UN warns 1 million Zimbabweans set to face struggle for food

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Nov 21, 2011, 13:42 GMT

Harare - More than 1 million Zimbabweans may struggle to feed themselves in
the coming months, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Monday, noting a
poor harvest in several areas of the country.

Zimbabwe has just entered its rainy season which will last until March. The
local economy is still suffering from years of mismanagement and the global
downturn is also hindering growth.

'Most at risk are low-income families hit by failed harvests, and households
with orphans and vulnerable children,' said the UN's WFP.

'Although food is generally available in many rural areas, it is too
expensive for those with limited resources,' the agency said in a statement,
which called for foreign donors to give 42 million dollars for food aid to
Zimbabwe.

The southern African country, once renowned as a regional breadbasket,
started receiving food aid in 2001, a year after the government launched a
takeover of white-owned farms that was widely condemned abroad.

The coming months are also expected to see some political turmoil, as the
coalition between President Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai shows signs of wear.

Zimbabwe Police Guard MDC Rally

Police receive rare commendation from MDC-T

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
21 November 2011

The Zimbabwe Republic Police on Monday received a rare commendation from the
MDC-T, for strictly keeping law and order at a rally addressed by Prime
Minister Tsvangirai in Chitungwiza on Sunday.

Armed riot police and other security personnel were heavily deployed and
patrolled the streets in Chitungwiza all day, allowing Tsvangirai to go
ahead with the planned rally.

The same rally had to be cancelled two weeks go after ZANU PF militants
hurled stones at MDC-T supporters who were gathered at Chibuku stadium.
Following the skirmishes no one from ZANU PF was arrested, something that
most people have come to expect from Zimbabwe’s normally partisan police
force.

Party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told SW Radio Africa it was ‘quite
refreshing and very unusual’ to see the police keep law and order at an
MDC-T rally. He said they want to see the same level of alertness and
efficiency to be displayed all the time by the police.

‘The police were uncharacteristically friendly to the MDC. I have never seen
so many police details at our meetings and they were well behaved. It was
clear they meant business…it was clear they did not brook any nonsense. They
kept trouble makers at bay and ensured those attending the rally were safe.

However, it remains to be seen if they will continue to act professionally
because we know their masters (ZANU PF) to be good at play acting,’ said
Mwonzora. He added: ‘At one stage the police stood by and allowed the
country to be turned upside down by rowdy ZANU PF youths.’

Police spokesman senior assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena declined to
comment on the commendation from the MDC-T.

‘I’m sorry I don’t comment on that,’ Bvudzijena said before switching off
his mobile phone. The MDC-T President however called on the police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to ensure all citizens receive
protection, regardless of their political affiliations.

‘The role of police is to maintain law and order. The role of the police is
not to be a law unto themselves. Instead of being police of law and order
they are police of lawlessness and disorder. I do not hate Chihuri, but as
the person in charge of police behaviour and values, he must be
professional,’ Tsvangirai said.

He urged the police to arrest perpetrators of violence without being
selective. Turning to elections, the Prime Minister pleaded for next year’s
poll to reflect the will of the people, saying their votes must be secure.

‘The will of the people must be respected. You cannot run an election
without ensuring that these fundamentals are taken into account. Wherever we
travel, we are not ashamed to say we want a free and fair election in
Zimbabwe. Our message to SADC, the AU and UN is that we need a free and fair
election,’ Tsvangirai said.

PM calls for fair 2012 election

(AFP) – 23 hours ago

CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who
said he was robbed of victory in 2008 elections, pleaded Sunday for 2012
polls to reflect the will of the people.

"The vote must be secured... The will of the people must be respected,"
Tsvangirai told supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters in Chitungwiza, southeast of the capital Harare.

President Robert Mugabe has said the next polls would take place before
March but Tsvangirai said Sunday the exact was still being discussed, amid
rising tensions between their two camps.

About 2,000 MDC supporters attended Sunday's rally, as anti-riot police
patrolled around the stadium.

Two weeks ago, the MDC cancelled its rally after militants from Mugabe's
ZANU-PF hurled stones at supporters who were gathered in the stadium for the
event.

Both Tsvangirai and Mugabe have condemned the violence in the run-up to the
polls and called for tolerance.

Tsvangirai led Mugabe, who has ruled since 2008, in the first round of the
2008 presidential election but failed to win an outright majority. He pulled
out of the run-off citing intimidation, handing victory to Mugabe.

Following an international outcry, sanctions on the ruling party and months
of arduous negotiations, a power-sharing agreement was reached in which
Mugabe kept his job and Tsvangirai became prime minister.

Exclusive: Tsvangirai marries lover

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

21/11/2011 00:00:00
    by Staff Reporter

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai married his long-term lover Locadia
Karimatsenga Tembo at a private ceremony in Mazowe on Monday, New
Zimbabwe.com can reveal.

Tsvangirai has been dating the wealthy commodity broker for over a year, but
his aides had always denied they were dating.

The MDC-T leader recently confirmed during a radio interview that he was in
a relationship, but declined to name the woman.

Tsvangirai has been single since his wife, Susan, died in a car crash in
March 2009.

ZANU PF planning ahead for next election

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
21 November 2011

Plans to rig the next elections in Zimbabwe are said to be underway, with
accusations that ZANU PF is secretly removing known MDC-T supporters from
the voters roll.

Sources who spoke to SW Radio Africa, but who refused to be named for fear
of victimisation, have claimed that chiefs in the rural areas are being
coerced into supplying the names of known opposition supporters.

The lists being drawn up from this exercise are being forwarded to the
Registrar General’s office, who are in turn removing the MDC-T supporters
from the voters roll. The Registrar General’s office is still run by Tobaiwa
Mudede, a card carrying member of ZANU PF who has in the past presided over
many disputed elections.

MDC-T National Executive member Charlton Hwende was a guest on our Behind
the Headlines programme and told us the strategy to remove their members
from the voters roll would not work because they were already demanding a
new roll. He said they would not participate in any election that did not
use a ‘credible’ voter’s roll and that Mudede was wasting his time if he was
removing anyone.

“As a party our position is very clear. If the issues that we have
identified that enable us to go into a free and fair election are not solved
we are not going to participate. I think that the President (Tsvangirai) has
made that very clear on numerous occasions.” Hwende also confirmed that
several of their members in Kariba had been removed from the voters roll,
for no apparent reason.

Commenting on growing incidents of violence Hwende said ZANU PF abandoned
political violence in the run up to the March 2008 election and because of
that they lost the election to the MDC-T. After that defeat he said Mugabe’s
party went back to their ‘tried and tested’ method to win back the
presidency via “the violent and discredited June 2008 presidential runoff
sham.”

Hwende said because of that precedent it was unlikely the country could hold
free and fair elections. “The building of a war chest by ZANU PF, through
the Marange diamonds and its partisan asset stripping indigenisation policy,
which is a euphemism for the ‘Zanufication’ of the economy, are clear signs
the next polls will be extremely violent and bloody,” he said.

Meanwhile the Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa is reporting that
Mugabe is appealing to China and Russia for protection should a future
disputed election in the country be taken to the United Nations (UN)
Security Council for intervention.

The paper said that Mugabe had made the appeal for support from China and
Russia while on an official visit to Beijing. Mugabe’s fears are said to be
drawn from reports that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is lobbying the UN
and has also visited several African countries currently sitting in the UN
body.

Glen View MDC-T activists detained for 6 months

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda

21 November, 2011

A group of six MDC-T activists, accused of murdering a police officer in
Glen View, have been in police detention for six months now, despite
documented evidence that many were not even at the scene when Mutedza died.

A total of 28MDC-T supporters were arrested back in May, after Mutedza died
during a brawl at a local Glen View pub. Witnesses said he was killed by
unknown revelers, but the police claimed he was killed byMDCsupporters who
held a meeting there.

The majority were granted bail by the High Court and released, except for
the 6 who are still in remand prison. That group was denied bail by the High
Court, who claimed they were a flight risk.

The group still in detention includes Councillor Tungamirai Madzokere of
Glen View Ward 32, Lazarus Maengahama, Stanford Maengahama, Rebecca
Mafukeni, Yvonne Musarurwa, and Phineas Nhatarikwa.

The MDC-T Youth Assembly chairperson, Paul Madzore, was arrested months
after the murder and is also facing false murder charges in the Mutedza
case.

It later emerged that the dead police officer was viewed as a thug by many
Glen View residents. Speaking on the SW Radio Africa programme Callback,
some residents said Mutedza was killed after an argument with vendors who
attacked him and a colleague he was travelling with.

They said the murdered police officer was notorious in the area for being
corrupt. Vendors, who did not want to be identified, accused the cop of
soliciting bribes and regularly helping himself to their wares. He became so
wealthy he was able to buy a fleet of kombis, which still operate inHarare.
Meanwhile theMDC-T continues to push for the release of the 6 activists
still in detention. The party has said the arrests are part of a plot by
ZANU PF to destabilize their structures.

Chiyangwa loses battle over land

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

by 20 hours 26 minutes ago

THE compulsory acquisition for low-cost housing of 780 hectares in Harare
owned through two companies by Mr Phillip Chiyangwa has been confirmed by
the Administrative Court, allowing co-operatives already allocated land to
continue their developments.

Pinnacle Holdings and Jetmaster Properties, both owned by Mr Chiyangwa, had
contested the compulsory acquisition by the Government after they bought the
land from its previous owners, and had gone as far as issuing eviction
notices to the co-operatives and mounting advertising campaigns to
discourage others from joining the co-operatives.

But last week they lost the legal battle.

Administrative Court senior president Herbert Mandeya's ruling saves 500
families, members of Chimurenga Pungwe Housing Co-operative, who were facing
eviction from Nyarungu Farm by Jetmaster.

The co-operative was allocated part of the land by the Government for
residential stands.

They had been served with eviction notices, but the eviction was stayed
pending the outcome of the State's application for compulsory acquisition.
The State has the power to acquire urban land by compulsion for public
benefit, with the price set by what the land was being used for before the
compulsory purchase; so a farm would be valued as a farm and a block of
buildings needed for roadworks as buildings.

The ruling declared the properties as State land and those co-operatives
that had been allocated the land by Government for housing will now continue
with developments.

Mr Nelson Mutsonziwa from the Attorney-General's Office appeared for the
Ministry of Lands and Rural Development while Advocate Lewis Uriri
represented the two companies.

Court President Mandeya ruled that Government had convinced the court that
the acquisition was to benefit the people who were struggling to own stands
or houses.

"It is this court's view that the applicant (Government) has shown that it
is necessary to acquire the two respondents' pieces of land for town
planning in the City of Harare, that is for providing shelter for the many
inhabitants of Harare who do not have their own accommodation.

"The acquisition of Nyarungu Estates measuring 193,4056 ha registered in the
name if Jetmaster Properties and the Remainder of Subdivision A of
Stoneridge measuring 586,8960 ha is confirmed," ruled President Mandeya.

The court said the acquisition was for purposes beneficial to the public
while the two companies had the intention of making some profit.

"It is important to note that the legislation says ‘for a purpose beneficial
to the public generally or to any section of the public'.

"Emphasis is on catering for the public so that every citizen has a fair
chance of securing accommodation as opposed to catering for those with
substantial material resources.

"Is providing shelter aimed at recouping the costs involved plus some profit
or it is primarily aimed at creating the conditions that make it possible
for citizens to acquire for themselves shelter of their choice?

"The former applies to the respondents whereas the latter applies to the
applicants," he said.

During the court hearing the two firms opposed acquisition on the basis that
they had bought the properties and that they were also capable of using the
land for providing shelter to the citizens.

Government conceded that Pinnacle and Jetmaster were capable of building
houses on those pieces of land but argued that the companies will not cater
for the low-income earning citizens because they were profit oriented.

Government further argued that its acquisition was not motivated by
commercial gain but ensuring that urban dwellers were accommodated in decent
housing.

Chimurenga Pungwe Housing Co-operative chairperson Mrs Concillia Dzitiro
welcomed the court ruling saying it had a bearing on their case.

"We welcome the development from the courts. Although we were not party to
the proceedings, the outcome is also to our advantage.

"We have not been able to permanently develop our stands for fear of the
legal battles, but this ruling has given us green light to confidently build
permanent structures.

"We want to thank the Government for allocating us the land in question and
we would develop it to meet the urban standards," she said.

An attempt by Jetmaster to evict the families in June this year failed after
the lawyers resolved to wait for the Administrative Court's ruling.

In the same month, the families demonstrated against the eviction and
barricaded roads leading to the settlement and Nyarungu Farm.
The members vowed not to surrender the land to Jetmaster.

Hwange elephant deaths linked to poor park maintenance

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
21 November 2011

The deaths of an estimated 100 elephants in the Hwange National Park is
being linked to poor park maintenance, amid warnings that Zimbabwe’s
wildlife is facing a serious disaster.

An estimated 100 elephants are believed to have died from thirst since
October, with the majority of waterholes in the park drying up. The Park has
no perennial rivers and very little natural surface water and most of the
water available to the animals has to be pumped from boreholes.

But the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe, which
for years has been plagued by lack of funding and alleged corruption, has
not been able to keep the pumps going.

According to the Herald newspaper, Zimbabwe Parks director Vitalis Chadenga
said his organisation was “doing its best,” even with limited resources to
artificially supply water.

“Hwange is extremely hot and dry. We are actively managing the situation by
pumping water from boreholes,” he said.

But Johnny Rodrigues from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) told
SW Radio Africa on Monday that poor maintenance from the Park side means the
pumps do not work. He said that wildlife is not a priority in Zimbabwe.

“This is quite a disaster taking place and Park authorities have so many
excuses for why they can’t even do basic maintenance,” Rodrigues said.

He added that it was only because of groups like the Friends of Hwange Trust
that the animals have access to water. Friends of Hwange was formed on the
back of the extreme drought of 2005, which saw them step in and take over
the maintenance of 10 boreholes in Hwange park. This has involved raising
funds to purchase diesel as well as repairing and maintaining the diesel
engines, boreholes and troughs.
On Monday Rodrigues said the Trust and ZCTF need help in staying on top of
the maintenance, explaining that about 54 new diesel engines are required to
replace the worn out ones used at the water pumps. He explained that the
motors only last about five years, but he said: “Hopefully in the next five
or six years things will improve politically and wildlife will be a
priority.”

Bulawayo market traders forced to attend ZANU PF meeting

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
21 November 2011

Scores of vegetable sellers were over the weekend forced to attend a ZANU PF
meeting in Bulawayo, after being rounded up and threatened by a group of
party youths.

A vegetable market on 5th Avenue was closed on Saturday after the ZANU PF
youths forced the vendors to attend a party meeting at the Royal Hotel. SW
Radio Africa’s correspondent Lionel Saungweme said the youths were led by a
known ZANU PF activist called Shepherd Gomera, who ordered the vendors to
close up shop.

“The youths went around disturbing the vendors and forcing them to stop
selling. Gomera then came around on top of a truck ordering people to leave
and threatening them, telling them they will face some kind of punishment if
they don’t,” Saungweme said.

Saungweme returned to the market on Monday and found that business had
returned to normal. But he said the vendors and many shoppers were reluctant
to talk to the media, in case they are targeted by ZANU PF.

“People are very timid. One vendor said to me that they don’t even have
political links, and that they are neither MDC or ZANU PF. All they want to
do is feed their families. It is their top-most goal,” Saungweme said.

The vendors pay up to US$14 a day to the Bulawayo City Council to use their
individual vending bays, and Saungweme explained that even on a normal day
the vendors “really struggle to break even.”

“There are many vendors and it is very difficult to make money. So every
minute when they cannot sell their goods means they are losing money, and it
means they can’t look after their families,” Saungweme said.

He added that there are fears this is a warning of more intimidation to
come, with Bulawayo gearing up to host the upcoming ZANU PF conference. An
estimated 6,000 ZANU PF members, including Robert Mugabe and his inner
circle, are set to descend on the city next month for the four day
conference. Saungweme said that the weekend intimidation of the market
vendors could be a sign of the strict clampdown many expect will come when
the conference gets underway.

Police officers operating Kombis illegally

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
21 November, 2011

It has been reported that the number of police officers who own kombis is
steadily increasing and that they enjoy “special privileges” that others do
not, including breaking traffic regulations and bypassing roadblocks.

NewsDay newspaper said they conducted a “snap survey” which showed that many
police officers, especially those who have served on UN peacekeeping
missions, own fleets of up to 15 vehicles

The paper quoted drivers and junior police officers who claimed that some
kombis owned by police chefs are not properly registered, do not have route
permits, pick up people wherever they like and even overcharge for trips
during peak hours.

SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the Harare transport
system has seen a rise in the number of police officers operating kombis.
“You can tell which ones they are because they have to write the name and
address on the side. It is a requirement,” Muchemwa said.

He added that owners are also required to write the route they are permitted
to cover on the side of the kombi, and those owned by police officers often
choose to travel along the busier routes, which increase their earnings.

“They have an advantage because when certain operations are carried out the
traffic police will not single out their vehicles,” Muchemwa explained. On
the other hand civilian operators are forced by ZANU PF youth to pay fees
for each trip and bus rank fees for the day.

Although NewsDay did not name any police officers who own kombis, SW Radio
Africa spoke to some listeners back in June who alleged that officer Petros
Mutedza, the Glen View cop who was killed in a local pub in May, also owned
a fleet of kombis.

Listeners on our Callback programme said the 42 year old Inspector Mutedza
had a long history of demanding bribes and confiscating goods illegally.
They said he was so openly corrupt that he gained enough wealth to own a
fleet of minibuses in Harare.

Our correspondent Muchemwa said Mutedza’s kombis still operate in Harare. “I
have seen the fleet and it has P. Mutedza written on the side. The address
is Mabelreign and it says City to Glen View,” Muchemwa explained.

He added that many police officers now drive nice cars and are making a lot
of money from the transport business and other ventures, because it’s easy
to break the law. Many have also built very nice houses.

According to our correspondent there is now a lot of resentment developing
between the civilian owned fleets and those owned by police officers.

‘Ncube hell-bent on destroying MDC’

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Staff Writer
Monday, 21 November 2011 09:34

HARARE - Senior MDC members Tendai Biti and Nelson Chamisa told United
States representatives in November 2005 that their secretary-general at the
time, Welshman Ncube, was hell-bent on destroying their party.

According to a WikiLeaks cable filed by the then US Ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell, Biti, then the shadow Minister for Economics for the MDC,
noted that while party divisions were deepening at the time, the MDC’s
“center of gravity” had shifted decisively behind Tsvangirai.

Further noting that he had “long been in the middle and suspected by each
camp of leaning toward the other”, Biti said he had endeavoured to play a
mediating role until he came to the conclusion that the Ncube faction had an
agenda that precluded reconciliation.

He told Dell that Tsvangirai had earlier agreed to a compromise along lines
proposed by mediator Brian Raftopolous, but that Ncube’s group had refused
to meet their counterparts to discuss it.

Citing the Ncube faction’s absence from the constitutional vote in
Parliament, its opposition to a popularly supported senate election boycott,
its “lies and manipulations” — allegedly with the help of then South African
President Thabo Mbeki, and its refusal to meet with Tsvangirai on key
occasions, Biti said he feared that the faction had made some accommodation
with Zanu PF that revolved around isolating Tsvangirai.

Biti also revealed that the Ncube faction had made strong pitches to draw in
himself, the then party Secretary for Youth Affairs Nelson Chamisa and Roy
Bennett, but the faction’s duplicity and intransigence had only succeeded in
alienating all three.

Biti went on to say he had always been critical of Tsvangirai’s acting
outside the constitution but came to recognise that “everybody” — especially
the then secretary-general Ncube — was ignoring the party constitution
willy-nilly, “so why should Tsvangirai be held to a higher standard”.

In a later meeting, Chamisa corroborated Biti’s account of Ncube’s
determination to destroy the MDC, adding that Job Sikhala had told him in
confidence that Ncube had advised him to file a lawsuit against Tsvangirai
over his suspension — ostensibly to open the party up to disruption and
manipulation by the state-controlled courts.

Zanu PF gay storm

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Margaret Chinowaita
Monday, 21 November 2011 14:16

HARARE - Gays have threatened to publicly name and shame top Zanu PF
officials and ministers who are allegedly involved in steamy affairs with
their members in a move which could potentially plunge President Robert
Mugabe’s relationship with his colleagues into a new low.

This followed weekend revelations that Mugabe could have been duped into
signing into a law an Act which promotes rights of gays and lesbians whom
the 87-year-old leader fiercely attacks as worse than dogs and pigs when
given an opportunity.

Zanu PF officials who denounce homosexuality by day and engage in the
activities by night, are said to be running scared following revelations by
our sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, that some of them promoted and
crafted the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(Aippa), which recognises some gay rights in 2003.

Mugabe reportedly signed the bill into law without realising that his aides
had smuggled in recognition of gay rights.

Section 25 of Aippa reads: “Protection of information relating to personal
privacy: (1) The head of a public body shall not disclose personal
information to an applicant if the disclosure will result in the
unreasonable invasion of a third party’s personal privacy.”

According to the same Act, “personal information” is defined and  includes a
person’s age, sex and sexual orientation, marital and family status.

In 2000, some Zanu PF officials smuggled gay rights into the draft
constitution and knowing that Mugabe hated homosexuality, they disguised it
under a clause natural differences but the draft was rejected by the people.

Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (Galz)  president Chester Samba
said they will name Zanu PF politicians who lambast them yet they engage in
homosexual activities with his organisation’s members.

“We will expose them for who they really are if it turns out that somebody
whom we know has gay relationships comes out with homophobic statements,"
Samba.

“While we wouldn’t want to expose people because we do not have that policy,
if a politician who is gay comes out with homophobic attacks we will see
that as hypocrisy. If that politician is known to be gay and it is proven,
only in situations like that we will be forced to expose them.”

Samba, however, said there are no politicians that have joined Galz as
members but he confirmed that there were some who had gay sexual
orientations and has relationships with their members.

Galz has made submissions to Copac on what they want included in the
constitution.

“We want right to privacy, right to equality, non-discrimination and to have
sexual orientation included in the Bill of Rights as a basis of
discrimination. We want our basic rights but we are not lobbying for same
sex marriages to be included in the constitution.”

Samba said same sex marriages were not yet on the agenda because a number of
issues were still outstanding.

He said at the moment gays and lesbians do not have the right to health and
education in the country.

Recently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai came under fire for saying
homosexuality was a human right in an interview with BBC.

Zanu PF hawks and Mugabe’s bootlickers rushed to castigate him before they
were exposed at the weekend as hypocrites who crafted and passed Aippa into
law and as it turns out, the law recognises homosexuality.

Homosexuality is reportedly rife in Zanu PF.

Former ceremonial President Reverend Canaan Banana allegedly sexually abused
aides while a Mutare businessman and Zanu PF official, once appeared in
court charged with sodomising a young man.

During the time when political turncoat Jonathan Moyo was Information and
Publicity minister, ZBC chief executive officer Alum Mpofu resigned in shame
after he was caught in a gay act at a popular rhumba club in Harare.

During the same time, there were reports that a powerful minister was caught
in a compromising position with a Gweru based ZBC deejay in Gweru when Radio
3 was moved to the Midlands capital.

And former Bulawayo-based dj Kelvin Ncube, who was employed at Montrose
Studios, was caught in another shameful act at Bulawayo hotel.

Govt fails to fund Nkomo statue

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Own Correspondent
Monday, 21 November 2011 16:40

BULAWAYO - A Harare-based contractor has abandoned the construction of the
late Vice President Joshua Nkomo’s statue in Bulawayo after the government
reportedly ran out of funds for the project.

The contractors vacated the construction site along Main Street in Bulawayo
two weeks ago after the government through the ministry of Home Affairs
failed to pay the contractor.

Sibangalizwe Nkomo, the son of the late Vice President and national hero
confirmed the development.

“Yes I can confirm that the project has stalled. Last week there was a
meeting among stakeholders involved in the project and I am told the
government through the department of museums and national monuments has
promised to disburse funds for the resumption of the project,” said Nkomo
junior who is also the chairperson of the Joshua Nkomo Foundation.

A visit to the construction site on Saturday proved work has stopped.

The construction of the late father Zimbabwe statue which has boasted more
drama than a soap opera has been mired in controversy since its inception.

The statue was pulled down in September 2010 after the Nkomo family
protested that the statue did not capture the true attributes of the late
Vice President and that the family was not involved in the project.

After realising its blunder, the government engaged the Nkomo family through
the Joshua Nkomo Foundation and construction resumed end of July this year.

Early this year, Kembo Mohadi, the co-minister of Home Affairs announced
that the project was supposed to be completed before Heroes Day
commemorations in August but the contractors failed to beat the deadline.

Media distorted my wealth: Chombo

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Monday, 21 November 2011 09:22

HARARE - Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius
Chombo has said the media has distorted the list of his alleged properties
which are at the centre of a dispute involving his ex-wife.

Chombo and his former wife, Marian, are involved in a divorce which is yet
to be determined by the courts.

“My wife raised what she raised, as a list and I raised what I raised as a
list,” Chombo said in a rare press briefing at the swanky Shangri La
Restaurant in Harare on Friday.

“And she has failed to prove that the list she had exists. And if it exists,
she can even have it.

“So it has been very clear and the court records are very clear and so
straight forward and you know it and you have got the documents, but you
want to elect to write that which is incorrect because it suits the agenda
that you have.”

While Marian was not immediately available for comment yesterday, Mtetwa
told the Daily News that her client had rejected the minister’s offer.

“There has been a pre-trial conference. The matter is still before the
courts,” she said, adding the list the minister is disputing was what was
presented to her by the ex-wife.

“It’s what we got from our client,” she said.

Chombo alleged the private media and his scorned wife were pursuing a
malicious agenda against him, obfuscating his real wealth ostensibly to
scandalise him.

“There is absolutely no miracle,” Chombo said. “Tiri kufunga kuti pamwe
maakushaya news.” (we think you are running out of news).

But Chombo disowned all the published wealth on Friday saying his assets
have been inflated to scandalise him.

The MDC claims President Mugabe is shielding Chombo — his homeboy.

After the Harare City Council reported him to the police in April 2010 for
his involvement in shady deals in the city, involving an irregular
acquisition of more than 20 hectares of prime land in the plush suburb of
Helensvale, the police never mounted a criminal investigation.

There have been several subsequent police reports, but there was no action.

“There is no case, that is why police did not act,” Chombo retorted.

The police reports came as Chombo waged multi- dimensional battles over the
assets and simultaneously tried to have the courts seal the files.

Chombo’s attorney Advocate Thabani Mpofu has argued before the judge that
his client will suffer “irreparable harm” if the file is not sealed and was
attempting to keep details which could be embarrassing to his former wife
and hurtful to his children out of the public eye.

But Mtetwa, Marian’s attorney, argued that Chombo cannot be protected
because he was a government minister and a Member of Parliament whose
constituents are eager to know how he treats his wife and women in general.

The MDC insists that Chombo’s assets are merely a tip of the iceberg,
compared to the “collective assets” that the entire top Zanu PF leadership
holds as personal and family estates.

“That Chombo has been able to acquire such booty in such a short period of
time makes nonsense claims by Mugabe and Zanu PF that travel restrictions on
their senior party leadership are the prime cause of Zimbabwe’s slide into
an economic abyss,” the MDC statement says. Chombo said the MDC was pursuing
a political attack on his integrity, and had even brought amendments to the
Urban Councils Act to dilute his powers.

“The amendments to the Act, are meant to affect ministry.”

‘Zim prisons not reformative’

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Tendai Kamhungira, Court Writer
Sunday, 20 November 2011 13:27

HARARE - While the local courts deal with different cases everyday, most of
them similar in nature, the question that has been raised is whether there
was a benchmark for determining the verdicts.

When one commits an offence and is brought to the courts, it would appear as
though his or her world suddenly comes to an unhappy end.

Punishment comes in different forms depending on the nature of the offence
that one would have committed, with the most severe being a death penalty.

Several aspects come into play when the magnitude of a punishment is put
under perspective; the first question obviously being, Who benefits from the
punishment?

A wide array of variables are used to build evidence on circumstances
surrounding the commission of a crime; including the nature and
circumstances under which the offence was committed as well as the offender’s
willingness to reform.

Harare lawyer Anesu Vusani Bangidza said punishment for an offence is
justified since it helps to deter would-be-offenders from committing similar
offences, fearing the same fate would befall them.

“Punishment is justified in order to maintain the fabric of society, that
deterrent factor needs to exist. It will deter a number of people and stop
them from committing offences,” said Bangidza.

He also said the difference in sentencing on similar cases varies with
situations and the reason why a person would have committed an offence.

He lamented the country prisons’ conditions which he said are not
rehabilitative but punitive in nature, which do not create room for
behavioural change but rather harden them.

Alec Muchadehama, a prominent Harare human rights lawyer who has won several
human rights awards, concurred with Bangidza and said Zimbabwean prisons did
not provide reformative platforms.

He said forms of punishment depend on the nature of the offence, personal
circumstances and the interest of society which he said needs to be
balanced.

“Sentences depend on the offence and offender. If someone commits an offence
repeatedly, obviously there is need for that person to be removed from the
society,” said Muchadehama, commenting on incarceration punishment.

According to Muchadehama, magistrates can use their own discretion on
mandatory sentences, depending on the circumstances.

While the courts have always imposed sentences to deter criminals and
would-be-criminals from committing further offences, the same people have,
however, reappeared in the same courts.

Muchadehama said courts should use progressive and compensatory sentences
that would assist in rehabilitating criminals.

Courts are compelled to pass sentences that are balanced with the severity
of the crime.

However, a critic could still ask what it means to be “balanced”, and what
an “equivalent” penalty is.

No form of punishment will meet the justice of any case, for example in a
murder case; no sentence would bring back a dead person.

Several circumstances often hover above human judgment that is based upon
one’s discretion.

Tehran ready to share experience with Zimbabwe: foreign minister

http://www.tehrantimes.com

On Line: 21 November 2011 18:00

TEHRAN –  Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that Iran is
ready to share experiences in industrial, agricultural, medical and
pharmaceutical fields with African countries including Zimbabwe.

Salehi made the remarks during a meeting with George Charamba, the press and
information secretary of the Zimbabwean President Office, in Tehran on
Sunday.

Salehi commented on good ties between Tehran and Harare and continuous
consultations between the senior officials of the two countries on
international issues and said Iran respects Zimbabwe’s independent stance
toward international issues.

Referring to the foreign policy priority of the Islamic Republic of Iran in
strengthening ties with African countries, Salehi emphasized the necessity
of helping to implement the bilateral agreements, particularly in economic,
industrial and agricultural areas.

During the meeting attended by Zimbabwean Ambassador to Tehran Nicholas D.
Kiti Kiti and a Zimbabwean media delegation, George Charamba appreciated
Iran’s effort to help develop Zimbabwe.

Charamba said his country’s President Robert Mugabe attaches special
importance to relations with Tehran and that the president is seriously
seeking implementation of the deals.

Charamba and the accompanying delegation also held talks with Iranian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Monday.

Mehmanparast stressed the necessity of media cooperation between Tehran and
Harare.

The two sides insisted on implementing media agreements concluded in the
last trip of Mehmanaparast to Zimbabwe.

For his part, Charamba said the Zimbabwean private and state media outlets
are ready for cooperation with the Iranian media.

He went on to say that Western countries seek to halt the independent
countries’ progress and block their efforts to gain access to advanced
science and technology.

The Zimbabwean delegation made a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting (IRIB) and some Iranian news agencies and press offices.

U.S., Israel are main losers of regional developments

During the talks, Mehmanparast said, "A glimpse at the direction of the
regional and international developments indicates that such developments are
rooted in the strategic failures of the United States and Western countries.
These developments will come to end at the expense of U.S. and the Zionist
regime and in favor of the independent nations."

Police must be professional: President Tsvangirai

Yet another disastrous programme

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7140

November 21st, 2011

I never thought that after the lessons from the ad-hoc land reform programme
Zimbabwe would pursue another disastrous programme, this time dubbed black
empowerment.

With the ruin wrought by President Robert Mugabe’s ill advised land reform
programme that destroyed the once vibrant agriculture sector, turning
overnight the country from breadbasket to basket case, it is indeed hard to
contemplate yet another similar programme engineered by the same looters who
are now multiple farmer owners.

It’s like a drama in slow motion with an obvious tragic end; a destroyed
economy, no jobs, no food and no money.

I am not sure what will happen to the country’s potential mining sector now
that Mugabe and his cronies are busy looting it in preparation for the
biggest election in their long political careers.  But I am as sure, as the
sun rises every morning, that eventually the company grab, just like the
land grab, will kill the country’s sick industrial base.

It will not benefit my fellow Zimbabweans who have since 1980 been
sidelined,  even after the completion of the so-called land reform programme
thousands of Zimbabweans are  still squashed on spent land and Mugabe and
his cronies still cannot fathom a land audit.

No science is required to see that the same people who benefited from the
land reform programme will also benefit from the land grab.  Even the
vociferous war veterans are not likely to benefit and neithrer will the
chefs, because they are not close enough to the echelons of power.

As I write this I see disaster coming to mother Zimbabwe for the same doctor
responsible for the deaths of many is forcing himself upon us again to
perform another surgery.

Zimbabweans will shrug it off as it happens, but when the effects start to
take their toil then they will remember that indeed Zanu PF policies are
self serving initiatives for political survival.

This entry was posted by Simon Moyo on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 11:49
am

Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch: Issue 33

Peace Watch of 18th November 2011 [International Day for Tolerance]