The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Reuters

      Zimbabwe says to resume clean-up blitz in capital
      Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:49 PM GMT

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe authorities said on Tuesday they would resume a
clean-up blitz to drive illegal vendors out of the capital, weeks after
halting the exercise which sparked an international outcry.

Zimbabwe last month declared an end to its controversial demolitions of
shantytowns, dubbed "Operation Restore Order", after a critical U.N. report
said the operation had destroyed the homes or jobs of at least 700,000
people.

Harare City Council spokesman Lesley Gwindi told Reuters on Monday that
municipal authorities were worried that street children and illegal traders
had returned to the capital and were once again operating from unapproved
sites.

"We are going to remove them, we will push them out," Gwindi said. "The
question was always whether we will be able to sustain the order and
cleanness that was brought about by the clean-up exercise and this is what
we are doing," he said.

Gwindi said Harare authorities, municipal police and the national police
were meeting in the capital to come up with a strategy on how to proceed. By
midday on Tuesday there was no sign that any clean-up action had started.

Street vendors, including illegal foreign currency traders, have in the past
two weeks returned to the city centre, where they sell their wares at
undesignated sites.

Street children have also returned to begin in the capital, while touts are
back in business flagging down commuters for private minibus taxi services
and directing traffic.

MILLIONS AFFECTED

UN-HABITAT director Anna Tibaijuka, sent by U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan to assess the initial crackdown, said in a report made public last
month the campaign had destroyed the homes or jobs of at least 700,000
people and affected the lives of another 2.4 million.

The government has asked for help from the international community including
the United Nations to build new housing for thousands of homeless residents.

In May the government sent police and bulldozers to raze illegal structures,
arguing this would rid cities of crime and illegal trading in foreign
currency and basic commodities.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change accuses the government of
targeting the party's urban strongholds.

Tibaijuka has briefed the U.N. Security Council on her report after Britain,
with the backing of United States and others, forced the 15-member body to
pose questions on her report behind closed doors in an effort to get
Zimbabwe on the council's agenda.

Zimbabwe, estranged from Western countries mainly over its controversial
land reform programme and accusations it has rigged elections since 2000,
has dismissed Tibaijuka's report as biased and unfair.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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Reuters

      Zimbabwe dismisses AU mediation effort on crisis
      Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:13 PM GMT

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government will not engage the opposition to
end the country's political crisis despite African Union (AU) efforts to
mediate, state media said on Tuesday.

The AU's chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, last week appointed
former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano to mediate in Zimbabwe's worst
crisis since independence in 1980.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has welcomed the
mediation offer, saying talks with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF
party would pave the way for Mugabe to retire and make way for an interim
coalition government that would hold elections monitored by the
international community.

But acting Information Minister Chen Chimutengwende told the official Herald
newspaper that no talks were on the cards.

"The government of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF ... do not recognise the MDC as an
independent and patriotic party. It is not worth negotiating with,"
Chimutengwende said.

Chimutengwende said the AU's appointment of Chissano was pointless because
"there will be no talks between ZANU-PF and the MDC".

The AU hopes Chissano can smooth relations between ZANU-PF and the MDC,
which has repeatedly accused the ruling party of rigging elections to stay
in power.

Mugabe says the MDC is a front for Western efforts to topple him from power.
Last week he said it would be more useful to talk to British Prime Minister
Tony Blair.

The MDC denies the charges and has said the country's deepening economic
crisis, including shortages of fuel, foreign exchange and some commodities
and triple-digit inflation, would force Mugabe to negotiate.

Zimbabwe's economy is in its worst plight since independence from Britain 25
years ago. Critics say the crisis has been triggered in part by government
seizures of white-owned farms for resettlement of landless blacks,.a move
they say gutted the once-key agricultural sector.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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MDC PRESS
 
16 August 2005
 
SADC Leaders Must Confront the Zimbabwe Crisis
 
 
At last year’s Heads of State meeting in Mauritius, SADC leaders appeared to make solid progress towards deepening democracy in the region when they ratified the SADC Protocol on Guidelines and Principles Governing Democratic Elections.
 
 
Regrettably, in the Zimbabwe context, the encouraging rhetoric that accompanied these new governance benchmarks has not translated into reality. Clear violations of the SADC Protocol by the Zimbabwe Government, during the March 2005 parliamentary elections campaign, were met with a deafening silence by SADC leaders. Similarly, the region has been silent on the damning report on ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ (Restore Order) published by UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka on July 18. 
 
 
The 700,000 people who have lost their homes and livelihoods since May deserve, at the very least, public expressions of concern and solidarity from SADC leaders. Instead their suffering is either dismissed as an ‘internal matter’ or absurdly justified as an inevitable consequence of rapid urbanisation. The people of Zimbabwe have been bitterly let down time and time again by SADC.  
 
 
The suffering that has been precipitated by Mugabe’s crude instruments of public policy cannot be dismissed as an ‘internal matter’.  Turning a blind eye, and indulging Mugabe on the skewed basis of historical friendship, is not in the region’s best interests.
 
 
The risk of this approach is that Zimbabwe could become a failed state; a development which would have serious socio-economic consequences not just for Zimbabwe but also for the whole region. It is imperative that all stakeholders work together to avoid this worst case scenario.
 
 
At the Heads of State meeting scheduled to take place in Botswana on Wednesday and Thursday this week SADC, leaders have an opportunity to use the leverage that they have at their disposal to advance the objective of finding a peaceful and democratic solution to the Zimbabwe crisis.
 
 
They have a collective responsibility to act. SADC states fought bitter struggles to liberate and improve the welfare of their citizens. The very fact that Zimbabweans are now being stripped of the rights gained at independence should provide compelling grounds for concerted action to restore these hard earned freedoms.
 
 
If this opportunity is squandered then at next year’s meeting SADC leaders may well be confronted with a crisis that has spiraled out of control. This would cast a dark shadow over the region’s commitment to improving democratic governance.  
 
 
 
Paul Themba Nyathi
MDC Secretary for Information and Publicity
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BBC

      SA fears Zimbabwe 'failed state'
      South Africa is trying to avoid Zimbabwe becoming a "failed state",
its deputy foreign minister has said.
      Aziz Pahad said South Africa did not want Zimbabwe's government and
opposition to form a government of national unity to solve its problems.

      He said South Africa wanted Zimbabwe to change its economic policies,
in return for a loan, which is being negotiated.

      Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's government has again ruled out the idea of
holding talks with the main opposition party.

      Zimbabwe is going through an economic crisis, with shortages of food,
fuel and foreign currency, and rampant unemployment and inflation.

      'Fundamental changes'

      It has asked South Africa for an emergency loan so it can repay its
debts to the IMF and avoid expulsion.

      There had been reports that South Africa was insisting the government
hold talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), or even
that they form a coalition government.

      "We are negotiating in the... broad context that we need fundamental
economic changes, and how do we minimise the political tensions of Zimbabwe
without necessarily talking about governments of national unity," Mr Pahad
said.

      He said the conditions of the loan had not been finalised.

      Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has denied responsibility for the
economic problems - blaming them on a Western plot to remove him from power.

      The South African government has been criticised at home and abroad
for not taking a tougher line with Mr Mugabe over alleged human rights and
electoral fraud.

      But Mr Pahad defended South Africa's policy of "quiet diplomacy".

      "All our interventions on the Zimbabwean issue have been to prevent a
failed state on our doorstep," he said.

      Envoy snubbed

      Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's acting information minister has dismissed the
appointment of an African Union envoy for Zimbabwe.

      Chen Chimutengwende said there was no point in naming former
Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano, according to the state-owned Herald
newspaper.

      "This is because there will be no talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC,"
he said.

      Southern African leaders are meeting in Botswana this week but Mr
Mugabe's officials have denied reports that they would be discussing
Zimbabwe's problems.

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Mail and Guardian

      New Bill to strengthen Mugabe's hand

      Michael Hartnack | Harare, Zimbabwe

      16 August 2005 04:41

            Ruling-party legislators in Zimbabwe are pushing a new slate of
constitutional amendments critics say are designed to strengthen ageing and
autocratic President Robert Mugabe.

            A 22-clause Bill before Parliament, which reconvened on Tuesday
after a two-week break, will establish a 40-seat Senate, strip land owners
of all rights of appeal if their property is seized and allow the government
to deny its critics passports, lawyers say.

            Government officials were not immediately available for comment
on Tuesday on the proposals. No date has been announced for Parliament to
debate them, but the House received 30 days' notice of its introduction a
month ago.

            In a petition to legislators and judges, 100 of the country's
top lawyers described the proposed amendments as "a direct affront to basic
human rights norms" and "the greatest challenge yet" to the legal
profession, the judiciary and the estimated 15-million Zimbabweans at home
and abroad.

            Jonathan Moyo, who was Mugabe's propaganda chief for five years
and is now the lone independent among Parliament's 150 members, said the
proposed changes are part of the 81-year-old Mugabe's efforts to control who
will succeed him and when.

            The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change is vowing to
fight the Bill. But with just 41 lawmakers, opposition chief whip Innocent
Gonese conceded the party won't be able to prevent the changes from coming
into effect.

            Mugabe's Zanu-PF claimed 78 of Parliament's 120 elected seats in
a bitterly disputed March 31 election, and the president nominates an
additional 30 representatives.

            Lawyers headed by law Professor Geoffrey Feltoe said in their
petition that Zimbabwe inherited a "fundamentally deficient Constitution" at
independence from Britain in 1980 that is in urgent need of reform to
strengthen its human rights protections.

            The proposed Bill does the opposite, they argued.

            It "seeks to remove fundamental rights to property, secure
protection of the law and freedom of movement", the petition said.

            Moyo said the move to establish a second House of Parliament and
increase the government's powers of expropriation "buys Mugabe the patronage
he needs" after divisions within the ruling party burst into the open over
the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as Second Vice-President in December.

            Moyo defected from the ruling party after losing his job as
information minister in a power struggle with Mugabe over Mujuru's
appointment to a position that places her in line to succeed the president.

            He said he has no qualms about aligning with his former rivals
in the MDC to oppose the amendments.

            Few details have been released about the proposed new chamber,
except that it will represent traditional chiefs, retired politicians and
other eminent Zimbabweans.

            The Bill will also give the government power to refuse passports
on grounds of national interest, which lawyers argue could be used to
restrict the movements of its critics.

            It also closes the last legal recourse open to white farmers
whose land has been designated for redistribution to black Zimbabweans. The
effect will be to reduce land owners -- even in urban areas -- to "mere
tenants at the will of the state", said Zimbabwe's Human Rights Forum.

            "The mere fact that a land owner has fallen from political
favour will be sufficient reason to expropriate his land," the forum said in
a statement that predicted "disastrous economic results".

            Mugabe defends the often violent seizure of about 5 000
white-owned commercial farms as a bid to right colonial-era imbalances in
land ownership. But critics blame the so-called fast-track reform for the
collapse of Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy.

            About four million Zimbabweans now need food relief in a country
that was once a regional breadbasket, according to United Nations figures.
The country is also facing the possibility of expulsion from the
International Monetary Fund for failing to make payments on its $300-million
arrears.

            South African President Thabo Mbeki has reportedly been pressing
Mugabe to negotiate with the opposition to resolve the political and
economic crisis gripping Zimbabwe as a condition for a $1-billion bail-out.
But Mugabe has ruled out any such talks.

            Despite mounting pressure for reform, Gonese and Moyo believe
Mugabe's party won't hesitate to push through its constitutional amendments.

            "Zanu-PF is one of the most arrogant political parties. I do not
believe they will wait at all, and we do not foresee any of their members
breaking ranks," Gonese said. -- Sapa-AP

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VOA

Southern African Regional Summit Aims to Overlook Zimbabwe Crisis By
Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
      Washington
      15 August 2005

Nations of the Southern African Development Community are meeting in summit
this week in Gaborone, Botswana, location of SADC headquarters, but the
organization is very likely to do all it can to avoid tackling the Zimbabwe
crisis, some analysts say.

Zimbabwe's economic collapse, political paralysis and social dislocation
could, though, command attention on the margins of the summit. The African
Union's special envoy to Harare, former Mozambican president Joaquim
Chissano, is expected to show up to rally support for his effort to prompt
talks between Harare and its opposition.

But the Zimbabwe crisis did not officially figure on the SADC agenda,
dominated by the question of how Africa should be represented on the U.N.
Security Council, trade, and regional integration, including a proposed
common currency for the area.

Nor is Zimbabwe likely to come up officially during SADC forum, according to
Herman Honekom, parliamentary liaison officer for the Africa Institute of
South Africa.

Reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with Mr.
Honekom about the SADC summit and ongoing developments in the crisis.

Some ordinary Zimbabweans feel optimism that Mr. Chissano might be able to
bring Zimbabwe's ruling party and its opposition together in a political
dialogue.

Correspondent Safari Njema sampled public opinion in Harare and filed a
report on the outlook at street level
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Reuters

      Zimbabwe spends more on drought, silent on loan
      Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:35 PM BST

By Stella Mapenzauswa and MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's cash-strapped government will spend more money
than initially planned this year, mainly on drought relief, sharply widening
the budget deficit, Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said on Tuesday.

The country is mired in its worst economic crisis since independence 25
years ago and is virtually bankrupt after donors withheld funds over policy
differences with President Robert Mugabe's government, especially seizures
of white-owned farms.

A combination of drought and the land seizures have left the former
breadbasket of the region with severe food shortages. The World Food
Programme estimates that about 4.3 million Zimbabweans may face hunger in
coming months.

Murerwa told parliament, amid murmurs of derision from the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), that the government needed another 6.6
trillion Zimbabwe dollars by December, with food imports a big issue.

"Latest estimates indicate that to December 2005 total drought relief will
require 1.4 trillion dollars in support of grain importation ... The
challenge of importation has largely been raising the required foreign
exchange," he said.

"I therefore propose to finance these additional expenditures from
re-allocation of funds ... and additional revenue measures."

Murerwa said the additional spending will push Zimbabwe's budget deficit to
8.7 percent of gross domestic product in calendar 2005, compared with his 5
percent deficit forecast when the budget was tabled last November.

The MDC, which blames the government for ruining the once prosperous
economy, said Murewa had failed to offer solutions for a crisis that has
seen the former British colony endure six years of recession.

BROKE GOVERNMENT

"What he has told us is that the government is broke. We view this
supplementary budget as nothing but efforts to sanitise the disarray in the
government," said MDC spokesman Tapiwa Mashakada.

"It will lead to an expansionary fiscal policy which will undermine what the
Governor (of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) has been doing."

The central bank is trying to contain inflation and has repeatedly called
for tighter government spending.

Murerwa made no mention of the loan Zimbabwe is seeking from neighbouring
South Africa, which media reports have estimated at $1 billion. But he said
the government would borrow an additional 1.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars from
the local market.

The country is experiencing an acute shortage of foreign currency which has
seen it unable to service its foreign debts and secure regular fuel
supplies.

Growth forecasts for 2005 were revised further down to below 2 percent from
earlier estimates of 3.5 percent. The economy has contracted by more than 30
percent in the last six years.

"This year's growth prospects, initially predicated on the rebound of
agriculture, as well as on the improvement in mining performance, have now
receded," Murerwa said. "Inflation is unacceptably high, similarly
unemployment also remains a major challenge."

Analysts said Murerwa's revised growth forecasts were still overly
optimistic in an economy grappling with unemployment of over 70 percent and
one of the world's highest inflation rates.

"A large part of what he said is based on the wrong assumption that there
will be growth this year when in fact we believe we'll get a further
contraction of 5 percent. He is trying to put a brave face on a rather grim
picture," said leading private economic consultant John Robertson.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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VOA

      Allegations of Secret Funding to Three Zimbabwe Newspapers
      By Peta Thornycroft
      Harare
      16 August 2005

Two major Zimbabwe newspaper groups have been accused of receiving covert
funding from state security agents. The allegations were published by the
country's only fully independent newspaper company.

In its latest edition, the weekly Zimbabwe Independent reported in detail on
what it said were the means used by the Central Intelligence Organization to
substantially and secretly fund three newspapers. The CIO, as it is known,
has allocated about $65 million annually out of funds designated for the
office of President Robert Mugabe. Those funds are never audited by
parliament.

The three newspapers are the weekly Financial Gazette, The Daily Mirror, and
its sister Sunday publication. The Financial Gazette was a fully independent
newspaper until three years ago when it was taken over by a government
supporting group. The Mirror group has always been owned by a group
sympathetic to the ruling party.

The Zimbabwe government publicly funds or controls some newspapers in
Zimbabwe, such as The Herald. But until the revelations by the Independent
it was widely accepted that the three publications in question, were fully
privately funded.

Director Andrew Moyse of the Media Monitoring Project, which observes and
analyzes Zimbabwean media, said the three publications have in the past
three years published reports largely favorable to the ruling ZANU-PF party.

He said that the two Mirror group newspapers do not have enough advertising
or circulation to survive in Zimbabwe's hyper-inflationery economic
situation where production costs are soaring, and that they would have
needed additional funding.

Editor Sunsleey Chuminorwa of the Financial Gazette, which was sold three
years ago to associates of central-bank Governor Gideon Gono, said the
accusations are untrue and he will publish a rebuttal Thursday.

The owner of the Mirror Group Ibbo Mandaza, a long-time supporter of Zanu-PF
also denies the allegations and said he operates on a bank overdraft which
was granted him by Mr. Gono when he was running a commercial bank.

Former information minister Jonathan Moyo told VOA he was shocked to learn
of the covert funding that allegedly took place during his tenure in office
and said he would investigate the accusations. Mr. Moyo is now an unaligned
member of parliament.

As information minister oversaw tough new media laws which required all
media and journalists to obtain accreditation by a government appointed
media commission.

The highest circulation newspaper, The Daily News, and several smaller
weeklies were banned from publishing in the past two years because they were
denied accreditation by Mr. Moyo's commission. Scores of journalists were
arrested, deported or forced into exile under the laws he designed.

Zimbabwe Advertising Practitioners Association Chairman Alistair Carlisle
said advertisers continued to do business with state-controlled media,
sometimes because there was no alternative, but that the political loyalties
of that media were public knowledge.

He said all advertisers expected professionalism and transparency from the
media houses, and that he had been surprised at the recent revelations over
secret funding of the three newspapers which had claimed to be independent.

Mr. Gono and Nicholas Goche, state security minister until four months ago,
declined to comment on allegations that they had been party to the covert
funding of the three newspapers.

Zimbabwe has two newspapers that claim to be independent, The Independent
and its stablemate, The Standard. Both are weeklies with limited
circulations, because they are unaffordable for Zimbabwe's increasingly poor
population.

Besides newspapers, the state owns and controls the only television station
and all four radio stations.
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Parliament resumes with 2 crucial bills pending

      By Tererai Karimakwenda
      16 August 2005

      Parliament resumed sitting Tuesday with 2 crucial bills waiting in the
wings. There was a public hearing on the Constitutional Amendment Bill the
first week of August. This is the bill that seeks to establish a new senate
and attempts to block any challenges to the acquisition of land by the
government, thereby legitimising the land reform programme.

      The other important bill is the Educational Amendment Bill which had a
public hearing on Thursday 11th August. The purpose of this Bill is to amend
the Education Act and give powers to the Minister of Education to prescribe
school fees and levies of non-government schools and increase penalties for
schools that do not comply. The Minister would also have powers to prescribe
and vet the qualifications of teachers employed by non-government schools,
and make regulations governing the conduct of associations of teachers and
school uniforms.

      The Law Society of Zimbabwe has been lobbying against the
Constitutional Amendment Bill. Society president Joseph James talked to
Gugulethu Moyo on the programme In The Balance, where he described what
different groups are doing, and said all Zimbabweans should be very
concerned about it.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
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News24

Zim loan 'not finalised'
16/08/2005 16:32  - (SA)

Pretoria - Government says a loan agreement between South Africa and
Zimbabwe has not been finalised yet, as both the Finance Minister Trevor
Manuel and the Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni are still interacting with
their counterparts reports government news agency BuaNews.

Briefing the media yesterday on the ministerial meeting and Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit that kicked off yesterday in Gaborone,
Botswana, Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad said South Africa had
to look at other political and economic factors in order to financially
assist Zimbabwe.

Pahad said: "It is not only about financial aid, there has also been too
much emphasis for the government of national unity, our view is that
political parties and the private sector have to come together and find a
common approach."

Zimbabwe has requested a loan from South Africa in order to pay its
International Monetary Fund debt, failure of which might result in Harare
being kicked out of the international institution.

South Africa has agreed "in principle" to give President Robert Mugabe's
government a loan, as part of the economic recovery package to stop the
Harare economy from total collapse.

Regarding the SADC Summit, Minister Pahad said the key items on the agenda
would be the reviewing of developments in the region with special emphasis
on the economic, social, food security and political situation.

He said economic growth accelerated last year in the SADC region as the GDP
grew by 4.1% against the growth rate of 3.2% of 2003.

"Economic growth is however not homogeneous across the region. The fastest
growing economies are Angola, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) with growth rates of 11%, 7.8% and 6.3% respectively.

"Botswana and Malawi were also above Africa's and SADC average growth rates
with a GDP of 4.8% and 4.9% respectively," said Pahad.

He added that the region had peace and stability and there was consolidation
of democracy and rule of law.

"In October this year Tanzania will be holding elections, we hope they will
also implement the SADC Principles and Guidelines governing democratic
elections as well," he said.

He added that South Africa also played a major role in bringing about peace
in the DRC and Burundi.

He explained that the DRC's new constitution had been adopted by parliament
and that there would be a constitutional referendum in November next year.

That country's constitution also guaranteed a 50/50% gender participation in
the political institutions.

He continued: "There is relative peace and security in the region, however
some challenges such as cross border crime, trafficking of weapons, airspace
and maritime security and terrorism remain to be addressed."
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Our Team Must Look Behind Mad Bob's Mask

Business Day (Johannesburg)

OPINION
August 16, 2005
Posted to the web August 16, 2005

Jacob Dlamini
Johannesburg

THE trouble with Robert Mugabe is that he lends himself quite easily to
caricature.

Call the man a bigot and he will confirm that by labelling gay people dogs;
accuse him of sexism and he will give you the evidence you need by calling
Margaret Thatcher a "she-man"; say he is a xenophobe and he will oblige you
by saying Zimbabweans are better than their fellow African comrades because
they are better educated and Zimbabwe better developed than the average
sub-Saharan country, excepting SA.

But that is not to say the man is mad and that President Thabo Mbeki should
deal with him the same way he would a madman.

It is also not to say that Mugabe's only problem is that he lends himself
rather easily to caricature by the media. His problems are far, far bigger
than that and almost all of them are of his own doing.

This is, after all, a man who would much rather destroy his country than
give up power. This is a man who has callously presided over the total
collapse of Zimbabwe's agriculture and economy, which once made that
beautiful but haunted country the breadbasket of southern Africa and the
second-biggest economy in the region.

Mugabe is also the one to blame for undoing the gains of 25 years of
independence, driving Zimbabwe's middle class into exile and turning
millions of relatively well-educated young Zimbabweans into waiters and
hawkers in SA. But he is not mad.

Mugabe has shown that he is also not averse to turning on his people for
daring to be ungrateful to him for delivering them from colonial evil. He
has used the army and the police to crush those who dare to remind him and
the world of the promise of independence. But he's not crazy.

Which is why Mbeki cannot deal with Mugabe as he would a shack lord who
tries to turn, say, a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg into
his personal fiefdom. This is not to say that every shack lord (and there
are many of them in this country) who runs a squatter camp is a madman. But
one can at least treat him as a law-and-order problem, something we cannot
do with Zimbabwe.

Yes, Mugabe has presided over the destruction of what used to be one of the
best police forces and civil services in Africa. Under him, the Zimbabwean
police, for example, have moved from being incorruptible to being a gang of
thugs at the beck and call of the ruling Zanu (PF).

The same Zanu (PF) that, 25 years after assuming power, has yet to transform
itself into a democratic political party and not a commandist guerilla force
masquerading as a political party. The same party that has yet to groom a
successor to Mugabe and that is incapable of political innovation and
much-needed ideological evolution.

But that is not to say that Zanu (PF) is one big mental asylum filled with
mad men and women. It might look like that from a distance, and its leaders
might do things that make no obvious sense to us. But that does not mean
they are mad.

Behind the caricature that is Mad Bob is a wily politician with an ego to
match.

When Mbeki sits down with Mugabe to talk, he knows enough to look beyond the
caricature and to take head-on the wily old man with a big but dented ego.
We might not like this, but, hey, we do not do the negotiating with Mugabe
for this country -- our president and his officials do.

And negotiate is exactly what they do. Not with idiots, not with madmen and
madwomen, but with neighbours and potential political adversaries with egos
to be stroked. Yes, we have the cash they need to get out of a jam created
largely by Mugabe. But we will not get the things we want by reminding the
Zimbabweans what a sorry lot they are.

We certainly have it in us to play big brother, but what will that profit
us? We have it in us to stop Mugabe from using our private hospitals because
he has destroyed Zimbabwe's health-care system. But what good will such
spiteful conduct on our part do for poor Zimbabweans?

SA will, let us be sure about that, give Zimbabwe the financial assistance
that country needs. We will also insist on constitutional and economic
reforms in return for our help. After all, we don't want to aid Zimbabwe
today only to find ourselves in the same mess the following day.

But getting Zimbabwe to accept our conditions will require of us and our
negotiators to move beyond the caricatures that have come to define Mugabe
and his officials in the local and British media. We may not like the
Zimbabwean men and women we have to deal with, but that does not mean they
are mad. Neither is Mugabe. He is just hopeless, venal and, possibly,
criminal.
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Business Day

Proposed constitutional changes seen to empower Mugabe
Sapa-AP

HARARE - Legislators in Zimbabwe are pushing a new slate of constitutional
amendments which critics say are designed to strengthen President Robert
Mugabe's hand.

A 22-clause bill before Parliament, which reconvened today after a two-week
break, would establish a 40-seat Senate, strip landowners of all right of
appeal if their property is seized, and allow government to deny its critics
passports, lawyers say.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment today on the
proposals. No date has been announced for Parliament to debate them, but the
house received 30 days notice of its introduction a month ago.

Jonathan Moyo, who was Mugabe's propaganda chief for five years and is now
the lone independent among Parliament's 150 members, said the proposed
changes were part of Mugabe's efforts to control who will succeed him and
when.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change is vowing to fight the
bill. But with just 41 lawmakers, opposition chief whip Innocent Gonese
conceded the party won't be able to prevent the changes from coming into
effect.

Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front claimed 78 of
Parliament's 120 elected seats in a bitterly disputed March 31 election, and
the president nominates an additional 30 representatives.

Lawyers headed by law professor Geoffrey Feltoe said in their petition that
Zimbabwe inherited a "fundamentally deficient constitution" at independence
from Britain in 1980 that is in urgent need of reform to strengthen its
human rights protections.

The proposed bill does the opposite, they argued.

It "seeks to remove fundamental rights to property, secure protection of the
law, and freedom of movement," the petition said.

Moyo said the move to establish a second house of Parliament and increase
government's powers of expropriation "buys Mugabe the patronage he needs"
after divisions within the ruling party burst into the open over the
appointment of Joyce Mujuru as second vice president in December.

Moyo defected from the ruling party after losing his job as information
minister in a power struggle with Mugabe over Mujuru's appointment to a
position that places her in line to succeed the president.

He said he has no qualms about aligning with his former rivals in the MDC to
oppose the amendments.

Few details have been released about the proposed new chamber, except that
it would represent traditional chiefs, retired politicians and other eminent
Zimbabweans.

The bill would also give the government power to refuse passports on grounds
of national interest, which lawyers argue could be used to restrict the
movements of its critics.

It also closes the last legal recourse open to white farmers whose land has
been designated for redistribution to black Zimbabweans. The effect would be
to reduce land owners - even in urban areas - to "mere tenants at the will
of the state," said Zimbabwe's Human Rights Forum.

"The mere fact that a landowner has fallen from political favor will be
sufficient reason to expropriate his land," the forum said in a statement
that predicted "disastrous economic results."

Mugabe defends the often violent seizure of some 5 000 white-owned
commercial farms as a bid to right colonial era imbalances in land
ownership. But critics blame the so-called fast-track reform for the
collapse of Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy.

Some 4 million Zimbabweans now need food relief in a country that was once a
regional breadbasket, according to UN figures.

The country is also facing the possibility of expulsion from International
Monetary Fund for failing to make payments on its $300m arrears.

President Thabo Mbeki has reportedly been pressing Mugabe to negotiate with
the opposition to resolve the political and economic crisis gripping
Zimbabwe as a condition for a $1bn bailout. But Mugabe has ruled out any
such talks.

Despite mounting pressure for reform, Gonese and Moyo believe Mugabe's party
won't hesitate to push through its constitutional amendments.

"ZANU-PF is one of the most arrogant political parties. I do not believe
they will wait at all, and we do not foresee any of their members will break
ranks," Gonese told AP.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

No joy for workers

Masimba Rushwaya Business Editor
issue date :2005-Aug-17

THERE was no joy for workers yesterday as the Minister of Finance, Herbert
Murerwa, ruled out the possibility of revising income tax brackets upwards
and increasing peoples' disposable incomes in the process during the current
year.
Presenting the midterm fiscal policy review, whose main focus was on the
government accelerating its efforts to increase its revenue base, Murerwa
shot down the tax relief.  He said given that Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
contributed 45 percent of government revenue, there was need for caution in
releasing more nontaxable income to workers.
"There is need for caution to safeguard flows to the fiscus in order to
avoid exacerbating the already high fiscal deficit. I have, therefore,
deferred further review of tax thresholds and brackets to the 2006 Budget."
Admitting that the government was fully aware of the plight of individual
taxpayers, especially those in the low-income tax bracket, Murerwa made a
token upward adjustment of the tax-free threshold from $1 million per month
to $1,5 million per month effective next month.
Civil servants were also denied a salary increment but were partly cushioned
with the allocation of $440 billion for transport allowances and a review of
the medical aid contribution ratio by the employer from 60 to 80 percent.
Murerwa said the civil service wage bill was already 19 percent of the gross
domestic product (GDP) and 40 percent of the budget, hence the need for
restraint.
While central bank governor Gideon Gono had also emphasised restraint in the
collective bargaining exercise to ensure inflation targets were met and many
employers had ruled out significant salary adjustments anyway, most workers
had pinned their hopes on a significant tax relief  to increase their
disposable incomes, given the escalating cost of living (CoL).
The government's apparent frantic bid to widen the tax base saw Murerwa
introducing a 22,5 percent special value added tax (VAT) rate on airtime for
mobile telephone services also effective from September 2005, while commuter
transport operators will also now be required to contribute to the
exchequer.
A three-tier system using a presumptive tax will now be applied where
commuter omnibuses with a carrying capacity of 15-24 passengers will pay $6
million per quarter, 24-36 passengers - $12 million and over 37 passengers -
$18 million.
Taxicabs will also pay $6 million per quarter.
Murerwa said the presumptive tax was necessary to ensure participation of
the informal sector - which was being regularised - in the payment of tax,
although there was the danger that mobile phone operators and commuter
omnibus operators would pass the cost on to the end user - the consumer.
The man in the street will also be hard hit as the government decided to
increase specific duty on clothing, shoes, travel bags, beverages and
cigarettes by 50 percent.
Said Murerwa: "In spite of current shortages of foreign currency to procure
essential goods such as fuel, imports of luxury goods continue to flood the
market. In an effort to redirect foreign currency expenditure away from
luxury imports to essential goods, I propose to levy 15 percent surtax on
existing luxury finished goods."
All the above measures would be with effect from today.
The VAT rate was increased from 15 percent to 17,5 percent with effect from
next month, with the hope of raising additional revenue of $320 billion.
In an apparent bid to assist the central bank in its efforts to boost
foreign currency inflows, all workers receiving their salaries in foreign
currency will now also be required to pay tax in foreign currency, while
with effect from next month, all foreigners will be required to purchase
mining rights in foreign currency.

In the supplementary budget, Murerwa proposed total expenditure allocations
of $6,6 trillion.
He however said in view of the limited financial capacity of the economy,
additional expenditures for new ministries would only be financed through
rationalisation within the existing budget envelope.
A total of $3 trillion from all existing ministries and departments was
rationalised and reduced with all pending expenditures deferred to
accommodate the newly created ministries.
The expenditure reductions would result in curbing the financing
requirements to be met from the market to $1,6 trillion and would raise the
budget deficit to 8,7 percent of GDP.
Murerwa sought approval for the allocation of a total of $3,3 trillion that
would be charged to the Consolidated Revenue Fund account and whose main
emphasis would be on drought mitigation.
Immediately after Murerwa's presentation, MDC's secretary for finance,
Tapiwa Mashakada stood up and told the House that his party rejected the
basis on which the supplementary budget had been pronounced.
"What the minister has done is to tell us with a straight face that the
government is broke and is driving the economy to a fatal crash."
He said the government had come with an expansionary fiscal policy while
Gono was trying to resuscitate the economy alleging that the supplementary
budget had led to an increase in the rate of VAT.
"There is a lack of synchronisation between the monetary and fiscal
policies. It is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is
doing. The minister has not proffered any solutions to the country's myriad
of problems. The fiscal policy is a conduit that is being used to sanitise
the disarray in public accounts," Mashakada said.
He said the government was now trying to suck up any remaining revenue in
the economy by taxing such things as airtime, adding the economy should have
the capacity to grow and generate more revenue.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Unions lambast Labour Amendment bill

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-17

CIVIL service organisations and other stakeholders yesterday decried the
proposed Labour Amendment Bill (H.B.I 2005) as detrimental to the plight of
civil servants and reactionary to Zimbabwe's quest to achieve a harmonised
labour law.
Presenting their views to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the unions said the proposed changes
also violated International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions to which
Zimbabwe is signatory .
The Bill seeks to exclude civil servants' affairs from the Labour Act to the
Public Service Act (PSA), while women who fall pregnant in their first year
of employment would not be entitled to any benefits.
PSA acting President Maxwell Kaitano said: "The proposed amendments will
take away our rights as enshrined in the Labour Act. The removal from the
Labour Act means we would be governed by the PSA and this Act has no
provisions for any rights to the civil servants and we would be made
redundant as unions."
Kaitano said the union was of the opinion that the PSA was not the right
platform to democratise worker-employer relations at the workplace.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) legal advisor Tsitsi Mariwo, said
instead of excluding civil servants from the Labour Act, government should
strive to include more.
"The proposed amendment seeks to exclude public service employees from the
Labour Act (Chapter 28:01). It proposes that they revert to the PSA (Chapter
16:04). Labour recalls that from 1992 the government and its social partners
embarked on a harmonisation process of all labour laws in Zimbabwe.
"The way forward is to maintain the current provisions of the law and
capture more civil servants to the Labour Act such as the prison service. In
addition, National Employment Councils for the public service should be
established."
Mariwo said civil servants' removal from the Labour Act would deprive them
of their right to belong to trade unions of their choice, to collective
bargaining, to industrial action among other claims.
Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) executive director John
Mufukare, castigated the proposed amendments saying they threatened to scare
investors away from Zimbabwe.
He said: "The proposed amendments create an environment that militates
against investment. The removal of public servants from the Labour Act is
against government aim to harmonise labour laws."
He added it was retrogressive for the proposed changes to give the Minister
of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare an indefinite period to decide
on applications for retrenchments.
"It is retrogressive to give a minister as much time as he wants to decide
on retrenchments. It will scare aware investors because it would be a matter
of delaying justice."
An ILO representative said the Bill contravened two conventions ratified by
government.
"Convention 98 of 1948 provides for rights to collective bargaining and
Zimbabwe ratified it in 1998," the Geneva-based body's official in Harare
said.
"Our concern is that provisions of the eight conventions that Zimbabwe has
ratified should be reflected in this Bill or any other law be it the Labour
Act or the PSA," he added.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Murerwa revises growth figures downwards

Business Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-17

THE Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa has revised downwards the growth
prospects of most sectors of the economy with the general performance of the
economy expected to grow by under 2 percent compared to the earlier
expectation of over 3,5 percent.
Presenting the mid-term fiscal policy review yesterday, Murerwa said the
2005 growth prospects, initially hedged on the expectations of a rebound in
agriculture and improvements in the mining sector, had now receded and
dampened by exogenous factors such as the surge in international fuel
prices.
He revealed that as a result of below normal rainfall, it was now
anticipated that agriculture will experience a marginal growth of only 1
percent largely from tobacco, sugar and horticulture.
At the time of the presentation of the 2005 budget, a 14,3 percent positive
growth in agriculture had been projected.
The minister added that total maize production was down to between 750 000
and1 000 000 tonnes, against national requirements of 1,8 million tonnes.
While initial projections were that the mining sector would grow by 16,2
percent, this had now been reviewed downwards to a growth of only 7,6
percent due to "escalating production costs, foreign exchange constraints on
equipment and low international prices." Manufacturing was also anticipated
to experience a further decline of 2 percent, against an initial forecast of
1 percent positive growth.
He said the foreign currency and energy supply constraints were impacting
negatively on the sector.
However, there was some good news for the construction sector that had been
previously forecast to decline by 2,5 percent but was now expected to grow
by a marginal 1 percent. "Construction is benefiting from the facilities
availed in support of local authorities housing development, as well as the
recently launched housing construction and the SMEs programme."
Tourism is now projected to realise a marginal growth of 1,1 percent from
the initial forecast decline of 1,5 percent.
Murerwa said efforts to restore normalcy in fuel supplies, improve
discipline among players, as well as improved marketing would go a long way
in the recovery of the sector.
 While the expenditure target for the first half of the year had been pegged
at' $13,3 trillion, actual total expenditure and net lending totalled $13,9
trillion, with the marginal over-expenditure being attributed to the
Parliamentary elections.
Other budget expenditure pressures were due to due higher than anticipated
pension payment outlays. "The overall high expenditure outturn of $13,9
trillion was, however, not matched by stronger revenue performance.
"Preliminary cumulative outturn for the first half of 2005 shows under
performance in our major contributory tax heads. Total revenue amounted to
$9,058 trillion against a target of $9,475 trillion," Murerwa said.
He added that PAYE of $2,67 trillion was below the target of $3,54 trillion,
as was customs duty which was at $667,7 billion, less that the target of
$846,4 billion.
High levels of smuggling and corruption at points of entry also brought
about the low revenue inflows. However, VAT remained on target, raising
$2,34 trillion, against a target of $2,29 trillion.
The introduction of contemporaneous taxation of corporates, where tax is
levied on current income was also paying dividends a corporate tax payments
totalled $1,818 trillion against a target of $1,167 trillion.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

MIC invites ZBH to launch complaint

issue date :2005-Aug-17

THE Media and Information Commission (MIC) has invited national broadcaster,
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) to launch a formal complaint with the
Commission following allegations that some Newsnet reporters had forged
journalism certificates.
MIC chairperson Tafataona Mahoso said on Monday that the Commission would
launch an investigation into the matter only after receiving a formal
complaint from ZBH.
"The journalists will be given a chance to appear before the Commission for
a hearing and if found guilty would face de-registration," he said.
He said the college named in the saga would be requested to name its
external examiners and the issuing authority of journalism certificates to
establish the source of forgery.
Meanwhile, Mahoso said since 2003, the MIC has been involved in setting up
standards of training, and had also embarked on an evaluation exercise of
training programmes offered by various institutions countrywide.
He said the exercise, which sought to evaluate only the training component,
involved visits and distribution of questionnaires to the training
institutions.
The information gathered, he said, would be analysed and verified following
which a report would be presented to the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary
Education, Ministry of Information and Publicity and other stakeholders for
discussion.
Colleges that are participating in the exercise include Business Environment
Service, UMAA Institute, Midlands State University, National University of
Science and Technology, University of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Open University.
"From the information we have gathered so far, we established that there is
need to reduce the number of people training as journalists which stands at
900 per year," he said, adding that the number was far too high to be
absorbed in the market where full-time journalists also stood at 900. "This
will promote unemployment and at the same time the wages will be depressed
resulting in journalists selling themselves cheaply," he said.
Mahoso said the high number of students being churned out by colleges
annually was unrealistic, hence the need to reduce it to manageable levels.
He said MIC had also established that most colleges were operating without
lecturers and equipment, an anomaly that required rectification. -
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IOL

Zimbabwe is 'off the rails', says Cosatu    Jeremy Michaels
          August 16 2005 at 02:30AM

      Labour giant Cosatu has said "the Zimbabwean revolution is off the
rails".

      This should serve as a lesson for South African workers, Cosatu has
warned in a report to its mid-term central committee meeting in Kempton
Park.

      Despite its opposition to the Zimbabwean "regime", Cosatu said it
understood why South Africa was willing to make a multibillion-rand loan to
help rein in its neighbour's economic crisis.
      "The Zimbabwean government must take full responsibility for this
crisis," it said.

      "South Africa cannot sit idly by as the situation deteriorates,
however. For that reason, Cosatu understands that the collapse of Zimbabwe
will affect South Africa directly. Already many Zimbabweans are living in
South African and other Southern African Development Community countries as
economic refugees."

      Slamming Zimbabwe's government, Cosatu said its recent evictions
campaign, Operation Restore Order, was proof that President Robert Mugabe's
regime was using the state machinery against ordinary Zimbabweans.

      "A revolution ceases to be progressive if its main beneficiaries are
not workers and the poor but a new ruling class with close relations to
capital," the report said.

      "The regime has turned the state machinery against ordinary people -
as manifested in the recent campaign to demolish properties without a plan
to provide better housing.

      "Moreover there is no democratic space to operate in Zimbabwe and any
attempt at social mobilisation is dealt with ruthlessly."

      Cosatu emphasised that the remarks, in a report called Lessons From
Zimbabwe, were based on its experiences in solidarity with Zimbabwean
workers and were "not for the sake of analysis but to signpost several
problems that must be avoided in South Africa".

      Poor management of the Zimbabwean economy had caused immeasurable
suffering for workers and the rural poor.

      "With unemployment estimated to be around 70 percent, inflation at
more than 600 percent, co-existing with chronic food and petrol shortages,
the government helps only to multiply enemies of the revolution and forces
its constituency into desperation."

      The source of Zimbabwe's economic crisis was not external debt, but a
failure to restructure what Cosatu referred to as "the colonial economy" to
finance post-liberation social expenditure.

      "Zimbabwe for a long time depended on an unchanged colonial economy to
pay for its social programmes."

      This strategy had two, contradictory outcomes. On the positive side,
Zimbabwe had invested in human capital through its education and health
policies.

      By failing to change the economy inherited from Ian Smith's Rhodesian
regime, however, Zimbabwe suffered major setbacks when the prices of its
export commodities collapsed. That led to dependence on foreign loans and
the introduction of a structural adjustment programme. This in turn set the
state directly against the working class and peasants, the report said.

      Another lesson was in "the use of leftist rhetoric to justify
right-wing solutions". Race was a factor that made the Zimbabwean situation
attract so much attention from the media and the world.

      This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on
August 16, 2005
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Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 6:45 PM

Hi guys,
This is to promote the Zimbabwean newspaper. Please pass on. Thanks.
 
 
INFORMATION IS POWER!

Greetings! 

The Zimbabwean is a compact, weekly newspaper published every Friday in London and Johannesburg, launched on February 11th, 2005.  15 000 copies a week are flown into Zimbabwe and sold at well below cost.  They sell out within hours and there is a thriving second-hand market - not surprising given the desperation for accurate information in the face of a virtual government black-out on real news.

 

Despite much sabre-rattling from the authorities in Harare, no one has been persecuted for buying or reading the newspaper, neither has it been banned, confiscated or burned.  We are committed to continuing to make as many copies of the paper available in Zimbabwe as we possibly can, despite the losses we incur on this part of the operation.

 

We are more and more convinced of the importance of what we are doing in giving voice to alternative news, views and opinions from Zimbabweans, and promoting debate and discussion on the way forward for our country. In the struggle to escape from an intolerant autocracy into a tolerant, diverse and democratic future, The Zimbabwean is a small part of the solution.

 

We are up and running, and here to stay. Now we must take the paper forward to the next stage, by expanding our distribution to reach more people in the diaspora.

 

Can you help us? Our sales in the diaspora are vital. For every subscription taken out abroad, we can get 100 more newspapers into Zimbabwe. Please subscribe (online at www.thezimbabwean.co.uk) and encourage others to do so. Persuade your company, local library, college or other institution to subscribe. Take part in our Send-a-sub-Scheme whereby you take out an extra subscription to enable a library or college in Zimbabwe to receive the paper.  Full details of how you can do this are on our website, or forms are available on request.

 

In South Africa, the paper is now available via Exclusive Books, CNA and RNA in the main centers. We also offer subscriptions from Joburg via Crisis Coalition. Please also encourage those you know in SA to agitate for copies and to buy the paper wherever they see it. Please buy the paper yourself and badger your local news agent to stock it and display it prominently.

 

Information is power, which is why the present regime is so hell-bent on preventing accurate information getting to the people. Please help us to make a difference.

 

Sincerely,

Wilf & Trish Mbanga

 

The Zimbabwean Limited

Tel/Fax: 02380 879675

mobile Wilf: 07963963547

General:  07714736382

P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX

mbanga@thezimbabwean.co.uk

www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

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