(NEWZIMBABWE) Mugabe explains MDC-T cabinet snub
New cabinet ... President Mugabe with deputy, Joice Mujuru (left) and Simon Khaya Moyo
11/09/2013 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said Wednesday he did consider MDC-T officials for cabinet because the opposition party has refused to accept its defeat in the July 31 vote and continues to dismiss as a monumental fraud an election that was endorsed by African observers.
The Zanu PF leader, who won a new five-year term in office in the July 31 elections, named his new cabinet this week, making minor tweaks to a team largely comprising trusted lieutenants who have served in successive governments since independence in 1980.
But there was no place for officials from the MDC-T party with which Zanu PF shared power in a fractious coallition government over the last four years following violent and disputed elections in 2008.
Quizzed by reporters over the exclusion as the new ministers were sworn into office, Mugabe said he could not be expected to work with people who have refused to accept his re-election.
“Are you saying when a party wins, it must necessarily have members of the opposition included in its Cabinet? That is matter that should be discussed between the parties,” he said.
The MDC-T came close to toppling Mugabe in the 2008 ballot after claiming a marginal majority in the lower house of Parliament while party chief Morgan Tsvangirai edged the veteran Zanu PF leader in the first round of the presidential ballot.
But this term the party suffered a stunning reverse as Zanu PF claimed a landslide victory in both the legislative and presidential elections. Tsvangirai has however refused to accept defeat, claiming the vote was a huge farce.
Despite failing with a Constitutional Court challenge against Mugabe’s re-election, the MDC-T insists the vote was rigged and has ruled out working with a Zanu PF government although its MPs will represent their constituents in Parliament.
Mugabe said once the MDC-T said it would not work with Zanu PF in government again, they had pretty much ruled themselves out of any possible return to cabinet.
He said: “You must agree - when we had the results of the elections, the MDC-T started saying it does not recognise the elections; It does not recognise even the election of the President and as far as they are concerned the elections were rigged.
“And once you have the opposition with that attitude what do you do? Tell me what should I have done?”
Last month Tsvangirai claimed that Mugabe had attempted to talk to him after the elections but the Zanu PF leader said he never reached out to his rival.
“I would have expected that the opposition would say aah, we have lost, we accept defeat - fine, but we are prepared to work together. No. They started even making statements - there are indications that the President would want some of us to be in the Cabinet; we do not want it,” he said.
“The President had never made an indication like that. Zvino maiti todiiko? Mushandirapamwe tinouda asi unotauriranwaka. Zvino kana vamwe vachibva vava that negative tovaita sei? Tovasungirira?”
Mugabe also discussed the thinking behind his new cabinet selection which was delayed, he explained, by unavoidable constitutional requirements which included the swearing in of new members of parliament.
He said the ministers had to be committed party cadres, people of sound character and education adding it was also necessary to considers issues such as balance in provincial representation.
“The party which won is Zanu PF. Are you Zanu PF? ‘Vanhu vakavhotera Zanu PF handizvo here? So you must belong to Zanu PF because that is the wish of the people,” he said.
“And if you belong to Zanu PF, how much of Zanu PF are you? Takabva kupi newe tikasvika kupi? How long have you been with us? Yes, in Zanu PF hatidi madofo ainzi namai vangu madofo. This is 33 years after independence, tave mumakore eruzivo, technological periods - years of technology.
“How educated are you; are you just Ordinary level? Ipapa we were able to say just one or two were just O-Level, the rest are degreed. Hameno kuti mungazviwana kupi? Even in Europe, you get all those 24 or 25 degreed people.
“Madzimai, varume the same … ane principles dzakanaka. Hunhu hwake tinenge tichihuda. Was he a winner and also respected by his own community kuConstituency kwake? What is the standing?
“It is not everyone who comes out with the same good standing, but you cannot just punish people because of what is being said. Kuti uyu aah ndozviri kutaurwa ane zvakati, zvakati.
“Tinenge tichida kuona kuti are all our provinces represented as much as possible, at least two ministers. Kungaita madeputies zvako kune mamwe, but I think we managed to get about three in a province.”
COMMENTS
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ZANU Panyanga
Since the MDC will be celebrating their 'victory' on Saturday can Chematama follow thru and name his cabinet. Lets see what he can come up with for comparison sack. Lets see how his will match up to this one. The guy doesn't even have confidence in his elected councillors.
What a lot of you MDC critics are failing to realise is the group of deputy ministers. These are young and will be working with the older guys in bringing new ideas and also they will be gaining experience for the future. If you are a team manager you don't just remove the experienced players and replace them with young inexperienced players that would spell disaster. For that reason that's why you have B teams and from these the manager with pull some younger players to mix with the experience players.
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Hupenyu
“I would have expected that the opposition would say aah, we have lost, we accept defeat - fine, but we are prepared to work together. No. They started even making statements - there are indications that the President would want some of us to be in the Cabinet; we do not want it,” he said.
Lest you forget Cde President in 2008 you were beaten hands down and you did not even acknowledge that but instead you went on a rampage of killing any suspected MDC supporters and this forced Tsvangirai to withdraw his participation from the runoff. You are the most violent person I have ever seen on earth. Why then do you expect MDC to do that when yourself failed after you tried to cook the results but still you could not manage to cook in your favour in 2008? Do not be a hypocrite.
However, I have realised that you say something and you do the opposite.
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Ian Smith
That is where we Miss it DEGREES without thinking out of the box are useless
Did you know that Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, is generally considered to be the
oldest university in the world.* It was founded roughly the same time as
the city of Cairo, in 969 AD. The first lecture was delivered in 975 AD
THe Europeans were good for one thing any good ideas and food we have they stole our ideas and used them
My point is when you are DEGREED and refuse to see that the country has sunk low then I will rather have an O'Level Fool that will listen
Come Overseas 16 year olds are self taught IT Programmers and they run massive companies some of them just High school Graduates
This DEGREE mentality with no results is Sick
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Max The Thinking Man.
Well I met many fools at university and today they have degrees, this degree business means nothing its just a qualification to get a job, The cleverest minds like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs dropped-out of College but because they have brains they have changed the World for the better with their Inventions !...What has Degreed fools in Zimbabwe including Mugabe ever created or Invented ? All they know is reading books and repeating English words to their foolish followers all written by clever Western academics.
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Mutengesimukuru
Politics over competency will NEVER work anywhere in the world
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Max The Thinking Man.
Nonsense over and over again and again.
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dzvitsvirori
kushayawo anonyora kuti nhasi kwapisa....
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Nyanga Boy 001
Good luck Mr President.Zimbabweans of all political persuasions lets all be patriotic and rally behind the new government led by President Mugabe and his team.Lets be proud being Zimbabweans . Love your Country and be loyal.Thats what brings Nationhood.After elections we remain Zimbabweans under God and one President.Zimbabwe will rise under us the People through the Government in power.
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Rafique702
YOU HAVE NOT LEARNED!....How can you rally behind someone who is it it for himself?
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Pidigu65
The President himself went public with a statement that he had been told by President Mbeki that some of the Ministers in his cabinet were demanding bribes for any investment in Zimbabwe and yet he went on to reappoint the very same corrupt Ministers. I am very upset with the appointed Cabinet and feel my vote for ZANUPF might have been a wasted one.
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robobo
Mugabe your "lectures" should be from the Hague !
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AFROboy
Or in retirement home
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ben
Thank you Mr President, there is not even one person in the MDC worthy to be in that cabinet, even put together.
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robobo
Mugabe we do not need to hear anymore of your bullshit.
You lost this election as you did since 2000.
The PEOPLE do not want zanu pf !
Soon you, and all the old zaniods will be dead, ONLY then the country WILL move forward !
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Walembe
Maybe for once Mr President what you are saying is true. A disfunctional cabinet is no good. But then again brace yourself because whatever goes wrong in the next five years will be blamed on you and ZANU. No scapegoats here. 5 years is not a very long time.
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HapppyChikala
Nothing beats the feeling of knowing that your haters cant do anything to you or to themselves for that matter.
Ask me, i know the feeling. Its like your worst enemy being sentenced to 5 years in prison.
You know he will not come out no matter how loud he shouts from inside until 2018.
Its a shame Mdc supporters have never felt the wonderful feeling. We know that no matter what they say or how loud they say it, Zanu is in power until 2018, 100% guaranteed & thats a proper ICHO!.
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HapppyChikala
Chikala Web Translation Services.
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said he did NOT consider MDC-T officials for cabinet because.. well, they are all useless. End of.
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MUZEZUROO
Cabinet should be representative my foot, utter hogwash ! Just further entrenchment of the Zezuru hegemony project under the guise of indigenisation and empowerment of vana vevhu. It never ceases to amaze me how this Zezuru project seems to have taken root under the noses of all the other clans although one would have to say the politics of patronage and the cult of personality as espoused by ZPF is, to a large extent, to blame. I am always looking at the balance of power in Zim and always wonder if people ever ask themselves why it seems this is mainly centred around the Mashonaland Central, East and West Provinces? And by power here am naturally looking at the real power brokers (securocrats) and is it little wonder then that the head of ZNA, AFZ, CIO and ZRP i.e Chiwengwa, Shiri, Bonyongwe and Chihuri all hail from the aforementioned provinces. Of course there is going to be a few exceptions to the rule, Zimondi comes to mind here, for the simple reason of appeasement of the other clans lest of course the hegemonic nature of the national security structure appears too obvious! And herein lies the root cause of the malaise that has afflicted our beloved country, we are being led (no ruled) by a tribalistic cabal masquerading as the People’s saviors when all the while the only thing that drives them is a self enrichment and preservation agenda ! Rather interesting how when one looks back at the assassination of some of the more prominent voices from other Clans within ZPF/Zanla ranks, Tongo and Chitepo come to mind here, it becomes obvious that RG Mugabe (who happens to be Zezuru by association rather than descent!) and his Zezuru clique had it all figured and whereas others were busy fighting the enemy in the trenches they were busy scheming! And the moral of the story? Never mind the so called vatengesi vana Tsvangson nor the so called sanctions what the country needs most is the dismantling of the Zezuru hegemony and in its place a crop of politicians who have the national agenda at heart and are free from regional allegiances !
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Keith
take your tribalist zezuru hating sentiments elsewhere no clear thinking person would buy into that many so called zezuru in zim are poor just like like everybody else infact they where the most affected in the chorela outbreak in manicaland it was almost business as usual its the top politicians from all tribes that are in parli and councils/department heads throughout the country that are benefiting from the system and everyone is against that
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HapppyChikala
blah blah blah..reread your incoherent nonsense if you want to see real hogwash
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Hwange
Mai mujuru sat on the right hand side yamudhara watch the inner circle gonna fight soon watch
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robobo
kikikikk "right hand side of the father"
we get religious now for the devout catholic.
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Mavheti haasi bhoo full stop
Mati madii zvenyu we going to increase that 51% to 80% just like the Tswanas. Keep on talking traitors hamulume chinhu till kingdom come. Mudhara Bob is a true legend of African politics and we salute you.
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AFROboy
Mugabe starting to believe his own lies, kuchembera uku and why would MDC want to work with thieves that stole an election because the are afraid of a free fair credible election that no one will discredit. 2008 was through violence,2013 Nikuv ''always doubts in our elections thank to your corrupt party''.
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HapppyChikala
Hanzi Mugabe starting to believe his own lies & then you go on to write your own lies which you obviously already believe? Mabhambi munonakidza kwazvo
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Nkosi Zulu
Its unimaginable that a winning party will govern with a whining party. MDC complaints virtually about everything and end up losing focus on their important role; that is being perennial opposition party, just like Zimbabwe Saints or Rhinos football club you wood know they will be relegated every season they make it to the top league. In other words MDC are not government material but they will always play a critical role of singing perennial lullaby of complaints to the ruling party. As long as MRT is the undisputed king of MDC they will never rule this country. MDC desperately needs leadership renewal if it is to outplay ZPF at its game.
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KudzaiKazonga
I salute you Comandante R. G. Mugabe!
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AFROboy
Saluting a crazy old man who steals elections. 1,8m facing starvation and food shortages ''keep on saluting''. Next few weeks in Singapore for his eye problems ''millions wasted on 1 old man'', ordinary Zimbabweans have to put up with a messed up healthcare system '' keep saluting''. His party has looted millions of our money to enrich themselves '' keep saluting''.#idiot
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HapppyChikala
Im beginning to feel sorry for you
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AFROboy
You don't need to feel sorry for me.
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Takafirenyika
Kubvira rinhi uchingoti anorwara Singapore he chino ne chino iwe uchafa uchimusiya mdhara iyeye Inga vamwe amai vaye vakadzimara ndivo vakazofira kujere asi maivata vanobuda chopaz Mugabe afa asi chii chakazoitika pedzisa wega
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AFROboy
Read my post and take it in. Is it not the truth then?
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Mavheti haasi bhoo full stop
Keep on singing but your song will never ever be a hit mfana wami.
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AFROboy
Racist w@nker
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Mavheti haasi bhoo full stop
Call me names but me tell you the truth every time mfana wami. You don't call for the sufferations of your own brethren and expect not been seen as ignorant coward person. Zimbabwe will always be Zimbabwe and its not for sale you ignorant moron.
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AFROboy
Change your name then
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maputi
Hahaha, Chitongai tione!
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HapppyChikala
Horite thanks asi imi muchatongwa muchida musingade
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Takafirenyika
saka unoti tichamira
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Mavheti haasi bhoo full stop
Ignorance blackman's biggest disease.
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Blarara Zonke
Kutyei??? Chitima chatosimuka imi muri muma courts a Munangagwa. Macourts eku SADC kuna deputy Chair Gushungo apa Mwonzora ari kukupai ma Million dollar invoices. Kupusa kwe zvituta.
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galante
pachivanhu chedu mudzimbahwe there is recognition of governance as progressive rule with the consent of the governed. zvekutonga nekubira ne coercion, self imposition zvakauya nemabwidi izvi. tongai makanyarara, no need to gloat before you have anything positive to show for that governance. Harare yazara nevanhu vanochera mvura murwizi, mvura yemutape kana ikabuda once a week inenge yakaisirirwa tusewerage mbijana. pa Harare international airport panomboshaikwa running water mumatoilets. pasi rose razara nevanhu vakatiza munyika. mozvirova madundundu muchiti takangwara tiri kutonga! Kusanyara. Tongai mabwidi muchibatsirwa neclique yetumazezuru tusina mainterests emazimbabwe at heart.
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Kanhunzi
I hate the Zanu PF clan but this man I seriously admire a true strategist always 10 steps ahead in his thinking and never leaves things to chance.
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Rafique702
You are just as sadly brain dead as the Chamisa's......if a person becomes a pick pocket so smooth that they can sweep through a crowd of people and empty their pockets like a breeze...and never get caught..it does not warrant any admiration.....when you are sick and forced to contend with the vagaries of parirenyatwa...i hope still have admiration for him...
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Kanhunzi
Well any man will tell you, you can't please everyone;)
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Rafique702
10 steps ahead is no water and no electricity...did I miss something?
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Rafique702
Mugabe you old sack of pus .....no one cares for your explanations....
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HapppyChikala
You mean YOU dont care And who cares about YOUR opinion anyway? hahahahaha
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Blarara Zonke
5 yrs to go, sweet heart.
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Rafique702
??
Labels: MDC, ROBERT MUGABE
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Inside President Mugabe's memory bank
Sunday, 01 September 2013 11:52
President Mugabe
Yesterday, President Mugabe delivered a riveting account of the liberation struggle during the burial of Cde Kumbirai Kangai at the National Heroes' Acre. In the off-the-cuff speech, which captured the attention of many and left scores others awestruck by the President's sharp memory, Cde Mugabe delivered the account blow by blow. Today we publish the first of a two part series of the address.
Amai Kangai nemhuri yose yaVaKangai, Vice President Cde Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru, National Chairman vedu, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, Secretary vedu veAdministration, VaDydimus Mutasa, Nhengo dzePolitiburo ne Central Committee yeZanu-PF varipano, Maformer ministers varipano, Tichiyewukawo kuti tina former Deputy Prime Minster Professor Arthur Mutambara varipanowo, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Our service chiefs, Baba Mukonori nevafundisi vose varipano, Masenior civil servants, Representatives of the war veterans, ex-detainees, restrictees and war collaborators, Nhengo dzose dzemumusangano, Mastudent activists vauya pano, Vakamirira business community varipano, Mafarmers representatives varipano, Members of the diplomatic corps, Vanababa nanamai vose varikusvimha vatinavo, Ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends.
Tauyazve panharaunda ino raakunge Dare reChimurenga. Tirikudanwa zuva nezuva. Avamatatu zvino mazuva achitevedzana nendufu dzirikuuyawo dzichitevedzana dzemagamba, vatinoti magamba echimurenga, vakazvipira kwenguva refu; kutambudzikira nyika yedu kuti ruzhinji ruzova nemagariro akanaka.
Hatipuhwe nguva refu imiwe. Vakataura Pastor patakaviga vaEnos Nkala pano kuti tinokanganwa kuti tiripazororo panaapa. Rwendo rwatinonzi tifambe rwakareba. Zvakatsinhirwa pano zvinoramba zvichitsinhirwa nevafundisi kuti rwendo rwedu nderwenyama. Rwenyama rwupfupi asi rwemweya ndorurefu rusingapere.
Ndakati rwatinoziva nderwe nyama. Rwunematambudziko atinoyedza kugadziridza. Nderwune matambudziko atakayedza kwenguva ndefu kuti vataive navo panguva iyoyo tichivaronga vatibatsire kuti tive nemusangano unozoita tigadziridze magariro edu; nyama yedu ive nemagariro akanaka.
Takanga tisingatarise nezvemberi tichiti “Kufa kunouya hongu. Asi tinemagariro atinosungirwa kugadziridza”. Hatingati nekuti remangwana richauya nemufaro unove wenyama ungarwadze zvawo.
Ungatambudze zvawo nyama toiregerera ichirwadziwa, ichiita zvirwere zvisingasungirwe kuvapo zvinokonzerwa nevamwe. Kwete. Takati kana. Kana avo vanokonzera kuti nyama yedu kwazvo kwazvo zvatinonzwa kuti hupenyu hupfupi uyu.
Tofanirwa kufaranukaka uye nemufaro inga tinaanachiremba wani vanotarisa kuti kana zviri zvirwere chaizvo izvo mishonga inenge iripo. Vamwe vanoenda kun’anga; hedzo dzokandira hakata. Kurikuenda kuti nyama iyi ifaranuke irege kuwana vanoitambudza kana vaya vanonzi varoyi.
Zvino yedu yakanga isiri nzira yehakata nokuti varoyi vataiziva ndevava vakanga vabva kunze vatitorera nyika yedu, mufaro wedu, minda yedu magariro edu ekuzvitonga.
Vatofanana nemavirus aya anopa disease. Tikati izvi zvinemushonga wazvowo. Mushonga ndewekuti isu tirikunzwa kurwadziwa, varwere vacho, nyama yedu isati yarukutika chaizvo towunganaka. Ivava vanenge vaine nyamawo. Saka inyama dzavo nenyama dzedu dzaisungirwa kurwisana apa.
Hezvo vakambotigara matumba tikati “Haa kwete hatichada kuti murambe makatigara mumatumba”.
Madzitateguru edu akamboyedza kuzvisunungura kuti nyama dzavo dzifaranuke vakazvitadza. Tikaberekerwa isu takazvarirwa munyika yakange yavane ava zvino vasingade kuti nyama dzevamwe dzifaranuke. Tive nemufaro munyika yedu, tive nekuzvitonga, tiwone kuzviitira.
Uyu watirikuviga nhasi, hezvo waenda kuchikoro - Zimuto. Kuchikoro ikoko achiwona nhamo dzaive nemastudents. Vaneruzivo rekuti mastudents dzimwe nguva vanobva vaendererawo mberi. Asi aiva neruzivo rwekuti ave anewonororo inopfuura yevamwe, aneshoko ringaunganidze vamwe.
Aivawunganidza kuti varambe zvinenge zvisina kunaka sekudya kusina kunaka. Yaingove mviro mviro idzodzo dzebasa raakanga achazoita guru guru. Varipo zvakare vakanga vakadaro mune zvimwe zvikoro, mastudents vatakaronga mhiri uko vauya nepfungwa dzavaive nadzo dzekuti ayehwa takaramba fundo yatingapihwe nevadzvanyiriri.
Nyika yedu isati yauwa, mufaro wedu usati wauya, simba redu rekuzvitonga risati rauya zvinobatsirei kuti ndiwane kafundo ikako? Saka vaiwuya. Ndovazhinji vakatibatsira zvikuru kuti tironge chimurenga chedu. Tive nevarwi vaive nehungwaru ihwohwo; ruzivo irworwo asi vazvipira zvekare.
Zvino, yatirikutaura nhasi ndeyaKangai. Takataura neyaVaNkala. Chitarirai VaNkala havana kubuda kuenda kunze. Kwete. Vaiva muno mukati maive nevatungamiri vatakaronga kuti vave vanokwezva ruzhinji rwevanhu; vave vanopa gwara kuvanhu.
Asi tawona kuti isu chimurenga hachingabudirire nokuti simba raive nomuvengi wandati aititadzisa mufaro takanga tisinaro, ndoratainotsvaga kunze. Kunze takanga tisina misha. Yaiveko. Saka vatakaona kuti avava ngavarongwe ndavaya vana vaibuda kuenda ikoko kana taikwanisa kutora kune vakanga vatamira kunze sekuna anaZambia, vana vaikoko vaibva kunzvimbo idzodzo.
Ndovana vatakaumbirira kuita Dare reChimurenga. Vakanga vabuda kubvakuno vachienda kunze vari nhengo dzemusangano. Tikati: imi woye! Kuno hazvichakwanisika. Musangano nemusangano wataita wava kubhanwa. Chirongai dare ikoko, mounganidza vamwe vamungakwanise kuwana. Nhengo dzemusangano dzakabudawo kuenda kunze nevamwe vamungagone kuwana, moronga kuti chimurenga chedu chienderere mberi.
Vemuno mukati vachazenge vachiita basa rekutsvaga vangabude kuenda kunorongwa kuchimurenga ichocho. So, ndozvakaitika. Mativi maviri awa, kuno nekunze, kuno uku kwarinda pamusana pekushaiswa masimba nevasvetasimba, kunze uku, ngakusimbaradzwe kuti kana kwasimbaradzwa vanobva ikoko vozouya vosimbaradza mukati zvakare.
Chimurenga chedu hecho-oo chobva zvino chava nemasimba ekuti tikunde muvengi, chova chimurenga chevanhu. Saka zuva ranhasi tirikuviga waiva mukomana mudiki ari kuchikoro, akagozobuda achienda kuchikoro zvakare kuti anoita fundo yemberi. Asi akabva aneshoko rekuti nyika inofanirwa kurwirwa.
Haana kungoti zvandabuda kuno kunze, aaahh, zvanaka. Fundo yangu ndoiwana ndobva ndagara kuno kunzezve zvaiita vamwe. Mmmm, wakati ndaiwana fundo. Ndinoziva kuti shungu yangu ndeyekurwira nyika. Ndichange ndichinosangana nevamwe kuna anaTanzania, kuna anaZambia, tobatana, tokuchidza moto wechimurenga, hondo yedu yekuzvisunungura yobva yavamba zvino chaizvo izvo kuenderera mberi.
Tinozvitenda zvaakaita. Once again, we are gathered here to lay to rest a cadre with a long
standing record of the revolutionary struggle. The cadre, who passed on in unbelievable circumstances, and, this, only a few days ago, about a week ago, now.
The circumstances of his death are best known to the family and we were with Kangai at the last Politburo meeting and he even made suggestions in our meeting. We never noticed, but one or two amongst us noticed that he was unwell; but we, the majority of us, never noticed that he was unwell.
And the meeting went into (the) late hours of the night and the following morning, we were shocked to hear that Kangai was no more.
And the story was that he was taking a bath, a cold bath apparently, and suddenly, he fell, and that fall, was a fateful fall, for he was never to rise from it alive, so we are told.
That’s how he died.
The previous night at a Politburo meeting; the following morning, he is dead.
He had attended the meeting as a Politburo member in style, as if to say: “Goodbye, you won’t see me again and this is the last meeting I’m attending”.
Then, he passed on. His brother, Cde Reward Kangai, has told us about Kumbirai’s animated joy on the day before he passed on and the family’s shock, the turn of events after that.
We accept this sad occurrence. He is no more. But we cannot understand why.
And may I extend, in particular to Mai Kangai, who now has the burden of looking after the family without the support and love she had got to know, the deep condolences and sympathies of the party, of those in Government who had worked with him, of his dear friends, of my family and of my own.
Enos Nkala I knew in 1960, I said, but about that time, I did not know Kangai. Parties were banned here, but the enemy never rested. He knew we had prominent people outside.
After all, from detention we had asked Cde Chitepo, who had been asked for by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere to help with legal work in Tanzania because they did not have well-trained legal people, Tanzanians, at that time. . .they wanted a public prosecutor, and Nyerere asked for Chitepo and he insisted.
So, we said fine. You can go. Least did we know that one day we would be calling upon him to organise the party outside and so, as the parties were banned here, ZANU had been formed. We had made Chitepo the chairman of the party of ZANU PF as both ZANU, ZAPU were banned.
But from Sikombela in Gokwe, where we were, fortunately all of us, who were in the leadership of ZANU were detained together at Sikombela, so this gave us time to strategise as Sithole was there, VaMuzenda, VaTakawira, Edison Sithole, Mike Mawema and Morton Malianga.
The only missing guy was Enos Nkala who had become accustomed to being a jail bird.
So, we met and decided that since we had low capacity to meet as a party due to our detention and restriction status, let us commission those who are outside to form a revolutionary council and start training people for a revolutionary struggle.
Saka tiri kuSikombela, Chitepo used to come and we gave him
instructions as the chairman of the party to get other members of the central committee who were outside and vaanaChikowore, vaanaShamuyarira, nevamwe. They were outside. . .naana Mukono.
Get them together, form the revolutionary council and enhance it with other key people you are likely to get from our members of the party. We had this in writing. I put this in writing because I was the secretary general. But it was a decision we took at Sikombela.
And that is how Dare reChimurenga was formed. We asked Chitepo to free himself now from the obligation imposed upon him as an employee of Tanzania. He should now be free to organise the party from outside and this is how he and those he could get sat together.
Apparently, things didn’t go that well for a start. But later, they managed to get quite some people vaiveko kare vanaanaTongogara nevamwe vakazouya. AnaanaHamadziripi vakanga vabuda vanaana Rugare Gumbo vakange vapedza madegree avo kunaanaCanada vakazodzoka. He had been a youth of the party kuMasvingo. Ndokufomwa kwakaitwa Dare reChimurenga and Kangai himself apedzawo degree rake kuAmerica.
Achiri kuAmerica ikoko, he was doing a lot of work moving from one state to another, talking to individuals, other students from here and organising the party as our representative from ikoko. But this time he came back and joined the others.
Saka ndati the enemy never rested. In 1974, we were put together patakaita that inclusive political organisation yeUANC under Bishop Muzorewa. An armed struggle had already begun, but because vanaanaNyerere navanaKaunda wanted us to unite.
Well, takangoita zimano mano and we call this tamba wakachenjera. Taiti kana tadzoka kumusha nesu takanga tirimuprison, we were taken to Lusaka to form this organisation tichizodzorerwa kumaprison futi. Ndozvataiitwa. So, we went there, all parties and reluctantly, we agreed to form that foursome organisation –Zanu, Zapu, ANC yaMuzorwa and Frolizi yaanaChikerema naanaNyandoro - to be led by Bishop Muzorewa; that organisation was formed at the end of 1974.
Tadzoka kumusha, takaenda kumaprison edu. We were now in Kwekwe and not at Sikombela anymore. We were freed and we knew that we were not going to last for long. Taive netamba wakachenjera yedu.
So January 1975, we organised people muHighfield tichi recruiter. AnaEnos Nkala were now out navaana Morton Malianga. He said we must recruit as many people as possible. Sithole was arrested in February that year. Back to prison. Hanzi nekuti iwe haude; you are not listening to what the OAU wants.
Flimsy reasons and “you want to kill some other people”. March ’75: Chitepo is killed by a bomb in his car, small VW. It was then we had already Dare reChimurenga. We had already started organising some fighters and because there had been some revolt also the Nhari revolt - so called.
Vamwe vakomana vanga vafurirwawo nemamwe maleaders vanenge vachida kutora power saka vakange vaita revolt vaakubata some of the leaders, but they were rounded up by the Nhari group. And pakaitwa ANC yaBishop Muzorewa, vakange vasungwa kare; the Nhari rebels.
So, when Chitepo died, the party sat here. We had leaders of the party here. We had met kwaMushandirapamwe, Highfield, Mushandirapamwe Hotel, and it was then decided I should go and organise a take-over from what Chitepo had done. That’s then the journey we made with Tekere through Nyanga with Chief Tangwena so on and so forth.
But then, when Chitepo died, vakapomerwa mhosva. Those who were blamed for his death were his colleagues, kunzi ndimi mamuuraya and not the enemy. And our people at that stage were not capable of having a sophisticated mechanism of a bomb of that nature planted in the engine of a car in order to kill people. No. And there was no reason anyway for killing their leader.
So, later on, we discovered that it was the Rhodesians who had done it. So, as we went out after Chitepo’s death, those who had worked with Chitepo were locked up in Zambia. All of them, the leaders! And only two, I think, managed to escape; I think Mujuru and Zvinavashe, going into Tanzania.
Although they were wanted by the security in Zambia, they remained in Tanzania. But that situation then saw us having another group called Zipa vachiita nyay dzavo dzemahumbwe. They never wanted to lead the struggle. Vaingogara ikoko zvichinzi tirivashandi. Marxist ideas, which were distorted and never well-mastered, although they had aive mukwasha wangu ainzi ndiye expert wacho.
So, we had a situation which was ugly. Tekere and I did not have much time at all. But then came the need for us to deliver. And it was because of that we insisted kune vangavasisade kunzwa Zapu or Zanu at all. Hanzi hatichada. They just wanted UANC under Bishop Muzorewa. But Bishop Muzorewa is man of the Bible. He could not be expected to lead a struggle.
To lead an armed struggle. . . you can lead a spiritual struggle, yes. But the times did not demand spiritual struggle. Yes, priests and churches were praying all the time for peace in the country. But we had to do something physically to liberate ourselves. I renounced Kaunda for arresting our people.
I made a statement on Focus on Africa on the BBC to say he has arrested innocent people. I was actually interviewed, and they said but this is the man who has helped you all along and I said that is the more reason why we should criticise him kuti: he has helped us so much, why should he now negate his previous work?
That’s how I put it roughly. And for that I must say I was persona non grata even in Tanzania. They didn’t want to see me. I went to Ghana from London assisted by Samora Machel. We were together and I was staying in Keremani, Mozambique. So, we went to Ghana. Then we came back, landed in London. London–Tanzania, they said “No”. The chief was sent to the airport and said I could not come into Dar es Salam.
Why? And my passport was stamped “entry refused”. So, we spent three days by the airport and this was because I had denounced our friend Kaunda. When I got to Maputo, Machel told me the reason and I got to know it was because of that statement I had made.
But then ok, the Geneva Conference had to be attended and Tekere and I said, no, we cannot go. We must insist on the release of our people in prison in Zambia. We told Samora Machel that if we are to go we must have those people in prison because they are leaders of our party. “Which party?” Machel said and we said Zanu PF. And he smiled because the OAU did not want to hear about Zanu PF anymore.
So, I was in touch with JZ and I was saying to JZ, “Now look, this thing under Muzorewa is just a small creature”. And then now Cde Nkomo was also getting disillusioned. Plus ndaimufurira futi JZ ndichiti “You must, you must stop talking about Zapu being aligned”.
He said he couldn’t do it without those inside. But we were liaising. So, Samora told Kaunda that well, the people in prison have got to be released to go to Geneva and the same language. It so happened that all Samora wanted or the Frontline States wanted was for us to meet as Zimbabweans.
So, the Muzorewa group came to Mozambique. Sithole was there also no longer interested in Zanu. He was part of Bishop Muzorewa. And Samora told us that we now had to proceed to Tanzania because Nyerere wanted to brief us on the meeting we were going to have in Geneva. So, we were flown to Dar es Salaam. We had a meeting with Nyerere. There were various groups and we had to stay to register ourselves in the presence Nyerere.
He wanted to know what groups were there. VaMuzenda, Tekere and I said we were Zanu. Then vanaSilundika and JZ said they were ANC Zimbabwe, something like that, but hiding Zapu because they couldn’t say Zapu because it was banned. And Sithole said I am under Bishop Muzorewa. But Nyerere said you have got to be united. It was then we formed the Patriotic Front of Zanu and Zapu.
From Tanzania we then were sent to Lusaka, but I talked to Nyerere, “Please request President Kaunda to release our people”, and they said they were going to try. In the meantime, Sithole had now left, deciding to quit, leaving ANC yaBishop Muzorewa.
He made a statement to the BBC, saying he now is back to Zanu, but not the one, the Zanu we had, but his own. So, when we got to Lusaka, we had Sithole with Zanu; VaMuzenda, Tekere and myself with Zanu also then Zapu, of course. In the meantime, VaNkomo vakanga vabva now; he had flown from home.
We appealed to President Kaunda to release our people. We said we couldn’t go to Geneva unless those people in prison were released. We needed them and Kaunda said well it was easy for him to release those who had no cases, but Tongogara and another had actual cases to answer. We said fine and he proceeded to release them and amongst the people released were anaKadungure anaMayor Urimbo and Kumbira Kangai.
Sorry, I have gone round to give you the full background. And I now came face-to-face with Kangai and that was the time I got to know him. He was introduced to me. Rugare Gumbo I knew from before. He had been a youth before in Masvingo and working with VaMuzenda. We had also met before in prison in Harare. But this time, it was Kangai and I got the background, the degree he had done and so on and so forth. Well and good.
And it was the group now to go to Geneva, but as it happened, the court, also the next day after the release of these ones, almost a day or two, found that Tongogara had no case to answer. There was no evidence. And he and another, the other, I forget who the other one was, but those were released and now we were a complete team.
So, we now go to Geneva, have discussions with the British and remould ourselves later. That’s how we had this whole group and vaanaKumbirai Kangai vanga vari in it. So, we went to Geneva in October 1976, and discussed with the British team and they were not serious at all and it was the Labour party. Smith came one day and said, “I have better business to do back home”, aah and did not want to tag.
So, the meetings were being led by that Dutch fellow who was very prominent in the Rhodesia Front – PA Van der Wild and he was leading the meetings. I remember one crushing meeting at one time. Our group was late for a meeting that morning. We had been held up and he shouted: “How come you people are ggrrr?” and I interjected and said: “Come on, how long shall we wait for our independence?”
And we had the British Press, nonsensical Press. So, they say you always criticise Ian Smith, but you say you are a Christian and a catholic. Why don’t you give another cheek and I said to them, I’ve given this cheek and the other, but I do not have a third cheek to give. Give me a third one and I will give it.
So, we were together at that meeting navaana Kangai, who were the people who had formulated the programme of the revolutionary struggle - chimurenga. Then, kochiita ava vakomana vanga vachitamba zvavo ava, vanaana Dzino. They wanted to destroy this group. Kwanzi vese vaanaKangai, vaanaTongogara cannot come to the camp unless we admit them kucamp ikoko. Vanotitya and we had their IDs and guns. They were actually itching for a fight.
So, they prescribed an admission programme, how these people could be admitted into the struggle if they were conducting. Even anaTongogara; that they have got to apply one by one; aahhh! So, takati kuna Samora, we go to Geneva. Geneva ended in January. February we did our Patriotic meeting.
After this meeting upon our return to Lusaka and that was the command camp, command base so Rugare Gumbo naTekere on the third of the meetings; you take these comrades to go and do some unfinished work and unfinished work was to be done in some hotel. That is how we got rid of them. He was a hard worker Kangai. Very straight forward, very correct, very respectful also.
To be continued next week.
Labels: LIBERATION, ROBERT MUGABE, SPEECHES
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) US$98m for agric mechanisation
Sunday, 01 September 2013 00:00
Faith Mhandu
Government intends to use the US$98 million it expects to get from Brazil, as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries, to improve agricultural mechanisation.
The outgoing Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, confirmed the plans in an interview at the Harare Agricultural Show last week.
“We are receiving a US$98 million facility from Brazil mainly to boost our mechanisation which has been lagging behind in the past four years due to differences in the inclusive Government,” he said.
Dr Made disclosed that most of the money will go towards the acquisition of irrigation equipment.
“For the past few years we have noticed a change in our weather patterns because of climate change. Therefore, irrigation equipment is one of our top priorities.
“We also need to resuscitate the already existing irrigation schemes that were abandoned.
“Some of the machinery will also pave way for developments in other sectors.
“For example, if we expand our irrigation at Chisumbanje ethanol plant and improve the river system, we will be able to generate at least 18 megawatts of energy at Chisumbanje only,” he said.
Dr Made added that livestock farmers will also benefit from the exercise.
“I have been looking around at various stands of agriculture equipment and noticed new livestock machines like the milking machine which was displayed by the Italians.
“This is the equipment we need and should be acquiring for our farmers,” he said.
Dr Made noted that the agricultural sector is poised for growth in the next five years under the leadership a new Zanu-PF Government that prioritises the development of farming.
In his address while officially opening the show on Friday, President Mugabe pledged to fund and mechanise the agricultural sector to ensure food security for the nation, saying farmers were deliberately suffocated by the inclusive Government.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces underscored the need to address the needs of the farming community.
“Mechanisation is critical for increased production and productivity.
“To this end, the Government will secure funding facilities and continue to pursue appropriate mechanisation programmes that will address the needs of the farming community,” he said.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, JOSEPH MADE, MECHANISATION
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) ‘Land reform a success’
Sunday, 01 September 2013 03:58
Sunday Mail Reporter
Zimbabwe’s land reform programme has been a resounding success as evidenced by the manner in which millions of lives have been positively transformed through agriculture, the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe has said.
Speaking to journalists soon after touring several stands at the Harare Agricultural Show on Friday, Amai Mugabe highlighted the tobacco industry as a life changer.
She said she was happy to note that the majority of tobacco growers were beneficiaries of the land reform programme.
“I was impressed by the tobacco sector displays. It’s clear that the people of Zimbabwe are good at growing tobacco and are benefiting from growing it,” she said.
“It’s interesting to note that the land reform programme is already bearing fruit since the majority of tobacco growers are smallholder farmers.
“The (tobacco) prices are good and motivating farmers to go back to the field unlike what is happening in cotton where most farmers have withdrawn from its production.
“I see some schools are exhibiting agricultural products and I would like to urge youths not to do farming for the sake of passing the agriculture subject only; they should have their own farms.
“We instituted the land reform programme with the youths in mind.”
Amai Mugabe added that she was pleased by the Grain Marketing Board’s commercial projects.
“I was also impressed by GMB’s commercial projects, they told me that they are going to commission a stockfeed milling plant in November, which is a good thing since it will assist the parastatal to generate income,” she said.
Labels: GRACE MUGABE, LAND REFORM, TOBACCO
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Zim, Zambia shine at UNWTO
Sunday, 01 September 2013 00:00
Prince Mushawevato in Livingstone Zambia
The 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly — the first ever to be held in Southern Africa — came to a conclusion on a high note on Friday, amid commitment by member states to use tourism as a driver for economic development and empowerment of communities.
After five days of high-level deliberations on issues that have posed impediments to tourism development such as pricing regimes, communication connectivity and political will, President Mugabe, his Zambian counterpart Mr Michael Sata and UNWTO secretary-general Dr Taleb Rifai committed themselves to adopting policies and technologies that make it easy for tourists to travel to any part of the world undisturbed as a long-term solution.
The issue of visa regimes and the need for a one-stop border post system gathered serious momentum, as they will determine the future of tourism.
In his closing remarks, President Mugabe said the world should move with time and adopt technology and policies that are proactive to tourism development.
“As a region we must continue to adopt new technologies that enhance visa applications and processing formalities. Furthermore there is need to improve the connectivity and accessibility of destinations.
“This is in line of key resolutions of this general assembly that recognise the close linkage between travel facilitation and tourism development as a tool to stimulate sustainable tourism demand,” said President Mugabe.
Zambian President Mr Sata said his government would do follow-ups to resolutions of the UNWTO, to ensure sustainable tourism development.
“I am also happy to note that, during this general assembly, the programme of work of the UNWTO has been adopted up to 2015. In this regard, Zambia will undertake follow-up activities in order to benefit from the decisions and recommendations of this assembly.
“I have been following with keen interest the deliberations of this general assembly on efforts to advance tourism’s sustainable growth such as visa facilitation, connectivity and accessibility,” he said. UNWTO secretary-general Dr Rifai declared that the 20th session of the general assembly was the best ever in the history of the organisation.
“This is the best UNWTO general assembly in terms of attendance and everything. We still feel that the decision to allow Zimbabwe and Zambia to co-host was correct. Those who disagree with that decision should have come and seen for themselves, the smiles on the streets of Livingstone and Victoria Falls, the welcome and the business.
“It was the decision of the entire executive council in South Korea and we feel it was very correct,’’ he said.
The UNWTO brought a major facelift to Victoria Falls with the US$6,5 million upgrading of the hospital, the US$150 million airport expansion, the tarring of the roads, new water and sewer reticulation projects, among others. Hotels and restaurants also had facelifts.
House owners had brisk business, renting out their rooms for up to US$100 per room per day, while others let out entire homes for up to US$800 per day. The 20th session of the UNWTO general assembly also approved important recommendations on accessible tourism for all.
The recommendations define the appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access on an equal basis with others, to all travel and tourism services infrastructure. Furthermore, the assembly took important decisions including the approval of UNWTO programme of work and the budget for the coming of Bienna (2014-2015), the approval of a set of recommendations on youths tourism. Also, three new member states were welcome to the organisation namely Myanmar, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Arab Emirates and 88 new affiliate members.
This is the first ever UNWTO general assembly in Southern Africa. More importantly, Zimbabwe, has been elected to chair the African Commission of the UNWTO.
Labels: UNWTO
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(NEWZIMBABWE) UK, US drive spike in overseas visitors
06/09/2013 00:00:00
by Roman Moyo
ZIMBABWE recorded a 12 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first half of 2013, with 859,995 visitors coming into the country compared to 767,393 during the same period last year.
According to figures released by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) on Thursday, the ever increasing regional trade and commerce also contributed immensely to this growth in arrivals, through the activities of business tourists, cross border traders and transiting tourists, mostly drawn from DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
“The second quarter of 2013 marked the build up to the harmonised elections. Tourist arrivals usually tend to decline towards, during and after an election. Surprisingly, the elections had little effect on tourist arrivals with a few exceptions such as Botswana, Argentina, USA, Singapore, Germany, Italy and Israel whose arrivals rose in the first quarter, but, suddenly declined in the second quarter,” said ZTA.
The market share for the overseas arrivals into Zimbabwe stood at 13 percent, compared to the market share for African arrivals, at 87 percent. This share went up one percentage point this year from 12 percent in 2012.
The combined arrivals from all overseas markets rose by 20 percent this year compared to last year, on the backdrop of exceptional increases from Europe (26 percent) and Asia (60 percent) with UK, France and China specifically registering outstanding performances.
Although registering a six percent decline, the United States registered the most overseas visitors with 19,681, down from 20,860 during the same period last year.
The United Kingdom saw a 72 percent jump in visitors from 10,499 in the first half of 2012 to 18,007 this year.
The first half of this year, average hotel room occupancy levels rose by two percentage points to stand at 41percent, from 39 percent in 2012. On the other hand, the average hotel bed occupancy levels, contracted by five percentage points from 37 percent in 2012 to 32 percent this year.
According to ZTA, Harare and Masvingo recorded significant decline in occupancies and research has shown that this was largely due to reduced conferencing activities during the first half of 2013 as compared to 2012 whose whole length had constitution making activities which had spilled over from 2011.
Notable increases were recorded in Victoria Falls and Midlands along with Hwange, Nyanga and Bulawayo which had modest increases.
"Increases in Victoria Falls during the first half of the year were to a certain extent caused by the clients rescheduling their intended bookings to earlier in the year, so as to avoid the hustle and bustle connected with the UNWTO General Assembly in the second half of the year,” the ZTA noted.
Labels: TOURISM, ZTA
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(NEWZIMBABWE, REUTERS) Belgium wants diamond miner sanctions lifted
05/09/2013 00:00:00
by Reuters
BELGIUM, centre of the global diamond trade, is demanding that the European Union lift sanctions on a local diamond mining firm despite deep concerns within the bloc over alleged fraud in a July election that kept President Robert Mugabe in power.
Belgium's call for the removal of sanctions on the state-run Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) has put it at odds with other EU countries such as Britain which is reluctant to rush into a move that could be seen as rewarding Mugabe.
EU states are squabbling over how to interpret an agreement by EU foreign ministers in February to lift sanctions on ZMDC within a month of the poll unless EU governments unanimously agreed the vote was not "peaceful, transparent and credible."
This was part of an EU strategy of easing sanctions to try to encourage 89-year-old Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader who has ruled the former British colony for 33 years, to hold a fair election.
Mugabe overwhelmingly won the July 31 vote but it was denounced as a "huge fraud" by his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai. The EU has expressed "serious concerns" over the alleged irregularities.
However, Belgium - home to the world's leading diamond trading hub at Antwerp - argues that the EU has not refused to recognise the election and so the February agreement must be respected and sanctions on ZMDC lifted.
"For us, there is an agreement," Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hendrik van de Velde said.
He said the agreement was confirmed by diplomats from EU member states last Friday and it was now simply a question of drawing up a legal instrument lifting the sanctions on ZMDC, something he expected to happen soon.
Belgium's interpretation of the debate is not shared by EU officials who say talks are still going on about what to do.
Inevitable
Former colonial power Britain, which has been more critical of the Zimbabwean elections than the EU as a whole, is reluctant to see a rush to lift sanctions on ZMDC.
"No decision has yet been taken regarding the de-listing of any individual or entity under the measures related to Zimbabwe, including ZMDC. Discussions continue on the listing of ZMDC," a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London said.
However unwelcome the move would be to Britain, some European diplomats say it is inevitable the bloc will have to lift sanctions on ZMDC in line with the February agreement.
"At the end of the day, we have to delist ZMDC," a diplomat from one EU country said, asking not to be named.
ZMDC operates five joint-venture mines in the rich Marange diamond fields, producing eight million carats last year and generating $685 million in exports, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported earlier this year.
Belgium says lifting EU sanctions on ZMDC would increase Zimbabwe's tax revenues by $400 million a year as well as bringing more trade to Antwerp.
Mugabe, buoyed by broad approval from African election observers for the vote, has rejected the Western scepticism.
Anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness, citing links between mining companies, insiders in Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the country’s pro-Mugabe military, has alleged that state diamond revenues may have been directly spent on securing the Mugabe re-election through intimidation of voters and vote-rigging.
"We would be very concerned if sanctions were lifted on ZMDC now," Global Witness' senior campaigner on conflict resources, Emily Armistead, told Reuters. "These sorts of allegations need to be looked at much more carefully before the EU makes a decision."
Labels: BELGIUM, DIAMONDS, SANCTIONS, ZMDC
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(HERALD ZW) EU sanctions lawsuit hearing pending
September 5, 2013
Takunda Maodza Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S European Union sanctions lawsuit is likely to be heard in Brussels, Belgium, by the end of this month or early October amid reports that financial challenges are threatening to scuttle the court case.The Herald is also reliably informed that US$5 million is required for the case to be heard before the General Court of European Court of Justice.
The sanctions, which were imposed at the behest of the MDC, are estimated to have
cost Zimbabwe over US$42 billion in potential revenue over the past 13 years.
Said a source: “There are indications that the case is likely to be heard this autumn, but it is facing financial hurdles. An estimated US$5 million is required to mount the legal challenge, but there has been no zeal to mobilise the funds and time is fast running out.”
The challenge is being led by a team of lawyers comprising Mr David Vaughan, Mr Maya Lester Robin Loof and Zimbabwean lawyers Mr Farai Mutamangira and Mr Gerald Mlotshwa.
The bloc’s illegal sanctions regime was imposed in violation of the Cotonou Agreement that governs relations between the EU and African Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Besides disregarding its own regulations, the bloc also contravened international law when it imposed the sanctions in 2002 and continued to extend them outside the purview of the UN.
Over two million Zimbabweans signed the National Anti-Sanctions Petition which was launched by President Mugabe in April 2011 and Government used the petition in regional and international forums to lobby for the lifting of the decade-old Western embargo.
Outgoing Finance Minister Tendai Biti (MDC-T) was reluctant to fund the suit, but a Zanu-PF Government is expected to take the case head on once a new Cabinet has been sworn in.
President Mugabe is expected to swear in the new Cabinet anytime soon.
“The lack of practical support during the tenure of the inclusive Government was a major setback, but with a Zanu-PF Government in office, that problem should be a thing of the past,” added the source.
Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana yesterday said he was hopeful the new Government would source the required funds on time.
“I hope that this time around there is going to be more focused attention to actively pursue the legal sanction challenge both within the country and internationally,” he said.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo yesterday said there were greater chances of Government fully funding the case unlike before when the MDC-T frustrated every effort to have the case heard.
“The Attorney-General would know better about that case, but obviously now that we are going to have a Zanu – PF Government people responsible for finance will have to look into their coffers to see what can be done or to find ways to generate funds to finance the project,” he said.
Last month President Mugabe said Zimbabwe was fed up with ill – treatment by Western nations and will soon hit back by placing sanctions on Western companies operating in the country. Addressing mourners at the burial of national hero Retired Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai at the National Heroes Acre, President Mugabe said the country was fast losing its patience.
“They should not continue to harass us – the British and Americans,” he said. “We are treating their people well here. There will come a time when we also lose our patience.
“We have not done anything to their companies here. The British have several companies in this country and we have not imposed any controls, any sanctions against them. Time will come when we will say, well, tit for tat. You hit me, I hit you. You impose this on me, I impose this on you.”
Trinity Engineering founder and CEO Senator Aguy Georgias was the first to challenge the EU sanctions in court and his case is still pending at the General Court of the European Union where he seeks damages against the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.
Sen Georgias yesterday said there were no latest developments on his court case.
“There is nothing new; the case is still pending in the courts. We cannot amalgamate the cases with Government because we have different evidence.”
Cde Georgias, who is being represented by United Kingdom lawyers, said he had been funding himself for all along and refused to disclose how much he had spent.
“I have been funding myself all along. Government said it would help me but up to now nothing has happened,” he said.
Labels: EU, RUGARE GUMBO, SANCTIONS
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(HERALD ZW) Jet-set lifestyles, complacency cost MDC-T
September 5, 2013
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
MDC-T became increasingly unelectable because of the complacency that crept into the party and a penchant for jet-set lifestyles, leading to the party’s crushing defeat at the hands of Zanu-PF in the harmonised elections, Mass Public Opinion Institute executive director Professor Eldred Masunungure has said.
The MPOI is one of the organisations that foretold MDC-T’s defeat, having carried out its own survey as well as another on behalf of the American think-tank Freedom House that also pointed to a Zanu-PF victory.
Prof Masunungure, a well-known Zanu-PF critic, said while MDC-T officials were preoccupied with the new life that came with executive treatment, Zanu-PF was busy rejuvenating its support base, particularly in rural areas.
The UZ academic said this as he delivered a paper during an annual stakeholders’ conference organised by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe aimed at reviewing the media environment in the new political arrangement.
He trashed allegations by MDC-T that the harmonised elections were manipulated, saying that was not possible given the fact that the party was a partner in the inclusive Government.
“The party became less electable than Zanu-PF,” said Prof Masunungure, a University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer.
“If there was any rigging, I would say, the MDC-T loss was a reflection not of rigging but of the margin of complacency and arrogance by the MDC-T.”
Prof Masunungure had been asked to deliver a paper on “Zimbabwe’s political environment — Elections review and prospects for the future.”
Zanu-PF dominates the 270-member National Assembly with 197 seats, MDC-T has 70, MDC two, with the remaining seat being held by independent legislator for Mudzi South Cde Jonathan Samukange.
The Upper House has 80 seats with Zanu-PF accounting for 37 seats, MDC-T 21 and the MDC one, with chiefs coming in with 18 members and people with disabilities being represented by two special interest senators.
Prof Masunungure said MDC-T lost both its passive and active supporters.
“I would argue that the embarrassing defeat suffered by the MDC-T was that the MDC-T suffered the heavy cost of complacency. I would add that the glamour of office during the Government of National Unity had also compounded the complacency.
“While Zanu-PF was busy rejuvenating its structures, fair or foul, MDC-T was busy basking in the sun, seemingly believing that the sun would not set. It set.”
Prof Masunungure dismissed claims that Zanu-PF rigged the elections, saying that was strange as Mr Tsvangirai himself had said he was in charge of the election preparations.
He said Zanu-PF had won fairly.
“Zanu-PF did so through the pen rather than the fist, through the ballot rather than the bullet,” said Prof Masunungure.
“If any fists were used, I think they were hidden in the velvet gloves. There is little doubt that Zanu-PF out-foxed, out-muscled and out-organised its competitors.
“Its competitors were clearly not a match for the 50-year-old political party.” Another political analyst Mr Gabriel Chaibva castigated the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe for failing to invite Zanu-PF.
He said it was critical for them when conducting such seminars to invite the ruling party.
“I came here as a political analyst and not representing Zanu-PF,” he said. “There is a sinister agenda to create unanimity in condemning Zanu-PF.”
The workshop was being held under the theme: “Zimbabwe’s media, the next five years. Democratisation and Expansion”.
Various media practitioners delivered papers on different subjects.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), ELDRED MASUNUNGURE, MDC
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Give and take
By Editor
Tue 03 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT
"TODAY we have a situation in Zambia where not only politicians but successful business persons don't want to look back and ask how they got rich and think of helping those that are suffering. Those who are rich want to continue being rich, disregarding those that are poor." This is an observation of Ng'andu Magande, president of the National Movement for Progress.
What Magande is saying is an objective reality underlining the fact that we are all passengers of the same ubwato - this country of ours in which we all live.
A trifling minority is travelling in the comfort of luxurious cabins on this ubwato. They enjoy a nutritional, abundant and balanced diet as well as clean water supplies. They have access to sophisticated medical care here at home and abroad, where they are often evacuated.
The overwhelming and suffering majority on this ubwato of ours is travelling in conditions that resemble the terrible slave trade of previous centuries. That is, the majority of the passengers on this ubwato are crowded together in its dirty sections, suffering hunger, disease and helplessness.
Obviously, this ubwato is carrying too much injustice to remain afloat, pursuing an irrational and senseless route.
It is our collective duty to ensure that all passengers on this ubwato of ours can travel in conditions of solidarity, equity and justice.
And as we have repeatedly stated, we all know that this country of ours will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless it is a good place for all of us to live in.
We are reminded by the Bible: "When you have all you want, think what it is like to be hungry, what it is to be poor. Things can change in a single day; the Lord can act very quickly" (Sirach 18:25-26).
There is need to have concern for others. When we do not know someone or do not feel connected to an individual or group, we tend to overlook their needs. Yet the development of human society requires that people help each other.
We have mutual interests. The more we become interdependent, the more it is in our interest to ensure the wellbeing of others. And when we are motivated by wisdom and compassion, the results of our actions benefit everyone, not just our individual selves or some immediate convenience.
It is very difficult to achieve harmony in a nation without concern for others. So the practice of kindness is very, very important and very, very valuable in human society. Through kindness, we will get happiness and we will get genuine satisfaction.
Peaceful living is about trusting those on whom we depend and caring for those who depend on us. This is what brings harmony in a nation, in a community.
If we cherish others, then both others and ourselves, both deeply and superficially, will be happy. When we cherish ourselves more than others, we produce various types of suffering, both for ourselves and for those around us.
We need to start taking responsibility as individuals and as a collective for those in need. It is the nature of human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity. If we accept that others have a right to peace and happiness equal to our own, do we not have a responsibility to help those in need? Of course, no one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our human family in the right direction. Good wishes are not sufficient.
We need to start working for the welfare of others. Our daily thoughts and actions should be directed towards the benefits of others. We should share the sufferings of our fellow human beings and practice compassion and tolerance, not only towards our beloved ones but towards those we detest.
It is a give-and-take situation. By showing concern for other people's welfare, sharing other people's suffering, and helping other people, ultimately one will benefit. If one thinks only of oneself and forgets about others, ultimately one will lose. Most of the good or beneficial effects that come about in the world are based on an attitude of cherishing others. The opposite is also true.
There is need to work for the welfare of all. With a pure heart, you can carry on any work and your profession becomes a real instrument to help your fellow citizens. Once you have pure and sincere motivation, all the rest follows. You can develop this right attitude towards others on the basis of kindness, love and respect, and on the clear realisation of the oneness of all human beings.
And true compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. A truly compassionate attitude towards others does not change, even if they behave negatively. And to experience genuine compassion is to develop a feeling of closeness to others combined with a sense of responsibility for their welfare. Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people's hearts.
And compassion compels us to reach out to all living beings, including our so-called enemies, those people who upset or hurt us. Irrespective of what they do to us, if we remember that all beings like us are only trying to be happy, we will find it much easier to develop compassion towards them.
Our doings and thinkings must be motivated by compassion for others. The way to acquire that kind of outlook is to accept the simple fact that whatever we desire is also desired by others.
And the development of a kind heart, or feeling of closeness to all human beings, does not involve any kind of religiosity we normally associate it with. It is for everyone irrespective of religion or political affiliation.
And here we are reminded of what Dr Ernesto Che Guevara once said: "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that a true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
Since at the beginning and end of our lives we are so dependent on others' kindness, how can it be that in the middle, we neglect kindness towards others?
As human beings, we are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together.
For these reasons, we need to pay a lot of attention and act on what Magande has said.
Labels: NG'ANDU MAGANDE, POLITICS, POVERTY
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Lungu unfair to Wynter - UPND
By Roy Habaalu
Tue 03 Sep. 2013, 14:01 CAT
EDGAR Lungu is being unfair to Wynter Kabimba by demanding that he disciplines hooligans who on Saturday destroyed property at Northmead High School, says UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa.
Commenting on Lungu's statement that PF secretary general Kabimba, as the custodian of the party, should come to the rescue of the PF and stop the increasing levels of indiscipline among members, Mweetwa said Kabimba had nothing to do with the atrocious and heinous criminal activities perpetrated by PF members believed to be supporters of defence minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba.
Mweetwa, who is Choma Central member of parliament, said it was Lungu's responsibility as Minister of Home Affairs, to enforce law and order for the safety of the nation. He said Lungu was washing his hands and putting Kabimba in the spotlight.
"It is alarming that as Minister of Home Affairs, who should stamp authority vested in his office to enforce law and order so that the law visits those hooligans breaking the law with utmost impunity, the minister has chosen to engage in gerrymandering, hide and seek and decided to trivialise a serious issue and relegate it to the secretary general of PF," Mweetwa said.
"Wynter is innocent in all this; it's the domain of the Minister of Home Affairs to handle crimes committed. Wynter is not responsible for criminal activities as SG (secretary general). The succession plan in PF is deep-rooted and one person can't be singled out and you can't blame it on the secretary general. It can't be solved overnight."
Mweetwa said what happened at Northmead was beyond PF and had become of national interest.
He demanded that Lungu tells the nation the full measures he would enforce against the perpetrators because what they did bordered on national security.
Mweetwa said it was sad that the political leadership was applying kid gloves on their hands and began to baby-play on an issue with far-reaching consequences.
"This is a living testimony that PF is the most violent party and damning indictment. As a ruling party, PF has a moral obligation to respond to challenges and mirror that they are a ruling party in a democracy. The police should tell us how they agreed to give PF a permit at a public place when we as UPND, they have refused. We demand strongly that before schools open, PF, and not government, is surcharged and repair the colossal damage caused at Northmead Basic School. They should not be allowed to exercise their impunity on public property," Mweetwa said.
Mweetwa said if members of the ruling party could maim each other, death was certain if violence involved opposition political parties.
On Sunday, Lungu said Kabimba should come to the rescue of the PF and stop the increasing levels of indiscipline among members.
He said it was saddening to see a breakdown of law and order in the ruling party.
"Personally, I am worried about the trend where party members are at each other's throat. The SG (secretary general Wynter Kabimba) should take decisive action and stop this breakdown of law and order. As disciplinary committee, we only respond to what has been brought before us. For instance, the SG can charge someone for breaking the rules and the aggrieved person then can seek our intervention," said Lungu.
Labels: CADRES, EDGAR LUNGU, WYNTER KABIMBA
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PF means serious business - Sata
By Moses Kuwema in Katete
Tue 03 Sep. 2013, 14:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata says the PF means serious business for the people of Zambia. Speaking when he addressed a rally in Katete's Chimutende area yesterday ahead of this Thursday's Mkaika by-election, President Sata, who was campaigning for the party's candidate David Phiri, said the PF was not like the MMD.
"These people will vote for you because you have come to join a party that has serious supervisors; we are not like MMD," he told Phiri. President Sata said the MMD was like a barren woman, whereas the PF was potent.
He said the MMD was a gong'a (fake) political party and that was why most of the members of parliament were ditching the former ruling party.
President Sata told the audience to advise everyone with a voter's card to turn up and vote for the PF candidate.
"I only have one member of parliament from Eastern Province. You people have continued to remain behind," said President Sata.
And sports deputy minister Steven Masumba, who was part of the President's delegation, urged the electorate in Mkaika not to waste their votes on the MMD because the party would not take any development to the area.
Others who accompanied President Sata are commerce minister Emmanuel Chenda, education minister Dr John Phiri, home affairs minister Edgar Lungu and his deputy Nickson Chilangwa.
Labels: MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Most investment pledges in extractive industries are exaggerated - Panos
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Grahamstown, South Africa
Tue 03 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT
MOST investment pledges being made by foreign multinationals into extractive industries are exaggerated and there is nothing for communities, says Panos Institute of Southern Africa Zambia Chapter.
Panos Institute of Southern Africa Zambia Chapter communications manager Vusumuzi Sifile said most communities lacked the capacity to police investors to ensure their pledges commensurate with what was realised on the ground.
He said Panos Institute was working to increase capacity of communities to hold policy makers and investors accountable for planned investments.
"There are a number of major mining projects. Every year, there is a new mining project coming in but in most cases, you find that you are told that on paper there are a lot of interesting figures but if you go on the ground, you will find that there isn't anything for the communities," Sifile said of the project being piloted in Zambia and Mozam bique.
He said this during a panel discussion on "The role of social media in elections and accountability" at the just-ended 17th Highway Africa Conference at Rhodes University.
Sifile said there was need for massive investment in communities to empower natives to track and ensure they benefit from natural resources being extracted from their areas.
"So, we have been focusing on empowering those communities to demand for a fair share of whatever is realised from the extraction of those resources," he said.
"On public accountability, we have been working around education, agriculture...empowering local communities in tracking the budget so that whatever is allocated to them reaches them."
Sifile said despite recent growth in the use of social media in Africa and the growing availability of data-enabling mobile phones, radio still remained the most widely used and accessed tool for communities to hold leaders accountable and participate in their development trajectory.
"The majority of the poor and marginalised do not have access to internet," said Sifike. "And that is the reason, as Panos, we embracing social media but we realise most of the people that we are targeting do not have access to social media tools. Someone may have access to data network phone but they don't have the clue how they are supposed to use that phone to effectively communicate. Radio is still the most widely preferred forinformation sources and we are fortunate that Zambia has more than 60 registered radio stations."
Labels: PANOS
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Ngoma sees public-private partnerships as key to growth in education
By Vincent Chilikima in Solwezi
Tue 03 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT
COPPERBELT University Vice-Chancellor Professor Naison Ngoma says it is through public-private partnerships that the growth of education will be achieved.
In a speech read on his behalf by CBU senior lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences Professor Patrick Phiri during the Zambia College of Open Learning graduation ceremony held in Solwezi under the theme 'Public Private Partnerships: Key to enhancing educational development', Prof Ngoma said through PPPs, development of the education sector would be promoted and problems of infrastructure in institutions of higher learning would be solved.
He said the government encourages partnerships by public institutions with private enterprises for purposes of providing quality human capital in the education sector for furtherance of educational development in Zambia.
Prof Ngoma described the graduation ceremony, which saw over 300 teachers obtaining diploma qualifications, as a testimony of the fruits of a successful partnership between CBU (public enterprise) and ZAMCOL (private enterprise).
Meanwhile, ZAMCOL director Phillip Mututa appealed to the government to contribute towards infrastructure development in viable private institutions within the same framework that it supports Christian mission schools.
He also implored graduating students to seriously reflect on why the performance of pupils was poorer now than in the past despite current teachers attaining higher qualifications than their previous counterparts.
Mututa explained that unless the graduating students effectively apply the new acquired knowledge, there would be a lot of questions raised both on their qualifications and commitment to duty.
And in passing a vote of thanks, a graduating student of history Keegan Kapapu appealed to ZAMCOL management to introduce undergraduate degree programmes and also expedite infrastructure development.
He also appealed to CBU to expedite the issuance of diplomas to students, saying his colleagues who graduated last year had not yet received the certificates.
ZAMCOL, a distance learning institution, conducted its eighth graduation ceremony with 313 graduands obtaining qualifications in mathematics, science, English, history, business studies, industrial arts and home economics.
Labels: COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY, NAISON NGOMA
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe election: SADC observer mission's summary statement
02/09/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
Summary statement of the SADC election observation mission to the July 31 harmonised elections in the Republic of Zimbabwe. Presented by Bernard Membe, head of the mission, in Harare on September 2, 2013:
Close to 600 observers from SADC member countries monitored the harmonised elections that took place on July 31, 2013. The SADC election-monitoring contingent had a huge network that managed to cover all 210 constituencies from July 15 to the Election Day.
I delivered the preliminary report to the government and people of Zimbabwe on August 2, 2013, and to the SADC Troika and SADC Summit in Lilongwe on August 17 and 18 respectively.
As you may recall, the main message in the preliminary report was that the elections in Zimbabwe were free and peaceful. However, we had reserved the two issues of “fairness and credibility” deliberately waiting for the compilation of the reports from our observers in the covered constituencies.
Therefore, that is what I am going to do today. Despite the shortcomings that have been annotated in the grand report, we said and we want to reiterate that the elections that took place on July 31, 2013, were free.
Free in the sense that our observers noted that the candidates were free to campaign, free to associate free to express their views and the voters were free to cast their votes. Because of that, we therefore concluded without hesitation that the harmonised elections were free and expressed the will of the people.
The SEOM also in the preliminary report observed that the elections were peaceful. It was so said because the electoral process in the majority of polling stations and constituencies were characterised by an atmosphere of peace and political tolerance. When compared to 2008 electoral process, this year’s election has neither bloodshed nor massive arrests. Political parties and candidates were able to freely undertake their political activities unhindered and without noticeable intimidation. That is why we were quick to say it was peaceful.
In trying to gauge fairness of this election, SEOM focused its attention among others on state media, pirate radio stations and voters roll. SEOM noted that media (state and pirate) were highly polarised and for the most part biased along the political party lines. In this regard, SEOM received accusations and counter accusations from the contesting parties and saw merit on them.
To that end, SEOM recommends that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission implements the letter and spirit of Chapter 12 part 5, section 248 of the Constitution on media reform to be read together with the Electoral Act section 160(E) to 160(H) which states inter alia that “ . . . public broadcasters shall afford all political parties and independent candidates contesting an election such free access to their broadcasting service as may be prescribed . . . ” either, SEOM recommends that pirate media should end their operation forthwith.
The provision of voters’ roll in time goes to the very heart of fairness in the election process. If the voters’ roll is not made available on time, the fairness of the election is brought into question. This is because voters’ rolls are public documents and it is the duty of Electoral Commission to abide by Section 21, Sub-Section 1 of 6 of the Electoral Act.
We are saying so because, our observers on the ground reported complaints related to the delay in issuing the voters’ roll on time. And even in those areas where the voters’ roll was issued a few days before, people had no access to it until the day of voting.
SEOM urges the government to make funds available so that the printing of the voters’ roll is done on time and made available in a timely manner for people to inspect it in making the elections fair.
On credibility of the election process, a lot has been said to the negative. SEOM, however, while agreeing that there were issues such as the delay of voters’ roll and media polarisation, there were so many other elements that when put together elevated the election to a credible status: the free election environment, the peaceful environment in which the election took place, unhindered and non-intimidation to candidates and voters, free expression and campaigns, transparency and free voting constitutes the credibility under the prevailing circumstances, particularly when compared to 2008 elections.
Therefore, this election was generally credible. On behalf of the outgoing Chairperson of the Organ of Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and on behalf of the entire SADC family, SEOM congratulates ZEC and the people of Zimbabwe for holding a free, peaceful and generally credible harmonised elections of July 31, 2013, in which the will of the people was expressed.
Labels: SADC
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe election: SADC observer mission's summary statement
02/09/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
Summary statement of the SADC election observation mission to the July 31 harmonised elections in the Republic of Zimbabwe. Presented by Bernard Membe, head of the mission, in Harare on September 2, 2013:
Close to 600 observers from SADC member countries monitored the harmonised elections that took place on July 31, 2013. The SADC election-monitoring contingent had a huge network that managed to cover all 210 constituencies from July 15 to the Election Day.
I delivered the preliminary report to the government and people of Zimbabwe on August 2, 2013, and to the SADC Troika and SADC Summit in Lilongwe on August 17 and 18 respectively.
As you may recall, the main message in the preliminary report was that the elections in Zimbabwe were free and peaceful. However, we had reserved the two issues of “fairness and credibility” deliberately waiting for the compilation of the reports from our observers in the covered constituencies.
Therefore, that is what I am going to do today. Despite the shortcomings that have been annotated in the grand report, we said and we want to reiterate that the elections that took place on July 31, 2013, were free.
Free in the sense that our observers noted that the candidates were free to campaign, free to associate free to express their views and the voters were free to cast their votes. Because of that, we therefore concluded without hesitation that the harmonised elections were free and expressed the will of the people.
The SEOM also in the preliminary report observed that the elections were peaceful. It was so said because the electoral process in the majority of polling stations and constituencies were characterised by an atmosphere of peace and political tolerance. When compared to 2008 electoral process, this year’s election has neither bloodshed nor massive arrests. Political parties and candidates were able to freely undertake their political activities unhindered and without noticeable intimidation. That is why we were quick to say it was peaceful.
In trying to gauge fairness of this election, SEOM focused its attention among others on state media, pirate radio stations and voters roll. SEOM noted that media (state and pirate) were highly polarised and for the most part biased along the political party lines. In this regard, SEOM received accusations and counter accusations from the contesting parties and saw merit on them.
To that end, SEOM recommends that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission implements the letter and spirit of Chapter 12 part 5, section 248 of the Constitution on media reform to be read together with the Electoral Act section 160(E) to 160(H) which states inter alia that “ . . . public broadcasters shall afford all political parties and independent candidates contesting an election such free access to their broadcasting service as may be prescribed . . . ” either, SEOM recommends that pirate media should end their operation forthwith.
The provision of voters’ roll in time goes to the very heart of fairness in the election process. If the voters’ roll is not made available on time, the fairness of the election is brought into question. This is because voters’ rolls are public documents and it is the duty of Electoral Commission to abide by Section 21, Sub-Section 1 of 6 of the Electoral Act.
We are saying so because, our observers on the ground reported complaints related to the delay in issuing the voters’ roll on time. And even in those areas where the voters’ roll was issued a few days before, people had no access to it until the day of voting.
SEOM urges the government to make funds available so that the printing of the voters’ roll is done on time and made available in a timely manner for people to inspect it in making the elections fair.
On credibility of the election process, a lot has been said to the negative. SEOM, however, while agreeing that there were issues such as the delay of voters’ roll and media polarisation, there were so many other elements that when put together elevated the election to a credible status: the free election environment, the peaceful environment in which the election took place, unhindered and non-intimidation to candidates and voters, free expression and campaigns, transparency and free voting constitutes the credibility under the prevailing circumstances, particularly when compared to 2008 elections.
Therefore, this election was generally credible. On behalf of the outgoing Chairperson of the Organ of Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and on behalf of the entire SADC family, SEOM congratulates ZEC and the people of Zimbabwe for holding a free, peaceful and generally credible harmonised elections of July 31, 2013, in which the will of the people was expressed.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), SADC
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(NEWZIMBABWE) The creative side of the defeated
01/09/2013 00:00:00
by Nathaniel Manheru I Herald
GRANT defeat its creative side. It has been quite transporting to read agony pieces from officials of the two MDCs as they go through the writhing motions of confounding defeat.July 31 was a real tsunami and, naturally, the shattered centre no longer holds.
To the piece, the output from these officials has been agonizingly philosophical, delivering and displaying searing anguish that borders on the existential. And to measure the depth of that anguish that now afflicts these officials, one only needs to remember who they were only the day before, who they had become from February 2009 when the Inclusive Government came into being.
From mere agitating midgets, they had inflated to high-ranking government officials wont to living large. They had gotten used and inured to a shimmering life of woolly, tender softness. A real conspicuously consuming cabal that suddenly found itself in the lap of the GNU plenty!
Always awaited, these big men and women treaded the padded land softly, sure-footedly too, majestically marched gently pelted by tongs of yodels leaping off flaming tongues of fawners who were quick to multiply in industrial quantities. Yes, power loves doting crowds, creates them even.
From on high, these big men and women barked orders, spoke with God-like knowingness, never at once believing they were mere humans, or would be ever again. It was a high horse they rode, these deities, the toll of power’s drugging chimes happily stalking. And as power’s bells tolled louder, so too receded and dwindled their cankered souls, everything mathematically in exact inverse.
A view from the bottom
Now all that saccharine glory is gone, gone forever. They have been toppled from the high horse, dismounted it in an undignified hurry, showing their unkempt hinds in the process, to derisive laughter. The cherubic splendour of yesterday has since waned, revealing the rough, warted skin of mere men and women who, save for the rich, half-decade lie they have lived, have always been like all of us, nay, a little worse.
They now have to learn to survive like all of us, learn to view life from the bottom of the pit, yes, dismount and learn to engage life from the cesspool of defeat. It is a new station, one beneath the starting point, a new vantage point from which to view and engage life. Not exactly nice.
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When grief yields musings
But like I always maintain, grief inspires. Misfortunes give us poetry, indeed activates man’s rhapsodic reflexes. Even sorrow has its own songs. See what we now get from one Tendai Biti, the MDC-T secretary-general. Soon after defeat, Tendai wrote: “Since late Wednesday, July 31, we have been walking like zombies, drowning in dark shadows of pain and disbelief, hoping that this is just a nightmare where someone will wake us up on sweat and we sink into prayer. I am afraid it’s real.
The unbelievable is happening. The surreal is playing. The insanity rolls on. The conductor does not pause; he waves his arms in deep satisfaction to the exquisite delivery of the orchestra. The crowds applaud at the orchestra of insanity.”
Wow, what prosaic poetry! What heroic prose! Arguably Miltonic! The kind only possible when the soul is thrust in unhappy circumstances.
Milton tells me that Satan, previously God’s archangel, went profoundly philosophical when angry God deposed him for vaulting ambition, when God handed him a harsh verdict following his ill-fated rebellion.
Bedimmed by the sin of insubordination and soon to be flung into a bottomless deep, the Devil, Milton tells us, pelted God with that clever, defiant, epigrammatic curse: “Better a Dungeon than a Heaven without democracy.”
And with that timeless shot, Satan took an eternal dive downward, hind flaming from the celestial curse! But behind, he had left a nugget of imperishable thought. We revel in it to this day. The creative, philosophical side of adversity, if you ask me! Even Boethius knew and wrote about it.
A generation of credulous fools
The two MDCs plus Dabengwa’s Zapu have been readjusting to defeat’s hard circumstances. Key to this adjustment has been stout denial taking a characteristic form of charges of rigging. From the phantom of Nikuv to the magic pen which rewrites and transposes voter choices in favour of Zanu-PF, the defeated parties have been quite fertile in mind, feeding us with fabulous yarns that turn us all into credulous fools.
And the private media, forever unconditional extended patients of this massive defeat of the opposition, have been gratuitous in repeating such yarns, giving them the dignity of print, thereby.
Yonder I hear posterity’s clapping laughter as it wonders just which century we inhabited where anything seemed possible!
Three things from the defeated
Soon after the election bombshell, I reached out to a very high-ranking MDC-T official. He was surprised that I had called, still more surprised that I addressed him in a ministerial appellation he knew had begun to wither. Of course he knows me to be Zanu-PF to the marrow.
Please convey to your leaders three things, he pleaded, past pretensions of bellicose glory now all gone. Oh Tamburlaine, thou art a mere man! He laid out the three matters I had to convey. First, that they (Zanu-PF leaders) understand that we are going through our own motions following a stunning defeat. As always, this is a noisy affair, full of harsh unsubstantiated words.
But in two or so weeks, it shall be all over, and we shall all live morosely ever after. Second, that we will not take to the streets. This, he added, I have told my leader, repeating the same to my colleagues.
Third, the President must keep the lines of communication open. We must continue to talk, continue to work for the prosperity of this nation, he stressed, adding Zimbabwe is bigger than all of us.
Since then, one and two have come to pass, while three remains a cacophony of whispers, mostly at interpersonal levels across the political divide. As I write, I am beginning to hear some importuning for audience, all coming from the defeated. It is beginning to dawn on them that July 31 was no interim order, but final verdict.
Shying away from face of defeat
Another while later, I reached an MDC-N official, again quite high-ranking. “Congratulations, you won, and frankly you guys deserved it. You worked hard. It was a good campaign. Tell Sekuru I pass my sincere congratulations!” So ended the conversation. I was grateful this was on the phone.
How else would I have related to this figure so wrecked with grief? Like the bereaved, a defeated person is never looked in the face. But I have left out an important detail from the conversation.
“Of course we will, as per custom, castigate you for ‘rigging’ elections. Ignore all that. Check the last sentence where we will say the elections are over and done with. We need to move on as a Nation.”
A while later, the party conceded defeat, of course amidst customary phalanx of uproarious charges. Unlike their impecunious peers in the MDC-T, these ones never went to court, electing to lick their navels in prime solitude.
But before this, one senior official from their number, a Paul Themba Nyathi, openly conceded defeat. An act of great bravery indeed!
Finally conceding defeat
Three weeks have since passed. And in dribs and drabs, the other MDC has been conceding, gradually of course, and in a veiled fashion.
Have we not seen and read Tsvangirai’s poetic post, that one where he urges his supporters to look beyond “defeat”? He uses the word “defeat” for the first time.
It is such a wonderful addition to oppositional vocabulary, a word routinely unavailable in opposition diction. Again another brave gesture, a real measure of how far we have evolved, whether as rulers or as losers. We must grant losers time to gently bring down the curtains.
After all, during the election the MDC-T leader gave us a wonderful line: Munhu mukuru haasiyi bhachi padare. Roughly translated the saying cautions against humiliating a losing elder. No matter how guilty, the elder must still walk away from the court fully clad, with some modicum of dignity.
Then, few of us knew this was a plea to all of us, a plea from a man already afflicted by a presentiment of defeat. I will never for once believe anyone who says defeat stole on the MDC formations, unawares.
They knew they would lose elections, which is why they sought an indefinite delay to the polls. But only yesterday, in Gweru, Tsvangirai pleaded with the President to leave him alone, to stop abusing him so he has time to lick his weeping wounds.
It has been a real plea for peace, a submission, indeed an unconditional acceptance of defeat.
This society must grant some dignity to defeat so our democracy flourishes. When defeat equates to humiliation, electoral contests become a do-or-die affair, and with such comes gore.
Then a plea for space
But Tsvangirai has done more. Through his officials and a captive private media, he has been planting the idea of his getting appointed to the post of vice president. Another plea, this time one for accommodation. I am not so sure he quite grasps how the two posts of vice presidency are structured in the Zanu-PF scheme of things. They are already apportioned, historically apportioned, aren’t they?
One is for old Zanu, the other for old Zapu. You cannot reallocate this without tearing the Unity Accord apart. No one is about to do that. But grant him that kind of thinking, for it is part of the poetry of defeat, part of the difficult route towards adjustment. The last few weeks have seen his whole world collapse spectacularly.
From prime ministerial glory, he finds himself out of friends, maybe out of pocket. He cannot go golf putting anymore, surrounded by adulating white ambassadors and eager business executives.
From an all-powerful plinth, he now finds himself unsure of where he is destined to stay the morning after. As for the family, well, it is really tragic.
Focusing on the organic
And this is where I draw hard lessons for Zanu-PF. Zanu-PF needs to be a polished player, tempering its passion. I think Gramsci it is who distinguishes between “historically organic ideologies” and “arbitrary, rationalistic, willed ideologies”.
The latter are exactly that, arbitrary, ephemeral. They don’t hold a generation, never generate movements, don’t move the masses. Rather, arbitrary ideologies are a fluke; they produce nothing other than charismatic individuals and little gatherings which whilst given to loud, clever polemics, never carry people’s aspirations.
They soon too fizzle out. Of course Gramsci does not dismiss such ideologies outright: they function like the error that by opposing truth affirms it. It is the former — historically organic ideologies — which really matter, which move history and reshape societies. Definitionally, organic ideologies are an integral part of given social structures.
They have validity in social circumstances, carry aspirations and express themselves as “modes of thinking which acquire the force of popular beliefs”, to quote Gramsci. And as Marx says, popular conviction often has as much energy as a material force. It makes, moves history.
Organic ideologies thus do have a validity that is psychological, a validity that organise the masses, indeed that establish the ground on which humans move, parameters within which humans become conscious of their positions and struggles.
Applied to our own situation, it is not hard to see that the MDC formations mobilized grievances against a Zanu-PF status quo; they never reached the pith of the people’s aspirations. They became an outlet for grievances, never a vehicle for the realisation of deep-seated aspirations which Zanu-PF was beginning to neglect.
The death of such arbitrary ideologies and parties which animate them is when people outgrow the protest phase, and begin to look for serious, viable vehicles for the realisation of their aspirations. 2008 was a phase of anger; it could only disrupt but never move it. Only organic movements, armed with organic ideologies can move history; can carry aspirations of the masses.
Out goes the bogey of Gukurahundi
So one key outcome of the recent elections is a clear demonstration that the opposition is inorganic and thus incapable of “moving the masses” in a way that shapes or reshapes the ground of social circumstances and history.
The two MDCs’ failure to produce any credible manifestos was quite indicative.
Their failure to rouse the masses, to move the masses beyond bitter criticism of 2008, towards their own vision of society, clearly showed how unreal they are as a political force. Much worse, their fascination with devolution and Gukurahundi, all against a society long evolved to new, modern forms of socio-economic foci, showed how antiquated and out of touch their politics are.
However you read the result, the voting behaviour of the two Matabeleland provinces showed a sensibility for new, real politics beyond those wrought by a bitter, painful and emotive memory of a bygone conflict, or wrought by past tribal glory. It sounds rude but the point has to be made: the Unity Accord of 1987 soldered the bloody rupture of post-independence internecine conflict.
But it was all left to land reforms to repair all the bloody rifts of history, with the post-land reform reprisal white sanctions underlining and bringing to the fore all those common interests that unite us as black Zimbabweans, that put and pit us against settler politics whose current faces in politics are Bennet, Coltart, Cross and Kay. From that perspective, the 2013 elections were a watershed.
The tragedy of the opposition is its failure to realise that the old politics woven around old feuds and schisms have long turned inorganic against new, real and emerging dynamics defining new fissures.
The political society is now more forward looking, while the civil society-based opposition political society remains stuck in a bygone era of tribally-based bitter feuds from the past.
And this is why our elites in the opposition to this day cannot understand why and how the two Matabeleland provinces voted Zanu-PF whose manifesto put accent on land, indigenisation and economic empowerment, notions clearly raising new questions, defining new preoccupations, carrying new aspirations and new visions for society.
Inventing new idiom for urbanites
Of course Bulawayo voted MDC-T. So, too, did Harare in the main. You would be an absolute fool to transpose the Gukurahundi grievance onto both conurbations. You would be perfectly rational to add Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo to these two voting cities and tendencies, before asking: has Zanu-PF found an organic message that enjoys a hold on this sample urban voter?
Indeed you would be perfectly normal, in fact percipient, to acknowledge that the regain which Zanu-PF now enjoys in Harare after the latest poll indicates that unlike MDC-T which has been rolled back to a war of positions, Zanu-PF is now embarked on a war of offensive movement that targets the temperamental urban voter.
With the land reforms taking care of the countryside, the politics and actions of indigenisation and economic empowerment, if implemented in earnest, should see a pro-Zanu-PF organic movement in urban centres. The ideology of economic empowerment must now take a material form in urban areas matching the form which the land reform programme has assumed in the countryside.
Zanu-PF cannot win on full shelves, clean water, uninterrupted electricity, important though these may be. It must address a more fundamental question to do with the material position of the Zimbabwean located in cities.
Distractions galore
In this vital thrust, Zanu-PF faces many calculated distractions. I will mention some of them. The principal distraction is one of viewing the MDC formations as the real opponents. Severely castigated by the voter, these formations have never been real politically, have never been the real opponents of Zanu-PF.
They have always been the organizational expression of the West’s opposition to Zanu-PF’s liberation politics. You do not expend your energies on nearly men, surely? Tsvangirai’s current itinerary is an ever narrowing war of positions. He is struggling to salvage his fragmented non-homogenous support base so stricken after the polls.
He knows he cannot succeed. He seeks to make his departure honourable, bearable. He is finished as a viable tool of the West, a truth borne out by the fact that America, Britain, Australia and Canada are increasingly displacing their erstwhile tools to openly and frontally lock horns with Zimbabwe. Their Trojan Horse has been dismantled and what now unfolds is quite invidious for them.
Breaking the Trojan Horse
Much worse for the MDCs, a new sensibility is gaining currency in the opposition. There is a quest for new forms of opposing but without descending into the reflex of negativism, of automatic contrarieties. The likes of Lovemore Madhuku, shoots of this new opposition, now realize that durable opposition can only be premised on a reverent embrace of politics and values of liberation, something the two MDCs rejected.
Equally, they now reject foreign influence, embrace the need to own and control our God-given resources. Much worse, they reject sanctions. These are new politics which are bound to de-stool the two MDCs, well before Zanu-PF comes into view. This leaves westerners quite exposed, which is why there is a frantic effort to buoy the MDC formations.
Like keeping Zimbabwe perpetually in an election mode as a way of delaying or slowing down the decay of the MDCs, indeed as a way of slowing down the pace of implementing the winning manifesto. Or creating false benchmarks by way of the so-called “final reports” of Sadc and AU. You freeze your social actions in anticipation of those “final” reports, don’t you?
Or engineering panic in the banking sector or destabilizing the stock exchange in order to frighten the winners from pursuing a radical economic agenda which yielded electoral victory. Or getting a mere American ambassador to seek to guide the President of Zimbabwe on who to appoint to Cabinet. Apart from being an outsider, he is so junior in rank to even advise anyone in America on mayoral appointments of his country.
False debate on succession
There are many distractions which Zanu-PF must avoid, to keep its eye on the ball. The elections have been won resoundingly. They have been embraced as peaceful, as free, as fair and as a credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe. That closes that chapter, does it not? No need to dither.
Zimbabwe has a President now in place. Soon he will appoint a Cabinet that must steer the ship of State. Zanu-PF has a leader firmly in place. More important, it has its machinery for any leadership changes it might desire. With more than two-thirds majority, it does not have to be dictated to by anyone, least of all its enemies.
Succession is one huge distraction it must brush aside. In that debate is a sinister attempt to distort Zanu-PF internal structures away from the requirements of indigenisation and economic empowerment, towards divisive politics of succession.
Going BRICS-wards
The West has been outflanked decisively, and Africa is behind us. No need to be obsessive about Europe and America. Both no longer call shots in the world anyway. We have tended to devote more time to our enemies, leaving hardly any for our friends. There is the BRICS, and hey, Brazil has already made the first move by way of a facility for agricultural recovery.
Clearly, the uncertainties of the Inclusive days are over and real nations can now relate to us with confidence. That is what July 31 did for us. Engage Russia. Engage India. Engage China. Engage South Africa. Rather than obsessing about the West, our foreign policy must refocus BRICS-wards. Above all, we have the land. We have the minerals. We have the skills. We have the will. Arise Zimbabwe! Hapana chekumirira apa. Chekumirira hapana.
Icho!
Nathaniel Manheru is a columnist for the Saturday Herald. E-mail him: nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS, MDC, NATHANIEL MANHERU
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