http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, May 05, 2012- United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay will visit Zimbabwe for the first
time on 20 May, her office
announced yesterday.
She was supposed to
have visited in early February but her trip was abruptly
cancelled with the
Zimbabwean government claiming that she was engaged
elsewhere.
“UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights will also on 20 May begin the first
ever
mission by a UN Human Rights chief to Zimbabwe, at the invitation of
the
Government,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner
for
Human Rights announced Thursday”.
Pillay is due to meet President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
Justice and Legal Affairs and
other ministers, as well as the Chief Justice,
the Speaker of Parliament,
President of Senate and Thematic Committee of
Human Rights.”
She will also meet the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and
members of civil
society in the country on her highly anticipated
trip.
Her office said she is also considering a number field visits within
and
outside Harare, including to the Marange Diamond Fields.
The South
African has in the past raised concern over the rising human
rights abuses
in the country and called for the restoration rule of law and
address abuses
committed against Zimbabwean citizens.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Saturday, 05 May
2012 12:13
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has admitted that Zanu PF
risks losing the
next elections due to its penchant for violence,
factionalism and
vote-rigging, which are tearing away the former ruling
party.
Zanu PF has been embroiled in serious intra-party violence
countrywide as
factions battling to replace the 88-year-old leader fight for
control of
district coordinating committee (DCC) elections.
Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Joice Mujuru are said
to be
leading two known factions seeking to replace Mugabe both as party and
state
President.
Mugabe told hundreds of Zanu PF supporters and soldiers
gathered at the
National Heroes Acre yesterday for the burial of politburo
member Edson
Ncube that the on-going squabbles left the party open to
another electoral
defeat.
“We are looking forward to holding
elections after this so-called
constitution-making process. Let us not
continue with disunity, we are now
picking up from the blow of 2008 March
elections. Let us unite,” Mugabe
pleaded with his supporters.
Mugabe
said he had evidence suggesting that vote-rigging was rampant within
his
party.
“I have in my possession letters written during DCC elections
instructing
people not to vote for someone.
They say do not vote for so
and so, who are you? This is bad,” an emotional
Mugabe said at the top of
his voice.
Mugabe said vote rigging was tarnishing the image of his
party.
“If the people do not like you, it will not change. People will
not vote for
you on that basis. What you are doing is going to destroy the
party,” said
Mugabe.
The ageing leader has already tasted defeat to
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
who is likely to be his main opponent in the
coming elections.
Tsvangirai won the first round of the 2008 polls but
failed to gain enough
votes to make him President, at least according to
figures released by
electoral authorities.
Tsvangirai pulled out of a
subsequent run-off citing gross violence,
resulting in Mugabe contesting the
election as a solo candidate. He was
forced into a coalition with Tsvangirai
after African leaders rejected the
run-off “results”.
As Mugabe and
Zanu PF publicly clamour for a general election this year,
chaos rocking the
former liberation movement indicates a party ill-prepared
for such a
watershed poll.
Last week, Zanu PF was battling to put its house in order
in Manicaland,
Masvingo and Bulawayo provinces as allegations of vote
rigging along
factional lines took centre stage.
In Manicaland,
fist-fighting erupted as disgruntled party members besieged
the Zanu PF
provincial headquarters demanding the resignation of Mike
Madiro, the
provincial chairperson. Party supporters are also claiming DCC
elections in
the province were rigged.
In Masvingo South, armed police had to fire in
the air to disperse fighting
supporters after a faction said to be aligned
to Mujuru rejected results of
the chaotic polls held last
week.
Members of the faction want the elections nullified.
Mugabe
also appeared to take aim at some of his close loyalists who went
against
the party policy and engaged with the West in what appeared to be
plots to
oust him as revealed by whistle blowing website, WikiLeaks.
Senior party
officials, among them former information minister and serial
political
flip-flopper Jonathan Moyo, discussed party secrets with US
diplomats and
ways to remove Mugabe.
“It is shame that some still believe in whites as
the only people who can
assist them. If you still believe in that, you are
not a member of the
liberation movement. You do not belong to us,” said
Mugabe.
Ncube died last Sunday at the age of 74, and was buried at the
national
shrine where both MDC factions snubbed the burial.
Only
mainstream MDC minister for Water Resources Sipepa Nkomo attended.
http://www.voanews.com/
04 May
2012
Blessing Zulu | Washington
Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe, who has been calling for fresh polls to
end the uneasy coalition
government, is considering pushing the elections to
next year as fissures
continue to grow in his ZANU-PF party as factions
position themselves to
take over from the veteran leader.
Lambasting party officials on Friday
for fanning factionalism, Mugabe said
elections would be held following a
constitutional referendum. In the past
he has threatened to call elections
this year even in the absence of a new
constitution and other democratic
reforms.
Sources say infighting has spiraled out of control, and is
worsened by
so-called securocrats demanding to be included in key party
structures.
The party’s supreme decision-making body, the politburo, has
scheduled a
special session to discuss the divisions.
The sources say
senior party officials loyal to factions allegedly led by
Vice President
Joyce Mujuru and Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, traded
barbs in the
politburo Thursday.
Hardliners led by Tsholotsho lawmaker, Jonathan Moyo,
want the party to pull
out of the constitutional revision
exercise.
But others are worried this may lead to the party’s isolation
in the region
and internationally. Mr. Mugabe on Thursday demanded that the
parliamentary
select committee drafting the country’s new charter deliver a
draft to the
principals by next week.
But a management committee
meeting expected to deal with outstanding issues
in the draft constitution
has been rescheduled as three cabinet ministers
who sit in the group will be
in Brussels for the resumption of dialogue
between Harare and the European
Union.
Permanent secretary Joey Bimha in the foreign affairs ministry
told VOA
reporter Blessing Zulu that the ministers will be in Belgium early
next week
for talks with their EU counterparts.
ZANU-PF select
committee co-chairman Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said there are
some
outstanding consultations that need to be done before they can submit a
complete draft to the three principals.
Sources say Mangwana was
grilled by ZANU-PF hardliners at the heated
politburo meeting who want to
scuttle the process to their own benefit.
Political analyst Earnest
Mudzengi, director of the Media Centre, says
infighting in ZANU-PF is now a
way of life.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
05/05/2012 00:00:00
by Chris Gande
I VOA
CANDIDATES have started jostling for positions in Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, resulting in divisions developing
in some areas as
competition intensifies.
Already in Manicaland
province, two MDC legislators - Mutasa North lawmaker,
David Chimhini and
Trevor Saruwaka of Mutasa Central - have been suspended
allegedly for
fanning factionalism in the party.
Parliamentary hopefuls are said to
dividing people at the grassroots level
as they position themselves ahead of
possible elections this year.
President Robert Mugabe and hardliners in
his party want elections to end
the shaky coalition government but
Tsvangirai and others say polls may only
be called once democratic reforms
have been implemented.
MDC-T officials have been gathering suggestions on
how best to conduct
elections to choose party representatives without
tearing the party apart.
Others want the party to adopt the system used by
the African National
Congress in South Africa, in which officials elected at
congress dominate
the election register.
Organising secretary, Nelson
Chamisa, told Voice of America's Studio 7 the
party is still consulting and
will soon come up with guidelines for those
seeking parliamentary seats. He
said some aspiring candidates will be
disqualified by the
guidelines.
“We are a democratic party and we will follow democratic
guidelines in
coming up with the best and most suitable candidates,” said
Chamisa.
http://www.voanews.com/
04 May
2012
Gibbs Dube | Washington
The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe’s investigations department has invited Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu
to a meeting to discuss his source of funding after he
was given the
greenlight by the finance ministry to purchase the
financially-troubled
Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group.
RBZ sources say the department has already
gathered a lot of information
about Mpofu’s assets and source of some of his
funds. Under Zimbabwean law
anyone who wants to own or run a financial
institution must go through a
rigorous probe so the state can ascertain the
source of his money.
The department is set to give the RBZ board a
detailed report on May 29.
Sources say it will be used to determine Mpofu’s
eligibility to own a bank.
Economists and other observers fear that the
report may not be made public
since the investigations involve a senior
government minister who is on
record as having said he is one of the richest
people in Zimbabwe.
Mpofu was not immediately reachable for comment. The
Banking Act compels
people and companies venturing into the financial sector
to disclose their
source of funding to weed out money linked to blood
diamonds and terrorists.
Economic commentator Masimba Kuchera said many
people are eagerly waiting
for the report due to Mpofu’s state portfolio and
allegations of bribery
leveled against him by some mining firms in the
Marange diamond field.
The ZABG, set up by the RBZ following the collapse
of several banks due to
alleged corruption and money laundering, failed to
raise the required $12
million minimum capitalization threshold required by
the central bank
resulting in Mpofu's bid.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Written by Chengetai Zvauya, Senior
Writer
Saturday, 05 May 2012 12:31
HARARE - Secrecy surrounds the
appointment of judges to the Supreme Court
and High Court by President
Robert Mugabe on Thursday after it emerged Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC party was unaware of the development.
Even deputy
minister of justice and legal affairs Obert Gutu, a Tsvangirai
appointee was
unaware of the appointment and swearing-in of the judges, a
sign of how
fragile the coalition government is.
Anne-Marie Gowora and Yunus Omerjee
were elevated from the High Court to the
Supreme Court, while Advocate
Happias Zhou moved from private practice to
the High Court as a
judge.
Their appointment has raised tempers and highlights how Mugabe
continues to
undermine the power sharing Global Political Agreement (GPA)
which states
that he should consult Tsvangirai before making such senior
appointments.
Gutu said he was not consulted on the appointments, neither
was he invited
to the swearing-in ceremony of the judges at State
House.
“We were hearing from the grapevine since last week within the
legal
fraternity of the appointment of the three judges. But I was not
informed or
consulted as the deputy minister of justice and a senior legal
practitioner
in the fraternity. The invitation was never extended to my
office as should
have happened,” he said.
“This shows how the
coalition government is operating and I want to express
my displeasure with
the manner everything was done without involving us,”
said
Gutu.
Tsvangirai was not present at the occasion, which was attended by
Patrick
Chinamasa, the justice minister, High Court and Supreme Court judges
and
senior members from the legal fraternity.
Omerjee was absent and
will take his oath when he returns back.
Judges are appointed after the
recommendation of the Judicial Services
Commission to the
President.
The number of Supreme Court judges has risen to seven from
five.
Gutu said the move to secretly appoint the judges showed how MDC
ministers
are side-lined in key decision-making processes.
“I am not
surprised at all by this type of conduct. Most, if not all
important
engagements are not brought to my attention as a deliberate and
wicked ploy
to side-line me and make me irrelevant in the ministry.
“This is the work of
people who have sold their souls to the devil and who
somehow, think that
the MDC will disappear from the country’s political
radar.
“The days
are numbered for these messengers of darkness and evil,” said
Gutu, whose
party ended Mugabe and Zanu PF’s political dominance.
http://www.iol.co.za/
May 5 2012 at 04:47pm
By
SAPA
REUTERS
Zimbabwe wildlife authorities say rangers shot
and killed two marauding
elephants after a man was trampled and gored to
death in the country's
northeast.
State radio reported Saturday the
man died late Friday when a herd of about
19 elephants roamed into a village
farming district near the Mozambique
border. It said rangers were trying to
drive the herd back into unpopulated
areas spanning the frontier.
The
radio said wildlife authorities warned villagers not to confront
elephants
stomping through their fields with “provocative actions.”
A fully grown
elephant eats about 300 kilograms of foliage a day. Elephant
attacks are
common in areas in Zimbabwe where impoverished human settlements
are
encroaching into wildlife sanctuaries. -Sapa-AP
http://www.mdc.co.zw
Saturday, 05
May 2012
Six MDC
members were today hospitalised following a violent attack by Zanu
PF thugs
in Highfield West last night around 10 pm. Three houses were
damaged in the
same attack.
The six, Thulani Ncube, Shadrick Ngirazi, sisters, Maud and
Tsitsi
Chinyerere, their two daughters, Rosie (14) and Nomatter (13),
sustained
head and body injuries.
Hon. Hove was scheduled to address
a rally in Highfield at the Western
Terminus where provincial leaders were
to speak on, among other issues, the
conditions of a sustainable election in
Zimbabwe.
According to Hon Hove, the six were assaulted with wooden
blocks, booted
feet and other unknown objects.
"This attack is proof
that there is no such thing as freedom of assembly and
association in
Zimbabwe. This is clear evidence that Zanu PF is intolerant,
hateful and
violent. We applied for a rally today at the Western Terminus
and this was
approved. Zanu PF had shown discontent and was trying to
influence the
police to change the venue. When this failed, they attacked
known MDC
leaders and their families. This is evil," he said.
He said, houses were
attacked in New Canaan and Western Triangle.
Mrs Maud Chinyerere is a
provincial executive member of the Women's Assembly
in Harare.
The
people’s struggle for real change: Let’s finish it!
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, May 05, 2012 - Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says all journalists
who are involved in
promoting hate speech will be arrested and tried in
their personal
capacity.
“We agreed as GPA principals that no journalist or media
organisation should
make a media blitz against any political party or any
person. No Journalist
or media organisation must promote hatred, whether the
public media or
Private media, that is what we agreed.
“Doing so is
against the constitution and the law. Let me tell you what
happened in
Rwanda, Journalists who used the media in creating and promoting
hatred were
arrested and tried. They had to answer for the hatred and
hostility they
were promoting during that time.
“This has nothing to do with anybody, you
the very person who is promoting
hatred shall answer for the hatred and
hostility you are promoting in a
country which has a constitution which says
you must not do that, “Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told Journalists in
Harare at an event held to
commemorate world press freedom day.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai continues to be castigated by the state
media
despite his government position.
He has over the past decade been complaining
about the way the state media
treats him but nothing has changed.
In bid
to stop the media blitz in his capacity as the country’s prime
minister and
one of the Global Political Agreement Principals Tsvangirai has
on several
occasions approached SADC.
Observers say media reforms are the only way of
getting rid of hate speech
coming from state controlled media.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
04/05/2012 00:00:00
by Phyllis
Mbanje
PROSECUTORS have warned that the owner of the boat which
capsized on Lake
Chivero on Christmas Day killing 11 children could face
murder charges after
witnesses claimed the tragedy was not an
accident.
Boat owner Latif Ameer, 53, employees Enoch Yolani Zulu, 36,
Joseph
Abrahams, 36, and Fadil Ramon Weale, 27, face 11 counts of culpable
homicide
but prosecutors warned Friday that charges may be altered to
murder.
This followed yet more dramatic testimony by two survivors as the
trial
entered its second day at the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
Asked
by Prosecutor Michael Reza if she thought the tragedy had been
accidental,
16-year-old survivor Ester Murodzi vigorously shook her head and
declared:
"It was a planned thing, the boat was overloaded and they decided
to go and
drown us.”
Another survivor, Shanice Ruzvidzo, 15, claimed that Weale,
the boat
captain, and Zulu, who was the driver, had winked at each other
just before
the boat’s engines shut down and the vessel started to take on
water before
capsizing.
"I saw the driver wink at Weale and he winked
back. At first we dismissed it
and actually laughed it off but immediately
there was a clinking sound and
engine stopped," she said.
"It was just
after the winking incident that the sound was heard and I
believe Zulu was
shutting off the engine."
Reza told the court that if more witnesses
corroborated the teenagers’
evidence, charges would have to be altered to
murder and the case taken to
the High Court.
Defence lawyers Hamios
Mukonoweshuro and Yaqub Ali Jogee vowed to vigorously
oppose the
motion.
"Your worship, the state is trying to sneak in new evidence which
now
alludes to murder charges," Mukonoweshuro said. "If it is accepted, it
will
be highly prejudicial to accused persons whose current charges are
those of
culpable homicide."
The two teenagers stuck to their testimonies
despite spirited challenges by
the defence lawyers.
Ruzvidzo, who
lost two sisters and a cousin in the tragedy, said as water
gushed into the
vessel, Weale stood up, and dived into the lake to swim to
the shore after
telling the passengers to “kiss their lives good bye”.
"We started
panicking following Weale's statement and when Zulu also bid us
farewell
before he jumped off, there was chaos on the boat with everyone
scrambling
to their feet, shouting and screaming," she said.
"The boat then capsized
and we were all thrown into the water but I clung to
a rope that was on the
boat and that is how I survived until we were rescued
by the other
boat."
The teenager also claimed that the boat owner, Ameer, had tried to
coach
them on what to tell investigators when they were rescued and further
claimed that a police officer who spoke to them had done a “cut-and-paste”
job on their statements which are similar.
"He [the police officer]
merely copied material from Esther's statement onto
mine saying it was ok
since we had both been on the same boat," she said.
"I [also] told him about
the dam wall issue but he said it was not important
and even the winking
incident he dismissed it."
Meanwhile, the lawyers also engaged in heated
exchanges after prosecutors
said the trial should continue on Saturday since
most of the witnesses were
students and would be returning to school next
week.
"We are horrified that Reza even said he had already made
arrangements for
standby staff and if we failed to come he will proceed
anyhow," Jogee said.
Reza and Jogee also exchanged harsh words after the
defence lawyer ordered
the prosecutor to be seated.
"I'm not a child
whom you give such instructions," a visibly upset Reza said
pointing a
finger at Jogee, forcing the magistrate to intervene as matters
threatened
to get out of hand.
Ameer, Zulu, Abrahams and Weale all deny the homicide
charges in the closely
watched trial.
On Thursday, the court heard
Ammer would deny authorising the boatcruise. He
will contend that Weale and
Abrahams – said to have collected the money for
the boat ride – were not his
employees but part of a group of friends and
relatives he had invited for a
day out at the lake.
He also said he only remembered Zulu approaching him
asking for work, but
told him there were no vacancies. He was shocked to
learn that he had taken
one of his boats out on the lake.
Weale also
denied he was the boat captain, insisting he was only part of the
group of
family and friends at the lake for a day out with Ameer.
Earlier on
Christmas Day, the court heard from Weale, Ameer’s group had
returned from
their own ride. As they pulled in to disembark, a group of
people on the
shore – including the tragic children – suddenly rushed aboard
and refused
to get off, resulting in the craft turning back for another
ride.
"A
crowd of people just emerged and jumped into the boat. There was much
jostling and shoving I failed to get off the boat and it took off with Zulu
as the driver," he said.
"Many seemed to have been drinking because I
could see them holding beer
bottles."
But survivor Murodzi said the
boat had been carrying paid trips on the lake
adding that they had in fact
waited in a queue for some time before getting
their turn.
"Abrahams
collected the fares and since there were so many people, some were
made to
sit with legs astride so that others could sit between their legs,”
she
said.
"Weale introduced himself as the captain and Zulu the
driver.”
Four of the dead children – Tanaka Ruzvidzo, Tatenda Ruzvidzo,
Sharon
Ruzvidzo and Angeline Rusito – were from the same Domboshava
family.
The others who perished were Rasim Jaison from Harare, Anna
Chitungo from
Nyanga, Munashe Joramu from Norton, Sprenner and Anesu Kaseke,
Tadiwanashe
January and Pathras Chimimba.
The trial continues on Saturday
after the magistrate dismissed the defence
objections.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Zimbabwe’s
rampant corruption within positions of authority has made it one
of the
lowest rated countries on the corruption perception index at 154 of
183
countries researched, and the control of corruption index where it
currently
sits at 173 of 187 countries (Transparency International,
Corruption
Perceptions Index 2011).
05.05.1203:10pm
by Staff
Reporter
Similarly the World Bank’s rating of the country’s
government effectiveness,
control of corruption and accountability have all
fallen below 10% in the
last decade (World Bank – Worldwide Governance
Indicators).
This footage is of the Fields Day (formerly Agriculture Day)
celebration, a
huge annual event in the Zimbabwean national calendar marking
the beginning
of the agricultural marketing season. The event is usually
held on the farm
of an influential local farmer and is usually attended by
the cream of the
ruling party’s political line-up. This year it was held on
Glasara farm, a
large tobacco farm in the Mt. Darwin area (The Sunday Mail,
‘Go for value
addition’, 04 March 2012).
It is an event considered
equal in importance and status to Heroes Day and
is attended by many
politicians, who themselves also often own large-yield
tobacco farms (VOA,
www.whoswho.co.za political profiles).
While the agenda
of the meeting is for rewarding Zimbabwe’s most resourceful
and successful
farmers (as well as being a forum for agricultural
development), the day is
dominated by speeches highlighting party ideologies
for the upcoming
elections.
Local perceptions of rife corruption
(Transparency International, Daily
Lives and Corruption: Public Opinion in
Southern Africa Survey, 2011) are
further supported by the personal and
political interests of the speakers in
this footage. This begs the question
of whether this trend of mixing
personal interests and political ambition
might exacerbate the already
fragile stability of the country’s political
and social situation leading up
to the national elections later this year.
http://af.reuters.com/
Sat May 5, 2012 11:10am GMT
*
Carry-over surplus cut to 330,436 tonnes
* To cut surplus to 46,495
tonnes by June
LUSAKA May 5 (Reuters) - Zambia signed a contract to
export of 300,000
tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe from its huge surplus of
carry-over stocks from
last year, Zambia's Food Reserve Agency (FRA) said on
Saturday.
"The sell reduces the surplus stock being held by the agency to
330,436
tonnes," the FRA, which is in charge of maize exports, said in a
statement.
The agency said it planned to reduce surplus stocks to 46,495
tonnes by June
to create space for new stock and prevent price
distortions.
The FRA estimated that Zambia lost 190,388 tonnes of maize
from its
2011/2012 harvest due to inadequate storage
facilities.
Carry-over stocks of 770,931 tonnes from the last season plus
current
production gave the country a maize surplus of 1,035,333
tonnes.
Zambia's maize output declined by about 6 percent to 2.8 million
tonnes in
the 2011/2012 season.
It needs just over 2.5 million tonnes
of maize for human consumption,
strategic reserves, stock feed and brewing.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
By Staff Reporter 5 hours
56 minutes ago
THE Zambian Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has signed a
US$42.5 million contract
with a shadowy Zimbabwean company linked to State
Security agency CIO,
Sakunda Trading of Zimbabwe for the sale of 300, 000
metric tonnes of maize
in a deal believed to be a secret pact between
President Mugabe and his
Zambian counter-part Michael Sata.
Last week
Sata visited Zimbabwe on an official engagement and sources said
he pledged
his backing for Robert Mugabe re-election by providing him with
maize for
campaign in the countryside.
FRA public relations officer Mwamba Siame
said in a statement issued in
Lusaka yesterday that the sale of the 300,000
metric tonnes of maize to
Zimbabwe will reduce the surplus stock kept by the
agency to 330, 435 metric
tonnes.
In Zimbabwe, maize procurement is
supposed to be carried out through the
State company, the Grain Marketing
Board, GMB and paid by the Ministry of
Finance and sources said the deal has
been financed by a diamond company
Mbada Private Limited which is run by a
cabal of military and Zanu-PF
officials.
On its website Sakunda says
it is an Energy company, and claims it's largest
supplier of liquid fuels
and other petrochemicals, and business of
providing energy solutions that
which it says keep the wheels of industry
and the economy
turning.
“The maize will mainly be from Eastern, Northern and Southern
provinces. The
operation starts soon. FRA hopes to reduce surplus stocks to
46, 495 metric
tonnes by June 2012,” Mrs Siame said.
She said FRA has
sold over one million tonnes of maize on the local and
international markets
since November last year.
Mrs Siame said the agency intends to capture a
major share of the maize
market demand by the end of the year to create
space for the new stocks. The
FRA will pay outstanding debts and prevent
maize price distortions.
She also said the process of destroying maize
grain that was certified unfit
for animal and human consumption, after being
exposed to rain due to
inadequate storage facilities, has
commenced.
Mrs Siame said FRA currently estimates a loss of 190, 388
metric tonnes from
the 2011/2012 maize stocks.
And the agency’s
senior management team will soon visit various depots to
monitor the process
of destruction, which will create room for the next crop
to be purchased by
FRA.
Mrs Siame said the monitoring is also a way of resolving all
outstanding
issues in the countryside in preparation for the marketing
season set to
commence on June 1.
She said the agency plans to do
things differently this year and avoid costs
associated with the
crop-marketing programmes of 2007/2011.
Incorporated in 2005, Sakunda
says it has grown exponentially to achieve its
vanguard position in the
energy supply industry through a tenacious
adherence to the highest
standards of service.
It goes on to say, initially a small operation
helmed by the executive
management team of Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Sandra
Mpunga, Sakunda
concentrated on the provision of diesel and petrol fuels to
Zimbabwe during
what could conservatively be called the darkest hour in the
country's
economic history.
The ability to thrive where similar
organisations where struggling to
survive has since translated into the
excellent service proposition that
makes Sakunda the number one supplier of
liquid fuels in the country.
However, sources said the company is linked to
high-level Zanu-PF leaders.
In 2008 President Mugabe accused the late
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa
of siding with the then opposition party
led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC after Zambia had banned
exports of white maize to
Zimbabwe.
Zambia had exported 85,000 tonnes
of white maize to Zimbabwe after recording
a surplus in the 2005/06 season,
Mwanawasa said the FRA was looking for
another southern African country that
would buy the maize.
Zanu-PF officials publicyly expressed disappointment
with Mr Mwanawasa who
became the subject of attack by President Robert
Mugabe.
The irony of this is that Zambia gave sanctuary and helped
re-settle large
numbers of the white farmers that Mugabe and his thugs drove
out of
Zimbabwe. Now, Zambia has a crop surplus and Zimbabwe is still
starving.
With a surplus of over 800,000 tonnes of maize from last
farming season,
Zambia is considering selling to Zimbabwe through a
guaranteed payment by
the World Bank, the Zambia National Farmers Union
(ZNFU) said.
ZNFU commodities chairman Graham Rae said Zambia has over
800,000 tonnes of
maize which has to be sold before the new crop comes on
the market.
In an interview in Choma recently, Mr Rae said Zimbabwe has
contacted the
Zambian government through the embassy in Harare and through
other medium on
the maize deficit facing that country.
Zimbabwe has a
deficit of one million tonnes of maize.
“I honestly feel that we should
do a government-to-government deal and move
the maize into Zimbabwe
underwritten by the World Bank, put it under
collateral management and
guarantee the payments from Zimbabwe which should
create a win-win situation
for both countries,” he said.
Mr Rae said Zambia has the cheapest maize
in the region and it should help
its neighbours.
Zambian maize is
being sold to millers at US$140 per tonne and exported at
US$170 per
tonne.
He said South Africa is trading its maize between US$270 and
US$300 per
tonne while Chicago is close to US$200 per tonne, making Zambia
the cheapest
globally.
Mr Rae said if the country does not sell the
maize quickly, this will create
a huge storage problem when the new crop
comes on the market.
He said buyers will also opt to buy the new crop first
because it is fresh,
which will leave Government with the huge problem of
storage.
“It’s better to get rid of the maize that we have got. And if we
do face any
problems, we can import from South Africa, which would be far
cheap in the
long run than having a huge stock not secured properly,” he
said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer
Saturday, 05 May 2012
12:21
HARARE - Most teachers in Zimbabwe are corrupt, at least
according to the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), adding that
the Education
ministry is fuelling corruption in schools by failing to
monitor how the
Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) funds are being
used.
Oswald Madziba, the PTUZ programmes and communications officer made
these
remarks in Harare at a public meeting on corruption in the education
sector
facilitated by Transparency International Zimbabwe
(TIZ).
“First and foremost, as a teacher I must admit that teachers are
corrupt in
Zimbabwe. If a survey is to be carried out most of us will be
found
wanting,” said Madziba.
He said the legal policy and
administrative framework governing the Beam
project, under which government
helps support orphans and other vulnerable
children, had many loopholes that
allowed for the perpetration of
corruption.
“One of the
administrative problems concerning Beam is that the ministry of
Education
which distributes the funds does not follow up and see how the
funds are
being utilised. Without accountability the funds are bound to be
abused,”
Madziba said.
The distribution formula for the Beam funds is outdated and
the project is
open to political manipulation, Madziba noted.
“The
government says only 25 percent of the students are likely to be
failing to
pay for their education so they distribute funds basing it on
that number.
This approach is flawed as in some instances we can have more
than 25
percent students failing to pay fees at a school,” he said.
Madziba
criticised the ministry of Education for demanding a dollar from
each
student for the national youth games saying this is abuse of office.
He
said: “We are against the initiative by the ministry of Education to tax
a
dollar from each student in the country. Most of the youths who are
playing
in those games are no longer in school, so why are you punishing the
students? The games should be funded by the government and not the parents
because it is very unfair to punish them.”
Paurina Mpariwa, the
Labour minister acknowledged the corruption in the Beam
project and said
moves were underway to address the problem.
“Let us help each other. Some
of the incidents might not reach us but if the
people partner with us we can
do a good work in eliminating the vices,” she
said.
Beam is
facilitated by the ministry of Education, ministry of Labour and
donors who
include the United Nations.
Mary-Jane Ncube, the director of TIZ, said
the scourge of corruption in the
education sector has reached “alarming”
rates.
http://www.voanews.com
May 05,
2012
Sebastian
Mhofu | Harare
Zimbabwe has long struggled with such issues as land
seizures, violence,
election irregularities, human rights abuse and economic
troubles. But each
year, Zimbabwe hosts a week-long event that provides a
respite from the
daily drudgery. The Harare International Festival of the
Arts (HIFA) brings
international artists from around the globe.
Music
is known as the universal language. If that maxim is confirmed
anywhere it
is at the Harare International Festival of the Arts, or Hifa, in
Zimbabwe.
There are artists from Europe, Latin America, Central
America and Africa.
One can hear music being sung in nearly every language
imaginable, and the
effect is the same. Happiness.
The German reggae
music band Jamaram is playing in their native language.
Fans try sing along.
The festival is not just about music. There are actors,
dancers and other
practioners of the performing and visual arts. Samm
Monro, better known as
Comrade Fatso, is a British-born Zimbabwean artist
participating at the
HIFA. He says the arts festival plays an important
role in Zimbabwean
culture.
"I think HIFA week is really an important week in Zimbabwe,"
said Monro. "It
gives us an opportunity to see what we can do as
Zimbabweans. It creates an
amazing space of mixing between Zimbabwean
cultures, classes, et cetera."
Jamaram is a German eight-member music
group performing three shows at the
HIFA. One of the shows is performed free
of charge for Zimbabweans who can
not afford the festival's $20 entry fee.
Jamaram member Samuel Philip says
music is not just about entertaining
people.
"No matter where you are from in the world when you do music… it
does not
matter, music brings people together. It is the classic. It is the
universal
language," he said.
HIFA organizers say they want the arts
festival to become as grand as the
popular Rio Festival in Rio De Janeiro,
Brazil, to develop Zimbabwe’s ailing
economy. HIFA Chairman George
Mutendadzamera says the 13-year-old annual
festival is more than just
artists entertaining Zimbabweans.
"It is the economic impact of HIFA," he
said. "The bottom-line is when you
have a festival we drink. There is
employment creation. We generate wealth.
Last year we created something
short of 1300 jobs."
While artists and HIFA organizers are positive about
the festival's cultural
and economic benefits, Stanley Kwenda, the director
of Artists for Democracy
thinks Zimbabwean artists are being overshadowed by
their international
counterparts.
"Local artists like Mokoomba should
get more time," he said. "They are as
good as international artists. This
crowd as you can see has been energized
by Mokoomba. We did not get what we
wanted from Mokoomba. Let us have local
groups which are of international
quality. We want them to give local
artists more time than they give to
Oprah music, like they do to foreign
artists. Mokoomba is
fantastic."
Whatever the criticism, the HIFA Arts Festival is an event
that has rocked
Zimbabwe. And with HIFA's close Sunday, many might wish for
more to help
them forget their miseries in the troubled nation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
5 May
2012
By Steve
Vickers BBC Sport, Harare
The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has
cleared 33 players who were
under investigation for
match-fixing.
They include three key national team midfielders - Khama
Billiat, Ovidy
Karuru and Willard Katsande.
But 66 players and 16
officials are still to have their fate decided by an
independent
disciplinary committee.
The investigation centres around controversial
tours taken by the national
side to Asia in 2007 and 2009.
Among the
people still facing an uncertain future are former captain Method
Mwanjali,
Sudan-based striker Edward Sadomba and former Warriors coach
Norman
Mapeza.
Mapeza was replaced by Rahman Gumbo in February, when all those
under
investigation were suspended from the national team.
Billiat
and Katsande, who play in South Africa, and France-based Karuru will
now be
available for next month's 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Guinea
and
Mozambique, and the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against
Burundi.
"It's good news for Zimbabwe," Zifa chief executive Jonathan
Mashingaidze
told BBC Sport.
"We are waiting for the committee to
finish with the rest of those being
investigated, and we will forward the
list of those exonerated to Fifa and
to Caf."
A Zifa investigation
into the tours of Asia between 2007 and 2009 found that
players were paid to
lose matches.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
04/05/2012 00:00:00
by Ibbo Mandaza
EVEN as it claims to have at last completed its task
(after a whopping 36
months!), the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) has
failed to dispel the
growing public perception that it is largely a failed
and wasteful exercise.
But, as it is obvious Zimbabwe does need a new
constitution, we have to
consider how best to salvage a goal that has so far
proved elusive. To do so
requires, in the first instance, an analysis of the
problems that have
afflicted Copac itself, with the benefit, perhaps, of
some comparisons with
an earlier attempt at constitution-making, namely the
Constitutional
Commission of 1999/2000.
Therefore, Copac has to be
evaluated in terms of three obvious and
all-inclusive criteria: conception,
process and output. With respect to the
conception of Copac, the question
is: to what extent has it ensured and
enhanced the integrity of the
constitution-making process or raised the
profile of constitutionalism
within the Zimbabwean historical and political
process?
To be fair,
Copac has been mired in controversy from the very outset in
April
2009.
Copac got its mandate through Article VI of the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA) wherein the three political parties agreed it should lead
the drafting
of a new constitution for Zimbabwe. Herein lies the first
problem: a
political tri-partisanship that has proved almost fatal for Copac
and in
general accounts for the incessant bickering therein, the failure to
complete work within the stipulated 12 months and the obscene budget of
US$45 million!
For example, even as recent as March 13, it was
reported out of Copac that
the lead drafters could not start work on the
final version of the draft
constitution until all issues had been finally
agreed by a plethora of
structures borne out of this tri-partisanship: by
the three Copac co-chairs,
Select Committee of Parliament itself, Management
Committee which includes
the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs, and the three GPA
parties’ principals, President Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
By comparison, the Constitutional Commission was appointed on
April 26,
1999, through Statutory Instrument (138A of 1999) and sworn-in on
May 21,
1999. The commission’s first working plenary was held on June 18,
1999. That
plenary adopted the commission’s method of work and thematic
committee
structure. The commission was directed to submit its
recommendations by
November 30, 1999 and given specific terms of reference,
charging it with
the responsibility to set in motion a process the outcome
of which should be
a new constitution.
The commission consisted of
400 members: 150 MPs constituted the core of the
membership; and the other
250 members were drawn from the private sector and
a cross-section of civil
society. An impressive leadership bureau was
appointed: the Judge President
of the High Court, now Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, was chairman of
the commission, with prominent female
statesperson, Mrs Grace Lupepe,
Anglican Archbishop Jonathan Siyachitema and
renowned academician, the late
Professor Walter Kamba, as his deputies.
The executive committee operated
within a 15-member coordination committee
chaired by Kamba and consisting of
a secretariat headed by Secretary to
Cabinet, Dr Charles Utete, with his
deputy then Dr Misheck Sibanda (now
Secretary to Cabinet), as the contact
person; an administrative and finance
subcommittee chaired by this writer,
an academic, former senior civil
servant and head of Sapes Trust; and media
and public relations subcommittee
chaired by an academic, Professor Jonathan
Moyo.
Included in the coordination committee were the chairs of the
thematic
committees: lawyer and jurist Rita Makarau for separation of powers
(pillars
of the state); Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei for executive organs of
the
state; prominent lawyer Canaan Dube for citizenship fundamental and
directive rights; academician Dr Themba Dlodlo for levels of government;
academician Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa for customary law; social and political
activist Lupi Mushayakarara for independent commissions (pillars of
democracy); prominent businessman Eric Bloch for public finance and
management; and prominent lawyer Honour Mkushi for transitional
mechanisms.
Therefore, by comparison, the leadership of Copac is a pale
shadow of that
of the constitutional commission: no doubt a major factor and
problem
attendant to Copac. The three co-chairpersons of Copac are less than
high-profile in their respective parties and have enjoyed little or no
tangible support from both their party leaders and the Copac membership.
Poor leadership accounts in no so small measure for the obvious Copac
weaknesses and slack coordination.
This introduces the second
criterion when assessing and evaluating Copac: To
what extent has the
process — or the methodology — assisted in the pursuit
of producing a sound
document, including the deepening of constitutionality,
through a
process-based approach that is inclusive and participatory?
Of course,
the latest revelations confirm there is little correlation
between the
purported outreach exercise and the resultant draft
constitution. At one of
the Sapes Trust’s Policy Dialogue Sessions a few
months ago, Professor
Welshman Ncube asserted that, given the numerous
problems attendant to the
Copac exercise, the latter would have to resort to
the ‘‘negotiation’’
method if a draft constitution was to emerge at all.
In short, Copac has
so far succeeded most in affording constitution-making a
negative image. A
laughing stock perhaps! But Zimbabweans in general are no
more informed
about constitutionality under Copac than they were in 2000
when the draft
constitution was rejected, for the wrong reasons, in that
referendum. To be
fair, people have become cynical about
constitution-making, let alone about
Copac.
By comparison, the constitutional commission was instructed,
mandated to
gather evidence through its own organisational structures which
it was free
to create, hold public hearings throughout Zimbabwe to receive
oral and
written submissions and to ensure the new draft constitution would
be
informed, as far as was feasibly possible, by the views of the people.
The
President further informed the commission that after its submission on
or
before November 30, 1999, the draft constitution would be put to the
people
in a referendum and, if accepted, would be brought into force through
the
appropriate Legislative Act.
On November 29, 1999, the commission
submitted its report in the form of a
draft constitution to the President of
Zimbabwe after it had fulfilled its
mandate within the stipulated time-frame
of five months, at an (audited)
cost of US$7,280,652 (or, at that time, the
equivalent of Z$297,196,900).
Indeed, Copac should have paid more
attention to the work and output of the
constitutional commission. And if,
as is now obvious, Copac’s output in the
form of a draft constitution
remains not only tentative and incomplete after
36 months, then there is
urgent need to salvage this constitution-making
process through another
constitutional commission.
In other words, the constitution-making
exercise has to have a legal basis
as opposed to the largely political
context within which Copac was conceived
and operates. The new
constitutional commission should likewise be
time-framed, no more than three
months (June to August, 2012) given that a
lot of work has already been done
through previous exercises, including the
NCA draft, the Kariba one and
Copac itself.
In general, the model of the constitutional commission of
1999 remains the
only possible alternative to ensure Zimbabwe has a new
constitution before
the next elections are held.
Mandaza, an
academic, author and publisher, was an executive member of the
Constitutional Commission of 1999/2000. He is currently convener of the
Sapes Trust’s Policy Dialogue Forum. This article was originally published
in the Zimbabwe Independent
http://www.irishtimes.com/
Saturday,
May 5, 2012
BILL CORCORAN in Cape Town
THE FACTIONALISM dividing
the leadership in Zimbabwean president Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has
spread to its lower structures, leaving the
former liberation movement
struggling to rally its supporters ahead of
elections expected next
year.
Reports from Zimbabwe claim that in recent weeks Zanu-PF, sharing
power with
arch rivals the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has had to
suspend
district elections in five of the nine provinces after fights over
vote-rigging and intimidation.
South Africa’s Mail and Guardian
newspaper reported yesterday that local
leaders wishing to align themselves
to the two main factions vying to take
control of Zanu-PF in the post-Mugabe
era was the cause of the infighting.
These factions are said to be led by
defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and
vice-president Joice Mujuru,
although both leaders have denied waiting in
the wings for Mr Mugabe (87) to
relinquish control of the party.
The octogenarian has refused to stand
down or name a successor, which has
left a political vacuum that ambitious
Zanu-PF politicians have been
manoeuvring to fill.
In Masvingo
province, the police fired warning shots and engaged in running
battles with
supporters of the rival factions, a development only associated
with rallies
held by the MDC and civil society in the past.
Police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena said officers were forced to separate
both groups at a rural
school in the province where the Zanu-PF party’s
district poll was taking
place, to “maintain law and order”.
Walter Mzembi, the Zanu-PF MP , said
indiscipline was “tearing at the core
of leadership and needs to be
stopped”, according to the Mail and Guardian.
In Manicaland province, where
the MDC took 20 of the 26 seats in the 2008
general election, attempts to
reorganise Zanu-PF have stalled, with some
supporters defecting to the MDC
after charges of cheating and intimidation
during their district party
poll.
Mr Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s senior leadership has been pushing for
fresh polls
to end the country’s stalled powersharing arrangement for a year
now, but
the latest developments have cast doubts over whether the party
could carry
out its traditional campaigning strategies.
Zanu-PF’s
rural grassroots structures have been the key to getting Mr Mugabe’s
supporters to the polls in past elections. Opposition activists claim they
are used to intimidate communities into voting for the former liberation
movement. However, it appears loyalty to the party has been usurped by
personal ambition.
