Malawi ‘Agenda for change’ summit in UK’s Nottingham
By Peter Makossah, Nyasa Times
Malawi Diaspora Forum (MDF) a consortium of diaspora Malawians in the United Kingdom currently hosting ‘Agenda for Change’ meetings across Great Britain aimed at strategising and charting a way forward for Malawi’s ailing economic crisis and the never-ending political catastrophes will on Saturday August 13th hold yet another conference in Nottingham City.
One of the organisers Edgar Chibaka, said the Nottingham meeting which will start at 2:30 pm will be held at Park Inn Hotel on 296 Mansfield Road just after the roundabout across Forest Grounds near Hyson Green (Post Code NG5 2BT) and is set to be the ‘mother of all meetings’ as it will draw closer Malawians from across the United Kingdom, various prominent diaspora African nationals in England, political and human rights activists and other dignified ‘Friends of Malawi’.
Park Inn Hotel, the venue for the Nottingham indaba is located just 10 minutes from Nottingham City Centre and over a mile from Nottingham train station. For those driving from all other destinations the hotel is aptly situated close to M1 Motorway junctions 25 and 26. Those travelling on a bus from City Centre can catch buses number 15, 16, 17, to 87 88 and 89 to the venue and the bus stop is just conspicuously opposite on the right.
MDF members: Calling for Bingu to step down
“We are inviting all Malawians across the UK particularly in England to come to this essential conference to put our heads together and advance further a strong ‘agenda for change’ for Malawi. Malawi is in dire straits needing urgent change otherwise the country will become a totally failed state under Bingu wa Mutharika. We can no longer wait for more bloodshed when we have the power and mandate to change things now,” states Chibaka.
According to Chibaka the Nottingham meeting which will run under a banner ‘Malawi Situation: Agenda for Change – Now or Never’ will discuss among other things possible means to maintain the impoverished southern African country’s peace and stability.
At its Manchester meeting last month MDF issued a 91 day ultimatum for President Mutharika to step down from office citing bad governance, shambolic economic situation, disrespect for the rule of law and political intolerance as examples that the Malawian leader has overstayed the warmth of the Malawian people.
“We maintain that Bingu wa Mutharika vacate the presidency for failing to manage the country within 91 days from the ‘July 20 Martyrs Day’ or he will be removed by all possible means,” said Chibaka.
Added Chibaka: “Our main objective as diaspora Malawians is to restore, strengthen democracy and good governance to ensure that our country is in the right direction while at the same time contributing positively towards matters of national concerns. Malawi is not a family business where Bingu can do as he pleases at the expenses of the poor people who put him in the highest position. For Bingu and his government enough is enough. He must go and he will go .”
MDF coordinator Thom Chiumia, a journalist, says the general consensus is that Malawian people are tired with Mutharika’s autocratic rule and cannot take no more.
“The best for Mutharika is to go gracefully before he rips the country into deep destitution because of his arrogance and heavy-handedness,” explains Chiumia.
George Mlanga, an MDF official said Malawi is fast drifting into back into dictatorship with millions of people living in incessant fear.
“We cannot afford to go back to the time when people used to suffer for simply having dissenting views. We fought and do away autocracy back in 1992 under the brutal leadership of Kamuzu Banda and I don’t think now we should be wasting our energies doing the same instead of channelling our strength to develop our country. We can no longer allow having tyrannical leaders at this age. Never,” he said.
Pastor Patrick Mtimbusya, an official in MDF sterling committee says the fight against Mutharika’s repressive regime will be spearheaded by God because Malawians are crying out to be delivered from Mutharika’s autocracy.
“Malawians must not fear, Bingu will go. This is not their fight God the creator will fight for them. God cannot allow his children to continue suffering because of one man,” says the man of God.
Malawi Diaspora Forum was formed on May 21 at a Conference which was held at Novotel Hotel in Leeds City, Yorkshire in England on Malawi Situation.
Since formation MDF has held talks with international human rights campaigners, organisations, governments and supports Malawi’s civil society and religious organisation in their efforts in bringing back freedom and democracy to the Malawian population.
Membership to the grouping is voluntary and invitation to the meeting is open to all Malawians and interested parties.
By Nyasa Times
Labels: MALAWI
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COMMENT - This is a fluff piece about homosexuality in Malawi, however it does not get to the issue of constitutional protection, through Article 20 of the Malawian Constitution. What these articles do not point out, is that the British era anti-gay laws that are on the criminal law books, have been made unconstitutional (though unchallenged) by the 1994 Constitution. Homosexuality is highly likely to be covered by the term 'sex' or especially 'other status', of Article 20. I quote:
Constitution Of The Republic Of Malawi, 1994
Chapter 4
Equality 20. -
1. Discrimination of persons in any form is prohibited and all persons are,
under any law, guaranteed equal and effective protection against
discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion, nationality, ethnic or social origin, disability, property, birth
or other status.
Malawi gays stay underground
The billboard has no militant language, graphic pictures or cleverly obscure message just a group of neatly dressed Malawian activists politely urging respect for sexual minorities.
But the sign along a busy road in the small African nation is a historic step after last year’s explosive jailing and pardon of a couple who held the country’s first same-sex wedding. The case drove many gays underground, but also ripped open taboos and rallied activists.
“For me, I think it was an eye-opener, like they’ve pioneered for us to stand up, carry ourselves and move around and go about our business as usual,” said “Taliro” about the arrested pair who drew a worldwide media storm.
Lesbian kiss: Malawi's gay community in hidding
“That has brought us to the point where we can go out, do what we do, unlike in the past situation when it wasn’t that conducive enough for people to go out and do their thing.”
But every step forward faces a hardline government, the threat of prison and backlash from a still fiercely conservative society.
“Things are worse in terms of the government attitudes,” said human rights lawyer Chrispine Sibande, one of the activists on the billboard.
“But on a positive part, I think there have been increased debates in the country about talking about gay rights.”
Human rights groups say the case was a platform to collectively push for greater protection — like winning a court order for the release of printed cloths preaching tolerance that were seized in May.
They now want Malawi’s gays to come forward, but the 14-year sentence and public humiliation of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza the only two people to have ever come out publicly drove many people underground.–AFP
Labels: HOMOSEXUALITY, MALAWI
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Anti-war & Black activists unite against Libya war: Cynthia McKinney Tour now to 19 cities
Global Research, August 5, 2011
A continuing mobilization against the U.S. war on Libya has taken place in cities across the country. Packed, standing room only audiences at major meetings have heard former Congressperson Cynthia McKinney report on her June fact-finding trip to Libya with the Dignity delegation. In every meeting the message rings out: Stop the U.S./NATO bombing of Libya.
In the coming ten days Cynthia McKinney is scheduled to speak at meetings in Boston on Saturday, August 6, in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 7, in Vancouver on Tuesday, August 9. McKinney will speak at the Millions March in Harlem of August 13 along with Minister Farrakhan and other opponents of war and sanctions on Libya and Zimbabwe. She is scheduled to speak at 2 meetings in North Carolina on Sunday, August 14 hosted by the Black Workers for Justice in Rocky Mount and later at a historic civil rights church in Durham.
CLICK HERE for FULL LISTING
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The destructive bombing attacks on Libya by the Pentagon and NATO are highly unpopular in the United States, although you wouldn’t know it from corporate media coverage.
Proof of this can be seen in a speaking tour that has now grown to 19 cities. The tour is coordinated by the International Action Center, in coordination with a broad range of other organizations. It is this unified approach of working with a whole range of other progressive political, religious and community organizations that has defined meetings in every city.
Mass meetings in St Louis MO, Pittsburgh PA, Baltimore MD, Detroit MI and Denver CO are now on the upcoming agenda.
In New York City on July 30 McKinney spoke at historic Riverside Church. An overflow crowd of more than 500 people packed a room that seated more than 400.
A link to the NYC Riverside Church meeting is available at:http://www.ustream.tv/ recorded/16383033
The meeting was well attended by activists from various anti-war organizations. It also attracted an equal number of community organizers and leaders from nearby Harlem.
When she was in Congress, McKinney represented a largely African-American district in Georgia. She and other speakers characterized the attack on Libya as a “racist war” that is part of an imperialist strategy to recolonize Africa.
In her talk, McKinney put the war against Libya in the context of the continuing brutality in the U.S. against people of color, despite the election of a Black president. She called out the names of half a dozen innocent young Black men who have recently been gunned down by police, from San Francisco to New York.
Sharing the podium with McKinney were prominent fighters for justice in the New York metropolitan area, including Larry Hamm of the People’s Organization for Progress and Saleem Muhammad Aktar of the Muslim American Alliance and Muslim American Taskforce.
Minister Akbar Muhammed, International Representative of the Nation of Islam, who visited Libya numerous times, stressed at the New York meeting and at previous meetings, the importance of the developing alliance among African-American forces, the anti-imperialist left and Muslims in opposing U.S. aggression in Africa and the Middle East.
Ramsey Clark who spoke at several meetings, including NYC and Atlanta, stressed the responsibility of anti-war forces in the United States to stand up against the Pentagon and the corporate-military-industrial complex, especially at a time when the public treasury is being looted to pay for ever more frequent and costly aggression against poor countries.
Sara Flounders of the International Action Center the coordinator of the tour, now to 19 cities, focused in her talks on the role of corporate media and government propaganda to demonization the Libyan government and justify war crimes and massive destruction. It is an effort to create a racist Pentagon lynch mob mentality to recolonize Africa. It must be resisted.
Khalifa Elderbak, a young Libyan studying in the U.S., told the New York City and Northampton MA audiences he was astounded by the media lies about what was happening in his country. He described how, seeing on the news that the Gadhafi government of Libya had bombed his hometown, he called dozens of relatives and friends back home, only to be told that the story was totally false. But days later it was all too true that NATO jets were bombing his hometown. Khalifa Elderbak will also speak in Boston on August 6.
The New York program also featured speakers who raised issues of unemployment, hunger and homelessness, which are endemic in communities of color. High school student Dinae Anderson spoke eloquently about the hunger already gripping poor areas. She informed about a campaign in New York to restore and expand food stamps under the slogan “Feed the hungry, not the Pentagon.”
Johnnie Stevens, speaking for Workers World Party, got a warm response as he urged participation in an Aug. 13 protest in Harlem against imperialist intervention in Africa. He then recapitulated decades of deadly U.S. imperialist intervention in Africa, from the assassination of Congo’s independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, to today’s build-up of U.S. forces on the continent. He compared the “rebels” in Libya to the “rebels” in the U.S. Civil War who tried to perpetuate the enslavement of African people.
Glen Ford, of the Black Is Back Coalition, analyzed the role of President Barack Obama in carrying out the program of the financiers and warmongers. He reminded the audience that Obama, even while campaigning on the slogan of change, had said two weeks before his election that he would be a compromiser, and he certainly has kept that promise.
Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1 Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, Rocio Silverio of the IAC and Professor Asha Samad co-chaired the rally, which opened with a welcome from the Rev. Robert B. Coleman of the Riverside Church Prison and Imam Aiyub Abdul Baqi of the Islamic Leadership Council of NY.
In Newark, N.J. two days earlier, McKinney had spoken to another standing-room-only meeting in Newark at Abyssinian Baptist Church organized by the Peoples Organization for Progress. At the meeting the Newark City Council gave McKinney an award for telling truth to power. Members of the Newark City Council were part of the program along with the New Black Panther Party and representatives of major African American churches in Newark.
Large crowds in Atlanta, other cities
A week earlier, McKinney had spoken before another large crowd of over 500 in Atlanta on Sunday, July 24 at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in her home state. There, too, turnout was massive from the Black community, whose youth are constantly besieged by recruiters for the armed forces — often seen as the only alternative to nonexistent jobs and education for those in the U.S. who suffer racist oppression. The Atlanta meeting was organized by a broad coalition including the World African Diaspora Union (Georgia), the Nation of Islam, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (Georgia), the African Community Centers and the International Action Center.
The current tour began in Houston TX on July 7. It included a meeting organized by Veterans for Peace at the annual Peacestock in Hager City City WI and by Women Against Military Madness and Stop FBI Repression and others in Minneapolis MN on July 9. In Albany the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Women Against War, Veterans for Peace organized a large meeting on July 10. A Meeting in Washington DC was organized by the American Muslim Alliance and American Muslim Taskforce. It was followed by a standing room only meeting on July 14, held at the historic Friends Meeting House in Northampton MA organized by Western Mass IAC and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq.
The coalition of forces sponsoring the present tour of 19 cities and earlier six meetings showed that the active anti-war movement, especially those groups affiliated with the United National Antiwar Coalition and the Answer Coalition, had recognized the imperialist, predatory character of a war that the Obama administration claimed was to “protect civilians.”
A Full listing of the current tour follows and is available at: www.IACenter.org
National-tour, now to 19 cities, organized by International Action Center in coordination with many antiwar and community organizations from July 7 to August 28, 2011.
July 7 Thursday- Houston, TX
July 9 Saturday - Peacestock, Hager City, WI & Minneapolis, MN
July 10, Sunday – Albany, NY,
July 11, Monday –Washington DC,
July 14, Thursday – Northampton MA,
July 24, Sunday –Atlanta, GA
July 28, Thursday – Newark, NJ,
July 30, Saturday – New York City, NY
August 6, Saturday – Boston, MA
August 7, Sunday – Los Angeles, CA
August 9, Tuesday – Vancouver BC, Canada
August 13, Saturday - NYC with Millions March in Harlem
August 14, Sunday - Rocky Mount, and Durham, NC
August 19, Friday – St Louis MO
August 21, Sunday - Pittsburg, PA
August 25, Thursday - Baltimore, MD
August 27, Saturday – Detroit, MI
August 28, Sunday – Denver CO
- - - -- - - - - - - - -
HOUSTON, TX
July 7, 2011, 7:00 PM
Texas Southern University,
Public Affairs Building, Auditorium 114, Houston, TX
Sponsored by the Black Justice Coalition, the National Black United Front, Houston 2011 Peace Camp, and the Harris County Green Party
PEACESTOCK, Wisconsin
Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 12 noon to 5pm
Organized by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 115
Bill Habedank, Executive Director
651-764-1866 C
whabedank@yahoo.com
Peacestock address is N2934 750th St., Hager city WI 54014
www.peacestockvfp.org
MiINNEAPOLIS, MN
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 7pm
Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave South Minneapolis, MN
Sponsored by: Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness.
FFI: 612-379-3899 or 612-827-5364.
ALBANY, NY
Sunday, July 10, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Channing Hall
405 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY
Sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Tom Paine Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Women Against War, Upper Hudson Peace Action, The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, Guilderland Neighbors for Peace. Donation of $10 requested, $5 unemployed and students, no one turned away.
for information: 518-439-1968 Beth lehemNeighborsforPeace@yahoo. com
WASHINGTON DC
Monday, July 11 from 5:30 to 8:30pm
LIBYA: Contemplating Long-Term Consequences of the NATO Invasion
At: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036.
Sponsored by: American Muslim Alliance, AMA Policy Forum,
National Director,AMA Foundation (AMA-F) Muhammad Salim Akhtar
Cell: 773-507-5335
Direct: 202-280-7466
NORTHAMPTON, MA.
Thursday, July 14th, 7:00 pm,
The historic Friends Meeting House,
43 Center Street, Suite 202, 2nd floor, Northampton, MA, 01060.
Organized by Western Mass IAC and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq. Co-sponsored by: Alliance for Peace and Justice, Pioneer Valley Code Pink and the Pioneer Valley Green/Rainbow Local Party
Contact: Nicholas Camerota, (413) 896-5219, or email: cadonaghy@yahoo.com
ATLANTA, GA
/Sun, July 24 at 4:00 p.m.
At the historic Shrine of the Black Madonna Culture Center,
West End Neighborhood
946 Ralph David Abernathy, Atlanta, GA 30310
Donate $ at iacenter.org/africa/ donatemckinneylibyatour
Sponsored by: Africa Ascension, World African Diaspora Union (WADU)-ATL, The Nation of Islam, All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)-ATL, the Religious Heritage of the African World – Pan African Ministers, the African Community Centers, UNIA/ACL, The Georgia Green Party, International Action Center, African Association of Georgia, the New Black Panther Party, The Dignity Delegation, Sankofa United Church of Christ, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), The Shrine of the Black Madonna, First African Church, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, The Congo Coalition…
Contacts: Min. Menelik at 404-527-7756 or Bro. Sobukwe at 404-456-7962.
http://www.wadupam.org
NEWARK, NJ
Thursday, July 28 6:30 pm
Abyssinian Baptist Church
224 West Kinney St, Newark, NJ
Between Broad St & Irving Turner Blvd.
#5 Bus from Newark Penn Station
Organized by POP – Peoples Organization for Progress
(come prepared to contribute)
Contact Lawrence Hamm 973-801-0001
peacejusticecoalition@gmail. com
NEW YORK CITY, NY
JULY 30 • SAT • 5 pm
AT THE RIVERSIDE CHURCH
Assembly Hall, 122nd St & Riverside Dr, NY, NY (Enter at 91 Claremont Ave entrance) Light refreshments served
NYC Program is in coordination with:
The Riverside Church Prison Ministries and Stop the War on Libya Coalition: (List in formation) AMA American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Task Force, Nation of Islam, Freedom Party, Answer Coalition, Black Is Back Coalition December 12 Movement, The Dignity Delegation, International Action Center.
With support from:
Bail Out the People Movement ,BAYAN-USA, Colia Clark, Green Party Candidate U.S. Senate 2012, December 12 Movement, FIST • Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Haiti Liberté, Harlem Fightback Against War at Home & Abroad, Harlem Tenants Council, Honduras Resistencia USA, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Jersey City Peace Movement, Manhattan Local of the Green Party, May 1 Workers and Immigrants Rights Coalition, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Peoples Organization for Progress, SI • Solidarity Iran, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, UNAC • United National Antiwar Coalition, Washington Heights Counter - Recruitment Group, Workers World Party, World Can’t Wait,
212-633-6646 www.IACenter.org
BOSTON, MA
SATURDAY AUGUST 6 - 4 p.m.
St. Katherine Drexel Church, 175 Ruggles St., Roxbury, MA
Cosponsored by International Action Center • Fanmi Lavalas Boston • Boston United National Antiwar Committee • Minister Don Mohammad, Temple 11, Nation of Islam* • Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade • Chelsea Uniting Against the War • Women’s Fightback Network • Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St Francis of Assisi, CCA • Steve Gillis, VP, USW 8751 Boston School Bus Union* • Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE-HERE local 26* • N’COBRA (Reparations), Manchester, NH (list in formation)* for id only
For information in Boston call: 617-522-6626 or go to www.iacboston.org
LOS ANGELES, CA
SUNDAY, August 7th at 2pm
SEIU Local 721 Auditorium, 500 S Virgil Ave, (At 6th & Virgil) L.A.
Cosponsored by: All African Peoples Revolutionary Party-S, International Action Center, UNIA, BAYAN-USA, ALBA-USA, KPFK Unpaid Staff Union, Black August Organizing Committee, Southern California Immigration Coalition, Latino Caucus of SEIU Local 721,
For more information Contact: Dedon - (323) 646-4814 or IAC - (323) 306-6240
VANCOUVER BC, CANADA
Tuesday, AUGUST 9 7pm
Vancouver Heritage Hall
3102 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada
Organized by Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) -
For more information 604-322-1764, info@mawovancouver.org www.mawovancouver.org.
Sat. Aug 13 NYC Speaking at the Millions March in Harlem
ROCKY MOUNT, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 3pm
Booker T. Washington Theatre, 170 East Thomas Street, Rocky Mount, NC.
Event sponsored by Black Workers for Justice. In the Name of Humanity, International Action Center, FIST – Fight Imperialism Stand Together.
Call Shafeah M'Balia-James 252-442-8123 for more info
Durham, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 7pm at
St. Joseph's AME Church, 2521 Fayetteville St, Durham, NC
St Louis MO
Friday, August 19
(Details to follow)
Pittsburgh PA
Sunday, August 21
(Details to follow)
Baltimore, MD
Thursday, August 25
(Details to follow)
DETROIT, MI
Saturday, August 27 - 4 PM to 7 PM
University of Michigan Detroit Center
Ann Arbor Conference Room, 3662 Woodward Avenue, at M.L King Blvd
Detroit, MI 48201.
Sponsored by: MECAWI - Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice, , the National Conference of Black Lawyers Michigan Chapter, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party and the Pan-African News Wire.
,
For More info: www.mecawi.org or http://panafricannews. blogspot.com
313-671-3715
Denver CO
Sunday, August 28
(Details to follow)
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Labels: CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, LYBIA, NEOCOLONIALISM
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COMMENT - People should be talking eachother's ears off. There is no excuse for not having a continuous conversation about the direction of both land reform and agriculture in South Africa. There should be continuous discussion of farm models, business models, outreach, and infrastructure. There is no excuse for the state not to respond to new ideas - I sent them (her) an e-mail myself, and never had a reply either. Talking doesn't cost much.
'n Boer maak 'n nuwe plan
KWANELE SOSIBO - Jul 29 2011 00:00
The old house on the Forbes Athole farm outside Amsterdam in Mpumalanga is an impressive block with Cape Dutch-style gables and white walls. It is surrounded by a relatively small lawn and an electric fence that has outlived its usefulness.
Inside its cavernous lounge and dining-room area, walls are covered with heads of game hunted mostly by the grandfather of its current owner, Colin Forbes, who is driven, these days, by his plan for what he prefers to call "rural development". Forbes is a fourth-generation farmer -- as well as a physician -- whose great-grandfather was originally offered the farm as payment by the Transvaal Republic after working as a guide on a railway construction project in the 1850s.
He has been forthcoming about his model, aspects of which are already in evidence on his 5 627-hectare mixed-practice farm, which includes maize, soya beans, potatoes, cattle and gum and wattle plantations. He has been courting media attention and, with less success so far, land reform and agricultural government departments.
'n Boer maak 'n nuwe plan
The M&G travels to Forbes farm in Mpumalanga where the owner has set an ambitious development programme in motion, to avoid the ANCYL's suggested expropriation model.
In a nutshell his plan is this: he has offered to sell a 550-hectare portion of his farm to the government for R4.4-million. This area, adjacent to the R65 road that connects Ermelo to Swaziland via Amsterdam, amounts to about 10% of the farm's area. Of this, 31 hectares are covered in maize fields, yielding roughly eight tonnes of maize a hectare. There are gum and wattle stands amounting to 110 hectares. Surrounding the recently built Nsephe Primary School, which comprises three brick-and-mortar classrooms, are about 40 plots, each covering an area of 0.55 hectares, for residential space.
Mud and wood structures dot this flat terrain, but Forbes hopes to convert those into brick and mortar houses should government bite. He plans to use 75% of the money made from the sale for start-up capital for his workers' new farming venture and pledges to provide equipment to facilitate the process.
Forbes's idea is centred on hands-on mentorship.
"I would consider it my responsibility to mentor and ensure transfer of management skills to the beneficiaries," he wrote in an email before we met.
"Many of my employees have specific farming skills that exceed my own but currently lack only planning and leadership experience."
'The city guy'
Soon after our arrival Forbes took us around his property in his mother's Mercedes four-wheel drive. He stopped along the R65 to check in on some of his workers, who were manning a massive firebreak. A few days before our arrival, embers from a nearby experimental government farm dropped on to the property, destroying about 300 hectares of maize land and wiping out a substantial portion of his winter feed.
"We had two fires here this week," he said. "A city guy here would get in the way and we would have sent him home."
By "city guy" Forbes is referring to department of agriculture forestry and fisheries director general Langa Zitha's recent comments in Farmers' Weekly, in which he suggested that his department would take interns and place them on commercial farms to learn for six months. Following that, they would work with smallholder farmers, especially land-reform beneficiaries. Forbes calls the idea of interns mentoring seasoned farm workers nothing short of "fanciful".
His model is a "one-size-fits-all" solution for land reform, he said, a presumptuous assumption for the complexities of the issue. One-tenth, he claimed, "is viable, will not disrupt cash flow and will avoid mass bankruptcies".
"A farm is like an extension of your own body," he said early the next morning on a scenic walk to a cliff face overlooking the new settlement. "Losing 10% of it is like cutting off your own forearm. Other farmers might be able to afford more; I can't. I have only about 5 000 hectares. But even with that 10%, I can guarantee that the workers will emerge as commercial farmers."
Like many other white farmers, Forbes is opposed to what he perceives as the government's haphazard approach to land redistribution, which he sees as "the transfer of hectares for the sake of hectares". On the one hand, his plan is a response to government's calls for ideas on rural development and land reform; on the other it is a pre-emptive strike born out of a fear of the unknown. The conviction in Forbes's tone is tempered by a conspicuous fragility and, as the day progresses, the difficulty of separating his flu symptoms from a pervasive vulnerability only intensifies.
We leave the old farmhouse for a bumpy ride to meet the workers' committee in the mechanics' workshop. While I speak to his workers, Forbes retreats to a second farmhouse where he lives with his fiancée and 18-month-old son.
Like most farm employees, Forbes's workers have limited academic education and are not unionised. The "democratically elected" committee is toothless by many workers' accounts and cannot negotiate much in the form of occupational rights. There's also a scepticism about Forbes's motives.
One narrative suggested that it's a way of acknowledging the support that some workers showed him during what he calls a "spurious" and "laughable" land claim brought against him a few years ago. Another said the resettlement is just a way of aligning himself with the new regulations that would require him to provide access to water and electricity. Since the changes on the farm some of Forbes's employees have come to see themselves as an increasingly disenfranchised group. They complained they no longer have the right to cultivate their own crops for sale as they used to and their ownership of livestock has been restricted. (Forbes said the reason for a restriction on workers' cattle -- no more than 225 in total -- is to prevent overgrazing.)
Although his model is basically a variation of the willing-buyer willing-seller model, with a 10% cap and a bit of hands-on mentorship thrown in for good measure, some among his peers seem to be waiting to see which way the wind will blow.
Government and farmer relationship
Take Jaap Naudé, who owns a forestry farm 20km outside Amsterdam. In his view government is giving farms to people who do not necessarily have the will to be farmers.
"Right now what you have happening is that the farmer goes, the farm lies abandoned and the workers go elsewhere," said Naudé. "The new owner brings his cattle, stays in the house and no farming happens."
Like Forbes, Naudé believes the government should be working closer with farmers and listen to what they have to say about land reform if they want attitudes to change or farms to continue to thrive as agricultural concerns.
"Every farmer must have an idea of what he will do about land reform and get into a conversation with people who will listen to that plan, not their own agendas instead," he said.
But the department of rural development and land reform claims to have widely consulted farmers through unions. An email sent by the department's head of communications, Eddie Mohoebi, to the Mail & Guardian in June speaks of meetings between the minister, the department and "key stakeholders" between November 2010 and May 2011. Naudé, who is in a farmer's union involved in this exchange, should at least be familiar with the term "comprehensive rural development programme" (CRDP), which is government's restructured land reform approach that aims to achieve equitable distribution of land while emphasising productivity. He isn't.
"If the CRDP is their plan and they have put it out to unions, I'm sure they would get a positive response from farmers," he said.
"I would help people around me. It is in my interests to ensure that neighbouring farms are in good shape and don't become fire threats in the winter."
Whereas Forbes is optimistic about a response from government, Ben Cousins, a researcher at the University of the Western Cape-based Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (Plaas) feels the proposal is flawed in a number of ways and is unlikely to garner support from either government or commercial farmers.
"The notion that 550 hectares, with only 31 hectares of it being arable and a small area under timber, can be 'commercially viable' is problematic as this works out to less than a hectare of crop land per beneficiary; 440 hectares of grazing at maximum would support only a small commercial livestock enterprise, with profits shared between 55 beneficiary households and thus likely to be quite small," Cousins wrote in an email.
Besides, he wrote, the farmers won't become full-time farm workers -- they'll keep their day jobs on Forbes's farm and the land allocated will become more of an "agri-village" than a commercial farm, something that will serve only to relieve the farmer of the responsibility of his workers' housing and services. But Cousins also questioned the part of Forbes's plan that calls for land to be expropriated from the farmer if his mentoring of the new farmers fails. "What will be the criteria for 'success' or 'failure'?" he asked.
Besides, why is Forbes prepared to lose only one-tenth? "Why not 30%, which is government's national target for redistribution? This would amount to 1 650 hectares, more likely to constitute a 'viable commercial farm', but probably for a much smaller number of beneficiaries. If farmers donated 30% of their land, or offered it at a much reduced price, and government used the funds that would have been required to purchase the land for capitalising the new farming ventures, land reform could begin to work."
Forbes admitted his plan is not perfect. "I have felt all along that this initiative has its flaws," he said. "It surely is incumbent on critics of this model, however, to suggest an alternative. Constructive dialogue has yet to be entered into between government, landowners and aspirant black farmers. We who are in a position to make a difference are surely not going to cynically sit back and watch the fireworks unfold with a view to sagely documenting 'failed land reform in South Africa'."
Meanwhile, a paper trail of Forbes's emails shows that he contacted the department of agriculture forestry and fisheries but his correspondence went unanswered. And attempts by the M&G to get an opinion about Forbes's ideas from the department of rural development and land reform were not successful. The man with the plan -- flawed or not -- is still awaiting his answer.
Kwanele Sosibo is the Eugene Saldanha Fellow in social justice reporting, supported by CAF Southern Africa
Labels: LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, SOUTH AFRICA
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Power and patronage in Pondoland
NIREN TOLSI - Jul 29 2011 00:00
The only thing that moves with any speed on top of Kananda Hill near Bizana in rural Pondoland is the wind. For the rest, it is the slumbering pace of going nowhere in no particular hurry. On the hilltop, 52-year-old Sipho Shusha spends his days driving cows away from a nearby gravesite by shooting stones at them with his home-made catapult.
The gravesite is of significance and requires the caretaker's catty. The bodies of 10 traditional leaders who were executed in Pretoria for their part in the Pondo Rebellion between 1960 and 1962 were exhumed and buried here in 2007.
"The people sleeping here are great people for us. We still talk about their uprising against the government [because they opposed the Bantu Authorities Act] and they used to meet over there," says Shusha, pointing to an adjacent hill.
The dead were part of the mountain committee which, in his book The Peasants' Revolt, Govan Mbeki noted "rallied the majority of the tribesmen in their Bizana district into open struggle against the authorities and their henchmen" with meetings "attended by thousands of peasants, who came on foot and on horseback to chosen spots on the mountains and ridges".
With, as Shusha points out, "the king [Botha Sigcau, the father of 'deposed' paramount chief Mpondombini Sigcau] on the side of the government and getting these people killed" the mountain committee appears to be one of the first recorded coalescence of popular democracy and traditionalism for the Pondo.
As Mbeki noted: "The Pondos have been well known in South African history for their allegiance to authority."
Cultural heritage: The graves of traditional leaders who took part in the Pondo Rebellion.
It is that allegiance to authority -- or rather the authority to whom allegiance is owed -- that will soon be tested in South Africa's courts. Erstwhile paramount chief Mpondombini Sigcau has taken President Jacob Zuma, with various other government departments including local government and traditional affairs, to court over the findings of the Commission on Traditional Leadership Claims and Disputes. The matter is due in court in coming weeks.
The rightful leader
In July last year the commission (popularly known as the Nhlapo Commission after its first chairperson, Thandabantu Nhlapo, who was appointed by former president Thabo Mbeki in 2003) found that Zanuzuko Sicgau, rather than Mpondombini, was the rightful leader of the Pondo. The finding was confirmed by Zuma, leading to Zanuzuko's inauguration as king in April this year at a ceremony held at the Mzindlovu Great Place.
The succession debate dates back to the 1930s following the death of the paramount chief, Mandlonke Sigcau. With no successor from the Great House (the first wife's house), Mpondombini Sigcau's father, Botha, was installed as chief by a commission set up by then governor general Patrick Duncan.
The Nhlapo Commission found that Duncan's intervention meant Botha "was a creature of the statute and that in appointing him, the customary law and customs of the AmaPondo had not been followed".
They found in favour of Zanuzuko Sigcau, who is the grandson of Nelson Sigcau, who was from one of the lower houses of the Pondo royal house. However, some factions within the Pondo royal house apparently favoured Nelson over Botha, who, even today, Pondo elders associate with collusion with the repressive state. Nelson Sigcau married his dead brother, Mandlonke's great wife, Magingqi, through the custom of ukungena (to enter and take over). From the relationship came a son, Zwelidumile, the father of the newly recognised Zanuzuko Sigcau.
Whether the ukungena was performed according to proper custom is being questioned in Mpondombini Sigcau's court application. He is also asserting that the commission failed to comply with various sections of the Provision of Administrative Justice Act, especially regarding procedure and consultation with the Pondo royal house and questions the president's constitutional right to remove or replace kings.
Mpondombini Sigcau suggests Zuma's confirmation of a new leader of the amaPondo amounted to his being "deposed" and asserts that the president acted unconstitutionally as Section 211 of the Constitution "only empowers the Royal Family or a structure formed according to custom to decide on how a new king or queen can be removed".
There has been criticism of the Nhlapo Commission's methodology. Academics like Pearl Sithole, who, in 2008, published the Fifteen Year Review on Traditional Leadership in 2008, told the Mail & Guardian that her impression was that the commission "lacked rigour in its research" and that apart from holding hearings more focus should have been placed on accessing archives and academic material and consulting a broader range of experts.
From ignorance to support
Opinion in Pondoland itself ranges from ignorance of the matter to support for the new paramount chief to conspiracy theories about the deposition of the old paramount chief. Nobomi Madikizela, a 31-year-old female junior chief in the Ndlovu area, said of Zanuzuko, the new paramount chief: "The royal house should decide, but the royal house seems divided. The president anointed him as the king, the department of traditional affairs notified us that he is the king, so we recognise him as the king."
Chief Zamakhile Langasiki was even more adamant that Zanuzuko was the rightful leader of the Pondo people: "If a brother takes the wife of his brother, then that child is the child of his brother according to Pondo custom," he said of the disputed ukungena ritual.
Yet custom, tradition and interpretation are never rigid. The inextricable link to memory, sometimes as dilapidated as Shusha's graveyard, poses other problems too.
Nomfundiso Madikizela (71) lives about 20km from the R61 between Bizana and Port Edward. When there is no rain it takes more than an hour to get from her home to the main road, the rocky paths used for cars are so bad: "Sometimes we get a bit of information, but not much. Everything happens far away over there," she says, flapping her hands in the direction of the road.
"I know there have been problems about the king, but I don't know too much." Pressed on the ukungena issue, she was unsure of what actual amaPondo custom dictates.
Samson Gampe (89), however, appears to have the memory of an elephant. He becomes animated when his mind goes back to the Pondo uprising, shaking an imaginary mkhonto (spear) and vividly describing the calls to arms during that period.
Gampe, who lives on the Xolobeni Wild Coast, is also the veteran of a more recent struggle: the Xolobeni community's resistance to dune mining in the area. The department of mineral resources recently revoked a mining licence granted to Australian company Transworld Energy and Minerals and its black economic empowerment partner, Xolobeni Empowerment Company, following long resistance to mining in the area. The mining companies still have about a month to appeal or reapply for the licence, but Gampe said "even if I die, I will return from the dead to fight the mining".
For Gampe, and others in his community, government's replacement of paramount chief Mpondombini with Zanuzuko smacks of political manipulation: "The king was very much against the mining. That is why he was replaced. They want somebody who is in favour of the mining so that the government people will get rich while our children suffer here because of it," he said.
The Sigidi community, which opposes the mining at Xolobeni, suggests that its own leader, Lunga Baleni, has had his chieftainship threatened by other claimants because he is against the mining.
Baleni confirmed that there were two claims to his position but is convinced that he is the rightful leader in the area. Chieftaincy disputes are happening all over Pondoland, residents said.
Amadiba Crisis Committee activist Mzamo Dlamini said it seemed to be "growing practice" for government to use traditional leadership disputes to put in place people who were malleable, some of whom couldn't read and would rubberstamp whatever projects it wanted to get off the ground. "I am fearful that the mining issue has not gone away yet," he said.
"We are not against development, we are against people enriching themselves at our cost. Already you see that those who were in favour of the mining have taken up positions in the [Bizana] municipality, giving jobs to their friends and families so they can say: 'See, if you support us, if you support the mining, we will take care of you.' This is not democracy."
From one commission to another, from Mbeki's 1964 observations on how the apartheid regime propped itself up by cultivating systems of patronage in rural Pondoland to today's allegations of the same, history, it seems, is on repeat.
Labels: APARTHEID, CHIEFS, SOUTH AFRICA
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Losing the PVT argument
By The Post
Fri 05 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT
We hope what Chris Akufuna, the spokesperson for the Electoral Commission of Zambia, has said on parallel vote tabulation will put this matter which had unnecessarily become contentious to rest.
Akufuna said that “the commission just like in the past will allow monitors, observers and polling agents to be present at the polling stations before polls open and indeed after the polls close. During counting, they election monitors, observers and polling agents will be given result sheets...whether they tabulate and do what they want with the results, that is not our business and through that we are able to explain even the contentious parallel vote tabulation”.
In short, what Akufuna is saying is that the Electoral Commission of Zambia has allowed or is allowing election monitors, observers and polling agents to run parallel vote tabulation. But where does this leave Rupiah Banda and the MMD who had outlawed parallel vote tabulation? In March this year, Rupiah warned that “any person who therefore computes and tabulates results other than those confirmed by the Electoral Commission of Zambia is not only usurping the power of the Electoral Commission of Zambia but committing a criminal offence”.
Will Rupiah be sending his police officers to arrest and prosecute those who engage in parallel vote tabulation despite the Electoral Commission of Zambia authorising it? What will the MMD youth wing in Lusaka, which had recently declared that they will not allow anyone to engage in parallel vote tabulation, do in the light of the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s position on the issue?
This is what happens in a nation when those in power think only of their interests. It is said that one shouldn’t set his heart on being a judge unless he has the strength of character it takes to put an end to injustice. This is the easiest way to disgrace oneself among one’s fellow citizens.
It’s clear that Rupiah was talking about things he doesn’t understand and his cadres blindly followed him. There is need to always stand up for what is right, even if it costs your life; the Lord God will be fighting on your side.
Rupiah should learn to concentrate on the law which has been given to him and save himself embarrassment.
Before a leader starts speaking, there is need to get facts straight and think the matter through. Admit when you are wrong, and you will avoid embarrassment. Rupiah was wrong. Parallel vote tabulation is legal. And he was told this by the Law Association of Zambia, but he didn’t want to listen. If he goes ahead threatening people who want to run parallel vote tabulation, then it is Rupiah himself who will be committing a crime. And this will be lawlessness on his part.
And we know that every lawless act leaves an incurable wound, like one left by a double-edged sword. If you refuse to accept correction, you are digging your own grave. A man may be intelligent, politically powerful, but when he is wrong, a sensible person will detect it. Rupiah and his minions were told that parallel vote tabulation is legal but they insisted that it was illegal and that they would deal with anyone who would try to engage in it. This will be lawlessness by a group of people who have no respect for the law. But we know that a group of people who have no respect for the law is like a pile of kindling; they will meet a fiery end.
But there is something we should learn from all this talk about parallel vote tabulation. A person’s talk shows his faults; it is like a sieve that separates out the rubbish. The way you think shows your character just as surely as a kiln shows any flaws in the pottery being fired. You can tell how well a tree has been cared for by the fruits it bears, and you can tell a person’s feelings by the way he expresses himself. When wise people talk, what they say always makes sense, but foolish people are always contradicting themselves.
It would have been a serious mistake to outlaw parallel vote tabulation. Anything that increases the credibility of our electoral process deserves support. We need election results that are respected by both the winners and the losers. Parallel vote tabulation is necessary because it will increase public confidence in the election results, people will feel confident that the results are accurate and that the government that will emerge from the elections does, indeed, rest upon their consent.
It is very important for the losers to accept the judgment of the voters. If the election result is only accepted by the winners, then there is a serious problem because not only do we risk the possibility of post-electoral conflict but we also reduce or undermine the possibility of both the winners and the losers agreeing to come together to co-operate in solving the common problems of the society.
Opposition to parallel vote tabulation can only come from people whose minds are polluted with electoral fraud and malpractice. Those who want to see free and fair elections can never oppose or stand in the way of parallel vote tabulation. It is sad when elections are marred with fraud and unfairness. Elections should be conducted well and should never be a matter of fraud or coercions since that would break the sacred character of democracy.
It is good that the issue of parallel vote tabulation has been explained by the Electoral Commission of Zambia. Now, those who want to engage in parallel vote tabulation should go about their business openly. And anyone who will try to hinder their work will be committing a crime for which they should be arrested and prosecuted. Rupiah and his minions have lost the battle to stop parallel vote tabulation. And we hope they will not engage in activities that will infringe on the rights of those who want to carry out parallel vote tabulation. If this happens, the first blame will be on Rupiah himself.
And we urge Rupiah to make an announcement on this score and tell his cadres that parallel vote tabulation has been found to be legal by the Electoral Commission of Zambia and they should not interfere in any way with anyone involved in it. This will help reduce the possibility of his cadres carrying out their resolution to deal with those who will be involved in parallel vote tabulation. It’s a humiliation for Rupiah. But that’s what life is. It is said that character is tested under the furnace of humiliation.
Labels: CHRIS AKAFUNA, ECZ, VOTERIGGING
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ECZ has engaged a corrupt printer - Lubinda
By Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 05 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT
GIVEN Lubinda says the company printing ballot papers for next month’s elections has a record of bribery and corruption. And Lubinda has challenged ECZ chairperson justice Irene Mambilima and Anti Corruption Commission director general Godfrey Kayukwa to explain what they know about corruption involving Universal Print Group (UPG), a South African firm engaged to print ballot papers.
In an interview yesterday, Lubinda - who is opposition Patriotic Front member of the central committee - said UPG had a proven record of corrupting public officers in its bid to get contracts from the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
“It’s extremely scandalous for us as a country to engage a South African company which has a well known and well established record of corruption. I would like to ask the director general of the ACC Mr Godfrey Kayukwa to come out in the open,” Lubinda said.
“What does he know about the previous conduct of this company?” said Lubinda, who is chairperson of African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) and immediate past member of parliament for Kabwata.
“Is Kayukwa telling the country that he, as director general of the Anti Corruption Commission, is not aware of the fact that Universal Print Group of South Africa has been in the past involved in corrupt practices?
Is he not aware that this UPG company has matters hinging on corrupting public officers to get contracts with ECZ? I challenge Mr Kayukwa to come out open on this matter. Can he tell the Zambians what he personally knows about this and what the Anti Corruption Commission knows about this company?”
Lubinda appealed to justice Mambilima to tell the nation what she knows about UPG and its involvement in corrupt practices. He demanded to know who conducted the due diligence investigation on UPG before it was awarded the contract to print ballot papers.
“One wonders why the ECZ and government are insisting on having ballot papers printed in South Africa and why are they insisting that the ballot papers be printed by UPG,” Lubinda said.
“I would like to request justice Mambilima and Mr Kayukwa to be categorical and deny that UPG have never been engaged in corruption in Zambia.”
Lubinda said the ECZ’s insistence on using UPG was sowing seeds for a disaster in Zambia.
“We can’t accept a company with a proven corruption record to be involved in any part of our electoral process. For the sake of good order, conducting acceptable elections, continued peace and harmony in our country, I would like to appeal to the ACC chief to explain to the public all that he knows about UPG and I am sure that judge Mambilima being Supreme Court judge and Deputy Chief Justice, she too, has the interest of Zambia at heart and she will not hesitate to tell the Zambian people what she knows about UPG,” Lubinda said.
“Probably, the former chairperson of ECZ judge Florence Mumba and former director general Dan Kalale might also have a word to say on UPG. Can this matter be rested before ballot papers are printed?”
Lubinda said the conduct of general elections in any democratic country was a very serious affair and required to be given due attention by all stakeholders. He said state institutions like the ACC must ensure that the outcome of the elections was the reflection of the will of the people.
He said the ECZ and government’s insistence to have ballot papers for this year’s elections printed in South Africa raised more questions than answers.
“The process that was used to identify the company that was awarded the contract also raises many questions. It is very shameful for us as a country, which is 47 years old, and has conducted elections every five years since 1964 to be debating about printing the ballot papers abroad,” said Lubinda.
But when contacted for comment yesterday, Kayukwa responded:
“Just put it in writing because I will have to research and look at it. I can’t answer on the phone like this. I normally answer written queries; they are easier to deal with. I don’t even know what Mr Lubinda has said. Tell us what he has said and if there is need then we can comment on it.”
Justice Mambilima could not be reached for comment as she was reportedly in a meeting.
Labels: ACC, ECZ, GIVEN LUBINDA, GODFREY KAYUKWA, IRENE MAMBILIMA, VOTERIGGING
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Masebo accuses Thandiwe of abusing public resources
By Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 05 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT
SYLVIA Masebo has asked the Electoral Commission of Zambia to intervene in first lady Thandiwe Banda’s abuse of public resources, which she is using to campaign for the MMD and President Rupiah Banda. In an interview yesterday, Masebo said Thandiwe had been campaigning in Chongwe using public resources.
“I have a complaint to the ECZ, especially justice Irene Mambilima. I want to know the role of the first lady in the elections considering that the Constitution only allows the President to continue in office as a caretaker, after the dissolution of Cabinet and Parliament” said Masebo, the immediate past member of parliament for Chongwe in Lusaka Province.
“In my constituency, the first lady has been going round using state resources, transport and fuel, masquerading that she is going to officiate at some function and in the process she is campaigning for her husband and giving MMD campaign materials. This is raising a lot of concerns among the people.”
Masebo said Chongwe residents were displeased with Thandiwe’s conduct.
“On Wednesday she was at Verino where, according to the workers there who called me, she distributed money and 200 chitenje material for her husband. From there she went to Kanakantapa at the farm of a Mr Njobvu where lead farmers in the constituency were invited and they were told it was an agricultural occasion but when the farmers got there, they were surprised that all the speeches were political and nothing to do with agricultural activities for which they were invited,” Masebo said.
“She was campaigning for her husband and distributed the campaign materials and people were shocked.”
Masebo said the people that attended belonged to various political parties. She said Thandiwe was expected to address other meetings in Chongwe yesterday.
“It’s a very disturbing activity where a first lady can continue as if she is in office and campaign for her husband. We have no problem, she can campaign for her husband but it’s not fair for her to use GRZ vehicles because there isn’t even an office for the first lady in the Zambian Constitution,” Masebo said.
“Worse now that Parliament has been dissolved, ministers are not working and members of parliament are out of office, so what about the first lady? What office is she using?”
Labels: CORRUPTION, SYLVIA MASEBO, THANDIWE BANDA
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Rupiah should not override his powers - Harrington
By Gift Chanda
Fri 05 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda’s desperation to win this year’s elections should not make him override his powers, says William Harrington.
Commenting on President Banda’s decision to officiate at a ground-breaking ceremony for Dangote cement plant which is yet to be approved by the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA), Harrington said President Banda was overriding his authority and rendering relevant institutions useless by “endorsing” projects which are yet to be approved.
“The disregard of the environmental laws by the President is the most unfortunate thing because he is setting a very bad precedent,” Harrington said.
“Rupiah is overriding his powers and making these relevant institutions useless.”
Harrington, who is former transport and communications minister, said it would not matter even if ZEMA decides to approve or disapprove the project because it already has the full blessing from the head of state.
He said there was no point in having institutions like ZEMA when they cannot be allowed to operate independently.
Harrington said what President Banda did amounts to government interference in key institutions.
“The environmental laws are very clear: no activity can proceed without approval of an EIA by ZEMA,” he said. “But Rupiah does not want to let this project owners follow this path. And for me this is very bad precedent for the head of state to leave behind.”
Harrington urged President Banda to set a good precedent on environmental management.
Last week, President Banda officiated at a ground-breaking ceremony for a new cement manufacturing plant which will be built by Dangote, Nigeria's largest cement maker, at a cost of US $400 million.
The new cement manufacturing plant, Dangote Industries Zambia Limited, which will be situated in Ndola Rural near Masaiti, is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs once completed.
The plant, one of Zambia's largest investments outside mining, is expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cement a year when it reaches full capacity by 2013.
Labels: PRESIDENCY, RUPIAH BANDA, WILLIAM HARRINGTON
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Mambilima warns presidential aspirants against making false declarations on their parents’ origins
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 05 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT
ANY presidential aspirant who makes a false declaration on the birth place or descent of their parents should know the consequences of their action, ECZ chairperson justice Ireen Mambilima has warned.
And PF leader Michael Sata said all the presidential aspirants were not equal with regard to observing the Electoral Code of Conduct because President Rupiah Banda could corrupt and get away with it since he enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
During a closed door meeting between the Electoral Commission of Zambia and all the presidential aspirants in this year’s general elections who included President Banda, Sata, Tilyenji Kaunda, Hakainde Hichilema, Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda among others, justice Mambilima, in response to ADD president Charles Milupi who wanted to find out how the ECZ would ensure that the constitutional requirement requiring presidential aspirant’s parents to be Zambian citizens by birth or descent, said there should be strict adherence to the constitutional provisions.
“If you heard Mr Kamwi ECZ official, when he was talking, the declaration must come from you presidential aspirants that both your parents are Zambians, by birth or descent. That declaration must be made by the candidate. And if you make a false declaration you know the consequences,” justice Mambilima said. “So we expect that…it’s a valid observation.”
In his contribution, Milupi sought assurance from the ECZ on how they would handle the subject of strict adherence to the constitutional requirement pertaining to proof of parental citizenship.
“Article 20 clause 3b is very specific. It does not talk about the parents of the candidate being citizens of this country. It talks about specific citizenship, that is by birth or by descent. I want to get your comment as to what the commission is going to do to ensure that this particular requirement is complied with,” asked Milupi as others applauded.
Milupi also sought assurance from justice Mambilima on how all the presidential aspirants would have access, especially to the public media since the government-controlled media was more of a propaganda machinery for the ruling MMD. Milupi further inquired how the ECZ would ensure strict adherence to the Electoral Code of Conduct, especially with corrupt practices such as the distribution of materials that were not allowed under the Code.
“I have experience in this, madam chairperson, where the last by-election which I participated in, in Luena hippos were killed, buffaloes. People fed prior to the day before the elections,” he said.
Responding to the issues raised by Milupi, justice Mambilima said the ECZ had engaged the state-owned and government-controlled Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), saying each party was entitled to 30 minutes advert time per week according to the Code.
She said the electoral Act was very clear about corruption and vote buying, saying all those were criminal offences and urged political leaders to take a lead in observing the Code.
“Let’s not have a game of hide and seek and ‘as long as no one is looking I can get away with this or that’. As a commission we can only report to the police,” she said.
Thereafter, ECZ spokesperson Chris Akufuna took the floor and drew the participants’ attention to the programme, but Sata had an observation to make.
“I don’t know what you are standing there for because the chairman said something which I wanted to contribute on. Every time I stand, you are interrupting me. Can you tell us who has sent you there?” said Sata as justice Mambilima chipped in: “Yes you can add president Sata.”
Sata said the presidential aspirants who met at Mulungushi International Conference Centre on Wednesday were not equal with regards to observing the Code.
“There are others who have immunity, so they can corrupt,” Sata said, in apparent reference to President Banda.
“The rest of us have no immunity so you find on that basis, there is nothing you can do madam, because we understand your predicament. We understand the predicament of the ECZ. All we need is morality as Gen Miyanda said. This is our country.”
In response, justice Mambilima said the Code applied to everybody.
“So please the point raised that it’s the morality, let’s comply with the Code of Conduct. It’s our document,” said justice Mambilima.
Gen Miyanda said some newspapers which did not have addresses should be removed from the streets.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, ECZ, IRENE MAMBILIMA, MICHAEL SATA, PRESIDENCY, RUPIAH BANDA
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Tsvangirai, cousin in $1,5m fraud probe
05/08/2011 00:00:00
by Dumisani Muleya & Faith Zaba
POLICE are investigating Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over an alleged fraud involving US$1,5 million in public funds released two years ago by the government to enable him to buy a mansion in the posh Harare suburb of Highlands.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has opened a docket and is intensifying its probe in a case of alleged fraud which involves Tsvangirai and a close relative,
Hebson Makuvise, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Germany.
Tsvangirai and Makuvise, it is alleged, misappropriated US$1,5 million which came from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in 2009 to purchase the house located at 49 Kew Drive in Highlands. The house, a double storey mansion, is currently under renovation to ensure it meets standards of quarters for a Prime Minister.
The Zimbabwe Independent reports that police are also investigating if Tsvangirai had engaged in double-dipping by taking money from the RBZ and Treasury for the same project. They also say besides the US$1,5 million, close to US$1 million could also have been released from state coffers for the purchase and development of the same property.
CID chief superintendent Alison Nyamupaguma is leading the investigation team.
The detectives have been to the RBZ, several banks and the courts and trawled documents in a bid to nail Tsvangirai. Nyamupaguma wrote to the RBZ on July 18 asking for help to gather more information.
Police recently obtained a warrant of seizure from the courts in terms of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to facilitate their investigations, particularly to confiscate documents from the banks.
The case is so high-profile that Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri is also personally involved. Chihuri and his detectives have written letters to relevant banking authorities mainly last month asking for information. Police also want to find out if Finance Minister Tendai Biti was aware of how the money was secured and used by Tsvangirai.
Details show that letters have been flying between top police offices, including that of Chihuri, and the banks as part of the investigations. The RBZ and four commercial banks, CBZ Bank, ZB Bank, BancABC and Interfin are involved in the case.
A warrant of seizure dated July 7 targeted at Interfin, one of the banks involved in handling the US$1,5 million during its various transfers through the banking system, says the police were looking for “documents and records which are required as exhibits in a criminal docket”. It says the information is “necessary for the purpose of investigating or detecting a case of fraud”.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was “not aware” of the ongoing investigations.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said: “The Prime Minister remains unshaken about these allegations. If police are investigating the case, we wish them good luck!”
After the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009, there was a legitimate expectation on Tsvangirai’s part and the general public that the new Prime Minister would move into Zimbabwe House where Mugabe used to live as Premier between 1980 and 1987, before moving to State House as President where the late titular president Canaan Banana previously lived.
Since Mugabe had moved out of Zimbabwe House to his own privately-owned home in Borrowdale, Tsvangirai had the option to move into State House or Zimbabwe House.
However, Mugabe apparently blocked Tsvangirai from moving into either of the two. The Premier was reportedly angered by this and when the MDC-T temporarily withdrew from government in October 2009, this was one of the issues he raised with Mugabe, apart from the outstanding GPA issues and lack of communication between him and the President.
Investigations show that after he was blocked from moving into State House or Zimbabwe House, Tsvangirai – who currently lives in a modest mansion in Strathaven – then requested funding from Mugabe to buy a house. Although Tsvangirai wanted a bigger sum, Mugabe in November 2009 only cleared US$1,5 million for the project.
This came a few days after the MDC-T ended its boycott of cabinet and government following the SADC troika summit in Maputo, Mozambique, to deal with the problem.
Even though Tsvangirai was only given US$1,5 million, it was agreed that if more funds were needed to buy and renovate the house they would be provided later. It was not clear at the time how much the house and renovation would cost.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono played a major role in negotiating with Mugabe before the funds were released to Tsvangirai. The paper trail of the movement of the $1,5 million through banks shows the money was transferred from the RBZ in November 2009 into a holding CBZ Bank account.
After the US$1,5 million was deposited into a CBZ account, Makuvise, who is close to Tsvangirai, moved the money to a ZB Bank account. While in a ZB account, US$140,000 was withdrawn and used to buy a residential stand allegedly for Makuvise.
From ZB Bank, the funds – now US$1,349 million – were transferred again to BancABC into Makuvise’s personal account. While there, US$99,000 was withdrawn for unspecified purposes.
Later, the money – reduced to US$1,250 million – was further transferred from BancABC to Interfin into an account of a prominent Harare law firm whose attorneys have represented Tsvangirai.
Police battled with Interfin to secure documents and records. Some of the international banks involved in the transferring and clearing of the money included Standard Chartered Bank, New York, and National Westminster Bank, London.
Documents further show a series of withdrawals were made by Makuvise who gave his address as 3 Everette Close, Avondale, Harare. The withdrawals ranged from tens of thousands to a few thousands.
For instance, in a blitz of withdrawals, Makuvise on February 5 last year withdrew $10,000; another $10,000 on February 9; $8,000 on February 17, $7,000 two days later on February 19 and $11,000 on February 22.
The original sum was drawn down to negligible levels.
[Source: Zimbabwe Independent]
Labels: MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Malema lashes Mantashe on Botswana
05/08/2011 00:00:00
by Agencies
JULIUS Malema on Thursday accused ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe of “using headlines” to attack the ANC Youth League’s views on Botswana.
Speaking at a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus, the ANC Youth League president said they had not contradicted the ruling party's policy positions as cited by Mantashe and ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu earlier this week.
The ANC will on Monday hold a bilateral meeting with the league and the Botswana issue will take centre stage.
On Sunday the ANCYL executive, led by Malema, said it would set up a "command team" to promote unity among opposition parties in Botswana with the aim of toppling President Ian Khama's elected government.
The statement drew strong condemnation from the ANC, with Mantashe on Wednesday accusing the league of publicly showing a "desire to undermine the ANC leadership".
But on Thursday, Malema instead fired a broadside at the ANC, accusing Mantashe and Mthembu of attempting to stifle debate on political positions taken by the league.
"At our congress the BNF [Botswana National Front] spoke in front of everybody, not in the toilets. Why do we want to become a generation of cowards? They openly and proudly associated themselves with us [during apartheid]. Why can't we do the same? BNF must be supported by strategy and tactics. Not to overthrow. What's regime-changing about that?" Malema asked.
"When the DA calls for regime change in Zimbabwe, no-one says anything. Do you want to suppress debate? It can never be. Is there a problem of policy or individuals? You want to engage us through headlines. This was a political view. There's no contradiction."
He added: "We will continue to associate with BNF. While the ANC was trying to overthrow apartheid, other parties associated with us openly; they didn't just write press statements. They gave us arms, they gave us food. They openly and proudly associated themselves with the ANC. Why can't we do that ourselves today?”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who arrived towards the end of Malema's address, hopes to eclipse Mantashe from his position at the ANC's national conference in 16 months' time.
While Botswana’s opposition parties have welcomed Malema’s help, the government there says it is not concerned.
Botswana government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay said: "It is unlikely that the government will respond to such utterances as they were made by someone who does not hold any official position within the South African government and as such does not necessarily represent the position of the South African government.
"Whatever Malema said will not in any way strain relations between the government of Botswana and the South African government."
Labels: ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, BOTSWANA, GWEDE MANTASHE, JULIUS MALEMA
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Ncube leads 'regional party': Tsvangirai
05/08/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has accused Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube of leading a “regional party”, insisting that his MDC-T party does not need the breakaway faction to dislodge Zanu PF from power.
Opposition parties faced accusations of giving Zanu PF a kiss of life after the 2008 general elections by failing to forge a united front, but Tsvangirai says his rivals made demands that were not acceptable.
“I want to tell you that we won the last election, even if there was a split in the MDC. So it’s not an excuse that uniting the two formations is necessarily equals victory. We can still win, we have the support of the people,” Tsvangirai said in an interview with a French magazine published on Thursday.
Showing no appetite for a reunification, Tsvangirai suggested the two parties could “work together” based on an agreed formula, without necessarily dismantling the dividing line.
He told the Paris-based Africa Report: “If you were to ask the smaller MDC if we differ in any policy framework, you would find that there is not a huge difference. And I think the people are not deceived by these superficial divisions that sometimes are based on individual, selfish interests and not on the collective good.
“To me it will always be essential to have peace talks; at the appropriate time we will talk to them and find out whether they still feel that they can go it alone.
“Now they have retreated to be regional party; so I don’t think that is healthy for uniting the people. So we will have to put that into consideration, as to whether they want to be a national flag or (sic).”
A 2005 split in the MDC saw the two parties contest the 2008 general elections separately, and Tsvangirai’s party – registered with the Electoral Commission as MDC-T – won 100 seats to 10 for Ncube’s party – the MDC – in the parliamentary elections. Zanu PF had 99 MPs.
In the Senate, Zanu PF had 30 Senators, MDC-T 24 and MDC six.
In a presidential vote held at the same time, Ncube’s MDC did not field a candidate, choosing instead to back independent Simba Makoni. Official results showed Tsvangirai leading President Mugabe with 47.9 percent to 43.2 percent in the first round, while Makoni came third with 8,3 percent.
The outcome triggered a run-off in line with a constitutional requirement that the winner of the presidential race must poll at least 50.01 percent of the total votes. The run-off was marred by violence and boycotted by Tsvangirai, leading to the formation of a compromise power sharing government.
Some political analysts were critical of the opposition parties at the time, pointing out that if a coalition had been forged, Makoni’s 8,3 percent would have taken Tsvangirai over the line and delivered a decisive victory.
Tsvangirai said: “There’s always been a prospect of uniting all progressive anti-Zanu PF formations. But we have tried it before; there were so many excuses and demands that we found unacceptable.
“Uniting the MDC against Zanu PF isn’t a panacea for the victory for democratic movement. What is important is that there could be a basis of working together, which we would encourage. We have been very open for a long time.
“The democratic movement is not something that is just confined to the MDC. You have the whole civil society there; people who want to see democracy restored in the country. We have been working very hard to democratise the country and we have champions there, we can work with them.”
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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COMMENT - Copperbelt to follow, I hope.
UNEP Ogoniland Oil Assessment Reveals Extent of Environmental Contamination and Threats to Human Health
Abuja, 4 August 2011 - The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves are to be brought back to full, productive health.
A major new independent scientific assessment, carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), shows that pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in the region has penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed.
The assessment has been unprecedented. Over a 14-month period, the UNEP team examined more than 200 locations, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way, reviewed more than 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 people at local community meetings.
Detailed soil and groundwater contamination investigations were conducted at 69 sites, which ranged in size from 1,300 square metres (Barabeedom-K.dere, Gokana local government area (LGA) to 79 hectares (Ajeokpori-Akpajo, Eleme LGA).
Altogether more than 4,000 samples were analyzed, including water taken from 142 groundwater monitoring wells drilled specifically for the study and soil extracted from 780 boreholes.
Key Findings
Some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground and action to protect human health and reduce the risks to affected communities should occur without delay says UNEP's Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.
In at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened, according to the assessment that was released today.
In one community, at Nisisioken Ogale, in western Ogoniland, families are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene- a known carcinogen-at levels over 900 times above World Health Organization guidelines. The site is close to a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline.
UNEP scientists found an 8 cm layer of refined oil floating on the groundwater which serves the wells. This was reportedly linked to an oil spill which occurred more than six years ago.
While the report provides clear operational recommendations for addressing the widespread oil pollution across Ogoniland, UNEP recommends that the contamination in Nisisioken Ogale warrants emergency action ahead of all other remediation efforts.
While some on-the-ground results could be immediate, overall the report estimates that countering and cleaning up the pollution and catalyzing a sustainable recovery of Ogoniland could take 25 to 30 years.
This work will require the deployment of modern technology to clean up contaminated land and water, improved environmental monitoring and regulation and collaborative action between the government, the Ogoni people and the oil industry.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said the report provided the scientific basis on which a long overdue and concerted environmental restoration of Ogoniland, a kingdom in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, can begin.
"The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price, as this assessment underlines," he said.
"It is UNEP's hope that the findings can break the decades of deadlock in the region and provide the foundation upon which trust can be built and action undertaken to remedy the multiple health and sustainable development issues facing people in Ogoniland. In addition it offers a blueprint for how the oil industry-and public regulatory authorities- might operate more responsibly in Africa and beyond at a time of increasing production and exploration across many parts of the Continent," said Mr Steiner.
"The clean-up of Ogoniland will not only address a tragic legacy but also represents a major ecological restoration enterprise with potentially multiple positive effects ranging from bringing the various stakeholders together in a single concerted cause to achieving lasting improvements for the Ogoni people," said the UNEP Executive Director.
UNEP today presented its report to the President of Nigeria, The Hon Goodluck Jonathan, in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Among its other findings are:-
* Control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company's own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues.
* The impact of oil on mangrove vegetation has been disastrous. Oil pollution in many intertidal creeks has left mangroves-nurseries for fish and natural pollution filters- denuded of leaves and stems with roots coated in a layer of bitumen-type substance sometimes one centimetre or more thick.
* The five highest concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons detected in groundwater exceed 1 million micrograms per litre (µg/l) - compared to the Nigerian standard for groundwater of 600 µg/l.
* When an oil spill occurs on land, fires often break out, killing vegetation and creating a crust over the land, making remediation or revegetation difficult. At some sites, a crust of ash and tar has been in place for several decades.
* The surface water throughout the creeks in and surrounding Ogoniland contain hydrocarbons. Floating layers of oil vary from thick black oil to thin sheens.
* Despite community concerns, the results show that fish consumption in Ogoniland, either of those caught locally or purchased from markets, was not posing a health risk.
The report says that fish tend to leave polluted areas in search of cleaner water. However, the fisheries sector is suffering due to the destruction of fish habitat and highly persistent contamination of many creeks. Where entrepreneurs have established fish farms for example their businesses have been ruined by an "ever-present" layer of floating oil.
* The Ogoni community is exposed to hydrocarbons every day through multiple routes. While the impact of individual contaminated land sites tends to be localized, air pollution related to oil industry operations is all pervasive and affecting the quality of life of close to one million people.
* Artisanal refining (a practice whereby crude oil illegally obtained from oil industry operations is refined in primitive stills), is endangering lives and ultimately causing pockets of environmental devastation in Ogoniland and neighbouring areas.
Remote sensing revealed that in Bodo West, in Bonny LGA, an increase in artisanal refining between 2007 and 2011 has been accompanied by a 10% loss of healthy mangrove cover - or over 307,380 square metres.
* Remediation by enhanced natural attenuation (RENA) - a way of boosting the ability of naturally-occuring microbes to breakdown oil and so far the only remediation method observed by UNEP in Ogoniland - has not proven to be effective.
Currently, SPDC applies this technique on the land surface layer only, based on the assumption that given the kind of oil concerned, factors such as temperature and an underlying layer of clay, hydrocarbons will not move deeper. However, in 49 cases UNEP observed hydrocarbons in soil at depths of at least 5 m.
Next Steps Recommendations
Through a combination of approaches, individual contaminated land areas in Ogoniland can be cleaned up within five years, while the restoration of heavily-impacted mangrove stands and swamplands will take up to 30 years.
However, according to the report, all sources of ongoing contamination must be brought to an end before the clean-up of the creeks, sediments and mangroves can begin.
The report recommends establishing three new institutions in Nigeria to support a comprehensive environmental restoration exercise.
A proposed Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority would oversee implementation of the study's recommendations and should be set up during a Transition Phase which UNEP suggests should begin as soon as possible.
The Authority's activities should be funded by an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, to be set up with an initial capital injection of US$1 billion contributed by the oil industry and the government, to cover the first five years of the clean-up project.
A recommended Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre, to be built in Ogoniland and supported by potentially hundreds of mini treatment centres, would treat contaminated soil and provide hundreds of job opportunities.
The report also recommends creating a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Restoration in Ogoniland to promote learning and benefit other communities impacted by oil contamination in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world.
Reforms of environmental government regulation, monitoring and enforcement, and improved practices by the oil industry are also recommended in the report.
Notes to Editors
The Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland report is available online at: www.unep.org/nigeria
Site-specific fact sheets containing detailed information about 67 of the contaminated sites studied in detail are also available at this website.
This report details how the UNEP team carried out their work, where samples were taken and the findings that they have made.
The UNEP assessment, alongside options for remediation, was conducted at the request of the Government of Nigeria. If requested, UNEP is willing to remain a committed partner of the Nigerian authorities and of the Ogoni people as they address the environmental challenges ahead.
For More Information Please Contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson / Head of Media +254 733 632 755 or nick.nuttall@unep.org
Julie Marks UNEP Communications Advisor +41 794 419 937 or +234 816 0944 693 julie.marks@unep.org
Labels: ENVIRONMENT, OIL, POLLUTION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC
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UNEP Ogoniland Oil Assessment Reveals Extent of Environmental Contamination and Threats to Human Health
Abuja, 4 August 2011 - The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves are to be brought back to full, productive health.
A major new independent scientific assessment, carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), shows that pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in the region has penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed.
The assessment has been unprecedented. Over a 14-month period, the UNEP team examined more than 200 locations, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way, reviewed more than 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 people at local community meetings.
Detailed soil and groundwater contamination investigations were conducted at 69 sites, which ranged in size from 1,300 square metres (Barabeedom-K.dere, Gokana local government area (LGA) to 79 hectares (Ajeokpori-Akpajo, Eleme LGA).
Altogether more than 4,000 samples were analyzed, including water taken from 142 groundwater monitoring wells drilled specifically for the study and soil extracted from 780 boreholes.
Key Findings
Some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground and action to protect human health and reduce the risks to affected communities should occur without delay says UNEP's Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.
In at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened, according to the assessment that was released today.
In one community, at Nisisioken Ogale, in western Ogoniland, families are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene- a known carcinogen-at levels over 900 times above World Health Organization guidelines. The site is close to a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline.
UNEP scientists found an 8 cm layer of refined oil floating on the groundwater which serves the wells. This was reportedly linked to an oil spill which occurred more than six years ago.
While the report provides clear operational recommendations for addressing the widespread oil pollution across Ogoniland, UNEP recommends that the contamination in Nisisioken Ogale warrants emergency action ahead of all other remediation efforts.
While some on-the-ground results could be immediate, overall the report estimates that countering and cleaning up the pollution and catalyzing a sustainable recovery of Ogoniland could take 25 to 30 years.
This work will require the deployment of modern technology to clean up contaminated land and water, improved environmental monitoring and regulation and collaborative action between the government, the Ogoni people and the oil industry.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said the report provided the scientific basis on which a long overdue and concerted environmental restoration of Ogoniland, a kingdom in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, can begin.
"The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price, as this assessment underlines," he said.
"It is UNEP's hope that the findings can break the decades of deadlock in the region and provide the foundation upon which trust can be built and action undertaken to remedy the multiple health and sustainable development issues facing people in Ogoniland. In addition it offers a blueprint for how the oil industry-and public regulatory authorities- might operate more responsibly in Africa and beyond at a time of increasing production and exploration across many parts of the Continent," said Mr Steiner.
"The clean-up of Ogoniland will not only address a tragic legacy but also represents a major ecological restoration enterprise with potentially multiple positive effects ranging from bringing the various stakeholders together in a single concerted cause to achieving lasting improvements for the Ogoni people," said the UNEP Executive Director.
UNEP today presented its report to the President of Nigeria, The Hon Goodluck Jonathan, in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Among its other findings are:-
* Control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company's own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues.
* The impact of oil on mangrove vegetation has been disastrous. Oil pollution in many intertidal creeks has left mangroves-nurseries for fish and natural pollution filters- denuded of leaves and stems with roots coated in a layer of bitumen-type substance sometimes one centimetre or more thick.
* The five highest concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons detected in groundwater exceed 1 million micrograms per litre (µg/l) - compared to the Nigerian standard for groundwater of 600 µg/l.
* When an oil spill occurs on land, fires often break out, killing vegetation and creating a crust over the land, making remediation or revegetation difficult. At some sites, a crust of ash and tar has been in place for several decades.
* The surface water throughout the creeks in and surrounding Ogoniland contain hydrocarbons. Floating layers of oil vary from thick black oil to thin sheens.
* Despite community concerns, the results show that fish consumption in Ogoniland, either of those caught locally or purchased from markets, was not posing a health risk.
The report says that fish tend to leave polluted areas in search of cleaner water. However, the fisheries sector is suffering due to the destruction of fish habitat and highly persistent contamination of many creeks. Where entrepreneurs have established fish farms for example their businesses have been ruined by an "ever-present" layer of floating oil.
* The Ogoni community is exposed to hydrocarbons every day through multiple routes. While the impact of individual contaminated land sites tends to be localized, air pollution related to oil industry operations is all pervasive and affecting the quality of life of close to one million people.
* Artisanal refining (a practice whereby crude oil illegally obtained from oil industry operations is refined in primitive stills), is endangering lives and ultimately causing pockets of environmental devastation in Ogoniland and neighbouring areas.
Remote sensing revealed that in Bodo West, in Bonny LGA, an increase in artisanal refining between 2007 and 2011 has been accompanied by a 10% loss of healthy mangrove cover - or over 307,380 square metres.
* Remediation by enhanced natural attenuation (RENA) - a way of boosting the ability of naturally-occuring microbes to breakdown oil and so far the only remediation method observed by UNEP in Ogoniland - has not proven to be effective.
Currently, SPDC applies this technique on the land surface layer only, based on the assumption that given the kind of oil concerned, factors such as temperature and an underlying layer of clay, hydrocarbons will not move deeper. However, in 49 cases UNEP observed hydrocarbons in soil at depths of at least 5 m.
Next Steps Recommendations
Through a combination of approaches, individual contaminated land areas in Ogoniland can be cleaned up within five years, while the restoration of heavily-impacted mangrove stands and swamplands will take up to 30 years.
However, according to the report, all sources of ongoing contamination must be brought to an end before the clean-up of the creeks, sediments and mangroves can begin.
The report recommends establishing three new institutions in Nigeria to support a comprehensive environmental restoration exercise.
A proposed Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority would oversee implementation of the study's recommendations and should be set up during a Transition Phase which UNEP suggests should begin as soon as possible.
The Authority's activities should be funded by an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, to be set up with an initial capital injection of US$1 billion contributed by the oil industry and the government, to cover the first five years of the clean-up project.
A recommended Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre, to be built in Ogoniland and supported by potentially hundreds of mini treatment centres, would treat contaminated soil and provide hundreds of job opportunities.
The report also recommends creating a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Restoration in Ogoniland to promote learning and benefit other communities impacted by oil contamination in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world.
Reforms of environmental government regulation, monitoring and enforcement, and improved practices by the oil industry are also recommended in the report.
Notes to Editors
The Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland report is available online at: www.unep.org/nigeria
Site-specific fact sheets containing detailed information about 67 of the contaminated sites studied in detail are also available at this website.
This report details how the UNEP team carried out their work, where samples were taken and the findings that they have made.
The UNEP assessment, alongside options for remediation, was conducted at the request of the Government of Nigeria. If requested, UNEP is willing to remain a committed partner of the Nigerian authorities and of the Ogoni people as they address the environmental challenges ahead.
For More Information Please Contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson / Head of Media +254 733 632 755 or nick.nuttall@unep.org
Julie Marks UNEP Communications Advisor +41 794 419 937 or +234 816 0944 693 julie.marks@unep.org
Labels: ENVIRONMENT, OIL, POLLUTION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC
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