http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24030
October 24, 2009
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - Armed police on Friday night stormed a house belonging
to the MDC
in Harare's suburb of Chisipite in search of 17 AK rifles said to
have been
stolen on Thursday from KG6, the army headquarters.
The
police, who are said to have numbered over 50, ransacked the property
and
confiscated party documents which were in the custody of MDC deputy
organising secretary, Morgan Komishi.
Komishi was occupying some of
the rooms in the property, which is used by
senior party officials from
outside Harare when in the capital on business.
MDC secretary general and
Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the media on
Saturday, the police, who
were armed with what the MDC believed was a fake
search warrant, proceeded
to beat up the caretaker, Moffat Sigauke, his wife
and the latter's younger
sister, before they frog-marched Sigauke to some
parts of the yard where
they forced him to dig in search of the weapons.
Biti denied any
knowledge of the stolen weapons. He suggested that the raid
could be part of
a plot to frame the MDC by elements within President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party who are opposed to the unity government.
"We consider this as a
serious invasion of our privacy," Biti said. "We
consider this as a serious
attack on our movement and our leadership
particularly as they know this is
the residence of our leadership that is in
government
"We think this
is gross provocation of our movement. But more importantly,
we regard this
as further evidence of the lack of a paradigm ship on the
part of Zanu-PF in
respecting us as an equal partner in the inclusive
government.
"We
regard this as the clearest evidence that a few in Zanu-PF, a few in the
securocrats are determined to see us depart the scene of
government."
Biti said his party was well aware it was dealing with a
"leopard which does
not change its spots" and will remain on
guard.
He said Zanu-PF had in the past, accused Mugabe's opponents,
Joshua Nkomo
and Ndabaningi Sithole, both late, of possessing weapons to
oust the veteran
leader.
"We have no doubt that from now, we are
going to see attempts to frame the
leadership of the MDC and the MDC itself,
to frame it as a treasonous party
and to justify its exclusion or expulsion
from the transitional government,"
Biti said. "These are old and tired
tactics.
"It strengthens our resolve to make sure that we achieve the
people's
aspirations, which is to achieve a democratic Zimbabwe through the
medium of
a new people-driven constitution and of course a free and fair
election.
"It also means that we must be on guard. We think that these
acts of
insanity are going to increase in their velocity (sic) and we think
that the
desperation is going to increase and we think that the firmness we
have
maintained the principled positions we have taken."
The MDC last
week announced its pull-out from cabinet and the council of
ministers to
apply pressure on Zanu-PF to abide by the terms of Global
Political
Agreement (GPA).
President Mugabe said Friday his party would not succumb
to such pressure
into surrendering its authority through a boycott by the
MDC.
Biti said no amount of intimidation would force his party out of the
inclusive government.
Biti said: "We will remain undeterred but we
are alive to the fact that they
will keep on increasing the decibels of
insanity. They will continue
planting arms, continue trying to kill some of
us but we will look the
dictatorship in the eyes. We will not blink."
http://news.yahoo.com
Sat Oct 24, 6:14 am ET
HARARE (AFP) -
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
on Saturday of failing to act in the national interest
after withdrawing his
support for the country's fragile unity government,
state media
reported.
"You will always get people in any arrangement who are guided
by little
emotional thoughts and act in accordance with them and who would
want things
to go their way, and not the national way, and not the agreed
way," Mugabe
was quoted as saying by the Herald
newspaper.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party said October
16 they would
no longer cooperate with Mugabe's ZANU-PF in protest at the
renewed
detention on terror charges of the prime minister's aide, Roy
Bennett.
While the former opposition leader has said he is not quitting
the
government, he has vowed only to return to the power-sharing deal once
outstanding disputes are resolved including a row over key posts and a
continued crackdown against his supporters.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai,
longtime political rivals, are set to hold talks on
Monday, the Herald
reported.
The two men agreed to form a unity government in Feburary after
a disputed
presidential election in March 2008, which saw Mugabe handed
victory in a
one-man run-off.
http://af.reuters.com/
Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:59am
GMT
* Mugabe and Tsvangirai to meet on Monday
* President does
not believe government faces collapse
* MDC says armed police raid party
house
By Nelson Banya
HARARE, Oct 24 (Reuters) - President
Robert Mugabe has shrugged off the
former opposition's boycott of Zimbabwe's
unity government, saying he would
not yield to pressure to make concessions,
state media reported on Saturday.
Mugabe and his former opposition foe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
formed a power-sharing government in
February to end a political stalemate
that followed last year's
elections.
A new crisis hit the government last week when Tsvangirai and
his MDC party
said it would stop attending cabinet meetings in protest
against the arrest
of a senior official and Mugabe's refusal to implement a
political pact in
full.
In his first public comments on the matter,
Mugabe said his party had
fulfilled its part of the agreement and he would
not to yield to MDC
pressure, according to the state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
"The matters the people are complaining about in the MDC are
that we should
now voluntarily...give away aspects of our authority. We will
not do that,"
Mugabe was quoted as saying.
"They can go to any
summit, any part of the world to appeal. That will not
happen."
Mugabe said he did not believe the unity government faced
collapse.
"I do not read that they would want to leave the inclusive
government. I
think they will come back to it soon."
The Herald said
Mugabe and Tsvangirai would resume their weekly meetings on
Monday to try to
end the impasse.
Tsvangirai, who has been on a regional tour to seek help
from leaders who
brokered the power-sharing deal, told reporters in Angola
on Friday his
dispute with Mugabe was a temporary setback that would not
lead to the
collapse of the pact.
On Saturday, MDC secretary general
Tendai Biti told reporters that armed
police had raided a party house in one
of Harare's affluent suburbs on the
pretext that they were looking for
weapons.
"We consider this a serious invasion of our privacy and a
serious attack on
our party. This is gross provocation...but we will look
the dictatorship in
the eye." (Reporting by Nelson Banya, editing by Angus
MacSwan)
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, October 24,
2009 - Friday's raid by police of the Movement
for Democratic Challenge
(MDC) house in Harare's plush suburb of Chisipite
is the work of Zanu PF
die-hards who are bent on destabilising the inclusive
government, said the
party's secretary general and Zimbabwe's Finance
Minister on
Saturday.
"We are aware of the long history of Zanu PF and
its capacity to plant
weapons in people's gardens," said Biti , who is the
owner of the house
which is used to accommodate party officials resident
outside Harare.
Armed police numbering up to 50 stormed the house
on Friday night in
search of 17 AK rifles said to have been stolen at at the
army headquarters.
"They did this in the case of Joshua Nkomo and
(PF) Zapu in 1981, they
did this in the case of Ndabaningi Sithole and Zanu
Ndonga in the late 90s,"
said Biti to reporters. "So we have no doubt
that...we are going to see
attempts to frame the leadership of the MDC and
the MDC itself as a
treasonous party and to justify its exclusion or
expulsion from the
transitional government. These are old and tired
tactics."
Biti, who has also been accused of treason in the
past, vowed that no
amount of retribution by Zanu PF will deter the MDC from
its resolve to
restore democracy in crisis ridden Zimbabwe.
"What we are seeing is evidence of Zanu PF shifting another gear in
order to
create evidence that justifies the total collapse of this inclusive
government," he said. "We know Zanu PF, we know those few individuals and we
know that a leopard does not change its spots. On our part this is nothing
new. What it simply does is to make us strengthen our resolve on the part of
democratic change in Zimbabwe."
President Mugabe said
Friday the MDC's pullout from cabinet was a
non-event.
During
the raid, Biti said, police ransacked every room and
confiscated a bunch of
party documents which were in possession of MDC
deputy organising secretary,
Morgan Komishi, who is currently occupying some
of the
rooms.
They proceeded to beat up the caretaker, one Moffat
Sigauke, his wife
and sister-in-law to try and force them to admit knowledge
of the weapons.
They went on to force Sigauke to dig parts of the two and a
half acre
property in search of said weapons, which they failed to
find.
Biti said he feared they may have planted the weapons
during the
search.
The MDC recently announced a partial
pullout from the inclusive
government in protest over Zanu PF's failure to
adhere to the terms of the
Global Political Agreement (GPA). Party President
Morgan Tsvangirai is
currently on tour of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to
meet leaders to convince them to broker talks to solve
the political crisis
of Zimbabwe's unity agreement and to brief them on his
party's decision to
disengage from Zanu PF.
http://www.apanews.net/
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) The saga involving Nestle's cancellation of a
controversial
contract to buy milk from President Robert Mugabe's wife has
taken a new
twist as a Zimbabwean black economic empowerment group launches
a campaign
to force the Swiss-based food giant Nestle to dispose of its
local
subsidiary to local businesspersons, APA learns here Saturday.
The
pro-Mugabe Affirmative Action Group (AAG) described as "unacceptable"
Nestle's decision last month to cancel a contract under which it was the
preferred buyer of milk from a farm owned by Zimbabwe's First Lady Grace
Mugabe.
The Swiss food giant was forced to stop buying milk from
Mugabe's Gushungo
Dairy Estate in September following an international
outcry and threats for
a worldwide boycott of its products for allegedly
supporting the Zimbabwean
leader who is accused of human rights abuses
against his people.
AAG secretary general Tafadzwa Musarara said Nestle
should reverse its
decision to cancel the Mugabe contract or face the risk
of having its local
subsidiary taken over by black business
people.
"We are demanding that with immediate effect Nestle must be
indigenised,"
said the AAG spokesman who also accused the Swiss-based
company of
complicity in a Western scheme to illegally remove Mugabe from
power.
The AAG statement came just a week after a group of youths from
Mugabe's
ZANU PF party allegedly drove a tanker laden with milk from
Gushungo farm to
Nestle's Harare subsidiary where they threatened officials
to buy the milk.
JN/daj/APA 2009-10-24
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, October 24, 2009 - The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on
Saturday accused the government of
Zimbabwe of killing its late hero,
Learnmore Jongwe, who died in Zimbabwe's
prison in 2002 under mysterious
circumstances while awaiting to answer
charges of murdering his wife,
Rutendo Muusha.
Speaking
at the launch of a trust fund in honour of Jongwe, secretary
general and
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, accused the previous Zanu PF
government of
killing the late eloquent and outspoken Kuwadzana
legislator.
Biti, told the gathering: "The state has tried
to propagate the theory
that Jongwe committed suicide but it is impossible
to smuggle anything
inside prison. Even assuming for one crazy moment that
he swallowed the
malaria drugs the fact of the matter is that they would
have allowed him.
But since we are not making that assumption the only safe
assumption is that
the state killed Learnmore Jongwe. That assumption is
correct until
disapproved."
Spokesperson of the friends
of Jongwe, Pedzisayi Ruhanya, told Radio
VOP, that the idea was motivated by
the need to extol the late politician's
legacy.
"A
group of friends who went to school with Jongwe and those who
worked with
him in the human rights and political fields thought of coming
together to
promote what he stood for before he passed on," said Ruhanya.
"There are two
immediate fundamental issues that led to this idea such as
the one relating
to the welfare of his daughter Tawanashe. We went to assist
the grandparents
in sending her to school and we are also preparing for the
unveiling of a
tombstone for Jongwe. We have talked to the family and if all
goes well we
are supposed to unveil it on November 1 in Zhombe."
http://www.portalangop.co.ao
10/23/09
4:08 PM
Luanda - The Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos,
Friday in
Luanda reiterated to the visiting Zimbabwean Premier, Morgan
Tsvangirai,
that he will continue exerting efforts in order to consolidate
the
understandings reached in Zimbabwe.
"I think that together
with other leaders of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), the
President of the Republic of Angola will
use his influence to see how they
can help us", the Zimbabwean official told
journalists at the end of
one-hour long meeting.
Morgan Tsvangirai who came to Angola as
part of his tour of some SADC member
States aiming at mobilising supports in
order to solve the current political
crisis in his country, referred "the
experience of the Angolan president is
very useful for the advancement of
the process ".
He recalled that José Eduardo dos Santos and other
SADC leaders "were
crucial in the building up of the current Zimbabwean
inclusive government''.
"He assured me that the continuous
dialogue and the identification of the
causes of the conflict will always be
supported by others", he said.
About the meeting with the Angolan
leader, the Zimbabwean premier said that
it was positive and focused mainly
on the current situation.
"We do not want that the current process
relating to the consolidation of
the national unity relapse", guaranteed
Morgan Tsvangirai.
"We did not withdraw from the government",
asseverated the politician,
reiterating that "we have withdrawn ourselves
temporarily of the party that
we formed the government due to lack of trust
in the appointment of some
provincial governors, among other officials", he
said.
He referred that the objective is to go forward along with the
regional
partners, so that the process does not fail.
The accord
signed last February by the ZANU-Patriotic Front and the Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC), led by organ Tsvangirai, is on the brink of
rupture
due to the divergences in the appointment of some personalities to
the
government posts.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own
correspondent Saturday 24 October 2009
HARARE - Victims of
Operation Murambatsvina or Operation Restore Order whose
houses were
destroyed by President Robert Mugabe's government in 2005 are
still living
in shacks and slums four years after their houses were
demolished, a
government minister said on Friday.
National Housing and Amenities
Minister, Fidelis Mhashu told a news
conference ahead of a national housing
convention to be held in the resort
town of Victoria Falls next week that
the government was still working on a
plan to build houses for the victims
of Murambatsvina.
"There are some people are still leaving in shacks,
slums and plastics. The
assessment done came up with 7 487 houses required
in-order to accommodate
victims of Murambatsvina. Of those units only 4 205
have been contracted. So
we have a shortfall of over 3000," Mhashu
said.
"There is no way Murambatsvina can be forgotten. Murambatsvina will
be the
focal point at the housing convention but we are not focusing only on
it but
it will be one of the components of the convention. We believe that
this
convention is going to come up with a consolidated housing
policy."
At least 700 000 people were left homeless in 2005 after their
houses and
sources of livelihood were destroyed by police in an operation
that was
roundly condemned by the international community.
A special
United Nations envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, sent to probe the home
demolitions
issued a damning report saying the campaign violated the rights
of poor
people in breach of international law.
Tibaijuka contested Mugabe's
claims that Murambatsvina was merely a slum
clearing operation saying in her
report that the campaign appeared aimed at
breaking and punishing political
opposition support and resentment that will
have resulted in a revolution
over the failing economy.
The ministry of national housing will hold a
four day national housing
convention which will be officially opened by
Mugabe and closed by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. An official
representative from the United
Nations office on Habitation will address the
convention.
Zimbabwe's urban areas have huge housing backlogs, which run
into millions,
Mhashu said adding that his ministry is assessing the current
housing
shortfalls to provide the exact number of families requiring houses.
--
ZimOnline.
http://www.voanews.com
By Sandra Nyaira
Washington
23 October
2009
With political tension currently running high in Zimbabwe,
intimidation and
violence are rising in the country's rural schools, the
Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe said Friday.
The union said
the resurgence of violence targeting teachers could scuttle
the forthcoming
round of national exams arranged with great difficulty by
the
government.
The PTUZ says youth militia associated with the ZANU-PF party
of President
Robert Mugabe have gone on the offensive against rural teachers
in the wake
of the disengagement by the Movement for Democratic Change
formation of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai from its ZANU-PF partner in
the unity
government over alleged power-sharing violations.
The union
reported incidents in Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central province,
Buhera,
Manicaland province, and Murehwa, Mashonaland East.
PTUZ General
Secretary Raymond Majongwe said his union is receiving reports
every day of
increasing violence against rural teachers targeted in 2008
post-election
violence because they were regarded as opposition loyalists in
traditional
ZANU-PF strongholds.
http://www.voanews.com
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
23
October 2009
Efforts by Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and his Movement for
Democratic Change to engage regional heads of state to
resolve the political
crisis in Harare have been set back with word that a
meeting of the SADC
troika on security and defense next week will bring
together member state
ministers, not heads of state or
government.
Observers said sending ministers instead of heads of state in
effect
downgraded the troika session and reduced its chances of resolving
the
crisis in Harare.
Mr. Tsvangirai spent much of the past week
intensively lobbying SADC leaders
with stops in Mozambique, South Africa,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Angola.
Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara meanwhile called a crisis meeting
Monday in hopes of
bringing Mr. Tsvangirai face to face with President
Robert Mugabe before the
troika meets.
Sources in Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it will insist
on the lifting of
Western sanctions, pointing to progress resolving
outstanding issues, in
particular the announcement that five MDC ambassadors
will shortly be
dispatched abroad after months of delay.
SADC
Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the ministerial-level delegates to the troika
meeting on Thursday will assess the situation and decide whether a meeting
of heads of state is warranted.
Information Minister Ronnie
Shikapwasha of Zambia, which holds the vice
chairmanship of the troika,
confirmed a Zambian minister will attend.
But Tsvangirai MDC Secretary
General Tendai Biti, Zimbabwean minister of
finance, said Salomao gave an
assurance that the heads of state will make
the trek to Harare.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24026
October 24, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The first five ambassadors nominated from the
Movement Democratic
Change (MDC)'s two camps to represent Zimbabwe abroad
have been assigned
diplomatic mission stations and will be deployed there in
December.
Ambassadors Hebson Makuvise, Hilda Suka-Mafudze, Jacqueline
Nomhla Zwambila,
Mabed Khumbulani from the mainstream MDC and Gertrude
Stevenson-Dickey of
the Arthur Mutambara faction of the same party completed
two months
diplomatic training in Harare early this month
A senior
official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday told the
state
controlled Herald newspaper on Friday: "They have been assigned and
are
likely to be posted to their respective countries in December this
year."
Makuvise has been assigned to Germany, while Zwambila will be
posted in
Australia, Mafudze in Sudan, Khumbulani in Nigeria and Stevenson
to Senegal.
One of the new ambassadors said almost everything was now in
place for their
deployment.
"At the moment we are visiting all the
ministries to appraise ourselves on
their operations. I cannot wait to
represent my country," the new diplomat
said.
On Wednesday, the
ambassadors visited the Ministry of Tourism and
Hospitality where they were
briefed on its operations by Minister Walter
Mzembi.
The three
principals to the global political agreement that gave birth to
the
inclusive Government agreed that the MDC parties should nominate five
ambassadors.
Recently, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi challenged the
diplomats to be prepared to promote and defend
Zimbabwe's strategic
interests, image and influence.
He reminded the
diplomats to be guided by the Global Political Agreement and
the Short-Term
Emergency Recovery Programme in carrying out their duties.
Minister
Mumbengegwi said they should fight for the removal of illegal
sanctions
imposed on the country by the West.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai arrived in Angola on Friday for a
meeting with Angolan President
Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
Tsvangirai left Harare earlier this week on a
diplomatic mission to appeal
for regional mediation in the stand-off with
ruling partner President Robert
Mugabe.
Angola's state radio said
Tsvangirai would discuss the crisis in his country's
government with Dos
Santos.
Tsvangirai arrived in Angola after meetings with other Southern
African
leaders, from whom he is seeking support after cutting ties with
Mugabe's
government.
http://www.nytimes.com
By RACHEL
DONADIO
Published: October 23, 2009
ROME - Declaring that Africa needed
more "saints" in public life, African
bishops issued a strong statement on
Friday calling on corrupt Catholic
politicians on that continent to "repent"
or leave office.
They did not name names, but two of Africa's most
prominent Catholic leaders
are President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, whose
repressive policies and
ruling elite are seen to have led his country to
economic ruin, and
President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, whose
government is perceived
as one of the most corrupt in the
world.
"Many Catholics in high office have fallen woefully short in their
performance in office," the bishops wrote in an unusually direct document
wrapping up a month-long synod, or meeting, at the Vatican on the issues
facing the church in Africa. "The Synod calls on such people to repent, or
quit the public arena and stop causing havoc to the people and giving the
Catholic Church a bad name."
With its large Catholic population,
estimated at 158 million, Africa in many
ways represents the future of the
Catholic Church. By 2025, one-sixth of the
world's Catholics, or about 230
million, are expected to be African, and
Africa produces a large percentage
of the world's priests. Pope Benedict
XVI, who visited Cameroon and Angola
in March, has often spoken out against
the poverty, disease, corruption and
violence that threaten African
countries, and has said he sees the church as
a force for democracy and
social justice.
In their document on
Friday, the bishops singled out crises in Northern
Uganda, South Sudan and
Darfur and said that "those who control the affairs
of those nations must
take full responsibility for their woeful
performance."
They added:
"Whatever may be the responsibility of foreign interests, there
is always
the shameful and tragic collusion of the local leaders:
politicians who
betray and sell out their nations, dirty businesspeople who
collude with
rapacious multinationals, African arms dealers and traffickers
who thrive on
small arms that cause great havoc on human lives."
Echoing a theme in
Benedict's latest encyclical "Caritas in Veritate," about
morality and
global economics, albeit in more provocative language, the
approximately 300
bishops who attended the meeting also called on
multinational corporations
to stop their "criminal devastation of the
environment in their greedy
exploitation of natural resources."
Calling women "the backbone" of the
Church in Africa, the bishops urged them
"to be fully involved" in women's
programs, but said they should "make sure
that the good ideas are not
hijacked by the peddlers of foreign and morally
poisonous ideologies about
gender and human sexuality."
The bishops did not veer from Vatican policy
opposing the use of condoms to
prevent the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS. "The
problem cannot be overcome by
the distribution of prophylactics," they
wrote. Instead, they urged
abstinence among the unmarried and fidelity among
the married. "Such a
course of action not only offers the best protection
against the spread of
this disease but is also in harmony with Christian
morality," they wrote.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Norest
Musvaba Saturday 24 October 2009
JOHANNESBURG - International
humanitarian organisations on Friday said lack
of political order and
respect of citizens by Zimbabwe's leaders was putting
the country's
vulnerable population at risk as hunger and disease threaten
to sweep the
country again.
In a joint statement following last week's fallout between
Zimbabwe's
coalition partners - President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai - the organisations, who included UK-based Oxfam, Medecins
Sans
Frontieres (MSN), UN's Roll Back Malaria Partnership and United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Zimbabwe needs coordinated "robust leadership"
to prevent a recurrence of the cholera epidemic and widespread hunger it
faced last year.
"We are obviously concerned that the government of
national unity continues
to work," head of Oxfam-UK's operations in southern
Africa Charles Abani
said.
UNICEF's Peter Salama called on Zimbabwe's
leaders to overcome their
political differences and "rally around the issues
facing Zimbabwe's
children today, and that is access to basic services" like
schools and
clinics, which have been devastated by the country's 10-year
economic
collapse.
Salama said it would be "tragic" if the current
political impasse between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai leads the international
community to decide that the
country is too risky to continue to invest
in.
Tsvangirai and his MDC party last week boycotted all cooperation with
Mugabe
and his ZANU PF party, blaming the veteran leader's failure to fully
implement last year's Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to
the unity government.
Despite the unity government managing to
restore some semblance of stability
in the economy by bringing down
inflation, opening schools and hospitals aid
organisations still play a big
role with some helping out even in prisons.
In recent months,
international health agency MSN has been providing food,
clean water and
medical care to inmates in 15 prisons, said Wim Fransen who
heads the
organisation's mission in Zimbabwe.
"What is important to know is that
the crisis is still here and there is
still a need for donors to fund
organisations," Fransen said.
What is known as the hungry season - when
food from the year's harvest
begins to run out - is expected to hit the
country between December and
January.
Last year, more than five
million people needed food aid but Oxfam's Abani
said it was likely to be
less than three million this year - still
significant in a population of
about 12 million.
Reports of cholera have already emerged this year in
Zimbabwe. Rains
expected in the coming months will overflow sewers,
worsening the risk of
the waterborne disease spreading bringing back
memories of a cholera
outbreak that started in August 2008 and took months
to bring under control
killing some 4 000 people.
The rainy season is
also the breeding season for the mosquitoes that carry
malaria. Roll Back
Malaria warned in January of a possible surge in malaria
cases and deaths in
Zimbabwe. Since then, said spokesman Herve Verhoosel, it
has been able to
work with the new government to ensure insecticide was
distributed before
the rains.
The next step, Verhoosel said, will be getting a new
generation of malaria
medication into hospitals and clinics across Zimbabwe
before the rains. But
the new medication is more expensive and Verhoosel
said Roll Back Malaria is
concerned that donations to buy the drugs could
drop.
"Such a political crisis," Verhoosel said, "could have an
implication on the
ground."
The European Union (EU) on Wednesday
asked Zimbabwe's neighbours to help
resolve the country's political problems
and expressed concern over
"continued politically motivated harassment of"
members of Tsvangirai's
party. The EU has said it would not resume
development aid until Harare
fully implements the power-sharing agreement
and restore human rights. -
ZimOnline
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799410. If you are in
trouble or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here
to
help!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Dennis Lapham - Report 1
2. DENNIS LAPHAM - COURT TODAY
3.
Dennis Lapham -
Devonia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Dennis Lapham - Report 1
Dear Jag
I was called to Juru police to
receive a summons on Fri 16th to appear in
court Tues 20th!
Charge
laid on 11/10/09 by Shumbamhini Criminal act Sect 45
INTIMIDATION
Chikunga said we did not appear in court on the 7th! I said
we did. He
said Prove it ? !
This was the date Mamvura (Scallen &
Holderness ) & I drove to Murewa
court to wait 2 hours and as they were
too busy ( only one prosecutor )
He got the charges from the prosecutor and
left him his phone to arrange
a trial date.
We then visited Juru to
see the CID const Chikunga and spoke to him about
the case. He also to demand
they do a RRB for the Smashing of the Locks
on the Pump houses which they
actioned.
Went to my lawyer Mamvura in Harare on Friday 16th, Scallen
& Holderness.
He said I was to take a letter to the prosecutor on
Tues. 20th to state
he cannot make this Tuesday. We need more time and on Nov
3rd he will
represent me.
On Monday 12th Meanie made an appointment at
10 am to see me to discuss
the way forward
He failed to arrive so I
went to Harare at 12. I went to the Lands
Office to see Planner Mugabe (to
get the boundary he drew in writing) who
was out. I then saw Lester Muradzi
who was off to a meeting so asked me
to see him next week.
On exiting
the building onto the street I met Meanie who stopped me to
talk about
loaning him 100 Irig pipes. The pipe to "his" side had burst
and as he had no
money, ...? we were to fix it
We have now repaired 5 pipes that
broke!
Lovemore Kudenge phoned to see me and I directed him to come to
talk to
Meanie which he did
The story that he was told was so full of
lies I was nearly speechless!
Like I gave him my house, and we did not
own the farm.
He only has 75ha arable! I count 117ha arable He has paid
for the ZESA
used!
Not worth repeating any more.
I await
Lovemore asking me for my side of the equation.
DENNIS LAPHAM -
ENTERPRISE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
DENNIS LAPHAM - COURT TODAY
Dear John
Well Meanie was there today
in Murewa and the prosecutor Mr T Bvuma
accepted the need for more time. He
proposed early January 2010
There was another case brought by Meanie!
about his guard stopping the
Tractor coming up to our house on 17th Aug.
From what I can gather the
guard is putting a case AGAINST the driver of the
tractor. I really
despair at the legal system
We have a Police
reservist watch who refuses to vacate the house he
occupied during his
guarding of the Seed Maize! Long time ago the
Messenger of the court gave him
an Eviction Notice 3 months ago ( at a
cost of $120 ) But he is still there
so I visited him In Murewa today
and had to pay $130 plus other sundry fees
to get the case actioned for
his removal.
Meanie is milling
commercially for all & sundry around the area at $1
per
bucket.
What is the legal position as I feel it is not correct
with our ZESA.
Dennis
Lapham
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Dennis Lapham - Devonia
Have just heard that three men from Min of Lands
been on the farm at
Lunch time
They are reported to be dividing the
farm that Meanie has into three 100
ha subdivisions
There seems to be
no future at all in trying to do things legally...
Dennis Lapham
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24022
October 24, 2009
By Chenjerai
Hove
ZIMBABWEANS must be wondering why President Robert Mugabe will never
swear-in beleaguered mainstream MDC treasurer-general, Roy Bennett, as
deputy Minister of Agriculture.
While the reasons are quite clear to
some, they remain rather obscure to
others. But what everyone seems to know,
including Bennett himself, is that
he will never occupy his designated
office.
In the complex network of reasons, some are obvious while others
are
obscured by Zanu-PF and its propaganda machinery. I have a clear picture
of
the scenario both from experience, simple observation and also from
instinct.
Bennett had a scuffle with Justice Minister, Patrick
Chinamasa, in which he
shoved the Minister down onto the carpeted floors of
Parliament. Bennett
went to jail for it, undergoing harsh prison conditions
in far away Mutoko
where it was intended to isolate him from his
family.
Normally when a prisoner has served his sentence, the case is
closed. But
Bennett's case has been different. Chinamasa and those who
dismally tried to
intervene and rescue him from the parliamentary
humiliation are still angry.
Had they succeeded in their bid to punch
Bennett and floor him, perhaps the
former Chipinge farmer would have been
forgiven by now.
It is an open secret that Bennett was a strong supporter
and a funder of
Zanu-PF at some point. It is alleged that he became
frustrated by how
Zanu-PF chiefs squandered his donations to the party at
the expense of the
projects he wanted to fund for his area. He became a
popular politician in
the area due to his community involvement in projects
which he funded to
benefit his workers and the surrounding
community.
Zanu-PF did not take kindly to Bennett's defection to the new
MDC party and
waited for the opportunity to punish him.
Bennett's
farm was illegally seized and his property vandalized in broad
daylight. I
wonder what has become of the farm now.
Mugabe knows that Bennett is a
grieving farmer, and if sworn-in, he would
have the right to go round the
country inspecting farming activities on the
stolen farms, including his
own. Some new farmers such as Joseph Chinotimba,
have confessed to 'farming
people' instead of crops on those disused farms
where lavish bush now
abounds. Somebody would have to explain what 'farming
people' means as the
phrase seems loaded with imagery too ghastly to
contemplate.
As it
is, the Ministry of Agriculture is one of the most abused of all in
Zimbabwe. The current Minister of Agriculture, Joseph Made, has no proven
record of successful farming. As former head of the Agricultural and Rural
Development Authority(ARDA), Made made a big mess of the parastatal over
many years.
Many of the state-owned company's estates now lie in
ruins due to the
incompetence of senior staff in the Authority, but also due
to the
traditional nepotistic practices of the ARDA administration. It is a
well-known fact that ARDA is one parastatal run as a monopoly by one ethnic
group. At one time, nearly all staff in ARDA head office, from director down
to floor cleaners, was allegedly of Manyika origin.
One director even
used a small ARDA aircraft to fly his father close to the
village. Not to be
outdone Dr Made once inspected the national maize crop
while flying over the
farms. He immediately declared a forthcoming 'bumper
harvest.' The
starvation that followed his misguided declaration was not
enough to cause
his instant dismissal, however!
Bennett knows about this and would
probably fight to reverse that tradition
in the dismally failed ARDA. As a
serious practicing farmer, Bennett knows
clearly the mission of ARDA as a
parastatal established by government for
the sole purpose of producing food
in abundance and not to involve itself in
political games far removed from
food production.
Most ARDA estates now lie idle. Little production takes
place there. The man
responsible for the decay was none other than Made who
was nevertheless
rewarded with appointment to the post of Minister of
Agriculture.
If Bennett is sworn-in President Mugabe would have to deal
with a situation
in which the not-so-successful minister is deputized by a
highly competent
and successful farmer.
In the turmoil of the chaotic
land grab, ARDA has been completely
privatized. Farms are grabbed as ARDA
estates and then ARDA workers and
machinery are brought in to work the land
which in fact belongs to some
minister. The President himself has never
denied stories that his own farms
have benefited from ARDA inputs and
management by none other than Made
himself. So we now have ARDA Gushungo
Dairy Estates, as it were. There are
similar reports of a number of ARDA
Mutasa estates in Manicaland.
ARDA employees will no doubt one day
narrate the full story to a nation
anxious to know where else ARDA has been
plundered and by whom.
But I have a strong feeling that the purpose of
using ARDA as a source of
personal wealth is based on a simple strategy
which assumes Zimbabweans are
so stupid they cannot unravel hidden agendas.
The ARDA strategy is like
this - should the political game change, the land
grabbers can always
protest: "This is not my farm. It is an ARDA farm. I was
only renting it
from ARDA. I am not a multiple farm owner."
Having
worked on farms all his life, Bennett knows how ARDA should operate
and
would not tolerate the abuse of the state enterprises for personal gain
as
is happening now. Bennett would probably be uncomfortable with the idea
of
the Minister of Agriculture being reduced to being President Mugabe's
farm
manager.
Pictures of Dr Made wearing overalls, while on duty on one of
President
Mugabe's farms have been published.
There are reports that
prisoners as well as soldiers and other state
employees are forced to work
on the farms of the Zanu-PF bigwigs. Mugabe
knows Bennett will obviously
seek to put a stop to that.
The Ministry of Agriculture has become the
epicentre of Zimbabwe's national
corruption.
Using the patronage
system perfected by Mugabe, the ministry no longer
serves the national
interest. Those in the field say that even the director
of veterinary
services has become President Mugabe's personal vet who visits
and tends to
his livestock.
It is likely that the state-of-the-art dairy equipment at
Gushungo Dairy
Estates was imported through funds made available by Gideon
Gono at the
central bank under the guise of the farm mechanization programme
whose
hidden agenda was clearly to distribute sophisticated equipment to the
farms
of Zanu-PF leaders.
Meanwhile peasant farmers received donkey
carts and ox-drawn ploughs.
President Mugabe's appointees are usually
carefully selected solely on the
basis of their loyalty as well as being
totally ignorant of the business of
their ministries. That way he can easily
manipulate them.
The last Zanu-PF Finance Minister seemingly had no idea
what a national
budget was all about. Poor man, he was so intimidated by
Gideon Gono he
could not stop him from usurping the functions of the
Ministry of Finance as
well as those of the Ministry of
Agriculture.
The late Witness Mangwende (May his soul rest in eternal
peace) once woke up
one day to be told he was now Minister of Agriculture.
Journalists joked
that the only logical reason why he was allocated that
particular ministry
was that he was the only one without a
farm.
While it can be argued that the Ministries of Defence and Mines
have been
transformed into other centres of corruption and looting, the
Ministry of
Agriculture remains the one where it is easiest to amass illegal
wealth
withouttoo much sweat or risk. All that the Zanu-PF politicians need
to do
is hire a few thugs to sell someone else's tobacco, maize, oranges or
mangoes.
In these circumstances Bennett will obviously continue to be
locked up,
released, tried and locked up again in a plan well orchestrated
and executed
by the Attorney-General whose interests and priorities are
well-known.
Dear Family and Friends,
ZBC have been
having a field day this week. Its almost like it was
before the 2008
elections: elections in which the MDC won a
parliamentary majority and the
MDC leader won the first round of the
Presidential ballot. Every day ZBC have
produced another commentator
or analyst who has been given air time to
condemn, criticise or
denigrate the MDC and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangrai.
ZBC's very
thin veil of impartiality has blown away in the slightest of
summer
breezes!
All week, however, we waited for comment from Mr
Mugabe and it came
on Friday night - a week after Prime Minister
Tsvangirai's
announcement of disengagement with Zanu PF. Just back from an
AU
meeting and waiting to get into the Presidential limousine, Mr
Mugabe
said that he would not give in to pressure. He said that Zanu PF
had
done everything that was required of them in the Global
Political
Agreement while the MDC had, in his words: "done nothing
about
sanctions," or about silencing radio stations who were continuing
to
broadcast anti Zimbabwe reports every day.
Mr Mugabe did not
mention that SADC were concerned enough to be
sending a fact finding mission
to Zimbabwe in the next few days. Nor
did he say anything about Roy Bennett
whose arrest was the straw that
broke the camel's back and brought this whole
mess to a head. As to
the other outstanding issues of Governors, Ambassadors,
the Attorney
General and the Reserve bank head, these, Mr Mugabe said, would
be
dealt with by him, as was his prerogative. Mr Mugabe did not say
when
he would deal with these matters - now outstanding for nine
months.
For most Zimbabweans it's going to be very hard to follow
what
happens during the SADC visit because we are again being plunged
into
15 hour a day electricity cuts. Apparently this is due to
maintenance
at the Kariba power turbines. We do wonder, however, just what it
is
that SADC fact finders will see.
Will they see the supermarkets
overflowing with food that just nine
months ago were full of empty, rusty
shelves.
Will they see the now empty banks that nine months ago were
crammed
with thousands of people trying to withdraw the daily limit of
their
own money; a days maximum withdrawal which was enough to buy half
a
bar of soap on the black market.
Will SADC fact finders see the
mayhem still occurring on Zimbabwe's
farms despite their very own SADC
tribunal rulings which have been
ignored. Will they see MDC Deputy Minister
of Agriculture Roy Bennett
sworn in and working or still being
hounded?
Will they get to read the Auditor Generals report on
Ministerial
accounts which has just been released? A report which says in
part
that: " US$21 738 for the Agricultural Revolving Fund was used
for
minister (Joseph Made)'s business cards, Internet router, head
office
provisions and hotel bill. " The Auditor General went on to
state
that: "Accordingly, the minister should consider making
arrangements
to refund to the fund the monies thus spent."
Being one
of millions who went hungry and malnourished last year, and
the year before,
and the year before that, I think that asking the
Minister to 'consider'
refunding the money is being far, far too
nice. How many people was it died
of hunger these past few years?
Will SADC Ministers see ZBC TV news
reports in the time they are
finding facts in Zimbabwe or, more likely, will
ZBC have picked up
their disguise again and hidden their true colours once
more?
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy 24th October
2009.
Copyright cathy buckle www.cathybuckle.com
http://www.theage.com.au
STEVE PENNELLS
October 25,
2009
THE devil looks after his own. Or so it would seem in the case of
Robert
Mugabe, the de facto dictator of Zimbabwe. Under Zimbabwe's unity
Government
established last year, President Mugabe, who took Africa's garden
and
trashed it, has retained enough power to reverse the optimistic
direction
the country is taking. He and his Zanu-PF party still control the
discredited central bank; the military; the police; the Central Intelligence
Organisation, which is Zimbabwe's version of the KGB; and the Ministry of
Information.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who, until the
formation of the unity
Government was Mugabe's great enemy and rival, has
control of the Finance
Ministry. Finance Minister Tendai Biki, Tsvangirai's
ally, has done the
impossible: he has brought the worst inflation the world
has ever known to a
halt.
The remedy was simple, though extreme. Biki
substituted the US dollar for
the worthless Zimbabwe dollar. How worthless
was it? Would you believe a
currency that once had rough parity with the US
dollar was trading - if you
could find a buyer - for 1 billion Zimbabwe
dollars to $US1? Incredibly, the
Mugabe faction of the Government and
Zanu-PF party members want to bring
back the Zim dollar, as it was
known.
Under the new set-up, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has reopened and
is
prospering. And again, shops have goods on the shelves for those who can
afford them. While US dollars have circulated illegally in Zimbabwe for some
time, it is unclear where they are now coming from, and what is the plight
of those who have no access to them and no employment, which is much of the
population.
In fact, many Zimbabweans live in a barter economy
without cash. Rural
people lead a desperate subsistence life, relying on
perhaps a few chickens,
sometimes a goat or, if relatively well off, some
cattle.
Most depend on growing enough corn to feed their families and on
the
generosity of relief agencies, although these are often the targets of
Mugabe's thugs.
Food is power and Mugabe has used his troops, police
and secret operatives
to control it, starving the opposition and feeding
only his political
loyalists.
In the face of Zimbabwe's tenuous
recovery, there are many questions about
Mugabe and his acolytes, and about
Tsvangirai and his Movement for
Democratic Change. Will Mugabe use his
control of the military and the
courts to destroy Tsvangirai's
reforms?
Mugabe likes to be the top man, even the reviled top man. His
unhinging can
be traced back to Nelson Mandela's release from long
imprisonment in South
Africa and the deserved global acclaim he was welcomed
with. Until then,
Mugabe had been the golden African leader. Also he and
Mandela were courting
Graca, the widow of former Mozambiquan leader Samora
Machel. Mugabe lost out
and Mandela married her.
Too much praise for
the reformers in Zimbabwe might set Mugabe off on
another spree of
destruction. His favourite charge - if he bothers with
charges as opposed to
random beatings - is treason, which is a hanging
offence in
Zimbabwe.
There are also questions about Tsvangirai: some of his early
supporters are
very critical of his conduct as Prime Minister. One critic,
who does not
want to be identified but who played a big role in establishing
the unity
Government, told me: ''He has become Mugabe's bagman. That's about
it.''
This was a reference to Tsvangirai's recent world fund-raising
trip. He did
secure minor commitments from doubting donor nations, but most
want to see
what happens. The money that was raised will go to humanitarian
efforts, not
the Zimbabwe Government.
The success or failure of
financial reforms may rest on the diamond fields
of eastern Zimbabwe. These
were only discovered in 2006 and should have been
a valuable source of hard
currency for the nation. But Mugabe had another
idea: he allowed the
military to massacre itinerant miners and seize the
mines for its own
profit. This has solved a pay problem among soldiers and
kept the military
faithful to Mugabe. Another gift from the devil for his
protege, Robert
Mugabe.
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