Zim Standard
By Foster
Dongozi
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's nephew, Leo Mugabe and his two sons
have been
sucked into a battle with war veterans in Mashonaland West after
they
assaulted an ex-combatant in Mhangura who angrily dared their employee
to
kill him.
Mashonaland West former freedom fighters are enraged by
the reluctance of
different government departments to deliver justice
because of Leo's links
to President Mugabe.
The war veteran, Fanuel
Gumbo, told The Standard in Mhangura that he was
beaten up by Leo's sons
while their father watched. Gumbo is currently
recovering at his plot in
Mhangura after authorities at Chinhoyi Hospital
discharged him under unclear
circumstances.
Ironically, Gumbo was one of those who led campaigns for
Leo leading to his
election in the March Parliamentary elections.
In
a brazen abuse of political power, on 24 October a driver working for Leo
drove to Broadlands Farm in Mhangura and started ploughing on Gumbo's plot.
Gumbo was allocated the land by the government in 2003.
Gumbo and his
wife, Rosemary, told Leo's tractor driver to seek
clarification from his
employer as the plot did not belong to the
President's nephew.
Leo is
reported to have summoned Gumbo and another war veteran identified as
Dube
and ordered them to vacate their plots.
Gumbo said: "We checked with
lands officers in Chinhoyi and members of the
land audit committee who
privately assured us that we were legitimate owners
of the farm which was
sub-divided into several plots. However, they said
they were helpless to do
anything about the MP."
The former Zimbabwe Football Association chairman
was allocated a plot on
the same farm and war veterans who had moved onto
the farm much earlier made
way for him, allowing him to occupy the plush
farmhouse for fear of
upsetting the President's nephew.
Gumbo said
the tractor driver returned and started ploughing again but this
time he was
in the company of Leo and his two sons.
"When I told the driver that he
was on my land, Leo's two sons grabbed me
and started assaulting me.
Ndakagwadziwa mwanangu kuti ndirobge nezvanana
ini ndirimunhu mukuru akagwa
hondo. (It pained me that kids were assaulting
me, a veteran of the
liberation struggle) said Gumbo, originally from
Mberengwa.
He said
despite his military training, he was too shocked to be attacked by
the
President's relatives that he did not fight back. He said he got a
thorough
beating.
However, while Gumbo was bound by protocol not to lay a hand on
members of
President Mugabe's family, the same did not apply to his wife,
Rosemary, and
their five- year-old son, Confius.
As Gumbo lay on the
ground being savaged by the Mugabe royals, his wife and
little son jumped to
his defence and attacked Leo's sons with stones and
sticks.
Rosemary
said: "They said they did not care if my husband was a war veteran
or a
civilian. Vakati vanhu vepapurazi vese ishuro dzisina mari sevanhu
vekwaMugabe." (They said people at the farm were paupers, not rich like the
Mugabes)."
Gumbo said: "After the humiliation, I had nothing to lose
so I told them to
end my life. The tractor started moving and one of the
wheels struck my
lower back. After that I don't remember
anything."
The President's relatives panicked. The two boys rushed Gumbo
to Mhangura
Hospital but authorities refused to attend to him in the absence
of a police
report. Sources in the province say the wheels of justice
started moving
very slowly as soon as it became known that they were dealing
with members
of the Mugabe family.
Still in pain and in the absence
of a police report, the war veteran was
then immediately driven to Chinhoyi
hospital, where he was told the X-ray
machine had run out of
film.
The X-ray would have formed key evidence in court.
Leo's
sons were only taken in for questioning after war veterans expressed
their
displeasure to senior police commanders in Mashonaland West.
Officials at
the Chinhoyi magistrates court confirmed to The Standard that
Mugabe's two
sons, one identified as Tamira and two employees, Leonard Banda
and Claudius
White, were remanded out of custody on Friday by a Mhangura
magistrate on
assault charges. They were remanded to 18 November on $100 000
bail
each.
Police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena refused
to
comment.
Zim Standard
By Gibbs
Dube
BULAWAYO - ZANU PF is setting up a command centre in Matabeleland,
the
stronghold of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in a bid to
wrest
all 15 seats in the forthcoming Senate elections which have left the
opposition party in disarray.
Elliot Manyika, the Zanu PF national
political commissar, told The Standard
the intention was to mobilise all
resources to focus on a region that has
been dominated by the MDC in
virtually all national plebiscites.
Manyika said: "Our headquarters will be
temporarily moved to Bulawayo, where
we will launch all our election
strategies for the Senatorial poll.
"We are going into this election in
order to win. (MDC leader Morgan)
Tsvangirai is facing defeat and that is
why he is not interested in the
election."
Manyika declined to say
how much money his party would pour into the
election campaign at a time
when some parts of the region, especially
Bulawayo and Beitbridge, are
devastated by crippling water shortages.
Already the party has gone on an
election campaign trail in urban and rural
Matabeleland where President
Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joyce Mujuru and
provincial governors recently
donated an assortment of goods, a move
considered as
vote-buying.
President Mugabe has so far donated 100 computes to 10
schools in Bulawayo.
Vice President Mujuru addressed villagers in Binga
on Saturday two weeks ago
and donated 10 bags of sorghum to chiefs. She
later visited Bubi-Umguza
constituency for the commissioning of irrigation
equipment worth $7 billion.
As part of her election crusade, she also
toured the construction site of
the Gwayi-Shangani Dam.
Vice
President Mujuru indicated that construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam
should be speeded up, a common Zanu PF campaign platform.
President
Robert Mugabe is expected to visit the command centre.
It is not yet
clear whether MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, will tour the
region to
discourage voters from participating in the poll.
Zim Standard
By Walter
Marwizi
MOVEMENT for Democratic Change President Morgan Tsvangirai
yesterday ordered
the party's candidates to withdraw from the Senate
elections within seven
days but his deputy counted him saying his orders
should be ignored.
After nearly three weeks of bickering amid fears that
he was losing control,
Tsvangirai yesterday chaired a near-capacity meeting
at the party
headquarters in Harare after gaining a crucial endorsement from
the National
Council over his anti-senate position.
Gibson Sibanda,
Tsvangirai's deputy dismissed the ultimatum and questioned
the legality of
yesterday's meeting.
In a show of the widening rift between the factions,
Sibanda said :"All
candidates are also requested to ignore the purported
instruction supposedly
calling on them to withdraw from the Senate elections
within seven days.
"For the avoidance of doubt the MDC does not and will
not recognise anything
whatsoever which emerged from the contrived unlawful
meeting.
"It is a matter of great regret that Morgan Tsvangirai continues
to show
disdain of the constitution of the party. We have absolutely no
intention of
allowing anyone within the MDC whatever their position might be
to subvert
the values, principles and constitution of the
party."
MDC's 52 of the 66 National Council members yesterday broke into
song and
dance at Harvest House, before Tsvangirai read out their
resolutions.
The meeting had been declared illegal by MDC deputy
secretary general Gift
Chimanikire, who sent apologies for not
attending.
MDC's vice president Gibson Sibanda, Secretary General
Welshman Ncube, and
party spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi did not
attend.
Announcing the resolutions of the national council, Tsvangirai
said the
national council had rescinded the "purported decision" in favour
of
participating in the Senate election made on 12 October.
The
Council also resolved that "between now and congress, the party
President
shall be the sole spokesperson of the party on all party matters.
But
last night Sibanda described the Harare meeting as a Kangaroo court.
The
national council further resolved that the party congress be held at the
end
of February next year.
It is at the congress, The Standard can reveal,
that Tsvangirai will deal
with the threat posed to his
leadership.
"At the moment, nobody has the final say in the party.
Remember people who
had grown tired of President Mugabe's dictatorial
tendencies crafted the
constitution. They became overtly careful thereby
producing a useless
document that makes it impossible for the party to
function. When the
President has to make any decision, he has to consult,"
said an insider.
Insiders said Chimanikire was fast emerging as a
possible candidate who
could represent the interests of a faction that has
been condemning
Tsvangirai for the past two weeks.
Chimanikire, a
firebrand unionist who comes from Mashonaland Central,
however dismissed the
reports.
The National Council has also established a committee to engage
colleagues
in the party to ensure that unity and cohesion is maintained. It
shall
comprise Sheppard Mushonga, Thokozani Khupe and Eddie
Cross.
Tsvangirai was last night expected to leave for Matabeleland North
where he
is expected to urge people to boycott the elections. Next week he
heads for
Bulawayo, Matabeleland South, Masvingo, the Midlands and
Mashonaland West.
Zim Standard
By our
correspondent
Chinhoyi - The only chance of owning a decent house that
people who were
affected by "Operation Murambatsvina" entertained vanished
into thin air
when it emerged that beneficiaries of "Operation Garikai" are
either Zanu PF
members, supporters, their relatives or patriotic civil
servants who already
own houses.
According to a list of beneficiaries
released recently and published in The
Herald, Chinhoyi beneficiaries are
people with Zanu PF links. Chinhoyi
Executive Mayor, Risipi Kapesa, who is
also the secretary of Zanu PF
Mashonaland West Provincial Committee, had his
two sons listed as
beneficiaries. The two sons, Tongai and Kilborn, and are
still under his
care.
A well-known Zanu PF youth, Stella Muchenje, who
already owns two
stands -one in Chikonohono and the other in Cold Stream
areas -, was
allocated another stand. Her brother, Edwin, also got a stand.
According to
documents Stella was not even on the original
list.
Other councillors have their sons, daughters or wives listed as
beneficiaries.
Zim Standard
By our staff
TWO DAYS
after rapping government for economic mismanagement, US Ambassador
Christopher Dell has repeated his stinging criticism on the President
Mugabe's administration.
Dell, who ruffled feathers in Mutare on
Wednesday, said on Friday that bad
economic policies pursued by government
made it difficult to address the HIV
and Aids pandemic in
Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the unveiling of the US$35 million contract for a
comprehensive
HIV and Aids Partnership Project in Harare, Dell said while a
reported
decline in the prevalence rate was welcome news, Zimbabwe remained
at the
epicentre of the worldwide HIV pandemic.
Dell said: "The
country's accelerating economic decline, acute lack of
foreign currency,
unprecedented emigration of medical workers - all brought
about by economic
mismanagement - present severe challenges to addressing
the
pandemic.
"In the end, however, the international community cannot do it
all. Sound
economic policies are just as important as international
assistance in
public health. Zimbabwe is experiencing perhaps the largest
peacetime
economic decline in history."
He urged the government to
re-establish a "transparent and free market
economy to increase employment
and make health care affordable for ordinary
Zimbabweans."
Dell said
that despite differences of opinion between Harare and Washington,
the US
government has been and will remain one of the largest donors in the
fight
against HIV and Aids.
"We (US) are also part of the Global Fund's efforts
to fight HIV and Aids
world wide," Dell said. The US sits on the Global
Fund's board of directors.
"We've supported Global Fund moneys for
Zimbabwe and are extremely pleased
that the Global Fund recently approved
US$107 million in funding for HIV, TB
and malaria," Dell said.
On
Wednesday Dell spelt out conditions for re-engagement saying aid and
financing for Zimbabwe was dependent upon restoration of the rule of law,
the conduct of free and fair elections, placing military and police forces
under effective civilian control, and a commitment by the government to an
equitable, legal and transparent land reform programme.
Dell said:
"Until Zimbabwe meets these conditions, the United States -
joined by the
European Union and others - will maintain narrowly tailored
financial and
travel sanctions on ruling party and government leaders and
their families.
Sanctions on specific high-level individuals and their
families are the
vehicle that the United States and like-minded countries
uses to signal
international disapproval of the way that Zimbabwe's ruling
elite has
trampled on democratic freedoms.
He said: ".Zimbabwean firms that are not
connected to regime leaders are
free to do business with American firms, and
American firms are free to
invest in Zimbabwe and trade with any individual
except those top-level
sanctioned officials. The argument that these
narrowly targeted sanctions
have hurt the larger economy could only be true
if the economy as a whole
were entirely in the hands of 86 government and
party officials on the list
and they controlled all of it.
"There is
so much misinformation about sanctions being bandied about that
you might be
surprised to learn that Zimbabwe actually has a trade surplus
with the
United States. It exports more goods and services to the US than it
imports.
The US ranked fourth in 2004 among the major destinations for
Zimbabwe's
exports."
Zim Standard
By our
staff
BEFORE Zimbabweans have recovered from the damage caused by
"Operation
Murambatsvina/Restore Order", police sounding a defiant note have
launched a
follow up operation, "Operation Hatidzokere
Shure".
According to an internal police memo, the new operation, expected
to run up
to the end of this month, is aimed at consolidating "gains" made
through the
widely condemned exercise.
These are said to be a reduction
in criminal activities, gold panning and
vendors and beggars on the
streets.
"Police General Headquarters, has noted with concern that after
successfully
implementing Operation Murambatsvina, results are slowly being
eroded by the
resurfacing of some of the activities we eradicated through
Operation
Murambatsvina," reads part of the memo.
"This operation
(Operation Hatidzokere Shure) is intended to remind everyone
on the need to
continuously look after the positive gains of Operation
Murambatsvina."
The operation is to be incorporated into police
stations' daily activities
with the involvement other stakeholders such as
government departments and
councils.
On 19 May this year, the
government launched Operation Murambatsvina, which
they claimed sought to
restore order in urban and peri-urban areas. At the
peak of the operation,
police officers ruthlessly descended on vendors, flea
market operators as
well as backyard shacks in towns and growth points.
Although the
government claimed the operation was a noble idea meant to
restore order,
the United Nations grossly condemned it, saying those who
implemented it
were ill advised. In her report on the operation, Anna
Tibaijuka, UN Special
Envoy on Human Settlements, called on the
international community to
immediately act on the perpetrators of the
operation and provide assistance
to the victims estimated to be around 700
000.
Zim Standard
Kumbirai
Mafunda
POLICE around the country yesterday fought running battles with
members of
the combative National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) who staged
demonstrations demanding a new constitution and in condemnation of Senate
elections to be held at the end of the month.
Yesterday's successful
demonstrations are expected to galvanize Zimbabweans
to take to the streets
in Tuesday's protests organised by the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade
Unions.
The defiant demonstrators who were wielding placards and distributing
flyers
advocating for a new constitution marched through the streets
chanting
slogans calling for a new constitution.
In Harare, the
lethargic police were caught unawares and only made
half-hearted attempts to
break up the demonstrations when the activists were
dispersing.
Constitutional reformist and NCA chairperson, Lovemore
Madhuku, said 18
protestors were arrested as police attempted to crush the
marches.
He said the demonstrations succeeded in making known the NCA's
determination
to continue with the crusade for a new
constitution.
"We had enough people who have been able to brave the
reprisals that could
be visited upon them by the police to show the way for
the rest of society,"
Madhuku said.
He added: "There are enough
people who do not care about (President Robert)
Mugabe and if we all
concentrate on mobilising people for street protests,
we will get what we
want to get."
Zim Standard
By Gibbs
Dube
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) will this week stage
nation-wide protests against the deteriorating standards of living in
Zimbabwe, fuel shortages and cheap imports which are a threat to workers'
job security.
The ZCTU will also be demanding salary increases for
workers, reduction of
income and value added tax to cushion workers from
hyperinflation, and the
free provision of anti-retroviral drugs to
employees.
The organisation's information officer, Mlamleli Sibanda, told The
Standard
that ZCTU leader would lead the protests in Harare, Bulawayo,
Gweru,
Masvingo, Mutare and Chinhoyi.
Sibanda said: "The ZCTU has
tried to engage government through the
tripartite negotiating forum but all
has been in vain as we are accused of
failing to address problems faced by
the workers. Now we believe that the
language they understand best
is.peaceful demonstrations."
He said protestors in Harare would hand over
petitions about the workers'
grievances to the Minister of Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare and
Minister of Finance, while similar petitions
in the other regions will be to
chief labour relations officers.
The
ZCTU, with 300 000 members nationwide, is the largest labour movement in
Zimbabwe.
Zim Standard
KADOMA - The MDC MP for
Kadoma Central, Editor Matamisa, has blasted
Executive Mayor Fani Phiri, the
council and the government for gross human
rights abuses at the Annex
transitional camp in the town.
Matamisa said the situation at Kadoma
Annex is fast becoming an "abuse of
human rights". Kadoma Annex is a place
reserved for TB patients. The MP said
these people were promised better
houses but up to now nothing tangible has
been done.
Her fears are that
the loan secured from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe could have
been abused. She
said lack of privacy in the Annex quarters is a clear case
of the
infringement of the right to privacy that everyone is expected to
enjoy. -
By our correspondent
But mayor Phiri hit back and accused the MP of
undermining the council and
government's reconstruction efforts after
demolishing the houses popularly
known as Misana yenzou, built some 50 years
ago. The mayor charged that the
MP had done nothing for the residents since
her election into office. He
urged the MP to speak more about Kadoma in
Parliament.
However, the mayor admitted that the project had taken longer
than
anticipated but attributed this to financial problems experienced
country
wide.-By our correspondent
Zim Standard
By our
staff
A ZUPCO bus driver has been fired after thoroughly beating up
Joseph
Chinotimba, the self-styled commander of farm invasions and war
veterans'
leader.
Sources at ZUPCO said Chinotimba recently received
the shock of his life
when the bus driver, Victor Machiwere, retaliated and
beat him up at the
company's Harare branch.
Chinotimba, a director of
Edlan Security - a company contracted to provide
security at ZUPCO
properties - was supervising his guards when he discovered
that the driver
was in possession of maize he had brought from a rural trip.
Speaking to
The Standard last week, Machiwerere said Chinotimba accused him
of stealing
maize and wanted to confiscate it. He said the situation
degenerated after
Chinotimba started to slap him in the face.
"When he slapped me, I got
angry and head-butted him on the forehead and on
the mouth. That is when he
started screaming for his bodyguards to come to
his aid. I then picked up a
fan-belt from a bus and started whipping him
with it. Akaita zvekuzhamba
kungemhuka pandakatanga kumuruka nefan-belt. (He
started screaming like an
animal when I started thrashing him). He was
bleeding from the mouth and
begging for forgiveness when his body-guards
finally arrived, some of the
guards wanted to handcuff me but were stopped
by my colleagues," Machiwerere
said.
He said when he walloped Chinotimba he had not recognised him and
thought he
was beating up a thug who had sneaked into the company's
premises.
"From the way he was behaving, I assumed he was one of those
common thieves
pretending to be some senior official," said the driver who
reportedly
gained the admiration of colleagues after mauling the bearded
Chinotimba.
Chinotimba phoned the police who quickly responded and took
Machiwere to
Harare Central, where he was locked up. However his relative
paid an
admission of guilt fine of ($25 000) leading to his
release.
When he went back to Zupco, he was told he was
fired.
"They said since I had paid the fine, I had admitted that I was
guilty,"
said Machiwere who has worked for Zupco for two
years.
Richard Mlambo, ZUPCO's public relations manager, said he had not
received
any information about the incident.
Chinotimba also
expressed ignorance of the whole incident. "I know nothing
about the case. I
was not there."
Zim Standard
By Gretchen L
Wilson
SANDRA Nyaira was on a career high when she left Zimbabwe three
years ago.
For her work as political reporter of the country's leading
independent
newspaper, the Daily News, she had earned a prestigious Courage
in
Journalism Award from the Washington-based International Women's Media
Foundation. After travelling to the United States to receive the prize,
Nyaira attended the journalism master's programme at The City University in
London on a scholarship.
Nyaira expected to be back at her job in
Zimbabwe in a year. She has yet to
return.
President Robert Mugabe's
government, after several unsuccessful attempts to
muzzle the Daily News,
finally succeeded in closing the popular daily in
2003 amid an escalating
crackdown on the independent media. Family and
colleagues warned Nyaira, who
had already been arrested once on criminal
defamation charges, that it would
be foolhardy to return home.
Now Nyaira lives in Somerset, England, eking
out a living doing odd jobs.
She wonders at age 30 whether the career at
which she excelled - the one for
which she once risked her freedom - will be
open to her again.
"We're rotting away here," said Nyaira, referring to
her exiled Zimbabwean
colleagues.
At least 90 Zimbabwean journalists,
including many of the nation's most
prominent reporters, now live in exile
in South Africa, other African
nations, the United Kingdom and the United
States, making it one of the
largest groups of exiled journalists in the
world, an analysis by the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has
found.
CPJ travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, and to London,
conducting 34
interviews with exiled Zimbabwean journalists, analysts, and
human rights
advocates.
Some of these exiled journalists left as a
direct result of political
persecution, others because the government's
crackdown virtually erased
opportunities in the independent press.
Authorities have routinely detained
and harassed journalists in the past
five years to quash reporting on human
rights, economic woes, and political
opposition to the regime, CPJ research
has found. Repressive legislation
such as the 2002 Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act
criminalises journalism without a government
licence.
The crackdown
has taken a devastating toll on Zimbabwe's independent media.
Once home to a
robust press corps, Zimbabwe today has no independent daily
newspapers, no
private radio news coverage, and just two prominent
independent weeklies.
Journalists remaining in Zimbabwe are either without
jobs in their
profession, or they work under threat of laws that, among
other things, set
prison terms of up to 20 years for publishing false
information deemed
prejudicial to the state.
Zimbabwean citizens are denied access to
diverse, questioning voices at a
time when the Mugabe administration,
emboldened by this year's election
victory, wields power more aggressively
than ever.
Spread as far as New Zealand, the exiled journalists have made
their homes
among the estimated three to four million members of the
Zimbabwean
diaspora. Unemployment, political violence and human rights
abuses have
fuelled a steady stream of emigration from Zimbabwe since the
late 1990s,
according to a study released this year by the International
Organisation
for Migration.
The survey of 1 000 Zimbabwean
expatriates in South Africa and the United
Kingdom found that most are
professionals, whose absence creates "concerns
for the longer-term future of
Zimbabwe". Zimbabwe's exiled media reflect
similar
patterns.
Journalists such as Urginia Mauluka, a former Daily News
photographer beaten
and detained while covering an opposition political
rally in 2001, initially
left for temporary respite only to delay their
return as press conditions
deteriorated. Others such as Abel Mutsakani, who
left for South Africa in
2004, decided that only by leaving their country
could they honestly report
on events in Zimbabwe. And some such as Magugu
Nyathi, whose newspaper, The
Tribune, was shut in 2003, saw no job prospects
at home.
"As professionals we said: 'How do we continue?'" recalled
Mutsakani, who
served briefly as managing editor of the Daily News until
authorities shut
the paper.
"I felt we had a choice. We could sit
back in Zimbabwe, but that would be
tantamount to surrender," Mutsakani
said. Instead, he and several colleagues
went to South Africa and started
the web publication, ZimOnline.
But some did not have the luxury of
planning an exit. In February, three
Zimbabwe correspondents for foreign
media outlets - Angus Shaw of the
Associated Press, Bryan Latham of
Bloomberg News, and Jaan Raath of The
Times of London - faced imminent
arrest after being accused of spying and
publishing information detrimental
to the state. They left behind their
homes, families and decades-long
careers.
Most journalists interviewed by CPJ have found exile a bitter
experience,
even as they point out that they have greater security than many
colleagues
back home. A few have secured jobs with international media
outlets, but
most make ends meet by working in factories, service jobs, or
clerical
positions.
"It feels very frustrating. It is very, very
difficult for a foreigner to
break into mainstream journalism here," said
Conrad Nyamutata, former chief
reporter with the Daily News who now lives in
Leicester, England. "Very few
of us have managed to get work in the
field."
The emotional cost is high as well. Dingilizwe Ntuli, a former
correspondent
for the Sunday Times, said that adjusting to life in South
Africa and
leaving his family - including his ailing father who died before
Ntuli could
see him again - had thrust him into depression.
"When you
are forced to leave your country of birth, it is devastating,"
said Ntuli,
whose first name means "wanderer". Though he now works again for
the Times
out of Johannesburg, Ntuli said he was out of the profession and
disenchanted with journalism for a long period. "I felt nothing was worth
living for. I gave my all to journalism and what happened? I lost my
home."
Zimbabwean journalists in exile stand out in size and prestige -
CPJ
interviewed at least four winners of international awards for this
report -
but their situation is not unique. A crackdown in Eritrea and the
threat of
imprisonment in Ethiopia spurred flights of more than two dozen
journalists
to Kenya, Sudan, Europe, and North America. The exodus of
Zimbabwean
journalists has led to the emergence of similar media-in-exile
that strive
to keep news flowing about their homeland.
Behind the
walls of a nondescript office complex on the outskirts of London,
Gerry
Jackson and her staff at SW Radio are fighting to broadcast within
Zimbabwe.
Jackson started SW Radio in 2001, after the government closed
Capital Radio,
her first independent radio venture in Zimbabwe. From London,
SW Radio
broadcasts programmes into Zimbabwe in English, Shona and Ndebele.
"Radio is
such a lifeline to people there who feel forgotten," Jackson said.
"It gives
them a sense of creating dialogue."
Zim Standard
By Godfrey
Mutimba
MASVINGO - The Shangani people of Chikombedzi in Chiredzi have
accused the
government of deliberately starving them along ethnic lines,
allegations
that were dismissed by Masvingo governor Willard
Chiwewe.
The people said although their district was located in Masvingo,
food aid
was only being sent to the Karanga-speaking people in the
province.
A recent visit by The Standard established that scores of villagers
were
going for days without food as hunger continues to stalk the dry
lowveld
region.
As a result, villagers were now buying maize from
nearby South Africa to
fend off starvation.
"Politicians from the
Karanga constituencies in the province get supplies
while the Shangani
communities are sidelined. If you go to other areas in
the province they get
food supplies but here we hardly get any due to the
fact that we are not
Karangas,'' said Sandile Nyaguli.
Villagers said they had been forced to
go to South Africa and Mozambique
where they buy the grain through the help
of truck drivers who bring the
maize into the country.
"We are
starving. Maize deliveries last came here four months ago and we
have been
surviving by the grace of God. People have been buying maize meal
from our
local businessman but now he is no longer getting any supplies.
"The
government has failed to provide us with food and we are left with no
hope.
The only solution is to cross the Limpopo River since we are a little
bit
closer to South Africa," said 68-year-old Sakile Makondo.
She added that
a large number of school children in Chanyenga village had
dropped out of
school because of starvation.
Chiredzi South legislator, Aaron Baloyi,
said the villagers were facing
starvation. Appealing for urgent help to Vice
President Joseph Msika at his
victory celebrations at Chanyega primary
school recently, Baloyi said his
constituency needed special attention from
the government.
"The major problem facing the people of Chiredzi South is
hunger Cde Vice
President. We last had supplies some months ago and this has
forced us to
travel as far as Beitbridge and South Africa otherwise we will
die," he
said.
Another villager, Charles Chauke, said his children
were at risk of
malnutrition as decent meals were rare.
"If the
situation continues like this, many children will die because some
of them
are already showing signs of malnutrition and several children have
dropped
out of school. The problem is that our area is always neglected by
the
government when we are in times of need. If you go to some
constituencies
the situation is different," he said.
However Masvingo Governor Chiwewe
denied that food was being distributed on
ethnic lines, saying people who
wanted to see divisions emerging on ethnic
lines raised such
allegations.
"I know what is going on in Chiredzi, there is nothing like
that. Yes, there
might be food shortages but it is not true that Shangani
people are being
discriminated. If you go to Gutu or Chivi, you will find
that one village
may get food earlier than the other. Villages take turns to
get their
deliveries and that doesn't mean that certain people are being
left out.
Kana iwe ukasvika kumba sadza rapera ungati ndanyimwa here?"
Chiwewe asked.
Zim Standard
By Walter Marwizi
LAWYERS
have accused Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku of misleading the
country
about the state of the judiciary.
Speaking at a pass-out parade of police
officers at Morris Depot in Harare
over a fortnight ago, Chidyausiku
defended the integrity of the courts in
general and judges who stand accused
of making judgements favourable to the
State.
A number of Zimbabwean
judges are beneficiaries of land that was seized from
commercial farmers,
raising questions about their ability to preside over
farm disputes
impartially.
Chidyausiku who sought to "set the record straight" said: "I
do not accept
the criticism that judges and other law officers should not
have received
land under the land reform programme. Judicial officers and
police officers,
like all other Zimbabweans, are legitimate beneficiaries of
the land reform
programme.
"I reject totally that the receipt of land
has, in any way, affected the
independence of the judiciary. Ironically,
this criticism seems to emanate
from those legal practitioners whose
integrity is questionable, those who
live in glass houses should avoid
throwing stones at others who might do the
same in retaliation," Chidyausiku
said.
But the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said the Chief
Justice had
utilised a public platform to threaten legal practitioners and
mislead the
nation about the state of the judiciary in Zimbabwe.
In a
statement, the association said Zimbabwe did not have an "independent
and
competent judiciary system, which upholds the rule of law and safeguards
the
rights and freedoms of individuals in this country". It said the 17th
amendment to the Constitution, bulldozed through Parliament a few months
ago, had clearly removed powers of members of the bench despite a storm of
protest from civil society, students, lawyers and human rights
campaigners.
"The resounding silence of the Chief Justice whilst the
functions of the
Judiciary were removed has allowed the Executive to easily
destroy the
principle of constitutionalism and separation of powers, which
requires an
independent judiciary at all times. This inaction demands an
explanation."
The ZLHR said that since 1999, the government continually
defied court
orders, substantially causing the breakdown of law and order in
the country.
"To provide details of such contempt of the courts of this
country would
require much paper and even more time. The judiciary has
failed, in even one
matter, to express its concern at this outright contempt
for the very
functions and efforts made by the Chief Justice and his fellow
brother and
sister judges."
Turning to judges who received land, the
organisation said it was imperative
that judicial officers prove that their
land had been acquired in
circumstances that did not violate fundamental
rights relating to property.
"Where a judge sets up her/his caravan on a
farm for months in order to
pressure the landowner to abandon the property
and her/his rights, such
judge cannot be said to remain independent and
impartial.Judges should also
be able to reassure the public they serve that
their farming activities will
not impact on their ability to carry out their
judicial duties competently
and effectively."
Joseph James, the
President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, said there was a
perception that
judges were likely to be influenced by the fact that they
got land under the
reform programme.
"It sends wrong signals, a judge is given land, his
title is precarious and
at the whims of government, the judge would almost
be beholden to the
government. Sadly this is the impression, whether rightly
or wrongly, that
is sent to the rest of the world," James said.
Zim Standard
Comment
REALITY has a stubborn and unsettling way of reminding
humanity of its
frailties. This was the case last week.
The ruling
party, Zanu PF, prepared for what it believed was the final
assault on and
encirclement of Chitungwiza, ahead of the Senate elections on
26
November.
Egged on by hordes of its supporters, better known for their
selective
amnesia, the government gave Chitungwiza Council a 24-hour
ultimatum to
produce and present a turnaround plan to address the current
problems
affecting the town.
Ignatious Chombo, the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and Urban
Development, the government's hatchet man
- never one to be bound by legal
procedures and outcomes - also ordered the
immediate reinstatement of a
suspended town clerk, creating another centre
of conflict deep in the bowels
of the Chitungwiza administration, because of
the incompatibility of the two
parties.
It was a multi-faceted brutal
attack on an elected council, reminiscent of
the manner in which the
government has acted against and removed the elected
mayors of Harare and
Mutare. Bulawayo and Gweru are the next targets for
assault on the
government's radar screen.
Chombo instructed that a meeting be convened
by Council on Wednesday with
residents' representatives, by which he meant
Zanu PF supporters, and draw
up a list of ratepayers' grievances and present
these to him together with a
turnaround plan.
Chombo gave an
ultimatum for Chitungwiza to lay sewer pipes and cover
unplanned ditches,
dug by ruling party supporters in order to create a
semblance of upgrading
the sewer system ahead of the 31 March parliamentary
elections, but which
were abandoned soon after the poll.
The rationale and excuse behind this
intervention was that for years
residents of the sprawling populous
dormitory town have had to put up with
leaking water pipes as well as
blocked or broken down sewer systems, which
pose a health
hazard.
Chitungwiza's problems are not entirely the result of the present
opposition-led council. They date back to the establishment of the town but
are also a legacy of the failures of previous Zanu PF-led councils. There
has never been a coherent approach to dealing with these problems. The
resources are offered piecemeal and the consequent results are
self-evident.
In some cases, it is a matter of the government being long
on promises but
woefully short on delivery. Chitungwiza has applied for
funding in order to
deal with these serious health issues, but the
government has deliberately
found every excuse under the sun to put
obstacles and make political capital
out of all this. This is what it sought
to do last week.
The stubborn reality that reminds Zanu PF of its
duplicity is that the
capital, Harare, has suffered a water crisis and
neglect of refuse
collection since 1997 but no strategy has been demanded by
those who now
issue an ultimatum to Chitungwiza.
In theory, Harare is
said to have a turnaround strategy, but no one can
point to what it is,
where it is working or has made a difference in order
to offer evidence of
the positive impact it has made. Instead evidence of
neglect abounds in the
city centre and the suburbs. And Harare loses about
30% of the water it
purifies to leakages.
Last week a Mabvuku mother, Veronica Chikomo, died
after she had gone to see
whether she could draw water for her family. She
met her death because those
in charge of Harare have failed to provide water
to residents of Harare in
general, but to Mabvuku/Tafara in particular. She
would not have died if
municipal police had not gone after her forcing her
to flee. The government
has not given those responsible for all this an
ultimatum.
In fact, it has bent over backwards in order to assume
responsibility where
those in charge of Harare have failed dismally. But
they are staunch Zanu PF
supporters and hangers-on. So they can feed off the
largesse of the ruling
party. Those in Chitungwiza are not its supporters
and therefore must pay
for the mistake of being members of the opposition,
deserving of being
hounded out of office.
When ousted elected mayor
of Harare Engineer Elias Mudzuri's council called
for regular consultative
meetings with residents and ratepayers, police
would seal off Town House,
denying an elected council the right to meet the
electorate.
In
recent weeks, senior heads of departments in Harare have been sent
packing.
What's good for Harare must be good for Chitungwiza.
But Zimbabweans are
not mentally challenged. Chombo, Zanu PF and the
government are interfering
in the affairs of Chitungwiza, Mutare and
Bulawayo in the hope of improving
the electoral fortunes of the ruling party
ahead of the 26 November poll.
People can see through this chicanery.
Zim Standard
CORRUPTION is
a word that seems to have become synonymous with the name
Zimbabwe. Before I
am labelled anti-government or any other such non-Zanu PF
name, let me
hasten to say that Zimbabwe is not the most corrupt nation in
the world but
why would I want to be comparing with the worst when we could
be compared
with the best.
Travellers' used to come back from trips in Africa
including South Africa
and speak of harrowing tales of how they were held up
at borders and other
such places by government agents because they could not
produce missing
pages from their passports until those in the know would
advise how a US $20
can be the "missing page" from one's passport. Where are
we as a nation? If
we were to critically apprise ourselves how would we
do?
At any place of business now whether supermarket, locksmith, clothing
store
or carwash, it has become the norm for one to be told the company's
price
and the homey's price. The surprising thing is that most of this
happens
right under the noses of company owners and managers.
In
government departments, if you do not have a connection or do not know
who
to pay, it will take you up to six queues, several days, and lots of
verbal
abuse then an indefinite waiting period for you to get whatever
document you
need.
The most frustrating place though has now become anything to do
with the
police. Words fail to express what this really is. Consider the
following
example:
An officer gets transferred to the traffic
section. This is every officer's
dream. They can rake in more than a million
dollars a day on takings. Don't
be fooled and try reporting to the
Officers-in-Charge, because they are part
of the scam. If the transferred
officer does not want to "take" because his
conscience polices him, he can
get framed for any crime and be jailed for
years because he becomes a
liability to the "team".
A crime is committed and there is both accused
and complainant, but how does
it end? Simple: Who pays out the most between
the two or who knows who? This
is mostly true if your property is broken
into or you get into some mishap
with an emergency taxi. The police right
from plain to uniformed officers
know the different gangs and get payoffs
for not arresting them. As for the
ET boys, they pay off officers publicly
and boast about it. Remember whose
transport they use for free, if you think
they are going to arrest or book
their lift home then you need a brain
scan.
I suppose there is no merit in wasting time talking about the fact
that at
any police station's officers quarters now can be seen all types and
makes
of vehicles being driven by people whose salaries a month cannot even
put in
a full tank into the vehicle. Or could we talk of people getting
raped or
robbed and there being no fuel to attend to the crime scene because
the chef
is off to his girlfriend or gone fishing and all allocated fuel
used for
that. How about the fact that there may be a fuel shortage but it
never
affects the officers' pub as there is always fuel to collect
beer?
Who would have thought that the day would come when you needed to
pay an
officer especially in the plain clothes units to investigate a crime?
Who
would have guessed that an officer could tell you that he could not book
a
suspect with whom you would have found your stolen property because he was
a
friend or sometimes helped them with their investigations?
How do
we stem this tide and where do we start? There will never be a
solution to
this as long as we have all these officials who are in offices
by political
affiliation. Corruption is here to stay as long as there is no
change in
government because Zanu PF is inherently corrupt. Right from the
sexual
abuses of women in Mozambique to the abuses in the villages then the
abuses
in the youth training camps. The leopard will never change its
spots.
Ministers can posture as much as they want, the question is how
many of
those Zanu PF ministers and leaders are credible? Does this mean
that the
opposition is better? I don't think so. We can only make such a
judgement
when we see them in action but for now: stay out of trouble; do
your bit by
refusing homey products that are stolen; and refuse to pay any
officer a
spot fine, rather pay at the station, Together we can build a
Zimbabwe our
children will be proud of.
Tiger
P
Harare
Zim Standard
THE non-governmental organisations (NGOs) currently helping to
supply food
to the many destitute people in Zimbabwe right now have confined
in their
activities mainly to the rural areas, and specifically target
children, the
elderly and the sick.
We also need food for younger
healthy adults - they are ones whose work will
carry us through our economic
crisis when things improve. Their plight
cannot be ignored.
It is also
necessary to emphasise the fact that urban residents require food
just as
urgently as rural ones. There is a huge food supply and cost problem
in the
cities. Many cannot afford to buy whatever food is available in the
shops,
as they are unemployed or victims of our hyperinflation.
The collapse of
the industrial and commercial sectors has left many starving
in the cities.
The NGOs supplying food are handicapped by the fact that our
government has
not declared a state of emergency. NGOs do not want to be
seen to be forcing
food down our unwilling throats. They need our support in
appealing for
funds from their financiers. Many officials have declared that
there is no
serious food crisis here. This claim is obviously not true.
Malawi has
already declared a state of emergency and has made a strong
appeal for help.
We should also do so.
NGO food aid will have huge indirect benefits. Once
NGO's have accepted
responsibility for importing food to feed our people we
will not have to pay
for it. Surely it is unwise for us, in our current
destitute state, to spend
foreign currency on food if others will relieve us
of that responsibility?
We need that hard currency to keep the tattered
remnants of our economy
running, or our situation will deteriorate even
further. We can then use the
critically scarce forex we will have saved for
fuel or other vital imports
and give our business sector the kick-start it
so badly needs.
It is a sad fact that our food crisis is not a result of
drought. It is not
a temporary phase that will be rectified by a good or
even a reasonable
rainy season. A serious structural failure of our farming
sector has been
caused by the policies currently in place and by the
unprecedented decline
of our whole ecosystem.
Everyone knows that we
are no longer earning a fraction of the foreign
currency we used to from
agriculture. The rest of our economy is also
declining rapidly, making us
the fastest shrinking market in the world over
the past five years. We need
immediately to address this problem. Only the
government has the power and
expertise to do so effectively. Until current
policies are changed we will
have a continuous famine situation
Because of the lack of preparation and
of the materials and equipment
needed, our next year's crop will also be a
disaster, whatever kind of rainy
season we have. (I thought it was the
British who always talked about the
weather!)
We at Association of
Business in Zimbabwe (ABUZ) are most anxious to assist
the government in
finding a solution to our problems. They are serious but
not insurmountable.
All we need on the part of our government is the
commitment to change. The
time for petty politics has gone. The survival of
millions of our people and
the welfare of most of the rest depends on
immediate and serious efforts to
address these issues. Only the government
has the power and the expertise to
do this. We most urgently request that
they do so.
Our poor, and
particularly the urban poor, will need food support from NGOs
until our
economy is back on track and we can once more grow enough food and
generate
employment for our people. I repeat, let us appeal for all the
assistance
that is available to us until that happy day, because we need it
desperately
now.
We must accept the fact that at present we are a beggar state. We
must also
realise that we have the potential to be a prosperous one, and to
be again
the bread-basket of the region. Let us work diligently, the
government and
business together, towards that goal.
Larry
Farren
ABUZ Executive Committee Chairman
Bulawayo
Zim Standard
I feel
sorry for Dr Gideon Gono for he is fighting a lone and losing battle.
His
optimism does not seem to permeate among the people who really
matter.
There are a few who are directly or indirectly responsible for
and are
benefiting from the current economic problems while the rest are
victims
reeling under hyper-inflation, shortages of fuel, water, and
numerous basic
commodities.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank should
realise that he is dealing with
people who are determined to ensure that the
economy continues in its sick
state and Zimbabwe is starved of foreign
currency.
The governor has talked endlessly about corruption, dealing and
externalisation of foreign currency. But nothing has been done to end these
activities.
A number of interesting points were raised in Gono's
latest monetary policy
review statement delivered on 20 October 2005.
However, none of them will
work because the people with the power to change
things do not share his
vision. In his statement he touched on honesty and
corruption. There is even
a ministry of anti-corruption but up to now it
does not seem to know its
mandate or obligation. It is sad to note that
honesty is no longer a virtue.
It is considered a hindrance.
Gono
repeated his call for a stop to fresh farm invasions. These still occur
despite announcements to the contrary and assurances that the land
redistribution exercise is now over. He called these invasions, irrational,
irresponsible and criminal, pointing out that these activities hardly
instilled confidence in investors. While this is reality, the truth is that
those who really matter pay little attention.
The Governor is a lone
voice in the wilderness. He needs the political will
and support if anything
is to come out of his optimism. Otherwise it is time
he faced reality and
calls it a day. He has won small battles in the past,
but the war is slowly
being lost. Perhaps, failure is an option after all.
M T
D
Nkulumane
Bulawayo
Zim Standard
In
1999 James D Wolfensohn, then president of the World Bank said the
following: "The causes of financial crises and poverty are one and the
same.if countries do not have good governance. if they do not have a
complete legal system which protects human rights their development is
fundamentally flawed and will not last."
This statement widely
applies to our nation's current economic woes. It was
necessary to give the
land back to blacks since it was the reason for the
liberation struggle. But
the way it was handled was so chaotic that people
without any knowledge of
agriculture were allocated land and eventually they
could not produce enough
to feed the whole nation.
The failure to produce led to low exports and
shortage of foreign currency,
which is needed in imports of precious
fuel.
"Operation Murambatsvina" was so badly handled that it affected
millions of
people. Many small business owners had their trading stalls
destroyed and it
was their source of livelihood and this caused more
poverty. The frantic
efforts of the government to provide stalls for these
people are close to
nothing because the affected are too many to be
accommodated in the stables'
shaped stalls.
If the issue of
governance is not addressed, then we will continue to suffer
from poverty
because the crisis is directly linked to the fallacies of
President Robert
Mugabe's regime. If only our President would give way to
fresh blood with
better governance.
T P Z
Western
Triangle
Highfield
Zim Standard
ZIMBABWE has always had at its disposal the
wherewithal to have constructed,
completed and commissioned the Zambezi
Water Project for Matabeleland a long
time ago. It is tragic, though, that
the perpetual pursuit of wrong, absurd,
upside-down, inside-out, and
back-to-front priorities by the powers-that-be
consigns is to a cul-desac
from which we are, thus far, unable to extricate
ourselves.
For 25
years a massive financial outlay continues to be made in the
perennial
procurement of aeroplanes and helicopters (both civil and combat)
to satiate
a syndrome to globe-trot and to placate a phobia of imaginary
foes from far
and near. This has been only one of the numerous wanton ways
our money has
been wasted.
From the early to the latter 1980's the bayonet and bullet were
randomly let
loose by our government on the very people, for whom this water
is required.
Consequently, we are of the notion, the surmise and the
conclusion that this
process of elimination (to eliminate us) is an on-going
exercise; one
expected to be achieved through the shortage of water. In this
context, it
is fortuitous that air cannot be restricted and is neither a
respecter of
nor a reactant to controls by boundaries as is
water.
Senate is a concoction by a people bereft of objective rule and
obsessed
with the ruin of a people in Matabeleland. The expense attributable
to the
whole Senate gamut is far in excess of the cost of bringing Zambezi
water to
us! One is non-essential while the other is
essential.
Drought(s) are going to intensify, lengthen and become more
frequent say the
experts. Amelioration of the effects of drought is,
however, possible
through the use of the Zambezi water resource at our
disposal.
Plenteousness of water in the Zambezi is mainly influenced by
the ITCZ
(Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) and, hence, we would source our
sustenance
from a resource that is perennially dependable to the extent of
eradicating
the stranglehold droughts have on us currently. This has been
obvious for a
long time.
Zimbabwe is able to attain and achieve if
only your powers-that-be would be
willing to set us free and in motion. For
now, we are inundated by a surfeit
of frustration, facades and falsehoods
guised in garb that is politically
foul smelling and
repulsive.
Alternatively, we would be successful if we would form a
private company to
circumvent government's ineptitude and its malicious
intent toward a portion
of its citizenry.
A
Payne
Bulawayo
Zim Standard
By Kumbirai
Mafunda
ZIMBABWE is now trapped in a precarious foreign currency crunch
after annual
tobacco auctions - usually a key indicator of the country's
economic
performance - closed down with a discouraging and undersized
harvest.
By the close of the 2005 marketing season last week farmers had
produced yet
another tiny crop amounting to 73,4 million kgs, an
insignificant increase
over the 69 million kgs sold in the 2003/04 season,
falling short of the
glory that was associated with the golden crop four
years ago.
At its peak in 2000, a record 237 million kgs of the golden leaf
were moved
in the southern African country racking in US$400
million.
But the value of this year's crop fell to US$118 million from
the US$137
million earned during the previous season, representing a 13,9%
decline.
With Zimbabwe's six-year old foreign currency crisis slowly
choking the
country, the harvest of the golden leaf - usually vital to the
country's
public purse - was anticipated to bring relief to President Robert
Mugabe's
forex-starved administration which is battling to import grain,
fuel and
essential medical drugs.
But as the effects of the impulsive
farm seizures take toll, yields of the
crop have drastically plunged
down.
Until the government began confiscating thousands of white-owned
farms in
2000, tobacco underwrote the economy, supplying up to 40% of its
foreign
currency.
Since 2000 when roving bands of black Zimbabweans -
masquerading as war
veterans loyal to the governing Zanu PF party - began
seizing productive
commercial farmland, tobacco harvests started
plummeting.
Some of new farmers who benefited from the parceling of
productive farmland
previously utilized for the crop have opted out of
production in preference
for traditional crops such as maize, worsening the
country's economic woes.
Critical observers note that the perpetual hard
currency shortage will speed
up Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.
"It's a
disaster," warned Peter Robinson, economic analyst at Zimconsult.
"We are
going to see further contraction of the economy, a reduction in
economic
activity and few people in employment."
Although, in the past season two
State-owned companies - ZESA and TelOne, a
fixed telephony provider -
invested massively in contract farming, critics
say the venture is part of a
trade for barter deals with Asian companies
meant to halve the two
companies' massive foreign debts and hence will not
ease Harare's hard
currency woes.
Over the years, the wealth generated by leaf tobacco
marketing and
production has assisted to improve the quality and standard of
life, create
employment and was attracting educational, health and social
facilities in
relatively impoverished rural areas.
But with a small
crop coming out of Zimbabwe, merchants are shifting their
attention to
nascent regional tobacco growing competitors such as Zambia,
Malawi and
Tanzania, which are taking steps to increase their production.
Critics
attribute this year's pitiable earnings to the poor quality of the
leaf,
which fetched less on the market. The quality of the crop has been
collapsing since 2000 when new and inexperienced farmers, benefiting from
the government land grab programme, ventured into tobacco
farming,
"We have new and inexperienced farmers that delivered a crop
with a lot of
foreign material hence the poor prices. And this is also
coming at a time
when there is a lot of tobacco in the world," a buyer told
Standardbusiness.
With Harare caught in the grip of hyperinflation and
foreign currency
shortages, industrial production has also been declining.
At the recently
abolished auction market, dejected industrialists and
businesspeople failed
to access hard currency for critical imports almost
daily.
The harvest of the tiny tobacco crop could be yet another kick in
the teeth
to the government - which in conjunction with the central bank -
had
embarked on a programme codenamed "Vision 160" to produce a crop of a
minimum 160 million kgs annually.
However, the government and the
central bank have realized the special value
of tobacco and other cash crops
and have jointly set up an Agricultural
Productivity Enhancement Facility
(ASPEF) to enhance productivity in the
agricultural and export sectors and
for ensuring food security. Tobacco
growers are largely expected to benefit
from this initiative.
Other incentives include the Z$150 billion recently
released by government
for tobacco seedbed inputs and land preparation. In
addition, ABSA, a South
African bank, has provided a US$25 million loan
facility guaranteed by the
RBZ and a commercial bank, the Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group (ZABG) on
behalf of Mordish Farming, which trades as Tobacco
Development Corporation
(TDC).
But analysts still say money raised so
far is just a drop in the ocean as
financing of the crop remains critical
because of the hyper inflationary
environment.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
ZIMBABWEANS with intentions of flying to London have to dig deeper
into
their pockets after the national airline Air Zimbabwe hiked airfares to
an
astronomical $141 million (about US$2 426 on current rates) for a return
economy class ticket last week.
To fly in the business class one will
fork out an astronomical $201 million
from the new fares effected Thursday.
Initially the fares were $54 million
and $65 million for a return economy
and business class ticket respectively.
A return ticket to Johannesburg on an
economy Air Zimbabwe ticket will
gobble $34 million (about US$586) while
flying to Bulawayo now costs $21 562
000.
Air Zimbabwe will find it
difficult to attract travellers as its competitor
South African Airways is
charging US$157 on an economy for one way and
US$321 for a return ticket to
Johannesburg.
Although an official at the airline reservations department
said Air
Zimbabwe can increase fares at any time, industry players said the
new fares
were in response to the inter bank rates that have seen the
US-dollar
firming on official markets.
Air Zimbabwe's hiking of fares
came on the news that British Airways (BA)
have stopped accepting bank
drafts for payment of airfares citing problems
in the remittance of foreign
currency by banks, it has emerged.
Industry sources said BA has adopted
direct electronic transfer that came
into effect in September to replace the
bank drafts, which are blamed for
creating inflationary price
increases.
Standardbusiness heard last week that there were delays in the
remittances
of forex to the airline such that customer transactions were
quickly
overtaken by events to the extent that the value of the Zimbabwean
dollar
was changing while paperwork was still in progress.
Suneel
Tyagi, BA General Manager for Central Africa confirmed Thursday
saying the
electronic transfer system "has proved to be much more customer
friendly".
"The old bank draft system sometimes saw our customers'
transactions being
overtaken by events with the value of the Zimbabwe dollar
changing while the
paperwork was still in the pipeline," Tyagi
said.
"This could then lead to delays which could in turn easily affect
final
travel plans."
Zim Standard
Sundaytalkwith
Pius Wakatama
THE editorial comment of The Herald of 31 October 2005 left
me
flabbergasted. I just couldn't believe what I was reading.
I
concluded that the writer lives in a land of pure imagination and has to
be
pitied as one needing psychiatric help. He is either that or a clever
con-man who is so confident of his bag of tricks that he can con Zimbabweans
into parting with their brains.
He is a smart functionary who knows where
his bread is buttered but does not
himself believe the lies that he peddles.
All he wants is to keep bread on
the table for his half-starved family by
playing up to his
not-so-intelligent masters who are now drunk with power,
that they now think
they are gods who can do no wrong.
They thrive on
flattery and reward well those who fan their king-size egos.
The first
paragraph of the editorial, religiously parroting the lies that
Zanu PF
preaches, goes: "It is not surprising that today the forces that
were
violently opposed to the liberation movement 'terrorism' are calling
equitable redistribution of land, 'a land grab'. The same hostility towards
the majority still manifests itself. Some Western countries still believe
that Zimbabwe's land redistribution programme is meant to drive the white
commercial farmers out of the country.
"We all know that the
government is just fairly distributing the land to the
landless Zimbabweans
who did not have enough land to fend for themselves."
God help us! Some
will call me mad for even attempting to address such wild
hallucinations.
However, I insist that the truth must be told even to the
insane so that the
record of what transpired in Zimbabwe's days of madness
is
recorded.
Let us get the record straight. Some of those who are calling
what the
writer calls equitable distribution of land are none other than
Zanu PF
leaders who are honest, and these include Deputy Minister Sylvester
Nguni.
At first I thought he had lost his marbles by joining the Zanu PF
mad house.
After all he is a level-headed and successful businessperson. He
proved his
mettle as head of the Cotton Company. Now I have seen the light
and take off
my hat to him. He is now telling it like it is from the inside
to the utter
confusion of his delusionary Minister, Joseph Made, of the
helicopter
predictions. Let us hope that other business people like him will
join the
Zanu PF leadership and transform it from within.
The truth
which needs to be told and retold is that there never was a land
reform
programme as such in Zimbabwe. It was a political power game that
Zanu PF
resorted to because it was losing to the fledging MDC.
To retain power
its leader, Robert Mugabe, went for broke. And the country
is indeed broke
now.
It was a political gimmick, which some poor gullible rural folks
swallowed.
Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,
said plainly that
those who were grabbing productive white-owned farms were
criminals. In
truth that is what they are and I suppose that includes our
not-so-bright
deputy minister whose name is a misnomer.
The Herald
editorial goes on: "There is a lot of land in Zimbabwe. Whites
still have a
place to live. The resettlement programme was not meant to
drive them out
but to create an atmosphere which was conducive to the
majority."
How
an atmosphere can be conducive to the majority I can't figure out.
Anyway,
these are blatant lies. The land grab exercise was nothing but a
xenophobic
and racist exercise to drive the whites out. State security
minister,
Didymus Mutasa said so clearly. He also happens to be in charge of
land
redistribution so he knows what he was talking about.
Mutasa is reported
to have said that government would step up evictions of
the remaining white
farmers to ensure all farmland was in the hands of
blacks by the start of
this year's rainy season.
He called white farmers dirt or "tsvina" in
Shona. They needed to be cleaned
out, he said. In other words the so-called
land reform programme was the
first "Operation Murambatsvina". Mutasa's
comments triggered the present
violent land grab.
How Mutasa can call
whites dirt is beyond me. He is what he is today because
of the generosity
of a white couple, Guy and Molly Clutton-Brock. They lived
with him and
groomed him at Cold Comfort Farm, first at St Faith's Mission
in Manicaland
and in Harare. How unthankful can a man be? Guy and Molly must
be turning in
their graves.
The Herald comment continued: "Threats are made on a daily
basis by some
Western countries that unless the will of the former oppressor
reigns
supreme, this country will not benefit from investment." What
rubbish!
Governments in western countries have nothing to do with
investment. As far
as I know there is no government in the world which has
banned its nationals
from trading or investing in Zimbabwe. Investment is by
private individuals
or companies out to make a profit. These are very
sensitive people who don't
just throw away their money. They carefully weigh
risks and opportunities.
They only invest in countries where the atmosphere
is conducive. Only a fool
will invest in Zimbabwe today because there is no
political stability or
security of private property. Please, let's face
reality and stop this
destructive tomfoolery, which has brought us economic
ruin.
Our deluded editorial goes on to dream: "The call of the vice
president to
the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union Congress that new farmers and white
commercial
farmers should work together to achieve food security in the
country comes
at the right time. The whites used us during the colonial era.
We should
also use them this time around. One obviously cannot just wake up
a good
farmer. You need to acquire experience."
"Ndinzwireiwo vanhu
vaMwari. What hypocrisy! What gall! Are they any white
commercial farmers
still in Zimbabwe? Which white farmers is this dreamer
talking about? White
Zimbabwean farmers are now in Mozambique, Zambia,
Malawi and the Kwara state
of Nigeria where they are performing agricultural
miracles. And even if we
had some left, would they be willing to teach
arrogant blacks that insult
them daily?
In the first place why were ignorant and inexperience people
given farms?
The editorial says: "The passing of the Constitution amendment
number 17 has
put the question of land reform to its final end." Yes, it has
put
Zimbabwe's agricultural productivity to its final end.
He, who
has ears to hear, let him hear.
Zim Standard
Sundayopinion by Takura
Zhangazha
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Transport
Communications raised a serious query with the Broadcasting
Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) last week. Its stated intention was to try and
find out why
BAZ has not issued any broadcasting licences with the special
mention of
community radio stations.
The
acting chairperson of BAZ, Pikirayi Deketeke,
attempted a public image stunt
by issuing a statement through a newspaper
that he edits, claiming that the
BAZ was reviewing the Broadcasting Services
Act (BSA) because none of the
applicants for licences that were announced
late last year had met the
requirements specified by the Act.
An interesting
point here is that the BSA does not
mention that the BAZ shall have the
powers to review the Act that
establishes it except perhaps under direct
instruction from the responsible
minister, but this might be beside the
point. My intention in this article
is to analyse the paralysis of the BSA,
not necessarily in legal terms but
in relation to the politics that it has
allowed to play out over the last
five years since its inception, and to
place the comments of the portfolio
committee into
perspective.
The first point that must be made
has become a
little too obvious but cannot be avoided. The events that
informed the
promulgation of the BSA are all too clear. During Jonathan
Moyo's tenure as
a junior minister in the President's Office, there was the
intention to
launch what was then called Capital Radio by some journalists
that had been
dismissed from the then Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC). These
journalists decided to challenge the monopoly of ZBC as
unconstitutional in
terms of Section 20 of the Constitution that guarantees
freedom of
expression. The Supreme Court found in their favour but
recommended that the
government must set up regulations that facilitated the
end of the monopoly
of ZBC, an issue that the government agreed
to.
Because Capital Radio had essentially won the
case,
they proceeded with their intention to broadcast and this brought the
wrath
of Moyo, who personally led a group of anti-riot police officers to
shut the
station down at a Harare hotel. This was prior to government coming
up with
the stipulated regulations.
The
government then used the Presidential Powers
Temporary Measures Act to issue
Broadcasting Regulations in the format of
the current BSA today. And these
regulations were in no way indicative of
the government's intention to
facilitate the introduction of private or
community broadcasters as had been
ruled by the Supreme Court. These
regulations eventually became the BSA in
2000.
The processes that led to the making into
law of the
BSA are therefore informative in two specific respects. First,
the
government was somewhat arm-twisted into coming up with a broadcasting
regulatory act when it never had the intention to do so. Second, that the
government has deliberately stalled the introduction of private and public
operators in the broadcasting industry, despite passing the Act because it
is averse to having diverse voices challenging its narrowly derived
nationalist message through its Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
(ZBH).
And it is this that brings the work of the
portfolio
committee on transport and communications into critical
perspective. When it
made the comments through its chairman, Leo Mugabe,
that it intends to find
out why there have been no new radio or TV stations,
with specific mention
of community radio stations, freedom of expression
activists might have felt
a slight tinge of hope that this might after all
be a trailblazing
committee, seeking to right the wrongs done to the media
profession. While
optimism generally runs the risk of being misplaced; the
committee is at
least bringing a lot of dirty linen into the sphere of
parliamentary debate,
once it completes its survey and its queries about the
media profession.
It, however, needs to take into
greater
consideration not just the issue of the performance of statutory
media
bodies but instead must take into greater account the establishing
acts of
these same said institutions. The BSA, for its entire claim to be
providing
regulation of the broadcasting industry, is an act that is a
nightmare for
any budding broadcaster. It limits the possibility of a
broadcaster
receiving foreign funding (and here one can assume that would
include the
acquisition of equipment from outside the country), seeks to
guarantee
airtime on each established private station for government
propaganda and is
largely run with containment and not promotion of freedom
of expression in
mind. Admittedly, amendments have been made to the BSA with
the rare
democratic feat of changing the Act to stop the responsible
minister from
being the licensing authority, but that is essentially a
piecemeal amendment
because the essential framework of the legislation
remains the same.
To conclude, it is apparent
that the parliamentary
portfolio committee on transport and communications
must seriously begin to
look at the possibility of seeking an overhaul of
the BSA to make it more
democratic and to try to bring together both
telecommunications regulation
with broadcasting regulation for efficiency
and diversity. In doing this, it
must not merely be guided by parliamentary
protocol, but must instead begin
to think with the people of Zimbabwe in
mind.