Zim Online
Sat 29 April 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Media and
Information Commission (MIC) is
investigating journalists covering an arts
festival taking place in Harare
and could order the arrest of foreign and
local reporters covering the event
without its permission.
Under the government's tough Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act (AIPPA), journalists and newspapers must obtain licences from
the MIC in
order to practise or publish in Zimbabwe.
Newspapers that breach
the licence law face closure and seizure of
their equipment by the
government while reporters who carry out their work
without a licence face
up to two years in jail.
MIC official Munyaradzi Nyamagodo is said
to be leading the probe into
hundreds of journalists that have flocked to
the popular Harare
International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) and is said to
have demanded that
organisers submit to him a full list of all journalists
covering the
festival.
Both Nyamagodo and MIC boss,
Tafataona Mahoso were not available to
explain what had prompted the
investigation or what action they would take
against any journalists who may
be found reporting on the festival without
being licenced to do
so.
But an MIC official, who did not want to be named because he is
not
authorised to speak to the Press, told ZimOnline: "It is easy to catch
them.
We are aware that all media personnel accredited to cover the event
will
have green bangles strapped on the wrists.
"We will target
anyone with the green bangles and ask them to produce
their MIC Press cards.
Anyone found wanting would be arrested because they
are in violation of
AIPPA."
In a letter sent out yesterday to media houses covering the
six day
arts festival that began last Tuesday, HIFA media relations
executive Jill
Day alerts the news publishers that the MIC is probing the
licence status of
journalists reporting on the festival.
"Mr
Nyamagodo from the Media and Information Commission has requested
a list of
all the journalists we have accredited to HIFA .. I am sure your
accreditation with MIC is in order but I thought I should draw this to you
attention," reads part of Day's letter to media houses.
Zimbabwe has some of the toughest ever media laws and is rated by the
World
Association of Newspapers as among the three worst places for
journalists in
the world. The other two are the former Soviet Union Republic
of Uzbekistan
and Iran.
Foreign journalists wishing to cover events in the
troubled southern
African country must first be vetted and cleared by the
Ministry of
Information and then they have to apply for temporary
accreditation to the
MIC and pay US$600 for a temporary
licence.
Local journalists need no clearance from the Information
Ministry but
are required to fork out Z$250 000 if registering for the first
time or
Z$200 000 if renewing registration.
At least a hundred
local and foreign journalists have been arrested in
the past three years for
breaching some of the government's harsh media laws
although none have been
successfully prosecuted.
The country's biggest and
non-government-owned daily, the Daily News,
was shut down three years ago
and its equipment seized because it had not
registered with the MIC. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Sat 29 April 2006
BULAWAYO - The Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority (ZESA) says it
requires nearly US$900 million to refurbish
its archaic power stations at
Kariba dam and Hwange coalfields.
Hwange, the biggest thermal power station in the country, required
about
US$600 million while Kariba required US$300 million, all money the
hard
cash-strapped Harare government does not have.
"We have applied to
the RBZ for funding of the two projects that are
aimed at improving our
power outages from the two power stations as we are
failing to meet national
demand, the demand for electricity has been growing
at three percent per
annum," said ZESA spokesman James Maridadi.
Maridadi, who was
speaking to journalists at a reception on the
sidelines of the ongoing
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo, said
shortage of foreign
currency to buy new machinery and spare parts had seen
the country's power
stations operating below capacity.
He cited Hwange for example,
which he said was only producing 400
megawatts or less than half of its
designed capacity of 980 megawatts.
However, even if foreign
currency was availed to improve generation at
Hwange and Kariba to maximum
capacity, their combined output would still
fall short of national power
consumption.
Several hundreds more of millions of foreign currency
would still be
required to expand existing power stations or build new ones
if Zimbabwe is
to be self-sufficient in power and avoid an energy crisis
forecast for
southern Africa by 2007.
Zimbabwe - facing its
worst ever economic crisis - has grappled a
severe power shortage that has
seen whole cities and regions of the country
without electricity for periods
ranging up to five hours at times as the
ZESA rations the little power
available.
The country consumes 2 100MW about 30 percent of which
is imported
from the Southern African Power Pool comprising neighbouring
countries such
as South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia. -
ZimOnline
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Josiah Tongogara was a major figure in the Zimbabwean independence
movement,
but the country's present leaders are carefully erasing his place
in
history.
By Maxmillion Sengwe in Harare (AR No. 61,
28-Apr-06)
Twenty-six years after Zimbabwe became independent, one of the
most
illustrious figures of the war of liberation is being systematically
written
out of history.
Josiah Magama Tongogara was the current
president Robert Mugabe's main rival
for power in the exiled liberation
movement of the Seventies.
Now political analysts say the president is
intent on ensuring that
Tongogara's contribution to the creation of modern
Zimbabwe as commander of
the guerrilla wing of ZANU, the Zimbabwe African
National Union, fades away.
Tongogara died on Christmas Day 1979, four
days after the Lancaster House
Agreement was signed in London, securing
Zimbabwean independence. He had
played an important conciliatory role in the
talks leading up to the
agreement.
His death was announced by Mugabe
on the liberation movement's radio station
two days later. Mugabe said that
41-year-old Tongogara had been killed in a
car accident. No autopsy results
or photos of the body were ever released.
Mugabe's apparent decision to
sideline Tongogara and his achievements from
the country's official memory
emerged in April last year, when the late
guerrilla commander was not one of
the "eminent heroes" honoured in
Zimbabwe's Silver Jubilee
Awards.
Another major figure in the liberation struggle, former ZANU
leader Herbert
Chitepo, who was assassinated by a car bomb in Zambia in
1975, was also
excluded from the pantheon of heroes.
That such
important leaders can simply be eradicated from Zimbabwe's
official history
reflects Mugabe's aversion to other leaders - dead as well
as living - whom
he perceives as threats to his ascendancy.
Patrick Kombayi, a veteran
former ZANU activist who was Zimbabwe's first
black mayor, said Mugabe sees
all potential leaders merely as obstacles on
his own path to
power.
During the Lancaster House negotiations, Tongogara is believed to
have held
secret meetings about post-independence power-sharing with leaders
of the
rival ZAPU, Zimbabwe African Peoples Union. A senior ZAPU source
confirmed
that Tongogara did hold talks with ZAPU, including its leader, the
late
Joshua Nkomo.
According to this source, Tongogara "did not
really like Mugabe's policies,
and he claimed that he could draw away
support from both ZANU and ZANLA",
the latter being the Zimbabwe African
National Liberation Army, ZANU's
military wing which Tongogara
headed.
A ZANU war veteran recalled to IWPR how he saw Tongogara on his
return from
Lancaster House to ZANLA's guerrilla bases in
Mozambique.
"Tongogara slung his AK rifle on his back and announced to us
that he was
going to be the first black prime minister of independent
Zimbabwe," he
said. "We all supported him. He was our leader and we hardly
knew Robert
Mugabe. To our shock, he was killed a few days later."
It
was instead Mugabe who became Zimbabwe's first prime minister and later
president.
Mugabe's attitude to the liberation guerrilla commander is
further evident
in his failure to look after his family. In a recent
interview, Tongogara's
widow Angeline said she was living "an ordinary
widow's life". She said she
struggled to raise her children, with no support
from the ZANU hierarchy,
and depended instead on the Catholic Church. While
many ZANU stalwarts were
awarded landholdings in the land-grab from white
farmers, Angeline Tongogara
said she had not benefited.
When
Tongogara's family held a memorial service for him in December at their
home
in Harare, no senior ZANU figures were invited. Angeline noted that the
state had failed to hold a memorial service for the guerrilla chief. Asked
why she had not asked ZANU officials to come, she said she had decided to
make it "purely a family affair".
State-owned media have been
extremely careful about what they say concerning
Tongogara. A source at the
state-controlled Herald, Zimbabwe's only daily
newspaper, said there was
controversy over whether to publish a report on
the family memorial service.
It was published in the end, but was safely
tucked away in an unobtrusive
place in the paper after the editor received
instructions from top
government officials that it must not be "prominent".
Tongogara's brother
Joshua became so disillusioned with what he described as
Mugabe's double
standards that in 2002 he planned to stand for parliament as
an independent
candidate in his home constituency. But he was harassed and
was forced to
shift back to ZANU, and he has since retreated into silence
and avoided
active involvement in politics.
Apart from the formative political role
that Tongogara played, there may be
a second reason why Mugabe has sought to
efface his memory: tribalism. The
president has consistently promoted close
associates and relatives from his
Zezuru clan, part of the wider Shona
nation, to positions of power in modern
Zimbabwe.
Tongogara was a
Karanga - a different Shona clan that historically inhabited
lands to the
south and east of the Zezuru. During the war of independence,
it was the
Karangas - led by Tongogara supported by other prominent fighters
such as
Josiah Tungamirai, Vitalis Zvinavashe and Emerson Munangagwa - who
formed
the backbone of the ZANLA force.
Since independence, Mugabe has
systematically marginalised Karangas in
favour of the Zezuru. He has
militarised Zimbabwe's key institutions and
appointed members of his own
clan to head them. The army, police, judiciary
and all top government
departments are now headed by Zezurus.
Acknowledging Tongogara as a
central figure in the struggle for independence
would, for Mugabe, be
tantamount to recognising the immense role played by
the Karanga group as a
whole.
The timing of Tongogara's elimination from the political scene,
coupled with
President Mugabe's subsequent ruthless rise to power, has led
many to
speculate that the present regime had something to gain from his
death.
"Remember, there is a clique in ZANU that is very aware that the
people who
should be leading this country - had they not been assassinated -
are
Tongogara and Chitepo," said Kombayi. "Some of the top ZANU leaders
regarded
Tongo[gara] and Chitepo as stumbling blocks in their way to higher
positions
during the liberation struggle."
However, Kombayi believes
people would not be fooled by the arbitrary
rewriting of
history.
"ZANU leaders hate the true heroes even in death," he said. "But
the good
thing is that the people of Zimbabwe know who their true heroes
are."
Maxmillion Sengwe is a pseudonym for an IWPR contributor in
Zimbabwe.
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Ian Nhuka in
Bulawayo
The biting foreign currency shortage has forced
Zimbabwean companies
to negotiate barter deals with foreign exhibitors at
the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair which ends in Bulawayo
tomorrow.
An exhibitor from Kenya, who is showcasing agricultural
implements,
said many Zimbabwean companies and farmers he has dealt with at
the ongoing
ZITF had suggested that they pay for his products using
agricultural
produce.
"Our comrades want our products," he said
referring to Zimbabweans.
"But they say they do not have foreign currency so
they want to pay in form
of agricultural produce. We are still considering
their suggestions and
possibly by the end of the trade fair tomorrow, we
would have agreed on
something. But barter deals are
cumbersome."
Gripped by widespread foreign currency shortages,
Zimbabwe has over
the past few years resorted to barter trade to procure
critical imports.
Power utility, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is
financing imports of
machinery and vehicles from China and Iran through
agriculture produce.
ZESA has also agreed to give a Chinese power
company a multi-billion
dollar concession to mine coal in Matabeleland
region in return for the
rehabilitation of its ageing electricity generation
machinery at Kariba and
Hwange.
The cash-strapped power utility
has also ventured into large-scale
commercial farming with the yield to be
used for the barter deals. The
turnout to the ZITF has declined drastically
in recent years as the economic
meltdown in the country continues. For the
fourth year running, no company
from Europe or America is taking part at the
fair, which started on Tuesday.
ZITF company marketing and public
relations manager, Cecilia Bhebhe
refused to disclose the number of
exhibitors, but earlier Press reports
indicated that they are around 400,
down from about 600 who took part last
year.
A Botswana
exhibitor, Binn Matengu said the poor turnout of Batswana
companies at the
fair and the inability by Zimbabweans to buy using foreign
currency mirrored
the poor state of the economy. Matengu, an Export
Promotion Officer for the
Botswana Export Development and Investment
Authority said even BOtswAna
firms, which have previously participated at
the ZITF are shunning the
exposition as the business content was declining.
He said only two
Batswana companies are exhibiting, down from six last
year.
"I
think Botswana firms see no reason why they should take part. Your
economy
is performing poorly at the moment. Business is there but the
problem comes
on payment in view of the lack of foreign currency. Any
businessperson
would not accept payment in Zimbabwe dollars," said Matengu.
Tanzania
President, Jakaya Kikwete officially opened the show on
Friday
afternoon.
Christianity Today.
Christians try to negotiate
ministry in southern Africa's most failed state.
by Isaac Phiri | posted
04/28/2006 10:00 a.m.
It still feels like last night to Newton
Mudzingwa. Seven months ago,
Mudzingwa, a security guard in an affluent
suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe's
capital, had a much-appreciated night
off-duty.
He spent the evening in one of the city's burgeoning slums, in
the one-room
shack he had rented-with him, his wife, and his two young
children crammed
into a single bed. It was to be their last night at home
together.
Around midnight, the blare of loudspeakers jolted them out of
sleep. Police
and military officers cheered by President Robert Mugabe's
political
activists swooped down on the slum to demolish "illegal"
structures.
Operation Murambastvina (meaning "Drive Out Trash") had begun.
Mudzingwa
quickly threw together whatever goods he could save. His wife
bundled
blankets around their children. As temperatures plummeted to biting
levels,
they rushed outside. The family then watched as bulldozers reduced
to rubble
the only home the children had ever known.
"All I could ask
was: 'Why, God? Why?'" recalls Mudzingwa.
The government says that only
700,000 people were relocated and that urban
renewal was long overdue. Other
reliable estimates put the figure at 1.7
million displaced people. Either
way, the Mudzingwas were among tens of
thousands of locals suddenly without
shelter, proper food, and clean water.
Broken Promise
The "Mugabe
tsunami," as African news media have labeled the event, pushed
Zimbabwe, a
country the size of Montana with a population of 12 million,
back onto front
pages around the world. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
rushed top envoy
Anna Kajimulo Tibaijuka to begin a fact-finding mission to
the former
Rhodesia.
On the ground, away from the media, churches located in the
slums felt the
first brunt of the government's action. Thousands sought
help.
"Many were coming to churches saying, 'We are desperate,'" says
Jethro Dube,
a pastor on staff with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in
Bulawayo,
the country's second-largest city.
Churches responded by
delivering food, water, and blankets, as well as by
housing many of the
displaced-at least until they, too, were forcibly moved.
The government put
many families into holding camps in remote areas.
"The government has
been very harsh in dealing with poor people," observes
Bulawayo-based Useni
Sibanda, program manager of the Justice and Peace
Commission of the
Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA). Sibanda
witnessed the suffering
and death of some in these camps.
Fortunately, through the help of
churches and friends, Mudzingwa managed to
find safe haven in the country
for his wife and children. Mudzingwa remains
an "illegal" squatter in an
urban building under construction.
The government eventually succumbed to
local and international pressure and
halted the destruction. But by
February, the beginning of the rainy season
in Zimbabwe, thousands were
still living out in the open or under plastic
sheets. The government had
promised earlier to build 200,000 new homes by
the year's end. But the
deadline came and went without much being done. Some
media reports say the
few houses that were constructed crumbled under the
first heavy
rains.
Many church leaders told CT that restoring order in townships was
not the
original issue, regardless of what the Mugabe government claimed.
"It is the
way it was done," explains Tawona Mtshigo, then a church-based
activist and
now director of the International Bible Society in Zimbabwe.
"Was it
cleaning up places or people?" she asks.
House of Stone
Crumbles
Everything about Zimbabwe nowadays is bleak. Harare is gloomy.
Potholes
cripple the already rickety public transportation system. Water
shortages
occur daily. Power outages are frequent and will get worse. The
utility
company says it needs u.s.$9 million per month to pay its bills for
imported
power.
People line up for basic necessities-food, gas,
medicine-if they can be
found, that is. Even cash is scarce. Banks run out.
If you can get cash, you
need a wheelbarrow to carry it home. Gideon Gono,
the country's reserve bank
boss, said inflation would be at 800 percent by
March. "We are all
millionaires," laughs a trader of foreign currency
outside a Harare bus
stop. He offers 1 million Zimbabwean dollars for u.s.
$10.
Pessimism reigns. In Mbare, a high-density slum township near
Harare, the
poverty is glaring. Garbage gathers. Burst sewage pipes gape and
spill.
Street children roam. Residents struggle to make ends meet by
peddling
anything and everything.
Workers are frustrated. "The
government has no clue or strategy to turn
around the economy," said
Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade
Unions.
But how did Zimbabwe (Shona for house of stone), once paraded as
Africa's
most promising nation, become a "wasteland" and a "colossal
disaster," in
the words of Trevor Ncube, a local newspaper
publisher?
All fingers point to Mugabe, now 82. The apparent political
stagnation (many
say degeneration), economic quandary (some say
squandering), and general
social disorder are all deeply rooted in Mugabe's
25-year rule.
Four years ago, Mugabe unexpectedly faced formidable
opposition to his
reelection. The Movement for Democratic Change was overtly
white-supported.
Mugabe said it was "the resurgence of white power." The
response was severe.
"Gangs armed with axes and pangas [machetes] invaded
white-owned farms
across the country," said one report. "Government and army
trucks were used
to transport them to the farms and to keep them supplied
with rations once
there."
The result was that no serious political or
economic reform has been
possible. Zimbabwe remains among the world's top-20
most-failed states,
according to Foreign Policy magazine, for its weak
economy, poor security,
ongoing violence, and corruption. As a result,
millions are at risk of
severe malnutrition for the remainder of
2006.
Call to Prayer
It is a few days before Christmas, and a slender,
rather tall man in a blue
business suit, carrying a black briefcase, walks
through the doors of the
once-lavishly appointed Harare International
Conference Center. He is here
to lead a convention-a prayer convention. He
is Alexander Chisango, pastor
of a Harare church and chair of the Evangelism
and Discipleship Commission
of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe
(EFZ)-a member of the World
Evangelical Alliance. In 2005, the EFZ called
all churches in Zimbabwe to
prayer for "the restoration of our
nation."
As pastors take their seats, a team is already on stage leading
worship. The
music is a sweet combination of local choruses in indigenous
languages,
international contemporary tunes, and traditional hymns. Hands
are raised.
Knees are bent. Bibles are opened. Floors are paced. Prayer for
the nation
is on the minds of everyone.
The music fades. Chisango
takes the pulpit. He does not mince his words. "We
pledged ourselves to pray
for our nation." He says the plan for the all-day
event is prayer. Period.
No long sermons. No networking. No coffee breaks.
Just prayer for the
nation. The need is urgent.
"We are saying things in our nation are not
the way they ought to be," he
says.
Before long, everyone turns to
prayer.
Chisango prays in a corner. Listening to the passionate prayer
for his
country stirs hope. "Lord, bring us to that place where there will
be
complete restoration to the nation of Zimbabwe."
An announcement
is made. Evidently, hotel leaders did not know this would be
a "noisy"
event. They want the convention to move to a soundproof theater.
Music
equipment is pulled down. Directions are given. Church leaders troop
to the
theater designed to contain noise. Fortunately, none need control
their
prayer levels now.
Chisango is not alone in this fervency for
prayer.
"Only God can fix this mess," Samuel Manyika says later (to loud
applause).
A prominent pastor and overseer of 50 churches, Manyika is clad
in a casual
black outfit, but he commands a strong presence that reveals his
standing
among his peers.
"Zimbabwe's problems can only be solved by
God, not by political parties,"
he reiterates.
The call to pray for
Zimbabwe is picking up momentum. In Bulawayo, a monthly
interdenominational
vigil already attracts 3,000 to 4,000 people. "It is a
wake up call-a kairos
moment for the churches," says AEA's Sibanda.
But Chisango and Manyika
hunger for more. Manyika calls for a "no-church
Sunday." All church
buildings will be closed so that Christians can gather
in stadiums to pray.
"Forgo one Sunday's offering," he says to his fellow
pastors. "We need to
saturate our nation in prayer."
Christians in top government positions
agree. "God says if we pray, he will
heal our land," says Rutendo
Wutawunashe, an influential pastor and also
vice chair of the nation's
Anti-Corruption Commission. "Corruption comes
from the heart. We are the
only people with the power to change hearts."
Meanwhile, Christians
continue to help with immediate needs. When drought
and farm invasions
caused food shortages, church organizations responded.
Christian Care became
one of the largest distributors of food. Staff numbers
shot up from 85 to
500 in order to feed 1.6 million people. World Vision and
the Mennonite
Central Committee also delivered relief aid.
The United Nations and other
international organizations have come to see
churches as reliable partners
in responding to Zimbabwe's crisis. Senior
U.N. executives often prefer to
deal with church leaders rather than
government officials. "They met with us
for an hour," said Sibanda,
recalling a high-powered delegation that visited
Bulawayo.
Still, pastors and other Christian leaders must walk a
tightrope. State
security services monitor outspoken religious leaders.
Christians say they
will not back down from speaking out.
"The church
cannot keep quiet when evil is being committed," said Bishop
Sebastian
Bakare of the Anglican diocese of Manicaland. "The church is not
against
politicians, but against evil and unjust acts."
Isaac Phiri is a
journalist based in South Africa.
The Herald
(Harare)
April 28, 2006
Posted to the web April 28,
2006
Bulawayo Bureau
Harare
DELEGATES attending the third
Zimbabwe International Business Conference on
Wednesday agreed that the
country needed to be branded so that it could be
easily
marketed.
Although the delegates could not agree on a theme, arguing that
the country
needed more time to come up with a brand name, which would
reflect the
country's history and aspirations, a number of themes were
discussed, the
most popular of which was "Truly Zimbabwean". Among other
proposed themes
were "Together We make Zimbabwe Great", "Prosper Zimbabwe",
"Genuine
Zimbabwe" and "Great Zimbabwe". Most countries in the world have
brand
names, which they use to market their country, products and services.
South
Africa's brand name, for example, is "Proudly South African". "On the
issue
of branding, I propose, 'Truly, Proudly Zimbabwean'. This is because
most
Zimbabweans are very apologetic for being Zimbabweans to the extent
that
they are afraid of identifying themselves as Zimbabweans," said Dr Ruth
Labode, a businesswoman and former Matabeleland North provincial medical
director.
Most delegates seemed to agree with the brand name but
others who included a
local businesswoman Ms N ancy Guzha, were of the
opinion that a suitable
brand name should only be arrived at, after
analysing the country's core
values, history, culture, heritage and
aspirations. Her argument was
supported by the Deputy Minister of Science
and Technology, Cde Patrick
Zhuwawo, and the Deputy Minister of Economic
Development, Cde Samuel
Undenge. The delegates, however, agreed that a brand
name for the country
was essential but said there was need for further
debate.
The Herald
(Harare)
EDITORIAL
April 28, 2006
Posted to the web April 28,
2006
Harare
THE scrapping this week of the tobacco support price
system by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe is a wake up call to tobacco farmers
who should take their
business seriously and not wait for Government support
everytime.
The Government's objective in making this move is clearly to
separate
opportunists from genuine tobacco farmers. And the message is clear
to all:
Produce a quality tobacco crop and get rewarded, if you can't, quit
trying.
This was underlined by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr
Gideon
Gono, in his brief address to tobacco farmers during the opening of
the 2006
tobacco selling season at the Tobacco Sales Floor this week. Dr
Gono was
being forthright in telling the farmers to stop relying on
Government
support but to work hard on producing quality crop, be innovative
and
self-reliant. Tobacco farmers have for the past few years benefited
immensely from the Government's support price system, which rewarded farmers
across the board -- good quality and poor quality tobacco growers alike. The
support was meant to give a leg up to tobacco farmers, most of whom are
smallholders and beneficiaries of the land reform programme. The Government
wants our tobacco farmers -- particu larly the small holders -- to move out
of the dependency syndrome trap and produce their crop to acceptable quality
standards.
This is exactly the route taken by the world's largest
tobacco producer,
Brazil. That country's smallholder tobacco farmers are
today famous for
their quality tobacco. This latest development by the
central bank has
caught tobacco farmers unawares, coming as it did, on the
eve of the opening
of the 2006 selling season. Opportunists, who have been
in the tobacco
growing business solely to take advantage of the support
price and other
Government facilities availed to the farmers, are as a
result crying foul.
Some smallholder tobacco farmers feel that scrapping the
support price
system is tantamount to killing tobacco farming. However, we
are prompted to
believe that these are opportunist tobacco farmers. They
have in the past
been holding on to their crop and exerting pressure on the
Government to
increase the support price.
The same farmers are
ignoring the huge incentive being offered by the
Government. Growers, who
sell their tobacco before July 31 this year, will
be paid a 35 percent bonus
of the total value of their crop. Tobacco is sold
in United States dollars
and farmers are paid in local currency at the
ruling exchange rate of US$1
to Z$99 201,58. If the exchange rate falls, it
will bring significant
benefits to tobacco farmers as both the total value
and bonus will increase.
We see the scrapping of the tobacco support price
system as an incentive
that should spur farmers to aim for quality crop. The
benefits, as learnt
from the Brazilian experience, will be realised in the
medium to long- term.
We therefore back the Government's advice that those
who feel the heat in
the tobacco barns is too hot to bear should simply
quit.
The Herald
(Harare)
April 28, 2006
Posted to the web April 28,
2006
Harare
THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has failed to
publish the latest mining
and industrial indices since Tuesday, as workers
protest over poor salaries.
Market sources indicated that ZSE employees
were on a go-slow although the
finer details could not be obtained at the
time of going to press. Stock
market chief executive Mr Emmanuel Munyukwi,
however, attributed the delays
to a "crash of the system", which forced the
bourse to compile the figures
manually. But in the absence of index data,
broadly, equity prices have
maintained an upward pattern, as short-term
deposit rates remained steady
over uncertainties of their direction going
forward.
On Monday, the key industrial index closed 8 618,93 points down
at 35 579
058,05 points while minings traded unchanged at 7 764 412,43
points. On
Tuesday, first-tier stocks Meikles and Old Mutual rose $10 500
and $10 000
to close at $230 000 and $570 000 respectively while industrial
conglomerate
Innscor ended at $55 000, up $5 000. Other significant gains
were recorded
in Cafca, Cottco and Art. Analysts predict equities will
continue running
high during this quarter, as rates are projec ted to weaken
on the back of
high inflatio, currently running at 913,6 percent.
April 28,
2006.
By Tagu Mkwenyani
Harare (AND) ZIMBABWE'S Vice
President and several ministers yesterday
snubbed a crucial conference
called to explore ways to generate foreign
currency for the nation opting to
attend a Zanu PF party meeting.
Analysts said this underlined how
officials in President Mugabe's
government prioritised party issues at the
expense of national issues. The
crucial International Business Conference,
held at the on-going Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo,
focused on foreign currency
generation. It was organized at a time when
Zimbabwe faces a critical
shortage of foreign currency and organizers hoped
to bring together business
leaders together with Vice President Joyce Mujuru
and ministers whose
portfolios are critical to the economy. But the Vice
President and his team
of ministers snubbed the conference, opting to attend
a Zanu PF meeting
instead. The other ministers were Obert Mpofu, the
Minister of Industry and
International Trade, Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa, Rugare Gumbo the
Minister of National Development, Rural and Water
Development Minister, the
Science and Technology Minister, Munacho Mutezo
and Olivia Muchena. Mujuru
was supposed to present a paper tilted 'In
pursuit of a shared vision' while
Murerwa was t give a talk on the 'Role of
Corporate Leaders on Foreign
Currency Generation Strategies.' A deputy
minister who turned up at the
conference said the party VP and the minister
were attending a Politburo
meeting. The Politburo is the ruling party's
supreme decision-making body,
which is chaired by President
Mugabe.
AND - Zimbabwe
Reuters
Fri Apr
28, 2006 6:15 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opened its annual trade
fair on Friday with
fewer overseas participants than ever, a stark sign of
the country's
economic downturn and deepening isolation critics blame on
President Robert
Mugabe's government.
The annual fair in the second
city of Bulawayo, once one of Africa's leading
trade events, attracted just
a handful of companies from African and Asian
countries unafraid of showing
solidarity with Mugabe during his stand-off
with the West.
"I would
say this year's fair is the worst in the 47 year history of the
fair, from a
business perspective, and this is a direct reflection of
Zimbabwe's poor
international image," said Bulawayo businessman Eddie Cross,
an official in
the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"There has not
been much real trade conducted and most of the countries that
have come are
here mainly as a political show of solidarity with the ZANU-PF
party
government," Cross told Reuters by telephone.
Official figures show the
number of exhibitors at the fair declined with
local companies down to 353
from 369 last year and only 12, mostly African
and Asian countries,
represented among the foreign stands.
Companies from the United States
and Europe who have given the fair a wide
berth since 2000 stayed away again
this year in a reflection of their
countries' disapproval of Mugabe's
seizure of white-owned farms for blacks
and charges he has rigged recent
elections.
Independent financial analyst James Jowa said the economic
climate in
Zimbabwe was not attractive to most foreign
investors.
"The signals are not there for foreign investors to come and
commit money at
the fair when they may not get any returns," Jowa
said.
Companies in Zimbabwe are struggling with shortages of foreign
exchange and
fuel and the world's highest inflation rate of 913.6 percent.
Mugabe this
year announced his government's plan to extend state control of
the economy
to the key mining sector by taking controlling stakes in
foreign-owned
mines.
"Also there are issues to do with Zimbabwe's
pariah status which have
influenced especially companies from the West. Most
of them will be taking a
cue from their governments," Jowa
said.
Mugabe's fellow African leaders have overwhelmingly shown
solidarity with
him in his stand-off with the West. Tanzania's new president
Jakaya Kikwete
officially opened the Bulawayo show, promising to promote
trade between the
two countries.
The number of local companies at the
show appeared surprisingly respectable
given Zimbabwe's steep economic
decline over the past six years which has
seen industrial capacity reduced
to around 50 percent.
Analysts said some companies had taken a long view
that the economy would
eventually bottom out, and they would need a foothold
in Zimbabwe to benefit
from a rebound.
"I have been speaking to both
locals and foreigners at the fair and they
believe that although there is a
lot wrong with the economy at the moment,
change will come eventually and
they want to have a presence in Zimbabwe
when it does," said leading private
economist Eric Bloch.
The four-day fair has drawn mostly tourism
operators as well as companies
from the printing and packaging, food and
beverage, chemicals and detergents
sectors.
Nation News, Barbados
Published on:
4/28/06.
THE CRICKETERS are here in the West Indies to do battle but
the news coming
out of Zimbabwe are as grim as ever. Much as we hate to
condemn the man who
led the independence struggle against colonialism, we
have to say, even from
this distance, that it is time for President Robert
Mugabe to go.
Closer home we have had the sorry spectacle of a
former Prime Minister of
Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday, going to prison
for making false
declarations to the Integrity Commission. We do not
rejoice.
In Zimbabwe, we have an octogenarian leader who has presided
over the
economic desolation of this once prosperous, though imperfect,
country,
causing incalculable suffering in what was once one of Africa's
most
developed countries.
It was earlier reported that agriculture
and industry were in ruins,
unemployment is almost 80 per cent and the
official inflation rate is
estimated at 913 per cent. The economy has shrunk
by about 50 per cent over
the last six years.
These are startling
statistics that would shame the average leader
elsewhere. Not in Africa it
seems. This has largely been its post-colonial
fate. Consider the fate of
Ghana, the first post-colonial African nation,
with Kwamei Nkrumah's ringing
words in 1957: "Today, from now on, there is a
new African in the world" at
the celebration of Ghanaian independence.
He summarised what became the
principal approach to economic development
across newly-liberated Africa:
"Ghana inherited a colonial economy . . . We
cannot rest until we have
demolished this miserable structure and raised in
its place an edifice of
economic stability, thus creating for ourselves a
veritable paradise of
abundance and satisfaction . . ."
We must go forward with our
preparations for planned economic growth to
supplant the poverty, ignorance,
disease, and illiteracy left in the wake of
discredited colonialism and
decaying imperialism . . . Socialism is the only
pattern that can within the
shortest possible time bring the good life to
the people."
Quite
tragically, the most idealistic leaders of the newly liberated African
nations pursued this economic development put out by the Soviet Union. They
were supported by economic experts who were also misled, and who also
believed that socialism, rather than capitalism, was the best system to
implement in newly liberated African nations.
Nkrumah had destroyed
his country's private industries and private
agriculture systems based on
socialist ideals and the advice of economic
advisors. His idealistic
leadership in liberating Ghana was a precursor to
colonial liberation across
the continent, and led to a long series of
horribly misguided economic
disasters.
The economic collapse of one African nation after another led
to the rise of
one African dictator after another. These, in turn, have led
their nations
in dozens of wars leading to millions of deaths that were
often barely
noticed in the restof the world.
Zimbabwe is suffering
the same fate.
News24
28/04/2006 17:48 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean rights groups on Friday said they were
outraged at plans
to introduce a new bill which will enable state agents to
eavesdrop on
private conversations and monitor faxes and emails.
The
government has drafted the Interception of Communications Bill that will
set
up a spy centre to "monitor and intercept certain communications" from a
variety of sources, said a draft of the bill of which AFP obtained a copy on
Friday.
Under the proposed law, telecommunication service providers
will be
compelled to install devices to enable interception of phone
conversations,
faxes and emails.
Rights groups have slammed the
proposed law as further tightening President
Robert Mugabe's iron grip on
the media and communications.
"This is fascism, simple and pure, and it's
so shocking that we are having
such type of laws in this age," said Jessie
Majome, of the National
Constitutional Assembly
(NCA).
Unconstitutional
"This is going to formalise what the
government has always been doing, that
is monitoring and intercepting
communications. This will totally erode the
target's right to privacy,"
Majome said, whose civic organisation is
agitating for a "people-driven"
constitution for Zimbabwe.
Human rights lawyer Chris Mhike deplored the
bill as "unconstitutional and
unreasonable" saying it would amount to
violation of press freedom if it was
to be used to intercept media-related
information.
"By empowering state officials to intercept everything from
letters, faxes,
e-mail and telephone conversations, the bill will take away
the little,
almost non-existent democratic space in the country," Elizabeth
Marunda,
spokesperson for civic alliance, Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition.
Human rights lawyer Otto Saki said the bill "takes us years
backwards."
"We already have a restrictive bill of rights which does not
guarantee
fundamental freedoms. Now we have a bill that will allow illicit
means to
obtain information," Saki said.
Transport and Communications
Minister Christopher Mushowe confirmed the bill
was under discussion but
declined to comment on it.
By
Tichaona Sibanda
28 April 2006
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai is reported to be in South Africa as head
of his party's
delegation for talks with South African President Thabo
Mbeki.
His arch-rival Arthur Mutambara, leader of the pro-senate faction, is
expected in the UK from Sweden for a meeting with his supporters in
Manchester on Sunday.
Savious Kwinika, a journalist based in
South Africa, told us he heard
from his sources that Tsvangirai's meeting
was at the invitation of Thabo
Mbeki, the first since the October 12 split
in the MDC that saw the
emergence of two factions.
The
Mutambara faction has already met Mbeki after Tsvangirai spurned
an earlier
invitation before his March congress.
The meeting is expected to
improve relations with Mbeki, whom
Tsvangirai once referred to as "not an
honest broker." Mbeki is reported to
still be trying to initiate dialogue
between the MDC and the ruling Zanu PF
party.
The Zimbabwe
Independent reported Friday that the visit is the first
of a regional tour
that will take the MDC delegation to Namibia for talks
with Namibian
president Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Early this year Tsvangirai and his
delegation of national chairman
Isaac Matongo, information secretary Nelson
Chamisa and presidential
spokesman William Bango were booted out of
Zambia.
While the Mutambara delegation is expected to meet its
supporters on
Sunday, UK activists aligned to the Tsvangirai led MDC will
have their
meeting on Saturday to look at the progress of the restructuring
exercise,
also in Manchester.
Paul Ruwona, information and
Publicity officer for the branch, said
people should not construe their
meeting as a tactical ploy to try and
destabilise the Sunday
meeting.
'We live in a democracy where we can meet and discuss as a
group
anytime, anywhere. And so can they, in fact this is the type of
democracy we
want in Zimbabwe. If they are genuine politicians fighting for
a democratic
Zimbabwe I am sure they will have no problems with that,'
Ruwona said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
28 April 2006
The National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) has
issued a stark warning that the
country is headed for a catastrophe if the
food situation doesn't urgently
improve.
With an estimated three million people facing severe food
shortages
Nango advocacy and communications manager, Fambai Ngirande,
recently told
Parliament that appeals for food aid from the international
community had
received a 'very poor' response.
Giving evidence
before a parliamentary portfolio committee on Labour
and Social welfare,
Ngirande blamed the country's appalling human rights
record for the snub by
the donors.
'The level of funding into Zimbabwe is devastatingly
low. Donors are
skirting the country because out of US$276m that we
requested only a paltry
US$9m has so far made its way into our coffers,'
Ngirande said.
Ngirande's warning comes in the wake of a similar
warning by retired
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Vitalis
Zvinavashe who on Thursday
called for openness about food shortages
affecting the country.
In a thinly veiled attack on Robert Mugabe
and his Cabinet, who in the
past have claimed that the country had enough
food when it did not,
Zvinavashe said: 'We have to be open about the food
situation. We have heard
people saying I have so many tonnes of food but if
you go to the Grain
Marketing Board there is nothing.'
The
government is sensitive and highly secretive on issues regarding
food
security in the country. Last week they barred the Food and
Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) from making an independent assessment of
food
requirements in the country which once again is expected to harvest
less
food this year.
Mugabe and Agriculture minister Joseph Made last
year falsely said
Zimbabwe had a bumper harvest of maize, in a bid to
portray the government's
controversial land reforms as
successful.
The land reforms under which the government seized
productive farms
from whites for redistribution to blacks are blamed for
destabilising the
mainstay agricultural sector, causing a 60 percent drop in
food production.
Once a regional breadbasket the country has
largely survived on food
handouts from international donor groups since the
farm seizure programme
began six years ago.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By
Lance Guma
28 April 2006
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions has filed an urgent chamber
application in the High Court challenging
a last minute decision by the
Mutare City Council to cancel a venue booking.
The ZCTU was scheduled to use
Sakubva Stadium as one of their venues for the
May Day celebrations on
Monday next week but political pressure led to
officials there making a
u-turn. The ZCTU becomes the second organisation
inside two weeks to be
snubbed by the same council after the opposition MDC
were last week told the
venue was not available for their Mutare rally.
Despite the move the MDC
still held a successfully rally at the Chisamba
grounds in the city.
Mlamleli Sibanda a spokesman for the ZCTU says
they booked and paid
for the use of Sakubva Stadium last year but now the
council have offered
the money back saying they don't have police clearance.
Sibanda says this is
just an excuse because under the relevant legislation
they only need to
inform the police about the event and not get their
permission. He suspects
the government wants to keep the venue free for
rival trade union, the
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) which is a
government-sponsored
organisation. Despite the Mutare set back the ZCTU is
hoping to conduct
workers day celebrations in 20 stadiums across the
country. Gwanzura
(Harare), White City (Bulawayo), Chibuku (Chitungwiza) and
Mkoba (Gweru) are
some of the selected venues.
Meanwhile
Sibanda told Newsreel that they have taken delivery of the
sanitary
protection donated to them by well-wishers from outside the
country. The
government playing political games, insisted the trade union
pay duty for
the donation because it was not their 'core business.' The ZCTU
forked out
Z$1,7 billion in duty to secure the release of the donated
products. It
hopes to distribute the 19 tonnes of pads through its
nationwide
structures.
Due to Zimbabwe's economic collapse the majority of women
are no
longer able to afford any sanitary pads, and have to resort to the
unhealthy
use of newspapers, rags or even leaves.
.................
Tsvangirai starts diplomatic offensive to brief
leaders on protests
By Tichaona Sibanda
28 April
2006
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is reported to be in South Africa
as head
of his party's delegation for talks with South African President
Thabo
Mbeki.
His arch-rival Arthur Mutambara, leader of the
pro-senate faction, is
expected in the UK from Sweden for a meeting with his
supporters in
Manchester on Sunday.
Savious Kwinika, a
journalist based in South Africa, told us he heard
from his sources that
Tsvangirai's meeting was at the invitation of Thabo
Mbeki, the first since
the October 12 split in the MDC that saw the
emergence of two
factions.
The Mutambara faction has already met Mbeki after
Tsvangirai spurned
an earlier invitation before his March
congress.
The meeting is expected to improve relations with Mbeki,
whom
Tsvangirai once referred to as "not an honest broker." Mbeki is
reported to
still be trying to initiate dialogue between the MDC and the
ruling Zanu PF
party.
The Zimbabwe Independent reported Friday
that the visit is the first
of a regional tour that will take the MDC
delegation to Namibia for talks
with Namibian president Hifikepunye
Pohamba.
Early this year Tsvangirai and his delegation of national
chairman
Isaac Matongo, information secretary Nelson Chamisa and
presidential
spokesman William Bango were booted out of Zambia.
While the Mutambara delegation is expected to meet its supporters on
Sunday,
UK activists aligned to the Tsvangirai led MDC will have their
meeting on
Saturday to look at the progress of the restructuring exercise,
also in
Manchester.
Paul Ruwona, information and Publicity officer for the
branch, said
people should not construe their meeting as a tactical ploy to
try and
destabilise the Sunday meeting.
'We live in a democracy
where we can meet and discuss as a group
anytime, anywhere. And so can they,
in fact this is the type of democracy we
want in Zimbabwe. If they are
genuine politicians fighting for a democratic
Zimbabwe I am sure they will
have no problems with that,' Ruwona said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror
Reporter
issue date :2006-Apr-28
HARARE City Council employees are on
a go-slow and have threatened to embark
on a fully-fledged strike to force
the municipality to review their salaries
in tandem with the poverty datum
line pegged at $35 million.
The go-slow is likely to affect service
delivery in the capital.
Some employees told The Daily Mirror yesterday that
the job action, which
started on Monday, followed a meeting with the
leadership of the Harare
Municipal Workers Union (HMWU) at Mai Musodzi Hall
in Mbare last week.
"After the meeting, all employees were advised by the
HMWU to be on a
go-slow pending a fully-fledged strike. The message was
disseminated to all
departments on Friday (last week) and as we speak we are
on go-slow," said
an employee who requested anonymity.
Other employees
said the meeting was to be held with Town House authorities
this week to try
and find a solution.
"We intended to meet Town House authorities this week
over the matter, but
the majority of them have since travelled to Bulawayo
for the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair (ZITF)," another employee
said.
However, some employees noted that the go-slow would not yield any
significant results unless they completely downed tools.
"The majority of
council employees do not have tools and other equipment to
use in their
respective departments and can as well be said to be on a
go-slow even if
they were not," said another employee.
HMWU chairman, Cosmos Bungu, last week
wrote a letter to the chairperson of
the Commission running the affairs of
the municipality, Sekesai Makwavarara,
expressing dismay over the failure by
council to attend employment council
meetings to discuss the welfare of the
employees.
"The HMWU has therefore been mandated to request for a meeting
with your
commission and town clerk (Nomutsa Chideya) in order that a way
forward can
be found as a matter of urgency.
"We wish to point out that
the HMWU has been directed to premise this
request for a meeting within a
period of 7 days from the date of this letter
due to the hardships being
faced by the employees wherein the paltry
salaries they get no longer make
sense," read part of Bungu's letter.
He claimed the least paid employee
earned a basic salary of $5,6 million yet
the poverty datum line was pegged
at $35 million.
Added Bungu: "The understanding would have been that with the
increased cash
flows the City would endeavour to award its workers the
recognition they
deserve by giving them decent salaries."
He argued that
the majority of the municipality's employees were reeling
under poverty as
their salaries were still pegged in terms of the "2005
first quarter salary
increase."
He further claimed employees were getting $560 000 as housing
allowances,
yet council was charging them $3 200 000 for the accommodation
it provides
to them.
Bungu said HMWU recently agreed with the Minister of
Local Government,
Public Works and Public Development,Ignatius Chombo, that
since the approval
of the economic tariffs, the city was supposed to
expeditiously address the
issue of salaries.
Recently, Chombo told the
council to remunerate its employees well taking
into consideration the
current hyper-inflation.
Inflation is pegged at 913 percent.
Yesterday,
Bungu's deputy Edmore Mudukuti confirmed the employees were on a
go-slow,
but referred questions to Bungu.
"They are on a go-slow following a
misunderstanding with council on issues
pertaining to their welfare," he
said.
He said HMWU leadership has since met Makwavarara and Chideya, but
would not
divulge issues discussed.
Efforts to get a comment from either
Makwavarara or Chideya were fruitless
as they were reportedly attending the
ZITF in Bulawayo.
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
spokesperson, Precious Shumba,
yesterday
said the industrial action was
going
to impact heavily on service
delivery.
"The industrial action is
going to destroy what remains of Harare, but this
does not take away the
blame from authorities running the affairs of the
city.
"It is their
responsibility to satisfy the needs of their employees and most
importantly,
of the residents," Shumba said.
He added the go-slow was likely to worsen the
situation considering that the
municipality was failing to deliver because
of shortage of manpower and
equipment, among other reasons.
"The shortage
of equipment is a clear testimony that under Makwavarara the
municipality
will not deliver anything," Shumba said.
Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Date: 28 Apr
2006
A donation to IOM's humanitarian programmes in Zimbabwe by the
Swedish
government will go a long way in providing much needed assistance to
mobile
and vulnerable populations this year.
The donation of $US 1.9
million for 2006 through Sweden's development
agency (SIDA), makes the
Scandinavian country the largest donor to IOM's
work in Zimbabwe, having
provided more than $US 5.7 million over the past
three years.
IOM,
which has taken the lead in providing humanitarian assistance to
displaced
populations in the country, has helped nearly 455,000 people since
2003.
Assistance has been through food and non-food items, livelihood
support,
water and sanitation, transportation and shelter. In addition,
HIV/AIDS
activities have been mainstreamed within these programmes.
SIDA's
donation will primarily be used to provide assistance to mobile
populations
and Zimbabwean migrants deported from South Africa at the border
town of
Beitbridge as well as on work to minimize HIV risks and gender-based
violence during emergencies.
"2005 was a year of real success for IOM
in reaching more and more
Zimbabweans. But the needs have not dissipated and
these crucial funds allow
us to continue and expand our work. I am sincerely
grateful to the Swedish
government for this support, as I am sure are the
Zimbabweans who will
receive it," said IOM chief of mission in Harare,
Mohammed Abdiker, during a
ceremony attended by Goran Engstrand, Minister
for Development Cooperation
at the Swedish Embassy in the Zimbabwean
capital.
For further information, please contact Nicola Simmonds, IOM
Harare, Tel:
+263 433 5044/48 Email: nsimmonds@iom.int