VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
Zimbabwe
28 May
2007
Zimbabwe police have started to recruit new policemen,
nearly doubling the
size of the force ahead of general and parliamentary
elections early next
year. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA that President
Robert Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU-PF party are continuing the heaviest ever
crackdown on the main
opposition, the Movement for Democratic
Change.
Senior assistant commissioner Faustino Mazango is quoted in the
state
controlled Herald newspaper Monday saying that the Zimbabwe Republic
Police
has begun a recruitment drive to increase the size of the force to at
least
50,000 officers.
Mazango said the recruitment was necessary as
Zimbabwe would be holding
simultaneous presidential and parliamentary
elections next March.
On Saturday, police raided the headquarters of the
Movement for Democratic
Change in central Harare and arrested about 200
party youth and provincial
leaders. Since then all but about 40 have been
released. This was the second
raid on the party's offices in a
month.
Police say the arrests are in connection with 12 small petrol bomb
attacks
mostly around Harare in March, which Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for
the MDC,
said were the work of state security agents.
The MDC has
regularly seen its legislators and party leaders arrested and
assaulted
while in detention since it was formed in late 1999, particularly
around
elections.
The latest attacks which began in March, are the toughest
ever, Chamisa
said. Many party officials are in constant hiding while some
have fled to
South Africa.
Veteran political commentator Brian
Raftopoulos says violence has long been
used by Mugabe and the ruling
ZANU-PF party. He said Mugabe wanted to
destroy the opposition MDC
party.
He said the ongoing violence against the MDC was what he
described as a
"slap in the face," for South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Mr. Mbeki has
been asked by regional leaders in the Southern African
Development
Community, or SADC, to mediate dialogue between ZANU-PF and the
MDC.
Mr. Mbeki's officials have already held preliminary talks with Mr.
Mugabe
and the MDC.
Senior ZANU-PF official Didymus Mutasa, who is
also security minister, said
ZANU-PF was not particularly interested in the
mediation initiative.
He was quoted in a South African-based Internet
publication, Zimbabwe
Online, saying ZANU-PF was not "desperate to talk" to
the MDC. He said
ZANU-PF was only "accommodating" the initiative because the
party was being
"courteous" to SADC, which he said had shown strong support
for ZANU-PF.
IOL
May 28
2007 at 07:47PM
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe have released all
opposition activists who
were arrested in a raid on their party headquarters
over the weekend, a
party spokesperson said Monday.
"The
remaining 41 of the 200 youth members arrested at the weekend
have been
released without charge after spending two nights in custody,"
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP.
"Police were sending our lawyers from one point to the other while
they
released the youth in batches.
"It's just harassment ... a
systematic onslaught on all structures of
our party. The Zanu-PF regime is
behaving as if the MDC is an illegal
terrorist organisation," he added in
reference to the ruling party.
Rifle-wielding
police barged into a meeting at the MDC headquarters in
central Harare and
picked up at least 200 youth on Saturday, two days after
Zimbabwean police
extended a ban on political rallies and processions in
parts of the
capital.
The bulk of them were released on Sunday.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama, who was waiting for his clients at the
magistrate's
court, said the police refused to give reasons for their
detention.
An MDC lawmaker and 31 other activists are in prison
on remand after
being arrested in March during a police crackdown on the
opposition and
charged with terrorism, banditry and sabotage.
They were accused of undergoing training in neighbouring South Africa
on how
to make and use firebombs.
The MDC, which launched a campaign to
pressure the government of
veteran President Robert Mugabe to release its
members, dismissed the
charges as "mere fabrication".
MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of activists were detained by
members of
Mugabe's security forces and assaulted in March after they defied
the ban on
rallies and tried to hold an anti-government prayer rally. -
Sapa-AFP
The Zimbabwean
(28-05-07)
HARARE:
THE Zimbabwe Republic
Police has not returned three laptops, two
desktop computers, two digital
cameras as well as more than 50 passports
confiscated from the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), amidst reports
that
senior officers looted the
items.
Police raided the MDC main faction headed by Morgan Tsvangirai at
its
headquarters, Harvest House in Harare's city centre last month and
took
away all computers in addition to arresting administration
staff.
However, CAJ News has established that senior officers have failed
to
return part of the equipment, despite a High Court order granting
the
opposition an interdict against the minister of Home Affairs and
Commissioner of
police against the confiscation and keeping of the
items.
Documents in possession of CAJ News show that Chris Mhike
of
Artherstone and Cook legal practitioners recently wrote to the police
headquarters
reporting the failure by an Assistant Commissioner to return
the equipment
and
passports.
'We refer to the case between MDC vs
Minister of Home Affairs, case no
HC1596/07 wherein we appeared in the High
Court on 4th of April 2007
and secured an order for the return of property
that had been taken away
from the MDC by the ZRP at Harvest House,' he
stated.
'We have made several attempts to get back the property but
failed to
get cooperation from Assistant Commissioner Mabunda and Harare
Central.'
Mabunda was the leader of the gang of police details that
swooped on
the MDC and took responsibility for all the confiscated equipment.
Efforts
to
obtain comment from him were in vain.
But an
administrator at MDC headquarters said: 'Police have been
telling us that
they never saw the items that have not been returned and
insiders
there
say the laptops as well as digital cameras were looted by Mabund and
other
senior officers.
Police spokesman, Oliver Mandipaka said 'Mabunda is the
one responsible
for that matter, I can't comment'. MDC officials said about
50 passports
belonging to party members that needed to obtain visas were
taken away
by police with reports that they were forwarded to the Registrar
General's
office for cancellation.
Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede
confessed ignorance of the matter when
contacted for comment.
Some of
the MDC officials who were arrested on the day of raid, are
languishing at
remand prison and have been denied bail on several
occasions.
These
include former news editor of the banned Daily News, Luke
Tamborinyoka, now
heading the party's information department.
The raid was stage-managed by
the beleaguered Mugabe regime for it to
claim the opposition was planning
acts of terrorism.
The MDC reports that more than 600 of its members have
either been
arrested, tortured, abducted or killed over the past two months
as political
tension rocked the country due to unstoppable economic decline
yet with
Mugabe
vowing to stay put in office- CAJ News
BBC
28 May 2007, 09:31 GMT 10:31 UK
Zimbabwe police have released 84 opposition
activists without charge
but some were beaten, the opposition says.
Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said some
activists
had gone to hospital to determine the extent of their injuries.
A
police spokesman had said Saturday's arrests were in connection with
recent
bombings around the capital, Harare.
The MDC denies any links to
the blasts and condemned the arrests. Some
200 members were originally
detained.
The police released 115 of them on Sunday and later freed
the others.
Mr Chamisa said the police did not have a search
warrant when they
raided the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
headquarters in central
Harare.
He told the BBC that the
meeting was held in party offices to discuss
civil issues and insisted the
MDC was doing nothing illegal.
The arrests came a day after police
extended a ban on political
rallies.
'Harassment'
In March, scores of MDC activists, including party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai,
were severely assaulted in police custody, sparking
international
condemnation.
The Zimbabwe government accused the MDC of being
behind the bombing of
several police stations.
Following
Saturday's arrests, police spokesman Supt Andrew Phiri told
the state-owned
Sunday Mail newspaper:
"Some suspects arrested in connection with
recent petrol bombs have
given us leads we are following up."
Mr Chamisa said those detained had been taken to the Law and Order
division
of the Central Police Headquarters.
South Africa is currently
trying to negotiate a political solution to
Zimbabwe's escalating
crisis.
The BBC's Peter Greste in South Africa says diplomats say
Zimbabwe is
in danger of breaking into open conflict.
Mr
Chamisa said the police raid showed the government's disdain for
the
diplomatic efforts.
By Lance Guma
28 May
2007
The Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Dr
Lovemore
Madhuku and his assistant Earnest Mudzengi were arrested in
Chitungwiza on
Monday. According to a statement from the NCA the two spent a
total 4 hours
in police custody. They spent two hours at Makoni police
station before
being hauled into a police truck and taken to Harare Central
police station.
They were not charged but questioned about an NCA meeting
scheduled for the
30th May.
The statement said the two officials met
an Assistant Commissioner for
Operations who told Madhuku and Mudzengi that
they were becoming a thorn in
the flesh of the police. This apparently was
in reference to the fact that
the NCA was defying the police ban on
political rallies and demonstrations.
They were threatened with harsh
treatment if they persisted in defying the
ban.
The NCA says it views
this as yet another incident of intimidation on its
leaders by the police.
'There have been many such incidents in the past and
the NCA will not
succumb to such baseless threats. The people of Zimbabwe
will continue
fighting for a democratic constitution that will set them free
from the
current political, social problems that are emanating from bad
governance.'
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
28 May 2007
A former senior police officer in Zimbabwe on
Monday claimed the massive
build up of arms and manpower by the regime is
aimed at crushing the
opposition from within the country.
Isaac
Dziya, a former assistant commissioner with the Zimbabwe Republic
Police,
told Newsreel a recruitment drive by the police to beef up its force
ahead
of next year's presidential and parliamentary polls was unwarranted.
In
the last two years government has been steadily beefing up its security
services with the acquisition of new military hardware and observers have
been questioning the motives behind such moves for a country that is not at
war.
'We have the Airforce buying fighter jets from China, the army
stocking up
arms and the police buying water cannons from Israel and yet the
country is
not at war with anyone. This massive build up is meant to deal
with the
opposition,' Dziya said.
The state controlled Herald
reported on Monday that the police force was
looking at recruiting 20 000
more officers before next year's elections.
Dziya added that the timing of
the recruitment drive would only increase
tension in a restive country where
inflation is reigning supreme.
'They should be cutting down on military
spending and cutting down the size
of the security forces to come up with a
manageable professional army. This
will help using that extra money to feed
the people who are currently
starving and to develop the country,' said
Dziya.
Dziya also presented a report on the role of the armed forces in a
new
Zimbabwe during a strategic MDC workshop in Birmingham on Saturday. He
told
participants if the military, police and intelligence officers cannot
pay
allegiance to the state instead of a political party, they should all
resign.
'In a new political dispensation, if armed forced commanders
say they cannot
salute a new Head of State because of their own beliefs,
then the easy way
out for them is to resign. The normal practice for any
military set up is to
support the state and not a political party,' Dziya
said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
ABC radio report on family of ZPF in Australia, alleged militia
leader
Zimbabwe Information Centre Inc
www.zic.com.au
Media release
Sunday, May
27, 2007,
Children of the
Mugabe regime studying here
Today's ABC Radio National Background
Briefing reveals that the Howard
government's 'smart sanctions' against the
Mugabe regime have been pretty
relaxed for years, allowing adult children of
core members of the regime to
live and study here.
But even more
startling, the program exposed the presence of Mr Reason
Wafawarova at
Macquarie University in Sydney. Mr Wafawarova was a key
official in the
Ministry of Youth in Zimbabwe responsible for the training
youth militias to
torture in camps around the country. The youth militias
known in Zimbabwe as
'green bombers' have been exposed and widely condemned
by Amnesty
International and the BBC Panorama program as responsible for
widespread
human rights abuses including rape, torture and murder of members
of the
opposition.
The 'green bombers' were mobilised to replace the rapidly
diminishing 'war
veterans' whom Mugabe used in the violent farm invasions
from 2000-2002, and
in the massive repression around the June 2000
parliamentary elections.
South African media reports suggest that the 'green
bombers' are integrated
into death squads run by Mugabe's Central
Intelligence Organisation.
"We call on the Howard government to
investigate Mr Wafawarova for crimes
against humanity committed in Zimbabwe
and to arrest him if there is
sufficient grounds," said Peter Murphy,
Secretary of the Zimbabwe
Information Centre in Sydney.
On March 17,
the Zimbabwe Information Centre released the names of nine
children of
ZANU-PF leaders listed by the Reserve Bank of Australia for
'smart
sanctions':
1. Sylvester Chihuri, son of Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri, at
the University of Queensland in Brisbane
2. Tendai Nguni, son
of Sylvester Nguni, Deputy Minister for
Agriculture
3. Kudzai Muchena, son
of Olivia Muchena, Minister for Science &
Technology Development
4.
Thelma Chombo, daughter of Minister for Local Government,
Ignatius
Chombo
5. Taona Karimanzira, son of Harare Provincial Governor
David
Karimanzira, is in Brisbane
6. Emmerson Mnangagwa, son of Emerson
Mnangagwa, Minister for Rural
Housing
7. Pride Gono, Praise Gono, Passion
Gono (children of Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono). Pride and Praise, twin
sisters, are at Latrobe
University in Melbourne. Passion is a son of Gideon
Gono, and is said to be
working in Sydney.
The AUSTRAC agency would
have records of any payment over A$10,000 made on
behalf of these
individuals.
The ZIC called on the Howard government to take action under
the smart
sanctions to remove these individuals, and any more like them,
from
Australia.
28 May 2007 17:25:20
GMT
Source: IRIN
HARARE, 28 May 2007 (IRIN) - Besides having to
contend with leaking water
pipes and frequent power outages, Zimbabwe's
urban residents, still have to
grease the palms of officials to ensure they
can get access to even these
dysfunctional services.
"As residents,
we are faced with the twin evil of a continuously
deteriorating service
delivery system and corrupt officials, some of them in
decision-making
positions, who take advantage of the sorry state of affairs
to fleece us
when we ask for the situation to be rectified," Edmore Mbirimi,
a resident
of Chitungwiza, a satellite town 35km from the capital, Harare,
told
IRIN.
Three weeks ago, the sewage pipe at his house burst, an
increasingly common
problem in urban areas throughout the country, and he
telephoned the works
department that promised to come "soon".
After a
24 hour-wait, he decided to call again and was grumpily told that
the sewage
department was overwhelmed and he had to wait his turn.
When sewage
started to seep into the house, he was assured that the problem
would be
rectified the same day but, again, no one turned up.
"It was on the sixth
visit that a young employee accosted me on my way out
and bluntly told me
that nothing would be fixed unless I 'dropped a
feather', suggesting that I
had to pay the plumbers for them to repair the
burst pipe", Mbirimi
added.
The public works officials have now stalled work at his home,
after he
attempted to report the corruption to higher authorities, who also
failed to
take action.
It is now commonplace for urban centre
residents to experience weeks-long
water cuts, frequent power outages,
uncollected refuse and live with a
broken down sewage system.
Municipalities, power and water utilities often
cite the lack of foreign
currency to import parts needed to make necessary
repairs on infrastructure,
buy new vehicles for refuse collection, or to buy
electricity from
neighbouring countries.
Last week, the Chitungwiza municipality indicated
in a report that it had
suspended garbage collection because its trucks had
broken down, and it
lacked the capacity to repair them, adding that the
situation had been
worsened by the rampant theft of spare
parts.
Grease works
Mbirimi's neighbour, Josphat Matema, is a
pragmatist. He has made friends
with the official plumbers by paying them
and buys them an occasional beer
when they come around to do a
job.
"I don't even have to visit them. They have pledged to check on my
house
every fortnight because I am now their friend. Faced with such a
crisis, I
don't have a choice but to pay, otherwise I would forever be
moaning",
Matema told IRIN.
Matema, a mechanic, is one of several
thousand residents who have to pay
kickbacks to authorities to access water,
electricity and a functioning
sewage system.
The need to pay
kickbacks is despite the fact that municipalities and
utilities such as the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), which
recently hiked tariffs
by 350 per cent, are charging exorbitant rates that
most ratepayers cannot
afford.
Annual inflation currently stands at more than 3,700 percent and
unemployment is estimated to be around 80 percent, those with jobs struggle
to raise money for transport to go to work and have a decent meal because of
poor salaries. Many pensioners receive monthly payouts which can only buy a
bar of soap.
Pensioners suffer
Harare resident, Margaret
Muhoni, 66, a widow, has to live without water and
electricity for a
year.
Before being cutoff, Muhoni had paid about US$0.10 (at the parallel
market
exchange rate, where US$1 buys Zim$50,000) a month for services until
her
bill suddenly shot up to US$60. She was told that her bill was
incorrect,
but to her surprise, authorities insisted that she pay the amount
while they
corrected the anomalies.
"I shed tears when one of them
who seemed to know me suggested that since I
have a daughter living abroad,
I should pay him in foreign currency to have
my bills normalised but the
truth is I could not pay for what I think were
deliberate errors meant to
force me to give them something," said Muhoni.
She accused the
authorities of taking advantage of her old age. Muhoni has
let out some
rooms in her property, but the rental is nominal because of the
absence of
running water and power. She has to buy firewood for cooking and
heating,
while she and her tenants fetch water from a nearby church.
Unaccountable
officials
IRIN was unable to get comment from the municipality, power or
water
authorities, but an official in the Chitungwiza works' department said
it
took two to tango.
"The issue of corruption is real, especially in
these times of suffering
where employees are poorly paid and are extremely
demoralised because they
mostly have to work without protective clothing,
but residents are also to
blame as they encourage unscrupulous practices,"
the official told IRIN.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA),
a ratepayers' watchdog,
blamed the corruption and shoddy service delivery on
the absence of an
elected council.
"This (corruption) is an issue of
serious concern to us but it does not come
as a surprise because there is no
legitimate authority to monitor and
instill discipline in employees who feel
free to do whatever they please
knowing that they will not be called to
account for their unscrupulous
actions," said Precious Shumba, CHRA
spokesman.
Since Elias Mudzuri, elected as mayor on the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) ticket in 2002 was fired by the
government for
alleged incompetence three years ago, the Harare municipality
is being run
by a controversial commission. Most of the municipalities in
the urban
centres are run by MDC-dominated councils, who complain that they
are being
frustrated by the ZANU-PF government.
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
May 28, 2007
After taking over and destroying
agriculture through the chaotic land reform
programme, Robert Mugabe and
ZANU-PF are now eyeing private industry.
Economists are deeply concerned
because they say the move means the end of
private business in Zimbabwe. It
has been reported that Mugabe's Cabinet has
approved proposed legislation
that would force all foreign-owned companies
to give 51% of their shares to
black Zimbabweans. Once a final draft of this
'empowerment' Bill is
completed, the ruling party can easily pass it through
Parliament due to its
majority membership.
One report said government would target so-called
"imperialist companies"
which Mugabe accused of pursuing regime-change.
Economist John Robertson
said the government is always blaming others for
its failed policy choices
and believes the companies would be used as gifts
to loyal supporters and
members of government in order to retain power. He
also said even more
businesses would move or shut down.
Robertson
expressed concern that companies taken over by government would
become less
efficient, more corrupt and with decreased production levels.
Asked why the
cabinet would approve such a proposal, he explained that
although cabinet
members know the move would destroy business in the
country, they believe
they would be the initial beneficiaries because they
would be appointed
directors or board members. The top economist added that
cabinet members are
instructed to vote for government's wishes and debating
in parliament is
simply a formality to pretend there is democracy in
Zimbabwe.
Believed to be on the hit list are companies such as Rio
Tinto and Anglo
American, which are listed on the London stock exchange,
plus banks such as
Standard Chartered and Barclays. Robertson explained that
companies that
have retained 100% foreign ownership would also be very
vulnerable. He
believes they would be forced to list their shares on the
Zimbabwe Exchange
so government could buy the shares that way. Barclays is
already listed in
Zimbabwe.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
VOA
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
28 May
2007
In Zimbabwe, factions of the main opposition party the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) have begun talks to join forces against
President
Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party for the upcoming presidential
elections. The MDC recently split into two - the Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara factions. Sources say the groups have agreed to endorse
Morgan Tsvangirai as a sole opposition candidate to challenge incumbent
President Robert Mugabe at the presidential polls. Nelson Chamisa, the
spokesman for Tsvangirai's faction, confirmed the on-going talks. From the
capital, Harare, Chamisa told VOA that both factions have agreed that the
party would be stronger in unity than apart.
"I can't really say we
are at this stage or that stage, but what I can
confirm is that the party
realizes the importance of a synergy of efforts.
They realize the need for
making sure that at least there is a unity of
purpose, and unity of action
in terms of making sure that we liberate our
country from the jaws of this
tyranny. And that entails making sure that
forces face the same direction,
and that is what we are currently trying to
evolve," Chamisa said.
He
said once the party has been reunited, it would be ready to win power
from
incumbent President Robert Mugabe.
"I'm glad to say that it is at an
advanced stage in terms of making sure
that when the elections come,
provided it is free and fair elections, we
would be able to then
participate, and win from the ZANU-PF party as we have
always done," he
pointed out.
Chamisa reiterated the need for unity in the opposition
MDC.
"You know that there is always strength in unity. In fact we want to
make
sure that every vote counts and to make sure that every vote counts, we
obviously need to make sure that we mobilize our people, we mobilize the
leadership, we mobilize all democratic forces in the country and come
together to save our country," he said.
He said the MDC aims at
marshalling forces to defeat incumbent President
Robert
Mugabe.
Zimbabwe is burning under Mugabe's dictatorship, and what we need
to do is
to make sure that we bring in a fresh dispensation of democracy, a
fresh
dispensation of freedom, justice and prosperity and that is only
possible
when we have achieved a free and fair elections, in the legitimate
electoral
process, which the elections is supposed to have the confidence
and
endorsement of all Zimbabweans," he noted.
Chamisa said MDC
partisans understand the circumstances surrounding the
temporary split in
its ranks.
"The people have never been confused about the direction of
their party. The
grassroots are not all affected by what happened at the top
level, which is
a bit artificial and also a boardroom outcome. But certainly
in terms of the
discourse in the debate within the party, the distracters
are also being
consulted to hear what their views are in terms of the need
for the unity of
purpose," he said.
Chamisa said the unity talks are
at an advanced stage.
"We are glad to say that there is no resistance to
the need for people to at
least have the unity of purpose, but of course the
modalities is what is to
be discussed and what is expected," he
noted.
He said the MDC would only participate in a free and fair
election.
"We have already put forward our precondition, what we agreed
to be the
minimum condition for free and fair elections. In fact, we have
put forward
what we believe to be the alternative to the mediator from SADC
(Southern
African Development Community) President Mbeki.to have a free and
fail
election. We need an indigenous constitution, which is people driven,
which
is democratic, and we also need to make sure that there is a reversal
of all
the legislative nightmares," he said.
News24
28/05/2007 08:27 - (SA)
Angus
Shaw
Harare, Zimbabwe - Momentum is building to start South
African-brokered
talks to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening crisis, opposition
officials have
said.
But the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change has again refused demands
that before talks proceed, it recognise
President Robert Mugabe as the
nation's legitimately elected leader. That
condition stalled two previous
initiatives.
The opposition alleges it
has been robbed at parliamentary and presidential
by violent intimidation of
voters and ballot rigging. The opposition also
has demanded the repeal of
sweeping media and security laws, electoral
reforms and an end to
state-orchestrated political violence.
Both main opposition parties were
now considering setting aside their
demands in a bid to get to the
negotiating table, where the demands could
likely be tackled later, said
opposition officials.
"There must be an environment where there are no
conditions and no issue is
taboo in negotiations," said one official who
asked not to be identified.
South Africa has insisted none of any likely
participants in talks,
including representatives of civic groups, air their
negotiating positions
through the media and has enforced a news blackout,
saying the new
initiative will not be conducted through the
media.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, appointed in March by the
Southern
African Development Community to mediate on Zimbabwe, was given
until the
end of June to return with concrete proposals on narrowing the
wide
differences between President Robert Mugabe's ruling party and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Full support for
Mugabe
"The pressure is on. The situation here is impacting on the whole
region and
President Mbeki has a deadline to meet," said the
official.
Mugabe's fellow African leaders have heard repeated calls to do
more to
press Mugabe to embark on reforms. But at the summit at which Mbeki
- who
has longed advocated quiet diplomacy over confrontation with Mugabe -
was
appointed to mediate, the Southern African Development Community voiced
full
support for Mugabe.
At another regional summit in Kenya on
Wednesday, Mugabe had harsh words for
his opposition and his critics in the
West, and was applauded by fellow
African leaders.
Earlier this
month, Mbeki sent a delegation headed by Sydney Mufamadi, a
Cabinet
minister, to Harare for talks with Mugabe.
Mufamadi did not meet with
opposition leaders in Harare, but several top
aides of Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of one opposition faction, and rival
faction leader Arthur Mutambara
have shuttled to and from South Africa in
recent weeks.
Mutambara,
his secretary general Welshman Ncube and Ncube's opposite number
in the
Tsvangirai group, Tendai Biti, have met with South African officials
in
South Africa.
In line with the South African news blackout, none has
confirmed reports of
a meeting in South Africa with Mugabe's Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa,
the ruling party's chief negotiator in previous
failed inter-party talks,
when he was en route to the just-ended gathering
of the continentwide
African Union in the west African nation of
Ghana.
Opposition officials dismissed as "rubbish" media reports that
secret talks
were already on track.
'Something has to be
done...'
But "something has to be done to find a way forward and it has
to be done
urgently" said one official.
There were suggestions for at
least initial talks in June for Mbeki to
deliver to regional leaders, he
said.
No comment was immediately available from Chinamasa or the ruling
party.
Ronnie Mamoepa, South African Foreign Affairs spokesperson, would
not
confirm any details of the mediation process.
"There will be
to-ing and fro-ing between Pretoria and Harare. Mediation is
a process not
an event. We are not going to comment except to say that
mediations remain
on course," he said.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown worsened this month as
inflation spiralled out
of control to a record 3 714%, the highest in the
world. Consumer prices
doubled in April, according to the official Central
Statistical Office,
putting many basic goods out of the reach of ordinary
Zimbabweans.
In formal businesses, unemployment has soared to more than
80%. Scores of
businesses have closed down and most main factories operate
at around or
less than 30% of their capacity.
Power and water outages
occur daily and shortages of food, hard currency,
gasoline, medicines and
other essential goods are acute.
Health and social services have crumbled
in a nation with one of the world's
highest rates of HIV/Aids infection. An
estimated 3 000 people die each week
from Aids-related
illnesses.
Mugabe blames the crisis on successive years of drought and
Western economic
sanctions, but critics say corruption, mismanagement and
the often-violent
seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms
since 2000 disrupted
the agriculture-based economy in the former regional
breadbasket.
Financial Mail
Editorial
25 May 2007
A promise is a promise.
This is what Africa activists like rock star
Bono have been reminding the G8
ahead of its summit in the Baltic resort of
Heiligendamm, Germany, on June
6-8. In Gleneagles two years ago the G8
countries promised to double aid to
Africa to US$50bn/year; they are far
short.
The trouble is,
the G8 is a voluntary club whose admirable goals are
not binding on
individual members. Some are more sceptical than others: a
Russian spokesman
said recently Moscow went along with the aid promise only
as a sop to
Britain in the wake of the July 7 terrorist bombings in London.
Only Britain
and Japan are on track to meet the aid goal, according to
Bono's Data group.
It says total aid to Africa since 2004 has grown by
$2,3bn, or less than
half the promised $5,4bn (not counting debt forgiveness
and health
aid).
No doubt the G8 should honour its pledges, but so should
its African
partners. This was the bargain struck in the G8 Africa Plan of
Action at
Kananaskis, Canada, in 2002. At Gleneagles, African leaders
solemnly
embraced a "new vision" for the continent and their "leading role
in
addressing its challenges".
But simply handing over
money to leaders who are not accountable
defeats the purpose. Aid will help
only in an environment of good governance
and respect for democracy. There
are still too many examples to the
contrary. African leaders do nothing
about misrule in Zimbabwe and Sudan,
for example. Nigeria, a signatory to
the Africa Plan of Action, simply
flouted it. SA, another signatory, wants
to censor the peer review report on
its performance which is an integral
part of the New Partnership for
Africa's Development.
In
any event, China has just pledged a $20bn Africa aid package, which
at a
stroke overtakes any G8 donor's more conditional promises. Ultimately,
Africa's fate is in its own hands.
28th May 2007
Another farm invasion by Government
officials.
On the 5th April Mr. Shumba the Chiredzi District
Administrator visited farm
3 owned by a white Farmer and said that he was
claiming a portion of the
cane farm that had been left to the white owner in
2002.
Again on the 22nd May Superintendent Simon Mbedzi of the Masvingo
police
arrived at the farm, claiming that he together with District
Administrator
Shumba of Chiredzi had an offer letter signed by Minister
Mutasa for a
portion of his cane farm, being the piece left to the farmer in
2002, he was
accompanied by Guruvette a lands officer who has claimed
several farms and
houses for himself also. The police Superintendent stated
that he had come
to discus as when he would start operating on the farm and
that as soon as
the farmer had finished cutting the existing cane he would
take over and
that the farmer should co-exist. The farmer explained that he
was protected
by the BIPPA agreement between Zimbabwe and Mauritius and a
High Court Order
against anybody claiming the farm. To which he replied that
"WE BEND THE LAW
ACCORDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES", this from a high ranking
police officer in
Zimbabwe. Mbedzi then went on to say that he would be
taking one of the two
houses on the property.
District Administrator
Shumba was also been involved in the forced invasion
of Mapanza Investments
cane farm in 2002, this large once productive farm is
now nearly derelict
producing very little cane.
[Comment By Eddie Cross] It continues to
astonish me that this sort of
vandalism by the State and it officers
continues despite the evidence of its
destructive impact. We used to produce
at least 600 000 tonnes of cane sugar
a year - half was consumed locally and
half exported. Now we can barely
supply the local market and are constantly
short of sugar. We used to be the
third largest producer and exporter of
flue cured tobacco in the world - now
we are a regional minnow.
Not
satisfied with this, the State now announces that it is going to take 51
per
cent of all major mines, industrial firms and key tourist enterprises.
The
pretext is BEE but in fact it will be used as just another means of
looting
the last available real assets in the country. The impact of these
threats
has already had far reaching impact in the mining sector. If it is
implemented the impact across the economy will be to further reduce output
and export activity, increase capital flight and reduced
employment.
Eddie Cross
zimbabwejournalists.com
28th May 2007 11:25 GMT
By Ntando
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - Lillian Sibanda, 31, is a widow of vision,
courage and
conviction. In 2005 her house was demolished during the
government-sponsored
controversial and chaotic Operation
Murambatsvina.
Her 13-year old daughter, Tariro was left homeless and
things were looking
ever so gloomy she did not know what to do. Sensing no
way out of her misery
and poverty, in 2006 she decided to take the bull by
the horns and carve out
a new future for herself and Tariro.
Armed
with a passport without a visa, a Hotel and Catering certificate, and
an
idea and a passion in her to make things better for her child, she set
out
to achieve the impossible.
She left Tariro and crossed Limpopo River down
to South Africa.
Jozi "the city of all that glitters is not gold" is a
city full of
opportunities, affliction suffering and agony. Getting there is
often a big
challenge.
Her final destination at Park Station is a hot
spot with marauding police
officers, thieves and robbers strong enough to
confront even the bravest of
foreigners. The wafting noise of "Jozi" to
Sibanda was not welcoming -
rather it reflects the city's hurried pace of
life. Johannesburg was
frightening for her and many other women in her
boots.
As the social and economic situation in Zimbabwe continues to
dwindle, the
women of the country have started leaving their homes and
children and go
off to work domestic jobs in the big cities of South Africa,
in the kitchens
and homes of more wealthy and even poor South Africans. This
meant being
away from their homes and families for months on
end.
"Now I have more than seven months here. As a mother my heart aches,
at
times I shed tears. Not being able to watch my child growing or prepare a
child as mothers do is a burden that weighs heavily on me and still does,"
Sibanda said at her work place, Mugg and Bean restaurant at Eastgate
Shopping Centre here in South Africa.
She was uncertain;
"Ndonokuonayi later.Mugandidzingise basa Murungu wacho
anonetsa", she said,
meaning "I will see you later. I may get fired if my
boss sees me talking to
you."
All the waiters and cashiers at the restaurant are Zimbabweans
poorly paid
with a monthly salary of less than R1 200 with some taking less
than less
than R700 home at the end of the month.
Workers are being
ill-treated and fired from work without pay every month
and no-one cares
because they are illegal immigrants.
Sibanda decided, given all the
oppression of Zimbabweans in the hotel and
catering industry here to form a
union for Zimbabweans in the industry in
South Africa.
"Being a
waiter or domestic servant with all its abuse and poor salaries is
no longer
acceptable," Sibanda said later.
For announcing her intention of forming
Zimbabwe Hotel and Catering Workers
Union (ZHCWU), workmates and friends
thought she had been in the sun too
long and was over ambitious. But she was
serious.
Undaunted by their lack of faith and criticism, Sibanda has gone on
to
launch ZHCWU. The organisation was officially launched in Johannesburg
with
more than seventy members officially registered.
On Workers'
Day, the union presented a petition to COSATU appealing to the
labour body
to address the plight of foreigners, especially Zimbabweans
employed in the
catering industry.
This came shortly after COSATU Secretary general
Zwelinzima Vavi attacked
industry tycoons for abusing foreigners, especially
Zimbabweans and taking
the country as a supply of cheap labour. He attacked
South Africans for
abusing Zimbabweans on the job market.
Vavi was
addressing more than 1000 South Africans and Zimbabweans who
demonstrated at
the Zimbabwe consulate in solidarity with the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade
Union (ZCTU). He described his fellow countrymen and women
as "a disgrace to
the pride of the country".
Said Sibanda: "We are providing the most
important everyday labour to this
country but no one is concerned with us.in
return we are paid money which is
tantamount to humiliation, abused and
fired because we are foreigners."
"We have formed this union to open
negotiations with existing labour unions
to investigate and address evils
that are unfolding to Zimbabweans who
constitute about 85% of workers in
this industry."
And what plans are for the future?
The union will
join other unions in protesting and demanding the rights of
workers in South
Africa.
"As a union we are going to work together with other unions to
denounce the
abuse of workers. We will stop at nothing in demonstrating
against the
slavery of Zimbabweans in this industry, we demand Zimbabweans
in this
industry to be regarded as people with rights and responsibilities,"
said
Sibanda.
Hanging on the wall of her room in Bramfontein are two
very especial
mementos, a trading license to open restaurants and food cafés
in
Doornfontein, Maraisburg and Florida.
"This union is not only
there to fight for the rights of Zimbabweans, but to
create sustainable
business opportunities for them in the industry. Our
biggest challenge as a
union was pave way for the women of Zimbabwe to get
involved. Now we have
secured a license to open restaurants and food cafés
in Doornfontein,
Maraisburg and Florida. From here I believe our story
should be one of
success after success, from humble beginnings and poorly
paid waiters to
owners of legally registered restaurants," she said.
ZHCWU is an
inspiration to many Zimbabwean women and as a consequence of its
existence
other business opportunities for Zimbabweans in South Africa are
beginning
to emerge. This is Lillian Sibanda's vision.
Independent Catholic News
HARARE - 28 May 2007 - 200 words
A meeting in the midland town of
Kwe Kwe, called by the Christian Alliance,
a coalition of churches working
for political change in Zimbabwe, was
violently broken up last week.
Organisers were planning to set up a women's
group. War veterans, armed with
axes and sticks, stormed the Catholic Church
Parish in Redcliff and ordered
the meeting to stop. They also threatened to
kidnap Father Mapfumo, who
presides over the Catholic Church in Redcliff.
Useni Sibanda, a spokesman
for the Alliance said: "War veterans disrupted
the launch and threatened
local pastors with death if they allowed the
launch to proceed. We cancelled
the event because they were threatening to
beat up women who would attend
the launch. They also threatened Father
Mapfumo and said he should not dare
allow the launch to take place in his
church," Sibanda said.
Cricinfo staff
May
28, 2007
The decision to reappoint Peter Chingoka as interim chairman of
Zimbabwe
Cricket after the board was suspended in January 2006 was forced
upon the
Sports & Recreation Commission, according to SRC chairman
Gibson
Mashingaidze.
There was widespread surprise when Chingoka was
chosen to head an interim
committee following the government's intervention
to end weeks of challenges
to the ZC leadership. Stakeholders had sought to
oust Chingoka, and Ozias
Bvute, the managing director, after making
allegations of serious
maladministration as well as financial
impropriety.
But Mashingaidze told reporters in Kwekwe that Chingoka's
reappointment had
been "dictated to the commission" That was a clear
indication that the
government had forced the SRC to pick him. "There were
politics in play," he
added.
Mashingaidze went on to say that he
hoped that the country's legal system
would convict "those alleged to have
misappropriated cricket funds," again a
very thinly-veiled reference to the
existing leadership.
After his reappointment, Chingoka ordered a forensic
audit of the accounts
but that report has never seen the light of
day.
Mashingaidze also was outspoken over the government's interference
in the
SRC's duties as the supreme sports body in the country. He added that
the
commission is "better placed to appoint" officials when the need
arose.
© Cricinfo
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 27 May
Patrick Laurence
Dictatorial
rulers who cling to power in the face of diminishing support
usually do so
out of greed or fear or a combination of both. President
Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe epitomises the point. At the age of 83, Mugabe is
seeking to
prolong his tenure as president until he is 90 by contesting next
year's
scheduled presidential election under rules designed to guarantee
that he
will emerge triumphant. While Mugabe, a devotee of yoga, is in many
ways an
austere and abstemious man, he is not above commandeering the
state-owned
airlines for his personal comfort or indulging the extravagant
tastes and
shopping addictions of his young wife, Grace Marufu. As important
as his
desire to keep his wife in the comfort to which she has become
accustomed is
his fear of retribution for his role in the bloody crushing of
political
resistance to his rule in Matabeleland in the early to
mid-1980s.
Undertaken by the notorious North Korean-trained 5th
Brigade (which was
personally responsible to Mugabe), the campaign is known
as gukurahundi, a
Shona expression that means "the first rain that washes
away the chaff of
the last harvest before the advent of spring rains
proper". The
re-publication by Jacana of the original report by the Catholic
Commission
for Justice and Peace (CCJP) on the 5th Brigade's reign of terror
in
Matabeleland serves as a timely and authoritative reminder of the events
for
which Mugabe has yet to be held to account. In his foreword to the new
edition - which is entitled Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe - Archbishop Pius Ncube,
of the Catholic church, states emphatically that 20 000 unarmed civilians
were killed by the 5th Brigade during its four-year campaign in
Matabeleland.
The objective of the 5th Brigade was "to crush the
people of Matabeleland"
and, thereby, force them to submit to Mugabe's Zanu
PF and relinquish their
loyalty to Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's
Union (Zapu). The CCJP
calculations are more conservative than Ncube's
approximation. Given the
meticulous manner in which its researchers
documented the human rights
abuses that occurred, that is unsurprising. The
CCJP puts the number of
named victims who were killed at 1 437 and the
number of named missing
people at 354. Since, by its own admission, it
managed to conduct
comprehensive research in one district only, Tsholosho,
the actual number of
dead and missing is almost certain to have been far
greater than the
relatively low figures quoted above. Moreover, these
figures do not include
the full range of human-rights abuses. When the
complete spectrum of
atrocities and abuses is taken into account, the total
cost in terms of
human lives and suffering as measured by the CCJP is far
higher: 7 246, to
be precise. Seen in that context, Archbishop Ncube's
estimate may not be
that far off the mark.
In her introduction to
the new edition, human rights activist and biographer
of African National
Congress leaders, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Sheila
Sisulu recounts how
she was horrified by the detailed account in the CCJP
report of the "mass
shooting of 62 young men and women" on the banks of
Cwele River in
Matabeleland. She contrasts the silence that greeted the 1983
massacre in
Matabeleland with the shock and dismay throughout the world
occasioned by
the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa in March 1960. As the
CCJP report
recognises, the 5th Brigade's rampaging incursions into
Matabeleland should
be seen in historical context. Relevant components of
the context include
the brutalising liberation war against white rule, the
clashes between the
rival armies of Zanu and Zapu in the bush as well as
within the ranks of the
post-liberation national army, and the desertion
from the national army of
pro-Zapu combatants, some of whom degenerated into
dissident
bandits.
One more factor needs to be added to the already complex
amalgam: the
destructive role of the former South African government in
forming a
destabilising surrogate force known as "Super-Zapu" - for whose
destabilising actions Zapu was often unfairly blamed. In the end, however,
Mugabe cannot avoid responsibility for the decision to launch war on
civilians in Matabeleland instead of seeking a political solution and
deploying a counter-dissident strategy that targeted the responsible
culprits and, where possible, brought them to trial. The online
encyclopaedia Wikipedia quotes Mugabe as saying in April 1983: "We eradicate
them. We don't differentiate when we fight because we can't tell who is a
dissident and who is not." While it is true that an Accord of Unity was
signed between Mugabe and Nkomo in December 1987, it is important to note
that the basis for the agreement was the incorporation of Zapu into Zanu PF
and the end of Zapu as a viable separate party. It exemplifies Mugabe's
notion of democracy.
The significance of gukurahundi stretches
beyond the 1980s into Zimbabwe
today, as it formed the model for Mugabe's
later campaign of violence and
chicanery against the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) when it
threatened to unseat him by winning majority support at
the polls. One line
of continuity between then and now is the indemnity from
prosecution enjoyed
by the army and the police. The culture of impunity that
pertained during
gukurahundi still prevails in Zimbabwe today. Another
continuity is the
intense and nearly ubiquitous distrust and fear of Mugabe
in the Ndebele
community. It is, furthermore, not a coincidence that
Matabeleland is a
stronghold of the MDC, from which it may be concluded that
the majority of
Ndebele subscribe to the maxim: The enemy of my enemy is my
friend. Yet
another continuity is Mugabe's Operation Murambatsvina, as the
destruction
in 2005 of the homes of Zimbabwean citizens deemed to have
opposed him
politically was code-named. As the perspicacious Sisulu notes,
compelling
similarities extend across a chronological chasm of more than 20
years to
link gukurahundi and murambatsvina. "Once again, people are defined
in terms
that justify their removal - just as the Ndebele were the chaff to
be washed
away by the first rains, so the poverty-stricken urban masses are
described
by police chief Augustine Chihuri as a "crawling mass of maggots
bent on
destroying the economy".
Peoples Daily
An armed Zambian poacher has been arrested in Zimbabwe's Hwange
National
Park after a shootout with game rangers while his four accomplices
fled the
scene last Thursday, The Sunday Mail reported.
Zimbabwe
police assistant inspector Philip Mpofu confirmed the arrest of the
poacher,
but would not be drawn into revealing his nationality, saying doing
so could
jeopardize relations between the two countries, the newspaper said.
"I
can confirm that someone was arrested at Sinamatela Park and is assisting
the police with investigations leading to the arrest of his accomplices. The
culprit had no particulars on him, but he claimed to be a Zambian, but at
the present moment we cannot comment anything about his nationality until
the investigations are complete," said Mpofu.
However, police sources
told the Sunday News that the arrested suspect,
Morris Kakwezi (24), is a
Zambian national residing at Samuholo village, in
Zambia's North West
province.
Kakwezi is said to have crossed the Zambezi River using a canoe
and gained
entry into Zimbabwe through the Katombora area, an illegal entry
point.
Kakwezi was with four other poachers who entered Sinamatela and
began
poaching wildlife.
Their illegal hunting spree came to a halt
when they were confronted by game
rangers, leading to a fierce
shootout.
The Zambian's case will be presided over on Monday at the
Hwange
magistrates' court and he was remanded in custody to appear in court
to
answer charges of entry by evasion, attempted murder, unlawful possession
of
a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and illegal hunting of
wildlife.
The Zambians killed a zebra and a tortoise. An AK rifle,
serial number KN
8181, was recovered including a total of 44 bullets. No one
was injured
during the exchange of fire.
Source: Xinhua
The Zimbabwean
(28-05-07)
BULAWAYO:
CHURCHES in Zimbabwe's second largest city of
Bulawayo dubbed Churches
in Zimbabwe (CIB) coalition on Saturday defied a
police order and held
Operation Murambatsvina commemorations in the city
despite threats
against holding the event.
Police had declared the
event barred under the notorious Public Order
and Security Act (POSA) despite
the fact that it was a church gathering.
Under POSA, Zimbabweans are
supposed to seek police clearance before
holding meetings or demonstrations.
But churches are exempted from seeking
clearance for their gatherings and
sermons.
Said Pastor Raymond Motsi, a spokesperson for the CIB that
organized
the event: "This is a church gathering that needs no authorization
and that
is why we did not heed the police ban."
However, victims of
the operation, in their testimonies, said they
still had no accommodation as
they did not benefit from the re-construction
exercise, Operation Hlalani
Kuhle/Garikai.
They claimed they 'are now worse off due to the grinding
economic
crises.' Estimates by the United Nations say over 700 000
Zimbabweans were
affected by the operation.
Police under the clean up
Operation weere demolishing thousands of
dwellings and makeshift stalls of
small traders saying they were
unlicensed..
President Robert
Mugabe defended the Operation saying it was necessary
because the cities were
overrun with dirt and criminals and had become
'havens of illicit and
criminal practices.which could not be allowed to
go on.'- CAJ News.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
28 May, 2007
Zimbabweans are living without power or
running water most of the time these
days. That means the luxury of hot
baths and night time television viewing
is a thing of the past. And without
affordable fuel, many people are walking
to work or cycling. The policies of
the Mugabe regime are pulling the
country back in time to the dark ages,
literally. And now the answer to fuel
shortages is ox drawn carts!
South
Africa's Business Day newspaper reported that Zimbabwe's government
has
embarked on a project to resuscitate agriculture. The plan involves the
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono setting up technical colleges to produce
ox-drawn carts and ploughs to help communal farmers produce food. Gono is
quoted saying the project was part of government's mechanisation programme.
Government says at least half a million ox-drawn carts would be produced at
institutions set up in 62 districts around the country. Gono said this would
also create jobs for youths as well as boost agriculture.
Political
commentator Dr John Makumbe dismissed this plan as another
stop-gap measure
taken by a desperate regime. He said Gono forgot that when
they took the
commercial farms, they ate all the meat at a braai and there
are no cattle
to pull the carts. Eventually he said government will force
the farmer and
his family to pull the ploughs. The political science
professor also
explained that government announces all these pointless
projects in order to
appear as though they are doing something and forging
ahead. He added: "They
want to seem as though they are running government,
when this government is
not running well at all."
Once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe
has been reduced to buying
maize from countries that used to import ours,
including Malawi. Some white
commercial farmers who were evicted illegally
from their properties in
Zimbabwe resettled in neighbouring countries and
have helped to boost
agricultural production there. While back in Zimbabwe,
ox-drawn carts are
the best the government has come up with as a
solution.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
zimbabwejournalists.com
28th May 2007 10:44 GMT
By Patrick Chikwende
EVERYONE in my class
was brimming with happiness at the success of enrolling
on a journalism
course that initially had hundreds of applicants enlisted
for
interviews.
The competition was tough and after learning a lot about the
prominence
given to the journalism school throughout the southern African
region and
the role it played in churning out some of the best journalists
now working
in newsrooms from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Britain,
France, America
and many other countries, we were, understandably, some of
the happiest
people on earth at the time. We were expecting great things
during our
two-year course.
But that happiness quickly faded away as
we embarked on the course with
school fees skyrocketing, lecturers deserting
us for greener pastures and
better teaching environments that did not censor
them from talking about the
current political malaise affecting our
country.
Things got worse as we completed our course, most of us never
imagined how
miserable life would be after graduating, two years after
enrolling to do
the journalism course at the Harare Polytechnic.
Our
dreams when we started on the course were to work for local newspapers
like
the Herald, Standard, Independent, Sunday Mail, Financial Gazette and
even
international media houses CNN, BBC, AFP and Reuters. They sky was the
limit, we told ourselves and the local media houses we would use as stepping
stones to greater heights.
Enrolling for this well-respected
journalism course in the Division of Mass
Communication at Harare
Polytechnic was one of the best things to ever
happen in my life.
At
last I would be able to train and become a professional journalist, the
love
of my life ever since I was in junior school.
In our orientation we were
told of the good, bad and ugly side of the trade.
Apart from our course
curriculum it was also mandatory to do an extra
subject known as National
Strategic Studies.
This extra subject was meant to teach us about our
country's history so that
we could be patriotic cadres and be able to defend
our country when the need
arose.
Our biggest challenge though was
accessing the Vocational Training Loans
(VTL) which had to come directly
from the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ),
a bank in which the Zimbabwe
government has a lot of vested interests.
The bank turned down most of
the students' applications, which meant that
parents had to bankroll our
tuition and boarding fees.
With the country's inflation rising so
sharply, in February 2006 fees rose
astronomically by over 500% and most
students dropped out of school while
some of us who opted to hang on had to
go for several weeks without eating
in the canteen and attending
lectures.
When we managed to raise the required fees we had to be content
with
inadequate learning facilities, two meals of a poor diet a day. The
sanitary
facilities were deteriorating and toilets that broke down were
never
repaired because there was no money.
Sensing the growing tension
among disgruntled students, college officials
banned student activism and
introduced a number of restrictive rules.
Students could no longer elect
their representatives, but instead the
administration would choose these on
their behalf.
Failure to adhere to the new rules led to instant
expulsion.
Like any other department at the institution, my division was
rocked by the
mass exodus of experienced lecturers, notably the Head of
Department, then
Reward Mushayabasa and later head of the print section
Kudakwashe Gonese.
They are both believed to be in the United Kingdom
now.
My final year witnessed another four staffers who left for greener
pastures
and the same was being experienced in other departments. The
department to
date is still understaffed and the journalists being churned
onto the market
are half-baked and without the necessary schooling they
should be getting
all things being equal.
Our lecturers found it very
difficult to give true examples of the political
and economic decay taking
place in our country because almost half the class
were students coming from
the Border Gezi Training Camps and obviously
affiliated to the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO). During lessons
they feverishly took notes
when examples were given of the government rot,
the sleaze, corruption, the
clamping down on opposition and pro-democracy
activists. Obviously the notes
were meant for their handlers and lecturers
failed to thrive under such
conditions and it meant we, the students, were
the end losers, especially
now when the Zimbabwe government is paying more
attention to journalism
schools than ever as it continues to blame
independent and foreign reporting
for some of its woes.
We lost hard and I still feel it even after
completing my course.
Attachment places were difficult to come by,
although I was lucky to get a
placement at The Herald. My other colleagues
had to spent more than half of
the time of our attachment period at home as
they failed to get places.
Others opted to join Public Relations
companies where they could never
experience the heat of the newsroom. All
this because the media industry in
Zimbabwe has been shrinking ever since
Jonathan Moyo introduced the
draconian Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that
has seen the closure of newspapers such as the
popular Daily News, The
Tribune and others.
Though it was traditional
in our department to produce a laboratory
newspaper The Sharpener, we learnt
that the college administration had
blocked the publishing of the paper.
This was regardless of the fact that
very good material had been put
together for the college newspaper - it was
good training so both students
and lecturers were unhappy with the ban.
According to the college
principal Steven Raza, we had written stories that
were not palatable to the
state and the college, so we had to rewrite the
publication and report
positively about the state of affairs at the college
and in the country. In
essence, we were being asked to lie.
Apparently we had written the good,
bad and ugly side of students as well as
lecturers' concerns and issues that
were of paramount importance to the
readers and to our principal this was
like crossing the rubicon.
Despite the support of our lecturers the
college administration won the day
and The Sharpener never saw the light of
the day. We were gutted.
Similar attempts by the broadcast lecturers and
students to establish a
college radio broadcasting station were denied by
the Broadcasting Authority
of Zimbabwe (BAZ) because of the political
climate in the country.
The Higher Examination Council (HEXCO) bungled
several times when we were
sitting for our final examinations. Papers were
mixed up, there were delays
in the writing of some exams and on more than
two occasions we had to sit
for our papers in the evening up to 9
pm.
Though I passed my diploma the hope of finding a job in Zimbabwe
continues
to fade away day by day, especially with the half-baked education
that I got
during the two years I read for my diploma.
It has since
dawned on me that it would be difficult to find work and will
soon be forced
to go outside the country in search of employment. Many of us
are having to
survive through buying and selling, a trade that almost every
Zimbabwean is
getting into to survive.
It is pathetic and I feel sorry not only for
myself but also for my
colleagues and others going through the course at the
moment. How can
students from such a prestigious journalism school that was
renowned in the
region be struggling the way we are? It beggars
belief.
And worse when a person like Tafataona Mahoso, who used to head
the
institution, is now a government lapdog, going out of his way through
the
Media and Information Commission (MIC) to close newspapers down and in
the
process throwing his former students onto the streets to beg. As a
result
not many students now want to enroll into journalism courses, with
all the
tough and oppressive media laws still in place.
Journalism is
slowly becoming a preserve for the few. Some in the newsrooms
are also
leaving in search for greener pastures, away from the prying eyes
of Big
Brother. Many in profession claim they are followed from place to
place
while others think their phones are tapped.
For me and many others, the
possibility of swapping my pen for other
professions is now a reality on my
doorstep. It seems I cannot keep on
postponing it while waiting for a magic
wand to do the tricks for me. Cry my
beloved profession!
Patrick
Chikwande is a pseudonym of Zimbabwean journalist.
For me this country exercises its magic each year in April/May.
The rains
are over but we still have green grass in many areas, there is
water in the
rivers and streams and crops are drying off in preparation for
harvest. At
the same time temperatures are dropping fast and the days are
shorter,
nights crisp and clear with brilliant star-lit skies that stretch
forever.
Humidity is near zero.
It is also the time when our aloes
work their magic - suddenly blooming
where life seems only hard and
unrelenting. There is just something about
the pale yellows, pinks and reds
that typify the winter flowers of our
aloes. Perhaps it's the backdrop of
gray granite and bright yellow grass;
perhaps it's the little sunbirds in
their bright colors. Perhaps it is all
of these things taken together, for
me, it is what I call May magic.
With the air still clean and reasonably
free of the smoke and dust that
comes later, the light at this time of the
year also often casts a spell
over the veld. The vast stretches that spread
out in front of us at an
escarpment, the evening glow that seems to
illuminate all life with special
significance. That time in the evening when
the sun retreats and the moon
rises, when the Hueglins Robin sings from his
hiding place and then the
quiet cry of the Nightjars takes his
place.
Just the other evening I sat on the stoep and listened to the
evening sing.
A thin sliver of a new moon rose with the evening star cupped
in its curves,
so bright that it positively twinkled at me. This is better
than a Disney
fantasy I thought and it is all ours for free!
Somehow
there is also magic in the Lowveld. Although I have spent much of my
life on
the Highveld, it is the Lowveld that has always symbolized the real
Africa.
Here the environment is colder, hotter and more arid. Here the trees
must
fight for life and bear the scars of that struggle. Here the colors
somehow
seem so much more vivid; by contrast the winter Europe is a pale
shade of
gray and its summer green. Here the variety of life is vast and
bewildering -
a thousand species of birds, animal life from the smallest
shrew to the great
gray ghosts of the Elephant. Everything in abundance from
insects to snakes
and reptiles. Life is never taken for granted; everything
knows life is a
precious gift to be enjoyed everyday.
Ever since I was a small boy
growing up on a Matabeleland Ranch, I have
expected winter to arrive on or
about the 15th of May. This year was no
exception. An artic front came across
the Cape, spread upwards and inwards
and if we had any moisture in the
atmosphere, brought snow and ice. In the
Lowveld, with zero humidity, it
simply froze our birdbaths and garden pipes
and killed our frost sensitive
plants. I saw a small garden font still
frozen solid at three in the
afternoon on a brilliant clear blue-sky day.
This sudden arrival of
winter, in a country where people do not heat their
homes and do not have
access to warm clothing, brings with it, its own
threats and dangers. In
Johannesburg 54 people died of exposure on the first
night.
In
Zimbabwe where the majority of the people displaced by Murambatsvina
are
still homeless and destitute, no one knows what our death toll was - no
one
is counting. In South Africa where 3,5 million Zimbabweans have fled,
the
majority as illegal migrants without rights, many must have died in
their
makeshift shacks and hovels in the over crowded slums outside all
major
Cities. No one is counting. Many will simply be buried where they died,
not
enough money to get them home, nowhere to bury them decently.
So
for some, May is magic, for many others it's the start of another long
cold
winter. This time a winter with 10 000 per cent inflation, no work, no
means
of heating or cooking at home and many hungry nights. The minimum wage
for a
farm worker is Z$38 000, that is two loaves of bread or 4 kilograms of
maize
meal. A bottle of cooking oil is now Z$50 000, meat is Z$60 000 a kilo
for
low grade cuts. Under these circumstances many simply give up working -
why
waste the energy, rather turn to crime or begging or simply pack a few
things
in a bag and hitch a lift to the SA or Botswana border. Walk 50 or
60
kilometers inland and then head for the nearest slum to find someone
who
will take you in and show you the ropes.
I do not know how much
more of this we can take. Those who are brokering our
future must work with
haste; life is at stake on a huge scale. It astonishes
me how those who have
created these disastrous conditions in our land but
who themselves are
protected by the very policies that give them lives of
luxury and pleasure at
our expense, show no sign of their culpability or
shame. They drive their
fast cars and flaunt their wealth while the evidence
of their failure is all
around them. It makes no impact and they actually
think this can go on
forever!
Well I have news for them, seasons change and every season has
its own life.
Regional leaders in the SADC have decided that the crisis in
Zimbabwe simply
cannot be allowed to drift on indefinitely, South Africa
wants, needs,
closure. The spectre of the World Cup to be staged in May/June
2010 provides
one pressure point, the flood of refugees from Zimbabwe,
another. Against
this backdrop, the men and women who are brokering a deal
are now aware of
their parameters.
When negotiations finally get
underway soon, they will be against the
backdrop of a clear definition of
just what the international community will
accept as an outcome, they have
their own rules as expressed in the SADC
democratic protocols as the minima
that must be satisfied. All that remains
is the translation of these
background conditions to the talks into the
Zimbabwe situation and a form of
language that Mr. Mugabe will understand.
Then hopefully we can get down
to a meaningful election campaign and vote as
a people based on our basic
citizenship and decide who is going to lead us
out of this smelly Zanu PF
quagmire. All we then ask is that the rest of you
respect our wishes and help
us get back on our feet - from then on we will
look after ourselves. When
that happens we can give you an open invitation
to come and enjoy the magic
of our country and its people.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 27th May 2007
The Nation
(Nairobi)
OPINION
27 May 2007
Posted to the web 28 May
2007
Nairobi
"South Africa tells Africa to go to hell" was the
Page One pointer of a
leading Cape Town newspaper two weeks ago to a story
inside about the
response of President Thabo Mbeki's government to a report
on that country
by a panel of experts under the Africa Peer Review
Mechanism.
The mechanism forces governments to examine their own conduct
and attempts
to hold them to account by subjecting them to the judgement of
their peers.
Usually, a panel of respected academic and other leaders
evaluates a
country, interacts with government, business and civil society
and compiles
a report, including recommendations.
The whole thing
depends on the willingness of governments to accept
criticism and make an
effort to correct what the panel judges to have gone
wrong. Often the
impressions of the panel are not in perfect match with
those of the
government in question.
The panel that reviewed Kenya was chaired by
former South African First Lady
Graca Machel and was notably critical of our
management of the fight against
corruption.
South Africa was reviewed
by a panel led by Nigerian economics professor
Adebayo Adedeji, a well known
man in Africa. The report on South Africa must
have elicited some curiosity
on the continent because of Mr Mbeki's
leadership of processes to improve
democracy and restore Africa's reputation
as a continent with possibilities,
rather than a basket case of poverty,
flies and strife.
The panel's
report, while praising South Africa for some things, was
critical of the
nation's handling of crime and Aids, among others.
To the surprise of
many, the South African government has, in effect,
rejected the report: It
does not accept 153 of the 154 recommendations.
In doing this, the
government of Mr Mbeki has set an appalling example. It
refuses to submit to
a process it recommends for the continent.
True, it may well be that the
panel presented a perspective which was
totally at variance with South
African reality, in the way South Africans
perceived it. True, the report
may have been too quick to judge or was
probably not perfectly fair. The
point is, this is one case that Mr Mbeki
needed to lead by example. And he
hasn't.
Mr Mbeki is not alone in that. As we report elsewhere in this
paper,
Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo has also been at the lead of
preaching
democracy and accountability to Africa. But it would seem that he
held
himself exempt from the restrictions imposed by these desirable
concepts: He
attempted unsuccessfully to gerrymander the constitution to win
himself a
longer stay in power and he has almost certainly rigged an
election.
Democracy is best served when leaders, especially those who
recommend it to
others, suffer its consequences. By failing the test of
example, Mr Mbeki
and Mr Obasanjo have hurt their own cause and that of
African emancipation.