Succesion a taboo in Zanu PF

HARARE- The Zanu PF’s Youth League has recently castigated any succession debate and declare war on whoever intends to bring such issues on board as the party prepares for an election.

Factionalism has fuelled confusion within Zanu PF as President Mugabe failed to appoint a successor.

Vice President Joice Mujuru, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa and Commander of Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantine Chiwenga are fighting battles against each other over succession.  

Speaking to journalist at a press in Harare yesterday, Zanu PF Secretary for Youth Affairs and Politburo member, Absalom Sikhosana said succession debate is a taboo in Zanu PF and anyone who dares challenge the President is a sellout.

“The post Mugabe era is out of question, we sat down as the party during our congress and came up with a resolution that Mugabe should stand as the presidential candidate for Zanu PF.

“If anybody else wishes to stand then definitely he/she would not be from our party, maybe from elsewhere,” he said.

Sikhosana however took a swipe to attack the constitution making process by Copac saying their patience as the Youth League is fast running away. He added that Zimbabwe should not be held at ransom by people who are delaying the process by rising issues that are now calling for further negotiations.

Amongst those issues include sexual rights, presidential powers, devolution and the appointment of senior government officials which Zanu PF vehemently refuses to discuss about.

“We are not going to take these criminal imaginations by those drafting the constitution; we are demanding its conclusion yesterday failure to do so will call for elections,” Sikhosana said.

Zanu PF is on record of beating, torturing, abducting and killing people towards election and it’s pushing for elections this year with or without a new constitution has been criticized by both local and international analysts as tantamount to a blood bath.

State sponsored violence Zimbabwe’s greatest enemy

Police beating up civilians at a public gathering

 HARARE- Zimbabwe is a state that is deeply engraved in the colonial mentality in which repressive and exploitative laws are still in use, an MDC-T party official has said.

Speaking at a public debate dubbed ‘What can be done to end politically motivated violence’ MDC-T Bulawayo Provincial Chairperson, Gordon Moyo said state sponsored violence is the main problem bedeviling the Zimbabwean and African political landscape.

Moyo, the Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatal noted that state inspired violence is traceable to the colonial structure of the state which was inherited by the Mugabe administration.

“The Mugabe administration inherited a coercive, racial and apartheid state which was not transformed. 

“The inherited system was supposed to subdue people and for 32 years we are still using that,” Moyo said.

He noted there are some elements in the government who despite being mandated to lead the nation have since independence used that opportunity to accumulate wealth using primitive means.

Speaking on the same occasion MDC Ncube led faction Policy Coordinator, Qhubani Moyo concurred with Gordon Moyo when he said a few group of people in government has monopolized the wealth and political space of this country resulting in social, economic and political conflict.

“We have seen barricades where people are not allowed to make choices. Zanu PF has monopolized the public space resulting in violence as people go out to create that space which they are being denied.

“We have normalized the abnormal and violence has become a norm, part of our lives and a culture in this country,” said Moyo.

He however castigated the recent announcement by Major General Martin Chedondo that he supports Zanu PF saying that the Mugabe regime is now using the military to silence the people of Zimbabwe.

“The protection centers we have as the people of Zimbabwe are blocked. The army is supposed to protect the interest of the nation but the moment the army general starts supporting a political party that is where we have violence.

“Where we think we find protection we do not get it, instead we are incarcerated,” Moyo said. 

Despite the formation of the inclusive government in 2008 that joined sworn adversaries, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the country continue to witness politically motivated violence with known violence structures such as Chipangano terrorizing residents in Mbare, Highfields  and other surrounding suburbs in Harare.

 

thesocialist: Chiefs threaten villagers as election euphoria inc...

thesocialist: Chiefs threaten villagers as election euphoria inc...:  Zimbabwean chiefs at a  chiefs conference recently held in Bulawayo ZAKA- Chiefs, war veterans and Zanu PF supporters continue to tu...

Chiefs threaten villagers as election euphoria increases

 Zimbabwean chiefs at a  chiefs conference recently held in Bulawayo

ZAKA- Chiefs, war veterans and Zanu PF supporters continue to turn a deaf ear on President Mugabe’s call to shun violence as they continue to terrorize MDC-T activities in Zaka East constituency ahead of elections which Zanu Pf has vowed should be held this year with or without a constitution.

Zaka, a stronghold of Zanu PF has been rocked with political violence since 2008 with at   least 11 MDC supporters murdered in cold blood by the war veterans and militia.

Chief Nhema, a Zanu PF functionary is said to have ordered all the sub chiefs and village headmen to instill fear in the people so that they vote for Zanu PF. The villagers have been threatened with evictions from the area, abductions, and death in the event they are found to be MDC supporters.

“We have been given direct orders by Chief Nhema to threaten people with eviction if they did not support Zanu PF,” said sub chief who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization.

He added, “The chief is also working with the Zanu PF executive members, Manyatera Venenzia, Festion Chinyanga and Jonathan Mafunga, all from Chemhazha ward 21, in threatening us. We no longer feel safe to conduct our day to day duties because we are afraid to be labeled MDC supporters.”

Chief Nhema is also accused of denying MDC supporters food aid from the grain loan scheme.  The loan scheme which is a government initiative is meant benefit everyone regardless of political affiliation.

Speaking at a memorial service of an MDC activist, Martin Hanyani who died in November last year over the weekend, MDC-T District Treasurer and aspiring candidate for Zaka East constituency, James Gumbi advised youths to refrain from violence and encourage them to register to vote in the next general elections.

“That election is for us the youths, it is our job to change the country, Slogans without voting is a waste of time.

“We don’t want violence; we are a peace loving people and our party is non violent party.”

Gumbi said the memorial service of Hanyani, who was brutally assaulted by Zanu PF activists in 2008 and died of internal injuries, was a clear message that MDC-T respects and honour the young people who fought for the democratization of this country.

Still no hope for Murambatsvina victims

The Murambatsvina exercise left many traumatised.

Some of the victims of the government’s controversial “clean up” exercise of 2005, Operation Murambatsvina, have failed to recover from the trauma and are still living in abject poverty.

 “I have already lost hope in the future of my children as getting meaningful education has proved a nightmare, said Muchaneta Marwei, a single mother with three children.

“Every night I helplessly submit myself to the Lord for guidance. The government has failed us as it cannot provide alternative and decent accommodation. Poverty and these shacks are what have become of us,” lamented Marwei.

She said watching the bulldozer raze her house to the ground in 2005 was heart rending.

“I knew that was the end of me,” she said.She survives on selling fish supplied by poachers from Lake Chivero.

The exercise saw the demolition of “illegal” settlements and structures across the country. Marwei is not alone in her predicament.

As compensation, government introduced Operation “Garikai, hlalanikuhle” (live well) designed to benefit those whose homes had been demolished.

“Garikai has helped only a few and most of us are living on the promise that looks never to come,” Marwei added.

The victims were moved to areas such as Hopley and Caledonia in the outskirts of Harare, where they live to this day without basic necessities such as schools, clinics, electricity and access to clean water. People still live in plastic shacks.

Regina Mtizwa (69) from Caledonia, who stays with two orphaned grandchildren, said her life had been ruined. Apart from staying in squalid conditions, she walks long distances to fetch firewood from the Granville Cemetery.

University of Zimbabwe lecturer and social commentator, Tawanda Zinyama, said:

“The people will forever rue the exercise because it was haphazardly done.

The national housing backlog stood at more than one million when the government destroyed the accommodation people had built for themselves.

Seven years down the line, the ghosts of Murambatsvina are still haunting many people.”

He said the exercise was a political one - embarked on soon after the 2005 parliamentary elections in areas deemed to be opposition strongholds.

No hope

“Unless there is a paradigm shift from the existing national housing policy, people who were affected by the Murambatsvina madness will forever talk about it without tangible solutions in sight,” Zinyama warned.

“People need a place to stay. The situation is slowly going back to the pre-2005 state of affairs. The tuck shops and illegal structures are resurfacing in areas such as Glen Norah, Mbare and Highfield,” Zinyama added.

Amnesty International Executive Director, Cousin Zilala, said: “We are saying to the government please stop forced eviction and come up with policies that ensure that everyone acquires a house. The illegality of these settlements demonstrates the failed nature of the government.”

Indigenization’s policy could change China’s stance towards pariah states

Indeginisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere

President Robert Mugabe’s erratic treatment of foreign economic interests could see China change its uncritical stance towards pariah states like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Iran.

This was said by the former United States ambassador to Beijing Clark Randt two years ago after he looked at the relations between the United States and China over the past 30 years and also at the 30 years to come.

Randt was the longest serving US ambassador to Beijing.

China has shown that it is willing to put its need for markets and raw materials above the need to promote internationally accepted norms of behaviour.

According to one of the cables released by Wikileaks, Randt says new found interest in internationally accepted donor principles such as transparency, good governance, environmental and labour protections, and corporate social responsibility will have matured in 30 years´ time, making China a reliable partner for the United States, other donor countries, and international organisations in alleviating poverty, developing infrastructure, improving education and fighting infectious disease.

He says as one of the world´s premier economic powers, China can be expected to have all but discarded its over-worn and outdated “non-interference” rhetoric in the face of massive Chinese investment assets and other economic interests abroad.

“As evidenced by Chinese policies toward pariah states like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Iran, China is still willing to put its need for markets and raw materials above the need to promote internationally accepted norms of behaviour.

“However, the possible secession of southern Sudan (where much of the country´s oil is found) from the repressive Khartoum-based Bashir regime, the erratic treatment of foreign economic interests in Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe, the dangers to regional safety and stability posed by Burma´s dysfunctional military junta, and the threat to China´s energy security that a nuclear-armed Iran would represent have given Beijing cause to re-calibrate its previously uncritical stance toward these international outlaws.

“If China´s integration into global economic and security structures continues apace, we would expect its tolerance for these sorts of disruptive players to decrease proportionately,” the cable says.

China is now the world’s second biggest economy and could overtake the United States within the next 20 to 30 years. It, however, seems to be strengthening its relations with Zimbabwe and recently lent the country $700 million. It, however, told the Zimbabwean government that it expects its investments in the country to be protected in view of the country’s indigenisation laws.

Copac chief denies snubbing disabled

Douglas Mwonzora, Copac Co- chairperson

The parliamentary constitutional select committee (COPAC) has come under heavy attack from associations and organizations representing people living with disabilities.


There has been an outcry over the lack of recognition of people living with disabilities in the first draft constitution leaked to the media recently.


The Director of Zimbabwe National Association of the Deaf, Christine Sithole, said there was not much awareness regarding the constitution-making process among people living with disabilities, and as a result, most of them did not participate.


“Available statistics indicates that only one percent of the disabled can access information through reading. The draft constitution only highlighted physical challenges and mental illness - leaving out other forms of disability,” she said.


Sithole added that if people living with disabilities are not fully considered in the new constitution, they will continue to be side-lined. But COPAC co-chairperson, Douglas Mwonzora said people living with disabilities were included in the new constitution.


“We urge endurance of all the stakeholders while we are drafting the new constitution,” he said. “We are going to make sure that the new law observes everyone’s rights.”


Save the Children Norway reported in 2004 that sexual abuse of children with disabilities was increasing, and that 87.4 percent of girls with disabilities had been sexually abused.


Approximately 48 percent of these girls were deaf and mentally challenged, 15.7 percent had hearing impairments and 25.3 percent had visible physical disabilities. Of those who had been sexually abused, 52.4 percent tested positive for HIV.


The report also noted that access to counselling, testing and treatment was severely limited for this group while health personnel often shunned people with disabilities.


Vice President of Street Net International, Beauty Mugijima, said there was need to empower and involve people with disabilities in the formulation and implementation of social and economic policies.


“The government should allocate sufficient funds to ministries and departments dealing with people with disabilities and establish national committees to coordinate all disability issues,” she added.


According to study conducted by the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped last year, only 2 percent of the people with disabilities are employed in the public sector and less than 7 percent of people with disabilities are in employment.


Institutions such as Jairos Jiri Centre, Copota School, Danhiko and the Chinyaradzo Children’s Home which used to take care of people with disabilities used to get financial support from the government and the corporate world, but the economic quandary that rocked Zimbabwe since 1999 saw the withdrawal of aid, forcing the disabled to opt for street life.