Stuff, New Zealand
05 November 2005
HARARE: Zimbabwe's government on Friday
accused Britain of creating a
"fictitious crisis" and of dragging the United
Nations into what it says is
a bilateral quarrel over land
seizures.
The southern African state is in the international
spotlight after plunging
into a political and economic crisis that many
critics blame on President
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's ruler since
independence from Britain in 1980.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi said London was fighting
Mugabe for taking land from white
commercial farmers mainly of British
descent, and had even sucked in Prince
Charles in a desperate attempt to get
UN action against the Zimbabwean
government.
"It is a most regrettable development that the government of
the United
Kingdom has continued to abuse the framework of the United
Nations to try
and settle scores with Zimbabwe," he said at a news
conference.
Mugabe accuses Britain of leading a Western campaign against
his government.
His officials routinely denounce the opposition and other
critics either as
puppets or racists angry with him over seizures of
white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks.
The
conference was called after Zimbabwe state media reported that Prince
Charles, during a visit to the United States this week, had lobbied the
United Nations to take action against Mugabe.
Mumbengegwi said the
British government had tried and failed many times over
the past couple of
years to get the UN General Assembly and Security Council
to debate
Zimbabwe, though it had managed to get UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan to
issue statements condemning Mugabe's government.
"The intention of the UK
has been to paint a picture of a country in crisis,
without success," he
said, adding that Zimbabwe rejected criticism over its
controversial
demolition of shacks and "illegal homes", which the UN says
left about
700,000 people homeless and created a humanitarian crisis.
"The whole concept
of a Zimbabwe crisis is fictitious," he said.
Mumbengegwi said the UN
General Assembly and the Security Council had
resisted attempts by Britain
to place Zimbabwe on the UN agenda because they
understood and "rejected
outright the vindictive naggings" of a country
pursuing a colonial
agenda.
"The government and people of Zimbabwe decry and reject any
attempts by the
UK and its allies to internationalise what is in reality a
bilateral issue
arising from an ugly and colonial and racist past," the
foreign minister
said.
"The land redistribution programme, itself the
source of British hostility
and bitterness, is a just restoration of the
inalienable national and
people's rights and therefore remains
irreversible," he said.
The government-controlled Herald newspaper on
Friday published a cartoon
lampooning Annan as a puppet being asked by
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair to repeat after him that: "We are deeply
concerned with the
humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe."
Zim Online
Sat 5 November 2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe's National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) civic
alliance will today hold public
demonstrations in all major cities across
the country to protest against
senate elections at the month-end and to call
for a new and democratic
constitution.
But Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi immediately
warned that the
police will use force to crush the protests which he said
were illegal
because the civic coalition did not seek police permission to
stage the
protests.
According to NCA chairman, Lovemore
Madhuku, the protests are
scheduled to take place in the four largest cities
of Harare, Bulawayo,
Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo.
Madhuku said:
"The NCA will be staging the demonstrations in its
continuing push for a
people-driven, democratic constitution and in
condemnation of senatorial
elections. Venues will not be advertised to avoid
unlawful interferences by
the police."
Under the government's draconian
Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
Zimbabweans are barred from gathering
in groups of three or more to discuss
politics or hold public demonstrations
without first seeking police
permission.
The NCA chairman said
his group, which brings together churches, human
rights groups, women's
organisations, opposition political parties, the
labour and students
movements, did not recognise the POSA.
He said: "The NCA considers
POSA dead. Accordingly, police clearance
for staging of the demonstrations
is irrelevant. The police have not been
notified of the demonstrations
considering their illustrious history of
denying the people their right to
freedom of expression."
The police have in the past used the POSA
to ban meetings by the NCA
and the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change party.
Mohadi said police had been monitoring the NCA and
were ready to
descend on the organisation and its leaders if it went ahead
and held
demonstrations without clearance as required under
POSA.
The Home Affairs Minister said: "Our intelligence sources
informed us
early this week and the police have been monitoring the
movements of the
organisation's leadership . . . as long as they do not
apply for (permission
to hold) a peaceful demonstration, they (NCA) or any
group or individuals
will not be allowed to disturb peace in this
country."
The NCA successfully mobilised Zimbabweans five years ago
to reject a
draft government constitution that sought to entrench further
President
Robert Mugabe's already sweeping powers. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Sat 5 November 2005
HARARE - With a single kick, the old
and battered 76-seater bus near
Park Station in downtown Johannesburg, South
Africa roars into life.
The driver, 46-year old John Chibaya, girds
his loins ahead of the
gruelling 1000km trip to Harare.
There
are 48 passengers on the bus, the majority of whom are
cross-border traders
carrying every basic conceivable product back home:
boxes of soap, packets
of rice and pasta, peanut butter and even crates of
eggs.
On
top of the bus, are fridges, televisions, carpets and luxury
goodies for
resale back home.
As the bus snakes through Johannesburg's
impressive road network,
dense smoke spewing from its old exhaust pipe, the
conductor suddenly
engages into an animated discussion with five passengers
who are seated
right at the back.
The five, it later dawned on
the rest of us, had no valid travel
papers. So a deal had to be struck on
how to evade immigration authorities
on both sides of the
border.
After brief negotiations, it was agreed that each one of
the five had
to pay a "hefty" 100 South African rands to the bus crew to
facilitate
smooth passage at the border.
With the deal struck,
it was time to relax, but also pray the bus
would not be stopped on the way
by South African police officers, who are
notorious for squeezing bribes out
of desperate illegal immigrants.
"This is the third time I have
gone back to Zimbabwe in this way,"
said 33-year old Thomas
Masango.
"I grew up in Chitungwiza but I could not secure a job
after I had
completed studies at Mutare Polytechnic College two years ago. I
had to trek
to South Africa when it became clear that there was no future
for me in
Zimbabwe," he says with an air of bravado.
Masango
strikes me as individual who exudes raw confidence, a man
completely at
peace with himself.
Masango is among millions of Zimbabweans who
are staying in South
Africa illegally after fleeing hunger and political
persecution in Zimbabwe.
For Masango, sneaking in and out of South Africa
has become a kind of an art
for survival.
Zimbabwe is going
through a severe economic crisis which has seen
inflation rocketing to the
359.8 percent mark, one of the highest such rates
in the world.
The cheapest low quality loaf of bread is now selling at a staggering
Z$37
000 while a bar of soap is costing Z$120 000.
The state-funded
consumer rights body, the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ), says an
average family of two parents and four children now
needs at least Z$11.6
million a month to survive which is way beyond the
reach of the average
worker in Zimbabwe who takes home about Z$3 million a
month.
Basic foodstuffs, fuel and medicines are all in critical short supply
as the
country battles a severe five-year economic crisis many blame on
President
Robert Mugabe's policies.
Mugabe however denies mismanaging the
economy, instead blaming the
crisis on sabotage by Western countries as
punishment on Harare for seizing
white-owned land for redistribution to
landless blacks five-years ago.
The economic crisis has literally
driven millions of Zimbabweans to
trek down to South Africa in search of a
better life.
Another passenger on the bus, 45-year old Petros
Zikali, says he has
been living in South Africa for the past six years -
without any legal
documentation.
Every month, Zikali says he
sends groceries to his family in the small
farming town of Marondera, about
60km east of Harare. Occasionally he, as
is the case now, sneaks in and out
of South Africa at will.
"Life in Zimbabwe is very difficult. I am
not saying life is easy down
south, but at least you can survive and be able
to look after your family,"
he says confidently.
"See," he
says, pointing at three large bags stuffed with groceries,
before
continuing, "these things cost me only 800 rands (about Z$10.8
million on
the parallel market) and I know my family will definitely survive
for the
next three or so months."
With the economic situation worsening
in Zimbabwe with no solution in
sight, these illegal immigrants say South
Africa and the whole southern
African region must brace itself for an influx
of Zimbabweans fleeing
economic hardships back home.
As soon
as the bus arrives at Mussina border post, the conductor jumps
out to clear
what they called in their parlance, their "special parcels," a
reference to
the five illegal immigrants.
But the five had to pay an extra 50
rand at the border post to
facilitate smooth passage. The same situation was
replicated on the
Zimbabwean side.
Now as soon as the bus
wriggled out of the security checks on the
Zimbabwean side, the "border
jumpers" burst into song and dance.
With hunger and economic
hardships set to worsen in Zimbabwe,
corruption is sure to flourish even
more at the busy Mussina/Beitbridge
border posts, as thousands more
Zimbabweans are forced to resort to illegal
means to sneak in and out of
South Africa in search of food or jobs. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By
Ndimyake
Mwakalyelye
Washington
04 November
2005
Stepping up pressure on Harare to open up to humanitarian
relief
initiatives, the diplomatic missions of 13 donor nations and the
European
Union said they "strongly support" United Nations Secretary General
Kofi
Annan's statement this week taking the government to task for its
refusal of
u-n emergency assistance.
Mr. Annan through a spokesman
publicly expressed his disappointment and
dismay at Harare's refusal of a UN
offer of tents to shelter some of the
thousands of people made homeless and
displaced by Zimbabwe's May-July
slum-clearance drive.
"We endorse
the secretary general's appeal to the government of Zimbabwe to
ensure that
those who are out in the open, without shelter and without means
of
sustaining their lifelihoods, are provided with humanitarian assistance
in
collaboration with the united nations and the humanitarian community,"
said
the statement issued by the missions in Harare of Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the
European Commission, the EU governing body.
Harare has told U.N.
officials it does not see a humanitarian crisis in the
country, and that it
has addressed the most urgent needs of displaced
persons. Officials in
Harare have said that Mr. Annan is misinformed, and
has been misled by his
staff.
Reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyele of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe sought
a
response to the joint donor statement from William Nhara, principal
director
in the office of the president and the cabinet, and a senior
ZANU-PF ruling
part official.
For additional perspective on the
dispute between the Zimbabwean government
and the international community,
reporter Mwakalyelye turned to Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro, a lecturer in
political science at the University of
Zimbabwe.
The Herald
By Patience
Nyangove
CIGARETTES are keeping many Zimbabwean vehicles on the road and
turning some
well-connected businessmen into overnight
billionaires.
At the other end of the market, a surprising number of
shopping-bag traders
make millions a month.
Both the billionaire oil
traders and the lady on the bus with a shopping bag
are smuggling cigarettes
from Zimbabwe into South African Customs Union
(Sacu) countries - South
Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho.
They sell them there, then
buy goods in short supply in Zimbabwe for resale,
thus making a huge profit
on both legs of their trading journeys.
At the heart of this smuggling
racket is the massive price difference
between cigarettes manufactured in
Zimbabwe and those made in Sacu, thanks
to sharply contrasting taxation
levels. Cigarettes are about eight times
more expensive in South Africa and
its Sacu neighbours than in Zimbabwe.
And Zimbabwean cigarettes are
regarded as of good quality. The price is low
because of the much lower
taxes. Most countries now charge very high taxes
on tobacco, not to raise
revenue, but to make discourage the smoking habit
of its proven serious
health effects.
Of course, no one actually gets eight times as much as
they paid for a box
of Zimbabwean cigarettes when they smuggle it across the
border. South
African smokers willing to pay the full price will buy legal
cigarettes.
But there are plenty of dubious and dishonest traders in
South Africa - with
Nigerian immigrants well represented, if rumours doing
the rounds are true -
who will pay R60 for a carton of 200 Zimbabwean
cigarettes -- about four
times the Harare supermarket price -- with no
questions asked.
But the smuggler need not despair. He can still double
this money from the
dubious trader on returning to Zimbabwe if he buys
something that is scarce
in Harare and either for which is chargeable very
light Zimbabwean duty or
which can easily be smuggled back home.
Fuel
has become a favourite of the big-time smugglers despite its bulk,
thanks to
Zimbabwe's policy of charging just 5 percent import duty and
allowing anyone
to bring in a maximum of 2 000 litres a time without any
questions
asked.
A trader first has to buy about 100 cartons of cigarettes, which
will cost
around $30 million in most supermarkets and garages. These then
are
concealed in empty tanks on a tanker or drums on a truck and smuggled
into
South Africa or Botswana.
Sacu charges R50 a carton duty -- or
an incredible R1 for every four
cigarettes -- so no one wants to pay
this.
The smuggled cigarettes are sold for around R6 000, which is enough
to buy
around 2 000 litres of diesel or petrol which can be taken back in
the
tankers and trucks -- legally now -- into Zimbabwe.
The trader
just needs a few extra cartons to take care of the hamburgers for
lunch and
the modest fuel duty at the border post.
That fuel can be sold in a
private deal for $240 million, a rather
spectacular profit on the initial
$30 million outlay; and the trip can be
undertaken three times a
week.
Those with connections and licences can handle larger volumes, say
20 000
litres, of fuel at a time, bought with 1 000 cartons of smokes. This
sees
$300 million turn into $2,4 billion in two days, and explains the
discovery
of cigarette-laden tankers at Plumtree.
At the other end of
the market is the cross-border trader, smuggling, say,
10 cartons, costing
$3 million, into South Africa, selling these for R600,
buying a radio and
lunch, and then selling the radio on return to Zimbabwe
for more than $20
million. The only overhead is the bus fare.
The margins are not quite as
good as the cigarettes-out/fuel-in trade, but
do provide a significant
income.
The most popular brands for smuggling are Remmington Gold,
Kingsgate,
Newbury and Berkeley.
The R60 for a carton is only an
average price. Depending on how many others
are smuggling that day and which
brand is chosen, the South African receiver
will pay anything between R30
and R130 for a carton of 200.
Remmington Gold, the cheapest, fetches
between R30 and R100, but then the
carton only costs $220 000 to $240 000 in
the Zimbabwe supermarket.
Peter Stuyvesant, an international brand made
under licence in Zimbabwe,
costs about $700 000 a carton in Harare, but can
be sold for anything
between R120 and R130 down south.
Small-scale
smugglers also pack cigarettes on trips to Britain, where a box
of 20 costs
almost four pounds, leaving plenty of room to negotiate a good
price for
both smuggler and smoker.
But the bigger consignments of smuggled
Zimbabwean cigarettes are sent via
South Africa.
Some Zimbabwean
cigarettes have even found their way into Iraq, carried from
South Africa by
some of the more dubious types travelling to that country.
South African
Police Services spokesman for Limpopo Province, Superintendent
Ailwei
Mushavhanamadi, said they had so far managed to arrest a considerable
number
of Zimbabweans for smuggling cigarettes.
Arrests are made on a daily
basis, but it seems that only a small fraction
of the smugglers are actually
apprehended.
Moreover, even those caught will just pay a fine, go back
home and try again
after buying a new supply.
The offence of tobacco
smuggling, while very profitable, is not in the
serious category of
trafficking narcotic drugs like mbanje (cannabis) or
cocaine. Imprisonment
is not mandatory although a South African court can
impose a maximum
sentence of 10 years. But so far caught smugglers have been
paying the R5
000 admission of guilt fine.
The Zimbabwean authorities, who are not
really losers in this smuggling
racket, are now co-operating with the Sacu
states.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) investigators recently
intercepted at the
Plumtree border post three fuel tankers, belonging to a
company called
Mozangola with South African registration number plates,
stuffed with
cigarettes worth more than $8 billion destined for
Botswana.
The smugglers paid a $800 million fine and forfeited the
tankers and
cigarettes to the State.
At Beitbridge border post, Zimra
officials intercepted over 277 boxes of
contraband Remmington Gold
cigarettes loaded on a South African-registered
truck towing a fuel
tank.
The truck, which was coming from Zambia, was being driven by a
Zambian
identified by the police as Godfrey Shamboko, 42.
The
contraband had been loaded in Harare.
On arrival at the border post, the
truck was taken to the Zimra container
depot for inspection through
scanning, leading to the discovery of the
cigarettes.
Another driver,
who has since been identified as Musekiwa Nyamadzawo, a
Zimbabwean, was also
intercepted at the border post a few days later with
180 cartons of
Remmington Gold stuffed under cotton in a truck destined for
South
Africa.
Nyamadzawo bolted from the scene, leaving the truck behind. He is
still at
large.
Zimra corporate communications manager Ms Priscilla
Sadomba said they
encountered numerous cases of cigarette-smuggling
syndicates every month.
"We already have baggage scanners and container
inspection equipment at
Plumtree border post. Resources permitting, Zimra
would want to have
scanners at all entry points," she said.
People's Daily
UPDATED: 11:16, November 05, 2005
Heads of Christian Church Denominations (HOCD) in
Zimbabwe on Friday
launched an HIV/AIDS policy document that sets out the
guidelines and
principles in the fight against the pandemic.
The document becomes the second from groups of Christians after the
Union
for the Development of Apostolic Churches (UDAZ) in Zimbabwe launched
another in September this year.
In a speech read on his behalf,
Health and Child Welfare Minister,
David Parirenyatwa, said the document
would help further reduce the
pandemic's prevalence rate.
He
noted the drop in prevalence rate from a peak of 31 percent in
2003, to 24.6
percent in 2004 and subsequently to 21.3 this year.
Despite the
decline, Zimbabweans should continue to guard and expand
their prevention
methods, he said, adding that the commitment of spiritual
and religious
organizations would influence behavior change among their
followers.
HOCD President Trevor Manhanga encouraged open
discussion in churches,
promotion of safe sex and testing and counseling
before couples get married.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates
of HIV infection in the region,
with an estimated 3,000 people dying from
AIDS related illnesses each week.
About 90 percent of infected
people are not aware of their status
while 600,000 of those carrying the HIV
virus have the signs and symptoms of
AIDS and require varying degrees of
care and support.
Source: Xinhua
Dear Family and Friends,
These days, with all of the dreadful hardships
that we have to cope with
in order to survive in Zimbabwe, it is very
difficult to be positive. I
wish I could write and say that we were about to
have free and fair
elections or that banned newspapers, radio and TV stations
had been
allowed to re-open or even that the MDC had stopped tearing itself
apart
and had resolved its internal problems. I can't say any of those things
so
I look more to the day to day situation for something positive to
focus
on. I wish that I could say that at last fuel was available or that
prices
had stopped going up or even that we had regular, clean and safe
water
coming out of our taps. I can't say any of those things at the
moment
either but I can tell you that Zimbabwe in November is a
spectacular
country. Young men and women are graduating from our senior
schools and
their poise, enthusiasm, determination and love of Zimbabwe is
exemplary.
Listening to and watching these future leaders of our country
makes me
know, without a doubt, that there will be change in our land and it
will
be a change for the better. Whilst all around us is gloom and
doom,
Zimbabwe in November is a very beautiful place and when there is
little
else to hold onto, the seasonal changes also give strength and hope
for
better times.
Every day, as the rainy season draws closer, the sky
gets darker and
heavier and the temperatures take you to melting point. The
trees are
glorious in these last hot days before the rain: Msasas coming into
pod,
Acacias covered in new leaf, Jacarandas bathed in hot purple flowers
and
Flamboyant trees, almost too beautiful for words, draped in
spectacular
red flowers. In our towns many of the streets and avenues are
lined with
Bauhinia trees, alternately pink and white flowering and now
covered in
long curling pods. The Bougainvillea's planted on the outskirts of
many of
our towns years ago, are also in full flower at the moment, covered
in
great cascading streams of gold, white and purple blooms. The birds
at
this time of year are a delight too; paradise flycatchers showing
off
their long orange breeding tails, nightjars calling for mates and
trailing
exquisite white breeding pennants and orange-eyed glossy
starlings
patrolling sunburnt, termite infested lawns. Some evenings as the
flying
ants stream out of dry dusty holes in the ground, it is just
breathtaking
watching birds arrive from all directions, swooping and
swerving, gorging
on the fat, buttery insects. The European migrants have
started arriving
too with swifts and swallows regularly visible. It does not
bear thinking
what will happen if bird flu arrives here where experts are few
and far
between, travel nearly impossible due to fuel shortages and where
people
are so hungry they will be hard pushed not to eat dead birds if they
find
them.
And this week in Marondera there is a feeling of blessed
relief. Because
the MDC in Marondera did not nominate candidates for the
approaching
Senate elections, we will not have voting here and are spectating
from the
sidelines. For a rare change we are not being harassed and intimated
and
forced to attend rallies and meetings. We are not being visited by
large
chested women wearing clothes decorated with the President's face.
Women
who bang on our gates, write our names down in their little exercise
books
and scare us into giving donations for ruling party rallies. Our
streets
are quiet these evenings, we greet neighbours and strangers happily
and
the talk is of growing food and of rain. This time, thankfully, our
town
is spared from election madness, spared from the indignity of trying
so
hard, risking so much and then having to watch the
manipulation
afterwards. There is much to be thankful for this November.
Until next
week, with love, cathy Copyright cathy buckle 5th November
2005.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
"African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com
There were apologies from those unable
to attend from:
Grace Kwinjeh
Yvonne Mahlunge
Emelia Chamunogwa -
forwarded by Sekai Holland for the 3
Blessing Chebundo - presented by Nelson
Chamisa
Gift Chimanikire - given to the meeting by the party
chairperson for the 3.
Professor Welshman Ncube
Gibson Sibanda
Out
of the 83 living National Council members 47 met in Harare today making up the
desired quorum for the meeting called by the party president and chaired by the
party chairperson who was today in high spirits.
Today members were
unusually articulate in their presentations during debates, open in their
comments, united in approach and focussed on important issues to deal with both
the crisis and on the current party programme. Of the 25 current National
Executive Committee members, 20 were present. The 10 party provinces had
representation either at the level of the Council representative or NEC member.
Most provinces had both levels of representation. The experience during the
meeting was both electrifying and spiritually replenishing for all
attendees.
Exhaustive debate preceded each item from the President's
report before the passing of public and internal resolutions by consensus and
consensus building. All resolutions dealt comprehensibly with both the current
crisis facing mdc and with our normal party functions both short and long
term.
A well attended press conference was held after the meeting with
all the National Council members present.
There was inspirational singing
by all present, with the vigour and conviction similar to when we founded our
party in 1999, before and after the meeting. All songs today reflected the mood
of Zimbabweans throughout the country at the formation of MDC and
today.
The party is emailing us all the resolutions which we will forward
immediately.
Sekai Holland.
National Executive Committee member
and National Council member
Midlands South
Reuters
Sat Nov 5, 2005 6:01 PM GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on
Saturday his party's
national council backs his call for a boycott of senate
polls, but MDC ranks
are divided as a pro-election faction shunned a key
meeting.
The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has plunged into its
deepest
crisis since it emerged in 1999 due to a bitter row over whether to
take
part in a poll which critics say is aimed at consolidating President
Robert
Mugabe's power.
Tsvangirai last month ordered a boycott of the November
26 poll, saying
competing would lend legitimacy to a government that
routinely rigs votes.
But some MDC members defied his instructions and have
registered as
candidates for just over half of the 50 seats up for grabs in
the elections.
On Saturday, Tsvangirai said the MDC's decision-making
national council had
reversed a "purported decision" it had taken last month
to participate in
the elections.
The pro-senate election faction says
Tsvangirai, who has backing from
leaders of the MDC's powerful youth and
women's leagues, took a dictatorial
position after the party's national
council voted 33-31 to participate in
the polls.
But Tsvangirai
maintains the party was evenly split over the issue and he
used his
presidential authority to boycott, and on Saturday the MDC boss
said the
party's national council had endorsed his stance.
"For the avoidance of
doubt this council resolves that the MDC will not
participate in the
senatorial election ... and shall accordingly campaign
against this
election," he said, reading the resolutions of the MDC's
national council
meeting.
BOYCOTT
MDC officials said Saturday's meeting had been
attended by 46 of the party's
70 national councillors from 9 of the MDC's 12
administrative provinces, but
was notably boycotted by a faction in favour
of taking part in the polls.
There was no immediate comment from the
faction. But on Friday MDC deputy
secretary-general Gift Chimanikire said
Tsvangirai had no authority to call
Saturday's meeting and its outcome would
not be binding.
The MDC says Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has used rigging and
violence to avoid
defeat in parliamentary and presidential elections in the
last five years in
the face of a worsening economic crisis.
Mugabe,
81, and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, accuses
the MDC of
being a puppet of the former colonial power.
Mugabe's critics say his
policies have ruined a once prosperous African
country, and have left it
struggling with severe shortages of food, fuel and
foreign currency, and
with rising inflation and unemployment.
Mugabe says the economy is a
victim of sabotage by his domestic foes and of
sanctions imposed by Western
powers seeking to oust him for seizing and
redistributing white-owned farms
to his black supporters.
Tsvangirai said on Saturday the MDC had set up a
four-member committee to
try to reconcile the party's opposing factions, but
said there was no need
for the pro-election faction to approach South
African President Thabo Mbeki
to act as mediator.
"It's an internal
issue we can handle on our own, and there is no need to
abuse President
Mbeki's hospitality," he said.
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 11/06/2005 02:21:44
A HARARE woman died on the spot
Friday after being hit by a motor vehicle
while fleeing from municipal
police who were assaulting residents fetching
water from a vandalized water
pipe.
The victim, 42-year-old Veronica Arufanepi was among a group of
Mabvuku
residents who have gone for three weeks without water.
In
desperation, the residents have resorted to vandalizing water pipes in
order
to access the precious commodity.
A witness said the residents were
ambushed by the municipal officers
who started meting instant justice on them
shortly after dawn.
"The residents, mostly women were fetching water from
the water point when
municipal police suddenly emerged from the bush and
started assaulting them.
"The residents arrived at the point at dawn. In
confusion, and the municipal
police still assaulting her in hot pursuit, the
woman was knocked down by a
vehicle and died, just like that. She died for a
bucket of water," the
witness said.
Harare police spokesperson,
Inspector Loveless Rupere confirmed the death,
but alleged that the woman
started running away after seeing the municipal
police.
Two months
ago, local MDC MP Timothy Mubhau said the solution to Mabvuku's
water
problems lies in digging borehalls as the commission running the
affairs of
the capital city has failed to find a lasting solution to the
water
woes.
The commission is headed by Sekesai Makwavarara, a former MDC
councillor who
was wooed to Zanu PF by local government minister Ignatius
Chombo.
Water problems have become a national headache in Zimbabwe mainly
due to
lack of foreign currency to purchase water treatment chemicals, and
the
government's policy failures.
In Bulawayo where residents are
experiencing similar problems the city
relies on two days Insiza and
Inyankuni that provides 90 000 cubic meters of
water every day against a
daily requirement of 141 000 cubic meters.
IOL
November
05 2005 at 09:30AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare -
Zimbabwe's ladies of the night are demanding diesel in return
for their
favours, mostly from South African long haul drivers.
A report in
the Manica Post, a government controlled newspaper in
Mutare, eastern
Zimbabwe, says truck drivers en route from Beit Bridge to
Harare are being
asked to pay for the ladies' services in 20 litre lots of
diesel.
The new fuel entrepreneurs are making twice what they
would normally
earn by selling the fuel to locals. Zimbabweans have been
starved of regular
supplies of fuel since March.
The newspaper
said the trade was taking place in Mvuma, 200km
south-west of
Harare.
Police inspector Costa Taduwa said in the Post that the
side of the
main road had become an informal service station, with fuel
deals between
the ladies and drivers taking place in "broad daylight". -
Independent
Foreign Service
This article was
originally published on page 1 of The Independent on
Saturday on November
05, 2005
From News24 (SA), 4 November
Johannesburg - The Zimbabwe government has not rejected
humanitarian aid
from the United Nations, the country's ambassador to South
Africa said on
Friday. "President Robert Mugabe and (UN Secretary-General)
Kofi Annan
agreed that a humanitarian co-ordinator from Annan's office would
be sent in
November to Zimbabwe to assess the clean-up operation and its
aftermath,"
Simon Moyo said. Moyo was responding to a letter by Democratic
Alliance MP
Joe Seremane, published in Business Day on Friday. Seremane said
the
Zimbabwe government's decision to reject UN help was "deplorable".
Describing Seremane's remarks as "pathetic and lamentable", Moyo said the UN
co-ordinator would report back to Annan after his visit, before the UN chief
visited the country himself. "The said UN co-ordinator has not yet arrived
in Zimbabwe." Moyo said were the UN to assist, the Zimbabwe government
welcomed it to "direct its resources" and construct permanent structures to
replace shacks and homes razed during the controversial clean-up campaign.
"(This) is government policy anyway since that is the reason temporary and
unplanned structures were destroyed." Moyo said "hundreds" of houses had
already been built and occupied by those displaced by Operation
Murambatsvina.
News24
05/11/2005 19:38 -
(SA)
Harare - Fourteen Western embassies challenged the Zimbabwean
government on
Saturday to acknowledge it faced a humanitarian crisis
following a campaign
of evictions and the demolition of thousands of homes,
shacks and markets
across the country.
The Western nations said that
they shared the deep concern expressed earlier
this week by UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan on the plight of tens of
thousands of people made
homeless in the May-June urban clean up campaign,
known in the local Shona
language as Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out
the Trash.
"We
share the UN's dismay at the rejection by the government of Zimbabwe of
offers of UN assistance to the most vulnerable groups, in particular in
relation to the provision of temporary shelter," the 14 embassies
said.
The government has said it will not accept help to provide
temporary
shelters for the homeless, and denies that displaced families are
in need of
immediate humanitarian aid.
It said it would only accept
aid to erect permanent housing.
The government said the evictions
campaign - in which homes, shacks and
market stalls were bulldozed - was
aimed at clearing illegal settlements and
curbing black-market trading by
stall holders.
The United Nations estimated at least 700 000 people were
left homeless and
another two million market vendors and stall-holders lost
their means of
livelihood.
Thousands still homeless
"Tens of
thousands of people (are) still homeless and in need of assistance
five
months after the eviction campaign began," said the embassies of
Australia,
Belgium, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Greece, Italy,
Germany, the
Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United
States.
"We endorse the Secretary General's appeal to the government
of Zimbabwe to
ensure that those who are out in the open, without shelter
and without means
of sustaining their livelihoods, are provided with
humanitarian assistance,"
they said.
The donor nations said they were
committed to providing substantial
resources to tackle what they called
"grave humanitarian needs" in the
country.
The government insisted in
a response to the United Nations that the most
urgent needs for shelter have
been met, and that Annan was misinformed about
conditions facing displaced
families before the upcoming rainy season.
Zimbabwe is suffering acute
shortages of food, gasoline and essential
imports in the worst economic
crisis since independence in 1980.
The collapse of the economy has been
blamed largely on economic
mismanagement, corruption and the often violently
seizures of at least 5 000
white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe, once a
regional breadbasket.
BBC
By Barnaby
Phillips
BBC News, South Africa
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe has
reaffirmed its decision not
to take part in elections for a new upper house
later this month.
But several senior MDC members boycotted a national council meeting in
Harare which they described as illegal.
The council called on
those MDC members who have put themselves
forward as candidates to
withdraw.
The meeting was overwhelmingly attended by MDC members
loyal to the
party's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr Tsvangirai
says there is no point in contesting the elections
because the government
will rig them and because the new senate will have no
real
power.
But many important people in the MDC disagree with Mr
Tsvangirai, and
they stayed away from the meeting which they said was not
legitimate.
This faction, which does want to participate, includes
the MDC's
secretary-general, Welshman Ncube.
Zimbabwe
desperately needs an effective opposition.
The government is
responsible for widespread human rights abuses and
disastrous economic
policies, but the MDC is on the verge of committing
political
suicide.
Xinhua
www.chinaview.cn
2005-11-06 02:41:14
HARARE, Nov. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA)
will participate in two major international events
this month as part of its
continuous efforts to market the country as a
prime tourist destination and
revive the fortunes of the flagging tourism
sector, an official said on
Saturday.
ZTA marketing and
communications director, Givemore Chidzidzi said
they would be participating
at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London from
November 14 to 17 and at the
China International Travel Market (CITM) in
southwestern city Kunming from
24 to 27 ofthis month.
"We have at least 15 companies that will
participate on the
Zimbabwean stand at the WTM and we will also be seeking
to consolidate our
presence at the mega show in China," Chidzidzi
said.
He said Zimbabwe would have to be more aggressive and
tactful in
its marketing campaign in China in the wake of more competitors
coming on
stream from Europe, which has been recently granted an Approved
Destinations
Status (ADS) by the Asian country.
"We have to
be more aggressive now because tourists from China are
simply not going to
come because we have the ADS," he said.
Zimbabwe was granted
the ADS by China in 2003 to become one of the
eight African countries that
the Chinese government approves for its
citizens to travel
to.
Meanwhile, Chidzidzi said the delegation to Kunming would
travel
to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai after the CITM to conduct sales
calls
with their Chinese counterparts.
Last year the
delegates held a workshop in Shanghai during which
they met and discussed
business with Chinese tour operators.
Chidzidzi said they would
also take the opportunity presented by
the CITM to make a follow up on the
31 Chinese buyers who participated at
the 2005 Zimbabwe Travel Expo held in
Harare last month. Enditem