Mail and Guardian
Percy
Zvomuya
21 November 2005 09:57
With just
more than a week to the controversial Senate elections
in Zimbabwe, there is
little sign of campaigning or of the traditional
acrimonious exchange that
normally occurs between the ruling Zanu-PF and the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
In previous times Harare would have
been decked out in colourful
party posters of rival candidates, but this
time round the only posters
adorning the lamp posts are of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission encouraging
people to make their mark on November
26.
Two weeks ago, Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa
confessed
to Parliament that he wasn't sure if the Foreign Affairs Ministry
had sent
out invitations to observer missions -- another bone of contention
in the
highly charged elections.
Usually the MDC would
feistily contest electoral violations, but
this time rival factions in the
party trade blows over who speaks for the
party. All the while the rift,
over whether it should participate in the
poll widens, and violent clashes
between opposing youth blocs has cost one
man an eye, while 18 other people
have been arrested.
Zanu-PF, it appears, has not felt the
need to unleash its war
veterans in the run-up to the ballot, in which
analysts have predicted a
poor turnout.
Electoral
Commission chairperson George Chiweshe on Thursday
told the Mail &
Guardian that it was "100% ready". But why would it not be,
with little more
than half (31 out of 50) of the seats being contested.
Reuters
Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 PM GMT
By Stella
Mapenzauswa
HARARE (Reuters) - Foreign companies have approached
Zimbabwe's government
for mining rights to exploit uranium deposits that
were found two decades
ago, a senior industry official said on
Monday.
In remarks broadcast on state television at the weekend,
President Robert
Mugabe said Zimbabwe had discovered deposits of the mineral
"recently" but
intended to mine it only to generate electricity, not for use
in making
nuclear weapons.
Government officials were not available on
Monday to comment on the size of
the uranium deposits, or the firms trying
to secure mining rights.
On Monday Chamber of Mines Chief Executive David
Murangari said uranium
exploration had been carried out in the Zambezi
valley two decades ago and
that a deposit had been found.
"Yes there
is some uranium in Zimbabwe, the size I do not know," Murangari
told
Reuters.
"I guess at that time (1980s) the price of uranium was not good
(but) I
believe there are some companies that have approached the Ministry
of Mines
about rights. I think there was one Australian company."
In
2000, media in Zimbabwe and Argentina reported that the two countries
were
exploring cooperation between the two countries in developing a nuclear
programme in Zimbabwe, including the construction of a nuclear power
plant.
But engineers were quoted at the time as saying landlocked and
drought-prone
Zimbabwe did not have the vast amounts of water, nor the
expertise, for such
a project.
In his remarks on Sunday, Mugabe said:
"We have found uranium, which is used
to make electricity (and) the bombs
that you hear about ... but when we mine
it we would not want it to be used
in bomb making ... We would use it to
give us electricity."
The
broadcaster said the president spoke at a function at a plant owned by
state
power utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.
Enriched uranium can
be used to fuel nuclear power plants or, in a more
enriched state, to
produce a nuclear weapon.
Mugabe's government, in an increasingly bitter
stand-off with the West over
its seizure of white-owned farms, is drawing
closer to other countries
including Iran and North Korea, both of which are
at loggerheads with the
international community over their nuclear
programmes.
Zimbabwe imports 35 percent of its electricity from South
Africa,
Mozambique, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo to augment
domestic
supplies, but ZESA has fought for imports in recent years as a
result of
biting foreign currency shortages.
The crunch has resulted
in frequent power cuts that have disrupted
industrial production as the
southern African country battles its worst
economic crisis in
decades.
Zim Online
Tue 22 November
2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe is courting China to help mine significant
deposits
of uranium discovered in the north-east of the southern African
country,
ZimOnline has learnt.
Authoritative sources on Monday
said that a Chinese delegation was
expected in Zimbabwe before the end of
the year for talks with the
government's Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation to map out how Beijing
and Harare could work together to extract
the uranium.
The deal to mine uranium will also involve the Chinese
helping
Zimbabwe revive the giant but now defunct Kamativi tin mine in the
south of
the country.
"Chinese investors are expected in the
country before the end of the
year to conclude deals for the mining of
uranium and tin," said a mining
industry executive, who preferred not to be
named. He added: "China will
take a large chunk and the government of
Zimbabwe will also hold a stake in
a government-to-government joint
venture."
Mines Minister Amos Midzi last night said
preliminary assessments of
the uranium deposits had been completed and said
the ZMDC was working with
counterparts from China.
But Midzi
stopped short of confirming the Asian giant would help
Zimbabwe extract the
strategic mineral saying it was still too early to
divulge identities of
foreign partners being roped in to help mine uranium.
He said:
"Uranium has been discovered in the north-east of the country
and
preliminary assessments have been carried out. We are working on the
actual
volumes of the deposits and we believe they are viable and
significant.
"The ZMDC is working with their counterparts in
China but we have not
reached the stage of divulging the actual identities
of the investors."
President Robert Mugabe told supporters of his
ruling ZANU PF party
last Sunday that his government would not allow uranium
mined from Zimbabwe
to be used to make bombs. The mineral that is used to
generate electricity
can also be used to produce nuclear bombs.
Mugabe, who hinted that the Chinese might help Zimbabwe mine uranium,
said
the country could use the mineral to produce electricity.
Zimbabwe
is grappling a severe shortage of electricity chiefly because
it does not
have hard cash required to expand generation capacity at its
main Kariba and
Hwange power stations.
The country imports almost 40 percent of its
energy requirements from
South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
China is heavily investing in Zimbabwe's
rich mining sector taking
advantage of Mugabe's 'Look-East' policy under
which he hopes to establish
more and stronger economic ties with East-Asian
countries after his fall-out
with traditional trading partners in the West.
- ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 22
November 2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe Finance Herbert Murerwa on Monday
said Harare has
told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it is
willing to implement
economic reforms if the Bretton Woods institution is
prepared to financially
support such reforms.
The Finance
Minister also agreed with the IMF and independent economic
analysts on the
need to restore stability in crisis-hit Zimbabwe before the
country could
expect any significant inflows of foreign investment - vital
to any efforts
to revive the southern African nation's comatose economy.
Murerwa,
who shall lead Zimbabwe in routine consultative talks with
the IMF scheduled
for next February, told ZimOnline: "We will engage them
(IMF) and we will
talk to them but we already have told them that we cannot
do some of the
programmes without their support."
He did not say what the response
of the IMF has been. But the Bretton
Woods institution has in the past
publicly stated that President Robert
Mugabe's government must first
implement comprehensive structural and
economic reforms before it could hope
to get financial help.
The IMF also wants Mugabe's government to
uphold human and property
rights and to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe
before it could resume
balance-of-payments support withdrawn six years
ago.
In a rare admission of the chaos and uncertainty, critics say
Mugabe's
controversial polices have wrought on Zimbabwe's once vibrant
economy,
Murerwa said the government was working to "create a sound climate
on the
ground (because) investors will only come when there is stability . .
.
when there is certainty."
The IMF - which last week predicted
Zimbabwe's Gross Domestic Product
to fall by 7.2 percent this year - has
urged Harare to exercise fiscal
restraint and implement widespread economic
reforms, key among them,
reducing the bloated public sector wage bill and
providing safety nets for
vulnerable groups hit hard by food shortages and
HIV/AIDS.
The Bretton Woods institution also called on the Zimbabwe
government
to liberalise the exchange rate as part of several other measures
to allow
market forces to determine economic activity in the troubled
southern
African country.
Mugabe is one of the harshest critics
of the IMF which he says is used
by the United States and its Western allies
to punish poor nations seen as
not toeing the line of the richer nations.
The Zimbabwean leader has in the
past claimed his country could find its
way out of its unprecedented
economic meltdown without IMF
assistance.
But Murerwa, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon
Gono and other
senior members of Mugabe's government do not appear to share
his view that
Zimbabwe can go it alone.
Harare insiders say it
was primarily because of Murerwa and Gono's
efforts that Zimbabwe was able
to make surprise loan repayments to the IMF
totalling US$135 million between
August and September. The payments saved
Zimbabwe from possible expulsion
from the Fund for non-payment of debt.
Zimbabwe is grappling an
acute economic crisis that has manifested
itself in high inflation of beyond
400 percent, shortages of food, fuel,
electricity, essential medical drugs
and most other basic survival
commodities. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 22 November 2005
CAPE TOWN
- South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA)
party on Monday
criticised as "severely flawed" moves by Pretoria to hire
Zimbabwean
instructors to train South African air force pilots.
Rafeek Shah of
the DA said the proposal to hire the Zimbabweans was
"severely flawed"
because the Zimbabweans did not have sufficient knowledge
with South African
fighter aircraft.
"Given that there are not even enough trained
South African personnel
to train pilots on the forthcoming Hawks, it is
highly unlikely the
Zimbabweans will be able to offer training assistance on
these aircraft, let
alone the even-more-sophisticated Gripen fighter
jets.
"For example, they (Zimbabweans) have no experience of our
most-basic
trainer aircraft, the Astra Pilatus," he said.
The
South Africa government last week signed a military agreement with
Harare
under which Zimbabwean instructors would train South African airforce
pilots.
South Africa has maintained close ties with President
Robert Mugabe's
government dating back to the liberation struggle. Pretoria
has also
fearlessly defended Mugabe, accused of human rights abuses by his
critics,
from international censure.
The DA legislator also
criticised the plans saying the Zimbabwean
military have "an appalling human
rights record."
"It is truly bizarre that instead of sending a
clear message that
human rights abuses will not be tolerated, we have
instead chosen to enter
even closer co-operation."
South
Africa, which has pursued a policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards
Harare over
the past five years, has refused to openly criticise Mugabe who
is accused
of perpetrating serious human rights abuses against his
opponents. -
ZimOnline
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
21 November 2005
There are reports that a
team of regional ministers from the 14-nation
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) was due in Zimbabwe Monday on
an invitation by the
government to audit the land reform programme. Robert
Mugabe is alleged to
have consented to a six-member team that would assess
the results of what he
called his ''highly successful'' land programme.
According to reports, the
team will stay for two days! It is difficult to
imagine how such a vast
countrywide undertaking could be evaluated in just
two days, but Zimbabweans
on the ground, farmers' organisations and civic
groups operating in the
country say this year will be worst agricultural
season ever. Their
description of the situation paints a bleak picture of a
country whose farms
are laying idle while the people starve. In 2 days only,
this SADC team will
not be able to travel much, and will most likely be
shown government reports
about improved production on one hand, while the
same government begs the
United Nations for food. Farmer Eric Harrison has
seen many farms around the
country this year. He told us that the rains have
come and for the most part
the ground has not yet been prepared. He said
inputs like fertiliser and
seeds are not affordable, and that is when you
find them. There is no diesel
or any fuel to drive tractors and irrigation
pumps. Harrison said there are
people occupying these farms who are
inexperienced. Asked what this SADC
team would see should they be allowed to
roam around freely, Harrison said
there is very little to show. He believes
they might see an odd farm here
and there where the original commercial
farmer is still producing. We were
not able to find anyone who knew which
SADC ministers had been invited and
exactly what they were going to be
shown. The lack of such basic information
has also raised suspicions that
the whole trip has been planned to show
Mugabe's land reform in a good
light. But Zimbabweans will not forget that
several white farmers were
killed and hundreds of thousands of black farm
workers were displaced. It is
not known whether the SADC ministers will
publish a report of their
findings.One report said the Movement for
Democratic Change was sceptical
that the SADC visit would change anything.
It quoted MDC presidential
spokesman William bango saying: ''Whatever
observations SADC will have, it
will have little impact on the ground. It's
given that Mugabe is sticking to
his guns, but all pressure will be
good.''
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
|
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough -
Zimbabwe PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY |
|
Sokwanele Comment : 21 November 2005 Accompany me if you will to a meeting convened by District Administrator (DA) Chimedza of the Zaka District, in the lowveld region, south-east of Masvingo. The meeting took place on 22nd October and to it were summoned the local Chiefs from Jerera, Manjirenji and Zaka, together with the new settlers from the area. A few members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) were also present. Now listen with me to the instructions given to the settlers by DA Chimedza, the local ZANU PF bigwig, who swaggers a little under the weight of his own sense of self-importance. It is no little honour of course to represent the party of the supreme dictator of Zimbabwe, or to feel the thrill of that sense of power over people that goes with the job. What the DA says quite simply is the law so far as the assembled group is concerned. That Chimedza has no inkling of either the constitution of Zimbabwe or the laws passed by the legislature; that he has never been elected to any office in the land and owes his senior position to Mugabe patronage alone, scarcely matters. The fact is that this man is the face of the government and the law within his Zaka fiefdom. Once the opening formalities are out of the way DA Chimedza stands to deliver a speech. The relaxed style belies the reality which is that the DA is handing out orders to ZANU PF cadres who are expected to obey, on pain of losing whatever employment, status or material rewards the party has graciously bestowed on each. To the settlers there is a clear instruction that they are to repair their huts, plough their lands and plant seed ahead of the rains expected to begin within the next few weeks. Otherwise they will be booted off the land just as their unfortunate predecessors in title were. There is nothing to discuss here, is there ? Never mind that the settlers have no seed to plant and precious little draught power to prepare the fields. Presumably it has at last dawned upon the DA's superiors that there will be no manna from heaven this year, so any food required to feed the nation must be grown by the new settlers. Let them do it - or else! Then an instruction about the schools and clinics which someone (presumably high in the corridors of ZANU PF power) must have noticed, have disappeared along with commercial farmers, agriculturalists, teachers and other professionals who used to manage them until they were chased off the land. The word here is that any vacant houses found may be converted to use as a school or clinic. DA Chimedza does not mention that there are no nurses or medicines left, nor any teachers or school equipment. A mere detail which no one else dares to mention either. A question is raised from the respectful audience. Translated out of ZANU PF double-speak the question is simply this - are the houses of two local families (Sebenani and Dawlish) fair game for the settlers ? Certainly not, replies Chimedza hurriedly. For reasons he cannot disclose to his audience these two homes still enjoy official protection from the party. The properties are therefore out of bounds to any settlers and woe betide any who interfere with the white occupants. For the humble, subservient settlers "theirs is not to reason why". Another question is raised: what are the new farmers to do about the wild animals which are entering their fields and ruining their crops. Significantly the questioner fails to mention to which fields he is referring. (Our informant does a quick re-take to see if he can recall seeing a single field now occupied by the new settlers with a standing crop upon it … He cannot). And no mention is made either of the fact that many of the new farmers are occupying land formerly falling within major conservancies in the area, in which the objective was to sustain a viable wildlife population. (Needless to say the once thriving wildlife has since been decimated by the chaotic farm and conservancy invasions). DA Chimedza has a simple solution to the farmer's problem. He should kill any game unfortunate enough to stray onto his field. At this point in the proceedings some of the ZRP members hitherto listening quietly, display a certain unease. One is brave enough to put his thoughts into words. (No doubt he soon enough wished he had not). The policeman pointed out to the gathered assembly that if any poaching of wild life took place the culprits would be arrested and charged. (After all that used to be the law, pre ZANU PF "make-it-up-as-you-go-along" days). Not so, declared Chimedza emphatically. And to put the point beyond any doubt he warned that if any police officer was foolish enough to arrest a settler for killing game he, the police officer, could be beaten up by the settlers. (Fair game, you could say). The ZRP members present looked on incredulously while the man bold enough to make the point about what the law used to be studied the back of his hands for a very long time. A dramatic pause to underline his authority, and then Chiemdza went on. An afterthought perhaps or a sop to the dented egos of the ZRP contingent: "If an elephant is killed the carcass must not be touched. You must call the police and they will first remove certain parts (our emphasis) of the elephant before the people can enjoy the meat." Herewith but a glimpse of the terrifying reality of ZANU PF power at village level as it is exercised today: the law, whatever the local ZANU PF chef says it is; the police and traditional leaders, now totally subservient to their new political masters; Instant mob justice, the order of the day; wildlife conservation, a dead letter… Yes, supreme dictator, this is the legacy you are leaving to the people of this land. Robert Mugabe, this is your Zimbabwe ! Visit our website at
www.sokwanele.com We have a fundamental right to freedom of expression! Sokwanele does not endorse the editorial policy of any source or website except its own. It retains full copyright on its own articles, which may be reproduced or distributed but may not be materially altered in any way. Reproduced articles must clearly show the source and owner of copyright, together with any other notices originally contained therein, as well as the original date of publication. Sokwanele does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising in any way from receipt of this email or use thereof. This document, or any part thereof, may not be distributed for profit. |
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 21 Nov
2005 (IRIN) - A small column of women trudges along the path
to a funeral in
Mufiri, in Zimbabwe's eastern Masvingo district,
occasionally tilting their
heads to glance grudgingly at the clear sky
above.
Discussion among
the women braving the searing heat revolves around the
spectre of yet
another dry season, if the cloudless skies are anything to go
by. "If it
does not rain soon, we will all starve to death," said
50-year-old Dorica
Zenera, at the head of the column. The other women chorus
in
agreement.
Meteorologists forecast that the wet season would start at the
beginning of
October, but three weeks into November only intermittent
drizzle has fallen
in drought-prone Masvingo, rather than the downpours the
farmers need.
"We would not be walking empty-handed if things were
normal," one of the
women in the single file commented. "Surely the gods
have cursed us."
Severe food shortages in rural Zimbabwe are eroding a
revered, age-old
custom relating to death in rural communities: bereaved
families can no
longer afford to provide food for mourners who attend
funeral vigils.
In normal circumstances women like Zenera and her
companions would make
their contribution, carrying small reed baskets or
plastic bowls filled with
mealie-meal or small bundles of
vegetables.
But that has changed.
"At times you feel inclined not
to attend a funeral out of discomfort for
being unable to help out the
bereaved, but absence gives you a lingering
sense of guilt," said
Zenera.
She explained that funeral wakes had always been a community
responsibility.
"Now you feel like you are letting your neighbours down; you
feel helpless."
A Zimbabwe Rural Food Security and Vulnerability
Assessment (ZimVAC) report,
completed in June but only publicly released
last week, estimated that 36
percent of the rural population would be unable
to meet household food
requirements until the next harvest.
It
forecast that 2.3 million people would be food-short between now and the
end
of December this year, with the figure expected to rise to 2.9 million
between January and March next year.
Food security analysts point out
that the ZimVac figures were based on a
maize price of Zim $1,300 (US 2
cents) a kilo, but the going market rate is
now closer to Zim $10,000 (US 16
cents). As a result, the real numbers of
food insecure is likely to be over
four million.
The food crisis is a combination of successive poor rains,
the impact of
HIV/AIDS, and a deepening economic crisis that followed the
government's
fast-track land reform programme in 2000.
The June
ZimVac report said food-short households were already adopting
negative
coping mechanisms, such as reducing the number of daily meals and
cutting
expenditure on education, health and agricultural inputs.
"In the past,
friends, relatives and some neighbours encamped at the
bereaved family home,
offering condolences and helping with day-to-day
chores to allow a family
that had lost a member time to come to terms with
the bereavement," said
village head Mika Maketo.
It was traditional to slaughter an animal to
feed mourners. "People seem to
have accepted the reality of the times - they
don't expect much from the
bereaved family."
Maketo said he had often
reminded villagers to maintain the tradition of
attending funerals in their
neighbourhood but had cautioned mourners not to
expect to be fed. "Those
times are long gone if one considers the number of
deaths that occur these
days, and the cost of food these days."
Government promises of providing
subsidised food to rural areas through the
state-run Grain Marketing Board
have been largely unmet. Most villagers who
expected assistance were still
waiting to be fed, and deliveries were few
and far between. When food
assistance was delivered, villagers were unsure
when they would get the next
consignment.
"It is erratic - the last time we received grain from the
government was
five months ago," said Maketo. "We used to receive food from
donor agencies
but I am not sure what happened. The villagers cannot
sacrifice the little
they have for mourners."
Rural communities were
also bearing the extra burden of hosting the funerals
of relatives who died
in urban areas but could afford to be buried there
because costs of burial
plots has soared astronomically.
Next year is likely to be even worse,
aid workers warn. A lack of fuel and
spare parts has reduced the number of
tractors available for land
preparation, while the cost of fertiliser is
well beyond the reach of many
in the rural areas.
When operation "Murambatsvina"
was at its height, I was walking through a
bus depot in a small regional town
looking at the devastation - about 2000
small businesses had been destroyed
that morning and behind me was the
astonishing sight of police, assisted by
home owners, destroying
accommodation. As I walked back to where my vehicle
was parked two young men
spoke to me from the side of the road "this is a
Zanu Tsunami" they said in
Shona.
A Zanu PF Tsunami! Looking back on
the past 6 years, we could say that about
the whole sorry story of Zimbabwe.
After 20 years of independence and many
decades of promise, the leaders who
have controlled this country since 1980
have simply destroyed not only what
they achieved in the first decade of
their government but at least 30 to 40
years of hard work before they took
over. The achievements of the past are
still there - monuments to what sort
of people our forefathers were, modern
cities, tall buildings, a national
network of infrastructure that would do a
more developed State proud. But
inside this historical façade, the factories
are silent and many people dead
or absent.
What is more astonishing is
that this whole sorry tale was a deliberate and
planned exercise in self
destruction, carried out with savage efficiency and
determination by educated
and sophisticated men and women. One could say the
same thing about the
"Great Leap Forward" in China under Mao, or the
globally destructive swathe
of German aggression in the 30's and 40's. Today
is the 60th anniversary of
the Nuremberg trials at which the Nazi leaders,
responsible for the physical
destruction of Europe and perhaps 60 million
deaths - the deaths of a whole
generation of young men in the Soviet Union,
central Europe and millions of
others from other continents. Looking at that
row of men in an Allied Court
it was difficult to understand how such men
could have done such things to
their own people and to others. But they did.
Under the leadership of
Robert Mugabe, a team of men and women, many of them
holding PhD's from
reputable Universities in the West, have almost wiped out
commercial
agriculture, created near perfect conditions for the spread of
HIV/Aids,
destroyed much of the medical and educational system that at one
stage
delivered the best social services of this kind in Africa. They have
overseen
the largest and most continuous fall in national economic output in
any
country in the world, they have reduced exports to the stage where we
can no
longer sustain our economy or pay our bills.
In social terms we now have
one of the highest rates of maternal and child
mortality in the world. This
means that if you were born in this country
today - your mother would have a
1 in 7 chance of dying in the process of
giving you birth and then you would
face a new world where your own chances
of survival were 50/50. We have seen
the flight of millions of our people to
other countries, airlines fly full
every day from Harare airport and return
half empty. The Limpopo River has
become a broad road to Egoli and a
desperate life in the slums of South
Africa.
Our children attend school hungry and when they are there they
try to learn
in classrooms without windows, sometimes even roofs, no school
books, no
chalk, with teachers so badly paid and poorly motivated that they
do not
give a damn if the kids pass or fail. Children are sitting exams after
14
years of schooling and achieving pass rates of 2 or 3 percent at some
High
Schools. We note in business, a rapid decline in the standard of
education
in the average school leaver. Neither functionally literate nor
numerate,
many school leavers are little use in a factory or retail
environment.
We are a nation of professional mourners - we attend the
funerals of family
and friends every week. Sometimes the stories are just
devastating - this
past week I know of one young man whose wife was
discharged by a District
Hospital with cancer of the stomach. The hospital
could do nothing for her
and told the young husband to take her home to die.
He carried her from the
hospital to the nearby roadside and begged a lift in
a long haul truck, and
then he carried her from the road to his rural home
some 15 kilometers off
the main road. It was over 40 Celsius in the shade at
the time; the wife has
two children. To hire a car to take her 200 kilometers
to her home would
have cost the young man Z$9 million. An impossible sum for
them today.
Over 80 per cent of our basic foods are now imported, half
our population
requires food aid and tens of thousands are sick with
tuberculosis, malaria
and other Aids related diseases. With prices doubling
ever three months and
incomes shrinking in line with the economy and the
declining value of the
money we earn, life has become a nightmare for the
average person here. We
cannot feed our babies with the food they need, our
children go to school
hungry or hang around the homestead because we cannot
pay the school fees
and our hospitals are mortuaries where underpaid nurses
and doctors struggle
with few drugs and little else.
And then, because
Zanu PF perceived that the urban poor in the informal
sector were a
continuing threat, they launched operation Murambatsvina -
during which they
destroyed a million small businesses, perhaps 300 000
homes and displaced a
third of the total urban population who are now
homeless, destitute and even
more desperate. And when the American
Ambassador gets his staff to prepare a
detailed stark summary of all this
destruction, he is vilified in the press,
told to "go to hell" and
threatened with expulsion - pure political
intimidation. But he was right to
speak out and we ask, "Where are the
others".
Instead of threatening Mugabe and his cronies with another
Nuremberg trial
for their gross violations of our human and political rights,
the UN pleads
with these thugs for permission to feed our people and house
our displaced.
It's an absolute disgrace and a complete travesty of
everything the UN
stands for in the world today. All those associated with
this sham and
abdication of responsibility should be ashamed of
themselves.
After 1945, we never thought the United Nations would allow
it to happen
again - but we did not understand, the determination of those in
charge
there only applies to their own essential interests and not those of
the
poor in places like Zimbabwe.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 20th
November 2005
[ This report does
not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 21 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - South African trucking
fleets are
experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand to supply food
aid to
drought-affected countries in the region, particularly Zimbabwe,
according
to logistics experts.
Massive orders to ferry fertiliser to
Malawi ahead of the planting rains
have put trucking fleets under tremendous
pressure, said Charles Nicolle of
Cargo Africa, a logistics
company.
"Many countries have left their maize orders for too long: most
trucks have
been booked to transport fertiliser - about 60,000 mt - to
Malawi through to
December," he explained.
An estimated 12 million
people in six countries - Lesotho, Malawi,
Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia and
Zimbabwe - will face food shortages until
early next year.
Malawi,
one of the countries worst affected by the regional drought, is
trying to
pump in 146,000 mt of subsidised fertiliser before the planting
season
starts next month.
A reduction in fleet sizes as a direct result of the
fall in commercial
trade with Zimbabwe, previously South Africa's largest
trading partner, is
compounding the problem.
According to the
Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport
Associations,
Zimbabwe's long-standing economic crisis has caused trade
between the two
countries to slump.
Zimbabwean authorities have so far refused to appeal
for international aid
to stave off widespread hunger, insisting instead that
the government has
the capacity to import the 1.2 million mt it estimates it
needs to bridge
the food gap.
Aid workers, however, estimate that
more than four million people will go
hungry until next year's harvest in
April/May.
"Now it looks like they will need food aid - we have received
orders through
to next June. We are overstretched a bit at the moment," said
a trucking
company representative.
The UN's World Food Programme
(WFP) has estimated that its US $100 million
operation to feed 9.7 million
people in the region will require 400 trucks
or rail wagons per week to meet
its commitment.
"Trucks fleets traditionally come under stress at this
time of year, as
there are many competing demands to move goods around
southern Africa ahead
of the Christmas period," said Mike Huggins, WFP
spokesman for southern
Africa.
"WFP has just signed long-term
agreements with most of our transporters to
continue working through
December to ensure food deliveries reach the
hungriest people in time," said
Huggins.
"So, provided we receive financial support from the
international community
to buy urgently needed supplies, the region's most
vulnerable should receive
rations on time," he
added.
[ENDS]
The Herald
(Harare)
November 19, 2005
Posted to the web November 21,
2005
Harare
THE Ministry of Health and Child Welfare will invoke
the Public Health Act
against Chitungwiza and punish town council officials
unless obvious health
hazards are cleared up within two weeks.
The
Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa, gave the deadline yesterday after
touring
the Zengeza Treatment Plant, St Mary's and other trouble spots where
raw
sewage is flowing.
The Minister said it was obvious the situation in the
town was deplorable.
"The situation is totally unacceptable and my coming
here today with these
officials from my Ministry as well as those from the
Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (Zinwa) is to see how best we can work
together.
"The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban
Development Cde
Ignatius Chombo as well as the Resident Minister for Harare
Cde David
Karirmanzira are also involved in this project and the Mayor, who
is the one
really on the ground. Together we want to see what we can do
because there
is no way we can allow this to continue," he said.
If
the Minister invokes the Public Health Act, Government will take over the
running of Chitungwiza Town and the Minister can also decide what kind of
punishment to mete on the responsible local authority for failing to ensure
adequate health standards for the residents of Chitungwiza.
Dr
Parirenyatwa said he was ready to invoke the Act to ensure that the
responsible authorities did their part because he could not allow public
health to continue deteriorating.
Refuse has been going uncollected
for months in many parts of Chitungwiza
allowing rodents to
breed.
Water shortages that have besieged the town have also seen
residents
resorting to fetching water from unprotected wells, at times close
to where
raw sewage will be flowing.
In parts of St Mary's residents
have gone for long periods using the bush
for a toilets.
Dr
Parirenyatwa was quick to point out that his visit had been prompted by
concern for the health of the town's residents and was not meant to tarnish
or blame anyone.
Chitungwiza Mayor Councilor Misheck Shoko said he
was willing to work with
other authorities to see the situation in the town
improving.
He blamed the collapse of the town's affairs on the old pipes
and pumping
system saying his council did not have the foreign currency to
fix them.
"Pipes have broken down and they need to be fixed. The foreign
currency
required is something we do not have because the Reserve Bank last
gave us
some in March, which is understandable considering the problems we
are in.
"The Central Bank has told us that if we fix out things they will
look into
our situation again and that is what I would like to see
happening."
Mr Shoko said of the $400 million collected in rates a day,
the bulk went
towards serving the water bill to Harare City Council where
the town used to
get its water.
CHRISTIANS TOGETHER FOR JUSTICE AND
PEACE
STATEMENT ON THE SENATE ELECTIONS
We, Christians Together for
Justice and Peace, write to express our deep
concern at the confusion that
abounds and the extent of the polarisation
among Zimbabweans concerning the
Senate Elections. This issue is not only
dividing the nation into
antagonistic camps for and against participation
but has also created
unprecedented confusion in the minds of many ordinary
citizens whose one
over-riding desire is simply to cleanse the nation of
corrupt rule and to
make a new start under a radically new servant
leadership of real integrity.
The words of Scripture come to mind; "When he
(Jesus) saw the crowds he had
compassion on them, because they were harassed
and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd." (Matthew 9/36) Truly our
people are without a wise
and caring shepherd today, and this is evidenced
in the divided state of the
nation and the prevailing confusion, as well as
in the intensity of suffering
which is being continually ratcheted up.
We share the view of very many
Zimbabweans that this is not the time to
introduce a Senate. We are appalled
at the way it has been imposed upon a
reluctant nation without any proper
consultation or debate. We understand
that it serves the narrow sectional
interests of some of the ruling elite,
and no other purpose. Clearly it will
not put one loaf of bread on the table
of a destitute family, nor one shelter
for a homeless couple, nor provide
medical relief for one single HIV sufferer
among the millions afflicted.
Indeed the misuse of the country's few
remaining resources for this
elaborate irrelevance is in our view a scandal
in the eyes of the Sovereign
God of justice and mercy. What he requires of
us is plainly set out in
Scripture:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I
have chosen: to loose the chains of
injustice and untie the cords of the
yoke, to set the oppressed free and
break every yoke ? Is it not to share
your food with the hungry and to
provide the poor wanderer with shelter -
when you see the naked to clothe
him and not to turn away from your own flesh
and blood ?" (Isaiah 58/6-7)
Just as plainly we see the present corrupt
rulers of this nation rejecting
the word of God and trampling upon the
poor.
If that was all there was to say about the Senate Election then
clearly we
would be urging our fellow Christians to boycott the Poll on
November 26.
But we have to acknowledge that some of those who share our
desire for
freedom under the rule of law in Zimbabwe, have advanced some
good,
strategic reasons for participating. We respect their integrity and
their
right to make their own judgment in a complex, almost no-win
situation.
Sadly also we are bound to take note that the President of the MDC
who
advocates a boycott has himself muddied the waters by acting in
an
unconstitutional manner so far as his own party's rules are concerned,
and
by tolerating a certain level of violence among his supporters. We
are
concerned that he demonstrates at the same time an unacceptable tolerance
of
violence and an alarming intolerance of views contrary to his
own.
Effectively it has become impossible to advocate for a boycott of the
Senate
Election without being seen to condone this unacceptable behaviour.
Our
counsel therefore is that Christians should humbly and sincerely seek
the
guidance of the all-wise, all-loving God on this issue and then either
vote
or not vote as the Spirit leads them, while at the same time showing
respect
for and tolerance of those fellow Christians who may come to the
opposite
conclusion.
In any case as we have said, the introduction of
a Senate will change
nothing so far as the suffering millions are concerned.
Therefore we urge
the Church to look beyond November 26 to the huge
unresolved problems of
poverty, homelessness, unemployment and famine that
threaten the nation, and
that must be tackled urgently if a humanitarian
disaster of catastrophic
proportions is to be avoided. As an urgent
necessity we urge the Church in
Zimbabwe to unite now as never before in
critical solidarity with the poor
and the victims of political abuse. To
assist in this task we put forward
the following priorities for consideration
by the wider Church:
Pursuant to the United Nations Special Envoy, Anna
Tibaijuka's report on
Operation Murambatsvina, and the regime's recent,
belated acceptance of the
UN's long-standing offer of assistance to provide
temporary shelter for some
of the victims of that crime against humanity,
that we urge the UN Secretary
General to undertake an urgent assessment of
the needs of Zimbabweans for
food, shelter and other humanitarian
relief;
Pursuant to the findings and recommendations of the Africa
Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights in the report of its 2002
fact-finding mission to
Zimbabwe, and the continuing and intensifying abuse
of human rights in this
country, that we give our full support to the urgent
request made by a
number of NGOs, human rights and other civic groups that
the African Union
should call publicly for the implementation of the
recommendations of the
African Commission;
That, acting as one and in
the name of the Sovereign Lord who has a special
compassion for the victims
of oppression and abuse, the Church should demand
that henceforth this regime
ceases its policy of denial and deceit on the
issue of food security, and
removes the obstacles in the way of the Church
and other relief agencies
importing and distributing essential food supplies
as they are able.
Specifically the Church calls upon the State to permit
the United Nations to
supervise the importation and distribution of food
supplied by the donor
nations.
There are no doubt many other things the Church might usefully
do and say to
alleviate the intolerable level of suffering among our people.
We are fully
aware that much else needs to be done for the healing and
transformation of
our abused and shamelessly exploited nation. Nevertheless
it is our belief
that if the Church would just come together around a few
urgent priorities
such as these we might see the beginning of the realization
of the divine
promise which follows on immediately from the passage of
Scripture quoted
above:
"Then your light will break forth like the
dawn, and your healing will
quickly appear; then your righteousness will go
before you, and the glory of
the Lord will be your rearguard. Then you will
call, and the Lord will
answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here
am I." (Isaiah
58/8-9)
Christians Together for Justice and Peace,
Bulawayo - 18 November, 2005
stratfor
November 21, 2005
19 20 GMT
Summary
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said
Nov. 19 that his nation would use
newly discovered uranium deposits to
produce nuclear power, adding that the
government has no intention of
producing nuclear weapons. While Mugabe
likely meant to stir nationalist
sentiment with his announcement, as well as
gain some international
attention, Zimbabwe lacks the technology needed for
the uranium discovery to
change its political or economic situation.
Analysis
Zimbabwe will
use its newly discovered deposits of uranium to produce
nuclear energy to
meet its energy shortfall, Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe told state
radio Nov. 19. Small deposits of uranium are known to
exist in northern
Zimbabwe, though the deposits are not thought large enough
to sustain
profitable mining operations.
Mugabe's announcement represents little
more than an attempt to rally his
people around the idea that their country
is significant enough to join the
ranks of nations possessing nuclear power.
Mugabe can thereby foment a sense
of nationalism while projecting the image
that Zimbabwe's economic and
energy problems represent short-term issues
with impending solutions. The
prerequisites for nuclear energy, however,
indicate that Zimbabwe will not
possess nuclear power -- or weapons -- any
time soon.
Energy supply constitutes a growing concern for Zimbabweans
given the
southern African nation's economic environment. The lack of a
stable energy
infrastructure in rural areas also represents a continuing
concern. Zimbabwe
requires just over 2,100 megawatts of power but currently
falls between 400
and 500 megawatts short of that requirement, leading to
almost-daily
shortages and blackouts in many areas of the country. Moreover,
rampant
hyperinflation -- standing at 411 percent in October -- and a dearth
of
incoming foreign currency has meant Zimbabwe does not have the currency
to
pay South Africa, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
for
the power it consumes, creating more instability for Mugabe and his
ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.
A small
nuclear reactor could produce more than enough energy for Zimbabwe's
energy
needs, but near-term nuclear power production in Zimbabwe is not
possible,
even though the specifics of Mugabe's nuclear energy plan remain
unclear.
Nuclear energy production requires several key components: The
first is a
supply of nuclear material, such as uranium. This may prove to be
the
easiest requirement to meet, since Zimbabwe has plenty of unemployed
laborers available to extract the materials. On the other hand, this
extraction may not prove economical, depending upon the amount of uranium in
the mines.
The second requirement is nuclear reactor technology.
While Harare maintains
good relations with several countries possessing a
nuclear capability, the
transfer of that technology would prove very
difficult. The United States,
European Union and others would strongly
oppose any such deal, and would
exert significant political and economic
pressure to dissuade any nation
from making such a transfer. Mugabe's long
track record of seeking nuclear
materials, both for power production and
nuclear weapons, will make other
nations more wary of allowing Mugabe to
obtain any type of nuclear
technology. Rumors have circulated since the
mid-1990s that Mugabe sought
nuclear weapons technology from North Korea.
Later, Mugabe sent troops into
the DRC in support of former President
Laurent Kabila and, in exchange,
sought to obtain uranium from the DRC's
Shinkolobwe mine. As recently as
early 2000, the Zimbabwean government
engaged in talks for the acquisition
of a nuclear reactor from Argentina for
the production of electricity.
Third, even if Harare were able to acquire
the necessary technological
expertise, it would still need the capital to
actualize its plan.
Zimbabwe -- already in a financial mess of gigantic
proportions -- has
proved itself a less-than-worthy borrower, and thus
likely would not be able
to obtain the funds needed for the construction of
nuclear facilities.
The production of energy also requires initial energy
inputs, with nuclear
energy in particular involving a power-intensive
process for the conversion
and enrichment of raw uranium into a form usable
in a power reactor. For a
country already experiencing power shortages, a
new nuclear reactor hardly
seems feasible.
As Zimbabwe's economy
continues to deteriorate to an almost medieval
level -- and with current
policies not offering much hope of halting the
decline -- Mugabe is grabbing
at straws to maintain some level of legitimacy
with the people. While the
idea of Zimbabwean nuclear energy or weapons will
surely grab attention both
domestically and abroad, Zimbabwe will eventually
find himself forced to
face the consequences of yet another failed promise.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
21 November 2005
The African Union organised
a seminar in Kenya last week titled
"African Commodities- Problems and
Strategic Options", to work out a plan as
to how the continent should move
forward in order to maximise its resources
and achieve food security.
Problems with land in Zimbabwe and the land
crisis developing in South
Africa were cited as examples of what hinders
production. Delegates made
recommendations that were submitted to heads of
state who started their
seminar on African Commodities in Tanzania Monday.
The seminar in Kenya was
attended by delegates from 27 countries, 9 producer
organisations and NGOs
such as the World Food Programme and The United
Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). There
were also
representatives from the SADC region and the Economic Community of
West
African States (ECOWAS). The purpose of the seminar was to discuss
access to
land for all, access to security of tenure, and access to
structured
financing. Trevor Gifford of The Commercial Farmers Union, who
just returned
from the seminar, said the delegates agreed it is difficult to
produce food
for internal consumption and for export without these 3
elements. They also
stressed that it was time for African governments to
stop talking about
these issues and start implementing sound programmes to
bring
progress.Gifford said because it was a continental seminar not limited
to
the problems in any one country, the lack of security of land tenure in
Zimbabwe was briefly discussed. The other countries acknowledged the
Zimbabwe land crisis as a good example of what is keeping the continent from
developing, and hoped that the heads of state would take up the issue.
Gifford said the African continent has been looking at the external
international community as its biggest market, not realising it is actually
Africa itself.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 11/22/2005 01:54:29
ZIMBABWE'S main opposition
leader on Sunday faced damaging allegations that
he misled the public over
his views on a government of national unity, as it
emerged that he had
unsuccessfully tried to convince President Robert Mugabe
to make him his
deputy.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has split into two
factions, one
led by party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and another led by
Professor Welshman
Ncube, the party's secretary general.
Tsvangirai
clashed with his senior colleagues in October after rejecting a
vote of the
party's national council supporting participation in senate
elections next
weekend.
Tsvangirai stance, while popular on the ground, has created a
constitutional
crisis for the MDC. His colleagues now openly accuse him of
being a
"dictator in the making", and have vowed to haul him before the
party's
disciplinary committee after the senate elections.
Addressing
his supporters earlier this month, Tsvangirai claimed that Ncube's
camp in
fact wanted a unity government with Mugabe's Zanu PF.
"The MDC,"
Tsvangirai said, "has never sought to partner Zanu PF in
government. We seek
no such partnership."
The Ncube camp made a forceful rebuttal of
Tsvangirai's claims at a weekend
rally in the MDC stronghold of Bulawayo. St
Mary's MP, Job Sikhala, revealed
that Tsvangirai had begged regional leaders
and top army generals to
convince Mugabe to take him as his
deputy.
Sikhala said Tsvangirai had deployed him, then Zengeza MP
Tafadzwa Musekiwa
and the deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire to meet
the Commander of
the Air Force of Zimbabwe, Air Marshal Perence Shiri in
2001, just months
before the 2002 Presidential elections.
"I went
there at the behest of my president and Shiri prepared us a very big
fish,"
Sikhala told thousands of supporters. "Shiri said Vice Presidents
(Simon)
Muzenda and (Joseph) Msika were still alive and there was therefore
no way
that Tsvangirai could be accommodated.
"When we told him (Tsvangirai)
this, he told us to go back to Shiri and tell
him that he would talk to his
MPs so that constitutional changes could be
made so that the country could
have three Vice Presidents."
Sikhala, a maverick former university
student activist, also revealed that
Tsvangirai held meetings with President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and
Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo "begging" them
to "pressure" Mugabe into making
him Vice President.
"We must be
careful with this man, if we are stupid he will auction us like
second hand
clothing, for his benefit," Sikhala said to rapturous laughter.
Musekiwa,
once Zimbabwe's youngest MP, confirmed to New Zimbabwe.com on
Monday that he
indeed met Air Marshal Shiri with Sikhala, but declined to
give
details.
"I did many things in an unofficial capacity, some for the party
and others
for the president of the MDC and I believe it is not wise to
discuss those
issues now," said Musekiwa from his new base in the United
Kingdom where he
is studying.
In further evidence of the deep
divisions, Sikhala compared Tsvangirai to
Idi Amin, the notorious former
Ugandan dictator.
Sikhala said: "The national council met at Harvest
House, on the sixth
floor, from 8am to 4:30pm to discuss this issue of the
Senate elections.
There was a deadlock and in the end we went for a vote.
The majority voted
in favour of taking part in the elections but after that
your leader said he
did not recognise the vote and declared that if the MDC
is to split, let it
split. He then took his jacket and walked
away.
".If you are a democratic leader, can you tell people that if you
lock the
door, no one enters? The only other person I know to have said that
is Idi
Amin who said, in 1976; 'I am Uganda, without me there is no Uganda.'
If a
person shows qualities of an international dictator how can we win the
war
against Zanu PF with him as our leader?"
Paul Themba Nyathi, an
independence war veteran and the MDC's national
spokesman took a similar
line, hammering at Tsvangirai's decision to
override the national council -
the MDC supreme decision making body.
"What is surprising is that
Tsvangirai is the one who stood up and declared
that there was a stalemate.
He then suggested that the matter be put to a
vote and some of the members
of the national council told him that a vote
was not the best way to deal
with the problem, but he insisted that the
matter be put to a vote," said
Themba Nyathi.
"He said the outcome of the vote should be respected and
be binding on all
of us who were there. He was the first person to be given
the paper and he
was also the first one to give his paper to the
chairperson, but after the
counting, he declared that 'I don't care whether
you call me a dictator; the
party will not participate in the election'. He
then stood up, took his
jacket and disappeared."
Chimanikire said
Tsvangirai would be hauled before the party's disciplinary
committee after
the November 26 senate elections.
Chimanikire said: "Some among you have
been asking why we haven't taken
disciplinary action on Tsvangirai. But
Tsvangirai himself has been saying,
nyaya hayiwori (justice will catch up
with you). We are still campaigning.
We will come back and tell you how
dictator riya tariita sei (how the
dictator had been dealt with)."
Zimbabwe Standard
(Harare)
COLUMN
November 20, 2005
Posted to the web November 21,
2005
IT will be the bleakest Christmas for millions of Zimbabweans.
For the first
time since independence from Britain in 1980, very few
Zimbabweans will be
able to go kumusha or to enjoy the traditional treat in
the communal lands
of chicken and rice.
There will be no "Sun" jam
and gallons of fizzy drinks to share around.
Neither will there be the
customary dozens of loaves of bread for everyone
to feed like crazy. For
many families, there will not even be a full meal to
talk about. They will
sleep on empty stomachs on Xmas.
Many will not be able to visit relatives
and families because bus fares have
shot through the roof. The so-called
"middle class" cannot even zoom to the
rural areas to impress relatives and
friends with their latest acquisitions
because there is no fuel. The country
has run dry and the only fuel
available is on the black market.
There
will be no trinkets and toys for many Zimbabwean children. Instead,
the most
likely scenario is that there will be lots of tears: tears shed
because
there is no food to eat, tears shed because one or both parents
succumbed to
HIV and Aids during the year, and tears shed because they know
they are most
likely going to drop out of school next year. Their parents or
guardians can
no longer afford the ever-rising school fees.
Of course the newly rich
and those on the Zanu PF gravy train will fly to
Victoria Falls, Kariba and
other nearby destinations with their families and
sometimes, "small houses".
They will hire boats and cruise on the Zambezi at
sunset and pat each other
on the back and say: indeed we have now finally
got our land back isn't it
nice that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again?
They will watch the
golden sun go down on the mighty Zambezi and say (to
no-one in particular):
isn't this such a lovely country with great
leadership!
They will
wait until the clock strikes that magic second on New Year's Day
and send
sms messages to their children, friends or relatives in South
Africa,
Australia, the US, UK and other countries abroad on their latest
"Bluetooth"
cell-phones wishing each other a "more prosperous New Year".
2005 was
indeed a "prosperous" year for many of them. They closed deals on
the grain
market, they exported roses they found on the farms they
expropriated; they
clinched contracts for life with government departments
to supply whatever
at whatever cost and - most of all - they know that they
belong to the
ruling class of Zimbabwe. As long as the "Old Man" is alive
and ensconced at
State House, life is a bed of roses.
But to the majority of Zimbabweans
who were forced to scrounge throughout
2005, there will be bitterness. They
will be bitter that the bread winner
lost that precious job after the
employer closed shop because of rising
costs and the effects of run-away
inflation.
They will be bitter that the bread winner succumbed to HIV and
Aids and died
of opportunistic infections that could easily have been cured
were there
affordable medicines in the clinics and the
hospitals.
They will be bitter that they are now sleeping in the open, or
in abandoned
cars, because their "illegal" shelters were razed to the ground
during
"Operation Murambatsvina" after senior government officials declared
them an
"eyesore".
They will be bitter that they cannot buy food or
Christmas presents for
their loved ones because their musika was also razed
down to the ground
during "Operation Murambatsvina" and now they have no
other source of
income.
And to these families, and to many others in
the small mining towns, the
former farming villages and the rural areas
affected by the economic
downturn, they will say someone stole their
Christmas. If you move closer
and listen attentively as they murmur to
themselves, you shall hear the name
of the man who stole their
christmas.
Reuters
Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:50 PM GMT
By Andrew Quinn
JOHANNESBURG
(Reuters) - Africa is making little headway against AIDS
despite wider
availability of life-prolonging drugs and must focus on
stopping new
infections to head off a bigger catastrophe, the United Nations
said on
Monday.
Data from Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe show African infection rates
can be
cut, but only if funders devote the same resources to fighting the
spread of
HIV as they do to treating HIV illness, the U.N. AIDS body UNAIDS
said in
its annual report.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region worst hit
by the global AIDS pandemic, home
to almost 26 million of the estimated 40
million people infected with HIV
worldwide.
Of the almost 5 million
new HIV infections recorded in 2005, 3.2 million
were in
Africa.
UNAIDS said a drive to bring AIDS-fighting anti-retroviral (ARV)
drugs to
Africa had scored successes with major distributions under way in
countries
ranging from Uganda and Botswana to Cameroon, Malawi and Ivory
Coast.
Altogether, some 700,000 people in the region are now receiving
ARV
treatment -- triple the number in 2001, but only about 10 percent of
those
needing the drugs.
High rates of new infection mean that
Africa's beleaguered health networks
still face a relentless increase in new
patients, making preventing new
cases key to winning Africa's AIDS war,
UNAIDS said.
"Unless we can get ahead of the epidemic and drop incidence
rates, we are
not going to have an impact," Mark Stirling of UNAIDS'
regional support team
for Eastern and Southern Africa told a news
conference.
SIGNS OF HOPE
UNAIDS said adult HIV prevalence
appeared to be declining in Kenya, Uganda
and Zimbabwe -- providing a sign
of hope the epidemic could be brought under
control.
Uganda, an early
leader in AIDS prevention, saw adult prevalence fall to an
estimated 7
percent from 15 percent in the early 1990s thanks in part to
campaigns that
stressed the importance of using condoms and reducing the
number of sexual
partners.
Data from Kenya also shows prevalence down from about 10
percent in the late
1990s to 7 percent in 2003. The fall was even steeper in
urban areas, where
adult prevalence rates fell from as high as 28 percent to
about 9 percent,
UNAIDS said.
Zimbabwe has produced studies showing a
reduction in HIV prevalence among
pregnant women -- a key marker for the
broader population -- to 21 percent
in 2004 from 26 percent in
2002.
Innocent Ntaganira, a World Health Organisation official
specialising in
Africa, said the examples proved that AIDS education can
bring about the
changes in behaviour but that too often the message was lost
in the rush to
provide drugs for the sick.
"The same sense of urgency
has to be brought to prevention efforts as has
been brought to treatment,"
Ntaganira said.