"The general merchandise range (products like CD’s, fridges, microwaves and electronic goods) will be improved with focus on certain categories where we have enhanced our offering. The way that the store integrates between food and general merchandise will be much improved over the current store,” said Izak, Pick 'n Pays' property director.
“We have innovated quite a lot on the food and grocery side in general, but especially on the fresh food side of the business and these innovations will come through in the new Hypermarket both in terms of range and presentation.”
In the design of the new store there will be a focus on certain categories such as health and beauty, where once again there will be an improved range and presentation.
The construction of the new centre, which will be enlarged from its current 25,000m2 to 35,000m2, will be effected in two phases, each facilitating the isolation of the construction area from the trading area of the mall and thereby minimising inconvenience to shoppers.
The first phase has commenced and will continue to August 2007 and the second phase will run from September 2007 to July 2008 when the project will be completed and the entire new centre will be open for trade."
Thanks to James of Avantu.com for the heads-up.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Coming in at #4, Kabwe, Zambia in the "World's Worst Polluted Places"
So, if you think the problems of Africa are simply keeping the wildlife alive then have a look at this list. We're beyond that.
Be interested to see a comparison with Hwange or the areas around the mines of Johannesburg.
KABWE, ZAMBIA
Potentially affected people: 250,000
Type of pollutants: Lead, cadmium
Site description: Kabwe, the second largest city in Zambia is located about 150 kilometers north of the nation's capital, Lusaka. On average, children's' blood levels in Kabwe are 5 to 10 times the allowable EPA maximum. It is one of six towns situated around the Copperbelt, once Zambia's thriving industrial base. In 1902, rich deposits of lead were discovered here. Ore veins with lead concentrations as high as 20 percent have been mined deep into the earth and a smelting operation was set up to process the ore. Rich deposits of sulphide ore consisted of silicates, oxides and carbonates of lead, which averaged 34% in lead concentration. Mining and smelting operations were running almost continuously up until 1994 without the government addressing the potential danger of lead. This smelting process was unregulated during this period and these smelters released heavy metals in dust particles, which settled on the ground in the surrounding area. The mine and smelter is no longer operating but has left a city poisoned from debilitating concentrations of lead in the soil and water from slag heaps that were left as reminders to the smelting and mining era. Some of the lead concentrations in soil have been recorded at 2400 mg/kg. In one study, the dispersal in soils of lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc extended to over a 20 km circumference from the smelting and mining processes. The soil contamination levels of all four metals are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization.
In the U.S., permissible blood levels of lead are less than10 mcg/dl. Symptoms of acute poisoning occur at blood levels of 20 and above, resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, and leading to muscle spasms and kidney damage. Levels of over ten are considered unhealthy and levels in excess of 120 can often lead to death. In some neighborhoods in Kabwe, blood concentrations of 200 or more micrograms/deciliter have been recorded in children and records show average blood levels of children range between 50 and 100 mcg/dl. Children who play in the soil and young men who scavenge the mines for scraps of metal are most susceptible to lead produced by the mine and smelter. A small waterway runs from the mine to the center of town and had been used to carry waste from the once active smelter. There is no restriction to the waterway, and in some instances local children use it for bathing. In addition to water, dry and dusty backyards of workers' houses are a significant source of contamination for the locals. One of the most common ways that workers and residents become exposed to toxic levels of lead is through inhalation of contaminated soil ingested into the lungs.
Cleanup Activity: After decades of contamination, the clean-up strategy for Kabwe is complex and in its primary stages. The first step is to educate the community about the risks of lead poisoning and their susceptibility to the pollutant. Precautionary measures have been taken in order to educate the population about the problem and to provide simple, concrete advice to avoid poison (such as to prohibit children from playing in the dirt and to rinse dust from plates and food etc.). Some areas of Kabwe require drastic remediation in which some entire neighborhoods may need to relocate.
Blacksmith has helped Kabwe's environment by establishing a local NGO, Kabwe Environmental and Rehabilitation Foundation (KERF) whose role is to bring educational services into each community with nursing support and expertise to locals as well. As a result of Blacksmith's local initiatives and involvement, the World Bank has stepped in. The Bank approved a $20 million grant to clean up the city and has just completed the scoping study that will lead to initial clean-up activity beginning in 2007.
Be interested to see a comparison with Hwange or the areas around the mines of Johannesburg.
KABWE, ZAMBIA
Potentially affected people: 250,000
Type of pollutants: Lead, cadmium
Site description: Kabwe, the second largest city in Zambia is located about 150 kilometers north of the nation's capital, Lusaka. On average, children's' blood levels in Kabwe are 5 to 10 times the allowable EPA maximum. It is one of six towns situated around the Copperbelt, once Zambia's thriving industrial base. In 1902, rich deposits of lead were discovered here. Ore veins with lead concentrations as high as 20 percent have been mined deep into the earth and a smelting operation was set up to process the ore. Rich deposits of sulphide ore consisted of silicates, oxides and carbonates of lead, which averaged 34% in lead concentration. Mining and smelting operations were running almost continuously up until 1994 without the government addressing the potential danger of lead. This smelting process was unregulated during this period and these smelters released heavy metals in dust particles, which settled on the ground in the surrounding area. The mine and smelter is no longer operating but has left a city poisoned from debilitating concentrations of lead in the soil and water from slag heaps that were left as reminders to the smelting and mining era. Some of the lead concentrations in soil have been recorded at 2400 mg/kg. In one study, the dispersal in soils of lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc extended to over a 20 km circumference from the smelting and mining processes. The soil contamination levels of all four metals are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization.
In the U.S., permissible blood levels of lead are less than10 mcg/dl. Symptoms of acute poisoning occur at blood levels of 20 and above, resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, and leading to muscle spasms and kidney damage. Levels of over ten are considered unhealthy and levels in excess of 120 can often lead to death. In some neighborhoods in Kabwe, blood concentrations of 200 or more micrograms/deciliter have been recorded in children and records show average blood levels of children range between 50 and 100 mcg/dl. Children who play in the soil and young men who scavenge the mines for scraps of metal are most susceptible to lead produced by the mine and smelter. A small waterway runs from the mine to the center of town and had been used to carry waste from the once active smelter. There is no restriction to the waterway, and in some instances local children use it for bathing. In addition to water, dry and dusty backyards of workers' houses are a significant source of contamination for the locals. One of the most common ways that workers and residents become exposed to toxic levels of lead is through inhalation of contaminated soil ingested into the lungs.
Cleanup Activity: After decades of contamination, the clean-up strategy for Kabwe is complex and in its primary stages. The first step is to educate the community about the risks of lead poisoning and their susceptibility to the pollutant. Precautionary measures have been taken in order to educate the population about the problem and to provide simple, concrete advice to avoid poison (such as to prohibit children from playing in the dirt and to rinse dust from plates and food etc.). Some areas of Kabwe require drastic remediation in which some entire neighborhoods may need to relocate.
Blacksmith has helped Kabwe's environment by establishing a local NGO, Kabwe Environmental and Rehabilitation Foundation (KERF) whose role is to bring educational services into each community with nursing support and expertise to locals as well. As a result of Blacksmith's local initiatives and involvement, the World Bank has stepped in. The Bank approved a $20 million grant to clean up the city and has just completed the scoping study that will lead to initial clean-up activity beginning in 2007.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Let them eat bark and grass.
What happens when all the food has been stolen from the shelves and wholesalers?
From: egcross [mailto:egcross@africaonline.co.zw]
Sent: 19 October 2006 11:00
To: egcross@africaonline.co.zw
Subject: Arrests
There have been many arrests in Bulawayo - virtually every major wholesaler and retailer has their management in Jail this morning. The arrests seem to have been part of a sweep conducted yesterday by people who refused to identify themselves. The majority I have spoken to today suggests CIO.
The reasons given are arbitrary to say the least - at one wholesaler they found that certain items did not have shelf talkers! When the business concerned has billions of dollars in stock with a very rapid turnover that is not surprising. In another stock that was on pallets awaiting collection had no prices displayed (the product had been sold) and the manager was arrested.
Legal services are being provided by the companies concerned and all outlets are open but business is very subdued. People are angry and upset over this action.
Eddie Cross
19th October 2006
From: egcross [mailto:egcross@africaonline.co.zw]
Sent: 19 October 2006 11:00
To: egcross@africaonline.co.zw
Subject: Arrests
There have been many arrests in Bulawayo - virtually every major wholesaler and retailer has their management in Jail this morning. The arrests seem to have been part of a sweep conducted yesterday by people who refused to identify themselves. The majority I have spoken to today suggests CIO.
The reasons given are arbitrary to say the least - at one wholesaler they found that certain items did not have shelf talkers! When the business concerned has billions of dollars in stock with a very rapid turnover that is not surprising. In another stock that was on pallets awaiting collection had no prices displayed (the product had been sold) and the manager was arrested.
Legal services are being provided by the companies concerned and all outlets are open but business is very subdued. People are angry and upset over this action.
Eddie Cross
19th October 2006
CAR FREE SUNDAY IN GRANT AVENUE, NORWOOD on 29TH OCTOBER 2006
PRESS RELEASE BY COUNCILLOR MARCELLE RAVID
19TH OCTOBER, 2006
Within the framework of the City of Johannesburg’s Public Transport Month and with the support of the Norwood City Improvement District Steering Committee and the Norwood Orchards Residents Association, Grant Avenue will experience a popular international phenomenon on Sunday 29th October, 2006 when the street will be closed to vehicles and opened to people.
Car free Sundays have been successfully implemented by many cities worldwide with resultant improved air quality, reduced congestion and increased awareness of all forms of transport and pedestrian rights.
The closure will occur from 9am-5pm and will extend from William Road (excluding William) up to Iris Road. Restaurants are encouraged to place chairs, tables and umbrellas in the road for the duration of the day.
The necessary permission has been obtained for this from Metro Police by the Transportation Department of the City and will be monitored by Metro Police Officers.
“We are looking forward to heightened awareness of Norwood’s uniqueness and a wonderful sense of community on the day,” says City Councillor for the area, Marcelle Ravid. “This is also an excellent way of informing people of the hard work going on behind the scenes for the improvement of Grant Avenue when it becomes a City Improvement District, and has its own management company.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Marcelle Ravid
Councillor, Ward 73
City of Johannesburg
Cell: 084 355 0826
Tel: 728 6338
Fax: 728 6164
E-mail: mravid@axxess.co.za
19TH OCTOBER, 2006
Within the framework of the City of Johannesburg’s Public Transport Month and with the support of the Norwood City Improvement District Steering Committee and the Norwood Orchards Residents Association, Grant Avenue will experience a popular international phenomenon on Sunday 29th October, 2006 when the street will be closed to vehicles and opened to people.
Car free Sundays have been successfully implemented by many cities worldwide with resultant improved air quality, reduced congestion and increased awareness of all forms of transport and pedestrian rights.
The closure will occur from 9am-5pm and will extend from William Road (excluding William) up to Iris Road. Restaurants are encouraged to place chairs, tables and umbrellas in the road for the duration of the day.
The necessary permission has been obtained for this from Metro Police by the Transportation Department of the City and will be monitored by Metro Police Officers.
“We are looking forward to heightened awareness of Norwood’s uniqueness and a wonderful sense of community on the day,” says City Councillor for the area, Marcelle Ravid. “This is also an excellent way of informing people of the hard work going on behind the scenes for the improvement of Grant Avenue when it becomes a City Improvement District, and has its own management company.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Marcelle Ravid
Councillor, Ward 73
City of Johannesburg
Cell: 084 355 0826
Tel: 728 6338
Fax: 728 6164
E-mail: mravid@axxess.co.za
Tackling the dictator
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
At large with JOHN MAKUMBE
‘Presidents of classic banana republics are laughing at our senile dictator’
‘You cannot rig the economy – it operates strictly on the basis of the truth’
HARARE - Full points to the ZCTU for, once again confronting the evil regime of Robert Mugabe through the street demonstration a few weeks ago. That was a clear demonstration of courage and commitment to the freedom of all of us. It was a selfless act. There are those who think that the demonstration was not successful. I am of the view that the demonstration was highly successful because it forced the dictator to show his true colours for all to see.
I suspect that just before the demonstration there were a few local and international elements that were beginning to believe that Mugabe is not as evil as civil society and the MDC seem to portray after all. Thank God for the ZCTU demo, this fallacy was projected in graphic style. The dictator’s praise for the Zanu (PF) Repressive Police (ZRP) when he arrived back from abusing the West was so unstatesmanlike that even presidents of classic banana republics are still laughing at our senile dictator.
Having said all this, it must be admitted that there is now an urgent need for civil society to re-group and re-strategise for the purpose of effectively tackling the dictator head on. In my opinion, the ZCTU approach, which is also commonly used by the NCA, can only make but small dents to the armoury of the dictator. There has to be a revisit to that strategy in order to re-order it in relation with the current circumstances that the nation is now facing.
We must not forget, for example, that the evil regime is far more desperate now than it was only three or so years ago. Now why is that? First, the Zimbabwe economy has declined so badly that even the very rich are watching their ill-gotten wealth virtually spirited away each time Gono gets close to a microphone. I have always held the view that the economy is the fear factor that is going to knock the dictator down for six.
So how do you hit at the economy in order to hurt the dictator? Some people have argued against stay aways as ineffective. I personally think otherwise; I think in the face of a vicious dictator who has perfected the art of inflicting pain on the ruled, it is necessary to involve the people in carefully orchestrated job boycotts. This can start with one day per week for three weeks, and then escalate to two days per week for another three weeks.
The best will be a full five days of no work, no school and no public transport on the roads. This is bound to result in two major developments. First, it will get the people confident that they can defy the regime and live to tell the story. The people will begin to believe in their power once again. Second, this will send the economy into spasms of failure that the regime will hate to experience. It is essential for progressive forces to make governance of this nation a very costly affair.
The ZCTU alone, or the NCA alone cannot accomplish this difficult task. It is therefore necessary to combine forces to include all civic bodies and their memberships, all the churches, student bodies, as well as professional bodies in the stay aways. Public transport operators will have to be persuaded to keep their buses of the road on the designated days. Civil servants will have to be advised to fail to get transport to get to work.
If necessary they may have to be threatened to stay away from work. It is only after such a series of civic disobedience activities that a nationwide demonstration can be called and it will be successful. The Christian Alliance, in my view, is best placed to coordinate such a thorough national effort. Freedom is not free; there is a price to be paid. Are we willing to pay it?
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
At large with JOHN MAKUMBE
‘Presidents of classic banana republics are laughing at our senile dictator’
‘You cannot rig the economy – it operates strictly on the basis of the truth’
HARARE - Full points to the ZCTU for, once again confronting the evil regime of Robert Mugabe through the street demonstration a few weeks ago. That was a clear demonstration of courage and commitment to the freedom of all of us. It was a selfless act. There are those who think that the demonstration was not successful. I am of the view that the demonstration was highly successful because it forced the dictator to show his true colours for all to see.
I suspect that just before the demonstration there were a few local and international elements that were beginning to believe that Mugabe is not as evil as civil society and the MDC seem to portray after all. Thank God for the ZCTU demo, this fallacy was projected in graphic style. The dictator’s praise for the Zanu (PF) Repressive Police (ZRP) when he arrived back from abusing the West was so unstatesmanlike that even presidents of classic banana republics are still laughing at our senile dictator.
Having said all this, it must be admitted that there is now an urgent need for civil society to re-group and re-strategise for the purpose of effectively tackling the dictator head on. In my opinion, the ZCTU approach, which is also commonly used by the NCA, can only make but small dents to the armoury of the dictator. There has to be a revisit to that strategy in order to re-order it in relation with the current circumstances that the nation is now facing.
We must not forget, for example, that the evil regime is far more desperate now than it was only three or so years ago. Now why is that? First, the Zimbabwe economy has declined so badly that even the very rich are watching their ill-gotten wealth virtually spirited away each time Gono gets close to a microphone. I have always held the view that the economy is the fear factor that is going to knock the dictator down for six.
So how do you hit at the economy in order to hurt the dictator? Some people have argued against stay aways as ineffective. I personally think otherwise; I think in the face of a vicious dictator who has perfected the art of inflicting pain on the ruled, it is necessary to involve the people in carefully orchestrated job boycotts. This can start with one day per week for three weeks, and then escalate to two days per week for another three weeks.
The best will be a full five days of no work, no school and no public transport on the roads. This is bound to result in two major developments. First, it will get the people confident that they can defy the regime and live to tell the story. The people will begin to believe in their power once again. Second, this will send the economy into spasms of failure that the regime will hate to experience. It is essential for progressive forces to make governance of this nation a very costly affair.
The ZCTU alone, or the NCA alone cannot accomplish this difficult task. It is therefore necessary to combine forces to include all civic bodies and their memberships, all the churches, student bodies, as well as professional bodies in the stay aways. Public transport operators will have to be persuaded to keep their buses of the road on the designated days. Civil servants will have to be advised to fail to get transport to get to work.
If necessary they may have to be threatened to stay away from work. It is only after such a series of civic disobedience activities that a nationwide demonstration can be called and it will be successful. The Christian Alliance, in my view, is best placed to coordinate such a thorough national effort. Freedom is not free; there is a price to be paid. Are we willing to pay it?
A plea for Church unity
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY NICHOLAS MKARONDA
Now that The Church has been touched by the wounds and pains of the people of Zimbabwe, it brings glory to God by being one rather than fragmented.
A group of national ecumenical church bodies comprising the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches have come together to form what they call The Church in Zimbabwe. In defining and identifying themselves, they have distinguished and disassociated themselves with what they call some Christians in Zimbabwe.
Their point of departure is that The Church has remained untouched in the current crisis facing the nation, and now The Church has come together with one voice for constructive engagement with the government of Zimbabwe in resolving the crisis. The Church distinguishes and disassociates itself from some Christians whom it accuses of destructive engagement with the government.
“The Church in Zimbabwe is only beginning to wake up to its role in the social, political and economic affairs of Zimbabwe in a more comprehensive way. As opposed to non-engagement some Christians have chosen the path of aggressive engagement or confrontation with the government. The three umbrella bodies have, however, chosen the path of constructive engagement,” says the document.
Since The Church has identified itself by naming itself, it is important that we bring to the fore some of the Christians being accused of destructive engagement with the government so that they do not remain some ghostly bodies. We have Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Roman Catholic Church in Bulawayo, the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference, a thousand-plus forum of pastors, the Christian Alliance being convened by Bishop Levy Kadenge of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Women Together in Prayer for Zimbabwe, the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe and the churches in Bulawayo.
This response simply wants to inform The Church and its new-found allies in government and would-be allies from the international community that while The Church remained untouched by the crisis, “some Christians” have been touched for so long that they have wept like the children of Israel in Babylon when they think of Zimbabwe.
It is regrettable that The Church finds the holy anger expressed by ‘some Christians’ as destructive.
It is clear from The Church that the church in Zimbabwe is divided and polarized. One gets the sense that The Church refers to church leaders who occupy certain spaces of power and authority within the confines, structures and rigidities of the EFZ, ZCC and ZCBC; and that ‘some Christians’ refers to the powerless who have been rendered voiceless by The Church that wants to be seen as the voice of those whom it has silenced, and when these refuse to be silenced they are criminalized and demonized as destructive elements in The Church.
It is mischievous for The Church to talk about the strides of the first 15 years of Independence without reference to the orchestrated violence that was meted in Matebeleland and Midlands against unarmed and powerless civilians in search of some 120 or so dissidents. It is mischievous because at the end of the paper, The Church argues that it is in touch with people, it knows how they feel and is perhaps the only body that can represent the people. Not only was The Church quiet when these state atrocities were committed, it remained quiet even when the Catholic Commission on Peace and Justice together with the Legal Resources Foundation made public their findings of the atrocities.
My understanding of the crisis in Zimbabwe as a Christian is that of Jesus who is crucified in Zimbabwe and the challenge of the resurrection. My understanding of why Jesus was crucified in the first century is that he was (and remains) the way, the truth and the life.
As the Way, Jesus illustrates to us God’s interaction with humans and creation – he eats and lives with sinners not only to show them that God cares but to bring them to new life. Sadly, in Zimbabwe, relationships have broken down and those in dominant and powerful positions, be it the secular or the religious, propel their existence by sustaining the broken relationships.
As the Truth, Jesus reveals the omniscient God who knows that which is deep within us, pricks our conscious, lets us make our choices, but exposes those choices for what they really are. For this Jesus is crucified, but the truth in it is that God does not die because Jesus has been crucified – the truth cannot be killed.
The Life in Jesus is the vast possibilities that we have in life abundance – the possibilities of the blind seeing, the dead being raised, the deaf hearing; the resurrection itself. It is the overcoming of the forces of darkness, even where the religious institutions and powers work with secular powers as custodians of darkness.
So long as the way, truth and life are denied in Zimbabwe, Jesus is crucified. The Church that obliterates truth in Zimbabwe works not for the resurrection – it needs the Damascus experience.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY NICHOLAS MKARONDA
Now that The Church has been touched by the wounds and pains of the people of Zimbabwe, it brings glory to God by being one rather than fragmented.
A group of national ecumenical church bodies comprising the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches have come together to form what they call The Church in Zimbabwe. In defining and identifying themselves, they have distinguished and disassociated themselves with what they call some Christians in Zimbabwe.
Their point of departure is that The Church has remained untouched in the current crisis facing the nation, and now The Church has come together with one voice for constructive engagement with the government of Zimbabwe in resolving the crisis. The Church distinguishes and disassociates itself from some Christians whom it accuses of destructive engagement with the government.
“The Church in Zimbabwe is only beginning to wake up to its role in the social, political and economic affairs of Zimbabwe in a more comprehensive way. As opposed to non-engagement some Christians have chosen the path of aggressive engagement or confrontation with the government. The three umbrella bodies have, however, chosen the path of constructive engagement,” says the document.
Since The Church has identified itself by naming itself, it is important that we bring to the fore some of the Christians being accused of destructive engagement with the government so that they do not remain some ghostly bodies. We have Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Roman Catholic Church in Bulawayo, the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference, a thousand-plus forum of pastors, the Christian Alliance being convened by Bishop Levy Kadenge of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Women Together in Prayer for Zimbabwe, the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe and the churches in Bulawayo.
This response simply wants to inform The Church and its new-found allies in government and would-be allies from the international community that while The Church remained untouched by the crisis, “some Christians” have been touched for so long that they have wept like the children of Israel in Babylon when they think of Zimbabwe.
It is regrettable that The Church finds the holy anger expressed by ‘some Christians’ as destructive.
It is clear from The Church that the church in Zimbabwe is divided and polarized. One gets the sense that The Church refers to church leaders who occupy certain spaces of power and authority within the confines, structures and rigidities of the EFZ, ZCC and ZCBC; and that ‘some Christians’ refers to the powerless who have been rendered voiceless by The Church that wants to be seen as the voice of those whom it has silenced, and when these refuse to be silenced they are criminalized and demonized as destructive elements in The Church.
It is mischievous for The Church to talk about the strides of the first 15 years of Independence without reference to the orchestrated violence that was meted in Matebeleland and Midlands against unarmed and powerless civilians in search of some 120 or so dissidents. It is mischievous because at the end of the paper, The Church argues that it is in touch with people, it knows how they feel and is perhaps the only body that can represent the people. Not only was The Church quiet when these state atrocities were committed, it remained quiet even when the Catholic Commission on Peace and Justice together with the Legal Resources Foundation made public their findings of the atrocities.
My understanding of the crisis in Zimbabwe as a Christian is that of Jesus who is crucified in Zimbabwe and the challenge of the resurrection. My understanding of why Jesus was crucified in the first century is that he was (and remains) the way, the truth and the life.
As the Way, Jesus illustrates to us God’s interaction with humans and creation – he eats and lives with sinners not only to show them that God cares but to bring them to new life. Sadly, in Zimbabwe, relationships have broken down and those in dominant and powerful positions, be it the secular or the religious, propel their existence by sustaining the broken relationships.
As the Truth, Jesus reveals the omniscient God who knows that which is deep within us, pricks our conscious, lets us make our choices, but exposes those choices for what they really are. For this Jesus is crucified, but the truth in it is that God does not die because Jesus has been crucified – the truth cannot be killed.
The Life in Jesus is the vast possibilities that we have in life abundance – the possibilities of the blind seeing, the dead being raised, the deaf hearing; the resurrection itself. It is the overcoming of the forces of darkness, even where the religious institutions and powers work with secular powers as custodians of darkness.
So long as the way, truth and life are denied in Zimbabwe, Jesus is crucified. The Church that obliterates truth in Zimbabwe works not for the resurrection – it needs the Damascus experience.
WOZA in nation-wide talks with villagers
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Social justice consultations findings show rural people fed up with Zanu (PF)
‘Corruption topped the list, followed by escalating school fees and healthcare costs’
‘Our Chiefs are being used as pawns in a game of politics’
BULAWAYO - Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), last week visited Manicaland with the aim of consulting on Social Justice. The consultations are our way of finding out people’s vision of a socially just Zimbabwe. The information gathered will be compiled into a comprehensive document, the Dream Charter, and presented to the Legislature in November to serve as a guideline on how the electorate wants to be governed.
The Social Justice consultations and Dream Charter are modelled along the lines of South Africa’s Freedom Charter. This follows the realisation that unlike our SA counterparts who took the time to consult and to write down how they wanted to be governed after the attainment of independence, Zimbabweans simply waited for the freedom fighters to bring back independence but did not consult and indicate how they wanted to be governed, which has resulted in gross injustices.
Participants at our first port of call, Chimanimani Urban, said they longed for the lifestyle they used to lead in 1980 and beyond. Since then, their lives had lost all meaning due to the uncertain economic environment.
“We are failing to do the basic things that we could do in 1980 and even before independence, such as putting food on the table. Our lives now revolve around scrounging for crumbs to give to our children,” said one young mother.
They said the Legal Age of Majority Act had lost all meaning, as they had to fend for their children even up to the age of 28 because of unemployment. The old and disadvantaged, including orphans and widows, continued to receive ‘useless allowances’ or nothing from the Social Welfare Department.
Some of the concerns raised included escalating school fees and healthcare costs, but corruption topped the list.
“Corruption can only be dealt with at the core - which is at Government level. Leaders need to listen to the electorate’s grievances, we only see our leaders at election time. As for the chiefs, they have now been assimilated into the ‘corrupt breed’. They are now aligning themselves with the elite because they are now salaried and drive nice cars.
“The corruption has become so ingrained that you have to pay people to do their jobs, if you need help from the police you have to give them a ‘commission’,” said another Chimanimani resident.
The residents bemoaned the Government’s lack of transparency in allocating houses to victims of Murambatsvina.
“It’s been over a year since we lost our livelihoods to Operation Murambatsvina. We are still waiting for the government to construct the market shells they promised for informal workers. The houses we were promised under Operation Garikai have been doled out to the rich or the ‘more befitting’ such as the war veterans or the elite, and still we wait.
“The Council is now concentrating on shady deals and ostracizes the poor in the allocation of stands and land for agricultural purposes,” said another frustrated Chimanimani resident.
In Chimanimani Rural, Shinja area, participants were quite vocal, allaying a widely-held misconception that rural folk have remained staunch ruling party supporters, and are not very analytical.
The villagers demanded the right to be educated about their rights as their lives were now ruled by fear.
“We demand that we be educated about our rights. We do not know what is right or wrong in Zimbabwe any more as we are constantly being harassed. We are tired of the present leaders and need new blood, leaders who will listen to our problems and address them.
“The situation we are in right now is the same as a person who goes to bed but cannot change sides, you need to change sides and turn now and again, otherwise you wake up all sore and stiff,” said one old woman.
They complained that their chiefs were now being used as pawns in a game of political intrigue. Shinja villagers said they had become hopeless, and could longer afford to feed their families, pay school fees for their children or find any form of employment.
“Government should bring back commercial farmers so we can at least get jobs and have somewhere to buy food and send our children to school,” said another Shinja villager.
The villagers also demanded that the ruling party stop politicising food aid distribution. “If one does not hold a ZANU PF political card then they are not assured of receiving food aid, distribution should be left to the non-governmental organisations that bring aid. We also want the government to form relationships with other countries which can help us in trying times such as now,’ said another old woman.
The villagers demanded that the monetary authorities introduce ‘meaningful’ currency. Further consultations in Mutare in the Mahobo House area revealed the residents frustration with police’s heavy handedness in dealing with cross border trading. The residents agreed that in as much as cross border traders should follow certain procedures, police should be sensitive and also account for the seized goods as police end up benefiting from their toil.
“We demand our freedoms back, especially the freedom of expression. The police have now become more of ruling party spies, waiting to pounce on you if you say anything bad about the ruling party,” said a disgruntled youth.
Mutare residents also voiced their concerns about government’s neglect of health and education and the ruling party’s ‘omnipotent’ attitude.
In Nyazura, the villagers demanded that government start consulting and listening to their concerns and be tolerant of other parties and races.
“The land invasions scuttled our dreams because we were guaranteed jobs, but now we are not able to produce any food on the rocky patches that we live in. We cannot find employment elsewhere as commercial farmers were our only hope,’ said an unemployed Nyazura youth.
The villagers said they were tired of the current leadership, as it had failed to heed their problems.
“We have become ghosts in our motherland because the people that we elected to lead us have forgotten us. We should start incorporating whites in the leadership because we were better off in the colonial era, we need people with a conscience to lead us,” said one old woman.
The villagers said the government should help them start income generating projects to ease their hardships. They also denounced the use of bearer cheques and demanded proper currency.
“We are tired of using money with expiration dates, and when the currency changes we have no one to enlighten us and end up losing our money because these measures are effected without our knowledge, neither are we consulted. We want our coins back at least we could keep them safely and the money would still buy you something even after a year,’ said one elderly woman.
“We demand that some of the taxes that we are currently heaving under be removed or at least be reduced. How can we continue paying livestock tax when we are not benefiting from dipping facilities? What is that money being used for when we are being told that there is a shortage of chemicals?” Queried another villager.
They also agreed that leaders should stick to a five-year term and only be re-elected on merit to curb dictatorship tendencies.
In Kute village, in Nyamhanda Nyanga, villagers noted that the elected leadership was not serving people’s interests and demanded that more accountable leaders be allowed to take over leadership positions.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Social justice consultations findings show rural people fed up with Zanu (PF)
‘Corruption topped the list, followed by escalating school fees and healthcare costs’
‘Our Chiefs are being used as pawns in a game of politics’
BULAWAYO - Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), last week visited Manicaland with the aim of consulting on Social Justice. The consultations are our way of finding out people’s vision of a socially just Zimbabwe. The information gathered will be compiled into a comprehensive document, the Dream Charter, and presented to the Legislature in November to serve as a guideline on how the electorate wants to be governed.
The Social Justice consultations and Dream Charter are modelled along the lines of South Africa’s Freedom Charter. This follows the realisation that unlike our SA counterparts who took the time to consult and to write down how they wanted to be governed after the attainment of independence, Zimbabweans simply waited for the freedom fighters to bring back independence but did not consult and indicate how they wanted to be governed, which has resulted in gross injustices.
Participants at our first port of call, Chimanimani Urban, said they longed for the lifestyle they used to lead in 1980 and beyond. Since then, their lives had lost all meaning due to the uncertain economic environment.
“We are failing to do the basic things that we could do in 1980 and even before independence, such as putting food on the table. Our lives now revolve around scrounging for crumbs to give to our children,” said one young mother.
They said the Legal Age of Majority Act had lost all meaning, as they had to fend for their children even up to the age of 28 because of unemployment. The old and disadvantaged, including orphans and widows, continued to receive ‘useless allowances’ or nothing from the Social Welfare Department.
Some of the concerns raised included escalating school fees and healthcare costs, but corruption topped the list.
“Corruption can only be dealt with at the core - which is at Government level. Leaders need to listen to the electorate’s grievances, we only see our leaders at election time. As for the chiefs, they have now been assimilated into the ‘corrupt breed’. They are now aligning themselves with the elite because they are now salaried and drive nice cars.
“The corruption has become so ingrained that you have to pay people to do their jobs, if you need help from the police you have to give them a ‘commission’,” said another Chimanimani resident.
The residents bemoaned the Government’s lack of transparency in allocating houses to victims of Murambatsvina.
“It’s been over a year since we lost our livelihoods to Operation Murambatsvina. We are still waiting for the government to construct the market shells they promised for informal workers. The houses we were promised under Operation Garikai have been doled out to the rich or the ‘more befitting’ such as the war veterans or the elite, and still we wait.
“The Council is now concentrating on shady deals and ostracizes the poor in the allocation of stands and land for agricultural purposes,” said another frustrated Chimanimani resident.
In Chimanimani Rural, Shinja area, participants were quite vocal, allaying a widely-held misconception that rural folk have remained staunch ruling party supporters, and are not very analytical.
The villagers demanded the right to be educated about their rights as their lives were now ruled by fear.
“We demand that we be educated about our rights. We do not know what is right or wrong in Zimbabwe any more as we are constantly being harassed. We are tired of the present leaders and need new blood, leaders who will listen to our problems and address them.
“The situation we are in right now is the same as a person who goes to bed but cannot change sides, you need to change sides and turn now and again, otherwise you wake up all sore and stiff,” said one old woman.
They complained that their chiefs were now being used as pawns in a game of political intrigue. Shinja villagers said they had become hopeless, and could longer afford to feed their families, pay school fees for their children or find any form of employment.
“Government should bring back commercial farmers so we can at least get jobs and have somewhere to buy food and send our children to school,” said another Shinja villager.
The villagers also demanded that the ruling party stop politicising food aid distribution. “If one does not hold a ZANU PF political card then they are not assured of receiving food aid, distribution should be left to the non-governmental organisations that bring aid. We also want the government to form relationships with other countries which can help us in trying times such as now,’ said another old woman.
The villagers demanded that the monetary authorities introduce ‘meaningful’ currency. Further consultations in Mutare in the Mahobo House area revealed the residents frustration with police’s heavy handedness in dealing with cross border trading. The residents agreed that in as much as cross border traders should follow certain procedures, police should be sensitive and also account for the seized goods as police end up benefiting from their toil.
“We demand our freedoms back, especially the freedom of expression. The police have now become more of ruling party spies, waiting to pounce on you if you say anything bad about the ruling party,” said a disgruntled youth.
Mutare residents also voiced their concerns about government’s neglect of health and education and the ruling party’s ‘omnipotent’ attitude.
In Nyazura, the villagers demanded that government start consulting and listening to their concerns and be tolerant of other parties and races.
“The land invasions scuttled our dreams because we were guaranteed jobs, but now we are not able to produce any food on the rocky patches that we live in. We cannot find employment elsewhere as commercial farmers were our only hope,’ said an unemployed Nyazura youth.
The villagers said they were tired of the current leadership, as it had failed to heed their problems.
“We have become ghosts in our motherland because the people that we elected to lead us have forgotten us. We should start incorporating whites in the leadership because we were better off in the colonial era, we need people with a conscience to lead us,” said one old woman.
The villagers said the government should help them start income generating projects to ease their hardships. They also denounced the use of bearer cheques and demanded proper currency.
“We are tired of using money with expiration dates, and when the currency changes we have no one to enlighten us and end up losing our money because these measures are effected without our knowledge, neither are we consulted. We want our coins back at least we could keep them safely and the money would still buy you something even after a year,’ said one elderly woman.
“We demand that some of the taxes that we are currently heaving under be removed or at least be reduced. How can we continue paying livestock tax when we are not benefiting from dipping facilities? What is that money being used for when we are being told that there is a shortage of chemicals?” Queried another villager.
They also agreed that leaders should stick to a five-year term and only be re-elected on merit to curb dictatorship tendencies.
In Kute village, in Nyamhanda Nyanga, villagers noted that the elected leadership was not serving people’s interests and demanded that more accountable leaders be allowed to take over leadership positions.
The River
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Chirundu’s border post has become a hive of activity with agricultural exports from Zambia and imports from South Africa jostling to get over the newly-built bridge that links Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The drive into Chirundu town slowly unveils organised chaos as long lines of trucks, cars and pedestrians alike seem to queue in a haphazard manner with high hopes of crossing the bridge before nightfall. It was a welcome relief when we turned away to the right of the customs entrance and after a very short sojourn into the bush found ourselves in the lush surroundings of our self-catering lodges on the banks of the river.
The noise at the border petered off into the distance as new noises, swirls and bubbles, claimed our senses. We gazed across the mighty Zambezi at a pod of hippos wallowing blissfully near a sandbank, oblivious to our arrival. As we contemplated how we would spend our first afternoon in Chirundu our combined thoughts went to a well-packed cooler box and secondly to making up the tiger rods.
Not long afterwards three boats boasting an assortment of live bates, lures and spinners, not to mention a fine selection of local beers, were being carried by the rivers’ perpetual current from fishing spot to fishing spot. Day 1 produced a spectacular sunset but not many fish. Nevertheless, the fishing would begin in earnest the next day and for now the sunset was waiting to be enjoyed to the full.
The mornings that followed began before first light around 5:30am. Three boats, as if on an imaginary starting grid, roared off in different directions to see who would catch the elusive tiger fish. A congregation each lunch time much further down the river would reveal the spoils so far and then a weigh-in at camp would determine the winners who enjoyed bragging rights until the next day.
The only sad part of the trip was to learn that the wildlife authorities had, without proper preparation or much thought, culled elephant that were a well-known attraction for visitors to the camps in the area. The elephants would make regular visits during the night and wander close by in front of the chalets. While the cull would have fed hungry families the authorities would not have realised the impact that the loss of tourists, and tourists spending their money in Zimbabwe and not Zambia, could have made on the local community.
Each day on The River is unique. The trip home had us recalling the sights, sounds, the wildlife and the fishing - we almost felt guilty for enjoying the holiday as much as we did when comparing it to the cost. Throughout our holiday the people we met relayed stories of the ‘good old days’ when tourists made them a good living. Those people are still there, still trying to make that living, and we will definitely be back next year to support them.
info@venues4africa.com
www.venues4africa.com
Campsites on the River
There are a number of exclusive campsites situated along the Zambezi River. The camps are for the visitor who seeks solitude and who wants to experience in full the wildness and challenges of the bush. With each Mana Pools Camp there is a braai stand and rudimentary toilet. Water is collected from the river or the reception office.
Visitors to these sites need to be fully self-equipped and be able to handle the remoteness and solitude of these unique camps. The camps are only allowed two vehicles and 12 persons per stay. Mucheni is eight kilometres west of Nyamepi and has four secluded camp sites. Nkupe is just over one kilometre east of Nymepi and has one camp site. East of the car park is Ndungu which has two campsites. Gwaya is short distance upstream from the lodges has one campsite, with cold-water shower, flush toilet and basin and a braai stand.
There are also two completely wild camping sites located in the southern sector of the Park close to Chitake Spring, near the foothills of the Zambezi Escarpment. The check-in point for these camps is at Nyakasikana Gate. Both campsites are without any facilities and are accessible only with four-wheel drive vehicles.
The Chitake Camps are located 150 metres downstream from the Chitake River crossing under a large Natal Mahogany near the river. The second Chitake Camp is situated on top of a small hill near a number of baobab trees and has a magnificent view south to the escarpment, north to the far off Zambezi, east to Mangangai and west to the Rukomechi River. The camp is about one kilometre from the spring.
To book any of these camps speak to Amy on +2634706109 or email venues@yoafrica.com today.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Chirundu’s border post has become a hive of activity with agricultural exports from Zambia and imports from South Africa jostling to get over the newly-built bridge that links Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The drive into Chirundu town slowly unveils organised chaos as long lines of trucks, cars and pedestrians alike seem to queue in a haphazard manner with high hopes of crossing the bridge before nightfall. It was a welcome relief when we turned away to the right of the customs entrance and after a very short sojourn into the bush found ourselves in the lush surroundings of our self-catering lodges on the banks of the river.
The noise at the border petered off into the distance as new noises, swirls and bubbles, claimed our senses. We gazed across the mighty Zambezi at a pod of hippos wallowing blissfully near a sandbank, oblivious to our arrival. As we contemplated how we would spend our first afternoon in Chirundu our combined thoughts went to a well-packed cooler box and secondly to making up the tiger rods.
Not long afterwards three boats boasting an assortment of live bates, lures and spinners, not to mention a fine selection of local beers, were being carried by the rivers’ perpetual current from fishing spot to fishing spot. Day 1 produced a spectacular sunset but not many fish. Nevertheless, the fishing would begin in earnest the next day and for now the sunset was waiting to be enjoyed to the full.
The mornings that followed began before first light around 5:30am. Three boats, as if on an imaginary starting grid, roared off in different directions to see who would catch the elusive tiger fish. A congregation each lunch time much further down the river would reveal the spoils so far and then a weigh-in at camp would determine the winners who enjoyed bragging rights until the next day.
The only sad part of the trip was to learn that the wildlife authorities had, without proper preparation or much thought, culled elephant that were a well-known attraction for visitors to the camps in the area. The elephants would make regular visits during the night and wander close by in front of the chalets. While the cull would have fed hungry families the authorities would not have realised the impact that the loss of tourists, and tourists spending their money in Zimbabwe and not Zambia, could have made on the local community.
Each day on The River is unique. The trip home had us recalling the sights, sounds, the wildlife and the fishing - we almost felt guilty for enjoying the holiday as much as we did when comparing it to the cost. Throughout our holiday the people we met relayed stories of the ‘good old days’ when tourists made them a good living. Those people are still there, still trying to make that living, and we will definitely be back next year to support them.
info@venues4africa.com
www.venues4africa.com
Campsites on the River
There are a number of exclusive campsites situated along the Zambezi River. The camps are for the visitor who seeks solitude and who wants to experience in full the wildness and challenges of the bush. With each Mana Pools Camp there is a braai stand and rudimentary toilet. Water is collected from the river or the reception office.
Visitors to these sites need to be fully self-equipped and be able to handle the remoteness and solitude of these unique camps. The camps are only allowed two vehicles and 12 persons per stay. Mucheni is eight kilometres west of Nyamepi and has four secluded camp sites. Nkupe is just over one kilometre east of Nymepi and has one camp site. East of the car park is Ndungu which has two campsites. Gwaya is short distance upstream from the lodges has one campsite, with cold-water shower, flush toilet and basin and a braai stand.
There are also two completely wild camping sites located in the southern sector of the Park close to Chitake Spring, near the foothills of the Zambezi Escarpment. The check-in point for these camps is at Nyakasikana Gate. Both campsites are without any facilities and are accessible only with four-wheel drive vehicles.
The Chitake Camps are located 150 metres downstream from the Chitake River crossing under a large Natal Mahogany near the river. The second Chitake Camp is situated on top of a small hill near a number of baobab trees and has a magnificent view south to the escarpment, north to the far off Zambezi, east to Mangangai and west to the Rukomechi River. The camp is about one kilometre from the spring.
To book any of these camps speak to Amy on +2634706109 or email venues@yoafrica.com today.
Overview of the cabinet
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY MIKE ROOK
Under the stewardship of Zimbabwe’s 27 cabinet ministers listed below, the country has become a total basket case:
Emmerson Mnangagwa, General Nyambuya, Didymus Mutasa, Joseph Made, Stan Mudenge, Nicholas Goche, Paul Mangwana, Oppah Muchinguri, Rugare Gumbo, Flora Buka, Kembo Muhadi, Francis Nhema, Herbert Murerwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, Munacho Mutezo, Tichaona Jokanya, Ignatious Chombo, Amos Midzi, Patrick Chinamasa, Chris Mushawe, Sithembiso Nyoni, Elliot Manyika, Olivia Muchena, Webster Shamu, Josiah Tungamirai, David Parirenyata, Aeneas Chigwedere,
Despite shocking track records this gang of 27 cling on to power and its accompanying privileges without shame or conscience, hoping against hope that accountability will forever escape them in this world and the next.
The excessive employment packages for these elevated and ineffective decision makers cost struggling Zimbabwean tax payers billions of dollars annually, and their jaunts outside the country gobble up an abundance of scarce foreign exchange, that would be better utilised importing inputs to repair broken-down essential strategic services.
In an environment of hunger, unemployment and unaffordable education and basic health care, what do they do to justify their super elitist lifestyles?
Perhaps a brief comment on each ministry would shed some light on the matter.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, Rural Housing and Social Amenities: Emmerson’s task has been awesome. Due to the disgraceful debacle of Murambatsvina in the urban areas he has had to redouble his efforts to ensure adequate housing and social amenities for the thousands of homeless victims relocated to the countryside. This exercise is running way behind schedule.
General Nyambuya, Energy and Power development: I wonder if the old war horse has a job description to help him fathom the meaning of what is rather an ambiguous title. In the meantime it is apparent that his interpretation of responsibilities is to energetically support government in retaining power at all costs.
Didymus Mutasa, National Security - an excellent track record of discouraging any form of national security breaches, such as legitimate opposition and dissent, by condoning public beatings and arbitrary detentions.
Joseph Made, Agriculture - the clown prince amongst his peers. It has to be said that if his crop forecasts turned out to be even a close call Zimbabwe would once again be responsible for food security within the SADCC region.
Stan Mudenge, Higher and Tertiary Education: unfortunately for Stan his portfolio is now almost defunct. To enter tertiary and higher learning one first has to pass through primary and secondary school and in today’s Zimbabwe most parents do not have the wherewithal to manage even the basic charges levied by the educational authorities.
Paul Mangwana, State Enterprises monopolies, Anti Corruption. What a mouthful. Paul must be a busy man, particularly as the government has a monopoly on its tenure of office, and bearing in mind that most of the state enterprises are corrupt.
Oppah Muchinguri, Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development: women of Zimbabwe arise, Oppah is there for you. Gender sensitivity is not one of her strong points and the infamous Murambatsvina must have been a devastating blow to her credibility.
Rugare Gumbo, Economic Development: it’s mission impossible for Rugare.
Flora Buka, State Affairs responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme: a very popular member of cabinet is Flora. Just ask any of her honourable colleagues who are comfortably resettled on confiscated commercial farms.
Kembo Muhadi, Home Affairs: Where most countries are struggling to contain immigration, he struggles to contain emigration. He has to be congratulated in achieving his objective by ensuring the unavailability of Zimbabwe passports.
Francis Nhema, Tourism; Francis has two big advantages in his favour. The first is the Victoria Falls and the second is a totally devalued local currency.
Herbert Murerwa, Finance: not too stressful as his ministry has been taken over by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Sydney Sekeramayi, Defence: defending the indefensible makes his job that much more difficult.
Munacho Mutezo, Water Resources and Infrastructural Development: concerning water resources the vagaries of El Nino must cause Munacho sleepless nights. When he discovers that infrastructural development actually means the basic organisation of a country’s large scale public systems he may just throw in the towel.
Tichaona Jokanya, Information and Publicity: this responsibility is somewhat of a conundrum for Tichaona. However he has grasped the mettle by sorting out exactly what information is politically correct, and censoring or closing down everything else. His astute philosophy is that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.
Ignatious Chombo, Local Government: Ignatious has had a very fruitful term of office accomplishing the very difficult task of removing elected mayors and councillors, and replacing them with incompetent lackeys.
Amos Midzi, Mines: Amos is not one to be left out of acquisition. Like his counterpart in agriculture he has overseen government take over of profitable mining companies, causing dampening of international investment and the halting of large in-flows of foreign exchange.
Patrick Chinamasa, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs - he has a habit of often wearing fashionable designer shades, resulting in problems reading the small print buried in legal documents. He must be forgiven for his controversial interpretation of various points of law.
Chris Mushowe, Transport and Communications: his job is to ensure a viable and cost effective system of transportation for the movement of people and supplies. He must be out of the country on long leave. Otherwise he’d be aware of insufficient busses, an archaic and broken down railway system, and a national airline on the verge of collapse.
Sithembiso Nyoni, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: Sithembiso has succeeded in ensuring that any enterprises in Zimbabwe are not only small to medium but insignificant.
Elliot Manyika, Minister without Portfolio – spend his time trying to discover exactly what he is supposed to do, and in the meantime he thanks his lucky stars every time his generous pay and allowances are deposited into his bank account.
Olivia Muchena, Science and Technology: a crucial portfolio, ensuring that the latest techniques are in place to jam the airways.
Webster Shamu, Policy Implementation: a tricky one for Webster as most policies are watered down or never implemented.
Josiah Tungamirai, Indigenisation and Empowerment: well-paid jobs for the boys is Josiah’s forte, with the proviso of course they slavishly support the ruling party.
David Parirenyatwa, Health: with run down hospitals, understaffed clinics, shortages of essential drugs, and highly inflated medical consultation charges, David is in the doldrums.
Aeneas Chigwedere, Education Sport and Culture: to say the least Aeneas is somewhat confused. He has serious problems understanding simple mathematics. This is aptly illustrated by his continuous directives to private schools ordering them to reduce income to below expenditure.
For Blair Bush and the European Union to implement targeted sanctions against these honourable ministers is in my opinion counter productive. It would improve Zimbabwe’s economy and the shocking performance of the country’s Executive if they were invited to attend educational tours of London’s Houses of Parliament, Washington’s Senate, and the EU head quarters in Brussels.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY MIKE ROOK
Under the stewardship of Zimbabwe’s 27 cabinet ministers listed below, the country has become a total basket case:
Emmerson Mnangagwa, General Nyambuya, Didymus Mutasa, Joseph Made, Stan Mudenge, Nicholas Goche, Paul Mangwana, Oppah Muchinguri, Rugare Gumbo, Flora Buka, Kembo Muhadi, Francis Nhema, Herbert Murerwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, Munacho Mutezo, Tichaona Jokanya, Ignatious Chombo, Amos Midzi, Patrick Chinamasa, Chris Mushawe, Sithembiso Nyoni, Elliot Manyika, Olivia Muchena, Webster Shamu, Josiah Tungamirai, David Parirenyata, Aeneas Chigwedere,
Despite shocking track records this gang of 27 cling on to power and its accompanying privileges without shame or conscience, hoping against hope that accountability will forever escape them in this world and the next.
The excessive employment packages for these elevated and ineffective decision makers cost struggling Zimbabwean tax payers billions of dollars annually, and their jaunts outside the country gobble up an abundance of scarce foreign exchange, that would be better utilised importing inputs to repair broken-down essential strategic services.
In an environment of hunger, unemployment and unaffordable education and basic health care, what do they do to justify their super elitist lifestyles?
Perhaps a brief comment on each ministry would shed some light on the matter.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, Rural Housing and Social Amenities: Emmerson’s task has been awesome. Due to the disgraceful debacle of Murambatsvina in the urban areas he has had to redouble his efforts to ensure adequate housing and social amenities for the thousands of homeless victims relocated to the countryside. This exercise is running way behind schedule.
General Nyambuya, Energy and Power development: I wonder if the old war horse has a job description to help him fathom the meaning of what is rather an ambiguous title. In the meantime it is apparent that his interpretation of responsibilities is to energetically support government in retaining power at all costs.
Didymus Mutasa, National Security - an excellent track record of discouraging any form of national security breaches, such as legitimate opposition and dissent, by condoning public beatings and arbitrary detentions.
Joseph Made, Agriculture - the clown prince amongst his peers. It has to be said that if his crop forecasts turned out to be even a close call Zimbabwe would once again be responsible for food security within the SADCC region.
Stan Mudenge, Higher and Tertiary Education: unfortunately for Stan his portfolio is now almost defunct. To enter tertiary and higher learning one first has to pass through primary and secondary school and in today’s Zimbabwe most parents do not have the wherewithal to manage even the basic charges levied by the educational authorities.
Paul Mangwana, State Enterprises monopolies, Anti Corruption. What a mouthful. Paul must be a busy man, particularly as the government has a monopoly on its tenure of office, and bearing in mind that most of the state enterprises are corrupt.
Oppah Muchinguri, Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development: women of Zimbabwe arise, Oppah is there for you. Gender sensitivity is not one of her strong points and the infamous Murambatsvina must have been a devastating blow to her credibility.
Rugare Gumbo, Economic Development: it’s mission impossible for Rugare.
Flora Buka, State Affairs responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme: a very popular member of cabinet is Flora. Just ask any of her honourable colleagues who are comfortably resettled on confiscated commercial farms.
Kembo Muhadi, Home Affairs: Where most countries are struggling to contain immigration, he struggles to contain emigration. He has to be congratulated in achieving his objective by ensuring the unavailability of Zimbabwe passports.
Francis Nhema, Tourism; Francis has two big advantages in his favour. The first is the Victoria Falls and the second is a totally devalued local currency.
Herbert Murerwa, Finance: not too stressful as his ministry has been taken over by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Sydney Sekeramayi, Defence: defending the indefensible makes his job that much more difficult.
Munacho Mutezo, Water Resources and Infrastructural Development: concerning water resources the vagaries of El Nino must cause Munacho sleepless nights. When he discovers that infrastructural development actually means the basic organisation of a country’s large scale public systems he may just throw in the towel.
Tichaona Jokanya, Information and Publicity: this responsibility is somewhat of a conundrum for Tichaona. However he has grasped the mettle by sorting out exactly what information is politically correct, and censoring or closing down everything else. His astute philosophy is that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.
Ignatious Chombo, Local Government: Ignatious has had a very fruitful term of office accomplishing the very difficult task of removing elected mayors and councillors, and replacing them with incompetent lackeys.
Amos Midzi, Mines: Amos is not one to be left out of acquisition. Like his counterpart in agriculture he has overseen government take over of profitable mining companies, causing dampening of international investment and the halting of large in-flows of foreign exchange.
Patrick Chinamasa, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs - he has a habit of often wearing fashionable designer shades, resulting in problems reading the small print buried in legal documents. He must be forgiven for his controversial interpretation of various points of law.
Chris Mushowe, Transport and Communications: his job is to ensure a viable and cost effective system of transportation for the movement of people and supplies. He must be out of the country on long leave. Otherwise he’d be aware of insufficient busses, an archaic and broken down railway system, and a national airline on the verge of collapse.
Sithembiso Nyoni, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: Sithembiso has succeeded in ensuring that any enterprises in Zimbabwe are not only small to medium but insignificant.
Elliot Manyika, Minister without Portfolio – spend his time trying to discover exactly what he is supposed to do, and in the meantime he thanks his lucky stars every time his generous pay and allowances are deposited into his bank account.
Olivia Muchena, Science and Technology: a crucial portfolio, ensuring that the latest techniques are in place to jam the airways.
Webster Shamu, Policy Implementation: a tricky one for Webster as most policies are watered down or never implemented.
Josiah Tungamirai, Indigenisation and Empowerment: well-paid jobs for the boys is Josiah’s forte, with the proviso of course they slavishly support the ruling party.
David Parirenyatwa, Health: with run down hospitals, understaffed clinics, shortages of essential drugs, and highly inflated medical consultation charges, David is in the doldrums.
Aeneas Chigwedere, Education Sport and Culture: to say the least Aeneas is somewhat confused. He has serious problems understanding simple mathematics. This is aptly illustrated by his continuous directives to private schools ordering them to reduce income to below expenditure.
For Blair Bush and the European Union to implement targeted sanctions against these honourable ministers is in my opinion counter productive. It would improve Zimbabwe’s economy and the shocking performance of the country’s Executive if they were invited to attend educational tours of London’s Houses of Parliament, Washington’s Senate, and the EU head quarters in Brussels.
State media blames business sector
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
By Our Correspondent
HARARE – Using its well-tried technique of turning cause and effect on its head, the state-run media reported the continuing spate of price increases as if businesses were to blame, instead of pinning consumers’ misery on the root cause – hyperinflation.
The Herald, for example, reported approvingly and unquestioningly on the regime’s planned enforcement of a price controls, with no mention of course that previous attempts had simply resulted in acute commodity shortages.
Spot FM, another regime mouthpiece, blandly reported the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) saying that the cost of a “family basket” rose from $96 000 in August to $112 000 in September. There was no testing of this against soaring prices.
“Instead, it just reported CCZ as planning to introduce a new ‘Tsaona Basket’ (Crisis Basket) that would contain fewer products a family of six would need monthly for basic survival without quizzing the logic of the move or explaining how it would translate into bringing food to the tables of the consumers,” the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) said in its report covering Oct. 2 – Oct. 8.
To add to the distortion, the state press generally portrayed the authorities as “championing the cause of the consumers in the face of profiteering by businesses,” the monitors added.
However, in a rare display of openness The Herald and The Chronicle reported the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Budget and Finance expressing concern over the worsening economic problems, saying the authorities had failed to curb inflation, and that they “just narrated the woes besetting the country … without proferring solutions.”
The private media, in contrast, blamed the distress on the regime’s policies. The Gazette, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard all reported another key development: a sudden plunge in the value of the local currency by nearly 100 percent against international currencies, triggering more price increases.
State media ignored this: but ZTV in its Financial Highlights went one better and misled its audience. “The Zimbabwe dollar against key currencies on the official market,” it said, adding “no notable changes were recorded in most key currencies as low volume exports failed to move the greenback above the $250 mark.”
Censorship by the state media characterised continuing coverage of the case of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leaders beaten up in police cells after attempting to demonstrate. Not a single state mouthpiece reported court criticism of the police’s failure to investigate the brutal assaults.
However, the private media, including Studio 7, New Zimbabwe.com, The Financial Gazette and Zimdaily reported magistrate William Bhila criticizing the police for failing to produce a report he had ordered three weeks earlier on the beatings. Instead, the police produced affidavits saying they had used “minimum force.” The magistrate deferred the case and ordered the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate.
No mention either in the state media of the report by the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights saying the trade unionists’ injuries were consistent with torture and brutal beatings.
Similarly censored were the arrests of university students and teachers’ union leaders and the eviction and demolition of Porta Farm settlers’ homes.
MMPZ was critical of the coverage of the disputed Chikomba and Rushinga by-elections by both the state and private media. The state media simply covered Zanu (PF) approvingly, while the private showed sparse interest, devoting just 10 stories to the elections.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
By Our Correspondent
HARARE – Using its well-tried technique of turning cause and effect on its head, the state-run media reported the continuing spate of price increases as if businesses were to blame, instead of pinning consumers’ misery on the root cause – hyperinflation.
The Herald, for example, reported approvingly and unquestioningly on the regime’s planned enforcement of a price controls, with no mention of course that previous attempts had simply resulted in acute commodity shortages.
Spot FM, another regime mouthpiece, blandly reported the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) saying that the cost of a “family basket” rose from $96 000 in August to $112 000 in September. There was no testing of this against soaring prices.
“Instead, it just reported CCZ as planning to introduce a new ‘Tsaona Basket’ (Crisis Basket) that would contain fewer products a family of six would need monthly for basic survival without quizzing the logic of the move or explaining how it would translate into bringing food to the tables of the consumers,” the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) said in its report covering Oct. 2 – Oct. 8.
To add to the distortion, the state press generally portrayed the authorities as “championing the cause of the consumers in the face of profiteering by businesses,” the monitors added.
However, in a rare display of openness The Herald and The Chronicle reported the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Budget and Finance expressing concern over the worsening economic problems, saying the authorities had failed to curb inflation, and that they “just narrated the woes besetting the country … without proferring solutions.”
The private media, in contrast, blamed the distress on the regime’s policies. The Gazette, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard all reported another key development: a sudden plunge in the value of the local currency by nearly 100 percent against international currencies, triggering more price increases.
State media ignored this: but ZTV in its Financial Highlights went one better and misled its audience. “The Zimbabwe dollar against key currencies on the official market,” it said, adding “no notable changes were recorded in most key currencies as low volume exports failed to move the greenback above the $250 mark.”
Censorship by the state media characterised continuing coverage of the case of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leaders beaten up in police cells after attempting to demonstrate. Not a single state mouthpiece reported court criticism of the police’s failure to investigate the brutal assaults.
However, the private media, including Studio 7, New Zimbabwe.com, The Financial Gazette and Zimdaily reported magistrate William Bhila criticizing the police for failing to produce a report he had ordered three weeks earlier on the beatings. Instead, the police produced affidavits saying they had used “minimum force.” The magistrate deferred the case and ordered the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate.
No mention either in the state media of the report by the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights saying the trade unionists’ injuries were consistent with torture and brutal beatings.
Similarly censored were the arrests of university students and teachers’ union leaders and the eviction and demolition of Porta Farm settlers’ homes.
MMPZ was critical of the coverage of the disputed Chikomba and Rushinga by-elections by both the state and private media. The state media simply covered Zanu (PF) approvingly, while the private showed sparse interest, devoting just 10 stories to the elections.
Sports news from The Zimbabwean
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
PSL roundup
HARARE – Harare side Motor Action once again failed to take advantage of
Highlanders' slip up when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Lancashire Steel
in a Premier Soccer League match at Baghdad Stadium in Kwekwe on Sunday.
With Highlanders only managing a 2-2 draw with Railstars in a city derby at
Barbourfields Stadium, Motor Action failed to capitalize and close the gap
on the struggling log leaders.
Highlanders came back from behind to lead Railstars 2-1 at some point but
the city rivals came back strongly to equalise with a few minutes to go to
full time.
Elsewhere, Shooting Stars continued to struggle and are now in real danger
of being relegated after they were beaten 4-2 by Hwange at the Colliery.
Hwange raced into an early 2-0 lead only for Shooting Stars to come back
strongly to level the scores early in the second half.
But the pressure from the home team proved too much and they succumbed to
two late goals. In Zvishavane, Moses Chunga continued to struggle at the helm of champions CAPS when the Harare giants were soundly beaten 2-0 by relegation candidates Shabanie Mine at Maglas Stadium.
The defeat comes soon after CAPS were knocked out of the CBZ Cup by Division
One side, Lengthens, piling the pressure on the former Dynamos coach.
Harare giants Dynamos virtually sent Zimbabwe Saints to Division One with a
commanding 4-1 win at Rufaro Stadium.
In Gweru, Chapungu edged Monomotapa 1-0 at Ascot Stadium while Buymore beat
Masvingo United 2-1 at Gwanzura Stadium on Saturday. – ZimOnline
19 oct p 23 sports shorts
Bhasera is ‘dirty player’
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe under-23 and Maritzburg Football Club tough tackling defender, Onismo Bhasera, was last week labelled the “dirty player”, who commits most tackles and fouls in the South African premiership.
According to results for ratings of players and coaches made available to CAJ News this week and conducted last month, Bhasera, was the second worst dirty defender in the entire SA premiership after Dominic Isaacs of Cape Town Ajax, with 10 points from the panellists.
Isaacs tops the premiership league log with 13 points. Among other rough players listed on the top five for fouling strikers comprise Brett Evans (Ajax), Robert Ngambi of Leopards and Nathan Paulse of Ajax, a sad development that painted the Cape Town based soccer side with some dirty playing tactics in the field of play.
But it is the Zimbabwe under-23 international defender, whose hard tackling tactics and toughness at the back for Maritzburg that has caused so many tongues wagging.
In a match witnessed by CAJ News in Germiston against Moroka Swallows, Bhasera, was the fierce defender to beat each tine the opposition strikers were attacking the Maritzburg goal area.
Strikers could be seen thinking twice before taking on the Zimbabwe international under-23 right back. Bhasera’s dangerous and crude tackles earned him the name “Bad Boy” with more than 10 fouls in less than seven premiership outings. – CAJ News
Clubless coaches abound in Jozi
JOHANNESBURG - Three former Zimbabwe soccer coaches, now residing in South Africa, have started the season clubless.
They are former Zimbabwe Warriors and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, former Warriors and Nigeria head coach Clemens Wseterhof and Zoran Pesic of Yugoslavia.
Before coming to South Africa, Pesic briefly coached the then flamboyant and former Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Champions of Zimbabwe, AmaZulu Football Club of Bulawayo, but is battling to find a club to coach in the South African premiership.
Grobbelaar, a Zimbabwe international goalkeeper, who once coached the Durban- based Umtata Bush Bucks, but was sacked when the club was demoted to the less fashionable Mvela Golden Division One League.
The former Zimbabwe coaches have joined a list of other demoted or fired South African coaches for producing poor results whilst others could insist that they were not given much room to prove their mettle.
Among other coaches, described as the PSL coaches on the wings, are Ted Dumitru, Paul Dolezar, Walter Rautmann, former South African’s Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey, who was recently relieved of his duties by South Africa Premiership defending champions, Sundowns.
Other clubless coaches include Trott Moloto, Angel Cappa, Miguel Gammondi and many others. - CAJ news
Warrior’s goalie butter fingers?
JOHANNESBURG - As Zimbabwe’s senior soccer squad intensifies it battle to win the sole ticket to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations soccer finals in Ghana and Nigeria, it emerged that one of their dependable goalkeepers, Energy Murambadoro is not as reliable as we all believe.
Murambadoro has been described in the South African Premiership league as one of the five goalkeepers with “worst-to-save-shot” hands.
The former CAPS United goalminder, who is presently plying his trade at Benoni Football Club in South Africa, has been rated among the worst goalkeepers in the SA premiership.
Among the five poor goalkeepers, with the worst save-to-shot popularly known as “butterfinger” comprise Zimbabwe’s Murambadoro, Andre Petim of Ajax, Rowen Fernandez of Kaizer Chiefs, Wayne Roberts and Jason Barnad of Santos Football Clubs respectively.
The Benoni and Zimbabwe international goalkeeper is rated the third worst goalkeeper in the entire premiership after Petim and Roberts. The vote, conducted by the popular monthly magazine, Soccer-Laduma, described five other goalkeepers as the safe hands in the premiership.
They are Lawrence Ncala of AmaZulu, Denis Onyango of SuperSport, Aime Kitenge of Maritzburg, Calvin Marlin of Sundowns and Kakonje Kalilo of Golden Arrows respectively.
Zimbabwe, who badly needs safest hands as the Warriors are battling to sail through to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations finals scheduled for Ghana, needs good goalkeepers such as young and acrobatic Kundai Mutasa, who is in Qatar and the likes of Tafadzwa Dube of Masvingo United and Lancashire Steel’s Washington Arubi.
Soccer analysts have argued that Murambadoro, was now a spent force in as far as competitive football league is concerned. - CAJ News
2 Chelsea keepers crocked
BY JOHN HUGHES
LONDON - Two star Chelsea goalkeepers, Petr Cech and substitute Carlo Cudicini, were stretchered off and taken to hospital with head injuries during a tempestuous 1-0 Premiership victory at Reading. Cech underwent surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull, Cudicini left the pitch wearing an oxygen mask. Two other players, one from each side, were sent off and 18 minutes' stoppage-time was added.
Manchester United stay top of the table on goal-difference from Chelsea after coming from behind to win 3-1 at Wigan. Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, admiited after a sixth straight defeat, 2-0 at Portsmouth, that "any manager in this situation would feel a certain amount of fear for his job."
Juan Pablo Angel, the Aston Villa striker, endured a personal nightmare in a 1-1 home draw with Tottenham. The Colombian missed a penalty, then headed into his own net two minutes later to gift Tottenham the lead.
West Bromwich, boosted by Kevin Phillips' hat-trick, cruised to a 5-1 Championship success at Ipswich in caretaker-manager Nigel Pearson's last match as West Brom caretaker-manager before handing over to new boss Tony Mowbray. Cardiff top the table after winning 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
In the Scottish Premier, Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura hit a hat-trick in leaders Celtic's 4-1 win at Dundee United. Second-placed Hearts lie second after coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the Edinburgh derby at Hibernian, but once-mighty Rangers are 10 points off the pace after crashing 1-0 at home to modest Inverness.
* Manchester United's home clash with Liverpool on Sunday is the big weekend match in England. North of the Border, Celtic host lowly Motherwell on Saturday.
19 oct p 24 sport
When sport mirrors politics
BY BRUCE ALLARDYCE
A few weeks ago Sean Ervine’s bowling secured promotion for Hampshire in the Pro40 competition, Murray Goodwin’s 1649 runs helped win the County Championship for Sussex and Andy Flower not only topped the Essex batting averages, but was instrumental in securing Essex a successive Pro40 title. Factor in Heath Streak’s efforts with both bat and ball for Warwickshire and you get a picture of the success the former Zimbabwean test players have experienced on the county circuit.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe conceded 418 runs in the 3rd ODI against South Africa, and went on to lose by 171 runs. More recently they were bowled out by the West Indies for 85 runs in the ICC Trophy, were chased down inside 15 overs and dropped catches along the way. This result typifies the story of Zimbabwean cricket over the last 5 or so years.
During this time the administrators of the game in Zimbabwe have managed to display the same lack of unity, professionalism and morality that has dogged the politics of the country, with a combination of death threats, alleged racism in the selection policy and infighting resulting in a domestic game that now resembles a game of garden cricket in terms of quality and organization.
In a country where the political situation is in a state of perpetual chaos, cricket is in danger of being run into the ground by politically motivated administrators, who seem determined to ruin what was effectively a well-maintained sport with a healthy domestic cup. There is still enough public interest to successfully promote the game in a country where there is little to cheer at the moment. There is as much democracy being displayed among the suits of Zimbabwe Cricket as there is being displayed bythe Mugabe regime.
Since the rebel players left the squad the team has struggled, lost its test status, suffered a further exodus of quality players such as Tatenda Taibu and Andy Blignaut and has seen a number of young players being blooded into the world of international cricket. Look at the statistics and the word blooded should read bloodied, as since 2004 Zimbabwe have not won a test and have won a handful of ODI’s against Bangladesh, which hardly counts as progress, but is seen as a major accomplishment considering the age and experience of the current squad.
Players as young as 17 have been thrust into the international scene and have been carted around the park when bowling, had their techniques exposed when batting and have been on the end of some huge defeats. That cannot be good for any cricketer, especially a high-school leaver with practically no experience.
The future of cricket in Zimbabwe lies with the young kids in the high density suburbs who want to emulate the success of former captain Tatenda Taibu, batsman Hamilton Masakadza and all-rounder Elton Chigumbura. Established international cricketers who have expressed a desire to return to the Test arena, such as Andy Flower and Heath Streak, could only benefit the local game and add stability to a team whose average age is 21. But time is running out for them as the current administration shows no sign of changing.
The problem is that no-one at the ICC is prepared to get involved. Let’s face it, why should they? Cricket in Zimbabwe is often seen as the past time of privileged, usually white, beneficiaries of private school education. Whilst this is no longer true, it is still a game requiring specialist coaching, expensive equipment and a lot of commitment from the player from a young age. All of this in a country with the lowest life expectancy in the world, 80% unemployment and 1000% inflation? The ICC is not in the business of regime change.
What could the ICC possibly do? Completely ban Zimbabwe from ever playing Test Cricket again? New Zealand took 26 years and 45 matches to win its first test. Zimbabwe took 3 years. Should they revoke their ODI status? No-one is talking about banning Bangladesh based on results are they? Any complete ban would surely kill the game off for good. Mixing sports and politics is recipe for disaster, and while the administrators continue their mismanagement and power struggles, the players are left with the fact that they are considered a walkover by most teams.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
PSL roundup
HARARE – Harare side Motor Action once again failed to take advantage of
Highlanders' slip up when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Lancashire Steel
in a Premier Soccer League match at Baghdad Stadium in Kwekwe on Sunday.
With Highlanders only managing a 2-2 draw with Railstars in a city derby at
Barbourfields Stadium, Motor Action failed to capitalize and close the gap
on the struggling log leaders.
Highlanders came back from behind to lead Railstars 2-1 at some point but
the city rivals came back strongly to equalise with a few minutes to go to
full time.
Elsewhere, Shooting Stars continued to struggle and are now in real danger
of being relegated after they were beaten 4-2 by Hwange at the Colliery.
Hwange raced into an early 2-0 lead only for Shooting Stars to come back
strongly to level the scores early in the second half.
But the pressure from the home team proved too much and they succumbed to
two late goals. In Zvishavane, Moses Chunga continued to struggle at the helm of champions CAPS when the Harare giants were soundly beaten 2-0 by relegation candidates Shabanie Mine at Maglas Stadium.
The defeat comes soon after CAPS were knocked out of the CBZ Cup by Division
One side, Lengthens, piling the pressure on the former Dynamos coach.
Harare giants Dynamos virtually sent Zimbabwe Saints to Division One with a
commanding 4-1 win at Rufaro Stadium.
In Gweru, Chapungu edged Monomotapa 1-0 at Ascot Stadium while Buymore beat
Masvingo United 2-1 at Gwanzura Stadium on Saturday. – ZimOnline
19 oct p 23 sports shorts
Bhasera is ‘dirty player’
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe under-23 and Maritzburg Football Club tough tackling defender, Onismo Bhasera, was last week labelled the “dirty player”, who commits most tackles and fouls in the South African premiership.
According to results for ratings of players and coaches made available to CAJ News this week and conducted last month, Bhasera, was the second worst dirty defender in the entire SA premiership after Dominic Isaacs of Cape Town Ajax, with 10 points from the panellists.
Isaacs tops the premiership league log with 13 points. Among other rough players listed on the top five for fouling strikers comprise Brett Evans (Ajax), Robert Ngambi of Leopards and Nathan Paulse of Ajax, a sad development that painted the Cape Town based soccer side with some dirty playing tactics in the field of play.
But it is the Zimbabwe under-23 international defender, whose hard tackling tactics and toughness at the back for Maritzburg that has caused so many tongues wagging.
In a match witnessed by CAJ News in Germiston against Moroka Swallows, Bhasera, was the fierce defender to beat each tine the opposition strikers were attacking the Maritzburg goal area.
Strikers could be seen thinking twice before taking on the Zimbabwe international under-23 right back. Bhasera’s dangerous and crude tackles earned him the name “Bad Boy” with more than 10 fouls in less than seven premiership outings. – CAJ News
Clubless coaches abound in Jozi
JOHANNESBURG - Three former Zimbabwe soccer coaches, now residing in South Africa, have started the season clubless.
They are former Zimbabwe Warriors and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, former Warriors and Nigeria head coach Clemens Wseterhof and Zoran Pesic of Yugoslavia.
Before coming to South Africa, Pesic briefly coached the then flamboyant and former Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Champions of Zimbabwe, AmaZulu Football Club of Bulawayo, but is battling to find a club to coach in the South African premiership.
Grobbelaar, a Zimbabwe international goalkeeper, who once coached the Durban- based Umtata Bush Bucks, but was sacked when the club was demoted to the less fashionable Mvela Golden Division One League.
The former Zimbabwe coaches have joined a list of other demoted or fired South African coaches for producing poor results whilst others could insist that they were not given much room to prove their mettle.
Among other coaches, described as the PSL coaches on the wings, are Ted Dumitru, Paul Dolezar, Walter Rautmann, former South African’s Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey, who was recently relieved of his duties by South Africa Premiership defending champions, Sundowns.
Other clubless coaches include Trott Moloto, Angel Cappa, Miguel Gammondi and many others. - CAJ news
Warrior’s goalie butter fingers?
JOHANNESBURG - As Zimbabwe’s senior soccer squad intensifies it battle to win the sole ticket to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations soccer finals in Ghana and Nigeria, it emerged that one of their dependable goalkeepers, Energy Murambadoro is not as reliable as we all believe.
Murambadoro has been described in the South African Premiership league as one of the five goalkeepers with “worst-to-save-shot” hands.
The former CAPS United goalminder, who is presently plying his trade at Benoni Football Club in South Africa, has been rated among the worst goalkeepers in the SA premiership.
Among the five poor goalkeepers, with the worst save-to-shot popularly known as “butterfinger” comprise Zimbabwe’s Murambadoro, Andre Petim of Ajax, Rowen Fernandez of Kaizer Chiefs, Wayne Roberts and Jason Barnad of Santos Football Clubs respectively.
The Benoni and Zimbabwe international goalkeeper is rated the third worst goalkeeper in the entire premiership after Petim and Roberts. The vote, conducted by the popular monthly magazine, Soccer-Laduma, described five other goalkeepers as the safe hands in the premiership.
They are Lawrence Ncala of AmaZulu, Denis Onyango of SuperSport, Aime Kitenge of Maritzburg, Calvin Marlin of Sundowns and Kakonje Kalilo of Golden Arrows respectively.
Zimbabwe, who badly needs safest hands as the Warriors are battling to sail through to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations finals scheduled for Ghana, needs good goalkeepers such as young and acrobatic Kundai Mutasa, who is in Qatar and the likes of Tafadzwa Dube of Masvingo United and Lancashire Steel’s Washington Arubi.
Soccer analysts have argued that Murambadoro, was now a spent force in as far as competitive football league is concerned. - CAJ News
2 Chelsea keepers crocked
BY JOHN HUGHES
LONDON - Two star Chelsea goalkeepers, Petr Cech and substitute Carlo Cudicini, were stretchered off and taken to hospital with head injuries during a tempestuous 1-0 Premiership victory at Reading. Cech underwent surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull, Cudicini left the pitch wearing an oxygen mask. Two other players, one from each side, were sent off and 18 minutes' stoppage-time was added.
Manchester United stay top of the table on goal-difference from Chelsea after coming from behind to win 3-1 at Wigan. Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, admiited after a sixth straight defeat, 2-0 at Portsmouth, that "any manager in this situation would feel a certain amount of fear for his job."
Juan Pablo Angel, the Aston Villa striker, endured a personal nightmare in a 1-1 home draw with Tottenham. The Colombian missed a penalty, then headed into his own net two minutes later to gift Tottenham the lead.
West Bromwich, boosted by Kevin Phillips' hat-trick, cruised to a 5-1 Championship success at Ipswich in caretaker-manager Nigel Pearson's last match as West Brom caretaker-manager before handing over to new boss Tony Mowbray. Cardiff top the table after winning 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
In the Scottish Premier, Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura hit a hat-trick in leaders Celtic's 4-1 win at Dundee United. Second-placed Hearts lie second after coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the Edinburgh derby at Hibernian, but once-mighty Rangers are 10 points off the pace after crashing 1-0 at home to modest Inverness.
* Manchester United's home clash with Liverpool on Sunday is the big weekend match in England. North of the Border, Celtic host lowly Motherwell on Saturday.
19 oct p 24 sport
When sport mirrors politics
BY BRUCE ALLARDYCE
A few weeks ago Sean Ervine’s bowling secured promotion for Hampshire in the Pro40 competition, Murray Goodwin’s 1649 runs helped win the County Championship for Sussex and Andy Flower not only topped the Essex batting averages, but was instrumental in securing Essex a successive Pro40 title. Factor in Heath Streak’s efforts with both bat and ball for Warwickshire and you get a picture of the success the former Zimbabwean test players have experienced on the county circuit.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe conceded 418 runs in the 3rd ODI against South Africa, and went on to lose by 171 runs. More recently they were bowled out by the West Indies for 85 runs in the ICC Trophy, were chased down inside 15 overs and dropped catches along the way. This result typifies the story of Zimbabwean cricket over the last 5 or so years.
During this time the administrators of the game in Zimbabwe have managed to display the same lack of unity, professionalism and morality that has dogged the politics of the country, with a combination of death threats, alleged racism in the selection policy and infighting resulting in a domestic game that now resembles a game of garden cricket in terms of quality and organization.
In a country where the political situation is in a state of perpetual chaos, cricket is in danger of being run into the ground by politically motivated administrators, who seem determined to ruin what was effectively a well-maintained sport with a healthy domestic cup. There is still enough public interest to successfully promote the game in a country where there is little to cheer at the moment. There is as much democracy being displayed among the suits of Zimbabwe Cricket as there is being displayed bythe Mugabe regime.
Since the rebel players left the squad the team has struggled, lost its test status, suffered a further exodus of quality players such as Tatenda Taibu and Andy Blignaut and has seen a number of young players being blooded into the world of international cricket. Look at the statistics and the word blooded should read bloodied, as since 2004 Zimbabwe have not won a test and have won a handful of ODI’s against Bangladesh, which hardly counts as progress, but is seen as a major accomplishment considering the age and experience of the current squad.
Players as young as 17 have been thrust into the international scene and have been carted around the park when bowling, had their techniques exposed when batting and have been on the end of some huge defeats. That cannot be good for any cricketer, especially a high-school leaver with practically no experience.
The future of cricket in Zimbabwe lies with the young kids in the high density suburbs who want to emulate the success of former captain Tatenda Taibu, batsman Hamilton Masakadza and all-rounder Elton Chigumbura. Established international cricketers who have expressed a desire to return to the Test arena, such as Andy Flower and Heath Streak, could only benefit the local game and add stability to a team whose average age is 21. But time is running out for them as the current administration shows no sign of changing.
The problem is that no-one at the ICC is prepared to get involved. Let’s face it, why should they? Cricket in Zimbabwe is often seen as the past time of privileged, usually white, beneficiaries of private school education. Whilst this is no longer true, it is still a game requiring specialist coaching, expensive equipment and a lot of commitment from the player from a young age. All of this in a country with the lowest life expectancy in the world, 80% unemployment and 1000% inflation? The ICC is not in the business of regime change.
What could the ICC possibly do? Completely ban Zimbabwe from ever playing Test Cricket again? New Zealand took 26 years and 45 matches to win its first test. Zimbabwe took 3 years. Should they revoke their ODI status? No-one is talking about banning Bangladesh based on results are they? Any complete ban would surely kill the game off for good. Mixing sports and politics is recipe for disaster, and while the administrators continue their mismanagement and power struggles, the players are left with the fact that they are considered a walkover by most teams.
VaMangwana vopomemera vanyori mhosva yokutengesa
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
HARARE - Vakambomiririra gurukota rezvekuburitswa kwemashoko, VaPaul Mangwana vanoti zita rehurumende riri kusvibiswa nevatapi mukati menyika nekunze vasina gwara uye vanopiwa twumari nemasangano erubatsiro.
Vachitaura, pamusangano wakaendwa nevatapi vashoma vaibva kumakambani emapepanhau akazvimirira wakaitirwa mukirabhu yevatapi venhau - Quill Club, VaMangwana vakati vatapi venhau vainyanya kuda kunyora zvakaipa nezveZimbabwe.
Vakavayambira kuti kunyora kwavo kwaikanganisa magariro munyika.
"Vatapi venhau vanofurirwa nemakambani emapepanhanu anowana mari kubva kunze kwenyika vachida kuti nyika irambe iri muhapwa menyika dzekumavirira.
Ivo vatapi vakavaudzawo kuti hapana munyori angaenda kunonyora nyaya yemanyepo akasawanikwa aine mhosva, nyanyenyanye nemitemo mitsva yakaiswa nehurumende yokuti anonyora zvemanyepo mumapepanhau anosungwa.
Chokwadi ndechekuti hurumende inozvisheedzera kunyorwa zvakaipa nokuda kwayo kutyora kodzero dzevanhu nekodzero dzavo dzokuva nezvinhu kana mabhizimusi.
Asi VaMangwana vakaramba vachiti: "Hurumende yakagadza Media and Information Commission yaona kuti kuburitswa kwemashoko, seimwe nzira yekubatsira hutongi, hakwaifanirwa kungosiiwa vanhu vachiita zvavanoda.
Sachigaro weCommission yacho, vaTafataona Mahoso, vakabvunzwa kuti vakavharireyi mamwe mapepanhau vakashaya zvokutaura ndokubva vatiza vachibuda mumusangano wacho.
MaZimba Azara kuMozambique nenhamo.
(Desperate Zims flood Mozambique)
MUTARE - Mapepanhau ekuMozambique akaburitsa kuti mhomho dzevanhu vekuZimbabwe dzave kuenda kuMozambique kunotenga mafuta edzimotokari nezvimwe zviri kushaikwa.
MuZimbabwe muri kushaikwa zvinhu uye upfumi hauchina kumira zvakanaka, zvichisanganisira kushaikwa kwemari yekunze.
"Tave kuona maZimba akawanda achiuya kuzotenga mafuta edzimotokari nezvimwewo zviwanikwa nokuda kwekuipa kwaita zvhinhu munyika," vakadaro gavhuna veManica province kuMozambique, VaSoares Nhaca.
Vakati kunyanya kutenga kuri kuita maZimba kwava kutokonzera kushaikwa kwemafuta muManica, asi idambudziko raigadzirika haro.
(Violence corruption mar run-up to elections)
Kurohwa nehuwori zvokanganisa sarudzo
KADOMA - Zvinonzi vanhu vakawanda vekunze vari kunyoreswa kuti vazovhota musarudzo yameya weKadoma, asi mutemo uchiti vagari vemo chete ndivo vanofanirwa kuvhota.
Zvakawonekwa kuti veZanu (PF) vari pasi peKadoma Rural District Council vari kunyoresa kuzovhota musarudzo yemusi waOctober 28.
Meya weZanu (PF) aripo iko zvino, VaFani Phiri, vari kukwikwidzana naVaJonas Ndenda veMovement for Democratioc Change inotungamirwa naVaMorgan Tsvangirai. VaNdenda vaimboshandira minisiparati yeKadoma.
Mumwe ane ruzivo akati vagari vemuKadoma vari kunzi vanyorese kuzopiwa mapurazi munzvimbo dzakatenderedza guta.
Uye kurohwa nekusungwa kwevanhu vanotevera bato rinopikisa reMDC kwakatotanga.– SW Radio Africa
(Govt loses millions as tobacco bartered for fuel)
Hurumende yorasikirwa, fodya ichitengwa nemafuta edzimotokari
HARARE - Hurumende iri kurasikirwa nemari yekunze yakawanda nokuda kwokuti varimi vefodya vave kunotenga mafuta edzimotokari kuSouth Africa vachishandisa fodya yavo iyo yaiwanzotengwa nemari yekunze, hurumende yowana mari yekunze.
Gurukota rehupfumi, VaHerbert Murerwa, vakati hapana zvakadaro zviri kuzobvumirwa kuitika: “Fodya yose inotengwa nevatengi vari mu"A class" rinobhadharwa nemadhora ekuUnited States. Vasina madhora ekuUS vanobatsirwa kutenga neMemorandum of Deposit yavakaisirwa. Vakati gore rino hakuna zvekutengesa fodya murimi achipiwa zvimwe zvinhu.
Vaitaura kuvatengesi vefodya svondo rakapera..
Hurumende yakambobvumira kuti varimi vatengese vachiwana mafuta gore rakapera, asi izvi zvakaonekwa zvichishaisa hurumende mari nokuti hazvaizobuda pachena kuti kutengeserana kwacho kwakafamba sei.
VaJohn Chiweshe, veTobacco Merchants Association, vakati nhengo dzavo dzakange dzisingaiti zvekutengesa vachipiwa mafuta, asi vamwe vazivi vaiti mashefu emuhurumende ndiwo akange achiita izvi.
Children starving, warns UN
(Vana vofa nenzara)
HARARE - Vana vari kufa uye vamwe vachatofa vakawanda kana pakashaikwa rubatsiro nekukurumidza, sangano renyika dzepasi rose rinoona nezvevana (UNICEF) rakataura.
Sangano iri rakaona kuti vana vane makore ari pasi pematanhatu vazhinji vano vanorwara nekushaya chikafu kunyanya mumaguta.
“Vana vari kufa, uye tikasasimudzira mabasa edu avo vasina utano hwakanaka vachatangawo kufa, " vakadaro VaGerry Dyer, mutungamiri wehofisi yeUNICEF iri kuJohannesburg inoona zvekuchamhembe kweAfrica. .
Ongororo yavo yakabata vana 50,000 uye ndiyo ongoro hurasa yati yamboitwa yerudzi urwu, asi haina kutaura kuti vana vakatofa vangani.
Zimbabwe ndiyo yaisimbobatsira dzimwe nyika nechikafu, asi kusanaya zvakanaka kwemvura nekutorerwa minda kwevachena uko kwakaita kuti minda mikuru irare zvayo kana kuti irimwe padikidiki seminda yemumaruzevha, ndiro dambudziko.
Vebato rinopikisa nevemasangano ekodzero vanoti hurumende yavaMugabe iri kushandisa chikafu mukutsvaga mavhoti asi ivo vanhu zviuru vakatarisana nenjodzi yakaomesesa yenzara.
(WOZA in nation-wide talks with villagers)
WOZA yopinda mumaruwa
BULAWAYO - Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) yakapinda muManicaland svondo rakapera kuti inzwe kubva kuvanhu kuti vangade Zimbabwe yakaita sei, zvavanowana imomo zvozopiwa kudare reParamende kuti hurumende izive kutonga kunoda vanhu.
Vanhu paChimanimani vakati vaida hupenyu hwavaiva nahwo kumakore ekuma1980, kwete iko zvino.
“Iko zvino tiri kutadza kuita zvinhu zvataisatombofunga kuti tingatadza kuma1980, kana tisati tatombowana rusununguko, sekushaya chikafu. Iko zvino hupenyu hwedu hwangove hwekutsvagiridza chikafu kuti vana vadye," vakadaro vamwe amai.
Vakati mutemo wokuti mwana anonzi akura kana ave nemakore 18 hausisina basa nokuti vachangoramba vachiriritira kusvika vana vacho vava kutosvitsa makore makumi matatu nokuda kwekushaya mabasa.
Chembere nenherera hapana chadzichawana, idzo mari dzechikoro dzichingokwira pamwe chete nemari dzekunorapwa.
Huori ndechimwe chinhu chikuru chanetsa. “Huori hunogona kubviswa chete kana hwaita zvekudzipurwa padzinde rinova ndiyo hurumende. Vatungamiri vanofanirwa kuteerera zvido zvevanhu, kwete kungovaona pasarudzo chete. Iwo madzishewo apinzwawo muhuori nokuti vave kupiwa mari vachifamba nedzimotokari dzakanaka.
“Huori hwapindiridza zvokuti vanhu votobhadharwa kuita basa ravo ravanga vagara vachibhadharwa, kana mapurisa chaiwo!" akadaro mumwe mugari wekuChimanimani achichema-chemawo zvekare nekusatsarukana kwekupiwa dzimba kwakaitwa vanhu mushure mekunge dzimba dzavo dzaparadzwa paMurambatsvina.
“Kwatopera gore kubva patakapazirwa misika yedu, asi takangomirira zvatakavimbiswa nehurumende kuvakirwa mimwe. Dzimba dzatakavimbiswa dzeOperation Garikai dzakatopihwa vanadzo kare kana mawovheti nevamwe vanozivikanwa neZanu ( PF),” akadaro mumwe mugari.
KwaShinja WOZA yakavawana vanhu vainyatsotaura zvaishamisa kuti vanhu vanoti vagari vekumaruwa havatsoropodzi hurumende, kana kuti vose vanotevera Zanu (PF) kana kuti havaoni. Vaitochemera kodzero yavo yefundo nezvekodzero dzavo uye kuti vasagara vachitongwa nekutyisidzirwa.
Vaitiwo madzishe avo haachina basa sezvo vakachekwa muswe neZanu(pf) uye ivo havachagoni kuriritira vana vavo. Vamwe vaiti dai varimi vemapurazi makuru vadzoka kuti vanhu vawane mabasa. - WOZA
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
HARARE - Vakambomiririra gurukota rezvekuburitswa kwemashoko, VaPaul Mangwana vanoti zita rehurumende riri kusvibiswa nevatapi mukati menyika nekunze vasina gwara uye vanopiwa twumari nemasangano erubatsiro.
Vachitaura, pamusangano wakaendwa nevatapi vashoma vaibva kumakambani emapepanhau akazvimirira wakaitirwa mukirabhu yevatapi venhau - Quill Club, VaMangwana vakati vatapi venhau vainyanya kuda kunyora zvakaipa nezveZimbabwe.
Vakavayambira kuti kunyora kwavo kwaikanganisa magariro munyika.
"Vatapi venhau vanofurirwa nemakambani emapepanhanu anowana mari kubva kunze kwenyika vachida kuti nyika irambe iri muhapwa menyika dzekumavirira.
Ivo vatapi vakavaudzawo kuti hapana munyori angaenda kunonyora nyaya yemanyepo akasawanikwa aine mhosva, nyanyenyanye nemitemo mitsva yakaiswa nehurumende yokuti anonyora zvemanyepo mumapepanhau anosungwa.
Chokwadi ndechekuti hurumende inozvisheedzera kunyorwa zvakaipa nokuda kwayo kutyora kodzero dzevanhu nekodzero dzavo dzokuva nezvinhu kana mabhizimusi.
Asi VaMangwana vakaramba vachiti: "Hurumende yakagadza Media and Information Commission yaona kuti kuburitswa kwemashoko, seimwe nzira yekubatsira hutongi, hakwaifanirwa kungosiiwa vanhu vachiita zvavanoda.
Sachigaro weCommission yacho, vaTafataona Mahoso, vakabvunzwa kuti vakavharireyi mamwe mapepanhau vakashaya zvokutaura ndokubva vatiza vachibuda mumusangano wacho.
MaZimba Azara kuMozambique nenhamo.
(Desperate Zims flood Mozambique)
MUTARE - Mapepanhau ekuMozambique akaburitsa kuti mhomho dzevanhu vekuZimbabwe dzave kuenda kuMozambique kunotenga mafuta edzimotokari nezvimwe zviri kushaikwa.
MuZimbabwe muri kushaikwa zvinhu uye upfumi hauchina kumira zvakanaka, zvichisanganisira kushaikwa kwemari yekunze.
"Tave kuona maZimba akawanda achiuya kuzotenga mafuta edzimotokari nezvimwewo zviwanikwa nokuda kwekuipa kwaita zvhinhu munyika," vakadaro gavhuna veManica province kuMozambique, VaSoares Nhaca.
Vakati kunyanya kutenga kuri kuita maZimba kwava kutokonzera kushaikwa kwemafuta muManica, asi idambudziko raigadzirika haro.
(Violence corruption mar run-up to elections)
Kurohwa nehuwori zvokanganisa sarudzo
KADOMA - Zvinonzi vanhu vakawanda vekunze vari kunyoreswa kuti vazovhota musarudzo yameya weKadoma, asi mutemo uchiti vagari vemo chete ndivo vanofanirwa kuvhota.
Zvakawonekwa kuti veZanu (PF) vari pasi peKadoma Rural District Council vari kunyoresa kuzovhota musarudzo yemusi waOctober 28.
Meya weZanu (PF) aripo iko zvino, VaFani Phiri, vari kukwikwidzana naVaJonas Ndenda veMovement for Democratioc Change inotungamirwa naVaMorgan Tsvangirai. VaNdenda vaimboshandira minisiparati yeKadoma.
Mumwe ane ruzivo akati vagari vemuKadoma vari kunzi vanyorese kuzopiwa mapurazi munzvimbo dzakatenderedza guta.
Uye kurohwa nekusungwa kwevanhu vanotevera bato rinopikisa reMDC kwakatotanga.– SW Radio Africa
(Govt loses millions as tobacco bartered for fuel)
Hurumende yorasikirwa, fodya ichitengwa nemafuta edzimotokari
HARARE - Hurumende iri kurasikirwa nemari yekunze yakawanda nokuda kwokuti varimi vefodya vave kunotenga mafuta edzimotokari kuSouth Africa vachishandisa fodya yavo iyo yaiwanzotengwa nemari yekunze, hurumende yowana mari yekunze.
Gurukota rehupfumi, VaHerbert Murerwa, vakati hapana zvakadaro zviri kuzobvumirwa kuitika: “Fodya yose inotengwa nevatengi vari mu"A class" rinobhadharwa nemadhora ekuUnited States. Vasina madhora ekuUS vanobatsirwa kutenga neMemorandum of Deposit yavakaisirwa. Vakati gore rino hakuna zvekutengesa fodya murimi achipiwa zvimwe zvinhu.
Vaitaura kuvatengesi vefodya svondo rakapera..
Hurumende yakambobvumira kuti varimi vatengese vachiwana mafuta gore rakapera, asi izvi zvakaonekwa zvichishaisa hurumende mari nokuti hazvaizobuda pachena kuti kutengeserana kwacho kwakafamba sei.
VaJohn Chiweshe, veTobacco Merchants Association, vakati nhengo dzavo dzakange dzisingaiti zvekutengesa vachipiwa mafuta, asi vamwe vazivi vaiti mashefu emuhurumende ndiwo akange achiita izvi.
Children starving, warns UN
(Vana vofa nenzara)
HARARE - Vana vari kufa uye vamwe vachatofa vakawanda kana pakashaikwa rubatsiro nekukurumidza, sangano renyika dzepasi rose rinoona nezvevana (UNICEF) rakataura.
Sangano iri rakaona kuti vana vane makore ari pasi pematanhatu vazhinji vano vanorwara nekushaya chikafu kunyanya mumaguta.
“Vana vari kufa, uye tikasasimudzira mabasa edu avo vasina utano hwakanaka vachatangawo kufa, " vakadaro VaGerry Dyer, mutungamiri wehofisi yeUNICEF iri kuJohannesburg inoona zvekuchamhembe kweAfrica. .
Ongororo yavo yakabata vana 50,000 uye ndiyo ongoro hurasa yati yamboitwa yerudzi urwu, asi haina kutaura kuti vana vakatofa vangani.
Zimbabwe ndiyo yaisimbobatsira dzimwe nyika nechikafu, asi kusanaya zvakanaka kwemvura nekutorerwa minda kwevachena uko kwakaita kuti minda mikuru irare zvayo kana kuti irimwe padikidiki seminda yemumaruzevha, ndiro dambudziko.
Vebato rinopikisa nevemasangano ekodzero vanoti hurumende yavaMugabe iri kushandisa chikafu mukutsvaga mavhoti asi ivo vanhu zviuru vakatarisana nenjodzi yakaomesesa yenzara.
(WOZA in nation-wide talks with villagers)
WOZA yopinda mumaruwa
BULAWAYO - Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) yakapinda muManicaland svondo rakapera kuti inzwe kubva kuvanhu kuti vangade Zimbabwe yakaita sei, zvavanowana imomo zvozopiwa kudare reParamende kuti hurumende izive kutonga kunoda vanhu.
Vanhu paChimanimani vakati vaida hupenyu hwavaiva nahwo kumakore ekuma1980, kwete iko zvino.
“Iko zvino tiri kutadza kuita zvinhu zvataisatombofunga kuti tingatadza kuma1980, kana tisati tatombowana rusununguko, sekushaya chikafu. Iko zvino hupenyu hwedu hwangove hwekutsvagiridza chikafu kuti vana vadye," vakadaro vamwe amai.
Vakati mutemo wokuti mwana anonzi akura kana ave nemakore 18 hausisina basa nokuti vachangoramba vachiriritira kusvika vana vacho vava kutosvitsa makore makumi matatu nokuda kwekushaya mabasa.
Chembere nenherera hapana chadzichawana, idzo mari dzechikoro dzichingokwira pamwe chete nemari dzekunorapwa.
Huori ndechimwe chinhu chikuru chanetsa. “Huori hunogona kubviswa chete kana hwaita zvekudzipurwa padzinde rinova ndiyo hurumende. Vatungamiri vanofanirwa kuteerera zvido zvevanhu, kwete kungovaona pasarudzo chete. Iwo madzishewo apinzwawo muhuori nokuti vave kupiwa mari vachifamba nedzimotokari dzakanaka.
“Huori hwapindiridza zvokuti vanhu votobhadharwa kuita basa ravo ravanga vagara vachibhadharwa, kana mapurisa chaiwo!" akadaro mumwe mugari wekuChimanimani achichema-chemawo zvekare nekusatsarukana kwekupiwa dzimba kwakaitwa vanhu mushure mekunge dzimba dzavo dzaparadzwa paMurambatsvina.
“Kwatopera gore kubva patakapazirwa misika yedu, asi takangomirira zvatakavimbiswa nehurumende kuvakirwa mimwe. Dzimba dzatakavimbiswa dzeOperation Garikai dzakatopihwa vanadzo kare kana mawovheti nevamwe vanozivikanwa neZanu ( PF),” akadaro mumwe mugari.
KwaShinja WOZA yakavawana vanhu vainyatsotaura zvaishamisa kuti vanhu vanoti vagari vekumaruwa havatsoropodzi hurumende, kana kuti vose vanotevera Zanu (PF) kana kuti havaoni. Vaitochemera kodzero yavo yefundo nezvekodzero dzavo uye kuti vasagara vachitongwa nekutyisidzirwa.
Vaitiwo madzishe avo haachina basa sezvo vakachekwa muswe neZanu(pf) uye ivo havachagoni kuriritira vana vavo. Vamwe vaiti dai varimi vemapurazi makuru vadzoka kuti vanhu vawane mabasa. - WOZA
SA labour body to show Mbeki ZCTU torture video
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
SA labour body to show Mbeki ZCTU torture video
BY VIOLET GONDA
JOHANNESBURG Recent video footage showing last month’s brutalisation of labour leaders by the police has sent shock waves around the world. The footage which was shown recently on BBC 2’s Newsnight programme in the UK was also released in South Africa this week by the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA). Leader of the federation Mary Malete is reported to have said she would use the footage to urge President Thabo Mbeki to break his silence on Zimbabwe after giving him the film.
Analysts say the planned demonstrations by the ZCTU might have failed to take of but succeeded in exposing the large-scale repression in Zimbabwe. The labour movement was demonstrating for a better standard of living and working conditions.
Meanwhile Pat Craven the spokesperson of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said his trade union is in full support of this initiative and will also be sharing the video around for South Africans to see the extent of the crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
He said; “It is absolutely shocking to see the way in which the police attacked a group of peaceful trade union demonstrators who were trying to organise a march on issues of unemployment and poverty. We had already heard many reports (of the beatings) but seeing it on video really brought home the appalling brutality of the Mugabe regime.”
Craven said what was worse was Mugabe’s statements after he returned to Zimbabwe where he said the labour leaders deserved everything they got for demonstrating against his policies. “And so I hope this will bring to the attention of the world the serious attack on basic trade union rights which is being perpetrated by the government of Zimbabwe.” – SW Radio Africa
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
SA labour body to show Mbeki ZCTU torture video
BY VIOLET GONDA
JOHANNESBURG Recent video footage showing last month’s brutalisation of labour leaders by the police has sent shock waves around the world. The footage which was shown recently on BBC 2’s Newsnight programme in the UK was also released in South Africa this week by the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA). Leader of the federation Mary Malete is reported to have said she would use the footage to urge President Thabo Mbeki to break his silence on Zimbabwe after giving him the film.
Analysts say the planned demonstrations by the ZCTU might have failed to take of but succeeded in exposing the large-scale repression in Zimbabwe. The labour movement was demonstrating for a better standard of living and working conditions.
Meanwhile Pat Craven the spokesperson of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said his trade union is in full support of this initiative and will also be sharing the video around for South Africans to see the extent of the crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
He said; “It is absolutely shocking to see the way in which the police attacked a group of peaceful trade union demonstrators who were trying to organise a march on issues of unemployment and poverty. We had already heard many reports (of the beatings) but seeing it on video really brought home the appalling brutality of the Mugabe regime.”
Craven said what was worse was Mugabe’s statements after he returned to Zimbabwe where he said the labour leaders deserved everything they got for demonstrating against his policies. “And so I hope this will bring to the attention of the world the serious attack on basic trade union rights which is being perpetrated by the government of Zimbabwe.” – SW Radio Africa
Industry grinds to a halt
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY EDDIE CROSS
I went into a tyre dealer this week to have the front wheel alignment on
a truck checked. The staff were all sitting in the reception, the manager on
the forecourt and not a customer in sight. I was attended to and in 30
minutes was able to drive out with a much-improved steering performance on
the 8 tonne truck.
The Manager said to me: “We are so quiet that we wonder how much longer we
can carry on like this.” The city certainly was quiet – very little traffic
and I did not have to wait or queue anywhere. Great for me – not so great
for the business managers I was dealing with.
Yesterday, after leaving Hwange once the game count was over, we travelled
north to meet MDC leaders in the town of Hwange. This town is a large
rambling place, typical of company towns all over the world. Two geologists
working for Cecil Rhodes first pegged coal here in the late 1800’s. It has
three main reasons for being – the coal mines themselves, a large 840
megawatt coal fired power station built before Independence in 1980 and some
ovens used to produce coke and asphalt for the roads.
As we arrived and climbed the hill overlooking the mines and the power
station I immediately noticed that the power station was not working. No
smoke or steam from the stacks and the cooling towers. At the meeting I
asked a senior official what was happening? He told me the conveyor for coal to the power plant is broken down and they did not have sufficient equipment to keep the plant supplied by other means.
Now that is a disaster – to stop a coal-fired power station is an expensive
and wasteful exercise. They are designed to run continuously for long
periods, shut down only for major servicing and repairs. We also only have
the two main stations – Hwange and Kariba and these together are required to
supply the major part of our national requirements of about 2000 megawatts.
Take out the Hwange station and we are left with less than half our needs
even if Kariba is running at full capacity.
It goes beyond this of course. The mine has been unable to supply more than
a fraction of national demand for some time and a common sight is the large numbers of 30 tonne carriers standing waiting – sometimes for weeks – to be loaded. The coal crisis is so bad in fact that some large consumers are importing coal from South Africa. The coke ovens – a wonderful, simple and profitable business are also not functioning. They need major refurbishment and relining.
Then there is the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company. A plant built in the
midlands to process local iron ore into steel at the rate of about 100 000
tonnes of finished product a month. The equipment is state-of-the-art and
comparatively new. The South African Iron and Steel Corporation has been
eyeing this huge investment for years – they say it would fit in with their
own plants well and could be highly profitable. Indian steel magnates agree and some months ago a major Indian steel company was persuaded to take up a management contract at the plant.
They were promised the full cooperation of the State, although the people
negotiating the deal never discussed it with the Board or management. The
Indian team arrived with facilities for up to US$400 million in new
financing. They took up residence but within weeks they knew it could never
work. How do you run a plant like this in the middle of Africa with a
defunct railway system and no coal? After a futile visit to Hwange, the CEO
of the plant left the country with his money and has not come back. I can
understand why.
What astonishes me even more is that those responsible for this state of
affairs seem to be incapable of dealing with these situations in any sort of
coherent way. It does not take a rocket scientist to run these businesses.
They are relatively straightforward large-scale operations that require
sound management and maintenance. The skills are there – the money has been
invested and is available to turn these operations around. Those responsible
are just incapable of doing what needs to be done.
This year will be the last year of operation for the massive tobacco
processing plants in Harare – next year’s crop at about 20 000 tonnes or 10
per cent of the recent past, is just too small to warrant keeping the plants
in being. There may be some rationale for bringing in tobacco from the
region to process in Harare but the pressure is going to be there to move
the capacity to other countries – countries where a more rational business
environment exists.
Unilever is downsizing in Zimbabwe, Heinz is struggling to maintain their
investment. National Foods is down sizing after trying to hold their
operations together for some years. Most other firms are running on 30 per
cent of capacity – hoping for better days.
My own bakery is a small operation but it is closed at present – not for
price control reasons but because I do not have any flour. Today in Bulawayo
bread was very scarce and the larger supermarkets were selling “fancy”
loaves for Z$350 – substantially above the controlled price for the larger
conventional 700 gram loaf of Z$295. In my view this price is extortionate –
but that is what you get when you cannot keep the shelves full.
Fuel is selling at Z$1300 to Z$1400 a litre in Bulawayo and Harare and is in
short supply. People are bewildered by the prices and the shrinking value of
the money in their pockets. Customers in my own supermarket throw away the
smaller denomination notes as not worth carrying. The Z$1000 note has become
the most common note traded. Remember, that is a million in the old
currency!
Silent factories, empty streets, frustrated and scared shoppers. Where will
this all end? We now know that it will not end until Mugabe can be
persuaded that he has failed and must step aside for new leadership. Only
when that happens can we expect things to begin to improve. What a sad
situation where the man who once was the hope of a brighter future for all
Zimbabweans, is now a failed leader who is the main impediment to change and
recovery.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
BY EDDIE CROSS
I went into a tyre dealer this week to have the front wheel alignment on
a truck checked. The staff were all sitting in the reception, the manager on
the forecourt and not a customer in sight. I was attended to and in 30
minutes was able to drive out with a much-improved steering performance on
the 8 tonne truck.
The Manager said to me: “We are so quiet that we wonder how much longer we
can carry on like this.” The city certainly was quiet – very little traffic
and I did not have to wait or queue anywhere. Great for me – not so great
for the business managers I was dealing with.
Yesterday, after leaving Hwange once the game count was over, we travelled
north to meet MDC leaders in the town of Hwange. This town is a large
rambling place, typical of company towns all over the world. Two geologists
working for Cecil Rhodes first pegged coal here in the late 1800’s. It has
three main reasons for being – the coal mines themselves, a large 840
megawatt coal fired power station built before Independence in 1980 and some
ovens used to produce coke and asphalt for the roads.
As we arrived and climbed the hill overlooking the mines and the power
station I immediately noticed that the power station was not working. No
smoke or steam from the stacks and the cooling towers. At the meeting I
asked a senior official what was happening? He told me the conveyor for coal to the power plant is broken down and they did not have sufficient equipment to keep the plant supplied by other means.
Now that is a disaster – to stop a coal-fired power station is an expensive
and wasteful exercise. They are designed to run continuously for long
periods, shut down only for major servicing and repairs. We also only have
the two main stations – Hwange and Kariba and these together are required to
supply the major part of our national requirements of about 2000 megawatts.
Take out the Hwange station and we are left with less than half our needs
even if Kariba is running at full capacity.
It goes beyond this of course. The mine has been unable to supply more than
a fraction of national demand for some time and a common sight is the large numbers of 30 tonne carriers standing waiting – sometimes for weeks – to be loaded. The coal crisis is so bad in fact that some large consumers are importing coal from South Africa. The coke ovens – a wonderful, simple and profitable business are also not functioning. They need major refurbishment and relining.
Then there is the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company. A plant built in the
midlands to process local iron ore into steel at the rate of about 100 000
tonnes of finished product a month. The equipment is state-of-the-art and
comparatively new. The South African Iron and Steel Corporation has been
eyeing this huge investment for years – they say it would fit in with their
own plants well and could be highly profitable. Indian steel magnates agree and some months ago a major Indian steel company was persuaded to take up a management contract at the plant.
They were promised the full cooperation of the State, although the people
negotiating the deal never discussed it with the Board or management. The
Indian team arrived with facilities for up to US$400 million in new
financing. They took up residence but within weeks they knew it could never
work. How do you run a plant like this in the middle of Africa with a
defunct railway system and no coal? After a futile visit to Hwange, the CEO
of the plant left the country with his money and has not come back. I can
understand why.
What astonishes me even more is that those responsible for this state of
affairs seem to be incapable of dealing with these situations in any sort of
coherent way. It does not take a rocket scientist to run these businesses.
They are relatively straightforward large-scale operations that require
sound management and maintenance. The skills are there – the money has been
invested and is available to turn these operations around. Those responsible
are just incapable of doing what needs to be done.
This year will be the last year of operation for the massive tobacco
processing plants in Harare – next year’s crop at about 20 000 tonnes or 10
per cent of the recent past, is just too small to warrant keeping the plants
in being. There may be some rationale for bringing in tobacco from the
region to process in Harare but the pressure is going to be there to move
the capacity to other countries – countries where a more rational business
environment exists.
Unilever is downsizing in Zimbabwe, Heinz is struggling to maintain their
investment. National Foods is down sizing after trying to hold their
operations together for some years. Most other firms are running on 30 per
cent of capacity – hoping for better days.
My own bakery is a small operation but it is closed at present – not for
price control reasons but because I do not have any flour. Today in Bulawayo
bread was very scarce and the larger supermarkets were selling “fancy”
loaves for Z$350 – substantially above the controlled price for the larger
conventional 700 gram loaf of Z$295. In my view this price is extortionate –
but that is what you get when you cannot keep the shelves full.
Fuel is selling at Z$1300 to Z$1400 a litre in Bulawayo and Harare and is in
short supply. People are bewildered by the prices and the shrinking value of
the money in their pockets. Customers in my own supermarket throw away the
smaller denomination notes as not worth carrying. The Z$1000 note has become
the most common note traded. Remember, that is a million in the old
currency!
Silent factories, empty streets, frustrated and scared shoppers. Where will
this all end? We now know that it will not end until Mugabe can be
persuaded that he has failed and must step aside for new leadership. Only
when that happens can we expect things to begin to improve. What a sad
situation where the man who once was the hope of a brighter future for all
Zimbabweans, is now a failed leader who is the main impediment to change and
recovery.
Residents power on the way in Harare
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Harare residents have always resisted perceived or actual aggression by the regime’s Ignatius Chombo and the puppet commission running the affairs of Harare. They raise their voices at the slightest provocation and yet they take their time to respond as a collective grouping.
That is certainly changing as residents now take seriously the issues raised by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA). The frequency of visitors to the association’s Daventry House offices and the volumes of residents’ reports/ enquiries that we receive confirm the relevance of CHRA in this struggle for our freedom as Harare citizens.
Our membership has risen from 3 000 in January 2006 to around 10 000 fully paid up members.
Members have proved themselves capable of staging well-coordinated, peaceful demonstrations. They ferry flowing sewerage and uncollected garbage to dump it at local District Offices.
Their determination and commitment is unparalleled. They have initiated grassroots mobilisation campaigns around the pertinent subjects of service delivery, health, the billing system of the municipality and the water supply and administration.
The objective now is to starve the illegal commission of the resources to finance its extravagance and restore the resident to his/ her rightful position in determining how the city’s 2007 budget is drafted, approved and implemented.
Public meetings have provided us with the platform to share our experiences. Residents have emerged stronger from the traumatic experiences of the past two years under the illegal commission. They foresee the end of tyranny. An opportunity to rebuild the city is imminent with elected representatives of the people, the councilors and a mayor.
They have only themselves to blame if they fail to capitalize on the administration gap that exists due to the absence of an elected council. That space is by right, up for occupation by residents through active participation in monitoring service provision by the municipality, input into the 2007 City budget, and pushing for municipal and council elections.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Harare residents have always resisted perceived or actual aggression by the regime’s Ignatius Chombo and the puppet commission running the affairs of Harare. They raise their voices at the slightest provocation and yet they take their time to respond as a collective grouping.
That is certainly changing as residents now take seriously the issues raised by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA). The frequency of visitors to the association’s Daventry House offices and the volumes of residents’ reports/ enquiries that we receive confirm the relevance of CHRA in this struggle for our freedom as Harare citizens.
Our membership has risen from 3 000 in January 2006 to around 10 000 fully paid up members.
Members have proved themselves capable of staging well-coordinated, peaceful demonstrations. They ferry flowing sewerage and uncollected garbage to dump it at local District Offices.
Their determination and commitment is unparalleled. They have initiated grassroots mobilisation campaigns around the pertinent subjects of service delivery, health, the billing system of the municipality and the water supply and administration.
The objective now is to starve the illegal commission of the resources to finance its extravagance and restore the resident to his/ her rightful position in determining how the city’s 2007 budget is drafted, approved and implemented.
Public meetings have provided us with the platform to share our experiences. Residents have emerged stronger from the traumatic experiences of the past two years under the illegal commission. They foresee the end of tyranny. An opportunity to rebuild the city is imminent with elected representatives of the people, the councilors and a mayor.
They have only themselves to blame if they fail to capitalize on the administration gap that exists due to the absence of an elected council. That space is by right, up for occupation by residents through active participation in monitoring service provision by the municipality, input into the 2007 City budget, and pushing for municipal and council elections.
OUT OF AFRICA, OUT OF ZIMBABWE Part 2
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OUT OF AFRICA, OUT OF ZIMBABWE
Part two A Sad Farewell
BY MIKE ROOK
The morning of March 18 was cold, with a thick grey cloud cover overhead. A chilly wind blew in through the airport terminal entrances and exits. Father and teenage son had arrived at Gatwick United Kingdom from Harare Zimbabwe.
We had, like millions of other Zimbabweans, been forced out of our beloved country to get a life and rediscover a future. We had left behind worthless money, almost zero employment opportunities, scarce and unaffordable commodities and services, and a shattered economy in free fall.
We had also left behind a citizenry in despair. Many felt betrayed, not only by their leaders and by Britain and the European Union, but also by their brothers and sisters in the African Union.
The previous day our Air Zimbabwe evening flight from Harare had left very late as the authorities searched the highways and byways for enough aviation fuel to fly to London.
Harare airport had seemed strangely quiet and subdued, almost in a state of mourning, reflecting perhaps the general feeling pervading the nation.
We had struggled to lift our cases on to the baggage scales and they were most definitely overweight. Not surprisingly, as my son and I were endeavouring to take with us as much clothing as we could pack.
Even though we carried some millions of dollars to pay for excess baggage it was not enough. The asking price was tens of millions for those extra kilos, and there was no option except to dig into our suitcases and shed some of our much-needed clothes and footwear. A dreadful setback.
Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank had no foreign currency to issue: therefore we were given no choice but to arrive destitute into the United Kingdom. Lack of finance would make the items left behind impossible to replace in the foreseeable future.
We passed through immigration and customs control without incident. I had always tried to play by the rules in a country that by its very nature made criminals of everyone. Now as I was saying goodbye was not the time to falter.
After clearing immigration and customs we wandered through the duty fee shop. We were almost alone except for one or two fellow travellers grabbing bottles of liquor that hadn’t been seen on the local supermarket or bottle store shelves for years.
We had paper worth a few hundred thousand left over and sensibly decided to buy chocolate. This was because after partaking of dinner and breakfast on the flight we had no idea when we might eat again.
My son did treat himself to a lucky charm bracelet reminding him of home. Walking onwards to the airport’s inner sanctum we sat patiently waiting to be called on board.
I wondered how many others booked on to the flight were also saying a final goodbye to their motherland.
If not leaving for good, it’s a safe bet to say that many were certainly visiting loved ones already exiled and settled on the far side of the planet.
Juice to feed the planes engines had finally been located and we were on our way. I am not ashamed to say that as the big jet lifted off Zimbabwean soil and started its climb over the outskirts of Harare, there were tears rolling down my cheeks.
My son’s tears had come much earlier, just before leaving the public area of the airport. Unlike me he had been born in Zimbabwe, and had never before left his native Africa.
The National Airline epitomises the friendliness and the hospitality of the average Zimbabwean. Upgraded to Business Class we left in style. Our arrival was to be a traumatic contrast.
As we descended into Gatwick Airport I peered out the cabin window only to see thick clouds scudding by. The plane has almost landed before visual contact was made with the runway. After taxiing to the terminal and being connected to another tube we were soon alighting from our cosy and comfortable transportation, but not before my son and I had exchanged handshakes and smiles with the cabin crew.
I remember a definite foreboding as I realised that the umbilical cord connecting us to home had been finally severed. I stared in awe as, standing on a moving walkway overlooking the airport apron, I saw dozens of parked aircraft from airlines I never knew existed.
Trolley at the ready we collected our worldly belongings and once again passed through immigration and customs with truly nothing to declare. Suddenly we were in the public domain and alone in the maddening crowd.
The information desk had seen it all before. Victims of civil wars and misrule from Africa, from Asia, from Eastern Europe, and from all corners of the earth. All were familiar visitors at United Kingdom airports.
I knew we were in for a rough ride ahead, but for my son it all seemed an amazing adventure. I salute his courage, tenacity, optimism, and most of all his invaluable support.
With him by my side failure was not an option.
We are now housed, my son is attending an excellent college, and I have a small but regular income At age 65 later this year, time is not on my side, but for my son the world is his oyster. That for me makes it all worthwhile.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
OUT OF AFRICA, OUT OF ZIMBABWE
Part two A Sad Farewell
BY MIKE ROOK
The morning of March 18 was cold, with a thick grey cloud cover overhead. A chilly wind blew in through the airport terminal entrances and exits. Father and teenage son had arrived at Gatwick United Kingdom from Harare Zimbabwe.
We had, like millions of other Zimbabweans, been forced out of our beloved country to get a life and rediscover a future. We had left behind worthless money, almost zero employment opportunities, scarce and unaffordable commodities and services, and a shattered economy in free fall.
We had also left behind a citizenry in despair. Many felt betrayed, not only by their leaders and by Britain and the European Union, but also by their brothers and sisters in the African Union.
The previous day our Air Zimbabwe evening flight from Harare had left very late as the authorities searched the highways and byways for enough aviation fuel to fly to London.
Harare airport had seemed strangely quiet and subdued, almost in a state of mourning, reflecting perhaps the general feeling pervading the nation.
We had struggled to lift our cases on to the baggage scales and they were most definitely overweight. Not surprisingly, as my son and I were endeavouring to take with us as much clothing as we could pack.
Even though we carried some millions of dollars to pay for excess baggage it was not enough. The asking price was tens of millions for those extra kilos, and there was no option except to dig into our suitcases and shed some of our much-needed clothes and footwear. A dreadful setback.
Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank had no foreign currency to issue: therefore we were given no choice but to arrive destitute into the United Kingdom. Lack of finance would make the items left behind impossible to replace in the foreseeable future.
We passed through immigration and customs control without incident. I had always tried to play by the rules in a country that by its very nature made criminals of everyone. Now as I was saying goodbye was not the time to falter.
After clearing immigration and customs we wandered through the duty fee shop. We were almost alone except for one or two fellow travellers grabbing bottles of liquor that hadn’t been seen on the local supermarket or bottle store shelves for years.
We had paper worth a few hundred thousand left over and sensibly decided to buy chocolate. This was because after partaking of dinner and breakfast on the flight we had no idea when we might eat again.
My son did treat himself to a lucky charm bracelet reminding him of home. Walking onwards to the airport’s inner sanctum we sat patiently waiting to be called on board.
I wondered how many others booked on to the flight were also saying a final goodbye to their motherland.
If not leaving for good, it’s a safe bet to say that many were certainly visiting loved ones already exiled and settled on the far side of the planet.
Juice to feed the planes engines had finally been located and we were on our way. I am not ashamed to say that as the big jet lifted off Zimbabwean soil and started its climb over the outskirts of Harare, there were tears rolling down my cheeks.
My son’s tears had come much earlier, just before leaving the public area of the airport. Unlike me he had been born in Zimbabwe, and had never before left his native Africa.
The National Airline epitomises the friendliness and the hospitality of the average Zimbabwean. Upgraded to Business Class we left in style. Our arrival was to be a traumatic contrast.
As we descended into Gatwick Airport I peered out the cabin window only to see thick clouds scudding by. The plane has almost landed before visual contact was made with the runway. After taxiing to the terminal and being connected to another tube we were soon alighting from our cosy and comfortable transportation, but not before my son and I had exchanged handshakes and smiles with the cabin crew.
I remember a definite foreboding as I realised that the umbilical cord connecting us to home had been finally severed. I stared in awe as, standing on a moving walkway overlooking the airport apron, I saw dozens of parked aircraft from airlines I never knew existed.
Trolley at the ready we collected our worldly belongings and once again passed through immigration and customs with truly nothing to declare. Suddenly we were in the public domain and alone in the maddening crowd.
The information desk had seen it all before. Victims of civil wars and misrule from Africa, from Asia, from Eastern Europe, and from all corners of the earth. All were familiar visitors at United Kingdom airports.
I knew we were in for a rough ride ahead, but for my son it all seemed an amazing adventure. I salute his courage, tenacity, optimism, and most of all his invaluable support.
With him by my side failure was not an option.
We are now housed, my son is attending an excellent college, and I have a small but regular income At age 65 later this year, time is not on my side, but for my son the world is his oyster. That for me makes it all worthwhile.
Martha and Mary
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General: 07714736382
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I recently saw a film about the last days of Hitler. The dictator is in his bunker below Berlin moving imaginary armies around a map in a final effort to save Germany from defeat. The camera moves to the faces of the generals who surround the table and shows their total disbelief. When one of them tries to tell the leader ‘there are no armies left,’ Hitler shouts and rants at them. Gideon Gono is no Hitler but he is good at ceaseless activity, which does everything except actually face the reality. On the same day as The Herald covered its front page with his latest moves there was a report in another paper reminding us that the World Bank considers our economic crisis ‘ the worst in the world outside a war zone.’
A small group of people last week invited Archbishop Pius Ncube to talk to them about what the Church could do in Zimbabwe to help resolve the crisis. What was striking was his total honesty in the face of the situation. He simply said, ‘we don’t know what to do.’ In different ways he repeated the same message: there is no leadership, the ‘opposition’ is infiltrated and divided. We don’t know what to do. You come to a meeting hoping for some inspiration and you go away empty and desolate. But at least it is the truth.
Filling our news pages and screens with activity to create a sense of measures taken to solve our problems is like treating people suffering from HIV and AIDS with Panodol. We are seen to be doing something but we are avoiding the real issue. There is a story at the end of the tenth chapter of Luke’s gospel in which Jesus calls on some friends. They are two sisters and one of them gets busy preparing a meal, as any mother would do when a guest arrives. But she has a sister who is content to just sit by Jesus and listen to him. The busy sister complains but Jesus chides her gently and says, ‘no, your sister here has chosen the right thing to do.’
We have pondered the story of Martha and Mary for two thousand years and still can’t quite get inside it. We know Jesus is not condemning the work of Martha but he is saying that beyond work, beyond ceaseless activity, there is something more essential. And what is that? I cannot give a complete answer but it has to do with being quiet sometimes. It has to do with allowing reality to penetrate within me, listening to the cries of those who are suffering, attending to the heart of God who longs to heal his world but cannot do so unless invited.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
I recently saw a film about the last days of Hitler. The dictator is in his bunker below Berlin moving imaginary armies around a map in a final effort to save Germany from defeat. The camera moves to the faces of the generals who surround the table and shows their total disbelief. When one of them tries to tell the leader ‘there are no armies left,’ Hitler shouts and rants at them. Gideon Gono is no Hitler but he is good at ceaseless activity, which does everything except actually face the reality. On the same day as The Herald covered its front page with his latest moves there was a report in another paper reminding us that the World Bank considers our economic crisis ‘ the worst in the world outside a war zone.’
A small group of people last week invited Archbishop Pius Ncube to talk to them about what the Church could do in Zimbabwe to help resolve the crisis. What was striking was his total honesty in the face of the situation. He simply said, ‘we don’t know what to do.’ In different ways he repeated the same message: there is no leadership, the ‘opposition’ is infiltrated and divided. We don’t know what to do. You come to a meeting hoping for some inspiration and you go away empty and desolate. But at least it is the truth.
Filling our news pages and screens with activity to create a sense of measures taken to solve our problems is like treating people suffering from HIV and AIDS with Panodol. We are seen to be doing something but we are avoiding the real issue. There is a story at the end of the tenth chapter of Luke’s gospel in which Jesus calls on some friends. They are two sisters and one of them gets busy preparing a meal, as any mother would do when a guest arrives. But she has a sister who is content to just sit by Jesus and listen to him. The busy sister complains but Jesus chides her gently and says, ‘no, your sister here has chosen the right thing to do.’
We have pondered the story of Martha and Mary for two thousand years and still can’t quite get inside it. We know Jesus is not condemning the work of Martha but he is saying that beyond work, beyond ceaseless activity, there is something more essential. And what is that? I cannot give a complete answer but it has to do with being quiet sometimes. It has to do with allowing reality to penetrate within me, listening to the cries of those who are suffering, attending to the heart of God who longs to heal his world but cannot do so unless invited.
News roundup
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All is well Mujuru tells tourists
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joice Mujuru last week stepped up efforts to rebuild the country’s battered tourism sector by telling hundreds of visiting tourists that all was now well in the troubled sector.
Mujuru blamed negative media surrounding the country’s land reforms for the collapse of the tourism sector over the past six years.
“Our land reform programme is now part of our history . . . I am happy to say that the issue has now been taken to its logical conclusion. May I therefore reassure our visitors from all the four corners of the world that you are welcome, you are safe, you are secure and you are free to move around in Zimbabwe,” she said.
But Mujuru’s reassurances come amid reports of continuing chaos on commercial farms around the country with fresh evictions having been reported in Manicaland and Mashonaland provinces only last month.
Zimbabwe’s tourism sector, which was the third biggest foreign currency earner before 2000, has been in the doldrums over the past six years after tourists shunned the country because of violence most critics blame on ruling party supporters. - ZimOnline
Water crisis threatens health
HARARE – A local group which works with communities to promote basic health
care on Friday warned that Harare was facing a serious outbreak of water
borne diseases due to a water crisis.
The executive director of the Community Working Group on Health, Itai
Rusike, warned that the city faced a serious outbreak of cholera, dysentery
and scabies if the current water crisis was not resolved immediately.
“When people drink dirty water from sewage-drenched streams, when toilets
don’t flush and when people don’t bath regularly, it’s a recipe for disease
outbreak,” said Rusike.
The CWGH is a coalition of 35 non-governmental organisations that deal with
health matters in Zimbabwe. The group works with communities in the
promotion of basic health care around the country.
Residents in the poor eastern suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara, for example,
say they have gone for months on end without running water resulting in most
of them fetching water from unprotected wells.
Earlier this year, five people died of cholera in Budiriro suburb in Harare.
Cholera is a water-borne disease that thrives in unhygienic conditions.
Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa’s deputy, Edwin Muguti, conceded that Harare was facing a health time bomb but added that water provision was the sole responsibility of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and the Harare city council. – ZimOnline
Police assault MDC activists
GOKWE - Pedzisai Chilimanzi(28) and Wellington Chilimanzi both of Kamakuyu village in the area of Chief Nenyunga under Gokwe Chireya Constituency were seriously assaulted by police based at Nembudziya Police Station from September 28 to 30 this year.
The two MDC activists were overheard on September 20 by a CID detective by the name Maenzaniso talking about how they think MDC is going to win the Rural Council elections to be held on October 28. Maenzaniso reportedly ordered them to go with him to Nembudziya Police Station, accusing them of saying words that insulted the president. They refused.
On September 28, the two were raided by policemen named Madamombe, Shiri and Chinake at Chitekete Business Centre. They were forcefully dragged into a COTTCO truck going to Nembudziya. At a place called Zhomba, Madamombe allegedly used his hands to beat Pedzisai trying to force him to admit that he insulted the president.
The youth were seriously assaulted at Nembudziya Police Station by Madamombe who forced them to lie on the floor and he continuously beat them using an iron bar. An eye witness told The Zimbabwean that the two incurred serious injuries on the legs, back and lacerations on the hands.They were then thrown into the cells. On Friday September 29, Madamombe took them to room 27 where he again beat them using the same iron bar. On Saturday Shiri wrote a docket which accused them of insulting the president and the police. They were remanded in the cells until Monday ,October 2 when they were talken to Gokwe Magistrate Court.
A public prosecutor by the name Ngwenya analysed the police docket and he told the policemen that it was unnecessary for the two to appear in court since the case does not have merit.
The two did not appear in court but the police released them and told them to go home. They went to Gokwe Provincial Hospital where there were treated for their injuries and were discharged on the same day. Cephas Zimuto(MDC Chairman for Midlands North) assisted them with bus far to back to Chireya. – Own correspondent
Exit package for Sekesai
HARARE – The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development has reportedly put together an exit package for the bungling Harare acting mayor, Sekesai Makwavarara whose term of office expires at the end of
December.
The move might see the end of the term being brought forward to next month as the ruling Zanu (PF) makes frantic efforts to clean up its mess ahead of the city’s mayoral elections that are likely to be held in January.
Makwavarara, who has been at the helm of the city’s illegal commission since 2004, has seen a serious collapse in service delivery, reducing the capital from the Sunshine City of Africa status to a dump city.
The package is said to include money, her current service vehicle, a Mercedes Benz
C-Class, a state of the art house built by council, and a number of perks. . – Own correspondent
Transport crisis worsens
BULAWAYO – Train drivers have embarked on a go-slow to protest a decision by the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to introduce compulsory breath tests in a bid to curb driving under the influence of alcohol. President of the Enginemen Association of Zimbabwe Abel Mahlangu confirmed the industrial action.
The tests were introduced in line with recommendations made by a commission of inquiry into the cause of a head-on collision between a passenger and a goods train at Dibangombe siding in Victoria Falls on August 27, which claimed eight lives and injured 34 other passengers.
Mahlangu said: “The truth of the matter is that train drivers are not happy with this move. The findings of the commission should first of all be made public, otherwise what it means is that all recent NRZ accidents were a result of driving under the influence of alcohol.”
In realiy, accidents were mainly a result of obsolete communication signals and the general poor condition of the country’s rail system.
In the last session of Parliament, a portfolio committee on transport and communications in its report said the country’s rail network laid in the 1890s had outlived its lifespan. The committee added that the rail infrastructure, especially signal equipment, had fallen prey to vandals, resulting in communication problems between controllers and enginemen. – Own correspondent
Sithole was true founder says widow’s book
LONDON - A veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of liberation now living in the United States has published a book that says the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole,
her late husband, was the true founder of the struggle, not President Robert
Mugabe.
Author Vesta Sithole says Ndabaningi Sithole created the Zimbabwe African
National Union party, but lost control of it to Mugabe in the mid-1970s
and was eventually cut out of decision-making through 1980 when Zimbabwe
gained independence.
Entitled My Life With An Unsung Hero, the book is autobiographical in
approach - the author joined the liberation struggle at 19 and spent years
in exile - but also provides many new details on the life and career of
Ndabaningi Sithole, who died in 2000.
Vesta Sithole told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that she wanted to set the record straight and dispel misconceptions about
the struggle for black majority rule in Zimbabwe and her late husband's role
in that process. – Own correspondent
Award for Khumalo
LONDON - Thabitha Khumalo, Vice President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, has today been awarded a "Women of the Year Award", for the work
she has done with Action for Southern Africa on the Dignity! Period. Campaign, that so far as seen 2.5 million sanitary pads distributed to the most vulnerable women of Zimbabwe.
As Thabitha receives her award at the annual lunch held this year at the
Millenium Hotel in Mayfair, Euan Wilmshurst, ACTSA's Director said "This
award shows that despite the struggles Thabitha and all the women of Zimbabwe face on a daily basis, the campaign for access to basic sanitary protection has struck a cord. This award will mean the Dignity! Period. Campaign can continue to grow, and ensure that the dignity of the women of Zimbabwe continues to be restored." – Own correspondent
Anthrax outbreak in Mash West
HARARE - One person has died of suspected anthrax while 82 others have so far received treatment following an outbreak of the disease in Mashonaland West.
Eighty-two cases involving people and two cases involving cattle have reportedly been detected on Ngwarati and Mahewu farms in Trelawney last week. Anthrax is an acute, contagious disease characterized by septicaemia and sudden death.
The disease is caused by the bacterium bacillus anthracis whose unique feature is its ability to form dormant stages (spores) which can survive in the soil for many years.
Animals become infected by ingestion of contaminated feed or water. In the body, the spores multiply and produce a lethal toxin which kills the animal. Crispen Devere, who is the acting provincial environmental health officer, said his office had managed to contain the situation.
“It is the first time we have had an outbreak on those two farms but I wish to inform all concerned parties that we have managed to successfully treat all cases at Ngwarati and Mahewu farms,” Devere said. – Own correspondent
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All is well Mujuru tells tourists
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joice Mujuru last week stepped up efforts to rebuild the country’s battered tourism sector by telling hundreds of visiting tourists that all was now well in the troubled sector.
Mujuru blamed negative media surrounding the country’s land reforms for the collapse of the tourism sector over the past six years.
“Our land reform programme is now part of our history . . . I am happy to say that the issue has now been taken to its logical conclusion. May I therefore reassure our visitors from all the four corners of the world that you are welcome, you are safe, you are secure and you are free to move around in Zimbabwe,” she said.
But Mujuru’s reassurances come amid reports of continuing chaos on commercial farms around the country with fresh evictions having been reported in Manicaland and Mashonaland provinces only last month.
Zimbabwe’s tourism sector, which was the third biggest foreign currency earner before 2000, has been in the doldrums over the past six years after tourists shunned the country because of violence most critics blame on ruling party supporters. - ZimOnline
Water crisis threatens health
HARARE – A local group which works with communities to promote basic health
care on Friday warned that Harare was facing a serious outbreak of water
borne diseases due to a water crisis.
The executive director of the Community Working Group on Health, Itai
Rusike, warned that the city faced a serious outbreak of cholera, dysentery
and scabies if the current water crisis was not resolved immediately.
“When people drink dirty water from sewage-drenched streams, when toilets
don’t flush and when people don’t bath regularly, it’s a recipe for disease
outbreak,” said Rusike.
The CWGH is a coalition of 35 non-governmental organisations that deal with
health matters in Zimbabwe. The group works with communities in the
promotion of basic health care around the country.
Residents in the poor eastern suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara, for example,
say they have gone for months on end without running water resulting in most
of them fetching water from unprotected wells.
Earlier this year, five people died of cholera in Budiriro suburb in Harare.
Cholera is a water-borne disease that thrives in unhygienic conditions.
Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa’s deputy, Edwin Muguti, conceded that Harare was facing a health time bomb but added that water provision was the sole responsibility of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and the Harare city council. – ZimOnline
Police assault MDC activists
GOKWE - Pedzisai Chilimanzi(28) and Wellington Chilimanzi both of Kamakuyu village in the area of Chief Nenyunga under Gokwe Chireya Constituency were seriously assaulted by police based at Nembudziya Police Station from September 28 to 30 this year.
The two MDC activists were overheard on September 20 by a CID detective by the name Maenzaniso talking about how they think MDC is going to win the Rural Council elections to be held on October 28. Maenzaniso reportedly ordered them to go with him to Nembudziya Police Station, accusing them of saying words that insulted the president. They refused.
On September 28, the two were raided by policemen named Madamombe, Shiri and Chinake at Chitekete Business Centre. They were forcefully dragged into a COTTCO truck going to Nembudziya. At a place called Zhomba, Madamombe allegedly used his hands to beat Pedzisai trying to force him to admit that he insulted the president.
The youth were seriously assaulted at Nembudziya Police Station by Madamombe who forced them to lie on the floor and he continuously beat them using an iron bar. An eye witness told The Zimbabwean that the two incurred serious injuries on the legs, back and lacerations on the hands.They were then thrown into the cells. On Friday September 29, Madamombe took them to room 27 where he again beat them using the same iron bar. On Saturday Shiri wrote a docket which accused them of insulting the president and the police. They were remanded in the cells until Monday ,October 2 when they were talken to Gokwe Magistrate Court.
A public prosecutor by the name Ngwenya analysed the police docket and he told the policemen that it was unnecessary for the two to appear in court since the case does not have merit.
The two did not appear in court but the police released them and told them to go home. They went to Gokwe Provincial Hospital where there were treated for their injuries and were discharged on the same day. Cephas Zimuto(MDC Chairman for Midlands North) assisted them with bus far to back to Chireya. – Own correspondent
Exit package for Sekesai
HARARE – The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development has reportedly put together an exit package for the bungling Harare acting mayor, Sekesai Makwavarara whose term of office expires at the end of
December.
The move might see the end of the term being brought forward to next month as the ruling Zanu (PF) makes frantic efforts to clean up its mess ahead of the city’s mayoral elections that are likely to be held in January.
Makwavarara, who has been at the helm of the city’s illegal commission since 2004, has seen a serious collapse in service delivery, reducing the capital from the Sunshine City of Africa status to a dump city.
The package is said to include money, her current service vehicle, a Mercedes Benz
C-Class, a state of the art house built by council, and a number of perks. . – Own correspondent
Transport crisis worsens
BULAWAYO – Train drivers have embarked on a go-slow to protest a decision by the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to introduce compulsory breath tests in a bid to curb driving under the influence of alcohol. President of the Enginemen Association of Zimbabwe Abel Mahlangu confirmed the industrial action.
The tests were introduced in line with recommendations made by a commission of inquiry into the cause of a head-on collision between a passenger and a goods train at Dibangombe siding in Victoria Falls on August 27, which claimed eight lives and injured 34 other passengers.
Mahlangu said: “The truth of the matter is that train drivers are not happy with this move. The findings of the commission should first of all be made public, otherwise what it means is that all recent NRZ accidents were a result of driving under the influence of alcohol.”
In realiy, accidents were mainly a result of obsolete communication signals and the general poor condition of the country’s rail system.
In the last session of Parliament, a portfolio committee on transport and communications in its report said the country’s rail network laid in the 1890s had outlived its lifespan. The committee added that the rail infrastructure, especially signal equipment, had fallen prey to vandals, resulting in communication problems between controllers and enginemen. – Own correspondent
Sithole was true founder says widow’s book
LONDON - A veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of liberation now living in the United States has published a book that says the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole,
her late husband, was the true founder of the struggle, not President Robert
Mugabe.
Author Vesta Sithole says Ndabaningi Sithole created the Zimbabwe African
National Union party, but lost control of it to Mugabe in the mid-1970s
and was eventually cut out of decision-making through 1980 when Zimbabwe
gained independence.
Entitled My Life With An Unsung Hero, the book is autobiographical in
approach - the author joined the liberation struggle at 19 and spent years
in exile - but also provides many new details on the life and career of
Ndabaningi Sithole, who died in 2000.
Vesta Sithole told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that she wanted to set the record straight and dispel misconceptions about
the struggle for black majority rule in Zimbabwe and her late husband's role
in that process. – Own correspondent
Award for Khumalo
LONDON - Thabitha Khumalo, Vice President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, has today been awarded a "Women of the Year Award", for the work
she has done with Action for Southern Africa on the Dignity! Period. Campaign, that so far as seen 2.5 million sanitary pads distributed to the most vulnerable women of Zimbabwe.
As Thabitha receives her award at the annual lunch held this year at the
Millenium Hotel in Mayfair, Euan Wilmshurst, ACTSA's Director said "This
award shows that despite the struggles Thabitha and all the women of Zimbabwe face on a daily basis, the campaign for access to basic sanitary protection has struck a cord. This award will mean the Dignity! Period. Campaign can continue to grow, and ensure that the dignity of the women of Zimbabwe continues to be restored." – Own correspondent
Anthrax outbreak in Mash West
HARARE - One person has died of suspected anthrax while 82 others have so far received treatment following an outbreak of the disease in Mashonaland West.
Eighty-two cases involving people and two cases involving cattle have reportedly been detected on Ngwarati and Mahewu farms in Trelawney last week. Anthrax is an acute, contagious disease characterized by septicaemia and sudden death.
The disease is caused by the bacterium bacillus anthracis whose unique feature is its ability to form dormant stages (spores) which can survive in the soil for many years.
Animals become infected by ingestion of contaminated feed or water. In the body, the spores multiply and produce a lethal toxin which kills the animal. Crispen Devere, who is the acting provincial environmental health officer, said his office had managed to contain the situation.
“It is the first time we have had an outbreak on those two farms but I wish to inform all concerned parties that we have managed to successfully treat all cases at Ngwarati and Mahewu farms,” Devere said. – Own correspondent
News roundup
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Smith, Mugabe, never good neighbours – Masire
BY JERRY BUNGU
GABORONE - Former president of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire says Zimbabwe has never displayed any signs of good neighbourliness.
Masire’s memoirs “Very Brave or Very Foolish: Memoirs of an African Diplomat,” were published to coincide with Botswana’s recent 40th independence anniversary.
In a chapter on relations with neighbours, Masire devoted four pages to Zimbabwe, revealing that there were over 20 000 Zimbabweans in Botswana during the Chimurenga war.
“I first encountered President Mugabe when he was a freedom fighter and I thought he was a hard working man. He was imprisoned for a long time and after he was released, ZANU gained ground. We in the Front Line States tried to get ZANU and ZAPU to join together to form one liberation movement to oppose the Smith regime, but this proved very difficult. In part it was who would hold leadership positions as chairman and secretary-general. President Mugabe gave the impression that he was not keen to be chairman or secretary-general of the combined movements. Mr Nkomo was indecisive and saw virtue in both positions. Interestingly at the time, Mr Nkomo was clearly the king of his group, but it was not as clear to us that Mugabe was the king of his,” the memoir says.
Masire says the Lancaster Talks, which resulted in a negotiated settlement, did not go well with Mugabe who thought he could have been victorious over both the Smith regime and ZAPU.
Masire says of Mugabe: “While he never said anything directly, his attitude was that we in Botswana were Nkomo’s men. On the same principles as the South African government used, i.e. the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and he who is not for us is against us, he appeared to distrust us.”
He says there were questions over trade and transportation but security was the important issue. “Defence minister Nkala was particularly difficult and he was reported to have wanted to shoot up Dukwe refugee camp where many ZAPU refugees were living but Mugabe prevented that.
“In 1980, we had hoped that an independent Zimbabwe would help us reduce our dependence on South Africa and decrease vulnerability, but that was not to be the case. To start with, Zimbabwe imposed duties on imports from Botswana in clear violation of our free trade agreement.
He concludes: “Interestingly, with the difficult situation in Zimbabwe – partly the takeover of white farms, but mainly the persecution of many Africans and destruction of the capacity of the economy to function – we have not had a spill over in racial attitudes in Botswana. Batswana have truly been saddened by the political and economic destruction of Zimbabwe.”
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Smith, Mugabe, never good neighbours – Masire
BY JERRY BUNGU
GABORONE - Former president of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire says Zimbabwe has never displayed any signs of good neighbourliness.
Masire’s memoirs “Very Brave or Very Foolish: Memoirs of an African Diplomat,” were published to coincide with Botswana’s recent 40th independence anniversary.
In a chapter on relations with neighbours, Masire devoted four pages to Zimbabwe, revealing that there were over 20 000 Zimbabweans in Botswana during the Chimurenga war.
“I first encountered President Mugabe when he was a freedom fighter and I thought he was a hard working man. He was imprisoned for a long time and after he was released, ZANU gained ground. We in the Front Line States tried to get ZANU and ZAPU to join together to form one liberation movement to oppose the Smith regime, but this proved very difficult. In part it was who would hold leadership positions as chairman and secretary-general. President Mugabe gave the impression that he was not keen to be chairman or secretary-general of the combined movements. Mr Nkomo was indecisive and saw virtue in both positions. Interestingly at the time, Mr Nkomo was clearly the king of his group, but it was not as clear to us that Mugabe was the king of his,” the memoir says.
Masire says the Lancaster Talks, which resulted in a negotiated settlement, did not go well with Mugabe who thought he could have been victorious over both the Smith regime and ZAPU.
Masire says of Mugabe: “While he never said anything directly, his attitude was that we in Botswana were Nkomo’s men. On the same principles as the South African government used, i.e. the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and he who is not for us is against us, he appeared to distrust us.”
He says there were questions over trade and transportation but security was the important issue. “Defence minister Nkala was particularly difficult and he was reported to have wanted to shoot up Dukwe refugee camp where many ZAPU refugees were living but Mugabe prevented that.
“In 1980, we had hoped that an independent Zimbabwe would help us reduce our dependence on South Africa and decrease vulnerability, but that was not to be the case. To start with, Zimbabwe imposed duties on imports from Botswana in clear violation of our free trade agreement.
He concludes: “Interestingly, with the difficult situation in Zimbabwe – partly the takeover of white farms, but mainly the persecution of many Africans and destruction of the capacity of the economy to function – we have not had a spill over in racial attitudes in Botswana. Batswana have truly been saddened by the political and economic destruction of Zimbabwe.”
News Roundup by Gift Phiri
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Mangwana blames journos
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s acting information minister Paul Mangwana has complained that government is getting too much bad press both locally and abroad because journalists were unpatriotic and were selling out the country for donor trinkets.
Mangwana loudly protested in the Quill Club last week that the media was obsessed with reporting negatively about Zimbabwe.
He warned the small group of journalists drawn mainly from the private press that turned up for the meeting against “endangering national interests”.
“Journalists should not be misled by rich media houses that are financed from abroad within the context of neo-colonialism and contribute to the destruction of the economy for the sake of money,” he said.
Journalists told Mangwana that no news organisation or reporter would manufacture false reports about anyone and get away with it. They reminded the minister that penalties under the laws of libel and defamation have always seen to it that perpetrators of such injudicious acts are punished.
The truth, said one journalist, was that the Mugabe regime invited bad publicity upon itself through flagrant abuse of human and property rights.
“In fact, it could be strongly argued that the Zanu (PF) government often goes out of its way to ensure it acts in ways which guarantee something negative is said or reported about it on almost a daily basis,” he said.
Mangwana defended State-regulation of the press saying, “We had to come up with the Media and Information Commission because journalism, as powerful as it is as the Fourth Estate, cannot operate in a vacuum.”
MIC chairman Tafataona Mahoso, who also attended the meeting, was challenged to explain why he shut down four newspapers. He stormed out of the meeting.
Defence chief praises China
HARARE - Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi last week said Zimbabwe wishes to further strengthen already excellent and solid relations with China, revealing that the army was relying more and more on Beijing for essential supplies.
Sekeramayi made the remarks here on the occasion of the presentation of heavy plant equipment worth US$1 million “donated” to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Sekeramayi said since independence, China had steadfastly assisted Zimbabwe in variety of ways in realizing the objectives of liberation and nation’s building.
The donation includes a grader, bulldozer, front-end loader, two tipping trucks and a tool box.
Sekeramayi.
Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhang Xianyi said China always regards Zimbabwe as her reliable “all weather” friend.
Tobacco bartered for fuel
HARARE - The government is believed to have lost foreign currency running into
millions of dollars through transactions where some tobacco buyers were
exchanging the crop for fuel.
It is understood that a number of transactions went through during the previous tobacco-marketing season where tobacco merchants sourced fuel from South Africa in exchange for tobacco.
Herbert Murerwa, Finance Minister said no such transactions would be allowed this tobacco season: “All purchases by A class buyers will be settled in United States dollars and those who fail to raise US dollars will be assisted through a Memorandum of Deposit facility. Barter deals will not be allowed this year.”
He was speaking to guests attending the review of the tobacco-marketing season last week.
Government had allowed barter deals in a bid to avert the shortages of fuel, but had been prejudiced in the process because of the lack of tight monitoring.
John Chiweshe, chairman of the Tobacco Merchants Association, said none of his members were involved in barter deals.
Sources in the tobacco industry said top government officials were among buyers who benefited from the tobacco barter deals.
Zim crisis costs SA R9 billion
JOHANNESBURG - The South African Communist Party, alliance partner of the ruling African National Congress, has condemned Zimbabwe’s “low-intensity democracy” saying it will seek to engage the opposition and the ruling party in Zimbabwe to resolve the deepening crisis.
After its recent central committee meeting, the SACP stopped just short of naming the ruling Zanu (PF) regime. It “condemned authoritarianism, torture of political opponents of the regime and gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe”.
Spokesperson Nkosiphendule Kolisile also announced that the party would send its own “fact-finding” mission to Zimbabwe in the next three months.
This is the party’s strongest statement yet on the situation in South Africa’s northern neighbour and the only strongly worded condemnation of the Zimbabwean regime to emerge from the alliance.
There has been concern within the SACP that not enough is being done to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis. The party now says it will seek engagement with the Zanu (PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a “complementary and not parallel process” with those of the South African government and the ANC.
The IMF has predicted that inflation in Zimbabwe was expected to exceed 4000 percent next year. It also reported that the Zimbabwean crisis had cost South Africa’s “real economy” more than R9-billion last year.
“The SACP stands firmly for the promotion of an environment in which free
political activity can take place without fear of intimidation,” Kolisile said.
The SACP already has ties with other socialist political organisations, such
as Frelimo in Mozambique and the Communist Party of Lesotho.
Last month the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) condemned the arrests of Zimbabwean trade unionists for protesting against poor salaries and the poor provision of AIDS drugs.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is expected to picket at the Zimbabwean border “soon” in solidarity with persecuted trade union leaders in Zimbabwe.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the labour federation would “support our fellow trade unionists in their struggle for basic human rights and against poverty in Zimbabwe”.
Children starving, warns UN
HARARE - Children are dying of hunger in Zimbabwe and many others will die if emergency action is not taken soon, UN officials said last Friday.
A survey children under six years old by the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, found high levels of severe malnutrition in several areas, especially in larger cities.
“Children are dying and if we don’t ratchet up our response many more children will become malnourished, and many of those who are already malnourished will die,” said Gerry Dyer, the head of UNICEF’s regional office in Johannesburg.
The survey, which studied 50,000 children, was the largest of its kind in Zimbabwe. UNICEF declined to give any precise figures for the number of children who have died or who are severely malnourished.
Zimbabwe’s agricultural production once helped feed all of southern Africa. But food production has been wrecked by erratic rains and the state’s often violent seizure of most white-owned commercial farms. Vast tracts of farmland either lie fallow or have been carved into subsistence plots.
The region has faced a food crisis in the past year but while the situation in most neighboring countries is stabilizing, in Zimbabwe, the crisis remains acute.
Opposition groups and human rights activists say that the government of embattled President Robert Mugabe is using food as a political weapon in a country where over a quarter of the people are at risk of starvation.
Zinwa needs Z$60 billion
HARARE – The Zimbabwe National Water Authority urgently requires about Z$60 billion to meet cash shortfalls caused by escalating prices of commodities and materials required by the water utility, and the high cost of foreign currency required to pay foreign suppliers of water reticulation chemicals.
Zinwa board chairman Willie Muringani said ZINWA had set aside $33 billion for expenditure this year but escalating costs had left it needing an extra $59,5 billion which residents must provide.
Inflation which which is hovering around 1,000 percent had eaten into ZINWA coffers while the Zimbabwe dollar’s dramatic fall against major currencies such as the United States of America dollar had not helped matters for the council treasury.
Muringani said ZINWA had not yet made a final decision on how to raise the additional money because it was still to consult residents and other stakeholders.
He said ZINWA had for the time being resolved to implement a number of cost-cutting measures including tightening allocations of fuel to staff, recycling of paper and forging of partnerships as well as out-sourcing non-core business and activities.
ZINWA will also step up efforts to collect all outstanding rates, rent and other charges from residents with plans to enforce payment through litigation.
Combined Harare Residents Association spokesman Precious Shumba said ZINWA had failed to provide water to the city and should simply cede the responsibility to people with the capacity to do so.
Desperate Zims flood Mozambique
MUTARE - Scores of Zimbabweans facing serious commodity shortages at home have been streaming into neighbouring Mozambique to buy fuel and other provisions, according to press reports from Maputo.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing severe economic hardships and political tensions. There are shortages of fuel and basic commodities, as well as foreign currency.
“We have seen many Zimbabweans coming to buy fuel and other supplies in our province in recent weeks given the deteriorating situation in that neighbouring state,” the governor of Mozambique’s Manica province, Soares Nhaca was quoted.
He said the extra demand for fuel by Zimbabweans had caused a shortage in Manica province, but the problem would be resolved.
Mozambique, which is a coastal country, imports its fuel supplies from the Middle East. Unlike Zimbabwe it has the hard cash to pay its bills. Mozambique’s state daily Noticias last week quoted a local government official as saying Zimbabweans were looting fuel in Manica province, but this was dismissed by Nhaca.
“The Zimbabweans have made normal purchases that any driver would make and there has not been anything extraordinary,” he said.
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom
Mangwana blames journos
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s acting information minister Paul Mangwana has complained that government is getting too much bad press both locally and abroad because journalists were unpatriotic and were selling out the country for donor trinkets.
Mangwana loudly protested in the Quill Club last week that the media was obsessed with reporting negatively about Zimbabwe.
He warned the small group of journalists drawn mainly from the private press that turned up for the meeting against “endangering national interests”.
“Journalists should not be misled by rich media houses that are financed from abroad within the context of neo-colonialism and contribute to the destruction of the economy for the sake of money,” he said.
Journalists told Mangwana that no news organisation or reporter would manufacture false reports about anyone and get away with it. They reminded the minister that penalties under the laws of libel and defamation have always seen to it that perpetrators of such injudicious acts are punished.
The truth, said one journalist, was that the Mugabe regime invited bad publicity upon itself through flagrant abuse of human and property rights.
“In fact, it could be strongly argued that the Zanu (PF) government often goes out of its way to ensure it acts in ways which guarantee something negative is said or reported about it on almost a daily basis,” he said.
Mangwana defended State-regulation of the press saying, “We had to come up with the Media and Information Commission because journalism, as powerful as it is as the Fourth Estate, cannot operate in a vacuum.”
MIC chairman Tafataona Mahoso, who also attended the meeting, was challenged to explain why he shut down four newspapers. He stormed out of the meeting.
Defence chief praises China
HARARE - Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi last week said Zimbabwe wishes to further strengthen already excellent and solid relations with China, revealing that the army was relying more and more on Beijing for essential supplies.
Sekeramayi made the remarks here on the occasion of the presentation of heavy plant equipment worth US$1 million “donated” to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Sekeramayi said since independence, China had steadfastly assisted Zimbabwe in variety of ways in realizing the objectives of liberation and nation’s building.
The donation includes a grader, bulldozer, front-end loader, two tipping trucks and a tool box.
Sekeramayi.
Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhang Xianyi said China always regards Zimbabwe as her reliable “all weather” friend.
Tobacco bartered for fuel
HARARE - The government is believed to have lost foreign currency running into
millions of dollars through transactions where some tobacco buyers were
exchanging the crop for fuel.
It is understood that a number of transactions went through during the previous tobacco-marketing season where tobacco merchants sourced fuel from South Africa in exchange for tobacco.
Herbert Murerwa, Finance Minister said no such transactions would be allowed this tobacco season: “All purchases by A class buyers will be settled in United States dollars and those who fail to raise US dollars will be assisted through a Memorandum of Deposit facility. Barter deals will not be allowed this year.”
He was speaking to guests attending the review of the tobacco-marketing season last week.
Government had allowed barter deals in a bid to avert the shortages of fuel, but had been prejudiced in the process because of the lack of tight monitoring.
John Chiweshe, chairman of the Tobacco Merchants Association, said none of his members were involved in barter deals.
Sources in the tobacco industry said top government officials were among buyers who benefited from the tobacco barter deals.
Zim crisis costs SA R9 billion
JOHANNESBURG - The South African Communist Party, alliance partner of the ruling African National Congress, has condemned Zimbabwe’s “low-intensity democracy” saying it will seek to engage the opposition and the ruling party in Zimbabwe to resolve the deepening crisis.
After its recent central committee meeting, the SACP stopped just short of naming the ruling Zanu (PF) regime. It “condemned authoritarianism, torture of political opponents of the regime and gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe”.
Spokesperson Nkosiphendule Kolisile also announced that the party would send its own “fact-finding” mission to Zimbabwe in the next three months.
This is the party’s strongest statement yet on the situation in South Africa’s northern neighbour and the only strongly worded condemnation of the Zimbabwean regime to emerge from the alliance.
There has been concern within the SACP that not enough is being done to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis. The party now says it will seek engagement with the Zanu (PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a “complementary and not parallel process” with those of the South African government and the ANC.
The IMF has predicted that inflation in Zimbabwe was expected to exceed 4000 percent next year. It also reported that the Zimbabwean crisis had cost South Africa’s “real economy” more than R9-billion last year.
“The SACP stands firmly for the promotion of an environment in which free
political activity can take place without fear of intimidation,” Kolisile said.
The SACP already has ties with other socialist political organisations, such
as Frelimo in Mozambique and the Communist Party of Lesotho.
Last month the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) condemned the arrests of Zimbabwean trade unionists for protesting against poor salaries and the poor provision of AIDS drugs.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is expected to picket at the Zimbabwean border “soon” in solidarity with persecuted trade union leaders in Zimbabwe.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the labour federation would “support our fellow trade unionists in their struggle for basic human rights and against poverty in Zimbabwe”.
Children starving, warns UN
HARARE - Children are dying of hunger in Zimbabwe and many others will die if emergency action is not taken soon, UN officials said last Friday.
A survey children under six years old by the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, found high levels of severe malnutrition in several areas, especially in larger cities.
“Children are dying and if we don’t ratchet up our response many more children will become malnourished, and many of those who are already malnourished will die,” said Gerry Dyer, the head of UNICEF’s regional office in Johannesburg.
The survey, which studied 50,000 children, was the largest of its kind in Zimbabwe. UNICEF declined to give any precise figures for the number of children who have died or who are severely malnourished.
Zimbabwe’s agricultural production once helped feed all of southern Africa. But food production has been wrecked by erratic rains and the state’s often violent seizure of most white-owned commercial farms. Vast tracts of farmland either lie fallow or have been carved into subsistence plots.
The region has faced a food crisis in the past year but while the situation in most neighboring countries is stabilizing, in Zimbabwe, the crisis remains acute.
Opposition groups and human rights activists say that the government of embattled President Robert Mugabe is using food as a political weapon in a country where over a quarter of the people are at risk of starvation.
Zinwa needs Z$60 billion
HARARE – The Zimbabwe National Water Authority urgently requires about Z$60 billion to meet cash shortfalls caused by escalating prices of commodities and materials required by the water utility, and the high cost of foreign currency required to pay foreign suppliers of water reticulation chemicals.
Zinwa board chairman Willie Muringani said ZINWA had set aside $33 billion for expenditure this year but escalating costs had left it needing an extra $59,5 billion which residents must provide.
Inflation which which is hovering around 1,000 percent had eaten into ZINWA coffers while the Zimbabwe dollar’s dramatic fall against major currencies such as the United States of America dollar had not helped matters for the council treasury.
Muringani said ZINWA had not yet made a final decision on how to raise the additional money because it was still to consult residents and other stakeholders.
He said ZINWA had for the time being resolved to implement a number of cost-cutting measures including tightening allocations of fuel to staff, recycling of paper and forging of partnerships as well as out-sourcing non-core business and activities.
ZINWA will also step up efforts to collect all outstanding rates, rent and other charges from residents with plans to enforce payment through litigation.
Combined Harare Residents Association spokesman Precious Shumba said ZINWA had failed to provide water to the city and should simply cede the responsibility to people with the capacity to do so.
Desperate Zims flood Mozambique
MUTARE - Scores of Zimbabweans facing serious commodity shortages at home have been streaming into neighbouring Mozambique to buy fuel and other provisions, according to press reports from Maputo.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing severe economic hardships and political tensions. There are shortages of fuel and basic commodities, as well as foreign currency.
“We have seen many Zimbabweans coming to buy fuel and other supplies in our province in recent weeks given the deteriorating situation in that neighbouring state,” the governor of Mozambique’s Manica province, Soares Nhaca was quoted.
He said the extra demand for fuel by Zimbabweans had caused a shortage in Manica province, but the problem would be resolved.
Mozambique, which is a coastal country, imports its fuel supplies from the Middle East. Unlike Zimbabwe it has the hard cash to pay its bills. Mozambique’s state daily Noticias last week quoted a local government official as saying Zimbabweans were looting fuel in Manica province, but this was dismissed by Nhaca.
“The Zimbabweans have made normal purchases that any driver would make and there has not been anything extraordinary,” he said.
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