The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
Zimbabwean economist John Robertson
described the move as ominous.
"It is not just that businesses
might be forced to hold even smaller
amounts," he said.
"It is
the new nature of it all. It's not normal in any country to
limit the amount
of cash one can hold."
Robertson said the shortage of cash had
little to do with hoarding
notes.
"If they had printed a Z$50
000 note this would never have arisen," he
said.
Z$50 000
equates to about R90 on Zimbabwe's flourishing black market.
The
new laws also make it illegal to sell banknotes. Cash- flush
businesses have
been cashing in with a scheme called cash for cheques.
People desperate for
cash to pay wages and bills write out cheques and
receive banknotes for
between 60 and 75% of the cheque's value. - Foreign
Service
Dead Cannibal
By Michael Radu
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 19,
2003
According to the news agencies, Idi Amin, a.k.a. "Big Daddy"
or, more
formally "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadj
Doctor Idi
Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and
Fishes of
the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General
and Uganda
in Particular" has died on August 15.
Amin's name was
synonymous with tyranny during his presidency of Uganda,
from 1971-79. Amin's
career took him from illiterate national boxing
champion to chief of staff,
"doctor" to military dictator, mass murderer to
chairman of the Organization
of African Unity (OAU). In the nearly 25 years
since his rule ended, has the
behavior of African regimes or outside
observers and aid donors
changed?
"Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are,"
the saying
goes. Amin's friends included the communist Red Brigades and
Palestinian
terrorists he aided in their 1976 hijacking of an Air France
airliner to
Entebbe. The Jewish passengers being held on the plane (who were
rescued in
the spectacular Israeli raid that ended the hijacking) had been
carefully
selected: Amin, who publicly praised Hitler for murdering Jews, had
become
an admirer of the Fuhrer after Israel, which he visited, refused to
provide
him with modern weapons.
Idi Amin was a declared racist. He
confiscated the wealth and expelled from
Uganda all Asians, whose crime was
being hard working, and Asian. (Neither
India nor Pakistan would receive
them: it was the United Kingdom that gave
them asylum and another chance to
use their talents and get rich again.)
But the West's blind eye toward
Amin was such that, as the U.S. ambassador
to Uganda at the time, Thomas
Melady, recently noted, the human
rights-oriented administration of future
Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter
refused to impose even the most minimal
sanctions (such as on Ugandan
coffee) on Amin's regime. And this was an
administration that unhesitatingly
penalized Argentina for human rights
abuses against educated, middle-class
Marxist terrorists.
That Amin
was a member of Uganda's small Muslim community allowed him
ultimately, after
sometime in Libya, to reach safe and comfortable asylum in
Saudi Arabia. He
was granted asylum, thereby avoiding a trial in his own
country for the
100,000 to 300,000 murders committed by his regime, in the
name of umma
(worldwide Muslim community) solidarity. Reporters describe the
Saudi-funded
exile's life in Jeddah as one of a comfortable suburban home,
driving
Cadillacs, BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes, lunching at the Meridien,
having tea at
the Sofitel, and swimming and taking massages at
the
Intercontinental..
The UN (which, interestingly, has been less
vocal about Amin than it has
been about Milosevic or Mladic), and the human
rights NGOs were all
disturbingly mute about Amin's comfortable asylum.
Because Amin has enjoyed
exile as a Muslim, the world must tolerate it,
fearful as the West is of
holding Muslims to the same human rights standard
as others are held to.
Indeed, while 1979 was a bad year for African
dictators-cannibalistic Jean
Bedel Bokassa, the "Emperor" of Central Africa,
was overthrown by his
erstwhile French protectors; sadistic Macias Nguema of
Equatorial Guinea was
shot by a Moroccan squad (locals did not believe he
could be killed,
considering his voodoo talents)-Amin at least survived, no
matter how many
of his countrymen he fed to the crocodiles. Interesting for
those who still
believe, or claim to believe, in "international law,"
Bokassa, a recent
convert to Islam, was removed by a perfectly illegal French
Foreign Legion
intervention; Moroccans tied up Equatorial Guinea after
Nguema, and it was
an illegal Tanzanian invasion that liberated Uganda from
Amin.
After becoming chairman of the OAU in 1975, Amin was able to use
that
platform to rant about Israeli "racism" and other causes. At the time
Amin
became chairman, chairmanship of the OAU--which has since been renamed
the
African Union (AU)--was a matter of rotation. The chairman's values
were
assumed to be "African" because he was president of a member state.
The
Libyan-backed AU does not seem troubled by its history of glorifying
mass
murderers such as Amin, Bokassa, or Nguema. Old habits are hard to
break,
and the AU continues to preclude discussion of this by labeling it
"racism"
to question Africa or an African leader.
"African
solidarity," a racialist term if ever there was one, remains the
AU's
approach to the rest of the world. Amin may have been a criminal,
but
non-Africans have no right to say so. The same AU nations that judge
other
nations' pasts harshly (Europeans, for instance, were
"slave-owning
criminals") is mute about Amin (and Bokassa, Nguema. etc.). But
that was in
the past, some would say - wrongly. Today Amin's successors,
Mugabe in
Zimbabwe, Taylor in Liberia, are still protected by their
African
colleagues. Mugabe is still in power (and harboring fellow murderer
and
former Ethiopian version of Stalin, Mengistu Haile Mariam) and still
ruining
what was once one of Africa's prosperous countries, simply because
South
Africa does not want him out. Nigeria, which vies with South Africa
for
African leadership, has long allowed Taylor to stay in power and
create
havoc throughout the region, and now has given him asylum - despite
his
indictment by a UN court in Sierra Leone.
And then there is
Central Africa, a bloody mess the size of Western Europe.
In 1994 the
majority Hutus in Rwanda murdered at least half a million
Tutsis, in a mass
frenzy of genocidal proportions. What did "Africa" and its
Western supporters
, or enablers, do? Blame the West for not stopping
Africans from butchering
Africans, and have the UN establish a court to try
the perpetrators. That
court, in Tanzania, has managed to convict 15 persons
in seven years at the
cost of sixty million dollars…Meanwhile in neighboring
Burundi the Hutus are
trying hard to come to power - with the potential of a
Rwanda
repeat.
As for the Democratic Republic of Congo (!!!) , the continent's
second
largest "country", it is a huge sore on the map, robbed blind by
"friends"
like Angola and Zimbabwe, with large areas under Ugandan or Rwandan
control,
a political fiction but a much too real tragedy. After Mugabe and
the
Angolans stole enough and left (just as the Nigerians did in Liberia a
few
years back), it was left to…the French to establish temporary order in
a
small region.
Collapse in Sierra Leone ? Call the British. Collapse
in Côte d'Ivoire? Call
the French. Collapse in Liberia? Call the Marines.
Where is the African
Union, so aggressive in condemning colonialism and
slavery (but only the
European part in it) and demanding universal respect
and "a voice" in world
affairs? Well, the AU did take a position on Zimbabwe
- it elected Mugabe as
one of its vice presidents.
There are, of
course, notable and decent exceptions - Senegal, Botswana and…
Senegal and
Botswana. Uganda itself has recovered from Amin's reign of
destruction and is
now doing better than most. But all in all it does not
seem that "Africa", or
at least its self - proclaimed spokesmen have
internalized the lessons of
Idi Amin's rule. He may be dying but the evil
he represented still haunts the
continent.
Pick of the day
Phil Daoust
Tuesday August 19, 2003
The
Guardian
"Right now, as we speak, somebody in a prison cell or basement
is being
tortured beyond endurance..." the words that introduce Between
Ourselves
(9am and 9.30pm, Radio 4) are abstract enough. Then you meet two of
the
victims.
Gabriel Shumba was a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe when he
was picked up
by Mugabe's secret police. Hooded and handcuffed, he was driven
to a torture
centre deep underground. "They brought in a black contraption
that resembled
a telephone," he remembers. "It had electric wires dangling
from it. They
tied these on to my middle toes, then some on my middle
fingers. One was put
in my mouth and the other was wrapped around my
genitals. Then they switched
on the electricity..."
Shumba was also
beaten with planks and slashed with a bayonet. He vomited
blood and lost
control of his bladder. Then his tormentors forced him to
lick the floor
clean.
Carlos Reyes was an official in Chile's Socialist Party when he
was arrested
after Pinochet's coup. Grabbed at home, he was told to say
goodbye to his
children as he would never see them again. His eyes were taped
up and a hood
was put over his head. "That was the last time I saw light for
six months."
Reyes was driven to a garage beneath the presidential palace,
where he was
kept chained to a car's steering wheel. He too was electrocuted.
"You never
forget until the day you die," he says.
Don't miss
it.
Telegraph
Idi Amin's unfunny side
(Filed:
19/08/2003)
Confronted by all the cruelty and incompetence of
political life in many
parts of Africa, the reaction of the West tends to be
shameful: we laugh,
and when we are not amused, we indulge.
On one
level, there is something irresistibly comical about His
Excellency
President-for-Life Idi Amin - as we reported yesterday - shouting
genially
to the Daily Telegraph's Africa correspondent of the 1970s: "Please
tell the
Queen I love her."
Or at least it is funny until you read on
and learn that his henchmen were
simultaneously knocking the brains out of
political opponents with
sledgehammers.
There is also something
luridly risible about Robert Mugabe's murderous
kleptocracy in Zimbabwe,
though the victims of his misrule will not see the
joke.
The comic
tension lies in the incongruous pomposity of Mugabe's harangues
about
colonialism, or white farmers, or homosexuals, which disguise the
basest and
most human instinct: to help himself to his country's wealth, and
to cling on
to power by all means, so that his enemies will not be able to
do to him what
he has done to them.
South of the Limpopo, there is President Thabo Mbeki
of South Africa,
sitting up until all hours in his Cape Town office, reading
quack reports on
the internet by dubious American scientists denying the link
between Aids
and the HIV virus. This is quite a funny image until you think
how many
South Africans will die because of his wilful
obtuseness.
Ugandan or Zimbabwean victims of decades of misrule rightly
point out that
we created their tyrants, but that does not excuse us laughing
when we
should act, or at the very least be outraged.
Western
apologists for the Amins and Mugabes and those who have followed
sometimes
say we do not understand the complexity of the African way, or the
workings
of a continent that has not yet developed what we call a civil
society. And
it is certainly true that the worst African tyrant is acting in
a way that
was commonplace on our own continent until
comparatively
recently.
Amin is dead, and Mugabe surely cannot go on
much longer, and it would be
reassuring to think we will not see their like
again. Uganda has certainly
made progress in recent years, notwithstanding
concerns about President
Museveni's creeping authoritarianism.
There
would be more reason to be hopeful about the future of Africa as a
whole if
Mr Mbeki, the continent's natural leader, had seized this moment to
ostracise
Mr Mugabe, rather than to coddle and flatter him.
Half of our own
continent was enslaved by Communism when Idi Amin was
inflicting his crimes
on Uganda, which perhaps explains why we preferred to
laugh about him and his
excesses. Three decades on, the killing and
repression is still routine, not
just in Zimbabwe, but in Congo, Liberia,
and too many other countries, and
that really isn't funny at all.
Cape Times
The end of an era?
August 19, 2003
By the Editor
Idi Amin inflicted so much pain during his brutal
rule of Uganda that
his brother was probably one of the few people who
mourned his death on
Saturday.
That is a tragic indictment of
the life of a man who, at one stage,
inspired so much hope in
post-independence Africa.
Instead, Amin's rule became characterised by
barbarism and cruelty. It
is estimated that more than 300 000 Ugandans died
during the eight years he
was in power.
During his rule, the
economy of the once-prosperous East African
country was also virtually
destroyed.
Amin was responsible for so much suffering that
Tanzania, under
then-president Julius Nyerere, supported a military offensive
to end his
reign of terror in 1979.
Part of the mission of the
new African Union (AU) is to ensure that
dictatorships like those of Amin are
never again allowed on the continent.
In its short lifespan, the AU
has already distinguished itself, most
recently in Liberia, where it helped
to ensure that warmonger Charles Taylor
stepped down.
Yet
much more work needs to be done before we can say that the days of
despots
like Idi Amin, Jean Bédel Bokassa, Haile Mariam Mengistu and Mobutu
Sese Seko
are truly over.
The matter of a certain Robert Gabriel Mugabe is a
case in point. How
the AU deals with his repression and chicanery may yet
turn out to be a
litmus test.
So far, the indecisiveness and
pussyfooting around Mugabe and his
Zimbabwe African National Union does not
hold out much promise.
But we must learn from the past; we cannot
allow violence and
undemocratic practices to go unchecked. At some point,
silence becomes
complicity.
Amin became a byword for evil in the
seventies. Today, his dark legacy
still casts a shadow over the
continent.
Africa cannot afford the likes of him again.
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE
WEEKLY
BRIEFING NOTE
19th August 2003
For Further Information
Please Contact:
Nkanyiso Maqeda, MDC Director of Information: 0263 91
248 570
Grace Kwinjeh, MDC EU Representative: 0032 494 181621
James
Littleton, London: 00 44 7771 501
401
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MDC
MOURNS DEATH OF MP
MDC MP for Kadoma Central, Austin
Mupandawana, died on 9 August at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare. He leaves
behind a wife, Constance, and six children.
“We have lost a dear
colleague, dependable friend and a courageous man. The nation is robbed of a
dedicated leader and a man of integrity. While we grieve his death, we in the
MDC cherish his deeds and the part he played in the struggle to bring a better
life for all Zimbabweans,” said Paul Themba Nyathi, MDC Secretary for
Information and Publicity
Quotes
“It is
clear that Zanu PF has no idea how to solve the crisis and is determined to hold
onto power while the people suffer. We have chosen the path of dialogue in the
hope that this will bring about a speedy and peaceful resolution of the
country’s problems and stop all the suffering,” said Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC
President (10 August 2003)
“We are extremely disappointed that the High
Court has chosen to put the President of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, to his
defence in the treason trial….We in the MDC have absolutely no doubt of the
innocence of Morgan Tsvangirai. We believe that once the defence has given
evidence, and placed on record the true facts of what happened at the three
meetings, the whole world will know wherein the truth lies,” said David
Coltart, MDC Secretary for Legal Affairs (8 August 2003)
“We have no
fuel, we have no sugar, we have no cooking oil, we have no money, we have no
mealie meal; the cost of these items if they become available are unaffordable.
The government has asked WFP for the total food shortage this year as they have
no money. If this is not an abrogation of responsibility and a total admission
of failure then I don’t know what is,” said Renson Gasela MDC Shadow Minister of
Lands and Agriculture (13 August 2003)
Political
Violence/Intimidation
Extortion
Numerous
government workers informed the Daily News last week that they had been forced
by war veterans to make contributions to the Heroes Day celebrations as a way of
‘showing gratitude’ to the Mugabe regime for awarding them salary increases.
Many were forced to contribute as much as $Zim 5,000.
Local
Government Elections Update
Free and fair elections are clearly
anathema to Zanu PF. Ballot rigging, voter intimidation and the illegal
registration of voters have defined Zanu PF election strategies over past few
years. Such underhand and contemptuous tactics are an admission that they have
nothing to offer the electorate. They are bankrupt of ideas. Zanu PF know that
they cannot win an election if the people are allowed to exercise their basic
democratic right in a free and fair poll.
In the build up to the local
elections, scheduled to be held on 30 and 31 August, Zanu PF have certainly
lived up to their reputation as an enemy of democracy. Their violent youth
militia are omnipresent, over 40 MDC candidates have been prevented from
submitting their nominations whilst recent evidence has come to light of Zanu PF
illegally registering voters after the closure of the registration process in
June. For instance in Gweru the MDC has already unearthed 6,000 phantom voters.
It has also been revealed that the Mugabe regime is using Central
Intelligence Organisation and army officers to run the elections, in what is an
unashamed attempt to rig the process. What functioning democracy has the army
and the secret police running elections?
“It is like a repeat of the
elections we have had before where electoral fraud takes centre stage,” said
Professor Welshman Ncube, MDC Secretary
General
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humanitarian
Crisis
EU Aid
The European Union has donated 25 million
euros to help alleviate widespread hunger in Zimbabwe. Representatives of the
WFP have reported that without the donation it would have run out of food stocks
by the end of August. The EU donation will be used to buy 60,000 tonnes of maize
from neighbouring countries that harvested a surplus this year.
5 Die
From Hunger
Five people have died from food poisoning associated with hunger
in
Matabeleland.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Economic
Crisis
Mining
According to recent
press reports, Zimbabwe’s struggling gold sector, previously a major source of
foreign currency, faces more mine closures unless the Mugabe regime devalues the
dollar and manages to reign in spiralling inflation. Given the regime’s
catastrophic record vis-à-vis the economy this is unlikely to happen, meaning
that even more people face the threat of unemployment.
Travellers Cheques Fail
In a desperate attempt to tackle the
cash shortages that are a direct manifestation of their flawed economic agenda,
the Zanu PF regime last week issued travellers cheques, mostly in the
denomination of $Zim 100,000. Thus far most retailers have refused to accept the
cheques as they do not have sufficient cash available in order to give customers
the necessary change. Moreover, most ordinary Zimbabweans do not have $Zim
100,000 in their bank accounts. As most basic commodities are now purchased on
the burgeoning black market the travellers cheques are somewhat pointless
because only hard cash is the recognised currency on the black market.
The idea of introducing travellers cheques follows fast on heals of
another recent ‘initiative’to tackle the cash crisis: replacing the existing
$500 note with a new one. Both of these absurd policy initiatives are further
evidence that Zanu PF does not have a clue about how to resolve Zimbabwe’s
economic woes.
Tensions Rising
Angry soldiers
and police officers stormed the Chitungwiza (Harare) premises of the Beverley
Building Society last week, smashing windows and threatening tellers after being
informed that the bank had run out of cash.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General
News
Tractor Scam
According to a recent
article in the Zimbabwe Standard a tractor scheme, initiated by Mugabe for the
benefit of newly resettled farmers, has been exploited by senior Zanu PF
officials. The piece in the Standard alleges that the beneficiaries of the
tractors thus far are Mugabe himself, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Judge President
Paddington Garwe and Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief Vitalis Zvinavashe.
Brain Drain
A recent study, funded by the UN, into
the extent of the brain drain in Zimbabwe, has confirmed what many already
feared: that Zimbabwe has lost, and continues to lose, an unsustainable number
of its skilled professionals, in particular doctors and nurses. The study
concluded that, “..the level and trend of the brain drain in Zimbabwe has
reached unacceptable and unsustainable height.”
Over the past four years
thousands of professional Zimbabweans have been forced to flee the country in
response to both the politically induced economic crisis as well as the high
level of state sponsored violence. The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe
reported that between 2000 and 2002 five teachers were killed, 119 raped and
scores tortured and beaten as a result of their suspected support for the MDC.
In response to such a sustained campaign of violence scores of teachers have
fled to safety overseas.
Commonwealth Members Condemn Mugabe
Regime
The 11 South Pacific members of the Commonwealth condemned
the Mugabe regime last Saturday for continuing human rights abuses, saying that
no progress had been made to end Zimbabwe’s suspension from all councils of the
Commonwealth.
Leaders of the Pacific states issued a statement at the
end of the Pacific Islands Forum noting their “grave concern at the situation in
Zimbabwe, in particular continuing serious human rights abuses and the worsening
economic crisis”. Leaders concluded that Zimbabwe was showing intransigence in
its refusal to move back towards democracy.
Statement from a
symposium organized by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum in cooperation with
South African partners Temba Lesizwe and IDASA; and the International Bar
Association. The symposium was held in Johannesburg, South Africa last
week.
Declaration of the Johannesburg Symposium
11 – 13 August 2003
Preamble
Mindful that a political solution is urgently required to
overcome the crisis in Zimbabwe, and in the understanding that there is or may
soon be dialogue between the major political parties in Zimbabwe, a number of
Zimbabwean civic leaders convened a symposium to enable civic society leaders to
have a forum at which to discuss issues of human rights and justice in
Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean participants resolved to make
representations to the negotiating political parties with recommendations on
issues of human rights and justice that they desire should form part of any
political settlement reached by the political parties.
The recommendations are as
follows:
1. That human rights abuses of the past - both during the
colonial and post-colonial eras - must be redressed;
2. That
mechanisms be put in place to guarantee that human rights abuses never again
occur in Zimbabwe;
3. That blanket amnesties for human rights abusers
should not be allowed, and specifically that there should be no further general
amnesty for human rights abusers;
4. That the necessary institutions
be set up to deal with past and present human rights abuses, and that such
institutions be empowered not only to investigate and seek the truth, but also
to recommend criminal prosecution, provide for redress and reparations for
victims, and lead to healing of the nation. Such institutions must encourage and
sensitively deal with the special needs of victims. This is particularly
important in dealing with women and children as victims;
5. That the
Constitution guarantees future respect for human rights and set up a justice
system and other institutions to give effect to such guarantee;
6.
That the government must enable Zimbabweans to take advantage of the protection
and remedies offered by international human rights instruments;
7.
That there should be an investigation into corruption and asset stripping, and
the repossession of all assets misappropriate from state and private enterprise,
or acquired through corruption and other illegal means.
In the short term, we make the following
demands on the Zimbabwean Government:
1. That there be an
immediate end to political violence and intimidation, an immediate disbanding of
the militia, and an immediate return to non-partisan police, army and
intelligence services and
non-selective application of the law;
2.
That there be an immediate repeal of all repressive legislation and unjust laws
such as the Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act and the Broadcasting Services Act and charges brought
before the repeal of these laws should be
withdrawn and sentences previously
imposed be annulled;
3. That there be an immediate opening up of
political space, including the immediate and complete overhaul of electoral laws
and institutions to enable all elections to be held under free and
fair
conditions;
4. That the economic and humanitarian crisis in
Zimbabwe must be immediately addressed.
We also call upon the United
Nations to immediately send a Special Rapporteur to Zimbabwe to assess the human
rights environment.
We also call upon the African Commission on Human and
People's Rights to immediately release the report of the findings of its mission
to Zimbabwe.
Consultation on Zimbabwe
Gaborone, Botswana - August 5-6, 2003
CONCLUDING STATEMENT
OF THE AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY CONSULTATION ON
ZIMBABWE
August
6, 2003
We the representatives of the under-mentioned civil society
groups from Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Namibia,
concerned with the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, held a
Consultative Meeting in Gaborone, Botswana between August 5-6,
2003,
organized by DITSHWANELO - the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, and the
US-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, to consider the human rights and
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe:
RECALLING the United Nations General
Assembly Resolution 53/144 of 9 December 1998 which outlines the Rights and
Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and
Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms,
NOTING that the manipulation of recent constitutional and
electoral processes in Zimbabwe have exacerbated divisions and polarization
whereby principles of good governance, the rule of law and respect for human
rights have been violated,
STRESSING that the prime responsibility and
duty to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Zimbabwe
lie with the State,
EMPHASIZING the important
role that individuals, civil society organizations and groups play in the
promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
NOTING
further that a fact finding mission of the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights visited Zimbabwe in June 2002,
COMMENDING the efforts
that have been undertaken by civil society, in particular the Churches, in
trying to resolve the human rights and political crisis in Zimbabwe,
NOTE
with grave concern that:
. Serious violations of internationally
recognized human rights standards are widespread in Zimbabwe and constitute a
human rights and humanitarian crisis;
. The human rights and humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe is characterized by, inter alia:
serious food
shortages, massive job losses, collapse of public health delivery services, an
increase in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, political violence, torture, inhuman and
degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, attacks on human rights defenders,
systematic violence against women, forceful indoctrination, repressive
legislation, attacks upon the independence of the judiciary, the politicisation
of state institutions such as the police, denial of freedom of expression and
association,
partisan distribution of food aid and the resultant exodus of
Zimbabwean refugees;
. The Government of Zimbabwe is indoctrinating and
militarizing the youth and children in militia camps where they are subjected to
sexual abuse including rape, sodomy and exposure to sexually transmitted
diseases and HIV/AIDS,
. These human rights violations undermine the
objectives established in the Harare Declaration, the African Union Constitutive
Act and the NEPAD framework on democracy, good governance, human rights and
development;
. The perpetrators of human rights violations in Zimbabwe
are overwhelmingly government officials, agents and state-sponsored militias.
While criminal responsibility lies with individual government
officials,
agents and militias general responsibility for these violations lies with the
Zimbabwean government;
. The human rights and humanitarian crisis in
Zimbabwe affects the entire African continent and must be addressed as a matter
of urgency by African states and institutions, with the involvement of local and
regional civil society groups.
THE MEETING RESOLVES AND DEMANDS:
1. THAT the government of Zimbabwe:
. Immediately restores the
rule of law and ensures the immediate end to
all human rights violations in
the country;
. Holds all perpetrators of serious human rights abuses
accountable for
their actions, including being criminally prosecuted where
their actions
constitute crimes under domestic and/or international
law;
. Distributes food and food aid in a non-partisan and equitable
manner
and full access for local and international humanitarian agencies
is
guaranteed;
. Must ensure the fair, non-partisan and equitable
redistribution of
land in a transparent manner. The process must take into
account the
rights of the landless peasants, the farm workers and the
nation's food
security;
. Invites human rights investigative
mechanisms of the United Nations
and the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights to visit the
country and investigate human rights violations
falling within their
mandate;
. Agrees to subject itself to scrutiny
by the NEPAD Peer Review
Mechanism;
. Immediately ratifies the
Convention Against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment and its optional protocol,
and incorporate its provisions into
domestic legislation;
. Repeals all repressive legislation such as the
Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and Privacy Act and the
Broad Casting Services Act.
2. THAT East and Southern African governments
must strongly condemn the
human rights violations in Zimbabwe and must work
individually and
collectively to bring an end to these violations.
3.
THAT Countries in the region party to the Convention Against
Torture
investigate and prosecute all individuals responsible for torture
in
Zimbabwe who come within their territory.
4. THAT SADC should
examine the compliance of the Zimbabwe authorities
with the provisions of the
Windhoek Declaration, condemn the human
rights violations and exert pressure
on the government to take specific
measures to remedy the situation.
5
. THAT the President of the AU Commission should issue a public
statement
condemning the human rights violations in Zimbabwe and request
the Conflict
Management Division to immediately carry out a proactive
fact finding mission
to Zimbabwe. The Division should recommend
immediate steps to be taken by the
AU and the Zimbabwean government to
prevent a possible violent
confrontation.
6. THAT Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth should
continue
until its government complies with the Harare Declaration and
takes
concrete steps to restore the rule of law, restores respect for
human
rights and holds perpetrators of human rights violations
accountable.
7. THAT the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
should make
its report on the fact finding mission public at its next session
in
October 2003. The Commission should then consider its mission
report
together with submissions of civil society organisations and decide
in
line with Article 58 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights
that a situation of serious and massive violations of human
rights
exists in Zimbabwe and brings this to the attention of the
Chairperson
of the African Union and further, make recommendations on
immediate
steps to be taken by the Zimbabwean government to end the human
rights
violations.
8 . THAT the member states of the Non-Aligned
Movement should jointly
condemn human rights violations in Zimbabwe and work
individually and
collectively to bring an end to these violations.
9.
THAT the Special Rapporteurs on torture, independence of the
judiciary,
freedom of expression, the right to food and violence against
women and the
UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Human
Rights Defenders
should urgently request permission from the government
to visit Zimbabwe to
examine the human rights crisis. Should this
request be denied or ignored,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
should issue a public statement
denouncing human rights violations in
Zimbabwe, as reported to him by local
and international human rights
organisations.
10 . THAT the situation
in Zimbabwe constitutes a threat to regional
peace and security and
consideration should be given either by the
Secretary General of the UN or
member states of the SADC, EAC and the AU
to place the question of the crisis
in Zimbabwe before the UN Security
Council under Chapter 7 of the UN
Charter.
******
Participants
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions
ZimRights, Zimbabwe
League of Women Voters,
Zimbabwe
Transparency International, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum
Roman Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Bulawayo
Zimbabwe Youth
Democracy Trust
Crisis Coalition, Zimbabwe
Human Rights Institute for
South Africa
Amnesty International South Africa
Zimbabwe Advocacy
Campaign, South Africa
South African Council of Churches
Centre for the
Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South Africa
Civil Liberties Committee,
Malawi
Church of Central African Presbyteria, Blantyre Synod,
Malawi
Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE),
Malawi
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Malawi
International
Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Kenya
National Convention Executive
Council, Kenya
NGO Coordinating Committee, Zambia
Civil Servants and
Allied Workers Union of Zambia
Council of Churches, Zambia
Afronet,
Zambia
National Society for Human Rights, Namibia
Legal Assistance Centre,
Namibia
DITSHWANELO, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights
Women NGO
Coalition, Botswana
Women's Shelter Project, Botswana
Amnesty
International, Botswana
Anglican Church, Diocese of Botswana
Lawyers
Committee for Human Rights, United States
International Human Rights Law
Group, United States
London School of Economics, England
Zimbabwe
Accountability Commission, France
THE government has ordered
relief agencies to surrender food aid to
village headmen for distribution to
starving Zimbabweans, in a move donor
groups yesterday said could see
international donors cutting off aid to the
hunger-stricken
nation.
In a directive issued last week, virtually revoking an
earlier
arrangement were donor groups were allowed to independently
distribute food,
Social Welfare Minister July Moyo told non-governmental
organisations (NGOs)
that they would no longer be permitted to select
beneficiaries of food aid.
The NGOs would source food aid but
surrender it to the village headmen
and their committees who would select
recipients and give out food.
The new directive, entitled
Policy on Operations of Non-Governmental
Organisations in Humanitarian and
Developmental Assistance in Zimbabwe,
reads in part: “The beneficiaries of
the NGOs food distribution programme
will be selected from the ward/village
assembly and neighbourhood committee
registers.
“At the
distribution point where the food is delivered by the NGO, the
ward and
village food distribution committees, with the assistance of
local
governmental structures, will be responsible for the physical
distribution
of food.”
Food aid distribution would now also
be harmonised with the government
’s public works programme, where hungry
people carry out community and
development work in return for
food.
Food relief experts told the Daily News the new
directive, which
breaches guarantees given by the government that it would
not interfere in
food aid distribution, could see international donors, wary
of political
interference in food relief operations, immediately cutting off
help to
Zimbabwe.
“The repercussions are quite clear. We shudder
to think how they
(international donors) will react to this total takeover by
the government
of food aid distribution,” a senior official with the Harare
office of an
international NGO said yesterday.
The UNited
Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), which is leading
international efforts
to avert starvation in Zimbabwe, yesterday said it was
seeking clarification
from the government on the directive.
A spokesman for the WFP,
Luis Clemens, said: “WFP has learned of a new
government directive concerning
relief food distributions, which was
announced by a Cabinet Action Committee
at meetings held in provincial
capitals in the past three
days.
“We are reviewing this new directive and seeking
clarification.”
Moyo played down the issue, but declared that no
donor could prescribe
to the government to totally keep its hands off food
aid.
He said: “They (NGOs) have always been working with the
headmen so
nothing has really changed. All we are saying is that the NGOs
should use
local structures such as chiefs, headmen and councils because
these are the
people on the ground. Everything else will remain the
same.
“But no international donor can tell us that the
government should not
be involved in food distribution when we are the ones
who asked for the food
in the first place.”
Mostly Western
donor countries and groups, wary of the ruling ZANU PF
party and the
government’s alleged use of food aid to punish political
opponents by denying
them food, have insisted that the government keeps away
from food
distribution.
NGOs receiving help from Western governments and
help groups have
independently selected recipients and ensured that all
deserving people
received food regardless of their political
affiliation.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change shadow
minister for
agriculture Renson Gasela said ZANU PF could easily manipulate
village heads
and use them to withhold food to perceived supporters of the
opposition
party.
He said: “Village heads and rural councils
are basically ZANU PF arms
and we have numerous reports of partial
distribution of government-sourced
food.
“They should not be
allowed anywhere near food distribution. The idea
is to hijack donor food and
use it as a campaign tool for the council
elections.”
About 5.5
million Zimbabweans could starve to death unless food relief
agencies provide
700 000 tonnes of food aid to Zimbabwe.
Once southern Africa’s
breadbasket, Zimbabwe must survive on food
handouts after poor rains and
chaotic government land reforms combined to
reduce food production by more
than 60 percent.
Daily News
ZANU PF fails to submit position paper on
talks
THE ruling ZANU PF party failed again yesterday to submit
its
position paper on dialogue with the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) party, throwing into disarray an initiative by local
church
leaders to broker a political settlement between Zimbabwe’s two
biggest
political parties.
The ruling party, which has
failed on about two previous occasions to
submit its agenda proposals for
talks with the MDC, yesterday did not turn
up for a meeting with the church
leaders that was supposed to take place
around 10 o’clock in the morning in
Harare.
Sources close to the faltering church initiative told
the Daily News
that by late afternoon yesterday neither ZANU PF chairman John
Nkomo nor the
party’s spokesman, Nathan Shamuyarira had contacted the church
leaders to
apologise for their failure to turn up for the meeting or to say
when the
ruling party would now be submitting its position paper on
dialogue.
The meeting that was supposed to take place yesterday
had been
proposed by Zanu PF, which had said last week that it wanted a
meeting with
the three clergyman before it could submit its position
paper.
“They (Shamuyarira and Nkomo) did not come for the
meeting as was
scheduled and there was no communication from them on what
will happen
next,” said a source, who spoke on condition he was not
named.
Shamuyarira and Nkomo, who is also Special Affairs
Minister in
President Robert Mugabe’s Office have represented ZANU PF during
the
preliminary efforts by the leaders of the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches
(ZCC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and the Catholic
Bishops’
Conference of Zimbabwe (CBCZ), to revive talks between the ruling
party and
the MDC.
Nkomo was unavailable for comment
yesterday. Calls on his mobile phone
went unanswered. Shamuyarira was said to
be out of his office and could not
be reached on his mobile.
ZCC leader Sebastian Bakare, leading the church leaders, yesterday
confirmed
the scheduled meeting with ZANU PF failed to take place but he
would not be
drawn to disclose further details on the
matter.
Bakare said: “We are still optimistic. But our scheduled meeting with
ZANU PF
did not take place.”
The church-led initiative to break Zimbabwe’s
political impasse had
appeared set for a successful outcome after ZANU PF and
state President
Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Bakare,
EFZ’s Trevor
Manhanga and the CBCZ’s Patrick Mutume in separate meetings
three weeks ago
that they were both committed to resumption of dialogue
between their rival
parties.
The MDC has since submitted to
the clergymen its position paper on
dialogue, seen by most analysts as the
only viable way to end Zimbabwe’s
crisis.
But apparent
indecision and reluctance by ZANU PF to commit itself to
talks brokered by
the three-member church team appear to have now
effectively dimmed prospects
that dialogue could be resuscitated any time
soon.
According
to sources, the three bishops were now disillusioned by the
apparent lack of
urgency in ZANU PF to end the political crisis gripping
the
country.
Last weekend Nkomo publicly rebuked the
bishops, saying his party was
not going to be rushed into
dialogue.
A week ago Mugabe appeared to backtrack on his word,
demanding that
the MDC “repent” before
there could be
co-operation with the government and his ZANU PF party.
ZANU PF
insiders say there are bitter disagreements between various
and competing
factions within the ruling party on whether to
embrace the church
leaders’ initiative with the hawks in the party,
who do not want co-operation
with the clergymen, appearing to gain the upper
hand at the
moment.
Last week Tsvangirai said his party would not wait
forever for ZANU PF
to come to the negotiating table, warning the MDC could
resort to mass
action to force the governing party to
negotiate.
By Precious Shumba
Senior Reporter
Daily News
Police pounce on union bosses
POLICE
yesterday swooped on top officials of the Zimbabwe Security
Guards
Association (ZSGA), arresting several of them to thwart a strike by
private
security guards called by ZSGA yesterday to press for higher
wages.
Commercial Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (CWUZ), to which
ZSGA is
affiliated, told the Daily News yesterday that eleven leaders of
the
security workers’ union were arrested and charged with breaching
the
government’s draconian Public Order and Security Act.
CWUZ secretary-general Shangwa Chifamba said: “The arrested guards
appeared
at the Harare Magistrates’ Court today (Monday) facing charges
of
contravening the Public Order and Security Act and were given a bail of
$5
000 each.”
The court ordered the ZSGA officials to return
for trial on 3
September.
The CWUZ official said most of the
guards who appeared in court
yesterday had been arrested at the weekend while
on duty or on their way to
report for work.
Chifamba said
another 75 security guards employed by the
privately-owned Safeguard had also
been arrested and briefly detained at
Braeside Police Station on Friday for
going on strike demanding higher
salaries.
The police last
Friday had to fire tear-gas to disperse about 200
Safeguard workers who had
besieged the company, to force management to
address their demand for higher
salaries.
The guards are demanding a minimum monthly salary of $85
852 from the
current $62 660, which is being offered by the employers
following the
completion of salary negotiations last month.
Chifamba said most security companies were refusing to award their
workers
the new salaries that had been stipulated by the National Employment
Council
citing low business.
He said: “The security companies are saying
that if they pay the
workers the new salaries, they would go out of business,
something we don’t
believe. The workers should not be made to (pay) for their
employers’
businesses.
“The arrest of the disgruntled
workers is very unfair and intimidatory
as they would be demanding their
rights by using legal procedures,” he said.
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
Zimbabwe women bear brunt of state sponsored
violence
In 18 months, Amani Trust, a non-governmental
organisation (NGO)
dedicated to the assistance of victims of violence in
Zimbabwe, has
documented 16 cases of rape.
Sixteen – not
even one a month. Not enough to make the case for the
systematic rape of
women during Zimbabwe’s political crisis. Not enough to
make anyone sit up
and take notice. However, this relatively small number
belies the degree to
which women have been and continue to be targeted in
the continuing political
violence.
In the media in Zimbabwe, the enduring victim of violence is male.
There is no national outcry over what
Zimbabwean feminist Everjoice
Win describes as the “state-sponsored
violations” against women in that
country.
“Women as a group
are picked on and assaulted,” Albert Musarurwa, the
chairperson of the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, says. “Women have become
targets of
politically motivated, deliberate sexual violence.”
He says an
emerging pattern justifies speaking of a “policy of
deliberately targeting
women”. It can, therefore, be safely assumed that
behind the small number of
documented cases of politically motivated rape
lie hundreds
more.
Dr Frances Lovemore, Amani’s medical director, says rape
is the most
under-reported violation.
“Women are the most
vulnerable group and often the bravest of the
activists. Women as a group are
picked on and assaulted.”
But a variety of cultural, social and
economic factors silence the
women. The long-term psychological
repercussions, she says, are serious.
Only once the political
crisis has ended will researchers be able to
uncover the extent to which
women have been raped or sexually assaulted
because of their real or
perceived political affiliations.
Making a case for
gender-based violence in Zimbabwe will depend on how
many women are willing
to come forward and on how well these cases are
recorded, Lovemore
says.
At the moment, most women do not report their cases
because they are
afraid of being stigmatised, of having been infected with
HIV, of being
ostracised or blamed by their families and husbands, of being
unable to take
care of their children. Many fear that no one will
listen.
Since the Rwandan genocide, the systematic and
widespread rape of
women during a time of war or political conflict is
considered a crime
against humanity.
Systematic rape of
women is now recognised as a strategy of war, says
Virginia Chitanda, a
Zimbabwean who works as the lead gender crime
investigator in the office of
the prosecutor in Sierra Leone.
Chitanda, Win, Lovemore and
Musarurwa were among several Zimbabwean
civic leaders who attended a
three-day symposium in Johannesburg to draft
recommendations on human rights
and justice in a post-conflict Zimbabwe.
Gender crimes,
Chitanda explains, make use of women’s social role to
terrorise
people.
In Sierra Leone, fighting forces would go into villages
and rape women
to demonstrate the need for the village to comply with their
demands and to
highlight the village’s powerlessness.
Women and
girls were used as sex slaves, abducted as “bush wives” and
forced into
prostitution. The courts are only now acknowledging what
happened to the
women of Sierra Leone.
“The courts have a responsibility to
make a statement to the women
that what was done to them is criminal.
Survivors want to hear that what
happened was not their fault. They want
acknowledgment,” says Chitanda. –IOL
By Christina Stucky
Daily News
Fiddling while Harare burns
IT IS
disheartening to note that while Zimbabwe’s capital city
continues to battle
the hardships that have become the lot of the country’s
municipalities, the
authorities insist on continuing to be part of the
problem instead of
assisting to come up with a solution.
Facing the impact of
severe foreign currency shortages and rampant
inflation, Harare has been
further adversely affected by the suspension in
April of Executive Mayor
Elias Mudzuri on allegations of mismanagement
and
corruption.
About four months down the line, a
commission hand-picked by Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo to
investigate Mudzuri has not begun
work. Instead, several of its members have
abandoned the commission, forcing
the minister to virtually begin from
scratch.
There are indications that a revamped nine-member
investigating
commission is now to start work in a
fortnight.
The merits or otherwise of Mudzuri’s suspension are
not our concern at
this point, but it is disturbing that central government
seems to be so
unconcerned with speedily resolving the crisis in the Harare
City Council.
Why a committee that should have begun work
months ago has not started
its investigations remains a mystery to most
residents of the capital city.
Indeed, that several members of
the committee have jumped ship before
even beginning their work and why they
have taken this step is something the
government has been silent about. Yet,
these are issues that are of major
concern to a city whose duly elected mayor
has been summarily relieved of
his duties.
But this blatant
disregard for their plight is something the people of
Harare and Zimbabwe
have come to expect from the government and, even worse,
accept and
tolerate.
However, it is imperative that residents and
ratepayers of Harare
begin to demand that urgent action be taken to resolve
the confusion at Town
House. It is important that central government, having
insisted on
interfering in the operations of the Harare City Council by
suspending the
mayor and appointing a committee to probe him, should ensure
that its
proposed investigation is carried out speedily.
The
people of Harare need to know as soon as possible whether Mudzuri
will be
able to resume the duties they elected him to perform or whether
they should
prepare to vote a new mayor into office.
Of course, it goes without
saying that central government should have
thought to pre-empt any
controversy over the outcome of the proposed
investigation by ensuring that a
truly independent commission was appointed.
As it is, if the
present committee finds Mudzuri guilty of the charges
against him, the mayor
and the residents of Harare are likely to cry foul
because the commissioners
were picked by Chombo and are, therefore,
perceived to be sympathetic to him
and unlikely to give Mudzuri a fair
hearing. However, if central government
insists on this probe, it is not too
late for the minister concerned to
address these concerns before an
investigation begins.
The
consequences for Zimbabwe’s main city will be serious if Chombo,
for reasons
best known to himself, allows this matter to drag on for much
longer or to
end in the kind of controversy that can only be resolved by yet
another
commission.
It would be naive to think that everything is
proceeding normally
within the Harare City Council just because the minister
has appointed an
acting mayor to perform Mudzuri’s duties.
To make matters worse, Chombo has continued to issue controversial
directives
over Mudzuri’s salary and benefits, even suspending council
elections
scheduled for this month.
This has meant that the Harare
municipality has been preoccupied with
matters that have distracted it from
its main task: to provide adequate and
efficient services to residents and
ratepayers. Service delivery has already
been adversely affected by
hyper-inflation and the hard cash shortages that
have hit other city councils
around the country.
It is clearly unacceptable that these
problems should be compounded by
central government itself, which should be
working flat out to help resolve
these crises before the damage is too far
gone.
There is no time to waste.
Daily News
ZANU PF made themselves enemies of the
people
THERE is a reason why enemies do not shake hands when they
meet.
They do not wish each other well. There is a reason why
enemies shake
hands in front of other people. They try to lull each other
into a false
sense of hopeful expectation before
delivering the
sucker punch.
The gesture of shaking hands is just taken for
granted. But if we stop
and think about it, we will find that a handclasp
between two living hands,
in addition to expressing comforting and loving
intentions, miraculously
receives a greeting at the very moment that it gives
it.
But now, because of politicians, handshaking has been
relegated to a
symbol that no longer represents the original good intentions.
It’s now used
to camouflage the worst of
intentions.
Several times over the years, I have seen Israeli
hypocrites, flanked
by a United States President, shaking hands with
Palestinian leadership just
before bombing defenceless Palestinian children
and
innocent civilians.
Handshakes are now
favoured by those at war with each other; they have
become public relations
weapons against one’s opponent as the adversaries
vie for the support of the
common person.
I recall the late Jonas Savimbi shaking hands
with Angolan leaders,
only to be killed in action by government forces months
later. And young
Joseph Kabila almost lost both his footing and his country
after being
fooled by handshakes from political foes who did not intend to
lay down
their arms.
And now in Zimbabwe, where political
opponents are regarded and
treated as enemies, I see ZANU PF’s leading
negotiators, Patrick Chinamasa
and Nicholas Goche, shaking hands with their
MDC counterparts. And the MDC
better be warned. I don’t know about you, but I
am not very
optimistic about this exercise.
My
pessimism is fomented by an unbearable desire and impatience for a
meaningful
and lasting solution to our problems. I am compelled to conclude
that ZANU PF
is not serious at all since I do not believe there is any need
to talk.
President Robert Mugabe should just leave and that is all.
He has
become everyone’s problem and a stumbling block to the revival
of this
nation. If the MDC agrees to anything less than Mugabe’s dignified
departure,
then it is betrayal.
To make it worse for me, I know that ZANU
PF is not attending these
talks to negotiate itself out of power. Those
preliminary handshakes and
banter are just forced rituals. For starters,
Chinamasa and Goche are very
low on the ZANU PF totem pole and are hardly
inspiring figures, even within
ZANU PF itself.
Actually, the
MDC should feel insulted that these two are leading
negotiators in such a
serious and delicate matter. They are hardly the kind
of people an embattled
party would turn to and trust with its own future.
But then, who of
consequence is left within ZANU PF?
Like a meteorite hurtling
towards some planet, ZANU PF’s violent sonic
boom was heard and was seen
during the last parliamentary and presidential
elections. While they were
busy killing innocent people, the party was
disintegrating.
Secondly, whom does Mugabe mean when he talks about enemies of the
people? Is
he referring to the people with whom he is engaged in talks,
talks that shall
determine his comfortable future after being booted out of
State House? As
far as I am concerned, the heart of the matter is that ZANU
PF and its
government are themselves enemies of the people on account of the
misery they
collectively inflict upon the nation. This violent group of
under-achievers
has made me feel ashamed of my president and my country.
I
plead guilty to shame. Even the national anthem now conjures up
nightmares
for me and the picture of the President emphasises and identifies
who is
responsible for the nation’s despondency.
Thirdly, look at what
ZANU PF is doing to the MDC and to the people
through Ignatius Chombo! The
continuing harassment of Harare Executive Mayor
Elias Mudzuri is another
indication that ZANU PF has no good intentions in
these negotiations. The MDC
better be warned: ZANU PF politics is like water
full of frogs; I dare the
MDC to drink it!
How can ZANU PF expect the MDC or the people
to take them seriously
when they behave in the manner they do? I was,
however, amused to hear MDC’s
Paul Temba Nyathi declaring that the talks will
continue in spite of both
Mudzuri and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s
harassment.
But what does the MDC think of ZANU PF’s continuing
electoral fraud?
Is it not relevant to these talks and their outcome? The
problem here is
that ZANU PF has nothing to lose. It lost everything already
and they are
just looking for a resting-place hence the emphasis on exit
packages.
ZANU PF stole from the people; they took over and
ruined the country,
but they now say in order for them to leave, they want
more perks from the
people they have been robbing. From the political and
economic survivors,
they demand immunity from prosecution for crimes they
committed but to which
they have not admitted responsibility. They want a
golden handshake for
abusing us.
ZANU PF is in office but not in
power. The only source of power they
wield is through the police and the
army. Herbert Murerwa is in office as
the Finance Minister, but what power
does he have? The country is now being
sustained by the informal sector.
Tomatoes sold on the sidewalk now send our
children to school. The art,
handiwork and curios we produce and which the
government is supposed to
export for us and the country are sold cheaply to
exploiting traders. Our
transactions bypass the government; no taxes are
paid.
Meanwhile, the government naively expects me to bring my US dollar to
the
bank and exchange it for a worthless 800 Zimdollars when a fellow
citizen is
prepared to part with over 3 000 Zimdollars for the same US
dollar. The
government inflicts and erects ethical, moral and legal
quagmires for the
people because if I practice free enterprise, they will
arrest me for going
after $3 000 but will call me a patriot if I become
foolish enough to go for
the $800.
Because of the economic ruin inflicted on the country by
ZANU PF, most
of us now live only a few centimetres from the boundaries of
legality. And I
hear the Chorus Of Priests from Mustapha: “Oh wearisome
condition of
Humanity! Borne under one law, to another bound . . . Tyrant to
others, to
her self unjust . . . ” What a mess we are in! As these two
adversaries sit
down to talk, both have to be warned about the enormity of
the task. I fear
for the MDC because they are the ones with the most to lose.
They are the
ones on who people rest their expectations.
While
ZANU PF seeks nothing more than being accommodated, the MDC is
expected to
play its role in delivering an alternative to the 23 years of
misery. People
want to be delivered from the cruel, corrupt clutches of ZANU
PF. The MDC
should be careful that the sacrifices and concessions they make
do not amount
to a betrayal of the people. The sacrifices that the MDC make
must not
disappoint. ZANU PF is a master at inflicting political wounds;
their record
in trickery is a matter of public record.
The MDC needs to be
warned. They must, however, deal with ZANU PF in
the most honest way
possible. The people must be kept up-to-date on these
talks and the MDC
should watch out for South African President Thabo Mbeki
Tanonoka Joseph
Whande is a Zvishavane-based writer.
Daily News
RBZ’s late release of data hits local
firms
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s failure to timeously
release
crucial economic data has hit hard on local companies, many of which
are
being forced to generate their own estimates to facilitate
planning,
according to analysts.
Bank economists said the
RBZ statistics were frequently released
months after they were due, making it
difficult for financial institutions
and other investors to plan
effectively.
The analysts said the delays were worsening
speculation in an economy
suffering serious distortions because of
speculative investors.
Century Holdings economic analyst Ranga
Mandaza told the Business
Daily: “Most institutions are now producing their
own information because it
’s very difficult to wait for the RBZ, which
releases expired information.”
The central bank is supposed to
produce statistics on Zimbabwe’s
domestic and external debt, import cover,
exports, imports, annual broad
money supply growth and fiscal
revenue.
Commentators said most of this information was
released months after
it was out of date, making effective planning
difficult.
They said the difficulties were compounded by the
fact that the
Central Statistical Office, which releases Zimbabwe’s inflation
data, also
fails to release information on time.
The
analysts pointed out that inflation data should be out on the 16th
of each
month but was always delayed.
Mandaza said the resulting
uncertainty made it difficult for local
firms to attract international
investors, who need up-to-date information to
make decisions on
investment.
The analysts said although many local businesses
were coming up with
their own estimates, this did not solve the problem
caused by the delays and
could, in fact, expose Zimbabwean firms to
difficulties if they made their
decisions based on inaccurate
estimates.
Trust Banking Corporation chief economist David
Mupamhadze said: “We
have a very wide time lag and the activity in the
country is just
unpredictable and making estimates of monetary and economic
variables might
not be possible.”
It was not possible to
secure comment from central bank officials
yesterday.
However, sources in the RBZ said the delays could be partly attributed
to
printing machine problems.
But Mupamhadze pointed out that the
central bank could update its
economic data on the Internet, which would
enable it to get around printing
and distribution problems. But although the
RBZ has a website, the
statistics published on it are also usually several
weeks or months out of
date.
Independent economic consultant
John Robertson attributed some of the
delays in the release of economic data
to the exodus of skilled and
experienced staff from government
departments.
A large number of Zimbabwean professionals have
left the country in
search of better pay and working
conditions.
Business Reporter
Daily News
Exporters anticipate devaluation of
dollar
LOCAL exporters yesterday said they were expecting the
government to
devalue the Zimbabwean dollar by 118 percent to $1 800 against
the American
greenback by 1 September, as part of its policy to review the
exchange rate
every quarter.
The sources, however, said some
industrialists and exporters wanted
the government to adjust the exchange
rate by as much as 191 percent, which
would see the United States dollar
trading at $2 400 against the local
currency.
The Zimbabwe:US dollar exchange rate is at $824:$1.
Exporting
industry sources said some exporters were agitating for the
total removal of
exchange controls.
“The government wants to push the exchange
rate to $1 800 against the
US dollar, but that still is not enough according
to some people,” said a
well-placed source who has been attending
consultative meetings with the
government.
Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa had not responded to questions sent
to him yesterday morning
by the time of going to press.
However, business executives
told the Business Daily that the
government had been approaching key
stakeholders to come up with
recommendations on how to improve the export
incentive scheme announced at
the end of February this year.
The government adjusted the exchange rate from $55 to $824 against the
US
dollar at the end of February and promised to review the scheme
quarterly,
but has not done so.
The executives said the government had
been urged to abolish the
exchange controls and leave market forces to
determine the price of the
battered Zimbabwean dollar, while others wanted
the dollar to be devalued to
$2 400 to the US dollar as long as the
government undertook to review it
quarterly as it had
promised.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), which
groups the
country’s major manufacturers who produce for the local and export
markets,
yesterday said it had submitted a position paper to the government
on the
devaluation issue.
CZI president Anthony Mandiwanza
said the industrial body’s
recommendations emanated from consultations with
members, but would not
disclose what the recommendations
were.
“We have already made a recommendation to government on
that,” he told
the Business Daily yesterday.
“We do have a
position paper, but we cannot discuss it. It is part of
our response to those
issues that are of best interest to our members.”
But sources
yesterday said the CZI had encouraged the government to
totally do away with
the controls it has imposed on foreign currency,
something the government has
been resisting.
Chamber of Mines president Ian Sanders
yesterday said the mining
industry was meeting government officials today to
reinforce the industry’s
position regarding the review of the export
incentive scheme.
Sanders said while each sector had its own
needs, the government had
to look at fundamental issues when coming up with a
new exchange rate.
He said the mining industry was looking at
an exchange rate of between
$1 600 and $1 800 against the
greenback.
“The mining industry is due to meet the Minister (of
Mines, Edward
Chindori Chininga) tomorrow (Tuesday) to once again reinforce
the industry’s
position,” he said. “It is grossly inefficient to look at an
exchange rate
for each sector.
“We need a transparent
exchange rate. And for our sector, we are
looking at between $1 600 and $1
800, which should be timeously reviewed.”
Sanders said the gold
mining sector had been affected by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe’s delays in
paying companies the local currency equivalent
of their foreign currency
earnings.
Exporters are required to remit 50 percent of their
proceeds with the
central bank and are paid local currency in exchange. The
Chamber of Mines
official said gold producers had last been paid on 10 July.
The Zimbabwe
dollar is trading between $4 800 and $6 000 against the US
dollar on the
parallel market, with large volumes attracting a higher
exchange rate.
However, exporters said some of the exchange rates prevailing
on the
parallel market were too low and were not reflective of the actual
value of
the Zimbabwean dollar. They said even taking into consideration
the
inflation differential with Zimbabwe’s major trading partners, the
local
currency was not valued at $6 000, adding that $3 000 was a fair value
for
the Zimbabwean dollar, which has continued to lose ground against
major
currencies. Consultant economist John Robertson said most of the
exchange
rates on the parallel market were a reflection of the prevailing
shortages
and this could only be addressed by creating a conducive
environment for
exporters to earn more forex. “It’s (parallel market rates)
is a function of
scarcity,” said Robertson. “The scarcity price then becomes
the real value
and the question is how do we tackle the scarcity issue.” He
said the other
options were for the government to receive balance of payments
support from
multi-lateral institutions and donor support, which was unlikely
to be
forthcoming until the government changes policies often blamed for
the
country’s imploding economy. Kingdom Financial Holdings economist
Witness
Chinyama said the government’s greatest challenge was to keep pace
with
exchange rates that were constantly changing as a result of the
worsening
operating environment. He said: “They (the government) have been
talking to
people about it (devaluation). The problem now is that we are
chasing a
moving target. It’s now way out of line. The $824 (to the
greenback) is no
longer functional.” President Robert Mugabe last month said
the Harare
authorities were looking at ways to make sure that those who
handled foreign
currency accounted for it fully.
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe Business Editor
Daily News
Africa’s industry captains seek to revive
economy
A three-DAY Global African Business Titans conference
started on
Sunday in Johannesburg where African business executives and
company
directors would discuss ways to help revive the continent’s
economy.
The conference has been convened by Black Business
Executive Circle
(BBEC), which is affiliated to Mafube Enterprise, together
with the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
office.
The gathering titled: Towards the creation of a Global
African
Economic Community, will be held until today at the Sandton
Convention
Centre.
“The conference will explore how NEPAD
can serve as a catalyst to help
business from the diaspora to trade and
investment within a borderless
global African economic community”, said
Mafube Enterprise marketing manager
Anna Ngwenya.
“The aim
of the conference is to bring debate about NEPAD beyond the
shores of the
continent, and engaging Africans abroad to become champions of
its principles
and advocates for its implementation.”
She said to accomplish
this, the conference would look at NEPAD
through a pragmatic, triple bottom
line focused, private sector prism and to
have businesses from the continent
and outside of it explore how it should
be utilised to facilitate increased
trade and investment within a borderless
global African economic
community.
Registered delegates and speakers who have committed
to attend
included international, African and local
businessmen.
They are Armgold SA chairman Patrice Motsepe,
Minister and Economic
Adviser to President Wade of Senegal, Cherif Salif Sy,
Senior Editor of
Black Enterprise Magazine (USA) Matthew Scott, NEPAD
Secretariat in Kenya,
Peter Ondeng, and chairman of ESKOM, Reuel
Khoza.
Ngwenya said it would be the first time the continent’s
captains of
industry had come together to discuss the continent’s
economy.
The BBEC consists of senior black business executives
who come
together to discuss, to share experiences and to explore
business
opportunities. They have visited a number of African countries
to
investigate potential investment.
They comprise chief
executive officers, executive chairpersons,
managing directors and those in
senior general management positions in
parastatals, multinationals and major
South African or African corporations.
The BBEC is also a
member of the Black Business Council and its
chairman is businessman Peter
Vundla.
– Sapa
Daily News
Who will be to blame for starvation next
year?
THIS beautiful and productive country has been plunged into
crises
that no one could have imagined only three years ago. When the fuel
shortage
started in 1999, we were told it was a passing phase. Numerous deals
were
put in place. They all collapsed.
At the moment, the
government has no idea how the cars are moving. It
is often said that some
managers make things happen, others watch things
happen while another lot
wonder what happened. This government is wondering
what is
happening.
Let us take sugar for example. Zimbabwe still
exports sugar. There is
enough of it in the Lowveld. So why has there been a
shortage for over two
years now?
Whoever imagined we would
be short of our own local currency? The
problems besetting this country have
a domino effect. Can we say that this
regime is trying hard to resolve the
problems but failing or can we say that
they have now given up and are bereft
of any ideas?
We in MDC have said that the crises can only be
resolved in a holistic
manner. Presently, each minister of the so called war
Cabinet is running
round like music or even decapitated chicken trying to
solve the problems
besetting their
ministry. The problem is
a governance issue, period. The purpose of
this submission is to warn the
nation that unless we enter into serious
dialogue and resolve the governance
issue, even if the country receives
sufficient rains in the next four months,
there will still be shortage of
food to levels that have never been seen
before.
The factors that will contribute to that sorry state of
affairs are
the following: shortage of seed, shortage of fertilisers and cost
of both
seed and fertilisers.
I will now expand.
There are approximately 800 000 active farmers in the
country. These
are mainly communal farmers and those who were properly
resettled before the
chaotic land reform. These farmers can be relied upon
because they have
experience, they are good farmers and they may have their
own draught power.
If each of these farmers was to cultivate
only two hectares, each
would need a minimum of 500 kgs of compound D, and
400 kgs of Ammonium
Nitrate (AN) and 50 kgs of maize seed. At current prices,
this translates to
$540 000 per farmer. The average yield for communal
farmers is about a tonne
per hectare. The total production would therefore be
1 600 000 tonnes.
If this was to happen, other farmers would
then produce maybe another
600 000 tonnes, giving us a total of 2 200 000
tonnes, sufficient for one
year’s requirement. This is easier said than done.
Let us look at some
facts.
Eight hundred thousand farmers
each tilling two ha means 1 600 000 ha.
The seed required would be 40 000
tonnes at $800 000 per tonne equals $32
billion; compound D 400 000 tonnes at
$600 000 per tonne equals $240 billion
and AN 320 000 tonnes at $500 000 per
tonne equals $160 billion.
To finance maize production for next
year, the farmers must raise $432
billion. As we have seen above, each farmer
must raise $540 000. We know
that there is shortage of local currency in the
country. Communal farmers do
not have cheque accounts. They operate on cash,
which is now not available.
They do not have this kind of
money.
Even if the government was to print money to help
farmers with inputs,
I don’t believe there is enough printing capacity to
produce the volumes of
cash required. But this assumes that the inputs are
available. We do not
have enough seed in the country. We do not have enough
fertilisers either.
Any scheme to revive agriculture should
have long been put in place,
farmers would by now have received the bulk of
their inputs. As nothing has
been done, nothing of any significance can be
done now.
Two years ago, we produced about 240 000 tonnes of
wheat. Last year,
after much hype, only 140 000 tonnes were produced. This
year, the wheat
which is in the ground will be enough to feed the nation for
one month – a
mere 40 000 tonnes. Next year, there will be no wheat at
all.
What is the solution? The government, in its inherent
malfeasance, is
preoccupied with readmission to the Commonwealth in December.
It is my
submission that one of the most urgent matters is the growing of
food next
year. We have only two months at most to put plans
together.
We have no fuel, we have no sugar, we have no cooking
oil, we have no
money, we have no mealie meal. The cost of these items, if
they become
available, is unaffordable. The government has asked the World
Food
Programme (WFP) for assistance this year as it has no money! If this is
not
abrogation of responsibility and total admission of failure, then I
don't
know what is.
The Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement
Minister is today, so late in
the season, seeking foreign currency to import
seed and fertilisers. Who is
going to be responsible for the starvation of
the people in this country
next year? Who is planning for the food production
for next year? Can we
really say that we have a government that is in charge
other than in charge
of violence and repression?
I go back
to my earlier point. The problems of this country cannot be
solved in
isolation of the governance issue. We in MDC have plans that will
address the
economic meltdown, not piecemeal, but totally. We have already
developed
sub-strategies for each sector.
In agriculture, we can revive
production within the shortest possible
time provided it is part of the
overall political solution. The political
solution will bring back rule of
law, readmission into the comity of
nations, access to international finance,
return of donors, opportunity to
negotiate on what to do with our huge
foreign debt. We will also rationalise
the land reform to ensure productivity
returns. Like I said, because nothing
has been done up to now, even though
the weather forecasters are predicting
a good season, we will embarrassingly
be begging for food again next year.
What an indictment for a country endowed
with such natural resources. In the
words of the erudite Pius Wakatama, those
who have ears, let them hear.
By Renson Gasela
Renson
Gasela is the Member of Parliament for Gwanda South and shadow
lands and
agriculture minister of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Daily News
So-called sanctions another scapegoat for
incompetence
Could some expert, through your paper, explain fully
the so-called
sanctions that Zimbabwe is facing?
Apart from
the fact that more than half the world supports President
Robert Mugabe and
his weird policies of destruction, I find it strange that
there is so much
talk about sanctions by the West and suspension by
the
Commonwealth.
In my view, the United Kingdom and United
States have not directly
imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe. Or is it that if
Mugabe were to be
allowed to travel to the US for instance, he would visit
such places like
Harlem and meet Cde Chimurenga, who in turn would pour
millions of dollars
into his account, thus neutralising whatever
sanctions?
I do not know of any ZANU PF friend being denied
entry into Zimbabwe.
I, therefore, fail to understand what help it would
bring should Mugabe’s
ban to travel to the US be lifted.
After all, all that Mugabe wants from the US is being obtained through
Simbi
Mubako. There are so many Zanu PF hotheads who were excluded from the
list
banned to travel to the US.
Why should we be made to believe
that only Mugabe’s travel to the US
would bring cooking oil at low price
under his regime and filthy policies?
Then we have this
Commonwealth group. If Australia, New Zealand and
Britain are the only
enemies that John Nkomo and Stan Mudenge see as the
ones opposed to
re-admission of Zimbabwe into this club, I find it strange
that the rest of
the former British colonies are failing to support Mugabe
financially and
materially to the extent that Zimbabwe is in such a mess,
and South Africa
sees re-admission as the only solution to Zimbabwe’s
economic kongonya
dance.
This is why someone should make us see exactly how the
so-called
sanctions have brought this economy to this stage where people are
being
forced to use travellers’ cheques despite that they are not
travelling
anywhere.
Without sitting on a desk for some
formal education about economics
and politics, we all know that with or
without sanctions, this present mess
is a result of gross mismanagement by
this government.
Its weird policies of violent confiscation of
land is backfiring and
its weird laws of POSA and AIPPA scare off donor
organisations.
Companies on genuine business trade were being
haunted and hunted by
the Chinotimbas until they wound up and relocated to
neighbouring countries.
Since 2000, I am yet to read about
Mbeki donating food to poor
Zimbabwe. I am yet to read about Libya pouring
fuel into Zimbabwe for free.
I am yet to read about Namibia donating fish to
avert poverty in Zimbabwe.
The last time we had some donation
from a poor country was some years
back when Harare hosted CHOGM and
Mozambique donated some Mercedes Benz
vehicles.
Then later
in the years we had some unfortunately rotten maize
from
Tanzania.
But meanwhile, money and food is coming every
six months from Mugabe’s
enemies, namely the US and UK. What sanctions?
Another scapegoat to the
known effects of a dictatorship in a modern day
global village. So what
sanctions if we are having such generous
donations?
Rudo
Harare
Cape Argus
Outcry over lavish Mugabe pension
August 19,
2003
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabweans have expressed
outrage over President Robert Mugabe's
decision to peg his pension benefits
to almost the same level as the salary
of a sitting president.
The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
said it
would scrap the decision that Mugabe signed into law at the weekend
as soon
as it gained power.
The MDC said considering the damage Mugabe's
policies had done to the
Zimbabwean economy, he should have volunteered to
forfeit his pension and
rely on the wealth that he and his cronies had looted
from Zimbabwe and
stashed abroad.
In a move to guarantee his
comfort when he leaves office, Mugabe
signed into law legislation that pegs
his pension benefits to at least 75%
of the salary and benefits of any
sitting president.
Officials in the justice ministry confirmed the
pension plan. One
said: "The decision ... is naturally meant to cushion
Mugabe from any
fluctuations in the inflation rate."
The
wording of the new law is such that only Mugabe and his family
qualify for
the generous pension benefits. It disqualifies his predecessor,
Canaan
Banana, who served as president until 1987 before Mugabe ousted him
and
combined the offices of president and prime minister.
The move
comes after Mugabe awarded himself a series of pay hikes
amounting to more
than 1 000% in the past year.
The move has reignited speculation
that Mugabe intends to step down
soon, but the MDC and civic groups said it
rather showed that he, like other
African tyrants, only cared for his own
comfort.
Mugabe's wife Grace and their children will also get
generous payments
as part of the pension plan.
Business Day
Economists seek ideas to fight African food
shortage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Policymakers
meeting at Durban conference know that the need for economic
recovery on the
continent is urgent
International Affairs Editor
WITH a recovery in
agriculture central to a wider African economic recovery,
it is likely that
policy makers will be looking to this week's conference of
agricultural
economists being held in Durban for some fresh ideas.
The urgent need for
African economic recovery is clear. SubSaharan Africa is
the only region in
the world to have experienced a large increase in the
number of
undernourished people in the past 30 years.
If this trend continues,
Africa cannot possibly meet one of the Millennium
Development goals of
halving hunger in 30 years.
There have been some gains in African
agriculture recently, but there have
been some spectacular disasters
too.
Nine years ago, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe opened the
meeting of the
International Association of Agriculture Economists, a body
which brings
together international economists from research, academic and
financing
institutions.
Then, Zimbabwe was an example to Africa for
both small- and large-scale
agriculture. Today the country is in deep crisis
with more than half the
population dependent on food aid.
Zimbabwe is
likely to be discussed at the conference this week, although it
is not on the
formal agenda.
In many ways Zimbabwe shows the limitations and
frustrations of agricultural
economists and that agricultural recovery is
firmly in the hands of
politicians in certain countries.
"Economists
can turn around lots of things, but not fundamental governance
problems,"
says the outgoing president of the association, Joachim von
Braun, who is
also the director-general of the Washington-based
International Food Policy
Research Institute.
He says there are issues that donors and governments
should address as a
matter of urgency to bring rapid, proven results to the
problems and
challenges facing African agriculture.
Market access to
advanced industrial countries is one of the issues near the
top of his list
for agricultural recovery, but the institute's team is not
hopeful the World
Trade Organisation talks in Cancun next month will solve
this
problem.
If agricultural protection is lifted in developing countries, a
number of
studies suggest that Africa will see a $3bn annual increase in
national
income, as agriculture makes up 30% of the continent's
exports.
Von Braun would like to see greater public investment in
rural
infrastructure, such as roads, storage facilities, and
banking.
Although agriculture makes up between 25%- 50% of most
sub-Saharan
countries' gross domestic product, investment in agricultural
infrastructure
is only between 4% and 6%.
During the 1980s and 1990s
most African governments embarked on fundamental
economic reforms to their
pricing regimes to lower the discrimination
against their domestic
agricultural sectors.
Most governments have depreciated their exchange
rates and allowed farm gate
prices to rise, giving farmers a greater
incentive. But the lack of
infrastructure continues to bedevil efforts to
make markets work more
effectively.
Price volatility is far greater
where infrastructure does not allow farmers
to get their produce to larger
markets, and allow consumers a choice of
where to purchase
products.
In some situations, says David Orden, a senior research fellow
at the
institute, prices can vary by as much as a factor of four, depending
on
local conditions. This makes it very difficult for farmers to be guided
by
prices.
The institute's team underscores the need for improved
seed, resistant to
drought, to make recovery possible.
Von Braun says
he is somewhat encouraged by the development of the Nerica
rice variety
because of its reduced need for water as well as its higher
yields. But, he
says, what is really required is greater drought resistance
in Africa's
staples, particularly maize, sorghum, cassava, and
sweet
potatoes.
Because of Africa's mainly dry conditions, pests and
complex diseases, he
believes that in the long run the continent cannot do
without genetically
modified crops if there is to be any sustained
agricultural recovery.
Many African countries are taking their time to
decide whether or not to
allow modified varieties out of fear that their
export crops could be
excluded from European Union markets.
But
governance remains the overarching issue for Von Braun. Economic reform
is
not enough when there are problems of rule of law because agriculture
can
only grow if there is long-term stability, he says.
The institute
is hosting an AllAfrica conference in Uganda next year, to
discuss assuring
food and nutrition security on the continent by 2020.
The theme of the
Durban conference is Reshaping Agriculture's Contributions
to
Society.
Delegates will grapple with the fact that demands on the
agricultural sector
are continually increasing.
In developing
countries, agriculture, fisheries and forests are required to
supply
expanding demand. But they are also being asked to address chronic
rural
poverty and food insecurity problems, and become more
environmentally
benign.
In transitional economies the task of
structural and institutional
adjustments remains at the fore, as do the rules
of trade engagement between
different groups of countries.
The
challenge is to reshape agriculture and the food chain to meet the
demands of
society.
The mission is to bring together economi sts and leading policy
makers to
debate and generate a better understanding of the way the new
agenda might
be met.
Financial Times
Zimbabwe food directive raises concerns
By
John Reed in Johannesburg
Published: August 19 2003 16:58 | Last
Updated: August 19 2003 16:58
Zimbabwe has ordered foreign
relief agencies to surrender future food
aid to local officials, raising new
fears that President Robert Mugabe's
government could use hunger as a
political tool.
Aid agencies, led by the United Nations, are
seeking clarification
from the government of a surprise directive issued last
week which ordered
that food be distributed through government-picked
channels such as village
assemblies and neighbourhood
committees.
As quoted in Harare's Daily News, the directive -
announced at
meetings in provincial capitals in recent days - said
nongovernmental
organisations could continue to source food aid. However, it
said: "The
beneficiaries of the NGOs' food distribution programme will be
selected from
the ward/village assembly and neighbourhood committee
registers."
Zimbabwe is to hold local elections shortly, so handing
food
distribution to local officials would likely have political
implications.
UN officials have complained in the past of political
interference in
their work, including at one distribution point last year
where
beneficiaries were asked to sing pro-Mugabe songs. Aid agencies have
been
careful to supply food to Zimbabwe's neediest cases, without regard to
their
political affiliation.
The agencies were publicly
circumspect in their reaction to the
directive on Tuesday. "We are reviewing
this new directive and seeking
clarification," said Mike Huggins, spokesman
for the WFP in Johannesburg.
But another aid official in Harare
privately expressed alarm that it
could compromise the NGOs' relief work in
Zimbabwe. "Even if it doesn't get
implemented, there is a paper that will be
hanging over operations like a
sword of Damocles," said one.
The
new rules might also cause international donors to curtail their
food aid to
Zimbabwe, he said.
The UN's World Food Programme estimates that
3.3m Zimbabweans
currently need food handouts, but the number will rise to
5.5m by January,
when reserve stocks are exhausted. Many of Zimbabwe's
starving people also
have HIV/Aids, raising the stakes of possible hitches in
food distribution.
Separately Zimbabwe's central bank has outlawed
the holding by
individuals and businesses of more than $Z5m ($6,000) in cash.
The move,
announced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Monday, is aimed at
fighting an
acute shortage of banknotes seen in recent months.
VOA
SADC Development Conference Opens in Tanzania
Delia
Robertson
Johannesburg
19 Aug 2003, 15:23 UTC
The annual
conference of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is
under way
in the Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam. The conference is
focusing on the
region's draft development strategy.
The draft strategy, known as the
Regional Indicative Strategic Development
Plan, proposes the use of key
indicators as a method to both set and
evaluate progress toward development
targets.
During the next few days senior officials and ministers hope to
fine-tune
the plan in preparation for a summit of regional leaders early next
week.
The plan foresees a 15-year development period during which member
states
will be expected to legislate and implement plans to reduce poverty,
combat
HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases, and improve health, education
and
gender equity.
The plan also seeks to redress imbalances in the
regional economies. South
Africa, whose population is about one-fifth of the
region's 208 million,
produces 75 percent of the gross domestic
product.
Only South Africa and Mauritius have significant manufacturing
sectors,
while the rest of the region depends predominantly on
agricultural
production. This adds to concerns for food security in the
region because
many of the countries are prone to droughts and
flooding.
Preparatory documents for the conference cite greater political
stability in
several countries in the region such as Angola and the
Democratic Republic
of Congo. But they also appear to gloss over the region's
politically
troubled countries, in particular Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has
not been included as a formal agenda item at this meeting, but
the presidents
of South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique likely will seek the
support of
regional leaders to persuade Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to
engage in
dialogue with his political opponents.