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ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE
Edition #5 25 August 1997
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A fortnightly update of news from Zimbabwe!
ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE is written by Zimbabwean journalists living in Zimbabwe and brings you the news from their point of view. It is assembled and edited by Africa News Network, part of South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark and publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine concentrating on Southern Africa.
ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE joins MOZAMBIQUE NEWS ONLINE, ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE, MALAWI NEWS ONLINE and TANZANIA NEWS ONLINE in providing up to date news, at very reasonable subscription rates, from our established network of journalists in Southern Africa. These newsletters will be followed, in the very near future, by individual news updates from other countries in the region.
ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE is brought to you through a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform, Denmark's leading alternative information network.
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In this edition:
1. Top politicians implicated in scandal
2. State increases fees for foreign investors
3. State to appropriate farms next to communal areas
4. Government rejects wheat consignment
5. Manpower Council official challenges government on expatriates
6. Foot and mouth outbreak checked
7. Government helps cargo airline
8. World Bank to help develop rural communities
9. Broadcasting corporation in cashflow crisis
10. MPs unhappy about government decision
11. City to act against pollution
12. Ex-combatants loot ruling party headquarters
13. Four escape from maximum security prison
14. Robbed man enters police camp half-naked
15. "Condemned Marriages Bureau" Formed
1. Top politicians implicated in scandal
A Commission of Inquiry set up by President Mugabe to investigate irregularities in the disbursement of the War Victims Compensation Fund has been told that some senior politicians, some of them government ministers, jumped the queue and were awarded high payouts while genuine claims by ex-combatants were turned down.
The revelation was made this week by Amen Sithole, the former acting commissioner of the fund, who said the claims were confirmed by the Ministry of Health and therefore he was obliged to honour them. Sithole said his department was worried about the unjustified high claims some people were making, but had no alternative but to pay since the claims had been confirmed by the Secretary for Health. He referred in particular to the claim for 55 percent injuries by the Minister of Rural Resources and Water Development, Joyce Mujuru, "who looks perfectly normal and performs her duties well".
Sithole said almost every "big chef" had written to him wanting their cases to jump the queue, but there were cases where desperate ex-combatants with visible injuries were awarded zero percentages.
2. State increases fees for foreign investors
The Government, on 20th August, increased the immigration statutory fees and minimum investments capital thresholds for foreign investors to qualify for immediate permanent residence in the country from Z$5 million to Z$11 million.
A government spokesman said the sum for an investor to qualify for a three-year residence permit if his/her business project was viable has risen from Z$1 million to Z$3 million. The sum rises from Z$500 000 to Z$1 million if the investor is teaming up with a local in a partnership.
Fees for temporary employment permit, residence permit, resumption of residence permit and visas have all gone up by at least 50 percent.
3. State to appropriate farms next to communal areas
All commercial farms adjacent to communal areas will be compulsorily acquired for resettlement to minimise social translocation costs as the government gears itself to acquire over four million hectares of land throughout the country in renewed efforts to redistribute land.
According to a report carried by the Sunday Mail, provincial land acquisition committees had identified about 4,6 million hectares. The chairman of the Land Acquisition Committee, Joseph Msika, said land acquisition would continue "until our people are satisfied". Shortage of land was the major reason why black Zimbabweans launched the armed struggle which culminated in independence in 1980.
Among multiple farm owners identified so far is a white farmer with 17 commercial farms. President Mugabe has said the government will not pay for the land since it was seized from the people during colonialism. The government will only pay for improvements made on the farms, he said.
4. Government rejects wheat consignment
More than 4 000 tonnes of wheat worth millions of dollars imported by a local milling company from the United States without a phytosanitary certificate or import permit, has been rejected by the government and has to be re-exported.
Attempts by the company and the local trader to have the wheat inspected and then apply for an import permit have failed as the government refused to even consider the inspection request. The government's refusal comes in the wake of complaints by local farmers that millers were concentrating more on cheaper wheat imports at the expense of the locally grown crop. The Grain Marketing Board is currently stuck with tonnes of locally produced wheat which has no market.
5. Manpower Council official challenges government on expatriates
The chairman of the National Manpower Advisory Council, Arthur Sithole, has challenged government to ensure that it hires expatriates in a way that does not compromise the employment or development of indigenous professionals.
He said while expatriates were needed, especially to bring technical know-how, there should be mechanisms to ensure that they imparted their knowledge to local understudies. He said his organisation was not happy with the monitoring of expatriates and has submitted proposals to the Ministry of Education and Technology requesting for a review of the expatriates policy.
6. Foot and mouth outbreak checked
Additional veterinary teams from Manicaland, Midlands, and Matabeleland South provinces have been deployed in Masvingo province following an outbreak of the deadly foot and mouth disease in three districts in the province.
An average of 60 000 cattle are being vaccinated each day in the three districts of Zaka, Chiredzi and Bikita. According to the deputy director of Veterinary Services, Welbourne Madzima, an additional Z$30 000 has been released by the Ministry of Agriculture to boost the vaccination programme.
Meanwhile, movement of livestock in the affected districts has been restricted and roadblocks have been set up to enforce the restriction. About six years ago, Zimbabwe's beef exports to the lucrative European Union market had to be stopped for some time following the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease.
7. Government helps cargo airline
The Government has stepped in to save national cargo carrier Affretair from collapse by facilitating a multi-million dollar deal with a British aviation company which is leasing an aircraft to replace Affretair's non-operational DC-8, according to the Financial Gazette.
The state-run cargo airline's DC-8 was grounded last month as it no longer met required international standards and was no longer to be allowed to land at some airports in Europe. The Financial Gazette said a Boeing 707 leased from Aviation Star, a UK-based aviation company had been delivered to Affretair about three weeks ago and was already in operation.
Meanwhile, Affretair is said to be shopping around for a three engine aircraft similar to a DC-10 from Tri-Star, an aviation company based in the United States.
8. World Bank to help develop rural communities
Zimbabwe's rural communities that are struggling to survive under biting market reforms, are set to benefit from a Z$1,1 billion two-year World Bank rural infrastructure development programme scheduled to start this year.
According to World Bank resident representative, David Cook, his bank was satisfied with the measures being taken by the Zimbabwe government to address the budget deficit, and would finance various projects designed to improve living standards of rural communities. He said his organisation had realised from studies carried out in the past that a lot more needed to be done to improve life in the rural areas where the majority of people live.
The money would be given in the form of a soft loan through the International Development Agency, the World Bank's soft loan agency, and would be repaid over 40 years after a 10-year grace period. No interest would be charged except for a service charge of 0.25 percent per year.
9. Broadcasting corporation in cashflow crisis
The state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), is reported to be facing a serious cashflow problem in the face of competition from satellite and private television.
According to a report published by the Financial Gazette, the ZBC owes the Income Tax Department about Z$16 million in taxes deducted from its employees but not forwarded to to the department. The corporation also owes Old Mutual, an insurance company, about Z$5 million in pension contributions.
Both the Department of Taxes and Old Mutual are said to have taken tough measures to recover their money, thereby plunging the corporation into deeper financial crisis. The situation is said to be so bad that ZBC is selling all its apartments in the capital city Harare, as well as those in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, in a desperate attempt to raise money.
10. MPs unhappy about government decision
Some Members of Parliament have expressed disappointment at government's decision to extend the term of office of the board of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), before a report on investigations into allegations of corruption within NSSA has been published.
The government last week extended the term of office of the NSSA board by two years and that of its expatriate managing director by two years. A parliamentary committee tasked to investigate operations of NSSA, Zimbabwe's largest pension authority supported by compulsory contributions from private sector workers, is due to present its report in Parliament next week.
The MPs said they wondered if there was any respect being given to the task they were carrying out to investigate alleged corruption in NSSA. The legislators said they had expected the government to wait for the outcome of the probe and the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee before renewing the contract of the board and that of Irishman Rory O'Shea.
11. City to act against pollution
Harare City's acting director of Works, Christopher Zvobgo has said the city council is seeking a speedy promulgation of stringent anti-pollution by-laws and the imposition of hefty fines against industrial polluters in order to protect the city's water sources and sewerage treatment works.
In a report, Zvobgo said council has not been able to stop pollution over the years because of the small fines imposed on the offenders by the courts. While advocating the imposition of deterrent measures against the offenders, he also wanted them to be aware of the social and environmental consequences of their actions. Zvobgo said some companies were now discharging their harmful waste at night and during weekends to avoid detection by council inspectors.
The council has agreed that polluters should be liable to a Z$50 000 fine plus Z$5 000 a day for every day the pollution continued. It has also agreed that all factories, old and new, should have pre-treatment facilities to bring their effluent to standards laid down under the Urban Councils Act. Currently polluters are paying a maximum fine of Z$5 000, a figure most are comfortable with, and they would rather continue polluting and paying fines than putting in place abatement plants which cost much more.
12. Ex-combatants loot ruling party headquarters
About a hundred ex-combatants protesting the suspension of pension commutation payments last week ransacked the headquarters of the ruling ZANU(PF) party in Harare, cutting off telephone lines, looting food and cigarettes from the canteen and holding party workers hostage for the afternoon.
At least three police officers, among them the officer commanding Harare District, Chief Superintendent Munyaradzi Musariri, were assaulted and injured during the scuffle. The ex-combatants also smashed a police video camera and the camera of a Herald photographer. They accused the Herald of misrepresenting facts about their plight.
The ex-combatants had gone to the headquarters intending to meet the party chairman Joseph Msika and got angry when they were told he was not there.
13. Four escape from maximum security prison
Four highly dangerous criminals made history this week by escaping from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after shooting dead a prison guard.
However, two were later recaptured and a third one shot dead on the same day during a follow-up operation involving the Prison Service, police, the army and the airforce. The most dangerous of the four, Stephen Chidhumo, who was serving a 30-year prison term for armed robbery and attempted murder is still at large and believed to be armed. The armed forces' combined follow-up operation which involved helicopters failed to net Chidhumo even after setting farms surrounding the prison complex on fire to try and flush him out. Chidhumo had escaped from custody twice before.
The four Class D prisoners (the most dangerous category) had come together for exercise on Monday morning last week when they disarmed a prison guard after holding him by the throat. Armed with his gun they attacked the guard in the next tower, shooting him dead and also taking his gun. They then climbed on one another's shoulders to reach the top of the prison wall where they tied their prison jerseys into a rope to lower themselves into a trench eight metres below.One of them Mariko Ngulube broke his leg during the process of trying to get down the wall and was later captured. While taking cover in the trench they fired occasionally to provoke the prison guards who responded in panic and exhausted all their 10-round magazines without hitting even one of the convicts. The three tried to drag along their injured friend for about 20 metres, but abandoned him when they realised he was slowing down their escape. The three managed to get out of the prison complex but Pedzisayi Musariri was shot dead during a follow-up operation, while Chauke, a former soldier with the Zimbabwe National Army, surrendered after a helicopter, which had spotted, him hovered around him. He had taken off his clothes and rolled himself in soot for camouflage.
A second prison guard died when a truck carrying prison guards overturned during the follow-up operation. The search for Chidhumo is continuing.
14. Robbed man enters police camp half-naked
A man robbed of his clothes and other belongings at gunpoint shocked police at the border town of Beitbridge when he entered the camp dressed only in his underpants.
The out of breath man ran into the charge office just after sunset to relate how he had been robbed at gunpoint by a friend turned robber. The victim and his assailant, both border jumpers, had become friends as they proceeded from South Africa to Zimbabwe through an illegal crossing point along the Limpopo River, downstream of the Beitbridge border post. Both had smuggled some goods from South Africa but immediately after crossing into Zimbabwe, the suspect allegedly pulled out a pistol and asked the other man to surrender all his belongings. He fired a shot into the air to frighten his victim before robbing him of all his goods, including the clothes he was wearing.
The victim then ran to the police camp about two kilometres away where he made a report. Police reacted quickly and the suspect was caught on board a bus to Bulawayo. Both the victim and the suspect will appear in court soon. The victim will be charged with border jumping and smuggling while the suspect will be charged with border jumping, smuggling and armed robbery.
15. "Condemned Marriages Bureau" Formed
An organisation has been formed by young Zimbabweans to help couples who face resistance to their marriages from parents or other members of their families.
The organisation, called Condemned Marriages Bureau, aims at educating Zimbabweans to do away with old beliefs of putting pressure on other people's love affairs. According to the chairman of the organisation, Paul Makoni, some parents or relatives forbid or discourage their children or relatives to marry the people of their choice simply because their partners are disabled, poor or are albinos or single mothers.
Makoni said parents and relatives should not interfere with the affairs of other people just to suit their own needs or selfish ends. The chief advisor of the bureau, Diana Bakare, said research carried out by the organisation has shown that resistance to marriages was most prevalent among mothers-in-law.
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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 15:44:11 +0200 Subject: ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE #5 Message-ID: <3017342942.141149763@inform-bbs.dk>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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