http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 October 2011
The
President of the MDC Youth Assembly, Solomon Madzore, has been arrested
and
detained on unknown charges, in what the youth group has slammed as
another
show of partisan policing in Zimbabwe.
Madzore was arrested at his house
in Waterfalls on Tuesday afternoon by six
members of the Law and Order unit.
He was taken to Harare Central Police
Station where is he still being
held.
Youth Assembly spokesperson Clifford Hlatywayo told SW Radio Africa
on
Tuesday that the group immediately dispatched a lawyer from Zimbabwe
Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) to assist their arrested President. But the
lawyer
was denied access to Madzore when he went to Harare
Central.
“So we still don’t even know why he has been arrested or what he
is being
charged with,” Hlatywayo said.
He added: “We condemn in the
strongest possible terms this unwarranted
arrest and we want to make it
known that we are going to take action against
it. We want to show that we
are perturbed and disappointed by this partisan
execution of policing
duties.”
The Youth Assembly also said in a statement on Tuesday that:
“The continued
harassment of MDC leaders and members demonstrates that ZANU
PF has not
relented on its resolve to subvert the will of the people by
acting in
complete violation of the laws of the country.”
The
Platform for Youth Development Trust also leveled blame for Madzore’s
arrest
on ZANU PF, calling it a result of party politics.
The group said in a
statement that it “demands justice,” and appealed for
professionalism from
the police in dealing with Madzore’s case.
“We also demand to know why
Madzore has been arrested and that he is
urgently brought to court within
the stipulated 24 hours time according to
the law,” the youth group said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
03/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
COURTS
around the country are braced for strikes by prosecutors starting on
Tuesday.
A union for prosecutors said on Monday that its members
would walk out to
press for the same level of pay as magistrates who were
awarded a pay rise
after going on strike in April.
Dereck Charamba,
the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Law Officers
Association, said on
Monday: “We are going on strike on Tuesday. We have
notified everyone since
August 25 this year of the strike.
"We sent a paper to the Attorney
General, the Ministry, the President's
Office and all other relevant offices
informing them of the intentions.”
If successful, the strike could
paralyse the court system. Charamba said
prosecutors were currently being
paid between US$200 and US$300 monthly,
compared to magistrates who earn
between US$500 and US$730.
He added: “The magistrates and prosecutors are
all employed by the Judicial
Service Commission... but there is a serious
salary and benefits discrepancy
despite having similar qualifications,
experience and the fact that we do
the same work.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
A MASS grave believed to contain the remains of up to 60
victims of the
1980s Gukurahundi massacres has been discovered at a Lupane
school.
Pupils playing football at the grounds of St Paul Secondary School
stumbled
on human bones sticking out of the ground.
National Healing
Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu visited Lupane last Friday for
talks with school
authorities.
He told New Zimbabwe.com last night: “Villagers told me that
St Paul and
several other local schools were used as detention points by the
Fifth
Brigade.
“Dozens of people were detained, interrogated and
executed before their
bodies were dumped in mass graves dug up by the
detainees.
“The grave is roughly 5x5 metres and locals told me there could be
anything
between 30-60 people buried there.”
He said the mass grave
was uncovered after the ground caved in at two points
of the football pitch,
exposing the horrific scene to pupils playing
kick-about.
School
authorities have temporarily refilled the graves and the minister
says he
will be asking Cabinet to agree on a programme of reburials on a
wider scale
across Matabeleland and the Midlands.
Human rights groups say up to
20,000 innocent civilians are buried in mass
graves and disused mines in the
two regions after President Robert Mugabe
deployed the Fifth Brigade to deal
with what he said was a dissident menace
after some liberation war
combatants refused to put down their arms at
independence in
1980.
The Fifth Brigade, formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1988, is accused
of
indiscriminate killings and torture of supporters of Mugabe’s main
political
rival at the time -- ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo.
Mzila
Ndlovu, the MDC MP for Bulilima, said: “I will take up the issue with
my
colleagues in the Organ on National Healing Sekai Holland [MDC-T] and
John
Nkomo [Zanu PF].
“The local community must say where and how they want
the reburials to
occur. But first I would wish that the Cabinet can reach an
agreement on a
national programme that can be put in place to deal with the
specific crimes
of the Fifth Brigade.
“We need to grow confidence in
the ordinary person, who really has this pain
in themselves that you can’t
be talking about reconciliation and healing
without a clear programme that
shows you want to heal the nation.
“We must allow our people to tell the
story as they saw and lived through
it, followed by reburials which should
come as a package of national
healing.”
Mzila Ndlovu said before
reburials occur, there was need for “a lot of
preparatory work” which would
include "deploying counsellors and
psychologists who can move in and help
communities cope with their trauma”.
He added: “Once the government
accepts reburial, we should begin a programme
of forensic exhumations in a
way that is different to the clumsy and
criminal way in which the Mt Darwin
mass graves were handled.
“Local communities must be allowed to decide
where and how people are
reburied – whether individually or whether they
want to create a single
shrine where all victims would be laid to
rest."
But Mzila Ndlovu admits it may be impossible to get Zanu PF
ministers and
Mugabe to sign up to a programme of mass exhumations and
reburials for
political reasons.
“We need to reach agreement to move
forward. I want to say the attitude of
Zanu PF people is shocking. The
attitudes are hostile, which shows a lack of
willingness to deal with
Gukurahundi,” he said.
Many of the ills experienced by the region
including company closures and
stalled development projects, he argued, had
their genesis in Gukurahundi.
“You cannot solve Matabeleland issues
without confronting and dealing with
Gukurahundi because that is the source
of all problems. It was not just mass
murder but a broad agenda which
included economic marginalisation and
cultural imperialism.”
The
minister commended the "brave" villagers who had spoken to him and given
insight into the mass graves in the presence of his police and Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) minders.
http://nehandaradio.com/
October 4, 2011 1:14 pm
By
Staff Reporter
A Zimbabwean nurse registered with the Nursing and
Midwifery Council in the
United Kingdom is at the centre of a political
storm after she and her
husband were named in the seizure of a white owned
farm in Chegutu.
Zanu PF militants like this are normally used to intimidate
white farmers
off their land
Zanu PF militants like this are normally
used to intimidate white farmers
off their land
Irene Zhanda who is
reported to have worked for a West London hospital for
over 5 years and her
husband Hudson Zhanda are behind an eviction notice to
Beatrice commercial
farmer Wayne Greaves and his 84 workers. The farmer was
told to leave the
property by the end of the week.
Wayne Greaves and his staff are in the
process of moving their belongings
off Enondo B farm, after the eviction
papers were served by a sheriff of the
court last Friday. That same court
sheriff warned that he would return this
week and anyone left on the
property would be arrested.
An ‘offer’ letter for the farm was first
served on Greaves in February. The
offer letter was in two names, Hudson
Zhanda and his wife Irene Zhanda. At
the time Greaves went to see the
Governor in Marondera and explained that he
had already given up two farms
2002, leaving him with Enondo B, where he was
allowed to continue
farming.
According to John Worsley-Worswick from Justice for Agriculture
(JAG), this
formal agreement was then set aside to allow the offer letter
holder,
Zhanda, to take over part of the land.
But this has since
changed with Zhanda dragging Greaves to court in order to
take over the
whole property. The case was heard and letters of support for
Greaves were
all submitted, including letters from the Governor, the
Provincial
Administrator, the War Veterans’ Association Chairman and the
chief lands
officer.
In the hearing, the Judge also suggested that a letter of
support would also
be needed from the Minister of Lands. A letter was then
duly written by
Minister Herbert Murerwa agreeing with the Governor’s
recommendation, which
was subsequently submitted.
But despite these
letters of support, the Supreme Court has now backed
Zhanda. JAG’s
Worsley-Worswick told SW Radio Africa that Supreme Court
Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku last week signed the eviction notices for
Greaves and his
staff.
“We are pretty horrified. This is the first time that a Judge has
signed
eviction notices individually for workers. Wayne’s concerns are all
about
the welfare of his workers, because what do they do now?”
Worsley-Worswick
said.
An appeal is now being voiced for support for
Greaves, his 84 farm labourers
and their extended families, a total of more
than 450 people, set to lose
everything. Nehanda Radio.com/ SW Radio Africa
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 October 2011
The leaders
of pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were on Tuesday
finally
granted bail, almost two weeks since their arrest in Bulawayo.
Jenni
Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu have been held at Mlondolozi Prison on
‘kidnapping’ and ‘theft’ charges since last month, after their arrest on
International Peace Day.
The two women have denied the charges, which
date back to earlier this year
when they had gone to retrieve goods stolen
from WOZA’s offices. The pair is
being accused of ‘kidnapping’ a woman and
holding her against her will for
several hours. This same woman had
willingly accompanied the WOZA leaders to
find the stolen
property.
The state meanwhile was said to be opposing bail on the grounds
that the two
have been “avoiding” arrest and hiding from the police, despite
both the
women living openly in Bulawayo.
An urgent application for
their bail was filed more than a week ago, but the
hearing was only held on
Tuesday morning. Bulawayo High Court Justice
Maphios Cheda granted the WOZA
leaders bail of US$200 each with conditions
not to interfere with any state
witnesses. They have not been asked to
surrender travel documents or even to
report to the police, and will appear
in court on Thursday for routine
remand.
WOZA said in a statement that it is clear “that the judge did not
take the
case against them very seriously, and we wonder why it took so long
for a
bail hearing date to be set down.”
“Was the state attempting
simply to punish the two by arresting and holding
them on flimsy charges,
knowing that in fact they have committed no crime?
If so, it would not be
the first time this has happened. WOZA is dismayed
that under the Government
of National Unity such a perversion of justice
continues, with elements of
the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the justice
system allowed to operate
untrammeled without the slightest concern for the
basic principles of law
and human rights,” WOZA said.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Naume Muza Tuesday 04 October
2011
KADOMA -- Zimbabwe’s government should give title to black
villagers
resettled on former white commercial farms newly to pave way for
banks to
lend to the new farmers against their properties, one of the
country’s
leading bankers has said.
TN Bank founder Tawanda Nyambirai
said only when farmers hold title that is
transferable to other parties
would they be able to use it as collateral to
secure loans from banks they
need to boost production.
The government has not given resettled farmers
title to land arguing that
doing so could see banks seizing land from
defaulting borrowers and later to
transferring it to the rich with capacity
to pay for it.
But Nyambirai, in a speech to mark the official opening of
the Kadoma
agricultural show here, failure to give title to farmers was a
major
obstacle to them securing funding from banks that are reluctant to
give
unsecured loans.
He said: “Our Government needs to encourage the
flow of capital as the
banking sector is strained to assist farmers due to
(an unclear) land tenure
system. Government must come up with a proper land
tenure system that gives
certainty on the part of the resettled farmers that
he is on the land today
but will not be kicked out tomorrow.
“The
Government must give the same assurance to the banking sector that the
land
is transferable to a second market in case there is default by farmers
who
could have taken financial loans.”
The new farmers have in the past
relied on free or heavily marked down seed,
fertilizer and other inputs from
the government. But analysts say banks and
other private funders need to
resume funding agriculture even a nascent
recovery in they sector is to be
sustainable.
The agriculture sector has this year shown encouraging signs
of rebounding
after a decade of decline blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s
chaotic and
often violent seizure of white-owned farmland for redistribution
to blacks.
Rising output of tobacco and cotton, two of Zimbabwe’s main
farm exports,
was driving recovery in the agricultural sector that was the
engine of the
economy before farm seizures began in 2000.
But
Zimbabwe will still need food assistance from international donors
because
although food production is on the rise it is still short of
requirements.
Analysts credit the recovery in agriculture -- and the
economy in
eneral -- to the 2009 formation of a coalition government
between Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Although the
unity government has been rocky it has managed to stabilise the
economy,
while its introduction of multiple foreign currencies in place of
the
worthless Zimbabwe dollar helped reinvigorate farmers and encourage them
to
return to their fields in anticipation of real earnings. -- ZimOnline
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
04/10/2011 00:00:00
by
AFP
WOMEN in Southern and Eastern Africa who use a popular hormonal
shot for
birth control are roughly twice as likely to become infected with
HIV or
pass on the AIDS virus to their partner, according to a study
published on
Tuesday.
The research was carried out among 3,790
heterosexual couples in Africa
where one partner had the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while the other
was uninfected.
The
findings, if confirmed, could have huge repercussions for policies on
contraception and HIV prevention.
The authors say it strengthens the
need for safe-sex messages, in which the
condom is promoted as a shield
against the AIDS pathogen.
The couples were monitored for an average of
18 months during which 167
individuals became infected, 73 of them women,
according to the paper
appearing in The Lancet Infectious
Diseases.
Transcribed into a benchmark of prevalence, HIV transmissions
were 6.61 per
100 person-years in couples where women used hormonal
contraception,
compared to 3.78 per 100 person-years among those who did
not.
Rates of infection from women to men were 2.61 per 100 person-years
among
women who used hormonal contraception, but 1.51 per 100 person-years
among
those who did not.
Most of the women who took hormone
contraceptives used an injectable,
long-lasting form such as the
Depo-Provera shot taken once every three
months. Only a small number used
the Pill; in this group, there was an
increase in HIV risk but not big
enough to be conclusive.
Over the last two decades, scientists have
launched several investigations
into whether hormonal contraceptive use
affects HIV risk, but the probes
have returned conflicting
results.
This is the first large-scale study, using an ambitious design,
to return
clear proof of the risk. It is also the first to highlight an
apparent risk
to men.
The investigators noted that women who took
injectable contraceptives had
"raised concentrations" of HIV genetic
material in their cervical
secretions.
If this is a mechanism for handing
on the virus to men, further work is
urgently needed to test the theory,
they said.
In practical terms, doctors should advise women of the
potentially increased
risk and warn them of "dual protection" with condoms,
says the probe, led by
Renee Heffron of the University of Washington in
Seattle.
The study was conducted between 2004 and 2010 in Botswana,
Kenya, Rwanda,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia as part of a trial
of a therapy
against the herpes simplex virus, which is common among people
with HIV.
In a commentary also carried by the journal, clinical scientist
Charles
Morrison spoke of a "tragic" dilemma.
Promoting hormonal
birth control in Africa could be contributing to the HIV
epidemic; yet
limiting this highly effective form of contraception would
also boost rates
of maternal death and sickness, underweight babies and
orphans.
"The
time to provide a more definitive answer to this critical public health
question is now," through a randomised trial of volunteers, he
wrote.
In 2009, more than 33 million people were living with HIV and 2.6
million
people became newly infected, according to figures released last
year by
UNAIDS.
http://www.voanews.com
03 October
2011
Controversy has already been stirred by former Harare Bishop
Nolbert
Kunonga, who has dismissed the visit as a planned attempt to "lobby
for
homosexuality and neo-colonialism."
Sandra Nyaira |
Washington
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, leader of
the world's
Anglicans, is expected this week in Harare on what he has called
a pastoral
visit but which many believe will be an attempt to end the rift
in Zimbabwe’s
Anglican church.
But controversy already has been
stirred by former Harare Bishop Nolbert
Kunonga, who has dismissed the visit
as a planned attempt to "lobby for
homosexuality and
neo-colonialism."
Kunonga was ex-communicated by the church but controls
its properties in the
diocese. He called Williams "a British civil servant”
named by Queen
Elizabeth and the British Prime Minister.
"He is
coming to represent neo-colonialism," said Kunonga. "He is coming to
lobby
for homosexuality and for him it is a timely move as we are making our
Constitution."
"He is on the wrong side of the scriptures and commits
blasphemy."
Williams’ spokeswoman, Marie Papworth, said that there will
be no respond to
Kunonga's charges. She said the Archbishop’s staff is
waiting for a response
from President Mugabe on his meeting
request.
Earlier this year Williams sent Mr. Mugabe an open letter urging
him to stop
persecution of Anglicans.
Williams said he was "deeply
distressed" to hear of bullying, harassment,
and persecution of Anglicans
supporting the official Church in the Diocese
of Harare and further afield.
Williams is the most senior public figure from
Britain to visit Zimbabwe in
a decade.
Kunonga spokesman Bishop Alfred Munyanyi said Williams has
already taken
sides, lining up with Anglican Bishop Chad Gandiya.
He
told VOA Studio 7 that the Archbishop should have extended an invitation
to
the Kunonga faction to attend his service in the City Sports Center on
Sunday or at least to a meeting for discussions.
Bishop Gandiya
dismissed those allegations saying Kunonga should not feel
slighted as it
was his decision to leave the church.
Christian Council general secretary
Solomon Zwana said his organisation has
sought a meeting with Williams to
advise him on how to succesfully engage
with various religious groups in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
4
October 2011
Two MDC-T officials from Chipinge district were on Sunday
evening waylaid
and assaulted by a ZANU PF mob while they were on their way
home from a
party rally in Chisuma, a party official said on
Tuesday.
The incident took place around 6pm opposite Garahwa secondary
school in
Chipinge South. Forget Hlomani, the secretary for youth and Nyasha
Madhodha,
the district secretary for Chipinge were walking back home from a
rally
addressed by MDC-T MP Meke Makuyana when they were stopped by a ZANU
PF mob
that had formed a human roadblock.
Army Maunde, the district
treasurer, told SW Radio Africa that the two were
assaulted with logs and
stones by a gang allegedly sponsored by the former
ZANU PF MP for the area,
Enock Porusingazi.
Maunde said the mob, which numbered about 20, beat up
the duo, took their
valuables and warned them of dire consequences if they
continued ‘selling
out the country.’
‘Hlomani and Madhodhi were
wearing party regalia and were easily
recognisable as MDC-T activists. So
when they got near Garahwa School, they
were stopped and interrogated for a
few minutes before the beatings started.
‘The two managed to run for dear
life and managed to seek refuge in a
classroom block. Luckily a teacher at
the school who witnessed the attack
locked the two inside to ensure the
pursuing attackers would not get to
them. In a desperate bid to force them
out, the group smashed all the
classroom windows, jumped in and plucked them
out through the smashed
windows,’ Maunde said.
By this time, a truck
allegedly belonging to Porusingazi had arrived at the
scene and bundled the
two inside before driving them to a police station. At
the police station,
one of the leaders of the mob then filed a complaint
against Hlomani and
Madhodhi, claiming that the MDC-T officials had
assaulted some of their
members.
‘We had to go to the police station to explain these were the
victims in
this case and yet they ended up under arrest. At first the police
officers
were very reluctant to release them, saying they didn’t want to get
involved
in political issues. But sanity prevailed eventually and the two
were
released on Monday,’ Maunde added.
On Tuesday, Hlomani and
Madhodha were taken to a private clinic in Mutare
where they were treated
and discharged. The MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland,
Pishai Muchauraya,
confirmed that a doctor had examined the two, prescribed
some medicines and
discharged them.
Political violence has resurfaced
in Chipinge South with war veterans and
other Zanu PF functionaries
assaulting MDC-T youth executive members
attending a party meeting at
Garahwa Business centre over the weekend.
PYD has it on good record that
war veterans and Zanu PF members went to
disturb a meeting organised by the
Youth Committee of the MDC beating up and
harassing locals attending the
meeting. This resulted in Nyasha Madhodha and
Forget Hlomani being arrested
and detained at Chisumbanje Police Station.
The two who are executive members
of the youth committee were thoroughly
assaulted and were rushed to St
Peters Mission Hospital where they were
refused medication. The police are
said to have followed up on them at the
hospital leading to their arrest and
detention at Chisumbanje Police
station.
The war veterans and Zanu PF
thugs led by one Micah Jerera are said to have
disturbed a peaceful meeting
and this is not the first time such an instance
has happened. War veterans
have since 2000 been known for taking the law
into their hands without
actions of the state security.
Platform for Youth Development Trust (PYD)
is disturbed by such reports and
appeals to state security agents to arrest
and charge all perpetrators of
violence regardless of political affiliation.
The incident has left
villagers scared as they have been reawakened to the
tragic memories of June
27 2008.
It is shocking that the injured victims
were the ones arrested instead of
the perpetrators. The two had to spend a
night at Chisumbanje police station
before they were released. The police
behaviour of arresting victims instead
of perpetrators is worrying and has
been associated with police
partisanship.
We are emphasising our call for
peace and call upon the merchants of
violence to desist from provoking the
otherwise calm environment.
Partisan tendencies of the Chisumbanje police
forces was also exposed in
Member of Parliament for Chipinge South Hon Meki
Makhuyana’s arrest ahead of
the known and identified perpetrators of
violence in 2008. Makhuyana had to
miss parliament sessions while locked at
Mandikise remand prison.
We therefore appeal to the Chisumbanje police
officers to be professional in
their conduct and ignore unethical
instructions. We demand the immediate
arrest of Micah Jerera and his Zanu PF
thugs for inciting political
violence. Jerera’s arrest is very critical as
it will go a long way in
restoring community and national confidence in the
police force.
PYD subscribes to an enactment of a law that gives stern
punishment to all
those who are found guilty of political
violence.
Inserted by
PYD Information and Communications Dept
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
4
October 2011
A major showdown is looming between the inclusive government
and the country’s
vocal civil society organisations, over a report to be
tabled at the United
Nations in Geneva which paints a rosy picture of the
human rights situation
in Zimbabwe.
The 15 page document, prepared by
the Ministry of Justice and to be
presented by Patrick Chinamasa, is starkly
different from what civil society
leaders will tell the UN.
One of
the most glaring inaccuracies contained in the report is on paragraph
82
which reads: ‘Government opened up communication platforms in the
broadcasting sector through the licensing of commercial radio broadcasting
services and satellite-based subscription services.’
No independent
commercial radio licences have ever been issued and there has
been no
movement at all on issuing community radio licences. It’s now five
months
since the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) finally called for
applications for two commercial radio licences. Just two days ago, BAZ
announced they would start holding public hearings on October 18th to
determine the suitability of applicants for the two licences. The authority
received an estimated 15 applications from aspiring broadcasters. On 18th
October only one of those will be looked at. If they look at one a month we
would be 15 months away from the process being completed.
The UN Human
Rights Council’s 12th session of the Universal Periodic Review
began in
Geneva on Monday. Zimbabwe will present it’s report next week
Monday. Over a
dozen leaders from civil society in Zimbabwe have descended
on Geneva to
‘set the record straight.’
Some of the groups represented are the
Zimbabwe Human rights Association,
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights and the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
forum.
Dewa Mavhinga, regional co-ordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition,
told SW Radio Africa from Geneva that they will challenge the
report which
he says falsely paints a picture of a country promoting and
upholding human
rights.
‘That is a sham report which is full of
untruths. It contains a lot of
shocking claims; we therefore seek to show
that the reality is a far cry
from what is contained in the government
report.
‘Through a number of advocacy events starting tomorrow
(Wednesday) we will
demonstrate the true state of human rights in Zimbabwe
and to show how the
country is not prepared to hold elections in 2012 as
Mugabe and ZANU PF
would want,’ Mavhinga said.
Civil society
organisations (CSO’s) have this year warned of worsening human
rights abuses
at the hands of state security agents following an escalation
of threats,
intimidation and harassment against people perceived to be
against Robert
Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.
The CSO’s have called on Mugabe and Prime
Minister Tsvangirai to fulfil
their promise to reform state institutions, in
a bid to end human rights
violations that have continued in the country
since the formation of the
unity government two and half years
ago.
Torture, harassment and politically motivated prosecutions of human
rights
defenders and perceived opponents have persisted, while villagers in
many
parts of the country have suffered ceaseless intimidation by supporters
of
the former ruling ZANU PF party.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
04 October 2011
The website
of the NewsDay newspaper has been down since Sunday with a
warning for
visitors to the site being generated by search engine giant
Google.
“Warning: Something's Not Right Here! www.newsday.co.zw contains malware.
Your
computer might catch a virus if you visit this
Newsday website on 4
October, 2011
site. Google has found that malicious software may be
installed onto your
computer if you proceed,” says a message behind a red
background was placed
by Google.
“If you've visited this site in the
past or you trust this site, it's
possible that it has just recently been
compromised by a hacker. You should
not proceed. Why not try again tomorrow
or go somewhere else? We have
already notified www.newsday.co.zw that we found malware on
the site,”
Google added.
SW Radio Africa spoke to NewsDay editor
Vincent Kahiya and he said: “There
was a security breach on our website on
Sunday and as a result of the breach
our website was blocked and because of
the blockade, it’s not visible to the
public. We could have brought it up
immediately but we have decided to
suspend it for about a week whilst we
sort out the security breach on the
website,” Kahiya said.
Kahiya
said they were working closely with Google to see “how best to
enhance
security on the site” adding, “it’s just a question of putting more
firewalls around” the site. Asked who might have hacked their site he said:
“I have had a lot of people ask me that question whether it was the security
establishment. It can be them; it can be anyone else who can get into our
system.”
“So what is important is making sure that our system is
secure and if it’s
secured then we minimize the risk of people breaching the
wall that protects
our core,” Kahiya added.
Meanwhile the editor
of the Daily News, Stanley Gama, told SW Radio Africa
that the paper’s
website had been down for over a month and only went back
online on Tuesday
this week because they are carrying out an upgrade and
modernizing the site.
He said they ran adverts in the paper informing
readers of the site
upgrade.
Gama said the old site is back up and the new site would be launched
soon.
“We are in the process of updating the website and making further
developments and modernising in line with modern websites around the world.
So in the next few weeks our readers will be able to open up new pages on
our website, brand new, modern and state of the art. We will be able to
communicate directly with our readers and it will be a live website,” Gama
told SW Radio Africa.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
03/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THOUSANDS of Zimbabweans face deportation from South Africa by
Christmas.
South Africa’s Home Affairs department has notified Zimbabwean
authorities
that it is resuming the removal of illegal immigrants after
lifting a
special moratorium which has been in place since May
2009.
South Africa had given Zimbabwean immigrants, estimated in the
millions, a
December 31, 2010, deadline to regularise their stay but just
275,762
submitted work permit applications which were decided by July
31.
Now Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour has signalled it is resuming
removals by
sending a circular to immigration authorities at
Beitbridge.
Tamari Shadaya, the Beitbridge Assistant Regional Immigration
Officer, said
on Monday: "We received a memo from the South African Home
Affairs
Department on Thursday last week notifying us of their plans to
deport
undocumented Zimbabweans.
“According to the document, the
deportations will commence with immediate
effect, but we have yet to receive
any repatriates from that country between
Thursday and now."
Shadaya
said she believed a conversation had taken place between South
Africa’s Home
Affairs Minister Nkosazana Zuma and her Zimbabwean
counterparts Theresa
Makone and Kembo Mohadi warning them about the
impending
action.
Shadaya told the Herald: “The deportations will target all
undocumented
Zimbabweans staying in that country illegally and those border
jumpers
intercepted on their way to that country."
Deportees will be
temporarily housed at the International Organisation for
Migration reception
centre in Beitbridge.
The centre offers overnight accommodation and
transport to deportees. It
accommodates an average of 600 people per day
both adults and children.
An estimated two million Zimbabweans have
entered South Africa over the last
two decades to escape economic hardship.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 October
2011
A spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs on
Tuesday said
he was “unaware” of a reported directive that deportations of
Zimbabwean
nationals have resumed “with immediate affect.”
According
to reports in the state media South Africa's Home Affairs
Department told
its Zimbabwean counterparts last Thursday that deportations
of undocumented
Zimbabweans will resume. The Herald newspaper quoted
Beitbridge assistant
regional Immigration Officer Tamari Shadaya as saying
that: “We received a
memo from the South African Home Affairs Department on
Thursday last week
notifying us of their plans to deport undocumented
Zimbabweans.”
Shadaya also reportedly said that “deportations will
commence with immediate
effect, though we are yet to receive any repatriates
from that country.” She
also said that A meeting between Zimbabwean Home
Affairs officials and South
Africa was set to get underway on
Monday.
But South Africa’s Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told
SW Radio
Africa on Tuesday that “we are not aware of such a communication.”
He
declined to comment further.
South Africa is in the process of
finalising the Zimbabwe Documentation
Project, launched last year to
regularise the stay of some of the hundreds
of thousands of Zimbabweans
living in the country. About 275 000
applications for permits were received
and South Africa has insisted it will
lift a moratorium on Zim deportations
when the process is complete.
More than a million Zimbabweans are said to
be in the country, meaning a
majority of nationals now face deportation.
Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum told SW Radio Africa on
Tuesday that deportations are a bad
idea, saying “the political situation
(in Zimbabwe) has not yet changed
enough to accommodate forced
returns.”
Shumba also explained that any directive regarding deportations
is meant to
come from South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, according to
officials who
have dealt with the civil society stakeholders of the
Documentation process.
“But we are quite skeptical. If this announcement
has happened, it flies in
the face of normal procedure and protocol, and is
a violation of UN human
rights standards,” Shumba said.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw
(Rwanda)
By James
Karuhanga
Senior African officers, currently enrolled at the Zambian
Defence Services
Command and Staff College are in the country for a
week-long study tour.
The 16 officers from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and
Malawi, are in the
country as part of their regional study tour to enhance
their strategic
military awareness.
They will explore various
facilities including military establishments,
economic infrastructure,
culture and heritage as well as social and welfare
amenities.
Yesterday, they visited the Gisozi Genocide Memorial
centre where they paid
tribute to the victims of 1994 Genocide against
Tutsi, before meeting the
Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. Gen. Charles
Kayonga.
Col. Justine Pule Myenya, the head of the delegation, told
reporters that
Rwanda was selected because “there are a lot of developments
to learn from,
in terms of economic development and social structures
present.”
“Rwanda is quite a progressive country. As brothers and sisters
of one
continent, we should be sharing ideas from time to time,” Myenya
said.
At the RDF Headquarters, they listened to presentations on the
RDF’s major
engagements.
Lt. Col. Russel Chisenga, a staff officer of
the Zambian air force, noted
that after a presentation on the Horizon
Group’s works, he realised that “in
Zambia we have similar industries but we
haven’t reached the level Rwanda
has reached.”
“The RDF is so more
involved in country service than the traditional
military role of protecting
the country.” Chisenga said.
The team was scheduled to visit and explore
pre-deployment training for
Peace Support Operation at Gako.
They
will also visit other government ministries, industries such as
Inyange,
Utexrwa, as well as make a tour of the methane extraction plant in
Lake
Kivu.
Several Rwandan military students are studying in the famed Zambian
Defense
Services Command and Staff College.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
TRANSPORT Minister Nicholas Goche is expected to make a key
statement this
week on the fate of an unpopular government plan to ban
imports of second
hand vehicles older than five years.
Goche told the ZBC
last night that “consultations are still in progress”
over the regulations
which take effect on November 1.
Sources in the Transport Ministry
familiar with the consultations told New
Zimbabwe.com Goche’s announcement
was likely on Wednesday.
The consultations, according to the sources, have
shown an overwhelming
majority of Zimbabweans oppose the
policy.
Goche has told cabinet colleagues he may be forced to abandon the
policy,
which is the brainchild of Francis Nhema’s Environment
Ministry.
Nhema argued in advance of the policy announcement that old
vehicles posed a
danger to the environment with higher carbon
emissions.
But opponents of the policy say it would make cars an unaffordable
luxury to
a burgeoning middle class.
Munyaradzi Kashambe, a Harare
car dealer, said Zimbabwe’s economy was not
performing well enough to
justify the ban.
“These are the only cars affordable to the majority of
Zimbabweans and
imposing a ban on such vehicles is great injustice to low
income earners,”
he said.
Zimbabweans have been involved in a mad
dash to beat the deadline with an
average 450 imported vehicles being
cleared daily by the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (ZIMRA).
ZIMRA officials
have warned nearly £15 million generated monthly from
vehicle import duty
would be lost to the economy.
FROM THE
ZIMBABWE VIGIL
To Vigil
Supporters
1.
We are marking the
9th anniversary of the Vigil this Saturday (8th October 2011). As we
say every year this is not a celebration but a time for reflection about what we
are doing and how to go forward. Please join us and contribute your ideas for
the way forward.
2.
Our supporter Shamiso
Kofi has now has onward directions from Kenya to Zimbabwe and is still booked
for forced removal tomorrow night (04/10) on Kenyan Airways. For what you can do
to help please check: http://www.freemovement.org.uk/Media7-2011/ShamisoKofi.html
and http://shamiso.notlong.com.
Zimbabwe Vigil
Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
http://www.insiderzim.com
Tuesday, 04 October 2011
15:22
Emmerson Mnangagwa, for long considered one of President Robert
Mugabe’s
potential successors, was likely to be more brutal than Mugabe if
he became
president, a political analyst Brian Raftopoulos, told United
States embassy
officials in December 2000.
Mnangagwa, whose political
star had been waning since losing his Kwekwe seat
to Blessing Chebundo of
the Movement for Democratic Change, was reported to
have scored a major coup
at the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic
Front extra-ordinary
congress in December 2000 when he was catapulted to
number four in the party
as secretary for administration.
According to a diplomatic cable
entitled: New Zimbabwe politburo strengthens
Mnangagwa's bid to succeed
Mugabe, the new politburo not only consolidated
Mugabe’s position in
ZANU-PF, it also appeared to be putting Mnangagwa near
the apex of party
power.
“If Mugabe is indeed thinking of stepping down a year or two after
winning
one more term, as a number of interlocutors have told us, now would
be the
time to begin preparing a successor,” the cable
says.
“Mnangagwa is a long-time and close ally of Mugabe and has the full
confidence of the president. The Speaker's feared reputation as an
"enforcer" would serve Mugabe's desire to hold ZANU-PF together and defeat
the MDC using any means necessary.”
Mnangagwa had replaced Didymus
Mutasa as secretary for administration.
http://www.kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=6937
It has now become the
norm of the day that if you want a service or a
product and you don’t know
exactly where to get it from, someone quickly
chips in and tell you that
he/she can help you – for a fee of course. The
fee can be high especially if
the service or product you are looking for is
scarce. One can earn a living
in Zimbabwe by charging people just to show
them where to get a service or a
product fast without enduring long queues.
I came across some of these
people at Beitbridge border post recently when I
wanted to clear some
stuff. I met these well dressed young men whom you can
mistakenly think are
the real Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) officers
because of the way they
entice you with the knowledge they have of clearing
goods at the border
post.
These people have so many names. The most popular ones are
“clearing agent”,
“runner” “go-between” or “middlemen”. So many names for
this unofficialised
profession hey! From my own under understanding the
service, which was being
sold, was to speed up the paper work involved in
clearing goods. After
telling me about their jobs, and in order to convince
me, I was even taken
to the help desk where to my surprise the officer
commanding the desk
actually recognised the guys. After rejecting the offer
for the service I
was told to be prepared for long waits, delays and high
import duty charges,
which made me wonder how possible was it for me to get
low import duty
charges from ordinary guys like these. The fact that these
people operate
in the vicinity of the ZIMRA officials’ makes one wonder
whether the
services being offered by these unscrupulous people is now
official.
Share
This entry was posted on October 4th, 2011 at 11:11 am
by Lenard Kamwendo
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=36800
By Obert Gutu
Published: October 4,
2011
As a New African, I refuse to be poor. As a New African, I
refuse to be
misgoverned. As a New African, I totally refuse to be
suffocated by the
petty politics of malice, hatred,
disillusionment,chicanery and corruption.
I see hope in Africa. I have a
dream for Africa.
I dream of an Africa that is wholly liberated and thus,
free from tyranny,
corruption and greed. I dream of an Africa that is at
peace with herself.I
dream of an Africa that is politically and economically
developed. I dream
of an Africa that is free from hunger and disease. An
Africa that will take
its rightfull place amongst other continents as a
continent of hope and joy
and not a continent ravaged by poverty, war and
disease. I have a dream for
Africa.
As a Pan-Africanist and
Zimbabwean patriot to the bare bones,I am not about
to give up on
Africa.Where others might see hopelessness, despair and
desolution,I have
chosen to see hope and a bright future ahead of us. Whilst
I pay tribute to
the founding fathers and mothers of African nationalism, I
am also quick to
point out their shortcomings and acknowledge that just like
any other human
being made of flesh and blood, the pioneers of African
nationalism were not
and indeed, could not have been perfect. Under very
difficult circumstances
presented by
a ruthless and racist colonial system,the pioneers of African
nationalism
were brave enough to confront the mean and ruthless colonial
machine and
demand self-governance and independence for the hitherto
oppressed African
people. For that reason,I will forever be grateful to the
founding fathers
of African nationalism; the likes of Kwame Krumah, Julius
Nyerere, Jomo
Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Gamel Abdel Nassar and many others.
I have a dream
for Africa.
I have no kind words for African
nationalists who eventually mutated into
tin pot dictators and tyrants. For
that was not the founding vision of
African nationalism and Pan –
Africanism.Oppression is oppression whether it
is practised by a white man
or a black man. No amount of sugar coating and
propaganda can justify
oppression and dictatorship. Essentially,a
dictatorship thrives on fear of
the people.A dictatorship is
characteristically fearful of the people that
it purports to represent. A
dictatorship is morbidly inward-looking and
therefore, fearfully
insecure.Once in a while a dictatorship will devour its
own children.
Indeed, a dictatorship has this rather uncanny and bizarre
tendency to
cannibalise its own. I have a dream for Africa.
With a
population of 1,1 billion people and blessed with every natural
resource
that one can think of,Africa has absolutely no reason to be poor.
More than
half a century after the first pillars of colonialism were
dismantled in
such African countries such as Ghana and Senegal, Africa has
no excuse to
continue to blame the erstwhile colonisers for the prevailing
poverty and
rampant corruption that generally defines contemporary Africa.In
1957, Ghana
‘s Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) was higher than the GDP of
Singapore and
Hong Kong. But today, we all know that both Singapore and Hong
Kong, former
colonies themselves, have managed to transform themselves into
economic
tigers with sophisticated diversified economies and very high
living
standards for their citizens. Ghana remains a typical developing
economy
with a rudimentary economic infrastructure and endemic poverty
amongst the
generality of its people. The same applies for Senegal, Nigeria,
Cameroon
and the majority of African countries that attained independence
more than
forty (40) years ago. Where did Africa get it wrong? Is Africa a
cursed
continent? Is Africa destined to be poor, misgoverned and corrupt? I
have a
dream for Africa.
First of all, Africa has to look at herself hard in the
mirror; introspect
and try to diagonise why she has failed to keep pace with
the other
continents. Why has Africa allowed the former colonisers and
oppressors to
ride roughshod over her own interests? Why has Africa
virtually abdicated
from its responsibility of responsible leadership and
good governance? Why
has Africa allowed Somalia to be a lawless country? Why
has some African
dictators and like-minded tyrants run down their countries
and privatised
all their countries’s wealth? Africa has to wake up and smell
the coffee.
Whether Aftica looks East or West is neither here nor there.
There is
so-called market-driven capitalism in the West and indeed, there is
also
State-driven capitalism in the East; particularly in China. Capitalism
is
capitalism whether it has a Western flavour or an Eastern flavour. Africa
should neither look West or East. Africa should look everywhere. America is
Africa essentially to push its own hegemonistic agenda; and so is China.
There is no free lunch for Africans.I have a dream for Africa.
As
Africans, we are own liberators.Noone is going to be ” friends” with
Africa
just for the sake of it.This world is fast globalising and if we are
not
careful, Africa will again be reduced and condemned into a hunting
ground
for the world’s superpowers as they compete to grab our natural
resources
and in the process,to condemn Africa into a perpetual state of
penury,
poverty, ignorance and disease. We should clean our systems of
governance
and ensure that the scourge of corruption, particularly in the
public
sector,is eliminated. Africa has a sizeable number of the world’s
billionaires but the averaghe African leaves on less than a dollar a
day.Most African politicians take public service as essentially an exercise
in self-enrichment and personal aggrindisement. This is wrong. Do not get
into politics in order to get rich; rather, get into politics in order to
play a meaningfull role in designing and implementing systems of good
governance for the benefit of the generality of the people. I do not trust
someone who gets into politics poor as a church mouse and in no time,
becomes s rich as Warren Buffett! I have a dream for Africa.
My
mission in politics is to contirbute, in my own small but meaningfull
way,to
the development of my country Zimbabwe and my continent Africa.I want
nothing less and nothing more. I feel that I have a generational challenge
to do something for my motherland. I know that my time to go back to Negona
Chambers to practise law on a full-time basis shall come as my generation
gives slowly gives way to the younger generations that came after us.We
should learn, as Africans, to pass the baton from one generation to the
other. I will call this system generational transformation and
regeneration.
Africa is too rich to be poor. I have a dream for
Africa.
Written by: Obert Gutu
Obert Gutu is the Senator for
Chisipite in Harare and also the Deputy
Minister of Justice & Legal
Affairs.He is the MDC Harare provincial
spokesperson and also the Goodwill
Ambassador for Justice for the
Africa Heritage Society.