NO REASON TO COMMEMORATE MAY DAY - WORKERS

BULAWAYO- With the economy still in tatters and with no aid from the west despite the formation of a coalition government by long time rivals Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, many workers and employers see no reason of commemorating Workers Day. Writes Simba Nembaware

May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle and achievements of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in almost every country. For the Zimbabwean worker there is no need to celebrate as there are no achievements that go along with it and also because the country's situation degrades workers from all sectors of the economy.

Gone are the days when white collar jobs were favourable and were every parent's dream for their child. Strikes by teachers, doctors and nurses, prosecutors and other civil servants in key ministries are the norm in this once prosperous nation. A monthly salary of US$100 is a slap in face for a Zimbabwean worker taking into consideration that Zimbabweans have a culture of hard working.

Poor renumeration, high inflation, the high cost of living, the collapse of health care and education system and poor service delivery in general has prompted an exodus of both professional and skilled labour to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana.

This May Day is overshadowed by Zimbabwe's teachers who on Wednesday vowed to go on strike when the new school term begins next week after government reneged on a pledge to increase their salaries.

"There has not been any concrete response to address the issue of teachers' salaries," Tendai Chikowore, president of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association told AFP.

"We issued an ultimatum to the minister to say if the issues of remuneration of teachers are not addressed before schools open, teachers will not report for work."

Teachers in state schools earn 100 US dollars a month, which they say is too little.

The strike by teachers is just a tip of an iceberg as many will workers will soon follow suit after realising that the interim government has failed to provide for them. Teachers and nurses returned to work early this year following the formation of a unity government. They were promised to be competitively paid but that promise did not see the light of day.

SWINE FLU: ZIM WILL COLLAPSE, GOD FORBID

BULAWAYO - Should swine flu sift into Zimbabwe then this would dash the hopes of economic recovery for many Zimbabweans here and abroad as the country still battles a cholera outbreak that has claimed thousands. Writes Simba Nembaware

Zimbabwe's vulnerability lies in its battered economy that has seen many earn a living by regularly crossing the South African border as traders. The country's arm for civil disaster watch has failed over the years to put in place means of preventing a major calamity with the cholera outbreak a most recent example.

And it seems the end has begun as the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa said on Wednesday that two suspected cases of swine flu had been reported in South Africa.

Sapa reported that Deputy director Lucille Blumberg said the first, which became known on Monday, was a woman from the Western Cape who travelled extensively in Mexico earlier this month. She was in contact with the people there while using trains and buses.

The woman was ill with flu-like symptoms on her return to South Africa on April 24, Blumberg said. A general practitioner who treated the woman last Saturday did consider swine flu as a possible diagnosis.

A World Health Organisation report of 18 February 2009 on Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak noted 79 613 suspected cases, including 3 731 deaths as the country battled to contain and quell the outbreak. What exacerbates Zimbabwe's situation is the general collapse of the service delivery system and an alarming shortage of health personnel.

The advent of swine flu, which is a "never - before- seen blend of genetic material from pigs, birds and humans to which people have no natural immunity", will be adding salt to injury for many hopeless Zimbabweans.

AFP reports that the World Health Organisation's Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was not inevitable and that while the hike in its alert level was a "significant step towards pandemic influenza, it's also a phase which says we are not there yet".

Fukuda noted "that in this age of global travel where people move around in airplanes so quickly, there is no region to which this virus could not spread".

Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250 000 and 500 000 in an average year, 36 000 in the United States alone.

ZIM GETS $400m IN CREDIT LINES

Harare - Zimbabwe has secured $400m in credit lines from African countries to revive its ailing industries, battered by years of economic contraction and hyper-inflation, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Herald newspaper quoted Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube as saying African countries had committed to providing the credit lines to companies in Zimbabwe.

A unity government formed by rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has appealed for billions of dollars to repair the shattered economy.

"Minister Ncube said Zimbabwe had managed to secure about $200 million from countries in the Southern African Development Community and another $200 million from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa to meet urgent and pressing working capital requirements for local companies," the Herald reported.

Broad economic and political reforms

Ncube did not say which countries had offered the funds, but said companies would start accessing the credit lines in the next few weeks.

Zimbabwe's industries are currently operating at an average 10% of capacity, but a new government economic plan has targeted to raise this to about 60% by the end of the year.

The country's manufacturing sector has been affected by the decline in agriculture following Mugabe's seizure of white farms to resettle landless blacks.

Donors, who are expected to provide the bulk of funding for Zimbabwe's economic recovery, have demanded broad economic and political reforms, including ending a new wave of farm invasions targeting the few remaining white farmers.

- Reuters

ELEPHANTS FLEE TROUBLED ZIMBABWE

Harare - Conservationists say growing pressure from poaching and human encroachment has driven hundreds of elephants across Zimbabwe's borders.

The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force is appealing for more action - and money - to preserve the troubled nation's wildlife.

The task force says Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has seen humans encroach more and more into areas previously reserved for wildlife. There has been reports in the past of elephants being shot for food as hunger ravages across rural Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's severe food shortages have been felt worst in the rural areas while meat is a luxury in most households.

A report on elephants published in late 2007 noted that 900 elephant carcasses had been seen from the air over Chisarira Park in the northwestern region of Zimbabwe. The official who compiled the report said there were more carcasses than live animals in the park.

In a report on Monday, members of the task force said three elephants also roamed into an eastern Zimbabwean city and hungry leopards stalked an upscale suburb of the capital, Harare.

- AP and Simba Nembaware

LESSONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Political opposition parties in Africa should draw lessons from the recently held 2009 South African general elections chief among them that the opposition should attack the ruling party´s policies not those fellow opposition parties. Writes Simba Nembaware

The opposition in the biggest economy of the continent turned their energy from vilifying the ruling ANC to attacking fellow opposition, the Democratic Alliance which would disappoint them by going to win the Western Cape thereby declaring that it is the most formidable force to challenge ANC.

COPE, IFP, ID, UDM and others took turns to discredit the Helen Zille led party instead of putting their own profiles to the fore. Indirectly, they campaigned for the DA and the 67 seats in the national assembly that the party won came as a result of this stupid move.

Instead of campaigning fairly the Arthur Mutambara led Movement for Democratic Change discredited the Morgan Tsvangirai led faction by telling the rural electorate of Matebeleland that tsvangirai was working in cahoots with ZANU PF. There are incidents where in Bulilima villagers were told that Tsvangirai was a cousin of Robert Mugabe and voting for him was tantamount to voting for ZANU PF.

The race card does not work if people really want progress and democracy. The MDC has been tagged a white manś means of re-colonising Zimbabwe. Words like ¨mabhunu" (Boers; in Zimbabwe the word refers to all Europeans) have become synonymous with MDC. The DA was de-campaigned by the ANC and its fellow comrades in the opposition category on the trumped charges that the party was a vehicle for a return to Apartheid. But politicians forget that people think and dont take evry word that they say seriously because today through the vote of millions the MDC is today in parliament and in government. Today the Western Cape belongs to the DA and Zille will on Wednesday be declared the Premier of the province thanks to the racist attacks on the opposition.

CHEAP CHOLERA VACCINE DEVELOPED

An international health organisation said it has developed the world's first cheap cholera vaccine which has been licensed in India, paving the way for its global use.

The Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute (IVI) said the new product costs about one dollar per dose compared to the existing internationally licensed oral vaccine which was too expensive for developing countries - costing 18 dollars a dose in Bangladesh.

John Clemens, the institute director-general, said in a statement the licensing of the new product in India "paves the way for a wider use of the vaccine in cholera-endemic populations in Asia and elsewhere."

This was because the World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved the national regulatory authority there.

Vaccine tested, shows protection
The IVI said it modified a Vietnamese-made product to create the new vaccine, with help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of South Korea and Sweden. It said the vaccine has been tested in the slums of the Indian city of Kolkota, and initial results showed it confers significant protection.

The IVI, citing a WHO report, said cholera claimed 4 031 lives in 177 963 outbreaks in 53 countries - mostly in Africa – in 2007.

It said the actual number of deaths from cholera, given widespread under-reporting, is estimated at up to 120 000 a year.

"The use of safe and effective cholera vaccines in cholera-endemic areas could lead to a significant and rapid decline in cholera incidence and, ultimately, to its control worldwide," said Clemens.

The United Nations Development Program launched the IVI in South Korea in 1997. It is the world's only international body working exclusively on developing vaccines for the world's poorest people.

- Sapa

CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN ZIMBABWE SLOWS

Geneva - A cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has slowed significantly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed on Monday as the number of new cases and the death rate continued to decline.

The number of new cases recorded in the week to March 14 fell to 2 076, against 3 812 the preceding week and about 8 000 cases a week in February, according to the WHO's latest update on the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the death rate has also fallen from a peak of nearly 6% in January to 2.3% of cases by mid-March.

"The situation with the current cholera outbreak is improving," the WHO said.

"While data collection and verification remain a challenge throughout the country... the overall trend over the last two months is of a decreasing number of cases and deaths."

Despite the decline recorded in nearly all provinces, the number of reported cases was on the rise again in and around the capital, Harare.

"The risk of the outbreak restarting in those areas of the country is real," the WHO warned.

By March 17, a total of 91 164 cholera infections, including 4 037 deaths, had occurred since August 2008.

The UN's health agency had already highlighted signs of a slowdown in the outbreak earlier this month.

- AFP

STADIUM A TRUE REFLECTION OF ZIM SITUATION

HARARE - The pathetic sight of the National Sports Stadium (NSS) during the 29th celebrations of Zimbabwe's political independence from British rule held at the weekend easily summed up the country's desparate need for foreign aid. Writes Simba Nembaware

The epitome of the country's annual event is a free soccer match and for this reason hordes of Zimbabweans trek to the stadium to enjoy themselves. But on sunday there was no amusement as both Njube Sundowns and Dynamos players failed to string decent passes between them thanks to a bumpy turfless pitch.

The 60 000 seater Chinese built stadium that has been shut for renovations because of its cracking walls and terraces, resembled a backyard playground in some war ravaged country in west africa. During the renovations the turf at NSS has been terribly neglected and this was visible on sunday as there were scattered and isolated patches of turf meaning that players ran most of the time on bare soil.

Viewers around the world who cared to join Zimbabwe in its celebrations and watched the proceedings via DSTV saw the reason why the country that has great footballing talent has failed to perform at regional tournaments even at the African Cup of Nations. The national broadcaster ZTV failed to provide broadcasting equipment for the event and they had to make do with equipment from CricketZimbabwe. Just like ZTV, CricketZimbabwe's broadcast of the event was of poor quality.

Part of the renovations that are being done by a Chinese contractor include installing a new giant screen and improving the public address system. With Rufaro stadium and the little used mucheke stadium inMasvingo under artificial turf one can only assume that the national stadium will also have artificial turf laid on it. The Zimbabwe Football Assoiation hopes that the stadium would be ready in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

GONO STEALS TO SAVE ZIMBABWE

HARARE- Zimbabwe's central bank governor admits he took money from the bank accounts of private businesses and foreign aid groups without permission to keep the country's cash-strapped ministries running.

In a statement on Monday Gideon Gono said he loaned the money from the private hard currency accounts to the government. He says the accounts will be reimbursed when the loans are repaid.

However the repayment of this money is unlikely as the country is being run by a cash bankrupt interim government that needs over US$2billion to kick start the severely bartered economy.

Gono, a close aide of President Mugabe has been harshly criticised for raiding foreign currency accounts, among other questionable practices. He has been tagged as arguably the most inept central banker by his critics in Zimbabwe and abroad.

In his statement, Gono pleaded with his detractors to ease up. Now that Zimbabwe has a new coalition government dedicated to reversing its severe economic decline, Gono says it's time "to let bygones be bygones."

The Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who is expected to work with Gono in a bid to rescuscitate the country's ailing economy, last year described Gono as the number one foe of the economy.

Reporting by AP and Simba Nembaware

BOTSWANA GOES THE ZIMBABWE WAY

Gaborone - The Media Practitioners Act (MPA) and the Intelligence and Security Act (ISA) recently enacted by the Bostwana government “as a way of bringing accountability to the media” and safe guarding sovereignty have been described by journalists here as a draconian legislatures that trample on democracy by muzzling the media and usurping basic civil rights. Writes Simba Nembaware

The MPA has been juxta-positioned with Zimbabwe’s draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), a piece of legislature that led to the closure of three privately owned newspapers and the creation of a polarized media environment that eventually contributed to the collapse of the democracy in the country.

The advent of MPA means that media houses and media practitioners haveto apply to government for registration and accreditation for an operating licence valid for only a year. Media practitioners fear that some media houses’ licences will not be renewed after their expiration because of trumped up charges, as the Act is a calculated step of shrinking the media space by quelling the independent view of the private press.

The Act empowers government to shut down media houses that do not register with the ministry with of information, while journalists who are not accredited face imprisonment. Analysts say the law curtails fundamental human liberties such as the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and they warn that private media houses should do their best to meet the requirements of this Act as failure to do so will see their closure.

In Zimbabwe three privately owned newspapers; Daily News, The Tribune and The Mirror were shut down as soon as AIPPA saw the first light of its day after along protracted debate on it in Parliament.The Botswana chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in one of its campaigns against the Act noted that MPA is designed to make the ruling party and government untouchable, a norm in dictatorial states. MISA says what exacerbates the situation is that the Act was conceived along with the Intelligence and Security and Bogosi Acts that have a potential of undermining civil liberties.

The Intelligence and Security Act is premised around the fundamentals of Zimbabwe’s Public Order and Security Act (POSA), a legislature that saw journalists and political opposition activities being arrested mostly on trumped up charges. Zimbabwe’s ZANU PF ruling party used POSA and AIPPA to close the media and democratic space in its bid to cling to power and this is the road that Botswana has taken.

The Botswana Gazette, an independent paper said the recent enactments of these laws threatens to make the country a dicey tenuous democratic system.

“There was a time when Batswana felt safe, when people did not fear to speak their minds, when they could associate with whoever they wished and go wherever they wanted; but the freedoms of expression and speech, conscience, association and movement evidently can no longerbe guaranteed,” said the paper in an editorial comment recently.

While the Ian Khama led government says the MPA is designed to make the media answerable to the public, the Zimbabwean experience tells a story of a ruling party led government answerable to itself and that does not want scrutiny and vilification. The recent extensive media coverage of the state’s secret purchase of a luxurious presidential caravan and a private jet brought to the fore the government’s overspending tendencies. These are issues that government seeks to keep away from the public eye as MPA stifles investigative journalism.

“We saw it happen in Zimbabwe and never thought our country would deviate from the democratic path and employ dictatorial tendencies such as the muzzling of the press,” said an editor of a privately owned newspaper editor on condition of anonymity.

“It is unfortunate that this law comes, when the media industry is growing in leaps and bounds and this ultimately means all our hard work is in vain as the private media will be shut down as this is the primary objective of this law,” she said.

President Khama and his deputy are retired army generals who have been criticized by the opposition and the media for bringing military rule to the country and for engaging dictatorial tendencies that are compromising Botswana’s credibility in Southern Africa and in regions beyond.