Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe yesterday swore in his main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, as the country’s prime minister in a unity government that took months of hard negotiations to achieve.

Several regional leaders attended the swearing in, which is expected to end months of wrangling between the government and the opposition over an inconclusive election held early last year.

Tsvangirai, a longtime rival of Mugabe, was sworn in together with two deputies, one drawn from his party and the other from a smaller opposition party.

The government and the opposition agreed, under the mediation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to share power via a coalition government.

Under the agreement, the two sides will share cabinet portfolios and other levers of power, until fresh elections are held.

The agreement followed months of hard negotiations that almost collapsed over the share of cabinet portfolios.

Tsvangirai, taking the oath of office, said he would ‘bear allegiance to Zimbabwe’, contrary to frequent accusations by Mugabe that he was a front for Western powers seeking to oust him from office.

The new government, which is due to be sworn in on Friday, will be immediately confronted by a multitude of crisis, including a raging cholera outbreak, closed educational institutions and severe food shortages.

Over 3,500 people have died of cholera since August last year, and more than 70,000 others infected in an outbreak that has drawn the attention of the world.

Even more worrying is a food crisis affecting over half of the country’s 14 million people.

United Nations agencies said unless international food aid is mobilised soon, millions of Zimbabweans face starvation in coming months.

Poor weather last year and the government’s agricultural policies are widely blamed for the food shortages.

Schools and universities have also been closed because of a long running strike by teachers and lecturers, who are demanding to be paid in foreign currency.

The demand is yet to be met, and the stalemate, which has been running from last year, continues.

Big Western donors, the only hope for the new government to start re-building the country’s shattered economy, have said they will adopt a wait-and-see attitude on the unity government, before unblocking aid and investment.

Earlier this week, South Africa said it would possibly agree to plans by Zimbabwe to use its currency, the Rand, in place of its worthless local dollar.

But large-scale aid from Pretoria, which is also feeling the pinch of the international financial crisis, has been ruled out.

Tsvangirai, whose party controls the key finance ministry, has said his government will target foreign direct investment and aid to revive the economy.
ZANIS/PANA/ENDS

The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) says more political will must be exercised in the country in order to rid the market of counterfeit products.

ZACA Executive Director, Muyunda Ililonga, said the isolated incidents where the Zambia police service have raided some factories and shops trading in counterfeit products were not enough to rid the markets of these dangerous products.

Mr. Ililonga said counterfeit products that are imported into the country greatly outnumber those that are manufactured locally, adding that it was for this reason that relevant institutions should partner with the police so that the problem is not fought in isolated activities.

He told ZANIS in Lusaka today that while the effort of the police in trying to curb the vice is appreciated, there is need for relevant government institutions tasked to safeguard the interest of consumers to widen their operations.

Mr. Ililonga said a large scale and multi-sectoral operation, which must involve the participation of all relevant stakeholders, needs to be undertaken if the lives of the people are to be safeguarded.

He said counterfeit products have the potential to harm the health of the consumers and could in most cases lead to death.

Mr. Ililonga further said the problem has been getting worse and was wide spread not only along the line of rail but also in rural areas.

He said government through its relevant institutions should not only raid factories and shops but put up stringent measures at border posts if the issue of counterfeit products is to be successfully dealt with.

Mr. Ililonga has meanwhile disclosed that his association has received complaints from the public over the sale of 25 millilitre sachets of liquor by unlicensed traders.

These sachets of liquor are sold at very minimal prices such that even young people were able to access them.

Mr. Ililonga expressed concern that empty sachets of this liquor were contributing to liter in the cities and towns in the country, defeating the “keep Zambia clean and Healthy” exercise.

He has since called on government to completely outlaw the sell of such liquor by unlicensed traders and prosecute any person who will be found selling the commodity to underage persons.

ZANIS/PM/KSH/ENDS

The Immigration department says it has commenced disciplinary action against two of its officers who are based at Kariba border post in Siavonga district, Southern Province for allegedly being involved in corrupt practices.

The officers Patience Matubulani and Manyando Mubita are alleged to have been assisting and facilitating the trafficking of Congolese nationals enter the country illegally without proper documentation to cross into Zimbabwe using Kariba border post en route to South Africa after receiving payment.

Acting Chief Immigration Officer Anderson Phiri said the two officers have since been charged and that appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against them.

Mr. Phiri said in an interview with ZANIS in Siavonga on Tuesday that the department has received valid evidence on the matter and that disciplinary action will immediately be taken once investigations are concluded.

“We have all the evidence with us involving the two officers from Kariba border post who were assisting in the trafficking of the Congolese who go to South Africa to leave the country using the border after receiving money from the same nationals,” he disclosed.

Mr. Phiri added that the evidence came from the middle man whom the Immigration officers were using to help facilitate and arrange the movements of the Congolese from Lusaka to Siavonga.

“The department has in its custody a man called Jameson Mumba whom the officers were using as a middle man to facilitate the movement of these Congolese nationals. The evidence we got from other security wings is that one of the officers after having differences with Mumba on money that was collected from the Congolese decided to apprehend and drag him to Siavonga police station,” Phiri revealed.

The Immigration Chief further added that it was at this point that the department got wind of the situation and made inquiries into the matter before charging the officers with misconduct and abetting crime contrary to their conditions of service.

Mr Phiri however described as sad that officers who have been mandated and tasked by Government to protect and prevent the illegal entry of foreign nationals into the country were the ones doing the contrary.

“Government sends these officers to border towns in order to stop any movement of people that have no valid traveling documents and not for them to be in the forefront assisting the entry and exit of prohibited immigrants,” he observed.

He further described the behavior of the two Kariba border post based officers as regrettable saying their actions compromises and puts the security of the country at risk.

” The behavior of such officers should not be entertained because they have proved and shown their weakness that they can be compromised as long as there is money involved. With this kind of behavior don’t you expect such officers to allow criminals to enter the country once they are given money?, he questioned.

In this vein, he assured that the current reforms that the department has embarked on will rid all sorts of corruption and other evil vices that may still exist within the department.

He said the reforms whose powers have already been felt by officers operating at the headquarters office in Lusaka have since reached an extent where officers can longer afford to play hide and seek.

Phiri said the reforms were aimed at cleansing the department from any form of corruption and ensure transparency in whatever the officers do.

“Signs are there that the officers are willing to change their lifestyles especially in Lusaka where the officers have already started cleansing themselves from all sorts of bad vices,. Corruption in the Immigration department will soon be a thing of the past, “ he assured.

To this effect, Mr Phiri disclosed that a disciplinary committee consisting of section heads has since been instituted and will handle disciplinary cases involving officers countrywide.

Recently, two other immigration officers from Kariba border post were arrested and detained by authorities in Zimbabwe after they attempted to smuggle out of that country about 4.5 tonnes of fresh fish a commodity whose export to neighboring countries, Government had banned.

The officers in question have since been forcefully transferred from Siavonga to other stations.

ZANIS/ENDS/LL/CLM