VOA
By Ntungamili Nkomo
Washington DC
05
September 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
threat to unilaterally form a
government if opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai continued to refuse to
sign a power-sharing agreement was on hold
Friday pending the resumption of
talks Monday, political sources said
Friday.
The sources said Mr. Mugabe issued that ultimatum in the
belief that the
talks would pick up again Thursday, and that Tsvangirai
would again be
presented with the draft agreement he has declined to sign
saying that it
does not give him sufficient powers as vice
president.
Thursday's negotiations were canceled after Tsvangirai sent
word to South
African President Thabo Mbeki, mediator in the power-sharing
talks under way
since late July, that he would not be available to
participate. Mr. Mbeki
accordingly put off traveling to Harare until
Monday.
Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga in Pretoria professed
ignorance of his
boss's expected trip to Harare. However, well-informed
sources in both
formations of the Movement for Democratic Change confirmed
that Mr. Mbeki is
expected.
Political analyst John Makumbe of the
University of Zimbabwe told reporter
Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that Mr. Mbeki's latest
mission seems likely to be another futile
attempt to forge an agreement
between ZANU-PF and the MDC.
The talks
have been hung up for some time on the issue of how executive
powers should
be shared by Mr. Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as
presumptive prime
minister.
There were reports and statements this week - including by
Tsvangirai
himself to a South African radio station - suggesting that the
MDC has
become disillusioned with the power-sharing negotiation process and
considers that it has run its course.
Tsvangirai was not immediately
available to comment on such reports and
statements attributed to
him.
In Washington, a U.s. State Department spokesman on Thursday
expressed
Washington's opposition to the unilateral formation of a cabinet
threatened
by Mr. Mugabe. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs
Jendayi
Fraser told reporters in Swaziland Friday that if Mr. Mugabe follows
through
on his threat such a cabinet would be "a sham."
Asked if
Washington would encourage the MDC to keep talking, State
Department Deputy
Spokesman Robert Wood said this that was a decision for
the MDC to make. He
said that the U.S. position is that any deal should
reflect the will of the
people as expressed in the presidential and general
elections held on March
29.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai's MDC formation was preparing to mark the ninth
anniversary of the party's founding on Sunday at Mkoba Stadium in
Gweru.
Although the opposition party has not arrived in power and remains
embroiled
in the power-sharing talks with Mr. Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF,
the
combined MDC formations including the grouping led by Arthur Mutambara
control a majority of seats in the lower house and in late August elected an
MDC house speaker - a first since independence in 1980.
Organizing
Secretary Elias Mudzuri of the Tsvangirai formation told reporter
Carole
Gombakomba that although the party has police clearance for the
gathering it
is not entirely clear it will be able to celebrate its
anniversary without
interference by state agents.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3523
September 6, 2008
By
Raymond Maingire
HARARE - MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is set to make an
emotional public
reunion with his supporters this weekend after repeated
efforts to address a
public rally were thwarted by the police over the past
three months.
The MDC president will be anxious to fathom the depth of
his recently forged
alliance with legislators belonging to Arthur
Mutambara's breakaway faction
of the MDC.
Tsvangirai is scheduled to
present a keynote address when his party
celebrates its 9th anniversary at
Gweru's Mkoba stadium on Sunday.
Previous attempts by Tsvangirai to
address a rally during the run-up to the
second presidential election held
on June 27 were scuttled by the police.
The MDC leader was forced to
withdraw his candidacy, citing widespread
political violence perpetrated by
Zanu-PF militants against supporters and
officials of his
party.
Tsvangirai was arrested by the police on more than five occasions
in less
than three weeks before he finally bowed out.
President
Robert Mugabe was left with a clear field, winning the election
with what
his party hailed as a landslide victory, although he was the sole
candidate.
He was sworn-in immediately after what many in and out of
Zimbabwe,
including former allies in SADC, dismissed as a sham election.
Sunday's
rally is the first by the MDC since that controversial election. It
follows
hard on the heels of the party's victory in Parliament on August 25
when the
party's chairman, Lovemore Moyo, was elected Speaker of Parliament,
a
strategic gain. Moyo easily overcame the challenge presented by the
Zanu-PF
candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi, of the rival MDC led by Mutambara.
Moyo
secured victory through the support of 10 Members of Parliament whose
election was sponsored by the Mutambara faction but who deserted their party
leader at the first opportunity to flex their electoral
muscles.
While Mutambara provided Mugabe with a candidate through a
behind-the-scenes
trade-off seeking to deliver a mortal blow on Tsvangirai,
Mutambara's MPs
deserted him and extended a life-line to Tsvangirai by
voting for his
candidate. The anniversary will provide an occasion for much
belated
celebration, including of the MDC's victory in Parliament on March
29 as
well as Tsvangirai's own victory over Mugabe on the same
day.
MDC officials expect thousands of Zimbabweans to throng Mkoba
Stadium to
celebrate the anniversary under the theme: "Together to the end;
celebrating
the people's victory."
The MDC was launched on September
11, 1999 at a colourful ceremony attended
by representatives of the workers'
movement, church organisations, the
student movement and other civic
partners.
Sunday's celebration will be the first public gathering
organised by the MDC
since its star rally was violently foiled by Zanu-PF
militants on June 22 at
Harare's Glamis Stadium.
Dozens of MDC
supporters were left nursing injuries when hordes of Zanu-PF
supporters
descended on and went on the rampage at the venue and blocked the
rally.
Following the March 29 harmonised elections, the MDC now holds
100 seats in
Parliament against Zanu-PF's 99. The break-away faction of the
MDC holds 10
while independent legislator and former information minister
Jonathan Moyo
accounts for the last seat. There are now 210 seats in
Zimbabwe's expanded
legislative assembly.
A vacant seat has since
been created following the death of a Zanu-PF
legislator shortly after the
March elections.
The MDC also controls 45 local authorities while Zanu-PF
and the other MDC
control the balance of 44. In the Senate Zanu-PF holds 30
of the elected
seats, while the two MDCs hold the other 30.
The MDC
has become the new ruling party by virtue of its slim but crucial
parliamentary majority; its position being boosted by the support of the 10
Mutambara MPs as happened on August 25.
However, its ability to
influence far-reaching changes in government is
curtailed by its lack of
executive power, which the 84-year-old Mugabe still
firmly controls. It is
the sharing of this power that has remained a
stumbling block to the success
of the current power-sharing talks between
Zanu-PF and the two
MDCs.
While Mutambara has agreed to go along with a proposal that ensures
executive power remains vested in Mugabe's hands, Tsvangirai has refused to
sign.
It is the Mutambara-Mugabe alliance, which is regarded by many
as treachery
for personal gain, that has led to a split in his
faction.
Tsvangirai's strategists will be anxious to count the number of
Mutambara's
MP's in attendance at the mainstream MDC's rally on Sunday. If
the 10
legislators cement the alliance forged with Tsvangirai in Parliament
on
August 25 by turning out in full force that could place Mutambara's
career
as an independent political leader on hold for now, while sending
Mugabe's
strategists scurrying back to their drawing board.
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September 6 2008 - Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe is ready
to engage the Western community over the
country's political crisis, Deputy
Information Minister, Bright Matonga
revealed to RadioVOP Saturday.
This follows mounting
international pressure on Mugabe after power
sharing talks stalled, owing to
his refusal to cede power to Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe also courted international censure
after he announced that he
would go ahead and appoint a cabinet which
exludes the opposition, if its
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, refuses to sign a
power sharing deal.
Under the deal, Tsvangirai would be junior
to Mugabe. Matonga said the
West should instead engage Mugabe, as criticism
and sanctions against him
and his key allies would not solve the political
crisis.
Matonga told RadioVOP that Mugabe is willing and ready
to engage
Western leaders, in a bid to find a lasting solution to the
Zimbabwe
situation.
The West has threatened to push for
tougher action against Mugabe, if
he continues to cede power to Tsvangirai
on the basis that he won the
discredited June 27 presidential runoff
vote.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4854
By
Stephen Chadenga Saturday, September 6, 2008
At Sunday school in the
early 1980s, we used to sing the following verse
with glee,
"Smile,
don't you know God loves you.
Come to think of it, I love you too.
Take
the time to smile at someone,
And before you are through
Someone will be
smiling back at you."
That was way back when Zimbabwe's economy was not
only a regional but a
continental and global envy. There was reason to
smile. 1980 was the year
Zimbabwe gained its political independence from
British colonial rule. The
emancipation extended to undisputable high
standards of living. From a
monthly salary, workers could afford to buy
household property. They could
make savings, purchase cars and
houses.
During those years nobody prioritized food. It was just there in
abundance.
It was unheard of to have breakfast without eggs, sausage and
bacon. Beef,
fish, beans among other delicacies constituted people's daily
diets.
Now 28 years after the country was liberated to become Zimbabwe
(in local
language Zimbabwe means "house of stones"), the house is
collapsing on its
inhabitants. Employee's salaries can only buy a bar of
soap or three loaves
of bread. Formal employment has been reduced to a
circus.
There is a political crisis in this Southern African country.
That crisis
has completely destroyed the economic, social and moral
fabrication of the
country. There is acute poverty. Zimbabweans have been
stripped of their
dignity. Most people's diets have been reduced to thick
porridge and boiled
vegetables. In drought prone rural areas, many are
surviving on wild fruits.
People are preoccupied with putting spirit and
flesh together. Only those
engaging in corruption and parallel market
activities live like kings.
Prior to the June 27 presidential run-off,
humanitarian aid agencies were
given a three-month suspension on June 4,
with government accusing them of
using food aid "as a campaign tool" for the
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). The recent lifting of the suspension
has been hailed by some
non-governmental organizations (NGOS) as a step that
can help alleviate the
food crisis gripping many parts of the
country.
The state media quoted Plan International Director for Eastern
and Southern
Africa, Deepah Khanna, as saying, "We are pleased that the
Zimbabwe
authorities have decided to reopen the humanitarian
space.
"The move reflects a positive step forward in the spirit of a
close
relationship that Plan and other NGOs are seeking to enhance with our
stakeholders in Zimbabwe, particularly children and women."
As you
move in the streets, particularly in the high-density suburbs and
rural
areas, you are met with empty faces. You attempt to put on a smile but
people reciprocate through frowns. Most communities are no longer conscious
of what happiness entails. The rising of the sun is the beginning of a daily
struggle. A fight to put something in the tummy and possibly see the next
day. The impoverishment is just intense.
Zimbabweans are resilient by
nature, a patient and hopeful lot. It is that
virtue that keeps them going
with great expectations that one day everything
will be fine. That food will
be readily available, health facilities fully
functional, clean water is
easily accessible, education is not compromised
and the right to freedom of
expression is a right.
The much publicised power sharing deal between
Zanu PF's Robert Mugabe and
Movement for Democratic Change's Morgan
Tsvangirai brought much relief in
its initial stages. Now that there is no
consensus on how to divide
executive powers between Mugabe, as President and
Tsvangirai Prime Minister,
there is fear that the negotiations face imminent
collapse. The Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) appointed a
mediator in the inter-party
talks, South African President Thabo Mbeki's
expected trip to Zimbabwe this
week to make an effort to ensure that the
power sharing deal is finalized
has reportedly been rescheduled to next
week.
A cabinet is yet to be set as the power-sharing dispute between
Zanu PF and
MDC continues.
President Mugabe was quoted in Lusaka,
Zambia where he had gone to attend
the funeral of President Levy Mwanawasa,
as telling journalists, "We are a
government and we are a government that is
empowered by elections. We should
form a cabinet. We would not allow a
situation where we will not have a
cabinet."
Tsvangirai, however say
Mugabe's opening of parliament on Tuesday last week
and subsequent talk of
appointing a cabinet is a breach against the "spirit
of talks."
The
economic situation worsens by the day. Year-on-year inflation is
officially
at a world record of 11.2 million percent. House rentals and even
more
seriously some basic foodstuffs like mealie-meal are charged in foreign
currency. They are beyond the reach of many. People have lost faith in their
own currency. The popular song in the streets is "the Zimbabwe dollar has no
value and if you "sleep" with it, it's either you or it is
"dead."
Zimbabweans still pin their hopes on the power sharing deal. But
the big
question is: Will people ever put on a smiling face in this
beautiful
African country ever again? If so, when?
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Zimbabwean president's past improvements to education system now
under
threat.
By Benedict Unendoro in Masvingo (ZCR No. 161,
05-Sep-08)
President Robert Mugabe's success in creating an "education
revolution",
raising literacy rates in Zimbabwe to 98 per cent by the late
1990s, is fast
unravelling.
Analysts say the major advances made in
education following Zimbabwe's
independence are now being reversed. In ten
years' time, there will be a
whole generation of illiterate people, and the
literacy rate will drop from
one of the world's highest to just 40 or 50 per
cent of the adult
population.
When Zimbabwe became independent from
Britain in 1980, Mugabe promised
"Education for All by 2000".
Schools
were built everywhere to ensure that every child had a school within
walking
distance. Every village had a pre-school facility, secondary schools
were
added on to primary schools, and tertiary education was also expanded,
with
at least one university in each of the country's ten administrative
provinces.
The government's Department of Adult and Continuing
Education focused on
those who wanted to continue studying under difficult
circumstances. In
addition to adult literacy classes, free correspondence
modules were
supplied to villagers with no access to formal
schooling.
But all this is now coming to nought - and nowhere is this
more evident than
in Masvingo province in southern Zimbabwe
Masvingo,
with a population of about two million, is of particular
importance because
it used to have arguably the most educated population in
Zimbabwe.
According to Joseph Muzenda, a retired headmaster in the
province, the
reason for this was simple, "Being a dry province where little
agriculture
is possible, parents invested in the education of their
children, so they
would get formal employment in the cities and then help
their families."
While many factors have contributed to the decline in
state-funded education
in Zimbabwe over the past ten years, the most
important is clearly the
contraction of government spending - the country is
broke.
"Education was solely financed by the taxpayer, except if it was
[religious]
mission education," said Muzenda.
"Every school got what
were called 'vote allocations' from central
government, which they would use
to buy all the essentials such as
textbooks, exercise books and furniture.
These vote allocations have become
virtually worthless."
Although
education has received the largest share of government spending
ever since
1980, in recent years, the value of this has been eroded to
almost
nothing.
"Schools now have no textbooks or exercise books, let alone
furniture," said
Happison Zvodya, a primary school teacher in Masvingo
province.
"Teachers have advised parents to buy their children these
essentials, but
that is impossible because the little money people here ever
get is used to
buy food."
This drought-prone province has not had a
decent rainy season in the past
five years, and people depend mostly on
handouts from aid agencies.
In June, the Zimbabwean government banned
humanitarian groups from
distributing food. Although this ban has now been
relaxed, the agencies must
meet strict new conditions related to reporting
their activities.
The government's "Food-for-Work" programme used to
help. This programme,
under which villagers worked on roads, schools and
other infrastructure in
return for food aid, was meant to ensure that a
dependency syndrome did not
emerge.
However, it has now been
discontinued because the government simply does not
have the resources to
sustain it.
With neither food handouts nor food-for-work schemes putting
food on the
table, education has been relegated to the lowest priority as
families spend
most of their time looking for sustenance.
"The
dropout rate is escalating. Children as young as ten no longer see the
importance of school. They would rather be in the neighbouring farms looking
for fruit and mopani worms for sale," said Zvodya.
"Teenagers are
involved in other activities, such as gold panning and the
making of curios,
which they sell to foreigners along the
Masvingo-Beitbridge
road."
Indeed, a drive along this road, the gateway to South Africa,
shows up a
roaring trade in wooden curios, earthenware pots, and mopani
worms - moth
larvae considered a delicacy all over Zimbabwe.
In
Masvingo, the collapse of the education system is a double tragedy. Not
only
will the elderly, who used to benefit from their children's education
as an
insurance against hunger, have nothing to resort to, but the social
fabric
of the province has been torn.
Many young people now engage in criminal
activities such as poaching game,
while increasing numbers of young women
turn to prostitution.
The education sector throughout the country has
also been adversely hit by a
brain drain which has seen teachers leave in
the country in droves, unhappy
with poor pay and working
conditions.
The average salary in the teaching profession is the
equivalent of 15 US
dollars a month.
According to the Progressive
Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, 25,000 teachers
left the profession last year
alone.
The figure is much higher this year, according to Raymond
Majongwe, the
union's secretary-general. While Zimbabwe needs 120,000
teachers at all
levels, the primary and secondary school sector is being run
by just half
that number.
The problem looks set to get worse. Last
month, it was reported that very
few candidates were taking up places at
teacher training colleges; others
felt it was not worth their while. The
ministry of higher education is
considering dropping entry qualifications in
order to attract trainees.
"Teacher absenteeism is rampant in schools.
Those who have not chosen to
flee are engaging in all sorts of coping
mechanisms," said Zvodya, who is
also about to leave his job.
He
described how teachers at his school, located close to the border with
South
Africa and Mozambique, fail to turn up for work for weeks at a time.
He
explained that they "take turns to go to South Africa to look for
piecework,
mostly in the construction industry. They can be away for as long
as a
month, while other teachers cover their backs. Others go to Mozambique
to
buy wares for resale."
According to Zvodya, there is little monitoring of
absenteeism, since head
teachers may be themselves be taking time off, while
local education
officials are grossly underpaid and lack the car fuel and
motivation to
investigate such cases.
Benedict Unendoro is the
pseudonym of a reporter in Zimbabwe.
From Sapa, 5 September
Hundreds of asylum seekers have been sleeping outside refugee
offices in
Musina, Limpopo, hoping to obtain temporary permits, the
department of home
affairs said on Friday. "We are not sure where these
people are living, but
what I gather is that they are arriving very early in
the morning to be
first in line," said spokesperson, Siobhan McCarthy. She
said as many as 800
people - mostly Zimbabwean nationals - were lining up
daily to obtain
temporary permits. "I understand that the department is
processing at least
350 permits a day." Almost 20 tents that some asylum
seekers were being
housed in, were dismantled two weeks ago because of
health and security
reasons. Musina Municipality spokesperson Wilson Dzebu,
said the tents were
constructed without permission by church organisations
and NGOs. "We
received various complaints from community members about
criminal
incidents... some tents were even erected along sewer lines. NGO's
have come
forward with concerns after the tents were dismantled... but we
are now
waiting for provincial government to give us [the] go-ahead to erect
more,"
Dzebu said. He said the registration process was moved to the local
show
grounds to accommodate the large numbers. Police spokesperson
Superintendent
Ronel Otto said the asylum seekers were being peaceful and
there was no
police presence in the area.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Sep 6, 2008,
15:19 GMT
Mbabane, Swaziland - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
received a rousing
reception in Swaziland Saturday as he joined King Mswati
III, Africa's last
absolute monarch, for controversial independence day
celebrations that have
been overshadowed by protests.
Mugabe, 84, was
one a dozen heads of state and government attending the
celebrations in
Somhlolo Stadium outside the capital Mbabane, where over
15,000 people
gathered to celebrate 40 years of independence from Britain as
well as
Mswati's 40th birthday.
The clearly delighted Zimbabwean leader raised
his fist in acknowledgement
of the welcome before joining leaders from
Tanzania, Madagascar, Uganda,
Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Malawi in
the stands.
US assistant secretary for African affairs, Ambassador
Jendayi Frazer was
also in attendance.
The party went ahead despite
criticism that the millions of dollars spent on
20 new top-of-the-range BMW
cars, a stadium upgrade and shopping trips for
the king's wives, among other
things, would have been better spent on the
poor or the sick.
Around
70 per cent of Swazis live below the poverty line and one in four
adults is
HIV positive, the world's highest infection rate.
Mswati, wearing a
traditional leopard-skin cloth over a wrap skirt, an
armband made from a
cow's tail, and a halo of three red feathers - a sign of
royalty -
acknowledged that the mountainous kingdom of around 1 million
people still
faced enormous challenges.
Four decades after Britain granted the country
its freedom in a ceremony in
the same stadium, Swaziland still grappled with
poverty, hunger, persistent
drought, unemployment, AIDS and tuberculosis, he
said.
But the monarch, who is best known in the West for having 13 wives,
also
stressed achievements in the area of infrastructure development,
education,
telecommunications and tourism.
In a nod to Swaziland's
colonial past, columns of red-jacketed royal guards
from the Swazi Defence
Force marched to music from the army brass band in a
British-style trooping
of the colours.
The thousands of bare-breasted Swazi maidens who formed a
guard of honour
for the king as he drove around the stadium waving from an
open-top BMW 4x4,
a week after dancing for the king, lent the proceedings a
more traditional
feel.
One girl admitted to coveting the mobile
phones, dark sunglasses and other
trappings of wealth flashed by young
female members of the royal family.
'Yes, I would like to be (wife)
number 14,' said Phetsile, a 19- year-old
girl with cropped hair wearing a
traditional cloth tunic tied over one
shoulder that bore the image of the
king's face.
'As the king's wife - I think you get everything you want,'
she said
enthusiastically.
Civil society groups boycotted the party,
which follows two days of protests
by thousands of workers and youths in the
capital and the commercial centre
Manzini earlier this week.
The
government said the party is costing 20 million emalangeni (12.6 million
dollars), but trade unions estimated it cost several times that.
The
controversy comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the
normally
peaceable kingdom in advance of legislative elections on September
19.
Trade unions in Swaziland and South Africa have called for
greater political
freedom, including the right for political parties to
field candidates in
the polls. The government says the constitution does not
allow for
multi-party politics and insists the monarchy assures political
stability.
Through Saturday's celebration, Mswati said, 'We are telling a
world full of
turbulence we are a happy nation in spite of all the
challenges we might
face.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Sep 6, 2008,
11:16 GMT
Harare - Two Zimbabwe air force pilots on a training
flight were killed
Friday after the Chinese-made jet they were flying
crashed, state media
reported Saturday.
The K8 jet trainer crashed at
Thornhill air base in the central city of
Gweru, the air force's main
military base in the country, air force
director-general of operations Air
Commodore Shebba Shumbayawonda told the
state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
The two were training for ceremonial flypasts, he said, but
gave no
indication of how the crash occurred and did not name the victims.
An
investigation had been launched.
It is the first crash involving
one of the air force's squadron of K8 jet
trainers since they were acquired
in 2005.
Zimbabwe's air force was one of the most respected in Africa,
with pilots
with combat experience from the civil war in Democratic Republic
of Congo in
the late 1990s.
However, military analysts say its
effectiveness has slumped in the last
five years as a result of a Western
arms embargo on President Robert
Mugabe's regime, and the departure of
skilled pilots and technicians
escaping the country's economic
collapse.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
When government banned aid groups from distributing food, people
resorted to
other ways of surviving.
From Benedict Unendoro in
southastern Zimbabwe (ZCR No. 161, 05-Sep-08)
In the village of Chilonga,
the centre of attention wlast weekend as without
doubt Tiri's
mother.
The woman, whose name is Norah but who according to tradition is
referred to
by her relationship to her first child, had been away from the
village for
three months.
On her return, she made a startling claim.
She had been to the Marange
diamond fields in eastern Manicaland, where she
had dug up a large diamond.
To demonstrate how rich she had become, she
was now seeking a cow to buy.
Norah had changed in fundamental ways, the
villagers noticed. She did not
carry her baby on her back, as all women
traditionally do. She walked
differently, wore a new frock and had her hair
woven into long, thick
dreadlocks.
Like many young people in the
rural parts of Zimbabwe, Norah has turned her
back on many traditional ways
in order to make ends meet. She is one of the
lucky few who have found
success.
A catastrophic downward economic spiral, caused by the
government's
disastrous "land grab" policies, has turned what was once the
breadbasket of
Africa into an agricultural wasteland.
As the
country's economic and political crisis continues, rural areas have
been
particularly badly hit by severe food shortages and soaring prices.
Food
became even scarcer in these remote regions when a government ban on
the
distribution of food by aid groups came into force in June this year.
Although this ban has now been relaxed, the agencies will now have to meet
strict requirements related to reporting their activities.
Norah's
village of Chilonga in south-eastern Zimbabwe's arid "lowveld" is
one of the
worst affected. People there have survived for decades by working
in game
parks, the sugarcane plantations in Triangle, and the orange
orchards of
Hippo Valley and Chiredzi.
But over the past few years, this way of life
has been disrupted.
The sugarcane fields and wilderness conservation
areas were affected by the
"farm invasions" as land was seized from white
farmers. Fields were
parcelled out to inexperienced new farmers, production
dropped and thousands
lost their sources of livelihood.
Norah's
father was one of them - it got to the stage when he could no longer
afford
to keep his children in school.
Surviving on food handouts from
non-government organisations, he said he had
no choice but to send Norah to
live with his sister, who had married a small
trader in Hippo Valley, "to
help her with the house work".
It is common for poor families to marry
off daughters to richer men in order
to get through hard times. That is how
Norah came, at 15, to marry her aunt's
husband.
At 16, she gave birth
to Tiri, before her elderly husband fell victim to the
economic disaster and
his business collapsed.
Norah left the baby with her mother in the
village, and disappeared to join
the so-called "diamond rush" that has
attracted thousands of unemployed
people ever since early 2006, when someone
stumbled on a gem in the village
of Chiadzwa in Marange
district.
Experts at the University of Zimbabwe say the Marange diamonds
are of
alluvial origin and suitable for industrial use rather than
jewellery,
unlike the much-sought-after kimberlite variety, that has not
stopped people
flocking to the area.
At any one time, up to 5,000
people, mostly men, can be found scouring the
land for precious stones. The
rush has also attracted women who line the
roads, selling everything from
food and clothing to sex.
Norah's story of her precious find emerged at a
funeral, when she told
curious listeners how she had gone to Chiadzwa and
dug up a gem "so pure
that if you drop it into a glass of clean water you
won't see it".
As the area is now officially a no-go area and under
24-hour military guard,
diamond-hunting expeditions are necessarily
clandestine.
"In the middle of the night, we bribe the soldiers, who
allow us into the
diamond fields, and throughout the night, we dig up the
soil and carry it in
sacks to our hideouts," explained Norah.
"During
the day, we sieve the soil and gems drop out like hailstones."
Others in
the region have resorted to different, yet equally clandestine
activities to
survive.
Just within earshot at the funeral, a local headman told how
food shortages
had prompted many young people to abandon traditional village
life to become
poachers.
"The young who have not jumped the border
into South Africa have become
poachers in the conservancies," he
said.
"First, they killed small game to feed their families, but now they
have
gone for the big game. A rhino was found ensnared the other day with
its
horns chopped off. God knows what the young women are up to. Those who
still
remain in the villages are restless," he said."
On August 29, a
notice from the Zimbabwean social welfare ministry announced
that the ban on
the food distribution by aid agencies had been lifted.
Told that the
government had now revoked its ban, the headman said that
while it might
help some people, for others it came too late.
"It will only help the
children in the schools if the NGOs can move fast
enough," he said
sadly.
"But as for the young men and the young women, they have now
become too
bigheaded to wait for food handouts."
Benedict Unendoro is
the pseudonym of a reporter in Zimbabwe.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
05 September
2008
Soaring food prices and increased dollarization of the
Zimbabwean economy
even on in local markets are locking many Zimbabweans out
of markets in
essential goods.
Retailers, vendors and landlords now
demand payment in currencies like the
U.S. dollar, the South African rand or
the Botswana pula. With inflation
officially running at more than 11 million
percent - and some say much
faster - food prices are rising by the hour,
forcing Zimbabweans to forego
meals and walk long distances to
work.
Manufacturing has dwindled to less than a third of what it once was
and
businesses are scaling back to in an effort to remain viable as output
and
consumption shrink.
For a deeper look at Zimbabwe's unraveling
economy and mounting humanitarian
crisis, reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to
National Director Forbes Matonga of
Christian Care, an implementing partner
for the United Nations World Food
Program, and economist and labor expert
Godfrey Kanyenze.
Kanyenze
said the situation in Zimbabwe has reached crisis proportions.
Sitting here on a Saturday morning in the
first days of spring in southern
Africa, we must all contemplate the
possible consequences of the failure of
the negotiations launched by the
SADC States in March 2007. At that time the
concern of South Africa was the
protection of the 2010 Soccer World Cup,
which was being threatened by the
decision of Mugabe to delay the March 2008
elections to June
2010.
That concern led to a secret meeting between Mbeki and Mugabe in
Accra when
Mbeki told Mugabe that under no circumstances could he accept a
controversial electoral process in Zimbabwe at the same time as the World
Cup. He also informed Mugabe that when the elections were held in March
2008, they would have to be credible and based on the SADC guidelines for
elections. To create those conditions the SADC sponsored negotiations were
launched.
They were expected to last for three months and then leave
9 months of
preparation for the first free and fair elections in Zimbabwe
for two
decades. It was not to be; Mugabe procrastinated, allowed the
process to
continue and accepted limited reforms in October followed by a
flat refusal
to do any more. Even so, the limited reforms had the effect of
giving
Zimbabweans the chance to vote under reasonable conditions and Zanu
PF was
defeated in the subsequent elections in March 2008.
What then
followed was a complete farce - aided and abetted by Mbeki who
knew full
well that Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe and had in fact garnered
more than
the 50 per cent required for outright victory. He allowed the run
off and
when this was accompanied by politically inspired and managed
violence
against the MDC he had to then deal with a run off election that
was not
recognised by the African observer teams present for the elections
on the
27th June. He then allowed Mugabe to continue with the farce and
declare
himself President with unseemly haste even before the final results
of the
electoral farce were known. Mbeki then had to live with the
consequences.
Confronted with the clear evidence of electoral fraud
made public by the
African observer missions and spurred on by massive
international outrage at
the behavior of the Mugabe regime, Mbeki lamely
began to pick up the pieces
of his flawed process. He called for the
negotiating teams who had been
involved in the 2007 process to reconvene as
if nothing had happened and was
faced with demands by a bruised and battered
but far from defeated, MDC. He
was forced to concede these and when finally
talks got under way it was with
a new agenda and broader based teams than
had been the case in 2007.
By intervening, Mbeki stopped Zanu PF from
simply forming an illegal
government and carrying on as before. Zimbabwe
slid into a form of suspended
reality, without an effective administration
and Cabinet and no
Parliamentary process. That was five months ago. In this
time the economic
and social crisis in Zimbabwe has intensified
significantly.
Despite the consequences Mbeki still tried to use what
remaining space he
had in this process to secure the position of Zanu PF - a
Party he once
referred to as the "Party of the Revolution". He guided the
talks and when
it came to the final hurdle - he simply drafted a version of
the agreement
that would have left Mugabe in power and given Tsvangirai an
empty chalice
with responsibility and no power. Even worse, he crafted a
deal that he knew
full well, would not be acceptable to the international
community and would
not therefore attract the support it needed to
succeed.
Had Morgan signed, the only winner would have been Mugabe and
Mbeki -
Zimbabwe would have continued to slide into anarchy and
poverty.
But Tsvangirai did not sign, desperate, Mbeki called for
Parliament to be
convened to demonstrate that Mugabe did hold a majority -
with the help of
Mutambara. That failed. Even so Mbeki held onto his belief
in the rightness
of his cause irrespective of the consequences. He appealed
to the SADC
leadership to support a last ditch attempt to get an agreement -
afraid to
act on his own and be labeled as a bully.
On Monday the
President of Tanzania, Mr. Kikwete visited Washington DC and
held talks with
the President G W Bush. They talked about Zimbabwe and if I
know anything
about these things, Kikwete was told what was acceptable in
terms of an
agreement at the SADC talks. He would have been given clear
guidance on the
minimum criteria that had to be satisfied if the agreement
was to attract
international aid.
Kikwete came home and traveled to Lusaka where he met
with the SADC
leadership. Mbeki was told that if he was to do a deal on
Zimbabwe that had
any chance of international acceptance that it had to
conform to certain
requirements. The issue is now clearly back in Mbeki's
court. He is expected
to fly to Harare at any time - probably on Monday, for
a final attempt to
get an agreement.
I personally am convinced that
he simply has no alternative now but to do
what is needed to get Mugabe to
agree to a deal that will essentially lead
to his eventual political
demise.
The consequences of failure are "too horrific to contemplate". At
stake is
the Soccer World Cup into which South Africa has already poured R5
billion,
the social and political stability of South Africa and the
continued growth
and expansion of regional economies.
The battle for
the Presidency in South Africa in next year's elections is
spiraling out of
control as the ANC fights itself and attempts to force
through a violation
of the rule of law as it tries to protect Jacob Zuma
from prosecution. If
Mbeki cannot stem the flood of economic and political
refugees into his
country and cannot control and manage the succession issue
he will run the
risk of doing South Africa serious damage. A deal in
Zimbabwe that creates a
workable transitional government and permits
international aid, would go a
long way towards achieving that. Failure will
plunge not only Zimbabwe, but
also the entire region into a crisis that will
be very costly in the long
run.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 6th September 2008
http://www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday
6th September 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
If you come first in a
running race, why would you give ninety-nine percent
of the gold medal and
prize money to the person who came second? The answer
is obvious but as each
day passes it seems the real winner, and the will of
the majority of
Zimbabweans is not going to be respected. The people and
political party who
came second in Zimbabwe's March 29th elections are
simply not going to step
down and their refusal to accept defeat has sent us
into a dizzying collapse
out of all control.
The rich are getting much, much richer; the poor are
virtually destitute and
the middle class has all but disappeared as Zimbabwe
moves into trading in
US Dollars. No one in government - winners or losers -
has said or done
anything to stop people charging in US dollars and all
control now seems to
be lost. For the last few weeks medical specialists
have been charging their
patients in US dollars. You have to provide hard
currency (US dollar bank
notes) in order to see a dentist, have an
operation, receive the services of
an anaesthetist and lately you even need
US dollars to buy prescription
medicines from pharmacies.
The trend has
spread to spare parts for machines and to computer accessories
and the more
this US dollar trading goes on unchecked and uncontrolled so
the pattern
spreads. Now even locally produced goods are being charged in US
dollars:
meat, eggs, potatoes and milk.
As people do their own thing and while
there remains a non functional
government and non existent authority base,
the situation grows worse and
worse. We are now in a sudden greedy spiral of
US Dollar inflation in
Zimbabwe. A pocket of potatoes that was selling for 5
US dollars last week
now suddenly costs 8 US dollars. The same is happening
to meat prices and to
property rentals.
For the vast majority of
people who have no access to US dollars, life has
become simply unbearable
these last few weeks. Pensioners who have no
foreign currency and cannot buy
life sustaining medicines; people who are
sick and in pain but cannot see
dentists, specialists or undergo operations.
One friend described how she
took a desperately sick man with gangrene to a
government hospital this week
only to be told that they were not accepting
any admissions as they simply
have no resources : no drugs, linen, food or
equipment. After much pleading,
long negotiations and under the counter
payments of huge amounts of money,
the sick man was finally taken in. He had
to provide his own bedding and
linen, bandages, dressings, medication, drugs
and food.
Health for
all by the year 2000 has been the the clarion call of Zanu PF
since they
took power and yet after 28 years this is the state we are in.
And still
they talk of sharing power?
Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy
Mail and Guardian
JASON MOYO -
Sep 06 2008 06:00
The military men arrive in roaring trucks, bearing
axes. They also carry
bricks, cement and thatching grass.
At a
homestead near Gokwe in the Midlands province, villagers marvel at one
of
the many ironies of their struggle to rebuild their lives.
The army was
accused of leading militia loyal to Zanu-PF leader Robert
Mugabe in a brutal
election campaign that the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change says
left more than a hundred people dead.
Now, in the rural Midlands, it is
the same army that is building new huts on
the charred ruins of dozens of
homes and restoring burnt-out granaries and
grocery stores.
The work
is part of the military's "corporate social responsibility
programme" to
mark last month's Defence Force Day celebrations, villagers
were
told.
Trust Maphosa, the defence ministry secretary, gathers villagers
and
traditional leaders, telling them "it is now time for Zimbabweans to
concentrate on nation-building and shun the violence".
The soldiers
themselves take great pride in their work. Augustine Ruwambara,
a major,
describes how his engineering unit has rebuilt homes in three
districts of
the impoverished Gokwe area. They have brought thatching grass
in from
Kwekwe, 100km away.
Only months ago, the sound of approaching trucks was
a signal for villagers
to flee their homes. Militiamen in government
vehicles waged a terror
campaign, and the violence worsened when local
opposition activists
organised and began fighting back, residents
say.
Many of the displaced are only returning now and having to start all
over
again.
"I was lucky," says Anna Gura, from her bare family
store. "They looted and
ransacked the shop, but they couldn't burn it
down."
For Gura, it is an uneasy truce. The man who sacked her store is
well known
to her, and owns his own shop in the same business centre. "I had
boxes of
soap and cooking oil in the storeroom. He took everything.
Everybody knows
it."
She meets her tormentor every day. They even
attend the same church.
"They're saying we should now live in peace. I
agree. But what about the
people we know who killed people? As for me, all I
want are my things back."
With government ordering aid workers returning
to the field to work with
local leaders, many of those responsible for the
attacks will be the ones
taking the lead in feeding their victims.
It
is hoped that aid agencies will peel back the curtain and reveal the true
impact of the violence and the extent of the humanitarian
crisis.
Although some restrictions remain even after government lifted
the ban on
their activities last week, many aid groups have been fanning out
into the
countryside.
During the ban, the little aid work that
continued reached only one- tenth
of the two million people said to be in
urgent need of food assistance. A
Zimbabwe Crop and Food Security Assessment
report says the number of people
in need could rise to five million by
January.
While the focus has been on the immediate task of feeding the
most needy,
many still lack shelter. Returning to their homes, they are
forced to pay
"fines" before they are allowed back into their communities to
begin
rebuilding their homes.
http://www.radiovop.com
BULAWAYO, September 6 2008 -
Fresh intra party fighting within the
ruling Zanu PF has resurfaced in
Bulawayo, following the party's decision to
lift the suspension of all the
provincial chairpersons accused of
participating in the infamous Tsholotsho
debacle.
Ruling party stalwarts then claimed
the meeting had been aimed at
scuttling the ascendancy of Joyce Mujuru to
the ruling party's presidium.
The party's Secretary for
Administration, Didymus Mutasa, on Monday
announced that the party had
lifted the suspension of the six provincial
chairpersons and other party
members alleged to have been involved in the
plot, a development which has
apparently not gone down well with senior Zanu
PF leaders in Bulawayo,
especially Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo,
who has a pending
defamatory case at the Bulawayo High court over the
issue - which has also
sucked in Vice President, Joseph Msika.
"The political
leadership in Bulawayo is very angry over Mutasa's
statements that the whole
Tsholotsho saga was a farce.
"Our national party chairman is
currently locked in a legal dispute
with one of the conveners of the
meeting, Jonathan Moyo. By announcing such
a decision - Mutasa is implying
that Nkomo has a case to answer and that
those guys were right. Ironically,
the fate of these chairpersons was
supposed to be announced by Nkomo who
chairs the party's national displinary
committee not Mutasa," said one
senior Bulawayo based ruling party official.
The official said
the Bulawayo provincial executive called an urgent
meeting at Davies Hall
Saturday afternoon, to be addressed by Minister of
Information and
Publicity, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and other senior politiburo
members.
The latest development has been widely viewed as a
major victory for
the Jabulani Sibanda camp, which has reported links to the
Emmerson
Mnanangagwa camp.
Sibanda, who is the
chairman of the Zimbabwe liberation War Veterans
Association (ZLWVA), has on
numerous occassionS clashed with senior party
leaders in the province,
including Msika.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe)
International aid agency Oxfam said Saturday it was
reestablishing
operations in Zimbabwe following last week's lifting of a ban
on
humanitarian groups by Harare.
The Zimbabwean government lifted a
two-month ban on aid agencies' operations
on August 29 after suspending them
in June for allegedly using food aid to
campaign against President Robert
Mugabe.
Following the lifting of the ban, Oxfam says it plans to scale-up
its work
to assist more than 500, 000 people with food aid in the Midlands
and
Masvingo provinces as well as in several urban centres across the
country,
including the capital Harare and the second largest city of
Bulawayo.
An estimated 5.1 million Zimbabweans or about 43 percent of the
country's
population are in urgent need of food aid between now and the next
harvest
in March/April 2009.
"Oxfam will also begin work on
preventing diseases such as diarrhoea and
cholera, brought on by
deteriorating water and sanitation conditions," the
organization said in a
statement.
New operation modalities require the aid agencies and other
non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to share their registration and
financial information
in areas where they are operational and complete a
monitoring and evaluation
form.
Oxfam regional director, Charles
Abani said while the organization
recognized the importance of transparency
it was concerned that the new
operating guidelines could be used to
constrain NGOs that support the poor
and vulnerable people.
"The
impact of our work will be greatly enhanced once government grants
universal
access for all organizations working with affected communities in
Zimbabwe,"
Abani said.
The lifting of the ban only applies to NGOs that provide
humanitarian
assistance and excludes those that offer support in other areas
such as
infrastructure development and human rights.
JN/daj/APA
2008-09-06
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September 6 2008 -
In a bid to restore the glamour to the
battered industry, the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA) will vet the
sector's employees in a landmark move
that will result in casualties along
the way.
Under
the new dispensation, each institution will be given a time
frame to train
its staff depending on the number of employees. After
undergoing training,
the employees will be trade tested by ZTA.
Karikoga Kaseke,
ZTA's chief executive said the swift measure is
designed to restore normalcy
in an industry ravaged by poor service
delivery. He said the Tourism Act
clearly stipulates that employees in the
industry have to be licenced by
ZTA.
"You cannnot fly a plane without a licence from CAAZ
(Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe) and in the same token, one can not
work in the sector
without being trade tested by ZTA," he
said.
Tourism industry employees who have to pass the trade
tests include
cooks, waiters, front office staff, operation managers and
directors.
The latest measure was reportedly necessitated by
the raw deal clients
are getting from staff at hotels and restaurants.
Waiters and waitresses
have gained notoriety for harassing
clients.
The no nonsense ZTA boss said the industry has failed
to lead in
service delivery.
"People throw in the dustbins
the concept of customer service. If the
tourism industry does not lead in
service delivery, then which sector should
lead?" he
questioned.
Kaseke admitted that ZTA had in the past failed to
instill discipline
in members. "As custodians of the industry, we were
sleeping on the wheels,"
he said.
The tourism industry,
like any other sectors, has had a brush with the
authorities. In July, the
sector lost its immunity from price controls after
the National Incomes and
Pricing Commission accused the industry of taking
advantage of price
decontrols to increase prices beyond the reach of many.
http://www.wfn.org/2008/09/msg00019.html
>Sep. 5, 2008
NOTE:
Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe
(UMNS)-Operating amid economic and political turmoil in
Zimbabwe, Africa
University has issued an urgent plea for United
Methodist congregations to
fulfill their 2008 financial obligations to
the school.
Fanuel
Tagwira, interim vice chancellor of the United Methodist-related
university,
made the plea Sept. 3 in a letter addressed to United
Methodist leaders
across the globe.
"As I write you, our 1,300 students are on the campus
of Africa
University for the 2008/2009 academic year. ... While Africa
University
has not missed a day of classes during this difficult time, we are
now
facing a crisis," Tagwira wrote.
The core of the university's
worsening financial situation is Zimbabwe's
hyperinflation, tagged by the
government at a rate of 11 million percent
in June. The country's currency
loses value by the hour on many days.
One key source of financial support
comes from a special United
Methodist churchwide fund that levies an
apportionment to congregations.
In 2008, that fund's target is $2.5
million.
Tagwira is urging congregations to pay their entire Africa
University
apportionment early to help the university through the
crisis.
"As our reserve accounts dwindle as a result of the nation's
dire
economic situation, we need your immediate financial support through
the
apportionments that come from the Africa University fund,"
Tagwira
wrote.
>Beacon of hope
Since opening in 1992, Africa
University has produced more than 2,700
graduates who now work as
agriculturalists, pastors, educators,
businesspeople, health workers and
other professionals in communities
across sub-Saharan Africa. Students this
year come from 22 African
countries, with about 70 percent on financial aid
or full scholarships.
The private school has been the only one of the
country's 12
institutions of higher education to stay open throughout the
nation's
crisis. It also partners in an off-campus daily feeding
program,
providing meals for 5,000 vulnerable children including many
AIDS
orphans.
Tagwira said the university has altered its billing
practices because of
out-of-control inflation.
In a separate letter
sent in July, he told students, parents and
guardians they would have to make
monthly payments for tuition and room
and board instead of paying once a
semester.
"We know this creates a hardship for our Zimbabwean students
and their
parents, but in the current environment, we believe this is the
best way
to move forward," Tagwira wrote in his Sept. 3 letter to
supporters.
"We are conserving financial resources in every possible way.
We have
continued to meet our payroll, pay our bills and serve our community
and
continent. Nonetheless, we have been forced to deplete our reserve
funds
to meet day-to-day obligations."
>No reserves
At one
time, the school had $1.7 million in reserves, but that money had
to be
tapped, according to James Salley, associate vice chancellor of
institutional
advancement for the Africa University Development Office
in Nashville,
Tenn.
"Essentially speaking, we don't have reserves-nothing to fall
back
on-other than the apportionments," Salley told United Methodist
News
Service.
The school's operating budget is $4 million annually in
U.S. dollars,
with about half coming from apportionments. Apportionments
are
contributions of 29 cents per member requested from each
United
Methodist church in the United States. Student fees, other
contributions
and earnings from a $43 million U.S.-based endowment make up
most of the
rest of the budget.
"What we do is a juggling act on a
daily basis in taking care of
day-to-day operational needs," Salley said.
"...If we did not have the
benefit of the apportioned funds in a
hyperinflation environment, we
would not be able to operate on a daily basis.
It's just that simple."
Tagwira's letter to school supporters was
dispatched as leaders of the
Africa University Development Office gathered in
Tennessee for annual
meetings. The week culminates Sept. 6 when its advisory
development
committee convenes in Nashville.
"(The budget) is our
priority item," Salley said. "... We are reasoning
together about strategies
and ways that the board of the development
committee can assist the
institution in continuing to make payroll."
>Financial support and
prayers
Despite Zimbabwe's struggles, Tagwira told supporters that
Africa
University is navigating the difficulties "exceedingly
well."
"During this extraordinary time in Zimbabwe, we are committed to
do
everything we can to meet our mission to provide a quality
education
within a Pan-African context. Our campus is safe. Our faculty is
well
qualified and respected around the world. Our students are dedicated
to
learning and excited to be in school," he wrote in his
letter.
"Along with your financial support, we ask for your prayers, for
our
university, and for our nation as it struggles to find its way
during
this season of unease."
To contribute to Africa University,
visit the Africa
<https://www.support-africauniversity.org/NETCOMMUNITY/SSLPage.aspx?pid=
202&srcid=221>
University Development Office Web site or call its
Nashville office at (615)
340-7348.
*This story was based in part on a news release by the United
Methodist
Office of Public Information.