Letters

SADC summit on Zim polls
By Mandla akhe Dube
Saturday April 12, 2008 [04:00]

May I through your widely read paper share a copy of a letter I e-mailed to all SADC leaders on the eve of the Lusaka urgent summit on Zimbabwe. ‘My duly elected SADC leaders, I bring you greetings from New Zealand where I have lived since 2002.

I wish to add my voice to many you will be getting all week and especially today. The whole world's eyes are on you. As many of us expect nothing short of strict adherence to your agreed norms and standards for free and fair elections.

I do not recall any other SADC state that has had elections where contenders become referees to the extent of demanding when results will be released and calling for re-runs or runoffs before the official results are announced. This is shameful and cannot be allowed to obtain in this dispensation.

In the 'unlikely event' that you opt for a re-election, I urge you to take responsibility and run the election over one week. This in my view would mean you abolish the need for any rallies and instead candidates use the mass media while one of your stable nations prints the relevant ballot papers.

I stress 'unlikely' for it seems to me that the people of Zimbabwe spoke through the ballot. It is time to honour their voices. I am one of the 4 million who were disenfranchised and staged mock elections here to highlight this aspect.

All eyes are on you SADC leaders. For once, let the voice of reason and conscience prevail so you together can help rebuild Zimbabwe and also stage a global soccer World Cup showcase in South Africa whose economic spin-offs shall benefit the millions you represent.
Have a fruitful meeting.





http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=40206

Baobab land issue
By johnmanda
Saturday April 12, 2008 [04:00]

I find your letter on the Baobab land issue in The Post of April 8, 2008 very informative since the issue addressed here is of national interest.

That Baboab land was first advertised in the press, and a committee sat to discuss the matter and came up with the mandate to dispose of the land legally.

Zambians applied and were offered letters by the council to purchase the land. The transactions were done in good faith.

The President and his commissioner of lands rejected the whole process. What a shame and a waste of people's precious time.
What is happening in Zimbabwe will also occur in our country.

The issue of land is a very serious matter. Where indigenous people have been denied land, tempers rise. Right now, if you were to carry out a survey, much of the land in this country is in the hands of foreigners.

The prices of commodities keep on rising everyday. The people are silent, as if they are not affected at all. The levels of public theft are extremely high.

Remember, Zambians don't easily forget. When is the President going to solve these problems?
Xulusam



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=40205

Mugabe, Zimbabwe
By Concerned citizen
Saturday April 12, 2008 [04:00]

It's quite interesting to read various comments on the elections in Zimbabwe.

Some have argued that Mugabe should relinquish power to Morgan Tsvangirai, that Mugabe has outlived himself in the office, is responsible for the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe and that he is selfish and self-centred.

In case you do not know, Mugabe knows what he is doing. He loves his country and holds the future of Zimbabwe.

The major problem in Zimbabwe simply has to do with land. When the whites came to Zimbabwe, they made a promise to surrender the land to the natives.

That was not fulfilled. It took Mugabe to evict the whites from Zimbabwe. Credit must be given were it is due.

The whites in return imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe and it would not operate and trade with the western world. Most African countries are lagging behind in development.

It has become difficult to feed ourselves. The Zimbabweans are surprising in that situation despite having the land they wanted vast as it is, they don't want to farm the land. It is for prestige.

Zimbabweans are to blame for the mess in their country.
They do not want to work. Mugabe is protecting the land. He is aware that the issue of land is a serious matter. One has to look at South Africa today and askhow many blacks own land in that country?

Mugabe knows that with land, you are in a better position and able to manage and contribute meaningfully to the well-being of the nation.
It is only now that the white man has left and the gap is being felt. Let's not pretend. Facts are facts.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=40204

So far Zambian Airways has performed well
By Mike Mulabe
Saturday April 12, 2008 [04:00]

So far, Zambian Airways has performed well. From the outside, everything may seem to be running smoothly.

However, most of us may not be familiar with the internal operations of the airline due to lack of information. Zambian Airways is, and will always be our pride for having covered the vacuum left by Zambia Airways.

I wish to remind the company that they should not relax because survival in this industry is not easy, more especially for small carriers like Zambian Airways because major carriers are busy pushing small carriers out of business because of huge competition.

Major airlines can manage to survive the ever increasing costs of fuel and labour because of the economies of scale they enjoy as opposed to small carriers. So far, we have seen a number of carriers that started very well but were later faced with liquidation. Such examples include Eastern Airlines, Alliance Airlines and just recently, Oasis Airlines in Hong Kong.

Apart from these low cost carriers going into liquidation, some major airlines such as United Airlines had it tough just after emerging from bankruptcy protection in February 2006 under which it had operated since December 2002.

This industry is not as rosy as it may seem. It’s a luxury industry but less profitable. It therefore calls for vigorous strategies that would make a new airline survive. These will assist in easily predicting the future for the industry. If strategies are short-term, survival may be threatened by dramatic changes.

Earlier, I suggested to Zambian Airways to find strategic partners, to particularly convince major airlines to team up with them so that they can have some weight to lean on. Otherwise going it alone will just be disastrous for the airline in the near future.

Let the airline eye long haul routes with the muscle of major airlines.
They don’t need to have aircrafts to penetrate such markets. The reputation they have and the support that they are currently enjoying from the government should not be wasted.

If they don’t take advantage of such opportunities, they will have themselves to blame. Let them seek audience with the government to negotiate long haul routes for them. Once that is done, they can easily attract potential strategic partners before foreign carriers take advantage of their limitations and move in.