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Archived News
4th May 2004
Zimbabwe to extradite alleged coup plotters
Volunteer doctors and nurses provide health care
Food is currency on the lean streets of Zimbabwe
Mugabe gets standing ovation at SA democracy party
Wilson quits ECB in moral stand on tour to Zimbabwe
Is Kuruneri's arrest a mere smoke screen?
NCA demo - many arrests
Talks initiative dead
Straw to push for parliamentary debate on tour to Zimbabwe
Flicker of hope in Zimbabwe saga
Zim faces famine
Msika breathes fire
Kondozi worker in shooting
Zimbabwe expels British television crew
War on Zim mayors
Shamuyarira, Moyo stand-off ends
Disappearing food
Zanu PF thugs disrupt MDC rallies in Lupane
Zim govt runs out of money to pay school fees
'Attacks will not deter me' - Ncube
Punch-up over whites in Zimbabwe line-up
Zimbabwe police order some private schools not to reopen
Mugabe threatens critical media voice
'The media is our next enemy' - Moyo
SA denies Mbeki in $10m deal
Election run-up raises fears
Boom for traditional healers as health care costs rise
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From The Independent (UK), 28 April
Zimbabwe to extradite alleged coup plotters
AP
Zimbabwe's government said it had revised its extradition policy to extradite 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in the oil-rich west African nation of Equatorial Guinea. An official notice said Zimbabwe drafted an extradition treaty for the first time with Equatorial Guinea, effective immediately. The notice meant the 70 suspects could be sent to Equatorial Guinea for trial on allegations of plotting to overthrow that country's government. The official "statutory instrument" said it amended Zimbabwe's existing extradition agreements with several other countries to include Equatorial Guinea. The 70 suspects - who include a British national, South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese and a Zimbabwean - were detained after their ageing Boeing 727 landed at Harare International Airport on 7 March. Many are former members of South Africa's apartheid-era military forces.
The suspects appeared in a makeshift court at the maximum-security Chikurubi prison outside Harare yesterday. Some reporters, including a representative from The Associated Press, were barred entry by prison guards, despite a court order saying the hearing was to be public. Defence lawyers had said they were to ask for the release of some of the suspects on grounds that they broke no laws in Zimbabwe. They were also to protest the refusal of entry to reporters and ordinary spectators normally allowed into regular courts. Prosecutors had said they could not guarantee security to bring the suspects to an open court in central Harare, but a High Court judge allowed hearings to be held in Chikurubi prison, 20 miles north of the capital, as long as they were open to all visitors willing to go through lengthy security checks before entry.
Zimbabwe's prosecutors allege that Equatorial Guinea's Spanish-based rebel leader Sever Motto offered the group 1.8 million US dollars and oil rights to overthrow the government in the former Spanish colony. Another 14 suspected mercenaries are in custody in the west African country. Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma has also alleged the suspects were plotting to overthrow the governments of Sao Tome and Principe and of Congo. The suspects held in Zimbabwe deny the accusations, saying they were headed to security jobs at mining operations in eastern Congo. Court papers indicate some had contracts for that work. They face five charges, including conspiring to carry out a coup with weapons purchased in Zimbabwe. They are also accused of violating Zimbabwe's immigration, firearms and security laws. If convicted, they could face life in prison. Human rights groups say they believe at least one of the suspects held in custody in Equatorial Guinea has been tortured to death. Equatorial Guinea, where Obiang has ruled for 25 years, is ranked by rights groups as one of the world's most repressive countries. Offshore oil strikes since 1997 have made it Africa's third largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola.
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From IRIN (UN), 27 April
Volunteer doctors and nurses provide health care
Harare - A number of initiatives aimed at extending medical services to the rural poor have been launched by enterprising doctors in Zimbabwe. Many Zimbabweans are finding it harder to pay for medical treatment as inflation of around 600 percent translates into soaring fees for private doctors and shortages of medicines in public hospitals. Private hospitals, doctors and dentists increased their fees by between 50 percent and 100 percent at the beginning of April, hard on the heels of a similar price hike three months ago. General consultation fees have leaped to almost Z$70,000, with specialist doctors demanding Z$150,000. Deposit fees at private hospitals, which offer better services than poorly resourced state hospitals, now range from Z$220,000 to Z$1.6 million. Recognising the gap in health care provision for the rural poor, a group of doctors started the Community Medical Outreach Service Trust (CMOST), in which doctors and nurses volunteer their services, time and expertise free of charge. The organisation extends health care services to the unemployed and low-income groups in rural areas.
"As medical practitioners, we are cognisant of the fact that there are thousands of underprivileged people who cannot access medical services. The plight is particularly marked in remote rural areas," said CMOST chairman Dr Edwin Muguti. Since its inception in October last year, CMOST has conducted general consultations for more than a thousand ill people in Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland provinces, Chitungwiza town and Harare. The organisation has 80 medical doctors, drawn mostly from the capital, Harare, who are assisted by a group of nurses. The doctors include ear, nose and throat specialists, gynaecologists, urologists and paediatricians. "Specialist doctors tend to be concentrated in the big urban centres. They shun rural areas because they are afraid that their surgeries might collapse, since the general rural population lacks the capacity to pay for medical services. In addition, rural hospitals are mostly understaffed and are inaccessible to many," Muguti added. "We therefore decided to offer these marginalised people, who could otherwise die due to conditions that require simple attention, free and voluntary medical help. Busy as we are, we have resolved to spare one day every month to do an outreach programme in which we visit [rural] areas and attend to the sick," Muguti explained.
CMOST has also assisted 73 patients requiring specialist attention. Local communities help to identify people needing CMOST's services, and voluntary community health workers gather the patients at specified points for treatment by the CMOST team. "We try as much as possible to be comprehensive and versatile. We also try to touch base with pharmacists and drug manufacturers so that, after we have attended to our patients, they are guaranteed of [receiving] the prescribed drugs," Muguti said. One of the main obstacles to the CMOST outreach programme is a scarcity of resources. "Reaching out to needy communities is a costly exercise that requires a lot of funding. Money is needed for transport, fuel and members' food. In addition, the patients camp at designated points well in advance of our arrival and they should be provided with food," Muguti explained. The Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA), to which most Zimbabwean doctors are affiliated, runs a similar project aimed at benefiting low-income groups. Their initiative started early this year and has so far helped about 900 people in Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and the country's second city of Bulawayo.
"Our programme was born out of the philosophy that we should not wait for outsiders to help out the needy people in this country," said ZIMA president Dr Paul Chimedza. He told IRIN that his organisation was currently negotiating with one of the country's largest referral hospitals for the donation of an unused operating theatre, while the army has provided manpower and tents for visiting teams and the patients seeking medical attention. Chimedza said his organisation had approached the corporate world for help in cash or kind, but the "response so far was not good enough". He bemoaned the lack of infrastructure on newly resettled farms, adding that most general hospitals were also inadequately furnished. "Even though we focus on rural communities, we also try as much as possible to help the poor in urban areas by identifying poverty-stricken suburbs," he said. Eyes for Africa is yet another voluntary organisation assisting those unable to afford or access health care. They conduct outreach programmes every last weekend of the month, devoting three days to an area. "We have been offering free eye services for a number of years, but of late we have witnessed a growing number of people coming to us for help as the economic situation declines and medical costs rise dramatically," said Eyes for Africa chairman Dr Solomon Guramatunhu. The ZIMA chairman also told IRIN that the organisation intended to inform policy on medical aid provision by identifying gaps during their visits, and advising the government and other stakeholders accordingly.
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From The Times (UK), 28 April
Food is currency on the lean streets of Zimbabwe
From Jan Raath in Bulawayo
A bucket of tomatoes is all that stands between Alice Dhliwayo and the starvation of her two children. Six days a week, Alice rises before 5am and queues at the market for tomatoes. Then she takes her place by the side of the road with other women and builds a neat pyramid of fruit to attract passers-by. A miscalculation on the likely profit from the bucket of tomatoes means that she risks going home after a 14-hour day unable to provide supper for her two sons, Daniel and Dingane. Mrs Dhliwayo, 26, who is divorced, is from Tshabalala township in Bulawayo. She is one of thousands of women street traders trapped with no other means of survival in Zimbabwe’s hostile economic climate of 600 per cent inflation and unemployment of 80 per cent. Sometimes she sells nothing and has to take her chance selling the same tomatoes, now bruised and overripe, the next day. Often she walks the five miles back home to save the minibus fare. Dingane, 3, suffers chronic pneumonia and is classified in the local clinic as "growth faltering"- the stunting that occurs with long-term deprivation of vitamins and proteins. In Alice Dhliwayo’s home, the evening meal is inevitably stiff maizemeal porridge with a vegetable relish. Once or twice a month, she can buy an egg. Alice and Dingane, who had just left the local clinic, were admirably turned out in their best clothes. "They are too proud to look untidy," a nurse said. "I don’t know how they do it."
Last month the Bulawayo municipality reported 63 deaths from hunger-related illness, 48 of them children under 4. The World Food Programme, the famine relief arm of the United Nations, estimates that 2.5 million urban people in Zimbabwe are starving. "We’ve been feeding just over double that in the rural areas, and it’s prevented widespread starvation," said a UN consultant, who asked not to be named, "but the practicalities of food distribution in a huge urban conurbation are completely different. The best we can do now is targeted interventions, like supplementary feeding programmes at clinics and school-feeding programmes." Yet the continuation of international famine relief to Zimbabwe is uncertain. In February, Western diplomats said, the Government privately told the UN office in Harare that its Zimbabwe operation would be wound up in June. Diplomats, aid agencies and opposition figures have no doubt that it means that President Mugabe plans to seize total control of food distribution to the eight million people threatened by starvation, before parliamentary elections due in March next year.
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From SABC News, 27 April
Mugabe gets standing ovation at SA democracy party
Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president, received a standing ovation as he arrived for today's inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki; a party also marking 10 years of post-apartheid democracy. South African and foreign dignitaries rose to their feet at Pretoria's Union Buildings as the Zimbabwean leader arrived for the inauguration ceremony, accompanied by his wife Grace. Thousands of party-goers attending a public concert on lawns below the buildings whooped and cheered as huge television screens showed Mugabe's arrival. "He is a hero as far as the African struggle is concerned. He has done so much to liberate the African people. We know the problems that are going on in Zimbabwe, but they will bounce back," said Ludwe Solwandle, a 27-year-old businessman. Mugabe was among African heads of state invited for today's inauguration, which coincided with celebrations of South Africa's historic all-race elections in 1994 that ended centuries of white rule in the country. Other guests included the presidents of Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well the two men who guided South Africa's transformation in 1994 - F W de Klerk, the country's last white president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, its first black one.
Mugabe, accused of political repression at home following his re-election in 2002 polls described as rigged by domestic opponents and some Western countries, has been at the centre of a media controversy since arriving in South Africa on Sunday. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the South African foreign minister, confirmed that at least one South African hotel had refused to host the controversial Zimbabwean leader, although she said he did not want to stay there anyway. "It seemed to us that the feeling was mutual," Dlamini-Zuma said today. Simon Moyo, Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, accused the South African press of spreading "distortions and falsehoods" about the visit, and said today Mugabe's rapturous welcome in Pretoria showed most South Africans backed him. "We take pride in the great cheer the people gave President Mugabe, who clearly is welcome here despite attempts by some people to demonise him," Moyo said.
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From The Times (UK), 28 April
Wilson quits ECB in moral stand on tour to Zimbabwe
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Chief Cricket Correspondent
Des Wilson has resigned from the management board of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after failing to persuade his colleagues to take a firmer line against the attitude of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to the sport in Zimbabwe. "I am unable to share collective responsibility for the ongoing strategy in relation to the Zimbabwe tour," Wilson said after winning support from only one other member of the board for a policy by which England would tour Zimbabwe in October and November only under clear public protest, and that the ECB should start campaigning now to change the ICC’s position. Wilson’s guidelines on taking a moral approach to playing cricket against regimes that routinely trample on human rights not only failed to persuade the ICC to change its apolitical stance, but pushed it into threatening draconian action against any country that fails to fulfil a tour agreement. It is over the ECB’s disinclination to stand up to the ICC that Wilson has reluctantly taken his leave and the game will be much the poorer for the loss of his passionate involvement.
A New Zealander by birth, founder and former director of Shelter, the charity for the homeless, vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, election campaign manager for the Social Democrats and vice-chairman of Sport England, Wilson is a lifelong cricket devotee who was elected non-executive chairman of the ECB’s Corporate Affairs and Marketing Advisory Committee (Camac) last year. His involvement on the management board was seen as a breath of fresh air in an organisation that is too seldom inclined to look beyond the narrow confines of sport. He reflected sadly yesterday from his home in Cornwall: "I really thought I could make some difference. They liked the idea of someone coming in with fresh ideas but the trouble is that when it comes to putting them into action, they don’t like the reality." Having asked him to take the role of adviser on the difficult issue of Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the calamitous indecision over England’s World Cup fixture last year, ECB officials, with the majority backing of county chairmen, swiftly withdrew from the high moral line suggested when they realised that it might cost the game in England and Wales anything from a punitive basic fine of £1.1 million to the financial catastrophe of being suspended from world cricket in 2005, at an estimated cost of £50 million.
At last month’s ICC meeting in Auckland, David Morgan, the ECB chairman, was supported by only one other member of the executive board when he espoused Wilson’s opinion that to play cricket in Zimbabwe while the present regime is in power would be wrong for England. Morgan was not only outflanked but also presented with the possibility of suspension. "I accept that from that point the ECB was cornered," Wilson said yesterday. He found himself equally isolated, however, at Lord’s, supported only by MCC, whose chief executive, Roger Knight, is a member of the 15-member management board. Wilson will remain MCC’s honorary adviser on public affairs, but he tried in vain to persuade the ECB to be more critical of the ICC’s refusal to accept that, for the time being, Zimbabwe’s cricket should be beyond the pale. He argued for a much more confrontational approach to the ICC, reasonably enough given that the preference for a diplomatic policy has got the ECB nowhere.
Expressing his genuine regret at Wilson’s decision, Morgan said: "Clearly there is a difference of opinion between Des and most other members of the board over strategy. The ECB does not share his views over the role he alleges the ICC has played. The ICC needs to balance the concerns of all its members and always to act fairly in the wider interests of the game." Wilson made it plain that his quarrel was more with the ICC than the ECB. "I have no desire to offer succour or support to the ECB’s critics at a difficult time," he said. "This is not an ‘I’m right, you’re wrong, I’m off’ resignation. We simply differ, but the differences are profound. It is right, therefore, that I should go and thus enable the board to unite around the course it believes to be right. "The fact is the ECB has been placed in an intolerable position by the ICC’s inflexible and, in my view, malevolent enforcement of its international tours programme with draconian and disproportionate penalties that would devastate the English game, forcing the ECB itself into insolvency and bankrupting up to a third of the first-class counties.
"In the short term, I believe the ECB should make such a tour only under protest . . . In so doing it would be seen to exercise both moral judgment and accountability to UK political, public and cricket stakeholder opinion and take a first step to rejecting the unsustainable proposition that moral concerns have no place in sport. Even if this tour goes ahead, I believe the ECB should commit itself to fight for as many years as it takes to change the protocol so that no other country can be coerced in this way. Alas, there appears no appetite for that course of action either." Ehsan Mani, the ICC President, said last night that Wilson’s position had become "patently intolerable" since he "deliberately leaked" his paper on international cricket tours in January. "It should have come as no surprise to him that the net effect of his leaking was to damage relations between the ECB and other boards," Mani said. "While he sought to force his own view of the world on others, Wilson lacked the ability or willingness to listen and understand the views of people who did not share his perceptions. The fact remains that all countries, including England, support the position that safety and security are the factors to be taken into account when assessing whether a tour is to proceed."
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 April
Is Kuruneri's arrest a mere smoke screen?
Brian Mangwende
Beleaguered Finance Minister Christopher Kuruneri's chickens are coming home to roost at the worst possible time. His weekend arrest comes at a time when President Robert Mugabe's government is at a crunch point. The government is undertaking a self-cleansing exercise amid fears that it might bequeath a terrible legacy to the erstwhile regional breadbasket, which has so far suffered an unprecedented economic meltdown. Up until now, President Mugabe's furious critics who blame the government for turning a blind eye on corruption, have been watching the unfolding drama in the ongoing anti-corruption crusade with complete indifference. But attention was this week avidly focused on the arrest of the 54-year-old Kuruneri as the government, for the first time, took its anti-corruption scythe to senior officials. Kuruneri's arrest came as President Mugabe, who had previously been accused of applying the law selectively, repeated his sentiments that no one would be spared.
Critics had always argued that the anti-graft crusade was being applied like a spider's web, which catches the small insects and lets the big ones through. Up until Kuruneri's arrest, only the less influential politicians had been netted. It was against this background that some critics agreed that the arrest of Kuruneri denoted some genuine seriousness in President Mugabe's anti-corruption drive, which all along has been dismissed as a vote-catching gimmick ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections. Others were, however, not convinced that Kuruneri's arrest and subsequent incarceration would raise a political storm within the ruling party's ranks. They claimed that the net immediately closed in on him because he lacked political clout and the government, desperate to convince the highly sceptical public that no one was above the law, wanted to make an example of the hapless Kuruneri. That Zimbabwe's political life did not change noticeably or that there was no tremor caused by the arrest of such a seemingly high-profile government official seemed to give credence to this argument.
A humiliated Kuruneri - widely seen more as an intellectual than a political heavyweight - became the first high profile casualty of the ongoing crackdown on corruption following his arrest last week on charges of contravening the exchange control regulations and the country's citizenship laws. The minister was on Monday remanded in custody to May 11 on charges of dealing in foreign currency involving R5.2 million, 34 371 pounds, 30 000 euros and US$582 611.99 and possessing two passports - one Zimbabwean the other Canadian. It is against Zimbabwean laws to hold dual citizenship. A South African newspaper, the Sunday Times, first broke the story on Kuruneri's investments in Cape Town which was later picked up by the local media. He becomes the second minister in President Mugabe's Cabinet to be arrested following that of former Lands and Agriculture Minister Kumbirai Kangai in 2000. Kangai was arrested but later acquitted on charges of defrauding the Grain Marketing Board of $228 million when it imported 460 000 metric tonnes of maize. He was a key member of Zanu PF during the country's war of liberation.
Party sources said what could have spurred the internal security agents to dig deeper and bring the finance minister to book were media reports which suggested that President Mugabe could have been behind the controversial R30 million mansion being built by Kuruneri in Cape Town. The media reports claimed the President was using Kuruneri as a front. Kuruneri himself publicly denied this and stated that President Mugabe had nothing to do with his real estate investments in South Africa. "The President had to be cleared," said a party source. Through the local state media, Kuruneri, the Member of Parliament for Mazowe West, denied any wrongdoing saying his hands were clean. "It is clear that I have not been in violation of any Zimbabwean laws as I could not have externalised resources that did not originate from Zimbabwe," he was quoted as saying. He said his funds were legitimate as they originated from consultancy work conducted outside Zimbabwe and maintained he had not broken any local laws. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which controls the country's financial levers has, however, insisted that earnings from professional consultancy services conducted outside Zimbabwe should be deposited in individual Foreign Currency Accounts.
But mystery still surrounds his possession of a Canadian passport, which the state alleged he used to travel to South Africa on personal business. Analysts were this week unanimous that if the state security agents - who only acted on a report from a South African newspaper - were totally unaware of Kuruneri's financial activities, then it was a damning indictment on their part. They, however, said this was highly unlikely. "He may have been set up, because, who is Kuruneri in the eyes of Zanu PF?" political analyst Alois Masepe said. "Did they wait to get reports from South Africa to act or they set him up to convince us that they are serious. I would like to believe they (government) knew about his financial interests, home and abroad. The gimmick continues. If they didn't know, then there is something seriously wrong with our intelligence system. It raises questions as to how much more they know, but turn a blind eye. Kuruneri is on the periphery. We are waiting to see them target the core Zanu PF gurus. At the moment, we are dealing with invited guests to Zanu PF."
Chairman of Transparency International Zimbabwe Chapter John Makumbe, whose organisation has ranked the Southern African country among the most corrupt nations in the world, said although Zanu PF was engaged in self cleansing, more senior party officials rumoured to be guilty of corruption should be investigated. Small fish who do not pose a threat to Zanu PF's sustenance continue to be sacrificed for cheap political gain, Makumbe claimed. "It's part and parcel of self cleansing on the part of Zanu PF," Makumbe argued. "Who's is Kuruneri in Zanu PF? A nobody. He is on the periphery. It's a smart way of offloading corrupt wood in the party, but it will still remain a political gimmick until President Mugabe starts hitting at party heavyweights." Makumbe continued: "If Kuruneri's appointment as Minister of Finance was a serious one, then it demonstrates President Mugabe's gullibility. Why he appointed him in February only to lock him up in April goes to show that no homework was done before the appointment. It took independent South African newspapers to expose him for the government to act. Yet they shoot down the private media who expose these corrupt tendencies. One can argue that they (government) don't really know who is and who is not corrupt until the private media exposes them," Makumbe said.
Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and political analyst had this to say: "It's really difficult to tell at this stage what this means politically, but I think Kuruneri has a case to answer. What will happen when it's all over will give us a glimpse into what is really happening behind the scenes." Kuruneri has always courted controversy. When he was the Member of Parliament for Bindura and general manager of the Urban Development Corporation (Udcorp) in the early 1990s, he was sucked into a controversial $5 million deal involving development corporation. He was initially charged together with Christopher Mushonga for contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act arising from the sale of a Glen Lorne plot to Udcorp by Mushonga. It was initially alleged that Kuruneri had been bribed by Mushonga to facilitate the deal between the latter and Udcorp. They were, however, both acquitted on charges of contravening the Act for lack of evidence. Only last year in a marked departure from tradition by a senior government official, Kuruneri publicly admitted the government was stymied as to which way to go to arrest the economic melt-down. He told a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung-organised business meeting that government was governing "through guesswork".
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From SW Radio Africa, 28 April
NCA demo - many arrests
The National Constitutional Assembly attempted to hold a peaceful demonstration in Harare today. The police were waiting for the demonstrators outside Parliament, and therefore another group started marching from a different location. During the march, three NCA youth members were assaulted by police, and there were several arrests. Police also arrested NCA leaders in Bulawayo last night. In addition, they carried out a swoop on Mutare railway station yesterday evening. Any young person they found there without luggage who was intending to travel to Harare, they locked up on suspicion of planning to join the demonstration. We have not yet been able to ascertain how many people are still in police custody. For once, the chairperson, Dr Lovemore Madhuku was not arrested. He thinks this is because it always causes such an international outcry. He says however, that he is being closely watched by the police. Tabitha Khumalo, the committee chair for Gender within the NCA who accompanied the wounded members to hospital is appalled by the police violence. The NCA is a peaceful movement, and Ms Khumalo says that when the ZRP attack citizens, who can we turn to for protection?
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 April
Talks initiative dead
Brian Mangwende
Renewed efforts to bring Zimbabwe's two feuding main political parties back to the negotiating table have hit a brick wall with Zanu PF, increasingly nervous about a negotiated settlement, now showing signs of ill-feeling over the sincerity and impartiality of the arbitrators. Impeccable Zanu PF sources confirmed yesterday that there was a whiff of suspicion within their ranks, with some senior party officials, who are jealously guarding their positions, alleging that some of the church leaders pushing for the negotiations were sympathetic to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The church leaders from various denominations have been at the forefront of trying to bring the MDC and the ruling Zanu PF to the negotiating table which they abandoned almost two years ago. The sources said that the church leaders, who have been trying to strike a political settlement between the two parties since last year, met John Nkomo, the Zanu PF national chairman, and the ruling party's information chief Nathan Shamuyarira a fortnight ago. They, however, emerged from the meeting disheartened as it dawned on them that chances for the resumption of the long-stalled talks were getting slimmer after the ruling party stalwarts put a damper on their initiative. The sources, who could not say exactly what transpired during the last meeting, said the men of cloth had since realised that they were not making any significant headway as Zanu PF was seemingly interested in dragging the "talks about talks" until the 2005 parliamentary elections. Their protracted efforts to bring back the two parties to the negotiating table after the talks had initially been put into the freezer, have so far drawn a blank.
Despite the moral pressure being exerted on the parties to find a solution to the country's political crisis, the public posturing ostensibly in support of the talks by the ruling party and repeated assurances by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, nothing has materialised mainly because Zanu PF is not interested in the talks. Efforts by the clergy have been further complicated by President Robert Mugabe's speech during the 24th Independence celebrations in the capital where he insisted on contrition by the MDC as a pre-condition for any meaningful talks to resume. But the opposition party, seen by Zanu PF as a Western front, has strongly rejected the President's pre-conditions and instead insisted on its demands that include levelling the electoral playing field for it to participate in next year's parliamentary plebiscite. "We held a routine meeting with Zanu PF leaders on the possibility of the resumption of talks just before Easter," said Bishop Sebastian Bakare. "There was nothing special about it, it was just routine. Once there is something dramatic, we will let you know." Pressed to disclose what really transpired in the meeting, Bakare said: "There is nothing that I could say that this was the result. We will continue trying. Ask Zanu PF what transpired." Shamuyarira, a former Cabinet minister who still commands a lot of respect among the ruling party's ranks, said details of the meeting were confidential and not for publication. "These are confidential discussions and not for publication," Shamuyarira was quick to say. "That's all I can say for now." Bishop Trevor Manhanga, who was recently in Italy reportedly to seek the Vatican's intervention in the Zimbabwean crisis, said he was still waiting to get a full briefing on the proceedings from his colleagues.
South Africa, currently at the centre of this arbitration, has persistently insisted that delegates from the two political parties were meeting informally, but both have maintained they were not. President Mbeki has assured the world that talks between Zanu PF and the MDC, which gave the ruling party a run for its money in the fiercely contested and controversial 2002 presidential election, would have resumed by June. But nothing tangible seems to be taking place on the ground. The euphoria touched by what were then seen as prospects for the negotiations between the country's two main political parties has since lapsed into scepticism and downright depression. The talks, put on ice about two years ago after both parties failed to agree on the agenda, were widely expected to go a long way in resolving the country's political and socio-economic problems, which have reduced Zimbabwe into a basket case.
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From The Times (UK), 29 April
Straw to push for parliamentary debate on tour to Zimbabwe
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins
A debate in Parliament on England’s tour to Zimbabwe next October and November is likely to be proposed next week, when officials of the ECB are scheduled to meet Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. In a final attempt to convince the ICC that the UK Government is serious about its wish that England should not tour until there has been a change of regime in Harare, Straw is expected to raise the question of a debate at a meeting in London a week today with Tessa Jowell, Minister of Culture, Media and Sport, and an ECB delegation including David Morgan, the ECB chairman, and Tim Lamb, the chief executive. The suggestion was made at a meeting with the All Party Parliamentary Cricket Group, including the former ECB chairman, Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth and Sir Alan Haslehurst, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Straw made it plain, however, that no specific instruction could be issued forbidding an England tour to Zimbabwe. ECB officials have expressed their doubts that anything less would convince the ICC that there is a binding government command sufficient to avoid a £1.1 million fine and possible suspension from international cricket. Provision for both was made in a resolution passed at the ICC’s executive meeting in Auckland last month, when Morgan gained the support of only one of the other nine delegates for his contention that, for historical reasons, England is in a unique position vis-à-vis Zimbabwe.
Lamb admitted yesterday that the force majeur exemption from the tour is unlikely to be accepted by other countries. "The Government don’t want us to tour and the question of compensation will be raised again in the event of us postponing the tour and suffering a fine or suspension but we accept that the Government believes that might not be an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money," he said. "They are also in a difficult position. In the final analysis, the state doesn’t run cricket in this country and they are mindful of setting a precedent." The reality is that, debate or no debate, the political solution is a non-starter. The only possible reasons for England not to travel to Harare in October now would be a breakdown of law and order and consequent concerns for the safety of the players or a continuation of the strike by Zimbabwe’s established team. The breakdown between those of the senior players who have not already left the country and the politically infiltrated Zimbabwe Cricket Union has made a pitiable farce of the present series between a team of tyros and the visiting Sri Lanka side.
If the ICC wishes to show itself to be acting in the interests of the game, as Ehsan Mani, the chairman, maintained perfectly legitimately to be the case yesterday, it will make it clear that international matches against substandard teams cannot be recognised. They have a duty to do so, indeed. All countries are party to a charter for Test cricket under which they undertake to field the strongest team possible. Sponsors and television companies have a right to expect the highest possible standards of cricket. As chairman of Vodafone, the sponsor of the England team, MacLaurin is taking a particular interest in the ECB’s predicament. He has not repeated a suggestion that England would make the trip without Vodafone support but that is still likely to be the case. England players will be given the option not to tour for moral reasons, although they would suffer financial losses if they make that decision because all the players will be out of contract with the ECB before the side is selected. Unless the regular players decide en bloc to go, probably on condition that they can make some sort of protest, fees for the tour would be separated from central contracts, which might be reduced from 12 months to shorter terms.
According to the shadow itinerary, England are due to go straight from Zimbabwe into a five-match Test series in South Africa. Five one-day internationals and two Tests have been pencilled in for Harare and Bulawayo from early November to December 4. Darren Lehmann, chosen for both the one-day and Test legs of Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe in May and June, said yesterday: "We’d be very disappointed if their side is weakened as it is at the moment. We get about three e-mails a day from the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) at the moment." It is time, surely, for the ACB and the ECB to get together in an attempt to persuade the ICC that, whatever political views may be, neither country should tour Zimbabwe to play substandard games.
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From cricinfo, 29 April
Flicker of hope in Zimbabwe saga
Wisden Cricinfo staff
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union announced last night that the 15 rebel players headed by Heath Streak had agreed to go back to work and would resume training on Friday (April 30). But, as with so much in this saga, the ZCU press release might not be quite what it seems. Wisden Cricinfo spoke to one of the players earlier today and he described the statement as "premature" and added that the group were meeting together this morning and would issue their own press release afterwards. The ZCU has a habit lately of presenting what it wants to happen as fact. The players have said that, as a gesture of goodwill, they will train, but they have also made it abundantly clear that they do not trust certain members of the board and will not resume playing on the strength of promises by them. What might seem to be a partial climbdown actually strengthens the rebels' hand. Up to now, they have technically been in breach of contract, but by resuming training they have removed one of the main excuses the board might have had to dismiss them. And whereas last week the ZCU held all the aces, the humiliation of its new-look side at the hands of Sri Lanka has left it desperate to strengthen the side to try and avoid the ICC looking too closely at Zimbabwe's international status. And the only way it can do that is to bring the rebels back into the fold.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 28 April
Zim faces famine
Drew Forrest
Research conducted for Germany’s influential Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has warned that eight million Zimbabweans - three-quarters of the population - face severe food shortages this year as a result of plunging grain production. The researchers also argue that shortages are being deliberately worsened by the Zimbabwean government and its statutory monopoly, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), for political purposes. They suggest that with an election looming, the government may not ask donors for much-needed food aid this year. "Initially people were talking of food shortage, but ‘famine’ now seems a more appropriate term," says the research body, Zimconsult. "No one ever contemplated that Zimbabwe, formerly the bread basket of Southern Africa, would be referred to in terms of famine." Based on a 10-day physical survey of Zimbabwe’s grain-producing areas, and crop forecasts from various sources, the study projects a production shortfall of between 600 000 and 900 000 tonnes this year. Projected demand is 1,9-million tonnes of maize and small grains, such as rice. However, it emphasises that the official information blackout on production makes it difficult to quantify the projected shortfall with certainty. "Donors, who must be thanked for saving the lives of well over six million people over the past three years, are exasperated by the lack of information."
The study lays the blame for the impending crisis squarely on President Robert Mugabe’s "fast-track resettlement programme", which, it says, destroyed vital agricultural infrastructure, parcelled out land to party loyalists who had no intention of farming, and was carried out without planning. It also criticises the government’s manipulation of food for political gain and apparent lack of concern for hungry Zimbabweans. In terms of Statutory Instrument 235A of 2001, all maize must be sold to a "militarised" GMB, which then resells its stocks to card-carrying members of the ruling Zanu PF. The government has never disclosed how much maize was produced in the 2002/03 season or how much was bought by the GMB, the study says. However, investigations revealed that the board purchased 250 000 tonnes, which were not released on to the market, despite "severe shortages of mealie meal in much of the country until recently". Raised to perhaps 400 000 tonnes by additional purchases this year, these stocks will be used for election purposes.
With an election in prospect and political control over food assuming greater importance, the researchers raise questions about whether any government request for food assistance will be submitted to aid organisations this year. They point out that last year the government delayed approaching the United Nations development programme for food aid until July, long after "well-documented concerns voiced by the opposition party and the donor community". The study also says that although planning for the 2004/05 growing season should be at an advanced stage, as recommended by Parliament’s agriculture committee, "it is common knowledge that nothing is being done". Zimconsult’s report singles out three constraints on production, which it traces directly to the fast-track land resettlement and other government failures - shortages of seed and fertiliser and inadequate tillage. In implementing the programme, the government decreed seed producers should not be expropriated, and classified them as agro-industries. However, in practice Agriculture Minister Joseph Made has taken over all white farms, including those growing for seed.
The study says newly settled farmers produce an average of 0,4 tonnes of seed maize a hectare, compared with the five tonnes a hectare produced by commercial farmers. Available seed means that under optimal conditions a maximum of 960 000 tonnes of maize could have been grown this year. In addition, the shortage means that seed is too expensive for many communal and resettled farmers, with many buying enough only for subsistence. On the fertiliser front, producers told Parliament’s agriculture committee that their operations have been severely curtailed by the shortage of foreign currency needed for the import of raw materials and spare parts. Securing only 30% of their requirements, they had joined the "parallel market" for foreign exchange, driving up their prices. Aggravating this was the railways ’ delivery of only 58% of required raw materials, forcing producers to use road hauliers that are up to 15 times more expensive. Despite these constraints, the government has imposed strict price controls on fertilisers, which "had no relationship with … costs encountered in production." The result is that the fertiliser industry will produce 249 000 tonnes between January and August this year - a deficit of 130 000 tonnes. The arrival of more farmers on the land, through the resettlement programme, has served to heighten demand.
The third production constraint highlighted by the researchers is tillage, which District Development Fund (DDF) tractors are obliged to provide for communal and resettled farmers in terms of government policy. However, the portfolio committee heard that 50% of DDF tractors are grounded by a shortage of spare parts, forcing many farmers to rely on their own draught power. Compounding this are acute shortages of diesel. Early rains in November last year encouraged many farmers to plant maize. However, a subsequent dry spell has written off the early plantings. The Zimconsult report contains alarming accounts of the state of crops in the ground in various producing areas. In Mashonaland West, traditionally Zimbabwe’s largest maize grower, "the hectares being cultivated are low and the yields well below historical levels". While more than 300 000 tonnes of maize could have been expected, given seed availability, overall production is unlikely to exceed 190 000 tonnes. Zvimba communal area is described as "a complete disaster … yellow stunted stocks, already tasselling at two feet tall, exemplify the maize crop". The researchers place heavy emphasis on the plight of urban Zimbabweans, saying 2,5-million of them are likely to suffer food shortages this year. "In urban areas, which are strongholds of the [opposition] Movement for Democratic Change, the sale of maize by the GMB has been stopped and maize is instead sold through Zanu PF councillors," they say. In March the MDC mayor of Mutare tried to use money collected by his Christmas Cheer Fund to buy maize from the GMB for distribution to the destitute. The request was refused.
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From The Financial Gazette, 29 April
Msika breathes fire
Staff Reporter
In what could trigger a showdown between the Presidency and three Cabinet ministers, Vice-President Joseph Msika has vowed not to rest until the recent invasion of Kondozi Farm in Odzi has been reversed. Msika is the chairman of the Land Acquisition Committee. His stance could bring him into direct conflict with three Cabinet ministers - Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Joseph Made and Transport and Communications Minister Christopher Mushowe. The three have insisted that the disputed farm belongs to the state. Before Moyo's intervention, Made and Mushowe had been at loggerheads with Edwin Masimba Moyo, the majority shareholder of Kondozi, over the acquisition of the farm which enjoys Export Processing Zone (EPZ) status. Under the law, a farm with EPZ status cannot be compulsorily acquired. Kondozi Farm, also known as Canvest Farming, exports flowers and vegetables to Europe and South Africa. It employed 5 000 workers before it was taken over.
Msika said he would rather die with his views than allow thousands of farm workers to be rendered jobless and homeless especially under the current economic environment. Speaking at a field day at Old Citrus Farm owned by Zanu PF chairman for Mashonaland West, Philip Chiyangwa, last Friday, Msika said: "I don't work with newspapers . . . the truth will always prevail. Our land reform policy is one. Even Zanu PF and PF Zapu had a similar policy that's why it was not difficult to unite. Orientation to the people . . . we dovetailed into one. Yes, small institutions like ARDA (the Agricultural Rural Development Authority) and DDF (the District Development Fund) are very important, ladies and gentlemen. But I can't support someone who will evict 15 000 women and children and throw them on the streets. I won't support that. I will not support that. Even if all of you support that and I remain alone in my view, I'll die with my views."
He added: "Something is brewing in Mutare . . . Kondozi. Seventy people came to my house and woke me up around 4 am. I asked what the problem was and later told them to go and see John Nkomo . . . but they said they had sent a delegation to him to no avail. I told the Manicaland governor (retired major general Mike Nyambuya) to allow the people to go back." The delegation that met Msika seeking the reversal of the evictions included chiefs and headmen from the province. During the Easter holiday, heavily armed riot police and soldiers using water cannons, forcibly evicted the farm workers to pave way for the smooth occupation of the property by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda). Arda is currently on the property. The displaced farm workers and their families are now living out in the open along roadsides with their household goods and other possessions, hoping that someone would soon address their plight. At the same occasion the vice president, who publicly admitted a rift within the ruling party, called for unity and castigated those seeking the demise of their colleagues.
He said prior to the visit to Citrus Farm, he had been advised not to attend the field day because of claims that whites were still on the farm using Chiyangwa as a front through FSI, owned by business mogul Mutumwa Mawere. "I received a telephone call yesterday from someone urging me not to attend this field day," Msika said. "But I said since I was in charge of land redistribution, it was my duty to go and see the progress being made and hear for myself the nature of the problems there. But the person insisted . . . I will not disclose his identity. I said 'now that you don't want me to go, the more reason why I should go'." He added: "I was told that the farm was being used by whites. If we see that you have brought back the whites clandenstinely . . . We will remove you and your white man off the property. I knew what was happening here . . . I knew FSI was here . . . and that Chiyangwa was renting farm equipment from them. There is nothing wrong in renting equipment from those that have it. I personally rent equipment." Msika then said Chiyangwa had himself to blame for his arrest on allegations that he obstructed the course of justice, perjury and contempt of court because he was too outspoken. "Chiyangwa has his mistakes, he talks too much," Msika said. "That's what I want to tell him as a brother. Don't talk too much, you will be held accountable and responsible. He never committed a crime here (Mashonaland West) but there in Harare."
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From SW Radio Africa, 29 April
Kondozi worker in shooting
The Agricultural Rural Development Authority, who have taken over Kondozi farm in Odzi, have been involved in an incident in which a worker was shot and injured. The worker was then arrested. The police have accused him of stealing a vehicle belonging to Kondozi - but both the worker and his former employers say he had every right to be driving the car at the time. The police claim the man resisted arrest and shot at the vehicle several times, wounding the man in the ankle. Since the take over of Kondozi over a fortnight ago, at least fifteen hundred people are living in the bush. ARDA have chased the labourers off the property and the former farm workers and their families, including children and the elderly, say they are existing in inhuman conditions. They have no shelter, sanitation, fresh water, blankets and very little food. They have had to move around to avoid being persecuted by state agents and it is almost impossible to access humanitarian aid.
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From SABC News, 29 April
Zimbabwe expels British television crew
Zimbabwe today asked a British television crew to leave the country, saying it had entered the country illegally without observing tough media laws on the registration of journalists. President Robert Mugabe's government has largely banned foreign journalists from working permanently in Zimbabwe and tightly controls visiting reporters as it fights a political and economic crisis it blames on opponents. Jonathan Moyo, the information minister, in a statement today said a Sky television news crew had "arrogantly" flown into the country without government authority or clearance from Zimbabwe's mission in London. "What makes the conduct of this crew appear deliberately contemptuous and thus reprehensible is the fact that before leaving Britain, the crew actually received a clear response from the department (of information) outlining the government position and expectation before its proposed visit," he said. "Accordingly the department requires that forthwith, the Sky News crew complies with our national laws ... including the requirement that foreign media applicants secure permission to fly into the country for purposes of accreditation from their country of origin and work." "Failure to comply would, naturally, trigger a decisive response from agencies whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law in the country," he added.
In London, Sky said it had not tried to enter the country clandestinely and believed it had clearance to send a two-man crew from Johannesburg to film matters related to cricket. "We are not sure that we are being thrown out. We are just waiting to hear from the government to clarify what their attitude is. We are a bit surprised," Adrian Wells, Sky's head of foreign news, told Reuters in London. Moyo and officials from his office were unavailable for further comment on where the Sky News team was and how many people it included. Relations with British media have turned particularly sour as the former colonial power has spearheaded international sanctions targeting Mugabe and senior members of his cabinet. Mugabe's government has forced one of the country's leading daily newspapers to shut and deported a number of foreign journalists under media laws obliging reporters and media companies to register with a state information commission. The government insists the 2002 media laws are necessary to restore professionalism in journalism. It accuses the private media of leading a propaganda campaign by opponents of its policy of seizing white-owned farms for landless blacks.
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From News 24 (SA), 29 April
War on Zim mayors
Kodzevu Sithole
Harare - Being a mayor in Zimbabwe these days is no easy task. President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party is increasingly clamping down on opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) mayors in Zimbabwe's urban centres. The mayors believe there is a grand plan being orchestrated by Zanu PF to usurp the control of the urban centres - which have been the MDC's stronghold - ahead of the 2005 parliamentary election. The MDC seized contro l of Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Gweru, Masvingo, Gwanda and Kariba in the last municipal elections. The ruling party has already created the position of governors for Zimbabwe's two largest cities, Harare and Bulawayo, which analysts say are meant to neutralise the powers of the popularly elected executive mayors. In Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, Harare executive mayor engineer Elias Mudzuri was last week dismissed by President Robert Mugabe for "incompetence". His dismissal had been engineered by Ignatius Chombo is the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. Even in the eastern border town of Mutare, there are signs of a campaign aimed at getting rid of elected mayor Misheck Kagurabadza and replace him with a government-appointed commission.
"The events are building up very fast. Last week, a group of people wanted an audience with Chombo and demanded they mayor's resignation," said a senior Mutare counci official. Already at the Civic Centre, which houses the Mutare mayor, names of two senior Zanu PF officials are being touted as the possible appointees of the new commission to run the affairs of the city. But Kagurabadza said the events in Mutare, where the council consists of 17 MDC councillors and one Zanu PF member, were worrying and detrimental to the development of the eastern border city. "Initially I thought it was purely a civic matter which we could address amicably but I have realised that it is political. Their demands are unrealistic and this not good for the development of the city," said Kagurabadza. Analysts said the demonstrations were an attempt by Zanu PF to create "imaginary disgruntlement" by residents of Mutare and this would give Chombo an excuse to intervene on the pretext of trying to rescue the situation. According to the MDC information department, more than five thousand Zanu PF supporters blocked Kagurabadza from entering his office on Monday. The demonstrators were carrying a coffin inscribed "MDC rest in peace" and "Kagurabadza rest in peace" and demanded the resignation of the mayor and council to pave way for the appointment of a commission to run the City of Mutare. Police were alerted, but did not do anything to move away the mob.
At about 08.30 on Tuesday morning, more than a hundred demonstrators, allegedly escorted by the police, tied the handles of the door to the mayor's office with wire to prevent him from entering and started assaulting suspected MDC supporters, with two - Huggins Kashiri and Nyasha Katsidzira - having been seriously injured. The same situation occurred last week in the resort town of Kariba which fell into the hands of the MDC last year. Zanu PF supporters converged on the council offices and blocked the mayor from going in. They however later dispersed. Bulawayo executive mayor and vice-president of the Urban Councils' Association, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, said although Chombo had not threatened him with dismissal, events on the ground were leading to a collision with Mugabe's appointee, Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema. Ndabeni-Ncube said Mathema was trying to create conditions for the two to clash, a development which would be "used against me by the authorities". Masvingo executive mayor Alois Chaimiti said it was possible any MDC mayor could face the same fate as Mudzuri. "However, it appears they are not very worried about the small local authorities like us but larger cities, where their influence matters most," said Chaimiti.
Blessing Dhlakama, the Chegutu executive mayor has on several occasions been threatened with eviction from council offices by Zanu PF supporters, with his deputy, a Zanu PF stalwart, assuming the office of mayor. The deputy, despite being found guilty of embezzling over Z$50 million of council funds mid-last year, was allowed by government to remain in office. He was only arrested recently on the orders of the recently appointed anti-corruption minister, Didymus Mutasa. In Harare, Chombo has already appointed a team led by Jameson Kurasha to monitor the city's service delivery system. Ironically , Kurasha headed the committee that probed Mudzuri's activities at Town House. Mudzuri, dismissed by Mugabe on allegations of mismanagement and corruption last week, had been on suspension since April 29 last year. The swoop on mayors by Zanu PF comes amid reports that the ruling party was enticing poverty-stricken MDC councillors to resign en masse from the opposition party in return for houses and monetary rewards before the 2005 general elections.
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From The Sunday Mirror, 2 May
Shamuyarira, Moyo stand-off ends
Innocent Chofamba Sithole
The bruising clash between Zanu PF information and publicity secretary, Nathan Shamuyarira and his deputy, Jonathan Moyo has fizzled out following a decision by the ruling party to allow the British Sky News crew to go ahead with a planned documentary on the Zimbabwean situation. Reliable sources told the Sunday Mirror that the embarrassing dislocation of consensus between ruling party and government over the Sky News saga, manifested in the apparent clash between Moyo and Shamuyarira, ended after higher authorities in Zanu PF okayed the Sky News documentary. On Thursday, Moyo, in his capacity as Minister of State for Information and Publicity issued a hardline statement condemning the entry of the Sky News crew into the country without fulfilling the country’s stringent accreditation laws. Moyo effectively asked the Sky News team to return to "their country of origin" from where they would then seek permission to fly back into the country for purposes of accreditation. "Failure to comply would, quite naturally, trigger a decisive response from agencies whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law in the country," he warned.
However, the Sunday Mirror understands that Moyo’s radical national defence line, expressed through his insistence upon the fulfillment of legal requirements pertaining to accreditation of foreign journalists, came against a background of numerous instructions from his party boss, Shamuyarira, to make arrangements for the Sky News team’s visit to the country. Documents in the possession of this newspaper show that the Sky News team’s visit had been on the cards as far back as September last year. The ruling party, swayed by the need to mount a formidable international public relations campaign, mooted the idea of inviting Sky News to cover both the December Zanu PF conference in Masvingo as well as such fundamental issues as the country’s national youth service programme and the land reform exercise. Initially, Sky News had proposed to carry out live broadcasts, including an interview with President Robert Mugabe. However, after suggestions from Shamuyarira, on behalf of Zanu PF, the broadcaster agreed to film a documentary, covering topics proposed by the ruling party, including the presidential interview.
As recently as April 13, Adrian Wells, the head of foreign news at Sky News, wrote to Shamuyarira accepting the conditions under which they would shoot the documentary. "We would be very keen to feature, as discussed, youth training camps; resettled Zimbabwean farmers, key cabinet ministers, the governor of the Reserve Bank (Gideon Gono), members of parliament in the parliament building and other issues as relevant," Wells said. The Sky News team, which was initially scheduled to start filming on April 26, could not do so, Wells said, since its top news team was currently filming with American military forces in Afghanistan. Subsequently, Wells suggested that the filming begin on May 3 (tomorrow). Wells also welcomed the opportunity to discuss with Zanu PF how his team could film or illustrate the economic situation obtaining in the country. He was, however, still to be advised on a date for the interview with President Mugabe. Letters from Shamuyarira to Moyo in our possession indicate that the former frequently updated his party deputy on developments on the Sky News visit. Contacted for comment on Friday, Shamuyarira was rather guarded, only revealing that he had referred the matter to the party leadership. Moyo yesterday switched off his phone after this writer identified himself to him.
Earlier on Thursday, information and publicity department secretary, George Charamba had insisted that even though the Sky News trip had been arranged by the ruling party, the department did not accept visiting journalists through third parties. "All the party can do is to recommend them, otherwise the obligation to seek accreditation lies with the journalists themselves," he said. The Sky News advance team, comprising producer Ben Depear and cameraman Martin Smith, who are staying at a Harare hotel, are scheduled to complete their accreditation process tomorrow (Monday). A source close to the beleaguered journalists on Thursday said Sky News had assumed that Zanu PF had liaised with government on their accreditation and had not foreseen such complications as emerged. Sky News had also forwarded an outline of questions, which they intended to pose to President Mugabe in their proposed interview. The 24 questions fall under four broad categories, namely: economic crisis; land reform; international community, and domestic opposition.
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From Africa Confidential (UK), 30 April
Disappearing food
The government may turn away food aid as part of its ruthless election strategy
An internal United Nations' memorandum describes Zimbabwe's latest crop projections as 'complete nonsense' and 'quite impossible.' That's no surprise. Fanciful agricultural forecasts are common in Agriculture Minister Joseph Made's department but these particular projections are critical. The forecasts were used to justify the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front government's decision to turn down food aid this year. At a meeting on 30 March, a Ministry official claimed that the harvest would be 1.7 million tonnes, an impossibly big figure. The following day, Minister of Labour Paul Mangwana met UN officials and diplomats, reiterated the figures and emphasised that the government had asked the UN to keep food aid out of the humanitarian assistance appeal. Yet the current debate within ZANU-PF shows that there are still practical constraints. Periodic fuel shortages and scarcity of spare parts limit the government's ability to move the food quickly to wherever it can win most votes. So a ruthless campaign to benefit from shutting out foreign food aid could still work against the ruling party. Politicians will lose votes if the gamble goes wrong; hungry Zimbabweans may lose their lives.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 2 May
Zanu PF thugs disrupt MDC rallies in Lupane
Campaigning has moved into top gear quietly in Lupane where the ruling party Zanu PF and the opposition MDC have squared up for a by- election set for May 15 and 16. Our Bulawayo Bureau's Savious Parker Kwinika spent two days in the rural constituency last week and below is his eye witness account.
In a scene reminiscent of old gangster movies, a convoy of about eight Nissan Patrol and Nissan Hardbody trucks clearly marked Zanu PF, DDF and Lupane Rural District Council travelling at high speed, suddenly screech to a halt in a cloud of dust at an open space in Gomoza Village, Chief Jiba Jiba's communal area in Lupane on Tuesday. The open space was the venue of a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally, called to drum up support for its candidate, Njabuliso Mguni, who is battling it out with Martin Khumalo of the ruling Zanu PF party. As suddenly as they arrived, some of the vehicles - laden with war veterans and Zanu PF youths - started moving fast in a circle right round the open space entrapping hundreds of MDC supporters who were listening to a fired up Mguni. Mguni, a veteran educationist, was urging them to shun the ruling party in the by-election set for May 15 and 16 and instead vote for the MDC. At the same time, other vehicles with menacing looking occupants, were being revved, making such ear-shattering noise that it was obvious this was a deliberate ploy to make it impossible for Mguni to communicate with his audience. Apart from that, the vehicles also raised so much dust that engulfed the gathering within seconds.
Confronted by this frightful scenario, it didn't take long for the faint-hearted to take to their heels escaping from what turned out to be the Gomoza circle of despair. Among those caught up in the stampede were elderly men, women and children. Only a few people, mainly MDC officials and ex-Zipra combatants stood their ground and remained at the venue until the hullabaloo died down. Out came the leaders of the war veterans and the militia who announced that the meeting was illegal and everyone had to disperse. "Abandon your rally and get away now," said a fierce looking war veteran threateningly, as he and his mates pranced about like prize fighters. A lone policeman, who had been assigned to the rally, simply watched the scene like a bemused spectator. "I am alone here. I can't do anything about it," he said to some fear stricken villagers who had appealed to him to intervene. The unannounced arrival of the intruders marked the end of the MDC rally. Although nobody was assaulted or injured during the melee that lasted for about 15 minutes, the incident was certainly meant to send shivers down the spines of hapless villagers who had hitherto been attending a peaceful rally. It also reminded them of the dangers associated with attending MDC rallies. According to some villagers, this was surely a sign of bad things to come and they were afraid to take chances.
"The memories of Gukurahundi are still fresh in our minds. You can never under-estimate what these people (war veterans and Zanu PF militias) can do to ensure that they secure a victory for Zanu PF in Lupane," said a village elder, shaking his head. The elder told me he had witnessed some of the worst atrocities committed by the Fifth Brigade when it butchered over 20 000 civilians during the early 1980s, during the so-called Gukurahundi campaign by the army. As a result of these frightening experiences, several families - especially those that are well known for their support for the MDC - are having sleepless nights fearing possible attacks from militias who have established several bases in this rural constituency. When they go to sleep these days, many say they gather huge stones around them for protection in the event of a night raid. The incident at Gomoza Village was one of the many such occurrences now common in Lupane where the ruling party quickly disrupts any rallies called for by the MDC. This has made it virtually impossible for the opposition party to campaign effectively.
However, despite such tactics, - which have become the hallmark of Zanu PF's campaign strategy in the run up to elections - the determination of the villagers to support the opposition party is clearly evident. They do not seem deterred by the fact that the MDC campaign is hamstrung by lack of resources. Apart from religiously turning up at every meeting called by Mguni and his campaign team, the villagers bring their own pots and plates to rallies so that they can prepare food afterwards. Even though news of the Gomoza raid filtered through to the other villagers, surprisingly, thousands more turned up at yet another MDC rally at Bubi Resettlement Scheme, about 170 kms north of Bulawayo the following morning. Among them were nearly a hundred of youths armed with stones and knobkerries meant to fight off any Zanu PF attacks. One MDC youth leader, obviously excited about the huge attendance, said the ruling party, which failed to meet its promise in the 2000 general elections to pay youths in the area, had now alienated many young people in Lupane. "We have been used, cheated and taken advantage of by Zanu PF and this time around we have to turn against Zanu PF. As you can see today, this meeting has been attended by both youths, elderly men and women who want to express their grievances through the ballot box," said Xolani Nyathi, a 22-year-old and unemployed MDC supporter.
Four MDC parliamentarians, Esaph Mdlongwa (Bulawayo), Abednigo Bhebhe (Nkayi), Ndlovu Mzila (Bulilima North) and Jacob Thabani (Bubi Umguza) attended the meeting which ended without any incident. But there are still tales of many villagers who have been brutally attacked in Lupane in violence linked to the by-election. Two people in Gomoza are battling for their lives after being assaulted by a group of war veterans and Zanu PF supporters who accused them of funding MDC rallies in the constituency. The two - Jacob Tshuma and his wife Sicingeni - who had come from South Africa to see relatives, were being treated at St. Luke Hospital early last week before they were moved out of the hospital by MDC Lupane officials "for security reasons". The attack occurred a few days after the nomination court sat last month to confirm Mguni (MDC) and Martin Khumalo of Zanu PF as the two official candidates for the by-election. MDC district secretary for Lupane, Temba Dlomo, said the injured had nothing whatsoever to do with his party or local politics except that their relatives belonged to the MDC. "We need peace and tranquillity in Lupane but if the worse comes to the worst then the local villagers will say enough is enough and perhaps retaliate," said Mdlongwa. The Lupane seat was left vacant following the death of the MDC MP David Mpala, who is believed to have died as a result of injuries sustained from attacks by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans in the run-up to the 2002 elections.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 1 May
Zim govt runs out of money to pay school fees
Bulawayo - About 800 000 Zimbabwean orphans and disadvantaged children who depend on state assistance to pay school fees may be unable to enrol when the new term begins next week. Under the Basic Education Assistance Model (Beam), the government had allocated Z$3,8-billion to pay the school fees of orphans and disadvantaged children, but Lancelot Museka, the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare permanent secretary, announced this week that the money had run out after just one term of the school year. Zimbabwe's economic crisis has led to job losses, making it impossible for growing numbers of parents to pay tuition fees. Unemployment now stands at 80%, and is rising as businesses continue to fold. For those still employed in the formal sector, low wages in a hyperinflationary environment have worsened a situation that is often already desperate. The announcement that the Beam had run out of funds came after hard-pressed guardians of Beam beneficiaries had made representations to government to expand the programme to include the purchasing of exercise books.
"We had budgeted Zim $3,8-billion to pay school fees for HIV/Aids orphans and disadvantaged children this year. However, the money has run out because the schools are constantly hiking fees, leading to an early exhaustion of the funds and a drastic decline in the number of beneficiaries," Museka explained. Most schools have hiked tuition fees to an average of Z$500 000 per term, with some private institutions demanding as much as Z$2,5-million, in defiance of a government directive to seek prior approval for an increase from the ministry of education. The schools cited high inflation, currently around 600%, and a need to maintain educational standards as reasons for the increases. Primary school textbooks now cost between Z$50 000 and Z$100 000, while the lowest-priced textbook for secondary school costs Z$80 000. Exercise books range from Z$3 000 to Z$7 000 each, translating into an average expenditure of Z$168 000 on exercise books alone for one upper secondary school pupil.
Minister of Education Aneas Chigwedere acknowledged that the per capita grants allocated to schools for the acquisition of textbooks were insufficient, given the high inflation rate, but alleged that negligence by schools was aggravating the situation. "Schools are given per capita grants every year. Yes, the money may not be enough, because it is not meant to be enough anyway. The major problem is that schools do not take care of their textbooks. Most are stolen and re-sold at black market prices on street corners," said Chigwedere. The Beam programme was set up in 2001 to pay tuition and examination fees for the growing number of children being forced to drop out of school because their parents or guardians could not afford to keep them there. Since 2001, 1,7-million pupils have benefited from successive Beam allocations. The total number of beneficiaries for 2004 was projected at 800 000.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30 April
'Attacks will not deter me' - Ncube
Staff Writer
Outspoken Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube says he will not be deterred by attacks from the state media and other quarters in his fight against human rights in the country. Ncube was responding to a salvo fired by state radio and newspapers after he was chosen, together with South Africa's Desmond Tutu, as patron of two aid funds set up to raise money for human rights-related lawsuits and legal reform campaigns in Zimbabwe. "The attacks by the state media will not deter me," said Ncube. "Why should they attack me and skirt real issues affecting the country when the issues are clear? We need good governance and we do not want to be abused by a dictator," Ncube said. He said he was glad to become patron of the two aid funds but was saddened by the suffering of Zimbabwean people. "There is low morale in all sections of the population and that is a big concern as people are not employed and we have serious starvation but the government wants us to believe that people are only dying of Aids," he said. The two funds were launched on Tuesday last week at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The funds - the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund and the Zimbabwe Aid Foundation - aim to support those who have become victims of illegal detentions or malicious prosecutions. "I feel honoured to work with Desmond Tutu. I have great respect for him for his unwavering fight for human rights in his country and the world in general. He is a great man," he said. Speaking after the launch of the two funds last week, Tutu, a vocal critic of Mugabe's government, said the world couldn't stand by and watch a tragedy unfold "without becoming complicit through apathy". He said a similar fund, supported by the international community, saved a lot of people in South Africa from the gallows, including the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela.
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From The Star (SA), 3 May, 2004
Punch-up over whites in Zimbabwe line-up
Harare - The divisions and rifts in Zimbabwean cricket came to a head when Zimbabwe Cricket Union director Ozias Bvute got into a fist fight with convener of selectors Stewart Ngongoro, according to several witnesses. The incidents happened last Thursday when Zimbabwe were playing Sri Lanka in the last of five international matches, but behind the scenes Bvute was making his own presence felt. He had a fight with Ngongoro after they disagreed over how many of the white players who have recently been on strike should be included in the Zimbabwe team for the first Test against Sri Lanka, which begins in Harare on Thursday, according to several guests and security staff who reported the incident to ZCU officials. Before that Bvute had stormed into the television commentary section of the media centre at Harare Sports Club and sacked Mpumulelo Mbangwa, a Zimbabwe commentator. Bvute and Ngongoro admitted later in a joint statement that they had had a "physical confrontation" but they denied it had extended to fisticuffs. Witnesses to their row said Ngongoro thought perhaps eight whites who have been in dispute with the ZCU, but who have resumed training, should be included, but Bvute said he was prepared to include three or four at most. They said later they were discussing "pertinent issues" which led to shouting, then to the fracas.
Several administration and technical staff were present in the TV section when Bvute marched in and told Mbangwa, popularly known as "Pommie," that he was fired for making observations about the Zimbabwe team's performance. A ZCU source, who was informed about the incident, said: "I am told that Pommie later went to see Bvute to discuss it and Bvute relented." One of the TV company's managers, who asked not to be named, confirmed the incident, saying: "Yes, that is exactly what happened." Bvute has the authority to sack TV commentators, according to the ZCU. He is chairman of the ZCU marketing committee which negotiates TV and other publicity contracts. Bvute is also in charge of the Union's integration policy to advance blacks into top levels of the sport, both on and off the field. Mbangwa, a former Test cricketer with Zimbabwe, has been commentating for several years and is highly regarded by the TV company. The white players went on strike in protest at the sacking of former captain Heath Streak, who is white. He was replaced by 20-year-old Tatenda Taibu.
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From VOA News, 3 May
Zimbabwe police order some private schools not to reopen
Harare - Zimbabwe police have told a number of private schools not to reopen Tuesday after Easter holidays. The private schools are accused of hiking fees without prior government permission. A principal of a leading private high school near Harare says he was visited by police and told to keep his doors shut at the start of the second term, or semester. Principals of at least six schools in country's second city, Bulawayo, say they were consulting with lawyers on the same issue. School fees at both government and private schools have gone up by large amounts, and principals at some government schools have already been dismissed for increasing fees. Most private schools have increased fees by up to 75 percent since January. There are 38 private schools in Zimbabwe, and all but one or two are run as not-for-profit trusts. The private schools have about 20,000 students, most of them the children of professionals, the middle class, and the political elite, mostly from the ruling Zanu PF Party. Among them are President Robert Mugabe's three children. One school principal, speaking on condition that neither he nor his school was identified, says most school governing bodies regularly apply to the Department of Education to increase fees. He says they seldom if ever receive replies. This principal says that if the police continue to order that schools be kept shut, then private schools would go to the courts seeking relief. Another school principal says he has already had to go to his local police station where he has been warned he would be charged. A third principal, outside of Harare, said he believed the government's crackdown was a political gimmick before parliamentary elections scheduled for early next year. He said there was no alternative to increasing fees. He said staff salaries consumed 70 percent of budgets and that retaining qualified staff was the biggest challenge facing private schools. The Department of Education had no officials available for comment.
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From Business Day (SA), 4 May
Mugabe threatens critical media voice
Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government said yesterday it would shut down another independent newspaper under controversial press laws on the same day as the world marked the United Nations' International Press Freedom Day. State radio quoted Tafataona Mahoso, chairman of the state-run Media and Information Council, as saying the moderate weekly Tribune newspaper was operating "illegally" because it had amended its ownership structures without informing the commission. "In terms of the law, this new company must not publish its new publication until it has applied for and been granted the required registration certificate," said Mahoso. "Accordingly, relevant authorities have been notified." The Daily News, the country's bestselling and only independent daily, was shut down last September after it fell foul of regulations under the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, passed in March 2002. The Tribune leans towards the ruling Zanu (PF), and one of its leading executives is Kindness Paradza, a former journalist and a ruling party MP. Paradza recently told parliament that the act and other laws banning independent radio and television stations should be amended because these discouraged investment in the media. Last week the Tribune criticised Jonathan Moyo, Mugabe's information minister, for participating in the illegal takeover of the country's leading horticulture export operation. Paradza travelled to Britain last week, and state media accused him of trying to raise funds there for a relaunch of his paper. He denied the allegations, but the state press accused him of colluding "with enemy and foreign interests". He was also suspended from the ruling party last week.
Zimbabwe has had a chequered history in its dealings with the press. In September last year heavily armed paramilitary police stormed the Daily News offices by order of the media council. The government violated repeated court orders not to interfere with its operations, and senior company executives were arrested. About 200 people were put out of work. Observers say the ban deprived all opposition parties and civic organisations of a daily platform for criticism of the 80-year-old Mugabe's regime. Two journalists from the London-based Sky News television company were allegedly confined to their Harare hotel yesterday for the fourth day after the government declared their presence "illegal". Reports last week said the team had travelled to Harare with the approval of the ruling party's most senior information official to produce a documentary, which was to include an interview with Mugabe. Immediately after their arrival last Thursday, Moyo accused them of entering the country without his permission. Their entry would "trigger a response from the agencies whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law in the country", he said. Attempts yesterday to reach the journalists, producer Ben Dupear and cameraman Martin Smith, failed, but reports said that they were still in their hotel last night. Efforts to get comment from the government were also not fruitful. SA's foreign affairs department said that it was still consulting with its high commission officials in Harare before issuing a comment. International Press Freedom Day is marked on May 3 every year to foster freedom of information and tolerance of diverse viewpoints in the press throughout the world. The Daily News has been bombed twice, scores of editors, journalists, newspaper executives and even vendors have been arrested, assaulted and harassed by police and state intelligence agents. An almost total ban has been placed on visiting foreign journalists, and about five locally-based foreign correspondents have been deported. The International Committee to Protect Journalists lists Zimbabwe among the 10 worst offenders of press freedom.
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From cricinfo, 4 May, 2004
'The media is our next enemy' - Moyo
Wisden Cricinfo staff
Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe's information minister, has said that journalists who peddle "lies" in the foreign media deserve to be jailed. An AFP report quoted Moyo as saying that the media was the next enemy that needed to be dealt with after the government had finished with its clean-up in the financial sector. He claimed that a section of reporters lie about the country in their writings, and labelled them "terrorists". "President Mugabe has said our main enemy is the financial sector, but the other enemy is the media who use the pen to lie about this country ... such reporters are terrorists and the position on how to deal with terrorists is to subject them to the laws of Zimbabwe. If there are any reporters who think they would effect a regime change here they would find themselves in jail. We have enough prison room for them." A Sky News TV crew had been ordered to leave Zimbabwe last week after the government claimed that they had entered the country illegally. Reacting to that, Moyo said, "We had invited them to do a co-production with NewsNet [the state television] and we had said we want to know who will be part of their team and who will be on the NewsNet team. But before we knew it, they were already in the country. Those guys are trash and we do not need them. And Sky TV is no exception. Whether it's CNN or whatever, we have no illusion that they have changed." Ozais Bvute, who is the chairman of the ZCU marketing committee and also responsible for implementing racial quotas, is reckoned by many to have a direct line to Moyo. Apart from the Sky TV crew, two journalists were expelled after immigration officials claimed that they had incorrect paperwork.
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From News24 (SA), 3 May
SA denies Mbeki in $10m deal
Erika Gibson
Pretoria - The office of the president flatly denied on Monday claims that US$10m had changed hands during negotiations between presidents Thabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea about the extradition of 70 alleged coup plotters being held in Harare. Mbeki spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said the claims, made by an exiled Equatorial Guinean political party "make no sense". The claims about money changing hands were published at the weekend by Severo Moto, Equatorial Guinean exiled opposition leader, on the Popular Party's website. According to the report, Nguema paid the "bribe" in exchange for the 70 alleged coup plotters. The report claimed negotiations between the three leaders took place during the inauguration celebrations in South Africa. Nguema apparently came to South Africa specifically to strengthen ties with Mbeki. He was apparently going to ask Mbeki to facilitate the delivery of the men to Equatorial Guinea. These allegations come in the wake of Zimbabwe's move in the past week to amend its extradition laws so that they include Equatorial Guinea. Nguema and Mugabe met in Bulawayo after the inauguration. It was here the extradition was apparently settled.
Meanwhile, the 70 men appeared, in leg irons, in a courtroom at Chikurubi Prison on Monday. This came after claims last week that the men were planning to escape from the maximum-security jail. The state was reported by Sapa-AFP on Monday to have said the men planned to break out by using an aircraft to airlift them out of the prison grounds. On Friday, orders were given "from the highest command" that the men be held in leg irons at all times until further notice. Five of them were transferred to another prison in Harare for this reason. Jonathan Samkange, the alleged coup plotters' Zimbabwean attorney, complained on Monday about the men being kept in leg irons in court. He said it was not free and fair and that the hearings were turning into "a circus". Meanwhile, intelligence officials from 22 African countries gather in Luanda, Angola, this week to draw up guidelines to stop the practice of mercenaries in Africa. One of the proposals from the Angolan intelligence services was to establish an African forum that could exchange information and co-ordinate action against suspected mercenaries. The absence of laws against mercenaries in many countries was also addressed. One of the problems with mercenaries, it was said, was that they often operated under the guise of fishermen, civil engineers and as political or military consultants.
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From ZWNEWS, 4 May
Election run-up raises fears
By Oscar Nkala
With tears running down their faces, a small group knelt round three wooden crosses in Gulalikabili, a village in the Tsholotsho district of Matabeleland North, where a generation ago the Zimbabwe army’s notorious Five Brigade swept through in murderous mood. "They came in four Puma trucks, all heavily armed. In a few minutes the whole village had been rounded up and brought under this tree," said Khumbulani Malope, recalling February 6, 1983. That was the day the Gukurahundi the 1982-87 massacres in which an estimated 20 000 people were killed came to Gulalikabili. "What followed was a horror torture. The liberation war had its horrors, I believe they were necessary in pursuit of a cause. But 1983 - I never expected that in post-independence Zimbabwe," Malope added. "Gesturing to the three mass graves, Malope sobbed, "I wish I had died with them." Apparently fearing prosecution in an international court for genocide and crimes against humanity, Mugabe refuses to apologise for the state-sponsored massacres by the North Korean-trained Five Brigade, which left thousands of unmarked graves across Matabeleland and the Midlands. But he has described the atrocities as a "moment of madness that should never be repeated again." Repeatedly, particularly at election times, he has made promises always unfulfilled of compensation. Tired of waiting, villagers in many districts of Tsholotsho started early last year marking out graves to honour the dead, encouraged by the local opposition MP. Human rights groups are also believed to be involved.
Even as Tsholotsho honours the dead of a past reign of terror, there are fears of more to come. Mugabe’s propaganda chief, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, has decided to run in this district as the candidate for Zanu PF in parliamentary elections scheduled for next year. The ruling party is likely to be ruthless in this solidly MDC district, and already Moyo has been accused of capitalising on the widespread hunger by using grain and cash loans to woo support. Most of the victims of the Gukurahundi were supporters of the opposition Zapu led by Joshua Nkomo. In the early 1980s, Mugabe, determined to stamp out opposition, accused Zipra, the guerrilla wing of Zapu, and its supporters of planning the violent overthrow of his government. Extra-judicial killings were widespread during the seven year-long operation. "We have been fed false promises so now we have decided to spruce up these graves without asking for anyone’s permission and support," said Malope, standing beside the graves in Gulalikabili which are believed to contain the remains of 13 Five Brigade victims, including Malope ’s wife and two sons. "People are tired of the being told the same old promises about compensation," said Tsholotsho member of Parliament Mtoliki Sibanda. "They are right in taking the responsibility of recognising our deceased. I encourage them to go ahead." The last flurry of official activity about the Matabeleland atrocities was in 1999 when Joshua Nkomo died. The government set up a committee of traditional chiefs, judicial officers, civil servants and concerned groups to look into ways of compensating victims. The committee, which was supposed to work closely with Zanu PF national chairman John Nkomo, was quietly disbanded in 2000. Efforts to get a comment from Nkomo were fruitless.
Meanwhile thousands of people in the Matabeleland South district of Gwanda have been swindled in what the MDC says is a scam run by Zanu PF officials to punish the district for supporting the opposition party. They were duped into paying a Zimbabwe $6 000 fee to get on a register which an unidentified "war veteran"’ and Zanu PF officials said they were compiling. The people on the list were promised big handouts from the regime for supporting nationalist guerrillas during the 60s and 70s in the war which ended white-minority rule. Villagers who spoke to ZWNEWS in wards 3 and 4 of Gwanda North said the war veteran claimed to have been sent by the Zanu PF Matabeleland South provincial office in Gwanda to conduct the exercise. They added that the war veteran’s public meetings were organised by a local Zanu PF activist, Japhet Moyo, and a chief, Mbiko Masuku, who both encouraged people to register. "He said government would be paying out gratuities of Z$100 000 per person and a monthly pension of Z$60 000, in addition to free schooling for children," said one victim who signed up at a meeting on March 12. Those who paid were given a number, but no receipt. They said they only realised they had been conned when the state-run ZBC carried warnings about phoney vetting officials. Japhet Moyo responded angrily when approached for comment, and continued to maintain the exercise was official and sanctioned by the ruling party. "I know you want to rubbish every government programme, so go ahead," he said. He added he knew the war veteran only as Mafu, and did not know where Mafu is now or what had happened to the money collected.
Police refused to discuss the allegations. MDC deputy provincial spokesman Petros Mukwena said the scam needed to be investigated. "It is a pity that the police will not do that because the criminals are Zanu PF officials who are taking advantage of the war collaborators compensation craze to line their pockets," said Mukwena. He described the bogus registration as a deliberate extortion by Zanu PF functionaries of people who have supported the MDC since its inception. Japhet Moyo is a feared Zanu PF youth league operative who is believed to have planned the attacks on teachers, nurses and villagers in Gwanda North following his defeat by the MDC in the September 2002 rural council elections. He was also involved in the violence that gripped Insiza ahead of the by-election which Zanu PF won last year.
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From IRIN (UN), 3 May
Boom for traditional healers as health care costs rise
Harare - As the cost of medical care in Zimbabwe continues to rise, an increasing number of patients have turned to traditional healers for assistance. As early as five o'clock in the morning, patients accompanied by their relatives start arriving at the homestead of Erina Muguyo, a renowned traditional healer in the Porta Farm area about 30 kilometres west of Harare. Despite the chilly weather, they queue patiently until he starts attending to them at midday. "I went to Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare yesterday with my husband and they could not attend to him because we failed to raise the Z$120,000 deposit they needed to admit him. That is why you find that most of us now prefer to go to traditional healers," said Monica Hamandishe, a resident of Kuwadzana, a high-density suburb in the capital, Harare. "At least here I pay a small consultation fee and get the herbs for free. At the hospital you pay a hefty fee for consultation and [have] to buy the drugs. We can't afford that," she added. The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, the country's biggest referral medical centres, requires US $22 for admissions on top of consultation fees. In private hospitals and clinics the charges are much higher, with some charging admission fees of over US $380. Private doctors, meanwhile, charge consultation fees of US $11 per patient, an amount beyond the reach of average Zimbabweans. The president of Zimbabwe's National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha), Professor Gordon Chavunduka, noted that over the past two years there had been an influx of patients seeking treatment from traditional healers. Zinatha has a countrywide membership of 55,000 traditional healers, each seeing an average of 20 patients per day. "If you go to a hospital now, people are dying because there are no doctors or nurses, and even drugs. People prefer traditional healers because at least they get treated," he told IRIN.
According to Chavunduka, the vast majority of people who visit traditional healers are HIV positive. According to official statistics, almost 3,800 people in Zimbabwe succumb to AIDS-related diseases every week. With regard to soaring health care costs, Chavunduka said: "As traditional healers we are excited that we are getting big business, but it is not good for the whole health sector." An acute shortage of foreign currency has crippled the health system, with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare unable to finance the purchase of urgently needed drugs to treat some of the most basic health conditions. Billy Rigava, president of Zimbabwe's Medical Association (Zima) told IRIN that although there were 2,500 doctors registered with the organisation, only 1,200 were still working in Zimbabwe. "The health situation in the country can now best be described as an emergency. There is an urgent need to address the deteriorating situation by improving the welfare of the remaining health personnel," said Rigava. In an effort to address the skills loss, the government has made agreements with Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "Presently, there are about 350 foreign doctors in the country and 80 percent of them are Cubans. But th e problem is, it takes a lot of time for them to settle down," Rigava said. There was also the additional problem of language, as doctors from Cuba and the DRC found it difficult to converse with English speaking locals.
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