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ZANU PF -e Nw PaOZimbabwe News Official Organ of ZANU PF Department oflnlormation andPublicit, 144 Union Avenue, Herar e Tel: 79014$ SPeac and ...... Volume 27, No. 1. !996, Regited 'tthe G T a Newspape NOVEMEI ;R 1996 $2.50 (incl. sales tax) People's Conference 96, Bread and butter issues Face to face with WhO AIDS Wines nd ines ith da Smnith?

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Zimbabwe News Official Organ of ZANU PF Contents Editorial Cover Story National News Constituency Feature I write as I like Business News Special Report Health Environmental Issues Obituary Sport People's Conference must recommend practical solutions ...... Education system elitist ...... 4 W ining and dining with Ian Sm ith ...... 6 Face to face with AIDS ...... 7 Detainees and Prisoner- demands being met ...... 9 Primary elections: Rules and Regulations revie\%ed ...... 9 Mpopomna setting the pace ...... 10 The future of ZANU PF Primaries ...... 12 Singapore Conference ag. inst indigenisation ...... 13 Tough economic refon'o u,...... 14 M isleading quarterly guide ...... 16 IMF's medicine causes us concern ...... ; ...... 16 Patients left to die as doctors. nurses strike ...... 18 Political forces behind doctors' strike ...... 19 Child abuse demands preventive measures ...... 19 Game ranching saving wildlife ...... 20 M ike M unyati ...... 22 Tyson's 'Iron M an' myth shattered ...... 23 ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 Zimbabwe News is the official organ of the Zimbabwe African National Union ZANU PF and is produced on the authority of the Central Committee by the Department of Information and Publicity. Jongwe Printing and Publishing Co., No, 14 Austin Road, Workington. Harare World Copyright, Central Committee (ZANU PF) Editorial Council: Cde. N.M Shamuyanra, Cde. C.C- Chimutengwende, Cde. C. Ndthlovu, Cde. S. Kachingwe. Cde. A. Sikhosana.

Editorial Teeth For Resolutions REVOLUTIONARIES have long noted that the interpretation of any situation largely depends on subjective perceptions. One person sees a glass as half full, while.another sees it as half empty. The interpretation of events and consequential actions are subject to numerous perceptions and interpretations which collectively define our social, moral value judgements and norms. In December, 1995, the National People's Conference passed various resolutions relating to inter alia, the need for a final resolution on the land question; tackling of the unemployment crisis and low national productivity, drawing up of a comprehensive policy on the indigenisation of the economy; the need to divert more resources towards the control and eradication of the AIDS pandemic, reforms to the national educational system so as to make it more practical and relevant to the specific needs of this country. The National People's Conference provides an opportunity for active and vigorous debate on the degree to which conference resolutions have been fulfilled. Party and government officials responsible for co-ordinating and implementing resolutions must clearly explain how they have met the people's expectations according to resolutions implemented; and they must equally explain why and how certain resolutions have not been fulfilled. This is in accordance with the democratic centralist norms of the Party. At the same time, conference participants must actively debate and chart methodologies for the implementation of the old resolutions hitherto unfulfilled, and new ones that will be passed by this conference. Implementation modalities should clearly spell out the role of Party and government organs in implementing Party policies all the way from the Politburo to the cell/village committee level and from the Cabinet to local authorities. We cannot overstress the importance that people attach to action and consequently how they perceive the role of the Party. As long as Party resolutions are not concretisised and implemented fully, people's perception of the Party will gradually shift towards incredulity and, Heavens forbid, even contempt. Recently, His Excellency President Mugabe had to remind Parliamentarians (most of whom are senior Party officials) that "Policy has to be made by the Party, by the Central Committee which in the absence of conferences and congresses is the custodian of our policies." Some of the resolutions and policies on Employment creation, Land redistribution, health and education reforms and socialist welfare predate our national independence. All have a bearing on national economic efficiency and their partial or non-fulfilment represents a source of pent-up frustrations for our long suffering black populace. Frustration in turn breeds bitterness, hatred, anarchist and counter-revolutionary tendencies. To avoid this eventuality, this year's resolutions must be armed with teeth. LI 2 ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Cover Str I Is. q Peo"'a' Cofrec mus etween 5000 and 6 000 ZANU PF ~eaders will converge in Bulawayo ~on December 13-16 for the Second National People's Conference. The first was held in Harare last year. Dominant on the agenda will be issues related to the creation of employment, means and ways of curbing the present r'ampant spread of the HIV calculated at 30 percent incidence ,rate; the welfare of the ex- combatants, ex-political detainees and prisoners; acquisition and provision of land to the thousands of landless African farmers; improvement of the education system; housing and; the general economic performance. Also on the agenda will be the endorsement of co-options into the Central Committee. "In short," said Cde. Moven Mahachi who is the Secretary for Commissariat and Culture, "the Conference will review Party activities, objectives and programmes and; government's performance during the year 1996." Over the years, ZANU PF waited until Congress to review the above. Congress is held once every five years. According to Cde. Mahachi, it was in view of the numerous Party and government activities in respect of the people's growing need for shelter, land, food, education and health amongst others that it became necessary to introduce a yearly People's Conference rather than wait for five years to attend to issues some of which demand urgent attention. Last Conference At the inaugural Conference last year, the following resolutions were adopted: Commitment to the Unity Accord through total abolishment of tribalism, adoption of a comprehensive land reform policy by Party and government, equitable exploitation of natural resources, construction of roads and bridges and the provision of telecommunication services and electricity in and around rural service centres and growth points, intensification of the provision of primary healthcare as well as legislation to accommodate African business peoZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 pie in the national economy mainstream. Also unanimously adopted were resolutions to make compulsory, the teaching of Ndebele and Shona in all schools; a comprehensive welfare policy to cater more effectively for the destitute, the old, the handicapped and disadvantaged groups; review policy on management of provincial and district heroes acres and; to reestablish the youth revolving fund to finance projects undertaken by the youths of the country. In addition, the Conference agreed to improve the role of women and recom- C'de. Moven Mahachi mended that government's foreign policy must stay committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy and the peaceful resolution of regional and international conflicts. Implementation If the items stated by Cde. Mahachi are anything to go by, this year's Conference will be a very interesting one. It will also seek to chart out a new course in the activities of both Party and government as the nation now enters into a new form of economic reforms. However, if the last Conference's resolutions are anything to go by, there was a conspicious absence of modalities for the implementation of the points of consensus. This year's agenda which is more or less like last year's and the 1994 Congress resolutions are a carry-over of past commitments. It is a fact that there has been no explanation of the failures of the same aspirations in the past, nor is there an explained argument as to why the Party leadership believes the same aspirations will be a success this time around. There is need for debate on the reasons for past failures to implement Congress and Conference resolutions. An exhaustive debate will uncover the nature of the obstacles faced by the Party in putting the resolutions into practice. For example, the first resolution adopted at last year's conference reaffirmed the Party's commitment to democracy within the Party and upright leadership in accordance with the.Code of Conduct. This resolution was a result worsening cases of unethical behaviour within the high echelons of the Party with the first such prohibitive resolutions having been adopted in 1985. The 1985 Leadership Code was eventually phased array because few paid attention to its provisions. The Code of Conduct was introduced in 1990 as a moderate substitution to the Leadership Code but still failed as its provisions were regarded with disdain by many who felt it restricted growth of personal interests. Another example would be last year's resolution two. It called upon "the Party and Government to formulate a compre*Continued on next page

People's Conference a :ornn *Continued from previous page tion that will form the basis of modali- hensive policy on land with a view to establishing land tenure systems, land settlement programmes .., farm sizes, subdivisions and productivity and the number of farms an individual can own It is a fact that policy issues on the land question pre-date the liberation war. The question, many believe, should have been resolved long before now. Those who believe the question should have been settled by now contend that what is lacking is the political will. That politics over the land issue draw very unpalatable racial connotations with inevitable international repurcussions. Thus the argument is that the Party should choose between being hamstrung by consideration for international repurcussions and unflinchingly distribute land on an equitable basis. The tuture Theory without practice will not do the Party any good. ZANU PF must now ensure that it does exactly what it preaches. That only Mashonaland Central held its provincial conference during the year out of the ten political provinces does not demonstrate a seriousness of purpose on the part of those who will converge in Bulawayo to present ideas and adopt resolutions on behalf of the Party membership. Even if they were to try and convince the rest of the membership of their seriousness, would their ideas be representative of the grassroot membership given that they did not adhere to this Party constitutional requirement in the first place. Some of the delegates, for instance, will be coming from areas that are hardest hit by HIV/AIDS and yet they chose not to address this problem as a provincial community; waiting instead to address the issue at a national conference. How practical can this be? It is probably in this spirit that the national commissar, Cde. Mahachi, said this year's conference will try and examine how far past resolutions have been implemented and why those outstanding were not likewise, implemented. In the same vein, Cde. Mahachi said the Central Committee will present a paper to the conference on the above. But again, it is the debate that will ensure from the Central Committee's presenta- ties on the practical implementation of resolutions. This practical approach to issues is what is needed in the Party at all levels. This is the only way that the ZANU PF government can lead the nation into the twenty-first century assured of prosperity. Workers and peasants are tired of rhetoric politics. Enthusiasm Most people spoken to by this reporter in Bulawayo were enthusiastic about the conference. Their reasons vary though. Said Cde. John Dube, a youth from Emakhandeni: "I hope the leaders will try to tackle the high unemployment problem which has forced some of my colleagues to go to South Africa in search of jobs even though the general situation there is unwelcoming." Cde. Ndaminya, a Bulawayo resident for 60 years, said: "Although I am not fully informed of what it is that will be discussed here, I think the Party should find ways of taking care of the elderly people because the extended family tradition is dying out." Now the views of Cde. Ndebele, a wom- ANU PF held a workshop on education at the Party's headquarters in Harare on 1-2 November 1996. Officially opened by the Secretary for Commissariat and Culture, Cde. Moven Mahachi, the workshop saw speaker after speaker criticise the country's education system which they said only caters for a few brilliant individuals leaving the majority of the students roaming the streets with nothing to do after four years in secondary school. Participants agreed that the education system which is still as colonial in prin- practical solutlo an vendor: "I think the conferencewl bring more good luck to Bulawayo. city has already received more ra than most centres so far. Cde. Isaac Dakamela, the deputy Y League provincial chairman Bulawayo said it was an honour to hs the conference, adding that tog with his colleagues, they will work h to make the occasion a great su He however, hoped that the deleg will concentrate on bread- and-butte sues in their deliberations. A member of the Central Committee and member of Parliament for Mpopoma Cde. Sikhanyiso Duke Ndhlovu said everyone appeared fully prepared for the conference and expressed hope that it will be a big success. So did Cde. Charles Moyo, another member of the Bulawayo Provincial Youth League Committee who said: "I am happy to be part of the hosting team and we all wish the conference to be an overwhelming success." Cde. Moven Mahachi says the conference's success will depend on its articulacy of the prevailing issues such as AIDS, unemployment and indigenisation - the bread and butter issues. [] ciple and ideology as it was twf years ago, was still elitist, blinkered wholly academic. Thus, they argue is not in tune with Zimbabwe's cu al, socio-economic and polit aspirations. Attended by provincial secretarie Education, their chairmen, Ministt Education Cde. Edmund Garwe deputy Minister of Higher Educa Cde. Sikhanyiso Duke Ndhlbvu, workshop unanimously agreed tha education system was in a com mess. *Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL I- Naio a New I

Education system elitist *Continued from previous page Said Cde. Mahachi in his opening address: "The education system needs to be streamlined. It presently leaves a lot to be desired. "The purpose of education must be learning how to learn. We must now question ourselves whether our education system enables our students to learn how to learn." He said Africa was where it was today (underdeveloped) because its education products were bookish not thinkers. "They are mere jobseekers," he said adding that as such, the system needed to be totally reformed. Commission Following Cde. Mahachi's opening remarks the deputy national secretary for Education, Cde. Stan Mudenge, who did not mince his words at all over what he called an unplanned education with neither an ideology nor a sober influence in the shaping of the national destiny. "Zimbabwe now needs to set up a Commission on Education to do thorough research on what can be taught in our schools to come up with usable endproducts. The Commission will chart out an Education Master Plan which can be reviewed each time when the need to do arises. "It is not even. the question of resources because there will never be a time when resources will suffice. Infact, Education already has the biggest share of the national budget (a third of the total budget) and that is more than enough in our situation. What needs to be done is to plan and make use of the available resources. We need to be creative, innovative and efficient with the little that we have," said Cde. Mudenge adding that more emphasis must be placed on distance learning as a way of ensuring continued relevancd of education. He said the biggest problem facing Western universities at the moment was lack of adequate resources. "Now, if western nations do not have adequate resources, how on earth can we have enough?" he quizzed participants. Cde. Mudenge, himself a former Minister of Higher Education, said the prevailing system did not justify the one- third budget priority, thus, must be overhauled. However, in an unprecedented move, Cde. Garwe, the Minister of Education, took a swipe at the two first speakers saying people should not just criticise for the sake of criticising. in an apparent reference to Cde. Mahachi who had said the majority of the O-level students were passing Religious Education instead of Science subjects, Cde. Garwe said this was not bad because "a culture without morality is a rotten culture." To Cde. Mudenge, he said: "He headed Higher Education for more than a year, why did he not set up this Commission he is now talking about?" But he soon lost ground as delegates to the workshop threw their weight behind the idea of setting up a Commission to review the country's education system. Nonetheless, he brought himself closer to the rest when he observed: "Quality education is increasingly becoming proportionate to the level of capitation and general resourcing of education. This calls for more support from Central Government and the private sector. The current system is wasteful and selfdestructing because it is exam driven and is highly meritocratic at '0' Level and above." Reforms To this end, the ruling Party set up an Education Reform Committee last year which was chaired by Cde. Aneas Chigwedere, a respected educationist and highly rated scholar on African history. It comprised the Party's provincial secretaries of education and consulted with all stakeholders - teachers, school and college heads, education technocrats in both public and private sectors et cetera. Presenting his committee's findings before the participants, Cde Chjgwedere noted that the Twenty First Century required quality education. What this means, he said, is education that enables citizens to compete with the rest of the world, a system whose end-products are more serviceable both to themselves and to the community; education that promotes equity across gender and, an education system which though accepting the dynamism of culture, promotes and adapts the essential elements of the Zimbabwean culture in maintaining a Zimbabwean identity. Amongst the numerous proposals put forward by the Committee include dividing students into three groups on the ba- sis of ZJC results. The first group, Category A (about 20 percent) will comprise high fliers who will pursue academic education to '0' and 'A' level. Room will t be left for every pupil in this category to study at least one practical subject to either '0' or 'A' level. This group will form the pool of the nation's high level manpower for higher professions. Those with average passes will fall into Category B (30 percent) which would be more technically biased. The intermediate group would do a least two practical subjects each plus some academic subjects to '0' and 'A' level. Then Category C (50 percent) will comprise those with the lowest pass at ZJ( and would pursue at least two academic subjects and one practical/vocational subject for at least two years. This category does .not follow '0' level programme and a suitable certificate body would be responsible for their examination. The Reform Committee contends that the intermediate group should complete its '0' level syllabus in three years instead of two and since it is neither strong nor very weak, it will do courses identical to Category A. However, the technical component in their study would be made stronger and compulsory. Category C, according to the Committee, .is the real problem area and deserves greatest attention because it is not being catered for at present. Right now, says the Education Reform Committee (or ERC), students in this group are being abandoned after four years in secondary school. They go away with almost nothing because most of them have nothing but chains of Us. "A system that abandons 50 percent of its students cannot be a success - it is an unrealistic system," notes the ERC. Another of its proposals is that there be one ministry of education. The ERC says the usefulness and effectiveness of two ministries of education is in serious doubt. Thus, the ERC states: "We recommend there be one Ministry tasked with the overall objectives of co-ordinating all educational programmes." The ERC says there have been periods when there has been virtually no link between the two ministries inspite of the OContinued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 -Winin and diigwt0a mt L ByOur orrepondntI I an Douglas Smith will go down in Zimbabwe's history as the man who led the 200 000 white settlers of Southern Rhodesia into a laager to fight against the freedom and independence of the African people. He stood against the whole African continent saying Africans were not ready and not fit to govern, and that they could not keep high standards of government. He poohpoohed, and vilified African people in Zimbabwe in particular, and everywhere. His desperate action to declare Southern Rhodesia unilaterally independent from Britain was a last and desperate attempt to prevent the majority people from getting independence. The previous prime ministers of Southern Rhodesia were colonialists, but Ian Smith was both a colonialist and a racist. The laws he put' on the statute book were all directed at separating the white settlers from the indigenous majority, and then giving the whites social and economic privileges.' eContinued from previous page tact that one is a consuamer of the products of the other. Participants welcomed this proposal oK the understanding that it would help streamline administration, manpower evaluation and training, improve efficiency, avoid duplication of duties in some departments of the two ministries and, that it would be cost effective. Speaking his personal mind on the above issue, Cde Mudenge said the, Ministry of Higher Education be made a manpower training ministry. This, he said, was the trend across the world. Unfortunately, neither the ERC nor the workshop underscored the relevance and importance of sport to the young. The 20th Century has seen a rise in earnings and respectability of the sporting profession not to mention its positive socio-economic impact. And as the 21 st Century draws nearer and nearer, it needs not to be -overemphasised that -sport will definitely rule the roost. The rebellious Rhodesian leader, Ian D.1 Smith Ian Smith was the typical and worst ex- ME ample of colonial racism. He and his col- It wi leagues set up an all-white regime which and was obscene to say the least. ing I However, since workshop deliberations and the findings of the ERC would form' the basis of the Department of Education's presentation at the Second People's National Conference to be held in Bulawayo in December, 1996, one hopes that there will not be a repeat of the oversight. Delegates to the workshop were not, nonetheless, impressed by the fact that the Party was not being consulted on various programmes the education ministries are presently working on. This led some delegates to ask whose policies the ministers were implementing: Theirs or those enunciated to them by their permanent secretaries. It was though, pointed out to the participants that this was not an isolated problem but one affecting all ZANU PF Departments. It was then agreed that the Party should reassert its authority over government of its policies were ever to materialise. And it appears that this issue will feature prominently at the Bulawayo Conference. As put by one delegate: "It's better late than never." at t tho ing, in ag the -eting with University as a surprise to read in t] watch on Television, the an Smith addressing ou. he University of Zimbal e students giving him a and some of them appea reement with his usual c Government. The University should hear all view., and analyse them freely and objectively. But,. the last thing a University in Africa should do is to embrace a racist like Ian Smith. He will not be invited or entertained to any one of the 362 Universities in Africa (excepting the University of Zimbbwe). If we had not fought against Ian Smith's regime, and stoppe him from achieving his objectiye, there would not be a single African student at the University of Zimbabwe., Certainly, there would be no universities .for African students at Bulawayo, Mutare, Solusi, or anywhere. Even the many civil servants working in Government service today would not be there. Some people have very short memories: they have already forgotten the white structures we had to undo in the public service, in the army, the Police, and everywhere. It is indeed a source of great sorrow to see young Zimbabweans who would have been direct victims of the policies, *Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL.27

4ducation system elitist atinued from previous page colonial and racist regime, themnow entertaining the same racist. o secret the same students at the 'rsity of Zimbabwe despite the nment for the simple reason that want more pocket money. Recentey opposed the decision to pay of the school fees, but their oppoto government started long before ledision came about. hey are clearly taking their oppo too far;'if they are going as far as acing the racists. It is a sad comary if they take anyone who is opI to their Government as an ally. means they could ally themselves with enemies of Zimbabwe. Smith and the papers mith is often quoted in the papers ZANU PF district health secretaries and other Party members from Harare had a ft hand experience with the difficulties facing HIV-carriers when two young men gave chilling accounts of their lives since contracting the virus a couple of years back. The health secretaries were attending a two-day workshop on AIDS (16-17 November) at the Party's headquarters in the capital. Workshop deliberations were chaired by the national secretary for health, Cde. Oppah Rushesha. In attendance were Harare chairman Cde. Rodrick Nyandoro, Women's League chairperson Cde. Idah Mashonganyika, doctors and a representative from the traditional healers association (ZINATHA). HIV carriers, Archibold and Shepherd, explained before a packed room that while they have vowed to spread the ,gospel against promiscuity and reckless sexual behaviour across the country,, they were living in harassment, stigmatisation and hunger. The two said their landlords evicted overseas, and in Zimbabwe, expressing views against our Government. That is the result of the reconciliation and democracy which we introduced. When he was in power from 1964 to 1978, our leaders were never quoted in the press in Southern Rhodesia. But, today the young men and women whose fathers and mothers were dispossessed, imprisoned, illtreated, and de-humanised by Ian Smith's regime, go out of their way to collect interviews from him, and to print his obnoxious views., in the name of freedom of the press and independence on October 11, 1996, one weekly gave Ian Smith a four-column page to err his obnoxious views again. Of course, the old fox used the space to spout views that are against the people of Zimbabwe. Firstly, he said he does not go to the Cde OC. Rushesha them from their houses once their HIV positive condition was known. Then there were those who saw them as suffering from the consequences of their own promiscuous behaviour; all this is addition to their unpaid for voluntary work. *Continued on next page 'Heroes Acre to honour those who died for the independence of this country from racist, minority rule. But he goes to Armistice Day services to honour those who died in wars fought by European powers over who should have what colony, and what strategic advantage. More importantly, we know the real rea son why Ian Smith goes to Armistice Day services on November 11. It happens to be the very.day that he declared the abortive UDI in 1965. In a way, an Armistice Day Service is simply a nice cover to remember the day racists like him tried to rape our country, Zimbabwe. Secondly, on the land question, we have families and whole communities that were moved even as late as the 1950s from fertile red soils they were occupying in order to make room for white settler farmers. To say that when the Europeans came here Africans were occupying sandy loam soils, or that they preferred such land, is just not true. The graves of our ancestors could be shown to Ian Smith even on his farms. Thirdly,, if there is land that is being offered by certain commercial farmers it will be taken up soon and re-settled. It is true that the arrangements for that programme have taken a long time to put in place. But, it will be implemented soon. The allegation that certain members of the ruling party, are grazing their cattle on farms that have been designated for ,resettlement has been made before. In certain cases, appropriate and immediate, action was taken. Those seeking individual interests or gain, even if they are leaders in the Party or Government, will not be allowed to interfere with a central programme such as resettlement. Our population know the record of the Party, and the commitment to land re- distribution. There may be unnecessary delays, and some human failings, but the commitMent is as firm as a rock. The very wide gap between Ian Smith and ourselves is simply that we are jommitted to the political advancement, and economic upliftment of the indigenous people of this country. Ian Smith and his Party were never interested in the natives, except as their labour. Those newspapers that are now propagating his ideas should think seriously about that. 0 ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 o face IDS a Kanibizi

Face to face with AIDS * Continued from previous page Said Shepherd who is married with a child: "Once our landlords are aware of our HIV condition, they ask us to vacate their houses," adding, "this antagonistic attitude is making our voluntary work almost impossible." In the same breath, they were hesistant to appear on television for the very same reason that once their landlords spotted them confessing their condition, they would again be asked to vacate their lodgings. Shepherd also spoke against some parochial traditional beliefs and practices which he said did not help combat the spread of HIV. "I experinced part of this myself: when I was tested and told that I had the virus, I conveyed the sad news to my wife. We thereafter decided that we were not going to have another child. However, when my aunties saw that our only child had grown old enough to have another kid behind him, they put pressure on my wife resulting in her falling pregnant. The new born child was HIV positive and died a few weeks later," said Shepherd. The two, much to the astonishment of the workshop participants, said through their charity work with various AIDS/HIV non-governmental organisations, know some Harare businessmen who carry the virus but are heavily involved with the city's young girls whom they lure into big hotels using their wealth. One such unsuspecting victim, a secondary school girl from Mbare, is said to have died two months ago. Streetkids Also present to testify were young boys who had been rescued from streetlife ravages by a charitable organisation, Drop-In Centre. One of the boys, Prince Mapfumo, aged about 14, said he had been forced into the streets by constant abuse at the hands of a step mother. Although admitting that streetlife had been a nightmare, Prince said it was better than "the den" which was supposed to be his home. Acknowledging their appreciation to the Centre for helping them out of the streets, the young boys said they were now looking forward to a new start in their lives. To start with, they said, they wanted to go back to school like all forced out of school to lead even worse other youngsters of their age. off lives. Addressing theworkshop, Paul Dinha of the Drop-In Centre, narrated the problems they encountered when they ventured out to rehabilitate the young boys and girls who roam the streets of the city both during daytime and night. He said it was very difficult to talk to these unfortunate young people. Dinha said most of the time, the youngsters were drunk from sniffing glue and other intoxicating substances. Besides, he said, the youngsters do not trust older people as it is some of these elders who have forced them into streetlife. Boys, he said, were mostly led into the streets by harsh injustices meted out by step mothers who further worsened the situation by indoctrinating their husbands against these boys whose own mothers would either have died or divorced. On the other hand, girls run away after they have been raped or molested by their step fathers while their mothers were at work or visiting relatives. "Some of the girls," said Dinha, "had been more than once and risked further such abuse if they stayed at home." Dinha said to worsen the situation, the affected girls were sternly warned by these uncaring fathers against reporting the incidents to their mothers. In any case, he said, the children also feared that should they report the incidents, they risked having their mothers chased away and further compound their own situations. As such, some girls are known to have sub- consciously succumbed to sexual demands from their step-fathers until they got a chance to get away and stand on their own feet. There were some, according to Dinha, who chose to go through the ordeal because their step-fathers were paying for their school fees. Turning them down or reporting their 'devilish' acts would therefore se. the girls prematurely Dinha noted that there were presently in their custody, two children whose fathers are a lawyer and doctor. These, he said, had fled their homes because of constant harassment at the hands of their step mothers while their fathers sat back with their hands folded as if the abused were not their children. "It is indeed a highly traumatic experience. The children staying with step parents are constantly reminded of. the misdemeanours committed by their mothers or fathers whatever the situation may be," explained Paul Dinha. Other issues The workshop discussed a score of other issues related to the AIDS pandemic. These included culturally-rooted attitudes with regards to women and sex which the workshop felt promoted the spread of the deadly virus instead. For instance, said the women present, their husband were reluctant to wear condoms even when the women suspected of infidelity. But most concerning to the women was the issue of polygamy. They categorically slated the practice, as being more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. However, other participants begged to differ saying it was better to have two or three wives than having one and several mistresses strewn all over the place as is the present situation with most husbandsAt the end of the two-day seminar, the ZANU PF Secretary for Health, Cde. Oppah Chamu Rushesha, said more such workshops will be held across the country in a bid to raise awareness levels visa-vis the killer virus. AIDS is one of the issues high on the agenda of the forthcoming Second National People's Conference in Bulawayo which will run from 13 - 16 December, 1996. ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 For news behind the headlines, get a copy of this magazine every month he demands of those comrades T who were detained and imprisoned during the anti-settler and anticolonial struggle have been presented to the Central Committee, and are being addressed. Some of these comrades could not take part in the last phase of armed conflict because they were still in detention camps or in prison; while some had been treated so harshly that they were physically incapacitated. A meeting of ex-detainees and prisoners held in Harare on Saturday, November 16, voiced the issues that worry them. They met under the auspices of the Detainees' and Ex-Prisoners Association which was formed last year. High on the list was the need for financial support to the same extent as the war veterans. Second, was the question of recognition for their services to the struggle. Liberation memorial One of the decisions that has already been reached is the establishment of the LIBERATION MEMORIAL. Under this scheme ex-combatants will be listed on one roll of honour, those who were in ZANLA or in ZIPRA. The final-production and vetting of the war veteran's register will be done by the War Veteran's Board which is chaired by Comrade Solomon Mujuru M.P. The Board will also select those who did not get hero status in order to prepare welfare and education assistance for their spouses and children. They will also identify those entitled to a pension allowance ($1 000 pe month). The Party provinces must submit lists isupported by completed forms) of all civilian political detainees/prisoners who died during the liberation struggle, and those who died since independence, but did not get heroes' status. These lists will be vetted by the Natiqnal Chairman, Comrade Joseph M. Msika, and the Secretary for Administration, Comrade D.N.E. Didymus N.E. Mutasa, in consultation with the Detainees and Prisoners Associations. Those recommended will also -get welfare and education assistance for spouses and children, nd pension allowances. Memorial wall There will be established and erected a memorial wall which will have all the names of those persons who fought and perished in the liberation struggle. The memorial will be the nation's roll of honour depicting the sons and daughters who sacrificed for the freedom and independence of Zimbabwe. However, the National Museums and Monument will be requested to start the development of provincial and district heroes' acres. While some burials can still be done at these Heroes' Acres, the graves that are already there should be maintained. Suitable tombstones should' be erected, and grave yards should be fenced and properly maintained. External graves and monuments There are many Zimbabweans who died in Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique during the struggle. When the colonial regime of Ian Smith was under pressure to give up power, it embarked on a programme of mass killings on a gigantic scale. There were massacres at Nyadzonya, Chimoio, Tembwe, (in Mozambique), Nachingweya and Mgagao (in Tanzania) Mkushi (in Zambia), and even inside the country. A sub-committee to be led by the Minister of Sports and Culture, and also Deputy Secretary for Ex- he Party is now working on rules and regulations for conducting primary elections. The Chairman of the Committee that has been working on these regulations, Comrade Emmerson D. Mnangagwa, Secretary for Finance, says the work is about to be completed. Comrade Mnangagwa headed a committee which investigated the whole issue of elections. The Party wanted to know the views of members on how best to promote grass- roots democracy, while maintaining stability. Primary elections had helped the members to come out with the candidates they liked, but on the other hand, they also divided members in particular districts. The committee held five meetings. Other members were Comrades Cephas Msipa, C. Chizema, Obert Mpofu and Robert Marere. They summarised all the complaints raised by various petitioners, crit- ternal Affairs in ZANU-PF, Comrade Witness Mangwende, and including traditional elders and Chiefs, has been charged with the responsibility to construct suitable war graves of Zimbabweans in those countries. They should identify the graves, construct suitable structures, and maintain them. The Committee will liaise with the War Veteran's Association, and the National Museums and Monuments. The construction of suitable memorials at the site of the mass graves in places like Chimoio and Mkushi was long overdue. In addition, there should be' organised memorial services where the leaders can lead their nations paying last respects to the fallen heroes. It is being suggested that Zimbabwe should construct a school or a hospital in these places, so that they can stand as a permanent memorial. Such institutions would provide social services to Zambians, Tanzanians, Mozambiquans, and it would be also a permanent tribute to the vital assistance they gave to our young nation when we needed it most. .Cde. E. Mnangagwa ics, and even supporters of the primary election system. The committee circulated a questionnaire to all provinces, asking them to an*Continued from previous page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL, 27 NO. 12 Primary elections rules and regulations reviewed L_ ational News

Mpopoma setting the pace By Zvenyika Kambizi in Bulawayo ilhe people of Mpopoma constituenTcy in Bulawayo recently held a Christmas Bazaar - a fascinating showcase of creative and innovative self-reliance projects. Dozens of people engaged in various projects and co-operatives displayed their products at the Bazaar and; the local communities came in their droves to support their colleagues who have taken the initative to conquer the tough economic period the nation is going through. Indeed, the co-operators and others at the Bazaar are destined for big time business. On show were art and craft pieces, clothes, bed covers, seedlings and cookies, to name but a few. Although almost every participating group was started last year, with some as recent as early this year, they have the potential to expand and employ many people in the process. Many thanks to the local Member of Parliament, Cde. Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu who assisted with ideas and capital. The Christmas Bazaar was first held in the constituency about the same period last year. This year's occasion was officially opened by the Executive Mayor of Bulawayo, Alderman Abel Siwela. He commended exhibitors at the Bazaar for striving to supplement their household Mpopoma MP, Cde Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu incomes by venturing into projects which, having been only started recently, have already begun to bear some fruits. As such, he said, the Bulawayo City Council will do its best to ensure that business stands were allocated to deserving groups as one way of supporting the enterprises. Projects On display were TG Engineering, a oneman electrical business presently employing 25 people on contract basis. TG Engineering makes between $10000 and $20 000 a month, according to the owner, Cde. Patrick Mhlanga. Primary elections rules and regulations reviewed *Contir.ded from previous page swer a barrage of questions on many issues such as the busing of voters, supervision of the voting process, misinformation, voting lists, rigging of elections, creation of new districts, distribu-. tion of cards on voting days, conflicting instructions, infiltration of Party by nonmembers, lack of- secrecy in the voting process, and threatening and or bribing voters. All these issues were posed in the questionnaire. Although the responses to the questionnaire were lower than expected, a large enough number replied to give a general view of the members. The firm conclusion was that a majority preferred the continuation of the primary election system. OUt of every 4 voters who returned the questionnaires, 3 voted for the primary elections, and I said it should be scrapped. The voting pattern was about the same in every province. The committee felt that the computerisation of membership lists that is now in progress will help in the holding of primary elections in future. The supervisions will have proper lists to determine who shall vote and who shall not vote. The committee also felt that only genuine members of the Party should be allowed to contest primary elections. By genuine members, they meant those with a proven record and have held positions for at least one year not lower than district level. The issue is expected to be tabled for discussion at this year's National People's Conference to be held in Bulawayo. See page Gus Closer to Cde. Mhlanga was Ncedenani Building Extension Co-operative which specialises in adding more roomsto residential accommodation. It is a 27-member co-op whose membership remains open to any willing individuals. The co-operative does extension work for any home-owners who wish to add more rooms to their houses. Those Who do not have cash are asked to take in lodgers and the rent paid directly to Ncedenani Co-op until the debt is cleared. Joining fee is $ 50 while the application fee is $500 with a month subscription fee of $2 per individual. Work is steictly done on the premise of council approved housing plans and only blue-card holders will be hired or contracted for construction work. The loan repayment period is three years. Next was Nkosi Skikelela which is basi"cally a grinding mill co-operative. With 13 members, the co-operative will be grinding mealie-meal for people from within and outside the constituency with the ultimate goal of packing the mealiemeal into various mass categories for sale. Closely housed to the grinders was Mdaka Bakery, a three-member business venture which bakes cakes, buns and bread. They sell their baked products at bus termini such as Renldni schools and parties. As for the single women mothers in Mpopoma and surrounding areas, Vikelani projects would not be less noble. Said a spokesperson: "Its membership is open to all single mothers who have either been divorced or widowed and we do sewing and other such work which is income-generating." The motive, she said, was to encourage unfortunate women to learn and appreciate the essence of working for themselves as opposed to selling their bodies for a living. "We also discuss such issues as the AIDS pandemic and at the same time try to reach as mapy single mothers as we can with the same message," said the spokesperson. The women meet every Wednesdays andpay a $2.50 daily subscription fee everyday. The proceeds, like in any OContinued on next page ZIMBABWE

Mpopoma setting the pace Ouontinued from previous page other group venture, are shared equally amongst the members at the end of the year. Vikelani has 27 members. Indeed, women are very innovative and imaginative: the next two were Sondela Enterprises and Zenzele Clothing Manufacturing Project, all run by women. Sondela is a 1 0-member venture which makes table cloths, bed covers and duvets. Said the group's spokesperson: "When we started off, it was merely to supplement our household incomes But as things now appear, we can do much better than that should our plans to cater for a wider market materialise." Zenzele, a two women project and probably the best on display at the Christmas Bazaar. They do pillow cases, bed covers etcetera and most visitors to the occasion did not fail to acknowledged the high quality of the women's products. No wonder the business makes an average of $3 000 per month. The project is run by a retired schoolteacher, Cde. Wilda Molae and daughter. Another mother and daughter venture at the Bazaar was L and D Fashions. They are Cde. Leptuna and daughter Daisy. They specialise in germents for ladies and say business is fairly good. There were many others - Golden Finger Textiles, a six-member cooperative started by school leavers some six years ago. They make men's clothes and are suppliers to some of Bulawayo's leading shops; Enkanyisweni 1 to 3; Zimbabwe Clothing Co-op, started by 100 ex-employees of the liquidated Bulawayo Clothing Company; Christine Nursery which is run by a mother of two, Cde. Christine Banda who at present cares for over 360 fruit and wild trees and; Shalom Enterprises which specialises in bridal wear. Interestingly, a group of elderly women mostly over S0 years, have come together to form an income-generating project - Sikhulile. The elderly make art and craft pieces for sale around the Mpopoma area and, according to a member of the Sikhulile Project, the 1o cal communities have been very supportive. "We cannot just sit back and wait for our children or grandchildren to look af ter us. As such, we sat down and agreed ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL 27 NO. 12 to form ourselves into a group and I must thank the local Member of Parliament (Cde. Sikhanyiso Ndhlovu) and the people here for supporting our efforts," said a member of the Sikhulile group. Funding While enthusiasm amongst the business groups is high, funds have not been forthcoming; both from financial institutions and donors. Thus to get the projects off the ground, most of the groups relied on meagre personal savings and the Members of Parliament's generosity. Explaining the situation, Cde. Ndhlovu said there was generally not much floating cash around. In some cases, he said, there were just too many enterprises engaged in the same operation which made it difficult to source funds for the individual groups hence the Social Development Trust idea. The Mpopoma Social Development Trust is chaired by Cde. Isaac Dakamela who is also Bulawayo Province's ZANU PF Youth League vice-chairman. Training Although the majority of the cooperators and those in various projects have received skills and managerial training, the MSDT will also be emphasising on more such courses for all its members. The men and women have already grasped an interesting business acumenship from the training they have so far received through the responsible Ministry. They talk with diarming ease such subjects as cash-flow, balance sheets C nd business plans that one would misakes them with college business graduates. Prospects There is definitely a brighter future for these courageous men and women whose enterprising business spirity would not fail to captivate any audience. And the Member of Parliament Cde. Sikhanyiso Ndhlovu, had this to say: "Having managed to get off the ground, we now want to consolidate our position on the local market before we can spread our wings to outside areas. "More importantly, we would like to start inter-constituency visits. That will enable a practical two- way flow of vital information on such issues as incorylegenerating projects. In addition, such a programme will help people from one corner of the country to accept and appreciate others were trying to do for themselves for living." Cde. Ndhlovu said he would initiate the programme by inviting people from other constituencies to Mpopoma. Considering that the idea is coming from none other than one of southern Africa's most successful businessman, the offer should be take seriously. The men and women engaged in various projects in Mpopoma understand that and are already looking at far and wider: "We will not go back on the work we have started. We will go forward ahid shall continue pushing forward," said MSDT chairman, Cde. Dakamela. 0l primarie I n an effort to encourage both intraparty democracy and grassroot participation in central government and local authority elections, ZANU-PF has, since the 1990 Parliamentary Elections, been conducting primary elections to choose candidates who would represent the Party in parliamentary and council elections. To a large extent, electoral interest had centred on party primaries as the winner of these elections had been virtually assured of the statutory victory even when other opponents to ZANU-PF had fielded their own candidates. The general opinion prevailing in the party membership is too fold: One school of thought favours the continuation of the primary election process while the other is of the view that the primaries should be scrapped altogether. This discussion will address the two schools of thought. Perhaps the question should not be whether primary elections are necessary but rather, whether the way primary elections are conducted is an accurate fair reflection of the wishes of party grassroots. This question deserves a candid answer. Any attempt to gloss over it would amount to self-deception. Up to 5 400 a ZANU-PF delegates comprising representatives from Party districts and the National Consultative Assembly will meet at the Second People's National Conference in Bulawayo on the 13th and 14th December, 1996, to discuss party and national development issues. It is expected that the issue of primary elections which caused so much controversy in the party over the past five or so years would be debated. But what are the party leaders going to discuss on this subject? Do they have statistics? A questionnaire is understood to have been circulated soliciting public opinion on the authority of the Legal Affairs Department. But it has not been established by the writer how'representative of the party's opinion would be the responses made and collated. However, it is proper to hasten to suggest at the outset that the decision by the politburo to commission an objective study on the subject was both informed and wise. But of substance now would be the conclusions if any of the research. If we revert to the pro-primaries approach, ZANU-PF can guarantee to itself unprecedented heights of popularity. This would be so because anyone with ambition to become a councillor or Member of Parliament would take out a ZANU-PF card and make sure one's subscriptions are up to date and manoeuvre themselves to fight it out in party primaries. It must have been quantified already that the primaries carnival bring with it rapid flow of funds into the party's coffers. Because people are given the opportunity to choose electoral representatives they want, the party cannot be blamed for imposing candidates. The party retains a clean name in the circumstances. But not for long! In any case, among those standing in primaries would be pure ZANUPF loyalists on one-end of the scale and opportunists of Various descriptions on the other end of the scale. The phenomenon of primaries opens unprecedented opportunities for the latter to gain access to an elective office. Those who lose primaries, at least the majority of them, have been known not to accept defeat and await a luckier day. They start by charging that the primary elections were not free and fair. They accuse presiding officers of wrong-doing and claim that supporters of the winner voted more than once. They refuse to lend their full support to the winning candidate, doing so only grudgingly or under protest. Thus instead of deciding electoral representatives democratically, primaries become an object of both ridicule and controversy in such circumstances. These experiences of poor losers have occurred in both urban and rural party provinces alike. A good number of winners themselves have not been magnanimous enough either and reconcile with their former intra party rivals. There are party members who take exception to being contested even if they win the primaries. They regard their fellow member who did nothing other than also exercising their party privileges of standing in primaries, as if they were real ideological opponents of an opposition party. But simply primaries were introduced before those contesting were fit and able to handle any of the two possible outcomes of defeat and victory. People who contest primaries need to be prepar to accept the results with both grac and dignity and must inculcate the same attitude among those who sup ported them. To scrap primaries simply because of the shortcomings outlined in this paper would, nevertheless, be a move backwards but the move forward must be measured properly so that electoral progress and maturity through intra party democracy can be real and not theoretical. The conservative school of thought favours the annulment of the primary elections process urging that primaries are in essence a free for all, disorganised manner of securing elective power. They cite problems encountered in Par~ameritary and local government elections in 1995 iI most provinces notably Manicaland, Masvingo and Harare as having been caused by primaries. They lament that party cohesion and discipline is compromised by primaries. The anti- primaries lobby argue that if there was a strong political opposition in the country, the general spirit of desponden cy which feature prominently in the primary elections would have been used by such political opponents to their advantage and to great effect. However, since someone would have to appoint or nominate members who would represent the party in t!e various elective offices, it would become the responsibility of the ZANU-PF leadership at National and/or Provincial levels to nominate ZANU-PF party electoral representatives. The immediate flaw ii this scenario would be charges of imposition of candidates to the party electorate. This would needless to say, make the party less popular because the leadership would be accused of sidestepping a democratic approach to choosing candidates so as to impose their will on the party electorate. On the balance, primaries should be maintained but there has to be a radical rethink on the best way of conduct- OContinued on next page ZIMBABWE

Singapore conference against indigenisation By Our Political Correspondent n important Ministerial meeting is being held at Singapore on December 9-13, 1996. It is being called by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose is to discuss a Multi-lateral Investment Agreement (MIA), and hopefully agree. The WTO is a young international organisation formed only two years ago to take the place of GATT (General Agreement on Tarriffs and Trade). But, it is starting with a bang, by tabling a very controversial agreement. Why is it controversial? For three related issues, or reasons. National treatment for multi-nationals The main proposal in the package of resolutions is the one that requires thirdThe future of ZANU PFprimaries *Continued from previous page ing them. Of great concern to the party electoral delegates has been the decision by the top leadership to inform aspiring candidates whether they were allowed to contest the primary elections usually a day before the date of holding primary elections yet such candidates had been campaigning for months. Since people are not machines it becomes very difficult to adjust to such a sudden and dramatic situatiol. Vetting procedure needs to be severely tightened up to ensure that non party loyalists should be barred from taking part in the primaries. Experience had shown that primary electoral victories by known quasi-party loyalists create ill will and disenchantment within the party. Party delegates must debate this subject fully because it is an important part of party politics and has a strong bearing on the immediate and long term political authority of ZANU-PF. The Bulawayo National Conference must indeed look at such issues nationally and go down in the annals of ZANU-PF party politics as a Conference that paved the way for the future as regards the role and conduct of primaries in ZANU-PF with the ultimate goal ZANU-PF remains invincible at the polls. 0 world countries to treat multi-national companies in the same way they treat their national companies. In other words give the big multinationals which have exploited the resources of Africa for decades, national treatment.; How can a third world government do that? In the case of Zimbabwe, it means all these companies like LONRHO, AngloAmerican, Rio Tinto, Chartered Company, and others, should be treated as Zimbabwean companies; no longer foreign companies, even if they regard themselves as foreign. They bank their monies abroad, and send the profits they earn to the head offices outside the country. How can they be treated as local? Indigerisation tormented Indigenisation of the national economy has become a major policy of the Government of Zimbabwe. It is being implemented in many areas of governmental activity. We now have a number of strong organisations of businessmen and women representing the indigenous entrepreneurs, such as the IBDC (Indigenous Business Development Centre), the AAG (Affirmative Action Group), and the IBWO (Indigenous Business Women's Organisation). The policy of the Government and the ruling party is to bring up these organisations, to strengthen their members in the business sector so that the local population can also have a stake in the economy. During the 90 years of colonial rule, the indigenous people were not permitted to own and run businesses; and certainly they were not supported by state institutions to go into business. Now, that independence has been won, measures have to be taken to favour them so that they can catch up. The Singapore package says NO. Third-world governments should not discriminate in favour of indigenous people. Zimbabwe's Position The delegation of the -Government of Zimbabwe to these talks in Singapore will reject these two proposals above without any doubt. We cannot be denied our basic sovereign right of favouring our own nationals, and organising our economy in the way we see fit. However, Zimbabwe should make it clear we are not against foreign investment, direct or indirect. No one in the comparatively poor third-world countries can refuse or be against foreign investment. All we say is that investment should be on terms that are acceptable to us. Other conditionalities In addition to the factors discussed above, there are also other conditionalities in the Singapore package. For example, the question of human rights is given high priority. States that are known or perceived to be violating the human rights of their citizens can legitimately be denied foreign investment. Zimbabwe does not quarrel with the conditionality because it is keen to uphold human rights as declared in the UN Declaration, and its own constitution. Our constitution has a specific section which guarantees the rights of individual citizens. It has been used in very successful litigations in the courts.:, But, what is missing is the impartial authority that will determine the degrees of violation, and the degree of punishment to be meted out. The big powers, namely the USA, Germany, Britain, France, and others, are guilty of many violations of human rights themselves. Therefore they cannot and should not stand as Judge over third-world countries. Therefore, who is going to determine that such-and-such a country has violated human rights? Who? Environment is now an issue Environment used to be 1 nice neutral subject in the past - but) no more, it is now a hot political issue. It is being suggested those countries that are polluting the environment, or-disposing the toxic waste, or producing products under unfavourable conditions should also be punished. Again, the problem is finding a neutral referee. During the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, third-world countries suggested a re-structuring of the United Nations so that it becomes a democratic world body, representing, the majority of mankind. But, those suggestions and proposals were either ignored -or turned down by the permanent members of the Security Council. Labour and labour standards One of the critical issues in this debate is the social conditions of the labour *Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Tough economic reforms By Our Economic Correspondent imbabwe has been re-organising its economy on the road to implementing the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). This programme is sponsored by the W'orld Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the two economic institutions set up by the six economic powers (USA, Italy, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan) to manage and or$anise the world war at a place called retton-Woods, just outside Washington, USA. S, they are known as BrettonWoods institutions. These World Bank and IMF economic reforms have been introduced in many third world countries in the past, and they are being implemented in about 28 different countries today. A common feature of all of them is that the main victims are the poor people. They get poorer, and their numbers increase. Why did Zimbabwe join in? Why did Zimbabwe adopt these eco nomic reforms (ESAP) and implement, Jhem, knowing that they would increase poverty in our society? There were two main reasons for this decision. (1) The country needed an injection of more foreign investment in order to cope with the effects of persistent droughts, and a world-wide eco- nomic recession. Money was needed to open up more factories that could employ the growing number of Form 4 school-leavers. Since 1983, foreign investors have brought in 1.18 billion Zimbabwe dollars. The biggest single investment has been the platinum mine near Chegutu. (2) We needed, not only more money, but to achieve and maintain a growth rate of at least five percent every year. If the population is growing, and the basic needs of its people are increasing, the economy as a whole must grow also. If it does not grow, for whatever reason, you also increase the numbers of poor people. This year, if we have good rains again, the Finance Minister, Comrade Herbert Murerwa, forecasts a growth rate of seven percent. The rough economic road Although the figures show that the twu main objectives of ESAP are being met, the road ahead is-still rough and bumpy for the ordinary worker, and the peasant. In the period of ESAP, since 1981, unemployment has vastly increased. There are many people out of work, especially in the four main towns - Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare. Singapore Conference OContinued from previous page force. There is a strong demand that practices like child labour should be discouraged. Zimbabwe agrees with that position, but again there is a question of interpretation of the laws or regulations. For example, in 1994 there was an allegation from the USA Government that Zimbabwe used child labour on tobacco farms, and on tea plantations in the eastern districts. On turther investigation, it was found that the allegation was prompted by seeing school children who help their parents to pick tobacco or tea so that they can finish peace-work quickly. This assistance by schoolchildren takes place after they leave school. Child labour refers to young children who are made to work long hours, and being deprived of schooling. Another worrying conctition is the stipulation that small and poor third-world countries should pay the same wages (or comparable wages) to those of industrialised, developed countries. That removes a comparative advantage of lower wage levels and salaries that made it possible for our goods to compete with those of industrialised countries. Zimbabwe and other members of the Group of 15 expressed grave reservations on all these issues at their recent Summit held in Harare, Zimbabwe in November, 1996. The Summit stated categorically that the international trading system was unfair-and unequal, and therefore should be changed. The playing field cannot be level when the players are not equal in size and economic and military strength. 0 There is also under-employment - the people who work only part of the year, in the rural communal areas, on commercial farms, and on the mines. It is estimated that 30 percent of adult working population are out of work. There are 190.000 job-seekers coming onto the market every year, but, of these, only 15.000 can be assured of jobs in the formal sector. In the ESAP period inflation has remained high, averaging more than 20 percent. Economic growth rates were low, plummeting to only 1 percent in 1994/95 because of the severe drought. The prices of food and basic necesities have risen sharply, and are still rising. As a result of deregulation and liberalising of the economy, the market forces are now determining most of the prices of food and basic necessities - and they have gone up. Bread, milk, sugar, meat have gone up by 100 percent and more. On the other hand, the value of the Zimbabwean dollar has gone down in relationship to other currencies. Although that may not affect locally produced goods, it does affect the prices of imported goods. The Zimbabwe dollar moved from 5 per 1 American dollar in 1991 to 10 in 1 in 1996. More importantly, because of the rise in prices of food and basic goods, and also in transport and house rentals, the dollars that a worker* takes home at the end of the month cannot buy the same quantity of goods as in 1991. In other words, the real value of money has gone down. Zimprest may do better The next phase of the reform! programme may do better. ESAP is It ing revised and re-focused for the next five years under the new narpe ZIMPREST (Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Structural Transformation). The Party is having a careful look at the first phase of ESAP, endeavouring to minimise those aspects which brought hardships, and maximise those which brought advantages. Strenuous and concerted effort must be made to bring down inflation and interest rates, to reduce or eradicate unemployment, and to reduce the prices of essential goods on the market. The ZANU PF government must not shy away from subsidising those foodstuffs and goods that are basic to our people*Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Tough economic reforms OContinued from previous page The continued provision of seed packs and fertilisers to peasant farmers is a commendable and praiseworthy action by a people's government. Similar bold actions should be taken to alleviate poverty in the urban and peri-urban areas. Social Dimension Fund (SDF) When ESAP was introduced it was known that it would bring social and financil difficulties to some of our people. There will be those to be retrenched, and those who would not afford the higher prices of commodities on the market place. A parallel institution called the Social Dimension Fund was established for the purpose of cushioning the victims. In order to make the drop from employement to unemployment not so hard, a family could fail back on the SDF. Again the World Bank and the IMF were to fund this programme. But they never did. It remained an empty shell without substance. To make matters worse, in the middle of the drought year of 1994/95, the same institutions held back their financial support for the entire ESAP programme on the ground that the Zimbabwe government had not gone far enough in privatising parastatal bodies, and reducing the number of civil servants. However, a poverty alleviation action programme has now been put in place, and is being implemented. A number of donors have contributed to it, including the World Bank. Tourism and mining are booming As we enter the period of ZIMPREST our own efforts at improving the economy are beginning to bear some fruits. The number of tourists coiming to Zimbabwe annually.hav now exceeded the one million mark. The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Cde. Chen Chimutengwende, says-the takings from 'tourism have reached an all-time high, and the facilities such as hotels at the tourist centres are stretched to the limits. There are widening opportunities for cooperation in the region of SADC (Southern African Development Community) in the area of tourism. if tourism authorities in the 12 differnet countries work together they can give the tourists an excellent and diversified product. In the mining area, there has been an increase in the production of both largescale operations. The biggest expansion since independence has occurred in the area of mining. When the Hartley Mine (the BHP), 80 km west of Harare, comes into operation next year, it will immediately provide three' percent of the world's supply of platinum, and annual export earnings of about one billion Zimbabwe dollars. When it reaches its peak production in five years time, it should be producing nearly 15 percent of the world's supply of platinum. The BHP is an Australian company, headed in Zimbabwe by one of its Senior VicePresidents, Mr- Collin Palethorpe. The Hartley project will create 2 700 jobs. There are other developments in the mining sector. Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana have just bought out Cluff Resources which was mining gold in Bindura and eslewhere in the country. Mr. Sam Jonah, the chief exective of Ashanti Goldfields, was in Zimbabwe recently, and was talking positively about further investments in mining. Other developments. Another big mining and industrial development is going to take place in Mberengwa in the Midlands Province in the new year. A feasibility study has been launched for a plan/proposal to take over Buchwa mine from the BIMSCO, and turn it into a major centre for mining iron ore. The iron ore produced there will be conveyed to Mutare on a new railway to be constructed between Felixburg (near Chatsworth) and Odzi (near Mutare). The iron ore will be smelted using gas from Mozambique. A large quantity of gas has been di..overed at a place called Temane, 30 km south ot Beira. That gas will be piped to Mutare to fire the iron ore. The gas could also be used by ZESA in the Zimbabwean grid generally. The development is being spearheaded by a South African dompanv called ICI, an American Company called ARCO, and the Zimbabwean IDC (Industrial Development Corporation), and others. As soon as the feasibility study is completed, and if the results are positive, the different companies involved will launch a joint venture company to implement the project. An interesting feature of this development is the plan to build a new railway line nearly 200 km long, between Felix,burg and Odzi. This will'lk the first major addition to the railway line since the turn of the century. The Ministry.of Transport and the National Railways of Zimbabwe will have to negotiate and sign a comprehensive agreement with the consortium on the utilisation of that line. Another company is also planning to make a major addition to the railway system by building a railway line from Gwanda to Beitbridge. It appears that the government will also be willing to sell or lease to the company the entire railway line from Heany Junction (near Bulawayo) to Gwanda. Mugabe speaks on the economy The President and First Secretary, Comrade Robert Mugabe, spoke to Michael Holman, of The Financial Times of London recently, about the state of the Zimbabwean economy. The interview was published on Thursday, October 24, 1996, in London. The entire interview is being published in a separate article in this issue in order to give our readers the opportunity of studying it in detail. Cde Mugabe also commented on the contract signed recently ito enable a Malaysian company, the YTL, to own 51 percent of the Hwange power station. That contract has been the subject of much public comment ii the overseas press. Comrade Mugabe Noke frankly and pointedly on this and other issues that concern Zimbabwe at the present time. 0 The Editor & Staff of Zimbabwe News would like to wish our valued readers and advertisers a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Misleading quarterly guide he September 1996 report of the First Merchant Bank of Zimbabwe Ltd, titled a "a quarterly guide to the economy", but its editorial comment is devoted to political issues. The facts of that editorial are wrong. It is surprising that an economic report from a Bank should make such a foray into the political field, and then be so ignorant about that political process. The right-wing views of the Bank's economist, Mr. John Robertson, are well known, but they can be debated. But, his political views are wide off the mark. What he regards as the open market. forces in the political field is something bordering on chaos. He criticises the fact that people of Zimbabwe respect their elected political leaders, as well as their traditional leaders. He calls that paternalism and bemoans the fact that "respect and veneration for the rank, status, and dignity of Chiefs and Headmen has been automatically conferred upon and claimed by political leaders". What is wrong with that? If people are urged by the likes of Robertson not to respect their leaders, it will follow that they will not respect the laws tfiey pass in Parliament, and chaos will follow. Zimbabwe, is not going to have that. The report of the First Merchant Bank agrees that now market forces do help to set the prices of consumer goods and servic es, control property prices, and-executive salaries, and influence exchange rates. It says, "under the rules of the market, producers are now free to battle it out for the support of consumers, and buyers are free to weigh up the competing claims of sellers. But, no equivalent market exists in the field of political ideas". He then goes on to blame the ruling party for defeating the opposition parties at every election. He goes on and on to say that the Zimbabwe Government "suppresses the expression of individualistic thought in the political arena". Again, he does not say how, when he knows that we have free elections every five years, opposition parties have. campaigned freely but unsuccessfully for support both at national and local government elections etc. Should we go and organise the divided and poorly led opposition parties in order to satisfy the First Merchant Bank that the political arena is open? The course are open, the jails have no political prisoners, and the press is free. Zimbabwe is a democratic country in which the economists of the First Merchant Bank can write nonsensical articles and publish them as they like. The ridiculous part of his comment is to try and compare the economic market place, and the political arena. They are not the same and cannot be the same. In the one, you are dealing with statistics, and inanimate goods. In the other you are dealing with human beings who have feelings, aspirations, traditions, cultures, and powers of reasoning. In the political arena people have to express their feelings and desires in the context of their aspirations, and their traditions and cultures. The strength of the British political system is that it is rooted in the aspirations Dear reader:, below is a story first published in The Financial Times of London last October. it is based on the interview the President Cde Robert Mugabe gave to Micheal Holman and Roger Matthews. What are your concerns about the application of IMF and World Bank policies to Zimbabwe? It is more the medicine prescribed by the IMF rather than the World Bank which gives cause for real concern, and not just for us. It is the same prescription for everybody. True, the rules are the same if you are to liberalise. But the application must differ according to the socioeconomic circumstances. When we began here in 1980 we had a difficult situation. The economy had deteriorated very badly and we first had to establish a correct political environment. That meant pursuing policies of national reconciliation. We became members of international organisations and line up, like everyone else, in terms of assistance from the World Bank and IMF. Our first experience of the IMF was quite an uncomfortable one. and traditions of the British people. Why should Zimbabweans not do the same? Why should Zimbabwe be given the prescription of continuing instability as you find in some Western European countries: Zimbabwe needs a stable Government, based on democratic practices and principles. If there was instability and the chaos prescribed in the article, the bankers and customers of the First Merchant Bank will be the first to complain, and to blame the Government for it. The bankers and businessmen in this country should thank the Government of ZANU-PF, and its President and First Secretary, Comrade R.G. Mugabe for maintaining and establishing peace and stability in this country, and this region. 0 My officials in finance were told by the IMF that we could not educate everyone. That we had to look at our budget and see what we could and could not do. I suppose that was correct on the face of it. But as a result of the protracted war, and the policies followed by Ian Smith (the former prime minister of Rhodesia), lots of young men had missed out on their education. You could not, therefore, tell them to wait for some time until we have the resources. The guiding principle had to be education for all. Still, the IMF thought we were too ambitious, and we should not really pursue that policy of educating everyone at the same time until our resources had improved. But it was evil to follow a policy which condemned some children to perpetual ignorance. At the end, about eight years ago, the IMF came back to us and said we were right after all. Education, defence and health were the ihree ministries which took up probably two-thirds of our budget. South Africa *Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12 The IMF's medicine causes us concern

The IMF's medicine causes us concern *Continued from previous page was attacking us, almost on a daily basis, and we therefore could not be persuaded to reduce our army. It was necessary for us to build up capabilities to defend our nation and our independence. And we survived as a nation, but obviously we spent quite a lot of money doing that. Health -emains very demanding, even more now with the high rate of Aids. But the IMF wanted us to pursue a policy that just sets the principle and not overspend on any area because that meant a budget deficit and you had to borrow. The IMF said we were overborrowing, but we had to do that. We carried out our reconstruction programme after the war and embarked on our first and second redevelopment plans. In about 1983, because of our disobedience, the IMF abandoned us. Later they looked again, saw somb of the things we were doing were correct, and said they wanted to work with us again. For a year or two things went well, but now they are again saying our spending is too high, the amounts we borrow are too high. and we should reduce our budget expenditure. But a developing country like ours, with limited resources, must necessarily pursue policies of a social nature that require government financial backing. No one can' attend to the health and education of our people better than the government. So they are saying we spend too much. But the World Bank has always been happy with our programmes. They help us with a lot of projects, and we do not default on our payments. What are the prospects for privatisation? . That is one area where the IMF is not happy. I was in Romania a few months ago where everything used to be stateowned. They have a privatisation programme but it has not gone beyond selling 40 -percent of state assets. So 60 percent remains with the state. But Zimbabwe was always capitalist. We brought in the philosophy of socialism, at one time Marxism-Leninism. But we looked at the situation and said we would not interfere with the existing system. We decided socialism would have to be introduced by persuasion and not imposed on the people. The only socialist policies that, in fact, we were able to carry out were 'education and health for all. We also assisted workers to be- come organised and introduced a minimum wap'. But apart from that we did not interfere in case it damaged productivity. We have been highly privatised from the beginning. So what privatisation are you talking about? There is the public sector where there are a few enterprises. It is that small area which people are looking at. There are already 400 British companies operating in the country, along with South Africans, Americans and Germans. So Zimbabwe is highly privatised. What we have done is establish a cabinet committee to look at parastatals and recommend which could be considered for commercialisation, or outright privatisation. Sooner or later we will be able to say how things will be handled, perhaps in partnership with chosen companies. Is the decision to sell a stake in the Hwange power station to YTL, the Malaysian power producer, an example of the privatisation process? That, possibly, is not exactly what I had in mind. Take airways, for example. Why should we ever go to tender? if we look at the various operators and choose, say, British Airways, or the Swiss airline, as the best partner for us, then we can say let us run it as a joint venture. But then there are others we would have to put on sale. They' are in the manufacturing sector. Ian Smith took over various companies he feared would collapse, and we added some of our own. So when you talk of commercialisation and privatisation it is this small sector. But, as we undertake this process we want to use it as an instrument for empowering the irldigeious people. What we inherited was a system in which the blacks were by and large workers, and the whites were the employers and- entrepreneurs. We are worried that manufacturing, mining and property ownership generally is dominated largely by whites. We do not want to disempower the whites. We want them to help create room for black participation. Part of this can be done through privati. sation. We are creating an investment trust fund. If we sell a parastatal, for example Hwange, the shares that we sell to YTL should yield funds that we can use for purposes of empowering blacks. They can also be used to assist the crestion of new companies. The criticism f the Hwange sale has been made by those who wanted it, but did not eet it And there are those who do not want to see a country like Malaysia entering our economy. Some of the Europeans think they should be the only ones. We were also looking at a financial package and for partners beyond those which we have already. In some cases we will just take an official position and say, for example, we prefer the Japanese. There is no reason to cry foul because that is our position. What progress has been made on the land resettlement programme? There is the problem of resources, and colonialism dies hard. Some of the farmers do not want to part with their land. We found it necessary to have a law to take over the land whether or not they were willing sellers. But in doing that we do not intend to be unfair. We have said we are prepared to pay for improvements they have made to the land. But they are also looking for the market price of the land, and because of our inability to pay for the land in that comprehensive way we have approached the British. We reminded them of their commitment in 1979 that they would help us with' the resettlement programme They are considering their position, provided we acquire land on a willing seller/willing buyer basis. What is the possibility of reviewing the constitution in relation to human rights provisions? A debate on the constitution in regard to what the people wish, I would personally agree to. But.purely to look at human rights would presume that the constitution fell short on that issue, it already goes well beyond many other constitutions. It was one we inherited from Britain. There have been accusations that the ruling party has become autocratic and corrupt. How do you react to this and to indications of voter apathy at the last election? People would not waste time going to vote if those who had committed themselves to participate (as candidates) then withdrew. We are very, very democratic in this country. People respect me, but they are not frightened of me. We do not arrest people arbitrarily. We have set principles that must be adhered to. We fought a struggle and made sacrifices. I would hate myself if I discovered my people regarded me as an oppressor or autocratic. The system we have allows is much freedom for an individual as oossible. We do not just tolerate the whites, we accept them. 11 ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Patients left to die as doctors, nurses strike here has been some turmoil in the medical sector of our services. Some junior doctors and some nurses at Parerenyatwa, Harare, and Chitungwiza hospitals, left sick patients in their wards and went to sit down at Unity Square, opposite the House of Parliament, on October 21, 1996. That was the beginning of a strike that dragged on for four weeks. That was a continuation of an earlier strike which had ended on September 4, 1996, with a grant of a 20 percent increase in their salaries. The first strike (in August) was for higher wages, especially the 20 percent increment which Government had promised. That was granted. But, the reasons for the second strike (in October) were not dear. Furthermore, the second strike was organised by junior doctors, who literally commandeered nurses out of the three hospitals. in August, the strikers had established a unified civil service negotiating team, which included employees in the health sector, the education sector, and the rest of the public service. in turn a public -service negotiating council was established under neutral Chairman, veteran trade unionist Ignatious Chigwendere. Eventually some SEVEN DEMANDS were presented to the Council. They included: (1) A higher salary in terms of the job evaluation exercise (This was granted The Editor & Staff of Zimbabwe News would like to wish our valued readers and advertisers a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 20%); (2) various allowances - housing, transport, funeral assistance, and what was called risk allowance; (3) a new harmonised bill promised by the Ministry of Labour, must be debated and made law in the current parliamentary session; (4) a 40-hour week, but any time outside this should be paid as overtime, and a night duty allowance of $100 per night be paid; (5) Public Service Comission must accelerate further salary adjustments; (6) bunching of salaries should be stopped, and annual increments reintroduced; and, (7) the bonus be paid (this was granted, but to be paid in four instalments). The Government. met the strikers half-way, by adding another 2 billion dollars to the wage-and salary bill of public servants. Inspite of all this, they went ahead with the strike. The walkout - refusal to negotiate The local and overseas press, including the BBC, deliberately gave the erroneous impression that Government was arrogant and insensitive, and was stifling .negotiations. That was just not true. The meeting of the Negotiating Teams which was scheduled to be held on October 16 and then postponed to October 23, was postponed by the independent chairman, Comrade I. Chigwendere, and NOT by the Government. And yet the strikers proffered this postponement as their first reason for the strike, arguing that the postponement showed that Government was not serious in the negotiations. This was utter nonsense!!! The strikers then demonstrated their own lack of seriousness by walking away from the negotiating table. Up to tbis point, the recognised staff associations remained at the negotiating table, and behaved in a rational manner. Only last year steps were taken to recognise the staff association - the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), the Public Service Association (PSA), the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (ZIMTA) - and to give them legal standing in negotiating with Government. up tg this point they urged the junior doctors and nurses to retun to work, while they continued negotiations. While at the table, they won some important battles. The most important was the payment of the bonus again this year, at a total cost to Government of $936 million dollars. That was a major victory, although they not not appear to recognise it. They won other battles too, such as funeral assistance. When negotiations on the question of allowances was to start on November 8, the leadership of the associations was diverted by Mr Chamunorwa and others who were now working with the two dissident doctors, Farayi Jiah and Austin Bene, to walkout of their talk also, supposedly in sympathy with the strikers. They handed a letter to Comrade Chingwendere at the beginning of the meeting to say they were pulling out in sympathy with the strikers. They also said they did not agree with the staggering of the bonus. Who is insensitive - to whom - about what? Throughout the strike Government was accused by the press and the strikers as being insensitive - insensitive about what? Again, what arrant nonsense!!! Government is now spending 11.4 billion dollars a year on salaries of public servants alone. That is 49 percent of the total revenue collected by the State. In the negotiations that have taken place in the last 6 months alone Government has made concessions that amount to an additional $2 billion dollars. There are few Governments that have done so much for its civil servants. The junior doctors and nurses in paricular receive very good salaries, according to Zimbabwean standards. As revealed by the Minister of Health and C1#d' Welfare, Dr Timothy Stamps, the jurir doctors, fresh from school, receive an verage of about 12.500 'dollars per month, including their allowances; and the nurses below the sister-in- charge grade, a sum of $5.500 a month, on the average- .., also including the allowances they receive. Very few Zimbabwean workers receive that kind of money in commerce and industry. The minimum wage for Zimbabwean workers is still as low as 1,120 dollars per month. Lest we are misunderstood we are not saying that nurses and doctors should not be paid more money. No. But we are saying the salaries they are receiving are reasonable. They should, however, negotiate for -more while they are working. *Continued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Whe strike by a few junior doctors and some nurses mainly in Harare and Bulawayo which spread over eeks from October 21 to November was not -ll about money, alances, bonuses, night duty, overtime It had a political agenda, and a poal objective. key organisers and spokesmen were two young doctors who were arrestor inciting others to go on strike iyi Jiah, and Austin Bene. Jiah has ipleted his housemanship (or trainand is reported to be taking a job South African Hospital. But, he took months of unpaid leave in order to 'el to the USA to attend a medical ference on the treatment of cancer. before going to the USA he planned levote his time to the organisation :he strike. Austin Bene failed his semanship and has to repeat the rse lof another year. The two doctravelled extensively throughout .he ntry urging junior doctors like them,es, and nurses niot to go to work. im-rights and human suffering Cde. M. Tsvangirai's call for a national strike day, November 11, which was to be transformed into a two-day general strike on November 12 and 13 (Tuesday and Wednesday). But, as everybody knows, the General Secretary of the ZCTU is a poor or- Inspite of the fact that the striking ganiser, and a loud armchair critic of nurses and doctors were abandoning others. The demo wag a flop. The general sk patients, and therefore causing strike was ignored by all workers. The muh human suffering, the Zimbabwe industrial sector where the ZCTU is Rights Organisation Zim-Rights) nded the travel of aias and Bene and others, and also the feeding of nurses C h ild ab u s who were gathered at various points. Te leader of Zim-Rights, Dr Matchabae (junior), is dean of the medical scolHe has used his position to poi- ff re en tiv e n the attitude of medical students hild abuse sexual abuse and against the Government. He has voised protitution, which is prevalent in political ambitions to stand as an independent in the next presidential elec- Ialmost all the Southern African Deions. Dr. Matchaba-Hove has been a velopment Community (SADC) countries, horn in the flesh of the Government for involves children of both sexes, as many years now. His position and his * young as eight years old, who sell themabitions are clear, selves for food or just to "survive". The Z..T.U; in Ihe fray Although all SADC countries have ratiW h et has noten o the a st fied the Convention on the Rights of the Wat has not been so clear in the past Child, accepting the obligation to estabis the position of the ZCTU, the federal lish mechanisms for the protection of no meas all). her geral unecreta, minors, children continue to be victims byio means all). The general Secretary,; of rape within and outside the family Morgan Tswangirai, has been conceal- structure, circumstances which force ing his ambitions. It is known that he them into prostitution and general is an admirer of President Fredrick Chilu- temlitoti t al ba of Zambia, and dreams that one day exploitation. he could do that oo. He was encourag- Punishment has not proven to be a good ing the strike from the rear, andgivi ng I enough deterrent to child abuse. In Botthem some financial assistance from his swana, women are calling for rape to be huge salary from the Southern African made a capital offence but experience Trade Union Council. He planned a huge; in other countries has shown the conpublic demonstration in Harare on Mon- tinued rape and defilement of minors. ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 7 NO. 12 strongest were tne ones tnat reportea a hundred percent turn out of the work force. Morgan Tswangirai's hope to use the doctor's strike to mobilise all workers againist the Government failed dismally. He then quickly returned to role of mediator between Government and the strikers, which was the role he should have played in the first place. Now that-thb plot to destabilise the Government through the labour unions and public service issues has failed, everybody will deny it. Moragan Tswangirai himself will be loudest in denying it. But, a political plan is definitely in existence, and will unfold in the near future. Rejected politicians such as Margret Dongo, Bishop Muzorewa, and Ndabaningi Sithole, are in constant touch with Morgan Tswangirai for the reasons of fermenting discontent, and building a stronger opposition. A restraining factor is the overwhelming strength of ZANU PF. Given that most of his members of the trade unions are ZANU PF members, Morgan Tswangirai cannot afford to come out into the open and challenge the -Party as he did during the strike. He has to mount his opposition to ZANU PF from some cover like the nurses' and doctor's, strike or some other issues. 0 e demands measures Women throughout the region are demanding gender-sensitive policies to deal with abuse not only of themselves 'but children, as currently the laws are inadequate. The fact that members of the family are sometimes the culprits and not likely to be reported also puts paid to deterrent sentences as the abuse seldom gets the attention of the authorities. A bizarre form of sexual abuse is that of fathers who sleep with their daughters as a form of "cleansing" or for good luck in business on the advice of some unscrupulous traditional healers. Dependency on men has also hindered some women from reporting cases of child abuse in the family sphere. Parents have also been found to be forcing their children into prostitution in *Continued on next page

Patients left to die as doctors, nurses stt * Continued from previous page Abandoning sick patients The worst part of the strike of junior doctors and nurses was the abandoning of sick patients while going on strike. Some of the young doctors harassed nurses tin duty at 5.00 a.m. in the morning, urging them to abandon their patients and go on strike. When the nurses said they were feeding patients then, and it was time to give medication, the young doctor-on-strike, retorted that in every conflict there are casualties, therefore let them die. A young doctor who thinks like that should be dismissed, and banned from ever practising as a medical doctor. The callous individuals who just want money, and have no thought whatsoever for the sick patients should not- be allowed to work in any ward or hospital. In addition to compassion for sick people, doctors and nurses take an oath to put the interests of their patients above everything else. That Nightingale oath is the basis of the doctor-patient relationship which is the 'cornerstone of the medical profession. Furthermore, in terms of the Public Service Regulations, it is an offence for anyone to leave an essential service such as nursing and doctoring. From every angle, the strikers were unethical in their behayiour, and callous in their attitude. They are the ones who must carry on their shoulders the full responsibility for the deaths that occurred at their hospitals, while they were on strike. The deaths are their direct responsibility. However, it should be noted and underlined that the strikers were a minority. The majority of nurses and doctors remained at their posts. Of the 14 000 in the public service in the country, only 1051 went on strike. The rest remained at their posts. And, of the 800 doctors in the country, only 100 went on this misguided adventure of the strike. Sections of our press should be ashamed of themselves for telling blatant lies. The 'Independent' devoted a third of its front page in the November 15 issue, praising a few of the sacked nurses who had reported for duty because they wanted to be re-admitted. But, the same paper never mentioned the 13 000 nurses who never joined the strike. Press freedom being abused Press freedom is being abused by sections of the press in Zimbabwe. Our journalists will never lift a finger to protest about anything done against our people in the private sector of commerce and industry, or who are ill-treated by some other organisations. Their gospel of freedom of the press is to criticise Government, and to twist the facts to suit that criticism. For example, an editorial in the Independent of November, Trevor Ncube, unashamedly gives the impression that all hospitals have been paralysed by the strike, when infact all hospitals throughout the country were operating normally, except three hospitals in Harare and two in Bulawayo. Further, without any research of his own, he accepts salary figures given by strikers and condemns those given by the responsible Ministry. The whole paper is riddled with falsehoods and the usual incorrect statements being made by Chenjerai Hove, and 'Letter To The Editor' concocted in Trevor's office. No letter writer would have been able to write about events of the previous day. Other articles are labeled various non de-plurne, but the style of writing is the same - Trevor Ncube's. We do not expect any compliment from such a sworn enemy of the Government and the ruling party, but we expected Clive Murphy and Clive Wilson, at least to insist on printing the truth, ( their paper is critical on that tr Other papers were guilty of lack c own investigation of the facts the, being given. In a situation of accuE and counter-accusations, there professional necessity to establ! true facts - to go to the hospit speak to all doctors and nurses, on strike and those at work,'go Salaries Bureau to get correct in tion on salary scales et cetera. long run, a press that picks up an, that is given to it will not give thi lic information that it requires. FrE of the press must entail the ability press men and women to collec analyse information they rE without fear or favour, and then what is fit to print - the truth public interest. Hidirg the true fa( well as concocting articles and L To The Editor' is not in he public in or the profession. The professlona and should assist the profession quiring and building that aut which it needs to advance the prir of a free press. These cannot be ac by resolutions alone, but also b professional standing of journalists ciety, and in the nation. Envrome ssue Game ranching saving wildlife he Southern Africa region ha come up with some innovatv 77programmes to proteot biologc diversity both in and outsideprote areas. Championing evironmental management - Cde. Chen Chimutengwende These programmes are aimed at ing depleted stocks and in som keeping wildlife population wit carrying capacity of the Ian programmes also seek the supp participation of people in coi ireas and on private land. Game-ranching, for example, haw cantly contributed to the conse of the region's biodiversity and and endangered animal species cheetah, roan, tsessebe, sable, Ix and white rhino. OContinued on next page ZIMBABWE

Child abuse demands preventive measures OContinued from previous page return for money and childcare workers warn of an impending crisis if nothing is done to curb these practises. Underage girls are married off for Iobola (brideprice) while some men are targeting young girls in fear of contracting HIV/AIDS from older women. Against this background, civic education appears to be one effective preventative measure against child sexual abuse. "Aggressive awareness campaigns are a must and there is need'to establish rape crisis centres, incest, abuse and sexual offence support groups that will provide education, counselling and support for victims," say police in Malawi. A paper prepared by the Zambian government for the World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Stockholm, Sweden, states that widespread and growing poverty, decreased investments in social services, and a lack of mechanisms to assist families, communities and institutions to cope with global changes have compounded child abuse and the sexual exploitation of children. "Girls are being raped and exploited just because they are girls" and children are also being exploited by people that they should be able to trust, such as relatives, teachers and community leaders," reveals the report. However, cases of sexual abuse of boys also exist in the region with reports of female child-minders who rape their charges. Some older women have also been reported to prey on boys whom they pay for sexual favours. An estima ted 400 000 Zambian children are vulnerable, orphaned or living off the streets while the community no longer provides the safe haven traditionally associated with it."Sexual exploitation of children is Zambia's silent problem. Poverty has gotten worse under the structural adjustment programme and is actually contributing to the problem," says Scholastica Chinsense, deputy director of the Social Welfare department. A study in Botswana by the Emang Basadi, a local women's group, found out that rape cases have been increasing at a rate of five percent since 1982 and these include children. The Rape Crisis Centre in the country says that the Children's Act needs to be amended to offer protection to victims whose statements should be taken in camera. Up until last year, children were questioned in the presence of many other people including the abusers and this tends to make them reluctant to speak. Among some of the recommendations by the Malawi- based Women Activists' Group, who are lobbying for the changing of socio- economic and political structures, is to ensure gender balance and empower women. The need for statutory definitions to govern the handling of sexual offences has also been highlighted. In South Africa, the Mail and Guardian, a local weekly, reports that on the streets of the country's major cities, children are exposed to shocking sexual abuse through prostitution. Against a background of ineffective controls by the Child Protection Unit (CPU) due to lack of capacity, children as young as eight are being abducted and forced into organised prostitution. "At present we have 900 cases with only 18 detectives in our unit. We have had some breakthroughs, like exposing the Internet site which advertised child prostitutes to tourists in Germany," says Inspector Ernie Riedeman of CPU. Protecting children from sexual abuse would be in line with Zambia's observation that the region should "look at children's development in a holistic manner, in a way that promotes their physical spiritual, and psycho-social development - as well as their right to childhood" (SARDC) 0 Game ranching serving wildlife- *Continued from previous page SADC's environmental experts note that in Namibia, for instance, 80 percent of wild animals are found on private land. In Zimbabwe, about 10 percent of commercial farmers keep wild animals. This development, they say, has seen game from private land being used to restock protected areas where wildlife populations have been depleted. Community-based wildlife management is another approach for biodiversity conservation; where wildlife in and around rural areas is managed and utilised for the benefit of the residents. Some of these programmes in the region are: - Selous Conservation Programme in Tanzania - Wetlands Programme in the Kafue and Bangweulu flats of Zambia; - Administrative Management Design for Game Management Areas (ADMADE) in Zambia; - Wereldsend Community in Namibia; and - Communal Areas Management for .Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) project in Zimbabwe. Biodiversity The variation in genetic constitution between species, populations and individu- als, and the barriers between species, form the basis of biological diversity of biodiversity. Scientists find it convenient to consider biodiversity from three different angles: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. These three levels are closely interconnected. Biodiversity is most simply measured as numbers of species per unit area. The key determinants of an area's biodiversity are its evolutionary history and size. Areas whose climate has changed, impacting the flow of animal and plant migrations across them, usually exhibit a greater mix of species today than those that have experienced a stable environment over a longer stretch of time. The larger the area, the greater chance of a wider diversity. Examples are: The Okavango and Chobe River areas in Botswana are the richest' flora in the region. Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi have a great variety of fish species not found anywhere else in the world; the Kruger National Park (South Africa), Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe), Makgadikgadi Pan Game Reserve (Botswana) and the Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania) which have a great diversity of wildlife species, both fauna and flora. ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Obituary Mike Munyati - A friend and dedicated cadre By Ladislus Ndoro ZANU PF has once again lost one of its dedicated cadres. Cde Michael Tirivangani "Che Guevera" Munyati. Cde Munyati died at his Glen Lome home on November 9, 1996 after a long illness. He was buried at his rural home in Seke on the 12th of November. Cde Munyati was born on the 14th of February 1955 at Waddilove, Marondera and did his primary education at Chipembere School in Highfield, Harare. He then went to Goromonzi High School for his secondary education but was expelled before he could write his "A"-Level examinations. He was expelled for being outspoken against the Smith regime. His outspokenness came from the revolutionary literature he read, such as the philisophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey, at a very early stage in his life. In 1974, at 19, Cde Munyati tried to leave the country but was caught by the enemy forces. He however, managed to leave the country in 1975 for Lesotho, where he enrolled for a BA degree at the National University of Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana. The call for national duty saw him abandoning his studies in 1977 to join the liberation struggle. From Lesotho, he went to Botswana where he stayed for quite some time at a transit camp with the likes of Col. C. Katsande and Cde Nicholas Tasunungurwa Goche, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. At the transit camp he managed to command the respect of his fellow compatriots and it was not surprising when he eventually took command of the camp. He later left for Lusaka, Zambia enroute to Mozambique. He did his military training at Tembwe. Upon finishing his training he was given duties in the party's education department. Cde Munyati took to this task with non-chalant ease and excelled in his delivery of teaching material, both academic and revolutionary. He helped a lot of children who found themselves in the party's camps during the struggle. Cde Munyati transcended all partisan tendencies. Staunch ZANU PF member he was, he possessed the rare ability to relate to everyone, irrespective of political affiliation. Commitment, dedication and consistency in upholding party principles, saw Cde Munyati forsaking opportunities to further his education after independence which he could easily have done. He instead humbly accepted the task assigned to him by the party. The assignment first took him to a completely new field of central intelligence. When he came back from Mozambique in the early '80s he was attached to the then Prime Minister's Office. At that time, the new government was battling with the objective of consolidating political and military power and in the process, some felt that the socialist principles were being betrayed. Cde Munyati was adept at presenting a clear explanation of the various stages of socialist development in relation to destabilising forces emanating from the South and internal threats from disgruntled black and white renegade elements. He was an avid defender of government politics and earnestly urged other party cadres to understand the difficulties faced by government in reconciliatory theory and practice. In 1984, he joined the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) where he was a newscaster and producer of radio and television current affairs programmes. The programme which Cde Munyati will probably be remembered most for is The Nation which was highly analytical and educative to the public at large, in terms of what viewers would expect from those who hold public offices. His creativity, vision and ability to communicate, did not escape the sight of Lonrho who engaged him as a Public Relations Executive. The engagement was however shortlived and Cde Munyati left to team up with Cde Charles Ndlovu, at Jongwe Printers where he was appointed to the Editorial Board of the Zimbabwe News and The People's Voice. Thus Cde Munyati found himself on a more familiar ground which suited his principles and temperament. it was through the research efforts of Cde Charles Ndlovu together with Cde Munyati that saw the establishment of the 21st February Movement. His efforts in this endeavor will live for generations to come. At the time of his death, he was together with his younger brother, Cde Nigel, running a public relations company - Munyati Consultancy. His colleague and Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Cde Charles Ndlovu said in Cde Munyati's death, the nation was robbed of a gallant fighter, a peacemaker, an orator, a poet, an intellectual and an artist whose talents, it can only be hoped, rubbed on to several cadres he had interaction with for the furtherance of the noble goals for which Cde Munyati lived. He is survived by his daughter, Maruva. ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Eyuluer rsouysnetu a bunrung vicE tory over Mike Tyson destroyed for ever the myth of the man ice - but ever again - called Iron ike. ie aura of invincibility which surroundhim before their November 9 meetg has been shredded by one of the ravest fighters ever to pull on gloves, ported the International Express of 3ndon. ollyfield's victory also exposed Tyson s a great on-top fighter, capable of lowing away lesser mortals in a freny of punches. But against a big man rho is not intimidated he has been )und wanting. rom as early as the third round Tyson oked leaden. Hollyfield's tremendous 'ody shots took his legs away and it apered then that Tyson would be nocked out. One could tell from the ody language of both fighters who was oing to win. here was none of the rapid head movelentthat made Tyson so difficult to hit nd repel. No combinations. He just )aded up with one punch at a time. He Suld not find any rhythm. But that was own to Hollyfield. He came ready to ght. :seems incredible to reflect now how lost people thought Tyson had only to Lm up to win. Most of the articles writan in the week preceding the fight dwelt in Hollyfield's size and supposed lack if strength. here were also some alarmist accounts bout Holyfield's health and how boxig may have been looking down the irrel at one of its worst tragedies hould Tyson prove too much for his uspect heart to handle. But it seemed hat a man who could hurt Riddick 6we so badly could also do the same o Tyson if he hit him on the button. Aany knew he had bottle and desire, ieople just did not know how long he ould sustain it. They do now. To be:ome only the second heavyweight afer Muahammad Ali to win the world tile three times is a staggering ichievement. It is difficult to know where Tyson goes Tyson showed himself to be a gentlefrom here. It was such a shattering man. What a pity some of his associates defeat for him. Doubtless there will be were anything but - expect to see them talk of a rematch, but it is not certain drift away now their man is no longer Tyson will ever be able to overcome this the man. setbacK. Another fight would simply consolidate Holyfield's position. It is not certain Tyson can beat him. His confidence will have taken a dreadful beating, but to Tyson's eternal credit he took his defeat like a man. He did not offer one excuse. He simply acknowledged his opponent as the better fighter. The aura of invincibility may have gone, but he will have gone up in the estimation of many with the way he responded. He even dismissed suggestions that repeated use of the forehead by Hollyfield played a part in his victory. That was all part of the game he explained and he was just as guilty., Hollyfield's victory will send such a positive message to the kids. He has proved that good guys can win. You don't have to behave like a beast before fights to win them. If anything can convince young people that boxing is a worthy sport, it is Hollyfield's win. Saturday (November 9) night was a good one for Hollyfield and a great one for the sport. Tyson revealed: "I blacked out somewhere in the middle. I can't remember too much at all, only that he was fighting so well. I don't compare this with what Douglas did in Tokyo. I was in bad shape then. Evander is a much better fighter than Douglas." *Continued on next page Zimbabwe News Subscription Rates (Please tick a box to select your term) ZIMBABWE REGIONAL OVERSEAS (Europe) NAM E: ...... o 12 issues (I yew) $30-00 o 12 issues (I year) US$37-20 o 12 issues (I year) US$57-0 o 6 Isues (6 months) $15-00 o 6 Issues (6 months) US$18-EC o 6 issues (6 months) US$28-se ADDRESS: ...... SIG N AT U R E: ...... TIE RATES INCLUDE POSTAGE AND HANDLING. I enclose my chequeo Postal ordero For the amount Indicated above Mail to: The Circulation Manager. The People's Voice. P.O. Box CY3206. Causeway. 144 Union Avenue, Harare, Tel: 790148/9, !IMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

Tyson's 'Iron Man' myth shattere OContinued from previous page After Douglas beat Tyson he trained in the coffee shop and before his next fight with Hollyfield he became so bloated it was said that he was the only man who ever ordered room service from the sauna room. Douglas capsized when Hollyfield landed one significant punch, then went off to spend his US$24-million (about Z$240-million), mostly on food. Hollyfield has always been the warrior and with the world still stunned by his latest achievement he was saying: "For me, losing a fight has never been the worst thing. I have taken the losses, taken them home and learned from them.." Some Tyson apologists sought to make much of the accidental butt which stunned him in the fifth round, but they had little encouragement from their hero. "I can have no complaints," said Tyson. "The man deserved everything he got. I would very much like to do this again - I make too much money from fighting to retire." Hollyfield will make more than he has ever earned before if he agrees to the rematch, a guarantee of US$40-million (about Z$400-milion) looking like a conservatively pitched first offer. He has little need of fresh income. At his recent marriage to Janice Itson, a doctor, he chose a local fast food outlet for the wedding reception which included just Hollyfield and his six children. No, money is not Hollyfield's spur. It is merely a confirmation of status, a measuring of his weight as fighting man. Hollyfield fights on because he knows that, when ita is over, he will never do anything so well again. He fights because it is his life, his blood, his pride. He said: "I gave it my all." Against Tyson, it was necessary to do that, and what he produced was indeed terrible in its beauty. It took many to the true heart of boxing - and one of its greatest men. TYSON VS HOLLYFIELD: ROUND BY ROUND; Round One: Tyson immediately tried to throw a big right hand as he signalled his intentions from the start but Hollyfield responded with some big punches of his own. Tyson threw a punch as the bell sounded and Hollyfield, in no mood to give ground, replied to end an even round which the crowd loved. Round Two: Hollyfield went to work behind his left jab while Tyson continued to search for the big punch. Hollyfield brought the crowd to their feet when he stunned the champion with a left which forced him back onto the ropes. Round Three: Referee Mitch Halpen warned both men as they repeatedly clung on to each other at close quarters. Tyson threw more punches in an untidy round. Round Four: There was still too much holding but Hollyfield continued to hold his own and landed one good right to the head. Tyson's best shots were two lefts to the body. Round Five: Tyson produced 'his best punch of the fight so far, a right uppercut, which stunned Hollyfield early in the round. A bit of tape came loose from one of Tyson's gloves and the referee ordered it to be removed, giving the challenger a welcome breather. Round Six: A cut appeared over Tyson's left eye and the referee sent him back to his comer to have blood wiped away. Hollyfield saw his chance and went on the attack and floored Tyson for an eight count with a left hook. Hollyfield followed up with more big shots as the champion suddenly looked vulnerable. Round Seven: The crowd were urging Hollyfield on and Tyson looked increasingly bemused as he repeatedly protest. ed to the referee. A clash of heads resulted in Tyson having more blood wiped from the corner of his left eye. Round Eight: Hollyfield used his left lab repeatedly and moved well to present Tyson with an elusive target. Tyson was looking increasingly frustrated. Round Nine: The better work was still coming from Hollyfield who was landing punches in neat combinations while Tyson landed several stinging blows towards the end of the round. Round Ten: Tyson was showing signs of tiredness and appeared out on his feet as Hollyfield finished the round with a sustained attack on telling combination punches. Only the bell saved Tyson from defeat. Round Eleven: Hollyfield went onto the attack again and Tyson was soon in deep trouble. As his legs buckled referee Halpern signalled the end. 0 ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 27 NO. 12

C)) (ZEDCO) STRENGTH THROUGH KNOWLEDGE ZDECO NATIONWIDE Bulawayo Headquarters: Ndlovu House 138 George Silundika Avenue Board of Directors welcome to Bulawayo, all delegates to the Second ZANU PF People's Conference. We wish you all a successful conference and a Happy stay in the City of K ZDECO NATIONWIDE National Headquarters No. 73 Cnr 2nd Street and Livingstone Avenue P.O. Box 316 Tel: 738981/2/3/4 ZIMBABWE EDUCAT COLLEGE Full Time Independent College