Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 15 Dec 2009

Posted by ZDN on December 18, 2009

Politics

Zanu-PF’s fifth congress, which ended on Saturday in Harare, approved Robert Mugabe as the party’s leader for another five years, Joice Mujuru as senior vice president, John Nkomo as second vice president and controversial South African Ambassador Simon Khaya-Moyo as party chairman. Mugabe will be 92 at the end of his new term in office. The delegates allegedly adopted a number of resolutions that set the party against the MDC and SADC, among them a decision to cease discussions relating to the controversial appointment of the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the Attorney General and the provincial governors.Mugabe admitted that Zanu-PF had lost the presidential elections last March and berated his party for infighting, saying that Zanu was “eating itself up”. He is reportedly being criticized for filling the top leadership posts solely with his own Zezuru tribe, brushing aside demands for inclusion from the other four ethnic groups. (Ref Jan Raath’s article in the Times of 12 December: “Mugabe says his fractured party is ‘eating itself up.Raath writes: “The loyalty of the upper levels of the army, police and secret police are a major danger factor in Mr Mugabe’s survival … (as they are) … riven by political fissures…”Speaking at the end of the congress, Mugabe said elections would be held “soon”, raising fears that he would mount a campaign of violence and terror. He vowed to resist demands by his opponents to reform the country’s security forces.John Nkomo accepted the appointment as second vice president with a rare call of peace and solidarity, saying that he plans to ensure the organ on national healing remains a permanent feature of the country.Media oppressor Jonathan Moyo received a standing ovation when he was appointed to the party’s Central Committee. Observers say his reinstatement does not bode well for the future of media in the country.
Party rebels allegedly distributed fliers among Zanu-PF delegates to the congress urging them to “reclaim their party from the presidium.”

Addressing the congress on Saturday on behalf of the ANC, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said the GPA had laid the basis of economic recovery and further development for Zimbabwe. He appealed to the Zanu-PF leadership and all its members to support and chart a course through (the) period of negotiations that should lead to a lasting solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe. He warned that if things did not go well in Zimbabwe, South Africa would be affected.

The South African mediation team on Friday urged the feuding parties to speed up the power-sharing talks ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup. A spokesman for the mediators said Zimbabwe could miss out on spin-offs from the event if the country was still entangled in political disputes.

Leading Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba, who was presented on Thursday with the 2009 Vera Chirwa Prize, offered every year by the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, said last week Zanu-PF’s days in control are numbered, explaining the party has lost support from the armed forces. Shumba is Executive Chairman of the Zimbabwe Exiles’ Forum.

Leaked minutes of a recent secret meeting of Zanu-PF’s leadership show that the party admits it faces political extinction and recognizes that the MDC has gained the upper hand.However, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe, Eldred Masunungure, said those predicting that Zanu-PF was mortally wounded were making a mistake: “People should confound wishful thinking with sobering analysis. Zanu-PF went through tumultuous times 30 years ago.” He also noted there was not reason to believe there had been a ceasefire of sorts between the Mnangagwa and Mujuru factions. “I see it as being a fight to the finish,” he said. “Mnangagwa may consider himself down, but not out…”
(Ref Peta Thornycroft’s article published in the Sunday Tribune of 13 December: “Zanu-PF avoids major fallout”.)

Governance

The power-sharing negotiations, which adjourned last week to allow for the Zanu-PF congress, will resume on Friday.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the government would soon announce members of the proposed Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and three other statutory bodies to support the issue of human rights created by the unity government.

A survey commissioned by Washington-based Freedom House and released in South Africa on Friday found that 73% of Zimbabweans wanted a new and freely elected government within two years. Two-thirds of MDC supporters demand that the perpetrators of political violence in 2008 be prosecuted, while nearly half of Zanu-PF supporters believe amnesty should be granted for such crimes. Freedom House analyst Charles Mangongera said the survey shows a hunger for democratic principles within Zanu-PF ranks.

United States President Barack Obama paid tribute to the “bravery” of Zimbabweans in his speech after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. He said the US would stand for the voiceless, highlighting the repressive regimes in Zimbabwe, Iran and Burma.

The new United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Aaron Ray, said the targeted sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by his government are lawful and it is not possible for anyone outside the US Congress to force their lifting.

Head of delegation of the European Union (EU) Xavier Marchal last week said Europe was ready to restore relations with Zimbabwe if the country fully implemented the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Opening an Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) seminar in the capital, Marchal said the EU was not pushing for regime change as purported by Mugabe.

Media

Two journalists from the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent were barred from covering the official opening of the Zanu-PF congress.

The president of the Zimbabwe Editors’ Forum has demanded assurance from the government that exiled journalists will not be prosecuted if they return. He said the organization was concerned by the government’s reluctance to provide such assurance.

Botswana’s government issued a statement noting ‘the re-appearance of allegations in a section of the Zimbabwe media’ of pirate radio stations being hosted from its territory, but said Botswana did not ‘harbor any such radio stations.’

A group of journalists have resolved to challenge in court the election of a new Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) executive, who they say was unfairly elected.

Education

Education Minister David Coltart this weekend broke new ground by holding a teleconference call with the Zimbabwean Diaspora. The call allowed the Minister to communicate his vision for education in the country and draw on the expertise of Zimbabweans living in countries such as Denmark, Canada and South Africa.

Diamonds

Zimbabwean environmental protection authorities have ordered South African firms partnering a state-owned mining firm in a controversial venture to mine in the Marange diamond fields to stop operations. They claim the firms did not receive clearance from the Environment Management Authority (EMA) before mining. The government illegally seized the field from a British-based company, African Consolidated Resources.

The United States, the EU and other Western countries decried the U.N. General Assembly on Friday for ignoring Zimbabwe’s failure to comply with international guidelines to curb trade in conflict diamonds.

Health crisis

Measles has broken out in many regions of the country, leading to a nationwide vaccination and immunization campaign. Seventy-two cases had been reported by Monday in fourteen districts, and health officials said it was spreading to other areas.

It is claimed that Zimbabwe’s HIV/Aids infection rate has dropped to just more than 13 percent from 18 percent in 2006, one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa to have an annual drop in new infections. The drop is attributed to the country’s recovering health service after the unity government was sworn into power nine months ago.

Economy

Finance Minister Tendai Biti risks a fall out with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after disregarding the fund’s advice to save special drawing rights (SDR) funds allocated to the country three months ago.

Zimbabwe will set up a Debt Management Clearance Office to audit the country’s external debt. The office will be housed in the ministry and is the first step towards settling the country’s US$5.4 billion debt.

The European Union (EU) is busy implementing a 110 million euro commitment to support Zimbabwe’s Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP).

A Zimbabwean economist, Dr Eric Bloch, said the country’s economy in two years’ time would be the same size as it was in 1997 and in 2019 it would be the fifth strongest economy in Africa. However, he said the success of the growth of the economy would depend on the full implementation of the GPA.

Affirmative Action Group (AAG), an indigenization lobby group, has criticized plans by Biti to set up a Constituency Development Fund (CDF). AAG President Supa Mandiwanzira said the fund would be a vehicle for political expedience.

Zimbabwe’s unity government is spending more on foreign travel than on essential services such as medical assistance for civil servants, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Finance. Foreign travel by Mugabe and members of his cabinet used up US$28.4 million of the US$126.4 million allocated for ministries’ operational expenses between January and October this year. In November, Mugabe traveled to Rome for the UN food summit with an entourage of more than 60 people.

Business

German investment house African Development Corporation (ADC) last week said it had acquired controlling stake in Zimbabwe’s Premier Finance Group (PFG) in a US$6 million transaction.The deal, which saw Harare waive its empowerment rules to leave the institution in foreign control, will help re-establish the group as a leading financial institution.

Zimbabwe and two Chinese companies last week signed four financing and investment agreements covering transport and mining.A delegation from China’s Export and Import Bank is expected to visit Zimbabwe later this month to further explore areas to invest in the country. The team is expected to hold talks with officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to discuss areas of possible collaboration within the financial sphere.

Violence and Harassment

Jenni Williams, one of the leaders of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), said state security agents have been monitoring their movements since their return from the United States where they received the 2009 Robert F Kennedy Human Rights award. The group is in court for allegedly organizing illegal demonstrations.

Stone throwing Zanu-PF militia attacked a truck carrying MDC supporters to a rally in Uzumba, Mashonaland East Province last Sunday.

Legal

A 62-year-old man was last week taken to court for saying that Mugabe “has failed and must go”, and also for blaming the land reform programme for the nation’s food shortages. He has been remanded out of custody until Jan. 6 next year.

The unity government will next year bring to Parliament the Judicial Services Bill (JSB) that seeks to improve conditions of service in the country’s justice system.

A Zimbabwean court on Thursday acquitted human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama and Constance Gambara, the clerk of High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu, on charges of contempt of court. They have been on trial since June for allegedly facilitating the illegal release from prison of MDC officials Gandhi Mudzingwa and Kisimusi Dhlamini, and photo-journalist Arison Manyere.

Xenophobia

More than a year after the signing of the GPA, young people are still leaving the country in droves to seek a better life in South Africa. The Limpopo refugee centre, close to the Beit Bridge border post, receives about 350 to 400 new asylum applications daily.

A new wave of xenophobic attacks last week hit South Africa’s northern city of Polokwane following the discovery of the body of a South African woman who had been raped. Immediately Zimbabweans became prime suspects and six were severely injured by men wielding iron bars, forcing authorities to evacuate Zimbabweans who were in danger to a temporary shelter. According to immigration officials in Beit Bridge, 16 000 Zimbabweans enter South Africa every month while only a handful have been voluntarily repatriated. At least 3 million Zimbabweans are believed to have fled to South Africa since 2000.

Environment and Wildlife

Mugabe will be joining Zimbabwean youths at the Copenhagen Climate Conference this week with a 59-member delegation.

Zimbabwe has lost 149 rhinos over the past three years to poaching, resulting in a significant decline in the country’s rhino population, conservation groups have said.

Humanitarian Crisis

To mark Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said in a statement that human rights is not a foreign concept imposed upon Zimbabwe by other countries, but is created by the values of each and every Zimbabwean.

The Red Cross last week launched an appeal for $33.2 million to extend a continuous emergency food operation in Zimbabwe to September 2010. The operation is led by the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization, has released a report titled “Electing to Rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe,” which establishes that Mugabe and his party launched a systematic campaign of sexual violence against woman who supported the MDC during last year’s elections. The report appeals to the world’s leaders to declare the systematic rape during the 2008 elections a crime against humanity.

UNICEF donated 10 vehicles as well as fuel and computer equipment that will help child welfare officials monitor the nutritional status of children across the country, notably those experiencing food shortages.

Agricultural Sector

A new report from the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester says that white commercial farmers should be compensated for losing their land in order to kick-start the struggling Zimbabwean economy. The report notes that the land reform programme triggered the crisis.

Economic Minister Elton Mangoma said Zimbabwe’s coalition government will resolve the land issue by the end of 2010, but did not say how the government hoped to achieve this feat.

Source: Zimbabwe Democracy Now
www.zimbabwedemocracynow.com