Tatambura Times

Musavhaya my Hero

2011-03-18T15:47:00.001-07:00

I know that you can't even kill a fly, i know that you a peace maker, I know that one thing that you will ever consider dying for is your daughter Tinotenda and her mother. But there you were, slowly knocking on the heaven's door for something that i know never crossed your mind. You now stand accused of plotting to overthrow the mighty "government" by forceful means similar to those that changed the face of politics in Egypt. Its unfortunate that you had to go through what you went through but i draw strength from your courage and i hope like you say they start arresting poverty and leave us alone.

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Swearing in ceremony in pictures

2009-02-17T03:13:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe's New Money Man

By Stanley Kwenda

On Tuesday February 10, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, announced his cabinet for the unity government with President Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) and the other MDC party led by Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara.
A packed Harare hotel auditorium burst into rapturous applause when the name of Tendai Biti, MDC’s Secretary General, was called out as the country’s next Finance Minister.
Not much is known about him in the financial sector save for his pioneering role as arguably one the country’s best commercial lawyers.
“He is a brazen fellow who doesn’t mind what people say about him always willing to go against everyone when it comes to matters of principal,” said an MDC party colleague.
Many people believe he has what it takes to drive the country’s economy out of the mud. Although in essence he will face a daunting task of reviving an economy that is as good as dead.

“He has strong influence from Marxism and has a very high appreciation of modern economies and is very well read,” said Ernest Mudzengi, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Director.
“His high breed of ideas from both the right and left makes him the right candidate for the job as evidenced by his little patience for corruption shown through the manner he has discharged himself in his party:”

But he is obvious to the challenge that lies ahead describing his new post as the “worst job in the world.”

“It’s the worst job in the world but I have to look the job in the eye and have no doubt that I will prevail,” Biti told IPS.

“We have to quickly get the country out of the messy that Mugabe got it into. We have to sort out the supply side of the economy by making sure that the industry graduate in the first six months from zero percent capacity to 60 percent in the first six months.”

He said he will also move to put in place market structures for the country’s mining sector to make sure that local miners get internationally competitive prices.

He said he will also make sure that the capacity of the country’s agricultural sector is restored during the 2009-2010 agricultural season.

Zimbabwe has a largely agricultural based economy.

But he emphasized that all these will only be achieved through the restoration of participatory democracy in the country.

“It’s a chicken and egg situation, there is need to restore participatory democracy in the economy. We have to meet certain benchmarks of democracy without which we will not succeed,” said Biti.

Tapera Kapuya, a South African based, Zimbabwean political analyst believes that because of his background he has an opportunity to practice pragmatism.

“This is where his skills come in, he has an opportunity to be pragmatic. He will insist that the central bank stick to its functions and restore the role of the Finance Ministry which had been eroded over the years leading to the chaos in the economy,” Kapuya told IPS.

But Biti has his own weaknesses according to a university friend.

“He is short-tempered, not in touch with the grassroots, does little consultations and tend to be bookish,” the anonymous friend told IPS

However he is largely regarded as an astute politician and has a reputation for integrity.

He rose to become one of the best lawyers in town with commercial law being his speciality though he has vast knowledge in human rights, labour and constitutional matters.

Colleagues attribute this to his unwavering obsession for detail.
Biti was born on August 6 1966 and raised in the sprawling and poor working class suburb of Dzivarasekaw in Harare. He started his activism at the formative years of his university career as a student leader and went on to lead various strike actions at the University of Zimbabwe where he graduated with an LLB Degree from the University of Zimbabwe Law School in 1989.
He became the MDC secretary general in March 2006 while also representing his party as Member of Parliament for Harare East.
He authored the MDC’s economic blue print, known as RESTART, a document which explains the steps that MDC intends to take to revive the country‘s economy.
In parliament he is a very active contributor.
The MDC website describes him as a great articulator of various pertinent issues from economics to legal and justice matters.
He has also championed the formation of many human rights organisations in Zimbabwe such as the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and NCA.
In his celebrated political career he has suffered persecution from the government in his persuit of democracy.
He has been arrested several times and tortured by state security agents but he remained in the trenches forging ahead with his fight for freedom.
This calminated in his arrest in June last year upon his return from South Africa where he had sought refuge when state security agents unleashed an orgy of violence against MDC leaders and members.
He was charged of treason, a charge stemming from a concorted document that he was accused of having authored. The document, titled The Transition Strategy, detailed how power was to be transferred from President Mugabe’s Zanu PF to Tsvangirai’s MDC. Biti had previously been charged on the same account of having uttered statements prejudicial to the state following his announcement of election results based on MDC tallies collected from postings at constituency centres after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had gone for more than a month without releasing election results.
He denied the charges and was finally freed last Friday in a gesture seen as part of the political negotiations towards the formation of the unity government.
“The assaults were so terrible and surreal. Like watching a movie except that no-one was part of the characters. Strangely if it were to happen again many of us would love to be in the front line again. They were hitzing us but they were the ones afraid. Our wounds will heal but the scars on their souls are permanentand they will take them to hell,“ Biti explained his experience in jail.

“He is commanding, sharp, intelligent, piercing, unyielding, untiring and inspiring,“ Human Rights Campaigner Kumbirai Mafunda told IPS.

The is another side to this man.

In many of his public pictures, he appears in a bowler hat defining his open appreciation for personal ettiquette.

His exuberance is not limited to politics only. He is a staunch English Premier soccer league side Arsenal fan.

2009-02-17T02:49:00.001-08:00

Friday the 13th saw the wearing in of the country's new ministers of a new unity government. But the ceremony took place after a huge circus when Zanu PF attempted to smuggle in seven more ministers tha´n those agreed under the Global Political Agreement.

उनिटी गोव अन एलिट डील- हरारे Woman

2009-02-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

Although many have welcomed MDC's decision to enter into the power sharing agreementa lot of Harareans remain pessimist particularly this Harare women in the picture above. She is a backyard food entreprenuerand on Thursday when i visited her premises for launch, a pair of RBZ officers visited her officers and left her a form that she is supposed to fill in and pay US$12 000 for an annual licence which will allow her to continue selling sadza. She told me that the jubilation she witnessed last Friday when the MDC finally decided to enter into a new government was short lived. For her the move to licence her is nothing but a move to make sure that she is out of business so that the RBZ can give licences to people of its own choice or Nigerians and chinese.

जिम्बाब्वे पल पस्सेस Bill

2009-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe Parliament today passed the Constitutional Amendment number 19 to create the post of Prime Minister for Tsvangirai and pave the way for the formation of a unity government.

2009-01-15T03:53:00.000-08:00

On January 13 2009, i sat for close to 30 minutes looking at my three weeks four days old daughter Kundai and thought anything nasty could have happened to her had she been in Zimbabwe. This was after the MDC had released pictures of a young bouncy tart, Nigel Mutemagau, who for 54 days was a guest of Robert Mugabe's man at the country's notorious incacerations. The Zanu PF mandarins have no mercy whatsover. Chatunga is enjoying in Malaysia courtesy of our monies and Mugabe is busy incacerating such a young and innocent boy all in the name of holding onto power. My advise for free is for the sake of Chatunga, he better loosen up and come to the part for that all Zimbabweans can enjoy, forgive nad forget. He should ask Charles Taylor and his son who are now facing the music in places where they thought they were hiding, you might enjoy Malaysia today but that same Malaysia can be hell tomorrow.

Release Jestina Mukoko now

2008-12-04T23:52:00.000-08:00

I was left very saddened when i received the news of Jestina Mukoko, Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) Director's abuction by state security agencies at her Norton home. I could see it happening in my eyes from the discriptions in the e-mail communications that i received throughout the day. I would like to join the growing chorus this this humble forum of those calling for her immediate and unconditional release. To the abductors and their suitors, let it be known to you all that an idea whose time has arrived can not be stopped by anyone.

The time for freedom is now

2008-12-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

Below this posting is a riveting article by United States based Prof Ken Mufuka, a patron of a Geneva based grouping of Zimbabwe exiles led by Daniel Molekela. I have always admired Prof Mufuka, for his wit, personal accomplishments and Africanism. But after reading the article below, i was let with no option but to add onto to the growing list of things that make him a hero to me. He is frank. I was left scratching my head after going through his article. One thing that struck me that many among my friends is that we are our own liberators. Ýes we can harp about how Thabo Mbeki is not a fair mediator, how SADC as a whole, AU and the world has failed us but all this will come back to us because we have to learn to be our won liberators. The whole of SADC is full of marxists, communists, people who believe in pan-Africanism, people who believe that the are some people somewhere who wants to recolonise Africa therefore will not agree with our struggle. If people in Thailand can lay siege for weeks at an airport in a bid to fight for their freedom, if students in South Korea can pelt the police with tomatoes for days on end to fight for their freedoms, if people in Khutsong can burn buses, block roads and threaten to boycott elections for their freedoms, if people in Iraq, Pakistan, India never mind the terrorists can do all sorts of things evil to free themselves why can't Zimbabweans do the same. The past two weeks have been particularly encouraging, soldiers looting shops, masses joining into the National Constitutional Assembly protests, the recipe for success is on course. All that is needed at the moment is to keep the momentum going. And for my friends in the civic society movement, there can not be any other great opportunity to launch mass protests like the one on Mrach 11 2007 than the abduction of Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) Director Jestina Mukoko this week by obvious state security agencies. Should we wait until her body is found somwhere dumped by the roadside or floating in some river in Marondera or Goromonzi. The time is now.

Proff Ken Mufuka dead right

2008-12-04T23:27:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe: Struggle fatigue is setting in!
Ken Mufuka

ALTHOUGH I am a patron of the Zimbabwe Global Forum, an organisation of Zimbabwean exiles, I have never encouraged people to flee from their country. I fled in 1984 because I could see clearly, having lived in Jamaica, that the Zimbabwe policies would lead to a confrontation with imperialists and capitalists which we could not win. The details are uncanny.

Today, I feel discouraged, and I realize that we have all been duped by Mukuru. Fatigue is setting in. I will no longer discourage those who want to flee.
Jamaica nationalised some agricultural land which belonged to the British sugar company Tate and Lyle in order to empower the brothers. The new farmers stood by the roadside selling each two pieces of sugarcane.
Jamaica ran out of sugar and vegetables which were imported form Florida. How ridiculous can people be? Needless to say, the Jamaican dollar dropped form two to the US dollar to 45.
And guess what, teachers sometimes went unpaid while the prime minister was in Britain negotiating with the imperialists he had cursed back home. There are now more Jamaicans living in New York than in their homeland. So what else is new under the sun?
What is new is our complete idiocy in refusing to appreciate that people who bring about such disasters are bull-headed, there is nothing to negotiate about. The government of national unity confirms the president for five years. We are definite idiots.
Secondly, the arrangement of sharing power leaves the day-to-day government in the prime minister’s hands and Council of Ministers. Such an arrangement can only work in Britain where the prime minister will advise the Queen on whom to appoint as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The wise prime minister can achieve this consensus by whispering in the Queen’s ear first, and if the Queen were to object, he would suggest another name.
In Zimbabwe, the prime minister-designate travels to Swazi-land on a scheduled airline while the president has gone to the same place in a state-hired plane. The prime minister has no passport. He visits France on an indigent passport issued by the French to United Nations refugees.
Tell me, am I the only idiot in Zimbabwe? If the prime minister is on government business, trying to find support for starving Zimbabweans, should the president not give him his blessings?
If he does not, how then is the food to be distributed in Zimbabwe, and who will sign the cheques?
Many of our readers have cursed out brother Professor Arthur Mutambara about his view of the sharing of ministerial posts. Brother Mutambara is not very likeable; he called Sister Violet Gonda “slow” to her face, which is not very nice.
Mutambara is correct about the division of posts. The issue of who sits on the Home Affairs chair is a small issue, it does not concern the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the African Union (AU) or the United Nations (UN). It is making a mountain out of a molehill.
With trust between the parties, surely the Home Affairs minister is subordinate to the prime minister and his actions must be approved. Likewise, the police commissioner the flag of Zimbabwe and the Republic for which it stands, not the prime minister’s person.
The problem is not about the position of Home Affairs, it is about trust. But that problem is endemic in the structures of government.
Whether we like it or not, we have been completely made fools of because we have failed to accept the obvious. Zimba-bweans are blaming South Africa, SADC and the AU for failure to force Mukuru to be reasonable.
The plain fact which has escaped those who have ears but don’t want to hear is that Mukuru is admired in some quarters in South Africa. It is the Idi Amin syndrome.
Thabo Mbeki supports Mukuru because he genuinely believes that he is a victim of imperialist chicanery. Any nationalist will have up to 20 examples of imperialist chicanery at his finger tips.
Do you know that Nelson Mandela was betrayed by the American CIA through use of a telephone at Rivonia farm in 1962? In 1960, Sir Alec Douglas Hume asked the American CIA to kill Patrice Lumumba.
In a land dispute with the Boers in 1876, Sir Theophilus Shepstone ruled in favour of the Zulus, then joined the Boers to destroy Zululand.
Why is it so difficult to understand that Pan-Africanists like Mutamabara, Mukuru, Museveni, Kabila, and Mbeki have reasons to dislike the imperialists?
Unless we accept the fact that liberation will not come from SADC because the majority have no sympathy with our struggle, we are swimming in darkness.
The idea that every day we must watch as the Zimbabwean police beat up nurses and doctors and they run away like scared children must be revie-wed.
In South Korea, the riot police are heavily armed against students, but it has never been a cake walk when those students go on strike.
Parliament should meet urgently. A moment of silence must be observed while the names of the saints like Chiminya, Chironga and others who died on our behalf are read. Their sacrifices are already considered as in vain.
As the white population dwindles, Zimbabwe will be regarded as another dark country in Africa.
President-elect Barack Obama will intensify sanctions already in place. On April 4, he “underscored the rejection of the failed policies and widespread suffering caused by Robert Mugabe’s repressive rule”.
On June 25, he said the Zimbabwean government was illegitimate and “lacks any credibility”. He also said he had spoken with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to share “my concern and . . . to express my admiration for his efforts”.
On July 1, he said he felt saddened by the fact that Zim-babwe opposition supporters are “silently hunted, tortured and killed”.
What then is to be done? The world is in a state of fatigue. Liberation cannot come from SADC, or the AU or from France, or from Obama. Tyranny must be challenged by those suffering from it.

l Ken Mufuka is a patron of the Zimbabwe Global Forum, an organisation of over one million exiles. He welcomes suggestions from readers and can be reached at kenmufuka@yahoo.com

It"s time for Zimbabweans to get into the "Let"s get angry campaign"

2008-11-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

Today i write on this space with a heavy heart a friemnd of a friend whose son i saw on Friday last week in very good health woke up this morning without his breath because he succumbed to the deadly cholera disease. Funny enough our Ministers of Health and those responsible for water provision are fiddling over this crisis trying hard to hide the actual figures of people who have died as a result of the deadly diasesa caused by the consumption of dirty water. Nahi iwe Parirenyatwa hamunyari makaita seiko. I think its time for Zimbabweans with their revered education to throw caution away and get agree. I want to urge all Zimbabweans to get into what i want to call "Lets get agree campaign.
The former ZAPU members are doing it why can"t we.

SADC to hold summit in S.Africa on Zimbabwe crisis

2008-11-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

Tue 4 Nov 2008, 13:59 GMT

[-] Text [+] By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - Regional leaders will hold a summit in South Africa on Sunday aimed at breaking a stalemate in negotiations threatening Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition MDC are deadlocked over cabinet positions in a power-sharing government the two rivals agreed to form on September 15.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai would attend the summit and the opposition party expected the SADC, the 15-nation regional grouping, to increase pressure on Mugabe.

"Mr. Tsvangirai will be going to the meeting, and we hope that the summit will help to break the impasse. The SADC has to use its leverage, especially on Mugabe to see sense and to see that people are suffering," Chamisa said.

South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told Reuters the meeting would also discuss recent fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The heads of state of Mozambique, Swaziland and Angola, who form the SADC's security committee, and the Zimbabwean political parties, failed last month to secure a breakthrough in talks on the formation of Zimbabwe's cabinet.

BROAD TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT

A Harare pressure group said the dispute gave the impression Zimbabwean leaders were interested only in power, and it urged the SADC to help set up a broad transitional government to tackle pressing problems ahead of internationally supervised elections.

"We appeal to SADC to adopt this approach to the Zimbabwean crisis," the National Constitutional Assembly said in a statement, adding that it would launch a protest campaign to press its demand.

While some SADC leaders have taken a tough line against Mugabe, the group has failed in several meetings to persuade Zimbabwe's parties to bury their differences and get on with the task of easing the economic crisis.

Setting up a unity government is seen as critical to halting Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. Inflation in July was officially 231 million percent, but the Washington-based Cato Institute foundation estimates it is now 2.79 quintillion percent.

Ordinary Zimbabweans are struggling to survive amid chronic shortages of meat, milk and other basic commodities.

"The suffering of the people of Zimbabwe places a duty and obligation on all (political) players, both in Zimbabwe and the region, to try to provide relief by resolving this issue fairly and amicably," the MDC's Chamisa said.

The country's political crisis has been dragging on since late March, when a disputed election forced a run-off presidential vote in June which Mugabe won after Tsvangirai withdrew, citing violence against his supporters.

Botswanan President Ian Khama said on Monday the only solution to the neighbouring country's political deadlock would be a re-run of the presidential election under international supervision.

"It should be unacceptable for ruling parties to seek to manipulate election outcomes to extend their stay in power, as this is bad for democracy on our continent," Khama said.

SADC has no moral latitude to deal with the Zimbabwean case.

2008-10-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago i was in Swaziland attending a civic meeting. It was my first time in Swaziland. I ws let perturbed by the behaviour of his Majesty the King of Swaziland, King Mswati who in his or lack of wisdom thought it was prundent to set up road blocks to serach delegates to these civic meetings. The three day meeting was held under the watchful eye of overzealous security detailswho at every turn tried in vain to look for an excuse to pounce on us. For the three dayz i was in Swaziland, i really left like i was in Zimbabwe. No difference between Mugabe and Mswati and the rest of SADC leaders save for Botswana at least on this particular Zimbabwe issue.

SADC should now surrender and let the people of Zimbabwe seek sanctuary elsewhere

2008-10-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

I learnt with a lot frustration that SADC leaders under the SADC Troika banner had failed to break the deadlock in Zimbabwe over the allocation of ministries. We were shown on television the glittering aircrafts belongings to the regional leaders making their way into the Harare International Airport wasting millions of dollars of fuel flying to Zimbabwe to listen and entertain Mugabe. They should have told him on no uncertain terms that he is the problem but now that they have failed to do so and aclled for a full SADC Summit,to buy a little big more time, they should now just shut up and announced that they have failed and have the cased taken to AU because the people of Zimbabwe are tired.

Zimbabwe to sell Ivory to China Japan

2008-10-28T05:03:00.001-07:00

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe is one of four southern African countries allowed to sell ivory in one-off auctions to be held under the auspices of the United Nations over the next two weeks.

Botswana, Namibia and South Africa are the other countries permitted to sale a combined total of 108 tonnes of raw ivory from elephants that died of natural causes or were killed in population-management programmes, while only China and Japan are the only buyers allowed.

Proceeds from the ivory sales will be used to fund wildlife conservation programmes and development projects in communities living close to nature reserves and that have often complained that wild animals destroy crops.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers said he will attend the rare sales that will begin in Namibia on Tuesday with the second auction in Botswana earmarked to take place on October 31.

No dates have been announced yet for the South African and Zimbabwean sales.

Africa's elephants are protected species and cross-border trade in their ivory tusks is generally prohibited but CITES relaxed the ban to allow the four countries to auction off stockpiled ivory. – ZimOnline

Cholera spreading in Zimbabwe

2008-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

HARARE -- Cholera has killed 120 Zimbabweans since January and more deaths could occur before year-end unless authorities acted urgently to improve sanitation and water supplies in cities and towns, a doctors’ organization said Friday.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) blamed the outbreak of cholera -- rare in Zimbabwe only nine years ago – on broken down public infrastructure, the result of years of unprecedented economic decline and political turmoil in the country.

The group accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of grossly underestimating the impact of infrastructure breakdown on public health and criticized the administration for apparently taking a back seat while UN agencies and other relief groups took the lead to combat cholera outbreaks in the country’s rotting ghettoes.

“120 cholera-related deaths have been cumulatively recorded this year including cases from earlier outbreaks between February and August in Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Masvingo,” the ZADHR said in a statement.

It said there had also been outbreaks of the disease between September and October in the Harare suburbs of Dzivarasekwa, Kuwadzana Extension, Mabvuku, Highfield and at Chikurubi prison. Other outbreaks in recent weeks were recorded in Chitungwiza, Chinhoyi and Kariba.

The ZADHR said the state of decay in most cities and towns were ideal conditions for the spread of cholera, warning that unless conditions in cities were improved drastically the disease could become endemic across the country especially with the coming of the summer rains.

The group said: “Water supply is irregular or completely absent in most urban areas, burst sewage pipes continue to be left unattended and there is a lack of refuse collection. These factors create ideal conditions for the outbreak and spread of diseases such as diarrhoea, including its deadly forms of cholera and dysentery.”

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa, who is a trained doctor, said his department was on high alert and that it had dispatched teams across the country to monitor and treat cholera.

Zimbabwe’s recession marked by the world’s highest inflation of 231 million percent, has hastened the deterioration of key infrastructure needed for economic activity and public health such as adequate power and water supplies.

The public health sector -- once one of the best in Africa -- has been hardest hit by the economic crisis with the government short of cash to import essential medicines and equipment, while the country has suffered the worst brain drain of doctors, nurses and other professionals seeking better opportunities abroad. – ZimOnline

Communique: Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika, 27-28 October 2008, Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe

2008-10-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

28 October 2008
1. The Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika of Heads of State and Government met in Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe. The main objective of the meeting was to review the latest Political and Security situation in the region with particular reference to the current developments in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

2. The meeting was chaired by H.E. President Armando Emilio Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique and Deputy Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

3. The Extra-ordinary Summit was attended by the following Heads of States and Government or their representatives:

Mozambique:
H.E. President Armando Emilio Guebuza
Deputy Chairperson of the Organ on Politics,
Defence and Security Cooperation

South Africa:
H.E. President Kgalema Motlanthe, Chairperson of SADC

Swaziland:
Right Honourable Dr. Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, M.P., Prime Minister

Angola:
Hon. Assunção A Sousa dos Anjos, Minister of Foreign Affairs

4. The meeting was also attended by His Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of South Africa and Facilitator on the Zimbabwe Political Dialogue Leaders of MDC Formations, Honourable Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister Designate of the Republic Zimbabwe, and Honourable Professor Arthur Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister Designate and the Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr. Tomaz Augusto Salomão.

5. In his opening remarks, His Excellency President Armando Emilio Gueuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique welcomed all delegates to the meeting and re-affirmed SADC Organ’s commitment in supporting the implementation of the Global Political Agreement signed on 15 September 2008 between the Government and the two MDC Formations.

6. The Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika also received a report from His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of the South Africa and the Facilitator of the Political Dialogue on the Zimbabwe situation. The report, among others provided details on the progress made since the signing of the Global Agreement on the 15 September 2008 and the challenges experienced thereafter.

7. The Extra-ordinary Summit also noted with appreciation the commitment of the Zimbabwe stakeholders to the dialogue process, the need to speedily complete the process fro the socio-economic development for all the Zimbabweans.

8. The Extra Ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika appreciated the efforts of His Excellency Thabo Mbeki the facilitator of the Political Dialogue on Zimbabwe in finding an amicable solution to challenges facing the Republic of Zimbabwe and encouraged him to continue with his mediation efforts.

9. The Extra-ordinary Summit afforded His Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Honourable Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister Designate and Honourable Professor Arthur Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister Designate to brief the meeting on the progress made since the signing of the Global Political Agreement on 15 September 2008.

10. The Extra Ordinary Summit noted with concern disagreement in the allocation of Ministry of Home Affairs and urged the parties concerned to reach an agreement in order to enable the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement on 15 September 2008 as a matter of urgency.

11. The Extra-ordinary Summit however, noted the progress made so far regarding allocation on ministries and that there is convergence between the parties with respect to cooperative management of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Summit thereafter strongly encourages the parties to pursue this option.

12. The Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ noted that people of Zimbabwe are faced with difficult challenges and suffering that can only be addressed once the inclusive Government in place.

13. In view of the above, the Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ urged the parties to genuinely commit themselves in finding a lasting solution to the current deadlock.

14. The Extra-ordinary Summit of the Organ recommended the holding of the full SADC Summit to further review the current political situation in Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency.

15. The Extra Ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika will continuously remain seized with the ongoing political situation in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

16. His Excellency President Guebuza, thanked His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, other stakeholders and the people of Zimbabwe for the warm reception and hospitality.

Rainbow Towers Hotel
Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe

28 October 2008

Riot police descend on women protesters

2008-10-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

Women's Coalition
October 27, 2008

Riot police in Harare, today descended on hundreds of women this morning who were peacefully protesting over the delayed conclusion of the peace talks between Zimbabwe’s three major political parties. At least 47 women were arrested around 10 in the morning and over 100 were beaten in the city as they were walking to the venue of the talks scheduled to begin this afternoon.

The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) had mobilized nearly 1000 women who were tear-gassed and badly beaten as they regrouped at a spot near the Rainbow Towers where the talks are expected to be held.

Women started grouping for the demonstration around the Rainbow Towers at about 7am on Monday 27 October 2008 and the police dispersed them using tear gas and some of the women were beaten up. Some of the women even attempted to go directly to the Rainbow Towers and were beaten up too. By 1130, police had set up a road block and were turning away any cars intending to go to the venue of the talks, regardless of their purpose.

National Coordinator of the WCoZ, Netsai Mushonga is amongst those arrested and information reaching their offices said the group has been denied access to lawyers. Emilia Muchawa, WCoZ Chairperson, said “the major concern by women is manifest hunger, amongst other emergencies and the dire concern that failure to resolve the impasse will further exarcebate the situation.”

It is for these reasons that the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe demands the following;

1. That the political party principals put the interests and concerns of the people of Zimbabwe first
2. That the Political Party Principals negotiate and conclude the talks in good faith on Monday 27th October 2008.
3. That an Inclusive Government be in place shortly thereafter to begin tackling the urgent challenges that the country is facing in accordance with the Agreement.
4. That the Inclusive Government be constituted by a fair representation of women within the spirit of the Government of National Unity deal, SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and other regional and international instruments.

Police ruthlessly crush protest by youth activists

2008-10-28T04:57:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe Youth Forum
October 27, 2008

Thousands of youth gathered around the Harare International Conference Centre the venue for the SADC Troika meeting which was supposed to conclude the power sharing talks between Zanu PF and the MDC with the intention of handing over a petition to the negotiating parties and the SADC troika. The petition was meant to compel the SADC troika to come up with a logical and balanced power sharing agreement that will bring an end to the political and socioeconomic crisis crippling the country. The petition was also highlighting the need for SADC and the AU to exert pressure on Mugabe to agree to share power equitably with the MDC leader. However the venue was barricaded by heavily armed police. However this did not deter the youth from marching towards the venue but however the peaceful march was violently crushed by the police who fired shots in the air as well as tear smoke. The police also beat up the protesters as well as ordinary citizens who were either queuing at the banks or moving around town. Hundreds of the demonstrating activists were arrested at the scene and many others were injured. There are also reports of more than twenty youth activists who were abducted close to the venue of the negotiations by militias who were moving around in white trucks marked Zanu PF. The youth have however vowed not to rest until real change has come and they have declared that in the event that there is no meaningful conclusion to the negotiations the struggle will be taken to all townships of the country and there will be civil unrest.

The demonstration was organized and led by the Youth Agenda Trust and it involved other youth movements like the Youth Forum, community youth based organizations as well as student movements such as ZINASU and Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe.

Public Event Notice

2008-10-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

Public Event - Mass Public Opinion Institute
Topic: Monitoring the Power-Sharing Agreement: What Role for Civil Society?
Venue: New Ambassador Hotel
Date: Thursday, 30 October 2008
Time: 17:30 to 20:00 Hours

Speakers:
1. Dr. Lovemore Madhuku: National Chairman, National Constitutional Assembly
2. Mr. David Chimhini: Member of Parliament, MDC-T
3. Mr. Job Sikhala: Secretary for Defence and Security, MDC
4. Mr. Takura Zhangazha: National Director, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

Chairperson: Charles Mangongera

Admission: Free. All are welcome!

For further enquiries please contact: Mass Public Opinion Institute: 771358/758700

Police clearance has been granted

“Could it be that public opinion is the ‘missing link’ in the democracy debate in Zimbabwe, and indeed, in Africa today?”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NGO Consulting Africa presents a 5 day course on Monitoring & Evaluation
Venue: Cresta Oasis Hotel, Harare, Zimbabwe
Date: 24-28 November 2008
Time: 08:30 to 16:30 daily
Who should attend: NGO Project Officers, NGO staff, Consultants
Costs: USD 450 per person (includes lunch and refreshments) - Group discounts available

Course Objectives:
NGO work requires monitoring and evaluation in order to impact positively on the delivery of services. The course will help understand and design, develop and implement monitoring and evaluation systems suited for the organization or service. This includes:

Develop an understanding of the characteristics of an effective M&E system
Learn to design and maintain an M&E system allowing for aspects of impact assessment, accountability to a range of partners and identifying needs.
Explore M&E Plan implementation
Explore M&E system against impact assessment
Design a system that allows for consultation of key partners and service recipients in order to build an effective M&E system.
Contact us for registration on: Tel +263 4 2927231, +263 11377353, or email training@ngoconsultingafrica.org or visit us at http://www.ngoconsultingafrica.org

Why don't they negotiate in Mufakose?

2008-10-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

It is suggested, very humbly, in order to expedite the negotiations between ZANU PF and the MDCs, that the SADC Troika meeting on Monday be held at No.1200 Mukumbadzetse Street in Mufakose, Harare.

To gain entry the distinguished guests must cross a stream of raw sewage, which runs by the main gate of the venue. Should assistance be required, experienced residents will be on hand to guide them. Guests are advised to take extra care when crossing as they might easily slip and drown.

They must resolve matters very quickly otherwise the steady flow of the stream swells rapidly as the day goes by. Local boys charge $US10 to help with crossing at peak periods, although the prices can rise very sharply depending on the calibre and station of the clients.

There is a local 'central bank' nearby in Mudzambiringwa Street, should guests require any emergency funds, though they are available to non-residents at punitive rates. Guests are encouraged to reacquaint with the long lost relatives or friends in Mufakose, as they might be useful to obtain financial facilities like the local BACOSSI.

Residents have been advised to keep all windows open as there is no air-conditioning. But this should ensure a steady but heavy breeze transporting the potpourri of aromas and odours from the locality.

Guests must also bring candles lest their 'toks' extend into the night - there is no electricity here. Water will be provided from the nearest well and if the queue is too long, guests will be directed to the nearest stream.

For other types of relief, there is a small bush nearby but they must beware of pickpockets. They are advised to bring heavy guard for their expensive automobiles and other gadgets.

Guests should note that there is a funeral next door to the venue - the neighbour sadly passed on whilst awaiting medication kuGomo hospital. There were no doctors and drugs were either unavailable or unaffordable. Guests must, therefore, contend with the constant singing and wailing of friends and relatives ... It is advisable, as is the culture here, for guests to appear, if only briefly, to share a moment with the bereaved family.

It is hoped that this venue will provide a more appropriate setting for the negotiations. Not only will it be in the area representative of the 'people' for whom the deal is being done, this should also provide a more realistic picture of the 'people'. If negotiations are for the 'people', why, I ask, don't the negotiators come and do it where the 'people' live? Rainbow Towers seems to have failed, so why not try Mukumbadzetse Street?

- Alex T. Magaisa

The politics of Zimbabwe -Crazy

2008-09-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Its Tuesday morning there i am seating at 40 Cork Road sipping a glass of water while reading the most obnoxious newspaper i have ever seen the Herald. The headline suggests that ZANU PF and MDC are to come up with a cabinet before the end of the week, this is coming from the mouth of Mr Mzgabe himself.
But´crazy enough i see a story on Reuters quoting the MDC denying what Mr Mugabe is saying.
Could it be that the MDC was taken for a ride by Mugabe into this fragile deal. Time will tell.

Make it of break it Monday

2008-09-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

I seat at a hotel lobby in Harare typing away and suddenly i get the news that after all Mugabe and Tsvangirai might agree. Well this calls for a smile but the deal might be reflective in principal. The ink must translate into deeds. I am now awaiting the arrival on Monday of SA president Thabo Mbeki to oversee the signing of a document that might deliver us from hell.

Zimbabwe at the Olympics

2008-08-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just minutes ago as i sat watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics a very small Zimbabwean olympic contigent walked into the Bird's Nest stadium. Zimbabwe is facing a protracted political and economic crisis but despite having probably the smallest team at the olympics with only 13 athletes it has medal hopefuls in swimmer Kirsty Coventry and tennis ace player Cara Black who is the joint current world doubles champion.
With talks underway to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe the team had no president to cheer it on like other nations after President Robert Mugabe was barred from attending by China.

More Beijing action in pics

2008-08-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Beijing Olympics Opening ceremony

2008-08-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

Beijing Olympics- Let the games begin

2008-08-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

2008-08-08T06:37:00.001-07:00

Where's the good news from Africa? 20 Jun 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Written by: Joanne Tomkinson
An Afghan boy reads a newspaper in front of a bookstore in a market in Kabul February 27, 2008. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN)
A lot has changed in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. The country has seen impressive economic growth, has made great strides in democracy and education, and now ranks first in the world in terms of the number of women elected to parliament and in cabinet. So why don't we hear more about Rwanda and other stories of progress in Africa?

That's because poverty, instability, disease, illiteracy and corruption dominate Western press coverage of the continent, according to New African magazine this month (subscription only). Taking the Western media to task for their biased and distorting reporting of the continent, the magazine looks at why so little good news makes it out of Africa.

Historical baggage and domestic interests are probably the biggest reasons for the Western media's distorted view of the continent, Editor Baffour Ankomah argues. Foreign policy concerns at home often influence the subjects chosen - Zimbabwe's elections rather than those in Nigeria, for example - and history pervades even the most enlightened articles.

Ankomah draws attention to an article in Britain's Guardian newspaper by correspondent George Alagiah in 1999 in which he said: "I have a gnawing regret that, as a foreign correspondent, I have done Africa a disservice, too often showing the continent at its worst and too rarely showing it in full flower."

Though he pleaded for his colleagues to abandon historical baggage relating to Africa, it's ironic how the paper chose a headline suffused with negative historical connotations - "New light on the Dark Continent" - Ankomah says.

Elsewhere in the magazine, South African President Thabo Mbeki draws attention to a Boston University study which looked at seven major U.S. newspapers between 1994 and 2004. It detailed how little coverage looked at economic growth, the decline in civil wars, or increased access to education.

Disasters in Somalia, Rwanda and West Africa dominated, while transitions to democracy in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and elsewhere were ignored according to the 2005 study.

With few media organisations employing more than one reporter based in Africa, much of the continent's news goes unreported, Mbeki says.

Wanjohl Kabukuru argues this year's coverage of Kenya shows how Western media coverage gets carried away with negative imagery.

"During the country's worst moments of shame - the post-war election violence that erupted between December 2007 and February 2008 - the Western media tore Kenya into shreds. For the two months, the hitherto peaceful Kenya found itself painted in the worst of adjectives.

"Four decades of solid achievements after independence were totally forgotten," Kabukuru writes.

Kabukuru quotes the comments of African media executive Norman Mudibo who said in Kenya's Business Daily that he was shocked by CNN's coverage and how it equated the violence to tribal warfare.

"There could be ethnic tension, exacerbated by the alleged flawed electoral process, but it is unfair for the international media to trumpet messages that give the impression that Kenya has already gone to the dogs," Mudibo said.

For Regina Jere-Malanda, the problem is that good news doesn't sell. What does sell can be encapsulated by the acronym "PIDIC" - poverty, instability, disease, illiteracy and corruption - a term coined by Nigerian journalist Pascal Eze.

Jere-Malanda says: "No one else but Africans ourselves have a duty to shake off this stigmatising image." The African media should be at the forefront of the effort to change Western minds about what the continent has to offer, she concludes.

In a satirical piece for literary magazine Granta, Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina hits on some of the stereotypes regularly found in writing about Africa.

"Among your characters you must always include "The Starving African", who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West," he says. "Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances."

What's your view? Is the Western media fixated on the worst stories from Africa? Do we hear enough good news from the continent?

What are the reasons for the way the West reports Africa? Who's responsibility is it to challenge entrenched images? Is the Western media just doing its job and reporting reality?

What do you think?

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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8 responses to “MEDIAWATCH: Where's the good news from Africa?”
Please note that comments should not be regarded as the views of Reuters.
Maggie Schoch says:
20 Jun 2008 21:43:08 GMT
As an American currently living in Europe, I find that the coverage of African news here is far better than in the US. In the US, one has to struggle to find any reporting on Africa at all in large daily newspapers, apart from the NY Times, WA Post and LA Times. The BBC probably is the best source of news on Africa in the US. I agree with the author of this piece, most African news stories are about the starving African on aid or the cruel dictator in country x.

John says:
21 Jun 2008 11:02:47 GMT
I agree that most news about Africa concentrates on starving Africans harassed by bandits/militia/guerillas/tribal warriors. The general theme that strikes me is "Loathsome whites, where's your money?" I suppose that Africa is so marginal to Western interests that the only people interested enough to write something are the do-gooders, so their point of view is never contradicted.

Trish says:
22 Jun 2008 22:32:44 GMT
I agree that most "Western" news focuses on negative stories out of Africa. Part of the reason for this is likely history, colonialism, racism. Another large part of this is essentially because of the way the news business works. First of all, bad news in the West or other parts of the world is also reported far more than good news. In addition, as Maggie points out, the news media has very few correspondents in Africa to cover the stories. Because of the unfortunate cutbacks in the amount of money spent on solid journalism these days, (including at the BBC, though they are still head and shoulders above most other broadcasters) there are simply not enough reporters out there to cover good news stories in addition to the dark news audiences expect.

Perhaps this deficit could be alleviated if Western news media were more willing to use local African journalists as freelance reporters, or better yet, spend more money on news reporting in Africa.

Terri says:
24 Jun 2008 08:53:53 GMT
I don't think it has anything to do with Africa at all. Bad news sells better than good news, and that applies to all continents. Disasters and catastrophes will also get bigger headlines than successes and triumphs.

Andrew Mack says:
26 Jun 2008 07:59:47 GMT
Check out the 2007 Human Security Brief for the untold story of an extraordinary decline in political violence in sub-Saharan Africa since 1999. Wars are down by more than 50%, fatalities by more than 90%. See www.humansecuritybrief.info.

Andrew Mack Director Human Security Report Project Simon Fraser University Vancouver

Mary Rajkumar says:
08 Jul 2008 15:50:12 GMT
The Associated Press did a seven-part series on just this subject in December. It was sparked by the observation of two veteran reporters that in fact the good news in many parts of the continent doesn't get reported. The stories looked at business development in Ghana; the low AIDS rate in Madagascar; a single school that is succeeding against the odds in Malawi; former enemies who have reconciled in Rwanda, etc.

Mary Rajkumar, Project editor, The Associated Press

Katharine H says:
12 Jul 2008 09:06:52 GMT
I often hear this kind of criticism, and think it is justified - to an extent. But it is also often made by people who would rather take western journalists to task than the leaders who are stealing and repressing their own populations. Wanjohl Kabukuru may talk about "four decades of solid achievements after independence". That is not the full story. Violence does not come out of nowhere, and Kenya has also had four decades of corruption, political thuggery, and politicians who exploit ethnic divisions for political gain. Does Moi's reign count as a "solid achievement"? Also, to talk of Nigeria as a democracy is laughable. I interviewed Nigerians teargassed as they stood in line to vote, militant leaders who threatened to murder (and did) policeman because they were not paid off enough to vote, etc etc.

Someone once said "it is the job of journalists to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." I'm happy to do positive stories on Africa - covering the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia was one of my favourites. But I also think a key part of our jobs is to take governments _ both African and Western - to task when they fail the people they claim to serve. The most rewarding thing as a journalist is to write a story about an injustice, and see it make a difference for a small amount of people, for a short time.

Alain Toussaint says:
13 Jul 2008 21:41:01 GMT
Bravo Mary Rajkumar!!!I am Mauritian and living here now, but spent all my youth and the best part of my life in Malawi. It has also occurred to me that the "Know It Alls" will not come to the rescue of a country that strives to survive for as long as "Their" idea of democracy appears to exist. If as much money was spent assisting the "Good Boys" in Africa as is being spent airing the wrong doings of the "Bad Boys", perhaps it would be worth our while. But if indeed the "Good Boys" were officially recognised,assisted and, eventually,the "Bad Boys" were no more, then ,hundreds of camera-yielding,pencil-pushing half-baked reporters would go on the dole - or perhaps throw on the old rucksack and come to Malawi - we'll give you a hoe FOC - at least you won't have to pay in gold, ivory,leopard skins or other trophies

Let your fingers do the talking

2008-08-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

Let your fingers do the talking
STANLEY KWENDA | HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Aug 08 2008 10:12

My cellphone is the only thing left that occasionally brings me a smile in an environment where there is little left to laugh about.

Every day I wake up to a cellphone full of text messages poking fun at Zimbabwean political leaders or the bad shape of the Zimbabwean economy. Zimbabwe is a nation of naturally opinionated, humorous people, who use laughter to help cope with critical situations -- personal, political or economic.

These days speaking one's mind -- let alone debating the country's problems in public -- can be a grave mistake. But while Zimbabweans have learned to live with a raft of laws stifling their freedom of speech, it doesn't mean we're not talking. Zimbabweans have learned to express themselves in different ways. Text messages have become a forum for people to vent, mock and say things that they would not say or do openly.

A cellphone has become more than just a tool of communication, it has assumed a new identity and become a tool of survival.

I am one of the people who use a cellphone to relieve everyday stresses by exchanging political messages with friends and relatives.

Post June 27's one-man election, one of the most widely circulated text messages goes: "The run-off is over, now it's time to run away to the diaspora …"

Another suggests that the "run-off" might as well be a beauty contest between the daughters of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe as the electorate was denied the chance to choose between their fathers. Such comments raise a weary laugh among us and, though not really very funny, they allow us to share the sad joke without getting arrested -- or worse.

With the depressing economic situation, going home after work to an empty table can be a dreaded experience for both husband and wife.

I sent my wife a text message doing the rounds in an attempt to ease domestic tensions about our own budget.

CONTINUES BELOW

"You need to go to the bank for four consecutive days to be able to buy lunch at Jameson Hotel. The lunch costs $400-billion but the bank limits customers to withdrawing $100-billion a day. So if you want to have lunch, you need to go for four days without having it so that you can go to the bank for four days to get $400-billion to buy lunch."

My cellphone comes in handy when I need to change foreign currency. South African rands, United States dollars and British pounds are like gold; you have to try to get the best rate. I do not want to do this negotiation by going to the street traders in person as I'd expose myself to arrest, let alone thieves. It takes only a couple of minutes to agree on the "going rate" at any given hour, so instead I text various traders a message asking for offers and choose the best rate.

With advertising space shrinking in newspapers in the economic downturn, companies are making use of SMS to advertise.

"We offer South African, Namibian, Mozambican and Chinese visa services," reads a message sent to subscribers of one of Zimbabwe's two cellphone networks. Their advertising has become one of the most lucrative businesses in the country for the thousands seeking to leave.

But by far the most popular SMS messages caricature Robert Mugabe. There is one among Harare residents suggesting that he be sent farming and make way for Simba Makoni to head a new government of national unity.

There is also a bleak weather forecast doing the rounds which reads: "Partly MDC, partly Zanu-PF, by midday a total eclipse will engulf Zanu-PF and there will be a thunderstorm ... a tsunami will follow and cyclone Zanu-PF will persist for five years causing major disruptions in cities and untold suffering."

But the real clincher is the inflation newscast SMS about how "criminals robbed the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe today and got away with $100-trillion. Police are still looking for a motive."

Stanley Kwenda is a journalist based in Harare. Check out his blog, recording the trials and tribulations of Zimbabweans at www.tatamburatimes.blogspot.com

TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

Obama meets Berliners

2008-07-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama speaks in Berlin

2008-07-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

2008-07-24T15:35:00.001-07:00

Obama Berlin Speech

2008-07-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7524269.stm

Meet Barack Obama

2008-07-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Early Years
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

The College Years
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Political Career
It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.

Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side.

Obamania in Berlin

2008-07-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Call him whatever you want, black mail him, you can do anything but you can't stop the appeal that this man has around the world as evidenced by his speech today in Berlin at the Tiergarten, Victory Column in Berlin.
Blessed with the oratory skills that can only be compared to John F Keneedy the last great American leader, Obama is just iresistable. May God bless him and make him the next president of USA for with his leadership, the world might at last be a better place.

Who is the puppet between the two

2008-07-23T03:35:00.000-07:00

The historic handshake

2008-07-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Wiff of optmism as Tsvangirai/Mugabe sign deal to kickstart talks

2008-07-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have signed a framework deal committing their political parties to talks to end the country's deep crisis. The signing of the memorandum in the capital Harare was witnessed by South African President Thabo Mbeki. A smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change also signed the agreement. Mugabe and the opposition have been locked in a bitter dispute over the outcome of presidental elections which both sides claim to have won. It was the first meeting in 10 years between the two rivals, who are widely believed to detest each other. They sat at a conference table separated by South African President Thabo Mbeki who mediated the deal.

The preliminary agreement was signed in Harare's Rainbow Towers Hotel after weeks of deadlock since Mugabe was re-elected on June 27 in a widely condemned poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters.

Mbeki said the agreement committed both sides to an intense process to try to complete substantive negotiations as quickly as possible. "All parties recognise the urgency," he said.

A subdued Mugabe said after the signing that the agreement was "to chart a new way of political interaction," while Tsvangirai called the ceremony "a very historic occasion."

Officials from both sides said the framework agreement sets a two-week deadline for the government and two factions of the opposition MDC to discuss key issues including a unity government and how to hold new elections.

END

Sometime in July I met Clarence Seedorf

2008-07-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Dynamos goalkeeper Willard Manyatera in full flight

2008-07-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Dynamos the only positive thing out of Zim on this particular Sunday

2008-07-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

I had an uncharacteristically boring day on Sunday July 20 after an arguement with my wife the previous night over a couple missed calls. This coupled with an overcast day in the former Germany capitla Bonn the day was met to be a boring one but at about 6pm the BBC website brought a smile to my rather dull face that day. The headline story on the website spoke about the political optimism that was coming out of Zimbabwe as there was a wiff of optimism that after all talks to resolve the country's political and conomic crisis were to finally take off. But a much wider smile was brought about by the win that my favourite home club Dynamos had just registered over Asec Mimosa of Ivory Coast. For the uninitiated Ivory Coast is the club that produced rare talents such as Kolo and Yaya Toure, Emammanuel Eboue, Aruna Kone, Aruna Dindane, Solomon Kalou and off course Dider Zokora. At least the people of Zimbabwe had something different to talk about apart from the daily toilings.

Munich to Host Charity Soccer Match for Africa

2008-07-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

Africa | 12.07.2008
Munich to Host Charity Soccer Match for Africa
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany's Ballack will be playing for Africa
The city of Munich hosts a charity event on Saturday, July 12, to raise funds aimed at helping eradicate poverty in Africa and pay school fees for African children.

The Germany southern city of Munich will play host to the Goal4Africa soccer match planned to celebrate the 90th birthday of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Funds raised at the event will go to help solve the chronic poverty problems in Africa and to improve education opportunities for millions of African children.

The game, which will played in the 69,000-seat Allianz Arena on Saturday evening, was organized by two of the world's best known players, Brazilian and AC Milan striker Ronaldo and his teammate and Dutch international Clarence Seedorf.

Soccer's legacy

The Goal4Africa Foundation, which aims to reach the 2015 targets of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals via soccer, said the event will also feature a musical show at the Allianz Arena by British and South African musical outfits, UB 40 and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

"By bringing two forces, education and football, Goal4Africa wants to build sustainable change and a lasting legacy for the future of the continent of Africa," read the organization's statement.

The weekend event will also feature a reading on Nelson Mandela's extraordinary life story and an outline of his dream for Africa.

Some of the world's most successful soccer players, including many from Africa who also play for European leagues, are set to play in the match.

Michael Ballack of Chelsea and Germany, Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona and Cameroon, Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal and Togo, Ze Roberto of FC Bayern and Brazil, and Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Ivory Coast are among those on the roster.

Stanley Kwenda

German Sports Heroes Raise Money for Africa in Mandela's Honor

2008-07-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

Africa | 15.07.2008
German Sports Heroes Raise Money for Africa in Mandela's Honor
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Official opening of the Goal 4 Africa event in Munich
Germany's celebrated sports personalities graced a Goal 4 Africa event held in Munich in honor of former South African President Nelson Mandela at the weekend.

Germany's top sports personalities were among the big crowd that packed Munich's Allianz Arena on Saturday, July 12, to launch a charity campaign aimed at raising millions to help alleviate poverty in Africa as well as helping the African child attain education.

The event coincided with the birthday celebrations of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

Germany Sports Icons Speak

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Michael Schumacher celebrates after scoring a goal in the Goal 4 Africa soccer match in Munich
Germany national soccer team captain and Chelsea star Michael Ballack and retired Formula One motor racing all time hero Michael Schumacher featured in the match organized by Holland and AC Milan star Clarence Seedorf and his teammate Brazilian Ronaldo to try and raise funds for Africa.

Also in attendance was Bayern Munich's new coach Juergen Klinsmann who watched from the touch line.

The Germany national team captain said it was an honour for him to be part of the event, saying it was important for international football players to give back to communities around the world which support them in their fledging careers.

"I feel we should play our part as soccer players and give back to the communities that support us," Ballack said at a press conference before Saturday's match. "I am really happy that I am doing this for Africa."

Retired motor racing icon Schumacher, who was greeted with a huge roar when he came on as a first half substitute in the weekend match, was equally elated to be part of the festivities for a worthy cause.

"I think it's a very wonderful thing to do for the sake of others," he said. "I hope my little contribution by running through the field and scoring goals will go a long way to help children in Africa."

Helping children

The weekend event raised 875,655 euros ($1.39 million). The money will be used to help solve the chronic poverty problems and improve education for children in Africa, a goal that is in line with Nelson Mandela's wish for education for all.

The Goal 4 Africa Foundation, which is running the campaign will also organize a similar event to be held in South Africa in December. It says it hopes to raise 56,619,000 euros ($90 million) by 2010, when South Africa hosts Africa's first world cup.

Germany legend and new Bayern Munich coach, Klinsmann, said he supported the idea of helping Africa.

"It helps change life circumstances and give African children chances in life and we in Europe tap in from the African talent so it is important that we help develop it through initiatives like these," he said.

An African dream

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Baichung Bhutia, Clarence Seedorf, Chedric Seedorf, Djemba-Djemba and Michael Schumacher celebrated after their team scored a goal
The man behind the campaign, Clarence Seedorf who himself had to go through the rigours of African life on his way to stardom, said his campaign is all about changing lives and giving African children a chance.

"All I am trying to say through this campaign is that everything is possible," he said. "Life is what we make it, it is all about creating hope in an otherwise hopeless situation it about giving African children a chance in live.

"I want us to eradicate poverty through every goal scored in football matches throughout the world. I promote hopes and dreams," he added. "The money raised will help develop education for life and help realise Nelson Mandela's dream of education for all and all for education and eradicate poverty."

Stanley Kwenda

DW Article Link

2008-07-09T05:53:00.001-07:00

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3468013,00.html

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42942

2008-06-27T04:15:00.000-07:00

Foreigners in Germany Dejected by Country's Euro Performance

2008-06-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

Foreigners in Germany Dejected by Country's Euro Performance
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ballack's stunning free-kick was the only highlight of an otherwise dull game
Foreigners in Germany were left disappointed on Monday night after the Germany national soccer team put up a lackluster performance in its 1-0 win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria.

Most of these foreign nationals from Asia and Africa had joined Germans in various parts of the country's many outdoor soccer viewing spots, hoping to get a taste of what it feels to belong to a winning team in a major tournament since their adopted country enjoyed a pre-tournament billing as one of the favorites to land the title.

They had hoped that for once, they would be able to celebrate a major international tournament victory since most of them come from small countries unlikely to entertain any hopes of winning a major soccer tournament. In Germany, they had a realistic chance of such a celebration but were left a little disappointed by Germany's performance on Monday night.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Some Germany fans didn't seem too upset by their side's insipid performance
"There is not much to celebrate, because the real test of character starts in the next round when we will face Portugal. I guess we lost the plot when we lost to Croatia, it might just be the end of the road because it is going to be a really tough game against Portugal, we might just need something special or we kiss good buy to this tournament," said a Germany soccer fan from Asia in a neighborhood in the northern part of the western German city of Bonn.

Another Germany supporter, originally from Ghana, had a different view.

"The match was not bad at all, these guys played very well considering what was at stake, I guess they have a chance to go far," said Kwaku Tchite, a Ghanaian national living in Bonn.

Luck and drama

Others pointed out the game certainly contained enough drama to make up for the poor quality of the soccer.

"I have never seen so much football drama in my life," said Menzi Dlamini, a journalist from Swaziland currently living in Berlin. Dlamini was referring to the referee's decision to give send off both the Germany and Austrian soccer coaches to the stands for arguing with the assistant referee.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Austria coach Hickersberger, left, and Germany's Loew created a stir at the game
For Sharma Sharirriff, who comes from Yemen but currently in Bonn where is studying medicinal sciences, it all had to do with how the Germany team reacted to pressure and tried to absorb it.

"I think the team just failed to handle the pressure that comes with such a big game with huge expectations from fans," Sharirriff said. "This was evident when the Germany coach failed to handle the pressure from the Austrian coach who was clearly playing mind games."

Kumbirai Mafunda, a Zimbabwean student in Berlin, said the German side were lucky to have made it to the quarterfinals.

"The Germany team could have wrapped up the game in the first half but missed several chances and that proved to be their undoing," Mafunda said.

"In matches like these you don't miss so many chances and expect to win, they should just count themselves lucky."

Stanley Kwenda

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3420531,00.html

2008-06-27T04:04:00.001-07:00

Links to Stanley's DW-WORLD Articles

2008-06-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3439010,00.html

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3441808,00.html

2008-06-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

Life in Zimbabwe during election time

2008-06-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

MEDIAWATCH: Life in election-time Zimbabwe 26 Mar 2008 08:16:00 GMT

Written by: Joanne Tomkinson
A Zimbabwean street kid receives Zimbabwe dollar Z$200,000 notes, which ceased to be legal, in downtown Harare, December 20, 2007.
REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
In the midst of an economic meltdown, Zimbabwe will hold elections on March 29. Most press attention is focused on the likely outcome of the poll, but some reporters are talking about what conditions are like for people living in a country gripped by its worst humanitarian crisis since independence.

Sky-rocketing inflation of 100,000 percent a year has left few people able to afford even the most basic goods, according to Boston-based newspaper Christian Science Monitor.

The causes of the downturn are hotly contested, but the hardship of ordinary Zimbabweans is unmistakable, the paper writes.

"In the last eight years, the economy has contracted to 60 percent of what it was before," Paul Siwela, an economist in Zimabwe's second city Bulawayo told the Monitor.

The most troubling part of this downturn is Zimbabwe's inability to feed itself and its neighbours, the Monitor writes. In 1979 the country managed to grow enough food feed itself and export around the region. Now the country has a maize shortfall of 360,000 tons, and a wheat shortfall of 255,000 tons. Food aid will only fend off starvation for a while.

The paper tells of shops stacked with food and clothes - all too expensive for ordinary Zimbabweans' pockets. Gas stations have entirely closed, and a loaf of bread is now beyond the reach of most people.

All this is especially shocking since 20 years ago the country was hailed as an African success story. Now Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world - just 36 years - and at the start of the year around 4 million people were receiving food aid.

Britain's Guardian news website quotes a central bank governor comparing spiralling inflation to "economic HIV". Half the population now live on 50p ($1) a day, 80 percent are unemployed, and 45 percent are malnourished, the site says.

Both maternal mortality rates and the death rate for children under five in Zimbabwe have almost doubled in the past decade. There is a desperate shortage of vaccines to help protect children against measles and other diseases.

For Sarah Chekani, whose daughter died last year from diarrhoea and fever, the worsening situation in Zimbabwe leaves her with the fear that more desperation and death will follow.

"I don't know what to do if my other children get sick. Where can we go? The hospital tells you to buy the drugs yourself, but where do I get the money?" she said to the Guardian. "Some people say this election will change things. I don't know. I don't have hope. It will not bring back the dead."

For Hope, a blogger at This is Zimbabwe, a website run by the Sokwanele - Zvakwana peoples' movement, Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has left most Zimbabweans wanting drastic change after destroying the country's economy, schooling and health care system.

"The one thing I know is that Zimbabweans are tired, so tired, of struggling to get through to the next day. "

"We want to move on and have a normal life. We know what happened in the past, but it's the future we're concerned with now," Hope writes.

The Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) news website writes that with the economy at its lowest ever ebb, and Zimbabwe's infrastructure collapsing, many people are too preoccupied with food shortages to get excited by the poll.

"(The price of) food is going up every single day. Meat is now beyond the reach of the majority of people. Many people cannot afford cooking oil, margarine, soft drinks and beer. Imagine - even tomatoes and onions have become unaffordable. So have green vegetables, which were sustaining many families," Harare resident Amos Chigwida told IWPR.

"So tell me, what is there to get excited about? I have too many things to worry about than to spend time following rallies or listening to political speeches."

But not everyone feels so apathetic about the elections. Struggling single mother of three Christine Makumbe told the IWPR that her vote will make a difference.

"I pray that Zimbabweans have registered and will go and vote. I don't agree with those that have already given up - every vote counts and each of us can play our part in choosing which direction Zimbabwe should go."

South Africa's Daily Nation newspaper writes of fears that the country might plunge further into crisis if President Robert Mugabe's hardline supporters don't agree with the election result.

The paper reports predictions by International Crisis Group that the outcome is likely to be challenged, triggering mass violence and perpetuating the economic crisis. The Belgian-based think tank urges the African Union to start planning how to deal with it if things get even worse in Zimbabwe, especially in the event of Mugabe losing the election.

But there are some stories of hope among the hardship.

ZimOnline reports that some people are managing to make the most of opportunities presented by the economic downturn.

In Bulawayo, there is money to be made from collecting waster paper from the piles of litter left there since the city council stopped collecting rubbish.

With six grandsons and daughters to feed, clothe, and educate, women like Liz Dhumela can make enough money to survive by selling the paper she collects to a waste paper company, according to ZimOnline.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean artists are finding inspiration in their feelings of disillusionment and frustration about the situation in the country.

Musician Samm Farai Munro, better known as Fatso, released a CD this month called "House of Hunger". As you can see from Fatso's blog he doesn't shy away from themes like corruption, hunger, fear, and violence.

He's just one of dozens of Zimbabwean artists creatively expressing their discontent with the economic and political crisis through poetry, theatre and music. Rather than quelling their creativity, hardship seems to help stir the imagination.
Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Key facts on Zimbabwe

2008-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

Hit by drought, HIV/AIDS and economic meltdown, Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst humanitarian crisis since independence.

Average life expectancy 43.5 years
Agriculture devastated
World's highest inflation

Twenty years ago the country was hailed as an African success story and dubbed the "breadbasket" of southern Africa. Now it has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, according to the World Health Organisation.

Several million were receiving food aid at the start of 2008 after yet another year of severe drought.

Farming is the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy, but agriculture has been crippled by the combined effects of drought, HIV/AIDS and controversial government land reforms.

Unemployment is sky-high and galloping inflation has made basic foodstuffs, fuel, health and school unaffordable for many. Millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighbouring countries.

Zimbabwe's crisis has escalated since elections in March 2008. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change won a majority in parliament and their leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the presidential vote but not by enough to avoid a run-off election set for June 27.

Less than a week before the vote, Tsvangirai pulled out following widespread violence against his supporters. The bloodshed has attracted international criticism and unprecedented condemnation by the U.N. Security Council. Mugabe, in power since 1980, has refused to call off the vote.

Key facts

Estimated life expectancy in 2006 43 years (women), 44 years (men)
( WHO 2008)
Percentage of population malnourished 45 percent ( WFP)
No. displaced 570,000 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2007)
No. who lost incomes/homes in 2005 state crackdown on shantytowns 700,000 (Source: U.N.)
Percentage of people living on less than $2 a day 83 percent (WFP)

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2008-06-18T05:11:00.001-07:00

Soccer | 17.06.2008
Foreigners in Germany Dejected by Country's Euro Performance
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ballack's stunning free-kick was the only highlight of an otherwise dull game
Foreigners in Germany were left disappointed on Monday night after the Germany national soccer team put up a lackluster performance in its 1-0 win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria.

Most of these foreign nationals from Asia and Africa had joined Germans in various parts of the country's many outdoor soccer viewing spots, hoping to get a taste of what it feels to belong to a winning team in a major tournament since their adopted country enjoyed a pre-tournament billing as one of the favorites to land the title.

They had hoped that for once, they would be able to celebrate a major international tournament victory since most of them come from small countries unlikely to entertain any hopes of winning a major soccer tournament. In Germany, they had a realistic chance of such a celebration but were left a little disappointed by Germany's performance on Monday night.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Some Germany fans didn't seem too upset by their side's insipid performance
"There is not much to celebrate, because the real test of character starts in the next round when we will face Portugal. I guess we lost the plot when we lost to Croatia, it might just be the end of the road because it is going to be a really tough game against Portugal, we might just need something special or we kiss good buy to this tournament," said a Germany soccer fan from Asia in a neighborhood in the northern part of the western German city of Bonn.

Another Germany supporter, originally from Ghana, had a different view.

"The match was not bad at all, these guys played very well considering what was at stake, I guess they have a chance to go far," said Kwaku Tchite, a Ghanaian national living in Bonn.

Luck and drama

Others pointed out the game certainly contained enough drama to make up for the poor quality of the soccer.

"I have never seen so much football drama in my life," said Menzi Dlamini, a journalist from Swaziland currently living in Berlin. Dlamini was referring to the referee's decision to give send off both the Germany and Austrian soccer coaches to the stands for arguing with the assistant referee.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Austria coach Hickersberger, left, and Germany's Loew created a stir at the game
For Sharma Sharirriff, who comes from Yemen but currently in Bonn where is studying medicinal sciences, it all had to do with how the Germany team reacted to pressure and tried to absorb it.

"I think the team just failed to handle the pressure that comes with such a big game with huge expectations from fans," Sharirriff said. "This was evident when the Germany coach failed to handle the pressure from the Austrian coach who was clearly playing mind games."

Kumbirai Mafunda, a Zimbabwean student in Berlin, said the German side were lucky to have made it to the quarterfinals.

"The Germany team could have wrapped up the game in the first half but missed several chances and that proved to be their undoing," Mafunda said.

"In matches like these you don't miss so many chances and expect to win, they should just count themselves lucky."

Stanley Kwenda

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2008-06-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

2008-06-18T04:57:00.001-07:00

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE:
"Dictatorship Is Temporary"
Interview with Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwean Member of Parliament

Nelson Chamisa

HARARE, Jun 5 (IPS) - Fourteen members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, a Bulawayo-based human rights organisation, are being held in two prisons in the capital Harare. They were arrested while marching to demand that the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) intervene to end post-election violence; their case is just one illustration of escalating human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

A leading human rights lawyer, Andrew Makoni, has fled to South Africa after receiving credible warnings of a plan to murder at least one lawyer to deter others from publicising abuses and defending victims of state-sponsored violence. According to the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, four of Makoni's clients have been murdered in the past two weeks.

Since elections on March 29, at least 22 people have been killed in a campaign of torture, beatings and destruction of homes that the Solidarity Peace Trust reports has been carried out by supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) supporters -- including war veterans, the party's youth wing and serving members of the Zimbabwe's security services.

IPS reporter Tonderai Kwidini spoke with Nelson Chamisa, a Movement for Democratic Change party spokesperson and member of parliament, who was himself attacked at the Harare International Airport last year, while on his way to an international meeting of parliamentarians in Brussels. And last week four of his family members were also severely assaulted by soldiers and suspected ZANU-PF militias.

IPS: What impact the violence has had on campaigning for the June 27 run-off elections?

NELSON CHAMISA: This is the worst political environment we have ever experienced in the history of our party. We are fighting a regime that is staring defeat in the face but is determined to stay in power and has become desperate. Our supporters are being maimed, tortured and killed and no one has been arrested. This is a situation you can only expect to get from a barbaric state.

IPS: How is the ongoing violence affecting or changing the political landscape in Zimbabwe?

NC: The violence has displaced voters. Remember we are going to be using a ward-based system and lot of our supporters have been forced out of their homesteads as a result of the violence. It has not just displaced voters, it has eliminated the electorate. We have over 50 supporters who have been killed since March 29.

IPS: A recent report from Solidarity Peace Trust describes this repression in painful detail. The report also recommends further mediation and the establishment of a transitional government. The International Crisis Group has made a similar recommendation: what is your response to this suggestion?

NC: It's simple: no one is against the idea of a government of national unity, because Zimbabwe will need one as it shapes up its nation-building efforts. But that government can only be chosen by the party that wins the elections because only then will it have the mandate of the people.

We are calling on the international community, SADC, the African Union and the United Nations to deploy peace keeping forces as well as monitors to come to Zimbabwe and save the people from ZANU-PF.

IPS: What is the message you are giving to MDC supporters in the face of this extreme violence?

We are just telling them that this is the last hurdle and it is going to be painful, but it will come to pass. We are telling them to vote with their conscience -- they have to be strong. This is the end: we spoke on 29 March and we have to speak again on 27 June.

IPS: We understand that your political party has been prevented from holding rallies in certain parts of the country. What has been the effect of these bans on your political activities?

NC: You don't have to talk about those bans alone as we have some rural areas that have been declared by ZANU-PF as no-go areas for the opposition. Those bans have not only managed to disrupt our campaign strategies but have given the ZANU-PF regime an edge against us. The whole idea is to render our party comatose.

IPS: Can you describe how you are campaigning in this environment?

NC: Our rallies have been banned, so we are now resorting to doing door to door campaigns.

IPS: What needs to be done to make the June 27 elections a free and fair contest?

NC: Firstly, there is a need to de-politicise the police force as it has become partisan in favour of the incumbent. Then there is a need to create conditions in which all political parties are covered fairly in both public and private media.

I was in Rwanda recently and I have learnt a lot about how the media can be used as a tool to fan violence. The ZANU-PF campaigns on national radio and television are genocidal and have to be stopped before it's too late.

IPS: Have you at any time felt a threat to your life as a result of the crackdown on political freedoms?

NC: Everyone within the party's leadership is living in constant fear of being abducted, tortured before being killed. We are now security animals and we have to be careful. We are dealing with a vampire regime. But remember: dictatorship is temporary and we are witnessing the end of Robert Mugabe's tyranny. (END/2008)

Bob is the boss (POEM)

2008-06-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

B.O.B
I am the ‘bhoza’ of Zimbabwe
I am the bomb
Born of Bona
I am Bob the boss
My people love me
Whether they like it or know it

I am the first and best secretary
Unbeaten in eight major elections
Whether Blair or Brown calls them
Feja feja or feya feya
I am Bob the boss

The commander in chief
The commissar in chief
The secretary in chief
The liberator in chief
The war vet in chief
The intellectual in chief
The warrior in chief
The minister in chief
The governor in chief
The president in chief
Yes, I am Bob
The boss in chief

Triumph after triumph
Since 1980
I came, I saw, I conquered
In Mozambique,
There was Samora Machel
Then came Chissano
Then Guebuza,
I am still Bob the boss!

In Namibia there were the boers
Then came Nujoma
Then came Pohamba
In Zambia, there was Kaunda
Then came Chiluba
Then Mwanawasa
I am still Bob the man!

In South Africa there was Botha
Then came de Klerk
Then Madiba
Then Thabo Mbeki
I am still the boss

In Botswana
There was Khama
Then came Masire
Then Mogae
Now Khama
I am still……

In Malawi there was Banda
Then came Muluzi
Then came
WaMutharika
I am still….

In Tanzania there was Nyerere
Then came Mwinyi
Then came Mukapa
Then came Kikwete
I am still……

The Mois have gone
The Jerry Rawlings have gone
The Abachas,Babangidas
Obasanjos , Eyademas have gone
The Mobutus have died
The Kabilas have gone!
I am still around
As Bob the boss!

Margaret Thatcher came
John Major left
Ronald Reagan was there
George Bush snr left
Bill Clinton left
Dubya found me around
Tony Blair resigned
Gordon Brown has arrived
Who am I ?

I formed SADCC
I was there when we removed the other C
OAU I joined
AU I joined
The Commonwealth I joined, chaired and left
27 UN General Assemblies
I have addressed
Butros Butros Ghali I saw
Kofi Annan I saw
Ban ki-Moon I have seen
I am Bob the boss

My ideology is the ideology
Bobocracy is the name of the game
Bobism the sine qua non

I died for this country
I am Bob the boss
2008 is Bob’s year
One president, one people
One party, one ideology
I am Bob the boss

My people love me
Whether they like it or know it
I am the main man

I am Bob the boss in chief!!!

When the toll gets the most of an individual

2008-06-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since i last had a dance with this blog which i created after strenuous studies in technolodgy at the Rhodes University in South Africa, thanks to Chris Kabwato and his team, now i am a blogger.
It a passion that has taken the world by storm and has given previously maginalised citizens of the world the will power to speak out on injustices. A good example is the cyber activists in Asia. For me the toll has been too much that i even couldn't take my daily commentaries on thsi blog. For a start the internet at my office in Zimbabwe is just not receptive to this kind of information revolution, many IT specialist Zeb can explain better. This coupled with the spectre of becoming a father and all the other responsibilities that comes with such a new title, this noble exercise became a nuisance. Thank God i am back and can still blog on.

Mugabe's health

2008-06-17T03:21:00.000-07:00

I am not one who rejoice on a person's demise because i grew up being told that its kind of taboo in our African tradition, but to hear that Mugabe's health is failing him brings a bit of joy to my heart considering that he has just shown that he is callousness and does not care a hoot to people's human life. I saw a picture of his leg published on the Zimbabwe Times website in June, At first it really looked to me like a cobra snake waiting to strike but after taking a second i realised it was his swollen leg. This was just days after he came back from a trip in China where he had reportedly gone to seek medical attention. For once i closed my eyes and thought, hey man what the hey is this man still wanting to fight for at the expense of his health and let alone his young wife and kids. For God's sake why can't he just take a rest and let the young turks take over. I guess his death will bring a lot of joy to many Zimbabweans but should it be like that really? During the past week he showed his sadist side, ordering his man to arrest MDC secreatry general Tendai Biti as he made his way through immigration at the Harare International Airport upon his arrival from South Africa where he had stayed for a month in a bid to try and evade harrassment at home. At first, i thought to my self that the learned lawyer was foolish to return home under the set conditions since the police commissioner general Augustine Chihuri had already indicated that he was salivating for his arrest. But after an after thought i thought there was no way he could avoid going back home and it was not going to be politically correct for him to remain holed up in Johannesburg when his followers where being butchered in streets and villages of Zi´mbabwe he had to come back and share the pain with the rest. I feel the same as i write thsi article in my temporary refugee country, Germany. How i wish i was home to face the same music as my family, as my friends, as ´my workmates, as my wife, as my yet to be born son. Only if Mugabe's health continue to fail him, maybe we might be free at last.

Its 19 vs 19

2008-03-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

By midday on Monday the results that had been announced showed that the tow main political parties, the MDC Tsvangirai and ZANU PF where neck and neck at 19 seats each.

Zim election watch

2008-03-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

Zimbabweans voted in a crucial election on Saturday in which many among the 13 million population expected a change in their fortunes with huge prospect for new leadership. By the time of posting results were still being announced in bits and pieces and many had become impatient. National Constitutioal Assembly (NCA) Chairperson Lovemore Madhuku described the delay as a ploy by ZANU PF party to rig the election and make up numbers for Mugabe to remain in power. Despite the delay which to some extend dampened the spirits of the people a good number of people continued with wildcat celebrations in many parts of the country.

EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE:Getting Harder To Keep Children In School

2008-01-30T02:35:00.000-08:00

Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Jan 26 (IPS) - Alois Mufundisi, a media professional, earns 200 million Zimbabwean dollars, about 50 U.S. dollars on the thriving parallel market.

On paper this amount appears huge, but in real terms it is just enough to buy essential foodstuffs for half a month. He is barely able to keep his three children in school. Seven years ago he could manage without any problem. Now he has to do private jobs to supplement his income.

"Sometimes I can’t sleep thinking about where I can get my next dollar. It really pains me to think that I may not be able to pay for basic things such as my children’s education," said Mufundisi.

With hyperinflation at 8000 percent according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), keeping children in school has become difficult in Zimbabwe. Educational standards have been on a free fall since the beginning of an unprecedented economic collapse that started in 2000, with often-violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms in the former regional breadbasket.

"During our time education was free," said Mufundisi. "My parents could send me and my siblings to boarding schools on my father’s civil servant salary, but now I am in danger of not being able to do the same for my children."

Schools opened in Zimbabwe on Jan. 15 and teachers in Harare have reported growing absenteeism. To make matters worse the country is facing acute shortages of food, hard currency and fuel in the economic meltdown that began in 2000.

Once Africa’s best, Zimbabwe’s educational system is now in crisis. Tens of thousands of teachers in state schools are constantly on a ‘go-slow’ action demanding a wage hike. There is an exodus of teachers to better paying jobs outside the country. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) -- one of two teachers’ representative bodies -- estimates that more than 15,000 teachers left the teaching profession in 2006.

Those who stay behind spend most of the time moonlighting. Even head- teachers at private schools -- where quality of education is better -- are demanding bribes of up to 200 South African rands or 50 U.S. dollars in hard currency to enroll children.

"I had to pay money in foreign currency to secure a place for my daughter at a private school in Harare," Mufundisi told IPS.

A teacher at a rural Zimbabwe school who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity said, "I am quitting and going to South Africa. I have sold so many text books from my department library to supplement my meagre salary, I have to make a move before I am caught."

President Robert Mugabe’s investment in education after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 has generally been seen as the highlight of his increasingly autocratic 27-year rule, although he inherited most of the infrastructure from the former white colonial government.

PTUZ estimates that between four and five children share a textbook. There are often four children to one desk in the poorly equipped classrooms.

Students are fainting in class from hunger. Girls are missing school during the menstrual cycle because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. School dropout rates have shot up. Children are quitting school to supplement family incomes as vendors, commuter omnibus conductors, even sex workers.

A price-freeze ordered by the government in June last year left store shelves bare of most basic commodities, but the freeze was eased in phases to restore the viability of producers and businesses. However, supplies of goods have remained erratic.

Some Zimbabwean residential schools -- hit by severe food shortages -- were reported to be insisting that students bring their own supplies, according to Zimbabwean private media. The PTUZ said several boarding schools had cut short the last term of 2007 after running out of food.

The union secretary general Raymond Majongwe told IPS, "Our reports indicate that many schools will not open. These are clearly signs of the virtual collapse of the education system."

Higher education is also in crisis. The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) -- a representative body -- released a report this week stating that the country has the world’s highest college dropout rate outside a war zone.

The report further states that more than 31.5 percent of students were forced out of school due to the exorbitant fees being charged in these institutions.

"The government only funds about 3 percent of the students in tertiary institutions. 80 percent are funded by their relatives," stated the report.

"Zimbabwe is facing a sharp decline in public expenditure on higher education, deteriorating teaching conditions, decaying educational facilities and infrastructure, perpetual student unrest, erosion of university autonomy, a shortage of experienced and well trained teaching staff, lack of academic freedoms, and an increasing rate of unemployment among the college graduates," the report damningly concludes.

(END/2008)

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NCA chairperson Lovemore Madhuku speaking to IPS

2008-01-30T02:30:00.000-08:00

We Want to Prepare Voters For the Election and the Post-Election Scenario’

2008-01-30T02:29:00.000-08:00

Lovemore Madhuku speaking with IPS

HARARE, Jan 16 (IPS) - "If you run an inherently unfair election it will lead to political unrest in a post- election scenario," Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) told IPS.

"We are seeking to explain how a flawed electoral system like the one we have in Zimbabwe can easily be manipulated, resulting in an election losing value," Madhuku explained.

The NCA -- a grouping of Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including: labour movements, students and youth, women, churches, business groups, human rights organisations and political parties -- was formed here in 1997 to campaign for constitutional reform. Zimbabwe is still using an outdated 1979 Lancaster House Constitution.

NCA received worldwide acclaim following a successful "NO" Vote campaign during the February 2000 referendum on a new constitution. Since then, the NCA has been at loggerheads with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government.

The organisation is now organising what it calls a "special type" of voter education campaign in rural areas ahead of presidential, parliamentary and local government elections to be held in March.

IPS Zimbabwe Correspondent Tonderai Kwidini spoke to Madhuku about the new campaign:

Lovemore Madhuku: It is a special type of voter education. We are basically educating people on why it is necessary for them to go and vote in an election, explaining in detail why it is also important to vote in an election, which is free and fair.

We are seeking to explain how a flawed electoral system like the one we have in Zimbabwe can easily be manipulated resulting in an election losing value.

Essentially we are telling them that an election is not just joining a queue and casting a ballot but it is about voting with confidence without any fear that the election might be rigged. We are emphasising a new people driven and democratic election.

IPS: You to call it a "special type" of voter education?

LM: It is not technical in nature but simply seeks to arm the voter with the capacity to challenge a voting anomaly. If people go to vote expecting change, if it does not come, they must be satisfied with the outcome and understand fully why it did not come.

We want to cultivate a post election environment where Zimbabwean citizens will understand why a certain result will have come out. We want to prepare voters for an election and the post-election scenario. The elections will not have any meaning if they are held in the current hostile environment.

IPS: Zimbabwe is going to have elections in March. Are there any signs that the people you are reaching will have reason not to vote?

LM: Absolutely. There is still lack of freedom in the country. The media is still muzzled. Newspapers -- which were closed -- are yet to be opened, and everything is still being done as a secret and yet elections are a public event. Freedom of association and assembly is still not there and Mugabe is still using the all-powerful state apparatus to crush any descent including the all powerful police and army forces.

IPS: In the aftermath of the post-Kenyan election violence what can Zimbabwe learn as it goes into an election in March?

LM: The biggest lesson is that an independent electoral body, which is transparent, should run the election and that there should be a very transparent and quick way of solving electoral disputes.

If you run an inherently unfair election it will lead to political unrest in a post election scenario. The other lesson is that elections are not a simple issue that any person can just play around with, manipulating results, and runaway with it.

IPS: When did you start this campaign and whom are you specifically targeting?

LM: We started in November 2007 and intensified it around Christmas time through Christmas parties because we wanted to take advantage of the increased numbers of people who were in the rural areas at that time for the festive holiday. We are not targeting any specific group of people -- ours is a broad-based campaign reaching out to all Zimbabweans of different walks of life.

We are running this programme on a village level. So far we have been to Manicaland Province [eastern Zimbabwe] and Mashonaland East and Central [central Zimbabwe].

IPS: Zimbabweans -- as witnessed by voter apathy experienced in recent elections -- seem to have lost interest in the country’s electoral process. How are you cultivating voter interest at this time of hopelessness?

LM: It is this hopelessness that we are trying to take away from them and cultivate interest by preparing them for the post-election scenario where probably the change that they might be hoping for will not come. We want them to still be able to pick up the pieces after the elections and ask ‘what can we do.’ We will come back and emphasise the need for a democratic and people centred constitution.

IPS: What has been the response to the campaign?

LM: It has surprisingly been overwhelming -- although many people have been asking why they should be participating in an election whose electoral frameworks are not fair.

We have been telling them that it is important for them to vote, but we emphasise what sort of environment they should be voting in. As NCA we have been advocating that it is useless to participate in an election until the country gets a new democratic constitution --but we cannot stop those who want to participate in elections.

IPS: During the last presidential elections Zimbabweans were expectant and went to vote eagerly expecting that their vote will finally bring an end to Mugabe’s rule. But, that did not happen and opposition groups claimed electoral fraud, do you share the same view?

LM: The problem is that the opposition gospel has been that Mugabe must go. They have not been preparing people for a scenario, which will happen if Mugabe does not go.

IPS: Your organisation has been at odds with the government?

LM: There have been interferences from the police and state security agents. We are still waiting to hear from owners of the homesteads that we visited if they received any reprisals for hosting our programmes.

IPS: Are you working with any other organisations, which are also involved in voter education campaigns, such as: Artists for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT), Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN), and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC)?

LM: Not necessarily. These partners are dealing with technical aspects of elections, such as voter registration, while we are into civic education of the old type.

IPS: Do you think there is enough electoral information being channelled to the people of Zimbabwe with just under two months to go before the election?

LM: There is clearly not enough. Everything is being done in secret. All we hear is that the delimitation commission is parcelling out constituency boundaries -- how that is being done only God knows. We do not even know how many voters have been registered so far, it all remains Mugabe and his party’s secret.

(END/2008)

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POLITICS-ZIMBABWE:Mbeki Attempting to Jumpstart Talks

2008-01-30T02:27:00.000-08:00

Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Jan 15 (IPS) - The Southern African Development Community (SADC)-brokered talks to end the political stalemate between the ruling ZANU PF party and the opposition Movement Democratic Change (MDC) are hanging by the thread.

The aim of the SADC talks is to ensure that Zimbabwe can hold free and fair elections next month.

Negotiators from the two parties have shuttled more than a dozen times back-and-forth between Harare and Pretoria in a bid to break the impasse.

Tendai Biti, a member of the opposition’s negotiating team, told IPS that the two parties met 20 times for negotiations.

Talks resumed Jan. 13 in Pretoria under the direct supervision South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is now under pressure to conclude the negotiations before elections.

In March 2007, Mbeki was appointed by SADC leaders to lead efforts to end the country’s political and economic crisis by facilitating dialogue between ZANU PF -- the party led by President Robert Mugabe -- and the MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

"The dialogue is resuming. Our negotiators are in South Africa right now after President Thabo Mbeki stepped in to break the deadlock," said Patrick Chinamasa, minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, in the Zimbabwe state media.

Zimbabwe is facing wide spread food, fuel, electricity, and water shortages. According to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, inflation is pegged at 15,000 percent -- a figure the World Bank says is abnormal for a country not at war. The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Zimbabwe says educational standards have been declining in the country, which was once famous for offering some of the best education on the continent.

The SADC-brokered talks have reached a deadlock over demands by the MDC that a transitional constitution drafted by the two negotiating parties take effect before elections are held.

"Mbeki has called the negotiating teams to try and break the deadlock," Chinamasa said, but, "the MDC is still insisting on a transitional constitution as well as the shifting of the election date."

The ruling party which is represented by two cabinet ministers, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche -- of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Public Service and Social Welfare respectively -- has rejected the MDC proposal, saying elections will be held in March as called for in the present constitution.

Zimbabwe’s constitution says the current six-year presidential term ends on Mar. 31, 2008 and calls for elections to be held before that date. Zimbabwe is still using an outdated 1979 Lancaster House Constitution.

ZANU PF prefers a situation where elections will be held under the current constitution after which the winning party will lead the process to come up with a new constitution.

This scenario would require elections to be held before the expiry of the current presidential term unless a constitutional amendment to the contrary is passed through the parliament.

The current deadlock has forced Mbeki to put aside his own problems back home and concentrate on seeing through the dialogue he started 10 months ago. Sydney Mfumandi, South Africa’s Minister of Local Government, has led the talks till now.

Tsvangirai accuses the ruling party of preferring to accede to cosmetic reforms of the country’s repressive laws than implement a new transitional constitution. He stresses that ZANU PF is simply paying lip service to the whole negotiating process.

"Mugabe wants a false election," Tsvangirai told IPS, "We are deadlocked on key issues that should enable us to cross the bridge into a new era."

Tsvangirai accuses the ruling party of backtracking on key promises made during South African-brokered talks last year. The SADC brokered talks were structured in a give and take manner in which the MDC acceded to major amendments of the country’s constitution. In return, it was agreed that some repressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), and the Broadcasting Act were to be amended including some of the inputs from the opposition.

More importantly, the constitutional amendments that were made give Mugabe power to anoint a successor in the event that he wins an election and chooses not to see through his term of office. In the event that he dies, parliament will have the responsibility to elect an interim president until the next election date.

Tsvangirai says the ruling party is reneging on its initial promises of putting together a new transitional constitution before elections.

"They are shifting goal posts," Tsvangirai stressed. "This is unacceptable, they want to force an election in March and still rig the outcome through a flawed process."

The opposition party has indicated that it will call for Kenyan style protests if Mugabe insists on holding a flawed election in March.

But, "Elections can not be postponed," Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional law expert, told IPS, "it will need a special amendment to the constitution for this to be possible."

The MDC says that the pace at which the transitional constitution was to be implemented should determine the election date. It argues that the transitional constitution will help in setting up a sound electoral management system, codes for good governance, and a human rights regimen between now and the election date. This they say would minimise chances of electoral fraud.

Critical issues the opposition wants addressed before elections include allowing the diaspora to vote, counting of votes and announcement of results at polling stations, and the role of SADC and other international observers in the elections.

The government has indicated it would only allow "friendly" countries or organisations to observe the elections.

Mugabe -- who is currently enjoying his annual holiday in Asia -- insists that the elections will take place in March "without fail."

(END/2008)

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ZIMBABWE: A "Can Do" Approach to Greater Political Involvement of Women

2008-01-30T02:13:00.000-08:00

Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Dec 30 (IPS) - With general elections expected to take place in Zimbabwe this coming March, a campaign is underway to increase women's political participation in the Southern African country.

The initiative is a revitalised version of the ཮-50' campaign, which began last year but failed to gain momentum. Now, activists are campaigning under the slogan 'Women can do it!'. The effort is being spearheaded by the Women's Trust, a non-governmental organisation based in the capital of Harare, and is receiving support from the Norwegian government.

"The campaign provides a structure and action to mobilise Zimbabwean women to get involved in the electoral process and constitutional debates as candidates and voters," Luta Shaba, executive director of the Women's Trust, told IPS.

"We want to thrash out issues that are stopping us as women from getting into power and making transformative changes to the lives of women."

The campaign brings together women from political parties, civil society organisations, the private sector and educational institutions throughout the country. In a declaration issued after an August conference for the initiative, held in Harare, supporters of the campaign made several demands, including that 50 percent of candidates for political parties be women -- and for the introduction of proportional representation.

At present, candidates with the most votes, by whatever margin, are elected to the presidency and parliament. Proportional representation would see candidates allocated seats according to their parties' share of the vote, a system that is often viewed as more effective for getting higher numbers of women into decision-making posts.

The declaration also recommends that half of party funding provided by government be reserved for women candidates.

Women constitute 52 percent of the population in Zimbabwe, according to the Central Statistical Office's most recent census, conducted in 2005.

However, they hold only 19 percent of cabinet posts, 17 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament and 36.6 percent in the senate, according to figures from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development. They also hold 12 percent of seats in urban councils, and 28 percent of those in rural councils.

The mismatch between the number of women in Zimbabwe and their presence in politics is something for which women must shoulder part of the blame, says Women's Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri.

"The 'PHD' or 'Pull Her Down' syndrome has worked against us women. I am worried by the extent to which we have internalised our own oppression and take this out by oppressing other women. We are jealous and do not want to see other women succeed," she told another conference held in Harare under the auspices of 'Women can do it', this time in October.

"We tend to vote for men because our lived experiences have conditioned us to be subordinates," added Muchinguri, who heads up the Women's League of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

The minister also pointed a finger at the way in which women's traditional responsibilities tend to rule out other pursuits: "The patriarchal nature of our society relegates women to the domestic sphere...The roles of women as mothers and carers make it impossible for them to be effective in full time politics."

In addition, "Politics cost money and women often do not have resources to fund their election campaigns because women are economically dependent and lack access to basic resources."

Certain activists further note that even if women are not confined to the home, perceptions that they belong there may undermine their chances of winning political office.

Zimbabwe has taken steps to help women break free of these constraints. A National Gender Policy that has been in place since 2004 aims -- in part -- to have 52 percent of decision-making posts occupied by women.

The country is a signatory to the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, which set a goal of having 30 percent of decision-making posts in member states in female hands by 2005 (although few countries in SADC reached this target, it has since been adjusted to having women occupy 50 percent of decision-making posts).

Zimbabwe is also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which requires signatories to root out discrimination against women in political and public life.

But, warns Alice Kwaramba, assistant programme officer for human rights and democracy building at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, a foundation based in Johannesburg, this all amounts to more bark than bite.

"The ceremonial act of placing signatures on paper has remained ceremonial and has not been accompanied by actions that translate into tangible transformation of the status of women," she told IPS.

A question that begs asking is whether activists will be able to muster broad support for greater women's participation in politics at a time when Zimbabweans are preoccupied by the severe political and economic problems afflicting their country.

Hyper-inflation and widespread poverty have put basic commodities beyond the reach of many, and the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that about four million people in the country will require food aid next year.

Various legislative changes that hold out the promise of easing controls on opposition activity and the media are working their way through parliament, this after years of government crackdowns on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), rights activists and journalists -- and a number of elections marred by irregularities. SADC-mediated talks between government and the MDC are also underway.

However, as rights watchdog Amnesty International observed in a Dec. 14 statement, "government continues to beat and torture human rights defenders and political opponents, despite the ongoing mediation process being facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)."

Notes MDC member of parliament Trudy Stevenson: "On top of these economic and social challenges, female politicians are usually the targets of campaign violence. They cannot afford to hire bodyguards like their male counterparts. Violence meted against female candidates in elections is real."

"I partly blame it on the patriarchal society in which we are living where women are ascribed certain roles, of which political participation is not one. I think as an opposition MP I fall between two stools as a woman...neither commanding the respect of my colleagues or those from the opposite side," she told IPS.

"Female MPs are very few but our politics is common because we all suffer from violence meted (out to) us by competing male politicians, and at times it can be very lonely being a female MP in Zimbabwe." (END/2007)

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EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE:Getting Harder To Keep Children In School

2008-01-30T01:48:00.000-08:00

Kenya Elections story- UPDATE/POLITICS-KENYA: Mediation to Address Election Crisis Planned

2008-01-03T02:11:00.002-08:00

NAIROBI and JOHANNESBURG, Jan 3 (IPS) - Opposition officials have postponed a gathering that was supposed to take place Thursday in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, this after police clashed with demonstrators as they tried to make their way to Uhuru Park for the rally.

The head of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Raila Odinga, had appealed for a million people to be present at the gathering, which forms part of a days-long campaign to have results from the Dec. 27 presidential poll, which saw head of state Mwai Kibaki returned to office, overturned. The event has apparently been rescheduled for next Tuesday.

Reports of violence also emerged from the coastal city of Mombasa.

The chairman of the African Union, Ghanaian President John Kufuor, had been expected in Kenya Thursday to help bring an end to post-election strife that has claimed upwards of 300 lives across the East African country, according to figures from the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the International Federation for Human Rights.

There appeared to be some uncertainty about his visit at the time of issuing this update, although the ODM has said it is willing to accept him as a mediator. However, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu was said to have arrived in Nairobi to mediate in the crisis; plans have reportedly been made for him to hold talks with Odinga, but not with the president.

Appeals for calm have been made by Britain and the United States, among others, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown raising the possibility of an administration that includes both Odinga and Kibaki, sworn in for his second term on Sunday.

Between 70,000 and 100,000 people are said to have been displaced in the violence, which erupted over the weekend as concerns grew about the validity of the vote count for the presidential ballot. With opinion polls having given Odinga the edge over Kibaki during the campaign, the ODM head and his supporters were quick to allege electoral fraud concerning the president's re-election.

Concerns about the poll were also expressed by the European Union observer mission, which earlier this week issued a damning assessment of certain aspects of the elections. A Jan. 1 statement from the mission quotes Chief Observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff as saying that "...problems started after the close of polls. EU observers were turned away from tallying centres, particularly in Central province, without being given results and were denied access to the tallying room at Electoral Commission (ECK) headquarters on several occasions."

Results from Central province were to prove decisive.

While Odinga was the clear frontrunner in the initial stages of the vote count, his lead eventually narrowed, amidst delays -- notably in the announcement of results from Central province, a Kibaki stronghold. The final count gave the president victory by approximately 200,000 votes, sparking fears that results had been held back until officials knew by how much they should be inflated to ensure victory for Kibaki. The Odinga camp was, in turn, accused of vote rigging.

The Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum also pronounced itself dissatisfied with the vote counting, and in a further twist, Electoral Commission of Kenya head Samuel Kivuitu told a local paper that he did not know whether Kibaki had won or not.

Widespread looting and arson have accompanied the death and displacement, which are being attributed to ethnic divides as much as political rivalries. Kibaki is part of the Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest ethnic group, long dominant in business and politics to the ire of other tribes. Odinga is a member of the Luo group.

In perhaps the most shocking incident of the post-election period, as many as 50 people were killed Tuesday in the western town of Eldoret when the church that they had taken refuge in was set alight. Those in the church were said to be Kikuyus; western Kenya constitutes Odinga's support base.

The political rhetoric has been as heated as the confrontations in Kenya's streets and slums, with Kibaki and Odinga accusing each other of being responsible for genocide.

Matters have not been improved, say observers, by repressive treatment of protesters by police, or the imposition of a ban on live broadcasts -- something that serves to encourage "a dangerous flurry of rumors and speculations," noted Tom Rhodes, Africa programme co-ordinator of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

"On a more positive note," says the EU statement, "the parliamentary election broadly appears to have commanded greater confidence amongst Kenyan people." (Dec. 27 also saw legislative and local elections take place in Kenya.)

The parliamentary ballot gave the ODM about 100 seats of the 210 contested, against almost 40 for Kibaki's Party of National Unity (exact figures are not available on the ECK website), raising the spectre of a president hamstrung at every turn by hostile legislators. Kibaki's invitation for parliament to meet him at State House this week was apparently rebuffed by opposition legislators.

Most of the president's cabinet members were wiped from the electoral landscape on Dec. 27. Vice president Moodi Awori (ousted from a seat in the Western province that he had held for over 25 years), foreign affairs minister Raphael Tuju, information minister Mutahi Kagwe, health minister Paul Sang and lands minister Kivutha Kibwana were amongst the casualties.

Another clear statement of the electorate’s desire to make a break from the past was the defeat of three sons of former president Daniel arap Moi. Gideon Moi lost the Baringo Central Constituency in the Rift Valley, a seat the Moi family had held for the last 50 years on the platform of the Kenya African National Union. The other two, Jonathan Toroitich and Raymond Moi, were also allied with Kibaki, and duly lost to ODM candidates.

For many observers, it seemed clear that voters attached little significance to Kibaki’s achievements on the economic front. "It is a generational change. People have given a verdict against the longstanding, old political clique," said Andrew Mwangi, a civil servant.

This may have been because growth has largely failed to translate into better living standards for a good many Kenyans -- in part because of corruption that Kibaki failed to quell, despite his promises to the contrary during the last polls, in 2002. Roads and the railway network did not improve either, while the largely inefficient bureaucratic machinery remained well entrenched.

But, the winds of change will blow to scant effect in parliament while the crisis over the presidency continues to loom.

When President Kenneth Kuanda lost the 1991 election in Zambia, a bewildered Mobutu Sese Seko exclaimed: "How could you lose an election you had organised yourself?"

Hopes are that Kenya is not living down to the expectations expressed by the erstwhile Zairean ruler. (END/2008)

ZIMBABWE: A "Can Do" Approach to Greater Political Involvement of Women

2008-01-03T02:11:00.001-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Dec 30 (IPS) - With general elections expected to take place in Zimbabwe this coming March, a campaign is underway to increase women's political participation in the Southern African country.

The initiative is a revitalised version of the ཮-50' campaign, which began last year but failed to gain momentum. Now, activists are campaigning under the slogan 'Women can do it!'. The effort is being spearheaded by the Women's Trust, a non-governmental organisation based in the capital of Harare, and is receiving support from the Norwegian government.

"The campaign provides a structure and action to mobilise Zimbabwean women to get involved in the electoral process and constitutional debates as candidates and voters," Luta Shaba, executive director of the Women's Trust, told IPS.

"We want to thrash out issues that are stopping us as women from getting into power and making transformative changes to the lives of women."

The campaign brings together women from political parties, civil society organisations, the private sector and educational institutions throughout the country. In a declaration issued after an August conference for the initiative, held in Harare, supporters of the campaign made several demands, including that 50 percent of candidates for political parties be women -- and for the introduction of proportional representation.

At present, candidates with the most votes, by whatever margin, are elected to the presidency and parliament. Proportional representation would see candidates allocated seats according to their parties' share of the vote, a system that is often viewed as more effective for getting higher numbers of women into decision-making posts.

The declaration also recommends that half of party funding provided by government be reserved for women candidates.

Women constitute 52 percent of the population in Zimbabwe, according to the Central Statistical Office's most recent census, conducted in 2005.

However, they hold only 19 percent of cabinet posts, 17 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament and 36.6 percent in the senate, according to figures from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development. They also hold 12 percent of seats in urban councils, and 28 percent of those in rural councils.

The mismatch between the number of women in Zimbabwe and their presence in politics is something for which women must shoulder part of the blame, says Women's Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri.

"The 'PHD' or 'Pull Her Down' syndrome has worked against us women. I am worried by the extent to which we have internalised our own oppression and take this out by oppressing other women. We are jealous and do not want to see other women succeed," she told another conference held in Harare under the auspices of 'Women can do it', this time in October.

"We tend to vote for men because our lived experiences have conditioned us to be subordinates," added Muchinguri, who heads up the Women's League of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

The minister also pointed a finger at the way in which women's traditional responsibilities tend to rule out other pursuits: "The patriarchal nature of our society relegates women to the domestic sphere...The roles of women as mothers and carers make it impossible for them to be effective in full time politics."

In addition, "Politics cost money and women often do not have resources to fund their election campaigns because women are economically dependent and lack access to basic resources."

Certain activists further note that even if women are not confined to the home, perceptions that they belong there may undermine their chances of winning political office.

Zimbabwe has taken steps to help women break free of these constraints. A National Gender Policy that has been in place since 2004 aims -- in part -- to have 52 percent of decision-making posts occupied by women.

The country is a signatory to the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, which set a goal of having 30 percent of decision-making posts in member states in female hands by 2005 (although few countries in SADC reached this target, it has since been adjusted to having women occupy 50 percent of decision-making posts).

Zimbabwe is also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which requires signatories to root out discrimination against women in political and public life.

But, warns Alice Kwaramba, assistant programme officer for human rights and democracy building at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, a foundation based in Johannesburg, this all amounts to more bark than bite.

"The ceremonial act of placing signatures on paper has remained ceremonial and has not been accompanied by actions that translate into tangible transformation of the status of women," she told IPS.

A question that begs asking is whether activists will be able to muster broad support for greater women's participation in politics at a time when Zimbabweans are preoccupied by the severe political and economic problems afflicting their country.

Hyper-inflation and widespread poverty have put basic commodities beyond the reach of many, and the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that about four million people in the country will require food aid next year.

Various legislative changes that hold out the promise of easing controls on opposition activity and the media are working their way through parliament, this after years of government crackdowns on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), rights activists and journalists -- and a number of elections marred by irregularities. SADC-mediated talks between government and the MDC are also underway.

However, as rights watchdog Amnesty International observed in a Dec. 14 statement, "government continues to beat and torture human rights defenders and political opponents, despite the ongoing mediation process being facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)."

Notes MDC member of parliament Trudy Stevenson: "On top of these economic and social challenges, female politicians are usually the targets of campaign violence. They cannot afford to hire bodyguards like their male counterparts. Violence meted against female candidates in elections is real."

"I partly blame it on the patriarchal society in which we are living where women are ascribed certain roles, of which political participation is not one. I think as an opposition MP I fall between two stools as a woman...neither commanding the respect of my colleagues or those from the opposite side," she told IPS.

"Female MPs are very few but our politics is common because we all suffer from violence meted (out to) us by competing male politicians, and at times it can be very lonely being a female MP in Zimbabwe." (END/2007)

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ZIMBABWE: Good Intentions Plus Poor Implementation Equals Dry Taps

2008-01-03T02:11:00.000-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Dec 30 (IPS) - A 20-litre bucket in hand, Abigail Shonhiwa ponders the stretch ahead in her journey to the next watering hole, a distance of about seven kilometres. Her suburb has been facing recurrent water shortages since 2000, in part because it is built on a plateau in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

The ageing treatment plant at the Morton Jeffrey Water Works, located about 20 kilometres outside of the city, has difficulty building up enough pressure to push the water through to the tap at Shonhiwa’s house. The British colonial administration put the water works infrastructure in place several decades ago, and the current government has not adequately maintained or replaced the equipment.

Shonhiwa can say little about the Water Act of 1998, which the government introduced in an effort to ensure that all its citizens would have sufficient access to water.

"I know nothing about that. All I know is that ZINWA is now in charge of water affairs," Shonhiwa told IPS with an expression of resignation as she set out on the remainder of her journey.

ZINWA, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, a parastatal organisation, is tasked with managing the country’s water affairs. It was set up in terms of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Act at the same time as the Water Act of 1998 was passed by parliament.

The two acts together replaced an earlier Water Act of 1976, because government wanted to provide the people of Zimbabwe with more equitable access to water.

At the Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum held in the resort town of Victoria Falls in northern Zimbabwe last month, the country’s minister of water resources and infrastructural development, Munacho Mutezo, said that the previous legislation had made water provision and management an impossible task -- and that broader consultation was needed in this regard.

In terms of the two acts of 1998, ZINWA would take over the running of water affairs and infrastructure at all levels of government, including those of municipal authorities. The parastatal was to assume responsibility for the construction and maintenance of dams, for all systems required to ensure the distribution of water and for billing operations.

"The main purpose of the creation of ZINWA was to make water available to all the people throughout the country, as previously some people in the rural areas were still using water from unprotected sources like rivers. Now there are boreholes and dams almost everywhere," Mutezo told delegates at the Victoria Falls conference.

However, certain water experts have a different viewpoint on the way water resources are being managed in Zimbabwe.

In a 2006 paper titled 'Water sector reforms in Zimbabwe', Hodson Makurira and Menard Mugumo acknowledged that "Although Zimbabwe has the legal framework for integrated water management, the situation on the ground does not reflect the policy."

The process of taking over the various water authorities has been slow and fraught with controversy.

ZINWA was supposed to ensure that water was affordable and accessible even to the poorest communities in the country; yet where it has taken over, rates have increased ten-fold, taps run dry, and sewage and water pumps burst regularly -- while waterborne diseases have become part of urban life. To date, the agency has not built a single dam, while three major dams supplying water in the southern region of the country were decommissioned after drying up.

ZINWA has met with grim resistance from residents of Harare since it assumed control of water management in the capital -- also Zimbabwe's largest city. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) says there is no difference between the Water Acts of 1927 and 1976 and that of 1998.

"This talk about introducing pieces of legislation aimed at improving water availability is bar talk. The coming in of these new laws has actually worsened the problem of water shortages, particularly the vesting of all water powers in the hands of ZINWA. In all fairness, the coming in of ZINWA heralded a new era -- that of water shortages," said Jabusile Shumba, CHRA senior programmes and advocacy officer.

The distressing experiences in Harare have caused residents of other towns and cities to oppose ZINWA’s bids to take over water management in their respective areas.

For example in Gwanda, about 125 kilometres south of Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, Mayor Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla says his municipality will not hand over its sewer reticulation system to ZINWA because of that organisation’s reputation for incompetence.

Some commentators speculate that the national government has insisted on turning over water management in urban areas to a bungling parastatal because the cities and towns tend to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"There is no hope for the future. We don’t really know what’s happening at ZINWA. Maybe the parent ministry knows, but the past two years have been appalling," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told IPS.

ZINWA often attempts to defend itself by saying that it does not have enough foreign currency to purchase essential water equipment.

A ZINWA official who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity explained, "We have been bashed left, right and centre. People blame us for the water shortages, but we have only been operational for less than two years. There is no money to finance major projects such as the rehabilitation of water works, which we inherited in obsolete state."

The past few years have seen a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe, where government has come under fire for economic mismanagement and widespread human rights abuse. (END/2007)

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Thank God to be alive

2008-01-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to the almighty that i am still alive and gets to see the sun shine again in 2008. After all the hardships that Zimbabweans continue to face at the hands of a callous regime.

Tutu on death penalty

2007-11-13T03:38:00.000-08:00

SAfrica's Tutu calls for global ban on death penalty ahead of UN vote

2007-11-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AFP) - The death penalty is a violation of fundamental human rights, and it should be abolished around the world, South Africa's Desmond Tutu wrote in a comment piece in The Guardian on Tuesday.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former archbishop of Cape Town, was writing ahead of a vote on a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for a moratorium on executions with the ultimate goal of abolishing the practice later this month.

"I am delighted that the death penalty is being removed from the globe," Tutu wrote, referring to steadily rising numbers of countries that have abolished capital punishment in either law or practice.

"The death penalty ... says that to kill in certain circumstances is acceptable, and encourages the doctrine of revenge.

"If we are to break these cycles, we must remove government-sanctioned violence."

According to Giuseppe Manzo, a counsellor at Italy's UN mission, 72 countries co-sponsored a draft resolution on the death penalty which was circulated earlier this month, ahead of a vote by the full 192-member assembly.

"The time has come to abolish the death penalty worldwide," Tutu wrote.

"The case for abolition becomes more compelling with each passing year."

Two previous attempts to secure adoption of such a resolution in the General Assembly failed in 1994 and 1999.

According to human rights group Amnesty International, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, while 64 countries and territories retain and use capital punishment, although the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

"In country after country, it (capital punishment) is used disproportionately against the poor or against racial or ethnic minorities," Tutu wrote in The Guardian.

"It is often used as a tool of political repression. It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is an irrevocable punishment, resulting inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime.

"It is a violation of fundamental human rights."

Zim gov's belief in n'angas defies logic

2007-11-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

“THE government and the President believe in African culture, we believe in spirit mediums. She said the diesel was coming from our ancestors, so we had to pursue it. The second reason is the current fuel problems. If we had not pursued it, she was going to blame the government.”
These were the words of Mashonaland West governor Nelson Samkange answering questions on why the government invested so much faith in claims by a Chinhoyi spirit medium that she had powers to produce fuel out of a rock.
To many, this came as a big surprise, because nowhere in the world had diesel been squeezed out of a rock. Had this hoax come true, it could have been the first such miracle in the world.
Pictures of barefooted government officials attending diesel rituals have been published in the press, raising questions about ruling ZANU PF party’s ability to steer the country out of the current political and economic quagmire.
It is the seriousness with which they followed the proceedings that will leave even a primary school kid worried about the future.
What if the trusted spirit mediums die?
To many, the pictures drew a lot of laughter. But behind the humour lies desperation, which calls for serious introspection into how the country is being governed.
At a time many Zimbabweans are looking for a few pennies to make ends meet, one can easily wake up and claim to the gullible ZANU PF government to have discovered a rock where United States Dollars, British Pounds and South African rands can be extracted.
At this level of desperation, any such claims can be taken seriously. Why not, when the spirit medium managed to enjoy royal status amounting to $5 billion dollars. Prosecutors are taking her as a mental case. But what about those who she took for a ride?
Two government taskforces, made up of no less than six cabinet ministers were set up to investigate the existence of the manna from heaven.
Serious questions must be asked. Is it through spirit mediums, or through proper political processes, that a country can be governed?
“The problem is that the government justifies everything that it does by quoting the liberation struggle, which it claims to have been led by spirit mediums. But this spirit notion does not apply today. It’s either you discover oil, or you don’t. From a scientific point of view, you have to discover it and not try and find it through some strange prayer,” said political analyst Takura Zhangazha.
But Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land reform and Resettlement in the President’s office Didymus Mutasa, government’s front man in the diesel saga, said he believed the spirit medium because of the role they played during the liberation struggle.
Spirit mediums offered guidance and counselling to freedom fighters, he told The Standard, and “could manage miracles and strange happenings, anyone who was or claims to be part of this country’s liberation will tell you of the very important roles performed by our spirit mediums.”
So is it now government policy to govern on the basis of advice proffered by spirit mediums?
“It is very unfortunate, but it only shows the level of desperation of the government. Discovery of oil has been tried and tested. Where has diesel ever been found in its refined form? If a government goes to the extent of not being able to make its own analysis of a claim, then it would have run out of ideas. The diesel story is the clearest evidence of that so far,” said a political analyst who requested anonymity.
“It has something to do with the reported succession issue. These people who believed in the spirit medium thought that by doing so, they would make themselves legitimate successors to the President through the discovery of diesel.”
University of Zimbabwe political analyst, Eldred Masunungure, said the ruling party’s latest move to consult a spirit medium over the country’s complex economic and political problems is the latest signal of the levels of desperation to which they have sunk.
“I am not surprised by the government’s behaviour. It simply shows that the leadership is stranded and hopeless. They are now trying to invest their faith in miracles as a solution. They are hoping for some kind of salvation, divine intervention,” said Masunungure.
“Ordinary people can turn to sangomas and prayers but when a state does the same it really defies logic. How can the highest policy making body consult a n’anga for solutions? All it tells us is that they are looking for some psychological satisfaction to the problems. The diesel story is only a tip of the iceberg, there might be other cases of n’angas that are yet to be put onto the public sphere.”
The ruling ZANU PF party’s traditional beliefs were last year taken a gear up when it moved to “Africanise” parliament by erecting a granite chair in the house of assembly which will be used by President Mugabe. The "cultural reforms" makes the parliament look more like a safari lodge. A stuffed leopard and two antelope heads hang on the walls and a leopard skin adorns the granite chair used by Mugabe and two elephant tusks.
Aneas Chigwedere, the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, who was charged with spearheading the reforms in the house last year, said parliamentary reforms where in line with our traditional beliefs.
He said, “In our traditional society, the Mutapa or Mambo or Nkosi
was the Head of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. In this context,
the Speaker of parliament or president of the Senate simply represents the
jinda or induna [headman] of the State President. The chair or seat he
operates from is therefore, in essence, the State President's chair."
He said the chair represents a lion, which in turn symbolises power and authority in line with African culture.

END///

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE:Activists Outmanoeuvred - But Undeterred

2007-11-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Oct 24 (IPS) - Anti-death penalty activists in Zimbabwe are keeping up their campaign, despite a police clampdown on their meetings and ever-lengthening food queues, power cuts and the relentless rise in prices of many essential items.

"It is now very difficult to obtain police clearance to hold gatherings. Everything we try to do to bring people together is viewed by the police as a political event," John Chinamurungu, Amnesty International's chairperson in Zimbabwe, told IPS. "It's very difficult to get campaigns going."

Amnesty and the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Zacro) have been co-operating closely to rally public support for the abolition of the death penalty and to get the issue on the national political agenda.

Zacro’s new engagement follows an opinion article by an official of the organisation in the state-owned daily, 'The Herald', last January. This announced the opening of a carefully-scripted Zacro campaign, details of which were later outlined to IPS by Edson Chiota, the organisation's national co-ordinator.

The plan included carrying the message of abolition to Zimbabwe's 13 million citizens with the printing and distribution of millions of posters and pamphlets.

But campaigning has been hit by the speed and scale of the unfolding economic crisis. In January the year-on-year official inflation rate was 1,600 percent. In September it reached 7,982.1 percent, according to the government's Central Statistical Office. Unofficially, the rate is said to be approaching 25,000 percent.

Paper and fuel, essential for a nationwide campaign, are almost impossible to obtain.

The struggle to exist from day to day is now uppermost on people's minds. In the capital, Harare, hour-long queues for bread are normal. Earlier this month, the agriculture ministry announced that the wheat harvest was two-thirds of what was required. Shortly afterwards, the official price of bread was increased by 300 percent.

"There are millions in Zimbabwe who need food assistance," Richard Lee of the United Nations World Food Programme, said in August. It was estimated then that some 3.3 million would require the agency's help to survive over the coming months.

Authorities have responded to any street protest or show of dissent by rushing in riot police, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

But despite the unfolding catastrophe, Amnesty and Zacro have refused to be cowed into calling off their sensitisation workshops on the death penalty.

Amnesty's local vice-chairperson, Francis Mweene, has been a notable participant, having survived death row. He was sentenced to death in white-ruled Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known before it gained independence in 1980.

"It was a big surprise to me that I found myself able to live again…It was because Amnesty Zimbabwe stood for my right to life," he told IPS, recalling how the organisation’s international contacts helped pull him back from the jaws of death.

"It is through testimonies that I think people can be sensitised and understand why we are advocating against (the) death (sentence)."

Mweene's leading of the testimonies clearly makes it difficult for the authorities to step in and ban such meetings. Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, led a liberation war against the Ian Smith regime and would certainly have ended up on death row like Mweene had he been captured.

Alongside these meetings, Amnesty has been issuing T-Shirts emblazoned with anti-death penalty slogans.

In July, Zacro tried to persuade traditional leaders in the Council of Chiefs to support its anti-death penalty campaign. The chiefs were holding their annual meeting in Harare and the northern resort of Victoria Falls.

But politicians were clearly not willing to see this happen. They stepped in to prevent the death penalty issue being tabled at the meeting, according to sources.

"We hoped to start with the chiefs and use them as leverage to get this issue into the House of Assembly and eventually seek out an audience with the head of state," Chakanyuka told IPS.

The chiefs could have raised the issue in parliament, where they sit by appointment.

Zacro's focus on the chiefs fitted into the initial thrust of the campaign, which argued that the death penalty was "alien and contrary to traditional African concepts of justice and beliefs".

The meeting also showed that opinion among the officially-supported chiefs was divided on the death penalty issue.

"You should be given a sentence in accordance with your crime. If you deliberately kill, you should also be killed," Chief Makoni told the meeting, according to a press report at the time in the privately-owned 'Financial Gazette'.

It has been suggested that the chiefs might have been less than enthusiastic about being associated with such a controversial issue and bringing it before Mugabe, for fear of losing their privileges. They are essentially on the government payroll.

"With the elections coming there is no chance we will be able to talk to the chiefs again until afterwards," a disappointed Chakanyuka said.

The polls -- presidential, parliamentary and local government -- are expected to be held in six months.

Zacro is now planning to circulate a nation-wide petition calling for abolition of the death penalty.

"We want to present a petition to President Mugabe since he is the man who has been vested with all the powers to decide if one should be sent to the gallows or not," Chakanyuka said.

Mugabe has resisted all calls for the repeal of the death penalty, which dates back to the colonial era, in his 27 years of rule -- and is unlikely to change his mind now, in the twilight of his beleaguered regime.

But by campaigning on this issue now and associating the retention of capital punishment more closely with his name, it may be hoped that one of the first measures to be adopted by his successors will be the abolition of the death penalty.

Zacro is also hoping that its campaign will stimulate public interest in further penal reforms.

The last execution in Zimbabwe was carried out in 2004. Since 1999 seven people have been executed by hanging, according to Zacro. (END/2007)

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TRADE-ZIMBABWE: Multilateral Still Better Than Bilateral Talks

2007-11-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Jul 31 (IPS) - Kumbirai Katsande, the managing director of a top Zimbabwean horticultural company, is in a buoyant mood. He hopes that his firm, Ariston Holdings, will make a big break in the lucrative European horticultural market where it sells its products.

''Our dream is to increase the volumes of flowers and fruit that we export to Europe. We have set ourselves a target of sending a full cargo load of our products to Europe within the first week of summer in Zimbabwe,’’ said Katsande with a broad smile.

But while he is optimistic, Katsande is very much aware of the pitfalls of the skewed game of international trade. These may well prevent his dream for his company from becoming true.

‘‘Although we are producing probably one of the best flower breeds in the world we still have no choice when it comes to determining the prices of our product on the international market. This is done by merchants in Europe and we do not know what will happen there,’’ Katsande told IPS.

It is against this background that the Zimbabwean government, as part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, has been engaging the European Union (EU) with a view to doing away with unfair trade imbalances through the EU’s proposed economic partnership agreements (EPAs).

The Zimbabwean government says it supports the ongoing EPA negotiations between the ACP and EU countries.

Minister of Industry and International Trade Obert Mpofu told IPS in an interview that the Zimbabwean government supports the EPA talks but also supports the efforts of Brazil and India to level the playing field in international trade in the World Trade Organisation.

‘‘We have bilateral trade agreements with European countries but when it comes to international trade issues we will support the multilateral route, which is why we hold memberships to the various international bodies. We do not believe that the bilateral route will not take us very far in international trade,’’ said Mpofu.

Added Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright Matonga, ‘‘at least we are to negotiate as part of a big bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Europeans will not be able to choose a preferred customer. When we try to negotiate as individual countries, we give them the ammunition to divide and discriminate against us’’.

‘‘There are serious structural issues which are overcome by negotiating as a bloc. For example, Zimbabwe’s impasse with the United Kingdom was made an EU issue. For them, what is bad for one country is bad for all of them and that is exactly what we are saying with regards to these trade issues.

‘‘There should not be any discrimination and if the EU comes with any prescribed measures on who to trade with and who not to trade with, then African countries as a bloc should take a common stand.’’ Matonga is adamant that Europe should not be given the leeway to choose who it wants to do business with.

‘‘We support the collective approach to trade issues. As long as trade is approached from an African perspective, Zimbabwe will support the talks. We understand that there are standards that have to be adhered to.

‘‘We welcome these as long as they do not discriminate against certain countries,’’ he said in apparent reference to rich countries’ punitive measures against the Zimbabwean government, taken in an effort to influence its policies.

Like other developing countries, the Zimbabwean government is also worried about the issue of agricultural subsidies in large markets such as the US and EU.

Zimbabwe is one of the African countries which have benefited from preferential trade agreements between the ACP and the EU over the years. The Lome agreements allowed unrestricted access to most of Zimbabwe’s exports to the EU, including products such as beef and flowers.

The EU and the ACP’s Cotonou trade agreement of 2000 was ratified by Zimbabwe’s parliament on November 15 2002. One of the objectives of the agreement is the eradication of poverty to enable the creation of stable economies.

The ACP countries and the EU also decided to act together and negotiate the EPAs to better integrate ACP countries into the global economy.

Zimbabwe introduced export processing zones (EPZs) as a way of boosting the country’s export earnings. The country’s export earnings have been poor for many years due to the worsening political crisis. Under the EPZ programme, exporting companies are given various incentives such as a five-year tax holiday and a low import duty of 15 percent at first, to be replaced by duty free importation of capital goods and machinery after a set period.

Some of the farms in the EPZ were acquired under the controversial land reform programme in 2000. Some of the notable companies affected by the land reform programme were Kondozi farm and Charleswood Estate in eastern Zimbabwe. Both produced world-class fruit and flowers for export.

Jabusile Shumba, a Harare-based researcher who has attended World Social Forum (WSF) meetings, warned that Africa should not wait for ‘‘manna from heaven’’ in the current EPA negotiations.

‘‘We need an African programme with which to achieve what the Asian tigers have achieved with minimal resources. We should make ourselves globally competitive by adding value to our products.

‘‘Take a look at developing countries that produce coffee beans which are sold for two US cents but when it returns, it is coffee which will be sold for two dollars. The ACP-EU negotiations are very necessary but they should be done within a legal context to ensure that no country, poor or rich, break the agreed rules.’’ (END/2007)

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TRADE-ZIMBABWE: A Balancing Act Between China and the EU

2007-11-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Oct 18 (IPS) - The Zimbabwean government’s isolation from the international economic arena has forced it to turn right while indicating left.

The country’s deputy minister of industry and international trade, Pheneas Chihota, recently made a startling admission when he said that the European Union (EU), which imposed targeted sanctions against the Zimbabwean political elite over its blighted human rights record, still remains the troubled southern African country’s key trade partner.

The Zimbabwean government stands accused of a string of human rights abuses, including the arbitrary arrest, detention and random assault of perceived enemies of the state.

The minister’s remarks, made in the parliament’s house of assembly, came as a surprise to some since the government had in the past year earmarked the Asian continent, particularly China, as its trade partner of first resort. China has been granted approved destination status (ADS), which gives the Asian country easy access to Zimbabwean markets.

The government even went a step further, launching the ‘‘Look East'' Policy which was designed to find new markets for the country’s products. But this move is yet to bear fruit, as former Zimbabwean ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, has admitted.

He said that ‘‘local business people are reluctant to partner Chinese business’’.

Chihota’s candid comment was seen as an admission by the government that the ‘‘Look East Policy’’, derisively dismissed by Zimbabweans, has failed to contribute any meaningful development to Zimbabwe’s crumbling economy.

The government has seemingly realised that the EU remains a crucial market for Zimbabwean products.

‘‘The country is benefiting from trade with the EU and the EU is by far the most important donor to this country,’’ Chihota told the house of assembly before the presentation of Zimbabwe’s supplementary budget by Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi last month.

‘‘Zimbabwe exports 55,000 tons of sugar to the EU every year. Our companies are benefiting from sugar exports,’’ Chihota added. He expressed support for the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states.

Chihota’s comments come at a time when the EU’s EPA offer includes the phasing out of duties and quotas on sugar from ACP countries. The minister used the time to rally parliamentarians around this process, which is scheduled to start in January 2008 if the EPA talks are concluded.

Zimbabwe is a major exporter of sugar from its gigantic plantations in the southwest of the country. Accepting the EPA, Chihota said, would ensure that the country could export sugar at improved terms. The EU says low cost producers like Zimbabwe and Malawi stand to benefit immensely from the proposed liberalisation of the sugar trade market.

However, the cutting of duties and quotas also coincides with the EU's decision to cut its minimum guaranteed price for sugar. The EU price will drop by 36 percent between 2006 and 2009, which will bring it in line with the world sugar price.

Producers in Malawi and Mauritius have expressed concern about the effect the drop in prices will have on new investment which is planned in the industries to capitalise on the lower duties.

IPS has reported that sugar prices could fall from 400 to 500 euros per metric ton to just 335 euros per metric ton. The drop may continue even further in 2009 when duty-free access will be extended with safeguards. Quota and duty requirements will only be scrapped in totality in 2015.

Despite the political standoff with the EU and the U.S., official statistics indicate that Zimbabwe's imports from the United Kingdom and Germany totalled about 330 million dollars in 2006.

The EU was once the largest consumer of Zimbabwean beef, with more than 9,000 tons per year being exported at the peak of the bilateral trade relations. It has since set stringent conditions for the importation of Zimbabwean beef products.

Last month, the ministry of lands and agriculture suspended all efforts to resume trade with the European beef market, saying that it was not worth trying because it will not get a fair deal.

Exports to the two countries totalled about 100 million dollars last year, while tourist arrivals from the EU and the US closed the year at about 140,000 in 2006. This figure is four times that of arrivals from the East (including China), which recorded only 37,000 arrivals during the same period. (END/2007)

A family home submerged in sewage in Harare

2007-11-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Water Shortages in Capital Leave Residents Desperate

2007-11-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini*

HARARE, Jul 31 (IPS) - Taps in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, are running dry even though the city’s main supply dams are more than 60 percent full, according to figures from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). With more than half of Harare's three million inhabitants now experiencing water shortages, residents are resorting to desperate measures to find supplies.

Carrying a large bucket to work has become a daily task for Tedious Marembo, employed as a cleaner at a block of government offices in the city. This building is never without water, because it houses three government ministries. So Marembo fills his bucket at work to provide water for his wife and two children who live in Kuwadzana, a poor suburb in the south-west of Harare.

"My wife has to walk a long distance to get water at a church in my neighbourhood where a borehole was sunk, (and) she has to pay 50,000 dollars for a bucket. The only way I can help her cope with household chores is to carry with me a 20-litre bucket to bring water from my work place," he said.

At the official exchange rate, 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars is worth 200 U.S. dollars; at the black-market rate, however, it would only buy 36 U.S. cents at the time of writing. On average, civil servants earn four million Zimbabwe dollars -- a little over 22 U.S. dollars per month, at unofficial rates.

Harare has experienced intermittent water shortages for some two years now, due mainly to poor management and ageing infrastructure. Water experts from a Scandinavian development agency who preferred to remain anonymous said ZINWA management was inadequate because the water authority was not run by professionals, but rather by political appointees hired by Water Resources and Infrastructural Development Minister Munacho Mutezo.

The experts believe the capital's water distribution system, built long before independence in 1980, has gone without proper maintenance for many years. Critically important pumps that have an expected lifespan of between 15 and 20 years had not been replaced since they were installed, for instance.

Sanitation has gone the way of water provision, as members of the Mashapa household -- also in Kuwadzana -- can attest. A blocked pipe caused a fetid pool of sewage to build up around their house, and this outflow now slowly winds its way through the suburb to a nearby stream.

"We are locking children in the house. They can no longer play outside because of the danger of contracting diseases. Cholera is right in our midst; we have reported to ZINWA and they came…but as soon as they left the problem started (again); we now don’t even know what to do and who to tell," said Olivia Mashapa, mother of the family.

While the Mashapa children may be kept away from the sewage, others are not: primary school children who use a path alongside the Mashapa home are obliged to pick their way through waste matter, while other children play in the effluent -- and are exposed to water borne diseases.

At the far end of the suburb, still more residents are at risk, as they buy vegetables from vendors who sell their wares right next to open sewage. Many toilets in this area are blocked and can no longer be used.

"I did not bath today; I have been up and down the suburbs looking for water. Sometimes we get the water from the main local authority office, but today they are refusing to let us into their premises to fetch water, although we are still paying our water bills in full," said Memory Mucherahowa, an elderly street vendor.

For the fortunate few who can afford membership for the city centre gym, visits there have become a necessity -- not only for exercise, but also for a shower.

The frequency of service delivery problems increased significantly after the management of Harare’s water system was transferred earlier this year from the City Council to ZINWA. Opposition party members believe the transfer was based more on political considerations than managerial criteria.

Two reports tabled recently in Zimbabwe’s House of Assembly by the parliamentary portfolio committee on local government made it clear that ZINWA, a parastatal, lacked funds, equipment and above all, the expertise to run the city’s water affairs.

"Although ZINWA reiterates that it has the capacity to take over the entirety of water and sewerage services in the country's urban areas, local authorities and the public feel that ZINWA is not able to undertake this task," one of the reports stated.

"In view of the evidence gathered, the committee recommends that the cabinet reconsider the directive as the takeover of the services from the city of Harare has proved that ZINWA has no capacity."

Government has however not implemented recommendations for the city’s water management to be returned to the council, and ZINWA is in the process of extending its reach to other cities and towns including the country’s second largest city, Bulawayo.

IPS was not able to get comment from ZINWA about the complaints made against it.

The water shortages constitute just one of many difficulties confronting Harare, and Zimbabwe as a whole. Runaway inflation and high unemployment have driven many into poverty -- and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that just over two million of the country's approximately 13 million citizens will experience food shortages "as early as the third quarter of 2007".

This figure "will rise to 4.1 million at the peak of the crisis in the months before the next main harvest in April 2008," the WFP website goes on to say.

Economic difficulties are paralleled by a political crisis that has resulted in a number of disputed elections, and widespread human rights abuses.

* This feature is the first in a two-part series on water shortages in Zimbabwe. The second item, 'DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: The City of "Passport Size" Ablutions', focuses on the water situation in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo. (END/2007)
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Stampede for Water in Harare

2007-11-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

ZIMBABWE: A Water and Sewerage Crisis That Goes "Straight to the Grave"

2007-11-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Sep 30 (IPS) - A young Zimbabwean couple glances furtively around before settling on a bench in a bare patch of ground that used to be a recreational park in Glen View, a sprawling, high-density suburb of the capital, Harare. It’s a Monday morning, and the two of them are struggling to come to terms with a strange sickness that has gripped their family. Every move they make in the direction of the Glen View One Satellite Clinic shows they are in great pain.

"We are going to the clinic to seek medical attention. We have been twisting and turning all night and we don’t know what has hit us, but I suspect it’s the untreated water that we are drinking," Charles Nemukundu tells IPS as he leads his partner to the clinic, where waterborne diseases are being treated for free.

A water shortage and dilapidated sanitation works have caused Harare to become stifled by pools of open sewage and filthy public toilets.

Groups of women with buckets on their heads have become a common sight around streams that many residents of the city now use as their main source of water. Various toxic substances are deposited into the streams on a daily basis; yet the prospect of contracting diseases does not prevent people from drawing water there.

As a result, the incidence of waterborne diseases such as dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera has increased to such an extent that the Harare City Council (HCC) is obliged to offer free treatment.

The city’s health department last month warned of an imminent disaster in the capital if the water situation was not addressed. "The cases of diarrhoea reported and being treated at our clinics are increasing daily. We are treating 900 cases daily," an official at the HCC who preferred to remain anonymous told IPS.

Those living in the more affluent suburbs have also been caught up in the water crisis.

"Since the start of the problems, I have been buying mineral water from the shops for my children, but now I can’t do that any more because there is nothing left in the shops and I don’t know what to do now. I have tried boiling the water but it’s not helping either," said Gladys Mtombeni, a resident of Hillside, one of Harare’s more upmarket areas.

The current health crisis intensified when the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) took over the running of the city’s water affairs from the HCC. The takeover was met with considerable public opposition that went largely ignored by the authorities.

"The government has vowed it will go ahead with the project even as health officials show that recent deaths are due to the incompetence of ZINWA and that whole urban areas are threatened because ZINWA cannot be relied upon to provide water regularly," commented the weekly Standard newspaper in an editorial.

"Just how many more people must die in order to convince the government that this is a man-made catastrophe?"

A resident of Harare voiced similar sentiments in a letter to the editor published in a daily newspaper.

"Things might be hard, but it does not mean we have to accept living with our own waste in our kitchens. I suggest we declare the current water and sewer problems a national disaster. A stitch in time saves nine, lest we head for a catastrophic health situation," wrote the resident.

ZINWA says it is struggling to provide water and sewerage services to residents of the capital because ageing infrastructure has not been properly maintained. The lack of maintenance means that sewerage pipes burst repeatedly.

The country’s foreign currency shortages exacerbate the problem, making it difficult to import the raw materials needed to produce chemicals for the treatment of effluent. With an official inflation rate of 6,600 percent and an unofficial rate of almost twice that figure, many Zimbabwean companies that used to produce water treatment chemicals have been forced to suspend their operations. ZINWA now has to import the chemicals directly from overseas.

While Zimbabwe's economy continues its downward slide, it will probably be all but impossible to raise the funds required to restore normal water and sewerage services to all urban areas in the country.

The government of President Robert Mugabe has been accused of demolishing the economy through -- amongst others -- an ill-advised land reform programme. In the most recent case of mismanagement, an edict from government instructed retailers to cut all prices by fifty percent. This instruction, in an economy already crippled by rampant inflation, made it difficult for store supplies to be replenished -- and has caused many businesses to stop trading.

Noted Jabusile Shumba, a senior programmes officer for the Combined Harare Residents Association: "…we are in a crisis which has reached health menace status. This is certainly a national disaster which other people have made and are allowing to continue straight to the grave." (ENDS/IPS/AF/SA/AB/DC/WW/TW/HE/PD/MD/DV/SK/SSL/JH/07) (END/2007)

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