http://www.nytimes.com
By CELIA W.
DUGGER
Published: November 9, 2008
JOHANNESBURG - Southern African leaders
called Monday for political rivals
in Zimbabwe to share control of the
crucial ministry that oversees the
police and to form a joint government
immediately, but the opposition flatly
rejected the proposal as unworkable
and unfair.
Impatient with a crisis that has dragged on for more than
seven months since
disputed elections in March, the regional leaders sought
to force a
resolution of the deadlocked power-sharing talks between
Zimbabwe's
president, Robert Mugabe, and the opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, in a
marathon day of jawboning on Sunday.
"We cannot
afford to postpone the formation of an inclusive government
because there is
a dispute over who gets the Ministry of Home Affairs," said
Tomaz A.
Salomão, executive secretary of the Southern African Development
Community,
or S.A.D.C., a 15-nation regional bloc, at a midnight news
conference.
But if regional leaders had hoped to press Mr. Tsvangirai
to settle for
shared control of the Home Ministry and a police force that
human rights
groups say turned a blind eye to vicious attacks on his
supporters, it did
not work.
Mr. Tsvangirai, who surpassed Mr. Mugabe
in the March elections and quit a
runoff because of state-sponsored attacks
on his supporters, accused the
regional leaders of lacking the courage to
look Mr. Mugabe in the eye and
insist on an equitable sharing of
ministries.
Mr. Tsvangirai, who seemed somber and discouraged, said his
party, the
Movement for Democratic Change, "is shocked and saddened that the
S.A.D.C.
summit has failed to tackle these issues."
There is now no
obvious next step to end the political crisis in Zimbabwe, a
country
afflicted by worsening hunger and one of the most extreme cases of
hyperinflation in world history.
Mr. Tsvangirai said he would turn to
the African Union for further help, but
it had asked the southern African
regional bloc to take the lead in
mediation. The southern African leaders
sought to resolve the crisis on
Sunday in a marathon of talking. After
rejecting their unequivocal directive
on the crisis, Mr. Tsvangirai is
likely to find himself increasingly
isolated.
Mr. Mugabe left the
summit meeting without commenting, but Mr. Salomão said
he had agreed to the
bloc's proposal. The group's insistence on the
immediate formation of a
government, and Mr. Tsvangirai's refusal to accept
its terms, may embolden
Mr. Mugabe, who has held power for the past 28
years, to go ahead and form a
government on his own.
A communiqué released by the group after the
meeting directed that an
"inclusive government be formed forthwith in
Zimbabwe."
But a government that excluded Mr. Tsvangirai would not win
the infusion of
foreign aid and investment that economists and political
analysts say is
essential to rebuilding Zimbabwe's shattered
economy.
Arthur Mutambara, who leads a small opposition faction that was
also part of
the talks, said Monday morning at a news conference that the
deal S.A.D.C.
offered was the best the opposition would get. He warned,
"This is the end
of the road if we're not careful."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Zimbabwe's neighbours
have swung behind Robert Mugabe in the struggle for
control of the country's
key home affairs ministry, which has held up
putting its unity government
into office.
By Sebastien Berger And Peta Thornycroft in
Johannesburg
Last Updated: 12:03AM GMT 10 Nov 2008
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change has insisted that it must have
sole control
of the ministry, which brings with it authority over the
police, if
power-sharing is to be meaningful.
But around 14 hours after talks
started at a Southern African Development
Community summit in Johannesburg,
the organisation's secretary-general Tomaz
Salamao emerged to say: "Summit
decided that the inclusive government be
formed forthwith [and] the ministry
of home affairs be co-managed between
Zanu-PF and MDC-Tsvangirai."
Mr
Mugabe had earlier proposed the joint ministers concept himself, and
agreed
to the proposal, but Mr Tsvangirai's MDC rejected it.
A source inside the
meeting described Mr Mugabe as "extremely contemptuous"
of Mr Tsvangirai,
interrupting him during his presentation. When the MDC
leader said he had
won the March 29 election, in which he came first, Mr
Mugabe shouted "You
didn't! You didn't!"
"Our situation is not a domestic issue, it is a
foreign issue," Mr Mugabe
told the heads of state, expounding on his
anti-Western mindset. "Home
affairs is part of security and I as president
have greater
superintendence."
Afterwards, Mr Tsvangirai declared:
"The concept of co-ministering cannot
work." With two competing ministers Mr
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party would be in a
position to sideline the MDC, as the
upper levels of the bureaucracy are its
own members, and it would also
threaten the MDC's one-vote majority in
cabinet under the political
agreement.
Mr Tsvangirai said: "Perversely, pressure was brought to bear
on the MDC, a
party that won an election but has shown compromise and
political maturity
in these negotiations rather than the party that lost an
election and has
flouted the spirit and substance of the agreement, namely
Zanu PF.
"Mr Mugabe is not the President of Zimbabwe without this
agreement," he
added, saying that the MDC "hope and pray that the guarantors
of the
agreement, in particular progressive members of SADC and the African
Union,
will now move very quickly to try and salvage this
agreement".
Zanu-PF has already overseen the destruction of Zimbabwe's
economy and the
killing of almost 200 opposition supporters over the
election season earlier
this year.
The summit decision leaves the
entire process on the verge of collapse. Mr
Salamao said: "SADC was asked to
rule and SADC took a decision, that's the
position of SADC. It's up to the
parties to implement." It is also a
demonstration, yet again, of Mr Mugabe's
extraordinary skills as a political
operator, having convinced his
colleagues, who are the guarantors of the
power-sharing agreement, to force
Mr Tsvangirai into a corner.
http://uk.reuters.com
Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:56am GMT
By Rebecca
Harrison
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders said on Sunday
that
Zimbabwe's political rivals must split the leadership of a key
ministry, a
move rejected by the opposition in a further sign that
power-sharing talks
were unravelling.
The 15-nation Southern African
Development Community (SADC) said in a
resolution Zimbabwe's squabbling
political parties should form a unity
government immediately to end a
stalemate over the allocation of ministries.
But opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai said he was "shocked and saddened"
by the outcome of a summit,
which brought together leaders and ministers of
SADC countries for more than
12 hours of talks on Zimbabwe's political
impasse and the violence in
eastern Congo.
"The MDC is shocked and saddened that SADC summit has
failed to tackle these
key issues ... a great opportunity has been missed by
SADC to bring an end
to the Zimbabwean crisis," Tsvangirai said at a
post-summit news conference.
SADC said Tsvangirai did not agree with
SADC's call for his Movement for
Democratic Change to co-manage Zimbabwe's
Home Affairs Ministry with
President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF.
The resolution calling for joint control of the ministry --
which controls
Zimbabwe's police and is the main sticking point in the talks
-- was backed
by all 15 members of SADC, said Arthur Mutambara, leader of a
breakaway MDC
faction.
The SADC said a unity government must be
formed.
"We need to form an inclusive government, today or tomorrow,"
SADC Executive
Secretary Tomaz Salamao told reporters late on Sunday night
after the summit
in South Africa.
"... SADC was asked to rule and
SADC took a decision and that's the position
of SADC. Now it's up to the
parties to implement," he said.
REGIONAL INSTABILITY
Mugabe, in
power since 1980, appeared optimistic that an agreement could be
reached but
Tsvangirai warned of regional instability if the ruling party
refused to
loosen what he called its illegitimate grip on power.
The old foes have
been deadlocked over allocation of important cabinet
positions since the
September 15 deal, which Zimbabweans hoped would produce
a united leadership
to revive the ruined economy in the country where
inflation is the world's
highest and food and fuel shortages widespread.
Control of the Home
Affairs Ministry has been one of the main sticking
points in implementing
the power-sharing deal.
Tsvangirai said co-managing the ministry with the
ruling party was
unworkable, citing the party's contempt for the
MDC.
He said SADC lacked the "courage and decency to look Robert Mugabe
in the
eyes" and tell him his position was wrong.
Highlighting
growing regional impatience, South African President Kgalema
Motlanthe said
earlier on Sunday the deal offered the only hope for Zimbabwe
to ease the
economic crisis.
Past SADC meetings have failed to produce a
breakthrough.
Although some leaders have taken a tough line on Mugabe,
political analysts
say SADC does not have the resolve to impose tough
measures, such as
sanctions, to force an agreement.
The heads of
state of Botswana and Zambia, the most outspoken regional
critics of Mugabe,
did not attend the summit.
Tsvangirai, who would become prime minister
under the power-sharing deal,
has accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF of trying to
seize the lion's share of
important ministries and relegating the MDC to the
role of junior partner.
Zimbabwe's economic crisis has forced millions of
its citizens to flee the
country, many of them moving to neighbouring South
Africa, Africa's biggest
economy.
Zimbabwean state media reported
that Mugabe's government would not change
its stance on key cabinet
positions and the opposition should accept joint
control of the interior
ministry.
(Additional reporting by Phumza Macanda; Writing by Marius
Bosch; Editing by
Michael Georgy)
http://www.businessday.co.za
10
November 2008
Hopewell Radebe
and Dumisani
Muleya
IN
SPITE of SA saying it would take a tough line in a weekend summit to
salvage
Zimbabwe's power-sharing negotiations, the parties failed to put
aside their
differences at heated talks in Sandton last night.
President Kgalema
Motlanthe opened yesterday's proceedings expressing his
"disappointment" at
the lack of progress, yet the parties still failed to
make any breakthroughs
on the vexed question of the division of cabinet
posts.
SA was
hosting the make-or-break summit of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) leaders in its capacity as chair of
SADC.
However, the SADC leaders failed to come up with a
solution, except to
support a suggestion of having two home affairs
ministers to break the
deadlock, which the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
rejected.
The outcome of the meeting was
bound to determine the fate of the faltering
agreement between Zanu (PF) and
two opposition MDC factions signed on
September 15.
The parties have
been fighting over the distribution of ministries and other
matters related
to the implementation of the deal ever since.
The leaders wanted the
parties to agree on ministries and go back home to
form a government and
address outstanding issues later.
Motlanthe set the ball rolling
with a strong opening address, a departure
from the usually indirect and
mild approach by SADC leaders.
Motlanthe said it was "disappointing" to
realise Zimbabweans leaders were
still haggling over ministries and other
issues two months after the signing
of the agreement.
"The historic
power-sharing agreement signed on September 15 remains the
vehicle to help
extricate Zimbabwe from her socioeconomic challenges," he
said.
"It
is, however, disappointing that it is now two months since the signing
of
the agreement and the parties have not yet been able to conclude the
discussions on the formation of an inclusive government."
Indirectly
attacking President Robert Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and the
other smaller MDC faction leader, Arthur Mutambara, Motlanthe said
the
leaders needed to show "political maturity" to resolve the issue.
"The
political leadership in Zimbabwe owe it to the people of Zimbabwe and
the
region to show political maturity by putting the interest of Zimbabwe
first," he said.
"We urge the three parties to build on the
achievement made thus far and
reach an agreement on the outstanding issues,
including the ministry of home
affairs."
Apart from ministries, there
was still the issue of sharing 10 provincial
governors' positions, the
appointment of ambassadors and permanent
secretaries, the role, function and
composition of the national security
council, the amendment of the
constitution to facilitate the agreement, and
the arbitrary changing of the
original agreement by Zanu (PF) under Mugabe's
orders.
Mugabe is said
to have insisted on his position of having two home affairs
ministers shared
between his Zanu (PF) and the MDC.
But Tsvangirai rejected this, saying
he wanted "fair and equitable"
allocation of ministries based on "clusters
and functions" of the
portfolios.
It is said Mugabe shook his head
when Tsvangirai was making his
presentation, prompting SADC leaders to urge
him to show respect to his
rival.
Mugabe argued he would not give
home affairs to the MDC because the party
was allegedly training militias in
Botswana to destabilise Zimbabwe.
Several MDC activists were arrested and
detained last week in connection
with the issue, which the opposition says
is a fabrication to divert
attention from real issues.
http://www.iol.co.za
November 10 2008 at 06:09AM
By
Independent foreign Service
Southern African leaders were battling on
Sunday night to get Zimbabwe's
political leaders to nail down a deal that
would allow a still-born,
two-month-old power-sharing deal to come into
effect.
Six leaders and other representatives of the 15-nation Southern
African
Development Community (SADC) were determined to take as long as
necessary to
persuade President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic
Change leader
Morgan Tsvangirai to agree, essentially, on who should get the
contested
Home Affairs Ministry.
SADC's failure, after several
summits and meetings, to get a Zimbabwean deal
has evidently become an
embarrassment to the organisation. Chairperson,
South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe, chastised the rival Zimbabwean
leaders at the start of
the summit by telling them they owed it "to the
people of Zimbabwe and the
region to show political maturity, by putting the
interest of Zimbabwe
first."
He said it was "disappointing" that two
months after Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
leader of a smaller MDC faction Arthur
Mutambara, had signed a power-sharing
agreement on September 15, they had
not been able to conclude negotiations
on establishing an inclusive
government.
Motlanthe also noted that the rainy season had started in
Zimbabwe, adding
to the challenges of helping Zimbabweans to feed
themselves. This referred
to SA's offer of R300-million to help Zimbabweans
to get food crops planted
this season - provided they first established an
inclusive government.
Former president Thabo Mbeki briefed the leaders on
his efforts, as SADC
mediator, to secure a Zimbabwe deal. While his
successor Motlanthe addressed
the summit, Mbeki sat in the audience between
Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Motlanthe noted that the summit would address
the outbreak of serious
fighting in the eastern DRC.
DRC President
Joseph Kabila briefed the summit on the outcome of a summit of
Great Lakes
leaders in Nairobi on Friday, held to seek a solution to the
renewed
fighting between his government troops and those of renegade Tutsi
general
Laurent Nkunda.
Motlanthe echoed the findings of the Nairobi summit when
he said SADC was
calling "for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian
assistance to the
displaced people."
He said SADC was also calling
for the full implementation of the November
2007 Nairobi communiqué and the
January Goma agreement as well as the Amani
processes relating to the
eastern DRC conflict calling for the disarming and
demobilisation of all
militias and rebel groups fighting in the area and
persecuting
civilians.
Despite the avowed importance of Sunday's summit, only six of
SADC's 15
heads of state or government attended, the rest leaving it to
their
ministers. Apart from Motlanthe, Kabila and Mugabe, others present
were
Hifikepunye Pohambo of Namibia, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and
Lesotho
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
Sources said Mugabe was
making a major issue of his government's
accusation - at a SADC defence
ministers' meeting last week - that Botswana
was training MDC youth to
destabilise Zimbabwe.
Botswana has strongly denied the accusation and
demanded proof.
Tensions have been rising between the two governments
since Botswana's new
president Ian Khama - who was not at Sunday's summit
because of a prior
engagement in the US - began strongly criticising Mugabe,
refusing to
recognise him or his government since his re-election in a June
27 poll
which even SADC rejected as flawed.
Outside the summit venue,
two groups of protestors hurled insults, pamphlets
and stones at each other.
The larger group comprised MDC supporters plus
opponents of Kabila and the
Rwandan government's alleged military incursions
into the eastern DRC in
support of Nkunda's rebels. Across the road was a
much smaller group
comprising Mugabe and Kabila supporters.
This article was
originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on November
10, 2008
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7026
November 9, 2008
Clapperton Mavhunga
IMAGINE a
group of men - or males who call themselves men - standing up with
legs in
their trousers, on their own two feet, and declaring, each with his
own two
lips, that one party which has usurped all power, and another which
has
none, must establish two home affairs ministers, "one appointed by
Zanu-PF,
one by the MDC".
Just imagine that!
"The SADC was asked to rule
and SADC took a decision and that's the position
of SADC. Now it's up to the
parties to implement". So says someone who is
supposed to be the
secretary-general of this organization of pathetic
leaders, who cannot stand
up to Mugabe and tell him a home truth that will
free a nation of 12
million!
Over the past few days, we have heard some sabre-rattling coming
from south
of the Limpopo River.
"This is becoming a matter of
extreme concern to us and we will be taking
quite a hard stance to make sure
that agreement is reached," cabinet
spokesperson Themba Maseko told
reporters.
"We believe that South Africa and the region cannot be held to
ransom by
three parties that are failing to reach agreement on the
allocation of
cabinet posts", he said, going further to suggest nobody would
leave SA soil
without a deal.
The world, the suffering masses of
Zimbabwe, and even the trees heaved a
collective sigh of relief: at last
Pretoria was ready to confront a tyrant.
Skeptics held their peace. Could it
be that the ANC was now ready to put
pressure on the MDC instead of
capitulating to Mugabe?
Now we know.
Surely, SADC must think that
the people of Zimbabwe are fools. They must
surely think that we do not see
what is naked before us: that, for some
reason, the struggle for freedom in
Zimbabwe is just about cosmetic power.
Do they really know that power is a
means to the people's freedom?
Well, we regret to inform SADC that their
attempt to play power games using
Zimbabwe as a toy, with the people as a
rope in this tug-of-war game, will
not be acceptable. If all these males who
congregated in South Africa do not
realize it already, this latest act of
treachery against the people of
Zimbabwe will attract economic consequences.
Most of Zimbabwe's neighbors
have a choice between blind solidarity and
pragmatism. If they choose to
sink with Mugabe, the world will be more than
willing to grant their wish.
SADC is inviting its own collapse, because
it is now clear that it is in the
pocket of a party rejected by the people
of Zimbabwe.
We do not expect charity from SADC; all we ask is for the
region to do what
is right. For a very long time the region has formed a
cabal of tyrants
blocking every path we have chosen to pursue a peaceful,
democratic change.
We have never asked anything other than neutrality for
us to confront our
tyrant; instead SADC has become the 12th player in the
opposition team.
Politicians - males who are simply not man enough to
confront their
tyrannical neighbor - have defied the commonsense of their
citizens, who
understand and empathize with the plight of Zimbabweans. They
think we must
be insane to turn against a liberator, even as they realize
that even the
debris of liberation has been eaten by the tyrant's
rage.
To whom now do we turn?
We cannot count on our neighbors,
because even if ordinary citizens in those
countries feel for us, their
political leaders are paling around with our
tyrant.
We cannot count
on the goodwill of our African leadership, half of whom
tremble in the
presence of our tyrant.
We cannot count on the sanctity of the ballot
because our tyrant believes
that the gun is supreme over elections. To whom
now, tell me? Whom?
Who would not want to emulate Barack Obama and become
president at 47?
Who among us would run away from the power of knowing
they can bring change
through the ballot and elect a government of their
choice?
Who among us would not want a square meal for his children, his
wife, her
husband, or parents?
Who among us deserves to die like a
fly, squashed flat against the wall and
levelled to nothingness by those
whose only qualification is the gun barrel?
Are we not also human
beings?
Tell me, Comrade Mothlanthe, Comrade Armando Guebuza, Comrade
Jakaya
Kikwete, Comrade Bingu wa Mutarika, Comrade Rupiah Banda, Comrade
Eduardo
dos Santos, Comrade Hafikepunye Pohamba, Comrade Joseph Kabila. Tell
me.
Are we the proverbial sacrificial lambs; pests at the very least, to
be
killed with pesticides as if governance is pest control?
Meals at
the tyrant's most charitable, to be roasted and then eaten even
while our
next door neighbors watch.
Rope in the tug-of-war game of politicians
like you, who care for nothing
but power and money.
For far too long,
Zimbabweans have conducted a civil discourse, determined
not to take the
path of the gun. Harsh critics say it's an excuse for
cowardice. Now your
friend, our tyrant, arrests brave mothers fighting with
plates, pots and
spoons on the streets of Harare, while asking for nothing
but food in the
shops and money at the banks, their own money, to feed their
dying
children.
Tell me, SADC presidents, what happens when people's backs are
against the
wall, when the very same people who must guarantee whether they
live or die
the next day turn out to be their predator's
company?
Because, quite frankly, if what you mean by talks is to force a
man who was
elected by the majority to submit to a tyrant the people
overwhelmingly
rejected, there can be no worse betrayal than
that.
When desperation creeps in tomorrow, SADC better take full
responsibility
for the consequences. We have lost many relatives already to
HIV/AIDS simply
because donor money was embezzled by the same regime you
protect.
Is it worth it to be complicit to genocide, to the deaths of
entire families
due to lack of drugs, simply to protect one 84-year old
tyrant? To whom do
those who have lost their relatives, who are now orphans
and who have lost
so many siblings, ask for help if an entire region
connives against 12
million citizens to protect a single tyrant?
For
whom is SADC if it is not for citizens? It boggles the mind for several
males to congregate and declare that they will send a peacekeeping force to
faraway Congo, even as a crisis is brewing right on their borders that may
actually trigger a war to destabilize an entire region.
That is what
is at stake in forcing Mugabe to compromise, not Tsvangirai.
SADC is barking
up the wrong tree.
http://www.independent.co.uk
By Daniel Howden, Africa
correspodent
Monday, 10 November 2008
Zimbabwe's opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai issued a stark warning to
regional heads of
government yesterday, telling them that one million of his
countrymen would
"starve to death" unless a new government was formed
immediately.
The
man who won March's presidential election, told regional leaders at an
emergency summit in Johannesburg that president Robert Mugabe's refusal to
honour the power sharing deal signed up to two months ago was killing the
southern African country. The former union leader who was forced out of the
second round of voting by a murderous campaign targeting his supporters,
told the five heads of that they must set a deadline for a real
power-sharing government.
"Only a genuine power-sharing
arrangement will allow the MDC to join a new
government because that is our
mandate from the people of Zimbabwe and we
cannot and will not betray their
hopes and dreams for a better future," he
said in the speech, a copy of
which was seen by Reuters.
Mr Tsvangirai, who would be prime minister
under the mooted deal, cited
inflation running at more than 200 trillion
percent and mounting
malnutrition, blaming the ruling party's stubborn
determination to hold on
to power at all costs.
"The people of
Zimbabwe are suffering and they need immediate salvation.
Frustration and
anger is setting in and I hope and trust that the leadership
in this room
will be equal to the task that history has imposed on you," he
said.
The stalemate has been cast by the ruling party as a petty
squabble over
ministerial positions but analysts point out that Zanu-PF lost
both the
parliamentary and presidential vote in March, and has opted to let
their
people starve rather than share power with the former opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change.
There is growing regional
impatience over the stalemate and South Africa's
new President Kgalema
Motlanthe - who took over from Mugabe sympathiser
Thabo Mbeki -- said the
power-sharing deal offered the only hope for
Zimbabwe to rescue its
collapsed economy. However, the regional grouping,
SADC, has a disappointing
record on taking tough measures, such as
sanctions, to force an agreement
over cabinet posts.
After the historic photo opportunity where he
shook hands with Mr
Tsavangirai on 15 September, Mr Mugabe has returned to
his traditional,
intransigent tactics behind closed doors and attempted to
deny his new
governmental partners any meaningful authority. The ruling
party continues
to insist that it holds onto executive power and total
control over the
security apparatus that is has used ruthlessly on its own
population in
months of serious political intimidation.
The MDC
general secretary and lead negotiator Tendai Biti said that
prospects for a
workable deal were remote but could not be abandoned.
"We have to
keep the faith. We have people dying of cholera in tents. The
hospitals are
empty and closing down. There is no clean water and no food on
the
shelves."
Mr Biti also rubbished claims from Zanu's Patrick Chinamasa
that the MDC had
been offered joint control over the interior
ministry.
Diplomats warned that the ruling party - concerned at
possible indictments
and loss of plundered assets -- would stall for up to
three months rather
than give away any authority.
At independence
Zimbabwe had the second largest economy in sub-Saharan
Africa and produced
enough food to feed the region. After 28 years of Mugabe
rule it has the
lowest life expectancy in the world and its population is
fed by a
combination of remittances from the millions who have fled the
country, and
the World Food Programme.
The meeting adjourned last night to
consider both parties' presentations.
South Africa had promised
before the meeting to take a new tough stance in
sharp contrast to the
"quiet diplomacy" of former president Mr Mbeki.
Botswana has risked a
breakdown in its relations with Mr Mugabe's
administration by openly calling
for fresh elections in Zimbabwe. Both
countries have been overwhelmed with
refugees fleeing the meltdown in
Zimbabwe, with South Africa thought to be
sheltering as many as 3 million
people from its northern neighbour.
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Published:Nov 10,
2008
THE
letter "Please Motlanthe, ditch Mugabe" by Ryan van Heerden ( November
6)
refers. While I agree with the sentiments expressed on many matters,
South
Africans seem to suffer from collective amnesia.
It was
Kgalema Motlanthe who, as head of the South African observer mission
to the
massively rigged Zimbabwean elections in 2002, declared that poll
"free,
fair and credible".
He immediately lost any respect I might have had
for him. - Dr Denis Venter,
Pretoria
http://www.businessday.co.za
10
November 2008
Wilson
Johwa
Political
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE's remaining whites may make up only less than 1%
of the population,
but most of them are as concerned about their country's
future as their
black compatriots.
The fact that many of them have
some ties with SA is not the only reason why
they closely followed this
weekend's Southern African Development Community
heads of state emergency
talks about Zimbabwe in Johannesburg - most see
Zimbabwe as their only
home.
South African-born Jean Simon is such a person. At her
smallholding 120km
outside Harare, she is pleased at having been reunited
with the last of her
former farm managers. "If you could only see him, he
was all skin and bone,"
she says.
Simon lost two farms at the
height of Zimbabwe's political crisis; she has
just about managed to start
all over, acquiring the smallholding that now
employs 120
people.
White Zimbabweans' approach to political involvement may be
instructive to
white South Africans. Simon has not kept away from politics,
an enterprise
that many among Zimbabwe's white minority brush away, at least
publicly. She
is an active member of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). "If you
choose to live here you have to be involved in public life,"
she says.
A chartered accountant and Wits University graduate, Simon
warns against the
common refrain among local whites who deny all interest in
politics.
"Be careful if a farmer says he won't be involved in politics,"
she says.
"If it was smoke and mirrors, why did Robert Mugabe feel
threatened?",
referring to white farmers' support of the MDC, which is
believed to have
precipitated the land invasions in 1999.
Former
MP Trudy Stevenson blames whites' disengagement on the "fallacy" that
this
was part of a deal struck at independence which constituted a
precondition
for them to be left alone. "A lot of them believe that and
Robert Mugabe
himself believes it; that's why he was so angry when they got
involved with
the MDC," she says.
Despite being savagely beaten in a politically
motivated ambush in 2006,
Stevenson is as relentless as ever. She is the
national secretary for policy
and research in the smaller MDC faction headed
by Arthur Mutambara. That
alliance cost her seat in Harare during the March
29 election. "I've had two
terms and quite honestly it was time for a
change," she says.
Her energy is undiminished, however. She says the
deadlock over the
power-sharing deal was no surprise, given that a similar
problem in Kenya
took about two months to resolve.
She is dismayed,
however, at the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki
"especially because
(former local government minister Sydney) Mufamadi, who
is the chair of the
actual mediation committee, has also resigned".
As a white politician
in what at times is a racially charged environment,
what Stevenson has in
common with Mike Davies - who has just finished a
second term as chairman of
the Combined Harare Residents' Association - is
that they do not suffer from
past guilt. Stevenson was born in the US and
became a Zimbabwean citizen in
1990. Davis did not participate in the
Rhodesian bush war.
Davis
has been at the forefront of demanding service delivery improvements,
as
well as resisting the government's ejection of an elected MDC
executive.
Since the opposition won support in the running of most
cities, they have
also suffered the same onslaught. "The problem with local
government in this
country is that it is seen as an extension of central
government or its
implementing arm," he says.
The MDC said
recently that Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, "a
legendary enemy
of democracy", has again threatened Brian James, the elected
mayor of the
eastern city of Mutare, for refusing to install losing Zanu-PF
stalwarts as
special interest councillors.
"Chombo phoned the mayor and threatened
him and the 11 democratically
elected councillors with dismissal if they did
not install Zanu-PF bigwigs
Esau Mupfumi and Misheck Mugadza as
councillors," said MDC spokesman Nelson
Chamisa.
James is a
businessman whose farm was taken over in 2003. He says other
whites often
warn him of involvement in "African politics", which is in
reality
opposition politics.
His own participation was motivated by the MDC's
acceptance of diversity.
"They don't look at us anything other than
Zimbabweans," he says.
In their comfortable home in Harare's Mount
Pleasant suburb, Mike and Noma
Frudd are preparing for a family reunion.
Their two daughters have just come
from SA and the US where they are now
married.
Frudd is involved with the community "but not in politics". A
retired
accountant and a director of several companies, he says three broad
categories define members of the white community in
Zimbabwe.
There are the young people who are "entrepreneurial and are
doing very well".
Then there are old people left behind by their families
and the group in the
middle - "people like us who believe that this country
has a great future
and hope to live long enough to enjoy it," he says with
no hint of irony.
But he finds it incredulous that the power-sharing deal
did not also specify
the allocation of ministries to the three parties.
"That shattered me," he
says.
Nonetheless, Frudd believes the
crisis in Zimbabwe has brought the races
together.
For instance, he
shares his bore-hole water with neighbours because
municipal water is
available only once in three weeks.
"We're in it together and trying to
help each other. It's probably done a
lot for race relations," he says.
Last month it was NetOne shutting down the cheque door and
today it is
Econet & Zesa
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=614&cat=8
Zesa
rejects cheque payments
BR. The Herald Monday, November 10,
2008
SCORES of customers stormed Zesa offices at Megawatt HOuse along
Samora
Machel Avenue on Friday demanding to see the management after they
were
denied the use of cheques to settle their bills.
The power
utility had since last Wednesday banned the payment of bills using
bank
certified and personal cheques as the parastatal struggles for survival
in
the volatile hyperinflationary environment.
When the Herald Business crew
arrived at the scene, there was a stampede as
hundreds of disgruntled
clients jostled to get through the main entrance to
the building, as they
demanded to see the manager.
Security guards manning the entrance had a
tough time controlling the crowd,
which only appeared to calm down after a
senior official came down to
address them.
The official, however,
drew the ire of the crowd when he asked them to wait
patiently for the
manager who was said to be in a long meeting.
The official, who spoke to
Herald Business on condition of anonymity, said
the parastatal had no choice
but to ask for payment in cash as lately it had
become unviable for it to
continue accepting cheques.
"Our position is clear. At the moment the
group has no cash for its
day-to-day running and the continued use of
cheques would stall everything.
"Accepting cash payment is a survival
strategy we have adopted for us to
keep operational," said the
official.
The official added that they were facing challenges in meeting
payments for
critical expenses such as vehicle maintenance as their service
providers
were demanding cash or charging a premium on cheque payments. "As
a
parastatal our pricing structure does not allow us to charge premiums on
cheques and as such when we collect money using cheques we are shooting
ourselves in the foot as we get so little from this mode of payment," he
said.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7020
November 9, 2008
Yes, we can also do it in
Zimbabwe
FORTY-THREE years ago, the United States of America signed into
law, the
National Voting Rights Act of 1965. This Act outlawed
discriminatory voting
practices that had long disenfranchised
African-Americans from participating
in the country's electoral
process.
On November 4, 2008, the United States elected an
African-American to become
its 44th President. President-elect Barack
Obama's victory was delivered
to him based on his promise of change for the
better, for a once nation that
was sliding away from that world famous image
of greatness. Today the US
once again stands as a shining beacon, casting a
bright new light of hope
that has been jubilantly received by the entire
world community.
Obama's challenger in his hard-fought quest for the US
presidency was a
highly respected, elderly statesman. Senator John McCain,
despite running
what had been condemned as a largely negative campaign, is
highly respected,
both for his character and for his service to his
country.
Yet in his loss McCain was not too proud to congratulate his
much younger
former rival, now the President-elect.
In a most
gracious concession speech, delivered within minutes after the
declaration
of the Obama victory and, no doubt, his best speech of the
long-fought
campaign for theUS presidency, McCain not only pledged his
support for the
new President, he also urged his loyal and heart-broken
supporters to stand
behind the newly elected Obama. The eye of millions
around the world who
watched these dramatic events were filled with tears.
They were moved, just
as were Jesse Jackson and the thousands that gathered
with tears streaming
down their cheeks at Grant Park in Chicago, as they
witnessed the historic
event of improbable odds that were unfolding before
their
eyes.
Zimbabweans were moved, however, more by thoughts about their own
country,
which, eight months after its own presidential elections, continues
to stand
on uncertain ground as the incumbent resist any effort to persuade
him to
give up a significant amount of power, despite the clear voice with
which
Zimbabwe spoke in March.
A day after Obama was elected as next
US President, the sitting president,
George Bush congratulated his
successor, a candidate of the rival Democratic
Party. He went a step further
to invite him to the White House, so that they
could start the process of
transitioning power in a way that would best
serve the
country.
Former Secretary of State, General Collin Powell of the
Republican Party,
endorsed Obama, then a candidate of the rival Democratic
Party, as his
candidate of choice for the 44th Presidency of the USA. He
stated then,
that his endorsement of Obama was not based on their shared
racial
background, but that he was crossing party lines to ensure that the
right
leader was elected who would best serve the country.
Powell
endured heated criticism from some senior members of his own party
and from
the party supporters alike for this bold move. The sitting US
Secretary of
State, Dr. Condoleeza Rice, although not having endorsed Obama's
candidacy
(at least not publicly), quickly came out in tears, to express her
support
for the newly elected President, and her joy as an African-American
at the
historic turn that her country had just taken.
Many in the international
community had started to lose faith in the dream
that the United States once
promised. On November 4 the US vindicated
itself, and instantaneously
recast itself as the great nation that many once
knew and dreamt of visiting
or living in. The air on November 5 was simply
filled with an almost
tangible sense of renewal in the US.
Yet Zimbabweans could not ignore the
pangs of sadness this new-found glory
of the USA brought to
them.
They were left to wonder whether their own leaders in Harare lack
the same
sense of love and patriotism, the same pride in the country they
lead that
we see in America's leadership today.
The 2008 US
presidential campaign was not a pretty affair, by any means. It
was a
bitterly fought battle, with its share of mudslinging. However, there
was
not a single report of election-related violence in this nation of more
than
300 million. There was not a single soul lost; not a single injury
sustained in the name of the presidential election. There was no doubt
that the candidates who ran in this race all had their sights set on the
White House, and each believed that they were the best suited to lead this
great country into the future.
But, ultimately, it is the people who
made that decision. So on November 4,
after over 190 million votes were
cast, the ballots were quickly counted,
and the victor, as elected by the
people, was announced. The loser quickly
conceded and congratulated his
rival, while offering him support.
As the winners shed tears of joy,
those on the losing side cried tears of
pain, but nonetheless accepted the
outcome as had been determined in a
predefined process. We are yet to hear
of efforts by those who lost to try
and somehow work their way into the new
government. Instead, the
Republicans have retreated to their drawing room,
there to lick their wounds
while quietly searching their souls to better
understand why they lost the
election, and how best they can win the trust
and the vote of the electorate
in the future.
With this respect of
the democratic systems that were developed to guide
this nation, the US has
taken a turn from a path of self-destruction, to a
new path of self-renewal
and optimism. By respecting its own predefined
democratic systems on that
November Tuesday, the country has instantaneously
earned renewed respect,
admiration and, perhaps, even envy from all corners
of the
globe.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe continues on its path of self-destruction,
driven down
that lane, no doubt, by a lack of adequate love for country on
the part of
those who proclaim themselves to be its stewards.
During
the heated Democratic Party primary elections, as the former
President Bill
Clinton campaigned in support of his wife's historical
candidature for the
presidency, he once referred to Obama's presidential
candidacy as "the
biggest fairytale ever". On Tuesday night, we watched a
fairytale become
reality.
Surely, just as the Americans have done it, yes, we Zimbabweans
can do it
too. This is especially true, now that the SADC leadership has
demonstrated
finally and beyond any shadow of doubt that they lack both the
commitment
and the will to help us resolve our current political
conflict.
Zimbabweans must, of necessity, now play a more proactive role
in addressing
all the crises facing their nation.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7001
November 9, 2008
JOHANNESBURG
(BBC) - A prominent South African Aids activist has told the
BBC former
President Thabo Mbeki should be called to account for his
decision to block
HIV medication.
A recent Harvard School of Public Health study says 330
000 deaths were
caused by Mbeki's 1999 decision to declare available drugs
toxic and
dangerous.
Zackie Achmat now says Mbeki ignored existing
scientific evidence.
Mbeki's spokesman referred media enquiries to the
government, but no
spokesman was available to comment.
Achmat, who
leads the Treatment Action Campaign, which successfully lobbied
for the
eventual reversal of government policy, says Mbeki has "blood on his
hands".
He called for him to be summoned to a judicial inquiry or the
Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
"The study, published on 20
October, said that as a result of Mr Mbeki's
policies, nearly 35 000 babies
were also born HIV-positive between 2000 and
2005," Achmat says.
The
former president had failed to roll out the drugs which could have
prevented
mother-to-child transmission, say researchers.
The study, led by Dr Pride
Chigwedere of Zimbabwe, accuses the South African
government of "acting as a
major obstacle in the provision of medication to
patients with
Aids".
The authors said that under the leadership of Mbeki, the
government had
restricted use of donated anti-retroviral drugs and blocked
funds for more
than a year from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis
and Malaria.
To estimate the benefits they say were lost to South
Africans because of the
failure to provide appropriate drugs between 2000
and 2005, the researchers
looked at a number of factors.
These
included:
. the number of patients who died without receiving
treatment
. the relative cost of the drugs and the resources
available
. comparative treatment programmes in Namibia and
Botswana.
Since the former president was replaced in September 2008 a new
health
minister, Barbara Hogan, has been appointed and she has been praised
by Aids
campaigners for tackling the HIV issue with determination.