What a boost to arrive at
Zimbabwe House to find more than a dozen people
waiting to help set up the
Vigil. They included the fabulous four
Zimbabwean lady Beatles from
Liverpool, who helped make our music as
powerful as it has ever been.
Unlike yesterday's demonstration when we were
deluged by rain, we had our
trusty tarpaulin with us so the weather was
benign. We were grateful that
important trade union leaders were prepared
to be drenched for our cause.
As their leaflet said "Let's stand in
solidarity with the ZCTU and the
people of Zimbabwe in their hour of need".
Two nieces of Lovemore Matombo,
the ZCTU President, were with us and said
they had spoken to their uncle,
who was in a lot of pain.
We were encouraged by the Reverend Nicholas
Mkaronda, who is co-ordinator of
the Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe based in
South Africa. He addressed the
Zimbabwe forum on Monday and said how much
the Vigil is appreciated by
people back home. Nicholas gave graphic details
of the brutality inflicted
on the brave activists on the infamous
Wednesday. We were inspired by his
account of how brave people had been and
were grateful that this Anglican
priest found the time to be with
us.
One of our Vigil supporters attended a service at Rochester Cathedral
where
there was a Zimbabwean choir. She reported that the Cathedral has
frozen
its relationship with the Anglican diocese of Harare because of the
lunacy
of the Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, who recently cancelled all
church
services so that everyone could pray to him.
We were
approached by a Nigerian passer-by who was initially very
suspicious. But
when he learnt what we were about, he gave generously to
support our
efforts. It was also heartening to hear when one of our
supporters managed
to phone an ill lady in the rural areas in Zimibabwe to
whom she had sent
money for medical treatment. The lady was overwhelmed to
hear the sound of
the Vigil going on.
Our Free-Zim Youth tell us they had a long dialogue
with the South African
High Commission on Friday - a 90 minute meeting
before Friday's
demonstration. They said they were very courteously
received and another
meeting has been arranged, but they still plan to go
ahead with their
demonstration outside the High Commission on Saturday, 14th
October at 1 pm
ahead of the commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the
Vigil.
One of our strongest Vigil supporters, Siphewe Masora, organised a
Vigil in
Middlesbrough last Saturday. She reports that about 30 people
attended from
Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Stockton in the north of
England. They
received a lot of publicity in the local media. They plan to
hold their
next Vigil on 28th October. They join Bristol in our Vigil
family. We are
sending two representatives to Germany, where Zimbabweans
there have asked
for our help in setting up a Vigil.
Grateful thanks
to Chipo for taking charge of the sale of the Vigil t-shirts
and for all her
help at the Vigil table today. She was at the forefront of
our efforts to
promote the Amnesty letter writing campaign - see link:
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/amnesty150906.htm.
The text of our
letter, which you are welcome to use, follows:
"I am
seriously concerned at reports of the brutal assault and ill-treatment
of
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions members following their attempt to
peacefully protest for improved living standards and pay for workers. The
police authorities must investigate these reports and bring to justice those
responsible. I am also alarmed that members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(including babies and pregnant women) have suffered prolonged detention. I
call on the authorities to ensure that anyone detained has access to
lawyers, food and medical care and anyone still detained for engaging or
attempting to engage in peaceful protest should be immediately released.
Human rights defenders have a right to carry out their legitimate activities
without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN
Declaration on Human Rights. The eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe watching
in horror at the brutal repression of peaceful protest."
For this
week's Vigil pictures:
http://uk.msnusers.com/ZimbabweVigil/shoebox.msnw.
FOR
THE RECORD: 62 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY: Monday, 25th
September, 7.30 pm: Zimbabwe Forum. The Forum
this week will focus on
campaigns: the multi-signatory campaign, the Vigil
4th anniversary plans
including presentation of our petition. There will be
an update on the
demos and arrests in Zimbabwe and the TUC demo outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy
last week. Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John
Adam Street,
London WC2 (cross the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go down
a passageway
to John Adam Street, turn right and you will see the pub).
Vigil
co-ordinator
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 by the current regime 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
Zim Standard
By
our staff
THE European Union has called on the government
to launch a
"full investigation" into the brutal attacks in police cells on
leaders of
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions after their attempt to
petition
government on the plight of workers.
In a
statement from its headquarters in Brussels, the EU called
on the government
"to stop intimidation and assaults and to respect human
rights and
fundamental freedoms of its citizens".
The statement demanded
that, after the investigation, the
government "bring those responsible to
justice".
The government has said it is "investigating" the
violence
against the ZCTU leaders, who suffered serious
injuries.
The EU statement said Zimbabwe had "signed and
ratified the
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which they are in
breach of
with these actions".
Meanwhile, Swedish
ambassador Sten Rylander has denounced the
assaults as "a flagrant abuse of
human rights".
In a statement endorsed by other EU
ambassadors based in Harare,
Rylander said: "The brutal assault on Mr
Chibebe and other ZCTU leaders on
13 September is a flagrant violation of
basic human rights. Furthermore, it
is unfitting in an era when we are
supposed to build bridges and find ways
and means to bring back Zimbabwe to
normal.
"Like so many other international partners, we urge
the
Government of Zimbabwe to stop the harassment of the opposition and
civil
society groups and to move towards a true national dialogue and
sustainable
reforms based on national consensus."
Ambassadors
from Austria, the United States, Spain, Switzerland,
Poland, Norway, Canada,
Britain, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria and the
Netherlands associated
themselves with the statement.
In another development,
relations between the government and the
United States have hit a new record
low, after Harare expelled American
trade unionists on
Friday.
Washington accused President Robert Mugabe of trying
to prevent
the outside world from witnessing his
brutality.
While the expulsion triggered a strong reaction
from the US, the
six-member delegation from the US Coalition of Black Trade
Unionists (CBTU)
on arrival in South Africa, vowed to mobilise the Congress
of South African
Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the international labour movement
against Mugabe's
government.
The CBTU delegation, led by
William Lucy, arrived at Harare
International Airport from South Africa for
a visit scheduled months ago but
was forced to return to Johannesburg. No
explanation was given for refusal
of entry.
An
Immigration officer told the delegation he was not authorised
to give an
explanation and referred them to the Chief Immigration officer,
Elasto
Mugwadi.
Mugwadi said: "I was away attending a funeral.
Please contact
minister Mangwana. He has already commented on
it."
Acting minister of information, Paul Munyaradzi
Mangwana,
defended the deportations, saying: "As a country, we have the
right to admit
or bar certain visitors, and I am sure the immigration
authorities looked
after our national interest in coming to that
decision."
While no explanation was offered, the link could
be that on
Monday representatives of the CBTU picketed the Zimbabwe Embassy
in
Washington, protesting the brutal attack against members of the
ZCTU.
Deploring the government's capacity to score own goals,
US
Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell said on Friday: "We strongly
condemn the Government of Zimbabwe's decision today to deny entry to a
delegation from the United States Coalition of Black Trade
Unionists."
Ambassador Dell said the CBTU delegation had
informed the
government of its intended visit, received visas, and scheduled
meetings
with a variety of government, labour and civil society groups in
the
country.
He said the delegation was denied entry at
the last moment by
the government, which claimed the visit was
"unacceptable".
Ambassador Dell said: "Clearly, the Zimbabwe
government's
decision not to honour the delegation's visas is the result of
the events of
13 September, when security forces brutally suppressed planned
peaceful
demonstrations by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions.
"This transparent attempt to deflect international
attention
from the vicious beatings is itself an example of the Zimbabwean
government's
repression and of its fear of the truth. President Mugabe's
stature among
African-Americans is eroding. There is increasing
acknowledgement that a man
who was regarded as a liberator of his people is
an oppressor."
The expulsion comes against the background of
efforts next month
by the American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ)
to drum up support
for the country as an attractive investment destination.
The US Ambassador
said the deportation, taking place as it is on the eve of
the ABAZ
conference, demonstrated "how uphill the battle to rectify the
economy is".
Ambassador Dell told The Standard that the US
unionists would
have seen the results of the beatings of ZCTU secretary
general Wellington
Chibebe and his president and Lovemore Matombo while in
police custody.
He said: "The CBTU delegation was guilty of
nothing. The regime
fears the truth. This (expulsion), of course, will
backfire. The US
unionists are fully aware of the violations of the regime.
They will carry
their message to the US labour movement and the
international labour
movement."
Yesterday Matombo, one of
the victims of the recent police
brutality, castigated the government for
deporting the US trade unionists.
"It was uncalled for
because these were mere trade unionists,
who did not want to cause any
political discomfort. The Zimbabwe government
is destroying its own image,"
Matombo said.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
LESS than two weeks after State
security agents suppressed
planned workers' demonstrations across the
country, trade unionists,
opposition activists and civic society
organisations are back at their
drawing board.
They are
looking for a more effective strategy to oblige
President Robert Mugabe to
address the current economic and political
crises.
Some
of the organisers of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU)
demonstrations are calling for a new strategy. They say the
demonstrations
have failed to move Mugabe and cannot be relied upon to
produce the desired
results.
But others still believe the protests are important,
although
they concede they lack the critical mass that would make it
well-nigh
impossible for security agents to contain them.
Except for the 1997 ZCTU stay-away and the spontaneous food
riots that
followed the stay-away, causing widespread destruction in Harare,
Bulawayo
and other urban centres, subsequent demonstrations have fizzled out
after
being easily thwarted by the uniformed forces.
A joint police
and army operation had a hard time crushing the
food protests because of the
huge numbers of people involved.
But last week when the ZCTU
called another demonstration, the
regime had prepared well in advance for
it. A massive security operation was
mounted which scared away would- be
marchers in the cities. The police
arrested the organisers and beat them up
severely.
Wellington Chibebe, the ZCTU secretary-general, is
still
recovering at a private hospital, nearly two weeks after the
beating.
The union's president, Lovemore Matombo, recovering
from
injuries inflicted on him by the police, has insisted defiantly the
demonstrations will continue.
He admitted the nature and
form of the protests had to be
re-strategised for them to be more
effective.
"Demonstrations will still continue but behind the
scenes we are
looking for a strategy that would give the old man (Mugabe)
the knock-out
punch," Matombo said.
University of
Zimbabwe political scientist, John Makumbe,
believes demonstrations alone
will not shake the regime.
He said what was needed were
prolonged workers' stay-aways to
further cripple the ailing economy,
followed by massive and co-ordinated
countrywide
demonstrations.
"We need to cripple the economy by organising
three or four
stay-aways. After that, all forces of democratic change, the
National
Constitutional Assembly, ZCTU, opposition parties and churches
would form a
broad alliance that would jointly call for mass protests,"
Makumbe said.
But the economy is already on its knees. The
country is
grappling with an economic meltdown characterised by the world's
highest
inflation of 1 204.6%, about 80% jobless, shortages of foreign
currency,
food, fuel and electricity - the list seems
endless.
Makumbe said Mugabe would go down fighting. "People
should know
that this freedom comes with murder, rape and torture. If we are
not willing
to pay the price of freedom, then we must not think of being
free."
However, the man who has probably organised more
street protests
against the government than anyone else thinks there is no
need to change
strategy. The NCA chairman, Lovemore Madhuku, said many
people had to be
mobilised, including those in the rural areas, where
poverty is more
pronounced than in the urban areas, if the demonstrations
were to be
succeed.
"The strategy is still fine but what
we need is to mobilise more
people, thousands of people and that is quite
possible. All along, what has
been lacking is mobilisation," Madhuku
said.
He has in past met the same fate as the ZCTU
leaders.
He was brutally assaulted and left for dead at a
garbage
dumpsite near the National Sports Stadium by the police early in
2004.
Madhuku said the time was ripe for successful mass
protests
because of the rising poverty of the people.
"If
the NCA can mobilize 1 000 people in Harare, don't you think
the MDC can
bring ten times that number? What about the ZCTU and the
churches? We need
to do more mobilization," said Madhuku.
Over the past two
months, the Combined Harare Residents'
Association (Chra) has staged "small
guerrilla-tactics demonstrations"
against the government-appointed
commission running the city over worsening
service delivery in the
suburbs.
Chra spokesperson, Precious Shumba, said previous
demonstrations
failed because the planners alerted the security forces by
announcing their
intentions in the media.
"People don't
need to go on top of the mountain to announce
their intentions. They
(authorities) should be caught unawares - that is why
our protests have been
successful," Shumba said.
The MDC anti-Senate faction, after
threatening massive winter
protests since the beginning of this year, said
they are "perfecting their
strategy" of tackling the
government.
Their spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said: "Any
democratic
struggle is a process and at every stage we learn a new lesson
and perfect
it as we go along. We have not moved mountains but our
(previous) protests
have achieved quite a lot."
Zim Standard
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO
- Four children in Matabeleland North have missed
school for the past month
since they were severely beaten up by detectives
on allegations of
withholding information concerning suspected criminals,
The Standard has
been told.
A close relative said they came from Ndengwende
Village, in
Matabeleland North, and are from one extended
family.
They were identified as Promise Nkoma (10),
Honourlady Mpala
(14), Siphosenkosi Ngwenya (15) and Chasisani Ncube
(18).
They are pupils at Makhovula Primary School and
Mabhikwa
Secondary School in Ndengwende Village in Lupane
district.
They all suffered serious injuries as a result of
the assault.
The children were accused of withholding
information on the
whereabouts of their brothers, Nkosenkile Ncube and
Khumbulani Tshabalala,
who are on the police wanted list on allegations of
theft of fuel.
The relative, who requested anonymity for fear
of victimisation,
said Siphosenkosi, a student at Mabhikwa Secondary School,
had her eardrum
ruptured during the beatings and is now hard of
hearing.
He said the detectives, identified only as Charamba,
Gutza and
Munyaradzi, arrived in Ndengwende Village looking for Ncube and
Tshabalala.
They were furious when the students professed
ignorance of the
whereabouts of their brothers and started beating them,
accusing them of
lying, he said.
No comment could be
obtained from the school authorities.
The relative said
although a formal report has been made at
Lupane Police Station, no action
had been taken against the detectives, who
continue to roam the area
freely.
The case number is 3538/08/06.
Ncube and Tshabalala were on the police wanted list for
allegedly stealing
fuel from a parked car.
The two were acquitted by
Matabeleland North Provincial
magistrate Edwin Marecho last Friday after the
State failed to prove its
case.
Matabeleland North police
spokesperson, Assistant Inspector
Augustine Zimbile, confirmed that three
investigating officers beat school
children after they failed to reveal the
whereabouts of two suspects.
"We have such a case in Lupane
and the issue is under
investigation. They will (officers) appear in court
as soon as the
investigations are over."
Zim Standard
BY
VALENTINE MAPONGA
THOUSANDS of defendants are effectively
serving jail terms in
remand prisons across the country as the Zimbabwe
Prison Services (ZPS)
cannot transport them to the courts because of an
acute fuel shortage.
Lawyers and court officials told The Standard this
compromised the
administration of justice in Zimbabwe.
Human rights lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe said some of the accused had
been stuck
in prison for more than three months. He noted this was a clear
violation of
their human rights.
"Sections 13 and 18 of the Constitution
guarantees the right to
a fair trial within a reasonable time frame," said
Mugabe. "They are still
accused persons but are effectively serving jail
terms without being
convicted," said Mugabe.
He called on
magistrates to set up makeshift courts at the
remand
prisons.
"According to the Magistrates' Court Act and the
High Court Act,
a court can sit anywhere. So the magistrates themselves may
have to go to
the prisons if the accused are to be guaranteed the right to a
fair trial,"
said Mugabe.
An official at the Harare
Magistrates' Court confirmed Harare
Remand Prison and Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison were struggling to bring
suspects to court as a result of
the fuel shortage.
"This is the third week now and the
prisoners are not coming.
There is no fuel. Prisoners have to be remanded in
absentia," said the
official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Zim Standard
By Our
staff
GIDEON Gono's $45 million (revalued) Donnington
Farm crop was
reduced to ashes - not by saboteurs angered by his monetary
measures, as the
official media claimed at the time, but by careless
villagers having a
smoke.
Villagers trying to light their
home-made cigarettes caused the
inferno, a Norton court was told last week.
This disclosure makes absolute
nonsense of the official version - that the
assailants were desperate to
force the governor of the Reserve Bank to
abandon his controversial
Operation Sunrise.
In the
aftermath of that declaration, the security around Gono
was beefed up and
his status went up a notch.
Before the alleged attack on the
farm, it was reported that an
armed gang had visited Gono's flower project,
located about 20km from
Harare, to ask about his residential
address.
The conspiracy theory linked the two events to a
concerted,
nefarious attempt to force Gono to reverse his campaign to
harvest old
bearer cheques.
But in what could embarrass
both Gono and the authorities, The
Standard established that the "arson" was
the result of an accident.
A Norton magistrate recently fined
John Mutorera (46) and
Ishmael Mudhara (26) from Mhondoro Ngezi, a paltry
$400 each. The men had
pleaded guilty to contravening section 8 of the
Forestry Act chapter 19:05.
Norton magistrate Never Diza
sentenced them to the fine or an
alternative 20 days'
imprisonment.
On 4 August at around nine in the morning,
Mutorera and Mudhara
were driving two cows they had bought from Maple Farm
to Glenside Farm in
Norton.
The two, both smokers, were
carrying live coals on dried cow
dung to light their home-made
cigarettes.
When they reached Donnington Farm, Mutorera lit a
cigarette and
dropped live ash on dry grass, which immediately caught
fire.
The fire immediately spread and burned the grazing
grass before
spreading to the maize fields.
An AREX
officer summoned to the scene "estimated the total crop
and grazing area
damage to be valued at $47 936 700", the court papers said.
Zim Standard
BY BERTHA SHOKO
A GROWING number
of HIV and Aids activists say they are losing
confidence in the National
Aids Council (NAC)'s ability to change the face
of the pandemic in Zimbabwe
and are worried that aid coming from
international funding organisations may
be misused.
Among those said to be frustrated are some NAC
board numbers.
Inside sources say following the controversy
raised by the
deputy minister of health and child welfare, Edwin Muguti
recently over NAC's
alleged misuse of funds, a number of networks of people
living with HIV and
Aids in Zimbabwe are demanding that the organisation
respond publicly to the
allegations.
They also want NAC
to account to the nation how it utilises the
National Aids Trust Fund
(NATF), also known as the Aids Levy, before it can
be trusted again to
handle other funds, especially those coming from outside
the
country.
Obviously angered by the organisation's seemingly
misplaced
priorities, Muguti recently criticised the NAC for spending money
on
workshops at expensive venues and buying luxury vehicles, among many
other
things, instead of reaching out to the those who are infected and
affected
by HIV and Aids.
Having realised the controversy
he had stirred and the possible
implications of his statements, Muguti later
retracted his statements saying
the media had taken him out of context and
insisted he was speaking of the
past.
But sources say
Muguti's statements would not be easily
forgotten because activists believe
that being second in command in the
health ministry, he is better placed to
know exactly what is happening at
NAC and now believe that he is covering
up.
The Standard understands that NAC board members have also
added
their voice on the issue.
At a recent board meeting
some board members are said to have
been particularly concerned about the
likelihood of Zimbabwe's sixth round
proposal to the Global Fund being
disapproved because of the controversy
Muguti provoked.
Zimbabwe, together with other countries requiring aid to fight
the three
killer diseases, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV and Aids -
submitted its
application to the Global Fund in July.
The Global Fund's
communication department told The Standard
that the Technical Review Panel
(TRP), which is a panel of independent
experts in disease control and
development economics from around the world,
reviewed all proposals in early
September.
The Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) of every
country that
receives Global Fund grants decides on which local
organisations should be
sub-recipients.
In Zimbabwe,
Health and Child Welfare Minister, David
Parirenyatwa, chairs the
CCM.
Zimbabwe is a beneficiary of round 1 of the Global Fund
HIV and
Aids grant. Part of this grant last year purchased vehicles that
many
activists believed were too posh and not suitable for developmental
work.
The Standard broke the story in which Parirenyatwa also
expressed his concern.
Sources said: "Numerous
organisations want the CCM to remove NAC
as sub-recipient of the Global Fund
until it has put its house in order.
"They say NAC's record
of inefficiency goes way back in time but
now say the time to keep on
condoning its failures is over. They want change
as soon as possible because
they say people are continuing to die while the
organisation is misusing
funds."
Contacted for comment, Parirenyatwa said the CCM has
not raised
any alarm bells on NAC and have nothing to complain
about.
Nicolas Demey, communications officer with the Global Fund
said
the organisation has not yet received any reports of NAC's misuse of
tax
payers' funds but was confident that if such a thing was happening, its
agents would have alerted them.
Zim Standard
By Our Correspondent
PLUMTREE - Electronic mail and
Internet connectivity are soon to
be standard communication tools for the
closely-knit Masendu community of
Bulilima district in Matabeleland South
Province - thanks to an initiative
by the National University of Science and
Technology (NUST) to bridge the
digital divide through appropriate
technology.
NUST is establishing an Institute of Rural
Technologies funded
by a US$2,2 million grant from the W K Kellogg
Foundation of Battle Creek,
Michigan in the United
States.
"The ethos of the institute will be that communities
lead and
technologies should be addressing real people-felt needs," says
Professor
Lindela Ndlovu, Vice-Chancellor of NUST.
Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are central to the
strategy of
the institute. The institute's role is getting NUST expertise to
buy into
the rural communities, objectives and bring their collective
intellectual
skills into solving, in a sustainable way, the problems faced
by these
communities in order to assist them create wealth as family units
as a
collective.
ICTs, says Ndlovu, present numerable benefits as
catalysts for
development, innovation and investment especially in rural and
often remote
communities in much of Africa. As a result of rural communities
having
access to ICTs, they can communicate better among themselves and with
the
outside world. These technologies could enhance access to timely
information
on health, education and agriculture, besides making rural
communities such
as Masendu ideal to attract investment and better public
services. Access to
ICTs in Africa is hampered by lack of supportive
infrastructure, and a
conducive environment, among other
setbacks.
Initially the Institute of Rural Technologies will
be a virtual
institute with no physical location. The initial tranche from
the W K
Kellogg grant will help NUST change the mindset of its academics and
researchers by building the institution's capacity for rural and
action-research.
"The institute will empower local
communities by establishing
knowledge and information management systems to
improve the exchange of
knowledge between rural communities with national
and international
knowledge markets," Ndlovu said.
"Emphasis will be on technologies for energy, water, housing,
transport,
food processing and the processing of natural resources."
Masendu ward, one of the 19 wards in Bulilima District, was
identified for
the pilot project to boost its commitment to cultural
preservation and
development initiatives. Prior to the initiation of the
pilot project, the
people of Masendu had excelled in mobilising themselves
and resources to
improve the quality of life. They have built a community
clinic from their
own resources and initiative. Through the guidance of
Chief Masendu, the
community has an active association whose members locally
and in the
Diaspora have supported fund-raising efforts for development
programmes.
Masendu Ward councillor, Freeman Dube, says
the ward with a
population of over 13 000 people has produced a development
plan spanning
five years. Under the plan, Masendu community envisages to
promote household
income, increase and strengthen community health and
social service
provision as well as enhance agricultural productivity using
appropriate
knowledge and technology.
NUST was
established 15 years ago to advance humanity through
the provision of
knowledge-based solutions to scientific, technological,
economic and social
challenges. The teaching, research and outreach
activities are the main
vehicles through which this mission is being
achieved.
The Institute of Rural Technologies will contribute to the
improvement in
the quality of life of the communities initially in
Matabeleland North and
South. NUST hopes to achieve this by enhancing the
provision of innovative
technical solutions, establishing business systems
to support the
development of the beef industry, marula fruit processing
industry, tourism
and small and medium scale enterprises. The institute will
establish
appropriate knowledge and information management systems supported
by
appropriate IT platforms to enhance community development projects and
programmes.
Other beneficiaries of the institute's pilot
development
programme include Bulilima and Mangwe districts as well as
Plumtree town. An
information management system to capture and analyse
demographic and other
data critical for planning and investment is currently
being installed at
Bulilima District Council.
"We want to
be unique at Bulilima District Council by taking
information technology to
the most rural person," said Christopher Ndlovu,
who is in charge of the
computerisation and data inventory project. "We want
to be able to
communicate with our relatives abroad via email and we want to
be connected
to the internet for research and investment purposes."
The
district council is currently publishing a newsletter whose
content has been
compiled by local youths who were trained as knowledge
workers. It is
envisaged the newsletter will soon be available online and in
print in the
local Kalanga language.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
A Mutare man's dream of joining the Zimbabwe
Prison Service
(ZPS) was shattered when authorities realised that he was a
trained
journalist.
Penjeni Madzikangava (31) is still
battling to be allowed into
the ZPS more than three years after he was
interviewed at the Army School of
Education in Mutare.
Official ZPS documents show that Madzikangava could have been a
prison
officer if one of the officials who interviewed him in January 2003
had not
realised that he was a journalist.
The officer, one Chief
Superintendent D Chimvura, wrote in a
memo to his superiors which was
obtained by The Standard:
"After the interview, I received a
report that the applicant was
a journalist who had been writing articles for
the majority of papers which
were writing negative stories about the
Government.
"As this was a sensitive issue, I made a report
to the Chief
Staff Officer - Security to get further instruction. The Chief
Staff
Officer - Security advised me that any move to employ such an
applicant
would have to wait until his clearance . . ."
Afterwards, Madzikangava, who contributed sports stories to the
government-controlled Manica Post, was to receive excuse after excuse from
the ZPS. A year later, a disgruntled and desperate Madzikangava approached
the Ombudsman's office for redress.
The Ombudsman found
his complaint "plausible and supportable on
the basis of unfair treatment
under the Labour Act and ancillary ILO
(International Labour Organisation)
conventions" and advised him to claim
"damages and/or
reinstatement."
It however appears there is little hope for
Madzikangava.
In a memo to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary
Affairs, ZPS Deputy Commissioner Milton Siziba said about
Madzikangava's
appeal:
"Since he had decided to take this
issue to the Ombudsman, we no
longer trust him as he is likely to give us
lots of problems, He
over-reacted and was not patient enough to wait for our
third intake which
has not taken off. In view of the above it is our
recommendation that he be
not allowed to join the Zimbabwe Prison
Service."
Madzikangava told The Standard he was wallowing in
poverty as a
result.
Zim Standard
By
Bertha Shoko
FOR three-year-old Tichaona Muzondiwa (not
his real name) it was
a normal day as he played on his mother's lap,
yearning for her attention as
the last-born of her three
children.
His mother, beaming with delight and affection for
her son,
shooed him away playfully: "Don't be such a sissy. Go and play with
the
others."
Tichaona knew his mother was joking and
continued to play on her
lap. It was pure unconditional love between mother
and son that made their
relationship tick so smoothly.
Yet this was to be last time they would be so happy together.
Tichaona would never play on his mother's lap again.
Later
that day, Tichaona and his two brothers, aged eight and
five, watched as
their father battered their mother to death after a
domestic dispute. Her
head sustained a deep gash that sent her brains
dripping out of her cranium
like molasses.
For four hours, before the police arrived to
remove their mother's
body, the three children sat wailing, staring
helplessly at their mother's
mutilated body.
The boys are
now in the care of the Girl Child Network (GCN).
Their father is in police
custody. Their relatives abandoned them.
This was one of many
heart-rending tales of violence in the home
that survivors of the social ill
shared at a public hearing on the Domestic
Violence Bill on
Thursday.
The hearing was organised by portfolio committees
on Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary affairs and that on Youth, Gender and
Women's
Affairs to afford members of the public, including survivors of
domestic
violence, an opportunity to give their views and comments on the
bill.
And the public clearly heeded to the call as hundreds
of
activists - both men and women, young and old thronged the Harare
International Conference Centre to be part of this historic
moment.
The Domestic Violence Bill as it stands now will,
among other
things, provide legal protection for victims of domestic
violence. It will
also provide long-term measures such as ensuring police
are specifically
trained to handle cases of domestic violence sensitively
and given capacity
to advise victims of their rights.
Victims of domestic violence will be provided with a
court-issued
"protection order" that directs the perpetrator to stop the
violence. This
protection order will effectively act as a restraining order.
In her contribution at the hearing, director and founder of GCN,
Betty
Makoni said if testimonies and experiences such as Tichaona's could
not move
MPs to pass the bill, then their hearts might be suspected of being
made of
stone.
Makoni said the three boys' experience was clear
testimony of
the terrifying effects of domestic violence and the reason why
the bill must
be passed to prevent loss of life and protect
children.
Makoni said: "We must send a strong signal through
the bill that
domestic violence will not be tolerated, especially when it
destroys
children's lives. Perpetrators must rot in prison, as they are a
menace to
society."
Luta Shaba, executive director of the
Women's Trust reminded MPs
of the link between domestic violence and
HIV/Aids; that link was reason
enough for them to support the
bill.
Shaba said: "Many victims of domestic violence are
predisposed
to HIV infection because they are powerless to broker for safe
sex, even
when they know their partners have been unfaithful and have
several sexual
partners or have a sexually transmitted disease. One woman
who lost her job
as a teacher because of her husband's propensity for
violence, said more
than anything else the bill must protect victims of
domestic violence.
She said: "My husband used to come to the
school and beat me up
there. It disrupted my lessons. He even beat up my
fellow male teachers,
accusing them of having affairs with me. The
headmaster felt he had to let
me go.
"There was nowhere I
could go for protection after that because
the structures were just not
there. The police told me to go home and try
and solve my
problems.
"The ministry accused me of bringing personal
issues to work.
The whole system was against me. "
One
activist said the name of the bill was restrictive in that
it did not
protect women from harassment and violence in the workplace.
Florence Mudzongo, a legal and governance manager at GCN, said
the penalty
provision of a fine for a perpetrator of domestic violence, as
provided for
in Section 16 of the Domestic Violence bill was too lenient.
According to the bill, cases of domestic violence that do not
result in
murder are normally handled by junior magistrates whose
jurisdiction is
limited and can only impose a fine not exceeding $4 000.
Mudzongo said: "If we are serious about curbing domestic
violence and
protecting women and children, such lenient penalties should be
redressed
and more deterrent ones should be put in place for society to have
confidence in our justice delivery system.
"Considering
the hyperinflationary environment obtaining in
Zimbabwe, a fine of $4 000
removes the gravity of such cases. Money loses
value in no time but the
physical and psychological pain continues
unabated."
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
ZIMBABWE'S mining
industry will need nothing short of a miracle
to pull itself out of the
quagmire, the Chamber of Mines has warned.
The chamber said
in a statement accompanying the monthly
production data that there would be
no reprieve for the sector which has
seen its "worst
days".
"The situation for the sector is not looking too good.
The major
issues affecting the sector include electricity supply
interruptions, high
cost of production and the overvalued exchange rate,"
said the statement.
The shortage of skilled labour was
compromising the quality of
standards and high wage bills were increasing
input costs.
"The issue of skills flight is adversely
affecting operations.
We foresee a situation where the country will be
unable to cope with any
changes in fortune for the better, should this
arise.
"Recent graduates from institutions of higher learning
have to
be placed in positions of authority to fill positions left by
experienced
staff when they are not yet sufficiently trained and
experienced. This
process is compromising quality of standards," the
statement said.
The bite is felt in production, which has
continued on a free
fall since 2000 for major minerals. Gold has been
leading the dip and
production dropped by 32% for the first seven months of
2006 to 6 032
kilograms from 8 871kgs in the corresponding period last
year.
Nickel production was also down 5% to 5 146 tonnes for
the
period under review from 5 431 tonnes in the same period last
year.
Copper and platinum bucked the trend with the former's
production going up by 1% to 1 453 tonnes in the period covering January to
July from 1 434 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
Zim Standard
By Our
Staff
NATIONAL Foods, a local manufacturing company will
embark on a
retrenchment programme in response to grain
shortages.
The company told Standardbusiness last week that
it has been
receiving intermittent supplies of grain, making it necessary
for the
manufacturer to restructure its operations.
With
its milling factories operating at low capacity and demand
for its products
having dropped because of the economic challenges, the
company said it was
forced to maintain skeletal staff.
"In order to re-align our
business with the reduced volumes of
maize and wheat, National Foods is in
the process of resizing its
operations.
"Maize supplies
over the past six months have been intermittent
at all our mills and we have
experienced difficulty in keeping our staff
productively employed. The mills
continue to be maintained on a skeleton
staff," Natfoods
said.
Natfoods has five milling sites in the country but only
Bulawayo
and Mutare were receiving consistent supplies of wheat and
maize.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
BELEAGUERED Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) will by the
end of this month know the fate
of its would-be marriage with Indian firm
Global Steel Holdings Limited
(GSHL), a parliamentary portfolio committee
heard last
week.
Obert Mpofu, Industry and International Trade Minister,
told the
committee on Wednesday his ministry was studying the letter they
recently
received from Global, outlining the impediments to the conclusion
of the
deal.
Mpofu was explaining the fate of the deal
concluded in March. He
said GSHL was dissatisfied with the supply of coal to
ZISCO.
"They indicated a lot of anomalies at ZISCO," he said.
"The
major reason they gave to us was that of coal. ZISCO, like any other
industry is sustained by coal."
He said the
state-controlled steelmaker required 60 000 tonnes
of coal a month but was
getting only 1 000 tonnes to run the furnaces.
Replying to a
question from Senator Clarissa Muchengeti, Mpofu
said ZISCO did not pay the
salaries of GSHL staff.
"Their salaries were not paid by
ZISCO. They never earned a cent
from ZISCO. We didn't want them to inject
money before the contract was
signed."
Mpofu said GSHL
had offered a better package compared with two
other competitors,
Steelmakers and Shougang.
"Global Steel had a totally
impressive plan for ZISCO. They had
bid for US$171 million but then upped it
to US$400 million," he said.
Steelmakers had submitted a
programme in which they would put in
US$26 million and go into a joint
venture with ZISCO.
Early this year ZISCO and Global entered
into a management
contract for the rehabilitation and operations of the
troubled steelmaker.
Under the deal, Global would then
receive a concession to
operate the refurbished assets and manage the entire
operation of the
company for 20 years, after which the management control
would revert to the
government of Zimbabwe.
GSHL's entry
into ZISCO led to the replacement of ZISCO MD
Gabriel Masanga with Lalit
Sehgal. Sehgal left last month under unclear
circumstances.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
SUSPENDED former Air Zimbabwe divisional director
for finance
Tendai Mujuru has called it quits at the troubled airline after
a nine-month
suspension Standardbusiness can reveal.
Sources said on Friday that Mujuru, on suspension since November
last year
resigned a fortnight ago and "the process was amicable".
A
source said: "Mujuru felt that her case had taken too long to
be resolved
and because the airline had pressed other charges against her,
it was better
to resign and the process was done amicably."
Mujuru's fresh
charges were that she had breached company
procedure by giving an
unauthorised third party to drive the airline's Mazda
Eagle that was
involved in an accident early this year.
Air Zim's board
member Luxon Zembe confirmed to Standardbusiness
that Mujuru had resigned
from the airline.
Zembe said: "She resigned and we accepted
her resignation. It
was a normal resignation and she would be paid her
terminal benefits."
When quizzed by Standardbusiness on the
charges that were being
levelled against her, Zembe said: "that closes the
case".
Mujuru was on an unpaid suspension since last year
after endless
bungling which culminated in the grounding of the Air Zim
fleet. Her
"co-accused", then group CEO Tendai Mahachi resigned in
June.
Meanwhile, Air Zim will be sending 12 engineers to
Lufthansa
Technie next month on an inspection mission of the airline's B767,
which has
been undergoing engine maintenance in German
Zim Standard
Marketwatch By Deboah-fay Ndlovu
ANALYSTS have raised alarm
over the move by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe to lengthen the tenure for
Non-negotiable Certificate of Deposits
saying it will chew into bank
profits.
The measure, announced a week ago, will see banks
being forced
to take up NCDs for periods covering 60 to 90 days for their
surplus funds.
This, Highveld analyst, Washington
Mehlomakhulu said, would
reduce revenue for banks.
"We
knew that was coming because the 7-day NCDs do not serve a
purpose. The idea
is to encourage banks to participate in tenders - that is
why the tenure was
lengthened.
"But if banks have all their money stuck in long
instruments we
will see margins getting thinner and thinner," Mehlomakhulu
said.
Another analyst who declined to be named said the move
should
mop up excess liquidity from the money market but this would not be
the cue
to increasing interest rates.
"We should start
seeing market shortages although they would be
counteracted by Treasury Bill
maturities. The current low interest rate
regime should prevail and this
view is informed by the need to fund
agricultural production at low rates,"
he said.
The central bank has set the lead by reducing 181 TB
rate to
105.8%.
Analysts pegged the yield for the 91-day
TB at 75% if it should
return.
Short-term interest rates
have been hurt by the policy change
with the 30- day rate dropping to 20%
from the previous week's 50%.
On the other end of the
investment market, the stock market fed
off the drop in interest rates with
the industrial index closing 9.59%
points up to 272 057.13 points last
Wednesday.
The bull-run should continue with a bit of
profit-taking here
and there to regulate the equities, a local stockbroker
said.
"Every investor's money is going into the stock market
because
it provides the only chance to beat inflation. So there should be
gains
although we expect a bit of profit taking here and there," said the
stockbroker.
Inflation rose to 1 024.8% for the month of
August.
Counters to gain included PPC which added $2 000 to
$55 000. Old
Mutual upped $100 to $3 000 while DELTA rose $80 to $400 last
Wednesday.
Losses were in Meikles, which eased $100 to $1
400. CAPS was
$0.5 to $23.5.
The mining index closed
Wednesday 9.89% points firmer at 141
520.14 points buoyed by gains in
Bindura, Falgold and Hwange which rose $30
to $320, $15 to $130 and $8 to
$95 respectively.
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
MIDLANDS Province
manufacturing output dampened in the year to
July with activity slowed down
by foreign currency and coal shortages.
The Midlands Chapter
of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
reported a 75% drop in
production leading to calls for an urgent drafting of
long-term strategies
to enable the industries to rise from slumber.
According to
the chapter, companies in the province are
operating at 25% capacity and
most had dropped exports as the foreign
currency shortage
worsened.
The situation was not likely to improve from last
year's bad
performance, industry said.
Companies like
Zimchem Refinery said they had stopped exporting
and had resorted to crude
imports from South Africa due to problems at
Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company
(ZISCO).
"The company is facing feedstock shortages resulting
from
problems faced by Hwange and Zisco. It is now getting crude imports
100%
from South Africa and is operating at about 25% capacity on the Tar
plant.
Steam boilers are down because there are no coal supplies. Export of
Benzene
and other products have now gone to zero and survival is now on the
local
market," the chapter said.
Zimchem problems are
shared by cement producer Sino Zimbabwe
which attributed its decline in
production to the slackening demand for its
products on the local market and
the high cost of raw materials.
"Annual plant capacity stands
at 260 000 tonnes of cement but
demand for the product locally has gone down
to about 500 000 tonnes. Raw
materials such as slag produced at Zisco went
up by 400% since the company
was not producing steel," said Sino
Zimbabwe
The company said that the huge wage bill, driven by
hyper-inflation was threatening the survival of the cement
industry.
"The other problem is that wages and salaries are
linked to
inflation changes and with the drop in demand it poses a threat to
the
survival of the industry."
Zim Standard
Comment
THE government's obsession with controls will not
improve
anything. In fact, they will worsen shortages of basic commodities
and bring
about further hardships.
One reason why
Zimbabwe lunges from one crisis to another is
that since Zanu PF's one-party
state project during the 1980s, the
government has not mastered the fact
that controls exacerbate conditions.
In July this year the
fuel crisis had eased somewhat. Motorists
could drive up to a service
station and be able to refuel as long as they
could afford the price. But
then the government had a moment of
"inspiration" - the kind that gave rise
to Operation Murambatsvina - and
decided it again needed to meddle in the
fuel sector. It demanded that
diesel and petrol be sold at $320 and $335 a
litre respectively and that
motorists could only draw 30 litres at a
time.
The result has been a return to fuel shortages
characterised by
long queues, with motorists spending their time in queues
instead of being
at work. In Harare, for example, one of the queues
stretched from Golden
Stairs Rd (Sam Nujoma Street Extension) near the
Standard Chartered Sports
Club to Comoil Service Station on Harare Drive.
This could be a record!
The other spectacular line was from
Nelson Mandela into Sam
Nujoma, along Samora Machel and First Street, into
Kwame Nkrumah and to the
Parkade Service Station.
It is
the worst form of advertising, guaranteed to discourage
investors at a time
Zimbabwe desperately needs to court and convince them.
Last
week the government released a schedule where motorists can
access cheaper
fuel between 18 September and 17 October. The whole of Harare
has only eight
service stations where motorists can draw either petrol or
diesel.
Given the sheer size of Harare, eight service
stations are
woefully inadequate. A question the government has not
addressed adequately
is why the facility should just run for a month. What
happens after that is
unclear. This exposes the futility of the
exercise.
The government failed previously to provide fuel to
the
agricultural sector while other attempts to fashion a scheme for
commuter
buses only succeeded in fuelling parallel market activities. It is
hard to
establish what informs the government into believing that this
latest
attempt will normalise the fuel supply situation in the
country.
The scheme is absurd, unsustainable and demonstrates
how the
government is bereft of long-term solutions to problems facing
Zimbabwe.
Company X can buy cheaper fuel and will be able to operate within
the
government's controls, but Company Y, while producing a similar range of
products will only be able to source fuel from the parallel market in order
to continue to operate. The two cannot be expected to sell their products at
the same price.
Companies cannot afford to remain in
bu-siness if they are being
forced to sell at prices that are less than the
cost of production. In the
case of bread the move by government is
deliberate. It is aware that there
will be inadequate wheat for domestic
consumption. Therefore the longer the
stand-off with bakers continues the
less it is held accountable and the
fewer the people who can afford bread
the better, so the government reasons.
The only controlling
that the government has successfully
carried out is in the area of
curtailing freedom of assembly, association
and expression a la Tiananmen
Square.
There is compelling suspicion that the government is
doing this
with an eye to the two Parliamentary by-elections in Chikomba and
Rushinga
as well as the Rural District Council next month. But it will
simply
compound existing problems just when it looked as if our fuel woes
were
ameliorating.
Zim Standard
Sunday opinion By Marko Phiri
WE have always known "Zimbabwe
will never be a colony again"
without some power mongers beating it against
our heads through some
perverted process of osmosis.
But
what we have known for some time now is that the country has
indeed become a
colony of sorts with the neo-colonialists emerging not from
white Europe but
from black Africa itself. And still not some jingoistic
African state with
expansionist designs, but men and women within our very
midst.
The pangs that came with colonialism are known,
and the greatest
proponents of the anti-imperialist school need no mention
as they still loom
large and have become virtual
turncoats.
It is the increasing brutality in contemporary
Zimbabwe that
gives credence to claims about Zimbabweans being colonised by
their
erstwhile liberators. All pointers are there concerning the direction
the
neo-colonialists have taken the country, and it is the recent
brutalisation
of labour activists that bring back those memories about the
country's
colonial and pre-independence past.
But that
was not the first brutalisation of any rights activist
since the emergence
of black majority rule.
One remembers the misplaced witticism
of some police officers
who brutalised Gabriel Shumba - human rights lawyer
and one time legal
counsel to Job Sikhala declaring: "We are beating up that
mouth that says it
is defending human rights." And brutalise him they
did.
Now one looks back and asks if the world could raise
hell about
irascible white cops - why the victims of post-independence
Zimbabwe
brutality still find themselves with no allies in their protracted
struggle
for the right to demonstrate?
We have heard
cynics say Zimbabweans have the government they
deserve, but the
developments in the past years offer a classic example why
the country's
descent into Hades will go on unchecked for a long time and
without the
people themselves taking the devil by the horns.
In the poor
streets of the high-density suburbs, the story is
one of dejected workers,
unemployed school leavers, perennially irritable
mothers, you name it and
you wonder why Zimbabweans manage to survive en
masse the thin line between
sanity and insanity.
One outsider looking in naturally
deduces that the freedom march
fruit is ready for picking. But what do you
know? Each time the opposition
political parties, labour activists and civic
groups call for whatever
season of discontent, these privately voluble
citizens become mute and
disappear from the streets.
The
struggle for independence was not necessarily won by
large-scale toyi-toying
on the streets then as very few men of valour were
ready to take the brutal
punches of the white government. Is then today's
struggle going to be won
through the mass mobilisation of people and street
marches?
The treatment we have seen the neo-colonials
dispense on
"attempted" protest marches has been enough to cow the same men
and women
who took the white regime head-on. The brutality has been taken a
notch up
in post independence Zimbabwe and the tragedy is that very little
seems to
be offered in terms of solutions. Forget about the UN, as others
had
imagined. Those folks have more pressing issues! And still it depends on
what it is really that you want the UN to do.
I attended
a talk the other night where a prominent cleric spoke
about the state of the
nation. A wise chap suspected to have ties with the
men in dark glasses
asked the good pastor what he was suggesting people do
about their present
circumstances.
The whole idea, we suspected, being to lead
the cleric to say
something seditious like "the people must take up arms".
But that suggestion
was not forthcoming. Within the limitations and
restrictions of public
discourse which in any case have been put in place by
the neo-colonials,
discussions of what needs to be done by the people
themselves become stifled
for fear of obvious brutalisation in the manner
seen in the experience of
labour activists. Suggestions are proffered at the
risk of hard punches
striking your rib cage!
Also,
because once one makes a Faustian pact with the
neo-colonials, it is a
foregone conclusion that enemies of the struggle have
put their lives on the
line so they are perpetually indebted to the devil.
But the question that
has been asked by some is what really is in for the
men and women who have
made it their duty to inform on neighbours, break the
bones of men and women
of goodwill?
This is not an easy question to answer. Some
refuse it has
anything to do with largess of any sort. There just must be
more to it, for
how can a man sleep the sleep of a baby when in his head
rings the cries of
another grown man, brutalised by an insomniac who made a
pact with the dark
voices?
But then what has also emerged
from post-independent Zimbabwe
and other like regimes is that conscience is
the last thing one will ever
appeal to in regard to these men and women,
possibly going through what the
teachers of religion have called metanoia.
Because ours is a very
much-doubted democracy, the ballot having failed to
convince, perhaps the
devil will one-day decide to dishonour his pact with
Faust.
Zim Standard
Sundayview By Itai Zimunya
SECURITY
forces have been placed on high alert to deal
ruthlessly with mass protests
against the failed state. In actual fact the
entire ZINASU leadership was
arrested and detained over the weekend (9
September 2006) in Mutare for
allegedly plotting to unseat the regime but on
contrary the student
leadership was merely exploring ways of establishing a
functional
educational system.
It did not need a political scientist to
tell that members of
the ZCTU were next on target of the merciless
securocrats, whose zeal to
deal with innocent civilians was signalled during
the early 1980s when
President Robert Mugabe signed an agreement with the
North Korean Leader
President Kim Il Sung, to train a brigade that would
serve to defend his
interests of remaining in leadership of the
country.
I thought the horror of previous atrocities would
teach the
overzealous security forces never to be inhuman again. I thought
the souls
of those who fell victim to one of the worst forms of genocide by
a black
government would strike the conscience of the
securocrats.
Alas, today as a nation we keep inaudible and
audible silence
over those citizens who perished in the struggle to defend
their freedom,
independence and democracy. Do their desolate souls not haunt
us?
President Thabo Mbeki in his moment of brilliance said:
"I have
seen what happens when one person has superiority of force over
another,
when the stronger appropriate to themselves the pre-rogative even
to annul
the injunction that God created all men and women in His
image".
We know what it means when securocrats think they can
determine
who can live and who can die. Thousands of living scars and
thousands of
living graves, from the lash of the same security forces bear
testimony and
should be a reminder on their consciousness of what should be
done and what
should not be done.
I remember very well 24
November 2001 when Lameck Chemvura was
murdered in cold blood by the
securocrats. I remember very well when I went
into the mortuary at Rusape
together with Reverend Bothwell Mugaviri and we
struggled to identify the
body of the late Chemvura. I remember very well
when we arrived at his rural
home in Nyanga, how we dug the grave, how the
comrades sang; the broken
faces; the pain and anguish from Chemvura's
parents and the final speech I
gave. It is because of the securocrats that
many luminaries are gone. I
remember saying at his graveside ".the enemy is
heartless but your blood
shall water the green revolutionary tree".
I remember meeting
Innocent Mupara and Learnmore Jongwe after
they were arrested. At that early
age I began to understand that some of the
security forces have learnt to
kill for a wage and surely they must answer
in a new
Zimbabwe.
They no longer hold life sacred and are
transplanting God's
creatures. They are battering the life out of their
brothers, mothers, and
fathers and have witnessed the rape of their sisters.
Are they sure they
have given up their dignity and prostituted themselves to
an extent of being
available when politicians want them to murder their sons
and daughters?
Will the souls of the persecuted and dead not haunt
them?
Is it because they are striving to acquire some
benefits at the
expense of human dignity? Is theirwork directly proportional
to their
welfare? Do they want to continue acting as pawns in the
furtherance of the
brutal ego of the regime?
They are
reminded that they are not putting on masks on this
journey. The innocent
they are torturing, butchering and killing will one
day stand in the court
of justice against them. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the
foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice
emerges.
Physical force can not triumph forever just as evil
can not
eventually triumph over good. One day the force of justice will
indeed rise
over physical force and the chickens will come home to roost. In
a new
Zimbabwe it should be each man for himself and justice for us
all.
Let me end in the great words of Martin Luther "I am not
unmindful that some of you come here out of great trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have
come from areas where your quest - quest for freedom left you battered by
the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality
.You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.., knowing that somehow this
situation can and will be changed."
Who will be our Knight in shining armour?
ZIMBABWE is in a very
difficult position when it comes to
tackling corruption because there is not
a single politician or government
official in the country that we can rally
behind.
The governing party is irredeemably corrupt. The
President
himself is not an angel, the judiciary has been corrupted, church
leaders
are no better than the rest. Can anyone suggest a person who can be
our
knight in shining armour?
We need a person who is
willing to face the devil himself in
fighting corruption. Every Zimbabwean
is ready to rally behind this person.
Our country has been ruined because of
greed among our leadership. Many of
these people came from extreme poverty
and they found themselves in the
midst of untold wealth and the means of
acquiring this wealth was made
available.
They enriched
themselves but like the greedy people that they
are, they wanted more and
more of the riches. Zimbabwe should have realised
the dangers of corruption
when our leaders started acquiring properties and
luxury cars as if they
were collecting old stamps for their albums. We
should have started fighting
corruption when the scourge was beatable.
Can any Zimbabwean
say the President is not one of those
affected when he owns this, that and
the other all over the country? Why is
the President not bold and fearless
in seriously tackling corruption if he
is not afraid of skeletons in his own
cupboard?
If the President was to diligently start fighting
corruption, he
would be overwhelmed by the support he would receive from
every Zimbabwean
and other people from the developed
countries.
Whoever decides to fight corruption head-on will
receive our
support because we are not getting anywhere in the short or
long-term. The
corrupt minority is having a field day and it is time
Zimbabweans started
fighting back.
We all know who the
corrupt ones are. Let us start by avoiding
their establishments and then go
on and attack them at their stolen farms.
Let them feel the hell on earth
that they have landed us in. For example,
the few who are still going to
work can avoid using commuter buses owned by
the corrupt
people.
Other countries are fighting corrupt leaders this way
and I see
no reason why we should not fight likewise.
Some members of the judiciary are standing up against corrupt
leaders and it
is high time Zimbabweans started supporting these brave
people openly. It is
a pity that a man like Enos Nkala has opted to reveal
all after his death.
Zimbabwe could do with the likes of this man if only he
was brave enough to
fight political intrigue and corruption while he is
still alive. Very little
good can be done by a dead person.
Unfortunately, Nkala
himself is not clean, if he had to wait for
so long to reveal what he
obviously knows about the political machinations
of old.
I would like to believe that our judiciary can remove the
shackles binding
it even though it was selected by the President. Our
judiciary should stand
its ground like their counterparts in Western
countries, where they fight
powerful corrupt leaders. Richard Nixon, the
former President of the United
States, comes to mind - he was forced to
leave office because of a
determined judiciary which did not brook any
corruption from a corrupt
leader.
The whole of the US supported their judiciary system
even though
the system was confronting the most powerful man in the land -
the President
of the US. Let our lawyers, prosecutors, magistrates and
judges unite
against the corruption facing our country. We will rally behind
them with
financial and material support if they ask for
it.
Don't allow Zimbabwe to die
Masvingo
-------------------
Accommodate vana
vevhu first at Africa University
HAVING read the plight of
the Africa University students
on accommodation, I was prompted to write
this letter.
Why are the authorities of this
institution of higher
learning trying to give an impression to the
foreigners, 36 in all at the
expense of 117 Zimbabwean students who are
undoubtedly, vana vevhu (sons and
daughters of the soil) that they have
enough accommodation?
It is sad and extremely annoying
to note that vana vevhu
tinotodzvanyirirana (we oppress each other), what
more mutorwawo zvake (what
of outsiders)? Considering the fact that Mutare
is a border town, surely HIV
and AIDS is on red and the students, being
church mice, end up being
sexually abused in exchange of money because
seriously, who can afford $16
000 a month on transport in this economically
challenged country of ours?
Could the Vice Chancellor
and other relevant authorities,
do something as a matter of urgency? Do not
endanger the lives of students
whose welfare as in parentis loco you are
supposed to protect.
Concerned
Milton Park
Harare
--------
Apalling neglect of
Chitungwiza
I cannot imagine the neglect that our leaders
subject the
people they lead to. For the past few months I have travelled
along the road
west of Chitungwiza Town Centre that runs from the Aquatic
complex
southwards past the Post Office to the intersection with the road
leading to
the two major health institutions in the
town.
Along the side of this road there is a blocked
sewer that
has been spewing out its contents, forming a river that has
encircled part
of the sculpture complex that sits north of one of the
hospitals. I cannot
imagine that not a single official from the commission
running Chitungwiza
has come across this health hazard not far away from
health institutions.
It is unforgivable for anyone in a
leadership position to
subject people to such a hazard. How can they have
the conscience to draw
salaries and allowances when clearly they are not
doing what they are in
office to accomplish - or does it not matter to
anyone aligned to the ruling
party?
In my view, it
is tragic that the residents and the
opposition political parties can
pretend that everything is in order when
the lives of people are endangered.
What does the opposition exist to do if
it is not to keep the governing
party on its toes and accountable to the
electorate?
There is a school south of this river
of effluent. Isn't
that sufficient enough to goad us into action in the
interests of protecting
the vulnerable? Zanu PF should not be surprised that
it has no support when
all it has done is to systematically reduce urban
areas into villages by
running down the services offered to residents. It
extorts them by charging
escalating "service charges". They are a shameless
lot!
To the residents of Chitungwiza and the fractious
MDC, I
say: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things
that
matter most to us."
Tinzwei
Mambo
Zengeza
Chitungwiza
---------
An open letter
to President Robert Mugabe and his
government
THIS is an open letter to President Robert Mugabe
and his
government:
For the past eight years, citizens of
this country
have watched you presiding over the fastest shrinking economy
in the world.
The cost of all basic needs has gone up and most Zimbabweans
can no longer
afford a decent life.
My main
worry as a young person is the cost of
education in this country. Right now
most parents can no longer afford to
send their children to school because
tuition fees are now beyond the reach
of
many.
Inflation has reached an all time high of
more than
1 200% and as it stands, you, Mr President and your government
have run out
of ideas on how to stabilise the situation. Education is a
basic right for
every child but not in Zimbabwe, as only the elite are
affording to send
their children to school.
I
would like to believe that there is no boarding
school which is charging
less than $65 000, yet on average civil servants
earn less than $30 000 a
month. So Mr President, where do you expect our
parents to get the money
from in order to pay school fees?
As tertiary
education students, through our leaders,
we have tried to voice our concerns
but the efforts have been met with the
highest level of brutality from the
country's security forces.
What pains me most is
that ministers and everyone
connected to the ruling party can afford to send
their children abroad yet
the people you pretend to represent cannot afford
to pay the so-called
cheapest fees for primary education. Most Zimbabwean
youths have no choice
but to blame you, Mr President and the ruling Zanu PF
for failing to lead
the country to the promised
land.
Zimbabweans are growing frustrated at the
state of
the economy. My simple advice to you is that you should immediately
step
down as President of this country and let those who are capable of
turning
around the economy be in charge as you have proved beyond any
reasonable
doubt that you have totally
failed.
This may be a difficult choice for you to
make right
now, but history will judge you most harshly for your sins of
commission and
omission, Mr President.
Tapfuma
Mutare
-----------
Pleasing developments at Morgenster
Mission
MY last letter on mission stations and
Morgenster
Mission in particular was very critical of the current leadership
of the
churches. In the report, church leaders were said to be negligent and
corrupt in the development of different mission stations all over the
country.
This is no longer the case with
Morgenster Mission
where two leaders stand out as shining stars. Messers
Chigumo of the School
for the Deaf and Mzilikazi of Morgenster Secondary
School are two
well-motivated leaders who are changing the appearance of the
mission
station.
Chigumo has removed all the
unnecessary undergrowth
in the gum plantation. He is fighting a successful
war against a formidable
adversary, the lantana shrub. Cattle pens have been
resuscitated and a huge
garden is in the process of being created. The once
derelict fields have
been fenced off and agriculture has been put at the
forefront of his school's
curriculum. Well done for the good work in
progress.
Mzilikazi is also in for praise because
his school
has established a huge garden where pupils learn more than just
reading and
numbers. Local people have been encouraged to take part in the
development
of their secondary school.
Mzilikazi is also fighting a war against the lantana
scourge. I hope that
despite the country's financial problems, the
headmaster and his staff will
maintain their once flourishing chicken
project.
With vast tracts of land Morgenster
Secondary School
could also go into beef and dairy farming, just as the old
missionaries did.
Morgenster Mission can easily become self-sufficient once
again as is being
demonstrated by the two progressive
leaders.
What are the other departments doing
towards the
development of their areas? Morgenster Teachers' College should
involve
itself in improving the appearance of the college instead of
courting
negative publicity.
The hospital and
primary school could also involve
themselves in developing their
areas.
Officials from other mission stations all
over the
country could benefit a lot from a visit to Morgenster
Mission.
Good
Vibrations
Masvingo
---------
Response to massive graft in Garikai
housing
REFERENCE is made to the article, which
appeared on page 13 of The Standard of 12 March 2006. Please be advised that
the article has a lot of inconsistence (sic) and is void of concrete
facts.
The 74 Southerton stands have not
yet been
allocated. Before allocation, Deeds Registry checks will be
conducted to
weed out any applicants who already own other properties within
the city,
Norton, Ruwa and Epworth.
Houses constructed under Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle were allocated to
Ex-Calidonia (sic), Ex-Porta Farm
(sic) and Ex-Tsiga (sic) settlers in
response to the National (sic)
requirement that they be moved into these
houses.
The allegation that Church
Ministries (sic)
were allocated these houses constructed under Operation
Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle is untrue.
Referrals of applicants from outside the City
of Harare, including those
from the Ministry of Local (sic) Government
Public Works and Urban
Development and other external government (sic) and
non-government
organisations are expected to be channeled (sic) through the
Office of the
Town Clerk as per Council resolution.
Such
referees are subject to the normal
screening and eligibility
processes.
Final allocation of any
residential property
is done by the Allocations Committee established
through a Council
resolution and approved by the Director of Housing and
Community Services.
My office has had
several meetings with a
group of Ministers of Religion who formed a
cooperative, with a view to
assist them in acquiring residential stands. The
Clean Up Operation also
affected these ministries, like everybody else. They
were allocated stands
in Hopley. Above one thousand employees of Council
were also allocated
residential stands in
Hopley.
I hope this information sets the
record
straight.
Town
Clerk
Harare
Editor's
response:
This letter is dated 16 March
2006. It was
delivered on 19 September 2006. However, during the first week
of September
2006, James Chiyangwa, the City Council's acting director of
housing and
community services, and his two assistants, Rodgers Mupambirei
and Agnes
Fologwe, told a committee of inquiry into the conduct of suspended
Town
Clerk, Nomutsa Chideya, that numerous "recommendations and directives"
on
the allocation of stands came from people in high places, in
contravention
of standing procedures.
He cited a case in which the First Lady, Grace
Mugabe, asked his office to
facilitate the allocation of stands in
Southerton to two gospel musicians.
Chiyangwa told the committee: "I can
only say this in camera because most of
the requests were from high offices,
for instance, the President's wife,
Grace Mugabe, to allocate stands to M
Mutsvene and Fungisai
Mashavave."
It is evident what the truth
is.
-----------------
Pro-democracy cum
autocracy
"PRO-DEMOCRACY" of Masvingo seems to
harbour an
unshakeable conviction that his leaders in opposition should not
be held
accountable or be subjected to scrutiny because we can't "drop . . .
leaders
and leave the coast clear for Zanu PF to cruise through future
elections".
In other words, opposition leaders
can do as they
please because they are fighting Zanu PF after all! This is
the kindof
mentality that brought us to where we are
today.
Once upon a time in the eighties we dared
not
criticise our new government when corruption started taking root as far
back
as Willowgate, and evidence of atrocities in Matabeleland started
emerging,
"because after all they had liberated
us".
Opposition leaders cannot be criticised
because,
Pro-democracy is right, when he says "democracy allows us to have
as many
opposition leaders as we may wish for". So far, democracy has given
us two
MDC factions.
The more MDCs, the
merrier!
T
Namate
Harare