Yahoo News
Thu Nov 1, 8:24 AM ET
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe signed a law giving him
more power to choose his
successor, state media reported Thursday.
The law gives the parliament
dominated by Mugabe's ruling party the power to
pick a successor should the
83-year-old Mugabe retire or die before his term
in office
ends.
Previously, elections had to be called within six
months.
Mugabe has indicated he will stand for re-election. He has been
in power
since 1980 elections that followed a seven-year guerrilla war to
end
white-minority rule.
Critics warn Mugabe could use the
legislation to maneuver a favored
successor into position.
But the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change unexpectedly voted for the
bill
when it was passed by Parliament in September, saying they were backing
the
changes as a "confidence-building measure."
The government and opposition
are in talks to help end the southern African
nation's political and
economic crisis, triggered by violent,
government-sanctioned takeovers of
white-owned farms. Zimbabwe's economy is
in meltdown, with shortages of
everything from fuel to medication and basic
foods.
The chief
secretary to the president and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, announced
in a
government gazette that Mugabe had signed the bill into law, the
official
Herald newspaper said. It was not clear exactly when the signing
took
place.
The new law also allows for parliamentary elections to be moved up
by two
years so they can be held at the same time as presidential elections
scheduled in March.
Under the new act, the number of seats in
Parliament will increase from 150
to 210 and all will be elected. Under the
previous law, 30 seats were given
to officials considered loyal to Mugabe.
Senate seats also increase, from 66
to 93.
SW Radio Africa (London)
1 November 2007
Posted to the web
1 November 2007
Tichaona Sibanda
Mediation talks between the
ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition MDC have
been postponed temporarily,
dealing a new setback to efforts to find a
lasting solution to the country's
crippling economic and political crisis.
The Thabo Mbeki led talks were
called off on Wednesday night due to the
death of Patrick Chinamasa' son,
who was reportedly studying at a college in
Michigan, United States. A
source told Newsreel from Johannesburg that
Chinamasa's son, who was 23
years old, died in his sleep on Wednesday, the
day the talks resumed in
Pretoria after a month long break.
Justice and Parliamentary Minister
Chinamasa forms part of the Zanu PF two
man negotiating team, along with
Labour Minister Nicholas Goche. Tendai
Biti, the secretary-general from the
Tsvangirai led MDC camp and Welshman
Ncube from the Mutambara MDC faction
form part of the team from the divided
opposition.
The talks, which
are already behind schedule on several fronts, missed
Tuesday's deadline for
agreement on a framework for free and fair elections.
'The negotiating
teams met the whole day yesterday (Wednesday) and only
broke off late in the
evening after Chinamasa got the news that his son had
died in the United
States. It was decided as a result that the talks be
postponed temporarily
to allow Chinamasa to arrange the repatriation of his
son's body for burial
in Zimbabwe,' said the source.
Despite ministers like Chinamasa preaching
the evils of imperialism, they
still send their children to the same
countries they claim to despise.
Political commentator Solomon Chikohwero
branded the ministers as
hypocrites, saying they stand accused of plundering
the country's wealth and
spending fortunes on educating their children
abroad.
The majority of the ministers educate their children outside
Zimbabwe, often
at top universities in the US, Australia and the United
Kingdom. Australia
has already deported eight students whose parents are
senior members of
Mugabe's cabinet and there are calls for other countries
to do the same as
the government's policies deny even basic education for
ordinary
Zimbabweans.
We have been asked to circulate two
emails about initiatives in connection with diaspora money supporting the regime
in
We have also been asked by ACTSA to
let you know that their Annual Conference is on Saturday, 3rd November from 2- 5
pm. The subject is 'Fighting for Democracy: the role of trade unions in
Below, details of the two
initiatives re diaspora money. The Zimbabwe Vigil is passing these details on as
information only. Support of these initiatives is an individual decision
1. Diaspora
Resistance (Operation NADA
DINERO) – Moratorium on sending remittances to
A group called Zimbabwe Diaspora
Resistance is calling for a month long moratorium (1st –
30th November) on remittances to
2. Take ZBC off
the Internet
W... (who has
attended the Vigil) from
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Zim Online
Thursday 01 November 2007
By Thulani
Munda
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s rate of HIV and syphilis prevalence in women
attending antenatal clinics has declined from 21.3 percent in 2004 to 17.7
percent last year, according to a government report released on
Wednesday.
According to the national survey of HIV and syphilis
prevalence among
women attending antenatal clinic, HIV prevalence was high
among women who
were not married compared to those married, while the 30-34
year age group
had the highest infection rate.
It said while the
decline was commendable, the country should continue
to scale up
interventions to promote behaviour change among youths and
adults while also
increasing prevention of mother to child transmission.
“Although this
decreasing trend is encouraging, overall HIV
seroprevalence among women
attending antenatal clinics in Zimbabwe remains
high at 17.7 percent,” the
report reads in part.
It was also recommended that the country should
increase the number of
people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to reduce
mortality.
About 91 000 people are currently on ART while latest data on
HIV and
AIDS shows that an estimated 260 000 people were in urgent need of
the
therapy.
The objective of the survey was to establish the HIV and
syphilis
prevalence among antenatal clinic clients in order to monitor,
develop and
plan interventions for prevention and control.
The
survey was carried out using 19 sites around the country with 7
207 women
between the ages of 15 to 49 years participating.
Meanwhile, infant and
maternal mortality rates in the country have
declined over the past few
years as the country scales up efforts to improve
maternal health care in
the country.
Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa said
the number
of women and children dying from maternal complications had
drastically
decreased in recent years, although he indicated that more
effort was still
required to improve maternal health care.
Zimbabwe’s
HIV and AIDS prevalence rate has declined from 18.1 percent
in 2006 to 15.6
percent this year.
“I am happy to announce that our HIV estimates for
adults aged 15 to
49 years for 2007 have declined from 18.1 percent to 15.6
percent. This is a
significant drop but the figures are still very high and
more should be done
to lower the number,” said Parirenyatwa.
The
infection rate has also dropped to one out of every seven persons
compared
to one in every five persons living with the virus last year while
weekly
deaths have declined from 3 000 to 2 300, according to the
minister. -
ZimOnline
SW Radio Africa (London)
1 November 2007
Posted to the web 1
November 2007
Henry Makiwa
Experts on HIV/Aids issues were on
Thursday questioning the authenticity of
recent figures released by
government which suggested that epidemic's
prevalence rates were
dropping.
The government on Wednesday released new statistics that showed
that the
HIV/Aids prevalence rate has declined from 18,1 percent to 15,6
percent over
the past four years. The Ministry of Health was quick to claim
the "victory"
as a "reflection of the unrelenting campaign by the
government".
But experts have questioned the validity of the government's
surveys, given
that millions of Zimbabweans are fleeing the country due to
the ongoing
political decay and economic meltdown. An estimated 3 million
Zimbabweans
have emigrated to neighbouring South Africa in search of
employment and
better living conditions. Up to 2 million more are scattered
around the
globe.
Reports in South Africa suggest that HIV/Aids rates
in that country are
rising, as Zimbabwe's are supposedly dropping.
In
the South African online publication Health-e, the chief director of
HIV/Aids in the department of health, Dr. Nomonde Xundu, said the migrant
labour system was contributing to the spread of the
epidemic.
According to the new statistics, one in seven Zimbabweans is
now HIV
positive, a sharp drop from the previous ratio of one in four when
infection
rates were at their height in the 1990s.
Brian Nyathi, a
Zimbabwean health practitioner in South Africa questioned
the reliability of
the government's latest figures given that so many people
are leaving the
country.
He said: "Many people have left Zimbabwe and the ones that are
left are so
struck down by poverty and the collapse of the health delivery
system such
that they can not access hospitals. We wonder then if these
figures can be
trusted."
The new statistics have however been
validated by some non-governmental
organisations including the Centre for
Disease Control and United Nations
agencies, including the World Health
Organisation.
Health reporter Bertha Shoko said disparities in the
figures of people
needing anti-retroviral therapy had also raised
eyebrows.
Shoko said that the figures were questionable because they seem
to have
increased when prevalence rate is falling. The survey itself only
took place
at a few medical institutions.
"Speculation is rife that
the UN only accepted the figures for political
diplomatic reasons, " she
said.
According to government figures, of the estimated 1,3 million
people living
with HIV and Aids, 260 000 are in urgent need of anti retro
viral
medication, while 86 000 are currently on ARV's.
Zim Online
Thursday 01 November 2007
By Batsirayi
Muranje
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s opposition and the governing ZANU PF party
were expected
to discuss media freedom during negotiations that resumed in
South Africa on
Wednesday, a day after Harare announced it would review a
ban on the country’s
largest private newspaper.
The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party and ZANU PF are holding talks
under the
mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki and aimed at
ensuring free
and fair elections in Zimbabwe next year, vital to any attempt
to pluck the
country out of political and economic crisis.
Authoritative sources said
the MDC, under fire for agreeing to back ZANU
PF-sponsored constitutional
reforms without any visible concessions in
return, would push for the
reopening of banned newspapers, particularly the
Daily News that was
Zimbabwe’s largest circulating paper at its ban in 2003.
"Our negotiators
have to get a concession from ZANU PF in terms of an under
taking to give
the opposition access to the public media as well as to bring
back the Daily
News and other banned papers,” said a source in the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led
faction of the MDC.
However, the source was quick to point out that
Information Minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu’s naming of a new board to consider
the Daily News
application may have been a ploy to force negotiators not to
discuss the
paper’s case since the new board would review the matter in
terms of the
law.
Ndlovu strongly denied he had an eye on the
inter-party talks when he
restructured the Media and Information Commission
(MIC) on Tuesday.
"It (MIC restructuring) has nothing to do with that but
everything to do
with following the court rulings referred to in this
matter," said Ndlovu.
"It is now up to the ANZ (Daily News publisher) to
make a fresh application
to the new board. Why do you people want to
interpret the issue otherwise?”
The MDC that split into two rival camps
two years ago is attending the South
Africa-brokered talks with ZANU PF as a
single team. The secretaries-general
of the two MDC formations represent the
party in the talks.
Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Tsvangirai-led
MDC, refused to
disclose the items on the agenda of talks that have so far
been held in
almost total secrecy. But our sources said Biti held several
meetings in
Harare with a team of media experts before leaving for South
Africa on
Tuesday.
According to sources, the major item of this
week’s round of talks was the
media and how a free media could contribute
towards free and fair elections
next year.
The sources said the MDC
would also present to South African facilitators a
dossier on politically
motivated violence, which it says has escalated
against its supporters
despite ongoing dialogue.
Mugabe and his Home Affairs Minister Kembo
Mohadi, who met a delegation of
opposition officials last week to discus
violence, have dismissed opposition
claims that is supporters were being
victimised as lies and hearsay.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe chapter of the
Media Institute of Southern Africa on
Wednesday questioned Ndlovu’s
sincerity towards fair resolution of the Daily
News’ saga after he retained
government apologist Tafataona Mahoso as
chairman of the new MIC.
The
High Court earlier this year found Mahoso to have shown bias against the
Daily News and directed that the government sets up a new panel to
reconsider the paper’s application for a publishing
licence.
MISA-Zimbabwe said: "The government should clearly and
unambiguously
demonstrate its sincerity and impartiality towards final
resolution of the
ANZ legal battle to be declared duly licensed as directed
by the courts.
“To allow Dr Mahoso to be involved in this matter, unless
we are advised
otherwise, does not inspire confidence that the process will
be impartial."
The organization also questioned the criteria used to
select other members
of the new board nearly all of who are believed to be
staunch supporters of
Mugabe’s government. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 01 November 2007
By Lizwe
Sebatha
BULAWAYO - War veterans, who have over the past seven years led a
bloody
campaign in support of President Robert Mugabe, will today hold a
meeting in
Bulawayo to pray for peace during next year's presidential and
parliamentary
elections.
The war veterans, who are seriously divided
over whether to continue backing
Mugabe for the presidency of ZANU PF and
the country, have been accused of
unleashing violence against the opposition
supporters during every major
election since 2000.
Andrew Ndlovu, who
leads a faction of the war veterans opposed to Mugabe's
continued rule, said
the former liberation war fighters want to move away
from the "culture of
violence" that has characterised elections in Zimbabwe.
Another faction
of the war veterans, led by Jabulani Sibanda, has since last
August
demonstrated in Zimbabwe's major cities and towns backing Mugabe's
candidature in next year's elections.
A faction of war veterans led
by Ndlovu has however fiercely opposed the
marches in support of
Mugabe.
Ndlovu said war veterans will pray for peace to prevail before,
during and
after the elections that political analysts say Mugabe could lose
because of
an unprecedented economic crisis rocking the country.
The
war veterans' chief said Bishop Wilfred Neya of the Jesus Promotion
Ministries is expected to lead the prayer meeting at the Small City Hall in
Bulawayo. The two-hour meeting is scheduled to start at 5pm.
"We have
taken it upon ourselves as former freedom fighters to organise such
an event
because there is often a wrong perception of us war veterans as
rogue
elements in society who are bent perpetrating violence.
"There is a wrong
perception that we are there to force people to vote
against their will. On
the contrary, we are law-abiding citizens who have a
high respect for human
rights," said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu added: "It is a non-partisan meeting meant
for people from all walks
of life to come together so that we can pray for a
peaceful atmosphere to
prevail during the elections."
The meeting
comes hardly a fortnight after Ndlovu's faction wrote to ZANU PF
national
chairman, John Nkomo and Vice-President Joseph Msika demanding that
Sibanda
be stopped from leading street marches in support of Mugabe because
he was
expelled from the party in 2004.
ZANU PF is seriously divided over
Mugabe's decision to seek re-election next
year, with a faction led by
retired army commander Solomon Mujuru said to
have been pushing to stop
Mugabe, blamed for ruining Zimbabwe's once
brilliant economy, from standing
for re-election next year.
Mugabe last week appeared to have won the
battle to seek re-election after
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who leads a rival
faction to succeed Mugabe, announced
that ZANU PF will at its extraordinary
congress in December endorse Mugabe's
candidature for the
elections.
The war veterans, who have a penchant for violence, have since
2000 brutally
suppressed opposition to Mugabe's rule and have sometimes
beaten up and
killed those opposed to ZANU PF's rule.
Zimbabwe is in
the grip of its worst ever economic crisis that has
manifested itself in the
world's highest inflation rate of nearly 8 000
percent, massive joblessness
and poverty. The MDC and Western government
blame the crisis on
mismanagement by Mugabe, a charge the veteran leader
denies. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Blessing Zulu, Jonga Kandemiiri, Thomas Chiripasi & Netsai
Mlilo
Washington
31 October 2007
Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai has called a meeting Saturday
of the national executive of
his Movement for Democratic Change faction in a
last-ditch bid to defuse a
bitter dispute over the leadership of the
grouping's women's
wing.
Tsvangirai's personal prestige is on the line, as he made clear
Tuesday in a
meeting with his MDC faction's members of parliament, ordering
them to
respect his leadership or find another political home. The faction's
image
sustained further damage when its youth assaulted partisans of Lucia
Matibenga, the dismissed women's wing head.
Sources in the faction
said MDC parliamentarians Emmanuel Chisvuure of
Budiriro, Harare, and Amos
Chibaya of Gweru, Midlands, were assaulted
following the meeting by youths
loyal to the newly elected leadership of the
women's assembly. The youths
were also said to have issued threats against
lawmaker Paul Madzore of
Glenview, Harare, and Harare Province Chairwoman
Rorana
Dandajena.
Parliamentarian Chisvuure told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA
that he was
shocked to be attacked at the headquarters of the faction by his
own
members.
There were unconfirmed reports the faction's youth
executive in Bulawayo,
the second largest city in Zimbabwe, had been
dissolved for backing
Matibenga. But members of the executive said they
intend to ignore the
reported dissolution order.
Faction spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai called the meeting of the
faction's top body
Saturday to discuss issues including what he called party
"hygiene."
Political analysts warned that the trouble in the
Tsvangirai faction could
spill over into the crisis talks being mediated by
South African president
Thabo Mbeki, and hobble the opposition faction as it
attempts to gear up for
national elections next March.
Senior
researcher Chris Maroleng of the Institute for Security Studies in
South
Africa told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that the ruling ZANU-PF party
could
take this as a sign of weakness in the opposition and pull back from
its
negotiation commitments.
Meanwhile, despite denials by the Zimbabwean
government of reports that
violence against opposition members is
increasing, an MDC activist in
Budiriro district said he was kidnapped and
severely beaten late Tuesday by
suspected state agents.
Correspondent
Thomas Chiripasi reported from Harare.
Correspondent Netsai Mlilo
reported from Bulawayo on the outrage among women
members of the Tsvangirai
faction over the dismissal of the female
leadership.
VOA
By Peter Clottey And Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
31
October 2007
Portugal, host of the 2007 European-African Summit in
December, has
confirmed that it will invite Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
over British
objections.
An advisor to Portuguese Secretary of State
Pedro Courela said this week
that all the African Union heads of state will
be invited to the EU-AU
summit in Lisbon.
The question of Mr.
Mugabe’s role in the summit has hung over summit
planning for months. Now it
remains to be seen whether Britain and other
European countries such as
Sweden will boycott or otherwise downgrade their
participation in the summit
because President Mugabe is very likely to be on
the summit
podium.
Political analyst John Makumbe, a senior lecturer at the
University of
Zimbabwe and a prominent critic of the president, said Mr.
Mugabe's presence
at the summit would offer European as well as African
leaders with an
opportunity to confront him.
Editor Patrick Smith of
the London-based Africa Confidential newsletter said
Portugal's invitation
to Mr. Mugabe put Britain in an awkward situation, as
Prime Minister Gordon
Brown's has very publicly vowed to boycott the event
if Mr. Mugabe were to
attend.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
01 November 2007
10:27
A decision by the European Union to allow Robert Mugabe to a
summit is a rare diplomatic coup for Zimbabwe's leader whose relations with
the West have plummeted almost as fast as his country's
economy.
The 83-year-old, subject to an EU travel ban for allegedly
rigging his 2002 re-election, has already indicated he will attend the
Africa-Europe summit in Lisbon on what he is unlikely to regard as a
fence-mending mission.
"I will go if I get the invitation," he
said in a television
interview last week before Wednesday's confirmation by
Portugal, current
holder of the EU presidency, that Zimbabwe would indeed be
invited to the
December 8 and 9 meeting.
In power since the
former British colony won independence in
1980, Mugabe has shown no sign of
mellowing in his old age and likes to
boast that he can still pack a
"knockout punch".
Successor
Meanwhile, Mugabe has signed
into law a compromise Bill giving
him room to pick a successor, a government
notice said on Thursday.
The Constitutional Amendment Bill --
agreed between Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in
September -- allows Mugabe to choose a successor
if he were to retire
mid-term by empowering Parliament, which is dominated
by his party, to vote
for a president.
The constitutional
changes stemmed from ongoing talks between
the MDC and the government, which
are being brokered by South African
President Thabo Mbeki as part of a
regional drive to resolve Zimbabwe's
political and economic
crisis.
The MDC has said it would keep pressuring the government to
change the Constitution and repeal tough security and media
laws.
Master on human rights?
On his last trip to the
West, Mugabe used his address to the
United Nations General Assembly in New
York as a platform to denounce United
States President George Bush as a
hypocrite whose hands were dripping with
blood.
"He kills in
Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed
to be our master on
human rights?"
It was a characteristically defiant performance from
Africa's
longest-serving leader who is standing for another five-year term
next year.
Despite the country's economic woes -- inflation stands
at
nearly 8 000% and unemployment is at 80% -- street protests have
attracted
only patchy support and the opposition has been wrapped up in
internal
squabbles since its leadership was assaulted by the security forces
in
March.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has vowed to
boycott
Lisbon if Mugabe attends, has found that denounciations of Mugabe
are water
off a duck's back for a man who blames Zimbabwe's problems on the
former
colonial power.
Relations between London and Harare
were generally warm in the
first two decades after independence but soured
when Mugabe embarked on a
controversial programme to expropriate land still
largely held by the white
minority.
About 4 000 farmers were
forced to hand over their land in what
he trumpeted as a programme to right
the injustices of the colonial era.
The land reform scheme and his
subsequent crackdowns on
opposition members, judges and journalists
triggered an uproar and "smart
sanctions", including travel bans, against
Mugabe and his inner circle by
the EU and US.
An intellectual
who initially embraced Marxism, Mugabe was
praised when he won the election
that ended white minority rule in 1980, a
few weeks after Zimbabwe gained
independence.
Born in 1924, Mugabe's first job was as a teacher but
he took
his first political paces when he enrolled at Fort Hare University
in South
Africa, where he met many of Southern Africa's future black
nationalist
leaders.
Mugabe then resumed teaching, moving to
Northern Rhodesia (now
Zambia) and Ghana before returning to what was then
Southern Rhodesia in
1960.
As a member of various nationalist
parties which were banned by
the white-minority government, he was detained
with other leaders in 1964
and spent the next 10 years in prison camps or
jail.
He used that period to consolidate his position in the
Zimbabwe
African National Union and emerged from prison in 1974 as Zanu
leader. He
then left for Mozambique, from where his banned party was
launching
guerrilla attacks on Rhodesia.
Economic sanctions and
war forced Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to
negotiate.
After
Zanu-PF, which drew most of its support from the Shona
majority, swept to
power in the 1980 election, Mugabe announced a policy of
reconciliation with
the country's white minority but most subsequently left.
Mugabe
also crushed dissent among the minority Ndebele people
with his North
Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, which killed an estimated 20
000 suspected
"dissidents".
In his early years Mugabe was widely credited with
improving
health and education for the black majority. But social services
later
declined and the HIV/Aids epidemic shattered gains in healthcare. -
AFP,
Reuters
The Herald (Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
1
November 2007
Posted to the web 1 November 2007
Harare
The
High Court has ordered Senate President Edna Madzongwe to vacate a farm
in
Chegutu she had occupied before the owner Mr Richard Thomas Etheridge was
evicted through a due legal process.
Mr Etheridge took Sen Madzongwe
to court seeking a spoliation order against
her and the Minister State for
National Security, Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement, Cde Didymus Mutasa.
Justice Joseph Musakwa, who presided over
the case, yesterday granted Mr
Etheridge the relief he sought.
"In the result the application is granted
in terms of the draft order as
amended," said Justice Musakwa. However, the
judge refused to entertain the
commercial farmer's other application seeking
to have Cde Madzongwe held in
contempt of court for allegedly defying the
previous order. Justice Musakwa
ruled that it was not procedural to deal
with the application saying court
rules provide that contempt of court
proceedings are instituted by court
application.
Mr Etheridge used to
own Stockdale Farm in Chegutu, which has since been
acquired in terms of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe and allocated to the
Senate President. After Cde
Madzongwe moved on to the farm, Mr Etheridge
obtained a provisional order
blocking her from occupying the farm pending a
determination of the case in
the High Court. But later Cde Madzongwe moved
in despite the court order
forcing the commercial farmer to seek a
spoliation order against her and the
minister.
At the hearing, the minister indicated that he was not opposed
to the
interim relief although he would contest the final relief. In his
application, Mr Etheridge argued that eight days after the provisional order
was granted the minister, in July, published the acquisition of the farm. He
was given extension of time to wind up his business. During that period it
is alleged that Cde Madzongwe once again occupied the farm in circumstances
of fresh spoliation.
Mr David Drury of Gollop and Blank, who
represented Mr Etheridge, argued in
court that there had been fresh
spoliation by the Senate President as shown
by the occupation without due
process.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Date: 01 Nov 2007
By David
Snyder
Moddie Jakachira takes a seat on a small, plaid-covered couch,
pulls her
daughter close, and lights up the tiny space of the room with the
broad
smile of a survivor. At 41, Moddie has joined that rare group of
HIV-positive Africans who, sliding toward the mind-boggling mortality
statistics of the AIDS pandemic, stepped back literally from the
edge.
Through an innovative pilot program, Catholic Relief Services is
offering a
nutritional boost to nearly 3,000 people like Moddie who are
living with HIV
in southwest Zimbabwe. With support from the World Food
Program, CRS
provides participants with a monthly ration of nutritious food
for their
entire household. Meanwhile, the international agency Doctors
without
Borders supplies patients with powerful antiretroviral medications.
The
potent combination of medication and nutritional support is having a
profound, positive effect on many people's lives. Moddie Jakachira is one of
them.
"Before I started [antiretroviral medication], I was very, very
sick,"
Moddie says. "I was losing weight, sweating. I cannot even
explain."
Moddie receives her medication at Mpilo Opportunistic Infection
Clinic in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city. When she began
treatment, the
clinic staff taught her that good nutrition maximizes the
impact of the
medicine and reduces the potential for side effects. But in
Zimbabwe, where
the average resident earns less than $1 a day, many of the
foods Jakachira
needed to purchase were simply out of reach.
"I am a
widow with four children, so when I was sick, life was tough for
me," Moddie
relates. "I was suffering trying to have some food."
It is a common
problem, says Sister B.N. Dube, who supervises the clinic.
Many in this
impoverished suburb of Bulawayo are struggling.
"We counsel people on
what nutrition they should pursue," Dube says. "But it
was a big problem for
them to get those foods."
'You Can See the Changes'
One month
after she began receiving antiretroviral medications, Moddie
learned that
CRS was offering nutritional support. She met CRS' criteria for
entering the
program, and soon began receiving cornmeal, cooking oil and a
highly
nutritious powder of corn-soy blend each month. It is enough to
sustain her
and her four children. Before receiving the rations, Moddie and
her family
subsisted on only one or two meals a day. Now they enjoy three
meals a day,
and Moddie says the change has made an immediate impact.
"The children
are getting healthy, and gaining weight," she observes. "If
you are a
mother, you can see the changes."
Infused with the promise of a future
she thought she might never have,
Moddie is now sharing her experiences and
telling others in the community to
get tested for HIV, to talk to the clinic
about medications and to eat
nutritious foods. One of the people she spoke
to is her friend and neighbor
Sikhalekile Ndlovu who, thanks to Moddie's
encouragement, is also now on
antiretrovirals. Sikhalekile receives food
from CRS, too, and her
now-healthy diet has enabled her to recover from a
year of on-again,
off-again hospitalization. Side by side on the small
couch, the two women
share an easy joviality, punctuating even the painful
memories of their
shared past with spirited bursts of
laughter.
'Hoping to Survive'
"I was seriously ill for a whole
year," Sikhalekile recalls to the
accompanying nods of
Moddie.
Despite the dramatic turns in her fortune, life for Moddie
remains
difficult. She was once a trader, ferrying goods across the border
from
nearby South Africa and selling them for a profit in Zimbabwe. Moddie
had to
give up that job when she fell ill. Although she is now healthy
enough to
work again, Moddie's long bouts of illness left her without any
money to
restart her business. By renting part of her small house to two
other
families, she earns barely enough to pay the school fees for her
children.
Every day, she says, is a new challenge.
But even in the
crowded, blue-painted room, you cannot help feeling that
both Moddie and
Sikhalekile will somehow rise above the struggles they face.
From a room
next door, the bouncy tones of South African kwaito music spill
through the
door and fill the air around the women - a fitting soundtrack to
two lives
that might have ended amid the vast anonymity of AIDS statistics.
"I am
hoping to survive," Moddie says. "When you are sick you are feeling
that
'Maybe I am going to die.' But now that I have started
[antiretrovirals],
and I am getting food, I have started a new life."
David Snyder is a
photojournalist who has traveled to more than 30 countries
with CRS. Most
recently, David visited country programs in Southern Africa
and East Africa,
including Zimbabwe.
New Zimbabwe
By Lindie Whiz
Last updated: 11/02/2007
04:31:29
ZIMBABWEAN magistrates this week embarked on industrial action as
government
officials scrambled to reach agreement on improved
pay.
The industrial action began in stages in Binga, Masvingo, Gweru and
Harare
on Tuesday, but had spread to all parts of the country late
Thursday.
At the Rotten Row Magistrates' Courts in Harare on Tuesday, the
regional
magistrate presided over all remand cases.
Striking judicial
officers refused to meet an emissary sent by Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa.
Chinamasa, whom the magistrates want to resign, sent an
official to address
the magistrates and persuade them to return to work, but
the man, identified
only as Ranga, beat a hasty retreat when he was told he
"had no locus standi
to address judicial officers on such critical issues",
said one source at
the court.
Chinamasa turned up on Wednesday and
addressed the magistrates, promising a
solution would be found by
Friday.
The magistrates agreed to return to work, but only to hear remand
cases
until Friday.
The judicial officers want their conditions of
service and pay reviewed.
Magistrates earn Z$16 million (about £6) per month
before tax, and want that
reviewed upwards to Z$150 million, according to
their demands.
A trigger to the strike action, according to some court
officials, was a
government decision to award salary increases to regional
magistrates and
chief law officers in the Attorney General's
Office.
The two groups are understood to have been awarded salary
increments of
between $90 and $140 million, effective last month. Officers
in the
provincial courts were left out of the deal.
Zimbabwe's
judiciary system is currently faced with a high turnover of
senior and
experienced staff who are leaving in droves in search of greener
pastures in
neighbouring countries like Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
Only last
week, the senior public prosecutor for the Western Division based
at the
Bulawayo Magistrates' Courts, Phineas Mpofu, gave a 24-hour notice
and
joined the exodus.
The Bulawayo Magistrates' Courts are operating with 11
magistrates instead
of a prescribed establishment of 20.
Graduates
from the University of Zimbabwe's law department hardly spend a
year with
the public service as they quickly resign to join private practice
where the
remuneration is better.
Zimbabwe's public sector workers bear the brunt
of the country's economic
collapse. Teachers and health workers routinely go
on strike as their
salaries are wiped out by record high inflation of over 8
000%, the highest
in the world.
From The Cape Times (SA), 1 November
Peter Fabricius
Zimbabwe
correspondent for the Cape Times, Peta Thornycroft, has received a
lifetime
achievement award for a career of courageous journalism from film
star
Angelina Jolie. On Tuesday night, in Beverly Hills, Jolie presented
Thornycroft, 62, with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International
Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) for her dedication and bravery in reporting
on apartheid South Africa and, for the last few years, on Zimbabwe. "In the
face of a media crackdown in Zimbabwe, Peta Thornycroft renounced her
British citizenship in 2001 and became a Zimbabwean so that she could
continue to report in the country," said the IWMF, a global network for
women in the news media. "A journalist for more than three decades,
Thornycroft is one of the few remaining independent journalists in Zimbabwe.
She has also paved the way for, and supported, other journalists. She helped
to establish the Media Monitoring Project, an independent trust that works
to promote responsible journalism in Zimbabwe and helped to form the Public
Broadcasting Initiative, a project that brought broadcast journalism
training to journalists." Thornycroft has managed to continue reporting from
Zimbabwe despite a major crackdown by the government against the independent
media and despite never having been officially accredited as a journalist, a
legal requirement which Mugabe's government introduced a few years ago as it
intensified political repression.
In 2002 she spent five days in jail
after she travelled to Chimanimani,
483km east of Harare, to pursue a story
about "people having homes destroyed
for being suspected of voting for the
opposition", as she said. She had
already talked to dissidents and set up an
appointment with a local Mugabe
supporter. "You have to get two sides of the
story," she said. While waiting
in a Chimanimani café for the appointment,
Thornycroft noticed "that the guy
opposite from me was on his cellphone and
that he was making a phone call
about me. But I didn't run for my car. I
didn't try to avoid it". Four
policemen then arrested her. She spent five
days in prison before being
freed, after an outcry from the international
media community about her
arrest. No charges were filed against her. Since
then, she rarely spends
nights at home but moves from one location to
another, continuing her
reporting. She has "a sixth sense of how to stay
safe", including when to
take risks. She sometimes tells people: "I'm
leaving now, if you have not
heard from me in five hours, call a lawyer."
However, she has been known to
break her own rules by forgetting to call
home after getting engrossed in a
story. This was Thornycroft's second
international award for journalism this
year. In June she received the James
Cameron Lifetime Achievement Award for
excellence and courage in reporting
from the field. The award commemorates
the veteran British journalist who
died in 1985
THE CRISIS COALITION ALERT
01 November
2007
Resolutions...
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (Crisis
Coalition) held a rural outreach
programme in Guruve South on the 31st of
October 2007 giving an overview of
the governance crisis in Zimbabwe and
perspectives on the 2008 elections
with close reference to the SADC
initiative.
The meeting attracted an audience of two hundred people (200)
including five
village heads. Mr. P. Ruhanya of the Crisis Coalition and Mr.
Mandiwanzira
of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) made
presentations on the
topics.
The following resolutions were
made;
No to elections without a new constitution.
Development
programmes should be isolated from politics as those supporting
the
opposition are usually denied loans, food and agricultural inputs.
The
ruling ZANU-PF party should be confronted through holding joint meetings
with the opposition.
People should be allowed to vote using their
national identification cards
instead of referring to the voters
roll.
There should be independent electoral officers.
People of
foreign origin should be allowed to vote as they are citizens of
Zimbabwe.
Delimitation of boundaries should be done by an independent
body.
Village heads should not be used for partisan political
programmes.
People should be engaged in intensive voter
education.
Election officers should not be politically biased to avoid
cases of
intimidation.
Need for independent media structures and the
reinstatement of Daily News
and The Tribune.
Afrique en Ligne
Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe and Mozambique Thursday
scrapped visa
requirements for their citizens with immediate effect, a
senior Zimbabwean
Government official announced here.
Home Affairs
Minister Kembo Mohadi said the move was intended to
facilitate trade and the
movement of people between the two countries.
He said Mozambique and
Zimbabwe signed the deal to scrap visas last
month, and this took effect
from 1 November.
"We signed an agreement on 7 October, 2007, on the
abolition of visa
requirements for both our nationals. The implication of
this agreement is
that nationals of our countries will no longer be required
to apply for
visas when th ey intend to visit either country," said
Mohadi.
He said Zimbabwe was also negotiating with South Africa to
abolish
visas requi rements for their citizens.
Harare -
01/11/2007
Panapress
zimbabwejournalists.com
1st Nov 2007 18:27 GMT
By Sydney
Chisi
TRADITIONALLY in any struggle, women have always been known to be
critical
in the formulation of community course as well as national
discourse. This
has been so, because they constitute the largest number of
the population
and consideration of their role and their capacity has always
been critical
in policy development.
However, for a time immemorial
women have found themselves being
marginalized in all aspects of national
development and community
empowerment process.
This can be in access
or distribution of resources. This has made women to
be taken as second best
citizens that can not be part of the decision making
process and effectively
determine their own destiny as a constituency for
national
building.
Zimbabwe with a total of 52 percent female population, and
currently facing
the worst human made economic catastrophe, will continue to
witness the
suffering of women as they try to make ends meet as well as
fighting for the
emancipation of other fellow citizens.
The battle to
liberate Zimbabwe from the jaws of the current dictatorship
can not be
complete without seeing a meaningful participation of the
critical female
component of the society. After the 1980 independence,
Zimbabwe has seen a
marked decrease in women participating in the national
debate or in anything
that might be termed 'political' by the society.
This has been due to a
plethora of reasons such as culture, religion,
political polarization
including violence and the state of the economy. This
situation can best be
explained by the fact that MDC as a political party in
itself is not a
'magical recipe' which can be driven or prepared by anyone
or everyone to
remove Mugabe's regime from power.
It requires political maturity,
experience and the support of the people
that one is leading. Political
maturity is judged by being consistent on a
people centered principle and
the ability of forecast in the events of a
changing political
environment.
The events leading to the dissolution of the Lucia Matibenga
led executive
should be seen not as an onslaught on women as an entity or as
strong
leaders alone, but it is a complete murder on participation of the
people of
Zimbabwe in the political processes.
I would not want to
dwell on issues or reasons or lack of, that led to that
ill-timed and
irresponsible decision, by the MDC. As a young person who for
long has been
driven by the desire to see a new Zimbabwe, who looked upon
MDC as a proper
and an alternative to the current dictatorship, I would want
to say that
what has happened in the past two months has been too fast,
confusing and
heartbreaking, especially for a bitter struggle that is now
eight
years.
This is so, because of the sudden halt to consultation and the
concept of
continuity without reflection on elitist decision making process
that the
party has decided to embark on. The conclusion by the commission
appointed
to deal with the Mati's group, that these women had failed, should
be seen
as sexist, and a total disregard of the bigger
picture.
Without looking at the party in its combined form, who would
step up and say
the Youth Assembly has done an exceptionally good job? Who
would say that
all the departments in the party have done a very good job to
an extend that
Mugabe could have been out of office had it not been of Mati
and her
cronies?
There are big man, high profile man who have failed
the party in the past
two years after the split. Just as the Zimbabwean
political environment is
very difficult to operate in for the achievement of
a new political and
democratic dispensation it should be noted that women's
wing has not been
spared either. So in terms of measuring magnitude of
failure, the party as
a unit has failed dismally.
The issue of
failure that comes immediately is the failure to deal with the
issue of life
after the split. Effective and efficient grassroot structures
have not taken
shape. What we have are individuals who were elected on 19
March 2006
without the capacity to deliver or to which the party has not
taken upon
itself to capacitate them.
This would automatically mean that some of
this dead wood can also be found
in the Matibenga's team and everywhere
else. A non performing team would not
take a year and half to realize that
it has failed to an extent that
warrants dissolution. What procedures have
been taken to deal with these
ladies if any? If there were any, how come
they were never made public such
that not only would the public be shocked,
but Mati herself?
The issue whether the decision to fire these women was
constitutional or not
should not be a surprise given that MDC as a party
also did not uphold one
of its congress resolutions that it will only
participate in an election
under a new people driven constitution. They went
on and agreed to amend the
Lancaster Constitution. Thus at this rate one can
safely conclude that the
Matibenga issue is a tip of serious political
underhand one of it emanating
to the secretive talks currently going on with
Zanu(PF).
The hype that was generated by the 2006 congress was never
sustained, the
prospects of an extended winter season, which never saw the
light of day
despite the fact that we have already witnessed two winters,
died a natural
death and substituted with metaphors and rhetoric instead of
practical and
realistic people driven resistance. Of major and regime
changing failure was
to define a new position and identity especially after
the Welshman Ncube's
formation formally announced that it was going it
alone.
Morgan was described as weak and indecisive.today moderate MDC
supporters
are made to revisit that statement, which at some point they
thought was
coming from a political midget in the form of Arthur Mutambara.
This failure
had a catastrophic impact on the electorate as to who was now
leading the
process, and how were they going into an election.That issue is
still not
addressed but firing people has taken primary stage.
Lucia
and her team should be viewed as people who operated in an environment
that
was on a self destructive course soon after the split in 2005, a system
that
bit by bit, was metamorphosising into to the Zanu(PF) traits, but
hiding
behind the rhetoric of democratic principles. Making that move does
not stop
at women alone, or their voice within the national question, but it
goes
beyond the boundaries of women as victims of an intolerant political
system
that is trying to redefine itself through a centralized democracy.
The
spirit of participation has been derailed if not killed, by those who
thought that this was an act of redefining a new course. If the party really
thinks that firing these women is an act of strengthening MDC, is just the
same as asking Morgan Tsvangirai to go as well in the spirit of leadership
renewal.
But because both Morgan and Lucia are pinnacles of the
party, no one would
want to dice with even the thought of seeing Morgan out,
at least not now.
I thus do not see, why it can be easy to let one
grassroot person be
replaced by a person who was asked to be Susan
Tsvangirai's beauty
specialist, whose husband then working for Agribank was
tasked to handle MDC
funds only.
Now the couple has got political
positions in the party. Mai Makone became
the Provincial chairperson for
Mashonaland East, but not only is she willing
to bulldoze into the women's
executive, but also tried to get through into
Harare north Constituency for
next year's parliamentary elections. Her links
to Jocelyn Chiwenga for
'business' purposes exposes the leadership of MDC
whose president suffered
humiliation at Makro at the hands of the same Joy
Chiwenga.
Those
within the civil society would support the sentiments that there is a
new
kid on the block, an organization called Restoration of Human Rights
(ROHR).
Word is that it has a strong link to activists in the United Kingdom
some
who have fallen victim to the Morgan axe namely Ephraim Tapa,
President,
Justin Shaw-Grey, International Coordinator, one Robertson,
Treasurer,
Julius Mutyambizi-Dhewa, Committee member. Theresa Makone's
brother
Standrick Zvorwadza, calling the shorts from Zimbabwe as the
Chairperson.
The discontent we find in MDC today as far as primary
elections are
concerned is centered on those who are 'funded' by ROHR
against those who
are perceived as 'people of the people'.
Recently
Mai Makone proposed to fund ROHR activities in Zimbabwe, provided
she is
made one of the board members. So the name Makone not only has it
been
linked with women politics alone but the general direction and caliber
of
new leadership emerging in MDC using money as a lubricant.
So if today
Mati complains on how she could have been effective given they
did not have
the utilities that defines an office. No desk, chair, car nor
fax machine,
very soon we will notice all offices being furnished with A1
equipment.
Already all female district chairpersons were given a phone and a
line.
But looking at the links that Makone has, then those who
carried out and
sanctioned this act, can justifiably say they need to
'strengthen' the
party. Is the political determination now being defined by
the elite in the
MDC and a complete shut out of the poor?
This brief
history might not be very useful to those calling the shorts, but
goes to
show why the people of Zimbabwe are not yet prepared to be lead by
mediocre
caliber whose background has never been centered on the people, and
whose
history does not show any signs of having been in the struggle the way
people like Morgan or Mai Mati went through.
For Tendai Biti to
interpret the High Court judgement as supporting MDC's
act as
constitutional and force such a suicidal act and political poison
through
people's throats so that everyone thinks that we are left with no
option is
totally misplaced and unfortunate. However it has turned out that
as of now
it is the people who longer have any other option but to withhold
their
crucial vote in an election which Zanu(PF) had no campaign strategy.
The
question of legitimacy of such an outcome should be a reflection point
especially when the Tsvangirai himself has been questioning Mugabe's
legitimacy, and that of Welshman's formation. Legitimacy comes from the
people, and as witnessed with events that took place in Bulawayo, it a
serious indication to those people who no matter what happens, their
personal and selfish ends wins the day at the expense of democratic and
constitutionalism.
What is shocking in the whole process is that ever
since this process took
centre stage, critical voices usually associated
with MDC issues have been
silent. Nelson Chamisa the party's spokesperson's
silence has been very
loud, Mudzuri who is tasked with organizing political
structures has also
been quiet, though word has it that he is also a
target.
It is saddening to note that as we speak today Morgan's formation
is split
around not around personal differences, or because of the exit of
Lucia and
her team. It is split around the fundamentals to which the party
was formed.
What are the operational methods to which the party could be the
vehicle of
the birth of a new Zimbabwe?
This was put to test and
evident on Amendment 18 of the constitution, to
which after Welshman had
appealed that they were discussing as one MDC
(Hansard) in mediation talks,
this was a process of 'finding each other' to
which Zvizvai (MP) shouted
'murima imomo' (in that darkness). This
symbolizes the secrecy of the talks,
the nicodimus approach to solving the
Zimbabwean crisis. For as long as
there is a process that leaves others from
detail, then there is no unity
and allows room for mistrust and doubt.
Going ahead and agree to CA18
under such a heavy cloud of internal dynamics,
and stretching of
organizational governance, usually leaves few lone voices,
who can be
labeled as rebels. Do we find outspoken people like Matibenga in
this
group? The eventual sacking of her executive, unlike the split of the
intellectuals due to CA18, this move went to the unexpected consumer, the
grassroot and the majority women. So ever since the talks began, Morgan has
seen his command producing three irreconcilable factions, unfortunately,
cascading into each other, eventually breaking down the whole institution
called MDC.
Like always, the civil society has shown a deliberate
interest in opposition
politics especially the Tsvangirai formation. And
recent events from the
women's movement who petitioned MDC and eventually
got the chance to go and
observe the 'women's congress' shows that Morgan is
losing grip from one of
the critical stakeholders in the political arena,
the women's movement. And
if what is said to have taken place in Bulawayo at
Fast Climber restaurant
owned by Thoko Khupe, has got anything to go by,
then I foresee these women
opting a reformed Zanu(PF) for their
vote.
However, the bigger picture that is brewing under the oceans of
politics is
the building up of a people's convention. This might thus
persuade the
revival of the birth of the third force which was highly
discouraged if not
suppressed during the first meeting. As it stands, clear
lines of departure
are evident between the leadership in the NCA led by
Madhuku and silently
but surely ZCTU and on the fringe ZINASU (major players
in the 1999 People's
Convention that gave the birth to MDC).
Of late
we have not seen the solidarity that MDC used to give ZCTU in its
actions,
we witnessed Chibebe 'snubbing' Morgan when the later invited the
civil
society for a briefing on CA18, opting to send a junior officer.
Listening
to Chibebe one is left with no doubt that with Matibenga being
fired, MDC
might face a new political cemetery meant for it. This is
becoming more real
as people look for alternatives.
However, even if he erred, Morgan still
remains a significant political
figure whom those willing to moot the third
force still respect. This thus
means that an immediate turn around of events
rests upon Morgan himself.
Because of the potential and capacity of bringing
people together, it is
unfortunate that Morgan has become the centre of
ridicule from many sections
of the society because of his poor
judgment.
The committee of the stakeholders' taskforce on the
constitutional review
which was mandated to go and meet the political
parties met Morgan and
Arthur separately. From that meeting, Morgan
highlighted that a new
constitution was already done and that most of what
civic society is craving
for was already included. This thus means that MDC
and the civic society
will not have a rallying point especially at the
platform like Save Zimbabwe
Campaign. The drafting of a new constitution
between Zanu(PF) and MDC goes
to justify the extend to which MDC has to
embark on a clean-up process to
which people who are viewed as stumbling
blocks, like Mati had to be dealt
with.
When the Taskforce reconvened
on Tuesday 30 October, agreed that MDC's
actions are a clear indication that
they are no longer part of the broad
front. This will definitely be good
news to Tsvangirai's ears who during his
heated meeting with his party
structures on the same day indicated that one
of the agenda item for their
next meeting on Saturday 3 November will be to
streamline their relationship
with NGOs.
The Civic Society thus agreed to go ahead with the people's
convention after
December. What will be the message to the people at this
convention? What if
the 'people' request for an alternative from the current
opposition
leadership? How does the civil encourage people to vote for an
alternative
democratic dispensation when it no longer agrees with the
leading political
front? People are following these events very closely and
are keen on
knowing the way forward.
But not everyone is worried by
the expulsion of Lucia and her team. These
people are either uninformed or
they think criticizing process is in turn
criticizing Morgan in his personal
capacity. This leaves with dictatorial
tendencies being defended by a group
of misguided people whose agenda is to
be closer to Tsvangirai by being seen
not to oppose him.
It is these kind of people that we also see in
Zanu(PF) who would choose not
to see or hear anything negative that the
country is going through. As
people fail to deal with this issue, violence
will definitely erupt with the
same formation as people jostle for power and
psychological association with
the leader a concept of borrowed
strength.
So it might be that time again when Harvest will be a no go
area for certain
individuals who might have openly voiced against the new
method of operation
that has been adopted within the MDC. As I write this am
getting news of the
thorough beating of two MPs Chibaya and Chisvuure, is
the latest sad event
that indicates the failure of brains and resort to
brawn.
Their crime is that they support Lucia Matibenga and that they had
bussed
people for the women's congress. This happened soon after Morgan had
made it
clear that the party was not turning back on the outcome of the
'congress'
in Bulawayo.
It is thus my thinking that the whole Lucia
Matibenga saga should be viewed
from a point that MDC has been highly
infiltrated by agents of destruction
and some people have allowed those
agents to stay. The failure of the MDC to
have an effective leadership
training and investing in such has led to many
structures being
incapacitated to be proactive in identifying and analysis
crisis and the
needed remedy.
The MDC abandoned investing in an intelligence department.
This has allowed
a free influx of state machinery, due to the fact that
there haven't been
any mechanisms to stop that. Whilst it can not be stopped
completely,
certain dynamics within the party, could easily be attributed to
factual
intelligence work. It can also be observed with no doubt that some
of the
office bearers are at 'work' for the regime.
Whether Lucia
stays or goes (which is highly likely, given that her stay
will further
weaken the only Morgan's stance), it should be known and
realized that this
event has dealt a serious blow to citizen participation
in building of a
democracy. It was anticipated that Morgan had an
outstanding task of going
to the people to explain constitutional amendment
18.
It might be too
late to expect Morgan and MDC to change, but equally too
late to change the
hearts of those who once believed in the same party as
our solution to the
Zimbabwean crisis.
Today the Law Society of England and Wales has launched an appeal to collect
£100,000 by the end of the year to help the Law Society of Zimbabwe maintain its
services for lawyers and society in Zimbabwe. President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, was in London last
week to raise awareness of the challenges and threats to their lives that she
and her colleagues face on a day to day basis as a result of their commitment to
their professional duties as lawyers. This followed a meeting in Nairobi with
Andrew Holroyd, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, to discuss
the Law Society of Zimbabwe's request for capacity building support and basic
materials such as books and IT equipment. Andrew Holroyd, Law Society president, says the Law Society of Zimbabwe is a
vital voice in defence of the rule of law, constitutionalism, the independence
of the judiciary and human rights. 'I cannot be sure that I would be as brave as Beatrice and her colleagues,
but all solicitors will share my determination to do what we can to support our
colleagues in Zimbabwe. Given the speed with which the justice system in
Zimbabwe has collapsed over the space of only a few years the strengthening of
the rule of law is a top priority. The Law Society of Zimbabwe needs our help to
support its stances in defence of the rule of law and Zimbabwe's own legal
constitution.' The Law Society, through its charity, aims to use the money collected to: Beatrice Mtetwa, Law Society president of Zimbabwe, says: 'The Law Society of Zimbabwe has always been an important voice in defence of
the rule of law, constitutionalism, the independence of the judiciary and human
rights. Lawyers in my country have been subjected to threats, intimidation,
arbitrary arrests and detention, false prosecutions, abductions, assaults and
torture in attempting to resist attacks on legal institutions. We appreciate the
help the Law Society is giving us to help protect human rights and legal
standards and agitate for the return to the rule of law in Zimbabwe so that the
country is given a chance to develop.' For more information and to donate please visit www.lawsociety.org.uk. Last month the Law Society hosted a visit from the Law Society president of
Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, to highlight the dramatic deterioration in the rule
of law and respect for human rights in Zimbabwe. Mrs Mtetwa spoke to an audience
of lawyers and human rights activists to launch a report: Self Regulation at
a Crossroads: Attack on Lawyers and Independence of the Legal Profession in
Zimbabwe. The report catalogues the systematic persecution of the legal profession
through threats, surveillance, violence and torture. Most notably, on 8 May 2007
, Beatrice Mtetwa was chased by riot police and severely beaten with baton
sticks. The report highlights the Zimbabwean governments attack on the independence
of the legal profession in the context of a lack of accountability of the state
and a complete breakdown in the rule of law. Finally, the report also makes some
short and long term recommendations for a return to peace, democracy and the
rule of law in Zimbabwe . Download the report (PDF, 973kb) For more information please call Melissa Davis in the Law Society press
office on 020 7320 5811
International Herald Tribune
By William Pesek Bloomberg NewsPublished:
October 31, 2007
It's rare that a business deal intrigues investors and
political scientists
alike. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China's move
to buy 20 percent of the
largest African bank is such a
transaction.
It's the biggest overseas investment by a Chinese company,
in this case the
world's No. 1 bank by market value. ICBC's $5.6 billion
purchase of the
Standard Bank Group stake is the largest in South Africa
since apartheid
ended in 1994.
Yet there's something even bigger at
play here. This is arguably the first
Chinese investment in Africa that
doesn't carry a whiff of political
strategy. Nor is it directly related to
the desire of China for resources,
which can often help despots more than
African households.
ICBC's Standard Bank deal may be the watershed that
begins propelling
Chinese designs on Africa from talk to just plain
business, and smart
business at that.
"From the regulators' point of
view, this kind of diversification is a great
idea," says Michael Pettis, a
finance professor at Peking University.
"Chinese banks are too highly
concentrated in China and it's not in their
best interest that banks depend
exclusively on Chinese growth. That kind of
dependence is highly
pro-cyclical and can feed booms and busts."
Standard Bank has offices in
18 African countries, including Nigeria and
Kenya, and 21 other nations like
Argentina and Taiwan. The
Johannesburg-based bank has 713 branches in South
Africa and 240 throughout
the continent. The deal is a sign that even if the
Chinese Communist Party
has strategic reasons for investing in Africa,
companies are heading there
for the economic potential.
Until now, the
Chinese push in Africa has raised warning flags around the
globe, and
rightfully so. To get resources to feed its 11.5 percent economic
growth,
China has hopped into bed with some of the most unsavory African
regimes,
like those in Sudan and Zimbabwe. That see-no-evil-hear-no-evil
approach is
raising eyebrows.
Warren Buffett can deny it all he wants, but it's hard
to believe that his
Berkshire Hathaway would have dumped its entire holding
of PetroChina, the
biggest Asian oil company, without the public criticism
over Chinese support
of Sudan.
PetroChina's state-controlled parent
is the biggest foreign investor in
Sudan. PetroChina's stock gained more
than 11-fold since Buffett first
bought it in 2003. And yet he recently
abandoned what he says is "absolutely
a first-class company."
Buffett
was under increasing pressure from human rights groups over
accusations that
the Sudanese government supports genocide. There was even a
role for the
actress Mia Farrow, who helped publicize the worldwide campaign
to dub the
games next year as the "Genocide Olympics."
ICBC's stake in Standard Bank
comes without that kind of baggage. It's a
state-controlled Chinese bank,
making it hard to figure out where politics
end and business begins. Yet the
deal shows China is now making bets on the
African economy.
Standard
Bank is gaining access to the fastest-growing major economy and
fattening
its capital base. China is getting a foothold into the nascent
African
investment banking and insurance industries. It's also a way for
China to
use its growing cash piles overseas rather than making fresh
domestic loans
that may go bad or fuel inflation.
All this is stellar news for Africa,
which usually suffers from the "paradox
of plenty." All too often,
inhabitants of resource-rich nations fail to
prosper while corrupt
politicians and their cronies get wealthy and ignore
the development needs
of the struggling masses.
That has been the African experience for far
too long. And the failure of
Western efforts to reverse the dynamic left the
region's leaders open to
Chinese investment.
One interesting element
of ICBC's deal is how different it is from the usual
overture from Western
banks. It didn't come laden with demands about how
much control ICBC will
have over Standard Bank. It didn't require pledges
for financial change.
It's merely one bank buying a piece of another with
transparent terms and
conditions. It's a sign Chinese managers are willing
to treat Africans as
peers.
The West hasn't learned that lesson with its aid programs and
lecturing. By
trying a new tack, China may be testing what development
economists have
argued for years: Africa doesn't need more aid, it needs
more genuine
investment and trade.
Bono and Columbia University's
Jeffrey Sachs will keep plugging away, and
thank the gods for that. But
Chinese companies appear to see something in
Africa many in New York, London
and Tokyo don't. Africa represents huge and
lucrative business opportunities
if it gets its act together.
That's a big "if." With the exception of
Botswana and Ghana, the biggest
consistency in Africa seems to be to pull
the rug out from under wide-eyed
investors. Chinese interests are offering
Africa a rare opportunity to
improve its economies.
Another
interesting angle here concerns investors. Looking at ICBC along
with other
Chinese deals of late - like Citic Securities buying a stake in
Bear Stearns
- it's clear something transformational is afoot.
In recent years, China
sought foreign investments in financial firms to
shore up capital and gain
expertise. Now, cash-rich from trade, stock
offerings and rising share
prices, China no longer needs Wall Street's
money. Increasingly, it's
foreigners who want a cut of Chinese money.
"Getting access to China's
market may no longer require putting money in
China," said Brad Setser,
director of research at Roubini Global Economics
in New York. "It may
instead require accepting investment from China."
China may have just
found a way to tame its own pressures and tap Africa
without the baggage of
the past.