Saturday, 11th July 2009

Howzit

The internet has a report that Akim Ndlovu would be buried as a hero today. I ask myself, who is Akim Ndlovu? According to the report in The Herald, he was a ZIPRA commander, and I have no reason to argue with the decision to consider him a hero.

But I do ask why Patrick Kombayi was not tagged as a hero? The decision to make anyone a hero in Zimbabwe is laced with political bias and really needs to be sorted out.

-o00o-

In Zimbabwe, a deposit fine is a simple way of admitting guilt and paying a stipulated fine for that offence.

"Police yesterday announced new deposits for fines for those wishing to plead guilty to minor offences and wishing to avoid a court appearance.

The new deposit fines are with immediate effect. Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, warned that for some offences repeat offenders would have to appear in court, and could not simply pay a deposit fine at a police station.

First offenders for the listed offences have the option of appearing in court, if they wish to plead not guilty or if they wish to bring forward mitigating evidence for a lower fine.

Before the release of this schedule, some police officers were applying the US$20 fine indiscriminately.

The new deposit fines are as follows:

Offence Fine in US$

Gambling 10 Rioters 5
Indecent conduct 5
Dealing in prohibited or any knives 20
Threatening language especially in public 10
Obstructing passages, streets, pavements or sidewalks 10
Public drinking 5
Drunk violent or disorderly behaviour on licensed premises 15
Failing to display liquor licence 15
Selling liquor without permit 20
Selling or supplying liquor to any person who is drunk 5
Selling liquor after hours 20
Shops without licence 20
Unlawful possession of identification documents belonging to another person 20
Moving cattle without permit first offence 20
Second offence court
Unlicenced radio or television receivers at home and in cars 5
Failure to renew firearm certificate on time 5
Failure to renew for three firearms 20
Insecure firearms 20
Buying or selling a firearm without a certificate court
Disposal of firearms to unathourised persons court
Failure to register a car 15
Illegible registration mark and number plates 10
Vehicles with no front registration numbers 10
Driving without a licence 20
Learner’s driving without supervision 20
Motorists failing to obey turning arrows 10
Driving into intersection when exit is not clear 20
To cause or permit animals to stray on any roads 10
Failure to obey directions from a policeman in uniform controlling traffic 15
Cars without headlights 20
Driving with an illegal beacon 10
Failure to carry a red triangle 10
Cars without wipers 5
Public service vehicles without fitness certificates 15
Failure to display certificate of fitness 10
Excess passengers 5 per head
Touting 10
Speeding 1km/h 50km/h 5 to 20
Speeding in excess of 50km/h court
Fishing without permission from owner 5
Serving or offering food in a train or railway premises first offence 5
Second offence 10
Third offence court"

I have reproduced the list exactly as it appears in The Herald. Not that I expect an answer, but what is "Failure to renew for three firearms"?

And I note that driving without a driver's licence, a serious offence, carries a fine of just US$20.

Some of these fines are a joke - and all that they prove is that fines of this nature are just another way in which Mugabe and his cronies milk the system for foreign currency.

-o00o-

The Marange/Chaidwza diamond fields in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe continue to be a problem for that country...

"Zimbabwe's army and police on Friday refused to vacate diamond fields where security forces are accused of human rights abuses, despite a pledge last week for their withdrawal.

The announcement came despite a call from the Kimberley Process, which works to end the sale of "blood diamonds", for the demilitarisation of the Marange fields, where security forces are accused of torture, killings and other abuses against civilians.

"The officer commanding Manicaland province, senior assistant commissioner Munorwei Shava Mathuthu, said security forces will remain in place to deal with illegal diamond dealers and panners," said the statement read on state television. Mines Minister Obert Mpofu "concurred with the security forces", state television added - although on Sunday the government had said it would conduct a phased withdrawal from Marange."

I suppose that it could be argued that the withdrawal will be phased - one phase only - and will take place at a later date.

"A team from the Kimberley Process on Wednesday accused the military of being involved in illegal diamond mining in the Marange and of perpetrating "horrific" violence against civilians. The team recomended that Zimbabwe remove the army from Marange by July 20. The team visited Zimbabwe last week on a fact-finding mission, after Human Rights Watch accused the armed forces of using torture and forced labour to control the Marange fields, saying 200 people had been killed last year.

Zimbabwe has denied the allegations."

Mugabe will tell the world that Zimbabwe is a sovereign democracy and will not respond to the orders of others - ie, the Kimberley Process.

What this means is that Mugabe and his senior loyalists will continue to milk the fields for every stone that they can...

The diamond field in Zimbabwe - carat or stick?

-o00o-

Another report on the same subject...

"The army and the police will not withdraw from the Chiadzwa diamond fields, but will remain there to maintain 'law and order', a state controlled newspaper said on Friday.

The weekly Manica Post in Mutare said the security forces will continue with their presence at the diamond fields, despite recommendations by the Kimberley Process team that visited the country last week to demilitarise the fields. The officer commanding Manicaland Province, Senior Assistant Commissioner Munorwei Shava Matutu, told journalists at a media briefing that because of the vast nature of the diamond fields, the security forces will continue using various strategies, including roadblocks and patrols, that he said have resulted in the decline of illegal panning and dealing in diamonds in the province. The briefing was also attended by provincial commanders from the army and the CIO."

Just how the police and the army are expected to uphold 'law and order' when they themselves are the biggest culprits, I will never know.

But you will note a pattern emerging here. Mugabe's people refuse to leave the diamond fields - he refuses to have an audit within the RBZ... His way of covering anything up is just to close ranks.

And to return to a question that I ask a lot... where has all the diamond money gone?

"The Kimberley Process team visited the country last week on a fact-finding mission, after Human Rights Watch accused the armed forces of using torture and forced labour to control the Marange fields. At least 200 people are known to have died in a military crackdown last year, which saw the army at one time use helicopter gunships to flush out illegal diamond panners.

Sox Chikohwero, a former MDC intelligence chief, told us the military’s insistence to remain at Chiadzwa amounted to a ‘mutiny’ against the unity government.

"Two government ministers agreed with the Kimberley Process recommendations and promised to withdraw the armed forces in phases. But the pro-ZANU PF military has refused and this can only be described as a mutiny against the government," Chikohwero said.

The former ex-combatant and officer in the airforce said those defying government recommendations should be arrested. But he said it is an open secret that ZANU PF has directed the military to issue the statement.

"ZANU PF used to get funds from Gideon Gono but because that financial route has been blocked by the unity government, their only source of funds was Chiadzwa. It’s clear the diamond fields have sustained ZANU PF as a party and the top military generals," Chikohwero said.

"Lets not be fooled they will let go of the diamonds fields. They will fight for it, the soldiers will fight for ZANU PF to ensure its sustainability as far as money is concerned. You cannot separate the soldiers from ZANU PF," added Chikohwero."

-o00o-

"Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says the lifespan of Zimbabwe’s current inclusive government in Zimbabwe is likely to be extended to a full term of five years. Mutambara further described as false, a widely held belief that the duration of the hybrid government had been intended for two years.

"All this is completely false," Mutambara said, "If you look at the Global Political Agreement (GPA), there is nowhere where it says the government is for 18 months or two years. It is silent on the duration of the unity government."

A five year term for the 'unity' government would be playing straight into Mugabe's hands. He is determined to remain at the top of the government - come hell or high water.

"Said Mutambara, "What we say in the agreement is that, after the new constitution is adopted in a referendum, we will sit down as the three parties and discuss whether to continue or to shut down government and go for elections.

"When we were doing the negotiations, we were coming from the opposition; we wanted a short and sharp government, 18 months, and then elections. That was our demand.

"But our brother Mugabe from ZANU PF was saying, "No I was elected on the 27th of June (2008), I want my five years.' So we argued back and forth.

"The reason why we did this in the end is to ensure that people are not in an election mode. We for once work for the country. If we have 18 months or two years as our horizon, we don’t work, we campaign."

Does Mutambara believe that the Zimbabwean people can sit through yet another interminable round of 'negotiations'? When Mugabe and his party 'negotiate' they visit all manner of violence on the people, forcing the hand of those that they 'negotiate' with...

He does, however, make one statement which, in Zimbabwe, will never happen.

"If we behave well as a government, we create conditions for free and fair elections."

-o00o-

"Zimbabwe’s assets in foreign countries are soon to be impounded, after President Mugabe revealed his government will not pay for land expropriated under his violent land reform programme.

In his announcement on Thursday, president Mugabe said that Britain should pay for the compensation of siezed land since a colonial obligation was ‘outlined’ in the Lancaster House agreement made before independence that Britain should pay. At an international investment function held in Harare, Mugabe said he told Tony Blair, '…to keep his money, and we were going to keep our land’ Mugabe said.

"The responsibility for compensating the farmers rests on the shoulders of the British government and its allies," Mugabe added on Thursday."

Mugabe fails to acknowledge that the change of ownership of land in Zimbabwe, as 'outlned' in the Lancaster House agreement, was supposed to be a 'willing buyer - willing seller'. What was so willing about the farmers and their workers being murdered on the farm? What was so willing about the farmers being physically forced off the land?

"However, some of these farms were lands owned by 13 Dutch farmers, some who went into Zimbabwe after independence (1980) and invested in farming business. These Dutch farmers were protected by commercial treaties personally signed by President Mugabe.

Recently, a World Bank tribunal ruled that Zimbabwe should pay US21 million for the breach of these commercial treaties when Mugabe violently siezed their farms. A 21 July deadline was given afterwhich time, interest will be added and the government’s assets in foreign lands will be subject to seizure.

Although the Zimbabwe government had requested that the damages be discounted, the tribunal rejected this request in April.

Government owned companies such as Air Zimbabwe will be siezed unless or until the Zimbabwe government has remitted payment. The tribunal ruling stated that the applicable law governing the dispute under the Treaty was public international law, not Zimbabwean law."

But why should Mugabe worry? His foreign banks accounts are neatly hidden away and he is rich beyond his wildest dreams. All he has to do now is to avoid being picked up for crimes against humanity...

-o00o-

And finally, for today, an article that discusses something which I have written about before...

"Under normal circumstances a government that takes over from another is usually under an obligation to honour contracts entered into and to repay legitimate national debts acquired by its predecessor.

That happens in most democratic nations where transition from one leader to another is undertaken peacefully and where contracts and debts are entered into with the knowledge and consent of the citizenry.

This week one half of Zimbabwe’s government of national unity fired a salvo by declaring that they would not be honouring debts acquired by the previous ZANU PF government of Robert Mugabe.

"Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to pay the debt," Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, told debt cancellation campaigners at a conference in Harare. "We will not pay this debt."

Unequivocal. And when we look at the debts that Mugabe has against his name, we must ensure that the debts run up that did nothing more than bolster his hold on power are not paid by the new government.

And these should include the weapons that he has purchased to arm his army and the police against the population.

"Inter Press Services reports that, according to the latest Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe statistics, released on Jun 30, "Zimbabwe is sitting on a total external debt of US$ 4.6 billion".

It is estimated that approximately 65 percent of these external obligations are in arrears and yet "Zimbabwe requires 8.4 billion dollars for its economic blueprint, the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) launched by the government in April this year".

"It would be obscene for me as the Minister of Finance to direct that we pay when 90 percent of our people are living below the poverty datum line, surviving on less than US 20 cents a day,” Biti, of the Tsvangirai led MDC, told IPS."

And when you consider that Mugabe has sent his own entourage to the East to beg money from Mugabe's friends, he told whoever would listen that any money raised would be for his party - not for the country...

"The MDC is unwilling to repay loans and debts acquired by Mugabe and his ZANU PF government at a time when they alone were in charge of Zimbabwe.

In addition, civil society is reportedly demanding an audit of the loans and debts to determine how such a colossal amount was used before agreeing to repay the loans.

Civil society organisations want an audit "to determine the extent to which the country’s debts have become illegitimate and odious"."

-o00o-

Take care.

'debvhu