Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 20 Oct 2009

Posted by ZDN on October 21, 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced on Friday that his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would disengage from Robert Mugabe’s “dishonest and unreliable” Zanu-PF party until outstanding issues in the power sharing agreement are resolved. The pullout, from cabinet but not from government, poses the biggest threat to the fragile power sharing agreement since its formation in February, and the stalemate could halt all government business. The move was sparked by the detention of senior MDC aide Roy Bennett ahead of his terrorism trial, now scheduled for Nov. 9. Bennett was subsequently released on bail. He faces weapon and terror charges that he denies and that the MDC say are false.

Zimbabwe’s cabinet is meeting on Tuesday without ministers from the MDC. Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba told the state media that as far as he is concerned, Tsvangirai is still Prime Minister until he communicates his disengagement from government in a formal manner. “Government is not run through media statements,” said Charamba. Charamba said that any decisions taken during today’s parliamentary session would be binding.

As for Mugabe’s reaction to the pullout, Charamba said that Mugabe was spending time arranging scholarships for students and welcoming soccer players in Zimbabwe for a regional tournament. “As for this needless excitement from (Tsvangirai’s party), I suppose the president will find time when the right time comes,” Charamba said.

Tsvangirai traveled to Mozambique yesterday to meet with President Armando Guebuza, head of the South African Development Community (SADC), to urge the regional bloc to mediate the threatening crisis. He is also set to meet with SADC chairman Joseph Kabila and Angola President Jose Eduardo Santos, as well as South African President Jacob Zuma. Tsvangirai “would use this opportunity to brief other SADC leaders on the problems affecting the inclusive government. It’s entirely up to SADC to rescue the situation,” said James Maridadi, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson.

The European Commission (EC) on Monday urged SADC and the African Union (AU) to intervene to stop the collapse of the unity government. In a statement. the EC urged SADC and the AU “to do all that they can to assist the different parties to the GPA to resolve their differences for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people.” SADC, that brokered the power-sharing agreement, is together with the AU a guarantor of the pact.

The clock is ticking as Zimbabwe races to prevent another cholera outbreak. Repair work is currently underway on Harare’s faulty sewage system, which is blamed for causing the cholera epidemic that last year killed more than 4,200 people. The leaky pipes need to be fixed before the rainy season starts in November, when health workers fear another outbreak could occur.

An MDC Mutoko councilor, Chamunorwa Mundete, was besieged in his home in the middle of the night by more than 10 armed Zanu PF supporters, who threatened to kill him if he continued to support the MDC. “I was saved by the darkness as it was around 3 A.M when the thugs came. I left with only the clothes that I am wearing and I am staying with some relatives here in Harare,” said Mundete, the councilor for Ward 28.

Zimbabwe has invited a U.N. expert on torture to visit this month. It is the first time the country has issued an invitation of this nature to an independent U.N. Human Rights Council expert. Manfred Nowak, expert on torture and other inhuman punishment, will inspect police stations and prisons, and will meet government officials, national human rights institutions and present a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. “This mission is a positive sign of the Government of Zimbabwe’s willingness to engage with the U.N. Human Rights System and permit open and unfettered access to places of detention,” Nowak told Reuters.

A farm worker on Karori Farm in the Headlands was recently brutally raped by three soldiers in an attempt to force her boss to abandon his property. Crops were also looted in the attack.

Ben Freeth, a white Zimbabwean whose farm was burnt down in August, said his trip to the US was “very productive.” Freeth, who returned on Friday, met with several US senators and aides close to President Barack Obama, who he said were all interested in the SADC Tribunal ruling, which protects 77 commercial farmers. He traveled to Washington D.C. to urge the Obama administration to put pressure on the Zimbabwe government to stop the seizure of the last remaining white farms.

The European Union (EU) has offered to fund the proposed land audit, and the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFUZ), which represents white farmers who have lost their farms as a result of Mugabe’s land reform programme, is demanding that the government proceed immediately with the audit. “We want a land audit done as soon as possible. Our concern though is that the audit will not be done by a truly independent team according to international standards,” said Deon Theron, president of CFUZ. The Zimbabwean government recently announced that it was hoping to establish an independent land committee made up of permanent secretaries and other senior government officials to spearhead the land audit.

Swiss multinational Nestle on Friday turned away 20 000 litres of milk from a farm owned by Grace Mugabe, after bowing to global pressure two weeks ago to stop sourcing milk from Mugabe’s Gushongo Dairy Estate. A tanker of milk allegedly arrived at the company’s depot in Harare, but spent the entire day outside the building after management refused it entry. The company has received numerous threats, primarily from Zanu-PF youths and government officials, since it ceased buying milk from Gushongo. The youth allegedly threatened to take over the company.

The mobile market penetration rate increased from 14% in February to 21% in August. The dollarising of the currency earlier this year has led to sizeable investments in the sector as mobile operators have implemented programmes to expand their subscriber base. The operators are locked in a battle to gain control of the once struggling market.

Zimbabwe’s monthly inflation was at -0.5 percent in September compared to 0.4 percent in August, Central Statistical Office data showed on Friday. The drop was primarily due to a decline in food prices.

The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) said last week that only 139 000 out of 380 000 Ordinary and Advanced Level students had registered for this year’s public examinations. The council said 120 400 Ordinary and 18 500 Advanced Level candidates registered for the examinations compared to 239 430 and 138 000 last year. The low number was as a result of high examination fees, which were US$10 and US$20 per ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level subjects, a fee most parents could not afford.