Pretoria sources said the team to be sent to Harare by President Jacob Zuma includes trusted lieutenants who are "as tough as nails"
South Africa is expected to send a high powered delegation to Harare, Zimbabwe, on Friday in a bit to inject urgency into talks among partners in the troubled power-sharing government on resolving longstanding contentious issues.
Talks among ZANU-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change formations opened on Monday, well after a deadline of 15 days following a November 5 meeting in Mozambique of the Southern African Development Community's troika or committee on politics, defense and security.
Informed sources said talks were still held up by bickering and a bloated agenda.
The sources said ZANU-PF, supported by the MDC formation of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, wanted talks to address the issue of so-called pirate radio stations broadcasting to the country from outside its borders, such as Washington-based Studio 7 from the Voice of America and London based Short-Wave Radio Africa, urging Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to halt their broadcasts.
The MDC has stated that it is not in a position to control broadcasts from outside Zimbabwe.
Sources in Pretoria said the South African team to be sent to Harare by President Jacob Zuma, a key facilitator of the talks, includes trusted lieutenants who are "as tough as nails."
The team is headed by Charles Nqacula, a political adviser to Mr. Zuma and a former defense minister. It also includes Mac Maharaj, a former minister of transport and hero of South Africa's anti-Apartheid struggle, and presidential foreign policy adviser Lindiwe Zulu, a former ambassador.
Pretoria sources say the appointments signal the end of former South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts in Harare. Though Mr. Mbeki was instrumental in bringing about the September 2008 Global Political Agreement underpinning power-sharing in Harare, he was often criticized for his "quiet diplomacy" approach to President Robert Mugabe, seen as impervious to such persuasion even from peers.
Zuma spokesman Vincent Magwenya told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that the team will help the South African president fulfill his SADC mandate to help the Harare power-sharing partners achieve a lasting accord.
London based political analyst Msekiwa Makwanya said Mr. Zuma's robust approach is likely to yield better results in Harare than Mr. Mbeki's low-key style which some saw as too deferential to Mr. Mugabe as a senior regional leader.
Mr. Mbeki stepped down as South African president following a revolt in the ruling African National Congress led by partisans of Mr. Zuma who accused Mr. Mbeki of pushing corruption charges against Mr. Zuma, who was also perceived as a more populist leader than his predecessor.
http://www.iol.co.za
November 25 2009 at 07:16PM
South Africa's President
Jacob Zuma on Wednesday appointed a new team to
monitor Zimbabwe's troubled
unity government accord, ending former president
Thabo Mbeki's mediation
role, his office said.
"As part of the evaluation process, the
facilitation team will be visiting
Zimbabwe at a date to be announced,"
presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya
said.
"Former president Thabo
Mbeki's role was in the context of him being the
head of state," Magwenya
has said.
Mbeki, who stood down as president in September 2008, led a
team of
mediators who brokered the power-sharing deal signed by President
Robert
Mugabe and his long-term rival Morgan Tsvangirai who became prime
minister.
The unity government formed in February this year has been
fraught with
power struggles, which saw Tsvangirai boycott it for three
weeks in October.
The stand-off was later resolved by regional leaders at
a special summit in
Mozambique.
"The facilitation team will soon
engage with the parties as emissaries of
the president, and report back to
him," said the statement.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
25
November 2009
Talks aimed at finding a lasting solution to the country's
shaky inclusive
government are being held in total secrecy, at undisclosed
venues in Harare.
To ensure privacy the negotiators from ZANU PF and the
two MDC formations
are changing venues daily, to dodge the 'prying eyes and
ears' of local and
international media.
A source in Harare told us
the negotiators were planning to meet the whole
day on Wednesday, after they
broke off talks early on Tuesday to attend
cabinet. However negotiations
resumed later Tuesday evening.
'On Monday and Tuesday the negotiators
met, but not for long periods. But
today (Wednesday) they will meet from
morning till late in the evening. My
guess is they're rushing to meet the
SADC deadline,' our source said.
Although the latest dialogue has failed
to meet the first SADC mandated
timeline of 15 days, the negotiators have
expressed optimism the talks won't
exceed the 30 day deadline set by SADC,
which falls on 6th December.
There is also clear frustration at the lack
of transparency and progress so
far. Political analyst Gabriel Shumba warned
that this current phase of
talks is expected to be tough, since it ventures
into proper power-sharing,
which is at the crux of the dispute. Although
many analysts express concern
and amazement that real power sharing was not
at the heart of the agreement
from day one.
'What is extremely
worrying to most of us now is lack of any information
coming from the talks.
This exclusionary approach to rebuilding Zimbabwe can
only spell doom if the
fate of the country is decided only by six
individuals,' Shumba said. He
added that it was possible to understand the
logic behind the secrecy of the
exact details, because of fears that outside
influences can impact
negatively on the negotiations.
'But that should not stop them from
briefing the media on a daily basis or
weekly basis. There should be
transparency during these talks. Ideally they
should call a press conference
where they must allow input from Zimbabweans
through interaction with
journalists,' Shumba added.
During the Lancaster House talks that brought
about the country's
independence from the British, negotiations were not
held under the glare of
television cameras, but the process was held in an
atmosphere of some
transparency.
At the end of each day the main
representatives of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesian
delegation, led by Ian Smith and
Bishop Abel Muzorewa of the UANC, and ZANU
PF and PF ZAPU representing
Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, each called a press
conference where journalists
were briefed on the proceedings of the day.
ZANU PF and the MDC are still
deeply divided over a number of issues,
especially Mugabe's powers to
unilaterally appoint senior government
officials like the Attorney-General
and the Reserve Bank governor.
A SADC ministerial team that assessed the
implementation of the GPA last
month recommended that Gono be 'reassigned',
in order to solve one of the
thorny disputes in the unity
government.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, November 26,
2009 - South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal Judge
Azhar Cachalia is
visiting Zimbabwe to observe the ongoing trial of Deputy
Agriculture
Minister Designate Roy Bennett, who is charged with plotting
acts of
terrorism in the country.
Image
The International Commission of
Jurists (ICJ), which is an international
non-governmental organisation
comprising sixty of the world's most eminent
jurists dedicated to the
primacy, coherence and implementation of
international law and principles
that advance human rights, said Justice
Cachalia observation of the trial
will assist the ICJ to evaluate the
fairness of the trial of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's top aide.
"Justice Cachalia's experience will
therefore be invaluable in assisting the
ICJ to come to a conclusion on the
fairness or otherwise of the Bennett
trial process" said Martin Masiga, the
senior legal adviser at the ICJ
Africa Programme.
Bennett is
charged with the possession of weapons with the intention to
commit
sabotage, terrorism, banditry and insurgency.
He had earlier been
charged with treason but this was dropped.
"The trial of Roy Bennett
is significant as Zimbabwe goes through its
transitional phase because
serious allegations of executive use or misuse of
the justice system to
persecute legitimate opposition to it have been made,"
said
Masiga.
The ICJ said the question as to whether the trial of Roy
Bennett is in good
faith at all or is politically motivated continues to
overshadow his trial.
"The handling of what to charge Bennett with
and the failure to explain the
multiple changes in charges against him
raised suspicion. The issuing of
summons and/or arrest of some the lawyers
defending Roy Bennett and his
potential witnesses deepened the suspicions,"
the ICJ said.
The State has exhibited rare zeal in matters of
criminal prosecution when
the Attorney General Johannes Tomana personally
appeared in court to
prosecute the case against
Bennett.
Justice Cachalia who is a judge of the Supreme Court of
Appeal, South Africa
has had a distinguished career as a lawyer and
judge.
He has over the years developed expertise as a judge in
dealing with
evidence alleged to have been obtained unlawfully through
torture for
example in the celebrated precedent setting case of Mthembu v
The State
(64/2007) [2008] ZASCA 51 (10 April 2008).
Justice
Cachalia has previously visited Malaysia in 2002 as part of a
delegation
from the Joseph R.Crawley Program in International Human Rights
at Fordham
Law School, which undertook a study of that country's Internal
Security
Act.
More recently he visited Cairo at the invitation of Freedom
House to
examine, among other things, the impact of the ongoing state of
emergency in
Egypt on democratic opposition in that country.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet
Gonda
25 November 2009
The trial of Roy Bennett, the MDC senior
official accused of trying to
overthrow the Mugabe regime, continued on
Wednesday with the cross
examination of another state witness,
Superintendent Arnold Zorodzai
Dhliwayo. Journalists covering the terrorism
case of the MDC's Deputy
Minister of Agriculture designate say the
statements made by the state
witnesses expose even more holes in this
controversial trial.
Bennett is accused of conspiring with Peter Michael
Hitschmann, a registered
firearms dealer, to acquire weapons to 'eliminate'
government officials.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa said
that just like the first
State witness, Dhliwayo's testimony was full of
inconsistencies and
contradictions. The first State witness was lead police
investigator Chief
Superintendent James Makone, who told the court that
Dhliwayo had recorded
all the weapons found at Hitschmann's
house.
But Muchemwa said Dhliwayo contradicted Makone's testimony, saying
he only
noted about half the weapons, as anything that might explode was
left in the
hands of military experts. This showed that the 'firearms' could
have been
tampered with by the military, who took over the investigations at
an army
barracks in Mutare when Hitschmann was arrested in
2006.
Muchemwa said most of the evidence Dhliwayo gave created laughter
in the
court as he contradicted statements made by the previous witness. He
was
also constantly caught off guard and seemed unable to answer any of the
questions properly. Observers say there was often a clear indication that he
may have been coached to lie, on behalf of the Attorney General's
Office.
Makone had on Monday also revealed in court that he had not yet
completed
the investigations which resulted in the defence team, led by
Beatrice
Mtetwa, saying the whole case against her client is based on 'false
evidence.'
Bennett himself told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that the
trial was an
absolute 'farce and a joke'. He also said it would appear the
State was
using delaying tactics to prolong the duration of the trial. He
said he also
feared the trial could take several months, in spite of the
fact that the
State has so far failed to link him in any way to a plot to
overthrow Robert
Mugabe.
Muchemwa said because of the numerous breaks
being taken in-between the
court sessions, the cross examination of Dhliwayo
continues on Thursday.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25348
November 24, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Talks aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's protracted
political crisis
finally started in Harare Monday afternoon with the three
parties in
government haggling over their differences for nearly half a
day.
After missing the first 15 day deadline set by the SADC Troika in
Mozambique
early this month, the parties started their talks at 12pm on
Monday and
adjourned at 11pm.
SADC gave the parties 15 days and no
further than 30 days to resolve their
disputes.
All the six
negotiators were present while and there were no additional
persons in the
negotiations.
According to Industry and Commerce minister, Professor
Welshman Ncube, the
talks were set to resume Tuesday.
They will run
every day until the negotiating parties satisfy themselves
they have
exhausted all the outstanding issues raised by the MDC and Zanu-PF
as per
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the SADC communiqué in South
Africa
in January this year.
Ncube, secretary general of the smaller MDC faction
led by Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara said the parties would not be
pressured by the
dates set by SADC.
"The 30 days set by the Troika is
a timeframe for the facilitator to report
the status of the talks and give
whatever guidance he wants to give but we
are certainly not guided by any
deadline. We have never done that and we
will never do it," he
said.
Ncube said there was no renewed acrimony among the parties during
Monday
talks.
"You are talking about people who have been negotiating
for the past two or
more years. There was nothing unusual whatsoever," he
said.
He further said there is nothing that has changed in the manner in
which
they have been conducting their talks even after the Troika summit in
Maputo
passed what sounded like an ultimatum on the feuding
parties.
He said the negotiators will not be making any regular reports
on the
progress of the talks to their principals unless they ask for
reports.
He also said South African President and facilitator in the
talks has not
informed them on his visit to assess the progress of the
talks.
While the public acrimony has been between the mainstream MDC and
Zanu-PF,
Ncube said his MDC party also has its own demands on the fulfilment
of the
GPA,
"We are fighting for ourselves," he said. "We have issues
of our own. The
fact that we are not masters at playing politics,
grandstanding or
defections does not mean we have no issues.
"We have
our issues and lots of those issues which are in the public domain,
We have
issues about provincial governors, issues about themedia and so
forth."
As usual, Zanu-PF is being represented by Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa
and Transport Minister Nicholas Goche while the MDC party
led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is represented by Finance Minister
Tendai Biti
and Elton Mangoma, minister responsible for investment
promotion.
The smaller faction of the MDC is represented by Ncube and
Priscilla
Miscihairabwi Mushonga, in charge of regional
integration.
The MDC seeks the reversal of all unilateral appointments of
Zanu-PF
loyalists by President Robert Mugabe which were made after the
signing of
the GPA in September last year.
They include those of the
Attorney General, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor, provincial governors
and ambassadors.
The MDC also wants its treasurer general Roy Bennett,
who is currently being
tried for terrorism, to be unconditionally sworn into
his position as deputy
minister of agriculture.
It is also seeking a
stop to continued invasions on productive farms by
Zanu-PF supporters, state
media bias against it, the failure by the National
Security Council to meet
regularly and the continued arrest of its activists
on
spurious.
Zanu-PF also wants the MDC to unequivocally commit itself to
making calls
for the lifting of western imposed targeted sanctions on its
officials and
businesses and the demolition of the so-called parallel
government
structures which it claims Tsvangirai is forming.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Lizwe Sebatha Thursday 26 November
2009
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe requires more than US$15 billion to finance
its latest
economic recovery programme, a figure nearly double the US$8
billion Harare
failed to raise for a short term recovery programme announced
weeks after
the administration came into office.
Economic Planning
Minister Elton Mangoma said US$15.8 billion five-year
Medium Term Plan (MTP)
would be launched next January to the replace the
Short Term Emergency
Recovery Programme (STERP) that was launched in March
and expires in
December
"As the government, we are presently setting policies that will
promote
investment by the private sector to ensure financing of this
programme. One
of the policies is to ensure that public-private sector
partnerships play a
crucial role in the implementation of the MTP," Mangoma
told ZimOnline.
But Mangoma did not say how exactly the government would
raise funds for its
latest recovery programme especially after problems it
encountered trying to
mobilise donor and investor support for the
STERP.
The STERP was expected to stabilise the economy and lay the basis
of a
mid-to-long term recovery programme. While the economy has stabilized,
the
STERP has largely fizzled out after key Western donor governments and
multilateral institutional declined to bankroll the programme demanding more
political reforms.
Zimbabwe's coalition government - that President
Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to form only
because of pressure from
southern African leaders - is seen as offering the
country its best
opportunity in years to turn around its economy after a
decade of severe
recession.
But analysts remain skeptical about the
government's long-term
effectiveness, citing unending squabbles between
Mugabe's ZANU PF and
Tsvangirai's MDC parties and refusal by rich Western
countries to provide
financial support. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Thursday 26 November
2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe's monthly inflation for October has increased
to 0.8
percent, gaining 1.3 percentage points on the September rate of -0.5
percent, the government Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced
Wednesday.
"This (inflation increase) means that prices as measured
by the all items
Consumer Price Index increased by an average of 0.8 percent
from September
2009 to October 2009," the CSO said.
Month on month
food inflation and non-alcoholic beverages inflation stood at
0.31 percent
in October after gaining 1.51 percentage points on the
September rate of 1.2
percent.
During the period under review, month on month non-food
inflation stood at
1.03 percent, gaining 1.23 percentage points on the
September rate of -0.2
percent.
Zimbabwe no longer calculates it's
inflation basing on the local currency
after shelving it's use in March this
year in favour of the American dollar
alongside a basket of foreign
currencies for all trade. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25359
November 25, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The government has set up a diamond processing
plant at the Harare
International Airport for purposes of processing the raw
mineral from the
Marange diamond fields in Manicaland, sources
say.
The plant is located on the domestic airport terminal at the Harare
International Airport .
A South African registered company Grandwell
Holdings, which uses the trade
name Mbada Investments, owns the
plant.
Our sources say the company has links to senior army and Zanu-PF
officials.
"They have set up base at the airport," said the source,
"that's where they
are processing the diamonds and sending them straight
thereafter to buyers
outside the country."
Currently about 2000
hectares of Chiadzwa diamond fields are being exploited
for diamonds.
Truckloads of alluvial diamonds are taken to Harare everyday.
"About 3000
diamond carats are mined everyday at the Chiadzwa diamond
fields," said the
source. "These are transported everyday to the Harare
airport processing
plant.
"Currently there are four companies mining diamonds at Chiadzwa,
extracting
diamonds at 30 000 cubic metre level but with the new equipment
coming in,
they shall be mining up to 100 000 cubic metres going down by
year end."
An official from Mbada Investments confirmed Monday that they
had
established the plant and were preparing to lay a runway for aircraft
that
would transport diamonds from Chiadzwa.
"We are in the process
of laying a runway to make sure that diamonds from
Chiadzwa can be flown to
Harare, and we have made sure that a diamond
processing facility is in place
in Harare," said Robert Mhlanga, a board
member of Mbada Investments while
addressing a ministerial taskforce team
for Chiadzwa in Harare
Tuesday.
The Minister of Mines and Mineral Development Obert Mpofu,
however, denied
the existence of such processing company at the airport when
contacted for a
comment.
"We are serious and we are not going to be
derailed by people saying what
they want," said Mpofu. "We are moving ahead
and we want the minerals to
benefit our people.
"Don't listen to what
the people say. Listen to the official position."
Elton Mangoma, the
Minister of Economic Planning, said the government was
working on a plan
that would see 60 percent of diamonds mined in the country
being processed
locally.
"I do know that there is a company that has been given a diamond
processing
licence and it is a respectable one led by an experienced team of
people,"
said Mangoma. "I just don't have the name with me here.
"We
want to have a situation where 60 percent of diamonds mined locally are
processed, polished and packaged here. We want diamonds to be a blessing to
our people not a curse."
Although the entire Chiadzwa diamond fields
cover 67 000 hectares stretching
to Mutambara communal lands, only 2000
hectares are being mined at the
moment.
The 2000 hectares have been
heavily fortified by a security fence and
private security details brought
in by the mining companies that have moved
into Chiadzwa.
Members of
the Zimbabwe National Army and police, accused of killing
hundreds of people
during last year's infamous operation to flush out
illegal diamond miners,
are said to be gradually withdrawing from the
diamond fields.
But
sources say they are only moving out of mining claims that have been
allocated to mining companies.
Mpofu stands accused of not floating a
tender to select prospective
investors to partner the government in diamond
extraction in the Marange
Diamond Fields amid allegations he overlooked
better equipped and
experienced diamond miners.
He is said to have
cherry-picked Canadile Investments and Mbada Minerals
without going to
tender. But sources say serious political considerations
where taken into
consideration.
Candile Mine, Mbada Mines, Grandwell and Core Mining
Minerals are mining in
Chiadzwa in a partnership with Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation
(ZMDC).
The sources said most companies from
the western countries that were pushing
for the country's suspension from
the Kimberly Process were excluded.
About 4 800 families will soon be
moved to a relocation farm in Nyazura in
an operation that is expected to
start soon.
There are, however, reports that the families were resisting
the relocation
because they were not sure if they were going to get proper
housing and
other infrastructure such as schools and clinics.
Others
are complaining that they were not consulted in the planning stages
of the
relocation while others want to be given free seed and fertiliser
that they
were promised as part of the relocation package.
Mangoma said the
government was working on the best plan possible to
humanely relocate people
from Chiadzwa.
"We are taking the issue of relocation seriously and we
would want people's
human rights to be respected," said Mangoma.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance
Guma
25 November 2009
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has
called on Parliament to
lead an inquiry into the police shooting of striking
workers at Shabanie
Mine. In September riot police shot and injured 3
workers at the mine,
following a demonstration by over 2000 of them over
unpaid salaries.
Co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa announced last
week that a board of
inquiry would be set up to investigate and that police
Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri would be required to recommend people to a
board that
would carry out the probe.
Not surprisingly this has failed to
placate the union, who want an
independent body to deal with the matter.
Acting ZCTU Secretary General
Japhet Moyo argued that 'the involvement of
these figures is tantamount to
them handpicking people to investigate their
conduct. Our calls for an
inquiry did not border on the shootings alone, but
the ZCTU also wanted
circumstances leading to workers not being paid since
January 2009, probed.'
Even after the shooting incident mine management
proceeded to harass and
intimidate workers, while scores were summarily
dismissed. Moyo said
although the ZCTU welcomed the inquiry only Parliament
could ensure a
'wholesome approach to the matter' and probe both the
shooting and
management of the mine.
Shabanie Mine was seized from
businessman Mutumwa Mawere using controversial
anti-corruption legislation
in 2004. The government claimed his companies
owed the state huge sums of
money, something Mawere has vigorously
challenged in court. Since then the
administrators have been accused of
asset stripping and running down the
mine. The non-payment of workers
salaries is said to be one of the symptoms
of the rot that has set in at the
company.
Meanwhile the mine shooting is
one of many incidents that have highlighted
the trigger happy nature of the
police force. In August 2001 heavily armed
riot police and soldiers shot
into a crowd of 4000 workers who were on
strike at the state owned
Ziscosteel iron and steel company. Three workers,
Samuel Masiyatsva, Never
Daniels and Joshua Zimbwa died instantly, another
two succumbed to injuries
later on, while 22 others were seriously injured.
The ZCTU wrote to Mugabe
demanding the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry
into the shootings but
nothing was done. The union accused Ziscosteel of
trivializing the shooting
and not doing anything to have it investigated.
But because of pressure from
the Iron and Steel Workers Union of Zimbabwe
and the widow of Masiyatsva,
who took the matter to court, a High Court
judge later ruled in their favour
during a compensation claim.
The court ordered the Zimbabwe National Army and
Commissioner of police to
compensate her. Highlighting the impunity and
scorn for the law Raymond
Zvoushe, the army officer who shot Masiyatsva
through the back of the head,
did not even bother to turn up for the
trial.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
25 November 2009
The imminent signing of a new bilateral
investment protection treaty (BIPPA)
between Zimbabwe and South Africa could
be halted, if an application in the
Pretoria High Court on behalf of more
than 200 farmers proves successful on
Thursday.
The BIPPA, which is
set to be signed this weekend at an investment
conference in Harare,
controversially excludes protection on all South
African owned land
expropriated by the government during the so-called land
'reform' programme.
The agreement itself has not yet been made public, but
South African Trade
and Industry Minister Rob Davies recently revealed that
the agreement will
only provide security for South African investors in any
sector, including
agriculture, 'from now on'. He added, in an interview with
South African
newspaper Business Day, that it would have been impossible to
negotiate this
agreement with a 'retrospective clause', with regards to
expropriated
land.
244 South African farmers, whose land was seized during Robert
Mugabe's
chaotic land grab campaign, are now threatening legal action for
being
excluded from the investment pact. Lawyers representing the farmers,
as well
as South Africa pressure group AfriForum, are now set to file an
application
in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday, to have the signing of
the agreement
halted.
The farmers are being led by Louis Fick, who is
still in the middle of a
land wrangle with Zimbabwe's deputy Reserve Bank
governor Edward
Mashiringwani. Fick, a South African citizen, has received
absolutely no
assistance from his own government, despite being forced off
his land,
threatened, intimidated and harassed. Mashiringwani and his hired
thugs
meanwhile have completely taken over the farm, by force, operating
with
total impunity.
Fick is one of more than 70 farmers who were
awarded legal protection of
their land through the human rights court of the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) last year. The SADC Tribunal
ruled that the
farmers had been unlawfully deprived of their property and
that the
Zimbabwean government should restore their rights or compensate
them. But
the ruling has been completely ignored, and the Tribunal itself
snubbed by
the government, which has been charged with contempt. SADC
meanwhile,
including former chair South Africa, has made no comment about
the snub,
which included Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa announcing
Zimbabwe was
pulling out of the Tribunal.
South African farming union
Agri-SA said such silence, particularly from the
South African government,
would amount to 'retrospective approval' of the
Mugabe regime's unlawful
actions. The group has expressed its concern about
the investment pact,
insisting that victims of the land grab campaign be
included. The group last
week urged the South African government "not to
buckle under pressure" from
Zimbabwe to exclude the land 'reform' programme
from the
agreement.
The BIPPA, if signed, effectively immunises the government
from facing any
legal prosecution for sanctioning the illegal takeover of
land. The
agreement too is set to badly damage South Africa's reputation, as
the South
African government will be allowing Zimbabwe to flout the SADC
treaty that
both countries are party to. Most concerning is that South
Africa will be
contravening its own Constitution, by not protecting the
rights of its
citizens whose land was seized in Zimbabwe.
A legal
opinion on the proposed BIPPA, produced by Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett
for
Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union, highlights these concerns.
Gauntlett
writes that the investment pact "constitutes a breach of South
Africa's
legal obligations," adding that the agreement "purports to immunise
Zimbabwe
from its international law liabilities." Gauntlett concludes that
by
entering into the agreement, South Africa "would act contrary to the
principles of the SADC Treaty and other international instruments, and in
violation of the South African Constitution, and may in law be interdicted
against doing so."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
25 November 2009
The Education Ministry has announced it does not
have the extra money to pay
special incentives to exam invigilators, as the
2009 exam period is set to
get underway a month late, on
Thursday.
The announcement was made by Education Minister David Coltart
on Tuesday in
Harare, where he urged teachers to make the necessary
sacrifices to ensure
the exam period runs smoothly. Teachers' unions earlier
this month said
their members wanted compensation for the 14 'extra days'
they will be
working, given exams will still be written after schools
officially close on
December 4. The public exams begin on Thursday and the
final paper will be
written on December 18.
Public examinations were
originally scheduled for last month, but were
postponed mainly due to a
strike by workers at the exams council, ZIMSEC,
who were demanding salary
increases from US$115 to US$400. The strike was
later called off after a
meeting of ZIMSEC management and workers in which
they were promised salary
increases up to US$270 per month. The exams were
finally rescheduled to
start this week, more than a month late.
The Reserve Bank last year paid
invigilators allowances as 'incentives' for
them to supervise the writing of
examinations, and this trend was widely
believed to continue this year. Last
week, the teachers wrote to the
Education Ministry threatening to boycott
invigilating examinations if no
allowances were paid.
Minister Coltart
explained to SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that such
incentives cannot be
paid by the Ministry, saying sacrifices 'for the sake
of the children' will
need to be made. He acknowledged that "this is not
going to be a perfectly
run process," lamenting the already badly damaged
public confidence in
ZIMSEC and the education sector.
"We have been trying to restore
confidence in ZIMSEC and our Ministry but
that has been difficult with the
numerous issues ZIMSEC has raised," Coltart
said.
He explained that
only one teachers' union, the Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ),
has so far agreed to ensure that invigilators are
available through the exam
period.
"I am quite hopeful that the other unions will follows suit, but I am
waiting with baited breath," Coltart said.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Simplicious Chirinda Thursday 26
November 2009
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s political parties should act
now to prevent recurrence
of election violence that last year left at least
200 supporters of the then
opposition MDC party dead, a senior official of
President Robert Mugabe’s
ZANU PF party said on Wednesday.
ZANU PF
secretary for women’s affairs Oppah Muchinguri said: “I am worried
about
what happened last year. We have to put a safety net and make sure
that the
violence that happened last year does not happen again.”
Muchinguri, who
was speaking at the launch in Harare of a gender report by
the Women in
Politics Support Network, said political parties should start
campaigning
against political violence now and not wait for election time.
Zimbabwe
is expected to hold fresh elections either at the end of 2010 or in
early
2011 once a new constitution is put in place and that is expected to
pave
way for free and fair polls.
But human rights groups say ZANU PF and
members of the fiercely pro-Mugabe
security forces are committing violence
in some parts of the country to try
and intimidate voters into backing a
controversial draft constitution known
as the Kariba draft as the basis of
new constitution.
The Kariba draft was prepared by ZANU PF and MDC
officials but critics say
the document should be discarded because it leaves
Mugabe’s immense powers
untouched.
Unprecedented violence broke out
across Zimbabwe last year immediately after
it became clear Mugabe had lost
a first round presidential vote to MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai who,
however, failed to achieve outright victory to
avoid a second round run-off
poll.
Human rights groups blame the violence on ZANU PF supporters and
security
forces who they say resorted to terror tactics to forestall what
had looked
a sure defeat for Mugabe in the decisive second round
ballot.
However Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round vote because of
attacks
against his supporters.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai eventually
bowed to pressure from southern African
leaders to agree to form a
government of national unity that has been able
to end hyperinflation to
stabilise the economy.
But the coalition government has struggled to
enforce the rule of law with
frequent reports of political violence and farm
invasions blamed on the army
and militant supporters of ZANU PF. – ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by John Makumbe
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
17:10
President Mugabe last week capped some 1 311 graduates of the Zimbabwe
(ZanuPF) Open University (ZOU). This was a joyous occasion for those who
graduated and their loved ones.
Unfortunately, there has been
considerable anxiety regarding the calibre of
some, but not all, ZOU
graduates since the institution was created. A long
distance educational
institution, ZOU has become the panacea for students
who fail to make the
mark and are unable to qualify to enter such
universities as UZ, NUST and
MSU.This perception is actually borne out by
both the admission criteria of
ZOU and the type of students who end up being
admitted by the invisible
institution. For example, secretarial staffs at
other universities, who
would not qualify to register as students at the
very institutions they work
for, are readily admitted into ZOU and some have
actually graduated with
Masters Degrees. They have, however, never been able
to secure higher
employment positions at the institutions they work for
since their
credentials were considered questionable.There is obviously a
degree of
unfairness in judging ZOU so harshly. Perceptions can be quite
wrong, but
they can also be quite accurate. But there are too many stories
about how an
astute ZOU student can get his or her instructor to write his
or her
assignment for a fee.Then the instructor marks his own work and
credits the
(client) student accordingly. In these days of a dollarized
economy, who
would sneeze at a $50 dollar note Zanu loyalists set to become
rights
commissionersZOU degrees questionablefor writing a few pages of
absolute
rubbish? Sadly, the ZOU student stands to learn nothing even though
he or
she will graduate with the others and get capped by good old Bob. A
story is
told of one very senior military officer, a ZOU student, who never
showed up
for classes whenever they were held, but who was awarded the Best
Student
Award for that year. 'ZOU is a national institution that should be
under
close public scrutiny at
all times'The question is, was he being rewarded for
having earned so many
marks in class or in his assignments and exams, or was
he being recognised
as one of the top soldiers of this nation? Other stories
indicate that some
of the faculty members at ZOU have rather limited and
questionable academic
qualifications. Indeed, the majority of them would not
qualify to be
employed at any of the real universities in this country. I am
aware of a
local university which will not employ any applicant who holds a
ZOU degree
to be a lecturer. The same university is also reluctant to admit
ZOU
graduates into its post-graduate studies for obvious reasons.It is
absolutely imperative that the recently constituted Council for Higher
Education should urgently undertake an audit of ZOU in terms of its syllabi,
the credentials of its faculty and the level at which students are being
taught and examined. The results of such an audit should be made public and
appropriate measures taken to ensure that students get value for money from
the distance education institution. It may also be helpful to include in the
audit team several specialists in distance education such as personnel from
UNISA. The credibility of ZOU and all Zimbabwean tertiary institutions is at
stake. I know that I may have opened Pandora's Box and may be taken to task
for what I have expressed in this contribution. But like all other
universities, ZOU is a national institution that should be under close
public scrutiny at all times. The latest scandal pertaining to examination
papers printed in South Africa seems to confirm that the management of ZOU
may need to be evaluated from a realistic point of view. Degrees cannot be
churned out like confetti; they have to be earned.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Josephat Zimunya
Wednesday, 25
November 2009 14:37
MUTARE – Zimbabwe’s agro-businesses will this year
participate at the
Agrictech International Exhibition in Israel in a bid to
source new markets.
(Pictured: Women plant seedlings on a farm near the
Gaza Strip in southern
Israel)
The tri-annual exhibition is the
biggest fair in the Middle East and
attracts over 250 buyers, as well as
visitors from Israel and the rest of
the world.
Head of delegation and
organiser to the fair, Christian Friends of Israel
Zimbabwe, told ***The
Zimbabwean that a total of 50 companies would travel
to Israel for the
exhibition set for December 5-11 this year.
Director Yisrael Yehudah said the
exhibition offered local firms an
opportunity to market their products and
strike deals.
In 2008 companies such as Windmill and Zimbabwe Fertilizer
Company took part
in the fair.
“This fair presents an opportunity for our
companies to market their goods
to the international world and boost their
exports,” he said.
The fair, he added, would also enable the country to
source inputs ahead of
the 2009/10 rainy season.
Israel, with a
population of about seven million people, is regarded as one
of the few
countries in the world with a vibrant agriculture industry.
“Local firms can
learn a lot from Israel and improve its sector,” Yehudah
said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Zwanai Sithole
Wednesday, 25 November
2009 15:52
BULAWAYO - Several graduates of the infamous Border Gezi youth
training
centres who were incorporated into the Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) as
special constabularies have complained about poor working
conditions within
the force.
More than 20 former Border Gezi trainees
here said that they had been
promised permanent jobs in the regular force,
but had been waiting for a
long time.
"I joined the police in 2006 after
completing national youth service
training at Kamativi youth training centre
in Hwange. Some of my colleagues
opted to join the army and the prison
services but I chose the police
because we were promised employment. I
wasted my time because I am still
doing voluntary services for the force
"said a Border Gezi graduate who
refused to be named for fear of
victimization.
Another graduate from Guyu training centre in Gwanda said when
he joined the
force towards the 2005 parliamentary elections he had been
made to
understand that he would be eventually sent for proper training at
Ntabazinduna police training depot.
He is now frustrated and bitter that
nothing happened.
The special constabularies said they had forwarded their
plight to the
Minister of Youth, Savious Kasukuwere, who deployed the youths
to the police
force during the run up to the 2005 elections.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Staff Reporter
Wednesday, 25 November
2009 12:53
HARARE - Australia's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, John Courtney, last
week
commissioned eight boreholes worth US$65,000 at the University of
Zimbabwe.
The project is part of a US$1.2million borehole programme that
Australia is
funding across Zimbabwe.
The University of Zimbabwe
boreholes were funded by the Australian
Government through the United
Nations Children's Fund. The borehole project,
which was requested by the
Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, will
bring a sustainable
alternative source of safe water to the University of
Zimbabwe, Courtney
said.
"Assistance through UNICEF to restore safe drinking water to the
University
of Zimbabwe is an important part of Australia's support for
restoring basic
services to the people of Zimbabwe," he said.
With
funding from the Australian Government, UNICEF has invested some
US$65,000
for borehole drilling and supporting infrastructure such as tanks
and pipes
to help provide a continued supply of safe drinking water for
students and
staff at the institution of higher learning. Borehole drilling
has been
identified as a cost-effective and long term back up system to
address the
perennial water problems experienced by the university,
currently blighted
with critical water shortages.
The boreholes, which will remain an important
back-up system for the
university even after the main water supply is
re-established, have been
designed to provide high quality water that meets
World Health Organisation
standards. They have a depth of between 40-67
meters. Further, to maintain
safety, UNICEF will continue chlorination of
the water from these boreholes,
Courtney said.
"This is a long-term back
up system to the University's water shortage
problems and at UNICEF we are
grateful to the Australian Government for
their support," said UNICEF
Country Representative Dr Peter Salama,
"Students and staff members can be
assured that water from these natural
sources is rigorously tested and safe
for human consumption."
In addition the Australian Government has provided
US$1.2 million for
drilling of 200 boreholes in cholera affected areas
across Zimbabwe.
Over the last three years water supplies to cities and towns
in Zimbabwe
have become erratic and unsafe owing to years of infrastructural
decay and
the lack of funds to purchase water purification chemicals.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25366
November 25, 2009
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - Senior journalists have cited state repression among
the main
reasons reporters were now reluctant to venture into investigative
journalism for their newspapers.
Zimbabwe Independent newspaper
assistant editor Dumisani Muleya said most
Zimbabwean journalists should
weigh the excitement of publishing a ground
breaking story against the cost
of exposing the murky activities of powerful
individuals and organisations
in society.
He said most scribes were practicing self-censorship because
they did not
know what would befall them if they wrote controversial but
revealing
stories.
"Local journalists in a number of times are now
prisoners of fear," Muleya
said during a journalists' discussion at the
Quill club, Harare 's press
club this week.
"There are big stories we
come across but journalists are not writing about
them. You calculate the
cost of writing and the consequences.
"You have got to be intelligent in
this environment to say 'is it worth it
to write the story and you spend the
Christmas holiday languishing at
Chikurubi prison?'"
Muleya was among
three panellists during a brief session to discuss the
state of
investigative journalism in Zimbabwe .
The discussion was also to
celebrate the life of slain Mozambican
investigative journalist Carlos
Cardoso who was gunned down on November 22,
2000.
Cardoso was in the
middle of investigating a US$14 million fraud involving a
son to former
Mozambican President Jocquim Chissano.
Zimbabwe is yearning for stories
that unravel massive corruption at
government level. But local journalists
have largely shied away from doing
such stories.
Some stories include
the state sponsored abductions on critics and opponents
of President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu PF, civilian massacres by the army in
Chiadzwa diamond fields,
corruption and how much of taxpayers' money is
gobbled by the President's
endless trips abroad.
"If you are not going to overcome the issue of the
political climate of fear
you are not going to get the big stories," Muleya
said.
"If you are not going to make sure the newsrooms are run by
experienced
people who have been through the mill to know how to coordinate
stories, you
are not going to get the big story."
The award winning
journalist also cited the lack of resources among the
factors that continue
to hinder investigative journalism in Zimbabwe .
He said lack of
transparency within the government itself also made the job
hard for
journalists with an appetite for investigative stories.
Muleya, who is
arguably the best investigative journalist in Zimbabwe at the
moment, said
journalists were also hard pressed to balance the credibility
of their
stories by quoting anonymous sources.
Similarly, Financial Gazette
political editor Njabulo Ncube, who was also
among the panellists bemoaned
lack of financial capital to fund research as
one of the
reasons.
"The situation in Zimbabwe can hardly provide ample
opportunities for such
kind of journalism," Ncube said.
He also
blamed this on the impact of "horse racing" in reporting as having
greatly
affected the standard of investigative journalism in the country.
Ncube
said this was exhibited by the polarisation of the media in Zimbabwe
that
has resulted in the state media vilifying President Mugabe's opponents
and
the independent media doing the same against Zanu-PF.
"We also have
self-censorship and pre-publication censorship in the
newsrooms which
generate fear among reporters as a result of political
intimidation," he
said.
Zimbabwe has one of the most repressive media laws and environments
in the
continent which have forced dozens of experienced journalists into
exile.
"There is the issue of poverty and meagre salaries which
demotivate
journalists to go up for full investigation of a story and that
results in
lack of commitment
"One of the biggest obstacles that
inhibit thorough investigation in a story
is the restricted media space that
would allow diversity that will allow
journalist to indulge in investigative
reporting.
"Overall, journalists would rush to beat deadlines or to
please people in
colourful articles that have nothing to do with
investigative journalism."
Apart from the repressive environment, Ncube
said there were some
journalists who had compromised themselves by becoming
too close to
politicians and now found it difficult to do stories on
them.
The two-hour discussion also had its own acrimonious
moments.
Former Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who was seated in
the audience
touched a raw nerve when he said Zimbabwean journalists should
abandon
stories on corruption and start showing "patriotism" by bashing
western
imposed "sanctions" on President Mugabe and his
cronies.
Ndlovu said state media and independent media journalists should
mingle and
talk the same language.
He was to vanish from the press
club minutes after his controversial
assertions when some journalists
started questioning what legacy he himself
left when he was still
minister.
A top human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, who graced the
occasion also
blamed Ndlovu for "categorizing" Zimbabwean
journalists.
"The categorisation is from the state," she said, "the state
will call
journalists that are not in the state's stable, journalists for
imperialism,
regime change and that categorisation has come from a system
that was
controlled for a long time by Dr Ndlovu. And if it is to stop, the
state
media must stop that categorisation."
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Mutumwa Mawere Thursday 26
November 2009
OPINION: We all have a view on the Africa we see today.
For 53 years of our
post-colonial experience, we have attempted to style
ourselves as democrats
implying that unlike during the colonial era,
policies emanate from
deliberations that involve discussion among the
affected people.
Today in South Africa, the continent’s economic
powerhouse, a war of words
is raging between the comrades in the ruling
tripartite alliance with ANC
Youth League president Julius Malema and South
African Communist Party
(SACP) deputy secretary Jeremy Cronin, providing a
voice to one of the
greatest debates that any nation must and should engage
in on whether or not
to nationalise.
Although South Africa is a more
sophisticated economic system, it remains an
African state exhibiting
dualistic characteristics that largely define the
continent’s concrete and
objective circumstances.
Only a few have climbed the opportunity ladder
and the role of
apartheid/colonialism in crystallising a small but
economically effective
class of key decision makers on racial
lines.
The majority of the people in the opportunity valley are black and
when they
try to put meaning to why they are poor the tendency is to explain
poverty
in a racial and historical context.
One cannot deny that race
had an impact on how the resources of Africa are
allocated and
shared.
To escape poverty, therefore, a viewpoint is held that change
must take
place in Africa and the racial question must be addressed in its
proper
context and content.
To the extent that the asset ownership
patterns were not market-created, a
justification is then made that the
state must necessarily take an active
and decisive role in the
transformation process notwithstanding the lack of
empirical evidence
supporting a proposition that the state can be a reliable
agent for any
meaningful transformation that is not supported by a
determined and active
citizenry.
Indeed, one of the greatest issues that confront contemporary
Africa is
whether this continent can advance its cause without
nationalisation of
resources.
Nationalisation is the act of taking an
industry or assets into public
ownership of a national government or
state.
In advancing the interests of the national democratic revolution,
a strong
view is held that the state, itself a product of the civil rights
struggle,
can be a reliable instrument for exercising full democratic
control over the
means of production thereby ensuring that frontiers of
poverty can be
reduced through a redistribution mechanism.
This is a
central theme in many socialist economies where a view is held
that the
means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned by
the state
on behalf of the people to allow for rational resource allocation,
planning,
operation and control of the economy.
Notwithstanding the fact that
Africa’s democratic constitutional order
guarantees citizenship rights to
all who choose to be Africans, white
Africans are generally not accorded the
same rights and identity as the
majority black Africans meaning that assets
that are controlled by white
Africans are generally deemed to be in foreign
hands.
We all wish the best for Africa the continent we all love.
Economic
nationalism is not a uniquely African ideology.
At the
individual level, people endeavour to advance their well being and
are
motivated by an unwavering belief that tomorrow can be a better and
brighter
day only if they choose to do something about it today.
It is rare that
an individual will seek to externalise progress but will
more than likely
attempt to locate such progress in a family setting.
Equally, when we say
a country is doing well we expect that its citizens
must show signs of
progress and the frontiers of poverty must be reduced.
By citizen, most
people will interpret this concept to mean black indigenous
people although
this may be at variance with the constitutions of the
countries in
question.
Around dining room tables in South Africa and across the
continent, citizens
are agonising about what the future holds and what can
be done to make the
future what we all want to see.
Africa needs
economic transformation and debate on future options is
necessary and yet
there is silence on the many defining issues in many of
our daily
conversations.
When, for example, in a population of 48 million, only two
people take
centre stage in the nationalisation debate then one must take
note of the
real risks that lie ahead.
The biggest challenge in
Africa is not the tyranny of the few whose voices
dominate conversations but
the silence of the many when their future is
being debated and decided by
the few.
The debate on nationalisation is largely informed by ideology.
The resources
in question are situated in Africa and can, therefore, never
be considered
to be external.
The real issue is who is best equipped
to convert the resources into
products and services that can be exchanged in
the market place.
History has demonstrated that the state, being an organ
of the people, with
its challenges on accountability can never be relied
upon as an agent of
economic change and transformation.
The state
itself is weak in many African states because underpinning it is a
dependency syndrome on donor funds.
If African states are
institutionally and capacity challenged, how can
anyone come to the
conclusion that nationalisation will advance the economic
democratisation
process?
I have always held the view that anyone who builds in one’s yard
is in
effect glorifying the titleholder.
Equally, people who decide
to invest in Africa are in effect advancing the
African promise because
without such discretionary investment there appears
to be no alternative
plan.
If an alternative plan does exist, then one would observe the
displacement
of investment by indigenous Africans by the so-called foreign
investment.
It is God who made minerals and hid them our job is to find
them at a cost
and extract them at a further cost.
If funds for
exploration and exploitation are not available as is the case
in many
situations in Africa, the resources will remain in situ and no
amount of
rhetoric will lift the minerals from where they are resident.
Even in the
case of land, the land cannot be externalised and is where it is
and the
situation has not changed since the beginning of human civilisation.
It
would be wrong for one generation to take the view that they own the land
instead of taking the view no human being is capable of owning land but in
life one can use the land.
Human beings are perishable but in life we
all want to be in control.
Ownership implies the concept of
exclusion.
If we exclude white Africans from using land then one must
provide a viable
alternative that will see land being used to produce
products that can
address human challenges.
In many cases we have
observed that exclusionary policies have not yielded
the intended benefits
and yet this has not stopped the use of inflammatory
language.
Democracy needs deliberation and deliberation is lubricated
by knowledge.
Ultimately, democracy is discussion and, therefore, it is
incumbent upon us
to engage in the great debates of our time.
By
pushing the envelope of knowledge on what it takes to build a prosperous
and
secure nation state, finding a common ground is made easier.
There are
just too many of us who believe that Africa belongs only to the
people they
classify as indigenous forgetting that even indigenous people
can elect to
migrate to foreign states and in doing so challenge the
exclusionary
argument that is often advanced that Africa can only advance
its cause if
its resources are perpetually controlled and managed by
so-called indigenous
people.
I invite all to join in the conversations of our time so that
together we
can impact on the world we live in. Let us share ideas. Let us
debate. Let
us negotiate our future. Let us deliberate.
Our continent
needs our voices and more importantly ordinary as we are we
can accomplish
extraordinary outcomes if we reason together.
As a businessman, I have
been advised by many of my colleagues to stop
writing and focus on
business.
Yes, this makes sense but if our voices are missing at this
defining hour in
our history then what will future generations say about
us?
Let us get out of the comfort zone and be the change we want to see.
I
joined Africa Heritage Society www.africaheritage.com based on my
belief
that Africa belongs to all who believe in it.
The face of an
African need not be my face but must embrace all who make
Africa what it is.
We are all human and it is our actions that leave a
legacy not our skin
color or religion, for example.
If a foreign born person decides to call
Africa home let us embrace the
person because making that decision is in
fact an expression of the
affirmation of Africa as a home of hope.
If
Africa can convert dreams of foreign-born person into real and tangible
wealth why is it difficult for us to spread the message of hope and
opportunity to the many that believe they are condemned to live in
poverty?
Will nationalisation ever assist in improving the lives of
African people?
This is the question that you must answer in your own words
with your own
circle of friends and family. – ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Kenneth Ingham
Wednesday,
25 November 2009 17:01
Beyond the Malachite Hills
By Jonathan Lawley
(foreword by Lord Carrington)
I. B. Tauris; Hard cover, 304pp
‘What a
wonderful book!
Every now and then one comes across a truly special
memoir, and Beyond the
Malachite Hills deserves to become a classic of its
genre: a poignant,
evocative, nostalgic account of a remarkable career that
was dominated by
Africa. But it is much, much more than this - it is a
chronicle of Europe's
involvement with the continent, seen through the eyes
of a man who never
failed to appreciate the privileged vantage point his
colour afforded him.
Much of Jonathan Lawley's time abroad was spent in
central Africa, including
Zimbabwe, the country for which he has the most
affection. Its tragic
collapse dominates the last chapters of this fine and
sensitive book.
Rich with insight and written with passion - and with an
edge of anger and
sadness at opportunities wasted and potential squandered -
Beyond the
Malachite Hills should be read by every diplomat setting off on
an Africa
posting, not to mention well-meaning aid workers and gap-year
students.’ -
Michael Holman, Africa editor, Financial Times (1984 –
2002)
‘This is a remarkable book. Autobiographies of former colonial
officials
who have served in Africa have proliferated in recent years, some
of them
both exciting and informative. Most of them however, read like
funeral
orations for a lost empire. Jonathan Lawley, by contrast, writes of
his
colonial career as an overture to the drama of independent Africa.
There is
no doubt that he regards his time as a colonial official as an
important
learning experience, and relying upon his diaries, he describes in
understated language a contemporary experience un-tempered by the
reservations and modifications of hindsight. His more exuberant writing he
reserves for his colourful descriptions of Africa’s superb scenery and
fascinating fauna and flora...
...The final third of the book is
concerned with his plan for [Africa’s]
future and his own role in laying its
foundations. This is an inspiring
piece of writing because it not only
expressed hope, but also offers
practical advice on converting hope into
reality. His subsequent
experiences in training Africans for management
and, particularly, for
technical management, is written with a full
appreciation of the
difficulties facing Africans who are trying to establish
their credibility –
in their own eyes as well as in those of their
subordinates – of their
managerial capabilities... It seems to me that
Lawley points the way ahead
and will prove to be something of a prophet.’ -
Kenneth Ingham,
Vice-President of the Royal African Society.