The European Union lifted trade sanctions against Zimbabwe on Thursday and will resume development and finance cooperation with the country.
EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Philippe Van Damme told journalists on Thursday that direct aid will resume this weekend, when part of the sanctions imposed on the Zimbabwean government over alleged rights abuses expire.
“The EU Council confirms that appropriate measures will indeed be lifted this weekend,” he said, adding that the EU’s development aid will target health, agriculture and governance.
“We have reached a very important stage in the normalisation of our relations with Zimbabwe,” Van Damme said.
“We can now fully engage on development policies of this government. We have to find ways to rebuild trust. Let’s move forward towards normalisation of relations,” he said, while warning that change will not happen overnight.
“It will take time to rebuild trust.”
The EU, however, kept sanctions against President Mugabe, his wife Grace and several members of his party and service chiefs.
Meanwhile the president on Thursday defended his wife’s nomination to lead the powerful women’s wing of the ruling Zanu-PF, as the campaign to succeed him intensifies ahead of a crucial party congress.
“Why are some people so much opposed to it?” said Mugabe to hundreds of supporters who had gathered at the party’s headquarters to back him and his wife.
His wife has shaken up the race to succeed her husband, who has ruled Zimbabwe for close to 34 years since independence, by hinting she could run for higher office and lashing out at possible rivals.
“In the constitution of the party there is no where where it is written that the president’s wife cannot be a leader in the party,” Mugabe said.
The 90-year-old president said he was puzzled that some party supporters were opposed to Grace’s nomination when his late first wife Sally once held the same position in the 1980s.
Cabinet has congratulated the Zimbabwean government for their successful parliamentary and local elections, but would not make any early pronouncements on whether the elections were free and fair.
Zanu-PF’s long standing leader, Robert Mugabe, won the presidential poll with 61% while his party obtained a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections.
Defeated Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, cried foul and has taken the matter to court.
The Cabinet has commended President Jacob Zuma as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitator on the Zimbabwe dialogue for ensuring that all political parties were committed to peaceful elections.
However, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat was cautious in stating that the Cabinet is not commenting on the state of elections before the next SADC meeting.
Botswana, a SADC member, has expressed doubts about the fairness of the elections.
She was speaking during the post Cabinet briefing in Pretoria.
“We’re in no way making a pronouncement on the elections, we’re congratulating them that the elections ran smoothly without violence and without incidents of severe violence”.
President Robert Mugabe is on the campaign trail, with emigration and gay-bashing speeches.
He said on Tuesday Zimbabweans were “literally running” the South African economy, adding however that he was not to blame for the high number of citizens who had fled the country, a Business Day report said.
“You have your country; you fought for it, why are you running away?”
Mugabe lambasted South Africa’s education system and its support for gay rights addressing a rally in Mutare ahead of the elections.
Mugabe said he was ashamed of the high number of Zimbabweans in SA, who took most of the jobs in hotels and other business.
“We feel ashamed of the influx of Zimbabweans in South Africa. If you go to their hotels, there are Zimbabweans all over. The same applies to other businesses. Zimbabweans are literally running the South African economy. South Africans end up attacking Zimbabweans because there are just too many in that country,” Mugabe said.
“…The blame of their migration is heaped on Mugabe. People say they are running away from Mugabe and I am now their passport to enter foreign lands like Britain and South Africa.
“Even Mrs [Janet] Banana [wife of the first president of Zimbabwe], when she went to the UK she said she was running away from Mugabe’s oppression, yet she wanted to settle with her children there. How evil am I to oppress an old lady like Mrs Banana?”
Mugabe also condemned SA for upholding gay rights. “We are unlike South Africa, which upholds gay rights. We will deal with them here. Gay rights are not human rights. I am despised in some parts of the world because I said gays and lesbians are worse than pigs and dogs because these animals know their mates. We cannot allow our children to be worse than wild animals,” he said.
Mugabe, according to Herald Online attacked US President Barack Obama for advocating homosexuality.
“Then we have this American president, Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality,” Mugabe said.
“We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no.”
Mugabe praised his country’s education system.
“We have built schools, our children are educated. We are being admired that we have the best literacy rate in Africa at 91%.”
Coca-Cola Zimbabwe hastily removed an open palm symbol it was using on its red cans as part of its “Crazy for Good Campaign” after it was accused of aiding the MDC.
The move follows a barrage of accusations from Zanu-PF that the international firm was overtly campaigning for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s formation of the MDC, whose party symbol is the open palm and party colour is also red.
The Zimbabwe flag has replaced the “offensive” open palm that some in Zanu-PF felt was intended to attract votes for the opposition.
In May this year the state-controlled Herald accused Coca-Cola of being an “agent of regime change”. Coca-Cola denied alleged links with Tsvangirai or the MDC.
At the time, the Mail & Guardian reported Zanu-PF’s director of information, Psychology Maziwisa, as saying: “We want our sovereignty and independence as a country to be respected.
“We want commercial entities to operate with us purely on commercial and business terms and not to delve into politics.”
Asked whether the company had bowed to political pressure, Coca-Cola Zimbabwe’s public affairs and communication office referred the M&G to a statement published in the Herald in May, in which it said the offending cans had been imported from South Africa to fill a gap in the market and were not a form of politicking.
“It was clearly stated that locally produced cans bear the Zimbabwe flag, and Crazy for Good graphics are for those imported from South Africa. Both types of cans are available in the market . . . Bottlers in Zimbabwe will continue to supplement local production with imports of any packs of beverage to cover any shortfall that might arise for any reason,” the statement says. – M&G
Zimbabweans make no secret of their intense hatred of local broadcaster Zimbabwe Television (ZTV). But now they have no alternative but to watch it after the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) switched off access to its channels.
For years, about three million locals have used free-to-air decoders to watch all three SABC channels, mainly in protest against programmes on ZTV that they say amount to propaganda and are also of poor quality.
ZTV, the sole television station operating in the country, is state-controlled and is owned by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).
Decoders, including Wiztech, Philibao, Fortec and Vivid, became especially popular among low-income groups. The decoders allowed free access to certain channels, including the SABC’s channels, with no subscriptions.
The decoders are a common site in rural areas, farming communities and urban townships. In Mbare, Harare, one can find as many as 50 satellite dishes at one hostel. South African soaps such as Generations and Isidingo enjoy a huge following in Zimbabwe.
The disconnection followed a ruling by the Johannesburg High Court last year ordering Sentech, a South African television signal carrier, to encrypt its signal within three months after eBotswana, a subsidiary of South Africa’s e.tv, asked Sentech to scramble its signal due to signal piracy.
Complaints
The move left viewers with no choice but to revert to watching ZTV. Those who can afford it will move to the more expensive Digital Satellite Television (DStv), which is offered by Multichoice.
A large number of Zimbabweans this week took to social media sites to express their displeasure over the withdrawal of the South African channels on the free-to-air decoders.
“It came as a complete shock. Of course, last year there were rumours that SABC 1, 2, and 3 would be cut off but as time lapsed we thought the rumours were false. I’m totally gutted. I had become a keen follower of Generations, Muvhango and Zone 14, so it will be difficult to adjust to ZTV,” said Mildred Mhondera, a resident in Mabvuku who said she had been watching South African channels since 2008.
“The channels were withdrawn at a terrible time — just before elections — so you can imagine the amount of propaganda we will be subjected to. Zanu-PF will be rejoicing because of this move,” she said.
In addition to complaints of propaganda, people who spoke to the Mail & Guardian also complained that ZTV airs too many talk shows on limited subjects of farming and histories of ethnic groups, bland Korean movies, little international news and has an obsession with Chinese news channels.
Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said the SABC had become not only a major source of quality entrainment for millions of Zimbabweans, but an outlet of alternative news on events taking place in Zimbabwe.
Demans for alternative channels
“And as the country heads for elections, the free-to-air satellite dish would have provided another angle on the management of the process than that provided by ZTV. SABC is also a potential channel through which political parties and civil society could air their advertisements given the tight controls and manipulation of ZBC,” said Ngwenya.
Ngwenya said the timing of the switching off could not have come at a worse time due to pending polls.
“I am sure those in authority and those accused of obstructing the free flow of information to distort the realities on the ground are overjoyed by this turn of events because it snugly fits in with their tyrannical schemes”.
Harare Residents’ Trust co-ordinator Precious Shumba also said switching off the SABC channels was unfortunate and leaves the locals at the mercy of the ZTV monopoly.
“For years, Zimbabwe’s civil society has been demanding the freeing of the airwaves to allow for the operation of private and independent broadcasters, and this decision by the SABC has increased the demand for alternative channels of broadcasting services,” she said.
Shumba said that residents are already stressed about having to “endure long periods of partisan reporting and broadcasting services from ZBC’s radio and television stations, which have a traceable history of denying citizens a platform to air their political views”.
Shumba said few could afford DStv due to a stagnant economy. The cheapest DStv package costs $10 a month, and the most expensive is $75.
The unity government had resolved to end ZTV’s broadcasting monopoly, but Zanu-PF has resisted implementing the agreement. The reform of the state broadcaster is one of the outstanding issues the opposition wants resolved before an election is held. – M&G
Lungisa, second from left, next to fallen hero Malema
The president of the Pan-African Youth Union, Andile Lungisa, believes President Robert Mugabe’s land reform policy in Zimbabwe should serve as a blueprint for South Africa.
Lungisa was among those who attended Mugabe’s $600000 birthday bash in the small mining town of Bindura.
Lungisa wasthe former deputy president of the ANC Youth League.
Taking to the podium to address the 50000-strong crowd, Lungisa said: “We are saying in South Africa and the whole of Africa, we should emulate Zimbabwe.”
Lungisa was invited by Zanu-PF’s youth wing alongside other youth leaders from regional liberation front movements.
Under Mugabe’s land reform policy, roughly 4000 white farmers had their land seized without compensation . At present, there are less than 300 white commercial farmers still operating, but their land remains targeted.
Farmers who resist eviction face at least two years’ imprisonment.
It is widely believed that Mugabe’s land reform policy resulted in his nation’s economic ruin, and severe lack of food security. “We are saying in South Africa and the whole of Africa, we should emulate Zimbabwe,” Lungisa added.
Pedzisai Ruhanya, the former news editor of the banned Zimbabwean independent newspaper Daily News, said Lungisa’s comments amounted to mere politicking in a bid to impress Mugabe.
“The ANC exists in a very active community not as passive as Zimbabwe. So to take the same position as Zanu-PF is impossible in South Africa.”
A few days before the birthday bash, the 12-year-old son of a member of one of the two MDC factions was killed in an arson attack.
Some have alleged that one of Mugabe’s close allies was responsible for the attack.
“Even when [someone] gets killed by a cow; they blame it on Zanu-PF,” Mugabe said. – timeslive.co.za
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