Tsvangirai Appeals to West To Get Easy on Sanctions

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has urged the easing of targeted sanctions, saying there ought to be a reward for Zimbabwe's progress.

His party joined a unity government with President Robert Mugabe's nearly a year ago with the intention of easing the country's economic crisis.



He told the BBC at the World Economic Forum that he had come to Davos to clarify misconceptions about Zimbabwe.



He said the country was now on an "irreversible path to change".



"It's not as if I'm here as a salesman of Zimbabwe, I'm here to clarify certain misconceptions because I think there's been so much negative perception about Zimbabwe," he told the BBC's Today programme.



He appealed to investors to come and see for themselves how much progress had been made.



“ It is a very positive signal, very positive signal to those who doubt that they have anything to benefit from this inclusive government ”

Morgan Tsvangirai

He admitted there were still "incidents" and it was frustrating that agreements reached in principle with President Mugabe on the unity government were still not being carried out.



But he said he believed the level of political risk was far reduced from what it had been a year ago.



He admitted certain benchmarks still had to be reached and it was up to Western capitals to decide, but said there was a case for easing the West's targeted sanctions against his former opponents - to make them see that supporting Zimbabwe's unity government was worthwhile.



"It is a very positive signal, very positive signal to those who doubt that they have anything to benefit from this inclusive government," he said.



Mr Tsvangirai also said that he expected a referendum on a new constitution would lead to new elections next year and Zimbabwe's people could then elect a government of their choice.



However, public consultations on a new constitution were suspended last week.



The unity government has halted the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy by allowing the use of foreign currency but some former opposition activists say they are still being intimidated by Mr Mugabe's hardline supporters.



Story from BBC NEWS:

Ping: AU Aware of Zimbabwe Govt's Problems

AFRICAN Union Commission chairperson Jean Ping has admitted that Zimbabwe's all-inclusive government is plagued by problems, but was quick to say that these could be overcome.




Ping told the Zimbabwe Independent ahead of the 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU held under the theme "Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development" that he was pleased with the progress made by the inclusive government.



Ping said: "The inclusive government in Zimbabwe has problems but these should not hinder the progress made. It's a necessity that these problems are addressed and overcome."



However, talks in Harare seem to have stalled amid confusion on the way forward.



Negotiators are still to agree on the most divisive issues on the agenda, including the appointments of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, and the swearing-in of MDC-T treasurer-general Roy Bennett as Deputy Agriculture minister.



Finance Minister Tendai Biti told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington DC on Tuesday that talks to resolve outstanding issues had reached a deadlock and called for Sadc intervention.



He said: "What is required is for Sadc and president Zuma to take leadership of these issues because the leadership in Zimbabwe has failed to provide leadership."



Biti warned that if the outstanding issues were not resolved the government might collapse.



He said: "If the transition is no longer dealing with certain fundamental things which gave rise to it, for instance the issue of the constitution and democratisation, then it means it is no longer serving the purpose for which founding fathers created it.



"Equally, if it is no longer serving the issues of the economy it also means those that were forced to go into this equation on the basis of the economy will not find it useful and this thing will collapse."

* Zim Independent

Zanu-PF Reiterate Calls For an End to Western Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party wants Western nations to lift sanctions against its senior members before it makes concessions in talks aimed at saving a coalition government with the former opposition.




Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change of reneging on a commitment to persuade the U.S. and European Union to lift travel bans and asset freezes against party leaders.



“The Politburo has told Zanu-PF’s negotiators to make no concessions with the Movement for Democratic Change until sanctions are lifted,” party spokesman Timothy Masawi said today in a telephone interview from Harare, the capital.



Zanu-PF and two factions of the MDC formed a power-sharing government last year in a bid to end a decade of economic and political crises. The parties have been negotiating for the past two weeks on “outstanding issues” such as the appointment of senior civil servants.



MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa didn’t immediately answer calls seeking comment today.



The impasse has frustrated regional mediators and dissuaded Western donors from helping to rebuild the nation’s shattered economy.



Tsvangirai’s MDC wants Mugabe to fire central bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, saying their appointments were unconstitutional.



Regional Governors



The MDC is also demanding the power to appoint some regional governors and wants Mugabe to swear in Roy Bennett, currently on trial for terrorism-related charges, as deputy agriculture minister.



The establishment of the unity government in February followed a decade of recession and political turmoil, which slashed exports, pushed inflation to a record and drove millions of Zimbabweans into exile in neighboring countries.



Zimbabwe’s economic decline has been stemmed since the MDC assumed control over most key economic posts. The Finance Ministry said it expects growth to accelerate to 7 percent this year, from about 4.7 percent last year.



To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.

Zimbabwe’s Bennett not Involved in Terrorism, Says Witness

HARARE: The chief witness for the prosecution told a Zimbabwean court yesterday that opposition politician Roy Bennett was not involved in a terrorism plot against President Robert Mugabe’s government.




Bennett — a white commercial farmer and treasurer-general in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) — faces a possible death penalty if convicted of illegal possession of arms for purposes of committing terrorism, banditry and sabotage. Bennett denies the charges and says he is being persecuted by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. Tsvangirai’s nominee for deputy Agriculture Minister, Bennett was arrested on the day some of his MDC colleagues were sworn in as ministers last February.



His arrest and trial have raised tensions within the fragile power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai last February following Zimbabwe’s disputed elections in 2008.



Yesterday, key state witness Peter Hitschmann, who was this week declared hostile to the state’s case, said Bennett had nothing to do with firearms Hitschmann kept and did not provide funds to buy the arms for an anti-government plot.



When asked by Bennett’s lawyer whether the MDC politician had deposited funds into his account to buy guns or whether he had plotted terrorism, Hitschmann said: “No my Lord, he did not.” The state charges that Bennett funded a plan in 2006 to blow up a major communication link in the country and assassinate key government figures. He is accused of having deposited funds in Hitschmann’s Mozambican account for the operation.



Arms dealer Hitschmann, 49, says he was tortured by state security agents to implicate Bennett. On Monday, the court threw out confessions made by Hitschmann in 2006 because they were not made freely, weakening the state’s case.



Hitschmann, who served jail time for possessing dangerous weapons, said it was not normal that the state had never interviewed him or taken a statement from him before he was called to testify as a witness.



“It’s not only not normal but also dangerous, my Lord. I would have given an indication (to the state) that I would be of little use to the state,” Hitschmann said.



Hitschmann, a former police officer, said as a licensed arms dealer he collected guns from white commercial farmers who were forced off their land for safekeeping or for sale on commission. At the end of Hitschmann’s testimony, defence lawyers applied for the rejection of emails state prosecutors seek to rely on in establishing a link between him and Bennett.



“Hitschmann has made it very clear that such emails were only shown to him and that their origins are unknown to him,” Bennett’s lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, told the court.

Australia Pledges to Work With SA Over Zimbabwe

Australia has pledged to work with South Africa in supporting recovery efforts in Zimbabwe, the local media reported on Thursday.




Citing Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, the Herald reported that Australia was impressed by the progress that South Africa and the country's inclusive government had made in improving livelihoods and economic conditions in the country.



"South African efforts to see progress in Zimbabwe have encouraged the Australian government to partner it and we are keen to step up trilateral cooperation in support of recovery efforts in Zimbabwe," Smith said in Pretoria after meeting his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana Mashabane on Tuesday.



He announced that Australia would extend 6 million U.S. dollars to support Zimbabwe's economic turnaround efforts.



He said by working with South Africa, Australia could help Zimbabwe to rebuild and secure a bright future.



He added that Australia, which imposed sanctions on the country along with Western countries, had agreed to help Zimbabwe with taxation laws and water and sanitation technical expertise.



South Africa is facilitating inter-party talks to iron out outstanding issues to the Global Political Agreement that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe signed with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara on Sept. 15, 2008.



The GPA paved the way for the formation of the inclusive government last February.



Since the formation of the government, relations between Zimbabwe and countries that imposed sanctions on it have slightly thawed, as seen by the lifting of travel warnings against Zimbabwe.



Australia, the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Japan lifted the travel warnings which they had imposed at the height of political strife in the country.



Consequently, the country is expecting tourist arrivals to significantly improve since most of these countries constitute major tourist source markets for Zimbabwe.



The country recorded a 2.8 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first half of 2009, compared with the same period of the previous year.



Source: Xinhua

Bennett Case Prosecution Faces a Major Blow

Harare - In a major blow to the prosecution’s case against Roy Bennett, a senator and treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change who is an adversary of President Robert Mugabe, a judge ruled Monday that a confession from the main witness against him, Peter Michael Hitschmann, could not be used as it was obtained under pressure.

Mr. Hitschmann said state agents burned his buttocks with cigarettes to force him to implicate Mr. Bennett, now facing terrorism charges.


* New York Times

World Bank Projects Zimbabwe Economy Will Expand 7.1 Percent in 2010

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, currently in the United States for consultations with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, projected a comparable 7 percent growth rate this year in his budget for 2010


The World Bank is forecasting economic growth of 7.1 percent in Zimbabwe this year on a rebound in activity, slowing to 6.3 percent in 2011.



The growth will outpace that of all countries in the Southern African region, the World Bank said in its 2010 Global Economic Prospects report.



Finance Minister Tendai Biti, currently in the United States for consultations with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, projected a 7 percent growth this year in his 2010 budget.



The World Bank projected that the South African economy would expand just 2 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2011. Neighboring Botswana will register a 4.8 percent growth picking up to 5.6 percent in 2010, the bank said.



But economic analyst Rejoice Ngwenya of the Coalition for Market and Liberal Solutions told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that the projections are too optimistic as Zimbabwe lacks many essential ingredients for growth.



Elsewhere, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara departed Monday for Davos, Switzerland, to participate in the World Economic Forum opening on Wednesday.



Political sources said the prime minister and his deputy would engage leaders of the world’s largest economies on the sidelines of the forum aiming to drum up aid and investment to rebuild Zimbabwe's economy. President Robert Mugabe did not accompany them because he was not invited, sources said.

* VoA

UN Approves US$5 Million Grant Against Hunger in Zimbabwe

World Food Program receives additional $5 million from United Nations to fund assistance programs in Zimbabwe through annual 'hunger season'




The United Nations has given the World Food Program another five million dollars for its feeding programs in Zimbabwe, amid reports that the government will boost cereal imports to offset looming maize shortages due to drought.



The World Food Program's spokesman for Southern Africa, Richard Lee, told VOA the new funding should “make a large difference” in hitting the organization's Zimbabwe funding target of US$20 million.



The UN agency plans to provide food assistance to some 1.5 million Zimbabweans into the harvest period beginning in March.



Media reports say most of the country's 10 provinces have had poor rains, eastern Manicaland province being the most affected.



However, Lee told VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that while rains have been erratic in Zimbabwe in recent weeks, it is still premature to say that this amounts to a drought likely to devastate crops.

* VoA

Tsvangirai's MDC Says Unity Talks Deadlocked, Looks to Region

The meeting of the Tsvangirai MDC formation's standing committee was called after the party's lead negotiator, Tendai Biti, secretary general of the grouping as well as Finance Minister, declared a deadlock after another round of talks.


Senior figures in the Movement for Democratic Change of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai gathered in Harare on Friday to discuss the way forward as tension rose within the unity government over the lack of progress in talks to resolve issues that have long troubled power sharing.



The meeting of the Tsvangirai MDC formation's standing committee was called after the party's lead negotiator, Tendai Biti, secretary general of the grouping as well as Finance Minister, declared a deadlock after another round of talks on Thursday with the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe.



But Patrick Chinamasa, lead negotiator for the former ruling ZANU-PF and the minister of justice, told VOA that the talks will resume February 8.



Many MDC insiders say, however, that they want to refer the unsettled agenda to the Southern African Development Community for arbitration - SADC is a guarantor of the power-sharing arrangement along with the African Union. Another option is to call for free and fair elections, though Mr. Tsvangirai himself has indicated he thinks it is early days for a new ballot.



Some political analysts have suggested that the MDC position in the talks was undermined by comments from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in the House of Commons this week. Miliband said Britain wants to see real progress in Harare, adding: “We have to calibrate our response to the progress on the ground, and, above all, to be guided by what the MDC says to us about the conditions under which it is working and leading the country."



ZANU-PF hardliners seized on those comments as evidence that the MDC could exert more influence in bringing about the lifting of European sanctions, and urging their negotiators concede nothing until that is obtained.



U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray told reporters in Harare that the power-sharing principals should be more flexible to make progress.



South African President Jacob Zuma, mediator for SADC in Zimbabwe, urged Mr. Tsvangirai to compromise rather than waiting for Mr. Mugabe to give way. But Ray said Mr. Mugabe, Mr. Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, the third principal, must all make concessions.



Harare political analyst Philip Pasirayi told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that it is ZANU-PF which is blocking progress in the talks, as Western sanctions can readily be lifted once fundamental reforms are embraced.

* VoA

Donors Re-affirm Support for Constitutional Reform in Zimbabwe

HARARE – International donors supporting Zimbabwe’s troubled constitutional reform on Sunday said they were committed to see the process succeed, refuting weekend claims that they had suspended funding for the project.

The Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) last week postponed deployment of teams to carry out public consultations on the proposed new constitution and the state-controlled Sunday Mail weekly newspaper yesterday attributed the delay to withdrawal of financial support by donors allegedly because they had failed to directly influence the project.

But the European Union (EU) and Germany told ZimOnline that they remained committed to supporting all democratic reforms in Zimbabwe.

"We are still committed to supporting the constitution making process in Zimbabwe, together with the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and other donors,” said European Commission ambassador to Zimbabwe Xavier Marchal.

“It might be because they (COPAC) are facing their problems and now want to talk about donors' fatigue but no donor who had pledged has changed their mind as far as I know."

Asked whether they had suspended their support German deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe Matthias Schumacher said: "The answer is no. Germany hasn't stopped supporting the process. We deplore that they are having problems, but we hope they solve them. We remain committed to funding all democratic reforms in Zimbabwe."

Quoting COPAC co-chairman, Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana from President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, the Sunday Mail said the donors’ decision was in apparent protest against their failure to directly influence the process after the select panel turned down their proposal to assist in developing talking points that will be used to solicit public opinion on the content of the new constitution

Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga, said at the weekend that COPAC management committee – composed of him, COPAC’s three co-chairmen and negotiators of the global political agreement that set up the country’s power-sharing government – would meet on Tuesday to get the process back on track.

Postponement of the exercise to gather the views of citizens on the new constitution is likely to further delay the reforms that have already missed several targets.

The proposed new constitution is part of the requirements of a September 2008 power-sharing deal between Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.

The new governance charter will pave way for free elections although there is no legal requirement for the unity government to call new polls immediately after a new constitution is in place.

Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will guarantee human rights, strengthen the role of Parliament and curtail the president's powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms.

The new constitution will replace the current Lancaster House Constitution written in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter has been amended 19 times since independence in 1980. Critics say the majority of the amendments have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU PF’s hold on power. – ZimOnline

Zimbabwe Suspends Constitutional Outreach Programme

Zimbabwe has suspended indefinitely its efforts to gather views from the public on a new constitution, officials say.




Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, a chairman of the select committee in charge of the process, said there were disagreements over who should gather public opinions.



He told the state-run Herald newspaper the committee also had a funding crunch and still needed to buy recording equipment and pay for transport.



The constitution was key to the power-sharing deal signed last February.



An election is due to be held once the constitution is agreed on.



In June 2008, Zanu-PF leader Robert Mugabe won a disputed presidential election which was boycotted by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).



MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister in the power-sharing government, has on several occasions accused Zanu-PF of holding up the consultation process.



Mr Mangwana said he could not give a timetable for when the operation might restart.



The Herald reported that all other programmes connected with the constitution would be suspended until next week, when the committee would meet to discuss financing.



The constitution is intended to replace the document drawn up when Zimbabwe gained independence from the UK in 1980.



Story from BBC NEWS:

UK Based Activists Launch Swaziland Vigil

Launch of the Swazi Vigil




FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL



Please find below a press notice from a new group the Swazi Vigil who have

asked us to circulate this to our media list.



Vigil co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place

every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of

human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will

continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held

in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk



PRESS NOTICE - 21st January 2010



Launch of the Swazi Vigil



Exiled Swazis and supporters are to hold a weekly Vigil outside the

Swaziland High Commission in London in protest at human rights abuses in the

small southern African country.



The first Vigil is to take place on Saturday 30th January from 10 am - 1pm.

The Vigils will continue until there democracy and respect for human rights

in Swaziland.



Swaziland has a population of 1.1 million and is Africa's only absolute

monarchy. A state of emergency has been in force for 35 years. Political

parties are banned, activists are imprisoned, and the judiciary, media and

other bodies are controlled by the monarch. Women, in particular, suffer

gross violation of their human rights. Seventy per cent of the population

live on less than $1 a day and more than 1 in 4 Swazis are living with HIV /

AIDS.



We will be running the following petitions:



A petition to the British government



Exiled Swazis and supporters urge you to put pressure on the absolute

monarch King Mswati III to allow political freedom, freedom of speech, the

rule of law, respect for women and affordable AIDS drugs in Swaziland.



A petition to the Commonwealth



Exiled Swazis and supporters urge you to suspend Swaziland from the

Commonwealth until there is democracy and an end to human rights abuses in

Swaziland.



Programme for 30th January



Event: Protest for democracy and an end to human rights abuses in Swaziland



Date and time: Saturday 30th January from 10 am - 1 pm



Venue: Kingdom of Swaziland High Commission, 20 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E

6LB



Nearest Tube: St. James Park

Interview opportunities: Political activists, torture and rape survivors



Further information: Thobile 07746 552 597, Vincent 07743 662 046

USA May End Block on Zimbabwe at IMF

Harare - The US embassy in Zimbabwe on Wednesday  confirmed a report in the state-run Herald newspaper that the US would not oppose the restoration of Zimbabwe's voting rights in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).




The US has since 2001 blocked funding from the IMF and World Bank to censure the regime of President Robert Mugabe for violent suppression of political opponents and reckless economic policies that turned the once prosperous nation into a failed state.



The Herald quoted US Ambassador Charles Ray saying: "We would want to assure Zimbabwe that once the issue of restoring Zimbabwe's voting rights is put forward for debate at the next IMF sitting, America will fully support the motion."



Those comments signal a major shift in Washington's tough stance towards Harare, according to diplomats.



US embassy spokesperson Tim Gerhardson said that Ray, who took up his post late last year, had added in his brief interview with the Herald that the US would not, however, table or initiate a motion for the restoration of Harare's voting rights in the IMF.



Diplomats said it was clear that the concession announced by Ray did not stretch to targeted sanctions against Mugabe's inner circle, which forbids them from entering the United States and from investing there. Most Western governments have similar bans against top officials from Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party.



The move follows repeated appeals from pro-democracy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, partner in a unity government with Mugabe since February 2009.



Zimbabwe's economy has showed significant improvement since Mugabe's policies were ditched but economists say Zimbabweans will remain mired in poverty without major international assistance.



Zimbabwe lost its rights to borrow money from the IMF and the World Bank in the late 1990s when the government fell seriously into arrears on loan repayments.



Diplomats say, however, that the US has never had to exercise its veto against Zimbabwe borrowing, because the regime was already disqualified by its combined arrears of $1.1bn to the IMF, the World Bank and subsidiary the African Development Bank.



- SAPA

Zimbabwe Committed to Electric Power Deal With Namibia

Reports said Energy Minister Mudzuri ordered ZESA to stop exporting electric power, but he told VOA Harare remains committed to the deal with Namibia and cooperation with other regional partners in the sector.


Zimbabwean Energy and Power Development Minister Elias Mudzuri said Tuesday that the Harare government will stand by an electric power generation and supply deal struck between the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority or ZESA and the Namibian power utility Nam-Power.



Namibia provided US$40 million under the 2007 agreement to refurbish a coal-fired power generation plant in Hwange, Matabeleland North province, in exchange for a portion of the electricity generated by the facility.



The agreement with Namibia and a similar deal with Botswana have come under criticism by those who say Zimbabwe should not be exporting power when it does not have enough electricity to meet its domestic needs. Blackouts have become a way of life for Zimbabwean businesses and households.



Recent news reports said Mudzuri ordered ZESA to stop exporting power, but the minister told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that Harare remains committed to the deal and to maintaining cordial relations with its sectoral partners in the Southern African Development Community.



In recent years as various Zimbabwean facilities have gone off-line partially or in full, much of the country's electric power has come from South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries in the region. But power coming from South Africa has dwindled as that country has experienced its own shortages of electricity due to surging demand with little capacity growth.


* VoA

Zimbabwe Prices Fell 7.7% in 2009 From Hyperinflation

Bloomberg) -- Consumer prices in Zimbabwe fell 7.7 percent last year, after the southern African nation abandoned its currency and switched to the dollar to rein in an inflation rate in the hundreds of billions.




Prices rose 0.5 percent in December, Moffat Nyoni, the head of the country’s statistics agency, said in a telephone interview from the capital Harare today. The annual inflation figure was the first one the government has released since 2008.



Zimbabwe began using U.S. dollars to calculate consumer prices in December 2008. It abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar for all transactions in February, when the Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change formed a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front party.



Inflation peaked at more than 500 billion percent before the government switched to the U.S. dollar, according to an IMF estimate last year.

--Editors: Ben Holland, Karl Maier.


To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Johannesburg at +27-39-9762641 +27-39-9762641 or blatham@bloomberg.net

Mugabe Urges Zimbabwean Unity, Reprises Anti-Western Rhetoric

Mr. Mugabe invited international mining companies to invest in Zimbabwean resource extraction - but cautioned that they would have to do so with black indigenous Zimbabwean partners




Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, speaking Monday at the burial of a hero of the 1970s liberation struggle, urged Zimbabweans to unite and work together for national development and prosperity.



The president was delivering a eulogy at the Heroes Acre burial of liberation participant Ntombiyelanga Takawira. Such ceremonies are often the occasion for politically significant declarations by Mr. Mugabe.



Also attending the ceremony was Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, head of a rival MDC formation.



Mr. Mugabe invited international mining companies to invest in Zimbabwean resource extraction - but cautioned that they would have to do so with black indigenous Zimbabwean partners, this an apparent brushback to those in the unity government who would ease restrictions on foreign stakeholdings.



Resorting to his trademark anti-Western rhetoric, Mr. Mugabe accused former colonial power Britain and the United States of meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs, rallying Zimbabweans to resist foreign domination.



Political analyst John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that Mr. Mugabe’s call for unity and peace was commendable, but questioned the political and economic wisdom of the president’s continued anti-Western declarations.



Meanwhile, intra-governmental negotiations to resolve so-called outstanding issues troubling the power-sharing government in Harare, scheduled to pick up on Sunday, failed to take place. Political sources said one of the negotiators for Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party was out of the country.



Officials from both MDC formations told VOA they were growing impatient with the prolonged negotiation process aimed at resolving issues remaining from the February 2009 formation of the government or which have arisen since then. Southern African leaders have also signaled impatience.



In Harare High Court, meanwhile, the the trial of MDC senator Roy Bennett on treason charges continued. Attorney General Johannes Tomana, who has taken personal charge of the prosecution, stunned the court in saying that the army and intelligence services should work with police in criminal investigations, reported VOA Studio 7 correspondent Thomas Chiripasi.



Elsewhere, Harare police arrested freelance news photographer Shadreck Andrison Manyere as he was filming a demonstration by the activist group Women of Zimbabwe Arise, media sources said. Two unidentified women were also arrested in the protest in central Harare called by the activist group to protest unaffordable school fees and low teacher salaries.



Human rights lawyer Dzimbabwe Chimga, counsel for Manyere, said no charges have been lodged against the photojournalist. He said the officer in charge at Harare Central Police Station had ordered Manyere to be released.



A WOZA statement later said Manyere had been released.



Manyere’s arrest follows the departure from Zimbabwe on Friday of journalist Stanley Kwenda, who reportedly fled after receiving threatening phone calls from suspected agents of the Central Intelligence Organization.



The Media Institute of Southern Africa condemned Manyere’s arrest and the alleged threats against Kwenda. It said the apparent crackdown threatened media freedom, and urged the unity government to respect media rights.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Constitutional Committee Postpones Consultations

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s constitutional committee has postponed public consultations on the proposed new constitution to allow an audit of members to ensure that only accredited members will be deployed to record the views of citizens on the new charter, a top official told ZimOnline on Sunday.


"We discovered that some people had fraudulently been accredited and trained as part of the outreach team,” Douglas Mwonzora, one of the three chairmen of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) driving the reforms said.

“This was unearthed when they were claiming payments and their names could not be found. As a result we now want to carry out an audit of what happened and have a clean list. This shows how COPAC is efficient since they didn't access funds.”

Postponement of the exercise to gather the views of citizens on the new constitution is likely to further delay the reforms that have already missed several targets.

Mwonzora who is a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party, said COPAC’s management committee – composed of all GPA negotiators and COPAC co-chairmen – would meet on Wednesday to chart the way forward.

“The management committee of COPAC will meet on Wednesday to plan the way forward. We'll try to ensure that the outreach is balanced in terms of gender, language and political affiliation. Management will give us the calendar of Parliament since all MPs are in the outreach programme," he said.

Constitution Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga confirmed the postponement of the deployment of the outreach teams which was supposed to have been done last week.

"Of course they will be a further slight delay, but it's to ensure that the process of gathering people's views is transparent and is composed of genuine people and not pretenders. In any case the delay will just be a week or so," Matinenga said.

The proposed new constitution is part of the requirements of a September 2008 power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara that gave birth to the Harare coalition government last February.

The new governance charter will pave way for free elections although there is no legal requirement for the unity government to call new polls immediately after a new constitution is in place.

Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will guarantee human rights, strengthen the role of Parliament and curtail the president's powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms.

* Zimonline

Bennett Case Hits Snag Over Hostile Witness

The prosecution’s key witness in the trial of a senior opposition leader told the court on Thursday that he was tortured into falsely implicating the defendant.


The witness, Peter Michael Hitschmann, said he implicated Roy Bennett, the treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change, when state security agents tortured him.


Mr. Bennett, who faces capital terrorism charges, has pleaded not guilty, and the opposition has called the charges against him baseless.

* AP

Public Service Strike to Test Zimbabwe's Fragile Government

HARARE – A planned national strike by Zimbabwean state workers in February would cripple public services and exert pressure on Harare's fragile coalition which has a huge task of rebuilding a devastated economy, analysts said.


The strike is a major test for the power-sharing government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, two long-time foes who came together last year to end a long-running political crisis.

On Wednesday, the country's three main unions representing government employees, surviving on a monthly salary of $160, said they would down tools within the next two weeks if their demands for a minimum wage of $630 were not met.

But the government does not have that money and will not be able to meet the demands, analysts said.

"There is no such kind of money in the country. One understands the predicament the employees are in but at same time the reality is that their demands cannot be met," John Robertson, an economic consultant said.

If the strike goes ahead, it would be the first against the coalition government by the employees, who include teachers and nurses.

Since the formation of the unity government, teachers had returned to work while state hospitals were admitting patients again as nurses and junior doctors resumed their duties.

Zimbabwe had in the past few years saw strikes by nurses and state doctors over low wages while teachers abandoned classes to take up jobs in neighbouring South Africa and Botswana, undermining what has for the past thirty years been one of the best education systems in the world.

But the government, grappling to convince international donors to pump $10 billion for the economy to fully recover, finds itself having to cajole the employees in the next two weeks to stop the damaging strike from going ahead.

The government is already under pressure from supporters of the two main political parties, ZANU PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over the slow implementation of the September 15 2008 political agreement, which critics blame for slowing inflows of donor money.

"This (strike action) was always going to happen. There has been a lot of expectation on the delivery of this government but people now realise that it will take a long time before the economy fully recovers to sustain such wage demands," John Makumbe, a political commentator and a critic of Mugabe's rule said.

"Nonetheless it is bad news for those in government, certainly for the MDC, who all along have enjoyed goodwill. They risk being painted with the same brush as ZANU PF,” he added.

Zimbabwe’s government wage bill gobbles up 60 percent of total collected revenues but constrained inflows from taxes makes it difficult for any significant wage hikes.

The government says it can only offer a top salary of $236, which has been rejected by the state employees, whose unions say they have no choice but to strike to press for more pay.

"Our members are suffering, we cannot pay our bills, the tariffs are higher than our wages," Cecilia Alexander, president of the Public Service Association, an umbrella body for all civil servants said this week.

Teachers in government schools have been attending classes but were not conducting lessons in protest against the slow pace of wage negotiations with the government.

The coalition government says it has managed to stabilise the economy, mainly by dumping a worthless Zimbabwe dollar that was decimated by inflation, which peaked at 500 billion percent in December 2008.

The economy grew 4.7 percent last year, the first time in a decade and growth is expected to quicken to 7 percent this year while inflation remains in single digits.

Investors and Western donors are, however, holding out for signs that the unity government will last and watching if Mugabe is ready to genuinely share power with Tsvangirai and institute broad reforms.

“I think they should just resolve this amicably, the workers should also understand that the government is struggling to raise money so they should temper their demands,” said Mercy Makoni, a mother of three whose two daughters attend government schools.

“No one once to go back to 2008, that would be very sad for our education sector,” she said. – ZimOnline

'Loitering' Foreigners Arrested Near Joburg's Methodist Church

JOHANNESBURG – South African police on Wednesday arrested 39 foreign nationals, mostly from Malawi and Zimbabwe, for loitering near the Johannesburg Central Methodist Church.


"The Johannesburg central crime prevention made the arrests during a normal crime prevention operation," police inspector Gordon Billing told reporters on Thursday, adding that the people, who included mothers with young children, were asked to pay a R300 fine or appear in court on Thursday.

The arrests raised the ire of human rights organisations who condemned the police action, saying it was aimed at "victimising and intimidating vulnerable people . . . and threatens to drive them away".

"One of our patients was arrested while queuing outside the clinic waiting to be treated. When we traced him to the Johannesburg Central Police Station to follow up on his condition, we found two more patients in police custody,"?? said Andreas Alga of the Doctors Without Borders clinic at the church.

Last July police arrested over 300 people near the church, causing an outcry from human rights organisations who described those arrests as "heavy handed" and said they were conducted as "part of a campaign to drive homeless people out of the city centre".

The Johannesburg church offers refuge to more than 3 000 immigrants from across Africa with the bulk of them Zimbabweans who continue to flock to the sanctuary, fleeing their home country because of hunger and economic hardships.

The church reportedly receives up to 200 new arrivals from Zimbabwe per week with the formation of a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last February appearing to have done little to stem the tide of Zimbabweans crossing the border to seek food and better opportunities in their more prosperous southern neighbour. – ZimOnline

SADC Leaders Meet on Zimbabwe, Madagascar

MAPUTO — Key southern African leaders gathered in the Mozambican capital Maputo on Thursday for a special summit on the political crises in Zimbabwe and Madagascar.




The security organ of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), known as the Troika, was scheduled to meet from 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) Thursday, a Mozambican foreign ministry official told AFP.



"The objective is to discuss security in the region," said Francisco Siueia.



Leaders from Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia are expected to attend.



A spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma said the meeting would focus on Zimbabwe and Madagascar.



"The chairman of the Troika will brief the summit on the progress thus far in terms of the situation in Zimbabwe" as well as Madagascar, said Vincent Magwenya.



SADC has been working to resolve the ongoing disputes that have threatened to derail Zimbabwe's fragile unity government and an aborted power-sharing deal in Madagascar.



The summit was announced just 24 hours before it was scheduled to start, but many regional leaders were already planning to be in Maputo to attend the swearing-in of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza for a second term.



Guebuza currently heads the Troika, which also includes Swaziland and Zambia.



"They will leave the ceremony, go to lunch, then meet" for the summit, said foreign ministry official Siueia. He added that it was possible the meeting would go late into the night.



A senior Zimbabwe government official told AFP that President Robert Mugabe would attend the meeting. However a spokesman for Mugabe's partner in the unity government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said he did not know about the summit and that the prime minister would not attend.



The summit follows a meeting of SADC foreign ministers last week in Maputo to discuss the Zimbabwe and Madagascar crises.



The regional bloc has been due to review progress in Zimbabwe's unity government after a special summit in November broke a deadlock that threatened to sink the deal.



Tsvangirai had withdrawn from his pact with Mugabe over disputes about key appointments and alleged harassment of his supporters, but was persuaded to rejoin after Troika leaders intervened.



South African mediators have since held talks in Harare among the rival Zimbabwe parties to settle the differences threatening to derail the deal.

Zimbabwean Constitutional Committee Urged to Listen to People's Views

HARARE -- Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga on Monday appealed to a government constitutional committee to be guided by the views of ordinary citizens in crafting a new charter for Zimbabwe, in what appeared an attempt to allay civic society fears that the executive will manipulate the reforms.



Civic society groups remain skeptical over the government-led constitutional reform exercise, while the national labour and student movements and the outspoken National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) political pressure group have vowed to campaign against the reforms that they say are open to abuse by the country’s three governing parties.


Matinenga told members of the committee, who will later this week fan out across the country soliciting the views and ideas of Zimbabweans that they want included in the proposed new governance charter, that citizens will reject in a planned referendum any draft constitution that does not reflect their wishes.


“(We) can only facilitate the process towards the crafting of the constitution. We cannot dictate," said Matinenga, addressing a training workshop for the constitutional committee members.


"We dare not dictate the outcome. History tells us that any interference with the will of the people is bound to fail. It happened in 2000. We should never, ever tamper with the wishes of the people this time around,” said Matinenga, a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party.

Zimbabweans 10 years ago rejected a government-backed draft constitution in a referendum, accusing President Robert Mugabe and his then sole ruling ZANU PF party of manipulating constitutional reforms and doctoring the draft in order to entrench their hold on power.


The NCA working with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the student movement and the opposition MDC party – then a single party led by Tsvangirai – masterminded the campaign for a No-vote against the government-sponsored draft constitution in February 2000.

The fresh attempt to write a new constitution follows formation last February of a coalition government by ZANU PF, MDC-T and the smaller MDC-M party of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and is part of requirements of a September 2008 power-sharing deal signed by the three parties.


If approved by Zimbabweans in a referendum the draft constitution will be taken to Parliament for enactment, with the coalition government expected to call fresh elections once a new constitution is in place.


It is however not clear whether the government will call new elections immediately after a new constitution is enacted or whether it will wait until expiry of its legal life span in 2013.

* Zimonline

Zuma Optimistic On Zimbabwe Talks Progress

Harare — Negotiations between Zimbabwe's parties to ensure the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement have shown encouraging signs of progress, Sadc facilitator and South African President Jacob Zuma has said.

In an interview with South Africa's media on Sunday, President Zuma expressed confidence that Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations that formed the inclusive Government last year would resolve their differences soon.


Negotiations for the full implementation of the GPA issues are expected to continue early next week after being adjourned in December last year.


However, President Zuma said he was happy that the parties were talking and indicated that he would soon present a report to the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.


"Zimbabweans have met, they have discussed issues, they have made progress. So to some degree there's work going on in Zimbabwe, which gives hope that we will resolve matters," he said.


The South African leader, who has appointed a facilitation team to work with negotiators from the three political parties, said only a few issues were still outstanding.


President Zuma, however, did not indicate when the Sadc Troika would meet to discuss progress made in the Zimbabwe talks.

The facilitation team of President Zuma's international relations adviser Ms Lindiwe Zulu and former cabinet ministers Mr Charles Nqakula and Mr Mac Maharaj have said they were happy with progress made so far.


Ms Zulu was quoted in international media as saying the negotiations have started yielding positive results.


The facilitation team was in Zimbabwe in December last year when they received a report from the parties' negotiating teams.

The facilitators were expected to hand over the report to President Zuma, who would in turn discuss progress with his Mozambican counterpart, President Armando Guebuza, the Sadc Troika chairman.


The principals to the GPA -- President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara --urged Zimbabweans to be patient while the parties negotiated their positions.


* Herald

Zimbabwean Judiciary Calls For Parties to Uphold Rule of Law

HARARE – Zimbabwe Judge President Rita Makarau on Monday said the judiciary was expecting signatories to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that facilitated the country’s power-sharing administration to uphold the rule of law.


Officially opening this year's judiciary year, Makarau said she was confident that President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the two factions of the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara would lead by example and respect the courts.

"We are heartened to know that our interpretation of the constitution and the laws of the land will be respected by all parties to the agreement and by all individuals. We expect the three political parties to lead by example," Makaru said.

"We are also confident that as part of adhering to the principles of the rule of law, the three political parties and the government of national unity will do all that is in their respective powers to uphold the principle of the independence of the judiciary for there can be no rule of law without an independent judiciary."

Zimbabwe’s bench – purged of independent judges by Mugabe – is often accused by human rights groups of lacking courage to defend the rights of citizens.

The Judge President, appointed to the High Court in 2000 when Mugabe began re-moulding the bench, also bemoaned the shortages of judges, their poor remuneration and conditions of service which she said were so unattractive that no new appointments could be made to the bench.

"That conditions of service are so scandalous is now common knowledge. That the nation cannot have new judges appointed to the bench without first improving on the conditions of service of sitting judges goes without saying.

The Judge President expressed concern on the number of judges serving the populace saying the shortage was particularly felt in the Bulawayo High Court.

"For the best part of the year, the station had three judges only and due to its size, catering as it does for the southern part of the country, the three judges were overwhelmed."

Lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors are among a host of skilled workers including teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers who have fled Zimbabwe to neighbouring countries and as far afield as Britain and the United States in search of better pay and living conditions during the country’s decade-long economic meltdown.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai last February formed a coalition government following an inconclusive election. The 11-month old government has done well to stabilise Zimbabwe’s economy and end inflation that was estimated at more than a trillion percent at the height of the country’s economic meltdown last year.

As a result living conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans have greatly improved compared to 2008 when the country battled shortages of cash, fuel and every basic survival commodity.

But unending bickering between ZANU PF and MDC as well as the coalition government’s inability to secure direct financial support from rich Western nations have held back the administration’s efforts to rebuild the economy.

The MDC accuses Mugabe of flouting the global political agreement that gave birth to the unity government after the veteran leader refused to rescind his unilateral appointment of two of his allies to the key posts of central bank governor and attorney general.

Mugabe has also refused to swear in MDC treasurer Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister and to appoint members of Tsvangirai’s party as provincial governors.

On its part ZANU PF insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing deal and instead accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for lifting of Western sanctions on Mugabe and his top allies. – ZimOnline

Key Witness Agains to Testify Soon

HARARE – Key state witness, Peter Hitschmann is expected to testify in the treason trial of Roy Bennett, a key aide to Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai which resumes in Harare tomorrow after a nearly two-month break, the prosecution team said.


The case resumes Tuesday after Hitschmann failed to turn up at the High Court on November 27 last year.

Prosecutor, Chris Mutangadura said Hitschmann who is the state's key witness is set to testify.

"I am sure that he is going to testify on Tuesday," Mutangadura said. "He is scheduled to testify and there is nothing which will stop him. The case might be prolonged because as we are now approaching to cover the real issues and this may result in the case taking longer than expected."

The state accuses Bennett – treasurer in Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party – of plotting to overthrow Mugabe and that he deposited money into the Mozambican bank account of Hitschmann to buy weapons to be used to assassinate the veteran leader.

The state seeks to prove to court that guns and other weapons found at the home of Hitschmann, a registered firearms dealer, were intended for use to assassinate Mugabe and that they were bought with money supplied by Bennett.

But Hitschmann was found not guilty of treason in an earlier ruling by the High Court which also found that some of the weapons seized from the firearms-dealer were lawfully in his possession.

Hitschmann has also claimed that investigators tortured him in a bid to obtain from him statements that could incriminate Bennett.

Bennett faces a possible death sentence if found guilty in a case that has heightened tensions in Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government. – Zimonline

Zimbabwe Lauded for Halting Diamond Auction by Mugabe Crony

Human Rights activists have for once applauded the Zimbabwe government for blocking the auctioning of more than 300 000 carats of what is termed as “blood diamonds” at Harare International Airport on Thursday.


It had emerged that the state authorized mining company heading the diamond auction, Mbada Diamonds had not ‘fully complied with requirements’ as the international diamond regulatory body, the Kimberly Process, and other key government departments had not been informed of the sale.


An estimated 60kgs (over 300 000 carats) of Zimbabwe’s blood diamonds were set to be sold.
Diamond buyers from across the world had flown into Harare International Airport to partake in the three day auction that was supposed to go ahead Thursday. Scores of buyers where visibly dejected after the announcement but military police moved in to quell the potential explosive situation.
In a hastily arranged press briefing, Secretary for Mines and Mining Development, Thankful Musukutwa, told reporters that the auction had been stopped until the correct laid-down process was followed.

“The due process for selling diamonds produced in Zimbabwe involves the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, ZRP Minerals Unit and Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, where diamonds from Marange are concerned. In the case of Mbada Diamonds, this process is yet to happen.
“The Government of Zimbabwe observes and is committed to the administrative decision of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme adopted at Swakopmund, Namibia, during the November 2009 plenary meeting,” he said.

SADC Leaders Unhappy With Pace of Zimbabwe Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Southern African leaders are unhappy with the slow pace of negotiations aimed at ending the political crisis in Zimbabwe, a regional defense and security committee official said.




The 15-nation Southern African Development Community brokered an accord in February 2008 that resulted in Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai forming a unity government.



Since then, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change has accused Mugabe of violating terms of the agreement. Tsvangirai temporarily withdrew his party from the coalition on Oct. 16. He reversed his decision on Nov. 6 following talks mediated by SADC to resolve outstanding issues, including the appointment of the country’s central bank governor and attorney general.



“With regards to the pace of negotiations and the pace of events, nobody is happy,” Oldemiro Baloi, chairman of SADC’s politics, defense and security committee, said in an interview yesterday in Maputo, the Mozambican capital. “We want the talks to conclude as soon as possible.”



The MDC has demanded that Mugabe fire central bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, saying their appointments were unconstitutional. The party has also called for a joint military, police and intelligence committee to hold regular meetings, and an end to what it describes as police harassment of its members.



Last month, Agence France-Presse reported that Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed to appoint commissioners to oversee changes to media, electoral and human-rights policies.



The February accord brokered by SADC was aimed at ending a decade of political instability and economic decline in Zimbabwe that slashed exports and pushed inflation to a record.



SADC leaders met in Mozambique yesterday to discuss issues in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Madagascar. The meeting also endorsed the nomination of Malawian President Bingu was Mutharika as successor to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi as the head of the African Union, Baloi said, without providing further details.



To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Katerere in Maputo via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Zimbabwe Government Halts Diamond Auction

The government of Zimbabwe has canceled a diamond auction that had been highly publicized in the state media. Announcing the cancellation, a government official said the company that announced the auction had not followed the procedure for diamond sales.




Both the state and electronic media heralded the auction set for Tuesday, but nothing happened until Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary Thankful Musukutwa addressed the press. He said the sale of the diamonds would only go ahead after examination and certification by the so-called Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.



"The government of Zimbabwe and the KPCS are currently in the process of engaging that KP monitor and as such no export [of diamonds] will take place prior to certification by the KP monitor," said Thankful Musukutwa.



The diamonds in question are from the Marange fields, where human rights groups have reported widespread abuses by Zimbabwe's security forces against civilians. The Kimberley Process was set up to stop the sale of diamonds in areas where proceeds could be used to fund violence.



Despite calls by rights groups to have Zimbabwean diamond exports suspended over the alleged abuses, the Process decided instead to have all sales monitored at a meeting in Namibia late last year. It also gave the government six months to improve conditions in the Marange diamond fields. Musukutwa says the government abides by that decision.



"The government of Zimbabwe observes and is committed to the administrative decision of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme," said Musukutwa.



Musukutwa also said Mbada diamonds, which announced the auction, has not fulfilled government procedure for such sales.



Mbada is one of two South African-owned companies with which the Zimbabwean government went into partnership after the army forcibly removed ordinary people who had descended on the poorly protected diamond fields to look for the gems.


* AP

SA to Brief SADC Ministers on Zimbabwe Impasse

HARARE – South Africa will today brief regional foreign ministers on the progress of talks to resolve a power-sharing dispute threatening Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Southern African Development Community (SADC) foreign ministers meet in Mozambique today to coordinate the region’s support for Malawi’s bid for the chair of the African Union.

Pretoria officials said on Wednesday that international relations minister Mait Nkoana-Mashabane will use the occasion to brief her regional colleagues on the dialogue between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the former opposition MDC formations led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara.

South Africa brokered a 2008 power-sharing deal that gave birth to Zimbabwe’s coalition government last February and was last November asked by regional leaders to step in to help resolve a host of disagreements between the Zimbabwean parties and save the unity administration from collapse.

A team of facilitators appointed by President Jacob Zuma to mediate in the Zimbabwean dialogue earlier this week said that the pace of negotiations has been slow but said it was however happy with the progress achieved so far.

Negotiators have to date reached agreement on 16 of the 27 issues tabled for discussion. None of the issues at the core of the power-sharing dispute have yet been resolved.
The 11-month old government has done well to stabilise Zimbabwe’s economy and end inflation that was estimated at more than a trillion percent at the height of the country’s economic meltdown in 2008.

As a result living conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans have greatly improved compared to 12 months ago when the country battled shortages of cash, fuel and every basic survival commodity.

But unending bickering between ZANU PF and MDC as well as the coalition government’s inability to secure direct financial support from rich Western nations have held back the administration’s efforts to rebuild the economy.

The MDC accuses Mugabe of flouting the power-sharing agreement after the veteran leader refused to rescind his unilateral appointment of two of his allies to the key posts of central bank governor and attorney general.

Mugabe has also refused to swear in Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister and to appoint members of the MDC as provincial governors.

On its part ZANU PF insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing deal and instead accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for lifting of Western sanctions on Mugabe and his top allies.

– ZimOnline.

More Infighting in ZANU-PF Following Party Congress

The Masvingo branch of the party is embroiled in a factional dispute with some members of the provincial executive, said by sources to be led by Higher Education Minister Stan Mudenge, seeking Mzembi’s recall





Factional differences continue to roil Zimbabwe's former ruling ZANU-PF party with senior members in eastern Masvingo province said to have urged Vice President Joice Mujuru to suggest that President Robert Mugabe carry out a mini-Cabinet reshuffle to drop Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi.



The Masvingo branch of the party is embroiled in a factional dispute with some members of the provincial executive, said by sources to be led by Higher Education Minister Stan Mudenge, seeking Mzembi’s recall.



Masvingo ZANU-PF Chairman Lovemore Matuke told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that no one has approached Mujuru



Political sources said the Mudenge-led group is bitter because Mzembi backed Mujuru's reappointment at a December party congress when the provincial leadership was supporting rival Oppah Muchinguri. Analysts said the Mzembi imbroglio is linked to the ZANU-PF succession dispute - President Mugabe will turn 86 in February with no clear successor lined up, though Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa is believed to have the inside track.



Mzembi's adversaries in Masvingo say he has become too close to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, founder of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Mzembi traveled with Mr. Tsvangirai's delegation to the United States in Europe in June on a re-engagement mission.



Political analyst John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe said divisions in Masvingo are symptomatic of continuing fractures in the larger party.


* VoA

Zimbabwe to Review Death Penalty, Executive Powers

HARARE -- Whether the president should wield more power than the prime minister or whether capital punishment should stay, are some of the issues Zimbabweans will be asked about during a 65-day public consultation exercise on a proposed new constitution, top officials said Tuesday.


Douglass Mwonzora and Paul Mangwana – two of the three chairmen of a special parliamentary committee leading the constitutional reforms – promised full transparency during the constitution writing exercise and vowed that political parties would not be allowed to impose their ideas on citizens.



Mangwana and Mwonzora are senior members of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T parties respectively. They co-chair the constitutional committee together with Edward Mkhosi from Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s MDC-M party.



“We are not going to impose anything on the people,” said Mwonzora, during a training workshop in Harare for Members of Parliament who shall lead various thematic or subcommittees that shall go around the country soliciting the views and ideas of citizens they want included in the new constitution.



Highlighting some of the issues that will be discussed during the public outreach programme Mwonzora said: “The death penalty and the issue of the executive powers -- whether they should be with the president or the prime minister or whether they should be shared between the two are some of the issues likely to come up.”



A new Bill of Rights, judicial independence, press freedom and dual citizenship are other issues also expected to feature prominently during the consultations with citizens many of who say their basic rights have been dangerously eroded by a raft of repressive laws enacted by ZANU PF years before it formed unity government with its former opposition rivals.



Mangwana said: “People should be free to say out their views. There will not be victimisation. We have been assured that people will be protected and can say what they want.”



The proposed new constitution is part of a September 2008 power-sharing deal between Zimbabwe’s three main political parties that gave birth to the country’s coalition government last February.



But some civic society organisations led by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) political pressure group and including the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe National Students Union have expressed fears that the views of ordinary Zimbabweans are likely to be sidelined in favour of those of the political parties controlling the reform process.



The NCA and its allies – who in 2000 successfully mobilised Zimbabweans to reject a ZANU PF-sponsored draft constitution -- have said they will mount a similar campaign against the coalition government’s draft when it is taken to the electorate in a referendum that should take place later this year.



Rejection of the draft constitution would be disastrous for Mugabe and Tsavangirai’s unity government whose most important task besides reviving the economy is to write a new and democratic constitution to replace the existing one that was drafted by Zimbabwe’s former colonial power, Britain.



If approved by Zimbabweans in the referendum the draft constitution will be taken to Parliament for enactment, with the coalition government expected to call fresh elections once a new constitution is in place.



However, it is not clear whether the government will call new elections immediately after a new constitution is enacted or whether it will wait until expiry of its legal life span in 2013. – ZimOnline.

More Zimbabweans to Get ARVs

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government plans to increase the number of people on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to 300 000 this year up from 180 000 currently receiving the life-prolonging drugs, Health Minister Henry Madzorera told ZimOnline on Tuesday.


HIV/AIDS is a major killer in Zimbabwe with the pandemic aggravated by severe poverty and a barely functional public health system in the southern African country that is only beginning to emerge from a decade of acute recession and political turmoil.



Madzorera said the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would work with international organisations to make more ARVs available to the nearly 400 000 people requiring the drugs.



He said: “The need to improve anti-retroviral drug distribution is on top of government’s priority list and (by end of this year) 300 000 people living with HIV will be able to access the life saving drugs.



“We are setting plans with our friendly organisations to overcome the ART challenge …. although it is a long process we aim to achieve the target.”



The Harare government has struggled for cash with rich Western donor countries unwilling to avail more financial support to the administration but Madzorera said the US$285.4 million allocated his department in this year’s budget would greatly assist the drive to expand distribution of ARVs.



“We want to ensure people living with the HIV countrywide do not travel more than eight kilometres to collect drugs in 2010,” he said.



According to United Nations estimates almost 343 600 adults and 35 200 children under 15 years urgently need ARV treatment out of 1.2 million Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS.



An estimated 3 000 people out of the total 12 million Zimbabweans die of HIV/AIDS related illnesses every week.



But the country that once boasted one of Africa’s best economies and an envied public health delivery system has made some commendable progress fighting HIV/AIDS with the government reporting last September a drop in the infection rate to 13.7 percent from 14.1 percent in 2008. – ZimOnline

Zimbabwe Constitutional Committee Co-Chairman Sees Draft Ready by October

Completion of the drafting process in October would reflect a three-month lag on the schedule laid out in the September 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing, which indicated a referendum by July 2010





The task of drafting a new constitution for Zimbabwe should be completed by October, one of the co-chairman of the parliamentary select committee in charge of the task told VOA on Tuesday, though other sources said it is unclear when a national referendum on the new basic document might be held.



Completion of the drafting process in October would reflect a three-month lag on the schedule laid out in the September 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing, which indicated a referendum by July 2010. Political squabbles and funding issues have held up progress in overhauling the document.



But the process has received a shot in the arm with the injection of funds by the government and the United Nations Development Fund.



Parliamentary Select Committee Co-Chairman Paul Mangwana of ZANU-PF told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that there is no going back because resources are now available - though ultimately more will be needed.



The parliamentary committee for constitutional revision said the estimated 4 million Zimbabweans living outside the country in the so-called diaspora will have a chance to contribute to the constitutional revision process.



Select Committee Co-Chairman Douglas Mwonzora of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said that Article VI of the Global Political Agreement says every Zimbabwean must take part in the process, telling VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that no one ceases to be a Zimbabwean because he or she is an expatriate.



The National Constitutional Assembly, a civic organization, again vowed to mobilize opposition the parliamentary-led revision process, which it says is not driven by the popular will. NCA spokesman Madock Chivasa said the group will work with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe National Students Union to demand a "people-driven" constitution.

* VoA

Toll Gates Rake in US$350 000 a Week

HARARE – Toll gates installed along Zimbabwe’s major roads are generating an average US$350 000 per week most of which is used to repair the country’s dilapidated road network, according to Finance Minister Tendai Biti.


"Toll gate revenue collection developments so far indicate weekly inflows averaging close to US$350.000, the bulk of which is immediately transferred to the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA) for distribution to respective road authorities, including the department of state roads, district developments fund and local authorities," Biti said in his macro-economic policy and budget framework for 2010-2012.



Zimbabwe introduced toll gates in August last year as a way of mobilising resources for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the country’s road network.



Most of the country's roads are in a state of disrepair with many littered with dangerous potholes as result of years of neglect and increased volume of traffic beyond designed carrying capacity.



Hundreds of Zimbabweans including some senior government leaders have perished in road accidents that experts have largely blamed on the poor state of roads.



Biti said the attractive revenue generated from tollgates could help lure private sector participation in road maintenance.



"A sustainable significant source of domestic revenue generation also enhances scope for attracting access to additional alternative financial resources from private players through Public Private Partnership arrangements in support of broadening and expediting the trunk road network rehabilitation as well as construction of new roads," he said.



Small vehicle road users pay US$1 to cross the tollgates, while buses and lorries pay $5. Motorbike and cyclists do not pay anything.



According to the ministry of transport, 30 percent of the country’s roads require rehabilitation, while the remainder needs periodic maintenance. -- ZimOnline.

Archbishop of York’s Call to Shun BNP at the General Election

THE Archbishop of York has appealed to people to shun the BNP at the General Election and called for an England victory at the World Cup.




Writing in a national newspaper, Dr John Sentamu also said he would be praying for the safe return of both Claudia Lawrence and Madeleine McCann in 2010, and spoke about the continued fighting in Afghanistan and the situation in Zimbabwe.



But he led with a call for people to dump the BNP.



The archbishop said: “I hope there will not be a repeat of the fatigue, distrust and disinterest that allowed the BNP to gain two seats in the European Parliament last year.



“Where I live, in Yorkshire, the BNP vote decreased by over 6,000, but their representation increased because a large majority of people did not come out and vote for mainstream political parties.



“I hope we will not make the same mistake at the General Election and allow candidates with sectarian, divisive and engineered hatred into Parliament via the back door."



He said there was a moral responsibility for everyone to vote.



He quoted historian Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."



Dr Sentamu spoke out on behalf of British soldiers, saying we should “honour and salute” them and called for “considerable improvements in the way we treat our brave soldiers”.



He also said he hoped 2010 would see a regime change in Zimbabwe, noting that it was now more than two years since he cut up his dog collar in protest at Robert Mugabe.



He concluded: “We have waited a long time for someone to repeat the feats of Alf Ramsey’s boys, but this could be the year that we rewrite the history books. We need to join together and cheer on our new generation of footballing greats to success.



“My prayer for 2010 is that Madeleine McCann and Claudia Lawrence will be found safely.



“Together we can make this country great again. Together we can make 2010 a year to remember.



“A year in which all of us exercise that greatest gift – of charity.”



* York Press

Mugabe and the White African Film Gets Oscar Nomination

A WHITE Zimbabwean farming family who were forced off their land by President Robert Mugabe's regime have had a taste of revenge after a documentary on their plight emerged as an Oscar contender.




Mugabe and the White African was named best documentary at the British Independent Film Awards last month and has been shortlisted as one of the 15 films from which the Oscar nominees will be drawn next month.



The film tells how Mike Campbell, his wife Angela, daughter Laura, son-in-law Ben Freeth, and their black Zimbabwean workers battled to keep hold of Mount Carmel, the mango farm about 110 kilometres south-west of Harare where his family had lived for 30 years, in the face of beatings by militia gangs loyal to Mr Mugabe.



The family lost a long battle to hold on to the farm last year despite having an unprecedented win in court against the Zimbabwean Government.



The Campbells and Freeths were burned out of their homes in August, and Mount Carmel Farm was occupied by Nathan Shamuyarira, an octogenarian former cabinet minister and Mr Mugabe's official biographer.



Mr Freeth, his wife and their three children now live in a friend's house in the nearby town of Chegutu, while Mr and Mrs Campbell live in Harare.



Months earlier Mr Campbell, 76, was subjected to a horrific beating after he petitioned a tribunal of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to rule against Mr Mugabe's efforts to seize white-owned farms.



After a nine-hour ordeal at a militia camp, Mr Campbell was so badly injured that he could not attend the hearing in Namibia; Mr Freeth, whose skull was fractured, managed to be present in a wheelchair with his head bandaged.



Mr Campbell, 76, hopes the film will force the international spotlight back on the campaign of violent, state-sponsored farm evictions, which has continued under Mr Mugabe.



Telegraph, London