ZANU PF tackles Mugabe succession

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Cuthbert Nzou Thursday 28 May 2009

HARARE - The inner politburo cabinet of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF
party will meet today to discuss his succession, a sensitive and highly
divisive matter with potential to split apart the former liberation
movement.

Impeccable sources said the communist-style politburo that is chaired by
Mugabe himself will meet at party headquarters in Harare, the second time in
10 days that the committee will be sitting to discuss the contentious
succession issue that has seen fault lines starting to emerge right through
the centre of ZANU PF.

The sources said the task of the committee today would be to make
recommendations on a succession formula clearly stipulating how Mugabe and
other senior leaders would be succeeded once they decide to leave office - a
thinly disguised way to describe the issue of Mugabe's succession.

"A committee to come up with a succession plan for the party should be set
up tomorrow (today)," one of the sources said. The committee is expected to
be made up of some of the people stoking factionalism in the party in their
bid to land the party presidency."

The sources said the committee was likely to be made up of women's league
boss Oppah Muchinguri, secretary for security Nicholas Goche, secretary for
legal affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa and committee member Solomon Mujuru, among
others.

At last week's meeting, a heated debate erupted after committee member
Rugare Gumbo told the politburo that ZANU PF was riddled with factionalism
because it had failed to come up with a succession plan for Mugabe.

The matter was then deferred to today after Mnangagwa pointed out that the
matter was had been brought up before the politburo unprocedurally because
it had not been on the agenda.

Mnangagwa is allegedly heading a faction fighting to control ZANU PF against
the other headed by Mujuru, a powerful former commander of Zimbabwe's army
who wants his wife and presently one of Mugabe's deputies, Joice Mujuru, to
take the party top job ahead of Mnangagwa.

ZANU PF deputy spokesperson Ephraim Masawi confirmed today's politburo
meeting, but declined to reveal its agenda.

"We are having a special politburo meeting tomorrow (today) whose agenda is
a privilege of members," Masawi said.

The sources said during last week's meeting, it was apparent that Mugabe
would retain the presidency of the party at its congress in December, but a
succession plan would be put in place in case the 85-year-old leader opts
out of politics or is incapacitated somehow.

The sources said there was unprecedented debate on Mugabe's succession that
left senior party leaders shocked and sensing what could be the beginning of
the unravelling one of southern Africa's once strongest political parties
unless the divisive succession issue was handled more carefully. - ZimOnline

Give us time, minister appeals to civil servants

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Simplicious Chirinda Thursday 28 May 2009

HARARE - Public Service Minister Public Service Minister Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro has pleaded with restive civil servants to be patient with the
government as it scrounges around for more money to increase their salaries.

All government workers including government ministers like Mukonoweshuro
earn a US$100 monthly allowance as donors and international financial
institutions refuse to give financial support to Zimbabwe's unity government
insisting they first want to see evidence President Robert Mugabe is
committed to genuinely share power with his former opposition foes.

Civil servants have threatened to go on strike en masse unless the
allowances are hiked, a development that could shake the coalition
government to the roots.

"We are cognisant of the plight of civil servants who remain the government's
top priority," said Mukonoweshuro. "The government is hamstrung by a lack of
resources. But once these resources are available then we will be able to
pay them proper salaries," he added.

Scores of civil servants staged protests in Harare last Friday before
delivering an ultimatum to the government to increase the allowances or face
industrial action next week

Civil servants leaders are also unhappy about what they say is an attempt by
the government to divide and weaken their followers  by giving preferential
treatment including more perks to teachers and health workers leaving out
the rest of public workers.

However Mukonoweshuro insisted that although some donors had chipped in with
funds for salaries for teachers and nurses these amounted to US$100 for each
teacher or nurse - the same amount being paid other government workers.

While the unity government has been able to reopen hospitals, schools that
had closed down and vowed to get Zimbabwe functioning again, the
administration's failure to attract direct and bigger amounts of cash from
rich Western countries could see it fail to deliver on its promise and which
could trigger its collapse.

Analysts say collapse of the unity government would plunge Zimbabwe into
violent anarchy that would have devastating effects across southern Africa.

Airzim workers on forced leave

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Nokuthula Sibanda Thursday 28 May 2009

HARARE - Troubled national carrier Air Zimbabwe has started issuing out
letters to employees asking them to go on forced leave in a bid to cut
costs, sources at the airline said on Wednesday.

The letters asked employees to take time "off until the company recalls
you", said the sources speaking on condition they were not named because
they were not authorised to speak on the matter.

Some of the workers were given the letters on Friday last week whilst others
got them on Wednesday.

The exercise, which is targeted at the national carrier's 1 400 workforce
could eventually result in retrenchments at the cash-strapped airline.

"The disappointing thing is that although we are told that the exercise
requires people to take two weeks off with only 50 percent benefits,
speculation is rife that most of the people will eventually be retrenched,"
said a worker at the airline.

"The exercise would eventually result in proper retrenchment of nearly 1 000
workers. Management does not want to be seen to be retrenching people for
obvious political reasons."

Earlier this month the airline's chief executive officer Peter Chikumba told
the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Infrastructure that Air
Zimbabwe's foreign debt had soared to US$28 million and the company was
contemplating retrenching some of its staff because it was failing to
service its huge salary bill.

The US$28 million debt excludes the US$50 million Zimbabwe's national
airline owes suppliers of Chinese made MA60 planes it acquired in 2005.

Sources said the airline has also been caught up in the global financial
crisis and a decline in tourist arrivals.

Chikumba could not be reached for comment as he was said to be in a meeting.

The airline operates a fleet of two long haul B767-200s, three B737-200 and
three short haul MA60 aircraft.

A shortage of foreign currency to buy spares for repairs, years of
under-funding, mismanagement and downright corruption have crippled Air
Zimbabwe, which was at one time one of Africa's premier airlines.

Starved of cash for re-equipment, Air Zimbabwe uses mostly obsolete
technology and equipment while nearly all its long haul planes are between
18 and 22 years old. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe Security Forces Step Into Debate Over Central Bank Chief

http://www.voanews.com



By Blessing Zulu
Washington
27 May 2009

Zimbabwe's military and security agency chiefs have stepped into an
increasingly rancorous dispute within the country's unity government over
whether Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono should keep his job, declaring
their full support of the embattled central banker.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper on Wednesday quoted Air Vice Marshall
Henry Muchena as saying the Zimbabwe defense forces back Gono. He said the
military was willing to go to war to defend Gono, who had resisted Western
sanctions. The remarks were made Tuesday at the burial of Gono's brother,
Peter, in Buhera, Manicaland province.

The paper reported that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told mourners at
the Gono burial that those demanding Gono's removal - the Movement for
Democratic Change formations of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara - are in effect demanding the ouster of
President Robert Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF party.

ZANU-PF said the army and security agency chiefs and party hardliners
backing Gono have derived enormous financial benefits over the years from
quasi-fiscal operations funding state operations and fear exposure should an
audit of the central bank be conducted.

Independent member of parliament Jonathan Moyo, a former information
minister, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
Mugabe was under no obligation to consult the MDC before re-appointing Gono
late last year.

Political analyst John Makumbe, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe,
said the military should not be meddling in politics and that a coup would
be disastrous.

NEW Crackdown on white farmers accelerates despite agreement

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

Africa Features
By Jan Raath May 28, 2009, 5:02 GMT

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's controversial 'land reform programme'
took a new twist Wednesday when a court ordered the eviction of a white
farmer who was not a farmer.

Ian Campbell-Morrison, 46, lives in the Vumba Mountains in eastern Zimbabwe,
next to a tourist hotel where he is the green keeper for its golf course. He
and his wife live in a cottage on a plot not much bigger than a suburban
garden, where she tends flowers.

The Campbell-Morrisons used to farm tobacco and coffee there, but the
government seized their land and the farmhouse and gave it to a government
official, leaving the couple their cottage and the garden around it, said
Hendrik Olivier, director of the Commercial Farmers' Union, made up mostly
of Zimbabwe's remaining 350 white farmers.

A magistrate in the nearby city of Mutare nevertheless sentenced
Campbell-Morrison to a fine of 800 US dollars for 'illegally occupying state
land' and ordered the couple to be off the property by Saturday.

The Campbell-Morrisons are one of 140 white farming families facing eviction
from their land in the latest tactic regime in Mugabe's violent, lawless
campaign to force white landowners - numbering about 5,000 when it started
in 2000 - off their farms.

The action is in the name of a redistribution of white land to blacks,but
which has instead made a million former farm workers homeless and set off
the collapse the once-prosperous country's economy into famine and ruin.

Mugabe has declared all white-owned land to be state property and banned
farmers from taking the government to court.

The evictions and violence have continued despite the establishment in
February of a power-sharing government between Mugabe and former
pro-democracy opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, with an agreement to
restore the rule of law and to 'ensure security of tenure to all land
holders.'

Tsvangirai, now prime minister, began by promising to end the lawlessness,
promising that 'no crime (by invaders on white farms) will go unpunished,'
but police - under the control of staunchly pro- Mugabe security chiefs -
continued to refuse to act against the mostly well-heeled Mugabe loyalists
grabbing productive farms and selling their crops.

Western governments have refused to provide finance for the recovery of the
country's economy from world-record inflation and decimation of production
under Mugabe, until there are 'clear signs of reform' in the
re-establishment of the rule of law. The restoration of peace and security
on the farms is cited as a key condition.

But there was shock this week when Tsvangirai, referred in an interview to
'isolated incidents of so-called farm invasions' that had 'been blown out of
proportion.' Said a Western diplomat: 'He's talking like Mugabe now.'

Throughout Tuesday night on Mount Carmel farm in the Chegutu district,
farmer Ben Freeth and his family were terrorised by a mob of invaders who
rolled blazing tyres at their thatch-roofed homestead.

At the weekend, an 80-year-old woman was assaulted by police removing her
son from his farm. On Friday, another farmer was beaten up by a Mugabe
supporter trying to force him to leave.

'There has been absolutely no resolution or even recognition that there is
even a problem,' said CFU president Trevor Gifford, who is trying to stop a
government official cutting down what is left of his timber plantation, and
is selling it to the government of neighbouring Zambia for telephone poles.
Gifford is due to appear in court on Friday for 'illegally occupying state
land.'

'This is happening in a country that has become the world's most dependent
on donors for food,' he said. 'Until this government respects the rights of
its own citizens and investment agreements, no-one will look at this
country.'

Invasion into our house - Ben Freeth

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/4195

Via Justice for Agriculture (JAG) email. View "Flagrant violation of the
rule of law on Mount Carmel farm" here

Last night [26 April] at 11 pm approximately 15 invaders arrived by vehicle
singing and chanting and hurling verbal abuse came around our house on Mount
Carmel Farm again wanting us out. Big metal objects were clashed together
around the windows and an old ships bell that they had taken from inside my
parents-in-laws house was rung.

They broke into the house through different places and burnt tyres - one of
the burning tyres being pulled through the front entrance and into the
courtyard. I was on the phone to police and they took the phone away.
Landmine the leader was armed.

They pushed us around a bit and raised sticks and said that we must be out.
One of them went up to the children's room and taunted them. They beat my
Tonga drum so hard that that the skin on the top of it broke.

Eventually police arrived and the invaders were ushered out of our house.
None of the invaders were arrested. Landmine eventually gave my phone back
when police requested it.

Shortly after police left [around 1 am] the invaders returned again chanting
and verbally abusing us and saying that they would eat our children. Police
came out again but the invaders left for my parents-in-laws house before
they arrived.

It must be reiterated that there is a SADC Tribunal Judgement and 2 recent
High Court orders that these people continue to defy with impunity.

Please pray.

Ben Freeth

This entry was posted by Sokwanele on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 12:52 am

Zimbabwe's destitute Britons to be repatriated

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Up to 500 destitute Britons living in Zimbabwe are to be repatriated after
their savings and pensions were wiped out by President Robert Mugabe's
economic policies.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 5:08PM BST 27 May 2009

The first five will return this weekend after the British embassy in Harare
arranged for them to be flown home.

The group, which includes former colonial administrators, wives and civil
servants, have seen their assets destroyed by hyperinflation.

Their air fares are being paid by the British taxpayer and officials said
each person would be given permanent accommodation in Britain and the same
entitlement to state benefits as any other pensioner.

Fred Noble, a 78-year-old Scot, will return to Fife this weekend, 51 years
after he and his wife departed with £100 for what was then Britain's Crown
Colony of Southern Rhodesia. He worked for Rhodesian Railways, retiring on a
pension with medical aid 13 years ago.

"I helped more people than helped me and I deserve a Christian burial. I don't
want to get ill in Zimbabwe," said Mr Noble, who lost his wife four years
ago and was the second pensioner to apply for "repatriation" at the British
Embassy.

Mr Mugabe's bankrupt regime stopped paying his pension five years ago,
leaving Mr Noble dependent on his investments.

When Zimbabwe's inflation reached more than 230 million per cent, the value
of his portfolio plunged to less than a penny.

"We didn't do anything wrong, we paid taxes, invested for our old age. My
wife used to say, 'All this place has is sunshine, we are wasting our lives
here'. My sister, Gwen in UK, sent me £1,600 and it's gone now," said Mr
Noble. "I was second to apply to go and we had two weeks to prepare to
leave."

To fund his new life in Britain, he will sell his 1967 car and a television
for about £250. But some prized possessions will stay behind. "I have an
elephant-skin waistcoat - I was a dandy you know - and two pairs of handmade
shoes, the best Rhodesia produced," said Mr Noble. "I'll give them away. I
will take photos, the Bible my wife gave me and my Robbie Burns."

Anne Budden, 83, is leaving the land of her birth because she can no longer
bear to be "a burden on my daughters in Zimbabwe". She added: "Their
husbands are nearing retirement age. They keep on saying I should change my
mind, but I must go. My hip operation took my last money. Our three
pensions, on which we lived well, disappeared about five years ago."

Mrs Budden, who was widowed two years ago, lives in a rented flat in Harare,
paid for by another daughter in Britain. "I have a lovely life, shielded
from what is going on outside, with space, nice people, and my own garden,
and I will miss that and especially my two daughters in Zimbabwe who protect
me from hardship."

Although she has spent a lifetime in Africa, Mrs Budden has always cherished
her attachment to Britain. "I am leaving the country of my birth but going
to the land of my ancestors," she said. "I love the Queen and I have a
daughter in the UK."

She will move to Farnborough, near another friend from Harare who will also
leave this weekend. "We need to support each other as we start new lives,"
said Mrs Budden.

British diplomats in Harare have quietly identified pensioners with British
citizenship and no means of support. But the Embassy declined to comment on
the official repatriation scheme.

About 1,500 other Zimbabwean pensioners have no foreign citizenship, no
family and no means of escape.

Govt plans tighter control of NGOs

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

27 May 2009

Wed

By STANLEY CHIKOMBA

HARARE  - Trusts carrying out human rights, welfare and relief work are to
be kept under the beady eye of government, if complex new legislation comes
into force.
Government is drafting new rules that organisations operating as trusts will
have to notify the authorities of any work they do, including raising funds.
At present, trusts can work without government interference.
Civic groups registered as trusts view this move as an ominous attempt on
the part of government to scrutinise their operations and influence what
they do.
"We view this an attempt by the government to interfere in the work of
non-governmental organisations - especially those working in the fields of
human rights," said Fambai Ngirande, the spokesman for the National
Organisation of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO).
Organisations are also concerned that ministers have said the proposed
amendments might be implemented even before being approved.
The government wants to amend the Private Voluntary Organisations Act to
turn organisations operating as trusts into private voluntary organisations
(PVOs).
The Act defines a PVO as any body involved in providing material, physical
or social assistance to people, rendering charity to people in distress,
providing assistance in uplifting standards of living, providing funds for
legal aid, welfare or relief to people in need.
The Act excludes organisations working in religion, educational trusts
registered with the High Court and political parties.
"The PVO Act should be amended in regard to the definition of private
voluntary organisations by the inclusion of trusts," read a memorandum send
to NGOs by the government.
The government insists that only those organisations engaged in welfare work
were exempted from registering as PVOs.
"For the avoidance of doubt, it is felt that the Act should be amended to
make it clear that a trust which falls within the definition of a PVO is
obliged to register as a PVO before it can commence its activities," read
the memorandum co-signed by the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs
Patrick Chinamasa and Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa.
It further states that organisations involved the provision of welfare and
relief activities must register as a PVO in future in order to become a
trust.
"Any NGO involved in the provision of welfare and relief from distress must
register itself as a PVO. In future, registration as a trust by such an NGO
must be preceded by registration as a PVO in terms of the Act.
"NGOs involved in welfare and relief work that are already registered as
trusts, but have not been registered as PVOs, must regulate their position
by registering as PVOs," reads the memorandum.

Border post runs out of stationery

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

26 May 2009

By STANLEY CHIKOMBA

.as people travel to SA to shop

BEITBRIDGE - The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority's (ZIMRA) Beitbridge border
office has run out of stationery to conduct essential government business,
it has been discovered.

The border post, which now facilitates the passage of 7,000 people from
Zimbabwe into South Africa everyday, on Sunday ran out of declaration forms.
On top of the increased responsibility coming with the visa waiver, the
Beitbridge border post was already struggling to handle huge amounts of
cargo passing through.

Several haulage trucks transporting goods to countries such as Zambia,
Democratic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi pass through the border. The blue
declaration forms were nowhere in sight and Zimbabweans returning from South
Africa had to endure a long wait as customs officers tried to rectify the
situation.

"It's shocking that we have to wait here this long because some people
decided not to do their job. All these people want to go to their homes and
are prepared to pay the duty for their goods but now have to beg to pay
duty," said Alicia Muchemeyi, who was travelling from Johannesburg and had
been waiting for six hours.

A duty supervisor who could not give his name because he is not authorised
to speak to the media, told The Zimbabwean that the shortage of material was
caused by the increased number of people travelling to South Africa for
shopping.

"A lot of people in Beitbridge and other nearby areas such as Rutenga,
Gwanda, and Bulawayo actually prefer to cross into Messina to do their
shopping because they still believe the prices across the border are lower
than those charged across here (Zimbabwe)."

The situation was only solved after ZIMRA officers decided to use scrap
paper cut into small pieces as declaration forms.

Zimbabwe Repatriation Project Stumbles On Shortage of Resettlement Funds

http://www.voanews.com



By Benedict Nhlapo and Jonga Kandemiiri
Johannesburg and Washington
27 May 2009

The International Organization for Migration on Wednesday repatriated 33
Zimbabweans who had been living at the Central Methodist Church in downtown
Johannesburg.

The operation was coordinated by the Southern African Women for Immigration
Affairs, which had hoped that most of those repatriated would be teachers.
The group has launched a project to encourage professionals such as teachers
to return to Zimbabwe

Humanitarian Officer Tobias Chatindo of SAWIMA told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that many teachers slated for
repatriation refused the transportation at the last minute when they learned
there was to be no resettlement assistance.

Elsewhere, South African authorities have said a second batch of the
Zimbabwean refugees camped outside the Methodist Church will be relocated in
mid June.

However as Studio 7 correspondent Benedict Nhlapho reports, the refugees and
some South Africans are not convinced that the government will keep its
promises.

More needed to end violations in Zimbabwe after 100 days

ILO investigates rights violation

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

26 May 2009

s
By STANLEY CHIKOMBA

HARARE - A five-member delegation from the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) visited Zimbabwe to investigate international labour practice
violations levelled against President Robert Mugabe's previous government by
trade union bodies.

"We are here on a goodwill mission. The ILO is about dialogue with the
government to help it meet its own obligations that it has freely
undertaken. It's about finding the best way that the obligations can be
implemented," said Raymond Ranjeva, chairperson of a Commission of Inquiry
appointed by the Governing body of the ILO.

The visit followed numerous reports sent to the ILO headquarters in Geneva
by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and other labour
representatives detailing the assault on labour and workers rights in
Zimbabwe.

Leaders of the ZCTU are still facing charges of public violence stemming
from a 2006 incident in which the labour movement organised a mass
demonstration to protest against human rights abuses in the country.

The ZCTU leaders, Lovemore Matombo, Lucia Matibenga, Wellington Chibhebhe
and a host of other labour activists were arrested and brutally assaulted by
the police.

The Attorney General's office is however said to be trying to reach an out
of court settlement with the ZCTU leaders who are suing the government over
the assaults.

The ILO said it wanted to find out what happened in the country and help
bridge the divide between the government and labour representative bodies.

"The ILO is ready to talk to the government and other parties to find out
what happened and how best we can help Zimbabwe move forward," said Ranjeva.

"There has been a long standing dialogue with the government of Zimbabwe
concerning ILO conventions that they have ratified and the two concerns
trade union rights and collective bargaining. It is in the context that the
complaints have been raised," said Ranjeva.

A report of the ILO findings is expected to be released at an ILO governing
body meeting in Geneva in November.

NCA starts education campaign

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

26 May 2009

By STANLEY CHIKOMBA

HARARE - The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) have started a national
outreach programme to educate Zimbabweans on the flaws of a
parliamentary-led constitutional making process.

"We are conducting public meetings throughout the country to educate
Zimbabweans on the constitutional making process," said Ernest Mudzengi, the
NCA National Director. "We are telling them that a process driven by
politicians is not people driven and they should reject it."

The NCA has already launched a "No Vote" campaign similar to the one that
resulted in the 1999/2000 government being rejected by the people.

However, representatives of the 25 member parliamentary constitutional
committee
said they were the best placed to represent the people's views.

"We are closer to the people than anyone. We have the strength and
legitimacy to talk on behalf of the people that we represent," said Edward
Mkhosi, a co-chair of the parliamentary constitutional committee.

A Zanu (PF) representative said that the civic movement would not succeed.
"This time they will not win. Zimbabweans now know that these organisations
are opposing the process as a way of fundraising for money from donors, they
understand what the government is trying to do through their own
representatives in parliament," said Ephraim Masawi, Zanu (PF)'s Deputy
Secretary for Information.

Zambia to help power COMESA summit

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Andrew Moyo Thursday 28 May 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe has asked neighbouring Zambia to be on standby to provide
electricity to Victoria Falls town in the event of a power shortfall in the
world famous resort town where a summit of regional leaders begins today.

The 13th Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit of heads
of state and government will take place in Victoria Falls with several
leaders from the 20-member bloc expected to converge in the town.

Deputy chief secretary to President Robert Mugabe and his Cabinet, Christian
Katsande, moved to allay fears of embarrassing blackouts at Victoria Falls
because of power rationing by the government-owned ZESA energy firm that is
struggling to keep import enough electricity.

"ZESA has been doing load shedding in Victoria Falls but they have assured
us that there will not be load shedding during the COMESA Summit," Katsande
said on Tuesday.

"ZESA has told us that they have talked to their counterparts in Zambia to
provide support in the event that there are blackouts so this problem has
been solved," Katsande told the meeting, which was called to update the
private sector and government about preparations for the summit.

Like most major national infrastructure, ZESA's power stations and
transmission grid have crumbled due to under-funding and downright neglect
after a decade of acute recession that has left Zimbabwe requiring billions
of dollars in aid to restore basic services and repair its damaged
infrastructure.

Zimbabwean cities have to sometimes go for several days without electricity
because of breakdowns at ZESA's archaic power stations or on the
transmission network, while failure by the state energy utility to pay for
coal has seen some of its thermal power stations having to operate below
capacity most of the times.

Reports last week said ZESA Holdings required about US$230 million to
rehabilitate its main thermal power station, upgrade the national grid and
refurbish the distribution network in order to keep abreast with rising
power demand - money neither the power utility nor the government has.

Zimbabwe's new unity government is expected to use the COMESA summit as a
platform to market the country as ready for business after years of
political turmoil and economic chaos.

Harare is expected to assume the chairmanship of COMESA at the Victoria
Falls summit that shall also announce the launching of customs union, to
harmonise the grouping's tariffs and enhance trade between member
countries. - ZimOnline

GMO foods banned.as nation starves

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

26 May 2009

By PINDAI DUBE

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's main consumer rights group, the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ), has started raiding shops and supermarkets found selling
Genetically Modified Foods (GMO) on grounds that it is unhealthy.
Most supermarkets and shops in the country's biggest cities are flooded with
GMO foods imported from South Africa and Brazil as local industries are
still struggling to find their feet after a decade-long economic crisis.
President Robert Mugabe is blamed for pursuing ill-advised economic policies
that impacted on all sectors of the economy. Most industries were forced to
close shop or relocate to neighbouring countries.
As a result of the failure of local businesses, companies from neighbouring
countries have flooded the local market, stockpiling shops and supermarkets
with imported foods.
XHEAD - CCZ threatens shop closures
According to the CCZ, this has allowed GMO foods into the shops and
supermarkets. CCZ which fights for the rights of consumers last week started
to inspect and recommend that shops selling GMO foods should be closed.
CCZ said the GMO foods which have flooded Zimbabwewere mostly powered milk,
meal- mealie, rice and chicken.
"We have received a lot of reports of people, mainly children, getting sick
after consuming the foods which in most cases will be expired," said Comfort
Muchekeza, the CCZ spokesperson. "We have raided and closed several shops
and supermarkets in Bulawayo for selling expired GMO foods. We are working
with the health ministry to bar GMO foods from entering the country. The
health ministry has mounted check-up points at the country's borders to
inspect foodstuffs coming to into the country."
Zimbabwe has a long-standing policy against GMO food on the grounds of human
safety and the potential threat that GMO crop contamination could pose for
the local environment. But with over three million of people facing famine,
in 2002 the Mugabe government agreed to accept GMO maize from the United
States on the condition that it was milled.
ZIMRA tax rampage
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) has blasted the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) for raiding flea markets and shops saying
the move scared away investors.
In the past three weeks, ZIMRA has been on rampage, confiscating goods on
grounds of unpaid tax.
Addressing businesspeople in Bulawayo on Thursday ZNCC President, Obert
Sibanda, said the government should stop ZIMRA officials from harassing
businesspeople.
"We are being harassed night and day by ZIMRA officials, we have no peace.
This scares away any potential investors at a time when the country badly
needs investment to lift the economy," said Sibanda.

ZIMAS condemns albino murders

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

27 May 2009

By PINDAI DUBE

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe Albino Association (ZIMAS) has condemned the killings of
albino people in East African countries for ritual purposes and exposed the
killing of albino babies in Zimbabwe.
In the past recent weeks over 200 people in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi
have been arrested for killing albino people.
In this region there is a belief that albino organs, particularly genitals,
limbs, breasts, fingers and the tongue can bring magic powers for success
and luck in love, life and business.
However, in an interview with The Zimbabwean this week, ZIMAS founding
chairman, John Makumbe, condemned the killing of albino people in East
Africa for ritual purposes.
"The continued killing of albino people for witchcraft purposes is very
unfortunate it should be stopped. The belief that albino body parts have
mystical powers that can make a person fabulously rich within a short time
is fiction," said Makumbe.
According to Makumbe, although they haven't received any cases of albino
killings for ritual purposes in Zimbabwe, ZIMAS has received several reports
of killing of albino babies at birth by parents and sexual abuse of albino
women.
"In Zimbabwe we have received many cases of albino babies being killed by
their parents who don't like them. There is also sexual abuse of albino
women by HIV positive men who believe that if you sleep with these women the
virus will disappear," he said

ROHR Zimbabwe's £120 Subscriptions spark controversy

http://www.zimdiaspora.com

Thursday, 28 May 2009 01:56

By Peter Nyoni
The United Kingdom based Restoration of Human Rights-Zimbabwe should review
its subscriptions, members have said.

Speaking during a launch of another branch in Milton Keynes, members said
they found the £120 annual subscription was unaffordable in view of the
credit crunch.

Speaker after speaker voiced concern over the subscriptions which they
described as "exorbitant". They said there were willing members who were
burdened by the subscription as they did not have stable employment due to
global financial collapse which has severely hit Great Britain negatively

Members also demanded that ROHR chairman Mr Ephraim Tapa explains the
expenditure in detail. It remains to be seen whether the ROHR executive will
consider reducing the cost of subscriptions. Mr Tapa is former MDC chairman
for the UK province, disposed after he fell out of favour with party
President Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, now Zimbabwe's Prime Minister.

In response, Mr Tapa said the organisation had done a lot of financially
demanding activities in Zimbabwe including suing Reserve Bank Governor,
Gideon Gono, for imposing a limit on cash withdrawals which he said was on
its own a violation of human rights. As a result, he said ROHR owed lawyer
US17000.00, however, he did not explain the sky rocketing lawyers charges.

An average case in Britain would cost £800 approx US1600. Mr Tapa added that
some of the ROHR funds were used to employ people back home to run the
affairs of ROHR Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Mr Tapa said the organisation was committed to restoring human
rights in Zimbabwe and had embarked on a road show in different parts of the
world including South Africa where estimates say 4 million Zimbabwe have
found home after running away from Zimbabwe's ravaged economy.

Mr Tapa, the founder and president of ROHR told members that ROHR was no a
"political party" but a civic movement whose objectives is to empower
Zimbabweans with the knowledge of their human rights.

  "We must all have a vision and hope of restoring Zimbabwe", said Mr Tapa.

ROHR co-ordinator Mr Patrick Gore said it was imperative that Zimbabweans
gain full knowledge of the declaration of human rights to understand their
full rights as members of the human species.

Bring Zimbabwe in From the Cold

http://www.nytimes.com

By GREG MILLS and JEFFREY HERBST
Published: May 27, 2009
AFTER years of rightly criticizing President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian
rule in Zimbabwe, Western countries now face a different, and difficult, set
of decisions.

Since February, Zimbabwe has operated under a unity government led by Mr.
Mugabe with the opposition's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, as prime minister.
Had last year's elections been free and fair, Mr. Tsvangirai would have been
elected president, but instead of continuing to contest the results he
eventually agreed to serve as prime minister. The transition has not been
smooth; cabinet posts have been divided up awkwardly, while many people
inside and outside the country have criticized Mr. Tsvangirai for seemingly
being co-opted by Mr. Mugabe.
As a result, Western governments have been standoffish even though the unity
government has taken important steps, notably lowering Zimbabwe's 231
million percent inflation by abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar in favor of
the American dollar and other foreign currencies. Last week, for example,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States wasn't ready
to resume aid to Zimbabwe and urged the ouster of Mr. Mugabe, while other
Western donors have said they will not provide significant development
assistance until there is firm evidence that the power-sharing agreement is
working. Human Rights Watch has gone further by arguing that development aid
should not be released until there are "irreversible changes on human
rights, the rule of law and accountability."

The reluctance of Western governments and human rights groups to embrace the
current Zimbabwean government is understandable. There is, in particular, no
real reason to believe that Mr. Mugabe, after decades of dictatorial rule
and abuse, has suddenly embraced multiparty democracy. If he had, after all,
he would not be president now.

But Zimbabwe may well be a case where the best is the enemy of the good. Mr.
Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change, went into the unity
government with its eyes open. "We had won the election but we did not have
the support of the military," Mr. Tsvangirai told us this month in Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital. "We did not want to be the authors of chaos. Instead we
need to soft-land the crisis, stabilize the situation through peace and
stability and democratic consolidation." Accordingly, he views Mr. Mugabe as
"both part of the problem and part of the solution: we cannot untangle the
tentacles of the state without him."

Mr. Tsvangirai has set himself the difficult task of trying to dislodge Mr.
Mugabe's ousted party from the state apparatus that it has controlled for
more than a quarter-century. In many countries that process would require
extensive violence against the regime. The "soft landing" that the Movement
for Democratic Change has chosen is a difficult path but one which it has
firm strategic reasons to opt for, reasons that deserve more careful
consideration from international donors.

And Mr. Tsvangirai and Zimbabwe need help desperately. Per capita income is
half what it was in 1997. Once the largest economy in the region after South
Africa, Zimbabwe is now the smallest, after tiny Swaziland and Lesotho.

The United Nations calculates that just 6 percent of the work force is
formally employed. More than 65 percent of the population urgently needs
food assistance. Nearly 100,000 people have been struck by cholera in the
last six months. While it used to be called the breadbasket of southern
Africa, Zimbabwe now produces only about one-third of the grain it needs;
tobacco, once its main export crop, has fallen to around one-sixth of the
2000 peak, the effect of the seizure of white-owned farms begun in earnest
this decade.

Revealing as they are, these figures do not tell the full story. Take the
University of Zimbabwe. Once a prestigious southern African institution,
today it is without functioning sewers or running water. Many of its 12,000
students have left, its two teaching hospitals close intermittently, and
departments like geology and surveying are shuttered. Lacking chemicals and
equipment, the chemistry department stopped all experiments in 2007.

To consolidate progress, donors should end their ambivalence about the unity
government and begin to support Mr. Tsvangirai's aims. Development
assistance can be allocated directly. Replenishing the hospitals and
re-equipping schools are measurable and defined projects. More generally,
Western governments and nongovernmental organizations should become more
publicly enthusiastic about the unity government, especially because they
haven't been able to offer a better option.

The Movement for Democratic Change has also recognized that the only way to
deal with the tsunami of advisers and aid agencies that will eventually come
is to establish a single entry point into the government for donors, likely
in the prime minister's office, instead of allowing aid to go directly to
ministries that may be run by Mugabe partisans. Donors should support this
effort as a way to strengthen Mr. Tsvangirai.

There will be setbacks in Zimbabwe, but they can be overcome. As Mr.
Tsvangirai told us, "Ask any Zimbabwean in the street - no one wants to
reverse the process." Instead of standing back and waiting, donors should do
their part to help bring Zimbabwe back from the brink.

Greg Mills is the director of the Brenthurst Foundation, a research
organization in Johannesburg that promotes economic growth in Africa.
Jeffrey Herbst, the provost of Miami University of Ohio, is the author of
"States and Power in Africa."