Reuters
Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:54 PM GMT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe may allow "exceptional" extensions to Monday's
deadline
to trade in old currency, state media said on Sunday as panicky
consumers
went on weekend shopping sprees to offload their old banknotes.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last month announced it was lopping three zeros
off
the Zimbabwe dollar in a move aimed at taming hyperinflation, and gave
Zimbabweans until August 21 to adopt new banknotes.
Central Bank
Governor Gideon Gono told the Sunday Mail that while there
would be no
blanket extensions to the deadline, the bank might make a few
exceptions.
"As in all situations in life, there will always be
genuine cases that merit
exceptional consideration ... we will treat each
case on the basis of its
own circumstances," Gono said, saying disabled
people were one group who may
win more time to make the switch.
The
bank says its aim is to make life easier for Zimbabweans, who have had
to
carry huge piles of cash to make even the simplest purchases as inflation
has risen above 1,000 percent, the world's highest rate, amid economic
crisis.
Critics say the new banknotes will do little to address the
causes of
Zimbabwe's economic problems, which include chronic shortages of
foreign
currency, food and fuel, surging unemployment and plummeting
international
investment.
Tempers have been fraying more than usual
in recent days as Zimbabweans
scrambled to dispose of the old money, which
would be worthless after the
Monday deadline.
"Yesterday we were
really overwhelmed because many people wanted to use up
all their old bearer
cheques (banknotes), so we had to close later than
usual," said Tichaona
Chibwe, a worker at a Harare supermarket.
Shoppers frequently complain
that stores are giving change in the old
banknotes, while traders say they
simply have not received enough of the new
money to go around.
The
Central Bank says it has printed more than enough of the new
currency.
Zimbabwean media reported on Sunday that some petrol stations,
fast food
outlets and public transport operators were already refusing to
take the old
notes, arguing they would not have time to deposit the money on
the deadline
day.
The RBZ says security agents have seized trillions
of old Zimbabwe dollars
at border posts as money launderers try to smuggle
it back from neighbouring
countries where it was once traded
illegally.
Police intensified roadblocks over the weekend, hoping to
catch travellers
with large sums whose legality they cannot prove.
Zim Online
Mon 21 August
2006
HARARE - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has
skirted
the Zimbabwe question, once more leaving local citizens to find an
internal
solution to calm rising political tensions and pull the country out
of an
eight-year political and economic crisis, analysts said.
SADC leaders held an annual meeting which ended last Friday and was
expected
to hold a special session seeking to extricate Zimbabwe and
Swaziland out of
crises that the international community says are
increasingly tainting the
region's economic and political outlook.
Zimbabwe is battling an
unprecedented economic recession and political
crisis that critics lay
squarely on President Robert Mugabe's 26-year
uninterrupted rule and which
some regional countries fear could ultimately
destabilise the
region.
"I am not surprised at all that they did not talk about
Zimbabwe. I am
certain they are quite scared of Mugabe to such an extent
that they would
not broach the subject of Zimbabwe's problems," John Makumbe
a University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) political scientist and Mugabe critic
noted.
"Unless the people of Zimbabwe do something
quite dramatic against
Mugabe, yes, then that is when we can have that being
put on SADC's agenda,"
Makumbe told ZimOnline.
Lesotho Finance
Minister Timothy Thahane had told the press that the
regional bloc would
hold "a special session at the close of the summit to
discuss what's going
on ... specifically in Zimbabwe and Swaziland".
Lesotho Prime
Minister Pakalitha Mosisili later said at the end of the
summit that
regional leaders had made progress in their attempts to address
Zimbabwe's
crisis - a claim journalists and observers found hard to believe,
especially
amid reports that Mugabe had left Maseru early and in a huff
after being
told his controversial policies were hindering investment in the
region.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a debilitating economic
crisis that has
impoverished a population battling with the world's highest
inflation rate
of nearly 1 000 percent, unemployment above 80 percent and
shortages of
foreign currency, food, fuel and power.
Analysts
said SADC has stood aloof whilst the crisis deepens, but warn
that with
rising tensions in the country, the crisis could spill into the
region, with
regional powerhouse South Africa likely to be the worst
affected.
Zimbabwe's problems have already led to millions of
locals to
illegally migrate to neighbouring South Africa, Botswana, Namibia
and as far
afield as the United Kingdom, United States and Australia in
search of
better paying jobs.
The overall SADC economy, buoyed
by outstanding performances by
Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa,
grew by around 5 percent in
2005 and is expected to expand by 6 percent this
year.
But in contrast, Zimbabwe's economy has contracted more than
40
percent since 1998 and despite official optimism of a return to growth,
analysts, including the International Monetary Fund say the economy will
shrink again in 2006.
"It has to be accepted that SADC is not
coming to the rescue of
Zimbabweans so it is incumbent upon the people to
organise themselves in
such a form that they express their frustrations or
aspirations as it were
to the government," UZ political science department
chairman Eldred
Masunungure said.
"But this needs all the
different forces to come together if they are
to successfully confront the
government and only when such action is put
into motion can we see SADC
probably coming in," he added.
But Makumbe attacked SADC leaders,
saying they were afraid of tackling
the elderly African leader who could
mobilise people in their own countries.
Mugabe's radical policies have won
him support among the ordinary African
people, who see him as standing up to
the powerful Western countries.
"Their fear of Mugabe emanates from
who he is. He can dress them (SADC
leaders) down because he knows their
weaknesses and can actually mobilise
people in their countries against
theses leaders," Makumbe said.
Last week, Mugabe told a Heroes Day
gathering that Zimbabwe
appreciated the unwavering support from the region
but also poured scorn on
"some useless characters from neighbouring
countries" who were trying to
lecture Zimbabwe on democracy but "we regard
them as unhelpful."
The veteran leader has used heavy handed
tactics to cow the
opposition, including detention and harassment of
opposition officials while
clamping down on anti-government protests using
security forces such as the
military.
Although the opposition
this year called for street protests to end
Mugabe's rule, the protests have
yet to begin - leaving political observers
wondering if Zimbabweans are
simply too fearful of the government to dare
confront it in the
streets.
Analysts said this could just be as well after Mugabe said
during the
Defence Forces commemorations that Zimbabwe's army stood ready to
"pull the
trigger" against anyone seeking to topple him.
Mugabe
has steadfastly said Zimbabwe's crisis is a bilateral issue
with former
colonial power Britain, which he accuses of rallying some
Western nations to
punish Harare for embarking on disastrous seizures of
land from whites for
redistribution among blacks. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 21 August 2006
MUTARE - Ruling ZANU PF supporters
in the eastern city of Mutare have
evicted at least 26 families from a
former white-owned farm on the outskirts
of the city after accusing the
families of drumming up support for
opposition-led anti-government
protests.
The families were last week kicked off from Premier
Central Farm in
Old Mutare after they were accused of backing Zimbabwe's
main opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai, who heads
the main wing of the splintered Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party
has threatened to roll out mass
anti-government protests this winter to
force President Robert Mugabe to
embrace political reforms.
After they were evicted off the farm, the families initially set up
camp on
the roadside in temporary plastic shelters. But last week, the
police
descended on the former farm workers and drove them from the
roadside.
Fredrick Matingo, one of the affected individuals,
told ZimOnline at
the weekend that trouble began last week after a marauding
band of ZANU PF
supporters invaded the farm and ordered that they leave the
property.
"We were forced to remove our belongings at night by
these guys who
were brandishing weapons such as knobkerries, pangas and
sticks.
"They said we were being used by Tsvangirai and were acting
as his
agents in mobilising for mass action against the government. They
even said
they had orders from above," he said.
Police
spokesman for Manicaland province, Joshua Tigere, refused to
comment on the
matter while the governor for Manicaland, Tinaye Chigudu, who
is also the
ZANU PF chairman for the province, professed ignorance over the
eviction.
"I am not aware of it," said Chigudu.
Thousands of farm workers, the majority of them from Malawi and
Mozambique,
have been left without jobs and shelter after Mugabe sanctioned
the seizure
of the white farms for redistribution to landless blacks six
years ago. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 21 August
2006
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe allegedly left
the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in a huff after
regional leaders told him his controversial policies were scaring investors
away from the region.
Mugabe, one of the few remaining of
Africa's old style "big men"
rulers and the second longest serving president
in the region, left early on
Friday after only attending part of the
regional leaders' summit held in the
Lesotho capital of Maseru.
But Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili rejected claims Mugabe's
departure was because he was unhappy at his colleagues raising concern about
his government's policies.
Mosisili told observers and the
media not to read too much in the
early departure saying Mugabe "is not a
young man, is over 80 and surely the
old man is slowing down."
The Prime Minister also claimed that the summit - which had said it
would
hold a special session on Zimbabwe and also troubled Swaziland - had
made
progress in resolving Zimbabwe's crisis.
Zimbabwe is grappling its
worst ever economic crisis highlighted by
the world's highest inflation
outside a war zone of 993.6 percent, shortages
of fuel, electricity,
essential medicines, hard cash and just about every
basic survival
commodity.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party
and Western
governments blame the crisis on repression and wrong policies by
Mugabe, a
charge the veteran leader denies.
Political analysts
blame SADC especially South Africa, the region's
largest economy, of not
doing enough to push Mugabe to uphold human rights,
democracy and the rule
of law in order to re-integrate isolated Zimbabwe
into the international
community.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe, Angola and the Democratic Republic
of the Congo
failed to sign a SADC protocol paving the way for member
countries to align
finance and investment policies in order to enhance the
region's capacity to
do business with itself and the outside
world.
Mosisili said countries that had failed to sign the protocol
were in
agreement with the document but needed approval from their home
parliaments
before signing up. - ZimOnline
IOL
Basildon Peta
August 20 2006 at 12:55PM
Zimbabwean civic groups have expressed
outrage at the Southern African
Development Community's (SADC) ump-teenth
decision to let President Robert
Mugabe off the hook amid the escalating
crisis in his country.
Zimbabwe was not on the agenda of a SADC
summit last week despite an
earlier pledge by outgoing SADC chairman Festus
Mogae of Botswana that the
crisis would be discussed.
Mogae
made the pledge after meeting Zimbabwe's main opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai last month in Gaborone as part of opposition efforts to
lobby
regional leaders to put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the 26th SADC
summit.
Tsvangirai's spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said his party
was
disappointed.
"Zimbabwe is in meltdown. The
whole region is being affected by
Mugabe's misrule and the region cannot
continue paying lip service to the
problems here," said
Chamisa.
The Movement for Democratic Change would continue lobbying
SADC until
it appreciated the magnitude of the crisis.
Jay Jay
Sibanda, chairperson of the pressure group Concerned
Zimbabweans Abroad,
des-cribed the conduct of SADC leaders as "disgraceful".
Sibanda
tried to stage demonstrations against Mugabe as the summit
opened, but
claims he was stopped by Lesotho authorities.
Zimbabwe's foreign
minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi boasted that
Zimbabwe had not been on the
agenda of the SADC summit despite efforts by
its "enemies" to ensure that it
was discussed.
In fact, Mumbengegwi told the state-controlled
Herald newspaper that
Zimbabwe was never discussed at all.
Mumbengegwi also said that the issue of Tanzanian President Benjamin
Mkapa's
mediation between Zimbabwe and Britain had not been discussed
either.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced at the last
AU summit that
he was calling off his planned visit to Zimbabwe after being
informed that
Mkapa was now mediating with Britain to help end the Zimbabwe
crisis.
Since then, nothing has happened with Mkapa's mediation
efforts.
This article was originally published on page
6 of Cape Argus on
August 20, 2006
Aug 20,
2006
Harare - Zimbabwe's new banknotes are a nightmare for the visually
impaired,
it was reported Sunday.
The 13 new banknotes were unveiled
with great fanfare on July 31. They range
in value from one Zimbabwe cent
(less than 0.01 US) to 100,000 Zimbabwe
dollars (400 US
dollars).
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has dubbed the new notes
which have three
zeros fewer than the old ones as 'Zimbabwe's heroes,'
claiming they will
help tame soaring inflation rates, now hovering just
below 1,000 per cent.
But the notes are all the same size and some of
them are almost totally
similar to others in colour, making it very hard for
the visually impaired
to use them.
In particular, the 1,000 dollar
note looks almost identical to the 10,000
dollar note.
This poses a
number of complications for the visually impaired, who run the
risk of being
ripped off by unscrupulous individuals, a spokesperson for the
National
Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped told the
official
Sunday Mail.
Thousands of Zimbabweans have been rushing to banks this
weekend to get rid
of their old notes, which become worthless on
Monday.
But already there has been chaos and confusion in some shops and
supermarkets, which have already started refusing to accept the old money
despite a directive from the Reserve Bank.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
"Those who have a why to live
can bear
with almost any
how.
- Victor Frankel -
Having
just returned from the fourth talk in London, together with Dr Ingrid
Landman, it was, at is always is, a time for the deepest of soul-searching
and reflection on where we have come and where we stand right now with
regard to living in Zimbabwe. The fifteen hour flight (we went via Lusaka to
get fuel!) gave me the time and the solitude to put all my thoughts and
feelings which I had been analysing over the last two months or so, onto
"solid ground'. To bring them out into the open, to say what I honestly
believe about our situation, our decision to stay and even to dare to think
out loud about dreams for the future.
Ask us to talk on health,
fitness or medical issues ... off we go with
confidence in our subject,
delivering with conviction, scientific hard facts
and figures. Now having
been asked to talk to Zimbabweans living outside, on
issues of the heart
(me) and head (Ingrid) and suddenly we are faced with
our barest of core
values, stripped of the guises of daily commitments,
families to keep us
busy or work and social callings which are all too easy
to hide behind. The
truth. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. Whose
truth? What is the
truth?
Early on, we had agreed to the theme "Foundation for the Future;
the Power
of One". In our separate and hectic lives Ingrid and I went off
and did our
thing. What happened when we finally came to talk together was
the
individual "truth" for both of us which was startling in it's common
threads
of conviction, of perception, of passion, patriotism and finally, of
the
incredible power of one - that gift or purpose that each one of us, you
and
I, has been given; as unique as our individual fingerprint in the
history of
mankind.
We talked about the reality in economic terms -
horrific and very, very
scary. The AIDS stats, the orphans, the tragedy of
millions who struggle
daily to do what needs to be done to try and feed the
children at least one
small morsel of food. The brain drain, the broken
hearts who are forced to
leave the land of their birth, the broken spirits
who still live here and
strive against overwhelming odds to just "be". The
irritating and
infuriating power cuts, water cuts .... passport queues and
the unbelievable
demands of simply trying to run a business or keep a job.
It's never been so
bad!
Yet, (and you may feel free to throw
something at me the next time we meet,
should you find what I am about to
say bordering on the offensive!!#*!) time
and again, through the course of
history and of human behaviour, it is at
moments and circumstances such as
these that we, as human beings are at our
best. Dr. Victor Frankel, survivor
of four concentration camps, a
psychiatrist and neurologist, had the
opportunity to study his own obscene
and horrific situation from within and
from without. His conclusion being
that when we are stripped of all the
material, physical and social comforts
in life, we are left with the big
question: "Who am I, what am I and why am
I?"
Ultimately, it all
comes down to this one fact; if a man has meaning, he has
hope and he has
life. When we have to strive and struggle towards a freely
chosen goal, we
are driven to verbalizing the word "love". In other words,
we have to act,
to put our own needs aside to ensure the mental, physical,
emotional and
spiritual growth of another human being, a neighbour, a child,
a relative, a
friend, a countryman worse off than ourselves. The simple law
of nature
dicatates that this is the only way we can self actualise and
become who and
what we were meant to be!
In today's first world or in what many of us
would describe as the "perfect
world" the situation is so imperfect that as
much as 60% of clinical
depression can be traced to basically, an intrinsic
lack of meaning in one's
life! Dr. Frankel calls it the "existential
vacuum." We may try to
disguise this emptiness in the depths of our soul by
applying social
"band-aids" to our lives in the form of an excess of
activities which give
us an instant gratification or "high". Material
comforts, money, pleasure
seeking, shopping, gambling, and any excessive
behaviour which keeps us from
stopping for a quiet minute to look "inside
and deep down."
We try to keep busy, to lose ourselves in a new project
but sadly, at the
end of the day, and certainly at the end of our lives, we
are hit by the
tidal wave of that spiritual vacuum. In this situation, the
soul will always
suffer. The human being is merely an empty vessel without
the light that
makes you and I what and who we are to ourselves and most
importantly, to
each other. Herein lies the formula for the magic of real
community. In
this chapter of Zimbabwean history, this is what I believe we
have learned
these long, past years, and without really appreciating our
opportunity to
make a difference, we have done just that. Our children have
seen how we
struggle, how we strive, how we come together to help each other
in order to
give them a fighting chance. By constantly taking the pain from
the past and
learning from it, we are passing on the lessons to the next
generation. That
they may take the baton and move Zim to a higher, healthier
and happier
place in the future.
Twenty six years have seen two
generations of Zimbabweans. Regardless of
ourselves and our persuasions, the
universal laws and principles apply.
Principles of life do not take sides,
cannot be "used" and cannot be
changed. When we live in accordance with
them, we are at peace with
ourselves and on purpose with our path. When we
live against them, sooner or
later we die. Morally, ethically, spiritually,
emotionally. We become
consumed by the disparity and the dark side takes
over. We eventually
self-destruct. Everyone is responsible. Everyone of us
answers to every one
of our actions. Never doubt the principles of fairness,
integrity, honesty,
human dignity, service or contribution and spiritual
growth. They are the
threads that are woven lovingly by God's hand through
the fabric of life.
Simply doing what is right sits well with the soul and
lights the way for
those around us, perhaps even influencing those in
positions of authority to
do the same. This is the way. This is the work.
This is the truth for you
and I and for us.
Come share my thoughts,
for they are also your thoughts. Let us dare to
uphold the Zimbabwe that we
know, that we must strive daily to achieve.
Henry Olonga's "Our Zimbabwe" is
our vision; every second, every minute and
every hour of every day. We are
moved by those words because they speak of
our deepest longing and drive us
ever forward. This plan we have for our
destiny is fed by the immeasurable
proof that we see, all around us in
every sector of our Zim community; no
matter where in the world they may be.
Believe in it with me. Hold that hope
high for those all around you to see.
Act as if it were already here.
Because every time you or I says or does
something in line with this vision
and the universal principles by which we
want to live, we bring it into this
world as the truth.
So, to each one of you out there who buys into the
dream "be the change you
want to see in the world." Make the difference.
Stick your neck out, bend
down to lift a fallen kindred soul, carry the ones
who are too weary to
continue until they have regained their strength and
merely asking "How can
I help" will reveal your power to make the
difference. You and I hold the
future in our hands, our hearts and our
ability to respond to every moment
in a way that builds, upholds, uplifts
and supports what is right, good and
God's way; no matter the personal pain
or discomfort.
Such is my impression of where we stand right now, on this
steep, and very
difficult road. Come, let's walk together. The best way to
predict our
future, is to go out there and create it. We have each other ;
no other
tools required. Let us begin.
As always,
Debbie Jeans
PhD.(Life in Zim!)
Angola Press
Harare, Zimbabwe, 08/20 - Zimbabwe is making arrangements to
repatriate a
group of South African soldiers who strayed into the
neighbouring country
while on a training mission along the border, security
officials said here
Friday.
The officials said eight South African
soldiers were involved, and these
were part of a larger group that were
carrying out training exercises along
the border.
The soldiers were
apprehended by Zimbabwean security details patrolling the
border, and
arrangements were being made to repatriate them back to South
Africa,
officials said.
They said investigations had ascertained that the
soldiers had strayed into
Zimbabwe by mistake, and no action would be taken
against them.
South Africa and Zimbabwe share a long border, and security
is tight to
thwart illegal entry into South Africa by Zimbabweans and other
nationals
from the region.