Zimbabwe News Update: Vice-President Joyce Mujuru Calls for Gender Equality

Mrs. Joyce Mujuru, Vice-President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. She represented Zimbabwe at a United Nations Summit, the G-192, during 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

VP Mujuru calls for gender equality

Herald Reporter

Vice President Joice Mujuru has called for gender equality saying the exclusion of women from the mainstream economy will slow down development in Africa.

Women constitute over 52 percent of the population in Africa.

VP Mujuru said this in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was attending the launch of the Decade for Africa Women 2010 to 2020 from October 13 to 16.

She was accompanied by the Minister of State in her office, Sylvester Nguni and Permanent Secretary Mr Munesu Munodawafa and the Director of Gender in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Mrs Caral Matizha.

The African Women’s Decade was launched by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and the African Union chairman President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi among other Africa leaders.

The objectives of the African Women’s Decade is to improve on the status of women from grassroots level. Some of the areas the women need addressed are accelerated ratification, domestication and resource allocation for the implementation of gender equality related instruments.

The women also want to fight poverty and be economically empowered.

They also want to access to agricultural land, health, education, finance and operate in a peaceful environment.

In her solidarity message, VP Mujuru said: "As women of Africa, let us seize the opportunity presented by this — our decade — and put in place policies, programmes and institutional structures, which guarantee sustainability of our empowerment initiatives even after this decade."


ZNA ready to defend independence

Herald Reporter

THE Zimbabwe National Army is ready to defend the country’s independence despite the difficulties brought by illegal Western economic sanctions.

Brigadier-General Justin Mujaji said this at the closing ceremony of the inaugural inter-formations reconnaissance platoons competition in Kariba last Friday.

"You are aware that the country and the economy are under unwarranted sanctions from Western powers and their allies. The army has not been spared from the devastating effects of these illegal sanctions.

"Nevertheless, I am delighted to note that the army has continued to train despite these challenges.

"Success of such training activities will without doubt send a very clear message that the ZNA will not sit on its laurels while detractors ravage the country’s hard-won independence. It is our mandate as an army to defend our independence and sovereignty at all costs," he said.

Brig-Gen Mujaji said the army could only guarantee peace by always being ready for war, pointing out that the competition was important in strengthening the force’s intelligence gathering capabilities.

He applauded participants for successfully completing the rigorous competition.

"Recce (reconnaissance) is predominantly a tough, dangerous and tricky task, hence the need for recce operatives to be highly trained and display the highest standards of discipline," Brig-Gen Mujaji said.

The competition was code-named Exercise Tsikamutanda and drew participants from seven brigades.

The Commando Regiment co-ordinated it.

Participants’ reconnaissance, survival, bush craft, field craft, map reading skills and intelligence gathering skills were put to the test.


Pressure group slams UK

Herald Reporter

A UNITED Kingdom-based group has slammed the British government for maintaining and supporting illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe while at the same time pressing for deportation of failed asylum seekers citing improved conditions in the country.

In a statement, Action for Southern Africa described the UK policy as inconsistent and incoherent. "The announcement on 14 October that the UK government plans to resume the enforced return of Zimbabweans makes UK policy on Zimbabwe inconsistent and incoherent, and could add weight to calls for the European Union to lift targeted measures against the country.

"The Home Office Minister states that the change has come about as a result of improvements on the ground since the formation of the inclusive Government in September 2008," reads the statement.

The organisation said this was contrary to what the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had said on Zimbabwe. "ACTSA contends that if the UK government’s position is now that the situation has improved in Zimbabwe, governments in the region and perhaps even some in the European Union will question the UK’s support for the retention of the EU’s (sanctions) against the country.

"Member states of the Southern Africa Development Community have in the past called for the measures to be lifted, and this new stance from the British government could strengthen their argument."

The EU and US imposed blanket illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe in response to the country’s revolutionary agrarian reforms and to further their regime change agenda.

The illegal sanctions have brought suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans as lines of credit for Government and industry have dried up, while some companies have had their assets frozen.

Sadc, the African Union, the Pan African Parliament, Comesa and the Non-Aligned Movement have consistently called for lifting of the illegal embargo.

The EU and the US have, however, refused to heed these calls and re-engagement efforts between Zimbabwe and the two have failed with the West accused of insincerity in the talks.


Chimoio Massacre: Brutality at its worst

Own Correspondent

NOTHING conjures up the irascible memories of the horrors of the bitter struggle for Zimbabwe’s Independence more than the mass murder of innocent refugees at Chimoio by the Rhodesian forces on that fateful day when the world woke up to the shock news of the atrocity we now know as the Chimoio Massacre.

It is now 33 years, from the unforgettable day of horror, October 24, 1977 when about 2000 Zimbabwean refugees were killed in a dawn raid by the Rhodesian army on a refugee camp at Chimoio in Mozambique in one of the world’s worst brutalities on humanity since the holocaust.

Sadly though for us, it is as if no one remembers.

The shrine at Chimoio, the mass grave where bones of the innocent victims lie permanently interred, as an eternal monument to our collective pain and suffering under the colonial yoke, deserves more attention.

The visit to the shrine at Chimoio last week by a 48 strong team of engineers, quantity surveyors, architects and other professionals including Principal Director, Retired Colonel Mhakayakora and senior officials from the Ministry of Public Works led by Deputy Minister Senator Guy Georgias, turned out to be a pilgrimage.

The Public Works Ministry team took the weekend road trip to Chimoio at the end of a strategic planning review conference held at Vumba last week to deliberate on the ministry’s vision and mission.

Marking the end of such an important conference with a trip to Chimoio turned out to be a re-invigorating, as well as a touching and emotional experience for the Government officials.

The Deputy Minister of Public Works, visiting the site for the first time, felt moved to recommend that his ministry be given the responsibility for the maintenance of the shrine, that it may be kept sacred and respected.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, through the department of National Museums and Monuments, is the custodian to the shrine.

To Guy Georgias, the visit to Chimoio was a harrowing experience.

"It is 33 years after the massacre at Chimoio but when you come here, it feels as if this atrocity has just been committed.

"It is as if it just happened. The sight of the mass grave, with so many hundreds of people, is itself haranguing. It is as if the smell of death has not left after all these years."

Georgias is, however, not too pleased with the way the shrine has been maintained that he was quick to volunteer the services of his ministry in the maintenance of the shrine.

At present there is open access to the shrine that even cattle may wander through.

The names of the victims are not prominently displayed as they should be at the entrance.

Speaking after the visit to Chimoio, Sen Georgias said: "It would be good to put some form of security and protection to preserve the site, put a gate or entrance through which visitors coming to pay homage and respect may enter, and perhaps even pay a token fee for purposes of keeping the place well maintained, dignified and sacred. We certainly can do better to honour the memory of our fellow Zimbabweans who lie interred here."

Adds Georgias: "This place should be kept with respect, utmost dignity and honour. It is sacrosanct. It is the most poignant and perhaps most epochal edifice to the pains and horrors of the Zimbabwe national struggle for justice and equality of all races.

‘‘If Zanu PF does not fight to maintain these mass graves, even during this period of the inclusive Government, then we will have failed.’’

At present only a few volunteers who include a war veteran, Conrad Nyangwaya whose Chimu-renga nom de plume is Sony Chigwagwagwa work as guides and patrons of the shrine.

Sen Georgias, a leading crusader against the EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, believes that places like Chimoio serve as "a constant reminder of the pains we have gone through as a nation; that should help inspire our sense of patriotism, and serve as a guide to our dialogue in our quest to commonly define and understand the Zimbabwean national question."

The senator feels Zimbabweans should have long filed a class action suit against the EU at its own Court of First Instance for collateral damage to the national economy leading to the current social condition where the majority population has been driven into poverty.

"I see that it is still difficult for certain elements in our society to fully grasp and understand the extent of the economic malaise caused by the EU and US sanctions in a manner akin to blaming the victim while identifying with the aggressor."