ENGLISH VERSION (version française ci-dessous)
Dear Friends,
As you may know, Zimbabwe is trying to recover from a serious humanitarian crisis. One of the major aspects of this crisis has been the collapse of the public health care delivery system. This continues to have severe health consequences on ordinary Zimbabweans.
The Zimbabwe Network for Health (ZimHealth) seeks to raise funds to procure and distribute medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other commodities, in an effort to contribute to the rehabilitation of the health facilities in Zimbabwe.
Over the past six months, ZimHealth has already sent out material to Mbare Polyclinic in Harare, which caters primarily for low income urban and rural women and children. A recent generous donation from the City of Geneva will allow us to send a further consignment. But there are many other Hospitals and Clinics that urgently need material help in order to continue providing the medical services that are so desperately needed by the population of Zimbabwe.
ZimHeath intends to hold a fundraising social event and a presentation of its activities on
Saturday 3rd October, in the afternoon and evening, in Geneva.
The venue and details will be communicated at the beginning of September. Please book this date for this very important event, and feel free to transmit it too all persons who might feel concerned.
Further details at:
If you are unable to attend, any contributions would be very welcome. Our bank details:
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FRENCH VERSION
Chers amis,
Comme vous le savez peut-être déjà, le Zimbabwe tente de se remettre d'une crise humanitaire grave. Un des aspects majeurs de cette crise a été l'effondrement du système de santé publique. L'impact sur la santé des zimbabwéens ordinaires a été et continue d'être très grave.
ZimHealth (réseau zimbabwéen pour l'accès à la santé) cherche à récolter des fonds servant à procurer des médicaments, vaccins et autres matériels afin de contribuer à la reconstruction des infrastructures médicales du Zimbabwe.
Ces six derniers mois, ZimHealth a pu envoyer un premier lot de matériel à la Polyclinique de Mbare à Harare, qui dessert surtout des femmes et enfants aux revenus modestes de la zone urbaine. Un récent don généreux de la Ville de Genève permettra un envoi supplémentaire. Mais il y existe bien d'autres Hôpitaux et Cliniques qui nécessitent un soutien matériel urgent afin de continuer à fournir les services médicaux dont la population zimbabwéenne a tant besoin.
ZimHealth compte tenir une collecte de fonds ainsi qu'une présentation de ses activités le
samedi 3 octobre, durant l'après-midi et la soirée, à Genève
Le lieu et les détails suivront au début du mois de Septembre. Entre-temps, nous vous encourageons de bien vouloir réserver cette date importante et de transmettre ce message à toute personne qui pourrait se sentir concerné.
D'autres détails sur nos activités sont disponibles sur note site Internet:
Si vous ne pouvez pas venir, toute contribution serait la bienvenue! Les détails de notre compte sont:
Some Zimbabwean journalists say 2003 was the most repressive year for independent journalists. Others claim it was 2008. But no one is yet claiming it was 2009 after a recent series of positive developments for the country's media.
Last week, the government lifted a ban on the BBC and CNN, a big improvement over last year--when BBC reporters were forced to sneak into
"Journalists continue to be followed, detained and abducted; phones and e-mail messages are intercepted; the output of news from government reminds one of Radio Moscow during the Soviet era," Geoff Hill, exiled Zimbabwean journalist and author of What Happens after Mugabe?, told CPJ. "Nevertheless, compared with a year ago, things are better."
On August 1, Finance Minister Tendai Biti scrapped the punitive "luxury import tax" that had severely crippled The Zimbabwean and The Zimbabwean on Sunday, which were being shipped into
In 2003, the government's accreditation law, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, helped shutter the popular independent Daily News. On September 11 of that year,
Nyarota continued his trade with the online Zimbabwe Times in exile; hoping to return one day. Although far from certain, there is a chance that day may come. On Friday, the government notified lawyers for The Daily News that their application for a license to publish had been approved after years of legal wrangling.
But the champagne should remain corked for now. "We have now gained eligibility of the license but not the license itself," Nyarota told CPJ. The paper's license will only be reinstated once a new media monitoring body is set up. The MIC was abolished in January 2008. Interviews to create the new monitoring body, the Zimbabwe Media Commission, took place this week but hit a snag amid reports that they were biased toward ruling-party supporters.
Zimbabwean journalists, encouraged by small improvements in the media environment, are taking this moment to fight back against past injustices.
Police snatched up freelance journalist Andrison Manyere and former journalist Jestina Mukoko last December on spurious banditry charges. Both were detained and beaten in custody for more than 90 days, they said. "I think if people commit crimes, which I did not, they should not be treated the way I was treated," said Mukoko during one of her court sessions. Mukoko launched a Supreme Court challenge in June claiming an infringement of her constitutional rights to liberty, full protection of the law, and freedom from torture. Manyere filed a lawsuit against the state for damages in July.
They are not the only ones. Four independent journalists won a landmark legal case against the government over the legality of the MIC in June. The commission had previously banned the journalists from attending a regional economic summit for not being accredited by the commission. The journalists, through their lawyer, Selby Hwacha, successfully argued that the MIC was abolished in January and had no power to block them. The journalists, however, were still barred entry by security at the summit.
The month began with a group of journalists returning to court in an effort to make former High Court rulings ‘legally binding’ – calling attention to ZANU PF breaches of GPA articles covering both the rule of law and freedom of expression. The journalists had been barred from covering the COMESA summit on the grounds that they were not accredited by the Media and Information Commission (MIC). This was despite a High Court ruling in June that made it clear that the MIC was defunct, and that journalists were not required to register with it.
Read More...
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/zigwatch_issue7_040709.html
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have voiced serious concern over comments made this week by Robert Mugabe about the ‘advisability’ of having NGOs operating in the country.
Speaking at the Global 2009 Dialogue conference in Uganda, Mugabe said the government might have to reconsider whether such organisations are desirable, saying they act as a kind of shadow government.
“We have now a phenomenon of NGOs, or shall I call them phenomena for they really are a type of government in the background of a formal government?” Mugabe said.
“I don’t know whether this creature is for the better or for the worse, but in our country we have seen a situation where they have exceeded, really, their terms of reference and perhaps we might have to reconsider the advisability of having NGOs,” he told the gathering.
NGOs have been constantly harassed and threatened by the Mugabe led government for several years and were last year banned from operating in the country. The ZANU PF government at the time accused NGOs of backing the MDC during the turbulent election period, and by ordering the ban, Mugabe was able to use the limited food available in the country as a political weapon. But with millions of people dependent on food aid, the government effectively ushered in a severe hunger crisis that has still not been eradicated months after NGOs were cleared to continue with their efforts.
NGOs were also earlier this month blamed for the disruption at the All Stakeholder Constitutional Conference, a disruption that was in fact caused by ZANU PF thugs and their party legislators. Fambai Ngirande from the National Association of NGOs (NANGO) said on Wednesday that such accusations were baseless and empty, arguing that, “a constitutional reform process is something we as NGOs have been advocating for, for many years.”
He said Mugabe’s threats against the NGOs are ‘unfair’ and ‘unfortunate,’ as such organisations have been ‘picking up the pieces for the government because it has failed its people.’
| Washington 13 July 2009 | |
The City Of Weimar, Germany, has awarded its 2009 Human Rights Award to Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, which monitors rights violations, inviting her to the city to receive the award on December 10, International Human Rights day.
Mukoko has been in the headlines since Dec. 3, 2008, when she was abducted from her home in Norton, northwest of Harare, and released weeks later only to be charged by authorities with plotting to overthrow the former government of President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2009-07-13-voa43.cfm
Cracks of disunity in the coalition government have continued to appear more than five months after the unity formation came into being, and there is still no word from the South African Development Community (SADC) on intervening.
Serious human rights violations, including assaults and arrests, as well as what appears to be a deliberate plot to whittle down the MDC majority in Parliament, are said to be creating serious and understandable discord in the unity formation. Yet another MDC legislator was jailed this week on spurious charges, while two MDC MPs were unlawfully suspended from parliament. At the same time, the fight over the reformation of the constitution has now sparked fears of a resurgence of violence, after it emerged that ZANU PF had deployed youth militia and war veterans to lead a campaign for support of the Kariba Draft, favoured by Mugabe. Youth militia in schools have already seen teachers flee their posts out of fear of renewed persecution, after what happened during last year’s political violence.
So while the government leaders have slowly come to agreement on a few issues - most recently an agreement to convene the National Security Council - critical reforms are clearly still a long way off.
The MDC earlier this year sent a letter to SADC to intervene on the outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), a role SADC, as guarantors of the deal, is meant to fulfil. The MDC also presented a document detailing more than 700 incidents of breaches of the GPA by Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, but to date there has been no move by SADC to address the issues.
A summit that was mooted to begin at the end of this month is now widely believed to have been set down for September. It is understood that despite the plea for intervention from the MDC, the regional body is waiting for its first report from the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC), which is expected in mid-August, more than six months after the government was formed. JOMIC, a tripartite group of high-level party members, is supposed to ensure that the unity government adheres to the GPA in full.
JOMIC is comprised of four members of the Mutambara MDC (Professor Welshman Ncube, Frank Chamunorwa, Edward Mkhosi and Priscilla Misihairambi-Mushonga), four members of the Tsvangirai MDC (Elton Mangoma, Elias Mudzuri, Tabita Khumalo and Innocent Changonda) and four members from ZANU PF (Nicholas Goche, Patrick Chinamasa, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Oppah Muchinguri.)
MDC national spokesperson Nelson Chamisa on Wednesday explained there has been no response from SADC and there is an urgent need for the regional body to intervene. He also said there was frustration and anger within the party over what he called the ‘non-existence’ of JOMIC, saying the group had done nothing to ensure the implementation of the GPA.
“JOMIC is toothless, comatose even, and they have let people down,” Chamisa said. “If they report back to SADC it will only be about JOMIC’s death and disfunctionality.”
SW Radio Africa
