Did you know that white Zimbabweans may soon no longer be allowed to run hairdressing salons? Apparently, part of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General) Regulations 2010 passed by Robert Mugabe’s government specifies that certain industries will be available only to black Zimbabweans.
These include employment agencies, estate agencies, valet services, grain milling, bakeries, tobacco grading and packaging, tobacco processing, advertising agencies, milk processing and provision of local arts. They also include barber shops and beauty salons.
Incredibly, they also include agricultural production of food. I suppose that’s because there is such an oversupply of food in Zimbabwe that you wouldn’t want just anybody growing it. The inclusion of “milk processing” is also interesting, given Grace Mugabe’s investments in the milk business.
The legislation is intended as a kind of black economic empowerment process, but has all the usual hallmarks of Zanu (PF) thuggery and brainlessness; absurd, unworkable targets and deadlines.
In a memorable piece on Moneyweb, Zimbabwean Cathy Buckle writes: “We all wondered what would happen when there were no more farms left to grab, now we know.
“After a year of appeals, conferences and seminars to try and attract investors back to Zimbabwe, everything was wasted in a single stroke this week. A new regulation has just been gazetted requiring that all local and foreign owned companies must hand over at least 51% ownership to ‘indigenous’ Zimbabweans. Multiple thousands of companies are going to be affected and economists predict that many local industries will be forced into bankruptcy.”
But what’s interesting about these laws, which are so obviously and flagrantly racist, is how little South Africans seem to care about it.
The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League cannot write a press release without condemning racism, yet it cannot bring itself to condemn racism that is happening now, in the country right next door. I guess racism is not racism if the victims are not your own kind.
Johannesburg churches are overflowing with Zimbabwean refugees who prefer to be on the winter streets of the city than in their own country. Yet ANC leaders remain totally unmoved.
The legislation, being announced just before President Jacob Zuma ’s opening of Parliament speech, was an obviously intended as a kind of “up yours” to the South African government, which the South African government blithely ignored, as it always does.
The foreign policy announcements Zuma made in his speech were really of the most gloriously general kind. Zuma said SA would “intensify efforts to promote the interests of SA globally”. Shock! He then mentioned the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
Almost as much time was spent in the speech on broadband issues as on foreign affairs, not including the Copenhagen climate change conference, if that can be called a foreign affairs issue.
Foreign affairs was one of the areas where Zuma sought to differentiate himself from the Mbeki administration. Mbeki was known for constantly jetting off to some conference with the leader of this or that organisation or international working group, at which long discussions would be held about the necessity for global moral rectitude and more Scotch. By contrast, Zuma intended to keep his focus local — something his party and supporters clearly appreciated about his campaign.
But insisting that a neighbouring country which has ejected perhaps a quarter of its population into SA should try to remain within the realms of reasonable barbarism ought not to offend against this general approach.
Zuma needs to do more than just push for “a solution”. He needs to choose sides.
And please let it be against one of the most openly racist regimes on the planet.
Higher and Tertiary Education Minister and senior ZANU PF official Stan Mudenge said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not invite sanctions to the country.
Mudenge on Thursday narrated the origination of sanctions to delegates attending a one-day workshop to deliberate on possible avenues in repayment of the country’s debts, and in the process eliminated Tsvangirai from the controversial sanctions equation.
“I was then the Foreign Affairs Minister when I was invited for a meeting by members of the European Union in Brussels Belguim on 19 December 2001 which was led by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, when they talked of their decision to put Zimbabwe under sanctions. They did not hide their point as they clearly said they did not want Mugabe led government because he had taken away their land, and Tsvangirai was not there. They said they were no longer trusting Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, adding that for them to get rid of Mugabe they had to make the Zimbabwean people suffer through imposing sanctions on them. The sanctions were targeted to the ordinary Zimbabweans so that they would revolt against the ZANU-PF led government because of the land reform.
“I have said this to my colleagues in my party, cabinet, parliament and continue to say so. What we require from Tsvangirai is to go and tell the British that he is not part of their agenda (obva ageza maoko). We want him to play his party by telling them that they should remove the sanctions since they have said he has the power to do so,” said Mudenge.
Mudenge is a ZANU-PF politburo member, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a senior ZANU-PF official who has been in cabinet since 1980.
Last month while addressing the house of commons British foreign secretary David Miliband said that UK would be guided by advice from the MDC on whether the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe would be lifted or not.
“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,” Miliband said.
The statement by Miliband has given ZANU-PF an excuse not to implement the GPA aggreement temrs.The liberation party has resolved to stop any reform saying Tsvangirai should call for the removal of sanctions.
Zimbabwe-born boxer Dereck Chisora will go into the history books on Saturday night, when he fights Briton Carl Baker in the British heavyweight title fight.
The 26-year Chisora has switched allegiance to Britain. Despite the souring relations between Harare and 10 Downing Street, Chisora has stood up to be noticed by the world.
Danny Williams was initially scheduled to fight Chisora but pulled out blaming a viral infection.
The fight at Wembley Arena had already been hit by the withdrawal of Williams’ original opponent Sam Sexton.
He was replaced by the unbeaten Chisora after cutting his hand in training.
Promoter Frank Warren says he is now in talks with two boxers who hold wins over Williams and may be able to step in at short notice.
Chisora had been due to meet Williams last year but was suspended after biting opponent Paul Butlin on May 22.
He was banned for four months and fined £2,500 for the incident which took place at York Hall in Bethnal Green but returned in October to stop Georgia’s Zurab Noniashvili in the eighth round.
The Zimbabwe-born fighter is rated as one of the brightest prospects in the British heavyweight division.
Chisora said: “Baker’s going to be tough, but I’m ready to knock him out and show I’m the best in Britain. I’m disappointed that I won’t be fighting for the British title against Williams, but Frank has worked hard to make sure this fight is an eliminator for the Lonsdale belt. I’ll get my hands on it later this year and having to wait now will make it all the sweeter when I finally get to lift it.”
One year on from the power-sharing deal between ZANU PF and the MDC, Newsnight’s Sue Lloyd-Roberts travels to Zimbabwe to see how the country is faring and witnesses a yawning gap between rich and poor.
Fresh elections are the only way to a lasting solution for Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change in South Africa said on Tuesday.
“We sincerely believe that SADC [Southern African Development Community] must now shift its attention and start organising the new election sooner than soonest instead of romanticising a loser of election [President Robert Mugabe],” said MDC chairman in South Africa Austin Moyo at a media briefing in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
The briefing was held as South Africa negotiators returned to Harare in a bid to iron out the troubles plaguing Zimbabwe’s unity government.
“This [elections] should be started by breathing life into a new constitution and electoral Act.”
Moyo told of an increase in farm attacks in Zimbabwe and attempts to strip power from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai by ZANU PF in the power sharing government.
Problems in governance in the southern African country include alleged attempts by ZANU PF to cling on to power.
The global power-sharing agreement, which will be a year old on Thursday, stated that a new constitution had to be in place before fresh elections could be held.
The agreement stipulated that the constitution should be finalised within 18 months. However, Moyo charged that attempts to finalise the constitution were being frustrated by ZANU PF.
This is because, said Moyo, the current constitution favoured ZANU PF.
Moyo wants the South African delegation to put aside all other aspects of the negotiation and push for the finalisation of a new constitution.
Last week’s issue of The Zimbabwean, which is edited from Britain, leads with a report on the possible exchange of Chinese weapons for illegally mined diamonds in Zimbabwe (see below).
If the information in this report is proved correct, it would indicate that the Mugabe regime is preparing a bloody coup to preserve itself in office, in defiance of its loss of the general election last year, its subsequent power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change, the Kimberley Process which regulates the global gem trade and a ruling of the High Court in Harare.
The report suggests that the Mugabe regime - believed to have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of independent miners when it sent the army to seize the diamond fields at Chiadzwa in November 2008 - intends to exchange “blood diamonds” for weapons from China . The report indicates that a runway suitable for this kind of traffic has already been constructed in the diamond fields and is almost ready for use.
If the report is proved correct, it would indicate a qualitative escalation of Chinese intervention in Africa.
Armament of a resurgent Mugabe dictatorship by China , in defiance of the power-sharing agreement, would represent the initiation of a new Cold War in Africa , at a time when the United States and Britain are tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq , and handicapped by a massive sovereign debt crisis.
Such a development would have immediate and immensely grave implications for South Africa , and would represent a military-political destabilisation of the entire region.
Construction of a mile-long runway at Chiadzwa would further present a direct challenge to COSATU, which organised a boycott by dockers in South Africa three years ago of Chinese arms shipments to Mugabe. - Paul Trewhela
HARARE - A mile-long runway capable of accommodating massive, long range cargo jets is being built in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Zimbabwe, according to a British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.
Aerial pictures published in the newspaper show that construction work is well under way, with a newly built control tower apparently complete and the runway nearly ready for surfacing. The images also show what appears to be a tented army camp in the diamond fields, which would be in violation of Zimbabwean court orders and of an undertaking to the Kimberley Process, which was set up to prevent “blood diamonds” from conflict zones entering the global gem trade.
The paper quoted diplomats and analysts saying the runway was probably intended for arms shipments, probably from China , for which troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe would pay on the spot with diamonds. There are other airfields within a short distance of the mining area, and no obvious need for a runway long enough for transport planes to take off and land even closer to the mines. A Western diplomat said the existence of the runway, out of sight except from the air, was “extremely” worrying.
One of the mining companies involved in the development says that it is building the runway in order to comply with Kimberley Process rules that diamonds be transported in the most secure way possible, and that a private contractor is responsible for security. The Daily Telegraph article gave no explanation as to why such a long runway was needed.
According to human rights groups, hundreds of independent miners were killed when soldiers seized control of the Chiadzwa area in November 2008, since. Since then others have been compelled to work for only a fraction of the value of the diamonds they unearth. Officers use the proceeds from their sale to enhance their meagre pay - a ploy encouraged by Mugabe’s henchmen to help ensure the army’s continued loyalty.
But the construction of the runway suggests that the army wants to use its access to the raw diamonds - whose production is worth an estimated £125 million a month - to obtain goods from abroad, in particular weapons.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been briefed about the continued presence of the army at the diamond fields and the construction of the secret runway. A party insider said: “We know about it and it is extremely sensitive. We are very worried about what we have found out this week.”
China has long been Zimbabwe ’s main source of arms, but delivery has been more difficult since a shipment was blocked in South Africa three years ago. Other deliveries have come in through Beira in Mozambique , but government officials in Maputo , have expressed concern over the issue.
The army has also been frustrated in its attempts to buy weapons by finance minister, Tendai Biti, a member of the MDC, who has blocked new arms purchases since taking control of the treasury under last year’s power-sharing deal.
The new facility would give the Joint Operations Command, the military top brass who long swore they would never recognise Tsvangirai’s authority, a way to obtain weapons independently.
A Western diplomat claimed the head of the armed forces, Constantine Chiwenga, had been “very busy” with the Chinese recently, adding: “We are concerned he is buying weapons.”
A senior political source, who has seen the pictures, said: “ZANU PF believes these diamond fields will allow it to continue to defy outstanding issues of the political agreement.
“It only went into the inclusive government because it lost the elections but it has no intention of fulfilling the political agreement, and wants to go it alone. It needs an income to ensure loyalty among soldiers and other security forces.”
The diamond fields could be worth billions of pounds and make a vital contribution to rebuilding a country brought to ruin by Mugabe’s economic mismanagement.
Tens of millions of pounds worth of gems are smuggled into nearby Mozambique each month, mostly with the connivance of the army and police, to be bought by dealers from Lebanon , Belgium , Iraq , Mauritania and the Balkans.
The mines, whose rough diamonds have a characteristic and unappealing grey appearance, cover an area of 10 square miles. A British company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR), has a legal claim to them under a deal struck originally with the Zimbabwean government, but in 2006 the Mugabe regime went back on the agreement and declared the mines open to all comers.
Defence minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, denied any knowledge of the runway under construction in the area. “Ask the mining ministry or home affairs, they might know about it”, he said.
The mining minister, Obert Mpofu, also a member of Mugabe’s party, said he was on holiday and therefore could not comment.
The government insists the army has withdrawn from the mining concession area and the mines are now being run by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), ignoring a high court order granting that right to ACR.
A car traveling back from the Beitbridge Border about 30 km from the border was seen traveling extremely slowly on the wrong side of the road and then stopped in the middle of the road. Another vehicle traveling towards the border drove very cautiously alongside in case it was a HIJACK attempt to discover the driver was covered in blood so they stopped to help. It transpired he had stopped at a lay bye to relieve himself and had been attacked by robbers. They broke both his arms and one leg and beat him severely around the head, they then stole all his luggage, his laptops, mobiles and even the shoes off his feet. They then stuck him back in the driver’s seat and left. The victim then managed to proceed slowly along the road till found. He was thankfully taken to Beitbridge hospital for treatment … how he managed to drive in his injured bleeding state is a wonder.
This is NOT the first incident that has been reported along this road… Please be very careful and vigilant and DO NOT STOP on the side of the road or in lay byes you are a sitting target!
Pandemonium broke out in parliament on Wednesday after a ZANU PF legislator proposed to move a motion calling Prime HARARE - Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to call for the lifting of targeted economic and travel sanctions imposed on President Robert Mugabe.
The pandemonium was sparked after Mwenezi East Member of Parliament Kudakwashe Bhasikiti gave notice to move a motion compelling Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara to take lead in calling upon western governments to lift targeted travel sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his lieutenants.
But this did not go down well with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Masvingo Urban Member of Parliament Tongai Matutu, who openly challenged Bhasikiti’s motives.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Nomalanga Khumalo then ordered the Sergeant at Arms to eject Matutu out of the House of Assembly. However, Matutu refused to leave the House insisting that he had done nothing to warrant an ejection. Mkoba Member of Parliament Amos Chibaya also joined in and defended Matutu resulting in pandemonium in the august House.
Khumalo was then forced to adjourn proceedings in parliament to Thursday after holding some consultations with the Chief whips of the three political parties represented in parliament namely ZANU PF, MDC-T and MDC-M.
“There was drama in Parliament. Khumalo is to blame for failing to handle the situation by ejecting Matutu,” said one legislator who asked not to be named.
ZANU PF’s politburo recently announced that it would make no more concessions in talks with the former opposition MDC party of Prime Minister Tsvangirai until the sanctions are removed. The declaration came after British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had said in Parliament that London would lift the punitive measures on advice from the MDC.
Western governments imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his close allies in protest against human rights abuses and the fraudulent 2002 presidential elections which Mugabe won.
A visiting group of British parliamentarians this week said the European Union (EU) will lift sanctions against President Mugabe and his top allies only after the Zimbabwean leader and his former opposition foes fully implement a power-sharing agreement signed in 2008.
Zimbabwe’s High Court Wednesday admitted disputed email evidence implicating opposition politician Roy Bennett in a plot against President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Bennett, a white farmer and a senior official in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), faces a possible death penalty if convicted of illegal possession of arms for “terrorism, banditry and sabotage.”
Defence lawyers had asked the court to reject emails linking Bennett to the alleged crime, arguing that they had been doctored and that a key state witness, Peter Hitschmann, who is alleged to have conspired with Bennett, disowned them.
The court had previously thrown out confessions by Hitschmann linking Bennett to the crime, on the grounds that the statements had been extracted under torture.
High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that the emails were created before Hitschmann’s alleged assault.
“The emails cannot be tainted by the alleged abuse suffered by Hitschmann,” Bhunu said.
“They are relevant and vital to the fair resolution of the case and are hereby admitted as evidence.”
The arrest and trial of Bennett, MDC nominee for deputy agriculture minister in a government set up by Mugabe and Tsvangirai, has raised tensions in the power-sharing administration.
The state charges Bennett with funding a 2006 plot 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.
Bennett denies the charges, which he says are politically motivated. Hitschmann, an arms trader and key state witness who faced the same charges but was convicted in 2006 on a lesser charge of possessing dangerous weapons, has absolved Bennett.
At 11 am today, 22 women in a private home were arrested in Pumula, a suburb of Bulawayo.They are currently being held at Pumula Police Station. Most of the arrested are members of WOZA who were discussing the constitutional reform process. As lawyers were unable to respond, WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams called the Officer in Charge at Pumula, Assistant Inspector Chimani, and asked him why the members had been arrested. He professed no knowledge of the situation.
The meeting was a private meeting of members exempt under all public order laws. Please call Inspector Chimani on + 263 9 422907 or 422898 and ask him to stop harassing WOZA members. Also advise him that there is an ongoing constitutional reform process countrywide and that they should participate and allow others to participate freely.
A later report states:
Members Arrested Today Released Without Charge
The 22 women arrested in Pumula today have been released without being charged. As lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights were unavailable to attend to the matter, WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams, and Magodonga Mahlangu attended the police station and met with the Officer in Charge, Assistant Inspector Chimani. He advised that the members had already been released and apologised for arresting them, saying that the officers concerned did not realise that they were WOZA members.
WOZA would like to acknowledge the professionalism of Assistant Inspector Chimani but call on him and other police officers to stop the arbitrary arrest of Zimbabweans.