Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Urges Election Delay

QUEBEC -- People from around the world need to pressure the government of Zimbabwe to delay the March presidential election, says the executive director of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum.

"The upcoming elections cannot by any stretch of the imagination be deemed free and fair if they are held in March," said Gabriel Shumba, whose organization is based in South Africa.

"International pressure is needed to ensure that elections are delayed to allow for the rectification of all shortfalls in the process, as well as to ensure that those in exile are allowed to vote," Shumba added.

Robert Mugabe is seeking re-election as Zimbabwe's president at age 84.

Liberal MP Keith Martin wants Canada to send observers to counter vote tampering.

Irregularities in Zimbabwe's 2002 presidential election led to the country's suspension from the Commonwealth.

Shumba said Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change is split and this could allow Mugabe, who has ruled the country with an iron grip since 1980, to win without rigging the vote.

Martin, who wants to prosecute Mugabe for crimes against humanity, estimates inflation is 25,000 per cent, as the Zimbabwe economy melts down and people starve or flee. Around a quarter of the population is estimated to have fled the country.

Mugabe blames Western interference for the cash crisis, but Shumba says Canada should not back down.

"Canada needs to speak out about the atrocities in Zimbabwe."



© The Vancouver Sun 2008

South Africa's ANC Names Zuma 2009 Presidential Candidate

JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 8 -- The African National Congress announced Tuesday that its newly elected leader, Jacob Zuma, would be the party's nominee for president of South Africa in 2009 despite an 84-page criminal indictment filed against him last month.

Party officials also made clear their intention to go on the offensive to protect their beleaguered leader. They criticized Zuma's prosecutors, questioned the timing of the charges against him and announced that a select party panel would investigate the multi-billion-dollar arms deal that is at the center of the criminal charges against Zuma. That same arms deal is the source of unresolved allegations against his rival, President Thabo Mbeki.

ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa said of Zuma: "We're going to stand by him. He's our president through and through. And we're going to assume he's innocent until he's proven guilty."

The decision to name Zuma the party's presidential nominee came from its National Executive Committee, which on Monday met for the first time under the leadership of Zuma. He has taken visible control since defeating Mbeki as party ruler last month. The party's new National Working Committee, which oversees day-to-to management, is weighted toward Zuma allies. Posters featuring him hang from the walls of the party's downtown Johannesburg headquarters.

Zuma's supporters long have contended that the prosecution against Zuma has been politically motivated. Mbeki and Zuma worked together for many years but turned bitter enemies after Mbeki fired Zuma as the nation's deputy president in 2005, amid allegations of corruption stemming from the arms deal.

An initial round of corruption charges were dismissed by a court, but prosecutors filed a new, larger group of charges -- including money laundering, fraud and racketeering -- on Dec. 28, in the middle of a holiday period when most South Africans were on vacation.

Conviction would disqualify Zuma from serving as the nation's president. Phosa and other party officials declined to say what the African National Congress would do, and who would lead its ticket in 2009, if Zuma is convicted. The trial is due to start in August.

"This case is very politically inspired," Phosa told journalists on Tuesday. "And if you deny it, you are just living in your own world, and we'll leave you there."

The party's investigation into the arms deal opens a potentially explosive new element in the struggle between Zuma and Mbeki. Party officials said the purpose was only to better inform their own decisions as they address the charges against Zuma, but his most fervent supporters have long threatened to target Mbeki if the case against Zuma moved ahead.

The 1999 arms deal involved the purchase of frigates, fighter jets, helicopters and submarines at a time when South Africa had no apparent enemies capable of mounting a military challenge against the nation. Investigators in Germany and Britain have been probing allegations of millions of dollars of bribes, kickbacks and other irregularities.

Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC member of Parliament who quit after his attempts to investigate the arms deal were blocked by party leaders, has helped revive the issue with his book, "After the Party: A Personal and Political Journey Inside the ANC," published in October.

Feinstein estimates that bribes and kickbacks totaled $200 million from the deal, with some of the money going to support the party and much of the rest to senior party officials and members of the government. He said that any new investigation would have to examine Mbeki's role.

"Mbeki was centrally involved in everything that happened in the arms deal," Feinstein said from London, where he now lives.

The party officials who announced the investigation said they had not decided whether they will release the resulting report. Feinstein said that while a party investigation would be useful, an independent probe is needed to resolve the outstanding allegations.

Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said that government investigation into the arms deal already has shown that the president had no role in any wrongdoing. "The ANC has got the right to appoint a panel," Ratshitanga said.


* Source - Washington Post

South Africa: Who Made it on to ANC's Working Committee?

The ANC's national executive committee (NEC) elected its 28-member national working committee (NWC) on Monday.

The party said on Tuesday that nothing should be read into President Thabo Mbeki's absence from Monday's NEC meeting as interaction between party leaders was not just limited to formal meetings.

The NEC also reaffirmed its support for Zuma as candidate for the presidency of the country in the 2009 elections.

The members of the NWC, announced on Tuesday, are in alphabetical order:

1. Collins Chabane: Former Limpopo minister of economic development and tourism. Hosted "Breakfast with Collins" -- for the business community and the media to share information on economic growth in the province.
2. Bathabile Dlamini: ANC Women's League member. Spoke out against factionalism and cliques in the league and lambasted the league's leaders for not fulfilling their official responsibilities.
3. Jessie Duarte: Former high commissioner to Mozambique.
4. Tina Joemat-Pettersson: Minister of agriculture in the Northern Cape. Established the National Institute for Higher Education in the Northern Cape -- the first of its kind.
5. Pallo Jordan: Arts and Culture Minister.
6. Ncumisa Kondlo: MP. Exposed pension fraud in Parliament. An active South African Communist Party (SACP) member who questioned public/private-sector partnerships.
7. Fikile Mbalula: ANC Youth League president.
8. Nomaindia Mfeketo: Former Cape Town mayor.
9. Angie Motshekga: Gauteng education minister.
10. Nathi Mthethwa: MP.
11. Maite Nkoane-Mashabane: Minister of local government and housing in
Limpopo.
12. Siphiwe Nyanda: Stepped down as head of the South African National Defence Force in May 2005. He is currently CEO of Ngwane Defence.
13. Blade Nzimande: SACP general secretary.
14. Dina Pule: Mpumalanga agriculture and land administration minister.
15. Jeff Radebe: Transport Minister.
16. Susan Shabangu: Deputy Minister of Safety and Security and member of the ANC's national disciplinary committee.
17. Lindiwe Sisulu: Housing Minister.
18. Max Sisulu: Group general manager at Sasol and member of the ANC's national executive council's economic transformation committee.
19. Makhenkesi Stofile: Sport and Recreation Minister.
20. Tony Yengeni: The former ANC chief whip is currently out on parole after serving a few months' jail time following his 2003 conviction for defrauding Parliament by failing to disclose a discount on a 4X4 Mercedes-Benz. He is to appear in court on a drunk-driving charge on March 19.

In addition to these 20, the NWC also includes the ANC's top six officials and one representative each from the ANC Women's League and Youth League.

ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was elected to the top of the NEC list, did not make it on to the NWC.

The NWC meets twice a month and plays a more active role in the daily running of the party. It deals with matters requiring "urgent attention", according to ANC spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso.

Arms deal
Also announced on Tuesday were the eight ANC members who will form part of the ad hoc committee to draw up a report on the arms deal.

ANC president Jacob Zuma faces trial in August on charges related to alleged corruption in South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal. He is being charged alongside French arms company Thint.

"We are not asking for the reopening of the arms deal. We need to get a detailed formal report ... to take informed decisions on what to do and locate this case and the charges against the president," party secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists. "We have a duty to get information on the arms deal from all sources, particularly official sources."

The report will not be made public. The NEC wants the report because "we don't want to do thumb-sucking", said Mantashe.

ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa said the committee will help the NEC understand the arms deal "on a much more informed basis".

The committee will "look at the practical form the support for the ANC president will take and consider the broader context within which the case against him is taking place". The members are:

1. Kgalema Motlanthe: ANC deputy president.
2. Mathews Phosa
3. Jeremy Cronin: SACP deputy general secretary.
4. Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele: Former ANC deputy general secretary.
5. Siphiwe Nyanda
6. Naledi Pandor: Education Minister.
7. Cyril Ramaphosa: Businessman.
8. Lindiwe Sisulu: Housing Minister.

Group urges exiled Zimbabweans to come home and vote

HARARE – A Zimbabwean pressure group says it has begun mobilising millions of exiled Zimbabweans in neighbouring countries to come home and vote in next March’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) says it is important for millions of Zimbabwean exiles living outside the country’s borders, particularly in South Africa, to come home and cast their vote during the elections.

CZC is a coalition of human and civic rights groups, churches, women’s groups, labour and student movements that are campaigning for a peaceful and democratic settlement of Zimbabwe’s eight-year political crisis.

Last October, the pressure group said it was launching a massive voter education campaign in rural areas, the backbone of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party, to raise awareness on issues related to voting and elections.

Crisis in Zimbabwe co-ordinator, Jacob Mafume, said the regional push to encourage exiled Zimbabweans to go home and vote was an extension of the rural voter campaign that began late last year.

“The programme is an extension of the campaign that we have in Zimbabwe. We are getting into the region to encourage the millions of Zimbabweans working there to come and vote in March,” said Mafume.

At least three million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the country’s 12 million population, are said to be living outside the country, the majority of them in South Africa, after fleeing economic hardship and political repression at home.

The majority of the exiled Zimbabweans are still eligible to vote in the election that analysts says Mugabe could lose because of an unprecedented economic recession described by the World Bank as unprecedented for a country not at war.

Mafume said it would be an injustice to deny the millions of Zimbabweans living in neighbouring countries the chance to vote in the election and decide their fate.

“We will also seek to engage with regional employers so that they can allow their Zimbabwean workers to participate in the election as it is also of importance to the region,” he added.

The pressure group, which has been using musical concerts to connect with rural voters, said it was planning a big musical concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of this month to spread their message.

ZANU PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party have since last year been engaged in talks to find a solution to Zimbabwe’s long-running political crisis.

Among the items under discussion was the need to allow millions of exiled Zimbabweans living outside the country to be allowed to cast their votes in the election.

ZANU PF is however said to have rejected opposition demands to allow exiles to vote forcing the pressure group to mobilise the Zimbabweans to cross over the borders and vote during the key election. - ZimOnline

Hopes Dim for Quick end to Kenya's Crisis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The African Union chairman headed to Kenya on Tuesday to help end turmoil that has killed almost 500 people, but hopes of a swift breakthrough seemed to falter.

Despite huge international pressure, especially from Western powers, President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have still not met face-to-face since violence erupted after Kibaki's disputed re-election on December 30.

Odinga says mediation by AU chairman John Kufuor, the Ghanaian president, is the only way to end the chaos. He says Kibaki stole the December 27 election and must step down and make way for a new vote after a transitional period.

Kufuor left Accra on Tuesday and was due later in Nairobi.

But Kibaki, who has offered a government of national unity, is reluctant to accept mediation and has invited Odinga to alternative talks on Friday. Officials here said Kufuor would leave after barely 24 hours.

Odinga's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said it would reject any talks with Kibaki without a mediator.

"Mr Odinga has categorically ruled out any bilateral meeting with Mr Kibaki unless it is conducted through an international mediator," said the opposition leader's spokesman, Salim Lone.

Odinga called off nationwide protests to allow time for mediation to work, but says they will resume if it fails.

He says police have killed hundreds during protests.

ECONOMIC COST

As the two sides squabbled, to the dismay of many ordinary Kenyans, Finance Minister Amos Kimunya told Reuters he estimated the turmoil could have cost east Africa's biggest economy around $1 billion.

One of the worst crises since Kenya's independence from Britain in 1963 has also badly hit a swathe of central and east African countries dependent on Mombasa port on the Indian Ocean.

President George W. Bush welcomed Kufuor's visit to Nairobi and urged both sides to enter the talks in good faith.

"I condemn the use of violence as a political tool and appeal to both sides to engage in peaceful dialogue aimed at finding a lasting political solution," Bush said in a statement.

Britain also pressed Kibaki and Odinga to find a solution.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told parliament Kufuor "needs Kenyan leaders ready to engage. Fail to compromise and they will forfeit the confidence, goodwill and support of their own people and the international community."

Jendayi Frazer, Washington's top diplomat for Africa, also issued a stinging rebuke to political leaders.

Kenyans "have been cheated by their leadership and their institutions," she said.

On Tuesday, four former African presidents, including Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, visited the western town of Eldoret, in the area worst hit by ethnic killings.

They told refugees they were pressing for peaceful negotiations so they could return home. Officials say 255,000 people have been displaced by the violence.

Relatives were still retrieving bodies in the area.

"I'm waiting to find my brother," said Robert Ruto, 22, through a piece of cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth.

Faith Wairimu broke down in sobs as she stumbled across her husband's dismembered body in a field late on Monday. He was hacked to death in the same attack near Eldoret in which 30 people were burned to death in a church.

Aid agencies were erecting makeshift plastic tents in fields and rushing food, blankets, medicines and water to tens of thousands of refugees. Many are sleeping outdoors in the cold after their houses were burned down.

Odinga had looked on course to win the election until Kibaki, 76, was handed a narrow victory. Both sides alleged widespread rigging and international observers say the poll fell short of democratic standards.

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Eldoret, Katie Nguyen, George Obulutsa, Helen Nyamabura-Mwaura; Writing by Barry Moody)


© Reuters 2008

SA Based Kenyans to Hold Demo at Pretoria Embassy

Pretoria - A network of South African based Kenyans plans to hold a protest demo at the local Kenyan embassy on Tuesday at 9.30am.

Solidarity messages are also expected from other African nationalities that are based in South Africa from such countries as Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria.

For more details, please contact +27 76 859 5565

African Cup of Nations 2008 Damage Report - Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Portsmouth Worst-hit

With the African Cup of Nations coming up, many teams will start counting their players, because losing some of them for a period which could range between 4 to 6 weeks is not very funny if you are a Premier League manager. Especially since most of them will return injured and exhausted.

So, in the utter boredom of my extended Christmas break, I have decided to estimate the damage that this severely misplaced, but highly entertaining competition has caused to the Premier League clubs.

SEX! Now that I have your attention, please read the following: not all squads have been confirmed as I am writing this, but most of the mentioned players are likely to go since they were included in the initial squad.

So if Utaka ends up staying with Portsmouth, do not blame me. I am only partly at fault.


* Source - SoccerLens

Arsenal (Emmanuel Eboue; Kolo Toure)

Arsene Wenger is not one to keep quiet and he has made his opinion about the ACN known. It is not hard to see why as he will lose two of the players which have been key to Arsenal’s success so far. Eboue has been the chosen right midfielder in the Arsenal line up for much of the season and he has done very well for the most part, while Kolo Toure has been phenomenal. Djourou will most likely be the one to fill the gap left by Kolo, but Gallas will be left with a difficult task to keep Almunia as safe as he has been so far this season.

Damage: medium

Blackburn (Aaron Mokoena)

He has had 12 appearances in all this season and has looked good when he played. He is good, but Mark Hughes should not be too cranky this time of year; he should be thankful Samba’s Congo did not qualify. That would have been a loss.

Damage: minor

Bolton (Abdoulaye Méïté; El Hadji Diouf)

Méïté has been the one constant in Bolton’s defensive department this season. He leads the team in appearances and he has not done a bad job at all given the situation Bolton find themselves in. Diouf has also been good this season. After all of the criticism which was thrown his way in his Liverpool days, I think he is a good player and although he has not been as good this season as he was under Allardyce, he will be sorely missed.

Damage: it would be safe to say that Megson is cranky. Medium/high.

Chelsea (Michael Essien; Didier Drogba; Salomon Kalou; Jon Obi Mikel)

Okay, so where do I start? Drogba: losing one of the world’s best strikers for the better part of a month should be painful enough, but to add insult to injury, Chelsea is most effective when they play Drogba alone up front and most ineffective when they do not. Kalou would have given them another option: play him as a support striker in a 4-4-2 formation, but now that bird has flown too. Grant will have to dip into Rom’s pockets heavily.

But wait! There is more. On top of being left with not cover up front, Grant will also have to go to Ghana if he wants to find two of his three defensive midfielders. With Essien and Mikel also gone, only 34 year old Makelele has the qualities to fill that gap, and I will eat oatmeal if his legs keep him going for the next 6 weeks or so. Grant will have to either: a) loan players or b) reshuffle his team from Cech to Pizzaro. It will be hard.

Damage: ‘high’ would be an understatement

Everton (Joseph Yobo; Yakubu Aiyegbeni; Steven Pienaar)

Lescott has not been the only one receiving praise for his defensive exploits this season. Yobo has been receiving them as well; but his have come for other, less noisy and rather obscure sources. Either way, Nigeria’s vice captain is a key player for Moyes. Another key player for Moyes is Yakubu. Nine Premier League goals and one assist. In the Everton ranks he is as high as Arteta and Cahill. But let’s face it: he has as much of a chance to become an Everton legend as Wayne Rooney. He is good but not that good and there is adequate cover for him in Johnson and ummm… Anichebe?

Okay. For those who do know Pienaar from his Ajax days, he is a talented but unreliable lad. Quality? He has plenty. Need a player to concede a penalty in the last minute of a game with the score tied at one? He’s the man! Not bad and almost an automatic selection for Moyes, he will be missed quite a bit.

Damage: the absence of either of these players does not amount to a huge loss, but all three of them are good and their cumulated absence will hurt Everton. Medium/high.

Middlesbrough (Mido; Mohamed Shawky)

I do not know much about Shawky. I do not suppose many Middlesbrough fans do either. Apparently he has played one game this season as a defensive midfielder. I did not see that match.

When it comes to Mido it is a similar story. Nobody has seen much of Mido for a long time because injuries and a love affair with the bench at Tottenham have kept him out of action. So Gareth Southgate will just have to pretend that it is business as usual and that Mido is injured for 4-6 weeks. Aliadiere is not a very efficient striker, but Tuncay Sanli has done a good job so far this season considering he is playing for a struggling team.

Damage: medium/low. Not much is changing.

Newcastle (Obafemi Martins; Geremi; Habib Beye)

Big Sam will have to do without a midfielder, a striker and a defender. That is the football equivalent of a plague. Martins has not been amazing since his switch from Inter Milan; he has been just good, but he does score quite often and is almost always a threat when Newcastle do revert to route one footy. But seriously, if Owen does return from injury sometime soon, Sam’s attacking department will be made of three qualified strikers and Duff. Which is more than enough. (HA! Made it rhyme.)

The midfield will not be left uncovered either unless Barton does end up going to jail and it might be time for Carr to explore the hole which will be left by Beye. That of course, unless he gets injured some more. All in all there is a lot of talent going away, but nothing that a squad like Newcastle’s cannot cover up albeit superficially.

Damage: medium

Portsmouth (Sulley Muntari; Nwankwo Kanu; John Utaka; Papa Bouba Diop; Djimi Traore)

Da da da dum. Yep, this is the big one. Assuming that Traore is not much of a loss, ‘Arry will still ‘ave to do without four awesome players. Those four players have, between them eleven Premier League goals and thirteen assists.

Assuming that the front two are somewhat covered by the talented Benjani and Nugent, I cannot imagine what Redknapp will do to fill in the game left by Muntari or Bouba Diop. These four have been so very crucial to Portsmouth’s fine form this season and I really fear that all the hard work will be undone by their absence. If they manage to get the points in their absence and all four of them return unscathed from their exploits in Ghana that we will be looking at a solid team when we will watch Portsmouth.

Damage: twice worse than anybody else’s

Sunderland (Dickson Etuhu)

Roy Keane will be fuming these days, but it will not be because one of his players has been called up to the African Cup of Nations. If anything, Keane will be able to profit from the departure of his player, which might convince Niall Quin that a new and better midfielder is indeed needed to fill the gap left by the Nigerian.

Damage: minor

Tottenham (Didier Zokora)

Miss Zokora? You must be having a good laugh. Sure he is a good player and he fits well in the Tottenham set up, but after seeing O’Hara play under Ramos, Tottenham fans should have no worries: Huddelstone will get some more games.

Damage: minor

Others absentees:
Birmingham City: (Richard Kingson; Mehdi Nafti; Radhi Jaidi) Frankly I know very little about these three players, but looking at the statistics, they do not seem to be of maximum importance to the club.

Fulham: (Diomansy Kamara) I see no damage here other than a surface scratch. No offence to Kamara or Fulham fans, but the team will fare just the same without him, methinks.

Liverpool: (Mohamed Sissoko) If he is not at the ACN, than he is injured, so it is better if he gets to play sometime and on top of that, Rafa is used to coping without the lad. I feel sorry for him because he has some talent.

Manchester United: (Manucho Gonclaves) I do not think he will be missed much. In fact I think it is a good move for him because he will get some footy under his belt rather than just train with others. On top of that, at least he can get into his national team squad.

Reading: (Emerse Faé; Andre Bikey; Ibrahima Sonko) I know Bikey is good and Sonko is even better, but I have not watched enough of Reading to be able to judge how much these players will be missed.

West Ham: (John Paintsil; Henri Camara) Well, neither of them has played enough to make an impression on the West Ham team and I am pretty sure that there is more than enough cover for these players in Curbisley’s 30 man squad.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: "God Only Loves Mugabe"

By Elles van Gelder

JOHANNESBURG and PLUMTREE, South-Western Zimbabwe, Jan 7 (IPS) - Sikhumbuzo* was only 18 when he left Zimbabwe for South Africa. He managed to find a job, and sends home close on 150 dollars a month in cash and goods -- although he can’t say how many people he supports. Sitting in a café in the financial hub of Johannesburg, Sikhumbuzo (now 25) tells of a mother and sister in Bulawayo, south-western Zimbabwe; aunts, uncles and cousins also get part of what he sends.

Hundreds of thousands of others find themselves in Sikhumbuzo's position, and the influx of Zimbabweans to South Africa shows no signs of diminishing as economic difficulties in their country deepen and the political crisis there continues. Mismanagement of a state that was once a regional breadbasket has brought about hyper-inflation, poverty and widespread unemployment, obliging citizens to make their living across the border -- the principal destination being South Africa. The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that four million Zimbabweans, about a third of the population, are in need of food aid.

Ahead of elections scheduled for March, government has been engaged in talks with the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the target -- along with others -- of extensive human rights abuses over recent years. But even as negotiations are underway, said Amnesty International recently, violations continue.

Just over 40 percent of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa take care of three to four people, and 30 percent more than five people -- this according to research conducted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum, based in South Africa; the Mass Public Opinion Institute, a non-profit in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare; and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.

For the study, a team interviewed 4,654 Zimbabweans in the Johannesburg suburbs of Berea, Hillbrow and Yeoville. UNISA professor Daniel Makina, who headed the team, thinks there are about 800,000 to a million Zimbabweans in South Africa, far less than the more widely-cited estimates of two to three million -- although he acknowledges that these figures need further research.

His findings show that most of the migrants left Zimbabwe after 2001. Their motivation, at first, was related to intimidation and torture by government forces. But for some time now, economic issues have topped the list of reasons for leaving.

Those who manage to enter South Africa find that life in this country can present a new set of difficulties. With unemployment at about 40 percent, there is competition for jobs -- and feelings of anger towards migrants, seen as reducing employment prospects for locals. Work, when it is available, is often badly paid: 60 percent of Zimbabwean migrants earn less than 300 dollars a month, Makina’s research shows.

The research also indicates that the vast majority of migrants send home money or goods to an average value of about 40 dollars, monthly. This may not sound like much; but when the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa is considered, a different picture emerges. If there are indeed some 800,000 Zimbabweans in South Africa, of whom just half have work, then they could be sending home upwards of 190 million dollars annually. Added to this is the money sent by Zimbabweans living elsewhere in the region, and further afield, notably Britain.

Florence, 48, is another migrant who is keeping a family afloat -- nine people, to be precise. She arrived in South Africa at a time when it was easy to get a work permit, and has now been in the country for 11 years.

Florence cares for the son of expatriates; none of her family members in Zimbabwe is employed. They do own a piece of land near Plumtree in south-western Zimbabwe where they grow vegetables -- but have struggled with farming in past months because of poor rains.

Every month, Florence sends home money and goods such as maize meal, paraffin, soap, sugar and clothing. She also sends building materials, because she is putting up a house for herself on the family property.

On this land, some 800 kilometres from Johannesburg, goats wander around amid Mopane scrub, the bells around their necks tinkling; granite hills can be seen on the horizon. Florence's son lives in a one-room home, which contains a bed, an old bicycle and some cupboards; he says his mother takes good care of the family.

The relatives had planned to put on the roof of Florence's house last year, but needed additional zinc sheets. Letting her know that two more had to be sent the next month involved walking to a village about 15 kilometres away, to make a call using the phone of a friend.

Makina says his research indicates that two thirds of the Zimbabwean migrants living in South Africa would return home if the political and economical situation north of the border improved. Florence is a case in point. "My mother is old and needs my love. I am only here because I have to (be)."

Sikhumbuzo also wants to go back, but doesn't hold out much hope of being able to do so soon. "I will only return when...President Mugabe is gone," he says, in reference to head of state Robert Mugabe. "For a long time, I prayed every day for change in Zimbabwe. I stopped. I think God only loves Mugabe. For now, I will stay in South Africa."

* Certain names in this article have been changed to ensure the safety of the people concerned. (END/2008)

Zimbabwe – Nathaniel Manheru/Charamba and Lessons for Nation Building

By Mutumwa Mawere

Zimbabwe will turn 28 this year not because the country did not have a history prior to independence but citizens chose to build a new civilization in 1979 based on a just and democratic constitutional order underpinned by a simple concept of self government.

The post colonial state was a product of a protracted civil rights struggle and I would like to think that many would agree that the Zimbabwe of today is not exactly what the struggle was meant to help establish.

On paper, Zimbabwe is a democratic state but if there is a more potent threat to Zimbabwe’s constitutional order, Mr. Charamba, President Mugabe’s chief spin doctor, would top the list.

He writes a weekly column that is published by the state controlled daily newspaper, the Herald, in which he expresses views that exposes the extent of the collapse of the semblance of a constitutional order that is normally expected in a democratic society.

Having followed some of Charamba’s articles, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that in as much as many people may believe that President Mugabe is the sole poison pill to national progress, the real problem lies in our generation of which Charamba can count as my contemporary but whose views pose a much more significant problem for Zimbabwe to extricate itself from the avoidable humanly created economic and political quagmire.

President Mugabe is on record saying that the destiny of Zimbabwe can only be shaped by its citizens who ultimately should own the nation building project. At the core of the foundational principles of the post colonial state was the notion that citizens would create their own government and express their wishes through the constitutionally defined channels.

It was never part of the deal that the constitution would be cynically interpreted to allow a single individual to monopolize state power even in the face of monumental failure and then rely on state power to intimidate citizens into believing that there is no alternative than to surrender their sovereignty to an exclusive club with the monopoly of abusing the media to advance views that threaten the very constitutional order that the President purports to uphold.

Although ZANU-PF has dominated the post colonial era, it cannot be said that the framers of the constitution of Zimbabwe intended to create a situation where the ruling party and the state would be one thing. Indeed, reading the diatribe of Charamba confirms that either he is unaware that the state belongs to citizens and ZANU-PF should be nothing but a club of believers and members or he thinks that citizens should be mere pawns that are occasionally used to legitimize through the electoral process a predetermined outcome.

It seems odd that a civil servant working for the people would openly insult his masters without whose sweat and taxes the state would not exist and ultimately he would be in the ranks of the condemned majority poor.

Although he uses the name Manheru, his cover has already been exposed. He is, evidently, not afraid to air his partisan and often offensive views as would any rational civil servant working as a permanent secretary for a state institution.

The head of the civil service under a properly functioning democratic order would ordinarily be apolitical and the name Permanent Secretary was deliberately chosen to highlight the permanency of the job. In other words, the change of a government would ideally not have any impact on the civil service.

It cannot be said that Charamba behaves like a civil servant rather he behaves like an intellectual terrorist armed with the venom that can only be expected from a political commissar. It is evident that Charamba has reached a point of no return and he has chosen to identify himself as a revolutionary civil servant prosecuting a national democratic revolution that so far has failed to confer real benefits to citizens.

To the extent that Charamba appears to believe that democracy, rule of law and human and property rights are a nuisance, it is reasonable to ask why President Mugabe, his principal, would subscribe to elections if the outcome of such democratic experiments could produce undesirable outcomes.

Although the constitution of Zimbabwe is clear and deliberate in terms of the bill of rights, the last 28 years have created an atmosphere of fear where citizens who may aspire to be considered for political office are easily dismissed, vilified and scandalised by so-called civil servants.

Would Charamba be prepared to serve any other person than President Mugabe? Is it in the national interest for a highly opinionated civil servant to be on the payroll of the state rather than the party?

Zimbabweans have allowed their civil service to be polluted by political prostitutes who have no respect for the constitutional order that their masters purport to respect.

Some have argued that due to externally influenced factors, Zimbabwe should suspend the democratic order so that the state is not accountable to its masters, the citizens, until the so-called bilateral dispute with the former colonial master is resolved.

We can see in the actions of Gono and Charamba that they have accepted that any other democratic choice expressed by the people of Zimbabwe would not be acceptable if it did not yield a predetermined outcome.

ZANU-PF is supposed to be a juristic person in its own right with a separate and distinct existence from the state. However, Charamba whose position in the party is not known appears to have stepped into the shoes of Professor Moyo to act in a Nazi-style manner with no regard to the constitutional consequences effectively making the state an agent of the ruling party.

Ideally, any government should belong to all the citizens and transparency would be the only basis on which a state can function in a democratic order.

In the minds of Charamba and similar sycophants it seems that they have accepted that citizens should not have a right to question government actions and even peoples’ representatives in parliament like Butau are exposed to the worst form of intimidation.

I read Charamba’s article entitled “Zim: Lessons from a splitting rainbow” that was published by the Herald on Saturday, 5 January 2008. Charamba is characteristic style was not interested in state matters but with the threat to ZANU-PF of an alleged project to broaden the menu of political options available to Zimbabweans in the forthcoming elections.

It is not surprising that Charamba would hold Simba Makoni, a member of the politburo of ZANU-PF, in contempt only because of allegations that he may be considering becoming a candidate in the 2008 elections.

Ordinarily any civil servant working for the state in a democratic order would be indifferent to political contestants but this is no longer the case in Charamba’s Zimbabwe.

Charamba has no shame in using Makoni’s taxes against his democratic right to make himself available if nominated to stand as a candidate.

Who would have thought that the country that the likes of Chitepo, Tongogara, Joshua Nkomo, Ndabaningi Sithole and others would end up a hostage of people like Charamba and his ilk.

His dismisses Makoni using the state newspapers without allowing citizens to make their own informed choices. If Makoni is disqualified because of incompetence I am not sure what rational Zimbabweans would say freely about the performance of the state over the last 28 years under Charamba’s boss?

Charamba then goes on diminish the role played by Ibbo Mandaza whose record in the post colonial state is well established. I am informed that Mandaza worked for the state for 10 years and it is irresponsible for anyone working for the same administration to seek to undermine the record of a former colleague just because he has chosen to exercise his constitutional right to seek to advance the cause of change.

I should point out that I hold no brief to represent both Makoni and Mandaza but find it unacceptable that Charamba would arrogate to him the role of a custodian of the national democratic revolution project in a partisan manner.

If it is true that Makoni is associated with a project that would increase the available choices for Zimbabweans notwithstanding his alleged questionable credentials, anyone who loves Zimbabwe and is cognisant of the current policy bankruptcy and rudderless navigation would support such courage.

Is it not strange that it now takes courage to even accept to be a candidate for political office in post colonial Zimbabwe, a country that rose from the womb of colonial oppression?

I am not sure what the heroes and heroines buried at the heroes’ acre would think of Charamba’s views against Tsvangirai, Chibhebe and others who have taken it upon themselves that Zimbabwe needs a change of direction.

The real reason for me to write the article is partly to address the comments made by Charamba in response to my article that exposed the hypocrisy of the RBZ in the ongoing Butau saga. This is what Charamba had to say:”Mawere, poor Mawere!

To have an opponent like Mutumwa Mawere is a blessing. You never struggle for feedback. I am sure Charamba relishes his tango with him. I mean if such a pithy line on Butau is acknowledged so profusely, so sanctimoniously, so expansively, who needs to cast lots to tell where and how the blow has fallen and has been received respectively?

What piqued and hurt this born-again South African? A mere reference to fugitives who run and run until they unfailingly hit the shores of Albion? Fugitives who know no other land to run to?

And he dares talk about Gono and patronage. He, of all people? What business did he start here without Zanu-PF and Government guarantees and patronage? Let him not push his luck too far, this clever-for-nothing bitter charlatan. Tizvinyore. Ngaati pwee. Icho!

He obviously sees me as an opponent which is expected from any civil servant that does not understand the role of the state. It is wrong for Charamba to see my criticism of the manner in which he is politicising the civil service as personal. I am sure that if the Public Service Commission still exists in Zimbabwe, the comments made by Charamba about Butau and other so-called fugitives would be of concern warranting disciplinary action.

As long as Charamba is an organ of the state it cannot be acceptable that he thinks he is above the law. He makes the statement above that his comments about the role of the West in allegedly undermining the interests of Zimbabwe was not targeted at me and, therefore, I should stay out of the fray as if to suggest that people are only entitled to comment on matters that affect them personally.

Charamba recklessly uses the term “fugitive” to describe not only Butau but Makamba, Mushore, Makoni, and others and attempts to make a distinction between the so-called fugitives that are domiciled in the shores of Albion and those domiciled in Africa suggesting that the term has territorial application.

The use of the term fugitive to describe the circumstances of Butau and others is not only mischievous but irresponsible. According to what has been published so far in relation to Butau, it is evident that he cannot be classified as a fugitive for to be a fugitive one would have to fall in anyone of the following categories:

If one has run away from Zimbabwe when charges were being formulated against him;
If one has breached any bail given to him;
If one has escaped from prison
If one has left Zimbabwe to avoid any legal process;

Charamba is fully aware that all that Butau has done is simply to exercise a constitutional right to require the government of Zimbabwe to act in terms of the law if he is to face charges in Zimbabwe. We all know what happened to Kuruneri, Makamba and others who after being unlawfully placed on remand were eventually acquitted by the courts.

Would Butau have been treated any differently from Kuruneri, a former cabinet minister, who only last week was set free by a Supreme Court judge? Kuruneri’s circumstances are not different from the allegations against Butau. What is striking is that Kuruneri, Butau and Makamba are all from Mashonaland Central Province where Vice President Mujuru comes from giving credence that the selective targeting of people by Gono may be driven by an ulterior motive.

To the extent that the Zimbabwean police are looking for Butau for the purpose of investigating certain allegations, he cannot be considered to be a fugitive. He ran away from nothing and in any democratic society it would be unacceptable for citizens to be presumed guilty before the intervention of the judiciary. The outburst of Charamba goes a long way towards confirming that Zimbabwe is no longer a democratic state in which the separation of powers doctrine is applicable.

If a duly elected Member of Parliament and a Chairman of the powerful Budge and Finance Committee is susceptible to intimidation then citizens have reason to be concerned. Butau has not left Zimbabwe to avoid any legal process but like Joshua Nkomo before him came to the conclusion that things have fallen apart and no interests of justice would be served by exposing himself to what the likes of Kuruneri endured.

It is interesting that Charamba is of the view that Butau ought to have been included in the sanctions list and is angry that the British chose to omit his name. Why would the government of Zimbabwe be concerned about a sanctions list when the official position is that they are illegal? If Butau is not on the sanctions list, then how can President Mugabe blame the same ineffective sanctions on the economic collapse?

I am sure that Charamba is aware of the call by a state Prosecutor, Mr. Tawanda Zvekare, in the Manjoro case in which Butau is alleged to have facilitated the procurement of foreign currency for an investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the release of more than Z$7 trillion by the RBZ to Flatwater Investments, a shelf company.

He urged the court to give an order for thorough investigations into the matter saying the central bank should have verified the suitability of Flatwater Investments to be contracted to procure tractors for the mechanisation programme before releasing the money. Charamba should be concerned like any loyal and honest civil servant about what Manjoro said in court regarding the mandate he got from the RBZ to import tractors from a pre-selected foreign supplier, Michigan Tractors, a company allegedly connected to Gono.

If Mr Zvekare can openly blame the RBZ, as reported by the Herald, for disbursing Z$7 trillion without undertaking any due diligence on the beneficiary, then why is it that Charamba sees no problem in focusing his attention on the RBZ?

With respect to the RBZ’s role in the Butau saga, this is what Zvekare had to say in court:

"The firm contracted Manjoro to source foreign currency on the black market on their behalf, who also subcontracted several runners like (fugitive MP David) Butau to assist him. The rest of the money given to Manjoro is not accounted for and the rest of the money he gave to his friends is also not accounted for. What we have now is a grand theft involving the RBZ itself.

I find it incredulous that a whole central bank of a country would release trillions to a company on the strength of a mere letter, which was not verified. This marks of a conspiracy between the central bank and the company to steal all this money.

Right from the RBZ to the lowest runner at Road Port no mercy should be accorded them. The court should give an order for thorough investigations right up to the central bank to avoid a situation whereby the courts would be only dealing with runners instead of cash barons and baronesses."

Even President Mugabe would agree that if what Zvekare said is true about the RBZ then it would not be in the national interest for him not to take responsibility for the decay.

Charamba then challenges my views on Gono and the mafia-style operations of the RBZ. He alleges that my business was started with ZANU-PF and government guarantees and patronage and then fails to expose how such patronage manifested itself. Surely, for a spin doctor like Charamba it should not be difficult for him to expose me. Why try to protect the public from knowing the truth about my businesses? If my businesses were corruptly acquired, then surely Charamba should not hesitate naming my accomplices? Why would Charamba seek to expose Butau and then refuse to expose my alleged benefactors?

He threatens me not to push my luck too far suggesting that if I heed the message then he will have no incentive to tell the public the truth about me. I am challenging Charamba openly to expose any information that may be available to him substantiating his baseless allegation that I acquired Shabanie Mashaba Mines (Private) Limited in 1996 using a government guarantee. It is important that Charamba grows up and walk the talk. The public deserves to know the truth.

ANC Post Polokwane Analysis: Why no Due Credit for Mbeki?

By Louis Fourie

What are we to make of the future of South Africa after the Battle of Polokwane?

If anything, it was confirmation that South Africa is not about to settle for political boredom or continental predictability.It was a process underpinned by intense democratic participation - more refined than the public probably care to realise.

The outcome of the leadership contest was generally portrayed as a victory of ‘heart over head'. Of the pleasant man from Nkandla, morally scarred but warm as hell, dethroning the super-bright academic from Sussex, perceived to be authoritarian and aloof, and apparently unable to stir the hearts of the masses.

Viewed from a distance, it was more a case of Pres. Mbeki losing the vote than Mr. Zuma winning it. South African politics had a similar moment in 1948, of a leader whose picture was bigger than his people was ready to comprehend - and paying dearly for it.

Stripped from all the mudslinging and personality nitpicking, I think it was simply a case of Pres. Mbeki's political capital running out after effectively managing South Africa for 13 years. Convention has it that the impact of a leadership style in any given context typically peaks somewhere between 7 and 10 years.

On the positive side, I am impressed that South Africans rejected the notion of ‘a third term' in principle. Also by the fact that we have demonstrated that it is possible to practise democracy within a dominant party, instead of only sermonising it as a national ideology. And it was a true mark of democratic resilience that ordinary folk could demonstrate, in non-revolutionary style, that they are not willing to succumb to ‘fear-of-the-big-man' paralyses, a weakness turning visionaries into dictators, so pervasive in African politics.

A fresh breeze doesn't always bring rain, but at least removes some of the dry leaves.

What surprised me was the fact that in all published opinions I have followed since the Conference, I picked up a grand total of three sentences about the mark Pres. Mbeki had left on the South African economy, and one reference to his influence on the effective internationalisation of South Africa. All of this, while we had ring side seats for nearly a decade to the dreadful story of a country suffering from economic failure and isolation. Hopefully, this fundamental omission by commentators was not a reflection of the quality and balance of reporting in South Africa, or of joint economic ignorance at a level where you wouldn't expect it.

To leave South Africa with a solvent, market-related economy off which we can address our social backlogs in sustainable fashion, is no ordinary achievement. For this bequest, I would have been willing to overlook quite a few personality traits! Mr. Mbeki's successor will probably be the hero of ‘delivery' over the next 5-7 years, because of this bountiful, operationally functional economic inheritance.

Going forward, we know by now that given the uncertainties around Mr. Zuma's legal issues, it is still unclear whether the ANC presidency will translate into the South African leadership in 2009. Should Mr. Zuma become president of South Africa, the three immediate risks will be that charisma turns into blind populism, that he surrounds himself with loyalists instead of technocrats, and that he underestimates the importance of ongoing sound economic policy.

I do however think that chances of such risks materialising in damaging fashion are slim. Jacob Zuma is a pragmatist and has a history of collective leadership. He furthermore has an amazing ability to harness a spirit of concession. And overall, South Africa is a much wiser and more sophisticated place than a decade or two ago. Contrary to our own slightly manic-depressive, doomsday portrayal of South Africa - we are not a nation of fools.

All in all, my view is that you can indeed still look forward to your future in South Africa. You won't live in a Utopian context, but one rich in goodwill and opportunity. Make most of it!

* You can read more of Louis Fourie's views and subscribe to his emailed newsletter at http://www.thelogicfilter.com/

ANC President Zuma Arrives for NEC Meeting

ANC President Jacob Zuma has arrived for the party's first National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at Esselen Park on Gauteng's East Rand. It is the NEC's first meeting since being elected at the National Conference in Polokwane last month.

The new NEC excludes most of President Thabo Mbeki's supporters and cabinet ministers. Issues on the agenda include the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) decision to charge the newly-elected Zuma with fraud and corruption and preparations for the ANC's 96th anniversary celebrations.

Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Johannesburg, Adam Habib, has suggested that a fully representative ANC National Working Committee (NWC) could go a long way to ease the tension between Mbeki and Zuma. A 20 member NWC will also be elected.


* Source - SABC

Kenya Post Election Crisis Death Toll Rises to 486

The total death toll from post-election violence in Kenya is now reported to have reached 486.

That is 100 more deaths than previously estimated.

The figures, broadcast on local media in Kenya, are from a government humanitarian committee set up to deal with the crisis since the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.

Kenya's opposition leader has meanwhile signalled that he is willing to share power with the government he accuses of rigging the elections.

Raila Odinga said he was ready to talk about sharing power, but only through a mediator empowered to negotiate an agreement that the international community would guarantee.

But Mr Odinga also blamed government militias for fuelling the violence in the aftermath of the polls and has again called for mass rallies.

In response the foreign minister in Kenya's governing National Unity Party, Rafael Tuju, said the opposition must call off all protests.


* Source - RTE News

In Musharraf's Shadow, a New Hope for Pakistan Rises

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Over the last several months, a little-known, enigmatic Pakistani general has quietly raised hopes among American officials that he could emerge as a new force for stability in Pakistan, according to current and former government officials. But it remains too early to determine whether he can play a decisive role in the country.

In late November, the general, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, took command of Pakistan's army when the country's longtime military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, resigned as army chief and became a civilian president. At that time, Kayani, a protégé of Musharraf's, became one of Pakistan's most powerful officials.

The Pakistani Army has dominated the country for decades and the army chief wields enormous influence. Over time, as Kayani gains firmer control of the army, he is likely to become even more powerful than Musharraf himself.

"Gradually, General Kayani will be the boss," said Talat Masood, a Pakistani political analyst and retired general. "The real control of the army will be with Kayani."

But within weeks, Kayani's loyalties — and skills — are likely to come under intense strain. The two civilian political parties that oppose Musharraf are vowing to conduct nationwide street protests if Musharraf's party wins delayed parliamentary elections now scheduled for Feb. 18.

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The parties already accuse Musharraf — who is widely unpopular according to public opinion polls — of fixing the elections. If demonstrations erupt, Kayani will have to decide whether to suppress them. What he decides will determine who rules Pakistan, according to Pakistani and American analysts. The decision also could affect whether the country descends into even deeper turmoil.

They predict that Kayani will remain loyal to Musharraf to a certain extent. But they say he will not back Musharraf if his actions are viewed as damaging the army.

"He's loyal to Musharraf to the point where Musharraf is a liability and no longer an asset to the corporate body of the Pakistani military," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and White House official and a Pakistan expert.

As he has ascended, Kayani has impressed American military and intelligence officials as a professional, pro-Western moderate with few political ambitions. But the elevation to army chief has been known to change Pakistani officers.

Musharraf was seen as uninterested in politics when he became army chief in 1998. A year later, he orchestrated a coup and began his eight-year rule.

Kayani has become an increasingly important figure to the Bush administration as Pakistan's instability grows and Musharraf faces intensifying political problems, according to American and Pakistani analysts.

Musharraf's declaration of de facto martial law in November was widely seen in Pakistan as an effort by him to crush his civilian opponents and cling to power.

At the same time, many Pakistanis blame Musharraf for failing to prevent the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month. They contend that the government did not provide adequate security.

Kayani's personal views are difficult to discern. Since taking command of the army, he has continued his practice of never granting interviews.

In one of his first acts as army chief, he declared 2008 the "year of the soldier," an attempt to improve the weakening morale of the Pakistani Army, a gesture that was praised by American military officials. The army has struggled in combating militants, with more than 1,000 soldiers and police officers killed since 2001. Last summer, several hundred soldiers surrendered to militants, causing intense concern among Pakistani military officials.

The battle against insurgents continues to be intractable. A security official said Monday that suspected Islamic militants killed eight tribal leaders involved in efforts to broker a cease-fire between security forces and insurgents in northwestern Pakistan, The Associated Press reported. The men were shot in separate attacks late Sunday and early Monday in South Waziristan, a mountainous region close to Afghanistan where militants allied with Al Qaeda and the Taliban operate, the official said.

Kayani's early political moves as commander included two small gestures that were interpreted as attempts to ease tensions between the government and civilian opposition parties. After the assassination of Bhutto on Dec. 27, he sent soldiers to place a wreath on her grave and privately met with her husband.

On Thursday, Kayani led the first meeting of Pakistan's corps commanders — the dozen generals who dominate the military. It was the first time in eight years that Musharraf had not attended. During the meeting, the general stressed unity.

It is the harmonization of sociopolitical, administrative and military strategies that will usher an environment of peace and stability in the long term," the state-run news media quoted him as saying. "Ultimately, it is the will of the people and their support that is decisive."

The son of a junior officer in the Pakistani Army, he is from Jhelum, an arid region in Punjab Province known for producing Pakistani generals. Raised in a middle-class military family, he attended military schools and is seen as loyal to the army as an institution above all else.

His appointment was popular among army officers, some of whom blame Musharraf for hurting the army's image.

His career has included repeated military education in the United States. He received training in Fort Benning, Georgia, and graduated from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas He also took an executive studies course at the Asia-Pacific Center of Security Studies in Hawaii in the late 1990s.

In an army deeply enmeshed in Pakistani politics, he has declined to ally himself with any political groups, according to retired Pakistani military officials. As a junior officer, he briefly served as a military aide to Bhutto during her first term as prime minister in the late 1980s, but has stayed away from politicians since then.

"Kayani throughout his career has shown little in the way of political inclination," said a senior American military official who has worked extensively with him but did not wish to be identified because of the sensitivities of Pakistani politics. "He is a humble man who has shown a decided focus on the soldier."

When he was appointed deputy army chief last fall, his first move was to visit the front lines in the tribal areas. Spending the Muslim holiday Id al-Fitr with soldiers prompted American military officials to praise him as a "soldier's soldier."

The senior American military official predicted that the Pakistani Army would perform better under Kayani than Musharraf, who was often distracted by politics while serving as both president and army chief.

But any progress Kayani achieves militarily could be undermined by continuing political turmoil, according to Pakistani analysts. To end that instability, he might have to strike a "grand bargain" with Pakistan's civilian political parties that would end the army's dominance.

"If Kayani, in a way, tries to promote democracy and becomes the protector of democracy," said Masood, the Pakistani political analyst and retired general, "then I think Pakistan has a chance."

Masood and other analysts said Kayani would be more able to strike such a bargain than Musharraf, who is now deeply distrusted by the country's political parties. But to do so he would have to peacefully give up power, something no Pakistani leader has done in the country's 60-year history.

Carlotta Gall reported from Islamabad, and David Rohde from Islamabad and New York. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.

US Presidential Race: Obama and McCain Endorsed

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain won endorsements Sunday from the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The Portland-based newspaper, a part of the Blethen Maine Newspapers group, said in an editorial that "the possibilities of an Obama presidency, not the list of his accomplishments, is what makes him the most exciting figure on the Democratic scene."

The Telegram added: "His abilities to compromise, inspire and speak to a broad spectrum of the electorate earns him our endorsement for the Democratic nomination in 2008."

On the Republican side, the newspaper declared its support for McCain by saying that "while we don't always agree with him, we admire his character."

Of McCain, the newspaper said, "Hard experience has shown that regardless of the political winds, his course will be clear."

Voting for presidential nominees in Maine, which is a caucus state, is still weeks away.

State Republican caucuses will be held Feb. 1-2. Democrats gather on Feb. 10, five days after Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses are held in nearly two dozen states.

On Saturday, the Bangor News noted that "the 2008 presidential race is under way in earnest" and said in an editorial that "the signs — particularly those coming out of Thursday's Iowa caucuses — are encouraging that the contest will be lively, surprising, engaging and will draw in previously dormant voters."

Without declaring its preference, the News also said that "especially cheering to observers of the political process was that both parties drew unexpected numbers of participants to their caucuses in Iowa."

Two other Blethen newspapers, the Kennebec Journal of Augusta and the Morning Sentinel of Waterville, advised readers Sunday to keep early voting results in perspective.


Source - Seacoastonline

Zimbabwe Electoral Authorities Rule out Delay to Poll

Harare - Electoral authorities in Zimbabwe have finished marking out constituencies ahead of elections due in March and have ruled out any delay to the watershed polls, reports said Sunday.

'The focus is on the elections being held in March as this is when the presidential election will be held,' said George Chiweshe, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

He said there was no lawful reason to delay the elections, which will include polls to choose a new president, parliament, senate and local councillors and mayors.

The two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which have been in delicate talks with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, have been pushing for a delay to the polls.

The MDC says March is too soon to implement the agreements reached in the inter-party talks aimed at smoothing the way to the elections.

These include watered-down security and press laws, which are yet to be ratified by Mugabe. The longtime Zimbabwean leader has since left the country for his annual leave in the Far East, apparently before signing the laws.

But Chiweshe said the elections would take place as scheduled.

'There have been suggestions that the Commission should wait for the respective parties involved in talks to conclude dialogue. But we do not work like that,' said Chiweshe.

'We know that the harmonisation of the elections has been captured in the law accordingly. If any changes are to be made, they should be reflected in the law.'

At this stage it appears that Mugabe will stand against Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the main wing of the MDC, and probably Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction, although there are still calls for the opposition to unite and field just one candidate.

The parties will also be contesting seats in expanded upper and lower houses of parliament.


© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Zimbabwe Awards Striking Magistrates Wage Increase

HARARE, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's government has awarded a hefty salary hike to Zimbabwe's magistrates and prosecutors who have been on strike since October, official media reported on Sunday.

Zimbabwean workers have been hit hard by an economic crisis critics blame on Mugabe's policies and has seen inflation jump to nearly 8,000 percent, the highest in the world.

Magistrates and prosecutors walked out of their jobs in October in protest against low pay, paralysing the judicial system. Several court cases had to be postponed.

The state-run Sunday Mail reported that the government had raised salaries by 2,200 percent to between Z$460 million ($15,333 at the official exchange rate but $230 on the widely used black market) and Z$1 billion. Previously, the lowest paid magistrate earned Z$20 million per month.

Doctors and nurses joined the job boycott in December, while teachers, the bulk of government employees, also threatened not to return to work when schools open for the new term next week.

Many government employees are failing to turn up for work because of rising transport costs.

"The employer has decided to pay all civil servants one half of the total package mid-month and the remaining half towards the end of the month to enable the officers and employees of government to continue coming to work," the newspaper quoted senior Justice Ministry official David Mangota as saying.

Government officials and union representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Economic analysts have said Zimbabwe is likely to see more strikes by dissatisfied workers grappling with an economic recession marked by shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel, and rising unemployment. (Reporting by Nelson Banya)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

ANC President Zuma Urges Supporters to Avoid Violence

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's African National Congress President Jacob Zuma has urged his supporters, angered by corruption charges brought against him, to avoid the kind of violence that has exploded in Kenya.

"We don't want to have the kind of thing we are seeing in Kenya," The Sunday Independent quoted him as saying on Friday night after meeting with senior ANC officials.

Zuma's spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment on the report.

Kenya has been swept by tribal clashes since a December 27 election the opposition says was rigged. At least 300 people have died, some in battles between police and protesters, others in ethnic violence.

"On no account should there be any violence or burning of property, or anything like that, because of these charges against me," the newspaper quoted Zuma as saying.

"I know why people are so angry on my behalf. But there are other ways, legal ways, with which to deal with such matters."

Zuma, elected president of the ruling ANC last month after beating state President Thabo Mbeki, faces charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering, and will stand trial in August.

Prosecuting him could deepen divisions within the ANC and derail his hopes of succeeding Mbeki, who must step down in 2009.

Zuma's supporters say the charges are politically motivated in a campaign by opponents designed to ruin him.

The one-million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has said it would not rule out mass protests following a decision by prosecutors ordering Zuma to stand trial for corruption.

The ANC's new National Executive Committee (NEC), the party's top decision-making body is expected on Monday to hold its first meeting since Zuma's election.

The Sunday Independent quoted Zuma as saying the NEC was expected to make a statement about the charges against him.

"It's not for me to say anything. It's the call of the NEC - and I am sure they will do and say what they are required to," he said.

(Editing by Mary Gabriel)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

US Presidential Race: The Rise of Barack Obama

MANCHESTER — It may seem paradoxical, but New Hampshire is poised to close down the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and launch a wide-open Republican contest.

The difference is that Barack Obama, the winner of the Iowa Democratic caucuses, can well repeat his victory here over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. But Mike Huckabee faces much steeper odds in duplicating his Iowa win on the Republican side.

While Huckabee shattered Mitt Romney's strategy by winning Iowa, where Romney had invested massively in advertising and organization, he is likely simply to empower John McCain to repeat his 2000 victory in New Hampshire.

A second Romney loss would effectively end the former Massachusetts governor's candidacy — a victim of a campaign that lost its credibility along with its ideological definition.

But McCain and Huckabee have yet to build broad constituencies among mainstream Republicans. Huckabee's following is centered among evangelical Christians, who dominated the low-turnout Iowa caucuses. McCain's greatest appeal is to Republican-leaning independents who powered his 2000 victory and who remain loyal to him.

McCain has been endorsed by more than two dozen New Hampshire newspaper editorial pages, a major boost to his standing among independent voters.

The uncertainty facing Huckabee and McCain is heightened by their relatively meager campaign treasuries and by the shortage of time for further fundraising before the expensive Feb. 5 primaries in California, New York and other major states.

That opens at least something of an opportunity for Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson to demonstrate their ability in Florida, South Carolina and other states that were part of George W. Bush's political base. The mainstream Republicans in those states are still looking for a candidate.

That search becomes more urgent as the major party politicians come to understand that Obama could be the most electable candidate the Democrats have fielded in many years.

If that seems a hasty judgment, consider what Obama already has demonstrated. Running in two of the "whitest" states in the country, Obama has shown crossover appeal that defies conventional wisdom about the limits an African-American candidate will face.

It is a pattern of his brief political life. When he ran for the Senate in Illinois in 2004, Obama scored well both in small towns and rural areas far from Chicago and in the Republican-oriented suburbs.

The Obama campaign exploited that crossover appeal by having him camped in the small towns of Iowa and in suburban Boston areas of southern New Hampshire for weeks on end.

Over the summer months, Obama honed the elements of a stump speech with a polish that enabled him to deliver it without notes a half-dozen times a day — with perfect pitch. Backing his personal appeal with an organizational effort that was underestimated by both the Clinton and the Edwards campaigns, which had a year's head start, Obama showed Democrats a combination of campaigning and organizational skill they had not seen from any candidate in their party since Bill Clinton first ran for president.

If he can demonstrate that combination again Tuesday in New Hampshire, this race would be a lot closer to being finished than anyone might have guessed even a week ago.

Hillary Clinton has one more chance to stop Obama's momentum here. New Hampshire has been good to the Clintons in the past. They need the state to come to their rescue one more time.

She cannot count on help from anyone else. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, two veteran senators, have left the race with their personal reputations intact, but with little political reward for their efforts.

Bill Richardson is hanging on, but with only a modest hope of securing second place on the ticket.

Edwards claimed a degree of satisfaction by edging Clinton for second place in Iowa. But since his populist appeal failed to win in that state, with its rich tradition of rewarding that kind of campaign, it is hard to imagine him doing better in New Hampshire.

Any way you view it, the race is now Obama's to lose.

David Broder is a syndicated columnist.

UK Foreign Secretary Miliband Urges Kenya Co-operation

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the leaders of Kenya's political parties to share power, as violence continues in the country.
More than 300 people have been killed in violent clashes following disputed presidential elections on Sunday.

Mr Miliband said President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga needed to take responsibility.

"The only way the country is going to make progress...is through the sharing of political power," he said.

The Kenyan Electoral Commission declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner after Sunday's election, but EU observers have said the presidential poll was flawed.

'Fairly split'

The United Nations says about 180,000 people have been forced to flee their homes because of the violence.

Mr Miliband, speaking on BBC Radio 4's World Tonight, said: "The truth is that the election shows that Kenya is split pretty fairly down the middle and the only way the country is going to make progress on the issues like the pitiless poverty... is through the sharing of political power.

"If that is coming on to the agenda, that is precisely what the unanimous view of the international community has been over the last few days and which we have all been working for."

He said "deep-seated problems" exposed during the week would not be tackled without such political compromise.

Mr Miliband said a re-run of the election was not necessary, but outlined three priorities: stopping the violence; documenting the irregularities of the election and making sure they were "pursued through legal and political means"; and mediation to "bridge the divide between the two sides".

He said the role of the president of the African Union, Ghana's President John Kufuor, "is absolutely critical to this."

£1m aid

Mr Kufuor has been unable to enter Kenya because he has not received an invitation from the Kenyan government.

"The message that has to go out loud and clear to both sides of the Kenyan political divide that they should be facilitating the entry of President Kufuor into the country as soon as possible," Mr Miliband said.

Earlier, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced that £1m in aid would be given to Kenya,.

The money will be given to the Kenyan Red Cross for emergency humanitarian work after post-election violence flared across the country.

It will help provide food, shelter and clean water for as many as 500,000 displaced Kenyans.


Story from BBC NEWS:

US Mediates Kenya Crisis as Opposition Hardens Stance

NAIROBI (AFP) - The top US Africa envoy on Sunday pushed Kenyan leaders to resolve an electoral row that touched off an unprecedented wave of violence as the opposition rejected a government offer to join a unity cabinet.

More than 360 people died in violence linked to the December 27 poll and aid groups warned of a looming humanitarian emergency after the displacement of tens of thousands of people, particularly in the west of the country and the capital's slums.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer negotiated with both camps on Sunday, a US embassy official told AFP.

But opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims President Mwai Kibaki rigged the election, rejected the idea of a unity cabinet, a day after Kibaki made the offer for a power sharing deal.

Odinga claims Kibaki rigged the election and has called for Kibaki's resignation.

After meeting Frazer on Saturday, Kibaki said that a unity government "would not only unite Kenyans but would also help in the healing and reconciliation process."

Odinga flatly rejected the offer.

"We are not interested in Kibaki's solution to this problem. He has nothing to offer because he did not win these elections. It is an insult to the people of Kenya for a person who did not win the election ...(to offer a deal)," said Odinga, who claims Kibaki rigged the vote count.

"I should be the one offering him the option of a coalition. We are not power-hungry ... we want a properly negotiated settlement that will give a lasting solution to this problem," he added.

African Union head and Ghana President John Kufuor won Kenyan approval to hold talks in Nairobi this week to talk the rivals out of a political stalemate after the deadly clashes.

Poll monitors said the vote count was rife with irregularities with both sides trading accusations of blatant rigging.

The electoral board nevertheless declared Kibaki the winner, unleashing a wave of nationwide riots that quickly devolved into deadly tribal vendettas, notably between Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Odinga's Luo.

At least 361 people have been killed in poll-related violence since election day, according to a tally compiled by AFP from hospitals, police and mortuaries.

Odinga's camp plans to hold a demonstration on Tuesday over alleged vote rigging, nearly a week after police blocked an initial rally. The government has rejected their call for a presidential re-run in 90 days unless a court orders it.

The UN estimates that the chaos may have displaced 250,000 Kenyans, some 100,000 of whom need immediate help in the western Rift Valley region, a scene of some of the worst fighting.

Aid groups warned of a health emergency in makeshift camps in schools, hospitals and churches, most of which were still out of reach owing to their inaccessibility or safety concerns.

"Food and clean water supplies are now running dangerously low, especially in and around (the western city of) Kisumu," said aid organisation Merlin's Country Director in Kenya Wubeshet Woldermariam.

Despite a lull in fighting, the UN warned that it would take time to restore stability in regions where clashes had been severe, amid reports of isolated acts of violence.

Kibaki's praise for preserving Kenya's status as a war-free country and grooming its economy to become an "African tiger," has been damaged by calls for a probe into the ballot.

Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako has suggested an independent audit, and Human Rights Watch warned that the country risked further violence in the absence of a transparent investigation.

A coalition of 27 leading Kenyan rights groups on Saturday rejected Kibaki's re-election, which they argued was rendered illegal by widespread voting irregularities.

Washington considers the country a key ally and a beacon of stability in the restive region, and Frazer was expected to pursue consultations until Monday to try to break the deadlock.

The crisis has had an impact beyond Kenya's borders, with fuel shortages disrupting transport and trade in Uganda, southern Sudan, Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.


* Source - AFP

Pessimism And Hope For Zimbabwe Mingle In Forecasts For 2008

As the year 2008 begins, many Zimbabweans are wondering whether it will bring any significant changes on the political, economic and human rights fronts.

With South African-brokered crisis resolution talks between the ruling party and opposition stalled, observers say the results of the negotiations so far do not suggest they have created a level playing field for national elections slated for March.

Human rights activists, health authorities, labor organizers and economists expressed pessimism that the problems which plagued Zimbabwe in 2007 will be resolved in 2008, given the policy failures they say have plunged the nation into turmoil.

To consider the outlook for 2008, reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with Norman Mlambo, an analyst with the Africa Institute of South Africa in Pretoria, who expressed optimism that the Southern African Development Community process could pay off in a free and fair election this year.

But human rights lawyer Irene Petras said that if the situation is to get better this year, a complete overhaul of the country's electoral framework and policies is needed.


* Source - VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

Brown to cut deal with Zimbabwe over 2012 Olympics

Zimbabwe could be allowed to take part in the London Olympics if it agrees to pull out of a cricket tour of England next year.



The Government is said to have proposed the secret deal to avoid an African boycott of the 2012 Games. But the Tories said no team from the southern African state should be let in while Robert Mugabe is president.

On Thursday sources close to the Prime Minister said scrapping the cricket tour would allow Britain to 'stand up and be counted' by refusing to tolerate Mugabe's murderous regime.

But yesterday, sources said the Government would let a team from the country enter the Olympics if Mr Mugabe axed the cricket tour.

Tory foreign affairs spokesman David Lidington said: "This is a classic case of Gordon Brown spinning different stories to different people.

"One day he tries to sound tough, the next day we find he is planning a secret deal."

Mr Lidington described Mugabe's corruption and "wilful mismanagement" as "sickening", ading: "The Government has allowed his regime to carry on unchallenged for too long."

Ministers fear that if the cricket tour is called off, Mugabe may pull his teams out of future English sporting events, such as next year's World Twenty20 cricket championship and the Olympics. Scroll down for more


Ministers feel that if the cricket tour is called off, Mugabe may pull his teams out of future English sporting events

That would raise the prospect of a boycott by a range of African nations, such as South Africa.

Officials believe the inclusion of a Zimbabwean team at the Olympics would be less embarrassing as it would be only one out of more than 150.

A Government source said: 'Negotiations have been going on for some months.

"The Government is giving the cricket authorities very close support. There's no way Mugabe is going to be allowed to let his team play here.

"The major problem is ensuring that does not give him any justification to accuse the old colonial power of slighting Zimbabwe which results in the whole of Africa boycotting 2012."

* Source - Daily Mail

English Woman to Bring Zimbabwe Aid

By CAROLYN CLICK

Francie Markham is headed to Zimbabwe next month, where she will help unpack a 40-foot cargo container that includes hundreds of donations from South Carolina, including computers, books and blackboards.

Markham, a retired Dreher English teacher and member of Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, has been tireless in her efforts to help students in the United Methodist mission of Old Mutare. Since she was featured in a September 2007 story in The State newspaper, she has received enough contributions to fill a second container that will probably ship to the southern African country later this year.

“It’s very much the working of the Holy Spirit,” Markham said Friday. “This is not just good luck.”

Volunteers, including students in Dreher’s National Honor Society and Key Club, loaded the items for the first container Nov. 17, including blackboards rescued before the demolition of Dreher. The container was shipped from Charleston and is expected to arrive next week. It costs about $10,000 to ship each container, but researchers in USC’s business school have been helping her figure out ways to lower the cost, she said.

Students at Old Mutare’s Hartzell High School will benefit from the load that also includes 1,200 washable sanitary pads for girls who have little access to feminine products. Many faith groups have been sewing the pads for her project.

To learn more about Markham’s mission, and her plans to assist two more rural schools, contact Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, 3401 Trenholm Road, Columbia, SC 29204 (803) 254-6695.

ANC President Zuma Gets Married in KwaZulu-Natal

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma married his fourth wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli of KwaMaphumulo, at his homestead at Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.

Between 400 and 500 guests -- mainly family -- attended the ceremony, which lasted about three hours. KwaZulu-Natal businessman Erwin Ulbricht was spotted among the guests.

Ntuli is the mother of two of Zuma's children.

The media were initially barred from the event. They were asked to leave by Zuma's son, Edward, whose mother is Minah Shongwe, the sister of Transvaal Deputy Judge President Jeremiah Shongwe. A Sunday Times reporter and photographer were, however, allowed in to cover the event.

Later, the media who had gathered outside were allowed in to witness a traditional Zulu dance on a field adjacent to Nkandla, which reportedly signified that Ntuli had been accepted into the Zuma family.

Some of the guests were dressed in Zulu traditional attire, carrying shields and knobkerries, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. -- Sapa

Kenya Opposition Rejects Unity Government; Calls for Kibaki to Step Down

Kenyan Opposition leader Raila Odinga says President Mwai Kibaki is in office illegally and that he will not negotiate with the government until the president steps down.

Mr. Odinga made the comments to reporters Saturday in response to Mr. Kibaki's announcement that he is ready to form a national unity government with the opposition in an effort to end the unrest in the nation.

Mr. Kibaki had met earlier today in Nairobi with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer. The U.S. diplomat had also met today with Mr. Odinga.

More than 300 people have been killed in violence that has plagued the nation since last week's disputed elections. Mr. Odinga accused Mr. Kibaki of rigging the December 27th election in his favor.

At the Vatican Saturday, Pope Benedict released a letter to Kenya's Catholic bishops calling for an end to the violence.

Much of the violence is between Mr. Odinga's Luo tribe and the president's Kikuyu tribe. Both sides have accused the other of committing acts of genocide.

The U.N. says the unrest also has forced more than 250,000 people from their homes. Aid workers say they are struggling to get supplies to thousands of people cut off from food and water.

International observers have described last week's vote as seriously flawed. Leaders of Mr. Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement opposition party have called for new elections. The government says it will accept that proposition, but only if a court orders a new vote.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband issued a statement Friday calling on Kenya's leaders to strike a power-sharing agreement to restore peace in the country.

Mr. Kibaki has said he will talk with political rivals when post-election violence ends.

Kenyan security forces prevented the opposition from carrying out a protest march and rally in Nairobi's Uhuru Park. Another protest called for Friday never materialized.

* Source - VOA

USA Elections Analysis: Obama, Clinton Face Big Test

By BETH FOUHY

MANCHESTER, N.H. --Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton - welcome to New Hampshire, where you each face the biggest test of your political lives.

Obama, whose victory in Iowa on Thursday transformed him into a political giant slayer, faces five days of heightened scrutiny before the state's Jan. 8 primary amid the klieg lights of sudden superstardom.

Clinton, who just weeks ago was the undisputed Democratic front-runner, must use those same five days to rebound from a crippling loss in Iowa in order to prevent her candidacy from imploding.

"New Hampshire is the last chance for someone who loses Iowa," said Andrew Smith, polling director for the University of New Hampshire. "You lose in Iowa and you lose New Hampshire, it's done. You go home."

Analysts of all stripes expect a sharp change in tone in New Hampshire after the candidates spent a year playing "Iowa Nice."

Obama's message of hope and unity was also a fine fit for Iowa, a state where voters are notoriously resistant to negative campaigning. The Democratic contest there was a relatively civil affair, where not a single televised attack ad was aired and where the contenders exchanged only mild jabs.

Such pleasantries will surely be jettisoned in New Hampshire by Clinton and John Edwards, who placed slightly ahead of Clinton in Iowa and who has shown his willingness to take a scalpel to his opponents when necessary. Edwards staked much of his candidacy on Iowa but aides say he has the resources in New Hampshire to fight on.

All of that means Obama goes into this state's compressed contest with a target on his back - a situation he has managed to avoid throughout his career in politics.

"Obama, through an unprecedented convergence of luck and skill, has never before faced serious attack delivered by a competent opponent," Democratic strategist Dan Newman said. "He's now earned the right to be mercilessly scrubbed and scrutinized. No one knows how he'll respond to the challenge, and how voters will evaluate the criticism."

Clinton, whose once sturdy lead in New Hampshire had already begun to close in the days before Iowa's caucuses, is relying on the state as her husband did in 1992 to make her the "comeback kid." The former president is still widely popular here and will campaign for his wife until next Tuesday's primary.

Hillary Clinton's aides say her campaign will renew its scrutiny of Obama's comparatively thin record and lack of foreign policy experience, questioning whether he is ready to lead in a dangerous world.

They will also try to paint him as something of a phony - someone whose lofty rhetoric isn't born out in his own public record. They point to his votes in the Senate to fund the Iraq war even as he tried to position himself as the strongest anti-war candidate in the field.

"He talks about change but has no real record of making change," said Mark Penn, the Clinton campaign's pollster and senior strategist.

The Clinton campaign is also likely to begin airing commercials attacking Obama's health care plan, which they say would leave 15 million people uninsured.

Edwards, meanwhile, can be expected to renew questions about whether Obama's brand of unity politics is too naive for the dog-eat-dog world of partisan Washington.

Much will also be riding on a nationally televised debate among the Democratic contenders Saturday. Both Clinton and Edwards have typically excelled in such forums, while Obama's performances have been inconsistent.

"The debate will loom large," said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. "It's a chance for Clinton to score some needed points, so she will probably try to make Obama look bad and capitalize on something with regard to his lack of experience."


* Source - The Associated Press.

Zimbabwe: Country Set to Lose U.S.$60 Million Diamond Project

Paul Nyakazeya


ZIMBABWE could lose US$60 million that was supposed to be injected into a new diamond project if government's proposed indigenisation regulations become law.

Rio Tinto which owns 56% of Rio Tinto Zimbabwe (RioZim) this week said it could be forced to review a planned diamond project if the indigenisation laws and fixed exchange rate persist.


Parliament recently passed the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill which is now awaiting President Robert Mugabe's signature to become law. Parliament is also debating the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill which will specifically target foreign owned mines.

Rio Tinto also said it was increasingly becoming unviable for the company to embark on its plans to start a new diamond mine due to the fixed exchange rate. The official exchange rate is at $30 000 to the greenback while the parallel market rate is above $2 million.

"It seems there will be no change in the pricing regime in the foreseeable future and further decisions about the mine's future may have to be made in light of the proposed empowerment laws," said Rio Tinto in a statement.

Mining companies are not allowed to source foreign currency from the parallel market. President of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, Jack Murehwa, recently said the fixed rate made illegal gold trading lucrative and "attractive as the mines get more from the parallel market than from the Reserve Bank".

RioZim operates Murowa diamond mine and also controls three gold mines namely Renco, Patchway and Cam & Motor Dump.

Apart from the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill which requires all foreign owned companies to have a major shareholder who is local, there is also the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill which also gives the government the legislative authority to acquire 51% of foreign companies mining "strategic fuels and minerals".

The state will also have the power to take 25% of the 51% ceded without paying for it while the balance of 26% would have to be paid for under a five-year plan.

Impala Platinum the major shareholder of Zimbabwe Platinum mine last year expressed discomfort and concerns over the same issues.

Analysts said if either the indigenisation Bill or the mines and minerals amendment Bill becomes law, it would be difficult for the mining parent companies to have confidence in the local mining sector.


* Source - Zimbabwe Independent

Zimbabwe: Isn't It Time to Quit, Gono?

THE Reserve Bank has finally intervened to ease the cash crisis across all sectors of the economy. But governor Gideon Gono should not expect plaudits for his messianic efforts after what should have been the traditional festive season passed as a long nightmare for most Zimbabweans who couldn't access cash from banks.

The trouble with government's retributive acts against a few errant individuals is they always end up hurting the innocent. The withholding of cash from banks to punish what Gono called "cash barons" had the same effect as the decision to slash the prices of basic commodities by half in June: it is ordinary Zimbabweans who bear the brunt of these ill-conceived acts.

Many businesses have not fully recovered from the losses induced by the price cuts. As a result, the poor who were intended as the major beneficiaries of the price reductions now spend even more time searching for basic foodstuffs. Many spent the Christmas period in long queues outside banking halls, hoping that by some miracle they might get some money. It was all in vain.

But Gono had more shockers up his sleeve. Up to now he has not named any of the cash barons who were hoarding the $200 000 bearer cheques.

Then after forcing hundreds of people in rural areas to risk drowning travelling to the centres where they could convert their cash before his December 31 deadline, he announced the $200 000 was still legal tender. There can be no better demonstration of policy failure than this.

What should be made clear is that Gono cannot resolve the country's crisis through piecemeal acts of retribution. There are many innocent Zimbabweans who would only be too happy to keep their money in the formal banking system if only they could access it on demand. But that has become more the exception than the rule of business in Zimbabwe.

Still, with inflation at close to 8 000% who would want to keep their money in a bank account? The rampant scarcity of commodities, itself a result of price control freaks in government, is also forcing every Zimbabwean to move around with large quantities of cash, just in case they chance upon something to buy.

At the end of the day it must be recorded that whatever temporary relief Zimbabweans get from the extension of the life of the $200 000 notes, Gono himself has permanently lost all credibility as head of the central bank. He should be well-versed with the law of unintended consequences which he uses to berate others.

The effect of his duplicity over the demonetisation of the $200 000 means that very few people will trust any of his future policy pronouncements just as few still believe that he has any credible list of cash barons. He has created widespread uncertainty about the RBZ's operations by telling the world that it has no policy framework -- it operates entirely on the whims of its governor.

It is one thing to adopt desperate measures to deal with a desperate situation. It is another to hold the whole nation to ransom because a few politically-connected individuals don't want to play according to Gono's ill-defined rules.

The biggest casualties of Gono's desperate measures were ordinary folk who were forced to dispose of their legitimate cash holdings, for instance to purchase uniforms and pay school fees, buying trinkets they don't need.

Yet there is no sign that we are getting to the end of this dark tunnel of troubles. Reports last week that one of Gono's own advisors had been implicated in a $10 billion scam in the latest denominations don't inspire confidence in what the RBZ is trying to do.

Whether the gentleman concerned is guilty or not guilty is not the real issue. The issue is that one individual had access to that kind of money while the rest were starved and spent long hours standing in queues.

This issue alone points to a central bank that is keen to persecute individuals and financial institutions for laxity in enforcing regulations but is itself guilty of the same crime. It means those who have access or have close links to the RBZ can get as much cash as they want for whatever purpose, while the rest of the nation is restricted to miserly withdrawal limits of $50 million a day.

Yet the big question still remains unanswered after all is said and done. After Gono failed to name and shame, and instead extended the lifespan of the $200 000 bearer cheque, what stops the same robber barons from stashing away more money, even at the risk of being ambushed under Sunrise III?

What assurance is there for ordinary Zimbabweans that the worst of the last quarter of 2007 is over? Isn't it time to quit, Dr Gono?


* Source - Zimbabwe Independent

South Africa: ANC President Zuma Prepares For Court Case and a Wedding

Johannesburg - Wedding bells are ringing again for the new leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, who is planning to take a fourth wife, the Star newspaper reported Friday three days ahead of a crunch ANC meeting. The 65-year-old Zuma's home village of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, the venue for the event, was said to be a hive of activity ahead of his marriage in the coming days to the mother of two of his children, Nompumelelo Ntuli, 33.

No exact date for the ceremony was given in the report.

Polygamy is widely practised in Zulu culture, particularly in rural areas.

According to the Star the marriage would give Zuma four wives. Zuma was also previously married to Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who divorced him in 1997.

Meanwhile, the ANC is on tenterhooks ahead of what is expected to be a stormy first meeting Monday of its top body, the National Executive Committee, since Zuma was elected party leader over President Thabo Mbeki in December.

Charges laid against Zuma over the holidays for racketeering, corruption, money laundering and fraud, mostly in relation to a state arms deal, are expected to top the agenda of the meeting.

Zuma's supporters, who dominate party structures, claim the charges are an attempt by the disgruntled Mbeki to bar Zuma from becoming the party's candidate for president in 2009 elections and have called for them to be dropped.

The indictment, served on December 28, 10 days after Zuma became ANC leader, came as little surprise after a first corruption case against him was thrown out of court last year on a technicality.

The case grew out of the case against Zuma's former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, who is serving a 15-year jail sentence for corruption and fraud, including seeking a bribe from a French arms company on Zuma's behalf.

Analysts are predicting the NEC meeting could be as stormy as the December leadership conference which saw pro-Zuma supporters oust the Mbeki-allied guard, revealing the deep divisions within the former liberation movement.


* Source - Earth Times

Obama/Odinga/Zuma – What do They Represent to the Future of Africa & Change Politics

By Mutumwa Mawere

I woke up this morning to the news that Senator Barak Obama had convincingly won the Iowa caucus and could not help but reflect on what his candidature and victory represents for Africa and, indeed, for the politics of the world. I listened to Obama’s victory speech and many will agree that it was a message not only to Americans but to all of us in Africa who believe in a better tomorrow.

Indeed, it was inspirational and marks a historic and defining moment in human progress given the current unipolar global architecture dominated by America and some of its foundational values. This year will bring change to some parts of Africa and what is for certain in America is that President Bush will not be on the ballot box and even if Obama loses the Democratic nomination, America will never be the same again.

The context and content of Obama’s daring entry into the American political landscape has important implications for Africa not only because he shares the same heritage as all of us but because he has challenged us to believe in hope and that we have a part to play in shaping our destinies.

Echoing the words of Oprah Winfrey in support of Obama when she said: “I am not here to tell you how to think but I am here to make you think”, I thought it would be beneficial on this important day after Iowans have spoken to challenge my fellow brothers and sisters to deeply and critically think about Africa and its possibilities if we become as organised as Obama’s supporters in investing in the change that we can believe in.

Obama and Odinga share the same Luo heritage and history has made it possible for them to share the same spotlight at this defining moment in Kenyan and American histories about hope and fear. The people of Kenya thought they had spoken when they joined long queues to express their choice about what kind of future they wanted but alas the change they sought is not what they have been given resulting in the current confusion and chaos that only serves to undermine the hope that through democratic means people can get the change they can believe in.

The Obama victory is more than symbolic it really should capture the imagination of all the people who live in fear and have surrendered their future to the politics of yesterday. He has challenged the establishment and those who felt that they were destined by history and circumstances to be the natural leaders. Ordinary men and women were energised by what Obama represented and yes there are many who argued that not in America would it be possible for a person like Obama to rise above pride and prejudice and emerge as a winner in Iowa with its racial configuration.

There are many of us in Africa who share the sentiments of the many in America who thought Obama was a passing phase only to find out that it is not about him but he represents the majority of the people who want change that they can believe in. Obama has provided an opportunity for Americans to only think about what kind of soceity they should be but about change itself. What does change mean to all of us?
Even Senator H. Clinton is talking about change but a different kind of change. Equally in Africa there is a lot of talk about change and yet the people who talk about this subject are not clear about what kind of change should visit disillusioned Africa.

The euphoria of the dawn of independence has been replaced by complacency and fear. The politics of fear rather than hope is what dominates the African terrain to the extent that citizens have resigned themselves to believe that their future belongs to third parties and they have no role to play in shaping it.

Many of us would agree that the Africa we have today that can produce the kind of outcome that Kenyans have after the recent elections is not the kind of Africa we want to see. While we all agree that there is something fundamentally wrong in the way we as Africans have organised ourselves politically we do not seem to have the kind of leadership that can galvanise and inspire us to invest in the outcomes we want to see. Surely, the people who voted in the Kenyan elections cannot be satisfied that the outcome that is being played on our televisions and in the media is the kind of outcome that they sought to have by voting.

What would make Africa and its leaders respect the will of the people? We have seen leaders in Africa try to politically engineer outcomes through a significant investment in fear to the extent that their legitimacy in power becomes a product of manipulation rather than a genuine expression of the preference of citizens.
If we really care about Africa’s future we have no choice but to critically study how Obama has defied logic not by being afraid of the power of the estalishment but his ability to use the instruments of democracy to instil hope and not fear in citizens. What Obama has shown is that when citizens have a reason to believe in change the impossible can happen not in another lifetime but in our lifetime and on our terms.

The people shall govern how true and hollow this statement can be depending on which address you are located in Africa. In South Africa, the branch delegates of the African National Congress demonstrated that it is possible for people to take ownership of their own future without the assistance of violence. Africa has been waiting for the Obama/Odinga/Zuma medicine for a long time. Independence from the exclusive politics of colonialism was meant to be the ultimate dividend for the suffering African masses but we are all too aware that this has not been the case not because Africans are not smart but they have been outsmarted by their own political servants who believe that no change is change.

This Obama/Odinga/Zuma story has provided a good starting point for those African citizens who are privileged to make choices about who should govern them this year. This year belongs to Zimbabweans who for the past 28 years have not known what change is in a seemingly democratic environment where citizens have been given space to express themselves but for some reason the outcome has been as predictable as sunset follows sunrise.

Change has been an integral part of the Zimbabwean conversation but for the past eight years even the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would agree that they have failed to capture the hopes of the millions of Zimbabweans who really need a break from the politics of fear and division. If any party that purports to advance the cause of change for a sustained period and fails to deliver then it is incumbent upon people to reflect carefully on the kind of change that they are being promised. Deferred change is effectively denied change.

When the storm in Iowa was over, Obama was standing and he demonstrated the kind of leadership that Zimbabwe wants. Even those who promised a better Zimbabwe eight years ago must accept that they are partly responsible for giving Zimbabweans the kind of change that they have no faith in. Indeed, many Zimbabweans have voted with their feet over the last eight years confirming that the menu was too limited and monopolised.

Is it the case that the kind of change Zimbabweans wanted cannot be obtained through democratic means? Or is that the kind of leadership that Zimbabweans have been exposed to has failed to capture their imagination in the same way that Obama/Zuma/Odinga have managed to do in their own countries? What confidence do Zimbabweans have in change following the apparent consensus between ZANU-PF and MDC about the changes in the Constitution and laws that Tsvangirai is now attempting to disown? How credible is the change when the very change agents that purport to represent the excluded masses do not seem to know what they want and stand for?
We now hear of threats of boycotting the elections on the premise that a new constitution is required. Surely, if agreement on a new constitution was a deal breaker, then people need to be informed why Tsvangirai and his colleaagues in parliament saw it feet to become part of the change they do not believe in. Why have amendment number 18 only to be replaced by a new constitution when the very amendment sought and has achieved the objective of shortening the term of the current Parliament to coincide with the end of President Mugabe’s term? In other words, President Mugabe’s mandate will end in March and both ZANU-PF and MDC will have no mandate to extend the Presidential and Parliamentary term with a constitutionally ill-defined transitional term.

Zimbabweans have demonstrated that they are either too afraid to express their opinions about the kind of change they want to see or that the kind of leadership that is available makes them too nervous to do what Zuma/Obama/Odinga’s supporters have been able to eloquently demonstrate. Odinga and his supporters have been able to instil fear even in the minds of the establishment to the extent that President Kibaki’s team is no longer as cohesive and confident as it should be.

The opposition in Zimbabwe has failed to generate the same kind of anger that has been displayed in Kenya leading people to question the DNA makeup of Zimbabweans. What is it about Zimbabweans that they will choose to surrender their future to two bulls who can’t seem to agree on anything while their future is being aggressively eroded?

Yes Zimbabweans got the change that they did not want to see. Over the last eight years, the opposition has been the loser and ultimately Zimbabweans have been too trusting to the extent that they believed naively that the so-called icons of change and hope had a plan to deliver them from poverty. Can Zimbabweans look themselves in the mirror and honestly say that if there was a contest between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai they will get the change they can believe in? If the answer is no, then it is not too late to go to the drawing board and reflect on what the future generations will say about this generation that is going to be privileged to make the defining decisions about what kind of society Zimbabwe should be and who should govern it and for whose benefit.

Finally, through Obama, Americans have demonstrated that the only power people who have no power or feel alienated from the politics of yesterday and fear is the power to organise. The fact that Tsvangirai is still threatening to boycott the elections after having been part of the SADC talks that have produced what he now chooses to describe as cosmetic changes means that he is telling Zimbabweans that he is not ready for the fight.

There can never be a wrong time to do the right thing. Does the MDC have the mandate to extend the suffering of the Zimbabwean people through a legally problematic transition that they are proposing? If MDC and ZANU-PF have been at one in agreeing to the so-called cosmestic changes can they be trusted to make the real and required fundamental decisions about the future of the country? The last eight years have brought about more suffering and exclusion to allow Zimbabweans to ask themselves whether the moment is not now to think out of the box and organise for change in March so that the decisions about the future can be restored where they belong.

Leadership must be earned and Zimbabweans will be foolhardy to ignore the well established track record of the known change/no-change agents.

Kenya Police Hold Key to Election Result

All testimony offered so far from independent observers monitoring the Presidential elections in Kenya demonstrates that fraud has been committed on a massive scale. The casualties of the rigged counting of votes are not just the hundreds who have died in the ensuing brutal violence, but also Kenya's neighbours Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, the regional intergovernmental organisation known as the East African Community and the fragile hopes that real democracy can cement itself in East Africa.

The media coverage of Kenya is tending to focus on the violence itself rather than what happened that lead to the brutality - election fraud amounting to a civilian coup. The head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Samuel Kivuitu, admits that there were problems with the counting of votes. He has also said that he was subjected to intense pressure by senior aides of President Mwai Kibaki to announce results as they were given to him, despite his own reservations. This all points to a rigged count to ensure Kibaki was returned to power. The EU Election Observation Mission in their interim report said that the elections were competitive and generally well administered. However the "tabulation" was marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying.

Further investigation by East African journalists has uncovered more evidence of blatant fraud with the number of votes announced failing to tally with records at polling stations. Intriguingly the Kenyan Police are reported to have their own record of actual polling:


Daily Monitor investigations also indicate that ECK officials overlooked the fact that Kenyan police personnel deployed to guard all the 36,000 polling stations countrywide also kept a record of the voting and compiled an accurate record of the results, so that even if something happened to the ECK structures, the Kenya Police is in position to give the nation correct results of the polls. Sources say that the Kenya Police tally indicates a major difference from what the ECK announced.
The key to an accurate election result that might help bring about a just outcome and quell chaos in Kenya seems to rest with the very police who are struggling to contain violent demonstrations and growing tribal conflict.

The damage to democratic progress in East Africa cannot be overstated. Already the region has suffered a political crisis in Uganda in 2006 when President Museveni was accused of voting fraud in his re-election campaign. Now Kenya has an identical problem undermining any confidence in honest governance in East Africa. Museveni has compounded the disdain felt for him and angered many by being the only African leader to contact Kibaki to congratulate him on his "win". There are already calls for Museveni to withdraw his message. Rather than people warming to closer co-operation between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi - which has had some calling for the countries to merge into one state called East Africa - the stolen election is having the opposite effect.

What makes matters all the worse is President Kibaki's assertion today that there is no trouble in Kenya that needs international mediation and that there is no need for the election result to be reviewed. And on top of that United States and the EU - supposedly bastions of democracy - to their shame are pressing all parties in Kenya to accept a compromise that is less of a fudge and more of an injustice, by recommending the establishment of a coalition government. This idea is supposedly in the democratic interests of Kenya. But those interests cannot be served by forming a government that was not the electoral will of the people. I wonder if the Americans would have been happy with a coalition government to satisfy Al Gore's supporters when President Bush was put in the White House? If not, why recommend it to Kenya?

Africa is a tragedy. It is a continent of political failure even in countries where there is basically peace. Only outside pressure will bring about real change. Time and again Africa's nations demonstrate their inability to accept the outcomes of democratic processes yet the rest of the world still engages with those who assume power using fraudulent or violent means. Until such people are completely isolated by the international community - which itself needs to become more democratic - and have their ability to plunder national resources and bleed their countries dry, there will remain an incentive for people like Kibaki, Museveni, Mugabe and others to use incumbency to make themselves leaders indefinitely. Kenya is the latest disaster but it will not be the last.


* Source - The Waendel Journal

Confusion Reigns Ahead of Zimbabwe's New School Term!

The first school term for 2008 is likely to open in confusion following revelations that many parents have failed to secure school fees for their children.

Most schools hiked their fees by more than 1000 % for the upcoming term and parents have been grappling to come to terms with the hiked amounts in the face of hyper-inflation and massive cash shortage that has become the order of the day.

Some boarding schools are asking for anything between $500 million and $700 million while day scholars would be expected to fork out up to $200 million for the upcoming term.

Most parents revealed that they would not be able to pay the high school fees. Some have been forced to transfer their children from boarding schools to cheaper day schools while others have been left with a hard chess to play on the future of their children, as the lowest fees figures are beyond their reach.

The high fee structures come in the wake of crumbling education standards in the country since the Zimbabwe School Examination Council took over the administration of examinations a few years ago.

Most parents have been questioning the sense behind paying such huge amounts for the circus that now reigns supreme in the education system.

ZIMSEC is still to announce its new examination fees and sources at the council revealed that parents could be in for a historic shocker when the announcement is finally made as they are anticipating a huge increase.

Meanwhile, there has been confusion over the schools opening date since pupils at some schools had been told at the end of the third term last year that schools would reopen a week earlier on January 8 2008 to accommodate presidential elections in March.

Pupils from different schools have been given different opening dates but the Secretary for Education, Sport and Culture Dr Stephen Mahere said he was not aware of the purported changes despite several schools having advised their pupils that the school term would be opened a week earlier.

"I am not aware of any communication from the ministry regarding the fact that the school term would open on Tuesday January 8. What we now want to confirm is that schools will open for the first term on January 15 as scheduled.

He said his ministry was issuing the statement in response to the confusion that had been caused by the alleged change of dates.

"Owing to problems that had been caused by the statement we have been forced to issue a statement to clear the air."

Some school authorities in the Harare had told their pupils and teachers that the first term would begin on January 8, 2008. Schools such as Prince Edward, Mufakose High Schools in Harare, Thornhill High School in Gweru and Waddon Chase Primary School in Mvurwi among others had written January 8 on their pupils’ end of term school reports as the first day of the new school term.

School authorities at Kuwadzana High 1, Kuwadzana High 2, St Johns Chikwaka and Visitation (Makumbe) High School in Goromonzi had verbally told their pupils that schools would be opened on January 8 while they were awaiting a letter from the ministry. In a related matter, Moleli High School has advised all its Form Ones to report to the school on January 12 for orientation.


* Source - Zimbabwe Gazette

Gordon Brown Backs Zimbabwe Boycott But it May Mean Loss of World Twenty20

Richard Hobson and Sam Coates

England could lose the right to host the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 if the Government blocks Zimbabwe from touring earlier in the season. The ECB will be happy for Gordon Brown to press ahead with plans to bar the squad from entering the country but knows that it may face a backlash from the wider cricket community.

Talks are under way between Downing Street and the ECB, with the Government preparing to toughen its stance on Robert Mugabe’s regime. Under ICC rules, the ECB will not be liable for any compensation to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) for the cancellation of the Test and one-day series if the ban is made at government level.

In 2005, the New Zealand Government took such a stance in refusing to give visas to the Zimbabwe party. The England situation is more complicated because Zimbabwe are expecting to stay in the country for the global 20-over competition, which in turn precedes the Ashes in what the ECB sees as a golden summer.

With the Home Office examining the broad issue of visas for one-off events, it is possible that Zimbabwe may be allowed in for a competition falling under the higher auspices of the ICC, even if they are blocked for what are self-contained bilateral matches against England.

However, this may not satisfy the Asian-led bloc that forms a majority inside the ICC. The ECB was keen to secure the 2009 tournament having given Twenty20 to the rest of the world as one of its most successful sporting exports, but the formal paper-work of host and staging agreements are still to be signed.

England would receive a fixed sum of about £1 million as hosts as well as 10 per cent of ticket sales. There will be no shortage of other boards eager to stage the event after the cricketing success of the inaugural competition in South Africa last September, although low pricing for spectators removed any commercial windfall.

The ICC is already facing a possible move for one flagship tournament because political uncertainty in Pakistan may jeopardise its hosting of the Champions Trophy in the autumn. South Africa and Sri Lanka are thought to be keen to take on the venture, which will not involve Zimbabwe.

England are looking for alternative opponents for the two Tests and three 50-over games against Zimbabwe next year. In December, the board was embarrassed when sources inside ZC said that Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, had offered about £200,000 for England to buy their way out of the commitment.

Zimbabwe have been in Test exile for two years because of the paucity of their cricket and the ECB wants to know whether they will be back in the fold by May next year. If not, then without the Government’s lead, compensation will be due only for the one-day games because Zimbabwe retain full status in the shorter form.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been identified as possible replacements, but an offer from the ECB will be more attractive if it combines Test and one-day cricket. There will be less interest if a touring side have to return home or stay idle in England between the Tests and the World Twenty20.

The Zimbabwe issue has been a constant thorn since the build-up to the World Cup game between England and Zimbabwe in Harare in 2003 when players and officials, stuck inside a hotel in Cape Town for three days of talks when they should have been preparing for games, expressed their determination not to travel because of safety fears.

Around that time, Henry Olonga and Andy Flower, who is now an assistant to Peter Moores, the England head coach, staged their famous black-armband protest against the Mugabe regime. They were widely acclaimed for their bravery.

In 2004, Stephen Harmison, the fast bowler, made himself unavailable for England’s one-day matches in Harare and Bulawayo on moral grounds and David Morgan, the ECB chairman at the time, was placed in a near-impossible position of having to save the tour to avoid penalties after Mugabe initially denied visas to travelling journalists.

Morgan’s task would have been simpler had the Government ordered the squad to stay away, as John Howard instructed the Australia team eight months ago. Howard, the Prime Minister at the time, saw the games as a propaganda coup for Mugabe, whose home is close to the venue for significant matches in Harare.

Brown has taken a higher-profile stance on Zimbabwe than Tony Blair, his predecessor. He refused to attend an EU-Africa summit in Portugal last month because Mugabe was present. A number of issues, including liability, need to be settled before a block on the Zimbabwe tour is confirmed and Downing Street said that a final decision is yet to be taken.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “I think that it is very early to be making these sorts of decisions. We obviously will need to discuss this with the ECB closer to the time. A decision will have to be made about this at some point, but we are not at that point at the moment.”


Andy Flower

Former Zimbabwe captain and England batting coach “Unfortunately things have got far worse in Zimbabwe over the past four years. My views on the political situation there are well known, but it is a little tricky for me in my new position as an ECB employee to comment on whether Zimbabwe should tour England in 2009 – or the implications for the World Twenty20. We do need firm decisions on this, however, and if the Government back the ECB that would be welcome.”


Henry Olonga

Former Zimbabwe fast-medium bowler “It’s the first I’ve heard about it, but I welcome it. Clearly, Gordon Brown is taking a stronger stance than Tony Blair. ITN’s excellent series of reports on Zimbabwe in the autumn brought the whole issue out in focus. At the end of the series, Brown came on and said he wouldn’t be attending the summit in Lisbon [last month]. That showed solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and made it clear that sanctions against Mugabe’s cronies would be taken.

“There have been too many scandals in Zimbabwean cricket and something needs to be done. There are a lot of corruption issues. Every time I speak about it, I get angry and emotional as it’s just so unnecessary.”


Out on a limb

How other countries view Zimbabwe

Australia Refused to tour the country last year after a ruling by John Howard, the Prime Minister at the time

New Zealand Government denied Zimbabwe players and officials entry visas in 2005

Pakistan Were due to host a five-match one-day series at the end of the month, Zimbabwe’s first visit since 2004

West Indies Were the most recent visiting team to the country in November last year

South Africa Have generally supported their neighbours, briefly threatening to pull out of an England tour in 2003

Bangladesh Have become regular opponents in the past 18 months and left them behind in the ICC one-day rankings

Zimbabwe’s next international fixture Saturday, January 26: First one-day international (of five) v Pakistan (venue tbc)


* Source - The Times

English Premiership Could Lose 40 African Players

The English Premier League is set for a mass exodus to Ghana with the African Cup of Nations just around the corner.

Ghana hosts the 2008 tournament which runs from January 20 - February 10, with holders Egypt looking to retain their crown.

Apart from Bafana Bafana’s Aaron Mokoena and Steven Pienaar, around 38 other Premier League players could leave the domestic season in England to link up with their national team.

Portsmouth could be most affected with five of Harry Redknapp’s squad likely to be called up for national duty.

Chelsea will also be heavily burdened by the competition with four members of Avram Grant’s squad set to fly out to Ghana.

Egypt won the tournament in 2006, beating the Ivory Coast on penalties and Middlesbrough could lose Mohamed Shawky and Mido to the holders.

The exodus could spark much activity in the January transfer window with Redknapp and Grant already stating that they are likely to bring in fresh faces to cover for the players heading out to Ghana.

Only four Premier League clubs (Aston Villa, Derby County, Fulham and Manchester City) are not affected by the tournament.

The following is a list of England-based players likely to be playing in the 2008 Caf showpiece.

Arsenal - Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast), Alexandre Song (Cameroon)

Birmingham - Richard Kingson (Ghana), Mehdi Nafti and Radhi Jaidi (Tunisia)

Blackburn - Aaron Mokoena (South Africa)

Bolton - El-Hadji Diouf (Senegal), Abdoulaye Meite (Ivory Coast)

Chelsea - John Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Didier Drogba and Saloman Kalou (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana)

Everton - Joseph Yobo and Ayegbeni Yakubu (Nigeria), Steven Pienaar (South Africa)

Liverpool - Nabil El-Zhar (Morocco), Muhammed Sissoko (Mali)

Manchester United - Manucho (Angola)*

Middlesbrough - Mohamed Shawky and Mido (Egypt)
Newcastle - Obafemi Martins (Nigeria), Geremi (Cameroon), Abdoulaye Faye and Habib Beye (Senegal)

Portsmouth - Papa Bouba Diop (Senegal), Nwankwo Kanu and John Utaka (Nigeria), Sulley Muntari (Ghana), Lauren (Cameroon)

Reading - Andre Bikey (Cameroon), Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast), Ibrahima Sonko (Senegal)

Sunderland - Dickson Etuhu (Nigeria)

Tottenham - Hossam Ghaly (Egypt), Didier Zokora (Ivory Coast)

West Ham United - John Pantsil (Ghana), Henri Camara (Senegal)

Wigan - Salomon Olembe (Cameroon), Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria) Save & Share


* Source - Kickoff

ANC President Zuma Trial 'Will be Bloody', Warns Cosatu

Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions in KwaZulu-Natal has warned that the country would be thrown into chaos and that blood would "be spilt" following the latest charges brought against ANC president Jacob Zuma, the Sowetan reported on Thursday.

The National Prosecuting Authority filed an indictment on Zuma last week and he faces 16 charges in total.

Cosatu's provincial leader Zet Luzipho warned that there was growing anger from the people on the ground, especially in KwaZulu-Natal where Zuma has his biggest support base.

"People are now angry. This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom. People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We will not be held responsible for their anger," he told the Sowetan.

During Zuma's previous court appearances, thousands of supporters showed up at the court.

Luzipho said the latest string of charges against Zuma smacked of a "political conspiracy" by those "who lost the political contest in Limpopo".

He said he was saddened by the latest developments because "many of us saw Limpopo as an equal contest and not as a platform to create further enemies".

He said the actions against Zuma further divided the ANC.

"It is divisive and will plunge our country into chaos. As much as the NPA says this is an independent undertaking, it confirms to us that state machinery is again being used for political gain," he told the Sowetan.

However, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Tuesday: "The NPA is sensitive to the controversy which this decision evokes.

"We are also aware of claims that the NPA is being misused to advance the political and other objectives of certain individuals. This is not so"

* Source - News 24

Now Ghanaian President Kufuor Puts off Kenya Visit

ACCRA - The African Union is yet to agree on a basis for mediation in Kenya’s post-election violence.

Ghana, the AU chair, Thursday delayed a decision to send a mediation mission to Nairobi to try to end violence that has rocked the country since the presidential results of the General Election were announced on Sunday.

“We are consulting a couple more others to see how best we can end the violence,” Ghana’s Foreign minister Akwasi Osei-Adjei told Reuters.

“I’ve also spoken to the Kenyan Foreign minister at least twice already today. The idea is to have a broader consensus in order to make some progress,” said Mr Osei-Adjei, who chairs the council of foreign ministers of the African Union.

Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday that he had spoken to Mr Kufuor by telephone and said the Ghanaian President would be travelling to Kenya today to lead mediation talks.

Mr Brown asked the international community to support Mr Kufuor’s efforts. He suggested a power-sharing government could be set up to end the crisis.

But Mr Osei-Adjei said no decision had been made yet on whether Mr Kufuor would come to Kenya.

Immediate ceasefire

Mr Kufuor had spoken twice yesterday to President Kibaki, whose narrow re-election triggered the past week’s violence.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses Mr Kibaki of rigging the elections and has called on his supporters to reject it.

Mr Osei-Adjei said Mr Kufuor’s primary concern was to secure an immediate ceasefire between supporters of the two leaders.

In Nairobi, Foreign Affairs assistant minister Moses Wetang’ula said the Government had not invited Mr Kufuor and was not aware of his coming.

“We did not invite him and there are no plans to invite him because we did not see the need to do so since the current crisis emanating from the elections was a Kenyan issue that can be resolved by Kenyans themselves,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

The country would make use of the available mechanisms including the East African Community and then the IGAD frameworks that provided ways and means of resolving such issues before turning to the AU.

Finance minister Amos Kimunya was quoted on BBC as saying there was no need for international mediation in a “Kenyan situation”.

However, even as Mr Kufuor’s visit is cancelled Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu arrived in the country Thursday to initiate peace.

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon also called for urgent dialogue between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to end the violence.

The organisation said it was seeking audience with both leaders to come up with a permanent solution.

UN under-secretary-general Anna Tibaijuka Thursday said she has already met Mr Odinga and she was seeking audience with President Kibaki.

Additional reporting by Patrick Nzioka and Jillo Kadida

Zimbabwe: Mawere Exposes Gono Propaganda

By Lance Guma

South African based businessman Mutumwa Mawere has claimed the recent escape to the United Kingdom of Guruve North MP David Butau, exposes the plot by Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono to shift the blame for the current economic mess onto western countries.

Mawere told our Behind the Headlines series that the victimisation of several high profile individuals, allegedly for foreign currency exchange violations, fits in neatly with a propaganda campaign to blame the cash shortages on western countries.

The government is extensively using the Butau case as part of its propaganda strategy. Mawere added: 'The role of business in undermining the sovereignty of Zimbabwe is a subject that Gono has taken up as his main theatre of operation.' More worryingly Mawere believes Gono has become a law unto himself and only reports to Robert Mugabe. Mawere said; 'If anyone was in doubt of Gono's powers, the Butau saga has removed any doubt that Gono is the law in Zimbabwe. If you are on his target list, you better escape before injustice visits you.'

He says the predicament faced by people like James Makamba, Chris Kuruneri, Julius Makoni, James Mushore, Cecil Muderedi and others all stem from Gono's power to decide who should be classified as a criminal. Mawere himself left Zimbabwe after his Shabani Mashaba Mines was expropriated by government on the grounds that he was a 'specified' person following similar dubious accusations of foreign currency exchange law violations.

Turning to the Butau case, Mawere said the RBZ, 'in its well documented quasi-fiscal activities promised to procure tractors for the farmers in line with its purported sanctions busting mandate.' Gono then used people like Butau to purchase the tractors using so called shelf companies.

Why they have turned on him remains unclear but he believes the regime needs to manufacture new enemies all the time so as to blame them for it's own shortcomings. As an example he said instead of people talking about the real reasons for the cash shortages, all talk is about so-called cash barons like Butau and others.


* Source - SW Radio Africa

Put Interest of Kenya First, Moi Tells Leaders

Former President Daniel arap Moi Thursday appealed to leaders to consider the interest of the country first in the wake of crisis caused by post-election violence.

“It is extremely sad that young gullible people are being incited to take the law into their hands, oblivious of the grave consequences both at the individual and national level,” he said in a statement issued from Nakuru.

Ghastly actions

Mr Moi said any God-fearing person should be appalled by the senseless and ghastly actions of anarchists, which had caused enormous loss of human life and destruction of property.

He said the sheer scale of disorder witnessed in the last few days was difficult to reverse.

The former president said he was particularly unhappy that the cosmopolitan Rift Valley’s inter-ethnic harmony had been seriously disturbed.

He implored all Kenyans to look at issues from positive perspective and avoid actions which were ruinous to social harmony, security and welfare of the present and future generations.


* Source - Daily Nation

Grace Kwinjeh Launches Personal Blog!

Johannesburg - The newly elected Interim Committee Chairperson of the Global Zimbabwe Forum, Grace Kwinjeh has launched her own personal blog.

The new blogsite's address can be found at:

www.gracekwinjeh.blogspot.com

Kwinjeh is a feminist,a journalist by profession and a political activist. She is a founder member of Zimbabwe's main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change, (MDC).

She has sat on the National Constitutional Assembly Task Force, and was in the leadership of the organisation, during the historic no vote in a Referendum against a Government sponsored constitution.

Kwinjeh is also a member of several women's organisations, locally and internationally.

Kwinjeh spent some time in Belgium as the opposition MDC Representative to the EU.

She has also been arrested several times, and badly tortured for her political activism.

China Pledges Food Aid For Zimbabwe

Harare/Johannesburg - China has pledged 5 000 tons of food aid this year to Zimbabwe, where more than four million people will soon require aid, the official Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.

Deputy Chinese ambassador Ma Deyun also said that her country and Zimbabwe wanted to increase trade to $500-million in 2008 as China expands its presence in southern Africa.

"This year (2007) has witnessed a steady growth of trade between our two countries and we are working together to push the trade volume to 500 million dollars in 2008," Deyun said at a ceremony to hand over 97 trucks ordered by the Zimbabwean government.

"Five thousand tons of food aid that China provides to Zimbabwe will soon arrive in Zimbabwe, the deputy ambassador said.

She said China had pledged to build two primary schools, a hospital and an Agriculture Technical Demonstration Centre in Zimbabwe this year.

President Robert Mugabe's government has welcomed the support of China in the face of increasing Western disapproval over alleged rights abuses and economic mismanagement in the once-prosperous southern African country.

Zimbabwe's economy is mired in its worst crisis since independence in 1980, blamed by many in the West on a chaotic programme of white land seizures that has seen agricultural production plummet.

The country has suffered food shortages for six years now, with 4.1 million Zimbabweans - more than one third of the population - expected to need aid soon.

Mugabe and his vice president, Joseph Msika, call China Zimbabwe's all-weather friend, a sentiment echoed by Deyun.

"Whether in the past, at present or in the future, the Chinese people will be an equal, sincere and reliable friend, a mutually beneficial and co-operative partner and a brother sharing weal and woe of the Zimbabwean people," Deyun said.

Trade between the two countries has been rising in the past few years, with figures well over 200 million dollars recorded in both 2005 and 2006. - Sapa-dpa

British Cricket Chiefs to Discuss Zimbabwe Ban

The Government will hold talks with cricket authorities on whether to ban Zimbabwe from touring England next year, Downing Street have confirmed.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman insisted no final decision had yet been taken, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are expected to follow the Premier's hard line on President Robert Mugabe's government and scrap the fixtures.

"We obviously will need to discuss this with the ECB closer to the time," said the spokesman. "A decision will have to be made about this at some point but we are not at that point at the moment."

A report in The Sun quoted a Government insider as saying the ECB have been told ministers would back the board in cancelling the invitation to Zimbabwe to play two five-day matches and three one-day internationals in summer 2009.

The ECB would have to pay an estimated £225,000 compensation for cancelling the one-day fixtures under International Cricket Council (ICC) rules.

But because Zimbabwe is no longer officially classified as a Test-playing nation, there would be no penalty for scrapping the five-day fixtures.

It is understood talks between the ICC, the ECB and the Zimbabwe authorities have already taken place, with a view to cancelling the tour.

"I think that it's very early to be making these sorts of decisions," added the Prime Minister's spokesman.

The ECB is avoiding fuelling speculation about the tour, while the negotiations continue.

Prime Minister Brown refused to attend an EU-Africa summit last month, because Mugabe was present, and has consistently taken a higher-profile stance on denouncing the Mugabe regime than his predecessor Tony Blair.



Copyright PA Sport 2008, All Rights Reserved

The full article contains 300 words and appears in Press Association newspaper.

South Africa: ANC President Zuma Trial Unlikely Before August

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The corruption trial of Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ruling ANC, was unlikely to start earlier than the scheduled August date, his lawyer Michael Hulley said on Thursday.

The National Prosecuting Authority said this week it was prepared to proceed with the case early if Zuma wished.

"I don't think that there is any likelihood that it will be sooner than (August)," Hulley told 702 radio in an interview.

Zuma, who was elected president of the African National Congress last month, beating President Thabo Mbeki, has been charged with corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

Zuma has not commented on the new charges, but has always said he was innocent and that the accusations were part of a political campaign against him.

The trial is set to start on August 4 and could overlap with national elections in 2009, adding to political uncertainty in Africa's biggest economy.

Zuma's supporters say the charges are meant to smear his name, coming barely two weeks after his victory to take the helm of the ANC, and to scupper his chances of succeeding Mbeki as state president.

An official from South Africa's powerful trade union federation COSATU, key Zuma backers, warned that blood may "be spilt" if*the trial proceeded, the Sowetan newspaper reported.

"People are now angry. This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom. People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We (COSATU) will not be held responsible for their anger," said Zet Luzipho, COSATU leader in KwaZulu-Natal -- Zuma's home region and where the trial will take place.

The indictment comes more than a year after an earlier corruption case collapsed on procedural grounds, although the NPA continued to probe allegations he accepted bribes in connection with an arms deal involving a French company.

The charges include new allegations linked to dealings with his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who is serving a 15-year sentence for fraud and corruption.

Mbeki fired Zuma as national deputy president in 2005, after Shaik's conviction, sparking some of the worst infighting in the ANC's history.

(Reporting by Gordon Bell)

* Source - Reuters

African Elders: Tutu Arrives in Kenya

Nairobi - Archbishop Desmond Tutu arrived in Kenya Thursday to begin an attempt to restore calm to the African nation torn apart by post-election violence.

Tutu, a Nobel laureate heading up a delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches, said he would meet with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odina of the Orange Democratic Movement, SABC News reported.

After arriving in Nairobi, Tutu said the group had hopes of reaching an acceptable agreement to save the country and its people, the news service reported on its Web site.

An estimated 300 people have died in wanton violence across the country since the closely contested elections Dec. 27 in which Kibaki won re-election by a slim margin.

The Orange Democratic Movement reportedly was planning a demonstration at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. A large contingent of police and army soldiers had been deployed, SABC said.

Source - UPI

Ghana Seeks African Consensus on Kenya Mediation

By Kwasi Kpodo

ACCRA (Reuters) - African Union chair Ghana worked the phones on Thursday, casting round for a consensus among key African nations on a basis for mediation in Kenya.

Ghana delayed a decision on sending a mediation mission to the East African country to try to end violence that has shocked Africa and the international community, which sees Kenya as an important ally in a volatile region.

"We are consulting a couple more others to see how best we can end the violence," Ghana's Foreign Minister Akwasi Osei-Adjei told Reuters.

"I've also spoken to the Kenyan foreign minister at least twice already today. The idea is to have a broader consensus in order to make some progress," said Osei-Adjei, who chairs the council of foreign ministers of the African Union.

Political violence after a closely contested presidential election last week has spilled over into ethnic bloodletting that has killed more than 300 people in Kenya, long a bulwark of stability and an economic linchpin in East Africa.

Both sides have accused the other of ethnic attacks, both using the word "genocide" -- an emotive word in Africa after Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people were killed.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Kenya's former colonial ruler Britain said on Wednesday he had spoken to Kufuor by telephone and said the Ghanaian president would be travelling to Kenya in person on Thursday to lead mediation efforts.

Brown called on the international community to throw its weight behind Kufuor's efforts, and suggested a power-sharing government could be set up in Kenya to end the crisis.

But Osei-Adjei said no decision had yet been taken on whether Kufuor would go to Kenya.

"He will take the final decision on which way we should proceed," Osei-Adjei said. Kufuor had spoken twice on Wednesday to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, whose narrow re-election triggered the past week's violence.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses Kibaki of rigging the election result and has called on his supporters to reject it.

Osei-Adjei said Kufuor's primary concern was to secure an immediate ceasefire between supporters of Kibaki, an ethnic Kikuyu, and Odinga, a Luo.

Brokering a compromise between the two is likely to be difficult.

Odinga has demanded international mediation before he sits down with Kibaki, whom he branded a "thief" for staging "a civilian coup".

Kibaki's supporters in parliament called for Odinga and others to be charged by the International Criminal Court for "ethnic cleansing and genocide".

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved

Teargas, Water Beat Back Kenyan Protesters

NAIROBI, Kenya - Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons Thursday to beat back crowds of rock-throwing opposition protesters who took to the streets for a rally many feared would deepen the crisis wracking what had been one of Africa's most stable countries.

Amid the mayhem, a top official with Raila Odinga's main opposition party said the rally to protest Kenya's disputed presidential election had been canceled and he called on supporters to go home.

"We are a peaceful people who do not want violence," William Ruto, a top party official told hundreds of supporters through a megaphone on a Nairobi street. "That is why we are peacefully dispersing now."

It was unclear whether the call was widely heard, however, and Ruto said another rally was planned Tuesday.

Odinga had called the march to protest President Mwai Kibaki's re-election in the Dec. 27 vote, insisting the poll was a sham. The political dispute has degenerated into ethnic violence nationwide pitting Kibaki's influential Kikuyus against Odinga's Luos and other tribes. About 300 people have been killed and 100,000 more displaced.


'Save our beloved country'
Police fired tear gas and water cannons Thursday to push back a crowd of several hundred people from the Kibera slum holding branches and white flags symbolizing peace. Some burned an effigy of Kibaki and waved placards denouncing him as the devil.

"Without Raila there will be no peace," said one of the protesters, 22-year-old Edward Muli.

Kenya's main newspapers ran front-page banners urging people to "save our beloved country."

"It's got to stop," U.S. Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger said of the violence, speaking on Kenyan Television News. Kibaki "needs to speak out and Odinga needs to speak out and bring this thing to an end."

Though both sides say they are ready to talk, the Odinga and Kibaki camps have mostly traded accusations that the other is fueling ethnic violence. Odinga says he will not meet with Kibaki unless the latter concedes he lost the presidency, something Kibaki is unlikely to do.

In a bid to help ease the crisis, South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu flew to Nairobi and met Odinga. Speaking to reporters afterward, he said Odinga was ready for "the possibility of mediation."

Tutu gave no details but said he hoped to meet Kibaki as well. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kibaki had no plans yet for such a meeting.

Neighboring Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni's office said he had spoken to the two rivals, also trying to end the unrest. But Museveni also issued a statement congratulating Kibaki for being re-elected.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission urged Kibaki to agree to an independent review of the disputed ballot count, saying in a statement: "Kenya will not survive this moment unless our leaders act like statesmen."

Confusion surrounds disputed count
Confusion has surrounded the disputed count. The head of the country's electoral commission, Samuel Kivuitu, said he was pressured by both sides to announce the results quickly. The Nairobi newspaper The Standard quoted Kivuitu on Wednesday as saying: "I do not know whether Kibaki won the election."

The bitter dispute has shaken Kenya's image as an tourist-friendly oasis of stability in a region that includes war-ravaged Somalia and Sudan.

Smoke from burning tires and debris rose from barricaded streets Thursday, not just around the city's huge slums where hundreds of thousands of Odinga's supporters live, but on main roads leading into suburbs home to upper class Kenyans and expatriates.

In the Mathare slum, rival groups of angry men hurled rocks at each other. Black smoke billowed from a burning gas station, and several charred cars sat along roadside. The corpse of at least one dead man lay face down on a muddy path, and a wailing wife pulled her battered husband from the dark waters of the Nairobi River, where he had been dumped and left for dead.

Police Chief Mark Mwara called the protesters "hooligans" and accused them of attacking petrol stations and supermarkets. Some shops around the city were set on fire.

Uhuru Park, where protesters were expected to converge in the city center, was empty, surrounded by truckloads of riot police in red berets.

Government spokesman Mutua said clashes had only affected about 3 percent of the country's 34 million people. "Kenya is not burning and not (in) the throes of any division," he said, adding that security forces had arrested 500 people since skirmishes began.

Human, economic costs
Vice President Moody Awori said on a local television station that the unrest was costing the country $31 million daily. Uganda says many gas stations there have shut down because of shortages of fuel, most of which is imported by road from Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.

The independent Kenya Human Rights Commission and the International Federation for Human Rights said in a joint statement that more than 300 people had been killed nationwide since the Dec. 27 vote.

The Norwegian Refugee Council estimated more than 100,000 people have been displaced. Around 5,400 people have fled to neighboring Uganda, said Musa Ecweru, that country's disaster preparedness minister. Several hundred people also have fled to Tanzania, officials there said.


© 2008 The Associated Press.

South Africa: No Word yet on Jacob Zuma's Response to Charges

ANC president Jacob Zuma has not yet filed any papers or applications to counter the National Prosecuting Authority's indictment on him to stand trial in August.

Last weekend his lawyer Michael Hulley said they planned to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution based on the belief that his right to a free trial had been infringed.

However, Hulley now says they have not yet taken any such steps, and are not likely to do so in the next two weeks.

The NPA yesterday confirmed the issuing of the indictment on charges of corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud.

The trial has been set down for August 4 in Pietermaritzburg

* Source - SABC

Zimbabwe Talks Deadlocked Over Constitution, Opposition Says

Johannesburg/Harare - Talks between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Zimbabwe's opposition are deadlocked because the ruling party is refusing to implement a new transitional constitution, main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed Wednesday. Tsvangirai, the leader of the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), accused the ruling party of pushing through only cosmetic reforms ahead of elections Mugabe says must be held in March.

"Mugabe and ZANU-PF want a false election," Tsvangirai said. "We are deadlocked on key issues that should enable us to cross the bridge into a new era."

The opposition leader accused the ruling party of backtracking on key promises made during South African-brokered talks last year. The talks were part of an initiative by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc aimed at defusing rising tensions in once peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is mired in its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Annual inflation is now reported to be more than 24,000 per cent and there are shortages of basics like fuel, meat and banknotes.

Thousands of Zimbabweans spent days in bank queues during the holidays, making it the worst Christmas season the ever imagined, Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe and his government blame the crisis on alleged Western sanctions.

This week, the president's spokesman accused former colonial power Britain of sponsoring the economic rot, partly by providing refuge to officials accused of shady financial deals.

The opposition however lays the blame squarely with mismanagement by Mugabe, who turns 84 next month, and his cronies. South African President Thabo Mbeki was mandated early last year to bring the sides to the negotiating table and pave the way for free and fair elections this year.

Although key concessions appeared to have been made by both sides, including the watering down of tough press and security laws late last month the opposition leader Wednesday accused the ruling party of merely "stringing [us] along."

According to Tsvangirai, both sides had agreed on a transitional constitution that was to be implemented ahead of the polls. But ZANU-PF now insists the constitution will only come into force after the elections, he said.

"This is unacceptable," said the opposition leader in a statement. "They want to force an election in March and still rig the outcome through a flawed process."

Tsvangirai hinted he could call for a national stayaway or other forms of protest if the deadlock persists.

* Source - Earth Times

South Africa's NPA Speaks Out on Zuma

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has defended its decision to charge Jacob Zuma and called on politicians not to incite disrespect for the law.

"The NPA is sensitive to the controversy which this decision (to prosecute Zuma) evokes," NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We are also aware of claims that the NPA is being misused to advance the political and other objectives of certain individuals.

"This is not so. The decision has been made by the NPA and the NPA alone."

He said the NPA had decided to issue the statement "to explain the true facts and place matters in the proper context".

"The eyes of the country and the world will be on us.

"It is incumbent upon us all to demonstrate that we live in a mature democracy, whose citizens and the institutions respect the law and those who enforce it."

Zuma is set to stand trial in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on August 4 and the move by the NPA has enraged his backers in Cosatu and the ANC Youth League.

He faces 16 charges: one of racketeering, two of corruption, a count of money laundering and 12 of fraud.

The two South African subsidiaries of Thales International (formerly Thomson-CFS) Thint Holding (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd will stand trial with Zuma. Each faces a charge of racketeering and two of corruption.

In response to allegations by Zuma supporters that the charges were politically motivated, Tlali said on Tuesday that they had been laid only "after careful consideration of the facts and evidence".

"This decision was further reinforced by the various rulings in the High Courts, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in South Africa, relating to the same subject matter.

"Our only allegiance is to the constitution of the country, which compels us to prosecute serious matters such as the present one, without fear, favour or prejudice.

"We are obliged to carry out this mandate, however unpopular it might be."

He said evidence obtained prior to the trial of Zuma's former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, as well as evidence that had emerged at the time, had contributed to the decision to prosecute.

"The charge sheet speaks for itself and it would be imprudent to make pronouncements about a case in which criminal proceedings are effectively under way."

The case has been set down for August 4 this year, but Tlali said the NPA would be prepared to begin sooner "should the defence so wish".

As to the persistent assertion by the Zuma camp that his right to a fair trial had been prejudiced, Tlali said Zuma had recourse under the law and should exercise it if he felt aggrieved.

Attached to the indictment against the ANC president, filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, was a spreadsheet that detailed a list of 783 payments allegedly made by Shaik and his companies from October 25, 1995, to July 1, 2005, reaching more than R4-million.

The payments range from R25 allegedly for a "mini car valet" to R400 000, allegedly for the "development of (Zuma's) traditional residential village estate in Nkandla".

The 16-page spreadsheet, prepared by auditors KPMG, classifies the payments as "Zuma wife", with each carrying the initials of the two women Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Kate Zuma.

Dlamini-Zuma divorced Zuma in 1997, and Kate Zuma committed suicide in 2000.

The first of the three alleged payments to Dlamini-Zuma was made on March 25, 1997, and the last on June 4, 2001.

Dlamini-Zuma has four children.

The first of the alleged payments to Kate Zuma was on October 25, 1995, and the last on September 8, 1999.


This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on January 02, 2008

Troubles for Anglican Church in Zimbabwe Continue

The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe continues to experience problems as parishioners in Chitungwiza and Harare failed to attend church services because of clashes between members.

Parishioners at St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Chitungwiza boycotted the service in protest against the new priest, according to the All Africa publication.

Two camps have seemingly emerged within the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, with one supporting Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who was appointed by the Province of Central Africa.

However, a larger group has backed incumbent Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, who led the withdrawal of the diocese from the Province of Central Africa.

The two groups clashed continuously throughout the end of December.

At St Andrew's Church in Glen View 8, in the suburbs of Harare, parishioners alleged that resident priest Father Martin Zifoti has stopped them holding service at his church, refusing to grant them authority to worship there.

Last week, police had to intervene to quiet disturbances at the church, after an outbreak of violence left many injured. According to residents, a parish committee allegedly aligned to Bishop Bakare was holding a meeting at the church when the violence erupted.


Copyright © 2008 Christian Today.

Zimbabwe: MDC President Tsvangirai New Year's Message

Fellow Zimbabweans,

The situation in Zimbabwe today requires a great deal of courage and maturity, endurance and our usual resilience. We are stretched to the limit. Daily, we are fighting despondency, hopelessness and state-sanctioned despair. I hope and pray that this is the last time our nation has to be exposed to these trying times.

Our families have gone through the worst Christmas season ever imagined: without food, without our own cash. As we enter the New Year, the year of our Lord 2008, from such a severely untenable position, I need to call on all my compatriots to make 2008 the last post. With schools opening in the next two weeks, the worst is still with us - making the current cash shortages a serious humanitarian emergency and a matter of national concern. Our democratic struggle has cost us so much blood, directly and through hidden human and material losses in what has become known as the social costs of the dictatorship. Our salvation rests in a free and fair election in 2008 under a new Constitution. We shall vote in 2008 under a set of conditions acceptable to all Zimbabweans.Thousands have succumbed to an AIDS pandemic the state is unwilling to tone down; thousands are dying of hunger and starvation; and thousands now have a humiliatingly shorter live span, forced to depart from our soil for reasons the Robert Mugabe regime cares less about.

The national payment system and the banking and finance sectors shall continue to over-heat as long as our economy drifts further and further into an artificial, haphazard and informal status. The little that workers managed to scoop from the dwindling job market is now locked up in banks and building societies. The workers have had to endure an array of state regulations to claim what is rightfully theirs: long queues, withdrawal limits and incessant threats from the regime.The entire nation has been criminalized. Chief executives of reputable companies, community leaders, senior academics and members of the clergy, together with ordinary people, have to wade through all kinds of state-sponsored mischief and regulations to subsist. Prices of basic goods, whenever these goods become available, are beyond reach. Corruption has become a culture in all facets of our lives - and nobody in authority either seems to care or have the power to do anything about it.

Mugabe and Zanu PF are moving Zimbabwe into a Zairean situation with the backing of a brutal and a parasitic bureaucracy as his main pillars of support, until such time those pillars begin to give in to pressure. By then the nation would be so weak and so confused that no one could be held accountable for the loss of the soul of the nation.We must stop the rot. We must deal with this situation as a matter of urgency.

We must save Zimbabwe.

Into the New Year, I call upon all Zimbabweans to mobilise for a lasting solution to the national crisis. I urge Zimbabweans to focus on tomorrow. Mobutu kept the Zairean people guessing about the future through constant cosmetic political changes. What unfolded after that was chaos rather than order, peace and tranquillity. That is why Zimbabweans must simply sit it out and refuse to budge. We want real change.

Mugabe and Zanu PF want a false election and if we become part of it, we become a danger to ourselves, a false hope. We are ready to underwrite a smooth transition to end the national crisis. That is why we support the SADC-brokered negotiations on Zimbabwe's future. But an unhelpful development has begun to creep in and we are deadlocked on key issues that should enable us to cross the bridge into a new era.In spite of the mess we are forced to live with today, Zanu PF has begun to backtrack on some of these agreed points and is going it alone. The main sticking points are a transitional Constitution and an election date. We settled on the transitional Constitution following assurances that the agreement would be implemented before the next election. But Zanu PF is now against the spirit and content of that agreement, insisting instead that the transitional Constitution can only be implemented after the election. This is unacceptable.The pace at which the transitional Constitution was to be implemented determines the election date.

If we are serious about Zimbabwe's future and an election whose process and result are endorsed by all political players and the people of Zimbabwe, then we have to follow right protocols and procedures.The transitional Constitution already agreed to is essential in that it helps us to set up the requisite infrastructure for a sound electoral management system, codes for good governance and a human rights regimen between now and the election date - key factors necessary to spur confidence, redirect the people towards a national solution, regenerate hope and to rally the nation to unite in handling our sensitive national crisis.

As things stand today, Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF are merely stringing along with us, when on the ground they are already moving ahead with their plan: selectively picking up points of agreement and shoving them onto Zimbabwe in a piece-meal manner to present a picture of reform, at home and in SADC. The intention is to mislead SADC into believing that a lasting political solution was on the cards. They want to force an election in March with cosmetic reforms and still rig the outcome through a flawed process. That will not happen.

A lot of work is still pending to repair our voters rolls and the historically disputed electoral management system before any legitimate election, with a legitimate result can take place. We maintain that an election is impossible in the next 100 days, in March 2008.We agreed on the need for an independent electoral commission whose task is to register voters, delimit constituencies, bar the military and the police from direct involvement in elections and to run the entire election. But what is happening on the ground today defies logic. Zanu PF has deployed the military, Tobaiwa Mudede and the CIO to mark constituency boundaries and register voters, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Pretoria negotiations. We reject this form of deceit, the insincerity whose consequences are far reaching for our bleeding nation.

We refuse to engage in a ritual to legitimise Mugabe through a flawed election.To register our displeasure and to place our revulsion on the record, the people are ready to express themselves for an immediate end to the cash crisis. An exhibition of people-power shall see a speedy implementation of the Pretoria agreement, in particular the resolution of sticky points threatening to derail our progress.Other options on the table, should the deadlock remains entrenched, include a national shut-down and a series of lawful mass action activities to pull the nation out of the deep hole. The year 2008 provides us with abundant opportunities for a permanent solution to the national crisis.

I thank you.
Morgan Tsvangirai
President.

Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai Urges Full Reunification Of Fractured Opposition

Founding President Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe's divided opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Tuesday that he would rather see the MDC fully reunited than merely patched into a coalition for national elections due in a few months.

Both MDC factions have expressed willingness to work together in a coalition under which they would avoid going head-to-head in the country's 210 constituencies, and would back a single presidential candidate - most likely Tsvangirai himself.

But Tsvangirai told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe he'd prefer to see the MDC united, and his National Council has endorsed such a move.

The MDC split in late 2005 over the question of whether or not to contest elections for a reinstituted senate, and though the opposition has developed a common position in South African crisis-resolution talks with the ruling party, it remains divided.

Though Tsvangirai expressed hope he reunite the country's main opposition party, the state-controlled Herald newspaper poured cold water on the prospects for unity.

It reported that despite a "recent flurry of reports predicting an imminent re-unification of the fractured opposition MDC, officials from both factions have said no headway has yet been made in healing the October 2005 rupture just three months ahead of the scheduled landmark harmonized elections," an article in the paper said.


Source - VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

Jury Still Out As To Whether 2007 Was A Political Watershed For Zimbabwe

The year 2007 could go down as one of the most trying and at the same time one of the most important in political terms since Zimbabwe became independent in 1980.

Organizations that monitor human rights violations saw a massive surge in abuses during and after a March confrontation between the opposition and authorities.

But the clashes prompted the Southern African Development Community to sponsor crisis-resolution talks which have raised hopes of further progress in 2008

Reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reviewed events.

Among other developments, 2007 brought passage of a constitutional amendment that moved with bipartisan support through parliament to signature by President Robert Mugabe, providing for synchronized presidential, general and local elections.

Independent observers and civic activists say troubling questions remain about the potential for free and fair elections and the political environment in general.

Skeptics and government critics say recent amendments to the Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Broadcasting Services Act and the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill, did not go far enough to ensure that if elections are held in 2008 as planned they will be free and fair.

Carole Gombakomba looked at what some hope will be a watershed election year.


* Source - VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

Chelsea and Arsenal Braced For African Soccer Exodus

LONDON (Reuters) - The African Nations Cup is taking place in tropical Ghana but the impact of the tournament will felt in the cooler climes of Britain as a host of big name Premier League players head off to the sun.

Two of the three main title contenders, leaders Arsenal and chasing Chelsea will suffer and the end of the tournament, which runs from January 20 to February 10, cannot come quick enough for their respective managers.

Arsenal's defensive rock Kolo Toure and full-back Emmanuel Eboue played their final league game on Tuesday before joining Ivory Coast while Alexandre Song is in the Cameroon squad.

Chelsea, already nursing a long injury list, will have to do without Ivorian duo Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba and Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel, while the loss of midfielder Michael Essien to Ghana will hit them hardest.

Avram Grant is likely to make some moves in the January transfer window with Bolton Wanderers striker Nicolas Anelka reported to be a target for the London club.

"We are following players, but we don't want to bring in players ...just for two months, we are looking for more than that," Grant said on Chelsea's Web site (www.chelseafc.com).

"The media will link us to 2000 players."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he is confident of coping with the loss of his African contingent, although he is probably relieved that striker Emmanuel Adebayor's Togo failed to qualify.

"We will not go into the transfer market even though we are losing two centre backs," Wenger told the BBC, although he admitted the added loss of Song was a blow. "I only found that out yesterday so that's bad news."

Manchester United have got off lightly and will hope that both Chelsea and Arsenal will suffer as a result of their absentees.

Further down the table the worst effected club is Portsmouth, who will be missing five players as they continue their quest for a UEFA Cup place.

Manager Harry Redknapp is unlikely to remain inactive in the transfer market as he seeks to counter the loss of players such as Ghana's Sulley Muntari and Nigeria's John Utaka.

Everton, who are also challenging for Europe, will be hit hard with Joseph Yobo and Ayegbeni Yakubu both representing Nigeria and Steven Pienaar in action for South Africa.

Of the 20 Premier League sides, only four escape completely. Aston Villa, Manchester City, Derby County and Fulham have no representatives travelling to Ghana.

(Writing by Martyn Herman; editing by Greg Stutchbury)



© Reuters2008All rights reserved.

Upsurge in Rhino Poaching in Zimbabwe

There has been an alarming upsurge in armed poaching of endangered rhinos primarily in the “Lowveld Conservancies” in South Eastern Zimbabwe over the past three years, according to WWF, the international conservation organization.

Since 2000, 22 black rhinos have been shot in the Lowveld Conservancies in addition to 45-50 black rhinos that have been shot by poachers in other conservancies.

A conservancy is formed by a group who pool their resources to conserve wildlife, adopt good land use practices and have a stake, ownership and responsibility for the land and resources.

“The declining economy in has fuelled the loss of jobs, particularly on commercial farms and created an environment that’s conducive to poaching,” believes Raoul du Toit, Project Executant, Lowveld Rhinoceros Project, WWF - Southern Africa Regional Programme Office.

As well as targeted poaching of individual animals, there have been more than 66 cases of rhino caught in snares and sometimes fatally injured in the Lowveld conservancies since 2000.

This is a marked increased since the initiation of Zimbabwe’s “fast-track” land resettlement programme Available records show that no black rhinos were poached in that area between 1993-2000.

Since 2000, people have been allowed settle into conservancies and enforcement of anti-poaching controls has been relaxed. According to WWF, a secondary knock on effect has been an increase of poaching of other wildlife.

As a way to combat the poaching surge, WWF, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, with funding provided by other partners and agencies, is now stepping up its drive to protect the country’s black rhinos.

“Through the Lowveld Rhino Project we intensified monitoring of rhinos using skilled trackers and radiotelemetry. We moved rhinos from unsafe areas, dehorned some of the most at risk rhinos and collaborated in setting up rapid reaction units, community awareness programmes and gave technical support to develop options for wildlife-based land reform” says Raoul du Toit.

Despite the effects of poaching, this holistic approach has enabled the Lowveld rhino populations to achieve some of the highest growth rates ever recorded, up to 10per cent per year. Two of the conservancy established populations have surpassed the 100 mark.

Currently, Lowveld boasts of 375 black rhinos – about 10 per cent of the world’s wild population.

Due to the creation of the conservancies, a number of property owners have now converted to wildlife. Through the support of the landowners, black rhino conservation has contributed immensely to maintaining and improving biodiversity in these areas as well as helping conserve other species such buffalo, elephant, wildebeest and leopard.

"We’re consolidating an approach that we know works but if we’re not proactive and cautious, poaching could flare up to such an extent that it could reverse the rhino population gains that have been achieved in Zimbabwe since the mid 1990s," warns Raoul du Toit.


Source - The Science Daily

First-hand Stories From Kenya Worry Local Families

By Noor Javed

Kenyan Canadians say they are hearing horror stories from relatives of burned-out houses, mob rule, massive looting and widespread shortages of food and water as Kenya continues its descent into chaos following controversial presidential election results.

Chris Mogeni, of Toronto, said he called his sister in the western Kenya town of Kisumi, where the violence has been especially heavy, and found she had been forced to take refuge in a neighbour's house.

Her own home had been burned down.

"Their houses were burned to ash," said Mogeni, who arrived in Toronto seven years ago.

"They first ran to a neighbour's house, who took them in, and then the police were escorting them to a safer, rural area."

But they still lack basic necessities, including food and water, Mogeni said, since stores in the area have been shut for days.

"Everything is closed, and those (stores) that are open are looted. Kenya is a ghost country."

More than 12,000 people of Kenyan origin live in Ontario.

Violence in the usually stable country erupted after the presidential elections last Thursday, which were narrowly won by incumbent Mwai Kibaki, sparking allegations of vote-rigging by opposition candidate Raila Odinga.

Odinga's constituency of Langata, a suburb of Nairobi, has also been caught in the spiralling violence, said Jamal Mubarak, of Toronto, whose family has been affected by the increasing tension in Kenya.

"It is worse here than most places because there is a mixture of people," he said.

"The diversity of people who have been living day-to-day and all of a sudden now they can see the differences because of the election results."

For years, Kenya's 43 tribes have lived in peaceful co-existence, he said. But in recent years, much of the resentment has been directed at Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, the largest ethnic group.

The Kikuyu are seen by many as having dominated business and politics since the country gained its independence from Britain in 1963.

"There have been frustrations with the land allocations with the limited resources the country had," Mubarak said.

But it's not just about politics, he added. "It's more to do with the haves and have-nots.

"When lawlessness happens, a lot of the have-nots just began to loot. They just take advantage of the political situation."

His brother has had to move his kids to more affluent parts of the city, and his daughter who works with the UN is being evacuated to neighbouring Tanzania.

"Their primary concern is of being robbed," Mubarak said. "But there is just a general sense of fear as well. This is not the Kenya we know."

Jane Odeny, a former board member of the Kenyan Community in Ontario, said that while she hasn't been personally affected by the tragedy, it has been shocking to see the country in this state.

"It appears right now Kenya has taken a step backwards in time in terms of having an actual functioning democracy," said Odeny. "Something that I thought in my wildest dreams would never happen."

But those watching from abroad are optimistic that things will get better if there are efforts to legitimize the election results through a third-party inquiry.

"Since day one, people have been questioning the results. Someone such as the EU and independent observers should come in and see if they were accurate," said Mubarak.

If the recount proves fraudulent, there should be another election, he said. But there also needs to be a unified stance against the violence from both leaders.

"If both camps jump in and talk with one voice, then I think the violence will stop," Mubarak said.

The Crisis in Kenya Leaves a Guilty Stain on the West

By Michael Holman

As western leaders scramble to prevent Kenya’s descent into chaos they should find time to consider their own failure to respond to a crisis that has been long in the making.

Seldom has an African tragedy been signalled so far in advance. And seldom have western policymakers been so complicit in a crisis that is turning into Kenya’s catastrophe. For the past three years the international donor community, led by the World Bank and supported by the International Monetary Fund, have ignored the warning signs and knowingly backed one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes.

For the outside world, Kenya has been the acceptable face of Africa: a safe destination for a million tourists a year from Europe, Asia and North America to the country of surf and safari; a reliable base, in a tough neighbourhood, for a burgeoning aid industry; regional headquarters for the United Nations; and – less well-known – a country whose military pacts with the US and Britain have made it a crucial ally in the “war against terror”.

Kenyan politics, however, has never been healthy. It has been dominated by ethnic allegiances, stained by assassination, distorted by one-party rule until 1991 and, above all, oiled by endemic corruption.

When Mwai Kibaki swept into power in December 2002, ending Daniel arap Moi’s kleptocratic era, he was regarded not primarily as a member of the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest tribe. Rather, he was seen as a reformer who led a coalition that promised clean government.

The euphoria that united the country was short-lived. On a mid-winter day in London in early February 2005, John Githongo, the man whom Mr Kibaki had appointed Kenya’s anti-corruption chief, and himself a Kikuyu, chose exile in Britain rather than staying silent at home.

For the first time in Africa’s post-independence history, an insider was ready to reveal how corruption worked – with evidence that included secretly taped conversations with cabinet ministers.

Not only were Britain and other aid donors given an opportunity to tackle corruption, using as leverage aid that exceeds $16bn since independence in 1963. It was also a chance to ask some tough questions about how that money has been spent.

If aid has worked in Kenya, how do development agencies explain the growing pauperisation of its people? In 1990 about 48 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. Today, more than four decades after independence, nearly 55 per cent of Kenyans are subsisting on a couple of dollars a day.

And for all the 6 per cent annual gross domestic product growth achieved in the past two years under Mr Kibaki, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening. To see the crisis only in terms of tribal allegiances and ethnic clashes is to miss a vital element in the Kenyan picture. The population has doubled in 25 years to 31m. Unemployment is growing, and the number without land is growing. For these people there is nothing to lose by taking to the streets, driven by frustration and fury that transcend their tribe.

Alas for Kenya, the bank, the fund and leading bilateral donors such as Britain chose not to act on Mr Githongo’s evidence. Instead, it has been business as usual. In the case of DFID, the UK development agency, aid flows have in fact risen – from £30m in 2003-04 to £50m in 2005-06.

So why did the donors duck away from this unique opportunity to tackle graft?

The truth is, they never had the stomach for a fight. They did not believe it was ultimately in their interests to have a showdown with the barons of corruption. They did not want to upset what they saw as a regional “island of stability” from which the UN and other international relief agencies, including hundreds of foreign non-governmental organisations, operate – a thriving business that accounts for a fifth of Kenya’s annual foreign exchange earnings.

Weighing in the balance are the longstanding military agreements Kenya has signed with the US and the UK, which have assumed particular importance since President George W. Bush launched his war on terrorism.

Not for the first time, an African country is paying a terrible price for the tolerance of its corrupt government by its western partners.

The writer, former Financial Times Africa editor, is author of Last Orders at Harrods (Abacus), set in Kenya
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

African Union Boss Headed to Kenya for Crisis Talks

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Young men armed with machetes manned roadblocks in Kenya on Wednesday as world powers stepped up efforts to end a wave of tribal violence over a disputed presidential election that threatens to tear the country apart.

Adding to chaos that included the torching of a church packed with panic-stricken villagers, the head of Kenya's electoral commission was quoted as saying he did not know whether President Mwai Kibaki had won the vote.

The statement attributed to Samuel Kivuitu, who announced on Sunday that Kibaki had narrowly beaten opposition rival Raila Odinga, could not be immediately verified.

The African Union (AU) chairman is due in Kenya on Wednesday for crisis talks with Kibaki after the death toll neared 250 in the east African nation, the region's biggest economy.

Western powers have called for calm and warned citizens against visiting a popular tourist destination that had been regarded as one of the most stable democracies on a volatile continent.

In the most grisly incident in a spasm of ethnic clashes, about 30 members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group were burned alive on Tuesday when a mob set fire to the church where they were hiding near Eldoret town.

Pictures of the area in western Kenya filmed from a helicopter by the Red Cross showed plumes of white smoke billowing from dozens of blazing homesteads.

Young men with machetes, rocks and bows and arrows could be seen manning crude checkpoints on highways.

Armed gangs were marching on the nearby Burnt Forest, part of the fertile Rift Valley that is home to many Kikuyus, local broadcaster NTV said.

Britain has called on the AU and Commonwealth to try to reconcile Kibaki and Odinga whose parties both accuse the other of vote-rigging during the Dec. 27 poll.

AU chairman John Kufuor had agreed to help start a process of dialogue and reconciliation, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "This offers an opportunity to stop the violence and to help Kenyans unite." Britain was Kenya's colonial power.

The attack in Eldoret revived traumatic memories in east Africa of the slaughter in churches of tens of thousands of victims of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, and the mass suicide of hundreds of Ugandan cult members in a church fire in 2000.


POLL CHIEF 'PRESSURED'

Kibaki was sworn in on Sunday after the official election results showed he had narrowly beaten Odinga. The EU observer mission said the exercise had "fallen short of key international and regional standards for democratic elections".

Washington had first congratulated Kibaki, then switched to expressing "concerns about irregularities".

In remarks carried on the Standard's Web site, Kivuitu said he was pressured by members of the president's party who called him frequently and asked him to announce the results immediately.

"I do not know whether Kibaki won the election," Kivuitu was reported as saying. No independent confirmation of the reported remarks was available.

The delays announcing the final outcome had prompted allegations of rigging from Odinga's team. Four members of Kivuitu's team have said they would call for a judicial review.

The explosion of long-simmering tribal tensions from the shores of Lake Victoria to its Indian Ocean coast had displaced more than 70,000 people nationwide, police said. Reuters reporters around Kenya estimated the death toll at around 250.

The capital's streets had been quieter on New Year's Day than on Monday. But, as dusk fell, gunfire crackled when battles between police and protesters in the slums erupted again.

Terrified Nairobi residents feared members of Mungiki, a shadowy gang with its roots in Kikuyu traditional rituals, and the "Taliban", a gang of mostly ethnic Luos who support Odinga, would launch reprisal attacks.

Vincent Ochieng nursed a gaping head wound after about 100 Mungiki youths raided the capital's ethnically mixed Kiambiu shanty-town on Tuesday and hacked five people to death.

"First it was protests, then it got violent, now this is revenge," he told Reuters.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Zimbabwe: A Reflection of the Past Year

CONGRATULATIONS, you made it through another year! Many of us should be thankful we are seeing its conclusion. For some of you, you are breathing a sigh of relief that this year is finally over and for some, you are reflecting that it was a really good year. For our friends and family in Zimbabwe it has been a tumultuous, turbulent and traumatic year! To an intently watching world, it was a disastrous year.

Remember Henry Kissinger's famous saying: "Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation." How true for Zimbabwe! But aren't we hard-pressed to find out who the ten percent are?

The parade of review stories will assail you today from many Zimbabwe publications, so I will not attempt to do a review story here. We will reflect on the events of the past year without necessariloy reminding you of the trials and tribulations experienced.

Firstly,The Zimbabwe Guardian team extends greetings to our every readers; whether they have agreed or disagreed with our editorial line.

We applaud and continue to draw inspiration from the selfless commitment and sacrifice of all individuals who are fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe.

We commend all those civil and political organisations who have worked tirelessly on behalf of Zimbabwean people over many months of struggle. We take reassurance from their commitment to continue their efforts. Without their efforts and sacrifice the current opportunity for creating a more democratic Zimbabwe would not exist.

We pay particular tribute to all those individuals who have lost their lives, have been tortured, or have been forced to flee their homes. We send our warmest wishes to their families.

Secondly, we reflect on the politics of our country. The establishment of responsible political leadership in Zimbabwe remains our greatest challenge.

As the economic situation in the country continues to deteriorate, our leadership has made us to believe that the best is yet to come. But when? Many of our brothers and sisters are losing their lives from HIV/AIDS, hunger and starvation, and disease today yet they keep us hopeful for the future and forgeting those that need urgent and immediate help.

We should know the value of time. Time is most precious. We should all find something we can do today to help the suffering back home. Some of us have decided to inform and entertain - and have been criticised for providing that platform. How else could we have organised ourselves?

We should be ambitious not just for ourselves, but for our communities and for our country too. We should believe that we can change Zimbabwe.

Last year we looked forward to a year in which our small country would make its mark on the international stage, and it did; for all the wrong reasons. We destroyed old friendships, and created new enemies.

We broke world records - not Olympic records. Highest inflation. Fastest shrinking economy outside a war-zone. Highest unemployment. Yet, astonishingly, we got international prizes and recognition in crucial sectors. Our Reserve Bank Governor was honoured with a European Marketing Research Centre (EMRC) (Africa Award) “for the role he is playing in instilling discipline in the financial sector and his efforts in turning around the country's economy” and Zimbabwe replaced oil-producer Qatar as head of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. How ironic!

Other organisations and campaign groups have given each other awards and prizes, forgetting that the people of Zimbabwe are the ones who deserve that prize, at least for enduring the worst economic conditions our country has ever seen.

New politics

The political scene in Zimbabwe, and elsewhere in the world has transformed. New social and political players have come on board. A healthy political system, to survive, should embrace these new politicians and respect the old politicians - and the relationship between the two should be encouraged and nurtured.

The manner in which Zimbabwe's political administration has failed to embrace the new political era has failed to give the people of Zimbabwe hope and confidence for 2008 and beyond. Many are entering 2008 disillusioned and worn out.

Being in Government is never easy and the need to take difficult and unpopular decisions will continue. But not embracing both national and international changes destroys the foundation on which to build a renewed and improved Zimbabwe.

Politicians should be accountable to the people. Those who have influence over others should not use their power to fight old battles or settle old scores; or new and renewed ones. Those who thrive on controversy should realise the damage they are making to their society; for themselves and for their children. This includes politicians, those in the media, those running public and private institutions, and those in civil society institutions.

The monumental task of renewal and reconstruction confronting Zimbabwe requires the participation of the wider society, beyond the boundaries of the political system. We should beware the systematic efforts of a recalcitrant minority bent on subverting the programmes of the government, and bent on tarnishing and diminishing the aspirations and the achievements of the Zimbabwean people.

Resilience

Zimbabwean people have shown resilience. They have continued to fight for democracy. Internet publications like The Zimbabwe Guardian, The Zimbabwe Times, New Zimbabwe, TZ Radio, Thazonet, Zimonline, and others have continued to inform and entertain, even without huge funding. They have shown an unrivalled commitment to the furtherance of democracy in Zimbabwe, and proved that Zimbabwean people will never be silenced.

Indeed, Zimbabweans of all callings and all groupings have responded admirably to the challenge of change - WOZA/MOZA, Free Zim Youth, opposition parties, civil society institutions, individuals, etc. Elements in Zanu PF and MDC have also shown a commitment to change.

The public service, however, has failed to measure up to the challenge of change. Criminal elements and those who try to hold on to power indefinitely (in both main political parties) have stepped up a reign of terror against the Zimbabwean society, and are fighting against what the liberators fought for. Our police have failed to provide a swift and effective response. Our courts have failed us.

Internet publications

In the media, we have continued to report, hopefully without too much bias. We have done our best to keep people informed. Our readers should realise that "Newspapers are human nature in print" (Tom Stoppard in Rock 'n' Roll). So like humans, our publications are not perfect and we make many mistakes in reporting and reflecting on the theatre of politics. But, every day, we have the opportunity to try again to get it right for ourselves and our readers.

We have made corrections that made us cringe. For example, we printed Tokyo Sexwale's house and reported that it was President Mugabe's - much to the delight of those who despise Zanu PF. We have also allowed comments that have attacked us as people - not our ideas. Journalists and writers are fallible. A perfect journalist has yet to evolve.

The Guardian in Britain usually publishes six corrections a day, six days a week – about 1,800 annually. A paper in Australia reported: "We misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled, in the corrections and clarifications column."

Sometimes, it's because of what journalists have come to label "brain cramp" – we know better, but still we goof.

At The Zimbabwe Guardian our resolution is to strive harder to avoid making mistakes. But we don't expect there will ever be a newspaper published anywhere, any day, that's totally without error.

In the words of a renowned theatre scribe, the now-deceased Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, we will continue in 2008 to "Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

The year 2008

2008 presents many challenges, but the main challenge is participation. Every Zimbabwean should find their niche and contribute to the rebuilding of our country; by writing, joining a political party, organisation or group; by voting; by educating and informing; by helping the poor and vulnerable.

We often hear, 'What are you doing on the ground?' We can't all do things 'on the ground', but we can certainly do something to help those 'on the ground'.

There's no dignity in silence or non-participation. We can't keep silent when our country is decaying and be by-standers. Silence is a lie and silence is a crime.


Government should make a definitive departure from the practices of the past and deliver responsible legislation with commitment. Transparency and accountability should be their watchwords. Government should defend and strengthen our institutions of democracy.


We wish you all, whatever your connection with Zimbabwe, a very happy and healthy New Year.


P.S. In 2007, the scariest thing I have read are the words, "Made in China." How about "Made in Zimbabwe"?

- © 2007 The Zimbabwe Guardian. All Rights Reserved.

Zimbabwe: Latest News on Fugitive MP David Butau!

LONDON -- Yesterday we reported that legislator David Butau has escaped to Britain following attempts to arrest him over alleged exchange control violations. The Zimbabwe Guardian can now reveal that Butau merely owes the RBZ money in local currency because he did not pay forex to Michigan Tractors after he was paid by Acondex Investments Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Munyaradzi Manjoro.

Synthetic Cotton, a subsidiary of Dande Capital Holdings Pvt Ltd was named by Manjoro (who has since been arrested over the missing funds as reported below, but has surprisingly not appeared in court yet) has been one of the receivers of the money as directed by Raymond Chigogwana, of Premier Banking Corporation.

Michigan Tractors has been a beneficiary of payments made by companies who would have been paid by either the RBZ or the numerous middlemen of the companies who would have received money from the RBZ.

Butau could not have paid Michigan Tractors the mentioned £573,000 unless doing so for the RBZ or RBZ's direct agent known by Munyaradzi Manjoro.

The Zimbabwe Guardian has been trying frantically to get hold of Butau who has told police detectives in Zimbabwe that he is innocent and has 'promised' to supply paperwork to exonerate himself and at the same time expose Gono as the Forex Baron.

Gono has been buying the agricultural mechanisation equipment, fertiliser, seed maize, motor vehicles, etc through the forex black market. Butau's crime is that he did not pay the forex to Michigan Tractors in respect of the local currency received through Manjoro.

Manjoro had received the local currency at 'black' market rate from a company who had got the money from the RBZ. The RBZ had paid for the money purportedly that it was doing so to a company with access to "free funds".

Governor Gono would obviously not know all forex dealers but if each of high value local curency for forex supply is traced backwards, it will lead to the RBZ agent showing all the corruption being driven by the central bank.

- © 2007 The Zimbabwe Guardian. All Rights Reserved.

Zimbabwean Music Legend Mtukudzi Thrills Johannesburg Crowds

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe muic mega star, Oliver Mtukudzi was the biggest star attraction at the Newtown New Year's Eve music gala that was hosted by SABC 2 and the City of Johannesburg.

The Zimbabwean legend who as expected managed to thrill the thousands of dancing and screaming fans, also shared the stage with several other local South African acts. Prominent among these was the legendary Mango Groove ensemble that also wooed the enthusiastic crowds with some of their timeless classic hits.

Mtukudzi will also make history as he sets date with Zim Cafe on New Year's day...

The star who will be on a tour of South Africa has promised to give Zim Cafe diners a night to remember. Known for his stage charisma and mellow tunes, Tuku joins a troupe of many Zimbabwean artists who are becoming a familiar site at the month old Zim Cafe.

Date: 1 January 2008


Place: Black Steers Rivonia - cnr 9th & Rivonia Street


Time: 8pm sharp


Damage: R100


Call +27116781417 for more details

Price For Democracy: Bhutto, Pakistan, New Zealand

By Sangeeta Anand

In death she shall live! At least that seems to be the only consolation to 5000-strong Pakistani community living in New Zealand, following Benazir Bhutto's death.

Emotions run amok - shock, disbelief, dismay, anger, frustration and sadness. But the feeling of concern soon takes over - how safe are our families and friends back home in Pakistan, what happens next, will democracy ever return? All that they know at this stage is, Benazir's death does not augur well for democracy and peace in general and Pakistan's political stability in particular.

Though the sudden drop in share prices in many markets globally can be partly described as a knee-jerk reaction, its widespread impact even in remote markets like New Zealand, is a reminder of how intertwined and vulnerable economies around the world are. Even the political ramifications are feared to affect the forthcoming US elections, security in the Indian sub-continent and the most of the western world.

Ms Bhutto's assassination has dramatically changed the mood in Pakistan. Other opposition parties in Pakistan have threatened to boycott elections. President Parvez Musharraf, who has survived many assassination attempts himself, seems to have found little success in combating terrorism and internal strife.

Which is also why Ms Bhutto's supporters were so eccentric about her return to Pakistan. The leader of Pakistan People's Party had shown a ray of hope to her people who were excited about the forthcoming elections scheduled for 8 January. She was by far the most courageous (foolhardy to some) political leader this year - returning to her homeland for the sake of democracy - well aware of the threat to her life. An attempt to kill her on the very first day of her campaigning did not deter her. It probably made her more determined.

With her death, a dynamic political career came to an end. A nation lost a leader with courage. The Oxford- and Harvard-trained Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of Pakistan, or of any Islamic state for that matter, at the age of 35. Her outspoken and bold character attracted criticism and envy from the moderate Pakistani society.

The neighbouring countries, especially India, had pinned high hopes on the upcoming elections in Pakistan. Instability in Pakistan is likely to affect not only the local economy, but also restrict foreign investment in the already-backward region.

The hope of democracy in Pakistan had the potential to improve Indo-Pakistan relationship, a key factor for the region's stability, which has been under stress since the formation of Pakistan in 1947. The assassination may also affect the trade links between the two countries, and will further slow down the economic growth of Pakistan.

Closer home, New Zealand's exports trade with Pakistan is $76 million and imports $57 million, and has potential to grow. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise took an Information and Communications Technology Mission to Pakistan in 2005 to explore opportunities in the telecommunications, broadcasting, and banking sectors. The political instability following Bhutto's assassination is likely to be a major setback for this trade. Prime Minister Helen Clark, like her counterparts, has already issued travel warning for New Zealanders. The attack is likely to reduce New Zealanders' confidence in travelling to Pakistan.

And it's not just trade that will have an impact. New Zealand's political ties with Pakistan have been minimal and the current environment does not seem to support any improvement in the immediate future. As part of the Commonwealth, New Zealand supported the Commonwealth decision to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth until democracy was restored. Pakistan was readmitted to the Commonwealth in 2004.

Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf's visit to New Zealand in 2005 did not help much in improving the relations.

It is cricket that has been the saving grace in boosting that confidence. In 2002, New Zealand cricket team had to cut short its tour of Pakistan following a bomb blast in the Karachi hotel where the team was staying.

As the emotions in Pakistan subside, world will be closely watching the political developments. Elections look unlikely to go ahead as scheduled. Pakistan's immediate priority after security will be to bring some order in the chaos, to be able to prepare the nation for elections.

The judiciary needs to be restored; and a consensus government needs to be formed to be able to hold free and fair elections. Next few weeks are critical not just for Pakistan but for the rest of the world.

After all, global peace depends on it!

(Sangeeta Anand is the publisher of The Global Indian magazine, an Auckland-based ethnic publication. Visit: www.theglobalindian.co.nz )

Arsenal's Wenger Wary Of Dangerous West Ham

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is wary heading into the clash against West Ham, who produces a shock result by beating Manchester United on Saturday.

The Hammers are beginning to move up the table as key players return from injury, and gave the biggest hint at the weekend, surviving the storm to pick up a 2-1 win against Manchester United.

"West Ham will be more dangerous now because they will have gained confidence from beating Manchester United," warned Wenger on the eve of the game.

"Until now, what was surprising about West Ham was that they were quite comfortable away and struggled at home.

"Now they have convinced everyone they can beat the big teams so for us it is very important to focus and not think that just because we won 4-1 at Everton we just have to walk out to win the game."

Alan Curbishley's boys took seven points from three games over Christmas, something no other team could better, though a few including Arsenal, matched it.

However, The Gunners have had some very difficult fixtures over the last two weeks.

"I thought this would be a crucial time, because if you play Chelsea at home, you're not sure to win," continued Wenger.

"If you play Tottenham at home, you're not sure to win. Then we drew 0-0 with Portsmouth and [people said] we were in crisis.

"We had 44 points before Everton, one point less than at the same stage in our unbeaten season. That tells you a lot about the quality of the team.

I think it could be around 89 or 90 points required to win the title this season because Manchester United look as though they can win when they want, really, so we need to keep the pace up."

Arsenal and Manchester United both play at the same time later today.


* Sources - Neal Glew, Goal.com

South Africa - Zuma Heads Home as ANC Tensions Rise

As tensions between the camps of former African National Congress President Thabo Mbeki and his successor Jacob Zuma reach boiling point over the Scorpions' decision to charge Zuma, the newly-elected ANC president has retreated to his Nkandla homestead, ahead of the party's January NEC meeting.

Zuma's personal assistant Ntokozo Luthuli on Monday told reporters that the ANC President was currently relaxing with his family at Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

"His diary is blank at the moment - he is just relaxing with his family," she said.

Zuma's backers, who have accused President Mbeki of masterminding the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions)'s campaign against Zuma, are intending to use the NEC meeting to rein in Mbeki and those state institutions deemed to be anti-Zuma.

Newly-elected ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe, a staunch Zuma supporter, was on Sunday quoted as saying "the sequence of events", including the announcement by the Scorpions that they would charge Zuma two days after he was elected ANC president, needed to be "looked into carefully".

A Western Cape-based Zuma backer who is a member of the newly-elected ANC NEC told reporters that there would be "fireworks" at the January meeting.

"The people have spoken - they are fed up with Mbeki's undemocratic practices.

"Mbeki's dictatorial tendencies have to be brought to an end," she said.

The ANC NEC meeting is due to be held on January 7. - Sapa

South Africa: Call for Zuma Charges to be Dropped

By Chantelle Benjamin

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Young Communist League (YCL) have no faith in the judiciary’s objectivity when it comes to the coming corruption trial of African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma, due to political pressure from the government, they say.

The two groups, and the South African Communist Party (SACP) called at the weekend for charges against Zuma to be dropped because of the inability to give him a fair trial and for the “reopening of the investigation of the arms deal”, so that “all those involved could be brought to book”.

Zuma, who is scheduled to go on trial on August 14 next year on 18 charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering totalling R4m, was charged afresh three days after Christmas and less than two weeks before he is to deliver his first ANC anniversary address as its new president .

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said yesterday: “It does not matter who the judge is, we do not believe the judiciary will be able to be objective. The trial against Zuma is a politically motivated exercise … and he has been subjected to trial by public opinion for the past seven years.

“We have been convinced for some time that he will not get a fair trial, after (then National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani) Ngcuka announced to the media that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had a prima facie case against Zuma.”

Concerns about objectivity come despite Zuma being acquitted of rape charges last year in the Johannesburg High Court, and SA having a reputation for an independent judiciary.

But Craven insists that this trial is different.

“There was never any concern that he would get a fair trial in the rape case, but this a politically inspired campaign, and … state institutions have been, and are still being, manipulated and used to settle factional battles within the movement.”

YCL spokesman Castro Ngobese said the organisation had been consistent in asking that Zuma be given his day in court, but that was under the assumption that it would be a fair trail.

Among allegations made by Cosatu, the YCL and the SACP — in support of the claim that the motive for the trial is that President Thabo Mbeki and his camp are angry at him being ousted as ANC president at the party conference in Polokwane this month — is that the acting national director of the NPA, Mokotedi Mpshe, was promised a full-time position if he pursued the case against Zuma. Mpshe was believed to have met “senior political office bearers” the day before making his decision to prosecute Zuma.

They also questioned the timing of the announcement of the new charges and why the NPA chose the last day of the ANC conference to announce to the media that it had sufficient evidence to prosecute Zuma.

Mpshe denied rumours that Mbeki was behind the charges against Zuma, saying Mbeki had not been aware there were plans to charge Zuma or what the charges were.


* Source - Business Day

Zimbabwe Postpones Phase-Out of 200,000 Dollar Notes

By Scott Bobb

Zimbabwe's central bank has postponed the phase out of its 200,000 Zimbabwean-dollar notes a few hours before it was to take effect. The announcement came amid chaos at banks as Zimbabweans struggled to redeem the currency. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our Southern Africa Bureau in Johannesburg.

The head of Zimbabwe's Central Bank, Gideon Gono, Monday told reporters in Harare that the 200,000 Zimbabwean dollar notes would continue as legal tender until a future date, which he said would be announced later.

Gono said that banks and businesses are required to continue accepting the notes as legal tender. He said the extension was necessary because heavy rains in part of the country had hindered the distribution of new, higher-denomination notes.

The 200,000 Zimbabwean dollar note is worth about $8 at the official exchange rate, but less than 15 cents on the parallel market. The Zimbabwean currency has been losing value daily as a result of inflation that economists say has surpassed 8,000 percent per year.

Two weeks ago the central bank announced the 200,000 dollar notes would be phased out as higher denomination notes were being introduced. The highest denomination, 750,000 Zimbabwean dollars, is currently worth about $25 on the official market, but less than 40 cents on the parallel market.

There were long lines at banks and financial institutions as consumers rushed to redeem the old notes before they were supposed to have lost all value.

But shortages of the new notes obliged some banks to continue to issue the old notes.

Many shop owners reportedly closed their stores Monday because of confusion over the currency exchange.

The government said it had injected 33 trillion Zimbabwean dollars into the economy to ease the currency shortage. But critics said this was not likely to help for long because of the free-fall of the currency's value, which they said would be aggravated by the injection of more cash into the economy.

The Zimbabwean economy has been in a state of crisis characterized by hyper-inflation and shortages of food, fuel, and hard currency. The unemployment rate is estimated to be 80 percent, while gross domestic production has declined by an estimated 30 percent in the past seven years.


* Source - Studio 7

Analysts Find Lessons For Zimbabwe's Opposition In Kenyan Election

While post-election violence rages in Kenya, some observers in Zimbabwe say that country’s divided opposition might have contested the elections from a stronger position had it resolved its differences and contested as a united front.

President Mwai Kibaki claimed victory by some 200,000 votes over Raila Odinga of the main faction of the divided Orange Democratic Movement party, and contested official results show him beating the leader of opposition splinter ODM Kenya by an even wider margin. Had they joined forces, analysts say, the two opposition candidates might have well surpassed Kibaki’s reported 4.58 million votes.

Deputy Chairman George Mkhwananzi of the National Constitutional Assembly told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the Zimbabwean opposition should draw lessons from Kenya's election as it attempts to unseat President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party.


* Zimbabwe's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

Britons Warned Amid Kenya Poll Violence

Thousands of British tourists in Kenya are being advised to stay indoors with post-election violence set to continue.

With the death toll since last week's disputed poll climbing past the 135 mark, the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to areas of the East African country's two biggest towns.

Among places Britons were warned not to travel to except in essential circumstances were Nairobi city centre and the town's Uhuru Park as well as parts of Mombasa - the gateway to the Indian Ocean beach resort hotels.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday and urged them to work for "unity and reconciliation" in their nation.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "With both he expressed the UK's concerns about the conduct of the Kenyan elections, but strongly urged both to work for unity and reconciliation.

"All sides should exercise and work for a solution that reflects the will of the Kenyan people."

About 7,000 Britons are now on holiday in Kenya but there have been no reports of any being caught up in the violence.

Violence has worsened since the announcement of President Mwai Kibaki's narrow win over opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband and International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander repeated an appeal to Kenyan politicians to avoid further bloodshed.

In a joint statement they said: "We call on all political leaders to urge restraint on their followers and avoid any actions that inflame tensions. We call on those involved, including government security forces and political party supporters, to behave responsibly, to act within the law, and to address their grievances peacefully."

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2008, All Rights Reserved.

Election Crisis: Why Role Model Kenya Matters

By Jeevan Vasagar

LONDON: A few years ago, Kenya’s government sponsored a competition to invent a new national dress. Ministers hoped citizens would trade their buttoned-up western suits for the slashed collar and cape of the “Kenyan cloak” and forge a unified national identity in the process. Kenyans, who knew better, rejected the fancy dress en masse, preferring to get on with the more urgent business of putting food on their family’s tables.

The episode was a reminder of why Kenya is an African exception. In a region awash with trouble, it is an island of stability – its people renowned for pragmatism, cohesiveness and their ability to ignore their rulers’ whims.

By contrast, neighbouring Sudan recently ended a civil war in the south only to confront a new crisis in Darfur, Uganda has suffered years of conflict at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army and Somalia remains a basket case.

Since independence in 1963, Kenya has not been troubled by bloodshed on a comparable scale. Instead, it has acted as an honest broker in peace talks – Sudan’s southern peace deal was signed in the lakeside town of Naivasha. It is a base station for aid agencies and a haven for refugees. Kakuma in northern Kenya is one of Africa’s biggest refugee camps, home to some 90,000 people.

Unlike Zimbabwe, its postcolonial rulers did not turn on the whites. Unlike Uganda, they did not kick out the Asians. Kenya’s ethnic diversity has been an unexpected strength. Although the Kikuyu, President Mwai Kibaki’s tribe, accounts for a fifth of the population and has traditionally had the loudest voice, no single ethnic group has been strong enough to tyrannise the others. There is plenty of tribal friction, as well as tensions between Christians and the Muslim minority, but this has never brewed the havoc seen elsewhere.

In recent years, Kenya has been a political role model. One of former president Daniel arap Moi’s few decent deeds was to leave office gracefully after losing the 2002 election. Government sleaze continues, but corruption no longer paralyses the economy as it did under Moi. Public life has opened up. The basement of Nyayo House, in the centre of the capital, Nairobi, no longer houses torture chambers.

Unlike many Africans, Kenyans can laugh at their leaders. When the first lady, Lucy Kibaki, stormed into a newspaper office to complain at its coverage, she became a laughing stock as comedians donned drag and a towering frizzy wig to parody her.

Kenya’s economy is one of Africa’s best. Its highlands are blessed with the ideal blend of sunshine and cool altitude for growing tea, coffee and flowers – it’s the world’s biggest exporter of tea and supplies Britain with many of its Valentine’s Day roses. It has a hardworking, educated workforce, many of whom speak good English, thanks in part to its colonial heritage. Mombasa is one of Africa’s finest harbours, and Nairobi is an air transport hub for the continent. Transport is crucial here; the country was forged around the British-built railway line snaking from Mombasa to Lake Victoria and Nairobi began as a railway supply depot.

The economy is emerging from the paralysis induced by corruption and the lethargic quangos that stifled business under Moi. Privatisation has gathered pace under Kibaki and the country has been touted as an African tiger. But economic growth remains painfully slow and the number living below the poverty line keeps rising. Progress is critical. Nairobi is still one of the world’s most unequal cities, home to lavish gated compounds with servants and swimming pools as well as Kibera, Africa’s biggest slum.

The country has one of the highest profiles of any in Africa. Its flourishing wildlife make it a massive tourist destination, and a substantial chunk of Africa’s foreign press corps make their base there. That focus may explain why it has twice been attacked by Al Qaeda – in 1998, when the US embassy in Nairobi was bombed, and in 2002, when Israeli tourists were targeted in Mombasa. The country is a key western ally in the fight against Al Qaeda in Africa.

If Kenya descends into anarchy, one of the continent’s brightest lights will have flickered out, but the most immediate wider effect will be felt by other countries in the region, who stand to lose their most reliable neighbour. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service

Amnesty Demands Independent Probe into Kenya Vote Deaths

Amnesty International called for an independent probe into the killings of civilians in Kenya after the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.

Political unrest across Kenya has left least 185 dead since Thursday's polling day.

"Amnesty International calls on the Kenyan government to establish an independent and impartial inquiry into the killings," said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty's Africa Programme director on Monday.

The group highlighted deaths in the opposition strongholds of Kisumu town in western Kenya, in Nairobi's Kibera slum, in Mombasa "and elsewhere where people have been killed as a result of the post-electoral violence."

"Those responsible for human rights abuses should be brought to justice without undue delay," he added in a statement.

Amnesty urged the government and political parties to prevent further violence.

The state-funded Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNCHR) led nine other local rights groups in urging the international community to pressure the Kenyan government to ensure that the election results are verified.

"We appeal to the international community to call for credible verification of the results before endorsing them," the Kenyan groups said in a joint statement.

"We also appeal to the police and security agencies to ensure that their responses are humane, measured and proportional to the level of threat.

Chaos at Banks as Zimbabwe Extends Currency Deadline

By Godfrey Marawanyika

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's central bank chief extended a deadline Monday to exchange 200,000 dollar bills just hours before they were to cease being legal tender after scenes of chaos at banks across the country.

In a press conference, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono declined to set a new deadline and blamed recent heavy rains for hampering efforts to stock up banks with new higher denomination bills.

"The legal status of the 200,000 dollar bearer cheque notes is now reinstated and extended to a future date which will be announced when it is deemed strategic to do so," Gono told reporters.

"All economic players are therefore advised and required to continue fully accepting the 200,000 bearer cheque note as it is a legitimate part of our legal tender."

Gono, one of veteran President Robert Mugabe's chief lieutenants, had announced two weeks ago that the 200,000-dollar bills (about eight US dollars / 5.4 euros) would be worthless as of midnight on New Year's Eve as part of efforts to snuff out a burgeoning black market, and to tackle cash shortages.

Major queues were seen outside banks in central Harare long before opening time on Monday, with thousands of customers carrying small satchels of cash or wads of the expiring notes.

Many complained they were being forced to exchange notes they had withdrawn only days before.

"It's so frustrating because I was given these old banknotes when I made a withdrawal on Saturday and I am back here to deposit almost all of the money since many people are refusing to accept it," said Douglas Chimwasa, a Harare resident.

"You can imagine how much time I lost in the queue waiting to withdraw this money and now I will waste at least another hour returning it."

There were chaotic scenes outside the main branches of Barclays and Stanbic banks in Samora Machel Avneue, with customers trying to barge their way through the doors.

Many storekeepers decided simply to close shop for the day rather than risk being caught in the mess and accepting the outgoing notes.

Gono's statement on December 19 that the 200,000 bills were being phased out was also accompanied by the announcement that new 250,000, 500,000 and 750,000 zimdollar notes were being immediately introduced.

However many banks, particularly in rural areas, have not received deliveries of the new currency, since flooding is hampering the operation.

"Excessive wet conditions hampered cash swap teams' ability to effectively access most outlying areas," Gono said.

Harare-based independent economist Daniel Ndlela described as "senseless," the withdrawal of the 200,000 dollar bills at a time when the official rate of inflation is nearly 8,000 percent.

"Under hyperinflation, any introduction of a new currency will not make a difference as the new denomination loses value within days," Ndlela told AFP.

He attributed the cash shortages to waning confidence in the banking system and a deliberate witholding of cash by the central bank.

"Nobody in their sense would sell their goat, for example, and take the money to the bank when they are not sure they can withdraw it when they want it," Ndlela said.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing fresh cash shortages since November, blamed by Gono on "cash barons and baronesses" hoarding cash and exchanging it for scarce foreign currency outside the banking system.

Last year, the central bank knocked three zeros from the country's currency in a bid to rein in inflation but the central bank chief admitted earlier this month the zeros had returned.

Africa's Yet Another Shame: Kenya Election Protests Kill 124

Kenyan police battled protesters in blazing slums today after disputed elections returned President Mwai Kibaki to power and triggered turmoil that a local TV station said had killed at least 124 people.

Fatal riots convulsed the nation, from opposition strongholds in the west near the Uganda border to Nairobi's shanty-towns and the port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean Coast.

Reporters estimated at least 70 deaths, based on witnesses and body counts. But broadcaster KTN said mid-afternoon the toll had reached at least 124.

In the western town of Kisumu, a hotbed of opposition support, 21 bodies lay in and around a hospital mortuary, brought in overnight and in the morning, witnesses said. Most had gunshot wounds.

In Nairobi's Mathare slum, police threatened to shoot people coming out of their homes, witnesses said. "Police are saying on loudspeakers from trucks that anyone found outside will be shot dead," said taxi driver Argwings Odera.

The violence threatens to deter investors from east Africa's largest economy and damage Kenya's reputation as an oasis of relative stability in a volatile and war-scarred region.

Much of the fighting pitched Luos, who support defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga, against Kibaki's ethnic Kikuyu group.

Odinga called for a mass rally later this week in Nairobi's main park to protest the vote. "We are going to call for a meeting at Uhuru park on January 3 where we expect a million Kenyans to attend," he told a news conference.

"No Raila, No Peace!" chanted youths in Nairobi's Kibera slum -- one of Africa's largest. They lit bonfires in the road and torched a petrol station before police moved in to fire teargas and bullets in the air. Bodies lay in the dirt alleys.

In Korogocho slum, rocked by clashes between protesters and police, a witness reported seeing 15 bodies.

Trying to defuse one of the most volatile moments in Kenya since 1963 independence, the government flooded the streets with security forces and kept a ban on live TV broadcasts.

"Africa has had its share of violence and even genocide arising from incitement by media stations," said government spokesman Alfred Mutua. "We cannot forget what happened in Rwanda," he added, referring to the 1994 genocide.

Undeclared emergency
In Nairobi, siren-blaring ambulances and armoured cars with water cannon rushed through the streets in the direction of Kibera, Mathare and Kawangware slums, where smoke could be seen rising. Helicopters flew overhead.

"We are in an undeclared state of emergency," said a statement from civil society groups. "The consequences of a stolen election must be clear to all Kenyans."

Despite a reputation as an old-school gentleman, Kibaki, 76, showed a steely core by swearing himself in within an hour of being pronounced victor in an election rejected by Odinga and questioned by international observers.

"The tallying process lacks credibility," chief European Union monitor Alexander Graf Lambsdorff told Reuters. Former colonial ruler Britain also expressed concern although the United States sent congratulations to Kibaki.

Bewildered tourists, who contribute to an $800 million a year industry that is Kenya's top earner, were stranded by delayed flights at Mombasa airport on the Indian Ocean coast.

"We have no fuel to go anywhere. No money either, the cashpoints are dry," said Shilesh Patel, one tourist in a 20-car queue at a fast-emptying petrol station on the coast.

As supporters celebrated in his highland homeland, Kibaki urged Kenyans to "set aside the passions" from a vote he won by a narrow margin of 230,000 votes in the nation of 36 million.

Kibaki, who turned round a dire economy under his strongman predecessor Daniel arap Moi into average 5% growth since 2002, now faces the momentous task of reuniting a country where ethnic tension has periodically sparked bloodletting.

The ban on live broadcasts was slammed by activists as an attack on press freedom in a nation usually termed one of Africa's most vibrant democracies.

Having led every opinion poll bar one since September, then taken a strong lead in early results, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was dismayed to see Kibaki pip it.

Kibaki took 4.58 million votes to Odinga's 4.35 million -- but the results were marred by accusations of multiple voting, disappeared returning officers and "doctoring." - Reuters

Zimbabwe Hits Out at Britain Over Fugitive MP Butau

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's spokesman has accused former colonial power Britain and other Western countries of sabotaging Zimbabwe's efforts to turn around its economy by offering a safe haven to criminals. The comments came after an MP from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, David Butau, fled to Britain last week. Police in Zimbabwe had placed Butau on a wanted list for alleged foreign exchange violations.

"The criminals follow the sponsor. It's becoming apparent that we are no longer talking about mere economic crime, we are talking about economic subversion that has the blessings of foreign interests," George Charamba was quoted as telling the official Herald newspaper on Monday.

"When you follow the footsteps of criminals and indicted persons this suggests a new geography of crime which connects Zimbabwe to Britain, Australia, the US and New Zealand."

He said these were the same countries that took a negative stance against the country's controversial seizure of white-owned farms.

Butau heads a parliamentary committee on budget and finance. It was not immediately clear if he was on a list of dozens of ruling party officials banned from travelling to Britain over alleged rights abuses.

Britain has become a destination of choice for a handful of Zimbabwean businessmen escaping the southern African country after the central bank began a crackdown on so-called economic saboteurs in 2004.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said the police would continue to pursue the MP.

"The arm of the law is quite long and it will soon be catching up with him," Bvudzijena told the Herald.

Last week central bank governor Gideon Gono accused the parliamentary committee headed by Butau of shying away from their responsibility after it turned down the Reserve Bank chief's offer to name senior government officials engaging in shady deals and hoarding cash.

In a telephone interview from Britain, Butau told a state newspaper Sunday that he was being victimised by Gono.

"We received information that RBZ Governor Gideon Gono was amongst those sabotaging the economy and when we confronted him with that he acted fast on me and passed on information to the police about my purported exchange control violations," he told the Sunday Mail.

The fugitive MP said he would only come back to Zimbabwe once his name was cleared.

Pakistan: Bhutto's son Bilawal Enters Lion's Den

By Zarar Khan

Benazir Bhutto's 19-year-old son has been chosen to succeed her as head of her opposition party.

This extends Pakistan's most famous political dynasty but leaves the real power to Bhutto's husband, who will serve as co-chairperson.

Yesterday, both major opposition parties also decided to run in parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8, apparently ending the threat of a wholesale boycott as Pakistan struggles to move to full democracy after years of military rule.

The decisions were made at a closed-door meeting of the Pakistan People's Party central executive committee yesterday.

Two-time premier Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi after a rally on Thursday - an action that thrust the volatile Islamic nation deeper into crisis.

Bhutto's son, Bilawal Zardari, a student with no experience in politics, said he would remain at Oxford University in England, leaving his father, Asif Ali Zardari, as the effective leader of the country's largest political party.

"The party's long struggle for democracy will continue with renewed vigour," Bilawal told a news conference.

"My mother always said democracy is the best revenge."

Supporters chanted "Benazir, princess of heaven" and "Bilawal, move ahead. We are with you."

The slain leader's grandfather was a senior figure in the Pakistan Muslim League, the party that helped Pakistan to split from India and to independence in 1947.

Her father - Pakistan's first elected premier - founded the party in 1967 and its electoral success since has largely depended on the Bhutto name.

Bilawal told the media his father would "take care" of the party while he continued his studies.

Zardari, who spent eight years in detention on corruption charges in Pakistan before his release in 2004, is a key powerbroker in the party.

He served as environment minister in Bhutto's second government.

Zardari announced the group's participation in the elections but said another party leader, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, would likely be their candidate for prime minister if they won.

Zardari appealed to the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to drop plans to boycott the polls. The party agreed to do so.

There have been calls for a delay in the polls given the turmoil, but a senator from Bhutto's party said they were demanding that voting take place on time.

"We want elections on January 8 and we will not let the government run away from them," said Senator Safdar Abbasi.

Earlier, Tariq Azim, information secretary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said he expected the polls to be delayed by up to four months.

The Election Commission was expected to confirm a date today.

The government has blamed an al-Qaeda-linked militant for the assassination but Bhutto's party claims elements in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q could have been behind it.

Zardari repeatedly called the ruling party the "killer league".

He also rejected as "lies" the government's account of how his wife died. There is a dispute as to whether she suffered fatal gunshot wounds or was killed by the force of the suicide blast that struck her vehicle as she left a campaign rally.

Zardari appealed to the UN and the British government to help investigate the crime.

He said the party wanted a UN investigation like the one probing the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Since Thursday, unrest has killed at least 44 people and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. Rioters have destroyed 176 banks, 34 petrol stations, 72 train carriages, 18 railway stations, and hundreds of cars and shops.

They also wrecked nine election offices, with voter rolls and ballot boxes inside them, hampered the printing of ballot slips and the training of poll workers, the election commission said.

In fresh militant violence, two men blew themselves up yesterday close to the residence in eastern Pakistan of Ijazul Haq, former religious affairs minister and senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party. There were no other casualties. - Sapa-AP

ZIMBABWE: A "Can Do" Approach to Greater Political Involvement of Women

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Dec 30 (IPS) - With general elections expected to take place in Zimbabwe this coming March, a campaign is underway to increase women's political participation in the Southern African country.

The initiative is a revitalised version of the ཮-50' campaign, which began last year but failed to gain momentum. Now, activists are campaigning under the slogan 'Women can do it!'. The effort is being spearheaded by the Women's Trust, a non-governmental organisation based in the capital of Harare, and is receiving support from the Norwegian government.

"The campaign provides a structure and action to mobilise Zimbabwean women to get involved in the electoral process and constitutional debates as candidates and voters," Luta Shaba, executive director of the Women's Trust, told IPS.

"We want to thrash out issues that are stopping us as women from getting into power and making transformative changes to the lives of women."

The campaign brings together women from political parties, civil society organisations, the private sector and educational institutions throughout the country. In a declaration issued after an August conference for the initiative, held in Harare, supporters of the campaign made several demands, including that 50 percent of candidates for political parties be women -- and for the introduction of proportional representation.

At present, candidates with the most votes, by whatever margin, are elected to the presidency and parliament. Proportional representation would see candidates allocated seats according to their parties' share of the vote, a system that is often viewed as more effective for getting higher numbers of women into decision-making posts.

The declaration also recommends that half of party funding provided by government be reserved for women candidates.

Women constitute 52 percent of the population in Zimbabwe, according to the Central Statistical Office's most recent census, conducted in 2005.

However, they hold only 19 percent of cabinet posts, 17 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament and 36.6 percent in the senate, according to figures from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development. They also hold 12 percent of seats in urban councils, and 28 percent of those in rural councils.

The mismatch between the number of women in Zimbabwe and their presence in politics is something for which women must shoulder part of the blame, says Women's Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri.

"The 'PHD' or 'Pull Her Down' syndrome has worked against us women. I am worried by the extent to which we have internalised our own oppression and take this out by oppressing other women. We are jealous and do not want to see other women succeed," she told another conference held in Harare under the auspices of 'Women can do it', this time in October.

"We tend to vote for men because our lived experiences have conditioned us to be subordinates," added Muchinguri, who heads up the Women's League of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

The minister also pointed a finger at the way in which women's traditional responsibilities tend to rule out other pursuits: "The patriarchal nature of our society relegates women to the domestic sphere...The roles of women as mothers and carers make it impossible for them to be effective in full time politics."

In addition, "Politics cost money and women often do not have resources to fund their election campaigns because women are economically dependent and lack access to basic resources."

Certain activists further note that even if women are not confined to the home, perceptions that they belong there may undermine their chances of winning political office.

Zimbabwe has taken steps to help women break free of these constraints. A National Gender Policy that has been in place since 2004 aims -- in part -- to have 52 percent of decision-making posts occupied by women.

The country is a signatory to the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, which set a goal of having 30 percent of decision-making posts in member states in female hands by 2005 (although few countries in SADC reached this target, it has since been adjusted to having women occupy 50 percent of decision-making posts).

Zimbabwe is also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which requires signatories to root out discrimination against women in political and public life.

But, warns Alice Kwaramba, assistant programme officer for human rights and democracy building at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, a foundation based in Johannesburg, this all amounts to more bark than bite.

"The ceremonial act of placing signatures on paper has remained ceremonial and has not been accompanied by actions that translate into tangible transformation of the status of women," she told IPS.

A question that begs asking is whether activists will be able to muster broad support for greater women's participation in politics at a time when Zimbabweans are preoccupied by the severe political and economic problems afflicting their country.

Hyper-inflation and widespread poverty have put basic commodities beyond the reach of many, and the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that about four million people in the country will require food aid next year.

Various legislative changes that hold out the promise of easing controls on opposition activity and the media are working their way through parliament, this after years of government crackdowns on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), rights activists and journalists -- and a number of elections marred by irregularities. SADC-mediated talks between government and the MDC are also underway.

However, as rights watchdog Amnesty International observed in a Dec. 14 statement, "government continues to beat and torture human rights defenders and political opponents, despite the ongoing mediation process being facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)."

Notes MDC member of parliament Trudy Stevenson: "On top of these economic and social challenges, female politicians are usually the targets of campaign violence. They cannot afford to hire bodyguards like their male counterparts. Violence meted against female candidates in elections is real."

"I partly blame it on the patriarchal society in which we are living where women are ascribed certain roles, of which political participation is not one. I think as an opposition MP I fall between two stools as a woman...neither commanding the respect of my colleagues or those from the opposite side," she told IPS.

"Female MPs are very few but our politics is common because we all suffer from violence meted (out to) us by competing male politicians, and at times it can be very lonely being a female MP in Zimbabwe."

ZIMBABWE: Good Intentions Plus Poor Implementation Equals Dry Taps

By Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Dec 30 (IPS) - A 20-litre bucket in hand, Abigail Shonhiwa ponders the stretch ahead in her journey to the next watering hole, a distance of about seven kilometres. Her suburb has been facing recurrent water shortages since 2000, in part because it is built on a plateau in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

The ageing treatment plant at the Morton Jeffrey Water Works, located about 20 kilometres outside of the city, has difficulty building up enough pressure to push the water through to the tap at Shonhiwa’s house. The British colonial administration put the water works infrastructure in place several decades ago, and the current government has not adequately maintained or replaced the equipment.

Shonhiwa can say little about the Water Act of 1998, which the government introduced in an effort to ensure that all its citizens would have sufficient access to water.

"I know nothing about that. All I know is that ZINWA is now in charge of water affairs," Shonhiwa told IPS with an expression of resignation as she set out on the remainder of her journey.

ZINWA, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, a parastatal organisation, is tasked with managing the country’s water affairs. It was set up in terms of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Act at the same time as the Water Act of 1998 was passed by parliament.

The two acts together replaced an earlier Water Act of 1976, because government wanted to provide the people of Zimbabwe with more equitable access to water.

At the Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum held in the resort town of Victoria Falls in northern Zimbabwe last month, the country’s minister of water resources and infrastructural development, Munacho Mutezo, said that the previous legislation had made water provision and management an impossible task -- and that broader consultation was needed in this regard.

In terms of the two acts of 1998, ZINWA would take over the running of water affairs and infrastructure at all levels of government, including those of municipal authorities. The parastatal was to assume responsibility for the construction and maintenance of dams, for all systems required to ensure the distribution of water and for billing operations.

"The main purpose of the creation of ZINWA was to make water available to all the people throughout the country, as previously some people in the rural areas were still using water from unprotected sources like rivers. Now there are boreholes and dams almost everywhere," Mutezo told delegates at the Victoria Falls conference.

However, certain water experts have a different viewpoint on the way water resources are being managed in Zimbabwe.

In a 2006 paper titled 'Water sector reforms in Zimbabwe', Hodson Makurira and Menard Mugumo acknowledged that "Although Zimbabwe has the legal framework for integrated water management, the situation on the ground does not reflect the policy."

The process of taking over the various water authorities has been slow and fraught with controversy.

ZINWA was supposed to ensure that water was affordable and accessible even to the poorest communities in the country; yet where it has taken over, rates have increased ten-fold, taps run dry, and sewage and water pumps burst regularly -- while waterborne diseases have become part of urban life. To date, the agency has not built a single dam, while three major dams supplying water in the southern region of the country were decommissioned after drying up.

ZINWA has met with grim resistance from residents of Harare since it assumed control of water management in the capital -- also Zimbabwe's largest city. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) says there is no difference between the Water Acts of 1927 and 1976 and that of 1998.

"This talk about introducing pieces of legislation aimed at improving water availability is bar talk. The coming in of these new laws has actually worsened the problem of water shortages, particularly the vesting of all water powers in the hands of ZINWA. In all fairness, the coming in of ZINWA heralded a new era -- that of water shortages," said Jabusile Shumba, CHRA senior programmes and advocacy officer.

The distressing experiences in Harare have caused residents of other towns and cities to oppose ZINWA’s bids to take over water management in their respective areas.

For example in Gwanda, about 125 kilometres south of Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, Mayor Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla says his municipality will not hand over its sewer reticulation system to ZINWA because of that organisation’s reputation for incompetence.

Some commentators speculate that the national government has insisted on turning over water management in urban areas to a bungling parastatal because the cities and towns tend to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"There is no hope for the future. We don’t really know what’s happening at ZINWA. Maybe the parent ministry knows, but the past two years have been appalling," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told IPS.

ZINWA often attempts to defend itself by saying that it does not have enough foreign currency to purchase essential water equipment.

A ZINWA official who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity explained, "We have been bashed left, right and centre. People blame us for the water shortages, but we have only been operational for less than two years. There is no money to finance major projects such as the rehabilitation of water works, which we inherited in obsolete state."

The past few years have seen a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe, where government has come under fire for economic mismanagement and widespread human rights abuse.

Opposition Odinga Supporters Rampage in Kenya

Nairobi - Kenyan police shot dead seven civilians demonstrating against President Mwai Kibaki's re-election on Sunday, as furious supporters of defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga went on the rampage in major cities.

The deaths brought the confirmed toll from poll-related violence since Thursday's ballot to 20, amid fears that suspicions of vote-rigging will see Kenya face several more days of instability.

Odinga, who has rejected Kibaki's election win, has called a gathering in Nairobi Monday to declare him the "People's President", but police have warned him that he will be arrested if he goes ahead with the demonstration.

Two Odinga supporters were shot dead on Sunday during riots in Kakamega, the capital of Western province, and four more were killed in neighbouring Nyanza province. A seventh was killed in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, police said.

"There is chaos here and we are struggling to contain the situation," said Western province police chief Peter Kavila.

"No peace, No peace!"

Shortly after Kibaki's victory was announced, an AFP correspondent witnessed hundreds of furious protestors gathered in the massive Nairobi slum of Kibera, chanting "No peace, No peace!" as a police helicopter circled above them.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing into the Nairobi sky as paramilitary police secured key sites in the city centre.

Fires were also lit in the port city of Mombasa where police said they were involved in running battles with protestors.

In Kisumu, the country's third city and a stronghold of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, cars and petrol stations were set ablaze by marauding gangs.

Police in Kisumu were struggling to keep a lid on the violence firing live bullets while the demonstrators responded by throwing stones.

Six bodies had been discovered earlier on Sunday in Kisumu as hundreds of civilians fled into rural areas to escape the violence.

Kibaki supporters razed ODM offices in the town of Naivasha while protestors burnt two discos in the nearby provincial capital of Nakuru.

Odinga supporters had already rampaged for several hours on Saturday burning tyres and looting shops, but police came out in force and blocked attempts to protest in Kisumu and the towns of Nakuru and Eldoret.

"We have put a lot of contingencies on the ground to reinforce security in the country," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told AFP.

A high-ranking security official said top echelons of Kenya's security apparatus would meet soon to discuss the possibility of imposing a curfew, "but only as a last resort" if violence escalates.

Political parties, international observers and foreign powers had warned against acts of violence even before the announcement of the results.

"We have spoken to both the president and Raila Odinga about the need for calm, about the need to avoid violence and about the need to reach out to one another," US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Rannenberger said.

"We are disturbed at the violence surrounding the elections," said a statement from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander.

A history of electoral violence

"The British government calls for an end to the violence, respect for the democratic process and for all Kenya's political leaders to act responsibly," the statement added.

Kenya has been more peaceful than many of its African neighbours but has a history of electoral violence.

After four consecutive national holidays and a tense tallying process during which central Nairobi remained deserted, Kenyans faced the prospect of starting the New Year with roadblocks and closed shops.

Odinga had led Kibaki in pre-election opinion polls as well as in early media tallies, raising suspicions among opposition supporters that the vote count was rigged.

EU observers later questioned the credibility of the vote count, which saw Odinga's early lead surpassed by more than 200 000 votes.

AFP

NEWSMAKER-Crown Slips Out of Reach For Kenya's "Kingmaker"

By Katie Nguyen

NAIROBI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Dubbed the "kingmaker" for helping put Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in power five years ago, Raila Odinga lost what some say was his best chance to dethrone his former ally on Sunday.

Final results from the Electoral Commission of Kenya gave the 62-year-old former political prisoner 4.35 million votes to Kibaki's 4.58 million.

The narrow defeat effectively ends Odinga's hopes of leading the east African country and realising a dream that eluded his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a nationalist hero and vice president in Kenya's first post-independence government.

Like his father, Odinga held a cabinet position before falling out with the president, and like his father, Odinga appeared destined to spend the remaining years of his political career in the opposition.

Frowning and tired, Odinga accused the electoral commission on Sunday of "doctoring" the tallies in the country's closest presidential election -- and warned of grave consequences.

Moments after his loss was announced, riots erupted in Kibera slum within Odinga's Nairobi constituency as thousands of opposition supporters went on the rampage torching shacks.

With a flair unmatched in Kenya for rousing the masses, Odinga wooed large groups of voters beyond his traditional Luo base by playing to their disillusionment with the 76-year-old Kibaki's record on graft, security and tribalism.

But it was not enough.

"The presidency is something he has wanted for a long time," said George Ogola, a British-based analyst. "He would have been the kingmaker who made himself king."

When Odinga quit the ruling party of outgoing president Daniel arap Moi in 2002 for a coalition with Kibaki, it was the masterstroke that gave the opposition its broadest ever support among the country's more than 40 tribes.

The move sealed the defeat of Moi's KANU, which had monopolised power since independence in 1963 -- as well as Odinga's reputation for being a wily tactician.

Critics say he is a power-hungry firebrand prone to sparking mayhem when he does not get his way, and who displayed his talent for theatrics on voting day.

An angry Odinga stormed out of a polling station when his name did not appear on a voter register, crying foul play. A few hours, and a quick televised interview later, he was back to cast his vote, beaming and mobbed by supporters.


"WARRIOR"

Born in the deprived western Nyanza province, Odinga casts himself as a champion of the poor -- but one, critics say, with an ostentatious flourish, whose preferred mode of transport is a red Hummer for rallies and a blue Jaguar for other business.

The family's molasses plant sits close to the shores of Lake Victoria, rising above the many mud and thatch dwellings of a region consistently ranked as one of Kenya's least developed.

With an engineering degree from communist East Germany and a son named Fidel Castro, Odinga worked hard to prove his capitalist credentials in a country enjoying an economic resurgence after years of decline under Moi.

His own constituency spans two worlds -- a suburb of manicured lawns and English-style mansions, and a teeming slum of open sewers and corrugated iron shacks.

Jailed by Moi for protesting against one-party rule, Odinga lords it over his own Luo ethnic group, one of Kenya's largest, like a tribal chief, critics say.

It is this kind of contradiction that earned Odinga adulation and loathing alike for much of his political life.

A burly man with a penchant for referring to himself in the third person, Odinga's brash style of leadership upset many. His close friends include Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Nigeria's former leader Olusegun Obasanjo.

Belonging to one of Kenya's elite political dynasties, Odinga credited his father Jaramogi for instilling in him a sense of nationalism and social equality.

Nicknamed "Agwambo" or warrior in Luo, Odinga was one of Kenya's longest serving political prisoners, spending nine years in jail -- six in solitary confinement.

He was first detained in 1982 after Moi was nearly overthrown in a coup attempt Odinga later revealed he backed.

"Detention is a good school. You learn to reflect and think. You also learn tolerance, to be forgiving, particularly against your adversaries," Odinga told Reuters. "You also learn time is of essence, that things should be done faster and better."

But on Sunday he lost the chance to share those lessons with his fellow Kenyans. (Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Bryson Hull)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved

Kenya's President Kibaki Wins Against Odinga

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has won the country's closely-fought election, the Electoral Commission has declared.

The announcement came after opposition leader Raila Odinga accused Mr Kibaki of electoral fraud and called for a full re-assessment of the results.

Mr Odinga had lead since vote counting began, but saw his advantage evaporate as later votes were added.

The count was badly delayed, sparking violence in which several people are reported to have been killed.


* Source - BBC

Dinner at Sandton's Zim Cafe With Zimbabwe's Legendary Mtukudzi

Zimbabwe muic mega star, Oliver Mtukudzi makes history as he sets date with Zim Cafe on New Year's day...

The star who will be on a tour of South Africa has promised to give Zim Cafe diners a night to remember. Known for his stage charisma and mellow tunes, Tuku joins a troupe of many Zimbabwean artists who are becoming a familiar site at the month old Zim Cafe.

Date: 1 January 2008


Place: Black Steers Rivonia - cnr 9th & Rivonia Street


Time: 8pm sharp


Damage: R100


Call +27116781417 for more details

Qoute of the Week!

Comment by the Arseblogger on Arsenal Eduardo's Match Winning Goals at Everton


We’re beginning to see now why Arsene paid all that money. In front of goal he’s cooler than a polar bear who has just been given an ice-enema while standing at the North Pole with no fur on. Tremendous!


* Source - www.arseblog.com

2007: A Very Disappointing Bad Year For Zimbabweans

Harare - Bare supermarket shelves, bank queues and burst riverbanks: for many Zimbabweans a bad year ended in a bad way.

At least 27 Zimbabweans died in floods this month while thousands have spent precious holiday days in bank queues, waiting for scarce cash.

The government of long-time leader President Robert Mugabe this week tried to put a positive gloss on 2007, calling it the Year of Tourism following an estimated 55% surge in desperately-needed foreign tourists.

But few others will have positive memories of the past 12 months. Opposition officials have been beaten up and a controversial bugging law passed.

"One of our worst years"

It would be fair to say its been one of the worst years of our independence, said Bill Saidi, the deputy editor of the private Standard newspaper.

Ordinary people have really been hard done by, he added.

Shortages of basics like bread, milk and meat worsened following a controversial 50-per-cent price slash in July, which saw gleeful shoppers, some of them linked to the police, and influential figures empty shops, wholesalers and fuel stations.

More than 23 000 businessmen, informal traders and shop owners were arrested for defying price controls.

In the last few weeks, some goods have reappeared in shops. But they are selling at prices way beyond the reach of many. A single chicken, a favourite Christmas dish, in December cost more than ZIM$20m, more than the monthly salary of many teachers and lecturers.

Inflation, which has been on a relentless upward climb since land reforms were launched in 2000, has surged. The latest monthly figure reportedly leaked from the central bank this week is more than 24 000%.

To make matters worse, banknote shortages brought misery to millions in the run-up to Christmas.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono blames the shortages on cash hoarders and high-ranking officials involved in shady deals.

Former RBZ advisor in scandal

In an ironic twist this week, a woman arrested for illegally possessing billions of new bank notes implicated a former RBZ advisor, alleging Jonathan Kadzura was a regular buyer of foreign currency on the illegal black market.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the year has been challenging. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among dozens of opposition and civil rights activists beaten by police at an aborted prayer rally in March.

The brutal clampdown saw one opposition supporter shot dead during skirmishes with police and catapulted Zimbabwe once again into the international spotlight.

Observers wondered if this would mark a new stage of sustained resistance to Mugabe's 27-year-long hold on power.

It didn't. Instead, following an emergency summit by the regional SADC bloc, the two factions of the MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF agreed to begin talks in neighbouring South Africa. So far the sides have agreed to some concessions, including the watering down of tough press and security laws.

Sapa-dpa

Zimbabwe Doctors and Nurses Strike Over Low Salaries

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's state-employed junior doctors and nurses are on strike for higher pay, putting further strain on the country's crumbling public healthcare facilities.

Doctors and nurses have staged a series of strikes in recent years as their salaries have been steadily eroded by the world's highest inflation rate -- currently officially running at about 8,000 percent in Zimbabwe.

Thousands more continue to abandon the country in search of better-paid jobs in South Africa, Britain and Australia, hitting a sector burdened by shortages of drugs and the effects of HIV and AIDS.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said on Sunday the government was negotiating with the doctors and nurses to return to work.

"We are talking to them as we have always done through the Health Services Board and we hope to reach some agreement soon," Parirenyatwa said.

Doctors earn 60 million Zimbabwe dollars a month (1,000 pounds at the official rate but 15 pounds on the widely used parallel market) and nurses half that amount.

Student and army doctors and nurses were staffing government hospitals while the strike continued.

President Robert Mugabe's government has barred health workers, and those from other essential services, from striking but doctors and nurses have often defied the directive.

Representatives of doctors and nurses were not immediately available for comment but a Reuters correspondent saw some patients being turned away early on Sunday at Parirenyatwa Hospital, the country's largest referral medical centre.

Some student nurses said the strike had started on Christmas Day and that they were only tending to serious cases.

"I have been told to try again in the New Year. There are no doctors," said Martha Magaya, who had brought her 7-year-old son with a cold. "Should my son die because people are arguing over pay?" she said.

Staff at private clinics -- which are more expensive -- have not joined the strike, but most Zimbabweans receive medical care through cheaper state hospitals and clinics.

Economic analysts have warned that Zimbabwe is likely to see more strikes in 2008 by dissatisfied workers grappling with an economic recession that is marked by shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel, and rising unemployment.

(Editing by Giles Elgood)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Zimbabwe MP Flees to UK Over Currency Probe

HARARE (Reuters) - A legislator in Zimbabwe's ruling party has fled to Britain, fearing arrest in a police probe of foreign currency payments he made last month, official media reported on Sunday.

The state-owned Sunday Mail quoted unnamed sources as saying police wanted to interview David Butau, the ZANU-PF member of parliament for a northern constituency, about a 537,000 pound payment made for tractors from an offshore account in the Channel Islands.

Butau was unavailable for comment, but the Sunday Mail quoted him, speaking from Britain, as denying any wrongdoing and accusing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono of instigating the police investigation against him.

"He (Gono) had the state machinery at his disposal and I had to flee the country. But I can assure you that when authorities get the documents absolving me, I will definitely come back," he told the paper.

Police say they have been trying to interview Butau for the past two weeks.

Chief police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told Reuters Butau was still on the police wanted list but would not confirm that he had left the country.

"We have not had any luck with David Butau because he has not reported to any police station in the country. We are still working to establish his whereabouts," Bvudzijena said.

Butau chairs a budget and finance parliamentary committee that has had a shaky relationship with Gono. The committee has previously questioned Gono's monetary policies.

Zimbabwe has battled severe foreign currency shortages since 2000, resulting in a thriving currency black market. In 2005 several bank executives fled the country when Gono cracked down on banks accused of illegally trading foreign currency.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Tim Pearce)



© Reuters2007All rights reserved.

Zimbabwe's AIDS Patients in an Endless Line for Drugs

By Robyn Dixon

BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE -- There are long lines in Zimbabwe for everything from food to money, but the queue that defeated Alexander Mudewe and his wife, Perpetual, could end up killing them: the one for HIV drugs at the government hospital here.

When Alexander became ill three months ago, the couple decided to get tested; both were HIV-positive.

So they went to Mpilo Hospital. After five hours in the line for antiretroviral drugs, they were told that the hospital wasn't registering any new HIV-positive patients.

"I actually cried," said Perpetual, 47. "I was not feeling well. They just tell you to come back tomorrow. You come back tomorrow and there's another long queue again."

"You end up giving up," Alexander said as a rat scuttled across the floor of the couple's small house. "You end up going home."

Zimbabwe's financial crisis has seen the near collapse of its health system. Hit by foreign currency shortages and hyperinflation, the government stopped taking new AIDS patients in October 2006. Many people die of AIDS complications before they can get antiretroviral medicine.

In Zimbabwe, 321,000 people need antiretroviral medicines, or ARVs, according to the World Health Organization, and only 91,000 have access to them.

An April report by WHO and two other U.N. agencies says about 6% of children in need of treatment were getting it. The government says more than 2,200 Zimbabweans die every week of AIDS complications.

Zimbabwe's delivery of ARVs is below average for low- and middle-income countries, according to the agencies' report. In sub-Saharan Africa, an average 28% of those in need of the drugs get them. For Zimbabwe, the percentage is about 24%.

As access to government treatment has become impossible for most, the private market is out of reach too. A December report by International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, an international advocacy group, says the number of private HIV/AIDS patients dropped from 10,000 in July to 6,000 because government policies and inflation had caused the cost of treatment to soar.

Ahmed Leher, 52, cannot bear to call his illness by its name. To him it's "this thing" or "this rubbish."

His weight has dropped by 50 pounds in a few months. He is angry knowing that there's a medicine out there that could save him, but the hospital system won't give it to him.

"I don't want to die young," he said, his face anguished. "I know there's still life. I know that with ARVs I can live for years.

"I've seen my friends die. I've watched the stages they go through. This thing can just twist overnight. I'll be in hospital. Tonight this thing can just change me and when you look at me again, I'll be a skeleton."

Nokuthula Zulu, 28, who has a 9-year-old daughter, tested HIV-positive 18 months ago. When she tried to register for treatment, she was told to come back later, but she has not yet been accepted for treatment.

Every Wednesday evening, she participates in a support group, sharing her experiences and praying with others who have been denied treatment.

She wears clothes she inherited from her sister, who became more and more ill and died, but Zulu doesn't know whether it was AIDS. Zulu has never had a formal job, but sold peanuts on the street before she became ill five months ago.

In the absence of any diagnostic test, the only available measure of her decline is her weight: In five months, she lost more than half her body weight, dropping from 132 pounds to 61.

"I don't know what to do or what to think anymore," she said. "I pray a lot. I ask God to look after me and my child."

With no access to medicines, people often turn to herbal remedies and traditional healers.

Alexander Mudewe spent a dollar on five tablets from a quack on the street that were supposed to cure AIDS.

"They said I'd get better. I bought a couple. When you are desperate, you just buy anything."

Tapson Dhliwayo has been a nganga (pronounced nun-ga), or traditional healer, for 43 years. In his top-floor apartment under a baking metal roof, he has watched a steady trickle of patients grow to a flood of desperate people.

In his consulting room, a vinyl disc is suspended from the roof amid feathers, his red traditional robes and a horse-tail brush. The power that he says these objects confer is the last hope for most of his patients. His main treatment is an herbal remedy made from plants he collects in the bush.

"In the past couple of months, a lot more people are coming because there's no medicine in the hospitals," he said, adding that if people could afford the transportation to visit him, he would be overwhelmed with patients.

Taking a pinch of snuff from an animal horn, he explained his theory on AIDS.

"This is a punishment from the Lord for the way we live today.

"It's the same as when Noah was instructed to build the Ark and people didn't listen and they drowned in the flood."

Most people who sought his help had waited too long, he said.

"There's a lot of people I try to help and they end up dying."

Leher, who watched dying friends pass through various stages of desperation, has not yet reached the point of looking to traditional remedies. But he feels his illness catching up with him. When he walks a block from his house, it feels like five miles. He struggles for the words to express his pain.

"It's very tight inside. It's very hard to . . . it's a very stiff situation. I can sit and look at a picture of my wife and I'll just drop in tears. She sits and cries too."


robyn.dixon@latimes.com
Dixon recently was on assignment in Zimbabwe.

South Africa: Attack on Tanzanian Diplomat Leaves Colleagues in Fear

By Edwin Naidu and Peter Fabricius

Concerns about crime in the country among the diplomatic community have grown after Emmanuel Mwambulukutu, the outgoing Tanzanian high commissioner to South Africa, was badly beaten up and left unconscious at a farewell dinner held for him in Pretoria on Friday.

Mwambulukutu, a public servant for more than 10 years in the government of Julius Nyerere (the first president of Tanzania), was in a serious, but stable condition, in the intensive care unit at Pretoria East hospital.

His wife Lucy was stabbed in the head. She was treated and discharged.

The couple who had been in the country since 1999, were due to have returned home this week. They were being given a send-off by Tanzanian high commission colleagues.

About 40 guests - adults and children - were held up at gunpoint by a gang of four, some of them beaten up as the robbers went on the rampage.

"My daughter ran in to say there were criminals outside the house," said Themba Khumalo, a friend of the diplomat. "As I went to the door, I felt the barrel of a gun held to my head. I was asked to lie down on the floor," he said. When the diplomat told his attackers, "Gentlemen, God bless you", they replied, "We don't care for God. Let's stab these dogs."

Christopher Mlosy, who hosted the function, said he and his three children were also beaten up. "They just went around attacking guests as if we were dogs," he said.

Mlosy said the incident would tarnish South Africa's name within the diplomatic community. "There have been a number of attacks, but this seems to have been one of the worst.

"Most guests, with the exception of Khumalo, were Tanzanian. None of them now feel safe in South Africa and want to leave," he said.

South African Police Services spokesperson, Dennis Adriao, said police located the four suspects in Mamelodi West, but three escaped after the fourth suspect was wounded in a skirmish with police. At the scene police found weapons, stolen items and Mwambulukutu's vehicle.

Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said she had expressed concern over the attacks. "We'll . . . do all we can to ensure state agencies get to the bottom of this."

Meanwhile, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said police were winning the fight against criminals targeting diplomats. Last month he beefed up security after reports that foreign diplomats are increasingly leaving their families behind when they are posted to South Africa because of the fear of crime.

French embassy defence attache Denis Fabre and his family were held up by armed robbers who looted their Sandton home. South Africa's ambassador to the United Nations, Dumisani Kumalo, was robbed at his son's home in Johannesburg in July.

In October, robbers shot Vietnamese embassy official Quochung Nguyen in the stomach in Pretoria.

In February, gangsters robbed six US embassy officials in Pretoria. Javed Khattak, the first secretary at the Pakistani high commission, had his home broken into. Nadir Khan Jadoon of the Pakistani high commission was attacked in his home, gunmen attacked a Greek defence official and envoys from Gabon and Madagascar had been held up.





This article was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Tribune on December 30, 2007

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Leaves for Asian Annual Holiday

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has left for an unnamed eastern Asian country for his annual vacation, state media said on Saturday.

"President Mugabe and the First Lady left Harare for the Far East," state radio reported.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said: "President Mugabe has taken his annual leave, part of which he will spend in the Far East."

Mugabe, who is under European Union and American travel sanctions, has in recent years vacationed in Malaysia.

Earlier, however, Mugabe and his family took their yearly break in Europe and would normally make a stopover in London.

Relations between Mugabe and his former western allies were strained after Zimbabwe launched controversial land reforms, seizing farmland from white farmers to allocate to landless blacks.

The fallout was exacerbated when the EU and the United States imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his ruling party elite following presidential elections in 2002 which the main opposition and western observers charged were rigged to hand Mugabe victory.


* Source - News 24

Zimbabwe: Did Gono Stage-manage Arrest of 'Cash Baron'?

Eager to prove that the existence of so called cash barons Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono masterminded the arrest of well known dealer Dorothy Mutekede over the weekend, The Zimbabwe Gazette has established.

Although the arrest was accompanied by some media hype it emerged this week that Mutekede, who was allegedly found with a neatly packed new $ 500 000 bearer cheques amounting to $ 10 billion at Roadport on Saturday night, never spent the night in police cells.

Several foreign currency dealers interviewed confirmed to seeing Mutekede, who is popularly known as Chihera in the streets of Harare, on Sunday morning with most of them claiming that she called them informing in the wee hours on Sunday morning telling them that she will be appearing on the front page of one of Zimbabwe’s leading weeklies.

“She was never locked up and although the police on Monday claimed that she was still in police custody the truth is that Chihera was and is still going about her business of buying and selling foreign currency. There is now way she could have been arrested because that woman is well connected,” claimed a dealer who requested anonymity.
Intrestingly police have been flip flopping on the issue as they claimed on Monday that Mutekede was still in police custody before refusing to confirm or deny rumours that the well known dealer was released and is freely roaming the streets of Harare.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that the arrest of Mutekede is part of a war between Gono and the chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on budget and finance David Butau, who is now on the police wanted list in connection with exchange control violations.

Announcing the introduction of the new bearer cheques Gono said he was ready to name and shame corrupt officials hoarding cash in front of the parliamentary committee only for Butau to come in the press saying his will not be hurried by the central bank chief.

The committee is going to look at (Gono’s) statement clause by clause. Once we come up with a list of queries, we will then decide whether to invite the governor. We will also follow the Parliamentary Standing Orders and Guidelines to decide whether it warrants invitation,” said the lawmaker soon after Gono’s publicity stunt.

And it is this statement that did not go down well with the RBZ chief.

“Butau and Gono are fighting their own wars which have sucked in Mutekede who is believed to be Butau’s girlfriend,” said a highly placed source.


* Source - Zimbabwe Gazette

Zimbabwe's Mugabe 'Bootlicks' the National Army

By Lee Shungu

Due to persistent food and cash shortages and indications that the army might turn its back against President Mugabe, the President has facilitated a 'food for free' shop and excessive cash withdrawals for the army.

Mugabe Butt Licking Soildiers Around Him!The Zimbabwe Gazette can reveal that Discovery Foods (Pvt) Ltd which is located in Ruwa, is currently offering soldiers under the Presidential Guard (PG) with free basic commodities whilst Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) Bank is allowing all soldiers to withdraw huge amounts of cash from their accounts, contrary to the imposed daily maximum withdrawal limit of $5 million for an individual.

A worker at Discovery Foods says the company is not allowed to sell any mealie-meal and cooking oil to the public, but instead give these commodities to soldiers for free.

"Many soldiers from the PG and even top politicians come to the shop where they get these groceries without paying a single cent."

"Even us- the workers, we are not allowed to buy basic commodities from the shop. Instead, we are given for free, for example, a 20kg bag of mealie-meal per month," she said.

Discovery Foods is involved in milling and packaging mealie-meal, processing and packaging cooking oil and peanut butter, apart from retail activities. Most of these products are supplied to shops and supermarkets in Harare, Marondera and Chitungwiza.

As the economy continues to deteriorate, things have become tougher and Mugabe's aides have not been spared. These entail all uniformed forces, especially soldiers who have been reported to be quitting in huge numbers and eager to ouster Mugabe.

The worker adds her boss has access to inputs such as maize, sunflower and groundnuts straight from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)- at cheap prices.

"I wonder where the profit comes from when the company is purchasing and producing products to be given for free. Currently, on average workers are getting a monthly net salary of $45 million" she said.


She adds there are rumours at her workplace that the company owner is strongly linked to the ruling Zanu PF party, hence the way he does business without even getting broke.

This year, three senior army officials and about 400 soldiers from around the country were arrested and detained for sometime following a foiled coup attempt.

Some brigadiers and army chiefs died in mysterious accidents soon after the state intercepted the coup plot.

The court hearings proceeded under closed doors but due to disgruntlement within the forces, information was channelled out.

With the on-going cash crisis, ZABG has noticed all soldiers that they can get as much money from their respective bank accounts.

In a statement dated 12 December 2007, the bank says in order to improve our service to you and with the assistance of ZNA senior officers, we have arranged for exclusive cash withdrawals at KG 6 Barracks for the 14th of December 2007 from 9am to 2pm.

"Kindly assist in the exercise by going to KG 6 Barracks along Borrowdale road," said ZABG Samora Michel branch manager in a statement.
Most of the ZNA members - if not all have bank accounts with ZABG.

Soldiers have been causing havoc at different banks in the capital, where they formed their own queues and demanded to be served first, before any other person.


* Source - Zimbabwe Gazette

Wenger Salutes Arsenal Spirit as Gunners go Top

By Neil Johnston

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his players' character after they returned to the top of the Premier League table following a 4-1 victory over Everton here at Goodison Park.

The London club will start 2008 two points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United at the summit following a gripping game.

Both teams finished with 10 men while Everton manager David Moyes said Arsenal's second goal should not have been allowed.

However, Wenger insisted his players deserved to be where they are and that they had it in them to win the English title for the first time since 2004.

"We have a great spirit in the dressing room as we have shown here," said Wenger. "We have shown that we can cope with all kinds of problems that come our way," the Frenchman added.

"We started slowly and looked nervous. We gave the ball away too much in the first half but I was pleased with the response after half time.

"If you don't win then people start questioning you and the way that you play. But we have worked hard for this win.

"Everton stopped us from playing our normal game and they played well. The turning point was that we made the most of our set-pieces in the second half. It was important we didn't concede after we went down to 10 men. But when we scored another goal and Everton had a player sent off then I knew we would win.

"Last season Everton played a very physical game when we lost here 1-0. I'm not surprised that they played that way again."

Everton were on course for their third straight home league win over Arsenal when Australia international midfielder Tim Cahill scored for the third time in as many games.

That gave Moyes's side a deserved lead at the break but Arsenal were level inside two minutes of the second-half when Eduardo took advantage of some slack defending. And the 24-year-old Brazilian scored again to give his side the lead although Moyes insisted he used his hand to control the ball.

Substitutes Emmanuel Adebayor and Tomas Rosicky rounded off the scoring in the dying stages to give Arsenal a stylish victory.

But the game was marred by two red cards. Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner, who had already been booked, was sent-off for an ugly challenge on Everton substitute Andy Johnson.

Everton also finished with 10 men when Mikel Arteta was dismissed after an incident that saw him appear to elbow fellow Spaniard Cesc Fabregas.

Moyes said the final result was not a fair reflection of the game. "I don't think we deserved to lose by the scoreline that we did. But I have got to say that Arsenal defended well.

"I couldn't see that scoreline coming at half-time," the Everton manager added. "Overall I thought we were the better team and the best team lost.

"We passed the ball better than Arsenal. It was route one Arsenal and we couldn't cope."




Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse.

Arsenal! Arsenal!! Arsenal!!!

 

Arsenal Stun Everton and Manchester United!!!

Arsenal move back to the top of the Premier League after an impressive 4-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park.



Everton outplayed the Gunners in the first-half, enjoying most of the possession and restricting their opponents to hopeful efforts from distance.


Yakubu was a threat throughout the opening period, but it was Tim Cahill who gave the Toffees the lead on 19 minutes to keep his impressive goal-scoring run going.


Arteta delivered a corner from the left which squirted through to the back post where Nicklas Bendtner could only knock the ball up in the air and Cahill was on hand to stab the ball into the net.


It took just two minutes of the second-half for Arsenal to pull level, Eduardo profiting from a long-ball which Phil Jagielka failed to cut out.


The Croatian grabbed a second on 58 minutes, this time a beautiful Bergkamp-esque touch taking him away from Jagielka before coolly slotting past Tim Howard.


Nicklas Bendtner then saw red after picking up a second yellow card for a horrendous tackle on Lee Carsley.


With 11 minutes left though Adebayor made the game safe, when Joseph Yobo and Howard left the ball for each other allowing the Arsenal striker to slot into an empty net.


Tempers then flared up again when Mikel Arteta was dismissed for catching Cesc Fabregas with a flailing arm.


With ten aside there was still time for Arsenal to grab a fourth, Tomas Rosicky benefiting from good work by Adebayor and Abou Diaby before firing into the bottom corner.


Arsenal replace Manchester United at the top and will be league leaders going into 2008.


* Source - Sky Sports

Kenyan Opposition Declare Electoral Victory!

Kenya's opposition on Saturday has declared victory in the presidential election, although the electoral commission was still tallying up votes and the incumbent president closing the gap.

"Honourable Raila Odinga is therefore the winner and fourth president of the Republic of Kenya," Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) official Musalia Mudavadi said in a statement to reporters, citing his party's own tally.

Mudavadi is Odinga's is the vice-presidential candidate running on Odinga's ticket.

Two days after the general elections were held in relative calm, vote counting was still ongoing, raising suspicion among the opposition that incumbent Mwai Kibaki's camp was seeking to buy time for rigging.

"In view of the growing anxiety and restlessness in the country over the extended delay in releasing the presidential results, we now call upon the outgoing president to acknowledge and respect the will of the Kenyan people and concede defeat," Mudavadi said.

"We further call upon him to direct his officers to begin the process of a smooth transition," he added.

Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman Samuel Kivuitu said earlier on Saturday that there was no clear explanation for the delays and warned that his body might have to settle for incomplete results.

According to the ODM count communicated by Mudavadi, Odinga mustered 4,215,437 votes to Kibaki's 3,748,261, representing more than half of the ballots believed to have been cast on Thursday.

No official turnout figure has been released.

Kibaki's Party of National Unity did not immediately react to ODM's declaration of victory but had refused to concede defeat on Friday night, when Kibaki trailed Odinga in provisional media tallies by an even bigger margin. - Sapa-AFP




* Source - IOL

South Africa: ANC to Meet Soon on Zuma Charges

A meeting of top African National Congress officials will happen soon to discuss papers served on ANC president Jacob Zuma by the National Prosecuting Authority, the party said.



"Officials will meet soon to discuss the charges laid against Jacob Zuma," said ANC head of the presidency, Smuts Ngonyama.


He could not say whether the meeting would occur before or after the new year.


Zuma’s lawyer Michael Hulley on Friday confirmed that papers were served on the ANC’s newly elected president by the NPA and that Zuma was indicted to stand trial from August 14, 2008.


The Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) served Zuma the indictment to stand trial in the High Court on various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud.


The indictment was served at Zuma’s Johannesburg home when he was not present.


* Source - SAPA

Mbeki Behind Zuma Indictment : ANCYL

President Thabo Mbeki was a "behind the scenes" player in the National Prosecuting Authority serving an indictment on ANC president Jacob Zuma, ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula said today. "The decision to charge Zuma is not a decision by the judiciary, its a decision by the State and the case is being led by Mbeki," Mbalula told a press briefing in Durban. He stressed that the decision was based solely on political interference by Mbeki and former director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.

"We have consistently said that these trumped-up charges are nothing more than a desperate plot to block Comrade Zuma's ascendency to the highest office of the land which is driven by a political vendetta. "This has been confirmed by the fact that the NPA had ample opportunity to reinstate the charges against Zuma before the Polokwane conference," he said. Mbalulua said the NPA instead chose to await the outcome of the conference and then announce their readiness to charge the newly elected ANC president to the media.

He added that NPA acting head Moketedi Mpshe had his leave cut short to charge Zuma before January 7. "This was well orchestrated and well planned... we will not be fooled." Mbalula said national police commissioner, Jackie Selebi was being protected by Mbeki but when it came to Zuma, a 48-hour decision was made even though courts were closed for the holidays. "Criminals are on holiday running around the country committing crimes but Zuma is charged... why is this? The courts were supposed to be closed."He questioned who had called for this charge but said it could not have been done without Mbeki's knowledge. He stressed the league's support of Zuma and said the sequence of events that led to Zuma's charge was done to vindicate Mbeki's view that Zuma was corrupt.

"Why does Mbeki have to explain a case of corruption to the ANC when he is not a prosecutor. What does Mbeki have to do with a criminal case. This is just a political vendetta. "We will stand firm behind our president and will make our presence known at every court appearance."

Zuma is alleged to have benefited from private payments made via his financial adviser convicted fraudster, Schabir Shaik, who had been involved in negotiations of a state arms deal. His lawyer, Michael Hulley on Friday confirmed that Zuma was served with an indictment to stand trial in the High Court on various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and f