Via MDC-T Press Release:
Members of the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Since the formation of the inclusive government on the 13th of February 2009, the Principals of the three political parties have met on several occasions in an attempt to resolve the implementation of the outstanding issues that were agreed in the Global Political Agreement and during the SADC mediated negotiations.
This has been a slow and frustrating process, however, we have been able to reach an understanding on a number of issues, which are:
Provincial Governors
In accordance with the formula agreed between the negotiators for the respective parties, namely, 5 for MDC-T, 4 for ZANU PF and 1 for MDC-M, the Provincial Governors will be sworn in at the soonest opportunity.
In addition, the Principals decided that the six governors whose tenure is to be terminated as a result of this agreement will be paid an agreed compensation.
The nominees for Governors for the MDC-T will be distributed at the end of this press conference.
Permanent Secretaries
The six member Cabinet Executive Committee, consisting of the President and his two deputies, the Prime Minister and his two deputies, convened to consider the appointment of Permanent Secretaries. This was in fulfillment of Article 21.7 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Amendment No. 19. I am pleased to announce that we have reached agreement on these appointments.
We went through each one of the persons proposed and satisfied ourselves that they were suitable in terms of experience and qualifications.
We do not believe that civil servants should be appointed on a partisan basis, so there will be no civil servant from the MDC or ZANU-PF. Any civil servant who participates in partisan politics will have no place in our public service, and I urge the Minister of Public Service to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to that effect.
Although a partial list of these appointments was published via the State media last night, the full list is available from my office and will be released immediately after this press conference.
Ambassadors
It was agreed that the MDC will submit names of individuals to be trained for Ambassadorial appointments. At the same time, an audit will be conducted to identify potential openings for new Ambassadors. These new appointments will be filled using a formula to be agreed upon. In the meantime, there are five Ambassadorial posts vacant which will be filled by the two MDC formations in the following ration, MDC-T, 4, MDC-M, 1.
Ministerial Mandates
The Principals agreed that the functions of the communications portfolio will be shared among the three Ministries: the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, the Ministry of Media Information and Publicity and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development. Specifically, The Ministry of Information Communication Technology will retain its responsibility over the Posts and Telecommunications Act, Potraz, Telone, Netone and ZimPost;
The Ministry of Media Information and Publicity will oversee the Broadcasting Act and Transmedia; and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development will be responsible for the Interception of Communications Act.
Roy Bennett
The three principals have agreed that Roy Bennett will be sworn in as Deputy Minister of Agriculture before or on the day of swearing in of the Provincial Governors.
Ladies and Gentlemen, there are two key issues on which the Principals failed to reach agreement. These are the appointments of the Governor of the Reserve Bank and the Attorney General.
The Global Political Agreement, which was signed on September 15th 2008, states in section 20.1.7 that: The parties agree that with respect to occupants of senior Government positions, such as Permanent Secretaries and Ambassadors, the leadership of Government, comprising the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, will consult and agree on such prior to their appointment.
The Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General are senior government appointments and yet, in breach of the Memorandum of Understanding, the GPA and the Reserve Bank Act, Gideon Gono was reappointed on 26th November 2008. The Attorney General, Johannes Tomana was appointed by President Mugabe on 17th December 2008, again in breach of the MOU and the GPA.
In light of the above, and the fact that there is a deadlock on the status of the two individuals in question, the Principals, with the support of our parties, will now refer this matter to SADC as the guarantors of the GPA.
We trust that SADC will deal with this matter with the urgency that it requires.
In addition, we remain concerned about the continued violations of the rule of law, in particular, some of our citizens taking the law into their own hands with respect to the land reform programme.
While the above issues represent obstacles to the full implementation of the GPA, I think that it is also important that we recognize that progress has been made and continues to be made with respect to rebuilding Zimbabwe and having a positive impact on the lives of the people.
In particular, I am pleased to announce that the constitutional process is gathering momentum and that we are seeing significant improvements in media freedoms in the country. The recent media conference recommended that AIPPA be repealed and that the ZBC and Zimpapers be transformed into genuine public media as opposed to state media.
In light of this, it should also be noted that as of January 11th, 2008, as a result of Amendments to AIPPA, the Media and Information Commission ceased to exist. Therefore, there is presently no legal obligation for foreign or local journalists, media houses or news agencies to apply for accreditation until the Media Commission is established and a new framework put in place.
The Standing Rules and Orders Committee of parliament is in the process of ensuring that the media commission is put in place as soon as possible to facilitate the opening up of the media space.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclusion, I would like to emphasise that we remain committed to ensure the success of the inclusive Government and call on all parties to demonstrate their commitment to the same by abiding by the letter and spirit of the Global Political Agreement for the good of Zimbabwe and all its citizens.
PRIME MINISTER, HON MORGAN TSVANGIRAI APPOINTMENTS
Provincial Governors
Harare Metropolitan - Senator James Makore appointments
Bulawayo Metropolitan – Hon. Seiso Moyo
Masvingo – Hon. Lucia Matibenga
Matebeleland North – Hon. Tose Sansole
Manicaland – Mr. Julius Magarangoma
Senior Appointments in the Prime Minister’s Office
Secretary to the PM and Council of Ministers – Mr Ian Makone
Principal Director DPM Mutambara’s Office – Professor Paul Mavima
Principal Director DPM Khupe’s Office – Mrs. Thandiwe Nhlabangana
Principal Director Minister of State Gorden Moyo’s Office – Dr Sabelo Gatsheni Ndhlovu
Chief Spokesperson to the Prime Minister – James Maridadi
Principal Directors in the Office of the Prime Minister
Policy Implementation – Lazarus Muriritirwa
Communication – Andrew Chadwick
Public Affairs – Dennis Murira
Special Projects – Valentine Sinemane
Finance and Administration – Norman Sachikonye
Principal Directors in Charge of Clusters
Security – Dr Martin Rupiya
Economics – Moses Chundu
Rights and Interest – Rose Zigomo
Social – Abisha Nyanguwo
Infrastructure – Ghandi Mudzingwa
Directors
Security – Emmanuel Chimwanda
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
President Robert Mugabe
suffered a rare defeat on Thursday when his
opponents in the Movement for
Democratic Change won control of key positions
in Zimbabwe's
government.
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger in
Johannesburg
Last Updated: 5:46PM BST 21 May 2009
The new
coalition between Mr Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime
minister and
MDC leader, has suffered paralysis and deadlock. In particular,
the two
sides have clashed over provincial governorships, ambassadorial
posts and
control of the powerful Reserve Bank.
Yesterday, the dispute was
partially resolved in the MDC's favour. Mr
Tsvangirai announced that the
party's two factions will have six of the 10
governorships and all five of
the vacant ambassadorial jobs. In addition, Mr
Mugabe has agreed to allow
Roy Bennett, the MDC treasurer, to become deputy
agriculture
minister.
"We recognise that progress has been made and continues
to be made with
respect to rebuilding Zimbabwe and having a positive impact
on the lives of
the people," said Mr Tsvangirai.
But the two sides
remain deadlocked over the most important issue: control
of the Reserve Bank
which has key responsibility for economic policy. Last
year, Mr Mugabe
reappointed its controversial governor, Gideon Gono. His
policies are blamed
for Zimbabwe's collapse into hyperinflation and economic
ruin. Western
donors have demanded Mr Gono's removal before any aid can be
released. One
diplomat in Harare called Mr Gono, the "destroyer of
Zimbabwe's
economy".
Mr Mugabe, however, has insisted on keeping him in office. The
president is
also protecting another notorious ally: Johannes Tomana, the
attorney
general. He is is overseeing a new wave of land seizures and the
arrest of
MDC activists and journalists.
Mr Tsvangirai wants both men
removed. The dispute will now go to the
regional African bodies who serve as
guarantors of Zimbabwe's power-sharing
agreement.
Mr Gono is fighting
back by trying to have Tendai Biti, the finance minister
from the MDC,
sacked for allegedly breaking foreign currency rules. In a
letter seen by
The Daily Telegraph, Mr Gono accuses Mr Biti of "endangering
my life and
that of my family" by "harassment, false justifications,
victimisation,
malice and misrepresentations".
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph,
Mr Biti dismissed all these
accusations. Despite his appointment as finance
minister, he still does not
feel confident enough to work in his main office
in Harare, fearing the room
might be bugged. Instead, he meets visitors in a
side office. "I will not be
diverted from what I am doing, I have got a job
to do and not in half
measures," he said.
Mr Biti urged the West to
support Zimbabwe's new government with financial
aid. "The West is being
unscientific and ahistorical," he said. "What needs
to be understood is that
if this experiment fails, we have no cheaper
alternative, no cheaper option.
If the West doesn't come in, the price of
undoing the mess will be much
higher. We have seen this in places like
Liberia, Sierra Leone, look at the
cost of Somalia, how will anyone ever
reconstruct Somalia?"
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
21 May 2009
The
deafening silence from the unity government on the ongoing and
increasingly
violent land invasions has continued, despite promises by
government leaders
that the rule of law will be respected in Zimbabwe.
The Prime Minister's
media conference on Thursday, to provide details about
agreements reached
during talks about the Global Political Agreement, was an
ideal platform to
denounce the ongoing attacks. It was hoped that the land
invasions would
figure as a key issue in the talks between the principals of
the unity
government, but it would appear this has not been the case. Morgan
Tsvangirai briefly expressed concern about the continued violations of the
rule of law, referring to the attacks as "some of our citizens taking the
law into their own hands with respect to the land reform
programme."
He dismissed the violent attacks, that Robert Mugabe has
condoned, as being
merely issues that "represent obstacles to the full
implementation of the
GPA." He then quickly moved on saying; "It is also
important that we
recognize that progress has been made and continues to be
made with respect
to rebuilding Zimbabwe and having a positive impact on the
lives of the
people."
Justice for Agriculture's John Worsley-Worswick
explained that there is a
growing concern within the beleaguered farming
community, because of the
deafening silence by the government on the
attacks. He said there has been a
"conspicuous lack of resolve" by the unity
government on the land issue,
despite the national threat that farming
disruption poses. He further
explained that there will never be food
security in the country, which is
already crippled by food shortages, until
the land issue is resolved and
farming is allowed to continue.
The
Prime Minister's press conference on Thursday included the official
announcement that Roy Bennett will be sworn in as Deputy Minister of
Agriculture. Robert Mugabe has previously refused to commit Bennett into a
position of power, hiding behind the trumped-up terrorism charges laid
against the MDC Treasurer-General. It has been widely speculated that part
of Mugabe's refusal to swear Bennett into the government, is Bennett's
expected tough action on the farm invasions.
Worsley-Worswick
explained that Bennett's inclusion in the government would
be welcome,
"because he has a greater understanding of agriculture, of the
importance of
uninterrupted farming, than the rest of the government."
Worsley-Worswick
continued that Bennett "scares the Mugabe regime, because
he is astute and
aware of exactly what needs to be done to stop the land
invasions
continuing."
The fresh wave of land invasions across the country has
forced many
remaining commercial farmers into hiding, while more than 100
are facing
prosecution simply for being on their land. In the past week the
attacks
have intensified, with two people being severely assaulted by hired
land
thugs. Last Friday, a Banket farmer was beaten by the son of a ZANU PF
affiliated political official, set on stealing the farmer's land. Mere days
later, the 80 year old mother of a Chinhoyi farmer was assaulted by police,
when the officials came to arrest her son for being on his land. She was
briefly detained and then released with serious injuries.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
21 May 2009
The
controversial Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono wrote a
blistering
letter to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week, in which he
accused
Finance Minister Tendai Biti of victimising him and of corruption.
Gono
claims, in the letter which was leaked to the media this week, that
Honey
and Blankenberg, a law firm in which the Minister was a senior
partner,
externalised more than US$1 million in foreign currency in
contravention of
Exchange Control regulations. Gono said this happened
between October 2005
and May 2006.
The Finance Minister has accused Gono of destroying the
economy while
describing the operations of the central bank as being
illegal. It's
generally believed by most Zimbabweans that Gono is
responsible for the
complete economic destruction of Zimbabwe and he has
even confessed to
illegally 'taking' many millions out of company and
individual forex
accounts, to fund ZANU PF activities.
But Gono
alleges in the letter that Biti has a personal vendetta against him
because
of the central bank's investigation into "alleged rampant
externalisation of
foreign currency resources and money laundering
activities discovered at the
Minister's legal firm Honey & Blanckenberg
where he is (or was) a
partner."
Gono complained: "At a campaign rally in Masvingo last year, Hon.
Minister
called me names and accused me of "being at the epicenter of ZANU
(PF)
terror machine"; "an economic saboteur, terrorist and number one
Al-Qaeda
who deserves to be shot by a firing squad"
"These utterances
were widely circulated both in the print and electronic
media and today form
the basis of the hate-mail that I receive and the
hatred many MDC-T
supporters display against the Governor. Indeed the
international community
has also been poisoned to believe that I am a member
of the terrorist group
Al-Qaeda. These threats to my life and family are
very unsettling and may
one day be carried out by an over-zealous MDC-T
Party Member or just
criminals hiding behind the Minister's publicly
declared wishes of getting
me killed."
The governor demanded a public apology from the Minister of
Finance and both
MDC formations, stating that the 'Governor did not "kill"
this economy and
that he is not a member of Al-Qaeda nor does he deserve to
be shot by the
"firing squad".'
Analysts say if indeed Biti and the
law firm committed a crime, then the law
should take its course. But most
companies and individuals in Zimbabwe were
forced to externalise funds in
order to survive - and this was all because
of the bad economic policies of
the Mugabe regime.
Many ZANU PF officials, including Gono, stand accused
of externalising huge
funds themselves and yet none of the ruling elite have
been brought before
the courts.
Furthermore, critics question the
motives of exposing such allegations at a
time when the MDC is calling on
regional leaders to come and help break a
deadlock on the posts of the
central bank Governor and Attorney General
Johannes Tomana.
MDC
official Ralph Black dismissed Gono's letter, saying it was a counter
intelligence manoeuvre aimed to divert the attention of SADC and the AU from
dealing with the legality of his appointment. He said: "We saw this same
technique used with Tendai Biti and the treason trial document, which a High
Court judge characterised as good bedside reading from the fictional section
of the library."
"Biti was prosecuted using a document allegedly
outlining his attempts to
overthrow the government and now he is being
accused in concert with his law
partners of externalising funds - an
activity that allegedly goes back
several years." The MDC official said the
crime of externalisation has been
used by Gono to takeover companies and
prosecute prominent business people
in the last few years, but the governor
did not have the desire to takeover
a law firm or to prosecute a prominent
opposition politician, even when he
allegedly had information that was
potentially incriminating. Black said:
"This is nothing but elevated tea boy
politics."
The MDC official said this is an old Arabian tactic, to
question the
integrity of your critics. He said ZANU PF is seeking to muddy
the waters
because they are like catfish. "They only live off the filth that
they
generate. If the waters become clear they have no life."
Western
government have refused to give full financial backing to the
Zimbabwe
government until there is evidence of equal power sharing by the
political
parties - and the unresolved issue of the RBZ governor and the
Attorney
General only makes things worse.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
21 May
2009
Repeated promises by the unity government to reform the repressive
media
environment in Zimbabwe are proving hollow, with no evidence of any
action
being taken to ensure media freedom.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai on Thursday said there have been
"significant improvements in
media freedom in the country," during an
announcement on the outstanding
issues of the Global Political Agreement.
But improvements, in the form of
pledges, are not translating into action.
The Prime Minister referred to
recommendations made at the recent media
conference in Kariba to repeal the
Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA), a critical step
that the government is yet to take.
Tsvangirai instead lauded the slight
amendment of the Act, which saw the
scrapping of the repressive Media and
Information Commission in January.
AIPPA for years has given the Robert
Mugabe led government extensive powers
to control the media and suppress
free speech by requiring the registration
of journalists and prohibiting
free expression. The Act created the Media
and Information Commission, which
has drastically restricted journalists.
Under the law, all independent
newspapers have been shut down and many
journalists have also been arrested
and jailed under the Act. AIPPA was
amended in January 2005 to allow for the
imprisonment for two years of
journalists who had not registered with the
Commission.
The formation of the unity government in February was
heralded as a welcome
opportunity to banish such restrictive media laws. But
in that time, there
has been no action to support the various pledges of
media reform made by
the government. Instead, media freedom has remained
elusive. Last week
Zimbabwe Independent Editor, Vincent Kahiya and News
Editor, Constantine
Chimakure, spent a night in police cells after the
newspaper published
alleged 'falsehoods' in a story that named Central
Intelligence Officers and
police officers in the abduction and torture of
MDC and other human rights
activists last year. They were charged under the
Criminal Codification and
Reform Act. A few days prior to that, a group of
Spanish journalists were
severely harassed when they visited a farmer who
had been illegally invaded
and attacked. They were briefly detained and
their government had to
intervene. So there is still no possibility of
journalists working freely.
There has also been no move to actively allow
either the foreign or exiled
Zimbabwe media to return and work in the
country.. Last week Mugabe's
spokesman and Permanent Secretary in the
Information Ministry, George
Charamba, told state media that journalists
from both the BBC and CNN are
welcome back to the country. But CNN's
Johannesburg Bureau Chief, Kim
Norgaard, told SW Radio Africa on Thursday
that such an invitation has not
been extended to them. Norgaard explained
they had contacted the Ministry
about the issue and were merely told that at
some time in the future they
could 'talk' about it.
Despite the Prime
Minister's insistence that 'significant improvements' have
been made, powers
that could have reformed the media have been dragged back
from the brief
control of the MDC.
For example the Interception of Communications Act allows
government
authorities and agencies to open postal and electronic mail,
while internet
service providers face jail if they do not give government
access to
personal emails. Responsibility for this Act had been unilaterally
stripped
away from Nelson Chamisa's Ministry of Information and
Communication
Technology by Robert Mugabe last month. At Thursday's
announcement,
Tsvangirai explained that the Act now remains under the
Ministry of
Transport and Infrastructural Development - headed by ZANU PF's
Nicholas
Goche.
Meanwhile control of Transmedia, the company that
controls signal
distribution services for broadcasters and
telecommunications, is also back
under the control of ZANU PF.
London
based political commentator and freelance journalist Crisford
Chogugudza
explained on Thursday that media freedom in Zimbabwe is far from
becoming a
reality, arguing that "there is no political will for the reforms
to take
place." He agreed that pronouncements made by the government are not
being
backed up by action, and said there is a desperate need for fast
change.
"Damage over the last 29 years of media repression has been
massive,"
Chogugudza said. "In order to redress the situation, there needs
to be
seismic and overwhelming change as soon as possible."
http://english.cri.cn
2009-05-21
19:33:39 XinhuaWeb Editor: Yang
Yang
Spain is working with its
European Union counterparts to
rebuild diplomatic ties with Zimbabwe
following the formation of the
inclusive Government early this year, a
diplomat has said.
Speaking after paying a courtesy
call on Zimbabwe Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara at his Munhumutapa
offices on Wednesday,
Spanish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Pilar Fuertes said she
is optimistic about
Zimbabwe's future prospects.
"There is a major feeling of hope, from the people and
everyone for the
future of Zimbabwe so we are working together with other
European countries
to make things happen as far as re- engaging Zimbabwe in
diplomatic ties is
concerned," she was quoted by Thursday's The Herald as
saying.
Ms Fuertes, who arrived in Zimbabwe early
this year from
Egypt, said the Zimbabwean government has also engaged her
office to arrange
for the Spanish national soccer team supporters coming for
the
Confederations Cup in South Africa to visit
Zimbabwe.
Mutambara urged Fuertes to be a good
ambassador for
Zimbabwe as the country is ready to engage the international
community.
"Zimbabwe is ready for business and I have told her that she has
to be a
good ambassador for Zimbabwe and represent Zimbabwe well to the
international community," the deputy prime minister
said
"We also want Spain to be active in investment
activities
in the country. We want Spanish companies to drive economic and
manufacturing development in the country," he said.
Mutambara said Zimbabwe would want to learn from Spain's
economic progress
for its turnaround program.
Spain and other EU
countries joined Britain in imposing
sanctions against Zimbabwe following a
bilateral dispute between Harare and
London over the land reform
program.
Several European countries have, however,
opened up
dialogue with Harare since the formation of the inclusive
government,
raising hopes of renewed bilateral relations.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/
May 20 2009 at
07:47AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare - Six
people were found dead in their filthy cells at
Zimbabwe's Chikurubi maximum
security prison on Monday.
About the same number died over the
weekend.
Another 100 bodies, many mutilated by rats, are stacked up
in the
mortuary and will be unclaimed and buried as paupers in prison
grounds.
'It was a nightmare'
Over the past year,
more than 700 prisoners died in the prison about
20km east of
here.
"It's the same at the rest of the prisons around the
country," an
off-duty warder from Chikurubi said on Monday.
Continues Below ↓
"We often find six died
at a time, mostly of pellagra. A lot have
Aids, but die quickly because they
don't have enough food.
"Three days ago, for the first time,
Assistant Commissioner Chikature
from the regional office came to have a
look because the ICRC,
(International Committee of the Red Cross) is working
here.
"ICRC put in a borehole two months ago, so at least we have
clean
water now and more food."
The ICRC in Zimbabwe has been
working quietly within the prisons since
the inclusive government was sworn
in.
At the height of the crisis, between November and January, 327
deaths
were officially recorded at Chikurubi.
The jail, with an
average of 30 inmates each for cells designed for
10, is among the most
congested of the country's 42 prisons, with a national
population of about
24 000 inmates - many on remand.
In Bulawayo last year, an open
cell at Grey's Prison was turned into
an infirmary because so many inmates
became ill.
"It was a nightmare," a former short-term detainee
said.
"A kid who stole five mangos was in for five months, another
guy
accused of stealing washing was there for 21 months. They were
starving."
Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi was appointed
commissioner of
prisons 10 years ago and is in President Robert Mugabe's
inner circle.
"He has never been to see what is going on in
Chikurubi" the warder
said. "He doesn't care."
The Central
Prisons Department said no one was available to talk to
the
media.
This article was originally published on page 2
of Cape Times on May
20, 2009
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 21
May 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
confirmed late on Wednesday the
re-appointment of 31 permanent secretaries
of ministries, amid indications
he may have reached agreement with his two
coalition partners on several
outstanding issues from last year's power
sharing deal.
"Other re-assignments and or re-appointments will be made
in due course
after consultations," Mugabe's chief secretary Misheck Sibanda
said in a
statement last night.
Sibanda said the appointment of
secretaries who are the executive heads of
government ministries was part of
the inclusive government arrangement. He
did not elaborate.
Mugabe
first announced the appointment of secretaries more than a month ago.
But
his co-principals in the unity government, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, contested the
appointments and
said they were void because Mugabe had not consulted them
as is stipulated
under last year's power-sharing agreement.
Tsvangirai's MDC party said
last Sunday that it would appeal to the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to intervene
to break a deadlock
over the appointments of secretaries and other
outstanding
issues.
The SADC and the AU are the guarantors of the shaky power-sharing
deal.
The other outstanding issues include the appointment of provincial
governors
and diplomats, re-hiring of central bank governor Gideon Gono and
re-appointment of Johannes Tomana as Attorney General by Mugabe last
January.
Tsvangirai and Mutambara have been pushing to have the
appointments of Gono,
Tomana and provincial governors rescinded and for the
recruitment of new
ambassadors and permanent secretaries - moves Mugabe and
hardliners from his
ZANU PF party have adamantly opposed.
Another
cause of disagreement between Mugabe on the one hand and Tsvangirai
and
Mutambara on the other was the refusal by the President to swear in
MDC-T
Senator Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.
But sources said last
night that the three principals may have reached
agreement during a meeting
yesterday on all or some of the outstanding
issues, with others suggesting
that Mutambara had been tasked to make an
announcement on progress on the
matter. The Deputy Prime Minister was not
immediately available for comment
on the matter.
Zimbabwe's coalition government, formed last February, is
seen as offering
the country the best opportunity in a decade to restore
stability and end a
devastating economic and humanitarian crisis.
But
failure by the government to win support from Western donor countries
and
the pro-longed wrangle between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara over
appointment of key public officials have intensified doubts about the
administration's durability and effectiveness. -
ZimOnline.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16706
May 20, 2009
HARARE (Global Post) -
The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe is unable to receive
visitors because
President Robert Mugabe's security officers bar their entry
to his office
building.
This recent incident illustrates the sort of obstacles Morgan
Tsvangirai
faces daily.
Senior members of a leading civic
organization, the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA), were blocked from
meeting Prime Minister Tsvangirai by
Mugabe's security agents. The president
and prime minister share offices in
the same building. The NCA delegation
had been due to discuss issues of
constitutional reform with Tsvangirai, who
is one of three principal party
leaders heading the government of national
unity.
Only the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
eventually
secured the group's entry.
Last week a vehicle in
Tsvangirai's convoy was denied entry to Mugabe's
official residence, where a
state dinner was being held for a visiting North
Korean delegation.
Tsvangirai drove off saying he had better things to do
after guards at State
House refused to admit a vehicle in his convoy.
Of course, the entire
visit of the North Koreans was controversial.
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) enjoys widespread support
in southern Zimbabwe,
known as Matabeleland, where Mugabe unleashed the
North Korean-trained Fifth
Brigade in a campaign of political retribution in
which an estimated 10 000
to 20 000 people were killed in the mid-1980s.
To welcome the North
Koreans last week Mugabe praised their support for
Zimbabwe and
congratulated them on their rocket launch that caused
international tension
earlier this year.
Mugabe's speech was, by any standard, provocative and
designed to show
Tsvangirai who is boss. Mugabe was, at the same time,
rebuking the MDC's
international allies, who are looking to Tsvangirai to
restore productive
relations with Zimbabwe.
These incidents may be
dismissed as trivial, but they are examples of how
Robert Mugabe is letting
everyone know that he is still running the show in
Zimbabwe. It is not just
in petty security access situations. Mugabe is also
calling the shots to
jail his critics for lengthy periods on flimsy charges.
He is also
continuing to harass the small but lively independent press.
From the
very start of the power-sharing government, which brought
Tsvangirai and his
MDC party into a coalition government, critics warned
that Mugabe would not
cooperate and would tarnish Tsvangirai's reputation by
continuing repressive
actions. That is exactly what is happening, especially
regarding the rule of
law and the press. Mugabe is using his control of the
judiciary to jail
government critics on spurious charges and to press
similarly weak charges
against the press.
Mugabe is demonstrating just how obstructive he can be
by refusing to remove
the loyalist Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and the
equally dedicated
Attorney General Johannes Tomana. Those officials
protected by him are in no
doubt about whose orders they must
follow.
Responding to questions in Parliament last week, the co-minister
of Home
Affairs Giles Mutsekwa revealed that Tomana, not the police, ordered
the
arrests of two journalists from an independent newspaper. The newspaper
had
published the names of police and intelligence officers responsible for
the
abduction and torture of opposition activists last year. The names
appeared
in court papers and were therefore matters of public record - so
there
should be no problem in printing them in a newspaper.
Tomana's
office also has refused to grant bail to detainees who have been
ordered
free by the courts. In nearly every case involving charges against
government critics, the state has challenged court rulings to keep people
imprisoned for another week, or more, while the government's appeal to their
release is heard. A judge only last week sharply criticized the state for
opposing bail in the case of three activists when its legal grounds for
doing so were weak.
Meanwhile, media defense organizations have
slammed the recent arrest of
journalists.
"Zimbabwean journalists
continue to be the victims of police brutality and
judicial abuses," said
Reporters Without Borders. "By arresting journalists
arbitrarily and then
conditioning their release on the payment of bail, the
police and courts are
subjecting the media to a systematic extortion racket.
We again appeal to
the authorities to stop these practices."
Mugabe's grip on the levers of
power has placed the MDC in an invidious
position. In a bid to placate the
prickly Mugabe, Tsvangirai has campaigned
for the West to lift sanctions.
Although Tsvangirai has also called for an
end to criticism of Mugabe, he
has been forthright as to where Zimbabwe's
problems lie.
"The
continued violations of the rule of law and the Global Political
Agreement
(which created the power-sharing government) prevent the inflows
of
development aid, obstructing the legislative agenda, and risk keeping
Zimbabwe mired in poverty," he said recently. "What continues to plague
Zimbabwe can best be described as a reluctance to accept the reality of the
changes taking place within the country."
Western donors have made it
clear that before they untie their purse strings
the new government must end
arbitrary arrests and allow a free media.
At a recent conference call to
chart a path to media reform, government
publicists called for sanctions to
be lifted, but they made no mention of
the need to stop state arrests of
independent journalists, to allow the
return of exiled journalists, or to
end state controls over the media.
The MDC, frustrated by Mugabe's
persistent stonewalling, has sought the
intervention of the regional
organization, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), which is
the guarantor of the Zimbabwe settlement.
Tsvangirai, in a remarkable
display of self-criticism, said over the weekend
he "totally agreed with the
decision because they (his party) feel we have
been dragging our feet in
solving the outstanding issues."
Tsvangirai specifically mentioned the
"unexplained arrests."
The MDC's move to bring SADC back into the fray is
an admission of the
failure to gain cooperation with Mugabe and his party,
Zanu-PF.
Meanwhile, civil society and much of the independent media will
be biting
its collective tongue. It is tempting, but would not be helpful,
to say,
"Told you so."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16717
May 21, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The embattled governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon
Gono, has
accused Honey and Blankenberg, the leading Harare legal firm in
which the
Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, is a senior partner, of
externalising more
than US$1 million in foreign currency in contravention of
Exchange Control
regulations.This, he states in the letter he wrote to Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai this month, could be the reason why "such
personal hatred, venom
and attacks" have been directed at Gono by
Biti.
Gono furnished the Prime Minister with details of the funds
externalised
between October 2005 and May 2006, saying central bank
investigations had
come up with a "can of worms" suggesting that Honey and
Blankenberg could
have been involved in the forex scams from before 2003. He
said the RBZ
investigating team had discovered some entries had been deleted
from
records.
Meanwhile The Zimbabwe Times is conducting its own
investigation into how
Gono's letter (or parts thereof) found its way into
the hands of its
correspondent in Harare enabling him to construct what now
appears to have
been a partisan report which glossed over the governor's
dramatic
allegations against the Minister of Finance.
The following
is the full text of Gono's letter whose existence the Zimbabwe
Times
correspondent revealed on Tuesday:
The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of
the
Republic of Zimbabwe
Mr. M. R. Tsvangirai
Munhumutapa
Building
Samora Machel Avenue
HARARE
Rt. Hon. Prime Minister,
Sir,
RE: COMPLAINT AGAINST PERSONAL VICTIMIZATION AND VILIFICATION BY
HON.
MINISTER OF FINANCE T. L. BITI.
1. As you may be aware Hon.
Prime Minister, the strained relations between
the Hon. Minister of Finance
and myself are a matter of public knowledge
and, need I say,
concern.
2. For more than a year now, the Minister has uttered, publicly
and
privately, words and statements that are not only criminally defamatory
but
also, seriously insulting to my person, family and indeed, to the
institution that I work for, its Board, management and staff. His misleading
statements are also career limiting in my field of Finance and
economics.
3. Professional disagreements in public offices are a matter
of daily life
for public personalities but constant and malicious
misrepresentations,
unrestrained utterances, incitement of violence against
the person of the
Governor, outright lies and victimization against persons
doing their normal
duties are traits normally unheard of especially coming
from "Offices that
are supposed to know and act better"
4. Examples
may drive home the point:
(a) At a campaign rally in Masvingo last year,
Hon. Minister called me names
and accused me of "being at the epicenter of
ZANU (PF) terror machine"; "an
economic saboteur, terrorist and number one
Al-Qaeda who deserves to be shot
by a firing squad"
These utterances
were widely circulated both in the print and electronic
media and today form
the basis of the hate-mail that I receive and the
hatred many MDC-T
supporters display against the Governor. Indeed the
international community
has also been poisoned to believe that I am a member
of the terrorist group
Al-Qaeda. These threats to my life and family are
very unsettling and may
one day be carried out by an over-zealous MDC-T
Party Member or just
criminals hiding behind the Minister's publicly
declared wishes of getting
me killed.
(b) On several occasions, the distinguished Minister has
accused me of
"killing this economy through printing money". This is despite
the
overwhelming evidence that the country was and remains under the yoke of
debilitating sanctions and other constraints such as droughts/floods and
political differences all of which are/were militating against international
support in the area of Lines of Credit among other needs. The Hon. Minister
only came to acknowledge on Monday 4 May, 2009 when he returned from the
IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings held in Washington DC. USA that SANCTIONS are
"real" and that they need to be removed if we are to turn around this
economy. This admission was despite previous denials.
5. Now if
indeed the Hon. Minister, after only 3 months in office is now
realizing
that this economy cannot be stabilized let alone turned-around
without the
repeal of ZIDERA and other pieces of "restrictive" actions by
some economic
powers in the West, and that without such a repeal of these
toxic pieces of
legislation and actions against Zimbabwe, the country cannot
access the much
needed lines of credit, how did or does the Hon. Minister
expect me to
successfully turn-around this economy in the presence of ZIDERA
which some
have accused him of having participated in its "birth" and
"sustenance" over
the years?
6. After my three (3) children were unceremoniously expelled
out of
Australia before your visit to that Country, Sir in 2006 they
suffered a two
year roll-back in their university education, and when they
found new
universities to go to, they found themselves being called upon to
explain
how their father is allegedly associated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist
organization with the threat of further expulsion from their new university
if the allegations were/are not refuted. Who among us parents can stomach
such misfortune if directed at their own children?
7. It is a known
fact that Leadership is not about expecting others to
perform miracles where
the leader himself cannot perform same. What is
difficult to achieve for the
Hon. Minister today (raising lines of credit)
is a fraction of what my team
and I were expected to achieve in an
environment of not only ZIDERA but
serious political and social in-fighting
between Zimbabweans prior to the
Inclusive Government.
8. A lot more "kiya-kiyering" was and had to be
done to sustain the economy,
sustain life and everything else this Inclusive
Government found in place.
Without such gymnastics including the so-called
printing of money or
"quantitative easing" as they are now calling it in
Europe and elsewhere,
this country could have easily degenerated into
unprecedented chaos with no
opportunity ever for anyone in the Inclusive
Government to be in the
comfortable positions from where they are now
calling the "shots" today.
9. I have suffered and continue to suffer
abuse and ridicule at a time when
you as Prime Minister have been telling
the Nation that bye-gones are
bye-gones and that we need to move forward but
this message doesn't seem to
have found root in some quarters.
10.
You know very well Rt. Hon. Prime Minister that people are being highly
dishonest when they allege that it is/was the Governor of the Reserve Bank
who "killed" this economy for I do have on file, letters from Ministers of
Finance and other stakeholders including Labour and Business dealing with
requests for funding and/or authorizations to move in a given
direction.
11. I believe that it needs to be appreciated, Rt. Hon. Prime
Minister, that
the last ten years have been a period of both political and
economic madness
in this country and that the work of sanctions-busting, the
world-over, is
not a walk in the garden park or a straight-forward text-book
lesson and
practice from an Apprenticeship Economic textbook.
12.
Sanctions are a form of war-fare against the sanctioned country or
people
and my job was to try and defeat them, not physically but through
"out-of-the-box" type of thinking strategies all of which had the blessings
of my Head of State and President Cde. R. G Mugabe whom you are free to
check and verify with, as well as the entire Cabinet of the day.
13.
It is heartening to note though that Hon. Minister Biti is following the
same path, going to the same African Banks and friends who stood by us
during the said period of madness and only last week, the Hon Minister
happily and proudly ran with and announced to the world facilities that my
team and I had negotiated and secured namely the US$300 million Country
Program from Afrieximbank which was approved in Mauritius on 12 December
2008 and the PTA Bank facility, again which we had negotiated last year and
was awaiting activation.
14. These two institutions, together with
Al-Shams linked to Mr Jayesh Shar,
are the three main sources of funding who
helped us during difficult times.
Today it is an open secret that Hon.
Minister Biti is going to all of them
for support and all three are
supporting the Inclusive Government at a
critical time when noone else,
including the so-called donor community is
giving us funds due to
understandable economic difficulties in their own
backyards.
15. The
point here Rt. Hon. Prime Minister is that nothing my team and I did
is not
being followed by the new Minister of Finance and I can point out
that 99%
of our recommendations for the turn-around of this economy have
been
included in STERP (see attached analysis and evaluation document).
16.
This is not to take away anything/credit from the Hon. Minister's well
received STERP but to draw attention to the need for "modesty in
pronouncements made and credit taken while standing at the pulpit" so to
speak when the Minister is addressing stakeholders.
17. It is against
this background that charges to the effect that this
Governor and his team
"murdered" or committed atrocities in this economy are
hereby vehemently
denied.
18. A lot has been said by the distinguished Hon. Minister, done
and
misrepresented all in an effort to destroy the Governor, to remove me
from
the post (as if I re-appointed myself!).
19. In trying to
examine the possible angles from where such personal
hatred, venom and
attacks have been coming, it has dawned on my team and I,
that all this
noise about "Governor must Go song" especially as it rings
loudest from the
powerful Secretary General of MDC-T and Minister of Finance
may have its
background in self-interest and protection. The background to
it is as
summarized in the attached write-up involving the Hon. Minister's
Legal
Firm, Honey and Blanckenberg.
20. The background involves the Bank's
investigation into alleged rampant
externalization of foreign currency
resources and money laundering
activities discovered at the Minister's legal
firm Honey & Blanckenberg
where he is (or was) a partner.
21.
After getting a tip-off on the case in which the Law Firm was allegedly
prejudicing the country of the much needed foreign currency and possibly
tax-revenues due to Government through such Exchange Control Violations, my
team investigated the Firm's Records (those which had not yet been deleted
by then) and came up with a "can of worms" suggesting that the Firm could
have been involved in these forex scams from before 2003.
22. As the
attached summary will show you, in the few months that the
investigating
team considered, it uncovered a total of over US$1 million
which was
allegedly kept outside the country in violation of Section 9,
10(1)C and 11
of the 1996 Exchange Control Regulations.
YEAR AMOUNT
October
2005 US$102 210.00
November 2005 174 179.00
December 2005 110
664.00
January 2006 139 758.00
February 2006 145 939.66
March
2006 168 047.11
April 2006 153 281.00
May 2006 31
864.50
TOTAL US$1 025 943,53
Records for other months were
allegedly deleted before the investigating
team could lay their hands on
them.
23. Intimidatory tactics are said to have been encountered during
these
investigations leading to various forms of delays in the completion of
this
assignment/case.
24. Ultimately as the attached report shows,
one of the whistle-blowers who
was employed by the Law Firm had to leave the
Firm due to alleged
victimization, the same that I am suffering from
today.
25. Of course legal explanations, arguments and justifications
were
proffered by the Law Firm, as would be expected, but these were found
to
hold no substance as it was proven that the Honey and Blanckenberg as a
Law
Firm were banking their money into Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays House,
Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man via UK, account details
being:
Swift Code: BARCGB22
Account No. 68949366,
Sort Code :
20-26-74.
IBAN : GB95BARC20267468949366.
26. The case and its facts
were analysed by the Bank's legal personnel in
the normal way that the Bank
does with all other cases before deciding to go
ahead with prosecution and
as we speak, the matter is yet to come to actual
trial although it is at the
courts.
27. With Advocate Eric Matinenga the one set to be Accused Firm's
defence
lawyer, (as of January 2009), my team members, seeing what
victimization is
being meted against the Governor, is now expressing
reluctance to go and
stand in court to testify against the Minister of
Finance's legal Firm.
28. The issue now at stake is, how come the
Governor continues to be
victimized for doing his job while the Rt. Hon.
Prime Minister, who is
supposed to be in the picture of all this "through
ministerial declarations
of interest or conflict(s) with institutions or
persons that the Ministers
deal with under their Ministries?
29. It
is not difficult to conclude that threats of investigating the
Governor
"left right and centre" as well as putting the Governor on the GPA
list of
persons who must go has all along been motivated by the desire to
intimidate
the Governor and his team or at best to scandalize and remove me
from the
scene so that a pliable Governor is put in my place and certain
matters then
get buried under the carpet in the process.
30. This also explains the
"personal hatred" nature of the Minister's zeal,
enthusiasm and speed with
which he seeks to remove the present Governor from
the Chairmanship of the
RBZ Board in conflict with best practices in SADC,
IMF, World Bank, China,
Russia, UK and the world over. The pre-occupation is
total and no stone has
been left unturned to date to try and achieve this.
31. Is this the
policy or policies of the Inclusive Government to victimize
its officials or
that of MDC-T to disguise personal wars and camouflage them
as national
matters of incompetence?
32. There have also been various
misrepresentations made to Cabinet and
Cabinet Committees by the Hon.
Minister relating to false allegations of
"borrowing US$1 billion without
authority" which proved embarrassing to the
Minister when refuted with
evidence.
33. Are the Parties (MDC-T) aware that they are being enjoined
in a personal
war far removed from national issues but financial at personal
levels? Are
SADC Heads of State or the Facilitator, the IMF/World Bank and
others in the
picture of this scandal?
34. There is more that I could
say and have come up with to prove a case of
victimization against me but it
is not necessary to deal with those issues
now.
PROPOSED WAY
FORWARD
35. Rt. Honourable Prime Minister, herewith my proposals for the
way
forward:
(a). That this letter be discussed between yourself and
the Minister and if
you see it fit, failing which I propose that it be
brought for discussion in
Cabinet or Parliament or JOMIC and, that, I be
called upon to testify if
need be.
(b). That RBZ be granted autonomy
in the current legislative amendments to
report to Parliament as recommended
by SADC in its Model Central Bank
Legislation - copies of which were sent to
the Rt. Hon. Prime Ministers
Office and not the current Minister of Finance
until the Hon. Minister
renounces his vindictive mission against
me.
(c). That the Hon. Minister and myself be invited for discussion with
the
Rt. Honourable Prime Minister to iron out the issues I have raised and
to
normalize and our relationship.
(d). That the Governor and team be
given/granted immunity/protection at law
against victimization by the
Ministers, some of whom may have been involved
in nefarious/regrettable
activities before. Otherwise all RBZ Governors will
continue to face the
same fate that I am facing and experiencing, disguised
as national desire to
do good yet the reality is that deep down there are
personal interests at
stake in need of protection.
(e). That a public apology be made to the
Governor by the Minister of
Finance and both MDC-T and MDC-M Parties and
their followers be informed
that the Governor did not "kill" this economy
and that he is not a member of
Al-Qaeda nor does he deserve to be shot by
the "firing squad". In addition a
smart way has to be found to advise the
International Community of the true
facts so that it gives a correct and
informed judgment on the Governor.
CONCLUSION
36. It is not
unusual for two or more people to fail to work together and if
I am to leave
RBZ at some stage, as I will in future, the current approach
and strategy is
definitely not the correct one.
37. There are better, more mature,
effective, cordial and amicable ways of
people partying ways but not in the
manner of the "PURSUER" and the
"PURSUED", the "Victor" and the
Vanquished". That approach does not work in
the area of economics and
finance.
38. I await direction(s) from the Rt. Hon. Prime
Minister.
Yours Sincerely
G.
GONO
GOVERNOR
Enclosures
1. The Evidence relating to Honey &
Blanckenberg Forex Externalization
Investigations - Basis for Victimization
by Minister of Finance Hon. T. L.
Biti.
2. Evidence to show that the
African Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank and
PTA Facilities recently
announced were successfully negotiated by Governor
prior to INCLUSIVE
GOVERNMENT.
3. Comparative Analysis of STERP with the Governor's Economic
Advices over
the Last 5 Years. So much about the Governor being incompetent
when in fact
the same STERP is 99% a product of my Advice.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16709
May 20, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
Harare - The Public Service Association, PSA, the umbrella
body representing
civil servants in the country has applied for police
permission to march in
protest at failure by the government to address their
remuneration concerns.
In the PSA application, which is addressed to the
officer commanding Harare
Central, and a copy of which we have in our
possession, the march is
expected to be 'peaceful'.
The application
which was signed by Edmore Tichareva, the PSA executive
secretary, states:
"The procession is intended to show the responsible
ministry, the Public
Service, the concerns of civil servants which have not
been addressed or
resolved as the national joint negotiating council faces
collapse and
negotiations have not taken place since January 2009."
The civil servants
are also riled by the fact that the government, through
the minister of
education, David Coltart and the donor community, are giving
teachers
preferential treatment.
Two weeks ago, Coltart announced that children of
government school teachers
would no longer pay school fees while all
teachers in the civil service
would not have to pay bank charges when
withdrawing their US$100 monthly
allowance.
The PSA had given the
government until May 15 to improve their working
conditions, failure of
which would result in work stoppage.
In a statement issued last week, the
PSA said: "We have been patient enough
to make this inclusive government
work and be able to produce results that
will be appreciated by SADC and the
world at large but it looks like the
government is ignoring the machinery
that is supposed to produce results for
the inclusive government to
work."
Meanwhile, from Bulawayo our correspondent reports that the
Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Secretary General has accused
two top
Zanu-PF officials of inciting teachers to go back on
strike.
Speaking at a Bulawayo Agenda-organized public meeting Majongwe
said he was
shocked that Didymus Mutasa, the former Security Minister and
Jeremiah
Bvirindi, a Zanu-PF Budiriro losing candidate in the March 2008
parliamentary elections, were going around the country's provinces pushing
teachers to go back on strike.
He said this was surprising since
Zanu-PF was the same party which used to
urge the police to arrest and
brutalize their members for embarking on
strike during the era of President
Robert Mugabe's regime.
"Mutasa and Bvirindi are pushing our members to
go back on strike," said
Majongwe. "These are the same people who used to
kidnap arrest and torture
teachers for embarking on strike. This shows that
Zanu-PF wants to destroy
the new unity government with the
MDC.
"There are not happy to see MDC raising funds to pay teachers and
build the
economy. They can see MDC is becoming very strong in government by
raising
funds to rebuild the nation they destroyed."
Majongwe said,
"PTUZ will give the inclusive government a chance and are not
going to call
for another teachers' strike soon"
Speaking at the same meeting, Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU)
president, Clever Bere said there was no
democracy in sight as long as
President Robert Mugabe was still in
government.
"Mugabe is still behaving the same way," Bere said.
"Zimbabweans should not
dream of a New Zimbabwe coming soon as long as
(Mugabe) is still in
government. There are still arrests, torture and
detention without trial of
MDC activists, journalists and human rights
lawyers, but we are saying we
have a government of national
unity."
Bere also said "few students from Matabeleland region were
currently
enrolled at universities and colleges around the country because
the former
Mugabe regime had not bothered to develop the region and there
were few high
schools in the region".
http://www.nehandaradio.com
21 May 2009
By Denford
Magora
Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe and his security chiefs have
refused to
disband JOC (the Joint Operations Command, which was at the
forefront of
strategising Mugabe's retention of power in the chaotic
aftermath of the
March elections in 2008).
Instead, JOC still sits
regularly, thumbing its nose at the Inclusive
Government. The meetings, some
of which I have reported here before, are
mainly held in two places: at
State House, which Mugabe now uses as his
preferred office after moving his
family to his mansion in Helensvale,
Borrowdale, a minute's drive from
Gideon Gono's house, just off Carrick
Creagh Road) or at the house in
Highlands that I have mentioned here before.
The Global Political
Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara commits to the
creation of a National Security Council, on which
Tsvangirai is guaranteed a
seat.
The Service Chiefs and Mugabe have simply ensured that the Security
Council
never meets.
The MDC-T made the mistake of assuming that the
creation of a National
Security Council meant the disbanding of
JOC.
The agreement says nothing about disbanding JOC. Based on this, the
Service
Chiefs and Mugabe have said the continued meetings of JOC are legal
and not
in violation of the agreement. Technically, they are correct. The
letter of
the agreement certainly indicates this. But only if you are being
legalistic
and insincere.
The spirit of the same agreement, however,
suggests that the body should not
even be meeting anymore.
Meantime,
the MDC-T has been reduced to demanding that the National Security
Council
meets "without further delay".
They bemoaned the failure by the Council
to meet in their Resolution this
past Sunday, the one in which they said
they had referred the matter to
SADC. (Another cock-up I shall be discussing
in detail in a later posting
this evening).
I also know for a fact
that the Prime Minister "invited" the Service Chiefs
to have a cup with them
for familiarisation purposes and got back the
following response (within the
day):
"We don't report to a Prime Minister. Send your request through our
Commander-in Chief (President Mugabe)."
It is not known whether
Tsvangirai put his request to Mugabe in their
one-on-one Monday meetings,
but the fact that he has failed to meet the
Service Chiefs to date says a
lot.
As I told you around the time Tsvangirai was sworn in (and I was
told that I
was dreaming and was wrong, the tide had turned etc), Mugabe was
clear from
the outset that Tsvangirai had to be kept as far away from the
Defence
Forces as possible.
The Prime Minister, who keeps telling us
about hardliners and how Mugabe is
such a dandy chap, needs to look no
further than Mugabe to find the gang
leader of these "residual
elements".
So far, he is insisting that he needs Mugabe in order to give
Zimbabweans a
solution.
Denford Magora is also the spokesman for the
Mavambo Movement led by
President Dr. Simba Makoni, who ran for President
last year. His blog can be
accessed on http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou Thursday 21
May 2009
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has invited the
African Commission on Human
and People's Rights (ACHPR) to visit the country
and assess progress towards
legislative reforms to conform to provisions of
a continental rights
charter.
According to a communiqué issued on
Wednesday on the 45th Ordinary Session
of the ACHPR underway in Banjul,
Gambia, Zimbabwean delegation head David
Mangota said the visit should be a
promotional one as opposed to calls by
civil society for the commission to
conduct a fact finding mission to
Zimbabwe.
A promotional visit is
designed to assess progress on the ground as well as
assist on how best to
proceed with reforms to comply with provisions of the
African Charter and
other regional and international human rights
instruments whereas a fact
finding mission seeks to investigate specific
human rights
violations.
Mangota told the commission that an all stakeholders' media
conference
facilitated and convened by the Harare government a fortnight
ago, the
Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) and plans to
establish an
?independent Human Rights Commission were ample evidence that
the Harare
administration was committed to undertake fundamental
reforms.
On the alleged abduction and detention of the director of the
Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP) Jestina Mukoko, who is also a former television
news anchor,
Mangota described her as a "common criminal" who was being
charged with a
criminal offence and not in her capacity as a human rights
defender.?
In a statement May 13, the NGO Forum which met in the Gambian
capital ahead
of the ACHPR session, called for a fact finding mission
comprising the
special rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of
Expression, Rights
of Women, and Refugees as well as the Chairman of the
Working Group on
Torture.
The NGO Forum, however, welcomed the
formation of the unity government and
the ensuing efforts to return to
normalcy in both Zimbabwe and Kenya, but
noted that respect for freedom of
the press continued to be a challenge in
Africa.
The Forum said
journalists continued to be subjected to harassment,
intimidation, killings
and arbitrary detention particularly in countries
such as Angola, Lesotho,
Swaziland, Sudan and Zimbabwe. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nokuthula
Sibanda Thursday 21 May 2009
HARARE - A Zimbabwean
doctors organisation said on Wednesday that
efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in
the country were being hampered by a breakdown
of special machines used to
calculate when infected people should begin
anti-retroviral (ARV)
therapy.
The Zimbabwe Health Workers Association (ZHWA) said CD4
count machines
at nearly all major public hospitals - that service the bulk
of the
population - had broken down forcing many people to visit more
expensive
private hospitals.
People living with HIV who cannot
afford the extortionist charges of
private hospitals simply do not visit
them and will therefore not be able to
take the life saving ARVs, according
to ZHWA president Amon Siveregi.
"The CD4 count machines at
Parirenyatwa hospital, Harare hospital and
that of Mpilo hospital are all
not working," said Siveregi.
The four government hospitals are the
biggest in the country.
Siveregi added: "At the end of the day many
HIV-AIDS patients (have to
go) to the private sector hospitals which are
more expensive and not all the
patients can afford the rates."
Zimbabwean patients in need of the anti-retroviral drugs at the
country's
main referral hospitals are all down thus forcing several
thousands of
HIV-patients to resort to the more expensive private sector
hospitals.
Health Minister Henry Madzorera said his department
would repair the
broken down CD4 count machines as well as buy new ones with
help from the
United States government's Centre for Disease
Control.
"We are repairing some of these machines, we will be
procuring more
machines. The Centre for Disease Control will be giving us
more machines,"
he said.
Zimbabwe is among countries worst
affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
with an estimated 3 000 people dying
weekly from AIDS-related illness,
according to the National AIDS
Council.
According to the council's figures, one in seven
Zimbabweans is HIV
positive, a sharp drop from the 1990s when the ratio was
one in four.
An estimated 1.3 million people are living with
HIV/AIDS, 651 402 of
them women and 132 938 children under 14 years old,
while 260 000 are in
urgent need of ARVs.
The collapse of the
health sector along with that of the public
education system reflects the
decayed state of Zimbabwe's key infrastructure
and institutions after a
decade of acute recession.
A unity government formed last February
by President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has promised
to revive the economy and to
restore health, education and other basic
services.
But the administration's failure to mobilise substantial
financial
support from rich Western countries could hinder its national
reconstruction
programme. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Ntando Ncube Thursday 21 May
2009
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa is planning to introduce a
special dispensation
permit for undocumented Zimbabweans already in the
country illegally, the
Zimbabwe Consulate in Johannesburg has
announced.
Early this month Africa's biggest economy lifted visa
requirements on
Zimbabweans wishing to travel to their southern neighbour
for a period not
exceeding three months and now wants all undocumented
Zimbabweans already in
the country to secure the "exemption
certificate".
"South Africa authorities will be shortly issuing temporary
residence
permits or special dispensation permits to all Zimbabweans who do
not have a
legal status in the country," a circular released on Wednesday by
the
Zimbabwean Consulate in Johannesburg said.
"But one is required
to have a valid travel document, either a passport or
Emergency Travel
Document (ETD) that serves as a Zimbabwean identity
document. These
documents are only available at the consulate. The consulate
is therefore
calling upon all Zimbabwean nationals without a valid travel
document to
apply immediately for Emergency Travel Document."
The "exemption
certificate" is for both undocumented Zimbabweans living in
South Africa
illegally and those who have applied for asylum but may not
qualify as they
are economic migrants rather than refugees, South Africa's
Home Affairs
department told the media.
Over the past years, many Zimbabweans have
sought economic and political
refuge in South Africa, fleeing from the
country's crisis.
Home Affairs said that 8 000 Zimbabweans were applying
daily for asylum and
it expected the new measures to reduce the number of
people seeking asylum,
and allow those who came to South Africa for work to
do so more easily.
The department's spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy said
offices for the
exemption certificate applicants would be set up in Musina,
Pretoria, Cape
Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, while a facility for
Johannesburg could be
set up in the Lindela repatriation centre to enable
undocumented migrants to
apply for the permit if they are
arrested.
The exemption certificate - which will be available to
Zimbabweans only -
will be valid for a year and will allow Zimbabweans to
move freely across
the border and work legally within South Africa without
having to apply for
a work permit.
According to McCarthy Zimbabweans
can apply for this permit on arrival at
the border and must tell the border
officials whether or not they intend to
seek work.
If they do, the
officials grant a permit for 90 days which is renewable in
South Africa once
for another 90 days. After this the Zimbabwean must leave
South Africa and
reapply for another permit.
"Many Zimbabweans who were in SA illegally
could not afford the visas, while
the costs and difficulties of getting the
old visas also resulted in
corruption among officials. Most people want to
come into the country
legally, but once people enter the country illegally,
it's then difficult
for them to leave," she said.
The system will be
reviewed in a year.
At least three million Zimbabweans are said to be
living outside the
country, the majority of them in South Africa, having
fled political
repression and poverty after a decade-long economic crisis
blamed on
President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies.
A unity
government formed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe in
February
is yet to convince rich Western nations that the southern African
country is
firmly on the path to genuine reform for them give it much needed
financial
support to resuscitate its shattered economy. - ZimOnline
hursday, 21 May 2009 09:22 UK
|
A senior member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe is in custody over allegations he raped a 13-year-old girl. Blessing Chebundo MP was held in the capital, Harare, while on parliamentary business on Tuesday. State media reported that the member for Kwekwe Central allegedly attacked the teenager near Kadoma, Mashonaland West province, in January. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed the MP's arrest to the BBC. Escaped death He said: "I can confirm that he is in custody. This is a very unfortunate development. We're awaiting further investigations. "We're also going to make our own efforts to inspect the veracity of the case as we've had problems with cases being concocted against members of the MDC, but we can't jump the gun." The MDC joined President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF in a power-sharing government in January, aimed at halting Zimbabwe's economic collapse. But relations between the long-time rivals remain strained, with the MDC accusing Zanu-PF hardliners, especially in the security forces, of trying to derail the unity deal. The MDC is demanding that several opposition and civil rights activists be freed from custody. A founder member of the MDC, Mr Chebundo became an MP in 2000, when he defeated Zanu-PF heavyweight Emmerson Mnangagwa following a vicious campaign. Mr Chebundo escaped death by a whisker when the Zanu-PF youths who had abducted him and doused him with petrol were unable to light a match. He was re-elected in 2005 and is a member of the highest decision-making body of the MDC, the national executive council. |
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, May 21 2009 -
Zimbabwe and South Africa are deadlocked over
the signing of an investment
treaty due to the land issue, it emerged this
week.
Sources in the coalition government said on Thursday representatives
from
the Zimbabwe government balked at appending their signatures on the
treaty
after their South African counterparts insisted that the deal should
cover
land investments.
It is understood that the Zimbabwean
government officials pointed out
that land was a national resource, which
should not be covered by any trade
agreement.
"The deal
balked due to the land issue," said a government source, who
spoke on
condition of anonymity.
"The South Africans wanted land to be
covered under the treaty but we
indicated to them that it is not the policy
of the Zimbabwe government,"
said the source.
The official
said Zimbabweans authorities were adamant that even
existing bilateral
investment protection agreements were not immune from the
government's
controversial land reforms, hence the takeover of some farms
that previously
belonged to multinationals such as the case of the Dutch,
French, Italians
and English farmers.
Gorden Moyo, the minister of State in the
Prime Minister's Office, on
Thursday confirmed no deal was signed between
Harare and Pretoria but was
reluctant to disclose the cause of the
dispute.
"We did not sign the treaty but dialogue is
continuing," said Moyo.
"We hope the agreement is going to be
signed soon," said Moyo. "I can
not categorically say its land save to say
that there are some areas that
needed more clarification and robust debate,"
said Moyo.
But sources insist that the failure to conclude the
deal was due to
investments including land. South African potential
investors have shown
interest in investing in Zimbabwe following the
formation of the new
government.
Welshman Ncube, the
Minister of Industry and International Trade, said
he was confident a deal
would be struck soon after outstanding issues on the
treaty had been ironed
out.
"We are in talks and hopefully we will be able to sign the
treaty soon
rather than later," said Ncube, who on Tuesday traveled for a
COMESA
preparatory meeting.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16743
May 21, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
MUTARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said there is
an urgent need
for the transformation of Zimbabwe's state security
institutions in order to
make them more professional.
He said at
present the security institutions were heavily politicized in
favour of a
particular political party, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Tsvangirai
was speaking in the city of Mutare during a meeting with business
people as
well as civic and church leaders.
He said it was stipulated in the Global
Political Agreement which ushered in
the current government of national
unity that state security institutions
such as the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO), the Zimbabwe Republican
Police and the Zimbabwe National
Army should serve the people of Zimbabwe of
all political persuasion, and
not just those of only one political party.
President Mugabe's Zanu-PF
has since independence treated the security
organs as an extension of its
own political establishment.
"The CIO, police and the army should work
for the people and not for a
political party," Tsvangirai said, amid
applause.
Security chiefs have in the past vowed not to salute Tsvangirai
saying he
does not have liberation war credentials. At this year's
Independence Day
celebrations on April 18, the heads of the security organs
were accused of
showing contempt towards the Prime
Minister.
Tsvangirai said there was need to depoliticize and re-train
personnel in the
security institutions to make them more
professional.
He also said outstanding issues in the Global Political
Agreement between
the MDC and Zanu-PF, which have caused anxiety within his
political party,
were being resolved amicably and an announcement would be
made soon.
"The issue of outstanding issues is a process," Tsvangirai
said. "We will
announce the outcome soon. We know people are impatient but
we will announce
what we would have agreed where we would not have agreed we
continue to
talk.
"But there are our friends in
SADC."
Tsvangirai refused to divulge the issues that had been agreed on,
merely
saying: "I am not at liberty to do so."
He said as part of
democratising the country, there was need for people to
enjoy more freedoms
and for more television stations and newspapers to be
opened.
"People
need more television stations and more newspapers," he said.
Tsvangirai
said the marriage between Zanu-PF and the two MDC political
parties was not
smooth but there was need for more engagement for the
country to move
forward.
Tsvangirai said had the inclusive government not been set up,
the country
could have collapsed. This, he said, would have resulted in
serious
repercussions for all Zimbabweans.
"The country was saved by
the wisdom prevailing in the political
leadership," he said.
http://uk.reuters.com
Thu May 21, 2009 4:08pm
BST
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - The odours of
death and decay are gone from the corridors
of Zimbabwe's biggest hospital,
replaced by the smells of medicines and food
for the patients who are once
again coming for treatment.
Nowhere is the change in Zimbabwe more
evident than in the hospitals that
just months ago failed so woefully to
cope with a cholera epidemic that
killed more than 4,000
people.
Since a new power-sharing government between President Robert
Mugabe and old
rival Morgan Tsvangirai started work in February, doctors and
nurses are
being paid again and have returned to Harare's Parirenyatwa
General
Hospital.
UNICEF has been helping to pay allowances to some
doctors and nurses while
the government is now paying them $100 (63.91
pounds) a month like other
state employees.
Zimbabwe's stocks of
drugs have risen from 10 percent of what they should be
to 42 percent and
are set to reach 60 percent in August, according to the
Health
Ministry.
"Things seem a bit better compared to when I was here in
January but drugs
are still short," said Emelda Mwaera, 61 and diabetic, as
she was wheeled by
a nurse from the hospital to a car.
In December,
she lost her youngest son to cholera because nobody could care
for him at a
clinic in Budiriro township.
But despite the evident improvements in the
hospitals, Zimbabwe's full
recovery from a decade of decline will take much
longer and there is no sign
yet of the big inflows of money needed from
Western donors who demand
greater reform.
Even in the health sector,
Zimbabwe is far from being able to provide the
care it once did, not least
because many doctors and nurses were among the
estimated three million
Zimbabweans -- a quarter of the population -- who
have fled in search of
work.
"If this was a patient you could say he has regained consciousness
after a
long coma but it will be some time before he takes the first step,"
said one
junior doctor who gave his name only as Bright.
Teachers are
also reporting for work after the government exempted their
children from
fees. Prices have stabilised after authorities allowed use of
multiple
currencies and shops have basic goods again. Councils have started
rubbish
collections.
But there are less promising signs too. The biggest
university is shut
because it has no water and students cannot afford the
fees, many
Zimbabweans struggle to pay for the newly available goods, and
health
experts fear disease could spread again.
WEST STILL
WAITING
The government is trying to raise billions of dollars from
Western donors
and last week launched a 100-day plan meant to restore the
economy and set
targets on political and economic reforms.
But
Western donors are yet to be convinced. The World Bank has said it will
provide $22 million, although not through the government. The United States
also emphasised that it was not ready to restart aid to the government for
now.
"I want to be sure that any aid that comes from an American
perspective gets
through to the people," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told South
African television.
The power-sharing government
has still fared far better than many pundits
had expected given the depth of
bitterness between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
Tsvangirai said on Thursday that
only two areas of disagreement remained
within the government -- the posts
of central bank governor and attorney
general.
While journalists,
human rights and opposition activists are still being
arrested, political
tension has eased.
"There is a melting away of the fear that had become
omnipresent in
Zimbabwe's political environment," said political analyst
Eldred
Masunungure.
African institutions are making available more
than $1 billion to revive
closed industries. Gold producers are re-starting
shut mines, tempted by the
more conducive political environment and strong
prices.
The government is targeting 6 percent growth in 2009 after years
of decline.
But the danger for the coalition remains that the more it
raises
expectations, the more it will be expected to deliver.
State
employees are already demanding salary hikes from their $100 monthly
allowance to $460, saying that meets the basic needs of an average family of
five. Strikes would not augur well for the government.
"What the
masses want are tangible things like functioning schools,
hospitals, good
roads and good prices for their produce and jobs. So far it
has tried and I
will give it a marginal pass," Eldred Masunungure, a leading
political
analyst said.
"But the government will stand or fall on delivery."
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/
Thursday, 21st May 2009.
4:40pm
By: George Conger.
The Archbishops' Zimbabwe
appeal has raised almost £300,000 to support
church programmes providing
food and medical assistance to the needy in the
Central African
nation.
In a statement released on behalf of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, a
spokesman for
Lambeth Palace said £292,330 had been donated to the fund
administered by
the USPG Anglicans in Mission.
"The support of
the general public has been overwhelming, and we have
been humbled by the
response so far," the archbishops said. "We know that
rebuilding Zimbabwe is
a long-term aim, and this short intervention is still
only reaching a small
number of the many millions in need. Thank you for
enabling us to do
this".
Representatives from the USPG and the Archbishop of
Canterbury's
assistant for international development returned from meetings
with the
Zimbabwe bishops, where our "brother bishops" reported on the
churches
efforts to battle famine and cholera, the archbishops
said.
The Zimbabwe bishops also asked for assistance in providing
"long-term
solutions to poverty. So at their request we will be providing
seed-corn for
crops in time for the planting season which normally starts
end of October.
"More of the dioceses of Zimbabwe are expected to
send in their
specific requirements in the next few weeks, and they have
told us that
their focus will be on the most vulnerable in their
communities; those
living with HIV, the elderly as well as children," the
archbishops said.
The general secretary of the USPG, Bishop Michael
Doe, said the
response so far had been astonishing and thanked "all those
that have
supported the Archbishops' appeal over Lent - we know of many more
churches
and dioceses who have pledged to support the appeal in the Easter
season and
beyond."
Zimbabwe was a topic of particular concern
at the February primates
meeting in Alexandria. The primates urged Dr
Williams to appoint in
conjunction with CAPA, the Council of Anglican
Provinces in Africa, a
representative to special representative to Zimbabwe
to coordinate the
churches' relief and advocacy efforts. However, no public
action has yet
been taken on the request.
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
May 21st, 2009
Memorial services have been
held in some areas where the state sponsored and
perpetrated violence was at
its worst last year. People came together under
God to pray for those who
had died, are still missing and those whose hearts
have not healed. This is
a wonderful positive to hold onto.
However, in Mashonaland Central, soon
after a huge service, the CIO
operatives were up to their dirty tricks
again. Three people were shot and
wounded by the said operatives and many
more beaten. Are we about to
experience a repeat of the atrocities of 2008?
If so, who is going to
respond?
Posted by Harare
activists
http://www.reuters.com
Thu May 21, 2009 8:11am
EDT
* Zimbabwe crisis adds number of food insecure people
*
Cereal deficit shrinks due to good rains, better inputs
* Maize surplus
rises
* Botswana welcomes foreign farm investment
(Recasts with
fresh detail, SAfrica, Botswana minister quotes)
By Muchena
Zigomo
JOHANNESBURG, May 21 (Reuters) - The number of hungry people in
southern
Africa rose over the past year largely due to the crisis in
Zimbabwe,
despite a lower regional cereal deficit, the Southern Africa
Development
Community (SADC) said on Thursday.
The region's maize
surplus rose following favourable rains and increased
supply of
seeds.
SADC forecast that expected good rains and availability of seed
and
fertilizer would lead to larger maize harvests by most of its members
this
season.
Zimbabwe has consistently recorded a decline in maize
output due to
shortages of seed and fertiliser and has been forced to rely
on imports and
food aid since 2002.
The country's agriculture output
has plunged since 2000 when President
Robert Mugabe targeted white-owned
commercial farms for seizure to resettle
blacks, hitting a farm-based
economy.
"In spite of the expected improvement in cereal production, food
insecurity
and malnutrition among the vulnerabe groups remains high," SADC
said in the
agenda of a regional agriculture ministers' meeting on Thursday
in
Johannesburg.
"The increase is attributed to a rise in the number
of food insecure people
in Zimbabwe," it added.
Despite improved food
output in the region, the number of people without
enough food and requiring
humanitarian assistance rose to about 7.6 million
this year from about 6.48
million in the 2007/08 season.
SADC said the cereal shortfall in the
region fell to 1.60 million tonnes
during the 2008/09 farming season from
3.68 million the season before.
The region's maize surplus rose to 1.86
million tonnes in 2008/09 compared
with 111,000 tonnes in the previous
season.
Most of its 15 member states had overall cereal deficits ranging
from 68,000
tonnes in Namibia to 1 million tonnes in Zimbabwe, with the
exception of
Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, SADC
said.
Below normal rains are expected to adversely affect maize
production in
Lesotho, Tanzania and in South Africa, the continent's top
producer of the
grain. The reduction in South Africa's output was due to a
lower area
planted to maize resulting from low world prices, SADC
said.
New South African agriculture minister Tina Joemat-Pettersen said
South
Africa would next month deliver 60 million rand ($7.18 million) worth
of
fertiliser, which is the last part of its 300 million rand agriculture
aid
package for Zimbabwe.
"We will ensure that the outstanding 60
million rand worth of fertiliser
will be delivered to Zimbabwe by the 10th
of June," she said.
Botswana agriculture minister Christian De Graaff
said the country had
identified some unutilised farms and was willing to
offer land to foreigners
interested in agriculture investment.
"We've
had quite a number of South African farmers that have asked if
they're
allowed to invest and...they're very welcome," he
said.[ID:nWEA3785]
(Reporting by Muchena Zigomo, Editing by Peter
Blackburn)
http://af.reuters.com
Thu May 21, 2009 6:04am
GMT
By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Zimbabwe plans to
use tax holidays and other
incentives to court foreign investors in its
energy sector, which has
experienced severe shortages, the energy minister
said on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe's unity government of President Robert Mugabe
and rival Morgan
Tsvangirai are keen to get more investment into the
country, where its
energy sector has fallen in disarray following years of
economic decline.
The country produces 1,000 megawatts of electricity
while its peak demand is
about 2,200 MW, forcing it to import from
neighbours.
"We can negotiate tax holidays... We also have exemption for
payment of
holding taxes and we have guaranteed dividend payment and
repatriation,"
Elias Mudzuri told an African power conference.
"We
are coming up with a new culture where we are allowing a lot of private
investors to invest and be able to repatriate their money, or sell their
energy through Zimbabwe to all the SADC markets," he said.
Mudzuri
said the tax holidays were not open-ended and could be short-term
only.
"It depends who is the investor. So far the response has not
gone into
detailed negotiations, but there has been overwhelming response
from
different investors coming to enquire," he said.
He said
Zimbabwe was providing companies with independent power producer
certificates. "They are given immediately if we think that they've got a
substantial claim on an area where they can do something," he
said.
Mudzuri said there were ample opportunities for investors in the
country's
diverse and abundant energy resources, particularly coal, a major
source of
the world's power.
"We have investment opportunities with
26 billion tonnes of coal reserves
available for power generation, which
translates into 8,000 years of use if
we use the current consumption of 3
million tonnes per annum," he said.
Mudzuri said there was investment
potential for 5,000 megawatts on the
Zambezi River, and Zimbabwe had an
estimated 40 trillion cubic feet of coal
bed methane that could be
exploited.
However, he said the country faced serious challenges to boost
its energy
sector, which was vital for its overall economic
recovery.
Among these constraints were a shortage of working capital, a
lack of skills
and vandalism as people stripped and stole whatever could be
resold.
"We have unprecedented vandalism due to poverty. People just
vandalise and
sell what they can sell," he said.
Source: Government of Zimbabwe; World Health Organization (WHO) Date: 20 May 2009 ** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result A. Highlights of the day: - 28 Cases and 1 deaths added today (in comparison with 15 cases and 0 deaths
yesterday) - Cumulative cases 98 333 - Cumulative deaths 4 284 of which 2 626 are community deaths - 98.3 % of the reporting centres affected have reported today 59 out of 60
affected reporting centres) - Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate = 1.7% - Daily Institutional CFR = 3.6 %. - No report received from Mberengwa District - Data Cleaning: Mashonaland Central made the the following denotifications:
- Mazowe 2 cases - Shamva 1 case
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers. Any change will then be explained.
- Bindura 1 case