International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: May 8, 2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Armed police
violently broke up a demonstration of lawyers
wearing traditional legal
gowns outside Zimbabwe's High Court on Tuesday,
took several away and beat
them, the independent Law Society and witnesses
said.
One group was
corralled onto a truck and taken to open grassland in the
Eastlea suburb of
Harare, where they were made to lie on the ground and were
assaulted, said
attorney Beatrice Mtetwa, head of the Zimbabwe Law Society.
Afterward,
some were being examined for injuries by doctors at a private
clinic in
northern Harare, she said.
During the lunchtime demonstration in downtown
Harare, some of the lawyers,
in white court collars and other legal attire,
were struck with riot sticks
as they argued their rights against orders to
disperse.
They were protesting the arrest and detention of two of their
colleagues
Friday for allegedly obstructing the course of justice in their
defense of
opposition activists.
A senior police officer, using a
bullhorn, warned the group of about 30
lawyers their protest was illegal
under a ban on demonstrations in the
Zimbabwe capital.
Riot police, some
armed with automatic rifles and shot guns, pushed and
jostled the lawyers,
hitting out at them.
It was not immediately clear whether any of the
protesters were being held
under arrest in a continuing clampdown against
those seen as opposing the
government.
The lawyers pleaded their
rights to gather and march peacefully to the
nearby parliament house, but
squads of police were ordered to disperse the
group.
Last month,
President Robert Mugabe repeatedly told supporters
demonstrations would not
be tolerated and police had the right to crush
dissent and "bash"
perpetrators of unrest.
Two attorneys who specialized in human rights
issues and were defending
jailed opposition activists accused of petrol bomb
attacks were released
from police cells Monday after being arrested
Friday.
Police ignored two High Court orders to release them over the
weekend. Alec
Muchadehama, 41, and a partner in the same firm, Andrew
Makoni, 36, were
charged Monday with obstructing justice and freed on
bail.
State prosecutors alleged the attorneys submitted "falsehoods" to a
Harare
magistrate's court April 30 over one alleged gasoline bombing in
western
Harare.
The two maintained a fire at ruling party offices in
the township of Mbare
may have been accidental or set deliberately to blame
opposition activists.
They said scarce gasoline and kerosene was stored
at the offices.
Prosecutor Austin Muzivi also alleged the two lawyers
"lied" that a key
witness trumped up charges against government
opponents.
Plain clothes agents searched the two lawyers' offices after
their arrest
Friday and combed through client files in breach of
client-attorney
confidentiality, colleagues said.
Muchadehama, most
prominent for representing activists and victims of state
orchestrated
violence, was held at Matapi police cells in western Harare,
one of the
nation's harshest jails, and was denied warm clothing and even a
blanket,
said Eric Matinenga, an attorney acting for him.
Night temperatures drop
to near freezing in Zimbabwe's southern hemisphere
winter.
Matinenga
said court orders issued by Judge Tedius Karwe and Judge Alfas
Chitakunye
over the weekend found no reason for the continued detention of
the lawyers
arrested in the course of their professional duties.
Both orders to
immediately free them were served on police but ignored, he
said.
Police and state officials in Zimbabwe, including Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, have frequently ignored court orders and
although contempt of
court proceedings have been filed, none has been
concluded.
Attorneys, human rights activists and independent journalists
have been
accused of backing a Western campaign led by Britain, the former
colonial
power, for the ouster of President Robert Mugabe, 83, who has ruled
since
independence in 1980.
The government claims the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change mounted
a Western-backed campaign of terror
and subversion that included a series of
11 gasoline bombings, charges the
opposition denies.
At one court hearing, Muchadehama submitted that his
clients could not have
committed one bombing cited by the state because they
were already in jail
at the time.
Opposition leaders insist the
bombings were orchestrated by state agents to
justify the arrests and
assault of activists and clear the way for the
possible imposition of a
sweeping state of emergency as the nation faces
deepening political and
economic turmoil.
Meanwhile, Ghana's President and chairman of the
African Union, John Kufuor
expressed concern about the crisis in Zimbabwe
before a meeting with South
African President Thabo Mbeki, the South African
Press Association reported
Tuesday.
"When the leader of the
opposition gets beaten up, for good or ill,
naturally all concerned should
be worried," Kufuor said, referring to the
assault on activists, including
main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
when police broke up a March 11
prayer meeting.
Mbeki has been appointed by the Southern African
Development Community as
facilitator to resolve the political tension in
Zimbabwe.
Inflation in Zimbabwe last month reached a record 2,200
percent, the highest
in the world, and the country is facing acute shortages
of hard currency,
gasoline, food, medicines and most other basic goods.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
08 May 2007 04:21
Zimbabwe's poverty line shot up by 82,88% as soaring inflation
wreaked havoc
on daily life, figures from the Central Statistical Office
(CSO) showed on
Tuesday.
A family of five now requires Z$1 715 000 a month to
meet its
most basic needs, said acting CSO director Moffat Nyoni in a
poverty
analysis report.
That figure is way above average
wages for Zimbabweans lucky
enough to be formally
employed.
Farm workers have just had their monthly salary
increased to
Z$96 000 a month, according to official reports earlier this
week. That
means that a farm worker would have to work for nearly a year and
a half
just to meet the poverty line for one month.
Zimbabwe's economy has been spiralling deep into chaos since the
beginning
of a controversial land-reform programme in 2000, which has seen a
massive
drop in agricultural production, the wholesale flight of foreign
investment
and the scaring off of the lucrative tourist market.
Annual
inflation topped 2 200% in March. Analysts on state radio
this week forecast
the April rate, which has not yet been announced, could
reach 3
000%.
Rising costs are now affecting all sectors of
society.
About half the nurses employed at Harare hospitals
are choosing
not to report for duty because bus fares rose sharply last
week, the
official Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. Nurses receive at
most Z$800
000 per month.
"We are doing all we can to
ensure that our health professionals
are remunerated in an appropriate
manner," said Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa.
"We
fully appreciate the hyperinflationary environment we are
living in and we
would like all our health professionals to be adequately
taken care of," he
added. -- Sapa-dpa
The Times
May 9, 2007
Jan Raath in Harare
Armed police violently broke up a
demonstration of lawyers yesterday,
subjecting them to punishment beatings
as passing motorists stopped and
watched in horror.
One group was
corralled on to a truck and taken to open grassland in a
suburb of Harare,
where they were assaulted as they lay on the ground.
The victims included
Beatrice Mtetwa, president of the Law Society of
Zimbabwe and winner of a
2005 press freedom award given in New York by the
Committee to Protect
Journalists.
Lawyers were confronted by police with rubber truncheons,
automatic rifles
and shotguns as they gathered outside the High Court to
protest against the
arrest of two prominent human rights
lawyers.
Some of the lawyers, including Eileen Sawyer, 80, the executive
director of
the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, an alliance of civil
liberty bodies,
stood their ground, but in the face of the lashing
truncheons they were
forced to flee.
Mrs Sawyer received several
blows on her back. "I thought, 'Oh my god, I'm
going to break my pelvis
again'," she said. At least five people were
treated for severe
bruising.
President Mugabe has encouraged security forces to deal
violently with
protests against his regime. In March, after Morgan
Tsvangirai, the
opposition leader, and about 30 other officials of his
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) suffered severe injuries inflicted by
police, Mr
Mugabe said of his critics: "They will get arrested and get
bashed by
police."
On Friday the lawyers Alec Muchadehama and Andrew
Makoni were arrested as
they emerged from the High Court after arguing
against the continued
detention - for more than a month - of 13 MDC
officials whom the Government
accuses of being involved in an alleged
petrol-bombing campaign.
They were released late on Monday after being
charged with "lying" in an
affidavit asserting there was evidence that the
bombings in March and last
month had been carried out by the Government to
justify the violent
repression of the past two months.
About 30
lawyers were gathering outside the High Court yesterday, planning
to march
to Parliament to present the Justice Minister with a petition
protesting
against the treatment of Mr Muchadehama and Mr Makoni.
A force of police
was also gathering, and Mrs Mtetwa attempted to negotiate
with the senior
officer to allow them to proceed peacefully. His response
was to order the
violent attack.
Mrs Mtetwa, two other Law Society councillors and an
elderly white lawyer
ran into the nearby entrance of the Justice Ministry.
"We thought we would
be safe there," she said. "But there were other cops
waiting inside. They
dragged us out and threw us into the back of a
truck."
They were driven to an open area next to a golf course east of
the city
centre and ordered to get out. Mrs Mtetwa said that the senior
officer, in
regular police uniform, ordered: "These people must now be
beaten."
"One lawyer started running away, a lot of cops chased after
him. There were
truckloads of cops," she said.
Mrs Mtetwa said that
she was attacked by a woman in plain clothes. "The
woman really went for me.
They were beating us everywhere, on my back, my
stomach, my arms, my
buttocks.
"It was such a spectacle. Motorists on the road nearby stopped
to watch."
Mrs Mtetwa added: "A police car with two officers stopped.
They rebuked the
police who were beating us. They said, 'Why are you doing
this in public?'
Then we were abandoned there. They said, 'Now you can go
and demonstrate
with your swollen bodies.' "
International Herald Tribune
By Michael Wines Published: May 8,
2007
JOHANNESBURG: The last couple of years have been
exceedingly tough for the
Movement for Democratic Change, the only
opposition political party of any
note in Zimbabwe.
Party officials
have been beaten with stones and logs; their cars have been
hijacked; their
posters have been methodically stripped from street poles.
In one memorable
instance, thugs tried to toss the party's director of
security down a
sixth-floor stairwell at the party's headquarters.
And those are just the
attacks they have endured from their own members.
Even more than the
Zimbabwean government's frequently brutal abductions and
assaults on members
of the MDC, the internecine brawls are evidence that all
is not well inside
Zimbabwe's political opposition, the force upon which the
West has pinned
its hopes for democratic change.
As President Robert Mugabe's 27-year
rule enters what many analysts call a
terminal phase, the self-proclaimed
democratic opposition is near its nadir.
The Movement for Democratic Change
is split into two bitterly opposed
factions, at war over ideology, power and
prestige. Each has called the
other a tool of Mugabe's spy service, the
Central Intelligence Organization,
and each has accused the other of
betraying the party's democratic ideals.
Now, with a crucial national
election looming, the question is whether the
two factions can reform their
tactics and patch up their differences long
enough to mount a serious
challenge to Mugabe - and if they do, whether
ordinary people will
care.
Some Zimbabweans are skeptical. "They don't seriously challenge the
regime,"
said Mike Davies, who leads a civic group, the Combined Harare
Residents
Association. "You ask young people here what they want, and their
No. 1
answer is 'I want to get the hell out of Zimbabwe.' They don't buy
into the
MDC."
Another expert, a political analyst in Harare, the
capital, who refused to
be identified for fear of expulsion by the
government, was dismissive. "As a
political party," he said, "they haven't
cut the mustard."
An unlikely amalgam of whites and blacks, trade
unionists and intellectuals,
the Movement for Democratic Change nearly won
control of Parliament in 2000,
just a year after its founding, and nearly
beat Mugabe in the 2002
presidential contest.
By the end of 2006,
however, repeated miscalculations and sometimes violent
infighting had
divided the party into two feuding camps, both almost
irrelevant.
They might still be, had Mugabe's riot police not
severely beaten dozens of
opposition members during a protest March 11,
including Morgan Tsvangirai,
the popular figure who now heads the party's
largest faction.
Although Tsvangirai and his loyalists presided over the
party's decline -
and not a little of the violence - his head wound and
swollen eye instantly
elevated the party's profile in the world press,
turning him into a symbol
of democratic change in Zimbabwe.
For the
MDC, Tsvangirai's drubbing could be a godsend. Though the economy is
in
ruins, millions of citizens have fled the country and most of those who
remain resent Mugabe, who at 83 has declared his intention to seek a new
term as president in elections next March.
Zimbabwe's neighbors,
belatedly alarmed at the unraveling next door, have
appointed President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to mediate guarantees of a
free and fair
election.
Most political analysts say Mugabe has already begun his
campaign, in his
own way. In February his agents began a wave of kidnappings
and beatings of
hundreds of Movement for Democratic Change leaders - a
crusade, critics say,
to destroy the opposition's will to contest another
election.
Faced with that campaign, the two MDC factions have declared a
temporary
truce and pledged to wage a single campaign against Mugabe. But
with 11
months left before the vote, they have yet to choose a presidential
candidate or a parliamentary slate, much less a campaign plan.
Brian
Raftopoulos, a Zimbabwean political scientist at the Institute for
Justice
and Reconciliation in Cape Town, says the clock is ticking. "They
have to
agree at the very minimum on a common election strategy and a common
nominee
for president," he said. "I think they've got very little time to do
that."
In interviews, both Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, the general
secretary of
the opposing MDC faction, said that they were in serious talks
to put aside
their rivalry and refocus their energies on defeating
Mugabe.
That will be a tall order, for as Ncube says, the two sides are
at odds over
bedrock issues about the role of a democratic opposition. One
is the
principle of majority rule; the other is the acceptability of
violence as a
political tactic.
Divisions began to fester early this
decade, after Tsvangirai was lured into
a government sting operation that
videotaped him talking of Mugabe's
"elimination" and relishing the prospect
of his party's ascension to power.
Tsvangirai's subsequent arrest and trial
on treason charges becalmed the MDC
for more than a year, crippled his
control of party affairs and raised
questions about his
competence.
Since he was acquitted in 2004, the party's internal feuds
have blossomed
publicly. While political analysts say the party fell apart
for many
reasons, violence seems to have been the trigger.
In
mid-2004, vigilantes loyal to Tsvangirai began attacking MDC members who
were mostly loyal to Ncube, climaxing in a September raid on the party's
Harare headquarters in which the party's security director was nearly thrown
to his death.
An internal party inquiry later established that aides
to Tsvangirai had
tolerated, if not endorsed, the violence. One of them,
Isaac Matongo, later
became the chairman of Tsvangirai's wing of the party.
Matongo died in his
sleep in Harare on Wednesday.
Divisive as the
violence was, it was a debate over the rule of law that set
off the party's
final breakup, in November 2005. As new Senate elections
approached, Ncube's
supporters argued that the MDC should field a slate of
candidates;
Tsvangirai's argued for a boycott. When party leaders voted on
the issue,
Ncube's side narrowly won - but Tsvangirai declared that as
president of the
party, he was not bound by the majority's decision.
In the ensuing
divorce, each side accused the other of treason, and each
said the other had
been infiltrated by Mugabe's spies, a charge that was
probably true for
both. But in the 18 months since then, the two factions'
differences have
persisted - as has the violence, albeit sporadically.
Both Tsvangirai and
Ncube have publicly deplored the violence within the
opposition's ranks.
Tsvangirai, in particular, said that the split in the
opposition "is sad and
tragic," but added that the "petty squabbles" between
the two factions were
now "water under the bridge." But in a party founded
on the nonviolent
principles of Gandhi and King, the image of disarray and
to some critics,
hypocrisy, has taken its toll in support from civic groups
and the
press.
Roy Bennett, a Zimbabwean in exile who is the treasurer of
Tsvangirai's wing
of the party, says those who bemoan the state of the MDC
are missing the
point.
"Is the opposition the problem in Zimbabwe?"
asked Bennett, who now lives in
South Africa. "The problem is Robert Mugabe
and ZANU-PF." He was referring
to Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front.
Ncube says he agrees, which is why the
two sides are attempting to present a
common front in the 2008 elections.
But he and others find a disturbing
precedent to the discord - the leader of
Zimbabwe's original liberation
movement, Robert Mugabe, suddenly decided
after taking power in 1980 that he
alone knew what was best for his people,
and waged a brutal war against
those who disagreed.
Nonviolence and
democratic decision-making, he said, "are at the heart of
what we stood for.
This is why we are opposed to the presidency of Robert
Mugabe. We don't want
a one-man show."
Zim Online
Wednesday 09 May 2007
By Wayne Mafaro
HARARE - The
United States (US) government on Tuesday said it was "deeply
concerned" with
the growing levels of political violence and intimidation in
Zimbabwe.
In a statement released in Washington, US State Department
spokesperson Sean
McCormack said the rise in cases of human rights abuses
and intimidation
were a great cause for concern to the United States
government.
"We condemn the serious human rights abuses and growing
climate of fear and
intimidation for which the government of Zimbabwe bears
primary
responsibility," said McCormack.
The US said Zimbabwe's
seven-year old political crisis was threatening to
destabilize the whole
southern African region.
"The situation has taken a toll on the people of
Zimbabwe as well as the
people in southern Africa as a region, discouraging
foreign investment,
creating a potential for a refugee crisis and food
shortages and reducing
trade within the region," he said.
McCormack
said the US will continue to press President Robert Mugabe's
government to
respect the media, the judiciary and legitimate opposition
political
parties.
The statement comes a week after international human rights
watchdog Human
Rights Watch (HRW), called on the Harare administration to
halt a violent
crackdown on political opponents and civic groups.
The
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum also said last week that Harare had
since
last February intensified a crackdown on political opponents leading
to the
arrest of 294 people and the death of an opposition activist.
Rights
abuses and political violence have become routine in Zimbabwe since
the
emergence of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party as
a
potent electoral threat to Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party. -
ZimOnline
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
08 May 2007
02:25
Nurses at Zimbabwe's major government hospitals are not
reporting for work because they cannot afford transport costs due to low
wages, the country's health minister said.
David
Parirenyatwa told the official Herald newspaper that many
nurses at
state-run hospitals were suffering, and their forced absence had
dealt
another blow to a public health system struggling under a severe
economic
crisis.
Transport costs are rising in line with the country's
galloping
inflation, which at 2 200% is the highest in the
world.
Parirenyatwa said student nurses and nursing
supervisors were
staffing wards and attending to patients, but could not
cope with the large
numbers of people needing attention.
"It is a very difficult situation to manage. Since about half of
the nurses
are not coming to work, it follows that service delivery at those
hospitals
is compromised," he said in comments published on Tuesday.
The minister was not available for further comment.
Nurses
and doctors employed at government hospitals went on a
lengthy strike
earlier this year to press for higher wages, paralysing a
public health
system creaking under the burden of HIV/Aids.
The move forced
President Robert Mugabe's government -- which
faced the prospect of a
full-scale strike by the civil service after
teachers also boycotted work --
to increase wages twice in as many months to
pacify restive government
workers.
Parirenyatwa said his ministry was seeking
additional funding to
review health workers' wages.
Nurses employed by the government earn about Z$550 000 ($2 200
at the
official rate but $22 at the black market rate). Many health
professionals
have left the country for better-paying jobs overseas.
Workers in the Southern African country have borne the brunt of
a severe
economic crisis, blamed on Mugabe's policies and marked by record
inflation,
80% unemployment and persistent shortages of foreign currency,
fuel and
food.
Mugabe denies mismanaging the economy, which he says
has been
hurt by sanctions imposed by Western countries. -- Reuters
SABC
May 08,
2007, 17:45
John Kufuor, the African Union (AU) chairperson and Ghanaian
president, says
African leaders are concerned about the political situation
in Zimbabwe.
Speaking before his meeting with President Thabo Mbeki at the
Union
Buildings today, Kufuor also raised concerns about the continent's
failure
to send troops to war torn Somalia.
The beatings of
opposition members in Zimbabwe moved Kufuor to say Zimbabwe
was embarrassing
the continent and it prompted SADC's Heads of State to hold
a special Summit
in Tanzania. On his feelings about Zimbabwe's political
turmoil, Kufuor
said: "You have to be worried when opposition members are
being beaten up.
The rule of law must be respected."
The two leaders are also expected to
discuss the deployment of UN
peacekeepers to Darfur, and the AU Force in
Somalia.
Kufuor is in South Africa for the seventh ordinary session of
the Pan Africa
Parliament in Midrand. During their meeting the two leaders
will also look
at strengthening existing ties between their respective
countries. Ghana
represents a major African export market for South African
goods. Total
trade volumes are still relatively low in global terms, but it
is expected
that these figures will continue to grow.
In recent
years, trade between South Africa and Ghana has grown
significantly. In 2003
South African exports to Ghana jumped to R1.61
billion - up R979 million
from the previous year. In the same year South
African imports from Ghana
stood at R52 million. South African exports in
2006 amounted to just more
than one billion rand.
By Lance
Guma
08 May 2007
South Africa's Nobel peace prizewinner Archbishop
Desmond Tutu has called on
Africa to condemn human rights violations in
Zimbabwe. He also called on the
South African government to consider
threatening action against Mugabe if
the situation remained unchanged. In an
interview with Reuters via video
link from Hawaii, Tutu said many
Zimbabweans felt betrayed by the failure of
African leaders to condemn a
widening crackdown on the opposition.
Tutu said there seemed to be a
reluctance to call a spade a spade but as he
observed, 'human rights
violations are human rights violations.' He said
most African countries were
unwilling to condemn Mugabe because of his
history as a 'freedom fighter.'
The Archbishop however says despite him
having a high regard for Mugabe, the
Zanu PF leader had destroyed 'an
incredible country.' Last month Tutu issued
a similar statement blasting
African leaders and saying they should feel
ashamed of their silence on
Zimbabwe. He went further to suggest South
Africa should consider, 'turning
off the tap,' (sanctions) if Mugabe refused
to be persuaded to mend his
ways.
Tutu, now 75 years old, is a former
Archbishop of Cape Town who as the first
black bishop in South Africa fought
against the apartheid government. He was
also instrumental in the success of
the Truth and Reconciliation hearings
that followed. According to Reuters
Tutu is aboard the "Semester at Sea"
ship with hundreds of students who have
spent the past three months
travelling the globe.
Reverend Nicholas
Mkaronda who heads the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
chapter in South Africa
told Newsreel Tutu's remarks will help to build an
African voice against
Mugabe. He pointed to statements by the current
African Union chairperson
John Kuffour condemning human rights abuses in
Africa as being part of a
growing chorus of disapproval galvanising the
continent. This tide of
opinion was especially important in light of
attempts by Mugabe to
deliberately portray Zimbabwe's problems as a black
versus white
issue.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
zimbabwejournalists.com
8th May 2007 15:26 GMT
By Charles Mtetwa, recently in
Harare
HARARE - Titus Mlambo has always depended on his small-scale
farming
activities to feed his family. Every year, rains permitting, he
remains with
some surplus produce that he sells enabling him to make ends
meet.
But in the past few years things have not been the same. With the
high cost
of inputs and related costs, the money coming from his crop has
been
dwindling. He has been waiting for his cheque for the current delivery
to
the Zimbabwe government-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Upon
delivery, he curses the day he was born and shrugs his shoulders in
bewilderment at the sight of his seasonal payment for the maize he supplied
to the GMB.
"I depend on farming and this is my life. To say the
least, this is
criminal, they have robbed me of my survival and let alone
the money. How do
they expect me to feed my family," Mlambo, a father of six
school-going
children, bellows as he brandishes a cheque payment for Zd$104
000 he has
just received for the two tonnes of maize he supplied to the
GMB.
The GMB, up until a fortnight ago, has been paying a pittance $52
000 per
tonne (20 bags) for maize supplies and that is enough to buy only
four pints
of milk.
The producer price has been increased to $3
million per tonne, a figure,
which still barely covers the cost of
production, in Zimbabwe's inflationary
economic quagmire.
Depending
upon where you go, a 50 kg bag of fertilizer costs in excess of
$100 000 on
the black market and Mlambo explains that he required more than
300 kg of
the growth-enhancing chemical per hectare to produce enough.
The GMB
sells a bag of fertilizer for $14 000, but it is subject to the
product
being in stock and even then the parastatal rations among the sea of
registered farmers.
There is a risk of even getting fake fertiliser
on the flourishing black
market in Zimbabwe.
Mlambo's situation is
repeated in many spheres and sectors of life in
Zimbabwe, enmeshed in an
unprecedented economic calamity. Picture this;
Zimbabwe has been without a
normal currency in over three years and has been
resorting to expiring
cheques, which often have to be revalued to curb
quantities of the 'money'
one can carry.
The southern African country's inflation is officially
over 2000 percent -
the last time it was reported. The IMF has already
projected the figure
would hit 5000 percent this year, but the government no
longer publishes the
monthly figures, deeming it more embarrassing as prices
go up in some cases
twice daily despite threats of prosecution from a
government clinging on by
the thread.
In a two-week period in which
this correspondent was in Zimbabwe in April,
the price of milk went up by
100 percent to $12 000.
Consider this, the Government takes a keen
interest in prices of such basic
commodities and yet they are still going up
rapidly, but for those products
deemed luxurious, it is free for all and it
is the majority of Zimbabweans
enduring the pain of poverty.
Despite
his poor earnings, Mlambo said he still had fork out $250 000 to buy
a one
litre of tick greaser, barely enough for his herd of 10 cattle. "You
tell
me where is the logic?" he quizzes.
Perhaps Mlambo consoles himself that
in his Chipinge rural setting, there
are no rental or transport costs to
bear in comparison to those in urban
areas.
Humphrey Sithole (40) has
been teaching in the last 15 years in Harare and
is considering quitting his
job in August and tries his luck in South Africa
like many Zimbabweans have,
braving the ill treatment by authorities across
the Limpopo River that marks
the border between the two southern African
countries.
Sithole's net
salary is $300 000 monthly. "My transport cost is $200 000 per
month and my
rent is $200 000. Need I say more?" he shakes his head, looking
around to
see if anyone is listening to the conversation, in a country where
leaders
have now been galvanised against any criticism by the very people
they are
expected to be accountable to.
It is an offence to speak ill of president
Robert Mugabe in public according
to Zimbabwean laws enacted in recent years
in the midst of the economic
meltdown.
And yet workers cant take it any
more.
Teachers, nurses, secretaries, clerks, managers and many other
workers are
not turning up for work as they cannot bear the cost of going to
work for
pittance in remuneration.
Nurses' basic monthly salary is
pegged at slightly above $111 000 and only
medical allowances were adjusted
when they went on strike a few weeks ago.
With the inclusion of other
allowances like transport and housing,
State-registered nurses said they
were earning not more than $550 000 while
grade 11 matrons were getting
around $800 000 including allowances.
Nurses like teachers, are no longer
turning up for work, raising concern
about the welfare of the ill, in a
country ravaged by HIV/AIDS.
Trust Chingome, who works at the passport
offices in Harare, summed up the
situation: "You have to be able to steal
from your employer to survive.
Corruption is reaching dangerous
levels."
Privately senior government officials and military chiefs concede
the
situation is unbearable. But they will not fathom any rebellion as they
benefit from corrupt deals that bedevil the social fabric of
Zimbabwe.
Take for instance pump price for fuel is $20 000 a litre for
the public and
yet government officials buy the same product through a
government run
commercialised department CMED for just over $800, not even
enough to buy a
sweet on the streets which costs $1 000.
Trade unions
are pushing for the minimum wage to be increased to $1,5
million, up on the
current $50 000, enough to buy 10 kg of mealie-meal. At
Zimbabwe Newspapers,
the country's largest newspaper and printing company,
the lowest paid worker
has just had their monthly wage increased to $300 000
from the previous $150
000.
To use a cliché there is a glimmer of hope for the workers in two
respects
as the 2008 plebiscite approaches. The government soften and
provide
Zimbabweans some reprieve or the other one is for voters to turn up
in
droves in deciding the direction of country's governance
situation.
Zimbabwe's exiled workers continue to be a source of lifeline
for those
lucky enough to have a family member living in the diaspora. The
recent
discovery of diamonds in the Marange area some 300 km south east of
the
capital Harare has been a major source of economic activity, in a
country
with a record shrinking economy without being in a civil
war.
Police are now guarding the area and will arrest anyone in
possession of the
previous mineral whose discovery has been seen by many as
an oasis in the
midst of the economic crisis. The diamond granules fetch
from anything from
$2 million to over $100 million depending on the
quality.
Road blocks litter the Mutare-Masvingo road, as police stop
vehicles
searching for the diamonds. Those who have gone to look for the
'ngodas' as
the mineral is affectionately called, tell harrowing stories of
armed police
brutality in the midst of quest for survival.
The Zimbabwean
(08-05-07)
THE VANGUARD
ALERTALERT
STUDENT LEADER
ATTACKED
Harare
Clifford Hlatywayo Vice President of the
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Student
Representative Council (SRC) was badly
assaulted by suspected securocrats
from the dreaded Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) today, 8 May 2007
at 2am at the
University.
Impeccable sources revealed that six men armed with iron bars
and police
baton sticks forced their way into Clifford's room in the New
Complex Hall
of residence at the UZ at around 2;00 am .They started to
assault him and
when he passed out they threw him down from the first floor.
He was seen and
assisted by a sympathetic UZ security officer who called
the police and
Zimbabwe National Students' Union (ZINASU).
Clifford
is recuperating at a local private hospital courtesy of the Student
Solidarity Trust.
Information Desk
Zimbabwe National Students
Union
21 Wembly Road, Eastlea, Harare, Zimbabwe,
+263912471673/
+2634788135
zinasu@gmail. com
www.zinasu.org
Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere, Martin Luther King jnr
IOL
May 08 2007 at
11:33AM
Harare - An elephant trampled a 48-year-old man to death in
western
Zimbabwe while his wife and son looked on helplessly, the
state-controlled
Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The
attack occurred on Sunday near Mushumbi Pools in Zimbabwe's
wildlife-rich
Zambezi Valley, days after a buffalo gored three people to
death in the same
area.
The man, Mendas Muzerengeni, was killed when he and his
17-year-old
son tried to scare some elephants away from their fields, police
spokesperson Michael Munyikwa was quoted as saying.
One of the
elephants got irritated and turned on Muzerengeni, said the
report. The
elephant dragged him for 300 metres.
The incident
is the latest in a string of deadly attacks by wild
animals in Zimbabwe.
Last week, a married couple working in their cotton
field in Mushumbi were
killed by a rogue buffalo.
The buffalo went on to later kill a
25-year-old man who was gathering
firewood in the same area.
In
other recent attacks, two British tourists, a mother and her
10-year-old
daughter, were trampled to death by an elephant in Hwange in
March.
In Mwenzi district, a crocodile killed and ate a young
boy in last
month.
A young Australian diplomat on her first
overseas posting was badly
mauled by lions at Harare's Lion and Cheetah Park
in early April while her
boyfriend watched helplessly. - Sapa-DPA
Monsters and Critics
May 8, 2007, 10:47 GMT
Harare - The Zimbabwe government
Tuesday denied cancelling the registration
certificates of hundreds of aid
groups in the country, contradicting earlier
claims by the country's
information minister that they had been
deregistered.
A senior
official in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare said
that only new guidelines on the registration of new
non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) had been issued.
'No NGOs have been deregistered.
What we did is that we issued policy
guidelines for the registration of
NGOs,' Lancaster Museka said in comments
carried by the official Herald
newspaper.
His comments contradict a claim by Information Minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
carried by state television last month that all NGOs in
the country had had
their registration certificates cancelled.
The
government has annulled the registration certificates of all NGOs in
order
to screen out 'agents of imperialism' from genuine organizations
working to
uplift the wellbeing of the poor, the television report said on
April
16.
There are more than 1,000 NGOs registered in the country, working in
the
areas such as human rights, HIV and poverty alleviation.
The
initial report of the clampdown by the government caused an outcry,
especially coming at time when Zimbabwe is facing chronic food shortages,
worsening poverty and a renewed crackdown on the opposition.
Late
last month the government published strict guidelines for the
registration
of new NGOs in the country, saying groups require agreements
signed between
them and the government as well as clearance letters from the
international
police organization, Interpol.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
zimbabwejournalists.com
8th May 2007 19:08 GMT
By Nokuthula Moyo
THE Law
Society of Zimbabwe called a protest march for lunchtime today, to
end with
the presentation of a petition to the Minister of Justice, Patrick
Chinamasa, and the Commissioner of Police, Augustine Chihuri.
The
protest was sparked by the unlawful arrest of lawyers Alec
Muchadehama and
Andrew Makoni, but was against the abuse of the legal
profession and the
defiance of court orders by the police generally.
I had a good breakfast,
and I packed my make up and soap into my
handbag. I anticipated arrest, but I
did not want to ultimately get to
a court (after whatever number of days),
looking like something the cat
dragged in.
At 12.34, I left my office
and walked across town to the High Court, the
meeting point for the march.
As I walked up, I overtook another lawyer, and
asked if he was ready. He
said he was ready, whatever it took. A handful of
lawyers were outside the
High Court when I arrived, as were a number of riot
policeman, standing a
few metres
away.
Our fearless president, Beatrice Mtetwa, carrying in
her hands the petitions
to be delivered. David Morgan, Fraser Edkins and
John Meyburgh, partners
from my own firm. Pat Lewin, Prof Geoff
Feltoe.
Beatrice asked the riot squad what they were doing there, and
they said they
were under instruction not to divulge their orders. They
could be there to
break up the march, to beat us up, or to escort us. A few
more people
arrived, including T. Fitzpatrick, who later was in a scuffle
with a police
officer. Most of us were in our gowns.
As more lawyers
arrived, so also did a woman in a tracksuit, and a man in
plain clothes.
They asked, in Shona, what we were doing there. I looked
around me, and
noticed that most of us there were not Shona speakers. We did
not respond.
Still speaking in Shona, they said they were police, that we
were not
allowed to stop where we were, that we were to disperse. They were
waving
baton sticks around in a menacing manner.
I noticed that baton sticks are
very long; I do no think I have been at
such close range to one before. We
shuffled off a few feet, ad Beatrice
suggested we move into the High Court
courtyard, though we did not get to do
that. Many other lawyers were
arriving then.
Innocent Chagonda, Eileen Sawyer, a veteran human rights
activist,
Mordecai Mahlangu, Raymond Moyo, Peter Lloyd, Chris Seddon, Dickson
Mundia,
Colin Kuhuni, a Councillor of the Law Society, and many others whose
names I
cannot list.
More police and riot squad officers arrived in
truckloads, and were moving
us along in a solid line. Beatrice stood her
ground. A senior police officer
arrived then, whose arrival stopped the
menacing advance of the police. He
spoke to Beatrice for a while.
By
that time I was a few metres away in the path of retreat, and did not
hear
the conversation, but Beatrice told me the officer was saying they had
sent
a letter to the Law Society offices banning the march. I understood
from
Beatrice also, that the march would be banned, but the Law Society
Councillors would still present the petition to the Minister.
The
Minister himself was in cabinet, and we would try and present the
petition
to the Secretary for Justice, David Mangota.
By this time, the numbers of
lawyers were swelling, at least 50 lawyers were
there, with more arriving.
They were walking past the lines of riot squad to
join us.
A car
drove out of the High Court gate. I did not see the occupants,
but a ripple
went round that it was the Judge President. A short while
later, the
Honourable Justice Hungwe drove out. I was personally
disappointed to see
them drive out. It is their orders that are being
defied. It is the officers
of their courts that are being abused and
arrested for carrying out their
work as officers of the court. I had
had delusions of the entire bench
joining us in solidarity, if only to
protect the integrity and independence
of the bench.
It is sad that the bench has done nothing to protect itself
from the sheer
disrespect shown by the police to its existence and the
unmitigated contempt
of its orders.
The senior police officer had
gone to his car. He returned carrying a
loud hailer. He spoke to the growing
number of lawyers. He told us we should
not be there. First, he said, we had
not given notice at least four days in
advance. Second, they had replied in
writing, and also exchanged telephone
calls, to say we could not proceed
with the gathering.
Third, all gatherings are banned in Harare, and that
ban still holds even
for professional bodies. That position is legally
disputed, but I will save
that debate for another forum. He then told us
that we were in an unlawful
gathering. He would tell us three times to
disperse, and if we did not obey,
they would do what they had to do. He then
said in quick succession, 'Please
disperse, please disperse, please
disperse.'
Many of us looked at the baton-wielding police, who started
moving on the
third announcement. We dispersed. Initially, we moved very
slowly, and the
police fell in behind us. We wanted to be seen to be moving
away to avoid
being beaten up, but we were not giving up. I was suggesting
we walk to the
Ministry anyway, with the police behind us, when the police
started
assaulting some lawyers who were in the back of the
column.
We had to move pretty smart then. We were driven as far as the
corner of
Second Street and Samora Machel Avenue (may his liberating soul
rest in
peace!). We went our various ways then, meeting more lawyers as we
went, who
were on their way to the march.
Some of the lawyers who
were assaulted include Beatrice Mtetwa, Mordecai
Mahlangu, T. Fitzpatrick,
and Chris Seddon.
What was the march about? For quite some time now, the
police have
threatened and even assaulted lawyers for representing people. It
seems to
be the attitude of our Government that if they want to arrest you,
you
should give up all your rights. No legal representation, no
defence.
The state is the policeman, the prosecutor and the judge. Any
lawyer who
dares represent you incurs the wrath of the State.
The police
have often threatened to arrest lawyers for simply doing
their duty. The
threats have grown in recent weeks, and last Friday, the
police did arrest
two lawyers, and a day or so later, they beat up
another lawyer.
Alec
Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni have been representing MDC activists who
were
arrested in the last few weeks. More than 40 activists are reported to
be
in custody, many have been severely
assaulted, and they have been denied
food, medical attention, and even
access to family members and lawyers. Both
Andrew and Alec's wives have been
threatened.
On Friday afternoon,
the two lawyers were leaving the High Court when they
were arrested. No
reasons were given initially.
Detective Inspector Rangwani refused to
allow access by legal practitioners
and family.The two lawyers were even
denied food. Lawyers who sought to
represent the two were themselves
threatened with arrest and assault.
Three High Court orders were issued
for various things, including
access by lawyers and doctors and family, and
food, and ultimately, for
their release.
All the court orders were
totally ignored by the police. A representative
of the Attorney General,
Richard Chikosha, was assaulted by Assistant
Commissioner Mabunda, for
consenting to a court order.
I have not heard of any official protest by
the Attorney General, on
the assault of his officer, Richard Chikosha; on the
usurpation of his
Constitutional duties by the police; on the disrespect and
defiance of
court orders.
The police should act on the instructions of
the Attorney General, not the
other way round. I had hoped that the Attorney
General
would make a very public protest, if only for the protection of
his
officers.
The Minister of Justice has also continued to be quiet.
He clearly is not
concerned about the violence and chaos that is affecting
his Ministry. Now
that we have an 'indigenous' bench, one would
expect
the Minister to protect the bench, but the current bench is
suffering
the fate of the previous one. What goes round, comes
round.
The bench itself has not complained about the defiance of its
orders. It
does not seem to see any threat to itself. If lawyers can be
arrested and
beaten up by the police, judges run the same risk. But in this
country, you
do not act until the monster has eaten all your neighbours and
gets to your
gate.
The Commissioner of police, of course, is not
expected to do anything about
all this. Such violence and abuse would not be
perpetrated by the police
without his express or tacit
authority.
None of the regional and international police bodies have
condemned our
Commissioner of Police for any of the actions of his police
force.
Ours is a country by name. It no longer deserves to be called a
state, let
alone a sovereign one. We traded our sovereignty the day we
allowed violence
to determine and run our lives. We are a flock without a
shepherd.
We have no hope of protection in this country, and certainly
not the
protection f the law.
But for the sake of this country, for
those who have died in its defence
through the years, for the sake of the
children whose school fees we can no
longer afford, for the sake of the
unborn ones, our
children and our children's children, we will continue to
stand up for
what is right. Other dictatorships have fallen, this one will
also
fall.
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
Nokuthula
Moyo - Moyo is the current chairperson of the Legal Resources
Foundation
National Catholic Reporter
Editorial
It is difficult to know how the growing tensions in Zimbabwe
will end and
increasingly difficult to hope that the end will be
peaceful.
It is clear that the authorities in this beleaguered African
country are
less than happy with the assessment of the country's Catholic
bishops in
their recently released pastoral letter, "God Hears the Cry of
the
Oppressed" ( see story).
Somewhere along the way, the Catholic
leaders in Zimbabwe had to make a
fundamental decision: whether being a
Catholic community meant keeping their
thoughts, prayers and experiences
inside the sanctuary walls, or taking
their analysis of sinful, oppressive
structures to the public square and, in
that tired but apt phrase, speaking
truth to power.
They've done the latter, and life for many has become
dangerous.
It is not a new phenomenon. We know ministers of various
denominations whose
faith has compelled them to not only help "the poor" but
also to investigate
the reasons people are poor, powerless, hungry. In the
usual pattern, their
Christianity eventually becomes a threat to the
state.
It is true of now legendary figures, from Dom Hélder Câmara and
Cardinal
Paulo Evaristo Arns of Brazil to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El
Salvador to
Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera of Guatemala and the countless
lesser known
bishops, priests, catechists and believers who were compelled
by faith to
confront the evil of social and state systems in Latin America.
Many paid
with their lives.
In Poland, priests and laypeople were not
speaking out of the context of
Latin American liberation theology, but their
confrontation with the evils
of communism required no less a fundamental
decision about raising the
demands of justice in the public square. The
concept of Solidarity was no
less dangerous.
It is easy to point to
excesses in Latin America or disturbing compromises
with the state by church
officials in Poland. But in neither case does the
lack of perfection
diminish the power and truth of what was undertaken,
motivated by faith, to
liberate humans.
The complaint, of course, particularly from those with a
large stake in the
status quo, is that the church should not become
political and worldly, but
should remain spiritual and uninvolved.
Believers' rewards will come later.
But then one runs into, as Garry Wills
has put it in his book What Jesus
Meant, the radical love of Christianity,
"exigent, searing, terrifying,"
inherent in the lines: "I hungered and you
gave me food. I thirsted and you
gave me drink. I was an alien and you
welcomed me, I was naked and you
clothed me, I was ill and you tended me, I
was in prison and you came to
me."
Casting one's lot with those
words and with such people can make life
difficult and dangerous.
We
see it when our own beleaguered bishops approach the immigration debate
without equivocation. All of the complications of U.S. immigration law and
the complex dynamics of international trade recede before the mandate to
love in so radical a way that the world at large has trouble comprehending
it.
The price here ranges from funny looks to heated debate. The
price in
Zimbabwe could be far greater. The Zimbabwean bishops are walking a
fine
line. They encourage public prayer, but the piety is aimed at public
"corruption" and "bad governance."
In praying for an end to "further
bloodshed" and to "avert a mass uprising,"
the bishops also urge an end to
the brutal regime of President Robert
Mugabe.
Priests suspected of
aiding in the distribution of the pastoral letter are
receiving visits from
security personnel. The threats to the Catholic
community are imminent and
ominous.
For further details on the situation, see the Human Rights Watch
Web site
or, if you want to be more directly involved, see the Amnesty
International
Web site. Under the Zimbabwe button you'll find details on
writing to
Zimbabwean officials. As small as that act may seem, it has
proven an
effective strategy to let dictators know that the world, in the
form of
individuals from all over the planet, are concerned and are
watching.
Writing and praying are small ways to join those who now face
danger after
making their fundamental decision to move, unarmed and
vulnerable, against
the oppression.
National Catholic Reporter, May
11, 2007
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
08 May, 2008
Zimbabwe's capital is not a good place to
become ill theses days. Many
clinics are reported to have shut down as
doctors and nurses fail to turn up
for work saying they do not have enough
money for bus fare. Our Harare
correspondent Simon Muchemwa visited several
primary care facilities and
reports that patients were being turned away and
referred to Parirenyatwa
and Harare Hospitals. But these city hospitals have
no staff either.
Muchemwa said those who decided to go for private care were
also shocked
because private doctors have raised their fees from Z$100 000
up to Z$300
000 and even Z$ 1 million.
According to Muchemwa, some
hospital staff are so desperate they have
resorted to taking supplies like
gloves and cotton wool and selling them for
cash to help pay their transport
fees and other basic necessities. Doctors
and nurses at the large hospitals
are not on strike, but many are simply not
showing up due to a lack of
funds.
Muchemwa visited one radiology department in Harare where he said
patients
were being asked to pay cash in advance but were not given
receipts. He
believes the money is not going to the hospital but to the
staff who need
bus fare.
Muchemwa said he was distressed at the sight
of pregnant women being turned
away from the clinics. The majority cannot
afford the new increased
consultation fees at private
hospitals.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Today: CHRA Vice Chairperson Israel Mabhoo was on Friday
summoned to the Braeside Police Station. It remains UNCLEAR what they wanted from him. He
has been unavailable to visit the police station. When he returns to
Mabhoo said a
Sergeant Gumbura phoned him on Friday advising him that they needed him at the
police station on Friday. Another police officer called him again using a hidden
identity but identified himself as Constable Moyo. Having been away since
Friday, the Vice-Chairperson has today presented himself to the police in the
company of our lawyer Mpiwa Mangwiro. For details please contact our lawyer on
0912 902 493.
The Association
is anxious to know why the police want him but then we will only know once he
visits the police station.
He received the
call from a police officer who only identified himself as from Braeside Police
Station. This followed a successful
Tribunal meeting at Sunningdale Community Hall on Friday afternoon attended by
about 40 residents.
The Tribunal or
‘The Peoples’ Court’ is a mock trial of Minister Ignatius Morgan Chiminya Chombo
and his pawn Sekesai Makwavarara the chairperson of the illegal commission
running the City of Harare where residents ‘testify’ as State witnesses against
the Minister and Makwavarara.
The police have
been on a violent offensive against members of civil society, the opposition,
arresting them, detaining them for long periods and torturing them while in
their custody for allegedly being part of a broad movement to remove Robert
Mugabe’s regime by force. That is untrue and the police know
that.
“CHRA for Enhanced Civic Participation in
Local Governance”
Ends
________________________________________________________________________
For further
details please contact us on chrainfo@zol.co.zw, and on mobile 0912 924 151, 011 862 012, 011 443 578
and 011 612 860 or visit us at Exploration House, Third Floor,
8 May 2007
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT: Police Must Stop This Abuse
THE
Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) is outraged by the barbaric attack
on lawyers by the police while protesting outside the High Court against the
harassment and illegal detention of renowned human rights defenders, Alec
Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni.
The Association wishes to reiterate its
commitment to justice, advocates for equity before the law and vehemently
denounces its (the law) selective application.
The harassment of people
who defend us against organised violence and torture is a serious a mockery to
the pronouncements that Harare is a democracy. We urge the international
community, especially the leadership of the African Union (AU) and the Southern
African Community Development Community (SADC) to use their influence on Harare
to end targeted harassment and the disregard of the rule of law.
In that
vein we demand:
· A full investigation of the incident and the
production of a report naming those responsible.
· An immediate
end to the harassment of peace loving Zimbabweans crying to have a say in
affairs that determine their destiny
· Return to rule of law
without fear or favour.
To our colleagues we say: Remain resolute in
reclaiming our democratic space to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe retain
their power.
“CHRA for Enhanced Civic Participation in Local
Governance”
Ends
Silence
Chihuri
The proposition by Morgan Tsvangirai of an amnesty for Mugabe
and his inner
circle for the good of Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans should be
hailed by all
genuinely peace loving Zimbabwe. This vicious cycle has to be
ended
somewhere. It cannot be a continuous orgy of retribution and
retaliation.
Common sense has to prevail from source with the national and
political
leadership.
If Mugabe could wave the olive branch
to Ian Smith and Co then surely there
should be nothing untoward about
Tsvangirai doing the same to Mugabe. Smith
killed thousands of innocent
Zimbabweans not to mention the guerrillas who
sacrificed their lives to
liberate us. When Mugabe tore into the airwaves on
the even of independence
with his statesmanlike speech of reconciliation and
forgiveness, he was
hailed as a pragmatic leader who was a breath of fresh
air. I think
Tsvangirai is mulling the route that makes great leaders
because as he said
in an interview a short while ago, no amount of
retribution will ever heal
the wounds of those who have suffered at the
hands of the monstrous
dictatorship that is ZANU PF.
Nelson Mandela emerged from the
ashes of apartheid South Africa to become
one of the greatest leaders Africa
has ever produced. Yet the bedrock of
Mandela's policy was enmeshed in
conciliation and reaching out to the very
people who had humiliated him,
killed most of his comrade-in-arms and
oppressed Black South Africans.
Mandela was never vilified but he was lauded
as a great man of wisdom and
integrity. I personally think that Tsvingirai
has latched a gear up his
ladder of leadership with a statesmanlike and
visionary proposition for
peace and brotherhood. Zimbabwe is desperate for
that spirit today - of
conciliation and tolerance.
Yes the wounds are still fresh and
the fire of pain is still burning in the
hearts of Zimbabweans, but
Tsvangirai is no less a victim himself. He has
endured as much pain and
suffering at the hands of the dictatorship and he
is merely chatting the way
as a leader. Of course bold moves always come
with at times misplaced
recriminations. I am one of those people who in the
past have yearned to see
bold moves being taken by our political leadership
and I should be among the
first to welcome when such signs of political
sanity manifest themselves in
the form of propositions and overtures that
would certainly guarantee peace
and continued prosperity in our strife torn
country.
Zimbabwe
today is a country that is deeply divided with the seeds of
division being
largely sown by politicians who are the government of the
day. Ours is a
dangerously polarised country today, and it would be a recipe
for full-scale
strife should no bold efforts be made by future leaders to
normalise the
trend towards worse disintegration. This is a very opportune
moment to start
chatting the conciliatory course of futurist politics
because the successful
reconstruction and rehabilitation of Zimbabwe will
hugely hinge upon wisdom
and peaceable existence rather than animosity.
Yes Mugabe has
presided over one of the worst regimes in our time and
overseen the worst
decadence during his tenure. But history has told that
those who mess up
never do it with an intention to clean up because if this
were the case,
then they would never do it in the first place. However, it
is always the
duty of others to do the clean up and our country is one that
needs quite a
bit of cleaning up in the comings years. That kind of national
purification
will have to start with plugging the source of the dirty that
is Mugabe. If
you rapture a leaking pipe then you will end up with more
sewage on yours
hands. Mugabe is no different because he is dragging a lot
of dangerous
baggage with him.
People may clamour for Mugabe's blood but they
may needlessly prolong the
suffering of the innocent citizens of our country
some of whom are dying
needless deaths due to lack of ordinary medicines.
Others are going for days
on end without a decent meal while sleeping in the
open. All this is because
Mugabe cannot be dislodged and will not yield
power without force. The
consequences of employing force on Mugabe,
entrenched as he is at the
moment, is a disastrous deterioration and
prolongation of the prevailing
situation. The circumstances obtaining in our
country are precarious and any
further slip down the slop will be
catastrophic and even much more difficult
to recover from. The more threats
we hail at Mugabe the deeper he digs in
his
heels.
Tsvangirai's proposition maybe misconstrued for a fall on
the last hurdle or
maybe given as a sign of someone looking for a quick fix
to the current
problem, but that is no quick fix at all. In fact that move
will prove to be
the largest block on the foundation of the future of
Zimbabwe. It should be
known that Zimbabwe is one nation and that the
electorate is the same that
is courted by ZANU PF and the MDC. There has to
be a constructive approach
towards reaching out to that electorate no matter
how divided it is between
ZANU PF and the MDC. The people who today sing
ZANU PF songs and vote ZANU
PF are the same who tomorrow might vote for the
MDC. They will not be won
over by force but rather, they will need to be
reached out to. And that
includes their leadership as well no matter how
cruel. They have to be shown
the way because following their footsteps would
be total failure to raise
the bar of leadership.
The
Zimbabwean crisis will only take a homegrown solution and that solution
can
only be found if our leaders start exploring the ways that benefit the
nation more than themselves. Tsvangirai is exploring one such avenue and it
is a very refreshing move. Mugabe will not listen to anyone and least of all
Thabo Mbeki. This so-called South African initiative fronted by Mbeki will
be in the sand in no time and the sooner Zimbabweans realise that the
better. Mugabe will never willingly retire as long as the prospect of
prosecution and incarceration lingers over his conscience. The man knows
what he has done and because power has its limits, he is powerless to
forgive himself. It will only take the people to forgive disgraced leaders
like Mugabe and Co and people like Tsvangirai do have the morale high ground
to seek consensus on such an essential national issue. Tsvangirai is simply
seeking consensus and the people of Zimbabwe should duly yield
it.
It should be bone in mind that Mugabe still has a significant
following in
Zimbabwe. His supporters are a cocktail of genuine admirers and
sympathisers
who still view Mugabe as the hero of our liberation struggle.
Then there are
the crooks that would love to have Mugabe where he is for as
long as
possible, not because they love him, but because it is enriching
them. Of
course it would be a loss and painful experience to allow such
people to go
scot-free and not be brought to book. However, the benefits of
allowing all
Zimbabweans the experience of all-inclusive and peaceful
reconstruction and
re-integration into economic and political existence, far
out ways the loss
of revenge through the prevalence of common sense over
animalism.
Mugabe and his inner circle are all terribly arrogant
and they would beat
their chests loud but this is the time for nation
builders rather than
nation wreckers to assume the national mantle. It is
time for leaders who
have the vision to take Zimbabwe into that next level
and it will take tough
decisions take by humble citizens with the pragmatism
to forgive and move
on. Leaders need the support of their people to see
through those difficult
but necessary
decisions.
Silence Chihuri is a Zimbabwean who writes
from Scotland. He can be
contacted on silencechihuri@hotmail.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
08 May, 2008
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
reports that 11 of their
activists from Chegutu who were arrested last year
during the September 13
mass protests were found not guilty of behaviour
likely to cause an uprising
and disturbing peace. A Chegutu magistrate made
the ruling on Tuesday after
the State witnesses failed to show up to
testify.
Khumbulani Ndlovu, the ZCTU Information Officer, said the
witnesses were the
four police officers who made the arrests. The magistrate
was angered by the
behaviour of the police because they had failed to appear
in court on
several occasions since last year. He immediately issued
warrants for their
arrest saying this should serve as a warning to other
police officers not to
simply arrest and brutalize innocent citizens without
cause.
It is highly unlikely that the police officers will be detained
since these
arrests are all part of a state sponsored campaign against the
opposition
and civic organisations. The police have been making arrests
around the
country and assaulting or torturing detainees before releasing
them. There
is a consensus that the government is attempting to intimidate
opposition
officials and supporters ahead of the elections due next
year.
In related news, the news Editor of The Worker newspaper, Bright
Chibvuri,
is due to appear before a Plumtree Magistrate on Wednesday. He is
charged
with practicing journalism without accreditation. But the ZCTU said
Chibvuri
was arrested while attending a district orientation workshop in his
capacity
as a ZCTU staff member, not a journalist.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
nasdaq
UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The U.N.
Human Rights Council has failed to
criticize egregious human rights
violations since it replaced a discredited
U.N. rights body last year, two
watchdog groups said Monday.
The two groups, U.N. Watch and Freedom
House, released reports
charging that rights violators such as Cuba, Saudi
Arabia and China have
shielded themselves - and countries such as Sudan and
Zimbabwe - from
criticism as members of the new group.
The
groups said the U.N. General Assembly is also expected to select
several
other countries with poor rights records to become new members of
the body
this month. The groups named Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar as
candidate
nations that were unqualified for membership because of their poor
rights
records. There are only 15 candidates for the 14 open seats in the
47-member
council.
U.N. Watch, based in Geneva, described the council's first
year as
"profoundly disappointing."
"Members are supposed to be
elected based on their human rights
records, yet the council includes
persistent violators, and after the
upcoming elections is expected to
include several more," the U.N. Watch
report said. "The council's record so
far is profoundly disappointing."
U.N. Watch, which monitors the
U.N.'s compliance with its charter, is
associated with the American Jewish
Committee. Freedom House is a New-York
based democracy
watchdog.
The Human Rights Council, which began its work last June
and has no
power beyond drawing international attention to rights issues,
was meant to
replace the highly politicized Human Rights Commission with a
new body that
could keep some of the worst offenders out of its
membership.
Instead, critics say, it has been dominated by African
and Muslim
countries that have sided with China, Cuba and other countries in
preventing
criticism of any government but Israel. The U.S. has also not
sought a seat
on the council, accusing it of anti-Israel bias.
According to U.N. Watch, the council has issued 12 country-specific
resolutions: nine censures of Israel and three "non-condemnatory"
resolutions on Sudan.
The most recent resolution on Sudan,
passed in late March, expressed
concern over the situation in Darfur but
avoided any outright criticism of
the Sudanese government.
Amnesty International said the resolution had the potential to be a
"major
turning point" in the council's approach to Darfur because Sudan's
allies
supported it, but the group failed to denounce the role of the
Sudanese
government and the janjaweed in grave violations of human rights.
On the Net:
Human Rights Council: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/
U.N. Watch: http://www.unwatch.org
Freedom
House: http://www.freedomhouse.org
Business Day
08 May 2007
Jean-Jacques
Cornish
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Business
Day Correspondent
THE Pan African Parliament (PAP) will hold an
unprecedented debate this week
on the worsening human rights situation in
Zimbabwe.
Parliamentary clerk Murumba Werunga said yesterday a motion on
the
continuing human rights abuses will be introduced today by South African
legislator Suzanne Vos. The motion, seconded by Botswana MP L Boyce Sebetla,
will be debated on Friday.
Vos, an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP, is
one of the five South African
parliamentarians seconded to PAP, which opened
its seventh session in
Midrand yesterday.
"As members of the Pan
African Parliament, we are charged with protecting
human rights in Africa,"
said Vos. "We are also responsible for
consolidating democracy and ensuring
good governance. We cannot ignore the
pictures on television of Zimbabwean
police beating opposition supporters
and the bloody faces of Zimbabwe
opposition MPs."
Speaking at yesterday's opening ceremony, Ghanaian
president and African
Union chairman John Kufuor said notwithstanding the
value placed on
sovereignty, the PAP should have more to say about what he
called "sister
nations where domestic policies are, or seem to be, at
variance with the
principle of respecting and upholding human
rights".
PAP president Gertrude Mongela gave Kufuor a shopping list of
priorities for
the cash-strapped four-year-old body that remains a talk
shop.
The parliament has still to receive most of the $12m due from the
African
Union for its 2006 budget. This was withheld pending an internal
auditing
process which has since been completed.
The body's financial
woes are compounded by the tardiness of payments by its
member states - 47
of the 53 African Union (AU) members - who are required
to deliver the other
half of the $24m budget.
SABC
May 08,
2007, 18:45
Illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe often find themselves
stranded in
Johannesburg with no money to pay their traffickers, young women
can easily
become prey to men looking for sex slaves.
SABC's Special
Assignment tracked the journey of a young border jumper as
she faces an
uncertain future in a city struggling with the huge influx
while the
department of home affairs is continuing its mandate of deporting
all
illegal immigrants in the country.
One jumper shares her story
Brenda
Ncube (17) is full of hope after she just crossed the border
illegally with
50 others. She arrives in Johannesburg with no money and
cannot to pay her
trafficker. They call the drop off place the kraal. It is
a drop-off point
for many illegal Zimbabweans who arrive in the city.
What happens there
is the daily experience of thousands of new arrivals.
Meanwhile the city of
Johannesburg has set up a migrant help desk also
designed to keep track of
illegal activities. Jak Koseff, of the City of
Joburg, says they tracked
Brenda down at the Central Methodist Church where
she has found shelter
along with hundreds of other Zimbabweans facing an
uncertain
future.
The Boston Globe
Published: May 8,
2007
There are murderous dictatorships in the world today that
have one thing in
common: support from the People's Republic of China. In
Sudan, Myanmar,
Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe, China has become an enabler of
evil.
Although Beijing rules in the name of Communism, the motives of its
leaders
for backing tyrants have nothing to do with that doctrine. Their
reasons for
helping the genocidal regime in Sudan avoid effective United
Nations
Security Council sanctions, or for voting against a Council
resolution to
censure the Burmese junta, are more capitalist than
Communist.
Being the world's fastest-growing consumer of energy and
having almost no
oil of its own, China wants to protect its investments in
foreign
oil-producing consortiums. So China has partnered with governments
that kill
their own people, using its state-owned companies to acquire
interests in
oil or natural gas reserves around the world.
It is
known that the China National Petroleum Company owns the largest slice
of
Sudan's two major oil consortiums and buys more than half of Sudan's oil
exports. It is less well known that after Uzbekistan's despot, Islam
Karimov, massacred protesters in Andijan in 2005, China's Foreign Ministry
said it staunchly supports Uzbekistan's striking at "terrorism, splittism,
and extremism."
This was China's way of equating Karimov's repression
with Beijing's
campaigns against autonomy for Tibet, independence for
Taiwan, and political
activism by Muslim Uighurs in western China. Shortly
afterward, Karimov was
received for a state visit in Beijing, where he
signed a $600 million joint
venture to develop oil fields in
Uzbekistan.
Because China fears outside interference, Beijing has
elevated
noninterference into a sacrosanct principle justifying its
commercial
partnerships with dictators such as Zimbabwe's Robert
Mugabe.
China seems unpersuaded by the argument that it is a waste of money
to
pursue energy security by buying stakes in oil reserves in Sudan or
natural
gas pipelines in Myanmar. So the best way to deter China's rulers
from being
the principal enablers of genocide in Darfur or ethnic cleansing
in Myanmar
is to shame them as often as possible. The last thing China's
rulers want is
to have the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing branded with the
name that many
are trying to apply: the Genocide Olympics.
The Zimbabwean
(08-05-07)
HARARE - The United States has
scoffed at growing calls for the lifting of
US and European Union sanctions
against Zimbabwe by the clergy and leaders
of Southern African nations, with
Washington making a clarion call on them
to isolate President Robert
Mugabe's government if they genuinely wanted
reform from the Harare
administration.
The State Department said the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC)and Anglican bishops were misguided in making
the appeal and suggested
its leaders did not understand the dire situation
in Zimbabwe. The statement
by the Anglican bishops, broadly supportive of
the Mugabe regime, has
caused a forore and threatens to further widen the
crevices in the church.
"The statements on Zimbabwean sanctions ... are
disappointing and do not
accurately reflect conditions on the ground," said
a State department
statement. The statement said Mugabe and his policies,
and not the
sanctions, were responsible for the poor economic and social
conditions in
which the people of Zimbabwe are now living and accused the
government of
manipulating the crisis to consolidate power.
"The
humanitarian and economic crises in Zimbabwe are a direct result of
failed
Zimbabwean government policies," the statement said, citing the
imposition
of price controls, artificial exchange rates and the
controversial
land-reform program as examples.
It added that foreign and local
investment in Zimbabwe had been paralysed by
the Mugabe government's
"decision to abandon the basic tenets of rule of law
and
democracy".
"There is clear evidence that the government is trying to
consolidate its
own political position with no regard for democratic
institutions or the
effect on the citizens of Zimbabwe," it
said.
Anglican bishops and SADC leaders last month declared that US and
EU
sanctions against Zimbabwe were unwarranted and ineffectual and called
for
them to be lifted.
Spokesmen of the ruling Zanu (PF) party have
also made public statements
saying there will be no talks between the ruling
party and the opposition
until opposition deputies call for the removal of
sanctions.
The State Department ridiculed this allegation, noting that
the sanctions
affected only Mugabe and his inner circle and said that if
Southern African
nations and bishops truly cared about the Zimbabwean
people, they would work
to isolate the government in Harare.
"SADC
member states concerned about conditions in Zimbabwe should openly
distance
themselves from the failed economic and political policies of the
Mugabe
regime and press for full restoration of democracy and the rule of
law," it
said.
The US and EU sanctions were imposed in 2000 over the effects of
the
Mugabe government's often violent land-redistribution program and his
re-election in 2002 polls that were widely condemned as
fraudulent.
The SADC includes Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic
of Congo,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles,
South
Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The
Herald (Harare)
8 May 2007
Posted to the web 8 May
2007
Harare
THE National Oil Company of Zimbabwe is allocating
about 470 000 litres of
fuel per day to various Government ministries and
departments but this falls
far short of their requirements, a Cabinet
minister said yesterday.
Energy and Power Development Minister Cde Mike
Nyambuya told the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications that
Noczim was trying its level best to import fuel under
difficult conditions.
"Government is importing fuel for the
prescribed sector.
"About 470 000 litres are being availed per day, but
this excludes the
agricultural and public transport sectors.
"Noczim
is trying its best to avail some fuel but it is difficult at this
stage to
satisfy everybody due to the shortage of foreign currency," he
said.
Cde Nyambuya was giving oral evidence on fuel procurement by
Noczim.
The briefing was attended by Noczim acting chief executive
officer Mr Isaac
Mhaka and director of marketing and distribution Mr Krispen
Mashange.
Cde Nyambuya said the country needed at least US$120 million a
month to meet
its fuel requirements but currently there was no capacity to
mobilise such
financial resources.
The minister said the bulk of the
fuel that was running the economy was
being imported by private companies
following the liberalisation of the oil
sector.
Zimbabwe needs at
least 3,5 million litres of diesel and three million
litres of petrol per
day while about 800 000 litres of Jet A1 fuel was
required every
week.
Government, said the minister, was geared to find other alternative
sources
of fuel with the ethanol plant in Chiredzi expected to be in place
by
September this year.
Mr Mhaka told the committee that Noczim was
allocating fuel to critical
Government departments although the parastatal
was failing to meet the
demand.
For instance, the Zimbabwe Republic
Police needs about 300 000 litres of
fuel per week but was getting at least
110 000 while the District
Development Fund was being allocated 20 000
litres per week against a
requirement of about 100 000 litres.
Mr
Mhaka said as part of the drive to mobilise foreign currency, Noczim was
importing fuel under the Direct Fuel Import facility for US$0,60 per litre
and selling it for US$0,64.
The parastatal was also charging oil
companies and individuals for using its
pipeline.
There were also
plans for Noczim to venture into growing flowers for export
as part of the
foreign currency mobilisation.
However, Mr Mhaka dismissed reports that
there had been discovery of diesel
in Chinhoyi.
He said
investigations by Noczim had revealed that a certain spirit medium
was
allegedly "fooling people" at the Chinhoyi Caves but did not
elaborate.
Recently, there were reports that a liquid that resembles
diesel had been
oozing out of a rock at the summit of a hill near Chinhoyi
caves.
The MPs wanted to know why fuel had not been allocated for road
maintenance.
Chairperson of the committee and Makonde legislator Cde Leo
Mugabe (Zanu-PF)
expressed concern over the non-allocation of fuel for road
maintenance.
He said with the pending harmonised presidential,
parliamentary and local
government elections, it was important that the
roads should be maintained.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
The
Zimbabwean president is a past master at orchestrating the political
process
and playing to vested interests.
By Max Sidindo in Gweru (AR No. 111,
8-May-07)
Is President Robert Mugabe weaker than ever before, as he tries
to manage a
ruling party riven with dissent ahead of next year's election?
That, at
least, is the view taken by many of the pundits commenting on
recent
developments in Zimbabwe.
But those who argue that President
Mugabe has lost the plot may be badly
misreading Zimbabwean
politics.
According to the line of reasoning promoted by many analysts,
the ZANU-PF
party has been left fatally divided by its decision to endorse
the
octogenarian president as its candidate for next year's presidential
election. Mugabe himself is ready for the scrap-heap, they say, his
unpopularity largely stemming from an imploding economy which has seen
poverty levels dropping to pre-1960 levels.
There is, however,
another way of interpreting recent events. On closer
inspection, the wily
Mugabe can be seen to have succeeded in refocusing his
party and at the same
time out-manoeuvring his enemies both within and
outside the
party.
His masterstroke was to ensure that the presidential and
parliamentary
elections take place at the same time, a decision which
ZANU-PF's governing
Central Committee endorsed on March 30.
Many
within the party opposed Mugabe's original plan to extend his
presidential
term for two years until 2010, when the parliamentary election
was
scheduled.
Sensing the political risk posed by dissent within ZANU-PF,
Mugabe adroitly
arranged matters the other way round, so that the
parliamentary election was
brought forward to coincide with the presidential
ballot, which has to take
place by March 2008.
That means he can
stand next year when his current term in office expires -
but before that
happens, he can dissolve parliament, leaving most of his
critics without a
political power-base. Then he can invite them to join him
in campaigning for
both his political future and their own.
With its attention refocused on
the end game, ZANU-PF has already put its
election machinery into
motion.
You can tell an election is looming in Zimbabwe when opponents of
the ruling
party are picked up in the middle of the night and beaten while
in police
custody.
You also know ZANU-PF means business when it
begins redrawing constituency
boundaries to suit itself. The latest plan is
to link urban areas, which
tend towards the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, MDC, to rural
constitutiences where ZANU-PF is
strongest.
ZANU-PF's invincibility is only augmented by the woefully
inadequate
response from its main rival, the MDC, which does not seem to
have any new
strategy to counter the Mugabe administration's
chicanery.
The MDC appears to be largely relying on tactics that have
manifestly
failed, rather than looking for new approaches to winning popular
support,
or re-examining past assumptions about the best way of handling
ZANU-PF
intimidation.
The political opposition's dependence on the
help of sympathetic
organisations such as the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, ZCTU, and the
National Constitutional Assembly has proved fruitless,
as most workers are
too busy with their own survival strategies to think
about confronting the
state.
Since they cannot live on their
pitifully low wages in an inflationary
economy, they are relying more and
more on activities that will yield a
daily cash reward, such as cross-border
trading or retailing items like eggs
and vegetables.
This has had a
definite negative impact on the ZCTU's calls for industrial
action, such as
the April 3-4 "stay away" strike.
Nor have opposition tactics like
engaging in running battles with the police
proved effective in changing
attitudes among the general population.
Furthermore, Mugabe's propaganda
machine has succeeded in convincing a large
section of the urban population
that the economic meltdown is a result not
of mismanagement by government,
but of sanctions imposed by the West. Many
of these people blame the
hardship of their lives on the opposition, which
they hold responsible for
the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe. That reduces
the impact of opposition
attempts to use economic problems as an angle for
attacking
Mugabe.
The opposition has also been pinning great hopes on the much
publicised rift
within ZANU-PF that pits the Solomon Mujuru-led camp against
Emmerson
Mnangagwa's faction. It was hoped that the schism would finally
bring the
party to its knees, enabling the opposition to pounce.
But
that was a gross underestimation of the party's underlying strength, and
a
misreading of its internal political dynamics.
The Mujuru and Mnangagwa
factions are led by people who have known and dealt
with each other since
the liberation war days. Many of those on either side
have also been
implicated in the corrupt practices that allowed officials to
benefit from
the illegal acquisition and sale of state assets.
On both counts,
politicians across the party will be very much aware of the
consequences of
letting some outside player - worst of all the MDC - take
over. Given the
choice, they will go for compromise within the ranks in
order to fend off
external challenges.
Ironically, it is the MDC that has suffered more
damage from its own
internal divisions. After building up Morgan Tsvangirai
as a credible
leader, the MDC was left weakened and divided by a schism over
whether or
not to take part in elections in 2005. As a result, the existence
of two MDC
factions confuses voters. By contrast, ZANU-PF still presents a
united front
to the electorate, and even those members who no longer like
Mugabe still
rally behind him.
The MDC has been unable to build up
voter support in rural areas, not least
by the Public Order and Security Act
which effectively bars it from
campaigning unless it gets police clearance,
which never comes. Independent
newspapers cannot be distributed in these
rural areas, and anyone seen in
possession of one can be assaulted, even
killed.
In the countryside, the lack of information means many people do
not
understand the MDC and view as Mugabe depicts it - a group of people
seeking
trouble and conflict. It should not be forgotten that the liberation
struggle was waged in the countryside, and many people still carry the
horrors of war with them. These memories give ZANU-PF plenty to work
with.
The MDC is even finding it hard to mobilise support in Matabeleland
and the
Midlands, historically the areas where Mugabe was weakest. The
president is
helped by the fact that when his party swallowed up the rival
ZAPU in 1987
after a bloody campaign to destroy its support-base among the
civilian
population, ZANU-PF inherited the political mechanisms needed to
control
this region. Now it is putting them to good use to neutralise
potential
opposition sentiment, and the MDC has yet to come up with any
strategy for
countering them and making inroads into Matabeleland and the
Midlands.
It would also be a mistake to underrate grassroots support for
ZANU-PF, in
the shape of the "war veterans" and the youth militia popularly
known as the
"Green Bombers", who together form the front-line forces when
it comes to
intimidating political opponents. ZANU-PF is already in the
process of
recruiting 15,000 young people who will be deployed in December
when the
election campaign gets into full swing. Provincial officials have
already
been asked to deliver quotas of young people to undergo
training.
Another important constituency consists of people who have
benefited from
Mugabe's land seizures. At the bottom end of this group, some
feel that they
have been genuinely empowered by the redistribution of land,
and that they
owe it all to Mugabe. At the top end, there are many powerful
figures -
high-ranking officials from the military, the police, industry and
commerce.
Taken together, they now form a new class of landowners who would
fight to
the end to maintain the status quo.
Another area where the
MDC has failed to come up with new strategies is in
engaging with African
governments, particularly those in the Southern
African Development
Community, SADC.
Mugabe still enjoys considerable respect in the region,
and SADC states have
supported the conduct of elections, certifying them
free and fair, much to
the chagrin of the opposition.
South African
president Thabo Mbeki has refused to condemn Mugabe publicly,
and the MDC
has failed to win his sympathy.
Mbeki's current attempts to mediate in
the Zimbabwean crisis will bear
little fruit, because Mugabe will ensure
that the negotiations drag on and
on until just before the elections. At
that point, the MDC will have run out
of time to campaign and will be in no
position to win.
The Zimbabwean opposition faces a mammoth task ahead of
the 2008 elections.
It is already clear that a campaign strategy based
solely on the economic
crisis will prove futile.
Mugabe may still
have the last laugh.
Max Sidindo is the pseudonym of a reporter in
Zimbabwe.
New Zimbabwe
(London)
OPINION
8 May 2007
Posted to the web 8 May
2007
Obert Chaurura Gutu
STATUTORY Instrument 80A of 2007 is
more fully known as the Customs and
Excise (Designation of Luxury Items)
Notice, 2007.
This Statutory Instrument was promulgated by the Minister
of Finance in
terms of Section 115(2) of the Customs and Excise Act (Chapter
23:02).
The regulations came into effect on April 5, 2007. Basically,
the Statutory
Instrument provides a list of goods that will attract customs
duty and value
added tax in US dollars, Euros or any other currency
denominated under the
Exchange Control (General) Order, 1996 i.e. Statutory
Instrument 110 of 1996
upon the importation of the said goods into
Zimbabwe.
Every resident of Zimbabwe as well as every non-resident person
who imports
the designated so called luxury items into Zimbabwe shall be
liable to pay
customs duty and value added tax in foreign currency. The list
of such
designated goods is long and it varies from the importation of
flue-cured
tobacco, cigarettes, trunks, suitcases, handbags, wooden kitchen
ware, table
ware, electric blankets, tubes, pipes, motor vehicles,
mattresses etc.
The lawful and legal currency of Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe
dollar. Thus,
prices of goods and services within Zimbabwe shall be
denominated in
Zimbabwean dollars unless there is a lawful exception to the
contrary. My
understanding and interpretation of section 115(2) of the
Customs and Excise
Act does not imply that the Minister of Finance has the
relevant legislative
authority to promulgate regulations that make it
mandatory for customs duty
and value added tax in Zimbabwe to be paid in
foreign currency for a certain
category of so-called luxury
goods.
Section 6 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 22:15)
clearly states
that some of the main functions of the Reserve Bank are to
regulate
Zimbabwe's monetary system as well as to achieve and maintain the
stability
of the Zimbabwe dollar. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act also
unequivocally
states that the legal tender in Zimbabwe shall be the
Zimbabwean dollar.
In terms of Section 47 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Act, the Minister of
Finance is empowered to formulate the exchange rate
policy of Zimbabwe in
consultation with the board of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe and in doing so,
the Minister shall ensure that the exchange rate
policy is consistent with
the objectives of the monetary policy of
Zimbabwe.
It therefore, logically follows that it is clearly unlawful for
the Minister
of Finance to promulgate subsidiary legislation the main effect
of which is
to impose the payment of customs duty and value added tax in
foreign
currency upon the importation of so-called luxury goods into
Zimbabwe. The
writer cannot find any legal basis upon which the Minister of
Finance can
promulgate regulations whose other effect is to virtually
dollarise the
payment of customs duty and value added tax in
Zimbabwe.
The lawful currency in Zimbabwe is our very own Zimbabwean
dollar and not
the US dollar, the British pound sterling, the Euro and/or
any other foreign
currency for that matter. Even the Banking Act (Chapter
24:20) does not give
the Minister of Finance the legal authority to effect a
partial
dollarisation of the Zimbabwean economy. What the Minister of
Finance can
lawfully do in terms of the laws of our country is to formulate
the exchange
rate policy and this does not mean that he can also promulgate
that in
certain circumstances; customs duty and value added tax payable in
Zimbabwe
shall be paid in foreign currency.
The Minister of Finance
should not be allowed to dollarise a portion of
business transactions in
Zimbabwe through the back door. Whilst I appreciate
that scarce foreign
currency should not be used to import luxury goods into
Zimbabwe, the
Minister of Finance is still legally bound to follow the laws
of the country
and hence; he should not promulgate subsidiary legislation is
clearly
unlawful and that does not derive any legality from the Reserve Bank
of
Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 22:15), the Customs and Excise Act (Chapter 23:02),
the Banking Act (Chapter 24:20), the Finance Act (Chapter 23:04) or even
from the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Statutory Instrument 80A of 2007
will inevitably lead to the escalation of
the prices of motor vehicles,
furniture and most of the goods that are
listed in the schedule to the
Statutory Instrument. It is a fact that most
goods are being imported into
Zimbabwe mainly because one cannot find
competitively priced alternatives
locally and/or goods are simply not
available in the country any
more.
Thus; the majority of our people are left with no other alternative
but to
import goods such as second hand motor vehicles simply because
locally-assembled brand new motor vehicles and even second hand vehicles are
hardly available. Whilst I do not profess any expertise in the field of
economics, I can safely state that what our economy needs are far reaching
measures to resuscitate the ailing manufacturing and industrial
sectors.
We should come up with economic policies that promote efficient
and
sustainable import substitution activities. I have always wondered why
we
have to import cigarettes into Zimbabwe instead of simply resuscitating
the
tobacco farming and tobacco manufacturing sectors. Instead of our people
having to resort to the importation of second hand Japanese motor vehicles,
we could simply initiate viable policies to resuscitate Willowvale Mazda
Motor Industries and ensure that those vehicles are easily available
locally. Such a policy will obviously create massive employment
opportunities and indeed; our comatose economy can be easily
revived.
To the extent that Statutory Instrument 80A of 2007 is
inconsistent with the
relevant laws of Zimbabwe, it can therefore be
successfully challenged in a
court of law. As long as the Zimbabwe dollar
remains the only legal and
lawful tender within the borders of our country,
Statutory Instrument 80A of
2007 cannot therefore successfully withstand a
legal challenge in a
competent court of law.
Obert Chaurura Gutu is a
Zimbabwean lawyer and writes from Harare
As a JAG member or JAG Associate member, please send any classified
adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Classifieds: jagma@mango.zw
JAG Job Opportunities: jag@mango.zw
Rules for
Advertising:
Send all adverts in word document as short as possible (no
tables, spread
sheets, pictures, etc.) and quote your subscription receipt
number or
membership number.
Notify the JAG Office when Advert is no
longer needed, either by phone or
email.
Adverts are published for 2 weeks
only, for a longer period please notify
the JAG office, by resending via
email the entire advert asking for the
advert to be
re-inserted.
Please send your adverts by Tuesdays 11.00am (Adverts will
not appear until
payment is received.). Cheques to be made out to
JAGMA.
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1.
For Sale Items
2. Wanted Items
3. Accommodation
4. Recreation
5.
Specialist Services
6. Pets Corner
7. Social
Gatherings
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1.
OFFERED FOR
SALE
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1.1
Generators & Inverters for Sale
The JAG office is now an official
agent for GSC Generator Service (Pvt) Ltd
and receives a generous commission
on sales of all Kipor generators and
equipment. Generators are on view at
the JAG office.
The one stop shop for ALL your Generator Requirements
SALES:
We are the official suppliers, repairs and maintenance team of
KIPOR
Equipment here in Zimbabwe. We have in stock KIPOR Generators from 1
KVA to
55 KVA. If we don't have what you want we will get it for you. We
also
sell Inverters (1500w), complete with batteries and rechargeable lamps.
Our
prices are very competitive, if not the lowest in town.
SERVICING
& REPAIRS: We have a qualified team with many years of experience
in the
Generator field. We have been to Kipor, China for training. We
carry out
services and minor repairs on your premises. We service and
repair most
makes and models of Generators - both petrol and diesel.
INSTALLATIONS:
We have qualified electricians that carry out installations
in a professional
way.
SPARES: As we are the official suppliers and maintainers of KIPOR
Equipment,
we carry a full range of KIPOR spares.
Don't forget, advice
is free, so give us a call and see us at: Bay 3,
Borgward Road,
Msasa.
Sales: 884022, 480272 or admin@adas.co.zw
Service: 480272, 480154
or gsc@adas.co.zw
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1.2
For Sale
So Far and No further! Rhodesia's Bid for Independence during
the Retreat
from Empire 1959-1965 by J.R.T. Wood
533 pages; quality
trade paperback; pub. Trafford ISBN 1-4120-4952-0
Southern African edition,
pub. 30 Degrees South : ISBN 0-9584890-2-5
This definitive account traces
Rhodesia's attempt to secure independence
during the retreat from Empire
after 1959. Based on unique research, it
reveals why Rhodesia defied the
world from 1965.
Representing Volume One of three volumes, Two and Three
are in preparation
and will take us to Tiger and thence to 1980;
To
purchase:
Zimbabwean buyers contact Trish Broderick: pbroderick@mango.zw
RSA buyers:
WWW. 30 degreessouth.co.za or Exclusives Books
Overseas buyers see: http://www.jrtwood.com
and a link to
Trafford Publishing http://www.trafford.com/04-2760
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1.3
Pet Food for Sale
Still supplying pets food which consists of 500g of
precooked pork offal and
veg costing $3000 and 250g of pigs liver or heart
costing $3000 for 250g.
Collection points: Benbar in Msasa at
10.00
Jag offices in Philips Rd, Belgravia at 11.30
Peacehaven which is 75
Oxford St at 13.00
This is on Fridays only. Contact details: phone 011
221 088 and E mail at
claassen@zol.co.zw
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1.4
For Sale (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Road motorcycle for sale.
YAMAHA -
Model YZF 600cc - Thundercat - in immaculate condition.
Highest cash offer
secures. For further details contact Dave on 011 600 770
or 091 22 55 653 or
email dapayne@zol.co.zw or leave a
message on 04
744826.
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1.5
For Sale (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Boat
Cougar 16' Hull on trailer with
Mercury redline 125 motor, electric start,
ride glide steering system, two
built in fuel tanks, one carry tank.
Wind surfer
Various '94 Peugeot
405 body parts
Windscreen - cracked
Rear window (with heater
lines)
Bonnet
Boot
4 Doors (one bit of a dent)
3 glasses for the
doors
Door panels
Headlights
Grill
Rear tail lights
Back
seats
Rims x3
Front & rear suspension
Boat motors:
Mercury
Blue line 40hp motor, running but needs minor attn, complete with
controls,
plus many spares
Contact: Sandy on 660535 for further details. Cells
are a
problem
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1.6
THE WEAVERY (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Going Overseas or down South? Why not
take hand woven gifts for your friends
or family?
These super articles
which are light,easy to pack, take or send, and fully
washable.
Contact
Anne on 332851 or 011212424.Or email joannew@zol.co.zw
Crocheted oven
gloves--$255,000.
Cotton oven gloves--$240,000.
Small woven
bags--$210,000.
Large woven bags--$255,000.
Crocheted
bags--$300,000.
Queen(approx.250x240cms) size
bedcover--$1,920,000.
Double(approx.250x210cms) size
bedcover--$1,730,000.
Other sizes to order.
Single Duvet cushions(open
into a duvet)--$1,290,000.
Other sizes to order.
2x1 meter
Throw--$915,000.
Baby Blanket(1x1meter)--$555,000.
3 piece toilet
set--$510,000.
Bath mat--$360,000.(small rug).
Decorated cushion
covers--$255,000.
Table runner--$150,000.
Set(4)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$510,000.
Set(6)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$765,000.
Set(4) crocheted table mats
only--$405,000.
Set(6)fringed table mats + serviettes--$765,000.
Lots of
other combinations.
Small(approx.105x52cms) plain cotton
rug--$360,000.
Medium(approx.120x65cms) plain cotton
rug--$510,000
Large(approx.150x75cms) plain cotton
rug--$765,000.
Ex.Large(approx.230x130cms) plain cotton
rug--$1,650,000.
Small patterned cotton rug--$510,000.
Small rag
rug--$360,000.
Medium rag rug--$510,000.
Medium patterned cotton
rug--$765,000.
Large patterned cotton rug--$1,020,000
Ex.Large patterned
cotton rug--$2,030,000.
Small patterned mohair rug--$1,010,000.
Medium
patterned mohair rug--$1,270,000
Large patterned mohair
rug--$1,650,000.
Ex. Large patterned mohair rug--$2,790,000.
Lots of
other articles.
PLEASE be aware that prices may change without
notice and
orders take some time as they have to be woven and sent from
Gweru to
Harare.
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1.7
Woodwork Machinery / Tools for sale (Ad inserted
08/05/07)
MACHINERY
10" CIRCULAR SAW - (Taiwan) + spare blades,
spindle moulder attachment etc
260mm PLANNER/THICKNESSER(260 x 160) Inca +
spares, lubricant, belt etc
220mm PLANNER & THICKNESSING Inca attachment,
blades , ' v ' belts
260mm wide x 145mm wide BANDSAW Inca + spare
blades
ML8 WOOD LATHE Myford 1metre bed, int. & ext. face plates &
tools + boring
attachment
PEDISTAL DRILL (tall) 4 speed+ 3 size square
hole morticing attachment +
spares
belt, bearings & drum sanding
attechment
HAND MACHINERY
Ingersol/rand COMPRESSOR 800 KPA +10m hose
and attachments
450W Bosch ELECTRIC DRILL
350W Bosch JIG SAW +
blades
Bosch P20 ORBITAL SANDER
750W Elu ROUTER + guide &
bits
600 W Elu BELT SANDER 75 x 480 + 20 spare belts & spares
Stanley
ROUTER (imperial)
950W Rockwell 7.5" hand held CIRCULAR SAW + spare
blades
double ended BENCH GRINDER
Bosch CORDLESS DRILL PSR 12 VE - 2
with 2 cells
HAND TOOLS
4 X extra long SASH CLAMPS
9 x medium SASH
CLAMPS
1metre& 500mm STEEL RULES
1,1metre SPIRIT LEVEL
600mm x
300mm TRI-SQUARE & 1 x 170mm & 1 x 250mm
HAND PLANES trying,
smothing, spoke shave
SAWS: panel, rip, cross cut, tenon, dovetail
FRET
SAW X 2 + spare blades
COPING SAW + spare blades
PAD SAW 7 5
BLADES
HACK SAW
JUNIOR STEEL SAW + spare blades
RATCHET BRACE & 20
Twist bits
16 SCREW DRIVERS
10 piece STANLEY WOOD CHISEL set
6 assorted
WOOD CHISELS
assorted wood chisels and gouges
assorted steel and masonary
chisels and punches -wood & steel
100W (pistol) electric SOLDERING
GUN
POP RIVET GUN
SPIRIT LEVELS X 4 - 1 sliding & 1 line level
2 X
wooden MALLETS
1 X rubber MALLET
5 x small sharpening stones ,
cilindrical, triangular
3 x OIL STONES
5 x SCAPER BLADES
BENCH
HOOK
1,7metre PIT SAW
set of LETTER & NUMBER PUNCHES
TAPE
measures
CIRCULAR HOLE SAWS X 3
3 sets DRILL, 13 MASONARY,4 ROSE HEAD
& 10 GRINDING bits
AND MANY OTHER ASSORTED TOOLS AND EXTRA'S -
SCREWS, NAILS, FINISHES, ETC.
Please phone : 0912
266526
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1.8
MISCELLANEOUS FOR SALE (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
ZNSPCA IS SELLING GOODS
DONATED FOR RESALE TO HELP WITH OUR WORK.
ZNSPCA HQ 156 Enterprise RD, tel
497574/ 497885
ROCKING CHAIR - OREGON PINE
$600 000
WOODEN
TRUNK
OREGON PINE (NEEDS ATTENTION)
$500 000
WOODEN OLD
CASE
$300 000
PINE COFFEE TABLE GLASS TOP 2mtr X 1mtr
$ 3.
MIL
OLD/ NEW BOOKS - GALORE
1940's /50's TRANSISTOR RADIO- RELIC
FROM THE PAST
OFFERS
STEEL COUNTER DOOR WITH LOCKING
MECH.
GARAGE DOORS
3MILL
FENCING
DRIVE WAY
GATE
OLD ASBESTOS ROOFING
FIRE WOOD
$80 000 PER
BAG
ZNSPCA HQ156 Enterprise Rd, or tel: 497574/497885 or
882566
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1.9
Horse Items for sale (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Bridles - $150,000
ea
Reins- $100,000
Numnas - $150,000
Flyguards - $50,000
Jods small
- $100,000
Soft halters - $50,000
Hard hat - $l00,000
Long riding
boots size 6 - $200,000
Rope Hay feeders - $50,000 ea
Windsuck collar -
$50,000
Pelham bit - $350,000
Rubber snaffle - $200,000
Stirrup Irons -
$350,000
Girths -
$200,000
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1.10
Miscellaneous for sale (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Flippers and
goggles $50,000 for both
Water wings,
small tyre for child $50,000
Hockey
sticks $200,000
Roller
blades size 6 $200,000
Saddle horse
about 2 yards long $l00,000
Brown
Poof $50,000
Sockets set
(some missing) $l00,000
Various girls bathing
costumes and caps, also
belts, handbags, garden hats
Offers Contact 073
3399 or 011
423614
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1.11
Jam Jars (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Jam jars and more. Anybody out there
wanting jam jars - various sizes: glass
and plastic. Reply: mhowarth@zol.co.zw
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2.
WANTED
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2.1
Wanted
Sheila Macdonald (Sally in Rhodesia) - If you have any of Sheila
Macdonald's
books for sale, please let JAG know the details including
condition etc with
your name, telephone number and price
wanted.
Telephone JAG - 04 -
799410
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2.2
Wanted - Short break in CHIRUNDU. (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Does anyone have
any idea of lodges or time shares in Chirundu. A group of
about 6 want to
spend 5 days in Chirudu fishing either first weekend or
second weekend of
November.
Please contact: Mel - 055 20044 or 011 405
879
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2.3
Maid in Avondale (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Maid needed for Avondale West
area. We are looking for a maid to help with
housework, for a "growing"
family. She needs to have her own accommodation.
Please call 091-2-300 059 or
e-mail mbav@zol.co.zw
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2.4
Small family car (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Small family car needed for a
"growing" family. Please contact Chantelle on
091-2-300 059 or Vincent on
091-2-887
783
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2.5
Cartoonist (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Looking for a book illustrator who can
do Spud type cartoons.
Contact kockott@zol.co.zw
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3.
ACCOMMODATION WANTED AND
OFFERED
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3.1
HOUSE-SITTER WANTED (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Bromley - 50 kms Harare -
Attractive thatched cottage in farm garden. Two
bedrooms and nice garden,
plenty of room for vegetables if required.
$400,000
per month Tel. 073
3399 or 011 4236l4
I am looking for a house-sitter for July, August and
part of September. I
am not farming, but have four dogs (3 daxis and a
collie) and two cats. I
have good servants, one in the house and two
gardeners. I also have a
lovely
home and garden. We are 50 kms from
Harare in a quiet area Tel 011 423
614
or 073
3399.
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3.2
Accommodation wanted (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Daughter of ex-farmer seeks
secure suitable accommodation in a flat or
cottage at reasonable rent as soon
as possible. Please contact Antoinette
on 0912 365515 or Eugene on 0912
363970
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3.3
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Ex farmer and his wife need
accommodation for themselves and 5 horses.2/3
bed-roomed house on 5 hectares
or more.
If you can help please phone Malcolm 0912315375 or Shirley
0912367304
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4.
RECREATION
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4.1
Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Need a breakaway into a
relaxing and stress free environment for a weekend,
where there is no outside
interference? Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp is the
place to go. On the bank of
the Mazowe River in the Umfurudzi Safari Area.
For Details phone Tracy or
Elsie on 747929 or email
wildernessafrica@zol.co.zw
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4.2
GACHE GACHE LODGE (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE PLEASURES
OF KARIBA LAKE. FISHING AND PHOTOGRAPHIC
SAFARIS, GAME DRIVES, CRUISES,
WALKS WITH QUALIFIED GUIDE, FISHING FOR TIGER
AND BREAM, MAGNIFICENT SUNSETS
AND FANTASTIC BIRDWATCHING. GACHE GACHE
OFFERS A PERSONALISED SERVICE IN A
HOMELY, NATURAL AND RUSTIC ENVIRONMENT.
CONTACT US FOR BOOKINGS: tourleaders@zol.co.zw 0912289345 or
0912208836,
301889.
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4.3
Need a break? (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Getaway and enjoy peace and fresh air
at GUINEA FOLWS REST
Only 80kms from Harare, Self-catering
guest-house
Sleeps 10 people, Bird-watching, Canoeing, Fishing,
DSTV
REGRET: No day visitors. No boats or dogs allowed.
Contact Dave:
011 600 770 or Annette 011 600 769
or 091 22 55 653 or email dapayne@zol.co.zw
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4.4
Savuli Safari (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Self catering chalets in the heart of
the Save Valley Conservancy. Game
watching, fishing, horse riding, canoeing,
walking trails and 4x4 hire. Camp
fully kitted including cook and fridges.
Just bring your food, drinks and
relax. Best value for money. U12 are
1/2 price
Contact John : savuli@mweb.co.zw or Phone 091 2631
556
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4.5
Calling all Kariba Lovers... (Ad inserted 08/05/07)
Looking for an
Affordable, Comfortable Houseboat with an Excellent Crew?
Try the LIBERTY
BELL!
Sleeps 8 passengers
2 x twin cabins and 2 x double cabins each
with own shower, toilet and
hand basin.
Air conditioned saloon/dining
area
Splash Pool
2 tender boats
Self Catering or Full Catering
available
Airport Transfers
Now privately managed by Kiara Hammond (Kariba
Resident).
Website up and running soon!
For bookings and enquiries
telephone 061 2282 (during office hours) or 011
208 718 (poor signal) or
email kiara@zol.co.zw
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5.
SPECIALIST
SERVICES
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5.1
Vehicle Repairs
Vehicle repairs carried out personally by qualified
mechanic with 30 years
experience. Very reasonable rates.
Phone Johnny
Rodrigues: 011 603213 or 011 404797, email:
galorand@mweb.co.zw
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5.2
Borehole Pumps
Installation of borehole pump, piping and pressure
tank. Connections to
water mains and garden mains. Steel cage and necessary
cabling.
T M Lambert (Pvt) Ltd, P O Box GT 629, Graniteside,
Harare
Phone 494 796; 091 288
448
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5.3
VIDEO PRODUCTION (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Filming & Editing of Weddings
& Special Events. DVD Production, Broadcast
Quality.
DVD & VHS
transfers. Call Greer on 744075 / 0912 353
047
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5.4
Mr Cruiser' (Pvt) LTD (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Repairs:
I have
now opened our workshops for all major accident repair work for
your Toyota
Land cruiser. No Job to big and if your cruiser is a write of
we can offer
you a replacement there and then and a trade in on your
wreak. We have an
enormous range of spares and vehicles we are breaking
which enables us to
repair your land cruiser fast and professionally with
new genuine spares as
well as original second hand ones, like doors,
pillars, panels
etc...
All work done fully guaranteed. Get the specialists to do a proper
job on
your land cruiser right the first time, one time. No Stuffing
around.
Contact Alex Hawkins 091 2 261085. Email: alexhawkins@zol.co.zw, 63
Harare
Drive,
Marlborough.
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5.5
PRESENTATIONS AND PROMOTIONAL DISCS (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Young
professional lady working from home available to design all your
Company
Presentations & Promotional Discs according to your
specifications.
Main client base currently in Victoria Falls. Sample
discs available for
reference.
Email: kiara@zol.co.zw
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5.6
BUILDING CONSULTANT (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Available to oversee
construction operations and alterations/modifications,
assess and monitor
quality control; submission of appraisals for repairs and
maintenance
undertakings, and other associated tasks.
For further information please
reply to the following contact:
mhowarth@zol.co.zw
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5.7
IT Solutions (Ad inserted 1/05/07)
Oxford IT are looking for Bookkeepers,
attractive packages on offer. Please
submit your cv to sarah@oxfordit.co.zw or call and speak to
Sarah (the
numbers shown below).
Sarah Vale
GENERAL
MANAGER
Oxford IT Recruitment
c/o CFU, Agriculture House, Cnr. Adylinn
Road and Marlborough Drive,
Marlborough, HARARE
Tel: + 263-4-309274
(Direct)
Tel: + 263-4-309855-60 (Ext. 23)
Fax + 263-4-309351
Email:
sarah@oxfordit.co.zw
MSN
Messenger: sarah@oxfordit.co.zw
Recruitment
Specialists
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6.
PETS
CORNER
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6.1
Looking for a Home (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Staffy Lovers! Adorable 4 year
tan/white staffy bitch looking for kind and
loving home. Her name is Rita,
she is spayed, a small staffy and would
probably suit being an only pet. Very
affectionate. Loves people. Tel
Michelle on 884294 or 011602903 or e-mail gandami@mweb.co.zw
'
Gemma a super
tan Boxer x bitch. 6 years and her friend 'Bobby' a Border
Collie x dog.
Would like to go together but can be separated Tel Alva
Mcintosh on 776426 or
0912250628 or e-mail alva@zol.co.zw
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6.2
Looking for a Home (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
'Daisy' adorable tan/white Jack
Russell bitch, young, gets on with all other
dogs looking for a kind and
loving home. Tel Michelle on 884294 or 011602903
or e-mail gandami@mweb.co.zw
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6.3
Puppies for sale (Ad inserted 01/05/07)
Pure bred rottweiler puppies for
sale not registered. 2 females and 1 male
left. Ready to go. 1st parvo done.
Come from a long line of parents with
great temperaments. Contact
0912-333601:0912-331787 or
011-404808
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6.4
Puppies looking for a home
7 puppies, 6 weeks old, are looking for
lovable and caring home/homes. 4
males and 3 females ready to
go.
Contact Chere - 011 631
546.
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6.5
WANTED (Ad inserted 8/05/07)
FEMALE TERRIER around 2 yrs old to keep our
little Jack Russel male company.
Contact: townsend@zol.co.zw
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7.
SOCIAL
GATHERINGS
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7.1
Farewell for Ian Cochrane (Ad inserted 8/05/07)
Friends, Romans
etc.Farewell Carrie and Patrick Cochrane. Live Band " N
tatters" @ DRIVE
THRU
THURS 10 May. Dinner + Jump up. Get a ticket @ Drive Thru to
confirm your
booking.
Phone Steve, Ruth, or Laura.
851045/6
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7.2
Country Juke Box (Ad inserted 8/05/07)
Country Juke Box Family Dances in
a Family Environment. Bring the whole
family for an evening out and enjoy
good club meals, reasonable bar prices
and reasonable entrance charge. Dance
to 60's, Tiekkie Draai, Country, 80's
etc.
Contact Joe on 0912 338414,
after 5pm on 339378 or e-mail
countryjukebox@hotmail.com
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JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to help!
To
advertise (JAG Members): Please email classifieds to: jagma@mango.zw
with subject
"Classifieds".