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The 2014 legal year opened Monday with the High Court expected to hear 55 murder cases and two fraud cases during the first term, which ends on April 4th. According to a Herald report last week all 55 murder cases lined up for trial involve suspects accused of killing someone over a trivial matter. In the last three years people have been allegedly murdered over petty issues with the police recording an average of seven or more such cases under a week, the Herald said. Speaking at the official opening of the legal year Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku hailed the new constitution, which was adopted last year, saying it stood to improve justice delivery. This year’s theme is ‘Effective Service Delivery.’ Chidyausiku commended the Magistrates Court for reducing the backlog from 45,000 cases to 10,000 by the end of November 2013. Chidyausiku, however, lamented the ‘imbalance of the inflow and outflow of cases’ at both the High Court and the Labour Court. Chidyausiku meanwhile said it is too early to judge the performance of the Constitutional Court because there are no previous years to use in comparison. The Court, which was introduced through the new constitution in March 2013, received a total of 81 matters in just nine months of its existence by the year end. According to the Herald, Chidyausiku attributed the influx of cases to the July 31st election which saw many political and interparty disputes brought before the courts. On the Supreme Court Chidyausiku said a total of 522 appeals were recorded in 2013 adding that it is ‘achievable’ to clear the backlog. He claimed that by the mid-year the court would be dealing with current issues. Since his appointment in 13 years ago Chidyausiku has been promising improved service and yet the situation has remained the same. Instead the police continue to add more cases by routinely dragging people to court on flimsy charges. It is not unusual for a case to remain pending in the courts for years only for the magistrate to find that the accused has no case to answer.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The long running trial of seven MDC-T activists, charged with the alleged murder of Glen View police Inspector Petros Mutedza in 2011, will resume next week Wednesday. The trial was indefinitely postponed in November last year by the presiding Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu. Twenty-nine activists were originally arrested after the death of the police office at a bar in Glen View almost three years ago. Most of the group spent more than a year in prison, with the case slowly dragging on. This is despite a significant lack of evidence to implicate the group. Last year, 21 of the arrested group were acquitted after the High Court ruled that none of the evidence put forward by the State implicated them on the murder charge. But seven of the accused will still need to face court action. These are Tungamirai Madzokere, Yvonne Musarurwa, Last Maengahama, Lazarus Maengahama, Edwin Muingiri, Phineas Nhatarikwa, and Paul Rukanda. Rebecca Mafukeni, another one of the activists, died last year while still detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison following several unsuccessful bail attempts. Three of the MDC-T activists meanwhile have remained detained for close to three years. These are Last Maengahama, Madzokere, and Musarurwa. A source told SW Radio Africa that the defense team is likely call the activists to testify, so they can give their versions of events on the fateful day. All have insisted that they were not present or anywhere near the disturbances when Officer Mutedza was allegedly stoned to death.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The search for a Zimbabwean man who disappeared during a hike up the Nyangani Mountain entered its tenth day Monday, with the family saying they will not give up hope of finding him. 31 year old Zayd Dada was hiking up the notorious mountain with his wife and another couple over a week ago. When the others decided to turn back to their holiday chalets, Dada continued up the mountain on his own. He never returned. Since then, search parties have been out almost every day trying to locate Dada, often facing very poor weather conditions that have on two occasions suspended their efforts. The search has steadily intensified, with assistance from the Zimbabwe police and army, as well as volunteers from across the country and from neighbouring South Africa. About 80 people are now believed to be involved in the search, with the family appealing for assistance from any mountaineering experts to join them. This week, a team from the South African based group ‘Gift of the Givers’ is making its way to Nyanga to help the family and search efforts. The group is the latest in a string of volunteers and caregivers trying to show their support for the family. Shehnila Mohamed, Dada’s aunt, told SW Radio Africa that the family has been “overwhelmed” by support from around the world.“We really have had overwhelming support. But the reality is it’s a massive mountain and we need more people with experience of these conditions,” Mohamed said. She added: “We’re not giving up. Zayd is a tough (man) and someone that would never give up. So we’re not going to give up until we find him or know what happened.” A Facebook page titled ‘Let’s Find Zayd’ has been joined by over 11 thousand people , who have been sharing messages of hope for the family and pledging to assist with financial aid, or volunteering their services to help the search. Anyone who wants to help or wants to leave a message for the family, are encouraged to join the group.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will monitor Zimbabwe’s debt management scheme for another six months at the request of the ZANU PF government. The scheme was scheduled to run from April to December last year, but has been extended to give ZANU PF time to implement the delayed budget and its Zim Asset economic programme, as SW Radio Africa reported last week. “At the authorities’ request, IMF Management has approved a six-month extension of Zimbabwe’s Staff Monitored Program to allow time for the national authorities to strengthen their policies and deliver on outstanding commitments under the program,” the global lender said in a statement. IMF monitors are expected to return to Zimbabwe in March to review the government’s performance and “during the visit, the targets for a third review with an assessment date end-June 2014 will be set,” the Fund said. Following an earlier visit in November, the delegation raised concerns about Zimbabwe’s commitment to the debt programme, after it emerged that ZANU PF had defied the agreement and hired an extra 10,000 security personnel. ZANU PF’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa however denied the allegations and challenged the IMF to produce evidence. Under the staff monitored programme, Zimbabwe is required to implement sound economic policies that promote sustainable spending, protect investment, increase diamond revenue transparency, reduce financial sector vulnerabilities, and to restructure the central bank. Although the scheme is voluntary and does not necessarily mean the IMF backs the country’s economic programme, it nevertheless represents a key step towards Zimbabwe’s re-engagement with international lenders. The World Bank and the IMF suspended aid to Zimbabwe in 1999 over differences with the ZANU PF regime’s unsustainable economic policies. Zimbabwe currently owes the IMF $124 million. It fell into arrears in 2001, and was expelled from the Fund in 2005. The World Bank, which is owed $1 billion, says Zimbabwe should devise a comprehensive arrears clearance plan with international lenders to qualify for fresh loans. The institution’s programmes in Zimbabwe are limited to humanitarian aid.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The trial of 28 people arrested along with 12 others on New Year’s Eve following a raid at the Kenedene Flats in Harare, was postponed Monday after the police failed to turn up in court. Jeremiah Bamu, representing the accused, said the trial was postponed to January 20th. According to Bamu, the court heard that the police witnesses could not attend because they were attending to an ‘urgent’ issue in Parliament. The 40 were arrested on allegations of loitering for the purposes of prostitution. They spent two nights including New Year’s Day in custody before appearing in court on January 2nd where they were split into four groups. The first two groups were set free on January 6th after the police failed to turn up in court. The last of the four groups is expected to appear in court this Thursday. Bamu said his clients are pleading innocent because they allege that the police broke into their homes to arrest them. Bamu said if the police fail to turn up again he will apply for refusal of further remand on behalf of the accused. It is commonplace in Zimbabwe for the police to arrest people without justification. In most cases the police fail to turn up in court. In 2013 many people, including high profile activists, were dragged to court where their cases lasted long only for the accused be found completely blameless.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Teachers will hold off on any industrial action against their employer until after Wednesday’s salary negotiations. Schools open countrywide Tuesday and some teachers’ unions had indicated that members will go on strike on the same day to force government to honour its pledge to improve public sector wages and working conditions. Last week Labour Minister Nicholas Goche told State media that representatives from government and civil servants will meet this Wednesday when government is expected make an offer. “We have our position as Government and we will first reveal that position, what we have to offer and negotiate from there,” Goche said. Takavafira Zhou, president of the 15,000-strong Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), said members had agreed to wait for Wednesday before they can decide on the next course of action.“Wednesday is a couple of days away and if the government thinks the day will not arrive, it will and so we resolved to wait until then,” Zhou said.“Teachers who visited our offices countrywide expressed displeasure that the government is negotiating in bad faith. The announcement that salaries will be backdated to January pre-empts Wednesday’s negotiations,” Zhou added. The outspoken union leader said teachers were “dismayed” that while civil servants submitted their demands in October last year, government is still to make its own position known, despite negotiations ending Wednesday.“We are also unhappy with the lack of a timeframe for these negotiations because this gives the government leeway to delay and be evasive without tying themselves to concrete negotiations.”“Despite all this, we hope Wednesday will see the government making a concrete offer which reflects teachers’ and civil servants responsibilities, qualifications and experience,” Zhou added. An unsatisfactory outcome from Wednesday’s meeting will be followed by urgent meetings throughout the country to map the way forward, according to Zhou.“We are trying to avoid declaring a strike before Wednesday’s meeting because this could be seen as negotiating in bad faith,” Zhou said. In another interview, PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe told the Daily News newspaper that in the event that civil servants stage protests. this must not be misunderstood as a political move. “I want to assure you that we respect the government of the day that was voted in by the people and they must also recognise that workers are suffering and they must urgently address that.”“If countries like Lesotho and Swaziland that are producing nothing are affording to pay their teachers up to $1, 000, why can’t Zimbabwe pay salaries of $540,” Majongwe told the newspaper on Sunday.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The illegal allocation of residential stands by government officials has once again put thousands of people at risk of losing their homes, after it was revealed that stands at a settlement outside Harare were allocated unlawfully. According to the independent NewsDay newspaper, an eviction directive was recently issued by the Local Government Ministry to families at Caledonia Farm, located on the outskirts of Harare. The directive was reportedly confirmed by the Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minister Petronella Kagonye, who is said to have already met with Caledonia residents on Saturday. She told NewsDay the affected stands are situated on waterways, locations reserved for clinics and other “social services”. Affected families at Caledonia have been given up to January 24th to vacate their homes, but there is no alternative plan in place to accommodate them. Another meeting with Kagonye, who is also MP for Goromonzi South, is scheduled for next Saturday. Caledonia Farm, located near Tafara high-density suburb just outside of Harare, is also popularly known as kwaBhobho. Casper Takura, a former Councilor for Tafara, criticized the chaotic manner in which stands were allocated in many areas, saying officials “politicized” the process and also stood to gain financially.“There is a lot of profit involved. Senior government officials and senior Council officials were involved in these things. And whenever you questioned something, they referred you to Minister (Ignatius) Chombo’s office, which shows government knew what was happening,” Takura told SW Radio Africa. He explained that the same officials who allocated the illegal stands are now also the ones ordering the evictions of families, “without considering that they are human beings who have children and need shelter”. The latest development comes almost a month after government listed the farm for acquisition, claiming it was for “urban re-development”. A notice in the government gazette from December last year, attributed to the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Douglas Mombeshora, claimed that the person intending to seize the farm was none other than President Robert Mugabe himself. In addition, the notices also come just months after the Local Government Ministry announced its intention to demolish all so-called illegal structures in Harare, Chitungwiza and other outlying areas. The demolitions got underway in Ruwa and Damo Falls but the campaign faced such strong opposition that government was forced to end it there, giving residents a two-month reprieve to negotiate their status with the Council. It turned out many people had been allowed to establish homes and tuck shops by local officials who profited from illegal land deals. The demolitions would have also victimized ZANU PF supporters who had benefitted from illegal land allocations.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Impala Platinum (Implats) has moved to downplay the issues facing its Zimbabwean subsidiaries, despite reports that its recent share price drop was linked to problems there. The company has faced a 10% fall in share price over the past week, allegedly because of the ongoing fight about the building of a local platinum refinery. The Zim government has threatened to halt all raw exports of platinum, stating that a refinery had been promised by the platinum mining firms operating in the country. According to the Associated Press (AP), platinum companies were last week given 10 days to submit proposals for the new refinery, which the government has demanded be built by the end of this year. But Implats corporate relations manager Alice Lourens was quoted by the Business Day newspaper as saying said no deadline on this deal had been imposed. “I don’t know where this story is coming from. We have received a nicely worded invitation to participate in discussions around beneficiation.” Quoting an “authoritative platinum industry source,” Business Day reported that political pressure is being applied “but the situation is fluid with the Zimbabwean government as much over a barrel as Implats may be.” Implats and the American Amplats are understood to have opposed the proposal from the beginning saying a local refinery was not sustainable under current production levels and would cost billions to establish. But the new ZANU PF led government, still reeling from a disputed 2013 election victory, has carried the threat forward into 2014. A new export levy on all raw platinum exports was proposed by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in his budget statement last month, and companies are expected to pay the 15% levy as of this month.

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The MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese has said Robert Mugabe’s use of a Presidential decree to amend laws, shows bad governance on the part of ZANU PF. Mugabe invoked the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to amend the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which will see life imprisonment for sea piracy. Through another decree Mugabe used his powers to gazette the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. The law is designed to give legal effect in Zimbabwe to country’s obligations under the United Nations Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. Gonese, the MDC-T MP for Mutare central, told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that there should be no rush to use the Presidential decree when Parliament was reconvening. “We need robust debate in Parliament where each party is allowed to make its own input on issues that affect Zimbabweans. To invoke presidential powers in a Parliament that is less than a year old is not only unfortunate but a serious indictment on ZANU PF’s way of conducting business,” he said. The MDC-T’s shadow Home Affairs minister, Lilian Timveos said the tendency to rule by decree, without adequately consulting Parliament, has the overall effect of subverting the democratic values enshrined in the new constitution.“The continuous use of Presidential Powers stifles democratic debate and public participation on crucial issues. This has become a hallmark of the present administration, with detrimental effects for the nation and for other countries as well,” Timveos said in a statement.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwean man, who has illegally crossed the country’s borders on two separate occasions, has described how desperation forced him to risk the journeys, despite being beaten and deported. Jack (not his real name) described his experiences during an interview with SW Radio Africa on Tuesday. After losing his job at a factory in Bulawayo, which closed down last year amid the worsening economic crisis, Jack chose to seek better fortunes in South Africa. South Africa has for years been the chosen destination for Zimbabweans like Jack who want to earn a living, but do not have proper travel documents or work permits. The authorities across the border however have steadily been clamping down on the number of asylum seekers it authorises, and Zimbabweans are choosing instead to cross the border and work illegally, out of desperation. Jack said his decision was also based on despair, with no jobs available at home and very few prospects. But after safely crossing into South Africa, he was forced to return because he couldn’t find work there either. He then turned his sights on Botswana, after being told that there are, “lots of jobs.” Jack explained how he sought out the assistance of members of the notorious ‘guma-guma’ gangs, which have become synonymous with the terror experienced by border jumpers. Believed to be responsible for the majority of violent attacks, robberies and rapes against border jumpers, the gangs also make a living guiding people across the borders. Jack said the usual, non-refundable fee can be up to $40 a person, with no guarantee that you will reach a point of safety across the border.“It’s very scary but you can’t just stay at home, so I phoned other people and we went. You go through the forest and you hold hands. When we crossed we had bad luck, because we were caught by Botswana police and they beat us badly and deported us back to Zimbabwe,” Jack said. Still recovering from his beating, Jack described how he remains traumatised by the experience. “The road to go there is not easy. Even along the way, I had my sister with me, but she was taken by the maguma-guma. We had paid them, but one of the maguma-guma said he loved my sister and I haven’t seen her since then. My friend told me my sister was probably raped and I don’t know what happened to her,” Jack said. He added: “I don’t know if I can go there again, because the soldiers beat me so much and I’m afraid. But I’m also hungry and maybe I’ll be forced to go there after I heal a bit.”

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s main gay rights group on Tuesday scored a court victory against the police who were ordered to return property seized during a raid in August 2012. The raid on the Harare offices of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) came shortly after the group had published a report detailing violations against its members. Harare police accused the group of operating without registration and of possessing material that promotes homosexuality. They arrested and assaulted 44 members who were at the organisation’s Milton Park offices and seized computers, DVDs, pamphlets, booklets, CDs, and other documents as they searched for evidence of pornography, which they did not find. Although the 44 were released the next day, over the following weeks police tracked them to their homes, workplaces, and in the process “outed” them, resulting in some losing their jobs, homes, or being shunned by families. Following an unsuccessful petition to the Harare police for the return of the confiscated property, the group then took the matter to the High Court. On Tuesday, Justice Priscilla Chigumba ruled in favour of the rights group, and ordered the police to return property. In her ruling, the judge also said the group’s activities were not covered by the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act and as such, they are not legally required to register under that law.“We are glad that the courts have spoken and we now wait to see whether the police will return our property as decided by the court,” Chesterfield Samba, the director of the rights group told SW Radio Africa Tuesday.“However we think it was unnecessary for us to have to go through the courts to assert our rights to property.”“The police have been reluctant to release our material despite the fact that they had not found any incriminating evidence against our group based on the warrant that they had at the time of the search.” Samba said police were also arguing that returning the seized property would give the group the resources to continue to operate ‘illegally’.“But the judge’s ruling today spells out that our group does not need to register as its work doesn’t fall under the PVO Act,” Samba said. In the past, this piece of legislation has been used by the police and the ruling ZANU PF to stifle freedom of speech and to persecute civil rights campaigners. Tuesday’s High Court ruling is important for the group as it is likely to influence the outcome of another case in which the group’s chairperson Martha Tholanah is charged with running an illegal organisation. The matter is set to be heard at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on January 29th. Homosexuality is not banned in Zimbabwe but the country’s gay community continues to face politically motivated attacks, including from the country’s President Robert Mugabe who famously labelled them “worse than dogs and pigs”. During the 2013 constitutional outreach programme, the majority of Zimbabweans said they were opposed to gay rights being specifically enshrined in the country’s new charter, which was adopted last year May 22nd. Rights campaigner Samba said members of the Zim gay community are attacked daily in what he says is a State-sponsored campaign, which involves political leaders and the security forces. “Unwanted African politicians instigate attacks on vulnerable groups such as ours to further their stay in office while deflecting attention from real issues faced by their citizens such as unemployment and poverty,” Samba told SW Radio Africa. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers, representatives for the gay rights group, issued a statement following their court victory.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

As the MPs met this week to discuss the 2014 budget, the speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda accused the legislators of swindling the government of large sums of money by overstating allowances owed to them. According to a Southern Eye report, Mudenda made these accusations Monday as he officially opened the Parliamentary post-budget seminar in Harare. The report said Mudenda lamented the prevalence of corruption in the country and asked how the MPs hoped to stop it when ‘they themselves engage in it’ by overstating the distance they travel on Parliamentary business. Mudenda attributed the large sums owed to the MPs in allowances to this alleged form of corruption. Bulawayo Agenda Executive Director, Thabani Nyoni, said while the public was concerned about corruption in high places, it was necessary for the public to be more informed before taking a stand on the issue. Nyoni urged both the government and the MPs to clarify the legislators’ entitlements so that the people would make their decisions. He said: “We do not want to feel that the speaker’s word may be more authentic and more truthful because now it is his word against the MPs’. So we expect clarity on the MPs’ entitlements and on the government’s commitment as well.” He added: “We need a culture where leaders make commitments and fulfill them and not turn around to politicize issues based on populist arguments.” Nyoni also urged the MPs to be more open to the public with regards their entitlements so that the public would judge them correctly and fairly. The accusations against the MPs come a month after Parliament adjourned to the end of January 2014 due to lack of funds. At the time SW Radio Africa reported that Parliament owed legislators previous parliamentary allowances ranging between $10, 000 to $20,000 each. On top of that Parliament was said to be struggling to settle hotel bills of more than $750,000. Two years ago 20 MPs were found to have abused the Constituency Development Fund but only three were arrested and charged with misappropriation of the funds meant to benefit constituency projects. Their prosecution was stopped following the intervention of the Attorney-General Johannes Tomana’s office. Mudenda, however, decried the fact that the 2014 budget allocated Parliament only $ 24 million instead of the requested $ 35 million. MPs are expected to spend this week in intensive meetings in preparation for the debate on the budget which commences on January 21st, when Parliament resumes. Tuesday saw the start of four day portfolio committee meetings to analyze the budget. Each committee is expected to present a report on the budget as it affects the ministry that it oversees to the National Assembly which resumes next week. On its opening next week Parliament is also expected to pass the Finance bills that will operationalize the $ 4,1 billion budget presented by finance minister Patrick Chinamasa in December 2013.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

If you visit social media platforms these days you’ll see a flurry of postings on President Robert Mugabe, with anxious Zimbabweans wanting to know his state of health following reports he is unwell. Many are asking if Mugabe, who turns 90 next month is still fit enough to continue as Head of State six months after his ZANU PF party won the elections that are being disputed by the opposition. Journalists have tried to sort out fact from rumour, but they got no help from the government who offered a vague assurance that the country’s long time leader was back home from the Far East, “but he is still on holiday until the end of January.” Mugabe annually goes on leave for a full month but this time he was away for two weeks. The state media has a habit of covering all his return trips from official and private journeys at the Harare international airport. This time, they did not. Instead they only carried a story that he had returned. Disastrously, an old photo of Mugabe from a year ago was used this time around, with the caption giving the impression it was taken at the airport on his return from his trip. More intriguing was George Charamba’s statement that Mugabe will still be on leave until the end of the month, with no mention of the reports of his reported ill-health. ZANU PF has previously robustly denied any reports that its leader is sick. But this time around there has been silence. Political analyst Gideon Chitanga said it could be that Mugabe has instructed his handlers not to say anything on his health as that is his private business. He also speculated that it might be that nobody has the ‘guts’ to speak about the health issues without seeking clearance from the ageing leader. As the news blackout continues, so does the speculation over whether Mugabe is sick or not. Without any statement from the government the public is enduring endless rumors and counter rumours emanating from political interest groups. Chitanga added that at this point the issue is neither about a single individual or a single party, nor even about political differences. “This is about ZANU PF’s lack of culture of accountability and transparency. It is disconcerting that weeks after Mugabe vanished from public view, Zimbabweans still have no answers as to how long he will remain absent,” said Chitanga. Political observer Mutsa Murenje waded into discussion and asked why officials find it acceptable to continue to keep the public in perpetual darkness. “If the country is governed by its constitution, the current secrecy makes no sense. The government is obligated to answer these questions: Where is Mugabe? What is the nature of his illness? When should the public expect him back? The public needs to know,” Murenje said. He added that in these uncertain times, the continuing lack of accurate information is dangerous. Zimbabweans cannot afford to gamble the future of the country with rumors and counter rumors. “It is high time the ruling party level with the Zimbabwean people and be forthcoming about the exact status of the country’s leader as he is the first citizen,” he said.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Salary negotiations between civil servants and the government will continue Friday when the two parties are expected to finally agree on a figure. Civil servants’ representatives met those from the Labour Ministry Wednesday but no agreement was reached on how much the government was offering its workers. Richard Gundani, chairperson of civil service unions umbrella body the Apex Council, said although the negotiations were yet to yield any concrete agreement, his team was happy that discussions were on-going. He however refused to shed more light on the government’s offer to civil servants. Civil servants want the salary of the lowest paid member to increase to $540 per month, in line with the poverty datum line. They are also pressing for improvements in their working conditions. “All I can reveal is that negotiations are on-going, and we will meet again Friday. The positives so far are that we are talking about issues to do with housing schemes, empowering civil servants through investment trusts, and we have tabled different proposals on these,” Gundani said. Friday’s discussions are also expected to focus on the need for the government to update old laws governing the sector.“We want the government to align the Public Service Act and other subsidiary laws with the new constitution. But the main issue of backdated salaries remains outstanding and will be discussed Friday,” Gundani, who is also the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association, told SW Radio Africa Wednesday. Going into Wednesday’s talks, teachers had threatened to embark on strike unless government addressed their salary concerns. But on Monday, Takavafira Zhou, president of the 15,000-strong Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe said teachers will hold off on any action to give the negotiations a chance.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The South African authorities have been accused of abusing the country’s court processes, after filing another appeal against a landmark order to probe crimes against humanity committed in Zimbabwe. Last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a court order from 2012 that compelled the prosecuting authorities in South Africa to investigate torture and other crimes perpetrated in Zimbabwe. This was after the police and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had appealed the original order handed down by the North Gauteng High Court, which said the authorities had a duty to probe allegations of torture as required by the Rome Statute. The Statute is the foundation for the International Criminal Court and as a signatory, South Africa is committed to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of serious international crimes. But the South African police have since filed another appeal, this time at the country’s Constitutional Court. In an application filed last week, the police state there “is at least a reasonable prospect” that the Constitutional Court could overturn the Supreme Court ruling, arguing that among other issues, an investigation would infringe on the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and damage diplomatic relations. The case is being led by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) and was based on a dossier detailing a politically motivated attack on MDC members in Zimbabwe in 2007. This dossier, which implicates 18 high level ZANU PF members, was handed to the NPA in 2008 but the prosecuting body and the police decided not to take the case further. ZEF Director Gabriel Shumba told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the latest appeal is “without merit,” and the ZEF and SALC “will vigorously oppose the appeal.”“Two other courts have already made pronouncements of the law. And the reasons given for the appeal have been received with the contempt they deserve. We are not talking about South Africa investigating a country, but investigating internationally recognised crimes,” Shumba said. He added: “We basing our arguments for prosecution in terms of South Africa’s own domestication of the Rome Statute. It has made the Statute part of its own laws and it is those laws we basing our arguments on.” Shumba also expressed concern about the appeal potentially infringing on the independence of the judiciary in South Africa. “This (appeal) sounds like an attempt to frustrate the clear pronouncement from the courts and make this a frivolous matter. And to bring such action is an attempt to become frivolous in the face of a serious indictment on the part of the Zimbabwean authorities,” Shumba said. The ZEF and SALC have until January 20th to file their opposing papers before the case is set down for hearing at the Constitutional Court.

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The State’s case against artist Owen Maseko, who is facing charges of ‘undermining’ the authority of President Robert Mugabe through his works, suffered a blow Wednesday after conceding it may not have a case. The State was seeking to have Maseko found guilty of alleged criminal conduct for exhibiting paintings depicting the 1980s Gukurahundi genocide, during which 20,000 people were massacred in cold blood. He was charged under Zimbabwe’s controversial insult laws, which have been used repeatedly to silence people who are critical of Mugabe. Also involved in the same hearing Wednesday was former Makoni South MP Pishai Muchauraya. He is accused of telling a rally that Mugabe is ‘old and suffering from chronic diarrhea’. According the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), prosecutor Chris Mutangadura on Wednesday conceded before the full bench of the Constitutional Court that the facts as alleged by the State do not reveal that Maseko and Muchauraya committed an offence. A statement from the ZLHR said Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku reserved his ruling on both cases and advised that the court will hand down a written order. Maseko was arrested in March 2010 after he exhibited at the Bulawayo National Art Gallery depicting the Gukurahundi. He was charged with undermining the authority of the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion. The case was then referred to the Constitutional Court after his lawyers argued that criminalising creative arts was an infringement on Maseko’s right to freedom of expression. The case almost reached its conclusion in October last year when the Court ruled that section 33 of the Criminal Law Act violates the constitution, as argued by Maseko. Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa then filed an affidavit defending those insult laws. This was after the court had asked him to prove why the laws were not in violation of the constitution. According to the ZLHR there are about 80 cases of people accused of undermining the President’s authority pending in the courts. Former National Healing Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu said the issue of the Gukurahundi was a genuine human rights issue and people should be allowed to speak about it. Ndlovu said ‘no amount of repression’ would stop the people from expressing their views on the Gukurahundi. Ndlovu, who was speaking on SW Radio Africa’s Cutting Edge programme, said Maseko’s case was not isolated because he was himself once persecuted for speaking out on the issue. Ndlovu said the fact that the Gukurahundi was now being articulated by people who were not born during the genocide, was an indicator that it could not just be wished away.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The government has failed to pay fees for thousands of poor children who are eligible for assistance under a special scheme that entitles them to free primary education. The government is supposed to assist children from poor backgrounds with school fees under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM). Schools re-opened Tuesday but for 900,000 children on the scheme, fees will be in arrears after the Social Welfare ministry said it has no money to pay for them. The number of children on the programme is pegged at one million, according to a senior ministry official Sydney Mhishi, who was addressing legislators Tuesday. At least 750,000 primary school pupils need help at a total cost of $8 per child per term, and to achieve this $28 million is required. Mhishi said the ministry had asked for a budget allocation of $73 million to cover BEAM but only received $15 million – which is just enough to pay for 83,000 children in need. Unless donors resumed funding the education sector as they used to until last year, Mhishi said many children will miss out on education. “We used to have a basket funding where (European Union) countries pooled resources and gave it to UNICEF which would interface with our schools,” Mhishi said.“That fell off two years ago. Their argument was that primary education must be free and compulsory. The current circumstance is that there will be no free primary education,” Mhishi continued.“We still think DfID (Britain’s Department for International Development) might come again. If they don’t come, it means Government will have to look for the money,” Mhishi added, and revealed that funding from DfID ended last year. Last year November, Mhishi told the same committee of legislators that his ministry owed schools $15 million in school fees. Former Education Minister David Coltart said it was clear that the government was failing in its obligation to provide basic education to children, as required by the country’s constitution.“The government is allocating insufficient funds to education and if we are to ensure that children at least get a primary education, this has to improve significantly,” said Coltart. He added: “BEAM is a symptom of a bigger problem: it is underfunded and was devised a decade ago for a much stronger economy when there were far more people in formal employment than the current situation where a lot of people are poverty-stricken and can’t pay fees.”“The scheme simply can’t cope, and compounding the crisis is that donors have pulled out,” the former minister said. Coltart explained that one of the ways in which the government could address the growing crisis was by cutting spending in other areas, such as the size of Cabinet and reducing military spending. He said there was also need to re-examine the administration of the financial assistance scheme to make it more transparent and effective. Coltart also said that in the past committees set up to conduct vetting processes for the scheme had been accused of being partisan, and this had seen deserving children being left out. “The question that government needs to ask itself is ‘do we really need the entire civil service and bureaucracy around BEAM at all?’”“If government commits itself to free basic education then we don’t need that bureaucracy because every child will be able to get a free education,” Coltart added.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

More Zimbabweans are facing serious hunger this year, after the United Nations (UN) food agency announced it was cutting the number of people it assists with aid. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday that it has cut rations to a million Zimbabweans, and more cuts could be coming this year. The WFP announced last year that one in four of Zimbabwe’s rural population is expected to need food assistance in 2014, saying this “is the highest since early 2009 when more than half the population required food support.” The UN group said that the high levels of food insecurity are attributed to various factors including adverse weather conditions, the unavailability and high cost of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers and projected high cereal prices due to the poor maize harvest. “We’d been hoping to have scaled up our seasonal relief operations to reach 1.8 million people in the coming months with distributions of food and, in some areas, cash transfers. Despite generous contributions from donors such as USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, ECHO and the Central Emergency Relief Fund, it’s now looking like all this will not be possible because of a shortage of funds,” said Tomson Phiri, the WFP’s Zimbabwe communications officer in an email. He added: “We’ve had to cut rations for one million of our beneficiaries in recent months and there are likely to be deeper cuts as from next month.” Phiri said that rising food process had made the problem worse, saying some prices have almost doubled since last year. “WFP currently needs $60 million to fully implement its relief and recovery operations in the next six months. Of course, we’ll do everything we can to prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable but there are many whom we might not be able to help,” Phiri said.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

About 19,000 prison inmates countrywide are facing starvation as food stocks have dropped significantly and the situation could worsen due to poor funding, parliamentarians heard Wednesday. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs secretary Virginia Mabhiza told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs that most prisons urgently need more food and clothing supplies. The committee heard that the department’s farms which were allocated during the so-called land reform exercise to boost food production were underutilized due to inadequate funding. Also facing the same situation are the department’s factories which make the prisoners and magistrates’ garments, the committee heard. A Thursday NewsDay report quoted Mabhiza saying the situation was made worse by the fact that the department was allocated a paltry $2.5 million against the required $ 21million in this year’s budget. The ministry as a whole had requested $279 million but was allocated only $108 million. Mabhiza said the $21 million is based on the calculation that that the prison population remains constant and also on the hope that prices remain static. According to the report Mabhiza told the committee that the huge shortfall stood to negatively affect the ministry’s core activities, including justice delivery. Mabhiza added that the newly-constituted human rights commission and the National Prosecution Authority would also be affected. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Executive Director Abel Chikomo blamed the situation in the country’s prisons on the government’s ‘misplaced priorities.’ Chikomo said his organization was one of the many whose warnings on the deteriorating situation in the country’s prisons have been repeatedly ignored by the government. He added: ‘The government should be ashamed of this because we have a situation where some senior officials are pocketing large sums of money for doing nearly nothing and yet the government can’t offer a basic service such as feeding prisoners.’ Last year Mabhiza and Agrey Machingauta revealed to the same committee that at least 100 inmates had died in 2013 at the country’s 55 prisons due to poor nutrition. At the time MDC-T Harare West MP and shadow justice minister, Jessie Majome, expressed her shock and disappointment that conditions seemed to be deteriorating to the levels of the 2007/2008 humanitarian crisis. So bad was the situation then that the Red Cross was forced to step in. This was when a report by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender revealed the extent of the crisis. The Red Cross withdrew its food assistance in 2011, saying at the time that the prison services were ‘far more capable of meeting the dietary needs of inmates.’

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

There is still no sign of a Zimbabwean man who went missing during a hike up the Nyangani Mountain almost two weeks ago. The search for 31 year old Zayd Dada entered its 13th day on Thursday. He was last seen hiking up the mountain alone, after the group he was with decided to turn back to their holiday chalets. Dada chose to continue up the mountain but never returned. Since then, search parties have been out almost every day trying to find him. With the assistance of Zimbabwe’s police, army and national parks officials, as well as volunteers from across the Southern African region, Dada’s family has been trying desperately to locate him. The weather, which has ranged from clear and sunny one day to misty and rainy the next, has played havoc with search plans, which have repeatedly been suspended because of the conditions. The state media reported that the weather is believed to be the main reason for Dada’s disappearance. The Herald reported Thursday that Dada is “feared to have died.” But his family has expressed hope of still finding him. His aunt Shehnila Mohamed told SW Radio Africa that “we will not give up hope until we find him or find out what happened to him.” Support for the family and the search meanwhile continues to grow, and people are still encouraged to join the public Facebook group ‘Let’s Find Zayd’. More than 12,000 people from around the world have joined the group to offer prayers, financial assistance and more.