http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Saturday 08
May 2010
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
on Thursday said
the southern African country no longer poses a risk to
investors as the
political crisis that destroyed the economy "no longer
exists".
"The perceived risk on Zimbabwe does no longer exist . . . what
country in
Africa is risk-free?" Tsvangirai said, during a joint address
with Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara and President Robert Mugabe, who made a
surprise
showing at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Dar es
Salaam.
"Zimbabwe is ready to do business. If Africa's time has come for
investment
then Zimbabwe cannot miss the boat. It must be part of that
opportunity," he
said.
Zimbabwe, still struggling to recover from a
decade-long economic collapse
and a protracted political crisis that
followed its disputed 2008 elections
pitting then opposition leader
Tsvangirai against Mugabe, registered its
first positive economic growth in
ten years last year.
The former rivals formed a power-sharing government
last year which has won
plaudits for stabilising the country's economy and
improving people's lives,
but the administration has been dogged by
political squabbles over full
implementation of the power-sharing
agreement.
"The political crisis . . . no longer exists. The country is
making progress
and it is time investors started looking at Zimbabwe from a
different
perspective," Tsvangirai said.
Mugabe also appealed for
investment at Africa's biggest business meeting,
dismissing investor worries
over new ownership laws meant to transfer
majority stake of foreign owned
firms to black Zimbabweans and which have
strained the unity
government.
"People have said it will drive away investment. We say it
won't," said
Mugabe, adding; "Companies have been forthcoming . . . I don't
think it's a
painful thing for them. Forty-nine percent is a
lot."
Tsvangirai stressed that discussion was continuing on the
empowerment law
and its application.
The former opposition supremo
said he would not enter a coalition government
again, but that "it was
"necessary" to work with Mugabe because the country
had to undergo a
transition after the disputed elections.
But, he added: "I think it is a
very painful exercise . . . It is painful in
so far as every day you are
negotiating. Would I ever do this again? I don't
think so. I think it is a
bad precedent. It would be unfortunate if the next
election is conducted in
an atmosphere of violence, in an atmosphere of
undermining the mandate of
the people."
Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round presidential
run-off election in
2008 because of violence against his supporters, leaving
Mugabe to claim
victory before the African Union and the Southern African
Development
Community forced him to form a power-sharing government with
Tsvangirai.
Deputy Premier Mutambara called for the complete lifting of
Western
sanctions targeted against Mugabe and his inner circle.
"We
are calling for the total, unequivocal removal of all sanctions," he
said,
adding; "The intended target is the individual but the impact of the
sanctions is the entire economy. No lines of credit, no investors. The brand
of the country is damaged." - ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com
DRC
President Kabila dispatched special envoy for SADC affairs Leon Jean
Ilunga
Ngandu to press President Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime
Minister Mutambara to conclude intra-governmental talks
Blessing Zulu |
Washington 07 May 2010
President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic
Republic of Congo, currently
chairman of the Southern African Development
Community, has dispatched an
envoy to Harare in what some see as an
indication of growing regional
impatience with the stalled talks in the
Zimbabwean national unity
government.
Regional leaders at a November
5 summit in Mozambique gave the Zimbabwean
unity government negotiators and
principals a month to sort out their
differences - but to date the
power-sharing partners have not taken any
major strides towards resolving
the so-called outstanding issues, which have
in fact
multiplied.
Kabila dispatched special envoy for SADC affairs Leon Jean
Ilunga Ngandu to
Harare to press President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to implement
the 2008 Global
Political Agreement for power sharing in full.
Ngandu
and DRC Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mawampanga Mwana Nanga met Thursday
with
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, chief negotiator for the Movement for
Democratic Change formation headed by Mr. Tsvangirai, and Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa, senior negotiator for Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party.
On Friday they met with Industry and Trade Minister Welshman
Ncube, the
Mutambara MDC's chief negotiator.
Biti told VOA Studio 7
reporter Blessing Zulu that he informed Ngandu
elections might be the only
way forward if a talks deadlock is not broken.
He said the MDC is bitter
that talks are dragging on with no solution in
sight.
But Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said such talk about elections is
mere
posturing, as the country has many reforms to put in place before it
can
propose to hold free and fair elections.
The three principals for their
part are under intense pressure from South
African President Jacob Zuma,
mediator in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Southern
African Development
Community, to wrap up their discussions.
But they have continued to push
off discussions while failing to implement
items that have been
agreed.
Negotiators must still come to grips with the most divisive
issues on the
agenda including the leadership of the Reserve Bank and the
Office of the
Attorney general, and the swearing-in of promised MDC
provincial governors.
Mr. Mugabe has been insisting that Mr Tsvangirai
must aggressively campaign
for the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on
him and some 200 members of
his inner circle before ZANU-PF will give
ground.
http://www.afriquejet.com
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Does Africa need a new vision for development of
its agriculture industry?
Whether the answer to the question is 'yes' or
'no', one should dig deep for
explanation to make it convincing.
Agriculture, though an age-old
industry of the continent, has been practised
in many regions to the present
time in ways that cannot guarantee raised
productivity to meet the needs of
Africa's bulging population.
Farming is a key component of African
economies, providing up to 70 per cent
of employment in countries such as
Tanzania but climate change may reduce
production by up to 25 per cent in
the coming years " threatening both food
security and potential economic
gains.
Then, how can stakeholders work together effectively to drive
sustainable
growth in the agriculture sector and capture Africa's
considerable
agricultural potential?
The just-ended 20th meeting of
the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa,
held 5-7 May in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, tried to tackle the issue but
discussants did not make progress in
view of the limited time they had.
'I don't think there is need for every
country to have a new vision on
agriculture,' said Zimbabwe's Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara,
wondering wh at African countries have been doing
over their long-time
visions.
In order to raise the industry's
profile, Mutambara suggested that regional
economic blocs such as the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) and
the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) should start working
on their respective
regional vision so that agriculture takes prominence
both in the people's
lives and the economy in general.
As Africa's population increases, the
continent faces a more urgent need to
turn its agricultural policies into
business outcomes, WEF participants
said.
Explaining what held back
agricultural development in Ethiopia while a
considerable part of his people
survive on charity donations, Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi admitted that the
persistent spectre of starvation in the
country was 'a
dilemma.'
Ethiopia suffered a massive famine that in 1975 led to the
overthrow of
Emperor Haile Selassie's regime and yet again another famine
and drought
ravaged the co untry in 1984-85 under the dictatorial regime of
Col.
Mengistu Haile-Mariam.
Since coming to power after toppling
Mengistu's regime in 1991, Meles said
his 'government has been able to
provide food assistance to keep people who
cannot feed themselves alive, and
to keep itself alive.'
Land ownership and availability is the most
crucial factor in making
agriculture an engine of development throughout
Africa. In Ethiopia land was
nationalised and distributed to tillers in
1985.
Land leases have not stopped farmers in Ethiopia from doubling food
production every decade, but malnutrition and food insecurity stalk the
population. 'Over the last 18 years we have added at least 30 million mouths
to feed. But we don't have to restrain ourselves when we procreate,' Meles
said.
In the opinion of Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete,
host of this
year's WEF meeting, the biggest problem facing Africa's
agriculture is
resource con straint.
WEF participants said farmers
need help to process the food crops they grow
and know that those crops are
nutritious so that they can consume them.
In addition, technology will
make farming attractive to the youth who
account for 60 per cent of the
African population but are not interested in
farming because it is a boring
occupation.
Dar es Salaam - Pana 08/05/2010
By Anaclet Rwegayura
PANA Correspondent
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=17154
By Gerald
Chateta
Published: May 8, 2010
Harare -The Zimbabwe
Prison Services has banned food hand-outs from inmates'
relatives at
Chikurubi Maximum Prison, in an attempt to curb trafficking by
prison
officers, raising fears that the prison which recorded the highest
prison
mortality in 2008 might once again experience the same thing as the
government is not yet capable of feeding the crowded
prisons.
According to highly placed sources at the security maximum
Prison on early
this week the Prison's Officer-In-Charge Assistant
Commissioner Pambai
announced the development before placing notices at the
prison notice
boards.
The sources say Assistant Commissioner Pambai
was reacting to a recent
attempted prison escape by seven "D' class inmates
led by Defence Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa 'linked' coup attempt Captain
Albet Matapo last month.
Matapo after being tortured last month by the
CIO revealed that he had drunk
some beer which were smuggled in prison by a
prison officer who was
assisting him to escape.
"We understand this
might be security measure on the part of the OIC but it
has a great impact
on more than 1800 inmates who mostly rely on food
brought in by their
relatives. At the moment the prison is not able to
provide even a single
meal, as we are relying on Red Cross and other
donor s on food to feed
the inmates," said the
source .
"The officer-In-Charge is being
arrogant and cruel he knows really
that inmates recently succumbed to
pellagra because of malnutrition and he
is putting an embargo on prison
food. If he was security conscious why
cant he request for more prison
officers who are currently doing their (ZPS
Top officials) private jobs.
The issue here is not that of banning food but
of human resources," added
the source.
Secretary refuses to comment
Reached for comment
Zimbabwe Prison Service spokesperson Chief Prison
Officer Priscilla Mtembo
said she was not able to attend to telephone
interviews.
"Fax your
questions and then I will respond to them, do you have our fax
number? When
are you going to fax your questions?," she said.
Over 720 male prisoners
in between May 2008 and June 2009 succumbed to
severe hunger and treatable
diseases at Harare's Chikurubi Maximum Security
Prison.
The situation
at that time was so dire that the inclusive government had to
appeal to
charity organisations to come to the rescue of the prisoners with
food aid,
clothing and drugs to prevent mass deaths at the country's largest
jail.
At least 721 prisoners died from diseases linked to serious
food shortages
such as pellagra during that period. Pellagra is a deficiency
disease caused
by a lack of vitamin B3 and proteins.
Prison officials
also allowed inmates' relatives to bring them extra food to
supplement what
the donors were bringing.
National Democratic Institute (Washington, DC)
7 May 2010
Press release
Two
champions of democracy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and
the
Network of Chocó Women of Colombia, will be honored at the 25th
anniversary
celebration of the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
NDI Chairman
Madeleine K. Albright will host the event, which begins at 7
p.m. at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St., NW.
The evening will also include
the premiere of a film, "NDI's First Quarter
Century: Working for Democracy
and Making Democracy Work," that highlights
the Institute's history of
supporting the efforts of political parties,
civic groups, parliaments,
elections and women's groups in more than 100
countries.
Other
participants in the program include Lord John Alderdice, former
speaker of
the Northern Ireland Assembly, and Alejandro Toledo, former
president of
Peru.
Tsvangirai will receive the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award for
his
tireless efforts to restore democracy, human rights and the rule of law
to
Zimbabwe. His commitment to peaceful political change has been
unwavering
despite assassination attempts, imprisonment and harassment. The
award also
recognizes the democratic aspirations of the Zimbabwean people.
The Harriman
Award, created in 1986, is awarded to individuals and
organizations that
have demonstrated a sustained commitment to democracy and
human rights.
The Network of Chocó Women is an umbrella group
representing 52 civil
society organizations from 18 municipalities in the
primarily Afro-Colombian
region in the western part of Colombia. The region
has the nation's highest
levels of poverty and illiteracy. The organization
will receive a $25,000
grant to continue its work providing leadership
training and advocacy for
women's rights. Nimia Teresa Vargas, co-founder of
the group, will accept
the award.
NDI is an independent, nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization working to
support and strengthen democratic
institutions worldwide by promoting
citizen participation, openness and
accountability in government. More
information about the dinner and about
NDI is available at www.ndi.org.
http://news.radiovop.com
08/05/2010 07:49:00
Harare, May 8,
2010 - Zimbabwe's music Ambassador and international icon,
Oliver Mtukudzi,
is set to release an album for the National Healing process
in June, Radio
VOP can reveal.
The announcement was made by the Minister in the Prime
Minister's Office who
is also a member of the Organ on National Healing and
Reconciliation,
Senator Sekai Holland.
"Oliver and our Organ are
working on an album for the national healing
cause," Senator Holand said.
"We have already finalised the wording for the
album and are only waiting
for a few logistical issues to be sorted out."
She did not say how many
songs were on the album.
Holland said Mtukudzi had agreed to do this
project for the national cause
and for free.
At the just concluded
conference on women and their ideas for the new
constitution Mtukudzi sang
two songs from the new album and had the women
dancing at the Harare
International Conference Centre (HICC).
Mtukudzi was appointed a music
Ambassador for Zimbabwe because of his
numerous works as well as his
popularity both locally and abroad.
The star has won several local and
international awards.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Banking sources said the FBC and CBZ building societies are
now making loans
from US$5,000 to US$100,000 to customers - on condition
they earn at least
US$1, 000 a month, ruling out many would-be
homeowners
Gibbs Dube | Washington 07 May 2010
Zimbabwean
building societies or savings and loan institutions have resumed
making
mortgage loans for the purchase of houses and building plots years
after
such loans were discontinued due to accelerating inflation.
Banking
sources said the FBC and CBZ building societies are now making loans
from
US$5,000 to US$100,000 to customers - on condition they earn at least
US$1,
000 a month. This rules out many would-be borrowers given that most
Zimbabweans are making no more than US$200 a month as the battered economy
attempts to rally.
Harare economist John Robertson told VOA Studio 7
reporter Gibbs Dube that
such loans are also too expensive for many
Zimbabweans because of the steep
14 percent interest rate demanded by
lenders.
Consequently, Robertson said, beneficiaries tend to be
Zimbabweans who are
fairly well off.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Taurai Bande
Friday, 07 May 2010
11:01
HARARE - MDC councillor for Marondera East ward 19, Samuel
Machekanyanga,
(Pictured) whose business empire was looted and set on fire
by Zanu (PF)
thugs in June 2008, is struggling to revive his grocery shop
and farming
activities.
Machekanyanga, 34, was an upcoming
entrepreneur then, before one fateful
night when rogue Zanu (PF) militia
brutally assaulted him and set his
business premises on fire for supporting
MDC. Machekanyanga narrated his
ordeal.
“I had just won elections for
ward councillor by 300 votes against a Zanu
(PF) candidate’s 20. Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had garnered 85 per
cent of the presidential vote
against President Robert Mugabe of Zanu (PF).
This shocked and angered Zanu
(PF) supporters who later hunted me down.
“In the night of June 19, 2008, a
truck load of over 100 Zanu (PF) militia,
descended on my shop at Masikana
Business Centre. They assaulted me and left
me for dead. Six of my
colleagues were also brutally attacked. I sustained
multiple fractures on my
left arm. My hands were crushed with metal objects,
apparently to disable me
into failing to raise an open palm symbolizing the
MDC logo. The same
applied to my colleagues who sustained bodily fractures.
My shop was looted
before part of it was put on fire.
“The thugs proceeded to my homestead and
set fire to my house, granary,
tobacco barn and kraals holding livestock.
Cattle, goats and chickens were
burnt to ashes. Innocent animals perished in
a painful and gruesome act of
terror.
“My wife and children miraculously
escaped the Zanu (PF) madness. The thugs
set MDC campaign posters on fire,
but given the quality and huge quantities
of the consignment, the posters
could not catch fire. This strengthened my
resolve for political change, as
Tsvangirai’s posters had shown defiance
against destruction at the hands of
Zanu (PF). I later went around pasting
the more than 2 000 posters on trees
and buildings, to spread MDC gospel
despite the hardships.
“We were
ferried by sympathizers, Diamond Tenifara and Boniface Tagwirei,
for medical
treatment in Harare. After being plastered, I returned to my
homestead to
defend my wife who would have been abused by the militia.
“Before the attack,
I suffered several beatings at the hands of soldiers led
by Major Kajesa. On
three occasions they beat me up at Dhirihori Business
Centre, after they had
failed to abduct me in broad day light. On one
occasion, they attempted and
failed to undress me at the centre to embarrass
me as an MDC official. They
managed to seize my party T-Shirt with
Tsvangirai’s picture printed in the
front. They had earlier banned me from
setting foot in the shops as I was
‘bad influence’ to other villagers. Some
14 armed soldiers clad in new
uniforms made an attempt to abduct me at my
homestead, but I fled to safety.
I later returned to urge on colleagues to
sustain the struggle for
democracy.
“Though the political atmosphere is relatively calm, I am finding
it
difficult to revive my livelihood given prevailing economic challenges.
Refurbishing and stocking-up my shop needs donor assistance. The task is too
over-whelming for me.
“I jumped on the tide of democratic change after
taking part in several ZCTU
organized mass stay-aways. Utterances by Mugabe
that it was going to take
the most resistant of men to stay behind in urban
areas as the going was to
be tough, did not put me off. I felt insulted and
resolved to join the fight
against tyranny. I joined MDC structures and
never looked back.
“As the people’s councillor, I will do my best to develop
my ward and
improve the welfare of the people,” said the councillor.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
07/05/2010
00:00:00
BABOONS are said to be making monkeys out of the nature
conservation
officials sent to prevent them stealing from people at the
Beitbridge border
post.
"I heard that the baboons recently broke in
and stole from the tents of the
nature conservation staff that had been
deployed there to deal with them,"
South African MP Joe McGluwa said on
Thursday.
McGluwa said a troop of about 200 baboons was responsible for
"stealing from
and terrorising pedestrians, motorists, truckers and customs
officials" at
the post, the main crossing point between Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
"These baboons have now become experts at opening people's bags and
stealing
food from visitors," he said.
The MP said no effective
action was being taken to stop the troop's
behaviour, despite repeated calls
for action, adding the baboons' raid on
the nature officials' tents was "a
clear sign of the absolute incompetence
that has been shown by the
government in dealing with this matter".
In a parliamentary question
earlier this year, McGluwa called on
Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa
Sonjica to say what steps her
department would take to "remove and
rehabilitate the baboons before the
2010 Soccer World Cup
tournament".
In a later reply, the minister said the matter had been
referred to the
Limpopo department of economic development, environment and
tourism. SAPA
http://www.ghanaweb.com/
Accra, May 7, GNA- The
Government would offer all the necessary support to
Zimbabwe to politically
stabilize for economic prosperity and freedom to all
its citizens, Vice
President John Dramani Mahama has pledged. "Ghana as the
first country in
sub-saharan Africa to gain independence from our colonial
masters also
offered assistance to other African countries including
Zimbabwe and in the
same vain we shall do our best to ensure that Zimbabwe
regained the
political image that she created for herself in the past
decades."
Vice President Mahama made this pledge when a 13-member
women empowerment
group from Zimbabwe paid him a courtesy call in his office
as part of their
week-long official visit to Ghana. The women who also
visited Makola Market,
GRATIS FOUNDATION and Parliament are in the country
to learn and adopt some
of the women empowerment programmes that Ghana had
pursued over the years.
They are also to understudy Ghana's Parliament, the
role of women in the
socio-economic development of the country and how such
policies could be
replicated in their country on their return. The Vice
President told the
delegation that government had over the years designed
various loan schemes
for women because of their loyalty in repayment,
thereby making loan
recovery among them easier than their men
counterparts.
"While men sometimes commit some of their loans to the
payments of school
fees of relatives among other issues, women are always
meticulous and ready
to pay back all their loans on time."
He called
on politicians in Zimbabwe to tolerate each other for the
stability and
peace of the country and shelve their political colours from
issues that
could unite them with inherent development and prosperity. Madam
Thokozani
Khupe, a Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and leader of the
delegation,
said they were satisfied with the manner in which Banks and
other financial
institutions were willingly releasing loans to women to
undertake income
generating activities and on their arrival would impress
upon those
institutions in their country to support women programmes. She
stated that
Ghana was one of the best in the African continent, not because
of her
democratic credentials, but because of the economic stability it had
gained
over the years and promised to encourage other sectors in the country
to
visit Ghana to study programmes for their development in Zimbabwe.
Also
at the Castle on Friday were Actors and Actresses who presented their
trophies they won recently at the recently held Movie Academy Awards in
Nigeria to him at his office.
Miss Judith Kuwornu, leader of the
delegation, said Ghana won a total of
eight awards, six at the category
level and two other special awards and
called for support to enable them to
win more laurels in the coming years.
The Vice President said under the
Private Sector Development phase II
programme of government, Creative
Industry would be given special attention
to adequately cater for the
artistes and create numerous jobs for people to
unearth their talents. 07
May 10
Dear Family and Friends,
On a weekend
morning I counted the vehicles that were heading towards
Zimbabwe's prime
tourist area in the magnificent Eastern Highlands
mountains. The 80 kilometre
journey took an hour in what is known as
Zimbabwe's champagne month where the
approach of winter brings a
bright and clear blue sky, thick, shining dew,
warm sun and a whisper
of cool
breeze. What I saw tells the story of
Zimbabwe's tourist industry
after 10 years of political mayhem and economic
collapse:
3 ox drawn carts, 7 wheelbarrows, 3 bicycles, 2 rural buses,
4
private cars, 4 pick up trucks, 1 army truck, 3 commuter mini buses,
2
big double cabs whose number plates advertise their role here: 'FAO'
and
'WFP.' (Food and Agriculture Organisation and World
Food
Programme).
That was all the traffic there was heading to a place
of towering
trees, massive kopjes and rugged hills where the granite slopes
are
papered with orange and green lichen and silver trails of
seeping
water run down rock faces, glistening in the sun. A place of
rivers
and streams and magnificent waterfalls where the water is
crystal
clear and icy cold and always running. On almost every horizon
blue
mountains beckon you nearer and always in your ears is the hissing
and
whispering of wind through pine forests.
Mimosa trees a mass of
bright yellow flowers; aloes ablaze with
orange, pink and red flowers; 'shiny
everlastings' rearing out of the
most unlikely slopes and rock sides, covered
in golden flowers and
everywhere the bees are collecting pollen, making the
most of the
bounty before winter. Apples straight from the trees, potatoes
newly
dug and King Proteas the size of dinner plates: pink, creamy white
and
with hints of orange giving a beauty almost beyond description.
In
such spectacular surroundings in the clean mountain air there are
Inns,
Lodges, Chalets, Cabins, Hotels and even a casino but the car
parks are
deserted and the resorts barely surviving. Where is
everyone, you keep
wondering.
Zimbabwe is on the mend, the politicians keep telling us but
the
situation on the ground demonstrates the truth of the matter. Until
we
get real democracy and freedom back in Zimbabwe and until fear is
gone
- really gone - our beautiful places remain all but empty and
our
tourist industry stays teetering on the edge. Until next time,
thanks
for reading, love cathy. � Copyright cathy buckle 8 May 2010.
www.cathybuckle.com