well aware
that the last
national strike called by the opposition had been an
overwhelming success.
He was therefore taking into account the possibility
of an overwhelming
response to the latest call. "Mugabe's resolve to crush
any challenge to his
authority must not be underestimated," said a middle
ranking army official,
who preferred not to be identified. "He has ordered
the army to give weapons
to his war veterans and the youth brigades for his
defence," added the
official, insisting that they would use these guns only
if necessary. A
senior army officer said there was nothing wrong with arming
war veterans
and youth brigades because they were considered a reserve force
of the
Zimbabwe National Army. "You may recall that the war veterans have
been
constituted into a reserve force of the army. They are entitled to
weapons,
if this is necessary for them to defend their leader." Officials
say Mugabe
trusts the war veterans more than the young soldiers who joined
the army in
large numbers after independence from Britain in 1980. He feels
the war
veterans are more loyal to him and more reliable than young soldiers
who did
not fight in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, say the officials. The
notorious war veterans, who spearheaded Mugabe's often violent farm
invasions, last week vowed to use "military tactics" to thwart the planned
protests against Mugabe. National Liberation War Veterans' Association
leader, Endy Mhlanga, said his militias would forcefully resist the MDC mass
resistance. "We have stood aside and observed you for too long and this time
we will not," said Mhlanga. "This time, using our own military experience,
we will mobilise against you. I do not mince my words." Mhlanga added: "The
consequences of any mass action will be grave. We will co-ordinate with
state security agents to fight you off. "Remember that most top security
agents in defence, the police and the Central Intelligence Organisation are
war veterans and we will be co-ordinating with them." The MDC has vowed to
press ahead with its protests, despite the threats. Its spokesperson, Nelson
Chamisa, said there was nothing wrong with the people of Zimbabwe using
peaceful mass protests to free themselves from "this rogue regime". However,
the MDC is not taking Mugabe's threats lightly. It has been urging the
country's uniformed services not to allow themselves to be used against the
people. The opposition party is telling the army to disobey illegal orders,
warning that those who partake in Mugabe's repression will face serious
consequences under a "future" MDC government.
The Zimbabwean
Armed police at the weekend raided a
squatter camp on the banks of Mucheke
river in Masvingo city, burnt down the
plastic shacks and chased away more
than 200 people including children who
lived at the camp. The squatters, who
watched in agony as their shacks and
belongings went up in smoke, had lived
at the illegal camp since about 2001.
the demolition comes barely a week
after President Robert Mugabe promised
during his April 18 Independence Day
speech to continue demolishing illegal
settlements, . to smash crime and to
restore the beauty of Zimbabwe's cities
and towns.' So ran a news report on
the 26th April 2006.
And so we
continue our daily life in Zimbabwe. It is not just the squatters
who watch
in agony. It seems nothing touches the hearts of those who order
and carry
out these acts. At a time when inflation is rocketing and people's
lives are
becoming more unbearable by the hour all the government can think
of is to
continue its cruel demolition of people's lives.
Force used on the helpless
goes on and on. Do we not have eyes to see the
pain and ears to hear the
cries? Or is it that those in authority have just
hardened their heart and
persuaded themselves that all their actions are
justified for some distant
goal, conjured up by a tiny unaccountable
minority for their own purposes.
One can persuade oneself of anything if you
try hard enough. Amy Tan offers
this parable in her book Saving Fish From
Drowning:
A pious man explained
to his followers: "It is evil to take lives and noble
to save them. Each day
I pledge to save a hundred lives. I drop my net in
the lake and scoop out a
hundred fishes. I place my fish on the bank where
they flop and twirl.
'Don't be scared,' I tell those fishes, 'I am saving
you from drowning.'
Soon enough the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad
to say, I am always
too late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to
waste anything, I
take those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a
good price. With the
money I receive I buy more nets so I can save more
fishes."
It is so
painful, day after day, to hear and read about the suffering of our
fellow
Zimbabweans. It is so hard to understand why a government, which
claims to
be elected by the people for the people, does this. Blaise Pascal
(1623-62)
wrote, 'Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world.' He
looked for
comfort from his disciples in Gethsemane and found none. And so
it has
always been. Those by the Mucheke river also look for comfort, but
find
nought.
The Zimbabwean
JOHANNESBURG - The Zimbabwe Action Movement (ZAM), a political pressure
group based in South Africa, has warned the two Movement for Democratic
Change factions in Zimbabwe not to contemplate launching their divided
parties in South Africa.
ZAM chairman, Lookout Mabhanga Ncube, said it
was time to put a stop to the
political madness of both the Mutambara and
Tsvangirai factions.
"These people need to come back to their senses and
realise that they need
each other to obtain democracy in Zimbabwe. Presently
my organisation is
engaged in a massive campaign to unite all Zimbabwean
youth in South Africa
to stand up and fight for their nation, but now I hear
one of the factions
is planning to hold a congress of a divided MDC. Here in
South Africa we are
in full support of one united original MDC. Those who
think they can take
the Zimbabwean youth in South Africa for a ride by
planting division and
hatred for self-greed will find us waiting for them,"
said Ncube.
His vice chair, Jabulani Sibanda echoed these sentiments, saying
the
political immaturity and confusion of MDC leaders has no place beyond
the
Limpopo.
"Millions of people here left their homes, jobs, families
and country after
being persecuted for being MDC members, and now the very
people who
nullified our sacrifice are hunting down the last hope of
opposition
political unity in Zimbabwe. We say to the leaders, sit down and
bring back
to us the MDC that has caused hundreds to die, thousands to be
tortured and
millions to flee the country. Anybody who comes here to preach
either
Tsvangirai or Mutambara will regret it. We are in a struggle and are
prepared to die fighting anyone who barricades the road to democracy,"
Sibanda said.
Meanwhile, the group held a unity rally in Diepsloot over
the weekend
attended by some 200 supporters. A video of Operation
Murambatsvina was
shown in an attempt to remind Zimbabwean youths that
millions of political
victims at home have put their last hope on the youth
to come back and
rescue them.
ZAM broke away from the Zimbabwe Action
Support Group (ZASG) following
differences in ideology and methodology to be
used in achieving democracy in
Zimbabwe. For the past three months the
pressure group has held unity
rallies in schools, universities, churches and
public places, calling on all
Zimbabwean youths to stand up and determine
the destiny of their country. -
CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
Just 10 years ago, tourism and tobacco were industries that generated
millions of dollars for Zimbabweans. Today, they are in a shambolic state
of disarray, thanks to the short-sighted policies of Zanu (PF) and the
nauseating incompetence and brazen greed of the country's so-called
leaders.
Harare artist Penny Kirkman captured the spirit of the tobacco
industry in
Zimbabwe in the 1980s with a series of magnificent pen and ink
sketches
marking the opening of the Willowvale Tobacco Auctions
floors.
Not long after Independence, those floors in Harare were the biggest
in the
world. Penny Kirkman's drawings captured the hearts of everyone in
the
industry.
"What an eye for detail that girl has," I remember Jeremy
Webb-Martin saying
when he was President of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
(ZTA). I showed
the wonderfully executed and observed drawings to him at ZTA
House before
putting them into a magazine called Tobacco Today.
Chief
Information Officer Andy Field looked at them, smiled and said "People
say
that tobacco is dominated by whites. They forget it also employs tens of
thousands of blacks and in years to come, they'll not only be middle ranking
players but some of the industry's most competent innovators."
In those
days, workers, middlemen, planners and politicians were proud to
say - I am
a member of the tobacco industry. That was before the
anti-smoking lobby
came to dominate most of the Western world. Rightly so,
say most people
today. "Smoking kills," screams every packet on the shelves
of small shops
and supermarkets.
But while the West started to stop puffing away, (I was one
of them)
Zimbabwe was still able to find big, open, lucrative markets in
other parts
of the world.
As Robert Mugabe said when he opened the
Willowvale Floors - "My mother told
me not to smoke but she never said I
shouldn't grow and sell tobacco." The
cameras clicked, the hands clapped,
the money rolled in. In the 1980s,
tobacco flourished.
Readers of The
Zimbabwean need no reminder that tobacco is suffering
terribly from a
shortage of inputs, fertilizers, seeds, modern farming
equipment and trained
men and women. Only last week this paper told the
tragic story of an
industry on its last legs. And how next year's crop of
about 17-20 million
kgs will be the smallest since 1972, the start of
Chimurenga Two.
The
decline has been rapid. In 1999 Zimbabwe produced 250 million kgs of
high
quality leaf. The following year (the start of the Great Land Grab)
that
figure fell to 237 million kgs. In 2005 it was only 74 million kgs, the
following year 55 million kgs and next year.a pitiful 17-20 million
kgs.
Zimbabwe no longer features among the world's top six growers who are
now
Brazil, the USA, India, Malawi, Italy and China. The Chairman of the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands and Agriculture, Zanu (PF) MP for
Masvingo South Walter Mzembi recently told Business Chronicle that the
tobacco auction floors are operating at only eight percent of their
capacity.
Farmers have failed to pay back loans amounting to more than $1
trillion, as
a result of reduced production, putting a question mark on the
auction
floors, which loaned the funds under contract farming
arrangements.
Mzembi said the committee would soon release a report on its
recommendations
and wanted measures put in place to increase land
utilization ahead of the
2006/2007 season. He said the committee's findings
and recommendations
would be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture later
this month.
Take another look at Penny Kirkman's pictures. When, at last,
Mugabe dies or
retires (soon we all hope) the men and the sons and the
daughters of those
men in those lovely sketches will start working
again.
And if - as thought - the demand for the tobacco leaf totally
disappears
throughout the world, they are people who could easily be
absorbed into
other areas of the once vibrant Zimbabwean agricultural
industry. - Trevor
Grundy lived and worked as a journalist in Zimbabwe from
1980 to 1996. He is
a former editor of Tobacco Today.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The MDC
has promised that, when given the chance to govern
Zimbabwe, it will repeal
repressive laws and dismantle institutions that
restrict the right to
information and expressions.
"The MDC government will restore the confidence
of citizens in the ability
of the State to play its role of provider of
infrastructure and enhance
freedom of movement and expression by repealing
POSA, AIPPA, POTRAZ, BAZ in
particular and replacing them with a legal
environment that encourages
investment in communications and media," said
information secretary Nelson
Chamisa in a statement to mark World Press
Freedom Day last week.
"We will encourage the establishment of privately
owned independent
television stations, privately owned independent community
radio stations,
and privately-owned newspapers," he said.
"Since the
gigantic electoral fraud of 2000, the government has become the
major
predator of press freedom by closing six private media institutions,
chief
among them the country's most popular daily newspaper, The Daily News.
The
Daily News on Sunday, Joy TV, The Tribune, The Weekly Times and Voice of
the
People (VoP) are all in the country's media graveyard, thanks to a
frightened government that has become allergic to critical thought and
opinion," added Chamisa.
He said the Zanu (PF) regime's reaction towards
a critical press confirmed
its pariah status and a growing fear of its own
people. "Its mission is to
maintain the iron curtain and to keep Zimbabwe as
an isolated and insulated
island far removed from the global village that
the whole world has become.
The regime must be unmasked and the
international community must join hands
with all democratic forces in the
country to stop this desperate crusade to
mutilate and annihilate all forces
championing change and diversity of
opinion," he said.