09 Oct 2006
18:25:49 GMT
Source: IRIN
HARARE, 9 October (IRIN) - Candidates from
the ruling ZANU-PF party romped
home with huge margins in by-elections held
at the weekend, although
accredited election observers voiced concern about
the way the poll was
conducted.
The by-elections in the ZANU-PF
bastions of Mashonaland East and Mashonaland
Central provinces coincided
with celebrations marking the seventh
anniversary of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), and were
widely seen as an acid test of the
opposition's ability to penetrate
government-held strongholds.
The
MDC, split by internal rivalries, had little to celebrate as President
Robert Mugabe's ruling party retained the two constituencies with ease. The
government candidate, Steven Chiurayi, recorded 11,247 votes in Mashonaland
East's Chikomba constituency, while Amos Jiri, the MDC candidate from the
opposition faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai, recorded 4,243 votes. In
Rushinga, Mashonaland Central, ZANU-PF candidate Lazarus Dokora received
13,642 votes against MDC candidate Kudakwashe Chideya's 1,801.
The
other faction of the MDC did not participate in the elections, which
were
preceded by opposition party allegations that government intimidation
had
made the area a "no-go zone" for any political party competing against
ZANU-PF.
According to the state-controlled Herald newspaper, Dokora
said after the
announcement of the outcome that "the people of Rushinga have
spoken - their
vote is an affirmation to the trust they have in ZANU-PF and
President
Mugabe."
However, the opposing candidate, Chideya, refused
to accept the results,
saying they had been tampered with. "The election was
not free and fair. I
refuse to concede defeat, because there are so many
irregularities I have
observed."
Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of
the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(ZESN), an electoral monitoring
organisation, told IRIN that "We noted with
concern the apparent dearth of
voter education and information
dissemination, resulting in low voter
turnout, which takes away the credit
from even the most peaceful and free
elections", and observers had witnessed
a variety of
irregularities.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the
Chikomba voter
turnout was 72 percent of registered voters, while in
Rushinga it was 88
percent. It is not known how many people who are eligible
to vote have been
registered.
ZESN used to undertake voter education
programmes and disseminate electoral
information, but changes to electoral
laws mean the government-appointed ZEC
is now the sole body entitled to
conduct voter education programmes.
Matchaba-Hove said voter registration
as an ongoing process was vital. "This
will give persons who were previously
unregistered, who changed residence or
who turned 18 - the voting age - the
chance to register. ZESN therefore
questions whether effective voter
registration has been done."
He said ZESN observers had seen voters with
incorrect identity documents
arriving at polling stations, but only a valid
passport or national identity
card were acceptable. "Some voters brought
copies of passports, while others
attempted to use driver's licenses, which
are no longer an acceptable form
of identification for voting
purposes."
Business Report
October 9,
2006
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank has barred shops from receiving
cash
payments for goods worth over R3 000 as it battles an inflation rate of
nearly 1 200 percent, a state daily said.
"The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) has barred all retail outlets from
selling goods worth more
than 100 million Zimbabwe dollars in cash to
customers using old and new
bearer cheques, as the clampdown against cash
holders gathers momentum," The
Herald said quoting a statement from the
bank.
"Such transactions
should now be done through bank transfers and cheques,"
it said.
On
Monday, the central bank slashed three zeroes from its currency to help
consumers battling with bundles of money on shopping trips costing them
billions and trillions of local dollars.
The central bank also
devalued the country's currency by 59.5 percent to
Z$250 000 against the
greenback and gave Zimbabweans up to August 21 to hand
in their existing
bearer cheques for a new series launched on Tuesday.
The daily said the
central bank issued the directive as money launderers,
selling foreign
currency on the black market at Z$550 000 to the US dollar,
had turned to
shopping in supermarkets to avoid state investigators probing
illegal
deals.
Bearer cheques, essentially money printed on ordinary paper, were
introduced
as a stop-gap measure at the height of cash shortages that hit
the country
in 2003.
The largest cheque has a face value of Z$100
000.
Central bank chief Gideon Gono has cited corruption, speculation and
indiscipline as the major contributors to the country's economic woes and
said there would be probes on shady financial deals. - AFP
Fin24
09/10/2006
21:28
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank on Monday ordered the
immediate
closure of all money transfer agencies, citing poor performance
and "defiant
behaviour".
"With immediate effect, all money transfer
agencies are cancelled,"
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono said in a
statement.
Institutions whose money transfer licences were
cancelled included
Standard Chartered, Banfords and Stanbic
Bank.
"All local accounts for these entities should be closed
forthwith.
This withdrawal has been occasioned by non-performance and
defiant behaviour
by most players in this sector."
Gono said
that any bank wanting to appeal against the withdrawal of
their transfer
licences had only until the end of the month to do so.
Zimbabwe's
financial sector was wracked by its worst crisis in 2004
that left seven
banks under curatorship and three financial institutions
liquidated.
The southern African country is trying to revive
its tattered economy,
which is plagued by high unemployment levels, poverty
and the highest
inflation rate in the world.
The problems stem
partly from the country's isolation from its former
trade partners in the
West after Zimbabwe embarked on its controversial land
reform programme in
early 2000.
Many of the three million Zimbabweans who have left the
country as a
result of the economic meltdown regularly send back foreign
currency to
their families from abroad, a vital source of cash for those
left behind.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu & Netsai Mlilo
Washington and Insiza
09 October 2006
The basic cost of living for a family of six in
Zimbabwe rose 16.3% in
September to Z$112,000 from Z$96,000 in August, the
Consumer Council of
Zimabwe, which compiles the so-called bread-basket
index, said on Friday. It
said the rise was driven by prices of meat,
margarine, washing soap, mealie
meal and cooking oil.
The consumer
agency said it hoped a price stabilization committee
established by the
Harare government would put the brakes on increases in
the price of basic
goods.
Economist Godfrey Kanyenze, director of the Labor and Economic
Development
Research Institute, an affiliate of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions,
said the average wage for Zimbabweans working in the private
sector is about
Z$17,000 monthly - 15% of what one index suggests a family
of six needs to
survive.
Like their urban-dwelling counterparts,
Zimbabweans in rural areas are
struggling to survive inflation last seen
around 1,200%. As correspondent
Netsai Mlilo reports from the Matabeleland
South village of Insiza, some
rural people depend on remittances from
relatives living abroad, while
others make do with their own scant
resources.
SABC
October 09,
2006, 21:30
Zimbabwe's central bank governor today raised the country's
main lending
rate by 200%age points to 500% in a drive against skyrocketing
inflation and
a severe economic crisis.
Central bank governor Gideon
Gono also said Zimbabwe's major financial
houses - commercial and merchant
banks, building societies and discount
houses - had met a Sept. 30 deadline
giving them nearly a year to raise
their capitalisation to $10
million.
"In fine-tuning the monetary policy, with inflation reduction as
the
over-riding objective of the central bank, it has become necessary that
additional resources be implemented for us so as to stabilise the economy in
the medium term," Gono said in a statement. "With immediate effect, the
central bank has raised the accommodation rate from 300% to 500% for secured
lending and from 350% to 600% for unsecured lending," he added.
The
central bank's secured accommodation rate is also known as its bank
rate, at
which it lends money to commercial banks.
On July 30, Gono slashed the
rate by 550%age points to 300%, citing a need
to balance "the virtues of
anti-inflation demand management and the
continued flow of credit to the
productive sectors of the economy."
But Gono warned a month ago that
interest rates were likely to be raised
again to tame galloping
inflation.
The southern African country is grappling with a deepening
recession widely
blamed on President Robert Mugabe's government and making
itself felt
through record inflation, shortages of foreign currency, fuel
and food, and
grinding poverty. Its inflation rate of 1,204.06% is the
worlds highest,
while unemployment has vaulted to more than 70% as companies
either fold or
are forced to downsize. The crisis has been worsened by
Zimbabwe's isolation
from the international donor community, mainly over
policy differences
especially Harare's controversial seizure of white-owned
commercial farms
for redistribution to blacks.
Mugabe (82) and in
power since independence from Britain in 1980, denies
responsibility for the
country's economic woes, and in turn accuses foreign
and local opponents of
sabotaging Zimbabwe's wealth over his land reforms.
In his statement on
Monday, Gono also said the central bank had cancelled
the operating licences
of 16 money transfer agencies. The government has
accused the agencies of
failing to declare all foreign currency transactions
and operating on the
black market.
"This withdrawal has been necessitated by non-performance
and defiant
behaviour by most players in this sector, he said. - Reuters
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Dennis Rekayi
MUTARE - A leading
black commercial farmer has berated newly-settled
farmers for wasting vast
tracts of land they acquired during the
controversial land reform programme
in 2000.
Wilson Nyabonda, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers
Union
(ZCFU), said the new breed of farmers were not utilising their land
productively for the benefit of the country. Instead the land they acquired
during the land "reform" programme was now derelict.
Nyabonda told
new farmers in Odzi, near Mutare at a farmers'
fundraising dinner at Odzi
Country Club, that he was very disappointed by
the failure of the majority
of new farmers to properly utilise the farms
they got after the
unceremonious and often violent eviction of white
commercial farmers by
government supporters.
"After touring farms here in Odzi, I got very
disappointed because
there is no production," Nyabonda said. "Our people are
not doing anything
at the farms. Something must be done because we can not
allow things to
continue like this."
Before attending the dinner
held last week, Nyabonda, also
vice-chairman of Tanaka Power, a major
producer of agricultural equipment in
Zimbabwe, toured several farms in the
Odzi area, a bastion of commercial
farming activity before the farm
evictions in 2000.
Nyabonda said he was surprised to realise that most
of the farms that
were productive before they were allocated to his black
compatriots, were
now derelict.
"The government should repossess
farms that are being under-utilised
because we want people who produce for
the good of the country," Nyabonda
said.
Nyabonda spoke as concerns
over the failure by resettled black farmers
to adequately farm for the
nation are reaching a crescendo.
During the just ended Manicaland
Agriculutural Show held in Mutare,
several residents here complained about
the absence of agricultural produce
at the annual agricultural
showcase.
Since 2000 there has not been any meaningful agricultural
produce on
display at the show. Livestock and chickens were also not on
display.
The absence of agricultural produce at the show was blamed on
little
output from commercial farms, most of which are now owned by newly
settled
farmers.
Most of the new farmers are ruling party
politicians and their
supporters.
Since the land reform programme,
Zimbabwe has faced serious food
shortages. Several people have died in
western parts of the country, due to
malnutrition according to aid
workers.
But the Zimbabwe government officials have remained defiant -
blaming
successive droughts for lack of production at the farms.
From The Sunday Mirror, 8 October
Mabasa Sasa, Political Editor
Following commitments
made by the State and the Commercial Farmers Union
(CFU) in April this year
to increase cooperation in a bid to boost
agricultural production, over 1
000 white commercial farmers have applied
for leases to resume operations in
the country. The president of the CFU,
Doug-Taylor Freeme yesterday told
this paper that he was optimistic that the
number of members applying for
land would grow and the government's response
would be positive. According
to him, over a thousand CFU members had applied
for leases and the process
was still on-going in line with procedures to be
followed by any prospective
farmers in Zimbabwe. "We understand that
provincial lists have been drawn up
but the final outcome is still pending.
As farmers we remain committed to
playing our part in the turn-around of the
economy through the agricultural
sector and we will always support such
efforts. "At present we are
communicating with various government sectors
and offering our assistance in
policy formulation with the view to reviving
agriculture in
Zimbabwe.
Six months ago, a CFU delegation led by Taylor-Freeme met
with national
security, lands, land reform and resettlement minister Didymus
Mutasa and
agriculture minister Joseph Made to offer the services of white
commercial
farmers in an effort to increase output. Incidentally, a Member
of
Parliament close to the developments said it was now simply a matter of
time
before a significant number of white farmers resumed production on
farms
they will be allocated by the national security, lands, land reform
and
resettlement ministry. The source said the white farmers, like all other
farmers in the country, would have to apply for leases though it was likely
that they would face few hurdles as a number of them met the criteria laid
out by the government. "One of the requirements for qualification for a
99-year lease is a minimum of three years production on the land and a lot
of these white farmers meet that benchmark. Over and above that, the
applicants generally meet productivity requirements and we can soon expect
to see greater cooperation between the State and the CFU," the
Parliamentarian said.
The source added: "The Land Reform
Programme is non-racial regardless of
what some people may say and this
ongoing process is proof of that. It is
unfortunate that stakeholders became
polarised early in the programme but we
are working towards overcoming that.
President Mugabe has also in the past
expressed the same sentiment, pointing
out that Land Reform was not
structured to "fix" any particular group of
people but simply to complete
the process of total liberation from colonial
rule. "Over the years, there
has been a misconception that the Land Reform
Programme was designed to
chase whites out of Zimbabwe and yet all the State
wanted was a more
equitable distribution of farmland in the country. "All
stakeholders want to
see Zimbabwe's agricultural sector being revived and
one of the ways of
doing that is by increasing cooperation." However, the
source said this did
not mean evictions of both indigenous and white farmers
illegally settled on
the land would stop. "The law will not be suspended
just for the sake of
harmony and cooperation with a relatively small group
of stakeholders.
Evictions will run concurrently with the awarding of leases
to deserving
applicants," he said.
Lands minister Mutasa was
unavailable for comment yesterday while
Agriculture minister Joseph Made's
mobile went unanswered. Contacted for
comment, secretary for agriculture,
Simon Pazvakavambwa, said he was not in
a position to speak on the issue.
However, it appears as if the offer of
technical expertise made by the CFU
has not been formalised at an
institutional level with a government official
saying that at present the
State was not directly co-opting the technical
expertise of white commercial
farmers. Secretary for information and
Presidential spokesman George
Charamba said: "At an institutional level not
much has happened though
individually there's been increased dialogue
between new farmers and the
white farming community. "We have seen a number
of goodwill gestures from
white farmers who are assisting individual new
farmers." Charamba said white
farmers had indicated that they wanted
security of tenure and the State had
instructed them to apply for the
99-year leases. "If they apply they stand a
good chance of getting the
leases on the basis of the time they spent on the
land and their individual
productivity statistics."
When the ministers of lands and agriculture
met the CFU delegation half a
year ago, Taylor-Freeme was quoted saying: "We
are saying we are prepared to
work with the government in anything that has
got to do with reviving the
economy through agriculture. We are a generation
of white farmers who want
to see our economy back on track through
agriculture." To this, Mutasa
responded: "People's attitudes change. The CFU
of today is different from
that of 2000. There is no doubt that they (white
commercial farmers) have
greater expertise and experience that should be
imparted to newly resettled
farmers. It is in the national interest that we
want to harness that
experience to enhance agricultural productivity." Since
then, the CFU has
issued a number of statements urging its members to take
advantage of the
government's gesture while also calling for greater
cooperation between all
stakeholders. Taylor-Freeme is on record saying:
"The CFU consistently
supports land reform and in that vein, there is need
for reconciliation with
the government. We are not benefiting from this
polarisation of ideas
neither is the government. We now say to the
government, get out of that
corner and let us meet and embrace each other to
map the future." He also
said the Central Bank had for sometime now been
consulting with the CFU on
major agricultural concerns.
A Land
(Consequential Provisions) Bill, that seeks to make it an offence to
occupy
or continue occupying gazetted land without lawful authority, has
already
passed through two readings at House of Assembly and Senate stages.
The Bill
seeks to validate offer letters issued by the lands ministry in
addition to
blocking fresh farm occupations and providing compensation for
improvements
made on acquired land in line with the Land Acquisition Act.
From the time
the Fast Track Land Reform Programme commenced, a total of 231
251 families
have been resettled under the A1 (communal and small-scale) and
A2
(large-scale) models on 10 662 162 hectares of land countrywide. Minister
Mutasa recently indicated that the Agricultural Land Resettlement Board had
inspected some 96 A2 farms and those who qualified would be issued with the
leases soon. Efforts to determine the number of A2 farms inspected by the
Agricultural Land Resettlement Board to date were fruitless at the time of
going to press, though unconfirmed reports have it that government
taskforces are now assessing dairy farms in the Mashonaland provinces. Prior
to this, around 4 500 white farmers dominated the commercial farming sector
due to decades of colonial policies that frustrated the ambitions of
would-be black commercial farmers.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 October
MP Kate Hooey really got up the nose of Zimbabwe's security
minister Didymus
Mutasa following revelation of her recent trip to Zimbabwe.
She went to
Zimbabwe to see how people survived a year after the government
demolished
homes of more than 700,000 in a campaign called "Clean out the
trash." To
some journalists Mr Mutasa went off like a firecracker
threatening he would
make sure she got arrested if she ever went into
Zimbabwe again. He implied
that she had entered Zimbabwe illegally. To
others, like me, he protested
loudly saying Zimbabweans banned from entering
UK and the US had "enough
dignity" not to try and sneak in to the UK. He
also said that he was handing
out an invitation, via The Daily Telegraph,
for her to visit Zimbabwe as his
guest so he could show her around. On
arrival in Zimbabwe and on departure,
information from passports of each
traveller is scanned into a central data
bank. In theory, this is so that
the Zimbabwe government can see if
"dangerous' visitors", such as foreign
journalists, posing as tourists, are
trying to come into the country. One
reason the scanners sometimes don't
pick up "enemies" entering Zimbabwe is
that there are so many power failures
and the equipment needs electricity.
Or else, as some have suggested, they
don't bother to check the information
in the data bank. Some have unkindly
suggested that maybe there isn't a data
bank at all. Mr Mutasa runs the
Central Intelligence Organisation, which has
thousands of snoops at border
posts, hotels, restaurants, car hire
companies, etc. So the expensive
scanning equipment failed, again, and so
did the CIO.
Sunday Times, SA
Monday October
09, 2006 11:45 - (SA)
Zimbabwe has set up an intellectual desk tasked
with reversing the brain
drain affecting many sectors in the economy,
Harare's Herald newspaper
reported.
Its website said the desk, under
the ministry of Higher and Tertiary
Education, was expected to start
operating early next month.
"We want to bring back the manpower into the
country to offer expertise on a
short-term basis in fields like medicine,
mining, education, engineering and
others," said Education secretary
Washington Mbizvo.
"We are creating a website after we approached the
United Nations
Development Programme and the website would be explaining to
Zimbabweans and
other people outside that 'come to Zimbabwe, the country is
kicking and
alive'."
Mbizvo said an audit to determine how much the
country had lost through
brain drain was currently underway.
The desk
would have representatives from the Foreign Affairs ministry, the
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe and
Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries.
"We are also looking for critical areas so that
we negotiate for
scholarships for people to go and get training in those
areas," said Mbizvo.
"We have already sent people to Nigeria, China and
Cuba. We have also
recalled retired lecturers to come and lecture at
universities on a yearly
basis."
Sapa
By Violet
Gonda
9 October 2006
Timothy Mubhawu, the Tsvangirai-MDC
Member of Parliament for Mabvuku,
has sparked an outcry over outrageous
comments he allegedly made about women
during a recent parliamentary debate
on the Domestic Violence Bill.
Mubhawu stated that: "It is against
God's principles that men and
women are equal". He went on to say that the
Domestic Violence Bill should
look at the way women dress, because "some of
the dressing by women is too
inviting."
Lucia Matibenga, the
chairperson of the Tsvangirai-MDC Women's
Assembly, said what the MP said
was wrong and at cross purposes with their
party position. She said; "The
reaction from the Women's Assembly within the
party was that we found that
quite outrageous that the MP was able to speak
that position in parliament,
because the party position on the Bill is quite
clear. That we support the
Bill and were actually saying the Bill was long
overdue." Matibenga added;
"We strongly feel that the party, in terms of
protocol, has to deal
decisively with the conduct of Mr Mubhawu in
parliament."
Sources
within the MDC women's movement say the legislator should
issue a public
apology. We tried to contact Mr Mubhawu for a comment but
were told he was
in a meeting. The Domestic Violence Bill which seeks to
give protection to
victims, is expected to go to the committee stage on
October 17th.
The Mabvuku legislator is also reported to have said in parliament: "I
stand
here representing God Almighty. Women are not equal to men. It is a
dangerous Bill and let it be known in Zimbabwe that the right, privilege and
status of men is gone. I stand here alone and say this bill should not be
passed in this House. It is a diabolic Bill. Our powers are being usurped in
daylight in this House."
The news has been received with widespread
condemnation, especially
from the Women's Coalition who plan to hold a
protest march in Harare on
Tuesday. There was no immediate comment from the
organisers about the
planned demonstration.
Political commentator
Professor Stanford Mukasa wrote in an email;
"Mr. Timothy Mubhawu's
comments, if he indeed was correctly quoted, were
completely sexist, unfair
to women, uncalled for and way out of line. We
should all express our great
indignation on this and call upon Mr. Mubhawu
to withdraw them and apologize
to women."
Professor Mukasa said women are playing a leadership
role in the
struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe. And they are doing so under
a male
dominated culture that represses women.
He said the MDC
offers the people of Zimbabwe a new hope for a
Zimbabwe that is free of
sexism, tribalism, ethnicity, exploitation and
violation of basic human
rights. "Mr. Mubhawu cannot be both a leader in
this struggle for
emancipation and utter such remarks. He must stand up and
tell us where he
stands. And he must do so NOW."
.................
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Zimbabwejournalists
By Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa
Once again
we come to you as the Movement for Democratic Change UK and
Northern
Ireland. It is exactly 7years today since the formation of our
Party.
MDC today represents the only viable alternative to the
outpost of
tyranny the current Government of Zimbabwe has become. In a month
that some
positive events are lined up on emancipation, for example the
Black History
month that October is; the commemoration of the end of such
all time evils
as slavery and apartheid which were all meant to humiliate
the black race,
we join hands in honour of the sacrifices that people
departed have
invested. Yet today we are also looking at a Zimbabwe that
continues on the
path of self destruction.
In an era when the
black-person is trying to show the world that he
too is capable of
developing himself, the government of Robert Mugabe is
busy ridiculing that
by showing the world that they will not allow
themselves to be criticised
and that anyone who does so risks the loss of
his or her life.
T
he Daily Telegraph yesterday reported on the sad story of a
minister,
Didymus Mutasa, who still thinks that the Security Agency in his
country are
his personal fiefdom there to protect his party. Find the link
to this here;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/07/wzim07.xml
The Movement for Democratic Change is a Party founded on the principle
of
bringing equity to Zimbabwe; political equity for all people in our
country
to have a say as taxation is only taxation by representation. As the
Zimbabwean taxpayer we have every right to participate in the governance of
our country by directly choosing those who will represent us, economic and
social justice.
The slogan for MDC; "Chinja Maitiro, Guqula
Izenzo" is a philosophical
statement not an empty statement: its not even
emotional it says what we
expect our Zimbabwe to be; a country deeply
embedded in a culture of
transparency, tolerance, accountability,
responsibility and which seeks to
achieve this by giving the power to decide
to a very included and
well-informed citizenry.
We remain very
amazed that the sole purpose of ZANU PF is to deny the
people of Zimbabwe
basic freedoms, the very essence of ZANU PF is to
disrespect the will of the
people as shown previously when they decided to
subvert the choice of the
people by cheating in the 2002 Presidential
elections. We are shocked that
ZANU PF can take that disrespect even further
and can attack the people of
Zimbabwe for expressing their will and can be
very merciless on that as
shown by the plus 20000 deaths in Matabeleland and
the Midlands in the
1980s, the plus 300 people killed for supporting MDC and
white
farmers.
We have seen that ZANU PF does not even have the least
passion for
children and the vulnerable as shown by their razing of houses
in what they
called "Operation Murambatsvina/Remove the Rubbish". Not only
that but we
have also seen a new trend in international governance where
Zimbabwe has
managed to defy the United Nations with impunity. Such defiance
of an
international body was done by two dictators, the fascist Benito
Mussolini
and the NAZIST Adolf Hitler but of course with the dire
consequence that
became the Second World War.
On so many
occasions Zimbabwe has defied the United Nations, they have
continued to
raze homes of poor people even though the UN had condemned it
and called for
a stop. Recently President Robert Mugabe praised the barbaric
beating of
labour leaders and called for more such beatings even though the
UN was
condemning it. Such behaviour depicts a country that is leading not
only
domestic order astray but international order in a dangerous direction
with
impunity.
The MDC in the UK and Northern Ireland urges the
International
Community to see the danger of allowing Robert Mugabe and his
government the
pleasure of this impunity. Not only is Zimbabwe treading on
dangerous ground
but it is carrying international order with it. Yet we are
also saying
amidst this suppression of the will of the people there exists
among
Zimbabweans a resilience never seen and WE ARE MORE DETERMINED TO FREE
OURSELVES THAN THE ENEMY IS TO OPPRESS US!
CHINJA MAITIRO,
GUQULA IZENZO!
JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA
Secretary,
MDC UK and Northern Ireland
With Professor Stanford Mukasa
9 October
2006
In today's Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa analyzes the
MDC's
seventh anniversary celebrations and the party's prospects for a
viable and
sustained opposition to Mugabe and ZANU PF.
MDC is here
to stay despite Mugabe's repression.
The Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) this week celebrated its
seventh anniversary. MDC was formed by
a number of civic society groups and
trade unions, like ZCTU, at the height
of Mugabe's brutal repression of the
riots against rising food and other
consumer prices.
MDC was formed less than one year before the 2000
parliamentary
elections. The timing was obviously to forge a new political
force that
would wrestle power from ZANU PF at the next elections.
This was the finest time for Zimbabweans who were fed up with Mugabe.
The
emergence of MDC gave Zimbabweans some hope for a new and viable
opposition
political climate in the country. Prior to the MDC there was no
real
opposition to ZANU PF. Earlier opposition parties had been weak and
lacked a
strong popular base.
MDC was the first opposition party to have a broad
base of political
support from the length and breadth of the
country.
ZANU PF had achieved a unity of political leadership with
ZAPU. But
there was no real unity among the masses. As a result, ZANU PF
became an
elite party.
In a remarkable contrast, MDC went
further and achieved a grassroots
unity among the masses. By strengthening
its grassroots support base MDC had
assured its own viability and stability
which saved it from collapse when
the leadership split on October 12 last
year.
ZANU PF now relies on the army, corruption and plunder of state
resources in the aftermath of the evaporation of public support for the
ruling party. Mugabe acknowledged this when he said were it not for the army
there would be no ZANU PF today.
MDC has survived because it
has a strong grassroots political base.
MDC's strength lies in its
continuing support from the masses. They
have sustained the party during its
leadership crisis and the ZANU PF
onslaught.
The spectacular
and solid massive attendance at the last MDC congress
by over 15,000
supporters who came from all corners of the country was proof
positive that
MDC was alive and well despite its leadership nightmares and
others odds
that were stacked against it.
MDC is also alive and well despite
the violence unleashed against it
by the Mugabe regime. It is a well-known
fact that Mugabe trained about
50,000 thugs to destroy the MDC.
This militia of thugs who were drawn from unemployed youths was
indoctrinated partly through drugs and vicious propaganda to regard the MDC
as the enemy of the revolution that must be destroyed. They were given the
freedom to use whatever means to wipe out the MDC.
Human rights
organizations have documented a sordid tale of murder,
torture, rapes,
kidnappings and destruction of people's property that went
on with the
active support of both the army and the police.
What Mugabe had trained
was a new fifth brigade to deal decisively
with MDC the way the old fifth
brigade had massacred over 30,000 innocent
civilians in Matabeleland. As a
result, over 400 MDC supporters were killed
by Mugabe's thugs since
2000.
The people of Matabeleland survived Mugabe's genocide. In the
parliamentary elections of 1985, three years after the holocaust unleashed
on the people of Matabeleland, ZANU PF suffered a decisive blow when it lost
virtually every seat in Matabeleland.
From this humiliating
defeat Mugabe learned one lesson which he will
never forget until he dies,
and that is never to allow free and fair
elections again in
Zimbabwe.
In one of this emotional speeches after ZANU PF nearly lost
to the MDC
but survived by extensive rigging Mugabe was secretly videotaped
jabbing and
slicing the air with his finger and screaming at his party
officials that
ZANU PF must never ever lose the elections.
But
Mugabe and ZANU PF discovered that despite their extensive rigging
they
needed additional measures to prevent the overwhelming vote against
ZANU
PF.
Mugabe's thugs have unleashed mayhem on the MDC
supporters
This is what triggered a wave of not just murders, tortures,
raping of
opposition supporters but also physically preventing the MDC
supporters from
holding rallies as well as limiting opposition supporters'
presence at the
polling stations.
The world saw pictures of police
and the militia thugs beating up and
dispersing people who had queued for
endless hours to vote in the
presidential elections in 2002 but did not have
the chance to do so because
the polls had closed.
Lest we
forget, Jonathan Moyo was at the heart of this Machiavellian
strategy that
focused on rule through fear rather than political support
from the
masses.
And yet MDC has not only survived but has grown stronger. The
massive
show of popular strength when over 15,000 people showed up at the
last
Congress as well as thousands who continue to come to MDC rallies
around the
country is glaring evidence that MDC has, like the people of
Matabeleland,
survived and is alive and kicking.
And the MDC has
reason to celebrate its seventh anniversary this past
weekend.
MDC's greatest asset and source of strength is that it is a mass-based
movement. Unlike ZANU PF, MDC is not an elitist urban party with symbolic
ties to the masses. MDC has nurtured this very strong grassroots political
base. This explains why the party survived after its leadership
split.
However MDC's work is half done. In ensuring its survival MDC
has
achieved only the first phase of its mission.
MDC now faces
the second and most challenging phase of bringing
democracy and the rule of
law to the country. At this point Mugabe and ZANU
PF have their backs
against the wall and they will use whatever means at
their disposal to
ensure their survival.
Mugabe and all of his top officials know that if
they lose this fight
they are all headed to the same end like most dictators
around the world.
The challenge for MDC is to critically examine
the strategies it has
used so far to confront Mugabe. MDC must get rid of
strategies that have not
been productive or show no promise of achieving
tangible results.
Participating in elections under rules that favour ZANU PF
is not a viable
strategy.
One strategic option is the unity of the
opposition movement. But such
unity must not be achieved just for the sake
of unity. It must be a unity of
opposition forces who share the same
strategies of confronting Mugabe.
MDC, the NCA and WOZA share a common
agenda for confronting Mugabe. It
is out of such forces that a unity must be
forged.
There are many dimensions to unity. One is a structural
unity where
all the groups come under one umbrella or become members of one
party.
Another dimension of unity is where groups coordinate their
activities. And the latter is the kind of unity that seems most ideal for
the opposition movement in Zimbabwe today.
A great deal of debate
in recent weeks has focused on the Zimbabweans
as the primary and central
actors in the confrontation with Mugabe and ZANU
PF.
The argument
has been that the Zimbabweans have the strength in
numbers to stage an
effective mass action against Mugabe.
However some people have
appealed to Zimbabweans in Diaspora to play a
proactive role in the struggle
for democracy and the return of the rule of
the law.
Some
Zimbabweans were angry and concerned that the Zimbabweans in
Diaspora did
not demonstrate against Mugabe when he was in New York for the
United
Nations conference recently.
The struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe is
a collective effort of all
the Zimbabweans inside and outside the
country.
While concern has been rightly expressed that Zimbabweans
inside the
country have been dragging their feet and wasted a lot of
opportunities
Zimbabweans in Diaspora have not been well organized and
forthright in
contributing to the confrontation with Mugabe.
An
estimated four million Zimbabweans live outside Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans
in Diaspora have a key supportive role. Unfortunately, a
very small
percentage of the Zimbabweans, like the Zimbabwe Vigil, are
actively engaged
in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe.
Many Zimbabweans have given
up any hope of ever dislodging Mugabe.
Others are now simply too comfortable
to worry about the dire situation in
Zimbabwe.
When Zimbabweans are
called upon to attend strategy sessions on how to
get rid of Mugabe few ever
bother to attend.
But when musicians like Oliver Mtukudzi come for
concerts Zimbabweans
turn up in hundreds. They spend money lavishly to
attend as well as on beer
and home foods like sadza nematumbu akagochwa.
They will also spend
unlimited amounts of money at nightclubs and other
socially festive
sessions.
But the very same Zimbabweans will not
donate a single dollar to
support the cause for the liberation of their
motherland.
I have heard some Zimbabweans in Diaspora say the
opposition
leadership does not consult them when it comes to strategies to
confront
Mugabe.
This is a lame excuse. The situation in Zimbabwe
is very well known to
the world. Zimbabweans know very well from their
relatives and other sources
of information how desperate and pathetic the
situation at home is.
To their credit Zimbabweans in Diaspora spend
millions of dollars
helping their relatives. It is estimated that these
remittances are a major
source of foreign exchange income for
Zimbabwe.
It is time the Zimbabweans in Diaspora stood up and joined
the
struggle.
There are many things Zimbabweans in Diaspora can
do.
The first and perhaps most important is to start an information
sharing network. This way, Zimbabweans can inform each other on a variety of
events and activities.
Here is one example. In Ohio, a group of
Zimbabweans have started a
number of initiatives. One of them was to contact
their local US senator to
help not only bring pressure to bear upon the
Mugabe regime but also
investigate other ways of contributing to the
struggle at home.
One of the members of the Ohio group has professional
skills that will
be put to use as part of his contribution to the
struggle.
These examples from Ohio show what Zimbabweans in Diaspora
can do in
their communities. It can be fundraising, or speaking to local
church or
community groups or using one's professional skills or contacts to
contribute to the struggle.
Time has come for Zimbabweans to start
a worldwide movement for
Zimbabweans who are committed to the struggle
against Mugabe. This movement
would complement efforts inside
Zimbabwe.
Every Zimbabwean has an obligation to rescue the country from
the evil
clutches of Mugabe and ZANU PF. Zimbabweans should not wait to be
told what
to do. They should come up with ideas on how to contribute to the
struggle.
MDC must be congratulated for weathering the storm of Mugabe
and ZANU
PF repression.
Even Mugabe is now realizing that, despite
all the vicious repression
and unleashing the army, militia thugs and police
to destroy the opposition
party, the MDC is here to
stay.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
The Herald
Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has put measures in place
to ensure that Zimbabwe capitalises on
the 2010 World Cup to be hosted in
South Africa and these include upgrading
of tourism facilities, a Cabinet
minister has said.
Environment and Tourism Minister Mr Francis Nhema told
the House of Assembly
on Wednesday that several committees had been
established to strategise on
how the country could derive maximum benefit
from the soccer showcase.
He was responding to a question by Harare
Central lawmaker Mr Murisi Zwizwai
who wanted to know the state of
preparedness for the soccer extravaganza.
Mr Nhema said his ministry had
set up a committee comprised of various
stakeholders in the tourism and
hospitality industries and a representative
from South Africa to look into
ways on how best the country could benefit
from the World Cup.
"We
are also working on the issue of accommodation for those participating
in
the games.
"We have already sent invitations to the countries
participating in the
games and there is also a committee, which is
advertising Africa and
Southern Africa in terms of the 2010 games," he
said.
The minister said funds had been availed for the upgrading of the
chalets in
the Gonarezhou National Park, which is part of the Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park.
He said a programme had been introduced in the
transfrontier park modelled
along the same lines as Campfire in which local
communities would benefit
from the tourism proceeds. Buffalo Range Airport
was also being upgraded in
preparation for the World Cup.
In a show
of solidarity, South Africa has committed R3,7 billion to improve
the public
transport system and has engaged its Southern African Development
Community
neighbours to ensure that some friendly World Cup matches were
played
there.
The funding was in addition to the R375 billion-development
package to the
World Cup project by the South African government. The World
Cup is likely
to result in an increase in the demand for tourist facilities
as thousands
of soccer fans descend on the rainbow nation for the month-long
showpiece.