April 14, 2007 - May 10, 2007
Zimbabwe: EU Told to Lift Sanctions
Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2007
Lift sanctions, create right context for dialogue, EU told
The Herald, News Editor
May 10, 2007
The European Union says it is still willing to have dialogue with Zimbabwe but the Government wants EU sanctions lifted before any talks.
Head of the European Commission in Zimbabwe Mr Xavier Marchal — in a speech to mark Europe Day in Harare yesterday — said the grouping remains willing to carry out dialogue with Zimbabwe "aimed at making progress towards a situation where the resumption of full co-operation becomes possible."
But in response, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Joey Bimha said the EU should lift the sanctions and create the right context for dialogue.
"Zimbabwe has never refused to engage in dialogue.
"However, I should point out that dialogue takes place within a specific context where neither party sets benchmarks for the other, a context where neither party imposes punitive measures against the other and a context where objective criteria are applied as opposed to double standards and the shifting of goal posts.
"In that regard, the EU should help create the right context for dialogue by removing its sanctions against Zimbabwe," Mr Bimha said.
He said both Zimbabwe and the EU had much to gain from a normalisation of relations and Harare welcomed the bloc’s decision to embrace the stance taken by Sadc regarding the Zimbabwean issue.
Sadc leaders recently called for the lifting of the sanctions and urged Britain to pay compensation to farmers whose farms were acquired for resettlement.
They also undertook to assist Zimbabwe overcome the crippling economic sanctions.
"As you are aware, the (Sadc) communique offered a full package for helping Zimbabwe meet its current challenges.
"We therefore hope that by embracing this regional initiative, the EU has embraced the whole package as outlined in the Sadc communique."
Mr Marchal said he was supportive of internal dialogue in Zimbabwe.
"I feel very strongly that internal dialogue between all Zimbabweans can succeed, and further challenges addressed, only in a violence free environment, in which everyone is treated humanely, and which clearly does not exist today. I strongly encourage the urgent way forward towards such an environment," he said.
Ambassador Bimha said Government abhors violence and believed that in a democratic society people should pursue their political objectives by non-violent means.
"Violence should therefore be condemned by all whenever it rears its ugly head irrespective of who perpetrates it.
"However, serious questions are being raised when certain sections of the community remain sacrosanct from criticism when there is overwhelming evidence of violence on their part," he said.
Ambassador Bimha said the same yardstick should be used to ensure consistency and objectivity when judging.
"The absence of the objectivity is the missing link in the Zimbabwean equation."
MDC faction leaders Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara, National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Dr Lovemore Madhuku and several senior opposition leaders and MPs from both camps were in attendance.
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Racism behind US varsities' campaign
Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2007
From Obi Egbuna in WASHINGTON DC
The Herald
May 08, 2007
WHILE all institutions of higher learning present themselves as marketplaces of ideas, a people's collective history and culture are far more influential in determining what values they embrace or reject, and this determines how young minds are influenced, both positively and negatively.
In the academic world, students are encouraged to be objective and honest. This is why the efforts by some at the University of Massachusetts and Michigan State University to rescind the honorary degrees presented to President Mugabe during the first decade of independence are not only suspicious but hypocritical.
Cde Mugabe was awarded the degree from UMass-Amherst in 1986, while Michigan State University honoured him in 1990. At the ceremony in Massachusetts, Cde Mugabe received his hood from Maki Mandela, the daughter of South Africa's founding president, Nelson Mandela.
The efforts at UMass-Amherst are being spearheaded by the Student Senate, which passed a resolution that they submitted to the board of trustees for review through Alexander Kulenvic who is a student representative on the board along with a campus-based organisation called the Non-Aligned Group.
Ironically, the Non-Aligned Group's goals on paper are to educate UMass-Boston's diverse community through music and an awareness of world politics devoid of political ideology.
The African community within US borders has a saying that goes, "if you live in a glass house don't throw no stones."
While the UMass-Amherst is recognised as the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system, it must never be forgotten that the school is named after the war criminal — Lord Jeffrey Amherst — a man guilty of injecting smallpox into the blankets of Native Americans.
If the students at U-Mass want to make a strong political statement in connection with human rights, they should petition their board of trustees to remove Lord Amherst's name from the building named after him and issue a public apology to all Native Americans.
If the students at Michigan State want to see their university play a role in correcting the wrongs of the past; they must question this prestigious institution's involvement in the Vietnam War.
In an article titled "University Of The Make" written by Stanley Sheinbaum, Warren Kinckel, Robert Scheer and Sol Stern in 1966 for Ramparts Magazine, the school developed a Vietnam Project spearheaded by an associate professor called Wesley Fishel.
Sheinbaum called this project a CIA front and Kinkel, Scheer and Stern revealed that through this project South Vietnam's government was assisted in the following areas fingerprinting techniques, bookkeeping, governmental budgeting and lastly the drafting of their constitution.
The article also reveals that Fishel had a bigger villa in South Vietnam than the US Ambassador and had more access to President Diem than the Washington Bureau Chief Leland Burrows. He also advised Diem on how to train his city police and the Surete, South Vietnam's version of the FBI.
The people of Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole should thank U-Mass and Michigan State for showing their true colours and commitment to the legacy of colonialism and imperialism.
While the effort at UMass was presented mainly as a student effort, an influential professor also made his feelings public.
Dr Ekuwele Michael Thelwell, the founder of the Afro-American Studies Department at UMass in 1970, had this scandalous remark; "Mugabe has become a scourge of his people and a scourge of Africa, he has degenerated as a political leader and human being."
Yet Thelwell was one of the professors who encouraged the school to present Cde Mugabe with the honorary degree in 1986. Thewell was also a field secretary of the Student Non Violent Co-ordinating Committee and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in the 1960's.
He gained international recognition for assisting the late Pan Africanist Revolutionary Kwame Ture (formerly Stokely Carmichael) to complete his autobiography "Ready for the Revolution" before he made his transition in 1998.
Based on his recent comments about Cde Mugabe, Thelwell's views on the Zimbabwe question, are compatible with those of another former member of SNCC Congressman John Lewis, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus that endorses the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, the anti-Zimbabwe sanctions law passed by the Bush Administration in 2001.
The academic circles in the United States should realise that the tactic of using activists from the 1960's to demonise African revolutionaries like Cde Mugabe is an outdated strategy that has become predictable and laughable.
The late Dr Phillip Melanson who directed U-Massachusetts Public Policy programme was considered a first class expert on filing freedom of information act requests to governmental agencies and co-ordinated, since 1984, the Robert F. Kennedy assassination archives.
In his memory, U-Mass students concerned about Zimbabwe, should research how much money Tony Blair and George W. Bush have given Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change since its inception on September 11 1999.
The timing of the anti-Mugabe crusade also has to be critically analysed, UMass-Boston is awarding Senator and 2004 Presidential candidate John Kerry with an honorary degree, and last year also gave 2008 presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama an honorary degree.
It is poignant to note that at the end of March, Obama submitted a resolution on behalf of the US Senate, complicit with the US Congress' anti-Mugabe stance, through Congressman Tom Lantos condemning Cde Mugabe and Zanu-PF for alleged state-sponsored violence and fundamental human rights violations.
Obama had his part of the resolution endorsed by Senator Kerry.
The students should take their administration to task over why Kerry has been selected as their commencement speaker.
This is the man who emerged as the Democratic party's frontrunner in the last presidential election by gloating about his silver star, bronze star with combat v and three purple hearts that he won in the Vietnam War as he slaughtered a proud people who had just liberated themselves from the yoke of French colonialism.
The students at UMass and Michigan State and the hidden hands driving them towards such repugnant efforts are smart enough to understand that President Mugabe's role in the struggle by African people for total liberation and human dignity is totally secure.
It is the height of deceit for academic institutions in the western world to give the impression that they speak for the whole planet by demonising our brother and comrade.
When the University of Edinburgh in Scotland went public with its plans to rescind Cde Mugabe's honorary degree, it was evident that they did not want to do this alone and wanted other schools to follow their lead.
As his spokesman, Cde George Charamba, pointed out, President Mugabe does not suffer from a crisis of academic achievement as he boasts of seven earned degrees from various universities.
More so, he does not suffer from want of honours as he is the only African head of state to receive the Jose Marti Award, Cuba's most prestigious honour and the Simon Bolivar Award, Venezuela's most prestigious honour.
If Commandante Fidel Castro and Cde Hugo Chavez were to rescind those honours, then Africa's daughters and sons would be concerned, this is an African head of state who courageously withdrew from the Commonwealth which shows Harriet Tubman's underground railroad lives on.
President Mugabe also received an honorary degree from the University of Peking in 2005 and had Malawi's biggest highway named after him by President Bingu wa Mutharika in 2006.
The Zimbabwe Solidarity and Support effort inside the US must intensify its work to encourage academic institutions inside our community i.e. historically black colleges and universities, African independent schools, public charter schools to develop and maintain educational projects with Zimbabwe.
In the final analysis, predominantly white institutions' assumptions that because of the integrationist tradition of the civil rights struggle, we will parrot their words and actions will be proven wrong.
The writer is a member of the Pan African Liberation Organisation, and Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association.
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SADC Will Not Abandon Zim, Says Kikwete
Posted: Monday, May 7, 2007
The Herald (Harare)
May 7 2007
SADC will not abandon Zimbabwe while no amount of sanctions and isolation will make the West's regime change agenda work, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has said.
In an interview with the New African magazine, Mr Kikwete said Western countries were pushing for Zimbabwe's isolation, but Sadc would maintain solidarity with Harare.
"Sadc cannot abandon Zimbabwe. We cannot abandon the people of Zimbabwe. There are others who want to isolate Zimbabwe. That is tantamount to abandoning Zimbabwe. But we say we cannot abandon the people of Zimbabwe.
"We have solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. We work together with the people of Zimbabwe. We will try to help them sort out their problems," said Mr Kikwete.
Asked if the illegal economic sanctions and other forms of isolation against Harare would achieve the intended goal of getting people to stage an uprising against the Zimbabwean Government, he said: "Of course, this is the assumption, but it is not a one-plus one equals two.
"Our societies are different. Subsistence peasants have very little interaction with the world outside their farms or homesteads. It is only when they go to hospital, and people don't fall sick everyday, that they may have something to do with government institutions.
"My aunt (the younger sister of my late father who is now 91), she has never been to hospital. I fall sick, but she doesn't fall sick. Of course, you may say this is a rare case, but that is the situation we have in Africa. Under normal circumstances, to think that this Masai roaming the plains with his cattle is going to go into the streets because you have isolated the government of Tanzania, he doesn't give a damn! All he needs from the government is to allow him to take his cattle to the market. He finds beauty in having a large herd of cattle; he doesn't want to have anything with street protests."
Mr Kikwete added: "Yes, isolation may work in urban areas, but the rural population anywhere in Africa far outnumbers the urban population. Isolation may work in urban areas but will never work in rural areas. And this is precisely what happens -- you go to elections tomorrow, the government loses in urban areas but the rural areas continue to vote for it, and the government remains in power. "
He said Western leaders want their African counterparts to condemn President Mugabe and have him removed from power.
"Oh yes, everywhere, everywhere! Zimbabwe is a big story of huge interest everywhere. There is a lot of dissatisfaction in Europe and beyond of what is going on in Zimbabwe, and they see President Mugabe as some kind of devil, somebody who shouldn't have been there, and they think that we in Africa should have done something to have him removed."
But President Kikwete said Sadc would engage Zimbabwe in dialogue and help it solve its problems.
"We have always had differences with the international community. They want us to join in the chorus of open condemnation of Zimbabwe but we have been saying: 'Fine, you can condemn when something is not going right, but our approach has been let's talk about the issues'."
The Tanzanian leader said certain people were mistaken to think that the recent Sadc extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam was called to read the riot act to Zimbabwe.
"Of course, there are those who thought the summit should have discussed the removal of President Mugabe. Well, I told them, removing Mugabe was not on the agenda. The objective has always been how do we help Zimbabwe? Legally Mugabe is the President until the next elections."
Mr Kikwete said Sadc was confident its initiative to help Zimbabwe would work although it needed time and the lifting of the illegal sanctions.
"We know it will take time. But we need to send the message across. Isolation, which is the strategy that has been adopted by the Western countries and their allies, will work only, in fact its effectiveness depends on submission. You isolate countries to force them to submit. This is the idea. But how long will it take for Zimbabwe to submit? So I think the best way is to look at the issues, bring them to the negotiating table, and not wait until the Government submits to isolation. It may take many years and during these many years, so many people would have suffered. "
Mr Kikwete said there should be limits to freedom in response to a question on the limitless freedom demanded by the opposition MDC.
"We are putting across the same message, that we have freedom but we cannot give anybody the freedom to demolish the country and say it is my freedom to do so. So freedom cannot be limitless. There must be certain limits."
He said it was puzzling that there was so much interest on Zimbabwe in the West and its media but little concern about the Democratic Republic of Congo where 100 people were killed and 200 injured in three days of fighting recently.
"Of course, it is something interesting, something really interesting. But maybe there isn't much interest in Congo as it is in Zimbabwe. That surprises me too."
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US, Britain violate Press freedom
Posted: Friday, May 4, 2007
By Godwills Masimirembwa
The Herald
Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day. Every year, May 3 is dedicated to World Press Freedom. It is a day designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the Press.
In the right hands, the Press plays a crucial role in disseminating news, opinions and ideas that educate members of the public on social, political and economic issues.
It assists in the shaping of attitudes and values. It serves to promote, safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of a country.
In the wrong hands, the Press can be used as a purveyor of malicious falsehoods, distortions and misinformation.
It can incite lawlessness, anarchy, chaos and civil strife.
The importance of freedom of the Press is that one of its purposes is to discover or seek the truth and report it.
Seeking the truth is noble and any journalist or media house that seeks and reports the truth and nothing else but the truth serves humanity well.
We live in a world where the United States of America and Britain seek to dominate the social, political and economic aspects of every country.
They seek, by military force, illegal sanctions and other evil machinations to subvert democratically-elected governments whose policies they disagree with.
They seek to have unhindered access to the natural resources of other countries.
Neo-imperialism is the agenda.
The world is getting more and more violent and dangerous as America and Britain seek to assert their tyranny on other countries.
These two countries are the biggest threats to Press freedom. Their ranking on the index of the world’s worst violators of Press freedom demonstrates failure by journalists to report the truth regarding other countries they claim are among the worst violators.
Reporters without Borders must report the truth as it is.
The invasion of Iraq by the US and Britain remains illegal, the death and suffering of the people of Iraq is being caused by the US and Britain.
The death of journalists and media assistants in that country is a direct result of the illegal invasion.
The general mayhem in that country is as a result of American and British hegemonic tendencies.
With their continued occupation of Iraq, the US and Britain must remain firmly anchored at the bottom of world Press freedom rankings.
Apart from Iraq, the US and Britain are the trouble causers in Afghanistan.
In Africa their dirty hands are everywhere, fomenting and inciting revolt.
In Latin America they are against popular governments that resist neo-colonial domination.
Americans, in particular, are fingered in virtually every conflict situation in the world, they are always on the wrong side of the peaceful co-existence of nations, always seeking to dominate, always masquerading as champions of democracy, yet in truth they will be seeking self interest and exploitation of other nations’ riches and resources.
The bullish and warmongerish behaviour of America and Britain is the real threat to world press freedom.
As we commemorate World Press Freedom Day, let us remember Sandura JA’s words in the case of Biti and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Another 2002 (1) Z’LR197 (S) at page 200F that freedom of expression assists in the discovery of truth.
Let the media and journalists seek the truth about current global and domestic conflicts identifying those who incite and encourage them and their agenda.
Let us remember the millions facing starvation and who are ravaged by disease while the warmongers invest in high-tech military hardware and stockpile arms of war all over the world, ready and more than willing to incite conflict so that they dominate the world and its resources and support military industries in their countries.
They now have an army for Africa and are searching for a base from a willing puppet nation.
Hitler lives in the hearts and minds of some of these Western leaders. They pose the greatest danger to world press freedom.
Let us now turn to Sandura JA’s statement and explore its meaning in greater detail.
Seeking the truth and nothing else but the truth is the cornerstone of the integrity of media practitioners and media houses.
The constitution of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists states, as one of its objectives, the desire to "3(a) . . .uphold professional ethics in actively supporting the right to freedom of the press and realisation of fundamental human rights." Upholding professional ethics means, among other things, that journalists should seek the truth.
The Code of Conduct for Zimbabwean Media Practitioners says, " . . . media practitioners and media institutions must never publish information that they know to be false or maliciously make unfounded allegations about others that are intended to harm their reputations."
The hallmark of the various codes of conduct for media practitioners the world over share and are anchored on the same principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and accountability in news gathering and reporting.
The search for truth is not an end in itself. It is for the purpose of serving the public interest. The preamble to the code of practice of the Society of Professional Journalists USA, aptly summarises the role and duty of journalists. It partly states ". . . public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialities strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honest, professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility."
But it does not mean that the media and media practitioners have a right to report on everything so long as it is true. Every democratic country in the world has certain truths which are not for public consumption, for their reportage will be harmful to national security, law enforcement, formulation and implementation of government policy, personal and public safety and personal privacy.
Canada has a Security of Information Act that makes it a crime to be in unauthorised possession or to communicate secret government documents.
In the so-called bastions of Press freedom (United States of America and Europe), anti-terror laws have eroded the "truths" that the media and journalists are permitted to report on. Journalists and media houses are under surveillance. Harassment and monitoring of journalists is on the increase. Courts in America are forcing journalists to reveal their confidential sources of information or risk imprisonment for contempt of court.
First Amendment guarantees of freedom of expression are increasingly becoming a sham in the face of the relentless pressure from the Bush administration as it intensifies its war against self created terrorists.
Bush contravened the law by facilitating payments to columnists to enable them to write favourable stories on the US invasion of, and continued occupation of Iraq. It’s really messy for journalists out there. The prescriptions are said to be in furtherance of national security interests. Obviously, the bribes are in furtherance of Bush’s illegal agenda in Iraq.
In Zimbabwe journalists’ right to seek and discover the truth is protected by law, subject to limitations on grounds of national security, public and private interests.
Section 78 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act grants journalists the right, among other things, "to enquire, gather, receive and disseminate information."
It gives journalists the right to discover the truth and disseminate that truth.
It empowers journalists to visit public bodies, access documents and materials, make recordings and disseminate news pertaining to their findings.
It empowers the journalist to refuse to be party to reports or editorial preparations that distort his/her findings. This provision is consistent with journalistic standards.
By accepting that the discovery of truth and its dissemination is the core function and integrity barometer of the media, journalists and media houses must surely accept that falsifying or fabricating information and publishing falsehoods is anathema to their noble profession, with the offenders deserving censure and punishment.
Only the guilty are afraid of the provisions of section 64 and 80 of the AIPPA. These sections provide for the prosecution and punishment of mass media houses and journalists that, among other things, abuse freedom of expression, abuse journalistic privilege by committing criminal offences, contravening provisions of the Official Secrets Act, falsifying or fabricating information or publishing falsehoods.
There is no freedom without obligation.
There is no obligation without censure and punishment against transgression.
For the media, the freedom is to discover the truth.
The obligation is to report the truth. The censure for transgression is a claim for civil damages and/or criminal prosecution.
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Human Rights Report: US shoots own feet
Posted: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
By Caesar Zvayi
The Herald
THERE are a few stubborn facts the pretentious Bush administration has to know are common knowledge.
Firstly, the United States is not an independent country, but the largest settler colony that has systematically decimated the original inhabitants, the Amerindians, the same way Australia has deposed Aborigines and New Zealand, the Maoris. As such, Americans have no moral ground on which to claim to be spearheading the liberation of any other people when they have not granted independence to the rightful owners of the land they claim is theirs.
Zimbabweans know that at the height of the Second Chimurenga, when the progressive world closed ranks against Rhodesia and the UN, for the first time in its history, imposed mandatory legal economic sanctions on the rogue Smith on December 16 1966; which it broadened to a total embargo on May 29 1968; the US had no qualms engaging in illicit trade with the Rhodesian regime. Washington actually passed the so–called Byrd Amendment of 1971 that it used to circumvent UN sanctions in order to get chrome from Rhodesia to use on its monstrous automobiles.
So to Uncle Sam, chrome–plated car bumpers were more important than downtrodden black Zimbabweans.
Secondly, it is common knowledge that the US is the largest abuser of human rights dating back to the days of the Trans–Atlantic Slave abductions when millions of black people were yoked like animals to work in plantations and help build the so–called Free World.
To this day, the descendants of African slaves live like captives in the country their forebears broke their backs to build.
Thirdly, the US is the largest sponsor of terrorism across the world, a fact proved by the likes of Osama Bin Laden whom it created and used against the Russians in Afghanistan, but who it disowns today, simply because he has chosen to give Uncle Sam a taste of his own medicine.
Fourth, though it has a federal structure, the US is just another country, one of the 192 members of the United Nations whose charter espouses "equality between states, big and small," as such it was never ordained by anyone to masquerade as a global policemen.
Fifth, the US is guilty of more crimes against humanity, probably more than all other states combined. One needs only look at the use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, banned weapons like cluster bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses, and the continued detention of people of primarily Arab descent at Guantanamo Bay simply because they look like Osama Bin Laden.
It is against this background that the US State Department report: "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US record — 2006," should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
The first contradiction is in the title of the report itself, as the US did a lot to undermine human rights and democracy across the world in 2006 such that to have Washington make pretensions at safeguarding these values is akin to having the devil preach Godliness.
One needs only look at US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the senseless war on Lebanon where innocent civilians were annihilated with the aid of banned weapons of mass destruction to understand the depth of Uncle Sam's depravity last year.
As such, the report is a clumsy attempt to disguise American destabilisation by deodorising it as a quest for democratisation.
As Russia pointed out, the report, covering all countries, portrays the human rights situation in countries that kow–tow to US foreign policy favourably while those that refuse to indulge Washington are portrayed as human rights abusers.
The most revealing aspect is that Israel, a state that committed so many atrocities against the Lebanese and Palestinians, has been omitted, probably because Uncle Sam could not find anything to disguise Israel's crimes.
Though the report has sections dealing with all other countries in the world, Zimbabwe was given extensive treatment as it has the largest section. More so, the entire report opens with a quotation from the self–exiled publisher of The Independent and The Standard, Trevor Ncube, who is reported to have said:
"If they think they can stop me from speaking against injustice, corruption and misgovernment . . . then they are mistaken. It will not stop me."
The use of this uninspiring quotation from Ncube, who is identified as "a Zimbabwean journalist harassed by the Government," was clearly meant to ensure that any reader would not miss the section on Zimbabwe, and by extension gave the impression that the entire report was on Zimbabwe.
What is even more scandalous is that though the report claims to be covering the period January to December 2006, it surprisingly opens with scatological remarks about the 2002 presidential elections and the March 2005 general election that it dismissed as having been unfair.
Yet these elections, when compared to the charade that brought George W. Bush to power in 2000 and again in 2004, were models not only for Africa but the entire world, one needs only look at what happened in Nigeria last week for emphasis.
The report then delves into alleged arbitrary arrests and torture of political opponents, though nothing of that sought happened at all. Through it all, the MDC factions which were battering each other all over the place before US ambassador, Christopher Dell struck an armistice, are presented as the great victims of State repression.
Nowhere in the report was Tsvangirai censured for his violent forays into the Mutambara camp though people like Trudy Stevenson, David Coltart, Gibson Sibanda and Welshman Ncube gave harrowing accounts of their torture at the hands of Tsvangirai's goons.
Operation Murambatsvina, which occurred in mid–2005, was also roped in and Anna Tibaijuka's lies that 700 000 people were displaced were given pride of place yet the disgraced UN–Habitat official admitted that her numbers were based on mathematical formulae and not actual findings. More so, official statistics released by the Zimbabwe Republic Police showed that by June 28 2005, the time the operation wound up, only 50 193 illegal structures had been demolished in all ten provinces, and 40 000 people were affected, which is realistic, for the reasons cited above.
Perhaps the most laughable attempt was the US' claim that the Government had restricted freedom of speech:
"The Government regularly used repressive laws to restrict freedom of assembly, speech, and press. In an attack on the independent media, the Government jammed broadcasts of the popular Voice of America Studio 7 programme, one of the few sources of uncensored news throughout the country, and seized radios belonging to listening groups in rural areas."
Is there no end to Uncle Sam's contempt for all people outside the US?
Who does not know that Studio 7 is not an independent station, but a special broadcast by the US propaganda station Voice of America that is funded by the same State Department that released the scandalous report?
So how independent is Studio 7, and independent from whom? At least we now know that everything labelled "independent" by Washington will be intrinsically linked to the US' policy of subversion.
Zimbabwe, if indeed it did, had every right to jam the pirate broadcast the same way the US itself blocked broadcasts from Radio Moscow at the height of the Cold War by removing the Short Wave band from all radio receivers produced in the US.
The same goes for the alleged confiscation of the receivers distributed by US running dogs in the rural areas. Zimbabweans do eat US propaganda, what they need is the immediate revoking of that illegal sanctions law, the so–called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.
That racist law, more than anything else is the reason the economy continued to decline, with skyrocketing prices, widespread shortages, and rapidly deteriorating social services," not the alleged "Government's command and control economic policies," which the US gloated about.
Another blatant lie was the claim that the US had managed to "expand international support of sanctions against Government and ruling party officials responsible for human rights violations."
US sanctions are not against the Government and ruling party officials as Uncle Sam and his henchman Christopher Dell would have people believe. The US sanctions law clearly says in Section 4 (c):
" . . . The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against; (1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or (2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution."
Thus, only a fool would read "Government of Zimbabwe" as referring to Zanu–PF, because the Government borrows on behalf of the country, as such what the MDC and other myopic people celebrate as "targeted" sanctions, are sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe.
And as many saw last year, US executive directors compelled the IMF to deny Zimbabwe voting rights and access to lines of credit in terms of this illegal Act.
Contrary to US claims that support for the sanctions expanded, it was actually the converse as we saw at the African Union Summit held in Banjul, The Gambia, where the then outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pledged to use his offices to have the sanctions scrapped. His efforts were, however, a little too late as Mr Ban Ki–moon of the Republic of Korea was already standing at the door.
Washington needs only look at the outcome of the extra–ordinary summit of Sadc heads of state and government held in Tanzania at the end of March to see the hollowness of that lie.
The only good thing about the US report is that it explains Dell's strange behaviour as it explicitly exposed US involvement in Zimbabwe's internal politics, Washington clearly acknowledged that it is bankrolling the opposition's attempts to unseat the Government.
"The US strategy for fostering democracy and human rights in the country is three–fold: to maintain pressure on the Mugabe regime; to strengthen democratic (read opposition) forces; and to provide humanitarian aid for those left vulnerable by poor governance . . . To encourage greater public debate on restoring good governance in the country, the United States–sponsored public events that presented economic and social analyses discrediting the Government's excuses for its failed policies."
What followed was a shocking detailed expose of the extent of US funding for opposition activities in Zimbabwe, and the so–called civil society comprising non–governmental organisations and "non–governmental individuals," so–called advocacy groups, newspapers, newsletters, some Church leaders and journalists.
In short, the report confirms that Uncle Sam has the entire opposition camp in his pocket, and the noises the so–called activists make are merely sponsored psalms for their supper.
Particularly interesting was the State Department's revelation that that it sponsors, and has editorial influence in certain weeklies that peddle anti–Government sentiment. Uncle Sam waxed lyrical about how his commentary is given acres of space, and alleged human rights abuses prominence in the newspapers.
The newspapers are identifiable by the way they almost go pornographic with lurid displays of inflamed buttocks of opposition activists they allege would have been tortured by the Government.
Far from serving its intended objective of mobilising opinion against Zimbabwe, the US report actually confirmed that the US, and its lackeys, is not on a democratising mission but a mission of subversion to serve American interests.
The report is, thus, a greater call for action on the part of Government to tighten the registration of NGOs and to re–table the NGO Bill as a matter of urgency.
Zimbabwe can not afford to continue suffering the excesses of sponsored groups, whose only agenda — apart from the selfish profit motive — is the realisation of the Anglo–Saxon neo–colonial agenda.
There it is then, with such a background, can anyone in his/her right mind expect an objective report from the Bush administration that openly confesses — in the same document it hopes trashes an opponent — that it is "seeking to discredit the Government" by "supporting people who criticise the Government?"
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Zimbabwe: Libya Condemns Sanctions Against Country
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
News Editor
The Herald
LIBYA yesterday condemned the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West as unreasonable and called for dialogue.
"Economic sanctions, political sanctions and other pressures will not realise the desired results," said Dr Saed Arabi Hifyanah, a special envoy of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi
He said Western powers should drop their policy of dominating the world because it has been a total failure.
Speaking to journalists after meeting President Mugabe at his Munhumutapa Office in Harare, Dr Hifyanah said the West's meddling in Iraq had been a disaster.
He said in Zimbabwe the West had also failed dismally in its agenda for regime change despite imposing crippling economic sanctions.
Dr Hifyanah said the West should pursue dialogue in place of its flagrant domination and manipulation of smaller countries.
He said Libya supports Zimbabwe's quest for economic independence through the land reform programme.
"We know that Zimbabwe is leading a struggle to achieve economic independence.
"There is no value to political independence without economic independence," said Dr Hifyanah.
Sadc leaders recently called on Britain, the European Union and the United States to lift the illegal sanctions which are hurting the ordinary people.
Presenting his interim monetary policy statement last week, Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono urged the nation to unite in calling for the removal of the sanctions.
The Libyan official said Col Gaddafi sent him to exchange views with President Mugabe on various issues of mutual interest between Libya and Zimbabwe.
He said they discussed bilateral relations between Harare and Tripoli, and regional and international affairs, including the African Union summit to be held in Accra, Ghana, in July.
The AU summit presented the continent with an opportunity to discuss ways of further continental enhancing integration, he said.
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Zimbabwe: Nigerian Poll Exposes West, Again
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Herald
PRESIDENTIAL and legislative elections in Nigeria have come and gone, but what they left is widespread disappointment and more questions than answers.
Central to the inquest is whether it is possible to speak of Zimbabwe and Nigeria's elections in the same breath?
While we were not on the ground in Nigeria, reports of the loss of over 200 lives in poll-related violence, last-minute ballot printing, theft of ballot boxes at gunpoint and the failure to deliver them to some stations leave us with no doubt that the poll lacked credibility.
Even the outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo, whose party ostensibly "won" the election expressed disappointment with the process, though he was surprisingly amenable to the outcome. But what surprises us even more is that while all observer missions have condemned the Nigerian process as a disgrace, the response from Western groups and governments has been quite muted when compared to the disgust from Nigerian and other developing world observer missions.
We, however, must emphasise from the outset, that we do not believe that Western countries have any right to bless or condemn any election on the continent, particularly when they do not disguise their contempt for African observers whom they do not even invite to their own countries.
But we would have thought the West, that always masquerades as a custodian of democracy, would join progressive observers in agitating for a rerun.
The same goes for Obasanjo who was quick to join the Western bandwagon in condemning Zimbabwe's 2002 presidential poll which can never be compared, by any stretch of the imagination, to the sham that occurred across Nigeria last week.
This is not to say we do not know why US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair seem to have lost their voices where Nigeria is concerned.
They have been benefiting a lot from Obasanjo's penchant to export crude oil, and import refined petroleum products.
Obasanjo also served them well in their fight with Harare when he went against African Caribbean and Pacific voices in the Commonwealth that had recommended the lifting of Zimbabwe's suspension from the councils of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth's gripes, we were made to believe, were over the way the 2002 elections had gone in Zimbabwe, which is also the EU's justification for its illegal sanctions.
Today, we ask the same observers to hold the Zimbabwean process and the Nigerian poll to scrutiny, and tell the world whether they have the right to question the legitimacy of our own process. We ask, as a wronged people, betrayed both by Obasanjo and his peers what the recompense will be on Nigeria where 200 lives were lost and a key opponent only allowed to contest just a few hours before the election?
Today, Obasanjo who had hoped to leave the scene under the halo of plaudits, exits amid a cloud of shame, hoist by his own petard.
Let the Nigerian experience be a lesson to all, it is not necessarily the credibility of a process that the West is interested in, but the malleability of the regime that determines the Western response.
This is why we agree with President Mugabe that the only voices that matter are those of our brothers from the developing world, we advise Abuja to listen to their concerns.
As for the Westerners, they can go hang.
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Zimbabwe: 'President can do without honorary degrees'
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007
News Editor
The Herald
BRITISH and American universities intending to withdraw honorary degrees conferred on President Mugabe are free to do so because he did not solicit for the honour in the first place, a Government official said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman and Information and Publicity Secretary Cde George Charamba said Cde Mugabe has seven degrees which he read for and the honorary ones were an unsolicited honour he can do without.
Cde Charamba's statement follows reports on anti-Government online news services claiming that two American and one British universities were considering petitions to strip President Mugabe of honorary degrees conferred on him.
The website &nquote; newzimbabwe.com &nquote; quoted officials as saying Edinburgh University in Scotland, the University of Massachusetts and the Michigan State University were carrying out the review because of alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
But Cde Charamba said the President does not suffer from a crisis of academic achievement and will not lose sleep over the threat by the universities.
"President Mugabe has read for seven degrees. He has honorary degrees from Africa, Asia, former Eastern Europe, Europe and America.
"Honorary degrees are exactly that, an unsolicited honour from the giver.
"The President did not accost anyone to confer the honour.
"If anything, those Western universities improved their international profile by associating themselves with the President," Cde Charamba said.
He added: "It is not like the President suffers a crisis of achievement. He has seven solid degrees which are more than enough to earn him a living and recognition. He does not lose sleep over the threats."
The reports said Scottish MP Nigel Griffiths was to personally present Edinburgh University chiefs with a "dossier" spelling out why the Zimbabwean President should be stripped of his honorary degree.
Griffiths last week tabled a parliamentary motion calling for the award to be revoked, and has now asked for an early meeting with principal Tim O'Shea to discuss the subject.
Edinburgh conferred Cde Mugabe the honorary degree in 1984.
The reports said Michigan State University, which gave Cde Mugabe honorary degrees in 1984 and 1990, has also received similar petitions.
Terry Denbow, a Michigan State spokesman, said: "There have been discussions, but I know of no formal process for rescinding the degree."
Bill Wright, a spokesman for UMass president Jack Wilson, said university officials and trustees were "just in the discussion phase" about what to do with Cde Mugabe's degree.
If they decide they want to withdraw the honour, it is not likely to happen anytime soon.
While the university has a detailed procedure for awarding the degrees, there is no process for taking one back.
But Michael Thelwell, a professor in the UMass Afro-American studies department, and others cautioned against revoking the degree just to appease President Mugabe's critics.
"The task of intellectuals is to seek the truth, not to be swayed by pressures of the moment," said Bill Strickland, a UMass politics professor.
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Zimbabwe: Mugabe 'an outstanding leader', says Zambian vice-president
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007
angolapress-angop.ao
HARARE, 04/21 - Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe won a show of support from neighbouring Zambia with its vice-president calling him one of the world's great leaders, state media in Harare reported Friday.
In comments carried by the Herald newspaper, Rupiah Banda said Mugabe had shown courage by embarking on his controversial land reform programme in the face of Western criticism and any problems in Zimbabwe should be resolved among Africans.
"We are proud to stand in front of the world and say this is our brother and that any problems here or in Zambia can be solved by ourselves within the context of our continent and our organisation," Banda said after meeting with Mugabe on Thursday.
"Zimbabwe is a sovereign state which should be respected by all and that within its sovereignty, its people decide who is their leader and as far as we are concerned, right here (pointing at Mugabe), we have one of the most outstanding leaders in the world and in Africa."
Banda's words of praise are in contrast to recent comments from Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa who has compared the situation in Zimbabwe to the sinking of the Titanic.
Banda is seen as close to Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda who recently warned against the "demonisation" of his old ally Mugabe.
South African President Thabo Mbeki was recently tasked by regional heads of state to help resolve the divisions between Mugabe government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change after recent attacks on MDC leaders.
Zimbabwe is currently in the throes of an economic meltdown which has seen inflation surge towards the 2,000 percent mark.
Western critics have traced the decline of the economy to the launch of the land reform programme in 2000 which saw thousands of white-owned farms seized by the state.
www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=526167
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Zimbabwe: Anglican Bishops Rap Sanctions
Posted: Saturday, April 21, 2007
By Caesar Zvayi
The Herald (Harare)
April 20, 2007
THE Anglican Church Province of Central Africa has added its voice to the growing condemnation of the illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called for their scrapping, urging Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in the country.
In their Pastoral letter issued at the end of their Episcopal Synod in Harare last week, the 14 bishops and one canon, among them the head of the Province of Central Africa, the Most Rev Bernard Amos Malango, acknowledged that the economic situation in Zimbabwe stemmed from illegal sanctions.
"We, the bishops, are concerned and pained at the distressing occurrences that have been taking place in Zimbabwe; the deteriorating economy has rendered the ordinary Zimba-bwean unable to make ends meet.
"This, we note, has been exacerbated by the economic sanctions imposed by the Western countries, these so-called targeted sanctions (presumably) aimed at the leadership of the country have affected the poor Zimbabweans who have borne the brunt of the sanctions ...
"We, therefore, call upon the Western countries to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, we further call upon the British government to honour its obligation of paying compensation to the white farmers."
The Anglican Bishop's pastoral letter exposes the patently political nature of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop's Conference that released its own letter ahead of the Easter holidays, accusing President Mugabe and the Government of corrupt governance and human rights abuses.
The Catholic Bishops, led by the head of the Bulawayo Diocese -- Archbishop Pius Ncube -- and two of his colleagues from South Africa, Archbishop Buti Tlagale and Bishop Kevin Dowling, held an opposition rally on April 12 under the auspices of the Save Zimbabwe Convention and pledged to facilitate illegal regime change in the country.
Turning to the recent orgies of violence, the Anglican Bishops urged the Government to provide a framework for peace by creating an environment conducive for dialogue.
"As bishops, we denounce all forms of violence perpetrated by whatever source as a means of resolving conflict as this is a degradation of those created in the image of God."
Last month, MDC factions embarked on orgies of violence disguised as a "defiance campaign," through which they sought to depose the Government in the streets. When their attempts were thwarted, they launched terrorist activities that saw them assault police officers, burn private and public property and carry out 11 reported petrol bombings on police stations and private property.
The statement by the Anglican Bishops was in line with the theme of the 27th Independence Anniversary Celebrations, "Uniting Against Sanctions," and the resolution on Zimbabwe at the extra-ordinary summit of Sadc heads of state and government at the end of March in Tanzania.
At the summit, Sadc leaders reaffirmed their support and solidarity for the people and Government of Zimbabwe, called for the lifting of the illegal sanctions, recognised the legitimacy of the electoral system and urged Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe.
They also pledged a rescue package to mitigate the effects of the sanctions and tasked South African president Thabo Mbeki to facilitate dialogue between the Government and the opposition.
Apart from Archbishop Malango, other bishops who signed the Pastoral Letter dated April 12 2007 were Right Revs: Christopher J. Boyle (Northern Malawi), Albert Chama (Northern Zambia), Elson Jakazi (Manicaland), Derek Kamukwamba (Central Zambia), Nolbert Kunonga (Harare), William Muchombo (Eastern Zambia), Ishmael Mukuwanda (Central Zimbabwe), Robert Mumbi (Luapula) Trevor Mwamba (Botswana), David Njovu (Lusaka), Wilson Sitshebo (Matabeleland), Godfrey Tawonezvi (Masvingo), James Tengatenga (Southern Malawi), and Rev. Canon Michael Mkoko, Vicar General of the Diocese of Lake Malawi.
The Anglican Bishop's pastoral letter left egg on the face of the head of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Willams who, last month, tried to pressure his bishops, among them Dr Kunonga, to join the bandwagon of condemning the Government for alleged human rights excesses.
Dr Williams went to the extent of holding a one-on-one meeting with Bishop Kunonga on the sidelines of the Anglican Conference on Tackling Poverty held in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he urged him to drop his "soft stance" towards the Government.
In the wake of the meeting, Dr Williams was criticised by church members who said Bishop Kunonga, who is well-known for his progressive sentiment, should not be pressured into telling falsehoods about his country.
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Zimbabwe Independence Day - An African Statement
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007
By Ayinde
rastafaritimes@yahoo.com
April 19, 2007
Yesterday the people of Zimbabwe celebrated their nation's 27th year of independence and the US and other European powers are not pleased. They hoped that the White minority settlers in Zimbabwe could have continued controlling the vast amount of land that was taken during colonial rule.
Despite the increasing pressure from the US and other European powers, the majority in Zimbabwe remain strongly aligned to the ruling ZANU-PF party and their president, Robert Mugabe. It was hoped that economic hardship fueled by sanctions and the ongoing campaign by Western countries to demonize President Robert Mugabe could have been enough to turn the majority of people in rural areas against Mugabe. So far that has failed.
The life expectancy of an average Zimbabwean, as reported by the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Dana Perino, is 36 years old and the White Western powers are doing all they can to increase the pressure on the ordinary people through sanctions and rhetoric that is designed to scare away investors and financers from Zimbabwe. In other words, if the common folks in Zimbabwe do not force their government from power, allow Whites to control the most and best agricultural land, and accept western neocolonial polices, then they deserve to suffer and die.
Many in the African-American community join Africans in the international community in supporting those in Zimbabwe who bravely speak out against sanctions, for Britain to honour the agreement to finance the land redistribution exercise and for Zimbabwe to move further way from neocolonial policies.
Zimbabwe should also be calling for compensation from colonial powers for the theft of land, the hardship that Africans endured, and the wealth that the West derived from the unjust and illegal acquisition of land in Zimbabwe.
Many Zimbabweans understood that maintaining political freedom and reducing poverty required a new direction. They understood that the government was right to move away from the IMF and World Bank policies. They also understood that the government was right to fast track the process of reclaiming lands from White settlers and returning them to the indigenous African population.
We in the African community support Zimbabwe's efforts to develop true independence, free from the dictates of western powers and poverty.
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Zimbabwe: Celebrating victory over British forces
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Herald
April 19, 2007
FULL text of the prepared speech by President Mugabe on the occasion of the 27th Independence Anniversary celebrations held at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, and various provincial centres.
TODAY, the 18th of April 2007 marks the 27th Anniversary of our hard-won Independence and freedom from the shackles of British colonialist and imperialist domination. We celebrate not only our 27th year of sovereignty and self-determination but also our success, our collective success, in repulsing the unending attempts by our erstwhile colonisers and other detractors to disturb our peace, stability and tranquillity. Congratulations Zimbabwe, Congratulations Comrades and Friends, on our refusal to be re-colonised! Let the sound of our Celebrations reach the ears of Britain and her allies, and let them know that we shall never, never, never be a colony again.
This 27th Anniversary demonstrates the victorious spirit of the unity of our people, the unity of a people who know how this country came into being, a people prepared to stand in defence of their country's achievements and future direction. It is this spirit of oneness, the unyielding singleness of purpose which, during the Liberation Struggle, cheered and lifted our gallant patriots to the heights of supreme sacrifice in the name of freedom and sovereignty. These heroes and heroines of the struggle would turn in their graves if today we were to bequeath anything less than full, uncompromised Independence and sovereignty to the future generations of the country. Thus today is a day when we also celebrate our continuing electoral successes and victories over British-sponsored negative forces, however organised.
I wish to applaud the resilience of our people, who have resisted the brazen attempts of our detractors, openly working in cahoots with their shameless local puppets, to reverse the gains of our Independence through their "regime change" agenda. We have observed how of late, this conspiracy has attempted to transform into a militant criminal strain, characterised by the puerile attempts of misguided opposition elements to create a state of anarchy through an orgy of violence. As Government, our message remains clear that we will not hesitate to deal firmly with those elements who are bent on fomenting anarchy.
On the broader socio-economic arena, the economy has continued to be buffeted by seemingly unending waves of price hikes largely prompted by both unbridled greed among some of our businesspersons and by the strategy of our saboteurs. These spates of increases in prices of basic commodities have largely been without justification. The price escalations have eroded the incomes of our people, thereby stirring disquiet across all sectors of the economy. Because price instability adversely affects ordinary consumers and business entities alike, it is imperative that all stakeholders should work together to stem the existing inflationary spiral. We cannot drift along while this vice continues to undermine our economy.
It is on this premise that Government, in conjunction with other social partners, is actively involved in negotiations for the eventual establishment of a Social Contract. Within this framework, Government, business, labour and other key stakeholders are expected to agree on establishing binding protocols that will form the basis of sustainable confidence building and help the planned turnaround of the economy. I would like to commend the unity of purpose so far exhibited by the social partners who are "putting Zimbabwe first".
On another front, Government is also expediting the setting up of the National Incomes and Pricing Commission, which will provide the framework for appropriate pricing of goods and services using well-tested scientific pricing models.
It is hoped that the Incomes and Pricing Commission will be fully operational during this second quarter of 2007. But above all these attempts, is the need for greater production of those commodities in scarce supply in order to more than satisfy demand for them. This is indeed the function of more investment capital, domestic and foreign, hence our Look East policy.
Government continues to accord high priority to poverty reduction and the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In light of this, funds have been allocated to the Rural Capital Development Fund for water and sanitation facilities in various rural districts of the country.
Regrettably, this thrust has once again suffered some setbacks following the drought that affected the Southern African region. However, Government is determined to ensure that none of our people in the affected areas will starve.
Faced by the various challenges that characterise our economy, Government has evolved decisive measures to deal with them through the National Economic Development Priority Programme. The Programme's major objectives are the reduction of inflation, stabilisation of the local currency, ensuring food security, increasing output and productivity, generation of foreign earnings, removal of price distortions and effective policy co-ordination and implementation.
Following the successful implementation of the Land Reform Programme, Government is now focused on raising productivity through the rehabilitation and development of irrigation facilities and provision of inputs such as seed, fertilizer, chemicals and tillage.
In addition to this, Government would like to see agricultural mechanisation assume a very pivotal role as a springboard to greater levels of production. Hence the creation of the new ministry of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanisation.
Measures are being taken in the context of the National Economic Development Priority Programme, to capacitate the local manufacturing industries through injection of foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe so they can produce some of the agricultural equipment we need.
It is my hope that the 2007/2008 agricultural season will see a much better state of our national preparedness.
In order to further boost agricultural production, the development of new crop varieties able to cope with the emerging climatic conditions will continue in earnest. Since Independence, 54 crop varieties have been developed and are now grown widely by our farmers. Furthermore, the Agricultural Extension Worker Programme has, since 2005, successfully trained over 200 graduands, thus significantly reducing the vacancy rate for field extension workers.
Following the launch of the 99-year lease agreements last year, a total of 475 farmers have so far qualified for the leases. The provision of leases as security of tenure, and as collateral in accessing financial borrowings, should in turn improve productivity on the farms.
The Nation's fight to reduce inflation has necessitated measures that address structural and supply constraints to economic production.
Government is currently working on a package of assistance to boost capacity utilisation for certain selected strategic companies critical in the overall economic turnaround programme's contribution to job creation and foreign currency generation.
In the mining sector, the country continues to lose much-needed foreign currency through rampant leakage and smuggling of some of our high value minerals, notably gold and diamonds.
The focus of Government this year will therefore be on ensuring that these nefarious activities are stamped out. In this sector, Government will soon introduce a Bill governing the ownership structures of mining organisations to enhance empowerment and national control.
In our continued general efforts to accelerate the involvement of indigenous Zimbabweans in the economy as a whole, my Government is finalising the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, which will provide legal underpinning to the Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy.
As part of the process of empowering our emerging entrepreneurs, Government has continued to provide concessionary funding facilities for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector.
A total of $39,5 billion has so far been availed through Sedco for on-lending to the enterprises this financial year. This included funds earmarked for projects by the youths. A total of $200 million was provided under the NEDPP for the funding of 51 projects at various Growth Points throughout the country.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's $16 billion SMEs facility introduced in 2006 has so far benefited 1 222 projects, while Sedco's Loan Booth Scheme has assisted in addressing the financial requirements of the informal sector, which is mainly operated by women and the youth without collateral security.
In order to empower our youths, the Zimbabwe Youth Employment Network was developed and approved by Cabinet in May 2006. This has given birth to the Youth Development Fund and Loan Guarantee Scheme as specific windows for providing financial support to youth driven enterprises.
The Infrastructure Development Bank, through the Youth Development Fund, has successfully provided funds to 32 youth enterprises, creating 522 jobs in the process.
The empowerment of women economically remains top priority for Government. To date, a significant number of women is now effectively involved in critical sectors of the economy.
Government is also soon to introduce gender budgeting as an essential instrument for guaranteeing mainstream of women within Government policies and programmes.
External business trips have been organised for women to visit countries like China, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, South Africa, among others. Government has set aside $5 billion from the RBZ facility for women projects, from which a total of 511 women have already benefited.
Tourism remains one of the key growth nodes in our economic turnaround programme, and with that objective in mind Government has over the past year channelled funds towards the development of the Gonarezhou National Park, which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park shared by South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
2006 was however, a bad year for our environmental conservation, as veld fires destroyed vast tracts of plantations as well as natural forests and grasslands. Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism responded with the launch last year, of the Fire Management and Protection Strategy, which should go a long way in minimising the outbreak and damage caused by uncontrolled fires. Political and civic leaders are also urged to educate our people on the need to preserve our flora and fauna for posterity.
To enhance national fuel requirements, Government continues to work on bio-diesel and ethanol projects, which, it is hoped, will reach a mature stage in the near future.
To alleviate the current power shortages in the country, Government has embarked on various initiatives, which include the renewal of existing Power Purchase Agreements with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Mozambique. Furthermore, Zesa and NamPower of Namibia negotiated and signed a Loan Financing Agreement and Power Purchase Agreement involving the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station. This should go a long way towards improving the performance of Hwange Power Station in supplying power to the national grid.
In the area of transport, Government continues to seek more finance for the development of our national road structure and the enhancement of our national airline (Air Zimbabwe) through the acquisition of more aircraft and the intensification of training programmes for more engineers, pilots and other technical experts.
The worrisome issue of the brain drain in technical skills to neighbouring countries and abroad is fast turning the country into a training ground for other countries with little or no benefit accruing to the nation.
It is for this reason that Government has now created a Skills Retention Fund to attract, retain and support personnel in critical skills shortage areas of the national economy. These recruits will have improved conditions of service.
Government has also embarked on a Cadetship Scheme with a view to recruiting a cadre exhibiting loyalty, patriotism and commitment to serving the public.
Furthermore, Government has taken a deliberate decision to enhance the provision of non-pecuniary incentives in the public service. To this end, a new Public Servants Housing Programme for Public Servants has been established and in the spirit of public and private sector partnership, a Public Servants Housing Development Company has been formed to raise funds for the construction of such houses. In addition, Government is also providing bus services at reasonable fares to transport civil servants to and from work.
Whilst the country is experiencing a downward trend in the prevalence of HIV and Aids from 23,4 percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2007, the situation is still worrying. We should all steer clear of this dreaded scourge, especially through abstinence from premarital sex and faithfulness to one's spouse. The rollout of the anti-retroviral treatment programme is continuing despite the attendant challenge of scarce foreign currency.
In the realm of international relations, we continue to give priority to efforts to promote investment, trade and tourism for economic turnaround under the auspices of the NEDPP.
We have therefore redoubled our efforts to forge strong and mutually beneficial economic ties with both our traditional friendly and new co-operation partners. In that context, we held very successful Joint Commissions with Zambia, China, Iran and Namibia. The Joint Commissions with China and Iran gave fresh impetus to our "Look East Policy" while those with Zambia and Namibia further strengthened our co-operation with these two regional partners.
The advent of unilateral and military adventurism by the powerful few poses the greatest threat to international peace and security.
Accordingly, Zimbabwe will continue to push for the upholding of multi-lateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes as the best guarantee to international stability and security for all nations, big or small.
To improve the efficiency of the international system, Zimbabwe has remained steadfast in its support for calls for reform of the United Nations, especially its Security Council, to make it more democratic.
I wish to express Zimbabwe's gratitude to those countries in the international community and especially to Sadc for remaining unwavering and understanding in their support and solidarity with Zimbabwe.
Let me at this point thank our security forces for continuing to be the vanguard of our revolution and national integrity.
Indeed, they have continued to play a critical role in buttressing our economic turnaround efforts. The ZRP in particular, have greatly assisted in stamping out crime in the country and criminal and impudent behaviour in the mining sector though Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile where anarchy had become the order of the day. In the face of extreme provocation they have curbed and inhibited the criminal tendencies of the opposition parties.
As part of their civic activities, members of the Security Forces continue to spearhead the implementation of operation Maguta/Inala, which seeks to boost the country's food security in joint efforts with A1, communal and resettled farmers to open up vast tracts of land for grain production.
The exercise has seen significant contributions by operation Maguta/Inala to the food security of the country. Finally, I would like to urge all of us to remain resolute in our commitment to the values that define and preserve our nationhood.
Let the spirit of unity and peace continue to prevail in us all, and to bring unison and symphony in our quest for a prosperous Zimbabwe. Let this be your day. Please enjoy the 27th anniversary of our Independence, for Zimbabwe will never be a colony again! Makorokoto, Amhlophe, Congratulations!
I thank you.
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EU supports Sadc's position on Zimbabwe - envoy
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007
By Caesar Zvayi
The Herald
April 19, 2007
THE European Union supports the position adopted by Sadc at the extraordinary summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last month, and wishes its success, EU head of delegation Mr Xavier Marchal has said.
Mr Marchal — speaking on the sidelines of Zimbabwe's 27th Independence celebrations at Rufaro Stadium yesterday — underscored the importance of independence and sovereignty for any nation and urged Zimbabweans to value their hard-won freedom.
"Our wish is that Zimbabwe solves its difficulties as soon as possible, and for that Zimbabweans need to work with Zimbabweans and that is the spirit of the Sadc initiative, and the Sadc initiative is at the frontline now. What we can only do is to wish its success, and to support it, and we do support it."
Mr Marchal could, however, not be drawn into saying what exactly the EU would do with regard to the sanctions it imposed after the 2002 presidential elections, saying unity and co-operation among Zimbabweans was vital for the success of the Sadc initiative.
His sentiments were echoed by Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Sten Rylander and the Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Ms Leoni Cuelenaere, who also congratulated Zimbabweans on 27 years of independence.
Said Mr Rylander: "I want Zimbabwe to come together as a nation; national interest, national reconciliation is what I want more than anything else, and with the region and the decision by Dar es Salaam, I think there is time for that. That's my wish. Come together, don't fight."
Ms Cuelenaere said the Netherlands supported Sadc's decision to help Zimbabwe as it tallied with the wishes of her own country.
"We support, of course, that Sadc wishes the best for Zimbabwe like we do, and that they are standing ready to help because that's basically what is needed," she said.
She said contrary to perceptions, her country valued the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabweans.
In their communiqué released at the end of a one-day extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the end of March, Sadc leaders reaffirmed their faith in the legitimacy of President Mugabe and Zimbabwe's electoral system, condemned the illegal Western sanctions, urged Britain to honour obligations to fund land reforms and pledged a rescue package to mitigate the effects of sanctions.
The summit also tasked South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC.
The EU's support for Sadc's position on Zimbabwe flies in the face of US and British moves to fight the regional bloc by ratcheting up pressure on Zimbabwe through intensified sanctions.
MDC factions have since disagreed on the initiative with the Professor Arthur Mutambara clique endorsing it while the Morgan Tsvangirai-led camp cried foul and, as usual, unleashed a torrent of abuse on Sadc leaders in line with London and Washington's thinking.
And in an open show of their disdain for Zimbabwe's right to self-determination, the British and US ambassadors, along with their lackeys in both MDC factions, were conspicuous by their absence at the celebrations that were graced by 33 ambassadors and representatives from four continents.
Apart from the EU head of delegation and the Holy See, the ambassadors who attended yesterday's celebrations were from Algeria, Botswana, Brazil, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, and Thailand.
Nine ambassadors — among them Palestinian, DRC, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Algerian and Indian diplomats — who spoke to The Herald reaffirmed their countries' solidarity with Zimbabwe, and expressed hope that the country would overcome its challenges in the short-term.
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Zimbabwe Not Excluded From EU-Africa Summit
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
By Oupa Segalwe
BuaNews (Tshwane), Pretoria
April 15, 2007
Zimbabwe will not be excluded from the Europe Union (EU) - Africa Summit to be held in Lisbon despite the EU's sanctions on the troubled state.
South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Friday that Zimbabwe, as one of the 53 member states of the African Union (AU), will be part of the summit to be held in December.
She was responding to journalists following her meeting with Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado, in which they discussed bilateral political and economic issues.
"If Europe is meeting us (AU) at that level, it cannot dismember us. It's not about insisting that, one attends, that the other does not.
"We want to co-operate with the EU as it is known.
"We can't say we want to co-operate with the EU, but not quite with Portugal. That will not be the EU, it will be something else, Dr Dlamini-Zuma said.
In February, the EU renewed its sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government for another year due to the economic and human rights situation in that country.
The sanctions, which were first implemented three years ago, include a ban on Mr Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries.
The summit, which was supposed to have taken place in 2003 was indefinitely postponed due to opposition from some EU nations who did not want Mr Mugabe to attend the event as a result of the situation in his country.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma said the significance of the summit should not be reduced by differences between the EU and one country.
Dr Amado said the issue of sanctions on Zimbabwe should be separated from the summit.
"The issue of sanctions is one issue; the summit is one other issue ... we need to structure for the future a strategic partnership with the African Union to promote the interest of both continents.
"We should not compound strategic partnerships... because there is a problem with different countries, this is not compatible with what we have at stake," Dr Amado said.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa was looking forward to the summit, which will take place in a period when Portugal would have assumed duties as the President of the EU.
"Europe and Africa are two neighbouring continents that have historic obligation to continue to work together. So, the summit will assist in working out a road map for our future cooperation," she said.
Other than discussing conditions and important points of the agenda for the summit, the meeting also touched:
- The South Africa - European strategic partnership;
- United Nations Reform and South Africa's tenure as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council; and
- Conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa.
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West's agenda there to instil lack of confidence
Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007
By Reason Wafawarova
www.herald.co.zw
April 14, 2007
THE US western alliance is currently at full throttle waging wars for imperial authority and supreme control of the international system while trying to fool the rest of the world into believing the false pretexts upon which those wars have been premised.
While the European (western) foreign policy favours the waging of wars on "threatening" or non-pliant weaker states through arm twisting diplomacy and economic sanctions, the US foreign policy has assumed a muscular approach with a highly infamous addition of military threats.
That a country like Zimbabwe finds itself surrounded by members of the notorious imperialist club called the European Union, all wielding the lethal weapon of economic sanctions in one hand and an equally dangerous media of mass deception on the other just goes to show how determined the west is in its quest to stamp imperial authority in every corner of the world.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are pretty much the same wars in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, North Korea, Palestine and Iran; the difference only being in the pretexts and strategies adopted for each of the countries.
The world is meant to believe that the western alliance is in Afghanistan for purposes of hunting down Osama bin Laden and his elusive Al-Quaeda network. That rhetoric is of course tired even in the eyes of the west who now want to posture as crusaders of some noble democratisation programme whose success is supposed to be based on the eradication of the Taliban. That is despite the fact the same western "democratic forces" created the Taliban in the late seventies as a proxy force to counter the Soviet Union's influence in Afghanistan.
The illegal war on Iraq has been premised on any lie the west can make up from time to time without the western ruling elite caring much about how ludicrous some of these lies have been to the rest of the world including in heartland America itself.
The lie that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction is incontestable as the lie of the 21st century. Tony Blair chipped in with his own piece of history when he skilfully put up a straight face and boldly told the world that Iraq was within 45 minutes of striking the world with the same non-existent weapons of mass destruction. When both lies exposed themselves, as lies always do, the world was told that actually the western alliance was in Iraq to fight terrorism.
They could not come up with a link between Saddam Hussein and Al-Quaeda and they said in fact they were in Iraq to build a democracy and to bring freedom to "oppressed" Iraqis, they even murdered Saddam in a show trial to give a face to this "democracy" project but the world has not been fooled and pressure and criticism keeps mounting on the heartless liars and murderers.
Now they claim that they are training the Iraqis to be able to look after themselves and some are coming clear that they can't pull out in defeat since that would be a blow to the western reputation, by which they mean western imperial hegemony.
It may be important to look at Zimbabwe and Iran as targets of the western alliance's imperial wars and to do that it is quite relevant to look at what Nick Burns, the under-secretary of state in the US State Department recently said about Iran.
Said Burns, "It is clear to us that concerted international pressure is helping to undercut the Iranian regime's sense of ascendancy, unnerve its overly confident leadership and clarify to it the cost of its behaviour."
That sums up the western agenda on Iran.
They want to contain Iran's influence in the Middle East, to stop its ascendancy from dependency on western hegemony, to instil a lack of confidence in its leadership and to punish it for its temerity to wean itself of dependency on the west.
This is also the context the economic and political war on Zimbabwe by the west should be viewed. By embarking on a programme to dispossess white commercial farmers of the inherited stolen land the Government of Zimbabwe was not only upsetting the set-up of western imperial authority, but also setting a dangerous precedent that colonial structures can be dismantled.
The "loverly confident" leadership of President Mugabe, like that of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had to be unnerved and the behaviour of both the Zimbabwean and Iranian governments should have a big cost tagged onto it in order to get the economies of the two countries "screaming" as Nixon would put it.
For Iran, the US and its allies are putting the squeeze on Teheran through diplomatic pressure, economic pressure and gross provocation to create the pretext for military invasion. The US is hoping to create puppets in Iran by first of all depriving ordinary Iranians of basic welfare support through economic sanctions. They hope to capitalise on the disgruntlement of the suffering masses to create a puppet opposition that they can then fight to prop up into power for the benefit of their hegemony.
For Zimbabwe, the lapdogs in the puppet opposition MDC are well in place, so are the sanctions and the media frenzy about alleged bad governance.
What has been elusive to the opposition in Zimbabwe is victory as a result of the resoluteness and resilience of the popular Zanu-PF and the Government it leads whose liberation war legacy resonates with the majority of Zimbabweans.
It is the same resilience in Iraq where the US has been forced to announce a new policy to manage the ruinous effects of the humiliation the western coalition has been subjected to by the Iraqis. Bush's new policy on Iraq is quite similar to his new policy on Zimbabwe after his sponsored street troopers from the MDC were swiftly swept from the streets.
The similarity is in that the so-called new policy on Iraq is entirely based on what the Iraqis can do and not what the US can do in Iraq. In the same way the US says it will increase sanctions on Zimbabwe and will add funding to its puppet activists in the MDC and some civic organisations. By so doing the US hopes that the time will come when the pain from the sanctions will force everyone onto the streets, with all roads leading to State House for a dramatic removal of President Mugabe.
What naivete?
Zimbabwe enjoys regional support as was recently proved at the Extra-ordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where African leaders left the western community together with its puppet MDC in deep shock and shame.
The western alliance has underestimated the resolve of Iran, the same way they underestimate Zimbabwe. Hugo Chavez is quite right in championing the anti-US and anti-imperialist campaign in Latin America. More and more countries should stand up to these racist imperialists so that the world can challenge them with as many war fronts as possible to weaken their capacity.
If ever the world has stood a good chance of getting the west screaming the way they screamed with the collapse of colonial empires it is now. They have to contain China, India, Malaysia, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, North Korea, Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan and countries like Somalia and Sudan.
This is the best time to stretch the monster to its knees and the anti-imperialist war has to be upheld in the spirit of a revolution.
While it might be true that the economy of Zimbabwe has been weakened, it is also true that the Government recently soundly sent the west screaming through their powerful media houses as they resolutely thwarted a western sponsored attempt at illegal regime change.
Despite the ongoing genocide in Iraq, the western alliance is screaming in that country too. Iran recently sent them on a two-week screaming session when it captured trespassing British spies in Iranian waters.
Condoleezza Rice says she is deeply concerned with the activities of Chavez and that's the screaming some would want to hear from the empire.
The west should change its foreign policy so that it can peacefully share the world with everyone else otherwise we stand to see a very unstable world.
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