http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:35
BY
TATENDA CHITAGU
MASVINGO — MDC-T has accused the police of embarking
on a crusade to disrupt
its rallies ahead of an election to be held later
this year or in 2013.
The accusation comes after the police disrupted
several rallies countrywide
organised by the former opposition party in the
past few weeks.
In some cases, MDC-T supporters have been
arrested.
Yesterday, heavily armed police disrupted a rally
organised by the party at
Matizha Business Centre in Gutu West, claiming
that the venue had also been
booked by Chief Serima.
MDC-T
provincial secretary, Tongai Matutu, said two truckloads of armed
police
from Gutu Mpandawana growth point and Chatsworth police station,
stormed the
venue in the morning and dispersed party supporters, thereby
blocking the
scheduled rally.
The MDC-T provincial executive was billed to address
the people at the
rally, which the police had sanctioned.
The
incident comes barely a week after police disrupted another MDC-T rally
in
Harare’s Kambuzuma suburb.
“This action clearly shows that the police
have embarked on a crusade aimed
at disrupting peaceful MDC rallies across
the country. The police and Zanu
PF want to systematically isolate the MDC
from its millions of supporters,”
said the MDC-T in a
statement.
However, provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tinaye
Matake professed
ignorance over the disruption in Masvingo, saying he was
out of office. He
promised to call back but never did.
In
Kambuzuma, police later arrested two MDC-T activists accusing them of
assaulting police officers. The MDC-T said it found it strange that the
police had not arrested “known Zanu PF thugs and miscreants”, who waged a
reign of terror against MDC members in Harare’s Highfield suburb two weeks
ago, but targeted innocent party activists.
Efforts to get a
comment from police spokesperson senior assistant
commissioner, Wayne
Bvudzijena, were fruitless yesterday.
MDC-T officials claim nasty
history with chief Serima
MDC-T provincial spokesperson, Harrison
Mudzuri, said the police had earlier
on approved the rally in Gutu but told
them at the last minute that the
venue had been
double-booked.
Chief Serima, born Vengesai Rushwaya, could not be
reached for a comment.
The MDC-T has in the past, clashed with the
chief at the same venue.
Matutu, who is also the Deputy Youth,
Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment minister, was last year fined US$100
or 25 days in prison by a
senior Masvingo magistrate for assaulting Chief
Serima.
The party accuses Serima of being an appendage of Zanu
PF.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:34
BY NUNURAI
JENA
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, has won his case
against
115 workers at Gwebi Junction Estate near Norton, who last week
forced him
to flee his farm using the back exit following a labour
dispute.
According to the determination reached yesterday, the workers should
resume
work immediately, as their protest was illegal.
Last week,
the workers went on strike and demonstrated at his farm, blocking
the exit
at the farmhouse, forcing Zhuwao to flee.
Zhuwao, who is MP for
Zvimba East, had last week applied to the Chinhoyi
Provincial Labour Office,
requesting the strike to be declared illegal.
The law provides that
the employees should give 14 days notice of their
intention to strike or
demonstrate.
The two parties agreed that work should resume at the
farm while payment
modalities were being sorted out at the earliest possible
time.
“Although it was agreed by both parties that workers should go
back to work,
it is unfortunate that they have not showed up at the
workplace today
(yesterday),” said Zhuwao.
But the workers who
felt hard-done by the judgment, have vowed not go back
to work unless and
until they were given their four months wages in arrears.
“We will
not go to work unless we are given our dues. It is very clear that
Zhuwao
does not want to pay us. he has been selling cattle on a daily basis,
but he
never showed efforts to pay us,” said one worker who requested
anonymity.
“There are now only 90 cattle from the 2 000 he had in 2008.
Zhuwao is on
hard times.”
Zhuwao was last week held hostage for hours by workers
after failing to pay
them their wages.
The workers sang
revolutionary songs and beat drums before sealing off the
farmhouse exit,
demanding their money.
Sensing danger, a frightened Zhuwao scaled the
fence and eventually escaped
using a back exit, much to the chagrin of the
irate workers.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:27
BY NDUDUZO
TSHUMA
BULAWAYO — The Zanu PF politburo has ordered the party’s squabbling
Matabeleland North provincial chapter to elect a substantive chairperson, as
factionalism continues to rock the former ruling party.
The politburo
resolved that the province should set a date for the election
as soon as
possible.
Zanu PF Matabeleland North acting chairperson, Sithokozile
Mathuthu last
week said the province was still to set a date for the
election because they
were waiting for guidance from the party’s
commissariat.
“We have not set the date,” she said, “We will be
guided by the
commissariat.”
Asked if the elections would be held
anytime soon, Mathuthu said: “They will
happen, but we haven’t been given
the roadmap yet.”
The politburo also cleared suspended Zwelitsha
Masuku, who was once acting
provincial chairperson to contest the election,
a development largely seen
as a victory for Umguza legislator, Obert Mpofu,
against his alleged rival,
Zanu PF national chairman, Simon
Khaya-Moyo.
Mpofu and Moyo are said to be fighting for the political
control of the
Matabeleland region to fill in the void left by the death of
Vice-President
Joshua Nkomo.
Masuku, who is widely considered an
ally of Mpofu, was suspended in November
last year, reportedly at the behest
of Moyo, on allegations of defying the
party.
Masuku however, did
not face any disciplinary action, resulting in growing
speculation that Moyo
was fighting Mpofu for control of the party’s
Matabeleland
structures.
In March this year, Moyo wrote to Masuku barring him from
any party
activities.
The letter was written just days before the
province was scheduled to hold
elections for a substantive
chairperson.
The elections failed to take place, but the province met
and appointed
Sithokozile Mathuthu as acting chairperson, in place of
Headman Moyo, who
had initially replaced Masuku.
Mpofu and Moyo
recently clashed in front of President Robert Mugabe at a
politburo meeting
over the suspension of Masuku.
Efforts to get a comment from both Mpofu and
Moyo were fruitless last week.
Matabeleland war: Mpofu attacks
Moyo
In the last Matabeleland North provincial meeting, where
national party
commissar, Webster Shamu was guest of honour, Mpofu
indirectly attacked Moyo
over Masuku’s suspension, accusing the party
chairperson of derailing their
programmes.
Mpofu also attacked
some party members he accused of secretly campaigning
for the chairperson’s
position at the expense of Masuku.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that party
provincial spokesperson, Jonathan
Mathuthu and secretary for administration,
Clifford Sibanda, are interested
in the post.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012
19:26
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A parliamentary select committee
leading the constitution-making
process, has failed to find common ground on
the issue of dual citizenship
and has referred the matter to
Parliament.
Copac co-chairpersons for the two MDC formations, Edward Mkhosi
and Douglas
Mwonzora, said after several months of haggling over the dual
citizenship
matter, the committee finally agreed to refer the issue to
Parliament, so
that it could be dealt with, through an Act.
Zanu-PF is
opposed to dual citizenship.
“We failed to find common ground on the
issue and transferred the
responsibility to an act of parliament. Parliament
will deal with it,” said
Mkhosi, who represents the Welshman Ncube-led
MDC.
Mwonzora, who represents the MDC-T added: “The non-inclusion of
dual
citizenship in the latest draft constitution is because of the
prolonged
debates on the issue. If there is need to prohibit it, then a law
may be
brought into parliament prohibiting it and the parliament of the time
will
deal with it.”
Civic society organisations and the MDC formations
have said that
criminalising dual citizenship disadvantaged Zimbabweans
based abroad, who
were forced to leave at the height of the country’s
economic and political
upheavals.
Most exiled Zimbabweans have
over the years been denied the right to
participate in national elections in
the country, having acquired
citizenship in their countries of
exile.
The Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative (CRAI), an
organisation
dedicated to ending statelessness and the arbitrary denial of
citizenship in
Africa, is lobbying African governments to adopt a treaty
that eliminates
loss of citizenship on the continent.
The current
Constitution provides that an act of Parliament may provide for
the
prohibition of dual citizenship or the procedures for the renunciation
of
citizenship, as well as the circumstances in which persons qualify for or
lose their citizenship by descent or registration.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:20
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
WOMEN rights activists have said Vice- President Joice Mujuru’s
advice to
women to be docile to promiscuous husbands must be taken with
caution, as
aggrieved people tend to speak with a broken heart and not
necessarily mean
what they say.
Speaking at the memorial service
of her late husband, Retired General
Solomon Mujuru, at Ruzambu Farm in
Beatrice recently, Mujuru urged women to
be subservient to their husbands
and be good to them, no matter how late
they come
home.
She said she used to prepare the late general water for
bathing and gave him
food anytime he came home and warned women against
fighting with their
husbands’ girlfriends.
The VP said for 10
years, the late general set-up State security agents to
spy on her
movements, thinking that she was cheating on him.
She however said, Mujuru
drank a lot of beer and sometimes did not sleep at
home.
But
women rights activists said Mujuru’s message was out of touch with
modernity
and the campaign for women’s rights.
“I think that (the message)
takes the women’s movement 500 years backwards,”
said journalist Grace
Mutandwa.
“It is her prerogative to give such advice and it is up to
women to take it
or leave it, but I believe marriage should be a partnership
and not a master
and servant
arrangement.”
Padare/Enkundleni/Men’s Forum on Gender programme
officer, Nakai Nengomasha,
said the way people viewed marriage was in line
with how they were
socialised.
He said he would encourage
pro-empowerment messages, especially considering
that women have been living
under abuse for too long.
“It will be unfair for us to urge such
things because we would have
unleashed the men and allowed them to be
irresponsible,” Nengomasha said.
“Leadership comes with
responsibility and we have always said men are
leaders, so we also expect
them to be responsible and accountable.”
He added: “At Padare, we say
men of quality are not afraid of equality and
real men do not abuse women
and children. They are always available to their
families, they are loving
and caring, they are responsible, they are willing
listeners to women’s
issues and rectify women’s plight, they are willing to
be transformed from
patriarchal tendencies and they are agents of gender
justice.”
Mujuru
prisoner of political experiences: Makoni
Girl Child Network
founder and chief executive, Betty Makoni, said the
younger generation
viewed the issue of women’s right differently from older
people like
Mujuru.
She said women rights activists must not attack her, but
engage her as she
was a prisoner of her background and political
experiences. Mujuru joined
the war of liberation, which was dominated by
men, as a young girl.
“To be frank, I sympathise with the VP. Many
times we overlook that anyone
can be a victim,” she said.
Makoni
said Mujuru’s statement was in tandem with the norms which rights
groups
were discouraging young boys from embracing. She added that the
statement
reversed everything that had been done to empower women and girls
in the
country.
MDC-T MP supports VP
MDC-T legislator,
Thabitha Khumalo, said she supported Mujuru, that women
should not fight
their husbands’ girlfriends, saying this could reduce the
spread of
infections.
She urged wives to establish a good rapport with their
husbands’ “small
houses”, as that way, they would always know the
whereabouts of their
husbands. She said fighting them would push them to
other women, exposing
the wife to infections and
re-infections.
“That is brilliant advice. Under normal circumstances,
he is expected to be
yours alone, but I am sorry to say in reality, these
men engage with other
women and thus you have zero chances of having him all
to yourself,” said
Khumalo.
“Befriend the small house, understand
the woman your man is with and
safeguard your health and his.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:18
BY OUR
STAFF
DENSE tufts of overgrown foliage envelopes a once-promising business
venture
landscape. A variety of religious groups, popularly known as
Vapositori,
donning white robes, regularly gather at the premises to conduct
their
prayers.
The partially constructed buildings now risk dilapidating
into a morass of
concrete and bricks. Such has become the fate of the
proposed service
station and food court near Matapi Police Station in Mbare,
that Mashwede
Diesel Services had begun constructing earlier this
year.
The company, owned by local businessman, Alex Mashamhanda, had
already sunk
about half a million dollars into the US$1,2 million project
before a
shadowy Zanu PF-aligned youth militia, Chipangano, ordered that the
project
be stopped.
Zanu PF Harare province youth chairman, Jim
Kunaka, earlier this year told
The Standard that he would mobilise youths to
cut short the construction
project, arguing that local residents were not
consulted.
True to his word, over 100 youths armed with weapons
attacked workers at the
site, destroying property and injuring Mashamhanda
along with nine workers.
Mashamhanda last week confirmed that he had
stopped construction after
getting orders from the Harare City
Council.
“We are presently unable to resume construction because we
received a letter
from the City (council) of Harare instructing us to stop
construction
although no specific reasons were given,” said
Mashamhanda.
Mashamhanda said the stoppage had seriously affected
him, as he was supposed
to repay a loan he had borrowed from a local
financial institution.
“We had planned to have completed the project by the
end of March this year,
but although we have some personnel guarding the
site and property, it’s all
costing us money, which should have gone towards
construction,” he said.
Council will assist Mashwede :
Mayor
Harare City Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda, explained that the
council has an
obligation to follow through on the resolution authorising
Mashwede Diesel
services to go ahead with the development.
“We as
council, from a policy perspective will make sure Mashamhanda gets
all the
assistance he needs. That development will ultimately benefit
stakeholders
in that locality and change the landscape of Mbare positively,”
he said,
adding that the law enforcement agents, including the ZRP and
council
police, would have to be roped in, should vigilante groups seek to
stall the
council-authorised project.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:17
BY
our staff
THE Mbare-based Zanu PF shadowy group, Chipa-ngano, has taken a
keen
interest in the case involving a human rights activist who has business
interests in the suburb.
Sten Zvorwadza was arrested and assaulted at
Mbare police station where he
had gone to report a case against Chipangano
members who had disrupted him
while installing paraffin tanks in the area in
January.
The deputy president and spokesperson of the Restoration of
Human Rights
Zimbabwe, was instead incarcerated and charged with threatening
to murder
Clifford Mazarura and another activist, Clever
Ntabende.
Senior members of Chipangano are always seen at Zvorwadza’s
court
appearances at the Mbare magistrates’ court, where they arrive driving
top-of-the-range vehicles and clad in designer suits, yet they claim to
represent a constituency of poor and disadvantaged
people.
Chipangano is accused of unleashing terror, mainly in Mbare,
and members of
the group were not even afraid to show their intimidation
tactics and rowdy
behaviour during Zvorwadza’s several court
appearances.
Mazarura, who is alleged to be a senior member of the
group and one of the
complainants against Zvorwadza, at one time blocked the
human rights
activist right by the gate of the police station. Police
officers manning
the gates stood by while Zvorwadza was being harassed for
at least five
minutes, as he was trying to drive to town.
The
group comprises one menacing-looking character, who seems to be a
bouncer
for Chipangano. His role is construed to be that of protecting the
seemingly
unintimidating figure of Mazarura.
During one of the court
appearances, Mazarura, donning a black suit, walked
with a sense of
invincibility surrounded by about 10 youths dressed in
clothes typically
befitting their role as the rabble rousers. One could not
mistake the strong
stench of beer and cigarette smoke.
Mazarura claimed he did not take
orders from Zanu PF Harare youth chairman
and the alleged leader of
Chipangano, Jim Kunaka. Upon enquiry, this
reporter was told that party
structures of Zanu PF made Kunaka his junior.
Mazarura claimed he wielded
more power.
Reached for a comment, Kunaka denied leadership of
Chipangano saying he did
not know what the name meant. “Can you explain to
me what Chipangano means
because I don’t know what it means? And we as the
youth use the party
structures and no such thing as Chipangano exists in our
party structures,”
said Kunaka.
As for the case involving
Zvorwadza, Kunaka said the human rights activist
had a dispute with the
residents, hence their interest in the matter.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:10
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA
DESPITE his known weaknesses which included alleged drunkenness and
philandering, the late retired General Solomon Mujuru was a unifier who
managed to bring together friends and foes even after his death in a
mysterious inferno at his farm in August last year, analysts have
said.
They said it was such qualities that were lacking in the current crop
of
leaders aspiring to succeed President Robert Mugabe.
Mujuru
was able to interact with leaders from different political parties
including
the likes of Simba Makoni of Mavambo/Kusile, Dumiso Dabengwa of
Zapu and
officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, as well as
Western
diplomats, some of whom were much despised by his Zanu PF party.
The
late general spoke his mind and whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks quoted
leaked American cables as saying the former army commander confronted Mugabe
two weeks before the March 2008 harmonised elections telling him to step
down to avoid humiliation at the hands of Tsvangirai.
Over a week
ago, thousands of people from across the political divide
attended Mujuru’s
memorial service which was organised with a difference in
order to
accommodate the different groups and individuals who thronged
Ruzambu
farm.
Even Tsvangirai, whose eldest son Edwin was getting married
on the same
day, attended the memorial service for about two hours before
dashing back
to Harare for the wedding.
Mugabe, cabinet ministers
in the Government of National Unity (GNU),
captains of industry and
commerce, diplomats, the military, religious
leaders and ordinary people
from different political parties were also
present at the
event.
Various denominations participated in the memorial service,
reflecting
Mujuru’s tolerance of different religious persuasions. Father
Fidelis
Mukonori of the Roman Catholic Church blessed the house where Mujuru
died,
while Salvation Army’s Zimbabwe territorial commander, Commissioner
Venice
Chigariro and Bishop Johannes Ndanga of the Apostolic Christian
Council
played different roles during the memorial.
Performing
groups, including the Masvingo-based Zion Christian Church (ZCC)
Mbungo
Stars and the Salvation Army territorial band travelled from
different
parts of the country to honour and celebrate the life of
Mujuru.
Speakers, including Mu-gabe, Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
State Security
minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Air Force of Zimbabwe
commander, Air Marshal
Perence Shiri, all described Mujuru as a unifying
figure from the days of
the liberation struggle to the time he
died.
VP Mujuru said Zimbabweans from different political
affiliations and
churches stood by the family during the time of bereavement
proving that he
was a unifier of people.
He was ‘a man of the
people’
Political analyst Dr Ibbo Mandaza said Mujuru was a true
national figure who
was able to unite people from different social and
political backgrounds.
“He was a man of the people,” he said. “Mujuru was not
a typical leader. He
was a humble person and would drive himself and travel
to rural areas, Mbare
and Highfields and other places where he would
socialise with people of
different backgrounds. This is why people respected
him a lot.”
Another political analyst, Ernest Mudzengi agreed with
Mandaza, that Mujuru
was “a man of the people” who appealed to people across
the political
divide.
“It is difficult to find someone who
appeals to so many people, especially
in Zanu PF which is ridden with
factionalism. This makes it difficult to
find a person who can be a national
leader with the ability to unite the
people,” he said.
...but
others thought he was divisive
Political commentator Blessing
Vava does not believe Mujuru was a unifier.
He said thousands of people
attended both his burial and memorial service
just to show sympathy because
of the circumstances leading to his death.
“It’s a known fact that
the general was the face of a faction in Zanu PF
known as the Mujuru
faction that is rival to the so-called Emmerson
Mnangagwa faction, so on
that score alone he was not a unifier.”
Vava said there were people
in Zanu PF who were capable of leading both the
party and even the country
but because of fear, no one could really come out
in the open to boldly
declare his or her own ambitions as long as Mugabe was
still
there.
Although Mujuru was much revered as a unifier, he had his own
weaknesses
including allegations of using his political muscle to grab
shares in some
key companies.
VP Mujuru revealed during the
memorial service that her husband was an
excessive drinker, who sometimes
did not sleep at home and that there were
children who were claiming that
they were fathered by him. The late general
also hired CIO agents to stalk
her for 10 years suspecting that she was
cheating on him.
Mujuru
died in a mysterious fire at his farm last year, but coroner Walter
Chikwanha concluded that there was no foul play and that the cause of death
was “carbonisation”.
The general’s family has however insisted
that his death can only be brought
to finality by exhuming his body and
conducting a fresh autopsy.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 19:04
By Thokozani
Khupe
“Getting to Zero” stands for the hope that we have for eliminating HIV.
We
can get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
Aids-related deaths, but the challenge is how to get there and how to hold
on to the gains made so as not to roll backwards.
As we head into
the fourth decade of the Aids challenge, we are now in a
position to truly
see an end to the epidemic. This is the time to act and
not to be
complacent. This is the time to break the yolk of silence, stigma
and
discrimination that can undo all the work that has gone into responding
to
the epidemic. It is the time to make smart investments in prevention,
treatment and care.
Since 1997 the number of new HIV
infections has fallen by more than 20%
globally mainly due to changes in
behaviour, but also increased access to
treatment. Last year alone, 700 000
lives were saved across the world. Some
6,6 million people, nearly half of
those who need treatment in low- and
middle-income countries, are now
receiving it.
These achievements are cause for celebration; however,
we have equally a
cause for concern and the need to stay focused. Today, in
Africa, the
vulnerability of women and girls to HIV remains extremely high;
with 59% of
all people living with HIV being women. Of the total number of
young people
aged between 15-24, seven out of 10 are women. Young women bear
the brunt of
new infections, and in some parts of Africa they are up to six
times more
likely to acquire HIV than their male peers. While 22% of all new
infections
globally occur among girls and young women aged 15- 24, in Africa
this
amounts to 31%.
Women also bear most of the burden of care
for sick partners, relatives and
sick children. UNAids estimates that of all
newly infected children in 2009,
at least 76% of the infections occurred in
Africa. According to WHO data,
more than half of all maternal deaths occur
in Africa, with an average
maternal mortality ratio of 620 per 100 000 live
births.
There is a correlation between the high adolescent fertility
rate which in
Africa stands at 117 per 1 000 of the girls aged 15-19 years
and the
underutilisation of educational and economic opportunities for girls
and
young women.
The prevailing gender inequalities and
gender-based-violence are chief among
other factors that increase women and
girls’ risk to HIV infection, further
hindering the progress towards the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Who will attend the
meeting?
The GlobalPOWER®Women Network Africa meeting will bring
together women
parliamentarians, heads of state, leading African women
entrepreneurs, civil
society leaders and development partners, to agree on
priorities to
accelerate action. The high-level meeting is expected to serve
as a
strategic political platform for a paradigm shift to positively impact
on
the lives of women and girls in Africa.
The meeting also seeks
to generate responses that will align the HIV and the
Sexual and
Reproductive Health Agenda to action for women empowerment and
the human
rights of women and girls.
Global POWER seeks to address women, girls
vulnerability
The 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and Aids, and
the UNAids call for
“Getting to Zero” to halt the spread of HIV and mitigate
the impact of the
epidemic on women and girls, recognises that progress on
HIV and sexual and
reproductive health and rights are intertwined and
mutually reinforcing.
HIV being one of the leading causes of death
among women of reproductive age
in Africa, the achievement of sexual and
reproductive health and rights
agenda is key to achieving the goals set in
the Political Declaration in
Africa. Particularly important are the
reduction of new HIV infections by
half; access to antiretroviral treatment
for 15 million people by 2015; and
elimination of vertical transmission of
HIV and substantial reduction in
Aids-related maternal deaths by
2015.
Behind each data line there is a human face, which is a sober
reminder that
HIV is still very much with us, and it requires each of us to
work together,
and with an intention and intensity that we are yet to see.
Changed
attitudes and behaviours must become the norm and the
culture.
This cannot be addressed by better project design only, it
is critically
driven by leadership vision and commitment to achieving such
change at all
levels, where a people’s courage and determination to do away
with this
epidemic prevails.
It is for this reason the Global
Partnership of Women Representatives
(GlobalPOWER®) was established in
2010.
In less than two years, since its establishment, the
GlobalPOWER®Women
Network Africa in collaboration with the African Union and
UNAids will
convene a high-level meeting between May 24-25 2012 in
Harare.
It is my sincere hope that this meeting will be able to
identify a set of
replicable innovative actions for women and girls,
including optimal
community engagement. It goes without saying that agreed
actions for
enhanced resource mobilisation, financing sustainability and
accountability
for the cause of women, girls, gender equality and HIV, is
also critical
component for the success of the GlobalPOWER’s
initiative.
Thokozani Khupe is Deputy Prime Minister in the Inclusive
Government of the
Republic of Zimbabwe and President of the Global
Partnership of Women
Elected and Appointed Representatives (GlobalPOWER)
Women Africa Network.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012
18:01
BY JENNIFER DUBE
THE Anglican Church of the Province of Central
Africa (CPCA) has started
buying land to build new churches as the property
wrangle with
ex-communicated Bishop Nolbert Kunonga continues.
Reverend
Samuel Sifelani of the Marlborough parish said parishioners from
his church
would soon start building new structures because the Kunonga
faction was
preventing them from using the building they had shared before
their
acrimonious split.
“We have already bought a piece of land for
building a new church,” said
Sifelani.
Parishioners in Kuwadzana
high-density suburb said they bought a stand in
the area while parishioners
in Kuwadzana Extension were leasing another
piece of land where they conduct
their prayers.
When The Standard news crew visited Kuwadzana
Extension last week, the
church’s Mothers’ Union was having its weekly
meeting under a shade which
has been put up on the piece of land they
bought.
“We are happy to be able to convene and pray in peace,
without being
attacked and arrested,” one parishioner said. “But we are not
completely at
peace because our properties were taken away from
us.”
The parishioner said: “We hope the courts will soon rule in our
favour
because our children are getting married and we are bringing them
here in
the open yet we have decent buildings they can use. Again, we are
worried
that should we die before regaining our properties, the church
services will
be conducted at our houses yet we built churches for that
purpose.”
A feud between Chad Gandiya and Kunonga factions has been
raging since the
latter’s excommunication from the CPCA in 2007 after he
unilaterally pulled
the Harare Diocese out of the province accusing his
rivals of supporting
homosexuality.
The feud, largely centred on
ownership of properties and characterised by
violent clashes especially
targeted at CPCA members, has resulted in
numerous court cases and political
interventions to no avail.
‘Wrangle a blessing in
disguise’
CPCA press officer, Precious Shumba, said the wrangle had been
a blessing in
disguise inasfar as the expansion of the church was
concerned.
“The persecution we have faced has created an opportunity
for expansion,”
Shumba said. “Our bishop (Chad Gandiya) has said we need not
despair but
secure land to build new churches so that when we finally regain
our
properties which were expropriated, our territory would have grown from
where it was before the persecution.”
He said the church also got
three hectares of land in Ruwa where the Mothers’
Union intended to build a
training centre and a conference centre.
The church’s Glenview parish has
also purchased a piece of land while the
Warren Park parish recently held a
fundraising dinner for securing a piece
of land to build a
church.
Shumba said more land had been secured in Norton and other
parishes across
the diocese.
Kunonga, a self-confessed Zanu PF
supporter, last week said he does not care
if CPCA builds new churches as
long as they do not use his name.
“Assist them by telling them that they
should not build in the name of the
Harare diocese and Anglican because they
would have built for me as the law
gave me custody of the church and all its
properties,” he said.
“They do not know what they are doing but they
have to be wary or else when
I arrive at the properties they will start
saying the law is unfair yet it
is them who would have shown lack of
intelligence.
He added: “Impress upon them that they should change
the name so they do not
get disadvantaged. They can come up with a new name
and re-register or else
their efforts will amount to nothing but a waste of
time because the law is
clear that they have no church.”
I
COULD GRAB THE NEW PROPERTIES: KUNONGA
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
INTERMITTENT supply of water is forcing residents of Harare’s Kuwadzana
high-density suburb to fetch drinking water from unprotected sources
exposing them to waterborne diseases which are increasingly becoming
prevalent in Harare.
A Standard news crew touring the area last
week found residents in Kuwadzana
Extension fetching drinking water from a
manhole while those in Kuwadzana 1
and 2 were getting the precious liquid
from unprotected wells.
“We sometimes go for days without water and
resort to fetching from the
manhole,” said one of the residents. “Council
workers usually close the
manhole but we have no alternative but to remove
the lid and fetch water
when the taps are dry.”
The residents
complained that there was only one borehole in the area,
forcing them to
queue for long hours for water such that they found it
better to get water
from the manhole.
They said they only used the water for cleaning
toilets, watering vegetables
and laundry, while drinking and cooking water
was from the borehole.
However, The Standard was told others drink the water
from the manhole.
Residents who live near the manhole expressed
concern that the grassy area
surrounding the manhole was always damp and had
turned into a breeding
ground for mosquitoes.
The Standard crew
found some of the residents busy watering vegetable
gardens around the
manhole.
The residents said they feared for their health given
reports from the
Combined Harare Residents Association (Chra) that there
were still scattered
cases of diarrhoeal diseases being reported in
Kuwadzana and other
high-density areas in Harare.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012
17:59
BY JENNIFER DUBE
INTERMITTENT supply of water is forcing
residents of Harare’s Kuwadzana
high-density suburb to fetch drinking water
from unprotected sources
exposing them to waterborne diseases which are
increasingly becoming
prevalent in Harare.
A Standard news crew touring
the area last week found residents in Kuwadzana
Extension fetching drinking
water from a manhole while those in Kuwadzana 1
and 2 were getting the
precious liquid from unprotected wells.
“We sometimes go for days
without water and resort to fetching from the
manhole,” said one of the
residents. “Council workers usually close the
manhole but we have no
alternative but to remove the lid and fetch water
when the taps are
dry.”
The residents complained that there was only one borehole in
the area,
forcing them to queue for long hours for water such that they
found it
better to get water from the manhole.
They said they
only used the water for cleaning toilets, watering vegetables
and laundry,
while drinking and cooking water was from the borehole.
However, The
Standard was told others drink the water from the manhole.
Residents
who live near the manhole expressed concern that the grassy area
surrounding
the manhole was always damp and had turned into a breeding
ground for
mosquitoes.
The Standard crew found some of the residents busy
watering vegetable
gardens around the manhole.
The residents said
they feared for their health given reports from the
Combined Harare
Residents Association (Chra) that there were still scattered
cases of
diarrhoeal diseases being reported in Kuwadzana and other
high-density areas
in Harare.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 17:56
BY NUNURAI
JENA
KAROI — Parents with children at Nyamakate Secondary School in Karoi
last
week forcibly closed the school demanding the removal of some teachers
they
accused of supporting the MDC-T.
The closure of the school left over
1 200 students stranded on opening day.
About 50 guardians locked the
school premises demanding the removal of two
teachers, namely Simon
Mupfurutsa and Farai Kaitano.
Students at the school only started
lessons after the intervention of the
Ministry of Education officials from
Harare later in the week.
Parents said the problem at the school
started when the then headmaster,
Emmanuel Manokore, was expelled after an
investigation by the Ministry of
Education revealed that he had written
examinations for some Ordinary Level
students for a fee.
But some
parents alleged that the investigations were not done properly as
they had
spared Kaitano whose child was also implicated.
However, other
parents alleged that the teachers were MDC-T activists and
feared that their
children would be taught party propaganda.
Mupfurutsa, who is the Hurungwe
North district MDC-T information and
publicity secretary, accused the School
Development Association (SDA)
chairman, Enock Western, of initiating his
removal from the school.
Western, also known as Chihota, is the Zanu
PF chairman in the area.
“Zanu PF is involved as Enock Western is
also the chairman of the school
development committee,” said
Mupfurutsa.
Efforts to get a comment from Western were fruitless last
week.
But the victimisation of teachers aligned to MDC-T has been
rife in
Mashonaland West province.
Another teacher at Chikangwe
High School in Karoi, Wilson Makanyaire, has
since reported acts of
victimisation by district education officers for
being a member of
MDC-T.
He has reported the matter to Mashonaland West Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (Jomic).
Makanyaire, who is the
MDC-T provincial organising secretary, argued that
the Education Act did not
bar any teacher from being actively involved in
party
politics.
“Teachers have every right to join any political party they
want and in the
Education Act there is nothing written to stop teachers from
participating
in politics,” said Makanyaire.
Mashonaland West
Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture director,
Sylvester
Mashayamombe, confirmed that they had dispatched a team to
investigate the
closure of the school.
“After we received reports that the school had
failed to open because some
parents had grievances with some teachers, we
sent our team to go and ensure
that the school reopened,” said Mashayamombe.
“What we don’t want is for the
children to suffer because of whatever
reasons, be it politics or
otherwise.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 17:55
BY LESLEY
WURAYAYI
LOWER GWERU — Most villagers who do not have a source of income in
Midlands
province have resorted to barter trade; exchanging grain and other
household
provisions for groceries to survive hardships currently
bedevilling most
rural communities in the country.
Nomaqwa Sibindi from
Lower Gweru in Midlands province, last week, said most
villagers were
“buying” basic commodities using grain.
She, however, complained that
the buyers, mostly shop owners, were cashing
in on the desperation of poor
villagers by not paying the real value of the
grain. We obtain basic
commodities such as cooking oil, soap, sugar and
flour in exchange of grain.
The shop-owners are cashing-in on our desperate
plight since we are
unemployed and have no means of generating cash to buy
the goods at a fair
value,” said Sibindi.
Villagers who do not have grain, exchange
livestock such as goats, chickens
and sheep for
groceries.
Sibindi said: “On average a bar of soap costs about US$2
and a bucket of
maize costs US$4. Shop owners undervalue our grain to US$2
which they later
sell at a profit.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 17:53
BY TONDERAI
MATONHO
MUTARE — THE Pungwe River Water Pipeline, which draws water from the
river
to Mutare, has failed to benefit the local communities living along
the
pipeline as originally promised, a local legislator has said.
MP for
Mutasa Central, Trevor Saruwaka, said the water project has failed to
benefit people in areas such as Watsomba growth point, Tsonzo Purchase Area,
New Reserve and Zongoro village.
It was initially agreed that the
pipeline would benefit communities through
the establishment of irrigation
projects as well as the use of the water for
domestic use.
“The
claims by the local people are genuine as there have been several
attempts
to engage key stakeholders such as the local authorities ever since
the
project was mooted, but the calls have not been taken aboard,” said
Saruwaka.
He added: “Boreholes which have been sunk are not
adequate and strategic
enough to cater for many local villagers who
desperately need water while
the rest is channelled to Mutare and its
surrounding environs,” he said.
The pipeline stretches for more than
150km to the City of Mutare, where it
is channelled to urban households and
industries.
This is what has mostly raised the ire of these local
communities.
Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (Zela)
director Mutuso Dhliwayo
said communities should benefit from water
resources just like other people
from diamonds and platinum mining in their
areas.
“This water scheme should operate from the confines of the
community-based
natural resources management concept, such as the Campfire
model where
communities have exploited natural resources for their benefit’”
he said.
Zela is a non-governmental organisation advocating for local
community
rights in natural resources exploitation.
Joseph
Tasosa, the executive director of the Zimbabwe National Environment
Trust, a
non-governmental organisation working with communities in Nyanga in
harnessing water in the Nyangani Mountain Range said: “The country still has
a lot of ground to cover to create irrigation
based-agriculture.”
President Robert Mugabe recently said dam
development and the irrigation
sector have been under-funded since
independence leading to perpetual food
shortages especially during
droughts.
He acknowledged that the country was sitting on vast water
reservoirs which
it was failing to harness for irrigation due to lack of
capital.
“Although we created massive water bodies, we failed to
secure money for
irrigation schemes with examples like Osborne Dam in Mutare
and at the end
of the day, the cities, the communities remain inadequately
served,” said
Mugabe, speaking at World Water Day commemorations in Masvingo
recently.
Mutare villagers await fulfilment of
promises
Rodrick Machiwenyika from Zongoro Village, complained
that while the
pipeline was being laid, communities were promised that they
would benefit
from it through irrigation and for domestic
use.
“Local institutions such as Old Mutare Mission, Africa
University and
schools such as Mundenda primary and secondary,
Mwoyoweshumba, Zo-ngoro and
Nyakatsapa, have no adequate water and such a
situation is not sustainable,”
he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 17:51
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
ONLY 7% of the 8 000 rural primary schools in Zimbabwe have
established
libraries, the Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library Trust (ZRSLT) has
said.
ZRSLT chairman, Matthew Chandavengerwa, said the trust aimed at
mobilising
resources for the establishment of libraries in underprivileged
rural
schools in the country.
Chandavengerwa was speaking
at the launch of an initiative to develop
libraries in rural communities
last week in Harare. He said a
Zimbabwean-based in New Zealand, Driden
Kunaka, has been mobilising
resources since 2009 and one library has already
been established at Matenda
School in rural Zvishavane.
“We also
have two big garages full of books in New Zealand and the UK.
arrangements
have already been made for those books to be shipped,”
Chandavengerwa
said.
“Current statistics show that only 7% of the 8 000 primary
schools in rural
areas have some form of library and we want to ensure that
we establish at
least 3 000 library facilities by the year 2020, facilities
which will
benefit both schoolchildren and other members of their
communities.”
Chandavengerwa said research done by the trust showed
that Matabeleland
provinces had more libraries than other provinces because
of the efforts by
the Zimbabwe Library Development Association which has
been channelling
resources to the provinces.
“So a bit of the 7%,
in fact 400 primary schools with libraries are in
Matabeleland,” he
said.
“But still, you will find that schools in such areas as Binga
are among the
worst in terms of library resources.
“But our
initiative will assist both primary and secondary schools and we
will be
providing ordinary literature books that will help the children
improve
their grammar, spellings and general knowledge among other
things.”
In a speech read on her behalf by State Enterprises and
Parastatals
minister, Gorden Moyo, Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
said libraries
play a pivotal role in education.
She urged
corporate organisations and other Zimbabweans to support the
initiative.
Govt to support ZRSLT’s efforts:
Chamisa
Information Communication Technology minister, Nelson
Chamisa, said his
ministry would introduce technology in rural schools as a
way of supporting
the initiative.
“The current rural-urban divide
is not good,” Chamisa said.
“Children should not see libraries and
computers for the first time at
university.”
Following
independence in 1980, Zimbabwe achieved a rise in literacy levels
as the new
government invested heavily in education. But because of the
economic
meltdown, the government stopped supplying in schools.
The UK’s Book
Aid International has said lack of access to educational
resources that
promote literacy in developing countries like Zimbabwe could
mean the
countries miss their Millennium Development Goals, particularly
that of
achieving universal primary education.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 17:50
By Ronia
Gwaze
HATCLIFFE Extension is a settlement that was formed when people were
moved
into the area from Porta Farm and other squatter areas in Harare.
Several
cooperatives came in and subdivided the area, allocating stands to
the
residents.
Most of the residents still live in plastic shacks donated
by the Roman
Catholic Church. Some have since built their own homes while
others are
still in the process of building homes.
The
cooperatives have attempted to service the area, but the roads are run
down
after years of wear and tear, or are impassable after the rains and
this
requires immediate attention.
The key priority areas for the
residents are roads and education.
Roads: The area is inaccessible,
so the construction of roads should be a
priority. Residents require one
main access road constructed immediately.
Residents need to be serviced with
transport leading in and out of the area
e.g. ferrying the sick and the dead
to the main road.
Education: There are no formal education facilities
in Hatcliffe Extension
except for makeshift schools termed “colleges”,
staffed with untrained
teachers. Residents would require formal schools with
trained teachers who
are paid by the government.
Colleges/schools
in the area are not enjoying benefits from donor
organisations like Unicef
who give stationery and textbooks to primary and
secondary schools. The
schools do not have decent classrooms to match the
enrolment. The residents
are aware that their children are disadvantaged as
they cannot all be
accommodated in schools in Hatcliffe 1.
Zesa: Residents feel that
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa)
should come up with a plan that
will integrate residents’ plans to have
power as early as possible. They are
prepared to make contributions for
speedy electrification in the
area.
Water supply: Dirty water is piped to residents. A redress of
the situation
is required. Residents used to repair boreholes on their own
but now council
requires residents to buy fuel for the vehicle that would
transport the
rods/pipes and the council employees who would repair the
boreholes. They
get their drinking water from boreholes.
Refuse
collection: Although residents complained of poor refuse removal,
they
bought into the idea of putting refuse in a pit and when the pit is
full,
they would plant a tree.
Rentals: Residents need clarification on the
US$60-120 dollars they pay at
Mukwati Building as they claim that land had
been paid for by a donor. After
this payment, they still have to pay
rates.
They therefore would like to know what council is doing for
them after the
rates have been paid as there is poor refuse removal,
sanitation,
accessibility and water supply.
Ronia Gwaze is HRT
community coordinator
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May 2012 18:34
There
seems to be a growing trend in Zimbabwe where politicians strive to
derail
every progressive process seeking to redress national ills while
pretending
to be fighting for the equality of all citizens.
Many of the so-called
think-tanks, known for their academic prowess, have
for long failed to shed
light on how their rhetoric can be transformed into
a useful remedy to the
country’s problems. Most of their proposals are void
on aspects that can
work to improve the welfare of the toiling citizens
despite being in the
forefront to derail the making of the new constitution,
among other
political reforms. And their greatest vice is their failure to
discredit a
dictatorial regime that has wielded power for over three decades
now. It is
a pity the masses have been turned into mere spectators with
nothing to gain
from the squabbles of idle politicians.
As aptly put by one renowned
African scholar, Claude Ake, concerning the
democratic movement in Africa:
“None of the noisy politicians, believe in
policies that liberate the masses
from foreign or neo-colonial domination”.
Ake identifies these as
disgruntled politicians, sponsored organisations
seeking to accrue money for
personal gain and to remain in power. This
description also suits political
struggles afflicting Zimbabwe.
Of greater concern are those
disgruntled politicians whose agenda is nothing
more than seeking to defy
political change. They strive to institutionalise
the unsound and and
patently invalid argument that without Zanu PF, the
nation is doomed.
Through this hymn, they cast a shadow on prospects that
are supposed to
liberate the country from pervasive political
disillusionment. But without
doubt, even if they proclaim the opposite in
relation to the country’s state
of affairs, they are fully aware that Zanu
PF’s posturing is a ruse to hide
its decomposing state.
Without rejuvenating the party, members speak
only of past achievements
without giving a hint on what they are prepared to
offer in future. Without
pro-people policies, there is no way civil servants
will get a pay raise
just as there is no hope of resuscitating the ailing
industry and creating
employment. The thugs going around tormenting the
masses to curb political
dissent will continue to
multiply.
Indeed, the political immorality taking toll in most parts
of Africa is a
direct result of this intolerance and failure to accept
defeat — both of
which are deplorable vices in any nation’s quest for
democracy.
The same applies to other parties in Zimbabwe’s government
of national unity
(GNU) or any other party wishing to contest in future
elections. No
candidate should bask in the glory of being imposed into
office — fair polls
are the foundation of a stable society, and this has to
be complemented by
service delivery and not corruption.
Personal
enrichment should certainly not be the way through which the
country is
governed. Accumulation of wealth is never a crime but should be
achieved
through clear and accountable means. Some bigwigs within political
parties
have found it fashionable to suppress the very people who voted them
into
power while facilitating token development in preparation for
re-election.
This explains why there is unending shuffling of councillors
and MPs, yet
service delivery remains poor.
Of late Zanu PF has been making a lot
of noise calling for elections this
year with or without a new constitution
— a position it knows would result
in bloodshed and chaos.It is ironic that
the same Zanu PF that has failed to
win any election since 2000 is calling
for early polls. The motive behind
this must be understood within the
context of its desire to cicumvent the
will of the people. Instigating
political instability, whether wilfully or
as a consequence of
ill-considered policies, as in other war-torn regions of
the world, only
serves to confirm Zimbabwe is enduring a leadership crisis.
For a
country whose growth path was on the upward trend, our desire should
be to
regain past glory and ensure the wealth dissipated across the country
is
consolidated for the benefit of infrastructural development. No amount of
academic talk by professors will translate into an overnight achievement.
There is dire need for enabling policies that must be correctly
implemented.
Many of the country’s political ills also emanate from
the creation of an
environment that doesn’t permit free circulation of
information — a sphere
defined by manipulation and not truth.
The
truth is there are some politicians who have ceased to be relevant;
their
ideas are anachronistic and static. This is not the time for
choreographed
and stage-managed political gatherings that end up yielding no
tangible
outcomes. The nation needs to move forward; cheap talk is
unhelpful.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 May
2012 18:30
BY CONIE TADZINGWA
That Vice-president Joice Mujuru is
a role model cannot be over-emphasised.
She fought alongside male cadres
during the war of liberation. She was in
the thick of things when guns were
blazing. She has shown women across the
political divide that it’s never too
late to attain an education, having
done so while serving in government and
raising a family with the late Army
Commander, General Solomon Mujuru. Her
crowning moment was her ascendancy to
the presidium. She is the first woman
to serve as vice-president in this
country after successfully heading
several ministries in the government of
President Robert
Mugabe.
Last week on Saturday the Vice-president gave the nation a
sneak-peek into
her private life with the late general. The occasion was the
memorial
service for Mujuru held at Ruzambu farm in Beatrice. It is those
intimate
details about the luminaries’ lives that caught my attention rather
than the
celebration of the life of the most decorated soldier. Some experts
have
argued that Facebook thrives because people want to know more about
other
people’s lives rather than their own, so naturally, that peek-a-boo
into
their marriage excited me.
VP Mujuru described herself as a
mother and a God-fearing woman who was true
to her husband upto the end. She
moralised about the sacredness of the
marriage institution, in the process
giving advice to this country’s
daughters-in-law on how to conduct
themselves before their husbands and the
extended family.
While
she said there was trust between the two of them, she also stated that
he
set on her for 10 years the country’s spy agency, the CIO, to establish
whether she was not cheating on him.
She said: “I have always
been faithful to him because I am a principled
traditional and God-fearing
woman who wanted to be a role model for my
children.”
Is
subservience the model behaviour for our children?
To have men in
dark glasses stalking her was surely an infringement on the
freedom of
movement and association as enshrined in the
constitution.
Shouldn’t women who are being stalked by jealous
spouses do more than just
prove that they are not up to mischief? I found
her message about soaping
and massaging an errant husband’s feet at variance
with women’s fight for
emancipation and the fight against the Aids
scourge.
The marriage institution must not thrive on subservience and
intimidation
but on love and trust. Women must not be taught to tolerate all
kinds of
abuses, including emotional abuse, just to prove that they are good
daughters-in-law, perfect wives, respectful wives and role-model
mothers.
Instead, in today’s world women must be brave enough to drag
their errant
husbands/spouses to the New Start Centres for testing to
rebuild trust and
to be able to plan for the future and that of children if
there are any.
And men in polygamous set ups, especially those seeing
their “small houses”
secretly, must respect themselves and their wives
enough to come out in the
open instead of subjecting children to DNA tests
to prove parentage.
Love is required for any relationship to have a
chance. I am tempted to
think she was helpless and that breaks my heart
because I look up to her—an
ex-combatant, VP and mother.
If
subservience is at the centre of marriage, then it’s not worth it.
Marriage
must be premised on mutual respect otherwise women will continue to
be
trampled upon and all the efforts to empower and enlighten them will go
down
the drain.
They say love is blind but blind love surely does kill.
Any decent man must
earn the respect of his wife and children.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
The dogfight between public transport
operators and the police took another
ugly twist last week with the former
hiking fares by more than 100%. Minibus
crews attribute the hike to police
extortion which they say has become a
major cost to their operations while
the police say only rogue operators
find themselves on the wrong side of the
law.
Minibus crews accuse the police of setting up unreasonably
numerous
roadblocks where they demand money for small defects and also as
bribes.
They allege they encounter as many as four to five such roadblocks
in short
distances such as the 30 km stretch from Chitungwiza to Harare.
They say
they hand over up to US$40 a day to the police — about as much as
they make
a day. It becomes necessary, they say, for them to pass on the
cost to
commuters.
Police say operators with valid documents have no
complaints against the
police and do not have to pay any fines or
bribes.
The victims of this fight are the commuting public who have
to pay, through
the nose, large amounts of money so as to get to and from
work. At times
they spend long hours waiting for the few buses that charge
the correct
amounts, thereby getting to work late and home to their
families late at
night.
The people are caught between errant groups that
never tell the truth. It is
true many of the minibus crews are simply
pirates who take advantage of the
lack of an organised transport system and
often use defective vehicles to do
business.
But the police are
also being dishonest in claiming that only such crews are
punished by them
through hefty fines. They fail to explain why their
roadblocks are so close
together and why a defective vehicle is allowed to
proceed to the next such
roadblock, if the aim is not to derive maximum
benefit from what clearly
appears to be a fund-raising scheme.
There doesn’t seem to be a
police strategy to bring finality to the madness
in our public transport
system; and this suggests they are benefiting from it.
It’s time someone
intervened.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
BY NEVANJI
MADANHIRE
In the face of leadership failure, it is the most garrulous and
most
divisive elements that come to the fore. We have seen this truth prove
itself in the recent past.
But first, what defines this
leadership failure?
It is true that Zimbabwe is in the grip
of a protracted political crisis
which we can say became clearly defined at
the turn of the millennium. The
fact that a dozen years later the nation
doesn’t know whether it is coming
or going is a great measure of the
inadequacy of our leadership. That is the
bigger picture; in the smaller
picture, this indictment of our leadership is
seen in the fragmentation,
without exception, of the political parties that
are supposed to move the
country forward.
The fragmentation in Zanu PF has become so
acrimonious that it has become a
threat to national security; this is not
an overstatement. In the MDCs, the
divisions, although still mostly
simmering under the surface, have taken the
steam out of the democratic
movement because lots of people who had thrown
their lot behind it, are
beginning to have and express doubt at the unity of
purpose of the
leadership.
Three years ago the country heaved a sigh of relief when
the leaders of the
political parties which had, for the better part of the
last decade, been
tearing at each other’s throats, leaving in the wake of
the violence
hundreds of people dead, entered a marriage that mitigated the
violence.
Indeed, it ended the ugliest forms of violence that had
reduced the country
into a state of war. Good leadership would have seen the
opportunity this
brought. Although it was and remains an uneasy truce, the
government of
national unity gave the country the opportunity to reflect and
work out a
way to move the country forward.
But instead of
seizing this opportunity for the betterment of the country,
the warring
parties saw it as a chance to regroup and position themselves
for more
fighting rather than for creating an environment that would lift
our country
out of the devastation wrought by the political divisions.
The chance
to move forward offered by the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
has been
laid to waste because the Zanu PF leadership is fighting for
self-preservation while that of the MDCs is battling to entrench itself in
the playground of national politics.
This inward looking
leadership outlook in all parties in government has
created a vacuum in the
area where national guidance is needed most — at the
top. The parties are
focused primarily on infighting rather that national
progress.
This is how the divisive element, especially in Zanu
PF, has come to the
fore. A furtive glance at the constitution-making
process shows how the
vacuum has sucked in the most undesirable element.
First, the writing of the
new constitution is a national project supposed to
be led by the three
parties in the GNU. The process seemed to be progressing
well, with the
parliamentary committee tasked to lead it producing a draft,
although late,
under very difficult conditions.
Instead of
following through the process by taking the draft, as directed in
the GPA,
to a second all-stakeholders conference, where it would be
scrutinised and
panel-beaten, the divisive — and garrulous — element in Zanu
PF wants the
process stopped altogether. Its motive is driven by a survival
instinct
rather than reason — self-preservation rather than the necessity of
a new
political order.
What is most alarming is that this divisive element
is double-edged — it has
a sly political leadership and a
hammer-and-anvil-like military backup.
Its crafty political leadership argues
that the constitution-making process
has, as its singular purpose, the
ousting of the regime of President
Mugabe — what it calls the “regime-change
agenda”. But this is untrue since
the charter is being written for
posterity; for the post-Mugabe era, when he
has exited the political stage
through natural means considering his age.
The new law does not
forbid him to stand in the next presidential election
which he himself wants
this year. But this faction in his party wants to lie
to the gullible public
that this is what it sets out to do. If President
Mugabe is as popular as
this faction says he is, then it has nothing to
fear, for he will win the
next election. The faction wants to disguise the
fact that they are not sure
of their party’s state of electoral preparedness
considering its dismal
performance in March 2008. This faction knows that if
Mugabe loses, which is
very likely, it will be thrown into the political
wilderness.
To make its bid for survival have a fighting
chance it has roped in the
military, which is making a lot of noise and
threatening to leave the
barracks and join the political
fray.
The military dresses its thinking in high-sounding
pronouncements that extol
abstract ideals that have no relation whatever
with its core business of
protecting the people. Its thinking is defined as
follows by Major-General
Martin Chedondo:
“A national defence
force the world over is there to protect the national
politics, national
integrity, the executive and other systems that form part
of the government.
By virtue of this, defence forces automatically become a
political
animal.”
It talks of the “defence of our independence and national
sovereignty”, and
not once does it mention the defence of the people. This
thinking has been
problematic in the past where in “defence of independence
and sovereignty”
the civilian population has found itself at the mercy of
the armed forces.
In what President Mugabe termed “a moment of madness”,
thousands of
civilians perished in the 1980s at the hands of the military in
the campaign
now notoriously called Gukurahundi; in 2005 again in “defence
of our
independence and sovereignty” 700 000 families lost their homes and
livelihoods in the madness of Murambatsvina, creating a huge population of
internally displaced people. Hundreds died because they were moved far away
from medical facilities. Again, the uniformed forces were involved in
this.
In the run-up to the presidential election run-off of June
2008, again the
“disciplined” forces where at the forefront of the violence
that saw
hundreds of people die, all in defence of “the executive and other
systems
that form part of the government”.
The unholy alliance
between the military and political misfits has now
become a threat to
national security and the political leadership must come
out of its cocoon
and undo it. The military should remain in the barracks
while all
politicians should face the people in an election under the
appropriate laws
as spelt out by a new national constitution.
