http://www.radiovop.com/
By Ngoni Chanakira, Harare, September 3,
2011 - Zimbabwe's unemployment rate
has shot up from about 80 percent to 50
percent, Radio VOP can exclusively
reveal.
"There is coninuing
fragility in Zimbabwe, however," said the
Washington-based World Bank in an
report made available to Radio VOP.
According to the latest data made
available from various sources zimbabwe's
unemployment rate currently stands
at 50 percent down from 80 percent. There
is, however, income poverty rate
of about 60 percent."
The World Bank, which regularly used to dish out
cash to the poor nation
said there were 24 percent unqualified teachers in
Zimbabwe today and lots
of child malnutrition.
"Malnutrition
currently stands at 35 percent," the World Bank report says.
"There is some
ecomic recovery from 2011."
It said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
stands at 8 percent, while
agricultural growth was 34 percent a 6 percent
increase from last year.
The Report said inflation stands at four
percent, while the privare sector
credit stood at US$1,4 billion right
now.
It said, however, Zimbabwe's political economy was improving
underpinned by
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) with SADC
support.
"The banking sector is still problematic wth lots of liquidity
problems,"
the Report says.
Zimbabwe is doing quite weel right now
despite these few problems."
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Tonderai Kwenda, Deputy News
Editor
Saturday, 03 September 2011 12:50
HARARE - Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said it is not the duty of
Zimbabweans to foist political
representatives on the people of Libya.
Tsvangirai said this as the
expelled Libyan ambassador, Taher Elmagrahi, was
leaving the country
yesterday.
Elmagrahi and his Libyan embassy staff were given 72 hours to
leave the
country on Tuesday after supporting that country’s rebel force.
Elmagrahi,
who was left stranded on Thursday after failing to secure a visa
to leave
the country via South Africa, left by road to Botswana
yesterday.
The Zimbabwean government had threatened to forcibly deport
the Libyans if
they remained in Zimbabwe beyond the stipulated
deadline.
Tsvangirai said the decision to expel the Libyan envoy was not
a government
decision. He said he was not consulted and the decision was
made in his
absence as he was out the country visiting West African leaders
to brief
them on the political situation in the country.
The premier
said it is not the business of Zimbabweans to foist political
representatives on the people of Libya.
“The Prime Minister’s
position is that we do not have monopoly on
sovereignty. While we should not
violate international law, we should
recognise that it is not up to us to
determine who should govern the people
of
Libya and not up to us to
determine who should represent the people of Libya
in Zimbabwe,”
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka told the Daily
News.
“He
is not aware of the so called government position on Libya because when
it
was taken he was out of the country.”
Zimbabwe expelled Libya’s
ambassador last week after he abandoned Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi and backed
the rebels.
The Zanu PF side of government was apparently enraged by
Elmagrahi’s
actions. He joined protesters who stormed the embassy and raised
the
pro-rebels flag although they were later ordered to restore the
pro-Gaddafi
flag.
President Robert Mugabe is a close ally of
Gaddafi.
Meanwhile, the embattled Gaddafi has called on his supporters to
set Tripoli
ablaze.
He said this as world leaders gathered on
Thursday in the French capital
Paris to discuss Libya’s future following the
arrival of funds for the
National Transitional Council (NTC).
“Let
there be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames,” Gaddafi was
heard saying in a voice message on a Syrian television station.
“We
will not give up. We are not women. We will continue fighting.”
On his
West African trip, Tsvangirai met the Ivorian leader Alissane
Quattara on
Thursday at his presidential offices in Abidjan.
The Ivorian who needed
the intervention of the United Nations and French
forces to dispose Laurent
Gbagbo who had refused to vacate power after he
had lost elections last
November, pledged to assist Zimbabwe to conduct free
and fair
elections.
“President Quattara pledged to work hard to assist Zimbabwe to
cultivate a
peaceful environment and make sure that every African leader
works towards
assisting the electoral process in Zimbabwe,” said
Tamborinyoka.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Own Correspondent
Saturday, 03 September 2011
12:47
HARARE - Mines Minister Obert Mpofu’s personal wealth came
under the
spotlight during a conference at University of Witwatersrand in
South
Africa to discuss resource governance of Marange diamonds
recently.
The matter was raised by a foreign-based veteran Zimbabwean
journalist. Some
Zimbabweans including government officials have become
super rich through
the smuggling of diamonds.
When the question was
raised, Affirmative Action Group (AAG) president Supa
Mandiwanzira, who
attended the workshop, tried to defend Mpofu but in vain.
The Zimbabwean
journalist asked: “As the issue of Zimbabwe diamond proceeds
becomes
topical, we need to know how Minister Mpofu, who owns half of
Victoria Falls
town and many buildings in Bulawayo which include the tallest
building in
that town, managed to acquire such wealth."
“What we know is that Mpofu
earns $250 per month and I am not saying that
blacks cannot be obscenely
rich but I am keen to know how he managed to
amass so much wealth on such a
small salary.
“I direct my question to the president of Affirmative
Action Group and his
secretary-general who are here passionately supporting
his ministry’s
programmes and the Zanu PF indigenisation
programmes.”
Mandiwanzira responded and said: “I have no brief from the
minister or
government to comment on his businesses and alleged wealth.
However, I can
only assume that he grew his businesses on the back of the
farm that he got
under the successful land reform programme and also from
his humble
beginnings in business.
“If by asking your question you
are trying to accuse the minister of
corruption, then you must produce
irrefutable evidence even to us in the
AAG, because one of our mandates is
to expose those who are corrupt and
giving our economic revolution and
Mugabe a bad name.
“But you must be careful about making these
unsubstantiated allegations
against our leaders only for cheap propaganda
purposes,” said Mandiwanzira.
Mpofu, Mugabe’s confidante who also signs
off his letters to 87-year-old
Zimbabwean leader as “your ever obedient
son”, has been accused of unfairly
benefitting from the Marange Diamond
fields. He has in the past denied
corruption allegations levelled against
him.
Last year, diamond dealer, Lovemore Kurotwi sensationally told
Mugabe that
Mpofu had asked for a bribe in return for diamond favours and
hours later
Kurotwi was arrested.
The conference, organised jointly
by Centre for Research Development,
Heinrich Boell Stiftung and the South
Africa Institute of International
Affairs, was reviewing progress in Marange
diamond fields.
The top speakers included Head of European Delegation to
Zimbabwe,
Ambassador Aldo D'Arricio, Farai Maguwu of Centre and Research and
Development and Dewa Mavhinga of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
The
conference was held under the theme; Zimbabwe’s Diamonds and the
Kimberly
Process Certification Scheme: Effectiveness and Responsibilities.
http://www.voanews.com
02 September
2011
MDC Organizing Secretary Nelson Chamisa said Mutinhiri is very
lucky to have
been thrown out of what he called a "sinking ship" of a party,
saying there
is plenty of room in the MDC for the former ZANU-PF
politician
Violet Gonda | Washington
MDC Organizing
Secretary Nelson Chamisa said that if Mutinhiri "ever knocks
on our door we
will actually open before she finishes knocking."
The Movement for
Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said on
Friday that it would be pleased to welcome Deputy Labor
Minister Tracy
Mutinhiri as a member following her expulsion by President
Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party.
The ZANU-PF politburo this week drummed Mutinhiri out of
the party for
allegedly violating the party's constitution and being too
friendly with the
Tsvangirai MDC formation.
The politburo urged
President Mugabe to remove her from her ministerial
post. The decision is
also likely to cost Mutinirhi her seat in the House as
well.
Reached
by Studio 7, Mutinhiri declined to comment though she said she had
issued no
statement regarding party affiliations.
MDC Organizing Secretary Nelson
Chamisa said Mutinhiri is lucky to have been
thrown out of what he described
as a "sinking ship" of a party, a jab at the
former ruling party.
He
said there are plenty of seats and space in the MDC for the former
ZANU-PF
politician.
“So if she ever knocks on our door we will actually open
before she finishes
knocking,” Chamisa said.
http://www.radiovop.com
Gweru, August 03, 2011- The
Gweru City Council is set to clash with workers
who have resolved to
withdraw labour after negotiations of a salary
increment reached a
deadlock.
Speaking to Radio VOP, Kudakwashe Munengiwa Secretary General
of the
Zimbabwe Urban Council Worker’s Union (ZUCWU) said workers had
resolved to
strike as negotiations had failed to yield results.
“It
is unfortunate that the negotiations that we were engaged in with
council
for the past eight months has yielded nothing and as a result we had
a
general members’ meeting to update our members who then resolved that we
resort to a collective job action”, Munengiwa said explaining that workers
were angry with council for refusing to listen to them.
However
Munengiwa said as a union they are applying to the labour court so
that
their strike is legalised. “In order to protect the workers we are
going to
apply for the strike so that it is procedural,” he explained.
Winfielda
Munovapei, a council worker who is also the trustee of ZUCWU said
it was
unfortunate that council was not being responsive to the needs of the
workers. “It’s a shame that even on pay days, you will find council workers
at Yambukai, (a money lending company in Gweru) borrowing money to take them
through the month,” she said.
A visit to the money lending firm,
Yambukai that has very high interest
rates on Friday the day most council
workers were getting their salaries
revealed a number of council employees
with their City of Gweru uniforms
were at the firm.
Chipo Ndakaitei a
council worker who spoke to Vop said she was getting
US$230 dollars before
deductions. “After deductions I take home less than
US$170 which is just
peanuts compared to the responsibilities that I have.
We will withdraw our
labour as council has failed to hear our pleas,” she
said
dejected.
According to council officials, they are arguing council can
not effect pay
increments as they had received a directive from the
Minister of Local
Government , Rural and Urban Development that salaries and
allowances should
not be increased.
According to part of the letter
from the Ministry which is in possession of
Radio Vop, Chombo wrote that
Cabinet had resolved that, “No local Authority
may award a salary increase
or increase any allowance or create any new
allowance or perk without the
written permission of the Minister. Further no
councilor’s allowances may be
increased and no new allowances for councilors
maybe introduced without the
written permission of the Minister”.
According to council statistics, the
budgeted salaries and wages provision
for 2011 was USD 7 O52 O5O which is
said to constitute 32.12 % of the total
current expenditure of USD 21 954
460 and this is against the Minister of
Local Government’s policy of a 30:70
employment costs to service delivery.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Councillors in some parts of Bindura have not been
receiving payment from
the Zanu (PF) headed council because they belong to
the MDC-T, The
Zimbabwean has learnt.
02.09.1101:41pm
by Fungai
Kwaramba Harare
According to the Elected Councillors of Zimbabwe
president, Worship Dumba,
councillors in Bindura East who are affiliated to
ECZ said that they had not
been receiving their allowances.
“We have
had reports that some of our members who do not belong to Zanu (PF)
have not
been receiving allowances after Zanu (PF) councillors said that
they do not
want payment. This we are told they say in public, but receive
payment
behind closed doors,” said Dumba.
Dumba added that the non-payment of
MDC-T councillors was making their job
more difficult as many of them had to
walk long distances to work.
A councilor from Bindura, who asked not to
be named, said: “We are not being
paid because we belong to the MDC-T while
our colleagues are getting paid
monthly allowances of US$80.”
Deputy
Minister for Local Government Urban and Rural Development Sesel
Zvidzai said
that he was not aware that some people were not getting their
allowances.
“I am not aware of that, but if there is such a situation
then the
councillors should approach my office and we can look into the
matter,” said
Zvidzai.
While Zanu (PF) still has control of most
rural councils the MDC has been
making inroads and has several councillors
in rural areas.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric
Matinenga said only
133 legislators had provided returns of how they used
US$50 000 in
constituency development funds, and threatened to expose the
rest of the MPs
that were refusing to account for the
money.
02.09.1103:39pm
by Chief Reporter
Matinenga told
Parliament on Thursday that he was under pressure from
journalists to
provide the list of legislators who had not yet accounted for
the funds.
Legislators raised concerns about increasing media reports
surrounding the
abuse of the funds. Bubi MP Clifford Sibanda (Zanu (PF))
asked Minister
Matinenga to name and shame all the legislators who had not
yet complied, in
order to clear the air over the issue.
Matinenga admitted that he had
protected the legislators from probing
journalists, but would be left with
no choice but to spill the beans if they
continued defying him.
"I
can assure you that when I left the office today 133 MPs had been
recorded
as having filed their returns and if the honourable member so
wishes, I am
quite happy to bring a list and to bring that list before this
House,"
Matinenga said.
Matinenga again declined to provide the list to this
newspaper saying he
needed to table the names in Parliament first.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles
Ray, has told the Zanu (PF)
chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo to do something to
stop the "horrible" ongoing
political violence allegedly perpetrated by his
party across the country.
03.09.1103:05pm
by John Chimunhu
In
an interview with The Zimbabwean Ray said he had raised the issue of
violence and intimidation when he met Moyo last week. Ray's position
contradicts
the Zanu (PF)-controlled state media’s claims that the
meeting was held
because the US was desperate to mend relations with
President Robert
Mugabe's party.
"We have regularly released
statements, reports and on-the-record interviews
clearly outlining our
concern and outrage over the ongoing political
violence and intimidation in
Zimbabwe. One of my primary goals in all
meetings I have with officials
across the political spectrum is to bring
attention to this horrible pattern
and seek solutions to stop it," Ray said.
Following Ray's meeting with
Moyo, Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba stated
that the USA, as well as
several other Western countries had privately been
infuriated by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to join hands with
Mugabe in the
Inclusive Government, and the meetings were a first step in an
ongoing
process to isolate the MDC-T.
Ray said: "From the very beginning, the
United States has strongly supported
the GPA, the inclusive government and
SADC's mediation efforts as means to
building a stable environment in which
safe, free and verifiable elections
can be held. We are on record
consistently stating this position and it is
wrong to claim
otherwise."
Writing under a pseudonym in a weekly column in the Herald,
Charamba
predicted the fall of the MDC. He claimed that the US government
and other
Western countries had lost confidence in the ability of Tsvangirai
to
deliver democracy to Zimbabwe, hence the attempts to 'normalize'
relations
with Zanu (PF). Charamba further claimed that Mugabe had duped
Tsvangirai
into joining the inclusive government, whose firm agenda Zanu
(PF) had
already set. This, he said was Mugabe's strategy to ensure that the
MDC's
image was irrevocably soiled in the eyes of countries once sympathetic
to
it.
The US Ambassador rejected this.
"As I said in my
recent speeches on the topic of US-Zimbabwe relations, the
U.S. does not
favour one party over another. Our greatest focus and concern
is over the
country's ability to hold free, fair and verifiable elections,
as well as
building strong, independent government institutions. US history
has shown
us that having a diversity of positions and ideas best ensures
that the will
of the broader public is addressed. As such, we hope and
expect that a
variety of political parties – including Zanu (PF) and the
MDCs – will
contribute sincerely and constructively to Zimbabwe’s future,"
Ray
said.
He added that "political mudslinging between parties is part of any
political system. It is not the place of the US Embassy to engage in it or
to comment on it".
The Ambassador said he could not promise that
restrictive measures would now
be lifted as has been reported.
"It is
not in my power to lift the restrictive measures; however, I did
explain the
steps that need to be taken in Zimbabwe to eliminate political
violence and
promote human rights after which the United States will review
the measures
and begin to lift them," he said.
Last week Moyo held another
high-profile meeting with the new USAID director
in Zimbabwe, Melissa
Williams, leading to speculation that the US was
planning to give financial
aid to Zanu (PF). Ray disputed this.
"We do not and will not support Zanu
(PF) as a party," he said.
He said instead that the United States "is
committed to building a better
relationship with Zimbabwe through continuing
our support for humanitarian
assistance, democratic institutions and a
growing economy.”
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Villagers here have called upon the Joint
Operations and Monitoring
Committee to intervene and save them from the
marauding Zanu (PF) militia,
saying that the police have not protected
them.
02.09.1105:01pm
by Fungai Kwaramba Harare
“JOMIC I
understand is supposed to monitor the political situation, what we
want is a
change in approach so that Zanu (PF) will be exposed,” said a
villager. “We
have suffered violence from Zanu (PF) supporters here and yet
the police are
not making any arrests.”
Another villager who only identified herself as
Mbuya Midzi said that she
had no peace.
“The people are monitoring us
and we do not have peace. We have fear of Rudd
Ndoro, he is causing mayhem
and nothing is being done to him. We are also
sad that people who beat us in
2008 are still boasting about what they did,
they stole our livestock and
nothing has been done to them,” said Midzi.
The MDC claim that 200 of its
supporters were murdered in 2008 by known Zanu
(PF) supporters, but the
police have not made any arrests.
“They say on the radio that there is no
violence, yet we are reporting the
attacks to the police and we have to walk
about 26 km to do so, only for the
police to ignore us. We are going to try
and involve JOMIC to come here and
end the violence,” said another villager
who refused to be named.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The cash strapped government of Zimbabwe that is
struggling to pay its
workers will splash money on vehicles for MPs some of
whom are not even
known in their constituencies where the masses are
wallowing in poverty.
02.09.1112:40pm
by Fungai Kwaramba
Harare
The MPs claim there are justified in having more vehicles
since the
government owes them unpaid seating allowances are due to receive
Toyota
vehicles that are valued at $17 000.
Zimbabwe has 304 MPs who
include senators, elected and those appointed by
principals in Government of
National Unity (GNU).
This means that the struggling government that has
failed to look at the
welfare of its workers will splash at least $5 million
for the vehicles that
will add to the growing fleet of MPs
vehicles.
The MPs got vehicles when they assumed office in 2008 and have
been
complaining that the executive has not been paying them for their
seating in
parliament as well as committees.
While the government has
been saying that it does not have money to pay the
MPs there is a sudden
change of heart in the treasury which recently spent
at least $20 million on
vehicles for ministers and their deputies and other
top government officials
who include permanent secretaries.
“The government owed us $75 000 and
should have bought us vehicles that have
similar value, however, they just
want to appease us with these tokens,”
said an MP who asked not to be
named.
According to sources in the government, the vehicles are meant to
silence
MPs who are unhappy with the purchasing of posh vehicles by the
executive.
The tax payers in Zimbabwe will again bear the costs for the
luxury of MPs
as they did for the luxury of ministers.
Kudakwashe
Bhasikiti the chairman of the parliamentary welfare committee
however, said
that there is no such thing.
"Where did you get that, there is no
response yet from the executive, we
have just made our case known," said
Bhasikiti.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Soldiers and police officers who are keeping guard at the
rich alluvial
diamond fields of Chiadzwa are unhappy that their job
description involves
attacking innocent civilians and guarding the looted
riches of the “chefs”
while they wallow in abject
poverty.
02.09.1105:10pm
by Fungai Kwaramba Harare
“I have been
to Chiadzwa for three months and I can tell you that only the
top officials
are benefiting from the diamonds. For a soldier or policeman
to think of
smuggling diamonds is tantamount to committing suicide,” said a
solider who
recently returned from the diamond fields.
The soldiers and police
officers spend a lot of time away from their wives
and only received a
meagre salary at the end of the month.
Officers claim that President
Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joyce Mujuru and
top army officials are the
major beneficiaries of the diamonds, with other
companies given access to
less mineral-rich areas. This has resulted in
companies pulling out of
Zimbabwe.
Sino Zim, a joint venture between Zimbabwe and China, withdrew
from the
fields in May citing viability concerns. There are five registered
companies
in Marange, but only three are operational.
Human rights
activists accuse soldiers protecting the diamond fields of
committing
serious crimes against the local population. Despite an outcry
from
activists, the army presence has not been disbanded.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The late Army General, Solomon Mujuru, wanted an
educated and professional
army, senior army officials have told The
Zimbabwean.
02.09.1101:13pm
by Jane Makoni
“General Mujuru
strongly believed an educated soldier would make a
professional member of
the defence force. In the Mid 80s as army commander,
he indicated that he
would rather remain with a pocket of educated soldiers
while the rest
furthered their education under army sponsorship.
Mujuru was then
commanding an integrated army composed of former warring
forces, former
Rhodesian soldiers, ZANLA and ZIPRA combatants. Most of them
had little
formal school education,” said an army Colonel at KG6 Army
Headquarters.
Following Mujuru’s sentiments, the majority of army
personnel were
reportedly granted authority to further their education with
the assistance
of army education grants. As a result, The Zimbabwe National
Army was turned
into a multi-skilled and educated army.
The Mujuru
shaped army received recognition from the United Nations and was
invited to
take part in a number of UN led peacekeeping missions around the
continent.
The ZNA subsequently participated in peacekeeping missions in
countries such
as Somalia, Angola and Rwanda, among others.
http://www.businesslive.co.za/
03
September, 2011 20:11
HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE
Sunday Times
Zimbabwe
Youth
Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere has
vetoed Swiss multinational food giant Nestlé's empowerment
proposal to
comply with the government's indigenisation regulations.
These
regulations say foreign-owned enterprises should detail plans to put a
51%
stake in the hands of indigenous investors or government entities.
Two
years ago Nestlé was forced by two Cabinet ministers to take in milk
supplies from Gushungo Dairy Estates, owned by President Robert Mugabe's
wife, Grace.
It submitted a proposal of how the multinational firm
planned to indigenise
its shareholding under the new Indigenisation and
Empowerment Act.
The proposal entailed disposing of 25% equity through
Nestlé Zimbabwe
Pension Fund and an Employee Share Ownership Trust. But in a
letter written
to the Swiss food and beverage giant recently, Kasukuwere
rejected Nestlé's
plans to increase stakes held by local investors in the
firm.
"We note that your company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestlé
SA and,
therefore, non-indigenously owned, and obliged to comply with the
indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation ... Your plan therefore
falls short of the 51% indigenous shareholding requirement.
"In terms
of Section 5 (1) (b) (iii) of the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment
(Gene-ral) Regulations 2010, as amended, we hereby reject your
Provisional
Indigenisation Implementation Plan, as it does not meet the
requirements of
the indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation,"
reads part of
Kasukuwere's letter.
Kasukuwere's spearheaded legislation has caused
panic among executives in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au
BY LOUIS ANDREWS COURT
REPORTER
03 Sep, 2011 12:00 AM
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe hasn't paid
the country's ambassador to Australia
in six months, leaving her to fund
diplomatic missions out of her own
pocket, her lawyer
says.
Ambassador Jacqueline Zwambila is locked in a bitter legal battle
with a
freelance journalist her legal team says fabricated a story and
defamed her
for political reasons.
And her lawyers say the
cash-strapped ambassador is propping up the embassy
out of her own pocket -
with the help of a confidential settlement from News
Limited, who
republished the claims.
The court stoush stems from an article published
in a Zimbabwean newspaper
claiming the ambassador stripped naked in front of
embassy staff.
Respected silk Stuart Littlemore, QC, told ACT Supreme
Court Chief Justice
Terence Higgins yesterday that the claims were ''a very
grave defamation of
a person in a high place''. But lawyers for the
defendant, Panganai Reason
Wafawarova, have raised the defence of
truth.
Mr Littlemore said yesterday politics was at the heart of the
case, and
under Zimbabwe's power-sharing agreement Mr Mugabe's supporters
appointed
embassy staff while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
party
chose ambassadors.
But Mr Wafawarova's barrister, Steven
Hausfeld, said his client simply
passed on a tip to the paper and denies
republishing the allegations on his
personal website.
Mr Wafawarova's
byline, however, appears on the original article.
According to an
affidavit to the court from Ms Zwambila's Canberra-based
solicitor, Ben
Aulich, Mr Mugabe has not paid the ambassador's wages in six
months.
Mr Aulich wrote his client had been forced to personally pay
for diplomatic
missions - partly with money secured from the News Limited
pay-out. Lawyers
for Mr Wafawarova unsuccessfully tried to have the claim
dropped because it
had not been lodged in a Zimbabwean court.
The
stripping claims were originally aired in the Harare-based newspaper The
Herald, and subsequently reproduced elsewhere.
Mr Hausfeld asked the
judge to make an order for security of future
litigation costs - estimated
at about $60,000 - because of the ambassador's
parlous finances.
Mr
Aulich's affidavit reveals his client has very few financial assets to
her
name other than the trappings of her office.
The chief justice rejected
the costs application.
Mr Littlemore said the defendant spent three
months trying to dodge service
of legal papers, forcing Mr Aulich to apply
for leave to issue them via
email, but Mr Hausfeld said his client had a
right to insist on personal
service.
It will probably be some time
before the matter goes to a hearing.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you
to this half day meeting to
review the principle and practice of self
regulation of the media in
Zimbabwe. I would like to especially thank you
all for deciding to leave
your very busy schedules as well as making the
time to travel to Harare and
to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for this
meeting.
02.09.1102:09pm
by Alex Muchadehama
The VMCZ is of the
firm persuasion that the time could not be more right for
us to collectively
discuss the issue of media self regulation in view of the
events that have
been occurring in Zimbabwe, the region and abroad. Indeed,
the principles of
self regulation of the media as well as the right to
freedom of expression
have always been under threat not only nationally but
across the
globe.
In Zimbabwe’s instance, the formation of the VMCZ was necessitated
through
recognition by yourselves and other media stakeholders of the need
to
strengthen the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression by
embracing
the principle of self regulation of the media. In this respect it
is a given
that as we are gathered here there is no dispute amongst us as to
the
credence of self-regulation as best democratic practice for the media in
democratic societies.
This does not however mean as proponents of
such a democratic regulatory
framework we should not regularly meet to
review the successes and
challenges that may visit us. Indeed the fact that
the VMCZ exists in
Zimbabwe and that it continues to receive recognition
directly or indirectly
from various media stakeholders is a success in
itself. Further to this, the
inclusive government and the Zimbabwe Media
Commission (ZMC) must be
cautiously credited with introducing new print
media players in the country.
However there are challenges that remain
for the media in Zimbabwe. These
include the continued existence of a
repressive media environment as well as
the specter of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA) and the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform Act) among
many other laws that continue to
criminalize the noble journalistic
profession in which we are all involved.
Further to these threats,
developments within our Southern African region as
well as in the northern
parts of the world particularly the newfound debate
on the introduction of
new legislation governing freedom of expression and
access to information
have led to the political compromise of media freedom
due to references
relating to state security and stability.
International phone-hacking
scandals in the north and the west have led to
parts of the international
debate putting spotlights on the merits and
de-merits of self regulation of
the media.
In Zimbabwe, this debate has however unfortunately not been as
public as
expected. And the onus remains on media practitioners, editors,
media
trainers, media owners, media related civil society organizations and
civil
society in general to begin this debate in earnest and in the public
interest.
And this debate should be conscious of the fact that media
practitioners in
Zimbabwe have already indicated without any doubt their
commitment to self
regulation of the media by forming the VMCZ. Indeed the
VMCZ has had many
challenges given the fact that the government established
a constitutional
commission to regulate the media.
This does not
however mean that the necessity of the existence of the VMCZ
falls away. It
actually points to the fact that the workload of the VMCZ and
various media
stakeholders to continue persuading any government of the day,
by word and
deed, the democratic significance of self-regulation of the
media.
Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to all those
that have
managed to take time off what are very busy schedules to make it
to this
particular meeting. As the programme indicates it is only a half day
meeting
but it is not the last such meeting. I hope that in the
deliberations of
this meeting we shall come up with a framework for a way
forward that we can
all collectively follow up on both in relation to media
self regulation and
media training.
Indeed in some instances it may
seem as though the challenges are
insurmountable but I am sure that working
together, with a firm
understanding and belief in media self regulation.
Together we can put the
prophets of doom to shame.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/09/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer and was told by
doctors in 2008
that the disease would kill him within five years, leaked US
diplomatic
cables have revealed.
According to a previously secret
cable released by WikiLeaks on Friday,
Mugabe’s battle with the disease was
revealed to former US Ambassador James
McGee by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor, Gideon Gono, during a private
meeting held on June 4,
2008.
In a report of the meeting released by WikiLeaks, McGee wrote:
“Gideon Gono,
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), told the
Ambassador on June
4 that President Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer that
has metastasised
and, according to doctors, will cause his death in three to
five years.
“According to Gono, Mugabe's doctor had recommended he cut
back on his
activities. (NOTE: Gono told us last year that Mugabe was ill
and that his
doctor had urged him to step down immediately. Mugabe had told
his doctor,
according to Gono, that he would leave office after the
election).”
Using the time frame allegedly given by doctors, Mugabe will
not live beyond
2013.
Gono rejected the account on Saturday night,
telling New Zimbabwe.com in a
brief statement: “It’s a lie. I wouldn’t even
dare talk about that.”
Mugabe’s health has remained a closely guarded secret
despite constant media
speculation that he was battling advanced
cancer.
The Zanu PF leader -- who turned 87 his year -- has made several
trips to
the Far East, supposedly to seek treatment although officials
claimed he was
having a minor eye problem attended to.
He was nominated
to represent the party in elections he now insists must be
held by March
2012.
Despite his reported ill health, American officials who have met
Mugabe
insist he is remarkably active and alert for a man his
age.
Congressmen Donald Payne found Mugabe “alert and engaged” during a
visit in
June 2009, adding that he appeared “a vigorous 85-year-old in
superb health”.
Again during another meeting in April of the same year
with Norwegian
minister, Erik Solheim, officials remarked on Mugabe's
"incredible vitality
given his age.”
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
03/09/2011 00:03:00 John Wepakati
1. In an informal
and introductory meeting which circumvented Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
(MFA) protocol, the Ambassador and Vice President Joice
Mujuru discussed
sanctions, the Global Political Agreement (GPA), and
ZANU-PF.
Mujuru
hewed to the party line on sanctions, claiming that sanctions on
institutions were hurting ordinary Zimbabweans. The Ambassador responded
that the U.S. was looking for progress on the GPA as a predicate to lifting
these sanctions. On the GPA, Mujuru maintained that ZANU-PF had made
significant concessions; the most critical outstanding issue was sanctions.
Without separating herself from President Robert Mugabe, Mujuru said that
new and younger leadership was entering ZANU-PF and the party would
gradually evolve. The meeting was friendly and, at a minimum, opened up a
channel of communication. END SUMMARY.
2. ZANU-PF
government officials normally will not meet with us unless a
request has
been made to the MFA. The MFA then schedules the meeting and
sends a note
taker. Through a Mujuru advisor, David Butau, we requested an
informal
meeting to better establish a relationship and facilitate an
exchange of
views. Three days after the conclusion of the ZANU-PF Congress,
Mujuru
agreed to a meeting, but it was only at the last minute that
logistics were
arranged. Mujuru, who is acting president while Mugabe is in
Copenhagen for
the United Nations Climate Change Conference, wanted to
ensure that the
meeting with the U.S. ambassador was private and
undisclosed.
3. The meeting took place in an unoccupied
house owned by Mujuru on the
outskirts of Harare. The affluent and powerful
are not immune from frequent
Harare power cuts, and the neighborhood was
dark. While the house had
electricity, irregular power had shorted most of
the lights. We were met by
a Mujuru employee who led us through darkened
grounds to an unfurnished
living room (except for chairs and a plasma
television) where Mujuru and
Butau were waiting. The Vice President had
managed to shed all of her
(presumably CIO-infiltrated) security. She
herself poured tea. The meeting
was friendly and respectful; at the end
Mujuru said she would like to meet
again and continue the
conversation.
4. Not surprisingly, Mujuru began the discussion
with sanctions. She
argued that while she and others were targets, they
were not hurt. Rather,
ordinary Zimbabweans were suffering as a result of
sanctions on institutions
such as ZB Bank and Agribank, which had
historically provided loans to small
businessmen and farmers. Now, because
of sanctions, they were illiquid and
could not lend. The Ambassador
acknowledged that sanctions were an
emotional and pervasive issue. There
might be a willingness in Washington
to look at non-personal sanctions, but
this was not a one-sided process.
With progress on GPA issues, the U.S.
would consider responding. How did
she see progress, the Ambassador
asked?
5. Mujuru stated that the most critical GPA issue was
Q5. Mujuru stated
that the most critical GPA issue was sanctions. ZANU-PF
thought that by
signing the GPA and agreeing to a government with the MDC it
had given more
than the MDC. The MDC had made a number of unhelpful
"pronouncements." At
various times, according to Mujuru, it had urged
Zimbabwe's neighbors to
withhold electricity and fuel. It had asked western
countries to maintain
personal sanctions. ZANU-PF officials, according to
Mujuru, were becoming
"unsettled" and wanted to see MDC movement on
sanctions. (COMMENT: The
Ambassador noted that the MDC could not remove
sanctions -- this was up to
western governments -- and Mujuru did not
dispute this. But she wanted the
MDC to cease its "pronouncements." We
expect an announcement on December 21
by the GPA principals on GPA issues
that have been resolved, probably
commissions and the appointment of
governors, and it would not be surprising
for Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai at that time to suggest that at least
some non-personal sanctions
be removed.
6. Mujuru continued that there was a distinction
between politics and
government. While efforts were on going to resolve
political differences,
the government was making progress. A bill to limit
the powers of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's governor was close to passage,
and Zimbabwe had
just signed a bilateral investment treaty with South
Africa. She pleaded for
U.S. help to restore Zimbabwe's
economy.
7. After commenting that the U.S. was providing
substantial assistance
(food and medical) to the people of Zimbabwe, the
Ambassador replied that,
sanctions or no sanctions, Zimbabwe could begin to
regrow its economy. This
would require restoring external and internal
confidence -- investors needed
to know there was security of contracts and
no excessive government
interference in the economy. In other words,
businesses would accept
economic risk, but it was necessary to remove
political risk.
8. Turning to politics, Mujuru said the ZANU-PF
old guard was giving way to
"young blood." She noted that she (55 years
old) and new Party Chair Simon
Khaya Moyo (64 years old) are on the younger
side and form one half of the
ZANU-PF presidium (along with Mugabe and new
vice president John Nkomo).
The presidium would be together for five years.
Mujuru concluded, "Let's
work together."
9. While Mujuru is
inculcated with ZANU-PF ideology, evidenced by her views
on sanctions, she
and her husband, General Solomon Mujuru, are business
people who understand
that a friendlier and more stable business environment
requires political
change. She also would like better relations with the
U.S. which she views
as essential for Zimbabwe's economic growth. This no
doubt motivated her
desire for a non-official meeting with the Ambassador
immediately after the
ZANU-PF Congress. The fact that she was impelled to
have a clandestine
meeting is reflective of the power of Mugabe and
hard-liners and the fear
they engender. It also shows the weakness of the
party, in that it will not
tolerate its second highest ranking official
having a private meeting with
the U.S. ambassador. (Tsvangirai had no qualms
about informally and openly
meeting the Ambassador. Ref A.)
10. Because of her gender,
Mujuru is an unlikely successor to Mugabe (Ref
B). But she occupies a
prominent position in ZANU-PF and will likely be
part of the power structure
after Mugabe. We know from other sources that
she and her husband would
like to see Mugabe move on. She was cautious in
her first meeting with the
Ambassador, but we will pursue the relationship
both to gain insights into
ZANU-PF and to encourage reform efforts.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
03/09/2011 01:38:00 by
Gilbert Nyambabvu
FORMER Information Minister Jonathan Moyo “planted
false stories” in the
state-run Herald newspaper and harassed staffers who
stood in his way,
former editor Ray Mungoshi told US embassy officials,
according to
diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Friday.
The
Zanu PF government used the Herald as a propaganda tool, with Moyo a
constant thorn in the side of senior editors, Mungoshi told US embassy staff
in an hour-long meeting on March 27, 2003, after he was sacked by
Moyo.
Mungoshi was appointed editor of the state-run title in September 2000
only
to be sacked by Moyo seven months later.
In the meeting,
Mungoshi gave details of Moyo’s “active subversion” of his
editorship by
planting “false stories” and warned that the minister’s
determination to run
the newspaper would end up destroying the title.
Moyo called Mungoshi on
an almost daily basis, usually at about 6AM in the
morning. Mungoshi said
these calls often lasted 30-45 minutes, and were
often “angry diatribes
about The Herald’s lack of support for the
government”.
“Moyo also
used these phone calls to tell Mungoshi what the next day’s
editorial should
be, or what he wanted to see on the first page,” according
to the cable, one
of thousands released by WikiLeaks on Friday.
Mungoshi said he tried
without success to stand-up to Moyo’s interference,
adding when the pressure
became too much, “he would lie low for a week or
two just to stop the early
morning ranting.”
At one time, Mungoshi claimed, Moyo sent him a story
alleging Econet
Wireless founder, Strive Masiyiwa, was involved in illegal
foreign currency
dealings.
The Herald did not run the story after its
own investigations found there
was no basis for the claim. However, the
incident appeared to have called
time on Mungoshi’s tenure at the
newspaper.
“That decision prompted a barrage of verbal abuse from Moyo,
who apparently
told Mungoshi that he had no right to question any stories
(the Minister)
wished to have published,” the cable says.
“Minister
Moyo went directly to sub-editors and production staff to have
stories
placed in the paper after Mungoshi had approved an edition and ‘put
it to
bed’”.
Mungoshi said his relations with the minister had improved when he
was named
among three journalists to conduct President Robert Mugabe’s
birthday
interview -- itself an annual ritual “regarded as an honour for the
most
trusted and local journalists”.
However, barely three weeks
after this apparent vote of confidence, Moyo
demanded Mungoshi’s
resignation.
Mungoshi refused to quit and Moyo promptly fired him along with
his
colleague at the Sunday Mail, Funny Mushava.
“Minister Moyo
replaced both editors with men known to be sympathetic to
(his) desire to
use the government-owned media as a blatant propaganda
instrument,” Mungoshi
told the US officials.
Mungoshi claimed he declined requests by foreign
media organisations to
speak about his experiences as his lawyers were then
“engineering the
largest possible severance deal from Zimpapers”.
On
Friday, Moyo, now MP for Tsholotsho North (Zanu PF), hit back at Mungoshi
calling him “incompetent”, the reason he said, he fired him.
"I have
a lot of respect for Tommy Sithole but I never understood, even to
this day,
why he promoted that fellow. He was incompetent. End of story,"
Moyo
blasted.
Moyo also rejected accusations that he used sub-editors and
production staff
to smuggle stories into the paper, stating: "Mungoshi will
not produce
anyone to back this up because it's a decadent, blatant lie --
the kind that
people tell when they are campaigning for American visas." -
Newzimbabwe.com
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/09/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
FORMER Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano likened
President Robert Mugabe
to a “mad dog” looking for a dignified exit from
power, leaked US diplomatic
cables reveal.
Speaking in January 2009,
Chissano said 87-year-old Mugabe, in power since
1980, needed a “face-saving
exit strategy in order to feel as though he
could leave
peacefully”.
“Chissano likened the situation to leaving an open door in a
straw hut for a
mad dog that, when kicked, would most likely run out,
whereas if the door
were closed, the dog would probably turn and bite,”
wrote Todd Chapman, the
Charge D’Affaires at the US embassy in Maputo after
a meeting with the
former President.
Chapman said Chissano’s “body
language and especially direct words conveyed
frustration on Zimbabwe, and
together with the thinly-veiled comparison of
Mugabe to a mad dog might
suggest that even some of the old comrades from
the independence struggles
have grown weary of the problems next door.”
But in the same interview,
the former President who was the best man at
Mugabe's wedding to Grace
Marufu in 1996, is said to have been critical of
South African cleric
Archbishop Desmond Tutu's constant attacks on Mugabe,
saying "it wasn't the
role of a man of the church to speak out against the
government of Zimbabwe
in such a way that could incite violence".
The discussion with Chissano,
a former regional ally of Mugabe, came just
days before a unity government
was formed to end a year-long political
impasse caused by disputed
elections. Mugabe stayed on as President with
coalition partners Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara becoming Prime
Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister respectively.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/09/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
CENTRAL Bank governor Gideon Gono claimed credit for the
dismissal from Zanu
PF and government of former Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo and also told
US embassy officials he would be happy to see
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa “wounded”, according to leaked US
diplomatic cables.
Gono met former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher
Dell in December 2004
claiming to be a “messenger” from President Robert
Mugabe who, the RBZ chief
said, was keen to see an improvement in relations
between the two countries.
During the 90-minute meeting, Gono is said to
have claimed that Mugabe would
soon dismiss Moyo and Chinamasa over their
involvement in the Tsholotsho
saga, adding the Zanu PF leader was also
unhappy with Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo and his then Foreign
Affairs colleague, Stan
Mudenge.
However, Gono told New Zimbabwe.com
on Saturday that most of Dell’s claims
amounted to “fiction, opinion and
character assassination” which were
deliberately stripped of their
context.
He said the events related to took place at a time Zanu PF and
government
officials decided to employ a "good cop/bad cop strategy" in
their dealings
with the West as the country battled crippling economic
sanctions.
“If you draw conclusions outside the full context in which
things are said
and discussed, you run the risk of missing the real issues
completely.
Beyond these remarks, I have nothing else to say," Gono
said.
Still, Dell claimed the RBZ chief told him Mugabe was furious that
an
unnamed local banker had funded the infamous Tsholotsho meeting which
allegedly discussed possible changes to the Zanu PF top
leadership.
Gono said the banker had mistaken Mugabe’s close association
with Moyo and
Emmerson Mnangagwa – then the Speaker of Parliament -- for the
President’s
endorsement of the so-called Tsholotsho conspiracy.
“By
having spent four hours at the wedding of Mnangagwa’s child, Mugabe
conveyed
the false impression to the Zanu PF faithful that the Speaker was
his heir
apparent,” Ambassador Dell said in his report.
“Likewise, Information
Minister Moyo’s frequent visits to the President had
conveyed the false
impression that he was speaking on behalf of Mugabe,
including when he
organised the Tsholotsho meeting.”
Gono predicted Moyo would be fired from
his party and government positions,
adding many in Zanu PF welcomed his
demise.
“Gono predicted Mugabe would not include Moyo in the new (Zanu
PF) politburo
(adding that) without a politburo seat, Moyo could not
plausibly continue as
the government’s official spokesman. Gono confirmed
that many in Zanu PF
were fed up with Jonathan and his approach and
supported his ouster,” Dell
said.
The RBZ governor also
suggested Chombo, Mudenge and Chinamasa were similarly
imperilled and could
lose their cabinet seats – although none went the way
Gono
predicted.
Said Dell: “Gono also postulated that Chinamasa’s influence
was waning and
that Mugabe might exclude the Justice Minister from the new
politburo, in
part a result of Gono’s own efforts to undermine him
(Chinamasa).
“The RBZ governor explained he had ‘no sympathy’ for
Chinamasa after he
turned down the UN Development Programme’s election
assistance offer. Gono
(said) that it was sometimes a good thing to see
people like Chinamasa get
‘wounded’.
“He added that Mugabe also
expressed displeasure with Local Governments
Minister Chombo and Foreign
Minister Mudenge, and that both of them could be
on their way out as
well.”
Dell concluded his report by saying Gono’s “considerable ego and
ambition”
made it difficult to determine whether the RBZ chief was speaking
for Mugabe
or just engaging in some “self-serving spin”.
“Gono …
clearly has designs on still higher office. The bulk of the
conversation was
about politics regardless of the fact that as RBZ governor,
Gono’s writ is
confined largely to economics,” Dell wrote.
“In fact, he works to portray
himself as having a much larger role and great
sway over Mugabe, albeit on
an informal basis. It is hard to say just how
far Gono’s ambitions go but he
certainly aims as far as Prime Minister
should that position be recreated.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
02/09/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
TWO serving army generals described defence forces chief
General Constantine
Chiwenga as a “political general” with “little practical
military experience
or expertise”, US embassy cables released by the
whistleblower website,
Wikileaks have revealed.
Brigadier General
Herbert Chingono, the Inspector General for the Zimbabwe
National Army
(ZNA), and Major General Fidelis Satuku , the ZDF Director
General for
Policy and Personnel, made the damning remarks during private
meetings with
Ambassador Charles Ray between January 5 and 6, 2010.
In the cable to the
US State Department, Ambassadar Ray concedes that the
officers took grave
personal risk when meeting with him adding: “Their
identities should be
strictly protected. In the current environment, they
risk being charged with
treason for an unsanctioned meeting with U.S.
officials, and that could have
fatal consequences.”
Chingono, an artillery officer, was the last ZNA
officer to train under the
America’s International Military Education and
Training (IMET) programme,
graduating from NDU in 1999, while Satuku
received training in England.
The pair allegedly said Chiwenga – a
political commissar before Independence
in 1980 -- lacked military expertise
and experience.
The defence forces chief was said to have only attended one
mid-level
training course, which he did not even complete.
“General
Constantine Chiwenga is a political general who works hard, but who
has very
little practical military experience or expertise,” the cable
reads.
“Given a choice between a military and a political issue,
Chiwenga will
always choose the political because he doesn't know enough
about the
military to be comfortable discussing it.”
Chingono and
Satuku also stressed Chiwenga’s political ambitions with
Chingono noting:
"He (Chiwenga) will be very disappointed if he does not get
a political
position when his tenure as defence chief ends."
Local media have
recently claimed the General had become a third-factor in
Zanu PF’s
succession battles, leading a faction rivaling those linked to
Vice
President Joice Mujuru and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Satuku,
who works directly for Chiwenga at the Defence Ministry, said that
he is
hardworking, coming to his office at 7:30AM and staying until 10PM,
but he
spends his time on political issues,” reads the Wikileaks cable.
Chingono
and Satuku, however, dismissed reports of factions in the country’s
security
services, speaking instead of “different attitudes and opinions”.
“There
are those who fully support Zanu PF, have no compunction about
engaging in
violence when the party orders it, and who are intensely
political. Others
recognise that the military has been used improperly, and
in some instances,
illegally, and would like to get back to the business of
developing a
professional military,” Chingono said.
“Still others are fence sitters --
they could be professional military or
thugs -- waiting to see who comes out
on top, and will cast their lot with
the winning side just to survive. With
the exception of those who are loyal
Zanu PF tools, no-one dares publicly
air their views.”
Most senior officers, the two senior officers claimed,
“want to be able to
pursue their profession in an honourable manner” and
regretted the military’s
involvement in events such as the violence which
attended the 2008 general
elections.
“The events of 2008 when the
military was used to violate the human rights
of those who opposed Zanu PF
are, Chingono said, hopefully an anomaly that
will never happen again,”
Ambassador Ray’s report reads.
When asked why officers who want to be
professional didn't oppose such
employment, he replied: “In a professional
military, you can be
court-martialed for failing to carry out an order.”
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
03/09/2011 01:52:00 by
THE
controversial business tycoon Billy Rautenbach – who is developing a
biofuels project in Chisumbanje – says he hates January, when school fees
are due, because of the large number of senior government officials who
approach him for “donations” to pay their children's school
fees.
Rautenbach made the claim during meetings with US Ambassador
Charles Ray,
according embassy communications released on Friday by
whistleblower website
WikiLeaks.
Ambassador Ray met Ambassador
Rautenbach and his key aide, Robson "Taffy"
Matonhodze -- a former soldier
-- to get their perspective on attitudes
among the Zanu PF military and
civilian officials on December 29, 2009.
Accoding to the Wikileaks cable,
Rautenbach – who is on the US sanctions
list for his alleged financial links
to President Robert Mugabe -- said
being a Zanu PF supporter was no
guarantee against negative Zanu PF actions.
“Rautenbach, for instance,
said that even though he is an acknowledged
financial supporter, it did not
keep local Zanu PF thugs from seizing his
brother's farm,” Ambassador Ray
wrote.
“One of the problems with supporting Zanu PF, they acknowledged,
is that
once you start, it becomes difficult and dangerous to try to
disengage. You
could end up dead, was clearly their
message.”
Rautenbach, who has denied any links to Zanu PF, allegedly
warned Western
countries against bribing military and police chiefs seen as
impeding reform
in the country with one-off payments and security from
prosecution for
rights abuses.
“What is not understood by the West is
that except for a small number, most
of these people have not amassed larges
hoards of money. They have farms,
most in terrible condition, and they
operate them based on being able to
demand inputs because of their
position,” Ambassador Ray wrote following the
meeting.
“When they get
large amounts of money, it is almost immediately spent, on
houses, cars, or
girlfriends,” Rautenbach is quoted as telling the US envoy.
The
businessman said he hates January, when school fees are due, because of
the
large number of senior officials who approach him for “donations” to pay
their children's school fees.
He also claimed that Zanu PF chiefs
were not terribly bothered by Western
sanctions and only used them to
“stonewall” the opposition’s push for more
reforms. - Newzimbabwe.com
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
03/09/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZAMBIA turned down a secret approach by senior ex-ZAPU
officials to access
military archives chronicling ZIPRA’s role in the 1970s
independence war,
for fear of angering President Robert Mugabe.
The
late Vice President Joseph Msika, his successor John Nkomo and current
Zanu
PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo “complained that official
government
of Zimbabwe chronicles of the war emphasised the central ZANLA
role and
relegated ZIPRA to footnotes”, Zambia’s ambassador to Zimbabwe told
American
officials, according to secret diplomatic cables released by
WikiLeaks on
Friday.
The former ZAPU leaders wanted to send archivists and a
photographer to
search Freedom House and military archives in Barotseland in
a bid to tell
the true story of ZIPRA’s war effort.
But Ben Shawa,
the Zambian ambassador, told the ex-ZAPU leaders to “put
their request
through Government of Zimbabwe channels to avoid accusations
after the fact
that the Government of the Republic of Zambia was playing a
double-game”.
But even then, Shawa told US embassy officials that
“whatever the outcome of
the initiative, the Government of the Republic of
Zambia would ensure that
no-one from a Mafela Trust delegation went to
Barotseland”. Mafela Trust is
a Bulawayo-based organisation that researches
and documents the political
and military activities of ZIPRA during the
liberation war. The organisation
is supported by ex-ZAPU leaders, some of
whom sit on its board.
Zambia played host to Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU and its
military wing, ZIPRA,
during the liberation war, while Mozambique was the
base for Robert Mugabe's
ZANU and its fighting wing, ZANLA.
Shawa
noted that the approach by the ex-ZAPU leaders sometime in 2006
pointed to
“high level Ndebele discontent”, and he predicted that it was a
“harbinger
of a movement to create a ZAPU organisation as opposed to the
ZAPU 2000
party formed before the 2000 parliamentary election that failed to
garner
widespread support in Matabeleland”.
“Shawa said that there are
significant rifts at the top of Zanu PF, and that
one of the most
significant cleavages runs along ethnic lines,” according to
the cable dated
September 8, 2006.
As he predicted, ZAPU was relaunched two years later
after ZIPRA’s wartime
commander Dumiso Dabengwa and several other senior
leaders who had joined
the unity government with Mugabe’s ZANU in 1987
announced they were pulling
out.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/09/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE ownership of Zimbabwe’s privately-owned NewsDay
newspaper has been
thrown into question by newly-leaked United States
diplomatic cables.
Publisher Trevor Ncube, who owns The Standard and The
Independent, said the
newspaper which started publishing in 2010 was his
latest investment under
his Alpha Media Holdings company where he has a
controlling 61 percent
stake.
And in advance of the launch, Ncube
told the Mail & Guardian of South
Africa, which he also owns, that the
total investment for the new newspaper
was US$4 million.
But a leaked
US diplomatic cable, posted on the whistleblower website,
WikiLeaks, last
Friday strongly hints that the newspaper is owned by a New
York-registered
media investment firm.
In an October 2009 cable, the US embassy’s charge
de affairs, Donald
Petterson, wrote: “In recent conversations, publisher of
The Independent and
The Standard Trevor Ncube has told us of his intention
to publish a daily,
NewsDay.
“A representative of the Media
Development Loan Fund (www.mdlf.org), which
supports Ncube's Mail and Guardian in South Africa, visited us last week.
She said her organisation is investing US$3 million dollars equity in
NewsDay and providing an additional US$1 million loan.
“A used Swedish
printing press is now being set up in Harare and Ncube would
like to begin a
print run of 30,000 on November.”
The Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
says on its website that it is a
registered charity which provides “low-cost
capital and technical know-how
to help journalists in challenging
environments build sustainable businesses
around professional, responsible,
quality journalism.”
But claims in the cable that MDLF's “equity” is
equal to the total cost of
the newspaper project would suggest a
shareholding interest in NewsDay –
which would be illegal under Zimbabwean
law.
Section 65 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act says
“any individual who is not a citizen of Zimbabwe or any body
corporate in
which a controlling interest is not held, directly or
indirectly, whether
through any individual, company or association or
otherwise, by one or more
individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe” may not
be a mass media owner
Dear Family and Friends,
Doing a favour for a couple who were leaving the
country, a friend and
I went to collect a crate of books from their rapidly
emptying home.
It was a very heavy, slatted plank, wooden crate and contained
perhaps
fifty books. The books had belonged to the man’s grandfather,
Donald
Moody, who came to the country in an ox drawn wagon in 1892. He
was
part of a group of farmers and their families who came from
South
Africa in what was known as ‘Moodie’s Trek.’ The books were
being
donated to a small museum in eastern Zimbabwe and were all over
a hundred
years old. Most of the books were dated around 1910 but some
were older, with
one published in 1894 and another in 1898. Conan
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes was
there, alongside Charles Dickens, Milton
and Faust. The books of poetry and
classics provided a unique insight
into the type of people who had been on
the Moodie Trek a hundred and
twenty years ago. Were they all the brutal
ruffians, racists and
rogues that our children are taught about in Zimbabwe’s
classrooms
today, or were they, like so many others in our history, tarred
with
the same brush that marked a few bad characters?
At the top of
the crate of books was a photograph album and I
couldn’t resist the urge to
have a look inside. Carefully I turned a
few of the thick, heavy pages and
was instantly taken back to the life
lived here a century ago. Many of the
handwritten captions under the
pictures were no longer legible and many of
the photographs were
similarly faded beyond recognition. Some had survived
the ravages of
time and weather: a group of men, oxen and wagons preparing
for a
river crossing; a child sitting on the dusty ground wearing a
bonnet;
women grinding corn; men carrying spears; the earliest residence of
a
government official, dated 1915, and a hippopotamus breaking the
surface
in a wide stretch of river in Inyanga.
As the sun began to move towards
the horizon, the electricity went off
and it was too dark to see the images
in the hundred year old
photographs. I looked through the newspapers of the
day instead. It
was a strange feeling to have records from 1910 in one hand
and
newspapers of 2011 in the other. Here was the story of a hundred
years
of the country right in front of me, a unique encounter.
By a
strange quirk of coincidence I came a across a full page
declaration in one
of the newspapers inserted by the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe. It
was headed: ‘Statement on the Abuse
of the National History Curriculum,’ and
was a forthright and
damning expose of what is going on in Zimbabwe’s
classrooms. The
teachers described how politicians in power have corrupted
the history
curriculum to suit their own ends. The statement said politicians
have
done this to: “peddle their ideology and to brain wash
innocent
learners.” The statement said that teachers working in
politically
volatile areas of the country have “stopped teaching components
of
the history syllabus for fear of being attacked.”
The closing
paragraph of the statement by the teachers’ union read:
“We call upon the
nation to join teachers in condemning such efforts
to convert our children
into creatures endowed with political
hatred...... We implore parents to
‘unteach’ what has been or is
likely to be ‘mistaught’ about the history of
this country.”
The statement by the teachers union in 2011 is as much a
part of our
history as the Moodie Trek a hundred and twenty years ago. Until
next
time, thanks for reading, love cathy. Copyright � Cathy Buckle
3
September 2011.
www.cathybuckle.com
