Hi There
This email is
from my sister, hijacked out of the diesel queue on Monday 28
April, in
Bulawayo. On Monday and Tuesday last week there were 17 hijackings
in
Bulawayo alone. That excludes failed hijackings, like my cousin Neville,
who
escaped the team that got Tina only 5 minutes later. News yesterday is
that
the car has been recovered in Vic Falls, with Zambian Number
Plates,
documentation etc.. Police had found 4 of the hijacked vehicles
there,
awaiting the arrival, via Lusaka, of a SA businessman who had ordered
them.
The Cops have been in ambush waiting to apprehend him when he comes
across
the border. Tina is full of praise for the Police CID department
in
Bulawayo, and this has restored some of her confidence in sections of
the
police!!
Bye now
Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003
9:39 AM
Subject: Tina hijacked
Dear friends
I had a gun
put to my head and my car taken on Monday. This was an
experience I would not
wish on worst enemy, but I want to share my story
with you all. The
councillor I am working with says I must talk & tlak &
about it as it
may help ease what I am going through at the moment.
I was sitting in a
diesel queue 2.15pm Monday 2pm at the hillside shops just
down the road from
our house. 3 very well dressed young gentlemen approached
me - 1 to the left
and 2 to the right). The fellow on the right very
politely said "excuse me
madam we want your car" and promptly cocked his
9mill pistol - which was
pointed at my middle. My reaction was to try & grab
my phone and on
turning to my left to my horror there was another
"gentleman" already IN THE
CAR with another pistol pointed to my head.
Believe me when I tell that
things flash through your brain when confronted
with death. Last week another
guy we knew resisted and was shot in the
middle. Today he is possibly
paralysed! Well I saw a body covered with blood
lying on the floor. I also
quite clearly heard Ken tell me " Tina put your
hands in the air and get
out". I had the keys lying on the floor under my
feet (a protection against
being hijacked). The one on the left was shouting
"where are the keys tell me
or I am going to kill you" so I showed them. The
one on the right them
shouted "show me the anti hijack or I am going to
shoot you" - I said it was
on the keys. By now they had the door open and
keeping my hands in the air at
all times I got out. I had taken my shoes off
and asked for them- which then
threw out the window. I turned and ran onto
the road and flagged down a car.
An elderly couple were inside and they
stopped. However they had blocked the
exit for the getaway car and my car.
The gun man turned on them shouting at
them to drive on. I stood screaming
at the lady drive to go go go -
fortunately she did as he had the pistol
pointed at them by then. I certainly
did not need their blood on my hands. I
then ran down the road. 2 cars down
was a European gentleman aged mid 50s. I
asked for his phone and got hold of
ken. By then the most fantastic African
gentlemen had come to help me. They
had tried to help whilst it was all
going on, but the gun man turned on them
so they backed away. What hurts the
most is that white man - sorry I can't
bring myself to call him a gentleman
DID NOT EVEN ASK IF I WAS OK. He just
wound his window up and sat there as
if nothing was going on. I hope he has
nightmares for the rest of his life.
I do believe he learnt a few swear words
from me!!!!!
The African guys were brilliant. They had the no and make of
the get away
car, one had contacted the police and one had his arm around me
- just
giving me some support. I was offered a coke, a seat etc. I was
totally cool
calm and collected through out it all. I never raised my voice
or got
defensive. I did as I was told and I believe that saved my
life. The
police were there in minutes and the getaway car has
since been recovered.
How am I now? It is like life is going on around me
and I am not quite
participating yet. I have just been to gym as I know I
must put it all back
on track as soon as I can, but that was a mission.
Monday night I watched TV
all night. Every time I shut my eyes all I could
see was that gun pointed AT
ME!!! Ken got me some "Happy" pills from the
doctor which are helping, but I
hit an extreme low when they wear off. I
cried all Tuesday and today I feel
sick. I feel violated, dirty and totally
stupid.
I know my strength will pull me through this all. My friends far
& near
thank you for your love & support. The phone calls have helped
in a way I
can't tell you. To those who phoned on Monday - my apologies I
couldn't
speak to anyone. Just to know that you have taken the time to
spare some
thoughts for me means so much. Thank you.
For those
of you who have asked - no I have not packed my bags to leave. I
have no
intention of going anywhere. I love Bulawayo. I love my country, I
love my
family and friends. Ken has been the most supportive person
of
all. My rock - as always. He put his arms around me and said the following
-
" my darling the car has gone but you are still here. Had you gone my
life
would also be gone". How's that for love!!!!
take care
Tina
Interpol Honours Chihuri
The Herald
(Harare)
May 7, 2003
Posted to the web May 7, 2003
Tsitsi
Matope
Harare
IN a show of confidence in Zimbabwe's police force by
the international
community, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has been
awarded the
honorary vice presidency of Interpol, an international police
organisation.
This is in recognition of the dedication and skills he
exhibited in the
discharge of his duties during his term of office as
Interpol's vice
president for Africa.
He becomes the first
Commissioner of Police from Southern Africa to hold
such a prestigious post
in the august international police body.
Police spokesman Assistant
Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the honorary
vice presidency was awarded
to Comm Chihuri after a resolution at the 137th
session of the Interpol
executive committee meeting in Lyon, France, in
February.
"The
Interpol president Mr Jesus Espairagares Mira communicated this award
to Cde
Chihuri in a letter dated March 2, 2003. Cde Chihuri has since
accepted the
title," said Asst Comm Bvudzijena.
"He has the distinction of becoming
the first Commissioner of Police from
Southern Africa to be elected as vice
president to the august international
police body," said Asst Comm
Bvudzijena.
Comm Chihuri served as Interpol vice president for Africa for
two
consecutive three-year terms which expired last October. He was
first
elected to Interpol's executive committee in 1996 and was re-elected
in
Seoul, South Korea, in 1999.
He played a critical role in the
establishment of the Southern Africa Region
Police Chiefs Co-operation
Organisation (SARPCCO) which he has chaired twice
in a period of seven years.
SARPCCO is a Sadc regional police chief's body
which seeks to enhance
policing initiatives in the region.
He said Comm Chihuri's involvement in
international policing affairs would
shame the detractors of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police who did not want to see
the rule of law prevail in the
country.
The country's detractors had sought to vilify the ZRP in an
effort to
further their criminal and political agendas by spreading
various
allegations about the lack of professionalism in the
police.
They had also sought to portray the country's police as
partisan.
Officers from the ZRP have over the years served on various
United Nations
peacekeeping missions with distinction. They have served in
Kosovo, East
Timor, Sierra Leone and Angola where they have held the
Zimbabwean flag
high.
"This attribute among ZRP officers is a result
of the competences they have
acquired in their policing endeavours locally,"
said Asst Comm Bvudzijena.
Independent
(UK)
Zimbabwe court waters down media restrictions
By
Angus Shaw in Harare
08 May 2003
The nation's highest court threw
out a section of Zimbabwe's stringent media
laws yesterday, saying it
violated journalists' constitutional right to
freedom of
expression.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku overturned
the clause
outlawing the publication of "falsehoods", which the law said
abused
journalistic privilege.
The clause held journalists responsible
for incorrect information that was
published. State attorneys did not oppose
the appeal by the independent
Daily News of charges against its former
editor, Geoff Nyarota, and reporter
Lloyd Mudiwa that they falsely published
a story alleging an opposition
supporter was beheaded during political
violence.
The journalists faced up to two years in jail under Zimbabwe's
media laws,
known as the Access to Information Act. The Act has been
criticised by
independent lawyers and human rights groups as a tool to stifle
criticism of
President Robert Mugabe's government.
Gugulethu Moyo, the
newspaper's lawyer, said yesterday's ruling was "a small
victory". She said:
"The entire legislation should be condemned."
She said state attorneys
did not oppose the constitutional challenge on the
falsehoods clause, saying
amendments on it were being considered anyway.
But an adjacent clause,
making falsification or fabrication of information
an offence by journalists,
remained. Unlike the one struck down, it required
the state to prove the
journalists intentionally published a falsehood.
Yesterday's ruling was
the first on a constitutional challenge to the media
laws. Several others by
media organisations are pending.
At least 16 journalists have been
arrested and charged with violating the
media laws since they were passed
before presidential electionslast year. No
state media journalists have been
charged.
Three journalists have been expelled from the country over the
past two
years and only a handful of foreign reporters has been granted visas
to
enter Zimbabwe.
SABC
Opposition members arrested outside Mugabe's
house
May 07, 2003,
20:00
Eight members of a small opposition party in Zimbabwe have been
arrested
outside president Robert Mugabe's official residence, the
party
said.
Rabson Maserema, spokesperson for the National Alliance for Good
Governance,
said the eight, who carried placards calling for Mugabe to step
down, were
bundled into police trucks just metres away from the gate to
State House. "On
approaching the boom to state House, they were cornered and
bundled into two
police trucks," he
said.
"The theme of the message was that the president should step
down because we
have suffered enough under a corrupt and insensitive ZANU-PF
government," he
said.
Critics and opposition blame President Mugabe for Zimbabwe's
deepening
economic crisis. Police were not immediately available to confirm
the arrests
of the opposition activists. - Sapa
Herald
Farmers Fail to Transport
Produce
The Herald (Harare)
May 7, 2003
Posted to the
web May 7, 2003
Harare
New sugarcane farmers in Chiredzi are
unable to sell their maiden crop after
transport operators hiked fares by 300
percent last week.
With harvesting having started in earnest, the black
farmers, who have gone
through a farming season riddled with problems
emanating from the resistance
by former farm owners now find themselves
forking out $19 000 per kilometre
for a tonne of cane, up from last year's
$152.
Ironically, it is the former farm owners who run the transport
industry in
the area, putting the new farmers in a fix.
With the new
charges, the new farmers would see their profits margins eroded
to
zero.
What makes the situation complicated for the farmers is that
sugarcane
should be delivered within three days of being harvested, failure
of which
it deteriorates into molasses.
Last weekend, the new farmers
held meetings in a bid to find a solution to
their problem.
Farmers
appealed to Hippo Valley Estates for assistance in transporting
their cane to
its mills.
"We feel that since we have milling contracts with Hippo
Valley the company
should assist us but we are told they have their own 1,4
million hectares of
the crop to deal with.
"We have, however, send a
letter requesting them to assist us," said one of
the farmers, Mr Nicholas
Mudehwe.
Hippo Valley chief executive officer, Mr Sydney Mutsambiwa,
refused to
comment and asked for written questions.
"Well, we don't
communicate over the phone and what we do is that you put
your questions in
writing and then we respond," he said.
Resettled farmers in Chiredzi are
this year expected to produce over 500 000
tonnes of sugarcane worth billions
of dollars.
But they are worried about the Government's delay in
announcing new producer
prices for cane, which had been expected before this
marketing season.
Commuters Stranded As Filling Stations Dry Up
The
Herald (Harare)
May 7, 2003
Posted to the web May 7,
2003
Harare
Most filling stations in Harare have run out of fuel
amid reports that the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe reserves have dried
up.
Sources in the fuel industry said the country's sole fuel procurement
body
had appealed to all banks to source foreign currency to buy
fuel.
"They (Noczim) have asked all the banks to source foreign currency,
at any
rate, to buy fuel as their reserves have hit an all time low," said
a
source.
The recent fuel shortages have also been blamed on some
unscrupulous service
station owners who are offloading their allocations to
the thriving black
market.
Petrol is reported to be selling at between
$1 800 and $2 000 per litre
while diesel is going at about $1 000 a litre on
the black market.
Repeated efforts to get comment from the Ministry of
Energy and Power
Development and Noczim were futile.
Thousands of
commuters were left stranded as transport operators failed to
get them to and
from work.
While the situation was normal on Monday morning when
commuters managed to
get transport to work, it was different in the evening
with few operators on
the road.
Yesterday only a few commuter
omnibuses were operating, resulting in long
queues at most ranks in the
city.
Commuter operators plying the Highfield, Mabvuku, Hatfield,
Budiriro and
Chitungwiza routes said most filling stations had run
dry.
Commuters had to endure periods of up to two hours waiting for
transport.
To add to their woes, commuter operators are charging fares as
high as $500
to go to Mabvuku, Budiriro and Glen View.
"Commuter
omnibus operators now charge $500 from Mabvuku to Msasa and
another $450 or
$500 to get into town," said Mr Allan Mambo of Mabvuku.
Commuters
appealed to the Government to bring to book unscrupulous commuter
operators
taking advantage of the unavailability of fuel to charge
high
fares.
Transport operators have been urged to stick to the
gazetted fares announced
on Friday last week.
Police spokesperson
Inspector Andrew Phiri assured the public that operators
found overcharging
would be fined $5 000 or jailed for one month.
"A commuter omnibus
operator who continues to charge illegal fares will pay
$5 000 or one month
imprisonment or both," said Insp Phiri.
According to the Government
Gazette, conventional omnibuses are required to
charge $60 for a distance
between zero and 6km and $100 for 6,1km to 10km.
One is required to pay
$200 for a distance between 10,1km and 20km and $300
from 20,1km to
35km.
"The fares also apply to omnibuses that have a sitting capacity of
less than
30 people," said Insp Phiri.
Urban commuter trains are
required to charge $60 on all routes in Harare and
Bulawayo while a child
under four years travelling in the company of adults
is permitted to travel
free of charge.
Children in school uniform are required to pay half the
stipulated fare on
any omnibus.
The new commuter fares were gazetted
following fuel price increases last
month, which saw petrol rising to $450
from $145,20 per litre and diesel
jump to $200 from $119,
43.
CNN
UK, Australia hit out at Mugabe
Wednesday,
May 7, 2003 Posted: 11:36 AM EDT (1536 GMT)
LONDON, England (Reuters) --
Britain and Australia attacked Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe on
Wednesday saying there was no prospect of
welcoming Zimbabwe back into the
Commonwealth until a return to democratic
rule was under way.
Prime
Ministers Tony Blair and John Howard said they would work to exert
maximum
international pressure on Mugabe in order to change the political
climate in
Zimbabwe.
"Until a serious attempt at returning to democratic rule is made
there can
be no question of Zimbabwe ... being readmitted to the councils of
the
Commonwealth," Australia's Howard told reporters in Blair's Downing
Street
home after bilateral talks.
Blair added: "There are no grounds as
far as we can see for saying that
there has been any significant progress at
all, indeed if anything the
situation has got worse."
"That means we have
got to keep up maximum international pressure on the
regime."
The
Commonwealth group of mainly former British colonies suspended Zimbabwe
from
its midst for a year in March 2002 and has since extended that ban
until at
least next December.
The 54-nation body acted after observers said Zimbabwean
elections were
flawed, and in protest at Mugabe's policy of seizing white
owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks.
"The suffering of the
people, both black and white, is inexcusable and
appalling and a terrible
indictment of somebody who has lost any pretence of
governing for the welfare
of the people of that country," Howard said.
Meetings between Mugabe, his
main political opponent Morgan Tsvangirai and
visiting African leaders in
Harare on Monday made little progress with the
opposition's refusal to
recognize Mugabe's March 2002 re-election proving a
major obstacle.
The
opposition MDC is challenging Mugabe's re-election in court. Mugabe says
he
will not talk to the MDC until it drops its case while Tsvangirai refused
to
accept conditions to talks.
"The issue is how do we put the maximum pressure
on Robert Mugabe's regime
in order that we change the situation in Zimbabwe
and change it for the
better politically but also in humanitarian terms,"
Blair said.
Ananova
Protesters target
MCC over Zimbabwe cricket tour
Protesters have turned their
sights on one of cricket's most influential
bodies in their continuing
campaign against Robert Mugabe's regime in
Zimbabwe.
The Stop the Tour
group organised a small demonstration to confront MCC
members as they arrived
for their annual meeting at Lord's.
The protesters, led by campaigner
Peter Tatchell, were hoping to urge MCC
members to condemn the Zimbabwe
cricket tour in England and boycott the
matches.
It is part of a
campaign against a cricket team which protesters say is an
advertisement for
Robert Mugabe's regime, which is accused of human rights
abuses.
In
January this year, Mr Tatchell led campaigners who forced their way
into
Lord's and broke into a meeting of the England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB)
as the governing body was deciding whether a World Cup match in
Zimbabwe
should be played the following month.
Meanwhile, Prime
Minister Tony Blair called for "maximum international
pressure" to be
maintained on the Mugabe regime to restore democracy and
human rights in the
country.
Up to a dozen protesters from the Stop the Tour group handed out
open
letters to members as they entered the gates.
Mr Tatchell said:
"We urge the MCC members to publicly condemn the Zimbabwe
cricket tour and
encourage them to boycott all their matches."
Asked if he was
disappointed with the turnout - at one point police
outnumbered protesters -
Mr Tatchell said: "Our intention was to have a
small, symbolic
protest."
Story filed: 16:32 Wednesday 7th May
2003
conservatives.com
Conservatives
seek assurances over Mugabe
"invitation"
Michael Ancram has
demanded Government assurances that Zimbabwe's
rogue dictator Robert Mugabe
will not be invited to the forthcoming G8
summit in
France.
The Deputy Conservative Leader
fired off a letter to Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw amid suggestions that
French President Jacques Chirac has invited
Mugabe to the gathering of
leading industrialised nations - to be staged at
Evian at the beginning of
June.
Mr Chirac embarrassed Premier Tony
Blair, and betrayed the beleaguered
people of Zimbabwe earlier this year,
when he invited Mugabe to a summit in
Paris, despite an EU ban imposed as a
result of human rights abuses.
Pointing
out that one of the major themes of the Evian summit will be
development of
the "partnership for Africa" initiative, Mr Ancram wrote: "As
extraordinary
as it would seem, it appears that the French are up to their
old tricks
again. Does this mean that Robert Mugabe will be invited to
attend yet
another international conference, once again on French soil?
What
representations have you made to your French counterpart on this
matter?"
Mr Ancram emphasised the
importance of isolating Robert Mugabe and his
regime. "To allow him to appear
on yet another world stage would be
preposterous," he
declared.
BBC
Mugabe 'victim' condemns cricket
tour
|
Maria Stevens lost her husband three years
ago |
The wife of a man murdered three years ago during the occupation of
white-owned farms in Zimbabwe has criticised the current tour of England
by the country's cricket team.
Maria Stevens' husband David was dragged from his farm and shot by
self-styled war veterans during the 2000 occupations. She blamed the
government of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for his death.
The tour is controversial because Mr Mugabe is patron of the Zimbabwean
cricket team.
Speaking on the BBC World Service's Outlook programme, Ms Stevens
condemned both the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the UK
Government for allowing the tour to go ahead.
 The decision is not for individual players -
they are living under such stress in Zimbabwe that they are most
probably incredibly grateful to get out 
|
Both, she said, "didn't have the guts to say: 'It is wrong, it is
genocide in Zimbabwe, they are killing and murdering people, we should not
support that regime'."
On Tuesday UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the House of Commons
that he supported the tour, saying stopping it would only punish "ordinary
Zimbabweans".
World Cup blame
But Ms Stevens said that the wrong messages had been sent out when
England went to the World Cup in southern Africa, despite being asked not
to by the UK Government.
"The damage had already been made when England were prepared to go to
Zimbabwe and play cricket," she said.
The ECB told the government at the time that, if it did not want
England to play the match, it must pay them compensation.
When this did not happen, England's players eventually took the
decision not to play on the grounds of safety concerns.
Players under stress
"I do know that a lot of people feel that politics and sport cannot be
mixed together, but we must remember that the cricket team that is here is
here under circumstances that, had politics and sport not mixed, would not
be here," Ms Stevens added.
"A lot of players that should have been in the team are not allowed to
play."
Protests against the tour are already under
way |
Fast bowler Henry Olonga is among those who would possibly otherwise
have been included in the squad.
He has fled to England since the World Cup after making a protest
against Mr Mugabe in Zimbabwe's opening match.
Ms Stevens added that she did not blame Zimbabwe's players for going on
the tour.
"Of course it's not for individual players - they are living under such
stress in Zimbabwe that they are most probably incredibly grateful to come
out of Zimbabwe to just get peace of mind, to know that you can get food,"
she said.
"In Zimbabwe you can't get food, you can't get any of the commodities
you need for a normal life, you are scared that you're going to be
murdered by the government militia or police.
"Now that they are here I feel that the best team must win, and good
luck to our boys."
She added that what had happened to her husband's killer since his
arrest had only confirmed her suspicions about the involvement of Mr
Mugabe's regime in Mr Stevens' death.
"There was a man put in jail, and he did go through court and he was
found guilty - but Mugabe gave him amnesty and I assume he is now part of
Mugabe's outstanding
society." |
epolitix.com
Mugabe's days
are numbered, claims
Short
The days of Robert Mugabe's regime are numbered, Clare Short
has
predicted.
The international development secretary told MPs that there were
increasing
signs that Zimbabwe's leadership was beginning to
crumble.
"Things seem to be moving," she told MPs on Wednesday. "The mass
stay-aways
seem to be quite big. My instinct is that the end is coming. It
can't come
soon
enough."
Short said efforts to bring an end to the Mugabe regime had been
hampered by
the absence of an international court and the lack of political
will among
Zimbabwe's
neighbours.
"We don't have the tools to deal with these individual
dictators," she told
MPs, adding later that the pressure on Mugabe from
within Africa "has been
much less than it should have
been".
And she warned that the "disaster is quite terrible in terms of
destruction
of the economy, thuggery and hunger and
suffering".
Shadow international development secretary Caroline Spelman
voiced concern
that this week's private meeting between Robert Mugabe and
African leaders
failed to make
progress.
She called for action to stop state-sponsored violence being
organised by
Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party.
Speaking earlier in the day, the prime minister called for the
international
community to put the "maximum pressure" on the
regime.
Short: "My instinct is that the end is coming. It can't come
soon
enough"
"The situation in Zimbabwe remains a very serious situation
indeed. There has
not been real progress there at all, in our view," Tony
Blair said in Downing
Street.
"We continue to have not merely a situation where there is a
lack of proper
democracy and proper adherence to human rights, but also the
appalling
humanitarian situation that has been exacerbated by the
political
situation.
"We will work together and do everything we possibly can in
order to try to
bring relief to people in Zimbabwe who are suffering so
much, both in a
political sense and because of the humanitarian crisis that
has been allowed
to
develop."
His comments were supported by the Australian prime minister,
John Howard,
who said Mugabe's actions were
"inexcusable".
"The suffering of the people, both black and white, in Zimbabwe
is not only
distressing but inexcusable and appalling and a terrible
indictment of
someone who has lost any pretence of governing for the welfare
of the people
of that country," he said.
Mail and
Guardian
Mounting pressure on
Mugabe
Johannesburg
07 May 2003
14:31
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it
will
launch a mass action campaign to demonstrate the people's "displeasure"
with
the government of President Robert Mugabe.
MDC representative
Paul Themba Nyathi said on Tuesday the protest action
would begin within the
next two weeks, "might last longer" than a two-day
stay away held in March,
and involve demonstrations.
Following an inconclusive visit on Monday by
three senior African presidents
trying to open a dialogue between Mugabe and
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
Nyathi said "our premise was talks can only
yield something if further
pressure is brought to bear on
Mugabe".
Mugabe demanded recognition as Zimbabwe's legitimately elected
leader by the
opposition before engaging in talks on resolving the country's
crisis. He
said the MDC would have to drop its court challenge to the results
of last
year's controversial presidential election in which Mugabe was
declared the
winner.
"I am the president of the country, I have
legitimacy which the MDC doesn't
recognise," Mugabe said.
"Does the
MDC now say they recognise me? That is the issue. If they do, that
means the
MDC court action has to be withdrawn and we can start talks."
Nyathi said
the MDC had rejected Mugabe's conditions for talks.
"The three presidents
who came here, if they had any doubts on Mugabe's
destructive rule, now have
no doubts," Nyathi commented.
"All he does is be a spoiler, but at the
moment his back is against the
wall. He's not as important a factor as he
claims to be."
Presidents Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, Olusegun Obasanjo of
Nigeria and Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa held separate talks in Harare with
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai, to encourage them to restart a dialogue process which
collapsed
last May because of the MDC's court challenge.
Obasanjo told
journalists that the three visiting leaders were "delighted"
Mugabe and his
government were "very anxious" for negotiations.
"There is a little point
[the MDC's court challenge] which we can work out.
We will work on it as
quickly as possible."
Muluzi said after Monday's deadlock that he was
asked by Mbeki and Obasanjo
to hold further talks with Tsvangirai "very
soon".
In the meantime, Commonwealth members Australia and Britain are
calling for
"maximum international pressure" to be maintained on Mugabe's
government to
restore democracy and human rights.
Speaking following a
meeting in London with Australian Prime Minister John
Howard, Blair said:
"The situation in Zimbabwe remains a very serious
situation indeed. There has
not been real progress there at all, in our
view."
Blair referred to a
lack of proper democracy and adherence to human rights
and to "the appalling
humanitarian situation that has been exacerbated by
the political
situation".
Howard said there was "no question" of Zimbabwe's suspension
from the
councils of the Commonwealth being lifted unless the country
returned to
democracy.
"Even more importantly than that, the suffering
of the people, both black
and white, in Zimbabwe is not only distressing but
inexcusable and appalling
and a terrible indictment of someone who has lost
any pretence of governing
for the welfare of the people of that country," he
added.
International Development Secretary for Britain Clare Short, later
on
Wednesday added that she believes Mugabe is likely to lose power
soon.
"My instinct is the end is coming." - Sapa
Ananova
Blair calls for 'maximum
pressure' on Mugabe
Tony Blair has called for "maximum
international pressure" to be maintained
on the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe to
restore democracy and human rights in
the country.
But he declined to
comment on the current tour of England by Zimbabwe's
cricket side, which
anti-Mugabe campaigners believe should not have been
allowed to go
ahead.
Mr Blair spoke after a breakfast meeting at 10 Downing Street
with
Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Mr Howard said there was
"no question" of Zimbabwe's suspension from the
councils of the Commonwealth
being lifted unless the country returned to
democracy.
He was one of a
troika of Commonwealth leaders who recommended suspension
following Robert
Mugabe's disputed victory in last year's presidential
election in
Zimbabwe.
On Tuesday Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change
rejected an
offer from Mr Mugabe to open negotiations on the political and
economic
situation in return for recognition of the election
result.
The offer followed a visit to Harare by three African leaders
hoping to make
a breakthrough in the crisis.
Mr Blair said after
Wednesday's meeting: "The situation in Zimbabwe remains
a very serious
situation indeed. There has not been real progress there at
all, in our
view.
"We continue to have not merely a situation where there is a lack
of proper
democracy and proper adherence to human rights, but also the
appalling
humanitarian situation that has been exacerbated by the political
situation.
"We will work together and do everything we possibly can in
order to try to
bring relief to people in Zimbabwe who are suffering so much,
both in a
political sense and because of the humanitarian crisis that has
been allowed
to develop."
Asked whether the controversial cricket
tour, which began last weekend,
should have be allowed to go ahead, Mr Blair
said: "Whatever issues there
are to do with sport, we can put those to one
side for a moment.
"The issue is how do we make sure that we put the
maximum pressure on Robert
Mugabe's regime in order that we change the
situation in Zimbabwe and change
it for the better politically, but also in
humanitarian terms."
Story filed: 11:35 Wednesday 7th May
2003
Business
Day
Zimbabwe rejects reported Sars
case
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARARE
- The Zimbabwe health ministry has denied reports that it
was
"concealing" a suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(Sars),
the deadly new pneumonia-like disease that has alarmed health
authorities
across the globe.
The daily Herald newspaper reported that an
e-mail was circulating in the
country which stated that a Chinese
national had taken ill at the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair which ended
in Bulawayo last week.
The newspaper quoted the e-mail as saying that the
man exhibited Sars
symptoms and "was whisked away and there is a terrible
media blackout on
this".
Dr Stanley Midzi, head of the health
ministry's disease prevention and
control department, said he had received no
information on the matter.
"This is news to me," he said. "I have not yet
received any report on that.
The City of Bulawayo has not told us of
anything."
He said the ministry had set up a Sars team to deal with any
cases that were
discovered. A special ward has been cleared in the state
Parirenyatwa
Hospital, the country's largest and most sophisticated, to deal
with any
suspected incidence of the
disease.
Sapa
From Business Day (SA), 7
May
SA upbeat about MDC, Zanu PF crisis
talks
International Affairs Editor
Foreign
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was upbeat yesterday about efforts
to bring
the antagonists in Zimbabwe's political crisis to the negotiating
table,
dismissing continuing verbal sparring between them as "opening lines
in
negotiations". After Monday's shuttle diplomacy in Harare by three
African
presidents, President Robert Mugabe continued to insist that he
would not
speak to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
unless it
accepted him as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe. The MDC
continued to
reject this notion, saying it would press ahead with its plans
for mass
protests. Dlamini-Zuma said in Pretoria, after meeting her
Swedish
counterpart, Anna Lindh, that Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF and the MDC
"are
ready to start the dialogue". "Everybody has their opening lines
in
negotiations. That can be overcome. I am sure, (that the talks will
take
place)," Dlamini-Zuma said.
President Thabo Mbeki and his
counterparts from Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo,
and Malawi, Bakili Muluzi, flew
to Harare on Monday in an urgent bid to
mediate in the crisis. And, in a
significant departure from previous
efforts, they met MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. It is not yet clear what
follow-up steps the three presidents
will take, but it could take the form
of a series of separate follow-up
meetings with Mugabe and Tsvangirai in the
coming weeks. In signs there may
have been some unusually tough talking to
Mugabe, Muluzi told the BBC World
Service that "we didn't just go there for
a cup of tea. We were very
serious". He said he told Mugabe that a "bad
economy is bad politics".
African leaders who have met Mugabe in the past
about the crisis have on the
whole been very cautious in their rhetoric
after the meetings. Tsvangirai has
said his party was "ready for
unconditional dialogue".
However MDC
spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said yesterday "that means
unconditional on both
sides". "When Mugabe talks about recognising him,
that's a pre-condition.
There is no way we are going to consider that," he
said. The MDC also warned
that the new round of diplomacy begun by the three
African presidents would
not stop the party's planned campaign of "mass
action" against Mugabe. "The
MDC hopes and trusts that Zanu PF will summon
sufficient courage to put the
interests of the country above its partisan
quest to retain power," Nyathi
said. Despite Dlamini-Zuma's optimism, there
were other signs that there is a
long way to go to narrow the gap between
Mugabe and the MDC. The
state-controlled Herald newspaper reported that US
Assistant Secretary of
State for Africa Walter Kansteiner would meet British
Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw in Botswana next week, with "regime change" on
the agenda. This was
seen by some as an attempt by Mugabe's government to
create the illusion of
an international conspiracy to remove him, thereby
undermining attempts to
get Zanu PF and the MDC back to the negotiating
table. The meeting between
Kansteiner and Straw is unlikely to happen as
Kansteiner is in Botswana this
week and returns to the US on Friday. Straw
will visit SA only next week,
after Kansteiner has left.
Comment from ZWNEWS, 7
May
Carrots and sticks
By Michael
Hartnack
The latest mission by the South African and Nigerian presidents
to Harare
appears to have yielded them Robert Mugabe's favourite award: "The
Order of
the Dangling Carrot.'' After Mugabe's 45 years in politics, from
organiser
of mob violence to state president, his methods are only too well
known to
Zimbabweans. The US State Department's Walter Kansteiner, making
excursions
to Africa from his base in Washington 12 000km away, has also seen
through
Mugabe's methods. Not so, it seems South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and
Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo. They still cling to illusions - which
Mugabe
takes great pains to foster - that round after round of talks and
"fact
finding visits" may produce a compromise and relieve them of
responsibility
for giving him past tacit encouragement. Ahead of Mbeki and
Olusegun, yet
another South African delegation came to study "land reform" -
as if the
thousands of derelict hectares, the empty supermarket shelves and
the
continuing exodus of Zimbabwean economic refugees did not speak
for
themselves. Over a year ago, in February 2002, Mbeki mouthed
platitudes
about the "tremendous progress" made by Mugabe and expressed
confidence that
remaining problems "can be resolved within Africa's conflict
resolution
mechanisms.'' And if that didn't satisfy the West then their
concern was
"not for democracy but control", Mbeki declared.
Some
commentators believe the success of the April 23-25 national strike,
called
by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions, has weakened Mugabe's
resolve and
made the country ripe for reform. Last week's summary (and
illegal) removal
of Harare's elected opposition mayor, on trumped up charges
of abuse of
office, does not suggest a regime eager to negotiate, or even
open to reason.
In talks that never get anywhere, Mugabe keeps the carrot
dangling with the
consummate art of the born showman and salesman.
Ultimately, however, all his
opponents' efforts to placate him merely place
them at the mercy of the
stick, which is then ruthlessly applied. Those who
do not know Mugabe are
agog with the latest hint, put out in an interview
broadcast here on April
21, that he might at last be prepared to consider
going into retirement
peacefully, thus breaking the political logjam of the
last five disastrous
years. Describing the seizure of 5 000 white owned
farms as his "greatest
achievement", he said: "We are getting to a stage
where we shall say 'Ah, we
have settled the matter and people can retire'."
Mugabe's royal "we" reflects
his thinking - he is the only Zimbabwean
entitled to have an opinion, and he
speaks for all. His latest trick is to
make Mbeki and Obasanjo believe that
all they have to do is pressure Morgan
Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change to accept the
legitimacy of the blatantly rigged 2002
presidential elections, drop their
legal action, throw away their volumes of
irrefutable evidence, and
guarantee Mugabe a blissful retirement. And then
Mugabe will go; the
rampages by his war veterans and "green bomber" youth
militia, with all the
harm they are doing to NEPAD and the economy of the
continent, will then
stop; there will be new, free and fair Zimbabwean
elections, producing a
president with whom Pretoria - and Abuja - can
work.
However, those who know Mugabe know that if Tsvangirai succumbs
to
Mbeki-Obasanjo pressure to sign away his moral and legal right to
the
presidency and the bringing to book of all those responsible for
murders,
rapes, beatings and arson attacks, Mugabe will deem these
concessions to be
insufficient. Quite simply, Mugabe plans to hang on until
the term ends
2008, offering only cosmetic changes. He declared in the April
21 interview
he will hang on to right of veto over matters of "principle". He
will do
this by remaining head of the ruling party, by delegating power to
mere
figureheads. Mugabe's means of terror will be left intact, ready to
be
unleashed as they were in 2000 - under the guise of agitation for
land
reform. Mugabe is counting on the despair of ordinary Zimbabwean voters
for
any real prospect of reform. Mugabe's talk at independence
anniversary
celebrations about the importance of unity and maintaining
Zimbabwe's
sovereignty at all costs translates that he will never accept any
member of
any ethnic minority, or any political opponent except as a
temporary,
insecure, junior partner in any business arrangement - a landless
share
cropper. These are the "principles" over which Mugabe aims to retain
right
of veto, just as he and his family aim to retain control over the means
of
terror until 2008 and beyond. Mbeki and Obasanjo must face this
fact
squarely.
Obasanjo, returning from a visit to Pretoria
earlier this year, indicated he
and Mbeki are eager to see Mugabe retire. The
retirement issue is, however,
secondary until Mbeki and Obasanjo can get the
Means of Terror out of the
hands of the Mugabe coterie - better still,
irreversibly eradicated from
Zimbabwean society. The looting of Baghdad and
other Iraqi cities should
have brought home how urgent this is. Despite dire
shortages of all staples
from petrol to bread, there is little danger
ordinary Zimbabweans will take
to the streets and fight Mugabe's security
forces with their bare hands. It
is not lack of courage, but the knowledge
violence will merely breed another
generation of barbarians, that holds
Zimbabweans back. We have too many
already, bred by Mugabe. No, the danger
for Zimbabwe, the region and Africa
is that Mugabe's barbarian warlords, long
imbued with a culture of impunity,
will turn from their present extortion
rackets and black marketeering to
open looting of stores, of filling
stations, wholesalers, fuel depots,
public institutions and private homes.
From the criminals' point of view, it
is a small step from plundering farms
while police protest "this is a
political matter, we cannot interfere" - to
seizing the goods in the central
business district of Harare. These are the
carrots they see, and Mbeki and
Obasanjo must ask themselves where the stick
will be, and who will have to
wield it, when these warlords move to seize
them.
A Third Way Out
New Vision
(Kampala)
EDITORIAL
May 7, 2003
Posted to the web May 7,
2003
Kampala
THREE African leaders are in Zimbabwe to help resolve
the country's severe
political crisis.
The leaders of Nigeria, South
Africa and Malawi are holding talks with
President Robert Mugabe and the main
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Speculation is rife that the
African leaders may encourage Mugabe to stand
down. Although the South
African government has denied pressure on Mugabe to
step down, the
speculation appears to be smoke with some fire in the
background. Mugabe
recently alluded to retirement, while early this year,
two of his close aides
were said to have mooted the idea to the opposition.
Zimbabwe has lurched
from crisis to crisis in recent years. The white
minority has been
injudiciously deprived of land; the black majority has not
been given the
independence dividend long promised it. The economy has
declined, with
inflation running at over 100% and factories grinding to a
halt. Fuel is
scarce, and shops have run out of essential commodities.
Opposition is
ruthlessly dealt with and the country has been ostracised by
the
international community. Mugabe's re-election was widely disputed.
All
this makes for fertile ground for social and political unrest, the kind
of
which has often resulted in violent coups and rebel insurgency elsewhere
in
Africa. Since no one desires violence, and electoral politics failed to
get
rid of Mugabe (his current term runs to 2008), it is prudent that he
takes
the third way out by retiring quietly and honourably. Last week,
Burundi's
Pierre Buyoya unselfishly handed over the presidency as part of a
peace deal.
Mugabe could do something similar as a prelude to resolving the
political
crisis, reversing economic decline and restoring social
order.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai to Negotiate Power
Daily Trust
(Abuja)
May 7, 2003
Posted to the web May 7, 2003
Suleiman
Mohammed
Both President Robert Mugabe and Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai have
agreed in Harare
to re-establish contact to negotiate and pursue dialogue in
the interest of
Zimbabwe.
This was the major outcome of the one-day
mini-summit involving President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa and
President Bakilli Muluzi of Malawi, aimed at
resolving the political problem
in Zimbabwe.
President Obasanjo, who
addressed the press on behalf of the three African
leaders, said separate
meetings were held on Monday with both President
Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai,
leader of the movement for Democratic Change, and
it was resolved that
dialogue would be engaged in addressing the conflict.
He said the
political and economic interests of Zimbabwe demanded that all
hands should
be on deck to resolve the immediate challenge before the
country.
The
Monday meetings were held in the context of the belief held by
President
Obasanjo and President Mbeki that "constructive engagement" with
Zimbabwe
was the best course to pursue in the present
circumstance.
"Common humanity imposes responsibility on the
international community to
help Zimbabwe out of its temporary food shortage
which has been accentuated
by the land distribution problem," President
Obasanjo had said before the
Monday meetings.
He told the press at the
end of the meeting that Zimbabweans of whatever
persuasion were the ones who
should be in the forefront of the efforts to
solve the problems in their
country, hence the need for joint efforts by
those inside and outside the
government.
He stressed the need for dialogue, contact and negotiation
however far apart
the parties to a problem might be. He saw the meetings as a
step in the
right direction, given the readiness of both government and Mr.
Tsvangirai
to pursue dialogue.
While there was agreement on the
reality that a government existed in
Zimbabwe, there was also the fact that
those who wanted to challenge the
government could pursue their aims through
the court.
Mugabe's Exit 'Not Discussed' at Meeting with
Presidents
allAfrica.com
INTERVIEW
May 7, 2003
Posted to the web May 7, 2003
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Johannesburg
South African president, Thabo Mbeki, travelled to
Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this week on a whistle-stop
diplomatic mission. Zimbabwe is in crisis and the DRC hopes it will be able to
put behind it a five-year conflict. In both cases and in other trouble spots in
the region - Pretoria is increasingly applying diplomatic pressure and using
shuttle-diplomacy to try to resolve the problems.
On Monday, Mbeki accompanied Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasanjo and the Malawian leader, Bakili Muluzi, to Harare for talks with
President Robert Mugabe. They held separate discussions with the Zimbabwean
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
The visit came amid feverish speculation that Mugabe may
be contemplating early retirement. The official purpose for the presence of the
African presidential delegation in Harare was to get the two rival sides in
Zimbabwe to talk.
South African foreign minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
told journalists Tuesday that "both parties are ready to start the dialogue. We
welcome that development. The future of Zimbabwe lies in the hands of that
leadership in (Mugabe’s) Zanu-PF and the MDC."
Dlamini-Zuma dismissed concerns that dialogue seemed to
been blocked by pre-conditions for talks by both protagonists. "Everybody has
their opening lines in negotiations. That can be overcome. You can’t send a
country to destruction because of that, I am sure," said South Africa’s top
diplomat.
So, how should one characterise South African foreign
policy in the region? In the early days after liberation and the first
non-racial elections in 1994, Pretoria’s Africa policy was considered by some
analysts as somewhat erratic, having limited success.
Mbeki has since assumed the mantle of the champion for
Africa and the continent’s renaissance. Western governments increasingly look to
him, and to South Africa, to find workable African solutions to African
problems. But does the coat fit and has the impression of a hit-and-miss
approach by South Africa, in how it tackles Africa’s woes, been erased?
The Pretoria government now has peacekeeping troops in
the DRC (under a United Nations’ banner) and in Burundi, as part of an African
Union (AU) force. Mbeki, his deputy president and ministers have been deeply
involved in negotiating peace deals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and,
in Burundi. And South Africa has taken the initiative even further afield with
Mbeki as the inaugural chairman of the African Union (AU) which replaced the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in the South African port city of Durban
last year.
AllAfrica.com’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton discussed these
questions with Bheki Khumalo, Mbeki’s presidential spokesperson.
Excerpts:
Did Monday's visit to Zimbabwe go well?
I think the talks, in our view, went very well. President
Mbeki, as you know, met President Mugabe for three hours with President Muluzi
and President Obasanjo. They then proceeded to meet with the leadership of the
MDC - with Morgan Tsvangirai, with Welshman Ncube and two others.
I think that, for the first time, both sides - the Zanu-PF
leadership, the government of Zimbabwe on the one hand and the MDC on the other
hand, emerged out of those talks with one statement: that dialogue must resume
and that they’ve got to sit down around a table and talk about the future of
Zimbabwe.
I think it underscores what we have been saying all along,
that the Zimbabwean problems can’t be solved by outsiders. But the people of
Zimbabwe themselves - in this case, the MDC and Zanu-PF, the two main
protagonists - will have to sit around the table and thrash out various areas of
agreement. And that’s what has happened and that is what will happen.
The African presidential delegation to Zimbabwe said that
both sides were prepared to talk. But we saw that positions didn’t change.
President Mugabe is still saying that the opposition MDC will have to drop its
legal challenge to his disputed re-election last year. The other side,
meanwhile, has refused, saying this is a normal route and that the MDC will
pursue it. So, how can you get the two parties together around the table to talk
when this impasse remains?
I think that there was an expectation which we think was
unrealistic that was created before the meeting. People started writing about
the so-called 'exit plans’ [for Mugabe] and that kind of thing or of a regime
change in Zimbabwe.
I think that if you are beginning a process of dialogue that
will culminate in dialogue between a number of parties, you anticipate that as
people begin to get together there will be areas of difficulty. Certainly that
area is one area of difficulty that all of us must grapple with.
But we can say, with utmost certainty, that both Zanu-PF and
the MDC are bound to come together and resume dialogue and that will happen.
How soon?
Well, we can’t tell.
Well, how much progress was made on Monday during the
talks in Harare to bring the two sides together for you to reach that
conclusion?
We think that significant progress was made. But I think you
must accept as well that you cannot expect instant results. I think that it will
take quite a bit of time and we are working very hard on this matter, even after
this meeting, to try to nudge the process forward.
You say there has been no talk of an 'exit plan’ or a
departure plan or possible early retirement for President Mugabe, but he himself
has mentioned it. Was the subject broached at all in the talks in Harare?
No, the subject was not broached at all. I think that really
was a figment of the imagination among sections of the press.
It was not really a figment of anyone’s imagination,
because President Mugabe himself has made reference -
Let me carry on! Let me carry on! I think everyone - and
President Mugabe himself - accepts that he will have to step down at some point,
but the matter was not discussed at the meeting. It was not the subject of the
meeting. I mean he himself has said that and I think people have got to accept
that.
I believe Morgan Tsvangirai has said, to date, that he
will not accept any pre-conditions to talks. But if you have President Mugabe
telling the media after the talks that the opposition’s legal challenge would
have to be dropped before talks can proceed, how can you possibly move forward?
I think let’s leave that matter to the presidents who are
seized with the matter, that they will deal with that and that dialogue will
resume.
Can we move on to the Democratic Republic of Congo,
because President Mbeki made a lightning trip there, also on Monday, after
Zimbabwe, flying back early on Tuesday. What was the objective of that trip?
In the DRC, President Kabila had asked that he wanted to see
President Mbeki to discuss the transitional government and the establishment,
thereof, of a transitional government in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
But over and above that, they discussed the subject of the
transitional government, the appointment of ministers, the appointment of the
national assembly, the appointment of the senate, the timetable - for instance -
leading to the elections and the whole issue of the establishment of a joint
army.
Clearly President Mbeki indicated that he was going to take
this matter of the formation of a joint army to the peace and security organ of
the African Union, which he chairs, so that then we could see what we can do to
assist the DRC in having this transitional government and the joint army,
because those are very difficult questions. He even said that parties in the
Congo themselves must discuss the matter.
I just want to add just a last point. I want to mention that
there is a follow-up committee. As you know, that was agreed in the terms of the
Sun City, the Pretoria agreement. All members of the follow-up committee, from
all parties, are in Kinshasa at the moment and are keen to really establish that
interim government. So we are quite buoyant.
How much of a slap in the face was it for South Africa
that President Kabila did not attend the signing of the agreement in Pretoria?
There was a lot of back-slapping among the South African negotiators and
mediators the DRC parties, but President Kabila wasn’t there. Was that a blow?
No, not at all. President Kabila had told us before the Sun
City talks that he would like to celebrate in Kinshasa with the people of the
Congo. He said that he watched the signing ceremony live on television and that
he was rejoicing with them. He had asked that he be excused and the president
had granted him that. So we are not worried, it was not a slap in the face.
South Africa appears to be busy with African foreign
policy - the DRC, and Burundi, with the swearing-in of a Hutu president recently
and what many see as a shaky peace deal between the government and rebel groups
there - and the involvement of Mbeki as AU chairman in the crisis in Cote
d’Ivoire. Has President Mbeki got too many irons in the fire?
No, I think that if there is a time to solve Africa’s
problems, then that time has arrived. If we are ever going to get Africa right,
it’s now. We want to convert the century; we have said that this has to be an
African century. And I think if it has to be an African century, it has to be a
century that deals with all those things. So we don’t have our hands everywhere.
I think we have the capacity and the capability to resolve these matters.
Is it a case of President Mbeki trying to get everything
done before he hands over the chairmanship of the African Union?
No, no, no. It’s a long struggle. It’s the beginning of a
long
struggle.
Chinese Company Moves Onto Nuanetsi Irrigation
Scheme
The Herald (Harare)
May 7, 2003
Posted to the
web May 7, 2003
Masvingo Bureau
Harare
CHINESE Water and
Electrical International, the company contracted by the
Government to develop
the new Nuanetsi irrigation scheme in Masvingo, has
started moving its
equipment to the site.
The company, which has been quietly moving its
equipment over the past few
weeks, has already started setting up camp and is
expected to commence major
works anytime.
As more equipment
comes in, the Government has announced that it has
increased the size of the
scheme from the initial 100 000 hectares to 150
000 hectares.
"The
Chinese started moving their equipment to the site.
"They have now built
their camp and we expect them to start major works
anytime as more equipment
comes in.
"At the same time, the Government has now increased the size of
the
irrigation scheme by 50 000 hectares, from 100 000 to 150 000
hectares,"
said Masvingo provincial administrator, Mr Alfonse
Chikurira.
He said 250 hectares has been cleared.
About 20
hectares have been planted with winter maize at the scheme.
More hectares
will be planted as more developments take place.
The Government has
declared that irrigation is of strategic national
importance.
Nuanetsi
irrigation scheme comes after the Masvingo food initiative, which
saw
Zimbabwe successfully growing its maiden winter maize crop last year.
If
fully-implemented, the irrigation scheme would produce an average of
three
million tonnes of maize a year.
Sunday Times
(SA)
Zim economy must top agenda: NNP
The
economic reconstruction of Zimbabwe must top the agenda in talks
between
African and Zimbabwean political leaders, the New National Party
says.
"If economic recovery means that (Zimbabwean President Robert)
Mugabe has to
go and a government of national unity be put in place till
early
presidential elections in 2005, it should be put in place without
delay,"
NNP foreign affairs spokesman Dr Boy
Geldenhuys
said.
Personal and party political interests could no longer be more
important
than the national interest.
"By clinging to unreasonable
preconditions to a political settlement the
tragic economic situation in
Zimbabwe will further
deteriorate to the detriment of the entire region," he
said.
The lesson Zimbabwe could learn from South Africa was to
unconditionally
talk to each other about the future of the
country.
The focus had to be on the shared concern for the welfare of all
Zimbabweans
and not on differences between parties, Geldenhuys
said.
Sapa