Letters

EDITOR – November 30, 2007 saw Zanu (PF) going through yet another one of its many orgies of paranoia and sheer madness in its unspeakable and pathetic bid to defend its draconian ruler (Rubbish Garbage) with the shameless abuse and misuse of scarce public funds and extremely limited resources (in ferrying and feeding the masses) during the Zimbabwe Grounds Trance (or Hypnosis).

I am a Hararean ‘Born Free’ aged 25 years, degreed loafer and very conversant in isiNdebele. Astonishingly and disgustingly, our dear country’s ruler cannot address Zimbabweans he massacred during Gukurahundi in their vernacular. Instead, he had an interpreter when he spoke nechiShona. Uyenzelani konoko Mdala? Speaking of sovereignty, emancipation and independence from the British he orated as a Briton – how very ironic – yet none of the POVO there present had the tiniest trace of European ancestry. Nhai Gushungo a’mana?

I have some questions in regard to this so called ‘Million Men and Women March’, for whoever in the ranks of this blindfolded bandwagon who feels obliged to respond:

Why the ‘solidarity march’? Who were you trying to sell what? Was this not a counteractive or proactive measure by Mugabe to try and thwart the faction within Zanu (PF) before their congress, so as to avert the ‘Mbeki situation’ in the ANC where Zuma garnered most of the support for the party’s presidency? Why ferry people from around the country when the productive population of Chitungwiza alone, minus Harare, Ruwa and Norton is around 500,000? Where were these urbanites? Busy kutsvaga shuga and not participating in their city’s activities?

I am not a rocket scientist or an economist, but considering the volume of stomachs that had to be fed before, during and after this day and the ferrying of these impoverished people to their rural homes – what economical impact has this event on our bedridden and critically ailing economy? Who’s fooling who?

SESIDHINIWE LAKO, Harare

A cry from the heart

EDITOR – I wish God could hear my cry. I speak the misery, fright and loneliness that lies within the hearts of my fellow Zimbabweans. Where is the future for our children when the country is in ruins? The peace that we once cried for is nowhere to be found. There is no respect whatsoever for human blood. Hunger, disease and death and torture are the order of the day. Please deliver us, Mr President, from the hand of a tyrant, a dictator who is intolerant to human suffering.

Zimbabweans continue to face economic turmoil and corruption, food shortages and collapse of vital services, making day-to-day life increasingly difficult. And when Britain say failed asylum-seekers must go back, where do they really go? Zimbabwe is not home: it’s just like sending them to the grave.

My country is married to corruption and I wonder if she will ever see redemption. We thought we were welcoming a saviour. Instead of a caress, he gave Zimbabwe thorny scrub. He took her from the light to the dark, sapped her beauty and made her ugly.

Let’s put our heads together and fight for democratic change. For how long shall the human race continue to be tormented?

TAGU PERSY, UK

 

Multiple visa entry into South Africa: a diplomatic Pyrrhic victory

EDITOR – There appears to be a lot of euphoria within the Zimbabwean foreign office and Immigration Department about the diplomatic breakthrough where the Zimbabwean Cross Border Traders Association and Small Enterprise Traders are given a year’s reprieve to cross into South Africa buying and selling their wares.   

However, for an ordinary Zimbabwean there is no diplomatic breakthrough to talk about.  If anything, the deal is nothing other than a way for ministers and the well connected within Zanu (PF) to earn the much-needed forex and to cash in on poverty-stricken Zimbabweans.   

Does it make sense that a government imprudently makes suicidal policies that result in basic foodstuffs not being available in the shops and make ‘diplomatic deals’ so that its citizens get them from another country? The way I see it, this is not only a diplomatic Pyrrhic victory, but is also hypocritical in that ordinary Zimbabweans would suffer even more because imported goods would be far beyond their means.

But what is even more disturbing is the restrictive nature of this ‘breakthrough’.  First, one has to be a registered member of the Cross Border Association and must provide evidence in form of a registration number. What this means is that the Association would keep and compile a database of its members. This is where corruption and fattening the pockets of the well-connected starts. Obviously, those who wish to join will pay membership and subscription fees. Thereafter, they should raise R200,000 for the South African authorities.  How and where on earth can a person in impoverished Zaka, Chivi or Mutawatawa get that kind of money in addition to the money needed to trade his or her wares? As I see it, Mozambique provided a more ‘compassionate’ free visa deal for our people than the South African diplomatic deal.

As has been said time and again, the solution to our economic malaise does not lie in economic turnaround strategies, but in political strategies. Breaking through this deep-rooted political impasse requires sober minds that face reality and give Zimbabweans a new political dispensation based on tolerance, respect for human rights, and the rule of law. Anything short of this will put us in a conundrum forever.

ROPAFADZO BENJAMIN CHASAMHUKA, LLM Student,Irish Centre for Human Rights  

Who wants to discuss business with a bloodthirsty murderer?

EDITOR – This EU-AU summit furore is way above the heads of some participants. Africans appear oblivious to the European sentiment, which is that discussing business with a known bloodthirsty murderer is morally wrong. Would you want to sit at the same table with people who support bloodthirsty thugs such as Mugabe? I know I wouldn’t. My advice to Africans (and to SADC leaders, and Mbeki in particular) is this: wake up! People are beginning to understand why they are so poor while you are so rich. You grow fat on the diplomatic cocktail circuit while the policies you discuss are all about self-enrichment and have precious little to do with the lives of the people you govern. African leaders should look to the parlous state of their own collective decency before asking Europe to accept dealings with the likes of Mugabe.

ALLEN RADFORD, UK

 

Stamping out corruption needs a change of culture

EDITOR – Zimbabweans have suffered enough under the rule of the Dictator Robert Mugabe due to his corrupt government and mismanagement of the economy. He has appointed more than four ministers of finance in less than seven years and all have failed to turn the economy around. Some resigned, some were fired, some were arrested, and some even reappointed.  

He invaded farms in 2000, violated all the human rights in the book, illegally demolished people’s houses in 2005 with Operation Murambatsvina – now they are planning to take over the foreign companies.  

Mugabe appointed Gideon Gono as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in December 2003 and most people thought he would perform miracles, but the economy got even worse. All his policies have come back to haunt him  – policies like the slashing of zeros, freezing of exchange rates, withdrawing cash from the markets and bearers. Now he is changing the currency to something else again and people are given unrealistic deadlines to hand in the old currency.  

This is the same guy who drives a V12 Mercedes, sends his children to expensive foreign universities and builds mansions for himself with imported furniture. The money that’s suppose to feed million is squandered by an individual at the expense of the whole country.  

This can only be sorted out by the total change of the whole government and its culture.  

How does Mr Mugabe feel when his Government is said to be the worst corrupted in the world. Please, Robert Mugabe, in Shona we say: “Zvikoni zvikoni mimba haibvi megosoro. Zvaramba n’anga murapwa achida. Makundikana vakuru chisiyai vamwe vatonge sekuru.” Is this why you went to the war? To see Zimbabweans suffering?

CHARLES MASAWI, UK

Makoni not Tsvangirai for coalition leader

EDITOR – I think it will be a mistake to have Mr Tsvangirai as the leader of the coalition. If the coalition is to win, the two MDC leaders need to humble themselves and put Simba Makoni at the front. The two leaders have lost a lot of respect and following with a number of Zimbabweans here at home and they certainly will not win over Zanu supporters. As we all know, a house that is divided will fall. However, Simba Makoni is highly respected by all and his popularity continues to grow.

If they could also attract Mr Gono into their camp it would benefit them greatly. We have seen Mr Gono’s efforts and appreciate his hard work. It’s a pity that those that he works for do not support his policies but rather follow their political agendas. Solomon Mujuru is a key member, as he would have the following of the army. I wonder, though, how he is going to be in opposition to his wife.

VICTOR PAUNGANWA, Harare

Labour court stopped casualisation of labour

EDITOR – In this letter, we examine the current court decisions that settled the problem of casualisation of labour in Zimbabwe. Casualisation is one area our law has been misinterpreted by employers and some lawyers representing them. Even now, some employers are adamant about reversing this practice.

Casualisation of labour came in the 1990s when the government introduced economic reforms in the form of Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). It was argued by the capitalists that the country’s labour law was too rigid and could not respond to the demand of economic reforms. In short, employers were simply saying they needed flexibility in employment relations so that they could hire and fire employees whenever necessary to respond to market demand. On the other hand, trade unions cried foul because such flexibility resulted in the loss of jobs.

However, the Labour Court has now curtailed the capitalists’ joy. Our Labour Act Chapter 28:01, Section 2 now defines casual work as ‘work for which an employee is engaged by an employer for not more than a total of six weeks in any four consecutive months’. This means any employee employed for a period longer than six weeks in four months becomes a permanent employee. However, employers evaded this provision and made employees sign weekly or monthly contracts calling them fixed term contracts. As a result, employees have been casuals for periods ranging from six months to 20 years. On termination, these employees go without any benefit.

The Labour Court has now on two occasions ruled against this malpractice. In Rachel Kadzinga and Others v Eastern Textiles (Pvt) Ltd T/E Devstar Clothing (Judgement No. LC/MC/02/2007), the employees were engaged on fixed term contracts of three months renewed every three months for a period that ranged from three to 16 years. The employer advised the employees that it no longer intended to renew the contracts when they expire. It then indicated to the employees in the notice letters that, since they were casuals, it would only give each of them a token of appreciation of $3000 each per year served.

The employees approached their union, the National Union of the Clothing Industry (NUCI), which successfully challenged the termination in the Labour Court.  The Union argued that section 12(3) of the Labour Act now prohibits casualisation of labour and employers were evading the application of this provision by putting employees on continuous renewed contracts. The court agreed with the union’s submission.

The same argument was addressed in the case of Zimbabwe Bata Shoe Company v Zimbabwe Bata Workers’ Committee (LC/MD/24/2005). The onus is now upon the unions and employees to demand the right to full-time employment from employers so that employees can enjoy the same benefits given to permanent employees.

ZAKEYO MTIMTEMA, Gweru

Should Mujuru lead us?

EDITOR – Your recent articles have talked about the coalition. Ordinarily, I would have thought that the paper (or should I say, the media) had a responsibility to tell people something about the characters it refers to, particularly in such a serious development

Mujuru is a key player in the situation the country finds itself in today. Yes, he could be excused for moving out, but has he moved out when he has not stated his position publicly?

What is society saying about a leader such as him, given the wealth he has amassed and how he has amassed it? It is publicly reported that he is involved in Zimasco, Willdale, Beta Holdings, Interfin, Altfin, Cottco, AMC, National Foods, Innscor, Seedco, Quton, AIT and Nyaradzo. We have read of his wife’s involvement with Butau and the US$362m deal of a few years ago when she was Minister of Water and which led to her fall-out with DDF Director General Jonga.

You will recall his greed for power when, in 2000, he tried to stand for Mabvuku until Mrs Tungamirayi fought for her space. In revenge, he ganged up with the late Airmarshal’s sons to fight Mrs Tungamirayi in the name of wanting fair play in the estate. Is this who should lead us?

NELSON CHOMUTAMBA, Harare

Someone has to do something to end the madness

EDITOR – I have come to believe that the only way justice can be done for the people of Zimbabwe is through the efforts of private individuals and organisations. That is how Charles Taylor, the former dictator of Liberia, ended up before the International Criminal Court at the Hague.  

African and Western governments have failed the people of Zimbabwe. I have had conversations with government representatives from the US, the EU, Australia and Africa, and they are totally useless. The EU has refused to enforce the travel ban that it imposed on Mugabe and his cronies. Mugabe has been invited to the EU-Africa summit to be held in Lisbon, Portugal on December 8. Yet, Mugabe murdered 20,000 Matabele, which means that he has killed more people than Osama Bin Laden. No-one seems to care for the victims.

I decided to take the initiative. I have been travelling to different venues in East Africa at my expense, explaining the damage that Mugabe is doing to all the people of Africa. The damage that Mugabe has done to Africa’s image around the world has cost our continent billions in potential investment.  

If you know of any audience that may be interested in this issue, I am willing to address them. I am ready to pay my own travel and accommodation expenses. Someone has to do something to end the madness in Zimbabwe.

MUKUI WARUIRU, Kenya