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Archived News
3rd August 2004
Zim judge 'ignored assessors in verdict'
Zim crackdown on black market
New Zimbabwean talks faltering
Zimbabwe air force 'frustrated' with youth programme graduates
Gutu Zanu PF officials grab Aids outreach bicycles
Nigeria signs Zimbabwean farmers
Coup suspects in court plea deal
Minister cited in MDC supporter's death
Getting a work permit the Zimbabwean way
Zimbabweans in South Africa: Denied access to political asylum
HOMELINK does not bring home the bacon
Tax breaks bring little relief for urban poor, economist
Minister Moyo loses Daily News case
'Mercenary' leader admits trying to buy weapons
Lay assessors block judge's guilty verdict on Tsvangirai
City firm bids to guard Mugabe
Trial of Zim 70 adjourned to August
On and on and on
Global fund turns down application on technical grounds
Human rights lawyers slam new Zimbabwe laws on NGOs
NGOs under threat in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe opposition MP to face one year in jail
Long standing Zimbabwe private school faces closure
Mudede loses case against Independent
Mercenaries' trial delayed for SA spies
Daily News ruling postponed again
Thriving business in fake Botswana passports for Zimbabweans
Increase in street children as economy worsens
ZCU official acused of trying to influence elections
Zimbabwe police raid MDC leader's house
Nkomo hits back
Malaysian firm-led group gets RM2.3bil Zimbabwe water project
Mugabe: Time not ripe for water deal
Zanu PF official grabs 50 houses, stands
Mugabe law will curb church and charities
Concern over Zanu PF plan to extend city boundaries
Living off dying land
Ministry mulls exposing multiple farm owners
Moyo exposed
IMF spells it out
NCA to campaign for election boycott
Electoral law reform in the region discussed at Vic Falls
Water cuts raise spectre of disease outbreaks
Top official's farm underutilised
Zanu PF youths loot $4 million
Women's group members taken in for questioning over whistles and scarves
Hard-liners retain control of Zimbabwe board
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 28 July
Zim judge 'ignored assessors in verdict'
By Basildon Peta
Judgment in a case in which Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is accused of "plotting" to kill President Robert Mugabe was postponed indefinitely this week because the presiding judge had reached a verdict without consulting his two assessors, the Independent Foreign Service has established. Authoritative sources said the two assessors in the case had then disagreed with the judge's verdict, leaving him with no option but to postpone the case. Zimbabwe High Court Judge President Paddington Garwe, widely perceived as a Mugabe supporter, presided over the treason case with the aid of two assessors. He had been billed to pass judgment on the case tomorrow, considered a make or break one for Tsvangirai. Judge Garwe's office informed Tsvangirai's lawyers last month that judgment would be passed on July 29. But the office changed the date, saying the assessors had requested records and transcripts of the case. The Independent Foreign Service was authoritatively told last night that Garwe had convicted Tsvangirai over the alleged plot to kill Mugabe, but that the assessors refused to rubber stamp this decision. Tsvangirai faces the death penalty upon conviction. The sources said the assessors were enraged that Judge Garwe had reached a decision on a matter of fact without their input, contrary to the rules of court. All matters of fact should be decided by the majority from the two judges and his assessors while only the judge has the discretion to decide on matters of law. In this way the judges had to determine whether it was a matter of fact that Tsvangirai plotted to kill Mugabe. Had they answered in the affirmative, the judge would have had the discretion to decide on questions of law, mainly the appropriate punishment to be imposed.
During his tenure Judge Garwe has passed several decisions that favoured Mugabe. In 2002 he turned down an opposition application to extend the number of voting days in the presidential election. This was despite long queues of stranded voters in urban centres who had not had a chance to vote. Garwe's alleged guilty verdict would probably end Tsvangirai's political career as he would have no chances of succeeding at the Supreme Court which has been converted into an even more loyalist branch of the Zimbabwe government. But the two assessors may still save Tsvangirai if they disagree with Garwe. The state based its case against Tsvangirai on a grainy and inaudible video supplied by Ari Ben Menashe, a Canadian-based Israeli-born political consultant, who has been involved in many shady deals around the world. A US congressional committee report in the 1980s described Menashe as a "talented liar". Tsvangirai insisted the grainy video tape was manipulated to implicate him. Ben Menashe agreed in court that he had been paid more than US$500 000 for his work for the Mugabe government but denied that he was specifically paid to frame Tsvangirai.
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From News24 (SA), 27 July
Zim crackdown on black market
Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's central bank threatened on Tuesday to crack down on a resurgence in the black market for scarce foreign cash, saying officials would strictly enforce the country's stringent laws on currency exchange. The government has already begun "closer surveillance" of currency dealers, and a special committee will soon start randomly inspecting money changers and businesses suspected of dealing on the black market, said central bank governor Gideon Gono. "There will be swift prosecution and hefty penalties. We are catching up," he said. Those found guilty of black market money trading face fines and jail time. Already, several businessmen have reportedly been charged for black market money dealing, and at least six top bank and finance executives are believed to have fled the country, fearing arrest. Zimbabwe has been wracked by political violence and economic turmoil in recent years as President Robert Mugabe's government has seized thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Seeking to crack down on dissent, the government has arrested opposition leaders, trade unionists and independent journalists.
The farm seizures have disrupted the country's agriculture-based economy, leading to acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicines and other essential goods. Annual inflation has skyrocketed to around 400%, and hard currency - needed to buy imports from abroad - is running short. The government has been auctioning hard currency, like US dollars, at around a rate of Z$5 300 to US$1 - an artificially low exchange rate. Black market dealers, in contrast, offers Z$6 700 for US$1, and there has recently been a resurgence in illicit money trading, Gono said. "Clearly, Zimbabweans continue to be innovative in these selfish practices," Gono told a meeting of bankers, business leaders and state officials. Gono encouraged "whistle blowers" to report employers or colleagues in return for a percentage of hard currency recovered. Some businessmen have already confessed to buying hard currency on the black market and requested amnesty, saying they turned to black market dealers because they had failed to buy at auction the cash needed to keep their businesses running. While the bank is not empowered to grant pardons, Gono said bank officials would push courts to levy fines - and not send to prison - those who "voluntary confessions".
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From Business Day (SA), 28 July
New Zimbabwean talks faltering
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have resumed talks focusing on proposed electoral reforms, but sharp differences have emerged again. Official sources said Zanu PF's head of delegation to the talks, Patrick Chinamasa, met MDC counterpart Welshman Ncube in Harare on July 14 to discuss electoral reforms officially announced by President Robert Mugabe in parliament last week. Mugabe said there would be an independent electoral commission; voting in one day instead of two; counting of votes at polling centres and not at the centralised national command centre; and use of transparent, not wooden, boxes. Ncube confirmed the meeting but could not give details. Sources said Chinamasa and Ncube had a no-holds-barred debate and clashed because Chinamasa wanted to dragoon the MDC into rubber-stamping the reforms. Ncube refused to make an undertaking that his party would clear the proposals when it came to parliament without first resolving contentious issues. While Zanu PF wanted talks to be confined to the electoral reforms, the MDC wanted a full dialogue to address the political and economic crisis.
The MDC has said it is no use accepting a package of "piecemeal reforms" that would not address the fundamental causes of the crisis. The MDC wants other issues tackled: such as the cessation of political violence; restoration of political and civil liberties, including freedoms of assembly, free association and the press; upholding the rule of law; and creating an environment for free and fair elections. SA's President Thabo Mbeki set a June deadline as a progress point in talks. The two parties started talking in April 2002, mediated by SA and Nigeria, after the hotly disputed presidential election. They disengaged in May that year and have been in informal talks since March last year. These have ensured common ground was established on constitutional reform, although that is now being undermined by the fresh row. Sources said the talks were bound to collapse unless the MDC's concerns, which include reservations about appointment of electoral officers by Mugabe, were addressed. The MDC says if Mugabe is given powers to appoint electoral officers without adequate checks and balances, as suggested in a draft amendment of the Electoral Act, he would choose allies and nothing would change. The bill will be debated in parliament in September.
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From Zim Online (SA), 28 July
Zimbabwe air force 'frustrated' with youth programme graduates
Chegutu - Senior officers of the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) want to stop recruiting graduates from the government's National Service Youth Training Programme (NSYTP), because the youths are failing to cope with their training courses, Zim Online has established. The Youth Training Programme was introduced by the government two years ago with the objective to inculcate discipline and patriotism in young people. The AFZ and other state institutions and departments, have been ordered to give first preference to youth trained under the programme when recruiting. Sources, who do not want to be named, told Zim Online that instructors stationed at AFZ's training school at Fyld Airforce base near Chegutu town, about 70km west of Harare, last week resolved to urge their commander, Perence Shiri, to ask the government to permit the airforce to stop this preferential recruitment.
According to the sources the AFZ senior officers and instructors are worried that the mass recruitment of under-qualified staff from the national youth service programme could in the long run hamper Zimbabwe's air defence capabilities. One senior instructor at Fyld said: "Graduates from the National Service Youth Training Programme are being dumped on us. There is no proper audit of their qualifications and most of the time we are finding that they cannot cope with the training requirements. Air defence is sophisticated and we are now afraid that the country's air defence will be compromised." The commander's office promised Zim Online that Shiri would respond to questions sent to him, but he had not done so by late last night.
Deputy National Youth Minister Shuvai Mahofa told Zim Online: "We have not received any complaints over the quality of our graduates from the AFZ or any other institution for that matter. In fact graduates from the national youth training are in high demand and are highly sought after because they are discplined and are competent." But instructors at AFZ's Fyld base confided to Zim Onlne that they were frustrated by the poor quality of students they were getting from the NSYTP. 'We are a highly specialised operation. It takes more than the right political orientation to grasp training in Air Defence Systems or radar systems for example," said one instructor, who did not want to be named. Zimbabwe's churches, civic and human rights groups accuse the NSYTP of brainwashing the youths and turning them into violent militias that terrorise the government's political opponents.
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From The Daily News Online Edition, 28 July
Gutu Zanu PF officials grab Aids outreach bicycles
Gutu - AIDS service organisations here are still battling to retain bicycles and other equipment such as televisions and VCRs that was forcibly taken by the ruling Zanu PF from the district Aids action committee (DAC) early this year. One of the AIDS service organisation co-ordinators in the district, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said Zanu PF had allocated the bicycles to chiefs, headmen and youths who are now using them in their 2005 parliamentary election campaign. More than 100 bicycles worth millions of dollars, donated by UNICEF, were meant for volunteers in the HIV/AIDS outreach programmes in the district. "We don't know what we can do now because we can't get to all our patients and projects. Patients can't get their food allocations on time due to transport problems. The roads are bad and the bicycles were our last hope," said the co-ordinator. Prominent politicians from Masvingo such as Gutu South Member of Parliament, Shuvai Mahofa and Provincial Governor, Josaya Hungwe have been implicated in the bicycle scam. But Mahofa declined to comment on the issue. She Said: "I'm an MP. The DAC deals with council."
Senior Gutu rural district council officials told Daily News Online that Zanu PF youths and officials descended on the DAC offices at the councils headquarters and took away the bicycles, TVs and VCRs forcibly. Sources familiar with the scam said Chief Makore who was allocated one of the bicycles by Zanu PF is willing to return it "because he appreciates that AIDS deserves more attention than politics." Neither UNICEF officials in Harare nor Health and Child Welfare Minister, David Parirenyatwa, could be reached for comment on the matter. The Zimbabwe government once won praise from the World Health Organisation (WHO) when it introduced the AIDS levy to help fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic a few years ago. It now however faces heavy criticism for abusing the AIDS levy. Last week, the Global Fund turned down Zimbabwe's US$218 million application for HIV/AIDS intervention but did not say why. But speculation is rife that the action was taken as a result of lack of transparency in the manner in which the country has been managing HIV/AIDS funds and other donations.
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From BBC News, 27 July
Nigeria signs Zimbabwean farmers
A group of white Zimbabwean farmers have reached a deal to start farming in Nigeria within 60 days. The western state of Kwara has promised to extend financial aid in return for the development of the state's agricultural sector. The farmers are among those whose land was taken by the Zimbabwe government for redistribution to blacks. One of the farmers said he hoped a further 200 Zimbabweans would move to Nigeria over the next five years. Alan Jack, who signed the memorandum on Tuesday, said that the farmers would initially come without their families. With the first arrivals due in the next two months, he said there was still much to organise. "We've got to get the finances in place, the structures in place and the physical planning of the farms," Mr Jack told the BBC. The Kwara state government has promised to give them tax breaks, loans and help to develop infrastructure. The BBC's Anna Borzello in Lagos says local officials hope the farmers will help kick start a sluggish agricultural sector and attract other foreign investors. The farmers have expressed concern about Nigeria's reputation for corruption, but according to Mr Jack, "so far everything looks exceptionally good". White farmers from Zimbabwe have been looking for alternative homes since President Robert Mugabe began seizing their farms four years ago. Mr Jack said they were coming to Nigeria because the country was one of the first to ask. He said local chiefs and elders were keen on the farmers coming to Kwara state because they would bring jobs, electricity and roads. Nigeria's farms have been neglected since oil was discovered 40 years ago. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has also given his support for the project, saying Nigeria was "anxious to benefit from their expertise and experience".
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 28 July
Coup suspects in court plea deal
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
The trial of 70 suspected mercenaries in Zimbabwe's maximum security prison took an unexpected turn yesterday when 67 of them pleaded guilty to a series of lesser charges. This was the first sign that defence lawyers and state prosecutors have reached a deal that could see the early release of some of the accused, who are suspected of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. But Simon Mann, the old Etonian and former SAS officer who is alleged to be the group's leader, has not entered a plea. The emerging deal may not include him. The 70 accused filed into the Chikurubi prison courtroom, handcuffed and chained. All but three were arrested at Harare airport on March 7 when they arrived in a Boeing 727, allegedly en route for Equatorial Guinea. Jonathan Samkange, their lawyer, told the court that these 67 defendants would plead guilty to immigration and aviation offences - the least serious of the charges.
Mr Mann and two other defendants, both former special forces soldiers in apartheid-era South Africa, were already in Harare when the aircraft landed and so did not face these charges. Instead, they are likely to be charged today with trying to buy weapons and illegally possessing arms - offences that carry jail sentences of up to 10 years. "They are going to plead not guilty to all the charges and we are going to be arguing our case," said Mr Samkange. The key question is whether President Robert Mugabe's regime is willing to extradite the accused to Equatorial Guinea, where they could be executed. By pleading guilty, 67 of the men, who are all South Africans, are aiming to avoid this and receive a relatively light sentence in a Zimbabwean jail. But senior figures in Zimbabwe's regime, notably Stan Mudenge, the foreign minister, have already called for all of the accused to be hanged if found guilty.
Families of the accused have begun legal action to compel the South African government to extradite the men from Zimbabwe so they can stand trial in their home country. The constitutional court in Pretoria has accepted an urgent application to hear this plea. But the South African government has shown no willingness to take up the case. Ronnie Kasrils, the intelligence minister, disclosed last month that South African intelligence agents tipped off their Zimbabwean counterparts about the aircraft's arrival at Harare. Mr Mann and the other accused claim they were travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo where they had been hired to guard diamond mines. But 15 South Africans have been arrested in Equatorial Guinea and charged with trying to overthrow President Teodor Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Their trial begins in Malabo, the Guinean capital, today.
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 July
Minister cited in MDC supporter's death
Brian Mangwende
Former Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, faces claims for $135 million in connection with the death of a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter and injuries to another during violence which marred the Zengeza by-election held about four months ago. The claims against Manyika, who has since been relegated to the obscure post of Minister Without Portfolio in the President's Office, come amid a cacophony of angry voices over the bloodshed and shootings that have characterised Zimbabwe's elections. Violence, which has become a trademark of the country's elections, has been blamed on growing intolerance for political opponents and confrontation. The claims against Manyika, the ruling Zanu PF legislator for Bindura who was dumped from his former ministerial portfolio in the last mini Cabinet reshuffle, are contained in High Court cases 8359/04 and 8360/04 in which the plaintiffs Arthur Chinozvina and Aurther Gunzvenzve have filed summonses implicating Manyika in the sudden death of 22-year-old Francis Chinozvina, an MDC activist and the injuries to Gunzvenzve. Manyika is currently Zanu PF's political commissar.
In papers prepared by Magwaliba, Mathuthu and Kwirira Legal Practitioners and filed at in court on June 30 2004, it is claimed on behalf of Francis Chinozvina that: "On or about the 28th of March 2004 and at Chitungwiza near the residence of a Movement for Democratic Change parliamentary candidate, the defendant caused to be discharged a firearm into the direction of the late Francis Chinozvina and others. The discharging of a firearm in a public place and in the presence of a considerable number of persons was deliberate or alternatively grossly negligent. As a result of the defendant's conduct, one bullet from his firearm hit the person of Francis Chinozvina causing serious and severe injuries as a result of which he died immediately." It is claimed that before his death Chinozvina was a commodity broker earning $1 million monthly and supporting several dependants including five minor children left behind by his late brother.
The plaintiff claims, on his own behalf and the minor children, from Manyika $20 million in respect of funeral expenses, $30 million for his own loss of support and damages and $40 million for loss of support and damages for the minors. In the second case, Gunzvenzve claims that as a result of the shooting, he sustained a huge hole across the shin, severe wounds around the lower part of his knee and severe damage to the knee cartilage and tendons and wants $45 million from Manyika. Gunzvenzve's claim is for $20 million for medical expenses incurred, $15 million for future medical expenses and $10 million for damage, pain, suffering, shock, disfigurement and loss of amenities of life. Manyika's address in both summonses is cited as 55 Shaneragh Road, Mandara, Harare. Contacted for comment, Manyika said he had sold that property in 1999 and had not had sight of the summonses. "They are dreamers," Manyika said. "I sold the house in 55 Shaneragh in 1999. I don't live there anymore. As far as I am concerned, that story is a non-starter. The police have already said that I was nowhere near Chitungwiza on that day."
In earlier press reports published in the government-controlled media, police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena exonerated Manyika, saying the Member of Parliament for Bindura was in his constituency at the time of the incident and that his alibi had been confirmed by the Electoral Supervisory Commission chairman, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, police officers at a roadblock in Mazowe, personnel at Mazowe Hotel and employees at his farm. Bvudzijena was quoted as saying: "As much as we would want members of the public to come forward with information, we will only tolerate reasonable and substantive information that can be used in a court of law". The police subsequently arrested a 43-year-old Arcturus man identified as Ernest Matsotso in connection with the Zengeza skirmishes. Matsotso has since appeared at the Harare magistrates' court in connection with the matter. The bloody Zengeza by-election was won by ZANU PF's Christopher Chigumba, who trounced MDC's "imposed candidate" James Makore. Makore has since filed a petition in the High Court challenging the outcome of the poll results, arguing that the by election was riddled with violence. The Zengeza seat fell vacant following the abrupt departure of MDC legislator Tafadzwa Musekiwa to the United Kingdom citing security reasons.
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From Mmegi (Botswana), 28 July
Getting a work permit the Zimbabwean way
Meekaeel Siphambili
Zimbabweans seem to be always ahead of the Labour and Immigration departments when it comes to acquiring residence and work permits. After the regulations for employing farm labourers and herdsmen were relaxed, almost every Zimbabwean taxi driver, and self-employed bricklayer has a permit that states that he is a herdsman or farm labourer. John Mathemba (not his real name) is a 24-year-old taxi driver but his permit says he is a herdsman. He has been driving taxis for the past two years. He says he got his own permit by placing an advertisement for a farm labourer in the Daily News. "It is so easy. All you have to do is place an advert in the Daily News, and let it run for two weeks," he says. "And it's cheap to place an advert of this nature in the Daily News. It only costs about P7. According to Mathemba you need a contact number and a postal box number. "After two weeks, you can attach the advert to your application forms and ask a citizen of Botswana to act as your boss and hand in the application forms on your behalf. All you need is a work permit and a resident permit. Where you work is not really an issue. You can get a permit, which says you are a herdsman, but still drive a taxi," the Zimbabwean says.
The other way of getting a permit is by marrying a Motswana, he says. "Even if you are married in Zimbabwe, you can still marry again in Botswana and nobody would know that you have a wife back home. "A letter that confirms that you are not married can be bought over the counter in Zimbabwe and nobody can charge you with bigamy," Mathemba says. "As long as the wives do not meet, you are safe or you can tell your wife back home why you have to marry a Motswana and she is bound to understand. Life is tough in Zimbabwe. She has no choice as long as you bring money home". The Zimbabwean illegal immigrants, who are seen as a menace by many Batswana, are said to be a blessing for many would-be homeowners. The self-employed Zimbabwean bricklayers are said to be charging five times less than their Batswana counterparts. Many Batswana rely on Zimbabwean builders because they say they save a lot of money.
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From Refugees International (US), 14 July
Zimbabweans in South Africa: Denied access to political asylum
South Africa is denying access to political asylum to thousands of Zimbabweans seeking to escape persecution. Of the 5,000 applications for political asylum filed by Zimbabweans to date, fewer than 20 Zimbabweans have actually received political asylum in South Africa. But more troubling still is the fact that few Zimbabweans are able even to apply for political asylum. The South African government office that handles immigration, Department of Home Affairs (DHA), has five Refugee Reception Offices in the country. There are two offices close to the Zimbabwe border. The largest office, in a shopping center in the Rosettenville section of Johannesburg, has been moved and closed repeatedly since October 2003. There are no signs identifying the office, but it is easy to find if one looks for the hundreds of people clustered in an alley trying to gain access. Asylum seekers sleep overnight to get a good place in line and queue for hours. One asylum seeker told Refugees International, "This is the third time I've been here. I've never been in, you just wait in line."
While DHA has acknowledged its problems and is working on a "turnaround strategy," in the words of DHA Director General, Mr. Barry Gilder, it "still has a long way to go." All of the offices are woefully understaffed, resulting in a backlog of up to 80,000 cases waiting to be reviewed. DHA claims that Zimbabweans do not face more barriers than asylum seekers of other nationalities, but that is contrary to the direct observations of RI. A Zimbabwean told us that he lined up at 11 a.m. the day before the office opened so he could be first in line. "They only took one Zimbabwean that day. I was number two." While the senior management of the Immigration Department acknowledged to RI that Zimbabweans have the right to be considered refugees, Refugee Reception officers were unable to state whether or not Zimbabweans had the right to political asylum in South Africa. Staff in the Reception Office told RI that Zimbabweans were not a priority because "there is no civil war in Zimbabwe, so there is no reason to apply." Other Zimbabweans told us they were denied access to the process because they did not have valid passports. Even the UN agency in charge of refugees could not agree. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in South Africa was also unable to provide a clear determination as to whether Zimbabweans qualify for asylum. They told RI that they were waiting clarification themselves from Geneva.
Corruption is widespread within the Department of Home Affairs and the South African Police Services. RI interviewed people who told of being asked for a bribe merely to receive a letter giving them an appointment to present their asylum claim. Police officers ask for bribes to look the other way when rounding up undocumented asylum seekers or those whose temporary permit of stay has expired. One Zimbabwean told us, "I was stopped while walking down the street. The policeman asked for my papers but told me that for 200 Rand [U$33] he would not deport me." At the Lindela detention center, bribes are demanded for release, while deportees can also pay to jump from the "deportation train" on the way back to Zimbabwe. In 2003, over 100 Zimbabwean asylum seekers were unlawfully detained in the Lindela Detention Center. Zimbabweans comprise the second largest group of deportees. Most are repatriated without ever having seen an immigration official. According to organizations that work in Lindela, there are very few immigration officers who work in the facility. "On any given day there may be between two and zero for a facility that holds up to 5,000 people." There is no Refugee Reception Officer in Musina, a town that rests on the major thoroughfare between South Africa and Zimbabwe. If an asylum seeker were to request to apply, they would be directed to go to Pretoria or Johannesburg, over five hours away. No transportation would be provided. RI interviewed Zimbabweans along the border who told us of being arrested and immediately dropped over the border without any contact with immigration officials. Police and Army in the border regions rely on spurious methods to identify Zimbabweans, such as asking questions in a South African language or checking which arm bears a smallpox scar. According to an NGO working in Musina, "The police have no training. Some people are being deported because [Zimbabweans] are darker."
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From Zim Online (SA), 29 July
HOMELINK does not bring home the bacon
Foreign currency scheme flops
Harare - A new scheme, meant to tap into hard currency held by Zimbabweans living and working abroad and called Homelink, has failed, Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has admitted. Under Homelink, Zimbabwean exiles are encouraged to send money back home to relatives and friends using banks and other official channels. Recipients in Zimbabwe would get the money in hard currency if they so wished. Gono now said said during a review of monetary policy function earlier this week that he would reconsider Homelink. People were only using the scheme to obtain scarce foreign currency from the official market which they would then sell on the illegal parallel market. The RBZ chief said Homelink had by last Monday raised US$23,3 million from Zimbabweans in the diaspora. Gono, who in the last three months visited Zimbabwean communities in South Africa, the United States of America and Britain to encourage them to use the Homelink system, said at the time he was hoping to raise US$300 million per week through the scheme. To ensure that foreign currency sent through Homelink remained in the official market, Gono said, 'all receipts under the Homelink channel will be converted to local currency at the diaspora rate of Z$5 600, or the auction rate, whichever is higher, and no payments shall be given out in foreign currency'.
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From IRIN (UN), 27 July
Tax breaks bring little relief for urban poor, economist
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's government has announced tax breaks aimed at stimulating the ailing economy and easing the erosion of incomes caused by soaring inflation. Economist Dennis Nikisi told IRIN on Tuesday that "the tax break announced is a good start, but certainly not the whole solution to the problem" of ongoing erosion of household purchasing power, even though inflation had slowed from a peak of 600 percent last year. "Inflation is increasing, but at a slower rate, so as long as we do not address the question of a complete moratorium on price increases [for basic goods and services], then [the tax breaks] are meaningless," said Nikisi, director of the Graduate School of Management at the University of Zimbabwe. Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa announced the tax breaks on Monday at a mid-term review of the government's financial policies. "High rates of inflation have not only eroded the real value of incomes but have pushed up most employees into high tax brackets. This undermines disposable incomes, critical for stimulating aggregate demand in the economy," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying. The individual tax-free threshold will be raised from Z$200,000 to Z$750,000 per month from 1 September.
As inflation cuts into incomes, there has been further evidence of increased vulnerability among ordinary Zimbabweans, leaving them less able to procure basic goods and services. In a recent press release the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Zimbabwe's GDP fell by 30 percent over the last five years and another 4-5 percent decline is expected this year. "Unemployment is very high and increasing, social indicators, which were once among the best in Africa, have worsened, and the widespread HIV/AIDS pandemic remains largely unchecked. Severe food shortages have necessitated massive food imports and donor assistance," the Fund noted. IRIN reported earlier this month that the capital, Harare, had seen a rising number of kwashiorkor cases. The symptoms of kwashiorkor, caused by inadequate protein consumption, include a bloated stomach and spindly arms and legs, and can result in death if not treated. In his health report for 2003, the city's director of health services, Dr Lovemore Mbengeranwa, noted that instances of diagnosed kwashiorkor had risen by 11.1 percent. A total of 621 cases were treated at council-run clinics, of which 97 percent were children under the age of five. Mbengeranwa told IRIN that "food vulnerability in urban areas is increasing at an alarming level due to economic instability in the country".
NGOs had earlier warned that a recent 150 percent hike in the maize producer price, as well as a 50 percent increase in bread prices, brought on by a shortage of flour, was going to result in staple foods becoming increasingly inaccessible to ordinary Zimbabweans. "Most Zimbabweans cannot afford mealie [maize] meal ... when it is available in the retail outlets," a representative of a food security monitoring agency told IRIN in May. Nikisi said average salaries of between Z$500,000 and Z$700,000 were not enough to secure accommodation in one of the country's working class suburbs. "The monthly rental for a typical five-roomed home in a high-density suburb, where the majority of people live, is between Z$800,000 and Z$1.5 million. Even if they are not taxed, they then can only afford a two-roomed home - whether or not they have a family - so where are they going to get money for food? There's no money for food, school fees, transport."
"What I'm saying, basically, is there should be huge tax breaks - in fact, I would suggest that a person earning up to Z$2 million should be tax free - but we know the government has admitted that it is getting the greatest portion of its revenue inflow from individual taxes, so that suggestion would not be viable for them," he added. All these factors have had a "very negative impact on the urban poor" and more and more people have had to turn to the informal economy to earn a living. "Everywhere you go now in Harare you see people selling this and that on the street - that to me is a sign that things are not in order," Nikisi concluded. The IMF has attributed Zimbabwe's economic decline mainly to inappropriate macroeconomic policies and structural changes that weakened Zimbabwe's economic base. "In particular, the disorderly implementation of the land reform programme has contributed to a sharp reduction in agricultural production. Concerns about governance and human rights, and the continued lack of clarity about property rights have severely damaged confidence, discouraged investment, and promoted capital flight and emigration," the Fund said.
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 July
Minister Moyo loses Daily News case
Brian Mangwende
The High Court yesterday ordered Information Minister Jonathan Moyo to pay $2.5 million in defamation charges against The Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). ANZ, publishers of the defunct Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, successfully sued Moyo following defamatory statements he made against The Daily News and its staffers in The Herald on May 17, June 3, June 10, June 14, June 15 and June 18 2003. The High Court also ordered Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers) Private Limited to pay $5 million and columnist Nathaniel Manheru to pay $250 000 as the second and third respondents respectively. Herald editor Pikirayi Deketeke claimed that he was Manheru. The judgment was handed down yesterday in the High Court on behalf of Justice Yunus Omerjee. Details of the full judgment are yet to be made public. The defendants' lawyer, Johannes Tomana, said his clients would definitely appeal against the judgment. "Defendants are going to appeal against the decision within the prescribed 14 days," Tomana said. Simon Sadoma of Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans, the lawyers representing ANZ had this to say of the judgment: "It's a victory for press freedom." Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) director Sarah Chiumbu said: "It's a progressive move by the judiciary because of late the media has been receiving a lot of negative judgments. We hope that such cases, when they crop up, are handled on merit and not influenced by politics.
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From The Times (UK), 29 July
'Mercenary' leader admits trying to buy weapons
From Jan Raath in Harare
A former British SAS officer at the centre of an alleged plot to overthrow a West African dictatorship pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to acquire military weapons. Poker-faced and lank-haired, Simon Mann rose from his seat alongside 69 other alleged mercenaries in Chikurubi maximum security prison near Harare to admit the conspiracy charge that carries a penalty of up to ten years in jail in Zimbabwe. But he denied buying £100,000 worth of rifles, machineguns, anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers and explosives without a permit. The second charge, under the Firearms Act, carries a maximum penalty of five years. Mr Mann and the other 69 were arrested in Harare on March 7 where they were allegedly planning to load the weaponry for use in an attempt to overthrow the Government of President Obiang, of the recently oil-rich state of Equatorial Guinea. For the first time since their arrest at Harare international airport, evidence was given in the large white-painted shed that serves as a courtroom, surrounded by heavy security.Group Captain Hope Mutizi, the marketing manager of the state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries, from whom Mr Mann was allegedly buying the weaponry, told the court he had been doing business with Mr Mann's company, Military Technical Services, for up to five years. This latest deal, however, was done "very clandestinely". Mr Mann told him that "as little as possible would be put in writing". There were no "end-user" certificates for the weapons. The final payment, of £50,000 in cash, was delivered by a representative of Mr Mann's at the Harare Holiday Inn hotel on March 5, he said. Two days later, Mr Mutizi met Mr Mann in a hangar at Manyame military airbase next to Harare airport to check the consignment. "We were suddenly surrounded by armed men," he said. "We were asked to produce the government authority for sales of weapons." On Tuesday, the other 68 pleaded guilty to charges of violating immigration and aviation laws, which carry maximum penalties of two years and one month in jail respectively. The trial continues today. François Joubert, the veteran South African attorney and head of the defence team, has withdrawn from the case. He refused to give a reason.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 30 July
Lay assessors block judge's guilty verdict on Tsvangirai
Harare - Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, might have been convicted of high treason yesterday but for the intervention of two lay assessors helping to hear the trial. Senior legal sources in Harare disclosed that Mr Justice Paddington Garwe, who presided over the trial, had wanted to find Mr Tsvangirai guilty, but the verdict was delayed because of the assessors' insistence that they be fully consulted. Zimbabwe has no jury system and cases are routinely tried by a judge sitting with two lay assessors. Matters of law are decided by the judge alone. Questions of fact must be resolved by a majority of the panel of three. The verdict in the trial of Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, was due to be delivered in Harare's High Court yesterday. Treason carries a possible death penalty. But the procedural concerns expressed by the two assessors forced a postponement. Lawyers say this is the first time in Zimbabwe's history that judgment has been delayed in such circumstances. "I've never heard of this in my 30 years in law," said Adrian de Bourbon, a former chairman of Zimbabwe's Bar Association.
Mr Tsvangirai was placed on trial after unsuccessfully challenging Robert Mugabe for Zimbabwe's presidency in elections two years ago which western observers said were neither free nor fair. He was charged with treason for allegedly plotting to kill President Mugabe and mount a coup. Last month, Mr Justice Garwe informed Mr Tsvangirai's defence lawyers that judgment would be delivered on July 29. But a week ago, his office told the lawyers that judgment had been postponed. The Daily Telegraph has established from a senior legal source in Harare that Mr Justice Garwe was prepared to deliver a guilty verdict without consulting the assessors, Misheck Nyandoro and Joseph Dangarembizi, but he could not do so. The two men demanded to study the 2,000-page transcript of the trial. Lawyers for the prosecution had presented secretly recorded video footage of a meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and Ari Ben Menashe, a Canadian political consultant. During this encounter, Mr Tsvangirai was recorded discussing the "elimination" of Mr Mugabe. The defence claims that he was enticed to use the word six times.
The prosecution said the opposition leader was plotting the president's murder. But Mr Mugabe's regime had secretly engaged Mr Ben Menashe as a political consultant and paid him more than £400,000. Mr Tsvangirai's lawyers argued that he had been the victim of a political "sting". During the trial, Mr Justice Garwe agreed with the prosecution that Mr Ben Menashe's contract with the Zimbabwean government should not be disclosed because it would be "prejudicial to national security". Public records show that Mr Justice Garwe, who is Judge President of the High Court, ranking second only to the Chief Justice, is one of 12 High Court judges who have been awarded formerly white-owned farms. Zimbabwe's judiciary once enjoyed a worldwide reputation as the most independent in Africa. The regime's political opponents have been placed on trial before - yet independent-minded judges have often acquitted them. The handling of Mr Tsvangirai's trial has appalled many lawyers, who believe that Zimbabwe's legal system has been compromised. "Every one of us is frightened to talk out and be identified about this case and many others," said a partner in a large legal firm. "We're complicit because we continue to practise as if there was a respectable legal system when it is a charade."
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 29 July
City firm bids to guard Mugabe
By Zenzile Khoisan
A Cape Town company which has already secured a R200 million contract to supply staff for a security mission to Angola is bidding for a contract to protect Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Derek Davids, of International Intelligence Risk Management, the company contracted in a joint venture to protect strategic installations and personnel in Angola, admitted his firm had been in touch with the Zimbabwean government. "I can confirm that (we) have officially communicated with the Zimbabwe government in connection with a contract to secure the principal (Mugabe) and to protect strategic properties and installations in that country." It is believed that the growing instability in Zimbabwe, arising in part from the deepening crisis between the Zanu PF government and opposition groups, has raised fears of a possible insurgency or a breakdown in military discipline. The ageing Mugabe is also facing pressure from other African governments to engage opposition groups. A damning report, tabled at the recent African Union summit in Addis Ababa, accused Mugabe's government of orchestrating a campaign of widespread human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the first Risk Management contingent could leave soon for Angola, where it is to guard mines and VIPs, and act as a rapid reaction force. Sources have told the Cape Argus that some of the applicants for the mission have already been issued with their advance of R10 000, which suggests that they are set to depart soon. They will be paid R50 000 a month. The reaction units, comprising highly trained troops, have been a matter of concern for several local military observers.However, the company reiterated that it was only contracted to protect strategic targets, like mines and prominent political players. "The reaction units will only be called in if close protection units that are guarding the property or life of the principal are under attack. This is typical military style," said Davids. "We are not contracted to get involved in the affairs of any country."
Davids declined to discuss his company's operational plans for "security reasons", but claimed that media coverage of the company's contract had led to threats and surveillance. Dominique Nel, head of NLJ Placement Services which was contracted by Risk Management to find the 500 military, security, intelligence and logistical support personnel, said: "We are a small and peaceful company, but since this contract was publicised, we have been subjected to threats, people calling my personal cell number and people following us. This must stop now, because we are not mercenaries." In an outburst at the Risk Management offices yesterday, a man who claimed he had given up his job to take up one of the positions in Angola said he was upset by the links drawn between Risk Management and Executive Outcomes, an outfit notorious for its involvement in conflict areas in Africa. "I am just one big ball of stress, because of this," the man said.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 29 July
Trial of Zim 70 adjourned to August
Harare - A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday adjourned until next month the trial of 70 men arrested in Harare on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe granted a request from state prosecutor Stephen Musona to adjourn the trial until August 18 and said that proceedings will wrap up at about that time. "When you come on the 18th we should move to finality," Guvamombe told the court shortly before adjourning the case. The 70 men, most of whom were arrested aboard a Boeing 727 that st opped in Harare on March 7 to pick up weapons from Zimbabwe's state-run arms manufacturer, have been charged with breaking Zimbabwe's firearms, security, aviation and immigration laws. The long-awaited trial opened on Tuesday with 67 of the men pleading guilty to minor charges of violating aviation and immigration laws and the judge accepted their plea. The 67 men await sentencing, which could result in a minor fine or a short jail sentence. The court on Thursday dropped firearms and security charges against pilot Jaap Steyl and two other crew members. And on Wednesday, the alleged leader of the group, Briton Simon Mann, pleaded guilty to attempting to possess dangerous weapons in Harare, but denied having purchased more than $180 000-worth of firearms illegally.
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From Africa Confidential (UK), 23 July
On and on and on
Economic failure confronts Mugabe more sharply than opposition parties and foreign critics
The African Union summit in Addis Ababa formally accepts a devastating critique of the government's human rights abuses. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation lambasts the government's land reforms and claims of a bumper harvest. The International Monetary Fund blames the government's failed policies for encouraging capital flight and emigration. And the 80-year President Robert Mugabe rides in his Rolls Royce to open parliament on 20 July, with no visible plan for an imminent retirement. Zimbabweans understand that the real purpose of legislation is the opposite of that expressed in the title. Thus the Public Order and Safety Act is used to bar civil society groups and opposition parties from protesting, while ruling party militias attack citizens with impunity. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act has been used to bar independent journalists and close down private newspapers such as the Daily News. As for the Anti-Corruption bill, even party loyalists fear it will be used for political victimisation rather than to cut graft. The day after Mugabe opened parliament, the outspoken Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, was in London to launch the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund, for victims of state oppression. Government loyalists have pursued Ncube with death threats and harassed his congregation, but Jesuit-educated Mugabe has stopped short of incarcerating dissident churchmen. This may now change. Gideon rising
Considering the economic nightmares with which he has to contend daily, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono is a relaxed man. He speaks gaily of economic challenges, never of difficulties or crises. He is also demonstrably godly, in the evangelical mode. Combining the two qualities, Gono beams a beatific smile when asked for irritating details about Zimbabwe's latest financial arrangements by nosey journalists or tetchy creditors. Gono has a disarming habit of calling his inquisitors 'my brother' which may take the sting out of killer questions. A visitor to the Reserve Bank was impressed to hear his secretary inform Governor Gono that 'number one' was on the line. Coolly Gono took the phone and began a casual phone call about payments for overseas school fees with Mugabe, exhibiting none of the deference and fawning that can accompany presidential calls. So close are the two that some suspect Mugabe's plan is to push Gono forward as candidate for the prime minister's post he wants to create if or perhaps when Zanu PF get their two-thirds majority in next year's elections and change the constitution. Gono fits the profile.
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From IRIN (UN), 29 July
Global fund turns down application on technical grounds
Johannesburg - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has dismissed claims that "politics" were behind a decision to reject Zimbabwe's US $516 million application, forcing the country to shelve its plans to scale up HIV/AIDS treatment. A spokesman for the Global Fund, Tim Clark, confirmed on Thursday that the country's proposal was turned down for "technical reasons", but stressed that the decision "had nothing to do with political considerations". "Zimbabwe's application, like all the others, was assessed by an independent board of disease experts who found several technical shortcomings. To suggest that the Global Fund has made a decision based on political merit is ridiculous. After all, the Fund has worked with countries such as Sudan and North Korea," Clark told IRIN. Clark was responding to comments made by David Parirenyatwa, Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and Child Welfare, who accused the Fund of political bias. "These are the sanctions that anti-government organisations and the [opposition] MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] are calling for, and this has resulted in a humanitarian proposal being turned down," Parirenyatwa reportedly told the independent Standard newspaper.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic, with an estimated adult prevalence rate of 24.6 percent. AIDS activists expressed disappointment over the Global Fund's decision to exclude Zimbabwe, citing the already limited resources available to tackle the disease. Coordinator of the Zimbabwe AIDS network, Kate Mhambi, told IRIN that the country would have to look "inwards" for funds if it hoped to sustain its fledgling anti-AIDS treatment rollout. "There were plans to scale up ARV [antiretroviral] therapy treatment, but it seems as if these plans will have to be shelved. It is still unclear what the reasons are behind the Global Fund's rejection, but we do hope that it had nothing to do with politics. Humanitarian concerns should be completely separated from political issues." Mhambi noted that ARVs were currently administered at four major health institutions, but without the support of international donor funds it was unlikely that the government would have the capacity to expand treatment programmes. Clark said Zimbabwe had two options: either the country could appeal the Global Fund decision, or "go back to the drawing board and correct some of the technical glitches in its original application". Previous applications for HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention programmes had been approved and there were "positive signs" that Zimbabwe would receive the second tranche of a US $9 million grant to support anti-malaria efforts in the country.
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From VOA News, 29 July
Human rights lawyers slam new Zimbabwe laws on NGOs
Zimbabwe's human rights lawyers say proposed new laws to control non-governmental organizations threaten the future of the donor community, including agencies funding social welfare projects. Under the government's legislative proposal, all NGO's will have to be registered with a central office controlled by the welfare ministry or anyone appointed by President Robert Mugabe. The government says that the proposed law is designed to protect public interest by ensuring that NGOs are properly administered and use donor and public funds to support their declared objectives. Human rights lawyers say that the definition of NGO, as proposed in the draft law, includes charitable institutions, social programs, including those assisting people suffering from HIV/AIDS, legal aid and even animal welfare groups. The draft laws prohibit any local NGO from receiving foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance. If the government decides the funding is illegal, it can either repatriate the funds or forfeit them to the government. Lawyers for Human Rights, a human rights group that analyzed the legislation, says it is so broad it will cover all civil, economic, social and cultural institutions. They warn that, if the law is enacted, any NGO disliked by the government can be closed on the pretext that the organization has committed administrative illegalities. The group says the proposed law is at odds with the United Nations and African Union's views on the role that non-governmental organizations should play. Many NGO managers are meeting over two days in Harare this week to determine whether the new legislation will allow them to carry out their activities in Zimbabwe.
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Comment from Mmegi (Botswana), 29 July
NGOs under threat in Zimbabwe
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) have been operating in Zimbabwe under a cloud of uncertainty for quite some time, especially since the government claimed in early 2003 that organisations not registered under the Private Voluntary Organizations Act, Chapter 17:05 were operating illegally, despite the fact that they were all registered Trusts. It became apparent that the government would seek to change the law in order to ensure that it controlled the operations of NGOs by making the registration process difficult and subject to the whims of a government-appointed registration body. We have seen how such government-appointed bodies operate from the actions of the Media and Information Commission, which has - in two short years - done everything possible to shut down the independent press.
In a speech to Parliament on July 20, President Robert Mugabe had the following to say about NGOs: "Non-governmental organisations must work for the betterment of our country, and not against it. We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs. My government will, during this session, introduce a Bill repealing the Private Voluntary Organisations Act and replacing it with a new law that will create a Non-Governmental Organisations Council, whose thrust will be to ensure rationalisation of the macro-management of all NGOs." What the president's speech immediately shows is that government regards most NGOs as working against the country. No mention is made of the enormous benefits that have been accrued by the ordinary people of Zimbabwe from the work of NGOs. It is instructive that the President made no reference to the "betterment" of the people of Zimbabwe, who are the beneficiaries of most of the work done by NGOs.
It is also instructive that the President made no reference to the fact that the majority of NGOs have stepped into the shoes of government by providing services that ought to be provided by the government. The failure to acknowledge that NGOs have sought to complement government services that are either non-existent or on the verge of collapse can only serve to show the negative perception that the government has towards NGOs and their work. The president's speech also makes it clear that NGOs are perceived to be agents of foreign interests that have been set up to interfere in government affairs. This is an all too familiar allegation that has been used to further reduce the democratic space in Zimbabwe, and to limit the participation on national issues by ordinary Zimbabweans. That the new law is being promulgated for no other reason than to control NGOs and their work is also clear from the fact that the proposed NGO Council will be tasked with "rationalisation of the macro-management of all NGOs". There can be no doubt that government will seek to control the registration of NGOs with a view to ensuring that certain NGOs are not registered.
There can also be no doubt that those NGOs that will be registered will have their operations controlled and "managed" by the proposed Council in a clear attempt to control the work of NGOs. Those NGOs that have traditionally sought to bring to the fore, government excesses, and failures are not likely to be registered, and civil society, as we know it, will cease to exist. This is not the first time the government has sought to control the affairs of NGOs. When the current Private Voluntary Organisations Act was passed in 1995, it gave the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, power to suspend the Board or Executive Committee of an NGO and to replace it with members he would have nominated without reference to the organisation or its members. The minister promptly used this provision against the executive committee of the Association of Women's Clubs and this was successfully challenged in the Constitutional Court as being against the right to be heard before the determination and taking away the right to freedoms of association, and expression. Therefore, the government is clearly seeking to reintroduce this law with the full knowledge and comfort that the current Constitutional Court is unlikely to fight against it as has happened in other constitutional challenges.
The effect of such legislation will be disastrous for the average Zimbabwean, particularly as we approach an election year. NGOs that have generally followed the conduct of elections are at high risk of not being registered by the proposed Council. Victims are not likely to have any assistance outside government structures, which are not likely to be sympathetic to such victims. With the absence of an independent daily newspaper, excesses committed by political parties, their members and other agents are not likely to be published. Unlawful arrests and detention at unknown places, which are usually accompanied by torture, will not be reported, thus lessening the chances of investigations and seeking redress. Basically, the meticulous recording of human rights' abuses that characterised the last election will not be possible if the government determines which organisation should be registered and who should manage it. The implications for the proposed legislation are grave, and will cut out the free flow of information to the outside world, as monitoring some of the excesses will be criminalised. The proposed legislation should therefore be fought by all freedom loving persons.
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From Zim Online (SA), 31 July
Zimbabwe opposition MP to face one year in jail
Johannesburg - A parliamentarian of the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Roy Bennett, is facing a one year jail sentence, following a recommendation by the parliamentary privileges committee. On 19 May the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, during a heated debate called Bennett's forefathers "thieves and murderers'. An irate Bennett pushed Chinamasa to the floor. Zanu PF minister Didymus Mutasa then kicked Bennett, and another minister, Kembo Mohadi, tried to intervene but Bennett pushed him away. He went for Mutasa and sent the minister tumbling to the floor. Sources close to the proceedings told ZimOnline from Harare that the committee headed by a Zanu PF Kadoma lawyer and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Paul Mangwana has completed its job and "will report to parliament any time." Under Zimbabwean law, it is an offence for members of the committee or journalists to reveal findings of a committee before it reports to parliament. There was no consensus on the recommendation to send Bennett to jail and the matter was put to the vote, resulting in the four Zanu PF committee members beating their two MDC counterparts. The sources could not say what recommendations were made with regard to Mutasa and Chinamasa who were also involved in the kicking and shoving in the house. If Bennett is sent to prison for a year he will automatically have to leave parliament. Under Zimbabwe's laws parliamentarians lose their seats if they are sentenced to imprisonment of six months or more. He has the right to appeal in a court of law. During the controversial land reform process, Bennett's farm was confiscated by the government despite six court orders against the acquisition.
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From VOA News, 30 July
Long standing Zimbabwe private school faces closure
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - One of Zimbabwe's oldest private schools could be the first casualty of a standoff over fees between private schools and the Education Ministry. The board of Eaglesvale Junior and High Schools has put the school on provisional voluntary liquidation, which means the schools will close when they run out of funds. The chairman of the board of trustees at the school, Deon Theron, said they have been forced into taking what he called the drastic step, as the school was struggling to make ends meet. The school, founded in 1911, is one of many that were earlier this year stopped from starting the second term by the Education Ministry, which accused them of raising their fees to exclude black pupils. The schools only opened after agreeing to fees set by the ministry. The ministry, however, allowed parents who wished to to make donations to schools. Mr. Theron says the school received a letter from the ministry earlier this month accusing the school authorities of demanding donations and ordering that it refund the money. To date, Mr.Theron says only 15 parents have demanded their money back. He says it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the standards at the school without running high debts it may be unable to pay. The school opted for provisional liquidation meaning it can reverse the decision to close down the school, if the situation changes. Mr. Theron says the fees set by the ministry were unrealistic. But, he says, dialogue with the ministry and an agreement to increase fees is the only way the school can remain open. He dismissed the allegations that the schools were trying to keep out black pupils, saying that, of the approximately 1,000 pupils at the coed institution 70 percent of the junior pupils are black, while 80 percent of the high school students are black. Most of Zimbabwe's elite, including government ministers, prefer to send their children to private schools
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 31 July
Mudede loses case against Independent
Staff Writer
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has lost a defamation suit against the Zimbabwe Independent. In the ruling by Justice Sandra Mungwira on Wednesday, he was described as an "unconvincing" witness whose evidence was "suspect". Mudede in 1999 sued the paper and its editor Trevor Ncube for $500 000 over an article which suggested that Mudede had benefited from loans made by the troubled United Merchant Bank. The article said Mudede could escape repayment of loans because records of the bank - owned by the late Roger Boka - had gone missing. Mudede denied this saying the article had portrayed him as dishonest, unprofessional and corrupt. Mudede had in his evidence before the court said he was a legal practitioner and a man of high social standing. He denied being a director of Boka's bank but admitted receiving sums of money from the bank. He also said he did public relations work for the bank. But the court was unimpressed. "The evidence of the plaintiff, in my view, speaks for itself," said Justice Mungwira. "He unfortunately, for one who had made much of his being well-versed in the law, professing to be a qualified legal practitioner, made a very poor showing. He, by the words of his own mouth unleashed a can of worms. The plaintiff did himself a gross disservice." In his evidence, described in the judgement as "a somewhat convoluted explanation", Mudede said he had been involved in the trading of shares in a private company, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors. Leading evidence on his creditworthiness, Mudede said he had managed to overturn a default judgement against him by making a direct approach to the presiding magistrate to complain.
Justice Mungwira cited the two incidents as examples of "self-betrayal" by Mudede. "His description of his dealings with the late Roger Boka, the business of the sale to members of the public of shares in a private company and the circumstances in which he obtained 'recession' of a court judgement without recourse to the laid-down procedures are a few of the instances of this self-betrayal that I refer to," the judge said. She added: "Some of his revelations left one agog with incredulity given the nature of the case and that here was a man of substance who had gone to the lengths of litigating to preserve his good name. It was somewhat difficult to avoid developing a feeling of discomfiture at the patent embarrassment that he occasioned to himself, particularly when one takes into account his position in the land." Justice Mugwira said Mudede "appeared to have little grasp of the concept of defamation or what it is that was required of him to establish a case against the defendants". She said the evidence led by Mudede was inconclusive and "elements of self-contradiction arose throughout his testimony". "At the end of the day, and regrettably so, one was left with little choice but to consider suspect his version of events," the judge said.
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 30 July
Mercenaries' trial delayed for SA spies
Zimbabwean prosecutors want South African spies to give evidence at the trial of 70 alleged mercenaries when it resumes next month. The trial was adjourned yesterday until August 18 after the state withdrew all but immigration and aviation charges against the three aircrew. South African defence lawyer Alwyn Griebenow said the Zimbabwe prosecutors had asked for the delay. "They want people from the National Intelligence Agency to come to Zimbabwe to give evidence about the conspiracy. The prosecutors did not know whether they would be available next week, so the case was postponed to August 18," he said. The men were arrested when they arrived in Harare in a Boeing 727 aircraft on March 7, allegedly to collect weapons. South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota have been reported as saying they were arrested after South African authorities tipped off Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe prosecutors hope the NIA agents will strengthen their charge of a conspiracy against the men. They want the agents to corroborate their allegation that the men, led by Simon Mann, a former officer in Britain's elite Special Air Services, stopped off in Harare to load weapons to use in a coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea. The men have all said they were instead on their way to guard a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 70 have already spent nearly five months in detention in Zimbabwe's Chikurubi maximum security prison 30km from the capital. "When we resume on the 18th (August) we hope we will be in a position to go to finality. We have lost too much time already," magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said yesterday in the makeshift court in a shed inside the walls of Chikurubi prison.
All but immigration and aviation charges were withdrawn yesterday against Niel Steyl, Ken Payne and Hendrik Hamman, the aircrew who flew the Boeing 727 from South Africa to Harare on March 7. The purpose of the flight to Harare was allegedly to collect weapons, including rocket launchers, which Mann had bought for US$180 000 from the parastatal company Zimbabwe Defence Industries. Griebenow said yesterday the three crew would not be charged with any further offences in this trial. Mann looked relaxed and joked with his defence team yesterday, despite facing up to 10 years in a Zimbabwe prison after admitting to charges under Zimbabwe's security laws of attempting to acquire "dangerous" weapons. But he denied actually buying a range of military hardware without a permit. This additional charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. Prosecutors have reserved the right to add to charges laid so far but Griebenow was confident that no more would be laid against the aircrew. The rest of the group, mostly former combatants in the former SA Defence Force, and all of whom arrived in Zimbabwe on South African passports, still face two charges of attempting to possess dangerous weapons and conspiracy to purchase them. "They are in pretty good shape. Disappointed that there was no conclusion, but there is nothing we can do about that," Griebenow said.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 30 July
Daily News ruling postponed again
A Zimbabwe court on Friday postponed until later this year a ruling in the case in which four directors of the popular independent Daily News are charged with illegally publishing the newspaper. Directors Samuel Nkomo, Brian Mutsau, Rachel Kupara and Michael Mattinson were ordered to return to court on September 20, when the magistrate is expected to rule on whether or not to dismiss the case against them. It was the second time this month a ruling was postponed. The four were charged last year with publishing the country's most popular daily without permission from the official media commission, as required under strict press laws. The Daily News has only managed to publish a few editions since its forced closure by armed police in September last year. Zimbabwe's press laws, introduced shortly after President Robert Mugabe won a second term in office in 2002, have been condemned by rights activists as draconian.
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From Zim Online (SA), 31 July
Thriving business in fake Botswana passports for Zimbabweans
Ramokgwebana border post, Botswana - An immigration officer takes a long look at the faded passport, tracing its worn edges with one finger. Then he looks up at the woman before him, searching her face. She shuffles uneasily, heavy luggage strapped to her back. The official's gaze returns to the document one last time before he stamps it and nods, granting the weary traveller the right to cross into Botswana. As she walks away her step is noticeably faster, and lighter, than when she first approached the checkpoint. Grace (not her real name) is one of many Zimbabweans who buy Botswana passports in an attempt to escape what she calls harassment by immigration officials and other law enforcers. 'What drove me to buy the Botswana passport is the amount of suspicion, and problems, associated with the Zimbabwean document. The moment someone sees you have a Zimbabwean passport they assume, or suspect, you are in Botswana for all the wrong reasons,' explains Grace. 'To escape torture', she had no alternative but to buy a Botswana passport for half a million Zimbabwe dollars, or P500 (two-and-a-half times the average monthly income in Zimbabwe). She says the price - while excessive, by Zimbabwe standards - is worth every cent because it guarantees her peace of mind.
She's been living in the country, illegally, for three years and has become conversant in the local language, SeTswana. That, in turn, makes it difficult for officials to detect she is a foreigner. Yet there's no denying that her being the bearer of the correct (albeit false) documentation helps. 'At the border post you do not have to bother about long queues,' smiles Grace, adding 'Botswana citizens to not have to queue.' Some locals say Botswana's economic prosperity and political stability has an unforeseen cost: it is attracting thousands of Zimbabwean - and other - refugees, who are fleeing either political or economic hardship in their homelands. Grace says locals are equally to blame. She maintains Batswana sell their own passports to a syndicate, which reportedly operates from outside the Gaborone offices of the Department of Immigration. Citizens sell their passports for as little as P100 (Z$150,000) to a network of underground buyers, most of whom are either locals or South Africans. Previous owners then report to officials, claiming their passports have been 'lost'. The travel documents are then smuggled into South Africa, where changes - including the addition of a photograph, portraying the new bearer - are made. Botswana citizen Michael Mogomotsi (not his real name) acknowledges he is aware of the syndicate, adding there is a 'thriving market', as he puts it, for the Botswana passport. He told ZimOnline South Africa has the sophisticated technology needed to swap snapshots and replace the plastic seal which incorporates security features like the Botswana coat of arms. 'When the passports are brought back to Botswana it's difficult to spot the changes.' Members of the syndicate prefer older passports. 'This', says Mogomotsi, 'is because it is easier for immigration officials to detect changes on new documents'.
Grace admits to assisting fellow countrymen and -women in obtaining Botswana passports. But it is not only Zimbabweans who want the document. Grace says she knows Zambians, for example, who are also loyal customers of the syndicate. One of the reasons for the Botswana passport's popularity is the fact that its bearers do not require a visa when travelling to most countries abroad. 'Soon the passports will be smuggled to Zimbabwe too, to be sold to those intending to visit either Britain or America,' says Farai Chiroza, a Zimbabwean citizen. He predicts the situation will remain unchanged, if not worsen, unless the economic and political conditions in his birthplace improve. In short, Chiroza says, people are 'desperate to escape their woes'. But the future, at least for prospective passport purchasers, is not rosy. A Senior Immigration Officer, who requested anonymity, says Botswana authorities are investigating the syndicate. He adds his department is busy creating a passport that will be increasingly more difficult for criminals to forge or alter.
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From IRIN (UN), 30 July
Increase in street children as economy worsens
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's worsening economic conditions were one of the key reasons for the growing number of children on the streets, according to a recent survey. Results from an assessment of children living and working on the streets in urban areas around the capital, Harare, showed that the majority ended up here as a result of poverty, sexual or physical abuse and family breakdown. Of the 450 children interviewed by Zimbabwe's National Council for the Welfare of Children, with support from UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 58 percent had become homeless during the last year. In a statement on Friday UNICEF said the assessment indicated that the number of children in Harare and Chitungwiza, 35 km east of the capital, could be higher than the current estimate of 5,000. "It is still unclear exactly how many children are on the streets, especially since they fall into several categories. There are those who live on the streets permanently, and then there are children who work on the streets during the day but return home at night. Until a formal survey is done we cannot be sure of the numbers, but in Harare alone there are at least 5,000 street children," UNICEF information officer, Tich Chikowore, told IRIN. "Often we find that parents are unable to make ends meet. They don't have the money to pay school fees or feed their children. These children then have to drop out of school and find work on the streets. In some cases children leave home because they feel they can survive better on their own," Chikowore added.
Although Zimbabwe's consumer inflation last month declined to just below 400 percent, ordinary households are still unable to afford basic commodities. Chikowore stressed that physical and sexual abuse continued to be a major issue - street children had often been sexually or physically abused at home and on the streets. "Although many children have expressed the wish to return home or be placed within a family, there are those who would rather stay on the streets because they fear that they may encounter the same kind of physical abuse which forced them to leave home in the first place," he said. The assessment highlighted that more male than female children were on the streets, and the highest number for both sexes was in the 14- to 18-year age group. Moreover, 55 percent of the children interviewed had no birth certificates. One of the obstacles affecting intervention programmes was a generally negative attitude to street children. UNICEF noted that reactions to street children tended to be "punitive", while "anti-social and delinquent behaviour is not considered in its proper social and psychological context". The children's agency said interviews with childcare workers revealed that all programmes for street children lacked adequate funding and skilled personnel, and experienced problems with co-ordination between similar organisations.
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From cricinfo (UK), 30 July
ZCU official acused of trying to influence elections
Martin Williamson
Ozais Bvute, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union board member who is no stranger to controversy, is again at the centre of a row after it was alleged that he offered Vumindaba Moyo a job within the ZCU so that Moyo would campaign for him in Matabeleland, where Bvute wanted to become chairman. Bvute's sudden interest in provincial cricket politics is thought to have come about after it became clear that local associations had the power to dismiss the ZCU board. Another controversial member of the board - Max Ebrahim, who was previously chairman of the Mashonaland Cricket Association - went out of his way to became chairman of a little-known province called Masvingo, in what was seen by many as a bid to prevent him being usurped by those opposing the ZCU. Bvute's aspirations in Matabeleland were not helped by the fact that he has almost no support there, hence the approach to the influential Moyo, a leading candidate to become chairman and an opponent of much the ZCU has done of late. In return for the job, the intention was that Moyo would influence the clubs to back Bvute. But a local source said that Moyo dismissed the approach, going so far as to tell the middle man to "go to hell".
This helps to explain the background to the chaos which surrounded the Matabeleland Cricket Association AGM held at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on June 26 when Bvute, accompanied by the Mashonaland Cricket Association chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani and general manager Givemore Makoni, effectively hijacked the meeting. Moyo and his supporters walked out, and even when they came back they refused to stand for any post on the board. Sources claim that Bvute telephoned Moyo after the meeting and tried to distance himself from the job offer, but Moyo was left deeply unimpressed. Several administrators in Matabeleland have confirmed that Bvute did make a specific approach to try to influence Moyo. Attempts to contact Bvute for a comment were unsuccessful. Recently, the ZCU constitution was amended to give provinces four slots on the board. The provincial chairmen of Matabeleland and Mashonaland automatically become ZCU board members, while the provinces also nominate two individuals to be on the board. The ZCU holds a crucial AGM in Harare on Friday, August 6, and it is yet to be seen whether Bvute and Ebrahim, who are thought by many to be the key figures in instigating and fuelling the current crisis in which 15 rebel players refused to play for Zimbabwe, will still be on the board after the meeting.
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From Reuters, 31 July
Zimbabwe police raid MDC leader's house
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
Harare - Zimbabwean police raided the house of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday, looking for weapons they say were used to fake an assassination attempt on him. Movement for Democratic Change supporters have accused President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party of trying to assassinate Tsvangirai during an attack on an MDC rally in Mvurwi, northeast of Harare in early July. Zanu PF denied the charge and alleged that Tsvangirai himself staged the incident to discredit the government. "It is the usual harassment by the authorities. It is a relentless persecution which is totally unfounded. They want to break our spirits but they will not succeed," Tsvangirai told Reuters as police scoured his family home. Police were welcome to come back and search his house anytime they wanted to, he added. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said officers searched Tsvangirai's home for teargas canisters and other weapons used during the Mvurwi incident. "We would want to know the origins of the canisters and also the weapons because we would like to minimise all cases of political violence ahead of next year's parliamentary elections," he said. Tsvangirai has said the Mvurwi incident could be the beginning of a bloody campaign by Mugabe to win next year's polls.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and his party, Zanu PF, is locked in an often violent power struggle with the MDC, which was launched five years ago. The MDC draws most of its support from cities, where people blame Mugabe for Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since independence. The party has a third of the seats in the 150-member parliament. Mugabe, 80, denies that he has mismanaged the economy and instead accuses opponents of sabotage to punish him for seizing white-owned farms for redistribution among landless blacks. Tsvangirai's house and offices have been searched several times in recent years for weapons and documents that could implicate him in criminal activities. Tsvangirai is awaiting judgement on one charge of treason for allegedly trying to have Mugabe killed. He is waiting for the start of a separate treason trial based on charges he tried to overthrow Mugabe's government through street protests last June.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30 July
Nkomo hits back
Dumisai Muleya
Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo has warned ruling party "infiltrators and saboteurs" playing to the gallery in the deepening multiple farm allocation row that their antics will no longer be tolerated. Nkomo, who is also Land, Land Reform and Resettlement minister, said he was proceeding to recover surplus farms ministers and high-ranking officials were allocated, despite protests by those affected. He said the angry obfuscations by those "defending the indefensible" would not scare him or frustrate his efforts to retrieve the farms from land-grabbers. "I won't be intimidated, perturbed or frustrated by those causing all this hullabaloo," Nkomo said. "There are some people now abusing Zanu PF for personal ambitions and gain. As chairman of Zanu PF and, indeed, as minister I will stand firm in defence of the party. Zanu PF has come a long way and at different times it has had infiltrators and people planted within - the fifth columnists - but they have always been flushed out."
Nkomo said he would not sink so low as to engage in mudslinging because the seized farms would eventually be taken anyway. He said whoever was writing the Sunday Mail's weekly column under the name Lowani Ndlovu "does not think" because he was trying to "defend the indefensible". Mirror publisher Ibbo Mandaza also slammed the seemingly ghostly writer - widely thought to be a voluble cabinet minister - this week for attacking people under cover of anonymity. Nkomo said Zanu PF would not accept elements within the party to "abuse" its name to promote personal agendas, while whittling away at its reputation. "We can't have people who behave like the opposition among us. Sooner or later Zanu PF shall cleanse itself of these elements," he said.
Nkomo sparked the increasingly messy wrangle with fellow ministers who had more than one farm recently after he wrote to them saying he was taking back their extra land holdings. The officials included ministers Jonathan Moyo (Information and Publicity), Ignatius Chombo (Local Government), Joseph Made (Agriculture), Patrick Chinmasa (Justice) and Chris Mushohwe (Transport). The ministers denied that they owned surplus farms, either saying they had now abandoned them or that they were allocated to their relatives. Moyo, who was deemed to have three farms, said the withdrawal letters were "preposterous and annoying". He said the safari farm, cited as Lot 2 of Dete in Hwange, was withdrawn and allocated to a Mrs Jackie Mayers, who is his cousin. Moyo has also denied ownership of a farm in Bubi-Mguza area, saying it was allocated to his mother. He has further denied that he had an interest in Little Connemara, claiming that it "dramatised the malice" behind the letter of withdrawal. But Nkomo said such things would not be tolerated. "Lowani Ndlovu" two weeks ago attacked Nkomo and other officials charged with land reform, saying the current events showed that "they don't think at all". He also indirectly attacked President Robert Mugabe when he said his recent splitting of land ministries did not work.
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From The Star (Malaysia), 29 July
Malaysian firm-led group gets RM2.3bil Zimbabwe water project
By David Tan in Langkawi
The Zimbabwean Government has awarded a US$600mil (RM2.3bil) water supply project to a joint-venture company formed by a Malaysian firm and the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Authority. According to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Jamaludin Mohd Jarjis, the Malaysian partner has an 80% stake in the joint venture, with the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Authority holding the remaining 20%. "The full details of the deal will be announced at a signing ceremony on Saturday which will be witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe," he said ahead of the opening today of the latest Langkawi International Dialogue. Jamaludin said the deal underscored Malaysia's success in making use of the Langkawi International Dialogue series to seize business opportunities overseas. "This dialogue has matured into a platform that enables Malaysia to take part in new and emerging businesses in the African continent. "Malaysian corporate giants which have achieved success domestically must take up the challenge of becoming global players. They must make use of the dialogue to form networks with the private business sector in African nations," he added. Jamaludin said Malaysia must also capitalise on the business match-making prospects offered by Swaziland. "Swaziland's King Mswati III has offered Malaysian entrepreneurs the opportunity to venture into the agriculture and technological sectors," he added
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From The New Sunday Times (Malaysia), 31 July
Mugabe: Time not ripe for water deal
Langkawi - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said the time was not yet ripe to seal a deal on the RM2.28 billion venture between a Malaysian company and the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Authority. "The project requires much more discussion. Our Ministry of Water is also not here. The deal will be done in the future," he said yesterday. On Wednesday, Malaysian officials had announced that a shareholders' agreement between the two parties was scheduled to be signed at the close of the dialogue. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis said the two parties were still thrashing out several technical issues. It was reported that the project involves harnessing water from the Zambezi River to irrigate the drought-prone Matabeleland region. The Malaysian company involved in the project is said to hold an 80 per cent stake, while the rest would be held by Matabeleland-Zambezi Water Authority. Reports from Harare stated that a joint-venture company known as Mount Hope Services (Private) Limited would spearhead the project and hold a 30-year concession. The reports also said the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of Malaysia would invest RM190 million in the project to bankroll the piping of water from the Zambezi River and the construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam. The Matabeleland water project has been on the drawing board for years due to financial setbacks and other problems.
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 July
Zanu PF official grabs 50 houses, stands
THE scandal-ridden Municipality of Chegutu has produced a damning report alleging that controversial Zanu PF councillor and deputy mayor Pheneas Mariyapera acquired 50 houses and stands worth millions in a well-orchestrated scam that could drag in senior government and ruling party provincial officials in Mashonaland West. The report, dated June 29 2004 and sent to Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo on July 5 2004, was compiled by the acting town clerk, Marufu Chigwenzi Zinyowera, after residents and council workers had queried the continued decline of services in the town. Mariyapera, who is said to have the backing of Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial bigwigs, was implicated in an earlier report by a government task force as the chief culprit behind the disappearance of funds from the council's drying coffers as well as the abuse of $150 million in ratepayers' money.
On the acquisition of council stands and houses, the report said it was common knowledge that most of the houses had not been paid for in the normal way. "The deputy mayor has in his name 23 houses/stands. In addition, there are at least 27 others registered under his family name - Vhurumundu," the report said. "There is wanton disregard for municipal by-laws with respect to the location of buildings. The extent of interference in management and nepotism is highlighted.which shows the list of Mariyapera's relatives employed by the Municipality of Chegutu.All of these buildings belong to the deputy mayor and his circle of friends who openly boast that Chegutu is their turf." Zinyowera said there was an additional list of Mariyapera's friends currently being compiled. "The final proven figure of stands and houses owned by the clique is staggering, taking into account the size of Chegutu. "Unless the above areas are redressed decisively, no amount of recapitalisation will bring normalcy to the Municipality of Chegutu," the report said. "There is need for the party (Zanu PF) to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the above and other areas of concern," it said.
According to the damning report, Zinyowera said to bring normalcy back to the Chegutu Town Council, issues that needed urgent attention included greed in the acquisition of property and stands by councillors and council employees and strategic recruitment and placement of workers with criminal intents leading to the abuse of the home ownership scheme. Other burning issues, the report said, included the wanton destruction and conversion of municipal capital equipment to personal use by councillors and nepotism in the recruitment and promotion for council workers and defeating the course of justice by protecting criminals. Efforts to get comments from Chombo's office proved fruitless.
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From The Guardian (UK), 2 August
Mugabe law will curb church and charities
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
The Zimbabwean government has drawn up legislation to curtail the activities of charities, church groups and other non-governmental organisations. Announcing the draft legislation, President Robert Mugabe said non-governmental organisations "must work for the betterment of our country and not against it ... We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs." Civic leaders have denounced the bill, expected to be tabled in parliament within weeks, as an attempt to strangle all independent, critical voices in Zimbabwe in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March next year. The bill would make it difficult for independent bodies to speak out against state torture and other human rights abuses, the prevalence of hunger and vote rigging, they warned. "It's very threatening," said a community leader, Rutendo Hadebe. "Obviously it is all about the elections. Before the last elections the government passed legislation to restrict the press. Now civic organisations are the next stumbling block so the government is taking measures against us."
The bill forbids local organisations from receiving foreign funding and requires them to register with the government, which can ban them. The bill also prevents foreign organisations from operating if they intend to work in the areas of governance and human rights. Amnesty International said: "The government will use this new bill to silence critical voices and further restrict the right to freedom of expression. It is a clear attempt to suppress dissenting views as parliamentary elections draw closer." Iden Wetherell, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Editors' Forum, said: "This bill is part of a wider campaign by government to close down democratic space in the country." This week the Zimbabwe Election Support Network urged the government to carry out new and transparent voter registration. It said the voters' roll was so riddled with dead voters, multiple entries and "ghost" voters that it could not be used in free and fair polls. Yesterday, Zimbabwe's main opposition party accused police of harassing its leader to hinder his political activities before the elections. Police on Saturday searched the northern Harare home of the Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, looking for weapons. None was found, said an opposition spokesman, William Bango.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 1 August
Concern over Zanu PF plan to extend city boundaries
By Caiphas Chimhete
The Zanu PF government should leave matters relating to change of constituency boundaries for next year's parliamentary elections to the proposed new Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), civil bodies have said. Their reaction comes in the wake of intentions by government to incorporate illegal peri-urban settlements into Harare and Chitungwiza, a move largely seen as aimed at diluting the influence of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC ahead of next March's poll. The settlements were created during the 2000 Zanu PF-sponsored land invasions, spearheaded by war veterans and they are occupied mainly by Zanu PF loyalists. Using the Urban Councils and Rural District Councils Acts, Zanu PF wants to alter the council and ward boundaries for Harare City Council, Chitungwiza Municipal Council, Epworth and Ruwa Local Boards and, Goromonzi, Mazowe, Manyame/Seke and Zvimba Rural District Councils. Under the proposed changes, announced in a notice published recently, Harare, which is the bastion of opposition politics, stands to be carved up. Areas that are to be annexed into Harare include WhiteCliff and Marwede Township, largely populated by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans. They are presently under Zvimba Rural District Council. Estates such as Galway Estate Boulders and 1, 2 & 3-of Galway Estate, presently under Goromonzi RDC, would be incorporated into the Ruwa-Epworth District under Ward 7. Chitungwiza will incorporate properties such as Cawdor, Tantallon and Edinburg, presently under Manyame RDC into Ward 18, Seke District.
The chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn), Reginald Matchava-Hove, said anything that relates to voter registration and change of constituency boundaries for the next year's elections must be left to incoming Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The government recently agreed to an IEC, the use of translucent ballot boxes as well as that voting be conducted in one day. It also accepted that counting of votes be undertaken at the polling stations. "Any measures that can easily be viewed as gerrymandering must be stopped forthwith. If boundaries are to be changed there should be wide consultation," said Matchaba-Hove, whose organisation advocates for fair electoral laws. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said Zanu PF's change of boundaries was "election thuggery" that could not go unchallenged. Presently, the organisation is collecting residents' signatures in a bid to lodge a strong objection to the proposed boundary changes. The Urban Councils Act allows oganisations or individuals opposed to the incorporation of the areas to lodge their objectives with the Ministry of Local Government within 30 days of the notice. MDC secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, said the annexation of the illegal settlements in greater Harare and Chitungwiza was a political machination by Zanu PF to deceitfully win next year's election. He said the incorporation of the shanty peri-urban settlements was part of a grand plan to dislodge the MDC from urban areas, which started with the imposition of Governors in Harare and Bulawayo. "We are well aware that it's political conspiracy by Zanu PF," he said.
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From Zim Online (SA), 2 August
Living off dying land
Harare - Columns of smoke smudge the sky above a newly resettled farm, outside Harare, coal black. Farmer Denis Kambwe says he's burning grass because it flushes terrified wild game out into the open. He's stoking a fire as he talks. Every now and then sparks flash as fat drips - from the liver and kidneys of a kudu roasting above - onto the flames. 'At least now we'll have sadza with meat for several days,' smiles Kambwe. He then walks over to the carcass and begins skinning the buck while his dogs, lying nearby, salivate. Asked if he is aware of the rapid depletion of the game on his farm, he nods. 'But remember,' he says, 'this land belongs to me now.' A self-described war veteran, Kambwe says he 'grabbed' the property four years ago from its then owner John Bata. Aside from a change in ownership, the land has undergone a physical metamorphosis too. Once lush and fertile, the farm now lies derelict. Kambwe complains it's the government's fault, because the authorities never provided the necessary capital to buy agricultural inputs and machinery. As a result, Kambwe argues, he is justified in hunting the animals because he needs meat. While cautiously cutting-up a kudu kidney, he says that's 'okay' because the farm's creatures are his property too. The hunting and poaching of wild animals on recently re-settled farms has risen as beef prices climbed, caused by the shrinking of the national herd. 'I cannot afford to buy beef and, thank God, on this farm there's plenty,' mumbles Kambwe as he chews.
Visits by ZimOnline to properties in several provinces - including Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Manicaland - reveal that dozens of new A2 (or commercial) farmers are not cultivating the land allocated to them. A number of small- and medium-sized commercial farms, given to black farmers under Zimbabwe's fast-track land redistribution programme, are lying fallow. While Kambwe seems to be in good health, the same cannot be said for his farm. The property is clearly neglected and grass covers fields that once bore crops. The few visible implements and machinery are either broken, or derelict. Cleopas Mandebvu, acting director of the predominantly black Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU), says his organisation is concerned about vast tracks of land lying idle: "We are lobbying government and are busy compiling a report, based on our own findings, with the aim of correcting the situation.' His organisation wants Zimbabwe to be the breadbasket of Southern Africa again. Mandebvu attributes land being neglected, or lying fallow, to plots being given to new farmers without their being 'genuinely interested' in farming. He adds they probably went into farming primarily to earn some of the 'prestige associated with being a commercial farmer".
Near Turnpike farm, more than 50 km south west of the capital, 60-year-old Zini Daudi sells firewood along the main highway. Dressed in gumboots and overalls Daudi resembles a farmer, although he spends most of his time selling firewood. When one driver brakes and rolls down his window Daudi jogs to the car and asks him, jokingly, how many tonnes of firewood he needs. He then points to the farm, explains it belongs to him and promises to deliver wood. Daudi tells ZimOnline he knows he should be busy preparing the soil ahead of the rainy season. When asked why he's selling wood, he says he needs to raise capital to buy fertilizer, among other things. 'Agricultural inputs are expensive. Selling firewood can help me earn money.' When asked whether he received a loan from the state-owned Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe (Agribank) last season, he nods. And the money? Daudi stares at the pile of wood at his feet and then stammers he bought a car which is now 'a write-off.'
Agribank runs a Z$60 billion (US$ 12 million at unofficial exchange rate) loan facility to assist new farmers under the land reform programme. But all is not well at the bank either. It recently initiated criminal proceedings against bank staff involved in mismanaging the facility. Some have already been axed at the instigation of the Reserve Bank, which unravelled a total of 186 fraud cases at the institution. Agribank chief executive officer Sam Malaba admitted to The Financial Gazette some workers had been advancing loans to undeserving applicants. About a year ago a land review committee, set up by President Robertt Mugabe, submitted a report examining the allocation of land through the government's reform programme. It stated that 1,672 farms (or about 2.1 million hectares) had been handed over to more than 7-and-a-half thousand applicants under the A2 scheme. But now Sam Moyo, the former head of the committee's technical unit, concedes some new farmers are 'failing to utilise farms'. Some who applied did not have the required resources, although they had falsely claimed they did. "They lack the capacity to operate because they do not have the basics, like tractors and harvesters,' says Moyo. 'Many farmers have failed to obtain money to capitalise on their activities, while a substantial number only managed to get small amounts." Meanwhile high inflation of 400 % has increased the price of inputs beyond the reach of the new farmers and interest rates have made it prohibitive to borrow. 'This, coupled with their lack of the requisite skills for specialized farming, has compounded the problem', notes Moyo. He warns it may take 'a while' for them to acquire the know-how. Until they have the necessary inputs, and skills, farmers like Denis Kambwe will continue simply living off their land, and 'their' animals.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 1 August
Ministry mulls exposing multiple farm owners
By Valentine Maponga
The Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement is contemplating publishing the official list of multiple farm owners but is awaiting Presidential approval, The Standard has learnt. Sources in the ministry said the list was ready but could only be published after President Robert Mugabe had given the green light. "Some of the findings of the Flora Bhuka and Charles Utete led commissions were forwarded to the President," said a source. Mugabe has in the past repeatedly condemned multiple farm owners and urged them to surrender excess land but this has fallen on deaf ears. "The list is ready for publication and whatever we do in this office is sanctioned by the President and that is the reason why it has not been made public," added the source. The source, however, could not reveal how the list was going to be made public but admitted there were serious problems as some top government ministers clinging to multiple farms were now trying to get rid of ministry officials pursuing the matter. The ministry, headed by Zanu PF chairman, John Nkomo, has been under serious and intense attack from politicians who do not want to surrender extra farms. An senior official said Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was among ministers who had received withdrawal letters. The official, who preferred anonymity for professional reasons, said Moyo was being vindictive and was using the State media to vilify the ministry. "He (Moyo) is on the list of those who received withdrawal letters, yes he got the letter," said the official. Nkomo could not be reached for a comment as he was said to be locked in a meeting for the greater part of yesterday.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30 July
Moyo exposed
Dumisani Muleya
Information minister Jonathan Moyo was allocated more than one farm despite his angry denials, official documents show. Documents from the Agriculture ministry indicate that Moyo, who has been named together with other ministers as multiple farm owners, was given Paterson Farm in Mazowe and Lot 2 of Dete in Hwange. He was also linked to other farms in Matabeleland and Little Connemara in Nyanga. He has however denied ownership of all but one farm, Paterson. A letter dated November 30 2001 and signed by Agriculture minister Joseph Made, also named as a multiple farm owner, shows Moyo was allocated Paterson Farm which measures 622,9 hectares. The farm was described in the offer letter, whose reference was "offer of state land holding, Model 2 Phase 11", as state and not private land. The letter said Made's then Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, and Rural Resettlement, which allocated Moyo the farm under the Agricultural Land Resettlement Act, "reserves the right to cancel/withdraw this offer if it is established that you failed to disclose essential information when you completed your application or when you were interviewed, such as the ownership or lease of other state land".
Despite the description of Paterson Farm as state land, documents show that Moyo later went on to buy the property for a mere $6 million from Made's ministry. The documents indicate that Moyo wrote a Jewel Bank cheque at the Westgate branch on July 22, 2002 as payment for the farm. The bank's branch number was given as 6118 and the cheque number as 000003, while the account number was (01211) 66058401. A stamped Agriculture ministry receipt No 955419 shows that the payment was made on July 22, 2002 by "Prof JN Moyo" whose address was given as P Bag 7700 Causeway, Harare. The payment followed a letter written by Agriculture permanent secretary Ngoni Masoka on April 29 2002 to Moyo informing him about the cost of the land and improvements. "Our valuation figure for the improvements and land is $6 million," Masoka said. "That is the figure that you are expected to pay for both improvements and land. The figure is broken down as follows: improvements $1,894 million and land $4,106 million." Documents say "Prof JN Moyo", whose ID No was 63-0857281M-73, was also offered Lot 2 of Dete in Hwange which was estimated to be 3 165,16 hectares. A letter signed by Made confirmed that Moyo was given the farm that was also described as state land. However, Moyo has said the farm belonged to a Jackie Mayers, his cousin. Moyo has also denied he owned another farm in Matabeleland, saying it belonged to his mother. A number of ministers and high-ranking Zanu PF and government officials have been accused of using their influence to grab several farms and using proxies to hide them. President Robert Mugabe has vowed to recover the seized farms.
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From The Financial Mail (SA), 23 July
IMF spells it out
Fund expresses grave concern over continued downward spiral in economic and social conditions
Just as some analysts - notably Standard Bank - suggest that Zimbabwe's economy is on the mend, the IMF has published a critical assessment that even President Thabo Mbeki's policy advisers will find difficult to ignore. Harare is trying to make the best of the assessment, arguing that the decision by the IMF executive board not to expel Zimbabwe is a vote of confidence in the monetary policy. But the IMF's accompanying statement could not have been more explicit about the need for Zimbabwe to go much further, not just in economic reform, but in re-establishing social and political stability. The board expresses "grave concern over the continued and sharp decline in economic and social conditions", noting that GDP has fallen 30% over the past five years and will decline a further 4%-5% this year. Though inflation has slowed dramatically from 622% in January to 395%, "unemployment is very high and increasing, social indicators, which were once among the best in Africa, have worsened, and the widespread HIV/Aids pandemic remains largely unchecked". "Severe food shortages have necessitated massive food imports and donor assistance," which the IMF Board blames on "inappropriate macroeconomic policies and structural changes". In particular, it says, "the disorderly implementation of the land reform programme has contributed to a sharp reduction in agricultural production. Concerns about governance and human rights, and the continued lack of clarity about property rights have severely damaged confidence, discouraged investment, and promoted capital flight and emigration."
Two lessons stand out. There will be no international support for the Zimbabwe government until far-reaching economic and policy reforms are put in place. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono is tinkering at the edges of the problem and even his well-meant reforms are starting to unravel. Monthly inflation, which slowed to 4,8% in April, was 9,2% in June and though Gono is likely to reach his year-on-year target of 200% by December, the signs are that inflation will rise again in the first half of next year. So far this month the RBZ has managed to meet only 31% of foreign-exchange demand at its twice-weekly auctions. Despite this, the auction rate has held steady at about Z$5 350/US$. Exporters are warning that they cannot continue without further devaluation or new export incentives. Bankers expect Gono to announce devaluation - to at least Z$6 000/US$ - within the next few weeks. Money supply figures and especially the recent surge in lending to troubled banks also point to higher inflation next year. At the end of May loans to banks were Z$2,8 trillion - or more than 12% of GDP - while money supply was expanding at about 450%. On the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange share prices have more than doubled in little more than six weeks as investors have concluded that the RBZ is not going to allow interest rates to rise. Investors are shunning money market investments that yield well below inflation and are piling into the stock market, just as they did during the hyperinflationary boom a year ago. Analysts argue that Gono dare not raise interest rates because troubled banks would be at risk, while the cost of servicing the government's domestic debt, currently Z$1,8 trillion or 8% of GDP, would bust the budget.
The second lesson is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The UN Industrial Development Organisation's "Industrial development report" for 2004, published this month, shows how much Zimbabwe has deindustrialised in recent years, slipping 20 places down its competitive industrial performance index. The UN Development Programme's "Human development report" shows that Zimbabwe has slipped down that league table, too, so that its human development index is lower now than in the mid-1970s. Above all, the African Union's highly critical report on the flawed 2002 presidential election sustains the IMF's assessment that the Gono reforms fall far short of what is needed to turn the country around.
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From The Daily News Online Edition, 2 August
NCA to campaign for election boycott
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has begun a rural outreach programme to campaign for a boycott of parliamentary elections set for March next year, the organisation has said. Earnest Mudzengi, the NCA information and advocacy officer told the Daily News Online yesterday that the coalition group wanted the public to boycott next year's legislative polls unless the government made "meaningful" and sweeping changes to the constitution. Mudzengi said the campaign kicked off in Manicaland and had also covered Gutu, Zaka, Chiredzi and Chivi in Masvingo province over the past month. "The rural areas are our primary target because this is where Zanu PF has sought to entrench itself. We want both the urban and rural population to form the critical mass from where the NCA will derive power to make sure that the elections do not proceed under the current electoral set up and constitution," said Mudzengi. The NCA, a coalition of civic groups, churches and the student movement fighting for a new constitution, says the current constitution is flawed and gives an unfair electoral advantage to the incumbent government over the opposition.
President Robert Mugabe has however, said that the government would introduce reforms to the electoral process before next year's elections. According to reports, the reforms would include the setting up of an electoral commission to take over the running of elections from the registrar-general. But the opposition and civic groups have dismissed the proposed reforms as a window dresser, arguing that Mugabe could still manipulate the electoral body since he would appoint members of the commission. "The changes proposed by Mugabe are cosmetic. They do not go far enough in addressing the flawed electoral process. We need a genuinely independent commission, an environment that makes it possible for other candidates to campaign freely without intimidation and harassment and above all, a democratic constitution," said Mudzengi. Movement for Democratic Change President (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai last week accused state security agents of banning MDC rallies in several rural constituencies. Tsvangirai said the move was meant to sabotage the opposition's election campaign.
If the government failed to make these reforms, Mudzengi said, the NCA would ensure that the elections would not take place. "We will employ various strategies and there are a number that we are mulling at the moment. Boycotting the election is just one option. People can disturb the whole purpose by deliberately spoiling ballot papers or just disrupt the whole process so that it does not even take place. "But it will be a matter of strategy. That is why we have stepped up our campaign because we want to convince as many people as possible. We want to have reached all villages and wards by election time and our structures are working hard on that. We should have reached saturation levels by the March,' said Mudzengi.
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From Zim Online (SA), 3 August
Electoral law reform in the region discussed at Vic Falls
Harare - Southern African civil society groups, political parties and parliamentarians are meeting at the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls to discuss electoral law reform in the region. The two-day conference, which began yesterday, is being hosted by the Zimbabwe Election Suppport Network (ZESN) and the Johannesburg-based Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA). A Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit scheduled for Mauritius later this month is to review laws governing elections in SADC states. The conference in Victoria Falls will draw up recommendations to be presented to the SADC summit. An EISA project officer, Dieudonne Tshiyoyo, said: "The conference will (discuss) electoral management bodies and how these can be structured and appointed such that the elections conducted reflect the will of the voters." ZESN is expected to table recommendations for reforms required to ensure democratic elections in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe has pledged to reform Zimbabwe's electoral laws and to appoint a new Zimbabwe Electoral Comission (ZEC) to run elections in the country including a crucial general poll set for March 2005. Civil society groups and the main oppposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say the proposed ZEC will lack independence because the President will still have the power to hire and fire its chairman.
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From IRIN (UN), 28 July
Water cuts raise spectre of disease outbreaks
Harare - Residents of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, have been forced to use river water because of ongoing breaks in the purified water supply, raising concern over possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Like many other urban residents, it's a daily routine for 12-year-old Stella Chiyangwa to walk six kilometres to a river to fetch water for household use - she now lives a life not much different from that of her counterparts in remote rural areas. The suburb of Mabvuku, where Stella lives, often goes without water for days, and sometimes weeks at a time, due to the rundown state of the city's water and sewer reticulation infrastructure. Sources at the Harare city council say the Morton Jaffray Waterworks plant needs a major overhaul of its purification and distribution capacity. But the municipality does not have the resources, and neither does it have the foreign currency needed to import water purifying chemicals. As a result, foreign suppliers have cut credit lines to Harare and now only supply chemicals when paid in advance.
These problems have combined to create major water shortages, forcing residents to make use of the Mukuwisi river running through parts of the city. Although bottled mineral water is available in the shops, at a price of just under US $1 it is far beyond the reach of many. Water cuts were initially experienced mainly in the high-density suburbs of the city, but recently the plushest of them, like Glen Lorne, Borrowdale and Graystone Park, have also been without piped water, and the municipality has introduced 24-hour water cuts in some. Although residents in the upmarket low-density suburbs can afford to sink boreholes, those in the overcrowded areas have no such option. Long queues of women carrying heavy buckets to and from unpurified alternative water sources have become a common sight, raising concern that there could be outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Public and household latrines in several high-density suburbs have become blocked and emit a suffocating stench.
"The council is not taking its duties seriously," said Kuda Hingi, who lives in the suburb of Eastlea. "Employees do not seem to be dealing with our complaints with any urgency." Residents blame the Harare municipality for their plight and warn that the city is now on the verge of an epidemic because of the lack of water and proper drainage; municipal officials in turn blame the national government, saying the macroeconomic problems causing the crisis are not of their making. The Harare municipality's public relations manager, Leslie Gwindi, said the council was doing all it could to resolve the water crisis but was constrained by the foreign currency problems affecting everyone. He appealed to residents to conserve water until the authorities could raise money to buy the necessary purification chemicals and overhaul the water treatment works.
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From The Herald, 31 July
Top official's farm underutilised
Harare - Irrigation equipment worth millions of dollars and other farming implements are lying idle on Lynton Farm Plot 15 near Marondera while workers on the plot allege that they have not been paid since May. The A2 plot measuring over 200 hectares belongs to the Secretary for Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Mr Simon Pazvakavambwa. Some people - including senior civil servants and politicians allocated pieces of land under the Government's land reforms - have been accused of underutilising the land, exposing the Government to criticism from its detractors in the process. Workers on the farm said the farm used to be very productive but was now run fown and feared for their future as the new owner was allegedly not committing himself to farming. They cited vobacco barns and pigsties as some of the facilities that were going to waste. The previous owner, Mr Mike Malzer, used to grow paprika, maize, tobacco and ran a thriving cattle ranch and piggery. But, according to the workers, only one maize field and one groundnut field were planted last year. There are 39 cattle and one calf on the farm. The farm was divided into 24 A2 plots with Mr Pazvakavambwa securing the portion where the farmhouse is located. The Herald visited the plot on Thursday and discovered that the irrigation equipment was lying idle and gathering dust. Three tractors - two Fiats and one John Deere - a planter and two discs were seen at the farm. Workers at the farm complained that they had not been paid and claimed that some workers stopped work on July 3 in protest over non-payment of wages.
Mr Witness Pazvakavambwa, a relative of Mr Pazvakavambwa, who is also employed at the farm, said workers were last paid a meagre salary of $52 000 each in May. There are close to 15 workers on the farm but initially Mr Pazvakavambwa employed only four with the rest being hired during the last agriculture season. He said Mr Pazvakavambwa last visited the farm three weeks ago but did not address the workers as he usually does. Other workers said they only heard of the visit. But, Witness said, the fact that he was related to the permanent secretary had not made his situation any better. He was suffering just like the rest of the farmworkers. "I hope he will come and pay us," he said. Another worker, Mr Owen Murisi, said some of the farmworkers were now contracted to other nearby farmers but continued to stay on Mr Pazvakavambwa's farm in the forlorn hope that he would one day come and pay them. Some pregnant women on the farm showed gloomy faces as they narrated the hardships they were enduring as a result of the non-payment of salaries and wages. The women said they had to rely on the generosity of well-wishers in the community to survive. "Around this time Mr Malzer would have put tobacco and paprika seed and would be planting early maize for December," said one of the workers. Mr Murisi said Mr Pazvakavambwa indicated to the workers that he would grow wheat this year but to this day nothing had happened. Yesterday Mr Pazvakavambwa refused to comment on the operations on the farm. He demanded that The Herald explain to him how it got wind of the fact that his farm was underutilised. "I cannot talk to you unless you reveal your source. Reveal your story and I will tell you a story. I don't want to see a story in the paper tomorrow (today)," he said. He let slip that his workers would be paid today.
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From ZWNEWS, 3 August
Zanu PF youths loot $4 million
An opposition official had his business looted and then forcibly closed on the weekend, the MDC said yesterday. Claudious Marimo, national executive member for Goromonzi, owned a grinding mill, bottle store and general dealer shop at Svasvi business centre in the Musana area of Mashonaland Central. On Saturday afternoon, the party reported, around 30 Zanu PF youths arrived at the business centre, forced the businesses to close, and stole Z$4 million from Marimo's wife. The mob claimed they were acting on the instructions of the provincial governor, Ephraim Masawi, who had ordered them to close all businesses owned by opposition supporters. A fortnight ago, Marimo was summoned by local headmen acting on Masawi's orders and told to close his businesses. The names of some of the members of the mob - Terence Jawaira, Mind Jawaira, Sylvester Munemo and Israel Munemo - were passed to the local police, but no arrests have been made.
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From Zim Online (SA), 3 August
Women's group members taken in for questioning over whistles and scarves
Bulawayo - Police yesterday questioned members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a women's pressure group, over whistles, scarves and papers found last month at the group's office. WOZA founder Jenny Williams said she and two other members of the group were at Bulawayo magistrates' court over a different matter when officers took them away to Bulawayo Central Police Station. 'They said it was in connection with the raid of our office they had carried out on the 12th of July,' Williams told ZimOnline. She said the search warrant police had used at the time indicated the law enforcement agents were looking for "inflammatory materials, weapons and explosives." Williams said all the police could find were whistles, WOZA scarves and pamphlets which were to be used by the group during public meetings and demonstrations. According to Williams police had wanted to know the origins of the whistles which she said were donated to WOZA by wellwishers. The police ordered Williams and her colleagues to return this morning for further questioning. WOZA, which was formed two years ago, regularly holds demonstrations to press for women's social, politcal and other rights. Many of the group's demonstrations end up with the arrest of its members. Williams and her colleagues had gone to court yesterday for the hearing of a case in which 73 other members of WOZA were being charged with planning to hold demonstrations to mark World Refugee Day. The state eventually charged 11 members and released the rest of the group. The 11 will appear in court again on August 24.
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From cricinfo, 2 August
Hard-liners retain control of Zimbabwe board
Although the annual general meeting of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union doesn't take place until this Friday (August 6), Wisden Cricinfo has learned that the entire board will be returned unopposed. It was expected that the meeting could prove troublesome for Peter Chingoka, the chairman, and his board after a year in which Zimbabwean cricket has touched new lows. But 11 of the 12 board members have been re-elected by the provincial associations and the Ozais Bvute-led integration committee. Only Kevin Arnott will not be standing, as he is stepping down for personal reasons. The news will be a blow to the rebel cricketers, as the continuing presence of hard-liners Bvute and Max Ebrahim on the new board makes any compromise highly unlikely. The antipathy of both towards the rebels is well documented, and they are likely to veto any move towards concessions being offered to resolve the dispute. One of the delegates to the provincial-associations meeting, where the provinces made their nominations, which took place nine days ago, said the whole process was stage-managed by the board. "How can a non-performing board still want to be retained," said one provincial chairman, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals. "These guys are there for personal gains, and that's why they still want to cling on to their posts." He added that the recent changes to the ZCU constitution meant that the current board could not now be removed from power. "They're there until the money runs out," he added. "And the way they are going it'll run out next year." Tavengwa Mukuhlani, the Mashonaland Cricket Association chairman, and his Matabeleland counterpart Ahmet Esat automatically become board members. Ebrahim and Allan Welsh were the other two names put forward by the provincial associations. That may explain why Ebrahim was so desperate to join the provincial set-up and had to go out of his way to become chairman of a small province called Masvingo.
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