Budget Day Today

Today Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa is going to announce the 2007 budget. This is going to be most challenging for the hard-drinking former diplomat. The Zimbabwean economic story is not new, as we all experience it in our day to day lives. Journalists will have to look at this critically, as we suspect it might just be a non-event like any other budget in the past few years.

By Reuters
Zimbabwe's embattled government will present its annual budget today week with a traditional prayer for salvation, but analysts say the plan is unlikely to ease a crisis savaging the economy.

Herbert Murerwa, the finance minister, will unveil the 2007 budget in parliament tomorrow for an economy that has shrunk 40% in the last six years.

Economic analysts are not expecting much from Murerwa, who traditionally ends his budget speeches with a plea to God to help save the country, and Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president's government has widely missed all its major targets in the current budget.

"I don't think anyone is expecting a miracle," said John Robertson, the private economic consultant. "On their record, this is another number-crunching exercise, which will be delivered with a lot of promises and a lot of hot air," he said.

Inflation, which the government had hoped to bring down to 80% by this December from over 400% a year ago, has shot up to 1 070.2%. The International Monetary Fund sees it climbing to over 4 000% in 2007.

Off target
The budget deficit, initially forecast to dip to 4.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 5% in 2005, is also likely to be way off target after the government adopted a supplementary budget in July, three times the size of the original 2006 budget, citing run-away inflation.

Forecasts that the economy, whose GDP has been shrinking since 1998, would grow up to 3.5% in 2006 have since been revised downwards to 0.3-0.6% growth. Analysts see another contraction in Zimbabwe which the World Bank says has the fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone.

Robertson said the economy was doomed if the government did not address fundamental structural problems, including committing itself to respecting private property rights.

Reuters
Meanwhile NewsNet Reports That Today's Budget Will Provide Some Answers,

Dr Murerwa says enough consultations have been done on the 2007 national budget, with focus now being on stimulating production from all key economic sectors as well as formulation of policies aimed at attracting both domestic and foreign investment.

Dr Murerwa says enough consultations have been done on the 2007 national budget, with focus now being on stimulating production from all key economic sectors as well as formulation of policies aimed at attracting both domestic and foreign investment.

Dr Murerwa made the remarks while addressing a pre-budget stakeholder meeting in Harare.

He said the effective policies will be implemented in the forthcoming budget to deal with unscrupulous business people who either create artificial shortages or unilaterally increase prices for goods.

Murerwa said while the prevailing economic challenges have impacted on the attainment of set objectives, ministries have been urged to live within their budgets.

Dr Murerwa also expressed optimism that with a promising 2006-2007 agricultural season, most of the economic growth targets will be achieved.

Really Doctor???

Latest FewsNet Report On Food
Yesterday ZimJournalists Arise published Part One on the October Fewsnet report.Today we ciruclate Part Two of the report.

Widespread Disparities In Sub-National Cereal Availability

Maize meal availability in shops throughout the country improved markedly in September and early October, particularly in southern Zimbabwe where production does not normally satisfy local demand. The improved availability is attributable to the increase in supplies of grain and maize meal distributed to millers and shops by the GMB, augmented by food aid distributions in September. In addition, limited amounts of grain are moving from surplus to deficit areas through private traders.

Maize grain is still available for localized farmer to farmer trade in most parts of the central and northern districts of the country. Prices vary considerably from one place to another depending on the area's relative availability and accessibility of maize grain. In the green colored zone covering much of Mashonaland provinces and the northern parts of Midland Province, open market grain prices ranged from Z$23 to Z$49/kg in the first half of October 2006. Maize grain was generally readily available in most of this zone in October. Able bodied members of poor households could find work with better off households, providing their labor in exchange for maize. Opportunities for casual labor in agriculture are set to increase with the onset of the rainy season next month.

The highest maize grain prices were recorded in the greater parts of Manicaland and the two Matebeleland provinces. This zone is colored red in Figure 1. Open market maize grain prices ranged from Z$87 to Z$114/kg during the first half of October 2006. The relatively high maize prices in this zone should be worrying because the majority of the population in the zone belongs to cereal deficit households that depend on the market for their cereal needs.

The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) food security assessment from May 2006 estimated about 17 percent of Zimbabwe's population, approximately 1.4 million people, will be food insecure at the peak of the hunger period. The yellow and red colored zones in Figure 1, where maize prices are at least Z$52/kg, include areas where the ZimVAC assessment found more than 19 percent of the population to be food insecure.

In Binga, Hwange, Rushinga and Mudzi districts, between 31 and 37 percent of the population was food insecure. In October, the same districts recorded the highest maize prices of around Z$115/kg. The central districts of the country were assessed to have the smallest proportions of food insecure people, and generally correspond to the green zone in Figure 1. The southern half of the country which is generally the traditionally low crop producing parts of the country has the highest concentration of the food insecure rural population.

Since maize grain prices and maize meal prices have increased significantly since May, while incomes may not have adjusted accordingly, the size of the food insecure population could be higher than assessed in May. Joint WFP/FEWSNET monitoring will provide some information that could be used to update the food security situation in October and November.

High cost of living continues to restrict household food access

Household food access continues to be severely restricted by the ever-increasing cost of food and cost of living in general. The food poverty line for September 2006 was $40,000, 26 percent higher than in August 2006. The agricultural worker's minimum wage, the most common monthly wage, was Z$4,160 in September – just 10% of the food poverty line* for the same month. This is putting enormous strain on affected households, forcing them to engage in various income, consumption and expenditure coping strategies.

Annual inflation reached new heights in August 2006 of 1,205 percent, and fell to 1,023 percent in September 2006. There is no reason to believe the downward trend in annual inflation will be sustained; rather it is more likely that the rate of inflation will increase further. Given the rapid rise in the cost of living, the majority of both urban and rural households' incomes are not keeping pace. In the urban areas, where households obtain most of their food from shops.

Edited

Opinions On The Zimbabwean Media Sought

Zimbabwe Journalists Arise invites all journalists, activists, organizations, who have ideas or thoughts on the state of the Zimbabwean media, to send in their articles for publication on our blog. Articles should go beyond the obvious problems of the media in our country, but should focus on views from a special interest group on how best journos can cover their activities, the good, the bad and the ugly. Some of the areas can be human rights, Aids, the economy etc, the list is endless.

Political parties are welcome with their observations, complaints etc. So guys let those articles start rolling in, pictures are welcome and a brief summary of the interests you represent would be welcome. We will try to keep most articles as they are, although the Editor of the blog reserves the right to edit material on the basis of length and clarity.
Thank you

CADEGO Urges Zimbabwe Media To Penetrate Rural Areas

By CADEGO National Co-ordinator Farai Muguwu
Farayi Muguwa is the National Co-ordinator of the Civic Alliance For Good Gvernance, which is a Mutare based NGO. It mission is to promote good governance through advocacy and lobby meetings, community training workshops, Fliers, Newsletters and mass mobilization. CADEGO is represented in every community by volunteer committees, which report to the national coordinating committee on issues pertaining to democracy and good governance. CADEGO also work with churches, political parties and local governments to have its message reach a wider audience. Mr Muguwu is also a prominent political analyst who is regularly sought after for interviews in the media

Dear Zimbabwean Journalists

In my view i think the Zimbabwean media has responded with great courage and determination to the challenges facing Zimbabwe today. That democracy is still a dream to be realised is largely due to the stubornness and insensitivity of the Zimbabwean government.

Creative initiatives such as zimbabwe journalists arise, studio 7 Voice of America, Shortwave radio, Newzimbabwe.com, the Zimbabwean and many others are a testimony that the media has managed to circumvent the legal obstacles existing in Zimbabwe today. However, the media can do more to hasten the day when a new Zimbabwe can become a reality.

The media must continue to give the people a voice to critique government policies and express their feelings. As more and more people continue to speek their views the culture of fear will be eventually broken. The media must not only concentrate on urban areas but must explore rural Zimbabwe where the greatest poverty is of information. Rural people are starved of information and yet we blame them for letting the nation down. When these people suffer human rights abuses the media must give them a voice of solidarity and encourage them to stand up for their rights. because few journalists dare investigate what happens in Honde Valley or Nyamapanda rural people feel like they are disconnected from whats happening in Zimbabwe.

They are forced to comply with what they dont believe in because they have no voice to say no. Let us open up rural Zimbabwe through media coverage.

Finally lets remain focussed. The crisis in Zimbabwe today is a crisis of governance. Its not about Britain trying to recolonise Zimbabwe. The media must point people to the real problem: that of misgovernance and poor leadership. The point must be clear that we are being poorly governed and as a result our beautiful country lie in ruins.

At CADEGO we have held several leadership workshops with traditional leaders in Makoni West, Mutasa South and Mutare South constituencies. We have made it very clear that a good leadership is key to development. We have pointed out the human rights abuses committed by some traditional leaders to suppress opposition supporters in Zimbabwe. We have defied POSA because it is an unjuat law. We dont seek police clearance because they denied us the first time we sought it for our traditional leaders workshop held at Chiware Business Center in Rusape.

We just organise our events as if POSA is not there. This is our approach and we persuade all democratic forces in Zimbabwe to defy unjust laws that contradict natural law. We invite you to cover our workshops if you have time to do so.

Our victory over the dictatorship is nearer now than when the struggle began.

Latest Zimbabwe News Headlines

Stories by IRIN

WOZA Activists Beaten And Arrested

More than 60 protesting Zimbabweans, some carrying babies, were arrested and the police in the country’s second city, Bulawayo, allegedly assaulted at least another 40 on Wednesday.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), was holding a march to mark the launch of a 'People's Charter', a declaration on political and economic rights, and the '16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence', an international campaign running until International Human Rights Day on 10 December.

The demonstrators had congregated near the government offices in the city centre, where they began reading out the People's Charter compiled by WOZA, which calls on the state to provide affordable housing, education and healthcare, when about 30 riot police arrived and started arresting them.

IRIN report 63 men and women were taken to the Bulawayo central police station, and another 40 demonstrators were rounded up and taken to a neighboring police drill room and allegedly beaten. Police then took six demonstrators, including a woman who allegedly had her leg broken in the drill room, to a public hospital for medical attention.

The police spokesman in Bulawayo said they were unable to confirm the arrests and asked IRIN to telephone again on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) announced on Wednesday that it intends to sue the government for about US$5.3 million for the alleged assault and torture of several of its members arrested during a demonstration in September.

The state has three months to respond. Fifteen ZCTU members, including top officials, are each claiming between $239,000 and $319,000. Members sustained varying degrees of injuries, and some are still in plasters three months after the beatings.

Also, ZimJournalists Arise understands that the Save Zimbabwe Campaign has run out of steam I its second week of its “Sounds of Freedom Campaign” we hope things will look up again soon. While WOZA also a member of the Campaign was holding its own demos instead of making some noise, is something to think about. How long will Zimbabwean civic organization continue to hole piecemeal, non-effective individual actions.

October 2006 FewsNet Report

Cereal availability in Zimbabwe this marketing year depends upon the country's ability to finance the planned imports of 565,000 MT of maize and about 230,000 MT of wheat. The poor state of Zimbabwe's economy will make raising the required funds enormously challenging. The availability of maize meal in shops throughout the country improved in September and early October, particularly in southern Zimbabwe, where purchase of cereal grown in more productive areas of Zimbabwe is required to meet local demand. The ever-increasing cost of food and cost of living are making market purchase to fill food gaps prohibitive. Local maize prices are highly correlated to local food security: areas that were assessed to have the highest concentration of food insecure people recorded the highest open market grain prices in October 2006. The problem is exacerbated by the Grain Marketing Board's (GMB) limited capacity to redistributed available maize throughout the country, which fuels higher grain prices on the open market. Fuel and fertilizer shortages persist with hardly any time left before the start of the 2006/07 summer cropping season.
Current Hazard Summary

Soaring annual inflation was measured in September 2006 at 1,023 percent.
The cereal deficit for the 2006/07 marketing year is projected to be about 22 percent of total domestic needs.
Shortages of fertilizers and fuel are likely to going to reduce food and cash crop production in the 2006/07 agricultural season.
El Nino conditions were confirmed in September 2006, but it is too early to draw definitive conclusions about its likely impacts on the current agricultural season.
National cereal availability
Zimbabwe's cereal availability in the 2006/07 consumption year depends on the country's ability to import the planned 565,000 MT of maize and about 230,000 MT of wheat on time. This level of imports will not only ensure that the country has enough cereal for the current consumption year but will also have maize stocks sufficient feed the Zimbabwean population for two and half months after the next harvest in April 2007. However, raising the required funds for the planned imports is likely to be an enormous challenge for Zimbabwe, given its under-performing economy. Furthermore, the forecasted wheat production is still being harvested, and a significant proportion of the potential harvest is threatened by the onset of the 2006/07 rainfall season.

Wide disparities in sub-national cereal availability

Maize meal availability in shops throughout the country improved markedly in September and early October, particularly in southern Zimbabwe where production does not normally satisfy local demand. The improved availability is attributable to the increase in supplies of grain and maize meal distributed to millers and shops by the GMB, augmented by food aid distributions in September. In addition, limited amounts of grain are moving from surplus to deficit areas through private traders.

ZimJournalists Arise will publish Part 11 of this report tomorrow.

Zimbabwe Army Demands Right To Snoop While Nigeria Opens Freedom To Information

Reuters reports that the army says it wants the state-run Tel One to have a monopoly on international cellphone traffic, so that they can monitor calls, in the interests of national security. Meanwhile I-JNET reports that Nigeria seeks to relax its access to information laws.

The Nigerian Senate passed a 35-clause Freedom of Information Bill on November
15, which would allow Nigerians to access public records and other information
more freely if it becomes law.
The bill would permit citizens the right to access public records while
sustaining the principles of maximum disclosure and declassification of public
information, according to Senate spokesman Victor Ndoma-Egba.

The measure now must be signed by President Olusegun Obasanjo or approved by a
two-thirds majority of the national legislature before it will become law,
according to information at the Web site of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

The only significant amendment to the bill, which Ndoma-Egba said would promote
openness in governance and consequently transparency, called for a three-year
imprisonment for those who falsify or destroy official records to avoid
disclosing them.
Although the bill would allow the public to apply for access to government
records, it also allows government and public institutions the right to refuse
the disclosure of any records containing materials including examination data,
plans for buildings not constructed with public funds, or any documents that
would compromise security if released.

MeanwhileFormer Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo's defamation suit against Zanu-PF National Chairman and Chief Speaker John Nkomo and former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa was heard in the Bulawayo High Court yesterday.

Moyo is suing Nkomo and Dabengwa for "lying" to President Mugabe about plans to topple him. Moyo is suing the two for $2 billion.

Journalism News Around Africa

Swazi Times Newspaper Sued Again

By MISA/IFEX
Windhoek)

The "Times of Swaziland" newspaper has been sued for E75,000 (approx. US$10,000) by a man accused of recently bombing government structures and who is facing high treason charges at the High Court of Swaziland.

Vusi Shongwe states in court papers that on February 8, 2006, the "Times" published his picture on the front page next to a headline saying "Bomber" in bold typeface. He argues that the accompanying article was wrongful and defamatory to his person.

The "Times", on the other hand, states in court papers that Shongwe's picture was erroneously published. The newspaper says it had no intention of publishing Shongwe's photograph. As a result, the newspaper states, it acknowledged its mistake by publishing an apology the following day.

This is one of several lawsuits against the "Times" pending in the courts. The newspaper has lost three cases of defamation in 2006. However, in mid-2006, the newspaper successfully appealed against a E750,000 (approx. US$116,000) compensation order awarded to the late Deputy Prime Minister Albert Shabangu for alleged defamation (see IFEX alerts of 19 May 2006 and 9 August 2005).

The MISA Swaziland is concerned, and views the continuous lawsuits against the media in Swaziland, particularly against the "Times", which is the only independent newspaper, as a serious threat to press freedom, media diversity and the right to free expression. Already, the lawsuits are having an impact on these rights, as the Swazi media is becoming increasingly docile. As a result, stories on sex and murder currently dominate the headlines as the media tries to play it safe.

Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders reports that

Abdullahi Yasin Jama of privately-owned Radio Warsan by militiamen loyal to the federal transition government in the western city of Baidoa(Somalia). They held him for three days and abused him physically after luring him to the presidential palace on 24 November 2006 with an invitation to a fake news conference.

"The treatment Jama received was disgraceful," the press freedom organisation said. "His arrest and use as a plaything by militiamen was an act of utmost cowardice. Somalia's journalists, who are trying to cover a war consisting of lightning raids, betrayals and news manipulation, must be left in peace by the belligerents, as the population has a right to know what is going on in their country. The transitional government cannot claim to want to bring democracy to Somalia while tolerating such behaviour."

Jama, who is also a correspondent for the Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), a privately-owned radio station based in the northern city of Bossasso, received a call from a security official shortly after midday on 24 November inviting him to a news conference. Pro-government militiamen arrested him when he arrived at the presidential palace and took him to their base, where they repeatedly abused and humiliated him.

Omar Faruk Osman, the secretary-general of the Reporters Without Borders partner organisation, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), said Jama was arrested for reporting on the "massive presence" of Ethiopian troops in Somalia. NUSOJ's attempts to get the transitional government to free him met with rebuffs or expressions of bad faith, with officials claiming they were "unaware" of the case.

Jama was finally released on 27 November after Baidoa city elders interceded on his behalf, but he is still under surveillance by the militias and fears further reprisals.

Journalism Briefs From Around The World

By Free Media Movement (FMM), Colombo

Senior Advisor to UNESCO and former President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga, is seeking to take measures to ban a publication exposing details of her alleged corruption, misdeeds and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

As reported in an interview with the former President in the "Sunday Leader" newspaper on 12 November 2006, Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga is on record as saying:

"Now there is a book published in absolute filth about me, going so far as to say that I, a former President, orchestrated the bomb attack on myself. Now that book was not banned. If they could ban the 'Da Vinci Code' from cinemas in Sri Lanka, I am going to write to the President and ask why this book was not banned. In fact, I wrote to the President today".

The book referred to is "Choura Regina" ("Rogue Queen") written by Victor Ivan, a well-known journalist in Sri Lanka. The book alleges that the gross misuse of power, high levels of corruption, severe human rights violations and nepotism can be directly connected to Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga during her tenure as President.

Recalling the statement of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on 26 October 2006, the FMM seeks urgent clarification from UNESCO on their response to one of their high-level spokespersons openly and grievously threatening the core values UNESCO and the UN is founded upon.
Edited

Ukraine Committs To Free Press

The President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, reaffirmed his commitment to a free press and democratic values in a meeting with the World Association of Newspapers, yesterday .

"We don't think any kind of return to the past is possible; it's out of the question," said Mr. Yushchenko, who was swept to power in the Orange Revolution two years ago.

Speaking to the Board of the Paris-based WAN, meeting in Kiev, the president said: "I believe the natural progress of Ukraine depends on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It is extremely important for the country to have free media."

Press freedom has brought economic benefits to the press industry, he said: print circulation increased 6.7 million copies to 22.7 million in the past year, foreign and international press sales have increased 25 percent, and the advertising market is growing.

"We would like to see Ukraine as a European country with high democratic values," he said, adding that his objectives include membership in the World Trade Organization and the European Union. "We would like to see Ukraine as a country that is a place for wealthy people. I think this is a good goal and we are moving in this direction."

The WAN Board meeting continues in Ukraine through Tuesday.

WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 74 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups
Edited

Zim Filmmaker Wins Award

Congrats SW Radio Africa!!

Report by UNFPA
Zimbabwean filmmaker Tawanda Gunda-Mupengo took home the $1,000 first prize in the continent’s largest Pan African Film Festival devoted to Gender Based Violence (GBV).

Several hundred people gathered at the launch to watch Gunda-Mupengo’s film, 'Spell My Name', the moving story of a young teacher who uncovers the sexual abuse of one of her students by the school’s headmaster. Eighty-four films from 18 African countries were submitted for inclusion in the festival, organized by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, to call attention to gender based violence and break the silence surrounding the issue.
Meanwhile SW Radio Africa won an the Africa International Broadcasting Award last weekend.
According to the AIB, the award was for their brave reporting on Zimbabwe and providing an alternative voice.
Congrats Again.

Latest Media Monitoring Report

(for week ending November 19)

THIS week the Zimbabwe Independent (17/11) exposed the authorities’ determination to stifle critical journalism in the country by flooding the media industry with toothless journalists. The paper revealed that government had ordered the country’s main journalist training institution, the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Harare Polytechnic, to recruit “only students” who are aged above 21 and have “undergone” government’s controversial National Youth Service training.
Reportedly, the polytechnic’s vice-principal, Runyararo Magadzire, had then instructed the media school to enrol students who are “able to prove their national consciousness by way of civic issues and other related issues of national interest”.

To make matters worse, the paper also revealed that the panel of selectors comprises a “senior lecturer from the department of National Strategic Studies and two external selectors, one from the Media and Information Commission (MIC) and the other one from a ‘reputable’ media house recommended by the MIC”. Although the paper did not get comment from government on why issues such as “national consciousness” and “national interest” – previously defined narrowly along ZANU PF lines – should be prerequisites for journalism enrolment, it quoted two commentators exposing the underlying intentions of the move.

While Bill Saidi viewed the development as an attempt to “instil a wrong type of patriotism in trainee journalists”, an unnamed journalism lecturer observed that government was “trying to militarise media schools” and “entice youths to join the National Service” because “age and national service have no correspondence with one’s performance as a journalist”. The lecturer also noted that the move would further erode the students’ academic freedom because most of the national service graduands have previously been “used as classroom spies who report to the principal’s office on the happenings at the college”.
The government media ignored this development, which further exposes the authorities’ resolve to completely corrupt the country’s media space, and by extension, free expression.


2. Economy and corruption
THE government media papered over the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic ruin with simplistic stories projecting government as succeeding in turning around the fortunes of the economy. This was reflected in most of the 97 stories these media carried on the subject (ZBH [64] and official papers [33]). For example, 26 of the stories that government papers carried on the economic meltdown painted a rosy picture of the country’s economic outlook or just highlighted symptoms of economic decline in isolation of government’s poor management.
The official media ignored following up alleged corruption by senior ruling party officials at the ailing government owned steel-making giant, Ziscosteel (Zisco). They also failed to expose the authorities’ policy contradictions, which have sometimes resulted in the promulgation of retrogressive economic legislation. Only the private media appeared interested in these issues. In fact, the official media were guilty of diverting attention from the authorities’ reported involvement in graft, especially at Zisco, by presenting them as fighting tenaciously to eradicate the vice. The Herald (15/11), for example, simply quoted Anti-corruption Minister Paul Mangwana lambasting corrupt civil servants for contributing to the country’s economic decay without probing why government had not acted against them.

The next day the paper carried a cartoon passively reinforcing Mangwana’s statements by describing civil servants as “evil servants”. Radio Zimbabwe and ZTV (15/11,8pm) also illustrated this professional hypocrisy. Rather than test the authorities’ commitment to fighting corruption in higher places, the two merely claimed: “Zimbabweans have come out in full support of government efforts to fight corruption, which is undermining economic turnaround initiatives.”
Notably, the Ziscosteel sleaze was not remotely mentioned. As a result, the government media’s audiences remained oblivious to the authorities’ reported attempts to keep the report away from public view. Neither were they apprised on their sudden defence of the alleged pillaging, especially in light of their rhetorical promises to fight all forms of corruption through the much-publicised anti-corruption drive.

However, The Herald (15/11) unwittingly exposed the duplicity of this anti-corruption drive. It cited Anti-corruption Principal Director Sylvester Mawunganidze revealing that most ministries were refusing to cooperate with the anti-corruption commission while Deputy Chief Secretary of the President, Ray Ndhuluka, noted that there was a “fragmented anti-corruption policy that allows the continuance of the vice”.
Why government has not addressed such hindrances was not discussed. Instead, the official media simply resorted to overplaying the economic benefits of otherwise routine events such as trade fairs, including even the advent of time-honoured occurrences like the onset of the rainy season, as indicators of economic recovery.

Radio Zimbabwe and Spot FM (13/11,8pm), for example, publicised the Import Substitution and Value Addition Expo in Harare, which the authorities used as a manifestation of their efforts to stave off economic decline. While the stations, for example, reported the Industry and Trade Ministry boasting about how its “mission to conscientise (sic) industry on the benefits of value addition and import substitution is bearing fruit as evidenced by the number of deals clinched at the Expo”, they did not ask him to detail the deals or how much they were worth.
The next day, ZTV (14/11,8pm) devoted 11minutes of its one-hour bulletin (excluding sports) to report approvingly about the onset of the rains. The Herald (15/11) even allowed Mangwana to thank God for the rains, saying civil servants now “have no excuse for corruption”. It did not explain how the rains would be a solution to widespread corruption. Instead, the government Press carried seven superficial stories that glossed over the causes of the economic crisis.

For example, The Sunday Mail (19/11) criticised the decision by the Reserve Bank to cancel the seven-year Economic Stabilisation Bonds barely a month after introducing them, but avoided interpreting this as indicative of the confusion and policy contradictions by government. It merely quoted an unnamed analyst noting that the move would cause a “decline” in investor confidence. Earlier, Spot FM (18/11,8pm) found nothing controversial about government’s drafting of the “National Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy…aimed at compelling all foreign-owned companies across all economic spectrums to surrender 50% shareholding to local entrepreneurs…” As a result, no professional analysts were sought to debate the economic prudence of such a law, especially on investor confidence.
The government media’s reluctance to frankly diagnose the country’s economic ills was illustrated by their reliance on official voices. Although they gave significant space to business, ordinary people and alternative views, their comments were either drowned with official claims or used to endorse government measures.

The private media openly debated the subject in 36 reports on the matter, 27 of which appeared in private papers and nine in the private electronic media.
Twenty-three of the stories highlighted the country’s economic troubles while the remaining 13 exposed the fallacy of the authorities’ fight against corruption, which they depicted as endemic in government itself. For example, The Daily Mirror (13/11), the online news agency NewZim.com (15&17/11), The Financial Gazette (16/11) and the Zimbabwe Independent (17/11) all carried stories showing Cabinet ministers’ involvement in alleged corruption at ZUPCO and Zisco.

The Mirror and Gazette also revealed alleged harassment of police officers and court officials dealing with the corruption cases. For example, the Gazette disclosed that a police officer investigating the alleged involvement of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo in the ZUPCO scandal had been transferred from Harare to Manicaland as a way of “getting him out of the way.” Similarly, the Mirror reported that senior prosecutor William Gandanzara had resigned while a junior colleague and a magistrate were interrogated by the police for allegedly waiving the bail conditions for Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga, also implicated in the ZUPCO corruption. It reported Gandanzara as saying he resigned because he was displeased with the manner in which the police handled the matter, which he claimed “was tantamount to not having confidence in the office of the area prosecutor”.
And despite recent official denials of top government officials’ involvement in the corruption at Zisco, the Independent continued to provide details linking them to the sleaze.

This week the paper named Vice-President Joice Mujuru as one of the beneficiaries of the pillaging. Reportedly, it was her determination to keep the plundering secret that resulted in Industry Minister Obert Mpofu retracting his claims that government officials had looted the government-owned enterprise. In addition, it noted that while Science and Technology Minister Olivia Muchena denied any involvement in the Zisco goings-on, evidence – which the paper published – showed otherwise.
The official media ignored these matters.
The private Press’ candidness was reflected by their sourcing pattern as captured.


3. Agriculture
THE government media carried 57 stories on agricultural issues during the week: ZBH (35) and government papers (22). However, none of them gave a holistic picture of the agricultural difficulties facing the country as they largely painted a picture of normalcy in the sector while censoring information showing otherwise. For example, 18 of the stories the official papers carried on agriculture glossed over the problems bedevilling the sector while only four highlighted them. It was against this background that the government media just ended up endorsing almost every government interventionist move in the sector without question.

For instance, there was no attempt to give an informed analysis on the fairness and logistics of government’s importation and distribution of agricultural equipment worth US$25m under the “Revolution in Agriculture Mechanisation” programme, and the arrival of part of the of the 200 000 tonnes of fertiliser from China. Instead, The Herald and Chronicle (16/11) seemed more interested in celebrating the fertiliser’s shipment on the basis that it signalled the first delivery of aid the Asian country had promised Africa during the Sino-Africa summit earlier this month. Moreover, the papers paraded the development as reflecting the success of government’s Look East policy. Consequently, there was no verification on the suitability of the fertiliser and whether it would satisfy national needs.
Besides, there was no attempt to reconcile the authorities’ attempts to sanitise the situation in the agricultural sector with their few reports on the projected low wheat yields, shortage of inputs and farming equipment. Spot FM (14/11,8pm), for example, just noted: “Prospects for a wheat bumper harvest could be dealt a blow as farmers battle to secure combine harvesters in an attempt to save their crops from the rains…” Otherwise, the broadcaster was awash with ministerial pronouncements - some of which did not even qualify as news - such as the one inviting “farmers wishing to join Operation Maguta/Inala…to approach the AREX offices for application forms” (Spot FM, 16/11,8am).

The government media’s voice sourcing pattern is shown in Fig 3 and 4. Although ZBH’s sourcing seemed diverse, the broadcaster’s coverage of the issues remained piecemeal.

Fig. 3 Voice Distribution on ZBH

Except for the five stories that appeared in the Mirror stable, which took the official media stance, the rest of the other 19 stories the private media carried (private electronic media [eight] and private papers [11]) continued to question government’s seriousness in reviving farming. For example, the Gazette did not find anything amusing about the government conducting “yet another land audit” on land utilisation and take-up, to be completed by the end of the month. It wondered whether the audit would make any difference as similar exercises – whose findings “have gathered dust in government offices” – have not been used to address the farming problems.
The paper and the Independent also criticized government’s chaotic planning, seen as the reason behind the country’s recent importation of low quality fertiliser from South Africa. Noted the Independent: “The fertilizer saga is an apt reference to the fact that agriculture will not recover through piecemeal (central bank) interventions and public posturing but by ensuring that there is a holistic plan that ensures that all support industries are functioning”. In fact, NewZim.com (15/11) reported that hunger was still stalking the country with aid agencies still “feeding hungry Zimbabweans after appeals from government”. Despite this, however, it revealed (16/11) that the WFP had decided to “scale back food distribution…to 1. 4 million Zimbabweans” due to donor fatigue, a development MDC officials Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube said would have “tragic consequences”.

Although the private papers quoted more official voices, they tried to balance their comments with other sources outside government.
Edited

16 Days of Activism against Gender Abuse :Stand Up for your rights women of Zimbabwe

The 16 days of activism against gender violence started last Saturday. As Zimbabwe degenerates into a country run by violence, the culture of violence is seeping into our society. As the saying goes, if the father of the house is violated, he will violate his wife, who will violate the maid, who will violate the kids, who will violate the dog, which will violate the cat, which will violate the mice, At the end of the day the whole house is violated. While this is women's week, lets all spare a moment to remember all those who have been violated.

By Free-ZimYouth's Women-Wing

So many things have been happening in Zimbabwe over the past few months regarding the status of women in the home and on the political scene. For many years now most of our mothers, sisters, grandmothers and others have merely been door mats for their husbands and bosses at work with the girl child losing out most of the time when resources fell short in the family.

It was heartening to learn in the past week or so of the 50-50 equality campaign launched by Zimbabwean women. We, the exiled girl child of Zimbabwe, have received the 50-50 equality campaign as a big step towards gender freedom. It is a fact that women are the most vulnerable victims of on-going and worsening Zimbabwean crisis.

The campaign by women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) to boost the 22 percent women political representation to 50 percent is a fundamental right we young Zimbabweans need to be seen advocating for.

It is morally wrong to continue to exclude the girl child in the decision making processes, it be at local or national level. Women are the pillar of the country and they have been used for a long time now as mere political pawns – we feel it is high time we as women from Zimbabwe joined the 50-50 campaign to have more women included at all decision making processes that affect the country.
We would like to take this opportunity to salute our fellow comrades -women of Zimbabwe that is - the 22 percent who are already involved in the everyday struggle people of trying to bring change to Zimbabwe and those that are still trying to make it into the 150-member House of Parliament.

We salute people like Grace Kwinjeh, Thokozani Khupe, Priscilla Misiharabwi-Mushonga, Lucia Matienga,Tabetha Khumalo, Jennifer Williams, Magodonga Mahlangu, Emily Mpofu and not forgetting our diaspora comrades Sandra Nyaira, Violet Gonda, Mandisa Mundawarara, Yvonne Marimo, Carole Gombakomba, Patience Rusere, Yvonne Mahlunge, Emily Madamombe and many others we have not named here.

We need many more women to join the debate about issues that affect them, most of all us as women to stop being our own enemies so we can work together and aim to push for more female representation not only at parliament levels but also at local levels.

The women we have mentioned above and many others who continue to bear the brunt of Zanu PF’s iron-fisted rule at home are our role models who have dedicated their lives for the restoration process of good governance in our motherland. It is unfortunate that some have lost their way and have turned from heroes to monsters. People like Joice Mujuru, Shuvai Mahofa, Oppah Muchinguri, Edina Madzongwe, our the so-called First Lady Grace Mugabe and Jane Mutasa whom we all know for cheating our mothers in the name of the Indigenous Business Women's Organisation (IBWO) – whatever became of it, one wonders?

These are self-imposed hypocritical figures who have failed to speak-out and to represent the women of Zimbabwe. They have betrayed the dreams of Josiah Tongogara, Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, Herbert Chitepo, Sally Mugabe and father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo who sacrificed their lives to see black Zimbabweans free from the shackles of colonialism.

This applies again to people like South Africa’s foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Vice President Mlambo-Ngcuka who have turned into fully-grown hypocrites and are failing to sympathize with the ordinary girl child and women of Zimbabwe. And we have said it officially that we as an organisation will continue to speak out and expose such hypocrisy to the international community.

For almost a decade, the women of Zimbabwe have suffered economically and politically due to bad policies which have been put in place by the Mugabe regime, which in our view is no different from the notorious Nazi regime.

We have been raped, tortured and some killed for demanding our civil rights and all this violates international guidelines for human rights. It pains us when we read news from home – almost every other day there is a story of a young girl being raped somewhere in the country, this happens everyday and because of the falling standards within the police force, most of the perpetrators remain free to even do more harm to women in a society which has lost its innocence because of a crisis triggered by a president who wants to remain in power at all costs.

The question we all ask is for how long will the girl child continue to suffer in Zimbabwe? How long will our mothers continue to bear the brunt of this political and economic crisis? It is now, we say enough is enough.

Statistics released by recently are also a major reason for alarm. Figures of the plight of children released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) exposing how our little sisters and brothers are being forced to work to source funding for school fees and food and the plight of thousands of orphaned children across the country, whose parents fell prey to the AIDS pandemic, add to the sorry situation we are talking about.

As young people of Zimbabwe, the country’s future leaders, we need to stand up for our families, our communities and our country. It is us who are going to liberate Zimbabwe. Let us all rise and fight the tyranny in our country. We are extremely worried by the abuse of youth by the regime through the Border Gezi training camps - this is state tailored terrorism that us hurting the country’s future leaders and citizens.

Comrades it is now time we demand our civil rights which have long been robbed by the Mugabe regime. Our dignity has been robbed, it is time we all join hands and speak as one.

Girl Power!!

"It is now time Mugabe realize you can jail, kill a revolutionary but you cannot jail, kill a revolution".

Power To The People

Chipo Chaya and Yeukai Taruvinga are members of the Free-ZimYouth's Women-Wing. They can be contacted on 07904395496 (Chipo) and Yeukai on 07940437496.

Grace Mugabe Hits The Headlines

Not even one ZimJournalists Arise member recalls ever reading about the First Lady, actively saying something in the media for quite a while(and we stand to be corrected). Most reports about the first lady are about her accompanying her infamous husband to one place or the other, or her shopping trips, which hardly receive much attention anymore. So Lo And Behold when we saw her “GRACING” the front page of the Herald we thought we would circulate, a shortened version of her ladyship’s thoughts on what we think is a worthwhile cause,

WOMEN are their own worst enemies in cases of domestic violence because they encourage the practice by allowing their sons to abuse their wives, the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe reports the Herald newspaper at the official launch of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence in Harare..

This year’s celebrations are running under the international theme: "Celebrating 16 years of 16 Days: Advance Human Rights — End Violence Against Women" while the local theme is "Changing Attitudes, Practices and Behavior that Promote Gender-based Violence".

"Women are the worst enemies because at times they invite the violence. If their daughters- in-law come complaining, they turn a blind eye but when they see their sons they encourage them," she said.

The First Lady said such women actually tell their sons that beating up their wives are the best way to control them.

She said it was time parents educated their children on the ills of domestic violence by inculcating the best expected behavior towards a spouse while they are still young.

"Charity begins at home," she said.

Campaign Against Gender Violence Begins Today

ZimJournalists Arise, would like to remind media practitioners that, the week Against Gender Violence starts today. Many women and in some cases men continue to be abused. Despite the Timothy Mubawu's of this world, who obviously think their sisters and mothers are lesser beings, just as racists think black people are, NANGO has released this statement to commomerate this day.
The 16 Days runs from November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women to December 10, International Human Rights Day to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasise that such violence is a violation of human rights.

The campaign against gender violence starts today world wide. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including December 1, which is World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in 1989, when 14 women students were massacred by a lone gun-man opposed to the affirmative action policies promoted by feminists at the University of Montreal.
In Zimbabwe, this period will be deveoted to lobbying for the passing of the Domestic Violence Bill which is now waiting to be presented in the Upper House.
Meanwhile New Zimbabwe reports that today Zimbabweans in South Africa will meet atthe Holy Trinity Church in Braamfontein in Johannesburg for the second AGM.
TheZimbabwe Diaspora Civic Society Organisations Forum,is a network of 28 Zimbabwean civic society groups that are based in South Africa.
The Forum is the co-ordinator of Zimbabwean CSOs whose vision is a new democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe. This weekend’s indaba is expected to have at least 60 participants since each member organisation is expected to send two representatives. Added to that, several prominent Zimbabwean activists and public personalities have also been invited in their personal capacities as observers.
There will also be some participants from the local South African NGOs that are actively involved in the solidarity campaigns for a new democratic Zimbabwe.

Govt Going Ahead With Snoop Bill.

GOVERNMENT is forging ahead with the proposed spying legislation
after drafting a new version of the Interception of Communications
Bill that
has failed to fully address the concerns of the Parliamentary Legal
Committee and stakeholders in the communications sector, reports the Zimbabwe Independent.

Government withdrew the initial Bill under pressure from the PLC
that is chaired by constitutional law expert and MDC MP Welshman
Ncube and protests by stakeholders in the communications industry at a
Parliamentary Portfolio committee on Transport and Communications hearing, amid
promises of a new version that would address their concerns.

The new consolidated version obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent this week shows that changes made to the original text are minor to the extent that, overall, the latest version retains its repressive nature.

The new version still says: "An application for the lawful
interception of communications may be made by the following persons -
the Chief of Defence Intelligence or his or her nominee, the Director-
General of the President's department responsible for national security or his
or her nominee; the commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic Police or his or
her nominee, the commissioner general of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authourity
or his or her nominee."

Communications minister, Chris Mushohwe and the Attorney-General
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele met the PLC last month resulting in the committee
notpresenting an adverse report on the Bill in anticipation of an
improved version.

In its draft report, the PLC said the old version's problematic
areas were: clauses 3(1) (b) (i); 4; 5; 6; 8 and clause 18.

In the consolidated text clauses 3(1) (b) (i); 4 and 5 have been
retained as they are despite the PLC draft adverse report having
said: "It is clear, Mr Speaker Sir, that the provisions of all these clauses
individually and collectively interfere with citizens' right of
protectionfrom interference with their correspondence."

Whereas in the old Bill, aggrieved persons were required to
appeal first to the minister and then to the Administrative Court, in
the new version appeals are made straight to the Administrative Court
that "mayconfirm, vary or set aside the warrant, directive or order appealed
against".

Although the previous version gives a list of people in Clause 5
who may apply for a warrant as well as nominees, the draft Bill
said: "The Bill does not provide for the criterion for selecting the nominee, it
does not limit the circumstances in which the minister may delegate this
function and does not provide a procedure for affecting the nomination." That
observation was not addressed.

Although on Clause 6 oral applications to the minister for the
issuance of warrants no longer apply, the new version has not
addressed the committee's concerns as it still says that the minister may issue
warrants "on reasonable grounds".

On that issue the PLC draft report had said: "In issuing this
warrant, the minister acts alone.The reasonable grounds need
therefore exist only in the mind of the minister. This is an incredibly subjective
criterion, which means, in effect, that the minister has unfettered
discretion in the matter."

The PLC draft report said there are no safeguards against the
minister abusing his power in issuing warrants. In the new version,
the government's solution was to come up with provisions for the review
of theminister's exercise of his powers to issue warrants by the Attorney-
General.
After that review the Bill says "the Attorney-General may make
recommendations in writing to the Minister concerning the manner in
which the Minister shall exercise his or her powers in future".

In its draft report the PLC had said such controls "should
normally be assured by the judiciary, which offers the best
guarantees of independence, impartiality and proper procedure".

Apart from this, in its presentation to the Parliamentary
Portfolio committee on Transport and Communications the Zimbabwe
Internet Service Providers Association also proposed parliamentary review.

It also said in other countries with similar legislation
warrants are issued as a result of some judicial process.

Clause 8 still provides that evidence obtained by means of an
unlawful interception may be admissible in court if the court deems
that there are compelling reasons to allow its admission, although the PLC
had expressed reservations to it.

Although on clause 18 the Bill says: "Any person aggrieved by a
warrant, directive or order issued" may appeal to the Administrative
Court,that also falls below the committee's concerns. The committee had
wondered how the individuals would appeal against the issuance of the appeals
when they have not been told by the minister in the first place that the
warrants had been issued.



__._,_.___

Zanu PF bigwigs Star Players In Corruption

By Tendayi Biti,
Secratary-General of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvabgirai

As the Zimbabwean economy shrinks and as we continue to experience continuous and persistent negative growth rates, one thing that is not shrinking is the massive looting and corruption that now characterises the State and senior officials in Zanu PF.

In failed States such as Zimbabwe, the State becomes an arena and vehicle for personal aggrandisement. Not only that, the State and the economy are cannibalised and vulturised through a systematic and well-oiled machinery of asset-stripping. Indeed, in present-day Zimbabwe, patronage, clientelism and rent-seeking activities have become a national religion.

It is an indictment on the regime that 26 years after independence, Zimbabwe is now ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with a ranking of 159 out of the most corrupt states. The International Anti-Corruption Index gives Zimbabwe the henous index of 2.6 which in the SADC region is only "bettered" by the DRC. In reality, this means thatonly 20 cents out of every $1 paid by the taxpayer is used for legitimate national causes. The rest is haemorraged through overt and covert acts of corruption.

The recent revelations at Ziscosteel in which the country's two vice Presidents and other ministers have been named and shamed, reflects a crudity in the magnitude of corruption in Zimbabwe. It representative primitive accumulation without standard, without national objective, without rationale and without morality. The looting of funds and the bribery scams at ZUPCO are an ugly reflection of this unmitigated aggrandisement.

The importation of fake fertiliser, the pruchase of useless and substandard aircraft from China are all reflections of the self-sustaining madness and momentum of this corruption, a momentum and force which leaves no one in government innocent.

The land reform programme has been nothing but a massive transfer of assets to cronies and proxies of the ruling regime. The importation of fuel has become an arena in which Zanu PF sharks swim at each others' throats. All major parastatals, in particular GMB, NOCZIM, NRZ, ZINWA, ARDA, Air Zimbabwe, Net One and TelOne, have become "automated teller machines" (ATM). Of these ATMs probably, the biggest one is the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

Local authorities, chief among them the city of Harare, have traditionally proved to be the hunting grounds of the ruling elite. They have thus taken a double battering from corrupt councils and residents in the allocation of stands and other services.

The most disturbing element about corruption in Zimbabwe is that it has undermined the value of education and clean hard work ethics. The youths watch daily as as lazy, incompetent and corrupt people make it to the top of the social ladder through patronage and clientelism and not through education and hard work. This complete Zanunisation of the moral fabric of our society, more than the state of the economy and the barbaric murders of the innocent over the years, will remain Robert Mugabe's biggest dislegacy.

Equally unacceptable is the culture of impunity that exists in the State. The kleptocratic State does not have the political will and technical capacity of dealing with corruption. The thousands who have looted farms, the War Victims Compensation Fund, the Pay for Your House Scheme and the diamonds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to roam the country in their air-conditioned Mercedes Benzes.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is a lame duck legally defined to be impotent and further disabled by ;ack of independence and institutional resources.

As the MDC, it is our firm belief that the only way to deal with corruption is by addressing the political question first. Zanu PF is corruption itself and the only solution is a new, democratic Constituion, followed by free and fair elections under international supervision. Without this, not only will corruption multiply, but so too will the deterioration of the State and the slow death of the same.

Meanwhile ZimOnline Reports That
Spear and axe-wielding peasant farmers stormed the government’s Grain Marketing Board (GMB) offices in the southern Masvingo city demanding a refund for sub-standard fertilizer sold to them by the parastatal.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made about three months ago used nearly US$50 million to import 70 000 tonnes of inferior quality fertilizer from South Africa allegedly in return for kickbacks.

Zambians wary of "exploitative" Chinese employers

A number of Chinese businesses have sprouted in Zimbabwe, thanks to Mugabe's Look East Policy. However besides criticising this policy or glorifying it, depending, which medium one works for, Journos have not really gone to find how these deals have benfited ordinray Zimbabweans or the social aspects of having these people in our country. One member of the team remembers how many years ago dogs in Warren Park disappeared when the Koreans were building the National Sports Stadium. Whether this was true is something
Report by IRIN

China has pledged investments worth millions of dollars to development-hungry Zambia, but ordinary citizens are wary of the quality of jobs that would be on offer.

Earlier this month China wrote off US$211 million owed by Zambia, as part of President Hu Jintao's three-year aid package to Africa. China has pledged $3 billion in preferential loans and $2 billion in preferential credits over the next three years, and has set up a China-Africa development fund that will grow to $5 billion.

The aid package includes the cancellation of all interest-free government loans that matured at the end of 2005 for least developed countries with diplomatic relations with China. The package also provides for the establishment of five economic zones, including one in Zambia.

The spinoffs for Zambia, with a population of about 10 million and only about 400,000 formal-sector jobs, would be enormous.

In the past China's relations with Zambia were ideologically driven, symbolised by the construction of the 1,800km Tanzam Railway in the 1970s, linking the landlocked country to the port city of Dar-es-Salaam in neighbouring Tanzania. Business is now the new watchword, but analysts say locals have become less enthusiastic about China's embrace, largely because of poor labour practices.

Among the Zambians sceptical of the possible job opportunities is Richard Mwanza, a full-time salesman in a Chinese grocer's shop in the capital, Lusaka. "Chinese investment is not meant to improve our lives, we are working for nothing," he alleged. "We are not allowed to go for lunch every day, and yet we only get 180,000 Kwacha [$40] every month. We are not given any transport or housing allowance."

The minimum monthly wage for permanent as well as casual or contract workers in Zambia is $90.

The terms "contracted" and "casual" are often interchangeably used in Zambia, where anyone employed by a firm for more than six months automatically becomes a permanent employee entitled to medical benefits, housing and transport allowances, but employers often fire workers before six months of employment have been completed. Contracted workers are not entitled to any of these benefits.

Acknowledging the problem, Ministry of Labour and Social Security permanent secretary, Ngosa Chisupa, said "about 80 percent of foreign investors in Zambia do not remit anything to the pensions board for employees, they don't give employees any benefits upon termination, and the employees are made to work without any signed contracts on the conditions of service."

Chisupa said the Zambian authorities had signed an agreement with the Chinese government, covering the issue of "exploitative wages. The Chinese government has pledged to help ensure their investors are acquainted with Zambian labour laws before coming to invest here". The authorities were also currently revising labour laws to curb casualisation - short-term contract work - and increase the minimum wage bill.

According to the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Rayford Mbulu, foreign companies are taking advantage of the lack of protection for casual workers. "It all starts with their employment policy. The Chinese and Indian mines are employing people on [short-term] contracts and, in some cases, Zambian workers are forced to sign forms before going underground to declare that they are working at their own risk, so that there would no compensation in case of an accident."

The death of 51 Zambian miners last year in an explosion at the biggest mine run by the Chinese, at Chambishi near the Congolese border, seemed to confirm fears over safety standards.

Chisupa cited corruption among labour law enforcement officials as another reason foreign companies were flouting existing laws. To check corruption, the department had decided to send officials from various departments to inspect a number of businesses. "So far, within this month of November, we have closed three companies that were paying their permanent employees about $25 per month."

In the run-up to the general election on 28 September this year, losing opposition leader Michael Sata made China's investment in Zambia a campaign issue and pushed for recognition of Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. The campaign proved effective, and resulted in a win for Sata in Lusaka and Copperbelt, the two most prosperous provinces, where the Chinese presence is very strong.

Dr Martyn Davies, director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, described Sata's campaign as "unfortunate" and "racist".

"The question is, 'why are Zambian [laws in] workplaces not being enforced by Zambian officials themselves'? Unfortunately, the Chinese are quite lax over health and safety issues in their own country."

Davies pointed out that, ultimately, a country's economic success was determined by its internal policies and not by outside investment.

President Levy Mwanawasa's pro-market economic policies have lured thousands of Chinese investors to set up businesses in the mining, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors.

But according to Sata, Chinese businesses employ relatively few Zambians. "Our Chinese don't bring in any equipment or create any sensible employment. In fact, to every Zambian in a Chinese company, there are about 15 Chinese. I have done my intelligence research and it is devastating to know that all Chinese companies are paying an average of $50 per month to Zambian employees."

The economic affairs counsellor at the Chinese Embassy, Zhang Shudong, declined to comment.

Musiyalela Sitali, a marketing and investment promotion manager at the Zambia Investment Centre, commented, "Chinese investment has been increasing over the years and, at the moment, we have a total of 145 Chinese projects running in Zambia. These registered Chinese companies have brought in over $378 million in capital investment commitments and created more than 10,000 jobs for Zambians" over the last 13 years.

An estimated 80,000 Chinese are resident in Zambia. Besides the businesses registered by the Investment Centre, there are thousands of unregistered ones, and with Hu's resolution to double his country's investment in Africa, more are expected to spring up.

Kate Hoey Address In The House Of Commons On Zimbabwe

Kate Hoey, the British MP for Vauxhall, flew into Zimbabwe secretly some weeks ago, much to the ire of Security Minister Didymus Mutasa.ZimJournalists Arise received a copy of her presentation that was made at the House Of Commons. So we thought we would circulate it to journos and all interested readers.
Debate on the Address – Foreign Affairs

I wish to address a crisis in which the UK’s historical position means that we could play a special role. Indeed, we have a right to play a special role in Zimbabwe. I apologise for not being in my place earlier in the debate, but I was chairing the all-party group on Zimbabwe, at which we had the immense privilege of listening to Archbishop Pius Ncube, the very brave Roman Catholic archbishop from Bulawayo, who has repeatedly stood out against Mugabe and the political oppression in his country.

Until now, the Government have preferred to play a behind the scenes role in dealing with the crisis in Zimbabwe, and Ministers have been anxious—perhaps understandably—to avoid playing to Mugabe’s propaganda scripts, which portray the Zimbabwe crisis as a bilateral post-colonial dispute. That has to change, and soon.

The socio-economic position in Zimbabwe has never before been so bad. The country’s inflationary rate is almost 2,000 per cent., the highest in the world. The economy has declined at a rate unprecedented in a nation that is supposedly at peace. It is the fastest declining economy in the world. The GDP has shrunk by more than 40 per cent. in the past six years. Such an economic collapse has never happened before in a nation that is not at war.

Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV infection rates on earth, with more than 24 per cent. of the population infected, while pathetically small amounts are spent on antiretroviral drugs by a Government who have been more concerned to import military aircraft from China than to protect the lives of their people.
By the end of this year, there will not be enough grain to feed the nation, although Zimbabwe used to be the bread basket of southern Africa. There is no sign of economic recovery, with the Zimbabwean Government threatening to seize 51 per cent. ownership of all mines in the country. The lack of security of any kind of ownership is hardly likely to encourage the foreign investment needed to reindustrialise Zimbabwe.

Just a few weeks ago I visited for the third time and I saw for myself the hunger, illness and desperation stalking the country. The cemeteries are filling up, but no blood is being spilled. People are just fading away, dying quietly and being buried quietly with no fanfare and no international media attention. Each week an estimated 3,500 Zimbabweans die from a unique convergence of malnutrition, poverty and AIDS. The figures suggest that, far from the media spotlight—no BBC cameras allowed in—more people die in Zimbabwe each week than in either, in the past, Darfur or Iraq. Those deaths are largely preventable, but without significant intervention the situation threatens to develop into a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions.
The Zimbabwean Government continue deliberately to underplay the extent of the malnutrition crisis for political reasons, using food as a political weapon, most recently in the rural elections. The World Health Organisation’s figures, released earlier this year, put life expectancy in Zimbabwe as the lowest in the world—34 for women and 37 for men. Despite attracting little media attention, those figures, which relate to 2004, show the gravity of the situation.

Recently, there has been a crackdown on the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and I met many of the trade unionists who have been beaten up. Those brave trade unionists are fighting hard to get their voices heard and for the rights and basic democracy that we take for granted.

One of the things that this country can do is try to change international perception of what is happening in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is not stupid. He is a clever operator and he has manipulated world opinion, especially in the African region. He has also played on our memories of past struggles to paralyse progressive opinion that should be expressing outrage at what he is doing. It should be as unacceptable to defend Robert Mugabe today as it was in the past to defend Pinochet of Chile or Idi Amin of Uganda. Our Government cannot expect sustainable development in Africa until we find ways of preventing the plunder of its economies and the destruction of its natural and human resources by rogue leaders. Persuading regional leaders that they must engage in finding a way to end the crisis in Zimbabwe is basic to the future well-being of the entire Government there.

The Government have a real opportunity to support the recent moves towards a resolution of the situation in Zimbabwe by promoting the initiative from within the Southern African Development Community region. The recent decision of the new chairman of SADC, the Prime Minister of Lesotho, to dispatch a ministerial action group to Harare has evoked furious reactions from the ruling ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe. Lesotho’s decision to put Zimbabwe high on the SADC agenda shows an acceptance, at last, that the crisis there is undermining the economies of the region and peace there. I understand that that indictment of Mugabe’s regime at last has the blessing of the Governments of South Africa and Botswana. SADC countries are beginning to face up to the political realities of the crisis in Zimbabwe and accept regional responsibility for dealing with a member state that has long been in breach of its fundamental obligations as a member of that community.

I welcome the recent statements of the Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lord Triesman, and my right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade, both of whom are now prepared to speak out more clearly and unequivocally on Zimbabwe. I wish that Ministers in other EU countries would stop trying to undermine the targeted sanctions in their own national self-interests and without regard to the plight of the people of Zimbabwe. I hope that the British Government will do what they can to stop France from inviting Mugabe to the African conference in the new year.

We must ensure that we support the efforts of those who carry on the struggle inside Zimbabwe—civil society, the churches and the opposition. They need money and resources, and we have to find ways of ensuring that they get them.

Mugabe’s final term is due to end in March 2008, but there are already moves afoot to extend it to 2010. He is terrified of ending up in a cell in The Hague like Charles Taylor of Liberia. If the opposition in Zimbabwe are prepared to say that one man cannot be allowed to stand in the way of ending the suffering of an entire nation, we could accept that. Offering a way out for Mugabe and, perhaps, other figures in the ruling party could form part of negotiations on a transitional process. That process has to pave the way for a new constitution and genuinely free elections so that the people of Zimbabwe can start to rebuild their country and its institutions under a democratic Government.

Many hon. Members might think that compared with other emergencies around the world, the situation in Zimbabwe is a relatively unimportant problem. In fact it is relatively straightforward, but it requires leadership and political will. The people of Zimbabwe would welcome any serious initiative with enthusiasm. That would not require military involvement from our already overstretched armed forces. With the help of allies in Africa, a solution is possible.

Conditions in Zimbabwe have not got any better; they are getting worse. The brutality of the regime has not declined. It is prepared to disregard all civilised standards when it comes to suppressing expressions of dissent from trade unions, churches or civilians. However, during my visit there I saw that there is a unity of purpose. A cohesive opposition alliance has emerged between trade unions, civil society and the opposition, who are planning together for the future. That gives me grounds for optimism.

There is no point in devoting tens of millions of pounds of my poor constituents’ money from DFID’s budget to food aid and efforts that will at best ameliorate and at worst camouflage the impact of ZANU-PF’s wanton mismanagement if ways of funding the organisations that make up the mainstream opposition cannot be found. The Prime Minister is not going to get his legacy in Iraq; if he wants a real legacy, he should spend the next six months going around the African countries and really working. He could end up getting a solution to the problems in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabweans and the world want that, and it would give the Prime Minister his legacy.

Edited

Lesotho MISA President Receives Death Threats
Report By Reporters Without Borders

Leading political journalist Thabo Thakalekoala, who was recently elected president of the regional press freedom organisation, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) says, since he covered a split in the ruling party for several international media, he and his family have received daily death threats and he says he has been banned from speaking on the public broadcast media.

Lesotho correspondent of the BBC and the South African public broadcaster SABC, as well as Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and the South African Press Association (Sapa), Thakalekoala has been getting daily threatening calls from public telephones for more than two weeks. The calls refer to his family or his own safety, and tell him his "days are numbered" or that he had "better leave the country."

After interviewing Thakalekoala, privately-owned radio Harvest FM presenter Adam Lekhoaba received a threatening SMS message on his mobile phone from a listener on 6 November. "Be careful not to be the next," it said.

Thakalekoala provided the international news media with coverage of the split in the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), in which former communication minister Tom Thabane left the LCD on 9 October 2006 to create his own party, the All Basotho Convention (ABC), thereby changing the face of Lesotho's politics just a few months before general elections.

Thakalekoala suspects that the threats against him have been coming from LCD supporters who accuse him of biased reporting because they think he is a friend of Thabane. Thakalekoala insists that his relationship with Thabane is "strictly professional."

"The situation is not comfortable but I am a stubborn person and I will continue to do my work without letting it affect me," Thakalekoala told Reporters Without Borders. He said he has reported the threats to the intelligence services.

He also said that after he spoke on state-owned Radio Lesotho, the minister of communication, science and technology issued verbal instructions that the public broadcast media should not interview him again. MISA-Lesotho director Tom Mapesela is also reportedly included in the ban. Both Thakalekoala and Mapesela have been campaigning for Lesotho's public media outlets to be free of the close government control to which they are subjected.
Edited

Zim Journalist Arrested?

Report by ZimJournalists Arise

Information reaching the ZimJournalists Arise Team, is that freelance journo, Frank Chikwore was arrested today in Harare. We have been unable to confirm this, but Chikowore’s arrest may have something to do with the Save Zimbabwe Campaign protests that were held countrywide today.
We have sent word out to Chikowore to shed some light on this and hope he will be able to confirm this or not. IRIN reports that 15 NUST students were arrested in Bulawayo today, in incidents related to the Save Zimbabwe Campaign` Sounds Of Freedom Protests.

Iran The Biggest Prison For Journo’s And Bloggers In Middle East

ZBH C.EO Henry Muradzikwa was in Iran recently, accompanying President Mugabe. According to press reports Muradzikwa was there to possibly buy some equipment for the cash-strapped super inefficient ZBH. After the visit, which naturally was given a lot of attention by the state-run media, the two countries promised to develop closer ties and we suppose, team up against the west.So the team decided to find out what kind of a country Iran is for journalists, As you know a person ‘s character can also be judged by the friends on they keep. Condoleeza Rice has decribed Iran and Zimbabwe as some of the outposts of tyranny in the world.

According to the 2006 Reporters Without Borders Iran ranks 162 nd out of 168 countries. Zimbabwe, is ranked 140 th.
This means Iran is even worse than Zimbabwe in terms of press freedom.

Excerpt from Reporters Without Borders.

The country remains the Middle East’s biggest prison for journalists and bloggers, with 13 jailed during 2005. Five were still being held at the start of 2006. Threats, interrogation, summonses, arrests and arbitrary detention are sharply increasing.
Journalists can often only stay out of prison by paying very high bail. The accession to power of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not improved the situation.

Journalist Akbar Ganji was held in solitary confinement during the year at Teheran’s Evin prison despite his failing health. He now weighs only about 50 kgs as a result of a two-month hunger-strike he began in July. Growing pressure by the international community for his release has still not had any effect.

Other journalists were released but remained under close surveillance. They included Taghi Rahmani, Reza Alijani and Hoda Saber, who were freed in June after two years. Their trials are still in progress however and they can be returned to jail at any time. The regime also uses bans on leaving the country as a weapon against journalists, notably Issa Saharkize, Ali Mazroui and Emadoldin Baghi, who was not allowed to go to France to receive a prize from the official French National Human Rights Commission on 12 December.

Area : 1,648,200 sq.km.
Population : 69,515,000.
Language : Persian.
Head of state : Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Supreme Guide).
Head of government : President Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad.

Meanwhile the BBC reports that global web log community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. The month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers' is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on Tuesday to the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day".

Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.
The group has a list of actions which it says bloggers can take, including writing to local Iranian embassies.
It is calling on the blogsphere - the name for the worldwide community of bloggers - to do what it can to help raise awareness of the plight of Mojtaba and Arash as well as other "cyber-dissidents".

ZimJournalists Arise Not Associated With Rev MS Hove E-Mails

For the record we would like to disassociate ourselves with e-mails from Rev MS Hove. We do not work with him, neither have we interviewed him before. However he did write to us and we posted his letter on our blog. We have been receiving his e-mails and in fact advised (yesterday) him not to bombard readers with his emails to avoid annoying readers specially those on our mailing list (OR) by continuously posting stuff (on our blog) that may not be directly relevant to us or our work.
Although we like to work with organizations or individuals that have an interest in promoting a New Zimbabwe and a better Zimbabwean journalist, we believe this should be done in a professional and sober manner.
For the record we do not share information such as email addresses with anybody as we use the info we have strictly for communicating with Zimbabwean journo's and activists for our blog.

Thank you
ZimJournalists Arise Team

Civil Disobedience Campaign To Be Launched Today

By ZimJournalists Arise.

Today, the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of civic society groups and opposition political parties, launch a new wave of civil disobedience. Zimbabweans are expected to be making what the broad alliance refers to as ‘’Sounds of Freedom’’ Some of the actions will include beating pots, blowing car hooters, whistling, are expected to be part of these ‘’Sounds of Freedom.’’
The Save Zimbabwe Campaign comprises of organizations such as the NCA, Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe, Christian Alliance among others. Both factions of the MDC are expected to participate.

This comes at a time when the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai has clearly failed to launch the long –awaited ‘’democratic resistance’’There are some who have been brave enough to go to the streets such as Women of Zimbabwe Arise, ZINASU and NCA albeit to the point that they have ceased to be really effective.

The government has ruthlessly crushed protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, that it is understandable that Tsvangirai and his gang have developed cold feet.

However as Zimbabwean citizens and journalists we can only hope that today’s planned action will be overwhelmingly supported and will work towards more effective action towards the Mugabe regime.

ZimJournalists Arise, Striving For A Better Zimbabwean Journalist

Tsvangirai Presser On Agriculture And Food Security

As Government gives the World Food Program the green light to distribute food.

Stop Press ***

ZimJournalist Arise sources says the government has given donors the go-ahead to feed people as the country goes through the lean November season.There are an estimated 1.4 million people in Zimbabwe in need of food aid

Fellow Zimbabweans, we approach another farming season with uncertainty over our food security needs. The rains are already with us, but corruption and inept planning shall see another failed season following a systematic destruction of the agriculture sector that has led to a sustained economic meltdown.
Despite promises of a good rainy season, what we are witnessing is classic case of bungling: inadequate or fake seed, sub-standard fertilizer, heavily subsidized fuel which is being diverted to the black market and shoddy preparations for the industry's revival. A fall start always leads to another disaster.
The same lackluster approach was evident last year and as a result an estimated three million people are short of food today. A disastrous beginning always ends in a national failure. Our wheat crop could easily be reduced to waste due to shortages of working combine harvesters, spares and proper planning.
Food shall remain scarce and prices beyond reach out of our failure as a country to meet our traditional production targets. The sad story rests on the chaotic land reform programme, which saw land use decline by significant margins and output reduced by more than half of the previous records.
As long as Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF skirt around an obvious political problem, our prospects for a meaningful turnaround remain poor. The collapse of agriculture has affected all sectors of our economy leading to losses of jobs, reduced export earnings, power and fuel rationing, weak investor confidence, poor tax revenues and a sharp fall in social services.
Once a net exporter of food, our nation's plight has been worsened by expensive food imports and serious shrinkages in the basket of basic commodities. Every family is at risk because of seven years of continuous disruptions in commercial agriculture and a determined onslaught on property rights.
As inflation gallops to levels never seen in Africa before, even in countries at war, attention seems to be directed at the symptoms of the deeper political malaise resulting in serious economic distortions and a sustained flight of local and international confidence.
Farming is a business and is better performed when land is seen as economic asset than a status symbol. The state lacks the capacity to engage in productive commercial farming.
What happened to the huge estates run by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority in Middle Save, Muzarabani, Sanyati, Kondozi and other productive areas shows that commercial farming is better left to serious investors and farmers capable of making sense out of an economic mixture of science, capital and expertise to produce food for the nation.
The meddling influence of the Mugabe regime in input procurement and disbursement, farm management and crop and livestock production dynamics is a perfect route towards a perennial state of food insecurity in Zimbabwe.
History is replete with examples of failed experiments with agriculture when partisan interest groups, especially the military and a political party militia, are pushed – out of political expediency -- into a sector they know nothing about and are expected to produce food for the nation. Their reluctance to stay on the ground and their lack of farming expertise lead to corruption, crop failures and a drain the little currency available, through food imports.
The state can print as much money to dole out to these groups in the form of support but that process shall never deliver a basket of grain. Many are already crying out for food hand-outs!
Our communal farmers, for many years a shining example of maize producers, have been abandoned.
There seems to be an excessive political focus of the so-called new farmer – a Zanu PF created a new community with no known interest or knowledge of agriculture. This group perpetually looks to the state for their loot, rewards and accolades, unlike the communal farmers whose track record – even under arid conditions – is beyond debate.
Many of our rural areas are impassable due to poor roads; the communal farmers lack essential support and inputs; the state of our communal lands resemble a nation at war, their service centres are now empty shells totally unable to support any meaningful economic activity in the rural areas.
The former commercial farms are slowly being turned into zones of inappropriate activities – the so-called new farmers resorting to poaching, deforestation and gold panning in order to survive.
Given our experience during the last seven years, may I commend the people for their resilience during the most trying times?
The humanitarian emergencies before the nation are daunting.
We must do everything in our power to save Zimbabwe. With the lowest life expectancy rate in the world, the number of orphans in our homes is a major source of worry.
Without access to food and drugs, the situation in most of our homes – compounded by a runaway HIV/Aids pandemic -- has reached unacceptable and dangerous levels.
We owe it to our children to resolve the national crisis speedily and to cast away our current pariah status in the eyes of the international community. We need food, jobs, medical drugs and a good education system for their children.
The people of Zimbabwe want to live well, with an affordable way of life. We maintain our position that we can only reclaim our respect, at home and abroad, if we deal with the nagging political questions and disputes in our midst. We must move as one people towards a way out of the political crisis in order to set a base for recovery, reconciliation and national healing.
We believe a new Constitution and an environment that shape the future and allow for free and fair elections shall provide the key to a lasting resolution of the crisis and open doors to the creation of a respectable and accountable government.
We remain convinced that we must organise ourselves and put pressure on the regime to respect the power of the people. We have to fight for our rights and improve our food sources and food security.
I look forward to working with all Zimbabweans to build a better life for them and their families: to make Zimbabwe once again one of the richest countries in Africa where every young person has a job, where every child has plenty to eat, where every family can look to having their own home, where every old person can have quality health care – working together we can and will save Zimbabwe.
To those in Zanu PF and in the military who still believe in a free and prosperous Zimbabwe, it is important to realise that political insurance and progress depends on an environment that enjoys national acceptance and national support.
We fought against colonialism to stop a few with privileges from exploiting the national cake at the expense of the majority. The continued segregation of the people through political patronage ad a selective allocation of scarce resources cannot be sustained.
The liberation struggle sought to bring about a new Zimbabwe. That national project was anchored on a need for a foundation of equality – in which our country provides shelter and care for all women, men and children who live there, with equal access to justice, to public goods and services, and to economic opportunity and resources, and where no unlawful discrimination shall be accepted.
We believe in the unity of our people. We understand the folly of separate development and are conscious of the consequences of inequality.
Given the current damage and its implications on family relations, we believe it is important for our nation to heal its wounds and re-build for the future, recognizing that what binds us is far greater than what divides us, celebrating our diversity and differences as individuals and as communities, and with a common resolve to institute safeguards to ensure that never again will our dignity be undermined by any one person or political party.
May I re-state our desire for a Zimbabwe that cherishes good governance, compassion, solidarity, peace, security and respect for women, men and children.
I wish to reaffirm our subscription to the principle of sustainable development grounded in prosperity, quality of life and community stability. As soon as we deal with our political problems, the revival of sustainable agriculture -- as the mainstay of economy and livelihood -- must be starting point in our efforts to kick-start the economy.

Morgan Tsvangirai
Founding President of the MDC.

Zimbabwean Kids Abused Every Hour

Overshadowed by political and economic problems, reporting on children has been largely ignored by the Zimbabwean media. Extensive coverage has been given to social problems such as Operation Murambatsvina, Operation Garikayi, Hunger etc but the impact on children has been hardly reported on. So the ZimJournalists Arise Team has decided to circulate this story by IRIN to remind journo’s of this social problem borne out of the Zimbabwean crisis.

A child is abused every hour in Zimbabwe, according to new data released by a group of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working to stop the suffering.
"More than 8,600 cases of child abuse were reported in Zimbabwe in 2005- that is 24 every day ... More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children," said James Elder, the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) spokesman in Zimbabwe.
The data was compiled by the Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), a network of NGOs, churches, community groups, UN agencies and the government, formed in 2002 to respond to the humanitarian needs of children.
"Cases of abuse against Zimbabwean children appear to be spiraling out of control," Elder said.
In the first nine months of this year, Childline, a phone-in service for children in distress or adults wishing to report cases of abuse, reported more than 34,000 calls, or more than five every hour. The NGO said 70 percent of calls received were related to sexual abuse of children.
"Children who are sexually abused are also the most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS. The impact can therefore, quite literally, last a lifetime and be fatal," said Elder. He added Zimbabwe has one of the largest populations of orphans and vulnerable children - about two million -
exposing more of them to abuse.
Child abuse can sometimes cripple families psychologically and financially. Stella Marongwe, 34, a Zimbabwean cross-border informal trader who sells cigarettes in Zambia, almost committed suicide when she learnt that her husband had been raping their 10-year-old daughter in her
absence.
"It devastated me so much when I discovered that the very father of my daughter was sexually abusing her. I completely trusted him and was shocked one day when I examined the child and noticed that her private parts were damaged," Marongwe told IRIN. The husband is now serving a
25-year jail term after being convicted for raping the girl on ten occasions while Marongwe was away.
The child contracted a sexually transmitted disease but, fortunately, two tests showed she was HIV-negative. She is, however, shunned by her schoolmates. "She thinks all men are devils and has vowed to take revenge when she grows up; she is very bitter," said Marongwe.
The abuse has affected the family financially as well. Marongwe has cut-down on her trips to Zambia because she is afraid her only other child, a daughter aged 14, might meet the same fate. She has also had to seek legal protection to prevent her husband's relatives from taking her
daughters on the grounds that she was neglecting them.
CPWG has called for nationwide prevention programs to be dramatically stepped up, and has stressed the need for parents, guardians and teachers to ensure a protective environment for children, and be vigilant in detecting and preventing all forms of child abuse. It has also called
for the development of life-skills programs to empower children, and the need for traditional and religious leaders to be unequivocal in their condemnation of child abuse.
The group said the myth held by some men that having sex with virgins could cure sexually transmitted diseases has added to the problem of child abuse.

ZimJournalists Arise Does Not Take Responsibility For The Content Of This Report