The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
SOKWANELE
PROMOTING
NON VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY.
Sokwanele Press Release 25
August
The time is ALWAYS right to do what is
Right.
Martin Luther King
Bulawayo
Council
Elections
As the day of the City Council elections grows nearer, campaigning is starting to pick up. The MDC held a rally at White City Stadium which was sanctioned by the police. Almost 3000 people attended, which in itself is remarkable as Council elections are usually marked by apathy. ZanuPF seem to have given up campaigning as they realize they have little or no chance of winning in any of the constituencies.
For
those of you who have difficulty in understanding why there is no
money.
The
real meaning of " worth peanuts
" has been
explained by mugabe!
Chiredzi
Cane Growers Resort to Violence Under ZanuPf
Ringleaders
On the 15 August a group of A2 settlers led by the Engineer of the Regional Water Authority, Christmas Nyathi (ID No 58-040168N-80), a purported relative to Patrick Chinamassa, K. Kanda (ID No. 63- 450311d-13), S. K. Gumbo (ID No. 22-024849C-27) and Moses Chiengwa.
On the morning of the 15 August the above thugs collected around forty zanupf men, women and children who accompanied them on a visit to several cane farms. There the regime’s puppets threatened commercial farmers with violence unless they retracted their opposition to the interpleader that hippo Valley Estates initiated to solve their problem on who to pay for the cane.
They assaulted Mr. and Mrs. Boris Fayd’herbe of farm 24, who have since laid complaints against the ring leaders.
The police were called in and managed to prevent any further attacks. But they were unable to disband the attackers so the police consequently accompanied the hostile crowd to the rest of the cane farms.
This all follows a confrontation between the management of Hippo Valley Estates and the A2’s regarding cane payments last week. Hippo management maintained that they were abiding by the law and that it was now up to the cane growers to resolve their case. This statement threw the problem straight onto the shoulders of the cane growers.
The Chiredzi police were commended by the Chiredzi
community who hope that charges will be laid against the ring leaders of this
latest violence.
"Let it never be asked of any of us - what did we do when
we knew
another was
oppressed" Nelson
Mandela
Victoria
Falls
Fuel Supplies
This tourist town has had petrol deliveries for 3 months and diesel
for more than 2 months. The whole town has given up queuing. Black market fuel
is available through various sources from $1200.00 a litre.
Most tour operators cross over to Botswana to fill their vehicles. Botswana (Kasane) is running out of fuel on a weekly basis as they now supply Vic Falls and Livingstone and are naturally very unhappy about this.
New rules for carrying for Zimbabweans carrying fuel over the Bots border are being put in place - they were charging P130.00 to take jerry cans over - they are now talking about banning it altogether
Cash Availability
There is no cash. People are
selling cash for between 15% and 25%. Money changing adds to the cash shortage
and in the last week it has become a big problem for tourists to change money.
The rate US$ to Z$ has dropped to 1900 for cash over the last week-end.
Banks and building societies are limiting withdrawals to $5000 and there are
people out side the banks trying to buy cash before you bank it.
Mayoral Elections
The MDC candidate has been accepted and the
elections are set for 30th August. The electoral committee has been visiting the
suburbs telling people their rights, handing out pamphlets and encouraging
people to check if they are on the voters roll and to register. The office in
Charge ZRP has stated that he will not tolerate any violence or intimidation
from either party.
"All that is necessary for EVIL to prevail is for GOOD
people to do NOTHING"
Edmund Burk
ZIMBABWE: THE TIDE HAS TURNED
The extent of
the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe has been under-estimated by many South
Africans. Although the media continues
to highlight Mugabe's repressive strategies and his government's stated
objective of ethnic cleansing, the South African government has confused the
issue by playing down its northern neighbour's
suffering.
However,
during this latest trip south I sense a far greater level of concern and an
awareness of the very real influence that events in Zimbabwe will have on this
country's future.
Those not yet
convinced about the abilities of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
question whether the future alongside a Zimbabwe under new management will be
any different. Information about the MDC
appears too sketchy to generate adequate confidence.
The MDC has
massive popular support countrywide and is presenting the ruling Zanu PF party
with the first real challenge in 23 years to its rule. This period been
characterised by gross mismanagement driven by the ruling elite's insatiable
appetite for power.
To retain
power and ensure unlimited access to the nation's wealth, all opposition had to
be eliminated. During the 1980s the
first government-orchestrated programme of genocide and tribal cleansing took
place in Matabeleland. In excess of 20
000 Ndebele people were killed and entire families were burnt alive in their
huts.
This strategy
effectively silenced ZAPU, a tribally-based hindrance to the government's master
plan hatched in the 1970s. A similar strategy was adopted following the election
scare of June 2000 when the fledgling MDC fell just short of the mark, despite
fraud and intimidation on a huge scale.
Since then,
ethnic and political cleansing has resulted in a catastrophic upheaval in the
farming community where 2,5 million Zimbabweans lived. Perceived to be MDC
supporters, most are now destitute or dispossessed of their constitutionally
protected property.
The situation
rivals Kosovo. Hundreds have been murdered by state agents and hundreds of
thousands of human rights abuses - from rape and torture to imprisonment without
trial - have been documented internationally. The economy is in free fall and
imploding rapidly; chaos prevails in virtually every sector of society. Civil
liberties have been largely extinguished and it is a jailable offence to discuss
politics in a group of more than two people.
Despite these
repressive laws and the threat of detention and torture, the ranks of activists
swell daily. People stand together: coloured alongside black and white, Ndebele
and Shona, rich and poor. There is common and real belief that the goal of
freedom will be achieved, and that the process is now unstoppable.
The MDC
represents a very diverse grouping drawn together across every divide from race,
religion and income group, by the call to save their country. Mugabe has achieved the unprecedented racial
and tribal unity by pitting the government against its own people. This unity is one of the MDC's many strengths
and one the illegitimate government fears most.
Led largely
by intellectuals, the MDC is headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, a trade unionist and a
home-grown man who has come through the ranks, a representative Zimbabwean who
understands both ends of the human spectrum.
In his union
days, Tsvangirai won the respect of business executives and his presence was
felt by all around the negotiating table and in the boardroom. He is someone
with whom the international community has the confidence to deal and communicate
on the very serious issues of rebuilding and running the
country.
Tsvangirai is
a disciplinarian who commands a well-qualified team of the country's best
experts, from economics to law. His
exceptional leadership skills have earned him recognition as the president in
waiting: a competent, honest and
honourable successor to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai
has the capacity to inspire and ignite the deepest feelings in an otherwise
battered and demoralised people. This
ability was demonstrated when he addressed students at the University of Cape
Town and economic and political exiles in Trafalgar Square, many of whom were
reduced to tears at the prospect of being welcomed home. Tsvangirai prefers not to read prepared
speeches but to speak from the heart, a laudable personal trait.
South
Africans should not under-estimate Tsvangirai. He has grown in stature and
confidence, avoiding the pitfalls of many of his ego-driven counterparts in
politics. Here is a man who has survived
at least three attempts on his life and the murder of his driver, yet he
soldiers on, quietly determined and confident in his objective to bring back
dignity to his country and its people.
He is a
leader who publicly accepts that temptations of office have to be kept in check
by independent watch dogs. His proposed constitution will reduce the powers of
the president to ceremonial status, thereby handing back authority to parliament
and the people.
South Africa
can gain much encouragement from the MDC and its manifesto. It is an
organisation built on legal and humanitarian principles that offers a
progressive, business friendly-democracy.
The MDC has
the ear and support of the world's major democracies and economic
powerhouses. With this comes the promise
of substantial funds for reconstruction.
Economic and
political watchdogs know that the success or failure of Zimbabwe to overcome the
madness of Mugabe will determine the outcome for the rest of southern
Africa.
This is a
watershed period that South Africa should not ignore. In the global context, South Africa and
Zimbabwe are inseparable and billions of dollars of investment have been
withheld due to the turmoil north of the Limpopo. President Mbeki cannot afford
to send negative signals to the rest of the world. President Bush has placed on
his shoulders the responsibility to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis - and he will
be held accountable.
For the brave
people of Zimbabwe who dare to confront one of the most horrendous and
despicable regimes of this century, the balance of power has shifted inexorably
and the tide has turned. We urge South
Africans to continue applying pressure to expedite change. Despite our pain and suffering,
Zimbabweans
are determined to complete the victory.
“they
are finished!”
………………………………………………………………..
Stand firm, Stand
together!!
Visit the Zvakwana website:-
BULAWAYO, Aug 30 (IPS) - No sooner had it
made its debut in May that
musician Leonard Zhakata's latest album
disappeared from the airwaves.
Entitled 'Hodho' (early shot gun), the
album was banned from radio because
of its focus on the political gridlock
and economic hardships prevailing in
Zimbabwe. Thus it joined the list of
other creative works which the
government has found too critical for
comfort.
The country's political and economic decline has been
well-documented by the
small but vibrant independent press. Musicians and
other artists, on the
other hand, have been less successful in speaking
out.
The answer partially lies in the lack of alternative radio and
television
channels.
Zimbabwe is just about the only country in
Southern Africa with no
independent radio or television stations. The state
broadcaster, the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), still enjoys a
monopoly inherited
from the colonial regime at independence 23 years
ago.
Moreover, since 2000 the ZBC has been on a major restructuring
exercise to
entrench its monopoly position hence its vision, ”the first and
permanent
media choice for every Zimbabwean.”
This lack of other
outlets has left artists subject to the manipulation of
the
government.
The fact that by law Zimbabwean radio and television channels
are obliged to
devote 75 percent of their air time to local productions has
given
politically-correct musicians exposure which often translates into
healthy
sales.
Critical voices, on the other hand, are shut out and
have to endure the
consequences of no publicity.
Even Cont Mhlanga,
the outspoken head of Amakhosi Theatre Productions, the
country's biggest and
most successful community theatre group, has lately
been accused of working
with the ruling party, while agreeing to water down
some of his productions
for airing on ZBC.
He maintains, however, that the lack of an independent
outlet is what gives
audiences the impression that his group is not speaking
out against the many
ills and hardships in Zimbabwean society.
”We are
always protesting, we've always been protesting, the difference is
just the
form of media,” says Mhlanga.
”Until people come to the theatre, only
then will they get access to our
work,” Mhlanga says. ”Every other avenue -
TV, radio, everything - is
closed.”
Since its founding as a township
outfit in the early 1980s, Amakhosi's plays
have never been popular with the
state broadcaster.
The most controversial play, which caused a storm back
in 1986, was
'Workshop Negative'.
The production was the first to
critically challenge the government,
pointing out double standards in the
state's declared Marxist agenda. It
exposed the sham of the ideology in
Zimbabwe where senior government
officials preached socialism while they
amassed wealth.
Among Amakhosi's major plays, 'Workshop Negative' was
followed by 'Cry
Sililo' in 1988 which was on the plight of the
worker.
'Stitsha', a 1989 production, raised the issue of land and
'Dabulap' in 1990
criticised the government's failure to create employment
opportunities for
the youth resulting in them trekking to neighbouring
countries, where they
caused much discomfort.
All these plays were not
shown on television. The only exception was a
production on anti-tribalism
since this theme was in line with the
government's agenda.
Mhlanga,
who has been the main playwright at Amakhosi, says he is presently
not
working on any new plays but is waiting for a new political order before
he
can pick up his pen again.
”Everything that is happening I spoke about 15
years ago in my plays, I've
written it,” he says. ”So what is that I'm going
to write now?”
However, one musician who has refused to be silenced is
Thomas Mapfumo.
Mapfumo is one of Zimbabwe's oldest and most popular
musicians. His music
blends traditional 'Shona mbira' music with western
instruments and a
political message replete with traditional
metaphors.
During the liberation struggle, the characteristic protest
streak in his
music captured the mood of the times and endeared him to the
black masses.
Three years before independence in 1977, Mapfumo was imprisoned
for 90 days
because of his song 'Hokoyo' (Watch Out).
Even after
independence Mapfumo has remained consistent, fearlessly speaking
his
mind.
Many of his other songs remain banned from Zimbabwean radio,
including his
1988 tune 'Corruption', which ridiculed 'corruption in the
society'; and
'Disaster', a 1999 song that similarly railed against graft and
corruption.
Mapfumo's 'Chimurenga' or 'liberation' music still makes him
one of the
country's top-selling musicians, although he is now based in the
United
States from where he emerges in December each year to give a sell-out
show.
His emigration coincided with the release of his album,
'Chimurenga
Explosion' which features several critical songs including the
explosive
'Mamvemve' ('Tatters'). Even coming from Mapfumo, this particular
track was
too direct for the liking of Zimbabwe's political mandarins and
hence was
banned from the airwaves.
Apart from the albums 'Chimurenga
Explosion' and 'Chimurenga Rebel', Mapfumo
has since had his latest, 'Toyi
Toyi' (which means protest) banned. But he
cannot be too worried as they are
available on the market, even though they
enjoy no airplay at
all.
Other Zimbabwean performers, though, are not so
well-established as to
thrive without access to radio or TV.
Artists
in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, recently joined hands with the
Media
Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe), an advocacy group, in
its
campaign to lobby government into establishing independent radio
stations in
the country.
Pathisa Nyathi, who heads the artists' interim steering
committee, says the
idea is to create a platform for artists to look at
issues of common
concern, including pushing for the liberalisation of the
airwaves.
But Mhlanga, whose group wanted to set up a culture radio
station but was
turned down by the government in 1998, says MISA's approach
is ”shallow”. He
says there is no point in pushing for alternative channels
when the
recipients of licences would be controlled by the system -- since
they would
have no technical capacity of their own.
He feels MISA
should concentrate on building the capacity of the prospective
broadcasters
and artists in terms of both the technical aspects and
developing content ”so
that even other channels in the world can show it”
and it can make its way
back into the country.
Meanwhile, in the city centre, scores of youth
crowd the ninth floor lobby
of Radio Dialogue for a chance to record their
music.
This is the only thing they can do since the two-year-old radio
station does
not yet have a broadcasting license which it hopes to get when
the
government is ready.
However, its officials know they have to wait
a long time. Towards the end
of 2000 the government announced its desire to
open up the airwaves on a
three-tier basis that included public service
broadcasting, commercial
broadcasting and community broadcasting.
”We
are not very confident of getting a licence at the moment with the
situation
that is prevailing in this country at the moment,” says Radio
Dialogue
administrator Kudzai Kwangwari. ”What we hope is that things will
change and
when things are different hopefully that's when we'll get a
license.”
SABC
MDC threatens mass action if talks don't resume
August 26, 2003,
07:22 AM
Zimbabwe's main opposition has again threatened mass action
against the
government of President Robert Mugabe if they do not return to
talks soon.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement of Democratic Change leader, says
they have
given the government one month to resume talks on the political and
economic
crisis.
Inter-party dialogue with the ruling Zanu-PF broke
down last year. The
ruling party has yet to make its position known regarding
the resumption of
dialogue.
At the same time, 13 Southern African
heads of state at a SADC meeting in
Tanzania have also urged the Zimbabwean
government to return to talks. The
Southern African Development Community
backed Mugabe's controversial land
reform and called for an end to sanctions
against Zimbabwe. The sanctions
were imposed against Mugabe and his inner
circle over the effects of the
violent land redistribution programme and the
2002 presidential elections,
which were largely condemned as fraudulent.
Daily News
Police torch 1 000 homes
MASVINGO –
The police yesterday torched homes belonging to about 1 000
resettled farmers
at Windcrest Farm near Masvingo city, which has allegedly
been purchased by a
Foreign Affairs employee.
Property believed to be worth more
than $100 million was destroyed in
the pre-dawn raids, which began on Sunday
morning.
According to government officials and resettled
farmers who spoke to
the Daily News yesterday, Windcrest Farm was invaded in
2000 at the height
of land occupations spearheaded by war veterans and other
supporters of the
ruling ZANU PF.
The occupiers were
officially allocated the land in August 2001, when
the Masvingo provincial
lands committee demarcated individual plots for the
new
farmers.
Government officials said the property, formerly owned
by Magid Khan,
was acquired by the state and officially demarcated for the
settlers.
But the resettled farmers said they were told to
leave the property
last week because it had been bought by a Mr Mukumba, who
is believed to be
an employee at Zimbabwe’s High Commission in
London.
When they failed to vacate the property, the police
moved in and set
fire to huts and other property belonging to the new
farmers, including
several tonnes of food, furniture and
clothing.
When the Daily News visited the farm yesterday, there
was a heavy
police presence and government trucks were ferrying the villagers
from the
farm to their original homes. Several dejected settlers sat beside
the
smouldering remains of their former homes.
Police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday said he was not aware of
the
evictions.
He, however, said when people were evicted from
properties, the police
’s only role was to assist the provincial land
committee.
Masvingo provincial administrator Alphonse
Chikurira, who is also a
member of the provincial lands committee, said the
evictions were sanctioned
by the government.
He said:
"According to the land policy, it is illegal to occupy or
invade a farm owned
by a black man."
On why the government was evicting the
settlers when it had
regularised their settlement, Chikurira would only say:
"These people were
advised to move out because the farm now belongs to Mr
Mukumba.
"If their homes were torched, then it is unfortunate
because we
normally do not encourage that. It is our policy that people
should be
removed peacefully and no property should be
burnt."
The wife of the new owner, who identified herself only
as Mrs Mukumba
and who is already occupying the farmhouse, said her family
bought the farm
"long back" and the resettled farmers could not remain on the
property.
She insisted: "We did not grab this farm. We bought
it and I see no
reason why these invaders are crying foul."
Martin Maziofa, one of the affected settlers, who said he had lost
property
worth millions of dollars and $75 000 in cash, told the Daily News
yesterday:
"I have nothing to eat since I lost two tonnes of maize when my
property was
set on fire.
"We are currently sleeping in the open, but we
were allocated these
plots by the government. It is surprising to hear that
this farm has been
bought by a black man when we have stayed here for three
years. The
government is insensitive to our plight."
Another
settler, Nelson Mutakayi, said the government had also not
given the settlers
time to remove their property from the farm.
Mutakayi said: "Some
of the affected people have already left the
farm. We are not happy with the
government’s action to evict us and we
suspect this could be corruption of
the highest order. "We have lost all our
property. We took over this farm
when it was owned by Mr Khan and the
government later gave us these plots.
Now we do not know where this Mukumba
came from and at what stage he bought
the property when we had already
occupied it." Other affected farmers said
they were being forced to leave
their cattle and other beasts behind because
they were not given time to
gather them from pastures. A farmer who spoke on
condition of anonymity
said: "We are not amused by the way we have been
treated by these people. It
is now clear that we are going to leave our
cattle behind because the
government has only offered transport to ferry us.
As for our domestic
animals, we do not know what to do." The government has
taken over
white-owned land in what it says is part of a programme to redress
colonial
imbalances. The programme is supposed to benefit landless black
peasants and
aspiring black commercial farmers. But reports indicate that
many of the
prime properties taken over under the resettlement programme have
been
allocated to government and ruling party officials. In some cases,
resettled
farmers are said to have been turfed out to make way for
government
officials and their families. Agricultural experts say most
landless
Zimbabweans have not benefited from the land reform programme, and
have
remained in areas that are mostly not suitable for farming. From Energy
Bara
and Godfrey Mutimba
Daily News
20 000 voters improperly registered, alleges
MDC
NEARLY 20 000 people have been improperly registered as
voters for
this week’s urban council and parliamentary by-elections, while
another 1
700 who voted last year and in 2000 are missing from the voters’
roll,
according to figures released by the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
MDC director of elections Remus Makuwaza said the 1 700
voters whose
names were missing from the voters’ roll were discovered in
Harare Central
constituency alone. The missing people voted in the June 2000
parliamentary
elections and last year’s presidential poll.
Among those whose names are missing from the Harare Central roll are
Susan
Tsvangirai, the wife of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Harare city
councillors
and former Harare Central Member of Parliament Mike Auret, who
resigned due
to ill-health.
Polls will be held in the constituency this
weekend because of Auret’s
resignation.
"There has been a
deliberate attempt to disenfranchise those voters
perceived to be MDC
supporters and they have been replaced by ghost voters,"
Makuwaza
alleged.
"The major reason why they have removed some names is
that the RG
(Registrar-General)’s Office wants to maintain the number of
registered
voters in the respective constituencies by replacing genuine
voters with
ghost voters.
"We have copied these
irregularities to the Electoral Supervisory
Commission (ESC) and to our
lawyers."
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede was yesterday
unavailable for comment
because he was said to be out of the office, but ESC
spokesman Thomas Bvuma
denied that the organisation had received the MDC’s
complaint.
"The ESC has not received any such reports and
complaints and as such
is not in a position to make comments on that," he
said.
But Makuwaza insisted that the opposition party had
communicated with
the ESC and had not received a response.
He told the Daily News: "We have discovered that about 4 000 people
have been
improperly registered to vote in the Mutare mayoral election,
about 3 000
voters in Gwanda, nearly 7 000 people on the Makonde voters’
roll and about 6
000 ghost voters on the Gweru voters’ roll. This number can
rise once we
complete our audit, but this is what we have discovered."
He
said there were several "ghost" voters whose residential addresses
were
unclear, while others had been placed on voters’ rolls in
constituencies and
wards outside their residential areas.
Murisi Zwizwai, the MDC
candidate for Harare Central, yesterday told
the Daily News that the names of
prominent people who had previously voted
in the constituency were not
appearing on the voters’ roll.
"It is shocking that the names
of people like Mike Auret, the MP who
resigned because of ill-health, do not
appear on the voters’ roll," he said.
"The names of Ward 6 councillor Dale
Dore, Susan Tsvangirai and even Michael
Laban, the Ward 7 councillor, do not
appear on the latest voters’ roll,
which I purchased two weeks ago. There are
at least 1 754 names of people,
who voted in the presidential election whose
names have suddenly disappeared
for this by-election."
He
said there were about 2 920 people whose addresses were simply
stating that
they resided at such places as the Presidential Guard premises,
Tomlinson
Depot or Harare Prisons Camp barracks, but no specific residential
details
were provided.
Zwizwai said the MDC held a meeting with an
official from the RG’s
office yesterday and raised these issues with the
constituency registrar,
identified only as Mhende, but were told that an
updated voters’ roll would
be released on Wednesday, three days before
polling. Mhende could also not
be reached for comment last
night.
Zwizwai said it was strange that Susan Tsvangirai voted
on the same
day as her husband in the March 2002 presidential election and
was filmed by
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation doing so, but her name
was now missing
from the voters’ roll.
By Precious
Shumba
Senior Reporter
Daily News
NRZ workers go on strike
RAIL travellers
around the country were yesterday evening left
stranded after workers of the
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) went on an
indefinite strike, demanding a
1 000 percent salary increment.
The country’s rail utility was
last night forced to withdraw trains
that daily ply the Harare to Bulawayo
and the Harare to Mutare routes. The
parastatal also had to withdraw its
evening urban commuter service in Harare
and Bulawayo.
The
strike is also expected to affect businesses that rely on the NRZ
to ferry
their goods. The NRZ’s more than 10 000 workers, who are
represented by three
unions – the Rail Artisans’ Union, the Railway
Association of Enginemen and
the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Workers’ Union – are
demanding salary adjustments of
up to 1 000 percent.
The NRZ management is, however, said to be offering only 70 percent.
"All the three unions have decided to
come up with a common position
against the management as it has failed to
agree to our demands for a 1 000
percent increment," a union member told the
Daily News.
"We last received an increment of 70 percent in
January, but due to
the inflation and other circumstances on the ground, the
70 percent being
offered by the management does not suit what is
happening."
It was not possible to secure comment from the NRZ
management at its
Bulawayo headquarters, where telephones were not being
answered yesterday.
But a sign pasted by NRZ management at the
Harare railway station
read: "We apologise that we are unable to offer train
services today,
including commuter services. Any inconvenience is sincerely
regretted."
Last night, frustrated commuters could be seen
milling around the
Harare railway station as they tried to determine how they
would get home or
travel to other cities.
Workers in Harare
have come to rely on the cheap NRZ commuter trains,
which ferry them from the
city centre to outlying high-density areas.
Many long-distance
travellers also prefer rail because it is cheaper
than road. Bus companies
have been forced to significantly increase their
fares to take into account
the high cost of fuel and spare parts.
"I have been left
stranded by the move taken to withdraw the train
service.
I
don’t have extra money to reach to Mutare since I was relying on the
train
service because it is cheaper," said an angry Andrew Shamu, who told
the
Daily News that he was coming from Chinhoyi.
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
Agricultural show off to slow start
THE
2003 Harare Agricultural Show opened on a low note yesterday,
with organisers
saying they expected activity to pick up as the
week
progressed.
Many stands were unoccupied, with some
exhibitors still setting up
their stalls.
School children
yesterday crowded their traditional favourite stands
such as those set up by
the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation.
The Hall of Commerce, as well as the home
industries, Nelson Mandela
and East End halls, which are usually packed with
business people exhibiting
their wares, had low attendance
yesterday.
For the second consecutive year, there were no
cattle at the show
because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which
has impacted on the
country’s exports of beef and other cattle
products.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) spokesman Robin
Taylor was,
however, optimistic that the situation would
improve.
He said: "We have started on a quiet note, but that
should be expected
given the prevailing environment. But I hope things will
pick up."
On the empty show stands, Taylor said: "There is
nothing we can do as
ZAS, but we wanted all the stands to be
occupied.
Actually, some companies pay for stands and then they
decide not to
come, while others just expressed interest in exhibiting, but
never showed
up. Such things are common in business."
This
year’s agricultural show comes at a time the farming sector, the
backbone of
Zimbabwe’s economy, has been destabilised by land invasions
spearheaded by
ruling ZANU PF supporters and a government land reform
programme that is
estimated to have cut output by more than half.
Under the land
reform programme, the government has taken over
white-owned land to resettle
subsistence farmers and aspiring black
commercial farmers, most of who
analysts say do not have the financial and
technical resources to maintain
commercial production.
The resettled farmers have also been hit
by serious shortages of
seeds, fertilisers, chemicals and other farming
inputs, which are expected
to result in another inadequate harvest next
year.
The drop in farming output has led to food shortages,
with 5.5 million
people estimated to be in need of emergency food aid, most
of which is being
provided by relief agencies.
Instability
in the agricultural sector has affected industry and
commerce, which rely on
the sector for inputs and markets.
Staff Reporter
Daily News
None but ourselves
TORMENTED Zimbabweans
will again face starvation in the 2004-to-2005
period because the government
has predictably failed to do basic planning.
Barely two months
before the onset of the main agricultural season,
Zimbabwe does not have fuel
or fertiliser, two of the most critically needed
resources – other than land
– to ensure successful food production.
And when the two vital
commodities are available, prices -- which
according to the Herald newspaper
went up by about 75 percent last month –
are beyond the reach of poor
villagers, or as the government calls them,
"new farmers", resettled on farms
seized from white commercial producers.
Needless to mention the
thriving black market where unscrupulous
traders levy extortionate prices for
fertiliser and fuel.
And yet the government could, and should
have, foreseen the crisis
coming and taken adequate measures to ensure that
farmers would be able to
produce enough food for Zimbabwe.
The foreign currency crisis, the real reason why manufacturing
companies are
failing to produce enough fertiliser – because they are unable
to import
chemicals and other materials needed to produce the commodity –
has been with
us since the government launched this country on the path to
ruin four years
ago.
Galloping inflation, now pegged at an all-time high of
399.5 percent,
should have been another clear indicator to Agriculture
Minister Joseph
Made, if he cared, that the price of fertiliser would rise be
beyond the
reach of the "new farmers".
The government should
also have ensured that some of the very little
foreign currency trickling
into the country was not wasted on trips
attending useless summits and
conferences on this or that issue, but was set
aside to pay for fuel for
farmers to till the land.
The basic point is Made and his colleagues should have planned ahead.
They should have
mobilised whatever farming inputs were needed to
ensure the country was able
to produce enough food when there was still
ample time to do so, and when
prices were much lower than they are now.
For President Robert
Mugabe to be running around to Malaysia and other
places – literally at the
eleventh hour – in search of fertiliser, merely
confirms what many
Zimbabweans know already: that this country has been
mismanaged to the point
of betrayal.
For the lack of proper planning, Zimbabwe, which
faces famine this
year unless donors chip in with 700 000 tonnes of food aid,
must endure
hunger again next year and beyond even if the country receives
enough rains
in the coming farming season.
Just like all the
other plagues afflicting Zimbabwe, shortages of
local currency, essential
medical drugs, electricity and several other
crises could have been prevented
only if the government had stopped to think
and plan before
acting.
But more importantly, Zimbabwe could have been saved
from collapse if
only Zimbabweans themselves had stood up to the excesses of
a power-drunk
dictatorship.
And no one else but Zimbabweans
can salvage this once prosperous and
proud nation from further
disaster.
The international community, no matter how well
meaning, can only
offer solidarity and support. But the ball is really in the
court of every
one of the 11,6 million Zimbabweans.
Daily News
Inflation to worsen as money supply growth surges 226
pc
ZIMBABWE’S annual broad money (M3) growth jumped to 226
percent in
April, up from 161 percent in February, with analysts saying money
supply
would continue growing and acting as the major driver of the
country’s
demand pull inflation.
Demand pull inflation
occurs when there is an increase in demand that
is not complemented by an
increase in production in the economy.
According to figures
presented to Parliament by Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa last week, annual
money supply growth to April was 226
percent, largely on the back of high
public sector borrowing requirements
and high quasi-fiscal
expenditures.
Economists said the persistent growth in annual
broad money was a
cause for concern because it impacted on the country’s
surging inflation
rates. Annual broad money supply comprises narrow money and
quasi-money.
Narrow money represents demand deposits and notes
and coins in
circulation, while quasi-money refers to time deposits and other
instruments
that cannot be easily converted into cash.
The
amount of notes and coins in circulation jumped from $58.3 billion
in January
to $63 billion in February this year, according to the Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe’s latest economic bulletin.
Trust Bank Corporation
chief economist David Mupamhadze said the
increase in annual broad money at a
time production was decreasing would
automatically result in demand pull
inflation.
"The government is adopting a loose monetary policy
that does not
effectively maintain money supply growth rates equivalent to
the level of
production in the country," he noted.
"Too much
money chasing very few goods results in an automatic
increase in prices to
equate the volume of money in the economy to the value
of commodities in the
country."
The concept of too much money chasing few goods is
derived from the
use of the equation of exchange in trying to address
inflation in countries
such as Zimbabwe.
MV=PT is the
equation of exchange were M represents Money supply, V
velocity of
circulation, P price level and T the number of transactions in a
year.
Velocity of circulation measures the number of times a single unit
of
currency changes hands between economic agents in a given
period.
The equation of exchange predicts that if the amount of
money in
circulation doubles, once in equilibrium, the price level will also
double,
and that if the amount of money in circulation is reduced by half,
the price
level will be about half its former value after all adjustments
have taken
place.
Economic experts said in Zimbabwe, the
mutual relationship between
changes in money supply and the level of
inflation in the country were being
overlooked.
The
country’s level of inflation is presently 399.5 percent, up from
209 percent
at the beginning of the year.
Annual broad money growth (M3)
also shot up from 167.3 percent at the
beginning of the year to 226 percent
in April 2003.
Albert Makoche, an economist at the University
of Zimbabwe, said there
was a strong relationship between the level of
inflation in the country and
the growth in M3.
"The
government seems to overlook the equation of exchange when
leaving the money
supply growing every time and again at the expense of the
skyrocketing
inflation," said Makoche.
He added that it was crucial for the
government to accurately monitor
the relationship between the price level and
money supply growth to avoid
the persisting upsurge in the country’s
inflation rate.
The government is failing to curb rampant
inflation, but is at the
same time suppressing interests rates, resulting in
negative returns on the
money market.
Experts said there was
need for a tighter monetary policy to replace
the ruling loose monetary
policy that allows for low interest rates at the
expense of crucial savings
for economic growth.
Analysts said far from coming up with a firm
monetary policy stance to
curb inflation and restore confidence in the
economy, government officials
were issuing conflicting statements on monetary
policy. When President
Robert Mugabe opened Parliament last month, he
indicated that the government
would use "decisive interventionist policies"
in the money market in a bid
to suppress rates. But when Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa presented a
supplementary budget to Parliament last Thursday,
he acknowledged that there
was need to curb speculative borrowing and that
this would be done by
increasing interest rates. Economists said the
government was now in a
policy dilemma and this would create uncertainty in
the money market on the
actual direction of interest rates. Mupamhadze said
the government should
let interest rates increase gradually instead of
suppressing them or
increasing them drastically. He told the Business Daily:
"Increasing the
interest rates at a faster rate would result in operational
difficulties for
those companies which depend on borrowing. Keeping the rates
low will crowd
out crucial domestic savings." He added that it was necessary
for the
government to eliminate the prevailing negative real interest rates.
The
analysts also warned against the government’s attempts to curb money
supply
growth by creating shortages of notes and coins, which they said had
serious
repercussions on the economy. Mupamhadze said this would not have
long-term
effects because more money substitutes were being introduced. He
emphasised
that it was expedient for the government to effectively reduce the
growth of
both quasi and narrow money to avoid inflationary effects. By
Stanley
Taderera Business Reporter
Daily News
Civic society sharks feasting on our
misery
As Zimbabwe burns, a dangerous syndrome, which one can
safely
identify with armchair fanatism, lavishly gains
momentum.
If honesty is the most orthodox maxim, then it
becomes imperative that
some of us who have created civic society groups
should be taken to task for
having misled and misrepresented the ordinary
suffering Zimbabwean.
I hope the same syndrome will not
perpetuate its existence to the
younger generation, which is literally at the
mercy of the reigning sharks.
This country has more than 2 000
organisations that have managed to
draw large sums of donor funds on the
pretext of advancing democracy,
trampling on each other’s feet in order to be
the first to get the
greenback, the strong pound or the euro. If we are to
assess the work that
has been done on the ground, then one would wonder how
some of these
organisations are able to convince donors of their
non-existent
achievements.
Personally, I am greatly
disturbed that the ordinary citizen remains a
target of so much oppression,
yet as watchdogs, civic society groups remain
a voice in the
wilderness.
For how long shall we talk and merely condemn human
rights abuses, for
how long shall we sit on the edge without restrategising
in order to
actively empower our suffering country? We have done so much in
trying to
bring sanity to the establishment and since its ears and eyes are
closed,
why can’t we come up with a knock-sense hammer for the sake of the
dying
silent majority?
I am convinced that we have enough
funds and enough personnel to turn
the political mayhem.
There has been enough suffering, enough killing and enough lies. I
urge you,
my colleagues in civic society, for once, let us all jump out and
for once
forget our Mercs, Camrys, plush offices, designer wear; let us all
forget the
luxurious hotels and team up with the suffering majority for
total
independence.
Then, ladies and gentlemen, with satisfaction we
can write our reports
and project proposals and earn from
honesty.
Amos Phiri
Human Rights
Activist
Harare
Daily News
Zimbabweans must learn the art of creative
suffering
IN 1866, the English economist and philosopher John
Stuart Mill
said: "No improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a
great
change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes
of
thought."
Now, fellow countrymen and women, be reminded
that faced with this
hard situation as we are, we should all bear in mind
that a snake that does
not shed its skin will die.
This
difficult spell has led to a lot of witch-hunting, calling of
names,
finger-pointing and all sorts of things, but will this help us? I,
for one,
think this is a time that demands an endless use of mental
resources,
bravery, courage, patience, sacrifice, will-power, strong minds
and great
hearts. It also demands vision, daring, swiftness and consistency
of
decisions, which are the essence of victory.
According to Brian
Adams "difficulties are opportunities to better
things, they are stepping
stones to greater experiences."
And even just like a mine, its
purest veins may only reward those who
have the patience to toil for years,
whose lamp of faith, no matter how dim
at times, keeps steadily burning until
somehow or somewhere the thread of
gold is found.
Hard times
can make people bitter or better. The blacks who were taken
as slaves from
this continent to the house of exile (America) were inhumanly
treated there.
They were segregated from hospitals, schools, public
transport, restaurants
etc. They were not allowed to vote, they were given
less pay for the same
jobs. They suffered for many years in silence until
individuals such as
William Dubois, Malcolm X and Dr Martin Luther King
Junior spoke out and
blacks rebelled against segregation in national
public
institutions.
This was so because they were willing
to pay the price. Many people,
young and old, died in this struggle,
including leaders like Dr King. With
this background, it should come as no
surprise to us why illustrious people
like Denzel Washington, Will Smith,
Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, the
Williams sisters, Tiger Woods and others
have emerged from that society.
Dr King himself said: "At times
life is hard, as hard as crucible
steel. It has its bleak and painful
moments. Like the overflowing water in a
river, life has moments of drought
and its moments of floods. Like the
ever-changing cycles of the season, life
has its soothing warmth of summer
and piercing chill of its winters. But we
are able to lift ourselves from
the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of
hope and transform dark and
desolate valleys into the paths of inner
peace."
So, sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, there is no freedom
without
responsibility and not all good medicines are sweet. There are facts
to be
faced and chores to be done. There are risks, difficulties, compromises
and,
of course, innovation is needed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
according to Peter F Drucker: "We have only one
alternative – either to build
a functioning society or to see freedom itself
disappear in anarchy and
tyranny." We want rain without thunder and
lightning. But does traditional
wisdom teach us that it is biologically and
historically true that there can
never be birth and growth without pain?
Now, I call upon all
Zimbabweans to learn the art of creative
suffering and the doctrine of
strenuous life. The life of toil and effort,
of labour and strife. Let’s all
resolve to be brave and honest, to uphold
righteousness in deeds and words,
to serve high ideas, yet using practical
means, to do our duty well and
manfully.
Now it is our challenge to bind the nation’s wounds
with malice toward
none, charity for all. No democracy will survive where
there is social
injustice and economic tyranny. Let us now be devoted to our
cause, but also
be attentive to the practical consequences of our actions
(responsible
realism). We must learn to live together as brothers or perish
as fools.
According to Marx Welser: "What is possible would
never have been
achieved if in this world, people had not repeatedly reached
for the
impossible." Just imagine what the Wright brothers went through for
you to
be able to fly all over the world today. Imagine what scientists
and
researchers went through for you to be able to be cured of malaria, TB
and
many other diseases today.
Imagine what some people went
through for you to listen to music,
watch TV or even talk to your loved ones
around the globe from the comfort
of your velvet sofas today. How many
millions of experiments were needed for
these things to be
achieved?
Brethren and sistren, there is no freeway to the
future, no paved
highway from here to tomorrow. There is only wilderness,
only uncertain
terrain, no road maps, no signposts. To all you pioneering
young men and
women, you have to rely upon vision, a compass and a dream.
Greatest rewards
come only from greatest commitment. "Only in growth, reform
and change,
paradoxically enough, is true security to be found," Anne Morrow
Lindbergy
once said.
Anyone can sit, but it takes real men
to stand up. Any dead fish can
float downstream, but it takes a live one to
swim upstream. As Albert
Einstein said: "Hidden to trouble lies the key to
our magnificent
opportunities."
The darkest hour of the
night is before dawn. I for one think in the
difficulties and frustrations
that face us today and tomorrow, the Zion
train is coming our way. The chaos
will be over; children will live not in
darkness. Zimbabweans will unite, for
just as it was in the beginning so
shall it be in the end.
UNITE OR PERISH!
By Maxwell P Kanemanyanga
WWF
25, Aug 2003
New commercial poaching pressures Zimbabwe's
rhinos
Harare, Zimbabwe – WWF in collaboration with the Zimbabwean
Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority and other conservation agencies, is
assisting
in emergency responses to increasing rhino poaching
pressures.
Since March 2002, at least sixteen black rhinos and several
elephants have
been slaughtered in the Matusadona and Hwange National Parks
in northern and
western Zimbabwe. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
has responded
through enhanced patrol efforts, despite crippling shortages of
manpower,
fuel and equipment. Four poachers have been killed in recent
firefights, and
several have been arrested.
WWF-funded operations
enabled the relocation of 22 black rhinos from areas
of high snaring risk to
safer areas during 2002. Future operations are
likely to be approved by the
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Other
supporting NGOs, in particular
the Marwell Zimbabwe Trust, the Zambezi
Society and the SAVE Foundation of
Australia, have helped to deal with the
new crisis of commercial rhino
poaching in National Parks.
Over the past three years, at least fifteen
black rhinos have died in these
ranching areas as a consequence of
indiscriminate snaring, adding to the
ongoing problems of rhino snaring by
subsistence poachers in conservancies.
Further problems for Zimbabwe's rhinos
arose in June when South African
"sport" hunters were involved in the illegal
slaughter of a black rhino in
southern Zimbabwe.
"Prompt action is
required by the South African and Zimbabwean authorities
to deal with this
recent case and to clamp down on the cross-border hunting
forays by readily
identifiable hunting parties,” said Dr. Harrison Kojwang,
Regional
Representative for WWF in Southern Africa.
WWF's rhino specialist, Raoul
du Toit, adds, “Whereas impoverished
Zimbabweans may claim that they are
driven to poaching in order to feed
themselves, relatively wealthy sport
hunters from South Africa have no such
excuse – their unethical behaviour is
driven by financial interests and by
thrill-seeking."
During the late
1980s and early 1990s, Zimbabwe's black rhino population
fell from about 2000
to 370, due to commercial poaching perpetrated mainly
by gangs from across
the northern border. Effective conservation measures
then rebuilt the
population to about 500.
Recently, Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economy and
land disputes have stimulated
poaching for “bushmeat”, and rhinos are being
caught in the wire snares.
Unemployment and inflating costs of living are
driving more and more
Zimbabweans into informal occupations, including
destructive activities such
as uncontrolled gold panning and poaching. The
consequent harvesting of
wildlife and other natural resources is proving
difficult for state
conservation agencies to regulate. While it is impossible
to quantify the
overall loss of wildlife, estimates of 50 to 80 per cent of
wildlife being
lost from some former commercial farms, are widely
reported.
“The resolution of internal poaching by rural communities is a
long-term
issue requiring the evolution of equitable and durable land
reform
arrangements within various sectors of Zimbabwe's complicated
wildlife
industry,” warned Dr. Kojwang. "WWF stands ready to assist with
technical
support in developing these arrangements, which will take a great
deal of
effort and a willingness by all stakeholders to negotiate workable
and
sensible solutions on an area-by-area basis."
For further
information:
WWF – Southern Africa Regional Programme Office
Tel. +263
(0)4 252533
E-mail: wwfsarpo@wwf.org.zw
NOTE TO
EDITORS:
Investigations into the shooting of a young female rhino in a
conservancy in
southern Zimbabwe in June 2003 led to the identification of
South African
participants in this incident. Some South African hunters are
taking
advantage of the unsettled situation in Zimbabwe's rural areas to
run
illegal safari hunting operations. Members of this network pay small
"trophy
fees" to the occupiers of wildlife properties. They then shoot
whatever
animals they can (including elephants) for meat, hides and trophies,
which
they market illegally.
Independent (UK)
Show us the money, please
Many of Zimbabwe's white
farmers turned to a British solicitor for help when
their land was
repossessed. Now they're regretting it
By Mark Olden
26 August
2003
Three years ago the world's media were transfixed as Robert
Mugabe unleashed
war veterans on to Zimbabwe's white-owned commercial farms.
Despite all the
attention, the thousands of farmers whose land was seized
were powerless:
the full force of the Zimbabwean state was ranged against
them, at times to
murderous effect.
But within weeks of the first
invasions in February 2000 a glimmer of hope
appeared in the form of a
thick-set, ruddy-faced English solicitor. John
Lockwood, then 37 and from
Sunderland, had an audacious plan: aided by a
distinguished British legal
team he would bring a class action on behalf of
the dispossessed white
farmers, claiming financial compensation for their
lost farms from the
British Government. The farmers, he stated "would
receive full value for
their land...payable to a bank account of their
choice." The case would be
based on the historic debt that Britain, the
former colonial power, owed
Zimbabwe for land reform.
Lockwood, who had spent time in Zimbabwe in the
1980s, trekked the country
armed with contracts and a letter of instruction
from a South Shields law
firm, named McCarron and Smallcombe. He addressed
hundreds of evicted
farmers at meetings, outlining his plan and requesting
£1,000 downpayment
"for start-up costs" for the action.
Guy
Watson-Smith attended a number of Lockwood's meetings. In September 2001
he
and his family were forced at gunpoint off their farm 50 miles south
of
Harare. The farm was Zimbabwe's single largest producer of tobacco and
was
taken over not by the landless, but by Solomon Mujuru, Zimbabwe's
former
defence minister and a key figure in the ruling Zanu-PF party
hierarchy. "I
heard Lockwood talk about his scheme four times, including at a
mass meeting
for farmers in Harare," recalls Watson-Smith, who now lives in
South Africa.
"His sales spiel was quite convincing. I didn't sign up, but a
lot of
desperate people did."
Among them was "Eric Peterson" (not his
real name), who is still in
Zimbabwe. Prior to being chased off his
40,000-acre ranch in early 2001 he
invited Lockwood out to stay in order to
assess his credentials.
"I believed he was genuinely trying to establish
a mass action. He put his
arguments across to us quite logically. He even
claimed to have Lord
Carrington on board," Peterson says. Lord Carrington
chaired the 1979
Lancaster House talks that ended Ian Smith's white minority
Rhodesian
government and led to Zimbabwe's first democratic elections and
independence
in 1980. Convinced, Peterson paid Lockwood $100,000, then the
equivalent of
£1,000.
Lockwood claimed that he could resolve the
bitterest legacy of Zimbabwe's
colonial past. The issue of land ownership was
a major stumbling block at
the Lancaster House talks. Twenty years after
independence, the fact that
6,000 white farmers still owned half of
Zimbabwe's most arable land, while a
million black peasant families occupied
just 38 per cent, was a smouldering
injustice, violently exploited by
President Mugabe as he faced the first
serious political challenge of his
reign from the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC).
According to Lockwood, the UK - with possible contributions from
other donor
countries and organisations such as the World Bank - was legally
obliged to
pay the farmers for their seized land. But this obligation was not
merely
based on public commitments Britain had made to fund land reform, but
on new
evidence Lockwood himself had uncovered. "John Lockwood has unearthed
a
number of important documents," his proposal claimed. "The single
most
important document which was signed at about the time of the Lancaster
House
Agreement incorporates an undertaking by the British government to
acquire
commercial farm land for the subsequent transfer to the
Zimbabwean
government.
"Initial discussions with the British
government have elicited a cautious
response, but the negotiation channels
have been established and will be
pursued vigorously," his proposal
continued. If no agreement was reached, it
stated, Lockwood and his legal
team "would pursue the matter in the British
courts". In September 2000 he
lodged a case with the Law Society's
multi-party action group in London. It
read: "Currently seeking counsel's
opinion on MPA [multi-party action]
regarding very large number of farmers
in action to re-acquire
land."
What precisely this "very large number" of farmers is, isn't
clear. It could
be as many as 1,400 - as Lockwood told Justice for
Agriculture (JAG), a
Zimbabwean farmers' trust - or, more realistically,
around 300 - as he told
a number of individual farmers The Independent has
spoken to. Either figure
represents considerable business - and compounds the
deep unease many in
Zimbabwe now express about Lockwood and his enterprise.
For despite a flurry
of early meetings, including one seeking the advice of
an eminent QC in
London, three years on there is no discernible progress in
the action and
some farmers have sought legal advice in an effort to recover
the money they
paid him.
Eric Peterson's doubts hardened after his
fourth meeting with Lockwood. "My
lawyer attended and put some pretty sharp
questions to him," he says. "He
asked Lockwood to provide documentation to
verify how he would account for
the money. Lockwood agreed to provide it
within the week. Since this
meeting, nine months ago, he has been
uncontactable."
Peterson, along with two other farmers, is considering
legal action against
Lockwood. The patience of Zimbabwe's leading farming
organisations is also
exhausted. John Worswick, the vice-chairman of JAG,
said, "He hasn't turned
up to prearranged meetings, didn't meet our lawyers,
never faxed through
documents."
Doug Taylor-Freeme, the President of
Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU), said: "I don't blame farmers for
considering legal action against
him. He certainly has not produced the
goods."
Nicholas Atkinson QC provided written advice for Lockwood on the
proposed
action in November 2000, but says that he has heard nothing since
and has
not been paid for it. McCarron and Smallcombe, the Tyne and Wear
solicitors
who previously employed Lockwood, closed in December 2002 - and
had already
severed their involvement with him and the proposed multi-party
action a
good while earlier.
The Independent tracked down Lockwood to
his home in Sunderland, where he
said he was taking a break prior to
returning to Zimbabwe. He said that due
to the complexity of the case he was
now working on it through his own
company, JAL Legal Consultancy Ltd. "We
knew it was going to take a few
years but we didn't expect it to get this
big. Initially it was just to help
out a few friends in Zimbabwe then some
other people got to hear about it."
Lockwood, whose solicitor's
practising certificate expired in February 2002,
declined to say how many
farmers had signed up to his venture. He claimed
that those who wished to be
kept updated on the action's progress had his
contact details and some had
received written updates. Out of the £1,000 the
farmers had paid him, he said
that "we end up with £37 per client" after
paying litigation insurance and
tax.
Lockwood insisted that Britain was liable to pay for Zimbabwean land
reform,
and questioned about the "important documents" from the time of
Lancaster
House that he claimed to have "unearthed", said: "You can get that
through
[Lord] Carrington's speech [in the House of Lords] last
October."
Asked if Lord Carrington was on board, he replied: "I'll put it
this way.
One way or another Carrington will be on the stand. He has been
approached.
I'll go that far."
Lord Carrington said he was unaware of
any of the documents or agreements
that Lockwood claimed to have found and
could not recall any contact with
him. "I have no recollection of a separate
document, other than that which
was signed at Lancaster House but there was I
know, a general agreement in
that we would help out in the acquisition of
land. I do not remember a Mr
Lockwood," he said.
The dispossessed
farmers are increasingly resigned. "There are a lot of
farmers who are after
his [Lockwood's] blood now," said one farmer's wife,
who with her husband
signed up to the scheme after they fled their farm. "I
really can't bring
myself to phone him ever again."
Another ex-farmer said: "Lots of the
people who signed up are now living
abroad. We're very much in the dark and
clinging on to the hope that it will
all go ahead."
Many Zimbabweans have turned to the informal sector to earn an income |
JOHANNESBURG, 25 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The
Zimbabwe government's supplementary budget was unlikely to resuscitate the
country's ailing economy, an analyst told IRIN on Monday.
Economist
Dennis Nikisi, director of the Graduate School of Management at the University
of Zimbabwe, told IRIN that the Zim $700 billion (about US $850 million)
supplementary budget introduced on Friday was "a self-serving budget - a damp
squib which is not going to assist this economy". The supplementary budget
pushed the government's total budget for the year to Zim $1.4 trillion.
Nikisi questioned where the government intended to get the Zim $700
billion from, as the economy continues to contract and inflation is expected to
hit 500 percent by the end of the year.
"[Does it mean] we are actually
going to create Zim $700 billion from nothing? All it indicates is that we are
going to be printing more money, [but] where are we going to get that money when
industry and agriculture are not generating anything at all? To make things
worse, a very large portion of that budget is actually going towards recurrent
expenditure - the increased wage bill for civil servants," he said.
The
local Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa had told parliament on Friday that Zim $311 billion was needed "to meet
additional costs of the job evaluation" of civil servants, which resulted in pay
increases in July.
Nikisi lamented that "nothing of significance is
actually being directed towards the productive sector, [so] we should not expect
any fundamental changes in terms of reinvigorating the economy".
He noted
that "the majority of our people are unemployed - between 70 and 80
percent".
"Agriculture alone wants Zim $600 billion dollars, but they
give it Zim $1 billion [in the supplementary budget]. To make matters worse for
agriculture, they do not have equipment and inputs," Nikisi added.
He
pointed to recent reports that the soaring costs of agri-inputs were a major
impediment to agricultural recovery in Zimbabwe.
The official newspaper,
The Herald, reported on Monday that "the price of fertiliser has shot up by
varying ranges of up to 75 percent in a third round of price increases this
year".
The increases had dealt "a huge blow to farmers, who were battling
against rising agri-input costs. The price of fertiliser went up in July by up
to 100 percent following a substantial rise in the cost of raw materials", the
newspaper said.
Nikisi pointed out that supporting agricultural recovery
was critical for an overall recovery in Zimbabwe's economy, adding that "in
terms of [a recovery in the] industry, we have just given up".