LINK
A Z$150 billion fund created by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to resuscitate the country's dairy sector could have been misused with less than $15 billion said to have reached farmers, ZimOnline has learnt. ...
This may not be quite as bad as it sounds... the "official exchange rate is Z$70,000 for one USdollar....
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Defense gets largest chunk in Zim's budget
Defence gets fourth biggest chunk in Zimbabwe budgetThu 1 December 2005
HARARE - Defence received the fourth largest vote in a Z$123.9 trillion budget for next year unveiled on Thursday in Parliament by Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa.
The largest share went to Education which was allocated $7.4 trillion followed by the health and public service sectors allocated $5.2 and $5.1 trillion respectively
HARARE - Defence received the fourth largest vote in a Z$123.9 trillion budget for next year unveiled on Thursday in Parliament by Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa.
The largest share went to Education which was allocated $7.4 trillion followed by the health and public service sectors allocated $5.2 and $5.1 trillion respectively
Mugabe's housing program grinds to a halt
LINK
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's project to build houses for thousands of families whose homes he ordered demolished in a controversial urban renewal campaign five months ago has ground to a halt because there is no money.
At least 700 000 people were cast onto the streets without shelter or means of livelihood after their homes were demolished by the government, according to the United Nations (UN) which also said Mugabe's urban renewal campaign violated human rights and may have breached international law.
A WOMAN watches her house being razed to the ground during the demolitions
Another 2.4 million poor Zimbabweans were also affected by the home demolition campaign, the UN said.
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's project to build houses for thousands of families whose homes he ordered demolished in a controversial urban renewal campaign five months ago has ground to a halt because there is no money.
At least 700 000 people were cast onto the streets without shelter or means of livelihood after their homes were demolished by the government, according to the United Nations (UN) which also said Mugabe's urban renewal campaign violated human rights and may have breached international law.
A WOMAN watches her house being razed to the ground during the demolitions
Another 2.4 million poor Zimbabweans were also affected by the home demolition campaign, the UN said.
Rehousing the homeless...
LINK
Jan Englund, who criticized the US for not sending HIM enough money to help Tsunami victims (at a time the US and Australia and India were the first ones there to help... didn't matter, the money needed to be sent to him to do surveys on who needed the money most, not to helicopter food, water and medicine to those starving and sick and dying)...
Well, dear old Jan is visiting Zim to decide how to rehouse those left homeless from Mugabe's Tsunami...
HARARE – United Nations (UN) envoy Jan Egeland began on Monday his tour of Zimbabwe to assess the needs of thousands of people who were displaced by a controversial government clean-up exercise last May.
Egeland, who was accompanied by several government officials, visited the poor suburb of Hatcliffe Extension, where residents are living in plastic shacks five months after President Robert Mugabe sanctioned the demolition of their homes.
At least 700 000 people were rendered homeless after the government razed to the ground thousands of homes and backyard cottages in a programme Mugabe defended as necessary to restore the beauty of cities and towns but condemned by human rights groups as a violation of the rights of the poor.
Ah, that's why he destroyed Sister Patricia's HIV clinic....and a convent chapel in Kwe Kwe...they weren't pretty enough....
The UN envoy was later shown several houses in Hatcliffe Extension built by the government under its reconstruction programme. But the Zimbabwe government, grappling its worst ever economic crisis, has failed to meet its housing targets for thousands of people displaced by the clean-up campaign.
Thousands? Try tens of thousands...
Sources said the UN envoy, who met Zimbabwe Local Government and Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo on Sunday “had an open and frank discussion (with Chombo) on how the UN, non-governmental organisations and other humanitarian partners in Zimbabwe can better support the many people in need of humanitarian assistance”.
How much do you want us to bribe you? (at least here in the Philippines, after taking the bribes, they let you help poor people, and will even cheerfully assist you...in Zim, they keep the outside charities --oops the PC word is NGO-- from helping at all so that news of how bad things are won't get out)...
In an official statement, the UN envoy emphasised “the critical role of the government in facilitating the work of humanitarian agencies by asking minister Chombo to 'help us to help you'”. ....
Egeland is expected to meet Mugabe today before visiting the second biggest city of Bulawayo later in the day. - ZimOnline
Jan Englund, who criticized the US for not sending HIM enough money to help Tsunami victims (at a time the US and Australia and India were the first ones there to help... didn't matter, the money needed to be sent to him to do surveys on who needed the money most, not to helicopter food, water and medicine to those starving and sick and dying)...
Well, dear old Jan is visiting Zim to decide how to rehouse those left homeless from Mugabe's Tsunami...
HARARE – United Nations (UN) envoy Jan Egeland began on Monday his tour of Zimbabwe to assess the needs of thousands of people who were displaced by a controversial government clean-up exercise last May.
Egeland, who was accompanied by several government officials, visited the poor suburb of Hatcliffe Extension, where residents are living in plastic shacks five months after President Robert Mugabe sanctioned the demolition of their homes.
At least 700 000 people were rendered homeless after the government razed to the ground thousands of homes and backyard cottages in a programme Mugabe defended as necessary to restore the beauty of cities and towns but condemned by human rights groups as a violation of the rights of the poor.
Ah, that's why he destroyed Sister Patricia's HIV clinic....and a convent chapel in Kwe Kwe...they weren't pretty enough....
The UN envoy was later shown several houses in Hatcliffe Extension built by the government under its reconstruction programme. But the Zimbabwe government, grappling its worst ever economic crisis, has failed to meet its housing targets for thousands of people displaced by the clean-up campaign.
Thousands? Try tens of thousands...
Sources said the UN envoy, who met Zimbabwe Local Government and Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo on Sunday “had an open and frank discussion (with Chombo) on how the UN, non-governmental organisations and other humanitarian partners in Zimbabwe can better support the many people in need of humanitarian assistance”.
How much do you want us to bribe you? (at least here in the Philippines, after taking the bribes, they let you help poor people, and will even cheerfully assist you...in Zim, they keep the outside charities --oops the PC word is NGO-- from helping at all so that news of how bad things are won't get out)...
In an official statement, the UN envoy emphasised “the critical role of the government in facilitating the work of humanitarian agencies by asking minister Chombo to 'help us to help you'”. ....
Egeland is expected to meet Mugabe today before visiting the second biggest city of Bulawayo later in the day. - ZimOnline
Monday, December 05, 2005
Zim's women empowered
LINK
Zimbabwe takes lead in women’s empowerment
By Priscilla Nyahwema
ZANU-PF has taken a lead in empowering women in southern Africa and the recent Senatorial election results where 31 percent of the Senate is women, who made it to the Upper House, has been hailed as a landmark victory for democracy.
The women in Zimbabwe have proven themselves and have helped in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on gender equality and the inclusion of women in all levels of decision-making structures of governance.,,,.
Yup....those wonderful "Goals" that are absolutely meaningless....
Zimbabwe takes lead in women’s empowerment
By Priscilla Nyahwema
ZANU-PF has taken a lead in empowering women in southern Africa and the recent Senatorial election results where 31 percent of the Senate is women, who made it to the Upper House, has been hailed as a landmark victory for democracy.
The women in Zimbabwe have proven themselves and have helped in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on gender equality and the inclusion of women in all levels of decision-making structures of governance.,,,.
Yup....those wonderful "Goals" that are absolutely meaningless....
Zimbabwe's descent into misery
LINK
Across Zimbabwe, the scene is the same: townships that were once claimed as models for Africa have become stinking health hazards. The big cities are not much better. Some parts of Bulawayo have not had water for seven weeks. Refuse collection in Harare is sporadic. Power failures are routine.
In small towns such as Bindura and Shamva to the north, rubbish is collected by ox wagon. Zimbabwe is fast sinking into the past.
The meltdown of one of the continent's best infrastructures has been years in the making, the result of underinvestment and mismanagement. But the speed of the decline over the past few months has been astonishing. Zimbabweans long accustomed to hardship cannot remember a worse time.
The crisis is driven by a crippling shortage of foreign currency. Since the seizure of white-owned commercial farms began in earnest nearly six years ago, agricultural output -- the mainstay of the economy -- has dropped by 80 per cent. Without dollars, the Government cannot buy the $162,000 worth of parts it needs to fix the sewage plant in Chitungwiza, where dozens of people have already contracted dysentery. It also cannot buy fuel.
Service stations have not had petrol or diesel for months. Fuel can only be bought on the black market -- at more than four times the official pump price. Air Zimbabwe cancelled all its flights for a day last week due to lack of jet fuel.
Prices have doubled in the past month. Annual inflation reached 411per cent in October, according to official numbers. But TM, a supermarket chain, estimated it was closer to 700per cent, based on a typical shopping basket.... The effects of the economic crisis are visible everywhere. People queue for hours just to buy maize meal, sugar and bread, and pay for a trolley-full of goods with briefcases full of cash. Supermarkets, which change their prices every week, have started installing note-counting machines at their tills. Only 15 of the country's 175 railway locomotives are in running order. The state-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company, which runs Harare's bus services, is broke and has debts of $949,000. Hospitals are creaking under the strain of the increasing number of patients suffering from malnutrition. In a recent parliamentary report, Harare Central Hospital said it might have to close because so many nurses were leaving -- 30 over the past two weeks -- because of poor wages and a lack of medical equipment. No more AIDS patients are being accepted for treatment because of a shortage of drugs. Thousands of soldiers have been sent on compulsory leave because there is not enough food and money.... In the rural areas, which have been badly affected by drought, the suffering is more acute. Near Chivi, in the southern Masvingo province, a bumpy dirt road cuts through parched countryside. Cows, their ribs pressing through skin pulled taut, chew the leaves off trees because there is no grass. Many cattle have perished. Their owners may not be far behind. "People are not starving yet," said Alfred Matewe, 39, a short, barefoot man with a grey-flecked beard and heavily patched trousers. "But they will be if the rains don't come soon." But rain will not solve the food crisis. A shortage of seed and fertiliser -- and money to buy them -- mean next year's harvest could be one of the worst. Aid agencies believe more than three million people will need feeding by March. The Government, in denial over the scale of the problem, is reluctant to let in food relief.... Drought and poor havests are one thing, but a government that lets people die for political reasons is another....
Saturday, December 03, 2005
No garbage collection in Harare
LINK
Mbare - The smell of sewage and rotting garbage wafts into homes. Acrid smoke hangs in the air where families have tried to burn household waste.
Garbage collection is the latest casualty as Zimbabwe's economy crumbles.
With the start of seasonal rains, the effects are becoming unbearable in this poor south-western Harare township. Trash is piled waist-high in the narrow streets, and reeking water stagnates in potholes, blocked sewers and drains....
Mbare - The smell of sewage and rotting garbage wafts into homes. Acrid smoke hangs in the air where families have tried to burn household waste.
Garbage collection is the latest casualty as Zimbabwe's economy crumbles.
With the start of seasonal rains, the effects are becoming unbearable in this poor south-western Harare township. Trash is piled waist-high in the narrow streets, and reeking water stagnates in potholes, blocked sewers and drains....
Zim accused of blocking assistance
LINK
JOHANNESBURG -- Six months after Zimbabwe's government tore down the homes and businesses of hundreds of thousands of city dwellers it considered potential political opponents, at least 570,000 people remain homeless, many living outside with little or no shelter, according to a new Human Rights Watch report.
Worse, Zimbabwe's government is deliberately obstructing efforts by humanitarian groups to assist the displaced, the group said, creating what it termed a "massive humanitarian crisis" that the government has tried to conceal and other African nations have largely ignored.
"The very survival of many, particularly children and the chronically ill, is at risk. This appalling situation cannot be allowed to continue," Tiseke Kasambala, a Human Rights Watch researcher, urged at a Johannesburg news conference Thursday....
JOHANNESBURG -- Six months after Zimbabwe's government tore down the homes and businesses of hundreds of thousands of city dwellers it considered potential political opponents, at least 570,000 people remain homeless, many living outside with little or no shelter, according to a new Human Rights Watch report.
Worse, Zimbabwe's government is deliberately obstructing efforts by humanitarian groups to assist the displaced, the group said, creating what it termed a "massive humanitarian crisis" that the government has tried to conceal and other African nations have largely ignored.
"The very survival of many, particularly children and the chronically ill, is at risk. This appalling situation cannot be allowed to continue," Tiseke Kasambala, a Human Rights Watch researcher, urged at a Johannesburg news conference Thursday....
Friday, December 02, 2005
Drought killing wildlife
LINK
Several water holes have dried up and grazing has become scarce. National parks authorities cannot pump water into man-made water points because they either have no fuel or the motors have broken down. Of an estimated 66 drinking points, only seven, whose levels are also dropping fast, still have water.National Parks and Wildlife Management (NPWM) spokesman Edward Mbewe told IRIN that more animals could die if no remedial measures were taken, adding that the depletion of pastures was mainly due to the increase in the number of elephants, which had surpassed the national park's holding capacity.
Of course, you could cull (kill) the excess elephants, but the animal lover would object...
And if you cull the elephants, you can't sell the ivory anyway...not PC you know...and if you are starving, don't eat the meat before the authorities get the best cuts....
Several water holes have dried up and grazing has become scarce. National parks authorities cannot pump water into man-made water points because they either have no fuel or the motors have broken down. Of an estimated 66 drinking points, only seven, whose levels are also dropping fast, still have water.National Parks and Wildlife Management (NPWM) spokesman Edward Mbewe told IRIN that more animals could die if no remedial measures were taken, adding that the depletion of pastures was mainly due to the increase in the number of elephants, which had surpassed the national park's holding capacity.
Of course, you could cull (kill) the excess elephants, but the animal lover would object...
And if you cull the elephants, you can't sell the ivory anyway...not PC you know...and if you are starving, don't eat the meat before the authorities get the best cuts....
Zim police beat up people in farming town
LINK
KAROI -- Armed police in the small farming town of Karoi, 204km north-west of Harare, went on the rampage on Monday beating up residents a few days after President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party won a controversial senate election marred by widespread voter apathy.
KAROI -- Armed police in the small farming town of Karoi, 204km north-west of Harare, went on the rampage on Monday beating up residents a few days after President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party won a controversial senate election marred by widespread voter apathy.
The residents who included some vendors, say they were beaten up and forced to roll in mud at gunpoint at the hands of the police who have been accused of serious human rights violations in the past.
It was not immediately clear why the police beat up the residents but one policeman was heard questioning one of the residents why they had not bothered to vote during the Saturday senate election....
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Mugabe wins housing award
LINK
Harare - Zimbabwe was on Tuesday named one of three Housing Rights Violators in 2005, for the forced evictions carried out during Operation Murambatsvina, which left more than 700 000 people homeless and affected a further 2.4 million people. The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) awards its Housing Rights Violator Awards to three governments guilty of particularly serious and pervasive housing rights violations in the preceding year since 2002. This year, Zimbabwe shares the Violator Awards with China and the State Government of Maharashtra, India. COHRE's executive director, Scott Leckie, charged that the Zimbabwe operation was tantamount to crimes against humanity. "The mass forced evictions campaign named Operation Murambatsvina forcibly evicted more than 700 000 residents and informal traders in Zimbabwe, leaving them homeless and destitute - not because of conflict or natural disaster, but due to their own government's calculated and brutal actions," said Leckie. "It is abundantly clear that crimes against humanity have taken place in Zimbabwe in recent months, and those responsible should be held accountable and brought before the international judicial bodies to answer for these crimes," he added...
LINK TWO...
Here is a Philippine example LINK
where many in Bulacan are being moved to allow a new railway.
Harare - Zimbabwe was on Tuesday named one of three Housing Rights Violators in 2005, for the forced evictions carried out during Operation Murambatsvina, which left more than 700 000 people homeless and affected a further 2.4 million people. The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) awards its Housing Rights Violator Awards to three governments guilty of particularly serious and pervasive housing rights violations in the preceding year since 2002. This year, Zimbabwe shares the Violator Awards with China and the State Government of Maharashtra, India. COHRE's executive director, Scott Leckie, charged that the Zimbabwe operation was tantamount to crimes against humanity. "The mass forced evictions campaign named Operation Murambatsvina forcibly evicted more than 700 000 residents and informal traders in Zimbabwe, leaving them homeless and destitute - not because of conflict or natural disaster, but due to their own government's calculated and brutal actions," said Leckie. "It is abundantly clear that crimes against humanity have taken place in Zimbabwe in recent months, and those responsible should be held accountable and brought before the international judicial bodies to answer for these crimes," he added...
LINK TWO...
He cited Zimbabwe’s Operation Murambatsvina or “Drive Out Rubbish” campaign, which he said left more than 700,000 homeless.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has defended the drive as an urban renewal campaign.
In China, more than 40 million farmers have lost their land and livelihoods in the past 20 years due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, he said.
“COHRE is particularly concerned about the forced evictions of at least 400,000 people carried out in Beijing in connection with the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic Games,” Leckie said. “Removing people from their homes against their will is not only a human rights violation, but contrary to the Olympic spirit as well.”
Beijing has said that those whose households were relocated have been given more space than they had before.
In India, 350,000 poor people and ethnic minorities were evicted in Bombay in an effort to turn the city into a “world-class metropolis,” he said.
“The development plan calls for the reduction of slums to 10 percent of their current extent, in order to transform Mumbai (Bombay) into the next Shanghai by 2010,” he said.
“These forced evictions provide graphic evidence that the new ’world-class Mumbai’ is being constructed with complete disregard for the human rights of its poorest and most vulnerable people.”
Considering the population differences, Zim wins by a large margin...and there is no note if the people in China and India were merely thrown out or helped to quickly find new quarters...in Zim they were merely thrown out...Here is a Philippine example LINK
where many in Bulacan are being moved to allow a new railway.
One of these relocation areas is Barangay Lambakin in Marilao, Bulacan.
Municipal planning and development coordinator Hermie Bautista claimed they were the last to start but the fastest to construct the houses.
"Actually ang start relocation bandang August, na-late kami kasi we have to settle issues bago kami magsimula dito (Relocation started in August because we had to settle issues before starting)." Bautista said.
The relocation site is home to a total of 1,760 families, all residents of Marilao. Each family is given at least 32 square meters and at least P50,000 in cash.
One of the beneficiaries of the housing program is Jaime Santa Rosa. His family lived for thirty years along the PNR tracks in Barangay Tabing Ilog, Marilao, Bulacan.
A teary-eyed Sta. Rosa conveyed his gratitude to the government for giving them a better future. "Ang unang naramdaman naming nalungkot kami, s'yempre nandun na kami halos naglakihan, kaya lang ang nakakaano malalagay na kami sa tama…Ipinaglaban po kami ng aming mayor, provincial, Kongreso, sa sariling bayan kami ilagay, dun kami natutuwa, hindi kami nilagay sa ibang lugar. Marilao to Marilao din (We were sad at first but our mayor, the provincial board, Congress fought for us and put us still in Marilao)."
Sta. Rosa said the terms of payment for the land are very affordable. "Hindi po kabigatan sa amin dahil P200 lamang po, h'wag lang kaming manigarilyo, bawasan text, tong-its, kayang-kaya po namin (It's not so hard considering the amortization, which is quite low)."
Monday, November 28, 2005
Early polls say Mugabe wins
LINK
Partial results from Saturday's vote gave President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front at least 49 of 66 seats in the Senate.
Voting was marked by a record-low turnout blamed on voter apathy and the main opposition leader's call for a boycott.
Independent monitors predicted a turnout of between 15 and 20 percent of eligible voters, the lowest in any national election since Zimbabwe won independence in 1980.
Of course, the article didn't mention the "no vote for us, no food" aspect of the election...
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Election farce
LINK
LINK2
And it's worse than a farce: LINK
......an official of Gutu rural district council, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the Press, insisted that the distribution of maize had nothing to do with the by-election saying it was planned well before anyone knew there would be an election in the area. However, well-known MDC supporters in the area said they were being denied the maize as punishment for backing the opposition party....
LINK2
And it's worse than a farce: LINK
......an official of Gutu rural district council, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the Press, insisted that the distribution of maize had nothing to do with the by-election saying it was planned well before anyone knew there would be an election in the area. However, well-known MDC supporters in the area said they were being denied the maize as punishment for backing the opposition party....
Hmmm...wonder where it went?
LINK
Harare - The government's Central Mechanical and Engineering Department (CMED) cannot account for more than 600 000 litres of fuel it purchased for various state departments last year and internal auditors believe it could have been diverted to the illegal black-market.
Harare - The government's Central Mechanical and Engineering Department (CMED) cannot account for more than 600 000 litres of fuel it purchased for various state departments last year and internal auditors believe it could have been diverted to the illegal black-market.
Those made homeless are dying...
LINK
Yup...if you make people homeless, and send them back to villages with no money, and the villages have little food, you tend to have people die....
Yup...if you make people homeless, and send them back to villages with no money, and the villages have little food, you tend to have people die....
Friday, November 25, 2005
Sanctions on Mugabe?
See details at GatewayPundit...
LINK
He links to this ALERT about the lack of food...
The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that more than four million people in Zimbabwe - almost one-third of the total population of the country - are likely to face severe food shortage in the coming year. ACT members Christian Care, and the Lutheran Development Services are planning to support people who are facing potential acute food shortages ....
My friends write that there are many problems, but don't elaborate...
LINK
He links to this ALERT about the lack of food...
The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that more than four million people in Zimbabwe - almost one-third of the total population of the country - are likely to face severe food shortage in the coming year. ACT members Christian Care, and the Lutheran Development Services are planning to support people who are facing potential acute food shortages ....
My friends write that there are many problems, but don't elaborate...
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Hunger calling
LINK
....Meteorologists forecast that the wet season would start at the beginning of October, but three weeks into November only intermittent drizzle has fallen in drought-prone Masvingo, rather than the downpours the farmers need."We would not be walking empty-handed if things were normal," one of the women in the single file commented. "Surely the gods have cursed us."....
Government promises of providing subsidised food to rural areas through the state-run Grain Marketing Board have been largely unmet. Most villagers who expected assistance were still waiting to be fed, and deliveries were few and far between. When food assistance was delivered, villagers were unsure when they would get the next consignment.
"It is erratic - the last time we received grain from the government was five months ago," said Maketo. "We used to receive food from donor agencies but I am not sure what happened. The villagers cannot sacrifice the little they have for mourners.
"Rural communities were also bearing the extra burden of hosting the funerals of relatives who died in urban areas but could afford to be buried there because costs of burial plots has soared astronomically.Next year is likely to be even worse, aid workers warn. A lack of fuel and spare parts has reduced the number of tractors available for land preparation, while the cost of fertiliser is well beyond the reach of many in the rural areas.
....Meteorologists forecast that the wet season would start at the beginning of October, but three weeks into November only intermittent drizzle has fallen in drought-prone Masvingo, rather than the downpours the farmers need."We would not be walking empty-handed if things were normal," one of the women in the single file commented. "Surely the gods have cursed us."....
Government promises of providing subsidised food to rural areas through the state-run Grain Marketing Board have been largely unmet. Most villagers who expected assistance were still waiting to be fed, and deliveries were few and far between. When food assistance was delivered, villagers were unsure when they would get the next consignment.
"It is erratic - the last time we received grain from the government was five months ago," said Maketo. "We used to receive food from donor agencies but I am not sure what happened. The villagers cannot sacrifice the little they have for mourners.
"Rural communities were also bearing the extra burden of hosting the funerals of relatives who died in urban areas but could afford to be buried there because costs of burial plots has soared astronomically.Next year is likely to be even worse, aid workers warn. A lack of fuel and spare parts has reduced the number of tractors available for land preparation, while the cost of fertiliser is well beyond the reach of many in the rural areas.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Spying? Who me?
LINK
South Africa denies spying on NGO's...
"It must be remembered that the Zimbabwean government's current understanding of human rights and legitimate comment and criticism is grossly dysfunctional," he said."They regard even the mildest criticism as being treasonous, and President (Robert) Mugabe is notorious for making hysterical accusations that foreign-funded NGOs are trying to overthrow his government."South Africa must not fall into that trap. People and organisations have the fullest right to operate within the bounds of our constitution and our law, and if they are critical of the Zimbabwean government, this is probably a plus factor rather than a negative.
"The prospect of South Africa sharing intelligence on NGOs with Zimbabwe was made "even more dismal" in that it followed on remarks by President Thabo Mbeki N in particular his claim that some NGOs had been funded to "challenge the ANC on this issue or that issue", echoing Mugabe's own conspiracy theories....
South Africa denies spying on NGO's...
"It must be remembered that the Zimbabwean government's current understanding of human rights and legitimate comment and criticism is grossly dysfunctional," he said."They regard even the mildest criticism as being treasonous, and President (Robert) Mugabe is notorious for making hysterical accusations that foreign-funded NGOs are trying to overthrow his government."South Africa must not fall into that trap. People and organisations have the fullest right to operate within the bounds of our constitution and our law, and if they are critical of the Zimbabwean government, this is probably a plus factor rather than a negative.
"The prospect of South Africa sharing intelligence on NGOs with Zimbabwe was made "even more dismal" in that it followed on remarks by President Thabo Mbeki N in particular his claim that some NGOs had been funded to "challenge the ANC on this issue or that issue", echoing Mugabe's own conspiracy theories....
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