Zim Online
Thu 20 October 2005
HARARE - State security agencies fear
President Robert Mugabe's
government could be overthrown in a popular
uprising, warning that worsening
economic hardships were fast eroding the
patience of long suffering
Zimbabweans, according to confidential internal
police communication shown
to ZimOnline.
In a bid to forestall
possible mass uprising, the Joint Operations
Command (JOC), comprising the
police, the spy Central Intelligence
Organisation and the army, has drawn up
a list of 55 political and civic
leaders it says are the "most dangerous
individuals" who must be kept under
surveillance to ensure they do not
mobilise Zimbabweans to rise up.
Main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party leader
Morgan Tsvangirai tops the list that
also includes Mugabe's former chief
propagandist and now independent
parliamentarian, Jonathan Moyo.
In a 20-page internal report to
deputy police commissioner responsible
for operations Godwin Matanga, a
police representative on the JOC, Edmore
Veterai,
wrote:
"We must not fool ourselves by believing
that the situation is normal
on the ground because we risk being caught
unawares. People have grown
impatient with the government, which they accuse
of causing their problems
and doing nothing to alleviate them and they will
do anything to remove it
from power.
"The shortage of fuel and
basic commodities and the recent Operation
Murambatsvina (home demolition
campaign) has seen hostility grow and people
turning to the opposition,
which they see as their Messiah.
"They will not hesitate to join
any demonstrations called for by the
opposition and the NCA (National
Constitutional Assembly) in their so-called
push for change."
Veterai is a senior assistant police commissioner and is in charge of
police
in Harare province. His report dated 30 September, 2005 was also
copied to
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi.
Mohadi this week said he was
not aware of the internal report, adding
that in any case police officers do
not copy reports to him because
procedure required that all matters
pertaining to law enforcement be
communicated to his office through Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri.
He said: "I do not communicate with
junior officers so I am not aware
of such communication. I communicate with
the Police Commissioner."
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena refused
to discuss the issue saying
he could not discuss such confidential
information over the phone. But
Bvudzijena said the cancellation of leave
and retraining of anti-riot police
officers referred to in Veterai's report
was only meant to prepare police
officers ahead of next month's senate
election.
"I cannot disclose confidential information to you over
the phone,
come to my office. The cancellation of leave and retraining is
meant to
ready our members for the forthcoming senate elections. That is all
I can
tell you," Bvudzijena said.
ZimOnline reporters were
unable to visit Bvudzijena's office for fear
they might be arrested once the
story was published.
Under the government's draconian Public Order
and Security Act and the
Official Secrets Act, it is an offence to publish
confidential state
security information.
Veterai's report calls
for regular raids and searches on the homes of
leaders of opposition parties
as well as their offices to seize information
about their programmes of
action and whatever subversive information they
might be
keeping.
It also says Tsvangirai's walks to work to show solidarity
with
thousands of workers forced to foot long journeys to work because there
is
no fuel should be monitored in case the opposition leader uses the walks
to
mobilise people to his cause to unseat the government.
The
report reads: "The so-called solidarity walks that were recently
started by
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC must also not be taken for
granted as
during those walks he will be preaching his gospel of change and
mobilising
the people to overthrow the government. We must take action now
and make
sure that not many of them are mobilised."
Besides Tsvangirai and
Moyo, others on the security agencies' list of
dangerous people are: MDC
vice-president Gibson Sibanda, secretary general
Welshman Ncube and the
party's legislators, Job Sikhala, David Coltart, and
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku is also on the
list so is Catholic
Archbishop Pius Ncube, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
president Lovemore
Matombo, Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers Union secretary
general Raymond
Majongwe and Felix Mafa, of the Post Independence Survivors
Trust.
According to intelligence sources, those on the list
considered most
influential will be monitored by the CIO around the clock
while the rest
will be kept under close watch by the police.
"The most influential of these individuals will be put under strict
surveillance by members of the CIO," said an intelligence officer, who
cannot be named.
He added: "The rest will be monitored by the
police who should always
gather information on what the listed individuals
are doing, where and when.
The list has been given to respective provinces
where the individuals
concerned live."
This is not the first
time that state security agents have put
citizens under surveillance after
suspecting them of plotting against the
government.
Hundreds of
opposition politicians, civic leaders including
journalists have been
targeted before for harassment by Mugabe's government
that despite being
firmly in charge also appears increasingly insecure as a
severe economic
crisis fuels public discontent. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 20
October 2005
HARARE - Top leaders of Zimbabwe's main opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party who were supposed to meet
yesterday to resolve
bickering in the party failed to meet amid increasing
signs the party may be
headed for a split.
The six-year old MDC
is sharply divided over whether to contest next
month's senate election,
with leader Morgan Tsvangirai insisting that the
party should boycott the
poll, while the party's national council, many of
whose members hope to win
seats in the Senate, is in favour of running in
the election.
MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi told ZimOnline the meeting of the top
six
leaders of the party that had been announced earlier in the day by party
vice-president Gibson Sibanda failed to take place. He did not give reasons
why the meeting could not take place although insiders said it was because
some of the leaders were not in town.
Apart from Tsvangirai and
Sibanda, the other members of the top six
are secretary general Welshman
Ncube, his deputy Gift Chimanikire, treasurer
Fletcher Dulini-Ncube and
national chairman Isaac Matongo.
However in a sign of deepening
divisions in the six-year old party
Sibanda, in a statement that according
to Nyathi was issued after leaders
failed to meet, castigated Tsvangirai
accusing him of having "willfully
violated the Constitution of the MDC and
breached its provisions."
Sibanda, who also accused Tsvangirai of
uttering threats to party
members opposed to his position on the senate
poll, said the MDC leader had
allegedly violated the party's constitution by
misrepresenting the outcome
of a national council meeting last
week.
Tsvangirai told journalists after the council meeting that
councillors
had remained deadlocked 50:50 and that he had to use his casting
vote in
favour of boycotting the November 26 election, a position
contradicted by
Nyathi in a statement claiming the council had voted 33:31
in favour of
contesting the poll.
Sibanda also said Tsvangirai
breached the party constitution when he
wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission informing it that the MDC had
resolved not to participate in the
senate election.
It was not possible last night to establish from
Sibanda whether he
was proposing any action against his party leader as his
phone was not being
answered.
Tsvangirai would not comment
directly on the statement telling
ZimOnline to find from Sibanda "what he
hopes to achieve by the statement."
But the opposition leader was
confident the party would not collapse
because of the bitter
wrangling.
He said: "The party is not going to collapse. Yes we are
facing a
turbulence but the plane has not crashed, we will remain afloat as
long as
we have the support of the people who are after all, the owners of
the
party."
The divisions over the senate poll rocking the MDC
have brought to the
fore deep rooted differences in the party over what
strategy to use to
unseat President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF
party.
Analysts have warned that the divisions could see the
break-up of the
six-year old party that was launched in 1999 to become the
biggest threat
yet to Mugabe and ZANU PF's 25-year hold on
power.
Tsvangirai - a fiery trade unionist during his stint at the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions - has vehemently opposed the senate
election saying
it will be rigged by ZANU PF and that in any event, the
proposed senate
would be of no value in a country that should be better
directing meagre
resources to fighting starvation threatening a quarter of
its 12 million
people.
He is backed in his position by the
party's key youth and women's
wings. But several other top leaders of the
MDC say the party should not
surrender political space to Mugabe and ZANU PF
by boycotting the senate
poll.
The other faction of the MDC
pushing for the opposition party to
contest the election is said to be led
by secretary general Welshman Ncube
and includes executives of at least six
of the party's 12 provinces. Both
Tsvangirai and Ncube however deny their
party is riven by factionalism. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 20 October 2005
HARARE - Several tens of thousands
of people may fail to vote in next
month's senate election after being
displaced from their constituencies
during the government's controversial
urban slum clearing campaign that the
United Nations says affected at least
700 000 people.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party has
previously said the clean-up blitz was solely meant to disperse
voters from
its urban strongholds.
Under the Electoral Act,
voters can only vote in the constituency
under which they were registered.
With voter registration for the polls
having closed on October 14 and the
inspection of the voters' roll ending on
October 23, observers say thousands
of internally displaced people may fail
to vote.
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) spokesman Etoile Silaigwana
yesterday said
displaced voters would be required to complete transfer forms
at inspection
centres as required by the Electoral Act.
The ZEC is responsible
for running elections.
They will need documents like a certificate
of occupation, a lodger's
card issued before 17 October, written statement
from the landlord
confirming residential address together with electricity
or rates bills in
the name of the landlord, if they are to
vote.
Voters could also seek a sworn statement by the employer,
confirming
residential address or hospital bills or envelopes with post
markings
reflecting the voter's address in order to
re-register.
Silaigwana however denied that the stiff requirements
were meant to
exclude opposition voters, adding that the ZEC had done
everything to ensure
that any who wanted to vote will be able to
vote.
"I don't see how that can exclude anyone. No one is going to
be
disadvantaged in any way," Silaigwana told ZimOnline.
"These
elections are constituency-based and for you to be able to
register you must
have those documents but you can speak to the Registrar
General (Tobaiwa
Mudede) on details of the actual requirements."
Mudede could not be
reached for comment on the matter last night.
But the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (ZESN), a local
pro-democracy non-governmental
organisation, said the voters' roll to be
used in the poll was in shambles
after the mass movement of people during
the urban clean-up
campaign.
ZESN director Reginald Matchaba-Hove said: "There is no
voters' roll
of integrity following the displacement of so many voters.
There was no
proper delimitation of boundaries and we don't even know how
they decided on
the constituency boundaries."
State media
reported two weeks ago that the urban clean-up blitz was
masterminded by the
government's spy Central Intelligence Organisation to
forestall opposition
protests against results in the March 31 parliamentary
election, which the
MDC maintains were rigged by ZANU PF.
Displaced voters who opted to
return to their rural areas need letters
from village headmen, who the
opposition accuses of being used by ZANU PF to
intimidate villagers to vote
for the ruling party. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 20 October 2005
NYANGA - Nine in every 10
Zimbabweans cannot afford the cost of
healthcare and more people are turning
to traditional medicine to avoid high
prices charged in the formal health
system, ZimOnline learnt this week.
According to the Association of
Medical Aid Societies (NAMAS), just
over a million lives or less than 10
percent of the country's 12 million
people are covered by health
insurance.
The association blamed the country's economic crisis for
the dwindling
pool of lives insurable by health insurance. Medical aid cover
is usually a
benefit of employment.
"It, therefore, follows
that as employees lose employment due to
retrenchments brought about by the
prevailing economic challenges that have
reduced the production capacities
of many companies, they automatically
deregister from medical aid and become
a burden on the public health
delivery system," said NAMAS chairperson
Florence Kazhanje.
This is expected to affect the standard of
Zimbabwe's public health
sector, already struggling to survive due to
sustained cuts in budgetary
allocations. It is also expected to worsen the
living standards of
Zimbabweans, 60 percent of whom are not expected to live
beyond 40 years,
according to a recent United Nations report.
Consultant economist John Robertson said the number of jobs in
Zimbabwe's
manufacturing sector - the main source of members for medical aid
societies
-has declined by 24 percent in the past seven years from more than
210 000
in 1998 to just above 150 000 last year.
"This reflects the fact
that the manufacturing sector has not been
performing over the past few
years, which has led to cuts in employment,"
said Robertson.
Manufacturing output has declined by more than 46 percent between 1997
and
2004, according to figures from the government's Central Statistical
Office.
A recent study by the Community Working Group on Health
showed that an
average family now required at least Z$2 million a month to
meet the cost of
healthcare. But the average Zimbabwean worker earns a net
salary of about $3
million or less per month.
Doctors'
consultation and hospital fees have increased by more than
400 percent since
January 2005.
Health insurers have resorted to quarterly increases
in member
contributions in order to keep pace with galloping inflation now
pegged at
359.8 percent.
A visit to the doctor now costs
between $480 000 and $2 million,
depending on whether one is seeing a
general practitioner or a specialist.
Tonderai Mukeredzi of the
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe warned that the
high consultation fees made it
difficult for most ordinary Zimbabweans to
seek medical attention from
conventional medical facilities, forcing them to
turn to traditional
healers.
Giving an example of how health has become inaccessible to
the
majority of Zimbabweans, Mukeredzi said new doctor's consultation or
hospital admission fees announced a few weeks ago were the same or more than
the average wage of a domestic worker, which is $1.2 million.
"As a result of these challenges, the proportion of deaths occurring
at home
continues to increase as patients fail to cope with the cost of
hospital
care," said Mukeredzi.
He cited a recent Harare City Council report
which put the proportion
of people dying at home at about 42
percent.
"Many patients are shunning health services while it has
become the
norm for relatives to transfer their sick patients to the rural
areas until
they die to avoid costs," explained Mukeredzi.
According to the CSO, hospital admissions have progressively declined
from
an average of 14 000 patients a day in 1999 to just above 4 000
patients
daily.
The plight of Zimbabwe's sick is aggravated by the
unavailability and
high cost of drugs. Most essential drugs such as
anti-retrovirals (ARVs)
are not available due to shortages of foreign
currency.
Food shortages gripping Zimbabwe have also worsened the
situation with
malnutrition diseases on the rise in the
country.
Commercialised former government drug stores, NatPharm,
said its drug
stocks average 50 percent of monthly requirements at any given
time. -
ZimOnline
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 20 October 2005
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
AN EMERGENCY meeting between Zimbabwe's main opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Gibson Sibanda prevented the
announcement of an
official split of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) at a press
conference by party "rebels" yesterday.
The
eleventh-hour crisis meeting, held at the MDC leader's Strathaven home
in
Harare, could alter the party's course and perhaps that of local
electoral
politics in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai and Sibanda met as the MDC faction
led by secretary-general
Welshman Ncube assembled journalists and diplomats
at a local hotel to
announce the dismantling of the MDC and a revolt against
Tsvangirai.
After the meeting in Strahaven, Sibanda said Tsvangirai
had agreed the party's
top six office-holders should meet in the afternoon
to resolve the crisis.
However, the meeting failed to take
place because party chairman Isaac
Matongo and deputy secretary-general Gift
Chimanikire were unable to attend.
After that, events took a dramatic
turn, with Sibanda, who was apparently
acting as mediator, lashing out at
Tsvangirai.
In a scathing attack on the party president, he said
Tsvangirai had for some
time been willfully violating the party
constitution, and the current crisis
was a "culmination of sad events since
the beginning of the year".
Sibanda said Tsvangirai had violated the
party's constitution by
misrepresenting and overriding the national
council's decision to
participate in next month's senate
election.
He said Tsvangirai had "grossly misrepresented" last week's
clear 33 to 31
council vote to participate by claiming there was a deadlock
and that he had
cast a decisive ballot to boycott the poll. There were two
spoilt votes.
At the time, Tsvangirai accused members of buying
votes.
He also alleged the issue was deteriorating into an "ugly ethnic
contest",
contrary to the "MDC philosophy".
Sibanda said
yesterday there was no "deadlock", and that in any case even if
there were,
the constitution had no provision for an executive vote.
By
writing to the electoral commission to ban MDC candidates from the
election
shortly after the vote, and embarking on a "national crusade"
against the
poll, Sibanda said, Tsvangirai also deliberately violated the
MDC
constitution.
"By his actions, the president has willfully violated
the MDC constitution
and breached its provisions," Sibanda
said.
He said Tsvangirai's conduct was "contrary to the party's
principle of open,
transparent, and democratic
decision-making".
Sibanda also cited as evidence of the MDC
leader's intransigence his
leniency towards a gang of MDC youths, including
Tsvangirai's bodyguards,
Washington Gaga and Nhamo Musekiwa, who were banned
from the party for
attacking senior party
members.
Sources said Tsvangirai was poised
for a launch counter attack today in
which he could announce a purported
expulsion of the "rebels" backing Ncube.
Sources said Tsvangirai
could also haul the "rebels" before the party's
disciplinary committee, but
the problem was that it was chaired by Sibanda.
A senior MDC official
said: "The situation is deteriorating. It looks like
we are now determined
to go down fighting ourselves."
--
New Zimbabwe
By Bekithemba
Mhlanga
Last updated: 10/20/2005 13:24:10
IF NOT now then
when?
This is a question that many would have asked about matters coming
to a head
within the Movement for Democratic Change. Watching events in
Zimbabwe over
the last twelve months one would have mused on how long Morgan
Tsvangirai
was going to resist the bait from Zanu PF - if you say you are in
charge
then prove it.
Jesus resisted such taunts in the Bible many
times - if he indeed was the
son of God why did he not ask his father for
all sorts of favours - but he
resisted because all these issues when not the
pressing items on his agenda.
Tsvangirai is only human and can never be
compared with Jesus by any
reasonably measure.
What he must be ruing
though now was his tactless and unwise decision to
seek a referendum of his
moral worthiness through the senate elections - to
run or not to
run.
Tsvangirai is paying the consequences of his indecisiveness and lack
of a
firm hold over the party and inability to take strategic decisions when
asked to do so.
Jonathan Moyo is probably telling anyone willing to
listen that he made his
point about the leader of the MDC a long, long time
ago. The man is not fit
to lead the party let alone to be the President of
Zimbabwe!
The MDC should not even be in the position that it finds itself
in today.
But the confused signals from them over the last few years about
elections
have brought their problems squarely on their dinner
table.
Despite protests that the MDC is clear that Zanu PF must be
challenged
through democratic processes of which an election is one of them,
the MDC
has continued to cry foul about the circumstances and environment in
which
the elections take part.
The party protests that the senate
elections are a Mugabe gimmick to sort
out pension benefits for his cronies.
The party then votes vehemently
against the constitutional amendment that
makes this possible, but still has
an argument about whether to participate
in the elections or not!
Unfortunately this does not show democracy in
the party as both sides in MDC
will argue but shows crass stupidity and
downright confusion.
For Tsvangirai to even go down the route of
suggesting that votes have been
bought and sold, that ethnic factors are
being brought to play a part in
this is unfortunate.
Welshman Ncube
should also not be afraid to state his Presidential ambitions
if he has any.
There is nothing wrong with a Ndebele person leading the
party after all the
whispers that "MDC iparty yeMandewere" have been hade
for a long
time.
After all if you are going to be punished for stealing a lamb you
might as
well be punished for stealing a goat.
If not now then
when?
Bekithemba Mhlanga is a Zimbabwean journalist living in Surrey,
England. He
can be contacted at: MhlangaB@outreach3way.org
New Zimbabwe
By Elliot Pfebve
Last updated: 10/20/2005 13:22:16
THE
question on the Movement for Democratic Change's participation in the
Senate
elections is fraught with political risks. The debate currently
raging among
MDC leaders needs a sober analysis with constructive criticism
to yield an
ever lasting solution to a country in limbo.
Is the President of the MDC
right to take a decree over the Senate issue? Is
the National Council the
supreme body of the MDC decision process? What
lessons can be learned from
this confusion?
Although personally I am in favour of not only a boycott
of the Senate but a
complete boycott of anything Zanu PF including the Lower
House, neither
Morgan Tsvangirai nor Welshman Ncube wield any power to
solely decide the
fate of the MDC. How then do we justify continuing sitting
in the same
parliament that passed the controversial Senate?
The
National Council is the supreme decision making body and its mandate is
to
make decisions on a democratic vote process to achieve a consensus.
Although
the National Executive can convene and make urgent decisions in the
absence
of the National Council, such a decision must be ratified by the
National
Council which has the power to over rule the earlier decision of
the
leadership.
Constitutionally, even if the "Top Six" would have made a
decision over the
Senate issue, this would still need to have been ratified
by the National
Council which is drawn from all 10 provinces of the country.
The MDC is a
democratic party and as such, political checks and balances are
necessary to
avoid a Zanu PF look-alike monster.
The party has
survived up to this day not because of the charismatic top
leadership alone
but mainly because of its liberal and democratic
constitution. The
constitution has been the pillar through which political
cohesion has
succeeded where very few political parties have survived before
it. When we
talk of the rule of law, we talk of the respect of a democratic
constitutional process. As the old saying goes, democracy favours fools, the
decision of the National Council no matter how unpalatable, must be adhered
to, otherwise we risk making ourselves worse dictators than the monster we
purport to eradicate. Neither Tsvangirai nor Ncube have the powers to veto a
constitutional political consensus.
As I see it there is no political
crisis in the MDC but a constitutional
crisis. The parties involved are very
much aware of what is expected of them
by the MDC constitution and must stop
abusing their offices to confuse the
loyal supporters. The MDC leadership
should use political persuasion rather
than dictatorial decrees to solve
their differences.
Flashing comments and counter comments in the press
without solving the
differences is a sign of political immaturity. Remember
the press is not the
MDC and the MDC is not the press!
While I agree
that there may be leadership misfits in the current MDC, I am
convinced that
the MDC has the power to unseat Zanu PF. Zimbabweans must
stop glorifying
wrong decisions by whoever and for whatever reasons; such is
what has driven
this once prosperous country into one of the poorest nation
on
Earth.
Never, ever, ever, must the MDC be forced into politics of
patronage. Morgan
Tsvangirai, by using the press to highlight internal
feuds, risks handing
power to Zanu PF on a silver plate. That will spark
public anger against
him. Tsvangirai needs to abide by the constitution, as
everybody else is
expected. If he cannot convince his colleagues that
boycotting the senate
would accelerate change, then who will?
What is
required is a leadership that does not view divergent views as
rebellious
but necessary debate to enhance democracy. We cannot label Robert
Mugabe a
dictator if we are dictators in the making. In a country like
Zimbabwe where
we have been ruled by a dictator for over 25 years, it is
easier to replace
Mugabe with another dictator: larvae and butterfly
scenario. The butterfly
is indeed the larva and the larva is the butterfly.
Elliot Pfebve is a human
rights activist and former parliamentary candidate
for the MDC now lecturing
in the UK. He can be contacted at:
epfebve@yahoo.co.uk
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 10/20/2005 13:55:14
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's
nephew and Makonde Member of Parliament, Leo
Mugabe, was nabbed by
Zimbabwean cops Tuesday for making illegal exports of
flour worth over $500
billion, reports said.
Leo Mugabe, a controversial former boss of
Zimbabwe's football governing
body, Zifa, was expected before a Harare
magistrate Thursday for an initial
remand hearing.
He will be charged
with illegally dealing in controlled products, the
state-run Herald
newspaper reported.
Mugabe, also chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Transport
and Communications, is said to have exported 30
tonnes of flour to
Mozambique early this year.
Police spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said: "I can
confirm that he (Leo
Mugabe) was arrested on Tuesday for illegal exportation
of 600 bags of flour
(30 tonnes) to Mozambique or alternatively dealing in
controlled
products.
"He will appear in court on Thursday."
The Zimbabwe
government, grappling with food shortages affecting half the
country's
population has specified maize and wheat products, meaning that
all dealing
in these grains must be through the Grain Marketing Board, a
government
controlled firm.
The GMB's board has to approve any maize or wheat sales
if they have to be
moved across a radius of 250 kilometres.
Smuggled
sugar and flour are sold cheaply in Mozambique, undercutting the
production
from that country's own industries, which have complained
bitterly against
unfair competition.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror
Reporter
issue date :2005-Oct-20
SPEAKER of Parliament John Nkomo at
the eleventh hour aborted his trip to
Geneva for an Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU) conference that started on
Monday under hazy
circumstances.
Nkomo, also Zanu PF national chairman, was supposed to have
been accompanied
by three legislators - Zanu PF's Leo Mugabe (Makonde) and
Margaret Zinyemba
(Mazowe West) as well as Gilbert Shoko (Budiriro) of
MDC.
However, the trip did not materialise with Nkomo refusing to shed light
on
why the Swiss visit had been cancelled.
An announcement on
Parliament's notice board indicates that Nkomo and the
MPs were scheduled to
have flown to Switzerland sometime last week.
A source at Parliament
yesterday said the three MPs had been granted visas,
but were told that the
trip was off "at the last minute".
It was not clear whether or not Nkomo had
obtained a visa for the trip, the
source added.
"The Speaker and the MPs
had all been cleared to travel, but there was a
U-turn at the last minute.
The other MPs got visas for the trip and they
really wanted to go. I am not
sure if the Speaker managed to get his, but as
an IPU meeting, he should get
it.
"It is not being said why they cancelled the trip when it had been made
clear that they were definitely going to Geneva. There has also been talk
that their request for foreign currency had been turned down," the source
said. In an interview yesterday, Nkomo declined to give reasons for failing
to travel to the central European country as scheduled.
"Just leave it
like that, just leave it like that. Isn't it that you are the
one who called
me? I am telling you to leave it like that," said Nkomo.
Zinyemba confirmed
having obtained a visa to travel to Switzerland. She also
said she had been
informed that their trip had been cancelled, adding that
the Speaker of
Parliament was better placed to comment on the matter.
"Yes we were supposed
to travel to Switzerland but after getting the visas,
we were later informed
that we were no longer going anywhere. I do not know
why the trip was
cancelled, l am just a small fish. You better ask the
Speaker," said
Zinyemba.
Mugabe was reportedly out of the country on other business.
A
person who answered the phone at Mugabe's house, said the Makonde MP was
on
foreign business trip "but not in Switzerland."Clerk of Parliament Austin
Zvoma, said the trip had been cancelled because of important priorities
elsewhere.
"The trip was cancelled due to other commitments such as
preparations for
the Senate. Getting a visa does not mean that one is going
to travel," Zvoma
said in apparent reference to the three MPs reportedly
granted visas.
Besides the Geneva flop, Nkomo is also scheduled to travel to
the US this
monthend for a UN Parliamentary hearing at Emperor State
Building in New
York.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Mirror
Correspondent
issue date :2005-Oct-20
ZAKA West Member of Parliament
Marble Mawere is embroiled in a
Net*One/Easycall lines saga, with
allegations emerging that she resold lines
meant to service her constituency
at an exorbitant $2,5 million each.
Police at Zaka said more than 60 people
paid for the lines but they had
never got any feedback from the MP
concerning the lines, fuelling
speculation that these people could have been
duped.
However, six months down the line after Mawere's constituents paid for
the
pre-paid Easycall lines, they are still to receive them, let alone get a
definitive explanation from the MP.
"More than 60 people paid for the
lines from May this year and up to now
people are still eagerly waiting for
their allocations," said Detective
Sergeant Farai Makawa of Zaka Police
Station.
Makawa also said that even some police officers in the area had paid
for the
seemingly non-existing cellphone lines.
"What is worrying is that
the MP kept on assuring people that the lines
would soon be disbursed but it
seems as if nothing will ever come out of
that arrangement," he
said.
While some of the hoodwinked people had informally registered their
complaints with the police, so far no action had been taken against the
legislator, Makawa said.
"Police at Zaka are still waiting for orders
from the top to deal with this
high-profile issue," he said.
The
aggrieved people paid Mawere $2,5 million for the at Net*One lines six
months ago, when they were going for $420 000, meaning Mawere overcharged
her constituents by 430 percent.
It is against the service providers'
regulations to resell the lines for
profit.
The lines were availed to
legislators for distribution at the Net*One price
to their respective
constituencies, in a move aimed at enhancing
communication there.
A nurse
from St Anthony's Mission Hospital (Musiso) on condition of
anonymity, said
she had paid Mawere money for a line, but it now seemed that
the legislator
had used the money for her private affairs.
"Mai Mawere had her victory
celebrations recently at Jerera Growth Point.
"Rather than giving people back
their hard-earned money, she decided
otherwise. It is clear from the real
situation on the ground that she might
have channelled our money for her
victory celebrations," she said.
When The Daily Mirror caught up with the
legislator at her shop in the area,
Mawere confirmed having collected
people's money for cellphone lines, but
said she also had not yet received
anything from Net*One.
"Some people in the constituency paid for the lines,
but we are still to
receive them and I can not tell when we will get them,"
she said.
Mawere also threatened this reporter with unspecified action saying
MPs were
closely linked to the Establishment.
She warned that they
possessed the power to make life extremely difficult
for The Daily Mirror
staffers if the story was published.
"Iwe unofunga kuti VaMugabe vangabvumira
kunyorwa kwezvinhu zvakadai.
Munozviomesera upenyu (do you think the
President will allow such stories to
be written.
"It will make life
difficult for you)," she warned.
Mawere also demanded to know the people who
had broken the suspected scam to
this paper saying she wanted to deal with
them.
"Give me the names of the people you spoke to because I want to talk to
them. Even if you do not give me their names, I will soon find out," she
fumed.
She later advised the reporter to play down the story thus:
"Chingosiyana
nenyaya yacho mwanangu. (just ignore the story)."
Before
the March 31 parliamentary polls, former Information and Publicity
minister
Jonathan Moyo, minister of Transport and Communications Chris
Mushohwe and
Paul Mangwana then of Labour, Public Service and Social Welfare
were
reportedly implicated in another Net*One lines saga.
The lines were meant to
service parliamentary constituencies.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Givemore Nyanhi
issue date :2005-Oct-20
FIXED
telephone network utility, TelOne that is set to print the 2005/2006
telephone directory by the end of this year, has introduced an electronic
version of the directory.The online edition of the directory is set to ease
the problems that industry and commerce has been facing after nearly three
years without receiving an updated version of the telephone directory. "The
new directory covers the entire database in the print version and we hope
that it will help in the operations of industry and commerce as we work on
printing the 2005/2006 directory," Phil Chingwaru, TelOne public relations
manager said yesterday. He added that the fixed telecommunications company
still planned to release the latest print edition of the directory by the
end of this year. Like the print edition, the online edition, available on
the company's website, covers the country's more than 350 000 subscribers
nationwide.
But unlike the print edition, that has two volumes; one for
Harare and the
other volume for the rest of the country, the online edition
has a national
scope and covers two main sections of residential and
commercial
subscribers.Chingwaru said work on the creation of the electronic
directory
commenced last year and it became operational recently.
"The
introduction of the online directory is in line with international
technological trends where the business community is increasingly moving
towards e-commerce."
The new technology is in line with the company's
initiatives aimed at
turning turnaround its operations in line with the
broader national economic
turnaround strategies underway.
Early this year
a memorandum of understanding was signed between the
government of Zimbabwe
and the government of the Republic of China as part
of partnerships with a
number of companies in the world's most populous and
fastest growing
economy. Zimbabwe's rural areas are set to have at least 230
000 telephone
lines installed in a deal struck between TelOne and Huawei
Technologies, a
global player in the telecommunication industry. This is
expected to result
in the country's fixed telephone subscriber base almost
doubling to abut 650
000.The investment is expected to result in a
considerable reduction on the
fixed telephone waiting list, which TelOne has
struggled to serve.TelOne was
unbundled from the former Post and
Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) in
the late 1990s and broken into three
strategic but separate entities that
however still remain 100 percent
government owned. The changes, which gave
birth to Net*One, Zimpost and
TelOne, were ushered in by the liberalisation
of the telecommunications
sector during that period.
The liberalisation
also resulted in the entrance of private owned operators
such as Econet and
Telecel, both of them now significant market shareholders in the mobile
communications sector.
The Herald
(Harare)
October 19, 2005
Posted to the web October 19,
2005
Beatrice Tonhodzayi
Harare
A STAFF shortage at
Parirenyatwa Hospital is straining the country's
HIV/Aids treatment
programme.
Instead of 25 physicians, the hospital has only
eight.
This came out during a tour of the hospital's Opportunistic
Infections (OI)
Clinic by the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr
Parirenyatwa,
yesterday.
The minister wanted to have a first hand
assessment of the progress being
made in terms of scaling up Anti-Retroviral
treatment.
Co-ordinator of the adult OI clinic, who is also one of the
only two female
physicians operating it, Dr Chiratidzo Ndhlovu, said because
of staff
shortages the clinic was only operating at between five to 10
percent of its
capacity.
The clinic was also only operating twice a
week, on Mondays and Tuesday
because the two physicians who volunteered to
serve the clinic had other
duties throughout the week.
The rest of
the days were committed to counselling except for Thursdays when
the space
would be open for the renal clinic.
"We see at least 42 patients a day
and these are not all new cases but
reviews as well. The numbers have been
increasing lately because several
patients from the private sector have now
turned to us because of the high
cost of drugs in the private sector," said
Dr Ndhlovu.
A month's course of ARVs in the private sector is selling for
close to $1,2
million while in the public sector the same course costs $50
000.
Because of the staff constraints, it was taking up to six weeks
before a
patient could go on treatment, a time period which the second
physician
working in the OI clinic Dr Noleen Munyandu said could be
shortened if there
was adequate manpower.
It was also confirmed that
some patients have died while waiting to go on
treatment because of the
lengthy process, which includes various tests to
ascertain one's adherence
and also their body's ability to cope with the
drugs, which are lifetime
drugs.
This has been criticised roundly by the public, most of who have
lost
relatives during this process of going back and forth from the
hospital.
Officials at the hospital, however, said they had adequate
stocks of ARVs,
in fact, enough to cover their patients for the next two
months, and the
major problem was that of staff and space in which to
operate the clinic.
A small cramped room was operating as the OI clinic
in use.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals chief executive Mr Thomas Zigora
said
another space had been identified, to start operating as soon as some
minor
touch-ups were done on it.
Staff constraints have also hampered
operations at the paediatric OI clinic
where out of the four nurses
initially deployed to work there, two had since
resigned while one was
currently on leave.
Out of 540 registered adult patients 380 are on
treatment while out of more
than 200 registered patients at the paediatric
OI clinic 60 were on
treatment.
Dr Parirenyatwa said it was his hope
to have close to 100 000 people on the
public ARV treatment programme by end
of year.
Currently, some more than 20 000 people are on the public
treatment
programme, which started last year.