Zim Online
Wednesday 25 April 2007
By Hendricks
Chizhanje
HARARE - Acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa promised a
new exchange
rate to tobacco farmers while central bank chief Gideon Gono
promised more
as Zimbabwe's government desperately begged reluctant growers
to deliver
tobacco to auction floors that opened on Tuesday.
Tobacco,
which generated about US$400 million in foreign exchange at the
peak of
production in the late 1990s, is Zimbabwe's single biggest export
earner for
hard cash starved Harare.
But commencement of tobacco sales was this year
delayed by a month as
farmers held on to their crop to protest an overvalued
exchange rate that
they said would leave most of them in financial ruin.
Auctioning finally
kicked off around 3pm on Tuesday.
However, it had
to take the spirited efforts of Chinamasa and Gono to
convince farmers to
let up with their tobacco crop.
Addressing about 1 000 farmers at the
Tobacco Sales Floor just outside
Harare city centre, Chinamasa pledged that
the government would announce a
new exchange rate favourable to farmers in
four days, failure of which
farmers could "decapitate the heads" of
Chinamasa and his colleagues in the
government.
"The government
values tobacco farming and its growers . . . we want an act
of faith,"
Chinamasa pleaded with the farmers. "We don't want tobacco
growers to be
broke. In the following days we will announce and tell you how
much we will
pay. We will reward you handsomely. If we fail to meet our
promise,
decapitate our heads," he said.
Chinamasa did not indicate whether the
finance ministry was planning
reviewing the exchange rate entirely or it
would have a special rate for
farmers as happened in the past.
The
Zimbabwe dollar officially changes at a fixed rate of 250 to one
American
dollar but one would need almost 100 times as many Zimbabwe dollars
for one
greenback on the illegal parallel market for foreign currency and
where the
bulk of hard cash is traded.
Tobacco farmers and other exporters say the
skewed exchange rate is driving
them out of business but the government
fearing prices would shoot beyond
the reach of many if the local dollar is
devalued had until now resisted
reviewing the exchange rate.
Gono,
the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), told the farmers
the
central bank was printing more money for the government to pay them.
He
said: "We are not going to do things that will drive our farmers off the
land. As Governor I am still printing the money to pay you because it is too
much."
Economic experts however say Gono's habit of printing
worthless paper money
to bail out the government is one of the key reasons
driving money supply
growth and inflation.
The RBZ boss promised to
let tobacco farmers retain 20 percent of their hard
cash earnings up from
the 15 percent they were previously allowed to retain
to cover future
production costs.
An estimated 80 million kilogrammes of tobacco are
expected to be delivered
to the auction floors compared to 55 million
kilogrammes sold in 22006.
More than 200 million kilogrammes of tobacco
were produced in the 1999/2000
season before the government seized farms
from white farmers who produced
the bulk of the crop under a controversial
land redistribution programme
that has knocked down agriculture and also led
to severe food shortages.
Opening prices ranged between US$1.39 to
US$1.69 per kg as 400 bales of
tobacco were delivered on Tuesday.
The
opening of sales will come as a relief to President Robert Mugabe's hard
cash-strapped administration, which needs foreign currency to pay for food,
fuel, electricity and other critical imports. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 25 April 2007
By
Hendricks Chizhanje
HARARE - Zimbabwe's embattled business leaders have
rejected charges by
President Robert Mugabe of hiking prices of basic
commodities to undermine
his government and instead blamed a depreciating
local dollar and rising
input costs for the latest round of price
hikes.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and the Zimbabwe
National
Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), considered the voices of business in
the
country, said the slide of the Zimbabwe dollar on the informal foreign
currency market and the move by state firms to hike levies and tariffs for
key requirements such as electricity had pushed up production costs and
resultantly prices.
In a joint statement shown to ZimOnline but to be
published later this week
the CZI and ZNCC said: "These increases were
triggered by an unprecedented
increase in the price of inputs apparently
influenced by the informal
exchange rate in the first three weeks of March
and the justifiable ongoing
adjustment to parastatal
prices."
Manufacturers and retailers have over the past few months hiked
prices of
nearly every commodity, pushing the cost of living beyond the
reach of most
Zimbabweans, a worrying development for Mugabe's government
that squares up
against a resurgent opposition in key presidential and
parliamentary
elections next year.
Addressing supporters during
Zimbabwe's 27th independence anniversary last
week, Mugabe accused business
of working with the opposition and his Western
enemies and said firms were
hiking prices unjustifiably to incite hatred
against his government ahead of
elections.
Zimbabwe is reeling under social, political and economic
crises and is
battling four-digit inflation, unemployment of over 80 percent
as well as
shortages of food, foreign currency and essential raw materials
to sustain
its industry.
Critics say Mugabe's controversial policies,
such as his seizures of land
from white commercial farmers to give to blacks
have worsened the crisis,
knocking the agriculture sector, which is the
mainstay of the economy.
Economic hardships have been felt in urban
areas, which have become the
hotbed of opposition politics as anger grows
against the government.
Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's 1980
independence from Britain, however
denies ruining the economy and instead
blames his country's troubles on
sabotage by his Western enemies. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
24
April 2007
A senior official in Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF
party has urged provincial
members to "beat up" opposition members and
silence them in the approach to
the presidential, parliamentary and rural
council elections slated for March
2008.
Sources said ZANU-PF
political commissar and elections director Elliot
Manyika told party members
at gatherings in the Mashonaland West Province
towns of Zvimba and Karoi
that they should not tolerate opposition parties
in their areas. According
to these sources, Manyika exhorted them to ensure
ZANU-PF won the 2008
elections.
The online news agency ZimOnline reported meanwhile that
Manyika has
circulated a memo indicating Harare plans to expand the National
Youth
Service, a violence-prone militia known many Zimbabweans as "Green
Bombers"
for the color of their shirts, by 15,000 members between now and
these
elections. Along with veterans of the 1970s liberation war, the youth
militia have served as ZANU-PF political shock troops.
Manyika could
not be reached for comment on his reported speeches and the
memo.
Elias Mudzuri, organizing secretary of the MDC faction led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai, told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe
that the faction is now assessing the situation and might boycott
the
elections if violence continues.
Political analyst John Makumbe,
a senior lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe, said the ruling party will
do whatever it takes to claim victory
in the elections, regardless of the
outcry from the opposition, civil
society or the international
community.
By Violet Gonda
24
April 2007
The pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise reports that
several members were
severely assaulted while in police custody. 56
activists and 10 babies were
detained on Monday for protesting at the ZESA
offices in Kuwadzana. They
were transferred from Kuwadzana police station to
Harare Central where some
of them were beaten resulting in 20 members
agreeing to pay admission of
guilt fines so they could be
released.
Lillian, a WOZA member who preferred to be called by her first
name only,
said these activists were released just before 2pm on Tuesday.
They had to
be sent to the clinic for medical treatment. She said they were
taken to the
Law and Order Section at Central Monday night where they were
brutalized in
custody. The security forces repeated the same treatment in
the morning.
The whole group was denied food until after 8pm Monday
night. WOZA said:
"Many members had blood on their heads and clothing,
evidence that they had
been assaulted by police."
Only one out of the
ten babies detained with their mothers has been
released. Of the 9 babies in
detention, the youngest is said to be six
months old while the oldest is 2
years.
After being transferred to several police departments an officer
at Harare
Central finally said to SW Radio Africa that around 64 WOZA
activists had
been arrested. He said: "Ya sure, we've got them here." He
would not comment
about anything else or the issue of the babies.
At
least 36 activist and nine babies were still in custody at the time of
broadcast. The group was arrested for addressing legitimate consumer
concerns about power shortages from service provider,
ZESA.
Statement from WOZA
News update from WOZA - members
assaulted in custody
News update
Tuesday 24th April - 9am
At
9pm yesterday the group of 56 and 10 babies were finally given their
supper.
Many members had blood on their heads and clothing, evidence that
they had
been assualted by police. They had been kept in the Law and Order
department
where obviously they had been assaulted.
Eye witnessnesses at Kuwadzana
also confirm that police arrived at the scene
firing shots into the
air.
One member was also hit with a rifle butt as she was loaded onto the
police
vehicle.
A message was delivered by Law and Order officers
that if anyone other than
Jenni Williams tried to deliver food they would be
beheaded. However all
those who delivered food this morning were not
harmed.
Williams in on a hit list to be eliminated as a dangereous
person.
Lawyers are preparing an urgent aplication.
WOZA MEMBERS
ARRESTED IN HARARE FOR DEMANDING POWER FOR THE PEOPLE
Approximately 56
members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) - 36 women, 20 men and 10 babies -
have been arrested today in
Kuwadzana, Harare. They were arrested at the
local Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority (ZESA) office in Kuwadzana as
WOZA members continued their
'power to the people' protest campaign. The
peaceful human rights defenders
delivered protests notes with their demands
to the ZESA officers. They are
currently being held at Harare Central Police
Station, where they were moved
under armed guard.
This morning, at
11am, WOZA members assembled at three different ZESA
offices - Kuwadzana,
Warren Park and Zengeza - holding simultaneous 'tough
love'
protests.
Over 470 members from 10 different areas of Harare took part in the
community-level protests.
The protests at Warren Park and Zengeza
took place without incident and the
participants were able to disperse
before police arrived. In Zengeza, about
100 members gathered inside the
ZESA office while about 300 members gathered
outside. They sat in for over
30 minutes awaiting a response from officials
but they were not addressed.
The protest notes were accepted however.
At Kuwadzana, approximately 66
members were arrested and marched to the
police station, which is next
door.
Once at the police station, police were seen beating two members. The
extent
of their injuries are as yet unknown.
Lawyers have been
deployed but have failed to get access. Members trying to
take in food were
also turned away so the group of 56 and 10 babies will go
hungry
tonight.
The protests signify the launch of the 'power to the people' by
March 2008
campaign.
The contact number for Harare Central is +263 4
777777. Please call and ask
why innocent men, women and babies are being
arrested for addressing
legitimate consumer complaints to their service
provider, ZESA.
Ends
23rd April 2007
For more information,
please contact
info@wozazimbabwe.org or call Magodonga
Mahlangu on
+263 91 898 110 / +263 91 300 456 or on +263 91
362
668
PROTEST NOTE PROTEST NOTE
PROTEST NOTE
ZIMBABWE
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY AUTHORITY (ZESA) I am a power consumer and have
been your
customer for many years but your service has been getting worse in
the last
three years. I have run out of patience; your service is no longer
empowering anyone but is draining many pockets. I want POWER and deserve to
be given all the basic requirements a human being needs. I know ZESA is also
a victim of a bad and mismanaged economy but think that ZESA should do more
to deal with internal corruption.
You were singing ZESA has come with
the power - 'ZESA yawuya nePower' - saka
ZESA yazoyenda nePower
yacho?
'IZESA isibuye lamandla kagetsi' - pho aseyengaphi lawo mandla? We
demand
POWER to the people for real!
My last account from ZESA was
for $ ............ for 30 days of service.
I did not have any electricity
for the following
period of time .....hours .... days ...... in the
last
month and want my account to be credited for this amount of time.
As your
customer I have come to complain and request compensation. My demand
is
simple.
Stop turning a blind eye to corruption in your company and deal with
the
criminals within.
Credit my account for the hours or days you did not
provide me with POWER.
Find us alternative sources of power - cheaper
firewood, candles and
matches, as we cannot afford to pay $10,000 for one
candle and $1,000 for a
box of matches. You are refusing to give us regular
and efficient POWER so
you should pay for us to have candlelight.
WE
DEMAND POWER TO THE PEOPLE by March 2008.
Yours
faithfully,
Impatient for POWER
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Christian Science Monitor
President Mugabe has traditionally drawn strong support from the
military.
But lack of pay and distasteful assignments may be weakening that
loyalty.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science
Monitor
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - They are the missing regiment:
1,500 men
deserting from the Zimbabwean Defense Forces across the South
African
border, sometimes in groups of two or three, and sometimes in whole
platoons.
The loss of a regiment, talked about in hushed tones at
Army headquarters in
the early part of this year, is no small matter in a
country as poor as
Zimbabwe. But for the regime of President Robert Mugabe,
an anticolonial
commander who has always found his staunchest supporters
among the military,
it could be fatal. If he can't rely on his own security
forces to maintain
control, one year ahead of crucial presidential
elections, how much control
does he really have?
"This is the
breakdown of Mugabe's most trusted sector; he banked on the
military and the
security forces," says Sikhumbuzo Ndiweni, a retired
Zimbabwe Defense Forces
lieutenant colonel and now a commentator on
Zimbabwean affairs. Mr. Ndiweni
himself fled Zimbabwe in November 2003
because of what he called continual
harassment by police.
"This spells doom and a painful end, [in the same
vein as] Mengistu, Idi
Amin, and Charles Taylor," he says, referring to the
former dictators of
Ethiopia, Uganda, and Liberia, respectively. One of
them, Mengistu Haile
Mariam, is living in exile in Zimbabwe.
The
picture within the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, as told by officers like
Ndiweni
and a half-dozen deserters interviewed by the Monitor, is a
desperate one.
President Mugabe has taken strong measures to ensure that the
military will
remain at his side. As recently as February, the Army chief of
staff,
General Chedondo, told his soldiers that all future requests for
leave would
have to be approved by President Mugabe himself. Deserters would
be
hanged.
Even so, in February, scores of recently recruited officer cadets
quit
before finishing their courses at the elite Zimbabwe Military Academy
in
Gweru. In January, it was broadly reported that 10 commandos from a unit
fled on the same night. Neither South Africa nor Zimbabwe has released
statistics confirming the desertion and arrival of Zimbabwean soldiers, but
the anecdotal evidence suggests that the trickle is turning into a
flood.
Recruiting loyalists
To fill the gaps, Mugabe has been
recruiting people whose loyalty can be
trusted, replacing his own
Presidential Guard with members of his secret
police and filling Army ranks
with his party's youth militia and aging
veterans of the liberation struggle
from the 1970s. Meanwhile, top generals
are constructing their own survival
strategies, making alliances along
tribal and ethnic lines in order to take
power - or at least survive - once
Mugabe is gone.
"We're moving
toward a collapsed state," says Chris Maroleng, a top Zimbabwe
expert at the
Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria (now known as
Tshwane). Mugabe's
crackdown on the Army "shows that the president is
preparing for compromise,
for mediation. He is tired, frankly."
To ensure loyalty, Mugabe gives
priority to the military at the expense of
other ministries, Mr. Maroleng
says. "Last week, the Central Intelligence
Organization's personnel got a
200-percent pay increase. In a security
state, anything is
acceptable."
But for a professional soldier like Sgt. Patrick Dube, a
platoon sergeant
and crew commander with five years of combat experience who
fled a couple of
months ago, there are some things that are
unacceptable.
"We were ordered to vote for the ZANU-PF (Mugabe's party),
and there were
officers who were monitoring our voting; if you complained
about salaries,
they said 'You are subverting other soldiers' morale,' "
says Sergeant Dube,
who fought for nearly five years in a controversial
Zimbabwean intervention
in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the final
straw, says Dube, was
when his unit was called to beat up hospital employees
striking for higher
pay last February.
"The national Army is
collapsing, every day the soldiers are running away,"
he says. "I will never
go back. Either I'm going to go to jail [as a result
of arrest by South
African immigration authorities], or I'll starve to death
here."
Peter Shava, a commando from the elite 5th Brigade of the 52nd
Battalion who
also left a couple of months ago, says his unit was ordered in
2000 to
"force white settlers to move off their land. We were armed. The war
veterans" to whom the white farmers' land was promised "were not armed. We
hit people like hell. They had no choice but to leave."
Corporal
Shava found this work distasteful, but "you obey orders. We work
under
command. You have to do it."
Zimbabwean deserters have been arriving in
such numbers that they are
beginning to overwhelm the local labor market. On
street corners where South
Africans and poor refugees of other nationalities
used to hawk their
services for contractors and gardening services,
Zimbabwean soldiers cluster
by the dozen. Many are homeless, sleeping in the
shrinking spaces between
high-priced estates surrounded by 10-ft. walls and
electric fencing.
Talking with those who have fled
Sgt. Dennis
Chingoma (a pseudonym, given because of his concern of getting
arrested by
South African police), recently took this reporter into one of
these
squatter camps in a posh neighborhood. Men wash themselves in a rancid
gully
and sleep among the boulders and elephant grass. When it rains, they
rush to
garbage cans to grab newspapers to serve as umbrellas. For food,
they dive
into dumpsters behind grocery stores, occasionally fighting with
refugees of
other ethnic groups over postdated loaves of bread.
As dusk falls on this
evening, a group of 20 dusty, Shona-speaking
Zimbabweans clusters around a
reporter to tell their stories. None will
admit to being soldiers, but a
half dozen of them quarrel among themselves
in Shona over whether to tell
this outsider about their military careers.
"Are you crazy?" says one
former Zimbabwean soldier, in Shona. "Whatever you
say here will be read in
Harare." A schoolteacher, who seems to be the camp
leader, suggests that
"next time, you should take them aside privately, and
they will feel more
comfortable talking with you." The schoolteacher then
asks if he can wash
this reporter's car.
"They are afraid to talk, but they are desperate,"
says Sergeant Chingoma,
later, who works as a porter at a local bus station
and sends home money to
his wife through the bus driver. He fled first to
Mozambique, then crossed
into South Africa in January through the Kruger
National Park. It is a
treacherous journey. Many Mozambicans have been
devoured by the park's
lions.
"We are desperate," says Chingoma, who
says that most soldiers are leaving
because of the economic crisis, not
politics. "In Zimbabwe, we are not
getting paid. We are just getting
promises."
"I was born to be a soldier; I don't want to do anything
else," Chingoma
says with a sigh. "But ... I have a family to feed. So I do
what I have to
do: leave my country, take any job I can find on the street,
and send money
home to my family."
Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
Date: 24 Apr 2007
Harare/Johannesburg_(dpa) _ Zimbabwe, which is facing a massive
food deficit
this year, will accept food aid from donors as long as there
are no
political strings attached, a government minister has said, according
to
reports Tuesday.
Zimbabwe is expected to harvest only a third of
its annual requirement of
staple maize crop due to drought.
President
Robert Mugabe's cash-strapped government has already said it is
importing
maize from Malawi, Zambia and South Africa to cover the
shortfall.
However, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu stressed that
donations
would only be accepted without strings attached.
The
government would not accept food offers from anyone for political
purposes,
Ndlovu said in comments carried by the official Herald newspaper.
"We
always appreciate help from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on
condition that such help is not attached to innuendoes of failure," the
minister said.
"We had a severe drought this year despite the fact
that farmers were doing
a good job in the field," he added.
Mugabe's
government is sensitive to criticism of a controversial land reform
programme launched seven years ago.
Critics say the programme, under
which more than 4,000 productive farms
owned by whites were seized for
redistribution to blacks, has destroyed
agricultural production, which had
once been the country's economic
mainstay.
Now, the economy's
constitution is critical, marked by official inflation of
more than 1,700
percent and chronic shortages of food, power, and foreign
currency.
UN food agency experts are due to visit the country this
week in order to
carry out crop and food security assessments by
communicating with the
government, reports said.
Ndlovu's comments
welcoming help from outside appear one week after he told
ruling party
supporters in the second city of Bulawayo that the government
had cancelled
the registration certificates of all aid groups working in the
country.
He said the move was taken to sift out those seeking to
force regime change
in Zimbabwe.
The National Association of NGOs,
representing 1,000 aid groups in Harare,
advised its members to ignore the
threat, saying the work of NGOs remained
crucial to crisis-hit
Zimbabwe.
There was no constitutional, legal or moral basis for wholesale
deregistration of NGOs, it was said in a statement last week.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
23 April, 2007
In what appears to be a response to the
Pastoral letter issued by the
Catholic Bishops last month criticising the
Mugabe regime for its greed,
corruption and brutality, the Anglican bishops
issued their own version
during Independence Day celebrations. The letter
basically blamed the crisis
in Zimbabwe on what they called western economic
sanctions. It read in part:
"So-called targeted sanctions aimed at the
leadership of the country have
affected poor Zimbabweans who have borne the
brunt of sanctions."
In fact the targeted sanctions are specifically designed
so that they do not
affect ordinary Zimbabweans. They limit travel by senior
government
officials and deprive them of access to their assets in
participating
countries.
The Anglican Bishops also did not address
the state-sponsored violence
against the opposition and civic groups, or the
corruption and mismanagement
that has destroyed many government-run
institutions.
Father Barnabus Nqindi, an Anglican cleric in South Africa who
read the
pastoral letter in detail, said his first reaction was laughter
because he
was flabbergasted by the letter. He explained that the letter
sounded like
it was written by Bishop Kunonga, the Anglican Bishop of Harare
who has been
criticised for supporting the Mugabe regime, and the other 14
bishops just
put their names down on it.
Father Nqindi said he was
disturbed by the fact that the bishops did not
address the issues of
governance, corruption and the lack of the rule of law
that exist in
Zimbabwe. He said: "This reaffirms what people say about the
Anglican church
that it always tows the party line and that Anglican bishops
are ZANU-PF
men." Regarding the issue of sanctions on which the Bishops
blamed
Zimbabwe's deterioration, Father Nqindi said this was a lie. He
added: "They
were lying to themselves. They were lying to the country." The
cleric also
saw something positive about this controversial document. He
said: "They
finally came out of the woods and we can engage them on the
position they
took."
We were not able to contact Harare's Anglican Bishop Kunonga for
comment.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Mail and Guardian
Kumi Naidoo: COMMENT
23 April 2007 11:59
When the cloud of apartheid still hovered over our heads, an
atmosphere of
fear pervaded the country, pushing its way into the thoughts
of every
activist -- the fear that the car trailing you might pull you into
detention, the jolt of adrenalin that woke you when a car stopped outside
your house at night, the stories of torture and brutality meted out by the
authorities and the pain of saying goodbye to loved ones in the morning, not
knowing if you would be returning to kiss them goodnight.
During my visit to Zimbabwe this past weekend, I was reminded of
those
fears. While differences obviously exist between the struggles of
South
Africa's anti-apartheid activists and Zimbabweans today, the daily
reality
is similar, as are the underlying demands, for equality and justice,
for the
full enjoyment of our human rights and to be treated with respect
and
dignity. These are not fanciful requests, but promises contained within
regional and international treaties the Zimbabwean government has agreed to
implement. These words linger on paper, but are far from the living reality
of Zimbabwe.
Our brothers and sisters in trade unions,
NGOs and church groups
told me of their struggles, exacerbated by the
economic and humanitarian
meltdown that renders even middle-class families
unable to afford basic
essentials as inflation skyrockets and shortages of
food, medical supplies
and petrol continue.
I travelled
to Zimbabwe along with my colleague Clare Doube, to
deepen our understanding
of the crisis in this once proud country.
In Bulawayo and
Harare, and in our car trip between the two
cities, we were struck by the
magnitude of the humanitarian crisis that is
manifest in a variety of ways:
the disintegration of the health and
education systems; the "disappearances"
of citizens, which some observers
estimate has reached 600; the meltdown of
the economy where the street value
for hard currency is 80 times the
official exchange rate; the fragmentation
of families and the lives lived in
fear and trepidation.
We spoke with representatives of
beleaguered organisations who
told us of growing government threats against
civil society, legal
limitations on their work, particularly in organising
public meetings, and a
frightening rise in both open and clandestine attacks
against peaceful civic
activists. One particularly disturbing example is
Opposition Forces in
Zimbabwe: A Trail of Violence, a new government report
that attempts to
undermine peaceful civil society organisations, including
some of Civicus's
[the world alliance for citizen participation] partners,
by criminalising
their legitimate activities and falsely accusing them of
promoting violence.
On Saturday, we witnessed such
intimidation first-hand. I was
invited to join civic activists and church
leaders in speaking at a prayer
meeting in Bulawayo, the first public
gathering in Zimbabwe since the
viciously repressed March 11 meeting in
Harare. While the event went ahead
without disruption, disturbing tactics
were used to intimidate people from
attending, including roadblocks and
displays of water cannons, and heavily
armed riot police. It was even more
worrying to read a leaked memo from
Zimbabwe's Police Commissioner,
Augustine Chihuri, stating that the police
should identify the "ringleaders"
of the event and "not to hesitate to shoot
to kill".
It
was particularly the short, random conversations on the
streets that really
gave me the flavour of everyday life in Zimbabwe. While
chatting one night
to a young man working at our hotel, for instance, I
asked how things were
in his city and was moved by his reply. "I love my
country and I love my
city, but I am leaving next month. I don't want to
leave, but no one can
survive here," he said. Sadly, people who are
dedicated to their country are
being forced to leave, simply to survive.
While our country,
the Southern African Development Community
and the African Union choose to
label the crisis in Zimbabwe as a political
one, we insist that the real
struggle is not seen on political platforms,
but in people's homes. It is
the people of Zimbabwe who are truly suffering.
When South African citizens
were fighting the demon of apartheid,
organisations and governments from
around the continent stood behind us,
gave us protection within their
borders and pressured the regime through
sanctions and boycotts. While our
fears always remained, we knew our African
comrades were on our side,
standing in solidarity with us.
Today, when our neighbours in
Zimbabwe need the same support, we
stand aside, arguing that the problems
can be rectified merely through
political party negotiations. Our government
and our regional bodies --
founded on the defence of justice and human
rights and funded by our
taxes -- have a particular responsibility to act
with integrity and
strength. We especially encourage the South African
government, which has
taken the difficult role of the mediator, to also
engage the people of
Zimbabwe through NGOs, trade unions and religious
groups. We must look
beyond politics and listen to the voices of the people
of Zimbabwe. It is
imperative that all Africans stand up and offer
solidarity. This is not a
time for indifference, inaction and platitude.
Silence is not an ethical
option.
Kumi Naidoo is
secretary general of Civicus
(MaximsNews.com, U.N.)
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com, U.N./ - 24 April 2007
-- On
Wednesday, 25 April at 11:00 a.m., EST, a group of Zimbabwean
citizens-including lawyers, journalists and leaders of the democratic
opposition -- will come to the United Nations to provide rare, first-hand
accounts of the torture and arbitrary detention of activists and innocent
bystanders.
The Mugabe government has launched a brutal
crackdown against
pro-democracy activists and is choking off humanitarian
aid to the
beleaguered population.
Last week the regime
expelled USAID from the country and is imposing
restrictions on all
remaining Zimbabwean NGOs.
Last month, police arrested civil
society activists en masse before a
public prayer meeting on 11
March.
Many were beaten and tortured in police custody, including
some of the
featured speakers.
Zimbabwean Doctors for Human
Rights has reported that more than two hundred
people have been treated for
injuries from police abuse since 11 March.
Families cannot get
food.
Every day, the numbers of people "disappeared" from their homes and
workplaces increases.
Mugabe has recently declared his intention to
maintain his grasp on power
after 2008 elections--while ordinary Zimbabweans
struggle to survive in a
country where the inflation rate has exceeded 2,000
percent.
WHEN: Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 11:00 A.M.
EST.
WHERE: United Nations Correspondents Association Club, Room 326,
760
United Nations Plaza ( First Avenue at East 42 Street), New
York
WHAT: News conference on the escalating Zimbabwe
crisis
WHO:
o GRACE KWINJEH, Deputy Secretary for
International Relations
for the Movement for Democratic Change, the
Zimbabwean opposition party led
by Morgan Tsvangirai. She and several
others sustained serious injuries by
police after their mass arrest en route
to a 11 March prayer meeting.
o ISABELLA MATAMBANADZO,
Zimbabwe Programme Manager for the
Open Society Initiative for Southern
Africa . She is a journalist and women's
rights advocate who works with a
broad range of Zimbabwean civil society and
human rights
groups.
o OTTO SAKI, Acting Director, Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human
Rights. ZHLR is representing victims of abduction, detention and
torture
during the current wave of repression in Zimbabwe. Saki's work with
detainees has given him a detailed picture of the torture and human rights
abuses suffered by those in police custody.
CONTACT: Amy Weil, OSI,
212-548-0381; aweil@sorosny.org
By Lance Guma
24
April 2007
The Free-Zim Youth group based in the United Kingdom plans to
demonstrate
against South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana
Dhlamini Zuma, at
that country's high commission on Wednesday. This will be
the second
demonstration against Zuma following last year's disruption of
her address
in London. Free-Zim leader Alois Mbawara told Newsreel Zuma
issued what they
felt was an 'irresponsible' statement when she said 'South
Africa cannot do
magic in the Zimbabwe crisis' and yet according to the
youths Mbeki's
government is actually breathing life into Mugabe's regime
through its quiet
diplomacy approach.
Zuma is in London to attend a
3-day regional consultative conference aimed
at creating a partnership
between the African continent and the African
diaspora. On Wednesday she
will address the African Caribbean and Diaspora
concert at her country's
embassy and the youths say they plan to make their
voice heard at the
occasion. Last year in September Free-Zim embarrassed
Zuma by constantly
interrupting her address on reforms for the United
Nations at the London
School of Economics. Mbawara refused to disclose their
tactics for
Wednesday's demonstration only saying it would be 'loud
diplomacy.'
The youths have also said they want to ensure Zimbabwe is
not foisted with a
manufactured political settlement and to avoid this all
the stakeholders
needed to be consulted. They also doubt Mbeki's ability to
ensure a free and
fair platform for elections in 10 months time. Millions of
Zimbabweans are
still not able to vote and they say the Ministry of Home
Affairs is not
issuing new identity cards to deliberately block newly
qualified youths from
voting. Particularly concerning to the youths is that
abuses and torture of
activists continue unabated in Zimbabwe while the
South African government
remains silent. Zuma's deputy Aziz Pahad confirmed
this approach when he
said they could not issue militant statements against
Mugabe's government.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
zimbabwejournalists.com
24th Apr 2007 12:15 GMT
By a
Correspondent
BRISTOL-British Labour MP Kate Hoey will address
activists and human rights
campaigners in Bristol on Saturday 26 May
protesting against the
deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.
"We are
glad to hear Kate will join us. She has been tremendous and one of
the
leading advocate on Zimbabwe issues both in Parliament and House of
Commons
and as Zimbabweans we're moved by her support," said BZA Chair
Forward
Maisokwadzo.
"Kate is action driven so we are pleased to have her on this
historic day in
Bristol. She pushes the pressure points on all ends
including on Tony Blair
to take a hard stance against South Africa's failure
to condemn Zimbabwe,"
he said.
Mr Maisokwadzo also welcomed the
spirit of solidarity shown by British trade
union friends, Bristol Vigil
team and ACTSA, the successor to the
Anti-Apartheid Movement, which is
campaigning hard against human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe and the Bristol
vigil team.
Ms Hoey, the MP for Vauxhall and Chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary
Committee on Zimbabwe, secretly visited Zimbabwe in 2005 when
President
Robert Mugabe was bulldozing "illegal structures" in poor
townships, a
campaign that wrecked the homes or livelihoods of up to a
million people.
Her accounts of the suffering angered the regime.
The
speakers will include Kat Stark Convenor of NUS, Alois Phiri, Free
Zimbabwe
Youth and ACTSA representatives. The event will take place at
Bristol
Hippodrome from 11-3pm.
Apr 24th 2007
From
Economist.com
REPORTING from Zimbabwe can be frustratingly delightful. On the surface, despite economic collapse, repression and shrinking average life-expectancy, Zimbabwe can still seem attractive.
Dictatorships are supposed to be cold, drab and miserable, where people with rounded shoulders dare not say a word out of turn—North Korea in the rain; Soviet Russia in the winter. But high-altitude and tropical Harare enjoys perfect weather, glorious purple jacaranda trees (in season) and dazzling flashes of red flamboyants. The smiles and swagger of the people make it seem really quite pleasant.
And, if you are rich, Harare can be alluring. The traffic congestion of a couple of years ago is gone (subsidies chopped, fuel is too pricey for ordinary folk) and navigating potholes and broken traffic lights is simple enough.
There may be no cooking oil in the shops, but supermarket shelves bulge with bottles of gin and whisky. It may seem odd, the first time, to withdraw half a million dollars (Zimbabwean ones, in total worth about 28 of the American sort) in one go from an ATM, but that just becomes another quirk of visiting Mugabeland. The hotel pools are still kept clean and clear.
It is easy to deceive oneself that things are really not too bad. Across the capital you see children, both black and white, of various ages, walking crocodile-file and in old-fashioned uniforms (toddlers in brown shorts and green jumpers, girls in blue blazers and navy skirts) to school. The Audis, luxury four-wheel-drives and Mercedes parked outside expensive and busy restaurants would not look out of place in Chelsea. In the right light even the old man, Robert Mugabe, doesn’t seem so wicked. He is smart, agile, hard-working, yoga-exercising, frugal and he cracks a crude joke or two (Australians are “genetically modified criminals”; Tony Blair is a “boy in shorts” who leads a “government of gay gangsters”).
But the surface is all too easily scratched. One doesn’t notice absent school children, but Harare’s residents talk about those packed off to cheaper, tumbledown schools in the rural areas. Some of the remaining children look painfully thin, stick-limbs protruding from their uniforms. The combination of hunger and AIDS is especially bad, the main reason why the average Zimbabwean cannot expect to live even to 40. And ask teachers and parents, or the children themselves: it is hard to concentrate on algebra with an achingly empty belly.
The flash cars are real enough, but reflect the wealth of a crooked elite and disastrous hyperinflation: with prices hurtling up by more than 2,000%, an expensive car or bricks-and-mortar store value better than most things, so the rich are building big houses with wide garages. At the same time, ordinary people with a job (most have not) cannot so much as afford to take a bus to work. The evenings bring lines of people tramping in the dust to their homes in the distant townships.
What of Mr Mugabe? It is easy to be charmed. He is witty enough. At one press conference a couple of years ago I noted he was an octogenarian and asked when he would retire—he pretended to be deaf from old age and then joked (or was it a joke?) that he would rule until he is a century old. But he is a charmer with fingers dipped in blood. In March his flunkeys fractured the skull of the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, and murdered an opposition activist. Mr Mugabe went on to boast about it to other African leaders.
Mr Tsvangirai says some 600 people have been tortured or abducted in recent times. Mr Mugabe shrugs. Worst of all, in the early 1980s as he established his control, Mr Mugabe directed (through a North Korean-trained brigade of soldiers) the murder of many thousands of opponents in the country’s south. Villagers were burnt to death in their huts. Mass graves were filled. It is a refrain of several people I interview that fear of being tried for these massacres helps to keep Mr Mugabe in office today. Just below the pleasant surface lies a painful reality indeed.
Catholic
Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
April 24, 2007
Posted to the
web April 24, 2007
Washington, D.C.
The powerful pastoral letter
issued by the Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe at
Easter, calling for an end to
the nation's crisis, has received more
support, this time from US
bishops.
The call already has support from Pope Benedict XVI, the bishops
of Britain,
the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar
(SECAM) and
the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops
Conference.
Following is the full text of a letter by Bishop Thomas
G. Wenski of
Orlando, chairman of the US bishops' Committee on International
Policy,
addressed to Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu of Harare and
president of
the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference:
"At this time
of great suffering and uncertainty for the people of Zimbabwe,
I write to
express the solidarity of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops
with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference. Your
Conference's recent
Pastoral Letter, "God Hears the Cry of the Oppressed,"
is a powerful
testimony to the prophetic leadership of the bishops of
Zimbabwe and to the
tragic situation of the people in your country.
"We were particularly
moved by the description of suffering and the
humanitarian situation of the
people of Zimbabwe. The present situation has
eroded the provision of
shelter, health, and education as well as the
foundations of what was once a
diverse and vibrant economy.
"Your Pastoral Letter describes the deep
crisis facing your peoplea crisis
that is at once a crisis of governance, a
crisis of moral leadership and a
spiritual and moral crisis. The courageous
and strong cry for justice and
non-violence at the conclusion of your
Pastoral Letter deserves to be heeded
by all involved:
'We conclude
our Pastoral Letter by affirming with a clear and unambiguous
Yes, our
support of morally legitimate political authority. At the same
time, we say
an equally clear and unambiguous No to power through violence,
oppression
and intimidation. We call on those who are responsible for the
current
crisis in our Country to repent and listen to the cry of their
citizens. To
the people of Zimbabwe we appeal for peace and restraint when
expressing
their justified grievances and demonstrating for their human
rights.'
"We offer our profound respect to you and our brother
bishops in Zimbabwe
for your brave and faithful pastoral ministry in these
difficult days, and
we acknowledge and accept the bishops' invitation to
join with you in prayer
for Zimbabwe. In the challenging times that lie
ahead for your nation and
your people, I want to express and reaffirm our
solidarity with you in
action and prayer.
"We are sharing your
Pastoral Letter with officials of our government and
are calling on our
nation and the international community to build effective
support for a
process of genuine negotiation and reconciliation to bring an
end to the
political and economic crisis which undermines the dignity of
all,
especially the poor, in your suffering land.
"May God bless you in your
ministry as teachers and pastors as you
faithfully proclaim the Gospel and
seek to guide your nation into a future
free of oppression."
GOROMONZI, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - Back-to-back
dry years have drastically
reduced Zimbabwe's crop yields, causing
widespread hunger in rural
communities, where residents are calling for
immediate food aid.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF government
has already labelled
2007 a 'Year of Drought', and Denford Chimbwanda,
president of the Grain and
Cereal Producers Association (GCPA), told IRIN
that this year's harvest
prospects were grim.
"This situation is
worse than last year, even though the past season was
also affected by
drought. While some areas have done relatively well, the
majority of the
land that was put under cereals are write-offs," Chimbwanda
said.
The
landscape is a dire picture of dusty maize fields, shrivelled before the
tasselling stage, and villagers with little option other than to let cattle
graze among the dry stalks at a time when they were expecting to gather the
harvest ahead of the winter months.
In the district of Goromonzi,
about 60km southeast of the capital, Harare,
in Mashonaland East Province,
Juru village resident, Theresa Mapara, 47, a
home-based caregiver who
assists HIV/AIDS patients, said, "Most of the time
at night I weep to
realise that my efforts to make these patients' lives
more bearable are
being rendered useless because of lack of food."
Mapara, who visits each
of her 10 patients three times a week, said "Of
course, being in a rural
area that is poverty-stricken and does not have
adequate medical facilities,
we have to contend with a perennial shortage of
drugs, but when that is
coupled with a severe scarcity of food, the
nutritional situation of the
patients suffers, and there is hardly much we
can do to save their
lives."
She and her husband, who is employed as a cross-border truck
driver, have
sufficient food reserves, but Mapara often dips into them to
feed her
critical patients when donor food is unavailable.
Forced to
sell his last goat
One of her patients, a 30-year-old carpenter who
declined to be identified,
sold his last goat last week to buy food for his
two children as well
life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for himself,
which cost about
Z$250,000 (US$10 at the parallel market rate) per
month.
Zimbabwe's official rate of inflation rate is now over 1,700
percent,
although independent economists estimate that it has crossed the
2,000
percent threshold, which means the Z$500,000 (US$20) he realised from
the
sale of the goat has already been spent.
The carpenter bought a
50kg bag of maize for Z$110,000 (US$4.40), a 2 litre
bottle of cooking oil
for Z$60,000 (US$2.40) and a 2kg packet of sugar for
Z$30,000 (US$1.2), with
the remainder being used to purchase his medicine.
The family eats two
meals a day, usually black tea and thick maizemeal
porridge in the mornings,
and vegetables in the evenings.
In the past, Mapara said, villagers
needing food assistance would be helped
by the Zunde Ramambo, a communal
programme in which residents participate in
growing crops on common land,
whose custodian is the local chief, but
because of the drought no food
relief was expected from this traditional
coping mechanism.
Food aid
needed
A volunteer, affiliated to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society in
Goromonzi and
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the donor community
should provide
immediate food aid to villagers in the region to ward off
starvation.
"It is most likely that many people will die, not because of
disease alone
but [of] starvation as well, if donors and the government
don't come in
quickly," she told IRIN.
It is estimated that the
country will produce about 600,000mt of cereals in
the 2006-07 farming
season, but the annual requirement is 1.8mt. Although
the government has
played down food shortages in the past, it recently
invited the World Food
Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation
to assess the food
security situation in Zimbabwe.
The invitation to the two international
bodies coincided with a threat made
at a government rally in Matabeleland by
the information minister,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, to cancel the licences of all
nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs), so as to sieve out those with
political agendas.
Ndlovu told The Herald, a government newspaper, that
the country was facing
"a severe drought this year" and would welcome
unconditional food aid. He
also divulged that maize was already being
imported.
The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations
(NANGO), which
represents more than 1,000 civil groups in Zimbabwe, said it
had received no
official warning from the government about the cancellation
of NGO licences,
but said the move would be ill-advised because there was a
burgeoning
humanitarian crisis.
Domboshawa village, about 30km from
Harare, in Mashonaland East Province,
and Musana District, about 80km from
the capital in Mashonaland West
Province, were areas that used to produce
food even in times of drought, but
crops have failed to survive the
relentless lack of rain and villagers there
are now calling for immediate
assistance.
"We spent a lot of money preparing the fields and planting
but our sweat has
come to nought," Petra-Anna Chingwena and her husband,
Peter, told IRIN in
Domboshawa, where they planted 10 acres of maize. "We
heeded the advice of
weather experts to plant with the first rains that came
in late November
[2006] but after two weeks of heavy showers it became dry,
and there was
nothing we could do to rescue the crop."
The Chingwenas
are subsistence farmers who depend almost entirely on their
land to sustain
themselves and their five school-going children, but are now
struggling to
raise money to buy food and to pay school fees.
The husband earns a
little extra income as a cattle herder on larger
neighbouring farms, but it
is not enough to provide for the family's needs.
If the drought breaks in
the coming season, the Chingwenas will find it hard
to till the land because
they have had to sell two of their four cattle and
their only donkey to
cover the medical costs of one of their children, who
fell seriously
ill.
Food-for work brigades
In Musana District, villagers said the
political leadership in the area, a
stronghold of the ruling party, had
advised them to form 'food-for-work'
brigades that would combat erosion and
repair roads in return for food
handouts.
"The idea is noble but our
problem is that it might take too long, and
people will die of hunger. We
are not cry-babies who would always call for
help when we are in need, but
the situation this year is so bad, and if food
aid takes a month or two
without coming, a real disaster is looming,"
Kundiziva Motsi, 56, told
IRIN.
He said the able-bodied were trekking to the nearby Shamva area to
dig for
gold illegally, but not everyone could make a living from such a
strenuous
and dangerous activity.
"In this area there are so many
families whose parents have died, and young
children have been left to look
after their brothers and sisters," said
Motsi. "Naturally, such households
don't have the capacity to produce food,
and you can imagine what the
situation is like when there is drought, like
now."
[This
report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - With its main
water supply dams expected to
run dry by September, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's
second city, is planning to
transport water by train from the Zambezi River,
about 400km northwest of
the city.
"We are actively pursuing the idea
of a water train to bring the precious
liquid, because our current supplies
will be exhausted by October. Under the
plan, the train would draw water
from the Zambezi River before it is
purified and distributed to residents in
Bulawayo," Moffat Ndlovu, the
city's town clerk told IRIN.
"During
the just ended rain season, our [five] dams received a total inflow
of just
11 million cu.m, as opposed to the 73 million cu.m of rainwater that
we
received during the previous season," said Bulawayo's executive mayor,
Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube.
Bulawayo's unreliable water supply has forced
many industries to relocate
from the dry Matabeleland North Province, but
the city has managed to supply
water to its 1.5 million people with the help
of its dams, one of which, the
Lower Ncema, has already run dry and been
decommissioned; another, the
Umzingwane, is expected to be decommissioned in
June.
Two more dams, the Upper Ncema and the Inyankuni, will run out of
water in
August, according to the city council, leaving the municipality
dependent on
the remaining water supply dam, Insiza, which is expected run
dry in
October, before the onset of the rains.
In 1992, the city's
water supplies ran dry during the country's worst ever
drought but a
Norwegian organisation came to the rescue, sinking 77
boreholes in high
water-yielding aquifers, but only 20 of them are still
functioning.
A
government parastatal has taken over maintenance of the boreholes, but it
has said it did not have the funds to repair them. Most public
infrastructure in Zimbabwe is in a state of disrepair as the country battles
the world's highest annual inflation rate of more than 1,700
percent.
Fanuel Masikati, spokesman for National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ), told
IRIN that the municipality had not yet officially approached
them to
transport water from the Zambezi River.
"We are a bulk
carrier which can deliver any commodities to any part of the
country,
although that would require some resource allocation for such a
programme to
be properly implemented. We have never carried water in bulk,
and that would
mean sourcing tanks for such a programme."
The council has imposed
stringent water rationing measures, but falling
pressure in some reservoirs
has left parts of the city with no access to
water and residents have had to
rely on municipal bowsers.
Mayor Ndabeni-Ncube told IRIN they were also
courting donors to sink
boreholes around the city to augment water supplies.
"The European Union,
the Japanese embassy and some nongovernmental
organisations [are] coming in
to assist us with the provision of safe
drinking water through the sinking
and motorisation of
boreholes."
Successive governments since 1912 have postponed construction
of a water
pipeline from the Zambezi River to alleviate perennial water
shortages in
Bulawayo. Known as the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, the
pipeline is
envisaged to create a green belt through Matabeleland North
Province.
According to a council resolution, the plight of the residents
should be
publicised, so as to attract sympathisers to assist the city.
However, it
also warns that "due care should be exercised so that the
situation is not
over-dramatised to the extent of scaring away
investors."
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations]
IOL
Karyn
Maughan
April 24 2007 at 04:38AM
Taxi driver Leonard
Mvundle allegedly made thousands of rands by
kidnapping desperate illegal
immigrants, holding them captive in a tiny room
in Ivory Park, north of
Johannesburg... and demanding money for their
freedom.
Then he
faltered, accidentally kidnapping a South African teenager. It
was an error
that would lead police to Mvundle's five-square-metre rented
room and the 12
Zimbabwean women and two young children he had locked
inside.
The room, which had no toilet, was so small that none of the women -
all
illegal immigrants aged between 20 and 40 - were able to lie down.
The women and children are all believed to have been victims of
Mvundle's
immigrant kidnapping scam, in which he allegedly picked up
so-called "border
jumpers" from the Beit Bridge border post, drove them into
South Africa in
his bakkie and then demanded money for their release.
Now the 41-year-old, who appeared in the Newlands magistrate's court
on
Monday morning, is facing charges of kidnapping and is being investigated
for alleged contravention of the Immigration Act.
Police say
they believe that the women and children's hellish ordeal
forms part of a
growing trend in which immigrants are targeted as the
"perfect victims" of
kidnapping and ransom crimes.
Police Captain Lungelo Dlamini
revealed that Mvundle's victims had
made no attempt to seek any help from
the people living around him.
"They didn't scream for help because
they didn't want the police to
come and send them back to Zimbabwe," he
said.
Dlamini admitted that it was "unlikely" police would have
found the
women and children if they had not been contacted by the mother of
Mvundle's
South African victim.
"We are aware of these kind of
things happening, but it is hard for us
to do anything because the victims
don't want to come to the police,"
Dlamini added.
According to
police research, only 10 percent of kidnapping cases are
ever reported -
with foreign nationals being the so-called "favourite
victims".
Mvundle's trouble began when he allegedly lured a 17-year-old South
African
girl into his bakkie "under false pretences" at Beit Bridge. Police
say he
later demanded R300 in taxi fare and refused to release her. After
three
days, the amount for her release was increased to R3 000.
"He told
the girl's mother to put the money in a bank account for
him," said
Dlamini.
"We found out that the account was not in Mvundle's name
and there
were a number of other things that was wrong with
it."
According to Dlamini, the girl's mother proceeded to negotiate
her
release and police accompanied her to a filling station in Ivory Park,
where
she was to hand over the money. After rescuing the teenager, police
demanded
Mvundle take them to his home.
Dlamini said Mvundle's
victims are now being held at an undisclosed
place of safety.
"When we found them, they told us that they were very hungry... They
said he
(Mvundle) had only given them bread and water to eat," Dlamini
said.
Although unable to confirm the number of immigrants kidnapped
in South
Africa, police say some of the abductions end in death for
some.
This article was originally published on page 3 of
Pretoria News on
April 24, 2007
VOA
By Tendai
Maphosa
London
24 April 2007
The European Union
is preparing to expand the list of Zimbabwean officials
who are barred from
traveling to EU countries. Tendai Maphosa has more in
this report for VOA
from London.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg have
issued a
statement expressing strong concern at what they called the rapidly
deteriorating human rights, political and economic situation in
Zimbabwe.
As a result, the statement says the Union will add more names
to the 100
plus visa ban list. The targeted sanctions were imposed in 2002
on
President Robert Mugabe and senior members of his government and ruling
ZANU-PF party in response to alleged human rights abuses.
Besides
stopping those on the list from traveling to EU countries, the
sanctions
also target their assets. An embargo on arms sales to Zimbabwe is
also in
place.
Earlier this month, five new names were added to the no visa
list. The
Reuters news agency reports the European Union may target senior
police
officers involved in the arrest of and alleged assault of opposition
leader
Morgan Tsvangirai last month.
Zimbabwe's government is faced
with an unprecedented economic meltdown. The
country has the highest
inflation rate in the world, high unemployment, and
food and other basics
are in short supply. The Mugabe government blames
what it calls the illegal
EU and U.S. sanctions for its predicament.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu is Zimbabwe's
Minister of Information.
"They use the term targeted sanctions; it is a
smokescreen to say they are a
targeted ban on travel or ban on any
investment by individuals," he said.
"We do not have investment in any of
the European countries or Britain or
America. The people of Zimbabwe are
the ones who are made to suffer by
these sanctions, because we cannot have
access [to] foreign currency to
import the commodities we need. Investment,
companies outside, countries
that want to deal with us, they have been
ordered not to invest in Zimbabwe;
those are the sanctions I am talking
about. Inflation has gone up because
of the sanctions, there were shortages
but now as government we have put in
place import substitution so that we do
not depend on imports."
But analysts say while there has been a decrease
in non-humanitarian aid and
a reduction in foreign direct investment, the
Zimbabwean government's
mismanagement is behind the country's economic
meltdown. Professor Stephen
Chan of the School of Oriental and African
Studies in London spoke to VOA on
the topic.
"All European countries
follow an aid ethical policy, in other words aid is
now targeted towards
governments that observe certain criteria so its not
just Zimbabwe where aid
flows have diminished," he explained. "The other
thing about foreign direct
investment is very simple, a commercial one; no
one is going to invest in
Zimbabwe, because no one can get a return for
their money, it is just a lost
proposition. When you have got 2,000 percent
inflation it does not matter
how much money you can repatriate, because you
are not going to have any
profits."
Chan added that there is a consensus among European and African
governments
that only a major policy change by the Zimbabwean government or
a change of
senior government personnel would lead to a change of the
European Union's
stance towards Zimbabwe.
The Star
Letters
April 24,
2007 Edition 1
Jovial Rantao tells us that "voices calling for urgent
change in Zimbabwe
have reached fever pitch", (The Star Opinion and
Analysis, April 20).
Believe it or not, just a couple of months ago, a
foreign affairs PR man
outlined the conflict zones that South Africa -
having reached the dizzy
heights of becoming a non-permanent member of the
UN security council - was
helping to resolve.
He went on about Haiti,
East Timor, Palestine, Sudan and the Congo, but made
no mention at all of
our next-door neighbour, Zimbabwe.
Sadly, in the kind of world we live
in, it takes a rogue state to bash up
and seriously injure its opposition
leaders and supporters to get a
long-running issue like Zimbabwe back on the
world's agenda.
Thank God South Africa got over its Zimbabwe "fatigue"
and we are, at least,
showing concern for the long-suffering hungry,
oppressed, homeless,
intimidated and poverty-ridden povo (the masses) across
our northern border.
It was about time.
There's nothing jovial
about the present situation in Zimbabwe, Jovial!
Mega-inflation has
reached 5000% year-on-year with prices of main
commodities.
This
includes the staple maize meal, doubling each week and likewise
petrol - if
you can find any.
Peruse the latest Zimbabwean newspaper and you'll find
that 600 MDC
supporters are still locked up and denied medical treatment
after their
bashings.
I would recommend Jovial to read such
commentators as Moeletsi Mbeki,
President Thabo Mbeki's brother, and media
owner Trevor Ncube to get a
better picture of what's happening and the
uphill battles needed to get rid
of Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe.
He won't go quietly.
My own view of what's essential isn't a
softly-softly approach to assure
Mugabe he won't have to face trial for war
crimes and human rights abuses
against his people, but to get the regime to
stop such criminal and barbaric
abuses forthwith, to restore some semblance
of democracy and the rule of
law, lift the ban against the Daily News and
release those political
prisoners straight away.
I have another
suggestion that might be considered.
In the 1920s an idea was floated to
incorporate Rhodesia into South Africa,
but the Rhodies were dead against
it.
Maybe this is the only hope for present-day
Zimbabwe.
Otherwise, it could take 20 difficult years to restore the
country after
Mugabe's mis-rule.
With wonderful soil and minerals and
having the Victoria Falls, it's indeed
a country with enormous potential
under the right leadership.
We live in hope that one fine day, millions
of Zimbabweans living here and
elsewhere will want to go home.
Ivor
Davis
Sandton
The Herald (Harare)
April
24, 2007
Posted to the web April 24, 2007
Thupeyo Muleya and Alfred
Chagonda
Harare
ABOUT 180 vehicles are stuck at a Beitbridge customs
warehouse as their
owners are unable to clear them following the
introduction of new
regulations that compel importers of cars and other
luxury goods to pay duty
in foreign currency.
Zimbabweans were
spending an estimated US$400 000 importing an average of 80
used vehicles a
day from Japan, Singapore, Dubai, the UK and the United
States.
Under the new regulations, the State is expected to rake
in an average of
US$200 million a day in customs duty while vehicle
assemblers are also
expected to experience a boost in their businesses as
buyers would have to
switch to locally-assembled vehicles.
Before the
new regulations, which came into effect on April 5, clearing cars
took two
days at most and between 1 200 and 1 500 imported used vehicles
went through
the border post every month.
Some of the cars were bought from Dubai, the
United Kingdom, Japan,
Singapore and the United States long before the
implementation of the new
regulations that require vehicle importers to pay
duty ranging from 60 to 80
percent of the value of the vehicle.
The
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority motor vehicle evaluation department, which
used
to handle an average of 80 cars destined for the Zimbabwean market a
day, is
now clearing an average of 30 cars daily and devoting more time to
clearing
vehicles in transit to Malawi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic
of
Congo.
Zimra commissioner of legal and corporate services Ms Florence
Jambwa
yesterday said if the importers fail to raise the required money
within
three months, the vehicles would be auctioned.
Normally the
cars are kept in the customs yard for 21 days before they are
towed to the
warehouse where they are auctioned if the owners fail to pay
customs duty
after three months.
The warehouse charges $5 000 a day for
storage.
Some car dealers interviewed said the new regulations had caught
them
unawares as they had purchased the vehicles some two to three months
earlier.
They expressed concern that Zimra would soon auction the
cars if they failed
to clear them on time.
"The implementation of the
new regulations was very harsh. The Government
should have given us a window
period of one month so that we could get used
to the system.
"Most of
us hoped to pay duty in local currency, but now we are left
stranded.
"It is difficult for one to raise foreign currency,
considering that it is
not readily available in the country," said Mr Reuben
Mandizha, who spent
three days at the border post last week.
He said
he had failed to raise US$5 000 duty required for his vehicle, which
he
claimed cost him US$3 000 but was revalued at US$11 000 by Zimra.
The
dealers said most of them had paid huge amounts to have their vehicles
ferried from Durban, South Africa, to Beitbridge.
South Africa has
banned the driving of second-hand imported cars on its
roads, compelling
importers to pay between R3 000 and R10 000 for their cars
to be ferried to
Beitbridge Border Post.
However, while the dealers were willing to raise
foreign currency to buy the
huge amount of cars entering the country on a
daily basis, they were not
prepared to raise the same currency to pay for
their imports.
Statutory Instrument 80A of 2007, published in an
Extraordinary Government
Gazette a week before the Easter holidays,
stipulates that with effect from
April 5 2007, importers of cars and other
luxury goods will be required to
pay duty and value added tax in foreign
currency.
Under the requirements, the customs duty and VAT shall be
payable in United
States dollars, euros or any other currency denominated
under the Exchange
Control (General) Order 1006 (Statutory Instrument 110 of
1996).
However, duty in hard currency is paid by only those who use free
funds and
not foreign currency accessed from the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Under the statutory instrument, vehicles such as single cab
trucks, other
trucks and minibuses do not attract duty in foreign
currency.
Finance Minister Cde Samuel Mumbengegwi recently told
journalists at a Press
conference that the new law, mooted in 2005, was
being used as an instrument
to turn around the economy by encouraging those
with free funds to import
goods that have a bearing on the development of
the economy or invest in
more production oriented activities.
The
Government argues that its decision was meant to channel investment into
productive activities instead of non-essentials.
JOHANNESBURG, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - Finally, a
good news story out of
Zimbabwe: the number of malaria cases in the
crisis-ridden country has
dropped by 40 percent in the last two years, from
three million in 2004 to
1.8 million last year, according to the Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare
and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"This
is a refreshing and timely piece of good news out of Zimbabwe," said
Festo
Kavishe, UNICEF's Representative in Zimbabwe. "If we are to make
further
inroads in reducing child mortality, then, with government, we must
work
towards 90 percent coverage by the end of 2007, maintain our strong
work in
immunisation, and ensure greater access to antiretrovirals for
children."
Malaria was a leading cause of child mortality until
recently, and also
contributed 15 percent of patients admitted to all public
health facilities,
according to UNICEF. Half of Zimbabwe's population lives
in malaria-prone
areas and past efforts to control the disease have been
hampered by the
increasing cost of antimalarial medicines and the parasite's
growing
resistance to the available drugs.
The drop has been
attributed to the distribution of 400,000 long-lasting
insecticide-treated
nets (LLTN) across the country between 2004 and 2006,
according to UNICEF
spokesman James Elder.
With the support of the Japanese and Norwegian
Governments, and the United
Kingdom's Department of International
Development (DFID), UNICEF has spent
more than US$5 million on malaria
control and prevention since 2004.
"Malaria is a preventable and
treatable disease, and we are very grateful
for the support the
international community has given," said UNICEF's Head
of Health, Dr Colleta
Kibassa. "These successes remind us of the simple
adage: 'sleeping under an
insecticide-treated net saves lives'."
Zimbabwe's 'roll back malaria'
campaign has now met the target of ensuring
that 60 percent of all
under-five children in malarial zones sleep under an
insecticide-treated
mosquito net.
Specified targets in support of the UN Millennium
Development Goals were set
for malaria prevention and control in the Abuja
Declaration in 2000, when
African heads of state and governments met in the
Nigerian capital.
At the beginning of 2005, less than seven percent of
Zimbabwe's under-five
children living in malarial zones slept under mosquito
nets; two years
later, and amid great economic challenges, that number has
risen to 70
percent.
"Malaria not only kills, it also damages
productivity and halts
development," said John Barrett, head of DFID in
Zimbabwe. "A
malaria-stricken family spends an average of over one-quarter
of its income
on treatment. Thus, malaria has far-reaching effects on health
and economic
productivity. Through UNICEF we have saved lives and assisted
development."
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations]
Zim Online
Wednesday 25 April 2007
By Regerai
Marwezu
MASVINGO - Masvingo State University was on Tuesday
indefinitely shut
down by the Zimbabwean government following a strike by
lecturers who are
demanding a 200 percent hike on their
salaries.
The university authorities also fired two lecturers and
two student
leaders whom they accused of instigating and directing the
industrial action
at the state-run university in the southern Masvingo
province.
One of the dismissed lecturers, Takavafira Zhou, is the
president of
the militant Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) that
has led a
series of strikes by teachers across the country over the past few
months.
The lecturers, who are earning about Z$1.3 million a month,
want the
authorities to hike their salaries to Z$3.7 million that is being
given to
their counterparts at the University of Zimbabwe in
Harare.
Negotiations for a salary hike broke down on Monday this
week forcing
the lecturers to boycott work until their grievances were
addressed.
The industrial action reached boiling point after
students joined the
strike in protest against demands by the university to
top up their boarding
fees from Z$345 000 a semester to Z$800
000.
A visit by ZimOnline at the campus on Tuesday revealed that
there were
no lectures taking place at the university.
"The
institution is closed indefinitely until all issues are
addressed. We had
asked government to review our salaries but nothing was
done.
"Instead of attending to our case the government bought a posh
Mercedes Benz
for the Vice-Chancellor Obert Maravanyika, which means it has
money.
"We are very angry with the development and we are not
going back to
work until our demands are met," said one lecturer who refused
to be named.
Zhou also confirmed that he had been fired from the
university
together with another lecturer and two student
leaders.
"We were just advised by the university that we had been
fired for
causing the work boycott," said Zhou.
Strikes by
university lecturers demanding better pay and working
conditions are common
in Zimbabwe.
A seven-year economic recession that has manifested
itself in the
world's highest inflation rate of nearly 2 000 percent has
seen most workers
in Zimbabwe battle to make ends meet with for example,
most workers taking
home as little as Z$150 000 a month, enough to buy only
four litres of
cooking oil. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 25 April 2007
By
Tinotenda Zhou
HARARE - The ruling ZANU PF party and the Premier Soccer
League (PSL) are
once again at loggerheads after the party demanded hundreds
of VIP privilege
cards for access to matches for their senior members
throughout the country,
ZimOnline gas gathered.
Top sources at the
PSL said ZANU PF had now resorted to threats after the
league management
committee refused to issue out the cards.
According to the official, the
ruling party claims that there are a lot of
officials from the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party who
have been issued with cards
so they also wanted to enjoy the same privilege.
"ZANU PF officials have
been besieging us for the past two weeks demanding
VIP cards to gain access
to matches for free but like we have always done
before, there is no way we
will mix politics with our football.
"But they are pestering us demanding
that we give them the cards. They are
now claiming that we have issued
dozens of MDC members with cards which is
not true. Individuals who deserve
to have the cards come to us and we treat
each case separately without
looking at political affiliation.
"It is saddening that politicians
always want to mess our game but we are
determined to make sure that we are
not dragged into the mud," said the
official.
But ZimOnline gathers
that pressure to issue the cards to ZANU PF officials
is coming from PSL
chairman, Tapiwa Matangaidze, a strong ruling party
apologist who was part
of President Robert Mugabe's birthday fund-raising
committee earlier this
year.
Matangaidze could not be reached for comment on the matter. -
ZimOnline
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
OFFERED FOR
SALE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 $1300 and 250g of pigs liver or heart
costing $1300 for 250g.
Collection points: Benbar in Msasa at
10.30
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
Fuel Coupons for Sale
Caltex petrol coupons for sale (25 litres).
Phone: 730507, 799410
or
011610073.
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1.5
For Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Mazda Cronos, 1996 metallic blue, good
condition. Please phone Shelley 04
884007/ 011-608 200 or chika@zol.co.zw
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1.6
For Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
BASSBOAT, WRANGLER X 13, complete with as
new 60HP Yamaha, Electric start,
Trim and Tilt, Live Well, Boat Cover, Motor
Cover. Price equivalent of
USD5500. Phone
741913
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1.7
For Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
7 meter extension ladder - hardly
used
125 amp arc welding machine. 3 settings
5 lengths IBR roof sheets @
+-5m
1 " " transparent sheet X 4,5m
Construction site hard
hats
Scaffold jacks
Quantity of timbers and off-cuts
1 heavy duty angle
grinder
1 bench circular saw
1 6" belt/disc sander
contact mhowarth@zol.co.zw
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1.8
For Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Ericssen cell phone - no
line
$150,000
Socket Set
$50,000
Flippers and
goggles
$50,000 for both
Saddle horse, about 2 yards
long
$50,000
Brown Poof
$50,000
Raffia coffee
table
$50,000
Raffia chair
$30,000
Tennis balls (brand new
in box)
$100,000
Various girls bathing costumes and caps, garden hats,
belts.
$l0,000 or less
Contact Jennifer at 073 3399 or 011 423614
or message to
883461
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1.9
For Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
One 10 Tonne tri axle trailer. Contact
Chris at 04 611205/611272 or 0912
239963
Vintage Car - Model A Ford
Contact Peter Ph. 04 861591 Or 011
201839
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1.10
Boat for Sale (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
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: brand
new
Various '94 Peugeot 405 body parts
Boat motors:
Two by
Yamaha 25hp motors,
One: power head in pieces, leg complete
Two: leg in
pieces, power head complete
Mercury Blue line 40hp motor, running but
needs minor attn, complete with
controls, plus many
spares
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1.11
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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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1.12
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
DUAL DECODER. Replaced by PVR. In perfect
order. Cost in SA R2400.00.
Asking 50% of that in any currency.
Small
bar. 1,6m's X 0,5m's.Never used. Any reasonable offer considered.
Phone
Hre 302 702 or 091-609
078
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1.13
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Small Business for sale - hundreds of
wrought iron candelabras, flower
stands and vases for sale. Would suit
function orientated florist/decor
person or group. Payment terms available.
Ph 011 614 525 /
885115
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1.14
For Sale THE WEAVERY (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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--$113,000.
Cotton oven gloves--$101,000.
Small woven
bags--$90,000.
Large woven bags--$113,000.
Crocheted
bags--$135,000.
Queen(approx.250x240cms) size
bedcover--$855,000.
Other sizes to order.
Single Duvet cushions(open into
a duvet)--$574,000.
Other sizes to order.
2x1 meter
Throw--405,000.
Baby Blanket(1x1meter)--$248,000.
3 piece toilet
set--$225,000.
Bath mat--$180,000.
Decorated cushion
covers--$113,000.
Table runner--$67,500.
Set(4)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$225,000.
Set(6)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$338,000.
Set(4) crocheted table mats
only--$180,000.
Set(6)fringed table mats + serviettes--$338,000.
Lots of
other combinations.
Small(approx.105x52cms) plain cotton
rug--$158,000.
Medium(approx.120x65cms) plain cotton
rug--$225,000
Large(approx.150x75cms) plain cotton
rug--$338,000.
Ex.Large(approx.230x130cms) plain cotton
rug--$675,000.
Small patterned cotton rug--$225,000.
Small rag
rug--$158,000.
Medium rag rug--$225,000.
Medium patterned cotton
rug--$338,000.
Large patterned cotton rug--$450,000
Ex.Large patterned
cotton rug--$900,000.
Small patterned mohair rug--$450,000.
Medium
patterned mohair rug--$563,000
Large patterned mohair rug--$675,000.
Ex.
Large patterned mohair rug--$1,240,000.
Lots of other articles.PLEASE be
aware that prices may change
without
notice
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1.15
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
15 Wooden pelmets. 1.2 metres in length
with runners at $35,000 each.
Phone Greer on 744075 / 0912 353
047
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1.16
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Upright - 20yrs old - Ludwichmesiter -
for sale. Price to be discussed on
phoning:
011604564
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1.17
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
COARSE SALT, Z$235,000 PER 50KG BAG
DELIVERED HARARE - LIMITED QUANTITIES
AVAILABLE.
WHEAT BRAN Z$ 20,000
PER 25 KG BAG COLLECTED RUWA WITH EMPTY BAG.
APPLY mnmilbank@zol.co.zw
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1.18
For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
SodaStream Gemini fizzy drink maker.
Still in original box. $400 000
Kenwood Cheffette cake mixing bowl and stand,
and separate liquidizer
$500,000
Phone 308880 preferably
evenings.
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1.19
Vehicles For Sale (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
(All sales include change of
ownership)
2 x Toyota Land cruiser 100 series VX. $ 38
K.
3 x Toyota Land cruiser 80 Series VX. $ 15 K.
1 x
Toyota Parado, 3 Litre KZTE Turbo $ 18 K.
Toyota land cruiser
new shape Pickup with 24 V turbo 1HDT VX engine.
Beige.
Rebuild with
20,000 Km Guarantee. $ 30 K
Toyota Land cruiser old shape ( 1984 )
pickup, 12HT turbo diesel, power
steering, disc brakes, long range tank, full
hunting rig. $ 12.5 K
Contact Alex Hawkins 091 2 261085. Email:
alexhawkins@zol.co.zw, 63
Harare
Drive,
Marlborough.
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Horses
for Sale & Tack (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Jamaica pure thoroughbred
mare. 15 years old.
About 16hh, Black in colour & very showy
Played
top a division polo x for Zimbabwe many times.
Bally Nakill a mare,
Born 27/09/94
Sire Gallantry, Black in colour, 16hh
She has a passport,
She is a very quiet ride but can be made hotter with
feeding.
She has
show jumped & played in the Zim open polo x.
Please phone sherry on
0912 724 595 or 852027/28
I also have 3 English GP saddles for sale in
very good nick which I'm open
to offers; I will have other bit of tack for
sale on
request.
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2.
WANTED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2
Wanted (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
2nd Gear or Complete Gear Box for Hino KM
Series
1971 Model
Email info@bushmanrock.com or Phone Ira
884154
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3
Wanted (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Two cable connectors used to connect a 5110
Nokia cell phone to our
computers for the purpose of downloading e mails.
These must be suitable
for a Nokia data suite. Contact Conquest Tours Ph
332450/308960 or E mail
conquest@mweb.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Wanted for a lady. A small economical car
(petrol) to use as a runaround for
shopping, kids to school etc.
Does
not have to be "newish" but should be reliable. Nissan march, Toyota
starlet
or similar vehicle.
Payment can be in S.A. Contact Pete on Harare 251254
or home 480118..Email
pete@radius.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Old hardback novels and banknotes wanted by
collector for cash please
call Mr Wallis on 496829 or email zermatt@mweb.co.zw "
Old wood
burning stove/oven wanted. The power cuts are hitting us hard!!
Please call
Mr Wallis on 496829 or email zermatt@mweb.co.zw
"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Does anyone have a Workshop Manual for a
1988 Nissan Sentra 1.3GL for loan
or sale? Please contact Rodney at arhb@zol.co.zw
.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.7
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Mazda Pick-up single cab, petrol B1600-
B1800 or 2000 type.
Top price paid for good vehicle. Phone: Harare 750775
Working hours, Harare
882620
Home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.8
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Looking for 2 sets of bunk beds. Contact
Mark on 0912227169 or Julia
on
0912236641
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.9
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Looking for an electronic key board for my
daughter, who has just started
piano lessons. Please contact:
011414045.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
ACCOMMODATION WANTED AND
OFFERED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Cottage for rent - Bromley
50 kms from Harare
Attractive thatched cottage in farm garden, with
plenty of space - $400,000
per month
Contact Jennifer at 073 3399 or 011
423614 or message to
883461
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2
TWO HOUSES FOR SALE (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Chirundu - Lovely home with
stunning views of the great Zambezi River and
valley.
Grandi Lodge -
lovely 2 bedroomed home in secure complex in Greendale.
This complex has a
public library, pool, entertainment area with rolling
lawns under shady
trees. Great for retired couple. Enquiries -
Serious enquiries please
contact Pauline on 011609840 or email:
welch@yoafrica.com (Photos & prices on
request)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.3
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Urgently wanted A.S.A.P by
Middle Aged Couple 2/3 Brm House or Cottage in
the Eastlea/Kamfinsa,
Rhodesville/Newlands area. Willing to pay up to ZIM
$600,000. per
month.
Pse Contact Sue on 0912-570-050 or Land Line
746674
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.4
Accommodation for Rent (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Block of four attached
garden flats, Greendale area, convenient to shops,
town, Msasa, suit
company/NGO for offices, quiet, pleasant ,secure
environment, carports,
interested parties should contact Mr Wallis on 496829
or email zermatt@mweb.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.5
Wanting to Buy (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
2 bedroom ground floor flat looking
to buy in Avondale or surrounding areas.
Please call: Greer - 744075 / 0912
353
047
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.6
Accommodation Offered Bulawayo (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Flat to let
Bulawayo:
Two bedroomed, well fitted, lounge/dining room, guest toilet,
separate
bathroom with shower, beautifully fitted kitchen with breakfast
nook,
scullery, and balcony. This flat is in a well maintained, small and
secure
block. We are looking for a caring persons/person to enjoy this
pretty
little home Available 1st May 2007. Interested please email
dieselandplant@zol.co.zw or phone 011
614
233
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7
Looking for Retail Premises to Rent (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Desparetly
looking for retail premises to rent measuring no less than 70 -
120 square
metres. In the area of Kaguvi Street, Charter Rd, Cameron street.
Please if
anyone knows of premises please contact: Tony Rowley 0912 201 606
or 443503
or Sherry Rowley 852027/28 or 0912 724
595
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
RECREATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1
Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2
DURBAN SOUTH COAST - HOLIDAY HOUSE (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Approx. 1 km
from HIbberdene beach which is a blue flag beach and is
situated in a secure
complex which has a lovely swimming pool.
Sleeps 6 people comfortably and has
beautiful inland views with stunning
sunsets.
It has just been
renovated and all one needs to take are towels and dish
cloths.
Rate R600
per night plus key deposit in season.
Rate R350 per night plus key deposit
out of season.
Interested parties please contact Jo Brophy (in UK) on
jozibee@btinternet.com who will put you
in touch with the letting
agent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.3
Investing in a holiday home or retirement pad (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
Are
you thinking of investing in a "bolt hole", holiday home or
retirement
pad.
Try the beautiful Eastern Cape. Rob Owsley Properties
specializes in
property sales along the Eastern Cape Coast from Port Alfred
to Hamburg,
including Riet River, Kleinemonde, Mgwalana, Mpekweni and Birha.
The sales
office in located in Kleinemonde, 20km from Port Alfred on the
Sunshine
Coast between Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern
Cape.
The long stretches of white unspoilt beach, warm Indian ocean waves
and
peaceful lagoons make it an ideal seaside getaway. The natural assets
of
Kleinemonde make it an excellent venue for all river and beach
activities,
including water skiing, surfing, boating up the unspoilt river,
horse riding
on
the beach, fishing and sand boarding and much more! The
beautiful
indigenous
vegetation reaches down to the riverbanks and the
ancient cycads are in
abundance. Bird and wild life are abundant, the cry of
the resident fish
eagles
echoes in the silence. In close proximity are
various game reserves and
parks
where the Big Five can be seen on day and
night drives. There are two
excellent
golf courses in the area, the Fish
River Sun, 5 minutes away and the Royal
Alfred Golf Club in Port
Alfred.
All this makes Kleinemonde the ideal holiday home area and also a
restful
and
peaceful place to retire. Contact : Rob Owsley Properties;
Tel. +27 46
6751021; Fax. +27 46 6751126 e-mail : Owsley@imaginet.co.za,
www.kleinemondeproperty.co.za
If
you have children at school or university in Grahamstown, Rob
Owsley
Properties also has many delightful properties available on their
books for
short term
rents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4
GACHE GACHE LODGE (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
EMMERSE 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5
Need a break? (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
SPECIALIST
SERVICES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.3
FERNATIC NURSERY (Ad inserted 17/04/07)
MANY VARIETIES OF FERNS AND TREE
FERNS, PALMS, PINK AND GREEN ARUMS AND
OTHER EXOTIC PLANTS.
4 J CROWHILL
ROAD - 1.8KM AFTER BORROWDALE BROOKE SHOPS, 1ST HOUSE ON LEFT
AFTER HOGGERTY
HILL DVE. ENTRANCE ON CROWHILL RD (BLACK ELECTRIC GATE - RING
BELL).
0912208836 tourleaders@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.4
Para-Legal Advisory Services (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Now into our 14th
year and still assisting people with much needed valuable
Advisory
Services.
1. Obtaining
- Full Birth Certificates for
Zimbabwe (replacement of
old style)
- Registration of
new births
- Adoption Orders - Certified Extract of originals
with
Full Birth Certificate, so identifying birth
parent/s
- Marriage Certificates - Certified Extract of
originals
- Death Certificates (only possible in some
instances)
- Zimbabwe Drivers Licenses - new, replacement of lost,
&
Letter of Confirmation (reqd when obtaining a
Drivers Licence in another country)
- Divorce Orders - certified
extract of originals
- Certificate of Non-Marriage
2.
Facilitating
- Immigration formalities into Zimbabwe,
ie Residence & Employment Permits
- Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) - New Investor formalities
3. Company Registration
Procedures
- New Companies
- Statutory Returns, eg Annual
Return
- completion & submission of Forms, eg CR14,
CR6
4. Para-Legal Services
- Wills (preparation
of)
- Establishment of Discretionary Trusts
- enquire
further as to what you are needing
5. Rent Board matters
-
problems with undesirable residential tenants. . .?.?
obtaining
Ejectment Certificate iro 'bad' tenants
6. Labour related
matters
- problem & incompetent staff
- 'retrenchment'
of staff
- workplace disputes
Phone us for further information
and/or to arrange a no obligation
consultation.
Financial Arrangements
- We will always assist 'bona fide' financially
challenged
persons.
Contact: Thomas Vallance ACIArb, Commissioner of
Oaths
PARADiGM TRUST (Pvt) Ltd, Para-Legal Advisory Services
Trust
Executives & Administrators, Tels: (B) 302 207 (M) 011-617
161
Emls:[paradigm@zol.co.zw],
[paradigm@mango.zw]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.5
VIDEO PRODUCTION (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
Filming & Editing of Weddings
& Special Events. DVD Production, Broadcast
Quality.
DVD & VHS
transfers. Call Greer on 744075 / 0912 353
047
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.6
'Mr Cruiser' (Pvt) LTD (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.7
PRESENTATIONS AND PROMOTIONAL DISCS (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.8
BUILDING CONSULTANT (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.9
IT Solutions (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
PETS
CORNER
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1
Wanted (Ad inserted 24/04/07)
A male or female puppy or a young dog of
Labrador type. Reply to Gayle
Lowden Stoole, telephone
04-302983.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.2
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.3
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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".