MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

I strongly sympathise with Honourable Mangoma’s family, The Movement for democratic change at large, our party leadership and all members with the worrying developments in Zimbabwe.

I believe we are a progressive party, a party of excellence and we chose to take this unpredictable and difficult desert journey and we are committed to it. The party has experienced a lot more than this. The party has seen the arrest and subsequent deaths of the likes of Learnmore Jongwe, Tonderai Ndira, the death of our gallant Mother Mai Morgan Susan Tsvangirayi just to mention a few. Our minds are still fresh from genocide of the 2008 general election and we have thousands of people languishing in remand prisons.

President Morgan Tsvangirayi has predicated another violent election this year showing that the party should have a strategic plan for this. It is not acceptable in any modern democracy to cancel the MDC UK and Ireland congress at such a short notice. We went to bed with the devil and these are the things which the party should have prepared for. We knew chairman Moyo's court date and contingency plans should have been in place .Worse it’s a civil matter and has no reporting conditions at the notorious Law and order section or Highlands police station. The party has a department which is responsible for external structures.

I hope the party has considered all the financial obligations we have entered as branches. Most importantly our party image to the international forum. I cannot imagine any serious political party to postpone such a significant and historic event for the same reasons. To me it’s just a lame excuse. We are a government in waiting. We are not a grasshopper which its life ends when it looses its legs. We should prove our difference with Zanu PF, with no Robert Mugabe there is no Zanu pf.

I was personally anticipating this. Our party integrity needs to be questioned. Honestly how was Chairman Moyo going to engage with United kingdom province without making public the long awaited' Sipepa Nkomo report’. Worse still most of his travelling contingents were implicated in the UK financial saga. I can liken this to throwing the chairman in a Lion's den. As a party we should learn from events. I wonder how the Chairman was going to handle the angry members when our very own President failed in London. Is chairman Moyo the sacrificial lamb? 

The problems we are facing as a party in the United Kingdom can only be solved when Sipepa Nkomo recommendations are considered and a contingent or a unison plan has been put by National organising secretary, Treasury, external affairs department and strict adherence to the part constitution and code of conduct. It should also not fall short of a visit by a strong contingent of senior elected party members who have an obligation to the constituency.  

Chinja Maitiro 

Stanford Biti

Chairman Southend On Sea

MDC Southend Hausunde

UK and Ireland Congress Postponed

PRESS RELEASE

Due to some worrying political developments in Zimbabwe, our leadership has resolved to postpone the holding of the MDC-UK & Ireland Provincial congress, which was scheduled for the 12^th March 2011, to a later date to be announced.

The Secretary General of our party will be issuing a communication on the above issue soon. The UK & Ireland Leadership is in consultation with its structures on a way forward given this latest development.

Tonderai Samanyanga

Interim Chair

MDC UK & Ireland External Assembly

SOURCE: MDC UK & IRELAND WEBSITE

Zimbabwe Weekly Headlines February 4th, 2011

President Robert Mugabe has publicly stated last week that elections will be held this year with or without a new constitution. He added that he has the constitutional right to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh polls.

THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), whose national executive met last weekend, has passed a resolution to the effect that the party will not contest any national election before the adoption of a new constitution. The party also demanded that there should be a clear roadmap on the polls after the adoption of the new constitution to replace the current compromise Lancaster House document.

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National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) last week had their entire cash resources seized by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) due to default in payment of fuel importation duties and other imports. With the seizure of its funds, Noczim was unable to effect payment for the petroleum which it had purchased, which petroleum was in tanks at Beira, in Mozambique, pending forwarding to Zimbabwe through the Beira Corridor pipeline.  As a result, a fuel shortage in Zimbabwe was imminent, with a major scarcity already prevailing in Harare.

Bearing in mind that Noczim is a government parastatal, and that Zimra is government’s revenue collection vehicle, I wonder what steps the government will take to prevent the wheels of the economy from coming to a complete halt.

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To many senior government officials in ZANU PF, the violent and chaotic land reform programme presented a perfect opportunity for them to get rich overnight.  They descended upon the most viable agricultural enterprises across the country like hungry vultures and devoured the assets. But today, the farms are ruined and without their equipment which was either sold or lay broken in the fertile agricultural soils. And consequently, the nation’s economy has crumbled to its knees.
It emerged last week that ZANU PF officials operating as the so-called Masvingo Initiative intend to seize a number of private preserves belonging to Germans, including the Save Valley Conservancy Trust.
A mob of about 150 seized Lake Chivero Recreational Park, Kumba Shiri resort, and several other sites around the lake, forbidding guests and employees from leaving.
Robert Mugabe's nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, has claimed responsibility for the invasions. Ironically, the invasions occurred while Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi was at a conference in Spain where he branded Zimbabwe ‘the world of wonders’.

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Traditional leaders and soldiers are being used by ZANU PF to force villagers in remote areas of Zimbabwe to sign a ZANU PF ‘anti-sanctions’ petition. The campaign is an attempt by ZANU PF to get more than a million signatures on a petition against the targeted restrictions that were placed on Robert Mugabe and his close allies by the E.U., the U.K. and the United States.  The petition shall then be handed to Western ambassadors for onward transmission to their capitals.

“Ticha gura maoko nemazino,” meaning ‘we shall be breaking hands and teeth’, was the chilling message sent out to villagers of Rusape, Gokwe and Masvingo province who fail to sign the document. If ZANU PF is so desperate to have sanctions removed, the simple and cost effective way of achieving this is by employing democratic principles that they vowed to when they took over power from the Rhodesian government.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has held an urgent meeting with Robert Mugabe to discuss escalating violence perpetrated by ZANU PF militia on MDC structures. The Prime Minister, who is under severe pressure from his party colleagues who are demanding protection,  is angered by  the way the police are selectively applying the law. As usual, Robert Mugabe denied planning the violence and shouldered the blame on mischief makers.

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It seems that convicted serial rapist Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira,  a self proclaimed prophet and ZANU PF supporter,  was pardoned and released from jail by Robert Mugabe in order to start a campaign to coerce members of the Apostolic sect to rally behind ZANU PF.  The convict, originally sentenced to 20 years, only served 7 years of that sentence.

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Zanu (PF) youths popularly known as Chipangano have this week visited vendors in Mbare demanding President Mugabe's birthday donations of $1.00 and voter registration receipts for the forthcoming referendum to choose a new constitution for Zimbabwe. The President turns 87 on the 26^th of this month.

Joao Matandirani
MDC Southend Hausunde