Letters to the editor

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom

Letter from Home: Protect life on earth!

BY LITANY BIRD
Dear Family and Friends,
On Friday morning, escorted by uniformed police, two young girls carried a banner through the town centre which proclaimed: “Protect Life On Earth.” Behind them marched the Prison band in spotless bottle green uniforms with shining gold buttons and all carrying gleaming musical instruments. Behind the band came dozens of drum majorettes, young girls in bright and colourful uniforms. At the rear of the procession, which had bought the town to a standstill, were more police and an ambulance.
There were reporters and ZBC TV cameramen and on the Green tents had been erected, seats were laid out and someone announced that the Mayor and an Honourable Minister would be arriving shortly. For a few minutes it was like being Alice in Wonderland and you had to shake your head and ask yourself: is this the same place, the same town which just two days ago was over-run by police and engulfed in tension? Life is like this in Zimbabwe now, the veneer gets thinner and we swing wildly between extremes.
On Wednesday when the Trade Unions had called for lunch time marches to highlight the deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe, the police and other state forces moved in and engulfed towns and cities across the country. Just a few days before women of WOZA marched with placards calling for clean drinking water and improved services in Harare. 107 women were arrested and detained for four days in police custody. By Wednesday it seemed the state was not going to take any chances and allow people to air their grievances and the signs were there for all to see by early in the morning. From Harare came reports of roadblocks and large deployments of police in the centres.
Similar reports came from Bulawayo and Masvingo. In our town the water cannons were visible and the town was swamped with police - patrolling on foot in two’s and fours and in pairs on bicycles. Throughout the town police pick up trucks were parked in strategic places, filled with uniformed men. The gates to the police station were closed, guarded by an armed police woman and people had to show ID before they were allowed in.
Right across the country the union lunchtime marches were doomed - crushed before they had even started. Top Union leaders and organisers in Harare were arrested and lawyers representing them say their clients had been beaten and tortured. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said: “From the look of it they were attacked by the police as soon as they were herded into cells. Some have broken limbs. The attacks appeared sadistic because some of the people cannot get up on their own.”
The Union Vice President Lucia Matibenga has a fractured arm, was bleeding from her ears and was having difficulty in breathing and hearing. The Union Secretary General Wellington Chibebe was covered in blood and had a “crack in his head.” Union President Lovemore Matombo had both his arms fractured and so the list goes on - stories of horrors inflicted on the bravest of brave Zimbabweans who want only a decent life.
Despite the fact that the police, the marching bands and the drum majorettes are also drinking dirty water, having garbage go uncollected for weeks at a time and struggle to survive 1200% inflation - all complaints are silenced instantly. The banner proclaiming ‘Protect Life on Earth’ would be more appropriate if it said Protect Life in Zimbabwe. Thanks for reading, until next time, ndini shamwari yenyu.



Letters to the editor

Objection to sale of Makwavarara house
SIR – I hereby lodge my objection to the sale of the property at 19 Nigel’s Lane, Highlands to the sitting tenant, Sekesai Makwavarara, for the sum of $13,750 million (new currency) on the following grounds:
1. The property is grossly under-valued at $13,75 million. Properties in that area sell for at least $60 million, more like $100 million.
2. It is said that there is a standing resolution that she would only have to pay 40% of that under-valued figure, i.e. $5,5 million, as Mayor or Acting Mayor of Harare. That is misuse of one’s position to enrich oneself at the cost of the majority of residents and ratepayers of Harare. We residents were not consulted on the decision to give officials, whether elected or not, discounts on property and other goods and services from our city. Municipal officials need to understand that they are our employees and answerable to us, be they the Mayor or the lowliest street-sweeper. Had we been consulted, I believe most residents would have refused such perks.
3. Sekesai Makwavarara is not the elected Mayor of Harare. She was elected Deputy Mayor for ONE YEAR by the other councillors on her initial election as councillor in 2002. When the substantive Executive Mayor, Elias Mudzuri, was removed from office she became Acting Mayor only until her year expired around August 2003. Sadly, political interference ensured that there was never another election for Deputy Mayor internally, or indeed Executive Mayor in a city-wide plebiscite, therefore she was thrust upon us and we have not been able to remove her! She certainly does not deserve any perk which may be accruing to an elected Mayor or Executive Mayor.
4. Sekesai Makwavarara is not the “sitting tenant” since she does not reside at 19 Nigel’s Lane. She resides in the Mayor’s Mansion which is more than adequate for her needs. It therefore appears that she is misusing her position for financial gain, letting out the property on a commercial basis.
5. She already owns a property in Harare in Mabvuku, most probably the one at 744 Tingini Street, Old Mabvuku, which she owned when she was elected councillor for Mabvuku on an MDC ticket in 2002. As such, she is not eligible to be a beneficiary of a municipal property in terms of Harare Municipality’s conditions for beneficiaries of Municipal housing and stands.
6. She has yet another property, as she is also the beneficiary of an A2 farm under the Government’s land redistribution exercise. She was allocated Tinto Farm, part of the Sipolilo Estate near Raffingora in Mashonaland West, in 2004, apparently through an Offer Letter from the Minister of Local Government, Dr Ignatius Chombo. This farm is some 800 hectares in extent, and she also took over everything inside the house, even granting an interview to the press “reclining in her comfortable lounge”, as I recall. She therefore does not need yet another property in Harare.
7. Now a member of the ZANU-PF party, Makwavarara has contravened the ZANU-PF Leadership Code by using her position for financial gain, and if she is allowed to purchase 19 Nigel’s Lane as well, it will compound her misdeeds in terms of her own party.
8. The fact that Makwavarara already paid a deposit of $1,4 million for the property on 1 September 2006 by cheque number 000428 Barclays Pearl House A/C number 2527746 which was receipted at Sunningdale on 033184 indicates that the process of calling for objections from ratepayers and residents is a mere formality. If Makwavarara has paid a deposit, the inference is that the property is already hers and she only has to pay in full. This is a very serious issue, to which I object most vehemently.

Frankly, “Harare Circus” is a total disgrace to the entire nation, even ZANU-PF itself! This proposed sale is but one small manifestation of the very deep and far-reaching malaise in the City of Harare which will only be resolved when residents can freely elect the Council of our choice and when our elected officials cannot be interfered with or removed undemocratically.

TRUDY STEVENSON, Harare


Sick and tired
SIR – We Exiled Youth of Zimbabwe won’t sit and watch our civic and political leaders being victimised and oppressed for our future. When there is a situation where security services constitutionally mandated to serve and protect the interests of the people, including the upholding of civil rights and liberties of the people, are personalised or tailored to serve the interest of a political party, we have an imbalance in social and political interest.
We are sick and tired of the Mugabe regime using the security forces to crush and silence our “No confidence” in his Government. We demand our civil liberty, you don’t ask liberty from a Dictator but you demand it.
Alois Phiri Mbawara and Wellington Chibanguza, Free-Zim Youth

True heroes of Africa
SIR - It is shameful, the Zimbabwean government is even scared of ordinary South African youths. The deportation of Buti Manamela and his team is disgraceful in the face of SADC. Unfortunately not even one of the regional leaders could boldly condemn such barbaric behaviour by the Mugabe regime.
We condemn such inhuman behaviour by a sitting government of a so-called sovereign state. To Buti and his team, we say “You are true heroes of Africa. You have shown true African Brotherhood. Do not give up to fight for what is right. The effects of the Zimbabwean crisis is affecting all of you directly. The suffering of your fellow youths up North cannot go unchallenged and we hope all the other youths in the region will follow your footsteps.”
On behalf of all peace-loving people of Zimbabwe, we apologise over the barbaric reception you received in our country. You are not enemies of Zimbabwe and you are not prohibited immigrants in our country.
Jay Jay Sibanda, SA

Become unpredictable
SIR - If we want to be successful and beat ZANU-PF, we have to change the game plan and become unpredictable, more fluid and more serious. Why do they keep hitting their heads against a brick wall? To bring change, we have to change ourselves. We have to change the way we behave, we have to change the way we think, we have to change the game plan.
Why is WOZA so successful? Why did Morgan successfully march to Parliament and successfully drop a petition last week?
Concerned Zimbabweans, SA

Milk and money mujiba
Sir - The press reports that Gideon Gono’s Russian Central Bank associate - Andrei Kozlov - was shot dead recently.
I think that Gideon - Mugabe’s most favourite “milk and money mujiba” might do well to take time to give some thought to “self awareness.” In Covey’s words “lose your self awareness and you become like grovelling animals who live primarily for survival and propagation.” One could be forgiven for thinking that Covey was referring to Zanu PF.
Gideon could also give some thought to the trillions that he has stolen from the people, as well as spare a thought for his late friend, Andrei Kozlov. George Bernard Shaw puts it somewhat differently “Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.” Once a person has stolen trillions - “living primarily for survival” appears to be the next preoccupation.
GONOLOGIST, Australia

Silent voices cry out
SIR - As we wait to see Robert Mugabe either leave the position of power voluntarily, stampeded out or otherwise, it is fittingly this very time that we should start deliberating on the prospects of a new constitution with intense resolution. In such a debate, the issue of ethnic imbalances must not be left out.
A regular columnist of this valuable publication made mention recently of the launch of a book titled ‘Silent Voices’. The author laments the struggle by minority groups to have their children taught at school in their respective languages. It has always disturbed the minds of many to be coerced to learn Ndebele or Shona in 26 years of our independence much to the chagrin of their mother languages. But why has this remained the case? The current constitution is flawed to the extent it does not fully reflect the will of the people.
Tonga, Kalanga,Venda, Nambya, Xhosa, Nambya, Sotho and Shangaan people had been kept on the sidelines for years. We have ample evidence to acknowledge that the regime of Robert Mugabe is adept as dividing people over the years as a strategy to cling to power. The current constitution is designed in such a way that minorities must remain suppressed.
The paralysis imposed on these people takes many forms. They have been strategically impoverished and have no access to sound education. Again the dictatorship has ensured that it is entirely not easy for them to partake in political, economic and social issues pertaining to our country. What baffles the mind is that the rare occasions that the government has been cognisant of these people is when election time came. Yet they are dumped after their much-needed vote has been cast. I must correctly assert that we all desperately need to break loose from the absurd thinking that minority tribes are inferior.
What makes this problem more complex is that the particular ethnic groups are devoid of the attacking ambitions to highlight their plight. But we must realise that they where born into a country they did not choose and have love for their country just as any body. We therefore need to make up for the lack of a killer instinct in these silent voices by lending the necessary support.
JAY-ZAT, Jozi

Out, but ready to go back
SIR - ZINASU wishes to express its profound solidarity with those almost maimed by this satanic government which now needs international intervention for redemption. The students of Zimbabwe are seriously disturbed by the unlawful arrests and barbaric attacks on labour leaders. We commit ourselves to write letters to International Labour Organisation, Thabo Mbeki, United Nations, European Union, African Union, SADC and all other relevant international bodies urging them to act on Mugabe and compel him and his rogue regime to comply with the principles that espouse the respect, protection and promotion of human rights as articulated in the numerous human rights covenants to which Zimbabwe is a party.
We salute and are inspired by the courage and resolve of the ZCTU leadership and the workers. The regime fears its misdemeanors and knows the hour is late. The people have decided they want to be free and nothing will stop them now.
Meanwhile the petition to be submitted to the President by ZINASU will go on unabated. The students are not afraid, they are more determined than ever and as their President I shall be the first to step onto the battlefield and shall be the last to step out, but we will all come back home together.
Promise Mkwananzi, President Zimbabwe National Students Union, Harare
Zims demonstrate in London